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KaraKaraWitch

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the-royal-carpet

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<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-style: italic;">*Like always, this are thoughts*</span><br><br><br>~and sound effects~<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">+++++</div><br><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chapter 03: A new Friend</span><br><br><br>*Ok I`ll ditch the extra reward, fortunately there is no time limit, so I can take my time*<br><br>With that in mind he began to work on organizing the clothes in different stacks<br><br>*wait is that what I see there a dirty male underwear!?<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"><br>*eeeeeeeeewwwww gross*</span><br><br>It actually was one, and it smelled to heaven<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"><br>*What the fuck do you think I´m supposed to do with that thing?* he thought throwing it to one side of the room.* </span><br><br>But as he couldn`t do anything against it for the moment he finished organizing them, into different piles, one of them being made of shirts, was the biggest, then came pants, and socks, with the pile for socks being the smallest, but also the one with the most individual pieces.<br><br>Inside that pile he even found an evening dress and a tanga<br><br>While looking at, (ditch that), admiring the tanga Neuron wondered what was wrong with it because he couldn’t see any fault, and believe it he looked very hard. Because he couldn`t do anything with it he put it on the side, when a system Message came up<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">1/200</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"><br>*So there are even pieces here that don`t need to be patched, damn I have been trolled*</span><br><br>But nonetheless he began to patch up the socks, because he fought, of them being the easiest.<br>So after three hours he patched 60 socks but the counter actually said<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">31/200</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>With the first socks being hideous, but his work steadily improving until they looked normal, at least to his eyes. And because of his experience increasing he patched them much faster than in the beginning, even without the help of the system. The only problem he got now was, not pricking himself with the needle. <br><br>When he figured out, that the socks counted only in pairs he went on a little rampage through the room coursing and shouting, hearing this, the tailor let out a loud laugh, unfortunately for him Neuron heard it and it and thus making him even angrier.<br><br>So with it being like that, he thought of some ways to make the Tailor miserable. This was when He found out, that there were literally no restrictions for the quest, it just said to patch them, so he made a grin and thought:<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"><br>*I`ll sew them so terrible no one will want to wear them, and then letting the Tailor take the blame*</span><br><br>He continued to do so until<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tailoring: -5%</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>It seemed like the system doesn`t award a work, if it was made worse on purpose. A good thing for the vendors, cause no one would want to decrease his skill proficiency, but bad for Neuron.<br><br>This fact made him think of other ways while working, thus being distracted and pricking himself even more in the process only increasing his anger and frustration until he couldn`t work anymore.<br>The only bright side was his level in tailoring, but also that was tainted, because it looked like this:<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tailoring Beginner Lv1 95%</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>But while working on the last sock something happened that brightened his mood, if only a little<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dexterity: +1</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Now to calm himself down he went to shoot arrows at targets, which he pictured to be the tailor; this helped quite a bit.<br><br>Because of him being the only one to train, he took some liberties while shooting, meaning he shot his arrows on all the targets<br><br>Lucky for him the missed arrows ranged in the single digit number<br><br>Thus he was able to shoot all his 100 arrows before having to go to gather them he also switched between the targets at random shooting at them from where he stood, and thus having to aim different each time.<br><br>He repeated that one more time till<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dexterity: +1</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Now he was motivated again, and so he finished shooting all his arrows a second time.<br><br>When he went to fetch the arrows he gained<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Strength: +1</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>While pulling on a stuck arrow, delighted that because of this pulling out the arrows was now a little bit easier. Nonetheless he thought, that he should do something to bypass gathering the arrows each time he shot them.<br>After gathering all the arrows he logged out to sleep.<br><br>After logging out, he looked at the clock and was surprised, at how little time had actually passed, and then he remembered that the time in RR is actually 4 times faster, but nonetheless he went to bed exhausted. It wasn`t fatigue that he felt, at least no bodily fatigue, but a mental one, because he had to do annoying and repetitive tasks.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"><br>*wow, I have to get accustomed to that, as I read in a forum, you can only build up your skills with repetitive work*</span><br><br>With that in mind he finally went to sleep.<br><br>---<br><br>The next day he woke up, and did what every human does when he gets up after a good night of sleep. Then he of course logged back in.<br><br>Finding himself in the archery where he logged out yesterday, well yesterday in Real time anyway.<br>Looking around, he found out, that he wasn`t the only player inside anymore. At the target standing at 10m he saw a boy with short spiky hair, and a rather slim frame, shooting at the same. <br><br>Neuron decided to talk to him, because he hoped, that it won`t be so boring in here, if he had someone to talk with.<br><br>He approached him from behind, and called out aloud:” Hello!”<br><br>“Hello, I didn`t see anyone, while I was shooting.”<br><br>Neuron noticed the hidden question and said:” Well I just logged in”<br><br>“Oh, that explains it, wait so you are a player!<br><br>“Well yes” Neuron answered, not finding anything strange in that outburst.<br><br>“Have you decided which bow to use?”<br><br>“No Bow”<br><br>He said, while pointing at the target which he thought was self-explanatory, there were three arrows stuck in, one in the white section, one in the red, and one in the yellow.<br><br>“Not so bad” Neuron replied<br><br>“<span style="font-weight: bold;">NOT BAD?!</span>” The guy cried in disbelief<br><br>“I shot fifteen arrows!”<br><br>“Oh”, was the only reply Neuron could give in this moment<br><br>“Well let me help you gather the lost arrows.”<br><br>Thanks a lot…ähm?”<br><br>“My name`s Neuron”<br><br>“Hello Neuron, my name is Kyle” he said making a sheepish grin and in a tone they used in the gatherings of the AA.<br><br>While searching they became close together, because doing the same annoying task while cursing actually helps developing a friendship, well that is, if you work together.<br><br>“So Neuron would you like to add as a friend?”<br><br>“Well, yeah”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kyle has been added as a Friend</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> “Then what are you going to do now?” Neuron asked<br><br>“Well. I`m now giving fighting a go, I just wanted to learn archery, to draw mobs towards me.”<br><br>“Well then good luck, and I heard, that the training ground will prove good results, if you have the willpower to overcome it.”<br><br>“Great, thanks I appreciate it, so how long is your ban”<br><br>“Ban?”, Neuron asked<br><br>“The one month in game time thingy”<br><br>“Ah! I bought the capsule yesterday, and you?”<br><br>“Today is my first time playing, So have a nice day” he saluted and went off<br><br>“Wait!” Neuron shouted, before Kyle could completely leave the building<br><br>“Whatsamatter” Kyle mumbled<br><br>“Well, it’s kinda embarrassing, but do you know where this city is, and how it is called?”<br><br>“You don`t know, then how did you get inside this city?” Asked Kyle while going back to where Neuron stood.<br><br>“Well when I had to decide where I would like to start I said Random”<br><br>Wow, you’re really lucky!”<br><br>“How so?”<br><br>“Well this city got discovered quite recently, actually just a week in game time ago”<br><br>“And why do you know that?<br><br>“My brother and his party discovered it” he said sounding really proud.<br><br>“So that’s why you were so surprised when you found out, I was a player?” He said, suddenly realizing that Kyle looked shocked when he heard of Neuron being a player<br><br>“My brother wanted to explore the region, before he posts the news on the I-net”<br><br>“That, I can understand, he wants to discover all dungeons alone, and using the double item drop and experience for himself!”<br><br>“What you got something against it?” Kyle asked jumping into defense<br><br>“No of course not, I’d actually do the same” Neuron said with a smile, that from his point of view was playful, but missed its mark by a wide margin.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"><br>*Creepy* </span><br><br>“So could you now tell me the name of this town, don`t worry, I’ll keep it secret, till they decide to make it known to the public.”<br><br>“Ok”, Kyle answered, in a not so happy tone anymore, still remembering the smile, “its name is Gaber, and its located in the west of the continent, maybe you already noticed it, but it’s a small town, with small houses, but the territory it controls is pretty large, the entire forest you see out there, and also the mountain range behind us. There are likely many dungeons in the forest and mountain, plus there is the possibility of finding many mines, so if someone is able to become the Lord of this town, they may get the jackpot” <br><br>“And your brother is trying that right?”<br><br>“Yes” he said with a grin, “and thanks for keeping it secret, so I`ll go now to give some scarecrows a beating they`ll never forget” and with this he exits the training hall while laughing.<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">End of chapter 03</div><br><br>Well as always…<br><br>Comments are welcome<br><br>And i just wanted to know, which close combat class i should choose for Kyle.<br>If you have any suggestions I`ll be happy to read them^^ </div>

*Like always, this are thoughts* ~and sound effects~ +++++ Chapter 03: A new Friend *Ok I`ll ditch the extra reward, fortunately there is no time limit, so I can take my time* With that in mind he began to work on organizing the clothes in different stacks *wait is that what I see there a dirty male underwear!? *eeeeeeeeewwwww gross* It actually was one, and it smelled to heaven *What the fuck do you think I´m supposed to do with that thing?* he thought throwing it to one side of the room.* But as he couldn`t do anything against it for the moment he finished organizing them, into different piles, one of them being made of shirts, was the biggest, then came pants, and socks, with the pile for socks being the smallest, but also the one with the most individual pieces. Inside that pile he even found an evening dress and a tanga While looking at, (ditch that), admiring the tanga Neuron wondered what was wrong with it because he couldn’t see any fault, and believe it he looked very hard. Because he couldn`t do anything with it he put it on the side, when a system Message came up | * 1/200 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | *So there are even pieces here that don`t need to be patched, damn I have been trolled* But nonetheless he began to patch up the socks, because he fought, of them being the easiest. So after three hours he patched 60 socks but the counter actually said | * 31/200 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | With the first socks being hideous, but his work steadily improving until they looked normal, at least to his eyes. And because of his experience increasing he patched them much faster than in the beginning, even without the help of the system. The only problem he got now was, not pricking himself with the needle. When he figured out, that the socks counted only in pairs he went on a little rampage through the room coursing and shouting, hearing this, the tailor let out a loud laugh, unfortunately for him Neuron heard it and it and thus making him even angrier. So with it being like that, he thought of some ways to make the Tailor miserable. This was when He found out, that there were literally no restrictions for the quest, it just said to patch them, so he made a grin and thought: *I`ll sew them so terrible no one will want to wear them, and then letting the Tailor take the blame* He continued to do so until | * Tailoring: -5% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | It seemed like the system doesn`t award a work, if it was made worse on purpose. A good thing for the vendors, cause no one would want to decrease his skill proficiency, but bad for Neuron. This fact made him think of other ways while working, thus being distracted and pricking himself even more in the process only increasing his anger and frustration until he couldn`t work anymore. The only bright side was his level in tailoring, but also that was tainted, because it looked like this: | * Tailoring Beginner Lv1 95% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | But while working on the last sock something happened that brightened his mood, if only a little | * Dexterity: +1 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Now to calm himself down he went to shoot arrows at targets, which he pictured to be the tailor; this helped quite a bit. Because of him being the only one to train, he took some liberties while shooting, meaning he shot his arrows on all the targets Lucky for him the missed arrows ranged in the single digit number Thus he was able to shoot all his 100 arrows before having to go to gather them he also switched between the targets at random shooting at them from where he stood, and thus having to aim different each time. He repeated that one more time till | * Dexterity: +1 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Now he was motivated again, and so he finished shooting all his arrows a second time. When he went to fetch the arrows he gained | * Strength: +1 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | While pulling on a stuck arrow, delighted that because of this pulling out the arrows was now a little bit easier. Nonetheless he thought, that he should do something to bypass gathering the arrows each time he shot them. After gathering all the arrows he logged out to sleep. After logging out, he looked at the clock and was surprised, at how little time had actually passed, and then he remembered that the time in RR is actually 4 times faster, but nonetheless he went to bed exhausted. It wasn`t fatigue that he felt, at least no bodily fatigue, but a mental one, because he had to do annoying and repetitive tasks. *wow, I have to get accustomed to that, as I read in a forum, you can only build up your skills with repetitive work* With that in mind he finally went to sleep. --- The next day he woke up, and did what every human does when he gets up after a good night of sleep. Then he of course logged back in. Finding himself in the archery where he logged out yesterday, well yesterday in Real time anyway. Looking around, he found out, that he wasn`t the only player inside anymore. At the target standing at 10m he saw a boy with short spiky hair, and a rather slim frame, shooting at the same. Neuron decided to talk to him, because he hoped, that it won`t be so boring in here, if he had someone to talk with. He approached him from behind, and called out aloud:” Hello!” “Hello, I didn`t see anyone, while I was shooting.” Neuron noticed the hidden question and said:” Well I just logged in” “Oh, that explains it, wait so you are a player! “Well yes” Neuron answered, not finding anything strange in that outburst. “Have you decided which bow to use?” “No Bow” He said, while pointing at the target which he thought was self-explanatory, there were three arrows stuck in, one in the white section, one in the red, and one in the yellow. “Not so bad” Neuron replied “NOT BAD?!” The guy cried in disbelief “I shot fifteen arrows!” “Oh”, was the only reply Neuron could give in this moment “Well let me help you gather the lost arrows.” Thanks a lot…ähm?” “My name`s Neuron” “Hello Neuron, my name is Kyle” he said making a sheepish grin and in a tone they used in the gatherings of the AA. While searching they became close together, because doing the same annoying task while cursing actually helps developing a friendship, well that is, if you work together. “So Neuron would you like to add as a friend?” “Well, yeah” | * Kyle has been added as a Friend | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Then what are you going to do now?” Neuron asked “Well. I`m now giving fighting a go, I just wanted to learn archery, to draw mobs towards me.” “Well then good luck, and I heard, that the training ground will prove good results, if you have the willpower to overcome it.” “Great, thanks I appreciate it, so how long is your ban” “Ban?”, Neuron asked “The one month in game time thingy” “Ah! I bought the capsule yesterday, and you?” “Today is my first time playing, So have a nice day” he saluted and went off “Wait!” Neuron shouted, before Kyle could completely leave the building “Whatsamatter” Kyle mumbled “Well, it’s kinda embarrassing, but do you know where this city is, and how it is called?” “You don`t know, then how did you get inside this city?” Asked Kyle while going back to where Neuron stood. “Well when I had to decide where I would like to start I said Random” Wow, you’re really lucky!” “How so?” “Well this city got discovered quite recently, actually just a week in game time ago” “And why do you know that? “My brother and his party discovered it” he said sounding really proud. “So that’s why you were so surprised when you found out, I was a player?” He said, suddenly realizing that Kyle looked shocked when he heard of Neuron being a player “My brother wanted to explore the region, before he posts the news on the I-net” “That, I can understand, he wants to discover all dungeons alone, and using the double item drop and experience for himself!” “What you got something against it?” Kyle asked jumping into defense “No of course not, I’d actually do the same” Neuron said with a smile, that from his point of view was playful, but missed its mark by a wide margin. *Creepy* “So could you now tell me the name of this town, don`t worry, I’ll keep it secret, till they decide to make it known to the public.” “Ok”, Kyle answered, in a not so happy tone anymore, still remembering the smile, “its name is Gaber, and its located in the west of the continent, maybe you already noticed it, but it’s a small town, with small houses, but the territory it controls is pretty large, the entire forest you see out there, and also the mountain range behind us. There are likely many dungeons in the forest and mountain, plus there is the possibility of finding many mines, so if someone is able to become the Lord of this town, they may get the jackpot” “And your brother is trying that right?” “Yes” he said with a grin, “and thanks for keeping it secret, so I`ll go now to give some scarecrows a beating they`ll never forget” and with this he exits the training hall while laughing. End of chapter 03 Well as always… Comments are welcome And i just wanted to know, which close combat class i should choose for Kyle. If you have any suggestions I`ll be happy to read them^^

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Looking for proof readers due to new post on main page :geek: </div>

Looking for proof readers due to new post on main page :geek:

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> So far on Laee:<br><img src="http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l567/GruntLord/SAM_1076.jpg" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fi1124.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fl567...M_1076.jpg"><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Place Holders-</span><br>Laee: Goddess of magic and mana<br>Based on<br><a href="http://thelegendofmaian.wikia.com/wiki/Felicia_Rand_Philistine" target="_blank">http://thelegendofmaian.wikia.com/wiki/Felicia_Rand_Philistine</a><br><br><img src="http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l567/GruntLord/image_531009112300275500701.jpg" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fi1124.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fl567...500701.jpg"><br><br>Kris: Goddess of Light and Fay<br>based on<br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=29834" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=29834</a><br><a href="http://myanimelist.net/character/2913/Apa_Lagranges_Corticarte" target="_blank">http://myanimelist.net/character/2913/Apa_Lagranges_Corticarte</a><br><br><img src="http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l567/GruntLord/rozanne-19-egtl-corticarte-apa-lagranges-aus-poly-phonica.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fi1124.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fl567...honica.png"><br><br>Kraet: Goddess of Desire and Demons<br>based on<br><a href="http://highschool-of-the-dead.wikia.com/wiki/Saeko_Busujima" target="_blank">http://highschool-of-the-dead.wikia.com/wiki/Saeko_Busujima</a><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=21687" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=21687</a><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=64247" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=64247</a><br><img src="http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l567/GruntLord/58571_312380928890114_1535722928_n.jpg" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fi1124.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fl567...2928_n.jpg"><br><br>Elyse-Elf Goddess of nature (Half Dark Elf and Forest Elf)<br>Based on<br><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=21629" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=21629</a><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=21632" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=21632</a><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/sp/character.php?id=15861" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/sp/character.php?id=15861</a><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/sp/character.php?id=15852" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/sp/character.php?id=15852</a><br><img src="http://media.animevice.com/uploads/0/3695/278954-_large__animepaper_scans_matsuryu_binnaroo_0.73___thisres__197886.jpg" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fmedia.animevice.com%2fuploads%2f0%2f369...197886.jpg"><br><br>Loraaga -Beast Woman-Goddess<br>Based on<br><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=27910" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=27910</a><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=159" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=159</a><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=19794" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=19794</a><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=23831" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=23831</a><br><img src="http://moe.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/chars/5688-207981067.jpg" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fmoe.animecharactersdatabase.com%2fu...981067.jpg"><br><br>Angela Enae’s Archangel<br>Based on<br><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=65516" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=65516</a><br><a href="http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=66432" target="_blank">http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=66432</a><img src="http://moe.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/chars/5688-52615022.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fmoe.animecharactersdatabase.com%2fu...615022.png"><br><br><br>Opal Fury of the Deadly Isles<br>Based on<br><br>Background <a href="http://pirate.namegeneratorfun.com/" target="_blank">http://pirate.namegeneratorfun.com/</a><br><br><img src="http://img-cache.cdn.gaiaonline.com/79341de75272c6f7cb08924342fdab91/http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o157/rachely12/Elizabeth_Shirland_by_GENZOMAN.jpg" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fimg-cache.cdn.gaiaonline.com%2f7934...NZOMAN.jpg"> </div>

So far on Laee:  Place Holders- Laee: Goddess of magic and mana Based on <http://thelegendofmaian.wikia.com/wiki/Felicia_Rand_Philistine>  Kris: Goddess of Light and Fay based on <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=29834> <http://myanimelist.net/character/2913/Apa_Lagranges_Corticarte>  Kraet: Goddess of Desire and Demons based on <http://highschool-of-the-dead.wikia.com/wiki/Saeko_Busujima> <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=21687> <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=64247>  Elyse-Elf Goddess of nature (Half Dark Elf and Forest Elf) Based on <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=21629> <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=21632> <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/sp/character.php?id=15861><http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/sp/character.php?id=15852>  Loraaga -Beast Woman-Goddess Based on <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=27910> <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=159> <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=19794> <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=23831>  Angela Enae’s Archangel Based on <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=65516> <http://www.animecharactersdatabase.com/character.php?id=66432> Opal Fury of the Deadly Isles Based on Background <http://pirate.namegeneratorfun.com/> 

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> The Beast<br>Chapter 2: Destruction and Despair<br>A Royal Road Fan Fiction… of sorts<br>By Halosty<br><br><br> The Beast, although he was not properly called that yet, did not appear very intimidating. This was mostly because he was a rabbit. He was not, in fact, any less dangerous for his appearance. He had gained a decent amount of levels and other abilities to make up for the fact that his basic form was… sub-par. Enough, in fact, that foxes were no match for him. At least during the night.<br><br> During the day, he rested, and prepared to escape at the first sign of players. One mistake and he could quite easily be dead. Sure, the average noob who hunted rabbits would not put up too much of a fight, assuming he brought no friends. This also assumed, of course, that he was at the level where he could only fight one rabbit- which was unlikely.<br><br> Still, foxes… foxes were prey. The Beast had enough natural agility, plus increases from his practiced dodging, that he could run circles around the foxes. Literally, if he wanted to, but that didn’t kill foxes. He’d learned that the best way, if they didn’t leave themselves open for a bite at their neck, was to jump on their forehead and kick down with his powerful legs. Because of this, he gained a skill.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Hop<br><br>Your powerful legs allow you to leap onto the enemy, and then back off, disorienting it and possibly causing stun.<br><br>Damage, stun chance, and jumping height increase with level, stamina cost increases with height and power of jump, but decreases with level.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> This skill was useful for both offense and defense, and allowed for reach of critical points he would otherwise be too small to attack.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br>Although few people knew it, not everyone feared The Beast. In fact, a few aligned themselves with his vile purposes, and thus contributed to the slaughter of many innocent beings. Though they may have gained strength from their evil compact with The Beast, it came at the cost of their very souls.<br><br>--------------------------<br>Three elves trekked through the forest. It was a peaceful forest, filled with a large number of rabbits who were easy to hunt. As one progressed further from the elven city of Heartwood, there were gradually stronger monsters. Of course, there were also some dungeons as well. All in all, it was a good place for starting adventurers.<br><br>This particular group was composed of a ranger, a warrior, and a druid. Normally a group would consist of more than three people, but they were good friends who had played together for a long time before Royal Road came out, and felt they worked best without others.<br><br>In the front was Cael’van, the ranger. His job was as the scout, and thus he took the fore and found enemies to hunt or avoided ones that were too dangerous. In this area, it was just a formality, since there were nothing but rabbits.<br><br>Behind him, but not too far, was Aeltas the warrior. He was the tank of the group. He had a sword and a shield, but light enough armor that he could dodge blows instead of just taking hits. He couldn’t afford to take too much damage, since they were without a dedicated healer.<br><br>At the rear was Lailam. She was a member of the druid class, which meant she was capable of some healing and some buffing, as well as some elemental spells. This diversity meant that she was not as strong in any one area. This was fine with her, because she had really chosen the class for another reason. Druids were capable of getting an animal companion. This was a powerful fighting helper, almost as capable as having another player. However, Lailam didn’t even care about that. What she wanted was something cute. Her friends tried to convince her to get something practical.<br><br>“Look, foxes and wolves can be cute. They are also capable in combat. I think either of them would be an excellent choice,” said Cael’van.<br><br>“You could also get a bear. You’ve seen videos of cute little bear cubs right?” said Aeltas. He wanted something else that could get hit besides him. Backup would be helpful.<br><br>“Well~~~, if we can find any cute ones, I’ll be glad to have them. Still, look at all these cute rabbits hopping around. Wouldn’t you rather have one of them come with us, so that we can snuggle with it?”<br><br>Her two friends knew they wouldn’t be able to convince her to pick a pet that wasn’t cute, so they settled for a good compromise. “Well, just wait till we find a nice cute fox or wolf, or maybe a nice jungle cat of some kind. You don’t want to rush into this decision.”<br><br>“Okay, I promise to pick carefully and find the cutest pet ever!”<br><br>They rolled their eyes. That was the best they were going to get.<br><br>As they walked along, they passed quite a variety of rabbits, all cute, but none extraordinarily so. Then, they saw one nibbling at the top of a carrot. It had droopy ears, and dark brown spots around its eyes and on its face. After it ate, it lay down on the ground and yawned, then closed its tired eyes and laid its head on its paws.<br><br>Cael’van and Aeltas turned their heads and looked at Lailam. When they saw her sparkling eyes, they put their faces in their hands.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br>The beast dined on a tasty treat he had found. He was tired from a night of hunting foxes, and one stray wolf. The wolf had been quite a challenge, but it was too slow to land any real hits, and had no practical combat practice. Still, even the grazes had taken a large chunk of his hit points away from him, and it was a frightening battle.<br><br>It was time for him to rest from his strenuous activities. This was especially true since he was now at his weakened state because of the daytime.<br>Then he heard a high pitched cry. Could it be the scream of a hawk? No, it was too low to the ground. It must be the battle cry of one of those elves. He knew he was in over his head because he had gotten careless. His only chance to survive was to run and hide. He instantly sprang into action and ran away from the source of the noise, but unfortunately, his top speed was much lower during the day. He could hear it gaining on him. For the first time, he wondered what his own death would be like, and pondered the oblivion he would be experiencing. This fear gave him a small boost of speed, but it was not enough. The elf tackled him from behind. Soon, it would kill him.<br><br>“Bunny bunny bunny! Cute bunny! Be my friend!”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Lailam has sent you a friend request.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>The beast was shocked at this revelation. Apparently his fate was not to be death, but capture and enslavement. Still, it was preferable to death. He nodded.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have accepted a friend request.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>At this point, the elf was spinning him around in circles. Had he not been humiliated enough in defeat? If only he had his true strength that he could only draw out at night, he could escape from this thing. No, he could easily defeat it. Alas, he had chosen poorly and was now stuck with but a quarter of his potential strength.<br><br>“Alright, now… How do I make you my animal companion? Ah, there it is.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Do you wish to convert to the Animal Companion class? This will enforce a permanent bond between you and the druid Lailam. In exchange for increased abilities, 20% of the experience you earn will be transferred to your Human Companion.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Another choice that would decide his fate. Frankly, he didn’t know what to do. He feared death if he refused, but a drain on his experience would be troubling. On the other hand, he had little choice, and the draw of increased abilities was tempting. Still, he couldn’t decide.<br><br>“Did it work? It hasn’t said whether the ability succeeded or failed.” Lailam gently shoot the rabbit she was holding. “Hey, did you fall asleep? Or do you not want to be my animal companion?”<br><br>He sighed, or as close as a rabbit could come. He might as well accept his fate.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have converted to the Animal Companion Class!<br><br>All abilites +20%<br><br>20% of experience earned on your own will be transferred to your Human Companion.<br><br>You are automatically a party member of your Human Companion.<br><br>If you are not near your Human Companion, or working at their direction, the bonus abilities will be negated until you fulfill the conditions again.<br><br>Special:You maintain the bonus when your Human Companion is offline and can act as you please, but will still transfer 20% of your experience to them.<br><br>Special:Because of your Night Hunter ability, you will have a 20% increase to your adjusted statistics. The totals are: 240% at night, 60% during the day.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>The rabbit was rather confused at what an “offline” was, but he knew it had sounded too good to be true. He would have to stay with this elf to gain the bonuses. On the other hand, he would be much stronger- even during the day he would be decent, if only because of his levels.<br><br>Then he saw two more elves approaching behind Lailam. He struggled out of her hands and stood between her and them. If he was going to be this “Animal Companion” thing, he was going to do it right, even if he was weak right now. He had to protect her from these dangerous people.<br><br>“Aww, it is pretty cute. However, didn’t you say you were going to take your time?”<br><br>“I couldn’t help it, he’s so cute~~~,” she said, as she picked him up beneath his front paws and dangled his hind legs beneath him. “Look, look! See what I mean?”<br><br>“Yes yes, it’s cute. I don’t suppose it has good stats?”<br><br>“Hmm, I dunno. Animal Companion stat window!”<br><br>“Well?”<br><br>“It’s not working. It says the stats are secret? I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.”<br><br>“Great. So we have a rabbit with unknown stats. Based on average rabbits… it should have 5 strength, twenty dexterity, and something like 50 hit points. It’s sort of like level one half.”<br><br>“I don’t care, he’s super cute! Oh yeah, I should give him a name. How about Fluffy?”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Do you wish to be called Fluffy?</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“No!” cried out three voices. One of them was silent, but the rabbit struggled violently at the suggestion. Something about the name scared him.<br><br>“Aww fine. How about Roger then?”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Do you wish to be called Roger?</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Well… at least it’s a name,” said Aeltas.<br><br>The rabbit felt that the name was appropriate somehow. Not particularly fearsome, but it would do.<br><br>“Alright! Come with us Roger, we’re gonna go hunt some foxes and wolves. Just stay in the back where it’s safe, okay?”<br><br>Roger, who would later become The Beast, accepted this. At least while it was daylight, he would have to be careful.<br><br>End Chapter 2: Destruction and Despair </div>

