The T-Rex encounter
1007 Words
Isabella quickly drank the pink potion and then equipped a rare sapphire necklace. Transferring the animal hides to her inventory, she opened the crafting menu. She already had the weaving tools and armourer’s kit on her. At crafting level 2, she had access to three types of armour sets: simple leather armour, cured leather armour and tribal hide armour.
Cured leather armour had the highest defence stats among the three, but could only be crafted with high quality hides. Luckily, Aaron and Madeline had been able to obtain plenty of superior quality hide from the dead dinosaurs. Isabella, however, wanted to experiment with something different. So, instead of selecting the cured leather armour, she switched to manual crafting.
“Do you have any dinosaur scales, Maddy?”
“I got about 130,” Madeline replied, transferring the items to her inventory.
“That should work. Now I need a Rage Orb.”
“I used up mine while fighting the Barghest.”
“I have one,” Aaron said, stepping forward. He handed the only Rage Orb in his inventory to Isabella.
Isabella combined the dinosaur scales with the superior hide and then finally added the last ingredient— an activated Rage Orb. Combining all the items together, she pressed the craft button.
[*Crafting complete!*]
[Item crafted: Enchanted Predator Armor (2)!]
“How did you even craft that?” Aaron asked, taken aback by her crafting skill. Crafting enchanted items was no easy task. The player had to be at least level 40, with a crafting level of 3 or higher. Isabella met neither of the requirements.
Before answering Aaron’s question, she unclasped her necklace and held it to the light. “Maddy and I found it inside a grotto: it’s an Armourer’s Necklace. Wearing it adds +2 to my crafting level.”
“But how did you get the armour sets enchanted? You’re not even a wizard.”
“I used a Legacy Potion for that. It allows the user to craft enchanted items with a 50% success rate. I brewed it before we left our allied settlement.”
Aaron was amazed at how much this young girl knew. “How long have you been playing RPGs?” he asked.
“Just a year,” she replied, smiling.
“She’s definitely got what it takes to become a pro. A few more years and she’ll be uploading epic challenge videos and speed runs,” Zach said.
“She’s a very gifted young girl,” Madeline said, smiling softly at her sister. She was beaming with pride, hearing the praises being heaped on her little sister. “You’ll become a professional gamer and live out all your dreams, I promise,” she whispered.
The way Madeline cared about her sister almost made her seem like her mother. Aaron could feel that there was a lot more to their relationship, than what he was seeing on the surface. Aaron walked up to the young blue-haired Defender and shook her hand.
“Welcome to the team, Isabella. We’re all gonna be counting on you today.”
Isabella’s eyes lit up and her face brightened. She looked up and punched the air with her right fist. “I’ll give it my best, team leader! Let’s go kick some T-Rex butt!”
Aaron and Madeline discussed their strategy one last time, before donning the Enchanted Predator Armor sets. This armour was much stronger than leather armour and provided more mobility than steel plate armour. An inner insulating layer made of animal hide kept them warm, while the external armour plates crafted out of toughened dinosaur scales offered a good degree of protection against melee attacks. Using the Rage Orb, Isabella was able to apply a single enchantment to each of the armour sets. The special enchantment granted the wearers complete immunity against ‘Intimidation skills’.
The group double checked their inventory and discussed each others’ available skills, before gathering near the cave entrance. Aaron took the lead, marking the waypoint on his map. The T-Rex was 1 mile away from their present location.
Adrenaline rushed through their veins, a sense of adventure quickening their heartbeat, as the players made their way across the grassy plain, littered with acacia bushes and a few scattered Whistling Thorns. It was a dry grassland, stretching out for many hundred miles. The only source of water here was a freshwater lake 30 miles to the east.
These conditions were perfect for Aaron and Isabella, as it granted them minor stat bonuses. While it was sunny outside, Aaron’s passive regeneration skill would help him heal all minor wounds automatically and give him a 25% damage bonus for all elemental skills. Isabella, on the other hand, had the terrain advantage. As long as she was on land, she could use her most powerful Geomancer skills. In addition to that, being in an open field also boosted her defence rating by 50%.
Under such favourable conditions, Aaron believed they had a great chance against the T-Rex. It was only a matter of coordinating attacks and making the right calls at the right time.
“We’re 500 metres from the Zone Guardian. Be ready!” Aaron cautioned.
“Shouldn’t we have been able to spot the T-Rex by now?” Madeline asked.
“Yeah, we should have. It’s open grassland. There’s no place such a large beast can hide.” Aaron re-checked his map to make sure he had set the correct waypoint. The gray jaw symbol was still being displayed on the map. The distance was 300 metres. “This doesn’t make any sense. We are almost at the marker.”
With cautious steps and searching eyes, the group made its way to the marked location. There was still no sign of the T-Rex. It was only when they reached the precise location that an alert was displayed on their Z-bands.
[*Warning! Warning!*]
[Zone Guardian is in close proximity!]
[Spawning T-Rex in 5...4...]
“Isabella, take point! Zach, fall back!” Aaron shouted. “Everyone get into formation!”
- Writer
