Chapter 37: 37 – Am I Too Hard?

"Gadwall is mostly the same except for a new three-story building," I told Sawyer, my youngest sister, through a WeeCee connection. I was back inside MCO facetanking five Hermit Crabores but I wasn't hiding in my tiny nook anymore. "Oh, and they did put air conditioning in all the classrooms. That would've been great if they had those when we went there."

"I guess Gadwall really didn't have much budget back then," Sawyer's gentle voice said. From her voice, and also her appearance, one would expect her to work perhaps as a kindergarten teacher or at a daycare. People would be extremely surprised when they'd find out she was managing a huge ranch—her own business, not a family one—up at Swamphenshire. And she was also a butcher despite her small frame. Great-aunt Jemma's farm had made a huge impression on her.

"Well, they should have more budget now after the donation I made."

"What did you ask in return?" she asked with a hint of a chuckle.

"I didn't ask them for anything."

"And that's the code for manipulating them into giving you something. I bet it's renaming—"

"Renaming the library into Herald Stone Hall. Yes."

"Seriously?" She laughed out loud. I knew this was the upper limit of her expression of joy and it still sounded very reserved and calm. "I'm going to visit Gadwall when Mum and I go there to see that." Mum was staying at Sawyer's ranch. The fresh air of the countryside helped her regain the health drained by working multiple jobs for several years to keep our family going.

We continued talking about their scheduled flight, our plans for our family gathering, how we'd surprise Mum with the house, and also visiting Pops' grave. Everything is coming full circle. I thought the same thing as I did when I was opening the boxes containing my old things.

[ Loot: 148 Artas, 3 Crab Legs, 2 Clumps of Chitin, (Broken) Fortified Brass Vest ]

[ Increased: Player Level to 10! ]

"Yes! Finally," I exclaimed. My shell exploded, killing two Hermit Crabores. "Aw, too bad. Only a broken—oops. Sorry, Sawyer."

"What was that?" she asked. "Wait, are you playing MCO?"

"I am," I said. "Did Nelly tell you about it?" I trotted back to the spawning point of Hermit Crabores to pull more of them. The surviving one of the batch I was fighting scuttled after me, chomping at my ass with its claws. It died from my retribution damage.

Level ten was my aim before returning to the Craggy Crabore. However, I was nearing the next level of my Aritu Form Ocadule, so I decided to continue grinding here for a bit longer. It was an incredibly slow process to level it. The Gli from the Hermit Crabores was divided not only between feeding my lone Ocadule and Mardukryon Cidule, but their individual skills also needed the Gli. I only leveled my [Ancestral Constitution] once; the next would take ages, its bar crawling like a geriatric snail.

This was why even max-level players still wouldn't have completed any Ocadule with fully capped skills, much less their race Cidule. Perhaps it could be done if a player concentrated only on a couple of Ocadules, or only picked the minor ones. Max level wasn't the endgame. It was only the beginning of the true game. In a way, it was lucky I didn't pick between [Fiery War Stomp] and [Cleansing Flames] because I didn't have an immediate use for them and they'd be just Gli sinks.

"Yes, she did," Sawyer answered. "And it sounds like you're having lots of fun."

"It's a good break from work," I nonchalantly said, not wanting to admit how much I enjoyed reliving my childhood.

"I'll leave you to your game then. See you next week!"

"See you," I copied her. “Tell Mum I love her.” After we said our goodbyes, I mulled over which skill would get my new LS.

Although [Rusting Ground] was only a Common Quality Shard, it greatly increased my damage output by reducing the armor of enemies.

 

Lvl. 4 Rusting Ground: Inflict a curse on a small area (limited to two Grounds), causing any enemies entering it to lose 18 armor for each second, up to a maximum of 90. This corrupted state lasts for 7 seconds after leaving the area.
  Cost: 45 Energy
  Duration: 30 Seconds
  Cooldown: 5 Seconds

 

It was quickly becoming my favorite skill—gathering various debuffs skills appeared to be a good plan. This skill was especially effective against the Hermit Crabores with crude shells on their backs made from junk; it seemed to negate their increased armor. And I also found out from my testing that [Greater Pyro Shell] was indeed physical damage, likely with the fire element, so there was also a synergy there.

