《1000-Hit KO》 To Be Too Good is a Sin! Ting! A sharp noise pierces the air as another bladewielder falls. "Tch. If only we had a Zhang class bladewielder this would go much smoother." grunted a short man as he picked up his canon and took aim. A fierce roar filled the air as the battle continues. -------------------------------------------------------- ===Lvl X- Demon Sovereign== Hp-? Att-? Def-? -------------------------------------------------------- This is the world of MobRingler, a MMORPG game known for it''s competitive guild raids. In this land, there are several mobs and numerous classes that one can achieve. Known for it''s high skill cap and quick gameplay, the game has risen in popularity despite only just being released 6 months ago. This, however, is not where our story starts. On the contrary, our hero is currently elsewhere. --------------- "FallingMoon takes the rear, he''s sneaking behind the enemy lines. Things aren''t looking good for team Dignitoss!" shouts an over zealous announcer, "What was that! Fak- I mean Nem what was that! Look at the moves, look at the play! Never before have we seen something of this level. Nem has singlehandedly won the game for team Dignitoss." A collective sigh ran through the audience as they started to mumble amongst themselves. "Che, that Nem is too good, he''s not giving anyone a chance to win." said ignorant observer A. "Yeah, I bet he can 5v1 if he wanted to." *Ping!* Team Dignitoss has defeated team Mid Duo Team. Please standby, fan meet ups will begin shortly. Due to certain circumstances player "Nem" will not take part in the meet ups. *Ping!* A group of people sneered as someone among them said, "Ohh? Has the champ become too great to meet up with the lowly fans now?" By now Nem has taken off his headphones and could hear everything the audience is saying. Refusing to comment, Nem gave the audience a look of indifference. ¡°I wonder why they¡¯re pulling me out.¡± Nem said in his heart. ¡°Coach why was I called out?¡± asked Nem ¡°The game founder wanted to talk to you privately.¡± ¡°Why? What would that old bastard want with me anyways?¡± Nem¡¯s coach had a conflicted look as he said, ¡°¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know either.¡± Just then, two burly men wearing all black walked into the room. The one of the left looked more like a thug than a professional and when one stares at his face, you can see an uncanny resemblance to a horse. The other man looked like he was the boss as the horse-man was following him closely. He was a tall African man who spoke in broken English. ¡°We¡¯re here to take Mr. Nem to the developer.¡± The two men walked up and dramatically dragged Nem, who obviously had numerous questions, away. Nem, who was struggling against his captures let out a stream of curses as he was forced down a dark hallway. ¡°Let go of me! I¡¯m not your nanny, I can walk on my ow-¡± ¡°The game developer is just behind this door Mr. Nem. Oh and for future reference, insult my nanny again and we¡¯ll see what happens to your hands that you¡¯re so proud of.¡± the man sneered. In the world of gamers the hands and wrists are everything. What one does with his or her fingers, how fast you can move and how accurately someone can hit the keys all add together into overall skills called mechanics. Due to the importance of these mechanics, a gamer¡¯s hands is equivalent to an artist¡¯s paintbrush in importance.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°What did he mean by ¡®future reference¡¯?¡± Nem said in his heart, ¡°Oh, well let¡¯s see why I¡¯m here.¡± Pushing aside all his questions, Nem scanned his surroundings. The room was bear and had no furniture besides a desk and a lonely chair. The chair slowly rotated around as a short man with a hairline that seemed to be receding faster than the polar ice caps was revealed. ¡°Enough with the matrix cliche geezer. Tell me why you¡¯re looking for me. I got gir--- *cough* I mean fans to meet.¡± Hhuu. The old man in the chair let out a sigh and responded with a serious tone ¡°You¡¯re really too arrogant Nem, or should I call you Ming Yu? You know, your ancestors were truly foolish. Brilliant? You? An arrogant boy who only knows how to play video games and fans? What fans? We both know that you hardly have any these days and with such a small group of gamers you really think a girls waiting for you?¡± (Ming means bright in China¡­ I think) ¡°Hey! I¡¯m fairly good looking you never kn-¡± ¡°Anyways, as for the reason I¡¯ve brought you here, you¡¯re too good at the game! I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve noticed but League of Legos is dying because of you. No one wants to go professional with a monster like you around.¡± ¡°What are you trying to say old man?¡± ¡°Leave. Never play professionally in League of Legos again, we simply can¡¯t afford to keep you around.¡± What little hair the old man had left waved in the air as he shook his head helplessly. ¡°Leave? That¡¯s ridiculous. You can¡¯t ban me from playing the game just for being good! You should be proud that I can play this game on this level! Even if I was to leave what do I do then? I hate to admit it but it¡¯s like you said you grass mud horse (Chinese pun for motherf--) I don¡¯t have any other jobs or skills than games!¡± ¡°Calm down you idiot. Hhuu, truly being too good at games is a sin! I may be old but I¡¯m not senile enough to think I can force you out. Instead, I have a deal for you. Have you heard of the new game MobRingler?¡± (If you haven¡¯t figured it out, Hhuu is what I imagine a sigh to sound like.) ¡°You mean that new game that¡¯s come out recently, that has a rapid growing fan base and rumored to be the best Multiplayer game of this epoch? By the way not sponsored by them. I¡¯ll admit this game is pretty competitive but there are no actual professional matches set by the company and no way to sustain myself off that game. What are you planning you old fogy.¡± Ming Yu said. A hair flew out of his head as the old man said, ¡°Settle down, if you get any more energetic you¡¯ll start losing hairs like me.¡± ¡°...¡± *Cough* ¡°Anyways, the developer of MobRingler is an old friend of mine and he¡¯s been telling me some interesting things. He¡¯s been wanting to make MobRingler a professional Esport and since the player base has passed 5 million, he¡¯s planning to make an official company funded MobRingler tournament. Of course, this news alone isn¡¯t really enough to make you qui--¡± ¡°Really! They¡¯re going to make it competitive? I wonder if there¡¯s any good players there. I guess LoL is getting pretty boring, to be honest I¡¯ve been considering switching games for a while no-¡± ¡°Damn you Ming Yu!¡± squealed the old man. He was shocked that someone like Ming Yu had zero passion for LoL considering the amount of time he¡¯s been playing the game. It should be known, that Ming Yu is a somewhat eccentric person. Although he¡¯s at the young age of 22, he¡¯s indisputably the #1 player in all the world, however, his popularity is actually the smallest amongst pros. Despite the lack of support, he¡¯s played in 6 tournaments over the course of 6 years and won 5 of them. He would have a perfect record if he didn¡¯t catch a cold on the 4th tournament, leaving his team by themselves. Without the hard carry of Ming Yu, team Dignitoss quickly lost during the finals at the hands of Ming Yu¡¯s long time rival, Takigawa. ¡°Although I don¡¯t mind moving to a new game, I refuse to do so without a good reason to old man¡± said Ming Yu arrogantly. ¡°Dammit. Usually, I would just ban an unpopular player like you, but suddenly having you leave the professional scene for no reason would raise questions.¡± said the old man obviously irritated by Ming Yu¡¯s lack of care. ¡° Hhuu, it¡¯s ok because I was going to offer you something anyways. As mentioned before, the developer is an old friend of mine and he¡¯s given me access to a character he¡¯s decided not to release. This account is unnamed, never used, and has this said character, which by the way is the only one available in the whole world!¡± ¡°Oh and by the way, don¡¯t worry about whether you can use this character in professional scenes or not, I¡¯ve already asked and the developer agreed on one condition: You have to enter with only a team of 3. By the way, Mobringler is a 9 person game meaning you¡¯ll obviously have the disadvantage.¡± Despite being an arrogant b****, Ming Yu wasn¡¯t a fool. After all, how could he be such an amazing player if he didn¡¯t have the brains to back it up. LoL seems mindless but one should know it requires constant analysis and great intuition to play. A character that was tested and removed from the game means one of two things. Either the character concept was bad or the character was too op. Although this was just speculation, but if the character was bad would the developer give it to his friend? It probably means the character is op which is why they limited teams with it to only 3 people. ¡°By the way, if you take this deal, we¡¯ll make lots of money thanks to new aspiring people that can join thanks to your retirement so I¡¯ll also add an extra service. The new tournament won¡¯t be announced for 3 months and even then it won¡¯t be officially held for a full 6! If you agree to retire from LoL, I¡¯ll give you this character, pay for living expenses for 6 months and even give you a body guard!¡± A shocked look flashed on Ming Yu¡¯s face. It should be known that 6 months of sustaining a player isn¡¯t anything big but the act itself makes the company lose a lot of face. It¡¯s basically acknowledging their support for Ming Yu as a company! And not only that but Ming Yu¡¯s being offered a bodyguard too. With all the hate Ming Yu receives for basically killing LoL¡¯s professional scene, there are several extremists itching to take action. Having a bodyguard guarantees his safety and even shows good faith by the company. This, combined with the temptation of a never before played, limited edition character was too much for Ming Yu to handle. Drooling a little, Ming Yu hurriedly said, ¡°Old man! The terms have been set. There¡¯s no backing down on your end, if you change your mind I¡¯m going to make sure to win the next 6 no 10 tournaments in a domineering manner! I¡¯ll run your company to the ground if you don¡¯t follow through with this!¡± The old man smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry I wouldn¡¯t dare. Now go home, the account, bodyguard, and money will be sent to you later.¡± ¡°Hhuu, as much as I hate to do this, my company¡¯s at stake here.¡± the old man shook his head emotionally, ¡°Hhuu, to force a company to act to this extent. Being too good at something is really a sin!¡± I Am Johnson! Many days passed as Ming Yu energetically waited for the old foggy to honor his deal. One can compare Ming Yu to a child that has ordered a new toy. As patiently as one can wait, the anticipation will eventually get to you and make one unable to calmly await the approaching prize. On the first week, Ming Yu had himself pasted to the door, unable to do anything but wait, however, as time passed, Ming Yu slowly started to realize something was fish. Then, during the second week, when there was still no news from the latter, Ming Yu slowly started to release a string of curses. ¡°Damn that geezer! What does he take me for, a fool with no weapon? I wonder what face he will make when I win the next 10, no 100 tournaments out of anger! How dare he scam me like this!¡± As angry as Ming Yu got, he didn¡¯t dare act against the company. After all, the company¡¯s got a tight security and a strong bodyguard that stays with the company leader at all times. How can a scrawny man who does nothing but play video games for a living hope to compare to this? As much as he hated to admit it, when it comes to real life matters, Ming Yu had no say in anything. Thankfully, by the end of the second week, something finally happened. Ming Yu was lying in bed thinking of how badly he¡¯s been cheated, when a certain noise was emitted from his room. ¡°Kaktoo!¡± Ming Yu¡¯s ears perked up like a foxes as he quickly dashed to the computer that emitted this noise. He moved at such a speed that one had to wonder where in his small frame this energy came from. If one had to answer, it would be from excitement. After been deprived for almost 2 weeks that felt like decades, Ming Yu finally got some sort of message. How can he not be excited? Surely enough, when Ming Yu checked his computer, a very promising notification had arrived. ¡°You have 1 kaktoo. By: Te Byung¡± For those that don¡¯t know, Te Byung is the legendary company man that founded and made LoL what it is today. This Te Byung happened to be no one but the old geezer himself! When Ming Yu opened up the mail, it contained the following: ¡°Dear Ming Yu, I¡¯m sorry it took so long but there seemed to be some personnel issue on our side. It has been taken care of so there¡¯s nothing to worry about. Without further delay, I shall honor my side of the deal. By the time your slow mind has finished reading this message, the bodyguard will probably have arrived. Typing is hard on my poor old hands so I shall let him explain what is to happen in my stead. Well, good day ¡°Nem¡±. Sincerely, Te Byung¡± Almost the same instant Ming Yu finished reading this message, as if planned beforehand, the bell to his home rang. Opening the door, Ming Yu found himself faced with a very familiar man. He was a tall African man, and when he said ¡°Hello¡± there were traces¡­ of¡­ bro- ¡°F***!!!¡± If Ming Yu didn¡¯t know better he¡¯d think that Te Byung set him up and everything was a scam. The man, who obviously recognized Ming Yu, said, ¡°Hello Mr. Yu. I am Johnson. I¡¯m sorry there was such a delay, however, there was a personnel issue on our end that we had¡­ difficulty fixing.¡± When the man said ¡°difficulty fixing¡± his face contorted in an unnatural way that made one think the man was apologizing yet mocking them at the same time. Ming Yu responded sharply saying, ¡°Johnson your granny! Personnel issue that was hard to fix for you? What do you take me for a masculine flower vase? What kind of personnel issue would a multi-millionaire company have to face to be unable to act on their promises for almost 2 weeks? It¡¯s more likely that mule Te Byong forgot his part of the deal and haphazardly remembered that he still had a promise to honor while scratching his senile butt!¡± (A flower vase is a woman who is pretty but has no brains. Ming Yu calls himself a male version of this.) Johnson was obviously displeased with Ming Yu. After all, Ming Yu¡¯s been streaming out a constant line of curses at Johnson and his boss every since the moment he first met him. Luckily for Ming Yu, he didn¡¯t mention any mothers else his bodyguard would¡¯ve been the cause of his death.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. As arrogant as Ming Yu was, he was still a silk-pants that never got into a full on fist fight before. Just the killing intent that poured out of Johnson was enough to make Ming Yu instantly regret his decision to cuss Te Byong out. In an attempt to reconcile, Ming Yu cupped his fists and took a humble stance. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for offending senior earlier. My name, as you, the great one, probably already knows, is Ming Yu. I hope we can get along.¡± Although on the outside he has become completely docile, on the inside Ming Yu was raging. ¡°How did I end up having to suck up to my bodyguard?! Isn¡¯t it suppose to be the other way around! If I ever meet that senile gramps again, he¡¯ll have to forgive me for being unable to hold back my fists!¡± ¡°I am Johnson¡± Johnson grunted back. ¡°As far as the deal you and Boss Byung made, he will naturally honor his end when you fulfill your own.¡± Ming Yu was naturally aware of what Johnson meant. Saying he quit LoL simply means that he¡¯s taking a temporary leave. If he ever wishes he can quickly come back and start winning just like before if let be. In order to have a probable reason to ban Ming Yu from future tournaments, Te Byong naturally wanted Ming Yu to give a public announcement stating his retirement. ¡°I understand, I have already prepared a video and I¡¯ll publish it right now.¡± ¡°Hold on¡± Johnson quickly stopped Ming Yu, who was once again energetic due to being about to receive a huge prize. ¡°Mr. Byong has already set up a press conference where you will attend and state your retirement. The media will handle the rest.¡± Ming Yu let out a slight cough. He was someone who was never really popular with his audience to begin with so to be doted on by the media like a big super star made him really excited. However, having never talked in front of a large audience before, he was also very nervous. ¡°We have already prepared transportation so if you¡¯d step outside Mr. Yu we¡¯ll bring you to the conference right away.¡± An understanding look moved itself onto Johnson¡¯s face. After being in his line of work for a long time, Johnson has naturally seen many people who have never spoken in front a crowd before. When Ming Yu walked out of his home, what awaited him almost made him gag. A fancy limousine that seemed to extend out limitlessly was parked in front of his home. At the door of the limo was a man dressed in a fancy suit. It seemed this man was both the butler and the driver, as after Ming Yu settled in the butler got into the driver¡¯s seat. This type of comfort was something Ming Yu couldn¡¯t get over. Although he¡¯s won several tournaments and made a name for himself through his skills, gaming is a profession that hasn¡¯t become popular until lately. During most of Ming Yu¡¯s career, his team took advantage of this and took most of the winnings from the tournament and only gave a small portion to Ming Yu and his team. Ming Yu was ecstatic and couldn¡¯t contain his excitement as the limo drove out. They seemed to teleport due to the fact that Ming Yu was having so much fun being covered in luxury that he forgot how long he¡¯s been there. By the time they arrived in front of the company building, Johnson had to practically force Ming Yu out the limo before they could walk into the building. After finally managing to pry Ming Yu away from the car, with a mixture of strength and promises made to Ming Yu about being able to ride the limo again on the way back, Ming Yu reluctantly let go of the car seat he was hold onto for dear life. Johnson sighed when they finally entered the company building, however, this wouldn¡¯t last for long as when they entered a burly security officer stepped in front of the bodyguard-gamer duo. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but only authorized personnel may pass through here.¡± ¡°This is Nem, the guy Boss Byung wanted to see.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I have no record of an appointment, please come bac-¡± Before the man could finish his sentence, his college, who joined him shortly after the latter intercepted the duo, whispered something into his ear. ¡°What? What? Oi Johnson, what do you reckon they¡¯re whispering about back there?¡± ¡°Probably about how great I am and how he should step aside before I wipe out all his teeth.¡± Johnson said arrogantly, however, much to dismay, an uncomfortable smirk appeared on the guard¡¯s face as the latter said, ¡°Like I said earlier, before my colleague interrupted me, if you don¡¯t have an appointment come back later.¡± Johnson¡¯s strength easily made him the top 5 security guards in the company, before he became a bodyguard recently. The fact that this greenhorn didn¡¯t know him means that this is someone who joined the force recently. What made Johnson¡¯s face go purple with anger, however, is how his college warned him of Johnson¡¯s prestige and how the young guard ignored it. Blowing steam out his ears due to anger, Johnson menacingly said ¡°If you want to keep your job you better step aside now.¡± The young guard laughed at Johnson and said, ¡°If you¡¯re so strong, then why did Boss Byung make you this measly gamer¡¯s bodyguard? Obviously something has happened and you¡¯re no longer as strong as gossip says you are.¡± Johnson was a patient fellow, it¡¯s what allowed him to be a bodyguard of a pr*ck like Ming Yu, however, if there¡¯s one thing Johnson couldn¡¯t tolerate, it was when his juniors refused to give him face. As quick as lightning, Johnson dashed to the young guard as quickly and accurately as a crossbow arrow. He struck the young guard with a punch that could shatter rocks and make mountains tremble. If this was a fighting light novel, then the young man would be halfway through the starry sky because of the punch just now. Luckily, for the young guard, this isn¡¯t a fighting light novel and he just got knocked out instead. Unluckily, when the young man wakes up he¡¯ll find that 3 of his front teeth are missing, never to be found. ¡°Silly greenhorn, remember this well as I do not like to repeat myself. I. Am. Johnson!¡± Special Character Chapter A: Jeffrey A warm air was circulating in a man¡¯s room as an annoying alarm. ¡°PRRIIIIIII!!! PRRIIIIIII!¡± A young man with disheveled hair as he slowly got up and hit ¡°Dismiss¡±. Yawning, he looked around his room. The room was fairly pair. There were no posters, no instruments, and no decorations with the exception of a rug on the floor next to the bed the young man was currently on. In the opposite corner of the room was a simple desk with a computer set-up and a wooden chair that made one feel uncomfortable just looking at it. This room doesn¡¯t belong to our main character, rather, it belongs to a young man named: Jeffrey. For simplicity¡¯s sake, this young man will be called Jeff. Still a little disoriented from just waking up, Jeff went to the edge of the bed where he sat for a few seconds trying to regain his senses. The night before, Jeff had been out all night with his colleagues drinking. Due to the obsessive amount of drinking, Jeff had a terrible headache. After a moment, when Jeff finally regained his senses, he got up and dressed himself. Looking in the mirror, Jeff saw a young man who looked 20-30 years old looking back. The man was blonde with hazel eyes. Currently, the man had just undressed and had nothing but boxers on. Underneath the clothes one could see a fairly chiseled body that a bypasser wouldn¡¯t expect from his fairly thin frame. Even though this man wasn¡¯t the biggest, from his body one can see that he would still throw quite a punch. Looking at his closet, the man picked out a black tuxedo. Men around his age seem to love partying and generally speaking act and dress how crazy drunkards do. These type of people are expected to have all sorts of dispensable clothes in case anything happens at the club. Jeff, however, was different. One look into his closet and you would know why. As Jeff reached into the closet, one could see that inside was nothing but simple black tuxedos! Next to the neatly arranged tuxes, were just as many simple ties that go along with the tux. Although this type of habit would seem strange for a man only in his 20-30s, in Jeff¡¯s line of work it isn¡¯t too uncommon. Jeff was getting dressed and just as he tied his tie, a sweet voice came from somewhere else in the house. ¡°Honey, breakfast is ready come out and eat.