Haru: Acolyte, Level 6/20
Optifex: Initiate, Level 6/20
ErcuEmu: Legionnaire, Level 7/20
Alara: Apprentice, Level 7/20
Tacito: Footpad, Level 4/20
Haru wondered what the plan was now that Emu expressed doubt about the party’s ability to continue the main story quest.
“Then,” Alara started, “we need to go level up more if you’re so scared.”
Emu nodded then cradled his chin. “The question is, where should we go?”
“I don’t want to do any more Gogo farming.” Alara whined.
Opti shadowboxed. “Now who’s the scaredy-cat?”
“They’re so annoying. It’s like you poke one and they all come out of hiding.” The mage folded her arms and puffed her cheek.
Haru started to wonder where a good spot would be. The field outside the cave might be too hard, there’s a lot of mobs intermixed which could cause a bad time if they all linked.
“Well, that’s the point.” Emu smiled. “They’re supposed to be scary in numbers.”
“We’re too high level for dragonlings now though.” Opti chimed in.
Taci paced around, not speaking a word while fidgeting with his bow.
Emu nodded. “I suppose that is a problem.”
A spark of inspiration struck Haru. “There’s a small area near my—I mean outside the boss’s tower. Not near the dungeon, but on the mountain. I think that might be a good spot to farm.”
The legionnaire tilted his head and hummed. Then he straightened and his eyes widened. “I forgot about that place. Yeah, that might be a good spot.”
“It’s not Gogo, right?” Alara pouted.
“I thought you were the world’s best DPS?” Opti smirked.
The mage turned her head up and away with her eyes closed. “The best knows how and when to pick and choose their battles.” She folded her arms.
Opti and Emu chuckled.
“I don’t think it’s the goblins, no.” Haru shook her head.
“Then I’m all for it.” Alara loosened her posture.
Emu turned and motioned toward the deadwood forest. “Looks like it’s settled then, let’s go.”
It was a long trip, and Haru hoped it would be worth it. They once again passed through the deadwood forest and continued down the road beyond the Gogo camp. Not long after, they emerged from the forest and passed a small pond, putrefied and on the verge of becoming a swamp. The road curved and became winding as it ascended the side of the central mountain.
As the party rounded the terrain, Haru’s tower came into view. It had thick vines that reached almost a quarter of the way up the structure which pierced the clouds. Around it, nestled in a small, flattened area was a grove. It was unnaturally vibrant and green in the otherwise decaying and purple lands surrounding the mountain.
Puffy bits of pearlescent pollen drifted around through the air in the grove. They would glide around the one lone tree on the far side of the area, opposite the tower.
“I don’t see any enemies here.” Alara folded her arms.
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Haru tapped her cheek. “I was certain there was something here…”
“There is,” Emu pointed. “Look carefully.”
The pollen balls slowed in the air and drifted to the ground. Once they came in contact with the meadow, the puffy orbs sprouted two legs made out of fallen sticks, and arms of long sprouts of grass. They opened their big blue oval eyes and then started waddling around, parting the pasture with their rotund form.
“Woah, these are really low-level Milkies.” Alara watched one take flight.
Emu nodded. “They’re otherwise high-level trash mobs that fill the zones near end game. But these ones aren’t. Good find, Haru. I bet they’ll give a lot of exp.”
Taci readied his bow and marched toward the nearest Milkie that waddled around. The legionnaire placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Let me pull the first one.” Emu held his hand out to block his companion’s advance. “They can be tricky to fight, and I don’t know if these ones have the same abilities as the ones in end game.”
Taci looked at the foe wandering around and after a moment of thought, relented with a nod.
“How do you know these ones are low enough level for us?” Haru looked to Alara.
The mage pointed at the nearest Milkie. “Just target one and hit ‘examine’. It doesn’t say much, just one sentence describing if you’re lower, higher, or equal in strength to the creature. We’ve been fighting mobs between Tough and Incredibly Tough. The higher, the better for us.”
Haru decided to try it out of curiosity. Following Alara’s instructions, she targeted the puffball and examined it. The sound of wind rushing filled her ears. The acolyte’s periphery was filled with white light. Oracle’s voice entered her mind.
You’ve finally taken an interest in the world around you. Consider this a little gift from me, seeing as the professor has his hands full.
A menu popped up and displayed comprehensive stats about the mob.
Milkie – Level 12 – Type: Passive Mob
HP: 55
Mana: 110
Strength: 3
Agility: 6
Vitality: 5
Dexterity: 17
Mind: 14
Intelligence: 18
Charisma: 21
Abilities
* Root
* Flutter
* Serenade
* Fire I
It looks to be Incredibly Tough.
Haru looked over the stats and realized it was a condensed version of the debug read out. The rushing air in her ears quieted, then Oracle’s voice returned.
Perhaps not as comprehensive as the admins’ tools but surely useful none the less. I await your arrival in the glade.
Her voice faded into the distance.
Haru looked over the stats and realized this was not a very physical mob. Its strength was lower than even hers as an acolyte. But it had far more mana and much higher casting stats. She didn’t know what the Root or Flutter abilities did, but Fire I was certainly offensive magic.
“Alright, get ready.” Emu called out as he jogged over to the nearby Milkie.
Everyone targeted the mob.
Emu walked up to it and tried to agro it by line-of-sight.
“It’s passive.” Haru called out.
The legionnaire looked at the puffball for a moment. “Oh, that’s different.”
He auto attacked the creature. It countered with its own melee attack, by running and bumping Emu in the knee, then falling over. The attack did a measly 1% of Emu’s total HP. The legionnaire then turned and jogged back toward the group.
“These aren’t so bad. Usually, they just spam spells at high levels.” He called out and chuckled.
Normally mobs would chase whoever had the most enmity with them. But the Milkie didn’t follow. It just started inflating. A low rumble echoed out. Spheres of red began to circle the mob’s growing form. It had started casting Fire I.
The sound caused Emu to stop moving and spin in place. He used Line Breaker on the mob, slamming into the puffball. The stun didn’t proc. But it brought the creature to 90% health.
Taci began firing his bow at the mob. His auto attack took it to 85% HP.
Opti charged forward and used pummel. The proc gave him one fewer attack, dealing less than normal damage. Then his auto attack triggered, bringing the mob’s health to 70%. The mob’s casting neared completion.
Wasting no time, Alara began spam-casting ice bolt. Her normal strategy was to DPS slowly, to cast one time and then recover some mana. But now with each spell completed, she followed with another. After two casts, the monster was down to 50%.
Then the Milkie’s spell casting finished. It hopped into the air and rapidly deflated. As it returned to original size, Emu burst into flames.
The spell knocked him back, causing him to slide toward the back line. He went from 99% health to 2% from the lone cast of Fire I.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow!” The legionnaire called out. Enough time passed for Line Breaker to come off cooldown, so he used it again to get himself back in the fight. The attack brought the puffball down to 40%.
But he timed it precisely when the Milkie was set to auto attack again. It rolled into his knee and fell over. The strike brought the legionnaire down to 1% HP.
In a panic, Haru started casting Mend on Emu.
With another attack, Opti’s strike brought the creature down to 30%.
A second bow volley from Taci got the creature to 25%.
With only enough mana to fire a third ice bolt, Alara’s spell brought the Milkie down to 15% HP.
But then more red orbs appeared around the Milkie. It inflated and started spinning in a tight circle over Emu. It had started using its Flutter ability.
Haru gasped, her Mend spell was only at 75% completion.