Corwin arrived in the city in medium spirits. He was excited at having completed his quest, but nervous about the Bloodlust Malediction. He went to the temple to see the high priest, hoping for some good news. The quest rewarded a large chunk of skill XP that could be applied to any skill. Corwin used it to upgrade disrupting blow, which was still his most important skill.

Disrupting Blow has reached Tier 0, Level 2

Disrupting Blow has reached Tier 0, Level 3

Upgrading the skill increased its chance of successfully triggering. This included increasing its chance to hit higher level skills. Corwin was even happier about the next step of the quest however.

The priestess explained that the hatchery was one of many and made me a compass of sorts from a shard of anchor stone I had brought back. The needle of the compass would point to the nearest anchor stone if there was one within 5 miles. My quest was to locate and defeat the next hatchery near the city. This seemed easy enough as even within the temple the compass was triggered, pointing directly south.

Well the artifact was fun, the biggest part of my happiness was not needing additional levels to fight more demons. After all, my curse trigger had only a few days left. This happiness was short-lived. I travelled 2 miles south finding a hatchery, and the hordes on the blight were all level 20 enemies. I wasn’t about to fight fast moving swarms while under-levelled so it was time to level up even further.

I got in touch with Kyo, The Bear, Silencer and Omega. Omega was one of the tier 4 potentials they had used to round out a party for a guild quest. They had just finished up a guild quest so the 5 of us went to level.

I picked out a level 20 region in which I’d have 1.4 levels of level suppression. The level 20 enemies also took a big step up as at level 20 players would be expected to have iron tier gear instead of bronze gear. Nonetheless, I was confident with my level 18 epic gear.

I was able to handle the enemies easily. As usual, with 5-levels of difference the experience was a huge rocket ship, and we began to power-level. We had all reached level 17 in under an hour. I moved on to a level 22 region after upgrading my gear. The level 22 region was a similar story and lasted us to level 19. By level 19, I had level 23 gear. With 4.6 levels of level suppression I was ready to amp even further and we went to a level 25 region. Despite the 6 levels of difference I was only suppressed by 1.4 levels. Because level 25 and level 20 both required roughly 10 times the experience of the previous level, the experience gain for fighting this far upcurve was astronomical. In a mere 15 minutes the 5 of us reached level 20.

I now had a choice to make. I could go solo the demon hive, or I could level up the remainder of the team and get to work on a 20-man dungeon run. I decided the hive took priority, if anyone was able to clear it earlier I’d lose out on an extra 2-days for my curse which was a price I was unwilling to pay. I returned to the hive.

I confronted the roaming hordes bravely, slashing them down where they stood. All the while I made progress towards a living building, this time a reddish brown one that spewed a disgusting green mist. Eventually, I made it inside the building. The main room was a hatchery which I promptly destroyed. The second room had an anchor stone guarded by a rather nasty demon. I looked him over carefully.

Mammonite, Demon of Greed

Superior Lord, Level 20

Hit Points 300,000/300,000

Mana Pool 150,000/150,000

The demon of greed was a low HP, low MP type. This meant it would be more dangerous than the average level 20 superior lord demon. I prepared myself for a bitter fight.

Mammonite was fast, and had skills that multi-attacked and created AoE’s. I was nonetheless able to dodge until he got to 80% health at which point he fired off a rather nasty skill.

Mammonite has used tainted treasure on your plate armor. As long as Mammonite is alive this item has its bonuses reduced to one quarter their usual amounts.

I got a little slower, a little weaker and a bit more nervous. I still managed to dodge all of his attacks but things were close. At 60% health he used the ability again.

Mammonite has used tainted treasure on your plate cuisse. As long as Mammonite is alive this item has its bonuses reduced to one quarter their usual amounts.

That was enough that his AoE’s and multi-attacks started to hit me. My HP fell roughly in tandem with his and I reached 80% health by the time he reached 40%.

Mammonite has used tainted treasure on your plate boots. As long as Mammonite is alive this item has its bonuses reduced to one quarter their usual amounts.

I was somehow still able to dodge his normal attacks. Well, most of them anyways. I potioned upon reaching 60% health and shortly later he reached 20%.

Mammonite has used tainted treasure on your plate gauntlets. As long as Mammonite is alive this item has its bonuses reduced to one quarter their usual amounts.

