CHAPTER 3

The Hall-of-fame did attract attention as it was a server-wide announcement in all over the world, making the poor kid a laughing stock to everyone. Fortunately, the one involved didn’t know it yet, or else he would have harbored suicidal thoughts. 

Jonas, after having all his stats increased by 5, had become a little stronger from the past… but his progress was no different, and the number of times he died didn’t go down just because of that. Even, so his ‘hard work’ of dying, again and again, had bored fruit as he was able to perfectly map the forest which had given and still giving countless player nightmares. 

“Shit… I don’t have much time…” muttering for the umpteenth time, Jonas once again dove into the forest through the gate. 

“There he goes again, ora, bets are open now… 5 gold coin says he will return in 5 minutes.” 

“10 says it wouldn’t even be 5 minutes,” 

“Me too, 5 gold coins to death within 5 minutes.” 

Betting started between the players the moment they saw Jonas running off again. Even though no one cares how others play the game; when someone doing something repeatedly and even achieved a record for it, people would gather eventually. Jonas’ actions were so grand from the very first day that it had gathered a crowd of gamblers. These guys were betting on how first he would die, and its already the fifth round of betting. 

Unknown to this, Jonas was running off once again. He had already mapped every nook and cranny of the first few miles leading from the Newbie Village gate. The process just ended when he died just before. There’s no way he was dying again… at least for the next few miles. He had that much confidence in himself. 

Taking calculated steps, avoiding monsters that could use their very bodies as a trap, and using the map on his vision to its maximum, he safely passed through the few miles he had mapped with his arduous effort of death countless times. Half an hour was all it took for him to reach that place, and he stood behind a huge rock that he had previously confirmed the absence of monsters. 

“I have reached the limit of my mapping. According to the coordinates, I still have 5 miles to go meaning twice as much as I have traveled thus far. Time remaining is 19 hours… will I even be able to do it? No, more importantly, will my patience hold out before I even complete this task?” Jonas had some self-doubts, which were obvious considering the risk he was in comparison to his level and strength. 

“I bet no one has gone through such an insane quest on the very first day of their logging in… why I am always so unlucky? Is that 15 luck is just a decoration?” grumbling to himself, he steeled his resolve and stepped out of the rock… only to come face to face with a huge one-eyed, red monster with a horn on its forehead. It was holding an iron mace as its weapon and wearing animal skin around its waist to cover its modesty. 

It’s an Ogre.

“Ah! I have led a good life.” Jonas lost all will to fight the moment he saw it, not out of fear but out of sheer helplessness. An ogre was a monster of which even the lowest level one was Lv 54, which was way far above his league currently. It's especially known for its sturdy defense and its passive ability to heal itself back to health if not stroke within 5 seconds of previous. 

Fairly annoying opponent to those who were below level 70 and a death god to those who were below 50. 

[Roar!!] 

The AI was designed as such, the moment an enemy monster spots a player or an NPC for that matter, they would first start with a roar. After roar, they would initiate the attack. Until and unless a monster screams, the player can be sure that they were not yet discovered by the monster. It was a hidden feature of the game which was accidentally revealed the 3rd month after the game was revealed. 

Everyone thought it was a bug and thus assumed it would have been resolved, but no official announcement was published regarding this matter, and the thing was still ongoing. Only in the fifth month of the game launching, a plater named Bipedal revealed that it was actually a hidden feature of the game, which was unofficially named as [Area of Influence]. That player had given a complex-sounding speech that day, but in a nutshell, it was like the sensory limit of a predator. For example, the smell tracking ability of a tiger that was after its prey.

So, unless the player entered the AoI(area of influence), they wouldn’t be attacked by the monster even if they try to attack with any long-range weapons or skills or magic. 

Such things weren’t applicable here as Jonas was direct in front of the monster, staring at it in the eye. Sighing while expecting it to attack at any time, he mumbled, “And now I have to start from the beginning once again… ah, there goes my half an hour's worth of time. I wish Corpse Run were available to a Jobless player as well…” 

Corpse Run, a fairly familiar name in all MMORPG. When a player dies, their body will remain on the spot while their soul(a translucent version of their avatar) would respawn at the nearest Respawning point, after which they would have to run all the way to their body for them to reawaken their character. 

This game also had a corpse run function, but that was only applicable after the player reaches level 10 and achieves a job. Before that, they will only reincarnate in the Newbie Village with their real bodies. And this exact function made Jonas annoyed. 

Just as the Ogre was about to squash him to a paste with the mace, a very thin arrow came from the cover of a tree and pierced through its head. The monster swayed before falling back and dissolving to pixels, a common occurrence when a monster dies in this game. 

“Who?” as it was too sudden, Jonas was lost for words. 

After the bushes parted, a figure approached him. The figure was completely shrouded in tree-leaves camouflage, which was so thick that Jonas couldn’t make out whether the person was a human or other race NPC. It was not a player as he could see an [????] above the character, which usually happens when a player encounters an NPC of whose name they didn’t know yet. 

“Who are you, young man? To come to such a dangerous forest despite having no fighting power? Aren’t you courageous!” the voice was definitely that of an elderly female, making Jonas realize that he was dealing with a female NPC. 

“Ah! I can’t help it. I am in a quest to deliver something to a person that lives just beyond this forest.” Sounding a little desperate, Jonas said these. There was a reason for that too, the appearance of this NPC was so sudden and generally when NPCs, especially strong ones, appear so suddenly without being hostile, 80% of time it was due to the quest a player was doing. Thinking of such, Jonas threw the bait. 

“Hm! Deliver something? Don’t tell me it was that bastard Terka who sent you.” The NPC growled out with a lot of annoyance, making Jonas smile in satisfaction while thinking ‘Bingo!’ 

“AH! You know, Terka, that old man? He said he couldn’t be there so, I have to fill in for him as he had given me these clothes.” 

“That bastard! I should have known his cowardly nature… sigh!! Even to make you, a weak little boy, to do things… he really a shameless guy.” 

Jonas instantly received 1000 damage to his heart at the mention of being weak, but since it was true, he couldn't retort and instead gritted his teeth, channeling all his hatred towards Terka. 

“kid, follow me. I will take you to the person you suppose to give that parcel to. This part of the forest is especially very dangerous, so don’t get separated from me.” Saying so, the NPC started walking while Jonas followed her silently. 

The remaining journey took one hour, and the NPC initiated no further talk. Also, while following her from behind, Jonas miraculously didn’t saw a single monster in his path. At the same time, his map was also expanding, soon he could complete map out this whole forest. When he finally approached a clearing with only a single thatched hut, the lady stopped. 

“The person you should meet is inside the hut. Go in, kid, while I make something for you to eat. You must have been suffered a lot, managing to reach that point from the village.” After that, NPC vanished behind the hut, leaving Jonas alone at the front door of the hut. 

Shaking his head, Jonas knocked on the door, thrice before saying, “I am coming in!” 

“Who is this?” a very immature voice ran in his ears, in front of him was a small boy wearing traditional peasant garb was sitting on his bead while playing with a bamboo flute. The unique thing was that the boy, even though knowing someone entered the house, wasn’t looking at him, rather through him… he was blind.