The 5th stair had a rather pleasant surprise. No monsters, and no arrays, instead there was just a chest. Corwin opened the chest excitedly, hoping for a good item. Inside was something he, in the moment, valued more than an epic item. The one time use item, lesser mana imbuer. It gave a permanent +1000 to MP. This was exactly what he needed to have enough mana to draw intermediate arrays, and would improve his combat prowess by letting him add more powerful high mana skills (once he found or bought skill books for them).

Sure enough, when he reached the sixth step he was expected to draw the intermediate fighting suppression array. Furthermore, his opponent was a greater lord and a full level higher to boot. He looked him over before getting to work.

Balroth, the berserker, Level 8 Humanoid Greater Lord.

HP: 300,000/300,000

MP: 100,000/100,000

He drew the familiar symbols of the intermediate fighting suppression array, working quickly as Ihe didn’t want to waste any mana. His sword carved out lines of mana in the air, as he mapped the nine concentric circles and inscribed them. Three each for Strength, Constitution and Agility, whose symbols were placed on the outer edge of the circle at equal ninths. A crossed sword and spear were drawn through the circles to complete the array. He completed it with 98% completion, enabling 145% suppression. 145% suppression from an intermediate array was no small thing. He then looked at Balroth, the Berserker.

Balroth, the berserker, Level 8 Humanoid Greater Lord.

HP: 30,000/30,000

MP: 100,000/100,000

While the array did nothing to hurt mana, the 10x HP drop was exactly what was needed. Greater Lords were designed to be team fights not solo mobs. Even with less HP than any monster he'd faced so far and greatly reduced strength and agility this fight would not be easy. He could only hope the 10x reduction in stats turned off the rather powerful skills that greater lords possess. He didn’t have much time to think as the berserker approached him with his great axe. He used wind charge to close the last few steps and was grateful he still had mana for skills. Corwin's swords hit home as he dodged a wild slash from the great axe.

Fortunately, Balroth continued to execute a wild pattern of normal attacks, focused on strength. Corwin was quite content to dodge and plink away at his HP. At 80% health, the berserker executed “Berserker’s Roar” which froze Corwin for 3 seconds as a mental control skill. Unfortunately, it wasn’t classified as a stun so the boots didn’t reduce the level. Those 3 seconds felt like an eternity as two powerful chops of the axe hit home. Corwin's HP was down to 20%. He dodged the 3rd chop right as he regained control of my body and quaffed a potion. He waited with Balroth at 61% health for a while, making sure to get my HP to full and get good timing on reducing him to 60%. Corwin dodged his swing and attacked him mid-swing to maximize the time it would take for him to attack.

Sure enough, Berserker’s Roar stunned Corwin for 3 seconds again and he was hit once more by 2 wild slashes once more going to 20% health. Fortunately, he had enough time to dodge the third and still had plenty of health potions. Drinking one, he reengaged.

Attacking him down to 40% was a simple task, but getting stunned and hit twice wasn’t very fun. Dodging that 3rd attack was rushed, it almost seemed like the berserker was getting faster. This was also costing Corwin a lot of potions. He tried not to worry about anything unrelated to combat as he focused his full attention on his enemy. Corwin saved disrupting blow for when the berserker was down to 20% as sure enough his berserk unlocked his suppressed skills. His first skill was ‘chain combo’ a rapid series of 5 axe attacks that Corwin had to use vanishing steps to avoid. His second skill was ‘axe spin’ a powerful AoE that was fortunately stationary. Between parry and a rapid back step Corwin managed to avoid taking damage. The third skill Corwin decided to let through as well, It was a power cleave, which was fortunately easy to dodge.

