As Stella advanced through the forest, she always kept her attention concentrated on the environment around her, only sparring a glance at the mini-map in the top right corner of her interface from time to time in case red dots signaling enemies were to appear.

The forest vegetation surrounding her was abundant with overgrown trees and bushes, making it hard for her to see further than a few meters in front of her. The thick foliage of some of the trees was not even letting the sunlight through, leaving some places to be basked in obscurity.

With no clear path, she had to thread on an uneven, moss-covered ground littered with rocks and branches, forcing her to jump and crouch to get past some of the more arduous obstacles. But she didn't complain, thinking of this as another advanced tutorial to help her adapt to her body movements in a more in-depth way.

It only took her a few short minutes of searching before a monster finally entered her radar's range. The moment the red marker appeared on her mini-map, she immediately changed direction to go towards it. But as the detection radius extended up to fifty meters around her, she was still a distance away and couldn't yet get a sighting on her target.

When she felt that she was getting close enough, she slowed down her pace and tried to reduce the clinking of her gear as much as possible. While searching for a place from where she could spy on the monster, she looked once more at her mini-map to confirm her target's location and make sure that it was by itself.

Even though it was the very first beginner zone and the monsters in it shouldn't be too strong, she was still wary and planned to test herself against a single opponent for starters. After all, it would take a special kind of idiot to rush into a fight with a group of monsters whom you don't know anything about, while still unused to both your own skills and the combat system in general.

Once she found a nearby big tree to hide behind, she crouched down and carefully leaned forward while taking support on the trunk with her hand to take a peek at her target a few meters away.

In the same way it did for the NPCs back in the clearing, she couldn't see the name above its head because it was concealed with question marks, though this time they were red in color to indicate that it was hostile. The game probably wanting the player to either kill it or know information related to it before revealing its name.

The monster's appearance looked like a humanized mushroom the size of a child, its height going up to her waist. Arms and legs with long, sharp nails were sticking out of what could be considered its body, while its head had a huge opened maw letting a green liquid flow out and a half dozen eyes all over its cap.

Seeing it, she started to think of the possible ways it could attack her.

Obviously, the first threat was its maw full of fangs. Even without considering the green liquid coming out of it which clearly wasn't anything good, it could still use it to bite her. Though for the monster to initiate the said attack, it would need her to be close enough to do so, even if it were to lunge at her. Basically, it had no range.

The second threat would be its claws, each one being a dozen centimeters long and looking sharp like daggers. Adding on to that its arm's length, it probably had a reach of around eighty centimeters or so, making them its main offensive option. Though aside from their sharpness they didn't seem to represent any other threat, unlike its maw. But there's no way for her to find out if it does just by observing unless she waits for it to fight something or someone else. Which she doesn't have the time for.

The third threat mentioned previously was the green liquid coming out of its maw, and in a broader way, its nature as a whole. It being a mushroom-type monster meant that it could potentially inflict harmful effects such as poison, paralysis, and other kinds of 'debuffs'. Though the liquid coming from its mouth might be acid and not poison, she still had to keep it in mind. Not like acid was bad enough in itself.

The fourth and last possible threat she could think of, though she couldn't make any assumption about it yet, would be that it could make use of magic in one way or another, most probably magic in relation to controlling nature.

Going through everything she thought of one last time in her head, she stood up and came out from behind her hiding place.

As she approached the monster with her sword in hand, she ended up entering its line of sight and alerting it of her presence. Staring at it and any slightest movement in case it had the means to attack her from afar or suddenly rush towards her, she did not miss the moment hunger filled its eyes, probably thinking of her as its prey and not the other way around.

She could have used her skills from her hiding spot, successfully taking the initiative by rushing in, probably killing it with the least amount of risk and in the shortest time in the process, but she wanted to make use of this fight to learn the basics and the way combat works.

After salivating over its soon-to-be meal, the monster didn't waste time and directly rushed at her.

"Well, aren't you underestimating me a bit too much?"

Releasing the air from her lungs, she readied her weapon and waited for the monster to step into her attack range. It was the first time she had to fight someone or something, but just by reminding herself that it was a game she was able to keep her calm and composure.

When it was just a few meters away from her, the monster let out a deformed scream as it swung its right arm in an over-the-top motion towards her.

Seeing the clumsy attack directed at her, she quickly calculated its reach and sidestepped to the left, effectively avoiding the claws coming for her face by inches. Taking advantage of the opening provided by the monster's wide swing, she slashed her sword onto its flank before instantly jumping away to create some distance between them as the monster swung its arm back in an attempt to hit her.

This short exchange didn't tire her, but she still took a moment to regulate her breathing and calm the influx of adrenaline she just received. Glancing at the monster's health bar that appeared above its head after she successfully hit it, she realized that her shallow slash only took off around five percent of its health. In the heat of the moment, she was still nervous and held herself back, not striking it as hard as she could have.

