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—--------------
'... I might as well and check my previous rewards.'
'Slaying a Wyvern in a single blow... Apart from the extreme Experience boost...'
Just thinking about it made Dale smile, but it was short lived as he soon returned to his typical, cynical expression.
'There's no point in thinking it over, open System Log!' Dale thought with resolve
Without an ounce of hesitation, Dale's eyes flickered in blue light as a tangible screen formed in front of his face.
[DING]
[+107965% XP]
[You have Leveled up]
[You have Leveled up]
[You have Leveled up]
[You…]
[+30 to all Base Stats]
[Current Level: 69]
"..."
'Nice...'
'I leveled up 10 times with a single enemy... In a high effort MMO...'
'Though I can't say I'm satisfied, which is rather contradictory.'
'I feel as if it's not quite proportional, though at the same time, I'm glad it isn't... Though I imagine other players will cry in anguish at the grind they'll have to go through.'
'They want to be efficient and grow stronger fast, and although I feel the same, the strength I seek it's a bit different.'
'The less Experience I get from creatures, the better...'
'Because I'm not in a rush to get inhumanly stronger, my personal training comes first as Strength from Stats is fickle.'
'Either way, the benefits from being first are also a Plus, however, I ended up leveling from 49 to 69 by defeating only 4 monsters in the past few days.'
'The Alpha Opicus bird, a random creature I met on the way to the Karkavan Village, the Gorilla by the Lake, and finally, the Wyvern.'
'I barely had the time to enjoy the benefits of each Level range, and albeit some are better then others, each Privilege has its own benefits.'
'The Skill Experience Boost from Level 40 would've been perfect for lengthy periods of Ordinary Training...'
'And the last Privilege would've been perfect to any ordinary player as they would've been able to make quite the bag of money from selling the items, it may be a short lived way of making money, but there are some crazy guys that would pay a lot to have a guarantied item drop from a Boss.'
'But that doesn't matter anymore, what good will it do to cry over it?'
'Instead... I should pay attention to what's next.' Dale thought as he read the next line
[You've gained, Shard of Belterix
You've gained, Loot Coins x 3860
]
"..."
'Woah... I almost whistled...'
'That's quite a bit... With this, my total amount of Loot Coins now number around 5000.'
'Since I didn't spend any of the Coins I got from the previous two creatures I slew, I have to spend them now before it's too late.'
'I was holding them just in case I fought a stronger opponent And here I am.'
'Although, stronger doesn't mean the Loot will be better... Trash mobs will still rewards trash grade items, albeit scaled for higher leveled players.'
'Regardless, I'll check it later, this small mountain of Coins ought to be enough for me to exchange for at least one Fable grade item... Mayhap even higher, if the Wyvern does have such Loot.'
'Otherwise, if I don't find anything useful then I'll just exchange it for extra materials such as the Wyvern's Eyes and Heart.'
'I only have one body to butcher in my inventory, but it has only one pair of eyes and heart...'
'Though I'll have to think on my excuse for having two pairs of hearts if I am to give them to Yumi...'
"Cough..."
'As for the Shard... I'll inspect it later after I'm done with this.'
Coughing lightly, Dale continued:
[DING]
[Like the Fables of old, you slew a mighty Dragon! And alone at that, overthrowing all odds!]
[You have Attained a new Tale! Dragon Slayer!]
[In a single strike, you slew an overpowering enemy, reminding all that underestimation is the first step toward failure, one they can only commit once!]
[You have Attained a new Tale! Point Critical!]
[What is Fate, can I eat it? Even Lady Luck herself cannot believe what she has seen as alone, you defeated an opponent 100 levels above you!]
[You have Attained a new Tale! Overlimit Fighter]
[At the cusp of the moment, you saved the common people from a gruesome end! Not your first time and definitely not the last!]
[You have Attained a new Tale! Small time Hero]
"..."
'New Tales... I expected this.'
'I won't go over everything I think about these since I'm tired of doing so.'
'I'm sure they're tied to what happens when I reach Level 100...'
'I can't be certain if it's for the best to gather as many as possible... But neither can I prove the contrary.'
'They always felt... Misplaced, if that's a way to put it.'
'I was blessed by a God but gained no Tales, however, I defeat 100 low level players and I gain one?'
'What is the criteria here? I'm sure an ordinary player would've gained many Titles to flaunt their Ego by now...'
'Even I sometimes feel a sense of loss, it would've been interesting to do so once in a while.'
With a small smile, Dale moved on.
[DING]
[Your Skill, Spear Technique 5-Star has Leveled up to 5.5-Star]
[Your Skill, Mana Conduction 4.5-Star has Leveled up to 5-Star]
[Your Skill, Fighting Spirit 4.5-Star has Leveled up to 5-Star]
[Your Skill, Vital Heart 1-Start has Leveled up to 2-Star]
[Your Skill, Prime Source 2-Star has Leveled up to 2.5-Star]
'Not really surprising, but with this, I've almost confirmed it.'
'Defeating stronger enemies leads to Accelerated Skill growth, it may be better to say that my Skills have a low score, so when they clash with a High Level opponent, it leads to quite the growth.'
'It's similar to how Standard players' Skills grow, but at a very slowed rate.'
'And this leads to quite the headache when I think about it...'
'I already know that Skills are intrinsically connected to reality, my body, and understanding due to what I experienced so far whenever I log off, but I don't quite feel different right now despite the multiple changes I experienced over the last few days...'
