Stronger than One Thinks

On May 19, 2238, among all the group of users that frequented the Azure Forest to raise their levels and obtain equipment, there was one common rumor that was heard from all of them due to the sheer shock they obtained from seeing it happen.

This rumor involved a starting user, who had no equipment whatsoever, pummeling any Stray Bit it saw to death. Of course, in the first time they saw it happen, they thought that it was a high leveled user helping out a lower leveled user by killing a ton of Stray Bits and passing the experience to the lower leveled user. It wasn't a rare occurrence in the World Net since having higher levels meant that one could kill stronger Stray Bits, leading to more money and power. Plus, alliances existed in the World Net, which meant that the senior member was just helping the new member.

But after taking a few more peeks, they noticed that that wasn't the case at all. Indeed, there was a high leveled user, but he was just lazing around, lying down on the side of a tree as he watched the low leveled user pummel rabbits, with the rabbits not even being able to retaliate due to the speed of the punches the user was sending out.

They then noticed that the user had no equipment equipped whatsoever, its body only being covered with the base clothes offered by the World Net. Around this time, they thought that this low leveled user wasn't a low leveled user at all, but a high leveled user that just unequipped their equipment along the way to let out some stress in the form of pummeling low leveled Stray Bits.

And then…

They checked the user's general stat screen.

"Eh? Are you serious?" One of the users could not help but say, looking at the user's general stat screen, noticing that the user's movement speed and attack speed was significantly higher than the norm for Level 1 users. Of course, the others that passed by noticed this as well, attributing it to the class the player chose.

"Normally, starting users would put it their stats on Vitality and Defense, or Defense and Strength to withstand hits from the rabbit." This was the thought of all the users that passed by when they saw this happening. It was then that a weird yet plausible thought appeared in their minds.

"Unless…this user was actually a high leveled user that started a new account?!"

Within a matter of a few seconds, this thought was dismissed, all of them knowing very well that a person could only make a single account in their whole lifetime. Of course, this did not stop them from thinking about the reason as to why the user was easily killing the rabbits it was facing.

In the end, the only thought that seemed to be the most plausible for the user's prowess in their minds was the fact that this user had trained for the World Net beforehand, possibly knowing the ins and outs of the whole World Net so it could efficiently level up and become someone prominent amongst equally leveled users.

Of course, in actuality, that wasn't the case.

The two users that were being talked by the users that frequented the Azure Forest were none other than Jean and John. John was indeed lazing around by lying down on the side of a nearby tree since he noticed that he didn't need to help his son out in fighting at all. As for Jean, although the other users said that this guy trained and learned in preparation for the World Net beforehand, that wasn't the case at all.

The only reason why Jean was able to effectively use the Agility stat to its highest was due to the amount of TIMMORPGs he had played before entering the World Net, knowing the ins and outs of the Assassin class, as well as the multiple variations of the class, with its differing perks and restrictions. This time though, he was just using what he knew as someone who played the Assassin class, his body's muscle memory, as well as his adaptive mind to fight against the rabbits without getting damaged.

Whoosh!

Around ten minutes have passed since Jean and John entered this area of the Azure Forest for Jean to start obtaining experience and equipment. This was the 15th rabbit he had killed since the start. From the second rabbit onwards, he had employed an efficient style of fighting that was suited to the advantages of the Assassin class, as well as the advantages of the stats he had allocated.

To sum it up in one phrase, it would be the phrase 'pummel before it could retaliate'.

And pummel before retaliating was what Jean did. With the first punch he sent out being the signal for the start of the fight, before the rabbit could land on its four feet on the ground, Jean would have already made his way towards the rabbit and started sending out a barrage of punches towards the spinal area of the rabbit, rendering the rabbit unable to move.

'You have obtained 20 Bits.'

'You have obtained 8 XP.'

'You have obtained a piece of equipment: [Rough Rabbit Hide].'

With the death of the rabbit he had mercilessly pummeled, a holographic screen appeared in front of his field of vision, notifying him of the loot he had obtained from the rabbit. Other than the usual Bits and experience one would get from killing a Stray Bit, Jean had finally obtained a piece of equipment.

