5 - Bren's Plan

Bren Tchan was more excited than none other on the night of Synergy's release. This virtual reality game had received the most hype out of any thus far. Though the developer was completely unknown, anyone who knew about Synergy *knew* this would be the game to define the new age of VR. In fact, he already formulated a plan with his six friends in order to gather experience points faster than anyone.

*I will have to use my knowledge as an alpha tester to get ahead of the curve!*

The general public knew next to nothing about the game, but Bren had received permission to enter the game as an alpha tester about one year prior to the game's release allowing him to formulate this plan.

The plan was simple.

In Synergy, players would level up to level 1 simply by playing the game for an hour. Because of this, players would gain experience points for doing nothing. Bren also knew about the existence of War Zones and PvP basics, as well as how the leveling system worked. If you killed a player in a War Zone, they would lose up to 1 level's worth of experience. This experience would then be transferred to you. If he killed the people who were stupid enough to walk into the War Zone, he could reach level 1 more than three times faster than the average population.

Bren relayed this plan to his friends over the the most popular VR messaging service known as Concord on the afternoon of Synergy's release.

*>Brent: What do you guys think of this plan?*

*>Allux: Great!*

*>Molotov: We'll definitely be ahead of everyone if we do this!*

*>Adverse: I don't have any better ideas.*

*>Kenshi: As long as we're stronger than everyone we fight, I don't see a problem.*

*>Liuzhi: That's what I was going to say. What if we find someone who can beat us?*

*>Ryozaki: ...*

*>Brent: That should be next to impossible. How long have we been a friend group? And how long have we been playing VR games together? Though we're not apex-tier players, you guys should all know that we're no pushovers in VR games, especially VMA. Didn't I tell you guys the combat mechanics are pretty similar?*

*>Brent: Knowing this, do you guys really think someone can beat all seven of us before we hit level 1? And don't forget that once one of us hits level 1, we'll have no chance of losing to level 0 players whatsoever. On top of that, even if one of us dies, we can just kill whoever killed one of us, effectively loading double XP onto one of us. There are even more reasons why we shouldn't lose, but this should be enough to convince you guys, no?*

After hearing Bren's extensive reasoning, there was a unanimous agreement with the plan.

*>Brent: Great. Meet me in the Uval Hamlet. There's a War Zone there for sure. I know we discussed this before, but make sure your character creation (model and voice mod) is ready to go so we can enter the world immediately. We have no time to lose! Remember! If this plan works, we'll have a significantly higher chance of making varsity on the Academy's team next year! From what I experienced in the alpha test, this game is going to be huge. There's no way the Academy won't have a Synergy team. I wish us all good luck!*

With that parting message, Bren took off his Vbian-01 and got up from his bed. Or rather, "bed" was a loosely accurate word. It was more of a sleeper specialized for the comfort of playing VR games. It resembled a hammock and was much smaller than even a twin sized bed. It was only comfortable for lying down in one position, making it suboptimal for real sleep.

Bren sighed as he looked around his room. As one might suspect of a student of the Royal Academy, the Tchan family naturally wasn't poor. In fact, they were richer than the vast majority of the population. Despite their wealth, though, Bren lived in quite a modest room. There was only one bed, one VR sleeper (with a Vbian helmet, of course), and one desk with a traditional laptop computer. Other facilities such as the wardrobe and washrooms were installed separately.

In a day and age where traditional computers were on the decline for more modern alternatives such as VR helmets, smartphones, and holographic projectors, Bren decided to keep a small one in his room because it gave him a rustic, homey feel.

However, right now he was feeling anything but comfort.

*I wonder when the tryouts are.*

It was always Bren's dream to become a professional virtual sports player. Though e-sports players were among the most popular "athletes" in the world, Bren had a strong feeling that v-sports would be even bigger in the future. Surprisingly, even the conservative Royal Academy was founding a VR team next year. Naturally, Bren wanted to make it to the top.

