Corwin was fairly convinced he was far ahead of any character in the game at this point and he decided he was ready to run hard mode. With has last dungeon entry he needed to succeed and get rewarded with more passes.

The run itself was tense, while the dungeon monsters remained normal mobs the first two bosses were now chieftains. Each of them had a significant agility and strength upgrade. Fortunately, the bronze equipment made sure that Corwin kept up. With over 50 Agility he wasn’t easy to hit at this point in the game. His damage had reached a whole new level with his 30 strength, and clearing Scrimshaw was faster than his first run in normal mode. He excitedly looted the body, getting a Level 5 Bronze Shield Recipe and a fourth magic crystal. He encountered a chest, likely for the first run of normal mode and eagerly opened it. Inside was two gold, and a Level 5 Bronze Axe recipe. Unfortunately, Axes were useless to a swordsman, but that didn’t prevent him from making some to sell. Many tank classes used them, and axes were also common among berserkers. Excitingly, there was also a small hidden compartment in the bottom of the chest. Such compartments were often trapped but Corwin knew what to look for and manually disarmed the poison trap he found. Inside the hidden compartment was a second recipe, this one for a level 5 Bronze Leather Armor. Again, something he could make to sell but not anything useful for himself.

Fighting the enemies remained easy until the boss Sabrefang. This fight was fairly intense as the chieftain had an additional power move, Carve, a powerful AoE Sabre attack. With two AoE’s it was harder to dodge and Parry. Everything was fine until berserk mode. The attack pattern of the boss changed slightly and Corwin was hit going to 51% of his health. He was back up to 88% health when he got hit again going down to 39% health. At this point a hit would kill him so he reluctantly consumed a 1 gold potion to heal up. Fortunately, not long after the boss reached 5% health. Corwin comboed on it with his full set of skills: Wind Charge, Thunder Slash, Slash, Pierce and watched it fall to zero.

He looted the boss, getting a Whetstone recipe, a Lightstone recipe and magic crystal. A system in Eternity’s wake increased the frequency of recipe drops when the players raiding the dungeon had recently crafted items. This was designed to encourage crafting, but in solo it was rather powerful as with 100% of the party having recently crafted multiple items, recipes would drop with extremely high frequency. This was increased moreover by Corwin’s luck as recipes were valuable drops. What was concerning was that none of them were the key items needed to advance from hard mode to hell mode. What Corwin needed most of all was a usable off-hand weapon drop.

Regardless, he had 5 Magic Crystals and could use them to evolve the Ring of Hidden Attributes to Iron Tier which he did. The ring promptly developed +2 to all attributes/level and +2 to all hidden attributes/level. This was incredible as his luck was now triple the normal amount and his drops rated to be miles better than other players. He also had an extra 5 agility, 5 strength 5 constitution, and 5 stamina for the upcoming main boss fight and every little bit helps.

Another chest was available, this one a bronze tier chest for hard mode. Unfortunately, a lucky drop didn’t trigger so there were no iron tier items in the chest, but fortunately there was an level 5 bronze offhand sword recipe. The chest had a secret compartment and after disarming the trap on it, Corwin found a pouch with a recipe for a stamina potion. This potion gave a player +2 Stamina for 10 hours. Since most players had only 5 stamina this was an incredibly powerful 40% increase, making it a useful item to sell, particularly since the 10 hour duration was quite friendly. Potioneering would likely have to wait until after players were level 10 and the auction system was in use however as it was too difficult to get ingredients piecemeal and NPCs sold most materials at high prices.

Corwin focused his sights on the now familiar narrow corridor and the non-elite enemies quickly fell to Corwin’s increased damage output. He paused before the final boss noting that it was now a lord instead of a chieftain and decided it was worth using a strength potion, a speed potion and a slow potion. He fought the boss frantically for half an hour before triggering it’s berserk. At this point the boss triggered an AoE slamming his weapon into the ground and causing a rain of stalactites from the top of the cave. Fortunately, Corwin parried one before dodging out of the radius as those stalactites were quite deadly. As the boss hit 10% health the stalactite attack triggered again, but the boss continued attacking during it. Corwin managed to avoid the stalactites but took a single blow from the boss. That blow reduced his health by 45%. Unsurprisingly Corwin could only survive 2 hits from this boss, he wasn’t a tank after all. Regardless, everything went fine until the boss was at 2% health. An attack swung toward Corwin at faster than usual speed and Corwin was forced to use Wind Charge while ducking under the blow. He then combed out with Thunder Slash, Slash, and Pierce leaving behind a dead lord.

