As we left the valley, I was pleasantly surprised to learn the Eternal Darkness now extended beyond our home, spreading out to the faraway shrines.
The rest of the day was uneventful. We walked through the thick forest without hindrance. Any beast that spotted us had wisely decided to stay out of our way.
We left the shroud of supernatural darkness after several hours of hiking and made camp when the first rays of dawn shone through the forest canopy.
***
We woke up at the onset of dusk when the sun was low over the faraway mountain peaks. We soon left the confines of the forest and entered the low, grassy hills that were home to the oxsaurians.
I took point, riding Tempest, and scanned the area ahead. I didn’t see any of the beasts, but they could be just behind the next low hill. “Everyone, keep quiet and be ready for battle,” I cautioned my troops.
The hobs and Ogres clutched their weapons and looked around warily.
We marched on carefully, often pausing to scan the horizon. An hour later, I finally spotted the leathery hide of an oxsaurian behind the next crest. We trotted on and looked down on a herd of about 40 beasts.
I concentrated briefly and cast Shadow Hound. The shadows around us gathered together and four level 20 mastiffs rose to do my bidding.
Controlling each mastiff directly, I sent them charging at the oxsaurians. The mastiffs pounced and raked at the tough beasts’ hide, causing almost no damage. Still, it was enough to stir up the hulking beasts and the entire herd stood to give chase.
I made the mastiffs run in circles in different directions. After some misdirection and course changes, a single mastiff shook off all but one of the oxsaurians. I directed the hound toward our position, luring the bull into our trap.
As we waited for our quarry to reach us, I cast my new Dark Protection spell over the soldiers, spending a total of 180 MP to include everyone in the party. The Ogres and hobs were surrounded by a nimbus of darkness that strengthened their armor and made them harder to knock down.
My mastiff came running over the rise, and the pursuing oxsaurian suddenly found itself in the middle of a sea of enemies. It was a level 40 beast, just within the limit of my Dark Mana skill. I spent 120 MP and froze the creature in its tracks.
“ATTACK!” I yelled at my bewildered soldiers and cast Drilling Arrow, channeling the spell for the first time through my new Demon Staff. The arrows emerged from the staff’s tip, bigger than ever, then impacted loudly against the tough beast’s hide.
Drilling Arrows hit Oxsaurian for 82 damage, [26 + 29 + 27]
Holy shit. I looked in awe at the weapon I was holding. This staff is awesome!
The bow-wielding scouts rained arrows on the immobile beast while the melee soldiers surged forward and surrounded it. They pounded with axes, swords, and tree logs against its tough hide but did very little damage. Only the enchanted weapons seemed moderately effective.
After a minute, I realized it was taking too long. My soldiers, even the Ogres, were too low-level to do any real damage to the level 40 beast.
With a shrug, I refocused my thoughts. My dagger soared through the air, scratching a thin line across the beast’s massive neck.
Oxsaurian, Level 40, Sacrificed
+40 Faith Points (Cult of Nihilator)
The oxsaurian fell and was soon consumed by darkness.
I watched the liquid darkness as it flowed and condensed, leaving behind it a level 40 void crystal. The beast also dropped a horn and a pile of raw meat. I inventoried the horn and the crystal and ordered my troops to carry the meat. It vanished into their inventories as they divided the 140 pieces between them.
I observed my men carefully, opening my mind to the information streams they were giving off. I was not pleased by what I found. All the level 4 hobgoblins had only gained a single level. Bob, Beck, and the Ogres didn’t progress at all.
What’s going on? They should all have got at least a level; the hobs were supposed to get two or three. Our numbers weren’t high enough to justify the individually low XP gain. The massive, high-level beast should have been a trove of easy-to-get XP.
I opened my own character sheet and found the problem. My XP had risen significantly, nearly reaching the next level. I was unintentionally hogging most of the XP. And it was easy to see why. My level was substantially higher than the others, and I was the one doing the most damage. It was only natural I’d be awarded the lion’s share of the XP.
This was not going as planned. I had to try again, but this time, I decided to stand on the side and not engage. I still had to freeze the oxsaurian, otherwise, it would make mincemeat out of my troops. I just hoped that simply freezing it wouldn’t account for too much of the kill.
I ordered one of the other still-running mastiffs back to me, luring in another large bull. When the two came closer, I cast Freeze, and to my surprise, the attempt failed.
I leapt out of the raging beast’s way, and it ran on, nearly impaling one of the slow-moving Ogres with his horn. A cloud of darkness flared up and the Ogre was only clipped on his side. The bull kept on charging, then made a wide circle, preparing to come in for another attack.
I plucked the beast’s information out of the air and immediately realized the issue. This bull was level 41, a single point beyond my skill’s reach.
It had finished turning and was charging right back at us. Bek easily healed the injured Ogre back to full health. I clutched my staff tightly in my hand and raised it. Luckily, I had prepared for this eventuality.
Since Freeze was not exactly a spell, I couldn’t directly cast it through the staff to empower it, but the Epic weapon had other tricks. It could store up to three magical charges, increasing their power by 15 percent. So, while I couldn’t exactly channel Freeze through the staff, I could use it to keep a supercharged Freeze on tap.