*I'm going to be a third year at the academy. I must make varsity if I want to prove my skills!*

The current most popular VR game was a fighting game known as Virtual Martial Arts. Bren's friend group, colloquially known as "the Brent Clan", were also avid players of VMA. However, Bren told his friends that they should focus on Synergy the moment it was released. Since the combat mechanics were similar, he knew they would have a head start over new players.

*There's no way this VR game won't become the most popular.*

From what Bren experienced in the alpha test, Synergy contained some of the most groundbreaking technology in VR simulations. It was almost uncanny how ahead of its time the game was, even in its alpha phase.

If he was going to become renowned for any activity, it was going to be v-sports. Bren had already set up a roadmap for his life, assuming his gamble on the v-sports market paid off. There was just one small problem...

*Will I be good enough for varsity?*

His confidence was lacking. He knew there were VMA players at the Royal Academy that were better than him by a significant margin.

*What am I missing?*

As he pondered, Bren nervously accessed the Etherless web from his laptop and searched for the next school year's tryout date.

*It's... in the eighth month. I've got some time, but I can't waste any of it.*

It was currently the beginning of the third month. This gave him roughly two more months at the Academy and three months of holiday to improve.

Bren shut off his laptop and took a deep breath to organize his thoughts.

*I've planned everything so meticulously, there's no way it'll go wrong!*

With that self-assurance, Bren resumed his daily activities as he awaited nightfall.

---

Ten minutes before midnight, Bren booted up his Vbian-01 helmet and prepared to log into Synergy. Anxiously, he checked to see if the game would be ready to launch the moment the clock struck midnight.

*Looks like all of the necessary files are preinstalled. I've got my character model and voice mod ready to go, too. All I need to do now is wait...*

His plan was to relax the few minutes before the game's launch, but he couldn't help himself from deviating from the plan and checking Concord. He anxiously sent some messages to confirm everyone's status.

*>Brent: I can't calm down. Is everyone ready?*

*>Allux: Yessir, I think we're all ready. Everyone's got their models and voice mods prepared, too.*

*>Brent: Perfect. Get through the starter screen as quickly as possible and meet me in the Uval Hamlet's common area. It should be pretty easy to find.*

*>Molotov: Yep, yep! Let's slaughter some noobs!*

One minute before midnight, Bren stopped chatting on Concord and opened Synergy. A countdown to the release of the game was displayed in front of him.

...

*>10 seconds before the world of Synergy opens to the public!*

...

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

*>Welcome to Synergy!*

The countdown ended and the world turned white as these words appeared in front of him.

"Welcome to Synergy!"

As if on cue, Bren heard a cute feminine voice in front of him. Though a year had passed, the appearance of this miniature blonde fairy in a white dress was unchanged.

"I am Lemieux, and I will guide you as you begin your journey in this world. Think of me as a tutorial bot!"

*Fuck, this dialogue is exactly the same. Can't I skip this?*

Much less the dialogue, even the pose she struck and the tone she used was identical to last year. However, what came next was vastly different, and something that almost nobody would want to hear.

"Oh? You're an alpha tester. Be wary, some changes have been made before the release of the game! Don't rely on everything you've previously learned!"

Bren's heart sank.

*To think they would account for alpha and beta testers... This was such an obvious thing that could have happened, and yet I didn't account for it...*

"Beyonder, what is your name?"

Bren grit his teeth and rushed through the starter screen as fast as he could.

*Please let the changes be small, and please let my plan work!*

6 - 7v3 Ambush

As he entered the world, Bren was simultaneously astonished and relieved.

*Thankfully I've spawned in the same spot, and it looks like the surroundings are identical, too. But it looks so real!*

Bren was optimistic about his alpha-tester knowledge being put to good use; the only major changes he noticed were graphics and sensory updates that made the virtual world far more realistic than it had been a year prior.

Less than a minute later, six white silhouettes appeared one by one around Bren. It went without saying that the rest of the clan had successfully logged in.

