Signs of the Tide

By the time the sun was about to set, a man with a bloodied spear behind his back got out of Mak'aroni Forest with a slightly exhausted expression, carrying two wolf corpses on top of each shoulder.

Taking a look at the amount of time he had before the sun fully set, the man swiftly hastened his pace, pushing his body to what it could handle while carrying two corpses at once.

"Although all I want to do right now is to lie in bed and get some rest, it goes without saying that I've amassed a lot of XP during these past couple of hours," Valyr said to himself, letting out laughter as he ran across the wilderness with two corpses in tow.

After going through those two battles, which allowed him to roughly gauge his current strength, Valyr decided to take things down a notch and settled for lower-leveled monsters for the remaining time he was in the forest, lone Level 11 monsters being his weakest target. In the end, he had killed five monsters at Level 11, as well as five monsters at Level 12, increasing the amount of XP he had to a bit over 10,000.

"Then again, I probably wouldn't have finished that second battle with the wolves so quickly if I didn't utilize Vital and Brutal Hits," Valyr murmured, recalling the adrenaline-pumping fight he had with the wolves. Then, letting out a light sigh, he said, "In any case, I should increase my Critical Rate… and also probably upgrade my weapon, now that I think about it."

In any game that involved dealing damage, one would quickly become familiar with critical hits, or hits that dealt increased damage. In Greater Beyond, there were four types of critical hits, each dealing far more perverse damage than the previous.

The first type was the normal critical hit. Unlike other games, which indicated a 50% increase in damage when a hit like that landed, Greater Beyond's critical hit warranted a 100% increase in damage, the chances of which are reliant on a being's Critical Rate. Unsurprisingly, with the increase in stats and skills that increased Critical Rate, critical hits were a given in the later versions of Greater Beyond, with it becoming a hallmark for true experts.

As for the next three, these were not reliant on stats and skills. Instead, they were reliant on the opponent they were up with, the technique of the one attacking, and in the case of the final type…

A bit of luck.

The type that came after a critical hit was a Vital Hit, allowing one to deal thrice the damage their attacks originally would. For one to deal a Vital Hit, one would have to attack a part of the enemy that was of vital importance to their lives, hence the name. Vital Hits were generally denoted with two exclamation points instead of the one Critical Hits had, with the damage text becoming a shade of blood red.

After the Vital Hit was the Brutal Hit, a hit that allowed one to deal five times as much damage as their attacks would originally cause. Similar to the Vital Hit, a Brutal Hit relied upon attacking a part of the enemy that was vital to their lives. However, unlike a Vital Hit, a Brutal Hit would only occur if the attacker aimed for the most important vital part of the enemy. For enemies made out of flesh and blood, this would be the brain. For other beings, it largely depended on their structure. Nevertheless, these hits were denoted with three exclamation points, with the damage text taking on a shade of dark red.

Last but not least was the Fatal Hit, a hit that could only be triggered once a Brutal Hit also triggered a critical hit. At first, this requirement was misunderstood by many, thinking that they would be able to trigger Fatal Hits every time with a 100% Critical Rate. However, once they reached a level where they could guarantee critical hits with every attack they did, it was then did they realize how mistaken they were.

For a Brutal Hit to trigger a critical hit, the chances of doing so were a thousandth of the being's current critical hit. So, even though a player could easily achieve guaranteed critical hits in the later versions, they were still at the mercy of RNG if they wanted to get a Fatal Hit.

Though, if one did successfully land a Fatal Hit, they would have felt like they had hit the jackpot. After all, the damage of a Fatal Hit was twice as much as what a Brutal Hit could deal, allowing one to deal 10 times the damage they originally would. On top of that, it would be denoted by four exclamation points, with the color of the damage text being as dark as the abyss.

"We're finally here," murmured Valyr as he gazed at the village gate that stood before him, inwardly letting out a sigh of relief as there was still a few minutes before sunset. Taking in a deep breath, Valyr walked through the gates, only to be stopped by one of the village guards.

"Halt. State your business," the village guard told him.

Raising the two corpses above his shoulders for a bit, Valyr replied, "I'm here to sell the corpses I brought with me. Also, I'm planning to rest in this village for the night."

Hearing Valyr's words, the guard went silent for a bit, only to letting out a light sigh soon after. Nodding, the guard then said to him, "You may proceed, sir. However, please don't wander around the village in the night."

"I'll keep that in mind." With a nod, Valyr thanked the man as he walked deeper into the village, quickly noticing that the atmosphere surrounding it was somewhat tense. Although he was curious as to why, he decided to place the matter at the back of his head for now, prioritizing to drop off the corpses he carried and sell them for a bit of money.

Fortunately, it did not take long for him to find the village inn, staring at the three story building in front of him before heading in.

"And here I thought this village wouldn't be receiving any guests for quite some time. Welcome, welcome!" Just as he had entered the inn, a boisterous voice resounded from the far back of the inn, revealing the origin of the voice to come from a slightly plump man in his thirties. "I presume you're here to sell the carcasses you've brought with you?"

"Indeed." Valyr nodded. Placing the corpses he brought on the ground with a thud, he gazed at the man before him. "I was also wondering if I could stay here for the night."

"Oh, certainly. That is why the inn was built in the first place," the man grinned, only for it to be replaced by a solemn expression soon after. "However, by the time the first rays of the sun appear, you should return to where you came from, kind sir."

"And why is that?" Valyr asked, watching as a few people carried the carcasses he brought to the back of the inn.

"Haven't you heard? A monster tide is about to befall this village at any moment now," the man said, which finally answered the question Valyr had earlier regarding the tense atmosphere in the village.

"I see. I'll keep that in mind," Valyr said with a nod, thanking the man before him as the latter gave him 10 silver coins as payment for the carcasses. "Since I'll be staying here for the night, is it possible to know your name?"

"Call me Adrian, kind sir," Adrian said with a light chuckle. "Well, since you're the only customer of this inn for tonight, and because you've given us a great amount of meat to use, the inn shall whip up a dinner that shall satisfy your taste buds."

"Consider it the least the inn could do."