Kashi walked the streets of Kerta, marveling at how much the city had changed over the past three weeks. The roads were packed with numerous Residents and Summoned going about their businesses. With every, passing day, the density of Summoned increased as more gamers subscribed to the new game.

Kashi passed by several newly erected stores on designated ‘Trade Streets’ where merchants gathered to sell their wares and upgrade their class. The trade classes possessed a unique trait compared to other classes. Unlike warriors or mages, merchant classes did not need to fight to increase their levels. The act of completing transactions in any form experience points which they used to level up.

Whereas if a warrior or mage practiced smithery, tailoring or other similar crafts, they suffered penalties to the experience points they gained. Due to this penalty, most newbies tended to shy away from crafting in the early stages of gaming. The fact that the early stages of a game also had the highest turnover rate of weapons also meant that the price of weapons was quite low and not too profitable.

Artisans could only succeed in the early stages if they were good enough to constantly produce Uncommon or Rare goods. Kashi knew from experience if he wanted to get gear similar to the Recruit’s set, he would have to pay through his nose. At the moment, professional crafters were ultra-rare, and the daeben fully intended to cash in on the opportunity.

Especially because it was a brand new game, even users who were previously trade-crafters in their previous games would be tempted to roam for a while before picking up their respective trades.

The foundation of every good business was sufficient start-up funds. Kashi had indeed saved up quite a bit from his apprenticeship at the various shops, but because he was trying to manage his level growth, he did not maximize his profit margin. The daeben considered continuing with the apprenticeship now that he no longer needed to manage his leveling speed. However, on second thought, he changed his mind.

When it came to making money, there was a faster, more efficient method, especially considering his current strength level.

Kashi arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild and admired the grand structure for a moment before making his way in. The daeben made his way over to a female mertian clerk who introduced him to the Adventurer’s Guild and how it worked.

The Adventurer’s Guild was a coalition formed from a group of adventurers many decades ago to consolidate the collective strength of adventurers around the continent. It provided security both to the customer and the adventurer carrying out the mission, ensuring that neither party got cheated.

Adventurers were ranked, in order of lowest to highest: F  E  D  C  B  A  S  SS  SSS. These rankings were not based on strength alone, but trust also. The more missions an adventurer completed, the greater their ranks would be. Higher ranks meant tougher missions or missions guarding important cargo.

Missions were posted on a notice board, and all had a recommended level and required Guild Ranking. Just like in most Role Playing Games (RPGs), residents paid a sum to the Adventurer’s guild in return for the completion of certain tasks. Without the required guild ranking, an adventurer could not take up a mission even if his level was ten times above the recommended level. For example, if a mission had a Recommended Level of 10, and a Guild Ranking of E, even a level 100 adventurer would not be allowed to pick up that mission.

Adventurers who completed the task were paid a percentage of the quest-givers fee. Summoned could also post requests, and just like Residents, they had to pay the reward to the Adventurers' guild first.

Kashi thanked the clerk for her assistance then walked over to the board. He scanned the board and noticed a myriad of level 10-15 quests for an F-ranked adventurer. As this was his first time at the Adventurer’s Guild, he was ranked F, and these were the only missions he could take presently.

Kashi identified five simple gathering quests for materials obtained by killing certain animals located on the outskirts of town. It was essentially killing two birds with one stone; leveling and earning money at the same time. He ripped off these five quests from the notice board then walked out of the building.

Kashi set out for the gates at a relaxed gait, and a glint in his eyes at the prospect of finally hitting something alive. As he neared the city gates, a small gathering caught his eye. The group seemed to be cheering for someone in the middle. Curiosity won over his desire to kill, and he approached the crowd but immediately froze in his tracks when the most beautiful voice he had ever heard carried over in the air towards him.

There were people like this girl too. People who chose the music profession to be bards or performers. Their songs or instruments raised the stat points of allies and reduced the stat points of their enemies. They were excellent support but considered utterly useless in actual combat.

Kashi closed his eyes as the song washed over him like a wave of nostalgia. He could not help but feel like this song was solely meant for him. He felt like he had heard this song a million times, and it resonated deep within his soul. The world seemed to fade away leaving only him and her song in it.

