{A/N: After careful consideration, the MC's strength stat will be different from the regular humans. Every point in END will be 100 HP added to his meter while regular people will only have 25. Same with all other attributes.
MC will be 4 times as strong. Sorry about that. I'll adjust chapter 5 ASAP. That is all. So, when you see MC ragdolling players, that's why. Not to mention the gear he will be getting.}
***
After traveling for about 8 hours nonstop, Connor expects full well to level up quickly and efficiently while completing the quest.
With the traveling done, Connor is currently standing in front of Saws Forest, trying to figure out the cause of the empire's military blockading of the entrance.
No soldiers are present, but a mana barrier is in place.
This particular mana barrier blocks every person who comes into contact with it utilizing mana. However, the difference between this barrier and others is that it prevents those with a physique below Rank 1.
Even if someone had somehow bypassed the barrier, their bodies would feel very heavy, as if tons of cars were being placed onto their shoulders.
They would not be able to fight at full strength. And their mana attacks would have a significant decrease in potency.
For Connor, with his cognitive strength, while being paired with the starting strength of a Level 40 player, he won't have a problem bypassing the barrier's restrictions.
'To place a Mana Barrier here… means that the Empire is currently conducting serious business inside the forest and doesn't want anyone below Rank 1 from entering. Did a Lord-ranked monster appear? I'll investigate once I finish Omar's quest,' Connor thinks to himself as he walks past the Mana Barrier and enters the forest.
Saws Forest is located far south of the empire. It acts as a border between it and the Hidden Ninja Kingdom.
As of now, the map is completely free of players as they haven't met the requirements to even venture outside the starting Town.
It's a leveling map that countless players enjoyed going to because it was undoubtedly the biggest Free Zone map in the Northeastern Region of Shattered Realms.
Free Zone maps are regions that have no Level barriers in place. Whether on the inside or outside, any player can walk in and out. However, multiple Free Zone maps have Forbidden Areas.
Even the natives of empires can't say that they've explored the entire map. That is because there's a Forbidden Zone in the core region of the map.
In the past, a Rank 6 Divine Wizard fully equipped with Fractured Legendary Equipment and a powerful Legendary Mage staff while also being at Level 186 almost died immediately.
If it wasn't for the multiple life-saving skills of his Legendary equipment, the NPC would have for sure died.
Even with the Lightheart Guild's strength and knowledge, no one was ever able to gain access to the core area.
Besides the core region, the forest itself is vast.
To put the size of the Forest into perspective, Saws Forest is half the size of Earth.
That's about 13,000 miles. One could imagine just how many treasures and monsters are inside.
To accommodate the influx of players playing the game and to give the surreal feeling of entering a new world, the developers created Shattered Realms to be 50x the original size of Earth.
With this, players could feel at ease knowing that the game world isn't as small as theirs. Especially with the kind of power and speed they would acquire in the future.
A warning notice rings in his ears:
*Warning!! Warning!! As you are a Level 0 Guardian Apprentice, it is advised that the player proceeds with caution. The player may encounter a creature of any level upon entering the Free Zone map, Saws Forest. This Forest has no Boundary enforced upon the creatures inside due to it being a Free Map.
Therefore, running away to another area will yield no results as the creature or creatures will continue to give chase. As always, happy Leveling.*
That particular message rings in every Level 0 player's ears that wish to venture into a map with the lowest level of 1.
A feeling of nostalgia appears deep in Connor's heart. He remembers the first time he heard the system notification.
He remembers feeling so excited, but that excitement was quickly overshadowed by his brother's death as well as the contract that hung over his head.
'Never again. I won't be held down by anyone. Ever!'
A deep feeling of determination settles into his heart. Connor's eyes now appear more resolute. His stature and expression are a stark difference from his old self.
Older, face a bit sunken, and always a sad look on his face.
To others, he still appeared gentle and kind, but his mother knew the real color behind the facade. She too changed a bit.
'I haven't seen her since my regression. She must still be visiting her family. I'll have a nice present for her when she gets back,' Connor says mentally, a smile on his face.
Pulling his thoughts away from such negative things, Connor began jogging along the forest path.
As he's jogging along, Connor spots a pair of eyes in the depths of the forest reflecting light.
