Amalgams
'Ohhhh!~ So he was an Arsenal.'
Arsenals are one of three different kinds of rare loot tables certain enemies will have. Monsters who have an Arsenal will drop only weapons or tools when killed. The other two are Armory (for armor/accessories) and Vault (for materials/skill books/etc.). One can be considered highly lucky for getting one, and they will usually have better things appear (like the two Iron rarity items).
I was lucky to get something I can use, though. The dual axes are great for me because that was what I (used to) mainly put in my secondary weapon slot. To explain what that is, you would need to know the way equipping weapons works in this game.
First off, any weapon can be dual wielded with another, same type or not. The reason people usually do that with one handed weapons (and sometimes normal swords) is how awkward it would be. Imagine trying to swing two top-heavy 100kg+ hammers around with any skill whatsoever. You'd look like a total clown.
Each weapon takes up a slot. However, you can either fuze together the weapons so they only take up one (it regrettably takes a lot of cash to reverse this at a blacksmith). The other way weapons are dual wielded other than the first two is for them to come connected already, like the [Tiger's Claws].
During a combat situation, you don't want to be in your inventory for obvious reasons. The pace of this game is too fast so anybody that wants to win, NPC or not, will take full advantage of your being unprepared. So, when you have another weapon you may want to switch to, it is good to have them in the secondary weapon slot for a quick change.
My sword can never be taken out, so if I want to be covert, I'll need a backup while I keep my sword in the RR.
Also, I can't be swinging around this massive thing against things that'll die in one swing of another weapon anyway if it doesn't increase the killing speed. My weapon is mainly meant for bosses and brainless hordes. Using other weapons will have to wait since the skills on it aren't "mine" yet… but that part will have to wait for when I go through my class change.
I equipped them, leaving the two green tipped ivory axes at my side and put the sword in my [Rage Room].
When I spun around to go start off towards the mountain range, I froze.
"FUCK!" I grabbed at my head to check if my hood was still up. It wasn't.
I dashed at the two figures with a speed that obviously surprised them.
"Wait! Wait! We're friendly!" pleaded a man of about 19's voice as I pressed the poison tipped axe against their skulls. I was just about to release a dual [Cleave and Crush] in my instant rage before I remembered that I had to talk with them.
"You… two...
*Grooaann~*" 'For a player at this game who freezes up just because I get spooked and let a bit of rage out [wasn't a little bit, kek] pose no threat to me.' "You'd better not tell anybody about this. Got it? I really, really don't want any of the eventual guilds of this area on my ass.
Ya'll are smart enough to know what they'd do to somebody who can kill one of these on their own, right?"
"..."
They weren't answering. "Well?"
"S-sorry. B-but, who are you? We've played all of the top VRMMOs and never heard of you. Could you be a martial artist or something?"
It was a girl, probably the dudes twin since they looked nearly identical. They both seemed to have called down, evident by their non-shaking. They're quite attractive with near perfect skin and nice facial features. Tall too.
"That... doesn't matter, all I need is your confirmation."
"... O-okay. We won't then." They said in unison.
"Good." I dashed off.
My memory, being cloudy as it still is, couldn't remember these two. Jack and Jane Ripper were what they were called (in game) and they were a famous duo party with ridiculous coordination and devastating killing power. The assassin and ranger duo were also near-impossible to catch in the late game with their ridiculous speed and powerful twin unique class called "Yin" and "Yang."
Many 4th floor and above guilds [1] wanted their heads because of the massacres they went on after being messed with. Even so, only those guilds members and their stupid allies went after them. Most of the other people stayed put either out of fear, intelligence, or respect for the twins.
Now, though, their path to greatness has been activated early with their decision against their better judgement to continue following this "secret expert".
~
About a hour of running later and I was at my destination. The West peak of Fury's Den is populated by the infamous [Amalgam]. I will be hunting in the Lv.10-15 zone near the bottom for the silver rarity [Frenzied Amalgam] armor set for swordsmen/warriors. Its main selling point is the AGI increase and the great set bonuses.
Two pieces give the [Twisted] effect, granting +10% of STR to AGI (no STR is lost). The third and fourth pieces just increase the effects 'til +25%. The last two pieces grant extra STR bonuses and push [Twisted] to a whopping +30%.
'There's the first one.' "Pheew~"
|[ Amalgam
Lv: 10
Type: Acolite
Rank: Elite
HP: 5,000
Status: Enraged ]|
This Amalgam was in a decent spot because of the tight space. These creatures are quite vile with their tall, lanky bodies reaching no less than 2.5m tall. All of their body is made up of different humanoid creatures; hobgoblins, trolls, orcs, imps, satyrs, etc. It doesn't matter where it comes from.
Mine had an ugly warped troll face with an indiscernible body. At the end of his two long, warped arms were nastily distorted hands that gradually turn into vicious and disgusting claws. I noticed a dangerous looking substance dripping from them and took a mental note not to get hit.
Knowing (I checked) that there were no other players anywhere close to me, I finally activated [Hellfury-flame Eyes] and focused them on the Amalgam. On top of that activated [Gale] which after it's level up gained 5% more to the movement speed buff.
