Holding her chin in thought, Astaria mulls the matter over.
"Well, what are all your levels at this moment?"
Roxanne, speaking for the group answers.
"Tyrell and Russel have reached lv 6 while Ash and I are a little way off from levelling up, still at Lv 5."
With a nod of understanding, Astaria quickly lays out her plan.
"Since Ben stayed to wait for me his level has fallen behind, so I will power level him to catch up to you guys, then I'll take Ash to get him ready to go solo. As for you guys, if you think you are ready to be able to start clearing group in pairs of 2, then split up, a tank and DPS in each group."
The plan Astaria has for Ash is quite simple compared to everyone else. The role that she has given him is to gather basic medicinal plants that Marie can use for her alchemy. After gaining the benefits from killing the goblin boss Square Jaw, he is set to start travelling to various gathering spots that had become quite famous in the past after guilds started fighting over them during the potion shortage.
Ash is to hire a number NPC adventures to help him start collecting the basic medicinal plants en masse, stockpiling as much as he can before the demand for them rises. After the initial supplies are secured, Ash is then to start collecting rarer and more advanced plants and learn how to cultivate them.
To be able to easily survive and not have to be concerned about hostile players or monsters, Ash needs to be at least level 18 by the time they kill Square Jaw.
Receiving a curt nod from the group, Ben and Astaria part ways after a few short words and walk deeper into the forest.
"So, we will be killing the higher-level goblins that are deeper in the forest. I will do most of the killing, so just focus on making sure you are taking part in the combat."
In Caelus online, to prevent players from exploiting the party system's shared XP function, the game prevents players from gaining XP while standing around doing nothing, requiring all party members to be actively engaging in fighting.
The game also proportionally reduces the XP gain of players when killing enemies of a higher level when in a party with a stronger player with a level difference of 5 or more. The exception to this is when fighting an enemy 5 or more levels higher than the strongest party member.
Caelus Online aims to limit players from easily acquiring strength, pushing themtowards gaining strength by putting in the effort. Given that the game has an impact on the real world, Astaria was certain that the game wanted players to grow from their own experience and not using coercion to have someone else do the work for them.
Taking this into account Astaria leads Ben to the nearby Lv3 goblin camps.
With Astaria's high stats and ever more accurate fighting in melee, it takes them no more than 30 seconds to completely wipe out a camp.
In order to conserve her mana, Astaria only uses [Earth Spike] occasionally since it's currently her only multi target attack, instead preferring to gracefully dance through the goblin's using just her blade, dodging and weaving while she flashes her sword to decapitate goblins left and right. Meanwhile Ben conserves his stamina by shooting regular arrows as he slowly becomes accustomed to the goblin's movements and his own bows performance, gradually increasing his hit ratio.
After spending around half an hour slaughtering the Lv 3 goblins, Ben manages to reach lv 5 while they obtain 45 goblin ears. With Ben's XP rate dropping to 2% per kill they decide to move on to killing Lv 5 goblins, each providing Ben with 10% XP per kill and Astaria with a meagre 0.5%. After another half hour of slaughter, they loot 47 more goblin ears while Ben makes it to Lv 7.
After the quick grinding session, Ben easily catches up in level to the others who are likely either all lv 7 now or almost there.
Astaria inwardly curses at herself that she had lost control yesterday, because if she had been killing enemies closer to her level, she could have quite easily made it to lv 12 or higher. Despite that, she still felt lucky that the XP she gained was not divided amongst a party, instead gaining a boost since she was fighting solo. She is also glad that Skill Points XP is gained independently of her main level's XP when killing a monster, meaning she has now a large surplus.
She can only feel sorry for the majority of players whose levelling speed is slow due to not being familiar with fighting enemies like her, and consequently being forced to party up just to have a chance. Caelus Online is unlike the previous VRMMO's, its level of immersion was leagues higher than its predecessors, meaning that skill in those past games would not be easy to bring over since controlling your character feels completely different.
After looting the last goblin, Astaria calls out to Ben.
"Right, let's meet up with the others, once everyone has hit lv 10 we can go and kill Square Jaw."
Slinging his bow over his shoulder, Ben replies.
"Sounds good. With all that target practice I am thankfully starting to get used to the bow. Although my accuracy at long range still sucks."
With a smile, Astaria walks over and hands Ben the still usable arrows from the dead goblins.
"Well, we are only on day 2, and technically the game has not had its official release day yet. You still have time."
Saying this, Astaria quickly opens up her messages and asks Tyrell where everyone is.
Waiting a minute, she finally gets a response.
> Tyrell: aay Boss, we are all still together but are grinding Lv 7 enemies in the rota southeast of where we were before. You switching Ben out for Ash?
> Astaria: Yep, how are the levels going?
> Tyrell: Everyone is Lv 7, so it wont be long now.
Seeing his last message, Astaria nods, pleased that they are being efficient. Leading the way, she deftly navigates the forest and finds the others.
Waving a greeting, everyone pauses their grinding for a short time to rest and discuss any problems they have encountered while grinding.
Speaking up, Russel is the first ti make a comment.
"Honestly, my movement as a warrior feels so limited, I can't wait to reach Lv 11 and gain the [Charge] skill, then I can actually move to block unexpected attacks in time."
Hearing this, Tyrell speaks in agreement.
"Man, for real, Paladin has that same issue, but we gotta wait for Lv 17 for a movement skill."
Hearing their complaints, Astaria smiles while explaining.
"Well, early on most classes are quite limited in one area or another. Especially the melee classes, however, once you guys reach a higher level your classes will have no issue freely moving about."
The conversation between them eventually quietens down as a unique roar comes out from the distant forest, not something that anyone should be able to hear in Woodspike Forest. The roar does not end, continuously ringing out, only stopping to take in some air. As the sound gets louder a bare-chested man stacked with muscles, whose long blonde hair and goatee are both braided, comes into view carrying a one-handed war axe in one hand and a pinecone in the other.
He continues his roar, which is clearly some form of war cry as he charges wildly waving his arms about, seemly completely oblivious to the group of flabbergasted people who are all just standing still staring at him, their heads slowly turning as they follow his figure. Suddenly, the war cry is cut short by the man's sudden and loud declaration.
"I AM VIKING!"
Following this sudden declaration, the war cry starts again as he runs past the group about 20 metres away. Following another long war cry, the man suddenly stops his roar, making another declaration.
"I AM INVINCIBLE!"
With the roar ringing out again, he eventually vanishes into the trees.
"I KILL YOU!"
The man's last shout echoes out as his war cry fades out of earshot into the distance. The group stands in silence, just staring at the spot where the man just vanished.
Ben looks at Astaria, who after noticing his movement returns his look with a shrug.
Tyrell breaks the silence that has fallen over them.
"Mans got problems."
Following that comment Roxanne chips in.
"Definitely on drugs."
Russel then chimes in with a contemplative look.
"Coke or LSD. I need me some of dat shit. Damn."
His comment draws everyone's attention to look at him.
"What?"
Tyrell answers with a raised eyebrow.
"You want to run through the forest like some half-naked barbarian? Like 'ook ook, look at me'. Hey man, you do you. I ain't judging."