Slipping away unnoticed in this crowd? It’s uh… it’s… honestly pretty easy. By the end of it there were… a hundred or so players around? So, when the only real culprit that might lead to me was currently stowed away in some sort of pocket dimension safe and sound, it was kind of impossible to find me when I just, y’know, dipped?
I don’t really want to do all of this on the fly, you know, investment is supposed to be important and stuff? Buuuuuut, there’s… this calling to me… you know, the usual… I just… LOVE, SPEED. And I have a shiny five new levels to put towards it!
…I’m level seven, that’s crazy. So much for that level gap that Jasper had over me, ja? I mean, not like it’s much of a problem though. They’ve (presumably) ceased insubordination, so… now I can just take them along with me and they’ll continue to be useful! Awesome! Anyways, what was I thinking about? Putting my points in? Righty-o here we go.
Koth-Monster Tamer
Level 7
HP 120/120
MP 18/54
Stamina 121/121
Core stats
Vitality-5
Strength-0
Intelligence-0
Agility-20
Sub stats
Endurance-7
Luck-0.7
Mana-1.4
Dexterity-3.5
Unique stats
Exp-21/611
…Ain’t that a beut? Level seven with all the stat increases that it entails, how lovely. Kind of getting sidetracked from actually investing but, it’s fiiiiiiiiine…
Actually, I’ve been running for a bit now, I think I’m good to take a break here…?
Looking around for a short moment, I come grinding to a halt on the earth after determining that I am, in fact, clear of the hordes of goobers, kicking up dirt with the sudden level of force placed on the ground. Just another notch in this game's physics department, I suppose. So! Time to put those points in.
There’s a primal calling to me to just dump all five levels straight into agility. Twenty to forty five let go, simply ball. Buuuuuuut… a few issues have been brought to my attention with my most recent battle.
My damage output is… not great? A glancing blow for Jasper is about as worthwhile as me plunging the entirety of my sword's length into my enemies. Sure, I can hit them a lot, but damage reduction is a thing in this game, and while I have no clue how high it scales… there’s this sinking feeling in my gut that it’ll probably be at least somewhat effective.
So, for NOW… strength is kind of a necessity. Sort of, you know? It’s important enough for me to set aside some of my twenty five points, anyways. I’ll give it ten, for now, and check out how much it changes the damage of my attacks on mobs around here. Just for reference, I was dealing… fifty something per hit before? Enough to shank most enemies in one or two hits. If it’s an increase of at least ten damage, it’s probably a solid enough option to invest into, yeah?
So, ten strength as an experiment. What to do with the rest of the fifteen…? Well, at first I thought about investing some extra into intelligence or magic, you know, had to take a break mid fight to recover and everything? But then it occurred to me that the lack of MP was only an issue because, you know, massive raid boss going IMA FIRIN MAH LAZARS every seven seconds? I shouldn’t need to spam my summoning loop like that often, and it’s not like I have any other skills that eat up MP, so that’s just not necessary right now.
So, that just leaves vitality and agility. Ahem. Begrudgingly, five towards vitality. I did almost get one shot earlier, it’s the natural thing to do. Don’t fly too close to the sun, and what not.
BUT AT LAST!!!!!! TEN!!! AGILITY!!!! LET’S GOOOOOOOoooo, yeah, it’s a pretty solid increase to my mobility.
Hopping around a bit, my body definitely feels lighter. The movement feels a little easier, less strain on my legs and the like. It’s not a massive difference, but with a few dozen more points into agility, I could definitely see the speed getting pretty up there. It’s… I wanna say… somewhat slower when compared to some of the other games I’ve played? But, a more grounded game isn’t that bad either.
Didn’t put anything into sub stats for now, because they increase naturally. Endurance already boosts stamina pretty heavily without investing into it, so that’s not a concern… I’m pretty sure by level one fifty I’ll be at… hold on quick maths… one times a hundred fifty is… one hundred fifty endurance! Then it looks like each point of endurance is three stamina, so that’s… four hundred fifty extra by max level, yeah? Not something in need of much investing, unless you intend to get a bunch of damage reduction. And then vitality boosts endurance by itself, so, shouldn’t be a concern.
