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The forest was quiet, so quiet, in fact, we could hear the sound of falling leaves.

“Seriously, newcomer, how long are you going to keep standing like that?”

I finally broke the silence and said to the Ranger who remained frozen in his stance. I must admit, he looked quite cool, but for some reason, it gave off a sense of disharmony.

“Ahaha, how careless of me…”

He put away the longsword and turned around while scratching his head. The instant our eyes met, he looked away with a blush.

…………Did he get the wrong idea?

Soon after, he turned towards Muqing, who was standing on the side.

“That, um… Miss Muqing?”
“Huh? You know my name?”
“It’s displayed on top of your head,” I said while rolling my eyes.
“O-oh…! Does that mean the NPC can also see our name?”
“It doesn’t seem like they can. It seems that only people like us can see the information window.”

While he was explaining, I took the chance to peek at his information.

Nangong Zhenxian
– LV4 Ranger
– [Lost Ranger]¹

He’s actually one level higher than us? I had searched all over the newbie village but couldn’t find other people with similar situations as ours, so it was already quite surprising to run into one now. But more than that, he’s also higher level than us?

That made me feel a little bitter. I always used to play as a frontliner but now I’ve fallen to this state…

Just thinking about it is making me feel depressed.

“Speaking of, newcomer, do you know the way back?” Suddenly recalling a matter of utmost importance, I asked.

After a moment of silence, that Ranger called Nangong Zhenxian shook his head.

Just great, three directionally challenged individuals had come together.

Wasn’t there a saying that if you put three directionally challenged individuals together, they could form a small map?

Never mind, there wouldn’t be such a convenient function in this world.

It was already midnight and we were still roaming around in the forest, with the shadow of the newbie village nowhere to be seen. As I thought about it, I couldn’t help but miss the peaceful atmosphere of the newbie village. Moreover, the NPCs were very intelligent; if we spent half a day chatting with them and building up our favorability gauge, we might be staying in the NPC’s home as guests by now.

I believe Muqing peeked into a few of the NPC’s houses when we just arrived? She said there’s nothing special about them and looked no different than an ordinary house.

“Hey~”

I raised my voice to complain, “How much longer are we going to walk! My stamina gauge is almost empty!”

“Don’t ask me, how am I supposed to know?! Besides, do you think my stamina gauge is doing any better?”

Muqing retorted weakly. It seemed that both the Thief and Mage class didn’t have much stamina? On the other hand, that Ranger was still looking quite relaxed.

Just looking at that, I really wished I could switch Jobs with him.

“……so you’re called Nangong Zhenxian?” I asked. Thinking back on it, we never had an actual conversation until now.

“Yeah…”

He turned his head to look at me, then he suddenly stopped and a weird look appeared on his face.

I blinked my eyes in doubt and tilted my head.

“……S-so cute……”
“What weird things are you thinking of!”

I lifted the staff and hit his head.

Critical Hit!
HP -30
Status Ailment: Dizziness

After recovering from the dizziness state, he looked at the fuming me before turning his eyes to Muqing.

“Um… Thief Lady.”
“I have a name y’know!”
“Oh, Miss Muqing… is this your sister?”
“…………”

After we exchanged a glance, Muqing nodded.

After all, wouldn’t it do more harm than good on his conscience if we informed him of the cruel reality too early?

All of a sudden, a red arrow popped up in the upper right corner of our vision and pointed to the bush.

W-what’s happening?

Could it be some kind of boss? No, please don’t! My stamina gauge hasn’t even recovered to 5% yet!

“…I feel that,” Nangong slowly lifted his head to look at the night sky, “even with the three of us together, we wouldn’t be able to make that guy budge.”

As I followed his line of sight and looked up, my jaw immediately dropped.

That was a monster three to four times the size of Wild Boar Chief. It was even taller than the trees that surrounded it! Just looking at its figure brought us immense dread. If we put that thing in the real world, it’d be about the same size as the Hulk!²

A Wild Boss Appeared!
Boar King, LV8
HP: 2660 / 2660
Overlord Rank
~ Kill it for a chance to get rare equipment ~

What the 𝓯𝓾𝓬𝓴 is up with that last bait-like line?!

That notice popped up in our field of vision at the same time. However, none of us had the confidence to kill that thing with HP as high as 2660. Moreover, it was level 8! Just with the level difference alone, it’d be able to flatten us with a single hit!

At times like this, I’ll bet even the Beast Trap or Lightning Touch would be ineffective.

Therefore, even with my creed to “always kill any boss we encounter”, I chose to run away with my sister and the new guy.

1. Silva: Just a translator’s rant, I still find Chinese names awkward to read in English translation.
2. Lilith: Smash