The Alderriver forest map was huge. Peter had so far only ventured through one-fifth of the map. Searching through the entire forest was a mad man's quest. There were multiple locations marked for each herb but so far Peter could only find the few common herbs. Peter had already picked them up which helped him considerably to level up.

Even with wiping parts of the map clean he still couldn't find a single rare herb. The blood moon leaves should be plucked directly by the alchemist if it's to be used for a concoction. This was the potion that Alder would have Peter make. So far he had no luck finding the herb let alone plucking the leaves. To Peter, this felt like a huge waste of time especially with Eric actively recruiting more members to the guild. He could see the neverending stream of notification about the people joining the guild.

Herbalist levelled up. You have reached level 10. Please visit a class master to receive promotion.

With bundles of herbs and seeds in his inventory, Peter left to see ionna in Summerbrook.

Aura Herb (C)

Crating ingredient. Causes healing property.

Aura Herb Seeds

Plant them in farm plots to grow Aura herb. When powdered can be used as a crafting ingredient.

Yellow lotus leaves(C)

Crafting reagent. Causes nausea, vomiting when consumed raw.

Yellow lotus seed

Can be planted to grow yellow lotus seed.

*****

"You expect to pick rare herbs at such a low level? You need to be at least level 20 to identify what a rare herb looks like. Unless you can use mana that is." Ionna was surprised hearing peters request. "But I need to pick blood moon leaves for a potion." After pondering for a few minutes ionna suggested to try and get a magic class even a healing class.

Peter was in a dilemma. Obtaining new classes were relatively easy. But obtaining a magic class was nonexistent at his level. According to the official announcement, travellers were expected to reach at least level 40 to start learning magic classes. To Peter healer wasn't an option. He had no time to party with others.

"I will teach you a skill to identify things easy. It does require mana. So you will have to figure some way to tap into it." "Thanks for the help." Peter was visibly upset. Not wanting to incur the wrath of a noble Ionna quickly left taking a bow.

Peter returned to Hedgesnow. 'Maybe Alder could help.' He consoled himself.

Alder chose this particular recipe so that Peter would be forced to level up his herbalism. To his dismay, Alder wasn't able to help him even asked Peter to do it on his own. Gathering herbs was digging into his time which peter didn't want to waste anymore. After a few minutes of thought, Peter decided to level up his combat class to level 30 and learn a new class. Reaching Tier 3 in herbalism would take too much time.

He walked back into the forest to try and kill as many beasts as he could.

*****

"Hey, where are you now?" Eric called Peter through the in-game chat. "Busy. I'm levelling near Port Blair." Peter had slowly worked towards building up his level. He had never been to Port Blair. Although it was the closest city to Hedgesnow, he never had a need to visit the place. Today, he wasn't planning on enjoying the view either. To Peter, the region was filled with monsters that he could hunt to his leisure.

To the west of Port Blair exist the brutal part of the Alderriver forest. This was a region well known for the mighty monsters that occupied the regional map. It was a treasure trove for the more advanced travellers. It was often cordoned off by the guilds to do level farms. Another speciality of the region was the absence of group mobs. Most of the beasts in the region hunted solo. This was heaven for solo players who struggled when overrun by the herds.

He diverged to the back to the forest from the entrance to the city. The city wall was massive considering its population in millions.

Warning: you are entering a higher level zone. Party is recommended for your current level.

Peter wandered around a bit trying to get a sense of the land. The western forest was massive and untouched. Due to the influx of powerful monsters, the land wasn't feasible for its lumber. The trail got smaller and smaller as he intruded deeper into the forest.

eeeeeeeeee

A sharp wail entered his ears. It startled him for an instant but recovered fast and equipped his sword. He slowly moved towards the wail. Clearing a few shrubs blocking his view, Peter was welcomed by the sight of a beast that resembled a Hog.

Wailing SarpHog ELITE LVL 45

HP: 18,000

AP: 5200

DEF: 3000

Charge, Rampage, Head smash

Charge attack can cause immobilise.

The creature had a much stronger attack power than Peter. Purely based on stats, Peter would get trampled over by that beast. From the skills, it was possible to kill by kiting it around. Peter lacked ranged attacks. The only viable option he had was to dodge right before a critical hit and counter it back. The beast had already taken notice of Peter and started getting ready to rush him with a Charge.

'Easy.'

Due to the linear nature of the attack, Peter was able to quickly duck away. Countering was harder due to the higher speed of the hog. The charge attack missed and hog waited for a few seconds to catch its breath.

'Chance.'

Peter rushed forward to get a couple of hits on the monster. It cried out a chilling wail affecting peter's head.

You are affected by fear. You defence dropped by 200.

As peter withdrew from the beast, he clove away a lot of its health. Launching back at it with a sword thrust, peter was able to hit its neck causing bleeding. A string of damage values started appearing above the SarpHog.

The creature was almost at quarter health. Peter heavily drew onto his stamina causing him to get slightly dizzy. With a solid cry, it charged at peter head-on. Quick on his feet, peter rushed back again to fight with it close quarters. After a few struggle, he was able to hit another solid hit ending the fight in victory.

You killed wailing SarpHog. You gained 3600 exp, hog meat x4, tattered hog skin.

