The higher your affinity with an element was, the more powerful your attacks would be. This meant that if Zack used a beginner lightning spell that could do 100 damage, he would be able to do 190 damage with it.
However, those with below 50% affinity with the element instead got a damage reduction. This was a very powerful thing but sadly, this feature was removed within days of the game's release since players with higher affinity could cheat their way through a lot of things.
It was instead replaced in a way that all the people could use skills regardless of the element they belonged to.
However, those who gained the benefit from this were already too high up and neither the companies nor the game developers could do anything about that.
And since this feature was still active, Zack was going to use it to its full potential.
[ Lightning Sparks: Shoot sparks of lightning from your fingers for 5 seconds.
Only three sparks of lightning can be used at once. Has a 10% chance of paralyzing the enemy.
Cooldown: 2 minutes ]
[ Swift Lightning: Move at the speed of lightning for 5 seconds
Cooldown: 3 minutes ]
These were the basic skills a lightning mage gained. The game however didn't have a mana system or anything like that.
This was done in order to make sure that things stayed simple and people didn't get confused or forget things.
"Time to grind exp." Zack then smiled before standing up and leaving the inn.
Like any smart reincarnated gamer, he knew the importance of grinding levels early on especially when the damage buff was still there.
He then traveled to the nearest adventurer's shop in the town. The adventurer's shop was present in most places in Hikari.
The adventurer's shop had items that the people could purchase but it also gave new players a free map of the kingdom they were in.
'Found it."
The shop looked like a modern world hi-tech shop with sliding doors and all. But Zack didn't enter it. There was a poster hanging beside the sliding doors which had the words 'Free maps' written on it.
[ Would you like to receive the map of Eizenburgh kingdom? ]
"Yes."
[ Map has been acquired. The map can be accessed by opening the map column through voice command. ]
"Map," Zack called out at the map of the Eizenburgh kingdom opened in front of him.
The Eizenburgh kingdom had its capital in the middle of the continent. The town Zack was in was about 250 kilometers (155.34 miles) away from the capital.
But despite the distance, it was one of the safer places to appear on.
After looking at the map, Zack found the place because of which he had spawned in the town of Klonstad.
[ The Forest of Acidlent: The forest is infested with grass, water, and earth-type monsters. Some rare monsters may appear in the forest.
Recommended exploration level: level 3 ]
Despite the recommended level being at level 3, Acidlent was a good place to level up for a lightning magic-user. This was because the lightning magic-user could easily battle the water and grass-type monsters.
However, earth-type monsters would be extremely difficult to battle since the lightning element was useless against the earth element.
But as much as Zack wanted to play safe, he had to level up. The global rankings would go online after some changes were made by the developers.
And Zack had to make sure that he was at least top 10 by then.
After marking the location of the forest on his map, Zack decided to move there on foot. He didn't have any in-game currency so that was the only thing he could do.
After setting out of the village, he followed the route shown by his map. To reach the forest, he had to travel through many roads, and after that, he would reach the forest's entrance.
So while walking on the roads, Zack started compiling all the information he knew.
'After forty-eight hours, the dungeons should open. The affinity system will be removed with that update and so would a lot of other things. That quest would be unlocked as well.' Zack thought with a sigh as he realized all the hard work he had to do.
His sister was yet to be discharged so till the time being, he could spend most of his time playing the game and would only need to get out for the basic human necessities.
After twenty minutes of walking, Zack finally reached the entrance of the forest. The road went in two directions, straight and left.
On the right side was where the forest started from.
[ Forest Of Acidlent ]
After reading the name of the forest, it was time for him to start his grinding.
[ Warning! Player Lin Fan is about to enter an area while being below the recommended exploration level ]
"Dismiss."
After dismissing the notification, Zack started moving deeper into the forest and that's when he encountered his first beast.
[ Water slime (Level 2): Capable of using common water attacks. Weak against the lightning element. ]
'Time to put the double exp boost to use.' Zack thought with a grin as he took out the staff and the sword at the same time.
He had already auto-equipped all the armor at the beginning of the forest.
[ Common Mage Staff (Common) ]
[ Common Stone Sword (Common) ]
Neither of the weapons had any special properties but was enough for a beginner.
"Lightning sparks!" Zack immediately summoned sparks of lightning with his index and middle finger.
The sparks immediately went towards the slim and hit it.
< -190 HP >
< -190 HP >
[ Congratulations on being the first person to slay a monster! ]
[ +100 reputation in the Eizenburgh kingdom. ]
[ 50% exp boost has come into effect! ]
< 150 exp gained. >
< Player Lin Fan has leveled up >
'That was so easy…' Zack thought with a small smile as he realized how easy it was to level up. But he was going to grind up to level 5.
That was when the achievements function was unlocked and Zack could reap the true benefits of his hard work.
And with that thought, he started grinding like a game maniac which at this point was true.