CHAPTER 6

“This is so not fair, I didn’t receive any EXP!!”  Jonas whined for a while after the monster’s death. He invested so much effort but didn’t get the exp at all; if he had received EXP, his own level might have shot all the way to 10 in an instant. 

Then he let out a sigh before looking at the corpse of the monkey, “at least the corpse didn’t disappear. Let’s see if I can get any rare or epic materials from it… hehe!” 

First, he grabbed the rusted, broken sword of the monkey and inspected it. 

[Rusted sword]

[Rank: Common]

[Weight: 3 kg] [DUR: 60]

[ATK: 50]

[Remark: A sword held by level 24 Warrior Baboon. Due to not been taken cared for many years, it had lost its brilliance as well as edge. The sword has also been chipped all over, just a shadow of its former self.

What do you expect of a monkey, huh!]

“Nice, well, it will be helpful until I get myself a good weapon. Even so, its stat is better than those beginner weapons given when a player goes to kill the monster.” Jonas mumbled as he inspected the sword a little closer. The beginner weapons, given to the players by the system before they hit level 10 and chose a path, was way worse than what he held currently. Those weapons only had an ATK of 5 to 9, and the durability was also 10 or 15. 

In comparison, this rusted item had overwhelming durability of 60, which means he can swing it for as long as 60 days without needing to change the weapon, given, he didn’t level up to outgrow the sword. 

In this game, each item had a set of durability, but, unlike other games before it where durability decreases, the more one uses it, the durability of the items decreases 1 point a day in this game. So if a person gets equipment with 100 durabilities, he can swing that sword for 100 days without needing to worry about breaking the sword. Of course, if that person had to wait to repair their sword until his durability reaches a single digit, the cost of repair would be astronomical. That’s why the players would often repair their items every day. That way, they can minimize their cost of repair to a bare minimum. 

Players were gifted with 9 inventory spaces upon their login; hence, Jonas stored the sword inside without equipping it. Then he tremblingly put his hands on the corpse of Warrior baboon and whispered, “Oh god! Bless me with some luck. Gulp! Dismantle!” 

[Dismantle Success.]

[you have obtained Warrior baboon Bones x9][Common]

[You have obtained Warrior baboon Blood x3 lit][Common]

[Flexible Baboon Tendons x2][Rare]

[Warrior baboon Magic Stone x1][Rare]

[You have gained 10,000 PPs]

“Thank god.” Jonas wiped virtual sweat from his brows before looking at his haul, “two common and two rare, a pretty good haul. The market price of these items should exceed 10,000 gold coins together.” He made a calculation in his head. Despite the game being running for more than a year, the [Rare] or even [Common] monster drop materials were still at the peak of their price. Especially materials that could be used for Blacksmithing and Apothecary jobs. 

All the items he obtained from the body were useful for those two classes. If he sells through a private channel, he can get more money than the market listed price. Thanks to the game’s amazing popularity, the current rate of in-game currency and the real currency was at a ratio of 5:1. That is, every five gold coins inside the game were comparable to 1 dollar in real currency. Now he had 10,500 gold coins, which would convert to 2,500 dollars. That much money, while a drop in the bucket of the current era’s average monthly income, was still enough to afford all his regular medicines. 

“And it's only the first day… if this continues, sooner or later, I can also contribute to the home and help sister alleviate some burdens off her shoulders.” Jonas thought of her sister, who was the only one to take care of him, who worked day and night so that they could live a relatively normal life. 

But anyway, to survive in this game, especially as a lifestyle class player, these gold coins were absolute. To get more and more PP, players would use higher-grade materials, which in turn would cost astronomical to purchase. Take his skill, Dismantling, for example. Normally, once the player obtained this skill, they would use it on monsters at least 10 levels higher than their level to gain more PP and level up quicker. As such, to purchase these monsters’ with full-body intact, the price was entire depend on the one who hunted it. If not used against monsters, rather on items, the cost multiplies several folds. 

Not everyone has the superhuman patience like Jonas after all, to use dismantle on the ground itself for a whole night. In this way, while others spent thousands of gold coins to reach level 5, he had done it for free. 

Jonas knew the real challenge would begin from now on, to level up to 6, he needs to collect 100,000 PPs. Thanks to dismantling success on this monster, he gained 10k PPs, but he still needs ten times the PP to level up. Which would mean he needs to hunt 10 or more such monsters… which wasn’t practical for the current him. In fact, to receive at least such amount of PPs, the level gap must be more than 20 between him and the target. 

“Sigh! That’s why lifestyle classes weren’t as popular as the rest. Sooner or later, money is required to go further, unlike others.” Shaking his head, Jonas continued walking towards the root of the village. 

He knew he was lucked when facing this baboon and even managing to kill it with such shoddy tactics, no doubt luck was involved. But, such luck wouldn’t shine upon him again and again, and if he missteps even a little, death was imminent. But… wasn’t that’s what he wanted in the first place? 

“I hope another monster appears to squash me to a paste so that I can save these 3 hours of walking time. Sigh!” to his luck, he encountered a wolf just after a little walking. The wolf, unlike normal wolf, was pitch black with red lines all over its fur. One of its eyes was black while the other was red, like a drop of blood. 

[Corrupted Black Wolf Lv 32]

‘This monster was even more powerful than the last, no wonder this forest was called Forest of Despair for newbie players.’ Jonas thought before flashing a smile at the wolf, “Come on, kill me.” 

Suddenly the wolf started to emit red aura from its body like fire. The markings of on its body glowed brighter and brighter. Staring at him, it left out a loud howl. 

[You are affected by Wolf’s Howl Debuff and fell into the fear state. All stats decreased by 50%, SPD decreased by 100%]

“Sigh! Just kill me already,, will ya… no need to apply a debuff now.” Just after he finished speaking, his vision went dark. He didn’t even manage to see from where the wolf came, and just like that, he found himself standing at the gate of entrance. 

“Ohh! I am back!!” as soon as he appeared, a man wearing full-body plate armor noticed him and shouted, “The kid’s back in town. Those who betted on his not returning today all lost.” 

“What? Really? Show me the footage of him in the town immediately.” 

“Damn! There goes my hard-earned money, ah!” 

Moans and groans could be heard from his background, which made him a little interested, but due to his lack of convocation for a year, he couldn’t manage to accumulate the courage to join them and as such left for the other entrance of the village. 

Its time for him to receive his Human Race bonus skill or item of his choice.

To receive such, he had to meet with an old man named Luka, who owned Boiler Poultry. His feeding field would always be attacked by a group of wild dogs who would kill his precious chicks. He would give out the quest to kill those dogs and to do so he would offer items or skills. That’s how the racial bonus item or skill could be obtained in this game.