[Ding! Congratulations! You reached Level 8!]

After Liu Ye reached another Level, the steps to climb seemed higher and higher. They killed the rest of the Masked Bandits yet he didn’t even fill half of the experience bar. He could already imagine the insane grinding needed to climb in the higher levels.

[Name: Grind God]

[Level: 8] [SP: 0]

[Exp: 2500/5500]

[HP: 180/180] [HP Regen: 1]

[MP: 70/70] [MP Regen: 1]

[Strength: 1]

[Intelligence: 7]

[Vitality: 1]

[Dexterity: 9]

[Wisdom: 1]

[Luck: 1]

[Physical Power: 10]

[Elemental Power: 40]

[Physical Defense: 20]

[Elemental Defense: 0]

[Elements: Water 92%]

[Arts: Waterbending]

[Abilities: Small Water Whips, Ice Projectile, Water Manipulation]

Level 6 needed 2,300 experience, Level 7 needed 3,700 and now he needed 5,500. He wouldn’t be surprised if he needed a whole 10,000 experience to reach Level 10.

“Great job! Now that the camp is cleared, all we need to do is find the Bandit Leader and finish the rest of them. We will finally eradicate this plague from our land,” Vice-leader Marco called out excitedly when the last Masked Bandit fell. “Are you ready to depart?”

Liu Ye didn’t reply right away and checked his inventory instead. He only had 27 Small Mana Potions and 6 each of medium size. Even though he received another 10 Mana after adding a point to Intelligence, that wasn’t enough for him. If he required one potion to kill each small bandit, Liu Ye definitely needed to stock for the Bandit Leader.

“I’m low on Mana Potions so I will return to the village to buy more. How about you wait for me?” Liu Ye questioned casually but Vice-leader Marco shook his head.

“It’s not a good idea since the Mountains are in this area. How about you return to the Village and I will wait for you by the gate?” Vice-leader Marco proposed. “I still need to finish here so you should return first.”

Liu Ye already expected that answer.

He was sure the players already reached the Red Zone. Once he left, the Masked Bandits would definitely respawn so other players could also farm experience. In his case, the Quest already registered his kills as it showed 30% progress.

“Alright, see yo—” Liu Ye paused in the middle of his goodbyes, suddenly hearing voices outside.

“Hello? Is anyone here?”

Just as he was thinking about other players, his thoughts came true. It has already been almost 10 hours since the game started so it wasn’t much of a surprise.

Liu Ye looked outside of the window to check the situation and saw three players walking cautiously inside the Bandit Camp. When he spotted a familiar figure, Liu Ye couldn’t help but purpse his lips.

That man was really unlucky to meet Liu Ye again.

[Flaming King – Lvl. 6]

“Man, someone already cleared the whole camp before us. Damn it, now we have to wait till they respawn,” Flaming King cursed as he sat down on a small boulder next to the lake.

“But I don’t see any corpses lying around,” his buddy pointed out as he looked at the place.

“It’s because they disappear once you kill them,” Flaming King replied like a big brother of the group. “Let’s hope no other players come over to steal our experience. If they do, let’s pretend we are friendly only to kill them right after. The Red Zone should allow Player Killing and maybe we can even get their loot.”

Flaming King’s companions immediately got excited as they chuckled at each other, but there was one more person who got interested in their idea.

‘I guess it’s best if they are humbled sooner than later,’ Liu Ye thought as he approached Vice-leader Marco again.

“Can you wait 10 minutes for me? I think I found a way to get my potions faster. We might just go to the mountains right away.”

———

“Damn, why does it take so long? It has been 5 minutes and we can’t see any bandits,” Flaming King cursed annoyed. “How can the respawn rate take so much time? The Masked Bandits outside probably respawned already.”

“Should we check? I doubt anyone can get past us if we just stay outside the entrance and lure the Masked Bandits to us,” his buddy proposed to which all of them nodded.

“Let’s go,” Flaming King commanded but he only made a few steps before one of his buddies screamed.

He turned rapidly only to see him getting pulled into the lake. “Aaaaaaaa! Help me!” The man swung his arms in fear as he struggled to swim back to the shore. “It’s pulling my le—”

He wasn’t able to finish as his words got replaced by bubbles as got pulled underwater.

“What the fuck?!” Flaming King cursed as he stepped back confused when his buddy resurfaced again while gasping for breath.

“Help!! I’m drowning!”

He was only able to call for help once before he was pulled underwater again.

“Quick! Get in the water and help him!” Flaming King called out urgently. “Aren’t you working as a lifeguard in real life?!”

The two guys finally realized what was going on and their instincts kicked in. They jumped into the lake but just as their feet stepped inside, two water arms wrapped around their ankles and pulled them into deeper ends as well.

The Flaming King was only watched in horror as air bubbles hit the surface. After a minute, there were no more bubbles left and the lake calmed again.

He quickly glanced at his profile while staying away from the lake and saw his friends’ HP at 0. He was already familiar with this process as he himself died twice before.

They respawned a few seconds later with their Levels dropped to Level 5.

<<What the hell happened?>>

Flaming King questioned in their group chat only to see a scary message sent by one of his buddies.

<<Run! It was a PK!>>

His eyes widened at the thought of a Player killing them and when he looked up at the lake, he jumped back in fear, almost tripping over his legs.

A man he already knew was standing at the shore while staring at him.

“Why are you here?!” Flaming King called out in panic as he stepped back but The man in black Bandana walked forward, closing the distance between them.

It was the same man that already caused him to get killed twice. He didn’t speak a word and instead launched himself forward as three whips hovered in the space around him.

“Fuck!” Flaming King cursed and ran away towards the exit but his back was quickly smacked three times, knocking him to the ground.

-21

-21

-21

[HP: 17/80]

In just a second he was down to 17 HP, already on the verge of dying again.

“What did I do to you?!” Flaming King asked in desperation as he looked at the man for the last time but he only shrugged.

“Wrong place, wrong time,” the man replied as Water Whip smacked him one last time, dealing a death blow.

[Ding! You were killed by Player Grind God. Your inventory dropped and you suffered from Red Zone Death Penalty.]

[Time to respawn: 5 seconds]