"Let's find a place to level up," Cole said, planning to leave the city immediately.
"Do you think reaching Level 4 will be that easy?" Eden asked.
"What do you mean?"
"It's a Special Quest, Cole. Think about it," Eden said. "And let's keep this quest between us. There's a chance QuantumPlay Dynamics might take our reward."
Cole thought for a moment. "I won't say anything, but we should start grinding for levels as soon as possible."
"I noticed a potion shop on our way here. Let’s check it out first."
"Do we have money for potions?" Cole asked. "We started with 10 Breads, 10 pouches of Water, and 30 Copper coins. Did you get any more?"
"No, but potions are always useful. It’s worth a stop—we have nothing to lose."
Without waiting for Cole, Eden headed toward the shop. He needed a specific potion, as leveling up to Level 4 within two days through regular means would be nearly impossible.
Grinding monsters without skills and with a basic weapon would take forever if we don’t use some effective methods, Eden thought. Ahartohaim places a high value on a player’s abilities. Skills can only be obtained after reaching Level 5. Until then, combat relies on basic martial arts knowledge. If you haven’t trained in weapons or hand-to-hand combat before, it’s a good idea to start at the training grounds in the cities. The speed of learning and weapon mastery there is faster than anywhere else, and the knowledge stays even after returning to Earth.
The potion shop was located on a main street but had few customers. When Eden and Cole entered, only the old man behind the counter was present. A terrible smell hit them as they opened the door—thick, heavy, and nearly unbearable.
"What is this smell?" Cole asked, burying his nose in his tunic.
"It’s probably 'Potion Atmosis'," Eden replied, heading to the counter despite the stench.
"Do you know about my condition, boy?" the shopkeeper asked curiously.
"Yes."
The old man smiled widely. "Then will you help me cure it? It’s been bothering me for weeks and hurting my business."
"Maybe we can help each other," Eden said. "I’m looking for a potion that can put low-level monsters to sleep. Do you have anything like that?"
"What level of monsters are we talking about?"
"Level 2 Elite, at most."
"Then I have something that can help," said the old man, retrieving a round, brown bottle from a shelf. "This is 'Griffin Tranquilizer.' It can be swallowed in small doses or splashed on the ground. It has no effect on humans but works strongly on common monsters below Level 4."
"Exactly what I needed," Eden said. "How much for a bottle?"
"95 Coppers. But if you cure my condition, I’ll give you one for free."
"I think your condition is more important than a Silver. How about this: I cure your condition, and you give me five bottles."
"Five?" the old man exclaimed. "No, that won’t work. How do I know you can really cure me?"
Eden considered his options before speaking. "Let’s do this: You give me one bottle for free and one at half price. If the recipe I give you cures your condition, you’ll give me four more bottles for free. What do you say?"
"Boy, aren’t you asking for too much? I’d lose about 5 Silvers."
"Good sir, once you’re back in business, you could earn much more than that in a single day."
The old man thought in silence.
Sly fox, I don’t have all day, Eden thought. He didn’t want to waste more time on a fruitless negotiation, so he decided to change tactics.
"Sir, do you know what this means?" Eden pulled out his [Character Card].
The old man’s eyes widened as he looked at the card.
"There will be many people coming from our world. If you prove trustworthy, I’ll bring you more customers than you’ve ever seen," Eden said, gesturing dramatically. He was putting on a show.
"Bullshit!" the old man interrupted. "How can I know you have the power to do that?"
"Because, sir, I have considerable influence." Eden squared his shoulders and approached the old man confidently. "You recognized who we are the moment I showed you my card, so you’re clearly not an ordinary person. But ask yourself, how can someone new to this world know more about potions than someone who’s spent a lifetime surrounded by them?"
"If my recipe works, it proves my honesty. In the worst case, you lose only 2 Silvers," Eden added. "I’ll take two bottles for free and four more after you recover. Deal, or should I head to the larger shop and talk to the owner?"
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The old man’s anger intensified, causing the already foul smell to grow stronger.
Clearly, there’s some rivalry among the shopkeepers, Eden thought.
"Fine, I’ll take my chance with you. Your recipe better work, and you’d better bring me enough clients to cover my expenses. Otherwise, I won’t rest until I use all my connections to track you down," the old man said, barely containing his fury.
Cole started coughing from the strong smell but stayed inside the shop. Eden, on the other hand, was so pleased he almost kissed the old man’s forehead.
"Bring me a pen and paper," Eden said with a smile.
After writing out the recipe, Eden and Cole took the potion bottles and left the shop, heading straight for the wilderness.
"Boil spring water in a silver cauldron… blah, blah, blah… 2 drops of bee saliva… 3 spoons of Twilight Fungus… This boy really knows his stuff," the old man muttered as he hurried to fetch the ingredients.
Once outside the city and breathing in the fresh air, Cole asked, "Since when did you become a potion expert, brother? And how do you know so much about the places around here?"
Eden took a moment to think. Perhaps revealing all that information to Cole hadn't been the best idea. "I got my hands on a potion book and overheard a conversation between two military guys who tested the game before us," he explained.
Cole looked at him skeptically. "You want to act like this?" he asked.
