by Tony Corden
“I’m sorry, I thought you knew. You always seem acutely aware of what you were doing.”
“No! Not even close. But don’t be sorry; it seems certain I’m the one who hasn’t done their homework, I'm sorry for suggesting otherwise. The bow arrived at just the right time. These ants destroy the arrows, and they are now single use.”
“You also have the bows harvested from the Sentry Worker Ants, and you have ten arrows from each of them.”
Leah turned to Wisp and smiled and asked, “Are you ok? That was intense!”
“I’m fine; I just feel useless, you had to do all the work.”
“Don’t be silly, if you hadn’t dazed it when you did I think we’d both be dead. Do you know how to use a bow?”
“No, I haven't learned the skill. What will we do if there are more than one Fire Ant?”
“I have the spiky barrier, and now we know that the arrows work. All we can do though is go on, shall we?”
Together they set off toward the second pearl. This time two ants were waiting. As Leah stepped onto the battle area, the ants moved toward her. She hurried close toward one hoping to trap it inside the Disc of Death while impaling the other. Wisp held back so she could stun the ant inside the circle while staying away from the second ant if it escaped the spikes. At first, it seemed to work well, Leah’s timing was spot on, a spike neatly skewered the farthest Fire Ant. Wisp stunned the Fire Ant inside the enclosure and Leah had time to move to the side and used a scythe to remove the ant’s front leg. The ant struggled to turn toward Leah, and she had time to cut deep into the abdomen. Suddenly Wisp yelled, “Watch out!”
Leah turned and saw the second ant head toward her. Its body had melted the spikes, and it headed in her direction. Hearing the cough, she dove to her right, and the flame passed over her diving form. Hearing another cough, she kept rolling, just evading the flaming attack. She cast Circle of Sloth and came to her feet. She was between the two ants and running out of options. Wisp, however, had entered the Disc just behind the previously impaled ant. Wisp swung her sword repeatedly, hacking into the ant's abdomen. Leah moved to the damaged side of the first ant and called out ‘staff’. She swung and buried the Morningstar in the ants head. Leah felt an immense surge of energy through her hands, and the ant dropped to the ground, dead. The head was no longer flame coloured but looked to be solid stone. With no time to think about what she'd done she called “Bow,” then turned and buried one arrow in the second ant’s eye. She checked her statistics and saw that both her Ki and her Mana were empty.
She checked through her messages until she read:
Merdiven casts Ultimate Freeze on Fire Ants (0/1400)
Cost: 633MP, 741KP, 1 Restore Mana Potion
You have killed the Fire Ant
Experience Points Received 847 (+7.5%) (15721/18000) [Group - Proportional Share of Base Figure]
Sure enough, one of the Mana Potions was gone. She stared at the staff which now read:
Merdiven
A named staff. This staff was companion to Bazlari founder and First Mage of Sihirbazlari. It was said that so much mana had infused the staff that it would talk with its bearer and at times even fight on their behalf.
Minimum Level: None
Mana Level: (120/500,000)MP
Ki Level: (0/500,000)KP
Damage: ?
?
?
Bound to Atherleah
You are responsible for charging Merdiven. You can transfer a percentage to be shared with Merdiven when you are at full MP and KP. Merdiven must be equipped to share Mana and Ki.
Do you want to share Mana and Ki with Merdiven?
[Yes] [No]
Leah agreed.
What percentage of MP and KP do you want to share with Merdiven?
Recommend 5%
[Yes] [No]
Again Leah agreed. She looked at the staff and said, “Merdiven”. There was no response, so she said, “Thank you!”
In the back of her mind, almost too silent to notice she heard an echo, “You’re Welcome!” She harvested the Fire Ants and found that the frozen one gave different loot than the one untouched by Merdiven’s Spell.
You have harvested:
2 Vials of Elemental Flame
1 Vials of Crystallised Elemental Flame
3 Claws of Flame
1 Minor Freezing Spell
Wisp and Leah moved off the arena and sat so that Leah could meditate and replenish her MP and KP. When her levels were full, she noticed they immediately had five percent deducted and then began to fill again. Setting out for the third arena, Leah and Wisp discussed the Freezing Spell. It was fire spell of annihilation. The spell could be directed to remove the heat from any object, player, character or beast.