But there was something wrong. The song (or was it her voice?) tugged at his heart, unlocking something that should have been buried deep inside. The song was horribly beautiful, and just when he thought he could take no more, someone nudged past him, successfully breaking him free of the song's spell.

Kashi ran.

For how long, the daeben did not know. He just kept running. Only when he reached the city gates did he finally pull to a halt, sweat rolling down his face in showers. He clutched his chest, and slowly pulled himself together as the dark corners around his vision cleared away.

This was the first time Kashi had ever had a panic attack inside the virtual world. Suzuki's rule to keep his personalities separate was to prevent his episodes from slipping into the virtual world; his only true solace. He calmed himself with the knowledge that it was a large continent. He would most likely never meet that woman again.

If only he knew at the time what fate had in store for him.

Kashi regained his composure after a while and decided to go hunting since he was already outside the gates. He started with the rabbits which he killed easily by running up and kicking them. They dropped several items, one of which included rabbit meat: an ingredient for a cooking dish.

Kashi needed ten rabbit feet for some random resident who felt his luck had gone down recently and thought it would bring his family good luck. The random drop rate made task take longer than it should, but he finally got all of them. Before that though, Kashi pulled up his profile screen and added all the stat points he had saved earlier to his agility.

Kashi hunted in the plains until nighttime. The daeben’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the full moon in the sky. In this world, the moon was called Jeha, and it was considerably larger than earth’s moon. Kashi, however, was not thinking of the moon’s size, but the consequences of nighttime. Nighttime was when the bigger monsters came out of their dens to feed. This was perfect as Kashi still two quests which needed items from ferocious carnivores.

Kashi opened his inventory window and picked the recruits bow.

Recruit’s Bow (Rare)

Weight: 20

Durability: (35/35)

Weapon Type: Bow

ATK (Phy): 25 ~ 30

Ki Capacity: 800 Ki

Awarded to those who completed the Basic Training Program. This bow can store and fire ki arrows.

+10 Dexterity

+5% Critical Hit Damage

Kashi’s eyes gleamed as he inspected the bow’s properties. The Ki capacity stat determined how much ki a weapon could be infused with before it fell apart. Kashi was pleased with the bow, as it was a weapon he could comfortably use until Level 20.

“Hey, you. Weakling archer over there. You need a party?!"

Kashi heard a young voice shout out nearby. A vein popped in his head, but he managed to maintain his composure. He understood that the Recruit’s set looked plain to the common eye. Its true value could only be seen through the use of [Identify] . Unfortunately, the skill was not common, and the number of people who had it was quite low this early in the game. Evidently, the person who called out to the daeben did not have the skill.

Although Kashi had been slaughtering in the fields for so long, he was not yet familiar with the best hunting spots, so he decided to take up the caller on their offer. "It would appear so," Kashi replied as he turned to look at the speaker.

The speaker turned out to be a young, dark-haired, Cerulian. The young boy appeared to be around fifteen-sixteen years old and sported a huge grin as he approached the daeben. Judging by the shield grasped by his left hand, and the short sword strapped to his side, the young man was clearly a shield knight.

Shield Knights made excellent tanks. They attracted enemies to themselves and used their shields to block attacks, before counter-attacking with rapid strikes from their short swords. They were the core of most parties and possessed higher HP compared to other classes.

Two Cerulian girls stood beside the shield knight. The first was a pink-haired girl who wore a white robe and held a magic staff. It was impossible to tell if she was a mage or healer until she cast a spell.

The second girl wore a brown battle top, shorts, and boots. Gloves with metal knuckles protected her fingers, leading Kashi to believe she was most likely a Pugilist. The Pugilist class focused on hand-to-hand attacks and possessed the ability to increase their physical abilities during battle.

Pugilists excelled in close combat, and because they needed to dispatch enemies quickly, they focused most of their stats on Strength and Agility and only a spared a little on vitality. A typical Pugilist build contained 2 Strength, 2 Agility, and 1 Vitality. They followed a simple motto. "Kill the enemy before it kills you."

