“Quest reward: Rough Leather Bracers (common equipment, Defense +8)”

　　……

　　“Rampaging Firefinches!” Charles Bennett accepted the quest, and as he looked at the newly added entry—Rampaging Firefinches—in the quest interface, his frown deepened.

　　Just now in the wheat field, Charles Bennett completed the task of hunting the Greedy Field Mice. There weren’t any real difficulties during the process; after getting used to the casting time of [Anger], Charles Bennett could predict the timing and soon hit the mice with ease. In "Night Lord," all monsters have an aggro system—once hit, they’ll latch onto their enemy and won’t run around aimlessly anymore.

　　Killing 15 field mice, plus the trip back, took a total of an hour and a half. Charles Bennett compared his progress with the players around him and found that everyone had their own pace—there was nothing unusual.

　　However, when it came to using [Wrath], one issue caught Charles Bennett’s attention and left him puzzled: the skill description clearly stated that [Wrath] had a casting time of 2.5 seconds, but Charles Bennett was certain that his own casting time for [Wrath] wasn’t 2.5 seconds, but closer to 3 seconds.

　　A delay of nearly 0.5 seconds—an average newbie might not notice it right away, since the game doesn’t have a spell timer and spellcasters automatically cast after chanting. A 0.5-second delay is subtle enough that most people wouldn’t pay much attention.

　　But Charles Bennett was extremely precise with his timing. On his second successful cast of [Anger], he clearly felt that his casting of [Wrath] was a bit longer than the 2.5 seconds stated in the skill description. After several tests, Charles Bennett found that his chanting and casting of [Wrath] was actually close to 3 seconds.

　　In real life, Charles Bennett is a bounty hunter, and his greatest skill is his marksmanship. The firing speed and range of his custom silver revolver bullets are far beyond what ordinary shooters can imagine. But in the game, this [Wrath] is almost 0.5 seconds slower than the skill description. For Charles Bennett, even a 0.1-second delay during a real mission could put him in mortal danger, let alone a full 0.5-second delay in casting [Wrath].

　　How could this be acceptable?

　　“A difference of milliseconds can decide life or death!” Charles Bennett worried inwardly, but there was nothing he could do. After all, his knowledge of the game was limited. He could only wait until he logged off to consult his reserved but loyal friend William Harris.

　　……

　　In real life, as a bounty hunter who often walks the line between life and death, Charles Bennett has always relied on his marksmanship for survival. So in the game, he’s especially concerned about the casting delay of the Druid’s skills. For Charles Bennett, the fact that his [Wrath] is nearly 0.5 seconds slower than the skill description—even though he doesn’t fully understand the game yet—makes him anxious, since anything that affects survival is a big deal.

　　Still, no matter how anxious he felt, Charles Bennett didn’t stop heading toward the northern woods. It had been nearly four hours since "Night Lord" launched at midnight. In his estimation, by dawn, this village on the outskirts of Wind Whisper Town would see another peak of incoming players. After all, not every player chooses to log in right at launch; many people, for various real-life reasons, can’t get online the moment the game opens.

　　Therefore, Charles Bennett figured that by morning, the players who had stayed up all night questing and leveling would merge with the new wave of "Night Lord" players, and only then would the ruined village see a true surge of people.

　　“I need to take advantage of this lull in the leveling crowd and pick up the pace.”

　　With that thought, Charles Bennett set aside his concerns about skill casting delay, and, guided by the starlight and the direction pointed out by the Lake Warrior, hurried toward his quest destination.

　　Before long, after running about 1.5 miles from the village entrance, a patch of forest came into view. Before Charles Bennett even got close, the night breeze carried a strong smell of burnt smoke to him. Soon after, he could see the scene in the distance: not a single intact tree remained in the entire forest. Most had been burned into half-charred black stumps, and even the few trees that still had their trunks intact had withered, yellowed leaves—clearly not far from dying.

　　Amid the devastated woods, streaks of fire occasionally flashed through the scorched yellow branches, tracing dazzling arcs in the thick night. As Charles Bennett got closer, he realized these flashes weren’t fireballs from mages, but birds with feathers entirely ablaze, their flight paths marking the air as they fought with players.

　　Firefinch: Level 3, Type: Common Monster. HP: 180. Skill: Flame Strike.

　　Charles Bennett cast [Perception] on a distant firefinch and found that this monster’s HP was only 30 points higher than the level 1 field mice. The level 1 [Wrath] dealt an average of 28 damage per hit to the mice, so it would likely do about the same to the firefinches.

　　“This quest doesn’t seem too difficult.” Charles Bennett relaxed a little, but as he glanced around, he immediately sensed something was off, and his brow furrowed once again.