"Joining a guild... Though it is indeed beneficial for me, it would hinder my freedom. Perhaps there is another way."
Formation masters who were not born with a silver spoon have no way to support themselves other than joining big guilds.
Just the ink alone cost 1 mana core. It trades around 10,000 during it's lows, and who knows if it shoots up to 15,000 the next day.
And Dean obtain it in a practice dungeon.
This was the overwhelming advantage of a Unique class in its field.
Dean set the matter aside. He finished drawing his formations, leaving only a sliver of ink in the bottle.
With fireball formations 4x, he confidently entered the practice dungeon again, squared up against the boss and threw fireball on its face.
He repeated it four times, earning him four mana cores.
He went to the player market to buy another set of materials. The array he would draw this time was different.
He would alter the fireball formation.
Then as he was lost in his thoughts and walking the streets, an idea hit him.
"Right, the game's player market. Why did I not think of it before."
How to get more resources? Selling mana cores might be one way. But selling too much and too often might attract attention and even malice.
However, when players reached level 5, a new function would be made available to them.
The Quest system, the Global chat, and the Player Market.
Not only could he sell Formations and mana cores, he could also buy materials at the comfort of his bed.
He had already envisioned the perfect homebody life that awaited him. But first, he must reach level 5. The practice dungeon does not yield experience.
Level 1 rifts might be manageable for most beginners, but the regular monsters there are only slightly weaker than the practice dungeon's boss. If it were a normal mage, he would be able to solo it with proper spell management.
For Dean, he might be forced to use four fireballs on regular monsters before meeting the boss. At that point, if he did not have ammunition left, death was certain.
Therefore the only choice left were field monsters. Monsters that do not dwell on rifts but roam in reality, each monsters have their own set of territory where they roam around, and if a player kills enough of them, a filed boss would appear.
Although much safer than rifts, the disadvantage was that the drop rates and quality are lower.
There also was the hidden danger of malicious players who could interfere with the hunting and steal loots.
But this was perfect for Dean. Against field monsters, he could advance and retreat at will. If he runs out of ammo, he could go home and restock.
In his room, he opened his laptop and searched for monster territories around his city.
Not long after, he found the perfect spot.
This territory was aptly named, [Slime Forest].
The monsters were level 1 to 5 slimes, the outer edge was perfect for weak players and those with little bravery.
Next, he opened his Formation Design Workshop.
He was already familiar with the nodes of the fireball spell.
He tweaked the rotation of the nodes. Run a simulation, and if the result pleased him, he would save the result. In the future, he could use them as a reference.
By nightime, Dean found a configuration he was satisfied with and pinned it on his vision.
He laid the materials and begun drawing.
This time, he did not use a regular paper but a monster skin. This way it could last until tomorrow and could be used more than once.
[Unfamiliar spell detected. What would you like to name it?]
"Fire bullet"
He made nine diagrams and plopped into bed.
The next day, Dean informed his parents and boarded the bus.
Within an hour, he arrived at his destination, a huge forest. There were more people than expected. He could see tents and even mats laid out with various utensils on top.
It seemed like this place was a popular picnic spot.
Dean, held his steel sword, feeling a bit more safe.
When he stepped inside the territory, the Game informed him. He also understood why this place was so popular.
The air changed he stepped inside. The air felt crisper and cooler, filled with the fresh scent of grass all around.
I this area, a few tents could still be seen, and there were no traces of slimes. Therefore, Dean travelled deeper into the forest.
After a few minutes, spotted a slime. The blob was alone, grazing on the grasses.
This slime was much bigger than the one on the practice dungeon. That one was the size of a head, this one was nearly half a person. It was more aggressive.
Fortunately, Dean was just a little bit further than it's detection range.
Even though the text above it's head was a green "Level 1" , he dared not underestimate it.
During his research last night, he discovered that more than five people have been documented to perish on this place. All of them were players.
Dean turned his head around, and seeing no one in the vicinity, he took out his new "Fire bullet" diagram. His masterpiece last night, powered by his serendipitous activation of [Enlightenment] and with the guidance of the Tutor.
That's right, he could actually ask the Tutor whenever he had questions related to formations.
This made his work faster, almost as if he was cheating.
So using his knowledge, he reduced the size of the fireball, compressing it and increasing it's pressure. This resulted to increased heat and explosion damage. The cost was shorter range, but the trade-off for power was worth it.
He activated the scroll, a fist sized glowing fireball emerged and flew straight to the slime.
The slime saw the fireball coming , but there was not much it could do.
The fireball pierced it's jelly flesh, emitting a sizzling sound. Then exploded.
"Boom!"
Pieces of jelly splattered in all directions, before evaporating in pixels
[You have reached level 2]
In the ground, a piece of mana core lay.
Dean picked it up with a smile and proceeded to look for another slime.
He repeated the process nine times, netting him nine mana cores and finally reaching level 4.
During the process, he met other players who hunted slimes, trying to reach level 5. They greeted and parted ways peacefully.
In beginner areas like this, there usually wouldn't be anyone getting too greedy for a piece of slime parts and rushing in for Pk.
Dean exited the territory and bought monster skins in the market along the way home.
He planned to go there one last time to reach level 5 and start his dream career.
The next day, he went to the Slime Forest and started looking for slimes, however, his caution had somewhat faded and let his guard down.
Two people, one fat and one thin, saw him pick up a mana stone and their eyes lit with greed.
They walked briskly, arriving before his path. Dean sighed, knowing he messed up.
"Hey bro, we saw you pick something shiny. Care to show it us brothers?"
"Exactly, we are just curious about it. If I'm not wrong, you are a warrior right? How about I trade this [Slime Coated Sword] for that thing, then we go our way. No trouble, right?"
His eyes glinted with concealed threat.
The two of them saw Dean holding a sword. Since they have not seen how he slay the slime, they assumed he was a warrior.
Dean looked at the two before him, wearing shabby beginner equipment.
"No, that was a mana stone. Ten times more expensive than that shabby sword. I'm afraid this won't do...", He said.
The thin man grinned. "Such a shame. Well then, we and my brother shall go."
Though he said so, instead of stepping away, they approached him instead, flanking him on both sides.
Dean was slightly nervous, but he still have 5 formations left on him. The source of his confidence.
The two players still thought they were fighting a warrior, misjudging his attack distance.
The moment they stepped into his range, he pulled two arrays from his inventory and aimed one for each, and activated the spell.
Both players looked dumbfounded, never expecting the warrior to pull two expensive formation diagram.
It was too late to dodge, however, the fireball looked tiny anyway, perhaps a newbie formation master had drawn in.
And that was their last thought.
The fireball easily pierced through the flesh and exploded in a magnificent way.
Blood splattered, but they quickly evaporated into blue pixels. Their data stored in the Game World.
They could be resurrected, should someone be willing to pay the price.
That's why Dean did not hesitate to kill them, because in the future when he is powerful enough, he would pay for their resurrection. What he was doing now was temporarily borrowing their life, he would return it later.