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"That..is complete bullshit!" I yell in frustration looking at my stats menu. "I spent all night farming, and the only progress I have to show for it are a couple of drops, 500 Cor, a few new skills, and a couple of level ups in those skills. Not even a level up in my actual level, just an increase in percentage! It was so easy yesterday. What changed?!" I complain, slumping against a tree. "Well better head into town since the NPC should be awake by now." I mutter, straightening up and starting my walk into town.

It takes me awhile, but I make it into the village before the sun hits its peak. I wander around the town looking for the NPC that is supposed to hand out the «Secret Medicine of the Forest» quest. I spend the next thirty minutes asking directions to the NPC's house, when I finally get there. "Alright," I mutter out, "Let's get this show on the road."

"There was something very wrong with what that plant did to that poor rabbit." I mutter with a shiver as I walk out with a newly acquired sword. I look down at the sword and a screen pops up in front of me.

"Anneal Blade +0"

"A heirloom from an undescript NPC, asking for a deceptively easy drop from a plant monster."

It's a long sword that has a grey pommel that comes to a point, with a black wrapped two hand grip. With a straight cross guard that comes to a point and has two notches on the blade side of the guard. It's blade is a straight blade that has a dark grey, almost black, center and silver edges. At the base of the blade, where it meets the cross guard, it tapers inward and then outward again, before finally tapering inwards before meeting the cross guard.

After observing the blade, I remember that I was supposed to meet Don in the town. 'Wow, I completely forgot that I was supposed to meet my only friend in this world after we got separated by a group of intelligent goblins that were being led by a very overpowered goblin. That makes me a bad friend, doesn't it.' I think with a grimace. I look up at the moon that's halfway between the ground and being right uptop of me. I grimaced again at the time of 'day' it was.'That quest really shouldn't have taken me as long as it did.'

I start my search at the town, going from one hotel to another, but don't find him at any of the hotels. I continue my search by running around the forest surrounding the town, killing everything that comes my way in my panic looking for him. But sadly, don't find him anywhere nearby, again.

'God, I hope he's only moved on to another town and not dead." I desperately wish.

I spend the next week looking for him, running from town to town and searching every nook and cranny I can find. Searching every inch of ground between each town, killing every mob I come across, when I come across a rather disgusting scene.

'Your fucking me right?' I think in disgust as I look at what's happening before me. 'Are there really PKers already, with everything going on and not even a week in. And they're attacking a group of kids?!' I question as the duo of PKers stalk forward, towards a group of terrified children.

I dash forwards, throwing my left hand forward, throwing the blade out of the way of the children, but damaging myself in the process. I slash my sword horizontally, killing the player. The deceased PKer's friend dashes to my left and performs a Horizontal Sword Art, cutting into my side, taking almost all of my health and leaving only a sliver left. I panic, performing a Sharp Nail Sword Art skill, killing the last PK'er.

I grab my side as I slump to the ground with a pain filled grunt. I open my inventory with a swipe as I hear a series of tiny footsteps running towards me. I turn my head in their direction as I consume a health potion bringing my health from 3% up to 18%. I see the group of little kids run up to me, but stop a few feet away. "Are you all of you alright?" I question as I stand up with a wince, my side still hurting from the slash by the PKer. I take a step towards them, But the group takes multiple steps back. I stop after the first step and wait for them to respond. We stand in silence for a couple of minutes. The group mutters a quiet 'thank you' before running off into the forest around us. But before they're completely out of sight I yell out, " It'd probably be safer in the Town of Beginning for the first couple of floors, or until there are designated mob farming areas that are monitored!"

I take a deep breath to catch my breath, before opening my inventory to see what I gained from the PKers. 'So, I got a couple thousand Col, 3 small health potions, a couple sets of trash gear, and.. Oh a 25 throwing knives, cool.' I stand up from where I was sitting against the tree, looking up at the sky as I do so. "Ah, so it's around noon huh?" I mutter out, before I start my jog, resuming the search for my friend.

I stand up from crouching over the exploding corpse of a wolf. I swipe down with my left hand checking the date.

