3 03 - First Mission

A wolf with a big cut on its neck flew until it hit a tree. After this attack this on the ground motionless, probably dead.

"This... it's tiring..." Arthur said to himself breathlessly as he looked at all the dead wolves around him.

These wolves were Mid Mortal Core monsters, with their Alpha being High Mortal Core. The battle was very close, but even with some injuries, Arthur still managed to kill these monsters because he could use more abilities than a regular Mid Mortal Core.

But as Arthur rested to return to the Sect, a loud noise put him on alert.

*boom*

"Wha... what is happening?" Arthur asked himself in surprise. He was still in the outermost part of the forest, most of the monsters that lived here weren't even Elemental Core.

*Boom Boom*

Two more noises appeared, leaving Arthur even more alarmed, as this time it was even louder.

Arthur decided to run away from there as quickly as possible, as much as he had 22 Mana Points, yet he knew that at most he could handle an Elementary Core monster, after all, when a Mortal Core evolved into an Elementary Core, it wasn't just the amount of mana that increased, but density as well. This dense mana that circulated through the body of the owner of this Core strengthened the muscles even more, making an enemy even more difficult to deal with.

Arthur had the advantage of having more mana than his peers, this would make it harder for him to evolve his own Mana Core, but when he evolves, his body would evolve with it too, as the amount of dense Mana circulating through his body it would be even larger than normal, making his body more deadly than any other Elemental Core.

*BOOM BOOM*

The explosions grew even stronger, causing Arthur to use all the mana left in his body to desperately run to the Sect.

After 30 minutes of an intense run burning mana like gasoline, Arthur finally made it back to the sect. The explosions had already become much weaker, making it harder to notice, but Arthur knew danger still lurked within his Sect, and at any moment these fighting monsters could surge into the Sect and destroy everything.

Arthur needed to let the mana circulate through the body for a few hours to nourish the flesh to heal the wounds, but after finishing this process, Arthur's body was as healthy as before entering the forest, just bloodied all over the place.

[Ding, new mission. ]

[A real Sect must be the absolute master of the area it resides in, beings more powerful than a sect are not allowed in the surrounding areas. To preserve the security of the Sect, the Sect Master must deal with anything that poses a danger to the premises and disciples.

Kill 2 Elemental Core monsters: 0/2

This task can be performed by both the Sect Master and the disciples.

Time remaining: 7 days.

The better the task completion, the better the rewards. ]

"This..." Arthur was shocked, he hadn't even reached the Peak Mortal Core and already received a mission to kill Elementary Core monsters?

But he knew that this mission made sense, today these monsters could just be fighting each other, but nobody knows if in a few days these monsters will decide to attack the sect and destroy everything.

"I need my disciples to help me complete this quest, even though they all come as Low Mortal Core weaklings, they can help me kill the monsters around while I deal with the Elementary Core monsters. As risky as this is, it is the only way to handle it." Arthur concluded.

He knew that his disciples would only be human players, probably normal people with some gaming knowledge, so relying on them to deal with powerful monsters was never Arthur's idea, especially against Elementary Core monsters, who could probably even resist their attacks. Killing players as if they were just flies.

---

The next day Tony was pacing the house. He had received an email saying he was selected as one of the 99 players in the Elder Worlds Beta test. To say he was excited would be an understatement, he couldn't even stand still.

In the morning he was a little calmer, but the more time passed, the more Tony's anxiety struck, causing him to start walking in circles around his little rented apartment.

At some point he even went outside the apartment to see if any delivery men would show up, but after two hours he went back inside.

*Ding, Dong. *

Tony was startled by the doorbell. It had been less than 30 seconds since he had entered the house to drink some water, but the delivery man appeared just as he entered?

He didn't even bother with the water glass he was filling with tap water and ran to the door to get the delivery package.

But to Tony's surprise, there was no one outside.

"Shit, was one of the kids playing pranks?" Tony grunted and was ready to close the door, until he saw a luxurious-looking black box on top of the rug. "Is that what I'm thinking?!" He asked himself excitedly as he grabbed the box and ran into the house.

In the excitement, Tony hadn't noticed that the floor was wet from the faucet he left open and slipped. But during the fall, Tony with incredible reflexes turned his back to the ground while hugging the black box to his chest to protect what was inside.

"Ouch..." He complained of the pain, but as soon as he saw that the box hadn't even wet he sighed and placed it on the table, before turning off the tap and running to open the box. He didn't even bother to dry up the water that had leaked onto the floor, just ignoring it for 'Tony of the future' to deal with, as he now had more important things to do.

With a smile on his face, Tony opened the black box carefully and pulled out a black helmet with blue accents that looked like an old anime he had once watched.

