The Cragstone Hyenaman Club was just absurd—massive attack power and outrageously stacked stats.
Most Level 8 players had base stats around 12. This club alone added +6 STR, +8 AGI, and +6 CON—over half their total just from one weapon!
After going back and forth, Isaac made the decision.
He was keeping it.
The Level 5 Leather Shoulders were decent—8 defense, 110 HP.
The Ragged Wolf-Hair Vest was only Level 1, but for a main armor slot, 4 defense was nothing to scoff at for early-game players.
After putting everything away, Isaac found he wasn't in the mood to log out anymore.
"Fighting's off the table for now, but I want to see how long it takes for Daffino to respawn."
"Red Team, fall back—we're heading up the hill for a break." He led his three minions back to their usual resting spot.
The hill offered the best vantage point. If any players wandered into the area, he'd know right away.
"Weird. Someone hit Level 5 yesterday. A whole day's passed and I still haven't seen a single player around here."
Surely someone should have hit Level 6 by now—at which point they could've reached his region.
With nothing else to do, Isaac figured he'd check the official livestream platform.
But just as he was about to open it, he glanced over at his minions—Red Team.
"Hmm? Maybe I should have them do some grinding?" He remembered how well they performed during the Daffino fight—quick to follow orders, even showing signs of basic judgment.
When Red One had been overwhelmed, Isaac told him to stop attacking. He hesitated just long enough for Red Two to pull aggro. Even without orders to resume, Red One jumped back in once the heat was off.
It was clear—they weren't just meat shields. They had some rudimentary combat AI.
And these guys were strong. Unless they stumbled into another Daffino, they'd be just fine.
"No way I spent all this Reputation just to keep them around for one elite boss."
He turned to them. "Alright, you three—go hunt nearby Hyenamen. Level 7–8 only. One at a time."
"Stay close. If anything drops, pick it up."
"Spread the damage around. If your HP drops below 40%, take a break."
"I'll be AFK here. If Daffino spawns, come let me know. Don't fight him on your own."
"Go."
The Red Team turned dumbly and wandered off.
Still a bit skeptical, Isaac quietly followed.
Soon, the trio picked out a Level 7 Hyenaman. They jumped in and beat it down with a flurry of clubs.
Moments later, Isaac got a system message.
[Hyenaman (Lv. 7) defeated. Gained 65 XP Orbs, 1 Tier 0 Talent Shard, 1 Star 0 Quality Evolution Point.]
"Well damn, I get the XP and loot directly?"
The Red Team moved on to an 8-star Sturdy Hyenaman and took it down with the same efficiency. This time Red Two stepped in as the tank, keeping aggro tight while the others dished out damage.
[Sturdy Hyenaman (Lv. 8) defeated. Gained 80 XP Orbs, 1 Tier 1 Talent Shard, 1 Star 1 Quality Evolution Point.]
[Hyenaman (Lv. 7) defeated. Gained 65 XP Orbs, 1 Tier 0 Talent Shard, 1 Star 0 Quality Evolution Point.]
[Special Sturdy Hyenaman (Lv. 8) defeated. Gained 90 XP Orbs, 1 Tier 2 Talent Shard, 1 Star 2 Quality Evolution Point.]
After a few kills, their HP had dropped to around 40%, so the trio stopped attacking and began regenerating.
"Not bad for a bunch of meatheads. They actually followed all my orders."
Isaac finally relaxed and let them handle grinding on their own.
"Honestly, they're more efficient than I am. Man, AFK leveling is living the dream!"
He leaned back against a stump and opened the game's official website.
AishaDoll was still streaming. Over 13 hours logged today, grinding all day like a champ.
She and her team were farming Level 5 Hyenamen. Isaac glanced at their levels—four were Level 4, and one had hit Level 5.
"Wait, they only gained one level in a full day?"
They took down a Level 5 Hyenaman together and earned 75 XP Orbs—15 XP each.
Isaac did the math.
A normal Level 5 Hyenaman gave 50 XP Orbs. With a five-player party, that jumped to 75, which meant each person only got 15.
To go from Level 4 to 5, you needed 3,000 XP Orbs. That's 200 kills per person.
"Holy crap, that's insane… Solo grinding really is the way to go."
Then again… he realized just how naive that sounded.
Most Level 4 players couldn't even handle Level 5 Hyenamen solo—and even if they could, good luck beating the crowd.
One person against a dozen others? No contest.
"Yes! We got another one!" AishaDoll cheered. "Ugh, I was so pissed earlier. Another party stole two kills from us!"
"Seven more to go and I'll finally hit Level 5! I'm getting there today!"
Despite the fatigue, she kept up her energy—textbook pro streamer behavior.
"Alright everyone, pay attention to how we landed that kill. It's all about timing the HP bar, waiting for my signal, and striking all at once. Everyone else is doing the same, so it's still luck-based, but you can't just mash buttons and hope for the best."
"Trying to solo when there are a dozen players fighting over a single mob? Forget it. Unless you've got a god-tier setup, it's hopeless. Best thing you can do is party up—if not with friends, then find a static team."
"We've been grouped since Level 1. We're super coordinated by now."
"We also agreed—when we hit Level 10, we'll all pick different classes. That way, our viewers get to see more options."
"Me? Ugh, it's so hard to choose. I wanna try all nine classes!"
"You've got the Apothecary, who can branch into Poisoner; the Spirit Tamer, who can summon beasts and ghosts—both! Then there's the Martial Artist, who splits into brawler or ranged striker; the Monk; the Rune Forger; the Sword Soul Adept; the Seer; the Puppet Master; and the Demolitionist!"
"Each of the nine classes has branching paths—and nobody knows which one's gonna be strongest yet!"
"Aegis, why can't we have multiple characters? Why can't I try them all? And since the headset's bound to a single user, I can't even let someone else play my alt!"
In front of the screen, Isaac slumped.
Nine classes…
That meant if he was going to farm players for Reputation later on, he'd be up against all kinds of builds.
A lot of builds.