Chương 55: Feel the Capsule

Meno emerged back into Moonfen Expanse with Starfall Crown behind him and mud trying to reclaim his boots when his phone-link pinged behind the privacy filter. He almost ignored it, then saw the sender. Aurelia: I sleep for a few hours and you start collecting girlfriends? Meno's foot hit a slick root wrong, and he nearly face-planted into the marsh. privacy filter detected WIFE TEXT why did he stumble Meno opened the private reply so fast his thumb almost selected a system menu. Meno: False. Absolute nonsense.

Nothing like that happened. Oxide was using me for content. Seriously. The message sent. Aurelia: Relax. I'm about to try your earth elemental strategy. If it turns out to be terrible… Meno's panic became offended professionalism with no gap between the two states. Meno: It works. Just don't fail. Aurelia: What?! Meno read his own message again. The marsh kept moving around him. Chat kept spamming wife. His dignity slid further into the mud. Meno: I mean, it's unfair if you blame my advice while playing trash.

Aurelia: Anyway, I'm turning my stream on. If I turn out to be too "trash" to appreciate your brilliance, perhaps Oxide is the better match. Meno tried to think of something inspirational. He really tried. Meno: Don't embarrass my strats. He closed the phone-link, stopped in the middle of Moonfen Expanse, and logged his character out. [Logout Initiated] The world faded before another Lantern Toad could judge him.

Meno came out of the Soma-X7 with his stream still live, the game feed replaced by his room camera and overlay, and opened Aurelia's stream to send her a Streamline collab request. Chat noticed instantly. WIFE POV HE LOGGED OUT FOR HER AURELIA STREAM Oxide in shambles PrayerBeadHusband Aurelia accepted. Her voice came through tight and suspicious.

"Are you streaming this?"

"Yes," Meno said.

"But don't worry about that. Words can't kill that question-mark monster."

"You have over eighty thousand people watching. Do you think I can focus?"

"Yes."

"Meno."

"What?"

"Ugh. Seriously?" She exhaled.

"Fine." Meno leaned closer to his monitor. Aurelia's avatar stood in the Emberhollow Badlands, facing the same Dustbound Earth Elemental that had once farmed Meno for deaths until it finally crumbled and awarded him Titan I. The badlands sprawled around her in red stone, dry scrub, and wavering heat. The elemental waited in the canyon ahead, a tall body packed from dust and rock, its fists hanging like broken millstones. [Hostile: Dustbound Earth Elemental | Type: Elemental | Threat:??? | Trait: Tremor-Slam] Aurelia looked ridiculous before she even moved. Her avatar matched her real body too closely: refined face, blond hair tied back in a careless knot, posture far too composed for the plain starter shirt, cheap trousers, and scuffed boots the system had dumped on her. And then there was the mace. She had planted it beside her like a flag. It stood taller than she did, its head nearly as wide as her shoulders, all blunt iron and smash.

Less a Common II weapon than something the game expected a forklift to equip.

"Pull up your class info," Meno said.

"Viewers should understand what you're dealing with."

"Sure." Her stream displayed the panel. [Class: Heavy Striker] [Ability: Power Strike] Activate to power up your next two-handed weapon attack. Gain +100% damage per second while powering up. While powering up, gain a shield equal to 20% of your maximum HP. Taking any steps breaks the power-up. If the shield breaks, the power-up breaks. Meno read it again even though he already knew the basics. The class still looked disgusting.

Emberhollow Badlands was a 20–30 zone, Aurelia was Level 9, and her mace already had corpse-tier attack speed before the class slapped a charge mechanic on top. Stand still. Wind up. Pray nothing punished you for existing. A two-handed mace capped at one attack per second, and her real damage wanted seconds of commitment instead of swings. Meno was glad all over again he had skipped Weapon Master. Speed was king. Aurelia moved forward. The elemental woke with a grinding shift.

Dust spilled from its shoulders as one huge fist swept in from the side, faster than its broken-stone body had any right to move. Aurelia slipped past it cleanly, then the next swing, waiting until both fists rose for the slam. She bent her knees and jumped for the descending arm, but the mace hauled her balance sideways before her boots left the ground. Her foot missed the arm entirely, her body kept going, and she landed hard on her backside just as the Tremor-Slam came down. Aurelia vanished. Meno said nothing.

Chat did not share his restraint. TRASH STRAT wife down Meno coaching arc failed mace too big question mark said sit This was going to be an issue. Jumping around with a two-handed mace was different from jumping around with a one-handed sword. Strength itself was not the problem; warrior-type classes clearly came with enough hidden body stats to use their intended weapons, or Veyrath would have collapsed into gym homework.

