Myths Galore

{You have died. 30% of Experience points is reduced as death penalty.}

Rajas once again received a system message as he woke up in infirmary in Barbarian Village (6). He had died twice by now. His experience which was 28 initially was reduced to 14. Thankfully, it was so low that the drop in experience points didn't even matter. If he was close to levelling up to level 9, he wouldn't have any tears left to cry.

The Abjurers were not the problem. They were easy enough to defeat. But it was impossible to kill them. He rewound the recording he had done the second time. This time it was taken from third person perspective.

A figure was seen approaching the Sun dial. A lonely Abjurer had wandered off far from the aggro range of other Abjurers. This time Rajas had not made same mistake as previous one and waited cautiously till the Abjurer entered his shooting range. He used keen sight on the Abjurer.

Abjurer (✡️)

Level 9

HP: 700

Rajas let the Abjurer walk close to his hiding place. With around 5 meters left, Abjurer turned around. Rajas let loose the prepared Power Shot.

- 49

Rajas was successful in getting the attention of Abjurer. Abjurer gathered fire elements in air and condensed it into a ball in front of his c.h.e.s.t. It took him about a second. The Fire ball was dark blue in colour and its flames were hot. But the sight of it gave off certain chill that went through your spine. As soon as the fire ball was ready, Rajas stepped back; out of the range of Fire ball. Abjurer had already released it and could only watch helplessly as the fireball fizzled out after travelling through air for 5 meters. Rajas expertly kited the Abjurer and finally brought down his health to 1. But however he attacked, Rajas couldn't break through the invincible shield that had surrounded the Abjurer after his health was lowered to one. He had tried to get up close and use his shadow claws too. But that attempt was also unsuccessful. Instead he was hit by the homing fireball of Abjurer.

- 34

And that one second of fear caused my agility to plummet. Hence, one second interval between the two homing fireballs was not enough to get out of range of homing fireballs. If Rajas retreated the Abjurer would pursue and this continued till Rajas died.

After analysing the video, Rajas realised that even the arrows dipped in holy spirit water were useless. But it was better than his first attempt when he had miscalculated the range of Abjurers and ended up burning to death before he could even bring down health of one Abjurer down to 1.

~~~~~

While Rajas was busy with Abjurer, the forums were ablaze with discussions of Top level player in the entire game at the moment. 'Superbia' was killed on way to the Human Empire City, Honeon city from Barbarian Village (2). It caused him to lose 30% of 255999 EXP he had. As he had not completed his class quest his experience was capped at level 10, unable to advance to level 11. In a way he was foolish as monsters gave much more experience after level 10. One had to admire his persistence as he grinded low level monsters till he had capped at level 10. But now the loss was even more bitter tasting as well. And unexpectedly he had fallen pray to same mobs as Rajas, the Abjurers.

~~~~~

A bit wiser after watching himself die, Rajas decided to try to kill them solo for the last time. He rechecked the quest objectives. He had thought of possibility of using the Staff of Kirin Hau against the Abjurers but it was inequipable in Weapon slot. He decide to go on gut instinct and he restored the Staff to the Altar on the Platform. He once again went to Sun dial and aggroed an Abjurer.

By habit he used keen sight, and indeed there were changes to the description.

Abjurer

Level 9

HP: 900

The star symbol beside the Abjurer was gone. Instead his health had gone up by 200 HP. After aggroeing it, he stayed just out of the range of its homing fireballs. 2 minutes later, the Abjurer only had 10 HP left. Rajas took an aim and before Abjurer could gather any fire element, Rajas shot.

- 35

Then he heard the system notification.

( Abjurer killed. You have gained 325 experience points.}

{The unwilling soul of Abjurer has turned into Wraith and will haunt you}

So this was also not the correct way to kill the Abjurer as it left behind repercussions. The only two ways I hadn't tried yet were DoT and magic. Magic was impossible for me at this stage. But I had Toxin which could cause poison damage over time. I could also use bleeding through barbaric laceration but it was not guaranteed to happen what with Abjurers wearing cloth armours with enhanced physical defense.

Rajas returned to Village and brought the serpiria vines, Fangs, wilted poison grass and Clear water of Luxi grass. Most poisonous and hence forbidden item was Clear water of Luxi grass. If not for his familiarity with Goku, no NPC would have sold him this item.

After grinding and mixing with various proportions, he finally found the golden ratio on his 6th try. Rajas was not sure if this was the best he could do but he decided to be satisfied with it for now.

Toxin (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

~ Can be smeared on weapons causing 0.3% damage to normal monsters over 6 seconds.

~ If it enters blood stream, effect is 3 times the normal.

[Caution: Inhaling its fumes may poison players, leading to dizzy effect at unexpected moments lasting for 3 seconds.]