Now, let me see my masterpiece!
Koth-Monster Tamer
Level 7
HP 140/140
MP 18/54
Stamina 122/122
Core stats
Vitality-10
Strength-10
Intelligence-0
Agility-30
Sub stats
Endurance-7
Luck-0.7
Mana-1.4
Dexterity-3.5
…Yeah, pretty solid increases overall. Next, I’ve got some diddly darn skills to go through!
Skills
Recall-Desummon any currently active monster of your choice. Monsters not currently summoned will recover 1% of their hp every 3 seconds. Monsters cannot be recalled within 3 seconds of being damaged. DoT status effects do not activate this restriction.
Summon-Call any currently desummoned monster of your choice to the material plane. Monsters cannot be summoned unless they are at max hp. Consumes 1 MP.
Tame LVL 1-Attempt to tame a targeted monster. Chances of success scale off of multiple different factors. Successful taming allows either positive interactions with said monster, or the taming of a monster provided the user has slots to spare. Tamed monsters may rebel depending on varying circumstances. Tamed monsters are lost FOREVER upon their death, barring certain situations. Monsters that lose over 20% of their hp from PvP damage will not be lost upon death. Consumes 10% of max MP per use.
Passives
Capacity LVL 2-Increases the maximum number of monsters you can tame by 1. (Max 3)
Communication LVL 1-Increases your ability to understand and communicate with your tamed monsters, as well as wild monsters.
Efficacy LVL 2-Slightly increases the stats and skill effectiveness of tamed monsters.
Shared Effort-all experience gained is split between currently summoned monsters.
Coordination-orders can be shared with subordinated monsters through a limited vocabulary scaling on the level of Communication.
What to spend my skill level on, hmm, hmm, hmmm… Why am I asking myself like I don’t already know? My. my, now that is the question. Say, sidebar, what do Jasper’s stats look like right now?
Jasper-Resiala Forest Lynx
Level 8
HP 201/201
MP 50/50
Stamina 128/128
Core stats
Vitality-24
Strength-26
Intelligence-0
Agility-34
Sub stats
Endurance-8
Luck-3
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Mana-0
Dexterity-16
Unique stats
Grace-2.7
O-kay, still monstrous, pun not intended, got it. Pretty much everything went up, I think…? That’s a little wack, but here’s the real question!
Upgrade Efficacy.
Efficacy LVL 2->Efficacy LVL 3!
Now show me those stats again baby!
Jasper-Resiala Forest Lynx
Level 8
HP 214/214
MP 50/50
Stamina 131/131
Core stats
Vitality-24
Strength-26
Intelligence-0
Agility-34
Sub stats
Endurance-8
Luck-3
Mana-0
Dexterity-16
Unique stats
Grace-2.7
AAAAAAaaaaaand they’re the exact same. Oh, wait wait wait, EXCEPT for their health and stamina. So, it just increases my monsters health stats and what not? That’s kinda… trash…? Only thirteen…? Ooor-wait wait wait wait. If that’s what it does, how come her MP didn’t increase? Maybe efficacy isn’t a baseline increase, but instead it’s some kinda… multiplier to their stats in general?
Like… if a monster has 30 strength, and the monster tamer has Efficacy LVL 2, then their strength is still 30… but their effective damage is around 36 strength instead? That’d line up with their MP not increasing, but their health and stamina increasing instead? I mean, seems probable to me? I’m just gonna go with that, or something along those lines, because I’d rather believe I didn’t pretty much waste two skill points on that one? Oh yeah, good to know monsters put in their points automatically as well. Now I just need to get a test subject to compare against Jasper’s bonkers stats!
LAST THING ON THE AGENDA!
“Mmmmm…”
“Just give me a minute or two, alright?”
Can’t keep the kitten waiting too long now, can I? Now… the heck are these Nature Essences that I got?
Pulling one out of my inventory, I looked at the green… energy, thing? It was a swirling orb, deep green, bright green, somewhere inbetween. All the colors of the not rainbow. Well, it certainly looks interesting enough? But the question still remains, the hell does it do?
