The First Hunt and a Peculiar Healer

By the time Lin Shenyue and Peerless Karma Fire emerged from the newbie village, a small segment of players had already begun to familiarize themselves with monster combat. Many found themselves flustered by the aggressive mountain goats, as it was their first direct encounter with such creatures. Inexperienced, they inevitably took several painful headbutts from the goats.

When players spotted Lin Shenyue and Peerless Karma Fire outside the village, they no longer mistook Lin Shenyue for an NPC. In their minds, NPCs remained within the village, dispensing quests, never venturing freely. Nevertheless, a buzz of discussion arose among the players. This only ceased when one attempted to invite Lin Shenyue to a party, discovering she was already in a team. Subsequently, countless disapproving gazes converged on Peerless Karma Fire.

Peerless Karma Fire, steeling himself, led Lin Shenyue away from the throng of players. He vaguely recalled a monster spawn point nearby, one known for its quick respawn rate and sparse player presence. This also served to escape the players’ judgmental stares, which felt as though they could pierce him.

“Frenzied Mountain Goat: Level 1, Health 100/100, Physical Attack 6-8.” After checking, Peerless Karma Fire relayed the monster’s attributes to Lin Shenyue.

Lin Shenyue asked, “How do you know that?”

Peerless Karma Fire sighed, “You can view the attributes of any monster in the newbie village. Just look at the monster and mentally ‘check’ its status. However, you can’t see specific details like defense or skills.”

Lin Shenyue detected a hint of something in his tone, but she wasn’t particularly close with him. There was no need for her to know where he acquired such information. Thus, she chose to remain silent regarding his explanation.

“Get ready, we’re starting,” Peerless Karma Fire instructed, drawing a longsword. Noticing Lin Shenyue’s bewildered gaze, he added with a touch of helplessness, “This is a newbie longsword. After you enter the game, a starter weapon will automatically be placed in your inventory based on your class, and you’ll learn one offensive newbie skill. To use a skill, you just need to mentally activate it and consciously lock onto a target within the casting time; the skill will then automatically unleash.”

Curiously, Lin Shenyue checked her inventory and, sure enough, found a staff. She retrieved it and examined it: “Newbie Staff: Magic Attack: 0-1.” She was also equipped with two pieces of starter clothing provided by the system: “Newbie Cloth Robe: Physical Defense: 0-1” and “Newbie Skirt: Magic Defense: 0-1.”

“An offensive newbie skill?” Lin Shenyue questioned, glancing at her sole ability, ‘Healing Spell’. “But mine isn’t offensive.”

Peerless Karma Fire froze. “It isn’t? How is that possible?” Based on his past experience, even priests were given a universal offensive skill, ‘Holy Light Bullet’. This was specifically to prevent priests from leveling too slowly in the early stages, granting them an offensive ability for easier monster grinding.

“A hidden class? How could that be? Wasn’t Divine Realm designed for all players to enter uniformly, with all classes being basic ones? How could there be a distinction right from the start?” Peerless Karma Fire was utterly perplexed. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation, and he had never met this person in his previous life. ‘Could some reason have caused her to quit playing later on?’ he wondered.

“I’ll carry you then. What’s your skill?” After a moment of thought, Peerless Karma Fire decided to take Lin Shenyue along. She was, after all, a unique anomaly in this game, likely a hidden class in his estimation. Once she matured, she would undoubtedly become incredibly powerful.

“Healing Spell, recovers 10 health per second, lasting 5 seconds,” Lin Shenyue replied.

“How is that possible? Is that truly a Level 1 healing amount?” Peerless Karma Fire was utterly flustered. His current health was 80 points, meaning a single healing spell would essentially restore more than half his health bar. This defied all logic; if a monster attacked for a while, only for a small heal to negate the damage, it would severely disrupt the game’s balance.

Typically, priests could learn their second skill, the ‘Healing Spell’, after reaching Level 5. At that point, their healing output would only be around 20 points per second. By then, most players would have approximately 250 health, and a 100-point heal would barely suffice against high-damage monsters.

‘Considering this healing amount alone, I absolutely must recruit her into my guild later,’ Peerless Karma Fire thought to himself.

Observing Peerless Karma Fire’s shock, Lin Shenyue realized her healing output was likely quite substantial. Though she didn’t understand why he seemed so familiar with the game, it was clear that anything capable of stunning Peerless Karma Fire was far from ordinary.

Peerless Karma Fire let out a long breath. “I’m pulling monsters now. Keep an eye on my health and heal me.”

Lin Shenyue softly acknowledged him, tightening her grip on her staff.

Peerless Karma Fire swung his sword at the mountain goat before him, and a “-7” appeared above the creature’s head. He mentally calculated its physical defense to be around 2 points. ‘A bit slow,’ he thought, shifting his gaze to the other mountain goats.

A warrior’s first skill was ‘Furious Cleave’: ‘The warrior unleashes their rage, dealing 120% physical damage to a single enemy in front of them. If the warrior’s rage is at maximum, it deals 150% physical damage. Rage cost: 10 points. Cooldown: 5 seconds.’ Warriors gained 5 rage for each attack they withstood and 10 rage for each attack they dealt. When rage reached its maximum of 100 points, their attack power increased by 10%, and their skills gained special effects.

Peerless Karma Fire deliberately took a hit from a mountain goat, a “-3” appearing above him, and then formulated a plan. “Yue’er, I’m going to pull a few more monsters; it’ll make clearing them faster.” After seeing Lin Shenyue nod, he successively attacked other goats, successfully drawing the aggro of five of them.

