Chapter 260 - Grinding Time 3
｢Dragorugio – One-handed sword (Optimal)(Infused)
Rank: Epic (Evolvable)
Durability: 500,000/500,000
Effects:
Passive 1 – Destructive Aura: This sword deals 10% Destruction Energy with every attack.
Active 1 – Black Flame: Cover the blade in a black flame that is a mixture of Destruction Energy and Fire Energy for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes.｣
｢Dragorugio – Arm Guards (2) (Optimal)(Infused)
Durability: 500,000/500,000
Rank: Epic (Evolvable)
Effects:
Passive 1 – Speed Boost: Attack speed is increased by 20%.
Active 1 – Rapid Hands: Drastically increase attack speed by 100% for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes.｣
｢Dragorugio – Knee Guards (2) (Optimal)(Infused)
Durability: 500,000/500,000
Rank: Epic (Evolvable)
Effects:
Passive 1 – Speed Aura: Movement speed is increased by 20%.
Active 1 – Rapid Legs: Drastically increase movement speed by 100% for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes.｣
｢Black Dragon's Roar – Active skill (Rank 1)
Effect: Send out a soundwave containing elements of destruction that boosts damage dealt by the user by 500% over a distance of 100 miles.
Cooldown: 10 minutes｣
With these abilities, Draco easily flitted through the ranks of monsters. Every swing of his blade ended the life of a Void Fodder, and six swings was all it took to end a Void Monster.
With his increased movement speed as well as his increased attack speed, Draco dispatched them faster than they could squeak. Even a 10% increase in speed, whether movement or attack, was extremely significant in a game like Boundless.
How much more a 100% increase to both? It was even coupled with his base stats and various others boosts from passive skills and movement techniques he had.
After clearing this crowd, Draco converted them as well. So far, he had gained 150 additional low-grade Aether Crystals and 1 medium-grade one from the Void Killer.
Clarent flew up and scouted around. He discovered many void monsters cl.u.s.tered together in different areas and came back down to report to Draco.
Draco could naturally see through this with his Eyes of Caelo, but Clarent seemed to enjoy his new job, so Draco didn't bother to destroy his illusion. He let him do what he wanted.
This time, Clarent reported almost a thousand Void Fodder with more than three hundred Void Monsters. Draco nodded and decided to bypass them for now.
It wasn't that he couldn't handle them, yet such a large fight would definitely cause enough of a disturbance to alert those Void Destroyer fellows.
If a group of them ganged up on him without Eva by his side, he would meet the same fate as school nerd who was captured by bullies. He would be beaten up before they dunked his head down the toilet!
Draco had many choices on how he wished to bypass this group. He could use Control to bend the light and make himself invisible, but the sounds and smells from his body would still be there.
He could also use Total Invisibility from the Herald's Cape, which was a notch above the average stealth skill. His smell, sounds and form would be completely concealed for the duration of 1 hour.
However, the downside was that he had to remain standing still while he did so. That was why the skill had a duration of 1 hour, but a cooldown of 3 seconds.
It was great if you were like Riveting Night and you had the patience to stay in one spot until your target came through, or if you were hiding from a chase/search. Realistically who would look for over an hour for someone in the same spot? Nobody got time for that!
There was also the Ultimate Stealth passive that Draco had switched off. It made it such that regardless of friend or foe, no one within his Rank would detect him until he touched them.
It would suffice here, but it was capped at Specialist Rank for monsters at Rank 1. In essence, should Draco see a Void Killer while he was strolling along, the fellow would see him as well.
'Out of these three, Ultimate Stealth is still the best.' Draco concluded.
It was a pity that him choosing to assimilate the Ultima Sunt race instead of changing it had weakened the skill compared to King's version. King could not only willingly turn his on and off, he could even decide who could or couldn't see him.
For now, Draco did not have that benefit. Still, it wasn't like there were any friendlies here, so he activated the skill.
As he did, Clarent came to a halt with a shocked expression. For a second, he could not find any trace Draco at all, until he felt a tap on his head.
When he turned around, Clarent yelped like a little girl as he fell down to the earth. Draco laughed when he realized that the fellow had been spooked, much to Clarent's chagrin.
Soon, Draco walked by the huge group of monsters calmly. Meanwhile, Clarent had entered his inventory. While living things usually could not be stored in there, the combat pet system allowed it when one wanted to de-summon their combat pet.
The same thing held true for mounts as well, though Riveting Night didn't mind letting Luxia roam the world at her leisure since she could move at the speed of light.
After Draco had crossed this group, he re-summoned Clarent and they continued on their hunt. They soon found a group of two Void Killers stalking about.
Draco and Clarent debated for a while before deciding to take one each and seeing what they could do. After all, if they absolutely had to leave, they could just blink out of the area.
Draco flourished his blades as he walked briskly towards his Void Killer. By the time the monster could see him through the miasma, Draco was almost upon it.
With a strange smile, he kicked the fellow in the throat with a gravity kick, which sufficed to stun it for a second or two. If one knew how to apply force cleverly, stuns didn't need to come from skills.
