“Let’s see. Which ones am I going to place on the bracers, hoof boots and helmet,” I said while chewing on a fruit I harvested in the garden. Beltis was beside me also eating fruits. Little Pony wasn’t here. I saw him earlier doing his tutorial bits for some newbie Mardukryons. I turned my inventory to Beltis. “What do you think?” I asked her.

She said cheerfully, “I’m sure Big Brother knows best what to do.”

“I’m not really sure what to place here. I don’t have many of the ones that I like.”

“I’m sure the plants will grow well,” she said.

I raised my brow. Or brows, since I have four eyes, so I was supposed to be raising two brows from one side of my face. Hold on a minute. I felt around my eyes and came to a powerful realization. “I only have one set of eyebrows,” I said in fake shock. My lower eyes don’t have eyebrows, just little bumps of ridges for the eye socket. I looked at Beltis who was beaming up at me. What were we talking about? Oh yeah. “Beltis, can’t you see this?” I said pointing to my floating inventory interface.”

“See what? The plants?”

“You can’t see it although other players can see my interface if I turn it to them.” I shrugged. It was probably made that way to prevent immersion breaking. And it would be admittedly weird if they could see our game stuff or talk with us about real world things. Only the Dalkanus does that. But then again, according to the story, he took us from our world to play a game here, so it was consistent lorewise.

Anyway, back to choosing what Integral Bit I was going to put on my bracers and helmet. I got these equipment as a reward for completing the quests of Sumuel. I declined the rest of the rewards which weren’t gear or were gear that I didn’t find useful in favor of a future discount on purchases. However, I made a deal with him to make me a hoof boot with some of the event loot I had. The loot from the worms were sitting in my inventory doing nothing anyway.

I shook my head remembering my time down the mines. My god, that level five was annoying. Maybe when I upgrade my gear tomorrow I would be able to safely farm level five. But by tomorrow we would already leave for the massive Hunt.

I was only able to get deep down level five because our hero, Alaparos, the strongest Mardukryon NPC, pimped-up golden bro, led us, shredding everything in his path. Several Wraithpede Larve met their doom at the hands of Alaparos. There were many players who followed him so we were mostly just trying to get the loot first before the others.

Most of us stopped outside the entrance to the sixth level of the mines because we didn’t want to be collateral damage in the fight against the Wraithpedes. I tried to collect as much of the items for my quest on the level five as possible but it was hard due to the number of players down there as well.

When I returned after the event ended, I found out that I couldn’t explore far into the fifth level of the mines because I was too weak. Strong crystal crabs spawned all over the place because there were only a small number of players to keep their populations in check. I had no choice but to camp out near the tunnel connecting back to the fourth level and ran back up when too many strong crabs spawned in level five. I didn't bring Balasi along because he would die there. He better focus on his mining skills if he really wanted to tunnel deep down the mountain.

I ended up making a garden inside the tunnel between the two levels since I was hanging around the place until I was able to completely collect everything I needed from level five. That was so fucking tedious. Extracting then running back when more than one crab on level five spawned. But I am patient and long-suffering, like I god, so in the end, it was all fine. And I was able to grow two gardens simultaneously.

I exhaled. “I better reserve the Integral Bits that give percentage armor bonus effects for bigger pieces. I think I’ll put this one on my glove.”

Plated Gauntlets of Hardiness

(Gloves)(Heavy Armor)

45 Armor

50/50 Durability

Effects:

+7 Strength

+7 Vitality

Requires:

Level 12

Strength 36

Vitality 50

Minor Integral Bit: Chitinous Larval Plate 1/5

+30 Health

+10 Armor

Besides all sorts of crafting items, I have farmed several Minor Integral Bits while I was down in the mines. I also had a few Normal ones. I had no qualms with using all of them for my full gear upgrade before the experience boost event this weekend. I have to be able to take advantage of the event by attaining my full potential using the resources available to me. And I didn't want to be the weakest link during the Hunt.

As for the helmet, I chose to apply two Minor Integral Bits called Solidified Healing Slivers.

Closed Frost Helm

(Helmet) (Heavy Armor)

65 Armor

55/55 Durability

Effects:

15-27 Retribution Cold Damage

Requires:

Level 15

Strength 37

Vitality 56

Minor Integral Bits: Solidified Healing Slivers 2/4

Health Regeneration +35 Health per second

I have yet to try out what that Retribution damage does. It was probably different from Reflect damage. The boost to my health regeneration from the Minor Integral Bit was good. As for my boots, I knew what I would add to it. It was my only enchanted level item for now.

Proudly presenting my hoof boots! Never have imagined in all my days in gaming that I would get excited in wearing four boots instead of the usual two.

Talgash Grubling Hide boots

(Boots) (Standard Armor)

45 Armor

43 Evasion Rating

Effects:

Your enemies are poisoned when they hit you (100 Acid Damage over 5 seconds) (Stacks up to 4 times)

15% Chance to slow poisoned enemy by 20%

Passive skill:

Acid Drips: Once in a while, the Taglash Hide will excrete drops of acid. Woe to any enemy nearby who gets hit by the acid.

