Once everything was settled, the gathering crew set off. With hunters covering our front and back, I expected a long trek past the bridges and farms... but instead, we took a different route, following a dirt path east of Graywatch.
"Dressed well for the occasion, eh!?" the foreman jeered, drawing hearty laughter from the other laborers. I squinted at them, unamused. Yeah, real funny seeing me decked out in metal gauntlets and greaves, wading knee-deep through a small river. After crossing, we herded our oxen mounts together and continued forward—straight into a wide cave tunnel I had never seen before.
Inside, torchlight flickered against the damp stone walls, revealing three paths: one exit to the left, another to the north, and a third tunnel leading deeper underground. This wasn't on the map when I played...
"What is this place, pops?" I asked, stepping up to the foreman.
"This used to be a working mineshaft until the centaurs raided it. Bastards sealed off the deeper tunnels with earth magic. The Knights of the Six fought to reclaim it, and now it's an emergency bunker. Safer to travel through into the forest," he explained.
That triggered a memory—there was a dynamic event in League Wars where players had to defend miners. Dynamic events looped regardless of success or failure, and I had always assumed that failed ones simply reset. But if failed events had real consequences in this world... then that meant I needed to hurry if I wanted to save that lady's farm. But first, I had to get stronger.
Taking the northern exit, we climbed up a hill. At the top, a dense forest stretched before us, filled with towering trees of varying heights. There were only two types I recognized—the brown-barked, green-leaved Tier 1 Green Wood Trees, and the orange-leaved, white-barked Tier 2 Birch Trees. Large boulders littered the landscape, marking deposits of Tier 1 Stone and Tier 2 Limestone. I'd never seen resource nodes this abundant before.
"Alright, you lot know the drill—get to work!" the foreman barked.
The laborers grabbed their axes and stone hammers from the oxen saddles, splitting up to harvest materials. The hunters accompanying us ventured deeper into the woods, likely scouting for threats. As I approached a Green Wood tree, I felt a faint vibration in my pocket. My compass.
Curious, I pulled it out, and it lit up. At the same time, my map—previously blank—began to fill in on its own. The location name appeared at the top:
Greenshade Forest.
For a brief moment, a bar flickered in the corner of my vision. Was that my experience bar?
I observed the other laborers. Those gathering stone lifted their hammers high, bringing them down repeatedly until cracks spread across the boulders. Once weak enough, the entire rock shattered. For trees, they first scraped off some bark before chopping, likely to make the process smoother. Unlike the horizontal swings I had expected, they aimed downward, letting gravity do some of the work. That made sense.
"Timber!" someone shouted.
We all turned to see a tree tipping over, sending laborers scrambling out of its path. It crashed to the ground with a deep thud, drawing a round of cheers before the worker split the fallen log into smaller sections.
Alright. I got the gist of it.
Boxers used to chop wood to develop strength and explosive power. If it worked for them, it'd work for me. After scraping away some bark, I gripped my axe, twisted my torso, and swung. Thwack. The blade sank into the wood. I exhaled sharply, like a boxer throwing a punch, and swung again. Thwack. Over and over, I kept chopping—forty-seven strikes later, the tree began to tip.
"Timber!" I called out. The others briefly cheered before returning to work.
As the tree hit the ground, golden orbs flickered in my vision. My experience bar had filled slightly. When I chopped the fallen log into six portions, I gained even more experience. If I did the math right, five more trees should push me to the next level.
Then I noticed something odd.
When I reached for a log, a "Store to Inventory" option appeared in my vision. My eyes darted around—no one was watching. I hesitated, then tapped the air. The log distorted, vanishing as if sucked into a small black hole.
I murmured, "Inventory."
A menu popped up, confirming that the log was now inside my storage. Convenient. We were supposed to load these onto the oxen, but a few "missing" logs wouldn't hurt, right?
Over the next two hours, I felled five more trees—three Green Wood and two Birch—"borrowing" a total of 18 Green Wood logs and 12 Birch logs. The rest, I loaded onto the oxen. Then, at the bottom right of my vision, an icon appeared. When I tapped it—
Level Up!
Wait—I was level 0 this whole time!?
No wonder I got my ass handed to me by that bandit. No wonder that centaur nearly cut me in half. I had been completely unarmed, unarmored, and level 0. Jesus Christ.
Before I could fully process how incredibly stupid I had been, another message appeared:
"Brawler Profession registered. Please demonstrate profession skills."
Demonstrate? Did it mean... shadowboxing? Right here? In front of everyone?
Yeah, no thanks.
I needed some space. I approached the foreman, who was counting our supplies.
