Hiro’s hacking attempt failed. Moreover, who knows how, but the game’s protection system managed to throw Hiro’s weapon back like a boomerang, immediately withdrawing 100LSC from his balance per the item’s price.

“Damn it! What the hell! Did you seriously just rob me!?”

With his teeth gritted in annoyance, Hiro quickly logged back into the game to vent his frustration. To his dismay, as soon as he successfully logged in, a system message with the [Ordinary Hairband] popped up and the aforementioned item was automatically put on his wrist.

“My precious 100USD!”

…

[4:30 PM Server Time]

Hiro rushed back to the [Beginner Town] to carefully examine the situation in the town with no intention of missing even the smallest details. The old town seemed just as quiet as he last saw it. Apart from himself, he only encountered several other players who were busy with their own activities. Almost none of the players in the town were intersecting with each other.

Then the players who successfully bought the new generation VR by online for this game most likely still could not log into the game yet. After all, if they actually could, the town would not be so desolate.

Again, Hiro felt that he was extremely lucky to have been able to enter the CBT.

And after observing the players in Beginner Town, he became sure that these players were wealthy people. Their movements had a sense of arrogance to them and they all walked with their chins up.

Furthermore, the title they equipped also showed their true identities.

[Noble Player]

[New Money]

[Top Spender]

[Unbeatable Bidder]

After he ascertained this piece of information, Hiro diverted his focus back to accumulating as much LSC as he could so he would be able to buy a regular plot as he planned.

He was curious about whether there were any display differences between buying a regular plot through the website and directly through the in-game transaction, and after searching for some information regarding the matter, he found that he had to go to a store located in the town square and ask the NPC on duty about it if he wanted to know.

Hence, Hiro headed to the town square, and after a while of walking, he finally arrived. Next to the Merchant NPC was a cylindrical building made of marble with [Marketplace] written on its signboard.

The moment he entered the building, a flying object came to greet him. It was Nyx, the Asdroid.

[The Marketplace can only be accessed from 8 AM to 4 PM server time.]

Hiro sighed.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the store was closed at the moment, giving him no other choice but to come back another time following the Marketplace’s working hours.

With the Marketplace currently unavailable, Hiro decided to go grinding to collect LSC from monsters and level up at the same time.

He was already quite behind on levels, he could not afford to waste time.

First, he tried going to various spots in the area near Beginner Town in hopes of encountering monsters whose information was not yet registered in the Wiki. Successfully collecting the information of a previously unknown monster could give a bonus of 5LSC, which was not bad.

Hiro was aiming to find monsters with a high amount of bonus EXP and LSC and, if possible, item drops that could be used to upgrade his progressive status. Apart from those, he also took into consideration the amount of time required for him to kill the monsters and for the monsters to respawn.

After spending about an hour in-game to find the strategic spot, Hiro decided to go back to the west gate of Beginner Town.

[Garden Golem (Level 10)] was currently his best option.

Standing at around 1,5 meters in height, Garden Golems are completely made of moss-grown rocks with a blooming purple flower on top of their heads. These golems like to gather in places like open fields, and right now, there were more than 15 of them in the spot Hiro was eyeing.

Garden Golems were included in the category of medium monsters, so the LSC drops that could be gained from them were almost twice the amount from other monsters. With his current progressive status, he could eliminate a Garden Golem in 5 seconds.

Another important thing that drove him to make these golems his target was their buff Card drops that could be equipped on weapons. A Garden Golem Weapon Card could increase the user’s Final Attack speed by 30%, so if he could acquire this buff card, his Sword Combo skill would be very effective.

In LSO, every piece of equipment had a limited number of card slots, and each slot could be equipped with a card according to the equipment type. These cards mentioned as the buff card. It gave certain buff to players.

As for Hiro’s greatsword, it could only be equipped with two weapon cards as the weapon only had two card slots.

The drop rate for weapon cards was only 1%. Even so, as a barbarian, he needed it to increase his attack speed.

After briefly observing his target, he swiftly dashed to attack the nearest Garden Golem with his greatsword.

Splat!

Without sparing a moment, he continued to swing his [Two-Handed Metal Sword (Level 5) – Tier B] at the golem.

[Damage 97; Accuracy 25; Crit 7]

This weapon was far more useful than his previous sword.

He continuously slashed and stabbed at the golem without mercy. Once the golem was defeated, it would break and turn into a pile of rocks and respawn at its previous location in just 3 seconds.

“Beginner Town’s west gate… this spot is pretty strategic.”

Ding!

[A Garden Golem Weapon Card has dropped in front of you.]

Hiro widely smiled in satisfaction.

His first drop card.

“At least two cards. My combo knows no mercy,” he happily muttered.

After defeating golems for three hours straight, Hiro finally managed to reach level 10 and got a total of three Garden Golem Weapon Cards. Even though the basic EXP he received per minute was considered high, he felt that leveling up in this game was quite a heavy task.

Not that it would stop him.

“The more difficult, the more challenging,” he said while taking short breaths.

He then slashed at the dying golem’s head to end his grinding session for the day.

Splat!

Crash!

The rectangular head heavily fell to the ground, and the next moment, a notification appeared in Hiro’s HUD.

Ding!

[You obtained a letter from a lost girl. (Rare Quest)]

Upon seeing the word ‘Rare’, excitement filled his mind.

[Dear adventurer, I am just a poor, wounded traveler. My daughter is missing in the Dark Forest. Please help me get her back.]

[Accept the quest to get the location coordinate?]

“I accept.”

[Find NPC Ron to get access to the dungeon.]

Ding!

[NPC Ron’s location has been pinned on the map.]

Hiro immediately ran following the pin marking NPC Ron’s location. The mark brought him into a forest near the spot where he previously went on a Garden Golem killing spree. Because it was nighttime, he could only count on the moonlight from the full moon in the sky.

[System Call]

[NightFall] [Barbarian] [First-Year Student]

Base Level 10

Job Class Level 7

Health 2,510/2,510

AP 221/221

Energy 100/100

Fame 100

BR 1,100

Basic Stats (Points 0)

STR 40

AGI 20

INT 13

VIT 25

DEX 15

LUCK 28

Skill Stats (Points 0)

Sword Combo Skill (Level 5)

As he was running through the forest, Hiro remembered the drop weapon he got from killing the boar.

[Uzi Submachine Gun (Level 3) – Tier D]

[An automatic special forces firearm, can be used by any job class. (Recommended job class: Ranger)]

‘Does this mean I can activate it too?’

He tried commanding his HUD system.

[Warning! Carrying more than one weapon at a time might reduce your movement speed. Proceed anyway?]

“Yes.”

All of a sudden, a bright light shone on an area on Hiro’s right thigh, and quickly after, a black drop leg holster containing a firearm appeared perfectly tied to his leg.

It was a standard Uzi SMG 25.6 inches long with its folding metal butt fully extended. The barrel was only 10 inches long, and it was loaded with a 25 or 32-round magazine of 9mm pistol ammunition.

[Battle Rating has increased]

“This is getting interesting.”