"By the way, after I killed my second skeleton, I received a quest in the fight." Ulfred cut the awkward conversation between Iona and Dante.
Dante was surprised. "Why didn't you tell us earlier, old man?"
"Boss, I have received a quest too," Nathaniel added from the side while smiling.
'Seriously, Nat! Again?'
"Because you've been asking questions since the fight ended. I didn't have the chance to tell you." Ulfred said.
Dante's annoyance was growing as time passed. But Ulfred was right. His mouth had kept on running incessantly. Fortunately, he wasn't dumb enough to raise his voice more than needed.
Dante, "What quests? I didn't receive anything."
"Mine is as follows,"
Ulfred recited the quest text.
[Annihilate your enemies using your bare hands. Twenty enemies remained.]
"That's all?" Dante couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, that is all. There is no reward or other explanations. It suddenly popped out before my face in the middle of the fight."
"What about yours, Nat?"
"Mine is quite similar to Ulfred's quest."
[Deal a dirty and decisive strike to your prey that is at least three levels higher than you. Three victims remained.]
Dante fell in deep thoughts after hearing the new quests.
Ulfred had killed two skeletons using his bare hands. It seemed like the trigger of the quest was his former actions.
However, Dante had also killed a few skeletons using his bare hands, but he had not received a quest. Why was that?
Nathaniel's case was also similar.
On the other hand, the quest meant that the high-level skeleton was at least a level four monster.
The party was undeniably lucky. If its spine had not snapped at that time, they would have been corpses at the moment.
Now they were level four participants. That meant Nathaniel had to land the sneaky attack on a level seven monster. No! The quest wasn't limited to the monsters. It contained the words 'prey' and 'victim.' So his targets shouldn't be just monsters!
As long as Nathaniel's targets met the level requirement, everything could be his target!
Ulfred's quest was easy to do. However, Nathaniel's quest could be tricky. Dealing a decisive strike to a level seven foe was easier said than done. Also, the higher the level of Nathaniel, the more difficult it will be to do.
"The quests had triggered by your actions, and there is no reward after completing them. These are the beginning of chain quests!"
Dante said while holding his chin.
"Chain quest... I also think so. Since it is a chain quest, I wonder what the end reward would be?" Ulfred said while smiling slightly.
"A chain quest never disappoints participants. The completion reward might even be Hidden Classes!"
Dante still had many questions in his head regarding the chain quests.
"Tomorrow we'll focus on doing experiments. We need to know the best way of leveling up." He said. "Nat, you don't even a scratch on you, so you'll keep the first watch. Ulfred, you'll be the next one."
Dante couldn't get a quest. Therefore, he seemed like he was venting his anger on Nathaniel and Ulfred.
Though what he did was childish, he still felt a bit better.
"Now sleep and recover your strength. Tomorrow will be another hard day."
...
Nine hours later.
The four-person party was at a wide room-like area. The cave walls were smooth and seemed unnatural. Excluding the way that the party had come from, there were four more paths in the area.
Except for Ulfred, the rest of the party was waiting at a corner, watching a savage beast as it annihilated the pygmy skeletons using its bare hands.
*Bang*
One more skeleton turned to a pile of bones at Ulfred's large hands! Some pieces of bones flew all the way to Dante's side.
"How many EXP did you get from that?" Dante asked Nathaniel.
"Zero. I get only one EXP from every three skeletons Ulfred killed."
"Same for me." Dante turned to Ulfred this time, "Old man Ul, how many EXP do you get from a skeleton?"
*Boom*
Ulfred killed one more skeleton.
When the party stepped into this area, there were around fifteen skeletons lying on the ground here. However, as soon as the party came near them, the skeletons stood up and attack them instinctively.
There weren't any skeletons with purple lines on their bones among them, all of them were low-level. That meant this was a perfect chance for doing experiments, at the same time, an opportunity for Ulfred.
His quest didn't mention about a level requirement. Every skeleton he had killed decreased the number on the quest screen.
[Eight enemies remained.]
"I'm getting one EXP for each kill." the old man answered as he pounced on another pygmy skeleton.
"So that's how it is. The one who lands the killing blow is getting the higher amount of EXP. On top of that, the rest is getting around one-third of the EXP, even if they watch from the side." Dante commented.
"That explains why I have more EXP than you," Nathaniel smirked from the side.
The party has performed a few experiments so far.
They killed a skeleton together, separately and sometimes two people. They inflicted a different amount of damages to a skeleton and checked the results. They tried many different things.
In the end, they learned three key factors from the experiments.
The first factor was related to that who had struck the final blow. Depending on that, the EXP distribution differed. That's why Ulfred was getting more EXP compared to the rest of the party.
The second factor was the level gap between monsters and participants. While a participant's level was rising, he or she was gaining fewer and fewer EXP from a fixed level monster. That's why Ulfred was getting one EXP for each kill instead of three.
In the opposite situation, the amount of gained EXP was enormous for the participants.
The high-level skeleton could be shown as an example of this situation. After killing it, the party had leveled up two times.
The third factor was related to the number of participants. When fewer people witnessed the death of a monster, the EXP gained was increasing in direct proportion.
That meant a solo raid would grant the highest EXP. In fact, it was natural, but the amount of gained EXP wasn't as simple as one plus one.
For example, let's assume a participant and a party of three cleared a dungeon at different times. In this situation, compared to the party members, the participant would not have just gained three times of the normal amount of EXP, he or she would have gained at least five times of it!
However, performing a solo raid... it was easier said than done. Only a madman would do such a thing.
*Boom*
The last of the pygmy skeletons in the room exploded.
"Wha ha ha! It was a piece of cake!"
[Five enemies remained.]
Old man Ul was looking unusually happy under the torchlight.
"This room is quite big. Let's explore it. However, we have to do it together. Do not wander around alone, and do not let your guard down." Dante said. He was cautious.
Before long, the party found a few treasure chests at remote corners. Other than that, there was nothing in the room.
Most of the chests were open, and some of them looked untouched.
When the party has found the chests, their eyes sparkled at first. Ulfred had also attempted to run towards them with a wide smile on his face, but was stopped by Dante.
"Don't you think it's strange? In this room, there were only weak skeletons, but we have found untouched treasure chests. Furthermore, they aren't even hidden. Sigh... My friends, this is an obvious trap."
Dante sighed. For level one participants, he knew how tempting the treasure chests were. He still wanted to open the chests, but he held himself and the party back.
Big sis Mira had once told him 'Never be the first person who opens a suspicious treasure chest.' As he considered the possible consequences, he felt a cold chill on his back.
"So we should leave the chests as they are?" Ulfred said, unwillingness in his voice.
"Tch! What a waste." Nathaniel added.
"No, not at all! Using the treasure chests, we'll leave a little surprise for Niles!" Dante said with a mysterious smile plastered on his face.