The Player's System

Your hands

The poison is working

When all the other players were busy attacking; Orin went to get the spear. They were sure that no matter in way they attacked the ape would only move its arms. They retreated whenever he moved his arm. Orin got the weapon and ran however its arm brushed against his hands. He was running gladly thinking that he was saved. 

A little time passed by and his hands started stinging. 

He did not notice them, instead, he kept following how other players were busily displeasing the peace-loving ape. The poor Ogre has the notion that its whole body would get poisonous soon so it was least interested in anything. Even death would not bring surprise. 

Sashi noticed Orin a little later. 

"Your hands turning green." Her face was horror-stricken. 

Orin hurriedly checked his hands. "Seriously? Have I been poisoned?" he could not believe that his hands had changed their colour. 

He wanted to cry but no tears came out. "Does it means I will be eliminated soon?" he asked frightened. "Someone save me." 

He started crying. It was the first level of the game and he couldn't imagine being kicked out. 

"I am sure you all have grassroots." Jake reminded. 

"Ah, I see. I have them." Orin shuffled his pouch wildly. "I lost them?" he could not find the lifesaver roots in his pouch. 

"Ahem, I saw you consuming them after the lizard army went away." Sashi reminded the scholarly detective. She picked her own share of grassroots and handed him. "I don't mind the numbers of the players decreasing. However, don't die before the ape is killed." Sashi uttered cynically. 

Mockery was one of the famous in-game blunders. Whoever has a better level of satirical taunts and sneers is called 'Maven'. Only a few were capable of throwing such witty remarks in the midst of a raging war.

 Orin stuffed the roots ignoring the bland taste. He was only worried about his in-game life. 

Seeing that Orin was getting affected with the poison all of them started to worry. They hurriedly checked their hands and feet and asked other players whether their face had some signs of poison? They were also suffering from the silent attacks of the poison. It brought chaos among the team players. All of them were either consoling each other or stuffing the grassroots earnestly. 

It gave some moments of peace for the ogre. Junan also made sure that he was doing fine. It seemed that their stay in the game required them to consume the grassroots time and again if they wanted to remain safe from the poison. Jake was completely fine and the poison could not damage his health. The system kept reminding him at various times when he needed a dose of the grassroots.

"This entire district and each ogre are poisoned. I wonder what kind of brain gave this idea to put in the first level. If this is the first level then I highly sceptical about the rest of the levels and the difficulty of each stage." Albert huffed and puffed after knowing that his ears were poisoned. 

This poison was created to attack differently at the players during this level. 

Everyone knew very well that inside the game; every player only focuses on the NPC or other numerous methods to increase their skill levels. The habits and the methods of the players were very cliché and easy to manipulate. There was a strong reason behind creating an entirely different idea game portal. 

'Developers knew some important points behind this business idea and they had heard about the possible amount of money which every player would earn through this game. Their intention was to make it harder than what a normal player could think of. The formula games were filled with action capturing the psychological interests of the young brains.'

Slowly but surely the players got better and the signs of poison disappeared. They felt at ease. 

"Now we should kill the ogre." Junan voiced. 

"I think we should collect some poison remedy before moving for the game." Albert cleared his throat and grimly voiced. Their health level was equally important. 

The players were not bringing it to their front however none of them wanted to get eliminated because of the poison effects. "Indeed, this is a good idea." Sashi had the same thoughts. 

It was good that they had been keeping the extra dose of remedy else it would have been disastrous as to how the poison worked silently and ruthlessly. 

"Alright then." Junan waved his hand. They ran toward the starting point as quickly as possible. Among the three teams 'Night Robbers' was the only one complete team with all seven players still alive. 'In the initial stage of this level; the spectators did not like the kid player named 'Zero Three' however later he proved his worth in the game. 

When Jake was running, he glanced at the system notification. But he did not bother reading it since no one could see the visual screen. His reputation increased +1. It was a good addition in his stat however he could not tell how his reputation increased when he was in the game. 

The team collected grassroots. Some of them filled the pouches to the brim. 'The spectators, as well as the administration, were stunned at these actions of the gamers but they could not comment before the final result show up.' 

The players returned back at the second colony. Junan gestured to them to not make any noise. The ogre was again in the slumber. 

"Instead of poking and waking up; we should focus on how the collective attack can kill the ogre, do you understand?" he cast a serene look on each member of his team. According to him, the more important aspect was to save time and clear as many colonies as they could in search of the Hidden Python. 

"I am impressed with this idea; this way we can attack at once and I am sure it would be worth trying." Albert immediately agreed. This idea could save their effort and the rush of worrying about the giant ogre. They walked around to make a perfect formation. They also decided to test the simultaneous attack theory for a flawless plan; Jake was given the easy task to maintain distance and keep firing bullets.