Letting out a short grunt of glee, he looked at his father, who was still lying down on the trunk of a tree, and said, "Dad, I finally got a piece of equipment!"

"Good for you," John responded back, encouraging his son. "Normally, one would obtain a piece of equipment from killing rabbits around 30 to 50 times, but to think that you got it in less than 20. Can't you spare this old man of yours some luck?"

With a slight chuckle, Jean replied back to humor his father, "Dad, you're way stronger than me. Let me have this luck to myself until I become as strong as you."

Although he wanted to ask his father about the method to identify and equip equipment, he thought to himself one more time that he shouldn't rely on his father that much, seeing as he had a plethora of experience playing a ton of TIMMORPGs. He could not help but think, 'Since Omni is trying to make the World Net feel like an RPG, wouldn't they make the system be familiar to those who have played RPGs?'

With that thought in mind, he stood still where he was, looking at the view before him. He took in a few breaths to compose himself since he was quite doubtful whether his thought was correct or not. Nonetheless, he continued with his thoughts, softly commanding, "Open Inventory."

Whoosh!

Soon after the command, a holographic screen filled to the brim with a grid pattern appeared in front of Jean's field of vision, with the first box on the topmost left corner being occupied by what seemed to be a rough cape made out of the fur that came from the rabbits he killed. He was quite happy in his mind that his command worked, wondering if he could grab this item out of his inventory, making a grabbing motion towards the holographic screen until…

Pop!

A pop sound resounded from the action, with his right hand grabbing on a slightly long yet thick cape made out of rabbit fur. After that, he closed the holographic screen in front of him and looked at the cape he was holding, before muttering, "Identify."

Whoosh!

———————

[Rough Rabbit Hide]

Grade: Starter

———————

Defense +1

———————

"Woah," Jean muttered to himself, his confidence in commanding the system becoming higher and higher. He now had a hunch that the commands he used back then in the TIMMORPGs would probably be accepted by the World Net as well. Placing that thought in the back of his head, he could not help but look at the equipment's stats before lightly laughing.

"It is Starter grade equipment after all," Jean lightly said, before commanding the system to equip it.

Pop!

'[Rough Rabbit Hide] has been equipped.

With another pop sound, the cape he was holding disappeared from his hand in an instant, appearing on his back not long after, attached to the collar of the shirt he was wearing. He moved around quite a bit, seeing if the cape would hinder his movements. Although feeling that the cape was a bit heavy, ultimately, it did not affect his movements as all. And with that, Jean continued on his spree of pummeling rabbits to death.

…

At this moment in time, Jean was currently pummeling the 25th rabbit he was fighting against, with the rabbit having no way to retaliate as it was facing a barrage of punches. Anyways, from the time when he had obtained his first piece of equipment up to now, he had actually obtained another piece of equipment named [Warped Rabbit Kneecaps]. This piece of equipment wrapped around his forearms, giving him the ability to block attacks with his forearms if need be.

———————

[Warped Rabbit Kneecaps]

Grade: Starter

———————

Defense +1

———————

Whoosh!

Naturally, due to the amount of damage he dealt with every punch, as well as the speed he punched, the 25th rabbit he fought against died under his punches, giving him a decent amount of Bits, as well as 8 points of experience. Just as he was about to move onto the 26th rabbit, a chime sound resounded near his ears, making him wonder as to where it came from. He also looked at his father, who might've heard the sound he was hearing as well, but was just looking at him with a tilted head.

Ttiring!

Not long after the chime sound, a holographic screen appeared in front of his field of vision, to which he had no choice but to look at as a clue as to where the chime sound came from. After taking a look at the information written on the screen, he now found out why he heard a chime sound, muttering to himself, "Ah. I leveled up."

Whoosh!

'Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 2.'

'You have obtained 8 status points to allocate.'

'Your maximum HP has been increased to 105.'

'Your maximum MP has been increased to 52.'

