[Murlocs? What are those? And we’re attacking a village? How many are there? And how strong? And…](A)
“Wow, wow, wow! Chill out for a second there and take a deep breath! Regarding what they are… is better to see for yourselves (since it's quite hard to describe them). For their numbers, I saw about 60 but there might be more. Regarding their level of strength… it’s lower than ours by quite a bit and the only weapons they have are their teeth and claws, some clubs and a that’s pretty much it.”
[Can we win?](A)
“If we play our cards right, with ease!”
Both herself and the people around her were relieved when they heard that. I didn’t overestimate ourselves and certainly didn’t underestimate the opponents. Why I’m I so confident then? Because I have Identify, duh!
Name
-
Name
Value
Name
Value
Job Name
Level
Progress
Race
Murloc
STR
9
Magic
0
Murloc
1
10%
Sex
Male
DEX
5
Charm
0
Age
2 days
AGI
8
Luck
10
World
Midgard
END
6
HP
120/120 (+0.1/sec)
INT
7
MP
10/10(+0.001/sec)
WIS
3
Skill List Name Level Proficiency Rally Cry (Active) ??? ???
Only when being able to compare with other creatures (such as Goblins), was I able to see the difference in stats between the elves favored by the World Tree and the Murlocs. I mean, it kind of speaks for itself.
I led the group to the lake and while at first they were shocked by the beauty of the water, they were petrified when they saw the monsters. How to describe them best… Fishes with arms and legs would be the best and easiest option I guess. Most of them were green, while only few which were Level 2 in their Jobs had a blue skin color... scale color???
Name
-
Name
Value
Name
Value
Job Name
Level
Progress
Race
Murloc
STR
10
Magic
5
Murloc Shaman
2
10%
Sex
Female
DEX
6
Charm
0
Age
2 days
AGI
7
Luck
15
World
Midgard
END
4
HP
130/130 (+0.2/sec)
INT
10
MP
50/50(+0.001/sec)
WIS
6
Skill List Name Level Proficiency Shamanic Fury (passive) ??? ???
While a raid attack would be excellent since we would have the element of surprise, the fact that these elves didn’t have fighting experience or even a bit of morale prevented me from attempting such a tactic.
“In the end, just like for the crafting of tools, the best example is a practical example.” – I thought
Signaling Alexa and the others to keep quiet and watch from the bushes on the hill, I pressed forward through the vegetation while keeping an eye on the village. There were no guards and given that this was a dungeon that appeared pretty much at the same time as me and the elves on Midgard, I was amazed that there actually was a Level 2 monster. I even thought that it might be a template, in order to create a power balance on the monsters side.
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Probably because of the experience with the previous Job I had in the ‘demo’, I favored the long stone knife since it was sharp enough to stab someone, while I kept the spear in the left hand. Ambidextrous… haha… yea right! I’d wish…
Hoping that I won’t be seen and zerg-rushed by the entire village, I crept and stopped before one of the ‘houses’. When I say ‘houses’, I mean 4 sticks standing in what is a far-cry from a square, rectangular or any other type of geometrical shape, on top of which branches and leaves were creating the impression of a roof. Even ‘impression’ might be an overstatement…
“No wonder there isn’t any wind here! Even a slight breeze will blow this piggy’s house…”
I didn’t rush to attack the Murloc that was with its back facing me and instead thought of how the hell I’m I supposed to cover this thing’s mouth while stabbing it, without actually losing some fingers in the process.
Back when I fought Goblins, given their humanoid form I was able to pierce through their lungs or diaphragm in order to stop them from speaking... or whatever they were using their vocal cords for... So, in turn, all I could do was wonder:
“Where the fuck does this thing have the lungs? Should I just grab a club and smash their heads in? Or their fins?”
Remembering that I had nine people behind me, I decided to wing it and just stab the damn thing in the side. So I switched to a two handed grip on the spear and placed the knife on my improvised ‘belt’ (pretty much a couple of vines around my waist). I stood up from my crouching tiger/hidden dragon position and strongly thrusted in the midsection of the hunchbacked creature. Where or what exactly did I manage to stab? Fucked if I know, but a notification pleasantly surprised both myself and the fish-creature at the other end of the stick… the pointy one.
Critical damage inflicted! HP -123!
Due to the piercing effect of the blow, your target is inflicted with Bleeding status! -11HP/sec!
Your target died!
A wheezing sound followed as the Murloc crashed on the ground, bathing the grass and plants in a blue viscous liquid.
