Isolde's suffering was over in a second. Her sweet death had released her from the tense emotions that she was constantly suffering from. It had also driven home the fact that getting a class was actually no big deal in this hellish game.
After her in-game death, Isolde found herself floating in the dark void, the same place where she had waited for the game to launch. For a while, she did nothing, just floating in the comfortable emptiness. Thoughts about her untimely demise cycled through her mind.
Eventually, she sighed and issued the command to re-enter the game. But... nothing happened. Frowning, she repeated the command, this time more forcefully. A game hint appeared before her eyes.
[ Player has died. As a penalty for death, the player will drop 50 % of the equipments. The equipments will loose 25 % durabilty. The player can't enter the game for the next 1 week (7 days / 168 hours). ]
She was utterly shocked. "WHAT?! I can't enter the game for a week?! What the hell!" The equipment penalty didn't bother her much since she didn't have any to begin with.
Thinking quickly, she hurriedly exited the void and removed her helmet. Still lying on the bed, she reached out to retrieve her phone from under her pillow. The dark screen of the phone reflected her face.
Isolde was in her mid-twenties, with delicate features framed by shoulder-length chestnut hair. Her eyes, a striking shade of green, were often filled with curiosity and determination. Despite the exhaustion from long gaming session, there was a spark of tenacity in her gaze that hinted at her resilience. She had a lean, athletic build, a testament to her dedication to both her virtual and real-world pursuits.
But her appearance was the last thing on her mind now. She hurriedly switched on her phone and immediately went to the player forum specifically made for Genesis Frontier players.
There, she saw players discussing the exact issue she wanted to investigate. These were the players who had died for various reasons and were now banned from entering the game for a week.
MooseMonster123 : Why is this damn game so difficult in the early stages? How are we supposed to enjoy the game now?
ChidoriSis888 : Yeah, we can't even enter the game for 1 week. Is Genesis Frontier even worth it?
KameAmava : Game's not worth it. I am leaving it. At this rate we won't even make any money at all and only waste our time. I am done.
Snoopy : Bro above is right. I am done too.
KameAmava : HEY! HOW DARE YOU!! I identify as a meme. My pronouns are "lol" and "bruh".
Illiterate : bruh
Bruh999 : bruh
Pirate107 : This world is going to hell, HELL I tell ya.
Isolde sighed after seeing all the madness on the forum. But the question of whether the game was worth her time or not also lingered in her mind. "I wonder how the other group members are doing. I wonder how he is doing."
________________________________________
Back to the time when Alois and the company encountered another Forest Wolf....
Although Isolde was oblivious about how she died, Alois and the other group members clearly saw what happened. They saw a pitch-black forest wolf actually leap out from Isolde's shadow and sever her neck with a single clean strike from its sharp claws.
Not only that, it also brutally bit down on her head that was in mid-air. Blood and brain matter splattered on the wolf as well as the ground. Alois was shocked to see such brutality, and his stomach churned as if he was about to vomit. But he gritted his teeth and forced the feeling down.
David roared, "Shit! Be careful! This one knows [Shadow Leap]." The method of luring failed in a second with the death of Isolde. Now all they could do was fight the wolf head-on. Then David commanded, "Recruits! Get in formation and protect each other's backs."
Elara waved her hand in the air, and a ball of light was produced out of thin air. Then she suspended this ball of light in mid-air above the group. She said to the group, "This way there would be fewer shadows around us, but you guys still need to pay attention to your own shadows."
Alois, who was paying attention to everyone, noticed this. "Magic! That must be a spell that uses mana or some other energy." He was excited by the prospect of using spells and obliterating his enemies. But he soon toned down his excitement and focused on the fight at hand. He secretly inched towards David and kept close to him without making it too obvious.
Then all he did was observe the fight. The Forest Wolf would continuously leap out of a shadow and attack only once. Whether its attack succeeded or not, it would again return to the shadows. The recruits were struggling against this, and many of them had injuries of varying degrees on their bodies. Luckily, all of them wore armor, so there were no casualties... yet.
Then Alois observed the veterans and saw that after the initial surprise, all of them had calmed down. He asked David, who was near him and carefully observing the fight, ready to intervene if things went wrong, "Hey David, why are the new recruits struggling so much against this wolf? They easily killed the previous one."
David looked at him in puzzlement. "Can't you tell?" Then a look of realization spread across his face, and a hint of pity appeared in his eyes. "Oh! My apologies. I forgot that you did not get your class and hence you did not level up and get the skill [Inspect]."
Alois smiled ruefully and shrugged his shoulders while saying, "It's okay. My luck." David was impressed by his positive attitude and answered him, "To answer your question, the previous forest wolf was at level 10 while this one is at level 13."
Before Alois could ask, as if reading his mind, he said, "You might think that there is only a difference of 3 levels between them. But 3 levels are actually very far apart and make all the difference." Then he sighed and said, "You are new to our world, so you don't know. It takes a lot of time to even level up by a single level, and it's completely normal to get stuck on a level for a long time. In order to level up, you need to complete quests or kill.... let's say anyone. But even if you keep killing those at the same level as you, it will still take a long time. The advantage of this is that you have unlimited potential. All you need to do is the quest or killing."
Alois fell in deep thought and did not say anything. He was still vigilant and observing the fight. As time passed the recruits got the hang of the wolf's attacks and started injuring it. Even Alois could tell where the wolf would emerge from. He thought to himself, "Just before the wolf emerges from the shadow it wobbles ever so slightly. It easy to miss this during the fight."
Finally, quarter of an hour later, the wolf was surrounded and killed. The only casualty was that of Isolde but no one was worried as she could revive. While the recruits were tired and resting, Alois approached the corpse of the wolf and with Elara's permission started practicing his [Monster Harvester] skill.
The other three players, Jason, Lyra and Evan were deeply affected by the brutal death of Isolde. After the fight, Lyra even started vomiting.
And so the group rested for a few more minutes and started going deeper into the forest ready to challenge a new monster.
( Author's Note : I've also published this novel on RoyalRoad. If you wish to donate then you can do it on RoyalRoad. Cheers !! )