You know when you show babies how to walk and they just tumble and fall anyways?
Well that perfectly explains what I’m observing...
I’d given them all a boar to kill
...
..
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It makes me want to cry when I look at them.
Ok, so from the start:
Rogerick had charged to his, successfully impaling his boar (well done, and apparently there’s bonus damage from charge, I’ll keep mind of that). But he left his spear in the boar and continued to gallop on, chased after by the boar, which attacked his sides while he tried to recover his spear...
Disastrous...
Next were the three mages...Yeah, this is where all hell broke loose.
Apparently they had all thought their skills, shooting them out with a strength of 1 (dealing 1 damage)...
Juicy, set her boar on fire and then tried to entrance it as it came, but it didn’t work because the boar was on fire, so it began goring her.
Earthen plonked the boar on the nose with a pebble and then in shock, jumped backwards and spewed acid breath all over the incoming boar, just before it rammed into her.
Ricky was slightly better, even if the wind slice did absolutely nothing.
He dodged the boar...and whacked it with his staff...which was sadly more effective than his spell.
I’ve seriously never thought of Jöt being any better than the average mage...till I met this lot.
OK, so where to begin helping?
Sprinting over to Juicy, I whack the boar to pieces in quick succession, before turning to Earthen and with Juicys help, whacked it to death.
All four of us converged onto Ricky’s boar and when we finished it, we watched Rogerick mule kick his own boar to death.
“Sit” I point to the floor in front of me. None of them disobey.
Ok, constructive criticism...that’s what I’m aiming to do.
“Rogerick, good job on the impaling, just don’t leave your spear in it. The rest of you...what was that?” I gaze at them unimpressed.
“I thought flare like you said but all that fired was a tiny little flame” Juicy complains under my gaze.
The others nod their head to that.
“Hmm, try thinking it slower. Imagine its one long shout like; Flaaaaaaaaaaaare!”
Totally makes sense right? Seen stuff like that on the TV enough so it might just work.
I choose Earthen to volunteer and she stands up.
Slowly a ball of rock forms in mid air between her staff and her free hand.
It reaches about the size of my hand before it shoots off into the distance at her discretion.
“How much energy did that cost?”
“45” She answers almost immediately.
Ah, I’ve forgotten to party them up!
Quickly teaching them friending/messaging and the party system rules (so loot rolls and xp sharing), I then have Earthen demonstrate again while I watch her energy bar.
It decreases slowly till it reaches almost halfway. Then begins increasing quickly once the spell is cast.
“Ok, so your energy won’t regenerate while you are casting a spell, so you have to be quick in casting it or you’re going to be hugely inefficient with your casting” Really shouldn’t bother them about this right now, just get them to be able to shoot something damaging.
Confident they won’t completely fail, I have them battle, while I watch and keep track on all four of them, not an easy task yet oddly not too bad either
...
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Rogerick loses his spear again while Juicy starts shouting ‘Flaaaaaaaaa-’ for all to hear. Earthen hits the boar with a good sized rock before trying fervently to make another...failing and getting gored.
Ricky is faring slightly better, dodging the boar after damaging it and finishing it off with another two wind slices (20/20 vision really helping to see the blurs that are apparently the wind slices).
We save Earthen and just as we finish her boar, a loud flaming blast comes from nearby and we see a ball of fire the size of a football blast into the boar, killing it in one go.
Mages...god their awesome!
Rogerick mule kicks his boar to death once again and I sit them down, once again.
“Right, Rogerick, try trampling your boar, I mean you’re wearing full plate, use the weight to your advantage. Juicy, that was perfect, slow, but perfect. Earthen...too slow and you felt the consequences. Ricky, that was fine, continue with it just speed it up a little maybe”
Ok, round 3, let’s hope this is better.
Thankfully Earthen took a page out of Ricky’s book and focused on dodging the boar, so both of them finished their boar off just before Juicy obliterated hers.
Rogerick however... was done long ago, due to him trampling the boar to death.
Asking him for the damage recount, apparently it’s the defence plus strength at first impact.
That’s a terrifying number...I can just imagine a horde of these literally trampling everything...everything.
So all in all, round 3 was successful.
Teaching them how to reclaim the boar to the goddess (Allie, but they don’t know that), I casually check my xp bar and see it unchanged.
Huh, so apparently Allie’s really helping us out by not having me impact the party xp (how sweet of her).
Rounding up everyone, I have them sit down again, after a celebratory round of high fives of course (need to keep noob morale high).
“Right, so I am going to tell you the plan for the next 2-3 in-game days. Firstly, you will all get to level 10. You will also one crafting skill, one non-combat skill and for the mages, one new spell. It isn’t a lot and honestly we can do this all within a day or so without too much difficulty.
