15 Connection

Anarchy took a nap for 3 hours before logging in back to Pandemonium.

By the time he arrived in the game world, the time was already past noon.

Considering he would play with Heart today, it was a reasonable time. After all, she could only play for five hours, which meant they would be done by night in-game time.

After all that grinding, Anarchy had accumulated more or less 2000 XP. He used 490 XP to raise the other stats to 20 points.

Anarchy had become a <Rookie > with 2758 XP accumulation.

Above <Rookie > would be <Soldier >. It needed one to accumulate 10000 XP.

'Isn't the gap jumps too big?! It's just a starting level!'

No. It was a reasonable number as it was a character's rating, not a character's level.

'It only costs less than 1000 XP to learn all the skills in each tree. So by the time someone achieves <Soldier > rating, they will have at least 9 full skill tree sets. This game is ridiculously easier than I thought.'

Most players thought like him. But it was because the developers didn't reveal the full mechanism behind their games.

However, they should have known that Pandemonium was still a 2-day old game. Who knew what surprise they would encounter as they progressed in the game.

On his way to the meeting point, Anarchy considered unlocking the <Dagger Art> path. Back then, he only had a few XP. But now, it was possible to unlock all the skills of the Thief Tree.

But the fact it couldn't be undone after unlocking was weighing on his mind.

'No. If I have the item, the Skill Tree can be reset. But I don't know what that item is.'

In the end, Anarchy put the idea on hold again.

'And I still haven't progressed with my Skill Tree hunting.'

Anarchy had morphed into a different form. It was still a human. But not the plain-looking one.

He was a good-looking man in his 20s despite the burn mark that stretched from his left jaw until his neck. He had the eyes of an elusive noble and a shrewd merchant, observing NPCs and players alike inside the Explorer Guild's building.

His smooth blond hair demanded attention as he approached an absent-minded priest. However, other people were at least the same or even more pleasing to the eye.

But Anarchy still had their attention because of his clothes, or should we say equipment?

He didn't look like a beginner. Hell, he didn't even look like a player. In fact, Anarchy appeared like an aristocrat NPC.

"That must be an NPC, right? There's no way a player would look like that in the early game."

"But what's an aristocrat doing in this place?"

"Huh? It seems like he's approaching that priest player."

"Really? Do you think we should go there in case she receives a quest from that NPC?"

"Why not stay here and watch first? When they are finished, we can ask her about it."

"Hmm... alright."

Anarchy tapped the priest on the shoulder, making them turn around.

In terms of appearance, the priest wasn't any less than the blonde when they pulled their hood, revealing their features, and they were actually a girl.

Her beauty was ethereal. It was as if someone who was already a beauty in real life got their appearance tempered by the trait [Beauty]. Her long, silver hair cascaded down her back in a layered manner.

Anarchy was doubtful about the priest being Heart's character, but when he noticed her white eyes as if they were blind, Anarchy said:

"So, was it worth it? Hiring an Archmage's service to get here?"

"Of course. Because it's free!" Heart replied, her face smug.

"Free? How?!"

Heart put her finger on her lips. "I have a connection," then she winked.

Pulling out a card from his inventory, Anarchy handed it to Heart.

"Take this and keep it in your inventory."

Heart blinked as she stared at the card. "What is this?"

"It's a friend card. You should have it in your inventory, too. Give it to me so we can be friends in-game."

Pandemonium had a unique and immersive friend system. When players wanted to add each other as friends, they needed to exchange a friend card and keep it in their seemingly infinite inventory; only then could they access the friend feature and interact with the other players regardless of the distance.

From the corner of his eyes, Anarchy noticed the five players from the last time. They were keeping an eye on him. He could guess they were thinking whether he was an NPC or a player.

Ignoring them, Anarchy received the friend card from Heart and put it in his inventory. After that, he accessed his friend feature.

"?!!"

As soon as he saw the only name on his friend list, Anarchy spurted and choked.

He looked at the name on the friend list and Heart back and forth.

'Holy... is this real? The top 1 player, Evangelion, is Heart?! How?!'

There were leaderboards players could access through the command system. There, they could see various categories of player ranking, but most were empty except for one: XP Accumulation.

Evangelion was the number 1 with 5530 XP. Followed by number 2 with only 1890 XP.

That was yesterday. The number might have increased today.

But from the look of her face, Heart seemed to not be aware of this.

Curious, Anarchy leaned in to whisper.

"Hey, how did you get 5000 XP on the first day? I don't think it's easy to hunt <Equal > rating monsters. Even the experienced player might have a hard time defeating one."

Earning 5000 XP on the first day was difficult, but it wasn't impossible. For example, if someone could win against a <Disadvantaged > monster twice, they could get that much.

However, just like Anarchy said, even an experienced player would have been struggling against an <Equal >, let alone a <Disadvantaged >

And it was not like a beginner could find a <Disadvantaged > monster around their starting area. Even more so if they spawned near a big city.

So, where did Heart find those XPs?

Heart blinked. She looked confused by his question. After a while, she finally said:

"Oh! I said I had a connection earlier, right? Actually, it's not an ordinary one. I'm a Priest, so..."

She leaned in, whispering into Anarchy's ears.

"My acquaintance is a God of this world."