After Astaroth left the old mage’s house, he walked toward the barracks. His next intended step was to learn about the swordsman class.

He didn’t know how he wanted to specialize right now, but he thought ‘Might as well learn them all for later.’

After walking a short while, he made it to the open portcullis and walked through it. Inside the yard were many training dummies and a few trainees, striking at them fiercely.

Astaroth looked around, trying to find the instructor with his eyes, but to no avail. He then walked up to the closest trainee and asked him where he could find the instructor.

The man looked at him weirdly for a few seconds and then pointed to the building behind him with his thumb.

“He should be inside the barracks. If he’s not there, he might be out training.” He briefly said before going back to his striking dummy.

“Thank you.” Astaroth said, with a slight bow.

He then walked towards the building in the back and entered through the door. Once inside, he saw many other men resting at the small tables and bar.

Many of them looked over at him when he entered, but they quickly got back to their conversations. Astaroth looked around, trying to identify the sword instructor, but failed to see him.

He walked over to the closest table and asked the men there where he could find him, but they shooed him away. He kept asking around until one of them finally answered him, saying that the instructor was out training.

Astaroth quickly thanked him and left the barracks.

‘Those men were brutish’ He thought to himself, walking out of the yard of the barracks.

He then asked a passerby for the path out of the caves they were in. The woman pointed him to the east and said there was an entrance that way, and she then went back to her things.

Astaroth thanked her and started walking towards the east.

A short while after, he made his way to what was just an enormous hole in the wall. He could see a slight blueish veil on the hole.

He slowly passed through, not knowing what to expect. As he went through, he got a system prompt.

*DING*

*You are leaving a safe zone. From here on out, creatures you meet will attack you on sight and you can die. Please be mindful of your environment and tread cautiously. Good luck adventurer!*

Astaroth quickly read the prompt and swooshed it aside. There was no way a creature from this starting zone could kill him, anyway. He walked away from the village entrance in search of the swordsman instructor.

After walking for a few minutes, he had still to cross paths with any sort of creature. He guessed the man he was after probably cleared the path out, securing the village outskirts.

He kept walking on the path, and shortly after, he started hearing howls in the distance. As he walked closer to the noise, he also started hearing screams and fighting noise.

Astaroth quickened up his pace and went towards the noise. The closer he got, the more he could feel the ground shake.

Soon enough, he saw something flying at him through a thicket. He ducked down, and with a loud *Thunk* the object hit the tree behind him.

He lifted his head and what he saw flushed the blood out of his face. In the tree trunk, at the height his chest had been a few seconds prior, there was a longsword impaled in the tree.

Astaroth quickly walked through the thicket it came out and arrived in a glade. In the clearing, a man was fighting a huge black bear.

Huge was probably an understatement at this point. The black bear was the size of a school bus, and it was bleeding all over, its eyes bloodshot.

The man, on his side, was also bleeding quite a lot. He had vicious gashes across his chest, with cuts and bruises all over the rest of his body.

He was holding in his left hand a short dagger. Astaroth quickly guessed that the sword was his and that the dagger was his measly spare weapon.

Astaroth snapped out of his staring and looked at their info. In the bar over the bear, were his name and level.

ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm

*Giant Black Bear*

Level: 36

Grade: Special

Health: 278/44’250

*Kloud Stryph/Weapon Trainer*

Level: 30

Grade: Rare

Class: ???

Health: 356/45’750

The bear was level 36! How was this a starting zone creature!?

Astaroth gasped for air as he realized what he had walked into. He wanted to flee as quickly as possible but as soon as he stepped back; he snapped a branch under his boot.

*Crack*

The bear and the man both turned their heads to the newcomer. The bear roared and faced Astaroth.

His level being so low was an instant aggro pull on the bear. The man looked at Astaroth and yelled.

“RUN!!!”

Astaroth quickly spun around and became one with the wind, running with all his might. He felt the ground rumble as the bear quickly gave him chase.

He looked back after crossing the thicket and saw the bear was already close on his heels.

‘There is no outrunning it at my level’ He thought.

He changed directions, trying to bring the monster back to the glade by circling around. As he ran, he zigzagged across trees, hoping to slow down the bear.

To his great relief, it did work, albeit barely, in slowing the creature down. They were now running at about the same speed.

Astaroth tried setting the bear’s fur on fire while he was running, to damage it. The fire caught, and it started spreading all over the fur.

*Ding!*

*You have created the spell ‘Ignite’*

Astaroth was happy. With that, he might kill the bear and get a lot of Exp. He glanced at the bear’s info bar and his joy was short-lived.

*Giant Black Bear/Burning(28s)*

Level: 36

Grade: Special

Health: 276/44’250

(Burning) The creature is on fire and will lose HP/sec depending on the caster’s magic power and the creature’s resistance. (Caster magic power 5) The creature will lose 1 HP/sec.

“What the fuck!!” Yelled Astaroth.

“That won’t even tickle him!” He added angrily.