Chapter 6: Chapter 6: EASTERN FOREST, WEIRD BUILD DEBATE, AND THE START OF THE ADVENTURE
"Mmph! Mmph?!"
Arthur’s blue eyes widened in panic as my slender palm tightly covered his mouth. Without giving him a chance to break free or cause any further commotion at the crowded city gate, I immediately grabbed his wrist. Using accelerated steps that utilized the maximum limit of Slow Walking making my movements appear smooth yet highly tactical I forcefully pulled his sturdy body through the crowd of Players. We passed through the eastern gate, ignoring the gentle grassland filled with beginner players, and continued walking quickly until the shadows of dense trees from the forest area began to cover us.
Once we were far enough into the quiet forest vegetation, I released my grip and pushed his shoulder in annoyance.
Arthur staggered back a step, holding his mouth, then stared at me. For three seconds, silence enveloped us. But a moment later, his defenses crumbled.
"Bwahaha! Hahaha! Oh my god... cough! cough! Hahaha!"
Arthur couldn’t hold back his laughter any longer. He laughed hysterically until he bent over, clutching his stomach in pain. His booming laughter caused several birds on the tree branches to fly away. He laughed so hard that tears formed in the corners of his eyes, and he even had to slap the nearby tree trunk several times because he was out of breath.
Meanwhile, I just stood there silently with my arms crossed under my chest. I stared at him with sharp, cold, ruby-red eyes full of irritation. The forest wind blew gently, playing with my silver hair, making me look like a forest goddess judging a foolish mortal.
After nearly two minutes of nonstop laughing until his face turned red, Arthur slowly straightened up, letting out a long breath while wiping his tears.
"Bro... Oh my god, sorry, sorry! But this is just too epic!" Arthur said, still holding back remnants of laughter in his throat. "Look at you now! You’ve become an incredibly beautiful Elf girl! Pfftt... And for God’s sake, look at those assets on your chest! They’re... they’re so big! How could the system turn your male character into something this curvy and sexy?!"
Hearing the words ’big assets’ slip from his impudent mouth, an imaginary vein popped on my forehead. Without thinking, I threw a straight punch at his handsome face.
Thud!
My fist landed squarely on Arthur’s cheek. However, instead of crying out in pain, his head didn’t even move an inch. A small damage number appeared above his head: [-1].
Arthur blinked, then grinned widely again. I let out a resigned sigh and lowered my hand. I forgot that the Strength (STR) stat of this albino Elf body was only at 2. My full-powered angry punch was nothing more than a gentle caress with no effect to a Player with normal physical attributes.
After he had enough of mocking my appearance, the atmosphere between us gradually thawed and became relaxed. After all, we were best friends. It had been so long since we could sit side by side and play games together like this. Ever since my leukemia grew more aggressive in the real world, my world had drastically narrowed. I could only lie stiffly on my medical bed, staring at the lonely ceiling, while Arthur often sat in the chair beside my bed, telling me about his latest game adventures that I could only listen to with envy. Today, under the shade of these forest trees, that dividing wall crumbled. We were once again two best friends ready to conquer the digital world.
Arthur smiled sincerely and rested his large Sword on his shoulder.
"So, Bro... what level are you now?"
"Three," I replied in a casual, carefree tone.
Hearing that answer, Arthur’s face immediately soured. As a hardcore gamer who always chased maximum efficiency in every MMO, his best friend’s relaxed development always managed to trigger immense frustration in his chest.
"Oh my god! As usual, your progress is always too slow!" Arthur grumbled while putting his hands on his hips. "The server just opened a few hours ago and I’ve already reached level 11! You’re still stuck at level 3. Come on, I’ll help you level up today. By the way, what weapon and magic elements did you choose for this weird character of yours?"
I patted the hunting bow slung over my shoulder and answered calmly, "Bow. For elements, I took Wind and Water."
Arthur’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "What?! Damn, Bro! You really made a very difficult and troublesome build!" he shouted in frustration, grabbing his own golden hair.
"Listen here, strategist!" Arthur continued, starting to lecture me with his game theory knowledge. "Bows in this game are very hard to use! Even though the system provides aiming assist, pure accuracy and bowstring draw timing still require long manual calculations. It’s extremely inefficient for fast grinding! Then, Wind element? That element has the smallest attack damage among all offensive elements! And Water element? Water is more suited for support or healer classes! As always, your MMO builds are always weird and bizarre!"
