After I got out from the capsule, I went for a hot bath and hit the bed afterwards. Though I was not tired physically, I was severely exhausted mentally. It didn’t take long before I was sound asleep. Plus, the softness of the bed felt way better than the springy sponge inside the capsule.

I woke up, heated up the bento inside the microwave, cleaned the house a little bit and turned on my computer. I lived alone, but sometimes my sisters stopped by to do a check up on me, if they were to see my room in a total mess, they are going to clean my ears from inside out.

Saying things like, “You’re an adult now, even if you can’t act like one at least keep your appearance like an adult.” or, “Is this room or a dump site?” not to mention the award winning phrase, “What am I going to do with you…” I've heard those sentences over and over again, I heard it a lot of times to the point that I can imitate the exact tone and the exact expression that they had when they said those sentences.

After my computer finished loading I opened my all reliable browser Woogle. As expected from Woogle, when I entered the key ‘E’ it gave a lot of recommendation and even sometimes completes my sentences.

I appreciate your efforts Woogle but, please let me finish my own sentences.

I entered the keyword ‘Einstel Online’. There were about one hundred thousand results in 0.32 seconds. I scrolled my way through the results, the result was astounding. There were many threads related to Einstel Online showed up but none of it fits what I was looking for.

I keep scrolling my way down and found one interesting thread. It was called ‘Making Money through online games’. Sure enough it piqued my interest. The thread was a single page guide. It was a wall of text; there were so many words to read. Luckily the all-important things were highlighted and I was able to scam through the content.

I was able to find the short version of the guide which goes like this,

“Hai guys, in this guide I’m going to teach you how to make money in online games. No matter what games you play, as long as it is an MMORPG you can make money through it. But the how-to that I’m going to teach you today is how to make money through Einstel Online.

Well before you can making money in games you need a sufficient level and knowledge about the game so I included the link to my ‘Guide in leveling and in-games hunting spot”

We all know that every player want to be strong, and the fastest way to do this is by getting good equipment. In Einstal Online there are 5 grade of item which is Normal, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary. You can sell this item for real money through bidding in the official Einstal Online which is made by Einstal Game website to the other players.

Now let us begin, these items can be obtained through Forgery, Shop, Monster Drop and quest reward.

Normal grade and Uncommon weapon can be obtained easily from the shop so I won’t say much about it.

Rare item are mostly obtained from dungeons, you have to explore dungeons for rare weapon drop. You can also get it by field monster drop but the drop rate is so low that to the point that only field boss monster drop rare item. So my best advice is to form a party and get into the dungeon and start grinding.

The only known way to obtain an Epic item is through quests and tower. Chain quests always gives out Epic item. Not many people managed to complete Chain quest due to its increasing difficulties as the quest progress further but, never give up. The reward is worth the effort! I just completed a chain quest myself and got myself a good sword.

The next one is Legendary Item, Einstel Games had revealed in their website about the Legendary item. Einstel Games had stated that the only way to gain Legendary Item for now is from tower, though they did hinted about getting the legendary item through another method. Those who leveled 100 and above are urged to try out the tower and get the legendary item.

P.S I tried climbing a tower before but I only managed to get into floor 78. It was damn hard. The mobs evasion are too OP and they got mana drain. Eventhough my race is Elf with high mana point I didn’t even last 5 minutes on floor 78. BTW I’m level 253

P.S.S The Epic item that I got from the quest is now on auction! Please click my profile for more info xD!

P.S.S.S As a professional gamer, Einstel Online is a gold mine!

P.S.S.S .S I'm sorry for my bad english xD

Professional gamer? Oh, and don't worry about your English, mine is worst! Honestly speaking, I don't even know either I should 'color' or 'colour' when I was chatting with my friend who came from overseas.

Now,

So how do I identify my item grade? There is no description that revealed its grade. Or is it a grade that is determined by the weapon color or aura… The online game that I played before uses aura to determine the grade. Uncommon was green, blue was rare, violet was epic and gold was legendary, while the normal item have no aura at all.

