EFate: An MMO Story Chapter 28: Leveling

Reentering the forest, Eric retraced his previous route through the forest, headed for the glade. Along the way he saw signs of other players having pa.s.sed through recently, dead rabbits, broken branches, footprints, and perhaps the most obvious sign: other players themselves, often in parties of two or three. Hunting for Demonic Rabbits, Red-maned Wolves, and whatever other monster crossed their path.

Staring at him with interest, he received a few calls to join others' parties. But he declined them all, preferring to forge on alone further into the forest. He couldn't afford to waste time hunting low level monsters anymore. Not if he wanted to level up.

Reaching the glade, Eric looked around. The bodies had vanished, leaving the torn up ground and burned patches of gra.s.s as the only reminders of the battle that had raged in this part of the forest. As he listened, the trickling sounds from the brook seemed to fill the glade.

Hearing nothing out of the ordinary, Eric quickly checked his direction. The map and compa.s.s he'd been given by Calyn during the tutorial had transformed into another element of the UI once he'd reached the mainland. But it only revealed areas he had already visited. Double checking that he was still headed north, he dismissed the map, leaving the glade behind as he ventured deeper into the woods.

Goblins are humanoids, and most likely would prefer to make camp near a source of water, Eric reasoned, choosing to follow the brook as it winded its way north through the trees. Stopping occasionally to check his direction, Eric fended off monsters. Dispatching overly aggressive rabbits with a single well placed stone arrow.

[Evasive Shot has levelled up to Beginner 2!]

Smiling, Eric dismissed the notification before looting the pair of rabbits that had charged him. He was pretty deep into the forest now. The sounds of other players hunting rabbits nearby had long since disappeared, replaced only by the sounds of insects, the bubbling of the brook, and the occasional howl.

"Strange how I haven't run into any wolves yet," Eric muttered. Nocking an arrow to his bow to be safe. Ever since being stabbed by that rabbit he'd been far more cautious, giving the woods the respect they deserved. No sooner it seemed had the words left his mouth when with a savage howl, a wolf appeared above him. Its' outstretched claws ready to tear him apart as it leapt through the air.

Whipping around, Eric activated Evasive Shot, loosing the arrow he'd prepared and dodging to the side in a single movement. With a meaty thud the arrow buried itself into the animals upper shoulder, causing it to emit a loud growl as it bared its fangs at him. Grabbing another arrow from his quiver, Eric backpedalled quickly but failed to fully avoid the wolf's follow up swipe, the wolf's claws catching him in the leg as he retreated. Hissing at the sudden pain, Eric watched as his healthbar appeared, more than ten percent of his health vanis.h.i.+ng with the strike.

Cursing, he stopped trying to pull out another arrow, instead ducking down and throwing himself under the wolf's second lunge. This time the wolf sailed overhead, its claws. .h.i.tting air only inches above him as he readied another arrow to fire.

Spinning around he brought up the arrow to his cheek, feeling the coa.r.s.e goose-feather fletching rub against his nose. As the wolf reared for another strike, preparing to bite into Eric's soft unprotected thigh he loosed the arrow, watching as it penetrated deeply into the wolf's throat.

With a low gurgling sound the wolf collapsed to the ground, the last of its HP bar disappearing as it fell. After looting it and moving a few hundred meters from the corpse, Eric found a mossy rock where he sat down to review the fight.

Unlike with the Demonic Rabbits, Red-maned Wolves were much more violent and cunning. Where the rabbits were fairly simplistic, only attacking if the player intruded upon its territory, the wolf had actively sought him out and planned a sneak attack. Had he not been prepared then it could have been him left lying on the forest floor.

The wolves were also much more varied in their attack patterns than the rabbits had been. With only the horn upon their forehead as a true threat, the demonic rabbits were limited to a fairly simplistic attack pattern which consisted purely of charging in a straight line directly at their foe. Simply moving to the side was enough to avoid most of their attacks.

The wolves on the other hand could use both their powerful jaws as well as their razor sharp claws to attack. Not being forced into gathering enough speed to make their charge lethal, the wolves could thus change directions mid-combat and catch a player attempting to avoid only the initial charge in order to allow for a follow up attack. Very tricky. And wolves were supposed to be easier opponents than goblins, at least according to Alistair.

Bringing up his notification window, Eric was surprised to see the number of skill levels he'd gained from the fight.

[Evasive Shot has levelled up to Beginner 6]

[Basic Evasion has reached Beginner 8]

[Basic Archery has reached Beginner 10!]

[You have learned Charged Shot!]

