Encounter And Levelling

 

Tongqiu reappeared at an abundant yet non-magical nor gigantic forest. It's trees were the normal size of trees that one could think of, even when they are clearly quite old and at its maximum size. Yet, what he couldn't tell was, that forest alone was at least 4 times bigger than Nascent Herb City, where he lived. Which being the center of all populated regions in New Earth, was not only the most advanced overall, it was also immense, truly immense; able to hold at least 4-5 billion people.

He looked up, the sun was more real than the one he'll see back on New Earth. The air, he breathed in ever so deeply. He never had such rare taste for such an act, yet now it was as if he didn't do it he wouldn't be able to move a muscle. So he breathed in, and exhaled over and over again.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and in them was a resolute determination, with his 'new body' changed a little by the stats. He made a step forward; a few seconds later, he made another step right after another and hence forth, he started walking. Faster and faster, he soon started running through the forest, with his head held high his running became frantic and full of raw strength impulsing him for every step, no, every jump he made with his foot by slightly tapping on the ground. Faster and faster...

***

At some point he decelerated, finally going down on his knees for a few seconds before standing up, but still couldn't do it properly so he rather took his hands to his knees and started breathing in somewhat a painful yet euphoric manner. He kept on breathing in deeply while running all the while, and though it made him some damage, he nonetheless enjoyed and still keeps on enjoying every single part of it.

Once rested, he finally took his time to look at his surroundings.

'This forest... this is really big. I calculated to be running around 15 to 20 minutes but I'm still far from seeing the end of it... Huh?!"

Suddenly, he saw right in front of him, there was some trees who had some extra volume to their shadow, he realized there was a strong shining green light in front of them but he couldn't see what it was, so he moved forward towards it.

With his Gladius Swords in his back ready to unsheathe them he moved forward and what appeared before him was an area 10 meters in diameter in which, at the very center of it there was a circle 10 inches in diameter which in its center had a very watery-energy looking substance.

Tongqiu pondered for a bit but after deducing he was the only one in the forest around here, he decided to simply put his left hand into it. 

His hand moved through the circle and right when his wrists were about to also be drowned in it, he found something. He grabbed it and pulled towards him, the immediate moment he did so he heard a 'sparkling' sound behind him. Giving a quick look to what he found, he realized it was a miniature-sized bow barely the size of two of his hands, but since he already experimented with a bow before in the weapon selection room, he nonchalantly put it away in his bag and took a look at what was behind him. It was a small little steeled podium where a 120 cm shadowy aura was covering something. Instinctively, he reached out with his right hand towards the middle and what he could feel first was an empty space but his right hand was almost already at the edge of the shadowy aura so he stopped, but instead of moving around his hand, he simply closed it as if trying to grasp something. He didn't know what came into him but he did so by instinct as well, and when he did, he finally felt it. It was extremely cold, solid substance. But once he touched it, he felt a soft like caressing going through his finger towards his hands, moving even forwards towards his arm. By this moment, Tongqiu was completely befuddled and he looked at his arm in shock but there was nothing there. Still, he felt that feeling not stopping and going after his torso, then multiplied to head down to his waist and legs all the way to the soles of his feet. While another parts of it when towards his collar bone, through his neck and finally his head; caressing his entire body, completely.

When the feeling finally disappeared, his gaze went back to what he was grasping at. It was an arrow with a completely pitch-black dark-like abyss shaft of the arrow, while the head was somewhat 'tainted' by such color but extremely clean and perfect steel color as it begets an unstoppable domineering murdering aura. There was no feather at the arrow's end, but he -somewhat- knew that if he were to 'use' it, he'll surely find out why.

Suddenly, he had a sense of an alarming feeling telling him to leave at all costs! Now!

Without thinking too much, he just was about to storage the arrow in his bag but the moment he thought of doing so, the arrow became colors of metallic grey and pitch-black like abyss soul ashes that dissipated into him.

'Oh, well fuck.'

Now that he had been given the scare of his life, he didn't dwell on anything any more and started running away at maximum force without stopping, finally decelerating once he heard voices in front of him.

---

 

At a village that was unusually large, packed with people and those same people surrounding some others who were standing alone, appearing as if giving tasks to anyone that came close to give their aid.

Tongqiu was sitting alone in a bench, somewhat recuperating from his previous shock. It turns out that those voices he heard were actual novice village's guards NPCs. And they were told by their Elder that someone may be lost there, so they went in to check. When they were barely 20 minutes into the forest, they saw an extremely fast shadow moving towards them, almost attacking it. After a few apologies and thankful greetings, they drove him into the novice village which he currently is at.

When he arrived he tried to spy on others to see if they had the same experience as him which left him speechless. As none of them had any kind of actual even happening. Some saw some beasts or aggressive animals and killed them, a minority of them saw human mobs and had to kill them to not be robbed and killed too. Some even had the fear to be raped by them, which wasn't possible, because the game has a system that as long as you received a touch from someone else -that kind of 'touch' that isn't just a pat in the shoulder or an accidentally grazing on others' hand-, as long as you were about to, the system would disintegrate the whole extremity of the extended criminal and strike them with lightning with 500% augmented pain. But it still worked for them to get someone later 'tonight', for some.

