Arch quickly shook her head.
“Need any supplies before we head out?” I asked. “You good on mana restoratives and the like?”
“I’m good,” Arch assured me.
“Alright, let’s go kill some undead,” Rose said, grinning excitedly. “And Heath, let us know if you spot that Lich again instead of just letting it kill you.”
There was no response from the Thief, not that I expected there to be an answer. He was still hiding from Rose’s wrath.
Almost an hour later we were pulling our first group. Seven undead wolves and who knows how many condors.
“Stay close to the ground until the Condors dive bomb,” Rose said, clapping her shields together and blurring from view as she slammed shield first into the wolves, hitting four of them at once while I cast ‘Heavenly Blade’ on the wolf farthest from his friends, keeping him out of the fight in the short term.
I was about to leap in when I saw Arch out of the corner of my eye drawing back the string of her bow without an arrow knocked, she then aimed skyward. “Light Burst,” she said, causing a golden arrow to form in the prepared bow. She let loose, sending the single arrow into the air.
I tried to follow the arrow, thinking she was shooting at an undead condor, but the arrow quickly arced over and headed toward the wolves Rose was holding aggro on. The arrow suddenly shattered into sparks of light. The sparks accelerated, shooting into the ground, piercing the wolves with ease. More worrisome was when they also pierced Rose.
I was about to try to heal Rose from the friendly fire damage when I noticed Rose’s health ticked up slightly with each spark that hit and flamed, while each one that hit a wolf sparked a small fire which burned away at the wolf.
“Is that a heal or a damage ability?” I asked, letting myself be distracted for a moment.
“It’s an area of effect heal. It just also happens that it is very damaging against the undead,” Arch answered, looking rather proud of herself. “I just learned it, so it isn’t very powerful yet.”
“Another Priest of Eir skill?” I asked.
“I just made it to Apprentice Priestess, I took it as my reward. You might not know this, but there aren’t many area-of-effect healing skills or spells, at least, not that I’ve discovered,” Arch explained, drawing back her bow again and forming another arrow. “It uses a lot of mana and doesn’t heal very much yet, but the wolves aren’t doing much damage to Rose so I can keep up if I pace myself. That said, those condors that just arrived are doing a lot more damage than the wolves.”
“I suppose I should help then,” I said, realizing I hadn’t joined in the fight.
I picked out an
It was a bit strange to feel the sparks of light hit me and burst into flames. I expected it to be hot, but it was cool to the touch.
Heath finally joined into the fight as well, swinging with an axe as he appeared from ‘Stealth’. It wasn’t his guitar, but an actual axe. The guitar axe was still strapped to his back. Looking at the axe, I was sure it was borrowed from Sergeant Butters. I just hoped Sergeant Butters gave him the okay to use it or Heath was surely going to be in some real trouble when the Sergeant saw him next.
Without needing to worry about healing, I was able to really cut loose on my damage output. It felt good to just focus on my combat rotation, only occasionally healing myself when I fought a drakeling one on one, and even then, Arch was decently good at splitting her heals between Rose and me.
The longest part was after each pull. Pulling fangs, claws, and talons for the Undead Plague materials. I tried ‘Scavenging’ the meat and bones, but the system identified them as unusable.
Skill: Scavenging
Rank: III
Level: 94
Experience: 91.44%
Description: Parts have value to crafters of nearly all profession. Being able to scavenge those parts can be messy but very lucrative. Scavenging gives you the ability to retrieve useful materials from dead beasts and broken machines.
Skill Effect (Active): You have a 39.40% chance to scavenge something useful from a beast or machine and a 3.94% chance to scavenge something more useful.
Stamina Cost: -60-SP per minute
Even with my ‘Scavenging’ skill at rank III, it took a while. It made me miss having Sooty along. Better he was safe in Hurligville than out here with us in this mess though. And despite having my World Class Hunter title active, the pickings were sparse.
World Class Hunter (Increases Tracking skills effects by 20%. Increases damage against Beasts and Monsters by 10%. Increases chance to scavenge something more useful from a Beast or Monster by 10%)
Hours passed with the careful and deliberate grind of undead monsters. Having a dedicated healer made all the difference . . . well, a lot of difference. Running into a group with three drakelings nearly wiped our party. As it was, only Arch and Rose were still standing when the fight ended. Thankfully, Arch was able to resurrect Heath and me.
“I’m getting tired of dying to these things, mate,” Heath complained upon his return to the living.
“We just need to keep on grinding,” I said. “Olaf should be back tomorrow or later today with another damage dealer . . . hopefully. From there, things should get a lot easier.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Heath said. “As it is, I think we should start making our way back to town. I’m almost rank II with ‘Two-Handed Axes’ and I want to be able to train with Sergeant Butters to unlock ‘Instrumental Weapons – Battle Axe’.”
“You’re assuming the Sergeant can even teach you ‘Instrumental Weapons – Battle Axe’,” I pointed out. “I can’t see the Sergeant sacrificing his ‘Two-Handed Axes’ skill to learn ‘Instrumental Weapons’.”