The Beast Chapter 2: Destruction and Despair A Royal Road Fan Fiction… of sorts By Halosty The Beast, although he was not properly called that yet, did not appear very intimidating. This was mostly because he was a rabbit. He was not, in fact, any less dangerous for his appearance. He had gained a decent amount of levels and other abilities to make up for the fact that his basic form was… sub-par. Enough, in fact, that foxes were no match for him. At least during the night. During the day, he rested, and prepared to escape at the first sign of players. One mistake and he could quite easily be dead. Sure, the average noob who hunted rabbits would not put up too much of a fight, assuming he brought no friends. This also assumed, of course, that he was at the level where he could only fight one rabbit- which was unlikely. Still, foxes… foxes were prey. The Beast had enough natural agility, plus increases from his practiced dodging, that he could run circles around the foxes. Literally, if he wanted to, but that didn’t kill foxes. He’d learned that the best way, if they didn’t leave themselves open for a bite at their neck, was to jump on their forehead and kick down with his powerful legs. Because of this, he gained a skill. | HopYour powerful legs allow you to leap onto the enemy, and then back off, disorienting it and possibly causing stun.Damage, stun chance, and jumping height increase with level, stamina cost increases with height and power of jump, but decreases with level. | | --- | This skill was useful for both offense and defense, and allowed for reach of critical points he would otherwise be too small to attack. -------------------------- Although few people knew it, not everyone feared The Beast. In fact, a few aligned themselves with his vile purposes, and thus contributed to the slaughter of many innocent beings. Though they may have gained strength from their evil compact with The Beast, it came at the cost of their very souls. -------------------------- Three elves trekked through the forest. It was a peaceful forest, filled with a large number of rabbits who were easy to hunt. As one progressed further from the elven city of Heartwood, there were gradually stronger monsters. Of course, there were also some dungeons as well. All in all, it was a good place for starting adventurers. This particular group was composed of a ranger, a warrior, and a druid. Normally a group would consist of more than three people, but they were good friends who had played together for a long time before Royal Road came out, and felt they worked best without others. In the front was Cael’van, the ranger. His job was as the scout, and thus he took the fore and found enemies to hunt or avoided ones that were too dangerous. In this area, it was just a formality, since there were nothing but rabbits. Behind him, but not too far, was Aeltas the warrior. He was the tank of the group. He had a sword and a shield, but light enough armor that he could dodge blows instead of just taking hits. He couldn’t afford to take too much damage, since they were without a dedicated healer. At the rear was Lailam. She was a member of the druid class, which meant she was capable of some healing and some buffing, as well as some elemental spells. This diversity meant that she was not as strong in any one area. This was fine with her, because she had really chosen the class for another reason. Druids were capable of getting an animal companion. This was a powerful fighting helper, almost as capable as having another player. However, Lailam didn’t even care about that. What she wanted was something cute. Her friends tried to convince her to get something practical. “Look, foxes and wolves can be cute. They are also capable in combat. I think either of them would be an excellent choice,” said Cael’van. “You could also get a bear. You’ve seen videos of cute little bear cubs right?” said Aeltas. He wanted something else that could get hit besides him. Backup would be helpful. “Well~~~, if we can find any cute ones, I’ll be glad to have them. Still, look at all these cute rabbits hopping around. Wouldn’t you rather have one of them come with us, so that we can snuggle with it?” Her two friends knew they wouldn’t be able to convince her to pick a pet that wasn’t cute, so they settled for a good compromise. “Well, just wait till we find a nice cute fox or wolf, or maybe a nice jungle cat of some kind. You don’t want to rush into this decision.” “Okay, I promise to pick carefully and find the cutest pet ever!” They rolled their eyes. That was the best they were going to get. As they walked along, they passed quite a variety of rabbits, all cute, but none extraordinarily so. Then, they saw one nibbling at the top of a carrot. It had droopy ears, and dark brown spots around its eyes and on its face. After it ate, it lay down on the ground and yawned, then closed its tired eyes and laid its head on its paws. Cael’van and Aeltas turned their heads and looked at Lailam. When they saw her sparkling eyes, they put their faces in their hands. -------------------------- The beast dined on a tasty treat he had found. He was tired from a night of hunting foxes, and one stray wolf. The wolf had been quite a challenge, but it was too slow to land any real hits, and had no practical combat practice. Still, even the grazes had taken a large chunk of his hit points away from him, and it was a frightening battle. It was time for him to rest from his strenuous activities. This was especially true since he was now at his weakened state because of the daytime. Then he heard a high pitched cry. Could it be the scream of a hawk? No, it was too low to the ground. It must be the battle cry of one of those elves. He knew he was in over his head because he had gotten careless. His only chance to survive was to run and hide. He instantly sprang into action and ran away from the source of the noise, but unfortunately, his top speed was much lower during the day. He could hear it gaining on him. For the first time, he wondered what his own death would be like, and pondered the oblivion he would be experiencing. This fear gave him a small boost of speed, but it was not enough. The elf tackled him from behind. Soon, it would kill him. “Bunny bunny bunny! Cute bunny! Be my friend!” | Lailam has sent you a friend request. | | --- | The beast was shocked at this revelation. Apparently his fate was not to be death, but capture and enslavement. Still, it was preferable to death. He nodded. | You have accepted a friend request. | | --- | At this point, the elf was spinning him around in circles. Had he not been humiliated enough in defeat? If only he had his true strength that he could only draw out at night, he could escape from this thing. No, he could easily defeat it. Alas, he had chosen poorly and was now stuck with but a quarter of his potential strength. “Alright, now… How do I make you my animal companion? Ah, there it is.” | Do you wish to convert to the Animal Companion class? This will enforce a permanent bond between you and the druid Lailam. In exchange for increased abilities, 20% of the experience you earn will be transferred to your Human Companion. | | --- | Another choice that would decide his fate. Frankly, he didn’t know what to do. He feared death if he refused, but a drain on his experience would be troubling. On the other hand, he had little choice, and the draw of increased abilities was tempting. Still, he couldn’t decide. “Did it work? It hasn’t said whether the ability succeeded or failed.” Lailam gently shoot the rabbit she was holding. “Hey, did you fall asleep? Or do you not want to be my animal companion?” He sighed, or as close as a rabbit could come. He might as well accept his fate. | You have converted to the Animal Companion Class!All abilites +20%20% of experience earned on your own will be transferred to your Human Companion.You are automatically a party member of your Human Companion.If you are not near your Human Companion, or working at their direction, the bonus abilities will be negated until you fulfill the conditions again.Special:You maintain the bonus when your Human Companion is offline and can act as you please, but will still transfer 20% of your experience to them.Special:Because of your Night Hunter ability, you will have a 20% increase to your adjusted statistics. The totals are: 240% at night, 60% during the day. | | --- | The rabbit was rather confused at what an “offline” was, but he knew it had sounded too good to be true. He would have to stay with this elf to gain the bonuses. On the other hand, he would be much stronger- even during the day he would be decent, if only because of his levels. Then he saw two more elves approaching behind Lailam. He struggled out of her hands and stood between her and them. If he was going to be this “Animal Companion” thing, he was going to do it right, even if he was weak right now. He had to protect her from these dangerous people. “Aww, it is pretty cute. However, didn’t you say you were going to take your time?” “I couldn’t help it, he’s so cute~~~,” she said, as she picked him up beneath his front paws and dangled his hind legs beneath him. “Look, look! See what I mean?” “Yes yes, it’s cute. I don’t suppose it has good stats?” “Hmm, I dunno. Animal Companion stat window!” “Well?” “It’s not working. It says the stats are secret? I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.” “Great. So we have a rabbit with unknown stats. Based on average rabbits… it should have 5 strength, twenty dexterity, and something like 50 hit points. It’s sort of like level one half.” “I don’t care, he’s super cute! Oh yeah, I should give him a name. How about Fluffy?” | Do you wish to be called Fluffy? | | --- | “No!” cried out three voices. One of them was silent, but the rabbit struggled violently at the suggestion. Something about the name scared him. “Aww fine. How about Roger then?” | Do you wish to be called Roger? | | --- | “Well… at least it’s a name,” said Aeltas. The rabbit felt that the name was appropriate somehow. Not particularly fearsome, but it would do. “Alright! Come with us Roger, we’re gonna go hunt some foxes and wolves. Just stay in the back where it’s safe, okay?” Roger, who would later become The Beast, accepted this. At least while it was daylight, he would have to be careful. End Chapter 2: Destruction and Despair

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> When I opened my eyes again I noticed I was in the white space again. Man how the hell did I die? Did something hit me from behind? Hmm........lets think of everything that happened. I 'found' the thing I was looking for. It was a giant humanoid purple rabbit. It spotted me and started chasing me and I tried to stop it but my spells were ineffective. Then it jumped on me crushing one of my mana shields and started to pop the other ones as well. I used fire field to get it off me in a last ditch effect then I managed to trap it using ice prison but it managed to get out and almost kill me in one hit. Then it started to...eat me. A message appeared about some seal being released and I got some sort of power up.....and then I was owing it and finally killed it from some force that voice created.....and then I coughed up blood and died. <br><br>Hmm........wait......Warlic said.....that excess mana would kill me......the message...said that my mana limit was released....that means I had so much mana that I died? That could be it but I have to ask Warlic later when I next see him about this. <br><br>I started to scratch my chin thinking of the next thing I should do when I log back in the game.<br><br>“Lin you there?”<br><br>Ah. It was the voice of Seraph the fourth something. I can't really remember his full name right now since it has been...around 2 months since I went in game.<br><br>“Yes I am” responding to the question. <br><br>“So how was the game?” asked Seraph a bit concern for me since I am their experiment.<br><br>“Good. I died though” <br><br>I heard some laughter in the background. There were definitely some other people with Seraph as well. Maybe he was laughing at me as well.<br><br>“Did you die because of a rabbit or something?” said Seraph in a sarcastic tone.<br><br>“Kind of.” I replied immediately.<br><br>Well the rabbit did lead me to die so I wasn't lying. There was more laughter in the background. These people are seriously getting on my nerves now. How can you laugh at someone who just died. <br><br>“Don't worry. Everyone dies as a beginner. So how did the rabbit kill you.”<br><br>Lets see it...<br><br>“Punched me using its arm then started to eat me alive....then I killed it after some events and I died for some reason.” I said while recalling the memories.<br><br>“....”<br><br>No response? Well there aren't any rabbits that grow into the size of the thing I encounter but still...no reaction at all?<br><br>“Are you sure you were playing Royal Road?” asked Seraph.<br><br>“Yeah. I did the whole character creation thing as well and stayed in a town for 4 weeks before I could go out of the walls. Though I was forced out in the after 3 weeks due to a quest....”<br><br>“...Are you sure your playing Royal Road?” asked Seraph again.<br><br>“Yeah you installed the game for me right?” <br><br>“Yeah...I was just asking.”<br><br>After that Seraph made me do a full report on what happened to me exactly. I left some details out of course since I don't want these people to know about everything I did such as how I got a new unknown race and class...I just said I was a mage and that was all. I did however include the fact that I met Warlic and Crysero and I was forced to collect theses mana fragments and that was why I was facing the rabbit monster. <br><br>“Lin we have a suggestion.”<br><br>A suggestion? What for?<br><br>“We will gather information on what's happening in Royal Road for you. Also you can easily view some companies gaming content with Royal Road in a tavern ”<br>Oh, I didn't know that. I wonder how they work with the 4x speed issue? Do they put ads or something in? But first I need to know what's happening. I've been stuck in a remote town and a forest for 6 weeks.<br><br>“Fine. Give me some information then”<br><br>“Okay then lets see...the game has been released for a while now and has been a massive success. Unicorn has announced that they will release the game internationally a bit later to the few countries it didn't cover yet.”<br><br>“Won't the language barrier be a problem?”<br><br>“Lin, do you think everyone in the game is speaking English to you? They're are and are not at the same time. Royal Road has a perfect translator and that's why people around the world can enjoy themselves to the fullest.” sighed Seraph.<br><br>“I see that makes sense.”<br><br>It would be strange for a game released in Korea originally to allow other players play on their one server if they could not resolve the language issue.<br><br>“Anything else?” I asked curious about what happened.<br><br>“A couple of sieges of some castles, prices of things being altered and other stuff as well. Nothing big happened recently.” chanted Seraph.<br><br>“What do you mean by big.” I asked trying to find out to what extent big counts.<br><br>“Big as in it affects the rest of the continent. B rank quests and the likes have a small effect. A rank quests like the legion of undead have a massive effect on the continent. If Weed failed, most of the continent would be swarming with undead and there would be another war against them with the churches leading the way against Bar Khan.”<br><br>I see. There was some chatter around me about this legion of undead. So it also involved Royal Road. Man, people talking about this game are everywhere. Getting Seraph to explain things to me is handy but can I actually watch TV here?<br><br>“Hey Seraph.”<br><br>“Yes?”<br><br>“Am I able to watch TV in this place or something?” <br><br>“No.”<br><br>“Why?”<br><br>“Because it causes too much strain on your brain.”<br><br>“And playing a game that accelerates you brain by 4 times and watching TV in the game isn't?”<br><br>“We tested this before and found that the brain does not go faster than the limit when you're playing Royal Road but other things might and that will kill you.”<br><br>“What are you hiding?” I'm very suspicious right now.<br><br>“Do you want me to disconnect you?” threatened Seraph.<br><br>“No....Sorry.”<br><br>24 hours later...<br><br>Finally I can get back in Royal Road. I activated the game and a familiar message appeared.<br><br>— Welcome to Royal Road. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Continue Misfortune?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1315" target="_blank">Previous</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161" target="_blank">Exit</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1378" target="_blank">Next</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Author's Notes:<br>- This is an extra chapter<br>- Not much happens here </div>

When I opened my eyes again I noticed I was in the white space again. Man how the hell did I die? Did something hit me from behind? Hmm........lets think of everything that happened. I 'found' the thing I was looking for. It was a giant humanoid purple rabbit. It spotted me and started chasing me and I tried to stop it but my spells were ineffective. Then it jumped on me crushing one of my mana shields and started to pop the other ones as well. I used fire field to get it off me in a last ditch effect then I managed to trap it using ice prison but it managed to get out and almost kill me in one hit. Then it started to...eat me. A message appeared about some seal being released and I got some sort of power up.....and then I was owing it and finally killed it from some force that voice created.....and then I coughed up blood and died. Hmm........wait......Warlic said.....that excess mana would kill me......the message...said that my mana limit was released....that means I had so much mana that I died? That could be it but I have to ask Warlic later when I next see him about this. I started to scratch my chin thinking of the next thing I should do when I log back in the game. “Lin you there?” Ah. It was the voice of Seraph the fourth something. I can't really remember his full name right now since it has been...around 2 months since I went in game. “Yes I am” responding to the question. “So how was the game?” asked Seraph a bit concern for me since I am their experiment. “Good. I died though” I heard some laughter in the background. There were definitely some other people with Seraph as well. Maybe he was laughing at me as well. “Did you die because of a rabbit or something?” said Seraph in a sarcastic tone. “Kind of.” I replied immediately. Well the rabbit did lead me to die so I wasn't lying. There was more laughter in the background. These people are seriously getting on my nerves now. How can you laugh at someone who just died. “Don't worry. Everyone dies as a beginner. So how did the rabbit kill you.” Lets see it... “Punched me using its arm then started to eat me alive....then I killed it after some events and I died for some reason.” I said while recalling the memories. “....” No response? Well there aren't any rabbits that grow into the size of the thing I encounter but still...no reaction at all? “Are you sure you were playing Royal Road?” asked Seraph. “Yeah. I did the whole character creation thing as well and stayed in a town for 4 weeks before I could go out of the walls. Though I was forced out in the after 3 weeks due to a quest....” “...Are you sure your playing Royal Road?” asked Seraph again. “Yeah you installed the game for me right?” “Yeah...I was just asking.” After that Seraph made me do a full report on what happened to me exactly. I left some details out of course since I don't want these people to know about everything I did such as how I got a new unknown race and class...I just said I was a mage and that was all. I did however include the fact that I met Warlic and Crysero and I was forced to collect theses mana fragments and that was why I was facing the rabbit monster. “Lin we have a suggestion.” A suggestion? What for? “We will gather information on what's happening in Royal Road for you. Also you can easily view some companies gaming content with Royal Road in a tavern ” Oh, I didn't know that. I wonder how they work with the 4x speed issue? Do they put ads or something in? But first I need to know what's happening. I've been stuck in a remote town and a forest for 6 weeks. “Fine. Give me some information then” “Okay then lets see...the game has been released for a while now and has been a massive success. Unicorn has announced that they will release the game internationally a bit later to the few countries it didn't cover yet.” “Won't the language barrier be a problem?” “Lin, do you think everyone in the game is speaking English to you? They're are and are not at the same time. Royal Road has a perfect translator and that's why people around the world can enjoy themselves to the fullest.” sighed Seraph. “I see that makes sense.” It would be strange for a game released in Korea originally to allow other players play on their one server if they could not resolve the language issue. “Anything else?” I asked curious about what happened. “A couple of sieges of some castles, prices of things being altered and other stuff as well. Nothing big happened recently.” chanted Seraph. “What do you mean by big.” I asked trying to find out to what extent big counts. “Big as in it affects the rest of the continent. B rank quests and the likes have a small effect. A rank quests like the legion of undead have a massive effect on the continent. If Weed failed, most of the continent would be swarming with undead and there would be another war against them with the churches leading the way against Bar Khan.” I see. There was some chatter around me about this legion of undead. So it also involved Royal Road. Man, people talking about this game are everywhere. Getting Seraph to explain things to me is handy but can I actually watch TV here? “Hey Seraph.” “Yes?” “Am I able to watch TV in this place or something?” “No.” “Why?” “Because it causes too much strain on your brain.” “And playing a game that accelerates you brain by 4 times and watching TV in the game isn't?” “We tested this before and found that the brain does not go faster than the limit when you're playing Royal Road but other things might and that will kill you.” “What are you hiding?” I'm very suspicious right now. “Do you want me to disconnect you?” threatened Seraph. “No....Sorry.” 24 hours later... Finally I can get back in Royal Road. I activated the game and a familiar message appeared. — Welcome to Royal Road. | Continue Misfortune? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Previous](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1315) | [Exit](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161) | | [Next](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1378) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Author's Notes: - This is an extra chapter - Not much happens here

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Necromancer<br>A Royal Road Fan Fiction<br>By: Halosty<br>Chapter 21<br><br>The party of adventurers, and also Quietus, arrived in Twinsburg Heights after a few short hours of travel. Only Quietus was surprised that it was actually two separate cities separated by a small valley. The party talked to each other about finding a magician for their party, and possibly a rogue. Then they were going to take on the dungeon known as the Moaning Mines.<br><br> Quietus decided to explore the northern city first, while seeking out the instructor for his class quest. It had fairly typical establishments: a smithery, general stores, a bar, an assassin’s guild, and a bakery. Quietus paused for a second to determine which of those didn’t fit. He almost thought it was the bakery, but then he realized that the assassin’s guild didn’t have their typical sign out front, but just the symbol he had seen above back door of the guild in Morata. This was above the door on a nondescript building.<br><br> He decided he would visit this guild, and perhaps see if they had any work for him. Before he could enter the guild, someone spoke to him.<br><br>“Hey, are you a rogue? Our group could use one for the Moaning Mines.” The neutral toned voice sounded somewhat familiar. Quietus turned and looked to see a girl with short hair. No wait, it was… Well, it was Maratis actually. Quietus used his expert conversational skills to excuse himself.<br><br>“Err, sorry… I’m doing… class quests? Yeah… Then I have some other stuff to do. Really busy. Yep.”<br><br>“Oh, well I’m Maratis. If you change your mind, send me a message.” Maratis walked away, and once there was some distance between them, muttered, “Weirdo.”<br><br>Quietus wouldn’t have heard him without the listen skill. He took no offense though. Not everyone would prioritize class quests over groups. Quietus went back to what he was originally going to do, and stepped into the door. Upon entering the guild, he was going to introduce himself. However, the man in black by the door had other ideas.<br><br>“Oh, it’s you. We heard you were coming. Frank will speak to you.” The man gestured towards a door further to the back.<br><br> Quietus was slightly confused. He hadn’t actually told the guild he was going to Twinsburg heights, and he hadn’t really planned to visit the guild there he didn’t know about. He didn’t spend too long dwelling on it, and went to see Frank, who was somehow also in this city.<br><br> Except this person wasn’t Frank. He wasn’t really <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> Frank, but he wasn’t the same Frank from Morata. This man was a bit more heavyset, and had a slightly curly moustache that almost made up for his balding head. <br><br> “Greetings,” the man said with a slight smile, “You can call me Frank. We don’t have any jobs for you here, at the moment, but we do have something else you might be interested in.”<br><br> These people were very to the point. However, since it was their job to be frank with him, he couldn’t really imagine it being any other way.<br><br> “Okay, what’s this other thing?”<br><br> “Well, since you aren’t tainted by the training from one of those silly training centers, you are capable of learning the proper methods for our profession. Sure, brute force, and even speed, have their place, but for us they are not enough, and not in the right proportions. Thus, we have our own training halls, although they are quite different. Be aware that there is only one chance to complete this training. So, are you ready now?”<br><br> Quietus couldn’t think of any reason not to try right away. “Yes.”<br><br>“Good, you’ve passed the first part. As for the second part, my friend over there will show you to a door. There will be another door somewhere inside. Your goal is to go through that door without killing anyone or anything inside.”<br><br>“That’s all?”<br><br>“Yes, although we don’t plan for it to be easy. It is for training, after all.”<br><br>Quietus saw no reason to not turn around and follow the other man in black. He wondered if the black color was more useful inside somehow, but he didn’t really know. Maybe they were just impractical or stereotypical.<br><br>He followed the man down some stairs to a door, which he stepped through into blackness. It was certainly surprising to him, but not really particularly troubling. He quickly activated his darkvision spell. He appeared to be in a fairly typical, boring hallway. The only real distinguishing features of the hallway were beams that held up the ceiling.<br><br>(Imagine the beams are like /-, with the middle part being up around 10 feet and… more to the top of the tilty beams)<br><br>This didn’t look particularly dangerous, especially with his bonus from intermediate Dark Magic Mastery. However, it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious. He slowly started to walk forward.<br><br>A few steps in, he had three darts in his right side. They did negligible damage, but the poison on them wasn’t particularly pleasant. He stopped and drank an antidote. Fortunately, the traps seemed to be activated by movement, probably pressure plates.<br><br>For his next steps, he prepared to dodge the darts. He managed to get hit by no darts at all. However, the spikes that came up from the floor hurt quite a bit, and required him to drink a potion to avoid dying. <br><br>Quietus stopped moving. He was going to die if he took another step forward, of that he had no doubt. If he took a step back, he might or might not die. Sideways would probably be about the same. Instead, he crouched down, and looked at the floor more carefully.<br><br>*ding*<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned a new skill!<br><br>Search<br>-Able to find traps, and how to avoid them or disarm them</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Quietus wished he’d managed to get the skill back in Seeker’s Den, where he learned The Power to Accept Death. On the other hand, it might have led him to failure. <br><br> Whether it would have helped before or not, he now had it, and he would use it. He started disarming all the traps nearby. Some of them he accidentally set off, but the damage was relatively minor. The whole hallways appeared to be glowing blue with traps, except the walls and what he had disarmed.<br> Then he ran out of mana. He was in no hurry to get himself killed, so he just sat down where he was, on places where he had already disarmed the traps, of course. He would be fine while his mana regenerated. Of the few things he was afraid of, the dark was not one of them.<br><br> He was, however, afraid of whatever was making that nice creaking noise somewhere down the hallway. He only had enough mana for a few seconds of darkvision. He quickly activated it, and saw an armored figure walking out of a branch in the hallways.<br><br> There was no way he could fight it without seeing it. Even worse, if he defeated it, he would still lose. He wasn’t allowed to kill anything in here. Instead, he panicked. Since he couldn’t run either way down the hallways, he just went to the side, into a support beam. Then, he realized he could go up the support beam.<br><br> Finally, he was hanging on a horizontal beam, his arms and legs wrapped around it, completely in the dark. Somehow, his cloak had wrapped itself around his legs, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t hanging down and giving him away too much.<br><br> He heard the creaking of the armored figure walking closer, and closer, and closer. Somehow, it wasn’t setting off the traps. That was rather unfair. Of course, it was still coming towards him. Now it was only a few feet away. Then, it stopped.<br><br> Quietus used his stealth skill for all he was worth as he clung to the beam. It was amazing how much stamina it took. It was going to be very disappointing when he was stabbed.<br><br> Then, the creaking started again, and the figure walked out of hearing range, back the other way.<br><br> At this point, Quietus was going to climb down, but he appeared to be completely out of stamina. Then he was down on the floor. Convenient? At least he didn’t land on his head this time. In fact, he barely even took any damage at all!<br><br><br>*ding*<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Because of a fall, your health has been reduced by 40%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Well, barely any damage at all related to dead.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Level up: Climb<br><br>Beginner level 4<br><br>Reduces the stamina cost of climbing, makes climbing slightly easier, and slightly reduces the amount of falling damage you take.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Apparently, climb could also gain experience from failing and falling on your back. This was nice to know. Not so nice to feel, however.<br><br> Quietus went back to what he was doing before. He found and disarmed all the traps, very very slowly. Then, when he was out of mana, he listened. It appeared that being quiet and listening on purpose made the skill more effective. Interestingly enough, the armored things always appeared when he couldn't see. He doubted it was a coincidence.<br><br> Then, he always climbed. Hanging down, he would hope they didn’t see him, and his arms would tire. Somehow, his cloak always hung over the beam. Then, he repeated this process. At any crossroads, he would pick randomly which direction to go.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br>Outside the training area, some NPCs were getting bored.<br><br>“He’s dead now, right? We can just stop waiting.”<br><br>“You know he’s not dead. We’d both know.”<br><br>“Okay, then he should be out of that door. Nobody takes this long.”<br><br>“Obviously not.”<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> Quietus looked at a nice big spike pit. It doubtless had traps on the other side. It was blocking his path, and this was the way he had decided to go. What would he do about it?<br><br> He considered jumping across and hoping that the traps were mild on the edge. If he were the one who built the pit, they would not be. They would be the worst traps. Like the ones on this side of the pit. If triggered, they would actually tilt the floor toward the pit.<br><br> The pit wasn’t too far to jump over. In fact, he could probably jump far enough to be several sets of traps in when he fell on his face and triggered all of them. So he jumped.<br><br> Not straight in, of course. That would be stupid. Instead, he jumped for one of the beams that tilted upwards, over on the side. He caught on to it. Fortunately, that still fell under the climb skill.<br><br> After that, it was a simple matter to disarm the traps. In this case, simple meant imminent peril. He had to hang upside down, holding on with his legs, to reach the traps on the side. It appeared to use much more stamina than normal climbing. Being upside down didn’t help his manual dexterity much, either, with the blood rushing to his head. Once or twice, he almost pressed down on the pressure plate, just by extending his arms too far. Then… *Click*<br><br> Ahh, the wonderful sound of a trap being disarmed. Quietus pulled himself back upright, then almost passed out from the sudden reversal of blood flow. He clung to the beam tightly. Then, he finally lowered himself onto the safe place he had made.<br><br> Quietus was glad that, in the real world, it was a Friday. This was taking quite a bit of time.<br>--------------------------<br><br> “Maybe the detectors are broken. He’s just been dead this whole time and we’ve been waiting for nothing.”<br><br> “Are they broken? You check them.”<br><br> “*Sigh*, No, they’re working fine. Wanna take shifts? I don’t feel like waiting here this long.”<br><br> “Shifts it is. I’ll see you in the morning.”<br><br> “...Great.”<br><br>End Chapter 21<br><br>Previous Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1201&amp;p=6832#p6832"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1201&amp;p=6832#p6832&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt;<br>Next Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1218"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1218&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt; </div>

Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 21 The party of adventurers, and also Quietus, arrived in Twinsburg Heights after a few short hours of travel. Only Quietus was surprised that it was actually two separate cities separated by a small valley. The party talked to each other about finding a magician for their party, and possibly a rogue. Then they were going to take on the dungeon known as the Moaning Mines. Quietus decided to explore the northern city first, while seeking out the instructor for his class quest. It had fairly typical establishments: a smithery, general stores, a bar, an assassin’s guild, and a bakery. Quietus paused for a second to determine which of those didn’t fit. He almost thought it was the bakery, but then he realized that the assassin’s guild didn’t have their typical sign out front, but just the symbol he had seen above back door of the guild in Morata. This was above the door on a nondescript building. He decided he would visit this guild, and perhaps see if they had any work for him. Before he could enter the guild, someone spoke to him. “Hey, are you a rogue? Our group could use one for the Moaning Mines.” The neutral toned voice sounded somewhat familiar. Quietus turned and looked to see a girl with short hair. No wait, it was… Well, it was Maratis actually. Quietus used his expert conversational skills to excuse himself. “Err, sorry… I’m doing… class quests? Yeah… Then I have some other stuff to do. Really busy. Yep.” “Oh, well I’m Maratis. If you change your mind, send me a message.” Maratis walked away, and once there was some distance between them, muttered, “Weirdo.” Quietus wouldn’t have heard him without the listen skill. He took no offense though. Not everyone would prioritize class quests over groups. Quietus went back to what he was originally going to do, and stepped into the door. Upon entering the guild, he was going to introduce himself. However, the man in black by the door had other ideas. “Oh, it’s you. We heard you were coming. Frank will speak to you.” The man gestured towards a door further to the back. Quietus was slightly confused. He hadn’t actually told the guild he was going to Twinsburg heights, and he hadn’t really planned to visit the guild there he didn’t know about. He didn’t spend too long dwelling on it, and went to see Frank, who was somehow also in this city. Except this person wasn’t Frank. He wasn’t really not Frank, but he wasn’t the same Frank from Morata. This man was a bit more heavyset, and had a slightly curly moustache that almost made up for his balding head. “Greetings,” the man said with a slight smile, “You can call me Frank. We don’t have any jobs for you here, at the moment, but we do have something else you might be interested in.” These people were very to the point. However, since it was their job to be frank with him, he couldn’t really imagine it being any other way. “Okay, what’s this other thing?” “Well, since you aren’t tainted by the training from one of those silly training centers, you are capable of learning the proper methods for our profession. Sure, brute force, and even speed, have their place, but for us they are not enough, and not in the right proportions. Thus, we have our own training halls, although they are quite different. Be aware that there is only one chance to complete this training. So, are you ready now?” Quietus couldn’t think of any reason not to try right away. “Yes.” “Good, you’ve passed the first part. As for the second part, my friend over there will show you to a door. There will be another door somewhere inside. Your goal is to go through that door without killing anyone or anything inside.” “That’s all?” “Yes, although we don’t plan for it to be easy. It is for training, after all.” Quietus saw no reason to not turn around and follow the other man in black. He wondered if the black color was more useful inside somehow, but he didn’t really know. Maybe they were just impractical or stereotypical. He followed the man down some stairs to a door, which he stepped through into blackness. It was certainly surprising to him, but not really particularly troubling. He quickly activated his darkvision spell. He appeared to be in a fairly typical, boring hallway. The only real distinguishing features of the hallway were beams that held up the ceiling. (Imagine the beams are like /-, with the middle part being up around 10 feet and… more to the top of the tilty beams) This didn’t look particularly dangerous, especially with his bonus from intermediate Dark Magic Mastery. However, it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious. He slowly started to walk forward. A few steps in, he had three darts in his right side. They did negligible damage, but the poison on them wasn’t particularly pleasant. He stopped and drank an antidote. Fortunately, the traps seemed to be activated by movement, probably pressure plates. For his next steps, he prepared to dodge the darts. He managed to get hit by no darts at all. However, the spikes that came up from the floor hurt quite a bit, and required him to drink a potion to avoid dying. Quietus stopped moving. He was going to die if he took another step forward, of that he had no doubt. If he took a step back, he might or might not die. Sideways would probably be about the same. Instead, he crouched down, and looked at the floor more carefully. *ding* | You have learned a new skill!Search-Able to find traps, and how to avoid them or disarm them | | --- | Quietus wished he’d managed to get the skill back in Seeker’s Den, where he learned The Power to Accept Death. On the other hand, it might have led him to failure. Whether it would have helped before or not, he now had it, and he would use it. He started disarming all the traps nearby. Some of them he accidentally set off, but the damage was relatively minor. The whole hallways appeared to be glowing blue with traps, except the walls and what he had disarmed. Then he ran out of mana. He was in no hurry to get himself killed, so he just sat down where he was, on places where he had already disarmed the traps, of course. He would be fine while his mana regenerated. Of the few things he was afraid of, the dark was not one of them. He was, however, afraid of whatever was making that nice creaking noise somewhere down the hallway. He only had enough mana for a few seconds of darkvision. He quickly activated it, and saw an armored figure walking out of a branch in the hallways. There was no way he could fight it without seeing it. Even worse, if he defeated it, he would still lose. He wasn’t allowed to kill anything in here. Instead, he panicked. Since he couldn’t run either way down the hallways, he just went to the side, into a support beam. Then, he realized he could go up the support beam. Finally, he was hanging on a horizontal beam, his arms and legs wrapped around it, completely in the dark. Somehow, his cloak had wrapped itself around his legs, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t hanging down and giving him away too much. He heard the creaking of the armored figure walking closer, and closer, and closer. Somehow, it wasn’t setting off the traps. That was rather unfair. Of course, it was still coming towards him. Now it was only a few feet away. Then, it stopped. Quietus used his stealth skill for all he was worth as he clung to the beam. It was amazing how much stamina it took. It was going to be very disappointing when he was stabbed. Then, the creaking started again, and the figure walked out of hearing range, back the other way. At this point, Quietus was going to climb down, but he appeared to be completely out of stamina. Then he was down on the floor. Convenient? At least he didn’t land on his head this time. In fact, he barely even took any damage at all! *ding* | Because of a fall, your health has been reduced by 40% | | --- | Well, barely any damage at all related to dead. | Level up: ClimbBeginner level 4Reduces the stamina cost of climbing, makes climbing slightly easier, and slightly reduces the amount of falling damage you take. | | --- | Apparently, climb could also gain experience from failing and falling on your back. This was nice to know. Not so nice to feel, however. Quietus went back to what he was doing before. He found and disarmed all the traps, very very slowly. Then, when he was out of mana, he listened. It appeared that being quiet and listening on purpose made the skill more effective. Interestingly enough, the armored things always appeared when he couldn't see. He doubted it was a coincidence. Then, he always climbed. Hanging down, he would hope they didn’t see him, and his arms would tire. Somehow, his cloak always hung over the beam. Then, he repeated this process. At any crossroads, he would pick randomly which direction to go. -------------------------- Outside the training area, some NPCs were getting bored. “He’s dead now, right? We can just stop waiting.” “You know he’s not dead. We’d both know.” “Okay, then he should be out of that door. Nobody takes this long.” “Obviously not.” -------------------------- Quietus looked at a nice big spike pit. It doubtless had traps on the other side. It was blocking his path, and this was the way he had decided to go. What would he do about it? He considered jumping across and hoping that the traps were mild on the edge. If he were the one who built the pit, they would not be. They would be the worst traps. Like the ones on this side of the pit. If triggered, they would actually tilt the floor toward the pit. The pit wasn’t too far to jump over. In fact, he could probably jump far enough to be several sets of traps in when he fell on his face and triggered all of them. So he jumped. Not straight in, of course. That would be stupid. Instead, he jumped for one of the beams that tilted upwards, over on the side. He caught on to it. Fortunately, that still fell under the climb skill. After that, it was a simple matter to disarm the traps. In this case, simple meant imminent peril. He had to hang upside down, holding on with his legs, to reach the traps on the side. It appeared to use much more stamina than normal climbing. Being upside down didn’t help his manual dexterity much, either, with the blood rushing to his head. Once or twice, he almost pressed down on the pressure plate, just by extending his arms too far. Then… *Click* Ahh, the wonderful sound of a trap being disarmed. Quietus pulled himself back upright, then almost passed out from the sudden reversal of blood flow. He clung to the beam tightly. Then, he finally lowered himself onto the safe place he had made. Quietus was glad that, in the real world, it was a Friday. This was taking quite a bit of time. -------------------------- “Maybe the detectors are broken. He’s just been dead this whole time and we’ve been waiting for nothing.” “Are they broken? You check them.” “*Sigh*, No, they’re working fine. Wanna take shifts? I don’t feel like waiting here this long.” “Shifts it is. I’ll see you in the morning.” “...Great.” End Chapter 21 Previous Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1201&p=6832#p6832">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1201&p=6832#p6832</a><!-- l --> Next Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1218">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1218</a><!-- l -->

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 5 The forgotten History<br><br>Kudos!!! More chapters.<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br>Zed was in a delima, In one swell swoop and a series of random mumbo jumbo, he became a leader of an evil organization that was he'll bent on world domination.<br><br>"At least it won't harm real people's lives seing that it's only a game" zed thought.<br><br>"Ahhh that's it!!, I think what these weirdos meant by evil organization is that were going to control and expand a city, monopolize mines, items, equipments and dungeons and also expand a military empire, That's evil right?. I'll just have to be a fair leader to avoid a revolt and attract people people to my city while other towns becomes abandoned, [ !!!! ] what an ingenious plan. I can only say it's Evil, very very evil." zed thought while a smirk forms on his face.<br><br>Zed: "Mwahahahaahahahahahahahaha", zed couldn't help but laugh evilly.<br><br>Jessie: "look James , look at that evil laugh, together with his villainous aura he just screams super villain. we've hit the jackpot." <br><br>James: "I couldn't help but agree with you Jessie, were going to be famous before we know it, I knew we made the right decision."<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth! that's right."<br><br><br>After finishing up zed's evil laugh zed couldn't help but remember a question that has been bugging him.<br><br>Zed: "Ahh that's right I've been meaning to ask, what are those strange creatures you guys fought with?."<br><br>James: "Those creatures are called pokemon, We, I mean Jessie and I, along with 2 other friends stumbled upon a hidden class, aren't we great? but seriously why would you be asking us that, don't you have your very own pokemon?."<br><br>Zed: "No, mine aren't pokemon but a summon, I too stumbled upon a hidden secret class".<br><br>James: "I see".<br><br>Zed: "By the way, can you guys show me this NPC who gave you guys this hidden class? I'm wondering if I can learn a thing or two from him."<br><br>James: Sure boss well lead you to him.<br><br><br>The group led zed through the mountains and finally arrived their destination "Illex Forest". <br><br>James: "Where here , this is Illex Forest, Home to the God of pokemon Arceus. I'll lead you through safely from the maze that this forest is very famously known for. Jessie stay with Meowth and guard the entrance , we don't let just anybody go in here you know."<br><br>Jessie: "Yes James."<br><br>Zed: "Wait, let's take a break first, I'm sure you guys are very tired, just like me."<br><br>James: "Yes I think your right."<br><br>The group took a break and Zed decided too cook a feast for his group. Zed's cooking skills gained a few levels and he unlocked a wine brewery skill from it. The group ate with such intensity that the food quickly disappeared just like that. The group complemented zed about his godly cooking skills and further cemented his image as a capable leader.<br><br>After finishing their meals James led zed to a series of maze in the forest and arrived at a clearing. In the middle of it stood a majestic and elegant figure. A tall and four-legged white colored dog-like creature that had some sort of crown at his neck. Interestingly enough it does not look odd at all and it seems to complement the creatures regal features.<br><br>Dog: "Ahh it seems your back James, whose you're friend? Is he a prospective potential that qualifies to spread the teachings of my kind?"<br><br>James: "Oh Great Arceus , I apologize for our sudden visit, this is my friend Zed, He would like to talk to you and I hope he is to your liking." James said while bowing his head.<br><br>Zed: "Greetings Lord Arceus, Zed bowed, Forgive me for the intrusion. I am but a curious little soul, curious about what my friend James ability."<br><br>Arceus: "Ahh such good manners , I'm sure you're a perfect disciple material to teach our knowledge too."<br><br>ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> System message:<br><br>Would you like to change to pokemon tamer class? </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Ding<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> System message:<br><br>Cannot change to another class. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed: "I am honored Lord Arceus, but I already have my respective class, I would still like to learn your teachings though."<br><br>Arceus: "Hmm is that so, then I will give you a test if you are worthy, and since you're not a follower of our teachings, your test will be very difficult , will you still accept?"<br><br>Ding <br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Quest:<br><br>Lord Arceus wants to impart his teachings to you, But you already have a class, so the difficulty of his quest just became very difficult.<br><br>Difficulty: B<br><br>Rewards: Unknown </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "I accept."<br><br><br>Arceus: "alright here's what we're going to do we're to do, I'm gonna summon some creatures and your gonna battle them but only 1 vs 1 ok?. You pass when you defeat all my creatures that I'm summoning to use against you and you fail if your K.O'd. got it?"<br><br>Zed: "Understood"<br><br>Arceus: "Ok then I'll start up first. Go Venausaur!!"<br><br>-Venausaur appeared.<br><br>-Zed used spectacles.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>Venausaur:<br><br>Description:<br>Venusaur, the Seed Pokémon. After a rainy day, the flower on its back smells stronger, attracting Pokémon with its scent. By spreading the broad petals of its flower and catching the sun's rays, Venusaur can fill its body with power. Due to the power obtained, Venusaur can perform photosynthesis; as such, Venusaur is more powerful in the summertime. Due to its large size, Venusaur can't run as fast as its pre-evolutions.<br>Ability:<br>Overgrow: Increased damage by x1.5 on Grass attacks when Venusaur is below or at 1/3 of its Max HP.<br><br>-level 80<br><br>HP/5000 MP/ 2000 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed: "Wow! such a powerful and unique creature."<br><br>Arceus: "Indeed they are my friend, once they were an abundance of them and they were friendly and respected. People become partners with them and together they created many miracles. Sadly most of them mutated to what the creatures you see here today , wild and savage they become and with it , we lost our place in the world nearly forgotten but remembered by a select few. I have been working on ways for coexistence once again, but that is a story for another time."<br><br>Zed: "Thank you Lord Arceus for telling me the story, but in honor of your history, yes I did manage to get some information out of James. Let's do this honorably. Go dementors!! ( 2 dementors appeared) , you! go ready for battle, the other one stay as my reserve."<br><br>Arceus: "Interesting creatures you have summoned, I am most pleased with these events. "Scan!" now let's see what your creatures secrets are."<br><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Dementors:<br> <br>Description:<br>-Servants of the avatar of death, known to legends as collector of souls. Strength and ability varies from its master. Causes temperature to drop and gives a deadly aura, Causes victims to relieve their most feared memories if they judge you guilty or an enemy by their master. (Hp = int. x 20 , Mp = Player level x 20)<br><br>Most popular legend refer to them is that they are called Shinigami, balancer of souls and ferry souls to the afterlife.<br><br>level XX<br><br>HP: 7000 MP/: 1500 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Note: zed's int is 350x20 = 7000 hp, zed's level = 85 x20 = 1500 mp<br><br>Arceus: Hohoo, I see that you're up for the challenge, I'm in for quite a treat, I haven't have this good of a challenge since days of old. This will be a battle to remember. NOW LETS BATTLE!!! <br><br><br><br><br><br>Tune in next time to find out what happened next. </div>

Chapter 5 The forgotten History Kudos!!! More chapters. Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Zed was in a delima, In one swell swoop and a series of random mumbo jumbo, he became a leader of an evil organization that was he'll bent on world domination. "At least it won't harm real people's lives seing that it's only a game" zed thought. "Ahhh that's it!!, I think what these weirdos meant by evil organization is that were going to control and expand a city, monopolize mines, items, equipments and dungeons and also expand a military empire, That's evil right?. I'll just have to be a fair leader to avoid a revolt and attract people people to my city while other towns becomes abandoned, [ !!!! ] what an ingenious plan. I can only say it's Evil, very very evil." zed thought while a smirk forms on his face. Zed: "Mwahahahaahahahahahahahaha", zed couldn't help but laugh evilly. Jessie: "look James , look at that evil laugh, together with his villainous aura he just screams super villain. we've hit the jackpot." James: "I couldn't help but agree with you Jessie, were going to be famous before we know it, I knew we made the right decision." Meowth: "Meowth! that's right." After finishing up zed's evil laugh zed couldn't help but remember a question that has been bugging him. Zed: "Ahh that's right I've been meaning to ask, what are those strange creatures you guys fought with?." James: "Those creatures are called pokemon, We, I mean Jessie and I, along with 2 other friends stumbled upon a hidden class, aren't we great? but seriously why would you be asking us that, don't you have your very own pokemon?." Zed: "No, mine aren't pokemon but a summon, I too stumbled upon a hidden secret class". James: "I see". Zed: "By the way, can you guys show me this NPC who gave you guys this hidden class? I'm wondering if I can learn a thing or two from him." James: Sure boss well lead you to him. The group led zed through the mountains and finally arrived their destination "Illex Forest". James: "Where here , this is Illex Forest, Home to the God of pokemon Arceus. I'll lead you through safely from the maze that this forest is very famously known for. Jessie stay with Meowth and guard the entrance , we don't let just anybody go in here you know." Jessie: "Yes James." Zed: "Wait, let's take a break first, I'm sure you guys are very tired, just like me." James: "Yes I think your right." The group took a break and Zed decided too cook a feast for his group. Zed's cooking skills gained a few levels and he unlocked a wine brewery skill from it. The group ate with such intensity that the food quickly disappeared just like that. The group complemented zed about his godly cooking skills and further cemented his image as a capable leader. After finishing their meals James led zed to a series of maze in the forest and arrived at a clearing. In the middle of it stood a majestic and elegant figure. A tall and four-legged white colored dog-like creature that had some sort of crown at his neck. Interestingly enough it does not look odd at all and it seems to complement the creatures regal features. Dog: "Ahh it seems your back James, whose you're friend? Is he a prospective potential that qualifies to spread the teachings of my kind?" James: "Oh Great Arceus , I apologize for our sudden visit, this is my friend Zed, He would like to talk to you and I hope he is to your liking." James said while bowing his head. Zed: "Greetings Lord Arceus, Zed bowed, Forgive me for the intrusion. I am but a curious little soul, curious about what my friend James ability." Arceus: "Ahh such good manners , I'm sure you're a perfect disciple material to teach our knowledge too." ding | * System message:Would you like to change to pokemon tamer class? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Ding | * System message:Cannot change to another class. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "I am honored Lord Arceus, but I already have my respective class, I would still like to learn your teachings though." Arceus: "Hmm is that so, then I will give you a test if you are worthy, and since you're not a follower of our teachings, your test will be very difficult , will you still accept?" Ding | * Quest:Lord Arceus wants to impart his teachings to you, But you already have a class, so the difficulty of his quest just became very difficult.Difficulty: BRewards: Unknown | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "I accept." Arceus: "alright here's what we're going to do we're to do, I'm gonna summon some creatures and your gonna battle them but only 1 vs 1 ok?. You pass when you defeat all my creatures that I'm summoning to use against you and you fail if your K.O'd. got it?" Zed: "Understood" Arceus: "Ok then I'll start up first. Go Venausaur!!" -Venausaur appeared. -Zed used spectacles. | * Venausaur:Description:Venusaur, the Seed Pokémon. After a rainy day, the flower on its back smells stronger, attracting Pokémon with its scent. By spreading the broad petals of its flower and catching the sun's rays, Venusaur can fill its body with power. Due to the power obtained, Venusaur can perform photosynthesis; as such, Venusaur is more powerful in the summertime. Due to its large size, Venusaur can't run as fast as its pre-evolutions.Ability:Overgrow: Increased damage by x1.5 on Grass attacks when Venusaur is below or at 1/3 of its Max HP.-level 80HP/5000 MP/ 2000 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Wow! such a powerful and unique creature." Arceus: "Indeed they are my friend, once they were an abundance of them and they were friendly and respected. People become partners with them and together they created many miracles. Sadly most of them mutated to what the creatures you see here today , wild and savage they become and with it , we lost our place in the world nearly forgotten but remembered by a select few. I have been working on ways for coexistence once again, but that is a story for another time." Zed: "Thank you Lord Arceus for telling me the story, but in honor of your history, yes I did manage to get some information out of James. Let's do this honorably. Go dementors!! ( 2 dementors appeared) , you! go ready for battle, the other one stay as my reserve." Arceus: "Interesting creatures you have summoned, I am most pleased with these events. "Scan!" now let's see what your creatures secrets are." | * Dementors: Description:-Servants of the avatar of death, known to legends as collector of souls. Strength and ability varies from its master. Causes temperature to drop and gives a deadly aura, Causes victims to relieve their most feared memories if they judge you guilty or an enemy by their master. (Hp = int. x 20 , Mp = Player level x 20)Most popular legend refer to them is that they are called Shinigami, balancer of souls and ferry souls to the afterlife.level XXHP: 7000 MP/: 1500 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Note: zed's int is 350x20 = 7000 hp, zed's level = 85 x20 = 1500 mp Arceus: Hohoo, I see that you're up for the challenge, I'm in for quite a treat, I haven't have this good of a challenge since days of old. This will be a battle to remember. NOW LETS BATTLE!!! Tune in next time to find out what happened next.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 8 Problem Solving<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Zed did his research when he logged out, research on how to run a town, turns out most of the town's that were player occupied had very high taxes and isn't very well liked, the rest were sketchy at best. He also researched the Town Morata that Weed rules over, it had so many positive reviews that Zed felt lucky that he met a good friend.<br><br><br> After clicking on some random subjects , zed was alarmed, He found out that the highest level players were at the moment were level 200+ and the average high player was level 150+.<br><br><br>Zed became depressed, until he read another topic about levels, it said that levels aren't everything and mastery of the skills were very important. Zed was relieved by this seeing this message, after all he was only level 100 after completing Arceus's B rank chain quest .<br><br>Reading this great news, zed was able to have a calm sleep.<br><br>Zed woke up the next day and ate breakfast , did some workout exercises, did his business around the house and logged back to royal road.<br><br>As soon as zed logged back in , he quickly headed back to Pallet Town where he quickly met James, Jessie and Meowth.<br><br>James: "Hi boss, it's good to see you again."<br><br>Jessie: "Yes, we've been having a blast, ahh it pays to have a good leader who knows how to take care of his subordinates."<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth! that's right."<br><br>Zed: "Guys I have a question for you, what are your levels?."<br><br>James: "Ohh getting to business are we?, My levels level 150." James said proudly.<br><br>Jessie: "Yes , James has been a hard worker , I'm only level 140."<br><br>Meowth: "I've been working hard too boss I'm level 145."<br><br><br>James: "I'm sure our levels are low compared to yours boss."<br><br>Zed: " I'm only level 100 sadly." zed said dejectedly.<br><br>James, Jessie and meowth were stunned and left their mouths hanging for a good 5 minutes.<br><br>Zed: "Sigh, I knew it, they're disappointed in me." zed said with a sigh.<br><br>Unknown to Zed , the thoughts on his subordinates were the opposite of what he has thinking, these thought lingered on how he defeated them on their encounter.<br><br>James: "What are you sad about boss?, we're not disappointed in you, on the contrary were very impressed with you."<br><br>Jessie: "Yeah, your just like that Ketchem named player that we use to harass because he was so cocky spouting nonsense about Justice all the time."<br><br>James: "Yes, we sticked to him like a cockroach, and built thousand of pitfall traps, but sadly we lost everytime."<br><br>Meowth: "Yeah, we also spent all our gold earnings building up lots of fancy machines and robots , that we've prolly mastered our construction and engineering skills to max, sadly all of them failed and foiled by that BRAT!!, We maxed out our shoveling skills too since we seem to get that BRAT!! to fall into them pitfalls often."<br><br><br>James: "But then we met you, since then we've been rising to road to success and we never looked back."<br><br>Jessie: "James is right, you bested us when you weren't even level 100 when we first met. If that doesn't say anything I don't know what does."<br><br>Meowth: " Meowth!! that's right."<br><br>Zed: "actually I was only of level 85 when we met."<br><br>James: "See!!, that's just proves our point, levels aren't everything."<br><br>Zed: "Thanks guys, now onto important matters. Well have a group meeting to start up on our future plans."<br><br>James: "Oh, I know just the place to have our meeting. Before you quickly left 5 days ago , professor Oak said that you now own the mansion on top of the hill since you just became the Lord after all."<br><br>Zed: "That's great , I'll serve some food and wine this meeting."<br><br>James: " Did you say wine?"<br><br>Jessie: "we get not just get your delicious food but wine as well?"<br><br>Meowth: "Oh were living the life baby, count me in, Meowth!"<br><br>The group arrived at the mansion and found the meeting spot, Zed prepared many delicious and expensive foods and quite high grade ingredients too that he mastered his cooking skills and got another +5 to all stats again. He also served up the wines he made from rosenheim and the group happily ate them all.<br>Zed: "All right, now that we've finished eating, let's get the meeting started on any ideas on how to raise funds on our evil organization. Any ideas?"<br><br>James: "How about we monopolize a dungeon and make a toll for it?."<br><br>Zed: " I'll list it down, anybody else?."<br><br>Jessie: "How about a tourist attraction? with our mastery in construction and engineering it should be good."<br><br>Zed: "I'll list that down too, anybody else?."<br><br>Meowth: "Sell unique items that can only be found in our town?."<br><br>James: "That's a great idea meowth but where could we find that unique items as such?."<br><br>Zed: "Ahem!!, How about an item that is unique to this town , enough to make it to a tourist attraction and only we have the monopoly off?."<br><br>James: "That's brilliant!!."<br><br>Jessie: "That's genious!!."<br><br>Meowth: "That's positively stupendous!!, but where would we find such a thing?."<br><br>Zed: "Ahem!!!, how about we sell portable pillows/ bean bags?."<br><br>James: " Ahahaahahahaha, pillows, I know I like the idea just as the next guy and mostly guys like to have that kind of item but what about the girls perspective of the population?."<br><br>Zed:" Ahem!!!, how about we sell a cute portable pillows/ beanie bag?."<br><br>Jessie: "Now that sounds adorable, I know most girls would want that."<br><br>Meowth: "That's nice and all, but that hardly counts as unique."<br><br>Zed: "Ahem!!!!, how about a cute portable pillows/ beanie bags that collects loots FOR YOU?"<br><br>James: "Gasped!!, that's brilliant!!."<br><br>Jessie: "Gasped!!, that's genius!!."<br><br>Meowth: "Gasped!! , That's positively stupendous!!, but where would we find such a thing?"<br><br>Zed: "Ahem!!!!, De ja Vu anyone?....., okay that aside.., leave that to me, go Angeling!!."<br><br>An angel like monster appeared.<br><br>Zed: "Angeling 3 pillows/ bean bags please."<br><br>Angeling: "Yes boss!!, Summon minions!!"<br><br>Three pink jelly like creature appeared.<br><br>Angeling: "do what the boss says". the 3 porings nodded.<br><br>Zed: "Good job Angeling return." Angeling returned to its pocket dimension.<br><br>Meowth: "I don't believe it!!."<br><br>Jessica: "Those are really adorable!!."<br><br>James: "Gasped!!, can it be?, are those tamed porings?, I can't believe I'm seing it with my own eyes. Those things people tend to avoid because they never get items while hunting them because they are very notorious scavengers, and on some adventurers that hunt those, spread rumors about an evil cute meatbun-shape monster with a face that that steals loots, and they became a laughingstock in the community of royal road and players stopped posting about them. It became a legendary rumor and its standing before our very eyes."<br><br>Zed: "Oh , they also come in Orange,Green,white color and one even came with a Santa hat."<br><br>James,Jessie,Meowth: "OMG!!!!! your serious??."<br><br>Zed: "Yes I'm positively serious."<br><br>James,Jessie,Meowth: "We are not worthy, We are not worthy, We are not worthy." they simultaneously said while kneeling at zed.<br><br>Zed: "Oh stop that, it was just a lucky coincidence, but seriously how much would one cost if we spread them to the market?"<br><br>James: "Seriously!!??? I would give an arm and a leg for one of those."<br><br>Zed: "So 500 gold?."<br><br>Jessie: "I would give my current account for one of those."<br><br>Zed: "So 1000 or 1k gold?"<br><br>Meowth: "I would trade 8 out of 9 of my cat lives for one of those."<br><br>Zed: "Okay, okay, 5000 or 5k gold each."<br><br>James, Jessie, Meowth nodded simultaniously<br><br>Zed: "Okay that's 5k for the pink(poring), 6k for the Orange(drops), 7k for the green(poporing), 8k for the white (Marin) and 10k for the Santa poring."<br><br>Zed: "All agreed?"<br><br>James, Jessie, Meowth nodded simultaniously in approval. </div>

