The Market takes up the center of Origin with the Pharmacy on one end, and the Guild at the other.

In a hurry, the distances are annoying even if the starter village is small.

According to the minimap, it takes five minutes to walk between them, or two if you run.

Except the forum's busy, and the collision physics are decent.

A few steps are enough to change my mind and decide that a detour toward the Training Grounds is way faster.

Tank stands alone like a statue in the middle of the night and won't notice me.

Whew, that borrowed healing potion saved my skin there.

It recharged hitpoints and energy all the same, which is strange.

Why does the Pharmacy sell stamina potions if the green's good for everything?

It's not like any of them are affordable, and this will piss off Selena for sure.

How much would the other quests pay?

The loot from these - if you can call it that - won't make me rich anytime soon.

It takes a few seconds to sort through them, and the inventory should be brimming with bows but it's not.

They must be in the abyss because risking my life to pick up everything or not, there's nothing but a stack of arrows.

They're a plus-one type, worse than what you get at the Training Grounds.

To think it almost bled me dry to pick them up, what a disappointment.

To make it worse, both the zombies and skeletons are immune to this damage type and the rats are hard to hit.

Using the bow on them would be wasteful when the sword never needs a reload.

Unless it breaks on the skeletons, God bless the reinforced shield.

Now this only takes up valuable space in the inventory, so setting up a stash would be a good idea.

Could Selena help with that, or should I turn back and ask Tank instead?

Thanks to the detour, the Training Grounds are right here anyway, and there was something else to ask.

Killing these rats is a pain. It takes too much effort for almost no gain, and there has to be a better way.

If there's anything to go by, since the Wrodditors call every mob a rat, it won't get any better either.

The zombies are too high level for me, according to the guild.

This game should have magic, so why did the tutorial never explain what it would take to cast spells?

One of the main classes is wizard, is magic exclusive to them? Something like a fireball could make short work of those critters.

The villagers might freak out about blowing up their basements though.

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They didn't show much emotion, whether they said their thanks or greetings.

These creatures didn't drop anything, there's nothing to prove the kills for the Guild.

Well, the villagers signed the papers, so that's the proof right there.

There's that single tail, out of the two dozen rodents, and wait, what are all these bones in here?

Oh, right, the skeletons didn't drop crystals like the zombies, they left some bones and arrows.

They look much larger than the other proof item, though both mobs give the same Exp.

That means it's unlikely Selena would pay too much for these.

If I'm lucky, a healing potion might be within the budget with the discount, or the delivery job will fail.

Nine crystals and six bones; quite a low turnout for a life-or-death situation.

And even if this is only the beginning, if the character keeps dying, the fed's quest will restart again.

There's little over forty hours left to gather almost fifty thousand Exp.

So far the mobs gave a thousand, and mission payouts the rest.

Imagine that this could be me sitting in a quiet place, crafting items for more gain, and no risks involved.

The main enemy would be boredom, and who fucked it up for two packs of smoke?

Ugh, my head's a mess after this near-death experience.

The Training Ground is already behind so whatever I wanted to ask from Tank, let's ask it from Selena instead.

What was it anyway?

Oh, it was about how to set up a safe stash for the stuff, so for that...

"Get him!"

"Charge!"

Holy fuck, that jumpscare. I almost shat myself.

The sound of steel clashing against some other metal drowns out the crowd.

What the? A player in fancy armor has six dudes all over him.

He looks high-level but won't fight back, and red names start flashing after the first strike.

They don't care about the audience, overwhelming the victim with basic weapons.

You blink and you miss it.

Bam, that's all it takes to get killed in this world.

Regardless that it had nothing to do with me, I can't stop shaking.

Most of his gear scatters around the ground as he turns into pixels.

That was brutal, and it's not over yet.

With thunder from the night sky, luminous creatures dive from the heavens.

Even if it sounds cringy and poetic, that's what it looks like.

They light up the plaza, huge wings stirring the winds, and their falchions come down hard.

Each red name summons three, going down faster than their victim.

It's not like he's resurrected though. The fight's over before it starts, and an unassuming newbie picks up the loot before anyone can react.

So this is what Wroddit calls suicide ganking.

There's no way to survive something like that, no matter what gear you have or how strong you are.

If half a dozen players surround you, you're done. Yes, the first thing to ask Selena is where to put this stuff before they take notice.

The others won't bat an eye. The angels pass over the main square before ascending to the heavens or wherever they come from.

And with that, everything's back to normal. Since it's a PG game, the bodies and blood disappear.

Only the items remain that the newbie seems to be picky about.

He moves fast before other gankers might target him, taking the shiny stuff.

Fuck, why does this heart beat so fast? It's all over by the time I realize what's going on.

Cold and calculated, you kill, die, and take the loot; what's left is useless, low-value crap.

Like a bunch of healing potions, you have to be kidding me.

Once the angels disappear, the first thug returns and the rest soon follow.

They ignore the potions, will they attack me for taking them?

It's risky, though walking over them might allow me to pick them up without anyone noticing.

No, this game lets you swap out equipped items, and still need to lean forward to grab something on the ground. Is this stealing?

How is this more nerve-wracking here than in real life?

It's not like something to be proud of, but the Boss made me steal stuff or help him break into warehouses.

These are potions left behind by other bandits, so what's the holdup?

They don't care and are valuable to me.

The big difference is that this is in plain sight, with so many people around.

Fuck. The clock's ticking and the quest won't finish itself...