Nonetheless, these few seconds of fighting gave her more confidence in herself. The monster's slow movements were telegraphed and easily readable, making it easy for her to avoid. Though her attack this time was weak, it was still able to pierce through its defense and she will be able to inflict a greater amount of damage next time. Hearing it shriek angrily before charging towards her once more, she took the initiative to rush and meet it head-on.

After having been hit by her last time, the monster's wariness towards her had increased, but seeing her rush forward without fear still surprised it. Its anger flared at both having been hit previously and being looked down upon by something it had labeled as food, making it lung at her with its maw wide open.

Slightly startled by its pattern of attack, her surprise only lasts for a moment as she once again calculated when and where it would fall before easily avoiding it with the least amount of movement. As it missed its target the monster crashed to the ground, giving her the perfect opportunity to stab her sword in the back of its head, even using her second hand to push the handle, making the sword sink in a bit further in.

The attack this time successfully inflicted a huge amount of damage, more than it should have even with a good hit. Seeing half of its remaining health disappear in one go, she wondered why it did so. Thinking more about it, she was sure that it wasn't thanks to a critical hit, neither a lucky one nor the guaranteed one given by her passive as it hadn't been four non-skill hits yet. The only other possibilities she could think of was either the fact that she had hit it from behind, or that she hit its head which could be a weak point. Or both.

Not letting her think some more, the monster let out a powerful roar that shook her off before standing up abruptly. Quickly getting away from it, she checked herself but didn't feel any different nor did she see any status effect indicator anywhere on her interface, making her think that the shout just now was either a self-buff or …

Before she could finish her thought process, two more red dots appeared on the mini-map in the periphery of her vision. Though they were still far away, she couldn't delay this fight much longer and should kill this first monster before the other two arrived, otherwise it would become a three against one situation.

"I'm sorry, but it seems others are waiting to get a chance to dance with me, so I'll have to cut it short."

Making use of the moment the monster just stood up, she swiftly charged at it, ducking under the riposte it made reflexively then stabbed her sword straight into its open maw, successfully shaving off the last remaining health points.

The monster's corpse didn't magically disappear nor did it transform into polygons. Looking at the two monsters coming near her and seeing that she had some time left before they arrive, she knelt before the corpse and put her hand on it.

As she did, a virtual window appeared on her interface listing the items she could collect from the dead monster. Giving them a quick look and not seeing anything apart from some random materials, she decided to just transfer everything into her inventory before the other two monsters could get to her.

Getting up, she turned around to face the two new arrivals with a calm gaze. Both monsters were of the same type as the previous one and she couldn't see any visible difference that would imply them being able to do anything different. Though the first one might not have had the time to use all of the cards in its deck.

The instant they saw her, they both directly started to rush towards her in a frenzy, racing each other to be the first one. Seeing them approach, she decided to finally test her skills and put them to good use.

Sheathing her sword in its scabbard, she kept a hand on its hilt while the other held the scabbard still. As she assumed the correct position to trigger the skill, a red line indicating the direction the skill will go in and the area of effect appeared in her vision before she whispered the skill's name.

"Distant Blade"

The second the words left her mouth, she unsheathed her blade and swung it towards the monster lagging a bit behind the one in front, releasing a sword beam that rushed directly in a straight line headed for it. Not waiting to see if her skill met its mark, she immediately sheathed her sword back before activating her second skill while targeting the other monster this time.

"Scabbard Strike"

Feeling the weight of her body disappear, she only took a single step before instantly appearing in front of the monster and hit it with her scabbard in one fluid motion. As the skill description said, the monster was left stunned for a second and she didn't plan on letting this opportunity slip by, using her third skill at once.

"Tri-Slash"

The next instant a red line appeared in her vision telling her the direction in which to strike to activate the skill. The moment she swung her blade as best and as fast as she could while following the line as precisely as possible, the second and the third red lines for the following slashes appeared one after the other.

But seeing that the monster started to wake up from its stunned state and will avoid her third slash, she deviated her blade at the last moment towards the second monster that had finally caught up to them.

Putting some distance between them, she took a look at both of their health bars and was satisfied to see that they both only had around thirty percent left. Also, probably because she already killed one of them before, their names were finally displayed as 'Fungal Lurker' above their heads along with their respective levels of three.

Besides the second monster's health bar, she could see the 'Armor Break' debuff reducing its defense by thirty percent start to flash as it only lasts three seconds. Wanting to make use of it before it fades, she decided to close in once more.

She had to wait for all of her skills' cooldowns to come back before she could use them again, so she had no other choice but to use improvised attacks as she did in her first fight.

