Jisha wanted to return to base as soon as she gathered the loot, but the system didn't allow her to. She quickly found the reason...
*This... Are you serious?*
She would have been surprised if even one or two players out of the spectating mob wanted to challenge her, but at the only entrance/exit of the cemetery, there were easily over 20 players who banded together to fight.
"You may have been able to beat 7 of them, but your time ends now, girlie!"
*... They're like those mindless rodents who follow each other off a cliff.*
Jisha didn't even know how to respond. They were collectively making a suicidal decision.
She glanced at her HP bar to make sure it was full.
*Yup. Fortunately, that's the same.*
Though Jisha made it look easy so far, leveling up in Synergy was usually a laborious task. The system was generous enough to fully heal a user upon a level up. This meant that all "livelihood stats" such as HP and MP would be restored, and all status effects (negative or positive) would be cleared.
*Well, I wouldn't have been worried regardless.*
"Melee, charge! Ranged, fire!"
The commander issued an order.
Once Jisha saw the salvo of pellets headed her way, her eyes widened in shock!
"They're incredible...!"
She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"What the hell are you doing? Aim at HER, not me!"
"Sorry?"
Though there were over 3 times the enemies she had just faced, the skill gap between the Brent Clan and this mishmash of random players was immense.
Some of them were decently accurate... and some of them weren't even close. And some ranged units even ended up friendly-firing on their melees.
Jisha barely moved and nothing hit her. Witnessing this poor display of skill, she withheld a massive urge to burst out laughing. She had to remind herself that they were also walking piles of cash, each holding up to 50 starter pellets or a starter stick... And disrespecting money was a sin. Probably.
She tried to suppress a smile as she took aim and fired at the nearest player.
-14
A level 0 melee exploded in one shot.
"What! Are you sure we can win? Whose idea was this???"
"Not mine! It was his!"
"Are you kidding me? You want to avoid responsibility now?"
Infighting ensued, drastically reducing the already minimal pressure on Jisha.
-12
-27
-23
...
Approximately every second, a level 0 player died, dropping their valuable loot.
"Commando, you're a snake! I can't believe we trusted you with thi-"
-15
*This is exactly what I expected would happen if this situation were to occur... Though it's surprising it even happened in the first place.*
How could a hastily-formed group trust each other so easily, especially when they were all incompetent?
Jisha giggled like a child as she knocked down every last player.
*Well... I guess I am a child again!*
*>Inventory*
*>Melee Starter Stick: 26*
*>Ranged Starter Pellet: 797*
*>Armor*
*>Drape: Shahar's Nightwalker*
"Ha... Hahahahaha!"
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
*What idiots! Also, I can't believe all this actually fits in my inventory.*
Though her far-future financial problems weren't even close to solved, these ultra-rare items would definitely help offset them.
*Oh, and speaking of financial stuff...*
*>Coin Pouch*
*>Copper: 500*
500 Copper. This was a ludicrous amount for 30 minutes into the game. After all, she had killed 31 players in a War Zone in that time frame, each of which should have had 10 Copper each. A dead player in a War Zone would not only drop all items, but all of the money they had on hand as well.
*31 players with 10 each... That makes 310 Copper. I started with 10, so Bren and his crew must have killed at least 18 players.*
Though Jisha didn't know about the three players who had spent all their money on Cinnamon Buns, her respect for the Brent Clan grew even more after realizing what they had accomplished in a short amount of time.
*Really... What happened to them in my past life? No point dwelling on it right now... Oh well. Returning to base!*
With (finally) no one left in the War Zone, Jisha teleported safely to the commons area.
---
Jisha once again visited the Lyocal Eatery to plan her next moves... And not to indulge in sweets.
*Mmmmm, Cinnamon Ariosha is sooooo good! Anyway, I should get to Orchid Town at some point whether it's today or tomorrow.*
She had told Syny to meet her there, so that was the current goal.
*I have to become stronger as I travel there. Not to mention, I promised to give her a gift.*
Syny's journey to Orchid Town would be long for her. It might even take her multiple days, so Jisha had to make it worth her while.
Though a multiple day journey would be considered short in the later stages of the game, it was unfathomable for a beginner.
As she was planning various routes in her head, she was looking through her friend request notifications when she saw a familiar name.
*Oh? Guess I should accept this one.*
*>User "Brent" is now on your friends list.*
*I was going to add him anyway, but it looks like he added me first. Also, Castle didn't add me. What's up with that?*
*>Friend request sent to user "Castle".*
She hadn't seen him as she was looking around the hamlet, but she didn't think much of it. He would probably contact her sooner or later.
Brent started sending messages to Jisha as soon as she accepted his request.
*>Brent: Who are you? You're beyond incredible.*
*>Brent: I've never considered myself a good player, but to meet someone that much better than me is even more humbling.*
Jisha was surprised at Bren's self-deprecation.
*>Fae Sol: Uh... You're preeeetty darn good. You're top Royal Academy level at the very least!*
*>Brent: ... What? No, the top players of the Academy are way better than me.*
*>Brent: Also, if you say I'm top Academy level, then what does that make you???*
*>Fae Sol: Hehe, don't worry about me. (✿◠‿◠)*
*>Brent: Ugh... Anyway. Would you mind reviewing the battle recording with us some time? Any advice would be appreciated.*
*>Fae Sol: Sure... on one condition: join my guild when you're level 5!*
*>Brent: Guild? Wait, don't tell me you're already...*
*>Brent: Never mind, that's impossible. ... I'll think about it.*
*>Fae Sol: No join, no review. Think hard!*
Jisha closed her messages with Bren and opened the ungodly number of unread messages from Syny.