However, I had only invested three LS into [Rusting Ground], bringing it to level four. Each level increased Energy cost, and it was a huge Energy-guzzler. Given I didn't invest any points into Spirit, I didn't have any Energy regeneration to speak of—barely an Energy point a second. It would've been great if this was a Mardukryon-based skill so it would consume AS instead.

And thus, I decided to level up [Greater Pyro Shell].

 

Lvl. 7 Greater Pyro Shell: Glorious blessings of the ancestors coat you with a formidable barrier of protective flames that boosts your defenses and absorbs (70% of incoming damage) up to (20% of Armor) and the amount of Ancestral Shroud/Energy spent to summon it. When the barrier expires or is depleted, the damage it has absorbed is dealt to nearby enemies.
  Grants: +450 Armor, +6% Armor
  Cost: 25% Ancestral Shroud for Mardukryon; 20% Energy for other Races
  Duration: 20 Seconds
  Cooldown: 6 Seconds

 

Reaching level seven, the [Greater Pyro Shell] lowered its cooldown to six seconds. The additional armor was becoming pretty insane. I didn’t expect this Epic quality skill to become this powerful this early in my gameplay. I supposed it was the effect of focusing my LS on only a couple of skills rather than spreading them across several many.

I had read a tip for beginners that it was best to pick a very good DPS skill and dump all LS to it. With that, a player could then power level, one-shotting monsters within their level range with ease, raking in Essence and Gli.

As for my new GS point, it pushed my [Ancestral Consitution] from level four:

 

Lvl. 4 Ancestral Constitution: Mardukryons inherited but a minute fraction of the divine solar vitality of their ancestors.    
  Passive: +85 Armor, +5% Armor, +150 Health, +150 Ancestral Shroud
  Each time damage is received (Max stacks [4]):
    +30 Constitution Rating, +20 Armor, +10 Health per Second, +50 Health
  Duration: 25 seconds per stack

 

To level five:

 

You are reading story Getting Hard (Rise of a Tank) at novel35.com

Lvl. 5 Ancestral Constitution: Mardukryons inherited but a minute fraction of the divine solar vitality of their ancestors.    
  Passive: +250 Armor, +10% Armor, 350 Health, +350 Ancestral Shroud, 5% Physical and Magic Damage Reduction
  Each time damage is received (Max stacks [5]):
    +45 Constitution Rating, + 50 Armor, +25 Health per Second, +100 Health, +50 Ancestral Shroud
  Duration: 30 seconds per stack

 

I whistled in amazement. Skills provided by Cidules had incredible growth. Half my mind considered waiting for the Aritu Ocadule skill to see if I should the GS for it, but I felt it was more worth it to push Cidule skills further, especially now that it was becoming harder to level them.

Some guides even advised not to take any Ocadules early so that all Gli would go to the race Cidule.

I turned my attention to the Hermit Crabores. An Elite variant had shown up. I hit them from a distance with Mehubanarath's sling. All of them, including the Elite. I wanted to try my new tankiness.

As they approached closer, I stood strong to face them all. It might be too overwhelming to take all of them on in an open area where I'd certainly get surrounded, but I decided to increase the difficulty of my practice for dual-wielding shields and Head-On Blocking.

Following up on what Eclairs had told me, I had learned that if two shields were equipped, only the higher block chance stats would apply rather than be combined. It was unfortunate, but that aspect wasn't my main goal with dual-wielding them. It was the powerful Head-On Block—shields would use their respective amounts when executed successfully.

With twice the shields, I had twice the chance of Head-On Blocking attacks—Herald Stone, the Mathematician. Obviously, it was still up to me if I could actually do it.

