The first thing that Langa did in his preparation was to check on the Dent, trying to find everything he could about the dungeon. There were no dungeon guides for Psike's Grotto either, and the only thing he found was that only one person was known to have cleared it before, and that person did not leave a guide. The Retessa Guild had claimed the area surrounding the dungeon, but not the dungeon itself, as it kept kicking them out because they did not meet the requirements to enter the dungeon.
After that fruitless search, he looked up the monster guide for trollimps, but they weren't common monsters. What he found out was that there were different types of them, from simple spawns to elite corrupted bosses. When he searched around in the forums, looking for the strengths and weaknesses of trollimps, the only thing he found was that they had high regeneration. The guide said that it was best to fight them with fire as the fire damage slowed down their regeneration, to coat weapons with an anti-heal potion, or to use an instant kill skill.
While Langa was sure that Thunderbird's Stunning Strike could instantly kill at least the weaker trollimps, that was not a skill that he could use frequently because he only had seven charges of the skill left on Tonare. He needed to recharge the skill soon, and another issue was that the backlash was hard on him, as well as its long cool-down. Still, this reminded Langa of something that he had nearly forgotten: that he needed rare lightning lucent stones to recharge his glaive.
Deciding that stocking up should be his main priority, Langa knew that he had to call Mesala and ask him if there was a place here in the Valley of Guardians where he could get the few things that he needed for the dungeon. But that would have to be something for tomorrow. It was getting late, and his training had taken up a lot of time. While he wanted to go and begin the quest as soon as possible, Langa also knew that it was best to start on a day when he was fresh and not exhausted.
After dinner that night (some sweet-tasting grain that looked to be a mix of rice and wheat with some spicy blue soup), Langa decided to continue his mana infusion training. He knew that he would not be able to get it in one go, but he wanted to get in as much practice as he could so that he would be able to do his best once he got to the dungeon.
So, that night, the Legacy helped Langa with his training late into the night.
*
Early the next morning, Mesala took him to the Guardians Crafting Cave, an isolated cave close to the guildhall. The Legacy spirit trailed behind them, not saying anything. It was fascinating, but Mesala could not see it, nor could anyone else, for that matter. It was as if Langa was being haunted by a silent ghost that only he could see. It seemed that the Legacy did not have much to say outside of training, so it was keeping quiet, walking behind them, and disinterested in the surroundings.
Finally, they arrived at the Crafting Cave. Langa wasn't sure what he'd expected, but it was definitely not this. The large cave was an actual worksite, with different sections and full of people of various species working hard on their crafts. Each section was divided from the others by a clear, see-through, wall. It was hard to describe it, but it was almost like these crafters were working together, but separately. He was sure that the clear wall had to have some magical properties because each of these crafters needed a separate workstation with its own specific conditions.
At the heart of the Crafting Cave was a magical furnace, sitting in the middle of the cave, its multicoloured flames from blue, to red to black dancing wildly, even in the absence of wind.
"This Crafting Cave is well built, whoever planned this place has quite the eye for design," the Legacy said, startling Langa. It sounded quite impressed, and he wondered how hard he would have to work for it to sound that way about his skills. But why was a Legacy of a spear technique admiring a Crafting Cave? Well, he was not going to get any answers to that here.
Situated near the flame, a sturdy table anvil sat ready for blacksmiths to forge their weapons, and that was where Instructor Rancho was, busy teaching a young dwarf how to hold a hammer properly. Rows of well-organised tools, including hammers, tongs, and various moulds, were all over the cave walls. There was even a water trough for quenching hot metal.
Langa followed Mesala towards Rancho and saw that, adjacent to the blacksmithing area, there was a workstation for jewellers and gemcutters. Some shelves held an array of precious metals, gems, and intricate tools for crafting rings, necklaces, and amulets. A magnifying glass aided in precision work, while a safe was available to store the more valuable materials.
“Oh, Langa! Come to sell me your magnificent glaive?” Rancho said with a broad grin as soon as he saw Langa.
“Good morning, Instructor, and no, not a chance. I'm just here looking for a few things," Langa said, looking around. It did not seem like they kept the finished weapons and armour here. As he glanced around, the jewellers caught his eye. He watched them for a moment, thinking, and the urge to ask for something that had not been on his list while coming here overcame him. "Can the jewellers make a necklace for me using a mana stone? Can they enchant it?"
The old lizardkin stroked his beard. "What kind of mana stone? Don't you mean a lucent stone?"
