{ Which one will you choose? }
{ Racial Class } { Job Class }
This moment? It's where everything begins.
The beginning of everything is very important.
Whether it's in the game or the real world you need to have some sort of strategy.
So, the first rule is to not level my race too much early on.
Note that all heteromorphic races has a rigid stat paths and strict penalties, all of them tailored differently from each other.
Yes, they're cool as hell.
Yes, the stat bonuses they give are cracked.
But their early game is a death trap, you get some shiny racial abilities. Maybe a special trait, but then you're stuck with no attack skills.
What's the use of a high stats if you can't do anything with it, you're basically asking to be a walking sand bag with a 90% death rate.
Besides the real power isn't in the race levels at first, it's actually in the class levels.
Because classes gives you skills, which provides the lethality that is needed by all beginners to greatly increase their progression speed.
Afterall what truly matters is how you snowball your skills, and your stats, while making sure that your class and race synergize well with one another.
Fun fact most if not all heteromorphic player tend to experiment with their build, trying to find the perfect class for their race.
Hence why they usually have a slower progression curve compared to other races.
Luckily I already know what my race strong and weak points are, which is an overwhelming magic power and lack of physical capabilities.
So naturally, there's only one option worth taking.
{ Job Class Chosen: Mage }
Some say you don't pick a mage for what it is, you pick it for what it can become.
Mages are the ultimate investment build, weak early on, sure.
But that rule doesn't really apply to me, because with my race you scale hard.
Even at a low level I should be able to dish out some damage
-----
{ Status Screen }
Name : Eion
Race : Aster
Alignment : Lawful Neutral
Epithet : None
Level: 2
Racial Level
Aster 1
Job Level
Mage 1
Stats :
HP : 1
MP : 5
PhyAtk : 1
PhyDef : 1
Agility : 1
MagAtk : 3
MagDef : 1
Resistance : 1
Special : 1
Total Stats : 13
Skill Points : 0
Trait
--Mana Body (Lvl 1)--
Increases base MP by 3 and Mag Atk by 1
Skills :
Passive:
--Mana Veins (Lvl 1)--
Increases base MP and Mag Atk by 1
Active:
--Magic Arrow (Lvl 1)--
Piercing, fast projectile
Equipment:
--None-
-----
I can't help but grin like an idiot.
It's all here, my build is finally alive. The first active skill? Basic. Underwhelming to most, but I know better.
Magic Arrow is cheap, fast, and scales beautifully, it's a clean bread-and-butter skill.
Not to mention its abilities to home towards targeted enemies, it will be perfect for what comes next.
Time to test this out.
I wandered around the lush caves for a little bit, before finally stumbling upon my second victim.
Suprisingly I found a normal sized rat, without any mutation whatsoever.
'So this kind of low-tier mob do exist?' I mused to myself
I knew it, the Giant Rat that I've fought before must've been a boss afterall.
Lost in my thoughts, the rat finally notices my presence.
It hisses, bares its teeth, and lunges.
"Magic Arrow."
A sleek dart of mana hums through the air, piercing straight through its chest.
{ Rat defeated! }
{ +1 EXP gained }
{ Loot: 1 Gold Coin }
A one hit kill, nice.
---
8 Hours Later
I've slain so many rats, I think I might have PTSD from their squeaks.
But it worked. The leveling plan? Solid. My mana pool? Scaling. My stats? Better than expected. I've even collected enough coins to almost feel like a real adventurer. Almost.
Turns out, coin drops are random, but I did some tracking:
Drop Table Observation – Rats
Minimum: 1 gold
Maximum: 4 gold
Average: 2 gold
Drop chance appears evenly split and ranges from 50% to 200%.
Spells are even way more efficient than I thought, looks like the MP stats is a condensed pool of energy where 1 MP = 10 Mana.
Since Magic Arrow only costs 1 Mana, that means 10 casts per MP. With my current total of 5 MP, that's 50 casts per rest cycle which takes around 6 hours from my observation.
Not bad.
Now let me see my updated Status.
------
{ Status Screen }
Name : Eion
Race : Aster
Alignment : Lawful Neutral
Epithet : None
Level: 5
Racial Level
Aster 2
Job Level
Mage 3
Stats :
HP : 2
MP : 11
PhyAtk : 1
PhyDef : 1
Agility : 2
MagAtk : 7
MagDef : 3
Resistance : 2
Special : 2
Total Stats : 18
Skill Points : 4
Trait
--Mana Body (Max)--
Increases base MP by 8 and Mag Atk by 5.
Skills :
Passive:
--Mana Veins (Lvl 1)--
Increase base MP and Mag Atk by 1.
Active:
--Magic Arrow (Max)--
Piercing, fast projectile.
--Camouflage (Lvl 1)--
Temporarily reduces presence.
Equipment:
--None--
-----
I must say this is quite the great start I've had.
But alas every good thing must come to an end, now the rats are no longer giving me much EXP.
They barely twitch before dying, and I'm starting to get bored. I need to find a settlement. A town. A dungeon. Anything.
And so I begin my journey, treading through the dark caverns.
---
1 Hour Later
Still walking.
Grass, trees, and rocks, the 3 things which I honestly thought would have found by now.
Just check the map you say?
Oh wait, I don't have one. Of course I don't. It's still in the beta for fuck sake.
Walking in the dark caverns with no waypoints and no map, surely I'll find a way out soon right?
---
2 Hours Later
I find a weird rock shaped like a turtle, that's the highlight of the hour.
Still no signs of people, no NPCs, no quests, No system prompt guiding me toward civilization.
It's starting to feel a bit unsettling actually.
---
3 Hours Later
At this point, I'm not even pretending I know where I'm going.
I don't know how far I've travelled, my hand had become sore. I tried calling out to the GM for help, but there were no answers.
Now I just drag my character towards any light source I see, like some sort of moth towards flame.
---
4 Hours Later
I've looped back to the turtle shaped rock.
I think it's mocking me.
---
5 Hours Later
It's getting dark.
Still no towns. No inns. No travelers. No random event encounters.
Either the server is empty, or I am really far off the intended path.
There's no logout button in the menu, but when I sit down and close my eyes, the familiar prompt appears:
{ Log Out? Y/N }
Yes.
Because I am tired.
Because my hand feel like jelly.
Because I am probably going to faint if I continued to carry on.
And because, deep down, I know tomorrow will be better. More structured. With purpose.
Right now? I've done enough for Day One.
Mage Start: complete.
Tomorrow?
We hunt for civilization.
---
{ Logged Out }
{ Save Complete. Day 1 Progress : 5 Levels. 112 Rats Eliminated. 205 Gold Earned. }
Not bad for someone who started with nothing.
Not bad at all.
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