The First Fight

Although passing through the barrier would officially mean that one has entered the Azure Forest, in fact, the company decided to put a certain amount of distance between the barrier and the place where the Stray Bits are, allowing users of the World Net to fight against the Stray Bits without worrying about them leaving the barrier.

As to the reason why a Stray Bit that left the barrier would be feared, that would be saved for a future time.

Rustle…rustle…

Unlike the insides of Halus City, both John and Jean's maximum speed inside the Azure Forest could reach their maximum, which was understandable since they were fighting against Stray Bits. Of course, since it was Jean's first time in the World Net, he could not help but wonder why they haven't come across any Stray Bits yet, going through a lot of trees and shrubs.

Running at his previous maximum speed beside his father, he could not help but look at his father and ask, "Dad, why haven't we come across any Stray Bits yet? Is this part we're going through a part of the aesthetic of the Azure Forest?"

"Well yes, and no," John concisely replied, before adding, "It does increase the aesthetic value of the Azure Forest, but more importantly, it serves a great purpose."

"What purpose?" Jean asked with eyes glistening with slight curiosity.

"To make sure Stray Bits don't go outside the area's barrier," John responded soon after, before closing his eyes for a bit…only to shudder while running. Jean could not help but notice this and wonder if his father was okay, but after a few seconds, his father opened his eyes once again, sparing a glance towards Jean, who was looking at him with slight worry.

"What are you worrying about?" John let out a comforting smile. "I just remembered some bad memories, that's all."

"Anyways, let's hurry up and enter the true Azure Forest."

Whoosh! Whoosh!

After John said that, within a few seconds, the gap between the two of them became larger thanks to the difference in their movement speed. Unfortunately for John, Jean had increased his maximum movement speed, allowing him to bridge the gap between the two of them back to a negligible degree.

For John, who turned his head around to look at his son, only to see that his son was catching up to him, he could not help but have his mouth agape as he stammered, "Y-you…got faster?"

"Yep!" Jean replied with a grin on his face, eventually running beside his father soon after. "Are you surprised, dad?"

"Y-yeah…just a bit…" John nodded his head, still in slight shock. Fortunately, he was not someone who was overtly competitive, allowing his son to move at his maximum speed beside on as they eventually entered the main area of the Azure Forest a few minutes later.

…

Rustle…rustle…

Passing through a few short shrubs, the two of them had finally reached the main area of the Azure Forest, the place where the Stray Bits of the Azure Forest congregated. For someone who had entered this area for the first time, Jean could not help but stop near the place he came out of, taking in the view in front of him.

What could be seen in front of him was a large clearing that was slightly filled with the two Stray Bits his father mentioned before they actually entered the barrier. Combine it with the beautiful aesthetic of the trees that acts as a buffer zone between the barrier and the clearing, as well as the picturesque sight of the light blue sky, it made for a beautiful sight one would definitely use as their background for their personal spaces.

The only thing that brought someone back to the reality that the World Net was a place for work instead of looking at the picturesque view in front of them were the other users that were fighting against the Stray Bits in the clearing.

"Hyah!" One female user punched out towards the abdomen of a rabbit, sending it flying for a couple of meters before beginning to make distance between the two of them.

"Take this!" Another male user was using what seemed to be a sharpened bone to attack at another rabbit, making slashing and piercing movements as a decent chunk of the rabbit's health was being reduced every hit.

"I command the flames around the landscape to congregate at the tip of my staff. [Fireball]!" There was also another male user, who was wielding a blunt piece of bone instead of a sharpened one, calling upon the energy around the surroundings as a ball of flaming energy manifested a certain distance from the tip of the blunt bone. Soon after, this user shot it towards one of the nearby rabbits, depleting a large chunk of the rabbit's health.

Although Jean was quite eager to fight against the rabbits as well to increase his level, he could not help but blink for a few times, as well as rub his eyes for a few times if what he was seeing in front of him was correct. Just like when he got the Net Actualizer, he pinched himself on the back of his hand and slapped himself on the cheeks, only to see no difference at the sight in front of him.

"Eh? They're seriously wearing that?" Jean could not believe it.

The reason why he was in disbelief was because of the equipment the users in the Azure Forest were wearing. Some were wearing the broken skulls of the rabbit they killed, some wore the rabbit's kneecaps as arm guards, and some even wore what seemed to be a collection of ribcages from rabbits. Not only that, even the weapons seemed to have come from parts of the rabbits, with one being that of a sharpened bone, and the other one being a blunt bone infused with mana.

If they were clean bones, Jean would not mind it. He would just be shocked for a bit then move on. But that wasn't the case at all. If one examined closely, one could see spots of blood on the bones, as well as few splotches and fur and tendons stuck on it quite well.

Although Jean is quite used to the sight of gore thanks to the various TIMMORPGs he had played, he could not help but wince a bit, knowing that he would probably have to wear equipment like that as well soon enough.

Looking around him, he noticed that his father did not move an inch as well, looking at him with a satisfied smile. Jean did not mind the smile since he knew that his father most likely went under the same feelings as him when he started out, asking, "Dad, are the bones they're wearing the Starter grade equipment you were talking about?"

"Yep," John replied back with a nod.

"Why does it have to look like that though?" Jean could not help but ask.

"If it were the past me, I would have said that the reason why it looks like that is because the company wants us to realize that the World Net is a world where users have to trample on other users in order for one to gain more power. In other words, the law of the jungle is the strongest law in this world," John replied.

Taking in a quick glance of the sight in front of him, he then continued, "But now that I've experienced a lot in this place, I can tell you for a fact that it's just the whim of the company. Plus, there's some equipment out there that look way worse than what you're seeing right now. That's just a tame level to be honest."

