It has already been nine days since the launch of Sol: Enchantment (hereinafter 'Sol'). Like many other Inheritors, I have been playing diligently since the servers opened. Having moved past the early stages of creating my character and running through the Dungeon of Despair, I am now raising two characters simultaneously using the squad mode. I would like to briefly share my experiences from this short yet eventful first week.

Before starting the game, I spent some time deciding which class to pick. I personally prefer ranged classes in other RPGs, and I had heard that Mages are highly dependent on Skills, so I decided to go with the Ranger.

I felt comfortable with this choice, thinking I could always raise other classes as Sub characters via the squad feature later and focus on whichever one suits my playstyle best. As it turns out, the Ranger is considered advantageous for Minnow players, so I am quite satisfied with my progress.

Once I started the game, the Main quest began immediately. I remember being surprised by the flashy visuals during the early tutorial section where I got to experience the Divine Power through the Nine Tree.

I then remembered the pre-registration coupon I had, which gave me a Rare God Armor and Spirit, and I continued to Level up by progressing through the Main quest. Around this time, I started noticing 'MISS' messages, which was annoying, but I was pleased to find a Spirit with a Ranged Accuracy option. I'm still using it because I haven't managed to get a Unique Spirit since.

Even after equipping the Spirit and God Armor, I continued to push through the Main quest without any separate grinding. Although I died a few times when I wasn't paying attention, there were no major issues with story progression up to around level 20.

I had died a few times in earlier sections, mostly due to being swarmed by too many monsters because of area-of-effect skills. After I switched to using only single-target skills, the Main quest proceeded smoothly. However, while I was enjoying the game and growing my character comfortably, I finally hit my first hurdle: the 'Dungeon of Despair'.

While the Dungeon of Despair is now popular as an early-game Hunting grounds, I felt literal despair when I first entered it on launch day. Unlike other Fields where I could progress easily due to the high number of users, the deep levels of the Dungeon of Despair were filled with aggressive monsters, and I was frequently killed by two or three of them focusing their fire on me at once.

Feeling frustrated, I asked an acquaintance for advice and was told that they had cleared the Dungeon of Despair Main quest easily with Epic God Armor. Tempted, I used a 90% Google discount coupon from an event to purchase the ₩4400 Ren's Mini Set and the ₩55k God Armor Package.

However, the package only gave me one Unique God Armor, and the 10-pull for Top-tier God Armor I bought with Diamonds yielded the same item. At least it had the Ranged Accuracy option, which allowed me to re-enter the Dungeon of Despair, where I previously couldn't even hunt. The deep levels were still difficult due to the many aggressive monsters, but I was able to slowly Level up in zones 2 and 3 of the first floor, where there were fewer people and no aggressive monsters.

After reaching level 30, I spent a long time deciding which weapon to pick from the Unique weapon selection Chest. Since I was stuck in the Dungeon of Despair, the bonus damage against Undead felt very attractive. I chose the Silver Longbow, and even now, approaching level 40, I think it was a good choice.

Although the Silver Longbow sped up my hunting in the Dungeon of Despair, managing my HP in the deep levels remained difficult. Following advice from a fellow reporter, I tried hunting with regular Health Potions instead of the infinite ones. While it was possible to manage my HP, the Potions were being consumed too quickly, and I didn't think I could afford the Nine cost.

Wanting to make the most of the infinite Health Potion period, I decided to put the Main quest on hold and focus on leveling up by hunting consistently in the Rifts of the Lutein Graveyard. I checked other Hunting grounds, but perhaps because I chose a Silver Weapon, this was the most comfortable place for Auto Hunt. I even bought all the Rare Skills with Nine to Spec up, but I rarely used them because I was always low on Mana.

Then, on Friday, June 19, the first growth mitigation Patch was released. The Defense of monsters was significantly reduced, and the acquisition of Nine and EXP was increased. I moved to the Dungeon of Despair, where I previously couldn't land hits due to low Hit, and started hunting.

