[Announcement: The Wolf Queen has been defeated. Congratulations to player XXX for this feat]

At the same time, the announcement was made to all players in Little Root Town.

"Wow! The first boss is down! Who did that?"

"Amazing! I wonder who it is. A single player managed to defeat it when a whole party died to it last night."

On the main street, many players heard the announcement and were wondering who killed the boss, especially since only one player was mentioned, that meant that he or she soloed the boss.

The forums were instantly flooded with questions. Many kept asking for the person to reveal himself, but Li Wei would never do that. It was important to note that the forums had different sections; one for the beginner's town, one for the city’s players would spawn to and one for the whole server. As for the global forum, it was still locked for now so that players could not know what was happening in other empires.

As for why he did not want to reveal himself, it was because he was worried of the player’s greed. He was the only one to have defeated the Wolf Queen at Little Root Town. Li Wei was certain many players would come and ask for his loot

...

In a tavern on the main street.

"Pakk" A tall man stomped the table he was at. Someone had actually soloed a boss... He was supposed to be the strongest in this town... That man was actually Sky Walker, the ranked 1 on the Leaderboard of the Tower of Heroes. He went there every day to keep up his rank.

"Find out who it was! Recruit him if possible! If he refuses, then kill him! We must not let other teams recruit him."

"Yes, boss!"

The group of players around Sky Walker immediately nodded. These players banded together as they planned on forming a guild. Unfortunately, this option was only available when one reached the cities, but nothing stopped them from recruiting players now.

"Stay at the entrance of the town and look at all the solo players that will be coming back tonight."

...

Li Wei did not know all that was happening. He just sat on the ground, panting to catch his breath. His heart was still beating fast, the fight shook him up... That fight gave him a feeling of satisfaction. It was like he was venting his frustration onto the Wolf Queen by stabbing it.

After a short while, he stood up and place his hand on a corpse. "Collect". It was finally time to collect the loot.

Li Wei collected everything from the normal wolves first. There was nothing special, only [Wolf Fur], [Wolf Meat] and [Wolf Claws]. But then came the important Loot.

Upon placing his hands on the Wolf Queen, 5 items were added to his inventory; [Wolf Queen's Fur], [Wolf Queen's Claw], [Wolf Queen's blood], [Wolf Queen's Beast Core] and [Wolf Queen's Meat]

[System prompt: you have collected the necessary material for the quest "Upgrade the Ring of Chaos(I). Do you want to proceed with the upgrade?]

Li Wei was still in the forest. It could be considered a dangerous area, but the temptation was too strong. Li Wei was eager to see his new ring.

"Proceed with the upgrade."

Immediately, the ring on his finger started to shine brightly. Slowly, it slid off Li Wei's finger and floated in the air in front of Li Wei. A few seconds later, the Beast Core flew up and touched the Ring. They slowly fused together while emitting a red glow. The Ring now looked completely liquid and transparent but quickly after, the iron ingots started to melt and fused into the ring.

The scene was like a bright fire in the middle of forest; it only lasted for 30 seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Having absorbed the ingots, the ring now looked very similar to its previous appearance. The glow slightly started to dim, and Li Wei instinctively raised his hand to catch the ring.

With the ring in his hand, Li Wei looked at it. The ring had the same appearance but seemed to be slightly shinier than before.

[Ring of Chaos](Grade 1)(Upgradable)

Vitality +1

Intelligence +1

Skill: [Chaos Sphere]

Effect 1: Experience gained +3%

Effect 2: Soul Bound-Cannot be dropped/exchanged/sold/unequipped

[An exclusive gift given to those bestowed with a name by Gaia]

"Mmmm" Li Wei was disappointed upon seeing the new ring. Even though it provided some additional stats, they were not allocated in Dexterity or Strength as he wanted. But still, bonus stats were always welcomed.

Li Wei then proceeded to check the skill

[Chaos Sphere(level 0)]

Gathers Chaos energy into a sphere that can be thrown towards a target, detonates upon contact

Mana Cost: 30

Damage: 25

Cooldown: one day.

"Wow 25 magic damage, that's much higher than Mana Bolt but the Mana cost is also..." Li Wei had mixed feelings about the ring. The bonus stats were not what he wanted but he still got a good skill that would typically be used by mages. The reality was harsh, but the ring was still his best equipment so far.

"At least I can use it as a life-saving skill... Let's check it out first before judging."

With that in mind, Li Wei stood up and activated the skill. A dark mist appeared and converged into his hands forming a small sphere. The sphere slowly floated above Li Wei's palm as the mist inside kept rotating quickly. Li Wei raised the sphere and threw it far away, towards a huge tree.

"Booommm"

An explosion almost comparable to the explosive potion occurred. It did not completely damage the tree but still, a deep scar and black marks were left on the stem.

"Wow! Even though the radius of the damage is very small, it is still very good for single targets."

Li Wei could not help but ironically smile. He wanted to walk the path of a warrior, but the style he wanted to use was similar to that of a rogue and now, he was getting the skill meant for a mage, "Am I supposed to become a Jack of all trades?"

Li Wei then checked his character window, he obtained 4000 exp from the Wolf Queen, much more than from the Red Bandit Leader since for the latter, it was the Commander that dealt all the damage, his own contribution was very low.

Name: Seven

Race: Human

Level: 9 (4499/4500)

Class: Warrior

Title: None

HP: 34/90

MP: 13/70

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 14(+1)

Vitality :8(+1)

Intelligence: 6(+1)

Wisdom: 8

Stat Points available: 0

Skills: [Cleave], [Strengthen], [Weapon Throwing]

Fatigue: 46%

"Pfff 1 more exp before leveling up. Let's get that tonight, I'll leave Little Root Town tomorrow... I need to bridge the gap between those who have already left the Beginner's Town.”