"Anyways, let's go towards one of the rabbits and officially start your journey to become someone strong in the World Net's landscape." After saying those words, John gave a small push on Jean's back, forcing him to move forward regardless of whether he wanted to, before continuing to walk towards a certain area within the Azure Forest. With his father gradually leaving him behind, Jean had no choice but to follow him from behind, getting a closer look at the fights that were happening between the users and the Stray Bits.

Fortunately, unlike the gorier titles he had played before entering the World Net, there was no blood when slashing the Stray Bits open. If they died, they turned into ones and zeroes that entered the user's body that killed them. But unlike the users, if they do get hit by the Stray Bits, a bit of blood could be seen with every injury that is made on their body.

Since their movement speed wasn't restricted, the two of them had eventually made their way to a place that was not far away from the center of the Azure Forest, a place that only had a few Stray Bits roaming here and there. Add in the fact that there was not much noise to be heard from this place, it made a good place for a sole player to grind their levels and combat experience in silence.

Thud.

After arriving at this place, John decided to sit down and lie his back on a nearby tree with his arms folded on top of one another. He noticed that Jean was looking at him, possibly waiting for his words to start killing the rabbits. Letting out a slight sigh, John said, "Son, you can go ahead and start grinding. You don't have to wait for your father's words. Would you act the same if I weren't here?"

"Ah, right." Jean said in response to his father's words, before heading towards one of the rabbits in the area that were hopping around without a care in the world. He decided to move towards the rabbits as silent as possible, wondering if getting to a close proximity around the rabbit would trigger the rabbit's aggro.

Fortunately, it didn't, allowing Jean to think about how he was going to fight against the rabbit in front of him. Of course, even though getting to a close proximity near the rabbit didn't trigger its aggro, that didn't mean the same went for the other Stray Bits, with the rabbit naturally being a docile animal.

"Hmm…how should I go about my way attacking this rabbit?" Jean muttered to himself, remembering the words that his father said about the rabbit before they entered. "Although it does not seem like it, according to dad, the rabbit in front of me, when fighting, would move at an incredibly fast speed. This in turn meant that the rabbit attacks slowly. As for how fast the rabbit moves or how slow the rabbit attacks, I'll have to find that out myself."

It was at this point that Jean discarded all thoughts of needing help from his father since he was set to carve a path different from what his father took. Not only that, it would also allow him to set a foundation in the World Net at a faster rate, possibly exploring places and Stray Bits that his father had not even found or fought against.

"Alright, time to start." Eventually, Jean was finished planning, bending his knees slightly before bending his upper body down to punch towards the right side of the rabbit's abdomen.

Whoosh!

'You have dealt 9 damage to the [Rabbit].'

"Gah!" Just as Jean landed his first hit on the rabbit, his right arm, the arm he used to attack with, continued to move in an erratic manner for quite a while as the rabbit flew for a bit. Due to the fact that Jean placed all of his stats on Agility rather than Strength, the rabbit didn't fly that far.

"Man, attacking multiple times in one second is actually hard," Jean said to himself, shaking his right arm up and down to remove the strained feeling he felt as he prepared himself for the rabbit's attack. Nonetheless, he was going to try and get the hang of attacking multiple times in one second at the very start of his journey. He had a feeling that this would allow him to have a great advantage when fighting Stray Bits.

Whoosh!

After the rabbit stabilized itself, with its aggro fully focused on Jean, it sprinted towards him with its head in a position that was bent downwards. By the looks of it, this was the rabbit's attack.

Just as the rabbit's head was about to collide with Jean's body, Jean hastily sidestepped to the left of the rabbit while the rabbit's momentum had stopped abruptly. Sensing that it had hit nothing, the rabbit's head turned to look around its surroundings as to where Jean went, only for it to be hit with Jean's fist.

Whoosh!

'You have dealt 10 damage to the [Rabbit].'

Due to the angle as to how Jean attacked the rabbit, the rabbit was sent flying upwards, nearing the height of Jean's upper body. It was around this time that Jean tried to attack the second time, forcing his fist to stop its momentum after the first punch, before redirecting it towards the abdomen of the flying rabbit a second time.

Whoosh!

Although he was successful in allowing his right fist to punch out a second time, Jean missed the rabbit's abdomen by quite a lot, allowing the rabbit to fall down to the ground with a soft thud. Also, since the rabbit was near Jean, the rabbit was able to attack Jean at a faster speed, only for it to miss as Jean sidestepped one more time.

"Hmm…from the looks of it, the rabbit can move at a maximum speed of 4 meters per second, double the movement speed of a Level 1 player that isn't an Assassin," Jean said to himself as he then started to create some distance between the two of them, giving him time to think about his next attack more in-depth.

"How the heck am I going to attack multiple times in one second?" Jean said to himself as he raised his right fist, slightly trembling from the forceful movement he was doing. "I can attack a maximum of 3 times in one second according to my stats, but how am I going to do with just one fist—"

It was at this point that Jean laughed at himself, a slightly mocking laugh as he said to himself, "How constrained can my thoughts be. Although I can't attack 3 times in one second with a single fist, I can easily attack 3 times in one second with two fists!"

"Of course, with a weapon, I'm pretty sure I have to train to attack 3 times in one second with one hand," Jean added, before clenching his fist as he waited for the rabbit to charge at him.

"But for now, this will do!"

Whoosh!

In a matter of seconds, the rabbit dashed towards Jean with its head bent down, aiming to do a headbutt just like before. As usual, Jean was easily able to dodge this attack before retaliating with an attack of his own.

"Take this!" Jean swung his right fist towards the rabbit's abdomen at an angle, sending the rabbit flying upwards.