Sora had just said bye to his two companions as he went further towards the West. He wanted to find some enemies that were level 35 near the border of his faction's territory so he could be nearby the cocoon cave when he hits level 35. After walking around a forested area for a bit he found an area that was occupied by level 35 Hunter Jaguars. The large cats had green fur that seemed to blend in with the fauna around them and would jump out at anything that passed by them. As Sora walked through the forest the jaguars would jump at him only to crash to the ground when he dodged. The jaguars might be troublesome at first but once you are able to actively spot them before they pounce it was extremely easy to dodge their attacks. They only dropped some fur and occasionally some copper coins so the loot was awful, but Sora was fighting them for the EXP anyways and didn’t really pay attention to the loot.

After fighting the jaguars for about half a day he was only 50% the ways through getting his next level, he decided to take a break to avoid burning himself out like he did with the undead. Sora only pushed himself so hard at the time so he could have moments like this, being able to take a break every now and then kept his sanity in check. He even took the opportunity to logout of the game and eat to help clear his mind. Once he was done he returned to his grinding of EXP with renewed vigor.

…..

After three days of hunting Sora had finally hit level 35, he checked his stats once before finding that it was at a point where he could deal enough damage to kill the cocoon in 3 hours. He wasn’t sure of the details of when the cocoon would hatch or what would happen when he gets it’s life lower but he was determined to try it out anyways. If he succeed then he gets his class early, if not then he only loses 24 hours of game time and has to wait a little longer to get his class. Sora was already at the point where 24 hours would only amount to maybe two levels if he was efficient and wouldn’t mind a break anyways. The journey from the border of the demon territory to the cocoon cave would probably take half a day to make it to if he wanted to be careful along the way so he did one more quick check of his stats before heading out.

Ethereal

Knight

Level - 35

Damage - 180-189

Defense - 56

Mana - 400/400

HP - 400/400

Strength - 160(+50)

Agility - 10(+20)

Constitution - 10(+30)

Dexterity - 10(+5)

Endurance - 10(+5)

Intelligence - 10(+5)

Wisdom - 10(+5)

Spirit - 35(+5)

Luck - 1 (+2)

Fame - 200

Faith - 0

…..

Sora was currently hacking his way through a dense jungle, he had been traveling for only a couple hours and hadn’t made any mistakes thus far, until the hacking of his sword made contact with something hiding in the thicket of the jungle.

-67

It was an incredibly low number considering his damage was almost at 200. He quickly pushed back as a large snake had struck where he was previously standing. Level 45 -Man Eating Viper-

The snake was coiled up so it was hard to tell it’s length but it was probably close to 20 meters long. The scales were green and there were two purple stripes running down it’s entire body. It was a high level but it was also a normal monster, it was basically like fighting a mini-boss for Sora. He activated [Purge With Silver] before starting to circle around the snake, placing himself in front of a thick tree. The snake lunged at Sora as he jumped to the side, the snake sunk it’s fangs into the tree and received a [Slash] from Sora. The tail of the snake came whipping at him but he was able to pull up his dagger just in time to redirect the tail. Sora used [Concuss] to get off a basic attack and run behind the tree, placing the snake’s head on one side of the tree and his tail on the other side of the tree as it slithered around, trying to attack Sora. Sora used a [Crippling Strike] just as the snake came around the tree and then dodged another attack. He kept dancing around the tree, causing the snake to be entwined on it and finally took a hit from the snake's tail as he delivered the final strike.

That one strike had halved his health so he decided to take a break before moving any further in, he didn’t want to accidentally aggro another snake or he would have to run and pray that he can make it out alive. After a short break, Sora continued his journey through the jungle, this time spotting the snakes before he got close to them.

…..

“Hehehe this greatsword is so cool, I almost one shot that bandit! Did you see it LeeLee?”

“Mhmm, good job Blossom.”

Blossom and LeeLee decided to go back to the bandit cave to level up on the level 34 bandits that roamed around before the boss room. They had been killing them for a couple days now and had made good progress, just on the verge of leveling up. Blossom had been talking nonstop about her new greatsword and LeeLee humored her each time she mentioned it.

Just as the two girls finished off the last bandit in the room, a group of players suddenly entered. The party consisted of a tank, a healer, and three damage dealers. When the group saw the two girls they formed a wall to block them from leaving.

