Walking through the grass, Kay picked up flowers from the ground.
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
Without any thought, he just picked up any flower he could see.
[+1 Aster] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Marigold] [+2 Experience]
He stared down at the bright green grass, littered with various different flowers like splatters of pain on a sharp green canvas. Marigolds were worth more experience than Black Eyes Susans, but he needed 30 Black Eyed Susans for the item.
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Marigold] [+2 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[You are ready to level up!]
He opened up his menu, seeing the notification.
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10/10 (READY!)
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He was suddenly shown to another screen.
-
Level 0 -> Level 1
- Attribute increases!
- New Ability! (Choose)
- {x2} Recovery Potions
- (UNLOCKED!) Skill Menu
~
There was a lot of information being shown.
-
Physical Strength: 7 (+3) (<30th percentile)
Speed: 23 (+4) (<30th percentile)
Mana Capacity: 5 (+2) (<30th percentile)
Mana Power: 3 (+2) (<30th percentile)
-
The increases weren't too large but it was progress. From the looks of things, if I wanted to increase my attributes, I would have to gather more experience. Despite the relatively small increase, I felt as if I was significantly stronger, just the feeling of moving my arms were lighter. It seemed that these attributes were quite significant, he thought.
There were quite a few things to look at after the level-up, so he decided to scan through them in order. He looked at the Skill Menu next. What he saw was a huge list of skills, almost all of which were at level 0.
[You have reached {Farming} Level 1. Rewards: +50% experience gain from plants (Rounded down).]
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{Attack} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Defence} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Ranged} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Magic} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Crafting} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Mining} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Smithing} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Fishing} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Cooking} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Woodcutting} - Level 0 (<30th percentile)
{Farming} - Level 1 (<30th percentile)
-
He didn't seem fazed by what he saw. It was to be expected that such things would exist in an MMORPG. He decided to take a look at the ability that he managed to unlock.
-
Choose one of the three:
1. Windflow (Summon gusts of wind - Cooldown: 2 minutes)
2. Plant Knowledge (Double the sell price of plants)
3. Quick Recover (Instantly heal minor wounds - Cooldown: 30 minutes)
-
After thinking about it for a little bit, he decided that Quick Recover was probably the best choice.
Plant knowledge seemed useful but it wasn't something that gave me an actual boost, Windflow seemed interesting but I worried about its practicality. Quick Recover was something that could be useful in very many situations, he thought.
After picking the ability, it suddenly appeared on his menu.
-
- Quick Recover (Common)
- None
- None
~
He found out that abilities had rarities as well. It seemed that all of the abilities he could've chosen from just then were common abilities since he unlocked them so early into the progression.
After finally taking a look at all of the new features, he decided to try to gather some more experience. He still hadn't picked enough Black Eyed Susans yet so he bent back down and sifted through the grass once again. He walked through the grass picking up every single flower he could find. He wanted to gain experience as fast as he could and assumed that the flowers would be useful in their own ways.
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Marigold] [+3 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Aster] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Marigold] [+3 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
He continuously looked in the bright green grass, searching for flowers. At this rate, he was picking a flower every few seconds, however, his general area was beginning to become scarce so he was forced to move over a little. There were also a few other people picking flowers out there so it was getting a little more difficult to find them.
As he looked back, he noticed that they were also spawning at quite a rapid rate. They didn't grow like normal flowers, instead, they instantly spawned in, like a video game. This meant that he didn't have to worry about this area running out of flowers for me to pick.
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Aster] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Aster] [+1 Experience]
He had picked up 13 Black Eyed Susans at this point. He was still less than halfway to collecting enough for the {Flower Crown} so he focussed once again and plucked more flowers from the ground as the gentle breeze brushed against him. The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was quite comfortable, it was all rather soothing.
[+1 Aster] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Marigold] [+3 Experience]
I decided to have a quick look at my experience bar.
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23/50
-
He realised that the experience needed to level up increased each time, it was to be expected. The grass brushed against his legs as he continued to pick out flowers of various different colours from the ground.
