Kit noticed a little extra twinkle in Twix eyes. Kit held himself back from laughing when he saw that look. Kit could tell Twix was happy to see that he was not the only one that had to suffer through the side effect of the drink.
Grandpa and Mars eyed the drink warily then turned their cups upside down, Kit watched as the liquid entered their mouth. Kit and Twix waited the 5 minutes for them to recover. Kit felt a little guilty watching them suffer. He knew it was worth the effort though.
“That is some foul tasting stuff my boy. Even though it tastes bad I will let you give it to me anytime. The poison resistance is a miracle. There are a few areas with poisonous fog around that have low level monsters. I was going to dismiss them from the plan because I did not have many potions.”
“This will actually make it easier to raise your level smoothly. That’s the thing about the Forsaken state, the monsters are either a high level or the environment is. It actually makes it hard to raise your level until you get over 100. With your drink it opens the lower level monster area without any issues.”
Grandpa had a pleased look on his face. Kit beamed, this meant he could raise his level faster. He could get through the entrance of the mountains to find the cave faster. Kit felt like everything was falling into place.
He had opened his restaurant and with some hard work he would reach level 100 swordsman. The smile on Kit’s face bloomed into a dazzling smile showing his pearly white teeth. The only thing left to do was create more dishes.
“Grandpa let’s go.” Kit’s determination to succeed was at an all time high.
Grandpa laughed at his enthusiasm. “Ok Kit we can head out now.”
Grandpa lead them away from Spartan Fire they walked for 2 hours before they reached their destination. When they stopped, they were standing in front of a muddy swap. White fog with a tinge of brown swirled inside. A damp foul smell hit Kit’s nose. His nose wrinkled in disgust.
Ding!
[CAL]
[Map Found: Mud Wallow Swamp.]
Rewards: 50 experience, 1 Spartan Fire reputation point.
“Here it is boys. Mud wallow swamp.” Grandpa swung his arms wide as if showing them a great treasure.
“It looks good?”
Grandpa started to laugh at Kit’s words.
“Kit it’s a swamp it looks terrible. This is where you will officially start your training though. We will grind away at the little mud wallowers until you reach level 30 then we can move on to something else.”
“Grandpa what will I be doing, the mud wallowers won’t really raise my level.”
Twix had a vexed look on his face. Kit could tell he didn’t want to waste his time on lower level monsters. If it was himself, he wouldn’t want to either, unless it was to get ingredients to make a meal.
“Twix did you forget about the blood bugs”
Twix’ eyes went wide. “Ah Grandpa I don’t know if I can handle the blood bugs by myself.”
Kit listened with curiosity. If Twix was worried about a bug, it must be something special.
“Nonsense, you will be fine. I will be here if any of you get into trouble just yell. Now Kit and Mars you are looking for a small brown creature. It is a solid little fellow with a large blunt head, small ears and eyes and a short muscular neck. Its legs are stubby but powerful, this makes it a great at digging and short sprints. So be careful if it charges at you, it can pack quite a punch with its solid body.”
“They are a level 35 creature. So, you shouldn’t have any problems with them if you dodge. Any questions before we enter?”
Kit was not worried about the mud wallower, he was worried about the blood bugs. Grandpa hadn’t described them yet.
“Grandpa, what about the blood bugs?”
“You won’t have to worry about them, Twix will handle those. If you see one call out to Twix.”
“But what do they look like?”
“Oh, you can’t miss them. They are enormous flying bugs. They have a black outer shell that is like armour. They are as tall as us with a bulky body. When they are on the ground their wings are folded to their side, so they look like a beetle. You will hear them before you see them though. They make a loud clicking sound.”
Kit nodded in understanding. If he heard a click, he was going to run like the wind he wasn’t stupid.
“Alright enough talking let’s go.”
Grandpa’s body entered the white fog. His body became distorted in Kit’s view. He took a breath then followed Grandpa inside. Kit’s vision was reduced from the white fog. He could only see a metre in front of him. He was surprised when he felt the air around him rise in temperature. He was expecting the area to be cold. This felt more like the temperature in the tropical pocket realm.
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Kit wondered if it had something to do with the poisonous fog. He wasn’t going to complain though. He would prefer to be hot than cold. Kit looked down at his feet that had entered the muddy bog. He could feel his feet sink into the soft mud that covered the ground. A fresh foul smell wafted up to his nose.
Kit wasn’t willing to smell the stench all morning. He took out some small pieces of material and stuffed it up his nose. He didn’t care what he looked like if it stopped the smell. Twix gave him a funny look, Mars just nodded at him and did the same. He soon sported the same look as Kit.
Twix shook his head at the pair, then parted from them. Kit guessed his monsters were in a different part of the swamp to the mud wallowers.
Kit pulled out his sword then started to look around for signs of mud wallowers. His eyes roamed over the wet mud looking for any clues. He soon spotted small paw prints in the mud. Kit’s eyes lit up. He started to follow the tracks. Soon there was more than one paw print he was following.
Kit kept quiet so he wouldn’t call attention to himself anymore than he needed too. The only sound he couldn’t conceal was the squelching of his feet as he moved through the thick wet mud. Kit past small patches of water as he followed the paw prints.