Chapter 8 Problem Solving Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Zed did his research when he logged out, research on how to run a town, turns out most of the town's that were player occupied had very high taxes and isn't very well liked, the rest were sketchy at best. He also researched the Town Morata that Weed rules over, it had so many positive reviews that Zed felt lucky that he met a good friend. After clicking on some random subjects , zed was alarmed, He found out that the highest level players were at the moment were level 200+ and the average high player was level 150+. Zed became depressed, until he read another topic about levels, it said that levels aren't everything and mastery of the skills were very important. Zed was relieved by this seeing this message, after all he was only level 100 after completing Arceus's B rank chain quest . Reading this great news, zed was able to have a calm sleep. Zed woke up the next day and ate breakfast , did some workout exercises, did his business around the house and logged back to royal road. As soon as zed logged back in , he quickly headed back to Pallet Town where he quickly met James, Jessie and Meowth. James: "Hi boss, it's good to see you again." Jessie: "Yes, we've been having a blast, ahh it pays to have a good leader who knows how to take care of his subordinates." Meowth: "Meowth! that's right." Zed: "Guys I have a question for you, what are your levels?." James: "Ohh getting to business are we?, My levels level 150." James said proudly. Jessie: "Yes , James has been a hard worker , I'm only level 140." Meowth: "I've been working hard too boss I'm level 145." James: "I'm sure our levels are low compared to yours boss." Zed: " I'm only level 100 sadly." zed said dejectedly. James, Jessie and meowth were stunned and left their mouths hanging for a good 5 minutes. Zed: "Sigh, I knew it, they're disappointed in me." zed said with a sigh. Unknown to Zed , the thoughts on his subordinates were the opposite of what he has thinking, these thought lingered on how he defeated them on their encounter. James: "What are you sad about boss?, we're not disappointed in you, on the contrary were very impressed with you." Jessie: "Yeah, your just like that Ketchem named player that we use to harass because he was so cocky spouting nonsense about Justice all the time." James: "Yes, we sticked to him like a cockroach, and built thousand of pitfall traps, but sadly we lost everytime." Meowth: "Yeah, we also spent all our gold earnings building up lots of fancy machines and robots , that we've prolly mastered our construction and engineering skills to max, sadly all of them failed and foiled by that BRAT!!, We maxed out our shoveling skills too since we seem to get that BRAT!! to fall into them pitfalls often." James: "But then we met you, since then we've been rising to road to success and we never looked back." Jessie: "James is right, you bested us when you weren't even level 100 when we first met. If that doesn't say anything I don't know what does." Meowth: " Meowth!! that's right." Zed: "actually I was only of level 85 when we met." James: "See!!, that's just proves our point, levels aren't everything." Zed: "Thanks guys, now onto important matters. Well have a group meeting to start up on our future plans." James: "Oh, I know just the place to have our meeting. Before you quickly left 5 days ago , professor Oak said that you now own the mansion on top of the hill since you just became the Lord after all." Zed: "That's great , I'll serve some food and wine this meeting." James: " Did you say wine?" Jessie: "we get not just get your delicious food but wine as well?" Meowth: "Oh were living the life baby, count me in, Meowth!" The group arrived at the mansion and found the meeting spot, Zed prepared many delicious and expensive foods and quite high grade ingredients too that he mastered his cooking skills and got another +5 to all stats again. He also served up the wines he made from rosenheim and the group happily ate them all. Zed: "All right, now that we've finished eating, let's get the meeting started on any ideas on how to raise funds on our evil organization. Any ideas?" James: "How about we monopolize a dungeon and make a toll for it?." Zed: " I'll list it down, anybody else?." Jessie: "How about a tourist attraction? with our mastery in construction and engineering it should be good." Zed: "I'll list that down too, anybody else?." Meowth: "Sell unique items that can only be found in our town?." James: "That's a great idea meowth but where could we find that unique items as such?." Zed: "Ahem!!, How about an item that is unique to this town , enough to make it to a tourist attraction and only we have the monopoly off?." James: "That's brilliant!!." Jessie: "That's genious!!." Meowth: "That's positively stupendous!!, but where would we find such a thing?." Zed: "Ahem!!!, how about we sell portable pillows/ bean bags?." James: " Ahahaahahahaha, pillows, I know I like the idea just as the next guy and mostly guys like to have that kind of item but what about the girls perspective of the population?." Zed:" Ahem!!!, how about we sell a cute portable pillows/ beanie bag?." Jessie: "Now that sounds adorable, I know most girls would want that." Meowth: "That's nice and all, but that hardly counts as unique." Zed: "Ahem!!!!, how about a cute portable pillows/ beanie bags that collects loots FOR YOU?" James: "Gasped!!, that's brilliant!!." Jessie: "Gasped!!, that's genius!!." Meowth: "Gasped!! , That's positively stupendous!!, but where would we find such a thing?" Zed: "Ahem!!!!, De ja Vu anyone?....., okay that aside.., leave that to me, go Angeling!!." An angel like monster appeared. Zed: "Angeling 3 pillows/ bean bags please." Angeling: "Yes boss!!, Summon minions!!" Three pink jelly like creature appeared. Angeling: "do what the boss says". the 3 porings nodded. Zed: "Good job Angeling return." Angeling returned to its pocket dimension. Meowth: "I don't believe it!!." Jessica: "Those are really adorable!!." James: "Gasped!!, can it be?, are those tamed porings?, I can't believe I'm seing it with my own eyes. Those things people tend to avoid because they never get items while hunting them because they are very notorious scavengers, and on some adventurers that hunt those, spread rumors about an evil cute meatbun-shape monster with a face that that steals loots, and they became a laughingstock in the community of royal road and players stopped posting about them. It became a legendary rumor and its standing before our very eyes." Zed: "Oh , they also come in Orange,Green,white color and one even came with a Santa hat." James,Jessie,Meowth: "OMG!!!!! your serious??." Zed: "Yes I'm positively serious." James,Jessie,Meowth: "We are not worthy, We are not worthy, We are not worthy." they simultaneously said while kneeling at zed. Zed: "Oh stop that, it was just a lucky coincidence, but seriously how much would one cost if we spread them to the market?" James: "Seriously!!??? I would give an arm and a leg for one of those." Zed: "So 500 gold?." Jessie: "I would give my current account for one of those." Zed: "So 1000 or 1k gold?" Meowth: "I would trade 8 out of 9 of my cat lives for one of those." Zed: "Okay, okay, 5000 or 5k gold each." James, Jessie, Meowth nodded simultaniously Zed: "Okay that's 5k for the pink(poring), 6k for the Orange(drops), 7k for the green(poporing), 8k for the white (Marin) and 10k for the Santa poring." Zed: "All agreed?" James, Jessie, Meowth nodded simultaniously in approval.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 1 – Treasure and more...</span> <br> <br>3 days later.... <br> <br>Its been 3 days since we went into this hell hole. I can't even count the number of times we triggered some trap or another. The first one was fine. I casted a Mana shield on each of us before hand and it blocked off the fire from the ground just fine. <br> <br>The next one was arrows coming out of the walls. A bit of wind magic and it was fine. But it just got worse. In one case I triggered a wire trap on accident and it shot out fire in a straight line in the small hallway maze type floor. The fire was fine. But it triggered a second trap which shot out arrows from the walls next to us. Then a gush of wind pushed us back to a crossway where a boulder almost crushed us. <br> <br>Naturally we dodged it but then the boulder triggered the final and most annoying trap I have yet to see. A pitfall. Yes the entire floor opened up for us to drop down into poisonous spikes as Patrick inspected them after we barely survived. Then I had to use Earth magic to make a walkway for the rest of the place because the entire floor opened. At one point I considered to break down all of the walls but Patrick advised me that they could be trapped as well. <br> <br>Well 3 days later and 5 floors fully explored I'm sick of the place now. <br> <br>“You think we're near the final bit of this place?” <br> <br>“Maybe. Its been five floors already.” answered Patrick trying to get my hopes up. <br> <br>Well I did kinda destroyed an entire floor before...it wasn't my fault! I was pissed off and I had to blow off some steam one way or another so I kinda made a dust explosion that almost killed us while laughing like a madman. <br> <br>“Well I hope so.” I let my head drop from my exhaustion. <br> <br>I finished scouting the area for traps with my light balls. I think my magic control skill increased in a level due to the massive and constant use of the light balls. It was getting easier to make and control more and more of them with time. Obviously my concentration stat got increased as well during this trip. And my level...well there weren't any monsters so there was no change in that. <br> <br>Anyway I found the stairs to the next floor. Hopefully this is the final floor. <br> <br>“Stairs that way.” I pointed to where by light balls were. <br> <br>As always I walked first being the one who faced the most danger in this place anyway. The moment we reached the sixth floor there were some writing one the walls. It was a nice change but it was in a language I didn't know. <br> <br>“Patrick, there's some writing on that wall. Can you translate?” <br> <br>During one of our conversations I found out that Patrick was proficient in several languages, many being ancient and forgotten languages. It was apparently a tradition to at least that much to ensure the knowledge is not lost. <br> <br>Patrick went to the wall still checking for any traps and read it for a bit before saying, “I have good news and bad news.” <br> <br>Figures. This place always has bad news for me. <br> <br>“What's the good news?” I asked hoping for this to be the last floor. <br> <br>“This is the last floor.” Yes! The time when I'm back with clean flesh air is coming sooner. <br> <br>“The bad news is that the traps are worse than the previous floors....its a warning.” <br> <br>What? There are traps worse than the previous floors? Wait did the guy who designed this place not remember the very cruel trap he placed in the third floor? That one pretty much ensured most people would die there. <br> <br>“So are we still going?” I asked. <br> <br>I don't want to see the worse traps in this place. It seems Patrick had the same opinion. <br> <br>He was very hesitant to say “Yes. We have to go forward. Else we wasted a lot of time trying to find this place and actually exploring it.” <br> <br>I have to agree with that but most people would stop now. <br> <br>“Well lets go.” I started walking from the small hallway connecting the stairs to the first room of the floor. I felt a pressure plate move under my foot, pushed by the weight of my body. <br> <br>Oh..shit. In a split second reaction I said and casted, “Mana Shield.” <br> <br>A log appeared from the darkness and hit my mana shield. Unfortunately while the shield could block physical and magical attacks it did not prevent the force of the attacks going through. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 214 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>That was quite a bit for the impact of the log but it wasn't over yet. My body was pushed in the air and into the wall. The log crushed by mana shield with me. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 2413 damage. Shield has been broken</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Damn it hurts! I vomited out some blood out of my mouth when the impact went through my body. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You lost 3386 mana</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Impact caused you to internally bleed. Critical Wound. If not treated you will die. <br>You will loss 5 mana per second due to the bleeding.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Man if it wasn't for the fact that my mana shield absorbed most of the damage before breaking, that would've been an instant kill. <br> <br>“Eden!” Patrick started to run over to me with some bandages. <br> <br>Shit. We don't even know if there's anymore traps in the room. <br> <br>I shouted, “Don't! Wait for me to light the place up first. Light ball.” <br> <br>From my awkward position of having by body crushed by a log then slipping on the wall I casted some light balls which soon moved around the room to give some light. I increased the intensity of the light and it was well lit. When this happened Patrick looked around and ran to me, hopping over what seemed to be pressure plates for people who walked into the room without a light like me. <br> <br>“Endure it for a bit.” <br> <br>Patrick started to rapidly wrap my body in bandages. After a minute and several rolls of bandages a message appeared. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have regained 315 mana. Bleeding has stopped.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have regained 642 mana.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Well I couldn't get back to full mana but that can be done with some mediation. <br> <br>“Is your health back to normal?” asked Patrick. <br> <br>I still didn't tell him that I didn't have any health anymore. It might lead him to believe that I was more durable than he originally thought. Well its nice to continue a lie for so long. <br> <br>I replied, “Yeah.” <br> <br>I tried to get up but there was a sudden and sharp pain in my stomach. <br> <br>“Don't move so quickly. By bandages can't heal those kinds of wounds quickly. You'll need some proper treatment by a priest later and some rest.” <br> <br>“True but we're in a tomb right now. I don't think I can get some medical attention.” <br> <br>“In that case let me apply some herbs on you.” <br> <br>Patrick opened his backpack and pulled out some herbs and a bowl. He placed some of the herbs in the bowl. He grinded it quickly into powder. Then he splat in it. <br> <br>“Why did you spit in it?” I asked a bit concerned about the hygienic application of doing such a thing. <br> <br>“We can't waste water here and don't wine mister I'm going to go first without a plan or light.” <br> <br>“Damn yo-ouch! Be careful. Injured man here. Its strange how you know all of this.” <br> <br>Patrick pulled my shirt up and started rubbing the mixture onto my body. When it touched my skin, the pain started to go away to some extent. <br> <br>“I believe its more strange how your a man not a woman with your looks. Anyway, I'm done.” <br> <br>Patrick stopped rubbing and slapped me there. <br> <br>“Ouch! Stop that!” I complained. <br> <br>Patrick placed all of his stuff in his backpack again while I was trying to get up without some pain coming from inside of me. When I finally managed to Patrick offered his shoulder but I refused. The light balls were still around so I guided some of them to the next hallway making sure I check where each one went. <br> <br>“Anyway lets go. You lead now.” <br> <br>“....you got hit on purpose didn't you.” retorted Patrick. <br> <br>“Why would I get hit intentionally?” <br> <br>Seriously didn't you see all the blood I coughed up because of it. Why would I, out of all people want to be caught in a trap after everything we experienced before. <br> <br>“The traps will get worse....” Yes that is true. But still, I'm in no condition to lead the way right now. <br> <br>“If I get hit by another trap like that...I'll probably die.” <br> <br>With that Patrick lead the way. Thankfully the second room of god knows how many rooms did not have any traps in it. We searched around and found some stuff that we could sell or donate to some noble later. It seems Patrick didn't actually care about anything in the tomb of his ancestor. There were a couple pieces of old pots amongst other things but nothing much of value. <br> <br>73 rooms later..... <br> <br>“Well we almost finished this 75 room floor.....” I said sighing at the fact that there so many damn rooms to clear. <br> <br>“Not to mention the countless traps that came out of nowhere.” sighed Patrick. <br> <br>I don't blame him. He had to endure all of those traps with the help of my mana shield. I was kinda glad that I was injured near the beginning. Well I did have to take over leading us when Patrick fell and almost drowned.....but he recovered. <br> <br>Eventually we decided that it was best to make some 'dolls' that had looked kinda human in terms of shape and weight. It helped a lot after the room 15 where we were certain there were instant kill traps. It done with Earth and Wind magic. It costed only a bit of my massive 5000 mana. Well they triggered most of the traps before hand so we a mostly trap free run except for a couple of them...like the times the traps activate for a second time which was very bad for me who was leading. <br> <br>“Okay lets finish room 74 quickly now.” I said that but I was exhausted already. I moved my light balls around again....oh found the exit. <br> <br>“This way...” I pointed to the exit and started walking sluggishly there. <br> <br>I walked through the hallway and found that the next room was really small. Was there some sort of trap here? I checked and found there was none that activated at least right now. I saw there was the same unknown language like the start of the floor ad a couple other rooms. <br> <br>“Patrick. There's more ancient writing stuff.” <br> <br>“Right.” <br> <br>Patrick ran over and quickly translated it for me. <br> <br>“Rest now for there a foe beyond the doors. Let your courage take over your fears. For you will die either way.” <br> <br>That's a nice message to the people who survived bloody 74 rooms. Perhaps we should rest. Unless this was a trap itself.....I wonder what Patrick thinks of this. I looked over to him and he already dropped his bags and started sleeping. That was fast! Man he really can relax well in these situations. <br> <br>“Hey don't go to sleep just yet. There still may be traps around.” <br> <br>“Don't care...zzzzzzz” <br> <br>Damn you. Its not my fault if you die later on. Well might as well get some sleep before we finish this place off. I sat down next to the wall and shut my eyes trying to get some sleep. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 2 – The forgotten One</span> <br> <br>An unknown amount of time later.... <br> <br>“Hey get up.” <br> <br>What? I'm trying to sleep here. Someone was shaking my body. You think that's enough to wake me up? Think again. Then I felt a pain in my stomach...ouch! I opened my eyes rubbing my stomach. <br> <br>“Patrick?” <br> <br>“Yes its me! Now get up!” he commanded. <br> <br>Man your really aggressive in waking people up. Anyway I got up and found him fully set for the next room. Even though he's not the one fighting whatevers on the other side he was very happy to go to the final room of this place and let me do all the fighting. I started stretching to loosen up my muscles because I was definitely going to have to run. <br> <br>“Are you done yet?” asked Patrick still very happy for the next room. <br> <br>Well I'm not. I don't want to face the thing or things that are on the other side of that door. <br> <br>After a bit I said, “Yeah.” and we both pushed the pretty heavy door open. <br> <br>The first thing I noticed was that the room was lit up. When I said lit up, I mean barely, enough for us to see with the touches on the walls. The room was in the same style of the rest of the tomb. Very old and ancient looking. It was around 20 by 20 metres big which was pretty large for a room. But there's suppose to be something to kill here. <br> <br>“MMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” <br> <br>Was that a cow.....no it can't be. From the shadows of the other side of the room there was a Minotaur. Weren't Minotaurs suppose to be in labyrinths like the ones we passed earlier? <br> <br>Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg <br> <br>I heard the sound of stone being slid. The door behind us was closed and before it fully closed I saw that damn Patrick on the other side making me the one stuck with this thing. <br> <br>“Good Luck...” muttered Patrick once more trying to avoid eye contact. <br> <br>Angry I went to the closed door and started pounding it screaming, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN GOOD LUCK! YOU'RE NOT THE ONE FACING THAT COW!” <br> <br>Boom Boom <br> <br>Damn it looks like my anger has to be subsided for a while. At least before this things kills me. <br> <br>“Mana Shield Mana Shield Mana Shield” <br> <br>I casted a triple layer of shields around me. The Minotaur would probably rip it apart easily but its better than nothing. If I recall Minotaurs were around level 300 which was very bad for me a mere level 41. And that thing has a weapon as well....I'm so screwed. I don't even know if that thing has a weakness I can use. Man that message on the wall was right. Either way I'm dead. <br> <br>[….................chains..................................] <br> <br>And there's that voice again. Give me some helpful advice! First I should try to stop it moving. I imagined a field made of ice. <br> <br>“Ice Field.” <br> <br>The ground started to glow a certain blue white colour. The walls and ceiling was also turned this colour. <br> <br>“MMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” <br> <br>The Minotaur did its battle-cry and started charging at me with its giant hammer. Now how do I not get hit my that? I started running to the right of the room. I have to blind it. <br> <br>“Light ball.” <br> <br>Around a dozen or so light balls appeared and moved straight to the Minotaur. When it reached its eyes I said, “Explode.” They exploded simultaneously and gave off a bright light even to me who was over 15 metres away. <br> <br>“MOOOOOOOOO MOOOOOOOOOO” <br> <br>The Minotaur stopped in its tracks. Damn I wanted it to charge straight into the wall...or the door with Patrick behind it. 4634 Mana left. The burning snake seal got undone. Good now I can fight at full strength. I imagined ice encasing the Minotaur. <br> <br>“Ice Prison.” <br> <br>A massive 500 mana was taken from me to vast that spell. From my ice field under it, ice started to climb onto the blind Minotaur. Its skin started to turn into the colour of my ice. When it covered its legs, it still didn't notice the ice. Looks like I can finish this more easily than I thought. As the ice climbed its body, the lower part also became thicker as well. But my hopes were killed off. <br>“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” <br> <br>The Minotaur used its hammer and smashed the ground. The sheer shockwave of the hit unbalanced me. I looked in its direction and found that the impact removed the ice field near it and completely destroyed by ice prison spell. &nbsp;Man what the hell do I do? <br> <br>[…...................................................chains.........................................] <br> <br>What the hell do you mean chains? You know that I can't make chains big enough with the amount of mana I have and my skill proficiency in creation magic. Damn useless voice. Trapping it for long is impossible then. I should try to inflict direct damage to it then. <br> <br>“Earth Spike times 3” <br> <br>I realised this but sometimes I don't even need to think when I'm using a spell. Looks like Warlic's lessons are working well for me. Three earth spikes came from the ground and did not pierce...wait it didn't work? Shit! Then I'll use Lightning. <br> <br>“Lightning Bolt.” <br> <br>A lightning bolt came from my fingertips and stuck the Minotaur. It had no effects at all. <br> <br>“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” <br> <br>And it looks like I made it made. It smacked its hammer around a bit and started to move towards be. Wait I'm at a corner. I have to run and fast. And so I started running one the right hand side of the wall. The Minotaur was getting ever so close now and swung its hammer at me. I did a barrel roll and managed to survive unlike the wall next to me....a small crater was formed on the wall. But the wall did not shatter. Man the place was build durable...so why was there a Minotaur stuck down here? And how come my lightning doesn't work on the recent giant creatures I've faced. <br> <br>“Wind Gust.” <br> <br>In front of me a gust of wind picked up and pushed against the Minotaur. And it did not effect it at all. Now what am I going to-OH SHIT! The Minotaur was suddenly next to me and swung its hammer down on me. I quickly rolled out of the way. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 4912 damage. Shield has been destroyed.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 2345 damage. Shield has been destroyed.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 1234 damage. Shield has been destroyed.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have lost 641 mana from the impact.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Three mana shields in one go and it didn't even hit me! I got up and started to run again. <br> <br>“Mana Shield Mana Shield Mana Shield” <br> <br>Great I only have 3946 mana left even though I was absorbing this thing's mana as well when I'm close to it. Which I don't want to be. Well I didn't want to use fire magic since we were deep underground but hey its still better than being crushed to death under that hammer of his. It wasn't even 2 minutes since the fight began and I already am prepared to give up and die. <br> <br>“Fire Field.” <br> <br>The ground turned into a scorching red colour instead of the blue-white colour. Flames started to come out under the Minotaur and it caught on fire. <br> <br>“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” <br> <br>Yes Yes you can scream. Now to spam fire balls at it. <br> <br>“Fire ball times 8” <br> <br>8 fireballs were formed from the small amount of oxygen left in this room. This is why I didn't want to use fire magic in this place. I could die due to lack of oxygen! I sent the 8 of them straight to the Minotaur whom took it like a champ and was still mostly unaffected by it though it did spread the fire on it even more which does damage it quite a bit judging by its screams of pain. I wonder if I can make it drop it's hammer. <br> <br>“Lightning Bolt.” <br> <br>I sent a lightning bolt to the hand that was holding the hammer and it was charging at me again.....shit! A flaming Minotaur is charging at me! At least the meat would be cooked when it died. I casted another spell as it was chasing me. <br> <br>“Earth spike.” <br> <br>This was the same tactic I used against that overgrown Kobold thing. And funny enough it made a very very small wound on it. Fuck. Its skin is harder than most things and probably steel as well. Man its getting hard to breath here. I have to put out the fire or I'm the one going to faint first. <br> <br>“Flood.” <br> <br>Some water formed which wasn't much since there probably wasn't a good water source nearby and splashed over the fire I created. Wait if I create enough water from my creation magic then....then I'll run out of mana before I can do anything. <br> <br>[….........................use..................chains..............................] <br> <br>Why do I have to use chain?! Tell me voice. Why? <br> <br>[…..........................weakness................................................] <br> <br>Ah it responded. So it could really hear me eh. Well I can't do shit with my other magic so I have to trust this voice.......should I make thick ones? But the length will be too short. Too thin and the Minotaur will easily break out and I'll waste mana. <br> <br>[…..............................supply.............................] <br> <br>Supply? What supply? WOW! My mana is rapidly filling up! Did you do this voice? Thank you! <br> <br>“Creation Magic” I shouted out the words since I was excited. <br> <br>But I was still running away from the Minotaur. From my hands chains were being created and I was making more of it as I left it on the ground for the Minotaur to step on. When the Minotaur was mid way from the start of the chain and me I started to run around it in a semi-circle fashion. I need to make a spike to hold it down. <br> <br>“Creation Magic: Iron Chains.” <br> <br>A spike of some sort or rather a nail to my opinion was created in my other hand. I slammed in the end of the chain and used my speed to reach the other end and slam the nail through one of the holes of the chain. <br> <br>“Creation Magic: Iron Chains.” <br> <br>Another chain was made and I was about to repeat this but the Minotaur was about to break free. <br> <br>“Ice field. Ice Prison.” <br> <br>I used two other spells at the same time in an attempt to distract the Minotaur enough for me to surround him in chains. The ice climbed up its body. If it didn't break the ice then it would seal it but if it did not break the chains then the chains would seal it. Either way it was getting sealed and then tortured to death by me later on. <br> <br>Break <br> <br>Shit it was using brute force to get free. <br> <br>[…......................................Darkness.................................................................] <br> <br>Darkness? Are you telling me to use dark magic. Sure why not, you are supplying me with mana. Now I actually haven't used dark magic before. I imagined the Minotaur was being comsumed by darkness. <br> <br>“Dark Prison.” <br> <br>5000 mana was taken away and quickly refilled as the space around the Minotaur was darkening. The Minotaur was swinging its arms around trying to get free of the darkness. However it was futile as it was swinging into nothingness. The darkness that was covering it was not coming off and it was covering more and more of its body with time. This was a lot more powerful and more useful than the ice prison. Now while its distracted with the dark prison, I should run around and chain it up. <br> <br>10 minutes later... <br> <br>Well the Minotaur was covered completely in chains now and I dispelled my dark prison as the voice stopped supplying me with mana and it took a lot of mana to maintain. I also noticed there were two doors. <br> <br>One I came from and other to somewhere else. I don't seem to remember which one is which. I lost track in my battle with the Minotaur. Do I have to kill this thing? Oh and my mana stopped refilling so quickly after the Minotaur was completely trapped as well. It seems the voice only helped me that far. <br> <br>“Now what to do with you? Your covered in metal chains so Lightning Bolt!” <br> <br>A lightning bolt came from my body and hit the chained Minotaur. <br> <br>“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” <br> <br>The Minotaur started to cry out in pain. Yes! I want you to feel pain! Take another one. <br> <br>“Lightning Bolt.” <br> <br>Another lightning bolt came out of my body and hit the Minotaur. <br> <br>5 hours later.... <br> <br>You have killed the guardian of the tomb! <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have levelled up x 43 <br>You have gained 540 Fame <br>All stats increase by 3</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>After this message appeared both doors opened up. From one of them a worried Patrick came. He had a worry look until he saw my face with was very happy and he looked at the fried Minotaur on the ground chained up. <br> <br>“Eden you....” stuttered Patrick. <br> <br>I looked at Patrick with a smile of malice and said, “Its your turn now.” <br> <br>Patrick took off immediately. <br> <br>“Earth Wave.” <br> <br>The ground under Patrick moved and caused him to trip over. I walked up to the very frightened Patrick and said in a very calm voice, “I'm joking, lets go.” <br> <br>“What about the loot?” Patrick asked. <br> <br>“Already got it. Some coins and scrap metal.” <br> <br>With that, the loot issue was solved not that there was a problem in the first place right Minotaur? <br> <br>Anyway we walked through the other door, the one Patrick didn't come from and entered a short hallway and into a small room that was 5 by 5 metres big. In the back was a large stone with writing on it and in front of it was a tomb. <br> <br>Was it Tellap's or what? To the left and right were some pieces of loot which I will take later and there was no treasure you son of a bitch! Patrick walked up to the stone at the back and read it before saying, “Tomb in memory of the forgotten 15th one...the unknown explorer Alice Stargazer...what is this?” <br> <br>Wait there was a 15th person in that story you took me? <br> <br>“What's going on Patrick, the story you told me clearly had 14 companions not 15.” <br> <br>“Shut it! I'm reading.” <br> <br>After a bit of Patrick reading and me trying not to take all of the loots, Patrick started writing something down. He soon gave it to me to read. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">The forgotten One <br> <br>Alice Stargazer, close friend to the famous explorer Tellap and his wife travelled along side him and the other 13 companions during the age of betrayal. Staying in the shadows due to politic issues with the Kings and nobles at the time, Alice's record was wiped clean of all the discoveries she had made. These discoveries were later placed on other people whom were all nobles. Alice lead the party even as some of them died in the way to the place known as the forest of death. She too rejected the power that the Reish offered her but did not side with the humans or Reish. <br> <br>During the battles between the two races, Alice tried to make peace between them. The Reish respected her for that and would stop the war but the humans did not want to even though they were losing. With the power of the Gods that protect them, the Reish were pushed back. The humans were given a way to slay the Reish permanently by the Gods. Fearing this Alice offered a solution as the Reish would lose the war and be wiped out at this rate. The solution was to the 3 betrayed ones; Tellap, Vincent and Morphesis whom both agreed to it. However the other 7, the betrayers did not. They wished for the power of the Reish and wanted to use it to rule over all creation. As such the Reish cooperated in helping the group seal them after the war even though it was said that they were sealed and the war ended. This is a lie created by the group to prevent the humans from attacking the Reish. The seal exist to protect the Reish from the malice and greed of the humans. By this act the Reish gave her some of their race's powers while keeping her human form. <br> <br>Alice was assassinated by one minion of the nobles trying to take power after the Kings were slain as they feared her. Sadden by the loss, two of the companions became Kings while the other watched in the shadows to track down every person involved in her assassination. With time the culprit was found and killed. Alice was buried in her hometown but when gravediggers appeared it was moved here to safe guard her body and the secrets they process. <br> <br>Those who defile the body or steal anything will be crushed as the tomb would self destruct if done so.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Ah....so it was the right choice not to touch anything. Anyway how do we get out? Don't tell me we have to walk back through the 6 floors again?! Patrick pulled something. It looked like a lever. From behind the stone writing was a doorway. It had stairs in it. <br> <br>“Are you done reading yet? Lets get out of here.” <br> <br>As we were walking up the stairs I asked, “So are you going to report the story?” <br> <br>“Yeah.” <br> <br>“Don't you think it was a bit short?” <br> <br>“No. I wrote down a summary of the full thing. The full writing will be at least 100 or so pages. I'll write the full one later when I have the time and enough ink and paper to do so. It was really hard to read it since the writing was so small.” <br> <br>“....” <br> <br>Several flights of stairs later.... <br> <br>“FREEDOM” I shouted out in the air. The clean air! The open spaces! Most importantly NO MORE TRAPS! <br> <br>“Yes Yes. Now calm down Eden.” sighed Patrick. Why weren't you happy about this? <br> <br>“Anyway we have to split up now since I have to get back to town.” <br> <br>“Why don't I come with you?” I asked. I really want to get back to a town. <br> <br>“No no. I frankly don't know where the town is. If you come with me, you'll get lost with me. I can't impose on you any more than that.” That makes sense. <br> <br>I waved goodbye to Patrick and looked at the mana detector once more to find that the creature I was searching for was only 10 kilometres away. <br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Continue Misfortune?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1302" target="_blank">Previous</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161" target="_blank">Exit</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1315" target="_blank">Next</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br> <br>Author's Notes: <br>- Word Count is 5144 <br>- Who thought I would kill off a character? How dare someone think that. <br>- Yeah I'm not writing 73 rooms worth of events. Think about it. Each room has traps. MC and co. avoid traps. Continue to next room. Rinse and repeat and add in traps that activate. <br>- The identify trap skill would be so helpful in this chapter but..... </div>

