I slowly re-entered the cave looking for the small indent in the wall that leads into the deeper part of the cave. Following the minimap in my HUD I found the crevice leading into the deeper part of the cave.
[Enter the deep dark?]
[Y/N]
I paused to think this through I still hadn't completed the quest created by swinging my sword the progress bar read as: 100/1,000 swings completed. I started to try and calculate how many swings I could do in an hour. Seeing as we had 100 stamina it took me about 5 stamina per to complete a swing. The regeneration of one stamina took about 4 minutes with the two titles I had gained
Sword Swinging Novice: Gained after 100 Swings stamina consumption reduced to 5 per swing and regeneration cut down to 4 minutes per 2 points.
Novice Swordsman: Reduced stamina consumption to 10 per swing and reduced stamina regeneration to 10 minutes per 2 points.
I had the Sword Swinging Novice equipped since it was the better of the two titles and combining the titles did not give me any more reduction. So it would take about 25 minutes for me to regain the lost stamina. I could swing about 20 times per one hundred stamina meaning if my stamina regenerated twice in one hour I would be getting 40 swings per hour. The remaining amount of swings would take me about one day to achieve. Specifically 22 hours and 30 minutes. I promised the shopkeep I would be back in 72 hours with the ores. So, I decided to start swinging my iron sword. Once I had reached 500 swings I got a notification.
Intermediate Swordsman Obtained: Perks: Stamina per swing reduced to 1 regeneration time reduced to 1 minute per 2 stamina points.
I was relieved with this title. I gained more time although I already had spent about 10 hours completing the 500. I only had 500 more swings to go but now my stamina would regenerate even quicker. So it only took me about 6 more hours of swinging to get to the 999th swing. I decided to do my last swing with a flourish so I brought my sword up to about chest height and did a little lightning bolt cutting motion.
[Skill Quest: Swing that Sword- Complete]
Objectives:
Swing your sword [50/50]
Dedication is key [500/500]
Wow you're still going [1000/1000]
Hidden Objective [1/1]
Rewards
1, 2, 3 Skill Swift Strike level up
Hidden Objective Reward
Lightning Strike: A fancy maneuver that has a small chance of paralyzing an enemy after using it in a Swift Strike chain.
I was shocked the little fancy lighting motion was the hidden objective. That was so neat and like the Devs to create a little feature like that, but I sighed it had taken me 16 hours to complete the quest. I now had to keep up my end of the bargain with the shopkeep. I walked back to the little indent in the wall since I had moved out of the cave in order to have a better area to practice in. I tapped on the wall and the prompt from before appeared before my eyes.
[Enter the Deep Dark?]
[Y/N]
I clicked the yes option and walked on into the next part of the cave. It was a beautiful large open area with a waterfall crashing down from one side. The underground caverns' beauty was amazing to me who was used to the polluted world. I tore my eyes away from the scene as I heard a little ding for the alert.
[Emergency Quest: Kill the Burrowing Naga]
Quest Objectives:
Locate Underground Nest [Deep Dark Complete]
Locate and Kill the Queen Naga [0/1]
Kill Burrowing Naga [0/50]
Hidden Objective [0/1]
Failure
Death Penalty
Beginner Village of Exnca Destroyed
Built Trust Destroyed
Bounty Placed on You for 2,000G
Mandatory Quest No Denial
I shuddered with anticipation and looked around making sure that none of the Naga had snuck up on me. Looking into my inventory I grabbed some potions and put them on my belt. Making sure all of my armor was put on snugly. I walked further into the cave trying to think of ways to stop myself from being detected by the Naga. Unfortunately I couldn't think of anything so I would just have to be careful in how I walked around and hope they wouldn't find me before I came upon them.
I sneaked around the caverns working to pick off small groups with a maximum of five at a time. Swift Strike had leveled up to level four after I had taken out about 25 Naga. The lightning strike had leveled up to level 3 with the chance of paralyzing enemies being at about 65% of the time when used in combination with swift strike, but now it was getting harder to face the Naga as they were coming at me in swarms of 10-15. I changed the grip I had on my Iron sword to a two handed grip to do a valkyrie styled spin strike.
