MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1230  After a Hard Day's Work

"…There's no doubt in my mind that Greater Beyond will eventually become the most played True Immersion VRMMORPG in the world."

Muttering these words to himself with an excited smile on his face, Ataraxia passed through the entrance to Daffors Village under the rising sun, his mind briefly thinking back to everything he did during his first day in Greater Beyond.

After going through the whole character creation process, the young man soon found himself in the world of Greater Beyond, arriving at Daffors Village as a no-name, fledgling adventurer ready to make a mark for himself.

Of course, since everyone who arrived before him was either hit with a wave of nausea or vertigo the first time they arrived at Greater Beyond, it was no surprise that he was hit with it as well, experiencing a great amount of vertigo the moment he spawned.

In fact, the amount of vertigo was so great that he felt like he was on the verge of fainting.

Yet, considering the amount of effort and money he invested just to become one of the players who played Greater Beyond from the start, Ataraxia forced himself to endure it, giving the vertigo all the time it needed to disappear.

Thankfully, it only took a couple minutes for the young man to feel like he was back to the way he was before, finally allowing him to fully explore what Greater Beyond had to offer.

With the experience he accumulated while playing other True Immersion VRMMORPGs in the past, Ataraxia went through a series of movements that every player had made it a habit to go through, using it as a means to adjust and calibrate to the sensations the game offered them.

Though, when he found out that the latency between his thoughts and his character's actions were basically non-existent, the young man quickly shifted gears, heading straight to the outskirts of the village he spawned in to fight against a couple of beasts.

Unsurprisingly, even the fights he had against the beasts left him at a loss for words, with the level of reality Greater Beyond offered them only beginning to sink in at that moment.

Because of that, it was no surprise that Ataraxia more or less focused all of his attention to just living in the moment, feeling as if he turned into a protagonist that had been reincarnated into a world of sorts.

But of course, he still kept the goals he gave himself beforehand in mind, working to achieve them one by one as he continued to familiarize himself with what Greater Beyond had to offer.

"I'm quite fortunate that I've gotten to Level 3 in just the first day," muttered Ataraxia to himself the further he went into the village as he briefly glanced at the drops he got from the beasts he killed.

"Since there are still a ton of people entering Greater Beyond for the first time, I wouldn't be surprised if I'll only be able to freely hunt the beasts once a few more real days have passed."

"Then again, I could join some other players and fight against the beasts as a group," the young man continued to mutter, only for a couple people to come up to mind at the idea. "…But I feel like it won't be long until they enter the game as well."

"It won't be too late to play as a group once they come."

Finishing his train of thought then and there, it was only then did Ataraxia truly pay attention to his drops, examining them for a bit as he briefly took a look at the forums to see how much they usually sold for.

After that, he entered the first shop he came across, talking with its owner for a bit before discussing about selling all of the drops in his inventory to them.

With a bit of haggling and a bit of back-and-forth persuasion, the young man was eventually able to leave the shop with a decent chunk of change and a smile on his face, thinking that he was finally taking his first steps into getting somewhere in the world.

'I'll save a quarter of it for basic necessities,' thought Ataraxia to himself, briefly glancing at the small bunch of silver and copper coins he got before putting it in his right pocket. 'Then, I'll save another quarter on the off chance I need to head to the inn.'

'As for the remaining half…' Coming to this part of his train of thought, the young man soon stopped in his tracks as a particular building entered his field of vision.

Noticing the large number of players loitering around the building, all of them waiting for it to open, Ataraxia was reminded of the pieces of information he'd obtained on Greater Beyond the day before.

Specifically, the existence of a unique NPC that became the reason for his choice of having Daffors Village as his starter village.

'Surely, the items sold inside wouldn't be that expensive, right?'

…

Whoosh!

"Finally back at the village."

Deactivating the movement skill he was using all this time, Valyr let out a faint sigh of relief after landing near the entrance to Daffors Village, feeling as if all the weight pressing down on his shoulders were removed the moment he set his eyes on it. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Closing his eyes for a bit to sort out his thoughts, the young man took a brief look at the sky to get an idea of the time, only for him to bring up the system's chat feature in front of him not long after.

Ding!

Sending a message to Juno that he returned to the village far earlier than he expected, he then began to make his way to his shop with the thought of preparing for the shop's opening later that day.

At the same time, he went over all of the things he experienced the previous night, prompting a bitter smile to creep up on his lips by the time he was done going through them.

'I still feel a bit guilty that I destroyed a part of Riekan's clan,' thought the young man to himself, still vividly recalling the exact thing he did in order to do just that.

Aside from the fact that [Four Paths Azure Zenith] was considered one of his ultimate skills, the young man's stats were as high as they'd ever been for a long time, causing the skill to pack more of a punch than usual.

With the fact that Valyr's stats at that moment allowed him to fight a Myth-level being like the Vessel of Envy on a somewhat even playing field, it was no surprise that the Caemelio clan's buildings, albeit sturdy, succumbed to the might of the attack.

Of course, compared to the possible repercussions that would have appeared if the Vessel of Envy had not died, the price both he and Riekan paid were more than negligible.

Then again, compared to the material price Riekan paid in exchange for the entity's death, the price Valyr paid in exchange was far more gruesome, expending not only a single use of the talisman Vaughn left him…

…But also temporarily leaving himself in what he thought was the weakest condition he'd ever been in so far.

In exchange for access to what he thought were the strongest techniques in his arsenal, [Four Paths Azure Liberation] reduced his stats by 50% either when he ran out of energy, or when the duration of the ethereal state was over.

Under the same train of thought, [Descent of the True Wyvern] was his strongest stat-boosting skill, improving all of his stats by 50% for a certain amount of time. But in exchange, it also reduced his stats by 50% the moment its duration ran out.

For a brief moment, Valyr thought that the debuffs of the two skills would stack additively, bringing all of his stats down to the lowest level it could ever possibly go.

Thankfully, the debuffs of the two skills instead stacked multiplicatively, only reducing his stats down to a quarter of what it was before all of the stat boosts.

…Then again, that meant that, for a short amount of time, the greatest amount of strength he could muster was around the level he could muster back when he was at the peak of Rank 2.

'Well… it could've been worse,' Valyr inwardly consoled himself at the thought. 'I could've been forced to use the skill attached to the Supreme Blade of Primeval Flames if I didn't use Vaughn's talisman.'

'If I did that, I wouldn't just be temporarily suffering from bad stats, but I'd also be balancing my health between the boundary of life and death with potions and skills.'

'Honestly, that would have been a good opportunity to kill me then and there if Riekan were that kind of guy,' inwardly muttered the young man to himself as he arrived at his shop. 'But Riekan was the one who invited me to his clan. He's also the one who made the request.'

'He also doesn't seem like the type of guy who'd do something like that in those kinds of situations.'

'In any case, even if his true personality was something like that…'

'He still owes me far more than I owe him.'

'…Not like I owe him anything anyway.'