Chapter 25: Meeting A Veteran 

 

I went to the location Captain Mad D. Briggs told me of, and slayed the vast amount of mobs there. The location was a small cove—East from Nysel City Port, hidden near a beach. The cove had been home to mutant fish—different than Mermen. These mutant fish mobs primarily lived on land, while Mermen lived under the sea. They were fairly weak compared to the other enemies on this floor—averaging Level 16—but they counted towards conquering it, and that was my goal.

 

The system notified me that my continuous quest from the pirate captain would start on a later floor, and the spiral staircase leading me to Floor 12 was unlocked. It was actually near the shack that I entered this floor—I noticed it as I returned to the city to come to this cove.

 

“Remaining mobs!”

 

[System Notice: There are 7 mobs remaining. Mobs cleared: 129/136.]

 

Almost done. I had been able to clear a total of one hundred mobs. I just needed a few more to hit the 75%. Unfortunately, I just cleared out the entire cove. The good news is that I was able to make progress towards learning one of my unknown skills through {Assimilation}. It went up a few times when I blasted groups of five with a fully charged {Biding Hellfire Rupture}. 

 

Additionally—I scored tons of experience points, putting me at level ten. I wanted to stock up some more ‘Hellfire Flasks’, but it has been a race against time as the other players were racking up kills.

 

I swiftly left the cove, my search beginning again as I ventured to find the last remaining mobs. There weren't many other places to go to—so I decided to hurry over to the unburned area of Northern Martel Forest. ¾  of 136 mobs—I just need a couple more, right? I was figuring out how many I needed as I heard the whistling sound of an object whizzing pass. It had been an arrow—and it just placed itself into a mutated crow that was up in the trees ahead of me. The crow looked for a target to vent its anger on—not having died from the arrow. I quickly checked the remaining mobs—only four were left. I quickly pulled out my ‘Vanquisher’ so I could kill this crow, but two more arrows already arrived at it, dropping the counter to three. 

 

Just then, something dropped out of a tree beside me. I aimed my ‘Vanquisher’ at the thing—a person. He was a male—wearing camouflage equipment and holding a bow—a ranger class. He was right in front of me, so I got a clear look.

 

[Player Davorin, Lv14]

 

It was the fourth player I had yet to encounter. His hair was grown out long, a dark-brown as he stood up from his crouched position.

 

“Tsk, no loot,” he said, moving his eyes from the disintegrating crow to me. “You’re Zeryn,” he said affirmatively. “Your damage is too insane—I saw you kill that Behemoth Chimera. Those fools actually thought they could enter a counter quest against you.” He snickered quietly. 

 

He was Level 14 and on Floor 11. He must have done a good job getting all the experience points he could as he climbed—I was nowhere near that high when I was an Alchemist. “Are you a Ranger?” I asked. 

 

“Are you? I’ve yet to see a combination of shield and a crossbow, did you get a special class?” He seemed very interested in my ‘Vanquisher’ as he kept looking at it. “I could tell you my class—but some things are better left unsaid. I don’t want to tell another player my class—or do you not know PVP yet?” 

 

My expression slightly changed at his note of PVP. And he saw it, adding on, “So you’re a veteran, too? Or else you wouldn’t have understood what I said there.”

 

“A veteran?” I asked. The only ‘veteran’ I was aware of were those who served their country.

 

He then took a serious look at me. “Back with a vengeance, huh? Veterans are those who completed Floor 20—though it looks like you never made it past there if you were unaware of that.”

 

Veteran… So that meant that—”You made it past there?” 

 

“I’ll let you do what you need here.” He started walking away, “I don’t want to cross paths with someone as strong as you—fuck, you’re barely Level 10—eating your damn wheaties or something…”

 

“...okay.” I learned something new here. And had been given free reign, too. I searched around Northern Martel Forest looking for the last few mobs. They were scattered throughout, two mutated crows and one mutated bear. There was no sign of Martel as I discovered these mobs. I ended up with three more kills, getting 8250 more experience points, bringing my counter to 103, and all the mobs cleared from the floor.

 

I made my way out of the forest when I had some weird feeling behind me. I looked back—seeing nothing—and activated {Area Scan}, which also resulted in nothing. I had a guess as to what it was, but left anyways—it had nothing to do with me. I made my way to the white spiral staircase outside Nysel City Port, gladly taking my steps up there, receiving my notifications.

 

[System Notice: All mobs were cleared on Floor 11: 136/136. Your participation: 76%. You will receive an equivalent reward on Floor 12.]

 

[System Notice: Floor 11 complete. Heading to the starting point on Floor 12.]

 

I was surrounded by the brilliant aura of moving up a floor—everything turning white—pure. I took it in, taking a deep breath before opening my eyes to the next floor—Floor 12.

 

[System Notice: You completed Floor 11. You gained 1100 EXP.]

