33. Life is What you Make of it

"The human mind is indeed a cave of forgotten shadows; it requires organization." — Alfred North Whitehead

After the dungeon runs, Claire is left with a mix of emotions: a sense of surprise, confusion, and a tinge of disappointment. Everything ended abruptly, leaving her unsure of what to make of it. They had successfully defeated Blaire, exchanged loot, and then, without warning, dispersed. There was no post-raid meal or celebration, just a sudden parting. 

Granted, they did add each other as friends. It seemed much more casual than she anticipated. 

She and Lazarus were back in Elynduil, walking around the city doing various miscellaneous tasks such as deconstructing armor/weapons and selling some of the more useless items. 

In honesty, she had been following him around like a lost dog for almost a week.

Although it didn't particularly feel good to be entirely a follower, she was content with the large amounts of wealth they were gathering not to mind.

Knowing what many other girls in her situation turned to, she knew it was nothing to feel shame about but wished she wasn't just tagging along. 

Before the dungeon runs, she was confident she would perform well but ended up being the first person to die, as well as doing the least DPS for every encounter other than the 12 sentinels. 

Thinking back on it, Lazarus, whom she had randomly found, was highly skilled. His mindset and knowledge were on another level compared to most people's, and his mechanics were also better than she had seen from anyone else in person or clips online.

Back when he was recruiting, a fifth player had destroyed entirely a guy two levels higher than him, which realistically didn't mean much since the stat difference from one level to the next was not that strong; however, that level 27 nightwalker also had significantly better gear than him.

Alas, it did not matter; he was read like a book and blown up instantly.

Claire undeniably envies his fighting ability, whether natural talent or something else.

Gathering her courage, she finally decided to ask him about it.

"Lazarus, could you help me improve at fighting? I feel like I am pretty useless."

Letting her honest thoughts out was not easy; admitting you were not very good at something was somewhat humiliating, but it was not that difficult compared to the alternative.

While walking next to each other through the streets, Lazarus looked to the side at her straight in the eyes with a small smile.

"What would you like to get better at, DPS in dungeons and trials or PvP?"

Although he was not an extremely handsome man, Claire found herself feeling happy when she saw him smile at her, not in an overly romantic way but in a sense that she was grateful he seemed willing to help her.

"What can I do to get better at all of them?"

Hearing her question in response, he instantly answered.

"Every type of activity in this game is very different from each other. Some things carry over, but the difference between being a DPS in a dungeon and even open-world group PvP is massive, let alone solo PvP or trials. If you want to improve overall, learn everything about your class and other classes you can do, and start exercising in real life, meditating is also good for keeping your mind clear and focused."

Hearing his emphasis on real-life activities, she was somewhat stunned.

"You are telling me to work out to improve at a game?"

"Yes, especially since neither of us can afford energy credits regularly currently. Our mind is the only thing we can bring inside, so we need it as healthy and fresh as possible. Knowledge and mental clarity are two of the most important things in a game like Harbinger's Call; everything else is a learned action that you will become familiar over time; cultivating a strong mindset is needed to succeed in anything. If you want to improve specifically one part of your game, I can be more detailed."

Hearing his response, she was somewhat disappointed; it was not a new piece of advice to get fit; it was the most generic thing one might say as advice.

"I am not much of a going outside person, let alone going to the gym type of person. What are some basic things to improve DPS?"

Hearing her, Lazarus laughed lightly.

"I am not a gym person either. Start doing some yoga and bodyweight exercise, and you can easily get as fit as you need in a few months if you keep on it daily. Although it seems basic, it is incredibly important to set you apart from everyone who sits in their gaming capsules all day. As for getting better at DPS, it is mostly understanding the invisible cooldowns and rhythm your abilities have and creating a fluid casting rotation that optimizes your ability movements and animations to allow you to use more abilities faster while weaving basic attacks in the gaps to deal the most damage in the shortest amount of time."

Hearing his advice, she ignored the first part and thought about the second part.

"So I need to understand the flow of my abilities and figure out a pattern or method to move from one to the next seamlessly? How can I practice that practically, experiment with rotations on cows?"

Hearing her question, Lazarus smiled at her again, this time wider.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea; there are plenty of cows to kill, after all." 

After casting him a glare, Claire began thinking about the movements that accompanied each of her abilities and tried to figure out ways to shorten the time between them while using the way she had seen him weave basic attacks with his Arcane Reaver as a reference. 

While she was thinking, he continued speaking.

"You know, your friend, Eagle's Light, is around the level of the lowest-tier pro players; once there is any competitiveness in this game, she will not be worth much."

Paul was telling the truth. She could do simple things and had excellent awareness, but she was nothing special, and so was the guild she belonged to. It was okay, but that was it.

Hearing him, Claire was stunned; she had thought Eagle Imperium was a high-tier guild and that Eagle's Light, as the daughter of a high-ranking member playing games from a young age, would be considered one of the higher-ranking players. 

Seeing her stunned face, he gave her a smirk.

"The guild she is a part of is nothing special, and no offense, but neither is she; this game hasn't even had a strong launch, and there are probably more than half a dozen guilds significantly stronger than them just in the Emerald Enclave, meaning they are definitely outside the top 30 guilds in the game. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but the waters run much deeper than you think, so if you want to climb higher, you don't have to figure anything complicated out; follow my lead, and she will be blowing up your inbox for an invite soon enough." 

Looking over at him, Claire suddenly felt like he had become insufferably arrogant; after finishing all of the dungeons, he was level 27, and she was 28, almost 29, yet he dared to call a guild with people in the mid to upper 30s as middle of the road. 

Looking at him, someone defiantly, she asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Then what do you plan to do after the initial path next week when we expose the slaughterhouse to the devs?"

"Not much, just power level to 40 and go into PvP, then I'll become famous early on and make a shit ton of money."

Hearing his simple but stunning plan, she was flabbergasted by him and stopped walking. After a few seconds, she collected herself and ran after him, screaming.

"WE will become famous and make a shit ton of money!"

Hearing her yelling, Paul began laughing wildly as he started running away from her through the city as she gave chase.