New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

That night, since he fell asleep in the game, Astaroth forgot to log out. Therefore, he spent his night in the game.

Slight tremors awakened him. Korin was shaking his body awake, to switch out of watch duty and catch some shut-eye.

The night was relatively uneventful, and no beast came to disturb them. The morning came soon enough and Astaroth woke Korin up.

"Thank you for saving me yesterday. And for staying the night with me. But I wish to stay out here for another day. I will come back to the village by sundown, I promise." Astaroth told Korin, bowing in appreciation.

"Fine. But in case you don't make it back, keep the blanket. It will let you camp out without freezing. I will go back to the village today. I'll tell the captain that you don't need to join patrols anymore. And I'll also tell him to send the patrols in another direction for a few days, at least until you come back." Korin said, getting up and stretching his limbs.

Korin then walked to the fire and stomped it out. He grabbed his stuff and walked back in the village's direction.

Korin knew the woods like the back of his hand and needed no help to go back home. As for Astaroth, he had the game's map function to guide him.

That was also how he knew where he was now. He was far away from the village, but it was nothing he couldn't trek back when he needed to.

Astaroth watched Korin's figure disappear into the woods. He was thankful the man had helped him, but even more that he left him alone to get stronger.

After all, he already had two leeches on his Exp now. He looked down at his new companion, who was awake and prancing around him.

The pup looked back up at him expectantly.

"Alright girl. Let's get you leveled up." Astaroth said to the pup.

They left their makeshift campsite and went back into the woods. He would have to farm much more, just to reach level thirty now.

The little wolf accompanying him would be a burden at first, but she would quickly become an asset, in Astaroth's opinion. Another source of damage linked directly to his own.

Although she would take half of what little Exp he was still gaining, she would quickly level up and become strong enough for him to go after larger groups of enemies.

That would make his grind go faster than before, and would compensate for the loss he was experiencing. Astaroth soon after found a small group of wolves.

He used the same method as the day before to slay them, making max use of his 'Spirit Melding' and 'Spirit Summoning' abilities to boost his power.

Genie was contributing minor damage at first, but as her level rose, her damage did with it.

They went about killing all the wolf groups they encountered, no longer stopping at just groups of three or fewer wolves.

Astaroth upped the game up to six wolves today, making the training more taxing on his mind, but also much more lucrative for his level. Astaroth farmed for the whole day, killing almost fifty wolves this time.

His level had only gone up by one, but White Death's level had also gone up by one, and Genie's level had the most drastic upgrade, going up by a whole fourteen levels.

When Genie reached level fifteen she had grown bigger, becoming an adolescent wolf. It had not affected her stats, but she had unlocked a skill.

Astaroth assumed that it was probably a normal skill for the special-grade wolves. He opened her status window, to look at her progress.

Status:

Name: Genie

Race: Dire Wolf (Adolescent)

Level: 18 (7'252/13'050) (Exp share 50/50)

Grade: Special

Str: 23 Agi: 28 Con: 23 Int: 23 Wis: 18

Heath: 2'100 Mana: 410

Attack Power Str (Bite):115 Attack Power Agi (Claw): 140

Defense: 2.3%

Abilities: Tearing Claw

Tearing Claw: Uses a powerful claw attack that does more damage and causes bleeding. Can be seen by the sheen around the claws. +100% claw damage, causes bleed 1% HP/s that stops when treated. Cooldown 1 minute.

Astaroth had no control over her stat points, so he guessed they followed a predetermined path, specific to this breed of wolves.

The amount of health Genie had was staggering for her small amount of constitution points, but he surmised it was because of her being a special-grade creature.

He then opened up his status window to see how many points he had at his disposal.

Status:

Name: Astaroth

Race: Ash Elf

Level: 21 (37'285/55'950)

Stats:

HP: 2'400/2'400 MP: 735/735 Stamina: 100

Mana Regen: 1/second in combat, 5/second out of combat

Strength: 24 (+20) Agility: 27 Constitution: 27 (+20)

Intelligence: 27 Wisdom: 22

Attack Power Str: 220 Attack Power Agi: 135 Magic Attack Power: 135 Healing Power: 110

Natural Defense: 4.7% Armor Defense: 14%

Luck: 0 (Stat unaffected by Level up and free points)

Available stat points: 15

Available skill points: 8

Physical Condition: Normal

Mental Condition: Normal

He brought all his attack stats to thirty, followed by his constitution stat also to thirty, using all fifteen free points at once.

He looked at it again.

Status:

Name: Astaroth

Race: Ash Elf

Level: 21 (37'285/55'950)

Stats:

HP: 2'700/2'700 MP: 780/780 Stamina: 100

Mana Regen: 1/second in combat, 5/second out of combat

Strength: 30 (+20) Agility: 30 Constitution: 30 (+20)

Intelligence: 30 Wisdom: 22

Attack Power Str: 250 Attack Power Agi: 150 Magic Attack Power: 150 Healing Power: 110

Natural Defense: 5% Armor Defense: 14%

Luck: 0 (Stat unaffected by Level up and free points)

Available stat points: 0

Available skill points: 8

Physical Condition: Normal

Mental Condition: Normal

Astaroth grinned in satisfaction and started walking back towards the village. He had done enough for today.

He also had to consider he had been in the game for two full days, which meant he had been in there for twenty-four hours in real-time. That was a lot of time and very unhealthy for his body.

He would need to look into managing this better. Astaroth was almost certain he wasn't the only one that had done this either.

Maybe 'Evo-Gaming' would remedy the situation eventually, but for now, logging in and out was his safest option.