Markus woke up early. The more time he had to train, the more time he had to get ahead of the pack. He retrieved his clothes from the dryer, bought food, and left the hotel.

On the streets outside, the other players could be seen sleeping, covering themselves with leaves, and huddling near buildings. After all, the majority of people weren't the type to explore their surroundings and pick up random plants, so they couldn't do any of the quests. A couple may have ventured out of the city to go herb-collecting, but 5 credits were nowhere near enough for a hotel room.

He walked around the sleeping people and entered the guild, taking the daily quest and 2 others, one to collect ganbea leaves and the other to gather araden.

After he left the guild most of the people had already stretched and gotten up. Most appeared to be in their early 20s to 30s, with a couple of teenagers. While this game was supposed to be 18+, that didn't stop people from breaking the rules. No doubt many of them were now realizing that it wasn't a dream, that they could die here, and that they were stuck here. Plenty of people committed suicide on the 2nd day, adding to the death toll. Already one of the teens had walked outside with a blank look on their face, probably to drown themselves. He went over to the teens and bought a couple of loaves of bread from the system as well as bottles of water, before handing out the rations. He then turned to leave but a rough hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Hey, wait. How the fuck did you do that, kid? Why aren't you giving us some food too?!" said the owner of the hand. Several of the other adults looked at Markus, with a few stepping closer to him.

"You guys are adults, so shouldn't you be able to take care of yourselves?" Markus retorted.

"Watch your words, young man. Show some respect when you talk to me!" the man said back.

"I'll show you respect when you show me some, instead of trying to order me around."

"Why you little shit-" The man moved forward, his face flushed red. He swung at Markus but Markus simply dodged and punched the man in the gut, making him double over and collapse, clutching his stomach. Markus looked down on the man, who was now groaning in pain.

"Listen up, old man. I don't take orders from you, and I don't give a shit about your problems. If you want food, work for it instead of ordering others around."

Unlocked Willpower!

None of the other adults moved forward, afraid of the same thing. Markus walked away, ignoring the commotion that began as soon as he walked away as well as the blue screen and went over to the gate instead. He knew the guards had been watching but they wouldn't stop them, since the other man had attacked first.

While monsters were more active later in the day and at night, he still had to be careful. There were still monsters near the entrance of the city, many of them easily 2-3 levels above him. He moved into the forest, looking for the plants while also keeping track of his location and keeping low to the ground.

Araden wasn't too hard to find due to its distinctive leaf shape, but ganbea leaves were a little harder to find since the plant grew near sources of water. Plus he had to backtrack or stop half the time to avoid monsters even though unlike the other players, his body odor was less noticeable because he had stayed in the hotel. He eventually learned a few skills, however:

Learned Gathering Lvl 1! Learned Hiding Lvl 1!

He also grabbed a couple of sticks and strong reeds to make traps out of later. After checking his surroundings, making sure he didn't leave behind too many tracks, he slowly crawled through the bushes back to the city.

People were up and about now, a crowd of people in front of the quest board. Bill was there with a large group of people, taking a large number of quests. Markus checked the time before finishing up his things.

"Hey man, how's it going? Want to go hunting with us?"

He turned around and found Bill standing there, the crowd of people waiting outside. A few people could be seen listening up on their conversation.

Markus checked the quest board and sure enough, several hunting quests were gone.

"Are you guys idiots? Do you actually want to try hunting animals at Lvl 1? Didn't you guys see the horde yesterday?" Markus said.

"Come on, man. How hard can it be? After all, we got like 20 people and the quest only says to kill 5 wolves. We'll just take them on one at a time."

"Wolves are at least Lvl 4 and they can call for help. Are you sure you want to get massacred? Besides, does your group even have any weapons or a class yet?"

"Oh come on, there's no way it would be that hard. It's still a game after all, and this is the beginner town."

"Where does it say that this is the beginner town? Just because you spawned near here doesn't make it the starting village."

