The King's Avatar Chapter 5 – Skill Match

Chapter 5 – Skill Match

Getting quests turned out to be quite a rough journey. New server launches always brought massive crowds. Back in Glory's history, the second server's debut saw so many players flooding the starter village that it hit capacity, freezing everyone inside. Those trying to log in from outside couldn't either. Since that fiasco, Glory boosted the village server cap temporarily at launch. The second server's nightmare never repeated.

For the tenth server's kickoff this time, preparations were solid. Newcomers got spread evenly across all villages. Sure, players dotted the landscape everywhere you looked, but it wasn't jammed to the point of chaos. Grabbing quests from NPCs was another story though. All rushed to that lone NPC for tasks, quickly piling up into a dense crowd around him. Glory prevented clipping or overlapping bodies, so folks stacked in layer upon layer. Inner players couldn't escape, outer ones couldn't squeeze in. Lots bounced wildly, hoping to leap over heads. But everyone stayed at level 0, with jumps too weak to clear anyone. The endless hopping made for an adorable, lively spectacle.

Even pros found themselves stuck in this mess. Nearby, Chen Guo grinned happily, her expression screaming 'I figured this would happen.' She eyed Ye Xiu and noted his username: Lord Grim.

Amid the nonstop yells from the horde, things gradually eased up. How? They cleared a narrow path for quest completers to exit.

Ye Xiu directed Lord Grim to snag several quests, tackling them in sequence. Most served to familiarize players with controls and the world. Pure tutorial stuff. Ye Xiu didn't need hand-holding like that. After dealing with kill steals, queues, shoving— all player-made headaches—he wrapped up every doable quest from the initial batch. Chen Guo peeked in now and then. Shockingly, these basic tasks dragged on for two whole hours, leaving even Ye Xiu to sigh in frustration: Experts count for zilch in this sea of bodies.

'Finally finished, hit Level 7 now.' He shared after submitting the final one, which bumped his level once more. Glancing back at Chen Guo, he saw the boss lady dozing off. Her head stayed aimed at the monitor!

Testing if I can pull an all-nighter still? Ye Xiu smirked inwardly, draping his jacket over Chen Guo. Then he spun back to the game.

Checking the panel, Lord Grim had racked up 340 skill points post-first quest wave.

In Glory, skills demanded skill points to learn or level up. Costs ranged from 10 to 50 per skill. A level 70 maxed character, after all key quests, could hit 4000 points. Yet the true cap sat at 5000, with the extra 1000 needing luck and prowess to snag.

Across Glory's decade, no account ever touched 5000. The legendary Battle God One Autumn Leaf's top account peaked at 4840, short by 160. Not a trivial gap—enough for three 50-point ultimate skills or three upgrades to one. For top-tier pros, that's a massive edge.

So during starter quests, skip those with XP or gear, but grab every skill point one. Attribute point rewards mattered too. Glory chars boasted four core stats: Strength, Intelligence, Vitality, and Spirit.

Strength boosted physical damage, defense, and carry weight max.

Intelligence handled magic damage, defense, and MP pool.

Vitality pumped up HP and stamina, as expected.

Spirit cut status effect duration and resistance.

Core stats rose automatically with levels. Post-20 class changes tweaked growth rates. Attribute quests? All fair game. Strength quests for strength lovers, but intelligence ones remained viable regardless.

This also meant that, for a max-level character specialized in a class and having cleared every quest, the four primary attributes would end up perfectly equal. Thus, completing all those quests was essential. Gear could then enhance the needed stats.

Attribute points simply couldn't be overlooked. He glanced at the panel and promptly had Lord Grim pick up some skills.

In Glory, class advancement happens at level 20. Prior to that, no class is set, so any profession's skills can be acquired with sufficient skill points. This setup helps players experiment freely. Once hitting level 20 and selecting a class, prior points get refunded. But post-class change, only that class's skills are available—no more dabbling across professions.

Though Ye Xiu had blanked on quest routes and dungeon strategies, his skill knowledge remained sharp. Glory stayed perfectly balanced. Even low-level skills served real purposes. Anyone could mix and match their ideal skill loadout. Skill points were scarce, though. Normally, 4000 points fell short of maxing everything, and even 5000 demanded tough choices.

When it came to skill selection, Ye Xiu relied on his proven lineup. One Autumn Leaf was a Battle Mage, yet he was once hailed as the ultimate guidebook. How could a legend like him stick to one class? True mastery demanded expertise across the board.

Ye Xiu acted on instinct, heading straight to the beginner skill tree for two level 5 essentials: Swift Run and Roll.

Every class tapped into the beginner skill tree. Ye Xiu's picks offered versatile mobility. These 10 points unlocked two distinct movement options for the character.

Swift Run boosted sprint speed with no cooldown, but it drained stamina. Once stamina hit zero, speed dropped to normal walk. Recovery came from walking slowly or standing still for quicker regen.

Roll lived up to its name, delivering a quick tumble in any direction—forward, backward, left, right, diagonal, while walking, running, you name it. No cooldown either, though it took a moment to execute.

Ye Xiu had perfected these moves ages ago. He knew exactly which skills suited his current game stage.

Sky Strike came first, a Battle Mage staple. All classes boasted a knock-up ability like this, sharing identical traits. The attack launched foes airborne; higher levels meant greater height and damage. A go-to combo starter. As a former Battle Mage main, Ye Xiu grabbed that version.

Next up, Dragon Tooth, another Battle Mage hit. This direct strike induced stun. Easy choice given his background.

He followed with Sharpshooter's Floating Bullet, Mechanic's Machine Trace, Spellblade's Wave Splitting Sword, Grappler's Backdrop, Ninja's Shuriken, Blade Master's Guard, Elementalist's Electric Ring, and Priest's Heal.

All these cost under 20 points each. Lord Grim sat at level 7, capping skill upgrades anyway. Leftover points stayed banked. Ye Xiu figured it covered every scenario at this level.

Yet, if regular players spotted this pro-curated skill kit, they'd burst out laughing.