With all the set-up out of the way, Chan Si was finally capable of farming at full speed once she arrived at the Weeping Forest.

Here the trees hung heavy with vines, the vines heavy with flowers, the flowers heavy with human faces, and the faces heavy with tears. Looking at them would cause them to close themselves off with their petals, as though they could not stand being seen to cry even as they cried so endlessly.

Although the area's mushroom enemies hit hard, they were slow attackers with low overall DPS and came in aggro groups of one large mushroom enemy and many smaller mushroom enemies. Gearme would eliminate the large one in a single shot while the rest were tanked by Ulna, Maybetasty, Fuel, and Brighty, before the enemies would all be eliminated at once by Pickapart. This strategy was not very heal intensive for Sunshine due to how many tanks the party had, so she continued to level her woodcutting while combat was ongoing.

After an hour of farming, Gearme was level 17 and everyone else level 16! Gearme gained a new [Skill], Mark Target, which had a twenty second cooldown and would cause the selected target to take 10% more physical damage for eight seconds. It wasn't a lot, but would slightly increase how powerful of an enemy Gearme could one-shot.

Chan Si's farming would have gone faster if she had picked different enemies in a different area, but she wanted to kill these because the large mushrooms in the aggro groups were Uncommon enemies that could drop a good item in combination with Gearme's Repeater, and would have been too expensive for Chan Si to buy herself for some time.

And indeed, she stopped when she found it. The Uncommon level 1 Pendant, [Red and Purple Mushroom on a String].

The item, despite the lackluster name, had an excellent effect. Every time the wearer used a [Skill] with a base cooldown of at least thirty seconds, it would make them to jump very high as part of using the [Skill]l, so long as the target of the skill could still be targeted at the height of the jump and also the user was not already in the air.

The jump could even be used to avoid enemy attacks and [Skills] if one timed it right!

Fall damage was very low in GTO, even falling from the highest point in the game would cause one to take only 1% max health damage maximum. This was because many [Skills] moved targets around, so although, say, pushing an enemy off a cliff was a valid form of crowd control, it was not a valid form of damage usually. Most falls players had access to in regular combat would only deal 0.1% or 0.2% max health damage.

However, the item did have a downside, jumping was non-optional while equipped, if one used an appropriate [Skill]. For many this sort of chaotic movement would make it too difficult to use their [Skills].

But not for Chan Si.

She began idly farming while she tested various interactions with the pendant. Of course with either Quick Shot or Hobbling Shot, Gearme would jump, as expected from the [Skill]. It was a height of about to the top of a medium sized tree. If Gearme attempted to use it while Ulna used Lift on him, neither would move, the jump simply did not go through due to Lift canceling the movement.

However, if Gearme used a [Skill] to jump and Ulna used Lift the moment after, although both still did not move, Ulna did take the fall damage that Gearme would have taken from falling the standard height! Furthermore, she could feel an intense pressure in her legs.

Now Chan Si was getting somewhere.

Her next test was to use Palm Push on Gearme at the same time Gearme jumped, which ended up causing simultaneous horizontal and vertical movement, as Chan Si expected.

Then she tested that if Gearme fell down head-first from a tree and used a [Skill] as Ulna grabbed him, would the previously observed effect inverse and she would jump? The answer was no, and she still took the effective fall damage. The same was the case for if Ulna was upside down - feeling the pressure on her skull - or both.

The enemies her group was casually killing during this test must have felt insulted.

Following that test, Ulna used Palm Push as Gearme jumped, then immediately used Lift on him.

She rocketed backwards, holding Gearme, the combined length and height Gearme would have traveled, combined!

Normally using Palm Push on an ally before using Lift would do nothing, but in this case it appeared the stopping effect from Lift on the jump would allow the interaction!

This sort of interaction, while technically possible for anyone, would be too unreliable due to the tight timing requirement on the activation of Palm Push and Lift in proper timing coordination with the jumper. Chan Si could guarantee her own success every time, however.

But, Chan Si was not finished!

Her next test was what if Ulna let go of Gearme immediately as she began shooting backwards. The answer was the expected, only Ulna traveled back. Then she attempted using the jump on Gearme a second time while Ulna was already moving backwards, but this had no result beyond Gearme jumping and Ulna moving back.

Then it was time for the most complex test yet. Jump and push, immediately Lift, have Gearme activate his ring's [Skill] just as Ulna ends the Lift, and then have Ulna Lift again before Gearme is out of range.

This ended up changing Ulna's direction of travel from backwards to forwards, although it did not add additional distance.

Chan Si could see no practical use for this tactic yet, beyond surprising enemies with very fast unexpected movement in PvP, but that did not mean it was useless. From this information she could gather a rough idea of the underlying mechanics causing the interaction, meaning she would be more able to accurately predict what other effects could interact in a potentially beneficial way.

Not only this, but the interaction could form the basis of something more useful later on.

When hunting for exploits, it wasn't about their raw usefulness, but the process of discovery, understanding, and unlocking potential!

