Great Plains

Mercenaries, heroes, blessed ones.

These are how NPCs see the players of Project: Zerø.

They do not lack money, skills, and even the equipments are a higher tier than the normal "people" of Acias.

Its started as a "lore" in the said game.

The "people" of the game was one day, plagued with dungeons. The Abyss and Towers also appeared in the whole "world".

The technology of the "humans" can't kill the monsters that came out of the dungeons.

Fortunately, a group of "Awakeners" came to fight for them and defend them from the invasion of the dungeons.

Thus, started the cliché of novel stories. But then, the players are the "Awakeners" the NPCs know of.

Why?

Yes, the 100 Linked Quests that they were supposed to finish.

There are four milestones in the said Quests: Stats, Skill, Ability and Function.

The level of the "Awakeners" start at 15. This means they already have 240 Stat Points spread among the stats they have: the first 100 from the moment they go Level 1 and the 10 everytime they level up until 15.

Skills is a must for them, for the "people" of the land only has maximum of twenty skills for their lifetime. Included in these are their Passive skills, as well as Special and Hidden Skills. Awakeners start with three Main Skills, and at least one Special or Hidden Skills.

Abilities are common, but then, the ability to wield fire is not that common. This is why "Awakeners" are different from "people" of the land: they can learn Abilities outside the first abilities they had.

Lastly, function. The "people" of the land has only one function, and that is to give quests to the "Awakeners". And the function of the players is to secure that the "people" of the land and their lives. It can also be said that functions are the classes they have.

Zypher, who just went to the gate saw the notification and smiled.

His over all stats is still 100, because the Exp points he had are still not converted to points he can use.

He has six Hidden Skills, but are useless to him.

He has no abilities because of the deletion on the training grounds, but he can still remember key points how to use and fight, so basically, no Abilities in game, but the abilities of him.

Lastly, his Blacksmith subclass can be his function for now.

It can be said that he is a half-awakener because he only got two out of the four milestones.

But then, he can't fight the curses and blessings he have.

He is stuck between a cycle: if he wants to grow stronger, he has to take on quests; and if he wants to take on quests, he has to be stronger.

So, he decided to change his environment. Tutorials Cities have restrictions to players, but the Starter Cities doesn't have. The "people" of the land, also known as Natives, are giving quests in these cities.

There are just some small problems to Zypher.

For example, Quest Requirements.

A Level Requirement Quest means that you have to pass a certain Level to be able to do the quest. A Stat Requirement Quest means that you have to meet before accepting the quest.

And Zypher can't level up. Nor can add any stats higher than 10.

He is as good as the natives, but has unlocked almost all basic stats.

But, all in all, he is set to do what he has to do. Time waits for no man.

The Linked Quests are just for new players, but an experienced player like him, he can do anything from the information he have.

"Skip Quests."

[Quests Cancellation Rewards gained.]

[11,500,000 EXP Points obtained.]

[10 Gold obtained.]

After the next notifications, Zypher now has almost 13 million EXP points that he can't use.

But, the Codex gave him a chance to convert points into other points, but with curved trade.

100 EXP Points for one skill, ability or talent point.

He remembered in his past life, players use this method to boost their accounts.

As players call it - Salted EXP.

For example, a player accepts a quest that gives a reward at the end of the said quest, and all the rewards he obtained in the middle will be converted to other things.

And so, when they kill monsters on the way, the EXP gained won't go to their EXP bar, instead, it will be acxumulated, and they can trade it for points, either skill or ability points.

But, the release of these points is on the 15th anniversary of the game, which is a month away.

And so, hogging EXP now is what he must do.

Stepping out of the gates, the Great Plains of Acias can be seen.

There are other races who live in Acias, such as the Dog Tribe of the Beastmen and the Goblins, as well as Orcs.

The Dog Tribe manages the half of the plains for their hunting grounds, and act as Guides to Awakeners.

This is a proof of Awakeners in Project: Zerø - the Guides.

These guides are Beastmen Tribe that is beaten by the player to be able to advance to the next city.

And Zypher is not exempted from it.

Coming from Legar, he has to pass the plains to arrive to Arkrai, but, as a regressor, he knows another way, yet a bother to him, and will take time.

The Dark Lagoon.

Basically, it is a luck based place, where you flip three coins, and if you flip exactly two heads from four coins, you will be able to pass. It resets everyday.

But for now, passing through the Great Plains is a must, and in front of Zypher rhght now is a kid with a canine's ear and short fangs extending out of his mouth.

His white hair with strikes of black gives a hint of a mutation in him, plus his brown complexion that is not easily seen in the Acias Kingdom.

In his hand is a bow and a quiver on his back. A sniper beastman that can camouflage.

But, in the great plains, he is an easy target.

