With the city to my back, I set out along the cobblestone road. The forest before my eyes will be my home for the next week. Having done some camping in the wilderness of my home province I am somewhat prepared for what lies ahead; therefore, this will be a good test of my skills.

I hope to power level during this period and get to at least level 10 before heading back. The forest should be full of various low level creatures perfect for hunting. As long as I don’t get in over my head, I should be fine.

The entrance to the forest is now approximately 100 feet in front of me. The cobblestone road transitions into one of dirt and gravel as it snakes its way among the trees. The forest reminds me of my homeland in Canada with various pine, cedar, and fir trees. The underbrush is moderately dense and game trails can be seen intersecting the main road.

A scant amount of people have gathered along the path. They are wearing the same villager clothes as everyone else, but have a fire in their eyes that those in the city do not. These like minded players have realized the gravity of our circumstances and chosen to get ahead rather than wallow in fear.

I pass them by, because at this point I am not interested in partying with anyone. In real life I am a loner with trust issues; therefore, I would rather not get involved with others until I am able to at least defend myself.

Delving deeper into the forest, I continuing my trek along the designated path. The trail is not too far overgrown due to the constant patrols by the city’s soldiers, but despite that, the road does not look well maintained.

It doesn’t take long before I meet my first prey. It hasn’t notice me yet, so I stealthily equip my copper dagger and wooden sword before crouching down behind the foliage. Focusing my attention on it, I can tell it is a level two deer. It stands at five feet tall, has a brown coat, and on its head rests a large pair of antlers. A decent sized buck.

I still haven’t been noticed, but due to the deer’s heightened predator senses I decide to activate my Cloaking and swiftly move in for the kill. The deer notices my presence when I get within one foot of it; however, it is too late. My wooden sword stabs towards it’s heart, but due to the deer’s movement my sword only deals 15 points of damage.

The sword becomes lodged between the deer’s ribs, missing the heart by a few inches. While still grasping the wooden sword’s hilt, I take the copper dagger and attempt to slash at the deer’s neck.

Unfortunately, the dagger is blocked by the antlers and I am thrown away leaving my wooden sword imbedded within the deer’s chest. Bright red blood flows from the wound, but the deer continues to put up a fight.

It begins to charge in my direction with the intent of ramming me with its antlers. I can feel my blood pumping, coursing through my veins, as it gets closer. If I cannot handle this simple creature, how will I survive later on?

Dodging to the side at the last moment, I lower my body and slash out at the deer’s hind legs cutting its tendons as it charges by. This deals 10 damage to the deer and I can see its health is now in the red zone. Having rendered it immobile, I approach the deer slowly and slash its neck to put it out of its misery. I then pull my sword out from it’s ribs and collect my drops while the carcass fades away.

The deer dropped 1 piece of raw deer hide, 1 raw venison steak, 1 medium antlers, and 20 copper coins.

“Seriously... Where are these creatures getting coins from?” I question the logic behind this, but it’s probably best to just take it as is. I got 5 xp from the thing and that is a good upgrade from those 1 xp rats I dealt with earlier.

I decide to check my bestiary to see if it has updated. Sure enough, it now has two items on it: Rat level 1 and Deer level 2. I select deer to bring up its stats in a separate window.

Species Level Deer 2 Vitality 30 Stamina 80 Strength 16 Mana 0 Defence 10 Intelligence 2 Dexterity 40 Spirit 0 Skills None

I make my way back on to the main road and continue on deeper into the forest. It doesn’t take long before I pass a group of three players on the side of the road fighting against another buck. Their party consists of two warriors and a priest. I feel somewhat sorry for those players who chose the priest or summoner professions. They are more reliant on others in the beginning and don’t have much solo power. Thankfully, this game doesn’t inhibit one from learning skills related to other professions. It allows one to choose their own route with too much limitation. Not wanting to intrude on their kill, I stick to the opposite side of the road as I pass them.

Rather than hunting around the forest’s edge, I plan go deeper within the forest so as to avoid any encounters with players. I imagine that sooner or later all the nearby hunting spots will be occupied by groups of people, thus leaving nothing for players like myself who prefer to hunt solo. With this severe death penalty, I am sure that there will be those who take advantage of weaker or solo players. Therefore, being the glass cannon I am, I would rather not be around others until I can ensure my survival.

