*System warning: Now leaving the Safe Zone and entering the frontier. >Expand for details.*
The frontier.
It was the aspect of Synergy that excited and terrified players alike. After all, traveling through the frontiers of Synergy meant that you were discovering new territories - you were stepping foot where no man had gone before!
It was difficult to do that in modern times, where almost every square metron of the surface of Etmos had been tread upon by humans. There was nowhere in real life you could easily explore that no one had been. Even if you were in an isolated area, it was likely someone had been there before. Whether it was the peak of the highest mountain or the bottom of the deepest valleys, they had been traversed upon and named.
In addition, treading into uninhabited territory always came with degrees of risk. Injury and death weren't uncommon in the most extreme terrain of Etmos. Dying in real life was the end of everything.
But this wasn't the case in Synergy. Exploration of the world was a key aspect of the game, and it also came with varying degrees of risk. However, death didn't usually mark the end of your journey. You could always go back and try again.
*In order to leave this hamlet and find resources, settlements, rarities, and other things... You have to suck it up and walk into the wild.*
There wasn't any guidance system once you left your starting hamlet. The game wouldn't tell you what to do. For better or for worse, you were treated like a chick who was tossed from their nest. You had to learn how to fly on your own.
*A lot of players, including me, were apprehensive about walking into unknown territory. But the thrill was like nothing else.*
Nothing good came from holing up in your starter hamlet, waiting for others to do the job for you. The ones who got ahead early were the ones who stepped up to the task and ventured forth.
And now, unlike her past life, Fae Sol was one of those players.
*Though I guess I'm not really exploring anything as of now, since I already know which way I have to go...*
Similar to the experience of the class tree, players in Synergy would also have to randomly experience the wild and see what came about. Other than the general locations of starter hamlets that had been leaked before the game's release, nothing was known. Jisha's advantage in this area was also clear.
*I wonder if they'll follow me... Yup.*
Jisha glanced back to see 4 players trying to tail her. However, since she was level 5 and had evolved her class, she was significantly faster than the level 0 Asunder players. In no time at all, she had already lost them.
At this moment, the hamlet was disappearing into the distance.
Uval was located at the edge of two biomes: plains and sparse forest. Jisha currently ran through said sparse forest.
*Always explore the more dangerous side... is what I was told in the past.*
It was a good rule of thumb in Synergy, though not always accurate. The closer you got to the centers of continents, the tougher your life would be in the wild. In a principle of fairness, the difficulty was appropriately rewarded.
Hence, frontier explorers, or "front runners", would often travel in the more dangerous direction when faced with a choice.
Jisha's choice was almost immediately rewarded.
*There's the first mob I've seen so far.*
If she had run in the direction of the plains, it was still likely that she would see one eventually, but the density of mobs was usually directly proportional to the difficulty of the biome. In addition, she would be running further from the center of the continent, which was akin to suicide for a front runner.
*It wouldn't be any good for leveling, either, would it?*
Jisha looked at her first artificial adversary.
*>Name: Green Slime*
*>Level: 1*
Similar to that of players, appraisal information was limited to name and level by default. If you wanted more information, you would need a rudimentary appraisal item at the very least. The more information you wanted out of an appraisal, the higher the grade of the appraisal item would have to be.
*Which is why I want Rexian's Eyes... But that's a quest for far in the future.*
Rexian's Eyes... the appraisal item of the legendary NPC Rexian. Since he was a higher-ranking NPC than Shahar, his item was naturally superior.
*Ah, I'm getting distracted.*
As Jisha was daydreaming about a super-rare item, the round green slime had bounced very close to her.
*Bounce, bounce, bounce.*
Jisha observed its simple movements.
*It's cute... But not so cute that it makes me not want to attack it.*
Perhaps it was a design strategy by the developers of the game.
Synergy was quite realistic, after all, and many citizens of the modern world didn't have any experience killing anything. How would a player react to a realistic situation where they would have to kill something? That was akin to being sent off to war, and it wasn't most people's idea of fun.
Level 1 slimes were inoffensive and not like anything that existed in real life. Even people who "wouldn't hurt a fly" wouldn't have trouble inflicting harm upon a slime.
Jisha casually kicked the slime in its weak spot, causing it to explode into the ever-absorbable white light. Even its death was as non-traumatizing as possible.
*>+1 Slimeball*
*>+1 Copper*
Though her damage was halved due to inflicting a melee attack as a ranged character, she wasn't about to waste any of her 100 ammo on such a weak monster.
*That barely gave me any XP. That's to be expected, though...*
She was level 5, and she had just killed a level 1 Common monster. It would take an ungodly amount of them to level up. Killing them would just be a waste of time. Hence, Jisha continued her sprint through the sparse forest, hoping to find some higher-leveled mobs. However, her prayers wouldn't be answered immediately.