"The first matter at hand is to select a leader. I will give them all the information available, and it will be their prerogative on what to debrief you on. Which among you wishes to fill this role?"

Hearing this, it was to Yi Qiang's dismay that all hands, except for his, shot up into the air, every Chosen glaring at all the rest like a pack of wolves competing for meat.

Great. This group will be fun to work with.

Apathetic to the players' power struggles, and likely struggles for better rewards, Yi Qiang closed his eyes and drew his bow, backing away from the group and trying to train while drawing as little attention as possible - to that end, it seemed that the Chosen were too immersed in their own struggles to notice the behavior of their original recruiter.

Around half an hour later, one filled with arguments and terms that bewildered Ororil, the leader was decided, and Yi Qiang came back into the fold as the blacksmith led the leader away. The player in question cut an intimidating figure: a monstrously huge elf covered in expensive, scarred iron armor and with a titanic greatsword strapped to his back. The less-than-game-savvy Yi Qiang had no idea, but he was the stereotypical image of a warrior, minus the long ears and slender facial features - it seemed as if no elf could escape those distinguishable traits.

Ten minutes later, the two burly elves returned, and the designated leader began to speak.

"Alright. My name is Killuen, and I'm a Level 32 Warrior," he began. Yi Qiang had already gotten over the levels that were far higher than his - after all, it had been over a month since the game started and it made sense that players who hadn't spent all of their time training would be a higher level. The class didn't surprise Yi Qiang either - after asking around, he had learned that basic classes, like Warrior, Hunter, or Mage, were as easy to get as completing a single, simple quest to kill x amount of x monsters. Yi Qiang had held off on getting one just because there was no indication he could remove a class, and Yi Qiang was sure that better, rarer classes existed that suited him better and would help him get stronger. "The quest here is a little difficult, but if none of us are noobs -" Yi Qiang didn't miss the quick glance towards him, the only Level 5 in the group - "we should be able to do it, no problems. So, Ororil here wants us to head out to a secluded cavern in the middle of the forest, kill some monsters, and bring back his treasure. Classic, you know what I mean guys? The rest of the details can be discussed later as they come up, but for now, can anyone good with maps step up? It's in the middle of the forest, and while I could if I wanted too, reading that map isn't the job of a leader. I have more important things to do."

Yi Qiang had to be honest with himself - he found Killuen's cocky smile and obvious bluster annoying. It was difficult for him not to flashback to the numerous times he had put bullets in the heads of important people just like him, but the archer just busied himself with trying to remember the names of all the Chosen in his team(the name was part of the information provided when he used Analyze on a player, along with the level). This was suddenly interrupted, though, by an unfamiliar screen popping up in front of him.

Player Killuen has requested to form a party with you. Do you accept?

Y/N

Yi Qiang hadn't learned about this feature yet, as it wasn't mentioned in the tutorial, but he thought it safe to assume it was a grouping function. Even if it isn't, there's no reason not to, unless he's establishing a way to form permanent contact with me. That thought evoked a mental shudder from the archer, but he selected 'yes' regardless.

Immediately after, a small, vertical window appeared on the left side of Yi Qiang's vision, displaying the percentage of Health, Stamina, and Mana each had remaining, as well as their names and level. That seemed a bit.... revealing, but Yi Qiang didn't mind, since he planned on staying largely in the backdrop, if he could.

Soon, they set off out of the city. Killuen had found someone to read the map for him, and the group traveled in silence along the main road as their map suggested.

Around ten minutes in, small conversations began to spring up, the players in the expedition beginning to know each other a little better. Yi Qiang, for his part, did not partake in the interaction, instead choosing to stay silent. He couldn't do much training while on the move, unfortunately, which made every step and every minor action that would delay their arrival to their destination far more annoying than it normally would be. But the training-obsessed marksman soldiered on, trying his best to turn a blind eye to the minor mistakes going on ll around him - dropping something, tripping, the causes were endless.

Yi Qiang, even through his reservations, almost shouted in joy the moment the group turned into the forest, because that signified the arrival of opportunities for growth, in the form of leveling by killing beasts that appeared in the forest.

Yi Qiang's main weak point was his level, and though it didn't hold much of a sway on his combat power(he was waiting to spend their points, after all, so as of right then there was no difference between Level 0 and Level 100) it did cause a bit of difficulty in terms of grouping.

Unfortunately, the trip to the location in which their quest would occur was uneventful - there were very few monsters that seemed willing to interrupt a 20-man group of well-equipped adventurers.

That also meant that the group had very little experience fighting together, which would prove unfortunate. Fatal, for some of them.