¡± Although this voice wasn¡¯t the nicest, most soothing, nor the sweetest, it was still pleasant to the ears. Perhaps the simplicity of the voice was what made it sound so pleasing. This voice originated from a simply dressed woman. There was nothing particularly amazing or cute about her but she wasn¡¯t ugly either. Overall, one could only describe this woman in one way: average. Jeff, however, didn¡¯t mind. Although this woman was remarkably average, she fed him, took care of him, and even gave extra services. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) This woman was his wife and he loved her. As long as he provided for her, she would take care of him and that was his life. Simple yet fulfilling, just like his woman. The reason why Jeff joined his line of work was for her. Growing up, he had no talent, no purpose, nor any passions. He was, however, fairly strong. Even if it meant risking his life, he would do anything for the love of his life so he joined his job as a guard. To others, this job seemed simple, easy, and even uninteresting, however, Jeffrey wasn¡¯t the simple guard one would imagine. He worked for a multi-millionaire company and no company becomes this big without¡­ certain measures. Jeffrey¡¯s job was to make sure nothing goes wrong when they take these measures and to protect the head of these business owners. Although doing these sorts of tasks were by no means easy, Jeffrey had a purpose, his wife. That as the sole drive in everything. ¡°Itagachimas!¡± Jeffrey dug into his breakfast, plain rice with kimchi and some side dishes. While Jeff was eating, the pleasant voice let out a cheerful laugh. ¡°No matter how many times I¡¯ve done it, it never fails to satisfy me when I see you¡¯re happy face wolfing down food.¡± As she said this, the simple woman picked a grain of rice off Jeff¡¯s face and licked it off her thumb. Jeff looked up from his food to meet this woman eye to eye. This woman¡¯s name was Grace, a name as simple as her nature. To others, she may seem like a normal woman, to Jeffrey she was something else. Of course, contrary to expectations, seeing this scene made Jeff¡¯s heart fill with bitterness. The woman of his life, Grace was dying. This was the reason why he got into shady business to begin with, instead of working a normal job. Grace had an unusual disease that¡¯s nearly incurable. Nearly, however, is a far way from impossible. Fortunately, Jeff found a doctor that was both willing and able to save Grace. This doctor, however, was a quack. He demanded an unreasonable amount of money to perform his surgeries and would otherwise let patients die if he wasn¡¯t payed. His behavior, however, was always justified by his catchphrase: ¡°Money¡¯s value can never amount to that of a life.¡± This, of course, was utter bullsh*t. If one looks closely, a burning fire of greed can be seen in his eyes.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. This wasn¡¯t the worst of it though. He would intentionally separate treatments into year-long surgeries and demand separate payments for each one. Normally, this would be okay as Jeff¡¯s job does compensate enough, however Jeff was never good at bargaining. The quack doctor¡¯s prices tended to steer away patients so even though he charged a lot the doctor himself was fairly broke due to the limited amount of patients that were willing to pay for his services. Jeff was one of his few regular patients. Seeing as how Jeff was always agreeable in prices, Jeff never realized that it could lead to his downfall. When the doctor started seeing Jeff being able to pay his prices, he decided to raise the prices, claiming ¡°She¡¯s in a critical stage! I need more compensation to do surgeries!¡± Currently, as Jeff¡¯s eating, he was very worried about this sudden price change. It would mean that his budget would be severely limited. Although his wife is the one managing his money, she doesn¡¯t know where Jeff gets it from. She see¡¯s him leave for work everyday and come back after hours and this was enough for her. After all, how can there be love without trust? After finishing his meal, Jeff got up and prepared to leave. As he was putting his jet black shoes on, he said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m going to work honey, see you soon!¡± This, however, was a simple facade. As soon as his back turned towards the door, his face fell and a rare sense of seriousness appeared onto his face. His dark look and black attire made him look like he was about to attend a funeral. Once he got to work as usual, next to the boss, he was pondering ways to make more money. Suddenly, an elderly voice rose in the room he was guarding. This voice happened to belong to Te Byong, the man Jeff worked for. ¡°You look like you¡¯ve got something on your mind. Tell me, what¡¯s bothering you?¡± An uncomfortable look appeared on his face as Jeff said, ¡°Y¡¯know boss, I¡¯ve been having some financial issues with my wife¡¯s medical bills. I need a way to make more money fast.¡± A surprised look appeared on Te Byong¡¯s face. ¡°That old croony dared raise prices on you again? I¡¯ll send men out immediately to take care of him.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t, he¡¯s the only doctor I¡¯ve met that can cure her. I need him. Also, as someone in your age range, you shouldn¡¯t be making fun of other¡¯s age.¡± ¡°Tsk. Fine.¡± The room remained silent for a while. It was visible from Jeff¡¯s constant change of emotions that he was having an internal struggle. Not wanting to disturb, Te Byong remained silent and let Jeff ponder. After a long while, Jeff finally firmed his resolve and said, ¡°Boss is there a way to make money faster? I really need it.¡± A crafty look appeared on the old man¡¯s face. Jeff has served the old man for 3 years now and he knew that face meant he was about to swindle someone. ¡°Hmmm, how much ya need?¡± ¡°$500,000 by next week¡± ¡°Oho, isn¡¯t that a little much to ask of me Jeff?¡± As soon as Jeff heard these words he started anxiously shifting in his seat. To outsiders, this may seem like a casual remark someone makes before they politely deny a proposition, however to Jeff, who¡¯s been working with Te Byong for 3 years, it meant that he isn¡¯t going to get his money easily. ¡°Ehm, I actually have the perfect job for you today. I want you to go down to the first floor and act as the front entrance security guard today.¡± After he said that, Te Byong proceeded to remain quiet for a while. Jeff obviously knew that he wasn¡¯t getting his money that easily. He wisely waited quietly for Te Byong to finish his sentence. Te Byong¡¯s face seemed to be having difficulty choosing his words for the catch that came along with his deal. His deals ALWAYS have a catch. Te Byong remained quiet for a full 3 seconds. During this time, his gaze kept wandering and avoiding Jeff¡¯s gaze. After the 3 seconds, Te Byong took a quick peek at Jeff¡¯s eyes and coughed into his fists. ¡°This isn¡¯t really important, however, a certain man is coming to the office today. He¡¯ll be a tall black man who¡¯s walking with a scrawny boy. As for his name, you¡¯ll naturally know when you see him.¡± Te Byong took a pause, although this pause wasn¡¯t particularly long, to Jeff it felt like dust started collecting on the old man¡¯s face before he continued on. ¡°I want you to obstruct this man when he comes. He¡¯ll likely come without an appointment and he¡¯ll try to get through probably with force. Usually, I wouldn¡¯t tempt a man like this who seems to have the temper of the devil, however, I suspect that he might be getting¡­ soft around the edges. You¡¯re fairly smart I don¡¯t have to spell out what I want you to do right?¡± It was exactly like Te Byong said. Jeff might not be the smartest academically, however, he¡¯s been doing shady things for a while now and it takes a crafty fellow to avoid the police¡¯s suspicion. Although Te Byong said this wasn¡¯t exactly important, to Jeff this ¡°side quest¡± was the hidden boss of this deal. ¡°Umm, if I do see this man, I¡¯ll erm, do my best to ¡®obstruct¡¯ him.¡± ¡°Good, good, in that case, this job¡¯s yours. Today you¡¯re working as a security guard starting now.¡± From there on, Jeff proceeded to work as a security guard. Nothing especially happened during this time, however to Jeff, this time was spent getting free money so he didn¡¯t mind. The day was fairly quiet until later that afternoon when a certain somebody walked in. Although time was spent doing nothing, Jeff never dropped his guard. If personally assigned by the boss for $500k, this job is no small deal. Jeff made sure to check every male duo that passed through the office and it just so happened that during this time that certain man walked in. Jeff saw a duo that looked strangely like what Te Byung described. There were two men, the first of which was a average height scrawny man, just like Te Byong described. This young man had black hair and later, as Jeff walked up to this duo, he saw that this young man also had a set of pretty sea blue eyes. A foolish aura seemed to encompass this young man however, to someone who¡¯s been out on the streets as long as Jeff (damn this dude got street cred) he could see that underneath this aura was a sense of determination that was stronger than most he has seen. Jeff¡¯s pupil¡¯s shrank when he was that next to this young man was a tall black man, just like Te Byong described. When he got in front of the duo, the tall black man indifferently said, ¡°This is Nem, the guy the boss wanted to see.¡± Jeff must have a talent of constricting eyes because when he heard the name Nem his eyes shrunk to the size of a pin. He distinctly remembered that the boss mentioned this scrawny young boy would be known as Nem. Although he could¡¯ve started a fight there, the boss wanted to see if this man was getting soft, so an upfront confrontation wasn¡¯t the best approach. Instead he decided to test the waters by saying ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I have no record of an appointment, please come bac-¡± It was at this point a colleague ran up and whispered something into Jeff¡¯s ears. He said, ¡°Are you crazy, don¡¯t you know who that man is? It¡¯s Johnson!¡± Johnson was a name that was infamous throughout this company regardless of occupation. He was known for his overwhelming strength. If a man like this was getting soft, it was truly a pity for the guarding company as a whole. Jeff decided to strengthen his resolve and provoked Johnson. After making a witty remark about his current job, a sudden pain emitted from his face. After he made his remark, it seemed that Johnson ruthlessly punched Jeff¡­ hard. After that, Jeff could only hear a few of Johnson¡¯s words. These words happened to be, ¡°I. Am. Johnson.¡± Right before fainting, Jeff managed to mutter in his heart, ¡°Boss, I don¡¯t think this Johnson fellow is getting soft at all.¡± Fo Shen Considering Te Byung¡¯s character, Ming Yu definitely held clouds of doubt in his heart against Johnson. No matter how open-minded he was, one can only be so trusting towards a stranger. It wasn¡¯t until Ming Yu saw the young man get instantly knocked out did he start to believe in Johnson¡¯s credibility as a guard. Giving the unfortunate young man one last look, Ming Yu quickly followed Johnson. Despite Johnson being his bodyguard, Ming Yu definitely didn¡¯t want to get onto his bad side. After all, who among us wants a giant black cluster of muscle as your enemy? Fortunately for Ming Yu, it was at this moment he decided to stop talking because Johnson had truly arrived at the end of his patience. Any more annoyance probably would¡¯ve resulted in a black eye on Ming Yu¡¯s part. After a quiet walk that felt like eternity for Ming Yu, he finally arrived in front of a set of familiar doors. Johnson quickly opened these doors without delay and walked in. Following Johnson in, a sudden burst of realization hit Ming Yu. The hassle earlier had made him forget why they were at this company to begin with, however, faced with the familiar room with the desk and lonely chair, Ming Yu remembered why they were here. Sitting on this lonely chair, of course, was Te Byong himself. Seeing this scoundrel that dared make him wait 2 weeks, Ming Yu couldn¡¯t help but let out a string of curses. ¡°Deal? How dare you try to swindle me! If the guards weren¡¯t here I, your daddy, would definitely teach you a thing or two about making others wait. Is your name Te Byong or Byong Te?¡± It seemed that whenever Ming Yu met Te Byong he can¡¯t help but cuss. (Your daddy is a Chinese way of insulting people and Byong Te means pervert in Korean.) Obviously, with Te Byong being the head of this company, he was naturally surrounded with an abundance of bodyguards. These guards looked at Ming Yu with eyes full of killing intent. Their stares were so strong that it could stop a cow¡¯s heart just by looking at it. If it weren¡¯t for Te Byong waving at the guards signaling them to stand down, they would¡¯ve already jumped Ming Yu. Ming Yu is a fairly cowardly guy. Unless he¡¯s hiding behind the safety of the net he would never dare say something like this, however, today he¡¯s got Johnson by his side so what¡¯s he got to worry about? This was what let Ming Yu act as if he never saw these sharp gazes made by the guards, after all, it¡¯s likely that Johnson can singlehandedly knock out all the bodyguards in this company by himself. This, of course, was completely untrue but due to Ming Yu¡¯s ignorance, he truly believed Johnson to be the strongest guard out there. Another thing Ming Yu seemed to have forgotten is that at the end of the day, Johnson still works for Te Byong meaning that if it were to come down to if he would be the one getting the beating. Even though they may act rough towards each other, there was still a weak bond between Te Byong and Ming Yu as player and creator. This was the only thing keeping Te Byong from killing Ming Yu in cold blood, of course that and the fact that he¡¯s yet to publically announce his retirement. ¡°Look, if you¡¯re done making enemies Ming Yu, Jeffrey here will show you to the room where the reporters are waiting to hear about your retirement.¡± As Te Byong said this, a small framed young man walked into the room. Two distinguishing features made Ming Yu recognize this man immediately. The first feature was the bright blonde hair that wasn¡¯t common to Korea. The other feature being the huge black eye that swoll to the point where one can fit his whole fist into his eye socket. Ming Yu recognized this man as the guy Johnson had knocked out earlier. Jeffrey seems to have recognized to duo too. He let out an uncomfortable chuckle as he quickly said, ¡°Due to certain circumstances, I had to block you earlier. Now that I¡¯ve been taught a lesson let¡¯s put our animosities behind us eh?¡± Seeing Johnson¡¯s strength first hand, it¡¯s no wonder Jeff would like to curry favor with him. If there were two features that made Johnson, Johnson, would be his indifference and monotone voice that he always talks in. The only time Ming Yu has seen Johnson talk with emotion is when he says his own name, though to be fair he hasn¡¯t known him that long. With his monotone voice, Johnson simple said, ¡°Whatever greenhorn just lead us to the room already.¡± Given no face, Jeff had no choice but to lead the duo towards the room with a atmosphere of suffocating awkwardness. Although the layout of this building wasn¡¯t the most complex, to Ming Yu if felt like a maze as he quickly lost count of how many times they turned left and right, which by the way wasn¡¯t too many times. Finally, they reached the room that Te Byong wanted them in. Jeff lead them quietly to the front where he walked up onto the stage and quickly announced their arrival. For privacy reasons, Jeff announced Ming Yu by his IGN (In Game Name): Nem. ¡°Sorry for the wait folks but the moment has finally arrived. Nem, League of Legos superstar, has something to announce for you folks. Without further adieu, here¡¯s the man himself.¡± Although Jeff announced Ming Yu in and gave him a perfect cue to enter, it took a while for him to actually get onto the stage. This was because Johnson had to practically pick Ming Yu up and plop him onto the stage to make him stand in front of the audience. If one remembers well, Ming Yu doesn¡¯t do well under big crowds. Finally, Ming Yu was the only one left onto the stage. A few seconds passed and Ming Yu continued to remain silent as he was petrified by fright. The audience, who have been waiting patiently for enough time for 3 incense sticks to burn, finally could no longer hold their chatter and a roar of voices assaulted Ming Yu.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Within these voices, there was one common question. ¡°Is the rumor about you retiring true?¡± These sea of voices finally awoke Ming Yu from his petrified state. He looked into the audience where he saw all sorts of people. He saw reporters, former competitors, his teammates, and a sea of fans that came to see him. To send him off on his journey after retirement. This sight made Ming Yu fill up with an emotion that he can not describe with words. Although he may act indifferent towards this game and it¡¯s community, it¡¯s an undeniable fact that he spent 6 years on this game. During these 6 years, there¡¯s bound to be an emotional connection that has slowly been forged into Ming Yu¡¯s heart. This feeling almost made him want to not retire, however the temptation of a possibly limited edition OP character was too much for Ming Yu to pass by. With this feeling giving him a boost of confidence, Ming Yu finally spoke. ¡°Who asked me to spend 6 years on this game?¡± As soon as he started speaking, the audience quieted down, not wanting to miss the moment Ming Yu finally confirmed the rumour. ¡°6 whole years and I¡¯ve won 6 tournaments with Dignitoss. This was a fun and amazing journey. It was thanks to you fans that I¡¯ve come this far and unfortunately this journey finally over. I want to thank you all for your support and dedication. Although I will no longer be in the competitive LoL scene, I will still take part in Esports and I ask for your support there.¡± After giving his heartfelt speech, Ming Yu looked into the audience. He was expecting to see people saddened a little by the news of his retirement, however, the audience was making a different face. This face can only be described as¡­ odd. Although Ming Yu¡¯s lack of social skills made him unable to identify the look, to others it was clear what their faces meant. ¡°Is this guy f*cking dumb?¡± A random person broke the silence that followed the speech. He said, ¡°So you¡¯re retiring right? No more Lol?¡± Ming Yu wasn¡¯t aware of why this man was asking this question but regardless he felt a duty to reply. ¡°Yes that is indeed correct.¡± A sea of cheering came from the audience. ¡°Yes, LoL is saved! We¡¯re finally going to have fun competitive games now.¡± ¡°Hell yeah! There¡¯s finally a chance for us to win the tournament.¡± The reaction was completely different from what Ming Yu expected. He thought people would grieve at his retirement but instead they¡¯re¡­ cheering? Ming Yu currently had a mortified face as he looked to Johnson for help. Johnson, however, was too busy trying to suppress his laughter. For those of you that don¡¯t know, Johnsons don¡¯t show emotions nor do they laugh. They definitely don¡¯t laugh. The situation, however, was too comedical not to. To Ming Yu, who lacks social skills, he thought the crowd¡¯s enthusiasm towards his retirement was hope that he would debunk the rumour of his retirement. To Johnson who has numerous years of social interactions, it was clear the audience was looking forwards to Ming Yu¡¯s retirement. Seeing Ming Yu¡¯s mortified face, Johnson couldn¡¯t help but laugh at Ming Yu¡¯s retirement. Jeff, being the nice guy that he is, decided that enough was enough. He threw Ming Yu an apologetic face and announced the ending of the announcement. ¡°Alright folks, that¡¯s all for today. Take care on your way homes and may you have a good time on the totally not copyrighted rift! Also, for Ming Yu fans, since you couldn¡¯t have a meet up at the previous tournament, feel free to come behind the stage afterwards for your last fan meet. ------------------------------------ After enough time for half an incense stick to burn, the room was pretty much vacant with the exception of Ming Yu, Jeff and Johnson. Ming Yu still hadn¡¯t recovered from the shock that he received earlier. He knew he was unpopular but who knew that he was this unpopular? He couldn¡¯t help but say a few words of encouragement to himself. In his heart he said, ¡°Who told me to be born with these skills? It¡¯s not my fault they¡¯re jealous of my mad skills.¡± Jeff could see Ming Yu¡¯s struggle, after all, pride was one of the key factors of manhood and Ming Yu¡¯s just got totally smashed. The audience spared him absolutely no face at all. He was just about to send Ming Yu home when, unexpectedly, a timid voice rang in the almost empty room. ¡°Umm, I was told that I get a fan meet with Nem here?¡± The voice belonged to a little boy who looked too young to have come without his parents. This little boy had strange blue hair and his little round face made Ming Yu think this boy was an animated Chibi. He wore a T-shirt that read ¡°If I am lost dial XXX-XXX-XXXX¡± With obviously nothing wrong nor suspicious, Nem welcomed the boy over. Even if just a little, having at least one fan, regardless of age, was encouraging for Ming Yu. He treated the young boy like he would treat his ancestors. ¡°What¡¯s your name boy?¡± Ming Yu asked whilst signing an autograph card the kid practically shoved onto his hands.(You treat the elderly like they¡¯re gods in asian culture so treating him like an ancestor just means he was really nice to him.) ¡°Fo Shen.¡± ¡°Fo Shen ey? Tell me how old are you?¡± All jokes aside, this was a question Ming Yu had to ask. After all, if the boy was younger than 16, then it probably meant he was a lost child. ¡°I¡¯m 14 Mr. Nem.¡± Fo Shen seemed to be proud of this as his chest perked up a little as he announced his age. ¡°Please, just call me Nem. Did you come here with your parents?¡± Ming Yu asked while massaging his temples. He seemed to have a sense foreshadowing the answer to his question. The young boy started uncomfortably shuffling in place. ¡°Ya, I came here with my mom but she¡¯s doing something else right now. They¡¯ll come get me later.¡± Hearing this, Ming Yu and made eye contact as Jeff mouthed the words ¡°I¡¯ll call her.¡± Ming Yu gave Fo Shen his autograph card back and took a picture with him. After shuffling in place a little bit more, Fo Shen worked up his courage to ask Ming Yu a question. ¡°Umm Nem? Why are you retiring?¡± Ming Yu was surprised. He thought the young boy wasn¡¯t that great of a fan but apparently he held a higher place in his heart than he thought. He gave Fo Shen a friendly smile and said, ¡°A better opportunity came up with a different game so I took it.¡± Blushing a little, Fo Shen suddenly bursted out another question. ¡°Are you going to play this new game competitively?¡± Nem raised an eyebrow at the young boy. Honestly, he didn¡¯t think he cared that much. He nonchalantly answered the boy. ¡°Yep.