Well, that's over. I'll keep it nicely tucked away in my soul, where it'll ferment and age like a fine wine, slowly rotting me away from the inside. Time to do something to clear my mind, and for the rest of this session. I'll go beat some woodland critters, why not.

I decide to head to the forest, through the rabbits, in the middle of which is a girl surrounded by them, fluffing them and stroking their little heads. That's real cute. Of course, the rest of them aren't in such a peaceful state, the players chasing them around having some degree of skill in hunting them now. I'll just go through.

Reaching the treeline again, I can hear faint noises. People? Bees? Eh, I'll find out. I head deeper in, this time it's a clear sky with a sun in it so I'm sure I won't be surprised. The first thing I come across is a boar trotting around, which stops as soon as it sees me. It gets real huffy and puffy and with a war squeal, it charges my way.

Unfortunately, I have too much strength for the level I'm at. With a mighty kick, I meet it head on. It hurts a lot, but I get its charge to stop instantly. Biiro finishes it off as I walk past, making a note not to kick a charging boar in the future.

You won!

You get: 25 XP

1x Boar Meat

Biiro gets 10 XP

Alright, off to a good start. I soon meet more boars, all of which attack me on sight. Hostile mobs are so weird. Of course, by jumping, which they can't do, I can negate their attack completely then kill them without taking any damage. It takes a while before I meet something that's not a boar, and of course, it has to be wild dogs. This time, though, it's not fun-sized, there's like 20 of them. I spot them before they spot me, and I wait for a bit.

You won!

You get: 240 XP

Level up! You are now level 10! All stats increase by 1!

7x Boar Meat

2x Boar Tusk

Crush gets 104 XP

Biiro gets 87 XP

Soon, a party passes through and triggers the dogs, which are rather quickly taken care of by the double-stack of everything. A party of 8 is on the large side, no doubt, but it's also very efficient with 2 tanks, 2 melee DPS, 2 healers and 2 mages. It's like two balanced parties decided to join forces. I wouldn't be able to fight like that.

They pass by me on their way and we exchange a nod of greetings.

"Okay then, let's see if I can do that too."

Heading further into the forest, I meet a smaller bunch of wild dogs, four of them which I know I can take. Drawing their attention with a "Hey!", I put myself in a defensive stance. They charge at me in a straight line, ignoring Crush and Biiro completely which costs them the back dog, and the one in the lead leaps for my throat as I expected. A yap is all I hear before it's launched into the air and never gets to hit the ground. Wow, this extra strength is quite nice.

The other two leap at me simultaneously from both sides, prompting me to roll out of the way in order to dodge then attack them, punting one into a tree and wrestling the other one to the ground where I quickly finish it off with my fist. That was a rapid-fire round, it seems.

You won!

You get: 105 XP

2x Fang

20 Gold

Crush gets 17 XP

Biiro gets 17 XP

Seems like leveling up is easier than I thought. Alright, let's farm some XP then head home.

For at least two hours, I fight pack upon pack of wild dogs, boar after boar, and I almost step on one of the weird tusk-porcupines. I see the 8-man party twice more during this time period, and they're still friendly, which is good. After a while of this routine, I get the brilliant idea to explore further instead of roaming at a similar depth. I get to meet another type of creature, the fuzzy little black thing from when I first started playing.

You won!

You get: 984 XP

Level up! You are now level 11!

Level up! You are now level 12!

Level up! You are now level 13!

10x Dog's Tail

33x Fang

12x Boar Meat

4x Boar Tusk

Crush gains 542 XP

Crush is now level 10!

Crush is now level 11!

Biiro gains 603 XP

Biiro is now level 12!

You have gained the Dodge skill!

"Pai! Pai!" it cries at me. I still have no clue what it wants. "Pai!" Two twiggy black arms extend from the mass of black and pull me. It wants me to follow it somewhere. This seems more fun than before. Where could it be leading me?

I see a little shack partially hidden by overgrown bushes and it leads me through the empty doorframe. Inside is nothing but a chest. "Pai! Pai!" its little fingers are pointing at it. It wants me to open the chest, but couldn't it have done it itself?

"Can't you open that yourself? It doesn't seem locked. Is there some spiritual reason, are you not allowed to touch them?"

To demonstrate, it reaches towards the chest, but it's stopped by something. A barrier stops it from touching the chest. It pushes and struggles, but no dice. I reach out and touch the chest just fine, though. Bracing myself for the possibility of this being an elaborate trap, I carefully lift the lid.

