*There, there, and... there.*

Jisha was busy collecting loot. It was very simple to collect it from the locations of the five people who were standing in a circle, and the system allowed players to pick up large quantities of loot quickly as long as they were in a small area. She had already picked up Bren's and Ryozaki's loot from the initial kills, so the only thing left to do was to walk towards her initial goal, reveling in her inventory numbers.

*>Inventory*

*>Melee Starter Stick: 11*

*>Ranged Starter Pellet: 302*

*>Shahar's Token: 1*

The number of level 0 items was incomprehensible for a single player. It didn't seem like a lot, and it wasn't... for now. In the far future, level 0 items would be far rarer.

Jisha sighed.

*I would love to sit here and farm kills... But it's not likely that anyone will come here at this point.*

Every War Zone had a special spectator feature, and by now, people had probably figured out how to use it. If people were watching what was going on, they would have seen everything; it was unlikely that someone would voluntarily march to their death.

*But... it's possible. Maybe someone will be like "she got lucky!" and... you know.*

That's what she was hoping for, but hope was not a plan. If it happened, then it would be fantastic, but Jisha couldn't bet on it.

*Anyway, I have something more important to pick up...*

She had arrived at the destination she originally planned for - Shahar's tombstone.

From the outside, it didn't look any different from the thousands of other tombstones in the cemetery. The only noticeable difference was that it was the tallest one in the Zone by a small margin.

When Jisha walked up to it, a small, circular engraving manifested at its base. The engraving was an identical but concave image of what Jisha was now holding in her hand - Shahar's emblem, a phoenix flying towards a crescent moon.

Anyone would know what to do at this point.

*Here goes nothing...*

Jisha placed the token face down so that the token fit snugly into the engraving. After a second, the token embedded itself into the stone, and the emblem engraved itself into the surface.

*>System message: Quest complete: Grave Robbery.*

*>System message: Level up!*

*>System message: Level up!*

*>System message: Level up!*

*>System message: Level up!*

*>Name: Fae Sol*

*>Class: Ranged*

*Level: 1 -> 5 (+4)*

*>HP: 100 -> 107 (+7)*

*>MP: x -> 107*

*>Atk: 10 -> 11 (+1)*

*>MAtk: x -> 53*

*>Def -> AR/MR*

*>AR: x -> 0*

*>MR: x -> 0*

*>AS: x -> 1*

She hadn't leveled up again from killing 7 players, but she had been very close. And now, this quest filled up that small bit to level 2 and filled it up 3 more times after that, putting her at 2% of the way through level 5.

Quests were not common at all this early in the game when the experience required to level up was still so low. In addition, completing one would normally be done by multiple people; the experience reward was intended to be shared. Though she was surprised to see it, Jisha understood why she was able to level up 4 times at once.

In addition, now that she was level 5, the game would become slightly more complicated as new stats such as MP (magic power) and MR (magic resistance) were introduced. After all, level 5 introduced magical classes to the game so it would be strange if there were no stats reflecting them.

*Now, give me my reward. I want to see this item for myself.*

This was the main reason Jisha had decided to spawn in the Uval Hamlet; the signature item of the legendary NPC Shahar lay here.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The signature items of Synergy's legendary NPCs were as rare as a phoenix's feather, and to get one this early in the game was quite literally the biggest exploit Jisha had up her sleeve. In her previous life, neither she nor anyone she personally knew owned a legendary NPC's item.

*>System message: Dispensing quest rewards:*

*>Shahar's Nightwalker: 1*

The single item was placed directly in her inventory, and Jisha excitedly examined the stats on it.

*>Name: Shahar's Nightwalker*

*>Type: Armor (Accessory, Drape)*

*>Description: "From darkness, bring them to the light."*

*>Rating: Unique*

*>Abilities:*

*>Absolute Anti-Appraisal (Passive): When equipped, user name and level will be hidden from all parties. You may reveal them to anyone at any time. Exception: Rexian's Eyes.*

*>Anti-Paparazzi (Passive): When equipped, all attempts to record you will become corrupted.*

*>Breeze (Passive): When equipped, Stamina drain is reduced by 50% and Presence is decreased by 50%.*

*>Night Walk (Toggle: No cooldown): Presence -99% for up to 10 minutes. Time remaining: 10:00.00. Cooldown: 1 week.*

*>Object Impermanence (Toggle: No cooldown): Gain up to 5 seconds of Incorporeality. Time remaining: 5.00. Cooldown: 1 week.*

*>Shahar's Blessing (Rank 0) - Item Cloak: Mask the Presence of up to 10 Rank 0 Consumable-type items by 99% per week. Items cloaked: 0/10. Cooldown: 1 week. Upgrade this ability using Shards of Darkness. Shards: 0/1.*

*This item cannot be dropped or traded.*

Though Night Walk and Shahar's Blessing were nothing to scoff at, there was something else Jisha immediately took notice to.

*Incorporeality??*

"Incorporeality" was arguably the best status effect in the game. Once you were incorporeal, you basically "disappeared from the world". You would become a ghost-like presence with zero ability to interact with the world of Synergy.

This status effect had a long history behind it, but once players figured out its true worth, incorporeality potions that granted even a couple seconds the effect sold for thousands of gold.

