“Where are you going?! Come back! You shouldn’t waste your life like that even if you’re immortal! Dying will still hurt! Come back!” Grandpa Bukati exclaimed.

“I’m going to be fine,” Siegfried replied while waving his hand before adding, “I just don’t have to die, right?”

“Hey! Do you have a death wish or what?!” Grandpa Bukati shouted once again.

It seemed that he was genuinely worried about Siegfried. He had seen countless novice adventurers rush to their deaths in his lifetime, and he wanted to warn the young man running in front of him of the dire consequences of his actions.

Siegfried was well aware that it was going to be difficult for him to hunt these Mutated Wolves with his current stats.

‘The Mutated Wolves are at least Level 15… Their HP and defense might be lower than the Mutated Bisons, but their attacks will definitely be stronger than those bisons. Not to mention, their attack speed will be much faster than the other mutated animals I have faced, and they are much more intelligent than them, too. I shouldn’t be overconfident and underestimate them,’ Siegfried thought.

He knew that these wolves were going to be different from the mutated animals he had encountered before, but he still wanted to test his abilities out.

To be exact, he wanted to test the Ogre’s capability and his 96.5% compatibility.

And he could feel a sense of confidence welling up inside of him.

‘I get the feeling that I’m not going to lose to them,’ 

He had no idea where this confidence came from, but he was certain that he could beat the pack of wolves despite being a mere Level 5.

“Wooof!” One of the Mutated Wolves barked at him.

It was the wolf standing at the forefront, and it was also the largest one among them.

‘So that guy is the Alpha,’ Siegfried thought.

The pack of Mutated Wolves started to get closer to him.

Fifty meters…

Thirty meters…

Ten meters…

Five meters…!

“Woof! Woof!” The Alpha Wolf barked.

Siegfried was certain that it was trying to intimidate him or it just gave the command to attack.

‘They’re coming,’ Siegfried thought as he tightly gripped his steel rod.

Tak!

The Alpha Wolf suddenly kicked off of the ground and jumped, and its target was the human holding a steel rod—Siegfried.

‘You dare jump? Then I guess you won’t be able to avoid this, then.’ 

Siegfried’s eyes sharpened.

“Grrr!” The Alpha Wolf let out a growl before opening its mouth to try and bite Siegfried’s neck.

Pukeok!

Siegfried slammed his steel rod into the lower jaw of the Alpha Wolf.

“Grrr…!” The Alpha Wolf lost its balance and fell to the ground after being hit by the human’s counterattack.

Siegfried was not someone who would pass on such a golden opportunity.

Puk! Pukeok!

Siegfried used Smite and swung his steel rod into the Alpha Wolf’s head.

“Kekeng! Kekeng!” The Alpha Wolf cried out in agony.

“Oh! I’m dealing a decent amount of damage,” Siegfried said with satisfaction at the damage Smite dealt.

The Mutated Wolf possessed a lower defense than the Mutated Bisons, so it did not take him long to take care of it, but the problem was that there was a pack of wolves in front of him.

“Grrr..!”

“Woof! Woof!”

“Grrr…!”

The ten remaining Mutated Wolves rushed at Siegfried.

‘Alright, they are all here, so it’s time to lay down my circle,’ Siegfried thought as he activated both Circle of Mortality and Circle of Weakness at the same time.

What was next after placing his circles?

Yes. It was time for him to let loose and go on a rampage.

‘Let’s let loose and beat these guys up!’ 

Siegfried swung his steel rod like a madman.

***

“Oh… Oh my god!” Grandpa Bukati exclaimed. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“I thought he was a greenhorn…!” the hunters exclaimed as well.

Siegfried did not die, and he was still fighting.

On top of that…

“He… He’s strong!” a hunter exclaimed.

Siegfried looked like he was enjoying beating the pack of wolves with his steel rod.

“This is not how I thought it would turn out…”

“What the hell is that greenhorn…? I’m certain that he looked very weak…”

“He is fighting against that many wolves alone!”

“What the hell…?”

“I guess an Adventurer is still an Adventurer after all…”

“Haha…”

The hunters could not hide their surprise.

That was how well Siegfried was fighting; no, he was not fighting the wolves—he was beating them up.

Puk! Puk! Puk! 

The sound of Siegfried’s steel rod as he pummeled the wolves reverberated across the plains.

“Kekeng! Kekeng!”

“Kekeng!”

“Kiiing… Kiing…”

The Mutated Wolves’ whimpers echoed along with it.

***

Grandpa Bukati and the hunters were stupefied.

However, Siegfried could not care less whether they were shocked or not.

‘I’m actually surprised that I managed to do this… I’m only Level 5, right…?’ 

Siegfried was astounded by his own display of strength.

He could not even think about what others thought of his display of prowess because he was fully immersed in his own thoughts. More than ten Mutated Wolves—twelve Mutated Wolves to be exact—were aiming for his thigh, ankle, back, shoulder, arm, and the rest of his body at the same time.

‘I can see it. I can see their attacks… I can feel it… I can sense where they are aiming. What is this feeling…?’ Siegfried wondered.

His heightened five senses alerted him of every single move the Mutated Wolves made.

A person could train themselves to read their opponent’s movements, but it was extremely difficult to read a group of opponents’ attacks, especially when they were attacking randomly without a set pattern. A person’s mind and body had to work together for them to be able to respond to their enemy’s attacks, even if they were able to read it in the first place. In fact, a professional athlete or a professional dancer wouldn’t have perfect control over their bodies, even if they trained themselves to do it.

It was extremely difficult for human beings to train themselves until they had perfect control over their own bodies.

However, that was not the case for Siegfried.

