For the rest of the day, Elias stuck to the tried-and-true method: wander around and kill anything that moved.
He began avoiding monsters that looked particularly tough or oversized. Size didn’t necessarily indicate a higher level or more experience, so taking them on just felt like unnecessary effort.
He also came across a few groups while he worked, though they were few and far between. Notably, all of them were either heading deeper into the dungeon or returning to the clearing.
It seemed he was the only one still leveling in this low-tier area as most of the casual delvers had already left.
Despite everything, Elias managed to maintain a steady pace throughout the day, finding a new monster every three minutes or so. With the average creature at level 4 and awarding 80 experience points, he was earning just under 2,000 exp per hour.
By the time dinner rolled around, he’d already surpassed his goal of gathering the 11,000 experience needed to raise his Strength by one level.
 
Congratulations! Your Strength is now level 6.
 
Name: Elias Oliveira
Exp: 80
Rank: N/A
 
Spirit: 10
Skill: None
(21,000 exp to level)
 
Wisdom: 7
Skill: None
(15,000 exp to level)
 
Intelligence: 7
Skill: None
(15,000 exp to level)
 
Charisma: 5
Skill: None
(11,000 exp to level)
 
Agility: 6
Skill: None
(13,000 exp to level)
 
Strength: 6
Skill: None
(13,000 exp to level)
 
Vitality: 6
Skill: None
(13,000 exp to level)Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
 
Elias glanced at his Status screen with a glimmer of pride. Every one of his physical attributes was now above level 5. In fact, Charisma had become his lowest stat.
For a split second, he even considered leveling it next, just to bring all his attributes above 5. And he could think of at least one cute greeter girl he’d like to talk to with a little more Charisma.
Unfortunately, Charisma had more to do with how a person perceived themselves than how others perceived them. It still took time and a fair amount of self-reflection for that shift in perception to express itself outwardly. Besides, improving his physical attributes first would help him earn experience more quickly.
Although he’d already reached his goal for the day, Elias decided to keep grinding a bit longer instead of heading back. He was curious to see what the clearing looked like during dinnertime—and it was still a little early for that. Besides, he wasn’t even all that hungry yet.
Raising his Strength by a level had even less of an immediate effect now than it had the first time. Back then, his body had been trained to the limit of the level 4 Strength he’d been born with, and leveling had felt like slackening a tightly drawn string. It hadn’t made him much stronger—but it had. The difference had been noticeable.
Now, it felt like loosening a string with no tension. He didn’t notice any change at all. As such, he discarded the idea of heading deeper into the jungle to find stronger monsters as soon as it crossed his mind.
Three hours and a little over 6,000 experience later, Elias began making his way back to the clearing.
Even before he stepped out of the underbrush, he could hear laughter and the sound of music drifting through the trees.
His heart beat faster with anticipation as he took the final steps out of the jungle—emerging into a remarkable sight.
The number of stalls in the clearing had diminished significantly, but they were now arranged in a large circle. Adventurers sat at tables around them, cheering and talking loudly while servers wove through the crowd with trays of beer and platters of food. At the center stood a makeshift dance floor, where people danced and swayed to music—most of them with drinks in hand.
It felt as though the fair from earlier had transformed into a sprawling outdoor tavern. The array of stalls blended seamlessly into a cohesive whole, each offering different food or services in a way that complemented rather than competed with one another. As a result, every stall was busy, and customers could easily find whatever they wanted.
There were far fewer people around than during the day, but the mood was noticeably livelier—though the large quantities of beer being passed around likely had something to do with that.
More notably, the crowd had shifted. High-level adventurers now made up the majority, many of them clad in clearly powerful gear. There were hardly any newbies in sight.
Elias strolled through the congregation of food stalls, stopping at each one to check out the dishes on offer and the people enjoying them. Most importantly, he let his nose guide him, following the most delicious-smelling scents through the crowd.
It was a close call, but his stomach passed its verdict. It had been a while since he’d had a good cheeseburger, and the scent coming off the grill was hard to resist.
Walking up to the counter, Elias' eyes bulged when he saw the price: one cheeseburger with fries cost 20,000 energy. That was nearly as much as he’d earned from two full days of dungeon delving. He’d already thought the lunch options were pricey, but this was nearly twice as expensive.
Gritting his teeth, he paid the price anyway.
He had a decent amount of money saved up, so he didn’t have to rely solely on the meager earnings from killing monsters in the newbie zone. Besides, his current energy acquisition rate wasn’t a reliable indicator of his future prospects. He wouldn’t be a newbie forever, and higher-ranked adventurers earned exponentially more than lower-ranked ones.
The energy in energy crystals equaled ten times the level of the monster it came from, meaning stronger monsters yielded more energy. Additionally, higher-ranked monsters were more likely to contain higher-tiered energy, depending on their mana type, and these were far more valuable than standard unaspected energy.
For example, a Beginner-rank rat monster using tier 2 lightning mana would drop an energy crystal containing tier 2 lightning energy. This could then be exchanged at nearly a 2-to-1 conversion rate for unaspected energy, the system’s standard currency.
The pattern continued all the way up to the fabled tier 10 energy types, such as Chaos and Order. Even tier 9 energies—like Time, Space, or Fate—could be worth thousands of times more than tier 0 energy, point-for-point, depending on supply and demand.
“Welcome to Last Shift! What can I get you?” the food vendor asked, snapping Elias out of his thoughts. “I recommend the newbie combo—a double cheeseburger, fries, and a beer for only 30,000 energy. There’s nothing quite like a beer after a long day of grinding, am I right?”
Elias balked at the vendor’s claim that the combo was only 30,000 energy—but he bought it anyway.
“Here you go! Just grab a seat anywhere, and I’ll bring your food out when it’s ready,” said the man at the burger stall, slamming a bottle of beer onto the counter.
Grabbing the beer, Elias took a sip and moved off to find a nearby seat. Most of the tables were already occupied by groups of adventurers chatting, eating, and drinking. A few were taken by lone veterans—older, grizzled types who looked like they’d been living this life for years.
But one table stood out. It was occupied by a young man who looked to be around Elias' age and was probably just starting out himself. Noticing he was sitting alone, Elias decided to approach.