5 Planning what to do

"All the towns and cities in this game are still safe zones." Jae pointed back the way they had come. "We saw proof of that back at the Plaza. Dozens of people got trampled in there, should have died, but they got back up with full health. This game is real, but the elements within it are still as they were before Kayaba summoned us all and gave his little reveal. As long as we stay in the Town of Beginnings, we'll be safe. As for EXP, there's bound to be dozens of beginner level quests right here in the city-"

"You know those won't provide anywhere near the rewards we could get if we go outside-"

"But at least we'll be safe-"

"We don't know that!"

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Toyo paused to take a breath before continuing in a softer tone.

"You've played just as many MMORPG, right?. Think about it. How often have we seen safe zones get turned into temporary event locations or Boss battle sites at random in those games? There could be high-level quests set on timers, just waiting to pop up at any time. There could be some overarching narrative or main story that, when reached, triggers a battle or an invasion or something. Anything could happen, and we would have no warning. Worse, if something like that were to occur and we were stuck here without high enough levels or gear to defend ourselves, we would have no chance."

Jae was quiet for a long moment. "You can't say for certain something like that will happen."

"And you can't say for certain it won't." With a sigh, Toyo rested a hand atop the pommel of the crude starting sword sheathed at his belt. "At the end of the day, we don't know enough about this world to make assumptions. No one does. Not even the beta-testers. We need to expect the worst. Levelling up and getting strong as quickly as possible is the only way to guarantee our safety."

Quiet again, Jae ran his fingers through his short-cropped hair- a telltale sign of uncertainty that Toyo knew immediately

"We don't know what kind of mobs are out there," he argued quietly. "We don't know what powers or abilities anything has, where to go and where not to. For Christ's sake, we don't even know how to fight in this game yet."

Toyo nodded. "Which is why we need to learn and fast. We need to catch up if we want to live. If we drag behind people who already know what they're doing, like the beta-testers, it could mean the difference between life and death. Remember what we read about the rare and legendary items in the beta reviews for this game?"

Jae dipped his head. "Legendary items will be very difficult to obtain via drops or loot chests, there are only ten copies of each one in all of Aincrad. Rares have fifty of each, but are less powerful."

"Exactly. With high-quality items that difficult to obtain, it can only mean they're incredibly effective. If we can get our hands on a rare, or even a legendary, I'm willing to bet our survival chances will go up far higher than any number of beginner safe zone quests could get us. The beta-testers most likely know that too, and are already out there looking for specific items. We need to get at least one for ourselves before others take them all. This is the starting Floor of the game, so there probably aren't a lot.

"On top of that," he added, "while searching for rare items we'll also be obtaining Col and probably EXP on the side. You know as well as I do that beginner quests never give as much cash and experience as farming. Not even close."

Jae crossed his arms. "And how exactly do you plan on farming and item hunting when we don't know how to defend ourselves?"

"We'll take it slow," Toyo assured him. "We'll start easy with the Level One monsters just outside the city, figure out how to fight properly, and even after that only engage in combat when we know for certain we'll come out on top. We can also use the Experience we gain cautiously at first. Obviously, there are things different here than in other games, but as with any other RPG, we know that when we level up, we get attribute points. In our other games, we always go for added damage and offensive power. Here we just need to change our style a little. We need to take it slow and put a majority of our focus, at least early game, into defence and more HP."

Jae was quiet a moment as he thought it over, but he still didn't look entirely convinced. Finally, he spoke.

"I understand what you're saying, and it makes sense, but we need to remember that levelling up in any RPG takes time, and the gains from each level start small at first. Attribute points won't make a difference if we die before we get enough of them to actually be noteworthy."

Toyo let out a slow breath. "So what are you saying? That we should stay here in the Town of Beginnings and hide? That we shouldn't try to level up?"

"No. You were right before- we have no way of knowing that the city will stay safe forever. MMO's are unpredictable, and we need to be prepared for anything. But trying to be too aggressive too quickly is sure to get us killed. So let's compromise: I say we stay here and do a standard quest or two until we hit our next level, and then that will give us the buffer we need to actually go out and start grinding efficiently, without fear of getting caught off guard by abilities we weren't expecting. Fair?"

Toyo hesitated. He still believed trying to get a step ahead of the other players was the best thing to do, but he couldn't deny Jae's logic in getting at least a little more durable before heading out into the unknown.