Underlight: Shades of Truth - Advancement

Advancement in Underlight is not like advancement in other games. Underlight promotes creative social interaction and the development of complex social structures. So, characters tend to advance through creative roleplay and not through mindless repetitive actions.

In Underlight, levels are called Orbits. Orbits can be obtained by gaining experience points through a number of methods, from hunting creatures, performing quests given to you by teachers (they are marked by colored halos), or through quality interactions. Attacking other players can lead to gaining or losing experience; however, please note that fighting other players without an "in-character" justification that coincides with your character's persona and current events is "player killing", and may result in experience penalties or other punishments. Upon reaching every 9th Orbit, you will not be able to advance further without seeking a "Master Teacher" (marked by double colored halos) and performing a customized quest to gain your "Sphere" (10 orbits = 1 sphere). At the end of each Sphere you will need to obtain a Sphere Quest to "ascend" to the next one. (at 19, 29, 39, etc.)

Arts are similar to spells and can affect either one's own character or other characters and may be beneficial or harmful depending on the art. Each player begins with a few basic arts and as they progress in level, they may gain new arts that are specific to their focus. Teachers may teach a character arts in exchange for a minor quest. Similar to the Orbits, when an art reaches the 9th level, a "plateau" quest must be obtained from a teacher to level it to the 10th level by performing a quest. Arts must be plateau'd every 10 levels, but they will advance with use in between those plateaus.