"I finally got out of that cave. Now the adventure begins!"
I shouted at the top of my lungs, but these words were useless as I was in the middle of nowhere. However, the monsters that lived in the forest did hear, which proved that shouting was not the best of ideas as they seemed to be attracted to it.
"Oh, my... I screwed up again."
Numerous semi-human-looking creatures from all distances began slowly approaching where I was. The intention to surround me became evident because of the circular shape they were taking.
"Doppelganger!"
I quickly stopped them from surrounding me. Summoning my double again, we both raised our fists with the intention of fighting despite the number of monsters ahead of us being 10 to 1.
Attacking when the numbers are not on your side is suicidal, but so is fighting monsters of unknown strength. Even though the starting area was always level one, I ignored it until I got to my head again.
I decided to use the logic of the game and forget everything. I threw myself at the enemies with my bare hands. Since it seems that I won't find any weapon soon, I managed to connect my fist to the face of the monster that was closest to me at that moment.
Thwack!
[lizard man was attacked by Berto]
[Lizard Man takes 201 points of damage]
[lizard man has been killed by Berto]
The lizard man, when punched in the face, stood for a few seconds before falling to the ground. The force of the blow seemed to have broken his jaw, as it was out of place.
"Who's next?"
Some of the semi-humans retreated showing signs of fear, but others showed no fear of death and attacked without hesitation for a second.
Thwack!
[Berto has received 66 physical injuries -10%=59]
Suddenly I felt a bump on the back of my head and when I turned around I saw a lizard man with a wooden mallet in his hand.
Thwack!
Having been momentarily distracted, I received a second blow to the other lizard man's head. Enraged at this moment, I decided to jump up and hit the head of the first lizard man with my fist.
[lizard man was attacked by Berto]
[Lizard Man takes 236 points of damage]
[lizard man has been killed by Berto]
Without wasting time on distractions, I made a quick turn, hitting the second lizard man with the back of my fist, before he could attack me again and cause more damage.
My double didn't attack anyone because the others had left and the only two who had stayed to fight had died quickly.
"You seem to have a certain range before you give up the fight."
The double didn't chase any of the other monsters that were leaving. At least it showed that the skill had its limitations which I would have to investigate sooner or later, mostly to know how to use it to my advantage.
Soon after all the other monsters got far enough away again a sign appeared in front of me.
[Berto has been victorious]
[Experience gained 580- 75%= 145]
The experience gained was something, but unfortunately, the experience reducer would keep my feet on the ground in the future and it would take me longer to get to a higher level.
Again, I was forced to leave the bodies of the monsters on the ground due to the lack of tools to dismantle them and take something from them, the weapons that they had, when I took them they fell from my hands, that frustrated me, but I did not give it much importance and I decided to continue with my way. the problem was that where could I go if everything was against me?
"...Ah, I. This is shit."
A curse naturally emerged from my.
Usually, the game at the beginning gave you a mission to follow and start with the story, which would slowly develop your character, but in my case, there was no such thing.
There was no path to follow, no mission to do. Maybe that meant the class was experimental.
The positive side is that I can keep the weapons I find since I can't use them myself. I can stash them for the future to see if they would implement a method of selling the items for real money that appeared in as all the other games did. Working would not be something I would have to worry about in the future.
My head was full of ideas, possibilities and incredible things to do, obviously, I would have to follow my plan step by step, but my first task was to find tools with which to get monster parts and to be able to create weapons and armor for myself.
Being naked and going far sounds very difficult and even impossible since the maximum level in this game was 1000, and a level 100 character without armor and weapon, is the same as a weapon without bullets.
"Thanks for scaring them away."
A sudden voice made me return to the real world suddenly, a young man was beside me, a young elf. His face was beautiful, his eyes were like two colorless jewels, his skin looked delicate as silk, his hair was so blond it almost looked like gold and I couldn't help but stare at his pointed ears.
The young elf spoke to me confidently and without showing any hostility, possibly it was an NPC who was not hostile to anyone, even to me?
I thought about it in my head, but his words did not seem false, until I looked into his eyes again and realized why he was not hostile, because he was blind.
"My name is Ethren, the elf of the Trival Forest and I thank you for your help."
I didn't really think about anything else at the time and decided that answering him would be best, being silent seemed rude when he could feel my presence.
"It's a pleasure, but I didn't see you anywhere, so I think you're mistaken for someone else."
I told him the truth, it's never good to lie to someone.
"Oh, I was actually standing next to you, but above you and the creatures that were here, they wanted me, I ran out of arrows at the most inopportune moment and well, here we are."
The elf pointed upwards and into a tree, I could see what looked like a little structure to keep watch, a little observation post.
The moment I saw the observation post I couldn't help but look sarcastically at the elf. A blind elf... watching, who would make such a bad joke?
"Excuse me, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but you realize you're blind, right?"
I decided to ask without thinking about it.
"I'm blind, but that doesn't stop the spirits from helping me look around, I lost my sight, but I still have the ears to hear everything."
The elf's answer didn't surprise me, when someone loses a sense. Usually the others get stronger, but I still couldn't help but see it as a bad joke, so I decided to reach out and touch the elf's forehead, just to see if he could really see me as he said.
"Please don't do that... I know it's hard to believe that I'm blind and that I watch this forest."
My hand was about to touch his forehead, but his response made me stop just before I touched him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be disrespectful."
My head was filled with questions, how did the spirits work, how was he able to see me, and why was he guarding the forest, was there anything that needed guarding?
The questions came one after the other, but I didn't feel like asking him questions in such a way that someone I had just met and even more so that he didn't seem hostile to me.
"Can I ask you a favor?"
I decided to push my luck, I helped the elf, so I figured his pride wouldn't stop him from returning the favor.
"You may have saved my life so I am willing to help you. As long as your request is not absurd."
His answer gave me the courage and I decided to ask without fear.
"Don't you have any spare butcher's tools you don't use so I can dismantle monsters?"
The elf stared at me with those white eyes of his and his expression changed from calm to serious, as if my request was something I shouldn't have asked.