Avoiding the first monster's claws by crouching under, she let it continue with its momentum as she ignored it and quickly slashed at her second opponent with a high blow. The monster reflexively blocked it with both of its arms to protect its head but still lost a good chunk of its remaining health, leaving it with barely any, thanks to her passive 'Sword Master' guaranteeing her 4^th non-skill attack to be a critical hit.

Probably having triggered the requirement by chirping its health below fifteen percent, the monster let out a powerful howl as its body started to get enveloped in a light green aura. As it visibly turned phosphorescent by the second, it lunged at her in an attempt to catch her and sink its fangs in, but before it could make contact she spun around and finished it off with a horizontal slash.

Not losing her focus she turned her attention back towards the last monster but noticed from the corner of her eyes that the monster's dead body was starting to bloat. She instantly rolled away from it as it exploded in a toxic cloud, getting back up on her feet as fast as she could before then jumping back to dodge the blow coming for her.

Calming down, she quickly checked her interface to make sure that she wasn't poisoned by the monster's self-destruct skill just now, before glancing at her mini-map in case any other monster alerted by the fighting were to approach their way.

Reassured that none of the two happened, she looked back at the low-health monster in front of her and couldn't help but smirk as she thought of trying some of the things she had wanted to.

"Come on, I'll be nice and let you hit me once."

It was unknown if the monster understood her words or was angered by the deaths of its brethren, but it came charging at her once more with a distorted shout. Once in range, it lifted its arm up high before letting it fall down on the weak girl's arm she had put in front of herself in an attempt to block its attack.

Happy to have finally been able to hit her once, it didn't see the dangerous look in her eyes as she used her 'Tri-Slash' skill once more, ending its life.

The sensation of being hit didn't hurt as much as in the real world, but it was still present so you can realize that you were hit, otherwise it would be possible to not react fast enough after being attacked by a sneaky archer or assassin.

She had to experience this slight pain to rid herself of the fear of being hit in the future as soon as possible. Why wait for something that will inevitably come one day or another? Waiting for it to happen naturally could have been more detrimental to her in the long run.

Looking at the ten percent missing from her health bar, she started to observe the second thing she wanted to test, health regeneration. Though she said that, nothing happened. Not even a single health point was given back after waiting a minute.

Thinking it might be because she was considered in-combat by having her weapon out she sheathed her sword, but nothing happened still. So she tried the last thing she could think of and sat down on a dry stump. Only then did her health start to replenish itself slowly.

Waiting for her health bar to be full again, she opened her 'Status' screen to check on the 'Ding' sound she heard in her head after killing the last monster.

Like she had read in a guide before starting the game, each class had a main and secondary stat, each increasing various parameters and represented by how many points you started with.

The Guardian starts with 20 CON and 15 STR.

The Sword Master starts with 20 STR and 15 CON.

The Assassin starts with 20 AGI and 15 STR.

The Ranger starts with 20 STR and 15 AGI.

The Elementalist starts with 20 INT and 15 WIS

While the Cleric starts with 20 WIS and 15 INT.

All their other stats starting at a base of 10.

Seeing the points she had to allocate, she briefly looked at each stat description to make sure the information she read about was true, before putting everything into her strength stat.

Constitution increases one's own health points, making it a must-have stat for Guardians that depends on their big health pool and defense to tank for their team. But it's also useful for Sword Masters as they have to be in constant close proximity with their targets and are more prone to take hits than the other classes.

Strength increases the amount of physical damage one can deal, making it the most sought-after stat for any physical DPS class such as the Sword Masters, the Assassins, and the Rangers. Some classes having more of a need than others, but no matter what, it still isn't a stat you should sleep on if you use physical weapons as you can't go wrong by investing your points in it.

Agility increases one's chances of dealing critical hits but also improves one's movement and attack speed, making it a very good primary or secondary stat for any physical DPS classes mentioned before. While not as straightforward as the strength stat, the fact that agility gives more critical chances and attack speed indirectly increase the amount of damage one can deal over time.

Intelligence is the counterpart of strength for magical classes as it increases the amount of magical damage one can deal. Making it the most important stat for the Elementalists and less so for the Clerics. Some other classes might want to invest some points in it too if they have skills dealing magical damages instead of physical ones.

Lastly, Wisdom increases both the amount one can heal but also the speed at which one can regenerate mana, effectively making it the most important stat for Clerics and a very important secondary stat for Elementalists as their mana regeneration speed can be the factor making the difference in a situation of life or death.

While constitution was supposed to be her secondary stat, she wasn't planning on upgrading it yet, preferring strength over it and maybe even agility as she planned for her character build to be more targeted towards being a DPS rather than the off-tank route.

Though she might need to invest some points in at a later time, for now, she hopes the combination of the defense of her gear, the constitution bonus it gives, and her ability to avoid being hit, will be enough to survive.

Closing her status window, she took one more look at her mini-map as red dots appeared before going back to hunting more prey.