6. Achievement Ring

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." — Eleanor Roosevelt

Finding a bench to sit on, Paul opened up his inventory and saw the starting clothes he had, which were essentially rags and two other items. One was the amulet he took from Randolf, and the other was a small golden ring with exquisite engravings.

Tear of Elenor

A single tear, a relic from the goddess's oracle, shed during the peak of the high elf rule centuries ago. This Tear of Elenor possesses a unique ability, a fleeting burst of strength for the weak and hopeless, a beacon of hope in the darkest of times.

This was why so many people did the hidden version of the mission: This was a rare item that could have been more challenging to acquire and could be helpful early in the game in unexpected ways.

Pioneer's Sigil of Mastery

A small golden ring with the power to record your most outstanding achievements. 

Cooking supplies sold by NPCs cost 10% less when equipped.

Gilded achievements:

The fearful are the safest: Complete the starting mission "A dragon's roar" without taking or dealing any damage.

Trailblazing kidnapper: Complete the hidden ending of "A dragon's roar" by finding your own escape without needing Eilantha's help.

Progress to item evolution 2/10

Looking at the second item, the Pioneer's Sigil of Mastery, Paul was pleased; this was an item any player got when they were the first in the world to complete any achievement. It gave a small permanent buff and could evolve as you achieved more, which meant being the first to do them.

Although a small cooking discount seemed like a lousy buff, he was confident it would turn into something better if he could evolve it once or twice. 

Seeing how he was able to get the ring so quickly excited him. With his knowledge, he should be able to get quite a few gilded achievements, much better than in his last life, where even after being one of the world's first winners, he only had a total of three gilded achievements because he started playing later. 

With a big smile, he got up, walked through the town, and reached an average shop, spotting quite a few players around the streets. 

When he entered the shop, he saw an old man behind a counter reading a book. After walking up, Paul confidently pulled out the Tear of Elenor.

"Hello, shopkeeper; I am here to sell this mystical item to your shop."

Unlike the Etherhall Tower, most people in this town were humans, including the old man.

"Woo there, friend, let's have a look at it, and I will give you a reasonable price; nobody will offer you more than me."

Placing the amulet on the table, the old man, Isaac's eyes lit up like torches.

"This here magical amulet is excellent; I will give you 1,000 thalor for it."

Hearing the offer, Paul wanted to punch him in the face; this old guy was a ruthless scammer, but nobody else would buy this from a player until you were over level 50.

"How about 2,000, old man? I know this item is high quality." 

While holding it in his hand, the shopkeeper examined it more intently before looking back up with a smile.

"2,000 is a bit much; I'll offer you 1,666 for it because I like to help young lads like you."

"Fine, with that money, I want an amulet of breath and a steel sword. That should be about 1400, and I'll take the rest in coins." 

Hearing him agree, the old man was excited. He grabbed the two items he wanted, handed them over, and swiftly took the Tear of Elenor. 

With that, Paul left and decided to go to the first grinding spot, where he would level up after a few stops. 

His first stop was the mage's guild, where he pledged to join and received the skill line; he could later level up by collecting grimoires or doing missions for the guild, followed by the fighter's guild, which leveled up by killing undead and completing quests, and lastly, exploration and reclamation guild where you leveled up by doing daily quests and completing dungeons and trials for the first time. 

These were all groups you could join instantly and progress in simultaneously without actively doing anything to unlock the skills they offer. 

It was important because for the progression in that guild, it only counted what you had done after unlocking the skill line, so the earlier you did so, the better. 

After doing that, Paul began the long journey towards his first level grinding spot; since the game was new and nobody had mounts and teleportation points unlocked, travel was tedious and annoying, but that also meant there would most likely be nobody else there. 

While walking down a dirt road southwest, Paul opened up the social tab and began looking at the clips from the launch to see what the people playing during the launch were doing. 

Although the game could have been better at launch, many people played it regularly before its popularity exploded.

 As he scrolled through the top live streams for the game, he recognized hardly anyone. Most of them probably dropped the game quickly or faded into obscurity when the wave of players came after the first-anniversary update, which led to the game blowing. 

After a little while, he found a name he recognized: Short Bus Driver. When he tuned in, he saw the first-person point of view of the player trying to tame a wild horse he found and failing miserably. 

"This is impossible. Am I doing something wrong, chat?"

"I need a saddle? How am I supposed to get that? There is no introduction in-game for taming."

Watching the chaos of this guy getting thrown off the horse and trampled over and over was funny, but it started to get old, and Short Bus started to get angrier and angrier, leading to Paul deciding to give him some advice. 

-There is no way to tame a wild horse to make it your permanent mount; you can get a skill from an elf somewhere south of you to temporarily ride one, but the horse will still run away as soon as you get off.

Once the streamer saw the message, he was annoyed.

"So I am supposed to walk around this giant ass map until I get 10,000 thalor to buy a mount? I don't think so! Everyone, let's head south to find the mysterious elf this guy mentioned."

Paul laughed before switching to another stream and continuing his walk; what he didn't say was that the quest for that skill is very annoying and should be considered by anyone under level 10. 

After walking while distracting himself and avoiding the occasional random enemy he finally found the zone he was looking for, Zephorius Forest, the place he would be farming until level 20.

While walking in, he switched off the live streams and found some music to listen to while mindlessly killing enemies for the next few hours.