Eternal Empire Online: The Rise of the Mythical Detective

Chapter 7: The Kings Of The Forest And The World’s Mightiest Disciple 3

“So that’s how it is.”

Because of the effect of the Wisdom Stat that Grimm acquired from fighting the Dusk Panthers, he had now gained a better understanding on how to activate the sword apparitions.

And with that at his disposal, he had spent the entire morning and afternoon grinding the technique to perfection, stopping only when his satiety drops to a critical level or if his Mana runs out.

Whenever that happens, Grimm would use his Cooking Skill to create dishes using the meats he had stockpiled and spice them with the ingredients he’d gathered from the forest. Grimm does not have any consumable item for Mana recovery, so he must rely on foraging fruits and herbal plants to create dishes with a Mana recovery effect.

However, the process was not as simple as it sound. Despite his vast cooking experience in real life, the quality of the completed dishes would still depend on his in-game Cooking mastery. And since his Cooking level is only Beginner Level 1, even if he implemented the proper procedure and provides the right ingredients, the completed dish might not still deliver the intended effect. The average rate was usually 1:10, one out of the ten cooked dishes will have the Mana Recovery effect, and the rest ends as common food.

Ding!

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You Completed a [1Star] Dish

Grilled Lemon Herb Pork Chop Recover Satiety (+30%)

Recover Health (+100)

Recover Mana (+50)

Number of Dish Completed: 6 

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You Completed a Dish

Grilled Pork Chop

Recover Satiety (+30%)

Recover Health (+50)

Number of Dish Completed: 42 

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Level Up: Cooking [Passive: Beginner Level 3 (0.09%)]

Success Rate of Recipe Dishes (+30%)

Success Rate of Invented Dishes (+9%)

Recovery Effect of Completed Dishes (+30%)

(+5%) Reduction in Stamina Usage

(+5%) Resistance to Hunger

Health (+5%)

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But thanks to that, Grimm was able to increase his Cooking mastery and accumulate higher grade consumables for Health and Mana recovery, thus, ending his problem in recovery items that previously hindered him from giving his full attention to grinding and levelling up.

“It’s almost twilight, I should get ready.” Grimm said, looking at the darkening sky.

Nighttime is his time for hunting. Not just due to that his mornings are intended for his training but also for the reason that nocturnal creatures are better targets. They might be more dangerous but it’s undeniable that they give better rewards.

When the sun fully sets and the moon is high in the sky, Grimm gears up and left the training ground. He skipped the vicinity of the now easy prey Dusk Panthers and moved to the higher level region of the forest in search for newer and stronger monsters to hunt.

There, he encountered another feline creature called Cait Sith.

The Cait Sith is a feline creature that has the appearance of an ordinary cat except that it’s anthropomorphic and has a white gem embedded on its chest.

When the Cait Sith saw Grimm, it immediately bares it fangs and leapt towards him.

‘It’s fast.’ Grimm noticed. ‘Faster than the Dusk Panther.’

It’s smaller and lighter, so that’s to be expected.

Luckily, its speed is still not in the level where Grimm can’t follow it. When the Cait Sith was close to reaching his face, Grimm swiftly bent down and evaded the tackle, leaving the Cait Sith wide open above his head.

He then extended his knife upward and stabbed the cat in the stomach.

‘Too slow.’ Grimm smiled mockingly.

However, the moment his weapon made contact with the Cait Sith, the blade of his knife vibrated, causing a shock to his hand, which immediately tore throughout his entire body.

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+You dealt a Critical Damage.

-You have been inflicted by paralysis, [Paralyze Status for 2 seconds].

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‘What the? A Status effect?’

Before Grimm could comprehend what had just occurred. The Cait Sith used the 2 seconds that he was defenseless to counterattack…twice.

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-You receive a Critical Damage, [Health (-200)]

-You receive a Critical Damage, [Health (-200)]

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“Damn it!” Grimm’s health was badly reduced by almost 50% when the paralysis wore off. “What the hell was that?”

It was then that Grimm noticed that there are small sparks flashing out from the Cait Sith’s fur.

“Lightning attack?” Grimm assumed first but later shook his head. “No. Not an attack but a defensive reaction.”

And he thought that right. The Cait Siths are feline creatures with a defensive reaction that can send static shock to their predators upon contact, causing paralysis. This gives them the opportunity to either flee or make a counterattack.

‘Are you shitting me?’

Analyzing the situation, there’s still 65% left on the Cait Sith’s health, striking it twice in a defenseless state might inflict enough critical damage to finish it off. However, there’s a guarantee of 100% that paralysis will occur after dealing a damage, giving the Cait Sith an opening to attack him twice.

In that situation, even if he won the battle, his health will surely reduce to 6-7%. And to regain his health back to 100%, he will need to consume at least 15 Grilled Pork Chop.

