Going Farming [Mentor/Mentee]

[Firabar]

Snap.

That was a twig. A twig that had been stepped on.

And not by Firabar.

Now, he'd been walking for a while inside the low-level hunting grounds, and he hadn't come across any players who weren't either on their way out of the grounds, to higher level areas, or weren't happy-go-lucky super-excited little children fighting chickens.

That either meant that he'd been being stalked by PKers since the moment he'd gotten into the zone, which was unlikely because, although it's feasible that he simply hadn't noticed them, with his low stats and all, he's still a level 1 with nothing worth taking, and they'd had plenty of opportunities to attack, and hadn't. In short, that was probably entirely made up. No real question about it.

So that left only one possibility.

It was a mob. Mob, as in, mobile entity. NPC of some description.

Monster, probably.

And it probably wasn't just a chicken or a rabbit either. It had to exert enough pressure on that twig to snap it in two by standing on it. That means at least some weight, and a likelyhood of whatever it was being bipedal.

"Alright, pal. Show yourself." Firabar whispered, mostly to himself, as he tightened his grip on his sword, and slowly brought his shield up, lowering himself into a tight, controlled stance.

A short, stumpy, pot-bellied little goblin wandered out of a bush just ahead, and looked absent mindedly down the trail. It was a Level 1 Goblin Explorer, and it didn't look terribly smart. Its HP and MP were... well, nothing to speak proudly of. Not negligible either, of course; Firabar had to keep it in mind that he was a Level 1 also, now, not a Level 90 like he was used to.

Still. It looked like its only weapon was a stick.

Firabar grinned, and charged out at it, ramming into it with his shield, and following up with a savage slash from his sword. He saw its HP immediately, half, and grinned. He didn't even need to use his abilities for this one. Man, it was good to be a guardian.

The little thing screamed wildly, and swung its stick at him. It clattered off Firabar's shield, as he blocked. The damage was negated.

Good old shields. 

Firabar swung again, chuckling as it haphazardly blocked him with the stick, but took damage anyway. Not as much, mind you. The only reason Firabar hadn't taken damage from the goblin in the first place was because its weapon was so weak.

It was down to about a quarter of its hitpoints now. Probably wouldn't give any decent loot, maybe a gold coin or two, but even a little XP is invaluable for a low level like him.

Then, it screeched at the bushes and foliage around it.

Firabar was about to laugh, but then another group of four goblins, each armed with little spears, emerged.

Well, crap.


Firabar activated his cool defense, mentally groaning as it began to sap his mana quicker than he was used to. He braced himself for the worst of it as tiny javelins jabbed at his legs from all around him.

He parried one, blocked another, and was hit by three more. They weren't really that hard hits to take - especially with plate armour - but it was beginning to add up already.

He winced when he noticed his health bar.

91%.

Already. 

Combat hadn't been going on for that many seconds, yet, damn it!

So, he did the only thing a man in his position, with little movement speed, surrounded by angry goblins, can really do.

He shifted his efforts onto the one he'd already damaged, and started shouting for help.

[Sophia]

It was a fine day to take a walk through the Windsor Greatwoods. The sky was clear, without a cloud to be seen. The flowers and trees were in bloom. Their discarded leaves and petals swayed in the gentle winds and would eventually sink within the grassy fields. Emilia traveled along side the beaten dirt path, looking around curiously and taking in the scenery around her calmly. She had hoped that some of her friends could come out here with her today and maybe have a little picnic on this fine spring day. But sadly, they had other plans. 

Even though she was disappointed, she wouldn't let it deter her from going out and taking a little exploration of her own. Even though she's been in the woods before, she knew there was still more left to see. She has after all, only witness a small portion of these woods the last couple times she came. She smiled to herself, as she was looking forward to what kind of surprises or new discoveries she could find in the Windsor Greatwoods. 

And she didn't have to wait long. 

A sudden scream from nearby shot through her ears. With widened eyes, she worriedly looked around for the source of the scream. Her eyes stopped and stared at some dense forestry. Seems that the scream may have came from there. Having had decided to check in there, she with a gesture of her hand, brought up her inventory screen through her interface function, and from it, equipped her shield and sword to her person. With herself suitably equipped for combat, she entered the dense forest.  

As she wondered in, she heard more screams. Though she was nervous, she felt it was her duty to help whoever it was that was screaming. Soon, after some paces into the forest, she saw from a distance a group of goblins. And they seemed to be crowding over someone! 

Quickly she ran as fast as her armored frame would allow her. "Hold on! I'm commmmming!" she shouted, hoping that she would make it in time to assist whomever it was. The moment she had gotten meters of the goblins backs, she saw that it was a lad being cornered left and right by the goblin hoard, leaving no opening for the poor boy to escape. She tightly gripped the longsword in her hand, as she charged forward at the goblins. 

"Get away from him!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, as intended to she cleaved her way through their numbers to get to the boy. When her blade felled a goblin with a stick, she noticed an gap that she could squeeze behind. As quickly as she could she ran through the opening between the four remaining goblins, and made it to the lad. With her own body, she used her skill, Covering to migrate whatever damage was about to be done to the boy, onto herself. Fortunately, she didn't take much from their attacks, due to her level being higher than theirs combined. But she didn't stop there. To keep the youth safe, she knew she had to do more than that. She inhaled a much as she could, before unleashing an Anchor Howl in a five meter radius which was enough to encircle the goblins.