‘Dodge that… I can dodge it! My body is moving just as I want it to… It’s moving exactly as I want it to!’ Siegfried thought excitedly.

His brain analyzed every single attack from the wolves based on the information it collected from his five senses, and it commanded his body to move accordingly. Then, Siegfried’s body would immediately carry out the commands issued by his brain.

In short, he was able to perfectly dodge all of the attacks without a hitch.

This was only possible because his mind and body were completely synced together as one, and this was made possible thanks to these factors:

The Ogre’s insane specification.

His insane compatibility with the Ogre.

The combat sense he had acquired after being one-sidedly pummeled by his master for an extended period of time.

The amazing combat prowess Siegfried displayed was made possible by the combination of these factors.

***

Ten minutes later, Siegfried’s steel rod crushed the final Mutated Wolf’s head.

Pukeok!

[You have leveled up!]

[Siegfried]

[Level: 10]

[Class: Debuff Master]

He gained a whopping 5 levels after killing all twelve Mutated Wolves. It seemed he had gained extra experience points after killing enemies higher in level than him.

“H-Hey…!” Grandpa Bukati shouted while rushing toward Siegfried.

“I’m sorry about a while ago...”

“We seemed to have underestimated you a bit too much earlier.”

“I’m sorry for looking down on you.”

“You don’t seem like an average greenhorn!”

“Are you really a novice? Your movement… those weren’t something a novice can pull off!”

The hunters were openly looking down on him before, but now, they apologized before praising him like there was no tomorrow.

“…”

Siegfried did not bother to reply to them. Rather, he did not have the luxury to even hear what they were saying since his mind was preoccupied with something else.

‘This… is this what it feels like to be like those talented people…?’ Siegfried thought and a chill went down his spine.

His back broke out in cold sweat as he felt like a cold blade was placed on his neck the moment he realized that he was trying to beat the so-called talented players who probably possessed the same combat sense he had displayed just now.

‘Now, it’s obvious why I couldn’t beat them... I would have never won against them even in the next life if there were this much difference between us… never…’ Siegfried thought as he realized his foolishness.

The saying that ignorance would make a person brave seemed to perfectly suit the actions of his previous self.

“Haha… Haha… Ha…” Siegfried laughed without realizing it.

‘It seems that I was foolish and didn’t know my place back then… I could have never beaten them, but I kept on doing my best to win…’ 

Siegfried finally realized the terrifying gap between their talent, and he was now certain that a hardworking person could never beat someone born with innate talent.

‘But I can beat them now… I won’t be crushed and trampled on like before,’ Siegfried thought as he steeled his resolve.

He was confident that he wouldn’t lose to them when it came to reaction speed at the least.

‘Just you wait… I will catch up to you bastards very soon,’ he thought before looking up at the sky

He was looking at those sitting at the top—at the ones he could never defeat before.

***

[Alert: You have completed the Quest – ‘Protect the Ranch’!]

That was how Siegfried’s debut fight with the Ogre ended.

[Alert: Return to the Mercenary Guild to collect your reward.]

[Alert: You are in possession of a lot of stat and skill points that are yet to be invested! Invest these points to grow stronger!]

There was nothing much left for Siegfried to do at the ranch. He collected the Mutated Wolves’ fangs and hides before heading to the Mercenary Guild to collect his reward.

He distributed his stat and skill points just like he did when he first distributed them. It was much more efficient for him to invest all of his bonus stat points in Strength, so he invested all of them in ‘Strength.’ Since he didn’t learn any new skills, he invested his skill points in ‘Smite,’ ‘Circle of Mortality,’ and ‘Circle of Weakness’ in a 4:4:2 ratio.

“I wonder when I’ll be able to learn a new skill? Well, I’m only Level 10, so I guess there’s no rush for now…” Siegfried muttered.

The main problem with the book Deus had given him was that the information was shrouded in a veil of mystery, and he could only check the skill details only after reaching a certain level to unlock them.

“I should level up even faster…” Siegfried grumbled.

While he was grumbling, a message popped up in front of him.

[Alert: You will be able to learn a new skill when you reach Level 30!]

“Level 30? That’s not far off…” Siegfried muttered after reading the message.

It was possible to power level to Level 100 in BNW, and that was why Siegfried said that he was not far off from becoming Level 30. Moreover, his leveling speed was actually faster than the average user.

“I should level up…” Siegfried muttered before a burst of boisterous laughter resounded from out of nowhere and cut him off.

“Kwahahahahaha!”

***

‘What the hell was that?’ Siegfried thought and turned around.

“Oh! I found you! I finally found you!” an old man exclaimed.

Of course, it wasn’t Deus since he was certain that his alcoholic master was probably tucked away somewhere in Mount Kunlun, enjoying his booze.

The laughter came from an old man who looked the opposite to his master. He was around two meters tall with bulky arms and broad shoulders. He had a fair complexion, but his overgrown beard and the large blade on his back made him look like a barbarian.

The old man looked old, but he was probably more fit than the average male adult.

“Who might you be, elder?” Siegfried asked while being slightly wary of the large old man before continuing with another question, “Why were you laughing so loudly…?”

“Why was I laughing?” the old man asked in response with a large grin before saying, “It’s because I was happy!”

“Why are you happy…?” Siegfried asked carefully.

“That’s because—” the old man paused.

“…?”

“I have finally found a worthy disciple!” the old man exclaimed.

“Huh? A worthy disciple? Who’s that?” Siegfried asked.

“Who else?! It’s you! You! Bwahahaha!” the old man burst into another peal of boisterous laughter.

‘What the hell is this old man saying…?’ 

Siegfried grimaced at the loud old man.