*Fortunately, it doesn't look like we needed to meet up at the commons. Looks like everyone made it. Just as we discussed, there are two melees and four ranged characters. Everything looks good so far.*

Though everyone was wearing a relatively plain black outfit, there was a minor difference that distinguished a melee character from a ranged one. On the melee character's top, there was a singular gray stripe that extended diagonally from the shoulder to the waist. On the ranged character's top, there were two gray dots on each shoulder. Including Bren, there were three melees and four ranged. Knowing that these classes would evolve later, Bren was confident that everyone had made the right decision.

"Holy shit! This is a VR game?"

"For real! Everything looks incredible!"

"Indeed, this game is years ahead of its time."

"..."

Though Bren was somewhat in a hurry, he empathized with his friends' awe at the scenery and allowed them to gawk. After all, this experience was more realistic than even he had expected. Though the surroundings were bland with vast plains on the right and shabby buildings on the left, the level of sensory realism was unprecedented in the current age of VR. After a few moments, though, Bren's impatience got the best of him.

"Ahem... This is indeed far more realistic than anyone could imagine, but do remember that we have a mission to fulfill."

"Ah, yes..."

"Why don't we enjoy the scenery along the way?"

With a unanimous agreement, the crew turned to Bren for further instructions.

"Alright, follow me!"

Though the Uval Hamlet was merely a hamlet and supposedly the location of the smallest tier, it was still a couple hundred square metron in size. Since every player's maximum speed was similar to real life, it would take a minimum of a few minutes to go from one side to the other at a full sprint. The fact that there were thousands, if not tens of thousands of hamlets meant that the scale of the world was massive, easily dwarfing that of any previous VR world. As this thought permeated through everyone's minds, the crew was once again astonished at how logistically insane this product was.

Around them were wooden buildings of an ancient era and NPCs that behaved almost like real people. There was a small fountain in the center of the hamlet; this location was referred to as the commons. There was background chatter, NPCs entering and exiting buildings, and good and services being sold. It was almost as if they were truly in another world.

Because of the crew's leisurely pace, it took them around 5 minutes to reach their desired destination.

The Uval Cemetery.

The feeling of realism didn't dissipate one bit when they approached it. Rather, it increased. Even though it was daytime, visiting an empty cemetery wasn't something this crew would normally do in real life. The fact that the cemetery was located on a plains-like area with little to no natural obstructions didn't diminish the creepy feeling at all. These things in tandem with the fact that they were truly in an unknown world made the experience far more harrowing that it ordinarily would be. After all, this was a VR world where just about anything could exist. Even Bren, who had studied this area before, was slightly on edge.

"Alright, everyone, listen up. I know this place feels creepy, but you guys have to trust me on this one. Other than being a War Zone, there is nothing unordinary about this graveyard. Besides, even if there were, nothing will happen to your real bodies. Remember that this is just a virtual world!"

Since Bren had extensively discussed his plan with the group beforehand, everyone understood the concept of a War Zone.

If it was anyone else relaying this information, Allux and the others would have been highly skeptical. However, these 7 members trusted each other with their lives. Though they expressed some concern, they trusted Bren's words wholeheartedly.

As everyone followed Bren into the cemetery, the same system notification popped up for everyone.

*>System message: You are now entering a War Zone. >Expand for details.*

"Now, all we need to do is ambush anyone who shows up. Hide behind the tombstones so we're out of the line of sight of the entrance. We'll need to hide in a U-shaped pattern so we can easily collapse on anyone who walks into the middle of our formation. Alright, move out!"

Nobody would approach seven people standing menacingly in the middle of a cemetery. After all, they would frighten players if the spooky atmosphere weren't enough.

At this instruction, the crew each hid behind individual tombstones out of sight of the entrance. Since they could no longer communicate simply by talking, Bren pulled up his HUD and sent a friend request to the six members and added them to a new group titled "Brent Clan".

*>Adverse: Are you sure people will show up? This place is creepy enough to drive people away from it.*

*>Brent: Trust me, there will be at least a couple people who decide to come. There will always be at least one lunatic enticed by unsettling things.*

Bren's words were prophetic. In less than 10 seconds, a group of three unsuspecting players passed through the entrance. Similar to Bren's clan, they were expressing their apprehension of the area.