Just as Chan Si was preparing to leave the area to farm elsewhere, the ground began shaking with a loud thud, repeated over and over again.

Even the trees trembled.

What Chan Si saw when looking for the source of the sound was a level 24 Rare enemy, [Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord].

It was the largest enemy Chan Si had seen yet, the top of its bulbous head reaching nearly as tall as the trees Gearme had been jumping to the top of.

Rare enemies were truly rare in GTO; although every area might have a few, they would be far outnumbered by common and even uncommon enemies. Some spots could have denser clusters of them, but these spots were themselves rare, and also very dangerous!

According to the wiki, the stats of the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord were no joke. Its melee attack could one-shot anyone in Chan Si's group, and it had an AoE attack with heavy Water DoT damage. Although the range on both were relatively short, it was a surprisingly fast enemy, even if Ulna used Lift on Gearme to kite it, it would catch up eventually and kill them both, and that was factoring in Hobbling Shot. Even the new exploit would maybe add only half a second more of life before death.

It even had the ability to destroy trees in its way with its movement or attacks!

This meant perching Gearme atop a very tall tree and raining down arrows on it would not guarantee safety by itself.

Chan Si formulated her plan to take it down despite these limitation.

First, she had Gearme apply two more sets of enchantments now that he could equip the boots and helmet. The helmet received three more stacks of range increasing, now the range for Gearme was at a tremendous 135% of its base value. Meanwhile, the boots received three stacks of an enchantment for increasing outgoing physical damage by 1% each.

The party set up some distance away and Pickapart began weaving against a weak enemy while Ulna stood there absorbing the blows.

Meanwhile, Gearme was up at the top of a tree, capable of surveying down below, thus capable of using his full range against the Rare enemy.

Once the timing was right, Gearme let loose a Hobbling Shot against the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord, then Mark Target as it was midair, followed up with a regular attack.

One shot after the other sunk into the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord. Wailing, it rushed towards Gearme's direction, each of its steps further shaking the environment.

Gearme saved his Quick Shot, instead using only regular attacks as the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord ran towards him.

Meanwhile, Ulna finished off the small enemy Pickapart had been fighting. Because the group was still in combat, the weave did not end, and Pickapart could continue to add to it.

Maybetasty and Sunshine contributed DPS through their ranged attack and fire spell respectively. Furthermore, Sunshine ordered both her elementals to use their ranged attacks. Fire, Light, and Toxic peppered the foe. It was not a lot, but every bit counted.

After having used two Gravity Binding Weaves and three Dark Charging Weaves, it activated the full weave effect [Lost Soul], which summoned a monster by the same name. This summon was a being meant to tank, with decent defensive statistics and a taunt on hit, though it only lasted for fifteen seconds and additional activations of Lost Soul would unsummon the old one.

With the Lost Soul out, Pickapart next used another Dark Charging weave - activating a useless End of Light - followed by a Light Pulling Weave as soon as the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord entered the AoE.

[Unsettling Truth]!

It was a 5 second debuff that made enemies damage themselves for 20% of the damage they dealt, though as Dark damage.

The Lost Soul struck the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord, taunting it and causing it to stop its mad dash towards Gearme. It immediately slammed down onto the Lost Soul with its giant fist, leaving nothing behind. The recoil from Unsettling Truth dealt a good chunk of damage to it, though like most enemies it had a large amount more health than damage.

Pickapart would not let it go from there, however. She expired the weave right on time with the enemy's finished attack, re-applying the debuff and summoning another Lost Soul. It attacked the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord, causing the Shroomlord to be unable to move on towards Gearme until it dealt with the annoyance.

Since it had such a slow attack, this bought nearly 3.5 more seconds with another chunk of damage being dealt.

Having finally taken care of the souls, the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord turned its attention towards Gearme once more. It finally reached his tree and began winding up a blow that would kill him.

Grasping Shadow!

The Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord was pulled back by Pickapart at the last moment, its attack whiffing the air. It sadly stomped forward once more and prepared to attack again.

Finally, Gearme unleashed his Quick Shot, leaping high in the air just as the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord struck. Splinters from the destroyed tree saturated the air just below him.

It was then that Ulna used Palm Push on the Shroomlord, causing it to move forward such that Gearme would land behind it rather than in front of it.

This was important as, although the Shroomlord was a fast enemy, it had a relatively slow turn speed! This was typical for large monsters. Since Gearme was in the air at the time it finished its previous attack, this strategy prevented the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord from seeing an enemy to wind up its attack for slightly longer.

The Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord turned around, tears flowing from its face as an incredible pace - a sign of its impending death - and approached in front of Gearme. It was a brittle, barely held together mess of mush, but it was no less lethal than when it had full health. It could end the life of its tormentor in a single blow, if it just got the chance. It wound up for its strike.

It struck.

But it was no use, before its blow landed a final shot from Gearme punctured between its beady tear-stained eyes, and the Overgrown Sobbing Shroomlord sobbed no longer.

Its corpse fell back, a final impact to the earth, where it finally lay silent and alone.

...

Looting time!