Mumu!

“Holy crap??! Five thousand?!!”

“What's wrong? Five thousand what?”

“The EXP to level up from Level 10 to Level 11, of course! There's a whole five thousand points?!!”

“Say what?!!”

Baffled cries from players echoed all around.

As the EXP bar for leveling up from Level 10 to 11 was revealed, every single player was left completely stunned—

A whopping five thousand EXP!

How absurd was that number? Converted down, it was fifty times the total EXP needed for the first ten levels combined! The sheer length of that EXP bar was enough to make anyone go cross-eyed.

Some players felt their souls leave their bodies at the sight of it, instantly bursting into curses. “Is the dev for real?! You better hope I never find out where you live! Fuck!”

Nan Cheng naturally heard the players' furious outbursts. Having already hit the cap on his second day in the game, he had known about this far earlier than the others.

Bruce, on the other hand, had reached max level relatively late. Stretched out starfish-style on the wooden cabin steps, he stared at the sky and wailed, “The first ten levels added up to only a thousand, right? Did the dev forget a zero or something?! How long is this going to take to grind?!”

Wailing aside, the two exchanged a glance and quickly read the same thought in each other's eyes—squatting around waiting for camp quests? Impossible. Not in this lifetime.

Over the past few days of closed beta, players had thoroughly figured out the leveling paths. There were essentially only two choices: squat at the camp doing quests, or grab a weapon and head outside to kill monsters. However, mob farming had a steep entry barrier. The game's combat realism was far too high—blood spatters with every strike, severed limbs flying everywhere. In the first few days, plenty of players had killed their first wild monster, only to rush offline to catch their breath for half a day. Fortunately, the devs had left a way out by adding a setting to replace gore with pixelated censorship or “forgiving green.”

It was precisely because of this barrier, coupled with the level-loss penalty upon death, that the vast majority of players chose to stay in camp, slowly accumulating EXP through daily quests.

Their logic was simple—playing it safe was the ultimate truth.

Nan Cheng and Bruce, however, were not among them.

The two considered themselves part of the closed beta's recognized top tier. Besides, they had a “can't stay sane without playing wild” mentality. What was wrong with taking a few risks? If they stumbled upon high-level monsters, they might just soar straight to the top in one go!

So without a second word, they recruited three other male players who had also just reached Level 10 and were itching for action, forming a five-man party.

“Reaching the threshold of Bronze Rank before everyone else—that's what a closed beta is truly for,” Nan Cheng declared before they set out.

...

Somewhere deep in Starfall Forest.

Nan Cheng's party hacked away at obstructing branches with one hand while keeping their eyes peeled and their ears pricked like radar dishes, eagerly anticipating their first wild monster.

“Holy crap, isn't the modeling for this primeval forest a bit too insane? They didn't even leave a proper path!”

The party's sole pure Mage player complained while pushing aside branches in front of him.

“Did the devs really replicate the Amazon rainforest one-to-one into the game?”

“Agreed,” another Warrior player chimed in. “Though I gotta admit, as expected of a max-realism game—I feel less like I'm playing a game and more like I'm participating in a wilderness survival challenge.”

“Speaking of which, are there really monsters here?” The player walking at the very back of the five-man party wiped away some sweat, looking puzzled. “We've been walking for so long without seeing even the shadow of a wild monster. Did we come to the wrong place?”

“Don't worry! I paid special attention to the updates on the official website. It mentioned that kobolds inhabit Starfall Forest, so we might run into them any moment now.”

Hearing his teammate's question, Nan Cheng looked back with a smile.

“Whoa, as expected of a pro, even keeping tabs on the official website updates. Talk about attention to detail.”

“Alright then, let's keep moving. Hope we bump into something soon.”

The group continued forward.

After walking for who knows how long, Bruce, walking on the left side, suddenly tensed up and raised a hand in a “stop” gesture.

“Bro Cheng, we've got something.”

Leaning in close to Nan Cheng, he lowered his voice and pointed at a bush on their left, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “There's movement over there. Highly likely it's a wild monster.”

