Newbie's Quest: Awaiting Challenge
Chapter 11: Don't Scare the NPC

Ethan Walker couldn't believe it - he had reached the maximum level?

With curiosity, he tapped on the bracelet, bringing up a semi-transparent virtual screen displaying all his information. Name: Ethan Walker

Level: Iv990

Mental Power: 9990

Combat Power: 9990

ICard Slots: Time Stop Card *1, Resurrection Card *10

Weapon: Inflatable Hammer (A romantic pink adorned with star patterns, a favorite among the burly men) Subordinate: Little Red Riding Hood (A solitary girl with four faces; don't call her a child, call her 'Red Sister')[

Assessment: Hard to believe someone refreshed the starter level 1000 times and leveled up to the max. Good luck to you, you peculiar fanatic.

Ethan was speechless at the last comment. Did he choose to grind a thousand times? How annoying.

Though the assessment seemed to trample on him bizarrely, the good news was his persistence at the beginner's level had surprisingly resulted in reaching the max level. It was hard not to think of legends like the Sword God of Ten Li Slope.

Despite achieving the maximum level, Ethan didn't feel overly proud. Given the many years since the White Tower's appearance, he assumed many had reached level 99. This achievement didn't seem particularly noteworthy.

Stay humble.

Unaware of the outside world, Ethan also didn't know that the highest level on the personal ranking list was only 48. Before the White Tower's first upgrade, the highest level was capped at 50. Ethan's situation was a bug within a bug.

Having soloed a 35 instance a thousand times, he belonged to a different plane in both mental and combat power.

But Ethan wasn't overly concerned with these details; his simple goal was to survive in this reborn world.

"Surviving in this new world is tough, what with guilds and all these mystical things."

He muttered to himself, fingers swiftly navigating the screen, exploring other functionalities like live streaming, and cloud space - the usual features, similar to the bracelet he had seen with Emily. Yet, Ethan noticed a hidden page in his bracelet, accessible only through his fingerprint and facial recognition.

Instance Holographic Simulation Feature

This feature is custom-made, limited to one ID worldwidel

Using the simulation feature, players can re-enter instances a limited number of times

Death in this feature does not affect reality!]

Current simulation instance: Hamilton Fourth Middle School

Please set the number of simulations (up to 1000 times)

Simulation can be stopped at any time

The hidden feature was a delightful discovery, enabling Ethan to simulate the instance he was about to enter whenever he wished. Better still, the simulation could be stopped at any time, freeing him from the ordeal of having to complete a thousand runs before exiting the simulation, as he had initially experienced.

Although he was too drowsy to fully grasp his conversation with Alex Johnson towards the end, Ethan was fairly certain his next instance would be Hamilton Fourth Middle School.

"Let's set the simulation number..."

Ethan's fingertips lightly touched the screen.

"Set it to 1000 times, for now, I can always stop it anyway."

Simulation Number Set: 10000

Instance Simulation Commencing

The main screen of the bracelet switched from a clock to a timer, signaling the start of the simulation.

Ethan Walker, with curiosity, retrieved his inflatable hammer from the cloud space.

The time within the instance was 5 PM, a gloomy afternoon with overcast skies, casting an eerie pall over the deserted school.

The atmosphere was suitably set, and Ethan rubbed his nose, sneezing.

What was that odor? It smelled like rotting meat distinctly unpleasant.

Hamilton Fourth Middle School's gate resembled any ordinary middle school's, with a broken electric retractable gate for vehicles, and its track overgrown with weeds.

Another, narrower gate for students, located between the retractable gate and the security room, allowed only single-file entry.

Ethan glanced at the school signboard and pushed open the narrow gate beside the security room.

Creak-

The rusty metal gate screeched.

Entering the school, Ethan felt as if the light dimmed further, though only five minutes had passed since he stepped inside.

A large playground greeted him, surrounded by a plastic track and a white goalpost, utterly devoid of people.

The teaching building stood to his left, a four-story L-shaped structure.

The windows, pale blue from afar, showed signs of neglect - many were broken or entirely missing, gaping like enormous mouths. Ethan's gaze swept over a row of windows on the third floor, one of which was half-broken.

He thought he saw a shadow flicker past - perhaps a trick of the light or an illusion.

Without dwelling on it, he scanned the surroundings and then looked away.

Little Red Riding Hood, now appearing as a normal girl, stood by his side, her footsteps initially echoing and then falling silent. The darker ambiance within the school contrasted starkly with the outside world.

Time had barely advanced, yet the atmosphere seemed oppressively dim.

Ethan leaned down to speak softly to his companion.

"Red Sister, why aren't there any NPCs in this instance? The school isn't small; searching it floor by floor would take forever."

"I don't know," she replied simply.

Ethan hadn't expected a useful answer from her and regarded her more as an unhelpful spectator.

Alone, talking to himself seemed too strange.

"Never mind, let's take a walk then, like a stroll."

Little Red Riding Hood quickly slipped her hand into Ethan's, a quick movement.

Her face, stiff and unable to display much emotion, seemed to convey her happiness with this small gesture.

Ethan was less pleased; her hand felt like holding a block of ice.

As the adult led the child, preparing to explore for useful clues to expedite their completion of the instance, Ethan stopped abruptly.

Before him, an unexpected figure appeared - a security guard with a round face and a plump body, holding a white enamel jar and a bottle of mineral water, stuttering slightly. Upon seeing Ethan, the guard didn't chase him away but smiled innocently.

"Hello there..."

Ethan stepped back, hiding behind Red Sister.

The girl looked perplexed.

"Who are you?" Ethan asked warily.

"You're the new guy, right? I heard about you from the security department." Mistaking Ethan for a new security guard, the man didn't ask him to leave.

"I'm the new guy," Ethan said, accepting the role.

"This is my sister; say hello to uncle."

He nudged the hand holding Little Red Riding Hood's, prompting her to wave.

To his surprise, the guard looked terrified.

"Who... who? Brother, there's nobody beside you! Don't scare me!"

"..." Ethan was speechless.