Across the vast grasslands, Frenzied Boars screamed as they turned into data every second, then became Experience Points distributed to players. In the early days of the game, players threw themselves into leveling up, all for the sake of getting stronger and clearing the game as soon as possible so they could escape this damned prison.
Wang Yang had no idea what He Gu was thinking when he decided to get stronger. He himself was simply trying to stay alive.
Whenever they were exhausted and hungry, they ate Black Bread. Whenever their HP dropped to a dangerous level, they left combat and sat down to recover. They kept repeating the same dull, monotonous routine. Wang Yang and He Gu had fought from early morning until their food ran out, by which point it was around four in the afternoon.
After several hours, He Gu was still level 2, though he was close to leveling up. Once he did, the rewards for hunting Frenzied Boars would probably drop to zero. Wang Yang, however, had been a lower level, so he had reached level 2. His HP had increased by 126, bringing it to 252.
Upon leveling up, he had received three Attribute Points to distribute freely. He had put all three precious points into Strength.
With their food gone and the rewards no longer worthwhile, the two left the Spawn Point and sat down to rest on a Stone Plate.
Several hours of intensive leveling had inevitably left them both bored and tired, but the rewards had been decent. Thanks to all those battles, Wang Yang still couldn't say he had mastered the One-Handed Straight Sword, but at least he could use it without making mistakes. With the ability to block, he had faced no danger while hunting Frenzied Boars, and he had become increasingly adept at using his skills. The thrill of it had even made him start to enjoy fighting.
Sitting on the Stone Plate, Wang Yang began sorting through the items that nearly filled his entire inventory. Most of them weren't worth much, but there were so many that he hadn't deleted any. Now he had to sort out which equipment and materials he could sell and which he could use.
He Gu didn't share Wang Yang's reluctance to part with his loot. Once they returned to town, he planned to sell everything, including the equipment.
That was because hunting Frenzied Boars only dropped Cloth Equipment, while He Gu wanted Copper Equipment.
It took Wang Yang about half an hour to finish sorting everything. By then, it was nearly five in the afternoon, and the light overhead had turned dusky.
He looked around. Players, once visible everywhere, had dwindled to a few scattered groups. After a full day of leveling, most were mentally exhausted and had decided to return to town to rest. There were very few players left on the grasslands now.
It took more than twenty minutes to walk from the Spawn Point back to town. With dusk approaching, they would normally need to get back before nightfall, since monsters gained a 30% boost to all attributes at night. But for Wang Yang and He Gu, who had both reached level 2, that boost no longer mattered, so they weren't in a hurry.
They rested for another ten minutes in the cool breeze. The first bright star had appeared on the horizon: Dusk Star.
In truth, it wasn't a real star, but an image created by the system. It hung a hundred meters overhead, against the rocky underside of the second floor.
"Let's head back." He Gu rubbed his eyes, then hopped down from the Stone Plate. Their short nap had nearly put him to sleep.
Wang Yang nodded and jumped down as well. This trip had been beyond valuable to him. Not only had it laid the foundation for his survival and dispelled his initial fear, but he had also learned how to fight. As long as he kept fighting, his Combat Skills would continue to improve.
He owed all these gains to the openhearted, straightforward man beside him. Wang Yang was sincerely grateful to He Gu, and silently swore that if He Gu ever needed his help, he would go through fire and water for him.
He was walking behind He Gu, thinking this, when He Gu suddenly let out a surprised sound.
A ball of white light appeared out of nowhere a short distance ahead. It was the sign of a monster spawning, but this wasn't a Spawn Point, which was why He Gu was surprised.
They had been sitting there for nearly an hour and hadn't seen a single boar spawn. Yet now, just as they were about to leave, they saw the light of a monster spawning.
The light lasted only a second before fading, revealing a monster twice the size of a Frenzied Boar.
He Gu and Wang Yang were both startled. The monster that had appeared wasn't a Frenzied Boar, but it was still a boar. It was twice as large, and its tusks were vastly different, too.
If the tusks protruding from a Frenzied Boar's mouth were as thick as a newborn baby's arm, then this boar's tusks were as thick and long as an adult's arm.
"An Elite Monster!" Wang Yang exclaimed at the sight of the extraordinary boar. He had played plenty of games before.
He Gu's eyes lit up. "We've been leveling for two days. I was starting to think sao didn't have any Elite Monsters. Xiang Kong, let's take it down."
"Uh..." Wang Yang hesitated. "It looks dangerous. Can the two of us handle it?"
He Gu pursed his lips dismissively. "It's only a level 2 Elite Monster. With our ability to hunt Frenzied Boars without taking damage, taking it down should be easy."
The savage-looking boar had "lv2" and the words "Wild Boar Leader" above its head. Its monster marker was a deep red.
If a Beta Test player had been there, they would have memorized the coordinates and hurried back to gather a group of companions to hunt the Wild Boar Leader.
The monster's deep-red marker showed that there was a huge gap in strength between it and the players. It also indicated that the danger was very high. If they attacked without absolute confidence, they could face disastrous consequences.
If Wang Yang looked at a Frenzied Boar now that he was level 2, its marker would appear light red, indicating little difference in level and strength. That color represented an ordinary level of danger. This showed how many levels of danger lay between the colors, from light red to deep red.
However, seeing a monster's marker color required an auxiliary skill: Search.
But as a pair of newcomers, neither of them knew where to learn auxiliary skills, much less how Search worked.
Even Wang Yang didn't know. The reason was simple: when he watched the anime, he hadn't paid attention to that many details. Besides, the anime hadn't mentioned this matter at all.
So the only way they could judge the danger was by the Wild Boar Leader's level.
lv2...
It was also level 2. And since the two of them could already kill Frenzied Boars without taking damage, Wang Yang couldn't find a reason to refuse. He could only slowly nod in agreement with He Gu's suggestion.
That moment's hesitation would change Wang Yang's fate.
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