For the first time on this journey, Jisha took the map out of her inventory to inspect it.

*Hmm... Looks like I've veered slightly off course.*

When Jisha originally purchased the map from the frontier shop, it had been a blank parchment. However, after activating it, all of the areas she had visited were slowly colored in.

As of now, most of the paper was still white. Starting in the middle, there was a group of buildings that could only represent the Uval Hamlet. From there, there was a thick line of green due west jutting out from the middle.

Jisha traced the line with her finger.

*And this is where I found the Corrupted Land.*

The straight green line became purple and was bent at roughly a 25 degree angle towards the south. The purple line wasn't straight, though; every detour Jisha had taken in order to find the center of the Corrupted Land had been accurately mapped out, taking her even further south.

*Alright. This way, then.*

Jisha was in a forest, but she could still see where the sun was due to the sparseness of the trees. Using the position of the sun as a pseudo compass, she reoriented herself and sprinted what originally would have been due west.

*It's convenient that stamina is not a thing yet.*

She wouldn't have been able to sprint nonstop for this long if it was.

As one leveled up, more and more hidden stats would be revealed, complicating the game further. Stamina was one of those hidden stats.

Similar to how magic and Attack Speed didn't exist before level 5, Stamina didn't exist until level 10. And even then, it was very lenient. The more you leveled up, the harder it became to level up further. This wasn't only because the experience required to level up increased each level; there were other factors involved.

One such factor was the increasing difficulty and intelligence of higher-leveled mobs. Killing lower-leveled common mobs would not grant you sufficient experience to level up in a reasonable amount of time, so you needed to kill higher-leveled mobs to level up at the same rate. As they leveled up, monsters not only got basic stat boosts, but intelligence upgrades as well.

Current monsters were dumb enough to kill using traditional methods, such as smacking them in the face until they died. For Jisha, it was as if she were a high-ranked VMA player creating a new, low-ranked second account to stomp newbies. It was at least a little fun, otherwise people wouldn't do it.

Another such factor, as mentioned earlier, was Stamina leniency. More and more actions would consume Stamina at higher levels. This meant that potential exploration time would be decreased. You would have to rest more often since you would die if you ran out of Stamina.

Being able to run at a full sprint nonstop was useful and exhilarating, and Jisha wanted to abuse this mechanic as much as possible.

*This experience is something you can't get anywhere else!*

Jisha had a bright smile on her face as she continued sprinting through the forest.

---

"I still can't believe we actually got driven out. That's so pathetic."

"Cut it out, will you? I've kept saying it's not our fault that only two of us were dispatched to that hamlet."

"I know, but still... We didn't even get to evolve our class. I can't believe I'm stuck throwing these stupid black balls. This game sucks. Other than being extremely realistic, it has no redeeming qualities. Why are we even-"

"Brookie, shut up. We've leveled up to 1, so we can at least survive in the wild. Also, you're welcome to leave Synergy AND Asunder if you want to. I'll let Stein know right away."

"..."

A Ranged and a Melee player walked through the sparse forest. Due to meeting a large enemy force in their nearby hamlet, they were forced to retreat from the Safe Zone. However, just because PvP was disallowed in Safe Zones didn't mean players had no way of harassing each other.

Eventually, the Covan Hamlet became a hub for grappling, sudo and other non-lethal hand-to-hand combat techniques. Of course, it was two against many, and the harassment from the large group of players didn't stop.

Shock Collar would block entrances to doors of important locations, not allowing the two Asunder players to gain any information or resources. An hour passed, and even their level 1 class evolution quest would constantly be foiled. After all, if you were pushed, it counted as moving. It was impossible for them to stay still for even 5 seconds, which was all it would have taken to upgrade to Adroit.

Inevitably, they were forced out of the hamlet and into the wild.

"I know it's humiliating, but we'll have to do our best to find another Safe Zone so we can evolve. In the meantime, we can still level up. Let's find some mobs. I know you didn't play the beta, but hunting mobs is pretty interesting in this game."

The Melee, Dharr, did his best to console his Ranged partner.

"I hope so..."

"See, look. There's a Green Slime. I'll let you take it out by yourself."

Dharr had played in the beta, so he was a bit more familiar than Brookie with the combat mechanics of Synergy. The level 1 Green Slime was a perfect opportunity for Brookie to experience the world of Synergy for himself.

Brookie looked at the round object bouncing towards him. It was too pathetic to be called a "monster".

"How did you see its name?"

Though it was obviously green and gelatinous, Brookie turned to Dharr, wondering how he knew the exact name of the mob.

"Just think about appraising it in your mind as you look at it. Its name and level should automatically be known to you then."

Brookie was slightly confused at this explanation, but did as he was told regardless.

As he thought of "appraisal" while looking at the slime, information was directly transferred to his mind.

*>Name: Green Slime*

*>Level: 1*

"Whoa... Honestly, that's more impressive than anything else so far."

Brookie was amazed at the technology that was directly able to transfer information without the necessity of a HUD. No screen had popped up in front of him; after the appraisal, he just *knew* this information.

"You're really impressed by something so simple? Imagine how many other impressive things are in this game," Dharr said.

"I guess that's true..."

"The reason Stein wants everyone to be so invested in this game is because he sees an incredibly bright future within it. Even if you aren't impressed by some aspects of it, this product is so far ahead of other VR technology that almost everyone will find something they'll be interested in... is what he said. In the future, he said it'll even bring down the outdated feudal system. I'm not sure about that one, though... But you know how he is."