*Uh... They're all melees?*

At a glance, Bren noticed something poor about the party structure. Traditionally, there would be at least one ranged unit in a group of three to make up for the weakness of long-ranged attacks. Of course, this wasn't an ironclad rule. There were definitely rulebreakers in the past, but defying orthodoxy while being efficient was something only someone incredibly skilled or lucky could do. He couldn't say for certain, but these players probably didn't carry either of those characteristics.

*>Brent: Remember, everyone has 10 HP and each attack deals at least 1 HP of damage. The cooldown on your attacks is 1 second, so keep that in mind while fighting. If all of us target one of them, they should fall within two seconds. It's also good news that they're all melees. I'll decide who to target. Wait for my signal.*

Since the attacking speed of a level 0 character was once per second, seven players attacking simultaneously could remove 10 HP from a player in less than 2 seconds. This timing was sufficient for an ambush. After all, everyone was new to this game. It would be stranger if the ambushed players had a contingency plan.

The seven clan members waited behind various tombstones in anticipation of their first battle in Synergy.

...

Minutes passed with no signs of the three players making any significant movement, and the crew was getting impatient. Even Bren, who was supposed to be the moral support, was beginning to feel anxious. He was faced with a decision - to either take action or keep waiting.

*Hmm... I suspected something like this would happen...*

Either choice he made would be a gamble, but...

*This whole operation was a gamble in the first place.*

Being the leader of the group, Bren was tasked to make key decisions in times of need. He was the shot caller that his team trusted. The position as both the clan leader and shot caller gave him a huge authority, but it was also a burden.

*Something something about power and responsibility...*

It was truly a double edged sword. The main reason Bren had taken up this position was that it would give him more experience, hoping to use this experience to catalyze his growth. He had faced many decisions in the past that were more difficult than this one, so Bren didn't hesitate for long.

*>Brent: Okay, team. I know you guys are getting a bit anxious sitting here doing nothing. We're gonna try to lure them over here. These folks seem morbidly curious anyway, so we'll grab their attention. Molotov!*

*>Molotov: Aye!*

In other games, Molotov was an expert in projectile physics and demolition. Even with minimal communication from the team leader, he knew exactly what needed to be done.

Accessing the inventory was simple - one simply had to say "Inventory" with intention or will it open.

Using his thoughts, Molotov snagged a Ranged Starter Pellet from his inventory and threw it into the center of the U-shaped formation about 5 metron away.

As Bren had hoped, the projectile created a small disturbance in the grass, catching the three players' attention. Seemingly somewhat startled, the three players briefly discussed amongst themselves before deciding to discover the source of the disturbance together.

*>Kenshi: Damn, that actually worked? Are these guys players or NPCs?*

*>Bren: Nice one, Molotov! As soon as they're in the center of the formation, we'll target... BraveBaloney69. What a name... After he's down, go wild on the other two. We have a good chance of taking both of them out as well!*

The clan impatiently waited for the group of three to approach the center.

10 metron...

9...

Slowly but steadily, the trio apprehensively approached the middle of the cemetery, looking around frantically for any unusual signs. However, the Brent Clan hid exquisitely behind the tombstones so that they wouldn't be spotted from the trio's line of sight.

5 metron...

4...

3...

2...

1...

The clan collectively held their breaths and readied their weapons as they waited for Bren's signal.

As the unsuspecting BraveBaloney69's final step landed in the center...

*>Brent: NOW!*

Everyone received the message.

All Brent Clan members simultaneously shot out from behind seven distinct tombstones, undoubtedly frightening the surrounded trio.

"What the hell?!"

Predictably, the trio's teamwork and decision making was not nearly as good as the Clan's. Whereas Brent would be able to make a split-second decision in this scenario, the trio were momentarily frozen in shock before fumbling around helplessly. Neither the team's shot caller nor leader was unable to give any semblance of guidance, which inevitably led to their demise.

Before the trio was even prepared to run...

*THWACK!*

-1

-2

-1

...

