Chapter 35: One month

“We are all level twenty-five now!”

After the monster dropped onto the ground, the five players turned its corpse into exp and glanced at each other. All of them leveled up simultaneously, and that was the proof of their friendship and hard work.

For two weeks, they had been playing together with a strict schedule, and their goal was to level up as fast as possible.

Their start was late, and they believed there was a lot of work to catch up to the top.

The top-ranked players were impossible to catch, though.

And many players hadn’t revealed themselves here!

What was the game without some dreams and goals, though?

“We should check the area controlled by the pyromaniac! Is he really that dangerous no one comes to him?” The player called HexaBam put his hands on his waist and asked out loud.

A break by the end of the day would be fine, and the curiosity about the pyromaniac had been on their minds ever since they learned about him.

That player had lit up the sky!

That skill was still trending on social media as one of the players had streamed the dark matter’s zone. It happened roughly a month ago, and no one knew to what extent Reylin had leveled up.

They knew that he had done something crazy, and no one wanted to bother with him as of now.

However, some groups of people had attacked his exp machine called Tehr.

HexaBam clenched his hand, “Let’s go. We must check whether he really did light up… the whole forest in the eternal flames!”

–

“Ahahaha!!”

“…”

The group of five players stood astounded before the forest of flames. That forest wasn’t your usual forest, but the leveling ground for players around thirty-five levels.

The nature here attacked!

It meant that nature also would fight back against Reylin.

Alas, he wielded the flames, the nemesis of the wood element!

Those flames were arguably the strongest the player could conjure, and Reylin also possessed the cheating ability, which was named after his nickname!

The Pyromaniac!

Reylin swam in flames, sucking mana out of the burning forest, and he constantly chunked down the forest’s HP.

At last, the whole forest united against him, and the group of five players had been looking at his battle against it.

Roots rose from the ground, stretching out toward the sky. Those seemed like a desperate attempt to use everything at their disposal to catch Reylin! Alas, the flames exploded beneath his feet, and he flew up higher!

Reylin threw the flamethrower from the sky with one hand, and the other used his fireball skill to spread the flames across the roots.

“Hahahaha!”

His laughter was louder than the wailing forest, and Reylin widely smiled.

At this point, he was familiar with the forest and its monsters. Those monsters and their roots were both the strongest and most vital points. Once he extinguished those, he would achieve another feat no player had achieved so far!

Of course, roots were the main and the last weapon.

Other weapons such as leaves and branches mattered not as Reylin became too strong for the forest. All their attempts to reach him had ended up with failure, and the trees wisely retreated those.

“This is crazy… Unbelievable, even…” HexaBam whispered.

He understood why no one dared to bother Reylin as that would be too risky and simply pointless. Unless someone was as crazy as him and possessed the unique class similar to the pyromaniac, one could try!

But that was only if!

The best would be some unique water class or anything else to counter those flames!

“How can he laugh while exercising this much, though?” HexaBam’s friend asked.

That was also something many were jealous of. Other than a unique class, one also must have been worthy to wield such a class.

The flames and crazy personality seemed to be a good pair, and Reylin delivered.

His focus, good mana control, and quick judgment were all great, and his boldness made those features peak.

Suddenly, Reylin’s laughter stopped.

Only his flames howled, and even the wailing forest didn’t let out any sound.

The players knew, however, what happened, and they understood the forest.

They even pitied it a little.

“The Red Sky,” HexaBam called out the skill, and as if Reylin heard it, his body lit up with the flames, turning him into the biggest fireball! The fire quickly exploded, and the dark sky turned red!

The explosion descended onto the whole forest, and a vast flame pillar rose from the ground! A hot wind swept through the players, and they even felt their HP dwindling! The sudden debuff also scared them!

[You can’t breathe.]

They covered their faces, trying to peek into the forest and what it had become.

Soon, their eyes widened, and what they saw was… simply nothing.

Of course, that was nothing, but Reylin, who stood in the middle with his eyes up in the sky.

His head was arched back, and it looked like he just released a big chunk of something else rather than the legendary skill, with his eyes rolling back and shivering body.

The players gulped and turned around!

It wasn’t a good time to stay around the pyromaniac!

[You have extinguished the whole leveling ground!]

[The Executor Title has been granted to you.]

