John was alone, standing outside the newbie village.
Lots of groups were hunting goblins nearby. Most of them were new players, level 1 or 2. Four or five people had to work together to kill one goblin.
Some saw John was alone and thought he was a high-level player. They all sent him group invites.
But when they found out he was a level 1 healer, they all avoided him as fast as they could.
"A level 1 healer, coming to the wilds by himself. What an idiot." a warrior player said with a look of disgust.
John was about to leave when he heard that. He looked at the man curiously and said, "I think I've seen you before. Are you a student from Karlove Academy?"
"Right." the warrior said proudly, then added, "Oh, I remember. You're that smart guy John. Wait, now you're just a waste."
"Haha." John laughed coldly and raised his staff, saying, "As long as you're from Karlove Academy, that's fine."
Then he slammed his staff down hard.
-11
A damage number flashed above the warrior's head.
"You're asking for death!" He jumped back in shock and got into a fighting stance, swinging his sword down.
Plop!
Blood splattered. John felt a sharp pain on his shoulder. The game was so real, even the pain felt like the real thing.
His HP dropped by 7 points, but a second later, it was full again.
The warrior was stunned. He had reached level 2, with all his stats put into Strength, but he was still not as strong as a healer. How was that possible?
John didn't give him a chance to react. He kept hitting with his staff.
-11
-10
Two more damage numbers appeared. The warrior finally realized what was happening. He looked at his confused teammates and shouted, "What are you waiting for? Fight together!"
The other three, a warrior and two mages, finally reacted and attacked.
Plop plop!
Two fireballs hit John.
-8
-11
The damage wasn't small, but it couldn't hurt John at all. His HP was full again in a second.
John didn't say a word. He kept hitting the two warriors rushing toward him.
"You're still alive? How is that possible?" The warrior shouted in disbelief.
They had taken over 100 HP from John, but he was still standing. And he only had 7 HP left.
Boom!
Another hit. His last 7 HP was gone in an instant. He turned into a white light and disappeared, back to the newbie village to respawn.
And his beginner sword fell to the ground.
[Beep, you killed a player on purpose. Your evil value increases by 1.]
A message appeared. His evil value was too high to enter the Safe Zone. But he could clear it by killing monsters.
John ignored it. He turned and set his eyes on another warrior.
"What… what are you?!" The warrior was frozen in place, not believing the man in front of him was just a healer.
Boom boom!
John didn't even bother to answer. He hit the man twice in a row with his staff. The warrior turned into a white light and disappeared.
Now only two mages were left.
"Run!" The two screamed in fear. Someone shouted it, and they turned and ran immediately.
Newbie death penalty was serious. You lost a level, and you might lose an item. Plus, you had to wait an hour to come back.
For newbies, especially those about to graduate, time was everything.
John quickly caught up with one mage. He kept hitting him with his staff. The mage screamed in pain.
Mages had high damage, but like healers, their skills had long cooldowns in the beginning. If you got close, they were useless.
"Please, don't kill me! I'm not from Karlove Academy!" The mage ran, covering his head, begging.
"You can't even team up with Karlove Academy people!" John didn't stop. He easily killed the guy.
As he was about to chase the other mage, the second mage had already run back to the newbie village.
The newbie village had a special protection system. No fighting allowed.
"Hmph, you're lucky you ran fast." John said coldly. He picked up the warrior's Longsword.
[Beginner Longsword: No class requirement, physical damage +1]
Great stuff!
This Longsword was way better than his healer staff. And since it was a newbie item, no class restrictions. He swapped out his staff, and his physical damage went up by one point.
The other players saw this and were shocked.
A level 1 healer had just killed a four-person group. That was crazy…
"Who here is from Karlove Academy?" John held the sword, his sharp eyes looking around at the players. He spoke coldly.
"We're not! We're not!"
"I'm from Aether Academy…"
The players stepped back in fear, quickly showing their identities.
John didn't recognize any of them. He ignored them and walked deeper into the wilds.
The players finally relaxed, but then felt a bit regretful. They shouldn't have mocked him. If they had invited him into their group, he would have been so powerful…
John reached the deep part of the wilds. There were almost no players here. Instead, a bunch of big, green creatures with wooden sticks and sharp teeth wandered around.
Level 2 goblins.
"Can I survive this?" John carefully approached a lone goblin, and when it wasn't looking, he swung his sword down.
Plop!
-9
A damage number flashed. The goblin roared, its eyes red, and swung its stick.
-14
John felt like he had been hit by a speeding car. He was pushed back by the force.
But the damage wasn't too bad. He only lost 14 HP, which he could handle easily.
"Hmph, that's not so bad." he said, feeling more confident. He swung his Longsword again and again.
Level 2 goblins had 80 HP. His attack speed was only 0.4. It took a long time, but he finally killed it.
[Killing a level 2 goblin, experience +30]
His experience jumped up. Killing monsters one level above you gave extra points. If he killed four more goblins, he would level up.
"Attack speed is still too slow. After leveling up, I should prioritize increasing Agility." John waved his sore wrist. He wasn't used to physical activity. His body wasn't strong, and the continuous fights had already made him exhausted.
He took a short break and cast another Basic Physical Damage Amplification on himself. His physical damage now reached 18 points.
Too bad his mana was down to just 20 points. He couldn't cast it again.
He needed to get copper coins as soon as possible to buy mana potions. That way, he could boost his physical damage when he leveled up.
John set his eyes on another lone goblin.
He charged in, no dodging, no avoiding, and killed it.
…
He repeated the same process and killed five goblins in total.
[Beep, your level has increased to 2, and you've earned 4 free attribute points]
The message flashed.
"Finally, I leveled up." John said happily. He opened his status panel and immediately added all four attribute points to his Agility.
His Agility was now 8, and his attack speed increased to 0.8. He could now attack 0.8 times per second—double what it was before.
"Keep going!" John felt more confident. He kept killing goblins.
Even though his damage didn't increase, the faster attack speed made dealing with these goblins much easier.
Within just a few seconds, another goblin was dead.
[Killing a Level 2 Goblin, Experience +20]
"Looks like it dropped something." John was surprised. The goblin dropped a copper coin after dying.
Common wild monsters rarely dropped items.
The real world and The Alternate World's currency had merged. Real-world transactions could be done directly through the Login Crystal.
In The Alternate World, coins came in gold, silver, and copper.
The exchange rate was 1 gold = 100 silver = 10,000 copper.
In the real world, one gold coin was enough for an ordinary person to live for a month.
John picked up the copper coin and kept killing goblins.
Gradually, he became bolder. He started pulling in two goblins at a time. As long as they couldn't kill him in one second, he was basically invincible.
He could handle two goblins easily—just took a bit more time.
[Killing a Level 2 Goblin, Experience +20]
[Beep, your level has increased to 3, and you've earned 4 free attribute points]
…
After half a day, John killed more than a dozen goblins and leveled up again. He was now Level 3.
He still focused on increasing Agility, bringing it to 12. His attack speed now reached 1.2.
He also had 12 points in Dexterity, so some of the goblins' attacks would miss.
"Let me draw in a few more." John didn't leave the area. To reach Level 4, he needed 500 experience points.
But at Level 3, killing Level 2 goblins gave less experience, only 10 points per kill.
He wasn't in a hurry to level up. Instead, he kept killing goblins to collect copper coins.
There weren't many players here, and the goblin population was high. It was the perfect place for him.
This time, John lured in three goblins and carefully dealt with them.