The moment I opened my eyes, I found myself in the town square where I had last logged out at.

Immediately after logging back into the game, I opened my inventory and brought my Lamp Bug out, which immediately greeted me by rubbing its head against my cheek.

"Good to see you again, buddy." I gently patted it on its head.

Now then, what should I do today?

I looked around my surroundings and noticed that there were fewer players than there were last night. But considering the time now in real life, it's understandable since most players are probably students like Hikari and would still be in school right now.

If they have club activities, that is.

Also, I've noticed their equipment to be greatly different from mine.

I am still in my beginner outfit after all. Maybe I should buy some new ones then.

I do have a lot of gold, thanks to my activities last night.

"Now where can I buy some new equipment?" I opened up my map and followed the path to where the weapons and armours shop is.

It is most certainly bigger than the general store... and fancier.

I pushed the doors open and entered inside to be greeted by a store clerk NPC, waiting by the entrance.

"Welcome, Miss. Are you looking to get yourself a new weapon? Or some new gear?"

"Both actually. Could you show me your best staves and equipment for the Magician class, please?"

"Certainly. They are right this way, Miss."

The store clerk proceeded to guide me. As I thought about how weird it was to be called "Miss" as a man inside, while following her.

Then again, I've been called "beautiful" and "lass" already by other people.

I then arrived at a part of the store where a vast variety of magician robes, footwears, hats and staves are all lined up properly on the shelves and racks with a price tag labelled on each item.

Oh wow. There are a lot here. I wonder which of them are the best ones?

While I was wondering about that, the store clerk brought me to the very end of the row and said, "Here are all of our store's best staves and equipment for the Magician class. Please take your time here and try on whichever one you like, Miss. If you have any questions, you may find me by the store's entrance."

Then, she left. As I began looking through each item carefully.

They are all expensive. Like really expensive. I might have to blow all of my gold just to be fully equipped with one complete set.

So why don't I? I can always do the old man's herb quest to get more money if I want to.

After a few dozen minutes of looking at each equipment's stats and effects, I ended up deciding to go these:

A [Staff of the Elite] which increases my damage output. It is a shiny silver rod with a blue magic crystal embedded on the head.

A [Great Protector's Robe (F)] that has the effect of damage reduction by 25%. Although, for something named as such, it sure exposes a lot of my skin.

A [Magi's Insignia] that increases my Max MP by 20%, which is basically a shiny hairpin.

A [Boots of Haste] that can increase my movement speed by 10%. Though, walking in them can be quite challenging because of the heels.

And in addition to those, I asked the clerk and got myself two different rings to wear in my accessories: A [Ring of Magic Attack] and a [Ring of Mana]. The first has the same effect as my new staff, while the second increases my Max MP by 200 points.

So now, I am done shopping. I've paid the total amount, which leaves me with about 200,000 gold left, and walked out of the store in my brand new fit.

Somehow, I attracted a lot of eyes from the other players nearby as I walked past all of them and made my way out of the town once again.

This time, I plan to explore further beyond where I had last explored.

Oh. But first...

As I had almost forgotten since I just stuffed them into my inventory before logging out. I took out the skill scrolls which the old man from the general store had given me and proceeded to use them one by one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Skill Scroll - Fireball] has been used.

Skill Acquired: [Fireball]

A basic Fire attribute spell.

Cost 20 MP.

=================

[Skill Scroll - Power Blow] has been used.

Skill Acquired: [Power Blow]

Deals a powerful blow to a single enemy with a high chance of knocking the target back.

Cost 15 MP.

=================

[Skill Scroll - Haste] has been used.

Skill Acquired: [Haste]

Increases the player's movement speed by 15% when used.

Cost 30 MP.

=================

[Skill Scroll - Snipe] has been used.

Skill Acquired: [Snipe]

Increases the range of an attack skill when used beforehand.

Cost 20 MP.

=================

[Skill Scroll - Magic Shield] has been used.

Skill Acquired: [Magic Shield]

Deploys a non-attribute barrier to wherever the caster designates it to. Can be used to defend party members as well.

Cost 30 MP.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ooo~ Nice. The old man sure has given me some neat skills.

Thanks, old man uh... whatever his name was.

Now that that's done, I can focus on my exploration through the forest and wilderness.

