Chapter 11~15

Chapter 11 

[Server Announcement! Player Walker has done the impossible and slews the special monster Wolf Elite Lv 9 solo. He has created a Hall of Fame record, please congratulate him on his achievement.]

[Server Announcement! Player Walker has done the impossible and slews the special monster Wolf Elite Lv 9 solo. He has created a Hall of Fame record, please congratulate him for his achievement.]

[Server Announcement! Player Walker has done the impossible and slews the special monster Wolf Elite Lv 9 solo. He has created a Hall of Fame record, please congratulate him for his achievement.]

[Player Walker, you have obtained a special title, “Impossible Possible”]

As soon as the server made the announcement, it instantly drew the attention of everyone in the game. No matter which Human race player it was, he or she stopped to stare at the server announcement for a second. 

“What? That shameless dog infamous for unkillable below 10 was soloed out? What the hell?” 

“Who is this, Walker? He/she has a pretty catchy name… and for him to slay that beast, he might be a pro player.” 

“That dog, if only we can go back to that place, I would have soloed it long ago.. sigh.” 

Players all over the world started to pay attention to the news as well as the player named Walker. No matter if it’s the top 100 ranker or players who just acquired level 10, they all were staring in awe at the notification. 

Once a player leaves Newbie Village to acquire a class, he can no longer come back to this particular forest. In a way, this forest was only accessible to those who have yet to acquire Level 10. This was what called conditional instance dungeons, where unless a certain condition was satisfied, they couldn’t enter it. As such, even though players who thought of soloing it after getting their classes and leveling up a few more times found themselves no longer able to enter the forest, even if they set the coordinates right. 

A few even leveled up incessantly, holding up their class choosing and tried to enter the forest so that they can solo that damn mutt, but the result was the same. They couldn’t enter the forest, let alone encounter that wolf. Of course, there were other methods like providing a newbie player with good equipment and make him/her slay it… but could a player with single-digit stats equip an item that was powerful enough to slay a monster like this wolf?

The answer was a big fat no. This wolf was in hype for the first few months of the game’s launching but later was forgotten when players saw that they can kill it by joining forces with others quite easily. Also, the drops they received weren’t much, and thus, the player concluded that it's just a boss meant for players to form parties so that they can learn teamwork or something like that. 

The official game forum instantly exploded into activities. 

“Player Walker, share the info of the drops you have received.” {ShiftingBlame}

“Walker, willing to buy the method of soloing that mutt, name your price.” {FireDrahgon}

“Player Walker, how about joining our Thunder Force Guild?”{ThunderHand}

“How the hell this dude did it?” {Some_Random_Dude}

“Maybe he had done a hit and run tactics, we have already seen the mobs won't respawn if we kill them before the boss’s aggro shifts on us. You know, like sniping from a distance and all.” {UWU_Play}

“Nah, someone tried that method, and let me tell you; unless you have inexhaustible stamina and near godly control, that won’t work. That wolf just won’t leave you be once it goes berserk.” {some_Random_Dude}

“Really?”{PeachyPeach_Sexy}

“Yeah. Our guild master tried it but failed even though he never gave up for a whole month.” {some_Random_Dude}

“Congrats, Bro …” {..}

“Congratulations Walker, I am Lelion Leon, guild master of Thunder Force Guild. If you wish to join us, PM to me.” 

“This dude isn’t giving up all…” {…}

While the forum was exploding with activities, the one whose actions had started it was relaxing at the edge of the pit he had dug, to kill this very nightmare of many players, while thinking something rude like, “Well, it wasn’t that hard…”

Jonas sat down where he stood, basking in the afterglow of winning against such a difficult foe. For a few minutes, though he didn’t dare to look at the continuous notification popping up in his field of vision, his eyes were firmly set upon the corpse of the boss monster. He was thinking of a plant on how to go down and use ‘dismantle’ on it. 

He was feeling pretty depressed, he had used so much energy on killing this thing, and yet this damn mutt didn’t even drop anything after its death. No coins, no materials or anything, only 10k exp. Thank god that it triggered server announcement, or else he would have really cried there if not. Also, he wasn’t aware of the official server being noisy, or else he would have really been in a bind as to how to respond. 

Then his eyes landed on the new title he obtained, the one with a very impressive name. Giddily he clicked on it as the explanation of it displayed in a moment. 

[Impossible Possible]

- Increases all percentile chances by 5%. 

- Productive classes have an extra increase of 2%. 

