Author's note:

Icicle’s map showed the Red Blooming Valley to be only a few kilometers away, so he quickly put it away as he moved out of the western gate, and headed towards the black forested mountain that blocked his line of sight. Unsurprisingly, it was littered with players fighting [Wild Boars], [Mountain Bears] and [Brown-furred Grizzlies]. The level of the creatures here ranged from level 7 to level 10. Icicle saw a group of 8 players engaged in combat with 3 mountain bears, one of which was a one-star variant.

Icicle noticed players scuttering all around, collecting furs, claws and other crafting materials. Some lucky ones even had their familiars with them, mostly Wild Dogs, although there were a couple of wolves and a few bears mixed amongst the new pets. The overall atmosphere was rather lively. Icicle knew that he needed to go to a more desolated area, otherwise he’d be left with no monsters to kill.

To the sides of the mountain path grew various herbs like [Green Stout Stalks] used for making health potions and [Blue Rigid Grass] used to create mana potions. Icicle collected the blue grass that was left by the alchemist apprentices running errands for Alchemist Nurte. Fortunately, they didn’t recognize the [Blue Rigid Grass]. Thanks to that, Icicle could dig out a whole batch without disturbance.

As Icicle climbed the mountain with a stealthed Blackie in tow, he gathered some stray [Green Stout Stalks] which other players missed. The stalks must have respawned recently. However, Icicle wouldn’t miss an opportunity to level up his Alchemist subclass to first grade Alchemist. Even if it was another player’s quest.

“God! God!” Blackie called out to Icicle.

“First it’s ancestor, now it’s God? What do you need, Blackie?” Icicle shook his head helplessly. This dog was either ridiculously stupid or he has misunderstood everything that has happened so far.

“Of course ancestor is God! How else could ancestor have such a formidable power?” Blackie wagged his tail merrily. He clearly remembered Icicle’s self-detachment state and his overbearing killing intent.

“Did this dog really dumb down?” Icicle couldn’t believe his new familiar. He checked the window to make sure.

Familiar’s status:

Name: Blackie

Level: 2

HP: 90

Race: Mutant

Element: Dark

Loyalty: Unshakeable faith

Special skills: Stealth

Summoning requirements: None

Notice: You can unsummon your familiar by issuing a command to unsummon or simply saying “return”. Please note that this action is not available in the middle of combat.

“What the hell is unshakeable faith? Is Blackie seriously treating me like a God now?” Icicle glared at Blackie and furrowed his brows. Blackie immediately ran up to him and started nuzzling his leg, showing his affection.

“Don’t be mad God.” Blackie transmitted straight to Icicle’s mind.

“Just call me Master from now on.” Icicle sighed.

“Yes Master.” Blackie replied happily, following Icicle. His God showed him attention, he must behave well.

As Icicle reached the top of the mountain, he gazed down to see what lays beyond.

The east part of the grassland was covered in vibrant flowers and lush grass. At the far east side of the mountain range stood a mountain that had a small clear stream, slowly drizzling down, turning into a mighty river that raged forth through the grassland. Next to the river stood a simple wooden hut. An old man with a bamboo hat held his fishing rod waiting for the fish to catch the bait. There were a few players sitting next to the old man, fishing rods in their hands. East of the old man laid an enormous dark brown bear, sleeping soundly.

Grey, brown and black bears ran along the river, catching the fish swimming within. This scenery looked like a happy bear tribe interacting with humans.

Icicle looked at that faraway sight with amusement. Virtual Reality made his eyesight much better.

“Hey, can you get a fishing subclass over there?” Icicle hollered to a player he spotted further down the slope.

“A newbie, huh? Yeah, that old man tells you to catch a fish yourself, muttering something along the lines of “Those who have the patience of a saint will become the greatest fishermen”, then you’re supposedly given the subclass.” the player said.

“Is it worth the time?” Icicle asked.

