Chapter 39: First day off

Luna couldn't gain any red orb points from mud monsters anymore.

Some players tried to kill 100 and even 1000 monsters of the same species hoping that it would give them some extra bonuses. But alas the limit was ten, and killing above that didn't deliver anything except experience points.

Luna told everything to Safo Nur, who chose to sit under the tree and watch his happy friend’s killing spree, and then she left searching for other monsters. Safo envied her energy but could totally understand her.

It was his turn then. Without any weapon, his strength and attack were 0.1, which meant he had to hit at least 30 times to kill a single monster. While damage from the mud monsters was 1.

His first fight took him longer than for Luna to kill all ten monsters. The worst part for him was that the mud monsters were very short creatures, the tallest could reach his waist. Making the punching part difficult for Safo, his back hurt after some time.

He started with practicing hit and run fighting strategy. He punched and kicked as many times as he could before the mud monster started to raise its hands, that was the moment for Safo to flee.

Fighting on top of the mud lake had a toll on his stamina too. It was uncomfortable to run through the dirt. Despite his struggles, he managed to kill his first monster.

Safo engaged with the next target straight away and it took him slightly less time for the second time. He had been hit 4-5 times by that time and lost some HP. But succeeded to kill his second foe.

After 5 minutes of rest, he went again. He picked one that was separated from others and rushed towards it. He threw about 10 light punches in a few seconds and jumped back avoiding the strike from muddy hands. Then jumped forward again with barrels of punches. In several attempts like that he was able to finish the monster with a critical hit when he gathered his strength and threw a powerful low kick.

With the same winning strategy, he fought with his fourth monster and won, leveling up as a result. And only then he realized something very significant.

‘I have a freaking system!’ He was so busy rushing with his training that he forgot to enjoy and appreciate new and unbelievable things in his life. It was real, all the light novels, mangas, and manhwas that he had read finally came to be true, he had the system too. It gave him a new wave of energy.

Each mud monster gave 3 exp, so four of them gave 12 exp. Now he was level 2 and had 2 out of 20 experience points. At level 2 mud monsters gave 2 exp points. At level 3 only 1 exp point, though.

Kutch instructed him to fight only mud monsters and not mind leveling up. He spent his whole time-fighting mud monsters and soon killed his tenth one. Now his status was the same as Luna's when she killed her 10th monster. But Safo Nur had no weapon and fought with bare hands. Soon, though, 10 hits were enough to kill a fiend. However, Safo didn’t consume his orb just yet.

Many players came to kill mud monsters and left when the construction of their orb was finished. And many other new adventurers came to replace them. They all had their weapons equipped so no one had to spend as much time as Safo Nur on those monsters.

So almost everyone mocked the silly tree, who fought without a weapon.

The very idea of area 1 was to find and equip a weapon. Only then adventurers were qualified to pass to Cube 2. Meaning that the current Cube was the easiest of all. The real game started from the next Cube.

Regardless, Safo Nur kept spending his time with mud monsters. When he was level 3 he accidentally chose the wrong opponent and got surrounded and killed by mud monsters.

Death in that game was not real death like in matrix or something. It hurt a lot, and gave an impression of almost real death in life, but could affect the body or brain in any way. Some experienced phycological traumas for some time but no more than that.

Players could lose exp points by dying on the field of Cube 1. That was the only penalty. Starting from area 2 there was a 1% chance of dropping one of the items from the inventory. By each Cube, the rate increased by two percent. Making 3% at Cube 3, 5% at Cube 4, etc.

By dawn in the real world when his alarm clock rang and he had to log out, Safo Nur killed 47 of the mud monsters and died only 3 times.

Meanwhile, Luna reached level 6 and was about to start her quest to hunt a Boss monster in search of a Tier 3 bow. She said the weapon suited her better, and that she was quite good at it already.

Safo checked his status before logging out of the game, even though Luna’s stats were much higher including that she already got one more orb, Safo didn't feel disappointed.

