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[F21-SP]The solitude of Gathering


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“This will be interesting, right, Balthazar?” he asked the small owl bear as the two walked out of his shop. They were aiming for the 21st floor this time, they were gonna hunt for some materials up there, just walking around in leisure as they wanted to both know the floor a bit better and get some materials for the shop to use. It was much easier to grind materials, but that was quite some time ago, not it was all about the lucky drops you would get once in awhile. Macradon would look at Balthazar as the two would approach the Warp Plaza. Both would enter the warp plate and Macradon would utter the words “Warp - 21st floor” as the two were engulfed in turquoise light. The two would step out in a dimly lit town made of rocks with stone dragon statues were scattered around the area.

Stats:

Spoiler

Macradon - Lvl 62
1255 HP
124 Energy
2 Accuracy
1 Evasion
19 Base Damage
 (24 w/ Charge) (20 w/ Ferocity) (25 w/ Ferocity+Charge) 
- (1 Base + 2 two-handed + 5 Skill + 1 Athletics + 4 Weapon + 6 Potion)
128 Mitigation 
- (20 Skill + 54 Armor + 54 Potion)

Items
Sword of the Ancients .............. // +4 Damage, +1 Phase, +1 Paralyze
Blood Crusader's Halfplate ......... // +54 Mitigation
Butcher's Robes .................... // +2 LD
Balthazar - Familiar ............... // +1 Accuracy

Battle Ready Inventory
Banner of Command .................. // Give up to 4 people +1 Damage | 1 Charge left
Teleportation Crystal .............. // Teleports the user to the closest Settlement
Potion of Armored Dragon-scale...... // +54 Damage Mitigation
Potion of Vicious Dragon-fang....... // +6 Damage

Buffs
+  6 Damage
+ 54 Damage Mitigation

Skills
Two Handed Straight Sword  | Rank 5: +5 Damage
Heavy Armor                | Rank 4: +20 Damage Mitigation
Search and Detect          | Rank 5: +5 LD
Charge                     | Rank 5: +5 Damage on first hit
Fighting Spirit            | +1 Hate generation
Disguise                   | +1 to your BD and -1 to your opponent’s BD
Survival                   | Heal 20 HP when out of battle
Battle Healing             | Rank 3: Heal 30 HP each post In-Battle
Gatherer                   | +3 Mats found when searching for materials

Skill Mods
Finesse                    | Rank 1  < Not Active >
Precision                  | +1 Accuracy
Reveal                    
Tracking                   | Enables the user to track down a monster or a player if the user knows the monster's or player's name
Athletics                  | +1 Damage, +5 Health
Ferocity                   | Rank 5: +1 Damage when using 5th rank Sword Arts

Edited by Macradon
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Walking out from the town’s gates, the two fellas would begin to scout around the rocky floor. Everything was basically stones, rocks or some bedrock. It was very magnificent how all these floor had been assembled to make the castle of Aincrad. It was quite wild thinking about tha- … “Oh hey!” Macradon said as he pointed down into the ground. The small owlbear would screech as the two both found a small cluster of materials. “This was fast” he thought with a smile, grabbing the small bundle of materials and put them away in his inventory. “If it’s this easy with the Gatherer skill … I’m wondering why I haven’t invested in it before” he said out loud, hopefully having Balthazar agreeing with him. He would be able to get quite the many materials in a short amount of time, which was what he aimed for, this was a mission to get his store back up and running.

ID: 84893
LD: 11+7=18, Materials Found!

- Health List -
< Macradon >
1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 4 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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The two would wander around, keeping close but not looking at each other. They would venture out, deep into the coves and deep caves of the floor, they were indeed going to find a lot of materials ready to be picked up in there. A quick glance was more than enough to find materials, four of them again. His Gatherer skill was really useful right now, it gave him so much more than killing monsters did, but he still had to kill monsters to get the Col needed to buy stuff in most places. Taking a stop to think about things, Macradon wandered and thought out loud “How does this material system even work … do they just appear randomly and you can pick them up, or are they preset and you’re just lucky to find a cluster or something?”. He would ponder and ponder upon the thought, but then it hit him.

