Aizen left the merchants' guild and headed towards the city gate. At the city gate, a chief guard was delivering missions to players. The guard was confused when he saw several players wanting to complete orders. He decided to use this opportunity to exterminate the monsters that were in the Forest of Born. The Forest of Born was a level 1-10 area.
"Kill 10 monsters and I'll give you 20 copper coins."
>Mission: Kill 10 monsters in Born Forest.
Reward: 20 Copper Coins, XP
>Accept?
Aizen accepted the mission and set off towards the Born Forest. The forest was not far from the city, just 10 minutes walking.
-
"So it's here." Beyond the green plain, a vast forest stretched out. Deep in the forest, wide mountains with peaks that touched the clouds in the sky. Aizen entered the forest in search of some monster. Walking for some time, he heard strange noises.
'...Goblins.'
4 green-skinned monsters appeared in front of Aizen. They were goblins, the enemies any roleplaying player knew. Green skin, pointy ears, a small body, a long nose, and an ugly face. They all carried wooden clubs in their hands.
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
>Goblin
Level: 3
Information: Goblin is a monster that lives in areas of least danger. They are monsters with low intelligence and extremely vicious in general.
Alignment: Chaotic
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
'2 levels above mine. It shouldn't be that hard.'
Despite having no weapon, he was confident he would win. However, to test the pain system, Aizen waited for the Goblin to attack.
A goblin strode towards Aizen and slashed with his club. Aizen raised his left arm to block the attack.
*Bam!*
'Hm… their strength is no big deal.' Aizen could still feel the pain of the blows, but it's like a child hit you with a club.
"My turn." Aizen clenched his fists and punched the Goblin in the face.
*BAM!*
The punch was so hard it blew up the Goblin's skull. Blood spurts in all directions, staining Aizen's clothing.
'Disgusting.'
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
>goblin dead
>XP gained
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
'Looks like he doesn't drop anything interesting.' Aizen lost interest in these goblins and decided to finish them off. The HP system didn't exist in the game, however, the player could deduce when something was dead or not. The monster defeated warning would also appear.
*BAM!* *BAM!* ….
Just one punch was enough to defeat each of them. When he finished killing the goblins, he went deeper into the forest. From a distance, he could see several players fighting the goblins. Most players were still at level 1. Many of them form groups to level up faster.
The strength of the players was not exactly equal, even though they were at the same level. There are several factors that influence player power, for example, a boxing champion would have an advantage over an inexperienced player in combat. Arcane Universe is 100% immersive, so real-life experiences play into the game as well.
Aizen ignored the players and continued walking deeper into the forest. He ended up running into higher-level goblins, but it was still easy to finish them off. He ended up completing the quest while going deeper into the forest, but he decided not to go back yet.
>Level up
-
*steps!* *steps!*
>You have entered a level 10 area<
"Here is the end of the forest." Aizen could see the great mountains that lay at the end of the forest.
'So beautiful.' He thought of the view he would have if he were up there.
*Howl!*
"Huh? Wolves?" Aizen heard a wolf howl coming from the far end of the forest. He thought it would be a new enemy, so he decided to check it out.
*Howl!*
Aizen watched the small wolf that was lying on the ground, hurt. The wolf looked to be in pretty bad shape.
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
> Black Wolf Prince
Level: 10
Current Conditions: Vulnerable, Critical Status.
Information: Black wolves are a species of wolves that live in forested areas. It has relatively low intelligence, but it varies in certain situations. Friendly in certain situations.
Alignment: Neutral
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
*Howl!*
'Free XP?' That was the first thing that came to Aizen's mind. A crit level 10 monster = easy XP.
'This situation is strange.' Aizen couldn't see any players in that area. How was this wolf injured?
Well, not having any players in that area was understandable, because not everyone goes to a level 10 area at level 2. The death penalty in this game was high and none of the players wanted to die for silly reasons. The death penalty is the loss of XP and possible loss of items, however, if you die many times in a row you are unable to play the game for a certain time (a few hours or days).
Even though Aizen found it easy to get to the end of the forest, the other players wouldn't think the same way.
'Could this be… a secret mission?' Aizen found this possibility plausible. He approached the wolf cautiously. The wolf, seeing a human approaching, began to growl. He was trying to threaten Aizen, however, his attempts were unsuccessful.
The wolf watched Aizen warily. He couldn't move his body so the only thing he could do was a growl.
*HOWL!*
"Calm down boy, I don't want to hurt you." Aizen tried to reassure the wolf.
'It's not like he can understand me.'
Aizen wasn't wrong, the wolf couldn't understand him, but he could detect his intention.
*grunts!*
The wolf began to growl in pain. Aizen knew he must act or it would be too late. He accessed his inventory and grabbed a health potion. All new players have gained some basic items (food, clothing, etc) for survival, including a health potion. Aizen only had one, but he didn't mind using it.
"Stay calm, little boy." He looked at the wolf's belly and saw a giant wound.
'Claws… was he fighting another animal?'
Aizen poured the potion into the wolf's wound. The effect started to appear a few seconds later.
'It's working-'
*Howl!*
"!!!!"
*Slash!*
A huge claw slashed towards Aizen, but he quickly dodged the attack. The attack did not come from the wounded wolf, but other wolves.
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
>Black Wolf
Level: 10
───────────────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹───────────────
5 wolves emerged. They stood in front of the injured wolf, trying to protect him. Aizen understood the situation immediately. These wolves came to help the wounded wolf.
*Growl!*
The 5 wolves growled at Aizen trying to intimidate him. In fact, the sense of danger these wolves emit is far above that of goblins. The wolves' appearance was also more intimidating. Its height was 1.60 m.
'These wolves are much stronger than goblins.' Although he encountered level 7 goblins, these goblins were much weaker than wolves. Were 3 levels enough to make such a huge difference? Facing 3 tier 7 goblins would be easier than facing a tier 10 wolf.
'Maybe it's not just the level.' Aizen surmised that other factors can influence someone's power. Maybe the race? Species?
Aizen didn't have time to continue his thoughts, because two of the wolves came running towards him.