"Hmm..."

"Anyway, attack the slime. Let's see if you can hit it from here."

The Green Slime was roughly 10 metron away from the two, and it was slowly bouncing closer. Brookie lined up a shot and threw a Starter Pellet with all his might. In his mind, the pellet would go straight through the slime, vaporizing it... but reality was different.

The pellet ended up on the ground, disappearing far from the intended target.

"Hahaha...! I knew something like that would happen!"

Seeing this, Dharr couldn't help but laugh.

"What the hell just happened?"

On the other hand, Brookie was confused. In the real world, he was an expert darts player, so he knew exactly how to throw things. Though throwing a ball was slightly different from throwing a dart, the experience of seeing projectiles flying from your hand was shared across both activities.

Brookie turned to Dharr, who seemed like he knew what was going on.

"Haven't you noticed how weak a level 1 body is?" Dharr pointed out.

"Huh... Now that you mention it..."

Brookie then realized that his throw had a lot less power behind it than if he were to throw something in real life. After all, though they weren't world-class, Dharr and Brookie both had strong bodies in the real world. The level 1 bodies they were piloting were indeed weaker than what they were used to.

"Try again, Brooks."

"Hmmm... Alright."

The Green Slime was now only 5 metron from them, so Brookie was able to hit it accurately this time.

-9

It didn't die in one shot, but Brookie wasn't fazed. He lined up another shot...

-12

... and hit! The green blob exploded into a white mist, startling Brookie.

"Haha, I guess it is your first time seeing a death animation."

Dharr casually picked up the slime's loot while Brookie stood in wonderment as the white light was absorbed by his body, increasing his XP bar slightly.

"Grinding mobs in an RPG is something I've done so often, but actually being here and doing it myself, with these hands... It's a different feeling," Brookie said.

"Yeah, it is. You can't describe it with words, right?"

"... Yeah. I guess this is what Stein was talking about."

"Ok, enough of that. You're not missing again, okay?"

After another minute or so of walking through the forest, they heard some leaves rustling behind them.

Hearing this, Brookie instinctively went on full alert.

"Who's there? ... Oh, it's just another slime."

"Really, you got scared of a slime? Hahahaha...!"

"Man, shut up. I've never been in a forest before, so this is all new to me."

Wanting to avoid further embarrassment, Brookie lined up his shot and fired at the slime, which was roughly 15 metron away.

Though he still missed, it was clear that Brookie had adapted better to the new body he was controlling.

He immediately threw another pellet, and this time...

-11

It was a direct hit.

"Not bad!" Dharr whistled.

Brookie smiled as he lined up another shot, once again hitting the slime directly.

-10

The slime exploded the same way and his body absorbed all of the light.

*>+1 Copper*

In a similar fashion as earlier, his mind received information that money was added to his coin pouch. As he wondered how much money he had, more information was relayed to his mind.

*>Coin Pouch*

*>Copper: 11*

"What are you standing there for? Go pick up its loot. You killed it, after all," Dharr encouraged.

"Oh, right."

Brookie walked forward to where the slime had disappeared and found a small green blob in its place.

As he picked it up, he could vividly feel the sticky gelatinous texture of the item he was holding.

"This is interesting, too. Never have I even considered what loot from mobs feels like..."

"Hurry up and put it in your inventory. We'll be here forever if you dawdle. You seem really interested in everything all of a sudden when you were so detached earlier. What's up with that?"

Brookie stared at the slimeball in his hand while they walked forward. After pondering Dharr's question, he gave a response.

"... I've always wanted to travel, but I never had time. I've always wanted to go around the world and see, hear, and touch different things. I've always wanted to experience what's out there with my own five senses. Of course, there are VR simulations of various locations, but they're not that great. It's also not the same as experiencing the journey yourself. I think... this game can provide some sort of replacement for that desire."

"..."

Not expecting the answer to be so deep, Dharr remained silent as they walked forward.

After several more minutes in silence, Brookie noticed something odd.

"Hey... Why haven't we seen another monster yet?"

"Uh... That's a good point. I'm not sure, but we don't really have a choice but to keep going."

"And... What's that?"

Noticing something else different, Brookie became excited.

"I... don't know."

This time, even the beta tester Dharr didn't have an answer.

"Should we go take a look?" Brookie asked.

"Uh... Sure."

The two of them walked forward to inspect the unusual phenomenon. When they got near enough to clearly see it...

"Whoa..."

"This is... unsettling to say the least."

In front of them, the grass was turning a shade of black, and the flora were dying. In the distance, they could even see hints of purple peeking through the wilted trees. It was as if they were looking into a different world.

"So... Do we check it out?" Brookie asked.

"I'd rather not..." Dharr apprehensively replied.

"Just because you don't know what it is doesn't mean you have to be scared of it, man. You were probably a beta tester because you wanted to gather some knowledge about this unknown world, right?"

"..."

Dharr didn't respond to what was basically the hard truth.

"Look at it as I do; it's the unknown. We're discovering something for the first time. There are new sights, sounds, and everything else to experience. Even if you don't want to, I'm going in."

Dharr wanted to rebut by saying fear of the unknown was completely reasonable, but before he could, Brookie was already striding towards the anomaly.

With a sigh, Dharr tagged along behind him.