“Then I’ll be making a trip back to Root City to find a trainer,” Heath said with a shrug.
“Alright, that’s fine,” Rose said. “Once we get close to Hurligville, I think I’m going to wander off and work with Panther on my class quest.”
“That works,” I said. “I have a lot of reading to do.” I still had those books from Sirac that needed to be finished. Plus, my Intellect and Wisdom were starting to lag behind my physical stats, all of which increased several points today.
More importantly, I was already nearly 20% of the way to my next level. And that was just from grinding monsters. I hoped the quests we’d obtained would have even greater payouts. I needed to level a few more times if I really wanted to stand a chance in the Hurlig Flatlands . . . we all did.
Level:
23
Experience:
19.86%
Class: Beginner Warrior Priest of Issara
HP (Health Points):
5,750/5,750
MP (Mana Points):
4,560/4,560
SP (Stamina Points):
3,420/3,420
Base
Total
Strength:
221
301
- Melee Damage Modifier
+221
+301
Dexterity:
223
299
- Melee Critical Strike Chance
22.30%
29.90%
- Hit Chance
71.15%
74.95%
- Dodge Chance
22.30%
29.90%
Endurance:
460
575
Stamina:
222
342
Intellect:
331
456
- Spell Critical Strike Chance
35.00%
35.00%
Wisdom:
211
256
Charisma:
326
342
Health Regeneration per 10-seconds:
288
288
Mana Regeneration per 10-seconds:
128
&
nbsp; 158
Stamina Regeneration per 10-seconds:
171
201
Holy Spell Damage Bonus:
228
594
Holy Spell Healing Bonus:
228
492
Carrying Capacity in Lbs.:
1505
It took about two hours to get back to Hurligville as we fought through the respawning undead, stopping after each pack to use the ‘Scavenging’ skill. When we walked back through the gates it was almost 4:00 in the afternoon.
“Alright, let’s meet up in the morning again, we’ll see about going North tomorrow,” Rose said. “Good work today, Arch. Let us know if you need anything. Otherwise, have a good evening.”
“Um . . . what can I do?” Arch asked. “I mean, what can I do to help prepare for tomorrow?”
“Other than restocking your supplies, you can do whatever you want,” I said. “Priestess Trinico might be able to give you a class quest or something, if you want. There is a small selection of books in the town hall if you want to pick up some extra skills. Or you can do your own thing. I don’t know what your professions are, but Hurligville has trainers or training material for just about everything.”
“I’ll need to see what the forge looks like,” Arch said, opening her bag and looking through it, only to pout. “Oh no, I only have a few ounces of silver left. I knew there was something I forgot to get while I was in Root City.”
“What do you use silver for?” I asked, she looked kind of small for ‘Blacksmithing’ but you never knew.
“I have ‘Lapidary’ and ‘Jewelry Making’ for professions,” Arch answered. “I just started working with silver instead of copper and bronze,” Arch said, showing off a simple metallic ring. “This one is a simple copper ring with a +2 to Dexterity. I figured I could probably sell it to one of the level 1 players since this is technically a starter province.”
“We’ll introduce you to Micaela, Olaf’s wife,” I said. “Her daughter just started playing so I’m sure she would love to buy some for her. I bet they have silver if you wanted to trade jewelry for ore or ingots.”
“That would be great, thank you,” Arch said, slipping the ring back into her bag.
“Okay, we’ll see about getting that done tomorrow morning before we head out, if you don’t mind waiting until then,” I said.
Arch nodded. “Yeah, that would be great. Thank you.”
“If you’re not busy now, Arch, would you care to join me? I wouldn’t mind the healing,” Rose said.
“Oh, um . . . sure,” Arch said, surprised by the request. “What are you doing?”
“I need to train with my familiar. Work on better incorporating him with my tanking. Don’t worry, I don’t plan to go after large monster groups like we did today. There are plenty of single undead wolves nearby that shouldn’t be any problem for Panther and me,” Rose said.
I was confused by Rose’s decision to invite Arch along, but I was glad for it. It made me feel better to know Rose had someone to back her up.
I briefly looked around for Heath, but as usual, the man was a ghost. He had probably already gone to finish up his ‘Two-Handed Axes’ training. Which left me by myself.
It was a little nostalgic to return to the Doghouse Inn, ask Dogson to have a sandwich and tea sent up to my room and then to set the desk chair to face the bed and put my feet up. It was late for lunch, but I assumed dinner would be late given Rose went out to train. She would undoubtedly come get me when she was ready to eat. Either way, that gave me two to three hours to read.
I had started reading ‘Magical Preparations’ on my first day back but only scratched the surface with it at the time. I cracked the book open once again and began to read. The introduction talked about creating a magical partition. Taking a part of your mana pool and setting it aside to contain a spell for later use. The more I read, the clearer it became. The partition was an actual portion of my mana pool that was removed or made unavailable due to the spell that was being saved up. And if I was reading it correctly, the spell cost doubled. So for a spell like ‘Holy Smite’, one of my less expensive spells at 210-MP per cast, it would actually cost 420-MP to make it into an instant cast spell, except that I would need to prepare the spell before combat even began. For something like ‘Holy Lightning’, a spell I would love to be able to cast instantly due to the 5-second cast time, it would cost 800-MP just at level 1. And considering I had just over forty-five hundred mana at my disposal, losing almost a fifth of that mana before the fight even began could be catastrophic.
