Convincing Natalia and Blake to join his mission was easy. Natalias was bored. She had nothing better to do these days, and Blake didn’t say anything either. She nodded faintly, which was quite hard to make out given that she was shrouded in an oversized robe.
Once they decided to dive into the Tower of Nature again, nothing could stop them. They made some preparations and jumped straight into the fray.
**
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
More Players joined Forgotten Lands as the game’s popularity exploded, and some organizations made the first move. Dozens of workshops were established, professional Players were scouted, and heavy investments were pooled into Forgotten Lands.
Thousands of Players gathered near the Tower of Nature. Everyone wanted to dive into the dungeon and conquer it to upgrade their gear. Countless threads about the ‘Golden Tower’ reached the Players. It wasn’t surprising that everyone wanted to be the next group to enter the Tower of Nature.
However, the number of groups that could enter the Tower of Nature simultaneously was restricted. Only 500 groups could enter the Tower of Nature at a time. That was enough to avoid problems at first. However, as the popularity of the Tower of Nature skyrocketed, 500 groups turned out to be a lot less than expected. The demand continued to increase but the supply didn’t change.
Players began to fight each other to procure a better slot in the queue and the first Dungeon Conquests started. It was only a matter of time before the Tower of Nature would be claimed by the first Guilds and Workshops. This would make it increasingly more difficult for ordinary Players to dive into the Tower of Nature.
“I think we should claim the Tower of Nature and demand a fee from everyone who wants to enter the dungeon!” An excited voice reverberated through the surroundings, attracting the attention of the Players around them.
The young woman with the excited voice ignored the frowns and glares others shot at her and giggled quietly. Suddenly, she squealed out as one of her friends flicked her forehead. She exaggeratedly held her forehead and stared at the young man, who’d flicked her as if he broke her skull.
“We’re not claiming anything. Do you think we’re strong enough to claim the Tower of Nature and guard it against thousands of Players? I thought that you wouldn’t be such a fool anymore,” Zayn joked lightly, ignoring Melanie’s grimace.
“Don’t get too full of yourself,” Natalia chuckled lightly, while David nodded silently.
Three days passed since they conquered the Tower of Nature for the first time, and a lot had changed. Their Armaments looked almost the same. If anything had changed, it was the fact that David sold some Cards to get his hands on a Ranked Armor.
Zayn could have purchased a few Ranked Armaments as well, but he did not need any better Armaments at this point. The Ranked Shanyt Axe was more than enough to deal with most enemies, for now.
He would change into a better Armaments once he entered the first city. The Armaments that could be found and procured there were much better. They were worth his money.
The equipment in Beginner Villages wasn’t bad. It was just that the Shanyt Axe was the cream of the crop among the goods that could be found in most Beginner Villages.
Even though their gear didn’t change a lot, nobody would be stupid enough to offend them. Their presence changed a lot in the last 72 hours. The team gained confidence, at last.
Once they conquered the Tower of Nature the second time, David and the others got to know that their enemies were not as frightening as they used to be. The Tower of Nature’s difficulty seemed to decrease as the team’s teamwork improved.
They fought together and continued improving their teamwork all while increasing their Cards’ Level. But the Levels of their Cards were not all that changed. The team procured dozens of useful Cards and learned to use them efficiently to eliminate their foes and aid their allies.
Melanie and the others required quite some tutelage and countless pieces of advice to improve, but they devoured Zayn’s tips and tricks and never forgot them. They learned a lot and tried to apply his tips right away.
It took a while to get used to some things, but upon noticing how much they improved, it was only a matter of time before they listened to everything Zayn said.
The sixth time they conquered the Tower of Nature, they decided to set up a new record. They charged through the four floors of the Tower of Nature and eliminated the Tainted Dryad Boss Monster in less than five minutes.
Their speed run lasted 29 minutes and 43 seconds, pushing them to place one on the Ancient Records.
They gained various Card Shards and Soul Essences from that speedrun given that the former record was 1 hour 43 minutes and 25 seconds. Their speed run was more than one hour faster, thus increasing the drop rate of the Boss Monster exponentially.
After becoming the record holders of the Normal Difficulty, Zayn and their group gained more Card Shards and other drops from the following dungeon dives. They received more Soul Essences from slaying the monsters of the Tower of Nature as well, though that was less important given that they gained fewer Soul Essences from amassing more than 100 Soul Essences in their Heart Decks.
Their group had to start using Soul Essences to level up their Cards to avoid wasting the potential gains. This resulted in even more changes and improvements in their combat prowess. They improved a lot and broke their old record a few more times.
It was a beautiful cycle. They dived into the Tower of Nature and procured better Cards and Soul Essences which would then be turned into nourishment for the Cards to level up.
A lot changed within 72 hours.
Heart Deck
Classless(Tier-0) Card Holder
Connected Cards: 8
Card Limit: 10
Stored Soul Essences: 91
Blink
Uncommon - Level 15(23%)
Spell
Active
Requires Energy to be used.
