Welcome to the Beginner Town of Hawthorne, Ethereal. All of humanity has been brought to it’s knees by an evil dragon by the name of -Lar’Thux Humanity's Despair- and his army. Your task is to provide aid however you can to push humanity forward from the pits of despair. Many great sages have sacrificed their lives so that you may breathe again even after death, but be cautious as each time you die your essence must find it’s way back to a statue of -Helara, Goddess of Life- before you may breathe once more. Be brave great adventurer, the future lies within you.

Sora has the whole introduction memorized already and skipped the cutscene, the basics of the story was that a lot of sages infused their essence into statues that have the effect of gathering the essence of fallen players. The essence takes 24 hours to converge on the statue and then you can revive. Other than that it’s just a lot of flashy scenes of high level demons fighting against humans in a huge battlefield, the basic MMORPG introduction.

After a short introduction into the game Sora appeared in a flash of light within a bustling town surrounded by other players.

“Out of the way! I have EXP to get!”

“Hey where do you think you're touching!”

“Excuse me… pardon-”

“Ahhhhhhhh just move already you bunch of noobs!”

Sora was lucky to spawn near the edge of the town and quickly escaped the mob of yelling players. It was a nostalgic feeling that brought back some good memories but he had a lot of work to do. Once he was separated from the pack of EXP hungry players he casually walked down a dirt path that diverged from the town. No other players could be seen coming this way, most of them are surrounding various NPCs or rushing to a field full of level 1 rabbits. He continued down this path for a long time until he came across a small creek that could barely be called a river, after following the river East for quite some time the river had widened up and deepened considerably.

“This should just about do it.”

Sora pulled out a shovel from his inventory and began digging.

[Digging Skill Obtained]

-Used to dig up Bait and Items, quality of Bait and Items are determined by digging area and digging skill.

Eventually a small notification popped up saying “x1 Pebble obtained”. He continued digging and multiple pebbles were obtained, it wasn’t until the 7th pebble that another notification appeared. “X1 Beginner Bait obtained”. He kept digging for close to an hour and finally managed to secure 478 Pebbles and 100 Beginner Bait. Sora hooked the Beginner Bait onto his Basic Fishing Pole and flung his line into the water.

[Fishing Skill Obtained]

-Used to catch various types of fish and items depending on location of fishing and level of fishing.

Sora began slowly reeling in his line, waiting patiently for the right moment to strike. It was a very tedious task but he knew that it would be worth it in the end. Most people would go and fight monsters to get ahead of everyone in levels, in fact the first time Sora played he also ran around like a fool trying his best to hit a level 1 rabbit before they were bombarded by other players. Not much is known about “The Divine Path” so everyone is treating it like a regular MMORPG, which is a huge mistake. “The Divine Path” has boasted to an experience not like any other MMORPG, therefore it should be treated as such. Things like monster hunting will indeed get you a large amount of EXP, but there a lot more factors that should be taken into consideration such as how many players will have to share those monsters, what to do about food, how to get new equipment, ect.

[Fishing Skill has failed]

Sora drug his line in and saw the pitiful sight of an empty hook, no fish, no item, not even bait. He quickly pulled up his job menu and invested all 8 points into his fishing skill, afterwards he put on another Beginner Bait and threw his line out once again. He stared intently at his line while slowly reeling, until finally the fishing line became taut and Sora quickly but gently pulled on his fishing pole.

[Fishing Skill has Hooked a Fish]

Sora carefully reeled the line in, when the fish started to struggle he would expertly maneuver his pole so as to wear the fish down before continuing to reel until the fish came to shore. On the end of his line was a very small fish, about the length of his hand, which he unhooked.