With the speed of a high-speed car, Connor zips straight toward the creature eyeing him from a distance of 20 meters.
Taken aback by the speed in which Connor unleashed upon it, the monster tried to flee. However, that was the thing it had done. Connor simply throws out a punch containing 20% of his power.
-253
'Two hundred fifty-three damage. Not bad. If that's the case, I should be dealing well over a thousand damage per hit. And that's just with my hands and no equipment!!'
Thinking that, Connor knows that pretty much no Boss-type monster could pose him any threat as of now.
Not wasting any more time, Connor continues to jog along and kill monsters every so often. In that time, he is 10% away from filling up his EXP bar to Level 1.
About two hours in, Connor encounters a Level 15 Deer. It just appears as a regular deer but it's antlers and hooves glow a light cyan-blue. He inspects it for more information.
[Lvl.15 Named Forest Deer, Hplodur
Grade: Elite
HP: 10,000
Skills: Call of Samtsirhc, Frost Gallop
Skill Description- Through its antlers, it can release a deafening sound throughout a radius of 5m. The sound can stun enemies in its radius. Has a 10% chance to call upon the spirit of the forest, Samtsirhc.]
Connor was pleasantly surprised to find a named monster.
In Shattered Realms, monsters and creatures are graded based on how strong they are at that rank and level.
It goes from lowest to highest: Common, Elite, Unique, Lord, High Lord, Epic, Legendary, Saint.
However, a creature could be any grade but if they have a name, that creature could potentially rule over a certain region depending upon their rank.
Named creatures have a much higher intelligence than standard monsters.
If a monster is Legendary ranked and is named, 99% of players will not be able to defeat it.
Even if it were to face someone two Ranks above it, the monster could still find a way to escape.
Its bodily resistance is multiple times that of Sentient Beings in Shattered Realms.
Even NPCs, who are widely known as almost invincible compared to players, would have a difficult time killing a Named Legendary monster.
And now that Connor has encountered a named Elite monster, he feels that this is his lucky day.
Not waiting for it to react, Connor dashes at it in a blur.
Taking him by surprise, Hplodur releases a beam of energy from between its antlers when Connor is just a foot in front of it.
Not having any other option, Connor crosses his arms, blocking himself from getting injured.
That proved worthless as he is then propelled backward, smashing through two trees.
Picking himself up, Connor winces a bit as his left arm is a bit scorched with frostbite.
Not one to care for the pain, Connor looks into his inventory to pull out the novice sword and shield when he notices an all-too-familiar shape.
He then clicks on the icon and is ecstatic as he reads the name: Vibrant Mitigation.
This completely broke all of what he knew about the game. Regressing in time along with the legacy orb, the god breaking into the introductory room… and now this?
Something major is happening in the background while Connor is sitting here playing this game. Whatever, and whoever sent him back for a reason and they want him to play.
'I guess I could play along,' Connor thinks to himself.
Taking Vibrant Mitigation from his inventory, Connor sticks his arm into the opening of the arm shield.
Instead of waiting for his confirmation to equip it, the shield immediately latches onto his arm, covering as far as his hand to his left shoulder blade and left breast.
The spaces between each plate began to glow a bright orange. A blistering heat began to take place as the arm shield sank into his flesh.
Not expecting this to happen, Connor just grits his teeth.
'What the hell Is up with this Vibrant Mitigation? Why does it hurt?'
At this point, Connor is at a loss. The last time he equipped Vibrant Mitigation, it never burned him or hurt him at all. He equipped it and that was it.
But, now, not only is it burning, but he can feel it merging with his flesh. Or more accurately, the individual muscle fibers.
At this moment in time, vibrant mitigation isn't just being "equipped", it's merging with its wearer.
With the pain gone, and the seared human flesh smell gone as well, Connor inspects the shield for the changes.
***
[Equipment: Vibrant Mitigation
Rank: Epic (Repaired) (Upgradable)
Level Requirement: None
Stats:
+50 STR
+20 AGL
+200 END
+75 VIT
Note: This piece of equipment cannot be dropped, sold, or forcefully taken. Equipment is soul-bound to the Player.
Skills: Mitigate (Passive), Vibrant Defence, Accumulate (Passive), Kinetic Reverse Shot.