Every 0.8 seconds, an acid projectile will be discharged, dealing 45 damage to a single target nearby

Every 1.6 seconds, an acid projectile will be discharged, dealing 85 damage to a single target nearby

Every 3.2 seconds, an acid projectile will be discharged, dealing 180 damage to a single target nearby

Look at that shit! Look at it! A legitly useful item. Did I just use legitly as an adverb? Was that even a word? Anyway, the item was very powerful. I suppose any item will look powerful given our relatively crappy gear.

Sumuel gave me several options on what item to make with the loot from the Wraithpede event and I chose this one because this fits with my build well. The other options were more offensive based. My wallet groaned from the crafting costs, that was why I had to work hard to earn more rings to upgrade my gear.

For these special boots, I chose to use my Integral Bits, the Normal ones, not the Minor Ones.

Integral Bits: Jagged Spiny Shell (2/4)

20 Armor

56 Retribution Armor Pierce Damage

+10% Total Retribution Damage

Retribution was just one of the types of effects that gets triggered when a player was hit. Perfect for a tank. Other effects would be Reflect, Dissipation, and more. All of them would be utilized by my build in the future. Retribution only takes effect if I received damage; if I blocked or evaded an attack, then it wouldn’t be triggered. And it was also affected by things like percentage increase in elemental damage, in the case of elemental Retribution.

I smiled at my inventory. My build was slowly coming together. For now, I think it was better to focus on getting items that dealt damage passively since my skills already boosted my defenses.

“Wait, what’s the time?” I said as I checked the interface. “I have to do a trade at the market.” I actually had an alarm set but I remembered what I was supposed to do without it going off. Getting late was a huge "no no" for me. Whether in the real world or the virtual world.

I rushed to farm the fruits that were already ripe and gave Beltis the fruits that were of inferior quality. Inferior as in they gave less health when eaten. I tasted a high-quality fruit and compared it to an inferior one and they tasted the same. I wasn’t about to give an NPC child something that was rotten or could make them sick. I’m not a monster.

Tomorrow, I would return to harvest the rest. I didn't plan to plant some more because I was going to join the Hunt and I wouldn't be able to return to the village for a few days.

I charged off to the market so that I wouldn’t miss my appointment. My whole week while playing Nornyr was divided into farming the mines, gardening, and trading, with trading taking up a lot of time. I would probably have reached level nineteen by now if I didn’t spend that much time in trading, but I had to, to get better equipment.

There was a small stall on one side of the market, manned by a Mardukryon NPC who had lots of piercings. It was sort of our auction house. You list an item there, name your lowest, and hope somebody comes along to bid it up. We rarely use the auction house. Given our small population, the prices fluctuated a lot and most of us didn’t want rings or currency. There was a preference on trading items for items in return, that way, each person got what they want and there would be no fight as to the conversion of items into the unstable currency.

This would also mean that trading involved a lot of haggling, that was if you could even find a buyer who was willing to pay with the item you want in the first place.

Maybe if we had more players, the forces of economy would stabilize the auction house. Most of the stuff there were high-level items anyway that I couldn’t use anytime soon, nor do I have money to buy.

“Where’s this guy? Uh…” I checked his name again on the poster, one of many that littered the boards put up in the center of the market. “CragHeadDave. Hmmm, it’s a bit hard to tell what kind of player a person is by their name.”

Posters about the upcoming event this weekend were placed prominently in the center of the boards. All players, level fifteen and above, were invited to participate. I also spotted my poster selling some minor poison and healing potions I made from my plants. I needed to earn money and there was no point for me to use the weak items. Might as well get money out of them since I was just making them to unlock the higher tier plants.

I looked at the other players going about their business in the marketplace. Once I get super powerful poison plants, I wonder how fast you people will die.

"I almost forgot," I mumbled as I went to the auction house to buy a poster. I had two more Integral Bits that I didn't intend to use. One of them was going to be traded later. The other one, I was going to trade as well. But I needed to post my offer first.

I walked back to the board with the experience event poster and placed my item for trade near it.

[Message Received]

CragHeadDave: Sorry I’m a bit late. Galloping there now.

I sighed. People who had no concept of time should be trapped in a time loop. It irked me to no end to wait for someone who was late and who didn't have a legitimate reason for being so. Waiting for someone was a waste of time. If time wasting was the issue, I’d rather waste it on my own terms.

I replied, It’s fine, I’m by the big poster for the event.

This guy added me earlier. There was absolutely no need for people to be in-game friends for them to trade. You see a poster with something you want, you message that person, meet up, trade. Maybe haggle a bit. Done. Go your separate ways. I only wanted to be friends with people that I have traded with several times. Like the Pathfinder named Raphael54nt1 who bought my poisons as an additional boost to his spear throwing skills. Poison-tipped spears. Love that guy.

But this guy CragHeadDave?

