Iceday, 11/1/1036

Crawlers' Nest. Level 50. Defeats = 0
Garlaige Citadel. Level 50. Defeats = 0

11/1/1036 is a day I will never forget. This is the day I broke past what I thought were my limitations. It was the day I reached level 51!

I had finally managed to get my Ancient Papyrus some months ago. However, my search for the Exoray Mold was going far slower than I anticipated. I fought the Exorays in Crawlers' Nest for days on end with no good results. It was very dangerous to solo them most of the time because many of the potential pet creatures were Tough. Many creatures agro and/or link in the Nest, and a single mischarm or mid0fight charm break could easily spell disaster. I used Familiar as much as I could during this period to help deal with this issue. The days soon turned into weeks, and the weeks into months fighting countless exorays. It probably would have been faster in a party. However, I did not want to join a party while I was stuck at 7799/7800 experience points for goddess knows how long it would take. I was starting to get frustrated, but kept at it. At least the drops were good, as I got plenty of Dark Crystals and various mushrooms. (Mushrooms that I later used to get a pair of Mycophile Cuffs for Pitaya, Papaya, and myself.)

Then one day, my friend Komaru happened to be available and asked if he could help. Komaru was a Tarutaru White Mage in his high 40s, recently come out of semi-retirement. While I wanted to try the quest solo at first, by this time I was willed to take any help I could get. We made our way down, and wouldn't you know it? Exoray Mold on the first drop! I joked that Komaru must be good luck, but he just shrugged it off. Since we had made it all the way down there, I asked if he needed a mold as well. He did, and we went to find another Exoray. And guess what? Another exoray mold dropped!! I couldn't believe it. Komaru really was good luck!

Wanting to capitalize of our good fortune, I asked Komaru if he was up for a trip to Garlaige Citadel. Our target was the Explosures, which dropped the Bomb Coal we needed. Fortunately there was a party camping near Banishing Gate #1 so we could easily move to where we needed to be. When there, we found a room with several Explosures and some Droma (Magic Pots). In the tunnel leading to this large room there were a few agro Funnel Bats. The bats were Tough to me, but I wasn't as worried because if all went well, the fight would not last long enough for them to uncharm. And even if they did, I had Komaru there to back me up while I attempted a recharm. The plan of course was to throw bats at the bombs and hope that the bomb would use Self-Destruct. If it used Berserk, that was almost as good, since me and the bats could rip through a low-defense bomb very quickly. Long story short, we both had a bomb coal after only three bombs. Apparently the bomb coal was very common. Well, that and Komaru is good luck. I'll have to ask him to come camping with me more often. =^.^=

It was a long, tough road, but well worth the wait. And the best part is now I'm wearing a pimp new staff. :)