“Would you look at that! Who thought that these ugly mugs are actual nobility… Apologies m'lord!”
I tried to remember about the elven lore, but all I was able to recollect was how Naga were connected to them, but not the Murlocs. At least not directly. They were actually brought into existence by a deity the elves worshiped, which makes you wonder what kind of imagination did that deity had…
Now that the creature was dead, I was able to see something surprising in my Status Page – to be more specific – in the experience gain description.
Name
Michael Corbett
Name
Value
Name
Value
Job Name
Level
Progress
Race
Elf
STR
15
Magic
0
Elf
1
5% (?)
Sex
Male
DEX
17
Charm
15
Age
25
AGI
18
Luck
15
World
Midgard
END
12
HP
150/150 (+0.2/sec)
INT
22
MP
75/75(+0.05/sec)
WIS
15
Skill List Name Level Proficiency Identify MAX MAX
Blessings Blessing of the World Tree
“I can finally solve the mystery of the points required to level up! I’m surprisingly expectant… let’s see: 5 experience points. Motherfucker! Is that even a lot? That’s 5% of my quota for the next level! Isn’t that exaggerated?”
(?)Current Experience: 5% ( 5 /100 points)
When I remembered that I also had the blessing of the World Tree, I felt really faint. I promised myself that I will acquire the Blessing of Experience for the world, whenever I can and as fast as I can.
With the stupid things I was thinking about, a more down to earth notion occurred to me. Or rather, my eyes fell on the ground where the Murloc kept bleeding…
“Uhm… excuse me, what the fuck!?”
Why wasn’t the body turning into particles of light? Did I need to loot it first or something? After cooping a feel (or more) and almost throwing up in the process, I realized that there wasn’t any looting system. So, what then? Does it not go away?
When I was beginning to become troubled by the sudden change, I saw droplets of the blue blood glistering and disappearing.
“Now I see! From what Eternity told me, the core doesn’t only absorb mana from the atmosphere, but once it creates its own unique pocket dimension it starts generating it as well. The reason why there’s a difference in the corpses disappearing is because back in the demo, the dungeon had almost a year or so while this one has days since its appearance. This will make things annoying since the other creatures will be able to see this one’s dead body…”
I began dragging the surprisingly light body back uphill with me, leaving a rather visible trail of blood (at least for my slightly panicked brain) while heading towards the group. When they saw me and the corpse I brought along with me, a fearful and respectful look appeared on their faces.
“As you can see, it’s not that hard to kill them and their HP is also on the low side. Is time to for you to get your first blood, so let’s get this party going, shall we: Alexandra, you’ll be standing at the front this time, however we’ll be making use of tactics. We aren’t animals, so we won’t just fight them fair and square… Each one of you stab your javelins in the ground near you where you can easily grab them and spread out yourselves in a single row at a distance of two meters between eachother. You’ll be sitting here hidden uphill and wait for me to bait out a number of them. I doubt I’ll be as successful as to bring the entire village in one go, however given that they should follow, you wait for me to pass and once I give the order you stand up and throw the javelins at them. Don’t rush and make sure you properly aim! Once you threw the first one, pick the next and throw it! Repeat the process until you have no javelins left and then switch to the spear and prepare for close combat. Your damage values should be about the same as mine, however you need to make sure you aim for parts of the body which are important like the eyes, the mouth and the belly. Otherwise, you’ll just be creating more work and risk of injury for yourselves. Alexandra, get them in position like I mentioned previously but stay hidden in the grass until I manage to bait out the ‘villagers’.”
[I will! Be careful…](A)
“As cute as it might be having a beauty like you worrying about me, you saw for yourself how easy to kill these creatures are. Rather, I’d be embarrassed to be killed or even injured by them.”
Yup! Leaving on a good line is what being a man’s all about! I even felt a bit proud about myself when I saw the look of respect the two guys gave me.
“Listen and learn young ones! Listen and learn!”
While feeling cocky, I approached the village and saw a group of seven Murlocs about forty meters from where I killed my first monster on Midgard. I stabbed the spear on the ground and left the knife on my waist, while pulling out from the vines I used to strap them to my back, two javelins. Why only two? Because my Agility stat is low as fuck, while Alexandra’s is way higher. Therefore I ‘gifted’ her three extra javelins.
Now it’s time for some more target practice! Yesterday when we held the hunting contest (that I miserably lost) I selected as my target a pheasant. Given its small frame it was expected of me to miss… however, now that I had a group of seven mobs together the target, now that was manageable.
