Chương 133: Masterwork Loot

The Forbidden Gaol had turned out to be ridiculously efficient XP once Meno understood it. The dungeon was built around a timer, so even with the Prisoner chase, bosses, trash packs, and final purification sequence, a clean run should fit inside roughly 15 minutes. Meno planned to stay until Level 70.

The first clear had given him two entire levels, which obviously would not keep happening, but even hard falloff should still beat wandering Fractera for sparse monsters or trying to find content nobody had unlocked yet. Once BrineSaint and the rest of the leaderboard found one of the four island dungeons, they would catch up.

The Confessor and Jailer had taken some learning, but neither was remotely difficult enough to hold top players for long, and there was no reason to assume the other three Pilgrim prisons would be much worse. Dungeons had always been better than open-world grinding once the route was solved. Better density, better rewards, less travel, and none of the slog involved in hunting monsters far above the intended level because the normal progression path had dried up. Doing quests was, naturally, out of the question.

Saint Edras was still standing beside the restored doorway when Meno finished checking the world-event notification. The former Prisoner looked nothing like the burned thing that had chased him through the dungeon. His skin had returned to normal, the cavity in his chest was gone, and the chains that once hung from his body had dissolved into faint dust around his feet. The Saint placed one hand over his heart and bowed his head.

"Go with my blessing, adventurer. I must hasten now to Fractera, for Veyra must be restored. The Rift Kings, consumed by their endless hunger, know not what doom they court. With every transgression, they loosen the bonds that hold Furnon in the depths. And when at last he rises, no refuge shall remain to us. Save that which the divine may yet preserve." FURNON RAID BOSS CONFIRMED WHO IS VEYRA saint please use normal words RIFT KINGS ARE COOKING THE WORLD ask him about LOOT The roleplay was strong with this one.

A faint gold glow passed over Meno, leaving a blessing icon beside his status effects. He opened it, found absolutely nothing useful explaining what it did, and closed it again.

"How are you going to get to Fractera? Do you have a ship?"

"Concern yourself not with my passage. Where mortal means fail, faith shall bear me onward. Our paths part here. Farewell." Saint Edras turned and walked through the doorway. He disappeared almost immediately. Meno stared after him.

"Heard it here first, guys. Furnon next raid endboss. Probably. No clue who this Veyra is, but the order was called Temple of Veyra, Veyrath is probably named after her." He thought about that for a second.

"I wonder if we can slay her too. Should drop Mythic III at least." HE JUST FREED HER SAINT AND WANTS TO KILL HER PBG SEES GOD = LOOT TABLE veyra protect us FROM HIM MYTHIC III BRAINROT saint edras take the blessing back bro heard divine protector and asked what she drops average grave crown enjoyer"Time for the loot." Several glowing beams had appeared in the center of the final platform after Edras left. Meno walked to the first and picked up the item inside.

[Masterwork I | Seven-Day Absolution] Type: One-Handed Scepter Damage Tier: Legendary I Durability: Augmented +77% Healing and 33% increased Mana Regeneration on Mondays +33% Healing and 77% increased Mana Regeneration on Tuesdays +55% Healing and 44% increased Mana Regeneration on Wednesdays +44% Healing and 55% increased Mana Regeneration on Thursdays +66% Healing and 66% increased Mana Regeneration on Fridays +99% Healing and 1% increased Mana Regeneration on Saturdays +1% Healing and 99% increased Mana Regeneration on Sundays Meno read the entire thing once, then checked the real-world day because he needed to know whether the weapon was actually serious.

It was Sunday. So, yeah +1% Healing. Okay. CALENDAR BIS wtf is this weapon oh my lord SUNDAY HEALERS IN SHAMBLES 99% HEALING OH 1H WEP raid scheduled around the scepter lmao MONDAY BUILT DIFFERENT"Typical healer item. This is why you have to be careful with healers. They probably enjoy this stuff." Meno turned the scepter over in the inventory inspect.

"So after Epic III, it's Masterwork I. Damage Tier says Legendary I, which means it calculates like an early raid drop. Raid loot had better mods, though."

"Yeeeah," Aurelia said from his computer chair, "the raid items you got through exploits were definitely better. Sure." Meno did not need to open the camera overlay anymore to know exactly what expression she was making.

