We were in a deserted town, it looked like the village I started the game but in ruins. There wasn't a soul in the sunset lit town… except for the monsters that infested the area.

According to Chop, this was an area I'm not supposed to be in yet, later in the storyline I can come here but Chop making a party with me let me enter way early. I think it's some weird parallel world or something. The only sounds came from Chop and I.

“Keep getting hit! Come on!” Chop cheered. He was relaxing in an absurd chair, It was two tiny trees with a hammock in the middle. Where did he even pull that out of from?

“I’m gonna die!” I screamed. Several goblins were whacking into me again and again with their daggers. I used my Defense skill as each blow landed on me, but it didn't help much. Each stab into my body drastically decreased my HP.

Just as I was about to expire however, Chop waved his hand in the air, a magic spell washed over me as he did so. My body shined green and my HP was restored back to max. Healing magic is cool but not when it's used when I'm being bullied like this!

What was the point of this again?

Defense proficiency reached. Rank has increased to C. Skill derived from Defense. Movable Armor Obtained.

Right, that’s why. I was trying to get the skill that just appeared.

“Reversal!” I shouted, spinning the goblins away from me. I didn’t actually hurt them all that much. They were stronger than me by quite a bit. Thankfully, Chop shot a blast of lightning from his fingertips and wiped them all out. So strong!

But I’m getting stronger too. I looked at my stats.

Skier. Level 12. Exp 0/3000. The Goddess's Learner, Head: Empty, Chest: Leather Chest, Legs: Leather Leggings, Shoes: Leather Boots. Weapon: Broadsword. Off hand: Empty.

340/340 HP, 120/120 MP

STR 55. INT 37, DEX 55 LUK 28 WILL 30.

My WILL has been growing along with my Defense skill. I was a bit confused on what it did but apparently, according to Chop, it effects my overall physical defense along with some magic modifiers. I don’t know what that means but the more the better is basically it.

I also got some new armor. Chop showed me a shop where I could buy them. With it I won’t die as easily! ...Not that it matters when I’ve been hurt by such tough enemies though.

"I really don't know why you take the time out to type out your skill attacks. You're gonna get yourself killed doing that man." Chop said.

“Its cooler to say your attacks, duh! But anyway I got the skill!” I said to Chop. He nodded with approval.

“Excellent! See I told you my training would be worth it. Try it out!”

I activated Defense. I try to swing my sword and did it! It was extremely slow though, but at least I can attack now! This must have been the skill that redhead jerk used to block and attack me right after.

“It worked!” I said happily.

“See? That’s an important skill to have for a close quarters fighters. If you rank it up enough, you’ll be able to move at near full speed with your defense boost up.” Chop said.

“Just near full speed?” I asked.

“There’s gotta be some drawbacks… unless your clever that is. Watch this.”

Chop pulled out his sword and struck several times in the air. “See the speed of my attacks with my Roaring Aqua? Look what happens when I activate Defense along with my Movable Armor.”

Chop’s body glowed blue and he swung again with his sword, Roaring Aqua. That was such a cool name for a sword! A-anyway as Chop swung, this time instead of being slower it was actually faster.

“I thought you said you’d be slower with it!”

“I technically was, you see the devs of this game were lazy and didn’t think of the consequences of how they programmed their game. I told you about diminishing returns right?” Chop said.

I nodded. “Directional returns yeah! They stop you from getting stronger right?”

“It’s diminishing. And to answer your question yes and no. You see skills can go up forever. The softcap, or the max they can go without being drastically reduced is Rank SSS. You can still raise them, but the skill will only go up very slightly in power. So slight that for almost every other skill it’s useless to raise them past that.”

Chop deactivated his skill. He did a couple more swings to show that he did indeed went back to normal attacking speed. “One of the few skills that is worth it is the Movable Armor skill. The way they programmed it is instead of simply reducing the speed decrease of the Defense Skill, they had it so the decreased stayed the same, and you just got a speed bonus on top of it. Sounds like it does the same thing but it’s very much different. If you raise the skill past the cap, you’ll eventually have your speed boost go past the speed decrease, making you not only have more defense but also an increase of speed for no downside!”

