They stared at each other. It was six against one and Kira did not like the current situation. Before, the people who he fought with were complete amateurs, but at least two of the people in front of him knew how to handle a sword.  

The leader of them suddenly threw his hands up in the air. "Ah fuck this. We know your level but I don't want to lose a level. So see ya." 

Even though he said those words, Kira remained on guard until they had disappeared from sight. He breathed a sigh of relief. He looked around, and then set off. He didn't like working with others and he certainly did not want to be someone's underling. He started walking in the opposite direction. 

He had been walking in the woods for quite some time now. He was incredibly deep in the forest. Here, players much higher leveled had died here. The trees here were much closer together than before, blocking out most of the sunlight giving a creepy atmosphere. Unbeknownst to Kira, he had entered the Forest of Sorrow, it was one of the first dungeons that had been discovered, but it was by far the deadliest. It had monsters such as treants, goblins, ogres and... 

Kira stopped. There was something in the trees nearby. He looked at the source and it stepped out of the shadows. It was a monkey? Its level was 20. It looked like standard monkey but instead of nails it had claws on its fingers. Blood thirst emanated from it. 

With a screech, it jumped straight at Kira. 'Shit! Its so fast!' He barely dodged the monkey's lunge. He tried to cleave the head off, but the monkey was too fast and scurried back onto the trees. It disappeared. Clearly the trees were its haven, and it gained extra speed in the bunched up trees. 'I can't use my shikai,' he analysed the situation 'There's not enough room to swing the blades.' He remained in the middle of the circle of trees, vigilant against attacks.  

Once again, the monkey screeched and attacked from straight above. Kira tried to dodge, but he was a millisecond too late and received a cut across his arm. Luckily it was the outside of the arm and the monkey's claws didn't hit any major arteries. Grunting in pain, Kira swiped. Thankfully it hit and the monkey's tail fell off. Shrieking in pain, the monkey scampered to face Kira. 

"I think its fair. You tired to kill me, isn't it fair I do the same to you?" The monkey snarled in reply. 

The monkey was clearly faster than him. Not by much, but it was still evident. He started to fire off lightning spears but the monkey dodged them all. 

'Shit. I have only have enough mana for one more spear! I have to use this mana carefully... Wait a minute.' He remembered the spell he still hadn't used. Grinning, he ran at the monkey. He didn't need to run needlessly; the monkey also ran at him. Kira swiped his sword. The money also swiped. They ran past each other. They stopped ten meters apart. 

Kira suddenly collapsed. His sides had been shredded by the monkey. 'I'm pretty sure that real monkeys don't have claws.' He saw a shadow fall on him. It was the monkey. All it had received was a scratch. It raised its hand. 

Suddenly, it stopped. A look of horror dawned on its face. "Oh you're feeling it now, aren't you?" He chuckled but coughed up blood. "My ruin blade." 

The monkey dropped to the ground. It started frothing at its mouth; twitching in pain. Its eyes rolled to the back of its head from the pain. Closing its eyes, it died. 

*Ding* Congratulations! You are now level 16! Please assign your attribute points. Stat points available: 6 

Because he leveled up, Kira's wounds automatically healed. A second before, he was bleeding out bleeding out and now he looked as though he was not in a fight at all. 

The monkey's eyes snapped open. It stood and bowed in front of Kira. "I have to hide you now." Kira muttered the spell to hide the zombified monkey and it disappeared like the bear.  

"Please put three into agility, three into strength. Son of a bitch that hurt." He groaned. "Almost lost a level just now. I want to be stronger!"  

'Its getting dark. I better set up camp. He looked around to see of there were any suitable trees. Selecting one, he used his sword to make some fire wood. He then broke some smaller branches and place them in a rectangle formation. Using the bear's cloak, he made a makeshift tent. 

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He lit the fire, impaled some wolf meat on a stick and began roasting it. 'This is the life.' After eating and putting the campfire out, he went to sleep. 

  Weirdly, the way that sleeping worked in Endless online was exactly like sleeping in real-life. He slept for the night and woke up, only logging off to brush his teeth, eat breakfast and do his early morning routine of press ups, sit ups and running.  

