Sora woke up early with a single idea in mind: hit the road and reach Córdoba.
Thinking about the two guards who had taken care of him and fed him the day before, a smile lit up his face.
Those two were pretty nice.
He quickly gathered his things scattered around the room of the inn he had rented late in the evening, and stepped outside.
Without any reason to stay any longer, he gave one last look toward the center of the village before leaving. As he walked away, he noticed two guards he didn't recognize standing at the village entrance. He smiled at them and left without waiting.
Once he crossed Villafranca de Córdoba's protective barrier, he called up his interface and decided to display the region's map. A virtual map appeared before his eyes, but its content was nothing like what one would expect.
The map was almost entirely dark. Aside from the village of Villafranca de Córdoba and a single thick line showing territories he went through, nothing was visible.
'Ah, I didn't add the maps I bought to my minimap and to my main maps.' he quickly realized as he remembered he hadn't digitized everything yet.
He fixed that right away and selected the maps he had purchased. Immediately, the map lit up, and the entire Iberian Peninsula appeared on it. Portugal, Spain, and all the nearby islands were added, with every detail a player could hope for.
'Cities, zone levels, monster types, and monster locations will be more than enough information to travel. I didn't find a map showing minerals, herbs, or other materials back in the village, but I don't need that for now.' he thought, zooming in on the map and selecting the regions he planned to cross on his way to Córdoba.
Tracing the route, he sighed. 'It's five hundred kilometers in a straight line, but the distance I'll travel is way over a thousand…'
Considering whether he should change the route and take advantage of his newly gained strength, he shook his head. 'No need to take useless risks. If I'm too strong for the monsters in the areas I pass through, I'll just equip my training gear to optimize the gains.'
With the route in sight, he thought about the next steps of his journey.
'I'll try not to waste time in level 1–9 zones and sprint through them. Once I get to a level 10–19 zone, I'll focus on low-level monsters until I reach level 10 and swap my gear.'
'That'll be a good power spike.' he thought as he closed the interface and headed east. 'But leveling isn't my priority. I need to reach Córdoba fast.'
Sora still had in mind the mountain of gold he needed to prepare for his future lives, and he had no intention of wasting a month gaining levels he would eventually lose.
Covering the first kilometers at full speed, Sora soon reached the first zone inhabited by monsters.
'According to the map, monsters here are pretty weak on the outskirts and stronger near the center. I shouldn't run into anything level 15 or above if I stick to my route…'
As he entered the zone, he immediately noticed changes in the environment. Ever since the world had evolved, each region's traits had become more defined, as if customized by some higher entity drawing everything with a pencil.
Once he crossed the barrier between the two zones, Sora felt the shift in temperature and saw the difference in vegetation. The forest he had been walking through gave way to a warm, dry, almost desert-like territory.
Sora didn't pay it much more attention and focused instead on a movement he spotted on the horizon.
A creature was climbing up a tree, probably looking for food.
'That's right on my path!' Sora smiled and sprinted toward it. After a few dozen seconds, the monster's features became clearer. It was a huge bear, three meters tall, with sharp claws.
[Earth Bear – Level 10]
As he got closer and saw the name of the beast, his smile faded into focus.
'This is one of the monsters I'm supposed to find here, so no surprise, except for its size. Aiming for its neck or head won't be easy.' Remembering the list of monsters for each zone, he took his sword out of his inventory.
Sora moved quickly, and once he got close enough, the bear noticed him and slowly turned its head toward him.
"You are way too slow…" Sora said, realizing the enemy stood no chance against him.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Sora took the [Slowed Perception Gear] from his inventory. The set, made of only a mask and a bracelet, was equipped in a fraction of a second.
Sora, who had already experimented with the item, wasn't surprised by the feeling that the world had sped up around him. However, the bear—which had moved clumsily and slowly until now—suddenly seemed threatening.
With plenty of time to cancel the handicap he had imposed on himself, Sora immediately evaluated the danger level and decided to keep the training gear on.
The Earth Bear leapt at him with a speed close to his own, but Sora managed to dodge its claw strike.
'That was closer than I thought…' He looked at the claws that had passed just centimeters from his skin and smiled. 'I'll be fine.'
Not waiting for the bear to follow up with another attack, Sora slashed one of its hind legs. When he noticed the attack's efficiency, he ignored the monster's cry of pain and slashed at the other leg. The beast, which had been standing upright, was forced to bring its front paws to the ground.
Already anticipating his opponent's reaction, Sora was in the air, out of its sight. He landed on the creature's back and drove his sword into its neck.
The bear howled in agony and thrashed wildly to shake Sora off. He didn't resist and jumped away to put some distance between them.