“Hehehe, what a nice coincidence. Now that we found you, how about you give us the loot that you stole from us?”

“Ugh, it’s the dumb guy who thinks he’s a bandit boss again.”

“You- Fine then, I guess we will have to teach you a lesson about stealing other people's loot. Let’s see how good you are without the boss doing-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, a shadow blurred past him overhead and landed on the healer. It was like deja vu as the healer was killed, this time with only one [Overwhelm]. Blossom recast her [Savage Leap] to go on top of the mage who was next to the healer, also immediately ending the fight with only two attacks. The leader of the party tried to run at Blossom but was hit from behind with [Barbed Strike], slowly killing him. He decided to try and kill LeeLee first, thinking that she would have less defense than Blossom. LeeLee used [Shimmer] just as the man turned around.

-Evaded

The leader had thrown three hits out, all of them missing as the final tick of bleeding damage drained his health. The rest of the party was quickly dispatched after being sandwiched between Blossom and LeeLee. This was the second time in two days that they have had to wait to respawn. The two girls now had a red name and didn’t really know much about it. They decided to ask Sora.

“Hey, mister fisherman. I got a question.”

“Hmm, what is it?”

“Why is my name tag red?”

“... Who did you kill?”

“Remember that group that tried to steal our boss? Well they came back for revenge… or something like that, they died pretty easily so I’m not really sure what they planned.”

“Ah, well the red tag basically means you're labeled as a murderer and won’t be allowed to enter and towns, cities, or any privately owned territory. If you do then the guards will attack you on sight.”

“Ehhhh?! That’s a little harsh for defending ourselves…”

“It’s because you attacked first, if they had made the first move then you wouldn’t have suffered the penalty. Just keep killing enemies and the tag will eventually go away.”

“Got it! By the way, where did you go?”

“I’m on my way to hopefully get my class.”

“Hopefully?”

“Shit! I’ll explain later, I just accidentally aggroed another snake.”

“Ok, have fun mister fisherman!”

“What did he say?”

Blossom relayed the message to LeeLee and they continued to kill bandits until their names returned to normal.

…..

It took Sora more time than he imagined because of all the snakes, the jungle was filled with them and he ended up aggroing three in total throughout his journey. He was now hiding within the thicket of the jungle, looking at the mountain in front of him. The mountain seemed to reach up to the heavens, It was even larger than Mount Valor. At the base of the mountain there was a large amount of blue tinted ore that seemed to be iced over, with many insect creatures patrolling around it. More patches of the blue ore could be seen on the side of the mountain, but the terrain was rugged so the insect creatures only guarded the base of the mountain. Some of the creatures looked like a mantis, some looked like caterpillars, some even made a chirping noise and looked like a cricket. Sora patiently waited for a group of the insect monsters to go by before slipping through the cave entrance.

Sora remembered the cave being somewhat complex, you could go up one path and end up walking for an hour just to find yourself back at the start of the cave. He only vaguely remembered some landmarks that he had found in his previous life but other than that he was basically walking around blindly. Each time he came up to a corner he would carefully listen before checking to see if there was any insect monster. After 2 hours of careful treading and marking his path with small incisions made in the rock wall, he found himself back at a path he had already taken, somewhat near the entrance of the cave. Sora continued to take different routes, backtracking when he hit a dead end or a path he has already taken. Eventually he found his way to a chunk of the blue ore that was in between a fork in the cave. It was something he had remembered from his last life and already knew he needed to take the right side.

After a lot of trial and error, along with sneaking past more insect creatures than he can count, he found himself at the entrance to a huge cave, covered with cocoons. In the middle was a cocoon that reach all the way to the ceiling with a name badge clearly labeling it.

Level 55 -Cocoon of Visux, The Ripper-

Sora spent a full hour walking around the cave, checking every corner for anything that might disrupt his fighting. Every 7-10 minutes there would be a group of mantis creatures that swept through the cocoon cavern but Sora found a place where the cavern wall jutted out a little and made a small crevice, he would keep a close eye on the entrances to the cavern and run to the crevice when the insect creatures entered. After Sora was positive that the cave was empty and the guards had already passed through, he swung his sword at the cocoon.

-57

The first hit didn’t even take off a sliver of the health bar on the boss, Sora sighed as he prepared himself for a long fight, full of unknown possibilities.