“Neat!” although he acted like he understood everything, in reality, he didn’t get anything except for the second line. Since it’s like that, he left that alone for further research. By now, Jonas had already made a few mental notes on what to look for after logging out today. 

But, what made his day was the visual of his stats, which increased by 15 due to Hall of fame record. 

Jonas, after regaining his stamina, carefully went down, mindful of the traps he led himself. Tracing the same path he followed up, he reached the bottom and ceaselessly used dismantle to get rid of the pikes. With the absence of the sharp things, the boss wolf fell down with a thud, together with its mobs, giving Jonas at least 5 wolves to farm his PPs. Feeling like his Christmas came early, Jonas kneeled down before one of the mobs and used ‘Dismantle’ as an appetizer before he goes to the main dish. 

[Dismantling failed, the item will be destroyed. Gained 200 PP]

“Okay, this one is a dud,” Jonas mumbled. He didn’t dare to call himself unlucky as it was a taboo word for him. Then he set his sight on the next one, thankfully his luck shined as he was successful in Dismantling it, obtaining 300 PP, a wolf pelt and a few wolf teeth and bones. The market price of these materials would be no less than 1 gold coin in total. 

Next, he failed. 

Next, he failed too… 

Like this, all the bodies of wolf mobs were done in by him, with the only boss remaining. Jonas had to step back and admire the huge wolf’s corpse for a few seconds, basking in the sense of accomplishment he derived by killing it using his wits. Then he furiously rubbed his hands as if his luck would suddenly increase by doing so. The LUK stat, which was the only one couldn’t be increased by APs and can only increase by doing some specialized quests… Jonas’s LUK had already broken through the roof of starting players and reached 35. With this amount of LUK, he could very well succeed in the productive path if he follows it until he reaches at least level 100. 

It was a well-known fact that productive class players relied heavily on luck stat, be it a blacksmith in the process of producing legendary equips or a digger in search of some rare materials, they all need the luck to use their skills to their full potential. As their skills increases in their level, the high amount of LUK shows its effect when these so-called production class players pop out rare or legendary materials like cabbages and apples. 

Jonas somehow had extremely good luck in this aspect, his idiotic actions had created three Hall of fame records and one global server announcement, increasing his LUK by a good 24 points. Besides, his starting bonus was 10, which was pretty rare as LUK was a stat that generated randomly. 

“Oh goddess Luck, please bless me, let me find something useful from this one.” After praying to the lady of lucks, Jonas gulped a mouthful and preyed to all his 18 generation ancestors, all the way to Adam and Eve, before touching the furry body of the massive wolf elite. 

“D, Dismantle!” he couldn’t even utter the word clearly, he was that nervous. He already knew that of this wolf turns out a dud, he would bang his head in the tree and die of sadness. 

[Dismantle Succeeded.] 

- 5000 PPs

- Wolfgod Blood(Rare)

- Wolf Elite Bones(Rare)

- Ability Tome(Rare)

- Wolf Elite Pelt(Rare)

“R, rare!! It's all rare!!” Jonas couldn’t believe his luck. He couldn’t believe he had obtained some rare materials from the dead body of a level 9 wolf elite, well, grated that it had remained undefeated solo for a year. 

Chapter 12

Each and every material he obtained via dismantling turned out to be rare quality, no wonder he would be happy after seeing it. If h seels them to an NPC store, he will receive no less than 1000 or even more gold coins for two of such materials. If a skilled craftsman uses these materials, a Rare quality product was guaranteed, and if their luck were extremely good, a Legend rank product popping out wouldn’t be an impossible factor either. 

But, Jonas didn’t plan to sell, not in the slightest. He was thinking something else…

After level 10, a player can take on a Class and a Job. For example, most of Mage class players had chosen to be apothecaries or Synergists as their Jobs. With each increase in their job skills, a related stat would be increased, and for mages, INT and WIS were as important as an STR stat to warrior classes. Similarly, most of the Warrior class players had taken on Jobs like Blacksmithing, Digging, and Dismantling as their Jobs. 

In the game, World of Pleatharia, a single player could only choose one class, but there was no limit to how many jobs they can take. There are even a few players who had chosen to take all the jobs available in the server. But there were only a few who had taken their job skills to a high level. 

