Chapter 59 - Clearing a path (1/2)
[Spiral Sceptre] (Black Iron Sceptre)
Level 5;
Requirement: Intelligence: 12; Strength +5;
Intelligence +8;
Special Effect: Light shield: Creates a small shield of light around the player for 2 seconds which can absorb up to 150 damage; Cooldown: 300 seconds;
Durability: 20/20;
”This is the worgen's sceptre?” asked Merlin as he examined the sceptre he received from Shadow. ”I got no use for this. It is not that great, and the special skill is a defensive one.”
”Cool. I thought so. But I am sure Quiet Fire or Little White Feet could use it or you could at least sell it. I expect you can get more money than me with all your contacts,” said Shadow.
”You got a point there. There is the first kill reward too. We can get a decent buck with these already. Moreover, a few guys have already asked to purchase the guide for the dungeon. But, the problem is silencing skills are hard to find and even though some players used stealth and managed to get by the wolves, they are being detected by the wargs. Do you know what could be done for that?” asked Merlin.
As expected of a professional even as they were completing the dungeon, Merlin already was in contact with few of his peers and was trying to complete a proper dungeon guide. He also realized that Shadow wouldn't have any objections as Shadow earned 1% of the transfer fee and would like more players to go to the dungeon.
”I have enhanced stealth. I doubt others would be able to do the same. Moreover, it should be easy to manage the warg with a pair of tanks as long as it is held in the smaller caverns.”
”Haha, easy for you to say. You can easily get by undetected and stun it, allowing us to join you inside. Most of the guys are being pounced on at the exit of the cavern and then, if they fail to stun and pull it inside it jumps out into the tunnel and gathers the wolves. After that it's a team wipe.”
”Ask them to learn the cheap shot skill from the Assassin trainer near the village head. It is easy to control the warg using the skill. And everyone can retreat into the cavern once the warg is stunned.”
”Learn from Assassin Trainer? Dude, he is asking precious resources like 10 refined iron ores for the skill. It is not easy and a viable solution,” replied Merlin.
”I thought that the trainer would just take a silver in return for cheap shot skill. There are a lot of differences between the game now and after two years. I probably began the game when they reduced the difficulty at the initial stages. Maybe, I won't be as successful as I expected in further quest or dungeons,” thought Balthazar.
The gamed differed from the one he remembered by a prominent amount that he needed to be worried. Even a reincarnation wouldn't allow him to grasp everything that easily. It looked like he need to work and spend a decent amount of time on it.
”Yes, though the dungeon is a bit monotonous and time consuming, we did have a decent harvest and fair amount of experience from it. We can repeat it,” continued Merlin hoping to level up to the sixth level in the next run. It was true that dungeons always provided a chance for higher experience points and resources than farming in the wild.
”We need another member to speed it up. It is too tire some in the way, we had gone through the dungeon. Also, we never found out the use for the torches provided by the NPC,” replied Balthazar.
”Torches? Yes, why didn't I think of it before!?” exclaimed Merlin. He immediately began to chat with someone while the rest of them calmly made their way to the exit. They came out and even contacted Holt for their first kill rewards. As Holt gestured for a helper to bring the rewards out, Merlin began to yell.
”Yes! I got it. It was foolish of us to miss it,” shouted Merlin when got a reply from one of his peers he was chatting with. ”The torches are the key. The wolves are afraid of the fire. Waving them keeps the wolves at bay. We now have a way to speed through the tunnel.”
”Really! That's good news,” said Little White Feet clapping her hands in glee. Being a priest, she had to stay behind everyone, couldn't attack much and always had to run away even from the wolves. Wargs were even more of a nightmare for her. ”Are the Wargs afraid too?” she asked hopefully.
”Wait, a second,” said Merlin as he continued to chat. ”Nope! The warg just chewed the torch and spat it out.”
”How about we check our rewards before, first,” interrupted Shadow shoving the boxes that were provided to him by Holt into their hands. As they opened the box, the box disappeared and the item in it remained hovering above their hands for them to receive.
