CHAPTER 8

“Hmm, you look happy, something good happened?” the question made Jonas, who was eating his dinner with a lot more vigor than ever, stop to look at the speaker. A young lady with pale blond hair in a low ponytail and a pair of thick glasses was sitting in front of him. This person was none other than his sister, the only family left of him after their parent’s untimely death all those years ago. 

“Mhm.” Jonas nodded his head, taking in a mouthful. Then wiping the corners of his mouth, “the game I told you about, the one I bought last Friday, arrived today. Also, I played it already. That’s why I am a little bit excited, that’s all.” 

“I see, so, you are enjoying yourself. That’s good, children of your age should do as they wish. Anyway, don’t neglect your studies, okay? Attend the virtual classes and go to school every week, at least once. Try to make friends if possible.” the woman admonished gently while drinking in her soup. After that, she stared at the kid, who struggled to get up since he completed his meal. She could have helped him, but his doctor asked them to let him do as much work as possible with himself. This way, he won't be entirely dependent on them for each and everything. 

“Big sister, please take care of yourself. That company you are working in, I read that the environment isn’t that good. Also, chemical radiations give people permanent damages… be careful, okay?” Jonas said, looking at the woman, who had a distant look on her face. 

“Where did you learn that? My work is nothing serious like that. In the first place, I don’t work in the factory, so I don’t have to worry about that.” the woman shook her hand and laughed awkwardly. 

“If it's like that, then it okay. But still, be careful, okay? Medicine factories are dangerous in more ways than one.” 

“Hmm, you cheeky brat!! You got some nerve to lecture your big sister like that, huh? Come here, you brat you…” the woman playfully extended her arm and started tickling Jonas, making the later jump around like a monkey(as much as he can with a crutch and clamps in his leg) while desperately trying to suppress his laughter. 

…

Jonas went to sleep early that night. The next day, after doing all his morning rehab-exercises, he grabbed his goggles and sat down on his chair, before logging in. His sister had already gone to her company, although it was still this early. Despite how his sister stress it that she wasn’t doing anything hazardous to health, Jonas simply couldn’t bring himself to believe her. After all, she was working at a medicine company that dabbled with all kind of chemicals, how can that be devoid of danger? 

[Welcome to the World of Pleatharia, player Walker]

With this notification, Jonas found himself standing at the front gate of Newbie Village. Many players, all humans as it was a human settlement Newbie Village, were going to and from the village. Many logging in and logging out at this place every second. It was a rowdy place to be in, and as a socially awkward boy, Jonas scurried off that place with his tail between his legs. 

Arriving at a corner, where there were fewer people than the square he was in, he sighed while patting his beating heart, “damn! This is really getting out of hand. At this rate, I might develop that disorder with fear of crowds.” After that, he opened his status window. 

[Window here]

A smile crept upon his face. Before he logged out yesterday, he had reached level 8, three more levels to go before he can leave this village and formally chose a class and job. Only after that, the true nature of the game will be revealed, the competition, the PKs, the dungeon raids, and party-ups. He couldn’t wait to leave this village. 

There are 80 unused attribute points, and even 1 skill point, a result of yesterday’s farming. Leaving aside skill points that were extremely hard to get as it can only be obtained every 5 levels, he thought hard as to how he should spend the 80 APs.

‘Warrior path is a no go for me, I can’t handle the stamina consumption, so STR is out of the question. I think I could go either the mage path or summoner path; either way, INT and WIS are absolute. But, If I go summoner path, then later when I chose that class, a willpower stat will be generated, which would determine if I can tame my summoned monster or not. 

Then there is EVA and AGI, which would increase my movement speed and chances of attacks towards me being missed. This is so hard, I can’t decide which path to follow, ugh!!’ Jonas felt unsure of what to do, so he just left it alone for now, and went in to level up some more. He would think of it later after doing research on it by reading on online articles. Right now, he didn’t lack ATK, and the monsters were weak enough to not being able to deplete his 240 HP and a skill that could heal 30 HP in 3 seconds, so for now, he was alright with not applying the points. 

He ran straight towards the place where he logged off yesterday and started slaughtering monsters left and right. He wanted to reach level 10 as soon as possible so that he can quickly learn magic, something he was very much looking forward to. Also, he didn’t forget to use ‘dismantle’ on every random thing he came across, increasing his PP as much as possible. He could have used his construction skill or Digging Skill, but he didn’t have time for those for now. He was in a kind of hurry to level up for no particular reason. 

…

“Kill it! Dammit, kill this damn thing!!” just after he slashed his latest prey, Jonas heard voices coming from ahead of the path he was following. It belonged to a male’s voice, and undoubtedly he sounded desperate for something. 

Shrugging his shoulders, he continued to the body of the beast and about to use Dismantle on it. He was only two levels away from reaching 10, he couldn't be bothered with strange people. 

