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C34-Best Served Cold

Eight hundred thirty four. So, at a base of a hundred experience to go from level one to two, it sextupled over the course of six levels. But going from seven to eight… the gap increased by over two hundred in one go?

Methinks that’s a little bullshit!

Exp-28/834

I figured there would be some scaling equation to determine exp required to level up, but that throws it pretty out of whack in that case… I went straight from two to seven a while back so I can’t quite be sure of the curve, but… that doesn’t seem right with any mathematics that I know. I don’t know TOO many though, so what can you do?

Anyways…

“Hey Jasper, did you level up yet?”

“M-m.”

“Dah, drat. Are you at least close?”

You know, I know I can’t see their experience or any other tamed monsters for that matter, but the thought occurs, can’t I just ask them?

“Mmm… mhmhmh… Mmm!”

“Ah, good to hear. One or two more hordes and you should have it then?”

“Mhm.”

“Good, good.”

Fanning a yawn as I make my way back to the wagon alongside a few npcs, I tilt my head at one of them and ask a simple question; “How long do you think the rest of the journey will take?”

The thought occurs that I haven’t actually asked that question quite yet! I know they said it would be a few days at first, or at least I think they did? But I haven’t actually crossed the bridge of acquiring knowledge yet…

“Ah, aven’t ya been paying attention mate?”

Another curious thing, some of these guys have like a… I wanna say an Aussie accent? Not all of them, but it’s odd. Perhaps it’s a mixed group of some sort?”

“Well, I’ve certainly been paying attention to Screech, can’t say I’ve been doing the same for the landscape.” I smile gently.

“Mmm, “Screech”?”

“Oh, yeah, you know, the giant goddamn bird that’s been keeping me up all night?”

“Ah! Hah! Fittin name for the thing I suppose. Alright, won’t fault’cha for that. Just an hour or so back, we passed by Afilia way off in the distance, that means we’re about two thirds of the way to our destination. But for you, we’ll drop you off just the slightest bit earlier since we’ll be heading away from the Karst. Ya got that?”

“Mhm, mhm… so… give or take a little less than a day from now?”

“Aye, suppose you could say that!”

Nodding thoughtfully before I start backpedaling away from the man, with a hop I grab onto the side of the wagon and pull myself right back up to the top. It’s been recommended I take my place of residence up elsewhere for the trip, out of… environmental concerns. But I haven’t had an issue with the elements quite yet. The clouds have been getting progressively thicker over the course of the day, but… haven’t rained on the parade yet, so here I shall stay!

It’s the best vantage point so… y’know. It’s really just the expected perch for me, no?

How else am I supposed to keep a bird's eye view of the bird? Screech is a persistent force of nature you’ll have to understand.

Even now, twenty minutes after having eradicated my third group of Great Crossing’s Olom’s, I’m still not sure if the beastie won’t just pop out of the clouds and screech a screech into our unsuspecting ears! It hasn’t happened yet today aside from the first time Screech caught me unawares, but it could, and could is a risk that I shall keep an eye out for.

I won’t lie and say it’s that engaging, but it’s work that needs to be done. Or else we shall be gotten in a way most unpleasant.

Anyways… I’m thinking I’m going to have to make a slight adjustment to my plans. It is starting to get darker again, and the clouds will make it even worse tonight, so it’s going to be rather difficult to spot the thing, so no fights tonight… but at the same time, we’re going to have to make it happen soon. As far as I’m aware, our little trip will last… another twenty four hours from now at best?

So there isn’t too much time left either. Probably just long enough to get me one more level, maybe. Definitely not for Jasper, since I expect she’ll probably end up needing over a thousand experience to level up after she hits level nine. But even then I’m not sure I’ll even be able to reach nine myself. The rate of attacks does seem to slow down come night, and throughout the day today there’s been about half a dozen from Screech that have come our way.

And it also just might stop attacking once we get close enough to civilization, so… hm…

Hold on, I’ll ponder on this in a moment!