My hope was that once I learned the skill, and leveled it up, that the cost would come down. If not, the skill would lose a lot of its usefulness. Still, I pressed on with reading the book. Trying to soak up whatever information the book offered. When I closed the book, finally having gotten through it, I was rewarded with a skill notification.
You’ve learned the Spell ‘Spell Preparation’
Spell: Spell Preparation
Level: 1
Experience: 0.00%
Description: Prepare any spell for instantaneous usage.
Spell Damage: See Prepared Spell
Spell Cast Speed: Instant
Spell Damage Radius: See Prepared Spell
Range: See Prepared Spell
Cooldown: 24-Hours
Spell Effect (Active): Channel any known spell into a mana partition reducing your maximum mana capacity until the prepared spell has been used.
Mana Cost: See Prepared Spell + 100%
I thought about how much this book could benefit Rose and Baby, and I supposed Arch now as well. I put it in my bag intent on trying to get them all to read it and learn the skill. I just hoped there was enough time. Otherwise, I was going to be working on leveling it up if I wanted to be able to create a spell scroll for each of them. Truth be told, I might end up doing that anyway.
With that done, I checked my other system messages.
Training Results: +6-Intellect, +9-Wisdom
Those were good results for . . . four hours of reading. That meant it was after 8:00 and Rose wasn’t back yet. I was suddenly worried. I quickly put my equipment back on, intent to go out looking for her and Arch.
Thankfully, I didn’t need to go far. Rose and Arch were both at the bar trading shots.
“Jack,” Rose said, her cheeks tinted a rosy red, she slurred, “We’ve been talking about you.”
“Oh, that’s interesting,” I said, slightly nervous about what the pair might have been talking about. “Anything I should know?”
Arch pointed a finger at Rose and started speaking, slurring much like Rose, “She-” Arch started, then paused to hiccup. “She like . . . totally adores you.”
“Stop,” Rose said. “I told you that . . . in competence . . . in confidience . . . in secret.”
“But he’s Bye-bye freaking Jacko,” Arch protested. “You’re so . . . lucky.”
“Mine,” Rose said, hugging me protectively as I got closer. “No sharing.”
“I know, I know,” Arch said, waving off Rose’s comment. “I should go to bed. I’m going to be so hungover tomorrow.”
Rose nodded in agreement. “Good idea,” she said. “Jack, take me to bed.”
“Whatever you say, Rose,” I said, helping her up from her stool.
Turning from the bar, almost carrying Rose as her legs gave out once she was off the stool, I spotted Olaf entering the inn and waved to him.
“Ah, Bye-bye, good you’re here,” Olaf said, looking over his shoulder nervously.
“Ollie, you’re back. Were you able to find someone?” I asked, struggling to support Rose who seemed to have suddenly become boneless.
“I did,” Olaf replied. “It took a while, but I found a mage. It is someone we’ve worked with before actually.”
“Oh, that’s good. Who is it?” I asked.
A man stepped out from behind Olaf, grinning broadly. I was certain he was enjoying the look of di
sbelief on my face. “Hey there, Justice Freak,” the one and only
In my shock I nearly dropped Rose. “Him?” I asked, looking to Olaf.
“There weren’t many interested parties,” Olaf replied.
“I learned recently that I’m kind of famous,” I said. “You could use my name to recruit someone . . . different?”
“Oh, relax, Jacko,” Pwn said. “I thought we quashed our beef in Anvilton. Don’t tell me you’re still holding a grudge.”
I suppose it was true that Pwn and I sort of made peace when he banished Jinn Sade and prevented her from killing us. In fact, it was for exactly that reason I should want to keep Pwn around. If Jinn did show up, it would be nice to have him around to banish her again.
“You know we’re not big on PvP?” I asked. Player versus Player (PvP) was not something me or my party ever sought out. Not to say we hadn’t taken part in our fair share of it, but it wasn’t a goal for us.
Pwn snorted. “Please. You’re a Justice Freak. Whether you like it or not, you PvP a lot. More importantly, you make PvP interesting.”
Why did it irk me so much to hear him say that? If I really thought about it. The reason it irked me so much was because he was right . . . or mostly right. I never seek out PvP. It wasn’t my thing. I never liked the unfairness of it. A high-level player killing a low-level player for some petty entertainment always bothered me. I understood that the strong picked on the weak. It was as true in the real world as it was in the World Tree. But my class changed that. It gave players a fighting chance. Sure, it wasn’t a guaranteed win button, but it was a chance. The fact was, I did get involved in a lot of PvP, and I probably would in the future as well. It was part of being a Warrior Priest of the Goddess Issara.
World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Page 19