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Marigold] [+3 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+1 Experience]
[You have reached {Farming} Level 2. Rewards: +50% experience gain from plants (Rounded Down).]
Now that he had reached level 2 in farming, he would be able to earn even more experience from aimlessly picking these flowers from the ground.
The experience gain wasn't that evident the first time due to the rounding, however, now with two buffs, I should earn +2 experience from Black Eyed Susans and Asters and +4 experience from Marigolds, he thought.
He picked one out of the ground to check.
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+2 Experience]
Seems like I was correct.
He had gathered 19 Black Eyed Susans now so he was getting closer to being able to craft the {Flower Crown}, although he still didn't know what the item did. Judging by the name, he assumed it was equippable.
It didn't really matter though, I assumed the Helper knows what he was talking about so I'll just follow his advice, for now, he thought.
***
He opened the menu to the main screen and looked around.
He searched through various different menus, trying out all of the settings. However, no matter what he did, there didn't seem to be a way to get out of the game. There was not a single moment of panic, however. He had already predicted that there would be some catch to all of this.
It seemed that it was too much of a coincidence that this game would sell for so cheap and receive so much government support.
For a brief moment, he contemplated his situation.
I guess I can accept this. My old life was getting mundane anyways, he thought.
He considered that there'd likely be a way out eventually... but for the time being, the game would be his life.
Ah, maybe I should've thought all of this through.
***
With the new experience boost from farming, he was motivated to continue.
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+2 Experience]
[+1 Marigold] [+4 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+2 Experience]
He checked his experience bar again.
-
45/50
-
He was already close to levelling up again.
There were plenty of flowers still for him to collect so he grabbed at their stems, pulling their roots out of the dirt.
[+1 Marigold] [+4 Experience]
[+1 Black Eyed Susan] [+2 Experience]
[You are ready to level up!]
-
51/50 (READY!)
-
He was suddenly shown to another screen again.
-
Level 1 -> Level 2
- Attribute increases!
- (UNLOCKED!) World Rankings
- {x2} Recovery Potions
- {x1} Dungeon Access Card
~
Physical Strength: 11 (+4) (<30th percentile)
Speed: 29 (+6) (<30th percentile)
Mana Capacity: 7 (+2) (<30th percentile)
Mana Power: 6 (+3) (<30th percentile)
-
He had unlocked two new things.
First of all, he unlocked something called World Rankings. There was a new button on the main menu, it led him to a very large scoreboard that showed the world rankings. Not only were the ranks given numerical values, but there were also different leagues, going Wood-Iron-Silver-Gold-Platinum-Diamond-Emperor-Saint.
Unlike the lower ranks which housed countless people, the Emperor rank had only twenty people and the Saint rank only had five.
-
1. Fourier Ourania (Knight of the Beginning) - 4082 {Saint}
2. Reid Lichter-Seibert (Knight of the Sword) - 1032 {Saint}
3. Celestia Aoki (Ice Princess) - 923 {Saint}
4. Lunette Kershaw (Willow Princess) - 919 {Saint}
5. Daario Artemis (Knight of the Moon) - 912 {Saint}
...
Your Rank: #48,098,766 - 3 {Wood}
-
He was able to freely scroll through the scoreboard, looking at every name in every single rank. There were also specific rewards for being in a league, so there was motivation to push higher, even if just in terms of the scoreboard. Everyone was ranked based on a specific 'score', however, it seemed that score wasn't correlated to your level.
I assumed that it was some score based on your combat ability but I couldn't be sure. The one thing I was sure of was that I wanted to advance this leaderboard, he thought.
Back in the real world, he was as close to the top as you could get. However, none of it was due to his own hard work. In the new world, this new video game, he would finally be able to be challenged. Starting with nothing whilst others transfered their data from the prequel, Kay finally felt as if he would finally need to commit himself.
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[You]: What's the fastest way to level up?
[Helper]: I'm not so sure of that, I believe the dungeons are one of the best ways.
[You]: I want to know the best way
[Helper]: Well you automatically unlock [Dungeon Professor] as a friend upon reaching level 4 so if you ask him, he might know more.
[You]: Thanks
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