Grimm wagged his head fiercely. ‘No way!’

That kind of statistic is totally unacceptable. He’s not gonna waste his valuable dishes just to deal with one monster.

Every battle is a business deal. And when doing business, gaining a profit is the main goal. He’s not gonna fight a battle where there’s more lose than gain. Definitely not!

‘But still, how am I supposed to deal with this?’ He thought as dodged the Cait Sith’s attacks.

Ending it with the current conditions is costly and running away will do more harm than good.

It was then on that desperate situation that Grimm remembered the new skill he’d gained right after obtaining the Wisdom Stat, the Eyes of Knowing. At Passive state, his eyes can see the health bar of players, NPCs, and monsters but if he activates its special function by paying 100Mana, Level, Mana bar, Weakness, and a brief description will also be supplemented.

He hasn’t tried it yet, so he’s not sure if it’s going to give him something useful or not. But on the other hand, he’s literally out of options. So here it goes.

“Eyes of Knowing!”

When he used the skill, Grimm’s pupils shone with a yellow light and red colored Trace Spots appeared on different parts of the Cait Sith’s body, implying that those areas are its weak points.

‘Wow!’ If he were just in a different situation and fighting a different monster, that effect could have been very helpful.

However, he’s more interested on the descriptive data it will provide.

Ding!

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You Identified a Monster!

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Name: Cait Sith

Race: Beast*Feline

Level: 35

Attribute: Dark

Health: 443/650

Mana: 0

Weakness: Light

Skills: *Scratch (Active), *Tackle (Active), *Static Fur (Passive) Cooldown: 5 seconds

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‘5 seconds cooldown? Well, that wasn’t so helpful.’

Even if there’s a cooldown of 5 seconds for the Cait Sith to recharge its Static Fur, that time frame won’t still be enough for him to make a countermeasure. The paralysis lasts for 2 seconds, which means that if he gets paralyzed, only 3 seconds will be left for him to prepare and launch a counterattack.

Not unless he is twice faster, those three seconds are too short to groom for an assault and capture the agile Cait Sith.

‘Damn!’ He gritted his teeth. ‘In the end, it was still useless.’

And then, something snapped on Grimm’s head when he hid behind a tree to avoid the Cait Sith’s attack.

‘Wait the minute.’ A grin finally spread across his face. ‘Yes, that’s it.’

Grimm then hid away from the Cait Sith to buy himself 10 seconds.

For what reason?

In Eternal Empire, changing gears and weapons has a loading time of 5 seconds per changed item and 10 seconds when engaged in battle. It’s a staple weapon art where people, Outlanders and Avelonians alike, will not need to undress anymore whenever they have to change gears. It’s a convenience but has the loading time backlash of 5 or 10 seconds. It looks short but during battles of life and death, it’s considered very lengthy especially that the required time when in battle are much longer.

The only time that the loading time is lifted is when equipped armors and weapons lost all their durability and broke down or when there’s no equipped items in the first place. If those are the situations, then equipping an item won’t require a loading time.

“Alright.” Grimm said, replacing his knife with a wooden sword.

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[Wooden Sword]

A sword made out of wood.

Intended for sword training.

Type: Weapon

Attack: 1

Durability: 5/5

Restriction: None

Equipped: (+50%) Attack Speed, (-75%) Attack Damage

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He doesn’t know what got into him when he brought some of these when he left the training ground but he is now so glad that he did.

Grimm then emerged from his hiding spot and confronted the Cait Sith once again.

But why go through to all those troubles just to change his best weapon with a weaker one when he’s already struggling?

The answer to that is found within his experience when he first attacked the Cait Sith.

When he was first inflicted by the Static Fur, there was a delay of 0.5 seconds for the static to zap his hand and paralyze his body. At first, he thought that that was just the casting time for the skill to take effect. However, the Static Fur is confirmed as a passive type, so it literally doesn’t have a casting time.

With that factor removed, the explanation for that 0.5 delay became obvious.

It was the distance.

His knife has a 15cm blade, and for the Static Fur to cover that distance and reach his hand, 0.5 seconds in required.

The wooden sword, excluding the handle, has a 73cm length. That is almost 5 times longer than the blade of his knife. With that distance, it will take the Static Fur 2.2 seconds to reach and zap his hand.

But what good would that do, if one might ask?

The usage of the wooden sword will just delay the effect but it won’t stop it. And planning to finish things off within 2.2 seconds using a wooden sword is also deemed impossible. When equipped, the wooden sword provides 50% increase in attack speed but also reduce 75% on attacking power. Even if he combines all the attack powers provided by his stats, skill, and title, the most health that he can shave from the Cait Sith within the span of 2.2 seconds is merely 10-12%. So if those were the statistics, then why pick this option of using the wooden sword?

