MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Chapter 1205  The Ceiling

Whoosh! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Going back and forth through the various lists on the post he was going through, Valyr compared the lists ranking all of the players that completed the other village dungeons to the list of players that cleared the Cave of Beginnings near Daffors Village.

"Yeah… that's not good." Yet, even after going through all of these lists at least a couple of times, the young man could not stop the frown forming on his face after seeing the drastic difference between the two.

"They're going to shoot themselves in the foot at this rate."

Although the dungeons that were near the other villages had different names, themes, and layouts, the Cave of Beginnings and those other dungeons were all similar in the fact that they were the first dungeons players would experience going through.

Because of that, they gave players a rough idea of what they would expect from the dungeons they'd explore later on, such as the types of enemies they might possibly fight against once they were inside.

Aside from that, the first dungeons also gave the players a rough idea of the various difficulties a dungeon might possibly have, with the Cave of Beginnings and the other first dungeons having five of them.

Considering that the dungeons were a way for players to get used to the mechanics governing Greater Beyond, the Easy difficulty of the first dungeons were only made available after reaching Level 5, which meant that one would need to get used to the concept of fighting first.

Then, once one reached Level 10, only then would one unlock the dungeon's Medium difficulty, which introduced a couple of mechanics that slowly expanded a player's understanding of what they should expect in dungeons.

After that, players would then unlock the Hard difficulty of dungeon at Level 15, with the remaining two difficulties of Insane and Nightmare also being unlocked in increments of five levels.

In other words, if one wanted to tackle the highest difficulty the Cave of Beginnings had to offer, one would first need to reach Level 25.

Which was also known as the peak of Rank 1.

For reference, most of the lists Valyr went through that talked about the other dungeons all had players that cleared the Normal difficulty at the top of their rankings.

Though there were some outliers on the other lists that had players that cleared the Hard difficulty of their respective dungeons, the young man still didn't think too much of it.

On the other hand, out of the 100 players that were put on the list for the Cave of Beginnings, only the last 10 on the ranking cleared the Normal difficulty.

As for the rest above that number?

Hard difficulty.

After going through the Cave of Beginnings' list at least a dozen times, Valyr had counted that almost three-fourths of the players on the dungeon's unofficial rankings were able to clear the dungeon's Hard difficulty.

As for the remainder that had yet to mentioned, they took it one step further, cementing their reputation as the first group of players that were able to clear the first dungeons' Insane difficulty within the game's first day.

Of course, even though the players thought of clearing higher difficulties as a good thing, Valyr thought of it as the opposite, especially after what he went through when he played Greater Beyond in his past life.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the cause of this," muttered the young man to himself, faintly letting out a sigh as he wondered whether he should be happy or sad for the players.

In the end, the young man decided to let out a sigh once more, closing the screen he brought up as he muttered a couple more words after that.

"Well… if their leveling speed is any benefit, I guess it's the fact that they'll be able to experience the ceiling far earlier than the others would."

The ceiling.

The pinnacle.

The edge.

These words were all used by the players of Greater Beyond in his past life to ironically describe a certain phenomenon almost every player would go through at least once.

A phenomenon that meant the exact opposite of what the words usually meant.

The limit of progression.

Although it was not obvious to the players at first, almost every action one did in Greater Beyond would have a slight effect to how their character would improve later on, whether it be in the form of the skills and titles they obtained, or the classes and species they could evolve into.

With that, it went without saying that the level of strength a player could reach within the game ranged from being slightly above average compared to NPCs to a level that would cause one to be called a titan even among players.

…As long as they weren't afraid to experiment, that is.

However, if one were to only focus on gaining levels as fast as possible in order to augment their strength, then the system would eventually intervene in their path to greater power at some point, informing them that they lacked the qualifications to ascend to a higher class rank.

Once that happened, players were told that they had hit 'the ceiling'.

Of course, the ceiling wasn't a permanent thing. There were a lot of options available within the game that would allow one to circumvent it and keep progressing.

Whether it be leveling and upgrading skills, obtaining titles, comprehending Intents, consuming elixirs, or receiving better classes, all of it boiled down to fortifying and expanding one's foundation.

As long as one created a sturdy foundation that wouldn't buckle under the strength they wielded later on, then the system would greatly welcome them with open arms, giving them all the support they needed to reach a level of power that even Valyr would have a hard time fathoming.

Though, on the flip side, if one only focused on their levels and their equipment as a means of obtaining greater strength, even though it would be effective in the short term, the system would ultimately deem them unworthy of the path they've initially carved out.

"I guess I'll just let things take its course," said Valyr after some time, closing the screen he brought up as he let out a sigh.

"It's not like they'd believe me if I told them, anyway."

"…Especially the Five Leviathans."