Too Easy

While taunting the gods and goddesses, Grant made his way towards the exit of the town, preparing to head into the adjacent forest.

As he neared the exit of the town, Grant was surprised to see a group of two boys and two girls, ranging from, if he had to guess, 15-18 years old.

When they group noticed Grant heading towards the exit, the older of the two boys rushed over and stopped Grant.

"Excuse me sir, are you heading into the forest?"

Grant simply shook his head yes in confirmation and continued to walk towards the exit.

But the boy continued, "You look pretty damn strong. At least that's the feeling I get when I look at you.. hah.. Do you think, that by chance, you would be interested in joining us? To be honest with you.. we're... well we're a bit afraid of what we might encounter in there..."

Grant didn't even miss a beat before answering.

"No can do kid. I'm planning on going deep into the forest. I don't have time to help you four out."

The kid looked a bit downcast at the rejection but didn't take it to heart.

They didn't know each other and Grant had no obligation to help them out, so he had no right to be offended or anything.

Grant left the kids with some 'words of wisdom' before he continued onward toward the gate.

"Look, whether or not you have the courage to fight, this is our life now.

You need to find your place in this new world, and quickly. I know firsthand what can happen if your unprepared for the future.

So muster up your courage, and fight for what you want.

But always know your limits.

You only have one life.

Good luck."

The advice wasn't anything exceptional, but Grant knew that most of humanity would be in a disillusioned state for quite awhile as they came to grips with their new reality.

Grant just hoped his words would help the kids figure it out faster.

Whether they lived or died?

Didn't matter to him.

But if they somehow found the courage to move forward, maybe some day they could be useful to him or humanity at large.

As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't fight all the upcoming battles alone.

As Grant was making his way through the gate and into the forest, the four of them had gathered together again.

After a few short exchanges and some motivational words, the four of them decided to follow Grant into the forest.

Grant smiled when he felt the presence of the four following behind him.

That conviction, even in the face of overwhelming fear, was what would be needed to survive in this world.

The sooner they learned that, the better.

Although Grant knew that they probably thought they could follow behind him and leech off of his fighting, he was still impressed by the kids.

They were in for a surprise though if they thought they could keep up with him.

When he was sufficiently away from the entrance to the town, he planted his foot as hard as he could into the ground before bounding forward at a full sprint, rapidly disappearing into the forest.

Seeing the speed that he disappeared at, the kids couldn't help but stare dumbfounded.

The boy who had been the one to talk to Grant suddenly became excited, "I TOLD YOU! I knew my instincts were right! Something about that guy just screams danger!"

One of the girls did her best to put on a shy blushing face before throwing out a truly ridiculous idea.

"Maybe me or Ally could try and woo him to gain his help? We're both young and beautiful after all!"

The two boys and even Ally laughed at her idea.

"HAHA! Who told you that you were beautiful Rachel? Feminism at it's finest... You're a 6 on a good day..."

"HEY JACK! How dare you say that about a young maiden?! And why are you laughing Ally?! You don't agree with him do you?!"

Instead of answering the obvious trap question, Ally just turned here head and looked in the direction Grant had disappeared.

"Yeah Yeah.. my fair young maiden. You can believe whatever you want. But lets get serious, we are outside the walls now. You heard what that bear of a man said, we need to fight and grow our strength!"

Rachel pulled the small dagger from her hand and waved it around in front of her while staring at it.

"I guess you're right... this is our life now... thank god we've played that VRMMO that came out.. at least I don't feel like we're completely without experience..."

The other three nodded in affirmation.

The fourth and only boy who hadn't spoke finally opened his mouth to speak, "We have one life and one life only. So lets take this nice and slow. We don't even know what we might encounter out here. Agreed?"

"""Agreed"""

"Good. Then lets go!"

While the four were busy psyching themselves up just to face the idea of a fight, Grant was already deep into the forest.

He was now walking leisurely through the dense trees and vegetation reading the notifications that had appeared.

[You have killed a Level 1 Savage Wolf

Gained 2% experience.]

[You have killed a Level 1Savage Wolf

Gained 2% experience.]

[You have killed a Level 0 Innocent Bunny Rabbit

Gained .1% experience.]

[You have killed killed...]

....

..

.

The notifications for his kills went on and on for 15 total notifications.

The 16th and final notification was the only one Grant was truly interested in.

[Congratulations, you have completed the task Begin The Hunt.

Your rewards will be tallied when you return to Larry, the mayor of The Town of the Beginning.

To increase the rewards, slay more powerful monsters.]

Simply running in a straight line and swinging his mace with his full strength, Grant had managed to kill 15 different animals and monsters.

He wasn't even paying attention to what he was hitting as he ran, he would just see a shadowy outline of something and immediately aims for its head.

Dispatching each one of his targets in a single swing of his mace.

"This is too easy... and the rate of experience gain is absolutely pathetic... how far into the forest do I need to go for a real fight and some real experience?"

And almost as if the system heard his complaints, Grant found himself standing in a small clearing.

On the other side of the clearing?

What appeared to be a Pride of Lions.

Grant smiled, it appeared as if he might finally have a fight last more than a single swing of his mace.

At the same time as Grant noticed the Pride, they too, noticed him.

The pride looked to consist of almost 20 lions and they quickly dispersed in different directions.

Not running away, just very clearly planning to attack him from multiple directions.

Grant smiled at their actions and decided to throw a little taunt at them, "C'mon you lot. You're clearly misplaced. You should be running free on the plains not holed up in a forest!'

Despite it being extremely unlikely that they understood a word that he said, the taunt appeared to work.

The lions started to grown and roar at him.

They seemed to realize that the element of surprise with which they normally hunted wouldn't work here, so they went for intimidation.

Grant just scoffed at their attempt, threw a mocking roar back at them, and charged straight into the midst of the spread out group.

The lion's didn't wait even a moment before they began to pounce towards Grant from all angles.

Grant didn't so much as flinch at being surrounded, he had a stoic expression plastered on his face as he stretched his senses to the limit.

As the fist of the Pride reached him, Grant lowered his mace and prepared to strike.