"Where in the blazing meatballs am I going to find this Pathfinder guy?"

The good news was that Arakmad didn't give me a riddle. The bad news was that he couldn't do his riddling nonsense because he, himself, didn't know exactly where to find Gibil, the Pathfinder. His instructions boiled down to asking around the village and hoping to get lucky.

After the laundry task that could be considered an epic adventure, I wasn't in the mood for quests that required much effort and brainpower.

This was a rare moment that I preferred a mind-numbingly tedious collection quest like what the NPCs usually asked of me. But I had to do this one, so I better get it over with. Besides obtaining information about the Great Quake and progressing the main quest, Arakmad hinted that he'd let me buy rare ingredients from his shop if I delivered a package to Gibil.

“I know what’ll make my mood better.” I opened my Akashic Configuration with the excitement of a child tearing the wrappings of his birthday present. I was so focused on my interface that I didn’t see a loose plank in my path.

My hoof got snagged, my legs tangled with each other, and I tumbled into the rope handrails of the bridge. The railings were too low, evidence of crappy Mardukryon construction. I went over it and involuntarily hugged the ground dozens of meters below.

“Woaaahhh!!!”

And I respawned in front of the Chief’s Lodge.

“Huh…now that’s a shortcut I haven’t used for some time.” I confidently nodded. “Yep, I meant to do that all along.”

Similar to the previous Ranks of my Mardukryon Compressed Integral Data Module, I had three choices—a physical DPS skill, a magic-oriented one, and the third was for support-type characters.

The first two skills increased Fire Element damage—one for physical attacks and the other for magical—and added a passive chance to Burn the enemy with attacks.

They differed in their effects when hitting a Burned target. The physical skill reduced Armor and absorbed a portion of the Burn damage as health. On the other hand, the magical counterpart reduced Magic Resilience and stole Ancestral Shroud or Energy in the case of other races.

Both were excellent options. If I were a DPS player, I’d be satisfied with them.

But what about the last choice?

Lvl. 1 Mantle of Kindling: Intense heat deep within bursts outward, enveloping you with protection from the ancestors. Punish those who would strike you by Burning them. (15% chance to Burn attacker with 10% of Attack and Magic Power per second for 4 seconds). Those Burned by any source will be weakened by (-5% Attack and Magic Power) when attacking you. Replenish (20 + 0.1% of Armor) Ancestral Shroud when you Head-On Block an attack from a Burned enemy; limited to once every second.

And this did fix my grouchy mood.

Burning the enemies hitting me would be an excellent addition to the debuffs I’d spread with my planned [Cloak of Plaguespreader] build. Sadly, the Burn damage would be pathetic—as a tank, I had low Attack and Magic Power. But the next effect of [Mantle of Kindling] made up for it. All Burned assholes who’d dare touch the Great Herald Stone would be weakened as if they had [Withering Brand] cast on each of them.

Hopefully, the chance to Burn would increase the higher the level of this skill so that I wouldn't get hit as much before the debuff would bite. As for the Burn damage, I'd just have to close my eyes and ignore it even though it irked me to no end that there was a component of the skill I couldn't fully utilize.

The last part of [Mantle of Kindling] piqued my interest.

Assuming I’d be continuously attacked and could defend with Head-On Blocks, I’d have additional Ancestral Shroud per second. This would help my AS problems using my [Greater Pyro Shell].

To increase the ‘life’ of my [Greater Pyro Shell], I’d need to have a larger AS pool and higher Armor as it was based on those two stats. However, using it costs a percentage chunk of my AS. I should match my AS regeneration as my AS pool increased; otherwise, my shell could block more damage, but I’d lack the AS to cast it.

The AS replenished by [Mantle of Kindling] scaling off Armor was another welcome synergy. I would stack Armor to make myself tanky anyway, on top of making my [Greater Pyro Shell] thicker. Additionally, the passive stacks of [Cleansing Flames] also gave Armor. Everything about my build was slowly coming into place.

[Cloak of Plaguespreader], [Mantle of Kindling]…what was next? Trench Coat of Dread? Double Breasted Suit of the Beast? It was like I was making a clothing store with these skills.

“There we go,” I said with a wide smile, pressing the button to unlock [Mantle of Kindling].

Yes, it was another mouth to feed with Gli. Yes, it wasn’t significantly helpful to me now. But it would have more impact at higher levels, so I wanted to get a head start working on it—this was my ‘logical’ justification.

The actual reason I picked it was that the prospect of setting enemies attacking me on fire was incredibly tempting for a tank! Just imagine the—

“Hey, new guy! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Someone I didn’t want to see popped my balloon of good mood. No, not the crimson goat who ordered me to dance—I wasn’t sure if it counted as a person from a Mardukryon’s perspective. This was someone I disliked more than the crimson goat.

The sound of clinking glass and arrogant hoofstesps announced the arrival of BeetsByLuds.

“Hi there, Luds,” I said with an acknowledging wave while keeping my voice neutral. A Mardukryon face was difficult to decipher, but I still tried to look friendly. “How’s it going?”

“Man, I’ve been searching for you everywhere for the past like ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Pure fucking luck that I decided to check the Chief’s Lodge. SD told me—you know, SpartanDonkey—that you were online, but he didn’t want to message you to ask where you were.”