“Do you even read the forums man? There was some cooking duo who caught fish and then utilized the Chef profession to make a grand dish out of them. The dish temporarily boosted your stats, so it’s become the craze for all those cooking fanatics. Many aspiring guilds sent their people to catch some fish too.” the guy explained.

Icicle walked down the hill and handed the player one of the sandwiches he bought. “Thanks for the information.” he said, looking around.

On the right side of the grassland, much closer than the faraway raging river, there was a herd of wild boars. They dug up holes in the soil, looking for worms, roots and bulbs. Those wild boars had different fur colors. Some were yellow, others orange and the most dangerous looking ones were dark orange in color, resembling red.

To his left Icicle saw a large rock face erecting from the ground and stretching far to the southwest in a winding pattern. This greyish-white rock face looked like a snake slithering in an irregular pattern, coming back to join with the giant mountain range in the center.

Icicle walked closer to the the rock face and collected a yellow flower growing on its surface.

“Let’s see, what’s this one?” Icicle took a closer look.

[Cynth flower] [Basic]

A yellow flower with mild detoxification properties.

Icicle walked around the cliff and collected a few dozen [Cynth flowers]. He couldn’t see it before since the large rock face was blocking his sight, but there were hundreds of bears on the west side of the grassland. At least 500 players were engaged in combat with the variety of the bears. Some parties entered the hollowed out dark caves inside the rock face.

Rumble!

Icicle heard a loud sound and quickly turned. He saw a massive brown bear charging right at him.

ROOOOAR!

“Master, master, what are we going to do?” Blackie asked excitedly.

“We’ll let the bear slam into those rocks behind us and then assault him head on!” Icicle quickly made his decision. He found the black hound quite useful as it could stay in stealth for however long it wished. He couldn’t imagine a better scouting pet.

“Alright!” Blackie barked.

The brown bear charged at Icicle at full speed. To dull its judgement, Icicle cast [Water prison]. The beast seemingly sensed his intention and dodged to the side, bouncing off the ground heavily. It made a beeline jump straight at Icicle!

Crack!

Icicle dodged nimbly, letting the bear smash head-on into the rock face. The beast fell to the ground limply, stunned. Icicle brandished his sword, starting with an overhead swing to the bear’s head.

[Brown-furred Grizzly]’s hide was tough, so Icicle’s damage was minimal. If it wasn’t for his items, he would have to spend around fifteen mintues hacking the bear to death. Blackie couldn’t help either as he was too low-leveled to even pierce the defense of the bear. All it could do was provide distraction.

“Goddamnit, this is too slow!” Icicle sheathed his sword, closing in on the bear. He started punching the bear’s side relentlessly, utilizing the true damage aspect from his jewelry. In a mere 5 seconds, he managed to deal over a 1000 damage!

The stun effect from the bear’s headbutt into the stone wall dispelled, letting the beast groggily stand up. It shook its head, seeing a bare-fisted human and a black dog on its sides, making short work of it.

ROOOOAR!

The bear became instantaneously enraged. It stood up on its hind paws, taking a large swing with its paw.

HOOOOWL!

However, before the bear even managed to attack, another earth-shattering howl resounded throughout the valley!

A blurry image of the 8m long Direwolf appeared behind Icicle. With [Soundless Fear] activated, Icicle continuously struck with his fists, dealing over 600 damage to the bear, making it disintegrate into colorful particles.

Blackie directly leveled up to 3, gaining 10 more health. Blackie’s HP bar was now at a round 100.

Icicle realized that Blackie is taking away half of his experience, but he didn’t mind that. He resolved himself to train the dog, so Blackie can become a force to be reckoned with.

Icicle collected the loot, which equaled a dozen slabs of bear meat and one bear claw. He was quite satisfied with the amount of meat as he wanted to collect some more food ingredients. “Here, eat this so you’ll grow strong.” Icicle threw a slab of bear meat to Blackie.

“Thank you Master.” Blackie chewed on it, a blissful expression on his snout.

