Corwin planned to go to the Agincourt entrance to Banesdeep, a level 10 dungeon for the Kingdom of Orleans. To get there, Corwin returned to the road and completed the journey to Aginhome. He passed through the city, stopping at the shop to buy some rare ingredients and checking the auction house for mana crystals.
For most players in the game, money was extremely tight as the only real huge sources of it were crafting (which was expensive to start), and rare events. Most enemies encountered so far were good for grinding coppers and silvers, but it was hard to make much gold from them. As such, mana crystals, even though they were likely to have a use in the future were something players were willing to sell if the price was high enough. Players were starting to raid dungeons and thus were getting mana crystals from the bosses in them. The market price seemed to be somewhere between 5 and 6 gold.
Corwin bought all the crystals on the market, even the one that cost 20g. Unfortunately, the available crystals were just a drop in the bucket. He had a total of 102 crystals after all hiss purchases. Corwin decided to focus on his higher levelled items, getting the bonus for upgrading his boots and helm to epic level. Instantly, he was crystal poor as he was down to 2 crystals again.
His boots gained an ability that doubled his stamina regen. His helmet gained an ability that doubled his mana regen. Both of them doubled in stats given, def and MDef. The gemstone bonus unfortunately didn’t double, but could Corwin really complain?
Corwin picked up the coins from his auction, this time earning 11,000 gold. He auctioned another 25 of each bronze tier equipment he could craft. Corwin was tempted to start auctioning Iron equipment as well but decided to hold off as he thought the bronze equips still had high demand. He knew the items were being bought by guilds pooling money and using gold farming techniques to the best of their abilities. Corwin was happy to reap the gains of their hard work, he just hoped he didn’t bleed them dry as he needed to continue getting a hefty amount of gold. Corwin's time manipulation ability was not off cooldown so he spent no time crafting, instead heading straight for the dungeon once his auction house work was complete.
Banesdeep was a level 10 dungeon. It expected teams of players to have bronze equipment in common mode, iron equipment in hard mode, and silver equipment in hell mode. As such, it rewarded iron equipment in common mode, silver equipment in hard mode, and mostly silver set equipment in hell mode. Of course, rare recipes, and special items were also possible. In hell mode, a lucky chance could get a gold equipment, but low-level gold equipment was still extremely rare.
If a team of players needs silver equipment, then a single player generally needed more than gold equipment. Corwin's six epics seemed equal to the task, so he decided it was time to go for the solo clear.
Corwin entered and was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of rot. Dark mold grew on the old stone walls of the underground keep. The tunnel was dimly lit by torchlight, but he had his trusty lightstone to see clearly. The enemies were undead. Mostly elite and special elite zombies. He carved them down without too much effort. Zombies were slow after all.
Eventually the tunnel opened up into a large room with a high ceiling. In that room was a vampire lord. The vampire lord was the ideal mob to fight one-on-one, and a total nightmare in team fights. It had an aura that would drain health from everyone in a radius, adding the health to its own. Fortunately, that drain wasn’t too substantial and his recovery from having one enemy in a radius wasn’t much to worry about. It would be frustrating for a team of ten to deal with however. Corwin’s epic swords were equal to the task of racing him, although Corwin did need to expend some potions dealing with the aura. The lord dropped 2 crystals and a level 10 silver cloth set piece armor that had good bonuses for a summoner. Corwin pocketed the item, planning on sending this to Kyo.
There was a first-clear chest for this boss, and in the first clear chest was a skill manual. Unfortunately, it was for a rare Archer skill, and Corwin could only keep it for trade. The chest had a hidden compartment which contained a recipe for a level 10 silver-tier set piece cloth helm. Corwin was excited to get a level 10 recipe as this was exactly what he needed for the next level of his crafting skill.
Corwin continued on through the tunnels, fighting zombies, skeletons, and ghouls. The elite and special elite mobs only proved challenging in the sheer magnitude of their numbers, but Corwin’s dodging skill was equal to the task. Working on those sword lights had resulted in a whole new level of avoiding attacks.
The second boss was someone who was more challenging in solo mode. He had a powerful AoE skill as well as a single target skill that was both undodgeable and unparryable. The good news was Corwin could fend that skill off with attacks, and had powerful enough attacks to do so. Epic weapons were truly something else after all, with their extremely high base damage and Corwin’s excellent strength multiplier. The boss dropped a level 10 gold-tier amulet and 4 mana crystals as Corwin triggered a lucky drop. The amulet wasn’t part of a set, but the +80 to stats had Corwin immediately equip it with a smile. He knew a better amulet was coming, but it would take a while for it to truly be better given his lack of mana crystals.
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There was also a first-clear chest from which Corwin got two set piece silver equipment, both leather armor pieces. Corwin decided it would be worthwhile to save those for his guild. He carried on with his task, fighting through the next hallway, dealing with zombies, ghouls, skeletons and wights. The wights were a nuisance to many players as they had a powerful strength drain skill that would slow down one’s offence. Fortunately, that skill wasn’t anywhere close to being able to deal with Corwin’s incredibly high strength.
