"If I manage to get another one, will they stack?" I wondered as I lovingly gazed at my inventory. I replaced one [Wellness Ring] with my shiny new [Band of Loamy Revival]. "I suppose it would've stated if it didn't."

The condition for the buffs of the [Band of Loamy Revival] mimicked what Moa Manot did to heal itself—a player shouldn’t move, as if rooted to the ground, to gain damage reductions and percentage health regeneration.

It wasn't that restrictive for a tank.

Of course, tanks had to move: charging forward to taunt monsters, rushing to help allies, or retreating from lethal damage. But there were also plenty of times tanks had to stand their ground, like facetanking bosses or mobs after drawing aggro. Three seconds later, the buffs of [Band of Loamy Revival] would kick in and increase tankiness.

Returning to the village, I hurried to the auction house.

Another ring from Moa Manot would be great, but it wasn’t feasible to farm it myself.

A Relic Quality item? I couldn’t begin to fathom how incredibly lucky I was to get it after my first kill. How many times did I need to kill that monkey statue again before I found another one? Dozens? I wouldn’t be surprised if a few hundred more tries would yield nothing.

The main issue wasn’t my killing speed. That too. Though if nothing else, I could ask help from Kezo to instantly delete that boss. No, the real problem was that bosses respawned only every two hours. Consistently hunting Moa Manot every time it spawned, I’d only kill it a maximum of only a dozen times a day. This was if I didn’t sleep.

Despite its excellent effects, I had better use for my time than looking for a second [Band of Loamy Revival].

"Nothing for sale as expected." I sighed as I closed the auction house listing.

No one was farming a low-level boss like Moa Manot. If someone had looted that ring when they were newbies, they had no reason to sell it now because they wouldn’t expect demand for it.

“Maybe Kezo can ask around for me?”

“Herald! Herald Stone!”

The beating of hoofsteps and clinking beads announced the arrival of someone who might be able to find a copy of this ring among other players. “SpartanDonkey of the Expeditionary Legion, at your service.” He stopped before me, kicking up a pile of snow as he braked.

“Hi there,” I said, giving him a curt nod as acknowledgment. I wore an annoyed expression. “Luds is not with you?”

He got the message. “No, just me. Did he come to talk to you?”

“Did you send him my way?” I indirectly answered with an accusatory tone. “I thought the next time it’ll be the two of you who’ll interrogate me.”

“Interrogate? Such an aggressive word.” SpartanDonkey waved as if shooing away the bad atmosphere. “I didn’t tell Luds to come to you. He only asked if you were online. I honestly replied that you were. An innocent answer, that’s all. What should I have done? Lie? If he inconvenienced you, I apologize. I know he can be sort of… pushy.”

Pushy? I could think of other adjectives that better described Luds. “I don’t know why you guys are so interested in how our party killed Zoar Elab,” I said. “Kezo told me that the boss doesn’t drop anything good.”

“He’s right,” SpartanDonkey replied. “But the boss isn’t the interesting part. Your method is. We can help other parties fight stronger bosses if you share your strategy with us.”

An appeal for the greater good? A crafty argument. “I think you already know how we did it,” I nonchalantly said. “It shouldn’t be a big deal to you.”

My statement could be interpreted in two ways. The first was that I was telling the truth—our strategy wasn’t as spectacular as he assumed, certainly not a valuable secret he should be interested in. On the other hand, he might think I was downplaying matters to get him off my back and protect our ‘big secret.’

SpartanDonkey would likely interpret it the second way because of confirmation bias. He believed that I received a powerful item or skill from Mehubanarath and our party used it to defeat Zoar Elab with a weak—except for Kezodilla—and tankless party.

The more I evaded the topic, the more he’d think I was keeping valuable information.

His fault, not mine.

He raised a brow but otherwise kept his face impassive. I thought he would press me about it, but he changed topics. “I’m not here to ask you about that. Come on, relax. It’s not all business with me. I just wanted to follow up on how your quest with Bawu went.”

“Thanks for the help on that one,” I genuinely said. Even if his advice on how to find Bawu wasn’t successful, pointing me to her significantly progressed my plans. “I got an Ocadule from her—Arcane Poison Arts.”

“A poison Ocadule?” There was a glint in SpartanDonkey’s eyes. “Is that so…?”

“Only a basic poison Ocadule. I’m sure I can get better rewards if I continue with Bawu’s quests.” I repeated what I had told Luds to keep my story straight. Luds didn’t care about it, immediately bragging about his own Ocadule. In contrast, I could tell that SpartanDonkey was interested.

It must be because I got a different reward than if I met Bawu following his instructions. In his view, this was evidence that I had secrets. And he’d be right. But it wasn’t connected to the Zoar Elab fight in the way he thought.