Eden stopped walking, placed his hands on Cole's shoulders, and said, "My uncle works for the army. He has a friend who was one of the Beta Testers for the game, and he shared all the missions data with me. There wasn’t much, but among the information was a potion book, the locations of certain places, and a clear indication that Ahartohaim operates like a real world. We also need to be cautious in combat since the pain can be quite severe for those unaccustomed to it, and limbs can be severed. Wounds can be healed and lost limbs restored, but the process takes time. Alternatively, you can die and respawn fully healed or visit healing centers and request Newcomer's Assistance for one time per character only."
Eden looked directly into Cole’s eyes. "If you want to share the burden of my secrets, I won’t stop you. But you always need to be careful about what you say."
"Eden, you’re my brother. Don’t keep something so important from me, alright? I won’t say a word, don’t worry." Cole assured his friend.
"Alright, alright. Just so you know, the Special Quest and the shopkeeper’s reaction were pure luck. I had no idea things would turn out this way. I just played my cards."
"I know, brother," Cole said with a smile. "So, did your information include a good place for leveling up?"
"Unfortunately, no. But it did mention a monster spawning zone further north from here."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Cole asked, leading the way.
Hope you don’t make me lie again, Eden thought, following his friend.
To confirm Eden's words, after traveling for about an hour, the boys entered a hilly region filled with large rocks and small, fur-covered monsters. These creatures were about 1.5 meters tall, had sharp beaks, long clawed arms, and were quick on their feet. They were digging the earth for food.
"What are those?" Cole asked.
"What am I, Wikipedia? How would I know?" Eden replied. "Open your [Character Card] and see if we can get some information."
Cole opened his [Character Card] and figured out that pointing the back of the card at a monster would display its data.
"So it works like this," Cole said as he reviewed the monster’s information.
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[ Name: Javelin Bird ]
Monster Level: 2
HP: 230
Defense: 0
Attack Power: 30
Movement Speed: 15
Description: High speed and attack, low on defense. Not very intelligent, but deadly. Cannot fly, cannot be tamed or used as a summon.
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"Javelin Bird," Cole repeated. "Let’s kill one to test its strength."
Eden sent Cole a party invite, then picked up a stone and threw it near one of the birds. The sound of the rock made the monster move to investigate. Eden continued this tactic until the bird was far enough from the others to avoid pulling additional monsters' Aggro.
"We’ll attack together, just like in the dojo," Eden said, moving towards the monster.
Cole nodded and followed closely.
When the Javelin Bird spotted them, it screeched and charged. Eden parried with his sword and then retreated, creating openings for Cole to strike.
[ -16 ] . . . [ -16 ] . . . [ -16 ]
After Cole’s three attacks, Eden nearly slapped his forehead in frustration.
Their swords provided a [ +8 ] Physical Attack Power, and the monster had no defense.
"How many points did you allocate to strength, agility, and vitality?" Eden asked, evading a claw swipe.
"Uh, 4 in strength, 5 in agility, and 2 in vitality."
You definitely put more into intelligence, as usual, Eden thought. And i told you to not do it.
"Let’s switch; I have more attack power," Eden said.
"Alright," Cole agreed, drawing the monster's Aggro and allowing Eden to deal the damage. As soon as Eden was free to attack, a series of numbers appeared above the bird’s head.
[ -20 ] . . . [ -20 ] . . . [ -20 ]
Cole and Eden were veterans of VR games with years of training together in the dojo to improve their coordination and combat skills. They knew they would make a career out of gaming in the future, just that they didn't know how.
Their hard work was now paying off in Ahartohaim. But mistakes still happened, and Cole cursed when he saw a damage indicator of [ -30 ] and felt a burning sensation across his chest.
"What did you do?" Eden asked.
"I was careless. This thing has a much higher attack speed than me," Cole replied.
"Pay more attention. A few more strikes and it’ll be done for."
As Eden predicted, after about seven more attacks, the Javelin Bird was defeated.
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[ Congratulations, you have killed your first monster. ]
+ 40 EXP
----------------------------------------
An announcement echoed in Eden’s mind. As the party leader, it was normal for him to receive the notification, though the EXP was automatically shared evenly between all party members, as he had set it.
"Only 20 EXP?" Cole asked. "We need 2,000 EXP to reach Level 1."
"It also dropped some money," Eden said, picking up a Copper coin. "That’s why I said it won’t be easy to reach Level 4 in two days. Monsters in the Level 0 areas give around 5 EXP."
"Yeah, let’s use your strategies and see if we can get better results," Cole said, sounding a bit discouraged.
"Come on, we need to find a large boulder that we can move and gather some stones," Eden said, getting to work.
Since they were at Level 0, Ahartohaim didn’t recognize them as part of the world. This meant that many features, such as increased damage to vital spots, skills, and the ability to hide their level and name, were unavailable to them.
Some of these features could be unlocked after reaching Level 1, so Eden needed to focus on leveling up quickly. He didn’t have time to waste grinding monsters the normal way, so he needed an extremely effective strategy.
Fortunately, they soon found a large enough boulder on a hill after wandering around for a few minutes—a perfect spot for farming EXP.
If we can’t handle the monsters directly, we’ll use the environment to our advantage, Eden thought.