Icicle sent Blackie to scout a little, collecting the [Cynth flowers] from the surface of the rock face. His Alchemy went up bit by bit. Soon, all of the flowers in his sight were gone. He had also killed 3 more bears during that time.

“Alright Blackie, it’s time to gather some more meat!” Icicle declared happily.

“What meat are we getting, Master?” Blackie asked happily. He was being fed well, more meat meant more snacks for him.

“Wild Boar meat! Do you see those wild pigs over there? We’ll slaughter them all!” Icicle pointed at the whole wild boar tribe.

“Master is so wise!” Blackie barked. “Let’s kill those pigs together!”

Icicle moved from the west side of the grassland to the east one. More and more players climbed over the hill looking for more powerful monsters to kill. Since the competition increased with every passing minute, Icicle had to move fast.

There were a couple of players already fighting the lone boars, afraid of angering the whole herd. Icicle had a devious smile as he walked straight in the direction of the few dozen large, wild boar herd. “Let’s try this Water Mage class out!” he thought, casting [Liquid membrane] on himself and Blackie.

Icicle rushed towards the herd, sword in hand. He wantonly slashed one of the boars, then followed up with the second and third boar. Those three Wild Boars immediately focused on him, their yellow fur standing on end.

“Blackie take care of the herd, when you drag it far away, just enter stealth and return. We need to thin out the ranks first.” Icicle commanded, casting [Water prison] on two of the boars.

“Alright Master!” Blackie unstealthed, smacking the asses of the swine with his paws, running away right after, as if playing catch.

A few of the wild boars confusedly chased after the surrounding players. Most of the players gladly welcomed an additional lone monster to kill, but for those squishy ones it was a terror. Their butts were rammed into, making them feel the might of the legendary “thousand years of pain” technique first-hand.

Icicle quickly stabbed the isolated boar to death. He collected the meat quickly, focusing on the other two. The boars’ speed was decent, but compared to Vilenne they were like snails moving in slow motion.

Icicle jumped around the two remaining boars leisurely, as if performing tricks in a circus, striking their weak sides relentlessly. He realized that at close range the wild boars were as weak as normal swine. It was extremely easy to avoid their tusks. Only their charge was dangerous.

“Master, I’m back!” Blackie announced happily. He immediately rushed to bite the wild boar’s behind.

“You’ve led them quite far. Good job!” Icicle praised the dog. He finished both of the boars and collected the precious, high-quality meat. “We’ll be able to feast for a long time, Blackie!”

“Master, I feel stronger now! Let’s get all of them at once!” Blackie barked.

“Heh, indeed, he’s level 4 now.” Icicle smirked. “Fine, don’t blame me if you can’t keep up!” Icicle looked condescendingly at Blackie.

Blackie rushed in first, engaging a boar all on his own. Icicle followed right after his hound. He knew that Blackie would have enough on his plate with one wild boar, so he took care of the rest. From time to time, Icicle supported Blackie with [Liquid membrane] that absorbed physical damage equal to his wisdom stat or five times more magical damage. Icicle learnt from Vilenne that the scale is better when it ranks up.

At the current level, [Liquid membrane] blocked merely 26 physical damage, but that was almost a quarter of Blackie’s health.

Icicle made sure to keep his familiar healthy, getting proficiency in the [Healing drizzle] spell at the same time. [Healing drizzle] had a small cost of 15 mana plus 5 mana for every additional target. It healed for the equivalent of the user’s wisdom. The cooldown was a short 3 seconds.

Since Icicle rushed into the whole herd of boars, the surrounding players were left with scraps. They watched as the man and dog duo mercilessly slaughtered through the monsters, as if they were nothing more than normal pigs.

Ding!

>

Killing the entire herd of wild boars made their overlord, [Rampant Sharptusk Boar], enraged. Prepare for the attack, adventurer.

