The village outskirts were not exactly the prettiest sight to behold. Some of the houses had been left abandoned for some time and it even showed that nature had once again shown triumph against men’s creation. Shrubs and bushes had taken over the houses and there was almost nothing left of the former.
It made the adventurers wonder why the village did not wish to expand further with the influx of adventurers but they could only wonder that there could be a quest to showcase the history of the village… just not at the moment. In terms of monsters and animal life, it was not long after coming out from the village that they encountered a few enlarged ladybugs and even sheeps grazing the unchecked grasslands.
And like every game there was a level attached to them to show their difficulty level and all of them had adjusted to ensure that the threat was equivalent to the general level of adventurers within the vicinity.
Thus, Kong Rong and Ke Loong had started to smash some of the enlarged ladybugs to gain some experience. None of them were proving to be much of a fight even though the ladybugs seem to have a better evasion rate as compared to the usual real life punching bags they were used to.
However, the cap in their power was definitely a handicap.
Unlike in the real world where they had trained for their current cultivation for years, especially for Kong Rong, his usual fighting style was not as strong as he thought they would be in against the ladybugs. It lacked power, speed and even fighting a few dozen ladybugs could prove to be quite a challenge.
Still, having Ke Loong with him did aid with the killing and they reached level 2 where they could try their hands on the level 4 sheeps. “Let’s see what those idle gazing sheeps would offer that these bugs don’t.” Ke Loong said as he withdrew his sword from the carcass of the dead ladybug.
“Wait wait. Before that, I want to see how to use a skillpoint.” Kong Rong said as both of them had gained a skill point from levelling up their sword fighting but were unable to use it at all. He then used the Pandamonium App to see if the on board app AI would be able to solve that question.
Surprisingly, the AI who was none other than the System told them that since they had not met anybody that was capable of teaching them the ways of the sword, the skill point on swords had currently been locked. If they had taken the time to explore the village, the duo might have been able to browse through the shops for books on basic sword fighting and even visit a sword master to get their skill tree open.
“I thought Jin wanted this Virtual Reality to be as open and flexible as it can be? How come we need to follow some sword master?” Kong Rong scratched his head wondering why was the current system was kinda backward and stupid.
“Dude, you are supposed to be a brand new adventurer, an escape from our current reality. Obviously, you have to play by their rules. Sure, we might be able to use our own skills without chi at the moment but lore wise. You are just some new guy who tried to prove his worth. If you want any assurances, Jin said upon reaching a certain level in let’s say at this instance, sword fighting, you get to incorporate your own skills into the avatar.” Ke Loong told Kong Rong not to worry and help him with the sheep.
“Alright, it does make sense if you think of it that way. But are you sure you want to fight that sheep? It’s a higher level than you. We do not know the experience point penalty system.” Kong Rong commented and Ke Loong snorted.
“Wow, looks like your childhood was not just about the Dragon Clan. You did play some games too.” Ke Loong teased Kong Rong even though they knew each other well enough.
“If there is PVP or a duel system, I would have beat you up right here and now. How would I not get the title Mr Know It All if not for my knowledge for almost everything.”
“But you did not know anything about this Virtual Reality! I know more than you! Come, relinquish that boastful title of yours and also change your current avatar name to Mr Don’t Know It All.” Ke Loong made fun of the top elite agent of the Dragon Clan until he realised the rest of his department was slowly trickling into the fields as well.
A few of them even asked what they were fighting against and when Ke Loong said they wanted to take the grazing sheep, the rest thought it would be a good idea to gang up against it so that they could have a faster accumulation of experience points.
Thus, a group of three level one adventurers had decided to rush forward, ignoring the ladybugs and against the level 4 sheep. The first few hits went in but with the sheep was of a higher level than them combined. And to their abysmal luck, it managed to deal a critical hit to one of the adventurers, causing one of them to fall dead immediately from the blow. A few of the adventurers laughed at how silly he had died but they were not prepared for the unexpected.
The sheep who had killed the adventurer suddenly levelled up.
It seems that this was not the usual Virtual Reality role playing game they thought it would be. The monsters themselves could level up as well if the adventurers were not careful and now that forced Kong Rong and Ke Loong on their toes. It was indeed a risk and reward kind of game right now. They could go for a high level monster and bag that kill or risk forcing them to be more dangerous than usual.
And since that sheep had just levelled up, it became the immediate threat to all the adventurers in the area.
