Taking out a canteen from his inventory Haruto filled it up with swamp water just in case he came into dire straits. He wandered around aimlessly in the swamp. After becoming lvl 5, nothing in this zone could reach his strength. He was an overlord compared to these brittle bones, squishy toads, and sickly slimes. I need to slaughter these lowly monsters for xp, only then can I go to higher regions. But this is going to be boring without any music. Well, it's ok I have the next best thing, RP.

Good afternoon class, you may call me Great Teacher Haruto, today we will be learning about an exceptional lesson. Some of you mouth breathers may lack the integrity and dare I say honor to work hard. But for those who wish to better themselves, rise above mediocrity, and become productive members of virtual society. You must understand, comprehend, and master the art of grinding. If you do not once out of the tutorial and in the real virtual world, no legitimate and respectable guild will accept you. You will find yourself in a low-tier guild that is only meant for those lacking in skill. I, Haruto sensei, can testify that your character will live below the standard of virtual living. Not only that, but you will scrape by each sesh with the cheapest and useless loot. You will find yourself in the bars begging and selling your character's body as a meat shield for currency. No one likes playing tanks, so save yourself the heartache.

"But sensei," you say. "How do I become good at grinding, when all my friends tell me to cough up some money and skip over it?" Well, children, this is what we call peer pressure, and you should immediately call that friend dogshit. If they persist in their claims, you may be forced to block them, but that's fine. No friend that wants you to spend money for xp is a friend worth having. Once those shoddy and skill-less friends are out of the picture, you can move on to the next step. Grinding in the game.

There are a few tips and tricks for grinding, and luckily the state-funded tuition covers this basic course.

First things first never grind with good loot, no brainer, right? Wrong. This is the first newbie mistake that always happens. You start the game, finish the first real quest and get a new weapon, lucky you. Now you want to get straight into grinding, but hold up sport. The new weapon has a unique feature we in the game industry call durability. Oh boy, using it against those level 1 enemies sure does quicken the process. Still, it also hastens the drop in durability.

"Big deal," you say. "All I gotta do is repair it at the smithy and boom back in business."

Before you pat yourself on the virtual back for such a revolutionary thought, consider the cost-benefit analysis. A real gamer always tries to maximize profit in a video game. At low levels, most of the rare items you will find won't be available at first, because you are a poor boy. The good stuff will be from completing quests, but the essence of grinding is not questing but killing low-level creatures for xp. So if you use that decent weapon from the get-go, not only will it drop in durability, making it doodoo butter. But it will also drain your already meager funds. Just use the free starting weapon and take the extra time to grind in return for money.

Let's use some real virtual world examples to prove my point. You see, in front of me, we have a level one slime. Look as it meanders about begging to be harvested for that sweet, sweet exp inside. I could use my katana and quickly one-shot this weak existence. Still, I have no clue what the durability on the katana is. So, instead, imma just whack it with my fist. Haruto pulled his fist back in a quick motion and threw two punches exploding the slime into tiny bits. Now look at that it took twice the hits, but zero durability in return.

Haruto went about punching all the slimes in his area for about 2 hours. Crikey now, that was some work. But it is all worth it in the end as we profit not only from xp, but also from not spending the precious durability. This also leads to my next tip, which should be the first, but I forgot, so it's now number 2.

Second tip, begin grinding as soon as possible.

"Another no-brainer." You snort in disdain. "Jeez, why is this course state-funded?"

It is because of low-level fools like you who want to complete some main quests and get into the story. Fuck the story, for now, that is. Don't get me wrong. I, The Great Teacher Haruto, play for the story no one plays just to grind, but I can assure you, you will find little enjoyment. Why? It's because it is quite hard to enjoy the story when every other villain is knee-deep in you. After all, all you did was the main story quests that didn't even max your level out in time for the battle to be winnable. I promise in Heroes Of Darkness throughout the entire trilogy, never has there existed a player who beat the game and only did main story quests. Without spending money, that is. But if you waste money, did you really beat the game? Remember, as soon as the game lets you out into the world, spam kill the monsters that spawn no matter their level, take your time and hunt each beast. You will thank yourself down the road when you don't have to stop in the middle of a good story, because that cocky villain you are supposed to drop, puts you to sleep in three hits.

An 18-year-old student who looked a lot like Rem with triple's D's asked her secret crush, Great Teacher Haruto. "Oh, handsome sensei, could you give us stupid kids an example?"

No problem, you may also come after class if you need some private tutoring. Our real virtual world example would be mr.bonesama, who almost ended my very young new life. Now imagine having that experience every time you ran into a miniboss or god forbid an actual boss throughout the story. The first few times will be exhilarating. Maybe you'll even feel like a badass beating the boss when there is a 10 level disparity, but I promise that after the third time you die, you will rage-quit the game for that night. Hell, I wanted to rage-quit the moment my battle started.

