[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
[You have gained a level]
These 5 words filled numerous prompts and all at the same time. As the Pepper Demons slowly died due to the raging flames of the squall, the experience started rolling in.
[You gained 1020 (+205) experience]
Especially Bob. The effects of the 'First Witness' title made him gain more experience than everyone else in the party.
"The light! It burns!" Enma complained as the light particle effects were caused by the burst of level gains.
"Hey, Bob. You got a new set of armor, is that what you were doing earlier? Buy armor?" Annera took Bob away from everyone else and asked him.
"Well, I was in the smithy next to the inn."
-Flashback-
"Uhm. What's going on here?" Bob said as he entered the door to the 'Best Smithy in the City'.
"Hmm? Oh, it's you. Welcome back!" A strong and cheerful voice greeted Bob.
It was Dan, and surprisingly, he was wearing clothes this time. Dan and the rest of the blacksmiths in the city were hitting iron all at the same time which was unusually productive.
"It's good to see you, Mr. Dan. What's with the rhythmic beatings of iron?" Bob asked the same question but with a different sentence.
"Ah. The city lord tasked all of the smithies to produce weapons of all kinds and in great numbers. I reckon this is also happening in all the cities in the kingdom." Dan stated.
"But why is that?"
"Remember the werewolf invasion? I'm not too keen on politics but the rumor is that the werewolves are planning to attack in full force." Dan explained.
Bob just received crucial information that connects with the story of the Blood Moon. However, he didn't get a discovery reward as this is not a chance event but it was certain that players would get to know this.
The forums of Immersion Online were filled with separate fanfics of what is going to happen in the next few days. Most of the players are aware of what's going on in every kingdom.
"Have you been doing this since 3 days ago?" Bob once again asked an unnecessary question.
"No. The kingdom needed time to properly disseminate information and some time to plan as well. Although, I doubt they have much to argue about." Dan said.
"I see. I'm going to have a hard time sleeping then. But good luck to you!" Bob said as he turned his back. He wanted to head to bed and try his hardest to fall asleep.
"Wait! Bob, I can see that your armor is, well, garbage. Do you want to opt for a new one?"
Bob's leather armor that he received for free from Enma was abused. Bob didn't care about getting hit, he found it a bother to be careful since he can't die anyway.
The thing that suffered the most was his armor. He looked like he's wearing burnt and torn rags, albeit he looks awesome in it due to the fiery bird on his head.
"Uhmm. I don't have a lot of money right now." Bob had the struggle of a usual adventurer too.
"Don't be a stranger kid. This one is on credit. You can pay me when you want. Hahahaha." Dan said and laughed with both of his hands on his hips.
"Oh! Okay! The leather has been bothering me the past few days, especially the groin area."
"Hmm? Why? Are you not wearing underwear?"
"No."
....
"Riiiight. Come here, I'll measure your sizes and I can tweak extra pieces of armor to fit. I'm sorry though, it won't be a complete set but we'll be using parts." Dan said.
Bob raised both of his hands and posed in a T. Dan began touching his body from head to toe, skin to skin. It wasn't the first time he experienced it so Bob wasn't worried.
"That's fair. I need it tomorrow since morning then." Bob said.
"Are you crazy? Tomorrow morning? We don't have enough time!"
"Eh? Then what now?"
"ARgh, geez. Get outta here. I'll make do somehow. Come back here in the morning." Dan said and let go. He finished feelin- I mean, measuring Bob's body.
Come morning, after grueling hours of uneasy sleep, Bob went back into the smithy and found that Dan was now wearing a naked apron.
"Good morning, Sir Dan." Bob greeted Dan.
"Oh, he's here." Dan said to some people behind him.
The blacksmiths all walked forward and carried different parts of an armor set. Together, they all made a custom set for Bob in one night.
"Hahaha. This is a custom made armor set which we handcrafted instead of using a mold. We are so gonna get screamed at by the City Lord because of the drop in productivity."
Dan laughed even harder.
"Well, let's test the fit!" He continued.
All the blacksmiths went forward. They first ripped the leather armor on him, lo and behold, his long schlong was uncovered.
"It happens." Everyone says at the same time and shrugged.
A blacksmith apprentice approached and he carried a few garments. Dan intuitively knew from their conversation last night that Bob didn't have clothes beneath his armor, even underwear. So he prepared for it.
After getting dressed by a bunch of sweaty overworked muscular men who didn't get a wink of sleep last night, he then got introduced to each individual piece of armor before it got attached on him.
"Okay. This is bad. Go make the fixes quickly!" Dan demanded some blacksmiths.
As you'd expect from a joint project, things do not fit well together. The pieces had to be tweaked a little before it would become a proper fit on Bob's body.
"Perfect!"
After a while, the blacksmiths came back and the pieces finally fit together.
"Thank you so much. I'll make sure to pay you back!" Bob was truly grateful.
-
"And that's why I was late. It's a good set of armor, right?" Bob was confident that his new set of armor would impress.
"Good? I'm not sure. You look like Frankenstein. They could at least have done a uniform paint job." Annera looked at Bob with a crooked smile.
The only reason why nobody reacted at his new set of armor was that it was better than the burnt rags he had but it also wasn't great.
"Frankenstein? What's that?"
"You look like garbage strewn together to become a full set of walking assorted apparel."
"Is it that bad?"
"AHAHAHAH! Go do your jobs, Kazuma! Hunter!" Gideon's voice suddenly echoed in the scene.
Chikinsupu ran around and threw daggers that released a mild toxin in the air. The dagger wasn't made to damage enemies but to attract and allure. The Pepper Demons ran after Chikinsupu but he's too fast for them.
"He's kiting them." E commented.
But before anyone else could say anything, Hunter brought out his bow and started shooting arrows. However, these arrows had a bit of a specialty in them.
"Entrapment arrows are set. You can bring them in, Kazuma!" Hunter shouted to Chikinsupu.
"I am speed." Chikinsupu kited the Pepper Demons to the traps without getting into their aura range.
"That's a lot of mobs. Isn't this dangerous? For other players I mean." E asked Dreads who stayed carefree with them.
"You see, it's only dangerous when it isn't controlled. We are a level 120 party in a level 40 area. Do you still think it's dangerous?" Dreads had a point.
"Why didn't Gideon just do the kiting then? Isn't he the tank?"
"It'll take ages for Gideon to finish rounding all the mobs up with his movement speed. Plus, his 'Raging Howl' is still in cooldown."
"I see."
E stopped asking questions and just observed the spectacle. The Pepper Demons that got into the range of Entrapment Arrows were bound in place, effectively making bundles of stationary Pepper Demons in set intervals.
"Just what I need." Gideon said as he walked towards the trapped Pepper Demons menacingly.
SWISH~
With a strong swing of his sword, the properly lined Pepper Demons were slaughtered. It was a magnificent sight where a single strike of a sword cut monsters even beyond its range.
"Gigantic Cleave Passive. It's a terribly OP ability but it has its issues as well." Dreads said as he looked at the monsters who then turned into numerous blue lights.
"Beautiful." Annera chimed in.
"Ah! My eyes!" Enma still complained. Does this guy have eye problems?"
-
After massacring the Pepper Demons who live in Pepper Hill, it was now time to move. E's party gained a decent amount of levels, with the lowest level of 33.
"Alright, it's time to move. I don't think we can head to Mint Hill, there's plenty of people there so we just can't take all of the mobs for ourselves." Gideon stated as he cleaned his sword.
"Where do we go now?" E asked as he is the other party leader.
"Hmm. Let's head into Delm's Gorge of Fatty Acids. There shouldn't be many people there."