“Look! It is that guy again! He is punching wild dogs to death now.”

“Seriously??”

True enough, Beast was pummeling canines outside the city walls of Rydelin. Being larger size did not mean they were easier to hunt than the rats however. With their sharper and larger fangs, they were much more dangerous to approach than the rats were and a single careless mistake would mean a huge chunk of health being shaved off in a single bite. It was not as threatening as the wolves are, but the amount was still substantial to be worrying.

Furthermore, he could not wear any normal armor and is fighting only in his peasant clothes.

“Is that dude trying to be a Monk or something?”

In the olden day games and even the great grandfather of all games, there exists a profession known as the Monk, probably inspired by the ancient Chinese stereotype of the Shaolin variety. Usually fighting barehanded and armor-less, he relies on his speed and agility to evade any incoming attack before dealing a painful counter-blow to his opponents. In those days of number crunching and pseudo-random chance, their evasion may go up to as high as fifty percent. Such is the brokenness of this profession that the standard build of party members in those old games are usually a full team of monks or variants.

“Monks don’t work in this game though.”

In a virtual reality such as Ages Online however, the ability to not get hit depends mainly on a player’s innate reflexes. There simply is neither evasion nor accuracy stat. Despite that fact, Beast did not care. It was not as if he chose to do this. Circumstances forced him to and he had to suck it up. If not for the black book hanging from his belt, he would have been a happy warrior already.

“GODDAMNIT.” Channeling all his anger into his blows, Beast launched a straight at the animal and impacted it right at its ribcage. The dog gave a painful whimper before dying quietly. Straight away, Beast reached around and caught another dog by the scruff of its neck before its jaws could close around his arm. Without a second thought, his other fist came flying and smashed the dog’s face again and again until the canine was dead like its companion.

No mercy.

When the deed was done, the bloodied Beast sat down and started to skin the two carcasses with his broken sword while humming a small tune, much to the horror of the newbies watching him.

“That man… is a demon.” Beast chose that moment to look up, causing a simultaneous wince among the small crowd. Many of them hurriedly left to another spot, not wanting to be near this fury of nature.

Beast shrugged. “What is with them anyway?” When he was done, he quickly checked his status window. He had not suffered too much damage with the encounter and with reasonable amount of health left, there was no need to head for a secluded spot to use his Prime ability for heals. Stuffing the pelt and meat into his backpack, he got up to look for more prey.

Maybe he should gather some twigs and hay for a fire later on as well. His satiety was getting a little low.

………………

Meanwhile, in the Yashita Corp Building, an entirely different group of people were seated in an office and talking.

“So… what is this about a report of Aimbots in Ages Online?” A wizened elderly man sitting at the head of the table spoke.

“I am sorry to interrupt Yashita-sama,” A young businessman that looked to be in his twenties turned to the group of men on his left. “But what is this Aimbot thing we are talking about and why is there a need to call such an important meeting?”

“With all due respect Kanonji-san,” One of the men replied. With a clean-shaven face that gave the impression of a wealth of knowledge, one would assume that he is the head of the group. “Aimbots are an old term before the Gaming Era that refers to a hacking script usually used in first-person shooters to allow the user to target a location, usually the head of another player, immediately.”

“With the advent of virtual gaming, the nature of it has caused such things to fade into obscurity. But my moderator team and I had just received simultaneous reports of a player allegedly using aimbots to kill mobs in-game. Because of Yashita-sama’s policy that we treat every hacking case seriously in which he wished to be informed, it resulted in this meeting.”

Hacking the game would mean hacking into the AI core of Ages Online which not only handled AI behavior, but is also responsible for the game server and up time. There would have been catastrophic consequences no matter how minor the hack is used for.

“I know that Daika.” Kanonji spat. “But why is a Public Relations guy like me here?”

“Kanonji-san.” The old man Yashita started to speak, causing the man to snap into respectful attention. “I called you here, because we might need you to release a statement regarding this matter.”

“Hai, Yashita-sama. “

Daika Yamamoto snorted. In the end, only old man Yashita can handle that Kanonji. Really, what appeared to be a cool and collected Public Relations head to the masses was actually a brash and hot-headed jerk underneath. And he could not be even considered a full gamer, not knowing what aimbots are. The man was only hired because they needed a well-spoken person to answer to the public.

“So Daika-san. How is the report coming along?”

“Hai, Yashita sama. The initial reports turned up nothing. The player called Beast is legit and is killing the mobs without using any aimbot scripts.”

“So why are we here again?” Kanonji obnoxiously started, much to Daika’s annoyance. “Some stupid people saw stupid things and decided to report it without using their brains.”

“Sir, the player is killing rats barehanded. If you want to know how difficult that is, you can always try it out yourself. “Turning back to the head of the company, Daika continued on his report. “After initializing a log trail and checking his data activity, the player Beast is clean. Although he does seems to have a flair for rat hunting.”

The elderly head nodded. “We have cases of martial arts practitioners playing our game before isn’t it? After all, our game is made such a way that people can bring their skills into the game and use it to their fullest effect.”