After smearing it on 20 of his leftover 70 arrows he felt he was ready. He didn't know what he would do if this didn't work.

Once again same process, lure a single Abjurer away from the numerous others. When it was time for last shot he replaced his quiver with Gnoll Hunter's Quiver. He had placed the poisoned arrows separately in it as the poison would last for only one use.

And then he paused and fled from Battle.

_ Shit! the Staff! _

So engrossed was he with testing his poison that he forgot to remove the Staff of Kirin Hau from the Sun Temple. After taking a hike up the temple, he was panting while looking for the Abjurer he so painstakingly had brought near his death.

He found him but his health had already recovered to one fourth of his HP. Once again the game of kiting and dodging and shooting. Finally the last arrow shot was Toxic Arrow. It was aimed at his c.h.e.s.t but due to sudden movement to right, the arrow was now stuck in Abjurer's arm pit. It immobilised the entire arm and hence the hand that was raised remained raised.

-35

An invisible shield had once again formed and it was blocking all damage. And then the DoT damage of Toxic arrow activated.

-2

{Abjurer killed. You have gained 325 experience}

{The unwilling soul of Abjurer has turned into Wraith and will haunt you}

That's when the Staff of Kirin Hau vibrated in my bag. It was shaking all on its own. I took it out and Rays of sun fell on the translucent Orb at the top of the Staff. Orange Red light was reflected everywhere even falling on the Wraith form of Abjurer which no Physical attack could harm. He didn't have chance to use Keen Sight on Wraith before it disappeared earlier, so now he took advantage of the opportunity that had come walking to his doorsteps.

Wraith of Abjurer (✡️)

Level 9

HP: 10

Finally the light beam concentrated on the wraith of Abjurer as it burned it away.

-2

-2

-2

-2

-2

After the harsh screaming of wraith I finally heard the system ding I was waiting for.

{Wraith of Abjurer purified. You have gained 1625 experience.}

The Wraith gave five times the experience than the normal Abjurer. Even though I didn't know what the star before their name meant, I didn't care as long as they gave such bountiful experience after every kill.

This was such a great opportunity to gain experience! Too bad the quest specified only 30 needed to be purified. The Sun set in game as well as outside. The Staff was no longer working and the last Abjurer had given me haunted status effect. I had yet to experience what it did. Anyway as there was no point in killing anymore Abjurers, I logged off to get some dinner.

I walked to the restaurant nearby. The city looked so beautiful in the night. Even though the Skyline was not as high as Poringsa or even Santa Crux back home, the difference between Man and the sky was accentuated by the visible distance between the highest of buildings and the night sky. The roads were narrow with just enough breadth to let two four wheelers drive side by side comfortably. The whole alley where Rajas lived now had a distinct taste of the decade that passed by. It was nothing like the posh buildings with glass panes and electronic floors and all the latest and newest technologies but made from synthetic mud and wood, it had warm and welcoming feel. Rajas lived in the cheapest area of the City. Yet all the basic amenities were provided. Only area worse than this was the Slums. A problem that was being solved slowly but surely since the start of twenty third century.

He reached the restaurant without even realising it. He picked spicy chicken curry and Naan bread. It was a bit heavy on pocket but he decided to go with it. He really missed his Father's cooking. A crazy idea popped into his head. Maybe he could disguise and invite himself over to Dad's place for a meal? But he discarded it as soon as it formed. He was not in hurry to wipe himself out of existence. To distract himself from having such crazy suicidal ideas, he opened forums.

A thread in green caught his attention. Green meant it was posted by moderator or it was shared by moderator. There was a video in it with title 'Stupendous Levelling Speed'. A girl could be seen in snowy lands. She spoke in language Rajas did not recognise but there were subtitles in English below.

"I am at Tundra Valley. It is inhabited by level 8 Arctic Foxes and level 9 elite Polar Bears. Today I will show you a fast levelling method. Please watch carefully."

Then she equipped Bow and Arrow and ran towards a group of 13 Polar Bears. She lured them to the mouth of valley and then once again went other way to lure another group of Polar bears. This one of 8 members. Next the video showed she was nearing a group of Arctic Foxes.

"Please note, do not let Arctic Foxes detect you. It is very hard to shake them off." And then she circ.u.mvented the Arctic Foxes and once again lured a group of 9 Polar Bears. It even had 3 Elites. She had managed to gather 7 of the elite monsters in one place. After all the preparations were done. She climbed up a cliff connected to one of the walls of the the valley. She shot an arrow each at every Polar bear damaging them for on an average 20 damage. With thick skin of polar bears, 20 was very good damage. But it couldn't be compared to Rajas who had above average strength due to special discoveries. But after she stabilised position of all bears, cupped her hands and shouted 'Ha' loudly. Snow fell from various trees and rolled down the slope of mountain. The ice avalanche that formed had very big of a destructive power. It buried every single polar bear that stood there.

