“This is my first time being here…” Gilver commented as they’re walking the Verdant Plains, spying around the newbie players who are desperately killing monsters for EXP and gold.
“Well, yeah, you originally started in a different kingdom,” Argus replied to him. “Don’t you remember?”
“Did I?” Gilver involuntarily looked back towards Argus in surprise. “Damn, I forgot. That was years ago.”
“Don’t tell me you also forgot why you transferred to this kingdom?” Argus asked him while looking at his skill tree, trying to figure out which skill he’s going to take first.
“Uh…”
Argus sighed. “You were going to apply for the guild Ex Machina, but they rejected you because they thought you were bad based on the gear you were wearing. Frankly, you really looked like a total noob back then.”
“Oh, yes, I remember now!” Gilver snapped his fingers. “Wait, how do you know all that?”
“Damn, you’re really forgetful, aren’t you?” Argus scratched his black hair tainted with faint red. “I was behind you on the line. Well, they rejected me too because I was a spellcaster. Spellcasters were incredibly weak back then because no one knew how to make them work yet.”
“Haha! Yeah, I remember when a semi-tank build like a barbarian would have more damage output than a full-damage glass cannon spellcaster.”
“Simpler times…” Argus whispered loudly. “The four of us used to stay up all night raiding dungeons.”
A stray arrow from one of the newbie parties flew towards Argus who was fully immersed in his skill tree to pay any attention around him. Luckily, Gilver managed to block it with his heater shield. It embedded itself on Gilver’s wooden shield, before gradually evaporating into tiny blue particles.
The shooter tried to run towards them to apologize but Gilver just waved him off from the distance, signaling not to bother and just focus on their enemy. The rest of the party appeared to scold him briefly, before laughing at his actions.
“Yeah, we were total noobs back then.” Gilver replied in a soft voice as he looked towards the newbie party laughing together. “Do you still have contact with Umber and Honiden?”
“Not anymore. Umber hasn’t contacted me ever since his character died two years ago,” Argus finally closed his skill tree menu, looking up to where they’re going. “And Honiden apparently deleted his account due to some real-world problems with his family, so no luck with that.”
“I see. That’s unfortunate.”
“Yeah…”
The rest of the 30 minutes’ walk was done in utter silence with neither of them saying anything towards each other. Gilver was just attentively looking the surroundings for any wild monster that may attack, while Argus was now back on scanning the skill tree and his equipment, as well as inspecting Gilver’s.
After arriving at their destination as stated by Argus, which is a larger than average tree at the edge of a forest, the two of them began preparing themselves for battle.
Argus did some test shots with the ability he took,
Once both of them are satisfied, Argus stepped towards the larger than average tree and stuck his hand out to it. Instead of meeting the tree’s bark, it instead phased straight into it, to Argus’ satisfaction.
“Yep, this is it. Let’s go.” He said towards Gilver, who then proceeded to follow him inside.
Dungeons in Aefell are different from many MMORPGs, due to the fact that there are no “trash mobs” that the players must grind through first in order to reach the boss room. Instead, it is a giant chamber where the boss is seen in a passive state, whether it be sleeping, eating, or doing anything else. Only when the players step into its “territory” marked by a red line surrounding the boss would it turn hostile. Additionally, most dungeons, and subsequently, bosses in Aefell have unique mechanics that may aid the players in defeating the boss, or is the sole way for the boss to be defeated. These unique mechanics vary from boss to boss.
This dungeon appears to be a giant cavern underneath the tree, as roots can be seen “grasping” the soil around the chamber walls. The boss itself is a [Treant], around 5 meters tall, and is currently assuming the appearance of a regular unmoving tree.
Upon reaching the edge of the boss’ territory, Gilver immediately bursts into a full-on sprint towards the boss, prompting it to uproot itself and reveal its true appearance.
“OOOOOOOO!!” A loud, haunting scream of twisting wood permeated and echoed throughout the whole chamber. Argus stepped into the boss’ territory and started to cast
A blast of orange fire exploded just beneath the boss’ two wooden legs, causing it to falter for a second, but quickly regaining its composure. It looked towards Argus, the caster, and broke off one of its branches. It was in the process of hurling said branch like a javelin towards Argus when Gilver stopped it.
