Despite telling that swordsman guy that I would learn the game myself, I still could hear his steps following me from behind. The grass creates a crisp sound as he steps on them... It was really scary, how realistic this game is,

According to the quest, the Moonlight Orchids that could be found inside the forest were what she needed inorder to brew some medicine. I guess she specializes in apothecary.

"How long would you follow me?" I asked as I skipped in big roots laid in my front..

"I told you we could form a team to beat this quest and level up together in this game,” he said. “I am pretty reliable, I could teach you everything."

The offer was really generous, if I was a normal player I could just go with it and I would even think that this was a great opportunity. But then I am not a normal player. And there's something about this Kliron that made me feel inferior, as someone who’s also egotistical like him I don't like it.

So I turned down the offer and continued walking and jumping.

"I've never seen someone hold a spear like that, I've been playing the game for quite a long time," he said. "Aren't you trolling when you say that you learned it from a Drama Club?"

I crouched on the ground as I saw a centipede looking insect with a blue glinting body that glowed as it crawled in the body of a tree. This is not normal.

"It is, I could also do what I did in real life," I said.

"Why did you decide to join the game? Was it because the server is new?"

I stopped, "this server is new? then why does it look so dead?”

I wonder if this game is dying, but I doubt that. My brother's funeral had so many people and even got covered by the media.

When I turned to Kliron, I found him staring at me with this bored eyes as if saying, “dude, I know you’re a noob but you can’t be serious right?”

I am so annoyed and I feel so harassed.

I shook my head, "I just joined here, I didn't know the server is new."

"This server is just an 8 hour old server, this one is the sixth server that the game created."

I stopped, from here I could already see the Crystal Lion. True to its name it looked like a lion made of silver crystals with sharp edges. It walked around a bunch of flowers made with white petals that look almost silvery.

"Is that the Moonlight Orchids?" I asked.

Kliron leaned towards the tree where I was hiding and nodded to me, "yes it is." He seems like he was about to say something when I suddenly Dash with my spear and head straight for the Crystal Lion.

I heard him cursing as he ran after me.

I stopped a few meters away from the Crystal Lion, it was slow to react, before it could even roar. I jumped and soared, the tip of my spear directly aimed at its glassy eye.

Again in that moment, I immediately felt the feeling that I felt when I chose to pick the rock and throw it at Shameless’.

“Why can’t you do something right?” Kliron shouted from above the tree. Before I could even ask why he was there. the Crystal Lion roared and struck with its claws. I jumped backwards. 

I heard a screeching sound as if a chalk was rubbing harshly against the board, it had come from the Lion who was slowly growing in size. The Crystal Lion turned red,the hair in its neck stood.

A female voice rang in my ear.

[ SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: Mysterious Boss Ruby Lion has been summoned in Kemrin. ]

It jumped and struck with its claw before snapping its mouth in my face. I jumped backwards, that bite had missed only by a strand of hair.

“Climb!”

I did as Kliron told and jumped from branches to branches. The angered Ruby Lion roared and clawed behind me. As I jumped on the last branch, the Crystal Lion leapt and had almost caught on my heels. I would lie if I told you that I wasn’t scared. What I was feeling was beyond my comprehension, as I leaned on the trunk of the tree with my breath heaving. I noticed a note on my side.

[ You're running low of Energy. Please used energy potions or rest for a bit. ]

I looked up and that’s when I noticed on the right corner of my the three long bars of different colors. One was red, blue and the one who had been passed half was the yellow one.

“Are you even listening? You almost ran out of energy?” he said. 

“I know.”

He pointed his fingers in his head, "the yellow one under the blue, that's called Energy Bar, it depletes every time you do actions like basic attack, dashing and jumping. The Blue is called Mana for skills and the Red one is the extent of your Health which defines how long you still have before you drop dead!'

I sighed and stared at the Ruby Lion that was trying to reach us from below.

"And you still believe that you didn't need help?"