Part 1 – Treasure and more... 3 days later.... Its been 3 days since we went into this hell hole. I can't even count the number of times we triggered some trap or another. The first one was fine. I casted a Mana shield on each of us before hand and it blocked off the fire from the ground just fine. The next one was arrows coming out of the walls. A bit of wind magic and it was fine. But it just got worse. In one case I triggered a wire trap on accident and it shot out fire in a straight line in the small hallway maze type floor. The fire was fine. But it triggered a second trap which shot out arrows from the walls next to us. Then a gush of wind pushed us back to a crossway where a boulder almost crushed us. Naturally we dodged it but then the boulder triggered the final and most annoying trap I have yet to see. A pitfall. Yes the entire floor opened up for us to drop down into poisonous spikes as Patrick inspected them after we barely survived. Then I had to use Earth magic to make a walkway for the rest of the place because the entire floor opened. At one point I considered to break down all of the walls but Patrick advised me that they could be trapped as well. Well 3 days later and 5 floors fully explored I'm sick of the place now. “You think we're near the final bit of this place?” “Maybe. Its been five floors already.” answered Patrick trying to get my hopes up. Well I did kinda destroyed an entire floor before...it wasn't my fault! I was pissed off and I had to blow off some steam one way or another so I kinda made a dust explosion that almost killed us while laughing like a madman. “Well I hope so.” I let my head drop from my exhaustion. I finished scouting the area for traps with my light balls. I think my magic control skill increased in a level due to the massive and constant use of the light balls. It was getting easier to make and control more and more of them with time. Obviously my concentration stat got increased as well during this trip. And my level...well there weren't any monsters so there was no change in that. Anyway I found the stairs to the next floor. Hopefully this is the final floor. “Stairs that way.” I pointed to where by light balls were. As always I walked first being the one who faced the most danger in this place anyway. The moment we reached the sixth floor there were some writing one the walls. It was a nice change but it was in a language I didn't know. “Patrick, there's some writing on that wall. Can you translate?” During one of our conversations I found out that Patrick was proficient in several languages, many being ancient and forgotten languages. It was apparently a tradition to at least that much to ensure the knowledge is not lost. Patrick went to the wall still checking for any traps and read it for a bit before saying, “I have good news and bad news.” Figures. This place always has bad news for me. “What's the good news?” I asked hoping for this to be the last floor. “This is the last floor.” Yes! The time when I'm back with clean flesh air is coming sooner. “The bad news is that the traps are worse than the previous floors....its a warning.” What? There are traps worse than the previous floors? Wait did the guy who designed this place not remember the very cruel trap he placed in the third floor? That one pretty much ensured most people would die there. “So are we still going?” I asked. I don't want to see the worse traps in this place. It seems Patrick had the same opinion. He was very hesitant to say “Yes. We have to go forward. Else we wasted a lot of time trying to find this place and actually exploring it.” I have to agree with that but most people would stop now. “Well lets go.” I started walking from the small hallway connecting the stairs to the first room of the floor. I felt a pressure plate move under my foot, pushed by the weight of my body. Oh..shit. In a split second reaction I said and casted, “Mana Shield.” A log appeared from the darkness and hit my mana shield. Unfortunately while the shield could block physical and magical attacks it did not prevent the force of the attacks going through. | Mana Shield took 214 damage | | --- | That was quite a bit for the impact of the log but it wasn't over yet. My body was pushed in the air and into the wall. The log crushed by mana shield with me. | Mana Shield took 2413 damage. Shield has been broken | | --- | Damn it hurts! I vomited out some blood out of my mouth when the impact went through my body. | You lost 3386 mana | | --- | | Impact caused you to internally bleed. Critical Wound. If not treated you will die. You will loss 5 mana per second due to the bleeding. | | --- | Man if it wasn't for the fact that my mana shield absorbed most of the damage before breaking, that would've been an instant kill. “Eden!” Patrick started to run over to me with some bandages. Shit. We don't even know if there's anymore traps in the room. I shouted, “Don't! Wait for me to light the place up first. Light ball.” From my awkward position of having by body crushed by a log then slipping on the wall I casted some light balls which soon moved around the room to give some light. I increased the intensity of the light and it was well lit. When this happened Patrick looked around and ran to me, hopping over what seemed to be pressure plates for people who walked into the room without a light like me. “Endure it for a bit.” Patrick started to rapidly wrap my body in bandages. After a minute and several rolls of bandages a message appeared. | You have regained 315 mana. Bleeding has stopped. | | --- | | You have regained 642 mana. | | --- | Well I couldn't get back to full mana but that can be done with some mediation. “Is your health back to normal?” asked Patrick. I still didn't tell him that I didn't have any health anymore. It might lead him to believe that I was more durable than he originally thought. Well its nice to continue a lie for so long. I replied, “Yeah.” I tried to get up but there was a sudden and sharp pain in my stomach. “Don't move so quickly. By bandages can't heal those kinds of wounds quickly. You'll need some proper treatment by a priest later and some rest.” “True but we're in a tomb right now. I don't think I can get some medical attention.” “In that case let me apply some herbs on you.” Patrick opened his backpack and pulled out some herbs and a bowl. He placed some of the herbs in the bowl. He grinded it quickly into powder. Then he splat in it. “Why did you spit in it?” I asked a bit concerned about the hygienic application of doing such a thing. “We can't waste water here and don't wine mister I'm going to go first without a plan or light.” “Damn yo-ouch! Be careful. Injured man here. Its strange how you know all of this.” Patrick pulled my shirt up and started rubbing the mixture onto my body. When it touched my skin, the pain started to go away to some extent. “I believe its more strange how your a man not a woman with your looks. Anyway, I'm done.” Patrick stopped rubbing and slapped me there. “Ouch! Stop that!” I complained. Patrick placed all of his stuff in his backpack again while I was trying to get up without some pain coming from inside of me. When I finally managed to Patrick offered his shoulder but I refused. The light balls were still around so I guided some of them to the next hallway making sure I check where each one went. “Anyway lets go. You lead now.” “....you got hit on purpose didn't you.” retorted Patrick. “Why would I get hit intentionally?” Seriously didn't you see all the blood I coughed up because of it. Why would I, out of all people want to be caught in a trap after everything we experienced before. “The traps will get worse....” Yes that is true. But still, I'm in no condition to lead the way right now. “If I get hit by another trap like that...I'll probably die.” With that Patrick lead the way. Thankfully the second room of god knows how many rooms did not have any traps in it. We searched around and found some stuff that we could sell or donate to some noble later. It seems Patrick didn't actually care about anything in the tomb of his ancestor. There were a couple pieces of old pots amongst other things but nothing much of value. 73 rooms later..... “Well we almost finished this 75 room floor.....” I said sighing at the fact that there so many damn rooms to clear. “Not to mention the countless traps that came out of nowhere.” sighed Patrick. I don't blame him. He had to endure all of those traps with the help of my mana shield. I was kinda glad that I was injured near the beginning. Well I did have to take over leading us when Patrick fell and almost drowned.....but he recovered. Eventually we decided that it was best to make some 'dolls' that had looked kinda human in terms of shape and weight. It helped a lot after the room 15 where we were certain there were instant kill traps. It done with Earth and Wind magic. It costed only a bit of my massive 5000 mana. Well they triggered most of the traps before hand so we a mostly trap free run except for a couple of them...like the times the traps activate for a second time which was very bad for me who was leading. “Okay lets finish room 74 quickly now.” I said that but I was exhausted already. I moved my light balls around again....oh found the exit. “This way...” I pointed to the exit and started walking sluggishly there. I walked through the hallway and found that the next room was really small. Was there some sort of trap here? I checked and found there was none that activated at least right now. I saw there was the same unknown language like the start of the floor ad a couple other rooms. “Patrick. There's more ancient writing stuff.” “Right.” Patrick ran over and quickly translated it for me. “Rest now for there a foe beyond the doors. Let your courage take over your fears. For you will die either way.” That's a nice message to the people who survived bloody 74 rooms. Perhaps we should rest. Unless this was a trap itself.....I wonder what Patrick thinks of this. I looked over to him and he already dropped his bags and started sleeping. That was fast! Man he really can relax well in these situations. “Hey don't go to sleep just yet. There still may be traps around.” “Don't care...zzzzzzz” Damn you. Its not my fault if you die later on. Well might as well get some sleep before we finish this place off. I sat down next to the wall and shut my eyes trying to get some sleep. Part 2 – The forgotten One An unknown amount of time later.... “Hey get up.” What? I'm trying to sleep here. Someone was shaking my body. You think that's enough to wake me up? Think again. Then I felt a pain in my stomach...ouch! I opened my eyes rubbing my stomach. “Patrick?” “Yes its me! Now get up!” he commanded. Man your really aggressive in waking people up. Anyway I got up and found him fully set for the next room. Even though he's not the one fighting whatevers on the other side he was very happy to go to the final room of this place and let me do all the fighting. I started stretching to loosen up my muscles because I was definitely going to have to run. “Are you done yet?” asked Patrick still very happy for the next room. Well I'm not. I don't want to face the thing or things that are on the other side of that door. After a bit I said, “Yeah.” and we both pushed the pretty heavy door open. The first thing I noticed was that the room was lit up. When I said lit up, I mean barely, enough for us to see with the touches on the walls. The room was in the same style of the rest of the tomb. Very old and ancient looking. It was around 20 by 20 metres big which was pretty large for a room. But there's suppose to be something to kill here. “MMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” Was that a cow.....no it can't be. From the shadows of the other side of the room there was a Minotaur. Weren't Minotaurs suppose to be in labyrinths like the ones we passed earlier? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg I heard the sound of stone being slid. The door behind us was closed and before it fully closed I saw that damn Patrick on the other side making me the one stuck with this thing. “Good Luck...” muttered Patrick once more trying to avoid eye contact. Angry I went to the closed door and started pounding it screaming, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN GOOD LUCK! YOU'RE NOT THE ONE FACING THAT COW!” Boom Boom Damn it looks like my anger has to be subsided for a while. At least before this things kills me. “Mana Shield Mana Shield Mana Shield” I casted a triple layer of shields around me. The Minotaur would probably rip it apart easily but its better than nothing. If I recall Minotaurs were around level 300 which was very bad for me a mere level 41. And that thing has a weapon as well....I'm so screwed. I don't even know if that thing has a weakness I can use. Man that message on the wall was right. Either way I'm dead. [….................chains..................................] And there's that voice again. Give me some helpful advice! First I should try to stop it moving. I imagined a field made of ice. “Ice Field.” The ground started to glow a certain blue white colour. The walls and ceiling was also turned this colour. “MMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” The Minotaur did its battle-cry and started charging at me with its giant hammer. Now how do I not get hit my that? I started running to the right of the room. I have to blind it. “Light ball.” Around a dozen or so light balls appeared and moved straight to the Minotaur. When it reached its eyes I said, “Explode.” They exploded simultaneously and gave off a bright light even to me who was over 15 metres away. “MOOOOOOOOO MOOOOOOOOOO” The Minotaur stopped in its tracks. Damn I wanted it to charge straight into the wall...or the door with Patrick behind it. 4634 Mana left. The burning snake seal got undone. Good now I can fight at full strength. I imagined ice encasing the Minotaur. “Ice Prison.” A massive 500 mana was taken from me to vast that spell. From my ice field under it, ice started to climb onto the blind Minotaur. Its skin started to turn into the colour of my ice. When it covered its legs, it still didn't notice the ice. Looks like I can finish this more easily than I thought. As the ice climbed its body, the lower part also became thicker as well. But my hopes were killed off. “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” The Minotaur used its hammer and smashed the ground. The sheer shockwave of the hit unbalanced me. I looked in its direction and found that the impact removed the ice field near it and completely destroyed by ice prison spell.  Man what the hell do I do? […...................................................chains.........................................] What the hell do you mean chains? You know that I can't make chains big enough with the amount of mana I have and my skill proficiency in creation magic. Damn useless voice. Trapping it for long is impossible then. I should try to inflict direct damage to it then. “Earth Spike times 3” I realised this but sometimes I don't even need to think when I'm using a spell. Looks like Warlic's lessons are working well for me. Three earth spikes came from the ground and did not pierce...wait it didn't work? Shit! Then I'll use Lightning. “Lightning Bolt.” A lightning bolt came from my fingertips and stuck the Minotaur. It had no effects at all. “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” And it looks like I made it made. It smacked its hammer around a bit and started to move towards be. Wait I'm at a corner. I have to run and fast. And so I started running one the right hand side of the wall. The Minotaur was getting ever so close now and swung its hammer at me. I did a barrel roll and managed to survive unlike the wall next to me....a small crater was formed on the wall. But the wall did not shatter. Man the place was build durable...so why was there a Minotaur stuck down here? And how come my lightning doesn't work on the recent giant creatures I've faced. “Wind Gust.” In front of me a gust of wind picked up and pushed against the Minotaur. And it did not effect it at all. Now what am I going to-OH SHIT! The Minotaur was suddenly next to me and swung its hammer down on me. I quickly rolled out of the way. | Mana Shield took 4912 damage. Shield has been destroyed. | | --- | | Mana Shield took 2345 damage. Shield has been destroyed. | | --- | | Mana Shield took 1234 damage. Shield has been destroyed. | | --- | | You have lost 641 mana from the impact. | | --- | Three mana shields in one go and it didn't even hit me! I got up and started to run again. “Mana Shield Mana Shield Mana Shield” Great I only have 3946 mana left even though I was absorbing this thing's mana as well when I'm close to it. Which I don't want to be. Well I didn't want to use fire magic since we were deep underground but hey its still better than being crushed to death under that hammer of his. It wasn't even 2 minutes since the fight began and I already am prepared to give up and die. “Fire Field.” The ground turned into a scorching red colour instead of the blue-white colour. Flames started to come out under the Minotaur and it caught on fire. “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” Yes Yes you can scream. Now to spam fire balls at it. “Fire ball times 8” 8 fireballs were formed from the small amount of oxygen left in this room. This is why I didn't want to use fire magic in this place. I could die due to lack of oxygen! I sent the 8 of them straight to the Minotaur whom took it like a champ and was still mostly unaffected by it though it did spread the fire on it even more which does damage it quite a bit judging by its screams of pain. I wonder if I can make it drop it's hammer. “Lightning Bolt.” I sent a lightning bolt to the hand that was holding the hammer and it was charging at me again.....shit! A flaming Minotaur is charging at me! At least the meat would be cooked when it died. I casted another spell as it was chasing me. “Earth spike.” This was the same tactic I used against that overgrown Kobold thing. And funny enough it made a very very small wound on it. Fuck. Its skin is harder than most things and probably steel as well. Man its getting hard to breath here. I have to put out the fire or I'm the one going to faint first. “Flood.” Some water formed which wasn't much since there probably wasn't a good water source nearby and splashed over the fire I created. Wait if I create enough water from my creation magic then....then I'll run out of mana before I can do anything. [….........................use..................chains..............................] Why do I have to use chain?! Tell me voice. Why? […..........................weakness................................................] Ah it responded. So it could really hear me eh. Well I can't do shit with my other magic so I have to trust this voice.......should I make thick ones? But the length will be too short. Too thin and the Minotaur will easily break out and I'll waste mana. […..............................supply.............................] Supply? What supply? WOW! My mana is rapidly filling up! Did you do this voice? Thank you! “Creation Magic” I shouted out the words since I was excited. But I was still running away from the Minotaur. From my hands chains were being created and I was making more of it as I left it on the ground for the Minotaur to step on. When the Minotaur was mid way from the start of the chain and me I started to run around it in a semi-circle fashion. I need to make a spike to hold it down. “Creation Magic: Iron Chains.” A spike of some sort or rather a nail to my opinion was created in my other hand. I slammed in the end of the chain and used my speed to reach the other end and slam the nail through one of the holes of the chain. “Creation Magic: Iron Chains.” Another chain was made and I was about to repeat this but the Minotaur was about to break free. “Ice field. Ice Prison.” I used two other spells at the same time in an attempt to distract the Minotaur enough for me to surround him in chains. The ice climbed up its body. If it didn't break the ice then it would seal it but if it did not break the chains then the chains would seal it. Either way it was getting sealed and then tortured to death by me later on. Break Shit it was using brute force to get free. […......................................Darkness.................................................................] Darkness? Are you telling me to use dark magic. Sure why not, you are supplying me with mana. Now I actually haven't used dark magic before. I imagined the Minotaur was being comsumed by darkness. “Dark Prison.” 5000 mana was taken away and quickly refilled as the space around the Minotaur was darkening. The Minotaur was swinging its arms around trying to get free of the darkness. However it was futile as it was swinging into nothingness. The darkness that was covering it was not coming off and it was covering more and more of its body with time. This was a lot more powerful and more useful than the ice prison. Now while its distracted with the dark prison, I should run around and chain it up. 10 minutes later... Well the Minotaur was covered completely in chains now and I dispelled my dark prison as the voice stopped supplying me with mana and it took a lot of mana to maintain. I also noticed there were two doors. One I came from and other to somewhere else. I don't seem to remember which one is which. I lost track in my battle with the Minotaur. Do I have to kill this thing? Oh and my mana stopped refilling so quickly after the Minotaur was completely trapped as well. It seems the voice only helped me that far. “Now what to do with you? Your covered in metal chains so Lightning Bolt!” A lightning bolt came from my body and hit the chained Minotaur. “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” The Minotaur started to cry out in pain. Yes! I want you to feel pain! Take another one. “Lightning Bolt.” Another lightning bolt came out of my body and hit the Minotaur. 5 hours later.... You have killed the guardian of the tomb! | You have levelled up x 43 You have gained 540 Fame All stats increase by 3 | | --- | After this message appeared both doors opened up. From one of them a worried Patrick came. He had a worry look until he saw my face with was very happy and he looked at the fried Minotaur on the ground chained up. “Eden you....” stuttered Patrick. I looked at Patrick with a smile of malice and said, “Its your turn now.” Patrick took off immediately. “Earth Wave.” The ground under Patrick moved and caused him to trip over. I walked up to the very frightened Patrick and said in a very calm voice, “I'm joking, lets go.” “What about the loot?” Patrick asked. “Already got it. Some coins and scrap metal.” With that, the loot issue was solved not that there was a problem in the first place right Minotaur? Anyway we walked through the other door, the one Patrick didn't come from and entered a short hallway and into a small room that was 5 by 5 metres big. In the back was a large stone with writing on it and in front of it was a tomb. Was it Tellap's or what? To the left and right were some pieces of loot which I will take later and there was no treasure you son of a bitch! Patrick walked up to the stone at the back and read it before saying, “Tomb in memory of the forgotten 15th one...the unknown explorer Alice Stargazer...what is this?” Wait there was a 15th person in that story you took me? “What's going on Patrick, the story you told me clearly had 14 companions not 15.” “Shut it! I'm reading.” After a bit of Patrick reading and me trying not to take all of the loots, Patrick started writing something down. He soon gave it to me to read. | The forgotten One Alice Stargazer, close friend to the famous explorer Tellap and his wife travelled along side him and the other 13 companions during the age of betrayal. Staying in the shadows due to politic issues with the Kings and nobles at the time, Alice's record was wiped clean of all the discoveries she had made. These discoveries were later placed on other people whom were all nobles. Alice lead the party even as some of them died in the way to the place known as the forest of death. She too rejected the power that the Reish offered her but did not side with the humans or Reish. During the battles between the two races, Alice tried to make peace between them. The Reish respected her for that and would stop the war but the humans did not want to even though they were losing. With the power of the Gods that protect them, the Reish were pushed back. The humans were given a way to slay the Reish permanently by the Gods. Fearing this Alice offered a solution as the Reish would lose the war and be wiped out at this rate. The solution was to the 3 betrayed ones; Tellap, Vincent and Morphesis whom both agreed to it. However the other 7, the betrayers did not. They wished for the power of the Reish and wanted to use it to rule over all creation. As such the Reish cooperated in helping the group seal them after the war even though it was said that they were sealed and the war ended. This is a lie created by the group to prevent the humans from attacking the Reish. The seal exist to protect the Reish from the malice and greed of the humans. By this act the Reish gave her some of their race's powers while keeping her human form. Alice was assassinated by one minion of the nobles trying to take power after the Kings were slain as they feared her. Sadden by the loss, two of the companions became Kings while the other watched in the shadows to track down every person involved in her assassination. With time the culprit was found and killed. Alice was buried in her hometown but when gravediggers appeared it was moved here to safe guard her body and the secrets they process. Those who defile the body or steal anything will be crushed as the tomb would self destruct if done so. | | --- | Ah....so it was the right choice not to touch anything. Anyway how do we get out? Don't tell me we have to walk back through the 6 floors again?! Patrick pulled something. It looked like a lever. From behind the stone writing was a doorway. It had stairs in it. “Are you done reading yet? Lets get out of here.” As we were walking up the stairs I asked, “So are you going to report the story?” “Yeah.” “Don't you think it was a bit short?” “No. I wrote down a summary of the full thing. The full writing will be at least 100 or so pages. I'll write the full one later when I have the time and enough ink and paper to do so. It was really hard to read it since the writing was so small.” “....” Several flights of stairs later.... “FREEDOM” I shouted out in the air. The clean air! The open spaces! Most importantly NO MORE TRAPS! “Yes Yes. Now calm down Eden.” sighed Patrick. Why weren't you happy about this? “Anyway we have to split up now since I have to get back to town.” “Why don't I come with you?” I asked. I really want to get back to a town. “No no. I frankly don't know where the town is. If you come with me, you'll get lost with me. I can't impose on you any more than that.” That makes sense. I waved goodbye to Patrick and looked at the mana detector once more to find that the creature I was searching for was only 10 kilometres away. | Continue Misfortune? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Previous](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1302) | [Exit](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161) | | [Next](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1315) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes: - Word Count is 5144 - Who thought I would kill off a character? How dare someone think that. - Yeah I'm not writing 73 rooms worth of events. Think about it. Each room has traps. MC and co. avoid traps. Continue to next room. Rinse and repeat and add in traps that activate. - The identify trap skill would be so helpful in this chapter but.....