He soon spotted a pair of mud wallowers up ahead. The only difference in the description that Grandpa gave was that they were covered in mud from head to toe. Kit slowed down his steps and whispered to Mars.
“One each?”
“Mmm.”
Mars then sprinted forth and started to attack one of the monsters. Kit sighed, he should have known Mars wouldn’t sit still if monsters were around. Kit increased his pace to catch up and was soon swinging his sword down at the muddy creature’s head. A loud grunt came from the small creature.
- 122 damage
Kit didn’t pause in his strikes. Soon blood started to mix with the mud covering the monster. His strikes had improved, and he was more accurate than he had been previously. Kit felt a smile spread across his face at this realisation.
- 122 damage
-122 damage
-122 damage
The mud wallower let out a small grunt. Its beady eyes looked on Kit, before Kit could react it let out a bellow and at the same time charged towards Kit faster than he was expecting. It rammed it’s head into Kit’s leg before he could react.
- 220 health
Kit dodged to the side after receiving a hit. He felt a bruise already starting to form from the impact. Pain was radiating around the area. Kit gritted his teeth. The monster was faster than Kit had realised.
He had been lax in guarding against attacks, he had thought for some reason it would be slower. Kit adjusted his stance so it would be easier to dodge any incoming rushes from the mud wallower.
Kit then started to attack once again. He speeded up his attack and concentrated on its movements so he could dodge if he even saw a twitch in his direction.
- 122 damage
- 122 damage
- 122…
Kit finally killed the mud wallower after several more strikes. He and the creature were a mess. Mud and blood were splattered all over his boots and pants. Kit was glad he couldn’t smell himself at the moment, he had a feeling he smelt very unpleasant.
He had been right to keep his eye on the small stocky creature. He’d had to utilise his dodge skill on more than one occasion. Kit felt he had improved his timing of his dodge skill with his practice.
Ding!
[Mud wallower killed]
Reward: 4,500 experience, 3 x mud wallower meat.
Ding!
[Skill learnt: Novice dodge]
Player can move out of the way of oncoming danger, these basic skills are essential for sloppy players.
Agility + 20
Speed + 10
He looked at the experience points he had gained and groaned. Grandpa hadn’t been kidding when he said they would have to grind in this area.
The only bonus was that he had just upgraded his dodge skill. He was proud that he was improving, now he just needed to work on unlocking more sword skills. He was far behind Mars and Twix, he would have to remind Mars to start up their daily practice once again.
Kit was starting to feel like there were not enough hours in the day for all the things he needed to do. He sighed then returned his focus back to the present. He looked at the mud wallower corpse in front of him.
At least he would receive 3 pieces of meat for each kill. He glanced around to see if there was anything else in the area that he could collect. All he could see was mud. Kit shrugged they had only just entered so hopefully he would come across something he could use to go with the mud wallower meat.
Kit looked around to see where Mars was. He was already engaging with another mud wallower off in the distance. Kit could barley see him through the fog. Kit left him to it and looked around for his next target. There was a small movement in the opposite direction of Mars. ‘Well at least they’re close together so grinding won’t be hard.’
Kit worked his way through mud wallowers for the next two hours. Exhaustion forced him to take a rest. Kit sat down in the mud. He was almost covered from head to toe in mud now, so he didn’t care about adding more to his backside.
He munched away on some fruit and glanced around the area he had just cleared. Kit’s eyes lit up when he spotted a group of plants growing inside a large patch of water not too far from where he was sitting. He quickly finished his fruit and headed over to take a closer look.
Kit walked over to the large patch of water with a twinkle in his eye. His eyes roamed over the plants inside the water. The plants had a main tuber with smaller tubers that big red leaves sprouted from. The leaves were a large heart shape with distinct veins running throughout the underside of the leaves.
Kit waded into the water to the closest plant. He grabbed the base of the large tubular and pulled. With a loud plop the plant came free from the ground. At the base of the large tube was something that looked like a hairy potato.
Kit used identify on the plant.
[Red elephant ear]
A large plant that can be consumed. Warning! Toxic when consumed raw.
Kit eyed the plant warily then remembered he was immune to all poisons at the moment. He wondered if the plant was responsible for the poisonous fog. He quickly stuffed the plant into his pouch then got to work on harvesting the rest of the area.
Kit was sweating like crazy when he pulled the last plant from the ground. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand. He was so tired from the morning’s excursion. ‘Was it going to be like this every morning from now on?’
Kit had a feeling this premonition would turn out to be true. He started to look for a place to have a short rest before trying to find some of his companions. As Kit was nearing the edge of the water he heard a loud click.
“For the love of purple popsicles! Why did I have to hear this sound now? I just want to rest.” Kit complained heavily to himself. Just as he was about to plonk his butt on the ground he would have to start running.
Kit’s eyes darted to the direction he had heard the sounds coming from. A large beetle was only a meter away from him looking into the water he had just vacated. An intense clicking started from the monster.
It spread it wings and flew to the water’s edge. The clinking intensified. ‘Oh snap! Don’t tell me I just collected all its food.’ Kit felt his stomach drop. The large beetle turned towards Kit. He was still frozen on the spot staring at the large monster.
“Sorry no time to chat have to go!”