On the forehead of the helmet was written [Divine Studios] in bright blue letters.

Without thinking about it too much, Tony plugged his helmet into the wall socket and lay down on the sofa bed he slept on before pressing the button to turn on the helmet.

In front of Tony's eyes, information prompts began to appear in front of him.

[Analyzing brain waves.]

[Analyzing body structure.]

[Analyzing...]

Tony felt several electrical waves circulate through his body which worried him a little initially as he had never felt this when wearing other VR helmets, but in less than 5 seconds it stopped and Tony felt everything around him shut down.

He couldn't move his own body, couldn't hear anything, until he couldn't even see anything around him.

In an instant everything went black.

"Did I die?! Fuck, did this game really kill me?!" Tony was scared and furious. Having read so many web novels that began with the protagonist dying, Tony thought he had really died and was ready to transmigrate to another world.

Especially when he found himself in a white room, which is where the protagonists usually meet up with some ROB.

[Would you like to change its appearance?]

A screen appeared in front of Tony, followed by a large mirror that reflected his body.

"Hmm, no ROB? But if I'm going to transmigrate to another world, the least I have to do is make myself as beautiful as possible!" Tony told himself as he began to alter his appearance, still believing he had died and would transmigrate to another world.

"There, now none of the celestial beauties, jade-skinned women, or nation-shattering beauties will resist my beauty! Mwahaha!" Tony started to laugh as he admired his new appearance in the mirror's reflection.

[What name do you want to use?]

"Hmm, I thought I was going to take over someone's body, but being able to make a new identity will be easier for my next life. Only I'll need a grand name...what to wear..." Tony started to think of one grand name for him to be known around the world.

"That will be it!" Tony made up his mind and wrote down the name he wanted to use.

[In this new world, your fun is our priority.]

"Hmm, what benevolent gods, instead of using me as a pawn they want me to have fun? That's great!" Tony laughed happily as he watched the white room he was in fall apart until everything went black.

Tony suddenly felt his own body again, with some difficulty he finally opened his own eyes and noticed where he was.

"Is this a destroyed city? Maybe a dragon attacked here? Hehe, don't worry, I will avenge you and turn that dragon into my mount!" Tony chuckled as he got up from where he was lying.

"What is this idiot talking about?" An unknown voice came to Tony's ears.

"I don't know, it could be someone with Chuunibyou syndrome..." Another voice came in Tony's ears.

Confused, Tony looked around and saw five very beautiful people looking at him with an expression of disgust.

'Are these the local people of this world? But how do they know what Chuunibyou is?' Tony asked himself confused.

"Hello, do you live here?" Tony asked, trying to sound friendly.

"What do you mean? We're players, dude. We're in the game now too." A tall man said.

"We haven't found an NPC yet, but he might appear after all players join." Another man said a little excited.

"NPC...players...wait, isn't this a new life?!" Tony yelled, scared.

"I know, right? The feel of this game is extremely realistic! Touching stuff here is like I'm actually touching real life, you can even feel the wind rubbing against your skin like you're really in person!" Another player approached the excited group.

"Yes! If the whole game goes that way, surely Elder Wolds will be a hit in the future!" The tall player said excited too.

But while these players argued excitedly, Tony was even more shocked. He really had thought he had died and was transmigrating to another world, but in fact he had just joined the game?! So does this mean that the name he chose will actually be the name players will refer to him?

At this point Tony was having mixed feelings, on the one hand he was relieved he hadn't died, on the other hand he was surprised at how real this game was, but lastly he was extremely embarrassed because of the name he had chosen. .

'Shit... can I still change?!' He wondered mentally, desperate to change it, but to Tony's frustration, even when he thought about trying to open the menu and a screen appeared floating in front of him, there was no option to change his own name!

Within minutes, dozens of lights appeared on the floor. Every time a light came on, a human would appear sleeping there for a few seconds before waking up with an excited expression.

Players began to gather in small groups to chat animatedly, some were touching the ground, others touching their own bodies, others even touching each other to see how realistic this was, and what surprised them even more was that it really was 100% realistic, even players who changed their height a little felt that there was nothing wrong with that, as if they were always the same height!

At one point, players even made a wheel and started fighting each other, since the pain sensitivity could be adjusted between 5%-100%, they slowed down to the minimum and started hitting each other like crazy dogs.

Arthur who was on top of a building in silence watched it all shocked.

'Did I really receive disciples from Earth? Why does it seem more and more like they came from some barbaric planet? What?! Why is that player eating dirt?! Is that player banging his head against the wall?!' Arthur was horrified.

Initially he thought that having Earth players as disciples might be an advantage, but when he saw how these idiots were acting he finally realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea.