[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 40% xp gained. 120% skill point xp gained]
[+1 skill point]
Breathing heavily from annoyance at the incessant screaming, Astra lets go of the sword and rests the bottom of the staff on the ground. Tilting her head up towards the canopy of the trees, she lets out a long sigh.
"God, why do I have to put myself through this torture again. It was bad enough back then with the kids screaming about all their sexual fantasies with my mother, now it's green kid sized barbarians just screaming to give us all PTSD."
Astaria spends a short time standing still mentally composing herself from the uncharacteristic outburst of her emotions. After 5 minutes of deep breathing while clearing her head, she looks back down at the goblin corpses that were strewn on the floor around her.
Moving to the closet one and touching it, a system prompt appears.
[Loot Goblin Lv 3?]
[Yes] [No]
After selecting yes, another system notification appears.
[Looted: Goblin's Ear x1]
Astaria continues on to loot the other corpses.
[Looted: Goblin's Ear x1]
[Looted: Goblin's Ear x1, Common Longsword]
[Looted: Goblin's Ear x1]
[Looted: Goblin's Ear x1, Enhancement stone x1]
Sitting down next to the goblin's fire Astaria starts to look through the loot and was received quite the surprise. Every enemy drops a 'proof of subjugation', otherwise known as trash loot, that individually sells for a low price, however after grinding and obtaining a larger number, they will sell for a decent amount. The drop rate for items is quite different, especially against low level enemies like goblins where a weapon drop is around 3% and an Enhancement Stone is around 1%.
Now that Astaria reached lv 4, she now has a decent amount of skill and attribute points to apply to her status. Opening up her status page, she swiftly spends her free points and reviews the changes.
——————————
[Astaria]
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Race: ???
——————————
HP: 150/150
MP: 226/270
Fatigue: 44%
Hunger: 24%
——————————
Lv: 4 - 10% [+4]
Skill Points: 1/16 - 0% [+6/-5]
Attribute Points: 0 [+20/-20]
——————————
[Attributes]
VIT: 15
STA: 10
DEF: 10 (+1)
STR: 10
AGI: 20
DEX: 10
INT: 25 (+2)
WIS: 45 [+20]
——————————
[Equipment]
Wooden Staff [Common]
(5 ATK)
Iron Short sword [Common]
(7 ATK)
Common Shirt
(N/A)
Common Trousers
(N/A)
Worn Leather Boots
(N/A)
Black Robe [Uncommon]
(INT +2) (DEF +1)
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Charisma: 10
Luck: 550
——————————
Karma: 100,000
——————————
[Skills]
Staff Lv 1
Short-sword Lv 1
Magic Arrow Lv 1
Fireball Lv 1
Lightning Lv 1
Earth spike Lv 1 [+]
——————————
[Titles]
-The First Player-
——————————
Giving her WIS a boost by 15 more points she can now kill a goblin with a single hit from any of her spells, while with the Increase in INT she will be able to increase the number of spells she can cast before needing to take a break.
Mana replenishes naturally by 5 points per minute, and by equipping items and using support skills the recovery rate can be boosted. Mana can also be replenished by using potions which is part of the reason they will become items of such high demand, since with a large quantity you can effectively grind enemies without needing to stop for breaks.
Astaria also acquired the spell [Earth Spike]. [Earth Spike] is a spell that at level 1 creates a single spike of earth from the point where the staff impacts the ground.
[Earth Spike Lv1]
[Thrusts a spike made from earth from the point of impact of the user's staff upon the ground towards the targeted location.
MP cost: 25
Cast time: 1s
Cooldown: 10s
Damage: (WIS x 250%) + ((Main hand weapon attack + Sub weapon attack) x 150%)
Additional effects: User DEF + 5% for 2s
Chance to inflict: {Trip} {Bleed}]
[Mana Arrow Lv1]
[Launches an arrow of pure mana towards the targeted location.
MP cost: 5
Cast time: 0.5s
Cooldown: 0.25s
Damage: (WIS x 60%) + ((Main hand weapon attack + Sub weapon attack) x 20%)
Additional effects: User DEF + 5% for 2s
Chance to inflict: N/A]
As the cool-down of each spell is fairly long at the lower skill levels, having a variety to use will shorten the period where Astaria is not dealing damage and allow her to become more efficient at killing groups of enemies.