... Pellets and sticks assaulted the poor BraveBaloney69 who was struck about 10 times in less than two seconds.

His corpse crashed to the ground and dissipated into particles of white light which eventually transformed into a fine white mist. The mist was absorbed by the seven players of the Clan, increasing their experience value by a small amount. What remained where he lay was a singular Melee Starter Stick that was free to pick up.

The reward lay on the ground, but the Brent Clan was diligent and responsible. They would follow their leader's words and complete the mission before rejoicing. The Clan immediately targeted the next closest player and started smacking him.

At this point, the two players understood what was going on and finally responded...

"It's an ambush! Run!"

"You think I didn't notice? You're such a terrible teammate!"

"Then why didn't you say anything until I did?? And Baloney's dead!"

... very poorly.

In a team where members didn't trust each other, nobody wanted to shoulder the blame for a mishap. This led to immediate strife between the two. What little teamwork they may have had plummeted to nothing. In fact, they even began working against each other subconsciously. Due to this, despite understanding what was happening and being able to fight back, the second player fell almost as quickly as the first.

The third player abandoned all hopes of winning a fight and turned around to flee. However, he was unable to outrun a group of seven players where four of them were ranged. In another couple of seconds, the third and final player fell to the ground, also dissipating into light and mist.

7 - 7v18 Confrontation

"... we did it?"

"Yup, we did it."

"... All right!!"

It wasn't a large victory by any means. After all, the Clan was way more likely to win with 7 players ambushing 3. If they somehow lost, they would be better off quitting VR games forever.

However, the victory was a significant one. It was their first win in a new world.

Yes. In that moment, what was supposed to be a game truly felt like another world. Of course, because it was ultimately a game, the Clan didn't feel any remorse about taking a life; it was simply a player that would eventually respawn and go about their day. But their immersion in the world was deep. Synergy was almost blurring the lines between fact and fiction - this is what the Clan felt.

*These feelings, this battle, this victory, and this world... They might as well be real. We've opened a new door for ourselves.*

To Bren, this situation was very real and had real consequences in his life. Virtual reality was his second reality.

However, they didn't have much time to celebrate. Bren quickly noticed an anomaly.

*The experience bar has filled up way slower than I thought it would.*

Bren thought they would only need to kill a couple of players to level up to 1, but it seemed like the experience gained from killing players in a War Zone had been reduced significantly.

*I think we can still do it.*

Bren made a quick calculation and determined that it would still be worth it to continue fighting players.

*It'll still be significantly faster than any other method.*

In fact, Bren didn't know of any other methods to level up from 0 to 1 quickly, so this was indeed better than the default route of simply waiting for the experience bar to fill up.

*Since there's nothing we can do about it, we just have to be happy with what we've got.*

"Alright, clan. Pick up all of their weapons. For ranged units, the extra pellets will be handy. As for melees-"

"Hey, Bren. Check this out."

"Oh? Is there something else within the loot?"

"Yea... It looks like the guy running away was carrying a ton of food. Actually, it looks like it could even be 30 coppers' worth..."

When you died in a War Zone, you would lose every item in your inventory as well as all of the money you had. Since the 3 players hadn't dropped any money, it was fair to assume they spent it all.

The clan was collectively dumbfounded and grateful. Who would spend their entire bank account on food?

"Those guys were really dumb, huh..."

"I mean... Yeah. Did you see how easily we beat them up?"

"True... Does the food have any special effects or status bonuses? Or are they just trash items? For 30 coppers' worth, they better do something."

"Yup, they indeed do something. Actually, they're all the same item, and there's 6 of them. Looks like each of them was meant to take two. Here, Bren. Take a look."

Bren received the 6 food items from his clanmate and looked at the stats.

*>Name: Cinnamon Bun*

*>Type: Foodstuff (Edible, Consumable)*

*>Description: A surfeit of sweet! Eloquently punctuates any meal.*

*>Rating: F*

*>Abilities: +1 HP/s for 10 seconds upon consumption.*

"Yea, these will be really useful. This is a great find."

