----
Kieran's current situation could only be explained as frustrating beyond belief. If the odds remained one in four, he would have to kill 2,000 Elites at the very least to complete ONE of the objectives!
What's more, Kieran began to dread whether these odds applied to every objective present. Just the thought of that being true infuriated Kieran until the point he punched the tree.
Bang!
A loud noise echoed in the surroundings as the tree shook for a few moments before growing still once more. With his fist pressed against the tree, Kieran leaned forward and breathed to repress his anger from bubbling over.
'Come on, kid… what are you doing? Keep your composure. Don't let something this small get you worked up until your reason disappears,' Kieran mumbled to himself. Perhaps some might deem him insane with the way he talked to himself, but it was a natural response.
Insanity would be responding to the voice used to calm yourself down as if you were having a heated argument with a friend. It was one thing to listen, but it was another to respond.
Ultimately, sometimes the best advice comes from one's inner self. The part of a person that could rationalize under any conditions. However, allowing that part of one's inner self to emerge was difficult. It took high self-awareness.
Once Kieran grabbed ahold of his emotions, he lifted his head with a clear gaze. His deep black eyes looked around before standing tall with his large crimson blade by his side. Numerous goblins appeared with an increasing number of Elites and Special Elites.
At this point, Normal monsters only comprised 50% of monsters currently spawned in comparison to the earlier 75%. Additionally, there were 3 Special Elites, which made the odds of obtaining Blood Essence of the correct quality increasingly possible.
Whoosh!
Kieran rushed forward without another thought. He felt he was being too cautious, which adversely affected his killing efficiency. A pale burst of air pulsated from Kieran's body as his facial features became slightly more defined and hardened.
Naturally, this was the Hardened Skin ability attached to his Crystalline Ring. Since he decided to fight with reckless abandon, he needed to ensure he had some kind of damage reduction present.
Once that happened, Kieran focused on the Normal monsters first.
After grouping them with skilled maneuvers, Kieran sealed their movements with a Flaming Circle combined with a Force Slash to deal additional damage. Faint embers flickered from the Scarlet Steel Greatsword as he glided it through the Flaming Circle.
Kieran essentially bathed the weapon in its own flames to inflict accentuated flame damage with each attack. Every attack then began to inflict bonus element damage due to the goblins' weakness.
The Normal and Elite monsters became extremely easy to deal with after taking advantage of their weakness, but the same didn't stand for the Special Elites. Even when afflicted with burns, the Special Elites attacked haphazardly without a shred of care regarding their own safety.
Furthermore, one of the Special Elites possessed the Haste trait, which made it much faster than its counterparts. At that time, Kieran was forced back and even staggered by the club of a Special Elite with the Stagger trait.
Once there was a danger of dying, Kieran immediately activated the Spirit of the Bear King and gulped a Beginner Health Point to recover some of his lost Health. This type of combat persisted until the spawn rates of the goblin dipped to a rate Kieran deemed to no longer be efficient.
It took a grand total of 12 hours, from start to finish, to reach that point.
At any rate, Kieran managed to amass 120 acceptable Blood Essences from Elites and 45 acceptable Blood Essences from Special Elites. Whereas the acceptable range for Elites began at Ordinary (50), it started at Exceptional (55) for Special Elites.
Unlike armors, weapons, accessories, and some unmentioned items, materials followed a different grading system. Materials were judged by their quality which then provided a concrete ranking. In theory, a material with a quality of 100 should be perfect, but that was far from the case.
Material of that quality wasn't perfect; it simply met the standard to craft something of the Epic variety, whether a weapon, armor, elixir, potion or other craftable items.
In ascending order, material gradings appeared as such: Scrap (Trash 0 - 10), Inferior (11 - 30), Ordinary (31 - 50), Exceptional (51 - 65), Superior (66 - 85), Epic (86 - 100), Legendary (101 - 125), Mythic (126 - 150), and Ancient (151 - 175).
Clearly, the quest wouldn't accept any quality on the lower end of each individualized grading spectrum. Only the "best" of each quality sufficed for Kieran's purpose. This was one of the cons to striving for perfection; it made advancing difficult and tedious.
Nevertheless, that tedium translated into a benefit that couldn't ignore.
In addition to amassing over 900,000 Experience from the over 400 monsters killed, Kieran acquired many Copper Coins, Silver Coins, and materials. More importantly, Kieran switched his armor with heavy armor of a much higher Item Level.
As a result, his defensive and attack capabilities underwent a drastic change.
