Borrowing A Hand

Once James saw that Beast, he started making calculations in his head. According to Terranova's forums, Monsters could be labeled in very stringent criteria and ranks. Monster could be labelled Normal, Elites, Kings and Emperor's. Each one of them was hard to kill, starting from the relatively easy Normal classses.

At this stage of the game, Normal classes weren't identified. Elites would get an Elite prefix in their names, and so would Kings and Emperor ranks. One could imagine the worth of the equipment dropped by the Fallen Moon-Wolf King, seeing as it was a King Beast and Level 5 at that.

James noticed that although "Psycothic Faith" had taken the Beast to almost half life by the time Marcus had died, that it looked like they were running at the monster suiciding themselves over and over. This was a cheaty strategy, since players were abusing the fact that they were level 0 to get away with dying over and over again.

As such, James started to formulate a strategy. One had to know that in most VRMMO's, the one who got the most Experience was the one who landed the killing blow on the monster, same with the loot. As such, getting a Kill-Steal on this Beast might mean that both James and Marcus could set themselves ahead than the rest of the competition, both in levels and equipment.

Most players were only level 1 or level 2 by now, and leveling became harder the higher one went. Killing a King level 5 Beast would yield copious amounts of experience and so, James was heavily tempted to try and steal that Field Boss.

The biggest problem was that although Marcus was able to get through "Psycothic Faith"'s road block, he still wasn't used to the game mechanics. Kill-stealing basically came to who managed to time their attacks correctly, dealing the last tick of damage and therefore killing the monster using the least amount of effort possible.

So, James gave up on having just Marcus infiltrate the enemy lines, and tried to come up with a way of getting either the road block, which was composed from "Psychotic Faith"'s players and lead by "Blinding Faith", the snobby Male Mage, leave their place on the road or to make them distracted enough that he was able to get through the road block.

Not letting much time go to waste, James and Marcus made haste to the surronding forest. The plan consisted basically on having Marcus "accidentaly" get caught trying to go through the road blockade, bumping into "Blinding Faith" on purpose and then making sure they followed him.

That would leave James with the task of getting through the perception of the few players that would get left behind watching over the road.

And, just as planned, once Marcus got near the blockade, he bumped against "Blinding Faith".

"Well, we almost let this little one pass through. If you were to leave now, were would our "Psychotic Faith"'s face be?" - asked the Mage.

Seeing that his name was "Blinding Faith", one could assume his position in the Guild was nothing short of high. And as such, once one is used to their high pedestal, seeing a supposed "noob" get through him would infuriate him.

"What are you boosted apes waiting for? I've already been standing here for as long as you. If you don't run after him just as I do, You can wait until I reunite the Faith Council this afternoon!" - the Mage berrated to his teammates.

The few Guild mates that were standing on the road block look at eachother, sighed and made their way after Marcus.

This meant that now, the road was clear for James to get into the grinding spot.

James felt bad, making Marcus being the sacrificial lamb. He has always been the one to stick up for me, if I fail him this time he might leave - was a thought that had always plagued James. Fortunately, that had always revealed to be false, which meant that James slowly got used to relying on Marcus.

I'll make it up this time, was what James thought. This time around, I'll be the one who's carrying both our bodies through the finish line.

When James finally got to the grinding spot where the Fallen Moon-Wolf King was at, its stats were already reading as such:

"Fallen Moon-Wolf King, level 5 Beast, Rare"

Hp: <542/50000>

Skill 1: "Vicious Bites" - deals 25 damage to players in a 3x3 meter cone and aplies a Bleeding De-buff of 3 damage per second, which stacks up to a cap of 5 stacks.

Skill 2 : "Mangle" - deals 40 damage to it's target. Reduce's Movement Speed for 35% for 5 seconds.

Ah, just in time, James thought. The Wolf King was fighting near its nest, meaning it was a pretty secluded area. Which also meant that sneaking up to the Beast was pretty easy. Had "Psychotic Faith" not blocked the road, this Beast would have been found out by a bigger and better guild.

Once James sneaked up, the Wolf King had little to no life left.

Well, this is it. All or nothing. Thought James as he rushed up to the Wolf King.He used the Basic ability every Warrior got, Stab.

Stab dealt (Strenght*2*Attack Damage) as Physical damage.

He stabbed the Wolf king for -8 damage.

<System Announcement>: Player "Blind Dreamcatcher" has slain the first King rank Monster. He will be awarded the "King Slayer" title and 1 Gold coin.