On the other side of the bridge were the Blackrock Hills. Such hills were a good source of ores and raw materials. He immediately went into stealth. He slowly stalked through along the rocky hills.
Along the way, he saw a couple of iron ore veins. He quickly selected the mining pickaxe from his inventory and set to mining the veins. He got a total of 4 iron ores from them.
He also saw a few elite mountain wolves of level 3 walking around the hills. But most of them were in groups. So, he walked around the place in stealth searching for lone wolf which, he could take down without losing much health. Soon, he found one and it was drinking water from the river.
[Mountain Wolf] (Common Monster)
Level 3
HP: 150
Because of the improvement in his Strength and agility due to Rotar's crest and the poison, he managed ambush it and take it down quickly. Being two levels below the wolf, he had received 50% more experience points.
He got a total of 45 experience points which pulled him to level 2. Balthazar got 4 attribute points from the level up. He put two of them in the strength attribute and two in Agility. He also equipped the sword onto his left hand. He checked his attribute panel:
Character: Shadow Tyrant (Human)
Affiliated Village: Black Rock Village
Title: None
Job: Assassin
Level: 2
Exp: 5/800;
HP: 400/400; MP: 300/300;
Physical Attack: 35
Defense: 6; Attack Speed: 18; Movement Speed: 24; Willpower: 4; Balance: 10; Focus/Search: 10; Toughness: 4; Reflect: 1; Magic Resist: 2; Luck: *; Charm: *;
Attributes: Strength 11, Agility 15 , Endurance 4, Intelligence 4, Vitality 5, Perception 4.
No Special Racial Attributes or weakness.
Free Attributes Points: 0
Weapon Master:
Dagger Mastery +5 (Apprentice Rank - Increases Dagger Damage by 5%)
Free Master Points: 0
Occupation ability 1: [Ambush]: 20% bonus Attack Damage when attacking an enemy from behind.
Occupation ability 2: [Pick pocket]: Can be used to steal money or items from unfriendly NPCs.
Skills:
Stab. Active skill, Requirement: Dagger, Increases damage by 5 points. Cool down: 5 seconds. Skill level: 1 (Proficiency 7/300)
Equipment:
[Novice Dagger] (White Trash, Dagger)
Level 0
Equipment Requirement: Strength 3
Attack Power +4
Durability 15/15
[Assassin's Leather Shirt] (White Trash)
Level 0
Equipment Requirement: Strength 3
Defense +2
Durability 15/15
[One-sided Wooden long sword] (White trash tier, sword)
Level 1
Equipment Requirement: Strength 9;
Attack Power +8
Durability 15/15
His increased strength resulted in more attack power and he also had another one-handed weapon he could now use. This almost doubled the damage that he could cause. He began to farm the elite mountain wolves without much delay as he went deeper into the blackrock hills.
With his DPS improved due to the sword he equipped, he didn't have much problem with the elite mountain wolves. Wolves hunt in packs. The same applied for the elite monsters in vita-nova.
But this posed little to no problem for Balthazar had already had a decent amount of experience with both the rabbits and common wolves.
Though the elite wolves were much faster than the normal ones, almost as much as the rabbits, he didn't have much issue as they were larger and much easier to spot than the rabbits. This allowed him to evade their attacks easily.
Now, he had about 500 experience points. He had already managed to collect 24 wolf furs. He even got 50 coppers. His gains had been very high as he was farming monsters individually and not in a group.
About half-an-hour later, he found a very large black wolf. It was at least 40% larger than the usual elites, its skin had a crystal-like sheen and also had a couple of large blackfangs extending from its mouth. It had pitch black eyes and its serrated claws.
[Blackrock Wolf] (Special Elite Monster)
Level 3
HP: 150
Though it had the same amount of HP as the other elites, it was clear that it had better defenses and even its normal attacks would cause high damage. The serrated claws were almost like knives.
As he was observing it in stealth, he noticed that it was going around a large tree. He slowly went around and found a treasure chest. It was a Black-Iron treasure chest. At the preliminary stages of the game, any such chest would be very valuable. Any weapon if obtained from such a chest would be a definite improvement over the ones, he is using.