The issue was physics, balance, and how a heavy weapon changed a jump before it even changed an attack. Meno had never tested that properly. He should. Even if two-handers ended up useless for his damage, the body control was worth learning. Some mechanic always mattered later. Aurelia ran back from the shrine evading stray creatures and returned to the basin without complaining.

"Fake an attack swing as soon as it readies the AOE," Meno said.

"Turn the mace head sideways and plant it on top of the arm. Push off it like a pole, kick toward the shoulder, then drag the mace after you."

"That is easier said than done," Aurelia said.

"But I will try."

"Everything is. Don't try to jump with the mace over your head. The weight shifts too high, and you lose the jump before it starts." She pulled again. This time, she turned the mace head away from the elemental as the arm came down. The weapon hit the rock hand, caught for half a breath, and gave her enough leverage to drive one foot onto the elemental's shoulder. Ugly, but successful. Then her other leg clipped the handle.

Her balance folded, the mace dropped, and Aurelia tumbled headfirst over the far side of the elemental straight into the slam. Meno stayed quiet again. It had been a solid first attempt. Meno watched the mace hit the dirt and did not worry. Dropped weapons in Veyrath were annoying, not catastrophic. If a player died after dropping one, it returned on respawn; if left alone too long, it erased itself back into recovery. Otherwise every disarm skill would turn PvP into yard-sale. The system had guardrails.

A dropped weapon went immaterial to other players, because without that rule, someone would absolutely stack cheap swords in a dungeon door and call it clever use of mechanics. Aurelia tried again. Then again. Then again. The mace struck the elemental's arm at bad angles. Her feet caught on the handle. Her jump lost power before it became height. The Tremor-Slam clipped her shoulder, folded her across the back, caught her by the hip, and once came down directly on her head in a way that made both chats erupt.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Meno watched the attempts pile up in silence, and chat did what chat always did when struggle stopped looking funny and started looking like weakness. He did not like it. Defending her would only feed them. Chat could smell blood through a screen, and if he gave them a reaction, they would turn her failure into entertainment faster than any boss mechanic in the game.

rich girl raid prog can't buy skill Oxide would clear hammer gymnastics lol shopping stream next? Meno's attention snagged on the chat long enough for annoyance to curdle into something colder. He should have been farming. The world tour was already wasteful by rank-grind standards, and now he was out in Veyrath watching someone else die to a monster he had already beaten, using a method that barely qualified as advice.

Leaving still felt unthinkable, but calling it concern made the whole thing worse, so Meno called it data instead. That was what he told himself. After twenty minutes, Aurelia finally got her second leg over the handle without tangling herself in it. The movement was too clumsy to keep her momentum.

She kicked off the elemental's shoulder and tried to drag the upside-down mace after her, but the head scraped down its chest, grinding stone on stone and bleeding speed from the jump until there was barely any jump left. She died. Aurelia lay at the shrine.

"The mace is too big," she said.

"I think I need a two-handed sword or a polearm, but then my damage would be too low."

"Yes," Meno said.

"Your feet are the problem. You're faking the swing, planting the mace, then trying to climb toward the shoulder one leg at a time. That puts the handle right where your second foot needs to go."

"I am listening," Aurelia said from the shrine floor.

"You're using it like a walking stick. Use it like a pole." Meno sat forward in his chair.

"You start facing the elemental," he said.

"Sidestep the swings. When the AOE slam begins, start your swing with the hammer head turned away from the boss. You want the top to land on its arm, not the striking face." Aurelia returned to the elemental, but she did not pull yet.

"Grip the hammer low on the shaft, near the end," Meno said.

"Swing harder. When the head lands on the arm, let the swing carry your body over the handle into a handstand."

"But then I'll be upside down and facing away from the boss."

"Yes. Loosen your grip as the hammer lands," Meno said.

"Push into the handstand, then twist sideways through your core. Start the turn with your legs the moment the hammer plants. You want to be upside down, but looking at the boss."

"That sounds insane."

"Then let your legs come down on its shoulders and catch yourself in a crouch as you pull the hammer up and jump," Meno said.

"As soon as your foot leaves the shoulder, activate Power Strike and start charging." Aurelia stared at the elemental.

"Meno, I am not a gymnast. I have never done any sports either."

"Me neither. So what?" Meno tapped his temple, remembered the gesture did not explain anything to anyone watching, and lowered his hand.

"You're not moving with your real body. Try to feel the capsule." Chat became unbearable. FEEL THE CAPSULE feel it nobody can feel capsule he lost it wtf does that even mean Aurelia did not answer. A moment later, she pulled again. The overhead swing landed, the hammer head catching where it was supposed to catch. Aurelia kicked up into a clunky handstand over the handle, legs flailing as the elemental's arm sank toward the ground. For half a second, the shape was there. Then her balance slid out from under her.