The Cinnamon Bun granted the consumer 10 hit points of regeneration over a 10 second period. Bren didn't know how fast the natural regeneration was, but at level 0, it was way, WAY slower than 1 per second.

*These seem incredibly worth it for 5 copper a piece at level 0. Looks like they weren't as dumb as we might have assumed.*

Bren almost immediately decided on how to distribute the Cinnamon Buns.

"Alright, I'll be giving one to everyone except Allux. I hope you understand."

"No problem."

Bren decided on this distribution because melees were more likely to take damage, so he gave all of them one, including himself. In fact, they had taken a small bit of damage already. And for the ranged players, it was safe to call Allux the most skilled and therefore least likely to take damage. So, Bren decided to give one to everyone else.

"Alright. This method seems to work pretty well, so we'll hide behind the tombstones again."

"Uh, Bren. About that, I don't think it'll work this time."

"Oh? ... I see."

As Bren decided to follow his philosophy of "if it isn't broken, don't fix it", Adverse pointed out a fatal flaw.

A large group of players had gathered outside the War Zone and were looking in, and they seemed rather displeased.

---

"So... Jackalope. Do you have any business with us?"

The leader of this group, called Jackalope, entered the War Zone alone. Of course, the Clan didn't mean to harm him; agitating the group wasn't necessary. Bren hoped to adopt a non-inflammatory dialogue, but...

"Business with you? Why would you assume that we would NOT have business with you?"

"Because... we haven't done anything to you guys. We're just trying to-"

"NONSENSE!"

Bren's explanation was cut short by Jackalope's maniacal shout.

"YOU!... have teamed up on the weak! You are despicable! Do you know what we are called?"

"Uh... no."

"We are the Justice Warroirs!"

Jackalope proudly held up a sign that said "Warroirs" in a flashy cyan.

"We fight who they are unjust! And YOU! Have teamed up on the weak! So WE! Will have to destroy you!"

The Clan was speechless and immediately began sending private messages to each other.

*>Liuzhi: This guy's lost it. Where did he even get that sign?*

*>Allux: Of course he has. They've even misspelled their own name.*

*>Kenshi: Let's just kill him?*

*>Adverse: I'm not against that suggestion, but there are 17 people behind him.*

*>Molotov: You counted them?*

After processing the events that took place, Bren cleared his throat and spoke again.

"... Are you serious?"

"Of course! You do not understand the Warroir creed. We have witnessed unjustness, so we will take you down!"

"Is there really no way around this?"

"Of course not! Hmph! When I was a very young boy-"

*>Brent: Melees, charge. Ranged units, fire.*

-1

-3

-1

...

The second Bren sent the command, Jackalope was pelted almost 10 times by sticks and pellets. Before he could properly react, his HP bar rapidly dropped to zero and his corpse fell onto the ground, dissipating into white light and mist.

Bren wasted no time - he immediately issued a declaration of war.

"I don't want to hear your backstory. If you've already decided to attack us, bring it on."

With the leader of the Warroirs immediately taken down, the rest of the group seemed deterred for a few moments.

"What? Did you guys see that? He was taken out instantly!"

"These guys think they're pretty good, huh?"

"But there's still a ton of us left. We severely outnumber them... I think. Are they dumb?"

"What are we waiting for, then? Charge!"

However, a few moments was all it lasted. The Warroirs were convinced that they could overwhelm the Clan with their superior numbers. After all, it was a good assumption from their point of view. There were 17 of them and only 7 in the Clan, outnumbering them over 2 to 1. In any normal situation, the Warroirs would have overrun the less populous group.

But this wasn't a normal situation.

*>Brent: Basic formation!*

After Jackalope died, Bren immediately recognized something about their group.

*They don't have a chain of command after their leader.*

Even in the small group of 7 in the Brent Clan there were secondary, tertiary and even quaternary leaders. If Bren were to die, Allux would immediately assume leadership, resulting in a minimal loss of direction in a high pressure situation. However, the Warroirs had no secondary leader. When Jackalope died, nobody had stepped up to take the lead, meaning they were now a group of headless chickens.

