I think it is possible to have a 22 mage acompanied by 2 strong pets by the end of the 3rd day, under hard mode, without picking up/using/equipping ANYTHING.
background: i am new to this kind of role-playing game, grew up playing multiplayer games like chess, heroes of might and magic, and etc. so, sadly, i cannot get myself to read every single dialog and enjoy the storyline. what i do is i try to beat the system, which is impossible when playing chess, but somehow i enjoy doing it very much.
fact: when i played this game the first time, i quitted half way because the system nearly drove me insane: almost everything can be moved. and yes i enjoyed collecting things, anything that can be moved was transported to a farmland in rivertown. As a mage, 10 strength is all i got, so i ran back and forth millions of times and i kept doing it until i couldn't do it anymore. i uninstalled the game and almost took it back to the store for a refund(i am glad i didn't because later i was told that games aren't refundable). One month later i got a liltle break from school so i started playing this game again. i decided i don't want ANY item this time, except for keys and other plot/quest needed items. i started my journey, under hard mode as a mage, again. when i started attacking that knight in front of my village i realized i could take an advantage from the system settings, its a loop, which is something like this: pause, fireball, pause, speak to someone, wait, exit, pause, fireball, pause, speak to someone, and so on. and of course there should be no mistake because loading takes npc's health back to full. so i lured him to my starting room and killed him, slept 2 times to regain mana and it took me 4 hours(reallife time) to kill him, because it's so hard when you can make no mistake at all). and then things become so much easier because i have a lot of spellpoints now. i killed elves(about 45,000 exp per kill, i used some help from mobs), dwarves(about 37,500 per kill, not as descent but very impressive considering they are only level 19 creatures, i made good use of those portal stones. the most unforgetful: it took me nearly 500 spell points to kill the dwarf mage, that is when he was standing still and i was fireballing him from the other side) and some other creatures. on the 3rd day 11:37(did a time check with the dwarf king), i was at level 20.7
thoughts: maybe killing beth the knight isn't the smartest choice at the beginning because 2 sleeps are too many. in my opinion, one way to level at the beginning is something like this: (hard mode, mage, no item.) first go to rivertown archers guild with some mobs after you, then talk to the boss so that the mobs who followed you there get to fight the elves. and if you are lucky the mobs will die and the elves will have little health left and then you can finish them with fireballs, then repeat the process with elves at dark forest(spare the captain ranked one) and/or other npcs(use "exp over mana" ratio to determine who you should fight). when you have rez and leadership, kill the darkforest elf(he is at level 52. 52! man), make him your pet and go to dwarves' place to have fun, portal stones are so convinient. this way i think its possible to get to level 22 on day 3 and now you can have intermediate rez and intermediate leadership. now go back to rivertown elve guild, pocketpick the elf boss(52 elf captain)untill he is hostile and turns red,(or just take stuff and you can throw them away later)kill him and make him your pet too. and now you can go back to your starting village and start playing the game with (20%+30%=50%)half of a 52 captain shooter. and it only takes you 10~15 reputations and 3 days to do it.
useful facts(version 1.29, hard, female mage): always bless yourself before lvling up, always use space-bar:it pauses the game, and the best thing about a single player game is that it can be paused, talk to the trainer at the dark forest human castle from outside the fence but don't fight him, this way you get an extra life :),
