CHAPTER 7

“These damn dogs are eating my chicks every day. Young traveler, can you get rid of it for me? Don’t worry, I will make it worth your while; for each dog kill, I will offer you 2 silver coins, what do you say?”  

[Ding! Quest 004: Helping Luka]

[Luka, the old man is at his wit's end due to the wild dogs attacking and killing his source of income, the Saffire Chickens. He is offering you 2 silver coins(100 silver coins = 1 gold coin) for each dog you kill. Will you accept the quest?]

[+10 EXP]

[Yes/NO]

“Alright.” Jonas lightly clicked on the ‘yes’ of the floating window. He didn’t mind the money, as the more, the better. 

[You have accepted the quest!]

“Ohh, thank you, young traveler. These dogs are really hateful, to torture an old man like me. Come to my shade, I will give you a weapon to fight them off, it's really dangerous to fight them barehanded.” 

No need to go to the so-called shade as the window appeared then and there, 

[Chose a weapon of choice.] 

- Short Sword

- Bow & Quiver

- Knife

Jonas clicked on the short sword to see its properties. 

[Short Sword][Common]

[ATK: 5]

“as expected, it’s bad. The sword I got from the baboon was way better than this. Well, considering it’s a beginner's weapon, I think it alright.” Thinking of such, Jonas clicked on the bow. 

[Bow][Comon]

[ATK: 2][RNG: 9]

[Quiver][Common]

[Holds 10 arrows. Automatically replenishes after 10 seconds once emptied.] 

“Bow, it is then.” Jonas clicked on the set as a prompt appeared. 

[You have selected bow and quiver as your beginner’s weapon. Continue?]

“Yes, of course.” 

[Chose a beginner’s Ability]

- First Aid

- Concentration 

- Power Boost

“Hmm, First Aid, it's decided even before I have started playing the game.” 

[Go with First Aid?] 

“Yes,” Jonas confirmed the prompt as it vanished. Then the empty space below his ability panel lit up as Minor Heal appeared there.

[Minor Heal][Lv 1](Maxed)

[At the cost of 5 MP, the player can regain 10 HP/sec for 3 seconds]

“Good!” after reading about the skill description, Jonas smiled satisfyingly. Although he wasn’t pursuing the path of a priest/healer, Jonas knew that due to his lack of stamina, he would get hurt a lot. As such, more than getting himself an ability to boost his fighting powers, he got himself a heal-type ability. Besides, these HP potions were expensive as hell. Those black-hearted players would charge each bottle a staggering price of 50 silver coins. 

Also, until he encounters a level 10+ enemy like that baboon, the monsters below 10 at most can deal up to 50 ATK per strike. He can survive until hitting level 10. In reality, Jonas was actually underestimating himself. He was not taking into account the staggering amount of stats that increased due to level upping his life skills. Forget about a healing skill, even if he just goes and stand in the middle of these dog monster’s rampage, they couldn’t get past his DEF, let alone actually hurt him. 

Even if they do get past his DEF, with attacking power of 4, it will take them forever to deplete his 240 HP. In a way, for these beginner monsters, Jonas was like an invulnerable opponent that they couldn’t harm even if they died and reincarnate again. 

Equipped with the bow and healing ability, Jonas set sail to get rid of the dogs. Although it wasn’t mentioned, Jonas needs to kill at least 10 dogs before that Luka end the quest. Thankfully, these dogs had an infinite spawn rate. Even with thousands of players camping in there, everyone would get their chance. 

As soon as he reached there, 4 dogs entered his RNG. Knocking the arrow into the bow, he pulled the string. At that time, his 25 STR came in handy, making this action a walk in the park. As soon as he pulled the bow, a ‘+’ appeared in his vision, marking the two dogs. After fixing the target into one, he let loose the arrow. 

With the assistance of the system, the arrow fired as if sent by a seasoned archer. It perfectly penetrated the dog’s forehead, and it died. A second after, the other one followed in its footsteps. 

[You have killed a wild dog, gained 5 EXP]

[You have killed a wild dog, gained 5 EXP]

“This is weird! Why I am not tired?” Jonas mumbled as he observed his own body. Pulling the bow, and then firing, no matter how easy it felt, he should have at least felt something if not tired. Hell, even his breathing pattern had no change… this was weird, to say the least. 

Soon two more spawned at the same place those two died, so Jonas put these thoughts at the back of his mind and aimed his bow towards them once again. Like this, he got rid of 10 dogs, and thus a sweet-sounding bell went off in his head. 

[Congratulations!! You have leveled up]

[Your character has become level 1. You have received 5 APs]

“Wow! I have finally become level 1. Cool!!” Jonas felt a sense of accomplishment. Then he hurried off to Luka to finish off the quest. 

“Oh! You have killed these damn dogs? Thank you, traveler, here, your share of the money!” 

[Ding! You have completed Quest 004: Helping Luka]

[+10 EXP][+20 silver coins]

After finishing the quest, Jonas hurried off to the forest to the east side of the village. The monsters there were between level 5 to level 15. A very good spot to level up. Also, until he reaches level 10, no more quests would be assigned to him by the system. So, from henceforth, leveling up was the sole path to follow. 

After arriving at the mouth of the forest, Jonas strapped the bow back and held the sword that baboon dropped. He ignored all the monsters below 5 and directly hopped into those who were six or above. 

[Spotted Hyena][Lv 7]

[HP: 50]

His first target showed itself. The spotted hyena was a highly agile monster with relatively low attacking power considering its level. Jonas stood holding his sword forward, waiting for the monster to make its move. Seeing that its prey wasn’t moving, the hyena grunted and jumped at his neck, to bite it off. 

Its jump was too fast, and Jonas’ movement was too slow. As such, he missed the target while the hyena successfully attacked him. 

[-2]

But the damage it dealt was pitifully low. His DEF was 17, so adding that to the damage, this hyena had an attacking power of 19. To a normal player of his level, this monster would be absolutely horrifying. To Jonas, however, it was nothing. The monster was yet to lave his attack range, and using the system’s auto locking system, and player assist system, he swung the sword. It bisected the creature in half from middle. 

[You have killed a spotted hyena. +50 EXP]

[You have obtained 2 silver coins]

“Whew!” breathing out a mouthful of air, Jonas looked at himself in wonder. The sword was heavy, and to swing it, strength was needed, there should have been some stamina consumption. 

But…

He wasn’t tired at all! 

“How can this be? Is this a bug or something?” Jonas was feeling bewildered. No matter how much he researched the game, no matter how much he was experienced in playing such games, nothing came to his mind to explain this situation. The fact that he was swinging around a sword, although broken, was still 20 cm long and 2 cm thick and yet not getting tired… it's very puzzling. 

“Anyway, I will not think about this now. Dismantle!!” 

[Dismantling Failed, item will be destroyed. +50 PP]

“Sigh! Such bad luck!” 

After some time, he encountered a pack of 5 of these spotted hyenas around level 7 and 8. Using the sword with 50 ATK, he oneshot them all within a minute, raising his EXP bar by 90%. Repeating the same procedure, he used dismantling on them all and only succeeded twice. 

Those two times, he received 5 common leather pelts and a bunch of hyena bones, which were used for making something he didn’t know. The PP bar also filled a little due to using dismantling five times, with two successful attempts. 

It was after that, Jonas logged out of the game. His sister was about to return home.