As Crayford and Sora silently watched the four disciples struggle to fend the attacks from the enemy, a message popped up in front of Sora.

You have levelled up!

“That’s weird…” Sora muttered as he stared at the message. He had done nothing so far that would warrant an increase in level. He was simply sitting with Crayford and watching a fight. He had not killed anyone to warrant an increase in level.

“What’s weird?” Crayford asked excitedly hoping something interesting caught Sora’s eyes. The two of them had been silently watching the four battle against the half-bred. It was more of a one sided slaughter of the disciples. Hence, watching the fight turned to depressing for Crayford and Sora’s comment was welcomed as it the morbid silence.

“I just levelled up without doing anything…” Sora muttered.

“Oh…” Crayford sighed as he realized it was nothing exciting.

“Oh? Just a oh? Is it it normal to level up in this game without killing anyone?” Sora asked as he closed the message box.

“Pretty much.” Crayford despondently replied back.

“Don’t give me a pretty much! Explain this to me!” Sora nagged Crayford.

“What? Why?…isn’t this something you were informed about in the heavenly chambers? They explain the levelling system to everyone who enters this world….” Crayford stopped as he realized Sora really didn’t know what he was talking about. “Why didn’t they tell you?”

Sora simply shrugged his shoulders – he literally had no idea.

*Sigh*

“But still….you must have led a very existence in this world, if you have just experienced your first non-killing level up.”

Sora maintained silence.

“Sensei, as you know the common sense of this world is centered around the game like dynamics.”

Sora nodded – apparently everyone could access a stats menu or a window popped up when they levelled up. It didn’t matter whether it was a player (non-resident) or a NPC (resident).

“However, unlike traditional games that we have played, this world is different when it comes to levelling up. Normally, in games we must kill monsters to gain experience to level up.”

Sora nodded in agreement.

“However, that logic doesn’t work here.”

“But I gained experience killing soldiers of the Empire….”

“I meant it doesn’t work in all cases. For example, if you defeated something weaker than you, it would not give you any experience points. Gaining experience points through the defeat the enemy method is based on effort taken to defeat the enemy. This is why I agreed to this crazy training regime. Although, they are stronger than that half-bred, however by fighting with constrains it in effect is the same as fighting a stronger opponent. The more stronger the opponent is relative to your level the more experience you gain.”

Now it makes sense….why I never gained any experience when I killed those insects and rats….I was already stronger than them….

“But this doesn’t explain how I just gained experience!” Sora cried out. “Also, shouldn’t I be able to create a rule? When I level up? How come it isn’t letting me create any rules?”

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“I am coming to that…what I told you was just one of the ways to gain experience. There are three more ways through which you can gain experience in this world.”

“Three more ways?”

“Yes, other than defeating an enemy, you could also simply live a normal life till you die a natural death. Although the experience gained by simply staying alive is not much. Almost everybody gains an average twenty levels through their natural age…”

“Then wouldn’t all the old people of this world be monstrously strong?” Sora asked with suspicion. “Especially, the elves or races that have long lives.”

Crayford nodded in agreement. “Yes, amongst the races which live a long life, the older beings are indeed monstrously stronger compared to their younger counter parts. However, at some point of time, old age sets in and all stats rapidly decline. This is more so in the case of humans. Exercising and diet can help control the rate of decline…but essential after aging sets in there is no reversible process to undo the decline.”

“And the third way?” Sora asked.

“The third way to gain experience is to experience life.” Crayford answered.

“Experience life?”

“Yes, by experiencing new and different things in life. You can gain experience. For example, if you eat a meal made of very rare ingredients it will most definitely level you up. Or if you sang in front of a big audience or if you mastered the way of the sword, it will lead to a level up. Basically, experiencing new and different moments of life can also help increase level.”

“Isn’t that too easy?” Sora asked.

“No, not at all. The increase in experience through both the second and third way is too miniscule when compared to the first. Also, if you gain level up through the second and third method, you cannot create rules.”

“But still….if the average human gains about twenty levels….then you must have gained a hundred like this?” Sora curiously questioned Crayford.

Crayford shook his head in disagreement. “No, one of the conditions of being able to live a long life is that I can no longer gain experience through the second method. Even the experience, I gain through the third method is reduced by half. Although, making rules sounds like a great advantage the ‘trade-off’ will always deride the benefit. ”

“Is that so….that’s three methods….what is the fourth?” Sora asked as he noticed Crayford was hesitating to talk about it.

“The fourth way is not really used….”

“Wait let me guess the fourth method, steal experience of others?” Sora asked.

Crayford simply nodded in agreement. “It isn’t an efficient way of gaining experience but…”

“But if you can sacrifice a large enough people….it would be theoretically possible to level up?”

Crayford nodded once again. “However, levelling up like that is never good. The body becomes highly unstable and the experience gained is not very compatible. If you gain experience through this method, it may even kill you.”