The Bronze Treasure Chest
After Stivi slashed down the vines and branches obstructing their path to the Treasure Chest, Samar reached inside and brought the Chest out.
The yellowish brown Chest, several times larger than any treasure chest he had seen so far, shimmered under the reddish glow of the sun's rays. It made him realize that this was a genuine Bronze Treasure Chest, two grades higher than the commonly found Wooden Treasure Chests!
"Hurry up and open it!" Stivi urged Samar with impatience as she rubbed her palms with greedy anticipation of the goodies inside.
Samar began to unlock the lock and a loading bar of 45 seconds appeared before them.
Usually, any chest merely required 30 seconds to unlock, but Samar had learned from experience that the longer the unlocking period, the more precious the treasures inside. So, seeing the unlocking period of 45 seconds raised his expectations.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1… The chest was finally ready to open. An intense red and black beam of light emerged as soon as the lid of the chest was lifted, dazzling the two of them. As soon as the light faded a little, Stivi reached into the chest to grab the items.
The very first items that Stivi pulled out were part of the Lv15 set for Weapon Specialists, Sanguine Scale Armor Set.
She had obtained the Arm Guards and the Greaves of the Set just a few hours ago after hunting the Sanguine Serpent, Volmi. Now, she had gotten her hands on the Helm and the Chestplate.
—-
Sanguine Helm
Grade: Black-Stone
Equip Requirements: Lv15
Defense: 14
Magic Def: 1.3%
+3 Vigor
+25 HP
[3-Piece Set Effect activated.]
—--
Sanguine Scale Chestplate
Grade: Black-Stone
Equip Requirements: Lv 15
Defense: 24
Magic Def: 3.7%
+3 Strength
+5 HP recovery/sec
[3-Piece Set Effect: Activated]
~ Bloodlust: Normal attacks deal 15% extra damage and skills have a higher chance of causing bleeding.
[5 - Piece Set Effect: Locked]
—--
Equipping just 4 pieces of the Sanguine Scale Set had made Stivi's stats comparable to those of Lv18 players. Her Defense had increased greatly, so much that she could act like a substitute tank in a pinch!
She had also activated the Bloodlust Set Effect, which sharpened Stivi's attacks as well.
Most importantly, it was a passive effect, which meant she had received a passive skill for free!
She had improved by leaps and bounds and yet, she had not even equipped the Boots and completed the set. Samar could only imagine how great her stats would be once she had completed the Set.
"Lucky Bitch!" Samar jokingly teased as Stivi showed off her newly acquired Set's effects.
His comment only caused her gloating smile to widen and she flexed her Set even more. He shook his head at her antics and reached out for the three skillbooks inside the chest. The moment he looked at their descriptions, he could not help but swear.
"Holy Shit! Which deity did you pray to this morning, Stivi?" Samar asked while sharing the description of the skillbook in his hands.
—-
Blade Dance (Passive)
~ Supports Blade Users in creating their original combo skills. The damage dealt by combos is progressively increased by 3% for every hit.
—-
This was no less than a divine skill for Weapon Specialists!
Weapon Specialists were only specialists in name in most of the VR games. They did not possess DPS as high as that of Mages or Archers and their defense was suboptimal compared to dedicated tanks.
Unless a Player was as overpowered as a protagonist of a munchkin novel, the usefulness of a Weapon Specialist was always lower than that of a dedicated defense or offense class in a Guild.
They were essentially all glow and no show; players looking cool but wallowing in mediocrity.
This was the case until the day the Guild Leader of the Dragon Slayers, 'Unfettered', discovered a way to create combo skills that fit the VR Games' parameters.
It was rumored that 'Unfettered' came from a lineage of Sword Practitioners and had practiced sword skills in real life. He tried to link his attacks in a way reminiscent of his family's swordsmanship and created the very first Combo Skill recognized by the system.
This secret was revealed before the world after he clinched the Destiny VR's Decadal Championship relying on his combos. Many others followed his lead and created their own combos, redeeming the reputation of the Weapon Specialist class.
Since then, the ability to create their own combo became the golden standard to distinguish between serious, skilled Weapon Specialists and subpar, glamor chasing Weapon Specialists.
Stivi had achieved her place in the Top Hundred Thousands by relying on her Triple Hit Combo but she had been unable to refine it any further. This had also stopped her from reaching a higher rank than her current 93,651st position on the Weapon Masters' Leaderboards.
