I Am Definitely Not A Miser

OPENING up the 'Exp Shop' revealed an array of different items ranging from talents, weapons, equipment and potions. Fortunately, there was a sorting feature as well as a search bar.

Without glancing at the 'recommended items', I typed 'Attribute Points' in the search bar. A new list of options appeared on the game interface.

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-> +1 Strength (Cost: 10 Exp)

-> +1 Vitality (Cost: 10 Exp)

-> +1 Agility (Cost: 10 Exp)

-> +1 Intelligence (Cost: 10 Exp)

-> +1 Mana (Cost: 10 Exp)

-> +1 Luck (Cost: 100 Exp)

-> +1 Charm (Cost: 100 Exp)

-> +1 Stamina (Cost: 100 Exp)

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'The hidden attributes are indeed costlier.' I thought to myself as I pondered over which attribute to choose. 'Also, the cost would increase after a certain point.'

'Anyways, let's just go with Strength for now.' I decided to go with Strength as it was the one I needed the most right now. With higher Strength, I could quickly finish the monsters which would, in return, my Exp gain.

Thus, I spent most of my Exp, which was 430, to buy 43 Strength attribute points. After buying, I was just left with 8 Exp. I opened my status panel to check my current stats.

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|> Player Status

Name: Atomic Zero

Level: 1 (0/30)

Exp Bank: 8

Race: Human

Title: None

Talents: Gifted Archer (F), Nature's Blessing (F), Equivalent Exchange (EX)

|> Attribute Points

HP: 300 (+50)

MP: 10

Strength: 44 (+1)

Vitality: 1 (+2)

Agility: 1 (+1)

Intelligence: 1

Mana: 1

Free Points: 0

|> Skills

Innate Skills: Sword Mastery (Lv.1), Spear Mastery (Lv.1), Axe Mastery (Lv.1), Shield Mastery (Lv.1), Archery (Lv.7), Hammer Mastery (Lv.1), Trident Mastery (Lv.1), Dagger Mastery (Lv.1), Knife Throw (Lv.1), Sneak (Lv.4), Dodge (Lv.1), Martial Arts (Lv.1), Apothecary (Lv.1), Forging (Lv.1), Runic Scholar (Lv.1), Cooking (Lv.1), Taming (Lv.1), Sharp Vision (Lv.6), Crafting (Lv.1), Hunting (Lv.8)

Active Skills: Foraging (Lv.2)

Passive Skills: -

Skill Points: 0

|> Equipment

- Leather Armour Set (F)

- Rookie Bow (F)

- Quiver (F)

- Wooden Arrows (F) x20

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There it was, an additional 43 attribute points in Strength. Additionally, a few of my innate skills had levelled up while I was hunting monsters.

My Archery skill had levelled up since I was using a bow and arrows. Sneak levelled up because I dealt with a lot of successful sneak attacks. Sharp Vision levelled up because my archery was heavily focused on my eyesight. And lastly, Hunting, since I was hunting monsters, wasn't I?

Unlike active and passive skills, innate skills had a cap of level 100. It was because innate skills were necessary to learn related active and passive skills. From what I knew through beta testers, to learn the Fireball spell, one needs the innate skill Fire Magic at level 1. It was the same for other elemental spells.

Another example would be, that to learn the Stealth skill, one needs the innate skill Sneak at level 20. Therefore, innate skills play a vital role in character building. But I won't have to worry about it since I could just buy whatever innate skill I require from the Exp Shop.

However, the only thing limiting my progress would be experience points. But just as I was musing over my possible future, a system notification caught my attention.

<Ding! You have received a server-wide message!>

I quickly went to my inbox and opened the message.

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Greetings! Dear Players!

We, Arcane Interactive Studios, feel proud to announce that the registered player base of the VR MMORPG game, Desolate Frontier, has successfully crossed 1 million users worldwide.

This seemingly impossible feat has created a new chapter in the history of VR gaming. Thus, to celebrate this record-breaking moment, we have decided to reward the first 1 million players with a 10x Exp Boost (48-Hour), while the rest of the players, thereafter, would receive a 10x Exp Boost (24-Hour).

These rewards are non-tradable, non-dropable and will disappear after 7 days from now. Please make sure to use them.

Regards,

Arcane Interactive Studios

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Looking at the notification, I was pretty shocked. Not because Desolate Frontier broke a record, I already expected that, but the fact that the reward was an Exp Boost, just what I needed the most.

'Maybe I am some kind of protagonist in a novel.' I thought with sarcasm and claimed the Exp Boost.

<Ding! You have obtained a 10x Exp Boost (48-Hour).>

<Ding! 10x Exp Boost (48-Hour) has been placed in inventory.>

I opened the inventory and checked the description of the Exp Boost.

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|> 10x Exp Boost (48-Hour)

Type: Growth Boost

Description: After use, the player will gain a 10x Exp Boost from all monsters killed for the next 48 in-game hours. Cannot be dropped. Cannot be traded.

Time Remaining: 6 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 12 seconds

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"Oh, that's in-game hours," I muttered in surprise as in-game hours made things even better. The difference between normal hours and in-game hours was that normal hours would be in consideration of time I spent online and offline, while in-game hours would be regarding the time I spent online only.

In simple words, if I activated the Exp Boost and logged out after spending an hour in-game, and then logged back in after spending two hours offline, the time remaining in the Exp Boost would still be 47 hours instead of 45 hours.

Without hesitation, I activated the Exp Boost.

<Ding! 10x Exp Boost (48-Hour) has been applied.>

After quickly dismissing the notification, I ventured on another monster-hunting spree, just this time, with stronger power, vigour, passion and obviously, stronger motivation.

"Now, I don't have to worry about not having Exp to spend. Haha!" I muttered happily as I found a wild boar. I knocked an arrow, took aim, and fired a shot.

<672 DMG!>

A massive damage appeared on top of the wild boar. It was an instant kill. I didn't even bother aiming at any vital part, but still, the damage dealt was massive with just the sneak attack bonus.

<Ding! You have killed a 'Wild Boar (Lv.5)'.>

<Ding! 10 You have received Exp. Exp Bonus: +1,045%>

<Ding! You have received 104.5 Exp.>

"But still, I should aim for the vitals, even if I could one-shot this thing," I muttered because even if I could one-shot most of the monsters here, improving my skills would prove beneficial in the long run.

Thus, I continued my journey, but this time, I focused more focus on improving my skills rather than just collecting experience points.

But before that, I spent 60 Exp to buy 6 Strength attribute points after which it greyed out. It was easy to conclude that the current base attribute limit for now was 50 points. Thus, I spent the remaining Exp to buy 6 Agility attribute points to increase my movement speed.

After most of the remaining Exp, I continued with my hunting spree.

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