Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1 (11 page)

“Well this Alex seems to be one of the few characters who put a significant number of starter points into his Chance skill. I’m wondering if he has realized the value of that skill yet. Bring up the item Bloody Rabbit Foot. I want to see the stats,” Jolston said.

Bloody Rabbit
’
s Foot

Rare Item

Weight: 0.0 Bonus:

+1 Chance

Binds on acquisition

“Ah, well with that item, a rare in the starter area, I bet he is understanding the value of Chance. I don’t see anything wrong with his stats though. Everything is according to initial allocation and subsequent skill points?” Jolston requested.

Though he didn’t address anyone in particular, the technician answered immediately. “Yes sir, everything is accurate and correct on his character.”

“Well, we will need to look into the log in problem more, but for now send a message to 271, with the usual language,” Jolston ordered.

The attendant backed away nodding his head, “Yes sir. I’ll take care of that right now sir.”

Jolston looked back at the character on the main screen. A rare item in a starter zone. This Alex must be lucky.

CHAPTER 11

“And here I thought I was lucky having you as our leader! We’ve finished both quests and you want to stay here? That’s dumber than anything I’ve ever said!” Dan exclaimed.

“First off, I’m not the leader,” Alex responded. “And second, it isn’t dumb at all if you just hear me out.”

“I don’t know Alex. I kind of agree with Dan. Not about this being dumber than anything he’s said. That’s not even a competition. But this doesn’t seem all that smart,” Wayne agreed.

I looked to Jason, but he was “Studying” his spells. Bloody introvert.

“Listen! Just hear me out!” I exclaimed.

All three eyed me warily, and it was Jason who came to my rescue. “Guys, Alex hasn’t steered us wrong yet. Let’s see what he has.”

Dan plopped down on the ground. “Fine. Let’s hear this great idea of yours.”

“Ok, look. Just now we made two silver by selling these venomous sacks. I am betting with my Chance we are getting way more than anyone else,” I said. I still hadn’t told the guys about the Chance error I was encountering. I was waiting for the response from IT on that one. “And we can see by looking around us that there are still lots of groups out here that haven’t finished. So my plan is to come out here and farm the venomous sacks. Then we sell the excess and make a bunch of cash!” Farming was the method of killing things over and over either to get a rare item, a rare spawn, or just loads of a certain item. In this case the venomous sacks.

“But what for? We already got Allister his spells!” Dan said.

“Dan, have you noticed the people who are running out to the forest and then all of a sudden running by us again back to that forest after 30 minutes?” I asked.

“Of course I noticed. They are obviously going out to the forest to level up. And they are dying. A lot,” Dan responded.

“Right, and I am betting they are dying, not because of their level, but because they don’t have any gear. They are trying to get single mobs and get some good experience, but they keep getting killed. Now, what would happen if we finished this quest and then ended up out in the forest? Which, as it turns out, I am betting this next quest will take us,” I asked.

Light bulb just went on!

“Oh man! I totally feel you right now!” Dan said.

“Please don’t feel any of us Dan. Not with the realism in this game,” Jason said.

“You have to call me TheClaw if I have to call you Allister. Only fair,” Dan said.

“Guys. Focus. And yes Dan, you see what I am saying now, right? We farm the sacks, sell them for a silver, and then get us some gear. We can then go out and level up some and not have to keep running from our spawn point!”

“I’m in!” Dan said.

I looked at Dan totally flabbergasted. Two minutes ago he was calling me the dumbest man alive. Now he was all in.

“What? Dude, I can admit the one time I’m wrong.”

“So what were you thinking Alex? Because I could definitely go with some upgrades,” Wayne said.

“We all could brother. I could definitely use a new bow. Although I’ll keep using the Recruit Quiver till it stops working for me at level 6,” Dan said.

“Well my thoughts were to equip Wayne and Allister mostly. Get Wayne some armor and a new weapon. And get Allister some armor as well since we need him to be able to take a hit,” I replied.

Once Wayne heard that I wanted to get him a new kit, he too was all in. I think Jason saw the wisdom of my suggestion early on, but didn’t want to go against the other guys if they didn’t follow my plan.

We stopped getting any experience for the rabbits, because our level was now higher than theirs. But due to our levels, Jason’s buffs and healing, and our team work we were able to take on three rabbits at a time with no danger of slowing down. Over the course of two hours we had collected another 13 sacks. We wanted to get to 20 before we finished our farming.

We were moving throughout the field, not really pulling the rabbits to us anymore, but going out to them. We still aggro’ed the rabbits, but we weren’t worried about not being able to take them. We had even done four at one time. Although that did put a bit of a drain on Jason’s mana.

* * *

It was while we were running around the field, killing the rabbits, that we finally got the opportunity to see two different things. The first was the effect of my Chance skill at having rare spawns. The Chance skill created a bubble that allowed for mobs that respawned within that diameter to possibly spawn as rare mobs. And this came to be when the Ravenous Venomous Rabbit spawned right on top of us. At our level 4 this mob’s name was red to all of us. Meaning that it was 5 levels at least above us.

The second thing we got to see was how dying worked in the game.