The classes available in the game are as such, 

1. Mage/ Dark Mage/ Cursed Mage/ Blood Mage

2. Priest/Holy Priest/Light Priest/Dark Priest

3. Warrior/Shield Warrior/Dual Wield Warrior

4. Nature Summoner/Darkbeast Summoner

5. Thief/Assassin/Recon Trooper

6. Digger/Dismantler/Blacksmith/Apothecaries

Those are all classes that were selectable to all the races, with Darkbeast Summoner being only for devil races. Jonas had thought long and hard and decided to go for one of the mage classes. As for the summoner class, he had zero confidence in it. Not to mention there are many ins and outs that he didn’t understand, the fact that one had to continuously take note of gradually decreasing affability of their summoned beast, Jonas felt its too much work and troublesome. 

As for jobs, he already had skills like Digging, Dismantling, and Construction. With these, he will be able to get three jobs without much trouble. One would think of he had already obtained the skill what use of the job, the answer was this, without the job to support it, the skill is nothing. It's like a key without a lock. Also, after he gets the job, he can equip the corresponding equipment, like a pair of dismantling knife for dismantler, a pickaxe for digger, and various tools for a constructor. With equipment to boost his chances, his skills would truly show their might. 

Jonas hurriedly returned to the village and made a beeline for the place where he ought to rent a cart to the next city. 

“Oh, you want to go to Snowflake City? Good! Just pay me 10 gold coins, and I will take you there.” The coachman who was named Luther smiled, showing his shabby cart with a bull-like animal pulling it to him. 

“Okay!” Jonas paid the required amount. 

“Alright, board the cart, young man. We are in for long travel here. I hope you have brought your lunch, kakaka!!” with a laugh, the coachman whipped his bull-like magical beast as the cart started to sway before running at medium speed. It was at this time a notification appeared on Jonas’s field of view. 

[Downloading required files and network settings…. 0.5%]

[Player Walker, it is advised to log out of the game while it downloads the required data. The download will approximately take 5 hours in real-time.]

“Hmm! Really?” though he was surprised, he also held an understanding face. No wonder the coachman said it will be a long journey, it actually due to system downloading some required file data. Nodding his head, Jonas logged out of the game. 

Putting aside the sunglass on the table, he logged in to the game’s official forum to see what players were discussing. And the moment he logged in, his face instantly hit up in embarrassment. 

“Walker, if you are in this forum, reply quick. We would like you to recruit into our guild.” 

“Player Walker, I am a player from Elf race, and we have an undefeated monster like the one you have slain. We would like to buy the method you had employed to kill, name your price, be it an in-game currency or real credits, it doesn’t matter.” 

“Let’s party together and go for a hunt, Walker.” 

Jonas became speechless at the sight of the whole forum being flooded by discussions about it. Some directly tagged his username, while others furiously discussing the possible ways he used to kill it. But not a simple word of comment was there that he used cheats. 

The game was already running for a year, it was enough time for coders to develop cheats for the game, but for some reason, none of such players ever sighted till now. Towards the 5th month of the game, an anonymous post on very popular sight revealed that no matter how much they work hard, no cheat codes work on the system. The game’s cheat detector AI was just too strong for them to do anything.

‘Why are these guys talking about me? What did I do?’ Jonas, although knew triggering a server announcement for a game that the whole world was playing, was by means no easy feat. But he had not expected to be this popular, this made him wonder exactly what was that wolf. So he logged in to the official description of monsters on the game’s main page to read about it. 

[Wolf Elite]

A variant of Bloodwolf tribe and possibly separated from its pack while a child. Became the target of local wolves due to its huge size and territorial nature. Later it fought back and gradually became the leader of the wolf pack terrorizing the outskirts of Newbie Village. 

Its huge body is by no means a crutch. It uses its paws to do a super-fast swipe that is strong enough to kill anyone instantly. Also, its howl is so terrifying that it would make even the bravest of the brave hunter to weak in the legs. 

Careful while hunting it. 

“Okay, nothing much here. Only a simple description of things that I already know of.” Feeling disappointed, he switched to the forum once again, where people were going crazy over the thing he had done. 

‘So they are offering me money for info about how I killed it, right? Who would say no to money? Cool, let’s sell it.’ Thinking of such, he first retrieved the gameplay data on the virtual memory of his account. The game would store one’s gameplay automatically for 5 days every day. It’s a default setting, after 5 days complete, that data would be deleted automatically wile new data take its place. Retrieving that data was also very easy, all one has to do was to log in to his account and download that day’s gameplay. 

Jonas cut away all the unneeded Infos and sorted that 45 minutes of gameplay, which he required to actually kill the wolf. He even erased the server announcement message, and drop lists appeared after he killed it. Then he made a post on the online forum. 