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> “What you aren’t logging on to school today? Again!” Lee Jun’s mom wore a worried expression on her face. It was the fourth month running that her son refused to log into a VR system. “You promised me you would go to school this week! Did something happen?”<br><br>“Nothing happened Mom!” Lee Jun, sighed as he pushed his mom’s hands away from his forehead. She was checking his temperature. He really didn’t understand why was it bothering his mother so much. If the world didn’t have a problem with him not logging onto VR then why should his mom? “As long as I am submitting my homework and assignments, its ok!” he said as he hurriedly tried to get away from the breakfast table.<br><br>“Something happened!” His mom snapped in between. He always had the same retort no matter what she asked. It was one the difficulties she had to bear with for raising such a child. He was most skillful with analyzing an argument and finding weaknesses in them. Though that did not mean he was proficient at debating, he lacked clearly lacked the charisma and diplomatic common sense of ensnaring his opponent in battle of wits. <br><br>It was true that his teachers were to a degree concerned that he failed to turn up for class but since Lee Jun always posted in his homework his academics wasn’t really suffering. Given the society they lived in, as long as Lee Jun didn’t suffer academically the school didn’t regard it as a problem. However, his mom thought otherwise. She had been from a generation where students would go to school rather than attend VR classes. She like many her age had apprehensions of a VR classroom however when the government mandated a phase-wise switch over to VR classrooms, everyone just had to accept the changes. <br><br>She had been taking it easy so far and letting Lee Jun go through his emotional struggles by himself. However, the struggle had been going on for far too long!<br><br>“NOTHING HAPPENED!” Lee Jun shouted back. It was frustrating for him to be surrounded by people who didn’t understand him. Then again, he never did explain to his mother what happened. Nor did he ever explain his side of the argument step by step. By simply being frustrated and losing his cool, he only earned his mother’s wrath.<br><br>*SMACK*<br><br>Lee Jun held his left cheek with his hand. That was a first. <br><br>His mom’s hands were trembling as she pulled her hand back. For a moment she hesitated but then mustered her courage and repeated her question. “Don’t raise your voice with me. I am asking one more time, what happened?”<br><br>Lee Jun’s cheek was glowing red and his face went hot. He had never seen this side of his mom before. It didn’t matter whether he was a genius or not, a scolding from an angry parent can make any child cry. Tears began rolling down Lee Jun’s cheeks. <br><br>“Talk to me.” She implored him. His mom kneeled down and hugged him. It was difficult on her too. “If you don’t say anything how am I ever going to understand you.” His mom too had tears in her eyes.<br><br>He hugged her back tightly and wailed out, “I am afraid of diving.”<br><br>He finally said it after keeping quiet about it for half a year. He was too afraid to dive into virtual reality. Initially, it was just about diving back into a game. But as time passed by he found it difficult to dive into VR altogether. It was an irrational fear that no matter how well he analysed he had no answer to it. <br><br>Unlike the past where people would order large capsules, with dramatic improvements in technology (like Nerve Gear), a simple head gear with cybernetics sensors to read and manipulate brainwaves would be more than sufficient to enter into the VR world.<br><br>The very feeling of his consciousness falling momentarily would resonate with some fear that deepily resided within him. It would cause his heart rate to spike and the VR gear would automatically eject him back into reality. This was done so as part of a health and safety standard in VR consoles. <br><br>Once in the VR game, this feature would only be activated depending upon the VR environment and the level of exhilaration permitted by the user. This even applied to the circumstances when Shadow made his debut, some of the players who were too scared, triggered the safety measure and were logged out automatically from the VR world. <br><br>However it is most important for users to maintain a clam and steady heartbeat during the dive into VR as it would serve as the initial base benchmark. Without being able to dive, entering the VR system was close to impossible. <br><br>Lee Jun tearfully explained his experiences to his mother. How he could initially dive but would soon become unstable and be logged out again. It was as if he became afraid of the VR world. Normally one would be unable to distinguish between VR and reality, however, those with keen senses would always know which is which even if they don’t understand what’s different. Unfortunately for Lee Jun, he had keen senses. Though he could not consciously distinguish between the two, he always knew subconsciously. Then again he had never been drugged and tested. Maybe the very fact that he knew he was diving created a distinction in his mind.<br>Lee Jun’s mom hugged him tightly. She had no idea his condition was so severe. She had a hunch that her son was avoiding VR but she had no clue that he had developed a phobia of diving itself. There do exist all sorts of people in the VR world. There are some who are too afraid of the falling sensation that a dive induces however rather than overcoming that fear it is usually more convenient to use an older generation VR gear. Given the vast technological improvements that take place between every generation of VR console it could at best be summarized that using older generations of VR consoles wasn’t as fulfilling as using the latest generation. The difference could better be emphasized using gaming consoles like PS4 and Sega.<br><br>It would have not been as bad if the problem was the one described above. From what Lee Jun described he was embedded with something far more psychologically deeper. It wasn’t just the dive but the VR world itself that his mind was rejecting. In today’s society where nearly every activity is VR based, the small non existential minority who are afraid or reject VR on the grounds of heresy are treated like outcasts. Lee Jun’s mother hugged her son and repeatedly whispered to him that everything would be alright but deep within she was very much worried. The only cure for such a phobia was therapy. She wanted her child to have the best possible life but therapy was going to significantly expensive. She just didn’t have a clue where she would get all that money from.<br><br>Tears kept rolling down Lee Jun’s cheek and along his mother’s neckline as he came to terms with his own unsettling phobia. The last six months had been suffocating for him and by now sharing his troubles with his mother, he felt like a deep burden had been lifted from his shoulders. His muscles relaxed and he founding himself exhausted. The constant mental battle of trying to handle his problem on his own had been wearing him out mentally. Whether it was psychological fatigue or something else, Lee Jun found himself drowsy with each passing moment. As he tightly held on to his mother as he struggled to stay awake….<br><br>Before he noticed, Lee Jun was fast asleep while hugging his mother. She picked him up and took him to his room. She gently tucked him away in bed and sat beside him. She stroked her son’s head. His long unkempt black hair and frown reminded her the first time she met him at the orphanage.<br><br><br><br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. So starting Vol 6, I wanted to focus a little more on the characters and the world the MC lives in.<br>2. To one of my readers, who said I dug a deep hole. Well The first step in getting out of a deep hole is to examine it. This is examining the hole, i didn't make it any more deeper.<br>3. Hopefully, some of you may have noticed the poetic changes to my writing. Let me know if its an improvement.<br>4. Small chapter, but I am no longer focusing on length. I am edging more towards story. Smaller chapters only means more chapters (or Vols).<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1270" target="_blank">Yes</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