“I saw that you were scanning through the listings.” SpartanDonkey gestured at the auction house. “Looking for anything specific? Maybe I could help you with it.” He hastily added with a slight smile, “I know what you’re thinking—that’s the first thing that comes to people’s minds whenever I offer to help them. This one’s on the house.”

A very untrustworthy house. Nothing was without a price to this guy. Even his tip about how to find Bawu was a deposit to his ‘favor bank account.’

“Kezo advised me to look for low-level items with high Quality,” I said. “There might be some for sale that I could buy for a cheap because—”

“Because no one else will buy them?” SpartanDonkey finished. “Good advice. The problem is that prospective sellers might not bother to list their items for that same reason.”

“You’re right. I couldn’t find the ring that Kezo told me to get.” I was sure Kezo wouldn’t mind that I used his name in my made-up story. “I’m looking for this ring dropped by Moa Manot. Kezo told me it’s a good beginner’s item for tanks.”

“The something of Loamy something,” SpartanDonkey said. “I can’t remember its exact name, but I recall Moa Manot’s ring. It was popular for tanks long ago when players were starting out; Kezo probably remembered it from back then.”

“But nobody is selling it now.”

“It will be hard to find, yes…” SpartanDonkey scratched the bottom of his tusks. “Could be that somebody has one stored away in the depths of their stash. I’ll try to ask the boss hunters, including the former ones. They’re the people likely to have that Loamy ring.”

“That’s just a hassle for you,” I said. “It’s only a ring. I can wait until I reach level twenty to buy a different one. There are good level-twenty rings on the market. I’ll be upgrading my gears by then anyway.”

“I don’t mind looking for Moa Manot’s ring. You know I want to help the community in any way possible. I’ll see what I can find to help your tank build.”

“Uh…thanks for that.” If the price was right, I’d bite and give him the Zoar Elab logs he wanted. He’d try to lowball me, but confirmation bias would lead him to offer something higher than what the battle logs should be worth. Who knows, maybe he’ll have something I’d find helpful for my build. “I’ll get going now,” I said. “I have a quest to complete.”

“One other thing.”

“What is it?”

“Has Chimi talked to you?”

“Recently? No. The last time we met was after I completed a Contract for Swineling Fur. He wanted me to farm more materials, but I declined because I’m leveling for the Great Hunt.”

“I see,” he nodded. “Yes, the Great Hunt is coming soon.”

“Artas or Essence, that’s my dilemma.” I could tell SpartanDonkey wanted to hire me for a Contract. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chimichangaroo approached him to act as a middle-man to deal with me. “I’ll have to prioritize leveling even if the pay is good. As you said, the Great Hunt is coming soon, and time is something Artas can’t buy.”

“That is true.” SpartanDonkey chuckled, although his laughter didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’ll see you around.”

“Ancestors bless you, youngling,” Healer Gula said after I gave her the prickles of a Vinereaver.

I had an amused smirk on my face. “They probably did bless me with awesome luck.”

“For your rewards.” She swept her staff in the air, showering me with blue and violet sparkles, Essence and Gli, respectively. Artas was added to my inventory. But that wasn’t all—she also gave me an Ocadule Skill Shard.

Lvl. 1 Restorative Blessing: Share your energy with an ally. Restore (90) Health and (20) Energy over 3 seconds for you and a selected target.

Cooldown: 9 Seconds

“Thank you for this, Healer Gula,” I said, though I wasn’t going to use [Restorative Blessing] for my build. It wasn’t a bad skill, even if it was of Common Quality. If I were a dedicated Healer, this would be a good beginner skill to start my build.

I asked Healer Gula if she needed anything else. She had no immediate requests because she wanted to focus on making her new concoction since I delivered the final ingredient. In any case, I still had two more pending quests from her—delivering a letter to Bawu and returning her dangerous potions.

But before I descended the tunnels, I went up the Cliff Village. Pathfinder Gibil deserved another bottle of [Peely Fruit Wine] for leading me to Moa Manot. That did mean I had to dance for the crimson goat, but I was in a victorious mood, so I did it with gusto.

Maybe there’s a dancer Ocadule somewhere?

As I approached Gibil’s lonely corner, I heard shouting. I hurried to see what was going on. Gibil was arguing with another Mardukryon NPC. They broke off when they saw me approach, and the female Mardukryon marched past me. At first, I expected it to be Yusa continuing their love storyline.

But it turned out to be…

“Yusa’s mother?” I said, my brows furrowed. I turned to Gibil. “What is she doing here?”

“Youngling! I need your assistance. Yusa has gone missing!”