Artha's most productive day was third day in the game. It had started with getting a new title and lots of currently unusable goodies. Then he had a streak of good run while he killed monsters of levels higher than his own, with help of his favourite team, stone heads galore.( Getting help of is better sounding than kill stealing with permission.)
He earned more than a million credits for selling two inventory bags and found an expressway to get lots of XP.
Before meeting the Bloody Rose, he had to run to village. He had to purchase few more bags and upgrade them. Also, he dumped potions to other customers in a single sweep. It was not much, just 50-100 potions per customer. He trotted towards level 4 map. Silent Night came in between for his guilds' goods. Then, a pretty warrior.
She would have looked even prettier if she was not looking like she was walking a dog smeared with poop. Apparently, he was that dog. She didn't diss him or scowl. It was just a hint of disdain, that reduced her prettiness. Maybe it was because he became petty? Who cares. The default setting in the game was good and pretty faces. Apparently in this world, there is auto correct and Photoshop to make your face and body always look good. He thought of the various enhancements or changes offered at character creation and shuddered again. Maybe the poverty and his circumstances had turned him indifferent to faces. Why else would the company spend so much effort for enhancement and changes if it was not a popular segment?
The only good thing about grinding with professionals was that they were professional. The ladies chatted, gossiped, discussed everything under the sun but their work effeciency was top notch.
Baccara was not in this team, thankfully. Else, he would have to hear about d*mned profiteer, unscrupulous merchant etc for long.
His experiment was proved correct. His luck and multiplier bonuses were in higher range when he was hitting monsters of levels higher than him. He quietly diverted normal XP to separate pool meant for upgrade or multiply bonus. This way, he could still enjoy the extra bonuses. He also upgraded all his inventory bags to maximum level slowly.
The teams were like a well oiled machine and they were very familiar with the map and monsters too. If there wasn't the problem of the weapons, he was sure this group would have massacred the next level map too.
As he had added most of his stats to Wisdom, even in his training staff, he was able to damage the monsters. But he was a glass cannon. He didn't have spatial awareness, the must for professional eSports player. So, just like that, he stood on one protuded rock, and bombarded whenever he could. This time, he didn't rest when mana bar was turning red, he just gulped MP points without care.
He was using spells so much that his staff's durability struck 0. Did he worry? He had over 2000 such unsellable training staff. Why should he worry? He just took another staff and started bombarding the monsters.
He was spamming his 'Identify' skills, time and again, and marking those monsters will less XP. So that he could reap the maximum benefit. It was just the matter of whether his spell arrived first or the others damaged the monsters first.
Though it was not bed of roses all the time. He didn't hunt any named monsters or field bosses but he got the opportunity to hunt the elites. Hunt in the sense meant he kept on running and once in a while when someone shouted his name, he would turn and use the spell and run away even faster. A coward's way mayhap but the best way too. Others had better tactics and understanding and their own rhythm while playing. He was a rookie. The best they hoped was not to disturb their rhythm.
And Artha finally understood where the money of guilds were being spent. All the players wore equipments and items - graves, gloves, braces, boots, armours, cape, head gear. And none of them were level 0, trash level. Artha was half naked compared to them. Most of his things were still level 0 or trash type.
Each player in the elite team has multiple weapons. They also gulped potions just like Artha did. But the ladies were dedicated through and through. They didn't leave the map till they had completely killed all the monsters. Then it was a break time. Other than few who were guarding the periphery and watching out for newly spawned monsters, others just sat down and tried to decrease the fatigue and increase the stamina. Few rose and went towards village, presumably to handover tasks. The logistics people were the ones who were working on max speed. They checked durability of weapons, exchanged them, checked potions, apples etc needed and topped them and finally collected all the monsters drops.
Instead of resting, Artha decided to do his favourite thing- denuding the environment. Thanks to his title and skill, he could collect more items now. Better the items collected, more the XP and more the bonus. Such a virtuous cycle. Thank goodness, he upgraded all his trading bags.
Few eyes him as he scrambled to collect unnecessary things, unimportant things. Some sharp eyes ones tried to collect whatever he had collected but failed. That was because - a) he had already collected the item and the item had not respawned yet and b) their collect skill had not upgraded yet.
After the stipulated time, he nodded them goodbye and left the map. He would face these wolves tomorrow again.
He had to walk back to village. A round around village centre handing over tasks and getting new ones. Dumping majority of the things in the bags. He made a quick walk, cleaning up. Unfortunately, as he had handled all the trash in the morning, not much garbage was generated yet. He chatted with the cook trying to find various ways to clean up the trash and reuse them.
Another small break, manning a stall, waiting for the customers to purchase the potions. Before, he embarked journey with Dragon Slayers, a huge change occurred in the village.