"Ugh, dammit man, what the fuck am I supposed to do then? All of the easy ones are already taken, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm broke as hell. By the way, you wouldn't have any food on you, would ya?"

"Just do the daily quests or ask NPCs. This game is meant to be 'realistic', so it's not like the guild is the only place you can make money. Anyway, just let me buy something and I'll get some food for you."

This was not out of generosity. If Bill was able to convince a crowd of people to work with him, he most likely already had the charisma stat as well as the forums. Because of this, he could become a valuable tool in the future.

Markus went outside of the guild into one of the shops and bought a small bag that he tied with some of the reeds to his pants. He then opened up the shop, buying a loaf of bread and a bottle of water. The food appeared on the ground in front of Bill, who reacted with surprise.

"Wait, what the fuck? How'd you do that?" Bill grabbed the food off the ground and started biting into it hungrily.

"I unlocked it after I finished the daily quest. It costs credits though, so you better pay me back later." Markus said.

"Damn, okay. I guess I'll take that daily quest thing. By the way, what is 'the grand hunt' thing anyway?"

"You remember that giant horde of monsters? That's the grand hunt."

"Wait, so that shit happens every single fucking day? Fuck, how are we supposed to participate in that?"

"The guards one shot everything so just do assists. You can earn more than enough money that way. Besides, you get EXP from that as well."

"...So, what are you going to do now?"

"Train. Why?"

"Like, come on man. We're all trying to get stronger, so how come you keep playing solo? I haven't seen you group up with anyone yet."

"If you've got nothing useful to ask me, I'm leaving." Markus turned his back to leave.

"Seriously, dude. We could use someone as-" Bill stretched out his hand to grab Markus's shoulder, but Markus slapped it away.

"Fuck off. I don't trust you enough to work with you." Markus walked into one of the training halls, locking the door behind him. After choosing his settings, a wooden doll appeared next to him, along with 2 wooden wolves in front of both of them.

The wooden doll got in fighting position before running up and kicking its wolf in the throat, knocking it onto its back and stepping on it. It stomped through the wolf's stomach, making a hole. The mannequin then returned to its position and the wolf repaired itself.

The wolf in front of Markus then reacted, baring its wooden fangs. It moved warily, looking for an opening. Markus kept a fighting stance, inching steadily towards the wolf. The animal opened its mouth, but Markus lifted his foot and slammed it down, snapping its jaw shut. Now stunned, the wolf tried backing up but he followed up with a solid kick upwards, copying the mannequin.

The wolf repaired itself before vanishing. The room changed, a haze covering the room. Markus shut his eyes and when he reopened them, he was in a forest, the mannequin gone. The bushes rustled and in front of him stood a live wolf, though a bit smaller than the ones he saw yesterday. While it was an illusion, it could still simulate fighting a real one very well. In essence, it was a living punching bag.

The wolf barked loudly, and Markus instinctively covered his ears. It charged at the visibly stunned Markus, who then stopped faking, sidestepped, and kicked the wolf from the side. He had guessed that the wolf must be a pup still and therefore its skill levels wouldn't be that strong. Thus, all he had to do was cover his ears and he could ward off the stun effect.

The pup whimpered and tried to retreat. Markus ran back up and stepped on its neck, grinding his foot down until he heard a breaking sound.

The pup faded away and was replaced by another monster, this time a fox kit. The kit was reddish-brown, smaller, and had a bushy tail with a green tip. Markus kept his guard up and approached it slowly, leaving his chest open on purpose. The fox took this chance and leaped, mouth open only to be kicked in the stomach and sent crashing into a tree. It moaned weakly, one of its ribs shattered from the kick. He walked over to the tree, moving his leg back and smashing its skull. The fox disappeared as well as the background, giving him a short break.

While it was good for training practice, it was highly unrealistic. It would be practically impossible to find a Lvl 1 Fox or Wolf, not to mention it not barking for help.