Once incorporeal, you would become unable to become targeted, tracked, sensed, etc. You would also be able to pass harmlessly through any object, whether it be physical walls or magical barriers.

*This item is busted. As expected of Shahar...*

Calling it overpowered would be apt. She had unlimited access to a status effect that would ordinarily fetch a hefty sum. In addition to that, its abilities were extremely convenient for Jisha's circumstances.

Appraisal blocking was something she desperately needed, as she predicted she would be the highest leveled player in the game for a while, if not forever. Having a passive ability that was a guaranteed block would prevent her from being chased down for her leveling knowledge.

The Anti-Paparazzi skill was also incredibly convenient; it disallowed any of her combat techniques from being captured and studied extensively.

Finally, Breeze would allow much easier exploration of the massive world of Synergy.

Shahar's Blessing and Night Walk were the only ones she didn't immediately have a use for, but with her extensive experience in the game, she had at least a couple of ideas on how to apply them.

Presence was a genuine hidden stat in Synergy whose value ranged from 0 to 100. Even at max level, the system wouldn't tell you what someone's Presence value was. If you wanted to know, you needed a special item.

Your Presence determined how difficult it was for others to detect you. Not just be seen, but be *detected* by any method in Synergy, whether it was audibly, magically, or something else entirely. An item (or player) with a Presence value of 50 was twice as hard to detect as one with 100 Presence. In other words, simply wearing Shahar's Nightwalker made it twice as difficult for its wearer to be detected. And Presence -99% meant that the object would be left with a value of 1.

*100 times harder to detect, huh. I would have trouble dealing with that even past level 900. Overpowered and convenient... I couldn't ask for anything better.*

Jisha equipped Shahar's Nightwalker without hesitation. The thin, black cloth fashionably covered her whole body and didn't hinder her movement.

*If I could dual wield swords, I'd be the picturesque VR swordsman. Or woman.*

After admiring her new looks, Jisha noticed another system message on her HUD.

*>System message: You have reached level 5 and are qualified to be listed on the Global Level Leaderboard. If you choose to do so, it will grant everyone visibility of your username, guild, and level.*

*>Accept/Deny*

*Right, that's a thing.*

Starting at this level, everyone had the option of being listed on the worldwide rankings, making their name publicly searchable.

The global level ranking was something that, in the future, every major power would look at regularly. V-sports recruiters, companies, and even countries would try to snag high-level unaffiliated members for a premium price.

However, in the game's infancy, it was simply a "cool" feature.

If you chose not to list yourself, you would be able to remain private but wouldn't be able to be recruited, either.

Everyone had their own reasons whether they wanted to be globally ranked, and for Jisha, privacy was of utmost importance. So, she naturally denied the offer.

*>System message: You can switch your rank privacy setting at any time.*

*I don't think I'll ever be doing that.*

As a regressor, it was obvious why she wanted to stay hidden. It was the same reason a lottery winner shouldn't announce their earnings.

*And now... guilds...*

This was also something she wanted to get started on as soon as possible. Though in Synergy, it was possible for an individual to wield more power than an army, it would always help to have multiple of these individuals. There was only so much she could do alone.

Creating the lowest tier of guild, a club guild, was free, had no requirements and could be done at any time. Jisha took advantage of this and created one with the same name as in her previous life.

*>System message: Club guild "Sun Dragons" created!*

Since club guilds were free, they could only hold 10 members and did absolutely nothing to benefit players. However, it didn't matter, as the Sun Dragons would be upgraded soon enough. It was important to start the recruitment process right away. There was a lot of talent that she knew was out there, and she wanted to get them under her wing.

Users could only receive notifications about guilds and join them once they were level 5, so it was unlikely that anyone was currently available to recruit. However, the system didn't prevent her from sending invitations.

*Let's see... First, we'll naturally invite Syny.*

Her best friend was irreplaceable.

*>System message: User "Synycal" has been invited to the guild "Sun Dragons".*

*Those 30 unread messages are probably also from her... Anyway, next is Castle.*

*>System message: User "Castle" has been invited to the guild "Sun Dragons".*

She hadn't forgotten about the cute boy who would soon become a top player in the future. He undoubtedly watched the fight, so she knew he would be interested. She wanted to invite more talents as well, but unfortunately there was a minimum requirement of exchanging words before one could send an invitation.

So the natural course of action was to send a friend request to every talented user, right? After briefly considering it, Jisha sent friend requests to a bunch of names that would be useful later but wasn't too optimistic on the results. After all, there were strange characters among talented people. Some of them wouldn't even talk to her if she sent them a friend request this early in the game. But since she knew who to avoid, it wasn't a huge problem.

*Hm... And let's also invite Bren. His teamwork capability was top-notch. I wonder what happened to him.*

*>System message: User "Brent" has been invited to the guild "Sun Dragons".*

In her previous life, she had never heard of Bren, which was odd.

He was a talented v-sports player with lackeys behind him, and he was in the prime of his life. In addition to that, he claimed to attend the prestigious Northeastern Royal Academy.

*Something big must have happened to him.*

She wanted to know what could have made him disappear from the face of the planet, and she wanted to stop it.

*He's a great asset that anyone would want. It's something I should figure out as soon as I log out.*