"We have a priest, knight, Pugilist, and a mage with us," the shield knight youth introduced his party’s properties. “We need an archer to increase our ranged DPS. Interested?”

Kashi glanced at the girl in white. ‘Oh? So, she’s a healer then?’ "I don't see the mage.”

"Yo!"

Someone tapped Kashi’s shoulder, and the daeben turned to see an older cerulean man who seemed to be in his early thirties. The mage, garbed in a traditional red robe stood a head taller than Kashi and had a refined air about him.

Kashi looked at the red robe the man wore, and playfully guessed, "I assume your element is fire?"

“Exactly right,” The man confirmed with a pleasant smile. He went on to introduce himself and the rest of the party. "You may call me Craig. I am a level 13 fire-oriented mage. The pugilist is Sara, level 12.” He gestured at the priest, and introduced, “Yuna level 12, and finally, our leader, Stryke, level 13 Shield Knight."

“That’s us,” Stryke stated with an excited smirk then looked at Kashi. "What's your name and level?"

Kashi looked at the group and replied. "Kashi, level 8.”

Stryke’s brow rose up. Level 8 was pretty low, but he decided not to look into it. Instead, he noticed the bow slung over the daeben’s back. "You're an archer?"

“Not exactly,” Kashi stated with a shrug. "I do not have a class yet."

"Wow, you're weaker than I thought," Stryke said with surprise on his face. Playing with an undecided class was a huge burden as the player would not have the modifiers granted by specific classes to boost particular stats. Without those bonus stats, a normal Summoned would definitely be weaker than their peers. Too bad Stryke had no idea about Kashi’s secret training.

The young man confidently beat his chest and promised Kashi, "Don't worry, yours truly will protect you." Stryke boasted and patted the daeben’s shoulder as he burst out in laughter.

Kashi’s apathetic gaze took in the young man’s laughter. He wondered if this was what it felt like to work with someone else. "I'll be relying on your guidance then."

"Yosh! Follow me!" Stryke cheered, and his little troupe followed closely behind cheering aloud as they trekked northeast toward a nearby forest.

Kashi watched the merry troupes antics as he followed them from behind. ‘ What a weird bunch.’

Stryke eventually reached the favored hunting grounds and immediately began to issue the relevant instructions. "Let's start with foxes. They’re around level 13 to 15, so be careful.” He looked at Kashi and dispensed some necessary information. “Your level’s still low and you’re HP is low too since you’re undecided. Stay on the outskirts and whale on as much damage as you can. Your attack power’s on the lower side, so there’s no chance you’ll draw aggro.”

Aggro was a popular gamer term used to describe monster aggression. It dictated who the monster tried to attack at any given time. In normal video games, monster aggro was usually determined by who dealt it the most damage, or who negated its attacks the most through heals, curses or wards.

L.N.E used a similar system, but there was one major difference. The monsters in L.N.E did not behave like a regular pile of code. Even though they mostly focused on the highest damage dealer, it was not unheard of for a monster to suddenly attack the weakest adventurer in the group to thin out the head.

Stryke returned his focus to the rest of the gang and explained the foxes’ traits. “These are normal foxes, so their attacks are limited to bite, claw and bash attacks. Sara and I will keep them busy while the rest of you provide support.” He looked at Craig. “Be careful not to OT. Watch your damage output.” Finally, he turned to the daeben. “Your level will increase quickly while we kill the foxes. Keep track of your damage okay? We'll handle the rest. Don’t worry, even if you OT, as long as you’re far enough, Sara and I will drag pull its aggro back to ourselves by force."

Kashi nodded. "Much appreciated." He could see from the brief instructions that Stryke was used to leading a team. Managing monster aggro was the basis of any successful raid team, and Stryke seemed to have it covered.

There were four major predators around Kerta. In ascending order regarding strength, they were foxes, hyenas, wolves, and the terrifying Direwolves. Foxes usually roamed solo, so they were easy targets.

Kashi watched as Stryke and his team ambushed a lone fox from a safe distance.

"Craig now!"

