"So what will you do now? Take me to grind monsters that give abundant Experience Points? To do hidden quests turning me into legendary blacksmith with 100% forging rate? Or shall we go with my preferences and you take me to hunt for a Mythical Grade Artifact." said Cao Huang, his eyes glimmering like a child's.
In parallax, the known artifacts and equipments were divided into seven different grades excluding the basic equipments. These were Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Epic, Legendary and Mythical grades. There were also the rumoured Supreme grade artifacts used by the Twelve Supremes of Parallax but till now there wasn't any information available about them.
"Not quite. The monsters that give abundant exp can't be killed by user's current level. The blacksmith with the highest forging rate ever to exist in Parallax was Uthariun also known as The God Of Forging and even his forging rate never reached as high as 90%. As for hunting Mythical grade artifacts, each Mythical Grade Artifact is at least in the presence of a Disaster grade beast or requires a quest of Nightmare difficulty to be completed. For the current user, running away after encountering a Lord Class monster would be a miracle, lest stealing something under the watch of a Nightmare Class monster would be no less than courting death.
In Parallax, the beasts or monsters can be divided into several classes. These are Normal, Boss, Lord, Great Lord, Nightmare, Disaster and Pandemonium. A Nightmare class monster can destroy a small NPC town like Morning Dew Town in several minutes, that is in the presence of a Gold Tiered NPC overseeing it's safety.
Unlike monsters, NPCs or players aren't represented by classes instead Tiers are used to differentiate them. They are divided into Basic Tier, Silver Tier, Gold Tier, Diamond Tier, Legendary Tier and above them lies the Supreme Tier.
Famous Disaster Class monsters known by the Players are the legendary Dragons and thirteen Demon Kings of Hell while Diamond Tier include Angels and Fallen Angels and other equal beings.
The only known Legendary Tiered beings known, are the Fourty-eight Gods under the Supremes while there are no existing records of Pandemonium Class beings.
Hearing this Cao Huang felt like someone has dumped a bucket of cold water over him. His dream of wielding Mythical Class artifact yet remains unfulfilled.
"So what else can we do?" Cao Huang sounded like someone had stolen his wife.
"Just follow my advice and all your dreams will be fulfilled. Forget about a measly Mythical Grade artifact even a Supreme Grade artifact won't be out of reach." said Vilariun encouraging him.
"Supreme Grade artifact!" Cao Huang started day dreaming again.
"Now let's grind some monsters. My plans regarding your path to supremacy first involves reaching level 5."
"But how am I going to reach level 5? All the grinding spots are fully occupied by other players. As soon as a monster pops out, it is immediately attacked by dozens of players in waiting. At this rate I won't be able to reach level 2 in a day." said snapping out of his day dreams.
"You don't have to worry about that as I said, I have already constructed several plans. You just need to follow what I tell you. Now, just as you humans have a saying; before cutting a tree it is best to sharpen the axe. Similarly, I also have a saying; before grinding monsters, it is best to acquire good equipment.
"Good saying!" Cao Huang was impressed. Although Vilariun is an artificial intelligence. It seems to possess human like sentient.
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"First we will need suitable pieces of equipment for you. With these basic equipment that you have, it will surely take you a while to reach level 5." Vilariun explained.
By the time Vilariun finished explaining, Cao Huang was jumping up and down in excitement. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go. We won't be finding such equipment lying around do we?" Cao Huang was already fed up waiting.
"Well you aren't exactly wrong about it."
"About what?" Cao Huang didn't understand what Vilariun wanted to say.
"About finding good equipment lying around."
"My WHAT!" He definitely wasn't expecting such an answer. Finding good equipment lying around, who would believe such ridiculous thoughts.
"But at first, User shouldn't forget about checking his attribute window." reminded Vilariun.
With a slight wave and a touch of his finger, an Attribute Panel appeared in front of Cao Huang.
Character: Cao Huang(Human)
Affiliated Kingdom: Ever-Green
Title: Yet to acquire any.
Category: Assassin (Yet to acquire an advance class)
Level: 0
HP: 70/70
Physical Attack Power: 16
Defense: 2
Attack Speed: 6
Movement Speed: 7
Attributes: Strength: 6, Agility: 6, Endurance: 2, Intelligence: 2, Vitality: 2.
Free Attribute Points: 4
Weapon Mastery:
Dagger Mastery +5 (Apprentice Rank - Increases Dagger Damage by 5%)
Short Sword Mastery + 5 (Apprentice Rank - Increases Short Sword Damage by 5%)
Free Mastery Points: 0
Category Talent:
Assassin Talent 1: Dagger-related and Short Sword related Mastery +5
Assassin Talent 2: Obtain 8 Free Mastery Points every 5 Levels.
Assassin Talent 3: Dagger and Short Sword related skills proficiency increased by 50%.
Assassin Talent 4: Obtain 1 Point in Movement Speed and Attack Speed every 5 Levels.
Skills:
Stab. Active skill. Requirement: Dagger or a Short Sword. Additional 8 points of damage. Cooldown: 5 seconds. Skill Level: 1 (Proficiency 0/300)
Equipment:
[Assassin's Leather Shirt] (Basic Trash)
Level 0
Defense +2
Durability 10/10
[Broken Dagger] (Basic Trash, Dagger)
Level 0
Equipment Requirement: Strength 3
Attack Power +3
Durability 15/15
Every Assassin came with the same Attributes, the only difference being the allocation of Free Attribute Points.
Adding points to Strength increases Physical Attack Power. Agility increases Attack Speed and Movement Speed. Endurance increases Maximum Health and Stamina. Intelligence increases Magical Attack Power and Maximum MP and Vitality increases recovery rate of HP and MP. Every category places emphasis on different Attributes.
An Assassin is a class specializing in quick movements and attack speed. They also require high Physical Attack Power to finish of their opponents in quickest of time. But their disadvantage lies in having less Health Points and low Defense. If an assassin is unable to finish his opponent quickly, he risks dying instead.
"So how shall I distribute my Free Attribute Points?" asked Cao Huang.
"As an assassin you already have an advantage over others in movement speed so there is no further need to add points in Agility. Also your fourth Talent allows you to have increase in Movement Speed and Attack Speed every 5 levels. You should put all your free points in Vitality to increase your Maximum Health."
"Shouldn't I invest all my Free Attribute Points in Strength in order to raise my Attack Power? How can someone kill me if I kill them before they kill me?" interjected Cao Huang.
"You are just a beginner here so stop considering your self an expert. You will die if you aren't able to execute a proper attack. But if you have enough Health Points even if you fail, there will be a second chance or third chance to attack the opponent."
When Cao Huang thought it through, he came to realize that this was the case. He brought up the Attribute Window and added all of his Free Attribute Points in Vitality. Therefore increasing his Maximum Health to 190/190.
The Stamina Attribute, Concentration Attribute, Awareness Attribute and several other were known as known as Hidden Attributes.
Absolute Supremacy is different from typical VR Games in a sense that these attributes weren't Visible but had to personally experienced by players. A novice player of level 0 can't walk more than five kilometers without getting tired or battle a monster more than 10 minutes without feeling exhaustion.
Only an expert would be able to utilize these Hidden Attributes to the fullest. So to Cao Huang with an A.I like Vilariun by his side, increasing these hidden attributes will surely put him at an advantage over others players.
"Now as allocation of Free Attribute Points has been settled, let us depart." Said Vilariun simply.