'It could be because most of this Skills weren't a result of my own effort and hence are inconsequential, but Spear Technique was a result of my own training.'
'There may be a time of readjustment between Skills being upgraded through the System to the user whenever it's not done through self effort but through rewards and the consequence of their interactions with the world of Eden... If that makes sense.'
'HardCore players already have to suffer due to having one life, and it's already common knowledge that leveling their Skills is also harder.'
'I'm 90% certain it's due to the real life factor.'
'As such, how do these rewards affect my basic understanding of their respective aspects and my "real" physical abilities?'
'... Well... That'll have to be explored later... If I remember.'
'The answer is likely rather simple anyway, I'm just making a hill out of a small heap.'
'The System upgrades me and I slowly mold myself into these new borders... I feel like that's what's been happening to me in these last few weeks anyway.'
'And in a sense, in the past year since the Green Box manifested...'
Closing his eyes in deep thought, Dale proceeded to the next subject:
[DING]
[The blood of a grandiose foe stimulates Failure!]
[Failure Manifests a new Skill, Assassinate Giant 3.5-Star]
[Strike an unsuspecting foe with a sharp and precise attack that is guaranteed to bypass most defenses; Attack power upscales and downscales with the size of the target compared to the User]
[Failure Manifests a new Skill, Earthward Strike 4.5-Star]
[Strike downward in the blink of an eye, dealing extra damage against airborne enemies with the chance to pin them down on the ground; Deals extra damage against Dragon-Type creatures]
'... Once again, Failure continues to evolve, with each enemy it seems to evolve faster... Or better put, it was always meant to be like this.'
'Muddan was the first actual enemy I fought against while using it, ever since then the Spear has been growing quite constantly.'
'It's growth spurts seem rather random with what I may receive, but considering I lack Active Skills, this is perfect for me.'
'I won't complain, but I can't be satisfied with this development.'
'After all... Why is Failure even changing?'
'What lies at the end of it's constant transformations?'
[DING]
[Your Quest has Updated]
[Forest Hierarchy
Description:
...
Requirements:
Find out what is happening at the center of the forest near Resko 1/1
*It seems that the source…
Investigate further by traveling deeper into the forest 1/1
*With the help of the mysterious envoy, Muddan…
Eliminate/solve the source of the problem 0/1
*You learned about the survivors of the Southern Corps living in the remnants of an Elven Clan tree deep in the woods.
Rescue them before it's too late and scout them into your cause! 1/?
*You successfully saved the Survivors from an early end, and most importantly, you managed to shake off the despair of their leader, Wuril.
*However, until they're safe and sound, all talks about allegiance and cooperation remain meaningless.
Safely escort all Survivors to Resko 0/1
*Optional* Lead all Survivors out of the forest without losing a single Soul 0/1
*Optional* Rescue the Raid Team trapped within Project Burnout 0/1
Time before the Raid Team starts to collapse due to lack of food: 2 days, 4 hours, 46 minutes
]
Dale had little to think about his Quest update, so he moved on without batting much of an eye.
[Your reputation rises massively!]
[Your Reputation with the Descendants of the Survivors has increased by 30]
[You have achieved the minimum Reputation threshold! Your standing has changed!]
[You are now a Reputable Outsider!]
"..."
'What is my current Reputation score?'
'After handling so many items it should be rather high...'
[Descendants of the Survivors: 128 (Last Hope)]
"Oh?..."
"Did you say something?"
"Ah?... No... I was just a bit taken aback by these weird mushrooms..." Dale said as he looked around awkwardly
"They are indeed pretty unique, you should fetch a few while we're here, might as well score a few points while we're down here... Hoho..." Testros said with a very light smile as he continued his forward march
"..."
'Phew... My excuse worked... But what did he say?' He thought as his expression went dark
'He's... Right though. I was so occupied by what happened that I forget to work on my other Quests.'
'Getting all the way back here alone later to complete this Quest would be a pain in the ass...'
Without much protest, he crouched down to collect the plants, all the while he read his notifications:
[DING]
[You were the first player to reach Level 60!]
[You have achieved Level 60, your current Special privilege has been worn off]
[For being the first to reach Level 60, The Special Skill, Self Reflection Null-Star can be activated at any moment, this effect is permanent even as the Privilege wears off, however, after Level 60 the Skill receives an activation cooldown of one In-game day
]
[This privilege won't expire]
[Would you like to leave your name in the Hall of Fame?]
"...?"
'Well... This is interesting...'
'Ignoring the benefit... I'm actually quite tempted to leave my name in the Hall of Fame.'
'Taking that even the most prepared and efficient players are around their mid twenties in terms of Levels, if I am to suddenly drop the bomb of being over Level 60, people would loose their composure immediately.'
'I could gain a lot if I play my cards right amidst the desperation of the High Level players... But it's equally as risky.'
'Yet, since I'm already going to be Level 70 anyway, I don't see the bad thing about doing it.'
'My Level is still going to be miles above others, because while people will aim to catch up to the 60s, I would already be working on my way to the 80s.'
'Hum... I'll pass on this chance, but next time... It may be worth it to give it a bit of a thought...'
'After all, I might as well raise the popularity of my persona, the first player to complete the Tutorial with a negative timer...'
'That even alone wasn't enough to make everyone revere him, and giving that my popularity as an NPC keeps increasing, it shouldn't be a bad idea to try and divert it a little...'
'Maybe it's about time to go and give the world..'
'Something to remember me by?'
'Something that'll not be some easily forgotten...'
'Yeah... A moment to remember.'
...
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Notes
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