Within next few moments, the girl was 12000 experience higher. It was a very good tactic if only it did not need as many new arrows as it needed. Arrows were limited and Monsters infinite, he had to take care and not fall into bottomless pit that needed arrows. Arrows that were lost under avalanche were buried forever along with the drops from Elite Monsters. Such a pity. He preferred his way of levelling. Even though there were no drops due to quest, at the least he didn't lose his precious arrows. Also with his current quest he had gained nearly 37 thousand experience.

Speaking of which he had killed and purified 19 Abjurers. Which meant he was out of Toxic Arrows. Every single bottle of Toxin that Rajas prepared was of 4 star rating and hence could be used for 7-8 times. He took a mental note to prepare more Toxin bottles after logging in after dinner.

After logging in he went to marketplace. Evenings were the most crowded time periods as both the daytime players as well as night time players were logged on. As Herbalists did not need any workstations, Rajas set up a stall near the entrance of the Training grounds and started decocting Toxin. Even though it was quite out of the way of major paths used by players, most of the guild players as well as serious players visited training grounds. He put out his wares. Gnoll's wristguards, Antler from Mad Antler, Hides from various animals and Furs from Berserk Bunnies. He kept best wares like Frosty Gale and Ice needles for Shirin. Maybe he won't meet her, but he could always use his in game identity to approach her and help her.

Soon he had his first customer of the day.

" Where did you get these wrist guards?"

These were the most annoying type of customers. These were more interested in gathering information than buying. But as the name was self explanatory, Rajas answered unreservedly.

"Dirt lands of Death"

Such curt answer was meant to stem the steady stream of questions that would follow but if the customer was shameless it would do nothing instead, even prompting him to ask more detailed questions. Thankfully the customer was still a bit of self conscious. He eyed the wrist guards and asked for price.

" 3 silvers"

A quoting price which was negotiable. But the guy just turned around and left.

_What a waste of my time._

And Rajas went back to making Toxins. After completing fifth bottle of Toxin he put one for sale at a price of 5 silvers. Then as he waited for someone to come, he checked his Quest window. There were two active quests;

1) The C.h.e.s.t Opener (4 days 9 hours 52 min)

2) 'Misguided Souls' [1/2] (19/30).

He just needed to open 10 c.h.e.s.ts to earn title 'Novice C.h.e.s.t Opener'. Even though he didn't know what the effects might be, he was sure that they must be good. He browsed through the forums and marked locations of the C.h.e.s.ts that appeared frequently.

As he was marking his eighth location a group of three came to his stall. All three of them were elves. He had a feeling he had seen them somewhere. Without even saying a word the lady bent down to take a closer look at his wares. She was obviously an elf and an Elementalist too. Her Staff was quite pretty and unlike many other staffs he had seen in market or on NPCs. He turned to the younger looking male who was fidgeting and looked towards the Training grounds longingly. On the other hand the bit more muscular and gruff looking elf was staring firmly at the lady's b.u.t.t. Rajas had to admit, that guy had excellent taste. After the guy realised he was caught staring at his female party member's b.u.t.t, he looked at Rajas defiantly as if asking 'I like Butts... So what?'

" How many furs do you have?"

A raspy and s.e.xy as hell voice asked Rajas. That was enough to grow a tent in his newly acquired Soft Leather Pants. Puberty had arrived once again for him!!

After killing 17 Berserk bunnies, Rajas had acquired 30 furs. When such a s.e.xy lady was asking for help he didn't hold back and truthfully answered.

" I have 30. How many do you want?"

" How much are you selling for?"

She counter questioned. Usually furs from any animals were 20 to 25 coppers, but as furs of rabbits were smaller in size getting 15 copper for each was also normal. If they were of best quality, even 20 coppers per piece might be paid to acquire them. Of the Furs Rajas had collected worst was of good quality numbering just 6. So averaging the cost along with beautiful face discount he could afford to let them go at 17 coppers each.

" For a beauty like you, its 19 coppers per piece."

Knowing propensity of women who felt like they had won a battle after negotiating a bargain from seller, who was he, a minor 14 year old to derive her of such p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. All he had to do was make sure he didn't suffer a loss.

She narrowed her eyes.

" 16 coppers and not a copper more."

" Miss you can't make me eat such a big loss now can you? Let's meet mid way... 17 coppers each... Its a deal specially for you..."

" Deal!"

That joy on her face was hard to hide. She got the gruff old man pay me 5 silver and 40 coppers. Though he was eying me like a dog who was about to have his bone snatched away. When he neared me I finally realised where I had seen them; in the Dirtlands of death where each one of them had taken on 3 Gnoll Marauders each and still were able to come out on top of them.

" Are you part of some guild or a team by yourself?" I asked.

" We are the Quakers"