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169 - Staying Alive

From Garg-Ants, we moved on to clearing Blighted Goliath Magbeetles—giant insects with exoskeletons threaded with lava, reminiscent of a Mardukryon’s upper body—from the paths used by NPC Miners to rebuild the collapsed tunnel system.

The Goliath Magbeetles were level forty and challenging to kill, with hard bodies and long health bars—that’s what she said. Their bites and horn attacks were powerful, interspersed with caustic sprays that inflicted debuffs. They also r...

168 - How Sweet

Everywhere I turned, ugly Garg-Ants and their pinchers met me. I couldn’t see Paritor or Melonomi or the cavern anymore. Again and again, my health dropped to a sliver, an inch away from death, only to zoom back up. The red indicating danger permanently tinged my sight. Add that to the heaps of Bastions locking me in place; all I could see was red.

I’m too handsome to die like this!

Suddenly, a brick—a Garg-Ant’s head—fell off the wall of monsters surrounding me...

167 - Dream Turned Nightmare?

This is going to be easy, I giddily thought as we traversed the cramped tunnels of the Garg-Ants’ nest.

Paritor and Melonomi had higher levels than my previous teammates—Megan and Nitana had just stepped on level fifty. And this time, my party had a Healer. This run might be slower because we only had one DPS, but much safer.

I chose to do the Garg-Ants quest first since it was the lowest difficulty we had lined up. I was also familiar with the monsters, which meant f...

166 - Gathering the Dream Team

“There, we now have a healer,” I said to Paritor after we left the chaotic Chief’s Lodge, having signed up for two tunnel-clearing quests and one bodyguard duty. “We’ll meet them by the tunnel entrance. She has three new players with her. That completes our party.”

The healer I was talking about was Melonomi. This seemed an excellent start to inviting her to join Kezo’s party for the Great Hunt: two birds, one stone, as usual.

Thankfully, Melonomi was online. It turn...

ADGIT - Ch. 7

“Not exactly this very place,” Aileen corrected herself, sheepishly grinning. “We’re in the inner ward of the Hold. From all historical accounts—” she neglected her history lessons and had no right to utter those words “—the Blighted Multitude never made it past the innermost walls you see over there.”

She nodded at the tall window with an arced top across the hallway, her auburn hair tumbling out of her forehead to reveal sapphiric blue eyes.

The visito...

165 - The Courtly Summoner

The Asipu Ancestral Flame Form was among the Ocadule choices presented by Mehubanarath as a reward for the hidden achievement of killing a pack of Mirdabons solo. The other two were the Katinnu and my chosen Aritu Forms. Followers of the Asipu Form, Mehubanarath had explained, could mold their Ancestral Flames to call forth fire spirits. He even summoned a few of them to demonstrate.

I had considered going for Asipu but ultimately pi...

164 - Anemones on Fire

“Blazing meatballs!” I cursed through clenched teeth. The Damage-over-Time was bad enough; a diminished healing modifier made it worse. I didn’t recast [Greater Pyro Shell] even if it was off cooldown. The Cragodon might have other dangerous abilities in this phase. “Nitana, don’t use your barrier until I say so!”

The Cragodon’s branching horn radiated steel blue adorned with crackling purple lightning. A new skill! I healed myself—a quarter of my health bar still missin...

163 - On the Stage

“You… ugly butt!” I yelled my lame insult at the Buttress. I couldn’t think of a good pun, half surprised and half annoyed by the loss of my [Greater Pyro Shell]. A chunk of AS and my shell’s cooldown were wasted for nothing. “How dare you remove—hang on. Do ants have butts?” I asked, trying to escape the speedier Bastions.

The red Garg-Ants headbutted me as an answer.

Retreat or stay?

Fighting in the narrow opening to this room was my original plan....

162 - Party Ants

After exiting Mother Core Online and waking up in the real world—though I wasn’t actually sleeping while playing—I took off the AU-VR Helm, blurted some quick excuse to Jimmy, and rushed back to my room before the time I quoted was up.

“And my name’s Herald Stone!” I declared, materializing back into the game.

On second thought, I shouldn’t have told Jimmy I had a sour stomach. Any other work-related excuse would’ve been better.

I could’ve just kept my mout...

ADGIT - Ch. 6

“There’s so many of them!” Clement exclaimed. Hiero held his shoulder and gave him an assuring nod. Clement looked up at Hiero, his eyes stricken with fear though he tried his best to keep composed. “Wha-what are they?”

“Werswach Reyuseh, the people of the east calls them,” Hiero replied.

“Werswach… Decaying? Or blighted? Blighted Giants, is it?”

“You know Tomeh?” Hiero continued to be amazed by the young magus. “Blighted Titans. A...

