Raine’s heart rate spiked, adrenalin and agony coursing through his veins in equal measure. Everything hurt, but the pain brought him to life. It urged him forward, and he embraced it.
He slowed his pace briefly, using the force of the roar to push forward until he found his balance again. Then, he angled forward until he could have touched the ground with a hand and sprinted, each step boosted to its utmost.
His vision constricted into hyper-focus; a death sentence in his current situation. He forced his eyes wide, then spun them around his peripherals while demanding they maintain focus on everything around him. The ancient ninja technique proved its worth, re-expanded his vision to take in the walls and ceiling.
By the time he reached the tunnel out of the boss's room, he was down to ten Discipline. The scenery flew by and he didn't dare slow to take the turn ahead, once more running on the wall to maintain momentum. The boss landed somewhere behind him, its jump bringing it nearly to the edge of the huge chamber. The entire cave shook, knocking free stalactites that tried to skewer denizens and Raine alike.
His expanded vision allowed him to see a stony spike coming his way. He left the wall early, angling harshly by dragging his hand across the stones. It brushed his shoulder on the way by and loudly crashed into the ground.
A horrendous tearing filled the air behind him; unable to fit through the tunnel, the boss simply ripped its way through the terrain like it was wading through water.
Raine shot into the chamber with the berserk tremoughts. They were spread out, still searching for him. The closest was near the wall to his right, its head stuck inside the tunnel he'd passed earlier. Its pupils enlarged upon seeing him. In its haste, it charged despite the obvious danger bursting from the wall behind Raine. Realizing it wouldn't intercept him in time, it jumped and was smashed midair as a much larger paw came crashing down through the ceiling.
The chamber shook so hard Raine’s brain felt scrambled. He pressed on as best he could, kicking off stones that refused to stay beneath his boots. The boss was too large for the smaller room, and its need to continually make its own path was the only reason Raine managed to stay ahead. He desperately split his focus equally between taking the correct turns and avoiding falling debris.
The previous rooms were already cleared of monsters other than the quaglicks, and each of their hidden holes was a blazing star in his memory. He jumped over the few tucked into the floor and kept his distance from the walls.
Halfway through the cave system, the hierarch right on his heels, Raine’s HUD blared an annoying beeping. He didn’t know who it was and he didn’t care, mentally silencing the awfully timed call. They immediately retried and he set his status to incognito, blocking all communications.
He soon rounded the last bend, leaping from the wall and spending both his regenerated points of Discipline. The exit was just ahead and Raine tried to yell a warning to Gazmo but his lungs were at their limit. His voice escaped in a pitiful gasp. The effort turned out wasted. The Gromglenn was nowhere in sight when Raine exploded into the early afternoon light.
He only slowed enough that he didn't launch off the cliff, instead sliding down the slope on his ass. His hands madly scrambled to keep himself from tumbling out of control. The boss burst free from the mountainside above. Rocks filled the air, starting an avalanche when they landed.
The Tremought Hierarch jerked to a stop as it reached the edge of its dungeon-esk zone. It strained to break free anyways, releasing another mighty roar as huge clawed fists pounded on an invisible barrier. The world's logic held it fast, uncaring of its struggles.
Raine hit the first switchback hard, painfully slamming to a stop on the rocky trail. He dove to the side, starting his sprint all over again to escape the coming storm of stone and mineral. Twice he had close calls, having to dodge careening boulders turned to deadly missiles.
The moment he escaped the mass of sliding ground, he dropped a smoke bomb to break line of sight with the flock of eagles diving toward him. He tucked himself into the deepest shadows of the cliff face, lungs pumping like bellows.
When the smoke cleared, he snuck a peak at the skies, discovering the eagles had moved on. Raine’s sweaty back pressed against the rock wall behind him. He held his head in his hands, his body quivering with the restrained laughter one experiences after narrowly escaping death. Deep breaths and jittery muscles burned through his adrenalin and all too soon he was back to a state of relative normality.
He checked his surroundings. Finding no threats he finally addressed his remaining system message.
[Ring of Nine Arms Additional Cursed Trait Discovered!]