[You have leveled up…]

[You have leveled up…]

[You have…]

“Ohh… How soothing…” Reylin moaned faintly, then his head went down.

He peeked at the running away players and whistled. For the whole month, he had been leveling up in the magical forest, and it was pretty easy due to his flames. However, the trees had annoying regeneration skills.

Their roots were the cause, and Reylin swore to destroy them.

With how annoying he had been, the whole forest teamed up and let out their roots at once. That was when Reylin revealed his legendary skill, and the forest disappeared without even being able to regret its choice.

He grasped the floating black staff next to him and threw it into his inventory.

Although Reylin didn’t plan to use any weapon, he lit up the black staff he had received from the dark matter’s zone and made it float next to him. It increased his stats, and it was something akin to third hand that was either flamethrower or the fireball tower.

[You have received The Magical Forest’s Dark Matter.]

[Grade: Epic]

“The main quest item… How many do I need?” Reylin checked the quest log and noticed the simple message.

[1/5]

He had an item that might help him with chapter 2, but the first was still nothing but a mystery. He would receive more information about it once he gathered the five matters, or he could just team up with other players.

It would be more efficient than hoping for some lucky drop.

However, Reylin didn’t particularly care about the main quest.

“Someone was bullying my xp machine… Today is his last day, though.” Reylin yawned and strutted toward Tehr’s location.

The whole month of nothing but experience. It was fun, but Reylin had chosen the easiest leveling ground for himself, and he yearned for something else.

It was mainly due to the first three days in the game world.

Those days were vastly different from his ordinary life, and he had many interactions during those days. It was fun to deal with people differently, especially when they didn’t know much about you.

Reylin also wielded flames the best, and he got legendary skill from fighting the boss!

He found no such creature in the leveling ground, and no particular development happened during that one month.

Of course, one of the biggest surprises was Layla, who had become close with him relatively fast. Reylin didn’t think it was weird, as love was a fleeting feeling.

It either came with time, or one fell at first sight.

What mattered the most was how both sides developed that feeling, and Reylin paid a lot of attention to it, especially how women could make him forget about flames.

Women were like flames for Reylin, and he felt that it was his youthful drive! Many people around his age or even quite earlier began developing much interest in ladies.

Reylin had just eyes on one girl, but that wasn’t because of that drive… And it had been changing a lot as Reylin received more attention from others.

However, it wasn’t like Reylin lacked communication during his leveling up.

[Ferocious Bear: You have leveled up again! Good job!]

[Rey Flames Lin: Do you always keep your eyes on my profile?]

[Ferocious Bear: I have notifications on.]

“Really now?” Reylin chuckled, and he started the usual and short conversation with Ferocious Bear.

She talked to him every day, and it was both due to her competitiveness and interest in the pyromaniac. She wanted to compete with him, be his friend and guild leader. That was quite a lot of work, but Maya found it all fun.

The Guild Leader and The Hero in one person would make her guild one of the strongest! Connections with many strong players were one of the ways.

[Ferocious Bear: I have a lot of work with the new players, but we are all fighting! I even managed to cajole my friend, and she agreed to be the manager! Soon, I will start leveling up too, and I will catch up to your level. Did you change your leveling ground?]

[Rey Flames Lin: I didn’t. I just did something impossible.]

[Ferocious Bear: *BearStarryEyesEmoji* I will do it too then! What exactly did you do?]

[Rey Flames Lin: I erased the whole leveling ground.]

No reply came from Maya, and Reylin strutted while casually laughing along the way. A few players found his laughter familiar, and they ran away from him. At last, Reylin’s eyes landed on Tehr, who was fighting against some players.

[Ferocious Bear: *AwkwardBearEmoji* It won’t hurt to try. I will definitely try erasing the whole leveling ground too. In the name of justice, as I am the hero.]

[Rey Flames Lin: It will hurt, though. Anyway, I got some work to do. Bother me tomorrow.]

[Ferocious Bear: Rude! Good night, though!]

“Hey there. Can’t you all be more of nice players and play around with the girls rather than ganging up on my xp machine?” Reylin flicked his fingers and sent one fireball at the player with the shield.

The tank flew away from the impact, and he landed behind his mages. His taunt also dispersed, and Tehr was free from crowd control.

Soon, Reylin stepped in front of him and used his famous smile to change the situation.