"At least I have them. What are you using, Uncommon III? Rare I? I won't give you any items even if you make a cute face."

"Don't confuse me with your little fan club. I'm sure they appreciate your handouts." Aurelia barely paused before continuing.

"Oh wait, you just ask them to do the quests for you, like the ship unlock, without giving them anything in return. Another classic example of streamer advantage." Honeygrave leaned back beside her.

"Aren't you also streaming?" That bought Meno enough peace to keep inspecting the scepter. Honeygrave continued, sounding much more interested in the item than the argument.

"That thing is actually really good, though. Healing plus Mana regen on the same weapon is pretty rare, and you definitely don't normally see either stat hitting 99% on a one-hander." Aurelia opened her mouth, probably with something ready for him too, but Meno picked up the second loot beam before she could redirect the fight.

[Masterwork II | Jailer's Revenge] Type: One-Handed Sword Damage Tier: Legendary II Durability: Augmented +60% Damage while Dual Wielding +100% Damage on the next hit after successful Parry +100% Damage on the next hit after successful Dodge +100% Damage on the next hit after successful Block The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. +100% Damage on the next hit after successful Deflect Conditions: Only bonuses from different conditions can stack.

Parry: Intercept a weapon attack that would have otherwise landed by striking it with your weapon. Dodge: Avoid a weapon attack that would have otherwise landed with movement. Block: Stop an attack or spell with your shield. Deflect: Redirect a projectile with your weapon or shield.

"Now this is a cool sword." Meno scrolled through the unusually long tooltip again.

"So many lines. This was from the second boss. Augmented Durability, which is above Maximum, I guess. Weird naming." The damage tier was Legendary II this time, which confirmed Masterwork was not just another label for the same damage progression.

"Not anywhere near as good as Vervenzal's Verdict, but if you can stack all four mods, that's +400% Damage on the next hit. Weird fit with Dual Wielding, though. Usually you dual wield because you want speed, and this wants one huge setup hit." Meno immediately thought of someone.

"For a rogue or another finisher class, it should pump. Looks like a VantaRush weapon."

"Yeah, Vanta would definitely want that," Honeygrave said.

"His base class was already big on combo setups and finishers. Tempo Blade goes even harder on that, and Oracle is basically planning your burst ahead of time, doing almost nothing for a bit, then unloading when everything lines up." Aurelia looked less impressed.

"It's way too clunky. Deflect is hard and only works on projectiles, Block wants a shield, Parry only matters against something with a weapon, and Dodge needs Movement Speed and actual execution. For most players, it's just a bad Legendary II weapon."

"Thanks for stating the obvious. Bad Legendary II is still better than most people have, even in top guilds." Meno moved to the final beam. If the loot order matched the bosses, this should be from the Prisoner encounter. [Masterwork III | Drowned Pilgrim's Sunker] Type: Plate Pants Durability: Augmented Defense: Very High Plate Penalty: -5% Action Speed +60% Swim Speed +90% Damage with Two-Handed Melee Weapons While in combat and standing still, gain 5% Maximum HP as Absorption per second, up to 100% Maximum HP.

Your Absorption Shield persists through movement. Upon reaching maximum Absorption, the Absorption Shield is consumed and explodes, dealing 5000% weapon damage in short range to all hostile targets. Chat reacted much faster to that one. THATS HUUUGE 100% HP SHIELD WTF 5000% AOE SWIM SPEED BIS FOR LOST PBG obv not for tanks this is pumper gear stand still build returns two handed plate dps eating GOOD"Meh." That got immediate angry spam, which Meno ignored.

"Obviously insane for two-handed warrior DPS, but it's plate. That Action Speed debuff eats half the value of that damage amp even if 90% looks huge on paper. Swim Speed is a troll mod." The Absorption effect was the interesting part.

"That mod rescues it, though. That's basically 5% life regen, isn't it?" Meno reread the wording.

"Wait. If that gives you a 5% shield every second, would that not reduce my Engulf HP loss? I'd lose the +100% HP pants for it, so maybe it doesn't matter." Engulf specifically said its HP loss could not be reduced. An Absorption Shield was not technically reducing anything. It was another layer sitting on top of the health bar. Maybe the burn would eat the shield first. He could not test it outside combat because the pants only generated Absorption while fighting. Aurelia killed the idea immediately.

