Jun's POV:
Still fuming I logged back into Frontier Online and spawned in the town square of Higal. I looked around and saw Nidalee and the spearman waiting for me at a nearby cafe. "Did you wait long?" I asked them as I walked over to greet them. "No not at all" Nidalee smiled at me and Spearwoman rolled her eyes. "I still don't approve of you, but Corna likes you. Can't go against her wishes" Spearwoman sighed. "If I am going to be on this team, might as well tell me your name, otherwise I might call you something you might not like" I told her. "Like what?" Spearwoman asked, to which I replied "Oh I don't know, maybe Dog, Bastard, Bitch, the likes" I said matter-of-factly. "Wow, you sure hate my guts" the spearwoman said, "Hey the feeling is mutual, didn't you say you didn't approve of me?" I asked. Shaking her head the spearwoman got up and started to leave, as she exited the cafe she turned her head "I am [Salt with Wounds] or what my username is anyway. Interesting isn't it, not lets get going" Salt whispered to me and she headed out.
"Interesting fellow, sure she doesn't have salt in her wounds?" I asked Nidalee and she giggled at me, "Salt is interesting to say the least, she uses her spear more like a hammer instead of a spear, but she is terrible with the hammer, but like she says let us get going Corna will not tolerate lateness."
We both got to our feet and left the cafe to go to the forest. At the entrance of the forest I saw Corna, Salt, Magician, Swordsman and another fellow I have never seen before. Corna immediately introduced us. "Gren, this is Urn Stopper, our alchemist. He will guide us to the dungeon, are you sure you are ready to explore it? Got all your stuff? Potions, Sharpening Stones, Bandages, Food, the sorts" Corna asked everyone. A chorus of Yes and Mostly was heard. I looked over my two new skills one last time.
Rage Mode: Going berserk, you will take less damage while dealing more damage. It is proportional to your level. You will be in Rage Mode for 10 minutes before entering a cooldown period of 1 hour. In Cooldown your stats will be 4/5ths cut of their original value. When Rage Mode is active, all regenerations are increased by x5 of their original amount.
Crippling Strike: Empowering your blade, you will deal a 100% critical hit that will do 150% damage. If you hit a vital spot with Crippling Strike, there is a chance that you will stun/destroy a part of your opponent. This chance increase with the less health your opponent has.
"Alright, formation, Salt, and Nidalee will scout the area, in front and behind. [Vik] (Swordsman) and Gren (Me) will guard the party, Urn Stopper and [Hug Me No More] (Magician) will be with me" Corna said and everyone got into their positions accordingly. Nidalee took off at a run and entered the forest. I proceeded to follow her at a steady pace, making sure that Corna and the rest were behind me.
After marching through the forest, dispatching monsters and collecting ingredients, Nidalee's voice called out.
"Boss, there is a monster 10 O'Clock, Puppet species, Engage or Run" Nidalee asked. "I have never heard of a puppet species in the forest before, normally there are just wolves, rabbits and bears" Corna exclaimed and then gave a command "Nidalee draw them over to us, I want to "personally" examine them" "Roger Dodger" Nidalee said and a small explosion was heard. Soon after Nidalee came zooming back to the party, following her five metallic puppets chased.
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Iron Puppet: Level 6.
You are the first to discover the [Iron Puppet] Species inside the [Forest of Metal Trees] Biome. They will now be more commonly found.
Observation skills and information:
They show signs of being in combat, their weapons are a bit chipped and crude and their bodies dented. By observation the skills you have found out they have are:
[Weapon Creation] [Crush] [???] [???] [???] [???]
Monster Rank: (From S to F) E
"I want to study" Corna moaned, I looked over to find her drooling and sparkles in her eyes.
"Berserk Rush", "Spear Charge". Salt and I charged toward the puppets.
Apparently sensing the danger two puppets rushed forward. One of the puppet's skin turned into a brighter hue of grey, while the other one was encased in a cocoon. My Berserk Rush knocked the first puppet back a few feet, while Salt's spear charge did no damage at all, her spear bounced off the cocoon. Coming out of the cocoon the puppet hugged Salt and she started to give a cry of pain. [Crush] Skill Activated I tried to hit the puppet multiple times but it seemed to be tanking the damage well.
"Its no use Gren, They are 15% resistant to slashing. Fall back, Salt your going to have to be collateral" Corna ordered and Hug Me No More (HMNM) released the skill [Fireball]. The puppets literally melted and Salt crawled out of the burning forest with multiple wounds on her back. "Don't worry I got you Urn Stopper soothed and he pulled out a potion that he just made. The remaining three puppets fell back, One of them had a bastard sword that I dearly wanted so I charged them with [Berserk Rush]. Vik and Nidalee also charged forward with me and the three of us fought against them.
"These guys, how much health and defense do they have, I swear 34 damage per hit should be a lot" Nidalee was gasping for air, and the puppet she was facing used it's pitchfork to scratch her side. "I got some information for you guys" Corna called out. "Health is about 300-350 while defense is almost 40-50, with your attack of 43, no wonder your doing a lot. They should run out of stamina soon, as the puppets were probably built as tanks" Corna told us the needed information and we held out a bit longer before one by one the puppets dropped to the ground as our damage piled up.
"Damn what strong foes, Their basically the bane of melee fighters" I growled, wiping the sweat from my forehead. It took us 20 minutes to subjugate one squad. Who knows how many squads linger around us. "Maybe they have a boss creature, Studying them has told me that they also know [Detatch/Replace/Upgrade Joints] Looks like these were the lowest tier puppets" Corna told us.
"So you mean there are more puppets, and they can modify their limbs" Vik panted. "That's right, maybe we can meet this boss in Timber Slope" Corna smiled. "Alright, replenish yourselves and make a quick break, we do not want any more puppets to jump us."
I got to my feet and looked at the puppet corpse I was fighting. I chose the option to loot
You have acquired the following items: Puppet Limb: Left Arm, Scrap Metal x 4, Puppet Bastard Sword (Crude) and 9 Gold
Woohoo, I got the sword I wanted ha ha ah