¡± Fo Shen was on a roll. After getting two questions out, it seemed like a dam had burst in his head and he let out a constant stream of questions so fast that Ming Yu couldn¡¯t keep up. ¡°What¡¯s the new game you¡¯re going to play? Will you keep your IGN in that game? Have you already played the game before? Are you any good at it?...¡± The boy wouldn¡¯t stop asking questions to the point where Ming Yu¡¯s head started to swim. Luckily, around this time Fo Shen¡¯s mother came by. ¡°Honey, where were you I was looking all over for you!¡± The mother seemed to be fuming but after looking at Fo Shen¡¯s cute little face, she couldn¡¯t help but let out her anger after she affectionately yanked at his nose. ¡°Next time, don¡¯t leave mama behind ok?¡± As she said this, the mother started to slowly drag Fo Shen away from the room. The meeting had ended a while ago and Fo Shen¡¯s mother was anxious about getting home later. As Fo Shen was dragged away, he let out futile wimps of protest. ¡°But mommy, Nem hasn¡¯t answered my questions yet!¡± Hearing this, Ming Yu couldn¡¯t help but smile. Even though he only have one, he was truly lucky to have a fan this dedicated. ¡°I¡¯m going to be playing MobRingler from now on and I¡¯ll keep my current IGN. It¡¯s free to play so try it sometimes. I¡¯ll let you join my party if we happen to meet.¡± And with that, the boy was completely dragged out of the room by his mother. (Party refers to groups made in games where players play together. Party is usually more short term depending on the game and guilds are long term groups.) Tutorial! After the announcement, Ming Yu was taken home in a limousine just like promised. Ming Yu, however was too happy reliving the memory of his one fan to care. Even though he only had one fan, a small act of kindness whilst a man is in despair can take you a long way. Although chances weren¡¯t very likely, Ming Yu hoped that he meets Fo Shen in the future. Johnson brought Ming Yu back home into his one room apartment. Once there, Ming Yu politely thanked Johnson for doing a good job today. Although Johnson didn¡¯t really do anything, it never hurts to curry favor. To Ming Yu¡¯s surprise, Johnson didn¡¯t leave, although it was the opportune time. Instead, he walked into Ming Yu¡¯s room and plopped himself in the middle. A cold sweat ran down Ming Yu¡¯s back as he tried to recall if he¡¯s offended Johnson that day. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to inquire but when are you leaving Mr. Johnson?¡± Johnson gave Ming Yu a confused look. ¡°I can leave right now if you want but then I won¡¯t have the chance to give you the account information. Also cut the formalities and call me Johnson.¡± Hearing this, Ming Yu suddenly remembered why he went through today¡¯s misery to begin with. It was all for that limited edition OP character! The flames of greed lit in Ming Yu¡¯s eyes as he immediately said, ¡°No, no of course not. Stay the whole day if you want, after all we can¡¯t have you leaving before you honor your part of the deal.¡± Ming Yu¡¯s shamelessness made Johnson sigh. Although Ming Yu was cowardly beyond belief, once his ambitions were lit, he would do anything to achieve his goal, even drop his dignity and beg if it was needed. ¡°No need. I will give you your account information now and then I¡¯ll leave.¡± Johnson dug into his fancy suit and pulled out a card from the inner pockets. ¡°Here, your account information is on it. Well. since I¡¯ve done my job I¡¯ll take my leave now.¡± Having done his bit, Johnson made the initiative to leave first. On Johnson¡¯s way out, Ming Yu suddenly remembered another bit of information. ¡°Uh Mist¡­ I mean Johnson, what about the other part of the deal? I still need my money and a way to contact you in case I need you.¡± Johnson simply replied in his usual monotone voice with no emotions. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about contacting me, Te Byong rented out the room next door and I¡¯ll be living there from now on. Just ring the bell if you need me. As for the money, Te Byong will naturally give you your living expenses through me.¡± Ming Yu was paralyzed by shock and stood still like a rock as he watched Johnson unlock and enter the room next to his. It was a while before Ming Yu finally recovered. Alright! It¡¯s time for me to try this OP character out! Running back into his room, Ming Yu ran to the corner of his room, where his gaming setup was located. Even though the place Ming Yu lived in was less than desireable in terms of quality and size, when it comes to his gaming setup, as a professional, he didn¡¯t skimp at all. He had a plain brown desk that had 3 computer monitors on it that all faced towards the center. His PC, a custom brand, was below the desk where there was space for the legs. Since Ming Yu wasn¡¯t that big of a person he didn¡¯t need the extra leg room so he opted to placing the PC there. He sat down on his luxury gaming chair that he was previously sponsored, somewhere along his 2 or 3rd tournament. Ming Yu cracked his fists and turned the PC on. Instantly, the 3 monitors roared to life as light shone off them like mini suns. The sound of the PC¡¯s soft humming filled the room accompanied by the sound of clacking keyboard noises. By the way, Ming Yu¡¯s keyboard and mouse collection were both won through a bet he had previously made with someone. They were fairly expensive pieces that Ming Yu had grown to love, and even though he¡¯s been using them for the better part of 3 years, age still hasn¡¯t deteriorated them even a bit. After passing through several tedious passwords and verifications Ming Yu set just in case, Ming Yu was finally ready. Ming Yu had already downloaded MobRingler during the 2 weeks he was waiting for Te Byong, so all he had to do was load it up. After the usual logos and introduction that every always skips, Ming Yu was finally faced with a fancy loading screen full of vibrant characters with fancy looking gear. This was usually as far as Ming Yu got. He¡¯s never played the game before because he wanted to start off with a fresh look when he finally got his account from Te Byong¡¯s clammy hands. Finally, today was the day he would pass this screen and see what awaited him. Ming Yu typed in the following information: -------------------------------------- Username: Read1000HitKO Password: @ShamelessSelfPromotion -------------------------------------- After a brief loading screen, a terms of agreement contract popped onto the screen. Usually, Ming Yu would ignore this agreement and simply click ¡°I Agree¡± and proceed onto his day, however, before he did he read a bit of text that caught his attention. It read in big red letter, ¡°Warning: The class that is assigned to this account is currently still in development so we are neither responsible for any problems or complaints about this class.¡± Although this warning had serious implications, Ming Yu simply took this as developers that worried too much. He didn¡¯t take the warning to heart and click ¡°I Agree¡± and continued onto the game. ~~~~~~~~~~~ (These swigles will show the change in perspective from Ming Yu to video game and vise versa from now on.) Emptiness. There was nothing around, no sound either. Nem was starting to worry that his set up might have crashed. As unlikely as it is, it was still a possibility. Nem let out a relieved sigh when he saw a pop up that said, Choose your IGN:_____ This meant the game was still working as intended. Nem quickly inserted 3 simple characters as his IGN: ¡°Nem¡±. Although Nem didn¡¯t put into thought how lucky it was for his name not to be taken, skeptical readers will question it for him. The reason as to this name was empty is because Nem was never popular to begin with so people who don¡¯t play LoL don¡¯t know who he is and even if they did play LoL, no one wanted to play as the a**hat that ruins games, even though this person is notoriously skilled. When Nem hit enter, his surroundings instantly changed to white and a lovely voice played through his mind. ¡°Welcome to the world of MobRingler player Nem. I am archangel Seraphina.¡± Accompanying this voice, a graceful angel slowly fluttered down from nowhere and hovered slightly above Nem.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. -------------------------------------- ==Level 0-Seraphina, Angel of Guidance== Hp-0 Att-0 Def-0 -------------------------------------- Seeing this NPC¡¯s character tag, Nem silently thought, ¡°Your HP can¡¯t drop below 0 so I guess that means this NPC¡¯s unkillable eh. It says ¡®Angel of Guidance¡¯ but isn¡¯t she just a glorified tutorial guide?¡± Although Nem tends to dislike tutorials, it was his first time playing MobRingler so it was necessary to play along. Luckily for Nem, while the tutorial continued he could spend time admiring Seraphina¡¯s huge ¡°personality¡± if he got bored. ¡°In normal games, job classes can be chosen by the player at will and the player can create several characters with different job classes. In MobRingler however, classes are assigned to players and players may only have 1 character. Use buttons WASD to walk. As a demonstration, please walk up to the crystal ball in front of you.¡± Nem wanted to absorb all the information about this game so he obediently walked up to the crystal ball and silently waited for Seraphina to continue. ¡°Normal attacks can be accessed by any class. To normal attack, simply press the control button. Button assignment can be changed in the settings menu in case players would like to switch later on. A simple attack command will pop out of the crystal ball at a random time. When the attack command comes out, please press the attack command as soon as possible.¡± Nem silently thought to himself, ¡°Why would this game need a reaction speed test?¡± ¡°Begin!¡± Everything suddenly got completely quiet. Not even the sound of breathing was heard as Nem waited patiently. Just as Nem started to go crazy out of tension, the words ¡°attack¡± popped out of the crystal ball and lit on fire. Due to surprise, Nem was a little slow to react, however, he quickly recovered and pressed Ctrl. This made his character suddenly move like a bolt from a crossbow as he let out a speedy punch. Although describing this moment makes it seem as if everything were to have happened slowly, everything from the word to the punch happened in a matter of 0.2 seconds. A delighted voice once again arose in Nem¡¯s mind. ¡°Well done Nem! This was one of 3 tests that you have to accomplish! After we finish the tests I will explain the ranking system and tell you your results. Congratulatory music rose in the background as Seraphina was talking. Nem, however, wasn¡¯t delighted, instead he was thinking about how annoy it was that the NPC sprite doesn¡¯t actually talk and only communicates telepathically. After a few seconds, a trigger seemed to have been pulled as Seraphina, who was standing still for a while, suddenly became animated again. ¡°The second test will be a APM test. A list of buttons will be shown to you now.¡± The crystal ball that Nem had punched earlier suddenly lit up as a holographic screen popped up. On it read a vast assortments of letters and numbers that the author is too lazy to type in. ¡°On the count of 3, you will press these buttons in the sequence shown as fast as you can¡­ Ready? 3. 2. 1. Go!¡± Nem had time to look at the screen and see what buttons he were to press and in what order. When Seraphina said ¡°Go¡±, Nem¡¯s hands moved like lightning as he effortlessly pressed all the buttons in his uppermost speed. Ming Yu¡¯s hands, in the real world, were moving so fast that they seemed to blur a little. Nem, in the game, similarly was flapping around as every time Ming Yu pressed a button, Nem would smack the corresponding button in the game. There were about 50 buttons that needed to be pressed and Nem managed to hit every single one in a matter of 5.95 seconds! Doing the math, that would mean that every second, Nem presses about 8.4 buttons. That would make Nem¡¯s APM an astonishing 504! Too bad the author doesn¡¯t have an APM like that else he would be able to make these chapters faster. Once again, Seraphina¡¯s voice rose in Nem¡¯s mind as she said ¡°Amazing! That makes most of the required tests. You only need to take one more and we¡¯ll have your job assignment. In this last test, we plan to test your aim. After all, in a 3D MMORPG game, aim will definitely be a necessary skill.¡± Suddenly, the area around Nem shook as the crystal ball began to levitate. The normally dormant ball suddenly shone with a bright light and started to fly around Nem at a speed that most can¡¯t match with their mouses. Suddenly a weapon materialized in front of Nem. ---------------------- Tomahawk Att-5 Item Description: Just left click to throw this item. ---------------------- ¡°Aim this tomahawk at the flying ball. You have unlimited time and the closer you throw the tomahawk to the ball, the better your score. Now, if you may.¡± Once again, Seraphina flew away as if she was trying to avoid getting hit by a stray tomahawk. Nem picked up the tomahawk and concentrated hard. Although the ball was hard to follow, it wasn¡¯t impossible for Nem. After he got a good grasp of the ball¡¯s movement patterns, Nem waited for the perfect moment. Since there was no time limit, there is no point in ruining his score by rushing. After a while, Nem noticed the ball was headed towards an area that it frequently passed by multiple times. As the ball was flying towards that direction, Nem quickly chucked the tomahawk slightly in front of the ball. The ball that was moving at a frightening speed was suddenly forced to a stop when the tomahawk hit it! Unable to withstand its force, the crystal ball shattered into pieces that slowly unmaterialized into 1s and 0s in front of Nem. Not many people managed to hit this ball, however to Nem, who¡¯s one of the best video gamers in the world, it wasn¡¯t all that difficult. If he was serious, Nem would¡¯ve been able to hit that crystal ball without even needing to blink. The congratulatory music once again rang as Seraphina¡¯s body floated back towards Nem. ¡°You did phenomenal! All the tests have been completed. I will now tell you how the ranking system works. There are 5 ranks split into 3 subclasses. Each subclass is raised when the player reaches level 100. After reaching level 100, the player will be dropped back to level 1, still maintaining all his stats and items, and his subclass will be increased. Starting from the worst to the best, classes are split into Dou, Zhou, Zhang, Tian, and Mu! These classes are split into Ronin, Bishop, and Master. Every player starts off as a Dou Ronin.¡± Seraphina let out a smile as she said the last few words in a very kind tone. If he didn¡¯t know better, Nem would think that he was playing a different type of game as Seraphina¡¯s character model and smiling face made him feel a burning sensation in his daitan region. ¡°Following these rankings, here are your ranks for each test.¡± A thin black screen teleported in front of Nem out of nowhere. On this screen, the following was written in white flames: ---------------------- Reaction Speed: 0.2s Rank: Mu APM: 504 Rank: Tian Aim Ranking: Zhang Overall Scoring: Tian Bishop ---------------------- Nem was genuinely surprised by these rankings. Even though he wasn¡¯t trying his hardest, his performance was better than 90% of the pro gamer¡¯s in the world, yet he only received these ranks? If 504 APM is rank Tian, then what sort of monstrous APM was needed to get Mu? Nem wasn¡¯t even sure that Mu rank was a possibility. As for reaction speed it was as he expected. As for the aim ranking, there was probably a time aspect they secretly added so when he took his time it probably messed up his score. Even still, he only received rank Tian Bishop, which would only be the middle of Tian class. These types of scoring seemed a little unreal to Nem, however what he didn¡¯t know was that developers designed the game to cut off arrogance. They made it so that Mu rank is basically impossible to reach and only professionals can achieve Tian rank. This just goes to show how much of a monster Nem really is. Although aiming was askew due to his lack of care, he managed to received Mu class for reaction speed. If he wasn¡¯t initially surprised, his speed would be 0.1s instead making him surpass this class! What surprised Nem is that with an APM of 504 he only got Tian class. This is a crazy number that even pros can never hope to achieve. Nem, due to a combination of training and talent, was just barely able to brake the 500¡¯s, however this crazy game says 504 is only Tian! Just what sort of monstrous number would be needed to get Mu? After taking one last look, Nem stored the black screen into his bag. Every player, during tutorial, would awake to a character face that magically resembles the faces of the player¡¯s real body and a storage bag. After looking through key bindings a second ago, Nem was able to find basic controls. As for skills and such, the game will probably tell him later, or so Nem assumed. Since this black screen had a item label with a description that says ¡°I¡¯m important so store me in your storage bag! Esc to pull up menu with settings and key bindings¡± Nem decided to hold onto this black screen. Apparently this was the right choice because storing the screen resumed the tutorial. Once again Seraphina became animated and proceeded to talk on. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve seen your scores I will explain how job assignment works. Each class has a minimum and maximum skill cap. With Dragoon Warriors being the example, they have a skill cap of Dou Ronin through Master. Players will automatically be assigned to jobs depending on skill rank. For more information, go to our wiki page in MobRingler.com/wiki (not real site don¡¯t go there). As for you¡­ Nem, I declare thy a¡­¡± (Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z Kai >:3) The Beginning Author Note: Jk I wouldn¡¯t actually leave a cliff hanger like that¡­ or would I ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) ¡°As for you¡­ Nem, I declare thy a¡­¡± At that moment, Seraphina stopped talking and paused. It was as if she knew she was creating a cliffhanger to piss off readers! The real reason, however, is because of a certain program that¡¯s to run once the basic tutorial is completed. ¡°Nem, it seems to me that there is already a pre-registered class, however you do not meet the requirements to join this class. Although normally you would be unable to access this extra class, your account has been set up where you may pick it despite not meeting the requirements. The choice is yours.¡± Nem was flustered for a moment. ¡°Damn, just what sort of requirements did they make for this character? Even scores as high as mine can¡¯t get this class!¡± Nem thought in his heart as 2 holographic discs appeared in front of Nem. ¡°Bladewielder is the class you would have been normally assigned, however there is a pre-existing class in your account known as the Spear Bearer. Although this class is closed to the public, the requirements that would have originally been set up is the following: APM: Mu class! Reaction Time: Mu class! Aiming Rank: Tian class! Whichever class you would like to be assigned is up to you.¡± With that, a button appeared on each of the two discs that read ¡°Advance¡±. It appeared that you would press this button to confirm your selection. While Nem was deciding what class to select, many things ran through his mind. First of all, it truly seemed like this job advancement was canceled during production because when Seraphina started to monologue, her usual cheery demeanor turned cold and monotone. It seemed that the developers rushed to add this part just so that the fortunate fellow with this account may play it. Another thing that bothered Nem was the requirements. If the requirements were set up to be intimidating, all the class requirements would be Mu class. Although Ming Yu in real life was useless in social skills such as nitpicking details such as this in conversation, Nem in the game was for some reason sharper and more shrewd. Where Ming Yu lacked in intelligence, he made up for in shrewdness. He could see that the Tian class ranking on Aiming meant that the developers somewhat considered this ranking. Otherwise, they would just plaster Mu class on everything and call it a day! This was the main cause of Nem¡¯s indesition. If 504 APM is Tian and he needed a Mu ranking, just how hard is this character to play?The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Nem put those thoughts aside for now. No matter what the reason, at the end of the day the evidence points to this character being OP in some way. (OP means Overpowered meaning something is so strong that it¡¯s just not fair.) After all, if there wasn¡¯t something about this character that would command fear from game balancers, then why would the tournament team members be limited? Could the game developer be a sadist? For whatever reason, he gave up LoL to play this character and a little intimidation wasn¡¯t going to stop him from choosing the Spear Bearer. Nem was confident in his skills and truly believed that this class wouldn¡¯t be too hard to play. When Nem pressed Spear Bearer, a light appeared all over Nem. As the light transformed his previous clothes into what appeared to be the Spear Bearer¡¯s beginner¡¯s gear, Seraphina¡¯s strangly monotone voice rang in his head. ¡°Since the Spear Bearer class isn¡¯t open to the public, class gear is impossible to find. From now on until you reach the Mu Master class, gear will be provided to you at every rank advancement. Good luck; have fun!