Although they both thought Wisp was in need of a better offence, they decided that Leah should take the spell as she had unallocated Skill Points whereas Wisp had already allocated hers. Without the levelling up, Wisp could only cast the spell twice whereas Leah would be able to cast the spell almost fifteen times and to greater effect. She asked Gèng to put small green icons at the top of her vision to indicate what spells were available to her at any time. They were to be almost invisible unless she consciously looked for them. If she couldn’t use a spell because of cool down or lack of mana points, it should appear as grey. She and Gèng sorted through possible icons until she was happy with the choices.
The following three arenas were challenging but with only minor increases in difficulty. The next had three ants, the fourth had only three, but one was a Fire Drone Ant that flew and spat fire from above. When leaving the fourth arena, they spotted a Worker Ant carrying a lava treasure egg. After killing the ant, Leah placed the Egg in her inventory for after the mini-boss. The fifth arena had four ants with two workers on the ground and two drones flying. When they reached the sixth and final arena, they were working well as a team; Wisp had begun to anticipate the ants' movements and almost danced around them while using the sword to slice abdomens and hamstring legs. The Freezing spell worked well and was especially effective when Leah targeted the eyes. Merdiven didn’t help again although it was useful for crushing leg joint, heads and eyes.
The final challenge had a dual boss with a Level 19 Fire Worker Ant and a Level 19 Fire Drone Ant. When the Worker reached sixty percent, its scream sent a wall of fire across the Arena, Leah was ready and dived over it, but Wisp caught the full brunt of it and had to use a restore health potion that Leah threw to her. When the Drone screamed at sixty percent there was a rain shower of fireballs, both girls were hit, but the damage wasn’t debilitating. Whenever a fireball hit the other ant, it gained health. When both ants reached thirty percent, their screams brought two fire ants scurrying out of the lava. By this stage, the Worker ant was on the ground with broken wings. Although exhausted and with their health at less than twenty percent, both girls were grinning at the end.
Leah searched the arena and found a hidden silver treasure egg. She drank a Luck position and harvested the bosses, the ants and the two eggs.
You have harvested:
1 Vial of Phoenix Potion
2 Vials of Drone Fire Ant Blood*
2 Vials of Crystallised Wing Tissue from a Drone Fire Ant*
4 Vials of Elemental Flame**
6 Fire Ant Leg Spurs ***
2 Fire Spells (Rain of Fire and Wave of Fire)
2 Portal Pebbles to Carson’s Formicary Level 3****
* Note: These are highly prized ingredients used to make the Phoenix Potion.
** Note: These are highly prized for use by Alchemists, Enchanters and Master Smiths.
*** Note: These are highly prized by archers to make fire arrows.
**** When you are ready to complete Level 3 swallow these pebbles.
You have opened a Silver Fire Ant Treasure Egg:
8 Silver Coins minted with an image of Carson’s Formicary
2 Vials of Fire Worker Ant Saliva*
1 Silver Key to the
Queen’s Treasure Room
1 Cloak of Retardation
* One drop of this will start any campfire.
You have opened a Fire Ant Treasure Egg:
4 Silver Coins minted with an image of Carson’s Formicary
1 Ring of Annulment (Fire) (-50% all Damage Caused by Fire)
2 Vials of Retardant Oil - for use on clothing, especially leather to prevent fire damage
Leah handed Wisp six of the silver coins. They read through the various messages and decided that Wisp would get the Cloak of Retardation and the Wave of Fire Spell. Leah took the Phoenix Potion and the Rain of Fire Spell. The Phoenix Potion fully and immediately restored a player to full health and maximum statistics if they died; there was no loss of experience.
They swallowed the pebbles and again appeared in a small cavern with a tunnel leading off into the distance. Altogether the second level had taken them three hours.