After all the subjective magic he had done today, he was left with 73% willpower. Even when he used his State of Being or Control to help himself, this didn't slow down his consumption at all.
What it did was let him 'overdraft'. In other words, it allowed him to temporarily 'overclock' himself. In essence, he would be able to handle bigger loads at the relative same price.
Say he used the gravity kick/stomp, he would drain 10% willpower per usage. One should know that if he used his pure will to handle this, he could at most drain 2% before he reached his limit and the spell failed.
It even reminded one of that old cartoon with the sailor that ate spinach to power up. Before he ate the spinach, there was a limit to his strength, but after he consumed the 'tasty treat', his maximum strength increased greatly for a period of time.
Thankfully, it took Draco only about an hour to regain his willpower from 0% if he rested and meditated. It was certainly slower than mages who relied on mana-regen, but it was still better for him personally.
As it were, Draco simply used Black Flame, Rapid Hands and Rapid Legs once again. He didn't want to ruin Clarent's flow of battle, so he didn't use Black Dragon's Roar this time.
With each strike, he dealt almost 35,000 damage, and this was even at critical areas. The Black Flame skill especially made him abhorrently stronger for his Rank.
It was his only low cooldown skill that utilized Destruction Energy safely. As for the re-balanced Omega beam, he was reluctant to use it though it had no cooldowns and dealt no damage to his person.
Not that he was worried it would harm the atmosphere, but he couldn't just go around zapping everything into oblivion. Not to mention that the beam traveled so slowly, like an old man at the park.
It was extremely easy to avoid if he didn't have his opponent within arm's length. However, Draco decided to experiment with it later.
As for now, he was dueling with this Void Killer in an intense bout. Draco used his subjective magic to coat his sword in flames after Black Flame ran out.
Since his Dragorugio sword had a default 10% extra destruction damage, he always dealt destruction energy with every hit. If he were fighting anything other than a void monster, they would certainly feel the effects.
If it was a player, the fellow would shed tears as his durability fell faster than the intelligence of a brilliant child after years in standardized education.
As such, his damage output was able to remain stable. He did trade some hits with the Void Killer as it was a notch above mere Void Monsters, but it couldn't deal much damage since he buffered all attacks with a quick mana shield.
Draco suffered no mental damage when they were shattered. Even when he had his Dark Angel inheritance at 7%, he had barely felt anything after Richmond's training, much less now that he activated it to 30%.
On Clarent's end, the fellow was having a bit of a hard time. He wasn't like Draco who could use techniques easily. Alas, it wasn't as if Clarent didn't know them, but his current standing simply didn't allow him to utilize them.
He was no longer an NPC, but a combat pet, so he had to deal with the pros and cons of this change. Combat pets, like combat mounts, could only use skills.
The difference was that combat pets gained many more skills and traits as they ranked up compared to other monsters. So, Clarent's arsenal would only grow from here on. Nevertheless, a bountiful future didn't help the Red Dragon at the current moment!
Therefore, Clarent activated immolation on the Void Killer, making it howl and thrash in pain as its insides burned. This dealt intense damage compared to his other skills, and he didn't let up as he added his flame breath.
Since it was reduced by the monster's magic defense, he only dealt around 60 damage per second, which was not much. However, it was better than nothing.
It was clear that Clarent could win, it would simply take a very long period to do so. While his opponent still had 90% HP left, Draco, on the other hand, was halfway done with his fight.
It took Draco another 4 minutes to finish up and come to Clarent's aid. Like that, they cleared the second Void killer faster than the first one.
Draco acquired 480% experience from this short battle, which he allowed to land on his person. As such, he reached level 50, which was the level cap for Rank 1.
He added his 15 new points to Dexterity and Endurance, with 5 into the former and 10 into the latter. He did have a lot of HP thanks to his bloodline and equipment, but a little more wouldn't hurt.
Now that he had hit the level cap for his Rank, Draco stretched his body and grinned at Clarent. "Wanna make some trouble before we leave?"
Clarent bolted up with sparkly eyes. "You might as well have told me that my wife has suddenly become docile. What are we going to do?"
Draco was amused by his enthusiasm. It clearly showed that Clarent was like himself, Qiong Qi and Richmond. They were people whose skin was so thick that it could resist rubber bullets easily.
Draco laughed and traveled to the edge of the Ruined Plains of Deriam with Clarent. Once they were there, the duo shared a look and nodded.
Draco put Dragorugio away and held Fragarach. He instantly activated Lugh's Might, the active skill of Fragarach.
｢Active 1 – Lugh's Might: Swing the blade down with unparalleled force, dealing 1,000% sword damage over an Area Zone. Cooldown: 3 days.｣
Draco went through the familiar motions for the skill. He raised the blade up like some anime hero and flourished it grandly. He was even made to shout a phrase along with it.
"For the light!"
When the sword energy collided with the earth, it spread across the whole Field Zone, striking every Void Monster within.
Every Void Fodder was slaughtered and most Void Monsters were left on the verge of death. Void Killers were relatively unbothered and Void Destroyers were simply tickled.
When these monsters rushed about searching for the culprit, there was no one to be found.