“Selling the gameplay of killing Wolf Elite to the highest bidder. Accepting only in-game currency, the minimum price is 5k Gold coins.” {Walker}

“He replied, this Walker finally replied.” 

“Walker, I bid 5200 for the video.” 

“I will offer 5800!” 

“5805!” 

“6000!” 

‘Wow! The number keeps increasing. Good, just like that, increase it, even more, give me more money.’ Jonas thought with a smile, watching the bidding war going on. Fifteen minutes later, just when the bid was about to reach 9k gold coins, a post attached with a video popped up. 

“Don’t get swayed by this player. Look how many times he died just to traverse a forest. He is definitely a swindler asking money when all he did was respawning again and again until he completely depleted that thing’s HP.” {Tarvis00154}

“What? Really! Let me a look at it.” 

Getting curious, although angry, Jonas clocked on the video tagged on the feed. When the video played, it showed him reputedly respawning at the gate and again running off to the forest. 

“Isn't this when I tried to pass the forest and got killed again and again while doing that quest by Terka?” seeing the familiar view of him getting killed, again and again, Jonas remembered that traumatic experience. Then he looked at the player’s name and thought, ‘have I offended this person before? Why did he shaming me? And doing at such a crucial moment no less.’ 

Jonas feared with this man’s post, he would lose his money and might even be shamed by these players who were praising him just before. A few minutes later, that’s exactly what happened. 

“This shameless player, how dare you to swindle us?” 

“You bastard, don’t let me see you, or I will skin you alive. And, thank you, Tarvis00154, for bringing the true face of this shameless cheater.” 

“Dman! I couldn’t believe I was getting duped even though I can be considered a veteran in both real life and this game.” 

“Fuck off, Walker. Go back to your home and suck yo mama’s tit.”

…

Curses hurled at him like no tomorrow. Everyone who was just praising him throughout the forum for past hour now starting to throw curses at him. He might have matured a little due to his experience, he still at the end of the day a 14 years old kid, going 15. How can he handle so many adults cursing at him with vulgar languages? Halfway through the long string of curses, he nearly cried loudly. 

So, he closed the forum and wiped off the wetness below his eyes. Then he switched off the phone and jumped into his bed to well cry in his sleep. The frustration of losing money, and the curses that followed after, they kind of weighed upon the poor guy’s mind. To a kid who just dreamt of helping his sister financially, it was like a tight slap in the face. Painful enough to make him cry. 

Chapter 13

Jonas didn’t log in to the game that night. He felt really defeated by the events, and the fragile confidence he built with his two days of gaming experience fell down like a castle of cards by the words of a single player. No wonder he would go angst. 

That night…

“Did something happened?” asked Jonas’s sister seeing her brother down in dumps. He looked like someone stole his money, which was weird cause he had nothing to do with money, right?

“Mmm, ah, no. Nothing. Don’t worry.” Shaking his head, he took in a mouthful of ham on his plate. 

“If you say so…” although she was curious and a bit worried, she refrained from asking further and decided to hold off until he reveals this to her on his own. 

“I am tired and going to sleep, take care of yourself, sis.” Declaring with a serious tone, Jonas entered his room and closed his door. Then he jumped into bed and went to sleep, deciding to not log in to the game for the time being. 

“Okay!?” now this made the girl even more worried. Jonas's behavior reminded her of those typical teens with teen problems. She placed a finger on her chin, thinking, ‘did he have a girl he likes or something?’ 

She felt the need to investigate this matter all of a sudden.

…

While Jonas was busily nursing his wounded heart, a simple message popped in on his game’s personal account. 

[Hello Player Walker, 

I am a player named Sandox777 under the guild Star Ships. We are an up and starting guild with players from all races. We would like to buy the video of your walkthrough against that special boss. How does 500 gold coins sound?

If you agree to my offer, reply to me via this message link.]

…

The next morning, after his morning routine was over, Jonas logged in to his player account once again. Upon arrival, the coachman’s excited voice entered his ears,

“We have arrived at the Snowflake City. You can now get your ass moving.” Luther barked, showing his index finger at the huge gate, which was decorated with various precious remains of powerful monsters. It looked intimidating at the same time pretty fantasy-like.

[Congratulations on finishing the tutorial version of the game. Welcome to Snowflake City. The DLC has finished downloading, so now you can experience the vast world of Pleatharia and discover yourself. Have a happy gaming experience.] 

