*System warning: Now leaving the Safe Zone and entering the frontier. >Expand for details.*

The frontier.

It was the aspect of Synergy that excited and terrified players alike. After all, traveling through the frontiers of Synergy meant that you were discovering new territories - you were stepping foot where no man had gone before!

It was difficult to do that in modern times, where almost every square metron of the surface of Etmos had been tread upon by humans. There was nowhere in real life you could easily explore that no one had been. Even if you were in an isolated area, it was likely someone had been there before. Whether it was the peak of the highest mountain or the bottom of the deepest valleys, they had been traversed upon and named.

In addition, treading into uninhabited territory always came with degrees of risk. Injury and death weren't uncommon in the most extreme terrain of Etmos. Dying in real life was the end of everything.

But this wasn't the case in Synergy. Exploration of the world was a key aspect of the game, and it also came with varying degrees of risk. However, death didn't usually mark the end of your journey. You could always go back and try again.

*In order to leave this hamlet and find resources, settlements, rarities, and other things... You have to suck it up and walk into the wild.*

There wasn't any guidance system once you left your starting hamlet. The game wouldn't tell you what to do. For better or for worse, you were treated like a chick who was tossed from their nest. You had to learn how to fly on your own.

*A lot of players, including me, were apprehensive about walking into unknown territory. But the thrill was like nothing else.*

Nothing good came from holing up in your starter hamlet, waiting for others to do the job for you. The ones who got ahead early were the ones who stepped up to the task and ventured forth.

And now, unlike her past life, Fae Sol was one of those players.

*Though I guess I'm not really exploring anything as of now, since I already know which way I have to go...*

Similar to the experience of the class tree, players in Synergy would also have to randomly experience the wild and see what came about. Other than the general locations of starter hamlets that had been leaked before the game's release, nothing was known. Jisha's advantage in this area was also clear.

*I wonder if they'll follow me... Yup.*

Jisha glanced back to see 4 players trying to tail her. However, since she was level 5 and had evolved her class, she was significantly faster than the level 0 Asunder players. In no time at all, she had already lost them.

At this moment, the hamlet was disappearing into the distance.

Uval was located at the edge of two biomes: plains and sparse forest. Jisha currently ran through said sparse forest.

*Always explore the more dangerous side... is what I was told in the past.*

It was a good rule of thumb in Synergy, though not always accurate. The closer you got to the centers of continents, the tougher your life would be in the wild. In a principle of fairness, the difficulty was appropriately rewarded.

Hence, frontier explorers, or "front runners", would often travel in the more dangerous direction when faced with a choice.

Jisha's choice was almost immediately rewarded.

*There's the first mob I've seen so far.*

If she had run in the direction of the plains, it was still likely that she would see one eventually, but the density of mobs was usually directly proportional to the difficulty of the biome. In addition, she would be running further from the center of the continent, which was akin to suicide for a front runner.

*It wouldn't be any good for leveling, either, would it?*

Jisha looked at her first artificial adversary.

*>Name: Green Slime*

*>Level: 1*

Similar to that of players, appraisal information was limited to name and level by default. If you wanted more information, you would need a rudimentary appraisal item at the very least. The more information you wanted out of an appraisal, the higher the grade of the appraisal item would have to be.

*Which is why I want Rexian's Eyes... But that's a quest for far in the future.*

Rexian's Eyes... the appraisal item of the legendary NPC Rexian. Since he was a higher-ranking NPC than Shahar, his item was naturally superior.

*Ah, I'm getting distracted.*

As Jisha was daydreaming about a super-rare item, the round green slime had bounced very close to her.

*Bounce, bounce, bounce.*

Jisha observed its simple movements.

*It's cute... But not so cute that it makes me not want to attack it.*

Perhaps it was a design strategy by the developers of the game.

Synergy was quite realistic, after all, and many citizens of the modern world didn't have any experience killing anything. How would a player react to a realistic situation where they would have to kill something? That was akin to being sent off to war, and it wasn't most people's idea of fun.

Level 1 slimes were inoffensive and not like anything that existed in real life. Even people who "wouldn't hurt a fly" wouldn't have trouble inflicting harm upon a slime.

Jisha casually kicked the slime in its weak spot, causing it to explode into the ever-absorbable white light. Even its death was as non-traumatizing as possible.

*>+1 Slimeball*

*>+1 Copper*

Though her damage was halved due to inflicting a melee attack as a ranged character, she wasn't about to waste any of her 100 ammo on such a weak monster.

*That barely gave me any XP. That's to be expected, though...*

She was level 5, and she had just killed a level 1 Common monster. It would take an ungodly amount of them to level up. Killing them would just be a waste of time. Hence, Jisha continued her sprint through the sparse forest, hoping to find some higher-leveled mobs. However, her prayers wouldn't be answered immediately.

