Author note: Ok so pretend that whole 'Tier 9 awakening' thing didn't happen. It's gonna be a more gradual change and i'll have to cover it in the future.
When one stepped into a Village for the first time, they would notice some obvious differences from Hamlets. Aside from the obvious fact that Hamlets didn't appear to be guarded, Hamlets didn't have residential areas. Most of the businesses in Hamlets thrived from tourism and the fact they were frontier outposts, and this "tourism" would only increase as more and more players entered the game. Even though this place was simply called a "Village", a residential and "downtown" area were clearly defined.
This place seemed more like an organic settlement rather than a collection of NPCs.
*Now for a couple of things I came here to do...*
Since Villages were larger than Hamlets and had larger NPC populations, the number of specialized professions among NPCs was slightly higher than that of Hamlets. While Hamlets only really had basic amenities, Villages offered a small bit of luxuries as well as more advanced necessities.
Jisha strolled into the "downtown" area of the Village. Foot traffic was a bit more dense than Hamlets as pedestrians and NPCs with tamed monsters roamed the streets. The player population appeared to be a bit greater than Hamlets as well.
But how was this the case? Unless one were a beta player or had insider information, they would be roaming randomly in the wilderness until they came across a settlement. In fact, most players were still in this category despite the fact that the developers leaked a map with basic information before the game's release.
This was due to the simple fact that Villages were less common than Hamlets. Players who spawned in Hamlets would eventually find their way to the nearest Village, and multiple Hamlets funneled into a single Village. For example, those who spawned in Uval or Covan would both eventually end up in Inkling Village.
*First order of business is inventory expansion. Then we'll get some more ammo and basic frontier exploration gear.*
By default, players could only carry 12 different types of items before their inventory was full. But, the shop Jisha headed into, dubbed "Mark's Backpacks", offered multiple options for inventory expansion.
"Welcome to Mark's Backpacks. Is there anything we can help you find today?" asked the NPC who was just inside the doorway.
"I'll be fine, thanks. I know what I'm getting," Jisha said as she refused help.
This was another difference between Villages and Hamlets as well; Village shops seemed to be more well-employed. Mark's Backpacks could even afford to have an employee greet customers!
The store wasn't that big, but the upgrade sizes surprised her. Strangely enough, a mere Village had excellent options!
All sorts of backpacks were hung up on the walls and displayed on shelves. The look of the store was a bit more modern than those of Hamlet frontier shops; one might even see a store with a layout like this in real life.
And on those shelves and walls lay a colorful assortment of wares.
*>Name: Miniature Green Backpack*
*>+5 Inventory Slots*
*>Name: Miniature Orange Backpack*
*>+6 Inventory Slots*
*>Name: Miniature Cyan Backpack*
*>+7 Inventory Slots*
Though the deals on these items were superb, Jisha wasn't going to waste a single Copper. She was going to find the best option available. The further back she headed into the shop, the pricier and grander the backpacks became. Finally, at the back wall, the best available items presented themselves.
*>Name: Orange Backpack*
*>+15 Inventory Slots*
*>Name: Cyan Backpack*
*>+16 Inventory Slots*
The "Cyan Backpack" seemed to be the largest option in the store, so Jisha naturally wanted to purchase it.
Just like shopping in real life, she took the item off the wall and headed to the counter to pay.
"That'll be 100 Bronzium," said the clerk behind the counter.
Jisha easily paid with 1 Silverium and headed out the door.
*It's incredibly cheap!*
And though most of her net worth was down the drain, she wasn't worried in the slightest.
Items that added inventory space, like backpacks, didn't actually have to be worn by avatars. And if you wanted to add more inventory slots to your account, the price would go up exponentially. So the 16 slots Jisha had just gained for a mere Silverium was a very good bargain.
When venturing in the wild, you never knew if you would come across anything valuable. If you didn't have room to store it, you could only admire it...
*Next up, frontier shopping.*
And even though this was a Village, it would still have a frontier shop that looked almost similar to that of the Hamlet's. Jisha easily found one due to its signature logo and headed inside. And after several minutes of browsing, she purchased everything she needed.
*>Name: Advanced Waypoint Marker*
It wasn't much, but this item was the main purpose of visiting a Village's frontier shop. If you paired it with a map, it would mark its location in one's current position. On top of being helpful for navigation, you could also teleport back to it if you were within a certain distance. This, along with the "sleeping bag", was a basic necessity for any explorer.
Placing a sleeping bag would set your respawn point; if you were to die in the wild, you would simply respawn there instead of in the nearest Safe Zone. However, Jisha wasn't going to die. If she, a former Tier 9 player, died in this low-leveled area, she was better off quitting Synergy forever!
*Now, the "fun" starts...*
The only thing left to do after frontier shopping was actually heading into the frontier. Grinding, exploring, gathering, etc... Almost everything one needed to do in order to advance themselves was accomplished in the frontier. To an ordinary player, this experience was thrilling like no other. However, to Jisha, grinding low-level mobs would be incredibly boring. However, there wasn't any better way to level up at the moment.
