Jake returned once again to Yaros to restart his leveling up.
For the next three weeks, hunting and completing quests is all that he is going to do, and at the same time had to wait for the acceptance letter from one of the academies. After the results were announced, he applied to various academies but Kernal was not among them.
The reason behind that was the academy has increased its eligibility criteria this year, which Jake has no idea about. If he had known before, he would have at least reached level 6 or 7 before exams which would let him apply for the Kernal.
Even though that is out of the options, there were many more academies that were as good as Kernal.
Alkore is one among them, where Selena is currently a student. Even though this is not superior to Kernal, it is not inferior either.
Before leaving for the academy, it is best to reach the highest level possible. There would be a lot of monsters at the academy and only strength would deter them from doing anything to you.
There was only a month before the academy started. Jake wanted to reach the level limit before he could reach Rank-2. This was because, at level 60, one would start to show skills and strength that they had on Yaros.
Though they may not be as powerful as they were on Yaros at that point, it is still better than being powerless. Reaching level 60 on Yaros is a must and something that has to be done as soon as possible if one wants to survive on Tarro.
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Unlike before, Jake decided to use Bow and Arrows, alongside a short sword this time.
Like any awakened, items are also graded and also levels.
Weapons and Armor start at Common grade, which even ordinary humans can create. They break faster than anything as one uses weapons to fight the monsters, not some simple animals most of the time.
This is why Jake didn't take the Bow and Arrows route when he started to hunt first. The arrows he launched would most likely end up broken, and that would empty his non-existing balance.
He was not unique in using this method. Unless there is someone in Yaros who can cover the cost of your weapons, this is the common method used by most awakeners who belong to the Bow and Arrow category.
After the common grade comes the uncommon grade items. The items of this grade are better than common-grade items and can survive better while fighting monsters that didn't reach Rank-1.
To tackle the monsters above Rank-1, only Rare grade and above weapons are best.
Of course, that doesn't mean you can't take a weak Rare weapon that can tackle Rank-1 to tackle Rank-2 monsters. You need need to the level-appropriate items before you go and face monsters at that level.
For defending or attacking Rank-1 and above monsters, using common or uncommon grade weapons, no matter the level of that item would be considered useless. So items of this grade are scrapped if they were produced during production.
No one would buy them, as they would be weak and less durable. So it's better to scrap them rather than putting on display for sale.
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Jake brought a level 20 uncommon grade Bow and Arrows. He is going to use this Bow till he reaches Rank-1. He is not rich enough to change weapons at every level up. So he chose the highest possible for him.
Unlike in games, there are no restrictions on the usage of items that are way above your level but being someone at a lower level and using high-level weapons would be disastrous.
The body and mind can't bear the burden of using such high-level ones. Of course, if your life is on the line, then taking the chances is better than accepting death at the hands of enemies.
This is why every rich kid would have something very powerful in their pockets which they won't use unless they fear for their life. It would most likely end in mutually assured destruction.
This is also the reason why rich kids were not targeted, unlike poor ones.
Jake is considered as one among of the poor. If his parents were alive then it may have been different, but they were not.
All this time, he was still in the newbie areas which are near the New Bastion and any huge commotion would be not concealed. So no one would dare to do something bad in the areas near the city.
He can still level up for a few days here but once he reaches Rank-1, trying to level up near the city would yield nothing. The Experience gained would be abysmal.
One has to move further away from the regions surrounding the New Bastion for that.
This is why, he saved the coins he gained before now and only now he used those coins to buy an uncommon grade weapon.
Buying the weapons drained almost all the coins he had and can't afford to buy most of the armor but he did buy uncommon boots, which give +5 Speed Bonus.
Speed is not something that makes move us faster but very important to escape with life if he by chance faces an enemy that he can't defeat.
The Bonuses comes in two ways. One is a number improvement and another is a percentage improvement. Since he was still at low level, a +5 number bonus is still a welcome one.
At this stage a percentage bonus may not mean much but he knows that with his talent, his Speed would reach a number that is not normal for someone of his level and percentage bonus is better than a number bonus.
Even if he feels like that, most awakened look for number bonus and so the items would have such bonus. Jake can only custom order an item if he wants a percantage bonus but that would be a waste of coins at this level.
His leveling prgression would be much faster than others. This was not due to some EXP bonus. No his stats are higher than what a level 10 should have and they would move up as he continues to hunt.
The more he hunts, the more it would become easier for him to hunt more and even higher level monsters. Killing higher level monsters would give extra experience as killing lower lowel ones would give lesser experince than it did.
With everything prepared, Jake is now ready to hunt.