Level Is Everything

Amazing level

In the morning, Ryou started his run training and ended with a breakfast. He played the game until the late afternoon before taking a snack and practice archery. After the practice, he ate dinner and logged back into the game. It can be said that now almost two third of his day are spent playing the game.

It also resulted in his increased familiarity with the game and his playing style that is more proficient. There's still one thing odd about him though, it was at how he put all of his status point into STR.  As he was still low levelled, the misplaced status point hasn't shown its real disadvantage at his progress in hunting monster since it was backed with his accurate archery.

When Ryou reached level 5, his style of only relying on archery skill and hunting alone finally hit the wall. It is getting harder for him to hunt monster because the monster is getting stronger whether it is their stats, skills, or AI capabilities. He also need more experience to level up and it takes longer time for him to kill a monster.

「Maybe I should start hunting monster inside the dungeon? 」

There are some differences between hunting monster inside the dungeon and on the fields. The monster on the fields are roaming freely and sometimes moved in a pack so you won't know if you suddenly have to face 5-10 monsters when you attacked one of them. Inside the dungeon, the number of monster spawned is limited so if you can lure them one by one, it was possible for you to clear the dungeon but the space is limited inside the dungeon and the time taken to lure them one by one will be longer than hunting normally.

There is also another problem for Ryou. Hunting in a dungeon have a requirement of having at least 2 members in the party.

「Should I start looking for party member? However, I am not really comfortable to be around others even though it was only a game. If I am looking for a party, most of them also won't go inside the dungeon with only the two of us. Most of them are probably only going to go inside the dungeon with a full 5-man party. *sigh*. Let's try to walk towards the dungeon first. 」

Ryou head towards the entrance of the dungeon and it was really crowded. There are players outside the entrance shouting aloud trying to find party members. It was one of the places that Ryou hated to visit, crowded place. Being in the middle of the crowd, Ryou is being reminded of how alone his current life. Because of that, he especially hated being there. It was making him feeling lonely even though he is surrounded by a lot of people.

Ryou was standing still there and soon enough people are starting to move around him and treating him as if he didn't exist. His loneliness really making him 'out of the place' and people start to forget and treat him as air. Only after some time did Ryou wakes up from his melancholy and examined the surroundings.

The activity of players is centered around the dungeon entrance. Many party entered the dungeon and some exited the dungeon. The condition of a party to exit the dungeon is when they are able to clear the dungeon or they are giving up on the dungeon. If the party is wiped out, they will be respawned at the safe point.

There's something interesting going on at the entrance of the dungeon. It can be said that in front of the dungeon entrance there are two camps. The difference between them can be seen by the naked eye easily.

On one side, there's a camp that is full of players with fully equipped armor and gears. On the other camp, the players are mostly using cotton shirt or some normal armor. While the veteran looking camp are preparing their weapons and gear, the other camp player is busy trying to make potion, repairing weapon using hammer and anvil, and even carrying livestock with them.

It was clear that one camp belongs to the battle oriented class and the other camp belongs to lifestyle oriented class. Although Schneider planned to make no distinct differences between them, at this low level, the stats isn't the problem. It was the skill that is taken by their respective class which becomes a problem.

For a battle oriented class, they will mostly take battle skill that will enhance their attack or increasing damage output. For lifestyle class, almost all of them are taking production skill such as "blacksmithing" or "potion concoction" and that makes their usefulness inside the dungeon reduced by a lot. Which is why it resulted in the split of the camp into two. The battle oriented class think that making a party with another battle oriented class is more advantageous and bringing a lifestyle player is just like carrying an 'extra luggage'.

When the camp is split into two, it is also making it easier for the lifestyle oriented class to make a party by themselves. If the battle oriented class won't take them, they can make another party which is full of lifestyle oriented class. Although their battle capabilities seemed to be lower than the battle oriented class party, they are still able to clear the dungeon although it will take longer time.

The gap may appear for now but Schneider believe that it will be gone eventually because it was also one of his purpose when making the game in the beginning. Only one thing will be remembered; level is everything.

Ryou is still standing there. He was in a daze, where should he find his party? Will it be on the battle oriented class side or will it be on the lifestyle oriented class side? There's also one thing that he is worried about and that is his status point distribution.

Through the forum, he learned that some prominent figure for each class started to appear which shows extraordinary skills that exceed the other player and also their status distribution ratio that is being discussed by other player of the same class.

For archer, some expert players are known for distributing their stats on DEX and AGI. There is also some video where they are able to dish out a lot of damage in a quick succession. Ryou felt that their action was exceptional but their archery skill on the other hand was on the weak side. If was due to the system assistance and the game mechanics based on the status distribution that they are able to inflict such damage. As he was an archer that is focusing his status point build on STR, he is wondering if someone is willing to get into a party with him.

While he is thinking, suddenly a melodious voice can be heard along with a tap on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, you looked to be a little lost. Do you need some help?"

Ryou turned his head to see the source of the voice. He saw a player standing beside him but he wasn't sure whether this player is a battle oriented class or lifestyle oriented class. It was because the equipment that this player is wearing is a little bit odd. It seemed like an armor but the 'metallic' part about it is only on the chest plate while the rest are leather. The color of the armor itself is quite rare, purple.

Ryou looked at the player face and turned out to be even more strange. It was a face covered in white make up, black tear drops looking eye shadow and crimson red colored lips. It can be called androgynous but there's no such gender on Aaru. Judging from the voice earlier, it must be a girl; but a girl that dressed like a clown? This must be 'one in a million' player with unique personalities.

The 'joker hat' on top of her head hides her hair, Ryou couldn't tell if it was a long hair or short ones. Pointy purple leather shoes and black stocking, she totally looked eccentric. While the game is designed mainly on medieval looks, her character can describe a class perfectly from the medieval times; a jester.

"Hey, are you listening? I said, do you need some help?"

The girl asked once again in a melodious voice as Ryou gives her no reply.

"Ah, sorry. I was thinking about something. I am actually looking for a party member to go to the dungeon."

"Is that so? Is this your first time entering the dungeon?"

"Yes."

"Then how about entering the dungeon with me?"

"Ah, alright."

Ryou was answering that without thinking as if it was an automated response. By the time he wants to take back his words, there is already a notification ringing on his system.

「You have a party invitation from 'Luna'. Do you wish to accept? 」

Since the invite are already sent, it wasn't polite for him to take it back. That is why he have no choice but to accept.

「Accept. 」

The girl is giving Ryou a weird 'vibe'. He prefers to do everything alone and whenever he is required to come into contact with others, he always put a 'wall' around him. However, in front of this girl; Ryou felt that he won't be able to refuse her and 'various defense' that he put up will be easily breached through. It was also why he accept her party invitation. He didn't feel 'repulsed' form her just like how he feels repulsed from Sakura.

As soon as he accepted the party invitation, he immediately brought to the party menu. He can see his party member location on map which is convenient. On top of Luna's head, there is also a green HP bar and a blue MP bar below it appear. There is also an option to speak only with 'party member only' which makes the people around the party unable to hear their discussion.

After he finished exploring the [party] option and what it offered, Ryou looked at his party member details. Her name is Luna; her class is [jester] which makes Ryou believe that it was a unique class but what shocked Ryou is her level. It was an amazing level 1.