Gather Aria until level 2-3 (depends on your patience!). Kill random monsters in immediate area until level 3-4, then begin doing beginning quests. Far better to use “gathering” to level you while it does level you. Will pay off in long run. Keep Aria for a later quest, as well as for making money for a tidy nest egg. Also a good idea is to get a head start on the kinah…

Remember to gather, gather, gather… and gather some more. If you see something to gather, gather it while doing your quests. Every little inch on the exp. bar is a good thing! Also, the extra kinah goes a long way.

You will find that level 9 will come quickly, often with the other quests still not done. Go through the Ascension. You can always come back after Ascending, the extra “strength” to finish the last bit of quests will help. Of course, after ascending you won’t be able to gather in Poeta anymore, but that’s okay. Your nest egg has likely helped you by now as you should, as soon as you hit level 10, upgrade what you can and buy your skills. Once you finish upgrading, return to Poeta and finish the quests there. By this time, you may even be level 12.

Head to Verteron and start the process all over again. Now you can gather almost everything with ease, but keep up the gathering! Even if you get the message that states the skill is too high/difficulty too low, gather it anyway. This time, don’t sell those mats, save them in your warehouse until you need them for your skills. Sell the “greyed” out items and other useless white gear that you can’t use. Anything green, sell at the Brokerage unless you can use it, at which point, keep in Warehouse.

Anything beyond this you can, or have, likely figured out on your own.