The instant it's even slightly opened, it blows wide out and a huge stream of black stuff comes out. It all pours into the little being next to me, which I take loads of distance from, and the shack as well. I can hear it, it's making a violently evil-sounding cascading noise. Did I help the wrong being?

Just as suddenly as it started, the noise stops. Tendrils of darkness consume the shack and turn it to nothing in a few seconds. Then, a large being, clearly non-humanoid, appears in front of my eyes. It is a mass of shifting darkness, with two spotlights for eyes, shining right on me.

"Mortal," it says, "I thank you for freeing my soul from this fetid prison. My sentence was long overdue, and I am ready to repent. Seek the Altar of Chaos in the Corrupted Woods, and I will have a reward waiting for you when you get there."

Then it vanished.

Storyline Quest discovered!

The Prison of the Chaos God

Find the Altar of Chaos in the Corrupted Woods, and take your reward.

Bonus: Come in first.

Rainbow Chad has discovered the first Storyline Quest! The map function is now available! Leaderboards are now available! Dungeons have been unlocked!

The world is rapidly changing, humans. Can you withstand it?

Oh my God, is that a direct announcement? All the hardcore gamers are gonna be after me now, for sure. The shack is now a staircase, descending into the darkness. I go down, and there's a strange barrier blocking me.

Lair of the Lost

Level 40 Dungeon

You cannot enter because you do not meet the minimum level requirement.

Holy shit, this is big. This game is a proper game now! We were in the tutorial the whole time? Wait, leaderboards? Let's check 'em. Categories... Highest Level, Richest Player, Most Kills, Best PvP Score, Relevance to the World. I'm the only one with points in that last category, but I'm far surpassed in everything else. The highest level right now is 52! What kind of insane grind is that?! If I'm gonna matter to the world, I better step my shit up!

...Later. For now, the system clock says it's 10 minutes IRL until I have to wake up, so I need to get to the inn as quick as possible. I've got the feeling that I'll need every second I can get.

On my way back, I stumble across the 8-man party from earlier.

"It's that guy!"

"Red exclamation mark! The quest says it'll be released upon death! Get 'em!"

Shit, I'm marked for death? What the hell, this isn't fair! How am I supposed to do anything with the entire playerbase of a video game on my ass?! This game is horribly designed, can't I just sign off and forever stop them from getting the quest? I have to book it to town now, there's no other choice!

The 8-man party throws a few spells and a dagger at me, but only graze me with an Aqua Impact. They all seem rather slow, so that's not an issue. What is an issue is the fact that I can see a minimap and I have a big fat blip right on me, showing my position to the whole wide world. How am I meant to blow past them and into the city this time?

Especially now that I know how hopelessly outmatched I am. Seriously, a fucking army is heading my way and I'm running straight for something behind it!

Get a job, you madmen! What even am I supposed to do at this point? I'll just fucking run, I guess.

I cross a few more players on my way back. Now that I have a minimap, I can tell where I'm going and where nearby players are, so it's not all bad. The only one that was a threat got taken apart by a three-second-charge wind blade attack. Thanks, Biiro!

I'm almost at the meadow now, and I can tell there's a mass of them running straight for me. Coming out into the grassland, a bombardment of spells begins and I sprint at full force towards the middle of the crowd. Biiro is using continuous wind blades and Crush is doing the spike-stretch thing. I, however, choose to put my fists up and unleash a torrent of punches, a blind attack rush into the crowd. Seriously, why is my Strength unmatched so far? They're all getting ragdolled!

Of course, this rush doesn't last long, but a good ten of them are dead now, and I try to leap above the crowd. If my strength makes me punch the spine out of people, surely I can jump pretty high too, right? Yes, yes I can. I soar slightly above the heads of the people and manage to run on them. They're so tightly packed, what are you lot? Sardines? I take a good dozen steps on their heads before they start to clear out and I land on the ground again. This time, I have no mercy. A Mighty Punch makes a few mages fart their ghosts out and I begin another rush of fists. There has to be a technique for this.

"You can't stop him, he's got superarmor! Get his mobility, cast slows, do something!"

I have superarmor? You mean, I'm unflinchable and can plow through a... Oh yeah, I can. Did the quest give me a buff against players? Ha ha, nice! I'm not in PK state eiither, this really is a special event. Fear the almighty raid boss player!