Effect – Uses a considerable amount of energy to teleport the User to a designated location
Remark– Blink may require several uses if the distance is too large.
–
Energy consumption decreases with an increase in Card Level.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Range of teleportation expands with an increase in Card Level
—
Card Set – Demonic Treant
Common – Set of 3
Level 58
1)Rapid Plant Growth – Level 20(MAX)
Effect – Accelerates the growth of plants.
Has a low probability of enhancing a plant’s quality.
2) Iron Bark – Level 18(2%)
Effect – Reinforces the Card Holder’s skin passively
Can be used actively to temporarily enhance the Card Holder’s skin drastically.
3) Root Strike – Level 20(MAX)
Effect – Manifests Roots that can be controlled freely.
Lesser control of vines, and branches.
Set Effect – Effective Card Level of all linked Cards will be combined.
–
Energy consumption decreases with increase in Card Level.
Range of Card effects expands with an increase in Card Level
Card effects increase with Card Level
—
Alchemist’s Instinct
Uncommon - Level 10(2%)
Utility
Passive/Active
Requires Energy and Stamina to be used.
Effect – Passive – As a True Alchemist you know instinctively how to concoct and improve potions.
Active – Your instincts call for the return of the True Alchemist. Your Dexterity and Perception improve drastically while brewing potions.
The failure rate decreases drastically. The probability of creating potions of higher quality increases.
–
Failure Rate decreases with increase in Card Level.
The probability of creating potions of higher quality increases with Card Level.
The likelihood of attaining epiphany increases with Card Level.
The potency of Alchemist’s Instinct increases with Card Level.
—
Aegis Natura
Common - Level 20(MAX)
Spell
Active
Requires Lifeforce to be used
Effect – Absorbs the surrounding Lifeforce to create an Aegis
Can store a small amount of Lifeforce to manifest a strong Aegis
–
Lifeforce Storage expands with Card Level
Aegis grows more durable as the Card Level increases
Duration of active Spell increases with Card Level
—
Coalesce
Uncommon - Level 14(85%)
Spell
Active
Requires Energy to be used.
Effect – Can merge almost anything.
Success rate depends on the compatibility, quality, and rank of targeted items.
–
Fusion difficulty decreases with Card Level.
Types of Fusions increase with Card Level
—
Lifeforce Convesion
Uncommon - Level 8(5%)
Spell/Augmentation
Active
Requires Lifeforce to be used.
Effect – Converts Lifeforce into power
–
Conversion rate increases with Card Level
Power output increases with Card Level
—
Draining Touch
Uncommon - Level 11(91%)
Spell
Active
Requires Energy to be used.
Effect – Replenishes Lifeforce and Energy by draining the living with your touch.
–
The Card’s effect will increase with the Card's Level
—
Double Impact.
Uncommon - Level 14(85%)
Spell
Active
Requires Energy to be used.
Effect – Produces a second impact.
–
The power of the second impact increases with the Card Level
The energy consumption decreases with the Card Level
—
Many Cards had reached their level cap at Level 20. They were merely Common Cards and could be replaced sooner or later, but they were still cost-efficient. It would take a while before Zayn found something good enough to replace them with. That was especially true for the Common Card Set.
Zayn had removed Scent of Treasure from his Heart Deck and added Lifeforce Conversion, Draining Touch, and Double Impact. He traded Draining Touch and Double Impact for 4 Uncommon Cards and 6 Common Cards, and he had been lucky enough to combine 10 Uncommon Card Shards into Lifeforce Conversion.
His combat prowess increased drastically with the addition of the Uncommon Cards.
Zayn was not the only one whose Cards changed and improved. However, his changes were the most apparent.
With the drastic changes they’ve undergone in the last 72 hours, Zayn and his team conquered the Hard difficulty of the Tower of Nature. They set a speedrun record for the Hard Difficulty as well.
That was mostly because of Zayn’s heavy investment into the resources that they’d used to obliterate the Tainted Dryad Boss Monster. It cost Zayn more than 10,000 Credits to speedrun the Hard Difficulty
Melanie and David were still unsure why Zayn would invest so much in Forgotten Lands if they could play a little bit slower to speedrun the Hard Difficulty and set up new records without the heavy investments.
However, Zayn never explained himself.
How could he say that he was in a hurry and that he didn’t want to continue raiding the lowly Normal and Hard Difficulty of the Tower of Nature?
He was in a hurry to finish the Nightmare difficulty …read a bunch of books…
Finally, they were ready to conquer the Nightmare Difficulty. It was about time to reach the Hidden Boss and find what Zayn had been looking for all this time.
He arrived in front of the Tower of Nature, shoved the other Players away, and selected the Nightmare Difficulty right away.
He turned around to his team, ignored the other Players who were shouting at him, and smiled devilishly.
“Are you guys ready for another run?”
Melanie smiled brightly, raised her hand, and exclaimed.
“I’M READY TO RUMBLE!”