[Message Received]

CragHeadDave: Did you see what I messaged? “Galloping there now.” Galloping because we have horse bodies.

A smiley face. Could someone give me four more eyes so that I could roll eight eyes at the same time? Of course, I didn’t reply. Better read some documents to cool off my head. I still had some work to do for my law firm, but my load was drastically lessened because I was contracted by JYE Corporation. My load was trimmed down to mostly reviewing contracts. It was one of those things that you do faster the more experienced you become. During my first year as a lawyer, I had to cross-check every provision of contracts I read. Now, I knew what to look for so I was infinitely faster than my noob younger self.

After fifteen minutes, that guy arrived. A Hunter-Warrior level twenty. I think I saw him once during the Wraithpede invasion event.

“There you are,” I said. “Let’s get the trade going.”

“Sorry ‘bout bein’ late,” he said, while he was trying to catch his breath. Which was weird, since we didn’t get tired inside the game. This was some high-level immersion gaming going on. “I galloped here as fast as I could. 'Cause, you know, horses gallop.”

I ignored his statements and reminded him about our deal. “So, that was one Razor Edge for a Jagged Spiny Shell.” The Razor Edge was an Integral Bit that gave critical attack chance and critical damage multiplier, fitting for an offensive type of gameplay. Something he wanted. I wanted the Jagged Spiny Shell.

I placed my Razor Edge in trade and he placed his Jagged Spiny Shell as well. Hopefully, I could find one more Jagged Spiny Shell to complete the set and find out what new bonus it gave. I scoured the posters for a few days with no luck. Perhaps, during the Hunt, I could find someone who was willing to part with their Jagged Spiny Shell.

We both locked in our items to trade. It was a feature to prevent switching out items during the trade. Satisfied that the items we wanted were present, we concluded the trade.

"Thanks for that. I really needed the Jagged Spiny Shell," I said, giving off the aura of a generic nice person. "Just one more and I'll be able to complete it."

"I'm lookin' for a few other pieces m'self," he said. He turned and looked at the board. "I don't think I've seen this one yesterday. This yours?" he said pointing at my newly put up poster.

"Yes. You need a Spiteful Ooze?" It was an Integral Bit dropped by a Spite Piglet during the event. It added poison damage over time to attacks and increased a player's physical damage depending on the consecutive attacks on the same enemy. Ideally, a boss killing Bit since it stacks damage over long fights. Quite a powerful Integral Bit. "I just put up the poster because I spent a few days deciding on whether to trade it or not." The truth is that I just forgot about it when I ran out of money to buy more posters because I splurged on buying bottles for my mixtures.

"It's a good thing that I found it first then. There are many people who want it."

Oh-ho. Many people want it. It was a really good item. I said, "That was why I was thinking for a few days whether to keep it or not. It's an event Integral Bit and all..."

"Trade it with me," he said instantly.

"What do you have to offer? Surely it's not the same worth as one of the usual Integral Bits we can find around here."

"Ummm, what do you want? I don't have a lot of Integral Bits left. I'm also saving others. Maybe you want Minor Integral Bits?"

"I'm really sorry but I was sort of planning to trade this with a lot of good items," I said. "I don't have very good gear as you can see." I did have crappy gear at that time because I was going on a buying spree tomorrow.

"Uh, uh, how I about I give you rings?" he said frantically.

"I'd really prefer items. Sorry." No way I was going to trade something that could stack damage that easily. "I think this item could be equal to completed set of Integral Bits." I don't even know what that item was really worth. He was the one who said it was worth a lot. Originally, I was fine with trading it with another Integral Bit and some few random items since it was an event item and all.

He looked downcast. I wasn't being a jerk, right?

"Yeah...it would be worth at least a completed set of Bits." He exhaled. "I really wanted it 'cause I'm 'bout to complete my set. I traded a lot of stuff for my other pieces and I'm kind of drained right now. I don't have a complete set of anything."

"Well, what do you have?"

"Just random stuff. Several Integral Bits that don't make a set. 'Course that really isn't worth the same as a full set. Got Meddled Blood, Aether Shard ...uh...some Chilled Steel-"

My ears pricked up a little. "How many Chilled Steel?"

"Just four of them. Not enough to make a set. They're kinda hard to find but not many people want them because they work best if you get hit."

I paused and looked up as if I was thinking, but I already made up my mind. "Alright then. Four Chilled Steel for my Spiteful Ooze."

"Really?" he said, smiling broadly. "That's really an unfair trade, man. I need to make it up to you."

"No need, no need," I said, patting his shoulder. Without him, I wouldn't know that the Spiteful Ooze has a high value. I could complete my Chilled Steel set, and I also have a potentially powerful friend. Albeit an annoying one. I was somewhat conflicted because he was annoying but a good guy. And this CragHeadDave knew how to gear his character. Just think of this as a future investment, I told myself. "Now, let's trade. I have a plane to catch after this."

I was going to the official Nornyr Online Convention in Maltwater City, gaming capital of our country.