In a forested area.
A light shines, and the figure of the Black Bird emerges from behind that light.
"Kroak ~ Kroak ~"
"Damn it! That person really killed me! Not only that, I actually felt real pain! I'll remember that player's face and seek revenge in the future!" Venix roared to the sky!
Venix's mind was truly terrified at this moment. The pain and the sensation of death were imprinted vividly in his mind.
To vent his emotions, Venix continued cursing the person who had killed him twice in the span of five minutes!
After cursing that person for a full five minutes, Venix became somewhat calmer.
Venix opened the settings and looked at the Pain Level, which was currently at 20%.
"Raising the pain level does help players fight better. However, such intense pain can drive people insane," Venix thoughtfully considered.
The pain of death was not something to be taken lightly!
Just as Venix was about to lower his Pain Level to 0%, a crucial in-game announcement appeared for all players.
[ ANNOUNCEMENT! After receiving feedback from many players, we've decided to remove the feature that caused pain upon death in the game ]
[ Pain Level: The Pain Level is a real phenomenon; however, when a player dies in the game, the sensation of death is also experienced, leading to trauma among professional players. ]
[ To address this issue, we've decided to eliminate the pain experienced upon death. Players killed in the game will no longer share this painful experience with those who have activated the Pain feature. ]
[ With this change, we aim to ensure that players can enjoy their adventures in the world of Nine Heavens without the fear of death! ]
[ Please note that the settings have been adjusted immediately following this announcement, allowing players to continue their adventures without the fear of death! ]
Seeing this announcement, Venix, who read every word, fell silent.
Venix checked his Pain Level setting, which remained at 20%, and took a deep breath.
"I have to stay calm; anger at this point is useless," Venix tried to maintain his composure, even as his bird-like chest rose and fell.
After a while, Venix walked calmly and approached one of the trees.
Venix used his right wing and punched forward!
Thud!
Venix's punch hit the tree, but because it was a wing, the blow wasn't very powerful.
"CONTINUE YOUR ADVENTURE WITHOUT FEAR OF DEATH, YOUR MOTHER!!!" Venix shouted angrily!
What nonsense!
Why did bad luck always seem to befall him from the moment he entered this game? Why wasn't this announcement made ten minutes earlier!?
Why did this announcement come right after he felt a real death experience!?
Venix shook his head sadly, thinking : "Sooner or later, I'll go crazy because of this bad luck."
Even so, Venix had no intention of quitting this game.
The reason was simple; everyone's eyes were on this game!
With that, if Venix had something good to sell, he had a global customer base.
"Let's go, ans level up again!" Venix cast aside all his complaints.
Flapping his wings, Venix took flight into the sky.
One of the benefits of respawning in this game was that players returned to their peak condition, but this feature was only available in the early levels.
Venix had fallen behind in levels compared to other regular players because he had spent approximately one and a half hours learning to fly and engaging in fruitless activities, like getting stuck in a dark room.
Other players might only need to learn the basics of the game, such as channeling energy into their attacks.
On the other hand, Venix had to learn how to crawl and walk before he could learn to fight.
"Right, I forgot about the map feature in this game."
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While flying, Venix remembered the game's map feature.
"Open the map." Venix commanded.
Then, Venix looked at the map on the system interface.
Only a small part of the map was bright and visible. The rest of the map was shrouded in fog and not visible.
"The foggy areas mean I haven't explored them yet. In that case, I need to find the Beginner Village first," Venix thought to himself.
Why was Venix looking for the Beginner Village? Certainly not for revenge.
With the knowledge of the Beginner Village's location on his map, Venix could avoid it and hunt in more distant areas.
Right now, Venix didn't want to encounter other players and become a target.
"In that case, there!" Venix followed the map's directions and headed to the first place he had died.
Spending 5 minutes at high speed without using energy, Venix arrived at the location of his first death.
Then Venix flew higher and scoured the surrounding area, searching for the Beginner Village.
Spending 2 minutes at high speed, Venix spotted a large village filled with human player characters.
"Right, I'm a Bird Race, and every Race has its own Beginner Village. So why am I around the Human Beginner Village? Could it be because I chose the Human Race when creating my character before?" Venix pondered this.
Was it because he had chosen the Human Race when creating his character before?
Venix shook his head and pushed this issue aside for now.
Marking the Beginner Village on his map, Venix flew away from the Beginner Village and deeper into the forest.
Venix found something interesting as he continued flying at high speed; even after using both of his wings, he didn't feel tired!
However, when he used his energy for combat, even if it wasn't for long, he would become tired.
"Does this mean players' bodies will never tire as long as they don't run out of energy or get injured?" Venix found this intriguing.
Venix continued to fly away from the Beginner Village.
The deeper into the forest he went, the scarcer the human player characters became. Unlike human players and others exploring the forest on foot, who had to face the creatures ahead, Venix could simply fly past and ignore the forest creatures while advancing deeper.
Venix could fly and simply bypass and ignore the forest creatures while advancing deeper.
The further into the forest, the stronger the creatures that lived there. However, it wasn't impossible to find Beginner-level creatures here.
Flying for 10 minutes, Venix felt he was far enough from the Beginner Village.
"So, I need to find a hunting target." Venix immediately took flight and began searching for his prey in this forest.
In the forest, Venix spotted a level 9 Giant Snake. Not only that, the snake had smaller level 7 snake minions around it!
There were also bears, rhinoceroses, and other creatures.
Searching for 3 minutes, Venix spotted a herd of eight sheep on the ground.
"This seems like a suitable target." Venix thought to himself.
Venix flew lower and closely examined the sheep.
These sheep had spiral-shaped horns, resembling a ring, and even Venix himself felt fearful of being attacked by such fiercely horned sheep.
