4 Deadly Encounter

[Gathering…

Little Elysium x10]

[Naturalist has increased to level 2]

The progress bar for gathering was a lot quicker than before allowing Markus to quickly sweep up all the available buds in the area. There were several broken flowers or wasted buds, so the system wasn't perfect. If he had manually collected them all, it would likely have given him a lot more yield but taken much longer.

Meanwhile, the automatic gathering only took 5 minutes when targeting a hundred plants. In those hundred, he collected 10 viable units. This meant that the base rate of gathering [Little Elysium] was around 8%. Seeing that he got a level after a single mass gathering action, Markus considered grinding some more. However, the fear of entering [Overworked] state again made him move on.

His goal was the ruined temple. Since he couldn't grind, he decided it was best to rush through the beginner area and then work through the issue of his talent. Being able to learn new skills, abilities, and level them quickly was a huge boon. If he could figure out the [Overworked] mechanic, and ways to prevent it, he would rise to the top of the game in no time.

While intoxicated by the flowers, his thoughts would go astray occasionally. He even found himself staring at a tree for a minute in a daze. If this was what it took to play continuously, he would rather just be lazy again. These thoughts were crawling their way up from the deep reaches of his mind. Markus understood this was the influence of [Intoxicated] but he couldn't stop the thoughts.

After a total of ten minutes, he finally saw the negative status fall off and he returned to normal. He heaved a sigh of relief and refocused on making his way toward the ruined temple. Based on his limited map and what he saw during his initial landing, Markus was certain the temple was in the center of the region just ahead. He carefully moved forward, trying to be as stealthy as possible. What alarmed him was a game notification.

[Stealth has increased to level 3.]

The hairs on Markus's neck stood and he jumped to the side with all his strength. A snake with the thickness of Markus's thigh dropped down from above with its mouth wide open. The width of its unhinged jaw was enough to swallow him whole. He began to sweat and pant heavily. Fear was welling up in him while two notifications appeared.

[New ability Danger Sense learned.]

[Danger Sense Level 1

Rank: Hero

Effect: Passively detect lethal danger and move automatically to avoid it. 30 minute cooldown.

Message: DODGE!]

[Abnormal Condition: Fear]

[Fear

Rank: Hero

Effect: Increased physical and mental fatigue by 100%

Message: Where'd you get those peepers?]

Markus quickly inspected the large python and a chill went down his spine. Due to the effects of fear, the snake looked exceptionally terrifying. He knew instinctively that this wasn't a normal animal. This was likely related to the tutorial quest.

[Python's Clutch (hero) Level ???]

Without needing to consider anymore, he immediately ran away. This was not an enemy he could fight currently. Since the level was showing up as question marks, this meant that it was more than five levels higher than him. Based on his understanding and the analysis of many players, there was a form of level suppression in OLYMPUS.

The higher someone's base level is compared to their target, the bigger the system adjustment in damage. Although skill and ability level were important, the player level could not be ignored. Not only was it necessary for class advancement, but also to even be able to challenge higher level content. This must be why the spoilers mentioned the tutorial from levels 1-10. Therefore, the boss he just encountered must be level 10. Markus finally made it to a safe place and confirmed he wasn't being chased anymore when the [Fear] condition wore off.

[Abnormal Condition: Overworked]

"… Dammit!" Markus couldn't help but be upset. However, this time felt more reasonable. His heart finally settled, and he felt exhausted. Instead of eating another [Little Elysium] plant, he decided to find a safe spot to rest. After searching for a few minutes, he discovered a tree that had a cozy space below its roots. He crawled into the little grotto and relaxed his tense muscles.

Markus brought up the forums and started to do some more research while he rested. The first thing he looked for was any information about the snake boss in the starting area. Fortunately, he wasn't the first one to go straight toward the ruined temple. Many people posted how they died to a huge snake. Some were with party members and were even able to give an account of the attack. They all experienced the same thing as Markus.

The snake ambushed them from the canopy, and inflicted fear on everyone in the area. When you fled far enough, the fear effect would go away. Many people also came to the same conclusion as Markus. Everyone was determined to break the tutorial first, so they began to grind experience. Markus had a depressed look on his face as he read that.

'I want to grind too, but the game won't let me!'

After reading for almost half an hour, Markus encountered an interesting post. The player was talking about the value of investing experience into player level versus investing into skills. Based on his breakdown, there was a ratio at which leveling skills was more efficient than leveling player level. He predicted that keeping your skills no more than two levels lower than your player level was optimal based on the growth of his beginner weapon skill.

What confused Markus the most was people talking about using experience to level skills. Couldn't they just practice the skill and level it? He glanced at his [Lazy Genius] talent and realized something. He didn't fully comprehend the meaning of the effect until that moment.

'You can't normally level skills through practice, only with acquired experience? Doesn't that mean I have the ultimate growth talent? With this, I don't need to worry about splitting up my experience, I can directly put it into my player level…'

In order to get to level 2, a player needed 10 experience. This was equal to five level 1 mortal rank monsters. To get to level 3 after, it required 30 experience. Beyond that, no one had reached yet so it wasn't verified. However, based on the trend, the experts believed that the scaling was ten times the previous level plus the previous level requirement, so 4 would be 60 experience, 5 would be 100, 6 would be 150, 7 would be 210, 8 would be 280, 9 would be 360, and 10 would be 450.

Some even believed that level 10 would actually require 500 experience because it was a round number and would represent the difficulty of reaching the first class advancement. This leveling convention was similar for skills and abilities but half the cost at each interval. Markus did some quick calculations and realized he got 25 experience worth of skills for free! His only regret was not being able to play continuously like others. If any of his team members saw him resting an hour into the server launch, he would get kicked out immediately.

[You have become Rested. Regaining all lost stamina and removing abnormal conditions.]

After a whole thirty minutes passed, Markus finally received the notification. It seemed that it took thirty minutes of rest to trigger the Rested condition. He wondered if there were higher levels of resting that gave bonuses like other games.

He was certain that he was the first person to discover this, and he would definitely not publicize it. In order to figure out the conditions for resting, it would mean he wasn't grinding… If his team members of the studio saw his post, he would be criticized and probably removed from the team. Well, it didn't matter if he revealed the information anyway. Once people started to acquire the [Overworked] condition they would naturally figure it out on their own.

As for claiming that he got the condition and needed to rest… he immediately shot down that idea. Markus was infamous in his gaming team for claiming to be tired in order to get out of training. Even if he was telling the truth, they would rather believe he was lying and get rid of him. He decided to hide the truth until he proved himself and had an untouchable position in the community.

Markus crawled out of his little grotto and entered hunting mode. Based on his first experience, he had 30 minutes of activity before his talent would debilitate him. He had an additional 100 minutes worth of [Little Elysium]. However, he wasn't certain of the effects of eating them in a row. Best case scenario, the [Intoxicated] condition stacked. Worst case scenario, he develops an addiction. It would be ideal if he found some more reagents and attempted to concoct medicines. Although he didn't have the skill, with his talent, he could stumble into one.

Suddenly, he saw a shadow dart toward him from the corner of his eye, and Markus's [Danger Sense] triggered automatically. He jumped backward, nearly doing a backflip. Fortunately, the automatic movement kept him on his feet. What faced him was an animal with pale reddish-yellow fur and black spots. Its feline face and slender body masked its deadly nature.

[Leopard (mortal) Level 2]