Li Wei drank a Health Potion and 2 Mana Potions before leaving the area. He had obtained what he wanted; it was time to go back to sleep.

...

[System Prompt: Congratulations Player Seven. You leveled up. You have reached level 10, all stats +1. You have gained a free stat point.

[System Prompt: Experience bar locked. Please visit the town hall to leave Little Root Town and your Experience bar will be unlocked.]

[System Prompt: Congratulations Player Seven for being the first player at Little Root Town to reach level 10. Do you want to share your name?]

While walking back towards the town, Li Wei naturally encountered some wild animals. It was time for them to respawn and when they saw Li Wei, they directly jumped to bite him. But with his experience, Li Wei easily dealt with them and finally leveled up.

"I am about two days behind the first guy... I need to work harder," thought Li Wei. He then looked at the system prompt.

His experience bar was locked to prevent him from leveling up again while he was in the Beginner's Town. Developers wanted to keep this as a training ground for beginners. If players wanted to continue to progress, they needed to leave and explore Zero.

Also, to level up again, Li Wei would need 10000 exp. It was a massive gap compared to the previous 4500 needed, more than double. It was normal to increase the difficulty after the tutorial.

As for sharing his name, Li Wei immediately declined. He did not want to attract the gaze of everyone, but the announcement would still be made with an "XXX" to replace his name.

Li Wei quickly allocated his stat point to Dexterity without hesitation. He then collected all the loot and walked towards the town...

...

At the gate of the town, Li Wei leisured walked in. It was 20:04 but many people were still on the streets. As soon as Li Wei crossed the portal, he was immediately stopped by a group of players.

"Excuse me! As you know, the Wolf Queen has just been defeated by a solo player. May I ask if it was you?" a bearded man walked towards Li Wei and asked him in a friendly manner.

He had already stopped many players before Li Wei, but when he saw that Li Wei was the player who just reached level 10, he was almost certain that it was him.

"Huh? No, it wasn't me... I was just killing some bears right now," answered Li Wei with an expressionless face. His suspicions were correct, all the teams were greedy. They were curious about the loot of the boss.

As Li Wei answered, many surrounding teams also looked towards him for any signs of lying. They all had the same purpose. When they saw that Li Wei was being questioned, they also focused their attention and intently listened.

The reason all teams were interested in the drops were that they were planning on forming guilds when they reach the cities. They were already in contact with their friends in other Beginner's Towns over the forum.

Guilds were very competitive, they all wanted to get the best equipment. Most players had already noticed it: monsters did not drop any equipment. Those could only be produced by craftsmen or found in ruins and dungeons.

Collecting materials was the most important task to all those who wanted to found guilds. They had tried several times to defeat the different bosses available in the Beginner's Town such as the Wolf Queen but all these average teams had failed till now. They always sent all their players but that was the worst possible strategy since bosses were made harder to fight as there was more players.

...

"Really? Then, in that case, do you mind showing us your inventory?" the bearded man's expression hardened but he still kept a friendly face.

"Why would I do that? That's an intrusion to my privacy. It is not my problem if you do not want to believe me." Li Wei directly denied his request. There was no doubt that it would not end well if they knew that Li Wei had the loot.

The bearded man frowned, the other players behind him also started to slowly surround Li Wei. "Please don't make things difficult for us! We won't take any of your things. It is important for us to find the person who killed the boss. We just want to invite him to our team."

'Tsssk invite you say? More like rob' thought Li Wei in his heart.

"This has nothing to do with me. Besides, we are in town. If you want to fight, then bring it on." Li Wei showed a determined expression. It was a fact that fights in towns were forbidden. The militia would immediately arrest troublemakers and have them pay a fine.

"That's true, but what will happen when you leave the town? It is very dangerous outside... you know what I mean" the bearded man did not want to let go but Li Wei was unfazed.

"Are you blind? Don't you see that I am level 10 already. There's no need for me to go out of the town. Before you even realize it, I will already be gone to the open world," replied Li Wei with a mocking expression.

The bearded man blushed a little. It was true, he forgot that detail but he quickly responded.

"That's not what I mean... I am talking about when we will go to cities. We are all part of the future guild, Exodia. As a solo player I don't think that you want to offend us over such petty things."

Before Li Wei could retort, a loud voice was heard from the side;

"Hey what are you all doing like that!!! Are you trying to riot? Disperse now!" the speaker was actually a thin man, he looked drunk and had a tired expression. But his uniform and his badge were clearly seen, it was the Vice-Commander of the militia.

"No no Sir, we are just discussing... We are doing nothing wrong," quickly responded the bearded man.

"Do you think I am drunk?!? I am telling you to disperse! So, disperse now!"

‘You are drunk!’ swore the players in their heart.

Hearing that, the bearded man and several other teams tried to argue with the vice-commander but were unconditionally told to "Disperse". With no other choice, they all glared at Li Wei and retreated a few steps.

"Seven, come with me to the Barracks!"

"Ah! Yes, Vice-Commander." Li Wei was surprised, help came from an unexpected person, but he did not refuse. Despite the careless appearance of the Vice-Commander, Li Wei knew that this man was very skilled.

Li Wei quickly walked next to the Vice-Commander "Why do I need to go to the barracks? Isn't it already late?"

The vice-commander took out a bottle from his pocket and took a sip from it before answering. "Didn't you just level up? You need your skills, right? I am sure the Commander won't say no to one more task, haha! "