"December 4nd, 2022, 10:45"

I close the window while reminiscing over the couple of weeks since I saved the group of kids from the PK duo. I was able to get the Anneal Blade to +5, which is the best I could do while being stuck on the first floor. A few days ago, I passed through Tolbana, overhearing a meeting a group of high level players were having about the first floor boss Illfang. I was in the city because I heard that the first floor boss labrinth was found, and I needed the newest guide book that stated where it could be found.

'Though,' I think as I turn to an over sized stone door, 'I don't remember it being on this side of the floor the last time I played.' I finish as I start walking over to the door, opening it once I've reached it. "Maybe Don'll be there." I mutter darkly. I wasn't able to find him in the weeks since I've started my search.

As the door fully opens I catch sight of a fat, red koldbold. "So that's the boss." I mutter trying to keep quiet. But he seems to notice me anyways the moment I walk into the room. 'Must be a feature that you can't sneak into a boss room.' I conclude mentally as a level 15 Illfang spawns three level 8 minions that charge me. "Damn no Don either, I'll have to be more careful then what I would have prefered." I mutter as I brandish my blade to deflect the swing of one of the sentinels, stunning it as I finnish it off with a horizontal slash of my sword.

I hop backwards, out of the way of an overhead swing from the second sentinel and side step out of the way of the swing from the third one. I dash towards the third sentinel performing the Sword Art Slant, cutting into its chest and killing it. I bring up my sword to deflect the swing from the second sentinel, and roll to the side, out of the way of Illfang's overhead swing from his axe. 'Alright, the boss is involved now, that's cool.' I assume, planning my next series of attacks with that in mind. I perform a Sonic Leap, attacking the second sentinel and finishing it off. I roll forwards between the bosses legs, out of the way of his horizontal swing, stabbing his calf as I jump back up. He stumbles forward, allowing me to perform a Vertical Slash before I hop backwards, out of range of a swing backwards from his axe. I strafe back to his front while he stands backup. I perform another Sonic Leap, when he blocks it with his shield, stunning me long enough for him to perform a horizontal swing across my chest, taking a chunk of health and throwing me back and causing me to roll as I hit the ground. I groan as I stumble back to my feet. "Damn, got careless." I mutter out as I try and down a health potion, but have to roll to the side to avoid another swing of Illfang's axe. I jump back to my feet with a stumble, when I realize that I'm missing my sword. "How the hell did I lose my sword!?" I question. "It's a fucking game, is that even possible!?" I panic as I frantically swing my head around the area, trying to locate the dropped equipment.

I manage to spot it before I have to dodge another swing from the boss. I pull a throwing knife off of my belt, holding it in a reverse grip. "Time to do a poor reenactment of Naruto." I say as I block another swing from the boss, sending me stumbling back after a sliver of my health is taken off, leaving my health bar in the middle of yellow. "This is going to suck massively." I mutter as I start sprinting towards my sword, which now lies on the complete opposite side of the room. "How the hell did it get that far since I last spotted it?!" I question, confused.

I roll to the side to dodge another downward swing from the boss, stabbing it with the improvised dagger in my hand, depleting it of its first health bar. It lets out a roar, puffing its chest out as it summons three level 9 sentinels this time. As It was summoning it's minions, I broke into a dead sprint, in a desperate attempt to get to my sword. I make it halfway there before I have to dive forwards to avoid a swing from one of the minions. 'How the hell is it faster than me?!' I question in panic. 'I have 20 in my Agility?!'