Once cast, the oxsaurian’s legs froze mid-charge and its momentum carried it to the middle of our formation, where it lay motionless on its side.
“Go ahead.” I gestured at the troops. They fell on the downed creature, roaring battle cries.
After five minutes of repeated hacking, bashing, and piercing, and in one case poking, they brought the beast’s health down to 90 percent.
“This is going to take a while,” I muttered. I slid down from Tempest’s back and found a thick patch of grass to sit on.
I watched for nearly an hour as my soldiers rained blows and arrows at the beast. Every few minutes, I had to channel more mana into the immobile beast to keep it down. Luckily, my mana regeneration was up to the task, and my mana pool remained nearly full. My summoned mastiffs had long since dissipated.
Finally, the soldiers brought the beast’s health down to a sliver. I got to my feet and approached, eager to see what would happen next.
With an earth-shattering strike, one of the Ogres delivered the killing blow, shattering its makeshift club in the process.
Level up! You have reached Character Level 27. You have 1 ability point to allocate.
So far so good.
I put the point into Mental and checked my troops’ status. I was satisfied to learn that my new tactic had worked. Everyone gained a level, and the hobs gained two. I received a tiny bit of the XP, which was just enough to push me through to the next level as well.
My plan was working after all. The only drawback was the time it took to kill the beasts. Still, it was an impressive accomplishment. If we were normal players, this method would be seen as an exploit of the game system, and I would be harshly reprimanded, if not outright banned from NEO.
Considering my castaway predicament, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what the company might have said about my discovery. They were welcome to ban me if they wanted to.
“Someone give that Ogre an axe,” I said. “We’re going to do that again.”
We fought on through the night, luring and killing the stupid beasts one by one. With each slain creature, my troops rose in levels, and each subsequen
t kill was made easier and quicker.
By the time the glow of the new morning appeared over the horizon, we had slain five more. The improvement of my troops was staggering. The hob soldiers were all level 14, Bob and the Ogres had reached level 16 and little Bek got to 20. Even I gained one more level, despite doing nothing more than keeping the beasts immobile.
During the night, I had to use the stored Freeze in the staff twice more. We didn’t encounter anything higher than level 42.
Once the last the bull was killed and I finished recharging my staff, I turned to my soldiers. “We’re done for now.”
They looked at each other and grumbled. Despite having fought all through the night, my troops were hobs. They delighted in the blood and carnage, especially against vastly weaker foes. They were having fun, and I’d just told them the party was over. Despite that, they were too tired to continue, and the scouts had nearly run out of arrows.
“There’s not much point in keeping this up for another day. You’ve all become more powerful, but it’s not enough. You need to work and improve your weapon skills at the barracks.”
Gaining huge chunks of XP didn’t impact their skill levels. They got a few points out of bashing the helpless beasts, but it was nowhere near close to what they would get if they had fought against an active enemy. Without the combat skills to match their increased levels, they were just beefier fodder.
Bob silenced the troops with a stern look and bowed his head to me. “Of course, Dread Totem. We will follow your lead.”
I shook my head. “Get back to the clan without me, it’ll be morning soon. You’re done for now, but I still have something to do here.” Namely, murder a shitload of oxsaurians on my own.
“But –” my lieutenant started to protest.
I raised my hand to cut him off. “No buts. I’m faster riding on Tempest and will probably beat you back anyway. Take the meat to the clan and wait for me there.” I raised my voice as I finished the sentence, making it an order.
“Yes, Dread Totem!” the soldiers answered. Hobs had their disadvantages, but their discipline was flawless.
I mounted Tempest and watched my troops making their way back to the forest. Once they were out of the oxsaurian territory and safety behind the tree line, I urged Tempest into a sprint.
Within a few minutes, we had reached the next crest.
I sat up in my seat, scanning the horizon. There was another oxsaurian herd a kilometer away. I hunched, pressing my heels tightly to the wolf’s flanks, “Let’s get ’em, boy.”
***
We fell on the small herd like death incarnate.
My Shadow-Touched mastiffs ran beside us, effortlessly keeping pace with the larger demon wolf. We charged straight through a dozen of the slumbering giants. I gathered my mana and froze a dozing bull as we charged past it and with a wave of my staff expanded a charge to freeze the herd’s leader. Flexing my will, my bone dagger soared through the air, sacrificing both beasts.
I kept on riding, leaving the herd behind me while my mastiffs pounced on them, causing little damage but drawing their attention. I turned Tempest and we swooped around for another bout. As soon as we got within range, I froze two more bulls and promptly dispatched them as well, and our momentum carried us through their ranks again.
The bulls fought back, trying to ram my mastiffs, but their charge passed harmlessly through the hounds’ shadowy bodies. Two oxsaurians locked on me and Tempest, lowered their heads, and charged us with the speed and mass of small trucks.
Normally, Tempest was swifter than the beefy creatures, but our course carried us through their ranks and the two bulls were closing on us from opposite directions. At the last possible moment, I cast Shadow Teleport, taking Tempest along with me. We instantly appeared 20 meters away, in time to hear the terrible crash as the two bulls headbutted each other. I took advantage of their momentary daze and froze them both, using the last charge from my staff. My dagger sped through the air, and both beasts were reduced to piles of oozing darkness.