[Fishing Skill has succeeded]

[X1 Flat River Fish obtained]

Sora stored the fish and checked his EXP gauge which had a fairly large chunk highlighted in green. Catching that one fish had given him 10% of the EXP needed to reach level 2 along with 2% added to his fishing skill. This was what made “The Divine Path” different from other MMORPGs, with just 10 minutes of fishing he already has this much EXP, the people who were fighting over rabbits in the beginner town have an average of 20% EXP after hunting for around a hour and 15 minutes. It may seem a bit like a cheat but it’s only this efficient right now because Sora sacrificed 40 equipment points for the 8 JP he pumped into the fishing skill. If he were to start from the lowest level fishing his success rate would be so low that it really would be a waste of time if he wanted to level as quickly as possible.

Sora continued to fish in the same manner for 2 hours, using up almost all of his bait. In the process he had acquired 67 Flat River Fish and is at level 5 with about 40% EXP remaining to level 6 and received enough efficiency in his Fishing Skill to level it up. As Sora used up his last few pieces of bait, something different happened.

[Fishing Skill has Hooked an item]

Sora instantly focused more than usual as he kept his eye on the fishing line and tried to feel the slightest amount of movement from the fishing pole. Within a split second the fishing reel started to spin rapidly as the line was drug throughout the water relentlessly. Sora continued to battle the fishing pole very carefully for 20 minutes before he was finally able to reel it to the shore. There on the end of the line was a small fish that looked to be made out of wood, as it was brought to shore it instantly started to transform from a fish to a small wooden box.

[Fishing Skill has succeeded]

[X1 Uncommon Chest Lvl 5 obtained]

Sora couldn’t help but let a small smile appear on his face as he approached the shabby looking box. He slowly opened it to reveal a pair of gloves that looked to be made of a bronze colored fish scale.

[X1 Scaled Gloves of Vice obtained]

Rarity - Uncommon

Durability - 50/50

Defense - 5

Requires - Level 5 - Fishing Skill of 5

“Gloves that have been made from the scales of a Bronze Snub Fish, useful for when you need to get a grip!”

+5 Str

+10% chance for Fishing Skill to succeed

Sora swiftly put the gloves on and checked his stats.

Ethereal

Level - 5

Damage - 20-20

Defense - 5

Mana - 100/100

HP - 100/100

Strength - 35(+5)

Agility - 10

Constitution - 10

Dexterity - 10

Endurance - 10

Intelligence - 10

Wisdom - 10

Spirit - 10

Luck - 0

Fame - 0

Faith - 0

With every level up you get 5 AP which can then be distributed to any of the attribute stats, except for luck, fame, faith, or any other stat that starts at 0. Sora has been putting all his AP into Strength for the time being and went back to digging for another hour.

After finishing his digging spree Sora ended up leveling his Digging Skill to 2 and obtaining 144 Beginner Bait and 422 Pebbles. He once again sat down next to the river and continued fishing.

…..

“Hmmmmm.”

“What do you think he’s doing?”

“Fishing?”

“Obviously! But why? Shouldn’t he be out trying to raise his level? Did he pay 50,000 dollars just to fish?!”

“I’m not sure… Why don’t you go ask him?”

“Eh… well…”

“Well? Well what?”

“You're much better at talking to people than I am Blossom, you should go.”

Along the path of the river was two girls dressed in beginner clothing walking towards a strange man who was focused intently on his fishing line. One had red hair and carried a large sword on her back, the other had a dagger in each hand and seemed to be hiding behind the girl with red hair. The dual wielder seemed timid and her black hair covered most of her face while the girl with red hair seemed feisty and proud as she walked forward with her head held high. They walked up to the fisherman and stopped a few meters away from him.

“Hey, mister fisherman. What are you doing?”

Silence… it’s like he doesn’t even acknowledge their existence.

“Mister fisherman? Hello? Hello hello?”

She started to wave her hands as if the man was very far away, drawing attention to herself.

The timid girl peeked out from behind the girl in red and looked towards the fisherman, his face radiated a oppressive aura as he sat silently staring at the fishing line as it swayed in the breeze. The timid girl quickly hid back behind her friend but would occasionally peek at the fisherman.