Langa shook his head and took out the mana stone that he'd gotten from Makoto from his inventory, showing it to the old man. His face immediately changed, and he lit up. He took it from Langa, grabbing a magnifying glass from the table to inspect it closer.
"Fascinating! I haven't seen anything like this before... this was made by a player, no?" he asked, still absorbed in examining the stone. He did not wait for an answer. "This is made of pure, untainted mana, and I'd wager that it is compatible with all the mana disciplines... I've heard legends of people with skills like this, but to think I actually saw one of these? Did you make this lad?"
"No," Langa said, shaking his head. His heart ached as Instructor Rancho confirmed how uncommon Makoto's attribute was, and it made him wish he could have done more to protect the boy. "The person who made this is dead."
"Oh," the old man finally stopped fussing over the mana stone. He looked up at him, "I'm sorry for your loss. I'm guessing that you want to wear it as a necklace as a memento of him?"
"That, and," Langa clenched his fist, he could see both the Legacy and Mesala watching him, aware of his change in mood. "It's the last thing that he ever gave me, so I want to wear it as a reminder to myself that I still need to get revenge for him. Every time I look at that mana stone, I want to be reminded of the bad karma I have with that bastard, so that I can kill him when the time comes."
There was surprisingly no change in the instructor's face at Langa's declaration. He only looked at him seriously. "Well, look, we can store that stone inside a necklace and enchant it for you. But I'm sure the person who gave it to you did so for a reason, so his feelings will be stored in that stone. You also clearly value it a lot as well. For something with that much emotional value, it is possible to make it an actual item with effects, but the effects are not guaranteed if the person doing the enchantment isn't the one attached to the object emotionally."
"Uh," Langa said blankly.
"He means that if it's something so important to you, it can be used to create an enchantment with a system effect, not just sentimental value. Hell, you could even enchant it to create a karma link between you and the object of your revenge, but only if you're the one who does the enchantment," the Legacy clarified for him.
That was interesting. When Makoto had given this to Langa it had been because he had wanted him to have something to help protect himself. What effects could this mana stone give him? "What kind of karma link can the enchantment make? Can a skill for lucent enchanting work on the mana stone?" he asked. He still had the Lucent Enchanting Skillbook, and he had not sold it yet. If the skill could be used to enchant the mana stone, would Langa really be willing to learn the crafting skill, wasting a precious skill slot, just to solidify his desire for revenge against Fi Kindaro?
Yes. The answer was yes.
The one who answered was not the Legacy, but Rancho. "You can, but it depends on the extent of your feelings. The more of yourself that you pour into the enchantment, the stronger it would be... but sometimes those types of enchantments come with severe restrictions, so you might want to think about it first," he said, handing the stone back to him. "Mana is made of lucents, so you should be able to enchant it with that skill, but it would be difficult. If you encase the mana stone in a lucent crystal, I'm sure that you will be able to enchant it more easily, but you need to be at least an Intermediate Enchanter for that."
It was good to know. Langa would think about this once the Challenge was done, but he was no longer going to sell the Luncent Enchanting Skillbook. For now, he needed to focus on completing the Challenge and getting stronger. "Thank you, Instructor. Actually, the reason I came here is because I want to get some better armour for myself, but my pockets are pretty shallow, so maybe you can give me a discount?"
"Not a chance, lad. You see how hard my students are working?" The instructor said with a huff. "What kind of armour do you need?"
When he informed him that he needed to buy something light that would not slow him down but also be strong enough to provide adequate defence, the old man led him to the back, an area behind the Crafting Cave that he had not seen before, filled with different sets of armour and weapons affixed to the wall. It looked like some kind of warehouse where they stored the completed products. He did not ask for his opinion, Rancho just picked out a jumpsuit-type armour made of light, but thick material and some leather boots.
"Here ya go," the old lizardkin said. "This should fit what you need."
"What the hell is that?" Langa asked suspiciously.
"Instructor Rancho has an eye for these things, trust me," Mesala whispered to him.
Langa was not going to just take their word for it. They were nice enough people, but this was armour that he would be using to protect himself, so he needed to be sure about it. The jumpsuit was made of thick brown leather that felt elastic to the touch. It had long sleeves and he could zip it up from the front. Langa was no fashion icon, but it looked like a normal leather jumpsuit and not armour, and he liked that.