After walking for about 5 minutes, I come across a pair of foxes with dirt red fur and bushy tails tipped with white. They are standing next to an indentation in the rock wall to my right about 10 feet away from the main path. Their ears perk up as I get close, and they switch into a defensive position. Foxes generally are not aggressive creatures, but when backed into a corner, such as the rock wall, they will fight back.

I decide to attack them, while taking advantage of my superior position.

Gripping my sword and dagger in hand I charge straight at them.

The foxes split up with one prepared to take me head on, while the other goes off to my left side.

“Crafty little buggers.”

My sword swings down on the first fox leaving a gash across its pelt dealing 10 damage. While I am admiring my skill, the second fox takes the advantage to bite me.

-5 HP

“Argh!” Having been distracted, I left myself open and get bitten on my forearm. Since I am wielding my dagger in my left hand I should have been able to block that attack, but unfortunately I am not proficient in combat versus multiple opponents. I will need to swiftly improve this if I am to fight more challenging enemies; otherwise, I won’t be left with just a few teeth marks.

I take a step back and watch as the foxes pace back and forth before my eyes.

When the two foxes are the furthest apart I make my move. Lunging in with the copper dagger, I stab the already injured fox through its eye dealing a fatal blow. When I pull the dagger out, I can see bits of brain matter mixed with the blood.

My actions cause the second fox to lose control. It bares it teeth at me in a horrendous snarl. Having become thoroughly enraged at the loss of its partner, the fox jumps at me without regard for its own safety.

Taking advantage of its blind rage, I parry the attack with my wooden sword and slash out with the dagger. Feeling the weight against my sword I am surprised. Such a small creature can summon a lot of power, breaking past its limits in a time of danger. Although, this is not without its drawbacks. The slash I made took away half of its life; however, it doesn’t seem phased and jumps at me again. This time rather than blocking, I hold my sword pointed at the fox and thrust the blade down its throat.

After dealing with the Foxes I check my drops, as well as the bestiary out of habit. I end up with 1 small fox pelt and 15 copper coins from this encounter. I open up my bestiary and see a notification pop up in my UI:

Species Level Fox 2 Vitality 30 Stamina 40 Strength 10 Mana 0 Defence 10 Intelligence 4 Dexterity 20 Spirit 0 Skills None Skill Acquired Appraisal Level 1 Allows user to see the status of creatures below player’s own level. If targets appraisal level is equal to or greater than player’s own then appraisal will fail.

“Sweet!” I couldn’t help but call out. In all the novels I have read, this skill is one of the most useful. Although it is at a low level right now and could be said to be near useless, when it reaches the higher levels it will show its worth.

It must have been triggered by my killing of three different monsters and immediately examining their status in my UI. Feeling content with this new development, I once again set off.

I travel for another two hours along the dirt road, stopping to hunt some monsters along the way. I managed to bag 3 more deer, 5 foxes, and even 3 rabbits. This brought me 31 experience and a bunch of drops. I also managed to get to level 3 with only a few more kills to level 4. My bonus points went straight into vitality due to the looming threat of death.

 Player Status

Player Name Quinn Class: Assassin Level: 3 Guild None Experience 53/60 Stats Vitality 145/145 Stamina: 120/120 Strength 50 Mana 140/140 Defence 15 Intelligence 10 Dexterity 35 Spirit 10 Skills Active Passive Appraisal Level: 1 20xp Backstab Level: 1 50xp Cloaking Level: 1 45xp Blacksmithing Level: 1 25xp Swordsmanship Level: 1 145xp

Checking out my character screen I can see I am now 7 experience away from level 4 and almost caught up to what Darkbond was at a couple hours ago. My levelling speed may not be very fast compared to players like him; however, I am satisfied with any progress that increases my chance of survival.

After trekking along the path, I come across a small clearing near a shallow stream, so I decide to take a rest and have a meal. The food purchased in town was just preserved rations, but it was cheap and a clear upgrade from that barley bread. The meat I obtained earlier will be saved for tonight. It will be a feast compared to this dull dry food.

