Chapter 7: Grinding!

A blond youth wearing a ragged robe and wielding a wooden staff explored the forest, looking for monsters to kill. Sebastian had a single goal: to level up as fast as possible!

'Anyone can level up just by killing monsters,' he thought, 'but that will make my equipment fall short, and that's not a good thing.'

Sebastian knew that quests were important not only for the experience, but also for the items they rewarded. However, he wasn't too concerned about that.

There was one thing he didn't dismiss after getting his new class: leveling up his professions! He knew that most people would focus on doing quests and killing monsters, and that would give him a great opportunity to make some money!

'I think I'll stop for now," Sebastian thought, opening his character tab.

<Name: Lore Master> <Level: 3> <XP: 135/1200>

<Class: Sage>

HP: 130/130

MP: 200/200

Attributes:

Strength: 2

Dexterity: 1

Vigor: 1

Intelligence: 3

Wisdom: 1

Free Points: 10

'I have ten free points to spend. Intelligence increases all magical and elemental damage, while Wisdom increases maximum mana, mana regeneration, and healing potency. These two are the main stats for a magical class.'

Stats distribution was important, but if one messed up, it wasn't a problem. It was possible to reset the points by spending 10,000 gold coins.

'10k isn't that much in the higher levels, like 30 or 40, I think. Considering my unique class, I can keep changing my build to have more fun, or use it to clear specific game content!'

Others would make use of this feature, but with limitations. That wasn't the case for Sebastian, whose class could use any type of weapon, armor, and had plenty of magical and physical spells to learn.

Sebastian looked at the screen and decided to go with 6 points in Intelligence and 4 in Wisdom.

<Name: Lore Master> <Level: 3> <XP: 135/1200>

<Class: Sage>

HP: 130/130

MP: 280/280

Attributes:

Strength: 2

Dexterity: 1

Vigor: 1

Intelligence: 9

Wisdom: 5

Free Points: 0

'Mana is slowing down my grinding.'

Perhaps that wasn't a problem for other magical classes who were playing in parties at that stage of the game, therefore using less spells to kill monsters.

But Sebastian was a solo player, so all the time wasted by sitting on the ground to regenerate his mana was lost experience.

After using his free points, Sebastian opened his friends tab and hid his level from his two added friends, Carl and Jimmy. They had dismissed him the last time, so Sebastian didn't want anything to do with them.

Then, it was time to log out. He pressed the logout button, and the next thing he saw was his apartment's ceiling, looking the same as ever.

He looked out the window, staring at the moon and the starry sky, thinking about his life. Sebastian still had a few years before finishing his degree, and maybe the game could turn into his job?

There were many ways to make real-world money by playing the game, such as selling specific items, participating in competitions, or offering other types of in-game services.

'I'll think about that in the future. I'm only level 3.'

Sebastian had to focus on getting stronger first before thinking about making money. He didn't need it at the moment.

After the death of his parents, Sebastian had inherited enough money for him and his little sister to live for a couple of years if they didn't spend it on useless things.

Speaking of his sister, Monica, she was at home after he logged out, making them pasta for dinner.

"Pasta? Good, good," Sebastian said, giving Monica a thumbs up.

"How was the game?" Monica asked as she placed the plates on the table. "Remember what I said about starting to play during my vacation? I think I'll start next week!"

If it had been before, Sebastian would have worried about his sister playing the game and seeing how useless he was. But now? With his hidden class? Sebastian would be proud.

"It's really cool and realistic. You should give it a try."

"I know. Everyone is talking about it! I even saw a video of a dude bashing a fish with a wooden staff. So funny! The dude had blond hair like you."

Sebastian almost choked on his pasta as he heard what she said. He was glad she didn't recognize him.

"I saw the video too. What a crazy dude..."

They ate dinner together. Monica talked about school and how things were going, saying she could not wait to start college the following year.

"I'm going to crash. I'm tired," Monica said. "Can you clean the dishes for me tonight? Thank you, big brother. Good night."

"Good night."

Sebastian cleaned the dishes, but all he could think about was the game. He couldn't wait to play it again, but he had to shower, sleep, and go to class the next morning and early afternoon.

It would reduce his playing time, but that happened to everyone. People had to work, and playing games all day was all but a dream.

'I'm glad the game developers give us an XP bonus depending on how long we're logged out so that the crazy grinders who play 18 hours a day don't pass us.'

The game developers said they had two options: give everyone an XP bonus who logged out or set a maximum of six hours of playtime per day.

They decided to go with the XP bonus first to test, and would change it if things didn't go as planned. Sebastian knew about that because he watched a video while cleaning the dishes.

Then he went to shower, bed, and endured the boring classes the next morning. Sebastian ran from college after the classes ended, going as fast as he could to his apartment to play the game!

At that moment, he was glad his apartment was close to college. That was a life-changing thing for him who had a lot of time after the game was released.

'Let's get back to grinding!' Sebastian thought as he put on his helmet and logged in.

His vision blurred, and then he found himself in a forest, the same place he had been to hunt slimes.

Sebastian looked around, seeing a few slimes jumping around, but those monsters didn't catch his attention anymore.

He had learned their spell, and if Sebastian wanted to reach level 10 before everyone else, the best course of action would be to kill higher level monsters to get the bonus experience.

Sebastian was about to open his map to check for another grinding location when he heard something. Players talking.

"Are you sure we can survive inside this cave you talked about? We're only level three!"

"Trust me, okay? There are different monsters in there, some of them being level six! A heaven place to grind the early levels!"

Sebastian heard it, and smirked.