If I were to follow that standard, does it mean that my dagger is just a normal item? Or that might not be the case at all. This is Einstel Online that we’re talking about; it’s a Virtual Reality game that boasted its realism. There must be some kind of method to determine an item grade.

Dammit, dude if you’re going to make a damn guide please make it properly… You left me hanging on a thin rope here!

I’ll check the Introduction Book to Einstel Online instead. Oh wait, I can just ask my all-knowing-browser Woogle!

Once again my fingers danced on the small button of my keyboard. Much like a pianist that was playing his masterpiece, my finger moved flawlessly on the keyboard without a single typo. I dare to say that I would at least get into the final if I were to join “World faster’s typewriter”. No, I’m not bragging, I was merely stating the truth.

‘How to determine your item grade +Einstel Online’

180 000 result in 0.52 second.

This time search result showed a lot of player asking questions in Einstel Game forum… Looks like there are a lot of beginners in Einstel Online, just like me. For some reason I’m happy, and I don’t even know why.

Reflected before my eyes was nothing other than another wall of texts. I wonder if it is really necessary to make a long post that could be made into 1 volume of light novel just to guide players on how to determine your item grade. Seriously people! I’m not here to read your story of having a hard time grading your item because you have so many items in your storage. I came here to read on how to grade my weapon!

To make it short, to grade my dagger I need to see an Appraiser. The Appraiser will identify my item grade using their skills or something. I can also buy an Identifying scroll. The only item that needed to be appraised is monsters drops and item that is won from lottery. The item that you got from Quests and Towers are automatically Identified or appraised by the system.

An item that has yet to undergo appraisal will have a ‘basic stat buffed’ on it. Once it has undergone appraisal it will retain its original ability. A normal grade weapon sometimes has a lower stat than the ‘basic buffed stat’. For example, my current dagger is buffed with basic stat. Once it has been appraised and graded as normal, there is 60% probability that the current stat it had will be halved or worse, it have no additional stats at all.

But if my dagger is graded as uncommon or rare, there will be additional stat point added or maybe even a weapon skill unlocked exclusively for my dagger.

So, it’s a gamble.

I’m good at gambling, I bet all my additional stats for luck for this!

Now it’s time for me to find….

Oh dammit! What was it again? What is the thing that I was searching for in the first place again? Gosh how I hate it when this happen! I still remembered it when I in game. Now that I’m in front of the computer, I forgot all the things that I was looking for.

Oh well, it can’t be helped. I remember about it sooner or later when I get in game.

But now I know something good. A professional gamer! Player than sell item in-game for real life money! Maybe I don’t have to sell this monolith capsule after all? I can just sell items for real life and earn real money! That’s it!

But before that I had to make sure that I won’t die because of this game. The pain is real!

§§§

“Lad, good thing that you woke up…”

No Hair greeted me as soon as I logged in.

Apparently when you logged out from the game the NPC will take it as sleeping. And if I’m not mistaken, 1 hour in real life is 3 hours in Einstel. So rhetorically speaking, if I was logged out from the game for 8 hours, would it not become 24 hours? That is like, sleeping for a whole day! What happened to the quests, does it get postponed or something. If the quest was a quest with time limit will I fail the quest?

That sucks.

“I've sent my backup scouts to work. From their report, the Mermen are readying itself for another attack. The Mermen are still in post-war phase so I think this is a good chance for us to sneak in and land a hard blow on them while they are preoccupied doing their works. What do you say?” No Hair suggested.

In all honesty I wanted to refuse, and cancel the quest. But I was not in the position to do so.

I took deep breath, deeper than the one who was rolling in the deep. Let out a relaxed exhale. Slapped my cheek thrice and agreed to No Hair suggestion, it’s not like I can refuse it anyway. I did accept the quest to weaken the Mermen force. My quest from sending supplies and protect the village has been updated to weaken the Mermen forces.

Once again I step afoot in the dark and gloomy forest. According to No Hair this forest was actually a swamp. A big swamp!

No wonder I got the feeling as if something might just jump in front of me out of nowhere. This place resembled a certain horror movie that was based on swamp.

