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Soon, Dorian encountered the first boss—the one-horned rhino-man Rostadi.
Dorian approached with seriousness and caution, carefully probing. He discovered the opponent had very few moves—only three main attacks: crossbow volley, charge, and side kick.
Aside from high HP and attack power, Dorian felt he wasn't as troublesome as the previous guy who could back-hop and throw darts. The only thing to watch out for was the boss's crossbow volley, which dealt twenty-five HP damage per hit. His side kick was very fast. If you dared stand still and attack three times, you'd definitely get hit by the side kick—except with dual-sai and nunchaku. The side kick knocked players airborne. If you didn't immediately move up or down, you'd get hit by the crossbow volley.
After losing another life, Dorian successfully defeated the boss. He felt that next time, he probably wouldn't even lose a single life clearing it.
After defeating the boss and replenishing health, a cutscene showed a large ship slowly sailing by. This was Shredder's ship, carrying plundered treasures. The five tortoise warriors discussed it and decided to cause some trouble. Each used Water magic to condense a smooth piece of ice under their feet, then stepped on the ice and chased after the ship.
Can condensing ice into that shape really allow fast gliding on water? It shouldn't be just that—they must have also used Wind magic, Dorian mused while watching the screen.
Level two began.
Dorian's tortoise warrior glided on ice across the river, chasing the ship, while enemies also glided on ice to intercept. Here, Caelan had set a rule: moving forward was normal speed, but retreating speed was halved, and fast running wasn't allowed. This took Dorian some time to adapt to.
Moreover, the regular enemies in this stage were very sneaky. They'd retreat when you approached, always maintaining distance. They'd occasionally bend down to scoop river water, condense it into an ice ball, and throw it. Fortunately, the ice balls didn't fly too fast and, like throwing darts, could be hit and destroyed by the player. These regular enemies also required jumping flying kicks to hit.
Next, not only were there these troublesome enemies, but also some that lurked underwater and suddenly jumped out to ambush. Dorian carefully observed that underwater enemies showed as shadows beneath the surface.
Knowing this was one thing. Being able to dodge their attacks was another.
These underwater enemies would often jump out and kick you while you were attacking others. When unfamiliar, it was truly disgusting.
Soon, Dorian lost two more lives.
The difficulty of this second stage seems much higher than the first, he thought.
Next, underwater enemies began jumping out in groups to attack, followed by dense clusters of lightning orbs. After the lightning orbs surfaced, they'd pause for a moment, then fly backward at extremely fast speed. Players had to time their attacks to hit them. Randomly mashing the attack button would easily get you shocked by a lightning orb. This was a stage where Raphael with his dual-sai had an advantage.
After finally enduring the lightning orb barrage, Dorian breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the empty river surface.
Suddenly, two dragons flew in from afar, unleashing cross-breath attacks on the player.
Dragonspire Empire's dragon cavalry? No, this is the Chaos Lands—they must have been smuggled in, Dorian thought silently, his fingers continuously moving, controlling the staff-wielding tortoise to attack the two dragons.
With Caelan's modifications, these two dragons were much more troublesome than the original two flying machines, with much thicker HP. Coupled with low special move damage, players unfamiliar with them would easily suffer here.
Not only these two dragons, but the entire second stage—especially the final boss, Red Bull Grand Chuck—would definitely leave a lasting impression on all first-time players.
Who did he learn this kind of unscrupulous difficulty setting from? First stage is a freebie, second stage makes you curse? Of course—he learned it from Capcom! Think of the Butcher in Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, the machine gun ninja in Mystic Warriors' second stage, Balbados in Knights of the Round's second stage, and Xiahou Dun in Knights of Valour 2.
Capcom was truly evil!
Indeed, after finally defeating the two dragons and boarding the ship, after enduring various traps and increasingly disgusting regular enemies, Dorian finally met the final boss—Red Bull Grand Chuck.
His quick counterattacks were already disgusting enough. Then there was his three-hit charge. Fast and hard to dodge, not to mention the immense damage—thirty-five HP per hit. With his current HP, he could only take three hits.
Wait—when did his HP increase to one hundred sixty? He hadn't noticed before. Even so, he could only take five hits.
He watched as he lost two lives consecutively without even damaging the boss much. He still couldn't find a suitable strategy. In desperation, he could only release special moves and clash head-on with the boss.
However, due to Caelan's subtle but significant reduction in special move damage—primarily set for self-preservation—a direct health-for-health exchange was extremely inefficient.
After losing several lives in a row, he finally got the boss to low health, glowing red.
But then, this Red Bull walked to the side and snapped off a wooden railing from the ship. Now, not only was his attack power tremendous, but his attack range was also incredibly wide. If a special move charge was timed even slightly wrong, you'd get knocked flying by the large wooden stake.
The poor tortoise warrior had his lives drawn out one by one, dying miserably. Even after using all of them, he'd barely touched the boss. The boss, still glowing red, seemed capable of fighting for an entire day.
Good heavens. Fifteen lives, and he couldn't even pass the second stage boss.
Dorian paused, looking left and right. He noticed the people on both sides had already restarted early. The person on the left had just finished the first stage boss. Dorian peeked over and saw that even on his second attempt, the guy still lost seven lives in the first stage.
What a noob.
Dorian felt a slight sense of comfort, realizing he was still playing better.
He restarted the runestone and continued. He was determined to master this staff-wielding tortoise warrior.
On the first day of the new store's opening, everyone was playing Chronicle of the Fierce Tortoise Warriors.
Judging from the mana feedback received, this modification seemed very successful. The visible feeling of becoming stronger was truly captivating.
By around ten in the morning, all seats in the store were filled. Those wanting to buy would first observe how others played. Those with money or confidence in Caelan's games paid directly and went home to play. Of course, there were also many who came to freeload. Even without seats, they enthusiastically watched from the side, occasionally offering advice to acquaintances.
At this time, some convenient food and drinks Caelan had ordered were also delivered. Since it was summer, he'd ordered many barrels of sour plum drink. The barrels were placed to the side. A quick freeze with cooling magic made for a delicious beverage. The cups were uniform wooden cups—twenty copper bits each, same price as outside retail. Absolutely fair.
Indeed, seeing Caelan bring out the sour plum drink and smelling its aroma, even though the new store wasn't hot thanks to the cooling array running, it still made people feel thirsty. They all called out for a cup.
Of course, there were also those reluctant to spend money—either making an ice cube themselves or having an acquaintance use magic to make one and putting it in their mouth.
"They don't care about my business at all. How stingy."
After sighing, Caelan smiled and accepted twenty silver marks, taking out two runestone tablets from under the counter and handing them to the customer in front of him.
Who said an Illusionist couldn't make a living? Look at him—earning money and getting stronger quickly.
How happy he was now!
Plz give me Powerstones
Bonus chapter on every 300 Powerstones.