*Perfect.*

*>Brent: They have no commander! Maintain formation!*

What could a mindless mob accomplish against a tactical troop? If the mob was large enough, the group would be overrun. However...

*>Brent: They have minimal fighting experience. Show them what we're made of!*

Bren was experienced enough in combat to immediately recognize that the horde of oncoming players had little to no VR combat experience. The Clan was different - they were skilled Virtual Martial Arts players.

*>Brent: Remember that the combat mechanics of this game are similar to VMA! Those who have recovery items, use them now!*

*>Allux: Roger that!*

So, what was the result when 17 newbies faced off against 7 skilled players?

*>Brent: Melees take 3, ranged take 2. Keep targeting them as long as they live!*

It wasn't even a contest.

"You guys don't even have a commander. Why are you still fighting?"

Bren took on three players with ease.

*THWACK!* *THWACK!* *THWACK!*

"Learn how to move properly before challenging us. You guys suck!"

Kenshi furiously swatted at the players as if they were flies.

*THWACK!* *THWACK!* *THWACK!*

"..."

Ryozaki silently struck down the enemy.

*THWACK!* *THWACK!* *THWACK!*

"Do you really think you'll catch up to me if you run like that?"

Allux was baffled by the adversary's lack of talent.

*THWACK!* *THWACK!* *THWACK!*

"Wow, guys. Maybe if you try REALLY hard, you'll be able to run faster! Just kidding! You're slow as fuck!"

Molotov cooked up a storm of pellets, landing each one with pinpoint precision.

*THWACK!* *THWACK!* *THWACK!*

"What are you guys doing? At least TRY to dodge."

Adverse calmly tossed projectiles at his foes as if he were throwing paper into a wastebasket.

*THWACK!* *THWACK!* *THWACK!*

"You tripped over your own teammate. Good luck getting back up."

*THWACK!* *THWACK!* *THWACK!*

Liuzhi skillfully bobbed and weaved through the onslaught of pellets.

The battle was one-sided.

As each of the Warroirs perished, they spouted useless lines, like "You'll never get away with this!" and "If you keep bullying the weak, God will bestow divine punishment upon you..." but the Clan scoffed at their nonsense.

"You want to protect the weak, but you should probably start by being able to protect yourselves..."

The action was over. 17 corpses were remaining in the aftermath. Those 17 corpses eventually dissipated into white light and mist, which was distributed unevenly among the Clan.

"It's over... ha!"

Though none of them were moving their physical bodies, they were aware of their raised heart rates following the adrenaline rush of mental strain.

Though it was a one-sided battle, the Clan didn't come out unscathed.

As the commander, Bren was able to view the experience and health bars of his clanmates.

Though none of them were particularly close to death, he determined that the damage they took wouldn't allow them to fight again. After all, they had no more recovery items.

*>Brent: It looks like the experience earned was divided according to damage dealt. It doesn't look like any of us actually hit level 1, but we should in roughly 3 minutes. Good job, team!*

"Woooooo!"

"Yea!"

"Let's gooooooooo team!"

A triumphant cacophony emanated from a graveyard. If this scene were to happen in reality, the authorities may have been notified. However, this was a game, so no one minded the strange nature of this event. Rather...

"Are you kidding me? That smaller group of guys took out that huge group of players?"

A small crowd had formed at the edge of the graveyard. Those who had witnessed the whole series of events originally thought the Warroirs would emerge victorious. However, they couldn't have been more wrong.

"Who are they? Are they martial arts masters or something?"

"Maybe. I think one of the melee players was using the Arsen sword technique? If my eyes aren't deceiving me, he should be pretty good with a sword in real life..."

"Really? Are real-life martial arts techniques viable in this game?"

"I'm not completely sure, but the outcome of that battle looks clear to me."