“Ah, can you believe this guy LeeLee? He has two beautiful girls trying to talk to him and he’s just sitting there like a lump on a log. Hey you know it’s rude to ignore people right? Maybe you're an NPC? No, even an NPC would do someth-”

Sora suddenly jerked the fishing pole back and scared the two girls as he continued to fight with the fish. The two girls stared at Sora in shock as he looked like he was having a great battle with a legendary boss monster. His movements were sharp and fluid, like the water he was fishing from. Then as the battle came to an end, a large fish was seen dangling from his line.

[Fishing Skill has succeeded]

[X1 Feline Fish Snapper]

Sora silently stored the fish in his inventory then turned towards the two girls.

“I’m fishing, yes I suppose you two are quite decent to look at, I was trying to concentrate so of course I would sit there like a ‘lump on a log’, it’s also rude to interrupt someone while they are trying to concentrate, and no I’m not an NPC.”

Silence once again.

The girl with the red hair finally snapped out of her shock and started to contemplate everything he said. She straightened her posture to try and look as dignified as possible, brushed herself off, and cleared her throat.

“Hehehe so you are a person after all, and you're also quite sharp aren’t you?”

“Let’s drop the pleasantries and just tell me what you need to know.”

“Boooring~. Fine, I suppose you want to be left alone so I won’t take up much time. My name is Sister Blossom and this is my friend LeeLee, it’s nice to meet you mister fisherman.”

“My name is Ethereal, but mister fisherman will work if it suits your taste… or maybe lump on a log would better suit you?

“Ehhhh, can’t we just forget about that? I’m sorry, Ok?”

Sora laughed slightly as he inspected the two girls. Sister Blossom was a level 7 that looked to be a tank, while LeeLee seemed to be the damage dealer with the same level. It was actually quite impressive that they were able to reach that level with how crowded the beginner zone is. Sora himself had just reached level 9 after using up all of his bait. His Fishing Skill was at level 9 with 99.9%, he was just about to leave when these two showed up.

“Alright, alright I’ll forgive you. So, miss Blossom, what can I do for you?”

“Well we wanted to make some wolf furred clothing so we came on a hunt to try to find some. Then we noticed you so we decided to stop and ask if you’ve seen any.”

Sora started to think back to his days when he was still starting the game. It was hard to remember every little detail of where to find specific spawns, luckily there was an area named Silver Wolf Hill just up and on the other side of this river that specifically had a lot of wolf spawns.

“Well if it’s just wolf's you want then follow this river up until it becomes thin enough to cross, cross the river and keep heading North until you come out of the forest and into an open plains area with a large hill. There should be plenty of wolfs there.”

“Hehe you're the best mister fisherman. Well then we will be off, I hope you catch the biggest fish ever!”

“Just remember to stay at the base of the hill, the top has a lot of stronger wolves and there might even be a named monster that’s leading them.”

“Mhm! We will be careful then!”

A named monster was exactly as it sounds, it is a monster that has a name. Any monster that has a name is considered a boss class monster and is a lot more powerful than any of the smaller counterparts. The only thing that can come close to a named monster is an enchanted monster. An enchanted monster is a monster with a subtext, for example -Vicious Black Wolf- would have an increase to attack while -Hardened Black Wolf- would have an increase to defence. There are also a lot of special subtext monsters like vampiric that give it the ability to drain health from the player to heal itself or spectral which gives it a chance for physical attacks to phase through them, but those are more rare.

The two girls slowly left Sora’s sight as he looked back towards the fishing pole in his hand. He stored the pole and did a quick check on everything he had gotten from fishing. Firstly he got to level 9 with an extra 22% filling his EXP bar. Secondly he got his Fishing Skill up to level 9 with 99.9%, he will have to find the Fishing Skill quest to advance it to Novice Fishing Skill. Thirdly he got one more item.

[X1 Scaled Boots of Waterwalking obtained]

Rarity - Uncommon

Durability - 50/50

Defense - 5

Requires - Level 5 - Fishing Skill of 5

“Boots that have been made from the scales of a Bronze Snub Fish. Fins have been added to the sides to help traversing water!“

+5 Agility

+Can take 2 steps on top of water with no penalty