Zach had no idea how he did it. But without having to rely on any of his yellow stones, he made it to within one mile of the question mark—and it wasn't even noon yet. The ti, as it stood, read 11:51, as indicated by his map, which he currently had open. His mage robes were soaked. Just drenched with sweat. His face, body, and hair were a ss. He probably slled worse than a sewer. But he made it. Gods, he made it.
Walking up a slight elevation, he watched as the question mark disappeared and was replaced by the words: "Marching Respite." Additionally, the color on the top left changed from a red to a grey. This, he found very interesting, as he'd been wondering exactly what these so-called "grey areas" entailed.
Despite having tried their best to explain it to him, the villagers really hadn't drilled down into the exact specifics of what they ant when they said it was "sowhat" dangerous, but "sowhat not," even calling it "neutral" at one point. They'd claid these areas had white-nad NPCs—what they called non-bio, non-thinkers—and mobs. But they hadn't really given him an idea of proportion. But now, as he made his way into the tiny little area, he finally understood exactly what it ant to be a "grey."
Ahead of him was a small village, one that was actually slightly smaller than the last one had been. It consisted of just three white-nad NPCs, two very small, cabin-sized hos made of wood and thatch, and a shed with a garage door. The only other structure was a store-like kiosk made of wood, and now, as Zach approached, he realized that there was a fourth NPC standing behind this kiosk, likely offering items for sale.
So that's why it's a grey area, he thought.
Mixed in with these NPCs, completely ignored, were three ink-black-colored, cat-sized scorpion mobs that were sort of just "roaming" around. They were a bit of a distance away from one another, yet they moved in seemingly random directions, intersecting only occasionally. They had no interaction whatsoever with the NPCs, even when they ca so close to them that they nearly bumped into one another. However, the fact that their nas were red strongly implied that they would attack Zach as soon as he ca within aggro range.
I totally get it now.
It was a village of non-threatening NPCs, but with a couple of threats present. Thus, a grey area. Made perfect sense now. As far as how this would translate in the context of a city street? Zach couldn't even begin to imagine. He was still unsure how the whole "city thing" would work. But at least out here in the desert, it now made perfect sense.
I need to get to that store. I'm starving and dying of thirst.
Zach continued to walk until, at long last, the sand beneath his feet turned to stone. And Gods, it felt so good to walk on perfectly solid ground. Unbelievably so. Yet, before he could co any closer, he realized he was going to need to deal with the three scorpions.
HP
1,150,000/1,150,000
Na
Scorpox A
Level
76
Zach decided to start with the one closest to the east end of the extrely small "village," if one could even call this place a village. Hell, you could barely call it an outpost. Regardless, he had bet his life on this area, and so, despite his exhaustion, he needed to fight on. But he was in bad shape. He was well past the point of exhaustion. Attempting to cast a spell right now might just kill him.
He needed at least a little "boost."
Opening his inventory, he selected "box 1," and it popped up into the air before him. From within, he noticed he still had two small and two dium stamina potions. But this ti, rather than throw a small potion into his inventory and use it, he decided he wanted to drink the damn thing himself, even if it was unnecessary. He didn't care if it was purely psychological or not. He didn't care if "using" it would have the sa effect. He didn't even care whether or not the potion actually hydrated or just "felt" like it was. Either way, he was chugging it. No one was taking that away from him right now.
Appearing in his hands, he popped the wooden cork, raised it to his lips, and gulped the entire thing down so fast he almost coughed up a bit.
That's 30% of my stamina back, he thought. Feels like it even helped my thirst a bit.
Zach was still run-down and fatigued, but not to the point where he couldn't pop off a few shots of Ice Spear III, which he was fairly sure would be able to kill these mobs in one cast, as he hit incredibly hard with magic. Actually, now that he really thought about it, it was quickly becoming evident to him that his intelligence stat was starting to "run away" from his strength. It was almost as though he was ant to be a mage, because as he leveled, his int was clearly scaling higher than his str.
But this, he could not accept. He had a gift with swords: a true affinity for them. He was at his most comfortable when fighting with a blade. He wasn't about to give that up—at least not permanently. But for now, in this heat, he just couldn't do it. And also, these mobs were too dangerous for him to let them co anywhere near him without a Resurrection Totem.
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Moving a few steps closer, Zach waited five full minutes before sheer chance caused all three scorpions to move close enough to one another. And then, with an audible groan, he activated Amplifying Surge, which, in this heat, was just such a miserable experience.
And it was only a Moderate ability. Ice Spear III was Moderate-High. Or dium-High. Zach had seen it written both ways depending on whether or not he was using the "screens" or the "shoulder taps." He supposed those words were interchangeable. Either way, it was not going to be pleasant.
