"COVENANT."
Silvia rolled the letters on the tip of her tongue. She looked over at the twin moons peeking above the orange sky.
It was going to be dark soon, and Pamela was still nowhere to be seen.
Silvia was in Euclid Village, waiting for Pamela, who was still setting up her pod. They had planned to meet earlier, but Pamela was delayed, and Silvia grew impatient, deciding to play the game on her own.
However, Silvia didn't have the heart to leave her friend behind and decided to just finish all the quests in Euclid village and wait for her after.
Anyway, when Pamela arrives in Euclid village, she'll help her with her quests, and they could grind together in Euclid Forest after that.
Silvia has already spoken to all NPCs inside Euclid Village and finished all available quests, but there was still no sign of her best friend.
She knew about the time difference between the game and the real world, so all she could do was wait. She also worried about Pamela, having read in the game's limited guide that players were scattered across hundreds of newbie villages.
If Pamela happened to be in another newbie village, Silvia could reach her using the [Teleportation/Save Crystal] stationed at the entrance of every village, town, city, and dungeon.
These crystals automatically teleported players to locations they had previously visited. Once a player entered a place for the first time, it became available as a selectable destination whenever they touched a crystal.
However, even if a player hadn't visited them, the hundreds of newbie villages still appeared in the teleportation menu. This ensured that friends could play together from the very start of the game, even if they were initially scattered across different villages.
There was no point in playing if they weren't together enjoying the game, some thought.
It was true that COVENANT was a unique and exciting game. A fantasy world came out of a dream. But after doing errand quests after guests, Silvia was already bored. She really wanted to venture outside of the newbie village and into the great unknown.
The only thing that was hindering her was her best friend, Pamela, who was still nowhere to be seen.
Shifting one foot to another, Silvia clicked her tongue in annoyance when she started attracting unwanted attention. The only thing keeping the group of guys from approaching her was her intimidating glares.
She cursed the game for not having the option to change her appearance.
Though she was grateful, she was gifted with godly looks and physiques, but it was a bother most of the time.
She had already forgotten how many times her face got her into trouble.
Was there some kind of an item that could hide her appearance? Silvia thought to herself.
Silvia decided to wait for Pamela in an area that was secluded and had lesser players.
Thank the heavens that there weren't many players yet, and Silvia didn't have to worry about the crowd.
However, she was bored.
Not even five minutes that she was standing and waiting for Pamela, and she was already bored.
Silvia was not used to just standing and waiting. She needed to do something, or she'd feel every tick of the clock.
Silvia released a large breath into the sky and decided to grind in the forest. It was dark, and not many players were adventuring outside at this time, but what else would she do?
Stand here and wait?
Silvia shook her head and marched towards Euclid forest.
She entered the forest and began to grind with whatever beast she saw, making sure that she didn't go too deep inside so she could return to the village as soon as Pamela arrived.
REWARDS:
❶ 5 EXP
❷ 10 Gil
❸ Rabbit's foot x1 >
REWARDS:
❶ 7 EXP
❷ 15 Gil
❸ Wolf's fang x1 >
Notifications popped on Silvia's screen when she defeated beast after beast. She didn't care, though, since the rewards were so poor it hurt her eyes.
It would take forever for all her ATP to reach two digits at this rate.
Silvia went still and wiped off the sweat from her face. This game was too realistic that she felt like everything was real. She even felt like logging out and take a long hot bath.
She took a moment to breathe and looked at her player status.
‖ S T A TU S ‖
Name: Silvia
Age: 19
Race: Human
Class: Fencer
Subclass: Duelist
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Gold
Attributes:
HP: 70
MP: 40
STR: 12
DEF: 7
MDF: 5
INT: 4
AGI: 7
LCK: 4
Skills:
❶ Stab LV.1
Spells:
❶ Heal LV.1
Life Skills
Cooking: Beginner
Fishing: Beginner
Foraging: Beginner
EXP: 70
Money: 120 Gils
Items:
❶ Newbie Garbs (Equip)
❷ Beginner's Rapier (Equip)
❸ Protection Ring (Equip)
❹ ARCADIA's map
❺ Health Potions x7
❻ Rabbits Foot x3
❼ Wolf's Fangs x2
‖ E N D ‖
Silvia sighed.
She was here for hours, but her ATP didn't even reach two digits. And Silvia knew why. The amount of EXP in the Newbie Village was so minuscule to non-existent, and the amount of EXP to level their ATP was huge.
It didn't add up.
The only time that she received an enormous EXP was attaining first blood on the quest [Herbs Gathering], and she poured it to her STR, and it only went up by that much.
She had expected grinding in the forest to earn her tons of EXP, but the rewards dwindled as she accumulated more EXP and raised her ATP. Some beasts no longer granted any EXP at all.
Trying to hoard EXP without distributing it to her ATP—to keep it low and earn more from defeating beasts—didn't work either. The system even factored in her accumulated EXP, when calculating rewards.
Silvia didn't have time to waste on lower-level beasts anymore. In the [World Chat], she read that some players encountered a group of beasts that were impossible to defeat in this early game.
Silvia thought that would surely rake her enough EXP to level all her ATP into two digits.
Silvia bit her thumb. Was her ATP enough to solo this group of monsters, though?
". . ."
After much consideration, the only way for her to be ahead of the others was to take the risk.
And besides, she wasn't used to just staying in her comfort zone.
"Let's do this." Silvia's eyes shone, and excitement racked her veins for the second time.
The first time was when she entered COVENANT. She nearly forgot what it felt like to be truly excited.
Real life had grown dull—she could get whatever she wanted and accomplish anything if she put her mind to it. Being number one came effortlessly, and that ease had left her bored.
A good thing that this game came at the perfect time.
Silvia's eyes glowed, and her tongue swipe her bottom lips. "Don't disappoint me."
She went into the area where the players said they had spotted a group of Horned Rabbits.
She would test the waters first since Horned Rabbits were the weakest beasts in Euclid Forest.
She didn't have to go far—the group of rabbits was gathered beneath the giant tree at the center of a wide, grassy clearing.
Silvia took a moment to prepare mentally. Her ATP had been enough to handle each of them individually before, and she was confident she could defeat all four now.
She trusted her swordsmanship, honed from years of fencing in real life, and she knew her way around self-defense.
A Fencer was the perfect class for her. The skill [Stab] inflicted [True Damage] and had a high chance of critical hit if she pierced her weapon against her opponent's weakness.
It was also the reason why she was ahead of the others in the game. While others squirmed and were still getting used to the battle system, Silvia felt right at home.
Silvia readied her weapon.
At the sight of the approaching woman, the once-peaceful bunnies—minding their business of grazing and gathering—suddenly turned hostile, forming a tight circle around Silvia.