Hearing this, Nan Cheng immediately perked up. He turned around and signaled his teammates behind him to stay quiet and hold their ground.

The entire party fell instantly silent. All five tense up, their gazes locked onto the rustling bush.

As the vegetation rustled, a blue, jelly-like blob bounced out into their obscured view behind the foliage, letting out soft “mumu” noises as it hopped closer.

“Here it comes, here it comes...” Bruce whispered, bubbling with excitement.

The others' eyes lit up as well. Simultaneously, they quietly reached for the wooden swords at their waists, ready to unsheathe and instantly slay the wild monster the second it showed its head.

“Mumu! Mumu!”

As the sounds drew closer, the creature's full appearance was finally revealed to them.

It was a plump, blue jelly-like creature. It had no arms or legs, yet it could hop around using its squishy body. Two bead-like eyes blinked innocently, and it was humming an unknown little tune with rhythmic “mumu” noises.

“Holy crap?! Isn't that a slime?!”

“Mumu?!”

Whoever shouted that startled the slime so badly that its round body stiffened violently before it spun around, eager to make a break for it.

“Holy crap?! It's trying to run?”

“Running away? Not on my watch!”

“Quick! Get it! We gotta secure the first kill!”

The group instantly drew their wooden swords and slashed toward the slime.

“Mumu!”

The slime let out a panicked squeak, performing a nimble leap to dodge the players' attack. It then scrambled backward, bouncing away at a speed that defied its lack of legs.

“Dammit, we're really gonna let it escape?” The party's Mage stomped his foot in frustration.

“Seriously, who shouted just now?”

“I think it was Bruce.”

Hearing that, everyone turned to glare at Bruce.

Bruce: “...”

“Heh heh...” He let out an embarrassed laugh. “Won't happen next time.”

“After it!”

Nan Cheng reacted first, dashing after the slime without hesitation.

Bruce and the other three teammates immediately gave chase, five men sprinting through the forest in hot pursuit of a single blue jelly blob.

...

“Mumu! Mumu!”

The slime was completely terrified, making frantic “mumu” noises as it fled in sheer panic.

Its plump body displayed astonishing bouncing prowess, leaping three feet high as it wove deftly through the trees.

Nan Cheng and his group chased it for a good while, but they couldn't catch up—they couldn't even graze it!

Seeing the slime about to slip into the dense forest and vanish, the group panicked.

“You gotta be kidding me, right?! Did this damn thing turn on Sprint?!”

“Fuck! How is this slime running faster than a rabbit?!”

“I have no idea! My stamina is almost completely drained!”

“This is beyond ridiculous! It's Level 5, and I'm Level 10, yet I can't catch up to it! Did the devs balance these stats with their feet?!”

“Seriously, did this slime grow secret legs or something?!”

Seeing this, Nan Cheng yelled, “Use your skills! Hit it with ranged attacks!”

Hearing his command, the players slapped their foreheads in realization—right! They had skills! They had been so focused on chasing that they completely forgot they were armed with skills.

“Cross Slash!”

“Vine Entangle!”

“Fireball!”

“Wind Blade!”

“...”

Instantly, colorful skill visual effects exploded through the forest. Slashes, entangling vines, flames, and wind blades rained down toward the slime in a chaotic flurry.

Yet the slime acted as if it possessed an all-seeing eye, dodging left and hopping right, miraculously dodging every single skill. Its footwork was practically textbook-level.

However, even though the full salvo failed to hit the slime directly, the air currents and shockwaves generated by the skills managed to slow it down significantly.

“Holy crap?!”

“Damn, since when can a mob dodge like that?!”

“Unbelievable.”

“It's fine, its speed dropped! Hold it down!”

Nan Cheng, Bruce, and the others shouted back and forth.

The slime glanced back at the five men still in hot pursuit, its bead-like eyes filled with sheer despair:

It decided that if it survived this ordeal, it would write a book titled On How a Slime Survives Being Hunted by Humans when it got back, letting these people truly experience the meaning of “Slime's Jungle Masterclass.”