"Don't worry, dear. I'll handle them. You'd best get away from here." she said, concerned for the boy's safety. With her great shield held out in front of her, the goblins attacks hit nearly harmlessly against it.

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Word Count: 589
Tags: Firabar

[Firabar]

"Wait, what? Get away from here? Not a chance. I came for the XP." He grinned, booting one of the Goblins in the teeth, before ramming his sword all the way through it. 

It gave a shudder on the end of his weapon, before bursting into XP, Gold, and fragmented soul (which dispersed into the heavens briefly after).

Now that.

That was good.

"Don't worry about tanking the damage, if you like. I'm only at - oh gosh. 73%?!"

He stopped for a moment, incredulous, before snapping out of his, and using his MIGHTY SHIELD BASH on one of the Goblins who was preparing some kind of spear move. It probably wouldn't have dealt any damage to the level whatever badass who had come to his aid, but it was good practice, and he'd formed a habit of breaking those kinds of moves over the years.

Brilliantly enough, the Goblin died shortly after the shield bash, and Firabar's mana wasn't even drained that much. His smile was a thing of pride. A level 1 he was, but he wasn't wholly useless. Not against these mobs.

For a moment, he remembered what it was like to be starting out in the game again.

Good memories.

He then returned to slashing at the back of one of the Goblin's heads.


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218 Words



Sophia

[Firabar]

Blood and bits of goblin flew through the air, and the grass quickly became stained red. This was, of course, not from just 4 goblins, but more from the additional twelve or so they'd managed to aggro as reinforcements.

Firabar was, surprisingly, not beginning to ache at all. In the real world, whenever (and it was rare) that he'd sparred for anyone for this long, he'd been an absolute mess by now - and he wasn't using a sword, shield, and heavy armour in real life either! Putting it down to the game body he was in, he performed an excellent - if showy - roundhouse kick on a nearly dead goblin, sending its dissipating corpse flying into a tree.

"Vive le revolution, you little green prats!" He grinned, slicing clean through another weakened goblin.

Sparing a glance for his health bar, he was surprised - but unworried - to find himself on 23% of his max health. The higher level guardian couldn't draw all the aggro, he guessed, and he'd been letting his defense go a bit.

He lunged viciously, his shield arm spinning out behind him to simultaneously block a blow from another goblin, as he impaled a goblin with a hat and little dagger on the end of his sword, sending crimson spatting over the floor, and up his sword.

Shuffling expertly, he withdraw the sword as the goblin collapsed, clutching at the wound over - and through - its heart.

Then, he backstepped into a tight spin, building momentum with his blade, letting it fly into the neck of the goblin that he'd blocked with his shield.

17% health. 34% mana. Cool defense had probably saved his life by this point, and it would be wise to finish things quickly.

There were two goblins left. One of them was wearing some kind of animal skull as a helmet, and waving a staff around, thin rivulets of green magic twirling about its end. This was their shaman - a mob that doubled as a sorcerer and a healer, though it wasn't elite at either task. First, Firabar mentally smacked himself for not noticing and taking it out first. If this had been a dungeon raid or anything, his raid probably would have croaked it thanks to the heals it was dishing out to its allies.

The other goblin stood between Firabar and the Shaman, a petty emulation of an Adventurer Guardian, with a wooden shield and a shortspear, as well as what looked like armour made of rabbit ribs. He could still see a little meat left on some of them - the armour probably wasn't that old.

The goblin guardian hunkered itself up, bracing for an attack, and Firabar could see the shaman casting some kind of fireball. The spell had about 2s cast time left, and the goblin guardian in his way didn't honestly look like too much of an obstacle.

Firabar grinned, readied his shield, and charged forward, using his Shield Smash ability on the shaman, and barreling through the guardian goblin to do so.

The shaman went flying, its staff broken, and leaking magic too fast to be reparable, and the goblin guardian - though it didn't take as much damage as Firabar had thought it would - toppled to the side, suffering from the kind of stun debuff that one typically gets with shield bash moves.

Mana was at 30%, now. Not bad.

He cast a glance in the shaman's direction. He was alive, and drawing a dagger.

He would be dealt with in due time.

Meanwhile, the guardian threw itself at Firabar. With a great deal of effort, Firabar shook it off, and cast it to the floor, following it with his boot in a horrendous stomp. The guardian was dead, now, but Firabar wasn't far off either, his hp at 9%. He'd have to watch out for that ability in future.

The shaman gave a screech, and charged, its jagged little slate knife held out like a tiny spear.

Firabar sidestepped it, and brought his sword down on the goblin's arm, depriving it of both the knife and its dominant hand.

Then, letting the momentum in the sword carry it out behind him, and up over his head, he brought it down once more out of a circle motion, splitting the goblin's skullhat.

One more time, splitting the goblin's own actual skull.


And it was over.

"Well, thanks for your help. The tanking you did there let me get a damn lot of kills in, and probably saved my skin in the same motion. If you ever need a favour in the future or anything, just you let me know, yeah? I'll do my best for you - after all, you did your best for me."

And then, with a bow of the head, he left to go and put his gold in the bank.
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815 Words

Thread closed, as far as I'm concerned. I got a decent amount out of this.