The solution is rather simple and it lies behind the last and unmentioned aspect of the sword.

The durability.

Grimm has no plan of still holding the wooden sword after 2.2 seconds. Rather, his aim is to attack relentlessly to reduce the sword’s durability down to zero within that timeframe and destroy it before the effect of the Static Fur reaches him.

The wooden sword only has maximum durability of 5, so destroying it through striking the Cait Sith won’t be a problem.

With that arrangement, he can protect himself, deal at least 10% damage, deprive the Cait Sith of its ability to paralyze for 5 seconds, and then give himself enough time to obliterate the remaining 55% health using kicks and hand to hand attacks.

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+You dealt a minor damage.

+You dealt a minor damage.

+You dealt a minor damage.

+You dealt a minor damage.

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Grimm strikes the Cait Sith repeatedly with those variables in mind while keeping close attention to the 2.2 seconds time limit.

However, even though he finally found a way to protect himself against the paralysis, a maximum of 2.2 seconds will still be shaved from the allotted 5 seconds safe period. So in order to increase the time he can use to execute the attacks that really matters, the destruction of the sword must occur sooner than 2.2 seconds.

Good thing that that won’t be a problem for Grimm. ‘I just need to strike fast, as fast as when I was hitting those damn statues.’

And that’s what he did. And a second later, a red translucent message window appeared near his right shoulder.

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WARNING! 

Your Wooden Sword had broken down.

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‘Finally!’ Grimm exclaimed inwardly, and in the span of the remaining 4 seconds, he exploded into a coldblooded bombardment of kicks and punches, utilizing the Chain effect of his Kicking Mastery to inflict higher damage.

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+You dealt a moderate damage. 

+You dealt a heavy damage. 

+You dealt a Critical Damage.

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The Cait Sith, despite its high agility and evasive speed, was not able to react or defend against Grimm, and by the end of the merciless assault, the Cait Sith whimpered and became transparent before eventually fading.

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Your Level has risen 

All Basic STATS has risen by 2 points (+2ALL)

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He levelled up for a total of 2 times after defeating the Cait Sith.

“Glad that was over.”

Grimm sighed deeply as he approach the spot where the Cait Sith died to salvage the dropped loots. Suddenly, a black shape leapt from above the trees at an incredible speed. Grimm noticed this and stepped back to evade its charging path.

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-You receive a Damage, [Health (-100)]

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Still, he grazed against his chest. Grimm was surprised and flinched.

Grrrrrrr!

The figure revealed itself to be another Cait Sith. It stood in front of Grimm, growling as it blocked the path towards the loots left behind by the Cait Sith that he’d just defeated. But this one looks a lot different compared to the earlier Cait Sith. This Cait Sith is bigger, its fur is completely black, and the gem on its chest is blue instead of white.

Ding!

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You encountered the [Black Cait Sith]

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‘A special monster?’

Grimm’s eyes lit up. He had seen videos and read blogs about such monsters before and Miniboss is the frequently used term when describing them.

Unlike a Pure Boss Type, a Miniboss is not a unique monster. Its physical appearance is still similar to the kind it represents. However, in comparison to the rest of its kin, the Miniboss would have a different clothing or skin color, has a significantly larger frame, higher stats, and most of all, superior skills.

‘To meet such a special monster.’

Grimm conveyed a greedy expression as he stared at the body of the Black Cait Sith. A Miniboss had a high probability of dropping deluxe items. However, those thoughts immediately dissolve when several pairs of jade colored pupils shone from the branches followed by Health bars popping out above each pair.

Grimm then began retreating upon the rise of the unexpected spectacle.

There was no way that Grimm can deal with all of them. One Cait Sith was a huge headache already, what more if there’s several of them.

It was regrettable to abandon the loots and the Miniboss but he needs to live.

Grimm made that decision and turned his body around. Bart and the Forest of Illusion are offering a lot of neat things. And the longer he stays the more freebies he can reap. So can’t afford dying here and lose all those privileges.

*Meow!

The Black Cait Sith cried and upon that signal, they all bolted to chase him.

‘But I will not leave emptyhanded,’ Grimm declared. He devoured one of his Grilled Lemon Herb Pork Chop to replenish his Health and Mana.

“Eyes of Knowing!”

Grimm activated his skill and targets the Black Cait Sith.

Ding!

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You Identified a Special Monster!

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Name: Black Cait Sith

Race: Beast*Feline

Level: 45

Attribute: Dark

Health: 2,000/2,000

Mana: 0

Weakness: Light

Skills: *Cat Taming (Active), *Fury Swipe (Active), *Scratch (Active), *Tackle (Active), *Static Fur (Passive) Cooldown: 5 seconds

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For identifying a Special Monster, your Intelligence had risen by 5 points (+5INT)

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