"Sigh~"
In front of the dungeon entrance, two people respawned once again.
Avia was having a long sigh. Arceede was also coming out while scratching his head.
"It's still good, right? Sorry about that, but the next try will be with a higher percentage."
"I know. I get it. It's just that I want to manage my excitement level. My sigh before was not of disappointment, don't worry."
It was unexpected for Arceede to hear that. He was a little surprised at what happened with his companion.
'He is excited?'
Arceede said that in his thought. The last time, was a very skeptical run based on Avia's opinion before doing it.
And after the failure and respawned once again, he was excited.
"What makes you excited?"
"Based on what happened, we will really get success this run or maybe 2 other runs."
Arceede knew how good Avia was with his observation and rough calculation.
The last time was a good run, but there was some minor mistake and Arceede really apologized for that.
Surprisingly, Avia was still good at his calculation and even understand it.
He was really touched by the optimism given by Avia just now. The sentence 'We will really success' after a lot of skeptical opinions he had said was really meaningful.
Arceede could not help but hide his embarrassment. It looked like he was praised by a teacher for doing a good job.
"What should we do? Level 10 or just go?"
With the last run, Arceede was now level 9 again. Avia confirmed him before going to enter the dungeon again.
"Let's just go, the AP I lost was STR now. It won't be a problem for me."
For the basic class so far, every level up gave a fixed 100 HP and EP. The other was an unadjusted 100 HP or EP and 10 AP.
The unadjusted stats mean that players will choose to distribute the stats. Every level up, players will get a free to choose of either 100 HP or EP, and 10 AP that can be freely distributed to STR, DEX, and INT.
On top of that, based on the class itself, the player would get additional stats. For Inventor, Arceede got +1 of each attribute every level up.
And based on what was stated on the forum, Warrior would get +3 STR. +3 DEX for Ranger, and+3 INT for Mystic every level up.
The one Arceede said earlier about losing 10 STR was the penalty given every time a player died. They can only get the stats back when they get to their latest level again.
Arceede was distributing his stats mainly on DEX and INT since it was the best for the current him. His main weapon, the magic crossbow, was scaled on that 2 stats.
Now, the two of them have entered the dungeon once again.
"Endurance-wise, I am really weaker than before. I've lost 200 HP end 100 EP, so I will play it safer."
Nod.
The penalty was always reducing random stats. He could be back at level 10 again and once he died, the penalty might lose him 300 EP instead.
At this level 9, he was at the worst time defense-wise. He lost 200 HP and 10 STR which would make him more cautious of receiving damage.
But, his main power was still strong nonetheless. The current Arceede was equipped with a better crossbow.
He has transfused his beginner crossbow with materials and weapons dropped in the dungeon.
The weapon has lost its original function of transforming into a 'tube', but the power has increased to the level of the other current capped weapon.
........
[Weapon]
-Info-
[Grade] : Unidentified
[Type] : Magic crossbow
[Category] : Inventor; Hunt
-Stats-
[STR] : 25
[DEX] : 65
[INT] : 55
[P. Atk] : 74
[M. Atk] : 90
[Crit Dmg] : 35%
......
"You know what, if we really got a shield, I'm pretty sure we will achieve our goal a long time ago."
Avia was still having a leftover pessimism on him. But, what he said was really true.
The sword on Arceede's hip was mostly for melee and blocking purposes, and a shield should be the best for it.
Based on the forum, defensive gears' chance of drop might be extremely low or maybe even nonexistent.
In the current state of the game, almost everyone was wearing their beginner clothes. And with the underline, beginner clothes. Not armor.
You can spend some silver or gold in fashion, but mostly only casual players who cared about that.
Avia and Arceede here for example only wore brown beginner clothes till now.
And with that beginner clothes with no additional defense attribute, the challenge level would stay high.
The only character with high durability and considered META was the player that chose shield as their first weapon.
The shield was the main off-hand weapon from one of the branches of the warrior class, Knight.
And with an almost non-existent shield, combined with the dropped weapon from the dungeon, they were the most effective character right now.
"Okay, let's just maintain the momentum."
Arceede did not want to be swayed by the pessimism. He just said what was needed for the run.
"Sorry."
"Nah. Okay, let's match the frequency. You were so confident before that we will succeed this time. I want to know that your plan is the same as me."
"Well, it should be obvious this time, right? We kept them in low health. And finish them once the 'stage' begins."
"Okay, we are on the same page then. Let's just hope that there is no other stage after that."
Gulp.
Avia was nervous after hearing what Arceede said.
"Hey hey hey."
"Sorry, but after you said it like that. If there is another stage, it will really be over. Game over."
"Well, we will really need to look for a full team if that happens."
"Geez."
"I know, I know. Stop that sharp gaze, it's hurt."
.
.
.
.
.
.
*Notes:
HP: Health Point
EP: Energy Point
AP: Attribute Point
STR: Strength
DEX: Dexterity
INT: Intelligence
META: Most Effective Tactic Available