Chương 80: The Jump Stat Was Not Lying

The truth was, PvP with twenty people felt a lot like farming a dungeon that happened to be an open-world zone. The Wurm Express circled Ashfang Volcano in ugly loops, sliding over black stone, dodging magma streams, and cutting toward anything marked Elite or player. More people kept arriving as the time passed: level forty to forty-five groups first, then smaller parties, then idiots below forty who had apparently decided death was a tourism.

The elite event made more sense once Meno watched people throw themselves at it. Veyrath had baited PvP with PvE rewards. Rare III gear was too good to ignore, especially before most players could touch Epic drops. People came for monsters, stayed because they got attacked, then came back because getting attacked on stream was apparently also content. The weird part was that nobody bothered with the flag.

Most players had no faction alignment yet, which meant they could die under the Grave Crown claim but could not capture the banner at the top of the volcano. They could complain, gank, bait, stream, and threaten forum posts. The flag stayed where Meno had planted it.

"System working as intended," Meno said. intended for who report him keep farming them WURM EXPRESS The first hour turned into movement, impact, cleanup. They killed nine elites and one hundred sixty-one players. Some players tried cheap shots while the raid fought elites, which mostly helped Meno's Karma. Others ran the moment the Gravewurm appeared, and those were harder because the mount was huge, stubborn, and built more like a siege animal than a chase predator. Five hours later, the numbers looked fake.

Forty-eight elite kills. Eight hundred twelve player kills. The zone population kept rising, though the real limit was simple: not enough players above forty existed yet to feed the machine faster. Meno checked the totals while the raid looted another dead fire drake. Eight hundred twelve player kills should have meant 4, 060 gold for him after raid split, but repeated victims only dropped gold once per hour. The actual gold came out to 3, 710. His total sat at 168, 205 gold.

His Karma had climbed to 8, 610, even after the unfortunate JustrelaxPete incident. At 1, 000, the system had granted him Well-Regarded status. Since nothing had happened after that, the next threshold was probably 10, 000. Tier 2 mountstones at 25, 000 Karma still looked far away, especially if spending Karma pushed the goal even farther away.

"Good news," Meno said.

"I am respected by skeletons." bad news skeletons well regarded criminal Pete died for this karma investor grave pension The stream held above 100, 000 viewers almost the whole time. That helped. Killing elites was content. Hunting players was content. Watching nineteen strangers scream from the back of a giant undead worm was content in a way Meno had not planned and could not deny. The items were better than the XP. Out of forty-eight elite kills, the raid pulled twenty-seven Rare III items.

Everyone got at least one item, and seven people got two. Meno won two for himself, which felt both lucky and not lucky enough. The first was an axe. [Rare III Ashwake Cleaver] Type: Two-Handed Axe Durability: Maximum+ Ashburst III: Every fifth attack with this weapon deals 100% additional damage as Fire. Heat Grip III: Cannot be disarmed. Meno equipped it immediately. The difference from his Uncommon III axe was disgusting. The base damage jumped hard enough that Chain Madness felt like a new ability again.

Ashburst was terrible against fire elementals, but against normal targets it functioned like a flat extra bite every fifth hit, and Heat Grip at least meant some rogue could not yoink his damage plan out of his hands. Maximum+ also sounded good. Meno had no idea what it meant exactly, but more durability was never a bad line. The axe looked better than his crafted weapon too: volcanic ash-dark, with a jagged edge that curved upward like the silhouette had been designed to threaten people.

His old axe had looked like a school project compared to this. The second item caused more complaints. [Rare III Ashwake Breastplate] Type: Plate Chest Durability: Maximum Defense: High Plate Penalty: -5% Action Speed. Hardline III: While below 50% HP, all damage taken is reduced by 15%. Fireframe III: Defense counts as High+ against Fire-aspected damage. The tanks tried to argue. Meno shut that down instantly.

Panic Pump set his HP to one, Self-Control turned that into shield management, and Hardline would always be on for him. The item was not just tank gear. It was weird, ugly, low-HP tryhard gear wearing plate. He equipped it. The dark ash breastplate replaced his crafted plate chest, and his character finally started looking less like a man who had robbed three professions at random.

Hidden helmet, brown leather pants and boots, dark volcanic chest, and the Sleepless Grip legendary gloves that still looked too soft and expensive for everything else. His Action Speed stayed at +1%. Three leather pieces gave +6%, the breastplate took -5%, and the cloth gloves did their own legendary nonsense. It felt stable enough. More importantly, he was not naked anymore by leaderboard standards. XP, though, was slower than the violence made it feel.