It wasn’t even a challenge. The Ravenous Rabbit tore through us like paper. Wayne looked through his log after the fight and was getting hit for over 100 hit points a shot. And he was hitting Wayne three times each round. None of us lasted more than a few seconds.

Once we died, we each saw a loading screen that informed us we were dying and would return to our bind point. The bind point is the location, usually within a city, where your character would return, without any of your gear or the things in your inventory. Those were on your body. The bad part is that wherever you died, that is where your body remained. And you would need to go and get your body in order to retrieve all of your items. Our problem is we died right under the rare mob. So getting our bodies was going to be a serious challenge. At higher levels, when I got my invisibility skill, I would be able to surreptitiously drag mine and my teammate’s bodies away from the mob without drawing attention. But I wouldn’t get this skill for some time.

We all arrived back at our bind point, which in this case was right at the fountain in the square of the city. I had been worried about what would happen when I died since my log in points had been messed up. I was happy to see this didn’t affect my bind point. The second thing I saw upon arriving at my bind point was the following message:

You have died.
You have been resurrected at your bind point.
Loss of experience is 25%*

*Your character will not lose experience until you arrive at level 10.

And now I understood why those players in the woods kept going back over and over again. They weren’t losing any experience by dying.

Several more characters that had been out in the field fighting rabbits began popping into the square. I was guessing the rare mob just started attacking everyone. I hoped no one noticed that it was my group that “spawned” this mob, as that would make my plan to sell the sacks all the more difficult.

I looked over to my comrades and was about to suggest ways to get our bodies when I heard a voice yelling in my ear. It was Sayhey, and he was yelling, “Taking this beast to the guards! Everyone get inside the gate!”

After 10 more seconds there was another yell by Sayhey, “All clear in the field. Recommence with the slaughter.”

My group and I returned to the field to collect our bodies. While we were retrieving our items I noticed a number of icons that allowed you to collect your items. I specifically looked for one that would let me retrieve everything at once. I hovered over each icon until I found the desired one and blinked to activate it. My dagger and Bloody Rabbit Foot were reequipped and the 13 sacks went back into my inventory. I relayed this information to my teammates and was happy to see that if it came to it, I could recover my items quickly and get back in the fight.

For the next hour we continued to kill rabbits. This time we went back to pulling rabbits to us along the wall. This way we wouldn’t accidentally have another rare spawn on us. Since Dan was pulling the mobs, and his Chance was 1, there was little chance a rare was going to spawn around him.

After we had collected the 20th sack I began moving around the remaining groups. I pitched the same line over and over again. And I met with the same result. At first they tried to haggle. But I knew the worth of these sacks and I knew the frustration the characters were going through. In the end, no one turned us down except for the group that still had no sacks and couldn’t possibly afford the five they would need to advance.

With 20 silver in hand, Dan, Jason, Wayne and I all went off to the market place to get us some improved gear and get ready for the next adventure.

* * *

We had to go to three different stores in the market area. The first was for armor. Luckily one person sold both leather and metal armor. Dan and I would require leather. Wayne and Jason would need metal. There were plenty of options, but we didn’t have that much cash. In the end we made sure to get Jason and Wayne the most armor, and Dan and I just a little so that we at least had an armor without Jason’s buffs. For Wayne and Jason, we purchased all Rusted items, as this is what we could afford. And for myself and Dan, it was Tattered items.

As I said, Wayne got the motherlode of items. We purchased a Rusted Breastplate, Rusted Leggings, Rusted Boots, and a Rusted Helmet. Each sold for 1 Silver 50 Copper. Jason received A Rusted Breastplate, Rusted Leggings, and Rusted Boots. Dan and I both got Tattered Leather Jerkin and Tattered Leather Leggings. Each item gave an Armor bonus. It was still unclear how this would negate damage, but that is what we were going to find out. When opened the items looked like this.

We had 3.5 Silver from the 20 sacks we sold. We also had 7 additional silver from our rewards, the original two sacks I sold, and an assortment of Copper from the rabbits. So with 10.5 silver in hand we went to get Wayne a mighty weapon and Dan a new bow.

We found a Novice Bow for Dan that would give a +5 Atk Modifier for 3 Silver. A huge increase to his current +1 Modifier. The only problem was the level limit was set at Level 5, so Dan would not be able to use the bow until he reached his next level. Wayne went the same route getting a Dulled War Hammer that had a +7 Atk Modifier and sold for 5 silver, but also couldn’t be used until level 5. Finally, when I was ready to go, the guys suggested I also get a new weapon. I found a Dulled Dagger with a +4 Atk Modifier for 2.5 Silver, also with the level restriction. When opened in our inventory the items looked like this:

That was all of our money, but I thought we were likely the most well equipped level 4 adventurers on the game. And that led me to my next point with the guys.

“We’ve got the best equipped players in the game right now, I would bet,” I said.

“I know man; I can’t wait to just strut down the main square like a peacock. I may walk backwards so everyone can see my tail feathers!” Dan said.

“You don’t have tail feathers. All they would see is your Tattered ass,” Jason replied.

“Nice one Alli!” Dan exclaimed while putting his hand out for a high five. Jason didn’t even turn his head to look at Dan’s hand. But Dan’s smile never went down. You had to love this brilliant, yet entirely idiotic, ass clown.