Drops Aren't Guaranteed

Items don't drop guaranteed. It's all probability! In the original era of Lost of Fantasy, there wasn't a shred of sweetness to be found—it was a brutally savage game.

Unlike what folks in my old world called the textbook for raid MMORPGs, this original era had points that modern RPG players simply couldn't forgive.

Dungeons were especially ridiculous. Take Undead Academia—it had over 13 named monsters alone.

These named monsters were basically bosses since they dropped gear, but more wasn't always better.

Lost of Fantasy, especially in the original era, wasn't made for those sweet-and-sour modern users.

"Ah!! What the hell! This again! Just junk again! How can we not get a single blue drop, unnie?!"

Thud thud thud! Im Harin checked the named monster's corpse after taking a mere five minutes to down it and let out a huge sigh.

"What is this crap? Another total beggar drop?"

"The yield on these monsters today is trash. What do we do, Minseo-unnie?"

"I mean, look at these guys. All skeletons or undead. No pockets, so of course they're broke..."

Yeah, this was the savage side of the original era.

There were a whopping 13 named monsters, and unless you had the worst luck imaginable, they'd drop blue gear—but the variance between them was insane.

Some had drop tables barely better than the trash mobs littering the dungeon!

Even among the exact same named monsters, some had unique voice lines and patterns that screamed "boss mob" in hindsight.

Hell, you didn't even need to kill all 13—strategies like the "Principal Run" popped up, where you'd cherry-pick the few that dropped the good stuff and bail.

"Ha, unnie, another Dark Rune dropped. Eat up."

Anyway, the key point here.

No matter how garbage a named monster's drop table was, the Dark Rune I'd claimed for myself always dropped.

And this was already the eighth one.

"But unnie."

As Gang Minseo started wailing on the square-headed summoner like I'd instructed, Im Harin tapped her keyboard and spoke up.

"Dark Rune? Why are you eating those?"

"You'll get it from the effect."

I kindly moved my mouse cursor over the Dark Rune in my bag for her.

Healing? Pfft, Gang Minseo was pulling mobs perfectly now—no health fluctuations at all.

"There, got it?"

"...No clue? Isn't this trash?"

Im Harin sounded dead serious.

"Shouldn't the effect be reversed? Drain HP to fill MP—what's good about that? MP regen over time anyway."

"You're missing the concept. Simple explanation: I'm a healer, right? Any HP loss gets topped off with a small heal anyway."

"What's a small heal?"

"Heals come in types. Small ones cast slower but sip less mana. That's the gist."

Of course, not all healers worked the same.

This was Priest standards—Paladins were a bit different, but explaining that would've been lost on her.

"Point is, for a healer like me, HP's no issue with mana. Items that refill mana? Super important."

"Uh... doesn't this game have that? Dealers chug HP pots, right?"

"Mana potions? Obviously."

"Eh? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Then this is even more trash?"

She still wasn't getting it.

"Hana. Separate cooldown."

"Aah?"

"Mana pots lock you out for 2 minutes after one. Can't spam like Mushroom Story or Thor to fill up."

"Oh... explained like that, Dark Rune sounds super important and good."

"Right? And mana pots never drop raw. Gotta craft or auction house."

Other streamers like Im Harin might not know, but in original era, Dark Runes were basically currency—straight cash. No wonder healers got lured with them once dungeon meta solidified.

Anyway, Lost of Fantasy limited in-combat HP/mana recovery hard.

With no one properly leveling professions, auction house rarely stocked pots/elixirs—crafters were too busy self-sustaining.

"No mana pots on auction at all, I think. Unnie knows everything?"

Like Im Harin said, it hadn't changed yet...

While other party members got zilch today, I was raking in Dark Runes off every named—total win!

"Just 'cause I'm a retired gamer girl with time to poke around."

"But then, aren't you the only one getting real loot from this dungeon today?"

Ah, high schooler intuition is sharp.

"Don't worry, Harin. I haven't tasted the strawberries on the cake yet."

We hadn't even started the famous Principal Run.

These days, Lost of Fantasy dungeons felt like rollercoasters.

Players rarely skipped named monsters anymore.

Originally, they'd beefed up "boss" monsters so you could clear 3-4 per run for casual play.

"Wha—? Huh? Knight-nim, where'd you—ah! What?! You actually teleported?! But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it's 1/5 odds!!!"

"Minseo-unnie! You know killing that wipes us hard? Tank it! Knight'll come!"

But original era? Different beast.

13 nameds, with only 3-4 qualifying as "bosses" by modern standards.

Not even chained—you could skip most. Modern dungeons let skips too, but original vibe ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was worlds apart.

"Uh, unnie? You good? You're getting swarmed post-teleport?"

Early original era, folks didn't know better—tried clearing every named.

Then realized many were "trash nameds": time sinks, zero loot.

Meta shifted to "runs" sniping the valuable ones.

Lost of Fantasy dungeons were instances—no need to clear all. Reset party, reinstance anytime. Runs were inevitable.

"Ah! Aah! D-dying... die...! Toughest pattern, why always this one!!!"

"Minseo-nim!! Just run! Jump or something!"

"Showing back means no shield block—dies faster!!!"

...While I casually mulled this over, smacking a trash mob, the party screamed bloody murder.

Users nicknamed it "Principal" out of laziness—this boss, below certain HP, teleports a random party member to a side room full of adds. Clear 'em to escape.

True to savage era—no healer/tank immunity. Common sense? Nope.

"Save survival and you won't die..."

Priest might struggle, but as hybrid Holy Paladin, I cleared quick.

Back out—Gang Minseo's HP crawling on empty.

"N-no! No one else survives here but you?!"

"You're siege mode, pure DPS?"

"Believed you when you said no-death!"

Our DPS was nuts—Principal pattern-timed poorly right as I returned.

"Full HP first... ah."

"Ah?!"

"Study time, idiots!"

I topped Gang Minseo—boom, boss line, she teleports.

"Wha—?! Why me!! Unnie! How with it staring?!"

"Won't die. Chill, I'll heal—smash. It's half HP."

"St-still! Rogue and mage right there—why meee!"

Her HP wobbled wild, but I stuck—healed through.

"Minseo-unnie! Hurry out! Our black mage dying!"

"I'm the tank?! Field DPS suck I partied black mage! How fast adds?!"

"We'll make it? One Cheetah... crit..."

Screams filled audio, but Principal's bar plummeted.

Im Harin's HP risky too.

"Ah! Got it!"

After ~30 seconds peppered, Principal spewed blood and dropped.

"Ah! Whew! Lucky... but! Teleporting tank and healer? Pattern broken!"

"We killed it, right? Done."

Grumbling, Gang Minseo emerged, looted Principal first.

"Wha, oh?! Guys! Breaking news!!! Purple—p-purple item?!"

"What? This dropped?"

0.16% odds.

The purple I figured wouldn't drop. Thought ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we'd get nothing—hence the "level while dodging snipers" pitch.

Instantly, this tiresome "nogada" spot transformed.

"The strawberries I had in mind... weren't these?"

Why'd this drop?