“Hai, Yashita-sama. However, based on his capsule records this boy is only a student. We have decided to place him under observation for a while as an additional measure.”

Yashita nodded in approval, while Kanonji opened his loud mouth again.

“For the record, what is his profession?”

“That,” Daika replied with a satisfied smirk. “Is confidential.”

……………..

Beast sat down to replenish his health for the fifty-sixth time. Biting the roasted rat meat off his sharpened branch, he closed his eyes to feel the warm feeling of food spread from his stomach to re-energize all parts of his body. He had leveled up to nine by bashing around two hundred canine skulls and was by then getting a sliver of experience from the wild and dire dogs around Rydelin, such is the way of the game telling players to move on to stronger foes. After he was done here he would move on to the wolves that Lortan had once brought him to, but only after disposing the pelts and meat he had gathered. He had no wish to preserve another hundred pieces of meat, much less rip off Talos again, so he could either sell them or cook them all for cooking experience.

Beast stood up, gave a slight heave on his overflowing bag and sat down again. Maybe cooking them would be a better idea.

If he was planning on cooking them all, he would need more skewers than usual. Picking up a nearby branch, he set about shaving the twig into one. He would have if not for the sudden appearance of a notification window halfway through the process.

You have gained the Skill: Carving

Skill: Carving (Basic 1) 0%

+10% speed to carving

Beast raised an eyebrow and sighed before he carried on with his task.

What a way for the game to give out these weird skills. Regardless, it sure did help him produce the sticks faster than intended, even leveling once along the way. When the skewers were all made, Beast then prepared a huge fire and began to cook several pieces of meat at once. Batch after batch of dog meat are cooked and piled up next to him. Occasionally sneaking a taste of the delicious meat, Beast wondered what to do with the enormous mountain of food that was beginning to appear.

Your cooking skill has leveled to Basic 4!

All stats +1

Cooking had become a little easier.

Luckily he did not have to think long. The aroma of the roasts had already diffused outwards to fill the entire area and soon the spot Beast is at are crowded with new players.

“Uncle,” Beast flinched when a female player called for his attention. “The meat smells good. Do you think you can sell me some?”

“Yea, my girlfriend and I are so sick of the dry bread from the shops.”

“I can pay you 5 copper per stick.”

Five coppers. That is a little bit more than what he could get if he were to sell the raw meat back in Rydelin but he was in a rush, and it would be a waste anyway if he were to leave the food here for others to freely take. Wordlessly, he looked back up at the girl and nodded, reaching his hand out at the same time. The girl paid the money and took two sticks for her companion and herself before leaving happily. Not even a second later, fistfuls of coins were being thrust into Beast’s face. The stacks of meat were being sold so quickly that the mountain that was there earlier disappeared within a matter of minutes. Soon enough all that were left were Beast and the still burning fire under the night sky.

That was an easy five silvers. Perhaps he had really underestimated the use of the cooking skill. If he could make such easy money simply by roasting raw meat over a flame, imagine how much he could make if he were to produce a gourmet meal like those celebrity chefs do in the real world. Sure, it would probably require a much higher cooking skill and an innate knowledge of real cooking but what is stopping him from doing so? Resolving to search up some new recipes when he is free, Beast packed his stuff and moved on to his original purpose – The Argent Forest.

Back when he was level two and grieved by Lortan, he did not know the name of his death place. After he read up some, Beast learnt that the forest was named after the silver wolf that is known to make the forest its home. This particular wolf is apparently a rare sighting, and only appears at night when the moon shines brightly– partly the reason why Beast cooked the food so as to pass the time. Even then, there is no guarantee that one would be able to catch sight of it. Many simply could not be bothered and continue leveling at other places so they could job change quickly, so much that they would have outgrown the area, while those who tried usually came back empty handed. Or dead, since the wolves in the forest are known to hunt in packs and night-time also increased the strength of the monster by around 30 to 50 percent.

But Beast had already changed his profession and his death by Lortan’s hand there gave him a morbid fascination and bond with the place. Add a potential rare encounter to the mix and it sounded like a good adventure in the making with lots of experience and loots in store. Besides, there was something else he needed to do there.

Talos Experimental Potion

Talos the Alchemist Merchant had requested you to enter the Argent Forest to collect the rare Moonglow Flower that only blossom under a light of the moon. He requires it for his experiments with a new potion and would be extremely grateful if you could procure it for him.

Difficulty: E

Note: Abandoning this quest will lower Talos’ friendship.

This is the favor Talos had requested in return for using his salt, although it also happened because of their intimacy. Bemoaning the wiliness of the AI, Beast had no choice but to comply. It should not be too bad, he had thought at that time. As long as he leveled up more than the recommended level range for the place and tread carefully, there should not be too much of a problem. He would go in, get the flower and get out quickly.

All that was rapidly proven wrong the moment Beast cleared the outskirts and entered the place. The forest at night is scary, so much more so when Beast had never found himself in this kind of situation before in real life. Almost pitch darkness reigned, only alleviated by the dim light of the moon. Struggling to even keep sight on the path, Beast wondered if it was really good idea to venture out here. If he were to die he would be set back another twenty-four hours, or three days in-game and all his skills or stats would undergo a possible heart-wrenching decrease.