He “bashed” his heater shield in the air towards the boss, sending a shockwave of air and yellow light. After “piercing” the boss, the shockwave completely reversed its direction, hitting the boss once again from the back and returning to Gilver’s shield, illuminating it yellow. This was the skill
The [Treant] hurled its branch towards Gilver with great speed. It was so fast that it whipped in the air and created a loud booming sound the moment it collided with Gilver’s shield, making him take a step back due to the force.
Another ball of fire exploded, this one right on the boss’ face. Despite this, the [Treant] could only focus its attention towards Gilver, who’s currently continuing its sprint towards it.
At this point, the boss’ HP is now down to 90%, with each
Argus hurriedly started casting once again. Meanwhile, Gilver has now finally reached the boss, raising his shield towards it as the boss tried to stomp on him with its left wooden foot.
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“Bang!” The collision caused another explosion, a fainter one, this time.
Gilver then took his steel sword and stabbed the boss’ left foot currently stepping onto his shield. It penetrated, but the boss immediately stepped away from him, dislodging the sword but also freeing the weight off his shield.
At this point, between doing the sprint and blocking two attacks from the boss, Gilver’s stamina has already been depleted. Any attacks that he blocks now would not be negated entirely, but only a percentage of its damage.
The boss broke off another minor branch from itself, and then subsequently swung it towards Gilver, wielding it as a bludgeoning weapon. Gilver hurriedly raised his shield to meet the attack.
A loud breaking noise sounded as the branch splintered into various tiny pieces as it collides with Gilver’s wooden shield. However, signs of deterioration can also be visibly seen on his shield as it takes blow after blow, with little chips and cracks forming along the shield’s metallic frame and wooden body.
Additionally, Gilver received some damage from that attack due to his depleted stamina being unable to support his blocking.
“Boom!” Another
The moment it becomes enflamed, the boss quickly retreated and thrashed around the ground, attempting to put out the fire. It was not able to do so, however, and the effect merely expired. Almost simultaneously with the expiration of Gilver’s taunt. With much of its body badly burnt like a tree after a forest fire, it set its angry sights on Argus, who has no intention of giving it any time to react and is already casting another spell.
Due to the [Treant]’s natural weakness to fire, any burning damage inflicted unto it is doubled, causing it to lose 50% of its max hp in just the span of 5 seconds. Now, only 35% of its original HP remain. Gilver saw this as an opportunity, with his stamina fully recovered as the boss’ thrashing about gave him a momentary respite to replenish it. He held his steel sword firmly in his right hand and leapt up, latching on a large branch on the boss’ back with his left.
The boss tried to shake him off but Gilver’s strength prevented that from happening. He switched his sword to an icepick grip and started stabbing the boss as much as he can. This enraged the boss further as he cannot reach on to Gilver.
It tried to ignore him and instead run towards Argus, who by now is finished casting but cannot launch his spell as it may hit Gilver.
“No.” Gilver plunged his sword on the boss’ wooden back. “You.” Another stab followed. “Don’t.” And then another.
Each stab temporarily halting the boss’ tracks and slowly but gradually depleting the boss’ HP.
“Let go!” Argus cried the moment he saw the boss’ HP was about to fall into the 10% mark.
Hearing this, Gilver immediately lets go of his grip with the boss and rolled to the ground upon landing to minimize the impact and not outbalance himself. “Run!” Argus shouted once again as he lets go of the spell he prepared, hitting the boss with another explosion. “It’s switching phase!”
It was too late, however. The [Treant] stomped its foot down on the ground, causing a brief quake. Gilver hurriedly ran away as innumerable spikes jut out from beneath the soil surrounding the boss. Afterwards, it began to plant itself, reverting to its “tree form”, its remaining 5% HP slowly regenerating.
Another explosion blasted, briefly staggering the boss and momentarily halting its regeneration. “Do it!” Argus said as he prepared another spell once again.