161 - Dealing with Infestation

I crisscrossed among the Mirdabon-sized toads with violet shards protruding out their backs, aggroing them to me with [Enraging Call]. Those out of my taunt’s range, I stopped from fleeing with Totems. They barely did any damage to me or my Totems. Nitana was quick to react, sending her fairies to the densest clumps of the noisy toads.

Blighted Token came rolling in.

“Heck yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” Lavender yelled, raising her war hammer.

“And what ex...

160 - Taking on the Tanking Role

A [Lvl 36 Arcane Blighted Snorf] poked its head out a large crack in the ground, wiggling its purple snout in my direction. I galloped near it, ensuring it was within my [Blight Cloud], and cast [Enraging Call] for good measure though it was already mad at me. It pulled its hefty body out of its burrow with wide paws boasting knife-sized claws and joined the other Snorfs scurrying after me.

I was already heading to the next hole to bait out its occupant, adding it to my growing number o...

Author’s Retrospective – Book 2

Thank you to all of you for joining the journey of Getting Hard as we finish Book 2!

I have learned a lot these past few months. There were many things I wanted to improve/fix from Book 1, mostly problems stemming from spamming chapters when the story reached Rising Stars. I did regret that somewhat. Rushing things affected my creativity, especially given that I’m a slow writer juggling three aspects of the story: Herald’s builds, MCO’s story, and the real-life element. I feel I�...

ADGIT - Ch. 5

Hiero gazed east as the horns sustained their call. Through Molding, he enlarged his eyes into that of the owl king, this time allowing his skull’s sockets to deform and widen to fit them better. He had returned to the walls before the cannons began firing.

The Blighted Multitude in the distance had again sent tendrils, thousands of fiends in each, snaking across the plains. From atop the tower, Hiero spotted the first of the light-forsaken reach the outskirts of the ruined city. Dark...

159 - Unhealthy But Hard

My Ancestral Shroud pool had grown nicely, but I should improve it more. Far more. After all, it affected the thickness of [Greater Pyro Shell], my primary tanking skill. Replenishing the AS cost of my shell was the problem, particularly if there weren’t many enemies to Burn for the effect of [Mantle of Kindling]. Worse if I was fighting a world boss that had sky-high ailment resistance.

[Rejuvenation Charge] from my Aritu Ocadule helped my meager AS regen. However, I needed ...

158 - Preparing an Unhealthy Feast

“Of course, I’ll be glad to join,” I said, recalling I hadn’t yet paid Megan, Nitana, and Kezo for the loot they gave me that I sold to Chimi.

Those were from the Blighted monsters we killed leading up to the world quest—some were Bawu’s test subjects she had captured from areas currently locked to players. The monsters dropped loot that Chimi needed for crafting various items but were unavailable on the market. The Blighted test subjects were gone after I completed Bawu’s...

157 - Sugary Stone

Smoldering Hooves of Kaghao| Item Level: 25
Relic | Med-Armor | Feet
  220 Armor
  15% Movement Speed
  Leave [Tongues of Flames] in your trail, lasting 5 Seconds
  25% additional Burn Chance and Duration
  Requires: 83 Might, 45 Vigor
--------------------
  +3 Seconds Burn Duration
  +14% All Ailment Duration
  +12% Burn Resistance

“Soon, I’ll be able to wear you,” I mumbled, perusin...

ADGIT - Ch. 4

“An expelled Gardener,” Hiero clarified, glancing at the throne hall doors to see if they were shut tight. He then strode down the hallway, beckoning Alluverius to follow. “I swear Rebecca has an uncanny sense to detect any mention of Mitho’s name. Don’t let her hear you referring to him as a Biosyn magus if you don’t want to become—I don’t know—perhaps a smudge-brained slug.”

“A minor inconvenience,” Alluverius dryly said, his voice deep. He caught up to Hiero w...

156 - Blue Cheese

We fumbled for another topic afterward, both of us wordlessly agreeing, as if telepathically, not to continue the dating vein. I reminded Eclairs that I had drunk poison before as an experiment. That got her to laugh, signaling our conversation stabilized. I offhandedly wondered if I could sell the poison bottles I made with my Masterwork Ocadule to the new players. Eclairs had told me that poisons were in demand, but I realized she was lying that time not to make me feel bad.”

“I�...

155 - The Fruity Appointment

“Yes, I did,” I said. “Just in time for the world quest.” I didn’t reveal that I had started it to not give an air of a showoff. And it might be better interaction-wise if Eclairs thought I was struggling as a beginner Mardukryon—she’d be more inclined to give tips to me. Not that I particularly needed tips; I just wanted her to be nicer to me. “There’s also this upcoming event they call the Great… something. I forgot what it is.”