After a status check, a few of his stats increased and his SP was down by around 30%. Running and Training both went up to Lvl 6, Kick and Adaptation went up to Lvl 3, and Unarmed Mastery to Lvl 2.

Learned Target Lvl 1! Unlocked Composure!

"Time, please," Markus said.

The forest partially faded away to reveal a digital clock, the time being 2 hours away from the wave.

Markus ended the session, paid the 8 credits, and sat down to train his circulation.

"You sure this is a good idea man?"

Jake, along with 14 others, was hunting in the woods. Bill had told them that he was dropping out and that it was a bad idea but the rest of them were skeptical and had kept going. They were convinced that he was just trying to keep the weak monsters to himself and moved on. Meanwhile, Jake didn't have a choice because he was the one that took the quest.

They hadn't seen any animals so far, but a couple of them had been hearing sounds that weren't human. He was starting to get chills, like they were being surrounded, and cursed himself for taking that quest.

"Dude, it's the beginner town and we got 15 people. This'll be easy!" Connor replied.

"Yeah...we got 15 people. Strength in numbers, right?" Jake muttered softly, trying to reassure himself that this was a good idea.

Suddenly, a lone wolf popped out of the bushes. It froze in place, before steadily retreating backward, keeping eye contact with the players.

"Alright everyone, let's get that little shit!" yelled Connor.

2 more wolves then appeared, behind the lone wolf. They growled menacingly and approached the humans.

Several of the players began backing away from those sharp looking teeth. A few brandished their sticks wildly, but they were easily snapped by the wolves' claws.

"C'mon, what are you doing! There's 3 of them and 15 of us! We can take these--AAARGGHH" Connor shouted.

"MY LEG MY FUCKING LEG GET IT OFF GET OFF YOU DUMB MUTT" Connor screamed, a wolf biting into his arm. He collapsed to the ground, screaming and shouting expletives. The humans at the front tried to rip the wolf off of him but then the remaining 2 attacked, biting into legs and mauling faces.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HELP ME DAMMIT WHERE ARE YOU GRHG" The wolf on top of Connor suddenly ripped out his throat, ending his cries. A trickle of players expanded into a stream as they ran from the wolves, leaving their injured comrades behind.

After almost 2 hours, Markus was able to move the mana into his left arm as well as his right hand, advancing the skill by 2 levels.

I'll have to increase INT and WIS later. Markus thought. He was close to running out of MP, which could only be restored by skills that he didn't have or special foods. Most kinds of "magic" foods would restore MP, so he'd go berry picking later.

In the meantime, it was time for a quick food break as well as the hunt.

After he finished his food, he left the guild and went outside, to see a group of players running from what appeared to be a pack of wolves. One of them got bitten in the leg and went down, the wolves mauling his body to bits.

Looks like they lost around 7 or 8 people. Markus wasn't too surprised by the fact that the crowd went ahead with the hunting plan. To them, it seemed like they had no choice, as they probably heard about the penalty for failing a quest. It wasn't like they could do any other quests either. The system had a limit on the number of quests it put out each day, and due to their levels, many of the quests on the board were faded out.

Honestly, he was a little happy that so many had died. This way, there would be fewer people doing the daily hunt and it would be easier as well. This was because, in each city, there was a limit on how many players could join before guards were not allowed to participate. Say, for example, this city had a limit of 30. This meant that the number of players could exceed 30, but no guards were allowed. If the number of players was less than 30, guards joined until there were exactly 30 participants.

The gate was quickly opened and the players were let back in. No doubt many of them would have PTSD after this, not to mention that they would never trust each other again. Many had blood on their clothes and faces, some theirs, some others. A few muttered over and over to themselves, trying to convince themselves that they weren't complete pieces of shit, but the people that remained in the city looked at them with disdain and horror, thanking themselves that they didn't take the hunting quests.

A couple of the wolves tried to force their way into the city, but they were easily massacred by the guards.

Then the rumbling started and signs of a horde could be seen in the distance. The grand hunt had begun.