[New Skill Acquired the Valkyrie Heavy Strike: Level 1 A spinning strike that can cause bleeding wounds on Enemies. Chance of Bleed effect at level 1 is 15% Chance of Stun is 5%]
Of course the system considered this a skill. I let out a quiet sigh as I finished another batch of Naga off and looked at the quest screen
[Kill the Burrowing Naga]
Quest Objectives:
Locate Underground Nest [Deep Dark Complete]
Locate and Kill the Queen Naga [0/1]
Kill Burrowing Naga [75/50]
Hidden Objective [0/1]
It had been at least 3 hours since I had started this quest. I was losing precious time that I could be collecting the materials. Yet again my iron sword's durability was down to about 25 points left. I knew that the sword would not likely survive my encounter with the Queen Burrowing Naga. After walking for what felt like miles in the caverns the Naga had Created I came upon a large room filled with the glowing moss and hundreds of Naga Eggs along with a woman who's looks would put Medusa to shame. I mean the Queen Naga was very pretty if you're into anthropomorphic snake women. I tried to sneak up behind her but she started to speak in a hissed tone "Welcome intruder, this place will be the last you ever see alive." That was literally all she had to say. I cursed the Devs. What lazy ass writing was this? If you wanted to create a random quest with a Boss that has dialogue you should have made it more interesting with a trigger that summons all the remaining Naga in the cavern to the room. Considering Players haven't had the chance to create guilds yet this encounter makes some sense keeping the quest doable but some random summons would make it slightly harder. I sighed going in for a swift strike trying to wound her in the side but when the Iron Sword made contact with her scales it shattered and dissolved into pixelated lights. I slightly panicked as I didn't have a backup weapon. The only thing I had left in my inventory besides healing potions was the Iron Pickaxe. I grinned, because I just had a stupid but brilliant idea. I should go for vital strikes in common places that are debilitating with the Pick. I swung the pick trying to hit the area where her back morphed into the snake body as a strike on that part of the spine would hopefully stun her. The strike hit true, showing that her health bar had decreased by nearly a quarter.
[Title Acquired- Quick Thinker: Striking vital points will do 5% more damage]
[Title Acquired- Unconventional Weapon Master: Use a tool that is not meant to be a weapon to damage a boss monster 5% damage increase in vital areas]
I didn't have time to look at the titles I had acquired and just selected equip automatically. I lashed out at the Naga again this time hitting her scales near the chest area. The Health bar dropped down some more. Honestly the boss still had about 65% of her health. I grabbed the pick with both hands going for a major hit. Jumping up trying to use my agility I triggered AURA OF THE DAMNED paralyzing the Naga in place for the split second I brought the pick down in her eye socket.
[Critical Hit]
[Boss Defeated]
Quest Cleared
[Title Acquired- Naga Slayer: Naga's will now be debuffed with 35% fear in your presence]
[Title Acquired- Unconventional Weapons Ascendant- You used a Tool not meant to be used as a weapon to slay a Boss Monster. It wasn't world level but it was enough of a challenge +25% Handed Weapons mastery]
[Titles Acquired- Solo'd Boss: You solo'd a Boss monster you get a special title 10% more damage done to boss monsters when solo]
Quest Objectives:
Locate Underground Nest [Deep Dark Complete]
Locate and Kill the Queen Naga [1/1]
Kill Burrowing Naga [75/50]
Hidden Objective [1/1]
Hidden Objective Kill Queen Naga in 3 Strikes
Rewards:
100% Village Favorability
Mining Rights Exnca Village
100 Burrowing Naga Eggs
Queen Naga Skin
Skill: Vital Strike- Always know where to hit the enemy with your sword to cause maximum damage. 20% chance of Landing Vital Strike and Stun on your enemies
I sighed in relief knowing I still had 24 hours to get the ores to the shop keep and that I had completed the quest without failing. I would worry about the rewards later, because for now I had some mining to do.