He brushed it off and casually walked towards one of the only lonely figures that could give quest.

"My dear Journeyer, I'm but a heartbroken and delirious old man. Please tell me you'll go and murder those vermin until none of them is left!"

Ping! A new quest is available! Would you accept? [Kill 10 or more Bandits at the mountains in the Misty region, east of the novice village].

"Yes." Tongqiu nodded. The system simply closed the window and granted him a possible check up on the quest's progress.

"Ooh... thank you very much, young -ah, noble, young noble." the old man was in tears, then he finally added "But if you could kill them all it'll be even better, please do your best. I'll be waiting here for your triumphant return!"

Tongqiu simply nodded once again indifferently, this time, and walked towards one of the crowded areas. After some minutes he finally got the time to receive the NPCs attention and got a quest to [Kill 10 Wild Murderous Boars] and another for [Collect 40 hides from Wild Murderous Boars].

Once he was done he decided to check his bag. There were 10 gold coins and the bow he just got. No sign of the arrow. He sighed, he was simply glad that he didn't have to waste gold coins on arrows or a quiver. He decided to only use his two twin Gladius swords to do the job. Thinking about it, he inspected them.

[Novice Gladius Sword]: Type: One-Handed Dual Sword, Equipment Requirements: None, Grade: Useless(white), Attributes: Attack Power +3

Useless grade: It'll be destroyed after 10 swings.

"..."

So he went  to the armory and weapon's shop to get two twin Gladius sword with Common grading.

[Reinforced Gladius Sword]: Type: One-Handed Dual Sword, Equipment Requirements: None, Grade: Common(green) Attributes: Attack Power +11 

Common grade: It isn't that bad, but it's still not enough. Broken after 110 swings.

'Better, I guess...'

He put them on his back and went onward to the Wild Murderous Boar area, which were level 4-6, so not many players were around. Was he being cocky? A little bit maybe. Dumb? Surely.

Before getting into the aggressive mobs area, he checked his stats to better compare with himself.

Character: Tongqiu

Race: Human — Innate Race Talents: Adaptability, Racial Reproductive Wonder, Warmonger — Race Ability: Union

Level: 0

Class: None

Basic attributes: STR: 13, DEX: 8, LCK: 8, REC: 3, WIS: 2, INT: 2, DET: 3, Luck: 3, Charm: 3

Association: None, Money: 0

HP: 55

MP: 45

Stamina: 95

Attack Power: 63

Magic Power: 14

Physical Defense: 7, Magical Defense: 5

Hit Rate: 12%, Dodge Rate: 4%

Critical Hit Rate: 4%, Pierce  Rate: 3%

Attack Speed: 100%, Movement Speed: 100%

Core Elemental Resistance: Fire: 0%, Water: 0%, Earth: 0%, Wind: 0%, Lightning: 0%

Skills: None

'Hmm, I thought one is supposed to reach level 1 once race is selected. Could it be a bug?'

Tongqiu thought but couldn't find any particularly ideal answer, maybe it was because he took a lot of stat points out of all the stats available. He couldn't tell, so he threw those thoughts away.

'Well no matter. After all, I'm sure I'm one of the few that has the highest physical damage without going glass cannon.' 

He gave a step forward towards the area of the Wild Murderous Boar, as he kept on closing in to one being completely isolated from the others with both hands holding the Reinforced Gladius Swords. He knew there were skill books to be bought at the novice village, but those were only available to those who were at least level 5, so taking any of them would be truly stupid. He could even find a chest with possible book skill, so why not. Even if he can't used it, he can sell it and then get a really good one for himself.

Also, he silently thought that maybe that Tornyllia had something to do with his level 0 status. 'That damn girl, I'll show her. When i can.'

As he silently sneaked up to the Wild Murderous Boar, he raised his both hands to strike with a 'X' into its back. He overestimated his strength tho, and when he stroke down although he managed to deal 6 damage, he almost let go of the gladius sword in his right hand. Picking it up quickly he rather realized the boar was already charging at him.

He was knocked back 2 meters, and when he got back in his feet the wild boar was already half a meter away from him, he could either go all out or dodge. He chose to go all out.

-7, -5.

-23!

With the previous charge from before, he got 20 hp reduced, now he only got 12 hp left while he didn't even know the boar's stats. Instantly, after miraculously surviving such a charge, he fixedly stared at the Wild Murderous Board, its stats shown before him.

[Wild Murderous Boar]: Type: Beast, Level: 3, HP: 62/80. Moving ball of meat, slow. Only idiots would chose to face it head-on.

Nothing else was needed, he knew it. As such he simply held the 'Reinforced Gladius', tighter than before, and awaited for that meat ball to charge at him once again.