He logged back on. He cleared the camp and sat around the fire. He knew that if he went forward, the monsters beyond would be out his league and most likely kill him before he managed to see them. He needed to improve his stats. He went to hunt new prey.  

He found it. Or rather, them. They were in a group of 12 and, contrary to popular belief, the goblins in this game were actually skilled. Many a player had fallen by their hands. 

Kira fired off a fireball, but the goblins dodged. They turned to face Kira, their faces turning into one of confidence; only one opponent. 'This should be easy.' They thought. Two of the group held staffs. 'Goblin mages.' Kira observed. The goblins went into formation: The two mages with two swordsmen at the back, with the other eight charging at Kira.  

They were slow, but strong. Kira parried, but he was forced back. He had to disengage to parry another sword coming from the side. 'Good thing they're so slow. They can't attack me from everywhere. If they were faster, they would be a massive problem. Kira made lightning dance on his sword and swung it at the nearest goblin 

It parried but the electricity fired the goblin. It dropped the sword and feel down dead. Kira once again supplied electricity to his sword and moved onto the next goblin. 

He killed another goblin before the goblins reacted. Two fireballs the size of basketballs flew at Kira. He used the corpse of a goblin and threw it at a fireball. The fireball hit the goblin, roasting the flesh. However, the second fireball dodged, hitting a tree. Burnt flesh tainted Kira's nose. He grinned. Only ten left. 'Those mages need to be killed first.' "Lightning spear." He threw it at both the mages, only to have the two warrior vanguards try and use their bodies at meat shields. 

"That ain't gonna work." He said as the electricity fried the four goblins. 'Only six left. Better finish this off quickly or I might have any mana soon.' He infused lightning into the sword and killed three goblins before running out of mana. The last goblin grinned, thinking it was his victory. Oh how wrong it was.  

It swung downward and Kira didn't bother parrying. He ran behind it. Pointing his sword to face the goblin's back, Kira suddenly had an idea. 

"ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF PAIN!" He shouted as his sword impaled the goblin through its rear end. Kira could see the tip of his sword in the goblin's mouth. It started choking on the thing in its mouth. Frothing, it tried to claw the sword but soon lost its strength, finally succumbing to blood loss, internal bleeding, and having a meter long katana shoved up its ass. 

 'Urgh. Last time I'm doing this to a goblin.' Withdrawing his sword, he he swung it in a downward arc, cleaning the blood off it before sheathing it.  

"Bro that was epic, disgusting, but still epic!" A voice made Kira glance up. It was a lone swordsman. No, wait. There was also another person's presence in them trees. It was slight but it was there. He glanced at the presence and he heard snickering. "Haha Ryan he noticed you! So much for being the ultimate ninja!" The man on the ground laughed. "Oh shut up. You have difficulty sensing me." Another person clad in black jumped out of the tree.  

Kira observed these NPCs with curiosity. He had heard of NPC adventurers but this was the first time he had seen them in the flesh. He raised a hand and asked tentatively "Uhh may I ask who you are?" He couldn't see their level so they must be pretty high leveled. 

"Alright. I am Dylan and this failed ninja here is Ryan." The swordsman pointed to himself and the other guy. He continued "I am a level 40 samurai/ brawler and he is also level 40. His two classes are ninja and tamer." He looked at Kira with pride and almost shouted "Our party is called Absolute duo!" 

'They're a pair of weirdos.' Kira thought. "Nice to meet you. I am called Kira, level 16 and magical swordsman."  

Ryan nodded and then asked Kira "Hey did you want to rest at our house? I can tell you're tired and if you want a bed we can supply one to you." Kira frowned; they weren't trying to con him were they? Ryan caught the frown and hurriedly told him " Nononono, we aren't trying to cheat you. The bed is free but our payment system is a bit strange. You have to fight us and let us see if you can impress us." He then threw his arms up in the air. "Or that is how its supposed to go, until my friend over here saw you impale the goblin and was completely convinced that you are awesome." 

"Aww  come on man, its not everyday you someone killing a goblin by thrusting a sword up its anus! You have to be completely badass to do that! Oh well. Anyway, follow us." He beckoned Kira to follow him. "Our inn isn't that far away." 

With some hesitation, Kira followed.