Chapter 1

August 14th, 2024

I slowly drew the dull grey blade from my belt, hearing the screech of the monster in front of me. It was humanoid in form, with bright green scales and a long snout at the front of its face. In its three claws, it held a wooden club. Most people referred to them as Lizardmen, even though they were called 'Scaly Soldier' in this world.

It was only a level 28 enemy, far below my own of level 43. But it was still always a risk being alone this far into a dungeon and alone. I had hoped I would see someone else by now, but it seemed everyone else had been wanting to take on the higher level dungeon.

It raised the club up high. I gripped my sword with both hands and swung it with all my might at the exposed stomach of the creature. There was very little resistance as my blade cut straight through, leaving behind a red mark. Above the Lizardman's head sat a small bar, which decreased to just under halfway from the one strike.

The Lizardman turned to face me, whipping around the club in an arc that was aimed at chest height. It slammed into my back, my feet leaving the ground and my face slamming against the wall. My eyes shut instinctively, even though the only pain I felt was a slight numbing sensation on the right side of my face. I gripped a brick that was partially out of the wall to prevent myself from collapsing to the ground. Behind me, I could hear the scream of victory that signalled another attack incoming. I still hadn't recovered from the first, let alone prepared for a second.

It's okay, I'm high enough where the attack won't kill me.

"You always run off on your own, don't you?"

A shadow appeared between me and the Lizardman. Sparks flew as the club smashed against a tall shield. The person behind it pushed back, making the creature retreat a few steps. That gave me the time I needed to recover and dart around the new arrival, slashing at the Lizardman. Another red mark was drawn from its shoulder to its hip. It stuttered slightly before falling backwards, dead to the world.

I took a deep breath and sighed. "You know I could've taken that hit right?"

The person behind the shield chuckled as he lifted it up, placing it on his back. "Yeah, but knowing you, you forgot to grab Health Stones back at town and have none right now." I winced, knowing fully well that he was right. "Lucky for you, I'm here." He reached into a pouch at his side and pulled out a silver stone with a green leaf symbol on the top, throwing it over to me.

"Thanks." I caught it, slowly increasing the pressure I gripped it with before the stone crumbled in my palm. A bright green mist began to surround me, and the numb feeling in my cheek was gone.

The shielder was someone I had known for a long time. In this world, he was called Behemoth, but I knew him as Leon. His avatar wasn't too much different from how he looked in real life, his black hair still covering his right eye slightly with how long and unkept it was. He had a rather muscular form, covered by a metal chestplate.

"I'm surprised to see you down here. I thought you were helping those new players learn the ropes." I examined the edge of my sword, disappointed at how dull it was getting. I sheathed it, making a mental note to sharpen it when I got back to town.

Leon shrugged. "Once I saw you were in a dungeon, I knew you'd probably need some sort of help. With your track record of finding groups to team up with…" I let out a deep sigh, knowing full well he was right. "So, want to head back? Or continue on?"

I looked down the corridor. This dungeon hadn't been fully mapped out yet by anyone, and even if I was much higher level than the creatures that spawned here, if I met too many at once, my level advantage meant nothing. And I had no idea how much further the boss room would be.

And knowing Leon, he would follow me down if I went any further just to make sure I was alright, which would prevent him from doing whatever he needed to do.

"Let's go back." He nodded, a smile of relief on his face.

We walked back together through the stone corridors. Enemy spawns reset after an hour, and I had come in at the strike of 3:00 PM. It was currently 3:49 PM according to the in game timer, which gave us eleven minutes to get out before having to deal with more of these Lizardmen and other creatures that roamed these halls. An easy task, as I hadn't actually gone in very far, it just took a while to get there because I was fighting alone. If I had been in a group, we'd be in the boss room by now easily. I was kind of disappointed that I couldn't find the boss room on my own, but it wasn't like I could take it on while alone.

"So how close are we then?" I asked, knowing he'd have more up to date information than me.

Leon shook his head. "No other Dungeons have been cleared since you left. Hopefully by the time we get back to the City, we might be one more down."

