*One versus seven. Hopefully they don't bore me too much.*
Though she was outnumbered to this degree, Jisha was unfazed. After all, the more players she could kill, the more money she could earn. So to say she was unfazed wasn't entirely accurate - she was motivated by the piles of cash strolling the cemetery.
The moment she stepped through the entrance, Jisha received a system message.
*>System message: You are now entering a War Zone. >Expand for details.*
Jisha was already familiar with the concept of a War Zone, so she didn't need to read further. However, the people around her didn't think the same.
"Hey, it's dangerous in there!"
"Get out of there, you'll die. Don't you know what a War Zone is?"
"Ah... I saw her standing there but I didn't think she would actually go in."
"I guess she really doesn't know what a War Zone is..."
"Girl, what are you doing?! Those guys are just going to gang up on you and take everything you have!"
*Ah, looks like the peanut gallery is here.*
If there was one thing Jisha enjoyed in life, it was the peanut gallery underestimating her abilities.
*I wonder what faces they'll make after I'm done with them.*
Jisha reveled in their panic as she approached the seven players in the center of the cemetery.
"Bren, we can't find anything else. I think we've picked everything up."
"Hmm... I guess it doesn't really matter. After we level up, we won't need these starter items anyway."
"That's true. Why don't we just throw them away now, then?"
*...!*
"Wait wait wait wait wait!"
After hearing the words "throw them away", Jisha could no longer stay calm.
*Don't they know how much money they're throwing out? ... Oh, yeah, they don't...*
At her panicked yells, the group turned around to face her.
"What's this? A little girl came to play?"
"Those starter items. Instead of throwing them away, you should just give them to me."
"...?"
"Hahahahaha...!"
After a moment of confused stares from the group, they burst out into laughter.
"Is that a joke? You should become a comedian. You'd be the funniest woman in history."
"I know, right? It's already funny enough that she wants to collect garbage, but it's even funnier that she wants to take stuff from us!"
"Girl, who are you even with?"
"With? I'm alone."
"..."
"... Hey, are you serious?"
"I guess... she isn't joking? This isn't even funny anymore. Let's just get rid of her."
"One more kill, and let's report to the club president!"
"Mhm. We can definitely join the Academy's VR team and maybe even rank up to varsity next year!"
*The... Academy?*
"Hold on, did you say the Academy? By chance, do you mean the Royal Academy?"
"Oh, it looks like the little girl knows something about it? Though it would be odd if you didn't. That's right, we're on the Royal Academy's VR club team. Since you know that much, we'll let you go."
"No, that's not it. I'm an alumnus of the academy. It really brings back memories."
"What? ... Wait, how old are you?"
"Okay. Now she's just saying random shit. She's either actually eleven years old or they've modified their voice and body to look like an eleven year old girl. We've definitely caught a weirdo. Next thing you know, she's going to claim to be a time traveler. Can we just kill her already?"
"Yea, no point in delaying further."
"You think you can kill me? I *am* a time traveler, by the way."
The moment she spoke those words, a black pellet whizzed towards her. Ordinary players would have definitely been hit by it, but...
*So slow. Is this real?*
Compared to the speed of projectiles 11 years in the future, a player throwing a ball was even slower than a snail. It might as well have been stationary.
Even though her previous life's physique and mental was much superior, Jisha dodged the pellet as naturally as breathing.
"She dodged. Fire away, boys!"
*I suppose that's the commander of their group, Bren?*
Though he appeared to be the commander, he was a melee class, and he was closing in on her with 2 other melees.
*So, 3 melees and 4 ranged, huh?*
Due to being level 0, Jisha didn't have very many options. She decided to take a traditional back liner's approach and decided to hit the front line while dodging the pellets from the remaining four players.
*But first, let's dodge only!*
Though Jisha wanted money, she also wanted to have fun. A fight at level 0 was something that she hadn't experienced for a long time, and it was something that she most likely wouldn't experience again. After all, a majority of the player base would be over level 500 eleven years later.
Jisha gracefully danced as though the pellets didn't exist. It didn't take long for the ranged players to realize that this opponent was much better than those who had shown up previously.
"Her movement is quite good! We can't hit her!"
If an outsider were to view this battle, it would look quite ridiculous. They would claim that it looked like primary school children playing a game of dodgeball. This description was quite apt. At level 0, all players had the physical strength and mental capacity of an average human. In fact, if you were a world-class athlete, your body would feel restrained. In addition to this, there were no skills or items at level 0, which meant that every action taken was done entirely on your own. There would be no aid from the system whatsoever.
Under normal circumstances, this was a perfect design. After all, the only purpose of level 0 was to familiarize players with their senses. Though combat was permitted, most players would not be fighting at level 0. After all, one would rise to level 1 automatically after playing the game for thirty natural minutes, or one hour of game time. Much less fight, most players wouldn't even leave their respective hamlets within an hour.
Jisha, the seven players, and the others who had died - they were anomalies who were either bloodthirsty, stupid, or both.
*But does it really matter? It's fun.*
The early levels in Synergy, especially those below 10, were very innocent - Synergy was still very much a game. In the future, many people would take it much more seriously. After a few years, the player base would explode exponentially, and many companies would have invested into the game as well. It would eventually turn from a "game" into a "second reality". Materials, currencies, and other things in the game would gain much more value and some would be sold for astronomical amounts of real-world cash.
However, at this time, it was merely a game - a pastime one would engage in for fun, and something that "only children" could enjoy. After all, the adults had important things to do.
*So let's be stupid and bloodthirsty. I'm going to enjoy the time I have.*
With these thoughts, Jisha continued to waltz through the cemetery as if she were having the time of her life.
...
"What's going on? Why can't they hit her?"
"Her movement is pretty good! Maybe she has IRL formal footwork training?"
"That seems like the most reasonable thing to assume. This would be pretty good video or stream material. I bet some would even pay to watch this."
"Already on it, buddy. Been recording since she walked in!"
At this point, the onlookers were impressed. It was a one versus seven situation, yet the "one" seemed unfazed. Though not many thought she could make it out alive, they were impressed nonetheless.
After about a minute, however, the enemy commander noticed something was wrong.
"Everyone, stop."
Within two seconds, the seven members came to a standstill.
"Hey. Why aren't you attacking?"
"Because I don't need to."
"..."
An awkward silence ensued.
"Bren, she's clearly making fun of us. If she continues like this, we'll eventually win anyway. Why don't we just continue?"
*... This sucks.*
After purely dodging for over a minute, Jisha had succumbed to boredom. This was because the enemy decided to switch up their strategy. Rather than firing as many pellets as possible, they decided to act far more conservative with their ammunition and relied on their melee fighters to run her down.
*If it's dodging projectiles, I could do it all day. But this... is a snooze.*
Being run down by a bunch of guys with sticks was no fun. Eventually, they would win with this strategy considering Jisha wasn't even attacking.
*... Yup. I'm going to lose if I continue like this.*
But... How could this be? How could a maestro with 11 years of experience be run down by new players? The simple answer was that since Jisha wasn't attacking, there would be no way for her to win by default. But if one were to look at it from a different angle, the answer would be the lack of tools at their disposal. It would be like asking a new chef and a starred chef to create the best meal out of a chunk of butter and a slice of bread. The end result would objectively be similar despite the two's vast gap in knowledge. With so few tools, the number of possible mistakes and grasped opportunities are few. This leads to a small number of possible end results; only a small variation from the starting position is possible.
But at the end of the day, the starred chef would still claim victory with certainty.
*Let's turn this around.*
"Alright, boys. Playtime's over."