Full stacks of [Ancestral Constitution Shell], check. [Greater Pyro Shell] up and already on cooldown. [Rusting Ground] to my left, its brownish-orange haze swirling at hoof-level. Lastly, I changed my sling to the new shield I had to duel wield it along with the [Thatched Buckler] I looted a few days ago.

Thorny Worn Targe | Item Level: 7

Rare | Shield | Off-hand
  68 Armor
  23% Chance to Block 75 Damage
  Head-On Block 150 Damage
  Deal 150 Retribution Damage to the enemy each time you execute a Head-On Block

Requires: 20 Might, 35 Vigor
--------------------
  +35 Retribution Damage (Physical)
  +12 Vigor

The crab monsters did their signature leap like they were a group of ninjas.

“Bring it on!” I said, rearing up on my hind legs, my front legs cycling in the air. It was an exhilarating sensation as if I was on an ancient battlefield right before the two armies clashed.

The Hermit Crabores fell from the skies, with the heavier Elite descending the fastest. I shifted away from its landing spot, onto the [Rusting Grounds] area, not wanting to take the brunt of its fall.

WHAM! The AoE damage hit me.

My shell held firm, a testament to my increased tankiness. But it didn't completely absorb all damage so my health was reduced by a small chunk. Even if my regeneration could take care of it, I still cast [Healing Touch], not only to have full health when facing the whole group but to also have its Heal over Time already ticking.

The rest of the Hermit Crabores slammed down, some landing on me. The shell still didn’t explode. A whirlwind of snapping claws followed.

BOOM!

Wow! That took a while, didn’t it? A fresh new shell enveloped me as I was surrounded by seafood.

It took some time before my shell exploded again that it made me wonder if the monsters popped it or if it simply expired after its duration ended. Whatever it was, it was taking too long to explode.

I unequipped pieces of armor that didn't have retribution damage. If I was softer, more shells would explode especially with its lowered cooldown. My tankiness did go down, but my impressive regeneration in tandem with healing picked up the slack, making sure I was far from any danger.

“There was a time to be hard,” I said to myself. “And a time to be soft.”

Despite wanting my [Greater Pyro Shell] to pop, I still focused on blocking the attacks of the Elite monster using my [Thorny Worn Targe]. A claw came down. I raised my shield. The other claw quickly followed it, but my shield was ready to meet it. The retribution damage for Head-On Blocks was a reliable source of damage.

[Rusting Grounds] was also doing its magic.

Each second that passed by, the Hermit Crabores lost armor and my DPS increased. Soon enough, a couple of the naked ones died.

That's so fast! I thought, pleased with the huge difference between now and when I first came here. With this much damage, the Craggy Crabore would be served on a platter with no sweat.

An idea popped into my head.

Is it time? Can I do it now?

I moved forward to the Hermit Crabore spawn point by the caved-in entrance of the Mardukryon tunnels. Two new giant crabs crawled through between the boulders. My shell exploded and hit them, attracting their aggro; I no longer needed to actively attack them.

And then I just stood there.

"AFK leveling time," I said as I accessed my WeeCee to read business reports. "Do people still say that now?" WeeCee had holo-keyboards so that expression was applicable to them. But I had no idea if it was still used when it came to VR Helms.

I had done AFK leveling in a few RPGs using tank characters, but only on rare occasions. I was paying to rent a PC at Vanguard Gaming; it was a waste of money to spend hours AFK leveling when I could level faster in higher-level maps, leeching off my DPS friends. However, several times I had wished that I had my own computer that could run Nornyr Online. Then I’d imagine myself leaving my character AFK leveling while I went to school—Mum probably wouldn't have allowed that because it'd ramp up the electricity bills.

"Living the dream," I said as I dropped [Rusting Grounds] by my hooves. This would be slower than if I took advantage of the Head-On Block retribution damage, but I could lower the volume and work while leveling.

A pretty good deal, if you ask me. And people should ask me if they wanted answers. My answer: It's a pretty good deal.

Eventually, my Aritu Form Ocadule reached level two and I went off to meet my craggy friend.