¡± As Seraphina finished talking, the normally white and plain scenery around Nem began to shift. The area under his feet began to change into grass, and the background filled up with hills and if one looked even further off there were mountains on the horizon. If one were to talk about the game MobRingler, they would say that this, is the true beginning of the game. This was the area every new player would be placed onto after tutorial. This place¡¯s name is as simple as it¡¯s scenery, the Green Plains, also known as one of the only single player areas in the game! This is where all players would spend their time from their start all the way to Dou Bishop class. One of the best part of MobRingler is the fact that it would tell you how long an area would take you to clear. This greatly benefits players who have to go to school or have to sleep early due to work, although there is approximately a margin of 30 minutes for error, the time estimate is usually fairly accurate. Nem saw this when he arrived at the Green Plains. A box of text appeared in the air that read: Green Plains Beginners quest Rank Requirement: Dou Ronin class Estimated Time: 3 hours A frown appeared on Nem¡¯s face. Although he is used to pulling all nighters and doesn¡¯t need much sleep in between gaming sessions, today was a really taxing day on him. Also, there were certain matters that Nem needed to address the next day. Following Johnson around the whole day, followed by the rapid paced tutorial ended Nem at around 10PM. Normally, he would continue on until midnight or a little bit more. Any more than that would lead to health problems and getting sick means losing valuable time. After pondering whether or not Nem wanted to tough this quest out, he decided to stop the game there, for today. If he were to take on this quest, he knew he wouldn¡¯t have the self restraint to stop himself from doing more. Instead, Nem logged off and went to sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~ *Insert Lenny Face* The day was just dawning and the sun had just risen but Ming Yu, who usually sleeps until afternoon if allowed to, was already up and ready to go. As for what he¡¯s doing¡­ well¡­ he¡¯s fulfilling his duty as a man, if you catch my drift. Most main characters are noble, ambitious, and righteous. Ming Yu on the other hand, well¡­ sometimes his mind may be ruled by his ¡°Penor¡±. One of his favorite pastimes is to go on Cinder to look for dates. Today just happened to be one of those days when his dates were set up. Nem needed his date this time to be perfect. As one could have guessed, this wouldn¡¯t be the first time he tried to get a girlfriend off Cinder. In fact, there were numerous times when mistakes would lead up to ruined dates and wasted hours. For instance, one time Ming Yu met with a fairly tempered woman. We¡¯ll call her, Emily. He went on a date with her. Although there are many undesirable traits that Ming Yu had such as his cowardness, lack of morals, and average looks¡­ Well, putting things into perspective pretty much everything about Ming Yu, well, sucked. Of course, his only redeeming factor is that regardless of his overall poor character, when boiled down to his core, Ming Yu was still a sweet person who really cared about others. Women, luckily for Ming Yu, were especially attuned to this fact and would give him a chance with them just for his personality, however Ming Yu would always mess something up. Going back to the Emily example, although Emily fairly liked Ming Yu and would like to meet him again, she needed Ming Yu to take the initiative to ask. Ming Yu, however, was still a shut-in gamer. He didn¡¯t have many social experiences except the dates he would frequently go on. One would think he would have developed a skill at wooing ladies to court them but Ming Yu never developed such talents. Emily tried her best to give Ming Yu hints to cue to him her intentions. Ming Yu, however, never received, what seemed to him, such telepathic message. Much to Emily¡¯s dismay, Ming Yu stayed oblivious and ended the date thinking she didn¡¯t like him. Other dates, on the other hand, Ming Yu had no faults in. For instance, you¡¯ve all heard the story of the fake profiles with women who turn out to be completely different from their pictures in real life. These sort of people, Ming Yu would simply walk out on. He neither had time nor the patience for these mischief makers. Today¡¯s date, however, was different. Although Ming Yu couldn¡¯t guarantee the authenticity of the woman he¡¯s meeting, he was determined to make today absolutely perfect. He even took the time to talk to Johnson earlier that morning. Luckily for Ming Yu, Johnson always wakes up at the crack of dawn, meaning he was awake when he went looking for Johnson. He made sure to explain what he¡¯s doing that day and asked Johnson to stay in the background. After all, how shameful would it be for Ming Yu if Johnson were to take the girl he was meeting today? After all, he¡¯s taller, more muscular and even more handsome. Also, if Johnson was constantly following behind Ming Yu there might be some misconceptions so just in case he made sure to express how critical it was for Johnson to stay hidden today. Johnson simply laughed, which he doesn¡¯t do often, and said, ¡°I¡¯ll get my popcorn ready.¡± Ming Yu even made sure to consider the smallest detail, such as what he¡¯s going to wear to the date. Although he could go in a fancy suit and tie, this date wasn¡¯t at a fancy restaurant but rather at MoonBucks. He didn¡¯t want to scare the girl off by preparing too much so he decided something casual was better. He decided on wearing a T-shirt that he had purchased at this year¡¯s anime con. As for his leggings, he chose the simple blue jeans. Although he rarely uses it, Ming Yu does own his own car and has a driver¡¯s license. Normally, he¡¯d walk to save the gas money, however, everything had to be perfect today. After a short 10 minute drive, he parked out in from of the MoonBucks and entered. Both Ming Yu and the girl had both previously agreed that they¡¯d meet by the table in the back of the store in the left corner. Ming Yu had previously expected to be the first to arrive, after all, he was a whole 30 minutes early! To his surprise, however, there was a person already on the seat. This person was, as a matter of fact, female which meant this might be his date, however since this was a public place one would never know. Ming Yu wasn¡¯t sure whether he should approach this woman or give her a text to see if it¡¯s her. As cowardly as Ming Yu was, his pride was even greater. He refused to let this girl see that he was scared and decided to directly confront this woman, but as soon as he started heading towards her, he suddenly jerked to a stop. This was because another man had arrived at the table. The girl looked up and saw the man and started chatting kindly with the man who had just arrived. It seemed that these two already knew each other. Ming Yu didn¡¯t know a lot of social cues but he knew that if someone invites you to a date and another man shows up, you either have the wrong woman or unwanted. Dejected, Ming Yu slumped onto a random seat and pondered what to do next. He decided to wait for these people to clear off this table. After all, there were still half an hour before the date was suppose to happen. After enough time for half an incense stick to burn, (By the way, although I don¡¯t know exactly how long an incense stick takes to burn, I know that this phrase usually refers to about an hour so half would be 30 minutes) Ming Yu saw that the two people showed no signs of moving off the table. Ming Yu was completely different in real life than in games. In games he would be courageous and wait hours on end for something as simple as a event boss, but in real life, a few minutes were too much for him to handle. After waiting another 5 minutes, he decided to give up and started to get up to go home. Just as he was about to walk away, his phone suddenly buzzed. Ming Yu checked his phone and found out that he got a message from this mysterious girl that he was meeting. She said, ¡°Unless you already have a girlfriend, it seems the table we decided on is taken by someone else >.<¡± Ming Yu scoffed and replied, ¡°If I had a girlfriend would I be on Cinder?¡± Although he had no courage in real life, it seemed speaking to someone through a phone was digital enough to give Ming Yu some confidence. Enough to give some witty banter at least. The girl responded, ¡°Well, I¡¯m looking around and I see 3 guys on their phones which one is you?¡± Ming Yu looked around to see if he could spot this girl. Luckily, confused ladies that are looking for their dates aren¡¯t a common phenomenon. He spotted that he was supposed to meet almost instantly. She was just like her Cinder description. This girl was thin, but not to the point of being bony. She had a fair figure and curves that could make some men feel a fire in their daitan region. The most prominent feature that Ming Yu could see was her long purple hair that looked smooth enough to make fabric out of. Her skin was jade like and looked like they never experienced the rough conditioning of the sun. As Ming Yu was observing her, she happened to look towards his direction and Ming Yu¡¯s eyes locked with her wonderfully pretty hazel eyes.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The girl smiled and started walking towards Ming Yu. Ming Yu was currently sitting on a table for 4 so when the girl arrived, she had plenty of space to plop herself in the seat directly across from him. After that she got onto her phone and quickly texted, ¡°Found you! (^.^)¡± To remind the audience, Ming Yu did go on many dates, however he never acquired to skill to smoothly talk to woman. As soon as he tried to talk, he felt an unusual lump in his throat as he started to stutter. ¡°H¡­ Hi I¡­ I¡¯m Ming Yu¡± ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Chen Lan.¡± The girl called Chen Lan gave Ming Yu a friendly smile. Although she expected Ming Yu to be a little more confident based off how he texts, she wasn¡¯t completely against or new to shy guys. In fact, she found that they even had a little bit of an extra sense of attraction for her. Ming Yu started to blush uncontrollably. Although his nervousness had already somewhat messed up the date, Chen Lan¡¯s kind attitude kept their date from being too awkward. After chatting for awhile, Ming Yu slowly started building confidence when talking to Chen Lan. After 5 minutes, he no longer stuttered but talked a little slower than the average person. After another 10 minutes, all shyness had finally faded. With the help of Chen Lan¡¯s kindness, Ming Yu was finally able to achieve some sort of confidence with her. After all, she had spent 15 minutes talking with him and didn¡¯t looked repulsed like some girls did. Instead, it looked like she was enjoying herself. After talking for enough time for a quarter of an incense stick to burn, they decided to go out onto the streets. Ming Yu, despite being really bad at it, wasn¡¯t new to the dating game. He¡¯d seen his share of girls and knew what a pretty girl looked like and what ugly ones looked like. Chen Lan easily placed herself into one of the top 10 pretty girls he¡¯s ever dated. It got to the point where some guys would look at her with a face full of lust. After a while, they arrived at a carnival that happened to be running that day. Ming Yu used this chance to get closer to Chen Lan. He went on various rides with her, ate cotton candy together, and took pictures in photo booths. During the trip, the couple had an incident with a certain game booth. Chen Lan happened to see a plush penguin as one of the prizes for this game. She pointed out the booth and excited started talking about how much she loved penguins. (Penguins are, after all, the most majestic and #1 of all animals) Luckily for Ming Yu, the game was Wack a Mole. As we know from previous experiments, Ming Yu has an extraordinary reaction speed and games like these were a cinch for him. Trying to impress Chen Lan, he was uncharacteristically courageous and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, getting that penguin will be easy! Just watch me get it on my first try.¡± After paying $5 dollars to play, Ming Yu went up to try out his luck. As soon as the game started, however, the moles went at a speed that no one could humanely follow. This game was obviously rigged so that the owner could make free money. Although Ming Yu¡¯s eyes could follow the mole¡¯s movements, his arms couldn¡¯t. If this was a computer game with a keyboard he could¡¯ve won despite the odds, however this was real life where Ming Yu had no physical prowess. Although he was obviously set up, it took Ming Yu a while to realize it. He had no social skills and if it weren¡¯t for the fact that he¡¯d seen this cliche in several animes he¡¯d have never known that he¡¯d been scammed. He looked to his side and saw Chan Lan frown. She sighed and said, ¡°Oh well, there¡¯s nothing you can do. The booth¡¯s set up so there¡¯s no way we''re getting that penguin.¡± Ming Yu¡¯s face turned a little solemn. He had just failed an opportunity to impress Chen Lan and was instead made to be pitied by her. Unwilling to let this opportunity go to waste, Ming Yu quickly devised a plan to regain some of his lost face. He said in a voice that only Chen Lan can hear, ¡°I¡¯ll get you that penguin or my name isn¡¯t Ming Yu! Just follow my lead.¡± Ming Yu turned to face the man in the booth. Ming Yu had been standing there for a while now and the man saw him as another sore loser. He told Ming Yu, ¡°Get out of the way, there¡¯s people waiting behind you y¡¯know.¡± Ming Yu frowned it seemed that there was no line around them, in fact, Meng Yu just noticed that no one was actually bothering to line up for this booth at all! Meng Yu exclaimed, ¡°This machine MUST be broken, I swear that the game went by too fast. After all, can YOU even score a point on this game, much less beat it?¡± As he yelled, Ming Yu also made over dramatic motions to make an even bigger scene. Although Ming Yu wasn¡¯t the best at social interactions and wasn¡¯t even the smartest of people, he was incredibly shrewd when it came to plotting. When people saw Ming Yu create a commotion a crowd started to gather. Seeing his plan was working, Ming Yu continued to go on his monologue whilst making even more dramatic motions to over exaggerate what he was saying. ¡°You see that girl over there with the purple hair? She¡¯s my wife and she¡¯s 2 weeks pregnant! I just wanted that penguin plushie as a gift to her but of course this stand robbed me of my money. Isn¡¯t robbing a pregnant woman the same as robbing a baby? Your business just scammed a baby! You see this folks, this man has no shame, just look at my wife!¡± As Ming Yu said this he pointed passionately at Chen Lan, whose face was turning redder than tomatoes. After all, who can keep a calm disposition when someone claims to be your spouse and even goes as far as to say your pregnant with their child? The crowd, however saw her red face as a sign that she was on the verge of crying. With a large audience taking pity on her, folks started to get into really loud conversations bad mouthing the booth owner. ¡°What kind of man robs from infants? Does this person know no shame?¡± At one point, someone started chanting, ¡°Give her the penguin! Give her the penguin!¡± After a while, others joined in and eventually the whole crowd was protesting against the man who owned the booth. The man was so angry, that no words came out of his throat. There was nothing he could do against so many witnesses. Giving in to the protests, he unwillingly gave Ming Yu one of the penguin plushies then started to close down his booth. After all, after being disgraced like that, who can continue business there? The crowd was only satisfied after they saw Ming Yu received the plush. After confirming that he got it, the crowd started dispersing. Ming Yu winked at Chen Lan. ¡°See, I told you I¡¯d get it didn¡¯t I.¡± Although Chen Lan was a little angry that he publicly claimed that she was pregnant and married to him, she couldn¡¯t help but laugh when she saw Ming Yu¡¯s awkward wink. Despite being shy and not having good social skills, this man was shrewd and shameless without boundaries. Although shrewd folks may have plots, they wouldn¡¯t dare act them out in case they¡¯d lose face, however someone as shameless as Ming Yu could care less about his face in front of a large audience. The combinations of these two traits can run any man crazy from having to deal with him. Laughing, Chen Lan said thanks. In conclusion, the day went well and Chen Lan genuinely enjoyed herself. Everything was looking good for Ming Yu until the end of the day approached. During one of their casual conversations, Chen Lan asked, ¡°What do you do for a living?¡± Ming Yu didn¡¯t think much about this and nonchalantly said, ¡°I¡¯m a professional gamer.¡± A look of disgust suddenly appeared on Ming Yu¡¯s face. Chen Lan looked at Ming Yu like he just offended her mother and yelled, ¡°What!¡± Suddenly, she slapped him and furiously stomped away. While she was leaving she said, ¡°Get a life before you start dating. Geez!¡± Ming Yu remained there for a while. His expression was priceless. His jaws fell so low that they almost hit the floor and on his left cheek was a bright red hand print left from Chen Lan¡¯s slap. To this day, Ming Yu never knew why Chen Lan suddenly left off like she did. Maybe not knowing was a good thing, after all, how depressed would he be if he found out Chen Lan hated him because she despises gamers? Although the clues were obvious, to someone like Ming Yu it was a mystery. Luckily for Ming Yu, it was better that he didn¡¯t know. Johnson, who had been watching the whole thing, took Ming Yu home, although his constant snickering on the side didn¡¯t help Ming Yu¡¯s depression. He carried Ming Yu to in his own home and left for his own room. It took a long while before Ming Yu recovered and angrily said, ¡°That¡¯s it I give up! I¡¯m never going out on a Cinder date again!¡± Bo Fai A day has already passed since Ming Yu has forsaken dating. During this time, Ming Yu did not play MobRingler, instead he spent this time researching about the game. If he wanted to become professional, simply being good at the game is only the beginning. It must be known that Ming Yu is new to this game. To survive and thrive, Ming Yu must learn the basics about the game, from class information, basic stats, mob strengths, and more! Due to the mass amount of information that Ming Yu needed to absorb, it took him a whole day. Although when it comes to studying, Ming Yu had no talent, when it came to games he absorbed information like a sponge. It took him a day to learn what every class does, their basic stats, and overall mechanics of the game. Unfortunately, this was only context found in online forums and information off guides. None of this amounts to any actual experience. Knowing, however, is never a bad thing. Even though he knew most of the information he gathered won¡¯t help him, Ming Yu still made sure to thoroughly and diligently research and study games that he was getting into. After studying for a whole day, Ming Yu finally started playing MobRingler again, but this time he was ready to play for a long time. ~~~~~~~~~~~ After going through the tedious routine of turning your PC on and logging in, Nem finally got back into the world of MobRingler. Finally! It only took him a 1 chapter break (kappa). He was right where he left off on, in the middle of the Green Plains faced with the accept quest screen. Nem, however, didn¡¯t immediately press ¡°accept¡±. These are the types of moments where research comes in handy. Ignoring the quest text, Nem found the way to check his stats screen. When Nem saw what was inside, however, his face quickly turned ugly. Judging by the way the game was set up, the Spear Bearer class should be ridiculously OP to the point where it¡¯s game breaking. Everything about this character should be OP! His stats should be way above average starting from level 1! When Nem checked his stats screen, however, he was faced with a series of 1¡¯s. ¡°F*CK!¡± For reference, the job classes are split into 13 different classes. Of course, the game only came out half a year ago, so it¡¯s still developing. Whenever a new character appears, every player that meets the character¡¯s requirement get a chance to restart their account with the new character, given that items, storage, guilds, etc. will all stay the same. For some of the privileged, however, can pay a small sum to remain their level. The weakest of these 13 class surprisingly wasn¡¯t the healer class like most games. This was something that intrigued Nem when he was researching MobRingler. The weakest class with the worst stats are the forgemen, who gain levels through forging equipment and other things. The forgeman¡¯s leveling system is a little, unique and serves as training wheels for players that are too unskilled to play any significant roles. After a while, the player will get monthly checks to see if they¡¯ve improved. If they have, they can try to test for a new class. The shocking thing, however, was that some players kept this forgeman class and even went to the great lengths of purposely failing the tutorial to get this class. This was because the worst players in this class are the only ones that can build some of the rarest items in the game, making them invaluable to guilds and strong people. Even more shocking, however, was the amount of people in this job class. Most games have worst to best classes played from most frequent to more rare. This was because more people met the requirements for easier jobs than the harder ones. The forgemen, however, despite it¡¯s impossible to fail goals, only had 5% of the player base! The rarity of this class and it¡¯s interesting leveling system intrigued Nem. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the game would provide all his equipment for him, he would seek out a forgeman the first chance he gets. Unfortunately, he doesn¡¯t need this sort of class and can only read about this class in wikis. After all, it wasn¡¯t worth his time searching for a forgeman just to satisfy curiosity! These forgemen are designed for utility purposes only, so their stats would naturally not be as impressive. This is what a level one forgeman¡¯s stat screen would look like: ================== Class: Forgeman Health: 250 Mana: 100 Str: 50 Dex: 25 Luck: 75 Int: 75 Special: 1 ================== Keep in mind, this isn¡¯t the best class, far from it in fact. If one just looked at the strength factor, bladewielder class has a level one stat of 150! Truly this class is something that can make many envious. Nem knew all this information from his day of studying. Knowing this, his face turned ugly when he was faced with the following stats: ================== Class: Spear Bearer Health: 150 Mana: 0 Str: 1 Dex: 1 Luck: 1 Int:1 Special: 20 ==================Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Admittedly, the special stat, which will be explained at a later date, is rather impressive. However, just look at his other stats! Look at his mana! Once a player accepts the beginner¡¯s quest, that player is given their first skill. In MobRingler, skill trees don¡¯t exist. They¡¯re rewarded to you through special event quests, leveling up, or just through game features. Leveling system for skills also don¡¯t exist. The skill¡¯s level and what skill one receives are all dictated by the game. This is because MobRingler is a skill focused game. This emphasis on a even start and even progress through similar skill caps makes it so that players have to compete for special skills and skill levels to get ahead of their job group and make a name for themselves. This kind of competitive atmosphere may seem a little extreme, but these sorts of temperament is needed in order to create a player that is truly skilled. In fact, looking at statistics, all the players in MobRingler that¡¯s played to date, have tested to have 20% better overall skill than when they first started playing. The first quest given to players, is a special quest that grants the player their first skill. These skills are your starting point. The Spear Bearer¡¯s stats almost made Nem vomit blood. The only thing that kept his reasoning in check was the special stat. Although it isn¡¯t significant right now, the special stat is something that can¡¯t be improved no matter what and will benefit Nem greatly later. ¡°It¡¯s alright, even though the stats are sh*t, the skills must be that much more OP.¡± Nem muttered to consoled himself. After all, if this class didn¡¯t have any significant perks, then why did Nem quit LoL? Would this not be the equivalent of being robbed if this class ended up just being garbage? It was then, Nem had a thought he never wanted to address. ¡°What if the reason the developers wanted to pull this class away from the public is because of how much it sucks? Maybe the 3 people rule in tournaments is made to dissuade any stubborn fellow that managed to get this account. Doesn¡¯t that make me the real loser then?