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HC: Pacifist | Ch. 222 - Blur
🕑 Added 2024-02-19 18:48:59 +0000 UTC“What are you going to spend your points on, Wes?” Walter asked as the group kept heading west. His attention was split between the list of rewards from the event store and the beautiful view. It was almost noon, but the lush trees on both sides provided shade and gave the brick road a summer feel, a nice respite from the weather in the real world. It had been raining all week.
“I don’t know. I don’t have enough to buy a silver alien set. I will probably settle with a bronze set, buy XP, and gain a level. You?”
“I think I’ll get a skill instead,” answered Walter. “[Xenoburst] looks cool. I have nothing like that in my skill set.”
Will had settled on a new ring a few minutes earlier, so his mind was elsewhere. “Wes, are you sure this quest was the right decision?” Will asked. “Is this the right family for us?”
“I’ve done my research, Walter. This is a golden opportunity to build rapport with the Broccolis. All the old families were terminated after the event, leaving many voids to fill. This kind of opportunity won’t come again,” Wesley answered resolutely.
“Done!” shouted Walter triumphantly, interrupting Wesley. “Check this out, guys!”
Xenoburst (Uncommon)
Your frail human form can not hold the power of the parasitoids, but you forcefully use it anyway.
Effects:
Sacrifice 100 hp to gain +15% damage for a minute.
Cooldown. One hour.
“This will be great to finish up bosses,” he said proudly. Now that Walter, too, had finished spending the event points, he turned his attention toward their current mission. “Are we near the outpost?” he asked as he petted his wolf pup. It was still too fragile to help them hunt, but just a few more levels, and it would assist them in battle, increasing their DPS.
“We just need to follow the road. 30 minutes, and we’ll get there. After we get to the ridge, we-”
Suddenly, a streak of light passed right by them, kicking up dust and leaving behind the frozen group of friends. After a few moments, Walter spoke. “What was that? Was that a wild boss?”
“I think it was a player,” explained Wesley. He was the only one in the group who’d unlocked perception and had the keenest eyesight.
“A-a player? That fast?” asked Will, stupefied.
“It’s probably someone high-leveled and with a fast ride. A full-dexterity rogue, maybe?” hypothesized Walter.
“But it was all a blur. How can someone be that fast?” Will pressed. That was the fastest he had seen anyone move in the game.
“He probably saw the three of us from a distance and activated several speed-boosting skills just to impress us,” explained Wesley after some thought. “Just leave it. In a few more months, we’ll be just as fast.”
*
Roth felt as if he were flying. He had never been a slow player, with a base movement speed of a little over 160%. After obtaining his white mare, Lua, he had a bonus of 110% movement speed when riding her, bringing that up to 270%. The road’s speed bonus brought the figure up to 280%. However, after unlocking the second tier of light affinity, he gained an incredible skill that made him even faster.
Speed of Light (Stat Bonus)
Bonus description: Your step is light, and the sun energizes you to run unhindered.
Bonus effects:
+300% movement speed in daylight.
The sun was at its zenith, and he could utilize this boost, traveling at 580% movement speed. Once his racial skills came off cooldown, and he could change into [Ratan Form] and stack all these speed bonuses, he was sure no one could catch up to him.
After galloping on Lua, he finally unlocked a title he had seen in Pegasus’ database back when he had been trapped in Mario’s lab.
Speedster (Uncommon)
Title description: You’ve become one with the wind and can run at incredible speeds.
Title effects:
+10% movement speed;
Every speed-boosting active skill gains an additional 20% movement speed bonus.
Conditions to unlock [Speedster]:
Complete relevant quest;
or travel at 400% movement speed or higher.
Roth had a series of titles under his belt related to athletic accomplishments. There was [Marathonist], [Swimmer], [Alpinist], and [Jumper]. All of them had been unlocked by persisting in practicing an activity exhaustively.
Marathonist (Common)
Title description: After running great distances, your training has made you more robust and durable.
Title effects: You can run longer without getting tired.
Conditions to unlock [Marathonist]:
Run 500 km in under three days;
or run 1,000,000 km.
[Marathonist], the first common title he had unlocked, required him to run 500 km in under three days or, alternatively, 1,000,000 km. However, after obtaining the Pegasus library, Roth had discovered another series of titles related to athletic achievements. These focused not on endurance but on surpassing certain thresholds.
In this case, if he ran fast enough, he’d have unlocked [Speedster]. If he swam really fast, jumped incredibly high, or performed other noteworthy achievements, he could get his hands on more athletic titles! This made him even faster, allowing him to reach the border between Green Country and Rock Canyon in record time.
He had left the Green Woods two hours ago, and he had already left Greensburg behind him. A trip that had originally taken him half a day could now be finished in a few hours. He was starting to pick up signs that he was on the edge of Green Country. For the first time in two hours, the landscape began to change.
So far, a towering tree line had been on both sides of the road. The branches of the trees were long and lush, forming the illusion he was traveling in tunnels through the forest. The trees and branches were like walls that hid the maps and dungeons of the Green Country region behind brown wood and green leaves. Now, the trees were becoming sparser, and he was getting small glimpses of his surroundings. The plain road had also gained some inclination, costing Roth some of his speed as he had to ride uphill.
Eventually, the dwindling number of trees finally allowed him an unobstructed view of his destination. Massive mountains stretching into the sky and disappearing into the clouds filled the horizon. He had arrived at the border between Green Country and Rock Canyon.