I was worried about reaching the deep levels due to the aggressive monsters, but perhaps because there were more people in the dungeon, progress was easier than expected. While I didn't feel the increase in EXP from the patch as much because I had changed my Hunting grounds, the doubled Nine acquisition was noticeably large.

I spent the entire weekend using the Nine earned in the Dungeon of Despair to enhance my El's Attack Bracelet. I got greedy trying for +2 and ended up losing all my Nine, barely finishing with two +1 items.

After the weekend, on Monday, June 22, the second growth mitigation Patch was implemented. The damage dealt by monsters was reduced by nearly half, allowing me to comfortably pass through areas where I had previously struggled even with regular Health Potions. I resumed the Main quests I had put off and looked for higher-level Hunting grounds.

After visiting a few places, I found that the most efficient Hunting grounds at level 30 was the Rifts of the Orc Settlement. Although I occasionally died when someone interacted with the core in the center of the Rift, I could earn more EXP compared to the deep levels of the Dungeon of Despair, and the Nine yield was quite high.

While playing, I was lucky enough to obtain a Nine Core. The market price for Nine Cores had dropped significantly at the time, which was a bit disappointing, but I was still satisfied to earn some extra Diamonds.

I wondered where to spend my accumulated Nine, but since the Ranger's Skill efficiency didn't seem that great, I decided to craft a piece of Unique Armor using the Unique Armor supply blueprint I received from an event. High-grade materials were too expensive, so I bought 50 mid-grade wood from the Market and crafted the high-grade wood myself. It cost about 660 Diamonds to buy the materials and 250k Nine to craft.

Since I received Armor from the level 35 selection Chest, I prioritized crafting a Helmet, which requires the most materials after Armor. I initially misread the amount of mid-grade materials needed for high-grade ones and spent more Diamonds than expected. I regretted it a bit at first, but as I moved to higher-level Hunting grounds and started seeing 'MISS' messages again, I felt relieved that I had secured the Hit in advance.

I tried gambling the remaining Nine on the Seal of Nine, but I barely broke even. I really can't recommend the Seal of Nine, but if you believe you are 'different,' I won't stop you.

After hearing a tip from a fellow reporter that the Undead Ruins are incredibly efficient if you're using a weapon with bonus damage against Undead, I decided to move my hunting grounds. Compared to the Orc Settlement where I had been hunting, I was able to gain nearly double the EXP. Wondering if I had just been hunting in areas that were too low-level, I visited other spots known for good efficiency in the late 30s, such as the Megalith Temple and the Coastal Garden, but the Undead Ruins were so overwhelmingly better that I didn't find much merit in the others.

However, it was so crowded that for melee classes like the Knight, monsters would often die while they were still moving toward them, or a Mage's Skills wouldn't land properly. It was clear that the Ranger's ability to deal damage quickly to single monsters from a distance was a huge advantage during the growth process.

What I felt while leveling up until now is that as long as you don't get too obsessed with the Main quest, you can grow comfortably without hitting any major roadblocks. Of course, there were sections where HP management was difficult before the patches, and Nine consumption might have been high without infinite Health Potions, but I don't think there will be any major issues reaching level 40.

Thanks to this, I leveled up quickly to reach level 40 and unlocked the squad mode. I chose the Knight as my Sub character for the squad. While it would be more efficient to only raise Rangers, I don't plan on raising duplicate classes so I can experience as many as possible. I'm also looking forward to the Healer class coming in July, so I'll likely raise one if a third squad slot opens up.

To Auto Hunt with a Sub character via squad mode, I had to reach level 20. I quickly raised the Knight to level 20 while leaving my Ranger on Auto Hunt. It was a bit disappointing that I couldn't use squad mode while offline, but I was highly satisfied with being able to earn Nine twice as fast while logged in.

There is also a way to earn Diamonds by focusing your squad character on crafting Nine Cores. Rather than using that method, I plan to continue raising the Knight steadily. My current primary goal is to reach level 50. I'm hoping that the Epic weapon selection Chest provided at level 50 will allow for a noticeable Spec up.