CHAPTER 66: FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH PLAYERS

In a random alley in Red Fang City, the air warped and twisted strangely as a young man of about twenty appeared out of thin air.

He had a large frame with muscles packed in all the right places. He wore dented armor, and his appearance was exactly the same as in the real world.

In his hand was a blunt sword he had selected during character creation.

Above his head, a name flickered.

[Ragnarok99 LV.0]

He sucked in a deep breath through his wide nostrils and let out a breath of satisfaction. "It sure smells real. The developers were truly not yapping senselessly."

Ragnarok99 didn’t move out of the alley immediately. Instead, he began to perform a couple of stretches.

With each passing moment, his eyes glinted with amazement. He didn’t feel any rigidity or stiffness; he could easily twist his body, perform flips, and even somersaults.

As a professional, he had played over a hundred games, and most of the time, they were filled with glitches when one performed certain body movements.

When he was invited, he had been skeptical at first, thinking it was another cheap game.

However, now that he felt how realistic everything was, he was impressed.

"Well, well, let’s not jump to conclusions yet." Ragnarok99 grinned as he slowly stepped out of the alley onto the streets.

The NPCs moved about their day, and though a few threw curious glances at him from time to time, they remained unbothered.

For the next hour, Ragnarok99 didn’t approach anyone. He simply explored the town. On the streets, there were beggars and merchants advertising their wares.

’I was told Realm of Ascendency has a slick modern look. Why does this place look like something that just slowly upgraded from the Victorian era?’ he frowned.

It was at that moment he noticed another player in the distance. It was quite easy to detect them because their names were displayed above their heads.

The player was a youth with a slim build, a bow in his hand, and a quiver with a couple of arrows on his back.

[Sniper Bow Legend LV.0]

"Hey, do you want to team up so we can explore the town together?" the player suggested with a small smile. "Now, I know you’re not the type to team up, but this is beta testing after all. I think we should join forces. That way, we can level up much faster and proceed to the next city."

A thoughtful expression crossed Ragnarok’s features for a while. Just like Sniper Bow Legend had said, he was someone who preferred to work alone, but since this was only the beta and not the actual game, he decided to give it a try.

"Deal, then."

"Oi, can I join as well?"

A voice shouted from not too far away. They glanced to the side and saw a cute little girl with a pair of large bunny ears approaching.

[Bunny LV.0]

Sniper Bow Legend glanced at him, as if asking for permission.

"Sure, she can join us. As long as she won’t be a deadweight, I’m fine with it."

"I’m very capable of protecting myself." Bunny smiled. "You don’t need to worry about me."

"Hmpff." Ragnarok99 harrumphed, not believing her words. Naturally, he knew who the rest of the core beta testers were, as they were pretty famous in the gaming scene.

In fact, he had come across them in a few games and watched some of their streams, even being impressed with them. But Bunny—she was different.

Moments later, the archer spoke. "Alright, shall we head outside and battle monsters, or take a quest from an NPC?"

"My level is too low. It’s an eyesore. I say we head out and fight some monsters first," he suggested.

"Left to me alone, I’d say we take a quest first." Bunny crossed her arms.

’Tsk, now I remember why I don’t like being in parties.’ Ragnarok99 grunted under his breath.

"I’d also like to level up first," the archer added. "After leveling, then we can take quests. How does that sound?"

"Oh well, since you both are going with leveling, I might as well tag along." Bunny shrugged. "But before we leave, I think we should get a map."

"And how much do you think those cost?"

Each player was given 50$ randomly to start with.

"I don’t know, but there’s only one way to find out."

They approached a dirty-looking merchant who was selling all kinds of wares.

Atop his head was...

[Wandering Merchant]

[Level 5]

[Danger Level: Harmless]

The danger levels for NPCs in Realm of Ascendency were:

Harmless → Minor Threat → Noticeable Threat → Dangerous → Highly Dangerous → Critical Threat → Catastrophic Threat → Apocalypse Level → Unknown Threat

Seeing the threat level, they didn’t hesitate to approach.

"Sir, we’d like to get a map of the wilderness, preferably with monster-indicated spots."

"A plain map with only locations would cost you about five hundred, and one with monster-indicated spots will be around one thousand five hundred."

"Even if we were to combine our cash, it still wouldn’t be enough." Ragnarok99 turned around and started walking away, his voice echoing behind him. "Let’s hunt monsters, level up, sell the parts to butchers, and come back to purchase it."

Some time later, the party of three went outside the town walls. Fortunately, they didn’t have to move deeper into the wilderness before encountering monsters.

There was already a group of slim, undernourished white wolves roaming around the walls.

[White Fanged Wolves LV.1]

"Finally, freedom!" Ragnarok99’s eyes sparkled when his gaze settled on one of the white wolves.

His entire body seemed to rattle with excitement.

"This one is mine!" he shouted as he stomped the ground and lunged toward the beasts.

"There are just enough for all of us, genius!" Bunny rolled her eyes.

At the same time, the group of white wolves turned their focus toward the rest of the party.

With twisted, hungry snarls, they lunged toward them.

The archer retrieved an arrow from his quiver and placed it on his bow. He drew the string taut and struck the first wolf with lethal precision.

"Woah, headshot!" Bunny exclaimed, eyes widening in amazement.

"I practiced a lot." The archer cleaned an invisible speck of dirt from his nose.

Even though the bow was just a beginner’s weapon, because of his past experience, he swiftly dealt with the beast.

Meanwhile, in the distance, Ragnarok99 cut down all the monsters in his path with his blunt sword.

As for Bunny, her preferred playstyle was mage. Fortunately, skills weren’t presented in the stats yet, so she could only make do with a magic staff that could shoot mana blasts every five seconds; it was an iron rank weapon.

Some time later, the party dealt with the pack of white-fanged wolves, and they all leveled up.

Ragnarok99 reached Level 2, while the others reached Level 1.

"As expected, even in beta he’s dominating." Bunny whispered under her breath.

On their way back, they found a man obstructing their path.

It was a tall youth with crimson hair, dark undertones, and cold electric blue eyes that seemed to peer into the souls of those who looked at him.

Beside him was a girl in a black jumpsuit with fierce, beautiful, cat-like eyes.

But what stood out most about this person was the red string of text floating above his head.

[Broken Heaven]

[Level 30]

[Danger Level: Critical Threat]

When they saw the danger level, all three—including Ragnarok99—took a single step back, their blood running cold.