I just snorted softly and turned my face away indifferently. I didn’t care about all his theoretical analysis. I knew exactly what I was doing. My extremely high INT and DEX stats thanks to racial buffs and the Albinism effect, combined with Bow Mastery and Power Shot that had already broken through their basic limits, made this build not as bad as he imagined. Let him underestimate me for now; the surprise would be more enjoyable later. Besides, I was a former archery athlete, so I could handle it easily even without the game’s assist.
Arthur let out a long sigh, giving up on arguing with my stubborn head. "Fine, the important thing is we’re in a party first."
A party invitation window floated in front of me:
[Arthur has invited you to join the Party. Do you accept?]
I tapped the [Accept] button. Instantly, Arthur’s health bar and status appeared in the top-left corner of my view, side by side with mine.
"Listen, Ri... ah, I mean, Syl," Arthur awkwardly corrected himself after seeing my character name on the party bar. "We are now in the Eastern Forest area. This place is already classified as a Mid-Level Area, no longer a beginner zone."
I listened to his explanation carefully while observing my surroundings. In Second World Online’s world structure, the layout around the beginner city was designed very systematically. StoneBrook itself acted as the center of the safe zone with four main gates facing the four cardinal directions: East, West, North, and South.
All those gates had identical starting zones right after stepping out gentle grasslands that were safe. In those grasslands, the roaming monsters were only low-level beginner monsters like Horned Rabbits and various types of Slimes. That area was currently filled with thousands of Players competing to raise their levels from 1 to 5.
However, if Players walked further beyond those grasslands, they would enter Mid-Level Areas with completely different characteristics, ecosystems, and monster types in each cardinal direction:
Eastern Gate (Eastern Forest): Where we were now. This area was dominated by dense forest inhabited by high-level wild animals such as Forest Wolves, Giant Ants, and Wild Boars, with the Giant Bear as the Area Boss. This place was paradise for crafters looking for materials because enemies here dropped valuable materials like fresh meat, quality hides, and fangs. Additionally, the damp forest vegetation was also rich with various medicinal plants highly sought after by Alchemists.
Western Gate: The mid-level area turned into a barren region full of steep rocky cliffs. The monsters there were mostly Stone Golems and other earth-element creatures. This zone had a very rich mine full of pure iron ore for the Blacksmith profession. However, the mine was currently locked and inaccessible to anyone until Players defeated the local Area Boss to break the seal.
Southern Gate: The mid-level area to the south led directly to coastal and vast sea regions. Unfortunately, this zone was currently causing many hardcore player groups to hit a dead end (stuck). The game system had not yet unlocked ship mechanics or adequate technology to cross the wide ocean, so the area beyond the coastline remained a great mystery and was unreachable. Even the area boss was still unknown.
Northern Gate: This was the purest and most brutal combat zone. The mid-level area to the north was a dark hilly region that became a nest for aggressive monster races such as Goblins, Orcs, and the like. This place was the main target for players who focused solely on nonstop combat. The Area Boss was led by a Goblin King that was said to have a terrifying difficulty level for a beginner city, but the drops were excellent especially since there was a sealed mine there, the only place to obtain weapon materials by melting dropped weapons into new custom orders at the forge.
"Because you took the Carpentry profession and use a bow, the Eastern Forest is the best place for you to gather materials," Arthur said while skillfully spinning his large Sword. "I’ll be the Tank in front, drawing their attention, and you just shoot from behind me. Got it?"
"Got it," I replied shortly while lowering my new wooden bow from my shoulder and tightening my grip on its sturdy wood.
We ventured deeper into the silence of the Eastern Forest. Morning sunlight piercing through the gaps in the leaves created beautiful vertical pillars of light on the moss-covered ground. The sensation of stepping on dry twigs that snapped underfoot felt incredibly real, awakening long-dormant hunting instincts.
Rustle... Rustle...
The sound of bushes being brushed aside in front of us made us stop in sync. Arthur quickly stepped half a pace ahead of me, lowered his stance, and raised his large Sword into a combat-ready position.
From behind the large foliage, a creature slowly stepped out. Its body was the size of an adult hunting dog, but it resembled a giant ant with glossy jet-black chitin armor. Its large mandibles at the mouth produced a terrifying clicking sound, and its dark compound eyes immediately locked onto our position.
Floating above the creature’s head was a red health bar along with its identity: [Giant Ant - Level 7].
"Giant Ant, Level 7," Arthur muttered tactically. "Not a big problem for me, but its shell defense is quite thick for your current low level, Syl. Stay behind me!"
Arthur shouted, stomped his foot on the ground, and charged forward with a powerful horizontal Sword swing. Our first battle in the Second World had officially begun.
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