David awoke the next morning and checked how long he was locked out of the game for. Still another 6 hours.

‘I need to find something to do for the next few hours.’ All of his thoughts were focussed on the game, so how could he think about doing anything else? He checked his bank account and saw how low the funds were, so he decided to just make some food and continue reading about the game. He quickly cooked some cheap noodles and brought them over to his computer to eat while he browsed.

Opening the most popular forum for Chaos Realms at the moment, Dominion, he was surprised at how much had happened while he was asleep. Some truly dedicated players had been playing non-stop since release, and a lot of new information had come out. Firstly, it would seem that players get the first opportunity for a class change at level 10. A list would appear with different classes that were most suited to you, derived mainly from your actions and status. The first class change was generally a common one, like Fighter or Rogue, but there were a few comments of people saying that they had gained the opportunity to acquire a more unique class already.

Reading further, David found that the debate on what class you chose became extremely heated. Different classes would have different ratios and modifiers for different stats, as well as different abilities. The consensus seemed to be that the rarer a class, the better it was for your status. David had no idea what class path he would choose, so he continued exploring the forum. So far, there seemed to be 8 main class archetypes; Bard, Cleric, Druid, Magus, Ranger, Rogue, Warrior and Artisan. All classes so far seemed to fall under one of these categories. David clicked on the next post he saw. It was by one of the few level 20 players, those who had been playing non-stop since release. He stated that upon reaching level 20, he was given a choice. He could evolve his current class, or select a new one. The evolution of his current class would enhance every aspect of his current status, while switching to a new class would lower his level in accordance with the rarity of his class. He claimed he could evaluate the classes by their penalty. The higher a class rarity, the larger the penalty for acquiring it. While the player theorized that acquiring a higher rarity class definitely had more potential, the bonus for evolving the current class was too good to pass up.

David rapped his chin with his finger as he thought.

'What kind of class path should I take? If I'm going to be playing solo, I'll need a class that's good at farming XP. I just don't know if you get more XP from hunting monsters or quests. I guess I can use the guild to try and do both at the same time. Actually… what will happen at the guild? I let Noah die on my first mission, one with an F-class rating. They wouldn't expel me or anything, right?’

David was worried over nothing. While the Adventurer’s Guild did impose a penalty on its members who failed a mission, the penalty was related to rank. For an F-class adventure, there wasn’t a penalty at all. David spent the next few hours browsing the forums and looking at related videos, and time seemed to slowly inch forward. Finally, after what felt like the longest 6 hours of his life, he was able to log back in. He laid down and placed the helmet on his head, making sure it was correctly connected. He closed his eyes.

Beep… Gear operational… Beep… Connecting to server… Beep… Connection Authorized… Initiating connection… Connection stable! Logging in…

When David opened them again, he was Faust once more. He turned his head, surveying his surroundings. It seemed to be some sort of temple, but it was empty. There was nobody here. He took a moment before calling out.

“Status.” A familiar window popped up in his vision.

Name: Faust

Level: 1

XP: 8/20

Realm: Ravendun

HP: 75/75 / Mana: 160/150

Bloodline: Human (100%)

Alignment: True Neutral

Class: Adventurer

Strength: 9 / Agility: 13 / Constitution: 5 / Intelligence: 10 / Faith: 0 / Luck: 0 / Fury: 1

[Unspent status points: 0]

[Skills: Examine (Level 1), Strike (Level 1), Concentrated Hit (Passive, Level 1) ]

‘Fury? That must be the new stat I unlocked. What does it do?’ His hand went out to press the stat so he could read its description.

[Fury is the most basic representation of your anger. Each point in Fury increases your damage and resistances by a certain amount. Please evolve the skill further to learn more.]

‘Interesting… so stats can evolve as well? It seems like everything can evolve, I wonder if that is the key to this game.’

Faust’s attention diverted to his new skill.

[Concentrated Hit]

A passive skill, currently Level 1. Increases the damage by 10% when attacking the same area of the target. Can currently stack up to 3 times.

‘My first passive skill. Its effect is pretty decent. I’ll try to level it up.’

Finally finished checking out his current status, he made sure he still had his saber and began to walk to what he assumed was the exit of the temple.

What he didn't notice, however, were the pair of eyes watching him from the moment he spawned till the moment he left.

Upon exiting the temple, he found himself near the outskirts of the city. If he concentrated, he could see one of the city gates, so he started walking over there. Upon arrival, he realised it was the north gate he had been at before, and where he had met Noah. His resolve hardened once again. Exiting the gate and heading for the forest, he swore that he would catch up and surpass the other players. As for why he didn’t go to the Adventurers Guild? Faust wouldn’t readily admit it, but he wasn’t ready to face Mary as a failure just yet.

He followed the same path as last time, and it didn't take long before he found himself at the entrance of the great forest he had seen before. Instead of detouring on the outskirts, he directly walked in.

After walking for a few minutes along the path and not meeting any creatures, he decided to go directly into the forest itself. Finally, he met his first opponent.

"Examine!"

[Examine skill activated! Target: Beast]

Name: Brown Rabbit

Level: 1

HP: 40/40

Strength: 2 / Agility: 7 / Constitution: 3 / Intelligence: 2 / Faith: 0 / Luck: 0

[Skills: Dash]

[No further information is available]

A damn rabbit.