ID: 84897
LD: 14+7=21, Materials Found!

- Health List -
< Macradon >
 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 8 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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“Or is it slowly generating when you enter an area, like in chunks? That would make more sense, also thinking of the gatherer skill that greatly increases the amount of materials found within a time frame. With gatherer, it would most likely make sense that around on is a chunk that is generated with the materials and they are more cluttered together if you have gatherer or something …” Macradon pondered, sure that Blathazar wasn’t so knowledgable about all this materials and gathering stuff. “... or … it could all already have been generated, and the gatherer skill reacts within the chunked area the player is in and it will make some of the materials into clusters so they can be accesible much faster than normally … why am I talking to my buddy about materials when he doesn’t even use or know anything about this” he said with a smile to Balthazar, and in that instant he found a few behind them “Well whaddya know, some more right here!”.

ID: 84900
LD: 11+7=18, Materials Found!

- Health List -
< Macradon >
 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 12 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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12 materials in a short time span, it was quite wild for Macradon to experience this again. He remembered back when slaying monsters was the way forward, it was much faster and easier than what it is today. Back then, all you had to do was to kill the damn monsters and they would give you materials, and possibly more if the Cardinal system would roll a high enough loot number for you to gain more materials from a single creature. Today, it was much different. The loot algorithm has just been released by those who analyze the game for everyone, it is much harder to get materials from monsters now, much much more difficult. There were so many factors that would come in when you kill a batch of monsters that farming monsters for Materials was just stupid unless you got the most perfect of drops, which was near impossible.

ID:  84901
LD: 2+7=9, Nothing found.

- Health List -
< Macradon >
 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 12 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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There was so much thought behind all of this, this game. It was so complex, everything about it was made up, someone had made the algorithms, always updating it for the sake of having it up and running. It was so special from many other games, in that it was for the first part a VR game that not only gives you the vision of a virtual reality, but immerses your mind into a world that feels so real, but you easily snap out of the immersion when you realise that it just is a game. It was now that Macradon had noticed that he were daydreaming, just standing there, looking into nothing as his blank stare just pierced everything. He would quickly shake his head and try to go back to where he was. He would look around and find Balthazar, which calmed him down immensely. “Good to see you’re still here” he said with a smile.

ID: 84904
LD: 2+7=9, Nothing found.

- Health List -
< Macradon >
 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 12 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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Macradon would lower down and pat his partner on the top of his head and the small owlbear would rub its head up against its companion. Macradon would stand up again and on his way up he discovered a small patch of materials. Macradon would gather the bunch with a smile adorned upon his lips. It was great being able to self sustain on materials so he didn’t have to go looking for materials at weird places or even shady places, possibly paying others for stuff he could do himself, why not just do it himself, it was better for him, he would use less money on it, saving a ton he probably could’ve used on hiring someone to bring him materials. Also this way, he was confident that the one gathering materials for him were doing their best, he couldn’t be sure with any second part gatherer if he weren’t there himself.

ID: 84920
LD: 10+7=17, Material Found!

- Health List -
< Macradon >
 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 16 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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Macradon would wonder if walking around these caverns were such a good idea in the first place. They might find materials down here, but what else, he wanted to get to know the wildlife that lives on this floor, what inhabits it other than the people of the cities? There’s only one way to really find out, and that’s to venture out and keep looking. Not fully aware of what he wants to do, he needed an objective instead of just walking around aimlessly. Sitting down a small rock, Macradon would look over at Balthazar “What do you want to do? Just walking around seems a bit boring” he asked his owlbear. The two had no idea what they actually wanted to do out here than just walk around. Macradon would think for a few seconds before a thought popped into his head. “I know! Let’s go find a dungeon!” he said with a smile, looking at his companion.

ID: 84932
LD: 3+7=10, nothing found.

- Health List -
< Macradon >
 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 16 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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Balthazar would nod, but not that eager to follow it, but it was much better having an actual goal than walking around not really going for anything. Now that they were looking for a dungeon, they had something to go for. Macradon would begin to look, but before actually finding something, he stumbled upon a small patch of materials like the many other times today. It was really visible how better he was at finding materials when having the Gatherer skill, it helped him a ton. With this skill he’s able to really find a lot of materials and use them all the time for his shop to stay relevant. Thinking about where Dungeons could be found on this floor, Macradon would make a wild guess, thinking that a dungeon would be found in some kind of cave on this floor, since there were a lot of caves all scattered around.