And surely it did it again, it could only be considered an animal after all. Once the boar was about to hit on Tongqiu, his body did a slight jump in the air, tilting his body to the side where the boar was charging towards pure air! He positioned his swords so that they'll leave a bloody mark on its body and sure enough it worked.

-5, -6.

This time he gave a little chase to attack with one of his swords, -7.

44 HP left!

While the boar was about to start charging again, he stepped on its head to impulse himself, he almost lost balance but he managed to stabilize his body and point his gladius swords towards its back like a pair of long knifes ready to make a mess of blood around the target! The board was slightly dazed after the kick-like step on its head and remained paralyzed for half a second, enough for it to hit on it vital spots!

-7, -8.

Tongqiu rolled to the right and while still crouching, he executed another strike.

-5, -4. 

It seemed as if melee attacks while crouching were less powerful, but either way it left the Wild Murderous Board at 20 HP!

He took advantage of the time it was still not able to lock down on him and rolled this time to the left, then dashed towards the left once again to take aim and strike it with both swords at its extended neck!

-7, -7.

He was about to go for the final hit, but at that moment he felt a weird sensation, so he stepped back. An arrow flew in the direction his head was just a moment before! Then, Tongqiu heard footsteps. 'Did he really believe I would've been killed by that?! Motherfucker.'

The Wild Murderous Boar was on a weakened state, not able to fight nor move so it was okay to let it be for a little, no one can take advantage of him and get away with it!

He turned around and did his best to make a dash for the enemy! He felt his presence the moment he decided to attack. Naturally, if Tongqiu wanted to make a surprise attack like that, he could only rely on his senses. Tongqiu lifted his left hand to point it straight towards his left, then brought his right hand close towards his chest, aiming at the same direction and did a 360 with that same pose.

He only felt a slight deranged tearing sound before the system's commands blurted out for him to see.

-33, -49

Ping! You've successfully annihilated your attacker, 'PingPong Master'!  SP+3.

Now he realized. He actually cut clean the neck of his attacker with his left hand while his right hand made a bigger cut at his left chest, going right through his heart. But more than that, he didn't deactivate the gore settings off. Usually players just go 'poof' and a white light de-materializes their body, however the dead players can still see for about 2.5 seconds after their bodies are 'dead'. In the no gore settings, it is a white light that takes care of the bad colors and takes instead a sparkling happening when cutting. But in the gore settings, the dead body and the deformities formed through battle stay for around 5 seconds, at the 3rd second the player is obviously not there already but its corpse remains. Then just gets blown by the nonexistent wind as if grey-dark ashes.

When he saw the mess he did of him, he felt it. It was nothing like he thought of, he couldn't believe something that he saw as simply as instinct allowed him to make such art of cruelty.

Tongqiu: "..."

Silently made a turn towards the boar and struck it down, making an -8 and filling quite up his LV0 experience bar. Then went back to where the body was a few seconds ago and saw what seemed like a small dagger. He was surprised it wasn't a dagger.

[Self-Harming Dagger]: Type: Special, Grade: Valuable(Light Blue), Effect: Stab both your hands deeply with it, and get a +15% Hit Rate and +5% Attack Power. Slightly used.

'...Useful.'

He kept it in his bag while sitting down to recuperate his HP, since he wasted all his gold coins on the two Reinforced Gladius Swords he bought beforehand.

Time passed slowly, and after 35 minutes give or take, Tongqiu finally levelled up.

Ping! Congratulations you have levelled up, now LV-- ... Error-e-e- ERROR.

...

Tongqiu: "..."

System: Ping... ... ... It seems there's been a special occasion. Data has been confirmed and adequate measures have been taken. Please enjoy!

Ping! Congratulations you have levelled up, now LV1, HP+10, MP+10, Stamina+10, Mind Power+1, AP+9.

Shock! Usually when one levels up, without class. They would only get HP, MP y Stamina increased, while in Attribute points, only 5 would be given, not 9! Besides, what's that about 'Mind Power'? It clearly wasn't there before and he can only remember that it was mentioned, only mentioned, in the forums by the game company. What could it be?

Taking that out of his head, Tongqiu decided to use his AP. Since he had almost twice the amount that any other player he would surely abuse that kind of liberty. Not as an all-rounder, at least not before getting a class, but surely in the way he'll be able to fight however he likes without being completely limited by the system.

He put 4 points into REC and 3 into STR. The remaining 2 were put one each at DEX and LCK.

His stats where as such.

'Wow. That's a big Attack Power, I bet even LV4's don't have that kind of damage, unless they went glass cannon I believe. If only Luck and Charm could be upgraded the same way. As for the SP, I assume they're Skill Points, I guess it'll do well for when I get to be LV5. I'll probably be as powerful in offense as a LV5 melee player, as for who would win...' Tongqiu smirked somewhat confidently.

It was way too soon to call it quits, and with his upgraded stats, he was even more at ease in levelling here. To farm!

 

---

Author's Note: As you can notice, I simplified quite a lot the stats for some main basic attributes. I did it so I wouldn't eat my head all day, everyday. That way I can assure at least 1 chapter every day.