We turned a corner and the bright sunshine of the outside peaked from the top of a ruined staircase. I let Leon go first, being careful not to step on any loose steps, knowing too well how much it hurt when you fell down them. The musty smell of the dungeon instantly disappeared as we broke from the darkness into the sunshine.

The green fields greeted my eyes as I stood up straight on the stone that surrounded the Dungeon entrance. The fields were alive with other people fighting low levelled 'Slimes' and 'Rabid Rabbits'. The smell of grass was refreshing after being in the Dungeon for nearly an hour. A dirt path sat at the edge of the stone, leading down to a cobblestone road that my eyes followed to the City of Many Stories.

This was The Land Beyond, a virtual game environment.

"You know you gawk at this every time you see this place right?" Leon grinned as he lightly punched me on the shoulder.

I rolled my eyes. "Like you never do."

He chuckled to himself. "Fair enough. Come on, we should start heading back to the City. It's not worth using a Teleport Stone."

I nodded, understanding the need to not put unnecessary dents in our money pouches. Heck, I had spent all day getting monster drops and materials, and one Teleport Stone would eat into a quarter of everything I had gathered. Later on in the game, it might be easier to acquire Silver, the currency of this world, but until then, we had to be careful with our money.

I followed Leon down the grassy bank, onto the cobblestone road. All the enemies out here were below level 5 with the occasional field boss hitting level 10, and they only approached the top end of that once you got to the border of this area called the Plains of Evermore. Field monsters were supposed to allow you to ease into the game at a casual pace, getting you ready to tackle the Dungeons, which sported higher levelled enemies and bosses. It was kind of frustrating, having to go into a Dungeon to gain experience at my level, but it also meant we could walk through the area without fear of dying and losing our Silver.

"Have people found the final Dungeon yet anyway?" I stretched my arms towards the sky.

Leon shook his head. "Of course, there's the usual ridiculous rumours. Someone suggested that you have to go to an area filled with rabbits and bunny hop a hundred times."

"Really?"

"You know how absolutely silly some of the puzzles in these games can be."

I couldn't deny that, but this was the first large scale game of its kind released in the west. Of course, Japan was a few years ahead of everywhere else. But to hide one of the key parts of progressing in this game behind such a silly requirement would be dumb.

Leon chuckled to himself. "Besides, the worst part is that someone actually tried it."

"Of course they did…"

A yell came from our right. A 'Rabid Rabbit' had knocked a player flying across the grass, flinging dirt into the air. He got up, cursing at the monster as it kicked its hind legs into the ground, readying itself for another attack. From the looks of it, he was a new player, probably only joined the game today.

I knew exactly what was coming next.

Leon drew his shield from his back and moved in between the player and the rabbit, drawing his arm back before smashing it against the incoming attack. The creature squeaked as a red aura surrounded it, falling down on the grass and not moving.

"You okay?" Leon offered a hand to the fallen player.

The player attempted to spit on the ground, but the game wasn't programmed to render spit. "This is bullshit man. I swing my sword and it just misses." I smiled to myself, already knowing the problem.

Leon nodded. "Well, I would give you a few pointers, but right now, I don't have a weapon on me, only my shield." He looked over at me with a look that asked for my help.

I let out a small sigh before drawing my sword. "You better explain it all." I walked over to the 'Rabid Rabbit', the red aura flashing rapidly before breaking completely. It twitched its nose at me before preparing itself to launch at me.

Thank you for reading the first chapter.

I hope I peaked your interest at least a little with this story. It's definitely been a joy to write out this first chapter, introduce you to Leon, and show you a glimpse of this world. Next chapter will be a lot more focused on the mechanics of this world, especially combat. I showed it off, but didn't exactly explain how it works. Also, we might get back to the City, which means I get to explain the ultimate goal of the players inside this world.

Please, please, PLEASE review. I really want to know what you think of this chapter. After all, if this is going to be an officially published work, I want to know if I'm doing it right.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time though, Infinity awaits. I'll see you at the apex.