Maybe he should just turn back.

No. Since when did the Beast of games turn his back upon anything? Yggdra Online was like this. World of Orcraft was like this. Every quest he accepted, he made sure he would complete them. Besides, he had analyzed every aspect of the forest and made careful calculations. There was very little chance of him dying if he would just be careful and stick to his plans.

The first thing he did when he entered was to roll around in the muddy ground.

Basically it is as follow: Every game’s monsters have their own aggressive range or otherwise known as the “aggro zone”. Ages Online might be radically different in its environment and simulation but fundamentally, the monster-player detection system should work the same. As long as he could prevent staying within these zones for more than necessary, it might be possible to navigate the forest without encountering any battles. That was what the rolling was for: to ward off the wolves’ keen sense of smell and effectively reduce their aggressive range.

Creeping along the pathway for as long as he could, Beast slowly felt the hairs on his back stand. He was being marked, he knows that but all he could do was to pray that he would not trigger the reaction that would change everything in an instant. There was a sudden rustle in front, causing Beast to freeze on the spot. Not daring to breathe, he watched the silhouette of a wolf emerge from the undergrowth and began prowling towards his position. This was not good. He did not expect it to be so soon.

Three.

The canine inched closer and closer.

Two.

It still seems to not have noticed him yet. He changed his mind, that mud roll was not in vain after all.

One.

With a flourish, Beast drew out one of the torches he had bought from the general store in preparations for situations like this and lit it with one fell swoop. The burning flames roared into life, momentarily bringing light and heat to the coolness of the surroundings. Slamming the torch down where he stood, Beast did not waste a single second before he was already pouncing upon the surprised wolf, bringing his hands together to clasp around the canine’s neck with all his strength. As they wrestle on the cold muddy ground, the wolf thrashed wildly and Beast winced from the multiple scratches he sustained.

- 35 HP

- 34 HP

- 22 HP

Yet he did not let go. Once he did, his life would definitely be over. He would rather take a few scratches than face down a pack of reinforcements that the wolf could potentially call.

- 22 HP

- 29 HP

The damages started to slow as the wolf’s exertions grew weaker and weaker.

- 28 HP

You have gained 72 experience

Beast got to his feet, immediately blowing out the torch. It had served its purpose for the moment by warding away any stray wolves but will gather their attention sooner or later if it were to continue burning. This is another part of Beast’s plan – wolves, being animals, fear fire; the torches are to prevent any other wolf from coming close until he had time to finish his target off. It will not work if the wolf were to call for reinforcements though, which is why all three parts of his plan are equally important. If he were to screw up any of them, a pack of wolves will soon be at his heels and he will die his second death in the Argent Forest.

Victory still did not come easy though; the pain from the scratches had still yet to fade. Beast had suffered at least a third of his health’s damage during the fight, which he had no choice but to heal using Renew. Time was of essence and he had none to waste by sticking around regenerating from eating. Theses wolves are not static animals. Sooner or later another would come within range and the fight will happen all over again, except that no progress would have been made. The only thing he did hope could regenerate faster was his mana pool.

Breathing deeply to relieve some tension, Beast soldiered on.

For a while under the stars, Beast continued on like this. With every wolf he strangled to death, he crept deeper and deeper into the forest. When his fifth wolf went down, a notification window popped up, almost scaring Beast out of his skin.

You have gained the Skill: Iron body

Skill: Iron Body (Basic 1) 0% Mastery

By taking damage while not wearing armor, you train your body to be more resilient to taking punishing attacks

-1% to all damage taken when not wearing armor.

All those damage taken while being essentially naked might have triggered this response from the game, though Beast could not help but still feel cheated. Skill masteries ranged from Basic 1 to Expert 10, with a total of thirty levels altogether. By the looks of it, the skill would only give a flat 30% damage decrease when maxed, something that pales in comparison to the mitigation most heavy armor out there provides.

Beast was sure that the game was mocking him when another window appeared five wolves later, expressing the irony that he himself did not fail to notice.

You have gained the Skill: Predator’s Sense

Skill: Predator’s Sense

As the mighty predator of the wilds, you gain dominance over your lesser preys.

+30% to first strike when emerging from stealth or position of surprise.

He was supposed to be the prey here and yet the game had the cheek to pronounce him a predator. Do they even know how stressful and tiring it is to be here alone in the middle of the darkness trying very hard not to be swarmed upon by a pack of wolves? On the plus side, at least the skill was a flat boon instead of a skill that needs to be leveled; He had no idea what he would do if he had to do this for thirty levels worth of skill grinding.

Furthermore, it would only become easier from now on. From what he had estimated, the heart of the forest where the flower would be should be near. Emboldened by his new skill, Beast powered through a total of another nine wolves altogether, reaching level ten in the process. Finally after much mucking around through the stupid forest, he emerged into a clearing of flowers, in the middle of which a silvery ethereal bloom stood above all the others.

The Moonglow.