Lastly, Corwin arrived at the final boss. The final boss was a superior lord tier, Invera, the lesser succubus. She wore a sexy chainmail miniskirt that emphasized her shapely thin legs as well as a thin chain chestpiece that looked more like a tube top. Her wings and horns were strangely alien, although sleak and beautiful. Nonetheless, she oozed sexuality, with her shapely bare midriff and ample partially exposed curves. Corwin took a moment to appreciate the sexy seductress before banishing such thoughts from his head and focusing on the coming battle.
The battle was anti-climactic. Corwin had such strong weapons and stats, while the succubus’s most powerful skill was almost worthless. Charm would make a male enemy join her side for a period of time (or until damaged), attacking other allies. However, Corwin had no-one to attack. As such, charm was only used to make him defenseless to a single attack before he recovered. She had a stacking drain skill that was slightly annoying, each use would give her a buff to all base stats while giving her opponent a penalty. Nonetheless, the effect was relatively small on Corwin’s massive stats. The high base damage meant Corwin could burst her down without having to deal with her ultimate ability.
At that point Corwin entered his party name Righteous Destiny and received two announcements:
Congratulations to Corwin Swordborn on the first solo hell-mode clear of Banesdeep. He receives 80,000,000XP, 800 gold and 1 Tier 2 Gemstone.
Congratulations to Party Righteous Destiny on the first clear of hell difficulty of the dungeon Banesdeep. Party member Corwin Swordborn receives 40,000,000 XP, 40 gold and 1 extra dungeon pass.
There were no global announcements this time, and probably wouldn't be until the larger 20-man dungeons that started at level 20. Nonetheless, Corwin was happy for his influx of gold and XP. He returned his thoughts to the succubus.
Slaying such pretty creatures always made Corwin feel a bit ungentlemanly, even though he knew they were evil. Corwin looted the corpse, and received four magic crystals and two pieces of skimpy chain armor, parts of the succubus set.
There was a first-clear chest which rewarded the following amulet.
Amulet of Skill, Divine Growth Type
Currently Trash Level 0
Sacrifice 5 trash or better amulets to upgrade.
Sacrifice 1 magic crystal to evolve.
With only 11 magic crystals, Corwin decided to hold off on upgrading it. Currently, his gold-tier amulet was stronger. Corwin was eager to wear this soon however. He wanted to give the gold tier amulet to Kyo.
Shortly after Corwin finished the dungeon, the patch announcement was made and Corwin had only 30 minutes of in game time till he logged off. He spent that time heading to the city, purchasing some crafting ingredients and making some of his new level 10 set piece recipe. Unfortunately, Corwin didn’t reach Journeyman before the log off was triggered.
Corwin Swordborn
Spoiler :
Level 10: 35% of level 11
Str: 1305 (base:25)
Agi: 1370 (base:70)
Con: 1305 (base:25)
Int: 409 (base:25)
Cha: 409 (base:25)
Lck: 197 (base:5)
Cnc: 197 (base:5)
Sta: 197 (base: 5)
Def: 3881
MDef: 2829
HP:14050/14050 (base: 1000)
MP:6090/6090 (base: 1000)
Gear:
MW: Epic Tier Level 12 Longsword, +192Str +192Agi +192Con
Base Damage: 240-288, Def 288 MDef 240 Durability 384/384, Requirements: 384 Str
OW: Epic Tier Level 12 Shortsword +192Str, +192Agi, +192 Con
Base Damage 196-240, Def 240 MDef 196, Durability 384/384, Requirements: 384 Str
MA: Silver Tier Level 12 Plate, +48 Str, +48 Agi, +48 Con
192Def,192MDef, Durability 96/96, Requirements:96 Str
LA: Silver Tier Level 8 Plate Cuisse, +32Str, +32Agi, +32Con
128Def, 64MDef Durability: 64/64 Requirements: 64 Str
G: Currently Silver, Level 12 +48 Str, +48 Agi, +48 Con
192 Def, 192MDef, Durability 96/96 Requirements: 96 Str
B:Epic Tier Level 12 Plate Boots +192Str +202Agi(10 Gemstone) +192Con
768 Def, 768MDef Durability 386/386 Requirements: 386Str
H: Epic Tier Level 12 Helm, +192 Str, +202(10 Gemstone) Agi, +192 Con
768 Def, 768MDef Durability 386/386, Requirements: 386Str
RR: Epic Tier, Level 12 Ring of Hidden Attributes (+192 All base attributes, +192 All Hidden Attributes)
LR: Epic Tier, Level 12 Ring of Elements (+192 All base attributes,
Ignore 2.4 Levels, Ignore 2.4 Equip Levels
AM: Gold Tier, Level 10 Amulet (+80 All base attributes)
Skills:
Time Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9
Space Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9
Air Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9
Earth Manipulation, Special, Tier 0 Level 9
Thunder Slash, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1
Wave Chop, Rare, Tier 0, Level 0
Wind Charge, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1
Disrupting Blow, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1
Double Slash, Uncommon, Tier 0, Level 2
Slash, Common, Tier 0, Level 2
Pierce, Common, Tier 0, Level 2
Parry, Common, Tier 0, Level 2