Suddenly, he noticed that the wolf made a running leap towards the tree. A quick flash came struck the wolf as it fell down. There was a young man wearing a hood on the tree. There was a dot blinking on the figure. It was changing colors yellow and green alternately.
"Quest updated: Rotar's Request: Rotar's grandson is found. Help him fight the monster or escape from the monster."
He realized that he luckily stumbled on to the quest objective. Though the attack cause the wolf to fall down, it didn't reduce its health at all. He realized that it was just a video and the wolf wouldn't actually lose a health till he joined the fight.
But the wolf appeared to be very fast and strong from the attack it just did on the NPC. But he steeled himself to complete his quest and decided to attack the beast.
Even if he died, he would only lose about 10% of his experience points and he could easily farm it from the elite wolves again.
He went into stealth and slowly moved towards the blackrock wolf. As it was a special elite, there was a high chance that it might be able to detect him while he was in stealth. So, he was more careful than usual. He also used the second bottle of poison onto his dagger.
He saw the wolf began to run was about to make an attack on the NPC again. Just as the wolf was about to jump, he came out of stealth and swung his sword with full force against its face.
"Ding!"
The plan worked the wolf stumbled and fell down by the roots of the tree, with a red number -15 over its head. But the clash also caused Balthazar to fly and smash into the tree. He lost health of 60 HP. He tried to get up but for some reason was unresponsive. He immediately checked the notifications.
"Blackrock wolf's rush attack caused a dizzy effect. Player will be in an unresponsive state for 2 seconds."
Two seconds were enough for the beast to easily empty half of his HP bar. He began to regret his foolish choice to swing the sword at its eyes. Even though it caused the beast to lose 10% of its HP, it also caused him to lose more than that. He would be surprised if he had 40% of his HP bar remaining by the time, he would be able to move.
Just as the wolf was about to attack him. The NPC jumped down the tree landing on the wolf with his sword piercing through wolf. A red number 50 appeared on the wolf's head. With a single strike the NPC managed to reduce a third of the wolf's HP bar.
"Bold adventurer, help me kill this wolf. We can't let it call for reinforcements," said the NPC pulling him up. The NPC had a sword in one hand, a triangular shield in the other and wore a pitch black armor and cape. He was clearly a knight. From the damage he caused the wolf, he is probably a level 3 or level 4 character.
Balthazar immediately went into stealth. But it was clear that the wolf could notice him. He recognized that he managed to attack it the first time just because it was focused on the NPC.
As he was slowly walking to the side of the wolf, the NPC ran towards the wolf holding its shield in front. It bashed the wolf with its shield, stunning the wolf in place. Balthazar also took the chance and used Ambush and Stab skills with his poisoned dagger. The poison caused the wolf to slow down a bit.
Balthazar continued to support the NPC and slowly managed to reduce the HP of the wolf to critical health. As soon as the HP of the wolf came down to 20, it started to back off. This was a special elite which ran away when enraged. This showed how intelligent the creators made the monsters, even the ones at low levels.
"Don't let it escape. It will call for reinforcements again," shouted the NPC. Balthazar having a high movement speed and could quickly go behind the wolf and tried to block its path of retreat.
Even though he had very little defence as an assassin, he could still stop it with his body while losing HP. It would be a total waste of time and a lot more troublesome, if he let it escape for reinforcements. With Balthazar and NPC flanking from opposite sides, its health quickly dwindled to nothing.
The wolf had given him an abundant amount of experience points amounting to 120 exp. This was more than double the amount that he received for completion of his previous quest. But
Balthazar had only 40 HP remaining by the time, they managed to finish off the Blackrock wolf. He quickly put in a piece of bread in his mouth as he bent down to loot it. He pulled out a pair of leather boots.
[Wolf skin boots] (Black Iron, leather boots)
Level 3
Equipment requirement: Agility: 12; Endurance: 6;
Effects: Agility +6; Vitality +4;
Special Effect: Dash: Allows a sudden movement in the forward direction upto 5 feet. Cooldown: 60 seconds.
Balthazar only needed 180 experience points to level up. Killing a pack of 5 elite wolves would allow him to do that. Then, he would have an increase in endurance and level and could equip the boots. He threw them into his inventory and continued to check for loot.
He quickly fished out 4 wolf teeth making the total amount he got to 48. He also got 2 wolf furs and 1 silver coin.
