Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)



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/Almost half a day later…/

As the sun set on the horizon, the Raid team could be seen taking a slight rest as they sat on several large rocks overlooking a calm and crystalline lake, their second Major Waypoint after the tall tree on the hill.

And unlike their first waypoint, this lake had quite a bit of history.

It didn't have any rivers feeding onto it, in fact, it had none.

So the way it always maintained its overall water level had always been a mystery to those that took a slight moment to pay attention to it.

In the past, some of the founding members of the Southern Corps found a powerful current releasing water from below, signifying that the lake was fed by underground water reserves.

And by using the rivers that went all the way to the shore, the Corps would the Lake as a hub area for water transportation.

It was possible to see that due to the many buildings encased in vines in the distance, a remnant of a once prosperous port.

Even if Dale wanted to reactivate it, that would likely only happen in the extreme far future, since there is no significant use for it right now.

Why would he use an old water channel that connected somewhere to the middle of nowhere?

Perhaps if there were rivers up above where Resko is...

/Chomp…/

Meanwhile, they all took this moment of respite to eat and drink some water, after all, they'd been walking for over 16 hours non-stop, and they needed a moment to rest.

/BAM!/

"ARG!"

At least… Most of them needed.

/BAM!/

In the distance close to the shores of the lake, a duo of man and beast fought each other violently.

On one side, a massive beast taller than even Muddan.

It resembled a bald gorilla with three stripes of long fur on its back going all the way to its tail.

It had long claws in its feet while its hands were mostly bulky with patches of rough scaly-like material on the back of its fingers.

[Grand Raglanga

Challenge Level: 85-95

*Elite Variant*

*Field Boss*

Affected by:

#Vitality Outburst

] 

From head to toe, this monster was likely around six meters tall.

Its massive arms cast shadows over Dale, its teeth almost the size of his arms…

/ROAR!/

Despite that, Dale continued to fight it, delivering blow after blow… Barehanded.

But he didn't seem happy, in fact, his expression suggested the amount of stress he was going through and his immense struggle with achieving this feat.

This wasn't an easy fight for him.

In the end, it seemed that fighting a massive muscular beast in what it excelled at wasn't exactly a smart decision...

Things would be different if he had a weapon...

Though, how did he come to face this foe, in this situation?

/BAM!/

"GUUUUU!"

His right hand shining with red light, Dale delivered a fatal punch to the beast's sides, sending it tumbling down into the shorelines of the lake, sending sand and rocks all around.

"ROAAAR!"

/BOOM!/

The monkey beast swung its fists down, causing the ground and water to explode upwards as it dashed forward to him.

"Shit." Dale mumbled as he took a step forward

'I hate this damn forest…'

But he didn't have time to complain as the monkey arrived in front of him in the blink of an eye, it's two hands open wide to grab him.

/BOOOM!/

Dale punched upward, making use of their size difference to bypass the beast's defenses and strike its lower jaw, blasting it to pieces.

/THUD!/

/SPLASH!/

[DING]

And as the monkey fell onto the water, several notifications played in his mind at the same time.

"Haa..."

'Finally, I landed a good hit.'

'I felt like I was punching a sandbag.'

Dale inhaled deeply, his fight was over.

[+25965% XP]

[You have Leveled up] 

[You have Leveled up] 

[You have Leveled up] 

[You have Leveled up] 

[+12 to all Base Stats]I think you should take a look at

[Current Level: 59]

[You've gained, Stone Gauntlet of the Gray Monkey

  You've gained, Loot Coins x 460

]

[Your Skill, Close quarters Combat 3.5-Star has Leveled up to 4-Star]

[Your Skill, Prime Source 1.5-Star has Leveled up to 2-Star]

[Your Skill, Land Raptor 1.5-Star has Leveled up to 2-Star]

/Scratch…/

As he looked at the stained red water of the lake, Dale could only scratch his back in tiredness as he went over his life choices…

'I'm already Level 59…'

'This is what we call power leveling…'

'But… Sigh.'

'I barely had the time to enjoy my past privilege before it changed to this one, and it is now close to vanishing as well.'

'And I liked this one, it was one of if not the best one so far.'

'This Privilege made the biggest change of them all when compared to the others.'

'It removes all drop items from all monsters, exchanging them for "Loot Coins".'

'After the fight is over, I can then go over the monster's loot pool and exchange those Coins for items as long as I have enough of this strange currency.'

