Once everything was settled, the gathering crew has started their adventure. With hunters covering our front and back, I expected a long trek past the bridges and the farms... instead, we took a different path, following a dirt path east of Graywatch.

"Dressed well for the occasion, eh!?", the foreman asked in a mocking tone, followed by the hearty laughter of my comrades. I just squinted my eyes at their jokes. I bet it looked real funny seeing me geared up with metallic gauntlets and greaves, knee deep in a small river. After crossing, we herded our oxen mounts, then headed into a cave tunnel that was wide enough for us to fit through. I haven't seen this route before when I was playing...

Inside the torch-lit tunnel were three paths. An exit to the left, and exit to the north, and a path leading deeper into the tunnel to the right. Haven't seen this either...

"What is this place, pops?", I asked as I walked up to the foreman.

"This place used to be a workin' mineshaft until the centaurs raided it and sealed the deeper tunnels with earth magic. The Knights of the Six fought hard to drive them back, and this place now serves as an emergency bunker. It's also safer to travel through into the forest."

Now that I think of it, there was a dynamic event that feels familiar. In League Wars, dynamic events are map events that keep on repeating, regardless of completion or failure. There was one event that had us defending miners. ...I guess failed events on the map have consequences. I better hurry and save that lady's farm! ...But not before I'm way stronger.

We take the northern exit, then climb around a hill until we reached the top. There were plenty of trees of various lengths, but only of two types which I can recognize. I've never seen a forest this rich with trees, though. The ones with brown barks and green leaves were Tier 1 Green Wood Trees, and the ones with orange leaves and white barks were Tier 2 Birch Wood Trees. There were the less frequent stone deposits too, in the form of boulders. Upon closer look, the place has Tier 1 Stone and Tier 2 Limestone deposits.

"Alright, everyone! You know what to do- get back to work!", the foreman yelled. Us laborers then got our axes and stone hammers from the saddles of our oxen and picked our own trees while the hunters accompanying us delved deeper into the forest. As I wielded my axe and walked up to a Green Wood tree, I felt something vibrate in my pocket. It was my compass. I held it up, and it lit up, registering the place. I checked my empty map also, and it filled up on its own! This place was called Greenshade Forest. For a second there, I saw a bar filling up on the lower parts of my vision, is that my experience bar?

I watched how the other laborers did their work. For stones, they lifted their hammers up and struck at a spot repeatedly. At first, the boulders didn't seem to budge until cracks formed around and they shattered! For trees however, they determined which side the tree was leaning towards before they scraped off some bark for easier chopping. One thing I noticed is that they do not necessarily cut horizontally but at a downward angle. Probably doing it since it's easier for trees to-

"Timber!", a laborer yelled. We all looked towards him and saw a medium size tree already falling, and we steered clear of it as we cheered before the laborer split the fallen log into pieces. Okay, I think I got it.

Old-school boxers used to chop wood to strengthen their muscles and increase their power... and it makes sense why. After scraping off some bark, I raise my axe to the side before I twist my hips and torso into it, sending the blade crashing into the wood. I can't help but exhale like a boxer with each chop, and after roughly 47 chops, the log started to tip over-

"Timber!", I yelled as I watched the log fall and my comrades moving away from it. They then cheered for a short moment before getting back to chopping. Once the log had landed, I saw golden orbs in my vision filling up my experience bar again. When I chopped the fallen log into six portions, I gained more experience. If I calculate it correctly, if I chop five more trees, I'd fill up the bar and level up!

When I went to grab a log piece though, I saw that there was an option to "Store it to inventory". I looked around to make sure no one was looking, and when I tapped the air to select it, the log distorted and got sucked in as if there was a small black hole! I mumbled "Inventory" and confirmed that it was there. I know I'm supposed to bring these to the oxen mounts... but a piece or two missing won't hurt them, hehe.

During the course of two hours, I went to chop five more trees, three green wood and two birch trees to be specific, and I managed to steal- er... "borrow" 18 green wood log pieces and 12 birch tree pieces into my inventory. The rest, I loaded into the oxen mount. There was a floating icon at the bottom right of my sight and when I tapped it, it showed that I had leveled up to 1! Wait- I was level 0 before? Is that why I got my shit kicked in by a mere bandit!?

Before I could truly fathom how foolish it was to charge towards a bandit- even a centaur as an unarmed, unarmored level 0 player, a new message appeared.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Brawler Profession registered, please demonstrate profession skills.", the message said. Demonstrate? Does it mean that it wants me to shadowbox? It'll be awkward to do in front of the guys, though.

I walked up to the foreman who was counting our supplies.

"Hey pops, you mind if I go deeper? There's more wood and stone that way.", I said as I pointed towards the deeper parts. The foreman then pauses to think.

"There's bound to be some wild animals or monsters that way. You sure, kid?", he asked, to which I nodded. He took one good look at my gear and scratched his head before he told me to bring an ox with me to save me the hassle of traveling back and forth.