What will take up the rest of the time will be learning how to quest, working together and building your character up correctly as well as giving you a good, strong idea on what you want your class to be. Do you all comprehend?”
“Yep” They all shout in unison.
“Perfect, so let us begin what gamers call grinding” I flash a grin and point towards the nearby fields, filled with boars.
With Rogericks permission, I ride across his back, holding his mane while he tramples boar after boar while trying my best to watch the three mages not die horribly.
Luckily these boars are simple minded charge in a line creatures, making it easy for the mages to dodge them before blasting them with a second attack (except for Juicy, she’s enjoying one-shotting them...maybe she should’ve gone mana).
Within twenty minutes, everyone has levelled up once and I’ve gotten to wave at a clockwork and a treant as they looked at the heavily armoured Rogerick crushing boars underneath.
So there are a few other noobs here, but pretty much everyone else has already moved on (well this is close to 2 weeks RL since launch date).
Our big fail in the first hour was surprisingly enough Rogerick, who when trampling a boar actually stumbled, legs getting caught in the boars and sending him down, on top of me.
So I died, but Rogerick was just fine...Because of all that armour.
And because of all that armour he didn’t receive a single point of damage from the boar as he slowly stood back up.
I was quite amused by the death, yet slightly miffed at having to be the first to die too.
I mean I wasn’t even participating in the battles.
So anyways, everyone reached level 2 and immediately I helped them distribute their stats.
Rogerick was instructed to increase his STR at the moment, because it’ll help him trample without being caught and tumbled over, somewhat.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Juicy and Earthen were told to increase their INT and MND as they saw fit, explaining the benefits of focusing either.
Ricky, since he wanted to do melee too instead of just pure air mage, had to add points to AGI too, the ratio left up to him.
For level 3 we travelled further away from the village, meeting plains wolves [Lvl 5].
They already came in their packs of four, which was a perfect number.
Though I had Rogerick just pile through a separate group, trampling one while impaling another (keeping his spear this time) before I frantically battled two jumping wolves as they tried pouncing at the back of Rogerick, try to get through his heavy armour.
Not the easiest battle mind you and before I could finish one off, he charged into another pack and now 4 were chasing after him, actually outrunning him and attacking him (and me) from the flanks.
Telling him to get back to the group, he swerves back and we guide the wolves into a multi elemental barrage, albeit 2 out of 3 attacks missed.
Though in the end the wolves died, leaving an almost dead me on a tired yet unhurt Rogerick.
Hmm, this looks like a time to get a spell.
Thanks to Jöt I’ve learnt that spells aren’t found (well they probably are, or some of them at least) they are made.
So giving instructions to them all, I have all 3 work on an aoe spell of some sort (I just told them it has to deal damage in an area so I don’t know what to expect from them) while Rogerick goes around killing and agroing a whole bunch of wolves.
Me? I sit down and watch everyone work. Its great not having to work sometimes, especially when you watch others work too!
After half an hour, Rogerick is at a literal walking pace, armour getting scratched to hell by what looks like a small horde of around 20 wolves. And the others look like their ready too.
Messaging him to come back, running, he pulls out his last bit of energy and begins cantering towards us, in no way outrunning the wolves.
“Fire away guys”
*BOOM*
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Ok, never just ask them to...fire away...jesus!
So...Rogerick is dead, along with 20 odd wolves as well but still.
Now how did Rogerick die? Well it was a meteor to put it simply.
Apparently Earthen created a meteor, which Juicy then lit on fire making it explosive.
Did they plan this?
I HAVE NO IDEA but it worked fantastically.
Also Ricky did do something, but I didn’t really see since the explosive meteor just murdered everything.
“660 damage” Rogerick says wide eyed as he returns from respawning.
So much? How? Was it because it was two spells combined together?
Looking at the mages, they all look completely flabbergasted.
Wait wasn’t it your plan to do that?
“Guys? What was that?” I finally ask, asking it once more before they snap out of it and respond.
“Well...according to this notification (taught them what that is too) apparently we created a combined spell called quickened explosive meteor which requires fire, wind and earth magic” Earthen reads out with a still can’t believe it expression.
WAIT ALL 3 OF THEM CONTRIBUTED?
“Ok I’m confused, did you all plan this?” but surely they couldn’t have, I was watching them think to themselves about it.
“No, it just happened” Juicy shrugged her shoulders as lost as I am.
“Ok, so what was everyone’s original plan then?”
“Fireball” Juicy shouts out.
“Boulder drop” Earthen adds in.
