8. Leveling Up is Easy

"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." — Vincent Van Gogh

After grinding for close to eight hours in total, Paul finally got the notification that he had reached level 20. This was accompanied by the achievement sound, this time more lively than the dull one he heard earlier, announcing another gilded achievement. 

Smiling to himself, he instantly left the forest and began making his way to a different town, one named Aurorin; just from the name, one could tell that elves mainly inhabited it compared to the primarily human Tu'Dor.

Paul's character underwent a dramatic transformation in just a few hours, thanks to the gear he acquired from the undead he was farming. His appearance, once unremarkable, now bordered on the absurd with a heavy metal armor helmet, a mix of cloth and leather for the rest of the armor, a dagger in one hand, and a short sword in the other.

At this point, he had unlocked three more abilities.

Purifier's Embrace: Summoning the ancient forces of purity, the caster creates a radiant aura around themselves. As the spell activates, ethereal light envelops the user, purging all adverse effects and maladies.

Cost: 280 mana

Vitality Surge: Harnessing the essence of life itself, the caster unleashes a surge of vital energy. This powerful wave of healing magic radiates outward, quickly mending the wounds of the caster and the most critically injured nearby ally.

Cost: 350 mana

Stellar Collapse: Channeling the volatile energy of collapsing stars, the caster triggers a localized stellar collapse at their location. This intense burst of cosmic energy generates a powerful explosion that radiates outward, engulfing enemies in a wave of pure magical force.

Cooldown: 80 seconds in combat

The stellar collapse was the first ultimate ability he unlocked because it did significant AOE damage and made farming much more accessible. 

With a complete inventory and a tired mind after farming mindlessly for hours, Paul was ready to sell what he could to make some money, log out to eat, and go to bed. 

While walking through the town that had started to be populated by players, some people noticed the level 20 badge above his head and were surprised.

Being in a town a decent distance from the starting spawn for the faction, most people in the town were over level 10 by now and were trying to get together to start running dungeons that became available then. 

Not only did dungeons have item sets they could drop, but some quests took place in dungeons the first time you completed them, meaning it was worth running each dungeon at least once. 

On top of that, the one-time dungeon quests all gave a reward of thalor, one of the set piece items from the dungeon (Untradeable), and a skill point, allowing the player to level up any skill they want by one level. For most people, this reward, on top of the reward from the bosses, was enough to make them drop everything and try to find a party. 

In one group of four who were looking for a fifth, two young women were whispering to each other loudly enough for everyone around them to hear.

"Hey, how the hell is that guy level 20 already? Do you think he is a tank?"

"He wouldn't be a very good tank with only one piece of heavy armor!"

"We should still invite him and try it. Maybe he can bulldoze through everything with level 20 stats; who needs armor and health when you kill everything in a few hits?"

"If you want to go, then go, your the one with big tits, so maybe you can get him to help us out."

"Screw off, Emelia. Are you trying to pimp out your friend or something?"

"You're the one who wants to talk with him so bad, not me."

Their banter gradually drew more attention to themselves and Paul, who was finally nearing the shop to sell his drops, when a girl around 5 foot 2 inches in mismatched cloth armor walked in front of him.

"Hi, Mr. Lazarus. Would you be interested in joining our team to run Hercon's Web? We need someone just like you."

Looking at her for a second, he casually responded while stepping around her.

"You don't need another DPS, so you should find someone else; doing dungeons on a level with the enemies is difficult.

"Well, since you are level 20, can't you just kill everything?"

Hearing this girl talking so shamelessly about essentially asking him to carry their team, Paul was somewhat dumbfounded. 

"Ms. Lazy River, that's not how this game works; progression is additive, not exponential, and having a few levels on the enemies doesn't let you walk over them, especially bosses. It's best if you find a real tank that can hold aggro and try to progress gradually. Having me would be like having one healer and 5 DPS instead of 1 healer and 4 DPS; stuff may die faster, but we are all one charged attack away from being slapped to death."

Paul quickly made his way inside the store while hearing a loud voice behind him.

"Thank you for the advice, Mr. Lazarus!"

Thankfully, she didn't chase after him.

While she was talking to her friend, he had looked in their direction by chance, and their group was four girls who all looked like ranged magical DPS, one of them being a healer supposedly. Early-game magical damage was somewhat weak since you could not constantly cast spells due to mana constraints. 

He could already imagine the four of them running out of mana in 10 seconds and then having to run around for a minute, hoping the boss wouldn't look at them. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

If anything, not having a healer early is better since the activities are balanced around a lack of mana, which can be compensated for with intelligent positioning and health potions. 

Not having a tank was suicide, though.

Walking up to the counter, Paul began taking items out of his inventory.

"Hello, shopkeeper; I am here to sell items."

"Let's see what a dirty little human has for me this time."

Seeing the old elven man, Paul let out a small laugh.

'All these old men that run these shops are scammers.'

"Boy, do I have a haul for you, Corvis."