[Elite Pronghorn Hide Jumpsuit
Rank: Uncommon
+120 Defence, +3 Agility
Durability: 20/20]
{Elite Pronghorn Hide Boots
Rank: Common
+1HP/min regeneration
Durability: 35/35]
Wow, Langa was almost salivating at all that agility on the jumpsuit, and if he bought it, it would be his first uncommon armour. "How much is it?"
"You can get both the armour and the boots for the cheap price of only 25 silver coins," the old lizardkin said.
Langa blinked. He had never seen that much money in his life. "What about for the jumpsuit alone?"
Rancho grumbled under his breath that this was a waste of the set. "16 silver coins," he mumbled.
Now that, Langa could afford, but he would have to use up most of his bounty earnings as well as his earnings from the Dent. He was not planning on using those at the moment because there was not much, and he needed to save for the teleportation wheel to the capital. "What if I throw in my barely used leather armour, excluding the boots? I only bought it two days ago, and I used it in only one battle. The durability is still good."
"Hmm," Rancho appraised his armour. "With the armour, I'll give you the jumpsuit for 12 silver coins," he said.
Sighing as the coins left his inventory, Langa gave him the money and asked for a place to change. After he was done changing, he went back to the anvil where Rancho was. "I also need rare lightning lucent stones and some exploding orbs. Do you have them?”
"The stones are for your glaive, yes?" The old man asked, and then turned up his mouth in disgust. “And you want explosives, blah, how boring. Masala, take him to meet Aria, that's more her department,” he said, waving the two of them away, and returning his attention to the dwarf next to him.
Wow, did he have to dismiss him so coolly?
“Don't take it personally, he gets like that sometimes when he's busy. Come on, let's go to Aria’s station,” Mesala said, turning towards the back.
Towards the back of the cave was where the enchanting table took centre stage. It was filled with various coloured lucent stones and crystals that glowed with magical fluid inside. Surrounding the table were shelves filled with an extensive collection of books, scrolls, and grimoires. Three enchanters were working there in a secluded area, carefully moving their enchanting needles around glowing glyphs. It looked kind of like a sacred space for rituals, with the light of candles, glyphs inscribed on the floor, and a soft glow emanating from enchanted items like necklaces and rings.
“That's her,” Mesala said, pointing to the fourth enchanter, who was pouring over a large grimoire while enchanting a sword.
Langa walked over to the enchanter’s station. The young, purple-skinned woman with glowing red hair sat absorbed in her work. She was the first fae he had ever seen, and she was busy drawing glyphs on a sword in front of her using a strange coloured ink and a thin metal needle.
“Uh, hello?" Langa said.
The enchanter, Aria, her hair glowing brightly, looked up and smiled. “Welcome to my station. Hey Mesala, it's been a while," she said when she noticed him behind Langa.
Mesala's feathers twitched, "Hi Aria. I'm escorting AD Jandri's VIP guest. This is Langa."
Aria raised her eyebrows at that, looked at Langa, and her posture straightened. "Good day, how may I help you today?" She spoke politely this time, put down the needle, and the glyphs on the sword stopped shining.
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Langa resisted the urge to roll his eyes. How had Jandri instructed the guild members to treat him? "I'm sorry to disturb you while you're working, but I’m delving into a trollimp dungeon, and I need some gear," he replied.
"Okay, tell me what you need," she said.
"I don't have much coin." He pulled out a few things from the inventory and placed them on the table. Inside were some of the lucent stones that he'd gotten from Theria’s Hollow. There were maybe fifty-five stones. "How much can you give me for these stones?"
He wasn't sure of their true value, and he hoped that they could buy him at least five Exploding Fire and Wind Orbs and a few rare lightning lucent stones.
Aria bent down, examining them. “Common rank... mostly earth stones, some fire stones, and a few air stones. Whoa, you even have two common poison stones in here!” Aria said as she studied the stones, her fingers tracing their magical energy. “The basic ones—fire, water, earth and air—are 10 copper each for common lucent stones, and the other nine disciplines are 20 copper each. You don't have any of the other 130 disciplines, but those should start at, at least, 1 silver each for a common lucent stone, ironically that's the price for rare stones of the basic elements.”
Langa shook his head. He should have taken all three bags of lucent stones from those goblinkin children. “Total?”
She looked at the bag again, mentally counting. “32 earth stones, 14 fire stones, 7 air stones, and 2 poison stones, comes down to 5 silver and 70 coppers.”
“Alright, I'd like to exchange these for equipment, specifically some Exploding Orbs, and if you have them, rare lightning lucent stones,” Langa said, hoping he wouldn't have to fork up his 10 remaining silver from the bounties on this. He also did not want to have to use the money from the Dent.
