Jeanne and Moon Kitty

That is me in a red fifth circle fighter's belt because I passed the test! (^_^)

For all of the problems I've had with the test and all the times I wasn't able to hit the Banshee or died in a few hits by the Blood Wyrm or couldn't face the Lava Beetle by itself because that Blood Wyrm would always get in the way this test was close to perfection.

I was able to fight the Banshee by herself and kill her in eight hits including one miss. I faced her first because she has a high Troilus, is fast, hard to trap, and does a lot of damage. She's the one I had the most trouble with initially. Just as I killed her the Lava Beetle and Blood Wyrm came so I headed to the northern barrier to trap the Blood Wyrm.

Killing the Lava Beetle didn't take a lot of time even though I missed more than I would have liked. I don't know whether it's a lack of Atkus or because it managed to move just as I hit it. The Lava Beetle behaves much as a Feral and moves around in circles so you have to learn how it behaves so you can recover your balance and hit it when it suits you. Looking at the visionstone I'm glad Lava Beetles don't have a lot of Troilus because I spent a lot of time trapping the Blood Wyrm so the Lava Bettle not recovering a lot of health was a huge help. When it died I was at about 80% health which turned out to be just enough as I faced the Blood Wyrm.

Killing him was a snap and I think I've been able to solo a Blood Wyrm for quite some time. My tactic of hit and run was used since I'm unable to brick Blood Wyrms, at least I don't think I can. I did get hit, enough to get down to about 33% of my health at the end of the test, but the Blood Wyrm's health dropped even faster and for that I thank my Darkus (300 ranks). I hit him consistently and I think the danger it poses is speed and high damage and probably the high amount of Atkus needed to hit him.

After this monumentous event Sor wanted to go back to the Foothills to kill some Midnight Wendeckas for money. I've been coin hunting so had about 600c of the 2500c for the belt. Sor did the recruiting and around we went through the valleys of the Foothills. Relkin had a shovel and did the digging and the Zo fighters did the falling so that twice we had to return them to town to get healing.

Sor ended up giving me 700c or more to get the belt and while I tried to refuse he's as stubborn as I am and I figured making a big deal out of turning him down would make him angry so I took the money and thanked him as much as I could without annoying him. I was able to purchase the belt and use the Lilaberry I've held for many months to bleach the blue shirt which was already bleached with a Lilaberry to make the shirt in the above picture. The pants are the Puma Pelt pants I got on Gungla Island in a lucky roll of the dice. Sor later said I look scary, but I really like the look. The only question I have is whether I should get red shoes to match the belt.

I know I'm not any stronger than when I took the test the last time but I feel as though the belt shows everyone the strength I've had for some time. The tactics I used in the test showed me that it wasn't a matter of ranks that caused me to fail all those times before but simply a matter of incorrect tactics. I had to get smarter before passing and I think I did, even if it was just a little bit.

I have another entry to write but I must be going for now.