[Warning!! Please don’t engage in illicit acts with other players without their consent, you will be penalized heavily. Maintain a healthy behavior with others.]

[Since you are below 18, all the adult cutscenes and places with explicit exposures will have mosaics covering their immodesty.]

“Dammit!” Jonas cursed at the third notification. He was expecting to peek at some steamy things around this game, he even made a list… but now he could do so. The system would automatically add mosaics to his vision every time he stares at something 18+ material. 

Anyway, after glancing over those notifications, he closed on the city, observing everything in his way like a child at a candy store.

“Cool!” Jonas mumbled unconsciously. The front of the gate was also filled with players of all races, from elves to Dark elves, from humans to orcs, from Devils to merlocs, Jonas could see players of all races going to and from the gate. Some were together with others, some alone, it’s a pretty unique experience for the socially awkward boy. 

{Looking for a shield warrior with Shielf Bash Lv 2 ability}

{A Priest, we need a priest who has learned Second Life Spell.}

{Thief or Recon Trooper, if you are above Lv 40 and possess Trap Maker Ability, immediately join our party to invade Beeline Catacombs.}

In front of the gate, many players with glittering equip all over their bodies were shouting about their requirements, hoping to form a party and raid some item-rich monster dungeon. He even spotted a few players who were adorned in Legend ranked items from top to bottom, as they pranced around with pride visible in their visage. A few players were sitting atop various beasts, showing off their collection as a Summoner class player. 

“Wow!! Until now, I had only seen this scene from a 3P point of view, but experiencing virtual reality as a first-person… it’s so real like!” exclaimed Jonas, taking in the view of the everything around him with his wide-opened eyes. 

[Welcome to Snowflake City.]

[City Lord: AvocardoLove(Player)]

[Number of NPC: 500,000]

[Number of players: 1,000,000] 

A small notification popped up, informing the basic details about the city when he passed through the huge gate, but he didn’t give it much attention. He was simply taking in the familiar surrounding of Snowflake City, which was identical geography to Newbie Village with some modifications and additions.

After taking in the surroundings and new places, which took him no less than two hours, he arrived at a junk store. This store is managed by a player called Save_Tigers and was praised for being one of the best places to cashout your drops in the forum. The player employed all the NPCs to manage his store and even set a bargain system for the players who wish to sell their materials at higher costs or buy something at a lower price. 

“Hello Mr. Walker, how can we help you?” as soon as he entered the shop, a lady dressed in a typical office lady uniform with a short skirt and white blouse, black stockings, and medium heels adorned her legs approached him with a smile. 

Now, Joans was a very healthy teen save for his atrophied leg. He would turn 15 in just a month, so he was close to fifteen rather than fourteen. At this age, a teen’s hormones would run rampant every time they saw something stimulating. And Jonas was no different. As soon as he saw a sexy lady with sexier clothing, his heart began palpitating, and he started to feel like sweating. 

“I, I would like to sell my drops,” Jonas spoke in a mosquito-like voice as he looked down. He didn’t even notice the lady calling him with his in-game name, even though his detail was hidden to all NPC as a default. 

“Alright, please follow me.” She smiled before leading the way into one of the cabins at the corner of the shop. It was for players who wanted to remain discreet about their sold items. 

Several minutes later, Jonas came out of the room with a disappointed expression, which would make people think he was unsatisfied with the transaction, but if they could read his mind, they would realize the matter was totally different. At that time, with a disappointed expression, Jonas was thinking this: ‘Damn mosaics!!’ 

“Now I have a total of 4500 gold coins, including all my earnings for the hall of fame records, huh! Cool, let's go to the mage association and get me a JOB and Class.” Thinking this, he walked towards the location of the Mage Association. 

Now, this was where the paths diverge. Those who were warriors would go and report at a Warrior’s guild to get their class and jobs. Thieves would have to join their respective guild, which Jonas didn’t bother to research. As for magus aspirants, they would have to join the Magic Association and enlist into the Magus Academy first. During this time, their class would be ‘Mage apprentice,’ and their job would be ‘Student.’ After completing 101 quests given out by the magus academy, they would finally able to obtain the class of Magus or any branch of magic they have chosen during their time as a magus apprentice. 

The class-related skills and the jobs, everything will be available for choosing only after one finishes these 101 quests. Due to this process, players had dubbed the Magus Class as one of the annoying classes to obtain. 