'The hardest part is done,' he thought, happy with how the fight had started. He quickly scanned the surroundings, and seeing no creature nearby, prepared his next move.
The battle remained just as intense. Sora dealt heavy damage and tried at each exchange to cripple his opponent a little more, while the bear did everything it could to make Sora pay for his countless cheap shots.
After almost a minute, Sora finished the bear with a stab through the eye. After checking his experience gains, he wiped the blood from his sword.
'Not bad. Eight more monsters of this level and I'll reach level 10.' He thought while storing it in his inventory.
Happy with his progress, he also stored the training set he had equipped and resumed running. Even though it would have been more effective if he kept it on, he didn't want to risk dying from a surprise attack by a stronger enemy.
After a few minutes of running, he spotted a group of level-10 monsters.
[Nightclaw Bear – Level 10]
It was a trio of bears, each smaller than the [Earth Bear] he had encountered earlier.
'Weaker and less sturdy, but faster than the one from before. It wouldn't be very smart to re-equip the [Slowed Perception Gear] against three of them… I should kill one or two before even trying.' Sora quickly estimated his opponents' strength and decided not to take unnecessary risks.
Without any handicap, he rushed toward them at full speed and targeted the most isolated bear of the three. Fully in control of his body, he reached the creature's back in a fraction of a second and drove his sword into it with all his strength.
When he saw the kill notification, he let out a relieved sigh. He had pierced the creature's heart before it could react.
'These three have far lower defense than the one I met when entering the zone. I can one-shot them if I stab through their skin and reach the heart. And as for hitting the brain, I doubt they'll give me the chance…' He shook his sword to clean off the blood and jumped back to dodge the charge of one of the remaining bears.
Experienced, Sora used their rage to predict their movements and focused on one of them until it fell to the ground. After a few minutes, he found himself face to face with the last creature, which now showed clear signs of fear and a desire to flee.
Sora was shocked by the state of his opponent.
'A higher-level enemy wants to run? How is that possible?'
In the past, he and his friends had always focused their efforts on low-difficulty monsters and quests. Most monsters they hunted were either lower level or equal to their own, and they rarely picked hard quests.
During those adventures, it was uncommon for enemies to flee, but when it did happen, it was mostly because the level difference was very high.
'We always thought their behavior depended on the level difference… Could it actually be based on power difference instead?' Sora's belief system wavered as he saw a level-10 creature run away from him while he was only level 9.
Seeing the creature sprinting off, he snapped out of his daze and chased after it. Since it specialized in speed and wasn't injured, Sora struggled to catch up, and he gradually pushed deeper toward the center of the level-10–19 territory.
It was only after several long minutes that he finally brought the creature down, and Sora was satisfied with the experience gained. Breathless, he sat on a rock to catch his breath and opened his interface to check his progress. But a growl forced him to stand up and prepare for combat.
[Silvermane Bear – Level 14]
When he saw the creature's level, he froze.
'Oh shit. I followed that other bear way too far and ended up aggroing this one…' He cursed internally before quickly calculating his chances of survival if he chose to fight.
'At this level, monsters have a power rating above 200. It shouldn't be impossible to win… If I try to run, I might aggro even more monsters and get myself into deeper trouble. I need to check if I even stand a chance before deciding whether to flee or fight…'
Sora's heart raced. The [Silvermane Bear] was far stronger than his previous opponents, and he knew it. It looked sturdier and stood a full meter taller than the [Earth Bear], yet it didn't seem any slower than the [Nightclaw Bears] judging by its movements.
Seeing the beast charge at him, he took a deep breath and dodged by throwing himself to the side, near a large rock. As he got back up, a wave of pain shot through his body. He didn't need to look at his arm to understand that the bear had grazed him and torn off a piece of his armor.
Sora completely ignored the pain and jumped aside again to dodge the next attack. The bear's paw, aimed at his head, missed him entirely this time and shattered the rock that had been behind Sora just before he moved.
He dodged one of the flying debris, and injured from the first exchange, began wielding his sword with only one hand.
When the bear attacked for the third time, Sora's eyes lit up. Despite being higher level than the others, the beast didn't seem very intelligent and kept repeating the same attacks.
During its third strike, Sora didn't just dodge—he managed to counterattack and slash the creature's eye.
'With such a level difference, it's useless to hit anywhere other than weak points.' he thought as he watched the beast howl in pain and clutch at its eye.
Taking advantage of the distraction caused by his attack, he closed in and severed the ligament in the bear's knee. When he saw it stumble, he prepared to cut the other ligament, but the bear suddenly tried to strike him in the head with its paw.
Sora crouched instantly, barely avoiding the attack, and countered again, aiming for the already wounded eye of the [Silvermane Bear]. The creature screamed once more and thrashed violently, forcing Sora to jump back.
