World Online

In Gaia, the virtual world where everything happened, there was a clear hierarchy. If one wanted to try and compete in the big leagues, there were only two ways to do that.

One was to become the biggest fish in a small pond. To have a guild that encompassed an entire kingdom and to have a monopoly over its resources.

This was the easier route. It was easier to have thousands of guild members who were all at a certain level. All of them could seige the kingdom walls and overthrow the royals within. But not a single one of these events would happen in the first year of opening the game.

These would happen much later when everyone entered the higher two-digit levels.

As for the second way, it was to become a respectable fish in the biggest pond available.

When Jake entered Lazica, he wasn't planning on doing anything there permanently. He wanted the class change, so he went through with it. Never in his life would he think that he would get a legendary class. He was willing to go all the way there for an epic class.

But now, the field trip was over. He had to start recruiting and become a proper ranker. And to do that, he needed to grind, and he needed to form a preliminary party.

He already had the right people in mind. Names and figures of the most prominent young rankers who came up on their own without any guilds appeared on the top of his head.

At the end of it all though, they also caved in and joined their respected guilds, making their guilds powerhouses in their own right.

But a big pond was not even in the same comparison as the previous one. If a small pond was a kingdom, then the big ponds were the few empires that already existed in Gaia.

Most of the empires existed in the western world, which was controlled by the NPCs. There were only three big empires in the eastern world, and Loviel was one of them.

It was a haven for people invested in the speed attribute. This place was teeming with hidden quests that gave rare and epic class change quests.

Jake did not know about all of them, but he knew that at around this time, there was one person who lucked out and obtained one of the epic class quests.

It was not his intention to steal that great fortune. Instead, he wanted to force it to happen a little earlier, so that he could recruit that person.

Jake stood in front of a tall, ovular portal. It towered above him at a height of twenty meters.

This was something that was meant only for giants, and it happened to be useful to players.

Blue lines swirled within, giving it a mysterious feeling. But no one else was next to it. As for the reason, there was no one in the entirety of Lazica who could afford to use a teleportation portal just a week after the game started.

Jake touched the outer rim of the portal, and a pop-up appeared.

[Teleportation Portal Activated. Where do you wish to go?]

[Loviel Empire.] Jake said without a hint of hesitation.

[10 Silver Coins]

Jake put out a gold coin, the only coins that he did have were gold, and it just disappeared into nothingness, slowly pixelating.

But in their stead were ninety silver coins. They were neatly stacked on top of each other, and if Jake moved in the slightest, they seemed like they would fall.

Jake placed the coins in his inventory because they would be very useful later on. Greed was rampant in this world, and if anyone saw him using gold coins left and right, he would be robbed.

Even though he was strong, he was not stronger than those people who spent millions of dollars in the game already and grinded in the better leveling fields.

[Prepare to go to Loviel Empire]

Jake stepped through the blue portal which no longer rejected him now that he paid the toll. He just passed through it, and the moment that the did, he saw a completely different sight.

Jake just came from the desert, so what he saw here was nothing short of a paradise. Buildings that threatened to touch the sky, lakes at random points in the city, and streets that were full of people.

The teleportation tower that he just came out of was at a higher location, so he could see all these sights and so many more. Seeing green and blue in this place made him tear up for a second before he composed himself.

This was how a world was supposed to be. It was supposed to be teeming with life. This was how the real world should have been if it weren't for those stupid bureaucrats.

"So many people. Where will I find him?"

Where Lazica was a deserted desert kingdom, Loviel probably had among the most players at any single point. Part of the reason was that this was an empire, but the other part was that there were rumors circulating that an epic level class change quest would make an appearance at some point.

With the butterfly effect already underway, Jake did not want to push fate. His plan was to look for this one person and take him to the NPC who would give him this quest.

But to find this person would be tough.

"Where the hell would he be in this hour?" Jake thought as he looked at the sun. It was noon here as well. (It was noon when Jake entered the game)

He walked down the stairs that led him to the city itself. He was not even in the capital city of Loviel. To enter the capital city would be a death wish. Every other player was there, and it wasn't even a great place to start as a new player.

Jake knew that the person he was looking for was on one of these streets and he would find him today.

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