It took Abandoned Snow another minute to calm down.

"Are you good now?"

"Yeah..." she said while sniffling.

"Alright."

*... Finally.*

Jisha felt a bit guilty for thinking this, but she never anticipated getting delayed for this long. She couldn't get rid of the tiny bit of annoyance that was constantly nagging at her.

After shelving those thoughts, Jisha led her impromptu disciple into the woods.

And just like with the "houses" earlier, calling this area "woods" was incredibly generous. The density of trees was extremely low; most of the sunlight still reached the ground.

It wasn't anything special - it could even be considered bland. But once again...

"Wow..." Abandoned Snow marveled at her surroundings.

"You're going to have heart attacks later if you're impressed by this..."

Clearly ignoring Jisha, Abandoned Snow walked over to a tree and ran her palm over the trunk.

 

*>Name: Aspen*

*>A semi-sturdy wood with a powdery surface coating its bark. If applied properly to the skin, the powder functions as sunscreen with 3 SPF.*

 

She clearly wasn't reading this, but Abandoned Snow was fascinated by the powder she'd rubbed off the bark.

*How sheltered is she to even be impressed by trees? Just when I think her life sucks, it keeps getting worse...*

At this point, if one still thought Abandoned Snow was an ordinary girl, their life needed some serious evaluation. Jisha's curiosity reached a breaking point.

"Snow, how old are you? How's your situation in real life?"

It was almost taboo to ask these things about another player, but Jisha felt like she deserved some answers.

"... Not telling."

"Alright..."

It couldn't be helped if she wanted to keep this information private. Asking beyond this point would be unscrupulous, and there was no way in hell Jisha was going to pull the "big sister" card again.

The two girls entered a period of awkward silence.

"..."

"..."

...

*... Save me, please. Something interesting, please happen!*

As if the game heard her pleas, Jisha noticed a round green object bouncing in her peripheral vision.

"Yes-! Ah, I mean... Snow, take a look over there."

"Hmm?"

Abandoned Snow followed Jisha's gaze until she noticed the bouncy blob.

"Look at it. Wish to know the monster's name, and the system should tell you."

"Hmm...?"

 

*>Name: Green Slime*

*>Level: 1*

 

"Did you get it?"

"... Slime?"

"Yep."

As if the slime heard its name, it menacingly jumped towards Abandoned Snow!

"Ahhh!"

She quickly took shelter behind her mentor!

*Jeez, I don't even think I was this scared of a slime when I started.*

In fact, this slime... was not menacing in the slightest. Every time it jumped, it moved less than 1 metron forward, and it jumped less than once per second. These jumps were its only method of attack, so as long as you didn't stand completely still, you wouldn't get hit.

It didn't look scary, either, as its entire body was a nondescript green. To Jisha, it was even cute.

But behind her was someone who didn't think so.

*It's natural to be cautious of a monster you don't know the attack patterns of, but this...*

Jisha sighed. This truly was just a babysitting job.

"Snow, look at it carefully. I'm in front of you, so there's no need to be scared."

Abandoned Snow trembled slightly as she peeked over Jisha's shoulder.

"Do you see how it's moving?"

Abandoned Snow's eyes hesitantly tracked the slowly-bouncing slime.

"Notice how often it can bounce. Can you tell?"

The young girl's trembling quickly subsided once she was given instructions. Now, her complete attention was on the monster in front of her.

"It's... slow?"

"Exactly. Once you know what it does, it's not so scary, huh?"

"Hmm... It's not scary."

"Do you think you can kill it?"

"..."

Abandoned Snow dispiritedly looked towards the ground.

Jisha patiently waited for her response.

In RPGs of old, you were far removed from your character's actions. With some control inputs, your character would move. With some more clicks, your character would attack. The controls were all you would feel - you would never truly feel like you were moving about like your character was in the game.

However, in Synergy, moving around meant you were using your brain to directly pilot a virtual body. The virtual body's sensory input would be delivered directly to your brain. Killing something meant ending its (virtual) life with your own hands.

And even though the thing in front of them was something that didn't even exist in the real world, you would have to deliberately move your body to terminate its life. It wasn't something everyone could do right away, especially if they'd never done it before.

So, Jisha waited. And after a few more seconds, Abandoned Snow looked up.

*Yes. That's the spirit!*

Those eyes were back. Icy cold determination filled the young girl's body.

*Well, let's see how she does.*

Jisha stepped aside to let Abandoned Snow do her thing.

Abandoned Snow took slow but deliberate steps towards her target. The green slime was her only point of focus. The rest of the world faded away - right now, nothing else was relevant.

She observed the green slime slowly bounce towards her. Its movements were rhythmic. It was a fixed pattern that never changed. Once she knew this, Abandoned Snow determined how she would strike.

The slime was only 4 metron away from her now.

3 metron...

2...

And at the one metron mark, this green slime would jump its last.

Icy eyes tracked the green body as it kicked itself off the ground.