"Let's see if we can find something today. Alright, Lampy?" I said while patting my Lamp Bug's head, which it responded by snuggling up against my neck.

"Haha~ That tickles."

***********************

"Mana Blast! Mana Blast! Mana Blast!"

As I ventured deeper and deeper into the forest, I would encounter some monsters along the way.

They were not just the Scrowlers, but a bunch of different types of monsters as well.

There were some slimes called Acid Jellies which spit its toxic goo at me. Fortunately, they were slower than the Scrowlers and a single Fireball was enough to vaporise them into thin air.

There were also some skeleton monsters called Boneys which are somewhat resistant to magic attacks. But fortunately, they weren't that strong to begin with and were wiped out once I started blasting them with multiple Mana Blast spells.

Now again, a bunch of Boneys have appeared before me. As well as a few Acid Jellies, spitting their goo at me.

With Haste activated, however, I easily dodged the goo and mainly focused on destroying the Boneys first since their levels are higher than the Acid Jellies. Once they were gone, I easily extinguished the slimes out of existence. Gaining more EXP by the end of it, putting me at level 12 now.

And let me just put my points to this and that and all right! Let us continue.

The deeper I went, the more monsters I met.

It would seem that encounter rate is also affected by how far you traverse into the darkness.

Well, that means more EXP for me.

While beating up some more Scrowlers along the way, and meeting a new enemy called Cockbird which is a flying bird monster with a massive beak, I eventually stumbled across something by a lake I'd found after roasting the Cockbird into KFC.

"Oh. There's a chest on the other side. I wonder what's inside?"

I approached the treasure chest sitting by the bank of the lake and opened it without any caution that it could have been a Mimic or something.

Fortunately, it wasn't. Inside the chest were a hefty amount of gold and a creepy-looking dagger that looked as if it was cursed or something.

Let's see, uh....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Ritual Dagger of the Accursed]

Physical Damage +50

Magical Damage +30

Quality: Rare

Effect(s): [+20 INT, +20 LUK], [Has a small chance of inflicting [Cursed] on a target]

(Status Effect - Cursed: Decreases all Damage Resistance by 10%)

This dagger was once used to perform forbidden rituals. It is said to be cursed with the blood of the sacrificed. A Genshin player may or may not have used it for their summoning rituals.

Equippable by: [Magician] / [Rogue]

Equippable slot(s): [Weapon 1] / [Weapon 2]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There it is again. Who added the last line in for the descriptions?

But anyways, finding this dagger was pretty lucky of me, I must say. Since I didn't buy an equipment for my second weapon slot because there were only bucklers for the Magician class

To have a small shield on my off-hand for defense would be nice, I won't lie. But personally, having a second weapon that can deal damage is more of my style.

So, I equipped it immediately.

It feels... kinda nice to hold actually. Although, the design is absolutely whack.

"Hee Hee~"

"Huh?"

What was that?

I immediately became on high alert and looked around my surroundings.

Something's near me. I know it. And it's....

"Behind! What the ****!?"

The moment I turned around, what stood towering over me was a large humanoid, goat-demon monster of some kind, with multiple eyes like a spider, staring down at me with a big grin and a sadistic-looking expression. Along with an enormous HP bar above its head.

No no no no no..... How in the world is this game rated safe for young teens!?

That's an eldritch horror I'm looking at!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Area Boss: The Jackson

LV: 23

A monstrous pet of an Umbra Lord that roams around the lake in the Shade Forest. Before encountering this absolute nightmare, it will make a peculiar laugh upon spotting its new prey and approach them from behind, as it loves surprises and relishing on its target's fear, before devouring them whole with pleasure. That is even more so the case when their prey are children.

Beware of its sharp claws and swift kicks. Despite how big the creature is, it is fast and ferocious and will show no mercy in tormenting its foes.

Basically, run the hell away from this thing because who the heck in the art design team made this nightmare goat monster!? My daughter plays this game, you know!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Errrr..... That last line really seemed to be a complaint from the devs themselves.

But even if the description tells me to run, I doubt I have the leeway to do so as its eyes are completely locked onto me, without the slightest intention of letting me run.

I guess I'll have to fight it.

An eleven level difference. So what?

"I'll end you here, freak."

"Hee Hee~"