“I don't have the rare lightning lucent stones. They aren't expensive but they are, you know, rare,” she said with a shrug.
Well, that wasn't good. He only had seven charges left on his glaive, which meant that he could only use Thunderbird’s Stunning Strike seven more times. “Damn, does that mean I have to pass through Risa’s Plateau first? That's gonna delay me.”
Aria shook her head, “Don't waste your time, you're unlikely to find them there. You can try the player/NPC auctions on the Dent, that's where you'll have more luck,” she advised him.
He hadn't checked the auctions tab yet, so he was hoping that she was right. “Okay, what about the exploding orbs?”
“Ah, explosive delights, you say?" She reached under her table and pulled up a large, enchanted box made of metal. "Oops, these are the defective ones, hold on." She pulled up another one. “I have many kinds of common and uncommon orbs, from Exploding Water Orbs, Exploding Wind Orbs, Exploding Snake-venom Orbs, Exploding Metal-spike Orbs, Exploding Fire Orbs, Exploding Force Orbs, Exploding Burning-mist Orbs, and Exploding Sleeping-gas Orbs, among others. What's your preference?”
Langa peered into the box, and sure enough, there were plenty of them. It made him drool. If he could get these, it would make his fights so much quicker and more efficient. “How much for the common ones?”
“Well, you're our guild’s important guest, so three silver each is a decent price, don't you think?” she said brightly.
Langa’s face soured. He was only left with 6 silver from his bounty payments, and he still needed to buy the anti-heal potion as well. Which orbs should he buy? Wind scaled well with lightning, and from what he'd read in the library, so did fire. Metal spikes also sounded cool, if the metal could conduct his lightning.
“Aria, I need two exploding wind orbs, three exploding fire orbs, and one exploding metal orb desperately, but I only have enough to add on to the 5 silver and 70 copper to make twelve silver. Can we work something out?” he asked.
Aria’s hair darkened, and her smile disappeared. “These orbs are top-notch, Langa. Three silver each. No exceptions.”
What she didn't know was that Langa had gone shopping with his sister at Small Street when he first arrived in Johannesburg when he was a child, so he knew how to bargain. "How about a deal? I buy five orbs, and you make it twelve silver for all of them?”
“Twelve silver won't cut it. These orbs are worth every bit of three silver each.”
She was a tough one, but there was still one more thing that he could try. “What if I take a risk? How about I buy a mix of regular orbs and some of your defective ones?” he offered. “Come on, help me out here. Isn't it a waste for you to throw them away if you can't recycle the material?”
She seemed taken aback, and then she scratched her head, thinking. “Defective orbs? I can't guarantee their safety.”
“Trust me, Aria, as the gods are my witnesses, a backlash from my weapons is something I've dealt with a lot," Langa said honestly. "What if I buy three regular orbs and three defective ones for twelve silver?"
“For twelve silver? It's a risky proposition," she said fixing her eyes on him.
"It's not a bad offer," Mesala chimed in. "Who else do you know who would be willing to buy these? He's offering a silver each for orbs you were never gonna sell."
"Fine, but if you die, it's not on me. I don't have a return policy. Deal.” She bent down again and pulled out the first box. "These have minor defects: fire orbs with a delayed reaction, wind orbs that are prone to misdirection, and burning mist orbs that might backfire,” she said, pulling them out.
“Okay, I'll take two of the defective fire orbs and a wind orb, and for the regular ones, I'll take two of the exploding fire orbs and one metal orb. But it has to be a metal that conducts lightning,” Langa said, satisfied with his bargaining skills.
Aria agreed to that deal, and Langa paid for the orbs, hoping that the defects would not impede his progress. "Take this one as well. It's a dud I made while experimenting with mixing fire and air lucents in one orb. It's very unstable and might blow up as soon as you infuse your mana into it."
"Thanks," Langa said with a smile. "If I find anything good for enchanters in the dungeon you'll be the first to get it."
His touched promise made Aria smile, "Well, then I hope you don't die," she said.
Before leaving the Crafting Cave, Langa and Mesala passed a corner where there was an enclosed alchemy station. It was behind an odd frame, separating it from the rest of the Crafting Cave. A large cauldron bubbled over a magical flame, and a pinkish lucent crystal constantly filtered the fumes.