*>Name: Small Lesser Mayfly*

*>Level: 1*

It was an insect, yet it was too big and cute to look like a real fly. Similar to the slime, it wasn't so cute that one would have trouble killing it. However, if one were a super-pacifist in real life, they might have some trouble.

Unlike the slime, which was slow and predictable, the mayfly was quicker as it whizzed around the air. However, at the end of the day, it was still a level 1 mob.

*>+1 Lesser Insect Wing*

*>+1 Copper*

Jisha easily swatted it out of the air with her bare hands. She didn't want to waste time on killing weak mobs, but this one was quite fast and it wouldn't leave her alone.

*>Name: Young Clay Doll*

*>Level: 1*

After passing some more Green Slimes, Jisha found another unique level 1 mob. It was an earthen mass guarding a tree. Though it was called a doll, it wasn't very humanoid in shape. Rather, it looked like a bell with legs sticking out from the bottom. It was quite a bit bigger than the other monsters; the slimes were not much bigger than a football. While the mayfly was around the same size, it was less physically dense than the slime.

The Young Clay Doll, on the other hand, was wider than an average human and its height reached Jisha's stomach. It moved even more slowly and predictably than the slime, but its constitution was much sturdier. However, at the end of the day, it was still just a level 1 mob.

*>+1 Clay*

*>+2 Copper*

With a couple of punches and kicks, the Young Clay Doll met its end. This monster wasn't of the Common rarity, but rather of the Uncommon rarity, which was why Jisha gained 2 Copper out of it. Even though she couldn't appraise it precisely, Jisha could still approximate its worth due to her experience in the game.

*I wonder if it was protecting anything?*

This mob was another exception to Jisha's "too weak to kill" rule, as it was likely guarding items. Upon a quick inspection, the Young Clay Doll seemed to have been sitting atop a small pile of leaves. Unsurprisingly, Jisha found an item underneath them.

*>Name: Small Wooden Dagger*

*>Type: Weapon (Melee)*

*>Class Restriction: Batonista or Fracasier-branch*

*>Description: An introduction to a slightly different fighting style to a traditional Batonista or Fracasier.*

*>Rating: Level 5, Common*

*>Abilities:*

*>Passive: +33 ATK while equipped.*

*Hmm...*

Though it wasn't an exceptional item by any means, it was still a rare find this early in the game. It was uncommon for a level 1 or 2 monster to drop or protect a level 5 item.

*I guess it's my lucky day. I'll save this for Syny.*

Jisha knew Syny would become a dagger-wielder in the future, so she stored it in her inventory for the near future.

*I want to find something better, though...*

Even though it was a level 5 item, it was of common rarity. Gifting her best friend with a common item didn't sit right with her, but if she couldn't find anything better, the wooden dagger wasn't a bad backup plan.

---

*>Inventory*

*>Clay: 1*

*>Lesser Insect Wing: 7*

*>Melee Starter Stick: 26*

*>Ranged Starter Pellet: 797*

*>Slimeball: 14*

*>Twig: 3*

*>Coin Pouch*

*>Copper: 468*

After a few minutes of running, Jisha had encountered various types of monsters, but none of them were over level 1. The density of mobs she was encountering was unusually decreasing as well, so she still hadn't used any ammunition.

*This is a bit odd...*

It's not like she intended to encounter anything strong in this area, but the lack of mobs worried her. She had an idea of what was coming up, but it didn't make much sense to her.

*Is there a Wild Boss here somewhere?*

The sudden decrease in mob density was a telltale sign of a Wild Boss in the area.

Wild Bosses were similar to ordinary mobs in the fact that they roamed around in random wild areas. They were Bosses because they were much tougher to deal with than ordinary mobs, whether they were stronger, smarter, faster, or something else entirely.

*But this is a level 1 area?*

Wild Bosses didn't appear until level 5 at the very earliest, which was why Jisha was confused. However, her confusion was exacerbated when she entered a clearing in the forest.

*Traveling Corrupted Land???*

It was something that was even stranger than a Wild Boss to appear this close to a starter hamlet.

Traveling Corrupted Land - a rare biome. A phenomenon that was aptly named - it was a mobile biome that poisoned and "corrupted" land as it randomly traveled.

Half of the grass in the clearing was reduced to a dark green, almost blackened hue. Some of the grass had even turned a shade of purple due to some unknown effect.

Natural mobs would instinctively flee from it, and those unlucky enough to be caught in this natural disaster would be transformed into something more horrible.

It was a dangerous area for players.

Jisha now had two options: Ignore the mobile biome and continue towards Inkling Village, or follow the number 1 rule of a Synergy front runner.

*Always explore the more dangerous side.*

Was it even a choice to begin with? After all, in Synergy, difficulty was appropriately rewarded.

*I wonder what I'll find in this one?*

Without a second thought, Jisha sprinted directly into the Corrupted Land.