Chapter 48

Hiro frowned. He didn’t think that the customer service lied or gave him false information. His LSC balance showed that he still had the amount he had in the CBT version.

[Balance 3,925 LSC]

‘It’s probably still being transferred. After all, they have to transfer the data of a thousand players.’

He tried to stay positive and put the matter off his mind for the time being.

…

Hiro checked the other menus available in his system and found a lot of new things. There were icons for the Main Story, Daily Quests, and Weekly Quests. However, Daily Quests could only be accessed after the player reached base level 20 while Weekly Quests could only be accessed after level 30.

Meanwhile, main story quests were the only ones available at the moment. The main story had a high amount of bonus experience and bonus LSC. The system also mentioned that if a player got lucky, they could receive certain gifts from the NPCs related to the story.

Hiro already knew that it would be like this. Upon starting an MMORPG, main story quests tend to greatly aid the level-up process. This was because through the quests, players could get to know the game more.

Like an indirect tutorial.

One of the new icons that attracted his attention was the golden cup. The icon contained information about LSO’s Leaderboard, both of the same server and all the servers. Even so, the data was still empty. The daily rankings would be updated every day, the weekly rankings every week, and the monthly rankings every month.

Ding!

[You have a new message]

[Congratulations, Player NightFall! You have successfully joined us in Last Shelter online, the game that will take over the global game world. As of today, the total of players registered worldwide is 1,001,001, and you are lucky to be one of them!]

[In addition, as we announced worldwide, the month-long opening event has started. The top 1,000 players will be rewarded with 10,000 LSC and the top 100 players will be rewarded with an additional 50,000 LSC. You can update your rank in the Leaderboard to see your progress.]

[As long as the main opening event is still ongoing, there will be other events announced with various rewards. Stay tuned! -Nyx]

In other words, Hiro needed to be in the top 100 to obtain the reward of 60,000 USD.

‘With the CBT version, this should be easier than before.’

Before Hiro closed his HUD system, his eyes moved to the Friend List.

‘Are they still here?’ He immediately checked the icon with hope.

[Friend List]

[Jacob] [Level 1] [Online]

[Liberty] [Level 1] [Online]

‘They’re still here!’

Hiro almost screamed in joy. He quickly pressed Liberty’s name to start a call like he usually did, but…

[You have to request to add the player as a friend to connect]

Without hesitation, Hiro sent a friend request to Liberty and Jacob and immediately tried to reconnect with the girl he missed again.

But…

[Your friend request has not been accepted by the player]

[You can only connect to players who have become your friend]

“Damn it! She IS in my friend list, you f***ing system!”

‘Huh?’

His voice was censored.

“Oh, so you have that red code now, huh!? Are you that scared of being cursed by players, you f***king system!?”

Hiro took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, neutralizing his emotions. Getting mad at the system wouldn’t do him any good.

In this game, the system was akin to a god. It could control everything.

“All set.”

Hiro looked around the area of Halfblood Academy, the place where the main story for his avatar began. The map for the academy area was immensely wide as it also had various outdoor facilities, but he wasn’t interested in them.

He decided to do the main story quests first before grinding and leveling up by beating up monsters.

Either way, the fastest and easiest method to level up was none other than doing the main story quests until it required you to level up further to continue.

Hiro didn’t want to waste it.

First, he had to find the Head of Demon House, Lucille. The NPC lady was on standby in front of the training area building.

The lady had knee-length blonde hair. Her eyes were red like any other demon half-blood, and she had a horn on her forehead.

Lucille explained that a dormant demonic power resided in Hiro’s body, and so that great power wouldn’t be misused, he was brought to the Halfblood Academy by the high priests of Eternity Kingdom to be trained to become heroes with other special people.

According to Lucille, every student had their own special origin. For half-demon students, they were all possessed by unholy souls of demon kings.

Apart from that, Lucille didn’t give any other information. And the main story continued.

He was instructed to head to [Beginner Town] using the teleportation NPC’s service. It originally had a price, but it was free of charge this time as it was mandatory for the quest.

[You will be teleported to Beginner Town]

Hiro held his breath in an attempt to reduce the discomfort from the teleportation, but it was futile. He was sucked back and forced into an invisible narrow pipe once again. His chest felt tight, and when he opened his eyes, a view of a town he very much missed greeted his sight.

Beginner Town.

The buildings looked exactly as he remembered. The only difference was the number of people present.

The first place he thought of visiting was Liberty’s house. However, when he ran to the housing estate, he found that the place no longer functioned for players. There were only NPCs going around with their activities in the area as if it was meant for them.

‘Great, just great. Now I have no way of connecting to Libe.’

“I hope she’s all right,” he muttered with worry.

In the end, Hiro focused back on the main quest and went to talk to the NPC involved.

He had to complete the main story quest concerning how to use weapons and kill opponents with them. It didn’t really matter to him since he already knew how, but he still did it for the EXP.

Ding!

[Base level up x2]

[Job class level up x2]

[Sword Combo Skill has been unlocked, skill points required to activate]

Hiro quickly activated his favorite skill.

Next, he was introduced to the blacksmith NPCs.

[Master Gararic: Blacksmith for weapons]

[Master Burchard: Blacksmith for armor]

[Master Grace: Blacksmith for accessories]

According to the information he received, weapons, armor, and other equipment had eight tiers from E to SSS. Equipment obtained from monster drops could only be tier A at most, while tier S, SS, and SSS equipment could only be obtained through crafting.

A-tier equipment and above could obtain additional statuses through refining, which could be done a maximum of 12 times (+12). To upgrade equipment to tier S, SS, and SSS, the equipment must be at least A-tier with maximum refinement (+12) and the player must own a tier upgrade blueprint.

Hiro obtained the information from the updated newbie guide book available in his HUD system.

Ding!

[Base level up x2]

[Job class level up 1x]

After talking to all three blacksmith NPCs, Hiro was instructed to learn how to refine weapons. But before that, he had to own a level 1 mining and smelting skills, and he had to level up to level 20 in order to learn those two skills.

In truth, the materials required to refine weapons could be obtained by purchasing mining or smelting items through the Marketplace. However, no players were currently selling those items as they were still busy with their own activities. Besides, Hiro had to do his main quests in order.

And he almost forgot something important.

“My regular plot!”