【January 1, 3031. 5:46 PM.】

Hesychia opened her chat box and sent a message out of curiosity. Since their last encounter, the new player hasn't contacted her.

[Swallowtail: Shall we start the event?]

Hesychia didn't expect a swift answer, but then at the bottom of her screen a sign saying “Pers is typing...” appeared.

[Pers: (5:47 PM) I'm gonna die]

[Pers: I'm not even joking]

[Pers: It's so hard to level up characters]

Hesychia saw the response of suffering and chuckled, replying with a little tease:

[Swallowtail: Really?]

[Swallowtail: I was doing fine at your level.]

[Pers: My highest leveled character is lvl 37]

A reply was already sent when Hesychia wasn't even finished typing another message. She then adjusted and tapped her previous one, and replied to herself.

[Swallowtail: But now, I can't explain my agony.]

Yes, even though she had been playing for a while... Hesychia still isn't that good at the game. Still learning a few more things from senior players.

[Pers: So even elites can suffer]

Replying to the latter's former message, Swallowtail quoted:

[Swallowtail: This is a good character to be honest, he succeeded me in equilibrium quests.]

Equilibrium Quest is the border between world levels that players must complete to successfully update their world difficulty. If the players decide to not do the quest, players will be stuck on a certain Era Rank range. This could lead to not being able to open certain maps, quests, and rewards etc. This is done in solo mode.

And followed with:

[Swallowtail: Elites my foot.]

[Pers: YOU’RE ERA RANK 45!]

Hesychia stared at the screen. Although her level is a few times higher, “elites” are people who have reached era rank 55 or above. Veterans are probably around 70-80. The current Era cap was 100, and it's rare to see players of 90. She's not even in the tip of the iceberg. Hesychia only started casually playing last year, around November 3029, 2 months after the game was officially released. You could say that she's one of the “OGs” but because of being a go-with-the flow player, her Era ranked stayed at the border of 45. Hesychia can say that she has learned a lot but still lacks knowledge about this game.

A few more discussions passed, character build, party composition. Pers also decided to send some screenshots which made their interaction a lot better.

Few minutes ticked by, Hesychia found herself enjoying to teach the other person:

[Swallowtail: The world level increases with your Era rank level along with the world. There’s like a level range for each world level. For example, “World Level 0” has a range of 0-15 Era Rank. “World Level 1” has the range of 15-30 Era Rank. “World level 2” has 30-45. You're world level one. I'm world level three, range is 45-55.]

[Pers: OH!]

[Swallowtail: I just did my Equilibrium Quest which is the border of each world level. If I hadn't done it, I would still be in world level two. You'll know more once you hit ER30, these quests start there.]

[Pers: What things do you think I should have to survive that quest?]

[Swallowtail: Have you done the Major Screening One? Although other Major screenings onwards were timed, this one is permanent. So, even if you didn't play upon the game release, you'll be able to access it.]

[Pers: Yes! Why?]

[Swallowtail: Then, that event must have given you your personalized weapon its attribute. Can I see it?]

The first time you complete Major Screening One, the game will mail the player a customizable weapon and players can choose one attribute available in the game. There are tons to choose from, the game developer might have enjoyed designing and coding. It takes a lot of device memory if you want to install it all. Through optimization, players can choose whether they want to see other’s specialized weapon attributes (which will be the death of your device) or not (which would lead to easy ambush).

Without attribute resources, personalized weapons would look like shadows held by enemies.

Majority of players choose to hide their personalized weapons, and only use it for PVP or death matches. Most of the time, players tend to bring out those default weapons given by completing quests and such. Although it does not fall behind on damage, personalized weapons are something players stake their prides on.

After all, it is their first creation.

But well, it doesn't mean if you download all of the attribute resources, a player would immediately be able to tell which is it. It all usually clicks when the battle starts.

Let's be honest, who would memorize all of those thousands of attributes you can choose from?

[Swallowtail: ...Of course, only if you want to. I can pair up more skill, buffs, and other necessary things you can pack once I know.]

[Pers: Do people usually use their personalized weapon to do Equilibrium Quests?]

[Swallowtail: You can use the default ones if you're good. But if ever you feel like you're about to fail, relying on your personalized weapon will be the best course of action, of course. By doing this, you can also master your weapon faster, find its strengths, weaknesses, and level it up.]

Hesychia scratched her neck. To her, this is sounding more like forcing a newbie to reveal their heart. She was about to say that she could just arrange a general analysis on her when Pers’ avatar suddenly threw something out of her inventory.

Hesychia, “????????????”

[Swallowtail: Wh??]

[Swallowtail: What are you doing?]

Why did you throw away your personalized weapon?!

[Pers: I'm not really sure how I can show you the attributes, as far as I know I'm the only one who can see it when you select inventory hahahaha :D]

Hesychia stared at the floating weapon in front of her.

[Swallowtail: Pick it up!]

If they had been in a Public World Arena, this thing would have been stolen in seconds!

Pers immediately picked it up. The said weapon showed up on her character’s hand.

[Pers: We're in my world anyway I won't do this outside :c]

This game is an open world MMORPG, with a long storyline. It has two different world lobbies. The Private World Lobby and Public World Arena. As the name suggests, PWL is a player's own world, like a private suite full of resources. From here, players could solo events, and quests or invite co-ops with a max of three people. PWL offers the players a 4 man team where beside their chosen character, 3 other character slots to make a team are available. Though, you'll need to gacha other characters in its respective banners. 