This was the first time he got a silver coin. One silver valued to 100 coppers, one gold valued to 100 silvers and a platinum to 10 gold coins. This was the currency system used by the vita-nova as in other V.R. games.
As the wolf turned to light and disappeared, the NPC was waiting for him to finish looting came towards him. "I am Elias Rotar," he introduced himself. "I believe my grandfather sent you for me," he continued pointing at Rotar's crest quest item pinned on Balthazar's belt.
"Yes, Mr Elias. I have indeed been sent by him. He asked me to request that you return as soon as possible," said Balthazar.
"I understand that my grandfather is worried about me, but I can feel that a heirloom of my family is very close to this location. Could you please help me find and retrieve it?" asked Elias.
A quick notification sounded in Balthazar's ears.
"Help Elias secure his family heirloom or escort him back to his grandfather."
"OK," said Balthazar involuntarily, as he didn't know what to do.
"Quest updated: Rotar's Request: Rotar's grandson wants to retrieve his family heirloom. Help him retrieve it."
"Follow me," said Elias as he began to walk.
"Wait a minute. There is a chest behind the tree. I want to open it," said Balthazar.
He quickly went to the chest. He tried to open the chest, but it was locked. The unlock skill can be learn't after reaching level 2 from the trainer in the village. But he hadn't returned to the village after he reached level 2.
As he was wondering what to do Elias came by his side. "What's the delay?" he asked.
"The treasure chest is locked," said Balthazar in a dejected manner. He had to come back another time for the treasure chest but by that time, he was sure that the Sirius Imperials would occupy the area.
Suddenly he had an idea. "Can you open it?" he asked Elias. NPCs usually don't open treasure chests, but he thought that there would be no harm in trying, especially when the NPC in question was being very polite and helpful.
"Move aside," he said as he swung his shield down on the lock with great force.
"CLACK!"
The lock of the chest broke open and was lying by the chest in pieces. "Thank you, Elias," said Balthazar bowing his head as he reached for the chest. He slowly removed the contents of the chest.
[Tough leather gloves] (Black Iron, leather gloves)
Level 3
Equipment Requirements: Vitality 6;
Effects: Strength +5; Endurance +6;
Special Effect: Toughen: Increase both physical and magical defence by 10% for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.
He also found a blueprint. It was for a long bow.
[Light Bow] (Black Iron long bow)
Level 3:
Materials Required: Iron Ore x 5; Black rock crystal fragments x 2;
Effects: Agility +2; Perception +6; Causes 20% more damage against the members of the warg and worgen families.
Though it had no special effects, it was quite a decent long bow. Equipment which improved perception are very useful. Rangers and Assassins are most commonly used as scouts in new maps and also for pulling monsters. So, a high perception value to the weapons of any of these two professions is a very desirable attribute.
There was another item still in the Treasure chest. He quickly pulled it out and found it to be a blackrock crystal. Rare materials like these are very useful. He worked in Rudra's workshop for 5 years and during this time, he learnt about various materials and their uses.
He also remembered that the 1st rate guild Ranger Estate, had taken over the Blackrock hills when they found out that the Blackrock crystal was very useful in creating weapons that could hurt worgens.
Though the blackrock crystal can be used for making a long bow by breaking it into crystal fragments. It would be a total waste of a rare material.
"Come on, let's go. They seem to be doing some kind of ritual. We must hurry," said Elias leading the way. Along the way, they ran into a few packs of elite wolves, but they were easily killed by the combination of the knight and assassin.
They managed to kill a special elite already, normal elites were no trouble for them at all. But Elias almost always block their attacks without evading. This cause his health to go down steadily.
Luckily Elias seemed to have brought his own food. After each fight, he ate a small amount of food the pulled up his HP bar to the full state. As both Elias and Balthazar killed them together, the NPC also got a share of the experience points from the wolves.
Within 20 minutes, Balthazar leveled up again. As soon as he reached level 3, he put in two attribute points to agility, one to endurance and the last to strength. This allowed him to equip the new boots and the gloves.
His agility crossed over 20 points which enabled the special trait - "Nimble movements". When fighting against monsters with your health below 30%, your focus increases by 10%. This is very useful when fighting against higher leveled monsters.