[Ring of Nine Arms - Cursed]
Cursed trait 1: Wielder will be equipped with a random roulette weapon from their inventory at the start of each encounter. May reroll for 11% HP.
Cursed trait 2: Wielder cannot drop or sell roulette weapons. Roulette weapons may only be replaced.
Cursed trait 3: Wielder stacks maximum discipline into attack power for damage calculation.
Cursed trait 4: Upon destruction of a roulette weapon, replacement will be randomly selected from inventory. If no suitable weapon exists, wielder will suffer an excruciating death.
How did I not notice such an obvious loophole? Ahh. Because I wanted to use all the weapon types anyway for their affinities. I was having so much fun improving my skills, I didn’t stop to think if there was a way around the curse.
Since I didn’t suffer an excruciating death, one of the items I got from the chests must have been a wand. Unlucky to have pulled that trash in such a dangerous situation. My two-sided luck strikes again. Will never leave town without spares again.
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Raine anxiously accessed the new weapon in his inventory.
[Cassidy’s Comet - Lustrous Blue - LVL 0 - 0/1,000 SP: (Attack Power +10) (PTC +2) (PHY +2) (Durability 90/90) Innate Skill - PuriPuri Comet Burst: Single target physical attack dealing 400% physical damage with 400% bonus force. Ignores defense (Skill name must be shouted to activate) (Cost: 20 Discipline) (Cooldown: 1 hour)]
His mouth fell open and he read the description over and over, one of his eyes twitching uncontrollably.
What the hell is this?! How can there be such a broken, idiotic weapon?! Who designs a wand with only physical stats? Ignores defense? That’s so overpowered I can’t even wrap my head around it. I could damage the strongest raid boss in existence, right now, today, at level ten!
As if that wasn’t enough, it's a growth weapon starting at Lustrous Blue! That means it can advance all the way to level one hundred. Who cares about the stupid skill name? I’ll shout it at the top of my lungs as I crush anyone foolish enough to underestimate this absolute god tier weapon!
Oh. That’s exactly what it’s designed to do: be underestimated.
He willed the weapon to appear in his hand, not at all surprised its outward appearance matched the ridiculous icon displayed in his inventory. It was bright pink and gold. Each part, from its six-pointed-star tip to the band of gold wound around its hilt, was gaudy beyond reason. It was also much heavier than it looked, most of its weight disproportionately located in the jewel-encrusted star.
Looks more like a queen’s scepter than a weapon meant to bash people over the head with unstoppable force.
image [https://i.imgur.com/2VUkIUP.jpg]
Something seriously strange is going on. I never found a growth weapon my first time through. They’re incredibly rare and even after years, low level ones sold for millions. The ring, Rupture, and two growth weapons on the first day of release…
Am I getting a bonus to drop chances because I’m the first pushing into new zones? I was the first into Mirror Lake because I skipped the tutorial, but I wasn’t the first into the Recluse Mountains. Is it the quests? I doubt anyone received a quest before me in either zone. That has to be it. Nothing else makes sense.
Raine squeezed his eyes tight, cycling through each part of his detailed leveling plan. He made several adjustments so he could test his theory. If he was right, then going out of his way to find unique quests would massively boost his progress. So long as they didn’t get him killed.
Raine stored his wand and checked the rest of the items he’d found.
[Sabatons of Freefall - Lustrous Blue - LVL 20: (DEF +35) (Move Speed +1) (FNS +5) (PHY +20) (Durability 100/100) Innate Skill - Freefall: Reduce wielders weight by 95% for 30 seconds (Cooldown: Once per day)]
[Recipe: Rapture’s revenge - Medium armor - Complete set - Lustrous Blue - LVL 20]
This one’s practically useless. The items needed to craft the set drop in level thirty zones. By the time you can make it with any decent chance of success, it's obsolete. Guess I’ll hold onto it for now. If I can find a way to make a few sets before regular players reach level twenty, they will sell incredibly well.