Leah headed down the tunnel which led to a large cavern with an enormous pyramid at its centre. As they drew close to the pyramid, they saw the path led to steps and then to a doorway about a tenth of the way up. They made their way up the steps and carefully entered the opening. There was a short dark passage which ended in a T-junction. Leah looked at Wisp who shrugged and then pointed right. Leah turned down the right-hand path, walking slowly like when on a job for Jimmy Loo; her feet testing each step, and her eyes moving constantly. Her carefulness saved her. When she felt the floor give slightly, she raised her foot very carefully, stepped back and knelt down. Putting her arms out to stop Wisp, she peered at the floor and walls. There was a row of finger sized holes scattered over the right-hand wall. Taking another step back Leah pressed down on the area with Merdiven, and small arrows shot from the holes and peppered the region where the step would have carried her. After waiting a minute, she pushed the trigger again, this time, no arrows.
She took out one of the beginner map parchments and drew a map of the level so far marking the trap. She then stepped forward and continued slowly along the path. The next trap sprung without her triggering it, unbeknown to her and Wisp there were small tunnels cleverly hidden, they concealed almost invisible ants, each the size of house cats. The first the girls knew was when four ants leapt out and began to claw their way up the girl’s bodies, two on each. Leah was the first to react, grabbing a belt knife she sliced at the barely visible ant crawling up her leg. Her knife dug deep, and the ant became less transparent, ignoring the one clawing its way up her back she buried the knife in the creature’s head, then sliced through its neck, removing the head. The dead ant vanished, and she felt the one on her back grow heavier. She turned and slammed her body against the wall, again and again, when she felt the ant's grip loosen, she turned rapidly and kicked the now visible ant with her shins, raking it with the spikes. Before she could do anything else, it doubled in size, began to fade from sight and seemed fully healed. Guessing where it was, she started a downward stroke as she said, “Scythe.”
She was pleased when it appeared in her hand and plunged through the top of the ant’s head. Before finishing it off, she turned to see how Wisp was doing. Wisp was struggling to keep a barely visible dog sized ant from getting to her, Leah said, “Bow” and shot the Ant near Wisp in the head.
It disappeared, and Leah turned to see the outline of an even larger ant leap towards her. She moved forward to get inside the claws that stretched towards her, then from a distance of less than half a meter she pointed at the distorted outline of an ant’s head and cast Freeze. The weight of the ant drove her to the ground, but she was unharmed. She rolled the now dead, fully visible ant off of her and stood up.
Pharaoh Worker Ant (Level 18) 1900HP EP 1600
After checking Wisp was ok, she harvested the ant.
You have harvested:
2 Vials of Transparency Potion
1 Cloning Spell
1 Pharaoh Worker Ant Skin*
* Used by Tailors and Leather Workers to make invisibility garments
They continued along the path which after turned a corner became a dead end. Leah carefully checked the walls, roof and floor but could see no sign of something hidden. Retracing their steps they were glad to find that the traps didn’t reset, and the ants didn’t re-spawn. They headed down the left-hand arm. Over the next hour and a half, they disarmed traps that made the floor fall away, spikes which dropped from the roof, and spikes which rose from the floor. They were attacked twice more by the almost invisible ants. Eventually, they came to a doorway which opened out onto the side of the pyramid. Before stepping outside Leah checked her map and realised from some blank areas that there were a couple of tunnels they hadn’t checked. They quickly retraced their steps and discovered two more ants as well as an almost invisible Pharaoh Treasure Egg. Altogether they had destroyed five Pharaoh Ants and found various vials, potions and spells.
They stepped outside and found themselves on a different side of the pyramid. The path led Leah and Wisp to another doorway and another entrance. It was another maze; the traps were harder to find and when attacked it was by six of the smaller ants which turned into a Level 19 Pharaoh Worker Ant. Altogether they were attacked four times and collected similar loot. On the third level of the pyramid, they were attacked three times by eight ants which became a Level 20 ant. The fourth level continued the pattern, the girls being attacked twice by a group of ten almost invisible ants. Finally, they came to the flat open top of the pyramid. Before stepping onto it, they discussed strategies and tactics. In the sunlight, it was impossible to tell where the ants were.