Samar had watched her struggle for many years to find a way to improve her combos but to no avail. She had despaired and never given up and today she had found her chance.
This Blade Dance skill could help Stivi cover her deficiencies and refine her combo even further!
It was no wonder she became so emotional that tears flowed from her eyes.
Stivi pounced on the book in his hands and immediately learned the skill. She became so engrossed in experiencing the skill that she ignored the rest of the loot in the chest.
Samar looked at the two other skill books in his hands. They were also passive skills; One for Tankers and another was a skill suitable for all ranged classes.
—-
Unyielding Will (Passive)
~ Increases Defense by 5% for every Crit Hit endured.
—--
Precision (Passive)
~ Increases Accuracy by 20%. Critical Hit rate of Ranged attacks is increased by 10%.
—--
"What a great haul!" Samar exclaimed with joy as he quickly learned the skill Precision.
Although it was not as rare as Blade Dance, it was still a very precious skill. It was his first step in the journey of converting every normal attack into a critical hit.
Samar saved the Unyielding Will to submit to the Guild and checked the remaining items in the box.
There were five items left in the chest - A coin pouch containing Silver Coins, two Animal skin scrolls, and miscellaneous ores and materials.
Samar saved the best for the last and sorted through the rare ores and herbs in the treasure chest. None of them interested him but there might be someone in the Guild who might find a use for them.
Stivi had finished with her experimentation with Blade Dance. She walked over and divided the contents of the coin pouch, a total of 72 Silvers, into two parts.
Just like that Samar was richer by 36 Silvers, bringing his wealth to a total of 2 Gold and 7 Silver. He just needed 93 Silvers before he could once again enter the Ranger Hall's Library and learn all the skills he had picked before.
While Samar was lost in his fantasy, Stivi picked up one of the scrolls that emitted brownish red light from the treasure chest. Samar went to her side as she unfurled the scroll, curious to check out a Bronze-Copper grade scroll's contents.
—-
Blood Seed Tonic (Tier 1)
Learning Requirements: Herbalist (Adept)
Materials required: 1 Blood Seed, 2 Silver Petal Flowers, 4 Verdant Essence Drops.
~ Stimulates the Vital Energy in the body and increases physical stats by 50% for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes have passed, it weakens the body by 20% for 1 hour.
—-
Samar's eyes widened as soon as he finished reading the scroll.
It was actually a power boosting medicine! No wonder the scroll radiated such an intense glow.
Power Boosting items, commonly known as Berserk items, were incredibly rare and precious in every VR game. They could allow a lower tier player to fight across tiers, hence were essential in Boss Raids.
This potion could not have come at a more perfect timing. The Grandeur Guild was preparing for Dungeon raids soon. The Life Profession players nurtured by the Guild had already started searching far and wide for any possible way to increase the chance of raid's success.
At this time, if they submitted this Potion Recipe to the Guild, it would be an invaluable contribution to the Guild and they would receive GCP worth at least 50 Gold Coins!
The loot so far had already exceeded their expectations. Yet, there was still one Blood-Iron Grade scroll left in the Treasure Chest.
Stivi gingerly picked it up, her hands trembling with excitement and she carefully handled the scroll. It was a Blood-Iron Grade scroll after all!
As she unfurled it, her eyes widened and she yelled, "You lucky bastard! You have hit a jackpot!"
Then she handed the scroll to Samar.
—-
Forest Prowler Set Design (Bronze-Copper Grade)
Equip Requirements: Ranger Class
Craftsman Requirements: Leatherworker (Adept)
Materials: Shadow Weaver's Web threads, Forest Chameleon's Dermis, Eight-Wing Powder, Mimicking Mimosa Vine Extract.
-Forest Prowler's Hood
-Forest Prowler's Gloves
-Forest Prowler's Tunic
-Forest Prowler's Leggings
-Forest Prowler's Shoes
2-Piece Set Effect- Agility +4%
4-Piece Set Effect- Active Skill, Windstrider
5- Piece Set Effect - Passive Skill, Forest Prowler.
—-
This set design could not have come at a better time.
The Ram Shroud Set had served Samar well but it was after all a Level 5 Set. Its stats were just not enough to keep up with his new adversaries.
As for the materials required for the Set, all of them came from the Elite Monsters in the lv15-Lv18 map, Virident Forest, which happened to be their grinding destination for tomorrow.