Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Chapter 29: Grinding

The Alorge Association wasn't far from the Adventurer's Guild, and so within ten other minutes he was all set as he had repaired all his equipment while he was at the Association.

Adam first headed for a location known as Serpentine Lake. The area in itself wasn't very dangerous, there were only monsters between level 10 and 15. However, he must absolutely remain on the city side of the lake and under no circumstance go to the other shore as beyond the Serpentine Lake was another map with monsters above Level 50.

The lake served as a natural barrier against those monsters, and so as long as he didn't cross the lake they wouldn't attack.

And Adam had no intention to do so. He had several missions within this area, he had to kill 100 [Lakeside Serpents], 60 [Bullet Frogs] and 15 [Red Striped Alligators]. He also had corresponding missions for their materials, for example the scales on the snakes.

Although the snakes might look like the easiest of the three because of the number he needed to kill, it wasn't actually the case for Adam, it was only the case for the average people.

Of the three monsters, the snakes were Level 10, the frogs were level 13 and the alligators level 15. All of them were majority Common monsters, so their strength depended on their level.

However, aside from their level, their skills and stats were to be taken into account. The Alligators were seen as the most dangerous because they had a great defense, the skill [Death Roll] that allowed them to immobilize their prey and great damages thanks to the strength of their jaws.

This was the most dangerous of the three for lower leveled players, or even players at the same level. However for someone stronger than the Alligators, then the unbreakable defense became as thin as silk, its Death Roll wouldn't work and it wouldn't do damage. Adam was in such a case, and so the most dangerous alligators became easy prey for him, it was going to be more difficult to find them than kill them.

The frogs had lesser defense and attack, but their main skill, [Bullet], allowed them to launch their tongue like a bullet. The attack was very fast, it would be difficult for Adam to dodge it, but the damage wasn't anything to fear.

Finally came the snakes, seen as the less dangerous. They didn't have a good strength, a good defense or any special skill. But they were the most dangerous because of their venom.

Adam didn't know the attributes of the venom, but one snake shouldn't be a problem. If multiple snakes were to attack him though, the venom would stack, and that's where it would become dangerous. Theoretically, if enough snakes were to bite someone then they could even kill a god.

Of course, that wasn't actually the case, even if the god were to let them bite him all day. The secretary at the Alorge Association told him that their venom had no effect on Bronze Tier Adventurers, he didn't explain why though.

But back to Adam, he would have to make sure he wouldn't be ganged on by too many snakes.

[Serpentine Lake] was right next to Ember City, he exited the city from the South Gate and looked for his preys.

Then, for the following two hours he killed every monster he saw before being able to fulfill his assignments on the area. It had taken him less time than he thought he would need, and that's because he was the only one in the area. Normally there would be more players and thus less monsters as they would get killed.

Moreover, he had gotten the first kills so he had more loot.

This hour of grinding had also allowed him to level up once, and to level up some of his skills too. He also used this opportunity to place his AP which has stocked up to 25 now. After making every arrangement his status looked as such.

Name: Valiant Heart

Level: 12

Title: Monster Slayer

Race: Northman

Class: Berserker

Rank: Iron

HP: 1830/1830

MP: 200/200

Strength (+3 per level): 60 (206)

Agility (+1 per level): 40 (109)

Endurance (+1 per level): 40 (99)

Intelligence: 15 (20)

Wisdom: 5 (10)

Free AP: 0

Skills: -Mighty Strike (E, Level 8/10)

-Charge (E, Level 7/10)

-Wind Blade (D, Level 5/10)

-Parry (D, Level 3/10)

-Lunar Smite (C, Level 3/10)

-Crushing Blow (C, Level 2/10)

Adam could be seen smiling foolishly on his way to his second zone of grinding as he looked at his status, seemingly without a care in the world.

However, he suddenly jumped to the side, barely dodging an arrow. As the arrow hit the ground behind Adam it created a small explosion.

Adam looked at the origin of the attack. A figure was standing in a tree ahead of Adam, hidden. As the figure missed though it said "I get why she died now. Your bounty is deserved."

Adam tilted his head at the figure, who turned out to be a male from his voice, and said "A good assassin wouldn't speak with his target. What makes you think you can take me on?"

The man sneered and launched another arrow at Adam while jumping from the tree. Adam dodged that one too and began rushing at the assassin with a grin on his face.

The assassin firing arrow after arrow, but Adam was now blocking them with his sword. Because of his shooting the assassin was slower than Adam and the latter was quickly catching up.

However, as he reached the tree upon which the archer had first attacked him, he activated Mighty Strike and slashed behind him. There was seemingly nothing behind him, but as his sword reached behind him a person suddenly appeared, an assassin had been hiding.

Said assassin couldn't do anything though as the moment he appeared the sword had already made contact with his neck, and decapitated him.

Critical Hit! -2087 HP! Decapitation!

The archer was shocked and Adam said "Good teamwork, but it was obvious you were baiting me, I know you aren't that slow"

As he said that the archer bolted off, way faster than before, but Adam smirked and finished his sentence " but so am I."

He disappeared from where he stood and quickly caught up with the ranger. As he did he sheathed his sword and tackled the assassin to the ground.

The archer tried to resist and get out of his grip but nothing could be done. He might be Level 17, he was a Ranger who focused on Agility first, and in front of Adam who had among the best equipments, his struggles were useless.

Adam grabbed the archer by his neck in a choke hold and got back up. Since he was taller than the assassin the latter's feet didn't touch the ground, so he had loosened his grip on his throat as not to choke him to death.

But as he tried to walk to the body of the other assassin who tried to sneak up on him, the archer suddenly took out a dagger and attacked Adam's arm, making him drop the archer.

-130 HP!

Unfortunately for him, Adam was angered by that, so the archer had barely made contact with the ground when Adam's foot hit his temple, stunning him.

Critical Hit! -443 HP! Stunned!

Adam calmed his anger and stomped on both of the archer's arm, breaking them. His HP was low, but unlike last time he wasn't bleeding so he wouldn't die.

[Blackheart Ranger] (Level 17, Iron)

HP: 215/1100

This time, Adam didn't take him in a choke hold but instead took off the ranger's hood, revealing him to be a Wood Elf, and grabbed his hair before dragging him to his dead colleague.

The other assassin was a Catkin Assassin, and he had really been silent when he approached Adam. Unfortunately for him, Adam already knew he was there before he even moved.

When Adam first looked at the Wood Elf, he saw that he was Level 17, but Adam's theory was that with every level his assassins would also gain one level, so although that was only a theory it wouldn't hurt Adam to be more cautious.

Then, when he saw how slow the Ranger was, Adam's suspicions were really high. What sealed the deal though was the arrow coming at him. Except from the first arrow that would have stunned him with the explosion, none of the following arrows had any skills to them, if they hit Adam they wouldn't slow him down at all.

But a Ranger's way to fight was to kite his enemies, so it became obvious to Adam that he was being baited. So as he was on his guards, he stopped paying attention to the ranger and instead focused all his senses on his surroundings, and waited for any unusual shift.

That's why when the Catkin Assassin sneaked up behind him, he immediately felt it and turned around while slashing, instantly killing the assassin and decapitating him.

In Epoch, there were two ways to activate a Critical Strike: Luck, and hitting vitals. Because he had hit the neck, it had been a critical strike. And since his damage value was above his target's remaining HP, he decapitated him.