I log back in and decide to visit Heine as I haven’t been there before, and the map tells me 38+ mobs can be found on an alligator beach.  It is very pretty.

I port out and see some alligators.

They are BIG!

I haven’t seen any players in a while, though.  It also occurs to me I have not gotten another drop or seen any quests that provide me with a gear upgrade. I hit 38, and get a message this time from Captain Gosta about another Kamaloka.

My inventory is overloaded with junk at this point so I clean out my WH and check the buy shops in Giran. The items do not show the NPC price on the items themselves so first I compare to the NPC shops.

Ori Ore: 1,500
Stone of Purity: 1,500
Coarse Bone Power: 750
Thread:50
Cord: 162
Cokes: 600
Iron: 100
Silver Nugget: 250
Braided Hemp: 250
Leather: 450
Coal: 100
Animal skin: 75
Vanish: 100
Charcoal: 100
Stem: 50
Suede: 150
Animal Bone: 150

I have under 50 of each, in some cases only 3-4 of each of those items. I have 135k to my name right now.

I see in some cases, buy shops are trying to buy these materials for less than (or barely over) npc cost, such as a shop buying animal bone for 111 adena, stones of purity for 1,000, etc. That hardly seems worth it when it took 38 levels to only gather a few!  I decide not to sell right now.

Day 10:

I decide to go try the pailaka that Furrious told me about.

I pick up 2,000 soulshots since I recall those would have been useful even with a staff in the kamas which only runs me like 18k, which is ridiculously unfair because the same amount of b sps would have cost me like 5x that.

The mobs are fairly easy with nukes though. I get a really cool heal! Why don’t my heals look like this?

I rest before the second boss since the first one nearly pwned my face.

Then after all that, the mob just stood there and let me nuke it to death and did nothing! uh lol?

The fire one does the same thing!

However the last boss proves almost un-damageable and with 10 minutes left I die and completely out of MP I find I have to do the entire thing over again.  It takes me nearly that entire time to regen all my MP!  Then I realize I have a weight penalty again and I only get about 4 mp every few seconds, I sell some mithril wire I acquired from somewhere, I’m up to 208k and now regen 8 per, which is not super great but better.

I go back and this time the mobs do not bug out and I die over and over.  Then I get a death penalty which costs me 6k to cure, not to mention I am out of shots again after gaining 0 adena in there. Then the dungeon expires again.  I give up, this is clearly a waste of time and/or impossible on a wizard. At this level anyway.  (I’m serious, I couldn’t do it even un-noobing and buying shots, pots, popping the pailaka pots, and summoning my cat with shots and buffs.  Total BS)  I say hello to Furrious who has logged on and I gripe about the pailaka in typical semi-noob fashion and he suggests I wait until 40 and C grade.  I’m not sure I can afford it, as I went down to 104k during that little mess, but it’s certainly sound advice.

I go back to Hardin’s and start grinding (which is boring as hell), which seems to be the only reliable way to get cheap exp and actually earn some money.  The mobs show their displeasure by bubbling what seems like more than EVER. Sigh. Zouboulis gives me some advice for my pailaka trouble and offers prophet buffs for next time I go.  I don’t plan on it until 40 though. He (I always assume he) says I can borrow +16 duals for the last boss and it will be easy. 16 at D or C grade IMO is still very impressive and generous.

I hit 37, and log out.

Day 9:

I am up to 101k from running around grinding on mobs the other day. I look at the map and notice the extra tabs with more info, and decide to head to the Bee Hive since it’s in my range.

The mobs only take one shot, with shots but the exp seems a lot slower. Furrious, who is proving to be probably the best example of a sponsor EVER says hello, apologizes for the minor childish behavior of other members (I’ve seen much, much worse trust me) and explains about quests being more or less pointless.  Another member pipes in that mages are sort of useless and that money is very hard to get.  I’m noticing that. I made no inquiry for help with money but it comes about that I was not able to afford a pet and he offers to buy me one anyway.  I die here when I get stunned and pick up aggro from 2 mobs at once. The EXP and adena isn’t very good either.

I head back to Dragon Valley/Death Pass and go down a narrow canyon but the mobs are much stronger and require many nukes. I get out of there!  I hit 35 on Fettered Souls and Grandis (Grandi?  Grandises?)

I go back to learn skills and pick up some quests offered in the Temple in Dion. One of the NPCs give me a ton of dimentional diamonds which I can use for town specific SOEs.  Oh hell yes!

I go down to Floran again, making sure I got my PK buff and start killing things.  THEN! I get an actual for real drop, a Tunic of Knowledge!  I mention this in clan and someone offers to make cheap shots for me.  So nice!

I do some more quests, sell of some useless stuff and I am up to 188k but out of shots again. I buy some more,  exp some more and hit 36.  I “ding” this in clan chat and Furrious helpfully mentions I can do the Pailaka so I feign confusion and ask where that is (since I wrote the guide for the FT and high level one).  He says Gludin and that it is very hard for mages.  This is very true I remember.

I see a lot of this as well in towns, this one just made me laugh.

I take a break.

Day 8:

While looking at the teleports in Gludio I see one called the Ant Nest and decide to explore.

I find out no herbs drop here and the ants are rather relentless and I quickly run out of MP with not many safe areas to rest for several minutes. Body to mind seems rather inefficient as well since it takes half my hp to recover about 44 mp which is like a single spell.

Perhaps this is more classified as a dungeon, and would require a small party. The healing ball only heals for around 40 which isn’t near enough either. It also doesn’t continually heal even if HP is very low.

Then I spot some really creepy FLYING ants.  They CREEP ME OUT. I die shortly after and return to clan hall.

Then I decide to check out the Ivory Tower near Oren.

The mobs in the pits are red and doable but the adena drops and exp make it not at all worth the risk.

Then I visit the Sea of Spores but a single nuke from the eyes there nearly kills me! Then I notice even though my shots are showing activated, they are not being used.  I click them off and back on again and things go much more smoothly.

Then I come across this odd mob!  She’s troublesome looking but it not marked as a raid boss.

Apparently I got too close.

I go back to Dragon Valley and hit 34, then the servers go down for maintenance.

the shop items aren’t selling so I pick up and head to Cruma Tower, only the wasp things there have a much more devastating version of poison which nearly kills me each time.  I misclick the wrong SOE and end up in the clan hall.  I teleport to Pavel Ruins and the mobs there are dark red, only I have no way of knowing how much higher they are than I.

My first nuke takes this guy down over half but the rest fail enough that I die.

I choose to go to castle this time.

When faced with the throne I decide to plop down!

I am bored and with no one to party with or talk to at the moment I log out.