A fresh day has come.

Waking up, I take in a deep breath and savour the sweet scent of the morning dew. The cold crisp air fills my lungs and a sense of tranquility spreads through my body. I have a feeling today will be a day full of excitement.

Based on my speed of travel, I would imagine I am within a day’s reach of Fairhaven, the city of beginnings. Having traveled for the past few days spending my nights under the stars I am ready for a proper bed. I had become too accustomed to a life of expending minimal energy, but with the advent of this game I cannot continue down the same path.

After getting down from the cabin's roof I make my breakfast near the river. My cooking skill has gotten a decent amount of experience after all these days of hunting and preparing my own food. I don't know how to forage for food, so all I am left with is the meat and preserved food. I won't even include the barley bread since my jaw was left stiff after eating it the first two days.

It is time to head off. I finish up my breakfast and begin traveling down the narrow winding path to the main road.

Heading south leads me past many travellers heading in the opposite direction. Seeing their equipment, I become embarrassed due to the poor state of my clothes. As I pass them I am given looks of disdain and can hear whispers when I assume they believe I am out of hearing range. However, after looking at their levels I am left with a smug smile on my face.

The highest level I have seen so far was a level 6. While I wouldn't say I was the highest level of the players, I would at least estimate being in the top 10 percentile. My fencing lessons helped give an early game boost and along with my chuunibyou swordplay, I had a small advantage. Although, surely I wasn't the only one.

The other player’s equipment were all in full repair. I saw many sets of copper and leather armours. The ones who still wore the villager clothes like myself were in the minority. It would have been slow gathering income with so many players near the city, but obviously they have more money than I did when I headed out.

The forest path winds through the trees making it difficult to see far ahead. From an hour or so of walking I would imagine I've passed by at least 100 players by now. But, for the past 15 minutes there has been nobody. It's strange considering the obvious flow of people from earlier. Maybe something has happened up ahead.

While on that train of thought, I walk past a bend in the road and lying in the middle of the road was a player with his face to the dirt. The display above his head shows a green [level 4] and he doesn't look like he is conscious.

Something must have happened recently else the people I passed earlier would have dealt with this person. That is, if they were not caught up in the bystander effect.

"Hello?" I inquire. "Are you alright?"

No response.

I walk up to the man and crouch down at his side. His body remains solid rather than having disappeared; therefore, I know he is still alive. A body will disappear within 1 minute of death leaving behind a random selection of their possessions. This is to reward and encourage pking; otherwise known as: player killing. Were this a normal game, that would be acceptable, but with the horrendous death penalty it will turn into a nightmare.

There are no visible wounds on his body, and his breathing rate is regular. It could be dangerous leaving him in the middle of the room like this, so I take him off to the side and lay him against a tree.

As I stand up, I can hear a faint whisper.

"Who are you?"

Startled from hearing noise from this man who was unconscious just moments ago, it takes me a few seconds to compose myself before responding.

“My name is Quinn. I was passing through the forest and saw you collapsed in the middle of the road."

He looks at me questioningly as if silently determining my level of threat.

"You shouldn't have stopped. They will be back.”

"Who will be back?"

"Bandits! Thieves! They robbed me and killed my party members." As he says this, his eyes widen and a look of terror dominates his gaze.

He points to an area behind me. "Them."

I turn my head and see three players: two level fives and one level six. Above their heads are yellowed displays indicating previous hostile actions.

"Ahh shit! Stay behind me!"

"Haha! Now, what do we have here boys? Looks like we have two lost little birdies who have separated from their flock.” The man who I presume to be the leader speaks with a condescending tone.

The bandits are in piecemeal copper armour and copper swords and wooden buckler shields. The leader is the only one fully armed in full plate armour. A typical bandit boss, taking all the good items for himself. He looks like the type of person who considers the strongest party to be in the right. I can see how this type of person would flourish in this environment.

“Good grief.“

Since my attire is in rags I imagine they either didn't bother checking out my level or feel confident in being able to take me out despite the level disparity.

"See here. I will give you two options. Option one: you give us all your possessions and we let you go on your merry way. Or option two: we kill you and then take all of your possessions.” The Leader says with a sneer on his face. “Personally, I’m more in favour of option two, but I am a magnanimous person. Therefore, I will allow you to fight each other and the winner will go free. The loser however... hehe.”

Something seems off here.

The level 4 I helped had mentioned that the bandits had killed his party. Yet, all their names are yellow rather than red, which would indicate they have only assaulted players and not killed them. So, either there are more players hidden in the surroundings or something is not right. I will keep my awareness up just in case.

“And how can we trust you to let the winner go?” I ask in a skeptical tone.

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“I am a man of my word. As for whether you’ll believe that, well, we’ll just have to find out now won’t we.” He replies back with a devilish smirk.

“I’m sorry about this, but I want to live!” From behind me a voice is raised.

