[Name: Damian

  Level: 2->3

  Class: Crafter

  HP: 16/16

  MANA: N/N (Unavailable due to the Clogged Core trait)

  Strength: 6+1

  Endurance: 10

  Agility: 8

  Will: 10

  Magical Prowess (MP): 3

  Learning Efficiency (LE): 12+1]

  About two days had passed since Damian arrived at his new home.

  After the lurker attack, nothing more happened.

  So Damian used his free time to fix the garden behind the shack.

  "Man, I don't know anything about farming," Damian said, holding a rusty hoe he found in the shack.

  "But it looks good," He added, looking at the plowed field before him.

  He sat down on a rock and wiped his sweat. He was exhausted but looked satisfied.

  "I have been saving parts of my potatoes, carrots, and beets for planting. I don't know if it's the season, but it should be worth trying. Status Screen."

  A blue screen appeared before him. He quickly navigated through the screens.

  [Skills:

  Unlocked

  Entry Level Explorer: 1

  Entry Level Carpentry: 2

  Learning

  Entry Level Spear Arts: 40/100]

  Entry Level Farming: 70/100]

  Damian smiled. "Good, I almost unlocked the farming, and carpentry reached level 2. Good thing I spent the day before yesterday making wooden household items from the carpentry book."

  His life settled into normalcy. "With hard work, knowledge, and some luck, things will only go better."

  Damian got up. "I still have some time. I can explore the surrounding area and maybe find a village or town. I will rot next to all that money if not."

  He grabbed some supplies and his spear. "The map I grabbed from the village showed trading routes in the east. I should head that way." Damian said before locking the front door and leaving the house.

  The forest was livelier than before. Birds were chirping, and now and then, small animals' cries echoed to Damian's ears.

  But he suddenly stopped as the bush next to him rustled. Damian pointed his spear towards it but exhaled when a small white bunny jumped out and ran away.

  "Thankfully, it's just small critters and nothing big."

  From there, the forest had no more surprises for him. Without trouble, he reached to a road.

  The road was just a low, reddish ground, trampled over time by people and vehicles passing through it. Some bushes and small grass patches appeared on its side, but it was barren compared to the forest floor.

  "Alright, I will follow the road from here, but before." He grabbed his dagger and marked one of the trees. "If I go west from this tree, I will reach home."

  Ensuring a way to go to his home, he carefully moved down the path, dirt and gravel rolling down the steep ground with him.

  From there, it was a simple walk. "Lyrian Knights still should be in the area; I doubt any bandit will show up with them around, " he assured himself and stepped forward.

  After some time, Damian stopped. "Are these horse steps?" He tried to focus on the sound.

  Hooves adorned with iron horseshoes stamping the ground became louder every second. Without a doubt, someone was approaching here, but they were slow.

  He kept his calm. "I have a vial of goo with me. At worst, I can splat it on my enemy and escape. I still have more at home anyway."

  He positioned himself in a corner and waited.

  Horsemen showed themselves soon after.

  "Two people. They have rugged leather armor, and their hair looks uncared." He made his first comment. "One on the front has a sword hanging on his hip, and one from the behind holds a long rope."

  The rope was extending towards a girl. She was in worn rags, bruised, and bare feet. Her hands were tied, and

  Men stopped their horses. "Who are you?" One on the front asked, one hand holding the leash of his horse, the other on the pommel of his sword.

  "Just a wanderer," Damian answered, trying to keep calm.

  "What's a wanderer do in this forest?" Man asked.

  "Isn't this a trade route? I am searching for a village, but let me ask you a question." Damian looked at the girl. "I thought slavery was illegal in Lyria?" "Lyria, despite all of its shortcomings, has a pretty strict anti-slavery law because of their religion." He recalled some lore.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  The man on the back stepped forward, forcefully dragging the girl with him. He then pushed her before them, making her fall to the ground. "Not against demons."

  "She doesn't look like a demon to me." Damian reached into his pocket, where the goo vial was.

