What if I kill you first?

A fire broke out in the goblin's nest. The smell of wood and burning flesh wafted through the air.

Ash felt very guilty. But to think about his mother, whom he lived alone with, he strengthened his heart and waited until the fire was extinguished.

After an hour the fire burned fiercely, and it started raining.

Ash continued to wait in the tree until the rain stopped. The feeling of guilt still haunted him.

He only dared to go down after the rain stopped and immediately stepped towards where the gemstones were.

The colorful gemstones were piled up on the ground around the nest's center.

Ash picked up all the gemstones at once and a notification sound rang.

Ting.

[You have found various gemstones.]

[Will you store it in Inventory?]

[Y/N]

With a feeling of relief, Ash pressed Y.

[Inventory:

⇒ Blue Gems: 8

⇒ Red Gems: 6

⇒ Green Gems: 4

⇒ White Gems: 2

Total Gemstones obtained: 20]

'Thirty more gems…' Ash sighed.

He was lucky to get nineteen at once, but he would have to search one by one for the other thirty.

He put all the gemstones into his bag.

Krik! Kriieekkkk!

Suddenly he heard the voices of goblins behind him.

Ash immediately looked up and saw four goblins angrily running towards him.

'Aish, I forgot there was still some left.' Ash cursed himself for forgetting it.

Those goblins were the goblins who were on patrol before Ash burned down their nest.

Ash stood facing the goblins who were running towards him and drew his sword.

He immediately swung his sword towards the neck of the first goblin and, without stopping, immediately stabbed the second goblin, swung his sword vertically at the third goblin, and finally turned his body while swinging his sword towards the fourth goblin.

He then posed like a samurai who had just finished off his opponents.

The four goblins then fell to the ground and died.

'Shit! This is awesome! I really can move like that.' Ash thought happily.

He searched through each charred ruin with glee, looking for items.

He was right, there were some gemstones and some other items like a compass that would be useful for him.

This means the total number of gemstones he has collected is 22.

With a slight whistle, he left the charred goblin lair.

***

Ash walked holding his compass open. He tried to find the location where the smoke that a few days ago he saw.

'Yesterday the smoke was around the sun just rising, so it's probably in the east,' he thought.

Suddenly he remembered something, then climbed up the tree.

It has become a habit for him to climb to the top of a tree if he wants to rest or sleep. According to him, trees are the safest place, rather than the ground.

After arriving at a branch he felt comfortable with, he tried to call the most important part of the game from the sytem.

"Game Map," he muttered slowly.

Ting.

There was a notification sound, and in front of him stretched out a screen containing a map.

On the map, there was a dot showing where he was, indicated by a green dot.

'How could I forget something as important as this?' he said as he traced the map with his eyes.

He found a place that said it was a goblin nest. And the green dot that showed himself was not far from the goblin's nest.

Then he saw the words, 'Show Others', and pressed it. Dozens of red dots appeared on the screen.

'What does the red dot mean,' he asked himself.

He tried clicking on one of the red dots.

Ting.

[Player Number: #99284.]

[Profession: Finder.]

'Player? Does that mean they're humans?' he thought anxiously.

He looked for the red dot closest to him and clicked on it.

Ting.

[Player Number: #43858.]

[Profession: Hunter.]

'Ah, his profession is the same as mine. I'll just try going towards him.' he thought again.

He walked enthusiastically towards the nearest red dot.

The red dot happened to be not far from him, about a hundred meters from where he was.

When he arrived at the location where the red dot was, he did not see any humans there.

The location where the red dot was located turned out to be a small waterfall in a river, with large rocks. 

Ash looked for player number #43858 but still couldn't find anyone.

He tried to stand where the red dot was until his green dot merged into one with the red dot, but he still couldn't find anyone.

The place where he was standing was a large rock right on the river bank.

He tried calling, "Hello, is anyone there?"

Silence, no answer.

He tried calling again, "Hey, hello, is anyone there?"

Silence.

But not long after, he heard a quiet answer from a male voice, "Yeah. I'm here."

The sound came from under the rock. Ash tried to look under the rock, and it turned out there was a hole underneath it.

And a middle-aged man with a leg that looked badly injured.

The man looked at Ash with a wary gaze.

"If you want to kill me, go ahead, I can't move anymore," he said.

Ash was surprised to hear the man's words.

"Why would I kill you?" he asked.

The man looked at Ash again with a mocking gaze, "All the players in this game kill each other to get items."

Ash gasped.

"I didn't intend to kill anyone," he answered honestly.

"Okay," said the man. "Then you just go save yourself. I can't walk anymore."

Ash instead climbed down the rock and approached the man.

"I'm not that kind of person. Let me see your wound," he said firmly.

"Ha ha ha. That's what everyone says when they first come to this game. I will save you, or I will not kill you," the man laughed.

Ash looked at him feeling slightly annoyed. "We'll see," he said.

Ash tore the man's pants with the knife he was carrying. The man was seriously injured.

He took some first aid kit equipment from his backpack and began to pour antiseptic liquid on the man's wound.

The man groaned in pain.

Ash began to bandage the wound carefully.

The man suddenly said, "What if I were the one who tried to kill you?"