Level Is Everything

「Urgh, I didn't think that they will do that but I am also thankful that it was solved peacefully. 」

Roy's party definitely suffered under Ryou's scheme, however seeing how they are also actually thankful that Ryou is exposing Sakura's true nature before Roy's party involved further with her; they decided to somehow let Ryou go with a little bit of punishment. The punishment was none other than killing Ryou back to level 2. After all they can't kill him further to lower his level since he is already at the lowest level 1.

The other repercussion that Ryou has to face is when he meets with Sakura tomorrow at school.

「I wonder if I should just quit school entirely. After all I didn't see the meaning of going to school. If I need some money in the future, I can just start my own business or entrust my money to some trust fund. I guess I'll just do that. Let's start levelling then. 」

...

Meanwhile in a luxurious looking room at a mansion in the same city as where Ryou is located; Sakura took of her Syder with a look of frustration on her face.

"I can't believe what's that piece of sh*t is doing. He destroyed my chance of leeching of a good party. He also destroyed my image. D*mn. I am going to kill that bast*rd! Let's see how you are going to run away from me tomorrow."

With an evil smile on her face, Sakura is planning a devious plot for Ryou at the school even to the point where his scholarship will be taken. Little did she know that Ryou already planning to drop out from school entirely.

…

Ryou then planned to level up normally just like how he did on the first day but right now the wind wolf training grounds are already full of players. They finally moved up from the horned rabbit area to the wind wolf area. This leave no choice but for Ryou to go further again and find another monster to kill.

The beginner's village field are divided into several parts. The forests where beast monster lived. The sea which introduce the players to aquatic monster, swimming and fishing system. The cave where the player can get familiar to the dungeon system and lastly the plains where it is occupied with mostly bird type monster.

There is no way Ryou can kill the aquatic monster alone since luring them out will takes time. The dungeon diving also will be hard because it is more of an introduction dungeon which emphasize on party and getting player to know what their roles are in the party. So Ryou's only choice is to head for the plains.

As Ryou walks there, his mind is getting clearer as he organized his thoughts. He won't be bothered by Sakura and school problem anymore. His living cost are also basically maintained by the monthly allowance from his family inheritance which the rest are taken into custody of his lawyer. The only thing left for him to do is finding his 'father'. It is also something that can't be rushed but he already knows on how to achieve that.

He has a goal and it was something that can't be achieved overnight. Why not he enjoyed the game in the process? After all it was the first game that he played and it clearly has something to offer more than any other game right now in the market.

On the way to the plains, Ryou finally realized how amazing the game Aaru is. From the degree of realism, he can feel the wind blowing against his face and he can hear the grass rustling because of it. He looked back at the village and he can now see how beautifully designed it was. It was only thatched hut buildings but they are placed in such a way that they look really harmonious.

As soon as he reached the ends of the path from the village to the plains, the view was breath-taking. The plains are just like a painting. At some distance Ryou can see monsters running around in pack, flying monsters roaming around freely and some players that is battling monsters. After enjoying the scenery for a while, Ryou takes out his bow and searching around the area for his target. It will be a level 5 'Shadow sparrow'.

There aren't many players hunting at the plains mostly because of two reasons. The first one is the monster on land are mostly moving around in pack. The second one, most of the single monster in the area is flying monster. Ryou earlier saw a party that is battling a level 5 'wild bull' but he knows that the party must have go to a great extent just to lure that single monster. This is also to introduce new player to the game system and makes them utilize the various method and means to lure monster out of the pack.

It won't take long for Ryou to find the shadow sparrow. It was a weak monster for a level 5 and it can be easily killed. The only worrisome thing about killing it is its high speed movement. The speed it achieve is twice as fast as the tempest wolf. It can be seen at how fast it was although the rest of its ability was laughable. Weak attack, low health, it can be said that the shadow sparrow is a monster that is fully focusing on its agility; but don't be mistaken, a simple carelessness and it can still send you back to the respawn point in town.

Ryou which have his bow readied nocked his arrow and then he stopped taking any other action. His steady breath becomes even slower and his presence gradually faded. It was as if he is blending into his surrounding and become one with nature.

The shadow sparrow is not an aggressive monster which means that it won't attack a player even though if a player comes within it range of attack unless the player is showing hostility to it and attacked first. That is also one of the easiest way to kill it which is killing it using an ambush but truthfully it was easier said than done.

Slowly, the shadow sparrow landed on land and it seemed to be pecking the earth, finding for food. Ryou who has been waiting from earlier moved his bow and aimed at the shadow sparrow.

*swish*

-25

The arrow was shot and it pierced the shadow sparrow's wing. It rendered it unusable and making it unable to fly. Ryou takes out another bow and attacked it again before ending its life.

「You have defeated the shadow sparrow. You gain 300 EXP(experience). 」

「You gained sparrow feather x 1. 」

"Okay, I can do this."

After taking the loot, Ryou move towards another area before he spotted a new shadow sparrow and he repeated the same course of action that he took earlier. It didn't take a long time before the fourth shadow sparrow fallen victim to his attack and he levelled up back to level 2. After he finished looted the shadow sparrow Ryou suddenly feel a chill on his back.

"Sh*t."

He didn't know what it was but he believed on his instinct. He made a dodging movement to the side and rolled. At the place where he was standing just now, there's a 'black garuda'. Ryou knows instantly that it was the same type of monster as the tempest wolf. It was a monster that will appear when someone levelled up.

Ryou have no thoughts of fighting against it so he quickly turned his body away and run.

「This game sure loves to send people back one level after finally leveled up. 」

Ryou's thought wasn't entirely correct. The game Aaru is only doing this at the beginner's village map area and some special monster at the world map. It was to encourage player to play in a party or be more careful when hunting.

One of Schneider aim when he first creates the game is to make it as real as possible as it was only a game. He didn't want a player to just keep killing monster without any sense of danger or achievements when levelling up. If it was done just like any other game, then it will be just another grinding level type of game. Schneider on the other hands want the player to enjoy every level they earned and treasure it. After all their level indicate their total amount of stats and it also tell how strong they are. Enjoy every process that you have gone through to become strong because if you are careless, you will lose it.

After making sure that the black garuda isn't chasing him, Ryou is going back to find another monster. Schneider goal was also achieved because right now Ryou will be careful whenever he levelled up. Four times facing the tempest wolf and now facing the black garuda, he has learned his lesson.

-----

Name: Shadow Sparrow

Level: 5 Race: Aves

HP: 100 MP: 10

STR: 5 Atk: 5 Def: 1

AGI: 25 Matk: 1 Mdef: 1

VIT: 1 Cast: 1 Aspd: 0.75

INT: 1 Crit: 1 Act: 0.75

DEX: 1

LUK: 1