Sunlight shone into the cave and Mike's sleep came to an end. He did not realize that everyone else was still asleep, so he was the only one awake.
Now he had time to look at his new admin rights and study them. At the moment he had no stats at all, everything was at zero, and only one attack that he could only use after defeating nine bosses.
Did not sound much like an admin.
Mike sighed, leaned his head against the cold stone wall and whispered in disappointment,
"Something else has to be there."
Suddenly Trix moved her head and asked Mike,
"What has to be there?"
"Something good today," Mike said with a smile.
It did not seem to interest Trix anymore. She turned toward her father and lay in his arms, as if she wanted to rest a little longer.
Mike thought about going back to sleep as well, but decided instead to explore a bit on his own, without going too far from the camp.
Mike stood up, glanced once more at the group, and his eyes lingered on Ice's beauty. After a few seconds of staring he stopped and walked out of the cave.
The cold wind blew into his face, and the ground, the leaves, and the grass were wet. For the first time, Mike really felt the disgusting chill of the game. That was another thing in this world: there was a temperature system. If you were too cold, you lost HP every minute, and if it was too hot, it was the same. There were a few things that could prevent that, but it was not that cold yet, so Mike kept walking.
He looked up at the huge trees. They seemed to have no end, as if they reached all the way into space.
"I do not want to imagine what happens if one of those falls. Well, who would even have the strength to knock one of these giants over," he thought, experimenting with his thoughts, but walked on without an answer.
After a while, Mike was about to head back to the cave when he saw a building. It was still a bit away, but he could see it, so he started running toward it. After a few meters it became clear: there were several buildings, a whole village. But the houses were run down, some even a little destroyed.
"An abandoned village."
Mike drew his dagger and listened. He was sure he had heard some kind of cracking sound.
"Come out, you idiot."
Suddenly three people had surrounded him. They were all dressed in brown and covered their faces with a black mask that went from their nose down to their mouth. It was easy to see what they were. Thieves.
"I have heard of you. You are the Brown Poison, right? You kill just to loot."
They did not answer and all swung their swords straight at Mike.
He reacted fast and jumped up. All the blades only hit the ground. Mike landed a bit to the right, freeing himself from their circle.
One of the thieves rushed at Mike alone, running with his sword held high, but that turned out to be his mistake. Mike drew a clean line across his stomach, then went a little higher, and the thief's head flew.
"Sorry, but you are so dumb."
Mike did not forget that they were real people, but what was he supposed to do if they were trying to kill him
The two remaining thieves looked at each other and took a few steps closer, but suddenly Mike was slashed across the back from behind.
"Argh, a distraction."
Blood should have sprayed everywhere, but it did not. It seemed like the attack had done nothing. Mike's tunic was only sliced open, but he saw no blood and no HP falling. He had not even activated the hyper scale. That armor only protected his upper body when it spread out from his halo area after he activated it.
"You did not even hurt me."
Mike turned around. The thief kept swinging his sword at him, again and again, but it did not work. The blade should have cut Mike to pieces several times over.
Suddenly Mike grabbed the thief's sword and tore it from his hands, then tossed it aside. The thief stared at Mike with frightened eyes. The other two could only watch, fear creeping into them as well.
Mike now had to decide what to do. He did not want to kill them, but they had tried to kill him.
"Run," Mike said.
Immediately the two dropped their swords and ran. The thief standing near Mike stared at his face for about three seconds, then also turned and ran as fast as he could.
"Now I can finally explore this abandoned village," Mike said and looked around.
One house immediately caught his eye. It looked new, not broken or abandoned. It even seemed like someone was living there.
Mike thought of the Brown Poison thieves.
"Their hideout?"
He strolled slowly toward the house, relaxed, because he believed he had taken care of all the dangers in the village. Probably.
The sun was just about to rise high enough to shine through the trees, but it was still low on the horizon. The others in the cave were probably still asleep, since that was how you regenerated HP and they had lost a bit.
As Mike headed toward the door, he had a little time to think. He liked that during the day, just thinking everything through. So Mike thought about his admin system.
"Did I take no damage because of the admin system?"
He assumed yes. What else could be the reason he did not take any damage?
Mike opened the admin menu, but there seemed to be no change. It still said eight bosses, so did the golden knight count? Mike thought about how he did not have to kill bosses, he just had to defeat stronger enemies.
"That could really be it, hmm."
Mike was at the door now. It was made of wood. He looked it over.
"Hmm."
So, relaxed, Mike opened the door. A loud creak echoed, and about nine faces turned to look at him.
"Uhm."