It rose higher, higher, and higher... until it reached its apex.

And in this moment...

"Haa!"

 

*>-10*

 

*... Damn.*

What was once a green blob exploded into tiny particles of white light which were absorbed by Abandoned Snow's avatar.

-10! At level 1, this was a perfect strike. Since level 1 players had an attack stat of 10 by default, this was the most damage they could do with a single attack in a non-vital area. It was the upper limit, but there was no lower one. If the strike was imperfect, it would deal less damage. So, the attack stat shown on the status screen was only an idealistic number and not always attainable.

Of course, it could have been luck. And though luck was always a factor, Abandoned Snow's natural talent was extremely evident.

"... ey!"

*Huh?*

With a strange noise, Abandoned Snow immediately lost her balance and collapsed on the ground. Jisha rushed over to help her up again.

"You alright? Careful with the skills. You definitely need some practice before you can use them properly."

"Skills" in Synergy, especially with melee classes, moved one's body in a strange manner. Abandoned Snow struck the green slime without a skill but accidentally activated one immediately after.

The Melee+'s only skill was "Target Strike". Once every 5 seconds, the player could use this to strike a designated target (in range) with 100% accuracy. The system would automatically move their body to guarantee this strike. Even normal players could lose their balance if they accidentally activated a skill, much less someone who was learning how to run for the first time.

"Um, oops..." she sheepishly apologized.

"It's not a big deal. Lots of people mess up like this on their first day. Anyway, take a look at the ground. You can pick that up."

Upon dying, the green slime dropped a tiny portion of itself - a slimeball. It was routine in countless games in the past. If you kill a mob, it'll drop some XP and loot. However, doing it with a real body was different.

"Euh, it's sticky!"

Jisha amusedly smiled at Abandoned Snow's animated reaction.

Unless you had a loot-collecting item, even picking up drops had to be done with your hands. From the life of the one you took to its remnants in its afterlife, you had to experience all of it firsthand.

"Haha, put it in your inventory quick!"

"Aaaahh! Inventory! Inventory!"

The slimeball finally disappeared from Abandoned Snow's hands. She frantically shook her hands around in an effort to get rid of the slime. After a few seconds, they seemed to return to normal.

"Whew..."

"Let's keep going."

Abandoned Snow clearly didn't want to get any more slime on her hands, but she had no choice but to continue.

Before long, the two came across another mob.

 

*>Name: Small Lesser Mayfly*

*>Level: 1*

 

"Eeek!"

This one, unfortunately, was less visually pleasing. Though the bug's proportions were cartoonish and non-threatening, it was still a bug. No matter how "cute" it was, Abandoned Snow would be far more scared of a bug than a round ball!

The worst part was, it was flying!

Abandoned Snow got chills and sought shelter behind her teacher once again.

"I'll get this one," Jisha said.

Even if Abandoned Snow *wanted* to kill this one herself, it would be impossible. As a melee unit, this flying bug was out of her reach.

Using her skill "Target Toss", Jisha casually flicked a pellet at the mayfly.

 

*>-10*

 

And just like that, the bug was no more.

 

*>+1 Copper*

*>+1 Small Insect Wing*

 

Abandoned Snow sighed in relief.

*This girl... is too pure.*

She was scared of a small gelatinous blob. She was scared of a cutely-designed bug. If this continued, she would likely express fear once the next monster showed up as well.

How was she going to handle monsters later in the game?

A bit of hesitation was understandable. In the modern age, not many had experience with killing. It was why the early-game mobs were designed the way they were. Synergy was a game and was meant to be fun. And slaughtering realistic-looking creatures in a vivid world... wasn't.

*The "fun" is just a trap, though.*

Once the "fun" segment of the game wore off, Synergy would stop being a game and become a second reality. How would Abandoned Snow fare then?

How would she fare once the world plunged into chaos?

Jisha shook her head to rid herself of these thoughts.

*It's too early to think about this.*

She brought her attention back to the present, and the two continued their journey through the woods.

Mob spawns were uncommon in this level range - they only saw one every few minutes. And for better or for worse, they were all either slimes or mayflies. It took Abandoned Snow a bit, but she eventually exhibited somewhat of a resistance towards the mayflies. She could now whack one on her own if need be.

*Slime, mayfly, slime, mayfly... Wow, we're really unlucky.*

At this point, even Abandoned Snow was beginning to get bored. But it didn't take much longer for something different to show up.

A speck of red flashed in the distance.

It was too far away for Jisha to properly assess what it was. But, it was something that would break their monotonous grind.

"There's something over there," she said to Abandoned Snow. "Follow me."

Jisha led Abandoned Snow towards the anomaly in the distance. For a bit, nothing was out of the ordinary. But once they got close enough...

*Players?*

They'd finally stumbled upon life; they weren't alone out here. It was a party of four.

"Sister?"

And one of them was a female avatar with fiery red hair.