Ren kept hunting.
The next few fights went much faster.
Not perfectly. One rabbit slipped past his spear and clipped his ankle for four HP. Another refused to charge until Ren got close enough to annoy it, then nearly caught him in the knee.
But Ren stopped treating them like moving targets and started paying attention to how they actually fought.
They liked straight charges. They dodged when he committed too early. Walls, trees and irrigation ditches limited their movement. And now he had another reason to care about where his spear landed.
A clean hit killed faster.
A clean hit on the right place killed much faster.
Horned Rabbit slain. +8 XP.
Level 1 — 45/100 XP
Later:
Critical Hit
Keen Bite F activated.
Horned Rabbit slain. +8 XP.
Level 1 — 61/100 XP
Ren smiled at that one.
He was beginning to understand why people spent thousands of dollars preparing for this game.
The difference between barely surviving his first rabbit and killing one cleanly had taken less than a dozen fights.
And he still had no class.
By the time his quest counter reached seven, other players had spread much farther from Aldern.
The fields were no longer a solid wall of beginners, but competition was still everywhere.
Two archers sprinted past Ren after the same rabbit.
"I hit it first!"
"You hit the tree!"
"It was intimidation!"
The rabbit escaped both of them.
Ren continued in the other direction.
A small white light appeared above the corpse of his eighth target.
He stopped immediately.
Direct Drop
Cracked Horn — Grey
He picked it up.
Cracked Horn
Grey Material
A damaged horn from an Aldern Horned Rabbit.
Used in low-grade crafting.
Ren turned it between his fingers.
It was objectively unimpressive. It was also his first actual drop.
He put it into his inventory with a grin.
Mine.
That felt better than it probably should have.
The next rabbit dropped nothing.
Pantheon restored balance to the universe.
By the time Ren collected the tenth pair of ears, his arms hurt and the borrowed spear had acquired several new scratches he intended to describe as ordinary agricultural wear.
His XP was just short of the next level.
Level 1 — 93/100 XP
Ren stared at the bar.
Seven points.
"Of course."
He headed back toward Aldern.
The western gate was even busier than before. Players streamed in and out carrying damaged starter weapons, quest items and stories about rabbits that became noticeably larger every time they were retold.
Two Level 2 players were comparing their Character screens near the gate.
"My class auto-assigned three. Strength and Vitality. I only got two to place myself."
"Lucky. Ranger put mine into Agility and Perception. I wanted more Strength."
"Then why did you pick Ranger?"
"The game recommended it. Also, bows looked cool."
"Looked?"
"They’re really hard to draw, though."
One man was explaining to his party that the rabbit which had nearly killed him was "basically a field boss."
Ren had seen the corpse. It had been Level 1.
A party of four hurried past him toward the fields, one of them wearing the white sash of a novice Cleric.
"Don’t pull two this time."
"I didn’t pull two. The second one joined voluntarily."
"Boars don’t volunteer."
"Tell him that."
Behind them, a guild recruiter had planted a sign beside the gate.
LEVEL 2+ — TANKS AND HEALERS PRIORITY — NO DRAMA
Two players were already arguing under it.
Ren glanced at the sign, then at his own empty Class line. Apparently he had managed to fail the requirements for being recruited before anyone had even asked.
Guess I’m playing solo for a while.
He kept walking.
The farmer was still beside her handcart. She held out a hand when she saw him.
"Ears."
Ren opened his inventory and transferred all ten pairs.
Her expression improved slightly.
"Bare minimum achieved."
"I treasure your approval."
She inspected the spear next. Her eyes stopped on the scratches. Then on him.
"Normal wear?"
"Remarkably hostile agriculture."
She took the spear back without asking him to pay for the damage.
Ren considered that a victory.
A quest notification appeared.
Quest Complete: Rabbit Cull
Reward: 10 Copper
+20 XP
The XP bar filled, reset, then stopped at 13.
Level Up. You are now Level 2.
+5 stat points available.
Ren forgot about the spear.
He opened his Character menu.
Vagrant
Level: 2
Tier: F
Class: Classless
Talent:
Strength: 11
Agility: 10
Vitality: 8
Intellect: 10
Perception: 11
Unassigned Stat Points: 5
Nothing had moved automatically.
The players by the gate had only received two points to place themselves. Ren had all five.
A short line appeared beneath them.
Classless: Full stat allocation available.
Ren stared at the five points so hard they might have been five gold coins. Or five grand. He could do with five grand.
He chuckled.
For the first time since the assessment, being Classless had given him something instead of taking something away.