We have yet to stumble upon the Mangdora Creep that I killed. I don’t think that I took more than 8 hours for my sleep. It was pretty close to 4 hours of sleep and 15 minutes of surfing the internet. Which means it has only been 12 hours and 30 minutes?

Great! I would be seriously doomed if the Mangdora Creep come attacking out of nowhere. I’ll be dead even before we reach the Mermen base.

We walked in a group of three. No Hair acted like a vanguard, while I guard the rear and Eden was the one in front. We walked stealthily but speedy through the bushes and the rain of roots from above.

Damn roots, I wonder if it was me being nervous or I just watched too many Henta… I mean, Anime that somehow this roots looks like tentacles or some sort. I think I just had a gross imagination where these roots… Wait never mind, it is better for me to not to say it.

There were a few mobs that came on our way. I did nothing but stand firm while Eden and No Hair pulverize the mobs easily without mercy. It was snakes and bats. I wanted to take my sweet time skinning those mobs but considering that we have a very limited time.

At least, I think that we had a very limited time. Skinning those mobs will probably take time. Even though I am no longer bothered by the blood or the sight of pink muscle when the mobs was skinned, gore things is gore! Trying to look away while skinning the mobs might even take more time than weakening the Mermen forces.

It was about halfway through the forest that No Hair suddenly stopped. Putting his index finger on his lips he told us to duck down and hide our presence.

So how do I hide my presence again? Put leafs all over my body or paint my entire body with mud?

While I was frantically covering my body with leafs and what not. Eden looked at me with one of his eye brow raised with a weird complexion painted on his looks. Well, what can I do? My class is not thief, or assassin or any ranger or rogue related profession.

I am your humble gambler that you can found right about anywhere.

Apparently to hide my presence I simply need to slow down my breathing, do not make any sudden move and make sure not to let out a voice.

I calmed down myself, slowed down my breathing and closed my mouth with my right palm on my lips. After I stayed in that condition for 5 seconds, suddenly a notification popped out in front of me.

+New Ability Learned

+Invisibility

The action of slowing down your breathing and being in a relaxed condition had caused your presence to diminish. The effective range is equal to your [dexterity stat]. Ability is cancelled when a player starts attacking, or attacked or disturbed while being in a state of invisibility.

Phase 1 |Stealth Normal ( 1%)

- Increase your agility and critical strike.

What?

I learned ability; ability that completely had nothing to do with my class or whatsoever. Invisibility that usually can only be learned by hunter class is now learned by a gambler. I guess this game do resemble reality after all. No wonder it’s so popular! You can learn other profession ability as long as you know the process.

While using invisibility, the all of us stay low. Without doing any sort of sudden movement, No Hair moved his hand and pointed out to a mob that was 15 meters away from us. From the look of it, the mob has yet to notice our presence. Looks like this ability is doing its job well done!

I was surprised.

In front of us was not a Mangdora Creep, but tons of Mangdora Creep. It almost cost me my life when I was fighting only 1 Mangdora Creep before. With this amount of Mangdora Creep, forget about dying, I might not even be revived after I died.

There were about 50 or more Mangdora Creep in front of us. It had the same sickening appearance like the one that I defeated before.

No Hair didn’t move a step, surely he didn’t thought about attacking those Mangdora Creep would he?

Luckily I was right; No Hair didn’t attack those Mangdora Creep. We just lay down and walk passed them slowly. I almost got a heart attack when one of the Mangdora Creeps turned their attention to where I was. Only God knows how relieved I was when it was looking at the rabbit that passed through us.

Seriously, aren't there any better detours for this?

If I knew that things would end up like this I would’ve skinned those mobs earlier! After about a few hours or at least that was what I thought. We finally arrived at the destined place. The shore, beach or whatever people may call it. We’re finally there.

The mermen base that we arrived at weren’t exactly as what I have imagined it to be. There were no organized mermen soldiers; there were no mermen that were training by sparring each other. Rather than that, the mermen were roaming around aimlessly. They looked like the mobs in zombie games that goes about anywhere without any definite destination.

But of course, we cannot let our guard down. True enough No Hair told us to continue hiding our presence as he walk slowly through the crowd of mermen. This invisibility ability is truly magnificent; I wonder what the restriction of this skill is. Taking my type of profession into account, as a non ranger, hunter or whatever they might call it. There should be a limit and restriction to this ability.