Shelves were covered with ingredients for potions, herbs, and numerous vials whose contents Langa was not even going to try and deduce. A mortar and pestle, stirring rods, and alembics could also be seen, providing the necessary tools for the alchemists to brew their concoctions.
From the alchemist, Langa used sixty more of his lucent stones to buy 20 flaxes of a potion to slow down healing called Pot-o-Mors and 100 flaxes of an oily item called Kiribo's Sweat that would amplify any fire. He also decided to sell 53 more of the basic lucent stones so he could have some liquid cash. He was now only left with 100 lucent stones, so they only occupied one inventory slot
[Pot-o-Mors
Rank: Uncommon
Effects: When in contact with an open wound, slows HP regeneration by 0.5HP/s for 10 seconds.]
[Kiribo's Sweat
Rank: Common
Effects: When in contact with a live fire, it amplifies the fire by 100%. When in contact with fire-related substances, doubles the burning effect.]
Langa shook his head as he left the cave. Now he was back to being broke again.
*
It was finally time to begin the Challenge, and now Langa only had 4.5 days left to complete it. He was nervous, but he had done everything that he could think of to prepare. He even bought some daily dungeon rations for 20 copper for ten of them.
While he and the Legacy argued over what mode of transportation he should use to reach the trollimp dungeon, Langa managed to only get two rare lightning lucent stones from the auction tab on the Dent for six silver. He collected them from the Guardians Guidhall.
"You should run there," the Legacy said again. "It will make for great physical body training."
"Run?" Langa said, appalled. "We're talking about almost 200 kilometres in uneven terrain, I might add! The Challenge has a deadline, and I already wasted half of yesterday training."
The Legacy looked at him sharply. "Even if you complete the Challenge, you won't get any rewards if you don't raise the Legacy of The Tonare Thunderbird skill to Intermediate level 1," it reminded him.
That was a fair point, but was Langa really expected to run the same distance from Pretoria to Rustenburg on foot? That was crazy. "What if I get injured? We'll have to pass through red zones. What if I get attacked by a monster?"
"I said run, not stroll. Your speed is decent, how fast can you run per hour?" the Legacy asked.
Langa looked away. "At my top speed, like 60 km/hr, I don't know," he lied, reducing his maximum speed in the hopes that the Legacy would change its mind.
"Perfect. Why are you worried about running for three or so hours?" the Legacy asked, watching him in condescension.
Trying to argue with the Legacy was like arguing with a wall. Langa decided to just stop, he was not winning and he did need the training anyway. "Fine, let's go."
It actually wasn't that bad, running up and down the various mountains for hours. It was quiet, just Langa, Tonare and the Legacy. The Legacy had told him that he must run the entire way, holding the glaive at its full shaft length. It was quite heavy, and Langa had to keep switching hands so he didn't drop it.
He ran from any monsters that were higher-level than him, and he fought against those that were lower-level than him. It was boring work, but according to the Legacy, it was necessary. The run ended up taking almost five hours, and it was afternoon by the time they reached the area, which was hard to tell when the red sun's rays were not that bright during the day.
Finally, though, Langa reached his destination, the Retessa Range. Below the mountain range, sprawling green grass neatly covered the ground. Enormous white rocks, resembling ancient statues, were all over the area, their smooth surfaces reflecting the red glow of the dim sun's rays.
On the other side, a waterfall descended gracefully from one of the towering mountains, and the water moved through the rugged terrain, flowing into a small river and past the white rocks. The sound of falling water filled the air as Langa watched the waterfall from his hiding place behind one of the white rocks. From his map, he knew that the dungeon was behind the waterfall, but there was a problem.
Someone was guarding the entrance.
The person sat in front of the place where the waterfall spilt into a deep ravine. Under the waterfall lay the entrance to the trollimp dungeon. Why the hell were the Retessa Guild guarding this place? They couldn't even claim or delve into the dungeon, yet they were resolute in preventing others from doing the same!
Langa decided to try his luck and scan the guard. He honestly had no faith in his title skill because so far, most of the people he had tried to use it on were Shrouded, and it was useless. To his surprise, however, this time, it worked.
"Shit!" Langa said when he saw the player's information.
.
Name:
Statia X Caur Linew
Race:
Human
Age:
32
Character:
Player
Level:
15
Class:
Force Mage
Available Karma:
26 995
Total Karma:
34 124
Deity:
[Mid-tier constellation: Dsayre ] - Disciple
Highest Floor
3/101 (Deiwos Towers)
Attribute:
Radiant Beam
Available Respawns:
2/3
The good thing was that, as Langa looked around, it seemed Statia was the only one standing guard outside the dungeon. If he had to fight another one-against-many fight, he might just end up losing. Besides, his brain would explode from having to constantly be aware of who was where and having to be conscious of all of his opponents.