Her body folded the wrong way, and she dropped straight into the Tremor-Slam. Chat lost it. worst gym teacher forklift yoga stop making her do circus tech Meno spoke before he could stop himself.

"That was good." The spam slowed for half a beat.

"I couldn't pull this off without practice either," Meno said.

"For this part, stop treating the hammer like a hammer. It's a pole with a large head." Aurelia respawned and ran back.

"Your head is large," she said.

"The elemental's hand is not exactly a flat surface. It wobbles." Meno almost smiled. The next attempt changed everything, not because Aurelia finally followed his instructions, but because she did not. She adjusted them. She shifted her grip and held the hammer upside down, the head angled slightly forward, then circled the elemental through its normal swings while she waited for the slam. When both fists rose, she ran at the descending hand and planted the mace head-first against the rock like a pole vault spike.

"Oh," Meno said. She drove the mace head into the elemental's hand and threw her weight into the shaft. For a moment, the weapon became a pole. Aurelia shoved down through the handle, letting the plant catch her momentum, and swung both legs up to one side instead of trying to freeze into a handstand. The motion carried her upward. Her boots snapped toward the sky, her body turning in the air, and for one clean second she released the handle completely.

She spun above the elemental, arms loose and frantic, face focused and terrified, then reached for the mace again. Missed. She landed on the elemental's shoulder without a weapon, stood there looking profoundly sad, and got swatted off. NO WEAPON ROUTE she landed tho sad shoulder% that was sick rich food good body Aurelia tech?

"That was awesome," Meno said.

"You're skipping the handstand by turning yourself into a twisting projectile instead of using your hands to hold the line. Grabbing the weapon again is the problem." Aurelia sounded breathless.

"Yes. I noticed."

"Wait." Meno sat back.

"Maybe we've been doing this wrong. What if you equip a second hammer once you're on top? Or start without a weapon, make the jump, then equip it in the air?" There was a pause. Aurelia said, "You don't know this?" Meno's shoulders lifted.

"Changing or equipping a weapon in combat gives you a one-second fifty-percent action speed debuff."

"What?" Chat pounced. HE NEVER SWAPS single sword brain Weapon Master bait confirmed Chadculator laughing one-weapon goblin he didn't know Meno stared at his monitor. Had he ever actually tried weapon swapping in combat? Apparently not in a situation where the debuff mattered enough to notice. Weapon Master looked worse by the minute. It had said nothing about that, because apparently the passive was not content with being bad. It had to be bait. Aurelia adjusted her grip while jogging back.

"Does less action speed affect Power Strike's charge rate?" Meno asked.

"Yes," Aurelia said.

"I tested it earlier. Dead end. I can't afford to lose charge time, or this thing will never die."

"Then keep the pole-vault version."

"I was going to." On the next attempt, the plant held. She pushed through the shaft, turned in the air, and caught the handle at the end of the spin. Then she spun too hard. Her body whipped past the landing, and the elemental's shoulder slid away beneath her boots. Meno watched her run back. Again. Again. Again. Every death made the strategy look more unreasonable, but Meno still could not find another route.

There was no clean answer here, no sensible line that ended with a Level 9 Heavy Striker, a Common II mace, and a dead Threat??? elemental. Aurelia kept going anyway, and after a while, Meno caught himself caring less about whether the strategy was fair than about the fact that she refused to quit. Aurelia kept the hammer at the very ends of her fingers as her feet hit the elemental's shoulders. Then she gripped hard, sank into a crouch, and kicked off, dragging the weapon after her.

The glow started the moment her boots left stone. Her body extended through the rise, stalled at the top, and dropped with the hammer head falling first.

"YES!" Meno screamed, clipping his mic hard enough for chat to riot. The mace hit the elemental. Dust and rock cracked away from its shoulder. Aurelia stomach-planted into the ground hard enough to lose half her HP, and the elemental finished the rest a moment later. Chat loved it anyway. HIT CONFIRMED DAMAGE SHE DID IT stomach landing tech progress"That was amazing," Meno said.

"You're losing the landing because the hammer head is only scraping. Push into the scrape. Use the contact to throw yourself farther out, get your legs under you, reactivate Power Strike for the shield, and land on your feet instead of your stomach. Then survive until the next slam." Aurelia sat at the shrine for a second longer than usual. When she spoke, her voice was brighter despite the death.

"I got four seconds of charge on that one. Two up, two down. Maybe I can squeeze out another second if I delay the hit."

"You'll probably still need to land the full sequence more than twenty times to kill it," Meno said.

"I know." She went back, and for the next forty minutes, Meno watched her practice the hammer-vault. Her best early attempt reached ten hits and brought the elemental to roughly 56% HP before a bad landing put her under a fist. The movement looked fun enough that Meno wanted to log back into Veyrath, run to Westmarket, and craft a two-handed mace immediately. It would be terrible for his class, obviously. Swing Master was an attack-speed addict, and maces were slow motion. A polearm would be better.

