I am not too good with people as it was, but I will have to endure if I wish to change myself. However, I do wonder why they are staring. It does seem strange since even the NPCs are looking at me as if I was some kind of side-show freak. I dare say that I do not have a beard, and I am not part fish, so I do not understand why they are staring so hard. It kind of makes it hard to step into a back alley.

With no other choice, I went up to the one lone girl who was busy looking at something else besides me. “Umm…. Can…. Can you tell me why they are… Ummm… Staring?”  I just said more words to an actual person than I have in the past week. It is truly a tiresome matter.

“Huh? Are you speaking to m….. Wow…. Cute….” The girl’s cheeks turned red as she said this. I do not seem to understand why she suddenly paused her words. Even as I look around, I do not see anything remotely cute. 

“Umm…. Can… you answer…..” I felt defeated. I was trying my hardest here!

“Ah! Right! Sorry, but I think it’s because you are very cute. It’s hard not to turn and look when you see a cute girl.” The girl’s answer startled me. I only looked like I normally do with just a mix of demon. I mean, it did look cute, but not enough to make everyone stare, right?

    “I… I see…. Thanks…” I lowered my head and walked into the alley nearby. Luckily, no one was following me. If they did, I would not be able to continue what I planned to do, but my looks were currently not something I wanted to deal with. If I recall correctly, there was a stat-boosting mask I could get from a quest that only took an hour. I should first grab the quest chains for the skills before moving on.

Each skill was different. Besides Mirage Sword, there was Shadow Mimic. It was a skill that allowed you to summon shadows of the enemies you had defeated. So, let’s say I were to defeat a slime or a horned rabbit. I could summon their shadow to fight for me for a short period of time.

The third skill was Nature’s Embrace. It allowed you to summon floral and fauna-type monsters to do your bidding. The skill was not just for attacking only but they could also be used to pick up items as well or even carry things for you. There was truly no end to what this skill could be used for.

The fourth skill was called Chrono Step. It allowed the user to manipulate time temporarily to increase their speed and reflexes. It was only a short burst of speed, but in a pinch, it could allow you to escape certain death. 

Each of these skills varied, but each one was a skill that many would die for. You could even say for unique skills found in a newbie area they were very much overpowered. But the reason they were so good was because the quests were not easy either. And if you fail the first part of the quest even once, you can not pick it up again. The one I am most worried about is Shadow Mimic. I heard it was a very hard quest chain. Luckily, only the first part of the quest was the breaking point. The rest of the chain was not timed; at least, that is how it was according to my dreams.

Once I pick up the first part of the quest chains, I will go find the quest for the face mask. This way, I can avoid any unnecessary issues. The mask only required me to get items from monsters outside the town, but the items needed were a rare drop. As long as I can get them in an hour, it should not hold me back too long.

“Stop! Leave me alone!” A cry for help came from the alley just ahead of me. I went into a sprint, not wanting anyone else to pick up on it. 

The thugs were your normal two-bit thugs. They had dirty, tattered clothes and knives in their hands. The one had a blonde-headed girl by her hand and was trying to pull her down the alley. I did not even need to think about how to act since these thugs were all level four. If my dreams were correct, then I should be able to dispatch them quite quickly despite the level difference. After all, this was not a point-and-click game. Everything relied on skill. If one was good enough, even a level 1 could beat a level 100, although it would probably take them a month to do, and that would be fighting non-stop straight, so I guess in the end, unless they are able to sleep an entire month without sustenance to keep their body going then they would be able to if not…. Well not really worth dying over if you ask me.

I took a deep breath and drew my training sword. I saw no point in giving any warnings. After all, one had to be an idiot to announce their arrival. A sneak attack might not be considered horrible, but they are a few levels above me, and I needed to reduce their numbers. Luckily, there were only three altogether.

I ran up behind the thug who was watching the show from the side and slashed down with my sword. “Argh!” The thug, I guess I should name him Thug A, cried out in pain as a deep gash formed on his back. As the game was based on realism, blood began to pool on the wound and drip down to the ground.

His cry of pain alarmed the other two thugs. Thug, let’s call him Thug B, was the first to acknowledge my presence. “Who the hell are you!?” 

    “Just a passerby,” I replied before swinging my sword down once more. This time, I aimed for the neck of Thug A, slashing the sharp edge of my blade across his neck. Blood once more squirted out and even splashed on me, but I had no time to care about that. I still had two more enemies to dispatch after all.