By the time they had exhausted the area of calcabas, Dakkon was already level 12, and the rest of the group had leveled out at 19 each. Dakkon had been receiving roughly 3 times as much experience per bird slain than any other member of the group thanks to his low level and contribution toward each fight. He may have been the lowest level, but he was doing almost all the damage.
|————
|Statistics ( ][][ ) ( ][][][ )
|————
|Strength: 10 ( ? )
|Stamina: 25
|Agility: 10
|Dexterity: 10
|Intellect: 10
|Luck: 0 ( X )
|Free Stat Points: 40
|Hit Points: 325/325
|Endurance: 188/188
|Mana Points: 160/160
|Leveclass="underline" 12
|EXP Until Next Leveclass="underline" [
|————
|Traits ( ][ ) ( ][][][ )
|————
|Appearance – 8 (Equipped)
|Heroic – 1— 12% [
|Hunter – 4— 55% [
|Steadfast – 1— 0% [
|Thick – 1— 20% [
Dakkon was much stronger. A change so large over a period so small meant that he could feel the difference. He wondered what it might feel like to allocate all of his points into one stat in a short period of time, but dismissed the idea as a passing fancy. He needed to distribute his points intelligently, and at this point the only thing he knew for sure was that he liked the feel of close combat.
Dakkon’s Hunter trait had also improved dramatically. He had been at rank two plus zero percent experience toward the next rank upon checking, after his early death. Heroic started at zero percent too, but it had only gained 12 percent over the course of the hunt. He hadn’t been fighting recklessly or heroically, so it was somewhat of a surprise to see it had progressed at all. His other two traits remained unchanged just like his unused thermomancy.
“Dakkon, I know I’ve said this already, but you’re a killing machine,” Roth beamed, satisfied with his gains.
“I can hardly believe it,” Mina appeared to be calculating something. “At this rate, we’ll probably be able to fight the goatmen in a day or two. We’re going to need to step up our hunting grounds, of course.”
“Longbow, here I come!” Cline shouted, clearly overjoyed.
Still happy with the result of their grinding, Melee voiced her concerns, “We may be strong enough to kill goatmen already, for all I know, but that’s not really the main issue here.”
“What are you on about?” asked Cline, still smiling from ear to ear.
“Players have been killing off goatmen left and right for a week now, but no one has gotten half a lick closer to completing the quest,” Melee frowned. “Everyone’s missing something important.”
“Maybe the increase in bounty is a clue,” proposed Mina. “Perhaps there’s a set condition that needs to be met. An increase in the number of goatmen attacking, an amount of casualties, a sum of money offered by the capital as a reward, or maybe even the number of players active in town at once.”
Everyone’s moods dampened a little at that idea. The leveling was great at the moment, but the idea of having to wait an indeterminate amount of time for some unknown condition to be met wasn’t an exciting proposition.
“Well what about their base camp?” Dakkon suggested.
“What do you mean?” Cline asked.
“Has anyone actually run them off or tried to kill them all at wherever it is they’re coming from?” Dakkon reiterated.
“Nobody has found a lair,” Melee sighed. “If it’s out there, it’s too well hidden. People have been looking.”
“Has anyone tried following a goatman back?” Dakkon asked.
“The problem is,” Roth began with a grimace, “the goatmen always come to town, right? So that means they always get killed. If anyone wanted to follow a goatman back, they’d have to convince everyone to let the goats commit some atrocity without intervening. Then, everyone would have to trust one or two people to follow them back to their lair and report the information to the rest.”
“So, in other words, people aren’t going to stand for it,” said Melee. “Even if you convinced them to let the goatmen make off with some supplies or townsfolk, there’s no way everyone will hold hands, smile, and trust random strangers to tell everyone else where they’ve gone.”
“Plus,” added Roth, “there are plenty of people who think killing the goats night after night is the correct way to advance the quest. So, there’s a fair chance they’d just take the opportunity to kill the things.”
“I get it,” Dakkon said, raising his hands palm out. “It’s not such an easy problem thanks to the human element. Still though, I’ve got a feeling in my gut that it’s the only way anyone’s going to finish this quest anytime soon.”
“Well, we’ve got time and leveling to do before any and all of that,” said Mina with a bright smile. “Everyone good to keep at it?”
“I’m willing to, certainly,” Roth said, “but I’d like to propose a 25-minute break. We’ve been at it for a while. Since Dakkon got here, we’ve been going at a breakneck speed, and I would be better off after watching an episode of The Mysteries of Karmen Lockette.”
“Karmen Lockette,” Cline said with a stumped look on his face. “Isn’t that a bit… girly?”
“Of course, it’s girly,” Roth said without a trace of awkward in his voice.
“And… you’re comfortable with that? Being a man and all?” asked the puzzled Cline.
“To be honest, the show’s good enough, but the girliness is the main reason I watch it,” Roth said with the beginnings of a smile on his lips.
“Eh… explain,” said Cline.
“Well,” Roth began, “if I like something that a girl likes, then that creates common ground. We can relate to each other’s interests, and then we can get to know each other.”
“Hm. You know, that actually sounds fairly well thought out,” said Cline, amazed by his own words.
“It’s just common sense. Why try to avoid girliness when trying to meet girls? That’s about as dumb as trying to swim without getting wet,” said Roth. “Plus, the show’s pretty funny.”
“Huh,” Cline felt somewhat odd about Roth’s motivations, yet he was impressed.
“You won’t catch me watching any of that rubbish,” said Melee.
“It’s not so bad, Amelie,” Mina smiled at her. “The plot is actually pretty good, once you get past all of the magic cats and the cheesy dates she goes on. I’m sure you’d like it.”