“Yeah, I can’t train anymore! It’s just too cute.” A female player put away her weapon, picked up a Bunny at her feet, rubbed it against her face a couple of times, and said angrily, “What is this game company thinking with their planning! Why make the low-level monsters in the training area so cute!”

Everyone started voicing their complaints about the game designers all at once. After Ryan Carter grumbled along with the group for a bit, he walked off on his own. Since he couldn’t bring himself to fight here, why not just go somewhere else? That was Ryan Carter’s plan.

To be honest, he wasn’t interested in fighting animals anyway. The martial arts he’d learned since childhood were all aimed at human opponents; he’d never been taught which vital spot to attack if he ran into a dog. While that didn’t mean he was inferior to a dog, using his hard-earned skills against one just felt like a waste of all those years of training. Ryan Carter couldn’t help but feel it was beneath him.

He continued along the main road, getting farther and farther from the city behind him, until he was surrounded by endless mountains. The cute Tom, Bunny, and Rex had all disappeared. Ryan Carter climbed to the top of a hill and looked down. Whether it was a valley or a basin, it was a low-lying area at the foot of the slope. There, a campfire blazed, and a few ugly-looking guys sat around it, bored and dozing.

Ryan Carter immediately judged that these guys weren’t players, but NPCs. After all, even sextuplet brothers wouldn’t have identical height, build, and clothing.

Humanoid NPCs—just what Ryan Carter liked to see.

They must be training monsters, right? Ryan Carter thought to himself as he slowly walked toward the small group.

Six people sat around the fire, so they should have been watching in all directions. In fact, Ryan Carter should have been spotted as soon as he reached the hilltop, but it wasn’t until he got within a certain distance that the six suddenly jumped up as if stung, frantically pointing at Ryan Carter and shouting.

Ryan Carter clearly heard them say, “Wow, a fat sheep has come—catch him quick!”

In older online games, the NPCs would have text floating above their heads at this point, but now, with full-immersion technology, voices replaced text.

The six charged at him, moving in perfect unison and at exactly the same speed, so that even when they reached Ryan Carter, their formation was still intact.

NPCs didn’t waste words. The one in front lunged at him with a rusty meat cleaver. Ryan Carter dodged aside and threw a punch, landing it.

This was different from the earlier fight in the city. Because of PK protection, previous battles only simulated pain through the full-immersion tech, with no real consequences. But now, fighting monsters, even the physically weakest mage’s punch would actually deal damage.

After taking a punch from Ryan Carter, the guy just staggered a bit, then stabbed at him again with the nearly rusted cleaver. Ryan Carter dodged and punched again.

All six attacked at once, but Ryan Carter weaved through them with ease, his fists and feet landing on them from time to time. Ryan Carter didn’t know what level these six were, but compared to the earlier brawl with four players, this was much easier—and much more boring.

Ryan Carter was already a bit disappointed with the full-immersion technology. It seemed to only create a highly realistic environment, but these NPC mobs still had the same low AI as in ordinary online games. Their attacks were repetitive and monotonous, which to Ryan Carter was no different from not having AI at all; they didn’t know how to actively dodge player attacks, relying only on hit and dodge stats for calculations.

It was only a matter of time before he took them down. Ryan Carter started consciously spreading his punches evenly among the six. After a few more minutes, one NPC finally let out a final, unwilling roar and collapsed. With a few more punches and kicks, the remaining five were also knocked to the ground. During the fight, Ryan Carter kept flashing with light—these mobs, whatever their level, had helped him reach level 6 directly.

Chapter Four: Reforging

“Parallel World” has five basic attributes: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and Spirit. Each level up grants 5 attribute points. Ryan Carter unhesitatingly put all his points into Agility. He then swung his fists and feet, and sure enough, he was much faster than before. He was delighted—at this rate, not only could he return to his normal real-life level, but since this was a game, if he kept adding points, he could even reach a speed his real self could never achieve. Ryan Carter didn’t want to go that far; as long as he could match his real self, that was enough. He planned to put any extra points into Strength, so his attack power would match his own. Right now, he was just too weak. Ryan Carter clenched his fists.

But since this was a game, it was only natural to loot the monsters he’d defeated. After assigning his points, Ryan Carter began searching the six bodies. In the end, he found two meat cleavers and six small coin pouches. Low-level monsters weren’t rich; each pouch only had a dozen or so copper coins, which Ryan Carter put into his own pouch. He scraped the rust off the two cleavers and tucked them into his mage’s robe at his waist.

To be fully realistic, “Parallel World” didn’t restrict equipment by class—only by certain attribute requirements, mostly Strength. As for beginner weapons like these, which had no attribute requirements at all, anyone could use them.