“So you basically found a weird loophole and took advantage of it?"

“Exactly. My protégé is smarter than he seems! Still, even with the ability to make it stronger, it’s not too much of a benefit. It took me months of being wailed on by high level mobs to get to this point. I literally didn’t sleep for days as I moved and got damaged trying to grind it to this point. You’ll be better off just reaching the cap for now.”

"Okay, if you say so. What should I do now? Can I learn your lightning attack?"

"Not yet, you don't know magic yet."

"Then how do I get magic then? Tell me! Tell me!" I waved my sword around.

"Later, we still gotta fix your stats."

"No! I wanna shoot lightning now!"

"I said later!"

"TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME…" I ran around Chop, repeating it again and again.

"Oh my god, okay fine! We can have you learn one spell. Don't blame me if you're not happy with your stats later on though." Chop said. I was happy.

I bowed to him. "Thank you Sensei!"

Chop waved his hand in front of his face. "Don't thank me. Here."

Chop dropped a scroll on the ground. I picked it up.

Return to Elrena scroll obtained.

"What's Elrena?"

"Didn't you listen to the- never mind I know you didn't. It's the castle northeast of Tenesys."

"...What's Tenesys?"

Chop sighed again. He does that a lot with me. "It's the Village you started the game in. There’s four major towns in this game. Tenesys, Elrena, Perning City, And Karion. Tenesys in the south, Elrena to the east, Perning to the west and Karion north. In the center of the continent is the Sleeping Forest and the Dungeon. Got it? I’m not repeating it again. "

"So that's what it was called what the village was called. I won’t forget it!" I learned something new again, Sensei is so smart.

"So anyway, use the scroll and we'll be teleported there. Go on."

I did as asked and went into my inventory. I used the scroll.

Teleport to Elrena?

I hit yes.

Chop and I flashed in a beam of light and vanished into the sky.

Next thing I knew we were in another town center. This one was much different. There were huge buildings and a fountain in the middle! In the skyline there was a castle. It was weird though, it was surrounded by even bigger trees, the branches and vines weaving in and out like it was apart of the fixure. It was pretty neat! Didn't that old guy say something about going to a castle? I don't remember. It probably wasn't that important. There were so many players with fancy clothing and armor. They looked so cool!

I want something to make me look cool.

"Sensei, I wanna look cool." I said.

"Eh? What happened to wanting to learn magic?"

"I wanna look cool too though! Everyone's clothes are so sparkly and awesome looking." I pointed at the fancy players

"They just spent BX for that stuff. It doesn't affect their stats at all." Chop said, shaking his head

"What's BX?"

"Bixon Cash. It's named after the company that made this game. It's a premium currency used for buying cosmetics or pets. There's a few pay to win items like 2x EXP or drop rate but they're minimal enough to not make a big difference. You can only get it by buying it with real money."

"I don't have any real money…" I said with a frown. I guess I can't look cool then.

"Don't look sad dude. Here." Chop's bandana disappeared, leaving his hair to fall to his shoulders.

Trade request from Chop. Accept?

I blinked. I hit accept, in the trade window was his bandana.

"I can't take your hat! It's yours!"

"Nah it's yours now. I don't need it I have others in my storage."

"But…"

"Hit accept!"

I did as I was told and hit accept.

Black Bandana obtained.

It's stats were okay, didn't really raise anything than INT by a few points. Was it really okay for me to have it though?

I equipped it.

I looked so cool now though! My black hair tied behind my head perfectly now. I really felt like an adventurer!

"Sensei… Thank you!"

"Don't sweat it, anything for my protégé. Come on, let's head to the castle!"

Chop began walking towards the castle and I hurried along after him.

