Race Against The Clock

Astaroth quickly rose from his cot and made his way to the barracks. He had no time to waste.

Once there, he made his way to Kloud, who was training the recruits.

"Teacher! I need your help!" Astaroth said, panting slightly.

"What is it, lad?" Kloud asked calmly.

"I need to get stronger fast. I need to reach level thirty as fast as possible!" Astaroth exclaimed.

He then explained the situation to Kloud. Astaroth then told him about the tournament and the requirements to enter.

He also told him how that would be his best chance to prove himself to his peers. Kloud listened without a word, nodding a few times during the explanation.

But a frown soon found its way to his face.

"Hmm. I don't believe growing strong too fast is good for you, though. I think that will weaken your foundation." Kloud pondered.

"I know, teacher. But I need this. This is probably my only chance to make my name known to my peers." Astaroth insisted.

*Sigh*

"Fine. I will help you and make sure you get stronger fast. But only on one condition!" Kloud replied after a loud sigh.

"Whatever you ask, teacher!" Astaroth quickly said, excitement oozing out of his words.

"Once that tournament of yours is done, I want you back here training. And I will put you through the wringer, to make sure your foundation stays solid." Kloud said, looking at Astaroth with a sadistic grin.

Astaroth gulped.

"Yes, teacher!" He replied, slightly terrified.

He knew he would have a hellish time after the tournament, but it was all worth it.

*Clap!*

"Okay then! I'll get you into patrol teams for the entire week. Don't let down your training on multiple weapons." Kloud said.

"Chris told me you didn't change your weapons much yesterday. I'm disappointed. I didn't teach you all those weapons without reason, so train them." Kloud added disapprovingly, after clapping his hands loudly.

The trainer assigned patrol teams to take Astaroth with them and train him. For the next week, Astaroth would leave on patrol duty every day and confronting groups of Dire Wolves again and again.

Before leaving for this endeavor, Astaroth looked at his status screen.

Status:

Name: Astaroth

Race: Ash Elf

Level: 14 (4'995/6'450)

Stats:

HP: 1'325/1'325 MP: 510/510 Stamina: 100

Mana Regen: 1/second in combat, 5/second out of combat

Strength: 16 (+20) Agility: 16 Constitution: 15 (+20)

Intelligence: 16 Wisdom: 15

Attack Power Str: 180 Attack Power Agi: 80 Magic Attack Power: 80 Healing Power: 75

Natural Defense: 3.5% Armor Defense: 14%

Luck: 0 (Stat unaffected by Level up and free points)

Available stat points: 11

Available skill points: 9

Physical Condition: Normal

Mental Condition: Normal

Equipped gear:

Ursid Leather Chestguard, Ursid Leather Vambraces, Ursid Leather Leggings, Ursid Leather Boots, Basic Short Sword, Basic Longsword, Basic War Axe, Basic Polearm, Basic Daggers (2), Basic Wooden Shield, Basic Bow and Quiver (50)

Since he would do a lot of fighting and he wanted to earn more experience, he also wanted to deal more damage. Therefore, he boosted his intelligence and agility to twenty points each, eating up eight points from the get-go.

Then he boosted his Constitution with his last three points to make him more resistant, boosting his survivability.

He looked at his stats again and felt satisfied.

Status:

Name: Astaroth

Race: Ash Elf

Level: 14 (4'995/6'450)

Stats:

HP: 1'550/1'550 MP: 550/550 Stamina: 100

Mana Regen: 1/second in combat, 5/second out of combat

Strength: 16 (+20) Agility: 20 Constitution: 18 (+20)

Intelligence: 20 Wisdom: 15

Attack Power Str: 180 Attack Power Agi: 100 Magic Attack Power: 100 Healing Power: 75

Natural Defense: 3.8% Armor Defense: 14%

Luck: 0 (Stat unaffected by Level up and free points)

Available stat points: 0

Available skill points: 9

Physical Condition: Normal

Mental Condition: Normal

Equipped gear:

Ursid Leather Chestguard, Ursid Leather Vambraces, Ursid Leather Leggings, Ursid Leather Boots, Basic Short Sword, Basic Longsword, Basic War Axe, Basic Polearm, Basic Daggers (2), Basic Wooden Shield, Basic Bow and Quiver (50)

Next came his skills. He looked at all his skills, wondering which ones he should put points into.