"Ha ha ha ha! You can't stop me, I'm going to the Inn for a good day's work! I'll log out and you'll be stuck waiting until tomorrow night!"

Disconnection in a safe zone is the fail condition for your pursuers. They will only get a vague hint and you will get a permanent attribute boost upon reconnecting based on your methods.

Thanks for telling me that, game! I guess I'll muscle my way through some more! Mighty Fist!

I blasted a tanker out of the way and kept sprinting at a level over my max power towards the city. There's still quite a lot of them, but the thickest part is behind me. Surely it can't be that easy.

Punching has leveled up! Thanks to your efforts, you gain the subskill Rush of Fists

Rush of Fists: continuously spend stamina to throw many punches at 120% power

Yes! I knew it! Thanks game, I'm gonna use it! Rush of Fists!

My hands speed up and I feel how hard the punches are. They're real strong now. My Stamina is depleting at around 1 point per 2 seconds with both this and Sprint active, though, so I turn it back off and decide to burst through with only my normal attacks. I'm getting closer now, I can see the open gates, but I can also see a well-equipped force. A proper pro guild, with some proper pro gear. Looks like the crafters worked hard.

There's a really big dude with a really big tower shield, looks like they realize I'm a player 'cuz they set it up for me to run straight at him. There's an actual archer, an ice mage with a pointy hat and a real staff, is that a warlock?, and a priest, to buff the tank I'm guessing. Well, if they want me to take the bait, I will.

"Biiro, get those casters! Crush, I'm gonna throw you at the archer!"

I threw Crush at the lady in cloth and leather, she didn't dodge. I heard the hum of Biiro charging up his attack. Collision in T minus 5 seconds.

"Oh no! Death--"

Biiro fired his single-blade attack and hit the casters before they could cast, Crush was stabbing at the archer who had her hands full at the moment, and I was getting ready. These guys were most likely around the 30-35 level range and just got their new gear, while I was fisting at them. That big guy was probably built 1:1 Strength and Constitution, so a normal attack would only suffice if I were to exploit a weakness. Instead, I'll grab that tower shield and make it mine.

"Iron Skf-"

"Shield Bash!"

Good, Crush enveloped the priest's head before he could say his spell out loud. That Shield Bash would be caught. I crouched low then threw my hands out, catching the shield before it could be swung properly. That would've broken my superarmor for sure. Instead, I slammed into the guy and wrung the shield off his arm, putting it on my own and lifting it to defend against the incoming projectiles of the slew of ranged classes stacked up behind the tanking crew. Really? One guy to block a Strength build with superarmor? I felt Crush hop back onto me and Biiro was now in the air above me, charging another, bigger attack. His evolution gave him way more power, what a beast.

I felt a huge amount of spells, arrows, cantrips and consumable bombs splash against the shield. It took the hits, but was rapidly caving in. Thankfully, there wasn't much more use to it than to block the wall of ranged attacks, and I threw it away just before slamming into another tank, this one less well equipped and most likely a lower level than the last given how I rammed it like a bull and he was flung. Then, Biiro let loose a big wall of blades into the crowd. For a moment, I had a clear path into the city, but a guy got in the way, brandishing a big axe.

"I told you I'd get my guild, you son of a bitch!"

He swung it down at me, I moved aside and punched him in the gut.

"Good try."

Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything. Rushing into the 50 meter circle around the city, I saw a few more people inside the gates, ready to do anything to stop me. They were stragglers, crafters and eccentrics, however, so I didn't expect much.

Shouldn't my Stamina have run out by now? It's at 41/99. They buffed everything for this mission, huh? Alright, if you insist. I ran through the few people who tried to stop me, took a left turn at the plaza, and headed for the hotel I used last time. The final stretch!

Something came barrelling out from an alleyway. A Minotaur. They count as monsters, do I get buffed against those too? It charged at me, a ferocious dive forward. It didn't have a name over its head, which meant someone shelled out good money to hire a mercenary. Fuckin' hell.

Priming Mighty Fist in both hands, I got ready to meet its frenzied charge with my own. Out of frustration, I decided "fuck this guy, he's probably a dick anyways."

We collided, two fists against two horns. I actually stopped, but he fell. I stepped over him and resumed running towards the hotel. Opening the door, I slowed to a walk.

"Can I get a room?"

"25 Gold."

"Here. Ten days."

"225."

I walked over to my room, closed the door, sat on the bed and as my wake-up alarm sounded out, logged out.