I looked at him and caught him smiling at me mischievously, as if he had won. I sighed, there's no shame in admitting defeat. Maybe he could really help me, it's not as if I would be playing that much, I might throw this game away when I log out and never come back.

"How could we defeat that, it almost looks like the angered person back in the village."

"Angered person?"

I nodded, "the gunner that had been hit by a rock."

"..."

"Why are you like that!" I was annoyed when he just stared at me.

"You don't call these mobs a person. They're called mobs."

I sighed, "yeah mobs. How do we defeat this mob then?"

He looked below and observed the lion.

"It has become a Mysterious Boss and we have no stun skills," he said to me. "Meaning we can't Control it, I would recommend waiting for the game to reset..."

I turned to him. "Are you fucking serious?"

"That's what I would say if I'm a noob like you... can you do what you did earlier on the gunner in the village?"

“Can’t you be more annoying?”

I looked down, after it had changed color from white to red. The Ruby Lion had also gained an increase in its size, its claws were sharper!

"I guess I can."

"We start by letting you put it in Control by doing continuous basic attacks. But it would be different this time, you have to use your eyes. Identify which claws would strike and hit it with your spear so we could cancel its attack.”

“It could hit me continuously. I wouldn’t have time to identify what claw would attack, aside from it, its mouth could also bite me.”

He sighed, “I’ve been in this tree longer and had witnessed how you ran shitless…”

“What the fuck!”

“I also noticed that these claw attacks are skill, the Lion’s crystal claws would glow much brighter than the rest of his body when he was about to use it. That’s when you hit it. It probably has a cooldown of about 3 seconds. The head was a different skill. It has to be able to cast three Claws before it could be activated. meaning in every three Claw Attacks it could use its Bite.”

I can’t help but admire that analysis that he had said was beyond what any normal person would do. Who would go as much as observing what is the cooldown of a skill? And yes, I know what a cooldown is.

He looked down, his silver brows knitted. My character has golden hair but Kliron chose a silvery white color for the character's hair.

“You look troubled…” I observed.

“I was thinking, if the condition to activate Bite was three Claw Attacks would it still activate even if we canceled all three Claw Attacks?”

Kliron shook his head, “just be attentive and observed if the sharp bristles of hair on its neck glowed brightly… if that happoen hit the head with your spear.”

I nodded and then he pointed at the space between two trees, “after you successfully put it in Control. I would push it there. But you have to remember which claws it had used, surely after it got up it would immediately attack. That’s when you put it in Control again. After we put it in its place, I'll cut the tree and after that we could hit it without worrying that it would escape and attack us."

I nodded as I immediately grasped Kliron’s plan. I was about to jump when he suddenly grabbed my shoulder.

"Not that way kid, you'll be dead in a second. Go there first," he pointed to another tree.

“I’m not a kid!” I screamed.

“Silence, you’re too noisy,” he shook his head.

"There should be enough distance from that Ruby Lion and you, then you jump and you have to strike it first, no matter what happens. Throw it upwards so it would lose its balance," he said.

"How would I do that?"

"Just like this." He made a gesture as if he was digging a soil using a shovel and throwing it away like a bastard.

"You're not helping," I said.

"I am helping, now go there and make sure to dodge it.”

I held on to my weapon and jumped from the other branch of the tree. I heard the Lion roar when I started moving away. As I jumped I could feel the wind grazing my skin and my face.

I stopped jumping when I thought I had already made enough distance from the Lion. I jumped from the tree and landed gracefully on the ground.  In my front, I see the Ruby Lion heading for me in giant strides with its mouth hanging open that makes it look rabid.

I ran straight from it, my spear head tightly in my hand. I skipped and jumped from roots to roots.

The moment it was close to me, I took a sharp turn to the right, avoiding its first Claw Attack coming for my shoulder. I took hold of the spear and jabbed its sharp point on the left side of the Ruby Lion. The impact that had happened had made a sharp spark on the stomach of the Lion. The lion lost its balance and was tossed in the air.