The Rem knock-off bent forward, letting her jugs of destiny smash against the desk. "Thank you, sensei. I will be sure to stop by this afternoon." The knock-off blushed from finally talking to the universe's most handsome bachelor.

Third tip: strategize. When in doubt strategy out. Efficiency is the bottom line for grinding, so always grind with that in mind. Cost-benefit people, time is exp and exp is time. Why slowly whittle a group of enemies down, when you can lead them to an exploding barrel. Prioritize ranged enemies, even low-level ones will overtime stack up the dmg. Unlike the melee ones', their accuracy can be frightening. Even when they miss, the hitbox may still register it, so kill those hacking cretins.

Make sure to take into account allies for strategies. You got rid of your friends, but that is a blessing, for now, you get to use the NPC companions and place them in the perfect spot. Not only will they listen to your every command without question, but you don't even have to split the loot. If you choose to be a ranged champ, kite around the horde of NPCs, and make that extra exp. If it takes longer to clear, but the exp gain is higher, always choose to spend more time. Hell, if you have a ranged companion, just run around as they slowly whittle the enemy down. Don't be afraid to be a coward, better to be alive and running than dead and still. In conclusion, use your noggin and always use the advantages at your disposal.

Unfortunately, none of these slimes are ranged, and I am alone in this playthrough, so we lack a real-world example of ranged-champ combat. But fear not for I have the perfect strategy of using my heavy punches to kill groups of slime in one swoop.

Though sad, no heart-broken to hear their hero lacked a real-world example, the students still felt accomplished just hearing the Great Teacher talk.

Next tip, push your limits. When grinding, you may think that grinding only consists of low-level mobs, but that is wrong. If given the opportunity, grind out the highest level enemies, you are safely able to defeat. I repeat, safely able to defeat. One to five levels max should be the difference in level between you and that enemy. Skill can only go so far when the enemy is 10 levels up and can one-shot you. If you believe yourself to be mechanically gifted, don't be afraid to try your luck at a group of enemies at the same level as yourself.

Only through tough victories, does one become better. The skill you learn from grinding will translate when fighting other people. The enemy will not expect you to test your limits in an actual fight. That makes you unpredictable and having tested your limits before you know what is and isn't possible.

In my humble opinion, this is the most significant difference between PayToWins and actually skilled players. Skilled players know the proper combos after playing for so many hours and doing it so many times. Experienced players know the hitboxes, know the spell times, know the movements, and know themselves after accumulating hours of practice.

The example I will use is me versus the bag of bones. That fight was tough, and I barely came out on top. But me having completed the tutorial, even though only pussies do the tutorial, is far superior to me before the tutorial. On top of that, I read the player's abilities before choosing this character. I can assure you, the only thing a PTW player reads is the terms and services before purchase. Haha, that's just some grinder jokes for you, kids. The next bag of bones I run into will not enjoy the close fight that one did. I know my limits. For example, those crocs would fuck me, no condom. So knowing my limits, I will instead fight these weak and defenseless slimes until the day comes that I can make fresh croc boots.

Haruto spent the entire day killing slime and talking to himself to ward off boredom and the growing loneliness he had accumulated. From noon to past midnight, he had swung his sword almost 1000 times and had moved forward one whole level. Congrats on leveling up. Three unassigned skill points added. 1 free point for every skill

My first day in the swamp was quite a smooth experience, now this is easy difficulty. None of that 4 levels above me bullshit. "Final lesson class. Always get enough sleep. A growing gamer needs at least 3 hours of sleep to function properly. Tonight I will have a king's sleep and have around 6. I know, I know. Sensei, you give yourself too much respite. But I am lazy by virtue and need this sleep for my weary mind… Class, it was an honor teaching you, I will see you guys bright, but definitely not too early." Tears appeared in Haruto's eyes after whispering his farewells, he allowed them to form and flow steadily down his face.

Never had he noticed just how lonely it was when one is truly alone. He was very much surprised by this realization. Back on earth, he almost always stayed in his room gaming by himself. He considered himself to be a loner and believed he could do without human interaction. Typically when his family asked if he wanted to do something, he would say no. But late nights around 2 or 3 am when he was done gaming, he would walk around the house, and sometimes very rarely someone else would be up. During those times, he would just have small-talk for at most 10 minutes, looking back on it he really enjoyed those times.

The sun had long since set, and Haruto was mentally fatigued. He was unable to make a real bed, so he slept in the swamp water tonight. Haruto grumbled to himself, trying to bolster his own morale, "No matter how boring the task, I have the mental strength to do these monotonous works. While others paid to win to stack their characters in "heroes of darkness," I simply grinded for hours to top them. I would miss school days, missed meals, missed showers, peed in a cup of ramen, and play until the same time of the very next day just to compete with those scrubs who have no gamer honor. As a result, my characters consistently showed their quality over the suped-up characters who lacked the skill to back up their gear. I have pride in my grinding ability."