Advancement

As the golden runes of the Silent Shepherd class spiraled around him, Julian stood still on a battlefield made of memories not his own. 

He did not fight, not unless he had to. 

He led his people through the devastated ruins of the battlefield with unwavering confidence. 

Behind him stood a crowd that numbered in the hundreds, wearing nothing but simple rags. 

They walked barefoot, following in the Shepherd's footsteps with simple joy and smiles on their faces. 

To Protect, To Lead, To Guide. 

Those were the runes that imprinted themselves onto Julian's body. 

[Congratulations on evolving to the Rare class Silent Shepherd!] 

[Skill gained: Shelter Ward] 

[Shelter Ward (Active skill - Rare) 

Class requirement: Silent Shepherd 

Proficiency: 0% 

Effect: A small translucent barrier 

Mana cost: 50 

Cooldown: 1 minute] 

[Title earned 'Voice of Restraint'!] 

["To speak only when needed, and be heard above all others."] 

[Title: Voice of Restraint Effect: +10% Resistance to Crowd Control] 

Julian was left confused by a flurry of system prompts right after the cutscene finished. 

Though happy that he had advanced to the rare class of Silent Shepherd, he wasn't sure how he did it.

He still had another condition to meet, so where was this coming from? 

Julian sat down on a bench in the town's central plaza, the place where he had logged off from. 

He tried recalling the previous night, but everything was a fuzzy blur after being attacked by that mysterious person. 

Nothing happened inside Alpha, but he did remember the illusion of a system prompt illuminating his eyes while he started to fall unconscious. 

"Death can be a form of mercy…" Julian sighed. 

That's right, that moment when he was left at 1 HP, he wanted that strike to kill him rather than leave him in that state. 

It was pathetic to be left there kneeling in pain as death stepped ever closer. 

He'd read stories of soldiers and heroes fighting till their last breath, dying standing while still gripping their weapons. 

Julian was no such person. Not yet. 

He wanted to dismiss the event as a fluke, a mishap, but he couldn't deny the truth, he was scared.

His reaction happened; he was stunned, unable to do anything as his life was draining away. 

"I gotta work myself up. One step at a time." Julian whispered to himself. 

"Get the latest equipment and items for 5% off, folks!" 

"The Golden Light Emporium has just restocked! Come quick before we run out!"

Julian looked over to the opposite side of the plaza and noticed the large stall area and the horde of players waiting in line. 

Julian showed a wry smile at the fact that the Golden Light Emporium was doing such a good job. 

It seemed that despite their setback yesterday, it didn't stop them. 

Their momentum was strong, and from the looks of it, even better than he had ever expected. 

Julian checked his message list to see that two people had contacted him. 

The first was Mideous, who sent a report on the shop every six in-game hours.

After the incident, he had suspended any talks with the guilds, bribed the guards to stand near their stall, and even sent his right-hand man to grind levels. 

Though their losses were heavy, they could recoup those losses in a few weeks. 

The only thing that stopped them from furthering sales was the lack of infrastructure and manpower. 

Julian sent a quick message to let him know he was back online and that they would talk sometime later. 

The second message was from Oblivion, simply asking when they could meet.

Julian wasn't sure about the exact details of the discussion, but it was clear it concerned the regressors. 

No regressor was an idiot; they'd notice the discrepancy in the timeline and could draw an obvious conclusion. 

Julian replied, asking if he was free anytime soon. 

[Oblivion: Gimme 30 minutes. Meet me at the plaza.] 

A quick and simple response. Julian still needed to thank him for saving him from the masked individual. 

With half an hour to wait, Julian went through his stats and inventory to click around.

 He remembered spending a lump sum of stat points on agility, which, looking back, probably wasn't the best idea. 

[Name: Julian Caesar 

Class: Silent Shepherd (Rare) 

Species: Human (Tier 0) 

Level: 6 Health: 220/220 

Mana: 100/100 

Titles: The Gentle Spear, 

Strength: 11 Constitution: 6(+5)

Agility: 25 Intelligence: 5 

15 unassigned stats!] 

Twenty-five points in agility, but the rest of his stats were severely lagging behind. 

The five points in intelligence were an eyesore, but with only two skills, it was fine for now. 

He had eleven points in strength and six in constitution. Since he had the points, he might as well spend them. 

Julian allocated nine points to constitution and six to strength, which he hoped would be the right choice. 

That gave him 400 points of health and whatever 17 points in strength provided.

Stat points in VR games were always a bit wonky; once you reached higher ranks, they practically became meaningless. 

Constitution and intelligence worked a bit better since the system quantified them through health and mana pools, but even then, it was iffy. 

While waiting for Oblivion, he skimmed through the player forums to see if anyone had the same questions. 

A post on the topic was from a seasoned veteran of the gaming field, ranting about the old ways based on complex mathematical equations. 

Comments below also proposed hypothesized equations for dealing damage, taking damage, running speed, etc. 

All things considered, the exact math situation was something Julian couldn't keep up with. 

The top post, however, offered a much simpler explanation, one with straightforward layers similar to the tier system shown in-game. 

As the top-ranked players reached level 10 and above, they noticed diminishing returns past a certain point.

Starting at 20 points, stats would provide increasingly fewer benefits while the player remained a Tier 0 human. 

It was only when they reached Tier 1 that their stats above 20 revealed their full potential. 

This meant that while stats were an important indicator, a Tier 1 player with 25 points in agility would speed past a Tier 0 player with the same stats. 

It was, in all honesty, a great explanation of how the system worked. Written by the player 'Thankful,' Julian liked the post. 

A round of gasps and cheers caused Julian to look up from his scrolling to see what the commotion was about. 

In the distance, he saw two players battling with skills Julian had only seen in movies.

One side, however, was on the defensive, clearly losing ground. 

He was wearing a mask with countless cuts on his armor and body. 

The other wore heavy plate armor that covered his entire body.

Julian was fully content to watch the show until he realized that the masked person was Oblivion. 

He owed Oblivion a favor, and it seemed like it was time to repay that debt. 

Taking out his spear, he gripped the weapon with tight fists. A fight meant pain, damage, and suffering. 

But it was also his duty to protect, to lead, to guide. 

Julian steadied his nerves before rushing in.

The shepherd had come to enter the fray between the masked executioner and the iron bastion.