In the bright and warm morning of an unknown village, Shen was raising the round stone triple of his body in size. He was doing a squad with a stone that was three times bigger than his body.

"478… 479… 480… 481…" He counted the squat. With his current stats, he needed 500 squats to get +1 Strength and +1 Endurance, "482… 483… 484…"

"Huh!? Where am I?"

Shen stopped when he heard the female voice from the respawn spot. He stopped doing the squat and turned toward the voice. A woman with the same beginner clothes was standing there. The woman looked at him and Shen looked at her.

ZhenZhen looked at Shen with a confused and strange gaze, 'Is he a player or an NPC?' What Shen did was something only NPC would do. No players would torture themselves by doing what Shen did.

Meanwhile, Shen was excited to see a new player respawned in the village. That meant he was no longer alone in this remote village.

"Wait, I have to finish my body training first," Shen then remembered he was in the middle of the training. 16 more squats then he would get the stats. He continued doing a squat and finished 16 more squats.

When he finished the squat, he threw the stone down and leaned his back against the stone. He was waiting, waiting for the system notification but no notification rang. Meaning he failed his training.

The training system was quite harsh. Shen had to finish the set without stopping or his stats would not increase. That was the harsh truth behind the training system.

Then a shadow hovered above him. The female player was standing next to him, "Hello, may I know where this place is?" ZhenZhen asked politely.

"I don't know," Shen shook his head. He was still discouraged because of falling the five hundred squats. He was not lying though. Even until now, Shen did not know where was this.

ZhenZhen was holding back from frowning. The thing she learned from playing games in the last month, she had to be polite to the NPC or she would have a hard time because of the NPCs.

'It seems this young NPC is not in the mood to talk. I will talk or maybe console him later, for now, I have to find where I am. I have to find my way back to the city or else all my effort would be wasted,' with those thoughts in mind, ZhenZhen walked away from Shen.

She was supposed to respawn in the city, but how did she end up in this village? Since she had three days to complete the quest, ZhenZhen remained composed. She followed the path and looked at the houses.

She observed the sign and stopped longer at the sign of a fork, a spoon, and a knife, "Weird, who used all those three for a sign?" She muttered while shaking her head.

"A village with ten wooden houses? The symbol may signify things, but who cares. I have to find my way back to the city," ZhenZhen turned around and walked out of the village.

She wanted to figure out whether this village was in the Jade Gorge or not. If this village at Jade Gorge, she could climb her way back to the city, "That's it, that's the plan!"

What in her mind was to complete the quest and became the Head Cook Gina's apprentice. She did not care about the other things.

Meanwhile, Shen had overcome his discouragement and looked up. He tried to locate the newcomer but he could not see her. He furrowed his brow and stood up, "Hello!? Are you still here?"

His call received no response, meaning the newcomer was not in the village. Then he looked toward the entrance when his eyes widened, "Don't tell me she went out of the village?"

The momentary shock changed into a smile before he let out a giggle, "Hehehehe… The second victim of this village has arrived," Shen walked back to the respawn spot and rested on the respawn hut.

He was waiting for the woman to return through the respawn spot, "Finally I have someone who will share my misery, Hehehehe…" he laughed evilly.

Sure enough, not even twenty seconds passed since he sat on the ground, a figure respawned. The same female player.

"Huh!? I died!?" ZhenZhen stood in a daze. She blinked her eyes a few times to process what happened to her just. She was walking in the forest before suddenly her vision blacked out.

She was sure that she did not see any monsters around. It was just her alone, 'Then who did I die?' The cause of her death remained a mystery, 'Fortunately, I did not level up my level,' she thought to herself as she walked toward the entrance.

ZhenZhen stopped at the big stone, 'Where is he?' She wondered before she shook her head and continued heading to the entrance. She did not notice Shen who was sitting behind her. She was occupied with her own thoughts.

Shen was about to call the female player, but he decided not to do so, 'Huhuhu, I should let her experience her new environment first,' maybe it had been too long he was alone to grow such a mischievous and evil side.

However, when the female player walked out of the village, Shen realized that he made a grave mistake, "Wait, I can't let her die again. She will lose her level."

Shen assumed that the people in the city were at least around level 5 to level 15 on average. So he assumed ZhenZhen was around that level. He did not know that ZhenZhen never went hunting to level up.

"This female player will be my partner, I can't let her weaken herself. I have to warn her before she dies again," Shen stood up and chased after the female player.

When Shen came out of the village, ZhenZhen respawned back to the village, "D*mn, how did I die again? I swear I did not see any monsters around."