*SLAMM!!!~~*
- 933 [Amalgam] stunned (2s)
No time was wasted in the two seconds it was stunned as I swiftly activated [Heavy Slash +] dealing 856 damage. After that swing I continued the momentum to hit a huge backhanded slash across its face, ruining it even more.
The Amalgam stumbled a bit before-
"*ROOARR!~*"
The thing came out of the stunned state with a vengeance, instantly swiping at my heart with all its weight. I let the attack slide along the side of the sword and drove another meaty strike at the Amalgam's ribcage. *Crack!~*
- 813
My strike sent it reeling a few steps. However, it barely even cared about pain since it charged right at me. I responded with charging as well.
Just before we traded blows, I bent over backwards with a back-breaking motion and drove the sword right into its achilles heels. This nearly upended the monster as it cracked its occipital bone on the rough ground.
This opened the opportunity for me to perform a lethal [Cleave and Crush]. I looked like an executioner beheading a death row prisoner. The scene was kind of pitiful… until you saw the face made by the Amalgam.
*BOOM!!~*
|[ You killed: Amalgam!
+ 743 EXP (underleveled bonus)
You have leveled up! +3 STP +1 STR ]|
The last strike ended it. The head of the Amalgam rolled off to the side as I bent down to pick up the copper that dropped. Along with that, there were some trash items that I didn't bother taking with me.
Right now, it seems my streak of perfect luck has run out. It wasn't all that bad, really. I won't be able to use the set until I reach Lv.10, so it would just take up space.
~
My killing continued with another 20 Amalgams, finally pushing me to the coveted level 10. With these kills came the pants, arms, gloves, and boots for the [Frenzied Amalgam] set.
Here's my status page:
|[ Status:
===
Name: Ire
Class: Warrior
Race: Halfling Demon (Human)
Title(s): N/A
Level: 8
Tier: 1
---
Status Point(s): 0
HP: 300
MP: 70
- STR: 62
- DEX: 18
- AGI: 51([Twisted] +16)
- END: 22
- INT: 8
---
Equipment Stats:
DEF: 37
- [Twisted] <★★>: Gain +25% of STR to AGI (no STR is lost). [+]
---
Equipment:
- Helmet: N/A
- Mask: N/A
- Neck: N/A
- Breast: N/A
- Arms: Frenzied Amalgam Arms |Silver|
+9 DEF
+5 AGI
+5 STR
- Gloves: Frenzied Amalgam Gloves |Silver|
+8 DEF
+6 AGI
+3 STR
- Leggings: Frenzied Amalgam Leggings |Silver|
+13 DEF
+8 AGI
+4 STR
- Boots: Frenzied Amalgam Boots |Silver|
+7 DEF
+7 AGI
+2 STR
- Accessory(s): N/A
- Cloak: Concealment Cloak
+N/A DEF
+10 AGI
---
Weapon(s):
Primary:
- [???]
+18 STR
+13 END
Secondary:
- [Tiger's Claws]
+4 STR
+2 DEX
---
Skill point(s): 0
Skill(s):
Racial:
- [Hellfury-flame Eyes] <★★★>: (Toggle) Gain infrared vision. Focusing on an enemy will give you +20% damage against them. This skill will evolve later on. [+]
- [Specialize]: (Toggle) Once every natural day, gain the ability to specialize in a skill, increasing EXP gain by 10%. [+]
Passive:
- [Hard Hitter (Lv.3| 31%)] <★★>: (Passive) Gain 12% extra damage and 7% less weight with all axe, hammer, and Great/Heavy Greatswords. [+]
Action:
- [Blindside (Lv.1)] <★★★>: (Action) With a single thought, teleport to the back of a selected enemy increasing damage by 10%. [+]
- [Cleave and Crush (Lv.2| 62%)] <★★>: (Action) Perform an overhead slash to deal 55% extra damage/slam to stun enemies in a 5m radius for 2s. [+]
- [Heavy Slash + (Lv.2| 49%)] <★★>: (Action) Perform a wide slash with a bladed weapon to deal 35% extra damage with an added [Bleed] effect lasting 4s. [+]
Toggle:
- [Gale (Lv.2| 47%)] <★★>: (Toggle) With a single thought, movement speed is increased by 20%, reduces weapon weight by 31% (only to yourself) and player weight by 31%. [+]
=== ]|
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[1] Guild "Floors": Guild floors are a ranking system made up many years back near the beginning of the rise in popularity of VRMMOs. 1st floor guilds normally are made up of a few friends, up to about 100 people until it changes category. 2nd floor guilds are the 100-5,000 player guilds. They normally are casual and are a way for newer players to get into easy dungeon parties of decent quality. 3rd floor guilds are where many of the up-and-coming guilds are. Their player counts vary, and are mostly ranked here due to them not having many experts. 4th floor guilds are guilds with at least more than 10,000 players with an internal government. These normally have armies and will participate in guild wars. 5th floor guilds are just a step up of this with many of their experts gaining access to real life training.. 6th floor guilds are where many of the peak experts are located. They usually have at least more than 100,000 players in their ranks, with the top ones not having less than 1,000,000 players and real life training for their experts (just a step up from the 5th floor guilds).
There is a special rank for guilds that comes in the form of Apex Predator guilds. These are the best of the best, regardless of player count. Any guild categorized as an Apex Predator is just that. No guild can mess with them unless they are prepared for a harsh downfall.