Chương 6: Acing the First part of the tutorial

The Temple of the Gods was located on the outskirts of Darkwood Forest, so as soon as Leon stepped outside the temple, he found himself in the forest.

Darkwood Forest earned its name due to its uniqueness.

Every tree planted within its boundaries would develop inky black trunks, leaves, and branches, giving the forest an ominous and mysterious appearance. If a fruit tree were planted here, the fruit it bore would be the sweetest one could find, yet its skin and flesh would be entirely black.

Only a person with a unique sense of beauty or taste could truly appreciate such fruits.

No one knew exactly why this occurred, but it was a topic of endless speculation among scholars and locals alike.

Some believed the forest was cursed, while others thought it was mother nature representing herself in a different manner or the result of ancient magic.

"How long has it been since I returned to this place? 5 years? This sight still amazes me."

Leon couldn't help but feel impressed by the sight before him.

Night had already fallen, and the sky was dominated by swirling dark clouds with an opening in the middle, revealing two moons. One was a crescent shape with a pale, silvery hue, while the other was full and glowing with a deep crimson color.

Their combined light cast an eerie glow over the landscape, creating an unsettling but strangely beautiful contrast against the dark forest.

Leon put his amazement aside and began roaming the forest, his eyes scanning the surroundings in search of prey.

It should be noted that he was summoned in the temple fully equipped for a fight.

His equipment consisted of a basic leather chestplate, gloves, helmet, boots, and two simple swords.

These were the starting gear for every Sword Dancer class, known as the Apprentice Sword Dancer Set.

The leather chestplate, the most robust piece of the set, offered 250 physical defense.

In New World Online, 100 physical defense equaled 0.5% physical damage negation when the total amount of physical defense a player had was less than 2000, meaning the chestplate alone granted 1.25% damage reduction from physical attacks to Leon.

The other pieces of the set—gloves, helmet, and boots—each granted 150 physical defense, which was 100 less than the chestplate. Combined, these additional pieces contributed a total of 450 physical defense.

Adding it all together, Leon had a total of 700 physical defense. This amounted to a total of 3.5% physical damage negation.

His swords each granted 10 points of damage.

It should mean that to take down a monster with 100 HP, Leon would need to land five successful hits, right?

But it wasn't that simple.

After all, New World Online featured three critical mechanics: Instakill, Critical Strikes, and Status Effects.

Instakill meant that certain attacks, like a beheading, would cause an enemy to lose all their HP instantly, resulting in immediate death.

Critical Strikes could be achieved by targeting vital points on an enemy, such as the neck or heart. If executed correctly, a critical strike could instantly kill the opponent or deal significantly more damage than a regular hit.

Status Effects like bleeding could be inflicted by slashing a monster's limbs or other non-vital areas. The bleeding debuff would cause the monster to lose HP periodically over time. If the monster didn't have regenerative abilities or couldn't stop the bleeding in time, it could even die from the continuous loss of HP caused by the bleeding debuff.

These mechanics applied to both players and monsters. This meant that if Leon was beheaded, he would lose all his HP instantly and be forced to respawn, unless he had a special skill that made decapitation not lethal for him—something he didn't have. If he was beheaded, he would die and every death came with a penalty in this game.

The thought of this didn't bother Leon, though. With his experience and knowledge from his previous life, he knew how to avoid beheadings and injuries to vital points.

The trees of Darkwood Forest were ancient, towering nearly 100 feet tall and at least 10 feet wide. Their dark branches formed a thick canopy that allowed only slivers of the moons' light to pierce through. However, the patches of vibrant green moss clinging to the base of the trees provided ample illumination for a human to see in the gloom of the darkwood forest.

Leon took a deep breath, and the cool, damp air of the forest filled his lungs. It was no surprise as new World Online was hyper-realistic, engaging all the senses—sight, sound, smell, and even touch. The game even featured a pain setting that could be adjusted up to 50% of real-life pain, but Leon had chosen not to enable it. Feeling pain during battle was just a distraction, something that could cloud his judgment and hinder his performance.

The floor was a tangle of roots and underbrush, ready to trip up anyone who walked carelessly. Such recklessness would usually be rewarded with an unceremonious fall, face-first into the dirt. Thus, he moved carefully and thoughtfully as he roamed the forest.