This is probably made for the people who do not want unnecessary interaction. Meanwhile, PWA is a world domain where players can find/hire random teammates to complete quests, events, trading and do group chaos. This is where PVPs and Death Matches also. Only one of your chosen characters can enter this lobby.

[Pers: So how do I...]

【Player Swallowtail has requested to view your personalized weapon. Would you accept?】

A notification popped up between the two characters.

[Pers: There's something like this!?]

[Swallowtail: Well yeah, there are also “friends” options in this game so not everything is a secret, it's all up to you.]

【Accept】    【Reject】

【Player Pers accepted!】

A tab slowly materialized in front of Hesychia, showing a short summary of the weapon.

【“Oath’s Caedis”

Weapon Type: Sniper

Appearance:  Has a deep red tint slowly fading to black.

Attribute: Renders the blood flow to stop, blocks the effects of healing on the part shot. Affected area would only recover once the owner of the weapon decided to turn it off.】

Hesychia, “Oh this.”

[Swallowtail: Do you enjoy killing?]

[Pers: Yeah :D]

[Pers: the way PVP worked on the tutorial given and when I tried it fr was nice!]

Hesychia smiled on her device and finally gave an elaborate plan on how to pass the Equilibrium Quests and its shortcuts. She even suggested some conjecture she had personally studied, and some bugs that haven't been patched up yet.

[Swallowtail: That's all I can suggest for now, maybe I'll be able to give more when I see Oath’s Caedis in action.]

【Player Pers has invited you to a PVP battle!】

[Swallowtail: I don't mean it like this.]

[Pers: ER23 vs ER45, it's all right]

Hesychia laughed, so unusual that her roommate opened her door to check on her. “You okay? Has lack of sleep finally caught up on you? There's an asylum I know—”

“Close the door.”

“Yes Ma'am,” the door closed.

[Swallowtail: I'll use my other account to fight you.]

[Pers: You're looking down on me... :D?]

The innocent smiley face Pers usually uses turned from a whimsical tone to provocative emoticon. Hesychia thought before answering sincerely:

[Swallowtail: All PVPs are done in PWA, many people will see. They'll flame me for accepting such an advantageous battle.]

[Pers: What level is your other account?]

[Swallowtail: ER21]

[Pers: what's your UID?]

[Swallowtail: Silas (@sil___as)]

There was a few minutes pause in their chat before the latter replied. 

[Pers: Your name just reminded me of someone!]

[Swallowtail: Who?]

[Pers: just someone i met from the past, idk where she is though, she was one of the people i admired]

Hesychia responded with a sarcastic sticker, and a laughing sticker, [Swallowtail: Hahaha, maybe that's me?]

[Pers: Nah, someone like her is impossible to be here]

[Pers: by impossible, i meant it! impossible really!]

[Pers: unless you're from the military]

Hesychia wondered as she sat up, tilting her head, “Military?”

[Pers: And are you even a girl???]

[Pers: Hey!]

【Public World Arena, 6:23 PM】

In the public game channel where 90% of the players had it muted due to its non-stop pings, announced:

【A PVP at Area 15 will commence at exactly 6:30 PM (Time has been automatically adjusted to your timezone).

Players:

Pers (@Persephone.15) 《ER23》

Silas (@sil___as) 《ER21》】

[Pers: i really feel kinda bummed up]

[Silas: hahaha, if only we can fight in the private world...]

[Pers: your avatar’s a male here too]

【User 839392 joined Area 15!】

[User839392: pers is here!]

【+Uyuu___1 and 4 others joined Area 15!】

[Uyuuuu___1: WHAT THE F8hsd THAT SHIT AGAIN?]　

【+12—joined Area 15!】

[Yurio_plisetsky: who's this guy going to obliterate this time lmao]

【+39—Joined Area 15!】

[F@#$-@CK!!: oh, a new player this time, a lower one]

[Uyuuuu___1: usually it's always the mfs in er30-40 something]

[User839392: lololol u victim]

[Uyuuuu___1: #### off]

【System Notice: Greetings dear players~ Please avoid using too mature words at the public world arena, thank you!】

Reading the PVP Area 15 Chatroom, Hesychia finally understood where Pers’ confidence came from. Players that will engage in PVP has their own separate chatroom, and that's where Hesychia typed:

[Silas: (6:28 PM) you must be godly on playing if you can defeat those ER players]

[Pers: :D]

[Pers: now that i've think about it you can just let me attack you in your other account, and be on defensive since you'll just observe how I'll use Oath’s Caedis]

[Pers: do you usually do PVPs?]

[Silas: no, this is only my second time after the tutorial.]

[Pers: you're really insulting me now]

[Pers: if I defeat you here, let me see your personalized weapon in @Secré.swallowtail acc :P]

【The PVP in Area 15 will start in 10 seconds!】

[Pers: Btw what is the set time announced to you by the system?]

[Silas: 18:30]

[Pers: it adjusts according to time zones of the players, we're in the same area then]

[Pers: also, you type differently in this account!]

Both Hesychia and Pers’ avatar were teleported at opposite sides of the arena. Pers summoned her weapon from thin air, the wine colored sniper slowly materializing on her hands.

[Yuriii123: here we go, that red sniper again]

[Taytay: people who often watch pvps sre just here to collect infos about players and their personalized weapons]

[qwerty#23: some just enjoy it really nerd]

[Taytay: can't deny that most do it for their gain since 99% of the time these pvp maniacs uses their personalized weapon to show off and memorize other’s attributes]

【The PVP in Area 15 will start in 3 seconds!】

Bang!