"I command you to act as my bodyguard!" he barked, pointing a trembling finger at a group of young men. "As your senator, it is your duty to guarantee my safety! Do you hear me? I'll have your licenses revoked the moment we get back!"
A few players nearby actually paused to look at him, but their expressions weren't filled with respect they were filled with pity or cold amusement.
"Hey, Senator," someone called out from the crowd. "Unless your D-rank talent is 'Legislation', I suggest you grab a stick and start swinging like the rest of us. Your title doesn't give you extra HP."
"Hahahahah!"
Victor just shook his head at the idiocy of some people still believing they held some kind of power.
But as he proceeded to leave he got interrupted by a loud grating voice promptly."Hey! Kid. Over here."
What came into Victor's eyes was a guy leaning against a stone pillar, flanked by two others. He was wearing an expensive leather jacket and had the typical punchable face of a douche.
He was holding a rusted iron sword, the same bottom-tier scrap everyone else had, but he gripped it with a weirdly confident air, as if he expected people to be impressed by it.
"Hmmm... Not bad you look like you can actually hold a blade," the guy said, looking Victor over. "I'm Brad. We're putting together a squad, and you look like you won't be a total liability. I'm feeling generous so consider it an invite."
Victor didn't hesitate even a second. "No thanks. I'm good."
It was a simple choice. Victor wasn't trying to be a lone wolf it was just logic. In this place, Experience Points were everything, and a team meant splitting the rewards. With a SSS-rank talent and a weapon that could now end a fight with one scratch, dragging along three strangers who would only slow him down was a bad move.
Not to mention these people seemed like a pain in the ass , even if Victor was in the mood to help someone it definitely wouldn't be these assholes.
'Generous my ass!' He turned and kept walking toward the gate.
"Wait, are you serious?" Brad's voice got higher, his smug look turning into genuine irritation. "Hey! I'm doing you a favor! You're going to get yourself killed out there alone!" Victor didn't pause he just kept on walking until Brad's shouting became faint drowned out by the surrounding chatter...
...
The entrance to Mistwood was a shimmering portal that looked a door made of light. Victor took a breath and stepped into the light.
The sensation was immediate, a sharp, uncomfortable tugging on his body, like he was being squeezed through a narrow tunnel. The noise and chatter of the city vanished instantly, replaced by a heavy, dampened silence..
The feeling lasted only a moment before his boots hit soft, damp earth
[ You have entered the Mistwood. ]
[ Be Careful as it's not only the monsters of Mistwood you have to be wary of...]
The warning was clear enough. In a place like this, with everyone desperate to survive a person was just as likely to be a target as any monster....
....
Just like the name suggested, the forest was covered in mist.
The fog was a mess, it was thick and made it impossible to see more than ten feet ahead so Victor had to keeo his back low, while moving through the brush as quietly as he could.
He tried his best to keep a low profile since visibility was low and he didn't want himself to be the first to be spotted by anything beyond the fog.
Victor did the math, 100 HP was nothing and if he got jumped by a pack of monsters, he'd be dead before he could even swing his sword. So The plan was very simple, find one target, test the blade, and stay alive...
...
After picking his way through the gray thickets for a few hundred meters, he finally spotted movement.
In a small clearing sat a chicken, or at least, something that resembled one. It was the size of a large dog, but instead of feathers, its body was armored in jagged, slate-gray plates. It looked like a chciken made of stone. It stood there, pecking at the dirt with a beak that looked like a rusted pickaxe.
'Appraisal.'
[ Iron Rock Chicken ]
Level: 1
Health: 300
Attack: 23
Defense: 10
Skill: [Iron Rock Shield] — Increases defense by 3x for 10s.
Description: High defense. New players are advised not to fight it head-on.
Victor stared at the interface as he understood why there were so many death logs.
With 23 Attack, this thing could peck a lvl1 player to death in about five hits.
Most people had no armor and had a garbage sword for a weapon, if they tried to trade blows with this thing, their blades would probably just bounce off its stone shell while it shredded them.
'300 HP...' Victor thought inside his head as his gaze was fixed on the Stone Chicken.
He had already started strategising based on what he had....
....