For now, allow me to go through my menu, extensively.

Koth-Monster Tamer

Level 8

HP 140/140

MP 55/55

Stamina 122/122

Core stats

Vitality-10

Strength-10

Intelligence-0

Agility-30

Sub stats

Endurance-8

Luck-5.8

Mana-1.6

Dexterity-4

Unique stats

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.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

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 2-Increases your ability to understand and communicate with your tamed monsters, as well as wild monsters.

Efficacy LVL 3-Slightly increases the stats and skill effectiveness of tamed monsters.

Shared Effort-all experience gained is split between yourself currently summoned monsters.

Coordination-orders can be shared with subordinated monsters through a limited vocabulary scaling on the level of Communication.

Exp-28/834

Right, seems all about correct, but of course, let me just add on those five free points I have, here you go agility, grow ever more… alright, coolio julio, maybe I’ll be able to keep up just a little better now. Anyways, moving onto equipment, have a few things I want to check and what not!

Equipment

Shirt: Cloth undershirt (Common LVL 1)

Chestplate: Leather tunic (Common LVL 1)

Gauntlets: Leather gloves (Common LVL 1)

Leggings: Leather pants (Common LVL 1)

Footwear: Leather boots (Common LVL 1)

Weapon: Longsword (Common LVL 1)

Accessory 1: empty

Accessory 2: empty

Accessory 3: empty

Accessory 4: empty

Accessory 5: empty

Consumables

Lesser healing potion X55 (Common)

Lesser MP potion X17 (Common)

Nufri Rope X1 (Uncommon)

Materials

Nature Essence X3 (Rare)

Grove Mantis X4 (Uncommon)

Currency

0 Platinum

0 Gold

2 Silver

54 Copper

Accomplishments

Primordial Tamer-Be the first Monster Tamer!

+2 Skill levels

Bushling Basher-Defeat the Bushling raid boss!

+500 Exp!

Naturally Inclined-Be the first player to defeat a boss with the nature essence modifier!

+10% Boost to bonuses from nature affinity materials! +10% Drop chance for nature affinity items!

Anger Management-Deal 10% or more of an enraged boss's health!

+10% Damage boost against enraged enemies!

Achievement Blitz-Be the first player to complete a unique quest in server 64!

+5 Luck!

And… all about as expected, yeah. I haven’t actually checked this tab in a hot moment, and I was kind of worried about armor durability if that was a thing…! But, fortunately enough, it indeed does not seem to be. My armor has not budged in the slightest! Not that it really does that much, given… what were the benefits of this… tunic, for example?

+1.5% damage resistance!

Not… great. All in all the set is like 6.5% damage resistance and a 1% speed boost. But, that is by technicality, better than nothing! Wasn’t like I had much else to spend my money on, and even still I’m not completely out of it!

Yada yada, now that I’m done looking at stat blocks, what to do, what to do…?

“...Jasper, wanna have another go at monkey’s paw?”

“...Mmm.”

“Darn. Hey, Jerry, what about you?”

“...?”

“Use your words big guy, I know you can do it!”

“...N-no?”

“Do you even know what monkey’s paw is?”

“...N-no?”

“Alright, alright, lemme explain the rules… So basicall-”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AGHSUNNUVABITCHTHEONEMOMENTI’MNOTPAYINGATTENTION

“Frfrf-FORGET IT!”

Glaring up at the sky, my eyes lock onto the target that I WILL bring down. There will be no escape from me, especially not after they’ve blown my ear drums out on three separate occasions. I will have VENGEANCE!

Although, in the meantime, I do believe that’s a new monster coming after us! Or, group of monsters, to be more specific. Smaller group than the rest, but maybe quality over quantity? Also looks distinctly scaly, lizard-like. I’m not sure if I wanna say drake or crocodile? Well, either way, time to go find out! Levels await not the foolhardy!