“My first monster! Wow!” Dyne noticed the monster even when it was quite far from it. The Gobu Gobu was one of the first monsters that could be fought outside of Rim Elm. They were humanoid monsters that wore loincloths and had a shield on the one hand and a blue blade attached to the other arm's forearm. They looked like yellow-skinned goblins but had a much taller frame that could go as tall as an adult human.

“Looks like it can’t see me yet. Is this the power of the Golden compass?” Dyne realized that his senses were more sensitive in detecting enemies.

Dyne paused and dropped himself on the sand and tried to camouflage himself.

“That monster should be weak, right? I mean, it can easily be defeated by a level one, Vahn...” Dyne thought to himself.

“If a fourteen-year-old kid could kill it, I should be able to...” Dyne thought as he glanced at his fist.

It was then that he noticed it.

“Why are my arms smaller?” Dyne wondered.

Dyne immediately rolled silently towards where the water was. The crashing waves were strong, but the water was clean.

He looked at himself and was shocked.

“I’m younger!” Dyne finally realized it.

It was then that the words of Strafe echoed in his mind.

“To send you into this game, I had to destroy your body and recreate it in this game. And to help you with your future cultivation, I made you younger than you were. You are currently ten years old. Just a year younger than Vahn. But don’t worry. I retained most of the strength you have. Apart from adjusting yourself from the size difference, you should be able to fight just as you did in your previous life.”

“You freakin’ killed me?!” Dyne cursed.

“Oh well... I guess it’s better this way. Why is age needed for cultivation?” Dyne pondered.

“Welp... Time to test it out.” Dyne readied and slowly moved from his position towards the Gobu Gobu that was wandering alone.

He quickly made a sprint. The Golden Compass allowed them to sense the enemies ahead from where they were and provide a strange mirage-like effect that cloaked his appearance. However, the closer the wearer was to the enemy, the weaker the outcome is. When Dyne held the Golden Compass with the intent to use it, he soon realized that his appearance would remain cloaked at around twenty meters from the enemy. Once he moves any closer, his figure would be visible and would alert the enemy.

This was how the game item [Golden Compass] would allow its wearers to increase the likeliness of performing a surprise attack, which granted the players the capability of performing the first attack in combat.

Dyne rushed faster and faster and moved around the Gobu Gobu. He made sure to stick right behind the Gobu Gobu before running forward to attack.

“My strength should equate to a level three, Vahn!” Dyne whispered confidently to himself before he made a substantial leap towards the Gobu Gobu.

Dyne flew overhead the Gobu Gobu. As Strafe promised, Dyne still wielded the same strength he had from before.

He used one of the attacks he devised in the real world. It was a surprise attack made to assassinate his enemies by breaking their necks. Dyne grabbed the head of the Gobu Gobu as he flew above and used his entire body weight and strength to spin around.

And like a bottlecap being spun off, the neck of the Gobu Gobu twisted.

A cracking sound was heard, but suddenly, the Gobu Gobu cried and struggled.

Dyne fell on the sand and cursed.

“Damn... He’s got about twice the muscles compared to a full-grown man!” Dyne cursed.

The Gobu Gobu looked as if it was in pain, gazed angrily at Dyne, and charged off.

It swung its right arm, and Dyne parried by ducking and immediately swept the feet of the Gobu Gobu.

The sweeping kick wasn’t strong enough to move through the second leg, but it still caused the Gobu Gobu to lose balance.

Dyne immediately took advantage of the Gobu Gobu's stagger, and he sprung up and grabbed the sword arm of the Gobu Gobu and quickly stabbed it towards the other arm that held the small shield.

The Gobu Gobu shrieked in pain as it stumbled.

Dyne’s body continued to move swiftly as he kicked the fallen Gobu Gobu on the face.

The Gobu Gobu quickly rolled away in pain and promptly retrieved the sword that stabbed on its other arm and tried to stand up.

But Dyne was ready. He had already circled behind the Gobu Gobu and jumped once more. Since the Gobu Gobu was still trying to stand up, Dyne jumped from its back again, and this time, he used his legs to create a pincer lock around the head of the Gobu Gobu before twisting again using his full strength.

