by John Nest
'These monsters may be below level 80, but I still need to be careful.' he reminded himself.
He collected seven seal skins and chunks of meat before resuming his voyage.
A few hours passed and his thoughts were only of the grandeur of the Murray river. He saw some poison dart frogs lazily eating the mosquitoes, along with Permiana dragonflies feasting on the same frogs near the riverbank. He was far from those monsters, so they left him alone.
Then, his Cunning of the Dire Fox picked up a group of ten stingrays up ahead. Unsure of the level of danger they could pose, he decided to proceed with caution. The sight of these majestic three-meter-long monsters leaping out of the river and flapping their pectoral fins was mesmerizing. Smoke thought they looked like birds flying out of the water, for a few seconds at least. He carefully rowed alongside them, ready to pick up the bow placed on his lap at a moment's notice.
SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH
Smoke was slowly getting drenched, as a good amount of water went his way each time the stingrays would dive in. They remained docile despite his presence, so he surmised that even though these monsters were huge, they weren't aggressive. He opted to leave them alone, as he somewhat enjoyed their company.
He was able to relax and have a leisurely ride for the next hour. The setting sun was gradually giving way to the dark shades of the night sky. With his satiety bar at dangerously low levels and Igniz as his only source of light, Smoke decided to make camp for the night. He broke away from the stingrays and rowed to a forest patch near the riverbank to his left.
With Cunning of the Dire Fox, he observed that there were no hostile monsters nearby. He tied his rowboat to a sturdy sycamore tree and started gathering firewood. Smoke had Igniz ignite the campfire while he skillfully cut the seal meat into cubes before putting it into the boiling pot.
Both of them enjoyed the cubed seal meat. With his satiety bar filled, he told Igniz to scout the nearby area and only to engage low-level monsters that aren't in a swarm. He trusted his dark ember sprite to fend for himself while he logged out for the night in Zectas in order to get two hours of sleep in the real world.
* * * * * *
Lush green sycamore and cottonwood trees greeted Smoke as his eyes adjusted to the virtual reality world. "Igniz! I'm back, bud." he called out to the dark ember sprite. His symbiote came flying less than thirty seconds later and orbited happily around him, cheerfully greeting him upon his return to Zectas.
Smoke reached out his hand and patted Igniz on the head. As he did, he looked at his arm and suddenly remembered the feeling of Horrabelle's nails deep in his flesh. Pulling his hand back, he held the area below the wrist tightly.
'Tromperie was merely a setback. It was not a failure, but a precursor to my delayed success.' Smoke chanted positive mantras in his mind in order to drive out his frustration.
With one deep breath, he cleared his head. He then opened his backpack window, took out the seal meat and started chopping it into nice, even cubes. He needed to prepare a meal in advance, so he wouldn't have to make a trip to shore the next time his satiety bar gets low.
Igniz orbited around him, which helped calm him down as he cooked their meal. He smiled at the dark ember sprite. "Thanks, bud. I'm glad you're around. Although, I feel that if you could talk, things would be completely different." he said.
Smoke sharpened his weapons and readied his belongings. With everything prepared, he untied the rowboat from the sycamore tree and pushed it into the river. A poison dart frog sitting on top of a driftwood attacked him with its tongue, but he easily dodged it. Igniz quickly shot a fireball in response and blew both the driftwood and the pesky frog out of the water.
Calmly rowing along the river, Smoke enjoyed a couple of minutes of serene nature as he felt no monsters nearby. However, he noticed that this was unnatural and could only mean that there was something farther up ahead. He signaled his symbiote to fly in front of the rowboat and scout for potential danger.
Using Symbiote Vision, Smoke saw blue scaly humanoids with gills where their ears should be and fins on top of their heads. He instantly recognized them as Murlocks. They appeared to be blocking the way to one of the many branches of the river. Remembering his last encounter with these creatures, he eagerly took out the specialized earmuffs and equipped them. He counted a little more than a hundred of them, but even though there was a lot of them, their life bars only had 14,000 HP at most.
After a couple of minutes, the monsters finally came into view. Their females started opening their mouths. Smoke assumed that they were using their Siren Song ability, but the sound-blocking earmuffs protected him from it. He decided to pretend he's affected by the Siren Song, and remained seated and still as his rowboat drifted towards them.
The murlocks swam to his rowboat and pulled it to the shallows. They lifted him up and carried him in his seated position. The monsters gathered closer as they energetically jumped and danced. 'Looks like they are celebrating their DarkElf meal.' he thought. His eyes carefully checked the monsters and he discerned that they were still clueless of his mobility. As soon as he was taken to the center of the gathered group of monsters, Smoke swiftly took out his lightning-enchanted weighted chain and sickle and activated Cyclone of Slaughter.
SHIIING KLANG SHIIING KLANG SHIIING KLANG SHIIING KLANG
Sixteen afterimages of his sickle and iron ball circled around him with incredible speed. His weapon sliced through or bludgeoned all monsters within fifty meters. The murlocks' life bars of 14,000 HP were getting drained after only two hits.