Nature Essence X3 (Rare)
Applies nature aligned positive modifiers to equipment.
Uh… huh… how enlightening. I’m half tempted to just chuck one onto my sword right now and see what it does, buuuuuut, at the same time, I don’t want to waste it? It’s an early game thingy, so it’s probably not gonna hurt me too badly in the long run if I were to do so, but I also don’t want to waste something potentially really useful for my progression? You know, common sense and what not.
I’ll keep it for later, but not TOO later, just… whenever I get something better than what I have right now.
Longsword (Common LVL 1)
Blade of standard make.
Well, that’s just about everything now. Only a feeeeeeew more things for me to check out.
“Jasper, you can come out now.” I notify her as I stretch and get ready to move once more.
[Summon]!
Alongside me languidly, Jasper too stretches in the moment. Maybe the pocket dimension thingy is cramped or something I dunno.
“I’ve got a few things left to do. There shouldn’t be too many people around this part of the forest right now, so howzabout we find a shrubling to slap half to death?”
—---
As I indeed suspected, yes, Jasper’s stats are quite busted. Shrublings, Nature Sprites, both of them were under the point average that I myself would have at their level. Twenty three at two and nineteen at one respectively. Meanwhile Jasper is out here with… lemme count, about ninety at eight? Without even counting the presumed Efficacy bonuses mind you. Makes sense, thank you very much game, I’ll take my gift horse without looking it in the mouth!
Well, take it if said gift horse lets me.
“Maps covering the entirety of the Aishan province, one silver a piece!”
That sounds like a good deal, yeah? I was never much of a haggler, so the reward of a single quests worth of cash for a map of the area doesn’t sound half bad.
I could just strike out on my own and see where it leads, but at the same time, I’m not trying to stroll into, like, a level fifty area and get my buttocks handed to me upon thine finest silver platter. There’s also the added risk of Jasper getting killed and leaving me in a hole after having already gone out, so… yeah, just gonna grab a map to head on over to the nearest town! And, therein lies the problem. Actually leaving this town.
“Thank you for your business, good sir!”
Updating map…
Ooo, very nice. Guess I don’t have to go out and explore the entire world myself to fill it out, huh? Well, I’m probably missing some secrets, but that’s not too much of a price to pay. You’ll probably be able to tell where some secrets are on the map just by virtue of them looking out of place, but that’s not my focus right now.
Strolling through the town, it’s honestly a little off-putting to see how many players there are. I mean, I’m used to big crowds, but only like, at big events, you know? There’s hundreds just hanging out here in this town, WITHIN EYESHOT, and there’s presumably thousands and more out and about in the environment around here.
All of them getting adjusted, exploring the game, finding classes, ah… I’ve gotta get the hell out of here, teehee! If I don’t leave real soon, I’m getting caught up in the wave of progressing players. I’ve got a solid head start because of Jasper and my massive experience reward from doing a fifth of the boss’s health, so if there’s a time to go and move onto bigger and better things, it’s now.
Therefore, there’s no more time to attempt to persuade my big cat. They either come with me, or they don’t. I can likely make due without her, and it probably won’t hit me too hard progression wise. Maybe, just maybe in the long run it’d be worth it to keep her with me, but in the short term-god is it going to SUCK if I get swept up in the horde! And I don’t play games for the long term!
“Jasper? We need to talk for a moment.” I gently start off as I walk away from the stand I’d purchased my map from. I don’t have any real need to purchase equipment given it’s all level one common rank stuff, so I’ll see what’s available at the next town over, or maybe see if I can’t get some quest rewards on the way? Either way, no reason to stay here.
“Mmm?”
“It’s time for me to leave this town. A little earlier than I expected, but still there’s no reason for me to be here any longer. But… I know you have reason to stay, so this is what I’m asking. Will you come with me, or will you stay here? If you want to stay in town, I’ll go return you to the Guild right now, and we can go our separate ways. So… what’ll it be?”
“...”
“I’ll give you a moment.”
I need to go eat something anyways.
Log out.