The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 20: Progress. (Part 1)

Chapter 20: Progress.

The arrow stuck deep into the mole like monster. It shrieked in reply, surprised by the sudden assault and turned towards its assailant. A few dozen metres down the stretching tunnel it spotted its target and buried itself into the hard ground, treating it like soft dirt as it charged forwards. Halfway however a piercing ache assaulted the moles ears. Blind beneath the earth it rose only to find the barrel of a hand cannon pointed towards it.

"Boom," I pulled the trigger and the mole burst apart into a digital mess. A claw remained on the ground. "There we go, that makes 23 claws."

Vanter approached from his perch further down the tunnel, "I don't get why we only get one. In the real world we'd get at least five usable ones."

"That's just how the game works," I shrugged. "And unlike real life, give it a minute or so and that Devil Mole will reappear."

"Well you get the good and the bad I guess," Vanter also shrugged. "Oh, looks like I also hit level fifty. It's only been a few weeks as well. I feel like that's good progress."

"That's because I've been leading you to the best places. Your progress from here is going to slow real hard," I smiled wryly, there was nothing that could be done.

With the latest update the soft cap was raised to level 50. Levelling to 50 was relatively quick but going anywhere beyond that would be difficult. Before it had been 40. That's how it was in the past as well with every few updates raising the soft cap. It was to prevent players from getting too far ahead, though with how Areithia's system worked, there were plenty of other ways to get stronger aside from level. The top players, majority of who were also game streamers, were nearing level 57. I had caught up somewhat at level 52.

A.Friend: LVL 52.

Str: 25

Dex: 45

Vit: 27 (25+2)

Mag: 35

Spi: 100 (41+49)

I had put in a lot of effort. At this point in the game regular players had their total stat values to be 2-3 times their level. High effort players were about 3-4 times their level. Professionals, those that usually had their lives tied to the game, were at a minimum 4 times their level. Vanter wasn't that far behind, but having played the game less, still had plenty of potential to earn some easy stat ups on his lower stats.

My skills as well had increased quite a bit, with many of their proficiencies above 5. Areithia Online was thriving and players were beginning to specialise even more so than before. The higher the skills proficiency the more effective they were. Some skills were even locked behind proficiency levels as well as stats. I had also finally reached my goal of 100 spirit, a key piece into unlocking one of the personal skills I used after the Fall.

"Hey Vanter, heads up." I threw my dagger towards him, curving it around his head. Vanter who knew I would never hurt him didn't flinch. I activated the skill and appeared behind him, my dagger in hand.

"Oh, you got it," Vanter congratulated me. "I guess studying directly under Rantasi was worth it."

"Yeah, his methods were rather... tortuous but they were fruitful," I smiled. Weapon Blink: Consume mana and Aura to teleport to a marked weapons location. Only one weapon may be marked. At higher proficiencies I could use the skill to travel further using less mana and mark multiple weapons. It was only possible due to Ratansi's Aura and mana control methods. Without them I would need a much higher magic stat.