At this point the match became a slugfest. My four epic items were performing as if they were only a single item. I was much weaker and lacked the ability to dodge. My health reached 30% by the time I brought him to 5% health. I started using all my skills to burst him down. I knew it was critical I burst him down, after all his ultimate was named “Curse Transfer”. He hit 1% health with 3 seconds left on the countdown. 1% was still 3,000 health, but fortunately my double slash was off cooldown. A double slash and 3 rapid blows later the demon fell with seconds to spare. I breathed a giant sigh of relief as my items were spared from having to find a more powerful demon to remove a rather nasty curse. During the fight I had received a notification

Slash has reached Tier 0, Level 3

I destroyed the anchor stone and took a fragment back to the priestess as proof. My rewards were once again some skill XP, this time a much larger quantity. Once again, I focused on disrupting blow.

Disrupting Blow has reached Tier 0, Level 4

Disrupting Blow has reached Tier 0, Level 5

I was quite pleased with my gains. It was time to level the rest of the group.

I took the 46 remaining players that I needed to a level 25 zone. Even divided 46 ways, the experience was quite substantial, at least for their lower levels. It took roughly 1h30m to bring them from 15 to 20, including a full 55 minutes for level 19 to level 20. My own experience surged up to 61% of level 21.

With over 20 Tier 1 players it was time to start raiding the level 20 dungeons. One required a team of 10, the other a team of 20. I figured it made sense to do the 10-man first. So we’d be raiding frostfang dungeon. However, it was only 10 minutes to the next patch so our plans would have to wait till after.

Corwin Swordborn

Spoiler : Level 20: 61% of level 21

Str: 3865 (base:25)

Agi: 3985 (base:125)

Con:3865 (base:25)

Int: 1177 (base:25)

Cha: 1177 (base:25)

Lck: 409 (base:25)

Cnc: 409 (base:25)

Sta: 409 (base: 25)

Qi: 409 (base: 20)

Soul: 409 (base:20)

Air Affinity: 409 (base:20)

Fire Affinity: 409 (base:20)

Water Affinity: 409 (base: 20)

Def: 12601

MDef: 9729

HP:80300/80300 (base: 1000)

MP:26540/26540(base: 1000)

Gear:

MW: Epic Tier Level 24 Longsword, +384Str +384Agi +384Con

Base Damage: 480-576, Def 576 MDef 480 Durability 698/768, Requirements: 768 Str

OW: Epic Tier Level 24 Shortsword +384Str, +384Agi, +384 Con

Base Damage 392-480, Def 480 MDef 392 Durability 704/768, Requirements: 768 Str

MA: Epic Tier Level 24 Plate, +384 Str, +384 Agi, +384 Con

1536Def,1536MDef, Durability 718/768, Requirements:768 Str

LA: Epic Tier Level 24 Plate Cuisse, +384Str, +384Agi, +384Con

1536Def, 1536MDef Durability: 722/768 Requirements: 768 Str

G: Epic Tier Level 24 Plate Gauntlets +384Str, +384 Agi, +384 Con

1536Def, 1536MDef, Durability 721/768 Requirements: 768 Str

B:Epic Tier Level 24 Plate Boots +384Str +394Agi(10 Gemstone) +384Con

1536 Def, 1536 MDef, Durability 719/768 Requirements: 768Str

H: Epic Tier Level 24 Helm, +384 Str, +394(10 Gemstone) Agi, +384 Con

1536 Def, 1536MDef Durability 717/768, Requirements: 768Str

RR: Epic Tier, Level 24 Ring of Hidden Attributes (+384 All base attributes, +384 All Hidden Attributes)

LR: Epic Tier, Level 24 Ring of Elements (+384 All base attributes,

Ignore 4.8 Levels, Ignore 4.8 Equip Levels

AM: Epic Tier, Level 24 Amulet (+384 All base attributes)

Skills:

Spatial Slash, Legacy, Tier 0 Level 0

Haste of the Warrior, Legacy, Tier 0 Level 0

Time Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9

Space Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9

Air Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 9

Earth Manipulation, Special, Tier 0 Level 9

Fire Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 8

Water Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 8

Dragon Fist, Martial, Tier 0 Level 0

Qi Blade, Martial, Tier 0 Level 0

Demon Slayer, Rare, Tier 0 Level 0

Thunder Slash, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Wave Chop, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Wind Charge, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Disrupting Blow, Rare, Tier 0, Level 5

Double Slash, Uncommon, Tier 0, Level 2

Slash, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Pierce, Common, Tier 0, Level 3

Parry, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Techniques:

Rapid Blow

Vanishing Steps

Sword Light

Mana Drain

Health Drain

Stamina Drain

Strength Drain

Agility Drain

Endurance Drain

Flicker

Precision Dodge

Curses:

Curse of the Lust Demon, Days Remaining: 30

Bloodlust Malediction, Countdown: 6 days