Nobody ever expected the highest level individual in all of Thudfall to be a chef. There were plenty of people who spent nearly all their time fighting or doing whatever their profession required of them, but none put in quite as much work as Otto did. He couldn't even remember the last time he hadn't been in his kitchen cooking away, slowly refining his craft and recipes.
Some could say that he perhaps spent too much time working or was pushing himself too much, but Otto really didn't look at it that way. He enjoyed what he did, and in his mind there really wasn't a scenario in which he would want to stop. From time to time he did take a moment to sit down and eat one of his own meals, but it was never too long before he was back to cooking.
Otto grimaced slightly as he noticed a not-so-subtle addict take a hit of gemlock in the corner of his restaurant. It was an insult to his craft whenever people did that, and especially so when it was within his own restaurant. The food he made could have an even better effect than that drug, and came with none of the harsh side effects.
Granted, his meals were several times more expensive than the purple rocks, but Otto still felt that people were needlessly destroying their bodies and mana pathways. He shook his head, thinking to himself that he would try and hint to any town officials that came through his restaurant that perhaps they should place restrictions on or outright ban the drug. Hell, he wasn't one to shy away from a bit of bribery. Being the top chef in a town of over 100,000 did tend to be quite profitable after all.
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Sam entered through the gates of Thudfall with the rest of her team. It had been a pretty successful hunting trip, and every one of them had leveled up quite a few times. She did feel a bit bad that the group had likely pulled ahead of Antonio by several levels, but she was confident he could catch up. They did still have the lair boss that they needed to kill. Days passed while the group rested and relaxed, but during that time she still had yet to find Antonio.
She had started to get concerned that maybe he hadn't made it back to the village safely, and the sense of dread only grew the more she asked around. “You are sure he didn't come back into town?” She asked Phara, the town guard captain.
“I’m not sure he didn't come back, but I can tell you with certainty that he never came back through any of the gates in the outer wall.” The captain responded.
“Let me know if somebody does see him.” She said, walking away sullenly.
She sat in Otto’s restaurant, talking to her group and discussing where the spear wielding man might have gone. None of them had seen him and everyone was starting to get worried. Sam was ashamed to admit it, but she had gone to check with the shop that sold gemlock to ask if Antonio had been back to buy any. While she and her group sat there, each and everyone of them got a notification that they hadn't been expecting in the least.
*Lair Cleared! Congratulations on clearing the shark reef lair! Based on your contribution (8%) and level, you gain one level to your class!*
*Class level up! Hydro sorcerer (level 62)*
They all stared at the notification, not knowing exactly why they had received it. They had not killed the lair boss before leaving the reef, so the lair shouldn’t have been cleared. Sam had thought that maybe they had finished some other hidden clear condition when one of the other members of her party, and rouge, spoke up.
“That crazy maniac stayed.” The man said, staring off into space.
Sam’s face went paper white at that thought. If Antonio had never left the lair, instead fighting monsters all on his own, that meant that he must have been the one to also kill the lair boss. Sam didn't think about the fact that the man had likely killed the lair boss on his own, instead focusing on something else entirely. She had abandoned Antonio, all alone in a lair full of high leveled, dangerous as hell monsters.
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Antonio was having the time of his life as he sprinted across the ocean surface on his way back to Thudfall. He had gained so many levels as a result of earning 40% of the overall contribution to clearing the lair, and killing the lair boss. He was now level 65 in his class, and all he needed to do now was spend some time working on his profession.
He used his newly developed skill, Assured Purchase, to use mana to create footholds for him to kick off of, making him appear to sprint right across the surface of the water. It had helped greatly when fighting the lair boss, as he hadn't needed to be in the water, where it was at its strongest. It even pairs well with his spear as he could stab down into the monster whenever it swam directly under him.
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His sprint became a flight as he used another trick he had copied from Mike’s arsenal. A pair of bright blue wings sprouted from his back as he took to the skies. He hadn't quite mastered the art of flying, but using Burst Step made up the difference. His wings glowed even brighter than he remembered Mike’s had, and he could already feel the pride welling up within him, knowing that people would be in awe of his glorious wings.
