Slimy quickly bounced toward Zich's back while peeping at the two newcomers with wary eyes.
"It's not good with people, is it?" the blond girl chuckled, but she did not get any response, which made the whole scene quite awkward as she had expected Zich to laugh or say something.
"Thanks for saving me back there," Zich spoke. "I will make sure to repay you for this favor."
"Hmpf. You should be more concerned about surviving out here before thinking of repaying us."
The handsome male snickered in a condescending tone, the disgust evident in his eyes.
"Don't be like that, Jayden." The girl pouted, giving a shoulder jab to Jayden whose expression remained cold and unfeeling.
Despite Jayden's harsh words, Zich's expression remained calm. For someone who had lived two lives and spent most of his time around corpses, he would be damned to take words like this to heart.
Besides, Jayden was right. Right now, his current goal should be to survive this place.
"Please don't mind my best friend, he is always like this."
The girl apologized on behalf of Jayden and then proceeded to introduce herself. "By the way, my name is Helen Magus."
When the girl said her name, both she and Jayden had expected some sort of reaction from Zich, maybe surprise or fear.
Since they saw none, the only conclusion that came to their minds was that Zich was extremely clueless when it came to the player world, or he just had very good control over his emotions.
"My name is Zich," Zich replied, not saying further.
Helen's gaze flicked to Slimy, who was hiding behind Zich's back. The little creature peeked out and then quickly hid again when it saw her looking at it. Helen's eyes lit up with interest as she slowly crouched a little to get a better look, but she did not move too close so she would not scare it.
"So this is your pet?" Helen asked with a curious smile. "It looks weak but also kind of cute. What class are you using? I have never seen a slime like this before."
"It's confidential," Zich said calmly. His tone was not rude, but it was clear he had no intention of explaining anything.
Helen blinked, clearly not expecting that kind of answer, then she laughed a little and stood upright again. "You are quite interesting. Most people would try to show off their class, but you are hiding it. That means your class is either very weak or very special."
Jayden snorted from the side. "It is probably weak. If it was not, he would not dare hide it."
Zich did not respond to that and instead adjusted the strap on his bag slightly. Helen watched him for a moment, then she spoke again. "You seem calm and you are not panicking like most newcomers. How about this, Zich. We are planning to hunt around this area for a while. You and your slime can join us. It will be safer and we can level faster together and enter the second layer."
Zich shook his head without hesitation. "No. I prefer to move alone."
Helen tilted her head slightly as if she was studying him. "Are you sure? This place is not safe. Even strong players die here."
"I know," Zich replied. "But I still prefer to move alone."
Jayden looked at him with cold eyes. "Suit yourself. Just do not die and become monster food."
Helen sighed a little but did not try to force him. "Alright then. But if you change your mind, we might still be around this area for some time."
Zich gave a small nod, then he turned and walked away with Slimy bouncing beside him. Helen crossed her arms and watched his back as he left, the interest in her eyes not fading.
"That guy is strange," Jayden said bluntly. "His gaze feels dead."
Helen smiled slightly, not saying anything and simply watched.
…
Zich continued walking for some time until he was sure he was far away from them. When he finally stopped, he opened his status screen and looked at his available stat points. He had five points from the recent level up.
Without hesitation, he placed all five points into intelligence. His intelligence rose to six, and his mana increased to sixty.
"That should make things easier," he said quietly. "Now I would not have to worry about Slimy disappearing mid battle easily."
As he was about to close the screen, he noticed something else. TheTombstone slot had increased again. The number had gone up by five. That meant the number of monsters he needed to absorb or use to create a pet had increased to ten.
"So that is how it works," Zich said calmly. "It seems whenever I level up, the requirement increases too."
Slimy made a small sound as if it did not understand but was still listening.
After that, Zich and Slimy began hunting again. They moved carefully through the area until they found a small group of monsters. The fight was short. Slimy spat poison that slowed the monsters while Zich moved in and finished them off quickly. The coordination between them was simple but effective.
Not long after that, they encountered two more monsters. This time the monsters rushed at them, but Slimy jumped forward and released poison again, forcing the monsters to slow down. Zich stepped in calmly and dealt with both monsters one after the other without wasting too much energy.
After killing the two monsters and accumulating a total of ten orbs, Zich looked around and found a quiet and safe spot between a few large rocks where monsters did not seem to pass often. He nodded slightly and then sat down.
"Stay here and keep watch. If anyone tries to attack me, protect me at all cost," he said to Slimy.
A moment later, he closed his eyes as he entered his graveyard.
A few seconds passed quietly in the outside world and nothing seemed to happen.
At that moment, a group of players walked into the area. They were talking among themselves, but when they saw Slimy bouncing around alone, they immediately stopped.
"What is that thing?" one of them asked as he stared at Slimy cautiously.
"That is a low level monster, a slime," another spoke while gripping his weapon tightly.
The eyes of the group then fell on Zich, who was lying motionless there.
"It might have killed that player," someone muttered quietly as his expression became serious.
"Come on, let us get rid of it. It should be easy."
The group slowly spread out and began to move toward Slimy with their weapons ready to attack.
…
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