[Dismantling Suceeded]

[+ 100 PP]

[Wild Wolf leather pelt x5]

“Good,” nodding his head, he strode forwards, but then the cry for help came once again, “Help!! Someone help!!” now his curiosity piqued. 

Following the trail of the sound, he eventually arrived at a dense area, where he saw a group, consisting of both male and female were surrounded by a pack of wolfs, with a bigger one in the lead. 

‘That’s gotta be the leader of the pack… a mini-boss. But, why the hell are these guys asking for help? They can just die and revive, it's not like they are going to be penalized or something?’ while he thought of this, Jonas inspected the people who are screaming, they were definitely newbies like him. Their clothes gave them away, and the weapons they were holding was also shabby to a fault. 

Looking further, he found the one asking for help was actually a girl around the same age as his sister, who was also holding a beginner sword in her hand. She was desperately slashing the wolves while protecting two men behind her. Upon further inspection, he found those two men were not moving, only sitting with their heads down. 

“Help!! Someone help, please!!” the woman was yet to notice Jonas, but she shouted for the help nonetheless. 

“DaFuk!!” Jonas couldn’t decide whether to call this woman a fool or a noob… it's just too hilarious. Shaking his head, he decided to let the woman be, it's not like helping her would gain him anything. 

Or so he had thought before one of the wolves sniffed him out before a pack separated from the main pack headed his way. Seeing this, Jonas couldn’t help but curse at his bad luck. Now that the wolves noticed him, the woman would surely notice him too. If so, he couldn’t possibly leave before giving her an explanation, his conscience wouldn’t allow him to. 

‘Since I am seen anyway…’ thinking of this, Jonas swung his broken sword, swiping away 50% of total HP of all the wolves surrounding him, which numbered 10. Another swipe, they all fell down dead. 

[You have killed a Level 8 wolf. You have gained exp…]

After finishing off the bunch, he calmly started to dismantle one by one. As for drops, he had gained 500 EXP, 5 silver coins, and a wolf fang, which he could sell to beginner apothecaries to farm their PPs. Unfortunately, his luck wasn’t good, and all the 10 corpses were dud, he gained nothing by dismantling them. Although he gained close to 50 PPs from that, comparing to the amount needed for him to further level up, it was just a drop in the ocean. 

“Hello, there! Please help me… these monsters are going to kill me. Help me!!” now that the lady had seen him, she shouted for help. 

‘What do I do? S, she talked to me!!’ Jonas had a panic attack. His anti-socialness showed its head, making him unable to speak. But, well, he wasn’t an average kid anyway, so he was able to wheeze out something, “Just log out and then log in, that way you will find yourself in the village.” 

He said in such a low voice that not even a person with the best hearing ability could have heard him. Well, it can’t be helped. 

“Eh! Really?” but the lady seems to hear it clearly. She started to fumble around in empty space, even though she was surrounded by a bunch of wolves. Seconds later, she looked at Jonas happily, only to find him facing the bigger wolf alone while holding a broken sword, “Thank you for helping me. Also, you, too, do the same. That big wolf looks powerful, you should retreat too. I will remember this help and will help you when you are in need. Remember, my in-game id is FlowerDew44. You must definitely send me a request.” After that, she crumpled on the floor like the two males behind her. 

‘Eh! So that’s how we look after logging out at a place other than Newbie Village, huh!’ it Jonas’ first time seeing this, so he was momentarily distracted, allowing the bigger wolf to slash him in the torso. 

[-50]

“First Aid,” Jonas called out the skill the moment the monster’s attack landed on him. Then he rolled out and then jumped back a few times. 5 seconds later, he was back in full health at the cost of 10 MP. 

Now that he received a strike from it, which means he had finally touched it physically, he could now see its level and HP bar. 

[Lv 9 Elite Wolf]

[HP: 500/500]

“500, huh! That means 10 strikes… gotta make each one count then.” With an excited gleam, Jonas activated auto-locking and player assist system, to fight with the boss. Player assist system was a special service provided by the system to every player, where they can move the body of their character in a very predefined attack pattern. This system was mostly used by players following the warrior path during their earlier game periods. Later, after getting the hang of it, they no longer need to follow the system’s arrangements and instead create their own set of moves. 

Also, using player assist system would consume 0 stamina, while using one’s own style would consume stamina according to the complexity of the movesets. After a little research about why he didn’t get tired even though he swung around a 2kg sword, Jonas was able to figure out the reason to be this very player assist system. This player assist system was specially designed for disables like him, who couldn’t increase their stamina like others. 

The player-assist system for a sword had five moves in total, swing from left to right and right to left, then from top to bottom and bottom to top, and finally a stab. To others, it may look bland and restrictive, but to players like Jonas, this was a way-out to their penalty.