It was the man whom I had found in the middle of the road. In his hand was a sharp dagger, the blade smooth unlike mine. It was pointed in my direction. When I look into his eyes I can see some hesitation, but when he shifts his eyes over to the bandits on the other side of me as if looking for confirmation, his confidence rises.

“Haha” At this point I begin to laugh. “You guys aren’t very creative are you?”

““Huh?”” They all seem confused. Maybe I should explain myself.

“I imagine this is some sort of initiation right?” I point to the level 4, “New member plays dead in road,” and then point to the others, “Bandits enter demanding money and then try to coerce the target into fighting with the new member. The newbie tries to initiate the fight, and in the middle of the fight the bandits and the newbie join together in assaulting the target. When the target is incapacitated, you will render them immobile, rob them, and then toss them into a monster’s den to avoid the killing penalty.”

“Am I close?”

“Damn brat! You’re quite clever, but your deduction is slightly off; however, you’re not gonna get out of here alive. So, it doesn’t really matter. Hehe.”

““Get him!”” With that all four of them charge at me.

Being surrounded on both sides is disadvantageous for me, so I turn around a go for the weak link. I allow the level 4 player to attack me once to ensure I do not receive a yellowed name. I am planning on going back to town soon and if people see me coming out of the forest with a yellow name I could get attacked.

His attack gets blocked by my wooden sword, but the difference in strength and skill between the two of us becomes apparent. I was able to block his attack with minimal exertion by deflecting the blades trajectory off to the side. He has a look of shock and disbelief on his face.

"What? Did you expect me to just take your hit?"

"Don't be too conceited! It's four vs. one and you've only got a bit of skill." This attitude was a total change from his previous acting.

Well, there’s no need to go easy on them anyways.

I maneuver around to his left side and with my backhanded dagger, I slash at his left arm. This causes him to howl in pain. I guess he is only good at dealing pain, but not receiving.

"Ahh, fuck that hurts! I am going to enjoy cutting you up"

By this time the other bandits have reached us and began encircling me. I should have known this would happen, but I was too focused on the arrogant level 4 in front of me.

"Hehe, we've got you now boy"

"There's nowhere to run. Obediently hand over everything you have and then prostrate yourself before us. Maybe then we'll let you have a quick death."

"That's right! Kneel down and beg us for forgiveness"

While trying to keep an eye on each of them I look for a chance to escape. My best bet is probably still that level 4 since he is already wounded. So, without warning, I leap towards that guy and take advantage of surprise to land a critical blow to his chest. Blood starts pouring out and he stumbles backwards clenching his chest in pain.

I managed to avoid any vital areas with my attack, but I did not hold back my strength. I didn't want to kill him, just merely render him helpless. Perhaps it’s my naivety and my desire to hold on to some semblance of the real world. However, this is my chance. With him down, an opening was created and I took it.

I ran off through that opening without caring to look behind me. The sound of their footsteps echoed on the road behind me as they chased in pursuit. They continuously cursed at me saying they would torture me. What are these guys? Generic Xianxia antagonists?

I am unable to shake them off by simply running down the main path. This continues on for over 10 minutes and I watch as my stamina slowly, but steadily drains. Despite being an assassin character I do not get boosts in stamina. I assume that must be due to an assassin launching quick sneak attacks rather than having drawn out fights.

If this continues, I will not have enough energy to fight in the end. This is how our ancestors used to hunt on the plains. They would use superior endurance to chase down their prey. In order to lose these pesky thieves, I will need to rely on tactic. Yet, there is not much I can do at this point.

I pass around a bend in the road and take the opportunity to hide behind a tree. My visibility of the road is partially blocked, but it also helps block anyone on the road from seeing me. Soon after I get to my hiding spot I can hear their running feet on the trail.

"Hey! Where'd he go?"

"I can't see him anymore"

"He must be somewhere in the vicinity, spread out and search the nearby trees."

They spread out, two on each side, and move into the trees.

Shit.

One of them is coming in this direction. If he continues this way I will be found in no time.

"Find him yet?"

"Still nothing"

"Nothing here too"

Due to his close proximity, I activate cloaking and get as far away as I can during those precious 5 seconds. Obviously if I move too fast I will make a ton of noise, so hopefully it will go unnoticed.

"Fuck! That brat got away!"

"Come back to the road. Don't get lured into a 1 vs. 1 with him!"

Thankfully someone within that group is sensible. They got within ten feet of me before turning back.

*phew*

I could have taken them on in a 1v1 or even a 1v2, but I am not so arrogant to believe I could take all of them on at once. I watch as they convene in the centre of the path. They remain there for some time before leaving back the way they came.

It would be a shame if some others get caught up in their scheme, so I think I will tell traveler’s on my way south.

Once I have confirmed they have left, I come out from my hiding spot. I can just barely see the next group of players traveling north down the road and I start making my way towards them.