"That obviously won't work. Can't you read your own ability? It says HP loss, not damage taken. An Absorption Shield absorbs incoming damage. You aren't taking damage from Engulf, you're losing life. If you want to counteract it, you need HP regeneration." Honeygrave nodded.

"Yeah, she's right. If the shield eats Engulf, that's bugged and should probably get fixed. Wording's clear." Meno looked at both of them through the overlay.

"Thanks, guys. Can't I enjoy my loot for half a second before you ruin it?" He looked back at the three Masterwork items.

"Now I have three useless Masterwork drops I can't do anything with. Great." Aurelia leaned toward the camera slightly.

"Those pants would be really good for my class. I have Heavy Striker, pre-evolution Titan Variant." Honeygrave looked sideways at her.

"Bit shameless, don't you think? You literally just said you don't need handouts."

"Well, he rejected my cute-face attempt before I could deploy it." Aurelia looked toward the capsule as though Meno could somehow see the face she was apparently not making.

"Meno, I want this. Give it to me." Meno genuinely had no idea what was happening anymore.

"Honestly, you're acting so strange I have no clue what's gotten into you."

"Whatever. Are you giving it to me or not?"

"Masterwork III should be Legendary III equivalent. That's worth millions of gold. You can forget it." DEPLOY THE CUTE FACE DO NOT FOLD PBG millions vs relationship lore round THREE aurelia begging for pants is crazy out of context SELL IT TO HER FULL PRICE HONEYGRAVE LOOKS SO DONE stream hostage demands loot ransom Aurelia started fake crying. At least Meno thought it was fake.

She covered part of her face, made an exaggerated wounded sound, then somehow kept it going long enough that Meno stopped being sure what level of joke they were operating on. What the hell was wrong with her today? It felt less like normal trolling and more like watching someone have a mental breakdown while pretending it was content. Meno could not figure out what he had done recently that justified any of this.

He had avoided her after she asked him to stop talking to her, then showed up for the Sorell commercial because Brad arranged it. That should have been the end of the story. Instead, she had invaded his hotel suite and hijacked his stream. Honeygrave was apparently reaching the same limit. He gave Aurelia a sour look before turning back toward the game.

"Yo. Can I get the dungeon location now? I'm kinda capped out on whatever this is."

"Well, you haven't really solved the issue," Meno said.

"But fine, I guess. Still don't want you leaving until she does." Honeygrave sighed loudly enough for his mic to catch it.

"Fine. My girlfriend will invite you. Her and my party can get there first, mark the location, then I'll catch up once this hostage situation ends." That worked. Meno left the restored dungeon through the exit and returned to the little sand island so the instance could reset. He was going straight back in anyway; one clear had already proven the route was worth farming, and the Masterwork drops gave him another reason to repeat it besides XP. A party invite appeared almost immediately.

[Merry has invited you to a Party] Meno accepted. His phone-link started ringing before he could even check where Merry was. Thorn.

"Did my reps," Thorn said immediately.

"Fully pumped. You can't do this to me. If you give the dungeon to Honeygrave, I want it too. Already sent people looking for the other three islands, but that'll take time." Meno looked across the empty sand toward the buried doors.

"Okay, but I want transportation to Fractera once I'm done here."

"No problem. I'll get a compass crafted for you, then you can get there yourself." That was even better.

"That works." Meno had Merry invite Thorn to the party and ended the call. Thorn accepted almost instantly, giving another top player a marker for the island while Merry's party presumably started navigating toward them. That annoyance was finally sorted, which meant Meno could farm the dungeon in peace. Mostly. Aurelia was still sitting at his computer and apparently had no intention of leaving. Meno tried not to think about it, but her behavior kept scratching at the back of his mind.

Their personal history explained the hostility. It did not explain this. She had asked him to stay away, then appeared at the commercial herself, came to his hotel afterward, refused to leave, and started turning whatever argument they had into entertainment for millions of people. Something else was going on, and Meno had the uncomfortable feeling it involved her father. He just had absolutely no idea how. The Forbidden Gaol was reset, his party members had the location, and Level 70 was still far away.

"Okay, dungeon mastered. Time to farm XP and pray for more loot. Veyra, if you are listening, I saved your Saint. Send Masterwork III my way. Thanks."