¡± After spending a fair amount of time trying to shake away his doubts, Nem moved onto his equipment. Although players get beginner armor after the tutorial, these things are merely cosmetics. It isn¡¯t until level 3 that it¡¯s revealed that the player has another set of armor and weapons given to them in their inventory that¡¯s worth some stat points. Fortunately for Nem, he researched this matter beforehand and knew that he had this equipment. After all, if he didn¡¯t have any equipment to bolster his power, then how could he possibly get anything done with the garbage stats that he had? (For those of you unfamiliar to gaming terms, stats stand for status, which show your basic skills in certain points. STR stands for strength, which is generally for brute force classes, DEX is for dexterity, which usually is for the more nimble and flexible classes, INT is for intelligence, which is regularly dominated by spell casting classes, and LUCK stands for¡­ well, luck ^.^. It gives you luck, meaning you¡¯re less likely to miss hits and more likely to land critical hits which deal twice the damage.) All the gear that players get after the tutorial are for level 1 players. This was an intentional design made by the creators to reward smarter players that considered checking their inventory instead of playing along with the game mindlessly. Obviously, the latter would have a harder time as they won¡¯t have their equipment until level 3. Leveling isn¡¯t easy in MobRingler either, with the exception of a few individuals who are renown throughout the game, most players haven¡¯t even reached the level of Tian Ronin, although several hover around the peak of Zhang Master. Nem, who was feeling at a loss at his stats, was hoping that the weapons would please him a little more. Hopefully, he won¡¯t have to live with these garbage stats. When Nem opened his inventory, he found an item that read: ========= Dou Ronin Class Equipment Chest ========= Once using this item, Nem was once again at a loss. All the armor, which were all named the Bearer Novice Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, and Boots, had the same stats. 25 health and 1 STR! Nem was disgusted by the grossly terrible items that his class received. His complexion even paled a little as he thought about the horrors that awaited him in his quest to level. After all, how can one level and fight for skills and resources with only 5 STR! Spear Bearers fell under the physical class, all of which rely on STR as one of their main stat. Most classes will focus on 2 stats at a time but, from the item¡¯s stats, it seems that Spear Bearers are the rare exception, focusing only on STR. Being in the physical class means that damage is mostly dictated on the amount of points the player has on STR. DPS (Damage per second) is everything to these physical classes. With Nem¡¯s STR of 5, that means every hit will either do 5 damage or 10, if he gets lucky and crits. Nem really had a hard time regaining his reasoning after considering how terrible the Spear Bearers were. It took him approximately 10 minutes to wake up from his shock this time around. After regaining some of his senses, Nem once again became furious. Hadn¡¯t Te Byong conned him? Making this class seem OP and forcing him to give up his LoL career to switch to this sh*t? Nem decided to stop and consider the pros and cons of the Spear Bearer class. The pros were that he had an amazing amount of special, something that many would kill to have. Another good point is that with the addition of the health from the equipment, Nem reached the baseline health that forgemen typically have. The cons were that he had terrible stats. All his hits will only do 5 dmg and further leveling will require immense work. Nem sighed. He was starting to see why the Spear Bearer class had such strict requirements to play. With only 5 dmg against level 1 monsters with 100 health, that would mean he needs to hit the monster 20 times! And that¡¯s just for 1 level 1 monster! Even if someone had Mu level APM and Reaction speed, they would still barely qualify. Steeling his heart, Nem prepared himself for disappointment as he looked at his weapon. According to what he¡¯s seen so far, his expectations for his weapon weren¡¯t that high. The Spear, which Nem assumed would be named Bearer Novice spear actually had a decent name, ¡°Bo Fai¡±. This name really fit the spear owner¡¯s predicament. Bo meaning wave-like and Fai meaning beginning, coming together to mean wave-like beginning. Nem¡¯s predicament was truly like a wave-like beginning, it was as if he was a young cub being thrown into a ferocious ocean. Although at first, he neither had the experience or ability to survive, if the cub managed to get back to shore with it¡¯s own power, it would come out stronger and better than before. Nem silently thanked the developers as this name was similar to a silent encouragement by them, telling him to persevere. Nem just hoped that there was a reward at the end of the journey. After all, if he spends years leveling this character up only to find that the pinnacle is only so-so, wouldn¡¯t his time have been wasted struggling for no reason? When Nem looked down at Bo Fai¡¯s stats, he was dumbfounded. ========= Bo Fai Str: 5 Special:10 ========= Even though Bo Fai single handedly doubled Nem¡¯s STR stats, this didn¡¯t matter to him at all. Whether it was 5 or 10, either way he was going to struggle fighting beginner monsters. What surprised him is the special stats. As mentioned before, special stats weren¡¯t something attainable nor something that players get more of, yet here Nem was with a weapon that gave him 10 more! 10 doesn¡¯t seem too big of a number, however, in the world of MobRingler it was huge. Every class, at a certain point, receives a special skill. Take the forgeman for instance. The forgeman¡¯s special skill is received at Zhou Bishop rank. Normally, forgeman can only make equipment that are the same or lower rank than they are. With their special skill forge mastery, however, they can forge 1 item that is a full rank above them! This would mean a Zhou Bishop can make a Zhou Master rank item! Special skills like these require the use of special points, just like normal skills use mana. The difference, however, is that special points can¡¯t be restored like mana. They¡¯ll naturally be restored at the beginning of every month. Special points can¡¯t be stacked either. If a forgeman doesn¡¯t use his special skill then at the end of the month his special point won¡¯t be 2 but will stay as a 1. Most classes were similar to the forgeman in the aspect that their special points can easily be counted by the fingers on one¡¯s hands. Nem, however, had 20 base special points and got 10 more from Bo Fai! This means that whatever spectacular special the Spear Bearers had, he would be able to use it 30 times a month! Wasn¡¯t this a little too luxurious? Although Nem was a little suspicious, considering whenever something seems good it ends up being bad for him, at the end of the day he couldn¡¯t help but feel like this vast amount of special points makes up for the low stats. After all, if he was really desperate then wouldn¡¯t he be able to just spam (use/do something repeatedly) his special to severely harm his opponent? Overall, from Nem¡¯s beginning stats, he wasn¡¯t sure whether they were bad or good. At the moment, they can only be described as so-so. First Kill! Now that Nem checked everything all the background information, he decided he was finally ready to start the first quest. (about time ) Nem was excited. Due to his research, he knew that once he accepts this quest he should receive his first skill. Although he¡¯s learned to be cautious of his expectations from his stats, Nem¡¯s mouth couldn¡¯t help but water a little as he thought about all the types of skills that he could receive as his first. Generally speaking, classes are true to their names. Forgemen forge and bladewielders wield blades. Following this logic, his first skill should be something spear related, with speed and long distance as the primary focus. Imagining the possibilities was making Nem anxious so he decided to stop torturing himself with anticipation and pressed the ¡°accept¡± button for the first quest. ==================== Beginner¡¯s Quest Green Plains Subquest 1 Hunt Slimes: 0/15 ==================== Nem wasn¡¯t too surprised by the quest that arose. Most RPGs (Role-Playing Games) had slimes as their first mob/monster. Generally, most games categorized these as simple and weak monsters that players face to help get used to new games and hunt for easy exp (experience points which dictates how close you are to leveling up). Nem gave a firm nod after seeing that slimes had started to spawn around him. It appeared that in the ¡°Green Plains¡± monsters appeared along with the quest. Although this theory can¡¯t be proven yet, it¡¯s a good assumption of how this part of MobRingler works. After seeing some of these slimes, however, Nem didn¡¯t move. He stayed motionless, waiting for his first skill. He was afraid that moving might affect the game and make him lose out on his skill, so he continued to wait. Nem continued to wait patiently¡­ First it was 5 seconds, then 30, then a minute, 3 minutes, and finally, after 5 minutes Nem thought he heard a sound. Unfortunately, this sound turned out to be the sound of the slimes bouncing around. As the almost hypnotically rhythmic sounds of sloshing came from the slimes that were around Nem, he continued to stand in place. Confused and uncertain, Nem looked around him, as if some genie would magically appear and help him out. After Nem was certain a skill wasn¡¯t coming for him, he let out a long sigh. He wasn¡¯t expecting too much, but to receive nothing at all? Won¡¯t he just be walking up to the slimes and simple whacking them with his spear? Bo Fai indeed. It truly looked like this start is going to be hard. If one wanted skills, you need to level up or do special quests/events. Since only leveling was open to Nem, at the moment, he decided to hurry and kill some slimes. Maybe if he killed a few he would level up. As he approached his first slime, Nem noticed a few distinguishing traits. First, he saw the slime¡¯s description that appear above the head of all characters, monsters, or other NPCs in RPG games. It read:This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. =============== Green Slimes Lvl: 1 Hp: 50 Description: These green blobs of jello attack without discretion. Although this slime is a relatively weak monster, to beginners it still packs quite a punch! (For future reference, pun intended) =============== It seemed that these slimes had 50 health. With the 10 STR that Nem currently had, it would mean that it takes 5 strikes for him to kill one of these slimes. The second thing he noticed was that these slimes were massive. Compared to Nem, these slimes are 2 to 3 times bigger. The last thing Nem observed was that these massive green goo creatures have a pink sphere inside of them. Looking at these slimes, it seemed to Nem that these parts were the slime¡¯s weak point. After all, why else would the game developers leave such a feature to the slimes if this pink sphere didn¡¯t serve some purpose? Holding Bo Fai closely, Nem slowly walked up to the first slime that came close to him. Monsters have a system called aggro which is short for aggravation. Any unfortunate fellow who receives the monster¡¯s aggro will find themselves targeted by the monster. When Nem reached 20 meters away from the slime, it¡¯s wobbly body started wiggling towards him. When a player approaches a certain distance from the monsters, their aggro will automatically be placed onto you. As Nem saw the slime wiggling it¡¯s gigantic body towards him, he calmly prepared to strike it down. If Nem was scared of a lvl 1 slime, how can he call himself one of the greatest gamers alive? ¡°These beginning monsters shouldn¡¯t be too strong,¡± or so Nem thought. When the slime reached 5 meters away from Nem, he suddenly charged at the slime. Right when the slime was in front of him, Nem leapt into the air to get himself closer to the pink sphere at the top of the slime¡¯s body. With an exaggerated movement, Nem lifted his spear. With all his current strength, Nem slashed down viciously, hoping to break this pink sphere in one strike. As Bo Fai broke through layers of the slime¡¯s jello body, it stopped just 5 inches short of the pink sphere. It seemed like direct confrontation wasn¡¯t the best method. When Nem¡¯s strike failed, he gracefully turned his body to prepare to land back on the ground. The slime, however, had different plans. After all, the game wouldn¡¯t be fun if the monsters didn¡¯t fight back. All the jello that surrounded the pink sphere suddenly shaped itself into a huge hand that struck down onto Nem. (see what I meant by pun intended) Nem, who was still in the air, had no way of dodging and could only take this strike head on. Luckily, there was a blocking mechanism in the game to help soften the dmg he would take. When the hand hit Nem, it pushed Nem down so hard that he bounced off the floor like a rubber ball. The force was so strong, that crack lines had spread everywhere from where Nem had bounced off of. A red text appeared off the top of Nem¡¯s head that read, ¡°-50¡± This red text happened to be the dmg indicator, telling Nem that he took 50 dmg! With strength this frightening, it would mean Nem can only handle 5 strikes before he died! Even before Nem had the chance to register just how frightening this dmg was, a black shadow suddenly encompassed Nem. Looking up, this ominous shade came from the slime, that had once again prepared itself to strike Nem. Nem wasn¡¯t prepared for the suddenly follow up attack and could only once again try to block the gigantic jello hand. This time, he managed to get his guard up and only took 25 dmg. After smacking down on Nem, the gelatin hand once again surrounded the pink sphere and once again took it¡¯s huge wobbly slime form. Seeing an opportunity, Nem managed to flee a good 10 meters before he let out a sigh of relief. What just happened to him didn¡¯t completely register until just now. Even though everything appeared hopeless, one could not forget Nem was playing a game. Although he was useless in the real world, when he was playing games, Nem would turn into a superhuman. Why? Because Nem was a big video game addict that has no talent except for gaming of course! (Sad but true) It was thanks to this skill, however, that he happened to notice a key detail during the brief exchange with the slime earlier. When the slime is in it¡¯s big wobbly form, it¡¯s outer body is impossible to penetrate, however, this layer of jello that surrounds the pink sphere lessens when the slime is attacking. This is because most of the jello goes into the hand that the slime forms when it attacks, leaving only a thin line of jello connecting the hand to the equally thin line of protection that remains to protect the pink sphere. It seemed that if Nem wanted to dmg the slimes, he would have to muster up his courage and strike during the slime¡¯s attacks. Luckily for Nem, these slimes were slow and would take a while before it returns to its natural form.It was during this small window that Nem would have an opportunity to retaliate! Naturally, the slime wouldn¡¯t stay docile and let Nem process these thoughts without interruption. While Nem was thinking, the slime had approached and attacked Nem several times. This time, however, Nem was prepared for its attack and managed to dodge most of the strikes. One of them, however, caught Nem while he was in the air from dodging another attack, dealing 50 more dmg. By this point, Nem only had half his health remaining and a plan that might possibly work. First Kill! (2) After letting the slime attack once again, Nem quickly side stepped the hand. When it hit the ground, the floor once again formed crack lines around the hand. This time, after Nem dodged the hand, he was ready to strike back. As the hand was once again rising, Nem had already made the dash to pink sphere. Seeing (or sensing these slimes don¡¯t really have eyes) this sudden movement, the slime tried to hurriedly assemble itself back into its defense form. Nem, however, was faster and reached the pink sphere before the jello managed to retract. Tightly gripping Bo Fai, Nem quickly jabbed his spear out to the pink sphere. The strike easily managed to penetrate the thin layer of gelatine protection and directly hit the pink sphere. Bo Fai, however, didn¡¯t break the pink sphere. Insead, a small crack had formed on this sphere and a dmg indicator popped up above the sphere that read ¡°-10¡±. Before Nem could attempt to attack again, the jello had reached the pink sphere and once again surrounded it, forcefully expelling Nem, who was near it. Just the force of this jello was enough to do 5 dmg to Nem, leaving him with only 120 HP remaining. Although Nem had hoped to break the sphere in one shot, his retaliation wasn¡¯t completely wasted. The slime only had 40 HP remaining and this time, Nem had a reliable way to dmg the slime. The slime was enraged by Nem. Nem cracked it¡¯s pink sphere and had directly hurt it. Instead of forming back into the big hand to whack Nem, the slime carefully attacked Nem. Unfortunately for Nem, the game has a form of AI that allows its monsters and NPCs to react, learn, and adapt to attacks. This time, the slime used it¡¯s massive body to try to body slam Nem. Having no way to counter the slime¡¯s attack or harm it, Nem had no choice but to continuously dodge the slime. Thankfully, the slime¡¯s defense form was slow, making it less mobile, and had a smaller attack range, meaning that it had to slowly wobble up to Nem and try to attack him from closeby. This made it easier for Nem to quickly evade the slime¡¯s attacks. The only problem Nem had, was trying to dodge the slime in a way that avoided crossing into another slime¡¯s aggro. He was already having trouble with a single slime, but two slimes was pass his limit. After a bit of dodging, it seemed the slime got a little impatient and once again formed into the hand to try to swat Nem away. Although the slime¡¯s AI let it learn, the slime wasn¡¯t a very smart creature and had already forgotten, in it¡¯s anger, that trying to attack Nem in hand form would allow him to counter attack. Nem didn¡¯t let this opportunity to go to waste as he gracefully danced around the hand and once again jabbed Bo Fai into the pink sphere. Bo Fai managed to leave another crack into the pink sphere and deal another 10 dmg, leaving the slime with 30 HP.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Seeing the jello once again trying to form into the defense form, Nem quickly lept away, not wanting to take dmg like earlier. Even though it was only 5 dmg, these wounds quickly pile up and can lead to an unfortunate death. This time, Nem managed to perfectly counterattack the slime without taking a single hit. After another minute of swift dodging from Nem, the slime once again tried to hit Nem in it¡¯s hand form and another crack appeared in the pink sphere due to Nem¡¯s retaliation. Nem sighed, from the looks of it, these slimes aren¡¯t too intelligent and forgets its own weakness in a minute. Even though it was troublesome, it was still possible for Nem to hunt these slimes. Nem continued to dance circles around the slime. As MobRingler was complex enough to have coded a small form of AI, dancing around the slime and evading it¡¯s hit at the last second seemed to irritate the slime, as this time it only took 30 seconds before it tried its hand form again. Nem, who at this point was getting used to dodging and attacking, used his increasingly graceful footwork to dodge and approach the pink sphere. Nem lifted Bo Fai up for another strike and got ready to once again jump away from the slime before it reforged itself. This time, however, Bo Fai didn¡¯t crack the pink sphere but instead directly shattered it! The dmg indicator above the slime read ¡°-20¡± as the jello that had once been controlled around the slime disappeared, turning back into a stream of 1s and 0s. Nem couldn¡¯t help but laugh a little when he saw this slime die. Although he eventually would have slain it, this crit was a small bit of luck that he definitely welcomed. He had expected an inch but had received a mile, saving him a bit of time. After the slime¡¯s body disappeared, all that was left was a piece of the pink sphere that Nem had shattered earlier. It seemed this pink sphere was the loot he received from the slime. Nem didn¡¯t want to waste this loot and put it into his inventory to be stored for later. By now, Nem¡¯s quest board had already updated from 0/15 slimes to 1/15. Nem shook his head as he mocked himself. Nem shouldn¡¯t be celebrating a single kill when he needed 15 more. It would seem that to finish this quest, it would take him a bit of time. Nem rolled up his shoulders like he was about to do some heavy labor and prepared to kill another slime. If others saw Nem¡¯s current actions, they wouldn¡¯t be able to stop themselves from laughing. Slimes were MobRingler¡¯s easiest monster that even a newborn baby can kill without thought, yet Nem, who was a professional gamer, couldn¡¯t help but struggle to kill these slimes. What Nem didn¡¯t know was that due to other classes¡¯ better stats, they would be able to directly penetrate the slime¡¯s defense form and hit the pink sphere without waiting for the slime to attack. Although it would reduce their dmg by a little, it was still significantly easier than what Nem had to face just now. 1st Skill A man stood alone in a massive field of green as he scanned his surroundings. It would be troublesome for the man to fight two slimes at once, so he patiently waited for a slime to wander off enough to be fought without dragging other slimes into the fight. The man estimated the distanced needed to be around 30 meters from other slimes. This man was naturally Nem, who had already killed 14 other slimes. He needed 1 last kill to finish his first quest. After a while, a slime separated far enough from the rest of the slimes for Nem to be able to kill it. By this point, Nem had already done this 14 times and was able to mop up this slime quickly without taking any dmg. Although he made it seem easy, this efficiency came from the experience of 14 other battles. Through these battles, Nem had gotten hit twice more, once while blocking and another while of was off guard. This left the current Nem at 45 HP, meaning a solid hit from a slime would finish him. Nem wasn¡¯t worried though. After he finished this kill, he should be able to level up, reseting his health back to a perfect 250. In fact, he¡¯ll probably have even more health then at his previous peak. This was because every level up, in most games including MobRingler, meant a stat increase. After a little bit, Nem quickly struck the slime¡¯s pink sphere one last time as it shattered. The slime¡¯s body disappeared and Nem once again collected the piece of the pink sphere that the slime at dropped. At this point, he had 13 of these pieces. Loot wasn¡¯t always guaranteed so 13/15 couldn¡¯t be considered a bad luck, considering it was possible for him to get significantly less. After Nem stored this piece of pink sphere, a quest notification popped up saying, ¡°Congratulations on killing 15 slimes! Finish this quest to receive basic items!