He waited patiently for the beast to calm down, taking the opportunity to make sure no other creature had come closer without him noticing.
'It's in bad shape, but I haven't taken much HP from it… I'll need to hit a vital point this time.' Sora observed the wounded creature, searching for the safest way to bring it down.
'Its skin is pretty thick, and cutting its ligament wasn't easy, so I doubt I can reach its heart.' He quickly dismissed that option and kept thinking until he found a viable method.
After a few seconds of struggling, the bear finally calmed down and began searching for Sora. As it looked left and right, a sound caught its attention. When it turned toward the noise, it saw a dagger violently embedded in the very rock it had shattered earlier while trying to kill the human trespassing on its territory.
Confused, it stared at the dagger, wondering about this strange situation. But before it could make sense of it, it felt something tickle its neck. Lowering its head, it saw, through its single remaining eye, the human standing there, a blood-soaked sword in his hand.
Sora, who had thrown a dagger from his inventory onto the rock, was pleased with his distraction. It had been enough to draw the bear's attention while he approached to cut its throat.
As the beast collapsed to the ground, dead, Sora shook his sword to clean off the blood. He then walked toward the rock where his dagger was lodged and pulled it out.
While his eyes were still fixed on the rock, which was magically reconstructing itself like all environment elements affected by combat, he heard the sound of notifications.
[Level Up!]
[You have reached Level 10.]
[You have unlocked Mana.]
[Class Options Available.]
Sora didn't react to reaching level 10, as he had expected it, but to the mana that rushed into his body at full speed.
"This feeling… I missed it so much." Impatient to use magic again, he was pulled from his excitement by other notifications.
[Class Options: Swordsman, Brawler.]
He only had two class choices for now, but he was neither surprised nor disappointed.
'I can always choose something else later,' he thought as he read the next notification.
[Additional classes can be unlocked at the Combat Training Center.]
"Now that I've reached this stage, I need to find myself a good class. The system's suggestions are based on what I've done so far, and since I didn't even have access to mana before, all I get are the basics for someone who walked around with a sword and killed monsters with his bare hands."
He didn't get discouraged and instead thought about the options he might unlock in the near future.
Reminded of more advanced classes, Sora recalled the stories he'd heard about players who created unique, powerful classes by combining their real-world skills with in-game abilities. One such player came to mind—a former military sniper who was also a passionate mechanic. He had crafted a unique class by blending his knowledge of sniping and mechanics.
'What was the name of his class again? Was it "Technomarksman"? I remember it let him upgrade any sniper he owned and customize it however he wanted. He could tweak its shape, save different configurations, and optimize his weapon for any situation.'
He remembered his brother saying the man was leagues above other snipers, not just in power but in adaptability and potential.
'Where was he from? The USA or Canada?' Sora wondered, trying to remember the details.
'He was one of the pioneers who shared his knowledge and taught others how to unlock advanced and special classes…' Even though he couldn't remember the man's name, Sora deeply respected players who shared what they knew for humanity's sake.
Despite being inspired by the generosity of the man, Sora was not in a hurry to follow the same path.
'I don't really feel like sharing my secrets, but if I can help others without putting myself in danger or falling behind, I wouldn't mind.'
Lost in his thoughts, he grabbed a piece of bread from his inventory and started eating it. As soon as he finished, his injured arm began to heal. While waiting for it to recover, he played with his dagger, tossing it into the air as he kept an eye on his surroundings for any potential threat.
'I need a class to grow stronger… And once people choose one, they can hardly go back.'
Sora knew it was possible to change classes, but that the process was anything but easy. It could involve a difficult quest, buying extremely expensive tokens for low-level players, or going through long chains of small quests.
'But not me… All I have to do is reset and come back to level 10 thanks to my innate skill.' He smiled at how easily he could start over.
'What if I tried a different class every month, learned its skills, and kept resetting until I found the perfect class for me?' He quickly thought of classes he had envied in the past. He imagined becoming a mage in one life, an elementalist in the next, or a paladin in another.
His face lit up as he imagined what could be waiting for him.
'Wait… If I learn magic and use my sword skills before even choosing a class, wouldn't the system offer me a special class combining my abilities? And if I add my jobs to that? Those influence class choices too!'
Imagining himself combining skills from every class he learned and unlocking an unbeatable class, he shook his head and burst into laughter.
"Okay, I need to calm down. I shouldn't count my eggs before they hatch."
Still, thrilled by the possibilities ahead and by his own potential, he swore to experiment with the class system and get the most out of his innate skill, [Prestige].
Sora suddenly stopped spinning the dagger in his hand and approached the bear's corpse to salvage whatever items he could.
"Enough daydreaming… I need to get to Córdoba."