"Dodge it, Sara."

"Heal Sara, Yuna!"

Their teamwork was pretty solid. Stryke expertly performed his role as a powerful tank, making use of his loud voice to attract the foxes' attention while simultaneously directing the flow of battle. Their tactic was pretty simple but quite effective.

Stryke aggroed the foxes then blocked their attacks with his shield. While he did this, he attacked the beasts from the front, while Sara punished them from behind. Despite the shield, some fox bites and strikes did injure the knight, but Yuna made sure to replenish his vitality before it fell too low. During this controlled chaos, Craig occasionally released fireballs at opportune times to damage or distract the foxes, while also buying time for Yuna to heal Stryke.

The fluidity of their attacks was proof that they knew each other really well.

After studying the flow of battle for a little longer, Kashi gripped his bow and muttered. "It's about time."

As if sensing the daeben’s intent, Stryke and Sara suddenly peeled away from the injured fox. Kashi immediately shot an arrow that tore through the fox’s eye and stabbed the brain. The poor animal succumbed to the grim reaper and shattered into a myriad of light petals that slowly dissipated.

"Nice." Stryke complimented the daeben’s strike with a hearty wave.

Kashi and Stryke shared a common understanding from that moment. The daeben waited till Stryke and his group had beaten down a fox to a certain amount of HP before ending its life in one fatal strike. The party repeated this until they got a message.

Bow Mastery (Beginner (Lv.5  Lv. 6))

Increases Attack with Bow by 50% (+50% ATK)

+6% C ritical Attack Chance

+6% Critical Attack Damage

You Leveled Up!

Kashi smiled at the notification. He placed three stat points in strength, and the remaining three in dexterity. Following this, he accidentally shot down a fox a little earlier than planned. The fox instantly burst into light as the arrow mercilessly cut through it.

CRITICAL HIT!

Stryke and his party were shocked! Not by the critical hit, but by the fact that the fox still had half its HP left by the time the daeben K’Oed it. Unwilling to believe the absurd reality, they attributed it to luck and decided to continue.

It seemed Kashi had gotten a taste for instantly weeding out these weak enemies as the daeben dispatched any fox whose HP dropped below 70% with a single shot. This increased hunting pace, allowed the party to lure in more foxes, causing more to perish at their feet.

Unfortunately, accidents were bound to occur in such a high-intensive environment. While battling one of the foxes, Sara slipped on a patch of wet grass. The fox she was attacking immediately lunged for her exposed throat. The pugilist blanched as she watched the snarling teeth approach. She knew that if it connected, her life was as good as over.

The situation was critical. Stryke was occupied and could not provide assistance, and Craig’s spells were not suitable for the situation. Thwip! At this moment, a single arrow broke the deadly silence. Sara’s eyes bulged out of their sockets as an arrow tore through the fox’s brain and catapulted its mass to the side. The young pugilist finally fell on her bum and gazed at the daeben with shock and awe in her eyes. The fox Kashi just killed still had half of its HP left!

Stryke stood mouth agape at Kashi's skill. None of them were stupid enough to believe it was luck at this point. The only question was how the hell he did it.

Too bad no one would tell them about Kashi’s secret training. The stat points he acquired in training made him a nigh-invisible character in these starter level hunting grounds. Furthermore, the daeben was naturally accurate with the bow. As a result, all his attacks struck weak points like the heart, head, and eyes. The critical hit multipliers from the bow and Bow Mastery levels ensured none of the beasts had a prayer of survival.

"Watch out!" Stryke shouted and rushed in front of the distracted daeben. He managed to shield a fearsome strike from the hidden foe before taking a close look.

As dangerous as it was ugly, the hyena was a foe not to be taken lightly. Past experiences with them in mind, Kashi quickly took charge. "A hyena will call for its brothers if it thinks it's in danger, so we have to wipe him out before then!" Hyenas were not as fast as foxes, but they had much more strength and could easily chew through low-level armor. With this in mind, Kashi questioned, "Stryke how much HP do you have?"

