Making Online Friends As An Immortal

In the depths of the forest near the Grennvein Village, Alra was continuing his journey to level up only by killing creatures. The outskirts of the forest and the depths were considered two different levelling zones, the latter was for people above level 5. The depths of the forest had level 5-10 creatures which also had the ability to poison players. Bears and wolves were called poison fang in this zone.

There were also mutated plants that sprayed poisonous gas all over the area. However the worst were the mushrooms scattered around the forest which caused each player to reconsider how to play this game. Players learned that stepping on one would make the mushroom spread out a paralyzing spore towards them, also causing mushrooms to grow all over their avatars. "Controller Mushroom" was the name given to these. They would paralyze the prey and then cover it, slowly taking control of the nerve system but keeping the conscious awake to make them watch as their friends killed them brutally...

During the first weeks, many players who were sent to the Rebirth Zone complained to Blazing Garden, stating that that forest was way too brutal for a starting zone.

Blazing Garden answered these comments in one sentence from the president stating "If you can't even avoid stepping on mushrooms do you think you can survive on higher level zones?"which made the players complaining feel embarrassed. They knew this game was too realistic from the way it was advertised but they were underestimating the level of effort put to this game.

Alra looked at the mushrooms, and slowly burned them with his skill "Holy Flame". When the development team came up with these passive enemies, they wanted to add an element to the game, and that was the idea of using the environment to level up, or gain achievements. While he was thinking of the bright idea of trying to collect these mushrooms he was startled by the system as usual. "Lifegiving Blaze earned the achievement Aspiring Pyromaniac!"

"Burning mushrooms is useful after all!" Alra exclaimed happily.

The forest was getting more dark as he advanced further. The moss covered the rocks around him, creating a slippery ground. Luckily the mushrooms were not growing around here so even if he slipped, he was safe.

Alra opened his palm, and an orb of light formed in his hand. Even though the light from the spell wasn't strong, it was enough to light up the ground before him. After lighting up his surroundings, he realized he was standing near a cave entrance, which had few bones littering in front of it. Alra realized where he was, and his face paled... He was confident in himself to be able to defeat monsters, but if he were to come face to face with the Elite ranked monster he would be getting a one way ticket to the Rebirth Zone. Even though the idea behind Elite monsters was that both teams and solo players could challenge it, a level 4 Priest equipped with beginner gear challenging a Level 10+ monster was a suicidal mission. Alra opened the discussion page of the game, to search about this specific monster.

As he read the description he paled more. He had came a long way from the Rebirth Zone available for the current area. If he died, walking all the way back here again would be a torture. The Elite would either sleep or patrol the area near the cave which meant he was still in danger outside of the cave. Alra decided to get away from the cave but his hopes were shattered as he felt a warm breath behind his neck, followed by a smell of rotten meat.

He knew his life would be depending on his running and evading skills now. He took a big step forward, as he turned back to see what the Elite monster looked like, only to come face to face with a gigantic bear. The body of the bear was covered with scars and there were few arrows lodged in the meat showing that this bear survived many challenges. The bear was quiet even though the scars showed how ferocious it could be. Then, on his head which raised high a tiny mushroom was swaying slowly.

After seeing the mushroom, Alra realized a detail he missed as he was too caught up looking at the scars of the bear. Small mushrooms were sticking out of the fur caked with dirt and dried blood.

Even though he had a long life experience, faced with such a monster when he was still weak, Alra froze up for a second. "It is recommended for creator to run away." A small voice brought his attention back to the current situation. Alra turned around and ran away as fast as he could. He could hear the bear coming after him and the branches crunched beneath its powerful claws. The mushroom zone of the forest which was deadly seemed welcoming in his hour of need.

He quickly jumped over the moss covered tree bark which was on the forest floor and jumped to his "safe" zone. The bear was unable to stop and directly charged inside the area, raising a dust cloud. Alra who knew the danger quickly raised his cloak over his nose and covered took out his flimsy outer robe to cover his entire body in order to avoid the paralyzing spores mixed within this dust cloud. The unfortunate bear was a sad case, as its entire body got covered in mushrooms, even more than before. It was completely paralyzed and was laying motionlessly on the ground. After making sure enough time had passed, Alra slowly got up from the spot he was crouched in. His robe was covered in the dust, which was too dangerous to touch. He threw his cloak and outer robe onto the ground and looked at the situation. The bear was still alive, and it was completely paralyzed. Alra looked at the golden opportunity laid in front of his eyes as he gripped his puny little sword... It looked like a toothpick when compared to the bear.

Alra walked up to the bear, as he dodged the mushrooms on the ground, because of the crash the mushrooms had flew everywhere and currently moving in this area required more careful movement.

Standing in front of the bear, trying to look imposing as he held his sword, Alra looked at the bear, as he swung down the sword. The bear, which took damage was still not moving. He looked at the health bar the bear had and despaired. Even though he hit the creature with all of his strength for the first strike his damage didn't change the bar at all. He started casting the spells he knew on the bear, which was mainly "Holy Flame". The bear who still had control over his thoughts looked at the person in front of him in an angry manner. He was getting beaten by a toothpick and a small flame that could only burn mushrooms. It was more correct to say that he was getting beaten by a matchstick. A tiny sword and a small flame... and he was unable to counter.

After 3 hours a figure covered in sweat stood proudly in front of the corpse of a huge bear. He had already gotten rid of the cloak and the outer robe, which left him in his inner robes. His clothes were sticking to his skin, and his red hair was tied up from his back was sticking to his neck and cheeks. His entire face was flushed red from the action of hitting and casting non stop for the last 3 hours.

"Lifegiving Blaze earned the achievement "Hero of the Grennvein Village" by defeating the Fungus Bear Ayu"

"Lifegiving Blaze earned the achievement "Persistence is Required" and has earned the title "Patient""

System announced in an amused voice.

Alra looked at his level and saw that it had gone all the way to 7. His way of leveling took too long that was for sure. He looked at the items left behind by the bear. The most important thing was the quest item "Fang of Ayu" which gave the receiver a quest to bring it to the village. The only equipment was a c.h.e.s.t one called "Bear Killer Raiment" which was a cloth item. It was a blue item which was quite good for a low level, but it came with a level requirement of 12 so it could only be tossed in the inventory for future use. Other than that there was a recipe for the Alchemy profession, but it also did require a certain level of skill in it. Along with these materials such as Bear Tooth, Bear Fur and Bear Meat dropped as well.

Alra who got nothing useful for his current self after all of his efforts and felt cheated.

He decided to take his frustration out of the bear carcass lying on the ground. He slowly lit a fire to the fur and watched as flames covered the entire body. Even though players could get extra material items other than the ones bosses dropped from the corpses of creatures this bear was covered in a deadly foe which set a trap for anyone reaching a hand to touch it. This led Alra to find the most suitable thing for burning, "I am doing this world a favor!" Alra murmured as he watched his anger disappear alongside the smoke rising from the corpse. Watching the orange flames consuming its target was more fun than he had expected...

After feeling satisfied, he slowly turned back on the ashes left from the bear, and started walking once again in direction of the quest giver he was determined to heal.