“Did I just spawn a mini boss?” Icicle wondered as he collected all the loot. He gained a level from killing the entire herd while Blackie leveled up to 6, his HP bar increasing to 130.

Status:

Name: Icicle

Race: Human

Level: 11

Experience: 280/32 000

Class: Water Mage Apprentice

Subclass: Alchemist

Titles: Pioneer

Points left to distribute: 3

Statistics:

HP: 320

Mana: 360

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 45

Vitality: 19

Intelligence: 20

Wisdom: 26

Charisma: 20

Luck: 10

Skills:

[Identify] (passive) – lets you see the basic information of lowest grade items, NPCs and monsters. You can see the information of monsters who are no more than 5 levels higher than you.

[Craftsman’s splendor] (passive) – increases your chance of making a better quality product by 5%.

[Intermediary sense presence] (passive) – allows you to sense the targets of [Hide presence] level and below in 5m range.

[Flawless mana control] (passive) – allows the user to dual-wield the mana freely.

[Healing drizzle] – healing spell. Restores health equal to the user’s wisdom. +5 mana per each additional target.

[Water prison] – restricting ability. Enclose the target in a sphere of water for the duration of 3 seconds + Wisdom/100 seconds.

[Liquid membrane] – protective shield. Absorbs physical damage equal to wisdom stat or magical damage equal to 5 times the wisdom stat. Blocks most crowd control effects until broken.

“I feel like I should save the stat points for now. There’s probably more to them then I can see now. My stats are high enough as they are anyways.” Icicle concluded. He gave Blackie two slabs of boar meat and sat down to get some rest. He ate one of the sandwiches and drank some lemonade. “Those are good. I need to let Wurtox process the boar meat as well.” Icicle decided.

“What do you think of that guy? He used some weird spells.” one of the players nearby said, pointing at Icicle who sat at the bottom of the hill.

“Judging by that translucent blue barrier and the little cloud spewing rain, he’s probably a Water Mage.” one of the Fire Mages replied.

“Didn’t it cost 5 gold to become one though? That Water Mage teacher was stubborn.” another mage said.

“Who knows man, since there are people trying to learn fishing, there might as well be a group of friends who made an effort to raise 5 gold and let him have the class.”

Rumble!

“So soon?” Icicle was finishing his meal when the sound of hooves smashing against the soil resounded in the area. Icicle who sat at the bottom of the hill saw a gigantic, 2m high, 4m long, boar charging at him head on.

Icicle looked behind him and saw at least 20 players gathered, looking for monsters to kill. He checked the boar and since it was only of a Rare grade, he didn’t have much interest towards it.

“I’ll let you guys have it.” Icicle said magnanimously, running in the players direction.

They stood on spot, wondering what the hell was happening. Why did that giant boar suddenly appear? Then those players saw Icicle running towards them. Looking to their sides, they realized there’s nothing else to kill in the vicinity. They might as well get rid of the boar.

“Heh, you’re just too incompetent to take it on!” one of them said, smirking. “Bring it on!” he shouted.

Icicle didn’t mind the taunt at the slightest. When the boar was close enough, Icicle cast [Water prison] to make it turn and then dodged to the side, letting the other players take control of it.

Fireballs, arrows and lightning bolts peppered the boar constantly, not letting it have respite. It roared angrily, glaring at Icicle who was now out of reach. Two Warriors stood side by side, blocking the [Rampant Sharptusk Boar] from attacking their backliners.

Rooooar!

The boar stomped the ground with its hooves, creating a mini-earthquake, making both of the tanks fall on their butts.

“Look out Rokh!” came the scream from the Priest.

The boar rose its front hooves and smashed them down with full force!

“Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!” Rokh was hit right in the middle of his chest. The air escaped his lungs, making him suffer in agony. Even with Warrior’s steel armor having your chest almost punctured hurt like hell.

The Wild Boar wasn’t done, it stomped its hooves on the spot, set on charging into the backliners. Those pesky people dared to attack it from range! Chargeee!

