[Non-Fungible Quest (Locked)]
Hiro couldn't access the quest's details as his level hadn't met the requirement. When he tried to access it, a pop-up notification about the requirement appeared.
[The minimum level required is 20.]
Because of this, he had no other choice but to level up if he wanted to access it.
After Hiro cleared the [Hidden Cave] dungeon, he remained together with the two who followed him everywhere, Liberty and Jacob. As for their former fourth member, Noah, he left in annoyance when he couldn't get what he wanted.
In the meantime, Hiro intended to level up to level 20 like the capped world level. Even though he was a little reluctant, he couldn't refuse the two who wanted to do what he wanted to do together.
In LSO, grinding while being in a party would cause the bonus EXP received to be divided into the number of party members. Of course, with two other party members, his goal of reaching level 20 as soon as possible would be slightly hindered.
However, Hiro had a plan.
With three party members, he intentionally chose a grinding location with three monster spots close to one another.
Even though the bonus EXP obtained would be divided into three, by occupying three monster spots concurrently, the number of monsters they could kill per second would be more than grinding alone.
And to optimize his plan, Hiro had to find a type of monster that was not too difficult to kill but had a high amount of bonus EXP for that difficulty. Enough for him to reach level 20 without taking too long, at least.
After going around for over two hours looking for the right monsters and simultaneously collecting new monster information, he finally found the spot he had been searching for.
Hiro instructed Liberty and Jacob to stay at the same spot and get rid of all the monsters there, using their best weapons.
Liberty chose to use her short bow. According to Hiro, the [Rain of Arrows] skill was quite effective in dealing AOE damage to the monsters at the spot. Meanwhile, Jacob used the only weapon he had, a sword and a shield.
Hiro checked Jacob's list of skills to look for an effective skill to use at the grinding spot he chose for the knight.
And coincidentally, Jacob had a class-exclusive skill that was very effective for grinding.
[Earth Cross]
[Earth Cross (Active) - A powerful knight sword attack skill. When used, the knight will smash the ground with a sword to create a small-ranged earthquake, destroying enemies nearby in all four directions.]
"You can use [Provoke] to gather the monsters and use [Earth Cross] to finish them."
"Yes, Chief!" Jacob gave Hiro a salute for teaching him how to use his skills right. Looking at it, he got a free lesson.
Hiro smiled in satisfaction. His two companions had quite desirable AOE skills. With this, if everything goes according to plan, he'd be able to get a lot of EXP in a short period without having to think about the EXP being divided into three.
He could trust the two.
The monsters Hiro set as the party's grinding targets were Skeleton Crows.
[Skeleton Crow (Level 18)].
The monsters that very much resembled a crow's skeleton were gathered at three different spots devoid of grass. They could not fly, and the only attack they could do was peck their enemies with their sharp, curved beaks.
Those monsters could only attack from a short distance. Moreover, they each only had 2,500 points of HP and very weak defense.
Before he finally decided on these Skeleton Crows as their grinding target, Hiro had surveyed the types of monsters available in the area.
Apart from the bonus EXP, he was also hoping to get an armor set with a special full set bonus effect of [Demon Monster Damage Reduction 10%].
Hiro positioned himself and began attacking the Skeleton Crows at his spot just as Liberty and Jacob did at theirs.
Even though the bonus EXP they got was a lot and the three kept grinding until the day turned to night, Hiro still had not reached his target level. Not a part of the armor set he was after was dropped either.
Liberty got exhausted first, so they stopped grinding for a few minutes. During their break, Liberty took out some food from her inventory and shared it with Hiro and Jacob. To Hiro's surprise, the sandwich and burger she gave him tasted just like the food in real life.
Hiro once again admired how the system could affect brain waves and translate them to such accurate tastes. Furthermore, Liberty and Jacob didn't notice that the food gave buffs when consumed.
The two didn't even understand what a food buff was, and as a result, Hiro had to explain it to them one by one.
The sandwiches Liberty brought were products of the life skill [Cooking (Level 1)] she had. The food was included as normal-quality food, so the buff it gave was not so much.
Normal-Quality Sandwich [+150 ASPD for 30 minutes]
Normal-Quality Burger [+100 Physical Damage Reduction for 30 minutes]
After they finished their short break, the three of them continued grinding until it got darker and the server time showed 10:00 PM.
Liberty and Jacob once again surprised Hiro when they told him they were going home to rest and promised to continue grinding the next morning.
And thus, the three separated.
'Do they hate their real homes so much that they don't want to log out and chose to sleep in-game instead?'
Hiro decided to log out. Even though he wanted to continue grinding, he also needed to get some rest.
[System Logout]
It was already afternoon in real life when he took off his VR equipment. The time difference between the time in-game and his real-life time made him feel as if he was suffering from jetlag.
He even yawned multiple times even though it was bright outside.
Tokyo was quite cold in early December as winter was coming, so Hiro turned on the heater in his room and decided to sleep.
Time flew by so fast when he had fun playing the game for his future.
For 60,000USD.
Just imagining it gave Hiro sweet dreams that made him sleep soundly. Still, he made sure to set an alarm before going to sleep so he wouldn't oversleep like he previously did.
He still had a mission to carry out.