'Its other aspect and the most important one is the fact every Boss Monster will always drop its most valuable loot, which in this monster's case, is this pair of Stone combat gauntlets…'

[Stone Gauntlet of the Gray Monkey (Epic)

Rating: 6-Stars

+90 to Strength, -90 to Mental Power

Gives the Temporary Skills: Monkey Dance 3-Star, Grand Leap 3.5-Star, Hold Enemy 4-Star, Monkey's Warthful Crush 4-Star, Weight of the Mountain's Ruler 4.5-Star, Tree Dance 5-Star, Steal 5.5-Star, Tomfoolery of the Gray Monkey 6-Star, 

Requirements: Strength: 231; Constitution: 99; Dexterity: 6?; Reflexes: 222; Mana: 123

Description: The Gauntlets of the Gray Mountain's Ruler, believed to have been lost to time.

It's certainly strange for them to have in the possession of a nameless forest Monkey, but in a sense, such a fate can be said to be poetic.

Know mostly for his strength, the Gray Mountain's Ruler was also known for his foolishness and inappropriate behavior, something that seemed to have been passed onto his favorite pair of gloves.

They are unusually heavy, to the point it's questionable if they were truly made of stone, how was the old Ruler moved so smoothly with them despite their horrifying weight?

Was this a testimony to his Strength or…

]

As Dale silently read through the item's description, he let out an audible sigh.

'Another Epic item, I should be happy…'

'But this only makes me sadder.'

'These types of items reveal to me just how incredible this privilege truly is, but I'll likely only be able to kill one more Boss monster before it wears off.'

'I also gathered a few coins, should I try to exchange them for something in the Loot pool?'

'I defeated two extra monsters since I received this privilege and I have almost 1000 Coins, I can exchange anything in their Loot pool... But should I?'

'These won't remain here for long, they'll expire after a while, and I don't know if they'll all disappear once I become Level 60.'

'Meaning… I should try to milk its worth… Yet, can I?'

'Given Tina has forced me to fight the last two monsters barehanded, which was the reason why I'm not Level 59 and the reason my CQC Skill Leveled up, if we end up finding other monsters, she'll definitely 100% force me to face it again, throwing this privilege to waste as I would use my last "Guaranteed Gear Drop" on a random monster that appeared.'

'It would be incredible if a named monster appeared and I fought it, but leaving things to fate isn't ideal.'

'Regardless… This solves one of my previous Questions… That being what kind of items Level 100 players will see falling onto their laps in the end game.'

'If the best loot of this Level 90ish monster is this Epic pair of Gauntlets, then it's likely this will be the best kind of loot ordinary players will be able to get their hands on unless they have the means to do Overlevel content.'

'It may be even lower than this as this monster was an Elite Variant Field Boss, the kind of monster it would take dozens of players within its Challenge Level to complete.'

'If you add in the rarity of the item drop then it's unlikely many would be able to even own such item, assuming it's very rare to drop...'

'I know of at least two rarities above Epic, being Fable and Legendary as I own a Legendary item and a Half-Fable one, though I think there may be some rarities in between yet to be found, not counting things such as the 'Half' prefix.'

'That also means I was unlucky… Since considering there are some Low-Level monsters that can drop Legendary items, even if the chances are one in a million…'

'Had this monster been one such monster, wouldn't I have been able to acquire it?'

'My second Legendary item?...'

'Worse, it was only an Epic item… At least make it a Fable...'

'Of course, this could also mean that my calculations are completely wrong since this Epic item might be a few ranks above what monsters its grade might drop.'

'The contrary could also be said and this monster's drops were extremely low, which would've been a waste of my privilege but I can't win them all.'

'Either way, that is unlikely since the previous monster that I fought also dropped an Epic item upon defeat, and the chances of two monsters being like that are low…'

'But not impossible, and if I wasted such an incredible Privilege by hunting two trash mobs then I have nothing to say.'

'Another way to check is to see the loot of the monster through the Loot Coins, by comparing the Epic item to the average ranks of the other items I can determine with more accuracy if this drop was way above the usual or if it was within the expected.'

'When I checked the first monster, things were within the expected, the monster had many Rare Drops and several Unique ones, giving me the impression this is what most would wear when near Level 100...'

"Dale!"

"Hm?"

But as Dale inspected the Loot Coins' items, someone called him from afar.

"Well… It's not like I'm in a hurry."

'The time limit to choose the items within the Loot Pool is of 24hours.'

Dale turned around with a small smile, making his way to Tina and Testros.

He did deserve a rest.

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Notes