A realization was made by the public that day - martial arts techniques from reality were applicable in the world of Synergy. This was huge news! It meant that stats and game knowledge would not be the only determining factors of a battle. This would open the door to a potentially high skill cap within the game, something that would be extremely important for a game's competitive scene. If a game was likely to have a competitive scene, there would be money involved. Money moved the world - if you could earn money from a game like Synergy, wouldn't your life be set?

This was something that Bren already predicted from his experience in the alpha servers, which was why he did not want to waste a single moment alive. And if battles would be worth money...

*So will items!*

*>Brent: Gather their loot. Scour the ground!*

At Bren's command, the Clan got on their hands and knees and picked up everything they could find.

*>Adverse: Why are we picking these things up? Aren't they just trash starter items?*

*>Brent: Nope, they're upgradeable at level 1. The pellets are consumable items, so it's great to have a surplus. As for the sticks... You don't get another one when you respawn. Don't ask how I know.*

*>Liuzhi: I see. We can also prevent them from getting ahead.*

*>Brent: Yup. Even though they were unskilled and uncoordinated, they were a large and very charismatic group. That's all you need to take down a few people at level 0 - it'll be great if they no longer have weapons. It was unfortunate that they ran into us.*

*>Ryozaki: ...*

Bren didn't need to explain why he was doing anything. The Clan didn't really need to know, either. They trusted him, and he trusted them. Even without the explanation, the Clan would do his bidding.

But Bren felt more comfortable explaining why he was doing something. It wasn't his style to leave his friends in the dark. Hence, his explanation was more than sufficient to keep the group searching the ground for a few minutes.

"... Hey. Won't the club president be thrilled when he sees what we've collected?"

Kenshi broke the mundane silence with an intriguing question. This was definitely an interesting topic for conversation, since all of the Brent Clan was looking to join the Academy's team next year.

"Why would he? They're just starter items," Adverse refuted.

"But it proves we're not trash at PvP, doesn't it?" Kenshi retorted.

"I guess that's true. After all, Starter Sticks and Starter Pellets are proof of kills," Adverse acquiesced.

"How many have we collected so far?" Liuzhi asked.

*>Brent: Everyone, send a snapshot of your inventory.*

As Bren received the proof of their work, he quickly tallied up the number of items claimed.

"Uh... In total, we've got 11 sticks and 413 pellets..."

*Holy crap, that's a lot.*

"Bren, we can't find anything else. I think we've picked everything up," Allux chimed.

"Alright. If that's all, let's redistribute the loot accordingly to our classes. Give all the items to me for a sec. There's an easy way to do this," said Bren.

Distributing over 400 items would be a chore if you had to give them out one by one. During his alpha testing phase, Bren had discovered that you could share items instantly with consenting friends as long as they were within 1.5 metron of you and both players had sufficient inventory space.

After relaying this information to his friends, items flooded into his inventory. This sight was truly one to behold.

*Yup, I'm saving a snap of this.*

With proof of his accomplishments saved to his system, he redistributed the loot accordingly. Allux received 105 pellets, Adverse, Molotov, and Liuzhi received 104. Kenshi and Ryozaki received 4 sticks as well, leaving Bren with the remaining 3.

*>Brent: That's enough for now. We're out of combat now, and there's no one else in the War Zone. We'll be able to teleport back to the center of the hamlet without worry.*

In order to teleport back to base, one needed to be within a certain range of a Safe Zone and be out of combat. Once these conditions were fulfilled, all you needed to do was willfully execute the command with your mind. Of course, there was an option in the visual interface as well, but Bren was fluent with a couple of commands due to his alpha experience.

*Returning to base...!*

*>System Alert: Unable to return to safety - there are enemies nearby!*

*>Brent: Huh?*

*>Allux: Uh... Bren on Etmos? Are you there?*

*>Ryozaki: ...*

The return command failed. Bren knew they were still in range of the Safe Zone, so the other option was that the system deemed that they were still in combat. Bren immediately pinpointed the issue - the fact that a non-ally existed in the same War Zone counted as being in combat.

*>Brent: Fuck, we can't return just yet. It looks like someone else wants to fight us...*

"... wait wait wait!!!"