Leon gripped his sword and stared at the players before him. While he could take out all the players who were at level two, he wasn't sure if he could do the same to the level three players.

Level three was the first turning point in the game. Level three players would be able to start learning skills from the trainer NPCs or skill books. This meant an increase in both offense and defense to the players.

Slithering Flame stood at the front of the team with a sneer. He had an expression showing contempt at the still level zero Leon. While slithering Flame was as arrogant as before, many of his underlings that stood behind him wore a vigilant expression. After all, they had already died in the hands of this level zero player once.

"This time, let's see how you are going to run away! Everyone attack him together! The one that gets the kill will get a thousand guild merits!"

After getting crushed by Leon before, Slithering Flame had contacted the Whispering Venom's upper echelons. And they had allowed him to use any means necessary to suppress Dark Lion's progress. If he succeeded in this mission, he might even be able to get into the inner circles of the guild.

Guild merits were equivalent to coins. One who had enough guild merits would be able to buy equipment and skill books from the guild treasury. Currently, a thousand Whispering Venom guild merits were equivalent to a thousand coppers in the least. Just by killing Leon, one would get ten silver coins! Currently, even the players grinding all day were not able to get any more than 50 coppers a day.

Hearing that they could get a thousand guild points, even the players who were hesitating before decided to take action and started charging at Leon.

Seeing the ten players closing in on him, Leon took in a deep breath and calmed his mind. The level three players, one swordsman, and two assassins were now only five feet away from him. The level two players were about ten feet away.

Three, two, one.

Now!

Just as he was in the range of the assassin's skill , an instantaneous movement skill that would get them behind their enemies, Leon rolled on the ground forwards.

And just as Leon predicted, the two assassins used quick-steps and were now where he stood before. Just as the assassins were about to use another skill , they realized that their target was not where he was. Leon's perfectly timed roll had now brought him in front of the swordsman, Slithering Flame. Before slithering Flame was able to do anything, he felt his right leg going numb as a sword slashed through it.

Leon used the momentum of the roll to charge towards the level two players. While his slash to the leg of Slithering Flames was able to stop him for now, the numbing effect on his legs would only last for a second. before the swordsman would regain his agility.

Leon also noticed that his slash had only reduced Slithering flames HP by five points. To a player who now had around 350 HP, this was nothing.

The level two players that were running forward saw Leon now charging towards them and felt a shiver go down their spine. How did he pass through the other guys? They raised their weapons to attack.

Weaving through the various attacks, Leon reached his target, the healer in the back. At this point in the game, the healers only had a single ability, . Their defense was paper-thin and didn't even have the agility to dodge an attack. And this guy didn't even have an iron ranked weapon. He was still using his wooden staff. A perfect target! Just as Leon thrust his sword towards the neck of the healer, something unexpected happened. The player that Leon last dodged, a woman wearing plate armor, turned around and swung her sword at Leon. At this close range, Leon was unable to evade the attack, and if he wanted to block it, he would have to give up his target. Leon decided not to block the attack. He shifted his body and received the attack on a nonvital spot, losing 30 HP. At the same time, his sword pierced the healer's throat.

Critical hit! -150

In legendera, hitting a player's vital points almost always gave a critical hit.

Leon didn't stop the attack. He once again swung the sword and finished the healer off. Leon dodged the sword of the plate-armored woman once more and chose his next target. A hunter clad in leather armor.

Once again trading 30 HP for a kill, Leon decided to retreat for now. His HP bar only had forty points remaining. Leon decided not to take the chance. After all, he will have plenty of opportunities to kill these guys after leveling up. And he had a feeling that the woman knight from earlier was not so simple. She had managed to hit him twice, something the nine other players failed to do even once.

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Leon started running, and jumped off from a cliff, landing about 20 feet down and losing 20 HP. Then he slid on the side of the hill, dodging rocks, and when he had reached the foot of the slope, his HP bar only had five points remaining.

