More Than Just a Retrieval
[18:32]
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[YOU REACHED LEVEL 6]
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My arrows flew through the air with a magical swish piercing through multiple goblins at a time. Their blood and guts spilled on the once pristine green grass as the arrows pinned them against the treeline.
One after another, the goblins emerged from a nest within a dark cave. I hid along the opposite side of the treeline perpendicular to the cave and shot them as they came out. They seemed to be no end of them.
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[YOU REACHED LEVEL 7]
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As I was shooting so many goblins with my Potentia Shortbow +5, I often ran low on arrows. However, I was able to craft makeshift arrows using wood branches and stones from the environment around me. There was essentially an infinite number of arrows around me.
The treeline where the goblins were pinned against piled up with corpses until the game eventually cleanses the environment of their bodies. The blood-red stains on the trees, grass, and shrubs remained, however.
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[YOU REACHED LEVEL 8]
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I began to lose track of time as I was mindlessly shooting goblins like it was target practice at a shooting range. Since I got to this spot, I've leveled up several times. Despite that, I haven't put in any skill points yet as I was already killing them in one shot.
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[YOU REACHED LEVEL 9]
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The experience gained from these goblins began to slow down as I reached level 9.
Finally, I decided to leave the hunting ground after collecting the loot from the goblins and retreated to a camp that I made in an opening within the forest. It was pitch dark by now. The only sources of light were the numerous colorful lights coming from the stars above me and the faint glow of fireflies and fairies that dance along the campfire. I placed my bow to my side and sat down beside the fire.
I thought to myself about what has happened thus far. Aside from the minor exploitation that Nightingale discovered, there weren't too many game-breaking systems that seem to take me out of the immersion of Mythos. The developers really hit the mark of a truly next-generation experience.
In my reflection, I remembered to spend the skill points from the 4 levels I gained. I put in 1 point into [Retrieval] as I haven't tried it out yet. This intermediate skill tree had 5 levels per skill and the effectiveness of the skill increased with each level as denoted by the slash - the typical formatting from other games I've played before.
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[Savant Skill Tree]
[Swift Strike LEVEL: 1/5] - Dash a short distance forward and attack enemies with your equipped weapon with 110%/150%/190%/230%/300% of your attack power.
[Retrieval LEVEL: 1/5] - While your equipped weapon is not currently held by you, call the weapon back to your hand so long as it's within 3/7/12/18/25 meters of you.
[Efficiency LEVEL: 1/5] - When consuming a resource or ammunition, there is a 15%/20%/25%/30%/35% chance that the cost will be refunded back to you.
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After putting in my skill point, I checked my inventory and equipment as there was likely a durability rating. Unsurprisingly, there was a durability system but it decreases rather slowly. The durability of my armor is still 100% as I haven't been hit by a single goblin yet. I've been keeping my distance and shooting goblins with more shortbow and dodging backward if they got too close. On the other hand, my bow was at 95% durability.
Without realizing it at the time, I accidentally equipped my stack of arrows in one of my equipment slots while fumbling around with my gear.
I picked up my shortbow and quiver and immediately tossed it aside a short distance from me. I focused my eyes on the shortbow envisioning it coming to me and pointed at it with my index finger.
[Retrieval]
A small purple magic circle about 5 centimeters in diameter appeared right in front of my finger and the shortbow flew straight into the grip of my hands.
Instinctively, I had to try it out on the quiver and arrows as well. To my surprise, it worked! However, only a single arrow was floating in the space between the arrow and myself. I inspected my equipment once again and found the accidentally equipped stack of arrows in one of my equipment slots.
"This could be useful..." I murmured while canceling [Retrieval] dropping the arrow on the dirt floor.
I put the remaining 3 skill points into [Retrieval] and continued to experiment with my new skill deep into the starry night.
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[Character Page]
[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 9 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: Manufacturing]
[Attributes]
Strength: 15 | Agility: 15 | Intelligence: 15
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[Savant Skill Tree]
[Swift Strike LEVEL: 1/5] - Dash a short distance forward and attack enemies with your equipped weapon with 110%/150%/190%/230%/300% of your attack power.
[Retrieval LEVEL: 4/5] - While your equipped weapon is not currently held by you, call the weapon back to your hand so long as it's within 3/7/12/18/25 meters of you.
[Efficiency LEVEL: 1/5] - When consuming a resource or ammunition, there is a 15%/20%/25%/30%/35% chance that the cost will be refunded back to you.
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+++++++++++++
[06:37]
I opened my eyes to find my hand in front of me with my shortbow resting beside me. The campfire was extinguished and I was greeted with the morning chirps of the birds flying in the cloudless sky above me.
I must have fallen asleep after using all my energy experimenting with [Retrieval] and a full day of training. I never thought about the passage of time too clearly until now.
"How long has it been since I started playing?" I thought to myself.
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[08:31]
I brought my haul of loot back to Levendale, rented a room in the guild hall, and loosened the strap off my Zero VR device for a moment to reveal part of the real world in the upper half of my vision.
A prompt appeared.
[Mythos Online: Disconnecting in 10 seconds...]
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Shin scanned the computer screen in front of him and noticed the Mythos game launcher had a large timer with "15 hours" in orange font color. The clock on the computer read [10:32]
[Mythos Online: Disconnecting in 7 seconds...]
Shin put the device back on
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I didn't realize how hungry I was until now. One last errand before I take a break from the game. I paced down the wooden stairs of the guild hall finding the bar was as lively as ever. These guys were drinking alcohol at 8 in the morning. I guess I can't judge them considering I've been playing online for the past 17 hours more or less.
With my shortbow across my back and dagger to my side, I made my way down to the NPC merchant street and sold the miscellaneous loot like goblin loincloths and dull goblin daggers as a small recharge to my silver pouch. I also obtained 10 amber lustres from the goblins as natural drops. I kept these as I could foresee myself using them for any rare equipment I find in the future.
My vision became slightly hazy as I sluggishly walked back to my room in the guild hall. This must have been an effect of dehydration or hunger I thought. My first reaction was to immediately take off the device and take care of my real body but I needed to try something first.
I took a drink from a glass of water resting on my bed shelf to see if it had any effect on how my body perceived thirst. I felt refreshed, but my vision was still as hazy as before.
I came to the conclusion that drinking and eating would affect my immediate feelings and thirst and hunger but obviously won't resolve the need to eat or drink in real life.
With this newfound information, I took off my headset to make myself breakfast.