18 Scouting

Rare Chest Plate of the Fallen

A chest plate that was once worn by a fallen hero

Level Requirement: 5

Vitality +22

Strength +16

Intelligence +8

Atk- 20-26

Skill:

Berserk

Doubles user's Strength, Vitality, and Agility for 15 minutes

After usage, the user's stats go down to 60% of max stats

(Weakened state lasts for 1 hour)

Cooldown: 2 hours

The Chest plate had high stats, and it had a skill like the Chief-ranked monsters.

Emile didn't know if the bosses would enter a weakened state if the Berserk state lasted long enough.

His party received the quest. They didn't know where to begin.

"Mr. Chief do you have any tips on where we should go," asked Time Walker in a polite tone.

He stroked as he thought.

"It's in the center of the forest; you should investigate it to make sure it's normal. It's located to the southwest of this village." He said after this thinking.

"Those cloaks will become useful. I suggest that you guys split up and try to investigate the heart of the forest," He said.

"Thank you for your help," The party gave out their farewells as they left the Chief's home.

"Hey, why don't you share the quest with us. We know you got a quest since the Village Chief allowed you to enter his home. If you don't... well, we will kill you all," said Pulsating Sword like he owned the world.

"Ignore him and head towards the southwest," he said in the party chat. He didn't say it out loud because there were players nearby. He didn't want the other player to know about their movements.

"Don't ignore me," He took out his swords and charged at Time Walker who was the closest to him.

Time Walker activated his Fireball and aimed it at Pulsating Sword.

The fireball exploded on his chest dealing 60 damage.

After the first fireball from Time Walker, Emile used his own. Emile prepared the fireball as soon as he saw that Pulsating Sword was charging at them.

Handsomest Crab also ran forward to deal damage to Pulsating Sword.

The other's in his party charged forward.

The fireball hit Pulsating Sword and dealt 82 damage. Pulsating Sword noticed that he only had around 40 health left.

He yelled at his guild.

"Stop standing there, help me out!"

He moved backward, but at this moment Handsomest Crab appeared in front of Pulsating Sword and slashed out. He killed him off by dealing 44 damage.

Every action that happened transpired in less than 5 seconds. The guildmates were running towards Pulsating Sword when he called out for help. They didn't make it and watched him die.

They wanted to take revenge. Pulsating Sword's death was embarrassing for them.

Emile saw eleven players charge towards them. He got into a fighting stance and charged at a player.

He attacked them by using his swords. His strikes dealt a lot of damage for this stage of the game.

He could one-shot a player if he used 5-hit slash. The only way to stop this would be to have high vitality and a skill like Bubble Shield.

-67

-69

-72

Emile overwhelmed the player and struck them three times before they managed hit him.

The player disappeared.

[You have obtained a red name]

Killing five players caused him to gain a light-red name. The players could see the red name floating above Emile. His name was visible.

The players recognized that his name was Mystical Flame. Players recalled when he held first place on the leaderboards. (1)

Emile ran towards the other players. One of them activated a skill which caused long thorny spikes to appear on the ground.

Emile jumped over the spikes. He crossed the spikes. The real-life skill, Void-Steps, was useful for dodging blows or traps.

He cast a fireball as he crossed the spikes.

When he landed on the other side of the spikes the fireball spell activated.

The fireball connected with the player.

-67

Emile charged forward to attack the person who was weakened by him.

The person tried running away but Emile's Agility had higher values than the player.

-68

-71

The player vanished.

His party had killed off four members.

Emile killed two more players before the entire group of eleven disappeared.

"Let's leave before reinforcements arrive," Emile said as he ran out of the village.

His party followed suit. The players opened a path for Emile's party.

The players allowed them to run past them since they didn't want to offend their party. They felt shocked after their demonstration.

They ran towards the southwest. Strangely, none of the players followed them.

"Put the cloak of shadows on," Emile said after they entered the forest.

The put on the cloak of shadows and headed towards the core. They walked at a brisk pace.

"You think they'll surround us when we get back to the village," Handsomest Crab asked.

"How am I supposed to know. We'll just have to be more cautious." Emile paused, he forgot to get bandages.

"I didn't get bandages..." He said as he scratched his head.

"Don't worry, I bought bandages while you were not online," Flower Queen said in a reassuring tone.

___

The forest glowed with green as they continued to head deeper into the forest.

The levels of the mobs grew higher as they headed towards the center.

There are Killer bees which were level 6 monsters.

The level 7 monsters were thorny bushes which could poison the user.

A small dinosaur named Compsognathus. They varied from level 8-9.

All the monsters were in a berserk state. They did not get any increase in their stats but they were prone to attacking anything or anyone they saw.

Something agitated the mobs. They had vacant eyes and would ram into trees or attack their fellow species.

Emile was alone right now. They split up to enter the center from different directions.

It would be challenging to sneak around the forest since the mobs were running around.

Emile saw a Compsognathus charge towards him. He moved out of the way in a swift manner and the mob ran right past him.

They couldn't detect him.

Emile used this to advance deeper into the forest. Every time a mob charged at his general vicinity he would move out of the way. He was vigilant; mobs that came close to him would identify the existence of Emile.

This lasted for 30 minutes. He arrived a clearing where there were no trees.

This place had verdant grass and gave off a sense of peace. The sun could be seen shining brightly. In the very middle of the forest lied a giant tower.

[Familiarity of Song Forest increased]

[15% increase in Vitality, 10% increase in Strength and 5% increase in Agility while in Song Forest]

[Permanent buff: All stats increase by 3 points]

Emile grew in all aspects of his stats. The luck stat never changed. He couldn't increase his luck stat using free attribute points. The familiarity buff got rid of the previous familiarity bonus.

The giant tower was the only man-made object in the clearing. Everything else was formed from nature.

He noticed that none of his party members were here yet.

Emile wanted to see what the tower offered. He walked around the tower to look for an entrance.

He found the entrance on the side of the tower.

At this moment he noticed that mobs were being escorted into the tower. A person captured them and brought inside the tower.

They got dragged inside in large cages.

Emile waited and contemplated what would occur to the mobs. After 5 minutes, the mobs left the tower.

The mobs were no longer in a cage. The mobs had the same vacant eyes as the others.

Emile concluded that the tower had affected the mobs.

[Story Quest: Discovering the Truth has been completed]

[Head back to the Chief to receive your rewards]

Emile wanted to investigate the tower, but he needed to get the quest before he could come back. Emile didn't worry about other player's making it this far since they were in level 8 and 9 territories.

Emile headed back after giving the tower a look of longing.