Chương 70: The Stun Incident

Meno reset Sunken Spire and opened the leaderboard before the next run. [Launch Leaderboard | Global Level Rank] [Rank 1: BrineSaint — Level 50] [Rank 2: JaxxonVale — Level 49] [Rank 3: Kestrel_Crownfall — Level 48] [Rank 4: Thornwake_Stormhold — Level 47] [Rank 5: PikeNorth_Highbanner — Level 47] [Rank 6: Moonwake_Silverwake — Level 47] [Rank 7: Honeygrave — Level 46] [Rank 8: OxideChoir — Level 45] [Rank 9: VantaRush_HypeForge — Level 45] [Rank 10: GlassRook_Crownfall — Level 45] [...] [Rank 24: PrayerBeadGod — Level 42]"BrineSaint is still first while doing the questline," Meno said.

"Good news, other people must be wasting a bunch of time leveling their parties. Bad news, I am rank twenty-four." Oxide top eight OXIDE OXIDE OXIDE LETS GO OXIDE catch up prayer climb"Wrong stream, guys," Meno said. Viewers: 124, 522 The Bloodwake reveal spike had cooled, but the number stabilized high enough to make him stand straighter in the entrance bubble. Four hours of practice had not been peak efficiency. Now he needed speed and clean clears. He pulled the first top-layer pack.

The opening fight became slaughter almost immediately. Water no longer slowed him, which turned every kick into a clean reposition and every dagger stab into the speed his hands expected. He left one guard alive on purpose, activated Chain Madness, and waited for the Stop prompt while dragging the guard toward the next patrol. Yellow flashed, he kicked, spun the axe, and launched. Too fast. Meno clipped a Scorpola while the prompt was already red.

[Break Surplus Activated] [Chain Break Prevented] [Compound Swing | Chain: +10]"Bad." Then he hit the far wall. The impact cracked through his head and neck with enough force that his vision broke into dark spots. The system did not treat it like an enemy stun. Sleepless Grip stayed silent, apparently uninterested in protecting him from self-inflicted stupidity. [Stunned: Collision Impact] Duration: 10 seconds. Six monsters caught him during the stun. Tridents stabbed. A harpoon punched into his side.

The mystic threw water bolts into his chest while Meno floated limp against the mossy wall, unable to move, speak, or even swear properly. [Death | Scorpola Pack] [Currency Lost: 100g] [Respawn: Sunken Spire Entrance] Chat lost control. BAGELMONSTER TECH CHAIN TORPEDO FTW WALL WINS self stun build clip clip clip Bloodwake too fast Meno respawned outside the dungeon and looked back at the entrance.

"Yes, please clip that," he said.

"Title it Bagelmonster Tech. Chain Torpedo has become slightly dangerous." He checked his gold. [Currency: 19, 595g]"Better if I just swim fast and kite." Bagelmonster: I said spin not become missile"Defense rejected." He entered again. This time, Meno played safe and fast, because consistency mattered more than inventing a new way to lose money. The first pack got decimated without Chain Madness. He left one guard alive, swam backward, and kited it into the next patrol while dodging with short side kicks.

At six hundred stacks, the second pack lost its hunter and mystic before the guard line knew what to protect. [Bloodwake] 5th enemy defeated in current combat state. HP restored by 25%. The heal topped him off.

"Okay," Meno said.

"That is better than I gave it credit for." told you brain damage multiplier heal good big pull god bloodwake op He adjusted after the third pack because enemies were dying too quickly. One guard alive was not always enough to preserve combat while moving between packs. Two guards gave him more breathing room, even if it meant taking extra trident hits. Bloodwake erased the cost every fifth kill, and his Rare III Leviathan Fang Dagger made the Scorpolas bleed HP faster than the old crafted blade ever had.

By the time he dragged the last guard into the boss layer, he had only around 1150 Chain, lower than before but enough. The Etched Leviathan Crab turned as Meno entered the edge of the boss bubble, its shell runes lighting in slow pulses. Meno stayed behind it. The difference with Bloodwake was offensive.

The crab's shockwave slam still detonated through the water, but Meno could now kick around the shell before the claw hit, stay tight to the back, and continue stabbing while the boss lumbered through turns it could not complete in time. Sleepless Grip blocked the AOE stun exactly when needed. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. [Kill Confirmed: Etched Leviathan Crab] Meno stared at the corpse, but no blue beam appeared.

"Of course." anti farm first clear loot only slot machine catacomb flashbacks no dagger two He checked XP. [Level 42: 32. 6%] The trash loot was scattered everywhere. Swimming between corpses felt easy now, but easy did not mean efficient. The first floor clear had taken around five minutes, and looting added another full minute for mostly broken shells, trident heads, and junk.

"No pearl," he said.

"Trash looting is probably a trap." skip loot speed farm rank climb Bradbaron crying He reset, went again, and the next stretch blurred. Top pack, kite, guard anchor, hunter dead, mystic dead, Bloodwake heal. Next pack. Next pack. Boss. Reset. Chat filled with drowned bird noises every time Meno cut through the water too cleanly, and he stopped telling them to stop because the sound had become less annoying than watching the XP bar crawl.

drowned caw glub caw water pigeon shark bird farm farm farm Seven more runs took thirty-seven minutes. [Level Up | Level 43] [Level 43: 2. 6%] Meno floated in the entrance bubble and rolled his shoulders.

"Bloodwake XP is disgusting," he said. The dungeon changed at forty-three. The Scorpolas dropped to Normal threat. The Etched Leviathan Crab stayed High, which kept the run alive for now, but the warning was clear. The floor was aging out under him already. The first level forty-three run gave less. [Level 43: 10. 1%]"Seven point five percent," Meno said.