From what he had read in the forums, moving between different world regions always involved traversing challenging terrains, such as a mountain, an abyss, a swamp, or something similar. The developers hadn’t made traveling between regions something that beginners could easily pull off. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too difficult for someone of his level to make the crossing.
Roth kept galloping, making use of the daylight, but eventually, the brick road came to an end.
You've left the well-built road and lost [Swift].
-10% speed.
You’re traveling on a craggy mountain trail. You’ve been afflicted with [Tripping].
-20% speed.
As Lua entered the rocky trail, he lost 30% movement speed but quickly got used to the reduced speed. From here on out, roads would be less comfortable. At first, the trail was just a poorer version of the brick road he had gotten used to. There were fewer trees on both sides, and the traveling speed was slightly reduced, but it was still comfortable.
However, as Lua proceeded along the dirt and gravel road, he started to gain altitude. Trees became even scarcer, and some stretches of road had perilous cliff edges. He had no choice but to dismount Lua. He would travel on foot from here. If he fell off the cliff, it would hurt immensely, and he would have to get back here from the nearest graveyard.
Closer to the ground, some of his vertigo subsided, and he settled on a slow jog through the trail. Lin curiously kept his head off Roth’s collar and glanced down at the cliff, showing no fear whatsoever of falling.
The mountain was of dark stone. Now that he was moving slower, he noticed how the mountainside was riddled with holes. Curious, he approached one of them, squatting to figure out what had caused them.
As he leaned in, he spotted two bright eyes and heard a rattle. Recognizing the animal, he stretched into the hole, and feeling the cold, scaly texture tie itself around his arm, he pulled it, revealing a beautiful snake. It had diamond-shaped patterns of varying shades of brown, which helped it disguise itself against the mountain.
“Greetingsss, Martyr.”
“Hello!” he said happily as he inspected his new friend.
Sylvia, the Diamondback Rattlesnake
Lvl. 31
Hp: 300
Ep: 600
[Bite]; [Venomous Fang]; [Cobra Slither]; [Camouflage].
“Why do you sssmell like a cat?”
As if to answer her question, Lin popped his head out. Sylvia rattled her tail for a few moments, her coil around Roth’s arm tightening, as she kept looking back and forth between Roth and Lin. “It’s my pet. His name’s Lin.”
“I sssee.”
“I came all the way from Hilsford. I’m a friend of Solomon’s,” spoke Roth, making conversation.
“Sssolomon? A good sssenator, he isss. Or ussed to be. What bringsss you to the Cloudy Mountainsss?”
“I’m on my way to Saphira,” explained Roth.
“A perilousss journey,” the rattlesnake warned.
“What animals can I expect to find?” asked Roth, trying to determine what dangers awaited him?
“Dependsss on which path you take.”
“What about this path?”
“Just usss… Or the occasional eagle.”
“What do you hunt out here?”
The snake hesitated, but after a few moments answered, “Humansss.”
Roth gulped nervously. “I see.”
“Not you, of course,” hurriedly added Sylvia.
“I get it. I get it. Well, I just wanted to say hi.”
“Aren’t you sssweet?”
You get to meet more and more snakes as you travel the world.
+21 reputation with snakes.
Roth brought his hand up to the hole where Sylvia had been hiding for her to go back to, and knowing that the road only had snakes, he relaxed, and continued his worry-free journey.
Even though the road was perilous, the view was amazing. Looking back at the road that had brought him here, he saw a never-ending sea of green. Green Country, the region where he had lived in the first months of gameplay in AstroTerra.
Just how many races lived in those trees? How many secrets lay hidden? Shaking his head, Roth refocused his mind on the mountain path. There were just as many secrets to unearth where he was going, and, honestly, he was excited with the change of scenery. Now that he could see where he was heading, most of the gloom of having to leave his base of operations was replaced with excitement at the prospect of new adventures.
Roth kept climbing, and the weather changed. The eternal spring he had gotten used to in Green Country gave way to a mist and chilling wind. Roth, now far enough from the Green Woods and certain he wasn’t being followed, changed into his Forest Lambswool set and felt the warm comfort of wool shield him from the biting cold. He didn't know if he had climbed high enough to come into the clouds or whether the floating white castles had been forced down when met with the high mountains and were meeting him halfway.
From having the mountain on one side and cliffs and clouds on the other, the road turned inward into the mountain and downward. Instead of having gravity as his enemy, now it was an ally, helping him travel at an increased speed. Seeing how he didn’t have any falling hazards on either side of the road, he called Lua again.
Summon!
The horse appeared from behind him, and mounting her again, he resumed at a faster pace. The road became hilly with a series of ups and downs, but after a few minutes, Roth’s enhanced vision still revealed a collection of buildings ahead despite the misty weather. It was a town in the mountains.
The road passed right through it, and Roth, curious, slowed from a gallop to a slower trot to admire this new place. The first thing that struck him was the architecture. Whereas in Green Country, buildings often had pots with flowers or vine trees climbing the walls and patches of moss growing between the cobblestones or bricks, linking the constructs with the surrounding nature, here roads were of dry, lifeless dirt. The bold and sharp angles in the buildings were designed to create distance between the mountain and man. The double wooden doors in every building gave this town a Wild West feel.
He saw several people walking around town, NPCs, and players. The NPCs wore overalls and were covered in soot with blackened faces and hands. They carried pickaxes over their shoulders and helmets in their hands. Several players in different outfits completely ignored him and his horse as they went about their business.
It was a mining town. As he opened the world map, he saw the name of this new place: Charlesville.
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QuodArbor
TYFTC!