SpartanDonkey did? Accepting him as an in-game friend was a mistake. I was going to bring this up with him later—a bargaining chip for negotiations. Dealing with Luds demanded compensation. But before that, I’d have to deal with this clown first.

“I’m doing quests for Arakmad,” I truthfully told him. “The guy selling bottles?” I bet SpartanDonkey already told Luds that I was visiting Bawu. No point trying to keep it a secret. And I might be able to capitalize on it.

“You’ve met Bawu?” Luds asked. I nodded. He patted my shoulder. “We’re now both sons of Bawu! Brother!” He raised his hand for a high five, but not that high because I was a youngling.

“Yeah, I guess we are,” I replied, wondering at what level my character would grow taller.

“What Ocadule did you get from her?”

“Arcane Poison Arts.” It was the Ocadule Bawu would’ve given me if I hadn’t found the hidden achievement of surviving her poisons. “An Epic Quality.” There, I threw you a bone.

“Epic, eh? I don’t know how to get that Ocadule, but I found something better from Bawu. A Masterwork Ocadule!” Luds continued to brag about his Ocadule and how strong it was.

I could sense he wanted me to ask how to get it. And so, I indulged his ego. “Can you tell me how to find that one? I think my Ocadule is too weak, just making poison bottles, unlike yours that can make explosives.”

Luds wagged his finger at me. “No can do. SD also asked me for it, but I told him I wouldn’t sell it for any price. Anyway, it’s not for you because you can’t use explosive flasks to self-inflict negative status. I heard from SD that you were looking for a way to activate the passive of Cleansing Flames yourself.”

“To be tanky,” I said. “SpartanDonkey’s advice was to drink potions with debuffs, so he pointed me to Bawu. Thankfully, I managed to get a poison-making Ocadule.”

“Man, you should’ve gotten Fiery War Stomp instead. Very powerful, especially when you get to level fifteen with GSPs. Huge AoE, tons of damage, long stun, and many other effects.”

I scratched the back of my horns, pretending to be embarrassed. “Erm, yeah…I already picked Cleansing Flames,” I hesitantly said, even though that wasn’t true.

Luds sighed while slowly shaking his head. “What’s done is done. Not saying Cleansing Flames is terrible, by the way. Don’t get disheartened with your choice—it’s suitable for support builds. Higher levels can clear all the negative status of the entire party. Sounds fantastic, right? That’s the use of Cleansing Flames!

“But…tanking? Why the hell did you think it was a tanking skill? The passive of gaining Armor and other crap when you have a negative status is just a bonus. A safety net until you can cleanse away your ailments. You’re tanky while waiting for your skills to cooldown, that’s it. You can’t make that the core mechanic of a tank build.”

I nodded and made sounds of agreement as he continued his enthusiastic lecture. Nitana commented before that Luds liked hearing the sound of his voice, and this was the perfect example.

Luds explained things I already thought of, like losing my tankiness once I’d use [Cleansing Flames]. He was too caught up in thinking in a meta way that he didn’t realize I was going for self-inflicted status effects to counter that issue. And I also didn’t share my unboxlike plans with the [Cloak of the Plaguespreader] synergy.

“Did Cheeseman tell you to do this?” asked Luds. “Such a wacky idea, man.”

“No, I was trying things on my own,” I said. “Seeing which ones work, which don’t.”

“And I’m telling you, backed by my extensive experience as a Mardukryon, to save your effort because your plan won’t work. There’s a reason why no one does it like that. Just forget about it.”

Meta is meta for a reason—that was essentially his message.

In a way, Luds had good intentions with his advice, even if condescending in his delivery. But he was too caught up thinking how right he was and refused to consider, any other views.

Meta is meta for a reason. But that didn’t mean meta was fixed forever; it keeps changing with time. And those blazing the trail of the new meta were the ones who broke the current one—people who didn’t think like a box.

I wasn’t delusional in thinking I was starting a new meta. Far from it, as my plans were admittedly in the gimmick category. But if a person only followed meta, they’d always be below the top. Followers were always behind the leaders. One had to go down an unboxlike route to get ahead, which could lead to success…or failure.

“I’m going to think about it,” I said. “Kezo haven’t taught me much about taking.”

“I knew it!” Luds said. “It’s better to come to me for advice rather than Cheeseman.”

“Thanks for the help,” I said. Obviously, he wanted to be helpful to look better than Kezo in my eyes and gain my trust.

Luds leaned down with a glint in his eye. “Speaking of tanking…how did you guys manage to kill the Living Statue without a tank?”

And there it was, the question he had been dying to get answered.

“Maybe it’s better to ask Kezo,” I said. “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say anything…and I didn’t know what was going on. I’m new, so I just followed his instructions.”

We went back and forth a bit, but I kept to my story of being an ignorant newbie, unaware of the specifics of what my party was doing. However, Luds was convinced—and he was right—that I was keeping something a secret.

“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine,” he said with a nonchalant chuckle. “We’re not party mates or anything. But know that you can trust me, you hear?” he added, conveniently forgetting that he tricked me into attacking Mirdabons and getting killed. “Maybe I can help you with the quest you’re doing now. Arakmad’s quests, was it? Is it his laundry? You’re in for a wild ride.”

“I’ve finished that one.” It wouldn’t hurt to ask him about this. According to him, we were ‘sons of Bawu,’ although the prospect of having Luds as a brother wasn’t enticing to me. “Not sure if you know, but there’s a Pathfinder I’m looking for…”