“Pushing the boulder” Ricky admits, getting stares from all of us since he actually planned for it to happen just not with the explosive property. “I thought the only AOE you could do would be just dropping a boulder, so I thought about making it faster so it does more damage. Plus couldn’t think of any damaging with spells.
So according to them, Juicy and Earthen shot out at the same time, somehow colliding and causing them to form together, under the influence of pushing air, increasing the power of the now explosive meteor.
...Wow...
Oh and to top it off Juicy got the combustive spell (allows things to become explosive, sweet!), Earthen got Boulder drop and Ricky got Quicken (increases speed of a target object or person).
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Noobs they may be but damn, together they can definitely beat Jöt and any other wizard in that matter.
I mean I haven’t met much that can deal with a giant ass explosive meteor that drops fast!
Plus they could do this every ten seconds for the same amount of damage if they trained enough
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This Berzauraker class feels a whole lot weaker to just normal mages now (Cry).
Helping everyone level up twice (I know right!) except for Rogerick who only levelled up once due to dying, I then have Rogerick round up a large group of wolves once again.
But this time I ask him to go half speed for a bit and then burst into full, getting a slight lead from the wolves and hopefully escaping the meteor.
It took another death for him to get it right, but as soon as he did, it was a massacre; within another hour everyone had reached level 4 due to killing around 20 wolves every 10 or so minutes.
Leaving the field, with some craters in it now, behind, we continued further on till we reached a forest...or what was left of one anyway.
Immediately I thought of Missy...because the entire forest, maybe about 10 km either way, was burnt down...
A new one was being grown by a couple of the more magical and earth attuned villagers, but Bears and lynxes still roamed around the burnt stumps, looking rather depraved.
Though that didn’t matter to us as no trees meant half decent ground for Rogerick to charge in as well as no problems with meteor strikes.
However unlike the plains, the monsters in the forest don’t have a huge agro range so the usual mass monsters didn’t work so well...plus the bears were stronger than Rogerick actually knocking him over but still couldn’t pierce his armour much.
“Alright, everyone help Rogerick first”
A rock, some fire and a blur travel towards the bear, obliterating it with over 300 points of damage (Rogerick had already damaged it).
Mages are pretty scary, even in early game!
I mean that attack did use up all their pool, but they get that back in ten seconds!
Checking out the bears, they indeed have 440 health at level 7.
Guess the most efficient way would be ganging up.
Giving them instructions, I watch the mages attack with their big spells before Rogerick charges in to impale the heavily damaged bear, ramming into it and killing it, yet tripping himself.
Guess that’s the worst bit about being a centaur...you’ll trip over it if you can’t trample it.
Though I believe there are other ways one can use the extra speed and manoeuvrability of the centaurs to good use.
The hunting lasts another 3 hours this time, mostly because as they killed the bears, we also moved onto the level 8 lynxes which had only just over 300 health.
3 hours and everyone reached level 7 which is crazy fast.
Distributing their stats once more, we continued deeper into the burn forest, to encounter level 10 panthers...which should’ve been hiding in the darkness of the trees but they weren’t allowed, what a shame.
Due to their main advantage not being present, they became easy pickings for us.
Another few hours pass and everyone hits level 10 with ease. Though Rogericks armour is beat and he’s running low on food already.
Happily, I take everyone back to the village, partially because it is dusk now.
First things first, I have Rogerick repair his armour (as much as he can, though everyone contributes some of their copper for him, how sweet of them and good party decision too!) while I help Ricky choose a long pointy and sharp thing.
I thought dagger at first, but a sword or even a spear might do wonders, especially due to the extra range.
In the end he buys a thin longsword for two silvers (ouch! But they can afford it since they don’t have to spend it all on food...) and he waves it around inexpertly almost killing Juicy.
Half-dragging them out of there (after asking the blacksmith whether he requires help, he did not but he did subtly hint that Ricky might need some...touché), we head to the inn and rent a large room for us all (Rogerick has to sleep in the stables...wa wa waaaa).
Telling them they should sleep through the game night, they all log off.
Lying on the wooden floor, I kind of miss my fur mattress already...
Right, what else have I got to have them do?
They need a control spell (as well as a proper AOE/support for some of them), Rogerick just needs practice. I think I can teach them sprint (though Rogerick won’t have a fun time) and then find an alchemist since that should be the most useful.
All in all I could have them done easily way before the end of the second day...question is, how do I give them an idea on what they want their class to be?
Right now, Rogerick is looking to be a literal tank (as in armoured vehicle sense), so no idea what class that could be but definitely will ask the stable master about that.
Juicy and Earthen are both normal mages, their only speciality being their accidental (and now planned) combination attack, which pretty much outweighs any normal mage by themselves anyway.