Aurelia's class had the opposite problem. Heavy Striker did not care about attack speed at all. It was charge or nothing. Her movement changed slowly, then all at once. She planted the hammer head on the descending hand and pushed through the shaft like a vaulting pole, swinging her legs to one side as the planted handle caught her momentum and lifted them toward the sky.

For half a second, she released the grip entirely, keeping one pointed finger against the handle to guide the rotation as she twisted through a half-turn. When her feet hit the elemental's shoulder, that hand closed around the grip, and the other joined it as she sank into the crouch and kicked off. Power Strike lit her body as she left the elemental's shoulder. She stretched out nearly parallel to the ground, legs extended behind her as she rose, stalled, and began to fall with the hammer still charging.

When the head struck the elemental, she pressed down instead of simply letting it land, and the recoil shoved her backward just enough to bring her feet under her. A second Power Strike flash gave her a shield for the landing. She canceled the charge the moment her feet touched ground, already moving as the elemental's next swipe cut through the space where she had been. Meno did not speak. The Tremor-Slam came again. She did it again. Then again.

The boss's HP kept dropping, and Meno held his breath like sound could break the pattern through the microphone. Aurelia looked different when she focused. The performance edge fell away: the rich-girl posture, the teasing, the social armor. What remained was narrowed eyes, a set jaw, and a player letting the capsule teach her what her body could do. The eleventh hit landed. Dodge. Twelve. Thirteen. The elemental dropped below 50% HP. Chat stopped being cruel and became loud in a different way.

beast mode silence actual gamer Heavy Striker stock rising strat not trash? Aurelia kept going, and the movement smoothed instead of fraying. Practice gathered under each attempt until even the mistakes started looking usable. On hit eighteen, she missed the push-off and landed too close, but instead of standing straight into the fist, she dropped from the crouch into a forward roll and barely slipped under the swing. She came out of it on her feet, already moving.

The next swipe missed, and when the elemental raised another fist, she dodged backward to keep the rhythm alive. Meno clapped a hand over his mouth before he could blow out chat's ears again. The nineteenth hit landed. Then twenty. The boss fell below 5% HP. Meno's heart hammered harder than it had during half his own fights, which felt like a design flaw because he was sitting in a chair with no haptics. Hit twenty-one landed, and the elemental survived with a sliver of HP.

Meno shot to his feet, grabbed his hair, and made a sound chat would absolutely clip. Aurelia did not flinch. She moved around the elemental with the hammer held upside down, feet light, shoulders settled, eyes fixed on its fists. When the AOE came, the plant was clean, the twist was fluid, and her feet found the shoulder without hesitation. She pulled the hammer up, kicked off, and stretched into a horizontal dive with the glowing mace at the end of her body. The hit landed.

The Dustbound Earth Elemental broke apart. Rock split down its chest, dust burst from its joints, and the canyon shook as the huge body collapsed into dead stone around her. [Kill Confirmed: Dustbound Earth Elemental] [Max Single Source XP Threshold Reached] [Level Up | Level 14] Meno screamed again, loud enough that the mic gave up trying to save him.

"YES! YOU DID IT!" Both chats exploded. Meno's counter sat above 82000, and Aurelia's stream had climbed to 7622 while she was too busy dying, learning, and killing something the system thought she had no business touching. Aurelia dropped onto her back beside the elemental's remains and stared up at the badlands sky, mentally hollowed out. The achievement appeared over her stream. [Achievement Acquired: Titan I] You defeated a Threat??? enemy solo while below Level 10. Class progression options have been enhanced.

[Skill Selection Available] Meno stared at the prompt and felt the familiar little sting of betrayal.

"No design credit," he said.

"Right. World First only." Aurelia laughed weakly from the ground.

"Were you hoping I would get one?"

"No. Design credits are just public invitations to be resented." She pushed herself up and looted the elemental with hands that looked steadier than her breathing sounded.

"That was awesome," he said. Aurelia's voice softened.

"Thank you, Meno."

"I did nothing. That was all you." She laughed, barely more than breath through the call, and something about it settled into Meno like a checkpoint he had not meant to save.

"Well," Aurelia said, "you still definitely deserve a reward." Meno's brain short-circuited, and before any useful signal returned, he reached for the chair he had knocked away when he jumped up, found nothing, and sat with full confidence into open air. The floor accepted him. Chat saw everything. TITAN REWARD HE FELL reward acquired streamer luck PrayerBeadDown Meno stayed on the floor, staring up at his monitor, the voice call still open and his chair still somewhere behind him.

Maybe this was the Titan reward he had been praying for all along. Not another useless design credit. Just this.