Levels and power

The Obsidian Golem that took you a long, careful fight at level 130 walks up to you again at level 300. One swing, and it bursts into clean water. That's where the climb leads.

Every level counts

Everything you do gives XP: calming creatures, gathering, crafting, jobs and finding new places. Levels have no cap. Each one takes a little longer than the last (level 100 needs 15,694,800 XP in total), and each one makes you stronger:

• your hits and spells grow a little;
• your health and mana grow, by your class's rates;
• at some levels your class's skills gain a rank: 1.12× their power at level 80, 1.36× at 150 and 1.6× at 300.

Open your Satchel to watch it happen. Attack is the biggest normal hit with what's in your hand, and Magic is your biggest spell. Both go up with every level.

Skills grow as you use them

Your weapon skill (melee or distance) grows with every hit you land, and magic grows with the mana you spend on spells. Everyone starts at 10. Each skill level takes a little more practice than the last, and your class learns its own style fastest.

Your skills keep up with your level. Maybe you levelled up mostly by gathering, jobs and exploring. Then each level-up lifts your class's fighting skills to at least 70% of the way to what a fighter of your level has trained. Training on creatures still takes you further than that.

Beyond level 130

No creature is ever above level 130. You can keep going, and every level past it adds 5% to every hit and spell you land on a creature:

Up to level 130 nothing changes, so the climb stays a real adventure. The bonus counts against creatures and bosses (and on the training dummies, so you can see it). It never counts in duels between players.

What you can do about it

• Fight things your own size. Creatures more than 10 levels below you give less XP. The lands further out pay much better (see Continents and danger).
• Keep your weapon current. A new tier every few levels is a big step (see The gear ladder).
• Use your class's style. Knights and Monsters train melee, Shooters distance, Ninjas both, and Mages magic. Your class learns its own style fastest.
• Bring friends. A party shares the XP, and a higher-level friend can sync down to fight beside you (see Level sync and parties).

Where next

Pick a land one band above your level on the map and go see how far you can push. Then read Combat and elements to hit harder with the right element, and Knocked out and getting up so a bad fall never costs much.