At the early stage of the game, since there are so many tasks that she needs to achieve towards her plans, especially things that other players might reach before she can, making sure that every action is the most efficient it can be is imperative.
Thanks to leveling up 4 times Astaria regained 80 MP, meaning the only thing that she needs is to recover is some of her fatigue. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she blankly stares at the fire, trying to focus her attention on the dancing of the flames.
The whole gender swapping issue was seriously burdening her mind, and moments like this where there is nothing to do but wait takes a toll on her as the thoughts swirling around her mind always start to go back to what she had just lost.
After 15 minutes of rest and her fatigue raising to 31%, Astaria stands back up. Checking which direction is north on the map, she makes her way toward the next goblin camp in the grinding rotation.
In MMO's, grinding rotations are set routes players develop to efficiently kill groups of enemy mobs so that by the time they return to the first group, the enemies have respawned. These routes focus on the fastest way to get to the next group, maximising the time spent grinding.
Hearing the chartering of the next group of goblins, Astaria grits her teeth as she moves closer. The same as before, it is a group of 5 Lv 3 goblins. Swiftly repeating the previous strategy, Astaria casts lightning at the first goblin, instantly killing it as the blue bolt of lightning smashes into its head.
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 10% xp gained. 120% skill point xp gained]
[+1 skill point]
With the goblins now panicking while angrily screaming, Astaria casts a fireball at the next goblin, the ball of flames smashing square into its back as its dead body hits the floor half a meter away from the impact.
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 10% xp gained. 120% skill point xp gained]
[+1 skill point]
Spotting Astaria, the 3 remaining goblins run towards her, 2 brandishing spears while the last one wields a club.
Waiting for them as they get closer, Astaria prepares for the right moment to cast her [Earth Spike] at the first goblin, calculating for the 1 second delay between the staff hitting the ground and the spike launching out.
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 10% xp gained. 120% skill point xp gained]
[+1 skill point]
Impaling the goblin right through its stomach before it could thrust its spear at her, Astaria quickly moves out of reach of the thrust from the second goblin, raising her foot and stomping down on the end of the crude wooden spear. With its spear trapped, it screeches in panic.
"FUCKING SHUT UP!"
Swinging her staff with full force, she knocks the goblin back into its companion, silencing the screaming with a thrust from her sword through its throat.
[Goblin Lv 3 defeated. 10% xp gained. 120% skill point xp gained]
[+1 skill point]
Leaving her sword still impaled in the second goblin's neck, she wields her staff with both hands as she moves to attack the last enemy. The third goblin, now free to attack with his companion now lying dead on the floor, raises his club to strike, only to have his wrist broken by a full swing from Astaria's staff. With his club now out of his hand and on the floor, he screeches in fear and anger now he is defenseless.
Seeing the goblin trying to reach out towards her with its left hand, she swings her staff down into its left shoulder causing the goblin's bones to break with a resounding crack.
With a swift kick to the chest, Astaria sends the goblin to the ground while raising her staff again, bringing it down on the goblin's knee. Hearing the pained screams of the goblin she once again raises her staff, bringing it down on its other knee, causing the goblin to writhe in pain.
Dropping her staff to the floor with a hint of tiredness, Astaria returns to pull her sword back out of the dead goblin, menacingly walking back towards her target who was now shaking in fear as it lays in silence, watching in trepidation as Astaria walks towards it with a blade dripping in blood.
Standing above it with a face filled with sheer disgust, she spits at the goblin.
"Filthy little rapists, you all deserve to die."
Swinging her sword, Astaria decapitates the goblin. Stepping back with heavy breathing, Astaria slumps to the ground
[Warning: The System has detected that the user's emotional state is unstable. It is recommended that the user logs out of the game]
Seeing the comment, Astaria angrily retorts.
"Yeah, no fucking shit. Which genius did it take to figure out?"
After laying on her back for a while, Astaria begins to regain some of her composure from the fight, feeling relieved that she managed to release some of her pent-up frustration, but also horrified that the way she went about it was to kill a goblin so brutally. She eventually consoles herself saying that the goblins torture people, especially women, in a manner much worse than she had done so it was the least they deserved.
Standing back up in a slightly calmer state, she loots the corpses of the dead goblins before making her way towards the next group as she began her slightly frenzied grind.