“Do it now, Ferm!” came the screams from the party members.

Ferm cast [Compact Earth Wall], making a small dirt wall protrude from the surface, blocking the boar’s rampant charge.

Boom!

The earth wall crumbled instantly, barely reducing the boar’s speed. However, it was enough for the backliners to escape safely.

“We were just surprised! Don’t mind it and stun that boar!” one of the players screamed.

Icicle watched the proceedings with a smirk. “They have quite a good coordination despite being strangers.” Icicle looked at Blackie “We need to get going as well.”

“Yes Master!” Blackie nuzzled against Icicle’s leg.

RUMBLE!

“What now?” Icicle looked at the top of the grassland hill. The rumble this time was much louder than when the boar came charging down.

ROOAAAR!

Gigantic white rhinoceros appeared at the top of the hill, rushing straight down!

“Is this the gathering of monsters?” Icicle thought. He examined the white rhino quickly. “It looks like the grey one I saw in the Vilen Town’s stables. Only its horn is a lot longer, pointed like a spear.”

“Blackie, get ready, this one is ours!” Icicle gripped his sword tightly and awaited the charging monster.

The formidable beast’s sturdy legs bounced off the ground, sending tremors through the earth. It rushed madly, as if enraged. Icicle swung his sword horizontally, straight at the rhino’s snout.

Tink!

The white beast blocked the sword blow with its long horn, making Icicle fly backwards from the impact. The white rhinoceros charged forth, barely losing any speed from the exchange.

“Since that’s how you want to play it out, fine!” Icicle steadied his feet, putting his sword in front of him. The rhino ran straight at him. When it was merely a meter away from him, Icicle slid under the rhino, cutting the beast’s abdomen.

ROOOAR!

The white horned rhinoceros thrashed about, splattering fresh blood all around. It came to a sudden stop, making the fertile brown soil upturn. The nearby grass was uprooted, flying around, as if carried by wind. The rhino glared at Icicle furiously.

Icicle sprang up from the ground, rushing towards the rhinoceros to decrease the distance, at the same time reducing its charge efficacy.

“Now Blackie!” Icicle ordered. The black hound unstealthed, flashing in front of rhino’s eyes, clawing at them!

ROOOAR!

White rhino let out another furious roar. One of its eyes was now bleeding!

“Master, the hide of this beast is too hard!” Blackie yelped, unsatisfied with the result.

“That’s okay Blackie, get in stealth and walk underneath the beast. You’ll claw the rhino when I tell you to!” Icicle ordered.

“Yes Master!” Blackie merged with the shadows, circling around the white monster.

Icicle and the rhino charged at each other. As soon as Icicle was close, he used [Soundless Fear].

HOOOOWL!

ROOOAR!

The white rhinoceros wasn’t one bit dazed, it merely shook its head. But that was enough for Icicle to jump on top of the beast! Icicle grabbed the blade of his sword with the leather glove and put it across the rhino’s neck, cutting horizontally as if using a saw.

ROOOOAR!

“Now Blackie!” Icicle screamed mentally.

Blackie appeared underneath the rhino, swiping his paws at the open abdominal wound, making it bleed even more profusely.

The rhino struggled, rising its front legs to stamp the ground, trying to make the intruder fall off its back.

Blackie instinctively jumped back, avoiding the colossal weight of the monster.

“Damn, this is better than rodeo!” Icicle laughed happily. “Come on baby!” Icicle cut even deeper into the rhino’s thick-skinned neck.

The massive beast kept roaring, unable to get rid of the pestering human on its back. After over a minute of struggling, it fell on its left side, surprising Icicle.

“Ouch!” Icicle felt his side aching. He quickly got up from the ground and drank a health potion. “Weird, it’s surprisingly quiet over there.” Icicle checked what the party tangled with the boar was doing and saw something horrifying.

