Chapter 18: Just Farming
I watched Alissa respawn again, and again, and again, and again. I had to give her credit, she was really giving it her all. By the third or fourth death I had started using cheese tactics like hers as well. Eventually, I realized the optimal route was just do this. Her bubble gun gave her range though. My spear was throwable, and it did respawn in my hand. But the few seconds it was out of my hand was a death sentence.
I watched my XP increase from 35 to 40 and smiled. Only a little more… Alissa respawned again, panting and clearly proud of herself. “Having fun?” I asked snarkily. She stuck her tongue out at me. I never felt more turned on then I did at that moment.
I turned back and kept stabbing the current Krab. She jumped out again and ran off. She would be back soon again, she always was.
I rolled my eyes at the popups and kept stabbing. After this, we had to go face the horned rabbits. I shivered as I remembered their spiky heads impaling me. The spiders were worse.. But not by much.
She respawned again and stomped her foot. She cursed for a few seconds then turned to me and got a thoughtful look on her face. I don’t think I had ever seen Alissa think about something. It was kind of unnerving.
She suddenly asked “So.. wanna help?”
I made a motion of me stabbing the krab. “I.. I am leveling up?”
“Yea, me too apparently. And we both suck ass *beep* at it!” She responded coldly. “But I can burst them down pretty fast and you might be able to hold them back with your spear. Together, we can probably kill them faster and share the XP.”
I snorted. “I mean, yea, we party up in the newbie zone, but you realize it decreases the XP we each get right? The one who does the most damage gets the most XP. it’s like 3/2 or something.”
She looked crestfallen but then considered. “Wait, but I am definitely doing more damage than you. That means I would get the 3 right?”
I raised an eyebrow and went back to stabbing the newest krab.
“Hello? Did you hear me? I would get the three right?” She said from behind me.
I sighed before turning and answering her. “Yes, you would get the three xp as long as you did more damage.”
She beamed at me. “Perfect! Then let's do that!”
I rolled my eyes. “How about… no. I have it well in hand here. Just because you are struggling doesn't make it my problem.”
I stepped to the side, avoiding her knee kick. She got me anyway by doing a swirl. I hit my knees again and she kissed me.. Again. I pulled away in shock. What was with her? I just insulted her and she kissed me again.
Was it some attempt to make me do what she wanted? Forcing me to kiss her would not make me do that.
“You know Hero, I really do love you so much!” She said as she actively blushed. Then she summoned her pistol and jumped out between the rocks. She instantly got her head cut off by an errant claw and respawned next to me.
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“I am positive your death count is higher than mine for this zone.” I said in amusement. She kicked me, I grabbed her foot, catching her by surprise. Then pulled her foot up, causing her other foot to lose balance and she fell on her ass. I snorted and turned around
I looked at my bar.
“At this rate, I’ll be done by nightfall!” I said happily. I heard Alissa snarl and jump past me again. This time she dodged the pincers and pulled another one I was attacking. Whatever, she could have it. I stepped out of the crevice as she led the krab around until it died.
I found another one and threw my spear hard. It drained about half my stamina, and did enough damage to irritate the thing. I smirked and jumped back between the boulders. It got close, I started stabbing.
After a moment, Alissa respawned. This time, she kicked the side of the mountain and said, “I will hunt these stupid freaking crabs to extinction, when I find daddy, I am totally getting him to nuke this whole beach!” She squealed angrily. She stomped on the sand, lost her balance as the sand shifted and fell over again.
I actually paused and covered my private area. It had just gotten hard and I felt my cheeks heat up. Her nudity wasn’t a big deal. Her temper tantrum was freaking adorable and erotic as hell.
“There has to be a better way than this!” She finally said as she stood up. “I really don’t wanna spend a whole week getting 5 damn xp!”
I snorted. “Obviously not! After we hit level 2, the krabs only give 4 xp. By level 4, we only get 1 xp.” It will take a full month to reach level 5.
She stared at me, mouth agape. After a moment she recovered and shook her head. “A MONTH!?” She cried loudly.
“I mean, yea, what did you think was going to happen? We would just get a good 5 xp for 5 straight levels? That would be horrible balancing for this place.”
She blinked, sat back down, and slowly took a deep breath. “There has to be a better way Hero, please help me find a better way.” She pleaded with me.
I sighed and stopped stabbing for a moment. “You want the truth Alissa? There isn’t a better way. At least, not that I have found. I have done this same thing at least two dozen times. There is no escape, there is no easy way out. This is what the system is. This place is my personal hell. I am not asking you to help me. I just need to do this and finish the stupid main quest.”
With that, I turned around and started stabbing the krab again. It had almost de-aggroed. But I caught it in time. “What if one of us scouted ahead and looked for a way?” She asked after a long moment.
I sighed “Tried that already, the entire beach borders a forest. The forest is full of horned rabbits and young giant spiders. They give slightly more xp, but are much harder to kill. There is no glitch place I have been able to find in there either.
At level five I get access to a skill called anti-gravity. I use it to get into the trees and fire down at them. The rabbits can’t climb. The spiders can, but if you aim for the legs, they fall.
She seemed to pause at that, then her eyes glazed over. I shrugged and went back to killing the krab.
“Your damn * bleep* right I have!” I said happily as I stepped out to get another crab.
“Wait!” Alissa said as she jumped out with me. “I.. I have an idea, if we work together, we might be able to do this much faster.”
I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to respond but she held up a finger. “Give me a chance, consider it repayment for killing me and dragging me here.”
I froze at that.. Then slowly, reluctantly nodded. “Fine, but if this doesn't work, we do it my way.”
She looked unhappy but nodded. “Deal.”
I followed her over to a krab. “Okay, so, here is the idea. When I say ready, throw your spear as hard as you can at it. I will start firing the moment it hits, we don’t run, but instead, you block its pincers with the spear and I keep peppering it down.”
“So, basically, you wanted to do the shared xp thing?” I asked in irritation.
She smiled in response and shook her head. “Oh trust me, the sharing won’t matter if this works the way I think it will.”
I shrugged and threw the spear as hard as I could at the killer Krab. It began to rush me. Alissa peppered it with her bullets, it didn't do much. It reached us and I was able to deflect its claws with my spears for a few hits. Long enough for a kill.
Honestly, I was surprised, but..
Yea… Not the greatest. “If that’s it then..”
She smiled and shook her head. “That was a test for the bigger trick. I will be right back. Stay here.”
I frowned, but shrugged and watched as she dashed down the beach… and aggroed every single krab at once… “What the fuck *bleep* Are you doing it!” I screamed at her as she rushed back.