  "They don't look like, yes, but she is one of those 'Earth humans', and Church of The Eye has a good bounty on her head, and we are bringing her to one of their outposts down this road. Now, get lost."

  "Church of the eye? Why did that small zealot cult from the middle plains have power here?"

  Colors faded, and time slowed. Diablo, from nothingness, appeared.

  "Missed me?"

  Damian turned to Diablo. "No, not by any means, but I guess you can explain what is happening here."

  "Didn't that brute explain it all well to you? Well, sweet innocent child, open your quest screen."

  Damian did as Diablo told. "He is a total jackass but still gives true advice."

  [Event Quest: Save the other player from bounty hunters!

  Rewards:

  Most likely a companion

  +100 xp]

  "So she is from the Earth like me, but my question about the church has not been answered."

  Diablo nodded. "Yes, she is, and no, I can't spoil that." Diablo suddenly looked at his wrist. "I am sorry to cut our talk early, but patrons watching you are getting feisty, and I can't stall their precious action scene anymore, so be ready."

  Diablo stepped to the side, and time resumed quickly after.

  Damian looked at his pocket, then at the man.

  "How much for the girl." He asked.

  The man ignored him and moved past Damian.

  He shouted again. "How much!?"

  "More than you can-" First bounty hunter opened his mouth, but his friend shut him.

  "Stop it, you moron. He wants the bounty." Man unsheeted his sword.

  "What, no-" Damian tried to explain himself, but the man didn't care.

  "Save your breath. I am just reducing risks, and it's not like they will care about a random body in the forest with all those monster attacks."

  Damian gritted his teeth. "This will be the second time."

  He grabbed the vial, opened it, and threw some goo towards the man charging him.

  When the green liquid hit the man and his horse, it quickly dissolved some of their flesh and released its throat-burning, unbearable smell.

  The horse, in pain, reared up with a pain-filled cry and threw away his rider before running away.

  Bounty hunter hit the ground, its chest quickly vaporating. "Ah! Get this off me, get this off me." He cried while struggling.

  "What? You bastard!" Other bounty hunters released the rope and pulled a light crossbow from his saddle. "I will kill you!" He shouted while loading a bolt.

  Cornered with no more options, Damian charged and threw the vial to the man.

  It hit his upper body and shattered.

  Green goo covered the second bounty hunter's face and throat, quickly dissolving and disconnecting them from his body.

  As he died, he struggled and tried to push the goo away with his hands, but it only resulted in them getting melted.

  Damian averted his eyes from the cruel scene.

  But no matter how much he avoided it, their dying screams still reached his ears.

  "No, don't feel remorse for those who tried to kill you for no reason."

  Damian bit his lip and closed his ears, his nails sinking deep into the side of his head.

  But clappings echoing inside his head suppressed all the sounds from outside.

  Diablo whistled. "Look at you go! I know you can't hear it, but our patrons are going crazy!"

  Damian glared at Diablo but gave up. "I still hate this. But this time, I needed to protect myself." Damian said, waving away the level-up screen before him, approaching the girl.

  She had quietly watched them, not even taking a step away. Her face was numb, present with no emotions.

  Damian grabbed his dagger and cut the ropes. "You... are you also from the Earth?"

  She averted her eyes.

  "I am Damian, 96th person to clear Beasts & Dungeons." He offered his hand. "If you want to, I have a safe location where you can rest and heal."

  She clenched her fist and suddenly asked. "Count three music artists!"

  "What?" Damian said, dumbfounded. She didn't answer but showed her desire to run away. "Alright, Mozart, Beethoven, Claude Debussy."

  The girl relaxed her hands. "Something more modern."

  "Queen, Beatless, and maybe Pink Floyd?" Damian said.

  She turned at him, barely holding her laughter as her cheeks became red and her eyes teared. "Damn it, do you not know anything modern." She snapped and started laughing.

  Damian raised his hands. "Hey, let's not judge others's taste."

