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The white marble pillars that extended beyond one's sight were certainly not limited to the Fire Kingdom Emilia was in, and although Arcadia's popularity hadn't yet reached its 'peak', there was no shortage of excellent teams from around the world who had rushed to check out this new 'event'.
Of course, some of them were both fortunate and skilled enough to be located near an 'easier' pillar, and then be able to skip past the surrounding monsters. And Darryl's team was one of them.
A giant of a man smiled and swung his broadsword around as if it weighed nothing. "I didn't expect such a vast forest on the other side of the pillar… there must be a lot of interesting monsters to fight inside, huh, leader?"
Not far behind him were seven teammates, with each of them being attractive enough to have been considered the center of attention had they been anywhere else.
Surprisingly, though, their 'leader' was the man who could be considered the most 'ordinary' of them all.
"It's really vast, beautiful, and full of bounty." Darryl smiled. "But I feel like it's more of a distraction than anything else."
Even with his 'Hero's Instinct', he'd been momentarily confused by the mixed signals from the forest, meaning that there were far too many 'good opportunities' waiting to be explored. Had he not been so prudent, Darryl felt like he would have definitely missed the faint signal from a relatively obscure location in the outskirts.
'That must be the entrance to the real dungeon…'
The moment he realized it, Darryl easily figured out that while the forest was bountiful, it was also a trap.
No matter how rewarding the monsters might be, they could never match up to the rewards waiting for the 'Champion', after all.
"Let's go, follow me."
Darryl knew that this was the first 'real step' he needed to take to begin his quest for the 'New World' that he dreamed of, and it wasn't something he could take lightly.
'It's a pity that my first step as a champion will be missing one of my companions, but oh well… fate is not a kind mistress, and we can only make do with what we have.'
Obviously, he was thinking of Emilia, and hoped that the little girl didn't mind being the 'only exclusion' from such an important event in the future.
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Meanwhile, the 'unfortunate' girl was too busy jumping for joy to realize that the hero was lamenting about her miserable 'fate'.
She'd initially been a little worried, but luckily, the last couple of injured monsters in the area had been just enough to push their experience points past the requirement.
In fact, Emilia knew that there were still the 'guardians' of the dungeon hiding nearby, though Robin wasn't able to notice them. But she didn't wish to provoke them needlessly at this point.
Fortunately, the lack of a male player on her team allowed them to celebrate in peace, with the 'guardians' not daring to attack lest they scare the 'precious prey' away.
-[Level 14 → 198,578 / 200,000] → [Level 15 → 28,578 / 220,000]
-[Level up!]
—[All attributes +1]
—[+5 Unallocated Attribute Points]
Emilia couldn't help but sigh. 'The experience reward of 'Elite' monsters is really too good.'
Luckily, none of the players in the surroundings had been smart or confident enough to head to this particular zone, or it would have been impossible for her team to eat such a delicious meal by themselves.
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— Princess —
— No Titles —
Bloodline → Elf
Class → Warrior
[Level 15]
Experience Points → [28,578 / 220,000]
— Primary Stats —
[Strength] → 25
[Intelligence] → 25
[Agility] → 163
Unallocated Points: 5
— Secondary Stats —
Hitpoints → 250
Mana → 25
Speed → 1.63
Inventory → 20 Slots [+10]
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Naturally, she once again chose to spend all her unallocated points to increase her agility, boosting it up to a hundred and sixty-eight.
Unlike other 'milestone' levels, hitting level fifteen didn't increase the number of unallocated attribute points or increase the size of a player's inventory, but the 'abrupt' increase in the required experience points to level up from a hundred and sixty thousand to two hundred thousand was actually completely justified.
After all, not only did it allow the players to pick a 'suitable' profession of their choice, but it was also the point at which they got their first 'strong' class skill.
Just thinking about it made Emilia once again jump for joy. "Yes! Level fifteen, finally!"
In fact, Danielle and Sylvia were a little annoyed by the fact that she 'needlessly' kept looking for fights when they could have easily made their way to the 'pillar' a few times, but after seeing the crimson-haired elf so happy, it was hard for them to really hold a grudge.
'It really is a cheat to be so pretty… I can't even get mad.'
Luckily, neither Danielle nor Sylvia could read each other's thoughts, or they would definitely have been pissed off by how often they'd begun to 'align' under Emilia's influence.
Of course, as the only one who could know of these things, Crystal would never ruin her source of private amusement, either.
"Everyone leveled up, right?"
Danielle couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Yes yes, we all did… so can we finally head to the pillar and stop playing around, princess?"
Emilia grinned and pretended to think about it under everyone's amused and exasperated eyes. Inwardly, though, she was screaming. 'Just how long is it going to take for the profession choice thing to pop up?! I'm afraid they'll start to pick on me soon!'
Cynthia coughed. "It takes a while for it to 'figure out' a list of 'suitable' professions for every player, but it shouldn't be too long. Don't worry, though, they won't dare pick on you, lest they embarrass themselves. After all, with your current speed, can't you easily escape?"
Although she knew it was partially true, the crimson-haired girl could only pout in her mind.
If it was her 'fault', it was obviously impossible for her to avoid the punishment. Otherwise, she wouldn't be a very good princess, right?
Luckily, the notification from Arcadia came before the patience of her teammates ran out.
-[All requirements met, 'Primary Profession' unlocked!]
-[Please choose from one of the below options to continue…]
Emilia once again jumped happily, ecstatic at having skipped her due punishment, though everyone else only thought she was surprised and elated by the 'unexpected' reward.
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