[Ding! Congratulations! You reached Level 6!]

"Sweet." Liu Ye nodded in approval as he read through his notifications. In less than twenty minutes, he cleared three camps of wolves, allowing his level to advance once again.

For efficiency's sake, Liu Ye created a small water whip while waiting for the wolves to respawn. Even though there were no opponents in the vicinity, he still swung it around to train and increase his Elemental Mastery.

[Elements: Water 90%]

Although he had to use up an additional 20 small Mana potions, his Water Element was already reaching another breaking point. He still felt like each new point was much harder to achieve, requiring him to spend more and more Mana.

Would he spend all day on the boulder to farm the wolves? Of course not. He could already hear explosions from the distance, meaning other players were getting closer. Liu Ye could only move forward and finish his quest in the nearby area.

Liu Ye added another point to Dexterity and checked the system map. A big blue circle displayed the location of the Bandit Camp and he was almost at its border. Once he finished upgrading his water whip skill, he could finally challenge the quest.

Too bad, fate wasn't on his side.

"Hey man, what are you doing on that boulder?"

A group of three players called out from the distance, catching Liu Ye off guard. He thought he still had time to kill one more camp but ended up burning himself.

Thud!

Liu Ye jumped down without hesitation and rolled on the ground to break the fall. In a flash, he was gone, running to the depths of the forest. Once he disappeared from their view though, Liu Ye came back in a circle and observed them from the shadows.

One could tell they were close in real life based on their nicknames.

[Younger Brother - Lvl. 4]

[Middle Brother - Lvl. 4]

[Older Brother - Lvl. 4]

"Well, that was rude," Younger Brother commented. "I was just trying to be nice."

"Don't mind him. We are not here to make friends," Older Brother reminded. "We can only count on ourselves."

Liu Ye nodded in approval. One couldn't trust anyone in these types of games else they would be quickly backstabbed.

"How did he even climb that boulder?" Middle Brother wondered. He jumped, trying to repeat Liu Ye's feat, but he failed, sliding back down. "I didn't even know one could climb in this game."

Awoo!

Just as they were chatting, five wolves spawned in a distance, putting them all on alert.

"Oh, I get it now. This is a spawn point. He was using the boulder to hit these wolves with ranged attacks." As he explained, Older Brother created an Ice Projectile on top of his palm. "Maybe we can one-shot them if we climb the boulder too?"

His brothers immediately got excited while Liu Ye raised his eyebrows in doubt. If that man could really repeat his strategy, Liu Ye would be impressed. Contrary to the theory, it wasn't easy to aim the Ice Projectiles. One had to manually aim and the further the enemy, the easier one could miss.

Liu Ye didn't think twice and already prepared his own set of Ice Projectiles just in case. If this player couldn't kill the Alpha Wolf on the first try, Liu Ye would snipe it for him instead.

The two younger brothers lifted their eldest onto their shoulders, and with their help, Older Brother managed to climb on top of the boulder. They boosted each other till all three of them climbed it.

"Ready?" Older Brother asked as twenty Ice Projectiles hovered in front of him. The other two players were Air and Fire benders so only he could initiate the fight.

"Aye!"

Older Brother prepared to aim and punched, sending the shards ahead. Just as Liu Ye thought, the ice attacks spread out mid-flight, and only half hit the target.

"Oof, that's harder than I initially thought," Older Brother commented, while the wolves rushed to attack them. "Don't worry, we are safe her—"

He didn't even finish his sentence when an unknown set of ice shards swooshed through like the wind.

-16

-16

-16

[Ding! You killed the Alpha Wolf. You received 100 Experience and 1 silver.]

[Ding! Your Elemental Mastery bar is full. You received one Elemental Point.]

The Alpha Wolf died instantly, but the rest of the Adult Wolves continued to attack the trio of brothers. They were the first to strike so they kept the aggression of the monsters.

Even though Liu Ye only got half of the rewards, it was still good for a kill steal. Most importantly, he maxed his Elemental Mastery once again.

"Thanks!" Liu Ye acknowledged the treat before dashing away. He didn't have any intention to help them more if he had to share the experience with anyone else.

It would be even better if they were slowed down and he had more time to clear the Bandit Camp. Seeing the zone was getting closer on the map, Liu Ye didn't hesitate and upgraded his whip.

[Ding! You upgraded Small Water Whip. You are now capable of controlling three Small Water Whips.]

He felt as if something in his mind unlocked, giving him more freedom to control his Element. How awesome would it be to possess such powers in real life?

[Ding! Danger Zone ahead: Bandit Camp]

Liu Ye cast his random thoughts aside when he received the alert. The system map turned red as he finally reached his destination. He was about to proceed further when a virtual screen appeared in front of him.

[Bandit Camp - Warning]

[Player entered the Red Zone. If the Player doesn't meet the requirements, please return to the Neutral Zone.]

[Recommended: Level 7-8, HP: 100, Three Abilities]

[Zone Buff: All Abilities scale with +20% Elemental Power.]

[Death Penalty: -1 Level, 10 silver]

Liu Ye raised his eyebrows at the death penalty but it was within reason. The Newbie Village stage meant to introduce every factor from the mainland to the new players, and Red Zones were one of them.

Since he didn't plan on dying anyway, he walked right past the warning.

———

Just as he was leaving, another person appeared from the shadows, stopping right before the Red Zone.

If Liu Ye were to turn around, he would have spotted Katherine looking ahead from under her sky-blue cloak. She was staring at a certain forest path, deep in thought. It was the very path Liu Ye just left through.

Her eyes were dreamy and contemplative when another person appeared right next to her. Only his smile could be seen from under his red leather cloak.

"To think my sweet Katherine will be interested in a player this fast. Did you already find your favorite?" the man asked playfully, bringing Katherine back to reality.

"First off, I'm not yours," she replied coldly before turning her back to him. "Second, that is not your business."

"Okay, okay, I am only teasing you," the red-cloaked man apologized as he walked in front of her, trying to take a peek at her face. "I have been watching him too but if my Katherine wants him, I can take a step back."

"Thanks, I will take him then," Katherine replied casually and passed him without another word.

"Just remember not to help him too much. We don't want to create an unfair advantage," the man reminded, causing Katherine to pause.

"I will say this one last time. I will help whoever I want and you have no say in my matters. You seem to forget we are here to find the next Avatar, not to create a fair game," the golden-haired beauty called out sternly.

"Yeah, I know. Isn't that why I'm already observing capable players?" the red-cloaked man asked with a shrug. "Anyway, I came to ask if you are free on Friday next week. I will be arriving in the headquarters and want to train—"

"Good luck," Katherine cut him off and disappeared without much care.

The red-cloaked man's smile only widened, not bothered by her cold attitude.

"Run, run… I wonder how long you can run..."