The fact that there was only one guard was no comfort, though, because Langa knew that if he were to face Statia in battle, he would be severely outmatched. There was no way he could defeat a level 15 player with just two skills, both of which were still at the beginner level. To spare himself the humiliation, Langa decided to scout around and see if there was another way for him to get into the dungeon. He walked over to the other side of the waterfall, where Statia would not be able to see him.
Langa moved with quiet footsteps over the uneven, rocky terrain, his breath synchronising with the rhythm of the nearby waterfall. Every step he took was silent, as he was being careful to avoid any sound that might betray his presence to both monsters and other players. This area was in a yellow zone, so monsters could be spawning here.
The whole area around Psike's Grotto was a level 9 hunting field, so it could be a disaster if he got overrun and surrounded by level 9 monsters. Even though he was stronger, that was not a chance he was willing to take. On the left side of the waterfall, there was no entrance, only a group of large, balancing rocks stacked on top of each other.
His last hope was to check behind the waterfall for a tunnel, a ravine, or anything that he could use as a shortcut to get into the dungeon, but upon checking that area, Langa discarded the idea. It was a swamp, crawling with ugly level 9 corrupted monsters. The monsters were lounging about in the swamp, not caring to pay attention to their surroundings. They looked like starfish seals with long necks and tiny heads resembling those of a feral dog. They creeped Langa out. A creature with such a description should not exist, and he was not willing to try and fight them, as there were about twenty of them in that swamp; he would rather face Statia.
"Why is this so hard?" Langa lamented. "Couldn't The Lackadaisical Herald just, I don't know, send a message to Statia and make him go somewhere else for like, two seconds so that I can sneak into the dungeon?" He could only hope that the final side of the waterfall that he had not checked would bring him more luck.
"That's not how it works. Deities can't just toy around with mortals' lives like that to favour their own. I mean, that fellow is bound to a deity, and that deity can see you right now. What's to stop them from telling their bonded player where you are hiding and having him earn easy experience and karma from killing you?" The Legacy asked him pointedly, and Langa stopped. He hadn't actually stopped to consider that.
"Why?" Langa asked.
"Because rules exist for a reason, Langa. There is a limit to how much non-public information about a mortal they can share with their bonded. For instance, Statia's deity cannot tell him where you are hiding right now, but he can give him a quest to slay the 21 bunyips in the swamp, knowing that if Statia came this way, he would be able to find you."
That was interesting to Langa. Deities were powerful, but they did not seem to possess the three omnis that the Sunday School teachers from Langa's sister's church always made the children memorise. The deities of the multiverse seemed to be omnipresent, but not entirely omniscient. He was sure that they knew many of his thoughts, but not all of them, and it made him wonder what was up with that. What he knew, though, was that the deities were definitely not omnipotent; after all, they were governed by The Quartenity's rules, even in their infinite power. Did that mean that only The Quartenity and The Creator were omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent? He had no way of knowing, but perhaps the Legacy would give him some clarity.
"So where exactly is the line for deities to-" Langa's whole body went on full alert as something caught his ears' attention. Annoyance tensed his body as loud noises threatened to give away his position, the sounds coming from beyond the rocks on his left. Dammit! He had just been about to ask a very important question too!
He had no choice but to sneak towards that noisy area so that he could find the source of the disturbance. He crouched down as he got closer, peered through the craggy rocks, and his eyes narrowed at the sight he saw in front of him. Three players were frantically running through the treacherous landscape, and it was none other than that idiot, Aquila, leading two of his companions away. Aguila was the only one carrying anything remotely resembling a weapon, a shap metal sword that extended in size when he infused it with his mana, aiming for the large creature chasing them. It moved to the side and Aquila placed his hand on his head, clearly in pain from mana exhaustion. It did not help that the three of them were dressed in regular clothing, not armour.
The monster had to be the largest ape that Langa had ever seen. It had a long mane of red hair, matching the fur on its barrel chest. Its arms were thick and long, its legs moving with power, as it chased after the trio of players, its bushy tail trailing behind it. It had a face that looked like that of a baboon, with menacing dark eyes and sharp ears, and it continued its pursuit.
Corrupted Baboon
Level 8
HP: 370/420
Why the hell were three players struggling against such a weak monster?