MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1533: Grinding Experience (1)

”Now then…”

”Where do I have to go if I wanna grind a ton of XP?”

As these words faintly left his mouth, Ataraxia felt his senses reach greater heights all of a sudden, confirming that his original identity had fallen asleep for the meantime.

Faintly smiling in response, the young man began to walk through the streets of Meltierre Empire as he thought back to the plan the two came up with just before teleporting.

Considering that the first two goals theyʼve set for themselves had been fulfilled during their stay at Algerie Kingdom, that meant that the only goals they needed to accomplish was for the two identities to reach the same level, and for their classes to possibly go above Divine grade.

Though, since the two understood that achieving the latter goal in a short time was a pipe dream, the two focused their attention on the former goal instead, confident that the empire would either have an Experience Pit or an Akashic Battlefield Ataraxia could grind XP at.

With that, both Valyr and Ataraxia made up their minds that, although they had to head to the empire for Valyr to work on the empireʼs request, the two would prioritize Ataraxia grinding enough XP to reach the peak of Rank 4 first.

ʼ…I should head to a restaurant and ask for directions.ʼ

After walking through the streets for a bit more without getting anywhere nearer to his goal, Ataraxia decided to change his approach towards the entire thing as he headed towards a nearby restaurant instead.

Once there, he went ahead and ordered a few dishes, only to order a few more after being reminded that it had been a while since he and Valyr had last eaten anything good.

”Say…” After the waiter had finished taking down his order, Ataraxia tossed a gold coin to the man before asking him a question. ”You know any places I could head to for XP?”

”…Not from here?” asked the waiter after a bit of silence, genuine curiosity adorning his face after receiving the gold coin.

Seeing the young man nod at his words, the waiter pondered over the question for a bit more before responding, ”There are three places that come to my mind when it comes to grinding XP.”

”The first is the Caverns of Experience near the Leio clan,” said the man, only to clarify himself after noticing the slight confusion that appeared on Ataraxiaʼs face. ”If youʼve heard of an Experience Pit before, the Caverns of Experience is just that.”

”Oh.” The young man nodded in understanding after that. ”How about the other two?”

”The second one is the Aschel Akashic Fields owned by the Aschel clan,” the waiter continued. ”Unlike the Caverns of Experience, youʼll have to pay a decent sum to get in, as well as offer up most of the loot you gain from the monsters there to the clan.”

”However, as far as Iʼve heard, the XP you obtain from that place makes the cost more than worth it.”

”The Aschel Akashic Fields, huh?” murmured the young man, faintly nodding as he committed the thought to memory.

ʼI should ask Mystia if I could head there later.ʼ

”How about the last one?” Though he made up his mind to make use of the connection he had with Mystia to access the Aschel Akashic Fields, Ataraxia still went ahead and asked for the waiterʼs final recommendation.

”The last one is pretty much known by anyone after youʼve been in the empire for a while,” answered the waiter, his eyes briefly glistening with excitement as he talked about it. ”Thatʼs because unlike the two places Iʼve mentioned before, you could grind XP at this place without paying a fee whatsoever.”

”Oh?” Hearing those words, Ataraxiaʼs interest was piqued.

”Though many people call it the Experience Grounds, itʼs actually called the Meltierre Killing Grounds,” explained the man, going slightly a bit in-depth as to what made the place different from the first two places he recommended.

Aside from the fact that he could enter the grounds without paying any fee, Ataraxia gradually understood that the Meltierre Killing Grounds could be considered as a fusion of the Experience Pit and the Akashic Battlefield heʼd come to know.

In terms of mechanics, it leaned more heavily towards the Experience Pit wherein he would be confined to a certain place where he could kill as many monsters within a set amount of time.

However, unlike the Experience Pit, the Meltierre Killing Grounds offered a greater selection of monsters, with even monsters at the peak of Rank 5 not being impossible to fight against.

In fact, from what the waiter told him, it was also possible to choose monsters that were not only at the peak of Rank 5, but were also above the usual Elite tier at the same time.

”Is there any catch?” asked Ataraxia, thinking the entire thing was too good to be true.

”Youʼll have to give up 80% of the XP you obtained from the Killing Grounds after youʼre done,” replied the waiter after some time, prompting the young man to inwardly shake his head as he concluded that the Aschel Akashic Fields was still the better choice.

”However, you can reduce this down to 10% if you pay a certain fee beforehand.”

Only for him to change his mind once again not even a few seconds later.

…

”Hello there.”

After leaving the restaurant both satisfied and eager, Ataraxia went ahead and asked some of the strangers he came across for directions to the Meltierre Killing Grounds.

With that, he eventually found himself within an opulent hall made out of chiseled white stone, with multiple corridors extending out of the hall he was in.

”Welcome to the Meltierre Killing Grounds, how may I help you today?” Heading to one of the less occupied counters within the hall, Ataraxia eventually found himself interacting with one of the groundsʼ attendants.

”Iʼd like to book one of your Experience Grounds,” replied Ataraxia, inwardly thanking himself for asking the waiter for more information on how the entire place worked.

”Certainly.” The attendant nodded, bringing out a thin tablet before beginning to tap on it. ”Can I have your name please?”

”Ataraxia,” answered the young man.

”Are you booking a free Experience Ground or are you booking one of the paid options?”

”One of the paid options.”

Hearing that the young man in front of her was willing to pay up for the Experience Grounds, the attendant began to show a bit more deference to him. ”We have four tiers you can choose from, as well as four durations.”

”How much would it cost?” asked Ataraxia in return, to which the attendant began to go over them one by one.

Seeing that it wouldnʼt cost much for him to max out the Experience Grounds in both tier and duration, the young man was about to tell the attendant that he planned to go all-out with his booking…

Only for a familiar voice to echo behind him.

”Eh?”

”Is that you, Ataraxia?”