Mystery updated

Elder killer LVL 1 (2/10)

Reward unknown.

Hog meat

Useful in cooking. Can be sold to a butcher.

Hog skin (tattered)

Ruined skin.

Peter had to sit down and recover his health. Although his armour reduced his health damage taken by 85%, due to his lower health it was still enough to accidentally kill him if he were careless.

You had a call from Eric.

'Alright.' Peter called back Eric who took the call immediately. "Hey, Alex sent in his first request. He needs us to supply 200 armour with a defence of at least 4000. Do you think it's feasible?" "Tell Alex the highest defence blueprint I have now is at 3600 and it cost around 5 gold to make and 30 minutes each. If he needs better armour then he will have to get me the blueprints." "All right. I think he was overreaching with the 4000 defence." After disconnecting from Eric, peter was back on his feet looking for more monsters to kill.

Bear LVL 45

HP: 12,000

AP: 4000

DEF: 2000

Provoke, Ram, Slam

'As long as I don't get any crits.' Peter killed it off with relative ease.

You killed a bear. You gained 180 exp, bear hide, Claws x2.

'Phew, next please.'

Compared to the elites, the normal monsters were a walk in the park. He didn't have to wait for long as another bear approached him.

You killed a bear. You gained 180 exp, bear hide, Claws x2.

The killing felt awesome as it didn't take a toll on peter. The experience gain was considerably lower compared to an elite kill. Peter slowly started praying for a stronger beast.

You killed a bear. You gained 180 exp, bear hide, Claws x2.

You killed a bear. You gained 180 exp, bear hide, Claws x2.

You killed a bear. You gained 180 exp, bear hide, Claws x2.

You killed a bear. You gained 180 exp, bear hide, Claws x2.

After the 30th one, peter felt like his scalps were standing on edge. It was a familiar feeling.

You have provoked Elder Black Bear ELITE.

A monstrous animal appeared in front of him. The eyes were blood red with small fumes radiating from within the thick black fur.

Elder Black Bear ELITE LVL 60.

HP: 150,000

AP: 4500 - 8700

DEF: 12000

Aura, Fear, Provoke, Grasp

'I'm dead.' Peter just stood there frozen as the bear hit him all in a manner of seconds.

Critical Hit. (AP: 10,000, damage absorbed 4200, damage reduced 85%, damage received 870)

Elder black bear killed you. Resurrecting at the closest respawn point. Your stats are lowered by 50% for 5 minutes.

Respawning at Delford Graveyard in 3, 2, 1...

*****

The world formed inform of his eyes slowly. As he stood up from the ground, a fairy sat next to him on a tombstone.

"You are awake. Good. You are in an instance to prevent any immediate danger. Beyond the graveyard is open world. Do you wish to continue here or do you prefer to travel to another respawn point?" "I'll stay. I wanted to visit the altar here." The fairy disappeared into the mist. A faint trail was visible to him leading out the graveyard.

Outside the graveyard was a ruined village. Vines were covering the walls of the houses. The roof has caved in and most of the houses were on the verge of collapse. There was a massive temple to the west of the village with its fence covered in barb wires.

After scurrying through the ruins peter found a gate, rusty, to the temple. There were multiple figurines adorned along the wall on each side, all depicting various races that once existed in this massive world. Under each figurine was a catacomb with a door that still looked intact. On each side of these doors, there were torches which hadn't been lit in a long time. To the right of the doors were words engraved in a language unknown to peter, but what used to be a depiction of the corresponding race.

There was a massive podium at the end of the corridor with a skeleton sitting on top of the throne. The surrounding area was lit up with a light that penetrated through the roof. As peter approached the throne a thunderous voice assaulted his ears.

"PROSTRATE YOUR SELF IN THE PRESENCE OF THE GREAT LORD OF DELFORD"

Peter lost control of his avatar as he was forced to bend a knee in front of the skeleton. With a startle, the skeleton awoke with blue eyes staring at Peter as if he could see through him.

"Sorry for the noise. I made it a long time ago and as you can see I no longer can fix it." It said but the aura it ejected meant otherwise.

"So, what is it you seek? It isn't often a living soul that enters this forbidden tomb."

'Tomb? Did I get the wrong place?'

Pushing his luck, peter got back on his feet. "I was asked to visit the Temple of Delford for a race change. I'm afraid I'm at the wrong place."

"Temple? Ahh Yes. This used to a temple once. But now it is nothing more than a tomb for all the races that once walked these lands." "Speak for yourself brat." A young and chirp voice echoed in the place as a fae materialized between the two.

"Vayazi? You old hag, what are you doing here? I thought you died." The oppressive aura of the skeleton abruptly shattered as if a balloon pricked by a needle.

*****

Profile

Name: Peter

Title: Creative Artisan(R), Knight

LVL: 26

Gold: 305

Credit: 48,723,990

Available points: 0

STR: 25

VIT: 32

AGI: 10

AP: 1450-4450

HP: 720

SPD: 30

DEF: 4200

Swordsman (C): T2 L16 (11325/12000)

Charge

Miner: T1 L10

Blacksmith: T2 L18 (2294/13500)

Alchemist: T2 L11 (0/5500)

Herbalist: T1 L10

World fame: 110

Blacksmith fame: 50

Swordsman fame: 10