Chapter 5 First Encounter

Raydon looked around carefully, wondering where he might find a mob* in this tranquil place.

Nevertheless, he didn't have to think too much because he could see a green wolf coming out of the nearby bushes and slowly approaching.

'' It seems that this place is not so peaceful after all. ''Raydon said as he saw the wolf's menacingly exposed teeth and drooling. It was evident that Raydon was his prey.

In the middle of the wolf's forehead, there was a gray number 1 written there. ''Looks like everyone here has a tattoo of their current level on their body. ''

Raydon's excitement grew with each passing second in this game-like but completely real world.

Raydon, who was only in his boxers, watched as the wolf cautiously approached and looked around for something to use as a weapon.

Not far away, Raydon noticed a branch of a tree that appeared to be durable.

He intended to approach the stick carefully without alerting the wolf when, all of a sudden, the wolf opened its mouth and leaped on him.

Raydon closely followed the wolf's movements with his quick reflexes, narrowly avoiding the wolf's razor-sharp teeth, and rolling on the ground to reach the stick.

Raydon's initial instinct after picking up the stick was to straighten his posture and raise his guard, but the wolf was faster than he anticipated, and before he had a chance to react, the wolf made a move to bite Raydon's throat.

With the help of adrenaline pumping through his body, Raydon quickly thought about his next course of action. He caused the wolf to bite into the middle of the not particularly long but also not particularly short stick while holding its two ends, and then allowed himself to fall on his back.

'Now it all depends on how long this stick lasts.' Putting all of his chips on the stick, Raydon hoped. And as he had hoped, the stick was sturdy, even more so than he had anticipated given that the wolf's teeth had not even scratched it.

Raydon had a significant advantage due to the stick's durability, but the wolf's strength was equally impressive as its agility.

Raydon's arms tightened as he held the stick, and as his heart rate accelerated, more blood poured into his veins, exposing every vein in his arms. Raydon had a fleeting realization that his current body was nearly two times as powerful as his previous one.

The wolf's mouth was only inches away from him, and its saliva was dripping onto his face. But more significant than the wolf's saliva was the sensation that the pressure was dislocating his shoulders.

He grunted through clenched teeth, "At least your breath smells like fruit instead of rotten meat.''

The wolf started shaking its head violently in an attempt to at least pry the stick out of Raydon's hand after realizing that it was powerless to break it.

After a while of trying and failing, the wolf finally relaxed its jaw, let go of the stick, and made an effort to retreat.

Raydon, however, was not going to let that happen. He pushed the stick firmly into the wolf's now-relaxed mouth and held the animal with his legs in a jockey's grip to prevent the animal from escaping.

The wolf was startled by this sudden action.

Raydon managed to quickly swing his entire body to the side and knock the wolf to the ground by taking advantage of the wolf's surprise and immobility at that precise moment.

Fortunately, there wasn't much of a strength gap between them, and Raydon quickly reversed the situation as the wolf lost ground. Raydon was now on top, pressing the wolf's head firmly against the soft grass with the stick in his hand while holding the wolf's body flat to the ground with his own body weight.

''I'll be on top in the second round, honey. '' Raydon finally broke into his trademark grin.

He ignored the wolf's helpless flutters on the ground and kept on using all of his strength to subdue it.

When the wolf finally calmed down, it was probably because it was tired of fighting and needed to breathe. Raydon seized the chance to leap with his lower body while still holding the stick in the wolf's mouth.

Raydon used all of his strength to stomp a knee into the wolf's stomach with the force of his body weight and the momentum of the leap.

The wolf whined in agony as it took a severe blow to the stomach. It was difficult to tell whether the knee strike or the stick that felt like it was going to rip the wolf's mouth out hurt more.

Raydon disregarded the wolf's cries because he knew that one of them would have to die and that he had no time to feel sorry for a wild beast.

Raydon delivered that painful knee strike whenever he had the chance, and the wolf eventually stopped moving and began to bleed from its mouth.

Raydon wasn't sure about the wolf's intelligence, so he was about to hit it a few more times just in case it was acting when he was interrupted by a ringing voice.

*Ding*

—

''It was a really good decision; he obviously came from the slums. '' Falco, who had been following the group for some time, approached the cold-looking girl and spoke in a gentlemanly tone.

His previous attitude toward Raydon was completely gone.

When he did not get a reaction from the girl who was walking in front of him, he continued.

''It is truly surprising that someone from the slums has the potential to awaken. It seems that the title given by the system is "Master of all". What kind of flashy title is this? Heh, I'm sure it has a useless trait.''

Falco kept talking while keeping an eye on the girl to see how she was reacting, but it was clear that the girl was not listening to him.

''Anyway, even if he dies, at least he doesn't have any items to drop or levels to lose. He has nothing to lose except an extra cooldown penalty for his next match. '' Falco kept talking nonsense about things that everyone already knew, just to get a reaction from the beauty in front of her.

Falco's face briefly showed anger when he realized the girl had no interest in talking to him, but he quickly returned to his previous gentlemanly demeanor and asked.

''If I'm not mistaken, you're Seraher Warden of the Warden family, right? ''

At Falco's words, Seraher stopped and turned to look at him for the first time. Falco seized the opportunity and bowed politely to introduce himself right away. But this time, he spoke with a tone of arrogance.

*Mob: Any non-player entity whose main function is to be killed for experience, quest objectives, or loot is referred to by this general term. The word "mob" used in MMORPG games should not be confused with the definition of the word in the English language, which is an unruly large group of people or a group of organized criminals.