“What you aren’t logging on to school today? Again!” Lee Jun’s mom wore a worried expression on her face. It was the fourth month running that her son refused to log into a VR system. “You promised me you would go to school this week! Did something happen?” “Nothing happened Mom!” Lee Jun, sighed as he pushed his mom’s hands away from his forehead. She was checking his temperature. He really didn’t understand why was it bothering his mother so much. If the world didn’t have a problem with him not logging onto VR then why should his mom? “As long as I am submitting my homework and assignments, its ok!” he said as he hurriedly tried to get away from the breakfast table. “Something happened!” His mom snapped in between. He always had the same retort no matter what she asked. It was one the difficulties she had to bear with for raising such a child. He was most skillful with analyzing an argument and finding weaknesses in them. Though that did not mean he was proficient at debating, he lacked clearly lacked the charisma and diplomatic common sense of ensnaring his opponent in battle of wits. It was true that his teachers were to a degree concerned that he failed to turn up for class but since Lee Jun always posted in his homework his academics wasn’t really suffering. Given the society they lived in, as long as Lee Jun didn’t suffer academically the school didn’t regard it as a problem. However, his mom thought otherwise. She had been from a generation where students would go to school rather than attend VR classes. She like many her age had apprehensions of a VR classroom however when the government mandated a phase-wise switch over to VR classrooms, everyone just had to accept the changes. She had been taking it easy so far and letting Lee Jun go through his emotional struggles by himself. However, the struggle had been going on for far too long! “NOTHING HAPPENED!” Lee Jun shouted back. It was frustrating for him to be surrounded by people who didn’t understand him. Then again, he never did explain to his mother what happened. Nor did he ever explain his side of the argument step by step. By simply being frustrated and losing his cool, he only earned his mother’s wrath. *SMACK* Lee Jun held his left cheek with his hand. That was a first. His mom’s hands were trembling as she pulled her hand back. For a moment she hesitated but then mustered her courage and repeated her question. “Don’t raise your voice with me. I am asking one more time, what happened?” Lee Jun’s cheek was glowing red and his face went hot. He had never seen this side of his mom before. It didn’t matter whether he was a genius or not, a scolding from an angry parent can make any child cry. Tears began rolling down Lee Jun’s cheeks. “Talk to me.” She implored him. His mom kneeled down and hugged him. It was difficult on her too. “If you don’t say anything how am I ever going to understand you.” His mom too had tears in her eyes. He hugged her back tightly and wailed out, “I am afraid of diving.” He finally said it after keeping quiet about it for half a year. He was too afraid to dive into virtual reality. Initially, it was just about diving back into a game. But as time passed by he found it difficult to dive into VR altogether. It was an irrational fear that no matter how well he analysed he had no answer to it. Unlike the past where people would order large capsules, with dramatic improvements in technology (like Nerve Gear), a simple head gear with cybernetics sensors to read and manipulate brainwaves would be more than sufficient to enter into the VR world. The very feeling of his consciousness falling momentarily would resonate with some fear that deepily resided within him. It would cause his heart rate to spike and the VR gear would automatically eject him back into reality. This was done so as part of a health and safety standard in VR consoles. Once in the VR game, this feature would only be activated depending upon the VR environment and the level of exhilaration permitted by the user. This even applied to the circumstances when Shadow made his debut, some of the players who were too scared, triggered the safety measure and were logged out automatically from the VR world. However it is most important for users to maintain a clam and steady heartbeat during the dive into VR as it would serve as the initial base benchmark. Without being able to dive, entering the VR system was close to impossible. Lee Jun tearfully explained his experiences to his mother. How he could initially dive but would soon become unstable and be logged out again. It was as if he became afraid of the VR world. Normally one would be unable to distinguish between VR and reality, however, those with keen senses would always know which is which even if they don’t understand what’s different. Unfortunately for Lee Jun, he had keen senses. Though he could not consciously distinguish between the two, he always knew subconsciously. Then again he had never been drugged and tested. Maybe the very fact that he knew he was diving created a distinction in his mind. Lee Jun’s mom hugged him tightly. She had no idea his condition was so severe. She had a hunch that her son was avoiding VR but she had no clue that he had developed a phobia of diving itself. There do exist all sorts of people in the VR world. There are some who are too afraid of the falling sensation that a dive induces however rather than overcoming that fear it is usually more convenient to use an older generation VR gear. Given the vast technological improvements that take place between every generation of VR console it could at best be summarized that using older generations of VR consoles wasn’t as fulfilling as using the latest generation. The difference could better be emphasized using gaming consoles like PS4 and Sega. It would have not been as bad if the problem was the one described above. From what Lee Jun described he was embedded with something far more psychologically deeper. It wasn’t just the dive but the VR world itself that his mind was rejecting. In today’s society where nearly every activity is VR based, the small non existential minority who are afraid or reject VR on the grounds of heresy are treated like outcasts. Lee Jun’s mother hugged her son and repeatedly whispered to him that everything would be alright but deep within she was very much worried. The only cure for such a phobia was therapy. She wanted her child to have the best possible life but therapy was going to significantly expensive. She just didn’t have a clue where she would get all that money from. Tears kept rolling down Lee Jun’s cheek and along his mother’s neckline as he came to terms with his own unsettling phobia. The last six months had been suffocating for him and by now sharing his troubles with his mother, he felt like a deep burden had been lifted from his shoulders. His muscles relaxed and he founding himself exhausted. The constant mental battle of trying to handle his problem on his own had been wearing him out mentally. Whether it was psychological fatigue or something else, Lee Jun found himself drowsy with each passing moment. As he tightly held on to his mother as he struggled to stay awake…. Before he noticed, Lee Jun was fast asleep while hugging his mother. She picked him up and took him to his room. She gently tucked him away in bed and sat beside him. She stroked her son’s head. His long unkempt black hair and frown reminded her the first time she met him at the orphanage. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. So starting Vol 6, I wanted to focus a little more on the characters and the world the MC lives in. 2. To one of my readers, who said I dug a deep hole. Well The first step in getting out of a deep hole is to examine it. This is examining the hole, i didn't make it any more deeper. 3. Hopefully, some of you may have noticed the poetic changes to my writing. Let me know if its an improvement. 4. Small chapter, but I am no longer focusing on length. I am edging more towards story. Smaller chapters only means more chapters (or Vols). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Yes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1270) | | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 1 – The trip begins</span> <br> <br>First of all I need to give you a quest <br> <br>Ding <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Collect the 7 mana fragments for Warlic <br> <br>Find the 7 mana fragments that has been scattered over the continent and retrieve them all. It is most likely that some creatures have already retrieved the mana fragments and are using it to power themselves. In such cases kill them and recover the mana fragments. <br> <br>Difficulty Rank: Unknown <br>Reward: Unknown <br> <br>You cannot deny this Quest</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have accepted the Quest</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Well there goes one of my quest slots. <br> <br>“Also you'll need this”. Warlic handed over a circular looking thing that looked like a compass but it wasn't pointing north and there are 7 arrows on it as well....don't tell me its... <br> <br>“Its a mana detector designed to detect a massive amount of mana in an area. I fitted it with the ability to locate the mana fragments to say 10 kilometres in diameter but any closer than that you have to find it manually. And by manually I mean try to find the biggest source of mana.” <br> <br>“Great...” <br> <br>“You really thought it would be so easy did you?” <br> <br>No I didn't. I thought it was going to be a huge pain in the ass to do. <br> <br>“Anyway you have two choices now. Start your journey from Tellap town or get thrown somewhere random nearby one of the mana fragments.” <br> <br>Both are pretty horrible in my opinion. <br> <br>“Now here are two buttons. The one on the right is the one that will take you back to town safely other one on the left is the more dangerous one. Pick.” <br> <br>Warlic waved his hand over two buttons which I didn't want to press. Man this guy really knows how to screw someone over..... <br> <br>The buttons located next to Warlic on his table which were the colour red. What a great colour to use. Either way I'm screw for the next couple of months but I still have some things to do before all of that. One is to punish Rag. Everything else comes second. As I reached for the right button thinking of all the possible ways I can torture Rag I heard a beep sound before I pressed the button in front of my hand. <br> <br>“Eh?” <br> <br>“Don't you think its more fun to take the fun path~” <br> <br>I looked to my left....and found Crysero pressing the button rapidly..... <br> <br>“Crysero...you son of a bi-” <br> <br>I was teleported before I could finish my sentence. Cursing him I fell down on my face for fourth time in a row. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have lost 10 mana</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Yes I get it! Falling on my face hurts. You don't have to rub it in game. Now where the hell am I? A forest? Well there's trees so I guess I'm in a forest or just surrounded by numerous trees that block my way next to a city. <br> <br>“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” <br> <br>The sound of a wolf? Ouch! &nbsp; <br> <br>I hit the thing that was sinking its teeth into me. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have lost 100 mana. <br>You are bleeding. You will lose 1 mana per second for the next 80 seconds.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>My right arm was bleeding from the bite of the wolf. <br> <br>“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” <br> <br>The wolf made some sort of cry. I don't know what's its doing but I have a really bad feeling about this. And I was right. Another 10 or so wolves appeared from the trees to attack me. <br> <br>“You got to be joking.....SCREW YOU GUYS!” <br> <br>Something clicked inside of me and the weird markings on my hand appeared instead of the snakes. It looks like the outer seal was undone. Wait, Warlic did say it would undo itself whenever I go into battle. So now I'm draining these guys' mana right? <br> <br>I checked my mana quickly and found that it was increasing rapidly from the remaining 4921 man I had left though I was still bleeding. <br> <br>“Mana Shield.” <br> <br>I transparent shell like thing appeared over me. This skill would be my life line so I should use it as often as I can. Now what are wolves weak against? Hmm...anything would do I think. First I should cut off their escape route. I imagined a wall of flames that covered the trees around the battlefield. <br> <br>“Fire Field.” <br> <br>My mana decreased by 40 and soon enough the trees that were behind the wolves and myself were caught on fire. The wolves seeing this were stunned a bit but still had a lot of morale due to their advantage in numbers. One of the wolves jumped at me intending to bite me as well but was stopped before it could even touch me. Well it was due to the mana shield. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana shield took 42 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Wait one attack and almost half of the health of the shield disappeared! Shit! If they all gang up on me at once then I'm screwed. I imagined small fireballs being shot out like a machine gun. I put up my hands in the direction of the wolves. <br> <br>“Chain Fireball.” <br> <br>Countless small fireballs were being fire out of my hands. Whenever the small fireball hit something it caught on fire. Although it was a very small fire if you stack it up then it would become bigger! On after the other, the wolves fell before my spell. <br> <br>BITE <br> <br>Mana Shield took 58 damage. Shield has been broken. <br> <br>Damn there was one behind me. I prepared the Earth spike spell in my head. <br> <br>“Earth Spike.” <br> <br>5 pillars came up to the ground and pierced the wolf that dared attack me. I didn't hold back. And I had a lot more mana now as well. A mere 100 mana was nothing. Hmm? Wait why do I have 3524 mana left? Was it because of the Chain fireball spell I used? <br> <br>“Damn I have to be careful. Those kinds of spells drain a lot out of me.” I said to myself, trying to make a mental note of what happened. How many wolves are left? 1..2..3..4..5.......9 of them left. That's more than I expected and it seems their morale disappeared as well. They might jump into the fire to save themselves as well. Time for lightning...not I should blind them first. <br> <br>I imagined 9 light balls in front of the wolves eyes and giving out a bright light when exploding. Each light ball took only 10 mana each which made it perfect for these kinds of things. <br> <br>“Light Ball” <br> <br>The 9 light balls were produced around my body. &nbsp; <br> <br>“Fly.” <br> <br>On my command the light balls flew to their targets easily. It seems my skills in magic control are paying off. I should practice more often. The wolves on the other hand should learn not to stay near things they don't understand. They didn't even move when the light balls got near them. <br> <br>“Explode.” <br> <br>The light ball produced a brilliant light. The wolves wined in pain as they were blinded. I walked up to one of them and said, “Now what should I do with you?” in a very threatening voice. I needed to vent out my stress from being near Crysero and I bet Warlic did too. <br> <br>I imagined lightning shocking the body of the wolf in front of me. Such a spell would take up 80 mana due to the characteristics of lightning being more powerful in terms of damage then the other elements. I saw a video of a lightning mage casting lightning storm on an army completely destroying it in a brilliant light show. <br> <br>“Lightning Shock.” <br> <br>The body of the wolf glowed from the lightning hitting it. In a couple of seconds its body turned black being cooked. That was kinda disappointing. I was expecting them to last a bit longer. The other 8 wolves were still a bit blinded but regain their sight enough to see what I did to their companion. They tried to escape. I didn't let them go. The image of the wolves being pierced from the bottom by a ice tower in an ice field was clear as day in my mind but I had to prepare two spells for that which was simple to the current me. <br> <br>“Ice field.” <br> <br>The ground turned into a blue white colour starting from under my feet. My mana was reduced by 50 mana and was still decreasing with the range of the ice field expanding. <br> <br>“Ice Tower times 8” <br> <br>The wolves that were slipping from the icy ground were met with a enormous tower coming out of nowhere. As their body were propelled into the air blood was dripping form their dead body down the ice tower dyeing it red. <br> <br>“This looks nice.” <br> <br>My inner sadist was coming out. <br> <br>I noticed after all the carnage that I was left with only 2346 mana even though I was draining mana form every life form in the 10 metre radius. I counted the number of wolves I killed and found out that there were 17 in total. My experience bar went up by 31%. So I had to do 3 more of this to level up once. Man this game really wants you to grind. But that's fine with me. As long as its interesting and I'm not bored, I'm fine with anything. To think that fighting was so fun. <br> <br>“I should go to the nearest town of I can. Then find out where I am.” I said. By saying things a loud I can remember them more easily. That's why I often speak to myself in times like this when I'm all alone. <br> <br>I pulled out the mana detector in my pocket. Speaking of which I should get some near gear. But that comes when I find town....well let's see where the nearest one is. Hmm.....around 70 Kilometres away from here. That's pretty far away but the other ones are more than 100 kilometres away. Apparently the maximum range of this thing is that though Warlic modified it to always give me the general direction of the mana fragments. <br> <br>“So its to the East right?” <br> <br>I looked around and found that the forest was still on fire. Its was my fault originally but I don't want any environmentalist to complain to me. Rain should stop this. Using my knowledge I mixed water and wind to make a cloud that would pour water down. <br> <br>“Rain Cloud.” <br> <br>50 mana was taken due to the spell. I personally named every spell I used. It was simply what they did and what they looked like but its easy to remember. Ah I forgot to get out before the rain started. Maybe if I blocked it with wind... <br> <br>“Wind Umbrella” <br> <br>Another 10 mana was taken from me for the spell. The rain that was falling on me suddenly moved away from me as if something was blocking the way. <br> <br>“Good now I can travel.” <br> <br>I started walking East where the first of the 7 mana fragments lied. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 2 – Kobold Farming</span> <br> <br>I am in a awkward situation right now. <br> <br>“Human Hurt! Human on me!” <br> <br>I'm sitting on a Kobold right now....how did this happen? I was heading east and found a couple of Kobolds wandering around for no apparent reason. So I killed them for the experience for my level and for my skills. It was a very boring fight. Using light balls to blind them at the start I quickly froze most of them since making a fire in a forest is a very bad idea. Well...one of them managed to dodge my ice spells so I stunned it using lightning and quickly sat on it to prevent it from running away. <br> <br>“You eat me? You eat me just like that thing?” <br> <br>Why would I eat you? Kobolds may be the taste for human flesh but don't even think that we humans want to eat your kind. Though I'm not exactly human even though I have the appearance of one besides the tattoos. <br> <br>“Need to get back to nest” <br> <br>The kobold under me was trying to pull its body under me. I have no pity for this freak of nature. Maybe I should slowly cook this one. Ah. My inner sadist appeared again. I should try to keep it in check. Don't want people to get a misunderstanding on my personality. Anyway there's a nest you say? And you need to get back there? Good. I have a need for experience right now. I got up from the Kobold. <br> <br>“Ahahahahahahaha. Human Stupid!” <br> <br>The Kobold got up and started running in a direction. Trying not to kill the little thing for insulting me. Now to quietly follow this thing without it noticing me. <br> <br>3 hours later..... <br> <br>Man this is really tempting me to slowly cook this thing. Are we there yet little thing? <br> <br>Another 3 hours later..... <br> <br>Ah I have to eat some food now. <br> <br>Another 5 minutes..... <br> <br>“I'm Home!” The kobold cried. It was finally out of danger from when I almost killed it along with its friends. Do Kobolds really have friends? I'm not sure about that part. They seem to abandon their peers pretty easily. &nbsp; <br> <br>Well its time to check where this nest is. I hope its some sort of dungeon as well. Being the first one to discover it will greatly benefit me. Double exp and loot is one of the dreams of players. Well I can't imagine what could happen forever. I got up from my hiding spot and looked at the place the Kobold went into. It was some sort of hole but it had the feel dungeon all over it. I looked at it for a moment and screamed YES in my head. <br> <br>Taking no time to spare I jumped into the hole. <br> <br>“Mana Shield.” <br> <br>Now I'm almost fully prepared for anything. <br> <br>Ding <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You are the first to discover the Kobold's retreat <br> <br>Every day for one week, double EXP and double item drops. The rarest items will drop from killing the first monster of each type. Subsequent kills will drop common items. <br> <br>+100 Fame</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Good it was a dungeon. I'll be so angry if it wasn't one. <br> <br>“Human Here. Human HERE!!!” <br> <br>What the hell is screaming. Oh a Kobold. Well it is a dungeon I found by following one so I should expect more Kobolds. Well lets start this party. Since we're underground fire is a bad idea. Earth magic might collapse the dungeons if I'm not careful so I should avoid that as well. <br> <br>Hit <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 32 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Oh it started attacking already. Let a guy think about how he's going to kill you will ya. Maybe I should limit myself to wind and lightning this time. I imagined a sharp blade made of wind around my right hand. <br> <br>“Wind blade.” <br> <br>A violent wind surrounded my right hand as I intended. But it was a bit small. Did the seal not go undone? Well I have to deal with it for a while then. I moved in quickly using my boosted stats from the basic training and slashed the Kobold. Blood spurted out of its body but it still didn't die in one hit. So the seal reduces by power that much eh. I quickly slashed it several more times killing it. <br> <br>My experience increased by 1%. Yay killing 60 or so more will level me up. But killing them is a problem if I am handicapped. Now I think of it I didn't use the creation magic skill I have yet. I wonder how it works. I popped up the description of the skill again and read through it. So and so happens....uses imagination in concept. Good. I probably can't make high levelled weapons not that I can even use them so I should still with the basics. An iron sword will do. <br> <br>“Creation Magic: Iron Sword.” <br> <br>The iron sword was less then a metre cube so I would use less then 1000 mana. My mana decreased by 342 mana. A blob of light appeared in front of me and shaped itself to an iron sword. It even had the right colour and such. I grabbed the newly made sword and found that it was pretty light. Lets check its stats. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Iron Sword &nbsp; Durability:10/10 &nbsp; Attack: 2-5 <br> <br>Made from creation magic. Immature skills results in incomplete product. <br> <br>Will last for 10 minutes</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Wow this is pretty bad. But it can only get better right? And it can only last for 10 minutes. Man its weak in every aspect I see. Man it huts not to have the identify skill right now. Well now that I have a way not ot use magic in this place I should set a rule where I can't use spells on these guys. No that's stupid. Even if my magic is nerfed currently I shouldn't reduce my battle capabilities. <br> <br>“I should make another sword just in case. Creation magic: Iron Sword.” <br> <br>Another 342 mana was taken from me and another iron sword was produced. Now I had an iron sword per hand. But using both of them and breaking them at the same time would be bad. So I placed the second one on my waist strapped onto me. Oh I forgot to see if the Kobold dropped some loot. I walked to the corpse and searched it. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You obtained iron ore. You obtained rusted pick</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>I thought the drops would be the rarest. THIS is the rarest and most useful stuff these guys have. Man I am unlucky..... <br> <br>“Human!” <br> <br>“Kill Human!” <br> <br>Several more Kobolds appeared when I was pissed off at this game. Good...very good....I'm going to slaughter these guys. Without a moment to waste I slashed one of the Kobold's head off. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Critical Hit!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Iron Sword durability reduced by 2</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>It seems the sword I made not only was lacking in strength but also lacking in hardness. Only one hit and the sword was chipped. Unless my skills increase this is something I have to live with. The other Kobolds tried to hit me several times and my mana shield blocked it before breaking before its barriage. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana shield took 23 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana shield took 31 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana shield took 34 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana shield has been broken</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>“Mana Shield.” <br> <br>Another shield appeared around me again. I don't have any intentions to be hit directly by these fools. What if I combined swordsmanship and magic to be a spellsword. I imagined a flame covering the iron sword in my hand. <br> <br>“Flame Sword.” <br> <br>Flames covered my sword with its intense heat and drain my mana by 2 every second. A Kobold once more tried to hit me with its cruel low quality weapon. I blocked it with my sword instead of using the mana shield. While my flame sword didn't cut through the blade like butter as I hoped, it did burn the Kobold enough to stop its assault on me. I twisted my body around and swung horizontally trying to spread the flames onto the other Kobolds. <br> <br>“IT BURNS!” <br> <br>“HELP HUMAN USE FIRE!!!” <br> <br>“MAGIC MAGIC” <br> <br>The Kobolds cried in fear as I proceeded to kill them in a very cruel way. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Iron Sword has loss all durability. It has broken.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Ah so the flame sword spell I created reduced its durability as well. No wonder why it broke so easily. It wasn't exactly created in mind to withstand a lot of heat. I drew the second iron sword I created and proceeded to cut down the remaining Kobolds in front of me. They may be outnumbered me but they were weak especially to magic which made them perfect to be my toys. I imagined them being condensed to death by wind. <br> <br>“Wind Vortex.” <br> <br>The Kobolds were sucked into some ball made of wind. <br> <br>“Wind Crush.” <br> <br>150 mana was consumed and the Kobolds then proceeded to scream out loud as they were squeezed to death by wind. More and more experience came to me! My hands burnt again which the writing appearing instead of the snakes. Ah what a coincidence. Now I can go full force now. With my mana absorption I obtained a bit more mana as the surviving Kobolds not only had their life taken away but also their mana. <br> <br>“Yes...now to slaughter the rest of them.” <br> <br>I walked forward after looting the corpses again. I obtained a couple more pieces of iron ore and some more scrap iron. It seems I won't get anything of value but selling these things. No equipment gained, no gems or anything else with value. Great. Now to kill more of them. <br> <br>5 days later.... <br> <br>I levelled up 8 times and placed all of my points into intelligence which somewhat boosted my spells' power. Creation Magic skill levelled up once as well. So did elemental mastery. Well this was pretty good progress on my part. Now I'm in another awkward position here. I'm in a hole and I can't get out....not that I want to right now. <br> <br>The dungeon boss appeared and almost killed me. I'm currently regaining my mana via the absorption and mediation. Soon when I have my maximum 5000 mana back I'll attack it again. How did this happen? I have to recount the events. <br> <br>3 hours ago.... <br> <br>This is boring. There's nothing strong to kill even though I went through most of this dungeon already. It was pretty small compared to what I know a usual dungeon would be. Around half the size of an average one. It gave pretty bad experience as well. The amount of room to fight in was pretty small as well as were the enemies I faced. In the second and third say, Kobolds with armor on appeared. They were enjoyable at first since they could take a hit or two but soon when I levelled up from them, they were boring like all the other ones. And before anyone asks, I did sleep in this place. Also ate food while walking through this mess of a place. From what I can see there are lots of floors but the size of each of them are so small that it doesn't even take a hour to clear one out. <br> <br>“Human!” <br> <br>A Kobold screamed at my presence. I should really learn how to block sound off. It would make my life a lot more peaceful. Except that I can't tell if there's a thing trying to attack me from behind. I've been using ice moves more recently as well. I could use it as a foot hold and it blocked the Kobolds path without making a scene. <br> <br>“Earth Wave.” <br> <br>The spell I named the consisted of moving the Earth which meant I could make steps for me to walk on. It was very useful to get down or up a place that normally required me to climb. And if one or two Kobolds go on them I can just use another Earth based spell to kill them or shatter the stairs from under them to let them drop to their doom. And it only costed 10 mana per use. <br> <br>Now I'm on the final floor of this shitty dungeon I think. The double experience bluff was still there but I had no intentions of staying here longer than I have to. There should be a boss monster here.... <br> <br>Boom Boom Boom <br> <br>That sound...a large creature? <br> <br>Boom Boom Boom <br> <br>Its coming over there. Perhaps all hope was not lost after all. I crawled my way over to the source of the sounds to make sure I'm not detected. Well the thing was green...and big....and had a gient sword....and was looking at me. <br> <br>RRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR <br> <br>The dungeon vibrated from the roar. This is bad. And I'm rather calm about this. Time to get the height advantage. I ran up the ice stairs I made but the creature behind me was still chasing me just fine. Wait, were those large steps made for this thing? <br> <br>SWING <br> <br>BANG <br> <br>The giant green creature that somewhat resembled the Kobolds I've been killing swung its sword to me. I dodged naturally but the shockwave damaged the mana shield I was using. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana shield took 43 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Seriously?! Just by being near the swing. If I take a direct hit then I'm.... so dead. I can imagine it now. <br> <br>“How did you die.” <br> <br>“Got crushed under a giant sword swung by a giant green creature that I tried to escape.” <br> <br>No. Just no. That report will be horrible. Sprinting up the stairs I started to cast spells to at least stall this beast for a few seconds from stepping on me. I imagined the walls around the place becoming a wall to block its path. <br> <br>“Earth Wall.” <br> <br>As I passed by the, the wall closed behind me. I created 5 layers just in case which reduced my mana by 150 in one go but it was futile....it simply broke through them all. <br> <br>“What the hell. Why is such a strong monster in this place?” I shouted condemning whoever designed this this into the game. <br> <br>“Light balls.” <br> <br>Several light balls I created floated about behind me and moved closer to the beast's eyes. <br> <br>“Explode.” <br> <br>They exploded and hopefully it would let me escape as it was blinded. <br> <br>RRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR <br> <br>The thing started to swing randomly and often hit the wall, breaking it apart. Nope. That didn't work. Now I have a higher chance of dying now. Crap. Need to get out of here. But first I need to stun it. I imagined a bolt of lightning coming out of my hands. <br> <br>“Lightning Bolt” <br> <br>I single lightning bolt cam out of my hand and shot at the thing. It hit it and I could see the few remaining sparks coming out of its body. Good. Now I have a couple of seconds to hide. <br> <br>RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR <br> <br>Wait, what was that roar? Was there another one or did my lightning not affect this thing? I looked back and found the same thing chasing after me again. It wasn't even 3 seconds since it was stunned. What kind of beast is this? A kobold on drugs? As it sprinted towards me I once more saw how big it was. I was a good 1.7 metre tall but this thing was easily 3 metres tall and the place was built for this thing. It swung horizontally at me. Crap. Have to dodge. <br> <br>Swoooooooooooossssssssshhhhhh <br> <br>Bang <br> <br>I ducked down to dodge that swing but the wall next to me....um....exploded from the impact. Was this thing level 200 or something? Well I could get a lot of experience from killing it...but how. Maybe if I spam some spells. I imagined the thing being pushed back from wind. <br> <br>“Wind Gust.” <br> <br>15 mana was consumed and was still draining from my body as wind started to gather and made a wall which stopped the thing from going forward but it wasn't being pushed back.....wow. If I add lightning or fire. I imagined several lightning bolts coming out of my hands as well. <br> <br>“Lightning Bolt times 5” <br> <br>150 mana was taken and 5 lightning bolts shot out of my hands hitting the target but it still didn't get pushed back....now for fire. I imagined a giant fireball that would consume the thing in front of me. <br> <br>“Fire ball.” <br> <br>100 mana was consumed and a gigantic fireball just like I envisioned was created. The wind gust amplified the power of the fireball and it caught on fire. My wind wall push spell was still active so I took the chance to cast another 3 fireballs while I'm at it. This took me down to a mere 1653 mana. This was accumulated during the last couple of hours when I didn't rest to kill all kobolds in sight. Now did this thing die yet? <br> <br>RRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR <br> <br>Nope. Its still alive. Time to dig a hole. Imagined the wall behind me disappearing. <br> <br>“Earth Rip.” <br> <br>30 mana was consumed and the wall quickly turned into dirt as I moved closer to it. I was also losing mana rapidly as well. Maybe it was a mistake to kill off all the other Kobolds since I can't drain mana from them anymore. Well I need to mediate for a bit. I created a deep hole that prevented me form getting spotted and started mediating to regain mana. And that's how I got in my current situation. Since then I tried to regain as much mana as possible but the thing kept on spotting me after a while even though I was out of sight and each time I escaped while dealing a bit of damage to it. <br> <br>Back to the present..... <br> <br>Finally I got 5000 mana to play around with. Now what I could tell with some experimenting on it for the last couple of runs is that fire is effective enough. Lightning, earth and wind are useless against it. Ice might do something but it breaks free to easily and light and dark spells just make it mad. <br> <br>I quickly jumped out of the hole and started planning out what I should do.....if I trap it then....yeah that's what I'm going to do. <br> <br>5 minutes later.... <br> <br>Damnit! Its fast! The thing was still chasing me and was running at full speed. That's what I want it to do. I imagined two things. The floor under it being a bit higher than before and earth spikes coming out in front of it. <br> <br>“Earth Wave. Earth Spike.” <br> <br>30 mana in total was taken and the Earth in front of it raised a bit and Earth spikes were coming out towards it. Like how my plan worked, the thing tripped on the Earth and fell onto the Earth Spike that I created at that moment. Yes! Now to finish it off. I imgined ice spikes coming out of the ground.” <br> <br>“Ice Spikes time 6” <br> <br>Two spikes went through its stomach. The other four each went through one of its limbs. It was cruel but this thing was chasing me for 3 hours you know. Do you know how many times it almost killed me? This is payback. <br> <br>The thing was still unconscious which was very unfortunate. <br> <br>“Let's start cooking you.” <br> <br>I imagined the place under it being consumed by fire.” <br> <br>“Fire Field.” <br> <br>BBBBBOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM <br> <br>The creature in front of me was being cook alive. Ah the ice was melting. I have to replace them then. <br> <br>“Earth Spike times 4” <br> <br>Four Earth spikes pierced the limbs of the creature. This time it was awake. This time it could feel the pain. I was enjoying this. <br> <br>“Fire ball. Fireball.” <br> <br>I was spamming my fireballs now. Aiming at its head. This was fun. But I have to cook the limbs as well. I imagined four fire pillars appearing and covering the body of the creature pinned to the ground. <br> <br>“Fire Pillar times 4” <br> <br>Four fire pillars appeared each one from the ends of its limbs with the consumption of a total of 120 mana. They moved slowly to the middle of its body. The creature was screaming in pain right now. Really you're not enjoying this? Well let me finish you off painfully. When the fire pillars became one in the centre of its body I casted another spell which was lightning which was ineffective against this thing but it would torment it before it died. <br> <br>“Lightning Bolt. Lightning Bolt. Lightning Bolt.” <br> <br>After a while a message appeared ending my fun. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have cleared the Dungeon “Kobolds' Retreat” <br> <br>You have gained 100 Fame.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Oh there's nothing left for me to kill here?.....time to leave. <br> <br>[…...............m..........i..............] <br> <br>Hmm? What was that? Am I imagining things again? Well its time to collect the loot. <br> <br>I walked back down to the bottom floor and found a treasure chest. Yes! My luck wasn't the worse. I opened it and found several pieces of gold which was kinda disappointing but there were equipment for me to take. Some gloves and boots I say. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Glove of the Betrayed &nbsp;Durability: 12/20 <br> <br>Unknown</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Boots of the Fallen &nbsp;Durability: 15/25 <br> <br>Unknown</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Well at least I got the names of these things. When I get to town I have to get them identified as well. Feeling a little bit proud I walked out of the Dungeon and didn't even turn back to look at it one last time. <br> <br>“Now to head East or find a town to stay at.” &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Continue Misfortune?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1288" target="_blank">Previous</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161" target="_blank">Exit</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1302" target="_blank">Next</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br> <br>Author's Notes: <br>- Word Count 5452 <br>- Remember how I said he will face powerful foes? Yeah he'll meet another one in two chapters. Next chapter is setting that up plus some history. <br>- Do you really think he'll &nbsp;find &nbsp;town to stay? No? I agree <br>- The voice! I wonder what it is? <br>- On another note mana absorption isn't that bad in a party. Just make them stay out of range and MC is a mageish person so its all fine...until a monsters sneaks up on him and kills him from behind.... </div>