¡± Nem didn¡¯t delay before he pressed the ¡°Finish¡± button on this notification. By this point Nem had already gotten used to disappointment, so he wasn¡¯t fazed by the fact that nothing happened. There was no energy, no music, no happy ¡°Level Up!¡± message. Just a man and his spear, standing in the now empty field. When Nem finished the quest, there was no need for the slimes to remain so the field was cleared. Once Nem accepted his next quest, the respective monsters would spawn in place of the slimes. Before Nem could rush onto his next quest, he made sure to check his inventory. After finishing the slime quest, he had received a few basic items for his own survival purposes. The items he received from the quest were as followed: Nem slowly looked over his inventory to check his gains. The potions were a definite must-have. Although he had no mana, he wanted to hold onto them in. After all, the most unfortunate scenario would be leveling up to find that he uses mana, only to remember he¡¯s thrown his mana potions away already. Being no fool, Nem decided to hold onto the mana potions just in case he ever needed them.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The health potions, on the other hand, were an essential. Most players would use 1 or 2 before throwing away these non-sellable beginner potions away. This was because by the time they left the Green Plains, these potions just wouldn¡¯t heal enough. As they level, their need for them just goes away, making them useless compared to higher tier potions they can receive through other means. For Nem though, these potions were like gifts from the heavens. Why these are so valued doesn¡¯t need much explanation. After all, if Nem had this much trouble with slimes, how will he deal with the next monsters with only 45 HP? Nem used 2 of these potions instantly. Only drinking 2 potions raised his health to 145. A third potion wasn¡¯t needed as anymore would just be a waste of resources. The last item that Nem had received was a skill. Hovering his mouse over the item, the description read: ========== Special Skill: Observant This player, whether knowingly or not, used their observational skills to find a weakness in his/her opponent¡¯s attack. Due to this, the player has obtained Observant. Skill Description Observant: Passive; Enemy¡¯s weakness will now be visible to the player ========== After reading the description, Nem¡¯s face lit up with ecstasy. He wasn¡¯t expecting to get a special skill so soon. Although this skill couldn¡¯t compare to any real skills, it was the best thing for Nem in this scenario. Using this skill, Nem wouldn¡¯t have to extend as much effort as he did with the slimes, making his quest to level up that much easier. Even after he levels up, having this skill in the future will definitely help. Being able to find and attack someone¡¯s weakness without them noticing is something that takes practice. For Nem, however, he would simply have to look at someone to be able to find their weaknesses. Nem estimated this skill to be the highest of the low tier skills. As useful as it is, it¡¯s a passive skill and could ultimately not help if faced against a truly strong person. After all, in the face of true power, trickery becomes useless. This skill, however, will be very beneficial when fighting with someone with weaker or equal strength to Nem. Nem quickly looked around, afraid that someone would come and steal his treasure. Although the Green Plains was a single player area, nem couldn¡¯t help but be paranoid. Instead of killing himself with paranoia, Nem used the Special Skill item to immediately gain it¡¯s effects. A strange wind caressed the Green Plains as a golden message flashed in front of Nem. ¡°Observant has been learned!¡± Nem wanted to see this new skill in action as soon as possible. He checked his quest journal to find his next target to bash on. ==================== Beginner¡¯s Quest Green Plains Subquest 2 Hunt Golem: 0/20 ==================== ¡°They really got creative with this one.¡± Nem said sarcastically as he accepted the next quest. ¡°They got the slime and the golem, what¡¯s next, goblins?¡± Immediately after Nem accepted the next quest, Golems started to spawn. Nem quietly waited for a few minutes. Now that they had just started spawning, the appearance rate of golems were pretty high. As time went on, however, the spawning rate slowly deteriorated until it stopped altogether. After exactly 20 golems had spawned, no more appeared. When Nem was sure that there would be no more golems spawning, he got ready to take action. Once again, Nem waited until a golem was fairly isolated. Just like the slimes, Nem wasn¡¯t confident in taking 2 golems out at once and instead opted to kill one at a time. After one finally wandered from the main cluster, Nem attacked. 1st Skill (2) Although golems were different from slimes, there was one similarity that Nem couldn¡¯t deny. It was the fact that both opted to making heavy attacks, making their blows slow but painful. Nem made sure to constantly watch the golem¡¯s movements. As soon as the golem tries to attack, Nem will be ready to dodge. Nem darted towards the lone golem like an arrow. Before he had a chance to reach the golem, however, it took the initiative and launched the first strike. Nem, who had been carefully watching, immediately dodged the massive arm that descended upon him. The golems were shaped similarly to humans, except 3 times as large. There were two traits that distinguished these golems from humans. Their bodies were made of stone and their arms were so long that it extended from their rocky shoulder, down to the ground below. This long arm had been raised and practically launched at Nem. Nem could see how strong this attack was just by the way the arm split the wind as it fell. Such strength is not something Nem could face head on. When the golem attacked, it¡¯s torso turned a little with the attack, exposing the backside of the golem¡¯s head. While Nem somersaulted in the air, he saw the golem¡¯s head out of the corner of his eyes. Nem was briefly shocked when he saw that on the back of the golem¡¯s head was the same pink sphere that the slimes had! If it was like before, striking this sphere would hurt the golem. Although he hasn¡¯t directly hit the golem yet, Nem would wager that hitting this sphere did significantly more dmg than simply whacking it¡¯s body. Nem decided to try to target that pink sphere. The golem¡¯s arms were so long that they it had launched an attack way before Nem was close enough to hit it. Using this moment to lessen the gap, Nem ran as fast as he could. Right when Nem had almost reached attacking distance, the golem spun it¡¯s body like a top. Its massive arms, which had been lowered, extended out. Nem could hear the sound of wind splitting due to the sheer brute strength that was in those arms. Right when Nem was going to dodge, however, a golden light appeared on the elbow of the golem¡¯s arms. This weird light was in the shape of a foot. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. A very brief conflict arose inside Nem¡¯s head as he couldn¡¯t decide if he wanted to follow this light. Having no time to decide, Nem leapt away from the arms, instead of towards the golden light. Right when the golem stopped spinning, the back of it¡¯s head was coincidentally facing Nem, exposing the pink sphere. Then a golden ball of light, so dazzling that it made one want to stare at it for a long time, shone on this pink sphere. It seemed that if Nem had chosen to trust the golden light earlier and jump onto the elbow, he would be in the perfect position to jump and strike the sphere. Suddenly, a light seemed to go off in Nem¡¯s head as he made the connection. It seemed that this golden light was the work of his new skill Observant. It didn¡¯t just reveal someone¡¯s weakness, but a path to attack people from, the prerequisite being that one could react fast enough to act upon the light. The foot-shaped light showed what direction to move, and the ball of light revealed the weakness! After figuring this out, another golden light suddenly appeared about 3 meters from Nem. This time, Nem acted upon the light and jumped out onto the light. Right when his foot landed on the same spot as this foot-shaped light, then golem¡¯s arm whizzed past Nem, striking the spot where he had just been before. A cold sweat ran down Nem¡¯s back as he remembered not to get too careless. As the arm hit the ground with frightening force, another foot-shaped golden light appeared on the golem¡¯s elbow. Without hesitation, Nem jumped towards the golden light, reaching it almost as instantly as it appeared. When the golem attacked, it used so much force that the top portion of its body had been forced downwards, once again exposing the pink sphere. On the pink sphere, an especially eye-catching ball of golden light had appeared. Seeing his que to attack, Nem leapt off the golem¡¯s arm, which happened to give him just enough leverage to reach slightly above the golem¡¯s head. With one mighty swing of Bo Fai, Nem let gravity push him down as the spear strike hit the pink sphere, leaving a crack. This time, the dmg indicator read ¡°-20¡±! Although this skill seemed a little too OP, one has to bear in mind how fast everything happened. From the time the first golden print appeared in front of Nem to when his spear had met the pink sphere, so little time had passed that, if given the same time frame, a man would be unable to sit down and rise back up in full speed. The only reason Nem had been able to follow along with this frighteningly speedy and bizarre light, was because his reaction time was equally frightening! Nem had no time to rest, as another light had instantly appeared right when Nem landed from the previous. With the help of the golden light, Nem had managed to dispose of this golem in 3 simple minutes in only 10 strikes! Given a golem had 200 health, with Nem¡¯s simple 10 STR, he would¡¯ve originally needed twice the amount to finish this golem off! After Nem had dealt the last strike, crack lines spread across the entire golem¡¯s body as it crumbled along with the pink sphere. Left in the rubble, as loot, was the same pink sphere shard that Nem had found from the slimes. Picking up the pink sphere, Nem held it in his hands and examined it. A curve started to form upwards on Nem¡¯s face as he put away the pink shard. A massacre would surely follow. N-Nani? What would have normally been a massacre, ended up pretty anti climactic. Nem saw another isolated golem and slowly swaggered towards it, his hip swinging in huge arcs. Normally, Nem would approach any situation cautiously, due to the weak nature of his character. This time, however, Nem walked towards the golem with cockiness so bright that the sun would pale in comparison. The golem, seeing Nem slowly approach it, raised its arm for a mighty swing. Nem didn¡¯t dodge nor attempt to block the attack. Even when the golem¡¯s arm had already started descending at breakneck speed, Nem continued to walk towards the golem in a slow manner. Any moment now, the golden light would come. As Nem patiently awaited the golden light, that had yet to appear, the long arm continued to fall. Soon, it reached a distance of 8 meters from Nem¡¯s head. 6 meters 3 meters 1 meter Right when the arm was 2 feet away from Nem¡¯s head he caught a golden light out of the corner of his eye. Nem looked at the direction he saw the light. Nem¡¯s face was ecstatic for a moment, and then instantly changed into an expression of shock as he came to the realization that the golden light he saw just now never existed. His eyes had played tricks on him. Right when Nem made this realization, the arm finished its journey and smashed into Nem¡¯s head. Having never felt the giant golem¡¯s attack before, Nem didn¡¯t know how strong its attack was. His cockiness, however, had lead him to overestimate himself; setting him up to take the golem¡¯s attack on at full force. The golem¡¯s arm was so strong that he had directly forced Nem to flip over and land on the group face first. That¡¯s when the rest of the long arm completely rested on the floor, causing a huge tsunami of dust and rubble to erupt all around it.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. After a long while, the arm finally lifted up, revealing the devastation it left on the ground below it. One could vaguely see an outline of a human on the edge of the ravine that the arm had left in its wake. A hand suddenly erupted from the outline of the human and a young man climbed out. When the dust settled, one could see that the young man was Nem. He had been hit so hard that his body had been thrown a whole foot underground! Nem quickly chugged 2 potions before escaping the golem¡¯s next attack. The arm had done 120 dmg to Nem, leaving him with hardly 25 hp! Luckily he had the potions from earlier and could somewhat recover. Although the golem¡¯s attack was swift and fierce, they were heavily telecasted (some action showed that the attack was going to happen) and thus predictable. While Nem continously dodged the golem¡¯s attack, he checked his skills to see why Observant hadn¡¯t activated. When he looked at the skill bar, he was greeted by a gray Observant icon with a number indicating its cooldown. If it was just a normal cooldown, Nem wouldn¡¯t fret and would simply wait it out, however, the cooldown wasn¡¯t just a ¡°normal¡± one. It wasn¡¯t 3 seconds long, 3 minutes long, or even 3 hours long, but 3 whole days long! 72 hours! This meant that he could only use this skill once every 3 days, and since it¡¯s a passive skill, he can¡¯t control when and where it activates, meaning that it will be next to impossible to use during dire situations without some serious luck. Just when Nem had thought he had approached the end of the tunnel, he was blocked with a huge bolder yet again! This skill, Observant, was the key to making his somewhat undesirable situation better, yet the drawback was simply too great. --------------- 10 minutes had passed and Nem had finally slain the golem he was fighting earlier. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that Nem had remembered where and when the golden lights showed up during his earlier confrontation, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to take this golem down. Even with the help of knowing how to counteract it, it took him twice as long this time! Nem bitterly collected the pink shard that fell as he thought about how obsolete the only skill he had, had become. Looks like there¡¯s no shortcut to becoming strong. Nem would have to bitterly farm to become a strong player. N-Nani? (2) Nem opened his eyes and exhaled slowly. It felt as if all the world¡¯s stress could be relieved through that one breath. Nem had been farming for the past 3 hours. He had gotten through most of the subquests and is now on what he believed to be the last one. The last quest insisted of killing 50 Stoners. (Uh I swear judge it¡¯s not what you think.) Each Stoner was 10 meters tall and 5 meters wide. They were huge slabs of rectangular rock that wandered aimlessly until a foolish man approached them. (See told you so) Nem had already slain 49 and only needed to finish off 1 more before finally leaving the Green Plains. During this time, Nem had acquired several items that he used throughout his journey. Of the items he received, he had 6 health potions, 50 mana potions, and 376 pink shards remaining. To Nem, this moment was a big step forward. If the Green Plains are considered the true beginning of the game, then leaving it would signify the beginning of that person¡¯s journey to becoming strong. Although most players can casually walk through the Green Plains without shrugging, Nem wasn¡¯t as fortunate and had to slowly and painfully fight his way into the end. Now, Nem faced the final stoner that stood between him and this big step. Throughout the 3 hours of playing, Nem hadn¡¯t wasted a single moment. As he dodged and slain monsters, he had honed his observational skill to the point where he could tell the attack pattern and weakness of most enemy attacks after 1 battle. To be honest, it wasn¡¯t that hard of a thing to do. Even though monsters have several attacks, once they¡¯re all shown, it isn¡¯t hard to memorize them. As for their weakness, strangely all the monsters had a pink shard located somewhere on their bodies to hit. This stoner was no exception. Once Nem had reached a certain distance from the stoner, it suddenly jerked to a stop. Slowly, it rotated it¡¯s giant rectangular body to face Nem and¡­ jumped?This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. That¡¯s right, the giant 10 by 5 meter giant slab of stone jumped! Being as large as it was, it didn¡¯t get far. After reaching a small distance in the air, it leaned forward and let it¡¯s giant body fall towards Nem, aiming to squash him in the process. Nem looked at the stoner indifferently as he stepped to the left. Although this sidestep seemed simple, more experienced players would be able to see that Nem had perfectly timed the step to just barely dodge the giant¡¯s attack at the last second. As the giant hit the floor, it left crack lines that spread as far as 50 meters in all directions. The instant the stoner¡¯s body hit the floor, it made a giant WHOMP sound. Luckily, the game had an auto terrain (land) repair system, else Nem would be surrounded in nothing but craters at this moment. As the crack lines swiftly approached Nem, he jumped into the air and dodged both the crack lines and the massive storm of dust and rubble flying towards him. Spinning gracefully in the air, Nem landed on the edge of the stoner¡¯s body. Without a moment¡¯s delay, he started sprinting at full speed towards the center of the stoner. In the stoner¡¯s center, on its back, is a fairly decent sized pink crystal that was already full of several cracks. Nem had repeatedly hit this crystal several times already. Just as the stoner showed signs of moving again, Nem clutched Bo Fai and slowly drew it backwards. Swiftly, like an arrow that was just launched, Nem jabbed Bo Fai forward and borrowed the momentum from his spear strike to launch himself forward. Just when the stoner started getting up, making everything on its back slide off due to the huge incline made from its body, Bo Fai¡¯s tip touched the pink crystal and soon after completely pierced it. Nem lept into the air as the stoner¡¯s body exploded into numerous rock pieces that would slowly disappear. When he hit the ground, he approached a piece of pink shard that was left behind. Regardless of the original crystal¡¯s size, the shards would always drop in the same size. Nem picked up the shard and stored it, just like he¡¯s done 376 other times. Nem had a strong feeling that something was going to happen when he turned in the quest. Not wanting to delay himself, Nem pressed the quest finish button, resulting in a sudden feeling of giddiness in his body. Suddenly, a strange force built up in Nem¡¯s body and exploded out in all directions. Then, in a strange font, words appeared. These words seemed a little foreign to Nem and he didn¡¯t understand what they meant at first (due to the shock of course), however, one thing that Nem did register was that one of the words undeniably read ¡°Breakthrough!¡± Dou Bishop As the words shone with brilliance in front of Nem, a strong force suddenly originated from his body, emitting a powerful blast that spread in all directions. The power extended 50 meters and everywhere it went, grass bent over. The scene looked each blade of grass was a hare running away from a lion, and in the center of this scene stood the lion, the source of this phenomenon, Nem! Nem¡¯s eyeballs bloated like balloons as he read the words ¡°Breakthrough: Dou Bishop!¡± For normal people, they would have to level up 100 times! Although the beginner quests were rigged to give you 100 levels by the time you leave, Nem had been stuck at level 1 for a while now. If the words in from of him wasn¡¯t a mistake, then doesn¡¯t that mean Nem has skipped 100 levels all at once? Also, if he had skipped 100 levels, then that means that he had the stats of a character 100 levels ahead of the him from before! Estatically, Nem quickly reached over with his hand to open the stats screen. He was slightly hunched over, panting from excitement. The whole scene appeared a bit comical to be honest. Opening up his stats, Nem¡¯s excitement quickly disappeared. He had made the mistake of raising his expectations again, only to be let down. ================== Class: Spear Bearer Health: 200 (+100) Mana: 0 Str: 3 (+9) Dex: 3 Luck: 3 Int:3 Special: 40 (+10) ================== Nem¡¯s face turned ugly and the smile he had worn just a moment ago instantly disappeared and his mouth opened so wide that a baby elephant would easily be able to waltz in. Not including the +9 from his equipment, Nem¡¯s stats all around only had increased by 2! All though all of his stats increased, instead of the traditional 2, wasn¡¯t this increase too small? He had leapt from one rank to the next only to find out that the difference was basically non-existent. Fortunately for Nem, disappointment had slowly become an old friend of his by now. It took Nem a considerably less amount of time to compose himself then it took him when he first started playing Spear Bearer. Although he was bitter, he had no choice but to accept the fact that his road will be significantly harder than others. Even if he wanted to, MobRingler has special means to keep people from creating multiple accounts, so Nem had no choice but to cling on to the hope that the Spear Bearer will eventually get stronger as time progresses. After taking several deep breaths and gathering his thoughts, Nem opened up his inventory. Although his equipment were a little lack luster, they were still better than nothing. He had been promised a new set of equipment every time he ranked up. Luckily for Nem, although they were trolls, the game developers weren¡¯t liars. As promised, in his inventory was another chest, containing the goods that was promised.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ========= Dou Bishop Class Equipment Chest ========= Luckily for Nem, the heavens were on his side today. When he opened the chest, he was faced with several things that made him leap with joy. The first of which, and the most important, was a skill! Inside the chest he had received a skill. Most games, there were set skills and the player would choose which to get and level. In MobRingler, they were automatically given to you and players could also pursue rare skills through events. This process was done by making skills in the form of items, like Observable was. The player would receive an untradeable item that they can use to give themselves a skill. (As for leveling up the skill, the game will automatically do so depending on the frequency the player uses the skill and the player¡¯s level.) Nem had received such an item in his inventory. ========== Spear Bearer Skill: Triple Talon Threat Skill Description Triple Talon Threat: Active: 1 Skill Point; The player calls forth holy power from within himself to temporarily increase their attack speed to the max (3 attacks per second) for the next 2 attacks. Attacks done with Triple Talon Threat on does X5 damage. ========== Nem was astounded that this was his first skill. There was nothing special about it; it just wasn¡¯t¡­ flashy. His first skill was simply an attack empowerment, albeit the effects aren¡¯t too bad. Another thing that worried Nem was the fact that he needed Skill Points to use his skill. Doesn¡¯t that mean that this empowerment skill was his special skill? It uses his SP (Special Points) after all. ¡°This is it?