"Here we are." Chop said. The castle was huge, massive! The gates were so big. Good thing they were open otherwise I'd have no idea how we would get in. I don't why they even need it, there's a big moat as well with a drawbridge. Not very practical if you ask me.

"So the magic sidequest starts here. It's not really hard. You just talk to the librarian who asks you go to fetch a bunch of red slime cores. I already have some so you can auto complete it."

"Wow! Then I can shoot lightning out of my sword?" I said.

"No, that comes much later." Chop said. We crossed the drawbridge and were right outside of the gates.

"Anyway lets-" Chop was cut off and disappeared.

What?

"Chop?" I called out. Did he leave me? We just entered the main part of the castle and he's gone! Jerk. Maybe this is a test? To see if I can reach the library on my own? Yeah that has to be it! I'll show you I can do it, Sensei!

I'm alone but it's okay! Onward!

I continued through the halls of the castle. Everything was so fancy. With the artwork on the wall of regal figures to the shining chandeliers. I don't think I could love in a castle that's for sure. I continued down the red carpet, looking for signs of the library.

Eventually, I came across a set of double doors I pushed them open.

Inside was a throne room, but it was a wreck. When I say a wreck, I mean everything was ruined. The stain glass on the walls were destroyed, the curtains ripped and a few burning, several chunks of the red carpet I've been following were outright gone, and finally at the throne, a king was kneeling on the ground, injuries apparent all over.

In front of him was a man in pitch black armor. A crimson cape flowed from his back It looked like he had horns piercing from the top of his helmet. He held a long black sword, that was edged with a white trimming. That was cool. I want a cool sword too!

The king turned to me.

"The hero Skier! You've returned with the Core!"

I nodded. Why did I nod? I didn't do that. I don't even know what he's talking about! What core? Huh?

I held out a shiny rock. "I have the core! We can finally harm you, Kuro!"

Why am I speaking? Why did I have that stupid core I sold already again? I'm so confused! When can I control myself again?

The man in dark armor laughed. "Even with your Goddess silly charm it won't matter. You're still just too weak to harm me!"

His arm shot out, his cape bellowing from the power he gathered as a burst of dark energy erupted from him. I was pushed back but the core created a barrier around me.

A dark version of the PVP barrier formed in the middle of the throne room, the guy in armor teleported into the middle with a flash.

"Come, meet your maker." He said, raising his sword.

I have no idea what's going on but if he wants a fight I'm down! I noticed I regained control my body and thus, raised my own sword.

Guard En!

The man in armor flashed towards me, I quickly activate my Defense. My body flashed blue right before the blow landed on my side. Urgh! My hp fell to half. In a single blow, this guy is tough!

I was able to resist and with the combination of my new Movable Armor skill I was able to quickly strike with a counter attack.

My sword shined as I struck right in his center, but instead of his HP bar going down mine did. I was blown back from just hitting him.

My weapon left my hand and I was left lying on the ground.

I tried to get back up but I couldn't. What the heck? Did I lose control again?

"Ha. Even with your Core you can't even hope to stand a chance against me."

I held out the Core. "Come on Goddess… I know you can help me!" I said. I don't why I said that, but hey Goddess! Come save me! I'm the chosen hero after all and I don't want my first death in this game to be so unfair!

"Your Goddess is gone, never to return to this plain." The armored man raised his sword high and swung. Help!

As if listening to my pleas, a beam of light appeared between me and the man in armor. There was a white haired girl with deep red eyes. Her scythe stopped the man's blow before it could reach me.

"It can't be!" The man said

"Goddess!" I said. Wow she actually came. That was really cool! Can I teleport like that?

"Hero, you did well to collect my Core, but there's still another item you need. I can't stay for long but I can send you there. Find my priest deep within the Sleeping Forest. The world depends on you!" The Goddess said.

I'm still clueless but if the world needs saving I can totally help!

The goddess lifted her hand and I was washed away in a beam of light.