[System prompt: Congratulations player Seven. You leveled up. You have obtained 1 free stat point]

[System prompt: Congratulations on reaching level 5, all stats +1]

In New Earth, every 5 levels represented a milestone. Upon reaching a new milestone, players were rewarded with better stats.

‘Sweet! I am no longer a beginner. I can now pick a class and considerably increase my strength.’

Li Wei followed the militiaman and eventually reached the barracks. The militiaman told him to wait for a few minutes. He quickly disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later. He brought Li Wei to an office and knocked at the door before leaving.

-"Enter"

....

An hour later,

-"I understand the situation, but from now you need to be careful. The Red Bandits won't let you off so easily. Even if you have only killed some minor characters. It is best if you cooperate with us."

-"Isn't that equivalent of using me as a bait? I am way too weak right now," answered Li Wei with a pale expression.

-"Fine, I know how adventurers work, what do you want? Just say it!"

Li Wei looked at the Commander and smiled. He sent a meaningful glance and said: “I would feel much safer if I had a full set of equipment..."

-"... ... ...Fine... You can have a set of militia's gears. We do have some in the reserve. Here! Take the crystal."

Li Wei's interrogation was very short. It could not even be called one since the commander already knew that his statement was true, judging from his report of the corpses found outside the town. The only reason he called Li Wei was to set up a plan.

He knew that the Red Bandits would look for revenge. Therefore, he planned to use Li Wei as a bait to capture some of them alive to find their hideout. The Red Bandits had spent years hiding deeply into Little Root Town. Now, the opportunity to get rid of them had presented itself!

[System prompt: You have obtained the quest "Bait the Red Bandits"]

[Information]

Go out of town adventuring and use the communication crystal as soon as you detect the presence of Red Bandits.

Rewards: ???

Li Wei gladly accepted the quest. Even without the rewards, he was already able to get a set of militia's equipment and the militia would also protect him from the Red Bandits.

-"By the way, since I am already at the barracks, may I request a class change? I would like to become a warrior."

-"Oh, you want to be a warrior? You would normally have to come back tomorrow but since you agreed to help us, I will do an exception."

The commander stood up and took something from a chest at the back. "Here! Use it, place it on your forehead," said the commander while giving Li Wei a red crystal.

Li Wei quickly obeyed; he could read the description of the red crystal. The crystal flashed and disappeared. A few seconds later the system prompt came up:

[System prompt: You have obtained the class: "Warrior", Strength +1, Dexterity +1, Vitality +1]

Players would obtain bonus stat points in their most important attributes upon choosing a class, that was to put more differences between the different classes:

Paladins would receive 2 Vitality and 1 Strength

Priests would receive 2 Wisdom and 1 Intelligence

Mages would receive 2 Intelligence and 1 Wisdom

Rangers would receive 2 Dexterity and 1 Intelligence

Rogues would receive 2 Dexterity and 1 Strength

[System prompt: Congratulations player Seven for receiving your first class. You are awarded 5 gold]

The 5 gold were basically gifts to the players. It was like giving them the opportunity to purchase a good weapon and start to play the game for real. Not everyone could already hunt during the early stages like Li Wei; the vast majority of players would still not have a single piece of equipment at this stage.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

[System prompt: You have received the skills "Strengthen" and "Cleave"]

[Strengthen (level 0)]

Increases the user's strength by 2 for 30 seconds

Mana cost: 20

Cooldown time: 5 minutes

[Cleave (level 0)]

Violently strikes a target with a weapon, Damage +10

Mana cost: 10

Cooldown time: 10 seconds

These were the two skills obtained by warriors upon choosing the class. All players were given two skills upon choosing a class, one offensive and the other as a utility. As for the level of the skills, it could be increased by repeatedly using the skills.

Li Wei character's stats were now:

Name: Seven

Race: Human

Level: 5 (19/2500)

Class: Warrior

Title: None

HP: 80/80

MP: 60/60

Strength: 11(-2)

Dexterity: 12(-2)

Vitality: 8(-1)

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 7

Stat Points available: 0

Skills: [Cleave], [Strengthen]

Fatigue: 78%

The obtained free point upon leveling was added to Strength. From the fight with the bandits, Li Wei estimated that he had enough dexterity now since he was able to dodge and parry the attacks of the two thugs simultaneously.

The fatigue level was very high. He barely had time to rest between fights in the Northern Forest. He then had to rush back to the town only to be ambushed and have to fight again. The "-1" and "-2" next to the stats were the consequence of the fatigue. Once players reach 60% fatigue, it started to affect their stats and it generally took more than one day to clear that much fatigue.

Having accepted the quest, Li Wei left the barracks and returned to the inn. It was already 8:14. Shops already closed down so Li Wei would have to sell his loot the next day.

It was the first time Li Wei was walking in the town at night. It looked like the nightlife there wasn't too bad. Taverns and restaurants of the main street were booming with people. There was also a night market in an adjacent street where many players gathered. Li Wei even saw a group of players recruiting other players to their party to go hunt at night.

Li Wei ignored all that and went straight to the inn. He was still carrying the two bags full of goodies and needed to leave them in his room.

...

"Wow, you are coming late today, I thought something happened to you", the innkeeper saw Li Wei entering and directly greeted him.

"Yes... Something happened but no biggies... Here, I have a bag full of meat."

The innkeeper took the bag of meat and tactfully remained silent. Such a large quantity was definitely abnormal, but she did not ask where he got it from.

"I am so hungry, can I get some food, please. Also, do you know of any way to quickly reduce fatigue?"