On top of that, he knew people would be plenty impressed that he cleared a lair, even if he hadn't done even half the work himself. Ah yes, everything was turning up Antonio today! He grimaced as a nervous tick hit him, telling him that his group would be pissed with him for abandoning them and clearing the lair himself. He quickly crushed a small purple stone in his hand, inhaling the fumes. That helped dampen the growing feeling, and he continued his flight with just a little less enthusiasm.
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*Lair Cleared! Congratulations on clearing the shark reef lair! Based on your contribution (.05%) and level, you gain no levels to your class!*
“Oh, they finally finished it.” Mike said, finishing off yet another enemy he was fighting. “They finally must have gotten their act together if they managed to kill the lair boss.”
He was surprised to see that he had been giving any credit towards its completion at all, since he hadn't killed even a single monster the entire time he was there. He had fought the lair boss briefly, and maybe the wound he had left it with made a scar that counted as that .05%. Even though he was happy to see that they had finished their lair, Mike was still a bit disappointed. He’d had a little challenge in his mind to clear the bottom half of the mountain before they finished the reef lair, but he hadn’t been expecting them to kill the lair boss so quickly.
Either way, he would try and remember to congratulate them when he got back to Town. In the meantime, he turned his attention back to the small army of monsters he had killed. They were all weak for their level, but there were just so many of them that he had gained multiple levels from the battle.
*Rockling (level 68-74) slain x112*
*Earth elemental (level 70-80) slain x9*
*Mountain Hawk (level 75-80) slain x34*
*Earthen Goliath (level 80) slain x2*
*Class level up x4! Mighty feller of Giants (level 68)*
*Race level up x2! Human (level 65)*
The fight had been a long one, and had taken him a whole day of swinging his hammer and tactically retreating to regenerate his resources. In the end, he had still managed to eke out a win. He had already made the decision that he wanted to reach at least level 70 in both his class and profession before taking on the boss that he was sure lay just below the clouds.
If enemies of a higher evolution started appearing above the cloud layer, then he surmised that this must mean that there was a boss monster at level 99 that ruled over the lower half of the mountain. He could be wrong, and said the boss could be a level 100 enemy, in which case he would probably want to be closer to level 80. He was also looking forward to the skills he would get when reaching level 75, just as he had gotten when reaching level 25 and 50.
It was taking a while, but he was also trying to level up his profession at the same time as fighting monsters. He was feeding materials into both the knife and the club that he had made, and he hoped to get a level from each when they upgraded in rarity. It might have been wasteful to throw so many materials from high level monsters straight into a couple of weapons that he would likely never use, but he really didn't have another use for the expensive materials.
Mike decided that now was as good a time as any to scout out the boss he wanted to conquer, so he flew up to the cloud layer, hovering just below it while he flew around the mountain in a large circle, scanning for the boss. He was confused as to why he couldn't find it at first, but then he noticed the abnormally large amount of cave openings. There were at least a dozen from what he could count, and maybe more that he missed.
Flying into one of them, Mike had needed to run away as hell rained down upon him. Icicles the size of his leg barley missed him as he scrambled to fly back through the cave he’d entered through. Even as he flew through, the occasional shard of ice shot through and bounced off his armor. He exploded out of the cave, taking a moment to catch his breath while descending further down the mountain. It had been a frantic escape, but he’d still had just enough time to identify the boss before he’d turned tail and fled.
*Frost Yeti (level 99)*
He had been right about it being a level 99 monster, which meant he wasn't too far off in levels to fight it. All he needed now was just two levels for his class and 8 levels in his profession. “Shit.” Mike said, sucking in a breath. “That is definitely gonna take a bit.”
It would probably only take him two days or so of fighting to get the class levels he needed, but it would take much longer to get the professional levels. They had always been much slower, as crafting was inherently a time consuming process. He would just have to suck it up and get it done. That also meant it was for the best to stop fusing materials into his dagger and hammer in order to save all the materials he could get his hands on.
Unfortunately, Mike was not a patient man, at least not when he didn't want to be. He would continue merging the materials until he reached level 70 in his class, then he would hunt for materials whenever he ran out. Feeling it was a solid plan, Mike set out to find some monsters to kill, hoping it would be enough to upgrade the two weapons.