After vomiting, Ash began searching the Rogues' bodies for items. With disgust, he forced himself to go through their pockets.
*Ting*
[You have found a Magic Stone.]
*Ting*
[You obtained green gemstones.]
*Ting*
[You have found a Healing Potion.]
*Ting*
[You obtained red gemstones.]
*Ting*
[You obtained purple gemstones.]
*Ting*
[You have found a Strength Potion.]
...
*Ting*
[You obtained 50 gemstones and 50 regular items.]
[You have passed the trial stage.]
[You are now at stage 1.]
[You can take a look at your Quests now.]
The notification sounds kept ringing in his ears and only stopped when he finished searching all the bodies. As a result, he began to hear phantom notifications still ringing in his ear.
He patted his head and shook it, trying to drown out the hum of the 'ting-ting-ting' sounds.
"Damn it..." he muttered, wishing he could silence the notifications.
Unknown to him, due to the constant notification sounds, a thin, small man was sneaking up on him. Once close, the person immediately pounced on him, and they rolled around on the warehouse floor.
Ash tried to free himself from the man's grip. He hit the person on the head with his fist.
The person rolled away from Ash, then got up and wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. He grinned maniacally.
"Who are you?!" Ash yelled at the stranger. His hand went for his sword.
The person chuckled, looking at Ash, and took out two scimitars. He held them both in front of his chest and twirled them expertly.
'What skill is that?' Ash was confused.
"Give me all the items you have!" the person ordered in a low, rough voice.
Ash snarled, "Why would I give it to you?!"
"That means you have to die!" the person said, then attacked Ash with fast movements. The scimitars in his hands swung fiercely, right and left.
Ash could only parry the attacks. He knew from games that skills like this were usually good at close-range attacks.
He tried to push the person back to create some distance. But his shoulder was injured. Several times, the scimitar almost hit vital parts of his body.
Soon, he was pushed back against the warehouse wall.
The person laughed. "It turns out you are still at a low level," he said. "Give up. I am already at Assassin level, so it is useless for you to fight me."
Ash gasped. Assassin level meant Advanced Skill of Rogue. He found out about it from the system before he barged into the warehouse.
"NO!"
He blocked the person's sword swing and then ran towards one corner of the wooden-floored warehouse. The person gave chase and swung his sword from above, directly at Ash's head.
Ash parried that attack with a grimace. His left shoulder, where he had been shot, felt very painful.
Suddenly, the wooden floor broke, and they fell into a curved hole, rolling deeper into it.
Ash stopped tumbling when his back hit the frame of the large fan embedded at the end of the hole. His temple hit a lever so hard that it bled, and the lever moved upwards.
The large fan automatically turned on and strongly sucked air from inside the hole.
The assassin, who had stopped right in front of the fan, was slammed into it. His body was immediately cut into pieces by the fan blades.
Ash, also being sucked toward the fan, tried not to let go of the frame. He tried as hard as he could to reach the lever to lower it.
A few splinters from the fallen floorboards hit his body, and his hands almost came off the frame. He kept trying to reach the lever, and when he succeeded, he lowered it.
The big fan finally turned off, making him fall onto the steel plate floor. He immediately fainted.
---
Half an hour later, when he regained consciousness, Ash observed his surroundings. He saw splatters of blood and flesh from the person who had tried to kill him on the fan's blades.
Suddenly, he felt nauseous and wanted to vomit again, but he held it in.
He walked and found his sword. Luckily, it was stuck at the bottom of the frame and was not damaged. Trying not to look at the fan, which was still dripping with blood and smelled foul, he picked up the sword.
With his remaining strength, he climbed out of the hole and went out of the cursed warehouse.
He stumbled towards the tree he had been standing in. After a moment of rest, he climbed up and took his backpack, then walked away from that damn place.
'I have to find a place to hide.' His mind was a little fuzzy, but he was determined to find a safe place to rest comfortably.
He walked without stopping until the sun came up. The sunlight made the water sparkle and hurt his eyes. Realizing that he was now standing on the shore, he stopped walking.
He put his backpack down, opened it, and saw a bright green liquid bottled inside. It was the healing potion he found from the Rogues.
'Can this healing potion work?' he thought. "Hhhh, there's no harm in trying..."
He opened the bottle's lid and drank all the contents. Then his body glowed softly with a greenish hue, and he felt his wounds no longer hurt.
He touched his wounded temple, and the wound was no longer there. He opened the sleeve of his jacket and saw that the gunshot wound in his shoulder had disappeared.
He grinned. He also felt his body refreshed, no longer tired or aching from being hit by blunt objects during the fight.
"Damn it, I was too panicked, so I forgot that I had a healing potion," he grumbled. "Should have drunk it sooner last night."
Relieved, he looked at his surroundings and began to find a safe place to rest. He didn't see any large trees he could sleep on, but he saw a small wooden ship floating near a coastal cliff, not far from where he was.
After thinking for some time, he decided to board the ship and float it out to sea so that no other players could get close to it.
"Perfect hiding spot, I guess," he mumbled, strolling towards the ship.