In the end, both Wisp and Leah ran forward six paces and each cast a spell. Wisp cast wave of fire which caused some damage to the ants and made them visible. Leah turned around and cast Disc of Death and then Circle of Sloth. While Wisp protected the gateway, Leah killed the three ants caught within the spikes. Wisp fired fireballs at the gate area to make the ants visible while Leah alternated between using the bow, freezing the heads and cutting them open. Wisp used several mana potions, and Leah had to recast Disc of death. The boss screamed twice, once when eight ants were remaining, and once when there were four ants left. Each time eight new ants scurried onto the platform. Leah and Wisp found their strategy sound and though they were almost out of mana at the end they didn’t have the same sense of immense relief that they had experienced on the other two levels. Leah was now Level 20 and Wisp was at Level 15.
Leah found another hidden treasure Egg; this one was golden. After drinking the Luck Potion she hatched both eggs and harvested the boss and the two Level 20 Pharaoh Ants. Leah showed Wisp the Boss and Egg messages.
You have harvested:
The Right Ear Ring of Cloning
2 Vials of Pharaoh Worker Ant Blood*
1 Pharaoh Worker Ant Skin**
2 Concealment Spells (Group Gone and Mount of Mist)
2 Portal Pebbles to Carson’s Formicary Level 4***
1 Skill Scroll - Eagle Eyes
* Note: These are highly prized ingredients used to make the Invisibility Potions.
** Used by Tailors and Leather Workers to make invisibility garments
*** When you are ready to complete Level 4 swallow these pebbles.
You have opened a Golden Pharaoh Ant Treasure Egg:
4 Gold Coins minted with an image of Carson’s Formicary
The Left Ear Ring of Cloning
2 Vials of Pharaoh Worker Ant Oil - when rubbed into leather it makes it harder to see
1 Gold Key to the Queen’s Treasure Room
1 Cloak of Invisibility (Max level 50)
You have opened a Pharaoh Ant Treasure Egg:
2 Gold Coins minted with an image of Carson’s Formicary
1 Ring of Concealment
2 Vials of Concealing Oil - when used on clothing or weapons they become invisible to all except the owner.
They read through the various messages, and Leah received the Ring of Concealment and the Mount of Mist spell. Wisp took the Cloak of Invisibil
ity, the Group Gone Spell, the Eagle Eyes Skill and the earrings. The discussion had been difficult as both wanted the earrings. In the end, it was decided by them playing Paper-Rock-Scissors. The level had taken almost three hours. They decided to portal to the fourth level, log out for a two-hour real-time break and then have a full nine hours game time to do the final two levels.
As soon as she arrived in the Tower, Leah asked Gèng to provide one hour of NREM3 sleep then she would have a shower and something to eat. Two hours later Leah felt much better and stepped into Dunyanin ready for the last two levels. Soon Wisp arrived, and after a brief chat, they headed down the tunnel, Leah in the lead. This time when the tunnel opened, there was a large cavern with what appeared to be a large wooden fort in the middle. They could see shapes moving on the ramparts. The pathway led to the open gates of the fort. As they approached they could see two large ants standing guard in the doorway and a large sign which declared this to be Fort Carson. The ants were standing upright balanced on two legs. The other four legs operated as arms. Each was wearing four swords and was carrying a spear. As Leah and Wisp approached, they moved the spears, to hold with a lower and an upper hand. The other two hands came to rest on the hilt of their swords.
Army Worker Ant - Private (Level 12) 1200HP
Knowing that they were only to be attacked by Level 15 and above she kept her hands away from her weapons and held Merdiven as a walking stick. When she was about ten paces from the gate one of the guards called out, “Halt and state your business.” Leah and Wisp looked at each other and then Leah said, “We are on this path, and it brought us here.”
“Wait here!” the guard said and turned and walked into the fort. Several minutes later it returned followed by a larger, broader ant; its thorax heavily scarred. This ant was wearing four swords and had one unsheathed in its lower right hand; the sword looked dark and dangerous, the quillons curved away from the grip and ended in sharp blades. The first third of the blade was broad with several barbs facing backwards to cut and rip if the stroke had penetrated deep into a body. The fuller was covered in a lighter metal like silver and had what looked like runes and etchings along its surface.
