"*Sigh~* Finally" my health had gotten to an acceptable level. Last time, after I got the sword, I had to escape Fury's Den. As you may have inferred, this time is no different.
Luckily the enemies (in the hole) grow in strength as you climb up, peaking at the entrance. The lower leveled enemies escape through long winding passageways that lead out to the outer areas of the ring of peaks while the big-boys climb right up the hole I jumped down.
I was headed to those passageways because I wanted to not die (as most would).
"*Hap!~*" I clambered up one of the five raised exits in the room. Outside was a damp, cold, and nearly lifeless passage.
"*Click~ Click~ Click~*"
I said nearly.
Each exit leads to their respective mountain. Just outside the one that exits nearest to town (coincidentally the one I left out last time) had a huge spider lurking.
'Kekekekekekeke, my first victim!'
[ Arachnid
Lv: 2
Type: Acolite
Rank: Normal
HP: 500
Status: Enraged ]|
It was a deep red color, showing it's enraged state clearly. Right now, it was eating another one which gave me an easy kill.
As to not miss the chance, I jumped.
*Whizzz~*
"*Click?~*"
*BOOM!~~*
- 556 (+Sneak Attack)
[ You killed: Arachnid!
+ 437 EXP (underleveled bonus)
You have leveled up! +3 STP +1 STR ]|
Under the massive weight of my sword and through the activation of [Cleave & Crush], the Arachnid stood no chance. Its abdomen was smashed and it's legs were flipped around. The spider dropped it's fangs and a vial of [Paralyzing Venom].
One of the hidden parts of this weapon is the ability for the user to send it to your "[Rage Room]" after 5 seconds of not attacking. This was the reason it tested if I could be angry enough to wield it. I first would need it for building a connection, and second to place it in there. If my [Rage Room] was too weak, I would suffer a severe penalty, possibly even permanent, for placing it in there. Luckily, mine is quite strong.
*Shua~*
*Click~ Click~ Click~*
After locating a second Arachnid, I bolted over. Without the weight of my sword holding me down, I was able to move quite swiftly. Even so, the spider noticed me.
*Click!~ Click!~*
It charged straight at me without hesitation. Everybody should aspire to have half as much confidence as Mr. Spider here.
Just as we were about to get into striking distance, I retrieved my sword and swung with all my might. Using my momentum and the long hilt for leverage, it was swung with a chilling velocity diagonally up to the left. I cleaved the beast directly in half (this time not using the blunt side).
*CHUNK!~*
- 593
[ + 244 EXP ]|
"Kekekeke~ This is fun!"
~
I slowly made my way out, destroying anything that came in my way. The first 15 levels are more like trial levels, where you can experience a few cool things while having an easy leveling experience. After players start to get past Lv.20, though, things get much, much harder.
This is why I left the mountain being already Lv.5. Although I leveled a ludicrous speed, it is not an impossible feat. Also, after using [Specialize] on [Hard Hitter], It has leveled up to Lv.2| 23% (I also have knowledge and skills of a veteran peak expert of the game, so that helped a bit ;) ).
'I'll be returning soon, this place is totally sick!' I promised as I rushed away from the mountain.
Despite my level, I have to play deliberately now. The monsters around the mountain's levels spike drastically before dying down. Although easier to fight on an even playing field, wild predators are much more dangerous to under leveled players due to their careful stalking-like behavior that gives no chances.
My strategy for getting through the forest is just to run. Not many predators will care to go after bipedal entities unless they aren't moving fast. From what I've heard, we don't taste all that great.
Thinking back to the tunnel, I was pretty lucky. Near the end I came across a [Rare Elite - Arachnid], which dropped me 3 silver coins and some decent leggings that increased my AGI. With my STPs, I invested a little into STR and DEX and the rest into AGI.
In Duality, physical classes (mainly Warriors and Swordsmen) have a much harder time leveling up compared to magical classes. For many, the meta is all about going all in to DEX and INT with a little AGI sprinkled in. So, they end up with much better potential DPS. However, this doesn't mean that magical classes have it easy either. Techniques discovered and/or created are much less intuitive to the average person, requiring far great research and time invested to git-gud.