Fifteen murlocks that managed to escape the range of his weapon's deadly ability tried to run away. Igniz, who remained high above them all this time, targeted the fleeing monsters with fireballs. However, his attacks only dealt 2,000 points of damage to them, which allowed thirteen murlocks to escape.
After Smoke's Cyclone of Slaughter ability ended, he collected the spears and fins the monsters dropped. It took him a while to gather all of them. He wasn't surprised to see that Murlocks gave him little experience; it only proved that he was well above their level.
Minutes later, Igniz flew to him and glowed in a bright red light. This was a signal indicating incoming monsters. He looked in the direction the murlocks fled in and found around a hundred Lamias charging towards him. He relied on dried mandragora flowers in order to defeat these humanoid monsters with serpent-like bodies before, but now he felt that he could deal with them himself.
As they got closer to Smoke, numerous Water Balls from the lamias came at him. He dove to his right and immediately switched to his white metallic staff. He produced a concave purple Manatl with his left hand and absorbed the incoming water-based attacks.
PLOP PLOP PLOP PLOP SCHILD PLOP PLOP PLOP PLOP
A single glacial spike stood out among the Water Balls as it smashed into his Manatl. He noticed that a two-meter, dark green lamia was leading her sisters as they marched to him. They continued with their ranged attacks and Smoke started to back away. Igniz was firing his fireballs from above at the outermost lamias, but just like with Murlocs, his damage against them was only 2,000 points.
Less than a minute went by, but it felt longer to Smoke. The lamias unceasingly kept attacking him and gave him no room to breathe.
Several Water Balls went past his concave Manatl and dealt 2,500 points of damage. His life bar displayed (163,750/176,250 HP). As his Manatl started to show signs of dispersing, he signaled Igniz to fly directly in front of the Lamia boss.
"Use the blinding light!" Smoke yelled as soon as Igniz got into position.
Immediately, his dark ember sprite released a bright light, temporarily Blinding the lamias and stopping their ranged attacks. Smoke canceled his concave Manatl and transferred the gathered energy into his white metallic staff. With the aid of his Lunar boots, he leapt over the Lamia boss and struck her head with his energized staff.
CRAACK
The dark green lamia's skull cracked wide open and her life
bar showed a depleted value of (0/120,000 HP). A notification window popped up.
+ You have dealt a fatal blow to Lamia Matron: Infructueux.
+ You have killed Lamia Matron: Infructueux.
+ You have gained 60,000 exp.
Smoke swiftly picked up the items dropped by the boss monster.
+ Acquired rare armor: Jacket of The Ghost who Walks
+ Acquired rare headgear: Hat of The Ghost who Walks
Igniz then engulfed the lamias in a sea of flames as he created multiple firewalls among the clustered lamias. The monsters were caught in a daze upon seeing that their leader was defeated in a single strike.
Fighting his way through the bewildered monsters, Smoke positioned himself smack in the middle of the lamias, hindering them from using their ranged attack. They tried to hit him with their claws and tails, but Smoke would either block or evade their melee attacks. With a concave Manatl gathering energy on his left and his white metallic staff hitting the monsters on his right, Smoke kept fighting the throng of Lamias
Despite their high resistance to Fire, the river monsters were still damaged by Igniz's multiple firewalls. Added with their inability to hit Smoke, the surviving lamias tried to make a run for it. Smoke quickly erected a circular earth wall around them and snuffed out their chance to escape. Smoke and Igniz continued their onslaught until all of the lamias were exterminated. It took them less than twelve minutes to finish the job.
'I guess this is what a difference of forty levels does.' Smoke thought to himself as he recalled how he had faced these monsters when his level was still in the early sixties, almost losing Adder in the battle against them. However, he also knew that it wasn't only his level that played a part in this victory, but all of his accumulated combat experience, items and abilities as well.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he remembered how miserable he felt after the previous battle against Lamias. Adder lost an arm because of Smoke's folly, but he also grew stronger from that mistake. Smoke reaffirmed his resolve to continue to grow stronger and learn from his encounter with Horrabelle as well.
* * * * * *
Smoke decided to replenish his HP and MP and was sitting on a branch of a sycamore tree that extended over the Murray river. He conveniently tied his rowboat to this same tree as well. His dark ember sprite was patrolling above the trees, on a lookout for any potential danger. Smoke peacefully enjoyed eating the cooked tigerseal meat. While eating, he thought of checking out the items he got from the Lamia boss.
Jacket of The Ghost who Walks (Body Armor)
A tyrian purple jacket that once belonged to a famous Bounty Hunter.
+40,000 Hit Points
+30 Strength
+100 Defense
Restrictions:
- Can only be used by those with Good or Neutral Alignment.
- Must be at least level 100.