Ricky...I’m not quite sure yet; his AOE spell is a support spell instead and he’s going melee, so I think he’s going to be a self-supportive melee type, kind of like me...but with more magic.
Hmm, well I’ve got a day to get this sorted...because I need to get back into my personal heaven/hell.
Logging out and back into Kal, I’m greeted by Cindy sitting by the fireplace, cooking some stew and humming a lonely song.
“Hey Kal” She turns my way smiling as if knowing I was there already.
...
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Ah yeah, I never told you what happened with my last night with Thalia (trust me it’s important to know).
While the spooning continued, I kept focusing on her aura and had asked a couple of questions that came into my mind (only the aura related ones thankfully).
I had asked her whether it was an aura that told her of my presence and la di da it was (So she DID have some weird tracking on me!). Apparently it’s called the aura of alarm and with it you can sense intrusions into your aura.
Apparently, both she and Cindy have it on pretty much constantly (Hence how Cindy knew I was there before I even spoke).
“Hiya” I give her a smile before I go outside, to BATTLE.
WHY? BECAUSE I’M LEVEL 1 AND I NEED TO GET BACK UP TO LEVEL 10...or I’m going to feel extremely useless.
Stomping out the Northern gate, I believe in myself, I believe I CAN KILL ALL THOSE WOLVES ALL BY MYSELF!
Feeling my grand aura of power filling me up and pulsating off me, I find the first wolf and charge towards it, taking out my old axe and holding it in my offhand (DUAL WIELDING HERE I COME!).
The wolf agros and comes towards me, baying with hunger.
-8 -6 (466/480)
My axes chop at its side as I dodge it, and they deal absolutely nothing...well this isn’t good.
The wolf turns on me and I toss a mild poison potion (have a couple of those spare still from ages ago) and begin running.
Howling after me, it tries to catch up but I’m simply too fast so I can run scot free and see it slowly die from poison.
-1 (109/480)
Oh got to kill it now.
Hacking myself down by 100 hp, I max out my rage bar.
Swerving round, I use power throw on my offhand at point blank while my main hand uses power strike, both smacking into the wolf’s face in quick succession.
-12 -33 (64/480)
I’m stunned for an entire second while it’s stunned for just as long (thank god) and coming out of stun I immediately jump away
-64 (7/170)
Owowow!
“AWOOO” The wolf howls for its allies. Well damn.
Running away, the rest of the pack catch up, but I outrun then and skirt inside the village just after the original dies and level’s me up.
Wow, a whole level and 20% for killing one wolf...I can get to level 10 easily with a really sneaky method.
Charging into the forest (once the coast is clear), I pick a couple of berries before running away from the snow lynxes...though they’re still faster and kill me.
Respawning, I head to Thalia’s and start crafting potions while she seemingly sleeps. Phew, guess she doesn’t want to play with me today (Or she knows that I’m busy, probably Cindy telling her).
I craft a good dozen mild poison potions and then go back outside. Time for a long run...
Picking a wolf, I throw some poison on it, poisoning it and then running away from it.
Passing more wolves along the way, I chuck a potion at each of them, missing two times but still getting the 10 of them poisoned.
That should be enough...I hope.
Running away from the small horde of angry and poisoned wolves, I go around and around and around the village, for god knows how long, till the wolves howl.
Yeah...when a small horde almost quadruples, that’s terrifying.
Oh look, I gained the fear status....at least I’m slightly faster now?
Dodging the few incoming wolves, I get a deep gash ripping 136 hp off of me (eek!) on the way past one of them.
Thank god I can outrun them or I’ll be screwed.
Eating my 8th piece of bread since the beginning of this run, I finally hear the death throes of the wolves within the typhoon of hungry panting sounds and with that, happily dive in at the next village entrance.
DIVE
Ahh...that was actually quite nice.
Lying in the snow for a bit (mostly because my legs aren’t working), I check my notifications, and see that I gained 4 levels. Wow, that’s pretty awesome!
Right, I’m still 4 levels behind though.
After 30 minutes of lying dead in the snow, I go to the forest and pick berries, dying 3 times and dropping a level, but managing to get over 100 snowberries in the process.
Walking into Thalia’s I see her fiddling with her alchemical equipment and with a...price...she allows me to buy 100 vials for free (10 silver!) to pay back by tomorrow night or I’m staying at hers again, with no book.
I don’t want that to happen so time to get 10 silver!
Mass producing these poisons (really can’t be bothered), I prepare my body and count my blessings for having close to 1000 bread (Thank you Cindy).
Now, let’s see how many wolves I can agro and outrun at one time
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The answer is that I’ve used all my potions, but don’t think that all of them are poisoned...RUUUUUN.