¡± Nem ungratefully murmured. If the skill had cost mana, then Nem would easily be able to replenish his mana and constantly spam his skills. He had a large stock of mana potions waiting after all. The skill, however, costs SP! SP only replenishes at the beginning of each month. Since he had 50 SP after his breakthrough, he would be able to use Triple Talon Threat 50 times, and no more than that. 50 times! Nem would do the math to find out just how badly he has it, but he was simply too lazy. Quite frankly, even if he wasn¡¯t lazy, finding out how large his grave is, won¡¯t help him at all. Thankfully, this wasn¡¯t the only thing he had received from the chest. Just like before, he received 4 items that were named Dou Apprentice Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, and Boots. This time, however, he didn¡¯t receive another spear. Instead, he found a strange gem. The gem had flat edges and was shaped into a perfect diamond. It was like a master smith went through and carefully refined its edges to shape it into a diamond. The already dark gray colored gem also had a strange black mist inside of it that one can only see if they looked carefully. Strangely, this item was a consumable object. Its description said, ¡°This gem can be used on a Spear Bearer spear to upgrade it.¡± Nem¡¯s first thought upon reading this description was to save and hoard as many of these gems as possible to use on his final spear, making the end result frighteningly powerful. Unfortunately, the very next line read, ¡°These ¡°Shadow Essences¡± can upgrade a spear 3 times.¡± Since he can¡¯t hoard these essences, Nem decided to just use it on Bo Fai. When Nem used the Shadow Essence on Bo Fai, the dark gray outer crystal shattered and the mist inside of it seeped out, slowly gathering on Bo Fai¡¯s tip. After the strange mist was fully absorbed by Bo Fai, its previously specless tip turned dark gray, making the spear look like it was dipped in poison. After the strange phenomenon occurred, Bo Fai¡¯s stats changed. Formerly, they gave 5 STR and 10 SP. Now, after upgrading it with the Shadow Essence it changed to 10 STR and 20 SP! That, combined with the new gear that each gave 50 HP and 2 STR, left Nem¡¯s stats looking like this: ================== Class: Spear Bearer Health: 200 (+200) Mana: 0 Str: 3 (+18) Dex: 3 Luck: 3 Int:3 Special: 60 (+20) ================== Although these stats still hadn¡¯t reached the level of even the lowest level Forgeman, they were still tolerable in the eyes of Nem. At least he wouldn¡¯t have to walk around with only 3 STR. Dou Bishop (2) The last things that Nem had received from the chest were Orange health and Green mana potions. The previous tier potions had given 50 HP and MP respectively. These 2 new potions, however, were another tier higher, recovering 100 HP and MP! Having checked his gains, Nem decided to stop playing. He had finished all there is in the Green Plains and the next time he returned, he would leave Green Plains and finally step into the multiplayer world of MobRingler. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Turning MobRingler off, Ming Yu let out a soft sigh. He had done a lot that day. What was suppose to be a 3 hour quest ended up as a 8 hour journey for Ming Yu! Even though it was considerably late, for Ming Yu it wasn¡¯t exactly time to throw in the towel just yet. Having nothing better to do, Ming Yu decided to hop onto Gwritter. Back when he was at the height of his career, Ming Yu had made several social media accounts, including ChestBook, Gwritter, and RatChat. When he was bored and had nothing to do, he used to hop onto Gwritter, where he would find several compliments, drama, and other things that involve him. Now, however, the site had turned desolate for Ming Yu, full of news that didn¡¯t involve him and all the fans that used to leave likes and compliments left dislikes and hate instead. Ming Yu hadn¡¯t used any form of social media for past a full year. Going onto the site would only leave him depressed. Today, however, now that he had moved on from the LoL community, he decided to check onto Gwritter to see the year''s worth of messages he¡¯s missed. It took him a while just to log into the website. He hadn¡¯t used the account in a full year and had used his old password, that he had forgotten, to make it. After trying 5 different passwords that Ming Yu vaguely recalled, he gave up and clicked the ¡°Forgotten Password¡± link.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. After receiving the confirmation mail and clicking the link on that, Ming Yu reset his password and finally got onto Gwritter. As expected, there wasn¡¯t a lot of notifications. Only 20 odd messages that came from old fans that turned hater. Ming Yu wasn¡¯t really surprised at the hate or the lack of messages. He wasn¡¯t exactly a popular player after all. All though Ming Yu acted as if he didn¡¯t care, the hate had taken a tole on him. In fact, this trauma was what lead to Ming Yu¡¯s social awkwardness today. Ming Yu bitterly shook his head. He didn¡¯t know why he decided to check Gwritter, but he had found exactly what he¡¯d expected to see: nothing. Sighing Ming Yu maneuvered to another user¡¯s Gwritter feed, to check on the current status of the gaming community. There wasn¡¯t really anything that caught Ming Yu¡¯s attention at first. After scrolling through a few random dramas about another youtuber accused of things they didn¡¯t commit and something about a dollar in the woods, Ming Yu finally caught something that caught his attention. It was a story¡­ on him¡­. ¡°Nem finally announces retirement¡±. At first, Nem didn¡¯t want to check the comments of the Gweet. He would just find hate on him and get depressed; probably laugh off the loneliness that crept at him. Curiosity, however, won out in the end. It always won in these moments. As expected, all he saw were comments responding to the Gweet, saying ¡°About time¡± or ¡°Finally¡±. Water formed on the edge of his eyes, as Ming Yu turned his computer off. Despite how indifferent he acted outside in front of others, it¡¯s still not an easy feat taking hate from thousands of people. Even someone like Ming Yu, who had grown tolerant of hate, would get emotionally eroded as time went on. Something broke inside Ming Yu as he started to cry, trying to sleep away the loneliness that filled his heart at that moment. The way Ming Yu craved attention and approval from others and how often he goes out to date were all ways of avoiding this feeling of solitude. No matter how hard he ran, however, the feeling eventually caught up. ¡°I¡¯ll show them. I¡¯ll make then respect my skill and become the best again. But this time, I¡¯ll be popular and famous.¡± Ming Yu muttered as he slowly drifted off into unconsciousness. At that moment, Johnson, who was in the room next door was leaning against a wall. He had intentionally chosen this room with this wall because it was fairly thin and he would be able to hear any trouble that arises from Ming Yu¡¯s room. At that moment, Johnson was rubbing his forehead with one hand as he softly whispered to himself ¡°Aw sh*t¡±. He had burnt his popcorn... Tomers Village ~~~~~~~~~~~ Rejuvenated after a good night¡¯s sleep, Nem let out a mighty yell. After waking up, he had returned to the game and prepared to enter the first multiplayer area. His excitement and cheerfulness made any tension that had formed the night before fade away like mist. After mentally preparing himself, Nem walked up to a puddle that had formed near him. That¡¯s right, a puddle. After finishing his last quest, all the moisture in the earth gathered to create this mysterious pond. Although Nem didn¡¯t know what it did, he had faintly guessed that it held the key to getting to the next area. Pacing around the outer edges of the pond, Nem couldn¡¯t figure out what to do. Finally, tired to waiting, Nem furiously yelled a long, ¡°Hey!¡± The pond, however, still remained still. Not even a ripple had formed on its surface. Without another option, Nem slowly approached the puddle. At first, Nem tapped the water¡¯s surface with his left foot. He was quite literally testing the waters. Although a ripple had formed from the point where his foot met the water and quickly spread to the outer edges of the puddle, there were no other activities in the pond. Unable to see the danger that a puddle could present to him, Nem decided to jump, feet first, onto the puddle. He shrugged as he said, ¡°What could possibly go wrong?¡± Nem expected the water to disperse at the weight of his feet landing in the pond, but instead, the water around his feet simple rippled like it had earlier. After landing, Nem suddenly sensed a sinking feeling. Nem was literally slowly sinking into the dirt. Panicking, Nem tried everything in his power to escape from the dirt. He tried to jump out, but that had only caused him to fall over. By this point, his body had sunken up to his knees, removing his capability to stand back up. Without any other options, Nem tried to claw his way out of the puddle, desperately looking for a way to survive. At this point, despair had gripped Nem¡¯s heart and he could do nothing as a suction force caused his body to sink faster. Nem quickly sank into the puddle and only stopped sinking when his chin touched the water. Everything from his neck down was submerged in wet dirt. (Definitely not the best feeling, trust me) Nem groaned as he thought to himself, ¡°Why did I have to jinx it?¡± After sinking, the puddle had gone quiet, as if the monster that was pulling at Nem earlier had gotten bored of him. The silence remained for a good 3 seconds before the area around Nem started to shake. Suddenly, a giant frog popped out of the earth, consuming the pond and everything in it. Having eaten its fill, the frog turned around and jumped back into the hole it created earlier when it jumped out. The next instant, it magically reappeared in an a giant well. As its massive body leapt out of the well, a singular voice let out a shocked gasp. The frog landed on the ground and spit out Nem, who was surprisingly clean and dry. Seeing that it had delivered its package safely, the frog turned around and leapt back into the well, creating a huge wave as the frog dived in.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Nem shook his head, as he slowly stood up. Out of nowhere, a hand slapped Nem¡¯s back, shocking him back into attentiveness. Looking around, Nem had realized that his surroundings had surprisingly changed. Earlier, he had been alone in a field of green grass, but now, he was in a bustling town, full of people and 1 VERY shocked person. A haughty laugh rung loudly in Nem¡¯s ear. Looking behind him, Nem found that both the hand and the laugh belonged to a well built man who was standing behind him. The man quickly took a look around and gave a quick nod to himself. ¡°Hmph, it looks like there¡¯s 20 in this batch, not bad.¡± After surveying the crowd, the man saw Nem¡¯s baffled look. ¡°Hurry up and join the group over there newbies¡± he scolded. Unaware of what was happening, Nem decided to follow the man¡¯s instructions for now. Falling in line with the rest of the crowd of 20, Nem curiously took a glance at the people around him. All of the people had shawdy looking equipment and a wide variety of weapons. None of them, however, had a spear. This was because the spear was unique to the Spear Bearer class. Luckily, Nem didn¡¯t have Bo Fai equipped at the moment, so he didn¡¯t stand out from the rest of the crowd, with the exception of his shiny equipment. The haughty man from earlier mightily yelled, ¡°Glen, take these newbies to the examining grounds.¡± Hearing the man, a skinny blonde man ran towards Nem¡¯s group responding, ¡°Yeah I got them Eugene.¡± Observing this ¡°Glen¡± character, Nem understood one thing. This ¡°Glen¡± person wasn¡¯t exactly the best looking guy. Glen looked like the average supermarket clerk and had zero charisma. He looked like casual normie A and wasn¡¯t impressing anyone with his outer appearance. If it wasn¡¯t for his fancy looking equipment, the man would¡¯ve looked like just another part of the crowd around Nem. Smiling, the man approached Nem¡¯s group and cheerfully waved. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up newbies. Welcome to Tomer¡¯s Village, one of 10 different beginner hotspots. My name is Glen and I¡¯m going to take you guys to the examining grounds. Once there, you will fight amongst each other in front of an audience. Guilds will also be observing the fight and anyone that performs well will be picked up by one of the guilds.¡± Hearing that only the best of the group will be selected, a few of the newbies started shifting their feet. Some of these people were losers in real life that always got picked last for dodgeball. Having this form of competitive selecting reminding some of these people of uncomfortable memories. Seeing their shiftiness, Glen chuckled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry though, even if you¡¯re not especially good, you¡¯ll get picked up by other guilds who are looking to beef up their numbers. No matter what, you should all get a guild that wants you with them.¡± Having said his fill, Glen started walking away towards a bustling street full of numerous observers. Seeing Glen¡¯s hand motion to follow him, Nem¡¯s group started to walk in the direction that Glen had started going towards. Just when Nem was about to join the rest of the group, a familiar hand suddenly stopped him. The hand belonged to the haughty man named Eugene, who had slapped Nem on the back earlier. Suddenly, Eugene¡¯s face turned serious as he said, ¡°Look, the game¡¯s just started so there are a lot of game devs who are abusing their power to give their friends special items. Just because you have some fancy gear, don¡¯t assume that you¡¯re better than the rest of us, ok?¡± Eugene grabbed a brown tunic from his inventory and threw it at Nem. He said, ¡°Here¡¯s a class neutral tunic. Anyone can wear it. Having such fancy gear will make others jealous so I advice you hide that stuff for now. After all, even if PKing is not allowed in here, people can still hunt you down once you decide to leave to farm. (PKing means Player Killing, which basically means players killing other players: PVP!) Nem grabbed the tunic and grunted in response to Eugene. Although he technically wasn¡¯t a game developer¡¯s (dev) friend, he technically did get some perks from one of them so Eugene wasn¡¯t completely in the wrong. Too lazy to argue, Nem quickly unequipped his gear and put the brown tunic on. After equipping the tunic, he turned around and started to follow his group. Tomers Village (2) There was a crowd of people on the street, who were either there doing business with merchants or there to watch the group of newbies. Seeing Glen approach them with the newbies in tow, the people on the street wordlessly split down the middle, creating a passageway for Glen to pass through. A group of new players obviously wasn¡¯t a rare event, judging by how familiar the crowd was with the process. After taking several turns through the town¡¯s maze like streets, the group finally reached a colosseum. At the front of the colosseum, there was a large group of people that had gathered to seek entrance. It seemed that watching a group of noobs fight was a popular event in Tomer¡¯s Vill. After walking around to colosseum, Glen¡¯s group finally reached a group of tents that were set up in front of the colosseum¡¯s back entrance. Once there, Glen announced, ¡°All right newbies, this is where we¡¯ll decide who you¡¯re fighting.¡± Looking around, Glen picked two random people from the newbie¡¯s group and said, ¡°You two are fighting.¡± Not having the power to fight against Glen, the two newbies simply walking into the arena. After a few minutes, the two men came out battered. By the looks of it, their fight had been pretty close cut. Seeing the two men come out, Glen simply nodded and sent to more men in. This cycle continued on for a while before it was finally Nem¡¯s turn. Nem, however, wasn¡¯t too worried. Just by looking at the noob that was walking by him, he could tell his match would be pretty easy. He wouldn¡¯t even have to use his abilities to clean this fool up. The back entrance to the colosseum was a straight tunnel that lead straight to the arena. That was why the tents were set up in front of the entrance instead of inside. Exiting the tunnel, Nem was shocked at how many people had come to watch this match. The colosseum was massive and could easily hold 5,000 people. Usually, the colosseum was fairly empty, with a few hundred people showing up to watch fights held inside. Today, however, almost all the seats in the colosseum were filled. What Nem didn¡¯t know, was that most of these spectators were from guilds that were looking to find new recruits. In the middle of the colosseum was a huge 30 by 30 meter stone ring. Walking onto the ring, Nem couldn¡¯t help but remember his days playing LoL competitively. The atmosphere was similar and people were just as attentive. Nem sighed and thought to himself, ¡°I¡¯ll return to that pedestal soon.¡± Nem had played competitively before, so the crowd wasn¡¯t something that fazed him. The noob walking next to him, however, was a different story. He had his head down and was mumbling to himself. It was obvious that he wasn¡¯t used to the attention and was quite nervous.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Once they got onto the arena, Nem and the noob split up and took opposite sides of the ring. Suddenly, a man wearing a flashy black tux landed on the ring. He was waiting on the side earlier and jumped onto the ring to make a flashy entrance. ¡°Alright you two, here¡¯s the deal. First to reach the red health bar loses. Any skills or methods are allowed. I advice you use your flashiest skills and try to have a clean match without dirty means. After all, it wouldn¡¯t look good in front of the guild recruiters would it? Now, draw your weapons.¡± Weapons were important in MobRingler, because one¡¯s weapons dictates what class one is. After hearing this cue, the noob that came in with Nem drew a rapier. A collective group of gasps rang from the crowd as they saw what appeared to be a shawdy looking toothpick to Nem. Although the type of weapon is something Nem recognized, it¡¯s terrible quality due it being low tier made it hard for Nem to take the rapier seriously. The meaning behind the rapier, however, made the audience start drooling. Rapiers meant the noob belonged to the Batteurs. Batteurs were a group of rapier wielding duelists that specialized in DPS. Although they dealt a lot of damage, most of it was a burst (meaning after the damage was dealt upon contact there isn¡¯t much afterwards). The remainder of the time, rapiers used their specialized skills to keep the aggro of monsters on them while the team deals the damage. This combination of tanks and DPS was rare and had some harsh requirements to play. All together, if placed into a tier ranking, a rapier would belong onto the elite mid-tier class. Mid-tier may sound average, but only 30% of the player base was in this tier or higher! Not only is the rapier class extremely versatile, the player behind it had to be fairly good to get such a class in the first place. Any of the spectating guilds would pay quite an amount to get such a class and player into their guild. The young man, who could no longer be called a simple noob just by his class, bowed to Nem and the audience. ¡°My name¡¯s Goriun, it¡¯s an honor to spar with you.¡± Seeing his disposition, the announcer quietly praised Goriun in his head. By giving a humble appearance despite his class, the spectators would having a better opinion of him, making them want to recruit him even more. Nem returned a half bow to Goriun and said, ¡°Nem¡±. To others who didn¡¯t know Nem, this attitude seemed a little arrogant, however, in reality, it was because Nem was socially awkward and didn¡¯t know how to respond in these scenarios. After introducing himself, Nem surveyed the crowd. As Nem¡¯s eyes were slowly scanning the crowd, the audience turned silent. Everyone was interested in what weapon Nem would pull out. Is he a high-tier or a low-tier? Seeing he had the audience¡¯s attention, Nem slowly raised his hand with his open palm facing the hard stone floor. Instantly, a bright light appeared in front of Nem¡¯s hands as his item materialized from his inventory to his hands. As the light dissipated, an outline slowly appeared. When the light cleared, the outline became an object visible to the whole audience. This item was a health potion that Nem slowly opened and drank. Although this was a waste of a potion, Nem was enjoying the attention too much to let it go so soon. As he slowly drank the potion, groans came from the audience and from Goriun as they face palmed themselves. This boy truly craved attention too much! Having finished drinking the potion, Nem once again lifted his hand in front of him. Knowing Nem wouldn¡¯t trick them twice, the audience quickly relocked their eyes onto Nem. Nem didn¡¯t fail to disappoint as he pulled out a great spear! This spear was none other than Bo Fai. When they saw Bo Fai, the entire audience remained silent. All of their faces were petrified as none of them knew how to react. There were no classes that allowed one to bear a spear so what is it that they¡¯re seeing right now? After a moment, the entire crowd went ¡°Huh?!¡± in sync; at least, everybody except that one person that said ¡°N-nani¡± instead, ruining the whole synchronized feel. Batteur vs. Spear Bearer Being the only one on the stage with them, it was naturally up to the announcer to ask Nem why he pulled a spear out. After all, it wasn¡¯t part of the available roster to the public. Awkwardly laughing, Nem gave the audience a random excuse saying, ¡°I was merely lucky enough to be chosen to test this class out for the game devs.¡± Although some suspicion remained, the crowd couldn¡¯t disprove this excuse so the matter was simply dropped. There was only one thing that mattered: What tier is this class? Although the audience were looking at Nem with suspicious eyes, Nem didn¡¯t mind. After all, he was actually enjoying the attention that his class had created. The entire coliseum remained in a strange silence until Gurion asked the announcer to start the match. Being directly spoken to woke the announcer from whatever sort of trance had captivated the audience and let him regain his disposition. Still in a bit of shock, the announcer stuttered a little while talking. ¡°Al-alright, let¡¯s s-see what you¡¯ve g-got.