Costume of The Ghost who Walks (0/2)
* Jacket of The Ghost who Walks
* Hat of The Ghost who Walks
(2) Set: Equipment Ability:
*Hero's Legacy (Active)
+Inflicts Fear on enemies with Evil Alignment in a fifty-meter radius around the wearer
+Consumes 10,000 MP per use
+Once you've used this ability, you cannot use it again for another ten minutes
Note:
Success rate and duration are greatly dependent on the level difference between the user and affected targets
Hat of The Ghost who Walks (Headgear)
A tyrian purple hat that once belonged to a famous Bounty Hunter.
+10,000 Hit Points
+10 Intelligence
Restrictions:
- Can only be used by those with Good or Neutral Alignment.
- Must be at least level 100.
Costume of The Ghost who Walks (0/2)
* Jacket of The Ghost who Walks
* Hat of The Ghost who Walks
(2) Set: Equipment Ability:
*Hero's Legacy (Active)
+Inflicts Fear on enemies with Evil Alignment in a fifty-meter radius around the wearer
+Consumes 10,000 MP per use
+Once you've used this ability, you cannot use it again for another ten minutes
Note:
Success rate and duration are greatly dependent on the level difference between the user and affected targets.
'The headgear and the equipment ability of the set look promising, but the body armor can't compete with the Sable Wizard's Surcoat I have on.' thought a biased Smoke, as he personally didn't like the limitations of item sets.
With his HP and MP replenished, he untied his rowboat and started to row along the Murray river once more. He enjoyed traveling its waters, as it provided a completely different scenery from one he saw while touring the various regions of Veneficatl valley.
Two hours and thirty tigerseals later, Smoke spotted a village near the riverbank. He used his Telefax Vision ability to get a better look. Thin branches, tightly tied together with vines, served as the village's wall. Smoke thought that its height of barely two meters probably provided insignificant protection. Although it had some resemblance of a wall, this village had nothing to call a gate. He could see several bamboo houses through a wide opening in the wall. Curious to meet its residents, he decided to row ashore and get closer to the village.
After he pulled his rowboat onto the riverbank, Smoke cleverly manipulated the ground below it and lowered it. He then covered it up with a thin layer of earth, concealing his boat from unwanted eyes. He proceeded to tap his chest as he ordered Igniz to hide in the metallic compartment.
Walking towards the frail wall, Smoke thought about several things he could do to quickly raise his Intimacy with the villagers.. Since it was almost lunch time, he decided to take out his packed tigerseal meat and carried it with both hands.
As he got closer, a notification window popped up.
+ Entered Sans Valeur village
Little is known about this small village located beside the Murray river.
Without incident, Smoke reached the village entrance. "Hello! Anybody here?" he bellowed and patiently waited for an answer.
A tall, muscular bald man with a harpoon over his shoulder came out to greet him. Smoke instantly noticed the thick leather armor and greaves that the middle-aged man was wearing.
'This guy is as big as Jinggu. With that armor, I bet he's got pretty high Defense too.' he thought to himself.
The bald man pointed his harpoon at Smoke and asked sternly, "Who are you and what do you want?"
"Hello. My name is Smoke. I'm just a traveller who happened to come across your village. I have some food to share." he said and slowly placed the tigerseal meat in front of the muscular bald man, "I was wondering if maybe you could allow me to rest in your village or perhaps trade goods with the residents?"
The muscular bald man lowered his harpoon. Smoke could feel his scrutinizing gaze as the bald man inspected him from head to toe.
"You don't look like you have anything worth trading." said the bald man.
Smoke clicked his tongue and shook his head. He knew that he was being judged by his appearance. Being a low-ranked Beggar, all of his equipment looked tattered.
"Leave and take your food with you, DarkElf." stated the bald man as he tried to shoo Smoke away with his harpoon.
As Smoke was being driven away, a proud-looking man wearing a Sailor's equipment came into view. "What's going on, Forte?" he asked the bald man while combing back his long black hair with his hands. He was much younger than the bald man, but Smoke could see that he had his respect.
"Oh, Mr. Vex. It's nothing, I was just getting rid of this vagabond." answered the bald man called Forte as he gave a small nod to the man behind him.
A timid young man with a plain face then appeared behind Vex. He looked to be in his late teens. His short black hair was cut at even length and he wore simple Fisherman's attire. "Ahem, ahem." he cleared his throat.
"You don't have to do that, Forte." said Vex, "Remember, Brax here asked us to welcome all friendly strangers to Sans Valeur." He then approached Smoke and offered him his hand. "The name's Vex Leroi, and this is my brother, Brax Leroi."
"Nice to meet you both. My name is Smoke." he said as he shook Vex's hand and gave a small wave to Brax, "Please forgive my shabby appearance; I've been traveling for a long time and haven't had the chance to repair my equipment."
"Don't worry about it, we don't mind." said Vex in a reassuring voice. The proud-looking Vex then picked up the food Smoke placed on the ground. "You're just in time for the Festival of Fleuve. Let me give this to the children. I'm sure they'll enjoy these..." Vex paused as he discerned Smoke's meal, "...curious-looking cubes."