Magax's Letter to Roxton- Succeeding at Magax II

Hey it's me, Magax. Right now I'm sitting here writing you in front of the fireplace in my cozy recliner, with my faithful Flowper at my side *pats*. This is the life, I tell ya! I enjoyed your letter detailing your recent adventure. I bet that was a thrill! So you say you want to take over for me some day, when you are ready to take a break from your bigger adventures? It wasn't difficult to take down Hubrid, but it sure took a chunk out of my day and I'd really rather stay home, so I appreciate the offer! Let me explain how I did it and you can decide if you still want the job. The Neopians devised a scoring system (mentioned later) that determines my reward. If I do well, they present me with an avatar and if I do outstanding, they present me with a trophy, so of course I want to earn every point I can during this fight!

Let's start with a good mindset. I'm way smarter than those Cybunnies (that sometimes change into Hubrid himself), and even those Scorchios that got tougher to eliminate as time went on, so don't worry! I've got tricks up my sleeve they don't know about. Now how about we start with the basics, like navigating the locations (let's just call them levels for kicks). There is a force beyond your control that propels you forward; it's the craziest thing! You'll need to start zapping those enemies as soon as you see them [press spacebar]. When you approach an enemy too quickly and want to back away before running into him, turn left [hold the left arrow key down] until you get a little bit away then just drift towards the enemy [hands off all keys]. You can repeat the backtracking like that to keep a safe distance while zapping.

Let's take a look at the first 7 levels, which are basically the same, except there are more Scorchios and Cybunnies in each consecutive level than the level before. The Scorchio dies after 1 hit and the Cybunny dies after 4 hits. If I got too close, the Cybunny transformed into Hubrid (he's sneaky like that) who would then throw a fireball at me (the nerve!). The quickest way to retreat from this was to go to the top [of the game screen]. If for some reason I got hit by the fireball, I could go left and pace back and forth [by pressing left and right arrows consecutively] until it wore off. If I touched either enemy, my health decreased (and boy did I feel it!) and if I got hit too many times, I was too injured and weak to go on [game over]! The frightful looking, green glowing skull is actually good; it restored some of my health and made the fireball effect wear off quicker! Now pay attention to the destroyed totals in the upper left- these are for Scorchios only. I only progressed to the next level when the last Scorchio died, regardless of how many Cybunnies I hit. However, if I'm going to do a clean sweep, I need to get past that last Scorchio without zapping him and let him sweat for a while. So keep an eye out on the destroyed total and take note when you have 1 Scorchio left to hit. That's right, I left him right there and kept going! Sometimes I ran into a Cybunny right after. Either way, I kept going and going until I saw that Scorchio again, then I did ANOTHER sweep! Why, you might wonder? You might be able to get away with one sweep, but those little JubJubs were the key to my final success. Sure they were 1 point each, but those points added up by the end of the game and set me apart from others that tried to do better than me (as if!). So don't let the JubJubs run loose; you also have no idea what they are capable of! Ok, I don't either, but that's why we should be careful, because we just don't know!

Levels 8 through 10 are a bit tougher, but essentially the same. The Scorchios need to be hit 2 times in level 8, 3 times in level 9, and 4 times in level 10. They seemed to block some of my hits, so it may take additional hits to eliminate them. The Cybunnies still need the same 4 hits and are not any more difficult to eliminate. The green skulls do not appear in these levels, so you will not be able to renew your health. That's why it's very important to take your time so you don't have to start over when you are so close to finishing.

Ok, Roxton, here are some other important things you should know:

In every level, you get 10 points per Scorchio, 20 points per Cybunny, and 1 point per JubJub.

If you forget to sweep (go through the level more than once) and you want that shiny gold trophy, you really should go back to square one. You may be confident you got all the Cybunnies, but even then you likely missed out on some precious JubJubs. You know on a side note, I don't recall ever seeing a JubJub in level 1.

Here's a rundown of my scores at the end of each level (not including JubJubs, but eliminating every Scorchio and Cybunny). My highest achievement was 4318. That means I found 38 JubJubs [4280 from level 10 + 38 JubJubs = 4318] all together (see how important they are!) If you notice your score is lower than any of these at the end of the level you are on, you missed a Cybunny and you'll need to start over. Let's hope that doesn't happen, but it may take some practice.

• Level 1: 180
• Level 2: 400
• Level 3: 660
• Level 4: 960
• Level 5: 1300
• Level 6: 1720
• Level 7: 2220
• Level 8: 2800
• Level 9: 3460
• Level 10: 4280

Give yourself about 45 minutes from level 1 to completion of level 10 (last level), and keep that in mind with the resets at the end of the night. I'm sure 45 minutes is nothing compared to the long adventures you are used to though, right?

So Roxton, what do you think? Do you think this will be easy as pie, or is this more than you bargained for? I look forward to your response and good luck on your next adventure!

Sincerely,

Magax

P.S. I realized you could actually do better than me, and I imagined the quest being renamed Roxton II. I spit cocoa everywhere, so sorry about the stain on the paper.