"Welcome, Traveller. Pardon me, but this is a test I need to do to prove that you are sent by--"

"Let's do it fast, I have a schedule to catch."

"Sure. Please pick your weapon."

When the kid say that, a rack of weapons appeared before Zypher.

"I'll choose this then." A double-headed axe.

When Zypher picked it up, a sense of warmth appeared in his face.

The Illusionist, Jack-of-all-trades. His main weapon is not the axe, but he used it more due to it's overwhelming flexibility, of course, just in his hands.

Carrying the axe in his right shoulder, he faced the kid as he taunted him with his left hand.

"Come on kid."

He said as he saw the beastman draw his bow and an arrow is already lodged in it.

"Won't be polite then."

After saying this, he released the arrow and took another one while running in a zigzag pattern backwards.

"Woah, a talented one."

He spun the axe, making it like a fan to block the incoming arrows.

Yes, the large axe looked like a toy in his hand, and a level 1 at that.

The level of his skill can't be measured by the levels dictated by the game. He is more than his levels, and traverses ranks.

The beastman kid then stopped as he saw Zypher was not moving.

"Why did you stop?"

"What's the winning condition?"

"Oh? You know that?"

Every test has a way to pass it. Since this is combat, a way to win is a must, and not just fighting to their heart's content.

"Hit me. That is the winning condition."

"All right then."

Saying this, Zypher rushed towards the beastman kid.

Releasing a barrage of arrows, Zypher dodged some while spinning the axe blocking the others that can't be dodged.

The arrows come from left and right, as the beastman kid does a zigzag pattern while retreating.

"Good kid." He said as he jumped forward.

To be honest, he can't catch the kid with his stats, but he has something that he can do.

A zigzag pattern means you spend more time to check your surroundings before making a move, and checking your opponents.

If he can bend the way of his arrows, he can win against Zypher, but in this moment, the things he can't do are the leverage of Zypher.

With a straight path, Zypher arrived to intercept him, but he moved fast backwards and fired three arrows to his opponent.

Without hesitation, Zypher swung the massive battle axe downward.

"Weaponize!" The String Hidden Skill he got.

He made the pole of the axe act like a rope and swung it hard.

Sensing this, fhe beastman retreated to his left and fired arrows to the vulnerable Zypher.

But, this was a mistake to a veteran.

Pulling the rope like handle of the axe, the remaining force pulled him down, dodging the arrows.

Witha light swing, he swung the rope towards the kid, and launched himself at the same time, making him arrive near the kid.

With a backward motion, the kid retreated, but Zypher used his body to follow him, and was exactly in the same direction which the kid went.

"Deweaponize!"

The axe immediately shorten and became solid as Zypher swung the axe down.

Seeing the axe, the kid knew that he can't even maneuver now.

"Heavenly Cudgel."

Zypher said as the axe retreated back by one feet, and the axe missed.

He tapped the shoulder of the kid, and smiled.

"That's a hit for me."

The kid sighed and shook his head.

"The name's Rupin." He said as he stored the bow on his back and walked beside Zypher.

"What mutation do you have?"

"Seriously? I can only answer three of your questions, and you ask that first?"

Yes, a rule was made by the developer for the players to have a good idea of what's happening in the game.

This was called the Genie Rule, which lets the player ask three questions.

Some players used to talk to the Guides, and mines more information but the Guides only answer that as they don't know or the user isn't able to do anything about the information, so they just meet with a bigger wall.

But Zypher doesn't need those information. So the first question he asked was such.

"Yes, really."

"Sigh. My mother is from the White Tiger Tribe, while my father is from the Black Hound Tribe."

"An unwanted child, are you?"

"That can be counted as your second question."

"Yes, yes."

"They eloped, but father died, and the White Tiger Clan doesn't want me, so we are now in a secluded area in the Dog Tribe. Although we are not mistreated, we are like people with contagious sickness, and only a few people approach us."

The White Tiger Family is part of the Cat Tribe, and they were the ones who rule when the Golden Manes fell down after the war against the Seventh Disciple.

On the other hand, the Black Hounds are the first and foremost leaders of the Dog Tribe, and they are the best hunters. With cunningness and fierceness, they bite their preys to death.

Aside from the Heroes, they played a big role in the Great War.

And now, this kid in front of him is the culmination of the fierceness and ruthlessness, but still has no experience in the said field.

"Oh, do you know where is Releana? From what I know, she appears in this part of the plains.

"You mean my mother?"

"Mother? Then you can--"

"If you're looking for her, there she is. Running towards us."

When Zypher looked, a woman with a bloodied hand was running towards them, and Rupin ran as fast as he can after saying that sentence to Zypher in a hurried manner.

Behind her are people he will come against next time, but this hello will become a revolutionary way for him.