The Grind

"hmmm" Jax thought about his next move for a while.

He needed to reach level 5 to get both pistols and he couldn't afford both anyways. The crit pistol was 5 silver, while the cooldown one was 8 so he could only go with the crit for now. After hitting level 5 and getting enough funds, he could get the other.

He looked at the effect of the cooldown pistol one more time.

'If this works how I think it may work, cooldown reduction is going to be OP as fuck.'

Jax swiftly moved on, taking the crit pistol to the front. Timold grumbled, as usual, not even opening his eyes to see Jax. It seemed it would take more than just having money to move this old man's heart.

He paid for the item and equipped it, now having a huge 60 damage output for a body shot and a whopping 120 for a headshot! It was a big increase from common to uncommon, the grade really did matter when it came to items.

The grading system was pretty easy to understand. It went common, uncommon, rare, epic, unique*, legendary and Mythic. They were each represented by colors, going silver/white, green, blue, purple, then Golden for legendary and Mythic. Unique was quite special, as it all depended on how the user used it, which would determine its worth. It could be even higher than legendary and mythic, or it could be worse than a common grade. It was given a rainbow color.

Jax made his way to the merchant in town, to sell his extra items since he would need all the money he could get, but kept an extra pistol just in case. Next, he made his way out of the village, to once again hunt players and monsters, but also to search for one of those big-ticket items his dad told him.

"It's dungeon huntin' time."

He didn't know exactly where a dungeon would be, but he figured closer to the level 5 - level 9 area, and headed that way. He went a different route than last time, to explore more, while kill stealing and Pking to get extra loot. He didn't try to hide himself this time and just kept moving.

He didn't think anyone could really catch him, as he had good boots and most people would put their stats in attack or magic. He got a good haul and entered the higher-level territory. And immediately ran into another wolf-like the last time.

[Big Wolf - level 6]

[hp 400/400]

It had a lot of health, but that also meant more exp. He didn't know how it would react after being shot, but he went for the high ground to shoot from above, and hopefully still keep it in the area. He took aim and *pew!* he fired, however, the wolf turned at the sound, causing him to miss its head and hit the shoulder instead.

[You got a {Critical hit!} You dealt 90 dmg!]

The wolf cried out and looked around trying to find its enemy while Jax cursed how loud the pistol was. It echoed through the forest and made him wonder if the stronger the flintlock, the louder it was. It was annoying, and could easily draw attention to him, but he could only play it by ear now.

The wolf stayed luckily, so Jax was able to wait and fire another shot once 15 seconds were up.

*pew!* He shot another round this time able to hit the head.

[Headshot! You dealt 120 dmg!]

However this time, the wolf started running, so Jax had to quickly get down.

"Hey, you dumb bitch! come and get me, coward!" Jax gave a little taunt and got the wolf to turn back around and chase after him. He knew the wolf would be faster, so he planned to weave between the trees, making it more difficult for the wolf to catch him. He just needed to hold out for 10 more seconds now, and he would be fine.

He ducked and jumped over fallen trees and tree branches, as the wolf barreled through most of it. Once the cooldown finished, he quickly aimed at almost point blank range towards the wolf's wide open mouth.

*pew!*

[Headshot! Critical Hit! You dealt 180 dmg!]

He was lucky enough to get the crit again, but the fight wasn't over. Using the recoil from the gun, Jax swung his arm around like a softball pitcher and threw his gun at the wolf. The wolf was lunging at him already, but was met with a gun to the forehead.

[Headshot! You dealt 20 dmg!]

[You killed a Big Wolf! You earned 400 exp!]

[You obtained 2x wolf pelts and 50 copper!]

"I didn't think I'd get a headshot just by throwing the gun." It was an interesting tidbit as it would come in handy for a surprise attack. It may not do the damage a bullet would do, but that was fine.

Jax continued on his way fighting wolves and racking up exp. It was a long process but he was able to reach level 5, and with that, earn his first skill before the class change.

This skill could be important, as it was the only known skill that could be different than your class route. He could learn a heal skill if he wanted to, but he would've had to put some stats into mana if he wanted that.

'Oh I forgot about my stat points.' Since he had been doing several quests that were tedious rather than dangerous, he completely forgot about getting them from the level ups. He quickly decided on putting 5 points on speed, to make an even 20 with his boots, and the rest in attack. He was a damage dealer, and now that he had higher health than most marksman, he had to try and bridge the gap between their damage output as much as possible.

The attack would help, but the 2 uncommon flintlocks he planned to get, would probably make him one of the best marksman in the game. Of course he wasn't 100% sure, but considering the top players were all swordsman and mages, and no one was a marksman, he was confident.

He then looked at the skills. Of the players he asked who were over 5, it sounds like 3 skills show up for everyone and their effects will be determined by how you have played so far, and most likely related to your class, but that wasn't guaranteed.

[Precision lvl 1 - 50% aim increase. Increases by 1% for every 5 seconds moving. Max 90%]

[HeadHunter lvl 1 - headshot damage increased to 130%]

[Bullet Bender lvl 1 - uses mana to bend the path of a bullet. Costs 5 mana per shot.]

The first two skills fit his current play style well. He especially liked [Precision] as it what the kind of direction he wanted to move towards with his character.

"Why is [Bullet Bender] an option? I don't think I've ever used mana since starting?" Jax wondered as this was his first time seeing anything about using mana. This skill was automatically out as he only had the default 10 mana, and didn't plan to put any points towards it unless he had a skill that required it.

It seemed cool, but that was it.

[HeadHunter] was good, since he usually hits headshots when fighting, but it still wasn't possible to get 100% accuracy with something like that unless he got an op skill. He chose [Precision] as it had the most potential. With the movement increasing his accuracy, it meant he could be a bigger presence on the battlefield.

Satisfied, he made his way through the forest, racking up kills until he hit level 6. He got a good amount of loot, but he knew it wouldn't be enough for the other Pistol yet. He put his new stat points in Attack and moved on to the next wolf.

The area he was in was around level 7 and he was getting closer to the level 8 area, as more of those wolves were popping up. Jax has been able to handle them so far, as his speed seemed to match them for the most part. Maybe they were a bit faster than him, but with his constant moving around, they couldn't bridge the gap between them.

*Yip!*

With one more headshot to a wolf, it fell down and turned into particles. He picked up the loot when he heard a scream. It sounded feminine, so most likely a woman but he was unsure if he should bother. He didn't need someone messing up his groove, plus he didn't want this to turn into a Beatles incident where a girl ends up affecting his friendship with Derek and Kyle.

He knew both of them would be jealous. With a sinister smile he went ahead and ran in the direction he heard the scream. Make his friends jealous? Hell yeah. That's what friends are for.

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Current Character info

[ID: KENNYYYYYYY]

[Level 6: Exp - 700/3000]

[titles: none]

[class: Marksman]

[Money - 40 copper, 4 silver]

[stats:

Health - 35/35

Mana - 10/10

Attack - 25(+50)

Defense - 5(+5)

Speed - 10(+10)

Magic Power - 5]

[items equipped:

Uncommon flintlock pistol

Common leather armor

Common leather pants

Common padded boots]

[Skills - Precision lvl1]

[Inventory - Common Flintlock Pistol, lots of wolf pelts and claws, 4x wolf fang]

[Unique - N/A]