With the fall of the Fenrir, the NPCs cheered whilst the players were more or less remaining silent. The shock incurred by the deaths caused was large and considering that there were ten more battles like this one past, no one was in a cheery mood. Karl, Nicky and I walked through the city towards Rhand and Jack who had received critical damage. An hour later, a notification from the system rang out.
> Faerie Fountain's Favor is now accessible.
>
> * Reward is a faerie link for a fallen Ally.
Following this, the players, some with wide crazed eyes and others with tears rushed towards the fountain. I didn't know anyone that had died so it was of little interest to me or Karl. Nicky had went ahead with he rush to check it out though whilst I returned to my home shard to check out the fountain and Karl went towards the weapon store to buy something he had his eyes on for a while.
Landing inside my shard space once more, I had Novir construct the miniature fountain that when finished, constantly emitted a pillar of light that appeared to pierce the bleakness of my blank space. The fountain boosted all stats by 1 for one hour after leaving its proximity and boosted recovery rates by 200%. After learning nothing else about the fountain, I left to return to my hunting ground in the forest to try to get my DEX up to 20 at least before the day ended in a few hours.
In the forest, there wasn't much activity going on owing to the recent world boss attack. I did not mind however, it made my hunting strategy a lot easier without having to risk dealing with potential kill stealers. The mana in the forest was a bit strange however as the wisping mana that usually curled around the tree trunks was being siphoned towards a certain location. I followed it, defeating the fragment monsters along the way and gaining some essence points towards boosting my stat essence points.
> Current Status:
>
> * ID: A15479C
> * Name: Jason
> * HP: 300/300
> * HPR: 3/min
> * MP: 220/220
> * MPR: 2/min
> * KI: 30%
> * STR: 23+5 (70/230)
> * DEX: 19+5 (30/190)
> * INT: 15+5 (15/150)
> * PER: 20+5 (85/200)
>
> Credits: 6555
I arrived in the depths of the forest where the sky was completely covered in autumn colored leaves that seemed to continuously fall. There, I could see a hovering, swirling silver vortex which drew in the mana of the forest. As I approached, a system notification popped up in front of me stalling my step.
> Entrance to Ruined Shard [Nox Marsh] discovered.
>
> Will you enter?
>
> * [Yes]
> * No
Curious, I tapped the [Yes] and was instantly transported into a whole different world. With grey clouds hovering over head and an infinite mist expanding over a dreary purple marsh which obscures vision, an pronounced eerie feeling was added on top of that produced by the monster cries which were sometimes heard.
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I trudged through the viscous marsh water as I couldn't see any solid land to walk upon. With each step, the marsh water clung to my pants foot slowing down my movement ability. Moving slowly through the marsh wasn't that big a problem but what followed, the fragment beast, was.
> Fragment Snapper
>
> * Level 50
> * Type: Intelligent
The snapper that peeked its long neck out of the marsh water began firing stinging water magic bullets at me as it approached to try to bite at me. I dodged by strafing them but with the marsh water slowing down my movements, I was bound to be hit by a few which brought my HP down to two-thirds its maximum value. I fired off two magic bolts at the monster which lowered it's HP to one-tenth after which it ducked under the marsh water and remained there for an unknown time. Unknown because I had already started to exit this ruined shard. My current equipment wasn't suited to move around in this location much less fight in it. I was lucky that it was only one fragment beast rather than an ambush.
After leaving the ruined shard, I notice that the forest at once again resumed activity, not as much as it was before the wolf but the players had resumed activity. Listening in on some of the conversations between them allowed me to find out that some of the players had chosen to go in a direction other than the forest which I had made as my hunting ground. I considered going as well when I upgraded my current equipment and finish exploring that ruined shard so I returned to town and checked out the weapon store after selling off my useless item drops to gain an additional 8222 Credits.
> Blade Katar (13,000 Credits)
>
> * +ATK: 30 + ((DEX/STR) * 2)
>
> A fist type melee weapon with three dagger attachments. Suitable for rapid attacks.
> Modular Dagger (11,000 Credits)
>
> * +ATK: 35 + 2 * DEX
>
> A dagger in which the blade can be slightly remodeled through magic code.
> Mana Orbitals (20,000 Credits)
>
> * ATK: +3 * INT
> * Auto Attack: Attacks enemies automatically
> * Mind Link: Magical abilities boosted
>
> A pair of magic orbs hover around the owner attacking enemies subject to the owner's malicious intent. Boosts magic abilities by optimizing code in real time.
> Ion Crossbow (14,000 Credits
>
> * ATK: 25 + 2 * (DEX + INT)
> * Chance to add ignite status
> * Capacity: 5/5,
> * Recharge: 1 bolt per 5 seconds
>
> A crossbow which fires off magically charged bolts. Automatically stores mana from the environment.
Those were the weapons that I was currently looking at inside the weapon store upon after careful consideration, I decided to go with the [Ion Crossbow] being that I have enough credits for it currently and that my preference was to not take any damage.
After this, I was moving out of the city again when an NPC guard called out to me.
"Excuse me sir, are you thinking of heading to the Arik Plains in the south by chance?"
"Why do you ask?"
"There have been strange reports coming from that area. It's probably monsters but I can't feel at ease not knowing."
"In other words you want me to check it out?"
"If you will?"
"Sure but not right now."
"It's not an urgent request so I don't mind when you can so as long as you do. I'll be sure to prepare proper compensation for this"
"Ok."
> Request Accepted
>
> * Investigate Arik Plains
>
> Reward: 'Proper compensation'
Having 'proper compensation' for a reward doesn't really seem too enticing. Afterwards, I headed back towards the ruined shard space to explore in more depth.