ID: 84943
LD: 13+7=20, Material Found!

- Health List -
< Macradon >
 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 20 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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For now, looking for materials was probably the best they could do. There wasn’t much else they could delve right into, and not even mob slaying. From what they could see, there were no monsters, at least not the area they were in. Macradon would take a short break again, finding a small flat rock he could sit on and Balthazar to sit on his lap. The two would relax, wait, and see if he could find some correlation between the way the floor was built as well as how they were going to find a dungeon out here in this place. He wasn’t too sure on how they were supposed to do so, and therefore would try to think of abstract and unorthodox ways they could find a dungeon. Macradon had tried a lot, they were for the most parts hidden, locked away behind some kind of secret door or hidden chasm.

ID: 84946
LD: 5+7=12, nothing found.

- Health List -
< Macradon >
 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 20 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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Sitting in pseudo solitude, Macradon would lean up against a wall, lightly petting the owlbear cub on his legs. “I hope we actually do find a sub-dungeon today, it’d be a shame if we just went out and just ended up on a material gathering day. I mean, we would get some good stuff out of it … but still” he said to Balthazar. Not thinking too clearly right now, Macradon thought that it was a great time to take a short nap. "H-Hey there love". Those were first words Macradon heard uttered when it all happened. This was the start of something big, a flag raised for the future of Aincrad … This was the day where Macradon lost a college and a close friend. It all started with the blonde, Oikawa. He slowly approached what Macradon would know as a friend of his, Zelrius, the Dual Blade her of Aincrad, the one who dealt the most damage, the one who would bear the burden of spearheading every raid … but not anymore.

ID: 85191
LD: 16+7=23, Material Found!

- Health List -
< Macradon > 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 24 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

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The words … "I'm sorry remember my request." … they would strike Macradon as nothing but normal talk between friends … but it didn’t seem like so. With a raised rapier, a <Charge> and a strike … actually fourteen strikes. Stabs puncturing the Hero of Aincrad, Zelrius. It all happened in a flash, so sudden … so … viciously. Macradon was stunned, unable to react upon what just happened, just standing there in shock. “What just happened? What? Why? How? .. I don’t get it” he thought at the moment. Everything was standing still, like time had frozen over. He couldn’t move, but he wanted to, he really wanted to. Trying to focus on movement, but distracted by the death of the hero in front of him, Macradon would try not to break, holding in his voice, he wouldn’t be able to scream in terror, even if he wanted to, he wasn’t able to do anything. He would quickly be woken up from his heavy nap by a rock falling onto his face, actually 4 of them. "Huh ... materials". He had seemingly forgotten about the dream he just. He remembered a boss raid, but everything else was vague.

ID: 85208
LD: 16+7=23, Material Found!

- Health List -
< Macradon > 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 28 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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He would look up confused, not being able to understand, remember or comprehend his dream. He would shake his head, like something was meddling with his mind. “What …” he thought as he looked around. Balthazar would begin to come and grip onto his leg, trying to tell him something. The small owlbear would tug on the pants beneath the armor, hoping Macradon would react, and he did. Looking down to his companion, Macradon asked “What’s up?”. The small bear tried to mimic scared faces and something like being asleep. Macradon would stand and think about it, but not really seeing the big picture here. “What are you trying to tell me?” he asked. Slightly aggravated that the small owlbear wasn’t able to speak nor use telepathic communication like Den’Um’Eal, Macradon was still glad that his buddy stayed with him, unlike someone else. “Hm … sleeping … scared … a nightmare?” he asked. Balthazar’s eyes lit up as it nodded. “I had a nightmare?” Macradon asked.

ID: 85245
LD: 4+7=11, nothing found.