[Name: WorldDestroyer

Level: 3

Exp (Experience) 34/50

HP (Health Points): 14/20

MP (Mental Points): 0/0

Strength: 0.3

Agility: 0.3

Mental Power: 0.3]

After waking up Safo, Kutch, and Achraf sat to have a breakfast that O’rmon made for them. She was already gone. At the table, all they talked about was their game experience.

Achraf didn’t pay attention to leveling up or killing monsters, he just ran for the whole night. He couldn’t wait to see his daughter and level with her.

Luna shared the stories of her adventures through Safo.

Safo shared about his battles with the mud creatures. What kinds of punches he used and what kinds of kicks he utilized successfully. Now when he had a bit more experience, more questions about posture and certain moves popped up in his mind. Kutch was more than happy to hear their stories and answer the questions. For him they were like his new cube-buds, he was eager to see them in his guild.

After breakfast, they swiftly cleaned the dishes and went on with their hard work. Achraf returned to the game and kept on running towards Cilla village. By his estimate, it would take 2 more days before he will reach the destination.

Kutch and Safo went to the training hall down the street and began practicing fighting sparring with each other. Kutch mentioned that Safo noticeably got better, no more he closed his eyes while getting beaten at least. Instead, he managed to keep them focused on Kutch's hands and legs. He was able to even dodge some jabs. After hours of hand-to-hand combat training, Kutch led him to the gym. There they spent two more hours.

Surprisingly, for Kutch and for Safo himself, Safo’s limits jumped higher. If he could do only 4 repetitions of 15 push-ups, now he could do 4 repetitions with 20 push-ups easily. The same was true for everything else such as sit-ups, crunches, squats, and many other. His heavy lifting capability had increased a touch too, it wasn’t much but still progress.

Next on the schedule was resource practice. Special room made of highly durable, heavy-duty metal provided him a safe environment to use his powers in full capacity. His task was to improve the amount, duration, and might of the flame. Safo made a task for himself to gain better control over the flame. Kutch wasn’t interested in controlling and manipulating the flame however, he was more focused on winning the competition rather than showing off abilities. But still, Safo wanted to be a firebender and do tricks as the fire nation folk could.

Somewhere in the city, a high-class restaurant had not had many customers due to its prices. Regular psiora folk couldn't afford to visit such elite places often. Nevertheless, today they had a special guest, in their most private and intimate room.

The guest ordered appetizers, food, and drinks and informed the personnel that he was waiting for someone. The waiter didn’t even leave the room before the guest arrived, she was never late.

She visited the orphanages in the city donating money from her savings. She spent her entire day playing with the kids and talking to staff. She was genuinely concerned about their needs, so she could know what to bring in next time. Even though kids didn’t want to let her go she had to. She had a place to go and a person to meet.

“How was your trip? I worried about you, especially when you suddenly disappeared. I’m glad that you’re safe and sound. I do not know what I would do if…” It was hard to say out loud the worries that he had to overcome.

“I apologize, I didn’t mean to, you know that. Although I appreciate your attention, I can take care of myself. We faced an enemy that was stronger than we thought, so we had to flee to save our lives. Then our ship crashed in… You know what it doesn’t matter, I’m here now. I missed you. I didn’t expect you to be nominated as a candidate. Something changed after I left, apparently.” O’rmon was calm, she looked straight into his eyes while talking. She wasn’t there for the food or the ambiance, she came to see him. No one ever heard her voice to be so soft and melodic before. No one ever imagined her to be so delicate and warm.

“Yes, after you left accepting that task from your uncle despite my words, a lot changed. I changed, I do not want to be weak anymore. I want to control as much as possible. I do not want to stay hidden while my loved ones go risking their lives to fulfill their duty. I do not want to lose people. I want you to be on my side, I need your help.” The man patiently waited for her answer.

“What do you want me to do?” She replied.