So, for me, this sword helps me out a lot. Later on, the increases for strength will be like a whole other level up's worth, so I can focus on the other stats more. AGI, END, even DEX (mainly scales light weapon/ranged weapon stats and decreases cast times) are all useful for a Warrior/Berserkr.
...
~
...
*Clang!~ Bam!~*
"Gauugh!~"
"Circle around the thing! Go! Now! Don't fcking wait!"
"No sht, bro!"
*MMOOOOO!!~*
"""Auhgg!~"""
The sounds of groups hunting monsters slowly came into earshot. '*Feew~* It seems, the majority of players are around the Lv.3 area… good. Lines up with my memories.'
I carefully made sure to dodge around the battles of other players (I don't want to kill steal yet, my identity is still visible) as to not attract attention to myself, but it didn't seem to work.
To my surprise one group of players taking a break after killing a boar looked in my direction. Briefly, they seemed stunned, but the leader spoke up; "Hey! Noob! Get out of the way! A boar is charging str-"
I, sadly, had already noticed it after accidentally walking in it's agro range before someone else did. If nobody noticed, I could have just led it to another group and got out of there, but now I had to kill the thing.
I curtly drew a beautiful but horrific back-hand swing with my sword after retrieving it. This (as should be expected) obliterated the boar. Where it stood was a nearly flattened half of something that resembled a successful modern art experiment. 'Shit, I messed up the swing a bit. The movements are still a little hazy despite me practicing them in the tunnel.'
After I took the 30 copper off its body I proceeded to drag my sword with one hand until I could put it back in the room. It left a deep gash on the ground, as if someone was using a ditch witch to clear it out (due to the loose and slightly muddy nature of the ground around here, and how heavy the damn thing is).
This had a pretty amusing effect though. That same person who warned me was gaping like he was going for a world record, and his team wasn't much different. Some other less focused teams even were nearly wiped because of the spectacle.
"Here," I tossed the coins to the person who warned me, "Cool of you to warn me, bro," I said coolly and dashed away.
~
The town was only a short run away. Thankfully, the streets were much less packed, although that wasn't saying much. Many different stores were still player(sardine) cans. Largely those big, pretty ones with the good looking employees. They weren't my destination though. That was past the outskirts of the shopping where you can find the more specialized smithies or shops to invest my silver in new Warrior skills.
Culsan has many different masters, but the one I am going to is special. He, unbeknownst to when my past life first met him, was a Hero level Warrior that has even worked for the human emperor directly. People call him "Gaia's Wrath" due to his devout following of earth's protector Gaia, and the destruction he brings to those who commit "true evil" (his words not mine).
All this still goes on while he has been living his days out as a "normal" person, keeping this town relatively safe from the shadows. Last time he gave me guidance towards being able to control my fury, even in real life. To me, felt more real than most people (even though he's an AI), as if he was truly my grandfather or something.
Similar situations happened across the game. Even more so when the highly advanced AI running the game performed the second major update, making NPCs almost indistinguishable from humans. Due to this, a near unspoken rule came about to treat everyone like you would someone in real life, be it good or bad. It's kind of cool when you think about it.
"..."
*Knock~ Knock~ Knock~*
"H-hold it a minute! I have to finish my midday tea! Wait at the front."
I obliged. He doesn't mean to be rude with making me wait, it's just the way he is (a little dense). In my past life, after I calmed down and started to research the game more, I figured out that another person had figured out that he could teach you rare skills and visited no doubt to try and take advantage of him, but was swiftly smashed into the ground after barging in without knocking.
Because he was killed by a Hero grade 5th tier Warrior, he had to suffer the [Shattered Soul] debuff for a whole week (his EXP gain was reduced to 25% and had +2 hours added for each respawn). It goes to show how much he values your patience, even if it's a stupid way to go about doing it.
*Creak*
"Thank you for waiting, kid. Now what do ya' need?"
I did a deep bow, "Esteemed elder, I have heard of your skill as a Warrior, and request your teachings." It was a little pompous, but it works wonders on him.
"Fufufufufu~ Esteemed elder… I like you kid! Sure, I'll take you in as my disciple!"
'... quick...'