MMORPG: Crowd Control

Lei Zhen was completely exhausted as he struggled to take another step forward. He had been running for the past hours without rest, yet the horde of Goblin Mobs seemed to be relentless at chasing after him.

Lei Zhen couldn't understand why he was still being chased down.

He had run past four entire groups of players already, but the horde didn't seem to care about them as they focused solely on him.

"Haa Haa, I can't run anymore." Lei Zhen panted heavily as he gave up running. He sat down and leaned close to a large tree. His clothes were drenched in his sweat and some parts were tattered in the process from the occasional tree branches.

He opened his map and saw the horde was about to catch up to him.

'This is the end I guess.' Lei Zhen thought. Without any stamina and energy to continue running, he could only wait for his inevitable fate.

For a newbie player like him, Lei Zhen truly wondered why Magnolia Online was so popular when all it did was force him to run.

Suddenly, Lei Zhen noticed his [Novice Staff] was still stained in blood from the first Goblin Mob he had killed. Seeing how he was going to die soon, Lei Zhen decided to use his clothes to wipe off the blood. He was just finding something before getting killed.

However, the moment the blood was wiped off from the [Novice Staff], Lei Zhen saw the horde had stopped running toward his direction, almost like they lost their sense of direction.

'What is going on?' Lei Zhen wondered silently. All this time, the horde managed to chase after him no matter the detour and side-step he took.

"Have they been following me because of the bloodstain in my staff?" Lei Zhen twitched his mouth in disbelief. If all he needed to was wipe off the blood to clear him of suspicions, then why did he waste all his stamina on running?

With his eyes focused on the map, Lei Zhen saw the horde of Goblin Mobs scattering all across the Lux Forest.

He laughed bitterly and slowly stood up. Placing his hand on the tree, he used it to balance himself since he was still too exhausted to walk normally.

Just when he took another step forward, Lei Zhen felt the soil on the ground to be a bit softer than usual.

Before he could comprehend why he felt that way, he fell straight down to a pit.

THUMP!

Lei Zhen fell down with his butt first and the first thing that came to mind is only one word.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Lei Zhen screamed in agony as he hurriedly rubbed his butt with his hand. It might be a game he was playing, but the pain was so realistic that it felt like the real thing.

He tilted his head slightly and saw his butt was bleeding a little bit, most likely from the impact with the small tree branches on the ground.

Without hesitation, Lei Zhen quickly ripped off some of his [Novice Robe] to wrap around his butt, stopping the bleeding. Since he was someone who studied how to be a doctor before, it was easy for him to stop the bleeding without much difficulty.

Once he stopped the bleeding of his butt, Lei Zhen looked above the hole he fell in, only to realize he had fallen at least 7 meters down.

The place he fell down was filled with some tree vines and scattered tree branches on the ground. Other than that, there were some leaves piled up in a corner.

At first, Lei Zhen thought there were some things covering the leaves so he brushed them aside. Alas, there wasn't another hidden path like how he had hoped for.

He sighed softly and opened his character status to check.

[ Name: Lei Zhen

Class: Crowd Controller]

Level: 1

(Health Point) HP: 12/355

(Mana Point) MP: 130/130

(Attack) Atk: 8 (+5)

(Defense) Def: 7 (+5)

(Intelligence) Int: 14

(Wisdom) Wis: 12

(Dexterity) Dex:8

(Speed) Spd: 9 ]

Seeing his Health Point, Lei Zhen cried silently. That one fall damage took a big chunk of his health. It was even worse than the time he was being chased by a horde of Goblin Mobs.

"Ugh, just how much more unlucky can one get? This is way too unrealistic." Lei Zhen complained in an irritated manner. He was willing to bet his entire fortune that no other beginner had experienced what he had gone through.

After complaining a few times, Lei Zhen calmed his emotions. It was best to remain calm at all times no matter the circumstances. Otherwise, the chance of him making more incorrect decisions would increase.

Patience is a virtue, and one must have a lot of patience when playing a video game.

While Lei Zhen was trying to come up with a solution, the vines on the wall slowly started moving.

It started moving around its vines like some tentacles as it crept closer to Lei Zhen. Soon, it started to strike its vines toward Lei Zhen, clearly trying to eliminate him.

Thankfully, Lei Zhen already noticed its movement since it wasn't really being sneaky. With a leap, Lei Zhen narrowly avoided the vines from striking his internal organs.

[Stun]

Lei Zhen hurriedly cast in response to its attack. If it's a monster, then surely his skill should be capable of targeting it.

As expected, once the [Stun] was cast, the vines stopped midair, unable to move.

Meanwhile, Lei Zhen had no time to admire the mysterious vines or wonder why they attacked him. Instead, he grabbed his [Novice Staff] and started smacking it.

Another round of grueling smack began, similar to how he had killed his first Goblin Mob.

Of course, the damage was still the same no matter how he swung his staff.

To make things worse, there was no health point indicator from the enemy so Lei Zhen could only keep smacking and casting stuns on the vines repeatedly to stay alive.

BAM!

BOOM!

POW!

Lei Zhen had continued to attack the vines without knowing how much time had passed. Though one thing was for sure and that was his stamina was almost depleted.

Sweats could be seen trickling down his forehead as Lei Zhen had started showing signs of struggling to resist the vines. The vines seemed to have unlimited energy and would relentlessly pursue Lei Zhen.

"That damn Shan Lin had truly conned me good." Lei Zhen clicked his tongue as he used his [Novice Staff] to smack another incoming vine.

"How is this even fun? Why are people enjoying this game to begin with? Are they all a bunch of masochists that love getting beaten up?"

As much as he tried to refrain himself from complaining, he couldn't help it when he was literally about to get killed by a bunch of vines after falling into a pit.

Time slowly passed by, and Lei Zhen could no longer raise his staff up at all. His strength had been depleted as he plopped to the ground, unable to move a single inch.

Since he was always in the room studying, there was little time for him to actually go out and exercise.

"I guess this is karma for someone who doesn't work out," Lei Zhen smiled bitterly, staring at the vines that were violently approaching him.

Unable to resist any longer, Lei Zhen merely closed his eyes, not even caring that his body would be pierced.

'The game really hates me…' Lei Zhen thought, feeling the vines had pierced through his stomach.

Ding!

[You have received 10 damage from the poisonous vine]

[You are hereby poisoned and would start losing health point each passing minute]

The system prompt appeared when he received a fatal strike from the vines, but Lei Zhen was in no condition to even read it.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood as he could feel the pain emitting from his stomach. At the same time, he couldn't help but curse the game for being so realistic when one received damage.

Just when Lei Zhen thought another vine would attack him, effectively killing him, the vines halted its movement.

"What? Are you taunting and teasing me for being such a weakling?" Lei Zhen was lying exhausted on the ground as he sneered coldly when he noticed the vines had stopped attacking.

To his dismay though, the vines were rather interested in the blood that he had just coughed up.

Feeling extremely disgusted, he witnessed the vines begin absorbing the blood.

His expression turned perplexed as he fainted unconsciously.