‘Tsk, looks like I’m about to take a beating. I could have dodged these attacks normally,’ Peerless Karma Fire thought. As the goats charged, he blocked one with his sword, but endured the damage from the others head-on.

-2, -4, -3, -4, -3. Peerless Karma Fire frowned slightly, opting for the typical newbie strategy of ‘standing and tanking’. -2, -3, -3, -4, -3. Another string of numbers appeared above his head, startling him. “Yue’er, heal me quickly!”

After a brief pause, Lin Shenyue hastily raised her staff and cast ‘Healing Spell’ on Peerless Karma Fire. “+10…………”

Peerless Karma Fire’s anxious heart finally settled, and he began attacking the five small monsters before him.

Lin Shenyue watched Peerless Karma Fire attack the monsters, feeling a touch of helplessness. She realized her reactions were indeed slow; despite seeing him take damage, she hadn’t responded with a timely heal. Moreover, without any offensive skills, she was utterly useless during the ‘Healing Spell’s’ 20-second cooldown. Bored, Lin Shenyue could only observe Peerless Karma Fire battling five monsters alone.

As the effect of the ‘Healing Spell’ faded, Peerless Karma Fire understood it was still on cooldown. He began consciously dodging the mountain goats’ attacks. Though five goats attacked simultaneously, he only took damage once, successfully evading all other blows. This was where Divine Realm differed from other games. In most games, evasion was solely determined by a dodge rate. While Divine Realm also had a dodge rate, that applied only when standing still. If one actively tried to evade an attack, it was possible, though this applied only to non-targeted skills and normal attacks.

‘I’m still not quite familiar with my current body’s attributes,’ he mused. ‘My past self would never have been hit by such slow attacks.’

Lin Shenyue watched Peerless Karma Fire’s evasive maneuvers and the four consecutive “MISS” notifications appearing above his head, her confusion deepening. Could he be the heir to a reclusive martial arts family? Even if he were, it seemed impossible to dodge so many attacks when he had just entered the game and was still unfamiliar with its controls.

After killing the second mountain goat before him, Peerless Karma Fire stole a glance at Lin Shenyue, finding her indeed lost in thought. He sighed inwardly. “The ‘Healing Spell’ should be ready now, right?”

Lin Shenyue snapped out of her daze, her cheeks flushing slightly, and with a wave of her delicate hand, cast ‘Healing Spell’ once more.

Once all five monsters were defeated, Lin Shenyue checked the system notifications. During combat, these prompts automatically hid, only reappearing after the battle concluded.

“You killed a ‘Frenzied Mountain Goat’ and gained 3 experience points.”

“You killed a ‘Frenzied Mountain Goat’ and gained 3 experience points.”

Lin Shenyue then checked her quest log. ‘Slay the Frenzied Mountain Goats’: ‘Lately, the mountain goats outside the village have become inexplicably frenzied. The village chief asks for your help in culling some.’ Progress: 5/10 completed.

Lin Shenyue murmured, “It doesn’t seem too difficult.”

Hearing Lin Shenyue’s words, Peerless Karma Fire couldn’t help but roll his eyes. While Level 1 mountain goats were indeed not hard to defeat, the efficiency was still quite low at present, as players were unaccustomed to the controls. Moreover, there were currently few people; once the main influx of players arrived, it would become a situation of ‘too many monks, too little porridge’ [TL Note: An idiom meaning ‘too many people, too few resources’].

Noticing Peerless Karma Fire’s gaze, Lin Shenyue’s cheeks flushed, and she urged, “Hurry up and fight! We need to kill five more to complete the quest.”

Peerless Karma Fire watched Lin Shenyue’s obvious attempt to change the subject, finding it rather amusing. Yet, he refrained from teasing her, as they weren’t particularly close at the moment. He silently picked up two copper coins from the ground, a little surprised. He recalled killing ten mountain goats in his past life without a single drop, so this drop rate was quite unexpected. Divine Realm, after all, was notorious for its abysmal drop rates. If no special distribution method was set, copper coins would be equally divided among team members, so Lin Shenyue also received one copper coin.

‘Yue’er’s luck must be quite high, then?’ Peerless Karma Fire thought with a slight smile. He turned and attracted five more mountain goats, dispatching them in about two minutes. Casually picking up the two dropped copper coins, he stopped. “The mountain goat quest should be complete. For other quests, I know a spot to collect herbs that isn’t guarded by monsters. Follow me.”

Lin Shenyue nodded, glancing at the stream of players gradually pouring out of the village. She finally realized how wise they had been to finish the mountain goat quest early.

[Nickname: Peerless Karma Fire]

[Gender: Male]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Warrior]

[Level: 1]

[Experience: 30/100]

[Health: 80/80]

[Rage: 0/100]

[Physical Attack: 9-11]

[Magic Attack: 4-5]

[Physical Defense: 4]

[Magic Defense: 3]

[Speed: 5]

[Strength: 9]

[Intelligence: 4]

[Constitution: 8]

[Agility: 5]

[Spirit: 9]

[Luck: Hidden]

[Charm: Hidden]

[Status: Healthy]

[Skills: Furious Cleave – The warrior unleashes their rage, dealing 120% physical damage to a single enemy in front of them. If the warrior’s rage is at maximum, it deals 150% physical damage. Rage cost: 10 points. Cooldown: 5 seconds.]

[Equipment: Newbie Longsword: Physical Attack 0-1; Newbie Cloth Robe: Physical Defense 1; Newbie Pants: Magic Defense 1.]

[Fashion: None.]