章節 17: CHAPTER 17
"Hey, commander, look!" I shouted with all of my strength.
"Form up, face left!" Max barked as soon as he turned his head.
"Oh no, it's the leech!" the halfling said softly and shakily.
"Stay out of this, let us handle him!" we heard from Reineke Lis.
Without even taking the pipe from his mouth, he covered the ground in three large leaps—the same ground it took us fifteen minutes to cross—and, pulling out his sword as he went, moved toward the leech. The latter didn't react to him in the least, which wasn't a surprise given the difference in their levels. Bot enemies consider you a target until you get 15 levels ahead of them. Then they ignore you. And, really, you ignore them, too, since you don't get experience for killing them. So why kill them in the first place?
I didn't even notice the exact moment the leech died. Two flashes in front of the sun and his helmet and skull were rolling around on the stones and the grass sticking up between them.
"That didn't take long," grunted Kerv from behind me. "Must be nice to be that advanced."
"What are you looking at?" barked Max. "Form up! Le-e-et's go!"
And off w-e-e-e went. Over the next three hours, I levelled-up nine times, got to Level 3 Strength of the Strong, and finally received another message:
You unlocked Death of Bones, Level 2.
To get it, destroy another 99 warrior skeletons.
Reward:
Mental Fortitude, a passive attribute, Level 2: +1.5% to your mental strength against grave horrors 0.5% defense against poisons
To see similar messages, go to the Action section of the attribute window.
Our friendly team scattered the field with skeleton bones, and in a few places, you could see the ragged remnants of zombies. They were slower than the skeletons, though they could take more punishment. True, they didn't give me an action for some reason. We also took care of a ghost that looked like an overgrown Casper and howled savagely. The howls were probably there to scare us, but I had the distinct impression that it was howling because it was scared of us. Still:
You unlocked Light Drives Out Darkness, Level 1.
To get it, destroy another 49 specters.
Reward:
See the Invisible, a passive attribute, Level 1: 0.5% to your ability to see the invisible—secret doors and crypts 0.5% defence against cold
To see similar messages, go to the Action section of the attribute window.
Sometimes we found more than just bones in the piles our dead friends left behind. There wasn't anything at my level, of course—just usual blue items for levels 27-30. And nothing rare or elite, of course. But that made sense; this was just a normal location with normal bots.
There were five types of items in the Elysium world:
Usual items were blue, had one or two attributes, and were for any class.
Rare items were purple, had three or four attributes, and were for any class.
Elite items were yellow, had three to five attributes and a class-specific ability, and were for specific classes.
Legendary items were orange, boasted up to six attributes, usually belonged at one point to an ancient hero, and let you learn a new ability or skill. You couldn't find them doing normal quests, though rare ones gave you a chance. On the other hand, you had to kill especially evil and unusual monsters to get them.
And finally, there were set items. They were gold, and they had incredible capabilities. Complete sets could have from 2 to 15 items, and each of those items was incredibly hard to find. Each consecutive item you found gave you huge bonuses. However, they were almost impossible to find out in nature, so getting them meant killing serious raid bosses one every raid, and not every time. You could also get them from quests, though only from epic and hidden quests. If you had a full set with at least five items, you were closing in on the Gaming Legend title. Though you couldn't get set items in normal combat. I mean, you could, but your chances weren't just close to zero; they were more like one in a billion.
On the other hand, you could get rare and even elite items in normal battles, if very infrequently. We weren't lucky, and I was especially unlucky; there were a few items for my class, though I didn't win any of them. Just not my day.
"Let's get back to the hill," ordered Max. "We'll rest for a bit and distribute points."
Our formation turned and moved for the hill. There, we lay down on the grass and listened to Eilinn.
"You can rest as long as you want. We have an hour and 45 minutes left. Max, could I speak with you for a second?"
Our commander headed over, and for a second, I wondered what they could be talking about. I had other things to worry about, however, so I ignored them and set to distributing my points. In total, I'd levelled-up 13 times, earning 80 skill points.
I still wanted to go with a soldier— a simple class that doesn't do much thinking, is strong, and has lots of health. With that in mind, I added 40 points to my strength and 30 to my stamina. After some thinking, I finished up with six agility points and two each for wisdom and intellect. Why not? I ended up with:
Basic attributes:
Strength: 56
Intellect: 3
Agility: 9
Stamina: 41
Wisdom: 3
Yeah, not very balanced. Still, strong and healthy. And now, it would take more than one blow for the skeletons to kill me! Finally, I could go get a class-specific quest and earn some combat abilities.
Nothing really interesting happened during the rest of the hunt. We kept fighting the skeletons for another hour and a half, but still... Everyone else had leveled-up quite a bit as well, if not as many times as I did, and the skeleton trios that just about had us at the beginning of the raid were barely a challenge by the end. Our hunters took them out as soon as they got close enough to shoot at.
As things wound down, we were all relieved to hear Sergeant yell at us from the hill, "Fa-a-all back!"
After we went through the portal and found ourselves on the cobblestones outside the fortress, we were all set to thank Eilinn, Sergeant, and the other veterans and head offline. We were all pretty tired from the stress. However, before we could do so Eilinn said, "Not so fast; line up."
We followed his order, sensing that something was up.
"I'm happy to announce, Thunderbird volunteers, that most of you passed the challenge with flying colors. What we did today was less about levelling you up and more about seeing how you behave in extreme and social situations."
"Did everyone pass?" asked Max.
"Of course not," Eilinn answered easily. "That never happens. Though you did well—seven out of ten."
"Who didn't pass?" Again Max.
"Ronin, Kerv, and Aerinn."
"What?!!" bellowed the barbarian. "I was out there killing skeletons right and left!"
"Yes, you were," said Sergeant. "But your ability to wave a sword around isn't the only thing we look at."
"Exactly," confirmed Eilinn. "For starters, you constantly and pointlessly fought Max's leadership, which everyone else accepted. And then, you were insubordinate. We don't tolerate that in our clan."
"But why us?" asked Kerv, and the elf girl nodded in agreement.
"What items did you take during the game?"
"I got shoulder guards with +3 strength and greaves with +3 stamina and +2 strength," said Kerv.
"I have a mantle with +2 wisdom and +2 stamina and a wristlet with +3 agility," answered the elf.
"And why would archers need any of that? Well, except for the wristlet. It's all for warriors and mages. You knew that, and you knew you had both of those classes in the group, but you took the items anyway. That isn't a huge deal, but it does show that you aren't yet ready to work as part of a team. And that isn't a good thing or a bad thing; it's just that you aren't right for our clan right now. Come back in a month and apply again if you want—except for you, Ronin. Don't bother, because we won't consider it."
The clan badge above the heads of three of our recent comrades blinked and disappeared.
That's why he asked to talk with Max when we were on the hill, I thought.
"Oh, I won't. Who needs you?"
The barbarian dramatically spat on the cobblestones and turned for the door.
"Listen, elf scum." Ronin turned at the gate and looked at Max. "We'll be seeing each other. Oh, and I'll have my eye out for you, too, little one." He jabbed a finger in my direction and left.
"Hey, life's more interesting when you have enemies," laughed Krolina. "That way you always have a goal."
"You can also go," Eilinn said, looking at Kerv and Aerinn. "I think the experience you got today will compensate you in full for the time you spent with us."
"Have a good one," said Kerv, and the girl just nodded. It looked to me like she was doing her best to keep from crying. I think she was just embarrassed.
"I think we'll meet again," Eilinn said gently.
"Well," he said when the other two were outside the gate. "And now the rewards for everyone who passed the test. Right this way?"
And we followed him into the fortress.
~ ~ ~
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票