Adam and Paul stood before the city's massive, solid gate, built from thick stone blocks bound with steel reinforcements.
If you looked closely, the metal showed rust and scratch marks from old repairs.
"Those lamps look odd," Paul said, pointing toward the side of the gate.
Adam followed his finger and saw two old-fashioned lamps with an orange crystal inside.
"That crystal is a Beast Crystal specifically a Salamander's. It gives off that orange light," he said, walking through the gate.
"Beast Crystal?" Paul muttered.
"Yes. Every monster carries a Beast Crystal. A Blacksmith can use it to forge better weapons but that's not all. Beast Crystals also serve as power sources, which is how the city keeps running. You can use them in clothing, and even to fuel your skills," Adam replied, glancing at several figures ahead who stood frozen in place.
"So they're like sources of ene..." Paul broke off as he realised why the players in front of them had their jaws hanging open.
Before them stretched a wide meadow that looked as if someone had taken every memory of nature the most beautiful, pure, and warm and composed a new, flawless image from them.
The air was so clear it almost sparkled in the sun; every breath left a faint chill and freshness on the tongue.
The grass rippled with each breeze, waves of green rolling over the field like an ocean of leaves. Each blade was perfect neither too long nor trampled, as if no one had ever set foot here.
Between them glittered tiny drops of dew, even though the sky was cloudless and not a single raindrop had fallen.
In the distance, trees drew a dark line on the horizon, and above them birds drifted so smoothly it was hard to believe they were only code.
"Bloody hell… Is this really just a game?" Paul said, using his right hand to close the jaw that had dropped at the unreal beauty before him.
"Haha, I reacted the same the first time I saw it," Adam laughed, recognising the look on Paul's face. "But we've no time to lose, run after me." With that, he sprinted toward the forest.
After a few seconds more of admiring the view, Paul dashed after him along a narrow, trodden path edged with little violet flowers like lavender.
As he ran, faint motes of light drifted in the air, swirling lazily above the flowers like golden dust caught in sunlight. The scent of wild herbs clung to every breath, mixed with something sweet and foreignSomewhere far ahead, the wind carried a sound like distant chimes, soft and melodic, as if the world itself were humming. Paul blinked; for a moment, he could almost believe he wasn't in a game at all.
[Player has left the Safe Zone]
[New Area: Wild Meadow]
[PvP Mode: Active]
[Monster Activity: Moderate]
Paul didn't even notice the system prompt, absorbed by the sun gliding across the sky. Its rays spilled golden streaks over the meadow, feeding hundreds of gorgeous golden chrysanthemums with their light.
He kept turning his head like a child seeing the world anew.
"Look…" he whispered without breaking stride.
On the meadow's left, among clumps of golden flowers, butterflies danced in the air, their wings gleaming like coloured glass. One flew right past his face, its wings flashing with every colour of the rainbow.
Paul stopped with a broad smile, watching it circle him as if it truly meant to perch on his nose.
Then a sharp yank at his collar sent him crashing down; he landed hard on his backside.
"Ow! What the hell?!" he snapped, looking up.
Adam stood over him with a cool, stern gaze.
"I know you're fond of the pretty one," Adam said, pointing at the butterfly floating as if it were swimming in sunlight.
"But I'd suggest covering your left eye and saying 'Monster status' out loud first."
Hearing Adam's serious tone, Paul's irritation vanished, replaced by curiosity.
Still sitting on the ground, he covered his left eye with his hand, looked at the butterfly, and said:
"Monster status."
A system window appeared above the fluttering insect.
[Poison Butterfly: Level 1]
"POISON?!" Paul yelped, scrambling to his feet and springing away from the lovely creature.
Now, instead of wonder, fear and disgust showed in his eyes.
"Remember in this game anything beautiful is even more dangerous," Adam said, eyeing the butterfly. He opened his inventory and tapped his fourth slot.
A fresh-looking square of honeycomb materialised in his right hand.
"Honey?" Paul asked, baffled from a safe distance.