[Recipe: Minor potion of instant mending - restores 15% health (Cooldown: 15 minutes)]
Raine whistled appreciatively at what was arguably the most valuable drop he’d received. Potions that could be bought from vendors were exorbitantly expensive. Additionally, they were always regeneration over time, giving between five and fifty percent over sixty seconds. A fifteen percent instant heal was a massive boon and one of the minimum requirements for a few of the harder raids. Its usefulness would ultimately come to an end when more specific resistance potions that shared the same cooldown became a necessity.
I needed to find someone with a penchant for alchemy anyways.
Raine knew finding a competent alchemist wasn’t going to be a simple or quick undertaking so he set aside the idea for now. The remaining seven items were all Common Gray restoratives.
[Minor elemental recovery potion - Consumable: Restores 20% Elemental Power over sixty seconds (Cooldown: 15 minutes)]
[Minor Celestial recovery potion - Consumable: Restores 20% Celestial Power over sixty seconds (Cooldown: 15 minutes)]
[Minor Demonic recovery potion - Consumable: Restores 20% Demonic Power over sixty seconds (Cooldown: 15 minutes)]
[Minor Health recovery potion - Consumable: Restores 10% HP over sixty seconds, additionally cures one physical negative affliction (Cooldown: 15 minutes)]
Unfortunately, none of them were for Discipline. He decided to keep them to pass out during raids, rather than sell them for a quick coin on the auction house. Raine hopped to his feet and started the trek back toward Vile Peak Town. A few steps in, he remembered the annoying caller and checked his log.
Morok the Viper? I wonder if he wants to donate more credits. He’s got to be spitting mad after I humiliated Righteous. This should be fun.
Morok answered almost instantly. He didn’t waste breath on pleasantries, his face red with drunken rage, “It’s been three days! Why haven’t you killed him yet? That bastard ambushed my men in the Recluse Mountains. You better get it together or I’ll strip the credits I loaned you from your hide!”
Raine snorted, his voice calm and smooth, “You paid me to teach him a lesson. I managed to find, and cause him some trouble, but he got away. He won’t be able to leave the zone without dealing with me first. I’ll find him again.”
Morok hesitated, clearly not expecting the answer. His faux outrage returned in a flash, “Your promises aren’t going to cut it this time. I’m sending an elite unit to Vile Peak Town. You’ll join them and track that bastard down. No more delays.”
Raine saw right through his bluster. Morok didn’t care nearly as much about Froust and his lackeys as he implied. His goal from the start had been tying Alaric to him and the ‘elite unit’ was all too likely a group of martials with tracking skills. If he joined them, getting away would be difficult without killing the lot of them.
He considered doing just that. It was a safe bet they had a few decent pieces of gear. In the end, it wasn’t worth the trouble, and it was also highly unlikely he would be getting any more donations out of Morok.
“No thanks. I’ll keep my end of the bargain. I have no further obligation to you without another contract.”
A vein protruded from Morok’s forehead and his complexion turned beet red, “You better watch your mouth! The deal was three days and your time is—”
“Stipulations tacked on after a bargain is struck are less than meaningless. If you want to add a time limit, it’ll cost you another five million,” Raine’s grin was a kilometer wide, not that Morok could see it with his image blacked out.
Spittle flew from the scion’s mouth as he screeched, “How dare you! I own this city and everyone in it! You can’t run from me and there’s nowhere to hide! I’ll find you, you dungsucking needledi—”
Raine cut the call with a vindictive chuckle. It was an absolute fact that Morok could kill him in Carter City without any repercussions from the corpus. But first, he would have to find him and that was no simple feat. Besides, it wouldn’t be long before the throne of Carter City shifted, and Raine had the perfect plan to put himself on the winning side of that upcoming debacle.
Shortly after ending the call, a high-pitched gravely voice called out to him from the shadows of a cluster of large rocks on the side of the trail, “You-you smallest rock. Meatiest head of all meatyheads! Why do you try-try kill Gazmo? Gazmo soooo nice-nice to you’s!”
Raine chuckled at the terrified Gromglenn, glad to see he was safe, “I was worried about you! Good job getting out of there. Hey, guess what I found.” He flashed his brows twice and Gazmo’s crinkled features twisted into a questioning frown.