Most of them received equipment except for Quiet Fire and Tang. They both got a design and recipe. Tang got a recipe for wolf meat patty and Quiet Fire got a design for a staff. They both had no use of them as they didn't have the respective trade professions. Even the others didn't get anything corresponding to their occupations or trades.
They immediately set to exchanging the rewards to the ones that could use them. Blinding got to upgrade her sword to a level 5 one and Little white feet and Quiet Fire also had small upgrade in their equipment. They decided to sell the old ones and gave them to Merlin directly.
They were still at the dungeon and many players from other town were teleporting there to play the dungeon. The area was also protected by the temple and the players couldn't kill and steal here. So, it was a good chance to sell any equipment that they had. Merlin already called for a few players he knew and began transactions.
But there were still a couple of equipment that he couldn't sell. One was the gauntlets that Balthazar looted from the worgen summoner and the other was Merlin's first kill reward. It was a pair of tonfas, a marital artists weapon. Both the gauntlets and tonfas didn't appeal much to other players as the occupations were the least chosen ones in the entire game.
Summoner was a class that confused many. It was highly dependent on summoned creatures and had little offensive or defensive ability. Between the druid and warlock classes which could also summon similar creatures to it and had other abilities, summoner was considered a useless class. Only once the higher-level skills and spell were released, the player realized its importance and that a summoner can be an extremely strong asset if used wisely.
Martial Artist was even rare than the summoner. It had very little range and was very vulnerable. Most of its skills were hand-to-hand combat oriented. Though they used a few weapons like tonfas and poles, the skill set at the initial stages was concentrated around hand-to-hand combat.
Thus, they were considered a weak class. The few players who had an interest in fighting in real world and chose that class were considered reckless and foolish by most. But as the game progressed, the players realized that the choke and other skills are very useful for controlling monsters and a lot more useful in PVP competitions. They could stun and even ambush and kill player quicker than an assassin in some situations.
But none of the players would realize this at this stage of the game. The only useful skill of the martial artist was choke that could control monsters. The summoners didn't even have this skill at present.
After a small while, Merlin returned with a wide smile plastered on his face. ”Haha, I got a very good deal on some of the weapons, but most are trading with credits. Only the tonfas and the summoner gloves didn't sell,” said Merlin showing transaction which totalled over 20000 credits.
That was a decent haul for a game on its first day. ”I can also sell the knife throw skill, if you are in for trading with credits. Skills would sell for a lot more than the equipment. Of course, I am going to take a 5 percent commission,” he continued looking at Shadow hopefully.
”No,” replied Shadow flatly. He had no use for credits. What he needed were game coins to further progress in the game. He had no interest in short term gains and was willing to wait for the auction house to open when a majority of player reached level 5.
”What do you want so many coins for?” asked Merlin. ”You already have a decent source from dungeon entrance rights. We need some real-life money, credits if you have an interest in setting up a workshop and I can get you more double the value of coins if you are willing to sell it for credits.”
Hearing Merlin talk about the coins he would receive from the 'Cave of Wargs' made him realize something which he had overlooked. He quickly checked his administrative privileges panel and realized that he already earned about 500 bronze coins in the past two hours.
Thousands of players already reached level 5 and the first thing most of them would do was to attempt this special dungeon. With the dungeon providing him a steady supply of coins, it might be a better investment to invest a few credits into a workshop/adventurer group led by him. It is best if he doesn't put all his eggs in the same basket.
”Well, you do have a point there. Show me how well you could do,” said Balthazar giving Merlin the Knife throw skill book.
”You won't be disappointed,” said Merlin. His eyes were almost sparkling. He could get a good value for the skill book which might exceed more than a lakh credits at this time. He quickly contacted every one he knew and told that he had a rare skill book for sale and was waiting at the dungeon.
”Also check if you could get another member. I would prefer a martial artist, if you manage to find any?” asked Shadow.
”A martial artist. That is like the worst occupation available.”