- Health List -
< Macradon > 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 28 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

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“Hm ….” he pondered. Thinking about what this nightmare would have been of. Of the time he had been here in this game, he had had little to no nightmares … the only nightmares he had were when … Spark of light flew by his eyes as the memories seeped into his mind, more vivid than before. Macradon would fall to his knees and hold his hands on the sides of his head, trying to wrap himself in. “No .. no … it’s not happening again” he muttered for himself as the small owlbear would slowly approach his companion, not knowing what was going on. Macradon would collapse down and sulk. “No” he continued … The pictures kept flickering by his eyes, like a slideshow of pictures. He saw … it happen again. The White Samurai Knight, approaching the Berzerker from behind. The dark armored Berzerker, Ssendom, one of Macradon’s friends, would soon meet his demise.

ID: 85258
LD: 5+7=12, nothing found.

- Health List -
< Macradon > 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 28 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

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Quick swipes from a katana easily slit through the Berzerker, just as easily cut through as the Hero had been repeatedly stabbed to death. The memories flooded to his mind, everything visualizing in his eyes, and he was still paralyzed, unable to really do anything. He just stood there, as a bystander, until it finally snapped. In his hallucination he would rush up and begin to sweep with Sickle, the sword Ssendom had given him. But he were too slow, unable to hit the White Knight and the Blonde. They quickly retrieved with their teleportation crystals, vanishing before Macradon was able to do anything. He just kept swinging his sword around with tears flooding out as he couldn’t handle the murderers he had just witnessed. He wasn’t able to do anything, useless, weak, unable to do anything. Quickly waking up without the hallucinations, Macradon laid on the ground, crying with Balthazar guarding him if anything were to happen.

ID: 85260
LD: 3+7+2=12, nothing found.

- Health List -
< Macradon > 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 28 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

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Macradon finally snapped, he had had enough of this madness. His pupils grew, a hatred induced rage overflowed within his body. His mind had finally fallen for the horrific acts he had locked away as mere memories of an event, but now it all hit him like a truck. As he quickly arose from grounded fetal position, Balthazar was shoved away, off of Macradon. In shock and confusion, Balthazar would screech at the hideous act Macradon had just done upon his companion. But Macradon did not listen, he just began running, trying to run away from his fear. Balthazar quickly followed suit, trying to keep an eye on Macradon. As the young man would run, run, and keep running. But suddenly he tripped on what seemed like ruble and fell down into a deep hole. He would stand up and keep running, not thinking clear, not thinking about what just happened, he just ran.

ID: 85265
LD: 9+7+2=18, Beginner Dungeon Found!

- Health List -
< Macradon > 1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 28 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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4 creatures were present in front of Macradon, 2 of them were wielding katanas and the two others; rapiers. Macradon would enhance the flame inside him even further. As he raged about, Macradon would quickly grab his sword and go for a swing, but he missed as he wasn't in range for the attack, but the flourishes he kept on repeating would make a barrier of danger for the warriors to attack him. Macradon roared out with every new beginning of a flourish without much thought. Primal instincts had taken over Macradon, keeping him in a rampage of rage for now. Balthazar quickly caught up to his companion, seeing him standing there, fending off 4 creatures around him. Balthazar tried and tried to call out to him, but it didn’t help him at all, he was blinded by madness, by hatred, by the thought of killing the bastards that killed, no, not just killed, murdered, his friends.

- Macradon Attack -
ID:
 85320
BD: 2+3=5, Miss!
CD: 10, Recovery Proc!
Sword art used: Miss!

- Monster Attack -
ID:
 85321
MD: 3, Miss.

- Health List -
< Macradon >      1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 124/124 NRG (-2 NRG, +2 NRG)

< Dragon Warrior > 210/210  HP ||  00 MIT || 63 DMG || 
< Dragon Warrior > 210/210  HP ||  00 MIT || 63 DMG || 
< Dragon Warrior > 210/210  HP ||  00 MIT || 63 DMG || 
< Dragon Warrior > 210/210  HP ||  00 MIT || 63 DMG || 

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 28 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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Macradon would keep his flourish going as his Recovery would keep on proccing, keeping his energy up at the level he needed it to be at. Without the loss of energy, Macradon would press on. Openings were quickly found in Macradon’s attack pattern and were abused immediately by the AI. The rapiers would launch at him, piercing him as Oikawa had attacked Zelrius. The katanas would slice him like how Ssendom was slain. The visions of the two flashed before him, images of Oikawa and Opal doing these attacks on him fueled his rage to a focused power. Macradon would disengage quickly and then launch a 6-hit combo attack, cleaving through all four enemies as he roared out "Repent for you sins, murderers!". Tearing through what seemed like time-space itself, or the fabric of the game SAO, Macradon devastated the four in front of him with ease, ending up in a crouched position with his sword, breathing heavily from exhaustion. He had worn himself out with all of this hate.