*>Synycal: Heeeeey! Answer me! What quest did you get?*
*>Synycal: omg... How am I supposed to get to Orchid Town? Huh???*
*>Synycal: Hmph. Fine, I guess I'll trust you (~_~)*
*>Synycal: AAAAAAH It's scary outside of the hamlet!!!!! I already died from falling in a hole!*
...
They were all useless messages, but they were just like her.
*>Synycal: I finally figured out how to travel to the next village... I think! I'm on my way! Probably! But you're still not responding...*
Her final message made Jisha feel guilty for ignoring her, so she hastily wrote a response.
*>Fae Sol: You're doing great! Traveling will be a lot easier when you automatically level up to 1, so don't stress out yet. There's a lot more fun things to come in this game, so I can't have you burning out yet. I'll have a present for you at Orchid Town, so hang tight! You bought that map, right?*
*>Synycal: What? AUTOMATICALLY????? Why didn't you tell me this earlier?*
*>Fae Sol: Good luuuck o7*
Syny's instant response meant that she was doing fine. Jisha closed her messages before she had to deal with the madness again and let out a long sigh.
*Let's quickly evolve my class and get out of this place.*
...
*Damn flies.*
Surprisingly, some players had found her even after she teleported out of the War Zone. It was natural considering what she did, and she even knew that she was being watched while drinking her Cinnamon Ariosha at the eatery. Due to the Anti-Paparazzi skill, it wasn't a huge concern, but it took more effort than she expected to shake off all of her pursuers and find an isolated spot in Uval's Safe Zone.
She didn't want to use the Nightwalker's abilities more than necessary and didn't want anyone to find out she was evolving her class.
*>Name: Fae Sol*
*>Class: Ranged*
*Level: 5*
*>HP: 107*
*>MP: 107*
*>Atk: 11*
*>AR: 0*
*>MR: 0*
*>AS: 1*
Her current class was a default Ranged, but that was about to change.
Jisha began the class evolution process.
*>System message: Ranged -> Adroit Ranged class evolution prerequisites:*
*>Safe Zone: ✓*
*>All prerequisites for class evolution Ranged -> Adroit Ranged fulfilled. Proceed?*
*>Accept/Deny*
At level 1, there was only one class evolution option, so she immediately accepted.
*>System message: Commencing class evolution.*
*>Evolution requirements: Don't move for 5 seconds.*
Jisha knew this was coming, which was why she deliberately hid herself from all players and NPCs.
*>0%*
*>20%*
*>40%*
*>60%*
*>80%*
*>100%*
*>Minimum Tribulation threshold: 80%*
*>Tribulation score: 100%*
*>System message: Evolution successful!*
*>New Skill learned: Targeted Throw. >Expand for details.*
As the evolution ended, Jisha's avatar was wrapped in a soft white glow, one that was similar but weaker to that of leveling up. Class evolutions quests were a strange aspect of Synergy's gameplay. The more you evolved, the more difficult a class evolution quest would become. They were basically testaments of skill, luck and resource management.
Jisha shuddered as she recalled her level 900 Demigod evolution quest. What had just transpired couldn't even be called a quest compared to that monstrosity.
*System message: Convert Starter items to Adroit items?*
*>Accept/Deny*
Jisha hastily denied the system's offer.
*Nice.*
There were many reasons why Starter items were so rare in the future, but this was the number 1 contributor. Once you evolved your class, Starter items would become absolutely useless in combat. Adroit Melee units would have to use Adroit Melee Sticks, and Adroit Ranged units would have to use Adroit Ranged Pellets. The system would automatically upgrade them, and there was literally no reason for normal people to deny the offer.
*And... It looks like I'm qualified for the next evolution, as I thought.*
Jisha correctly recalled that the first class evolution occurred at level 1, and the second occurred at level 5. Since she was level 5, she naturally completed one of the prerequisites for evolution.
This time, there were multiple options she could choose from.
*>Adroit Ranged -> Pitcher*
*>Adroit Ranged -> Slingshotter*
*>Adroit Ranged -> Neophyte Mage*
*Hmm... What a tough decision! ... Not.*
She immediately selected Slingshotter.
For now, she was going to stay on the familiar path of her previous life.
There were thousands of classes in Synergy, and it would be a while before the entire class tree was explored. At first, users would have to undergo trial and error to see which classes they preferred to play. The only way to lose XP and re-evolve was to die, so penalties for deaths in the wild were quite lenient in the beginning to mid game. Dying in the late game was punishing, and dying in the end game was borderline crippling. Fortunately, Jisha was still many years away from having to worry about that.
*>System message: Adroit Ranged -> Slingshotter class evolution prerequisites:*
*>Safe Zone: ✓*
*>100 Copper: ✓*
*>All prerequisites for class evolution Adroit Ranged -> Slingshotter fulfilled. Proceed?*
*>Accept/Deny*
*Accept!*