Magus’ early level period(from 11 to 30) might be hard, but no one can argue about their powers once they reach the later phase, i.e. from level 40 to onwards. The current rank 1 holder of the game’s level ranking list, including worldwide players, was also a Magus. She had achieved a rare Magus class known as Holocaust Mage, able to decimate entire cities with just a swing of her hands. She was so strong and adept at using this class, nobody dares to solo PK her. 

Chapter 14

Jonas's choice was set in the stone even before he bought the game.  Coincidentally, this also coincided with his choice, making it seem like he was lucked out. Jonas made his way to the fabled Magic Association, which was located towards the east of Snowflake town. Actually, it wasn’t that hard to find. The association was nothing but a huge tower whose tip disappeared into the sky. 

Jonas followed the image fo the tower and arrived at the place without even checking his map. Then he entered the tower, arriving at the reception desk. An old man was sitting there, playing with a white mouse with wing-shaped ears. 

“Excuse me, I am here to register for the Magus Apprentice,” Jonas said to the old man politely. 

“Alright, first pay up 50 gold coins.” As soon as Jonas paid it, a notification popped up. 

[You have chosen Magus to be your main class. For that, you have to complete 101 quests beforehand.]

[Temporary Class Magus Apprentice obtained]

- INT and WIS will be increased by 5 every level up.

- All other stats barred from LUK will be increased by 1. 

[You have obtained Job Student.]

- Spellcasting time of a spell will decrease by 5% if used more than 5 times in single combat. 

[Your accumulated exp comes to effect. You are now level 12]

- INT and WIS increased by 10 each.

- All other stats save for LUK increased by 2. 

“Nice, now I can learn a few spells and increase my combat power.” Jonas laughed. 

“You are now a student of Magic Academy. Go and see Professor Selet, she will guide you through your career as a Magus Apprentice.” The lady receptionist relayed with a cold look. 

[Ding! Class Change Quest 001: Meet professor Selet to learn about the diversity of magic.]

- Professor Selet is a highly knowledgeable magus said to be very close to the ‘Root of The Origin.’ You have been assigned to such a legendary professor to learn your magic. You better not delay it. 

“Here cometh the first quest,” Jonas exclaimed excitedly before going to where Professor Selet’s marker was pointed in the map. But when he arrived there, he was disappointed to find an old man in place of the professor he was looking for.

“I am sorry, Professor Selet had just left to Abyss Gate, to investigate the sightings of some powerful demon beasts. She will not be back for a few days. You can either wait, or you can do another thing.” The old man said with a smile. 

“What is the other thing?” Jonas asked suspiciously. 

“You see, Professor Selet is also a Master grade apothecary. Despite that, she never missed concocting those low-grade potions for the common populace. For that, she needs many herbs; some were easily available in the market, while others are not. How about this kid, go to the west-wing of the city where you would find the Snowy Expanse. In there, a herb called Pure Crysyanthum grows. Harvest 10 flowers for today.” The old man said before handing Jonas a book. 

[Class Change Quest 002: The Herb Collector]

- You came to see Professor Selet, but she was out, unfortunately. The old man whose identity you don’t know offering you something until the professor comes back. Will you venture into the land of unknown to collect the herbs that your professor apparently needs?

- Yes/No

[Rewards]

- 100 silver coins

- Job The Herb Collector with an attached skill. 

“I will.” 

[you have accepted the quest.]

[Quest Progress: 0/10 herbs]

Jonas didn’t waste time, he immediately left for the designated place to look for the flower, as mentioned earlier. If he had met professor Selet, he would have learned some magic abilities. Unfortunately, he didn’t meet her and to make do with what he had right now. As such, he made a beeline towards a weapon store and bought a set of (Iron Bow and Feather Arrow Quiver) for 50 gold coins. Pretty expensive, but he had no other way for the time being. 

[Iron Bow] 

- 15 ATK

- 20 RNG

- 20% more stability while aiming.

[Feather Arrow Quiver]

- 10 ATK per arrow.

- 50 arrows max storage.

He also bought 100 extra arrows for 10 silver coins before going to the snowy expanse. As expected, many players were there doing the same or similar quest as him. Many too had come to hunt for snow beasts, their blood and flesh were very useful to apothecaries who were farming for PPs. 

There was a potion called ‘Cold Resist Potion 1’ which would give the consumer 15% resistant to all types of cold-related situations, be it an attack from a boss or other players, or simply from the cold environment. This potion could only be crafted by apothecaries who had acquired the job Beginner Apothecary, a step ahead of Apprentice Apothecary. 