I find a decent size log to sit down on and begin to chow down.

*Nom*nom*nom*

“A bit dry... Could use some water to wash it down” After eating the dried food, I take out my water canteen and walk down to the stream.

The water has a steady flow and feels cool to the touch. I can see small fishes swimming along in groups as they move downstream. I bend down to fill my canteen, and that is when I hear some rustling in the bushes on the opposite bank.

I quickly take a defensive stance with my sword out in front. The rustling is becoming louder, and I can hear some low pitched grunts coming from the bushes. No matter what it is, I haven’t faced it yet.

The bushes start to shake and out comes a large mass of brown fur. That has got to be the largest bear I have ever seen. Although, I have only seen dead mounted bears and never been up close to a real bear other than in the zoo. When I focus on the bear I see [Grizzly Bear: Level ??] and immediately my heart sinks.

This will not end well. I am only level 3, which means the bear must be at least level 9 if I cannot see it’s level.

The bear seems to have noticed me.

Giving a vicious snarl, it stands up on its hind legs in an attempt to intimidate me. And I gotta say, it worked. My heart is racing and my stress is reaching critical levels. With my minimalistic defence and beginner weapons I do not stand a chance against it. That’s not even counting the level difference between us.

With virtual reality gaming, it is possible to fight across levels if there is a difference in personal skill. The lower level player may hit; however, due to the discrepancy between the attacker’s strength and the defenders defence the hits will deal little real damage. This is to add realism while staying within the confines of the levelling system. Otherwise what would the advantage in levelling be?

When meeting a bear in the wild, one is supposed to back away slowly while keeping an eye on the bear. It is not advised to run away since bears can outrun a human on any terrain, and will even climb up a tree if it feels threatened.

Seeing the creature show signs of aggression, I slowly take a couple steps backwards. Without taking my eyes of the bear, I do not see the branches under my feet. This proved to be a major error on my part, because without warning I fall backwards, landing on my butt.

Seeing my sudden movement, the bear returns to having all four feet on the ground and begins running in my direction.

*Roooaaarrr!!*

I cannot get up in time. The bear slashed me across my chest with its razor sharp claws.

The attack tosses me against a tree. Knocking my breath away.

-72 HP

“Arghh!!!!” I’ve never been in so much pain before in my life. Not good! That hit took away more than half my life. I should have invested more points in defence. Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret.

There is no time to wallow in pain. I need to get up or else this bear will kill me.

Hauling my sorry ass onto my feet, I use my sword to prop me as I return to a defensive stance. I try my best to swallow the pain, but it is difficult as I can see five large tears across my chest. If I had some health potions this would be nothing, but they are too expensive for my current budget.

The bear is standing in the middle of the clearing facing me. Once again it charges at me, but this time I am ready for it. As it attempts to grab onto my arm with its teeth I sidestep to my right and aim my dagger along its flank. I managed to strike it, but the wound is superficial only dealing 10 damage. The bear having noticed itself getting hit turns around and swipes again with its already blood red claws.

-25 HP

This time I manage to deflect some of the damage with my wooden sword, but the impact travels up my arm and once more tosses me face first to the ground. I’m sure if this sword did not have infinite durability it would already be in splinters by now.

*Ptui* I managed to get a decent amount of dirt in my mouth from that attack, which I spit out in pain. *ptui*

I am no match for this bear in my current state. My health has taken a nosedive to around 25% and I have dealt less than 5% damage overall to the grizzly.

Getting back up on my feet again, I choose to forsake common knowledge and make a run for it.

Weaving in and out of the trees and brush I take off without looking back. I can almost feel the heat of its breath on the back of my neck, but thankfully with my enhanced dexterity I manage to stay ahead of it.

After a few minutes of frantic running I manage to lose the bear. I must have left its territory, therefore causing it to give up chase.

“phew” With a sigh, I begin to catch my breath. Running blindly through thick forest with only 25% health was risky, but i’ve pulled through. “I made it, I’m alive!” Oh how good it feels to be alive after a near encounter with death.

After a breather, I start to examine my surroundings. I realize that nothing around me looks familiar. Just endless trees and brush.

“Oh shit.”

I’m lost.