*Hopefully I can stumble across something that'll give me a ton of XP...*
---
*>Quaterniana: I've spotted a player with a name and level concealment method; they've just entered from the eastern gate. I couldn't get a good look at finer details, but it's likely a female avatar.*
*>Stein: Continue following them for now. Keep me updated.*
"Yana just sent me some news. There's a chance we've found the target. But keep up the good work, we're doing well."
"Yes, sir."
Stein led his team members through the sparse forest. The members of Asunder followed behind him and took out various mobs with ease.
*>+10 Copper*
*>+12 Copper*
*>+12 Copper*
...
This party was not only individually skilled but also cohesive as a group. The beginner-level ordinary mobs didn't pose a threat in the slightest to Stein and his cadres.
*>System Message: Level up!*
...
*>Name: Stein*
*>Level: 6*
*>Name: Arcadia Black*
*>Level: 5*
*>Name: Cargo Biscuit*
*>Level: 5*
...
The members of the club guild Asunder had all reached level 5 at the very least. They hadn't wasted a moment since logging in; these ten individuals had been grinding for XP since minute 1. There was a good chance that they were among the highest-leveled players in the game right now.
"Hm... Looks like there's some level 7s. They must have gotten lucky," Stein complained as he checked the global leaderboard. He was certain he'd done everything he possibly could have to secure as much XP as possible, but there were always some anomalies in the gaming world.
"Ah, someone hit level 8. Oh, well."
Especially since Synergy had just been released and not much was known about it yet, players who did well early on were likely to fall off in the later stages of the game. With a bit of luck, it was possible for anyone to reach a "high" level in the early game. And since this leaderboard was global, all players on planet Etmos were competing for the top spot. The Northeast was but a small region...
If one thought about it like this, Stein and his crew were doing incredibly well. He couldn't do anything about others in some distant land leveling up rapidly. He could only try his best.
However, there was something nagging him at the back of his mind.
*That player... What level is she?*
Over an hour ago, Dharr, who was stationed in the Covan Hamlet, sent him information about the player he'd kept in mind since the incident in Uval.
And what he saw was...
*>Name: Fae Sol*
*>Level: 7*
If he didn't see this information for himself, there was no chance he'd believe it. However, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
"Hitting level 7 within the first two hours of gameplay isn't... impossible. It just requires an unreal amount of luck..." Stein muttered to himself.
However, something that seemed impossible to him was the battle footage he had seen from the Uval Hamlet. In a fight against 7 players with no skills and rudimentary weapons, Fae Sol had emerged victorious. And it wasn't even close. He watched the battle footage again and again, but he failed to understand how it was possible.
"What level of combat is it? 8th degree? Could it even be... 9th degree?"
Those who hadn't played Virtual Martial Arts wouldn't understand, but a 9th degree black belt was the highest achievable rank. Stein, who played the game regularly, was ranked at 4th degree. With his knowledge, he could tell that the team of 7's coordination was also roughly around a 3rd to 4th degree black belt level, though their individual skills were lacking.
They were roughly in the top 0.5% of players, yet they were still crushed. Knowing this, it wasn't unlikely for Fae Sol to have the skills of an 8th or 9th degree black belt.
With that skill, she would easily top the leaderboards, especially given her insane luck.
The problem was... Fae Sol never appeared no matter how much he checked! She obviously chose to hide herself, so it was impossible to determine her current level.
"And that madman Brookie left us for her..."
The feral dog that would only obey pure strength had become as tame as a puppy in front of Fae Sol. Stein had heard all about it from Dharr, who wouldn't stop complaining. Brookie was Asunder's most valuable asset, and he was gone in an instant. It was for this reason that Stein had placed a kill order on her!
"Why? Alacai won't forgive him."
For some reason, Brookie determined that following Fae Sol was more worthwhile than being faithful to his home country, the Alacai Covenant. In fact, Asunder was an undercover experiment sponsored by the Covenant itself. Even by Northeastern standards, Alacai had extreme militarism and harsh punishments for lawbreakers. Leaving Asunder just like that was treasonous and punishable by death!
Since this was the case, Stein wasn't going to report the matter right away. However, he couldn't contact Brookie within Synergy anymore...
"Gonna have to ask him in the morning..."
As Stein muttered to himself, he and his crew kept sweeping through the mobs in the area. And after several more minutes, he receive another message.
*>Quaterniana: I've confirmed that the player is indeed a female avatar. She's just walked out of the frontier shop and is most likely headed out to solo grind.*
*>Stein: Good work. Keep me updated on her whereabouts.*
From Ivonna to Dharr, Stein had a general idea of Fae Sol's location since the very beginning of the game. Stein needed Brookie back, and there wasn't any other way to do it than to kill Fae Sol and make her submit. That was the Alacai way - it always worked.
And even though the opponent this time was strong, Stein was confident in his victory.
Stein was a 4th degree black belt, and the other 9 members he was power leveling with were all at least 3rd degree black belts. This number might not be enough to take down a transcendental grandmaster, but there were more than 10 people in Asunder. And everyone was at least a 1st degree black belt.
*Well, everyone except those four...*
All he had to do was send messages to everyone.
*>Stein: All members of Asunder: Come to Inkling Village as quickly as possible.*
He had to get to the bottom of this; he and Fae Sol were fated to meet!
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