“Those bastards can’t even control one simple monster!” Icicle cursed. The players he offered the boar to couldn’t even keep a formation and let the boar escape!

Icicle’s pupils constricted as he saw the enraged boar charging in his direction at full speed. Its eyes were scarlet, its fur entirely red, covered in wounds.

If that wasn’t enough, the rhino next to Icicle stood up, its neck and abdomen dripping blood profusely. It was catching its breath, glaring furiously at Icicle.

The boar was closer and closer. When it was 2m away from Icicle, he used [Soundless Fear] again, using every bit of mana to strengthen the effect, hoping to direct the boar away.

AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Long howl of Silverfang resounded through the grasslands, louder than ever, making the boar change its trajectory a little. It instinctively ran to the left, ramming straight into recovering rhino’s butt!

Thud! Groooooan!

Both beasts fell to the ground, stunned from the impact. The rhino looked especially miserable.

“Get him now Blackie!’ Icicle ordered, charging to finish the job. He mercilessly struck the open wound on the rhino’s neck to dispatch the monster.

All the damage slowly piled up, making the rhino die 5 seconds later.

“Sorry about that!” Rokh, one of the warriors scratched his head apologetically. His party ran after the boar and finished it off as well.

“It’s fine.” Icicle drawled out. It wasn’t fine. That boar almost ruined his entire plan! Icicle helplessly collected the dropped items.

“Undamaged skin of white rhinoceros… lucky! One long horn, some silvers and… what is that staff?” Icicle looked at the piece of equipment with a frown. It was an [Elite] grade, since it emitted a white hue. The staff was entirely white, slim, and had a little angel figurine at the end. “Could it be a weapon for the Priests?” Icicle inferred. “Maybe Faura wants it.”

From: Icicle

To: Faura

Do you want to buy this off me?

Icicle sent the screenshot of the staff in the message.

It was Saturday, so the answer came quite quickly. “How much?”

“For you, 5 gold. It’s not identified and I couldn’t see the level of the elite rhino I killed, so it’s at least level 17 staff.” Icicle added.

“We’ll take it.” Faura quickly responded.

“Wait, why did you blindly buy it?” FieryRed voiced her objection.

“You should be more careful, Faura.” Inferno added. “We don’t know if it’s really as he says.”

“Let’s not kid ourselves. We’re not experts so we rely on the equipment a whole lot. We’ve made it this far thanks to Icicle’s kindness. If not for his party invite we would probably struggle at the backlines with other players.” Faura said.

“As for you FieryRed, you could run naked with just your sword and shield and you’d do well.” Faura shook her head, glancing at the black bear at FieryRed’s side.

“Well… that’s true.” FieryRed rose her head high, proud of her battle prowess.

“Don’t forget we’re relying on Enna’s healing in every battle! Her equipment should be our priority! As for Icicle, we’ll just ask to identify the item prior to buying. Does that satisfy all of you?” Faura looked at each of her party members’ faces.

They all nodded in agreement. Enna blushed in embarrassment since all of her friends were spending money on her.

“Good!” Faura said. “Come over here!”

The whole party huddled together for a chant. “One, two , three, let’s go!”

A few dozens of gnolls wandered in front of a giant mine-like entrance, carrying rusty flails. Their stench resembled that of a stray, wild dog’s. Faura and her party hid in the nearby bushes, buffing themselves up after a rallying shout.

“This is going to be fun!” FieryRed said as she brought her shield closer to her tiny chest, ready to engage.

GROOOWL!

The bear beside FieryRed growled as they both entered the fray. “Cover her!” Faura ordered, peppering the dog-like monsters with spells.

…

“I’m currently a bit busy, so I’ll get back to you in a day or two about that item.” Icicle sent the message, receiving a simple “ok” as an answer. “Another good day of business.” he smiled.

Ding!

>

Attention adventurers, local wild boss [One-eyed Fearsome Grizzly] has been slain!

“Heh, at least there are some competent people in the area.” Icicle smirked.