The level of these sheep was level 6, one level lower than the Grey Wolves.
"It seems these sheep are higher in level than the Wild Boars. Grey Wolves are already considered predators," Venix speculated about their difficulty.
These sheep were, of course, more challenging to deal with compared to the Wild Boars.
First, they were slightly faster, and second, their response was quicker than the Wild Boars.
"No harm in trying," Venix prepared himself.
Then Venix thought for a moment before searching for a fallen tree branch on the ground.
It didn't take long for Venix to find a large, weathered tree branch.
Using his Claw, Venix carried the tree branch into the air.
Venix approached the group of sheep while holding the tree branch with his feet.
First, Venix identified his target and made a plan.
"The sheep at 6 o'clock is somewhat distant from its companions. In that case, I'll drop this tree branch at 12 o'clock." Venix made a plan.
Then Venix flew to the 12 o'clock position.
Feeling that he was in the right position, Venix released the tree branch from his feet.
After dropping the tree branch, Venix immediately enveloped his wings with the energy in his body and shouted : "Now!"
Whooossshhh ~
Venix flew at high speed and approached his target.
When Venix was 15 meters above the ground, the tree branch he had dropped reached the ground with a boom!
Boom!
The explosion wasn't very large, but it was enough to draw the attention of these sheep.
As Venix had expected, all the sheep looked in the direction of the explosion sound and went into an alert position. This included Venix's target!
"May luck be on my side!" Venix prayed in his heart.
Venix's Claw began to glow with a red light, and within a few seconds, he had arrived above the sheep's back, landing both Claws on its back.
Within a few seconds, Venix had arrived above the sheep's back and landed both Claw on its back.
Creeak ~
"Baa ~"
Venix's sharp Claws pierced the sheep's flesh.
"The body of this sheep is much stronger than that of the Wild Boars," Venix felt a significant difference as his Claws penetrated this sheep's defenses, realizing that its body was much stronger than that of the Wild Boars.
Gripping its back firmly with his Claws, Venix immediately flapped his wings and took flight into the sky!
"Baa ~"
The sheep cried out, calling for its companions.
However, Venix had already carried it into the air to a height of 5 meters using his energy-powered wings, which provided tremendous flying strength.
Then Venix continued to fly up into the sky, ascending higher, while the sheep he had taken winced in pain.
"Don't worry, little one! This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!" Venix said jokingly.
Then Venix continued to fly up into the sky, ascending higher.
"Baa ~"
Venix looked down and saw the sheep he had taken wincing in pain.
On the other side, Venix saw the other sheep gathering where the taken sheep had been and calling out for their companion who was flying in the sky.
"Eh? This is good!" Venix felt delighted!
For other players, this might be a hassle, but for Venix, who used the 'One-Time Flight Service,' this was a great thing!
"Come on! Let's go higher!" Venix started to get excited.
70 meters.
120 meters.
150 meters.
Venix didn't stop and continued flying high into the sky.
170 meters.
200 meters.
Venix exerted some effort to reach this height.
He was currently at level 3, and his energy reserves were slightly more than at level 2.
"This should be enough," Venix muttered.
Then Venix began to release his Claw's grip on the sheep's body, and the sheep cried out in fear as it started to fall.
"Baa ~"
The sheep cried out in fear as its body started to fall.
Venix immediately stopped the flow of energy to his wings and Claw. Since everything was done, he didn't need to circulate energy in his body any longer, conserving more of his energy.
Of course, this was a lesson Venix had learned from his second death.
Whoosshhh ~
The sheep started to fall rapidly, like a large ball plummeting from the sky!
The other sheep gathered below, seeing their comrade falling from the sky and descending toward them.
180 meters.
140 meters.
90 meters.
50 meters.
20 meters.
After falling to a height of 20 meters, their descent speed continued to increase!
The other sheep waiting below sensed an unexplainable crisis and, with their natural instincts, they started to back away and distance themselves from their original position.
But it was a little too late.
Boom!
The sheep fell heavily to the ground, creating a rather large crater in the soil!
Venix, still in the sky, couldn't clearly see what had happened on the ground.
However, the system notifications informed him.
[ Player Gained 200 Exp ]
[ Player Gained 200 Exp ]
Seeing two consecutive notifications, Venix realized he had successfully killed two sheep at once!
"Awesome! I'm lucky to have killed two sheep!" Venix felt delighted.
Venix felt delighted and thought for a moment, noticing that his experience was now full at 400/400.
"Level up!" Venix commanded.
Then Venix's body shone with blue light once again.
In just 10 seconds, Venix reached level 4, gaining a bit more energy but not recovering the energy he had used earlier.
"It's time to see how they are doing," Venix mumbled.
Then Venix began to descend at full speed, without using energy and relying solely on the physical capabilities of his character.
It didn't take long, and Venix was hovering at a height of 5 meters above the sheep, where he landed on a tree branch.
"Hey, that really killed 7 sheep with one stone," Venix observed that the other sheep also received the effects of the previous explosion and suffered minor injuries.
Only one sheep was less fortunate because it was struck by the falling sheep from the sky.
Whether it was Venix's good luck or the sheep's misfortune, there were now six surviving sheep.
"They are in a state of shock and no longer grouped together. I need to act quickly," Venix thought.
Then Venix quickly used his energy to strengthen his body parts, flew forward, and attacked one of the sheep.
"Baa ~"
As before, Venix easily grabbed the sheep, carrying it high into the sky.
Seeing their companion being carried away, the remaining sheep became more vigilant!
As Venix continued to carry the sheep higher, hoping that the sheep on the ground would regroup as before, he noticed that this wasn't happening.
Currently, the sheep had spread out from each other, keeping their distance and moving away from the sheep being carried by Venix.
"They learn quickly," Venix said with regret.