  The girl wiped tears from her eyes. "I am sorry. I am just trying to be safe. My name is Chloe." She offered her hand. "93rd player to clear the game."

  Damian shook Chloe's hand. "Nice to meet you. Now, do you need water or food?"

  Chloe shook her head. "Some water would be superb right now."

  Damian offered her his water can. It was made of leather strengthened with chains and had plenty of capacity.

  She grabbed the canteen and started drinking from it like someone stranded in the desert for weeks.

  After she finished it, she wiped her mouth and exhaled. "Man, you saved my ass on so many levels I can't even tell."

  "No problems, shall we go? I have a safe spot."

  Chloe stopped him. "Let me rest a bit first. I have been walking for days."

  Damian took a glance at her. She had every right to be exhausted, covered in dirt and bruises, wearing nothing but a piece of rag with holes.

  Using this brief moment of pause, Damian decided to ask some questions. "If not a problem, can I ask why those people called you a demon?"

  "You haven't seen people of this world, have you?" Chloe asked.

  "I did not. I opened my eyes to a beach town that was under Deathwing attack. Everyone else died."

  "I envy you." Chloe sat down on the ground. "I opened my eyes in a town about two weeks ago. By luck, I heard people calling people from Earth demons. Surprised, I tried to hide from the general populace when a priest-looking guy approached me. He said he was a player who cleared the game, so I believed him and told him I was too." She sighed. "It was a trap. They quickly imprisoned and tortured me before a crowd. I only escaped because of some demon attack, and days after, these two animals found me."

  Damian looked at the melting bodies. "I see." "It wasn't like that in the game." Damian thought.

  "Listen to this advice. Church knows about players and the Earth. They also use what little knowledge they have to bait unsuspecting players. I don't know why they hate us, but they do, so keep your guard up." Chloe said. Her tone was serious, and her eyes locked on Damian's

  Damian exhaled. "How this game keeps getting worse." He palmed his forehead, then turned to Chloe. "At least you got your revenge."

  "I am." She answered, looking at the bodies. Her eyes were wide, pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "These two dragged me like a dog, gave me nothing but the bare minimum to survive, and openly talked about doing unimaginable things to my body as if I wasn't a living being."

  Damian said nothing, just gave a nod of approval. "I can't imagine the pain she must have gone through."

  Chloe smiled, her body faintly glowing, a sign of healing magic. "I am fine now. You are looking at a healer here! No damage is too much for me, be it mental or physical." Her thumb pointed at herself, and her chest puffed out with pride.

  "So, you look rested now. Shall we go?"

  "Wait a minute first." She got up and moved to the bodies of bounty hunters, holding her nose with one hand. "Damn it, I hope this smell is easy to get out." She spent some time looting them. "50 krots? How poor these bastards were?" She shouted, looking inside a money pouch.

  "Did you finish?" Damian shouted, staying far away from the smell.

  "I guess. I didn't get anything to compensate for all that brutish torture." Chloe said, looking dissatisfied. She now wore the boots of one of the guys and had a quiver filled with bolts, a light crossbow, and a sword on her back.

  "You look more like a warrior than a healer now," Damian said.

  "No, I look more like a clown, but don't worry, you are looking at the one and only True Light Lich here!" Chloe said.

  "I didn't know such a class existed," Damian said, genuinely surprised. "Did my uncle know about that one?"

  "It does. And it's super op. You also go down that path starting with the healer class, so I probably will go for it again." Chloe answered.

  "That's a great ambition there. I already have Crafter as my starter class, so I think I will go for Artificer again, but I have a problem."

  "What's that?" Chloe asked.

  "I have a Clogged Core."

  "You can just restart- Oh... oh."

  Damian smiled, eyes closed, his pain easily readable. "I know." He got up. "If you rested enough, let's go." He began walking back the way he arrived.

  Chloe followed him from behind, walking weirdly as her boots were too big.

  "Two support classes. I hope we find some DPS soon." Damian thought as they vanished into the forest.