With my staff out of charges and six creatures remaining, I kept my distance, staying at the edge of my freeze range. The rest of the oxsaurians ignored me and stupidly kept trying to stomp the much smaller mastiffs. I was left with ample room to maneuver, freezing and sacrificing the beasts one at a time.
I was nearly out of mana when the last oxsaurian finally fell.
Tempest trotted to the center of the carnage. The grass was trampled, but all that remained of my quarry were horns, void crystals, a few skins, and piles of meat.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
You have reached Character Level 31. You have 4 ability point to allocate.
Lucky Bastard skill level increased to 35.
Tracking skill level increased to 13.
Dark Mana skill level increased to 42.
Shadow Hound spell level increased to 22.
Shadow Teleport spell level increased to 11.
New rank reached: Apprentice: You no longer require line of sight and may teleport to any shadowed area within your range.
Current range: 21 meters
Chuckling to myself, I put the four new attribute points into Mental, bringing it up to 35. The level-up exploit had done wonders for my stats; I now had 706 HP and 1,445 MP. At this rate, I’ll soon be considered a raid boss.
I dismounted from Tempest and collected the loot. I took as much of the meat as I could carry, but even with my mount, I could only carry about a hundred pieces. It was a shame, but I didn’t lament it too much. My troops were already carrying back over 700 pieces of meat. This small hunting trip had yielded more than my clan’s weekly production. It was a shame to let the rest of the meat go to waste, but I would never be able to bring in carriers in time before the game’s cleanup engine disposed of the remains.
I felt elated at another added benefit. The oxsaurians were worth a ton of Faith Points, netting me 480 FP in a single day. I felt a click deep inside my soul as the last beast to drop carried me over the threshold for acquiring the next faith rank. I would have to claim it at the temple when I got back.
It was midday and I squinted painfully at the bright sky. I was a creature of darkness now, and although I could function during the day, the bonuses I received as a Shadow-Touched creature evaporated when under direct sunlight.
Both experiments had been successful. It was time to head back.
I mounted Tempest and pointed him toward the forest. I clutched tightly at his neck as he sprinted, the ground blurring below us.
In no time at all, we were back under the trees’ soothing shadows and stopped for a rest.
You’re good keeping watch? I projected to my cloaked companion.
My purple cloak drifted back and caught a branch behind me. Vic disengaged from my shoulders and reformed himself as a sort of purple flag, billowing slowly in the non-existent wind.
Between Vic and Tempest, I felt confident nothing would be able to sneak up on me while I slept. I made myself comfortable on the ground, using a moss-covered stone as a pillow.
I would rest for a few hours. Then, once the troublesome daylight turned into night, I would ride back to my clan.
Interlude: Vatras
Everance City
Manapulator’s Guild, Guildmaster’s office
Vatras sat behind a wooden desk in his richly decorated office. He was leaning on his elbows, staring intently at a shimmering image in the air in front of him. His lips curled back in contempt as he watched the long line of players moving slowly through the wilderness.
As far as he was concerned, the players were either freeloaders looking for a quick ticket into the guild or morons oblivious to NEO’s potential who were willing to spend days on a simple quest.
BigPill leaned lazily against the wall behind his boss. His blue raven familiar perched on his shoulder. Vatras’s lieutenant occasionally twirled his fin
gers toward the suspended image, feeding it with mana. “Is that really necessary?” BigPill asked in a bored tone. “Those guys have a simple enough role to play.”
Vatras pounded his fist on the table. “They are a bunch of blubbering idiots. It’s been only a day and already eight of them are dead.”
“So?” BigPill shrugged. “They’re just the first wave, the cannon fodder. Their whole purpose is to soften up the mobs for the second wave. So what if some die prematurely? It’s still enough to handle a bunch of goblins.”
Vatras frowned. ”You forgot our scouting party’s report? Ragnar, that dwarf tank, was the only one to survive. He reported that Oren had somehow enlisted the aid of hobgoblins and even Ogres! The first strike force might not be enough.”
BigPill twirled his fingers, sending another magical wave at the image. “You worry too much. Most of the mobs were below level 10, and our guys are almost all above level 20. And the tank reported seeing only one Ogre. Even if we lose half along the way, it’s more than enough to cause some serious damage.”
Vatras frowned. “You’re underestimating Oren. He founded and led the biggest guild in NEO. He was a sub-par player, true, but as much as I despise him, I admit he was competent at managing the logistics. If anyone can raise an army quickly, it’s him.”
His lieutenant shrugged again. “Even if you’re right, so what? The whole purpose of the first wave is to cause some damage, then be obliterated. I mean, you don’t want them to accidentally succeed. If they manage to defeat Oren’s forces we’ll have to accept them into the guild. And they’re a bunch of blockheads, all of them. None of them would make it through the tryouts to any of the top 100 guilds.”
Life Reset: EvP (Environment vs. Player) (New Era Online Book 2) Page 44