Returning to his apartment, Shesmu had a smile on his face all the way back. In the last years of his past life, Shesmu didn’t have the time to take things slowly and connect with people. He barely talked with any of his friends and his girlfriend broke up with him when he was still an upcoming star in the pro scene. It was a lonely life, to say the least, and he didn’t wish that to repeat. He didn’t contact Alan for the past 3 months because he was very busy with the beta, and he didn’t feel like talking to someone due to the memory problems caused by his jump back to the past.

Alan’s in-game name was Seth, he chose it 1 year before Shesmu started his gaming career. Due to the close distance between their houses when they were kids, Mark and Alan started playing together at a young age. In fact, it was Alan who pushed Mark towards gaming. They spent countless hours playing together, from guild to guild, from game to game. They played MMOs, shooters, 3-D platformers, and civilization based strategy games. This time period was one of the most fun and joyful ones for Mark and he deeply cherished them.

Entering his bedroom, Shesmu opened the VR capsule before shutting off the light and logging in. Since Alan spawned in the same town as he did, Shesmu had no reason not to party up with him. Shesmu was looking forward to his in-game meeting with Alan--no, Seth. The expression he will make after looking at Shesmu’s level would be snapshot-worthy.

Logging in, Shes found himself next to the military grounds where he left his avatar before logging out. He then immediately headed to the meeting place he and Seth chose, the Mage Academy.

Due to the damaging spells and loud magic, the academy was built on the outskirt of town so as to not disturb normal citizen’s life. One could see from far away the majestic entry to a paradize-like world. The green park filled with trees and shrubs, the singing birds and the running magical creatures all combined with the serious but nonetheless happy and prideful expressions of the apprentice to paint an image straight from a fantasy story. All around the park, you could see teenagers playing with their familiars or training their magical spells on the training ground. However, what stood out the most was the main building. A lofty one with multiple cone-shaped roofs and decorated using very intricate carving. The building was grey and imposing, composed of different dorms. One for apprentices rooms, another for the classes and a last for the library.

Shesmu waited by the entrance for around 5 minutes before a figure approached him. A tall male with a head full of black hair coupled with white strands and purple eyes. A tall and lean frame covered by a black and brown mage robe, complemented by the staff in his grip. Shesmu used identify on the mysterious figure only to find that it’s his friend Seth.

After using identify on his friend, Shesmu came closer and said.

“Hey, Seth. It’s me, Shesmu.”

Hearing his friend introducing himself, Seth went in for a hug before saying.

“Dude, your aesthetics are on point. Did you choose the swordsman class? But hot damn your items look cool.”

Seth knew that items with such an effect couldn’t be gray trash items. Ashes of Gods didn’t have any cash shop system implemented where you could just buy top tier items for real money, if you wanted good items, you needed to work for it. It’s this knowledge that made Seth even more surprised, as he knew that for Shesmu to be equipped with full bronze to silver items, he had to have fought and won against multiple bosses as no one would want to sell this type of item this early in the game.

Trying to confirm his suspicions, Seth used the identify skill on Shesmu. The panel that appeared in front of him shocked him senseless.

Name Shesmu Race Human Base class Swordsman Level 13

For a moment, Seth thought that the game bugged. He closed the panel and used the identify skill again only to find the same result. He kept repeating the process multiple time before saying.

“Shesmu, this. It says-” But before he could finish, Shesmu interrupted him.

“It is what it says it is. There is no bug.” Affirmed Shesmu while slightly smiling.

“But-” Shesmu cut him off once again with a sign of his hand before saying.

“Come with me to the cemetery, you’re still at level 5 so it’s not too bad of a grinding area. I’ll show you a thing or two.”

The duo went out of town in silence. Seth didn’t know what to do or say. He knew that being level 13 this early in the game meant that Shesmu either hacked the system or found an exploit, in either case, he will be banned. He was level 5 and pretty proud about that feat. For the entirety of the day, he has been playing solo, but he was still able to reach the same level as the guild leaders of those super guilds with their parties full of expert players.

At this point in the game, everyone was still hovering at around level 3 to level 4 while the top tier players were at level 5. The monsters were hard to solo and party exp was abysmally low, so it was normal for players to have a level speed akin to that of a turtle. However, even if you forgot about that, the required exp going from one level to the next grows exponentially. Seth made some quick calculations as he was grinding to know when he was going to reach level 10 and the answer was a whopping 2 natural days at best or around 5 in-game days. Thus, no matter how Seth thought about it, he couldn’t think of any legal way for Shesmu to reach the level he was at now.

“Okay, we’re at the cemetery now.”

Hearing Shesmu’s announcement, Seth woke from his reverie. It wasn’t the first time he visited the cemetery after the game went live, however, due to the high level of the monsters in the inner circle, Seth was only able to farm on the outskirt of the zone.