"Generally, Poison Butterflies aren't that poisonous. If one lands on you, you just get a poison debuff that drains one HP per minute," Adam said, watching the butterfly buzz excitedly around the honey.
Seeing its reaction, he set the honeycomb square in the centre of the path and stepped back a few paces to rejoin Paul.
"What makes them dangerous…" Adam tugged Paul by the arm to move farther away, glancing back now and then at the butterfly which suddenly darted off toward the others, as if it had news to share.
"…is that the little devils are swarm animals." As he spoke, Paul saw hundreds of identical butterflies converge on the honey.
Goosebumps ran up his arms as the mass of butterflies clustered together and devoured the honeycomb in a furious frenzy.
"This view isn't nearly as pretty anymore," Paul muttered, quickening his pace to get far from the Poison Butterflies.
"Never attack them," Adam said with a sour look, as if recalling a painful memory. "Killing one is easy. But if you do it in front of the swarm, the rest pile onto you like rabid dogs. In a second your whole body is covered, and in ten seconds your HP hits zero."
Paul nodded seriously, taking the warning to heart. "Good thing you had the honey. At least they've got something more interesting than my body."
"That wasn't the main goal. As long as you don't stand still, they're unlikely to attack you on their own unless you bother them first."
"Then why lure all those butterflies with the honey?" Paul asked, frowning as he tried to understand Adam's real aim.
At the question, a sinister, slightly wicked smile appeared on Adam's face. "Look closely. Now the butterflies are blocking the path we're using. So if other players want to head deeper into the meadow from this side, they'll have to go exactly along the stretch where the honey is."
Paul's face showed confusion and uncertainty.
"But can't they just go around us across the meadow if the path's blocked by butterflies?"
"Haha, they can try. But I don't know a single low-level player who's made it through that sea of golden flowers alive."
"What?! The flowers are poisonous too?" Paul stopped instinctively, covered his left eye, and looked toward the blossoms, saying, "Monster status."
But no system window appeared, contrary to what he'd expected.
"Since when are flowers monsters?" Adam said drily.
Hearing that, Paul scratched the back of his head with his right hand.
"Haha, you're right. My mistake, I panicked a bit." He took two deep breaths, then looked at the golden flowers and said:
"Item status."
This time a window popped up:
[Goldleaf Chrysanthemum]
"Goldleaf Chrysanthemum? Adam, you tricked me it looks like an ordinary flower. The system doesn't mention poison at all," Paul said, scratching his head and glancing at Adam.
Adam didn't answer. He stepped to the path's edge, plucked a bloom, and handed it to Paul with a smile.
Paul took it cautiously, lifting it closer to study it.
The petals were warm to the touch, almost velvet-soft. For a moment he truly thought Adam was teasing him and it was just a decorative prop.
Then a sharp, stinging sensation shot through his hand.
"Argh! What the...?!" he hissed, letting the golden flower drop.
A red prompt flashed:
[-1 HP]
Paul shook his hand, feeling warmth spread from the contact point not like fire, but unpleasant, as if heated metal had touched his skin.
A moment later came a mild numbness; his skin tingled like after brushing stinging nettles.
"Bloody hell… it really burns," he muttered, blowing on his palm and staring at his fingers in disbelief.
There was no visible wound only a faint pink flush.
Adam chuckled under his breath. "Told you, everything here has a personality. Even the flowers bite back."
"Literally," Paul growled, hiding his hand behind him and eyeing the thousands of golden blooms around them. "You're right, no one's walking through this meadow while these damned flowers are around." As the tingling faded, he added, looking at Adam, "But didn't you say the butterflies are hardly aggressive if you leave them alone? Players could just slip past them on the path without much trouble."
Adam's grin turned even more mischievous. "You don't need to worry about that. There's no chance anyone gets by untouched at least not while that honey's there."
Paul looked at the big smile on Adam's face and, in a way, felt relieved to have someone like him as an ally rather than an enemy.
"All right. Now that we're sure no newbies or butterflies will bother us, we can get on with the hunt," Adam said, gazing toward the forest a few hundred metres ahead.