“Great Hunt?” Eclairs offered....

154 - The Presentable Herald

Goal #170: Run in a full marathon event with only walking breaks. Before my morning jog, I reviewed my latest capital ‘G’ Goal on The List, my first fitness-related ever.

I did some stretches and warm-up exercises in my apartment, copying a video online. Saluting the guard and parking valet at the entrance of Grand Scaup’s, I set off at a moderate pace. Move out of the way, people! Herald Stone, Marathon Marauder is here!

There was an ancient legend about a...

ADGIT - Ch. 3

Hiero had been called many names since he set out, a fledgling self-taught Flesh Molder. Early monikers related to the scar across his left eye. Thought by many to be the remnant of a sword slash suffered in battle, the scar fueled a reputation of a cold-blooded warrior—a doubly wrong belief that Hiero didn’t bother to correct.

“Ravager of Lapanshar Plains?” Hiero wistfully echoed the words of Sinra-Jul.

Only four years passed, yet the battle seemed distant, as did everyth...

153 - Dungeonest Prison

Clip-clop my hooves went as I strolled across the Mardukryon prison. Rooms crudely dug into the rock secured by vertical metal bars lined the left and right sides of the path. Evenly-spaced golden crystals along the walls illuminated the prison.

Prison or dungeon?

A quick internet search told me that a dungeon was an underground prison. Both terms were correct, but ‘dungeon’ was more apt. Another useless fact added to my knowledge. Herald Stone, the Prison Expert.

152 - Who to Trust?

Gibil threw his head back and laughed hard before clutching his chest in pain. Once he found his breath, he said, “Jester of a young one, Frost Macaques come in rabid droves to protect their food. I do not question your bravery or your skills, but the reality is—”

“He speaks the truth, my dear,” Yusa said. “Part of it, I can vouch for. He saved me on his own from the Frost Macaques when I tried to gather Peelys. That’s why he’s my he—”

“You can ask every Hunt...

151 - Regicide

I retraced my hoofsteps. Feral Frost Macaques gathered on the branches of the lofty mutated trees bordering the Peely plants. They formed pairs as before. But something was different—they had a coat of blue radiance over their flowy white fur, and their eyes glowed bright blue.

Magical ice projectiles hurtled through the air, stirring up a blizzard of wind and snow.

Okay, that’s new, I thought, raising my shields and casting [Greater Pyro Shell]. Balls connected. The ...

150 - Better Late Than Never

[ Loot: 5,359 Artas, (5) Toxic Goop, (2) Vinereaver Prickle, (2) Mardukryon Fur, (8) Blight Tokens ]

After the boss died, players clapped their hands as some annoying people do after an airplane lands. The first few times we defeated an Arcane Blight boss, everybody celebrated, shouting and shooting spells in the air.

As several victories passed and fighting became routine, it became awkward to keep cheering. People settled on polite clapping before the crowd brok...

149 - The Mardukryon Horde

The heavy fog ahead lit up as if a fireworks display had started. Shouting mixed with explosions. Mardukryons thundered to the action. We navigated through spiked barricades, stacks of wooden crates, and weapon racks in the middle of the road, our numbers swelling as more players and NPCs joined.

As the herd galloped onward, people tried to form parties.

“Anyone looking for a DPS?” an axe-wielding player to my right shouted.

No one invited him to a team despite his impre...

ADGIT - Ch. 2

“Can we return to the tents outside?” Hiero grumbled to no one, squinting his eyes. The rainbow shimmers gave him a headache, and his blurry left vision wasn’t helping. Could the braids be straining his scalp?

Hiero had fixed his messy hair in the style of Mesbeth Core monks—a thick ladder braid over the middle of his head like a rooster’s comb. It took him a while to tie it correctly. He figured he should look more presentable for a war council than his signature sloppiness. ...

148 - Man of the Blighting Hour

I first met Bonkakonb in Amberkeld Town with my human character. I thought his name was some language foreign to me, but it turned out he tried to mirror ‘bonk’ but ended up misspelling it. That cleared up a question with an answer I didn’t care for.

Bonk, for short, was a field worker of the Expeditionary Legion—a player who’d change characters as the guild saw fit for whatever information they were pursuing. SpartanDonkey was also a field worker.

The other par...

147 - The Aftermath

Like a drop of blood on white cloth, the fur of the [Lvl. 1 Mirdabon] turned into an angry red, a distinct blot on the pristine snow. Its level increased to two, and so on, rapidly reaching five. Its cuddly face twisted into a raging demon, its mouth lined with cute but very pointy teeth.

At the same time, five other spots on the ground turned red. Mirdabons always went as a group and became stronger as each member died. They’d count as defeated only when the entire pack was eliminate...