- Macradon Attack -
ID:
 85322
BD: 10+3=10(13), Crit +2! Phase activated.
CD: 4, no proc.
Sword art used: Calamity Disaster - 6x2x22=264 AOE DMG

- Monster Attack -
ID:
 85323
MD: 6, Hit!
Attack: (63-128)x4=4 DMG

- Health List -
< Macradon >      1255/1255 HP || 128 MIT || 19 DMG || 100/124 NRG (-4 HP, +30 HP)(-24 NRG)

< Dragon Warrior > -54/210  HP ||  00 MIT || 63 DMG ||             (-264 HP)
< Dragon Warrior > -54/210  HP ||  00 MIT || 63 DMG ||             (-264 HP)
< Dragon Warrior > -54/210  HP ||  00 MIT || 63 DMG ||             (-264 HP)

< Dragon Warrior > -54/210  HP ||  00 MIT || 63 DMG ||             (-264 HP)

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 28 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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Two big doors of a gate would open as a Knight clad in dragon-like armor came in, wielding a big two-handed sword like Macradon, but this wasn’t a normal two-handed sword, it was a Nodachi, a katana-like sword. Macradon would calm down, he had killed the murderers, redeemed the honor of both Zel and Dom, but now he had to fight the boss, the one that murdered out of nowhere, Teayre. He could just see the red hair and red eyes glisten through the helmet of the dragon-knight, even though it actually wasn’t there, his rage has blinded his vision for reality. He would <Charge> up against the knight and unleash a single heavy strike. Jumping up in the air as his sword began glowing, Macradon would begin tearing down the health of the boss with his heavy downwards blow, but he would be kicked and slashed multiple times himself as the boss would retaliate with its large sword.

- Macradon Attack -
ID:
 85324
BD: 5+3=8, Hit!
CD: 1, no proc.
Sword art used: Galaxy Destroyer - 1x13x25-21=304 DMG

- Boss Attack -
ID:
 85325
MD: 8, Hit!
Attack: 252-128=124 DMG

- Health List -
< Macradon >       1161/1255  HP || 128 MIT ||  19 DMG || 88/124 NRG (-124 HP, +30 HP)(-13 NRG, +1 NRG)

< Dragon Knight > ///// ///// HP ||  21 MIT || 252 DMG ||            (-304 HP)
                    746/1050

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 28 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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Macradon fell to the ground by not only the heavy kick, but the quick succession of attacks that were slung at him. He would try to get up, but he felt too much emotional pain that wasn’t actually there to get up. It was like a placebo effect, his brain knew pain would be there when something like this happened, but there wasn’t any pain, so it would just make it feel like pain was inflicted because it needs to be so. Balthazar would try to run towards Macradon for help, but the Knight would make a single cold stare at the owlbear and make him freeze in place by sheer fear. Trying to focus, Macradon would yell out “How dare you touch me! After what you’ve done, you shouldn’t have the privilege to even live!”. He would roll away and get back up, quickly going in for another attack.

- Macradon Attack -
ID:
 85326
BD: 1+3=4, Miss!
CD: 3, no proc.
Sword art used: Miss!

- Boss Attack -
ID:
 85327
MD: 2, Miss.
Attack: Miss.

- Health List -
< Macradon >       1191/1255  HP || 128 MIT ||  19 DMG || 87/124 NRG (+30 HP)(-2 NRG, +1 NRG)

< Dragon Knight > ///// ///// HP ||  21 MIT || 252 DMG ||            
                    746/1050

- Loot Acquired -
Col: 0
Mats: 28 x T3 || 0 x T2 || 0 x T1

Edited by Macradon
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