“Let’s see what’s in box numero uno!” – I whispered as I threw the first javelin
As soon as the first projectile left my grasp, I grabbed the second one, repositioned my body and adjusted my aim… then fired once more!
“INCOMING MOTHERFUCKERS!!!” – I yelled scarring the shit out of the small monsters
As soon as my voice fell upon their ears, so did the first javelin. It actually impaled one of the Murlocs in the shoulder and pinned him on the ground like a nail hit by a hammer. It was quite funny to see his rag doll movement.
Damage inflicted! HP -43!
Due to the piercing effect of the blow, your target is inflicted with Bleeding status! -12HP/sec!
Then only two, maybe three seconds later the other javelin stabbed itself in the paw/fin/foot of a creature, making it squeal sharply.
Damage inflicted! HP -13!
Due to the piercing effect of the blow, your target is inflicted with Bleeding status! -5HP/sec!
Due to the crippling effect of your blow, your target is inflicted with Slow status!
I gulped and grabbed the spear while keeping an eye on the surroundings. The Murlocs kept making these sounds that were supposed to threaten me, which in reality only threatened my ears. I found out about a minute later why, when a group of over twenty green monsters following five blue ones rushed to their direction.
“It looks quite overwhelming, but I know that they are weak. Even the Shamans… That was their Rally Cry huh?”
After they sized me up, an eerie silence descended and the only sound that kept replaying itself was the waterfall in the background. I counted a bit over forty total creatures which gave me cold feet when remembering that previously I only attacked from darkness due to my overpowered Stealth skill, but now I was facing a mini army of razor-sharp teeth and claws…
When I saw an almost human-like sneer on the face of a Shaman, I turned on my heels and bolted the fuck out of there. Those pieces of shit were actually salivating! I swallowed back the girlish yell that almost pierced out of my throat and hightailed it to relative safety. Why relatively? Because I didn’t trust those nine eveles to actually hit more than ten targets or so with the entire number of javelins…
By the time the Murlocs woke up from their stupor when they saw me running, I was already halfway uphill. They began trampling everything in their path in order to grab a piece of my juicy ass.
“If only I would be this popular with the ladies…”
With such stupid thoughts I turned around while running and almost tripped a couple of times in my panic, wanting to estimate the distance between myself and my death.
To my utmost happiness there was about a hundred meters so all was good. I reached the top of the hill and stood in the bushes, looking down on the mob crashing like a wave against the mound, having a couple of the monsters rolling back downhill in the process, which looking like bowling balls that the rest of the group had to avoid.
[Michael?](A) – she whispered getting ready to stand up and give the signal to the rest
“Not yet! Let’s wait a while…”
Seeing the Murlocs slowly advancing, I decided to wait until they reached almost halfway to our location before personally making it rain for the second time on Midgard. It wasn’t a long wait either…
“Alright folks! Let’s start the fish-and-sticks operation! To your feet and grab onto a javelin! Aim properly and throw only at my command!”
With a ‘whoosh’ sound, almost like some meerkats popping their heads out of the bushes, the hunters and Alexandra stood up by my side. Each one of them already had a javelin in their hands and was aiming at the spread out monsters in order not to target the same one.
“AIM! THROW!”
A group of sticks were hurled at the fishes (fish and sticks... get it?) that suddenly halted their advance seeing the number of prey suddenly increase, unsure of whether to follow or to retreat, only to be showered by wooden projectiles once more. Given their number advantage, they ignored the javelins and braved the rain. Bad decision…
All hunters made a Murloc fully stop on the spot and pinned it to the ground, while Alexandra… well, let’s just say that her javelin might’ve impaled at least two monsters and still continued downhill.
“Good! Grab the second one! Aim! Throw!”
The same situation replayed and this time another eight Murlocs bit the dust. Seeing their advance suddenly halted and their ranks shaken, I decided to deal the final blow.
“Fire at will!”
[???]
“Ugh… throw them as you want as fast as you can, but make sure you properly aim!”
I didn’t actually expect that in only twenty seconds or so they threw the remaining javelins with such speed. They looked at me with bloodshot eyes, filled with bloodlust that sent chills down my spine.
You know what… fuck it! Let’s just go with the flow…
“Grab the spears and follow me! Make sure you stab every corpse you come around! If there’s no notification of damage, move to the next! If there’s a notification, stab it until it tells you it’s dead! Me and Alexandra will go to the front and kill the escaping ones!”
Seeing the fleeing twenty or so Murlocs, the desire to grind for experience rose in my heart as well!