"Hey pops, mind if I go deeper? There's more wood and stone that way," I said, jerking my thumb toward the deeper parts of the forest.
The foreman paused. "There's bound to be wild animals or monsters out there. You sure, kid?"
I nodded. He studied my gear, scratched his head, then sighed.
"Fine. Take an ox with you. It'll save you the trouble of hauling stuff back."
As I turned to leave, he called after me, "You better come back alive, Marcus—and with the damn ox!"
I raised a fist in response. I won't die needlessly again. I promise.
Leading the ox, I ventured deeper into the forest. Eventually, I found a wide clearing. This should be far enough. Now… how do I "demonstrate" my profession?
If I wanted to be an MMA fighter, I needed two striking and two grappling martial arts. My choices had been clear from the start:
Boxing. Muay Thai. Wrestling. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
I took a deep breath, rolled my shoulders, and got into my stance. Time to put on a show.
First, I demonstrated Boxing. I took an orthodox stance—left foot forward, right foot back—forming an "L" shape with my feet. My chin tucked in, elbows close, fists raised in a traditional high guard. From there, I moved fluidly, throwing left jabs, right straights, hooks, uppercuts, and overhands in a free-flowing shadowboxing session. Next, I worked on my head movement—slipping left and right, weaving under imaginary strikes—before raising my hands to practice my catches, parries, and blocks. I finished with footwork drills: shuffling, pivoting, and switching between orthodox and southpaw stances.
Next, Muay Thai. I adjusted my stance, keeping the same foot placement but squaring my shoulders more, feet positioned closer together. My weight shifted rhythmically as I lifted my front and back foot in turn, building a steady bounce. I threw a mix of boxing strikes, seamlessly incorporating sharp elbow strikes from different angles, knee strikes to the body, and powerful roundhouse kicks—low, mid, and high. Each kick swung through like a baseball bat, striking with the shin instead of snapping with the foot like in Tae Kwon Do. After showcasing my kicks, I demonstrated blocks, parries, catches, and "checks," lifting my shin to block incoming kicks. In this stance, head movement was harder, but defending against kicks was far easier.
Then came grappling. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do alone—it takes two to tango. I ran through solo wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu drills, focusing on movement and technique. One key maneuver was the sprawl—anticipating a takedown, I kicked my legs back and dropped my hips, denying my opponent any leverage while applying pressure to break their posture.
As I caught my breath, a message popped up: "Profession Mechanics registered. Thank you for demonstrating." I wonder how this will play out in combat...
After a short break, I turned to breaking stone, collecting eight stone chunks and six limestone chunks for my inventory. My hard labor was suddenly interrupted by the sound of wings flapping nearby. I turned—only to see a massive bat, half the size of my torso, circling above me.
I instinctively raised my guard. As if straight out of the game, a name, level, and HP bar appeared above the creature: Level 1 Cliff Bat. It circled once before diving at me, claws extended. I braced myself, gripping the top of my head as I used my gauntleted forearms to block. The bat's claws scraped against the metal, but my common-tier armor held strong.
It swooped again. This time, I stepped left, lining up my shot. As it dove in, I pivoted hard, twisting my hips and torso before slamming my fist down in a brutal overhand right. The bat reeled back, its HP bar dropping. I pressed forward, launching a left jab, right straight, left hook, and another right straight, my fists flying in a relentless barrage. The bat's health plummeted from 80% to 15%.
I ended it with a left uppercut, sending it higher into the air—only to follow up with a crushing overhand right, driving it straight into the ground. The creature twitched before finally going still. My experience bar filled again. So, killing monsters is still the fastest way to level up.
Before I could inspect the bat's corpse, a low growl made me freeze. I turned—Level 2 Brown Mountain Wolf.
I instinctively raised my Boxing guard... but the wolf was too low to reach with punches. Should I switch to Muay Thai—?
The wolf lunged. No time to think. My instincts took over. I dropped low, legs bent, arms wide—I sprawled, kicking my feet back and slamming my hips down. The wolf snapped at empty air beneath me. Seizing the moment, I grabbed its fur and slid onto its back, locking my legs around its torso.
Now in a dominant position, I secured a Dagestani Handcuff, gripping its fur with my left arm while my right gauntleted fist rained down on its eye. The wolf whimpered, HP bar dwindling. It thrashed, trying to shake me off, but I clung on, continuing the relentless assault. Then, I saw my opening.
Sliding my left arm under its throat, I locked my left hand onto my right bicep, securing a rear naked choke. My right palm pressed against the back of its head. I gritted my teeth and squeezed, cutting off its air.
Then—
Something caught my eye.
An axe.
Flying toward me.
Time slowed.
Am I going to die again?