He then closed the holographic screen in front of him before running towards where his father was, sitting beside the trunk of the tree his father was lying on. His father noticed this and asked his son, "You leveled up?"

"Yeah," Jean replied while nodding. "Just going to take a short rest before going out of the Azure Forest to allocate my stats."

"Alright," John replied back to his son's words. He then pondered for a bit before asking, "Want me to accompany you?"

"I'm fine on my own," Jean answered his father's question, waving his hand left and right to show his disapproval. "To be honest, I think I have a good grasp of the World Net's system already."

Hearing his son's words, John could not help but have another thought, reading between the lines of his son's words, asking, "Hmm…are you telling me to go ahead and do my own things while you grind here?"

"Well…" Jean nodded to his father's question, rather than become flustered that he was found out. "More or less, yes. I just didn't want to hurt your feelings—"

Before Jean could finish his reply, John let out a sigh of relief as a smile was plastered on his face, saying, "Ah, finally. I can finally leave this place. I was waiting for you to tell me that you can handle stuff on your own. I know how you feel, Jean. You want to discover things on your own, and I understand that."

"Eh?" Jean was startled for a bit, before letting out a short chuckle. "I guess I should've been more straightforward with my words, seeing that my father doesn't want to stay with his son for too long."

"Now that hurts." John chuckled as well, before standing up from where he was lying, dusting off his armor. He then turned around to look at his son and said, "Your mom told me that you shouldn't be too engrossed in the World Net, and I agree as well. Although the World Net is ultimately work, it's still better for you to finish all of your studies. You don't want your perfect attendance streak to be broken, now do you?"

"Haha." Jean stood up as well, letting out a chuckle as he replied, "Don't worry, dad. I know my limits. I'll only enter the World Net in the weekdays when all of my school work is finished. Other than that, it's fine if I stay in the World Net for a long time in the weekends?"

"You'd have to persuade your mother about that," John replied as he patted his son on the shoulder. "Since you're going to allocate your stats, and I'm gonna go and do my own thing, let's leave together."

Replying with a nod, Jean started running towards the barrier of the Azure Forest, with his father running not long after, making sure that they were beside each other. Due to Jean now having a rough grasp of the Azure Forest's terrain, it took less time for the two of them to leave the Azure Forest, the two of them sitting down on a decently large rock to rest for a bit.

At this point in time, Jean already his specific stat screen open, pondering as to where he was going to allocate all of his points, although being sure that he was going to put all of it in Agility anyway. Just as Jean was about to allocate it, John tapped on his shoulder, prompting Jean to look at his father and ask, "What's up, dad?"

"I'll be going to the Dragon Den right now," John said to his son, before adding, "It's a place meant for Level 90 Cleaners and above."

"What are you trying to say, dad?" Not being able to read between the lines, Jean asked.

"What I'm trying to say is that, we should add each other as friends, so if you have any questions, you can ask me any time," John replied to his son's question, before softly muttering some words.

Whoosh!

Another holographic screen appeared beside Jean's specific stat screen, the words 'Would you like to add Xx_SilverAxe47_xX as your friend?' written on it.

Without hesitation, he confirmed it, making his father the first friend on his friend list.

Seeing as his son accepted his friend request, John let out a grin before standing up and saying, "Well then, I'll be off."

"Take care, dad," Jean replied back, looking at the back of his father. Rather than return to the specific stat screen in front of him, he decided to look at his father for a while more. It was then that Jean realized…

His father was far stronger than he thought.

"Full power, release," John muttered, to which Jean could barely hear.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, a tyrannical and stifling aura radiated out of his father's body, making Jean slightly tremble as he felt that he was an insignificant ant in front of his father. Not long after, his father bent his knees before putting all of his force towards his feet, letting a pile of dust fly into the air as a large distance was crossed with that single burst.

"…" Jean was left speechless, trying to wrap his head around the amount of power his father suppressed. In the end, he let out a laugh before saying, "Ah. It's just like dad, showing off at the final moment."

He then finally looked at the specific stat screen in front of him before saying, "Of course, I'll be able to show that much power as well!"