[You have levelled up to level 2! Stats have been updated]

Strength +1

Agility +1

Endurance +1

Magic Power +1

Mana +10

[Charged Shot] - Beginner 1

Active Skill

Common

By taking extra time to aim and draw the bow back to its full potential you maximize the damage dealt to your target. Increases power and accuracy of the shot in exchange for increased stamina usage.

Despite having only fought a single wolf, multiple skills had levelled up. Including his Basic Archery which had been stuck at Beginner 9 for a little while now. What confused him was that he'd also gained multiple levels for Evasive Shot and Basic Evasion. Despite this fight being less dangerous than the fight against Seryllia, he'd gained more skill levels as a whole in this fight. This could mean one of two things, either fights against other players didn't give as much skill experience to avoid abuse. Or that perhaps there was some other modifier that affected skill leveling apart from danger. Perhaps the execution of the skill itself mattered?

No matter the case, it was certainly much more effective to fight wolves than it had been murdering those poor innocent rabbits. Well maybe not so innocent, Eric thought, glancing at the b.l.o.o.d.y hole that still gaped open on the side of his pants, revealing the freshly healed flesh underneath.

Moving on from the issue of skill levels, Eric was thrilled to see that he'd finally hit level 2. It seemed that Beginner 10 in a skill really was a prerequisite for leveling up. Interestingly, it appeared that leveling up had unlocked the stats system. While it was a fairly standard RPG system, the omission of intelligence and wisdom was a little shocking.

With a shrug, Eric got up and dusted himself off. No matter what, whether or not stats were omitted, fighting players gave less skill experience, or if beginner 10 affected a player's ability to level up, none of that really mattered right now. The only path forward was to continue to kill, grind wolves to level up his skills, gain levels, and meet up with the group so they could attempt to kill bosses or run dungeons together. Worrying about the most efficient way to grind would only paralyze his decision making, for now he could leave that to the forum theorycrafters. He would focus on repeating the same skills over and over against the wolves. Focusing on leveling Evasive Shot and Basic Evasion would benefit him in the future. Plus he was interested to know what would happen once he got a second skill to Beginner 10.

Stretching quickly, he began to venture deeper into the forest. Alert for even the slightest sound of movement. Occasionally he pa.s.sed rabbits, staring out from their burrows with mistrustful eyes. Most of these he avoided by giving a wide berth, but those that charged him regardless received a swift arrow, permanently ending any aspirations they may have held of tearing his pants further.

Whenever he encountered a lone wolf, he would attempt to perform as many evasive shots as possible. Always aiming to both perfectly dodge, and land arrows in critical spots. As a result his Evasive Shot skill was now Beginner 8. And his Basic Evasion had also reached Beginner 9. Eric was very interested to know what would happen once a second skill reached Beginner 10. For now his Basic Archery was still stuck at Beginner 10. But he felt that it should level up soon.

Eric hadn't forgotten that his ultimate goal for now was to create a Combination Skill. Whichever person created a Rare or higher skill would become the leader of the guild which meant that if Jun created one before him, he would forever be the lowest rank possible in the guild. He had to create a rare skill before Jun!

Unfortunately, he still had no idea what was required to create even the most basic combination skill. Let alone a skill with a rare rank or higher, he thought absently as he ducked underneath a wolf's claws, loosing an arrow at point blank range into its abdomen as he did so. With a howl the wolf fell, the fury in its eyes at being unable to land a scratch on this half-elf slowly being replaced by the milky whiteness of death.

[Red-maned Wolf has died]

[Basic Evasion has reached Beginner 10!]

[You have levelled up to level 3! Stats have been updated]

Strength +1

Agility +1

Endurance +1

Magic Power +1

Mana +10

[Evasive Shot has levelled up to Beginner 9]

[Basic Archery has reached Apprentice 1]

With a grin, Eric opened up his event log. Sure enough, it seemed that reaching Beginner 10 in a skill was indeed related to levelling up. Whether or not every skill would allow a player to level up once reaching Beginner 10 or not remained to be tested, but it certainly seemed likely given that both times he'd increased a skill to Beginner 10 he'd gained a level.

Interestingly enough, there was no new active skill learned for reaching Beginner 10 with his Basic Evasion skill. Perhaps only your first skill rewards you with a new active skill? Eric wondered as he checked the notifications.

His archery skill had also advanced another level, however, it was no longer rated as beginner but instead as apprentice. Wondering idly if the level names changed every ten levels, Eric closed the event log. While he was certainly gaining quite a lot of skill levels hunting wolves solo, the wolves were starting to lose their challenge. Or at least individual wolves had. Perhaps it was time to stop avoiding pairs of wolves, or even start hunting for the goblins Alistair had mentioned?

With a smile, Eric looted the wolf and set off. It was time to test whether or not these iron arrows he'd purchased had been worth the price.