Then he decided he should boost his damage as much as he could. That would be his deciding factor for leveling speed.

He dropped 4 skill points into 'Piercing Shot' and 'Ignite', bringing them both to max level. He kept his last point for now.

Piercing Shot: Lvl1 -> Lvl 5 (Max) (Mastery Lvl0/5)

Damage: +100% -> +250%

Mana cost: 25 -> 50

Ignite: Lvl1 -> Lvl 5 (Max) (Mastery Lvl0/5)

Damage: 10%/s -> 25%/s

Mana cost: Base 10 scaling -> 50

He noticed the mana cost on 'Ignite' no longer scaled, depending on the material. He surmised the spell was now strong enough to take hold of any material.

It tempted Astaroth for a second to drop his last skill point into 'Mana Skin' to boost his defenses a little more, but he thought, for now, it was useless.

White Death would tank for him most of the time, and he would be with a group. Maybe when he started farming on his own.

Until then, he would withhold the urge. His first patrol would be the next morning, as the one for the day had already left.

So for the rest of the day, he became Kloud's plaything. He was beaten black and blue countless times, learning a few tricks and moves but mainly being hurt.

The bad news for him was that since he was now higher leveled and had more health, Kloud held back less, and the damage he took significantly went up.

The good news of that was that through the manhandling he was being subject to, he gained another two points in Constitution and one point in Strength. He was glad his training was useful, but god did it hurt!

After a full day of ass whooping...Ahem...training, Astaroth washed up at the river and went to his alcove. He lay down on his cot and logged out of the game.

Alexander got up from his chair, ate, and washed. He then stretched his limbs, feeling sore from all his gaming on a gaming chair.

Alexander looked at his computer and thought of something. He unhooked his setup and moved it closer to his bed.

He hooked everything back and looked at his setup with pride.

'Should have thought of that sooner, der der.' He thought.

After that, he logged in to the forums via his phone and started scrolling in search of interesting info again. Sadly, the only thing he found of slight interest was the post for the tournament, which now had a real-time update of the number of players at level thirty.

It wasn't much of a sight yet, since it hadn't reached one hundred. The leaderboard showed that most of the top fifty had reached level thirty and the rest of them were level twenty to twenty-nine, with the lowest being level twenty.

If Alexander had to guess, he would say he had probably reached the average low-level player's level range. He still needed to up his pace, but he stayed certain that he was much stronger than other players.

After all, he could take on monsters almost twenty levels over him, solo. Most players could take on two monsters of an equal level at most, solo.

The elite players could take on groups of monsters at the same level as themselves. But he didn't know of anyone who could beat monsters much higher level than themselves.

That made him feel like an anomaly in the game. And yet, when he looked at the level the top player was right now, he couldn't think of anything else than the word anomaly to describe him.

The top player was now level thirty-two. He had been level thirty just a day ago, and that was in-game time!

'What a monstrous leveling speed' Alexander thought, sucking in cold air.

'I need to at least match his speed if I want to be part of the tournament.'

Alexander clenched his fist, his heart racing in excitement. He would not get left behind.

Alexander scrolled down a bit more in the forums, but nothing garnered his attention, so he closed his phone and went to bed. He set an alarm for four hours later and fell asleep shortly after laying his head on the pillow.

When his alarm rang four hours later, he didn't even waste time taking a coffee. He directly grabbed his VR helmet from his desk, which was now nearby, and put it on his head.

He then logged into 'New Eden' promptly.

*Launching 'New Eden'*

*Logging in*

*Welcome back player Astaroth*