After five hours, Meno hit Level 47 and reached roughly twenty-five percent toward 48. That pushed him to Rank 13 globally, tied in level with GlassRook but behind two players who had reached forty-seven first. His raid members gained much faster. Almos had started at 35 and reached 41. Ruinelle went from 39 to 43. The rest made similar jumps, enough that Meno started feeling like he was powerleveling them more than himself. Morfoos said thank you after every level, which somehow made it harder to be annoyed.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The guilds never arrived in force. Apparently Kestrel, PikeNorth, Thornwake, and Moonwake had stunned themselves with faction politics. GlassRook turned off his stream after the first hour, which was deeply disappointing. Meno had expected rage, counter-raids, flag assaults, and at least one dramatic speech. Instead, he got maturity.

"Terrible content," Meno said.

"They are thinking before acting." rare guild win boring strategy cringe Kestrel writing spreadsheet come fight cowards Then the zone changed again. Five ashjackals came racing over a black ridge, fast and low, their riders cutting between magma streams like they had practiced for hours. The jackals looked ridiculous beside the Gravewurm. Dark gray fur, lean bodies, twitching ears, and constant high-pitched yips, barks, howls, and tiny angry wails. Each one carried one rider.

Each rider had the Grave Crown skull before their name. Meno did not need inspect to know the leader. [Karmabeast | Class: Venom Tormentor — Level 38 | Ability: Toxic Edge] Of course. Karmabeast had gained three levels since Meno last saw him. His four friends all looked like rogue-type players, hooded, masked, lightly armored, and armed for backstabs. Together, they looked like every PvE player's nightmare after too much caffeine.

The issue was that they ignored elites and hunted players at lightspeed, stealing kills before Meno's raid could reach them. Even at lower levels, they were too good, and the PvE players could not stand up to them. Meno pulled the Gravewurm near them just as they finished killing a group of unaffiliated players. cute dogs evil puppies Karmabeast here rogue kennel allies btw"Can't you move to a different zone?" Meno shouted.

"There are plenty." Karmabeast turned his masked face toward him.

"Yo, PBG, my man. Is this how you greet an ally?"

"Yes," Meno said.

"Now move. This zone does not have enough players for both of us."

"Exactly," Karmabeast said.

"There are not enough high-level players to attack another zone yet. Don't be greedy. We are here to make sure nobody has fun, including you." Then he laughed, and Meno immediately checked whether Veyrath had a mute button for individuals. It did not.

"Duel me right now," Meno shouted.

"If I win, you leave."

"You think I am dumb?" Karmabeast said.

"You have nine levels on me, my gear is a very big pile of trash, and you took all my gold. I am a poor, small streamer now." dodged small streamer 246k btw poor rogue mount owner duel him coward meno mad"You had gold for a mount," Meno said.

"Start making sense." Karmabeast gasped, leaned too far off his ashjackal, and intentionally fell onto the black stone. His jackal yipped at him like it was embarrassed. He stood, dusted off his sleeves, and bowed.

"You caught me. PBG, you are so, so smart." Meno immediately felt tilted.

"Although," Karmabeast continued, climbing back onto the jackal, "I am a tiny bit mad. I wanted to be the first to plant a banner, and you stole it before I even finished sharpening the idea. You PvE freaks are impossible to keep up with. Couldn't you at least leave us PvP strays something to chew on?" Meno tightened the Gravewurm's reins.

"Sure. You want something to chew?" He commanded the mount forward at full speed, and the worm surged. Karmabeast reacted instantly, throwing himself fully into the saddle as his ashjackal bolted sideways. His four friends scattered with him, and the Gravewurm could not turn fast enough to catch them before the jackals pulled away with infuriating little barks.

"Nice try!" Karmabeast shouted.

"Maybe we test if that works later. Bye bye." WORM TOO SLOW dog diff roadkill denied Karma dodged jackal stocks up Meno kept following them anyway. The Gravewurm slid over black stone, chasing five jackals that refused to stop. Karmabeast and his friends ignored elites entirely. They only wanted players. Any small group that tried to farm, scout, or recover from a death got hit by five rogues moving like knife smoke.

Meno's raid had to stop for elites, which opened windows for other players to snipe monsters elsewhere. Karmabeast did not care about gear, bosses, or any kind of efficiency except murder per minute. He farmed people until they left. Orlaqt spoke from behind Meno, her small voice carrying just enough.

"Meno… are we the bad guys?" Yes obviously rare self-aware moment morality check failed bad guys? No content guys Meno stopped the Gravewurm and turned in the saddle to look at her. Orlaqt sat with both hands wrapped around one of the mount's back spikes, eyes wide, face singed from the last elite fight.