Corwin was once again asked for a party name, entering Righteous Destiny. Once more announcements rang out:

Congrats to party Righteous Destiny for achieving the first clear of a hard mode level 5 dungeon in Eternity’s wake. Rewarding party member Corwin Swordborn with 4,000,000XP, 40 gold and a Tier 1 Gemstone.

Congrats to Corwin Swordborn for achieving the first solo clear of a hard mode level 5 dungeon in Eternity’s Wake. Rewarding him with 8,000,000XP, 80 gold and a Tier 1 Gemstone.

Congrats to party Righteous Destiny for achieving the first clear of a hard mode level 5 dungeon in Altaea. Rewarding party member Corwin Swordborn with 2,000,000 XP, 20 gold and a Tier 1 gemstone.

Congrats to Corwin Swordborn for achieving the first solo clear of a hard mode level 5 dungeon in Altaea. Rewarding him with 4,000,000Xp, 40 gold and a tier 1 gemstone.

Congrats to party Righteous Destiny for achieving the first clear of Grimsbane. Rewarding party member Corwin Swordborn with 2,000,000XP, 20 gold and 1 Dungeon Pass.

Congrats to Corwin Swordborn for achieving the first solo clear of Grimsbane. Rewarding party member Corwin Swordborn with 1,000,000XP, 10 gold and 1 Dungeon Pass.

His XP shot up like a rocket, reaching 29% of level 6. More importantly, he had 2 passes available, giving him some hope of reaching hell mode today. He needed some luck with the loot.

He went to loot the Lord and received an item this time, a Level 5 Bronze Off-hand Sword giving (+5Str +5Agi + 5Con) and dealing 25-30 damage. The lord also dropped 2 magic crystals and a Bronze Rank Level 5 Amulet (+5 All Base Attributes).

Finally, there was the last chest which had a Level 5 Bronze Main-Hand Sword Recipe, giving (+5 Str +5 Agi +5 Con) and dealing 30-40 damage. That one was exciting as now he could make the sword he already had. The secret compartment after disarming a trap contained a level 5 bronze ring with (+5 All Base Attributes). That loot sequence could not have gone more perfectly, it finished his gear off and made him ready for hell mode.

Corwin Swordborn

Spoiler : Level 6: 29% of level 7

Str: 55 (base:5)

Agi: 85 (base:30)

Con: 55 (base:5)

Int: 25 (base:5)

Cha: 25 (base:5)

Lck: 15 (base:5)

Cnc: 15 (base:5)

Sta: 15 (base: 5)

Def:135

MDef: 65

HP: 930/930

MP: 750/750

MW: Bronze Tier Level 5, Level 5 Longsword, +5 Str, +5 Agi, +5 Con

Damage: 30-40 Durability 22/25 Requirements: 20 Str

OW: Bronze Tier, Level 5 Shortsword, +5 Str, +5Agi, +5 Con

Damage 25-30 Durability 24/25 Requirements: 20 Str

MA: Bronze Level 5 Plate, +5 Str, +5 Agi, +5 Con

20Def,10MDef, Durability 25/25 Requirements:20 Str

LA: Bronze Level 5 Plate Cuisse +5Str, +5Agi, +5Con

20Def,10MDef, Durability 25/25 Requirements:20 Str

B: Bronze Level 5 Plate Gloves +5 Str, +5Agi, +5 Con

20Def,10MDef, Durability 25/25 Requirements: 20Str

G: Bronze Level 5 Plate Boots, +5Str, +5Agi, +5Con

20Def,10Mdef, Durability 25/25 Requirements: 20Str

RR: Iron Level 5 Ring of Hidden Attributes (+10 All base attributes, +10 All Hidden Attributes)

LR: Bronze Level 5 Amulet (+5 All base attributes)

AM: Bronze Level 5 Ring (+5 All base attributes)

Skills:

Thunder Slash, Rare Level 0

Wind Charge, Rare Level 0

Double Slash, Uncommon Level 0

Slash, Common, Level 0

Pierce, Common, Level 0

Parry, Common, Level 0