With sweat rolling down the sides of his face, he lifted his rapier, pointed the frosted blade forward, and debuffed Scorpox A by activating the ability on his Frozen Blade of the Mystics. Imdiately after, he activated Ice Spear III, and now, the mont after he shouted out, "Val en Fraust Spir," he couldn't help but fall to his knees and begin panting with desperate, painful heaves.
"Ahhh, shit. Shit. Whew. Wow."
The heat just made everything so much worse.
Ahead of him, nine spears made of pure ice appeared, with three surrounding each of the Scorpox. The attacks then all converged, dealing a moderate amount of physical damage before exploding and doing a great, great deal more magical damage. But the damage done to Scorpox A was roughly double that done to the others, and so despite blowing off a few legs and a pincer, Scorpox B and C narrowly survived.
344,211xp
HP
224,175/1,150,000
Na
Scorpox B
Level
76
HP
321,114/1,150,000
Na
Scorpox C
Level
76
Standing back up, Zach weakly lifted his arm as the two remaining Scorpox hobbled over to him, each leaving behind a dark-blue-colored trail of blood. Even missing a few legs, they made straight for him.
Zach gritted his teeth, shook his head, and then groaned in pain as he activated Amplifying Surge. Yet before he could even give himself ti to really feel the strain and agony of the exertion cost, he forced himself to cast Fla Arrow II.
"Val En Flamir Arr!" he shouted out, his voice pained. Now, six arrows erged from six rings of fire, and they sailed two per mob towards Scorpox B and Scorpox C.
Wait...six?
171,445
202,316
344,211xp
152,111
186,761
344,211xp
"Ahh, Gods dammit!" he cried, exhausted. "Aww, hell. Aww, man, that really—"
Zach gasped. Oh no. Oh no!
OH NO OH NO OH NO!
119,662
155,551
HP
3,724,787/4,000,000
Na
Matios the Engineer
Level
95
"You'll pay for that!"
Zach, barely able to walk, sohow managed to throw himself backwards onto the stone-paved ground as an arrow sailed right through the air where his face had been. Right now, four NPCs, all who had previously had white nas, were charging at him with red nas. And all because his Amplifying Surge had sohow targeted one of them for being a bit too close to the Scorpox. Zach didn't know that could happen! Usually, NPCs that weren't threatening had green nas, and that kind of thing wouldn't…
Oh, shit!
The NPC, Matios, was completely on fire. His shirt, leggings, and body were up in flas, but he was mostly unhard. He held a wrench in one hand and a hamr in the other. The other three with him, however, had various weapons, with the shopkeeper wielding a bow. And Zach, paralyzed from exhaustion, had no choice but to force his body to respond to his brain's commands.
Even as it felt like it was killing him to do so, he sohow got up into a standing position, sheathed his rapier, and then he turned around and fled. A few steps later, he was back on the sand, and now, he was doing the one thing he knew he shouldn't: running at full-speed in 170-degree weather over sand.
"I'm sorry!" he shouted as he made a lurch to the side in order to avoid another arrow from the shopkeeper. Up ahead, he saw a sight that made him wince and moan all at once: a bunch of those damn, pellet-spitting snakes approaching fast. Yet a mont before Zach darted into their aggro range, he saw the NPCs halt, turn around, and begin running back to their little village-outpost-whatever. Their nas, thankfully, reverted to white.
Out of breath, boiling hot, and lacking any idea of how his body hadn't failed on him, Zach half-limped, half-walked back to the outpost village, and cautiously, he took one step onto the stone pavent. Then another. Then another after that.
No aggro.
On the verge of collapse, he found the strength to walk over to where the two tiny little cabins and the shed awaited him, each with an NPC standing out front. The NPCs all had exclamation points above their heads: quests. But before dealing with them, Zach, while drenched in sweat, made a sharp right and practically fell into the kiosk where soone nad "Shopkeeper Kjaron" stared back at him.
"Hello, adventurer. Care to browse my wares?"
"Y-yes," Zach panted, his elbows draping over the kiosk, as it was the only way he could remain standing as he panted.
"Because you are a new custor, I'd like to offer you a special gift."
Gained 8 Survival dallions
Item
Quantity (Per Custor)
Price
Bottled Water, Cold
N/A
8 Survival dallions
Sandwich, Turkey, Cheese, Mayo
N/A
4 Survival dallions
Sandwich, Ham, Cheese, Mayo
N/A
4 Survival dallions
Mayo Packet
N/A
1 Survival dallion
Mustard Packet
N/A
1 Survival dallion
Coke
N/A
12 Survival dallions
Pepsi
N/A
6 Survival dallions (not as good)
Body Launcher Ticket (400 miles)
1
20 Survival dallions
Zach froze for a mont. His eyes locked onto the choices. Then he swiveled his head and looked at the NPCs with the exclamation points. Then he looked back at the items. Then he looked back at the others NPCs. Then he moaned. "Fuuuuuck!"
He bought a water.
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