Standing at the precipice of the forest of thorny spikes double his height, Gilver attempted to look for a gap that gives him a direct line of sight to the boss. It didn’t take long for him to find one, and with a quick but forceful push of his shield, the same shockwave and golden light from before bursts out and taunted the [Treant].
This forced the boss to abandon its defensive position and uproot itself once again, forsaking its currently ongoing regeneration. It’s HP has now regenerated back to roughly 60%. It looked towards Gilver with almost a human-like hatred in its brown, solid eyes, and began walking towards him.
A burst of flaming orange ball knocked the back of its head slightly, causing the [Treant] to once again ignite in flames.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” It cried, the deafening roar of nature reverberating throughout the chamber walls. It broke off one spike at the ground and hurled it towards Gilver. Fortunately, the distance between them was enough and Gilver didn’t have to block it, but instead dodged out of the way. It continued to walk towards him amidst its burning body. But when it was finally outside the forest of thorns, Gilver greeted it with a jump, plunging his steel sword right at the [Treant]’s charred woody face.
It tried to grab unto him, but before it could do so, three more stabs bore through its bark, reducing its HP to 0 and finally ending the fight.
The [Treant]’s fall was unceremonious. Its left knee collapsed to the ground, followed by its right. Gilver hurriedly jumped out of the way as the boss’ body would surely bury him should it fall face forward, which it did. A timid wave of air flushed through the entire chamber the moment the boss’ body hit the soil, ending in a faint “thump”.
A notification box popped up in front of the two.
You have defeated the [Treant] of the Fermer Forest.
EXP has been rewarded.
Suddenly, their EXP bars shot up to completion twice fold, finally stopping in around 7% at level 3.
“Well, that was easy.” Gilver commented while wiping the tears from his forehead as he examines the boss’ body. “Was that really a boss?”
“That was close.” Argus replied, slowly walking towards it. “I only have enough mana for 1 more cast. Good thing it wasn’t able to dodge any of them due to the taunts.”
“Pfft, I knew you got everything calculated.” Gilver jested after throwing Argus a small branch he picked up from the boss. “Right?”
“Well…” Argus cleared his throat. “I tried. There is just so much the two of us could do by ourselves. This boss is designed for level 5 players, you know? You could thank our mechanical experience for that.”
“Haha! Right, I suppose so.”
Aside from gold and crafting materials that neither of them would use, the only worthwhile loot that they got from the boss was the [Brambleheart Necklace] and [Nettle Shiv].
[Brambleheart Necklace] gives the wearer a shield equal to 10% of their max HP. Any damage that the wearer takes is applied to this shield first before their HP. Once the shield is depleted, it takes 1 minute to fully recover. [Nettle Shiv] on the other hand is a slim, needle-like dagger that stuns the target for 0.5 seconds. This effect has a 30 second cooldown per target.
“That’s unfortunate.” Gilver said after dividing the loot with Argus. “You got nothing you could use.”
“That’s fine.” Argus replied, examining the [Nettle Shiv]. “I could always just sell this. Besides, the reason why I decided for us to fight this boss first is so that you could get that necklace. It’s going to be valuable in the future.”
“Ah, I see.” Gilver flashed a smile. “Is there anything that you don’t plan?”
“Why, of course.” Argus flipped the shiv once before placing it on his inventory. “For instance, I didn’t plan for us to get ganked.” A malicious, yet somehow still joyful smile appeared on his face.
“Hahahaha! I see, I see.” Gilver has long been used to this behavior of his, and pays it no mind. “Well, I have to log out shortly. Let's hurry back to Facilis.”
Upon arriving at Facilis, the two of them immediately sold the materials and other items that they were not going to use, except for the shiv, which Argus decided to keep afterall. They each got around 50 silvers. Afterwards, Gilver bid his farewell to Argus and rented a room at the local inn.
Logging out in Aefell is not as easy as with other games, since even if the player has succesfully logged out, their character remains within the world of Aefell and will be sleeping. Therefore, they are susceptible to players and other monster's attacks. To combat this, one must only log out in safe places such as within cities, or if it can't be helped, in hidden places in the wild where there is little to no chance of being found.
Gilver went offline.
“Well, time to grind.” Argus thought as he once again examines his skill tree.