"Just over 900,” Stryke frankly answered. As expected knights really did have more health than other classes. However, even this much could not compare to Kashi whose training had resulted in him having just over 1200 HP.

Kashi considered the situation and offered, "Let me tank from here on out.”

Stryke’s eyes widened in shock. "But archers are at a disadvantage!"

"I'm no ordinary archer,” Kashi assured. “There's no time. Trust me!"

The hyena lunged at Kashi, fangs bared, but the daeben swiftly side-stepped out of its path. The hyena bent its head as it passed by the daeben and bit at his knee. Fortunately, Kashi managed to dodge in time, and only suffered a graze. However, the sharpness of the hyena’s teeth showcased themselves as 50 points were shaved off the daeben’s HP.

Sara and Stryke seized the opportunity to attempt to flank its sides, but the hyena quickly spun around in place and unleashed a tail attack in a circle around it. Stryke and Sara were struck down by the critical attack and had 100 points of their HPs shaved off.

Kashi gritted his teeth as he watched the duo crumble. It was Do or Die now. Death in this game meant permanent death. There were no revives. "I can't die here!" Kashi yelled in apparent frustration and dived at the beast. The hyena sensed the attack and turned away just in time. It retaliated by biting into the daeben’s shoulder.

Critical!

Kashi screamed as 200 points were taken off and quickly rolled to his feet before the beast could do any more damage. He righted himself and challenged the animal with a cold glare. It accepted his challenge and lunged at him…

Right into a fireball, Craig had been charging for a while.

The beast cried in pain and hopped back raising its nozzle to the sky. It was about to issue the cry for help but Kashi, determined not to let it call its kind, dashed forward and pinned it to the ground then forced its mouth shut.

Kashi repeatedly punched the beast’s nose as it clawed at his back for freedom. The daeben watched as his HP rapidly fell as result of the attacks. 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100 "Now!" he shouted, and Stryke’s party bastardized the beast with all their attacks till it perished.

"That was close!" Kashi exclaimed as he lay on the grass. "Who would have thought we would survive!"

"*Waah* That was so reckless Kashi-san. What if you died?!" Yuna wept into Sara's chest who petted her head.

"Seriously. What were you thinking?" Sara chided. "It was kinda cool though." She blushed, hiding her face.

"Waaah! Awesome! Super awesome! Triple super -" Stryke exclaimed with excitement.

"Yeah, yeah, young master. I think Kashi-kun gets the message." Craig said with a smile of respect, ruffling Stryke's hair.

"It was fun for me too." Kashi replied as he stretched on the grass with a rare peaceful expression. There was nothing like the moments after a battle with your life on the line.

Somehow this made Stryke happier. "It's good that you're no longer sad. When we first met, you looked like you were running from something."

Kashi sat up with a stunned look on his face. Moments later, he fondly ruffled the kid's hair. "Thank you."

"Nishishi" Stryke chuckled.

At Stryke’s behest, Kashi added the party to his friend's list. After a few uneventful fox hunts, Stryke and co bid their goodbyes and returned to the city. As fate would have it, only a few minutes after they left, an entire pack of hyenas rushed out of a nearby thicket.

Their target was the lone archer in the meadow. Beasts in the continent of Destia could only level up through three methods. Kill and eat high-level creatures and adventurers, transplant high-level bloodlines or somehow awaken hidden bloodlines, and finally become the pet of a Summoned. These hyenas only had option one available to them.

*Growl*

"Let's go!" The hyenas charged at the daeben, but at that moment, he suddenly turned around and looked at them.

"!!!" The hyenas froze in their tracks as an indomitable pressure that could only be formed from years of accumulated bloodlust enveloped them. A terrifying grin marred the archer’s face as he regarded the beasts like a demon who had just received his next batch of torture victims. He had been waiting and could no longer hold in the desire to slaughter them all.

"R-ru!"

The lead hyena whimpered as the archer that was supposed to be several meters in front of it suddenly grasped its throat in its hands.

Why? Why does someone who barely defeated one of our kind have so much power?

Unfortunately, no one would ever provide the answer to that question.

"Die." Kashi snapped the hyena’s neck, instantly ending its life.