Corwin knew greater lords tended to have five skills and expecting the berserker to use them in ascending order Corwin had to let the fourth skill through also. It was unfortunately a buff skill making the greater lord stronger and faster. The fifth skill was dealt with through a nice disrupting blow that fortunately succeeded. Corwin fought aggressively, chipping away at the rather low HP of the greater lord. When he used his speed skill at his faster pace Corwin was hit once before he could vanishing steps away. That one hit took 40% of Corwin's health away, so he knew mistakes could easily be lethal. Fortunately, his power skills were slower and easier to dodge. He imagined that cleave was something that could one shot him should it connect. Corwin hit him to 6% HP after dodging the cleave and was in for a horrible surprise. He was using the buff skill again which meant it could stack. Fortunately, his 2nd stack came on just as he was reduced to 5% HP, meaning that the berserker froze to charge up his power move. Corwin burst out his skills and with the berserker's low health it couldn’t last the duration of the timer. The berserker collapsed in a white flash, falling to the ground.

Corwin paused to catch his breath and was rather relieved to have won the fight. Beating the greater lord was an achievement in and of itself. He looted the corpse, getting 8 mana crystals (9 total), and an iron tier level 8 intermediate fighting suppression array. If one were new to Eternity’s Wake one might have expected a gold tier array from a greater lord. However intermediate arrays are a more powerful category of item, meaning that their rarity is increased. Thus, even a greater lord would only drop iron tier intermediate arrays. Silver and Gold were the products of Ultimate Lords and King class monsters, those were existences one shouldn’t even think about this early in the game. Corwin also checked his notifications. His slash and parry had both reached level 2 during the fight.

Finally, having fully recovered, he stepped onto the 7th stair and looked at his opponent.

Estrea, Wizard, Level 8, Greater Lord

HP 100,000/100,000

MP 300,000/300,000

Corwin shuddered to think what would happen if he had to fight these battles without the powerful suppression arrays. Fortunately, this was an array he knew well. Even more fortunately, Wizards were quite weak if the suppression turned off their abilities, making the first 80% of the health bar straightforward. Corwin smiled as he told himself he could do this. His sword lit up with mana as he channelled the first stroke of the array pattern.

Corwin Swordborn

Spoiler : Level 7: 40% of level 8

Str: 209 (base:5)

Agi: 239 (base:35)

Con: 209 (base:5)

Int: 117 (base:5)

Cha: 117 (base:5)

Lck: 69 (base:5)

Cnc: 69 (base:5)

Sta: 69 (base: 5)

Def: 577

MDef: 355

HP: 2163/2163

MP: 2295/2295 (base: 1000)

Gear:

MW: Iron Tier Level 7 Longsword, +14 Str, +14 Agi, +14 Con

Base Damage: 56-64, Durability 24/25, Requirements: 42 Str

OW: Iron Tier, Level 7 Shortsword, +14 Str, +14Agi, +14 Con

Base Damage 42-49, Durability 25/25, Requirements: 42 Str

MA: Iron Tier Level 8 Plate, +16 Str, +16 Agi, +16 Con

64Def,32MDef, Durability 48/48, Requirements:36 Str

LA: Silver Tier Level 8 Plate Cuisse, +32Str, +32Agi, +32Con

128Def, 64MDef Durability: 64/64 Requirements: 64 Str

B: Iron Tier Level 6 Plate Gloves +12 Str, +12 Agi, +12Con

48Def,24MDef, Durability 29/30, Requirements: 36Str

G: Silver Tier Level 8 Plate Boots +32Str +32Agi +32Con

128 Def, 128MDef Durability 128/128, Requirements: 64Str

RR: Gold Tier, Level 8 Ring of Hidden Attributes (+64 All base attributes, +64 All Hidden Attributes)

LR: Silver Tier, Level 8 Ring of Elements (+32 All base attributes,

Ignore 1.6 Levels, Ignore 1.6 Equip Levels

AM: Iron Tier, Level 8 Amulet (+16 All base attributes)

Skills:

Time Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 0

Space Manipulation, Special, Tier 0, Level 0

Thunder Slash, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Wind Charge, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Disrupting Blow, Rare, Tier 0, Level 1

Double Slash, Uncommon, Tier 0, Level 1

Slash, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Pierce, Common, Tier 0, Level 2

Parry, Common, Tier 0, Level 2