Also, there was many types of monster very common here, the Tundra Bear, Ice Golem, and Long-haired yeti. All these monsters were above level 15, with monumental attack and defensive powers. Before hitting 20, this place was also one of the nice spots for level grinding. Jonas, too, had the same idea as others, to level up and complete quest at the same time. 

‘I have to be careful from now on. Each death will deduct 1/3 of my EXP, and dying three times will cost me a level. I can’t afford to miss my hard-earned level.’ Thinking of this, Jonas reminded himself to exercise caution as much as possible. If he can’t win, he would run. And if even that weren’t possible, he would fight with everything in line. 

Jonas equipped the bow and arrow, before venturing into the frozen lands… and not even 5 minutes, he encountered his first enemy. It’s a huge monster, shaped like an ape with long hairy body. Two black horns were atop its head, making it seem like some devil from stories. It’s one of the common monsters found in this plane, The Long-haired Yeti. It was loitering around aimlessly while scratching its body at random moments. 

Jonas pulled the string of his bow, the arrow automatically knocked into it, since he was using system’s player assist function. Closing one eye, he aimed towards the head of the creature. If a player manages to hit a monster in its head while it wasn’t aware of it, a critical hit was guaranteed. Jonas was trying to that exact thing. With a 20 RNG, he can easily cause max damage of 20(15 arrow damage and 5 bow’s damage value) from at least 20 meters away. 

Unfortunately, Jonas didn’t have an Archer or Theif class, or else his STR stat’s damage value would also have been added to the maximum attack point. Since he was aiming to be a magus, such a thing didn’t happen. 

After perfectly aiming to its head, he let loose the arrow. The arrow sailed across space with a ‘whoosh’ sound as it tore through the air current. Within a scant of seconds, the arrow managed to hit the Yeti’s on the back of its head, right where medulla oblongata supposed to be at. 

[Critical Hit!!]

[-200]

[Long Haired yeti Lv 14]

[HP: 800/1000]

Now that he had managed to hurt the beast, its HP was clearly visible to him, does its name and level. Jonas wasn’t surprised by its stat, only he wasn’t aware what things this yeti was capable of, or what are its means of attacks. He acted cautiously and didn’t reveal his hiding spot. 

He wasn’t using a skill or an item to hide; what he was doing was using his surroundings to blend in. There would no way the monster could see him. It could only know his general direction. 

{Roar!!} 

Violently screaming, it started to beat its chest like a gorilla. Then it bent down and pulled out a snowball, bigger than a large boulder, from the ground. Raising it above its head, it shouted once again and threw it towards where Jonas was hiding. 

[-50]

The snowball accurately landed on him, taking away 50 of his total HP instantly. It was no joke, Jonas fell into thought. If a monster’s ranged attack was this much, how much it’s melee must be? And from the looks of it, it wasn’t even a ranged-type monster. 

“Damn, I can’t risk it.” Jonas made up his mind and retreated. After reaching a safe place, he sat below on the snow ground and promptly logged out. 

Placing the gaming glass on the table, he opened the computer. Closing one of his eyes, he minimized the forum page, to not see any more scoldings and his ultimate failure, he opened a new tab. Clicking on the search option, he started to type the following: 

- Blueprint of a crossbow.

Chapter 15

“Will this even work?” Jonas questioned while searching the internet for the blueprint of the crossbow. His plan was simple, from his previous experience of his skill Construction, he deduced that as long as he had the blueprints, he could create anything. Thus, here he was, searching the internet for a blueprint so that he could remember all the details. 

He hoped his plan works, and even if it doesn’t, there was no load. He was playing this game to explore new things anyway. Though he was vaguely aware that what he was planning might not work, as it would be too game-breaking if it really does. But anyway, he was eager to try new things, what’s wrong in that? 

Thinking like this, just as he was about click on an image, he saw flashing on the taskbar. Someone had sent him a private message using his in-game username. The good thing was that no one could scold or do ill-things using the private mail system. They can only do so on public channels. 

‘This might not be a hate message’ feeling courageous, Jonas opened the mail. There he saw someone from some starship guild sent him a request to sell him the video for 500 G. 

‘Is he serious or is this a mock mail?’ checking out the date, he found it’s a few hours after he was shamed in the forum. As he saw the message, he felt a lot better, ‘at least someone believed it.’ He promptly replied to it. 