Rustle~

The forest was alive with the distant rustling of leaves. However, as Leon ventured deeper into the woods, the rustling of leaves grew dimmer and dimmer until they disappeared entirely. From his experience in his previous life, he knew what that meant—there was a monster nearby!

Leon scanned his surroundings with a gaze of intense scrutiny. It wasn't long before he caught sight of something suspicious—a flicker of shadow darting between the trees in the underbrush. Without hesitation, he gave chase.

"What's happening? Why is he recklessly running in a forest infested with imps?" The shadow hadn't been caught on the livestream, so the viewers were completely unaware of the reason Leon was running. To them, it just seemed like he was recklessly charging through the forest without any clear purpose, which only added to their confusion and curiosity.

"I think he saw something in the woods. Now he's chasing after it," another viewer speculated.

"Let's wait and see what it is."

Whatever Leon was chasing was about half a meter shorter than him. Its legs were also smaller.

Probably because of the difference in the size of their limbs, Leon was succeeding in quickly bridging the distance between them.

As Leon drew closer, the shadow he was chasing became clearer on the livestream.

It was a creature with a grotesque appearance.

It had gray, leathery skin, sharp, clawed fingers, and glowing red eyes that radiated malice. As of cursed, its face seemed to be permanently set in a twisted smile that revealed a row of jagged teeth. After all, who would smile so creepily while being chased? Its body was shrouded in a tattered cloak that fluttered as it darted through the forest.

"It's an Imp Assassin. I didn't expect Zeus to encounter it so soon."

The viewers quickly realized what he was chasing after.

With the identity of the creature revealed, what has happened before the chase began could be guessed by anyone who had played the game before.

The creature had targeted Leon but wasn't able to launch an assassination because Leon's guard was up. While it was looking for a chance to catch him off guard, Leon had caught sight of it, forcing the creature to abandon its plan and flee toward safety.

"He really has a sharp eye. He realized he was being targeted by an Imp Assassin before it made a move against him. I died to that bastard twice!" DragonSlayer123 typed, clearly impressed with Zeus's performance.

"That's sad," another viewer commented. Whether they were being genuine or sarcastic, only they knew.

"I want to see that imp killed brutally!" someone else chimed in—it was XtremeGamer.

"Why? Do you have a personal grudge against it?" a viewer asked.

XtremeGamer furiously typed out his response, dishing out four words in a second. "It ruined my day."

"You mean it humbled the fuck out of you."

"Fuck you, man."

"If he chases after it for three more minutes, he'll be able to catch up to it." GamerGoddess wrote in chat.

"I hope he chases after it for three minutes."

This comment was made by Cyberblade.

'If Zeus keeps chasing after it, he'll fall into a trap and die! Then he'll be trolled by the entire community for being an arrogant and overconfident piece of shit, and I won't be the only streamer humiliated today. Hahaha!' Sitting between plush cushions that showed off his luxurious lifestyle, CyberBlade smiled creepily as he was looking forward to seeing Zeus fail and make a mockery out of himself.

Back in the game, the Imp Assassin that was being hunted down believed that if Leon had any idea of what going on, he would give up the chase. But it greatly underestimated Leon's determination to kill it.

Leon could guess what was on the imp's mind, and he could tell where it was heading. If he kept chasing after it, he would indeed be forced to face a dire situaion but he was confident in his ability to overcome it so he didn't give up the chase.

Besides, Its plan will mean nothing if it's killed before it can alert the other imps.

Leon put all his focus and strength into running. Soon, he reached about ten feet away from the imp. Right then, he activated Quickstep.

Of the three basic skills of the Sword Dancer class, it was the only movement type skill. It came with a short cooldown.

Most pro players were still solely using it to move out of harm's way—after all, in an unfamiliar environment, you ought to hold onto your life-saving trump card for its intended purpose. But Leon went against common sense and used it to close the distance between him and his target.

Whoosh!

Using the skill, he moved with such speed that he became a blur. In a flash, he was right behind the imp, and he had already drawn his sword and swung it.

The imp only felt a presence behind it before a cold blade sliced through its neck. In an instant, it was beheaded.

No matter the profession of the viewers—whether they were ruthless assassins in real life or youths who had been desensitized by countless hours of gaming and surfing the Internet—every single one of them gaped in surprise.

"W-what the—?"

"He... he defeated the cunning monster in a flash?!"

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