Special Ability: Swallow
Basic Info- An arm shield crafted by the renowned Smith God, Sregor Evets, for a king millennia ago. Vibrant Mitigation was once a piece to a set of the Legendary armor, Vibrant Monarch.
Over time, the armor has lost its power and rank and has been broken into pieces, never to be seen again.
Vibrant Mitigation has been restored from a Broken Epic to Pseudo-Fractured Legendary. With this, the negative effects of having a low melting point have been significantly reduced.
As the restored version of the piece has been unlocked, information on the next piece of armor can be found when in proximity to said piece. Vibrant Mitigation will vibrate when in proximity.
Current proximity: 2000m
Reparation Requirements: 10 God Cores to fully rank up to Legendary status. Or, as a replacement, 500,000 Star Crystals to rank up to Fractured Legendary.
Current Progress:
0/10 God Cores
0/500,000 Star Crystals.]
***
Determined not to be overwhelmed, Connor calmly went over the information again.
Connor does not even want to think about God Cores or Star Crystals.
They are things he can't acquire at this moment. Nonetheless, to think an arm shield he random—
'That wasn't random. Who was that woman that gave me that tip about the shop owner?' Connor asks himself, frustrated.
'F*ck! Why can't I remember now? I can remember everything else but the important clues. First, the details about the lightning god's name. Now, the woman as well. I have perfect audio and image memory…
You mean to tell me that I can't remember? Bullsh*t! Someone's messing with my memory!' Connor concludes.
Thinking that may be the case, an inexplicable fear runs through his body. Who could be the person behind it?
To be able to manipulate a person's memory is tricky in itself.
But, to make a person forget most of the memory and not the memory itself is quite crafty.
Connor could think about these things until he died of starvation and there aren't any clues as to what is going on. So, what's the point in keeping pondering?
'Rank 6. The lightning god said get to Rank 6 and my questions may be answered then.'
Now, focused on the increase in strength brought by the arm shield, Connor feels just better. Before, he was like a woman with no shirt on topless in the streets.
Now, however, he feels as though he is much less bare and more like his old self in the future. Though, much weaker.
After acquiring Vibrant Mitigation, Connor had to change his whole play style to a more offensive one.
Simply because though it is an arm shield, it isn't effective at blocking whole attacks.
It is a more tactical melee guard than anything else.
During these minutes, Hplodur stood in the same place as before. With a look of confusion, he was trying to figure out why the human was just standing there.
With two lunges, Connor arrives in front of the deer.
Animalistic fear appeared in its eyes as Connor delivered a right hook to its temple.
It careened to the side, going through multiple trees.
-1764
A single hit caused close to two-tenths of its health to drop.
Not giving it any chances of retreat, Connor lunges again with profound speed.
The next few minutes were Connor toying Hpoldur to death. It even tried to call upon Samtsirch. Unfortunately for it, Connor clamped down on its neck and snapped it. The magic it gathered in its antlers stayed.
"Beautiful."
If any woman saw this scene right now, they would want to take its antlers and make jewelry out of them.
Right on time, a system notification pops into view.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:
You have slain a Lvl.15 Named Elite Monster, Hplodur.
As there was a level desparity been the player and the monster, additional reward and EXP will be rewarded.
Reward:
+1 Level
+5,000 EXP
Crystallized Naelop Htuos Antlers
Skill Stone- Heavy Smash
Title "Level Leveler"
Note: This is a surprising development. The system will keep watch for any abnormalities with player Nebula. As always, happy Leveling.]
Not having time to think about the system note, Connor's attention was caught by a low rumbling.
That rumbling soon became apparent as the ground began to shake.
Confused, Connor turns his eyes towards the distance.
A mile away, in a clearing in the distance, a large group of hundreds of monsters stampede in his direction.
In front of them, a small group of soldiers ran as if their lives depended on it.
Well, it did.
When the monsters are about half a mile out, Connor makes a decision.
This is something Connor did not know he could do. Seeing as his race did change, his senses have all received a multiplicative increase.
"You bastard, Infinite Sutra," Connor says aloud, thinking of a random quote his good friend said all the time.
"If I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it. Sometimes, I wish I could."
And that is what is happening now.
With those final words, he leaps forward at large intervals…
Straight at the incoming monster tide.