In the previous game that I played, as a warrior using stealth ability, the ability will not work well against assassin or player with 20 levels higher than me. The reason for this was to let the player use the skill corresponding to their main job or class better than the sub class do. This is all for the sake of balancing the class skill.

Einstel Online is a virtual reality game, following the rules of reality. As long as I work hard in raising the level of this ability I can raised it as much as my own profession skill right? There wouldn’t be like -20% in ability due to profession difference right?

No Hair moved 10 meter from where I was standing at. He raised his palm high as a sign for us to wait for him. After a few minute passed he came back and gives both me and Eden a task.

“I’ve scouted the perimeters of this base; I have good news and a bad news. Which one do you prefer to hear first?”

“Let us hear the bad news first.” Eden said anxiously.

“I second that…” I added.

“Well the bad news is there is less Mermen that what my scout had reported to me.”

What… Bad news? Isn’t that supposed to be good news? What are you talking about old man? Surely you don’t think that having a lot of Mermen would be good you. These Mermen are going to attack your village. What are you even talking about!

“Isn’t that supposed to be good news?” I asked.

“No, surely it is a bad news.” Eden replied.

“The thing is, from the report that I got there are about 500 Mermen waiting in the base. But the Mermen we got here are less than 100.” No Hair explained while scratching his bald head. “Now the question is, where did the other 400 gone off to?”

Now I understand. So what no hair wanted to say is, the other 400 is off at somewhere else. The Mermen might be on their way to the village, or they might even already there. This is bad isn’t?

“Oh well, nothing can be done about that. We will deal with it when the time comes, for now we will just do what we can.”

“I understand.” Both me and Eden replied in unison.

“Here is the good news, now that the Mermen are fewer than what we had thought it going to be. Destroying their base and exterminating them would be easier. I’ve prepared a few dynamites. Each of you takes 2.” No hair split up the dynamites that he had in his possession evenly. “I will create a commotion and start exterminating those Mermen. During that time, Eden…”

“Yes!” Eden replied energetically in low voice.

“I need you set those dynamites at their armory and weapon forgery.”

“I understand!” Eden said firmly.

“You Ichiroku.”

“Yes!”

“I need you to set those dynamites at their lodging and stuff…”

“..Err… Lodging and stuff?” I asked for confirmation.

Honestly speaking, I don’t even understand what does he meant by lodging and stuff. Isn’t Mermen is that thing… amphibians? Don’t they live in the sea? How the hell am I supposed to set up dynamite underwater? Leave blowing up aside, the fuse won’t even light up once it hit the water. Don’t tell me that these dynamites are waterproof or something.

“Ah by the way, the dynamites that I just gave your just then are waterproof. It will blow up even when underwater…”

You’ve gotta be kidding me!

“So am I supposed to get into the sea?” I asked, praying from the bottom of my heart, hoping from the very core of my soul for the answer ‘no’. But my expectation betrayed me, yet again.

“Yeah, or at least I love to say so. But I haven’t got any information about their resting place so I can’t say that for sure.”

You’d love to say so?

It’s still earlier in the morning, the fog is thick and the sea water isn’t so good to be warm up before I dive in. I will definitely going to freeze to death or at least freezing until my satiety dropped to zero.

And you said that you’d love to say that the Mermen lodging area is underwater. What the fuuuuuu!!

“Objection! I think there is an injustice in this task distribution. I am neither navy nor a sailor; I am your mere gambler! I think the task of blowing up the mermen lodging and stuff should be given to Eden instead! He is an experienced and well seasoned marine or navy or whatever you may call it.” That is what I wanted to say but looking at No Hair expression that was brimming with expectation I can’t bring myself saying my objection.

I am too kind hearted.

“I understand!” I replied in obedience.

Eden who knew what his tasks were left without a sound. I didn’t even notice since when did he gone. I was about to switch task with him after No Hair left but it seems that he already knew my intention and went on his way first. That damned chef! I mean that good damn chef who cooks really good food!

***