I jump to my feet in time to avoid a downward swing of its sword. I whip around, performing a Horizontal Sword Art, frantically trying to finish it off so I can get to my sword. I twirl around the first sentinel, cutting it across it's throat, killing it as I do so. I duck down under a horizontal swing from the second sentinel, when I get knocked in the side trying to contort my body to avoid the swing from the third sentinel. I launch into the third sentinel using my left foot to propel me. I stab the blade into the third sentinel, killing it.I kick out behind me, launching the second sentinel away from my and into a heap a couple of feet away from me. I continue my dash towards my sword, when I have to roll onto it to avoid the swing from Illfang. I pick up my sword in time to turn the overhead swing of the second sentinel into a blade lock. I look across it's shoulder and widen my eyes as I allow the sentinel to over power me, forcing me down, and allowing me to kick it into the oncoming swing of Illfang's axe. The sentinel dies the moment the axe connects with its side, exploding in a shower of blue shards, observing Illfang's vision. When the shower ends the boss leans forwards with a swing of it's axe, only to hit nothing. It straightens up, confused, when I pop up behind it and perform a Vorpal Strike, dealing a critical hit from it being a sneak attack, dropping it into its third bar of health as it lets out a roar.

I dash backwards, downing enough potions to barely raise me back into green, as I contemplate my next move. "Okay," I mutter, "Illfang, is going to pull out a talwar and is going to summon another three sentinels, and if the last six are any indication, these three are goin to be level 10. Only a couple of levels below me. Shit, this isn't looking good." I conclude, when I feel something move down my side. I slap the area where I feel the sensation and wince in pain. I look down in confusion and see a gash in my side dripping blood.

"What the hell?!" I whisper. But before I can contemplate the impossibility that is me bleeding, I hear charging coming from in front of me. I whip my head up and see Illfang and his posse of level 10 sentinels coming at me. But something seems wrong. The weapon Illfang is holding is a nodachi and not a talwar. It has too skinny of a blade to be talwar, and the only other weapon that is that proportionally that long and is still curved can be a nodachi.

I dash to my left, avoiding the slash from the first sentinel, and hop backwards to dodge the upper cut slice from the second, and I dash forward, performing a slash in an upward angle, dropping the thirds health to half. I roll to the right dodging the boss and swing around to cut at him, taking a couple of percent off of his final health bar. I dash to the left and then hop backwards avoiding the attacks of the third and first sentinel. I roll to my right, avoiding the second sentinel's horizontal slash. I leap forwards out of the roll, swinging in an upward motion, finishing off the third sentinel. I roll again to avoid the bosses charge, sticking my foot out to try and trip him. But the boss jumps over my foot and slides to a stop a couple of yards on the other side of it. I swing around catching the first sentinel in the chest as it attempts to 'sneak' attack me, taking a good chunk of it's health, leaving it with only a sliver and a bleeding effect. I leap to the side to avoid the second sentinel and then another leap forward to avoid the boss. I turn around as I rip a throwing knife from my belt, hitting the first sentinel and killing it. I go to grab another one, but I get hit from behind, causing me to fly forwards and into the second sentinel, falling into a pile of flailing limbs. I rip a knife from my belt and start stabbing aimlessly at the remaining sentinel, eventually killing out of pure luck.

I stumble to my feet downing another potion as I do so. I turn around, sloppy bringing my sword up to block the bosses swing, taking a sliver of health off of my health bar, leaving me in the middle of yellow. I turn to the side letting the nodachi slide off of my blade and into the ground getting stuck in it. I lunge forward, stabbing my sword into its side. I use my sword as a pivot point and start climbing it's back. I rip my sword out as I reach it's head and start stabbing it's neck and head as fast as I can.

Eventually the boss topples forward and hits the ground with a slam, exploding in a shower of white lights and blue shards. I wearily stand up, hold my side as I do so. I drop my left hand, opening my inventory and start scrolling, looking for any health potions I have left.

When I start drinking a health potion that was hidden away in the inventory, I hear footsteps fast approaching me from behind. I choke on the potion as I fall to the side, letting a figure fly by me. I fumble with my sword trying to bring it up, ready to defend myself, when I hear someone out, "Woh, woh. Chill dude, we're not here to hurt you." behind me. I turn around to see a stout figure make its way over to me. As the figure gets closer, the details of the figure become clear, and clearer. "Hey man, We're not here to hurt, we just want to know what happened here, and if you had anything to do with it. Maybe find out why your covered in what looks like blood." The figure says as it gets even closer to me. When it's within a few feet from me, I notice who it is.

"Don? Is that you?"