「Name: Aatrox
Lv.20 (Experience: 80,000/80,000)
Class: Warrior
Title(s): None
----------------------------
[«Stats»]-
Health: 660/660 (0.2 HP regen/sec)
Mana: 130/130 (0.15 MP regen/sec)
Stamina: 267 (0.25 Stamina regen/sec)
Attack Power: 505
Defense: 214
-----------------------------
[«Attributes»]-
»Strength: 165 (72 + 93 + 0)
»Intelligence: 20 (20 + 0 + 0)
»Agility: 91 (47 + 44 + 0)
»Endurance: 74 (20 + 54 + 0)
»Control: 62 (30 + 32 + 0)
»Vitality: 70 (30 + 40 + 0)
»Perception: 50 (50 + 0 + 0)
[Unassigned Stat Point: 0]
[Skill Points: 0] 」
Kieran's success in killing the monsters was primarily related to the Scarlet Steel Greatsword's item ability. AoE skills were simply indispensable when it came to monster grinding. Without that ability, Kieran's chances of reaching this point plummeted.
Besides loot, Kieran's most essential reward for his actions was a title. Unlike the Beginner Zone, where it was virtually impossible to acquire titles, the open world would reward titles as long as a player managed to complete the prerequisites.
「 Title Name: Goblin Hunter I
Title Rank: Normal
Description: Gained by one who has hunted over 200 Goblins of a Normal Rank.
Effects: Increases all damage dealt to Goblin-type monsters by 15%. 」
While a 15% damage increase didn't seem impressive, having every attack marginally increased compounded into a notable advantage in the long run. It was essentially a significant reduction in one's time-to-kill values.
Because of his insufficient inventory space, Kieran was forced to offload his extra equipment in his mail, sending it to Altair for him to once again take care of selling. There wasn't exactly a way for Kieran to do so himself because the virtual center wasn't active yet.
Once that was taken care of, Kieran explored the Barren Mountain Range while focusing on one route in particular. This route was not just saturated with many Elites and Special Elites but also held countless Normal goblins because the density of monsters increased the farther one traveled into any leveling field.
His pace was neither fast nor slow, mowing down his enemies until he came across a spacious cave in one of the smaller mountains forming the Barren Mountain Range's basic landscape.
Kieran had yet to come across a Champion monster, but he was satisfied with this result. The chances of coming across a Champion Monster were 1 in every 250 Special Elites and 1 in every 1000 Elites. Neither of those numbers had been reached in any area Kieran visited.
Besides, he wished for higher skill levels before running an enemy of that caliber. Force Slash was close to reaching Lv.11, and Savage Break was less than 2% away from attaining Lv.6.
〈System: You have entered the Special Leveling Zone «Goblin Cave»!〉
'Great, it's still here. But the monsters here will be a bit…'
Kieran became more cautious than at the beginning of the run. After all, the Goblin Cave was unlike the Barren Mountain Range since it specialized in spawning various types of goblins.
Additionally, the weakest goblin in this area was Lv.23. They were vastly different from the predominant amounts of Lv.21 and 22 faced outside. They were no longer only simple minions! In addition to slightly stronger minions, there were also large goblins with comparatively thicker muscles.
「Lv.23 Goblin Minion (Normal)
Goblin Type
Health: 20,500/20,500 (100%) 」
「Lv.24 Goblin Leader (Elite)
Goblin Type
Health: 45,000/45,000 (100%) 」
「Lv.24 Flame Goblin (Special Elite)
Goblin Type, Fire Type
Health: 51,000/51,000 (100%)
Special Trait: «Burning» 」
「Lv.24 Frost Goblin (Special Elite)
Goblin Type, Ice Type
Health: 51,000/51,000 (100%)
Special Trait: «Freezing» 」
"Welp," Kieran shrugged before swinging his arm around. "Time to loosen up further! Those Blood Essences are mine."
Kieran's first target was the Goblin Leaders present because they possessed quite an annoying skill for solo players. It could increase surrounding Goblin Minion attack and defense by 15%. Any boost was detrimental to Kieran's success, so they were the first that needed to go.
However, Kieran also remained wary of the Frost and Flame Goblins. They could launch projectiles of their respective element that traveled at exceptional speeds. Even with 91 Agility, Kieran would be caught in a bind if he sensed the projectiles too late.
And, since they were classified as magical, it'd deal damage that Kieran had barely any defense against.
Unlike the Goblin Minions, the Goblin Leader wielded short swords or sabers. So, there were times when Kieran's basic attacks were parried by his foes. Attacks like Savage Break and Force Break were unstoppable against his current opponents.
'Well…that's not very good,' Kieran frowned slightly. When he used Flaming Circle, the Flame Goblin's reddened skin acted as a flame retardant that resisted 80% of the flame damage inflicted.
Conversely, Frost Goblins were even more susceptible to flame damage than normal goblins. One Flaming Circle robbed almost half of their Health! Fortunately for Kieran, the cave environment was separated into rooms with closed access once someone entered.
Five minutes later, the first Frost Goblin fell. Kieran spread out his damage, not by choice but by force. So once the first goblin fell, many more followed in quick succession.
〈System: You have gained 4,435 Experience!〉
Vials of Blood Essence continued to appear around Kieran. Based on his shimmering gaze, a substantial portion should be acceptable. However, he didn't have time to loot before shifting his attention to the remaining enemies.
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