"What? No." Orlaqt looked like she was trying very hard to believe him and losing.

"We balance the factions with our presence," Meno said.

"Otherwise everyone would just go Red Bastion, farm infinite gold, and buy everything. We can't attack anyone inside dungeons either. We can only nerf their XP, so Sunring Concord players have to sacrifice progression for items or contest us in PvP."

"He is right," Almos said, nodding too quickly. Meno pointed at him like the tank had become evidence.

"Exactly. Veil Court players also need a price. We can't nerf their quest turn-ins because those are probably in Eastveil, so our role is to delay them in the field. Fairness."

"So, it's public service?" Junebug asked with a snort.

"It is," Meno said.

"Balance." Almos raised his shield slightly.

"Each piece exists for a reason. People love the drama, and being hunted makes Veyrath feel more real and dangerous." Junebug looked between them.

"You two rehearsed that?"

"No," Almos said at once. Junebug leaned forward.

"So what do we do now? Kills really dried up with Karmabeast roaming."

"First," Meno said, "I want to try something totally unnecessary."

"Can you try not getting us banned?" Latch said with a groan.

"Nothing like that. Probably." That failed to comfort anyone. Meno angled the Gravewurm toward the ridge line where Karmabeast's party had vanished. He did not chase directly this time. The jackals were faster on flat ground, but the Gravewurm had High Jump and mass, two things Meno had underused because most problems had not yet demanded them. The raid went quiet as the mount climbed. Meno pushed the mount up the side of the ridge as far as it could go, then used short jumps to move along the raised black stone.

The passengers made unhappy noises each time the worm landed. Even after five hours, nobody trusted the mount's landings. Meno scanned below. Karmabeast's five-player rogue squad moved near a magma stream, closing on another group of unaffiliated players. The targets noticed too late. A caster turned, a warrior raised a shield, and then the ashjackals spread around them like teeth.

"There," Meno said. He guided the Gravewurm along the ridge until they were above the fight.

"Everyone off."

"Why?" Pip asked, twisting to look at him.

"You might die." That convinced them faster than any full explanation. The nineteen passengers climbed, slid, and jumped off onto the ridge line. Some backed away from the edge. Nix crouched near it, clearly interested. Latch watched Meno with deep suspicion. Meno stayed in the saddle. Below, Karmabeast shadowstepped behind a mage and opened with a stun. His friends spread through the fight, each one cutting a different escape route. They were good. Meno said the mantra that had never once protected him.

"Guys, only clip this if it works." Chat understood before the raid did. no way NO WAY worm rocket he's doing it KARMA AIRDROP this is ban tech Meno braced. The timing had to be clean. Too early, Karmabeast would move. Too late, the Gravewurm would hit nothing, and the clip would become another Wheat Imp incident, except larger and more expensive. He commanded the Gravewurm to leap off the ridge. For half a second, the mount resisted. Then it obeyed.

The giant worm compressed, sprang, and launched into open air with Meno on its back. The ridge dropped away behind them. Wind tore across his face as the Gravewurm sailed downward toward the fight, too huge to adjust and too committed to regret. Meno crouched in the saddle. Below, Karmabeast looked up. Even through the mask, Meno felt the reaction. A heartbeat before impact, Meno jumped from the saddle and kicked with False Wings, throwing himself sideways and upward to avoid being part of the landing.

The Gravewurm hit Karmabeast dead center. The impact shook the black ground. Stone cracked outward. The ashjackal vanished under green light and black worm mass. Karmabeast disappeared beneath the collision, and then the Gravewurm turned into green smoke as the Mountstone unsummoned it from the force of the hit. [Player Slain: Karmabeast] Meno landed on one knee, still stunned by success, when the second notification arrived.

[FACTION ERROR: allied_hostile_mount_collision/kill_credit_exception//gravecrown_internal_pvp_state//karma_award_conflict// ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒] The world froze. Every monster stopped mid-motion. Fire hung still in the air. A rogue dagger stayed buried halfway through an enemy caster's shoulder. Smoke from the volcano locked into place like painted glass. Meno could not move. ALL FROZE I DC'D GG ITS OVER SERVER???? KARMABEAST DEAD WORM ERROR BROKE VEYRATH The screen went black.

[Forced Logout] Meno sat in the Soma-X7, staring at the login panel as his stream camera took over. He tried to reconnect. [Emergency Maintenance] Veyrath is temporarily unavailable. Please wait for further notice. Meno looked at the message. Then at chat. Then back at the message.

"Oops."