Three Birds With One Stone
The forbidden forest went back to its serene state once more, devoid of the chaotic situation that Jin and his group was causing.
The carcass of the King Bushwolf lay quietly on the ground.
Jin inspected the notifications that appeared before him. In addition to reaching LV 20 and acquiring another 5 status points, the bonus 10 status points from the quest made him quite satisfied. Other than the stat points, King Bushwolf dropped something that caught Jin's attention. After killing thousands of creatures in the forest, Jin saw an item drop for the first time. Delighted by it, Jin hurriedly inspected the boss-drop.
…
[Item: King Bushwolf Royal Hide]
Item Class: Pseudo-Legendary
Type: Light Armor
Effect: Grants Forest Guardian Protection. Reduces damage taken by 5%. Has a chance (1%) to reduce incoming damage by 50%.
Requirement: LV 20+. Must have at least 20 points in STR.
An armor conjured from the pelt of the King Bushwolf. A trace of the forest guardian's life force still lurks within the feather-like hide, giving the wearer a sense of comfort.
STR +30
…
"I — It's awesome!" Jin immediately equipped the armor without hesitation. In an instant, a gray and green light armor was wrapped on Jin's body. The armor exuded a peculiar elegance similar to the King Bushwolf. It would seem that the armor kept the serene, yet dominant aura that King Bushwolf had. The light armor felt strangely alive.
Although the armor had an item class of 'pseudo-legendary', it was actually no less than that of a legendary item. In Dark Descent, legendary monsters do not spawn often, sometimes they do not spawn more than once: players call them unique monsters. Unique monsters, those that can only be taken down by a large party, are the only ones that drop true legendary items.
The King Bushwolf, on the other hand, could be "force spawned," meaning that it could be spawned more than once every time its spawning requirement is met. The ridiculous '20,000-monster - kill spawn' wouldn't sound too ridiculous if a large group of players joined hand in hand to complete it.
In order to balance things, instead of having a hidden boss class as legendary, they are changed into pseudo-legendary. Ironically, pseudo-legendary bosses are often times stronger than legendary monsters. However, their drops are harder to get and are rarely any good. This meant that Jin hit the jackpot when he acquired a pseudo-legendary item.
In addition to acquiring items through boss drops, there are other methods for manufacturing legendary items such as forging and crafting, although these methods are exclusive to specific in-game job classes, which are, more often than not, just as rare as encountering unique monsters.
...
"Let's head back, Meldor, we're done here," Jin instructed, a wide smile painted on his face. It was apparent that he was satisfied; it felt like he killed three birds with one stone— Slewing the King Bushwolf, reaching LV 20, completing a quest, and in addition: a new skill from leveling and a new item from the drop came along with all of it.
Meldor replied with a slight nod, the others followed.
---
New Skill Unlocked! (LV 20)
𐣿 Soul Assumption-Soul Conjuration (Demonic Necromancy LV 1— Upgradable at LV 50)
Extract defeated monsters' soul essence and command them at will.
Assumption Mana Cost: 10 MP for all units
Conjuration Mana Cost: 1 MP/sec for all units
LV 1— Monster level must be on or below LV 50. The number of monsters must not exceed 50 units, and must not exceed a total of 100 levels.
LV 2— Monster level must be on or below LV 100. The number of monsters must not exceed 100 units, and must not exceed a total of 1000 levels. (Unlocks at LV 50)
LV 3— No monster level limit. The number of monsters must not exceed 1000 units, and must not exceed a total of 100,000 levels. (Unlocks at LV 100)
---
A phantom image of a wolf floated above Jin, taking the place of Seyna, now tightly wrapped in a robust piece of cloth, strapped behind Jin's back. The specter wolf followed Jin around as if it were some sort of pet. Meldor took a glimpse at the wolf and said, "I never knew you were the type to practice demonic necromancy; because you don't look like one. Hmmm, what a peculiar preference… A demon king practicing necromancy."
Meldor nodded several times as if he was confirming something internally. He then added, "Well, I'm not really against it. It's just that… it is my first time seeing a demon prefer this type of hell sorcery." Meldor, looking at the specter wolf once more, confirmed that it was indeed a product of what he knows as demonic necromancy.
"Is this hell sorcery!?" Jin, who listened closely to Meldor's opinion, was surprised when he heard that the skill he acquired at LV 20 was, in fact, hell sorcery. As if there was a hidden resentment between him and not learning any demon magic; Jin felt that finally learning at least one type of hell sorcery was an unprecedented victory worthy of celebrating.
...
HP: 7,000
MP: 10… 9… 8...
Fatigue: 5
...
STR: 35 (+30) --- INT: 0
AGI: 50 --- DEX: 25
VIT: 0 --- LUK: 10
Stat Points: 30 (Base) + 100 (Levels) + 10 (Bonus). 20/140 Total.
…
At a glance, one could say that the LV 20 skill Jin acquired was quite overpowered. Being able to summon a duplicate of the King Bushwolf was quite a terrifying skill, but the fact that it eats up one mana point per second made it impossible for Jin to even conjure the King Bushwolf for a minute.
Not having a single point in INT made things worse; not being able to regenerate any MP while using it would obviously drain the meter extremely quickly, on top of that, it takes ten mana points just to extract one soul— a lot for Jin, who only has 50 MP in total.
The phantom image of the King Bushwolf gradually disappeared as Jin's MP got drained.
'Should I just spend my stat points for the additional INT?' Jin thought. If he were to spend all 20 of his available stat point, his MP would ultimately reach 250 at full, which means that he'd be able to conjure the King Bushwolf for over four minutes.
Jin weighed the advantages and disadvantages altogether and decided that it was not yet the right time to spend any status points. As for the Soul Conjuration skill, he couldn't think of a way to incorporate it into any of his styles and ways of "fighting". At least for now, having a few extra minutes wouldn't change anything drastically either.
…
The Priyan Kingdom looked better than ever before. Everything was tidied to a point where no one would notice that there was a wreck only a day ago. Once again, Jin's good mood is elated. The Balks did a great job in finishing the cleaning work within a day, but the Doriens and Heaths who worked together to complete hard and taxing work such as reconstruction should be given the credit for a job well done.
"It would be a pity to live in your kingdom without us contributing anything. I hope hard work is enough for us to live here, haha." Meldor kidded, his big and yellow trollic nose jiggled, as he patted Jin. "Now that we have ensured that everything around this kingdom is as peaceful as you wanted, I hope we could have a share of the lands outside this walled city. We're not picky, but we still prefer to live freely rather than in concrete restrictions." Meldor added suddenly.
Jin nodded in reply, "Of course, that is what we agreed upon before venturing the forest."
---
Seymus City, Altrius Continent (Fourth Server)
An irritated look appeared on Lang's face, "Why were we even sent here early? That idiot guild leader! Why did he not inform anyone that it would still be days before the area opens? It's a waste of time! On the third server, I could have grinded a few more levels!"
Suddenly, a blade flew out of Lang's hand in frustration, accidentally flying to one of his team members. If it wasn't for the fact that this very member was someone who was an adept assassin, Lang could have PK'ed another of his guildmate. The player avoided the blade just in time for it not to cause anything serious, only enough to deal a single digit of damage.
"Hmph, I guess there are some in this group who aren't trash ... Blah, screw this waiting nonsense, let's just go to that stupid S - area, I've got a plan." Lang, still irritated by the fact that he still has to wait three more days, was too impatient to just chill out, and instead went to the restricted S - rank area — the Priyan Kingdom.