CRACK!

Another cracking sound was heard, only this time, Dyne was confident that he broke the neck of the Gobu Gobu.

The monster fell, and Dyne crashed on the sand as well.

The battle happened quickly. If it weren’t for Dyne’s tremendous experience in killing people, his failure to immediately execute the Gobu Gobu on the first attack would have been dangerous for most people.

Dyne was gasping for breath as he laid on the sand.

He was secretly cursing. The Gobu Gobu was far stronger than he imagined!

He slowly released his lock and noticed strange golden energy coming out of the enemy, and various power was being drawn towards Dyne.

For some strange reason, the energy looked like the same golden coins he saw earlier.

“If you hear this message, it means you have made your first kill.” Strafe’s words resounded once more.

“Concentrate on the monster before you. I have imparted the knowledge of how to gather its energy.”

Dyne pondered and concentrated upon hearing Strafe’s command.

Suddenly, the energy of the Gobu Gobu was rushing towards him.

“The Path of Martial cultivation is harsh and difficult. It requires physical training, strengthening the mind and the spirit. The easiest is physical. In my world, the energy of the world may be absorbed to strengthen the body. It may be done anywhere, although there are specific regions that may increase the ability to gather the world's energy to feed the body.”

The energy that Dyne received from the Gobu Gobu somehow made him feel strengthened.

"Another way to grow stronger in my world is to battle monsters and take their cores to absorb the energy. In this world, I followed the experienced-based system. All monsters of this world are born with the innate ability to gather a portion of energy from the enemies that they manage to kill. Humans, however, will need to rely on other means.”

The energy gathering stopped, but Dyne noticed that there remained the same golden liquid, which almost had the same shade as the coins he managed to take out earlier.

"However, there are two types of energy that exists. The energies that the body has already converted to empower the body, mind, and soul can be absorbed. And the other is their life energy. For humans, it would be their blood. For monsters and Seru, it would be that golden liquid before you. That is also the currency in this world.”

Dyne was stunned.

“That’s money? Oh right... In Legaia, you do get gold from enemies.”

“If you have found the Merchant who held on to the three items you requested, then you should have found the card. I don’t know how much money he would have, but I have determined that his fate would cause him to spend most of his gold on something else right before he travels and dies to where he is now. I don’t want you to be super-rich now...” 

Dyne couldn’t help but curse.

“For crying out loud. What’s a little bit more money? What a cheapskate.” Dyne grumbled.

“Use the card to draw in life energy. It's designed to have the same form and function as with my world.”

Dyne held the card and moved closer towards the golden liquid.

The gold was immediately absorbed. 

“As you can see, it may take a while for the card to absorb life energy. You should make sure to hide any monsters you kill unless other monsters would take notice.” The voice narrated.

“What?” Dyne was confused. The life energy had been drained almost immediately.

Dyne remained for a minute holding the card next to the body, but no more golden blood appeared.

“Was this monster anemic or something? Where's the rest of the blood?” Dyne frowned.

Dyne checked on the card and found that the number on the card has increased by 15. It was now 10,246.

“Hmmm... That should be about right. Gobu Gobu should give about 15 gold each. Did I already acquire all the gold? Oh, well...” Dyne shook his head and was about to run when it glanced at the protruding blade and the shield that the Gobu Gobu held on to.

Dyne removed the shield, but as he was about to take away the blade, he noticed that the blade was connected to his arm as if it was a bone protruding out.

“Ugh. It looks like I’ll make do with this shield then.” Dyne frowned and started to run on the side of the sea.

“Would you like to hear about my world's cultivation and how this world can affect your strength in the real world?” A voice prompt was heard.

Dyne almost stumbled as he heard that. He had long deduced that Strafe reserved many messages for him now that Strafe has fallen into slumber.

“If yes, please say, ‘Continue.’”

“For a dying guy, you sure know how to have some fun. Continue.” Dyne replied mentally.