[Thank you for believing me. I will agree to your price. Send me 500 in-game gold coins, and I will send you the full gameplay of me killing that wolf.]

[Walker] 

After that, he returned to his search while thinking of his earlier plan. A deep search later, he finally found a detailed blueprint of the thing he wanted to build. Only….

“Its too damn complex!” Shouted Jonas when he saw the print. Not to mention many tiny parts, even the shape of it looks hard to draw, “how the hell am I going to memorize it and apply it? Not possible in a short time at all!!” 

The designs were so complex that it made Jonas’ head hurt. Forget about memorizing it, he wasn’t even sure if he could perfectly draw it while observing it. With a heavy heart, he gave up on it, “and I thought it would be very easy, seeing how simple the weapon was…” 

Jonas felt enlightened after that, the saying that things are not as simple as they look became a reality for him. After giving up on the creation of a crossbow, he leaned back on the chair and started to think carefully about how to counter the beast. Until now, he had fought with mob class monsters with sheer strength with the sword dropped from that level 24 monkey. That’s because he wasn’t afraid of dying as there was no penalty. 

After level 10, the fighting stage changes. And the monsters suddenly become much more powerful and aggressive. Following the same strategy was tantamount to suicide and level drop. Not only these monsters are intelligent, but nearly all of them also have some form of long-range and short-range combat options. His bout with the monkey could be considered extremely lucky as its aggro system wasn’t triggered the way Jonas fought with it. The same thing couldn’t work here, though, and Jonas had to think of something better. 

Out of curiosity, he opened the web to browse through how players fight with such monsters at that stage. 

“So, its because they already got classes at this stage and hence able to learn powerful Class-specific abilities that allowed them to lay waste to these monsters.” Jonas understood how people could kill these mobs without getting killed repeatedly. But most of all, in their earlier phase, they never fight solo. After receiving class, players would often form a party and kill these monsters in a group. A group of five players needed to kill 10 such monsters to level up once from 10 to 11. Similarly, they need to kill 20 such monsters to level up 11 to 12, and thus the calculation goes on. 

Rarely ever, some of those really genius players would go solo on these monsters. Players with abnormal control over their characters and super reaction times would afford to solo these guys even when they just received the class. Those guys are really rare, though. 

After gaining a comprehensive idea, Jonas decided to return to the game. There was no use of him wasting his time here, all he can do was take his time and come up with a strategy. Games are meant to be played after all. 

After logging into to game once again, he didn’t return to the place where he attacked the yeti first time. On the contrary, he squatted then and there and started to think of ways to kill the mob with less effort. Basically, he wanted to kill it without even dying even once. He could have invested his attribute points to strengthen his def and attack, but he didn’t do so because he had yet to learn a spell, and the most important stat needed for a magus class player had yet to generate in his attribute panel. 

For that matter only, he was saving up his attribute points, as recommended by the top player of Magus class. 

Opening the blueprint editor, he started to draw pictures of walls, quite detailed at that with spikes all over them. After finishing, he saved it and started to create it with the help of the Construction skill. If it was about constructing huge towers, complex buildings, then simply using skill wasn’t going to cut it. But what Jonas doing was just making a simple wall. Simply blueprint, and skill was more than enough for them. 

“Construction,” he whispered. The ground beneath his palm started to shine brightly before a wall sprouted, as designed in the blueprint. Only…

“Why is it so tiny?” the wall was just a few inches tall, nothing like what he had imagined. Besides, it wasn’t even a ranked creation. Jonas fell into confusion, thinking he had made some mistake, he once again tried the skill according to the blueprint he prepared. 

“No change?” still, all that appeared was a small wall of few inches tall and a few centimeters thick. Scratching his head in confusion, ‘what the hell I am missing?’ he thought hard for an answer. 

Looking at the blueprint he prepared, he saw an (i) symbol beside it. Clicking on it, the same screen with blueprint editor appeared. Only this time, he could see a lot of data besides the picture he had created. In there, he saw a dimensions panel, where some single-digit number was shown. 

“This is it!” it was actually the dimension of the wall he had to create, it was set to the default of 4 and 2, meaning 4 inches tall and 2 inches wide. Finding the source of error, now all was left to rectify it.

After rectification, he once again rubbed his hand to prepare himself to use construction. When the skill came into effect, instantly a wall big enough to cover him while crouching down sprouted from the ground like the bean tree that jack used to climb into the island in the sky. Not only that, the wall was thick enough as his waist, and to the touch, it was extremely sturdy.