‘Okay, lets try this again’

After the tragic end to the last play session. Lei was once again psyching himself up for another take. He had also taken the time to message the developers for some details on the game. After all, he had taken the leap and applied for the job but there was no significant information on the game in the job notice. The developers also had not given him any information after hiring, and they had still not messaged him back a day later, so he decided to just play again and try to learn on his own.

He could still hear the news in the background going on about a nearby accident and a someone that had home missing as he put on his VR headset. However, the sound quickly muzzled out as the game began.

‘Loading Game’

It was the same process as last time, a bright light blinded Lei for a second and all of sudden the world grew from nothing around him.

‘It is still amazing, how this game loads’ Lei could not help exclaim out in amazement.

‘Oh, So you respawn where you die, I kind of wished i would appear in a town or something, but i am just back where I died’

Lei looked at his surroundings, it unsurprisingly had not changed, only the weather was different. The sun today was hidden behind the clouds and there was a stronger wind flowing through the forest. The loudness of the flowing wind meant it was the only sound could be heard in the distance.

‘Since, I know where I should head towards I might as well set off and stop wasting time’

He set off taking quick strides in the western northerly direction where he had seen yesterday a river as well as a small village quite a distance away. Lei was particularly interested in the village since he had yet to meet a player or an NPC for that matter.

‘I need to find myself some food and water, in due time as well’ Lei knew his bar degraded rather slowly but he did not want to take any chances.

‘There is a fruit in this tree!’ Lei grasped onto the fruit hanging low onto the tree and pulled it-

‘Scheeek’

Only to be surprised by the strange sound it emitted, letting it out of his grasp he quickly jumped back and drew his short sword. The monster was a round grotesque creature which had in its head a broken stump that resembled an apple but its leech-like mouth was terrifying to say the least.

Lei did not waste time and quickly charged at the thing that was sprawling on the ground on one spot and pierced right through the creature.

‘Killed Tree Leech’

‘EXP Gained 15’

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‘It seemed completely unable to do anything!’ Lei was somewhat surprised at how weak the monster. He wondered if it probably only relied on the element of surprise to attack first once a player grasped it by mistake and since he was able to react hastily it was unable to do anything.

‘What a nasty trap, though!’

‘Note to self, I gotta watch out for these guys and similar stuff in the future’

There were many other ‘fruits’ like the monster but Lei was more conscious of them but he still needed the food. Therefore, he stabbed the fruits until he found one that was actually a fruit and not a monster. It took a while but Lei finally was able to find at least a fruit.

‘Finally!’ He bit at the apple like fruit that had juice flowing from the place it had been pierced.

‘It is sweet, so sweet,’ He exclaimed in surprise at honey like sugary taste from the fruit.

‘Wait a moment!!’

‘How can it have taste?’ Lei shouted in confusion after gobbling down the fruit.

‘Did they update the game. I thought since I did not feel pain. I would not have a sense of taste either?’

Lei was puzzled but came to the conclusion that maybe only negative effects were turned off whilst positive ones were turned on. After this Lei decided to pick up his pace, he had spent at least half an hour to find a real fruit. It was not time wasted though after all he had gained a lot of experience from killing quite a few Tree Leeches that took him very close to level 2.

It was not as easy to walk, Lei noticed more bumps on the floor that were increasingly more difficult to see as the grass and other greenery impeded his vision. In addition, to that there was always the treat of monster and soon enough -

*arrrgh*

There was a sound not far from Lei, it came from a nearby tree and he could not make out what it was exactly until it approached with its bearings its claws.

‘Is that a bird? Whatever it is heading towards me!!’ He screamed out loud as he dodged to the side.

‘Damn it, an attack by a mobile creature!’ Did it have to happen here, in a place I can not really move much,’ Lei angrily groaned, he hastily decided to avoid the creature and backed away whilst it prepared for another lunge.

‘Sheeek’ the red feathered bird growled and charged at Lei. He had been unable to move much since the ground was unequal terrain, so there was a great chance that he would fall if he rushed to run which would only spell his doom.

With the sharp claws inching close Lei decided to take a chance and just before it reached him he stepped backwards and slashed towards the birds.

‘-5 HP’

He was not able to fully evade its attack as it scratched his leg but it had not been a big injury. The bird however, had suffered a large cut onto its chest and its blood was splattering like a fountain from it. Lei prepared to finish it off but it managed to take off before he noticed.

It flew for a while, still bleeding a lot, screeching until it let out a death knell and fell some distance away from Lei.

‘Killed Red Bird’

‘Exp gained 30’

‘Congratulations You have Levelled up’

‘Alright, I do not feel any different’

Lei looked into his character page but nothing had changed apart from the level itself, however he felt this was not the time to waste after all he remembered the bird had caused a lot of noise.

‘I should get out of here!’ He thought and quickly set off as fast as he could whilst still taking care of where he steeped.

An hour or so had passed and Lei had gone a long way but he still could not find the village or even see the river. The forest was growing denser and harder to move in and he felt more vulnerable than ever before as his vision and mobility was greatly compromised by the labyrinth of trees and the amount of roots sprouting out as if for the purpose to trip passerbys.

As he Grudgingly made ways past this difficult area Lei spotted a random chest covered with roots. He gasped in surprise but his eyes gleamed in delight at the prospect of some finding something interesting.

‘It seems quite beat down… I do not think there will be anything decent in this’ Lei groaned as he analysed the chest which was rusty but had not broken down surprisingly enough.

*Tah* He kicked at the chest but it was sturdier than it looked and did not take much damage but he continued to repeatedly kick.

‘Still nothing’ He said gasping for breath and wiping the sweat from his brow.

‘I know!’ he shoved his knife into the gap between the chest and moved along the whole chest pulling with strength until it eventually split apart. In it there was a strange scroll that had a strange clean look to it considering it would have been inside this chest for at least some time.

Unveiling the scroll, he found out it was completely blank.

‘What the hell is this?’ ‘A freaking prank!?’ Lei shouted in anger at the apparent useless item he had found within the chest. He still packed into this backpack at the end of it all but grumbled under his breath as he walked away from the open chest.