"You better come back alive, Marcus- and with the ox!", the foreman yelled as I walked. I raised a fist as a response. I won't die needlessly again, I promise.

I led the ox deeper into the forest until I found a clearing. This should be far enough, and wide enough to showcase my skills. Well, if you wanted to be an MMA fighter, you need at least two striking and two grappling martial arts. I chose Boxing, Muay Thai, Wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as my base. I then thought of ways I could demonstrate before I take a deep breath.

First, it was Boxing I demonstrated. I took an orthodox stance, left foot forward and right foot behind, following an "L" shape with my feet with my chin and elbows tucked in, fists raised and posture curved in a traditional boxing high guard. From there, I demonstrated my punch arsenal in a free flowing shadowboxing session. Left jabs, right straights, hooks, uppercuts, and even overhand punches. Afterwards, I practiced my head movement, slipping left to right and weaving under before I raised my hands to practice my catches, parries and blocks. Then, I showcased my footwork, the shuffles, pivots, and stance switches into southpaw (right foot forward, left foot behind) and back to orthodox.

Then, next was Muay Thai. I switched stances, taking the same orthodox position but my feet placement was more narrow, and my body was more squared than bladed with my hands still raised. I shifted my weight back and forth as I lifted my front foot and back foot at a time, forming a rhythm before I demonstrated boxing punches, but this time, I threw elbow strikes at different angles, knee strikes to the body, low roundhouse kicks, mid-kicks and high kicks to the head which sent me twirling around multiple times back into stance. In throwing kicks, Muay Thai tells you to swing your whole leg like a baseball bat and aim with the shins rather than snap with the foot like in Tae Kwon Do. Afterwards, I demonstrated blocks, parries, catches and "checks" where you lift your knees and use the shins to block kicks. In this narrow stance, it was harder to do head movement but easier to block kicks.

As for grappling... well... there's only so much you could do by yourself. It takes two to tango, you know? I just performed drills and wrestling and brazilian jiu-jitsu maneuvers. One notable maneuver is the "sprawl", where in anticipation of a takedown, you jump back with your feet and push down with your hips to deny your legs to the enemy and put pressure on their posture.

As I catch my breath, a message popped up. "Profession Mechanics registered. Thank you for demonstrating." I wonder how it would play in combat.

After a short break, I continue with breaking some stone this time, collecting 8 stone chunks and 6 limestone chunks for inventory. My hard laboring was interrupted by wings flapping nearby. I quickly turned and to my shock, it was a bat but with much larger wings and half the size of my torso.

I then take my Boxing stance with a high guard and suddenly, I saw the bat's name, level and its HP bar, just like in the video game. The level 1 cliff bat then circled around me before flying overhead and swooping down at me, aiming its claws. I stayed calm and stood my ground, grasping the top of my head with my palms as I used my gauntleted forearms to block its strikes. You know, for a common tier armor, these gauntlets seemed to do its job well.

The cliff bat circled once more around me before swooping forward with the same attack again. This time, instead of guarding, I stepped to the left with my front foot, lining up my shot, before I pivoted with my right, twisting my hips and my torso as I brought my fist upward into an overhand right punch, with my right fist crashing down onto its body as a counter. The cliff bat staggered back and I saw its HP decrease, so I continued with the relentless onslaught, pushing off my feet to throw a left jab and into a right straight punch, followed by a left hook and a right straight punch in a frenzy, reducing it from 80% to 15%. Once its HP was low enough, I went through with a left uppercut to lift it higher only to land another overhand right punch to execute it, leaving it twitching on the ground until it dies. My experience bar fills up again... seems like killing monsters is still the faster way to level up.

Before I can inspect the cliff bat's corpse though, a growl alerted me. I turned to see a wolf this time. It was a level 2 Brown Mountain Wolf. I quickly shifted back into my Boxing stance... but the wolf was too low to reach with my punches. Should I switch to Muay Thai-

Suddenly, the wolf charged! No time for thinking, so I let my instincts take over. I bent my legs and spread my arms, welcoming the lunge before I jumped back with my feet and dropped my hips into a sprawl, letting my stomach rest on top of the wolf's head. I can feel the wolf biting air below me, so I gripped is fur and slid on top of it to reposition my feet to the side and transition onto a back position, where my body laid on top of its back.

From behind, I take the improvised Dagestani Handcuff position as my left arm grips its fur and my right gauntleted fist slams repeatedly into its right eye from behind, causing it to whimper in pain and dwindle down its HP little by little. The wolf tried to shake me off, but I pressed my legs together onto its body to latch on and keep throwing these punches. After several punches, I found a split-second opening and I took it, quickly sliding my left arm underneath its throat and locking my left hand into my right bicep, securing a rear naked chokehold as I press my right palm down behind its head. I grunt as I squeeze my elbows together, slowly draining its hp... until...

When I looked forward, I can see an axe thrown towards me in slow motion. ...Am I going to die again?