There were many types of monsters in the swamp, and different types of weapons could be obtained from them. Banri had no information about these monsters or what weapons and equipment they might drop.
He hadn't expected it to be so difficult to play an MMORPG game when his actual physical body was inside the game.
There was no tutorial when he arrived in the Fantasy World of Grimland, unlike the MMORPG games he played on the computer and PlayStation, which always had tutorials at the beginning.
There was also usually information available in the settings and menu in computer and PlayStation games. But here, there was none.
Everything felt real; he was now inside the game. There was no computer screen or phone screen with options for settings and menus. For him, this was difficult because he had no idea about the game mechanics.
Banri didn't have any weapon, so he was now thinking about how he could kill a monster to get one. He watched other players fighting monsters to obtain weapons.
Some players grabbed branches from trees and used them to hit the monsters, so Banri decided to copy them. He picked up a tree branch that he thought would be sufficient to fight a monster. Banri guessed that the mobs or monsters in the swamp were only level 1.
Fortunately, the monsters in the swamp did not attack unless you hit or bumped into them first. Banri walked cautiously, carefully thinking about which monster in the swamp he should attack. He wanted to get a decent weapon that he could use for a long time.
So, Banri walked around the swamp for a while until he reached its deepest area. Here, he no longer saw any players attacking monsters or mobs. It was dark, misty, and cold in this area.
The mud and water were thick, and the mobs had more frightening appearances than those in the shallow parts or at the entrance of the swamp.
Then, Banri saw something outside a small cave—a monster. Above the monster's head, the words "Swamp Beast" Level 2 were written, which might be the name of this type of monster found in the deepest part of the swamp.
It had a strange appearance, with sharp teeth, a long tongue, and two large, pitch-black eyes. Banri estimated its height to be about 6 feet.
The monster tried to squeeze itself into the cave entrance, but due to its height of about 6 feet, it couldn't get inside. The Swamp Beast was punching and striking the sides of the cave, causing chunks of rock to fall from it.
Banri could hear the deafening roars coming from the Swamp Beast, and it seemed like the creature was trying to grab something or someone inside the small cave.
He suspected that the Swamp Beast might drop a quality weapon. Now, he was thinking about how he could get information about the Swamp Beast, especially since there were no game settings.
"How can I do that?" Banri murmured to himself.
"Settings!" Banri shouted, sounding foolish. He tried anything, hoping some words or letters might appear in the air, containing information about the Swamp Beast.
"Tutorial!" he shouted again. But nothing happened. He scratched his head, almost laughing at the silliness and cringed of his actions.
"Is anyone there? Please help me!" Banri heard a woman's voice calling for help. He quickly looked around, trying to determine where the voice was coming from.
"I'm here inside the cave! Please help me!" the woman shouted again. Banri realized that what the Swamp Beast was trying to grab from the cave was a player trapped inside.
He wanted to help the player because the Swamp Beast was about to destroy the cave entrance, and if he didn't stop it, the woman inside might be killed.
"The mud under the water, throw mud at it!" the woman yelled desperately from inside the cave.
"What? Is that effective?" Banri asked in disbelief.
"Yes, I saw its weakness in the Swamp Beast information. Could you please do it and trust me?" the woman shouted again.
Although Banri found it hard to believe, he decided to follow her advice. He bent down and formed several ball of mud with his hands from the ground.
"Hey monster! Face me!" Banri shouted, and then he threw the mud ball at the Swamp Beast, hitting it on the back.
The monster turned towards him, enraged, and started to move slowly in his direction. He continued throwing mud at it.
"Hey, are you sure this is effective? Why isn't it dying yet?" Banri said frantically.
"Yes, I'm sure!"
Banri kept throwing mud at the Swamp Beast until it gradually weakened, collapsed into the swamp, and disappeared like smoke. Then, a sword appeared in the mud, right where the Swamp Beast had fallen and vanished.
Banri was amazed. He quickly approached the weapon dropped by the monster. He immediately grabbed the sword, and he was thrilled.
*["You have obtained a swamp blade sword from the Swamp Beast"]*
The words appeared in the air.
"Swamp blade sword," Banri murmured.
"Are you okay?" Banri heard as he sat on the muddy ground. He quickly looked up and saw the woman, who extended her hand to him. However, Banri didn't take her hand and stood up by himself.
He examined the woman; she seemed familiar to him until he realized she was the same woman he saw in queue during the game's market release—the blind woman who was terrified when the stampede and chaos erupted in the building.
He never thought he would find her again in the game, and in such a situation. Banri couldn't believe it; he was left speechless, staring at her innocent face.
"I asked if you're okay?" the woman repeated her question to Banri.
"Oh, y-yes, I'm fine…" Banri stammered as he realized he had been staring at her face for too long.
"Thank you for saving me; I was almost done for back there."
"Oh, it's nothing, I should be the one thanking you. Because of you, I was able to get a weapon."
Banri was amazed by the mystery of the Fantasy World of Grimland. Inside the game, like him, the woman's blindness had disappeared, and she could now see. For him, it was as if this game had given them hope, as if it had created a world for people like them who were PWDs in the real world.
Banri didn't tell her that he had seen her in the real world on the day of the game release. He didn't mention that he was the man who talked to her, who calmed her down because she was so scared that day during the stampede in the building.
Banri was too embarrassed for anyone to know that he was crippled in real life, so he decided not to reveal his disability to anyone he would meet in the game.
According to the woman, the Swamp Beast chased her. She had already obtained the swamp blade sword and was about to leave the swamp when she tripped and accidentally bumped into a Swamp Beast. In her panic, she couldn't pick up any mud and just ran, eventually hiding in the small cave. However, the Swamp Beast tracked her down, and she became trapped inside, unable to escape since the Swamp Beast was blocking the entrance, trying to grab her.
The woman explained how she discovered that the Swamp Beast's weakness was the mud from the swamp.
"You just need to say the name of the monster, 'Swamp Beast,' out loud, and information about it will appear in the air, like letters and words floating like a hologram. Try it," the woman explained.
"Swamp Beast!" Banri said loudly.
*[Swamp Beast]*
*[Level 2]*
*[Location: Swamp deepest area]*
*[Weakness: Mud]*
*[Drop: Swamp blade sword]*
Words appeared in the air, revealing information about the Swamp Beast, which amazed Banri.
"How did you know that you just needed to do that to see information about the monsters?" Banri asked.
"I just tried it. I looked like a fool, believe me. I tried a lot of things to find out how to see the monsters' information until I tried shouting the name of that monster, the Swamp Beast," the woman said, laughing.
Then they both laughed.
"My name is Banri Tatsuya," Banri introduced himself.
"Sunade Scarlet," she replied.
Together, they returned to the plains to finish their first quest, "Monster Limes." They quickly completed the first quest thanks to the weapons they got from the Swamp Beast.
*[First quest: Monster Limes 10/10 ✓]*
"I'm planning to get some boots, but I don't know where to find them," Banri said.
"I also need boots because, as you can see, I'm just wearing slippers. And if the boots we find have stats, they could improve our status. But yeah, I also don't know where to get them," Sunade replied.
"Hmm, it's best if come with us. We're heading to the capital city of Grimland. I heard there's a place there where you can buy various equipment at affordable prices," a male player suddenly joined their conversation.
Curious and excited to reach the capital, Banri and Sunade decided to join the group of the male player who invited them to go to the capital to buy equipment, while they all waited for their second quest.