"Still good, but falling." A blue beam finally rose from the boss corpse.

"Finally." [Item Acquired: Rare III Leviathan Veil] [Type: Cloth Helm] Durability: Maximum Defense: Low Cloth Bonus: +10% status recovery speed. Deepguard III: Damage taken underwater is reduced by 15%. Undercast III: Spell casts are not slowed while underwater. Water-aspected spells cost 30% reduced Mana. Meno held up the veil. It was a thin dark cloth helm with pale thread along the brow and a green-blue shimmer that moved like light through water. Useful for someone else. Useless for him.

"Best line is the mana cost reduction," Meno said." Deepguard is too specific, but great in here. Healers would want this if they use water-aspected healing." sell not leather cloth trash good for mage too water priest item use it for style He kept farming, and the loot got worse. Run after run, the boss gave him junk. Twelve more clears took a bit over an hour, and by the end Meno had started talking to the crab like it could be shamed into dropping another dagger. It could not. [Level Up | Level 44] [Level 44: 0. 3%] The next entrance confirmed the problem.

[Hostile: Etched Leviathan Crab | Type: Modified Sea Beast | Threat: Moderate | Trait: Runic Shockwake]"Boss is Moderate now," Meno said.

"So it was probably level forty-six or forty-seven. The AI Director decides these things on vibes, apparently." He did one more test run anyway. [Level 44: 5. 0%]"The boss XP halved to about two point five percent," Meno said.

"Still better than a normal Moderate monster, but now I need about nineteen more runs for forty-five." nineteen farm prison still good solo top 10 when need content sing a song Two levels in a bit over an hour and a half sounded great. Two levels in five and a half hours, if he counted practice, sounded like the kind of number JaxxonVale would crop out of a thumbnail. Meno checked viewership and saw the slow bleed he had felt through chat speed. Viewers: 92, 722 Still excellent. Still going down.

Meno swam above the entrance bubble, watching the first patrol circle below. Big streamers had party comms, guild drama, jokes, arguments, someone yelling in the background, and someone failing mechanics. He had water, daggers, and himself muttering about XP efficiency while murdering armed eel-scorpions. Not great for retention. His phone link rang inside the capsule. Aurelia. Meno disliked turning Aurelia into content. He also knew the stream was live, and muting suddenly would make the situation louder.

If she wanted privacy, she would say it. He accepted the call.

"Hey," Meno said.

"How are you?" Aurelia's voice came through crisp, tired, and immediately irritated.

"Groggy. I had a short sleep, logged in, turned on my stream, and started getting harassed by guilds because you have whispers blocked and your chat is moving too fast for you to notice messages." Chat revived instantly. WIFE CALL do not fumble speak like human let her do the talking"Oh," Meno said.

"Sorry. I need to figure that out. I can't keep whispers open. I get spammed with nonsense all day."

"Maybe give the major guild leaders your phone number," Aurelia said.

"Since that is apparently the only reliable way to reach you. I do not want to become your assistant."

"No, of course not," Meno said.

"I'll take care of it later."

"I am sure you will forget it." Chat spammed true so fast Meno had to ignore the overlay. Aurelia continued.

"They want you to carry people through the Bloodwake unlock. The achievement conditions allow it." Chat erupted. SELL CARRIES BLOODWAKE TAX GUILD MONEY do it don't help them auction slot"Why would I do that?" Meno asked.

"If they want it, they should go for it themselves."

"They probably will," Aurelia said.

"But paying you is more efficient, since you can already clear the floor solo. They also want it on low-level players, especially tanks, supports, and healers, for Titan." Meno glanced at the entrance.

"How do low-level players even get here?" Meno asked.

"It's a forty-to-fifty zone. I am not doing escort quests."

"That is their problem," Aurelia said.

"They are offering two thousand five hundred gold per person. Ten thousand gold for a five-minute clear is too good to pass on."

"Not a flash sale," Meno said.

"Even if I do it, nobody above level forty gets carried. That helps the competition." Aurelia made a small sound that could have been approval or impatience. Meno kept going.

"Also, gold is not enough. I want permanent access to their crafters."

"Then negotiate with them, not me."

"Yeah. Sorry," Meno said.

"Can you send them my number? Guild masters only: Kestrel, PikeNorth, Thornwake, or Moonwake. I am not getting sucked into their administrative dungeon."

"I will."

"Thanks."

"I am going back to playing," Aurelia said.

"Thanks for the help," Meno said, then added before his brain caught up, "I love you. Bye." The dungeon became silent. Chat did not. I LOVE YOU OH NO FUMBLE PUBLIC CALL FUBLEBEADGOD MENO NO OMEGA FUMBLE HOPELESS Meno's brain shorted so completely that for one awful second he thought Veyrath had revoked Bloodwake and made him start drinking the dungeon.

"I mean," he said. Aurelia said nothing.

"Yeah, so." Nothing. Meno looked at chat, then away from chat, then at the mossy wall, which offered no advice.

"I mean… yes, but—" He stopped. Damage control had failed before deployment. The silence on the call lasted long enough for Meno to feel every viewer lean in and start carving the clip title. Aurelia's voice finally came back quieter.

"We will talk later. Bye." The call ended. RIP TOTALLY OVER divorce before marriage delete character class downgrade this is hard to watch Meno stared straight ahead, swam to the entrance wall, and headbutted it. Hard. [Stunned: Collision Impact] Duration: 3 seconds. He floated there with his forehead against the stone, unable to move while chat discovered new levels of cruelty. Meno could not speak through the stun. That was probably for the best.