¡± The announcer took a deep breath to recollect himself completely and shouted, ¡°Begin the fight!¡± Having given the cue to fight, the announcer leapt out of the arena, giving the stage to Gurion and Nem. As soon as the fight started, Gurion launched into action, as he lunged at Nem trying to get the initiative. Gurion jabbed his rapier with a ferocious might towards Nem. Although he attacked quickly, Gurion¡¯s attack was still predictable. Nem swung Bo Fai in response to his attack. The momentum from his spear strangely caused his body to lean slightly to the side, avoiding Gurion¡¯s attack, while counter attacking. This act of reading the enemy¡¯s attack and countering came from the practice Nem had received in the Green Plains. Bo Fai sliced through the air as it took the opportunity to pierce Gurion¡¯s sides. Landing a clean hit, Nem dealt 21 dmg to Gurion. After the brief exchange, the two dashed away from each other. Gurion looked down at his own body in confusing as he was trying to figure out why Nem only did 21 dmg. Even the lowest hitting class, the forgemen, would hit at least 100 dmg by Dou Bishop rank. While Gurion was confused, Nem took the opportunity to re-engage onto Gurion. Reacting fairly quickly, Gurion dodged and struck back at Nem, making a series of exchanges between the two where Nem landed several hits on Gurion while Gurion hasn¡¯t hit a single one onto Nem. As the two fought, the crowd was just as confused as Gurion was earlier. Was this supposed test class suppose to be this weak? Although weak, no one could dispute that the player behind the character was exceptional. During the brief fight that was occurring, Nem managed to dodge all of Gurion¡¯s attacks while counter attacking with his own. This exchange left Gurion, who originally had 1300 health, to have around 800 health left. No matter how many times Nem hit Gurion, the Batteur class was still designed to be tanks so ending the match quickly wasn¡¯t possible.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. After fighting a significantly longer amount of time, the two broke up again, once again taking opposite sides of the arena. Gurion was slightly flustered. He had taken several hits while being unable deal any back, leaving him quite angry. His opponent, on the other hand, was doing quite well. Nem hadn¡¯t even broken a sweat and even went as far as taunting Gurion during the exchange. The audience was flabbergasted at the sight. Just by looking at the damage, Gurion¡¯s class was clearly superior yet Nem had won the exchanges by a landslide. The amount of skill needed to accomplish this was something that even some of the guild leaders of the smaller guilds weren¡¯t confident they could accomplish. Having taken the initiative, Nem wasn¡¯t willing to let go as he once again charged into attack Gurion. At that moment, Gurion¡¯s hand flashed with a blue light that was kept well hidden from Nem. Suddenly, Gurion pushed his glowing hand outwards as he said, ¡°Enfer¡¯s Chains!¡± Blue chains made of fire came out from Gurion¡¯s hand as it pierced Nem¡¯s stomach and firmly wrapped around him. Having Nem in chains, Gurion yanked his hand backwards to bring Nem towards him. Nem¡¯s body jerked towards Gurion as he chanted, ¡°Sol Smash!¡± Gurion lept into the air whilst spinning his body, making Nem, who was connected to Gurion by the chains, fly a circle around Gurion. Having spun a full rotation, Nem¡¯s body was directly above Gurion¡¯s body as Gurion jerked his hand downwards, making Nem¡¯s body start launching towards the ground head-first. Enfer¡¯s Chains unwrapped from Nem¡¯s body the moment before he hit the ground. When he hit the ground, Nem¡¯s entire head ended up underground as crack lines formed all over the point of contact. Strangely, inside these crack lines a blue light could be seen. Smoke rose after Nem hit the floor, obscuring everyone¡¯s vision. Nem had lowered his guard and gotten caught by Gurion¡¯s skill, dealing a lot of damage on him. Luckily, Gurion¡¯s combo didn¡¯t do enough damage to kill even the squishiest of characters, although most would be left with only a sliver of health. As everyone waited for the smoke to clear, there was a strange silence inside the smokescreen. This silence became even more uncanny as not even the slightest movement could be detected. What could¡¯ve happened? As the smoke cleared, Gurion and the audience were asking themselves this question. None of them knew how Nem fared inside the smoke. Against all expectations, no body was found once the smoke cleared. Only a floor full of crack lines. All the people in the coliseum were shocked. While the whole coliseum remained still from shock, the floor in the arena automatically repaired itself. Suddenly, Gurion stammered, ¡°H-he couldn¡¯t have died¡­ right?¡± This audience didn¡¯t even react to Gurion¡¯s statement as they remained petrified from shock. Slowly, one of the audience members realized what Gurion had said. After one recognized the result, the rest followed as the coliseum instantly went from silent to noisy. At one point, one of the audience members exclaimed, ¡°Send someone go to the well to get him!¡± Although everyone had heard the call, no one had moved. Although people were shifting in their seats, none of them made the initiative to check on Nem first. After all, if they left to find Nem, they would miss out on an opportunity to recruit Gurion. Gurion looked around and snickered softly. He had been worried that Nem would take his spotlight after almost beating him earlier but now he was silently rejoicing in this heart. Looking around, no one made a move to go find Nem. No one would want to recruit him. What Gurion didn¡¯t see, however, was a singular shadow in the back walking away to who knows where. Its a Trap! Nem woke up submerged in water. He didn¡¯t know where he was or what he was doing there. The last thing he remembered was getting pummeled into the ground head-first; then, darkness. The first thought to go through Nem¡¯s head was, ¡°Oh, I must¡¯ve died.¡± A short silence followed when Nem was contemplating how he had died. He had believed that he won the battle and lowered his guard; however, when he did so, Gurion blasted him with a skill combo. As Nem silently scolded himself for getting cocky, his body started to automatically float upwards, towards the surface of the water. Both his virtual and real eyes closed from the brightness of the surface. When Nem opened his eyes, he found himself to be back in Tomer¡¯s Village. His body was gently floating in the well as he realized that he was in the well that the frog had leapt into earlier. Suddenly, a voice cried out from the distance. ¡°Heeeey! Nem! Stop floating around and come here.¡± Nem followed the unfamiliar voice to its owner. The owner of the voice had blonde hair and a dolled up face that made her look like a porcelain doll. Her dolled up face and slim body made many men fall for her at first sight. As Nem started swimming towards her, he started to wonder what this pretty woman wanted with him. Once he reached the shore, he heard a soft laugh that seemed to have come from the heavens themselves. ¡°Haven¡¯t you swam enough? Hurry on out so I can talk to you.¡± Nem lifted himself out of the well and onto the stone platform. He extended an awkward hand out to her in hopes of a greeting and the mysterious woman softly chuckled and accepted his greetings. ¡°I know you¡¯re hoping to get back to the coliseum to see if you can still get recruited, but hear me out for a second.¡± With that, she took a small step back and slightly tilted her head as her mouth formed a curve wide enough to fit a beaver¡¯s dam. ¡°What about joining my guild?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Nem was taken aback as he looked at her with a funny look. She didn¡¯t have an appearance of a high level player, and although she was beautiful, that was the only thing she could currently offer him. The woman was fairly intelligent and could see the reason behind Nem¡¯s hesitation. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll give it to you straight. None of the other guilds want to recruit you. Your a whole new class, an unknown, and from your loss earlier, no one wants to take a chance on you.¡± Nem shifted in pace a little as he awkwardly chuckled. This was the outcome he was expecting but being told so bluntly made him a little embarrassed. As Nem scratched his face with a finger, the woman continued on. ¡°My guild may not be so big, but we¡¯re not a completely small guild either. We don¡¯t have many members or a big guild hall, but we are strong enough to contest with a middle tier guild.¡± She winked and added, ¡°Plus, if you join I¡¯ll also give you a little¡­ bonus.¡± Although she did have a point, the situation seemed a little fishy to Nem. After all, after his mistake earlier, why would someone be so adamant about recruiting him? He also started to blush a little when Nem thought about how she mentioned a certain bonus. Although he didn¡¯t know what kind of bonus, he made could easily make a few guesses.(Insert Lenny face) ¡°Umm, if I¡¯m so deep in the dirt, then why are you trying so hard to recruit me?¡± The woman smile and said, ¡°You really want to know why?¡± Nem nodded. The woman leaned in closer to him, close enough to where he could feel her breath and she whispered in his ear, ¡°I saw your moves earlier. You''re not a noob, are you? If I had to guess, I¡¯d say you¡¯re a smurf.¡±(Smurf-extra account usually made by higher level players to revisit lower levels or just for the fun of it) Moonlit Black Cats ¡°You¡¯re a smurf aren¡¯t you?¡± Thinking about it for a while, Nem did have to admit that as someone who¡¯s played games professionally before he did have an advantage over other players, however, he¡¯s never played Mob Ringler before so... ¡°No, it¡¯s actually still my first week playing.¡± The woman started to pout as she said, ¡°C¡¯mon, there¡¯s no way you¡¯re just inherently this good at games.¡± As she was talking she threw her hands out in frustration. Not knowing what to say, Nem chose to remain silent as he uncomfortably scratched his cheek. After a while, the woman gave up trying to pry out a ¡°confession¡± from Nem. ¡°Whatever, smurf or not, you¡¯re really good at this game and from the looks of it, if you were to be left alone you¡¯re talents would be wasted. So, how about joining my guild?¡± There were no initial losses to joining the guild. Once he joined, he would gain all the benefits of being in a guild and since the guild wasn¡¯t a big one, he would be able to leave at anytime without them stopping him, given he became stronger than the leader of course. Also, Nem couldn¡¯t pass up that ¡°bonus¡± she was talking about.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It seemed that every time Nem thought about that ¡°bonus¡± his cheeks would flush with redness. Although what he¡¯s thinking was as much as a mystery to the woman as it was to the readers. After hesitating a little more, Nem decided that he couldn¡¯t possibly pass up the resources a guild could offer. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll joi-¡± ¡°Really you will? Ok, you said it yourself, there¡¯s no going back ok?¡± Enthusiastically, the woman started making a few hand motions that looked like she was going through an invisible menu that only she could see. After a short while, Nem received a notification asking to join ¡®Black Neko Moon¡¯. Sighing helplessly, Nem accepted the invite and officially joined ¡®Black Neko Moon¡¯. He had a feeling that he was going to be wrapped up with them for a while. Cheerfully smiling and bouncing around, the woman said, ¡°Do your solo quests for today. Let¡¯s meet back here in front of this well at 7 tomorrow, ok?¡± The woman joyfully skipped away from Nem and started to go off into the streets, assumably to make preparations for the upcoming day. Just as she was about to turn a corner, her body jerked to a stop as she seemed to remember something important. Hastily turning back, she waved to Nem, who saw the gesture and returned it in kind. ¡°Hey! I forgot to introduce myself! From today on, I¡¯m your new guild leader, NekoFelix! Feel free to call me Neko!¡± she yelled so that Nem could hear. Having accomplished what she set out to do, she nodded and turned to corner to go who knows where. Hype! Having collected his thoughts, Nem decided to follow Neko¡¯s advice and start on his solo missions. The first mission he received was a survival quest. What¡¯s a survival quest? Simple, the player will be placed into an area where mobs will continuously spawn. Different survival quests lead to different mobs. As the survival quest continues, it will constantly upgrade it¡¯¡¯s tier depending on how long you¡¯ve stayed alive. You can stay in the area until you die and once you do die, there will be no penalties and your score will be recorded. For the game developers, this was a way to teach players dodging skills and mechanics they¡¯ll need later on in higher levels. For players in Tomer¡¯s Village, however, it was the second test for newcomers. Since all your scores are recorded, it¡¯s very simple for a guild to check up on what score you got to see how strong your overall mechanics are. With a little bit of research and plot convenience, Nem already knew what the survival quests were. After accepting the quest, he was instantly teleported into the colosseum. Looking around him, there were no other players and no signs of any other life forms. There was only a huge number on the middle of the stage that read ¡°30¡± and was constantly counting down. *In the real Colosseum* A huge uproar sounded out from the crowd as another heated battle between noobs was taking place. As spells launched through the air and weapons clashed, the climax of the battle was soon approaching. The 2 noobs flung away from each other and landed on opposite sides of the ring. Both fighters were panting heavily. Their battle was not simple at all. It was by far one of the most intense matches to take place that day.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Just as the two fighters were about to re-engage onto each other, a huge commotion rose as a huge screen popping into existence above the stage. At first, no one could recognize the figure in the screen. The only thing the audience recognized was the big ¡°24¡± that was counting down. Seeing the number, many of the veteran players already knew what was going on. The new players, however, didn¡¯t understand until one of the observers yelled, ¡°A survival quest is starting!¡± By this point, the two fighters had awkwardly stopped fighted and opted to stand in silence, as the audience¡¯s focus was no longer on them. As the two fighters started to leave the stage, the audience was pondering who this mysterious figure on the screen can be. Suddenly, an onlooker seemed to remember a shadow in a deep corner of his mind. This shadow belonged to a man who had fought a Batteur without using any skills. Although he had lost, his skills left an imprint on this person¡¯s mind. As he remembered this image, the onlooker yelled, ¡°Hey! Isn¡¯t that the kid who fought the Batteur earlier?¡± Batteur was a fairly rare class, and because of that, there was only 1 fight with a batteur that took place that day. As the crowd recalled this event, they started to remember Nem, who had shown great skill during his fight. The crowd¡¯s whispering got louder as they discussed how well they thought Nem would do. Although his skills looked promising on the ring, he had eventually lost the fight and his reputation in front of all the guild recruiters present that day. Due to that, not many of the people had a positive opinion of him. Even though they didn¡¯t view him as that important, they couldn¡¯t dismiss the fact that for a moment it seemed that Nem could¡¯ve won the fight against Gurion. Not knowing what to think about Nem, the crowd¡¯s anticipation grew and they quickly forgot about the intense battle that was in the midst just moments ago. Their anticipation only grew once the numbers reached ¡°5¡±. It started with one person who said ¡°5¡± out loud but soon after many followed and the audience started to count along. ¡°4¡± ¡°3¡± ¡°2¡± ¡°1¡± Reaction Level: Matrix ¡°Challenge Start!¡± The audience gripped the edge of their seats as the battle begun. Everyone wanted to see if Nem¡¯s fight against Gurion was a fluke or if he was that skilled. The battle was all about dodging; there was no need to fight back. The first minute wasn¡¯t very entertaining. Monsters known as Sweepers would rake through the stage. They looked like giant hair combs that run through the land. It didn¡¯t take much skill on Nem¡¯s part to step into the gaps between the Sweeper¡¯s teeth. At first there was only one, but as time went on more and more begun to spawn as they let out unrelenting attacks on Nem. Even after the 5th spawned, Nem didn¡¯t have to exert too much effort to keep avoiding the Sweepers attacks. Every time the Sweepers reached the end of their attack, there would be a brief pause where they levitate their massive bodies and readjust themselves for another attack. As more and more Sweepers spawned, however, the time in between attacks begun to lessen as when one began to pause another one would attack. The only saving grace for Nem was that these attacks, despite being relentless, were simple and easy to predict and avoid. It was around the end of the 2nd minute when things began to get¡­ interesting.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The crowd outside watching Nem were deadly quiet. The beginning of the 3rd minute marked the spot where most players would fall and die. Only 60% of the players survived this death mark. Nem, of course, didn¡¯t know that something was going to happen soon. No one ever knew about nor expected it. By now, there were 24 sweepers constantly attacking Nem. After the beginning of the 2nd minute, these sweepers started working together, criss crossing and staggering their attacks to cause more problems for Nem. Now, at the end of the 2nd minute, the sweepers stopped attacking. By now, Nem had gotten used to the sweepers¡¯ attack patterns, however everything he knew got thrown out the window when the sweepers lined up into a perfect assembly line and began to fly straight at Nem. Nem stepped to the side as he had done many times already. Usually, while he was in between the teeth of one sweeper, he would have to quickly step to the side to avoid the incoming teeth that was purposefully staggered to give Nem a hard time. Now, however, all the sweepers were lined up so Nem simply had to get in between the teeth of the first sweeper and stand there to dodge the attack. Suddenly, a red line formed straight down the middle of all the gaps in the sweepers teeth. ¡°Boom!¡± A cannonball suddenly launched from nowhere, following the course the red line had set. Nem barely had time to react to the cannonball as he ducked and narrowly avoided getting blasted in the face. After the ball passed by, the last of the sweepers did too. They lifted up into the air and formed another line, apparently attempting to repeat the process. While the sweepers were preparing to attack again, Nem saw cannons lined up in the distance. It seemed that his is where the cannonball earlier had come from. The Ting Goes As Nem continued to dodge the constant array of cannonballs and sweepers, the audience outside were stunned. Although the cannonballs were fast, they didn¡¯t deal a lot of damage. Most of the players in the ring ended up tanking the 1st shot because they couldn¡¯t react on time. Other more unfortunate players panicked and tried to dodge to the side, ending in an instant K.O. Judging by Nem¡¯s performance so far, some of the guild leaders that had refused to go get Nem from the well earlier began to regret their decisions. In the end, however, they got more recruits than Nem was worth so they didn¡¯t mind too much. Of course, the part of the audience that were there to scout new potential talents began to feel a sense of dread as they collectively felt a foreboding presence inside their head that told them something big was about to happen. By now, Nem¡¯s place in the ranking ladder had already jumped to the 40th percentile range. If he wanted to break into the top 100s, he still had a long way to go. Once again, the sweepers repeated their constant pattern of attacks long enough for Nem to get used to their rhythm and dodge accordingly. It was at this time, however, when their attack pattern changed once again. 4 minutes in, the sweepers stopped attacking. The sky started to get cloudy and Nem¡¯s perception of the sweepers was cut off entirely. Whatever they were brewing up there, Nem couldn¡¯t see it. The sweepers, however, were the least of his worries. The cannons that had been lined up earlier disappeared and reappeared where the seats of the colosseum should¡¯ve been.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Not only did these cannons appear on top of platforms that started to rotate around the circular coliseum, but they also seemed to multiply. Nem couldn¡¯t confirm this though because the clouds that covered the sweepers earlier seemed to be dragged down by some unknown force and enshrouded the cannons too. ¡°Boom!¡± Suddenly, a cannonball appeared in front of Nem, giving him hardly any time to dodge. Luckily, Nem reacted quickly and managed to dodge the cannonball. Before he had time to celebrate, more cannons started to fire as Nem narrowly avoided each attack that came at him. Dodging these cannonballs weren¡¯t easy. Due to the clouds that covered the cannons, Nem didn¡¯t know where the balls would come from until they were almost on him. As Nem began to sweat as the balls continued to come at him from different directions. In some cases, several balls would surround Nem and force him to duck, right before another cannonball got launched below the others. When Nem ducked he saw this ball coming at him. By the time Nem managed to roll to the side, the cannonball was so close that it caressed the edge of his clothes. Nem sighed and wiped the sweat that formed on his forehead. Although he seemed to be having a hard time, a grin started to form on Nem¡¯s face. It seemed that things were beginning to get challenging. Nem¡¯s current ranking: 75th percentile range 1000 Hit KO Update I''ve been thinking about this for a while and I''ve decided to pull the plug. From the beginning this story was an experimental piece to better my writing through experience. What I didn''t take into consideration, was the amount of planning a story would take. Due to my lack of planning and scheduling, this story has turned into a mess that I can''t fix. Thank you to the 6 people that followed this story but I''m going to move onto the next story now. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I''d like to note however, this isn''t a permanent goodbye, but rather a long hiatus. Although this time around, the direction this story took to was a mess, I still see the potential in this story and want to finish Ming Yu''s journey. Although for the forseeable future this story will no longer update, once I get more accustomed to writing I think I''ll revisit this story and restart from the beginning.