“So, here is the plan. You’ll enter the cemetery, spam your abilities against anything that you see while focusing only on DPS. Don’t worry about positioning, if you’re in danger, I’m going to help.”

Hearing his friend’s plan, Seth didn’t dally. Even though the strategy might sound stupid, but it was fairly common one for people with high level who want to power level weaker players. They just choose a location where the monsters do minimal damage to the stronger player and have the weaker one do the most damage. Since the exp sharing system worked based on contribution, the weaker player should do most of the damage while the stronger one just blocks the mobs from reaching him.

Seth marched forward stopping only when found a place with the high amount of skeleton warriors in it. Shesmu stayed in his vicinity as Seth channeled his fireball spell. The spell took 0.5 seconds to cast and dealt 200 damage, taking off half a warrior’s hp. Hearing the explosion, all the in a 20 meters’ radius ran towards Seth giving him a big fright. However, he immediately cast thunderbolt against the same warrior that got hit by the fireball, killing him instantly. Looking at Seth’s slow chain of skill cast, Shesmu took a note of it before coming in closer to block the mobs. Due to his high level, the skeletons took notice and agrooed towards him rather than Seth. Shesmu then just kept dodging their slashes and thrusts while Seth kept rotating between fireball, thunderbolt and arcane beam. After 5 minutes and 2 mana potions, Seth was finally able to kill all the skeleton warriors. Since they were level 6 monsters, they gave plenty of exp, and since Shesmu didn’t use any skill to aggro the mob, nor did he hit them, Seth received all of the exp. Seth killed 75 skeleton warriors, an amount he never imagined being able to slay even after a day of grinding. However, here it is, he killed them all and was able to reach level 7 in a blink of an eye.

Seth couldn’t help but have a complicated look towards Shesmu. He no longer doubted that he cheated or used any exploit, in fact, he firmly believed that he reached level 13 through hard work and immense talent. The reason for this shift is not only because he saw how it’s possible to skip through levels in a short period of time, but also because of the skill Shesmu has shown while dealing with the skeleton. For the entirety of the 5 minutes, Shesmu wasn’t hit a single time, he either dodged or blocked the attacks of the monsters surrounding him with the brunt of his sword. This feat was unimaginable for Seth as he knew that even the cream of the cream of warriors wouldn’t be able to achieve it. In every game Seth played in, even if he wasn’t a contender to the top spot, he was just one step below it. His fame throughout the gaming community was far-reaching and he had contact with many talented top players throughout multiple games. Thus, when Seth says that he never saw someone as skilled as Shesmu, his opinion shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“I guess that’s good enough as an explanation on how I reached the level I am at now. Anyway, there was something I wanted to say as you killed ‘em mobs. You are too slow.”

Hearing his friend’s critique, Seth was surprised. He was pretty sure that his skill rotation was good, even if it wasn’t perfect. The time between the end of a skill’s animation and the casting of the next was reduced by him to less than 0.1 seconds, which was pretty fast by his standards.

“When you cast fireball, the mana is already conjured and directed in the first 0.3 seconds. Why in the hell do you wait for the additional 0.2 second casting time to finish, then another 0.3 seconds for the particle effect to fade, then a 0.1 seconds because of your trash reaction time. Why not just start another skill after the initial 0.3 seconds so that you save yourself a 0.6-second delay and kick to the ball by any half decent assassin.”

Seth was overwhelmed by the barrage of information. The game was still new and no one knew about all the hidden mechanics Shesmu just talked about, so these few words were like a light at the end of the tunnel for Seth, showing him a new more colorful world.

Seeing that his teachings aren’t going to waste, Shesmu nodded before saying.

“How many mana potions you have left? You’re going to train these basics first before even attempting to fight a monster. You’re not allowed to fight a single trashy skeleton until you lower the time it takes you to use the skills to 0.5 seconds. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Seth was dazed for a second before saying “I have a dozen left, and yes I understand.”

“Good, keep practicing, I’ll come back in an hour and I want to see some improvement.” Finishing what he had to say, Shesmu left Seth on his own and headed back to the military camp. He didn’t talk about how to stop the casting and cancel the particle effect animation, but he knew that Seth could figure that out on his own. Seth was a top player that held great fame and position in the gaming community for a long time, he was also a very talented mage, Shesmu was sure that this kind of hurdle wouldn’t be hard for him to pass.

Entering the camp, Shesmu looked for the same captain that gave him his last reputation quest and asked for another one.

Hunt the Goblins II Description Kill 20 Hobgoblins and 200 goblins Rewards +3000 reputation with Pliyx Stal Capital City’s army.

+30 silver

+5000 Exp

It was the sequel for the Hunt the Goblin I quest with much more generous rewards. Shesmu was happy that he could gain such a high amount of reputation from a single quest. The last reputation quest already gave him enough to reach level 1 reputation with the army, this one would barely let him reach level 2 which was the level needed for him to talk with the Commander in Chief. Shesmu was excited as his goal was finally above the horizon.