-"The fire is already off, but I'll reheat something for you in a minute. As for fatigue, besides sleeping and eating, there are several items that can help with that. To begin with, you can upgrade your room or order higher quality meals. They are more effective against fatigue but that will naturally cost you more"

She smiled and added "But it should not be a problem for you. You are rich now, I can tell just by looking at the size of the bag of meat. I'll do the count and pay you tomorrow," before disappearing into the kitchen.

Li Wei thought for a while. It was true that he had some money now, and already had a set of equipment. If he wanted to be strong, he could not be stingy towards himself.

When the lady came back with a hot meal, Li Wei readily asked to change to a High-class room where he could recover 10% more fatigue per night when sleeping.

....

The next day,

-"You woke up late today... Here's the money for the meat of yesterday"

[System prompt, you have completed the quest "Collect Meat(Repeatable)", You have obtained 79 silvers and 825 exp]

-"Yes... the new room was very comfortable, but my fatigue level is still at 14%"

-"There's nothing I can do about that. Here's your breakfast"

Li Wei quietly took his plate and started eating, even though the fatigue recovery was better than usual, there was still some fatigue left. Li Wei did not dare leave the town since he would be at risk of an attack of the Red Bandits. He wanted to be at his peak condition when fighting them. Therefore he decided to stay in the town for today and do some errands; it was better than nothing.

Li Wei first went to a tailor shop to sell his furs. He also took the opportunity to modify his belt to accommodate the throwing needles. Li Wei then went to another shop to purchase a second storage bag. Players would never have enough inventory, even with an additional item slot per level. It was not enough considering the large variety of resources one could collect.

The bag was of higher quality than the first; it cost 3 gold but provided 6 storage spaces. It was important to note that players were limited with the number of storage bags they could hold. They could have a lot but only two would be in effect. Li Wei now had 23 item slots.

After that, Li Wei went around town, he went to the quest board to find if there were any interesting quests. On it, he found a wanted post labeled "Soron, leader of Red Bandits" since he was a potential enemy, Li Wei carefully studied the post, the man was apparently a level 10 warrior and could be considered a boss.

Li Wei continued to wander around town, he discovered that there was actually a library on the main street. Many books could be found there about various topics, but the most interesting ones were about the monsters. If players took time to read them, they could actually already get the information about the different monsters available near the town and the best tactics to defeat them...

He also learned that there was a one-man dungeon available, the Tower of Heroes. It was actually located at the training center. One could choose to access the dungeon for 1 silver. The dungeon was actually a series of one vs one fights against NPCs. There was a total of 15 floors and the current record was the 7th floor. Since Li Wei's fatigue wasn't completely cleared, he planned on going there this afternoon to gain some experience. It was a good opportunity to test himself and learn about the other classes.

Li Wei then went to Carlos' Blacksmith shop. He now had some money and might as well upgrade his weapons. He had two basic daggers and one sword, the sword was as follows:

[Basic Sword](Grade 0)

Damage: 3-5

-"Welcome customer... ohh it's you, how did you find the needles?"

-"Hello, they are very good, but I’ve already lost 2 of them, could I get some replacements? I am also looking for new equipment. The budget is 5 gold."

-"I see. Losing them is to be expected. I’ve already prepared some in advance. As for the weapons, I see that you already have a sword and daggers but since you are now a warrior, I recommend getting a shield. There are many fighting styles for warriors but a sword and a shield are common among warriors," said Carlos while taking out a shield from behind the counter. "3 gold"

[Round shield]

Damage: -10 (when blocked)

-"I'll take it. Add in a pickaxe. I'll go to the Western Mines tomorrow to start gathering the ores."

-"Finally, I thought I would have to wait a year before getting the ores. The mines are dangerous though, so be careful"

…

After having obtained the pickaxe and the shield, Li Wei left the shop and bought something at the market for lunch. He then went to the training center.

-"Hello customer, what are you looking for?" a beautiful receptionist greeted Li Wei.

-"Hello, I would like to challenge the Tower of Heroes. Here is 1 silver."

-"Got it, according to your level, you may skip the first 4 floors. Do you wish to do so?"

-"No, I will start from the 1st floor, thank you." The floors represented the level of the NPCs. As Li Wei was level 4, he was given the opportunity to skip the weaker NPCs as it would not be very challenging to defeat them.

-"Then please follow me."

Li Wei decided to fight from the 1st floor because it was an opportunity to get used to the shield. He would also get used to fighting other people even if they were just NPCs. So far, Li Wei mostly fought against monsters but the game content was not limited to PVE. He also needed to prepare himself for the PVP content.

Li Wei followed the receptionist into a long corridor and approached a small hall with a large wooden door. On the top of the door was the leaderboard:

(1) Skywalker(Rogue): 7th floor

(2) Moonlight Shadow(Warrior): 7th floor

(3) Forgotten Child(Warrior): 6th floor

(4) I AM HUNGRY(Paladin): 6th floor

(5) Wild Cat(Ranger): 6th floor

(6) Weird Name(Mage): 5th floor

....

“Looks like many players have already challenged the Tower of Heroes.”

Conquering the 7th floor was very impressive, considering that the player with the highest level in Little Root Town, Skywalker was only level 6. The level of the enemy one had to fight was equal to the floor's number. Therefore, the rogue actually had to fight someone one level above him and managed to win.

In the hall, there was also a bunch of players walking towards the exit.

-"Grmmm, I only hit the 5th floor, that mage was so annoying..."

-"Don't tell me, I lost on the 4th floor against a rogue."

The receptionist led Li Wei to the front of the door.

-"This is the entry to the Tower of Heroes. Please proceed forward. I cannot bring you any further"

"Thank you," said Li Wei, and he directly approached the door. He touched the door and a dim light surrounded Li Wei. A few seconds later, he vanished from the hall.