 

[System Notice: For conquering Floor 11 on Hardcore difficulty, you have received the item: Upgrade Jewel.]

 

[System Notice: Welcome to Floor 12’s starting point.]

 

I looked around. I was in a pretty enclosed area, a rocky-faced wall with no shop nearby. I had gained a few pieces of loot—nothing fancy—but wanted to turn them in. I pulled up my status before leaving the enclosure.

 

“Status!”

Status
Health: 300/300		Mana: 70/70
Name: Zeryn Felix, Favored by Tethralin Level: 10 [EXP: 36010/153600] Class: Miraculum Titles: Treasure Dabbler, Oathtaker: A Friend of Goblins, Favored by Tethralin, Stranger of Tethralin

 

Attributes: 0 AP
Vitality: 22 Strength: 21 Dexterity: 20 (55) Agility: 20 (45)	Willpower: 17 (22) Intelligence: 16 Perception: 15 (17) Wit: 15	Wisdom: 15 Charisma: [5] Luck: 36 (56)
Active Buffs: Nagascale Magic Ward
Active Abilities: {Spin!}, {Biding Hellfire Rupture}, {Area Scan}, {Sudden Slumber}, {Goblin Alchemy: Elemental Flask}, {Bladefire Infusion}, {Rally Allies}, {Frenzy}, {Mana Bolt}
Passive Abilities: {Assimilation}, {Fire Resistance: B}, {Goblin’s Tongue}, {Battle Prowess}, {Wield Element: Fire}, {Perfect by Nature}, {Lucky Strike}, {Heart and Soul of a Troll}, {Shrouded Shadow}
Assimilation: Unknown Ability: ??? 13/30 Unknown Ability: ??? 1/??

 

Looking good, I thought. 

 

[System Notice: Current players on Floor: 1/5]

 

Stepping out of the enclosure, I was immediately met with a not-so-open area to my sides—a cliff face in front of me. I could see a dew there, with a smidge of water by my feet. I looked up, the cliffs both in front and behind me. 

 

Where am I? I wondered. Perhaps it was a canyon or valley? I took a left and headed down the path. Further down, I saw a waterfall flowing down from above the cliff—crashing into a pool of water below. I approached near it—a mob jumping out from the pool as it attempted to clench its teeth at me. 

 

[Chasm Cuda, Lv24] 

 

My new ability {Shrouded Shadow} immediately activated completely on its own, negating the damage from the attack. I spent the thirty seconds I was granted in the shadows, looking around at the waterfall and pool of water. The pool didn’t seem to overflow—while the waterfall was endlessly flowing. I could see the Chasm Cuda still under the water, looking for its next target. 

 

I pulled ‘Vanquisher’ out, loaded a mana bolt and killed the Cuda. The body of the giant fish started disintegrating, leaving me 3000 experience points. I stayed there—continuously looking between the two. For some reason, I felt a kind of pull towards it. I knelt down beside it and stared back down into the pool of water. Then, I got up and looked around this area—apparently a chasm, going off the mob's name. Sadly, there wasn't anywhere else for me to go in this direction.

 

Strange. I left the enclosed area and made my way back to where I started the floor, going down the other direction instead. It wrapped around the walls—the faces of the cliffs—and came to a dead end after 45 minutes of walking. I encountered zero mobs, zero traps—just nothing. I felt around the dewy, rough surfaces of the wall—water still brushing my feet. Yet nothing happened.

 

Strange. I made my way back towards the waterfall and pool of water, feeling along the walls the entire time. I looked up, yet only the small drop of water fell from above the cliff every now and again. I went towards the waterfall, wondering if there was some hidden area behind it—and still, there was nothing.

 

“Remaining mobs!”

 

System Notice: You have cleared 1 mob. Mobs remaining: 40/41]

 

So, I went back to the pool of water. I peered into it deeper—but with the crashing of the waterfall onto it—I just couldn’t see that well. As I was looking, it seemed something was coming up from the pool. Was it another Chasm Cuda? A tentacle ripped through my body—leaving naught but smoke as I melded into the shadows.

 

My mana had already quickly regenerated from {Heart and Soul of a Troll}. Just as I was about to pull ‘Vanquisher’ off my back and launch a bolt, another tentacle quickly approached where I was hidden in my world of shadows. It can sense me! I dispersed into smoke again—though it didn’t take any mana as the ability was already active from the last attack—and this time I shot it without delay.

 

I saw the bolt leave ‘Vanquisher’ and glide toward the tentacle. I couldn’t find the body of this mob, so I took a shot I was confident in. That was when another tentacle came—and it actually gripped the bolt of mana mid-air, dragging it into the pool of water.

 

[Chasm Kraken, Kritikikuku, Warden of Abupho, Lv34 takes 168 damage.]

 

Well then, this might be a problem.