Slithering Flame stomped his foot atop the hill in anger. Although he wanted to follow Leon and jump down the cliff, the others had stopped him. They had seen how many rocks Leon had dodged on the way as he slid down the hill, and none of them were sure they could reproduce the feat. Thus they could only allow Leon to escape this time. As for Slithering Flame, he had already lost his sanity and was now swearing at his teammates.

Among the ten people, the woman who had managed to hit Leon twice, Wild Wind, stared at the disappearing figure of Leon. While no one was able to tell what she was thinking, she had a hint of a smile on her face.

Leon waited for his HP to regenerate before heading towards a spiritling-nursery. On the way, he remembered the blood crystal he had in his bag and took it out. Unlike before, the blood crystal was shining in blood-red color. Leon Inspected its stats.

[Blood crystal] - Legendary rank, Special Item

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Crafted by the god of death from his blood, this crystal can absorb the blood aura of the user and convert it to EXP points. It can also remove blood aura from other users. Removing blood aura from other users does not reward any EXP.

Blood aura detected on the user, do you want to absorb it?

(Only the aura that formed after the crystal was bound can be converted to EXP. Other blood aurae will be nullified.)

Bound to Dark Lion

Can't be dropped.

Can't be traded.

Leon clicked yes on the interface, the glow of the crystal brightened for a few seconds before returning to the normal state.

And in a second, his EXP bar filled up.

Usually, it took half an hour of grinding to reach level one, but with just a few minutes of fighting, and by killing two players, he was now in level one! Leon happily put the crystal back on his bag.

Leon approached the hunting grounds, and just as he was about to draw his sword, he saw someone walking towards him.

White-spirit - Level 10 (Humanoid spirit, Elite)

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HP - 5000

This White-spirit was a beauty in her early twenties, wearing a white gown. She had an angelic countenance with a motherly warmth emanating from her. But this was usually only when they were not in combat. Once they were attacked or enraged, they transformed into your typical ghost with bloody eyes and sharp fangs. Attacking any player around them.

Seeing the level and HP, Leon facepalmed. Were these spiritlings bad luck for him? Yesterday when he came here, he got hunted down, today he ran into an elite monster.

Leon decided to run away. He was in no way a match for the white-spirit now. If he were at level three or higher, he would have fought it without much trouble, but level one with a wooden sword? There was no chance in hell he was going to escape if he fought it.

But before Leon could run away, he saw the White-spirit dematerializing from where she was and appearing before him.

Crap! She got enraged! Leon unsheathed his sword, getting ready for a tough battle. But once he saw the beauty standing before him, he was confused. Why didn't she transform?

"Put it down. That wooden sword wouldn't even hurt me." The White-spirit said with a smile.

Leon was confused. First Yama came to him with a quest. Now, this White-spirit was not attacking him. What was going on here?

"You are the first immortal I could talk with. You have not a single drop of my brethren's blood in you, and you are not weak either." The white spirit continued.

Leon understood why he was able to talk to her. So she was like the other NPCs, and will only interact with players who were above level one. She also wouldn't converse to anyone who had killed a creature before. But to get to level one, there was no way for one other than killing the spiritlings. Even if someone carried you, since you get the EXP from the kill, you would be tainted. Only the pampered occupational players who traded for materials and leveled up by crafting would be able to talk to her. But would any of those players ever venture out of the safe zones to meet with these creatures?

"Can you help me protect these children for a few hours from other immortals? I'll reward you handsomely."

Quest - Babysit spiritlings - C rank.

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Safeguard the spiritlings for three hours.

Rewards - 2 silver coins, A bronze-ranked weapon.

You want me to babysit monsters and kill players? Why are all of these NPCs pushing me to the path of darkness? Do they think I am that easily swayed?

Leon once again looked at the rewards as he stroked his chin.

'Guess I am easily swayed.' Thinking this, Leon clicked Yes and accepted the quest.