Part 1 – The trip begins First of all I need to give you a quest Ding | Collect the 7 mana fragments for Warlic Find the 7 mana fragments that has been scattered over the continent and retrieve them all. It is most likely that some creatures have already retrieved the mana fragments and are using it to power themselves. In such cases kill them and recover the mana fragments. Difficulty Rank: Unknown Reward: Unknown You cannot deny this Quest | | --- | | You have accepted the Quest | | --- | Well there goes one of my quest slots. “Also you'll need this”. Warlic handed over a circular looking thing that looked like a compass but it wasn't pointing north and there are 7 arrows on it as well....don't tell me its... “Its a mana detector designed to detect a massive amount of mana in an area. I fitted it with the ability to locate the mana fragments to say 10 kilometres in diameter but any closer than that you have to find it manually. And by manually I mean try to find the biggest source of mana.” “Great...” “You really thought it would be so easy did you?” No I didn't. I thought it was going to be a huge pain in the ass to do. “Anyway you have two choices now. Start your journey from Tellap town or get thrown somewhere random nearby one of the mana fragments.” Both are pretty horrible in my opinion. “Now here are two buttons. The one on the right is the one that will take you back to town safely other one on the left is the more dangerous one. Pick.” Warlic waved his hand over two buttons which I didn't want to press. Man this guy really knows how to screw someone over..... The buttons located next to Warlic on his table which were the colour red. What a great colour to use. Either way I'm screw for the next couple of months but I still have some things to do before all of that. One is to punish Rag. Everything else comes second. As I reached for the right button thinking of all the possible ways I can torture Rag I heard a beep sound before I pressed the button in front of my hand. “Eh?” “Don't you think its more fun to take the fun path~” I looked to my left....and found Crysero pressing the button rapidly..... “Crysero...you son of a bi-” I was teleported before I could finish my sentence. Cursing him I fell down on my face for fourth time in a row. | You have lost 10 mana | | --- | Yes I get it! Falling on my face hurts. You don't have to rub it in game. Now where the hell am I? A forest? Well there's trees so I guess I'm in a forest or just surrounded by numerous trees that block my way next to a city. “Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” The sound of a wolf? Ouch!   I hit the thing that was sinking its teeth into me. | You have lost 100 mana. You are bleeding. You will lose 1 mana per second for the next 80 seconds. | | --- | My right arm was bleeding from the bite of the wolf. “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” The wolf made some sort of cry. I don't know what's its doing but I have a really bad feeling about this. And I was right. Another 10 or so wolves appeared from the trees to attack me. “You got to be joking.....SCREW YOU GUYS!” Something clicked inside of me and the weird markings on my hand appeared instead of the snakes. It looks like the outer seal was undone. Wait, Warlic did say it would undo itself whenever I go into battle. So now I'm draining these guys' mana right? I checked my mana quickly and found that it was increasing rapidly from the remaining 4921 man I had left though I was still bleeding. “Mana Shield.” I transparent shell like thing appeared over me. This skill would be my life line so I should use it as often as I can. Now what are wolves weak against? Hmm...anything would do I think. First I should cut off their escape route. I imagined a wall of flames that covered the trees around the battlefield. “Fire Field.” My mana decreased by 40 and soon enough the trees that were behind the wolves and myself were caught on fire. The wolves seeing this were stunned a bit but still had a lot of morale due to their advantage in numbers. One of the wolves jumped at me intending to bite me as well but was stopped before it could even touch me. Well it was due to the mana shield. | Mana shield took 42 damage | | --- | Wait one attack and almost half of the health of the shield disappeared! Shit! If they all gang up on me at once then I'm screwed. I imagined small fireballs being shot out like a machine gun. I put up my hands in the direction of the wolves. “Chain Fireball.” Countless small fireballs were being fire out of my hands. Whenever the small fireball hit something it caught on fire. Although it was a very small fire if you stack it up then it would become bigger! On after the other, the wolves fell before my spell. BITE Mana Shield took 58 damage. Shield has been broken. Damn there was one behind me. I prepared the Earth spike spell in my head. “Earth Spike.” 5 pillars came up to the ground and pierced the wolf that dared attack me. I didn't hold back. And I had a lot more mana now as well. A mere 100 mana was nothing. Hmm? Wait why do I have 3524 mana left? Was it because of the Chain fireball spell I used? “Damn I have to be careful. Those kinds of spells drain a lot out of me.” I said to myself, trying to make a mental note of what happened. How many wolves are left? 1..2..3..4..5.......9 of them left. That's more than I expected and it seems their morale disappeared as well. They might jump into the fire to save themselves as well. Time for lightning...not I should blind them first. I imagined 9 light balls in front of the wolves eyes and giving out a bright light when exploding. Each light ball took only 10 mana each which made it perfect for these kinds of things. “Light Ball” The 9 light balls were produced around my body.   “Fly.” On my command the light balls flew to their targets easily. It seems my skills in magic control are paying off. I should practice more often. The wolves on the other hand should learn not to stay near things they don't understand. They didn't even move when the light balls got near them. “Explode.” The light ball produced a brilliant light. The wolves wined in pain as they were blinded. I walked up to one of them and said, “Now what should I do with you?” in a very threatening voice. I needed to vent out my stress from being near Crysero and I bet Warlic did too. I imagined lightning shocking the body of the wolf in front of me. Such a spell would take up 80 mana due to the characteristics of lightning being more powerful in terms of damage then the other elements. I saw a video of a lightning mage casting lightning storm on an army completely destroying it in a brilliant light show. “Lightning Shock.” The body of the wolf glowed from the lightning hitting it. In a couple of seconds its body turned black being cooked. That was kinda disappointing. I was expecting them to last a bit longer. The other 8 wolves were still a bit blinded but regain their sight enough to see what I did to their companion. They tried to escape. I didn't let them go. The image of the wolves being pierced from the bottom by a ice tower in an ice field was clear as day in my mind but I had to prepare two spells for that which was simple to the current me. “Ice field.” The ground turned into a blue white colour starting from under my feet. My mana was reduced by 50 mana and was still decreasing with the range of the ice field expanding. “Ice Tower times 8” The wolves that were slipping from the icy ground were met with a enormous tower coming out of nowhere. As their body were propelled into the air blood was dripping form their dead body down the ice tower dyeing it red. “This looks nice.” My inner sadist was coming out. I noticed after all the carnage that I was left with only 2346 mana even though I was draining mana form every life form in the 10 metre radius. I counted the number of wolves I killed and found out that there were 17 in total. My experience bar went up by 31%. So I had to do 3 more of this to level up once. Man this game really wants you to grind. But that's fine with me. As long as its interesting and I'm not bored, I'm fine with anything. To think that fighting was so fun. “I should go to the nearest town of I can. Then find out where I am.” I said. By saying things a loud I can remember them more easily. That's why I often speak to myself in times like this when I'm all alone. I pulled out the mana detector in my pocket. Speaking of which I should get some near gear. But that comes when I find town....well let's see where the nearest one is. Hmm.....around 70 Kilometres away from here. That's pretty far away but the other ones are more than 100 kilometres away. Apparently the maximum range of this thing is that though Warlic modified it to always give me the general direction of the mana fragments. “So its to the East right?” I looked around and found that the forest was still on fire. Its was my fault originally but I don't want any environmentalist to complain to me. Rain should stop this. Using my knowledge I mixed water and wind to make a cloud that would pour water down. “Rain Cloud.” 50 mana was taken due to the spell. I personally named every spell I used. It was simply what they did and what they looked like but its easy to remember. Ah I forgot to get out before the rain started. Maybe if I blocked it with wind... “Wind Umbrella” Another 10 mana was taken from me for the spell. The rain that was falling on me suddenly moved away from me as if something was blocking the way. “Good now I can travel.” I started walking East where the first of the 7 mana fragments lied. Part 2 – Kobold Farming I am in a awkward situation right now. “Human Hurt! Human on me!” I'm sitting on a Kobold right now....how did this happen? I was heading east and found a couple of Kobolds wandering around for no apparent reason. So I killed them for the experience for my level and for my skills. It was a very boring fight. Using light balls to blind them at the start I quickly froze most of them since making a fire in a forest is a very bad idea. Well...one of them managed to dodge my ice spells so I stunned it using lightning and quickly sat on it to prevent it from running away. “You eat me? You eat me just like that thing?” Why would I eat you? Kobolds may be the taste for human flesh but don't even think that we humans want to eat your kind. Though I'm not exactly human even though I have the appearance of one besides the tattoos. “Need to get back to nest” The kobold under me was trying to pull its body under me. I have no pity for this freak of nature. Maybe I should slowly cook this one. Ah. My inner sadist appeared again. I should try to keep it in check. Don't want people to get a misunderstanding on my personality. Anyway there's a nest you say? And you need to get back there? Good. I have a need for experience right now. I got up from the Kobold. “Ahahahahahahaha. Human Stupid!” The Kobold got up and started running in a direction. Trying not to kill the little thing for insulting me. Now to quietly follow this thing without it noticing me. 3 hours later..... Man this is really tempting me to slowly cook this thing. Are we there yet little thing? Another 3 hours later..... Ah I have to eat some food now. Another 5 minutes..... “I'm Home!” The kobold cried. It was finally out of danger from when I almost killed it along with its friends. Do Kobolds really have friends? I'm not sure about that part. They seem to abandon their peers pretty easily.   Well its time to check where this nest is. I hope its some sort of dungeon as well. Being the first one to discover it will greatly benefit me. Double exp and loot is one of the dreams of players. Well I can't imagine what could happen forever. I got up from my hiding spot and looked at the place the Kobold went into. It was some sort of hole but it had the feel dungeon all over it. I looked at it for a moment and screamed YES in my head. Taking no time to spare I jumped into the hole. “Mana Shield.” Now I'm almost fully prepared for anything. Ding | You are the first to discover the Kobold's retreat Every day for one week, double EXP and double item drops. The rarest items will drop from killing the first monster of each type. Subsequent kills will drop common items. +100 Fame | | --- | Good it was a dungeon. I'll be so angry if it wasn't one. “Human Here. Human HERE!!!” What the hell is screaming. Oh a Kobold. Well it is a dungeon I found by following one so I should expect more Kobolds. Well lets start this party. Since we're underground fire is a bad idea. Earth magic might collapse the dungeons if I'm not careful so I should avoid that as well. Hit | Mana Shield took 32 damage | | --- | Oh it started attacking already. Let a guy think about how he's going to kill you will ya. Maybe I should limit myself to wind and lightning this time. I imagined a sharp blade made of wind around my right hand. “Wind blade.” A violent wind surrounded my right hand as I intended. But it was a bit small. Did the seal not go undone? Well I have to deal with it for a while then. I moved in quickly using my boosted stats from the basic training and slashed the Kobold. Blood spurted out of its body but it still didn't die in one hit. So the seal reduces by power that much eh. I quickly slashed it several more times killing it. My experience increased by 1%. Yay killing 60 or so more will level me up. But killing them is a problem if I am handicapped. Now I think of it I didn't use the creation magic skill I have yet. I wonder how it works. I popped up the description of the skill again and read through it. So and so happens....uses imagination in concept. Good. I probably can't make high levelled weapons not that I can even use them so I should still with the basics. An iron sword will do. “Creation Magic: Iron Sword.” The iron sword was less then a metre cube so I would use less then 1000 mana. My mana decreased by 342 mana. A blob of light appeared in front of me and shaped itself to an iron sword. It even had the right colour and such. I grabbed the newly made sword and found that it was pretty light. Lets check its stats. | Iron Sword   Durability:10/10   Attack: 2-5 Made from creation magic. Immature skills results in incomplete product. Will last for 10 minutes | | --- | Wow this is pretty bad. But it can only get better right? And it can only last for 10 minutes. Man its weak in every aspect I see. Man it huts not to have the identify skill right now. Well now that I have a way not ot use magic in this place I should set a rule where I can't use spells on these guys. No that's stupid. Even if my magic is nerfed currently I shouldn't reduce my battle capabilities. “I should make another sword just in case. Creation magic: Iron Sword.” Another 342 mana was taken from me and another iron sword was produced. Now I had an iron sword per hand. But using both of them and breaking them at the same time would be bad. So I placed the second one on my waist strapped onto me. Oh I forgot to see if the Kobold dropped some loot. I walked to the corpse and searched it. | You obtained iron ore. You obtained rusted pick | | --- | I thought the drops would be the rarest. THIS is the rarest and most useful stuff these guys have. Man I am unlucky..... “Human!” “Kill Human!” Several more Kobolds appeared when I was pissed off at this game. Good...very good....I'm going to slaughter these guys. Without a moment to waste I slashed one of the Kobold's head off. | Critical Hit! | | --- | | Iron Sword durability reduced by 2 | | --- | It seems the sword I made not only was lacking in strength but also lacking in hardness. Only one hit and the sword was chipped. Unless my skills increase this is something I have to live with. The other Kobolds tried to hit me several times and my mana shield blocked it before breaking before its barriage. | Mana shield took 23 damage | | --- | | Mana shield took 31 damage | | --- | | Mana shield took 34 damage | | --- | | Mana shield has been broken | | --- | “Mana Shield.” Another shield appeared around me again. I don't have any intentions to be hit directly by these fools. What if I combined swordsmanship and magic to be a spellsword. I imagined a flame covering the iron sword in my hand. “Flame Sword.” Flames covered my sword with its intense heat and drain my mana by 2 every second. A Kobold once more tried to hit me with its cruel low quality weapon. I blocked it with my sword instead of using the mana shield. While my flame sword didn't cut through the blade like butter as I hoped, it did burn the Kobold enough to stop its assault on me. I twisted my body around and swung horizontally trying to spread the flames onto the other Kobolds. “IT BURNS!” “HELP HUMAN USE FIRE!!!” “MAGIC MAGIC” The Kobolds cried in fear as I proceeded to kill them in a very cruel way. | Iron Sword has loss all durability. It has broken. | | --- | Ah so the flame sword spell I created reduced its durability as well. No wonder why it broke so easily. It wasn't exactly created in mind to withstand a lot of heat. I drew the second iron sword I created and proceeded to cut down the remaining Kobolds in front of me. They may be outnumbered me but they were weak especially to magic which made them perfect to be my toys. I imagined them being condensed to death by wind. “Wind Vortex.” The Kobolds were sucked into some ball made of wind. “Wind Crush.” 150 mana was consumed and the Kobolds then proceeded to scream out loud as they were squeezed to death by wind. More and more experience came to me! My hands burnt again which the writing appearing instead of the snakes. Ah what a coincidence. Now I can go full force now. With my mana absorption I obtained a bit more mana as the surviving Kobolds not only had their life taken away but also their mana. “Yes...now to slaughter the rest of them.” I walked forward after looting the corpses again. I obtained a couple more pieces of iron ore and some more scrap iron. It seems I won't get anything of value but selling these things. No equipment gained, no gems or anything else with value. Great. Now to kill more of them. 5 days later.... I levelled up 8 times and placed all of my points into intelligence which somewhat boosted my spells' power. Creation Magic skill levelled up once as well. So did elemental mastery. Well this was pretty good progress on my part. Now I'm in another awkward position here. I'm in a hole and I can't get out....not that I want to right now. The dungeon boss appeared and almost killed me. I'm currently regaining my mana via the absorption and mediation. Soon when I have my maximum 5000 mana back I'll attack it again. How did this happen? I have to recount the events. 3 hours ago.... This is boring. There's nothing strong to kill even though I went through most of this dungeon already. It was pretty small compared to what I know a usual dungeon would be. Around half the size of an average one. It gave pretty bad experience as well. The amount of room to fight in was pretty small as well as were the enemies I faced. In the second and third say, Kobolds with armor on appeared. They were enjoyable at first since they could take a hit or two but soon when I levelled up from them, they were boring like all the other ones. And before anyone asks, I did sleep in this place. Also ate food while walking through this mess of a place. From what I can see there are lots of floors but the size of each of them are so small that it doesn't even take a hour to clear one out. “Human!” A Kobold screamed at my presence. I should really learn how to block sound off. It would make my life a lot more peaceful. Except that I can't tell if there's a thing trying to attack me from behind. I've been using ice moves more recently as well. I could use it as a foot hold and it blocked the Kobolds path without making a scene. “Earth Wave.” The spell I named the consisted of moving the Earth which meant I could make steps for me to walk on. It was very useful to get down or up a place that normally required me to climb. And if one or two Kobolds go on them I can just use another Earth based spell to kill them or shatter the stairs from under them to let them drop to their doom. And it only costed 10 mana per use. Now I'm on the final floor of this shitty dungeon I think. The double experience bluff was still there but I had no intentions of staying here longer than I have to. There should be a boss monster here.... Boom Boom Boom That sound...a large creature? Boom Boom Boom Its coming over there. Perhaps all hope was not lost after all. I crawled my way over to the source of the sounds to make sure I'm not detected. Well the thing was green...and big....and had a gient sword....and was looking at me. RRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR The dungeon vibrated from the roar. This is bad. And I'm rather calm about this. Time to get the height advantage. I ran up the ice stairs I made but the creature behind me was still chasing me just fine. Wait, were those large steps made for this thing? SWING BANG The giant green creature that somewhat resembled the Kobolds I've been killing swung its sword to me. I dodged naturally but the shockwave damaged the mana shield I was using. | Mana shield took 43 damage | | --- | Seriously?! Just by being near the swing. If I take a direct hit then I'm.... so dead. I can imagine it now. “How did you die.” “Got crushed under a giant sword swung by a giant green creature that I tried to escape.” No. Just no. That report will be horrible. Sprinting up the stairs I started to cast spells to at least stall this beast for a few seconds from stepping on me. I imagined the walls around the place becoming a wall to block its path. “Earth Wall.” As I passed by the, the wall closed behind me. I created 5 layers just in case which reduced my mana by 150 in one go but it was futile....it simply broke through them all. “What the hell. Why is such a strong monster in this place?” I shouted condemning whoever designed this this into the game. “Light balls.” Several light balls I created floated about behind me and moved closer to the beast's eyes. “Explode.” They exploded and hopefully it would let me escape as it was blinded. RRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR The thing started to swing randomly and often hit the wall, breaking it apart. Nope. That didn't work. Now I have a higher chance of dying now. Crap. Need to get out of here. But first I need to stun it. I imagined a bolt of lightning coming out of my hands. “Lightning Bolt” I single lightning bolt cam out of my hand and shot at the thing. It hit it and I could see the few remaining sparks coming out of its body. Good. Now I have a couple of seconds to hide. RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Wait, what was that roar? Was there another one or did my lightning not affect this thing? I looked back and found the same thing chasing after me again. It wasn't even 3 seconds since it was stunned. What kind of beast is this? A kobold on drugs? As it sprinted towards me I once more saw how big it was. I was a good 1.7 metre tall but this thing was easily 3 metres tall and the place was built for this thing. It swung horizontally at me. Crap. Have to dodge. Swoooooooooooossssssssshhhhhh Bang I ducked down to dodge that swing but the wall next to me....um....exploded from the impact. Was this thing level 200 or something? Well I could get a lot of experience from killing it...but how. Maybe if I spam some spells. I imagined the thing being pushed back from wind. “Wind Gust.” 15 mana was consumed and was still draining from my body as wind started to gather and made a wall which stopped the thing from going forward but it wasn't being pushed back.....wow. If I add lightning or fire. I imagined several lightning bolts coming out of my hands as well. “Lightning Bolt times 5” 150 mana was taken and 5 lightning bolts shot out of my hands hitting the target but it still didn't get pushed back....now for fire. I imagined a giant fireball that would consume the thing in front of me. “Fire ball.” 100 mana was consumed and a gigantic fireball just like I envisioned was created. The wind gust amplified the power of the fireball and it caught on fire. My wind wall push spell was still active so I took the chance to cast another 3 fireballs while I'm at it. This took me down to a mere 1653 mana. This was accumulated during the last couple of hours when I didn't rest to kill all kobolds in sight. Now did this thing die yet? RRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR Nope. Its still alive. Time to dig a hole. Imagined the wall behind me disappearing. “Earth Rip.” 30 mana was consumed and the wall quickly turned into dirt as I moved closer to it. I was also losing mana rapidly as well. Maybe it was a mistake to kill off all the other Kobolds since I can't drain mana from them anymore. Well I need to mediate for a bit. I created a deep hole that prevented me form getting spotted and started mediating to regain mana. And that's how I got in my current situation. Since then I tried to regain as much mana as possible but the thing kept on spotting me after a while even though I was out of sight and each time I escaped while dealing a bit of damage to it. Back to the present..... Finally I got 5000 mana to play around with. Now what I could tell with some experimenting on it for the last couple of runs is that fire is effective enough. Lightning, earth and wind are useless against it. Ice might do something but it breaks free to easily and light and dark spells just make it mad. I quickly jumped out of the hole and started planning out what I should do.....if I trap it then....yeah that's what I'm going to do. 5 minutes later.... Damnit! Its fast! The thing was still chasing me and was running at full speed. That's what I want it to do. I imagined two things. The floor under it being a bit higher than before and earth spikes coming out in front of it. “Earth Wave. Earth Spike.” 30 mana in total was taken and the Earth in front of it raised a bit and Earth spikes were coming out towards it. Like how my plan worked, the thing tripped on the Earth and fell onto the Earth Spike that I created at that moment. Yes! Now to finish it off. I imgined ice spikes coming out of the ground.” “Ice Spikes time 6” Two spikes went through its stomach. The other four each went through one of its limbs. It was cruel but this thing was chasing me for 3 hours you know. Do you know how many times it almost killed me? This is payback. The thing was still unconscious which was very unfortunate. “Let's start cooking you.” I imagined the place under it being consumed by fire.” “Fire Field.” BBBBBOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM The creature in front of me was being cook alive. Ah the ice was melting. I have to replace them then. “Earth Spike times 4” Four Earth spikes pierced the limbs of the creature. This time it was awake. This time it could feel the pain. I was enjoying this. “Fire ball. Fireball.” I was spamming my fireballs now. Aiming at its head. This was fun. But I have to cook the limbs as well. I imagined four fire pillars appearing and covering the body of the creature pinned to the ground. “Fire Pillar times 4” Four fire pillars appeared each one from the ends of its limbs with the consumption of a total of 120 mana. They moved slowly to the middle of its body. The creature was screaming in pain right now. Really you're not enjoying this? Well let me finish you off painfully. When the fire pillars became one in the centre of its body I casted another spell which was lightning which was ineffective against this thing but it would torment it before it died. “Lightning Bolt. Lightning Bolt. Lightning Bolt.” After a while a message appeared ending my fun. | You have cleared the Dungeon “Kobolds' Retreat” You have gained 100 Fame. | | --- | Oh there's nothing left for me to kill here?.....time to leave. […...............m..........i..............] Hmm? What was that? Am I imagining things again? Well its time to collect the loot. I walked back down to the bottom floor and found a treasure chest. Yes! My luck wasn't the worse. I opened it and found several pieces of gold which was kinda disappointing but there were equipment for me to take. Some gloves and boots I say. | Glove of the Betrayed  Durability: 12/20 Unknown | | --- | | Boots of the Fallen  Durability: 15/25 Unknown | | --- | Well at least I got the names of these things. When I get to town I have to get them identified as well. Feeling a little bit proud I walked out of the Dungeon and didn't even turn back to look at it one last time. “Now to head East or find a town to stay at.”     | Continue Misfortune? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Previous](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1288) | [Exit](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161) | | [Next](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1302) | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes: - Word Count 5452 - Remember how I said he will face powerful foes? Yeah he'll meet another one in two chapters. Next chapter is setting that up plus some history. - Do you really think he'll  find  town to stay? No? I agree - The voice! I wonder what it is? - On another note mana absorption isn't that bad in a party. Just make them stay out of range and MC is a mageish person so its all fine...until a monsters sneaks up on him and kills him from behind....

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> I figured I might as well start a section for general questions and comments that don't fit very well in any chapter. Feel free to ask whatever you want (within reason, you can't have Mortimer's credit card number). I'll try to answer most things, unless they involve spoilers :P. </div>

I figured I might as well start a section for general questions and comments that don't fit very well in any chapter. Feel free to ask whatever you want (within reason, you can't have Mortimer's credit card number). I'll try to answer most things, unless they involve spoilers :P.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Lee Jun's Stats and Skills:<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Physical Status Window</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Name</td><td width="25%">Weed</td><td width="25%">Class / Level</td><td width="25%">FF/020</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Active Profession</td><td colspan="3">Basic Elemental Blacksmith</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Number of Active Profession</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">Number of Inactive Professions</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">355</td><td width="25%">Mana Conversion/Sec</td><td width="25%">0.01</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health Regen/Sec</td><td width="25%">0</td><td width="25%">Stamina Regen/Sec</td><td width="25%">0.08</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">125</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">140</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">86</td><td width="25%">Intelligence</td><td width="25%">76</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Stamina</td><td width="25%">315</td><td width="25%">Defense</td><td width="25%">75</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Dexterity</td><td width="25%">285</td><td width="25%">Luck</td><td width="25%">205</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Creativity</td><td width="25%">285</td><td width="25%">Perseverance</td><td width="25%">285</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Charm</td><td width="25%">23</td><td width="25%"></td><td width="25%"></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Reputation</td><td width="25%">5</td><td width="25%">Fame / Infamy</td><td width="25%">337 / 150</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Unconditional Passive effects<br><br>+ Can learn secret skills based on player's level in Elemental Blacksmith Mastery<br>+ Can advance to previously restricted professions.<br>+ Gains increased Reputation by forging items of extraordinary value.<br>+ Can only learn new type of professions by choosing to forget Elemental Blacksmith.<br>+ Can read basic dwarvf script (Advance level) <br>+ Can equip certain items specialized for the profession.<br>+ Can learn all craft skills to the stage of a master.<br>+ Granted extra options to items that are produced or refined.<br>+ Increased Defensive Power for all dwarvish melee skills by 5%<br>+ Increased Attack Power for all elvish melee skills by 2%<br>+ Decreased Stamina consumption for Elemental Blacksmithing Skill<br>+ Monsters of level lower than you, will avoid you!<br>- Maximum weight carry: 42 Kgs<br>- Can only wear light amour<br>- Can no longer enjoy benefits of other taught/learnt professions.<br><br>+ Relationship with dwarves: 5 (started with -5)<br>+ Relationship with Librarians, Scholars, Elders: 25<br>+ Relationship with Alakokaine: 29<br>+ Relationship with Snappy: 6<br>--&gt; Click here to view all relationship status.<br><br>Circumstantial Passive Effects: <br><br>+ Skin glows white at night<br>+ All stats increase by 5% at night.<br>+ Better vision during the night.<br>+ When engaged in combat at night, reflexes will be faster.<br>+ In dwarven lands, all stats will be increased by 5%<br>+ In Elvish lands, all stats will be increased by 2%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>Lee Jun's Skills:<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%">S No.</td><td width="25%">Skill</td><td width="25%">Stage</td><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">Progress</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">Alchemy</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">2</td><td width="25%">61%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">2</td><td width="25%">Digging Skills</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">92%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">3</td><td width="25%">Eavesdrop</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">56%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">4</td><td width="25%">Elemental Spirits Fusion</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">5</td><td width="25%">Fists of Fury</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">2</td><td width="25%">38%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">6</td><td width="25%">Item Identification</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">3%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">7</td><td width="25%">Koboldian Alchemy</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">48%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">8</td><td width="25%">Lion Roar</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">1%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">9</td><td width="25%">Mining Skills</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">2</td><td width="25%">57%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Repair</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">31%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">11</td><td width="25%">Ripple Effect</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">2</td><td width="25%">63%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">12</td><td width="25%">Running</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">2</td><td width="25%">56%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">13</td><td width="25%">Sleeplessness</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">3</td><td width="25%">49%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">14</td><td width="25%">Sleeping</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">2</td><td width="25%">83%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">15</td><td width="25%">Slow Time</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">2</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">16</td><td width="25%">Spelunking</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">31%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">17</td><td width="25%">Stealth</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">4</td><td width="25%">3%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">18</td><td width="25%">Sword Mastery</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">8</td><td width="25%">16%</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Unique Quest Skills</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">Deceit</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">8</td><td width="25%">55%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">2</td><td width="25%">Cold Blooded Cruelty</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">9</td><td width="25%">22%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">3</td><td width="25%">Betrayal</td><td width="25%">Beginner</td><td width="25%">7</td><td width="25%">12%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> </div>

Lee Jun's Stats and Skills: | Physical Status Window | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Name | Weed | Class / Level | FF/020 | | Active Profession | Basic Elemental Blacksmith | | | | Number of Active Profession | 1 | Number of Inactive Professions | 0 | | Health | 355 | Mana Conversion/Sec | 0.01 | | Health Regen/Sec | 0 | Stamina Regen/Sec | 0.08 | | Strength | 125 | Agility | 140 | | Wisdom | 86 | Intelligence | 76 | | Stamina | 315 | Defense | 75 | | Dexterity | 285 | Luck | 205 | | Creativity | 285 | Perseverance | 285 | | Charm | 23 | | | | Reputation | 5 | Fame / Infamy | 337 / 150 | | Unconditional Passive effects+ Can learn secret skills based on player's level in Elemental Blacksmith Mastery+ Can advance to previously restricted professions.+ Gains increased Reputation by forging items of extraordinary value.+ Can only learn new type of professions by choosing to forget Elemental Blacksmith.+ Can read basic dwarvf script (Advance level) + Can equip certain items specialized for the profession.+ Can learn all craft skills to the stage of a master.+ Granted extra options to items that are produced or refined.+ Increased Defensive Power for all dwarvish melee skills by 5%+ Increased Attack Power for all elvish melee skills by 2%+ Decreased Stamina consumption for Elemental Blacksmithing Skill+ Monsters of level lower than you, will avoid you!- Maximum weight carry: 42 Kgs- Can only wear light amour- Can no longer enjoy benefits of other taught/learnt professions.+ Relationship with dwarves: 5 (started with -5)+ Relationship with Librarians, Scholars, Elders: 25+ Relationship with Alakokaine: 29+ Relationship with Snappy: 6--> Click here to view all relationship status.Circumstantial Passive Effects: + Skin glows white at night+ All stats increase by 5% at night.+ Better vision during the night.+ When engaged in combat at night, reflexes will be faster.+ In dwarven lands, all stats will be increased by 5%+ In Elvish lands, all stats will be increased by 2% | | --- | Lee Jun's Skills: | S No. | Skill | Stage | Level | Progress | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Alchemy | Beginner | 2 | 61% | | 2 | Digging Skills | Beginner | 10 | 92% | | 3 | Eavesdrop | Beginner | 1 | 56% | | 4 | Elemental Spirits Fusion | Beginner | 1 | 0% | | 5 | Fists of Fury | Beginner | 2 | 38% | | 6 | Item Identification | Beginner | 1 | 3% | | 7 | Koboldian Alchemy | Beginner | 1 | 48% | | 8 | Lion Roar | Beginner | 1 | 1% | | 9 | Mining Skills | Beginner | 2 | 57% | | 10 | Repair | Beginner | 1 | 31% | | 11 | Ripple Effect | Beginner | 2 | 63% | | 12 | Running | Beginner | 2 | 56% | | 13 | Sleeplessness | Beginner | 3 | 49% | | 14 | Sleeping | Beginner | 2 | 83% | | 15 | Slow Time | Beginner | 2 | 0% | | 16 | Spelunking | Beginner | 1 | 31% | | 17 | Stealth | Beginner | 4 | 3% | | 18 | Sword Mastery | Beginner | 8 | 16% | | Unique Quest Skills | | | | | 1 | Deceit | Beginner | 8 | 55% | | 2 | Cold Blooded Cruelty | Beginner | 9 | 22% | | 3 | Betrayal | Beginner | 7 | 12% |

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Lee Jun’s mom pulled out her car from the garage and Lee Jun locked the house before accompanying. They decided to go immediately to the dojang after breakfast and sign up.<br><br>As they drove by Lee Jun’s mom had a lot of questions to ask, “You said it would help you with other stuff? Mind sharing what that is?”<br><br>‘Great! Not now mom!’ Lee Jun thought to himself as he turned to look away. He had never told her about the bullying and if he mentioned it now she would surely speak about it to the teachers. Not that anything would come of it. The bullies punishment would amount to nothing more than a slap on the wrist and his life thereafter would be complete hell. “It really isn’t that big of a deal. It is something I can overcome…”<br><br>“You need to be more open with me. One person alone can’t burden everything. Its why we are family.” His mom replied. She too wasn’t keen on forcing Lee Jun what it was but she had a rough idea already what it could be. <br><br>After reaching the dojang, Lee Jun’s mom went and met with the instructors.<br><br>Lee Jun stood outside the admin office as his mom sorted out the paper work. Yesterday appeared so surreal and distant to Lee Jun now. He couldn’t believe himself that he was able exceed his own limits the way he. ‘I can do this.’<br><br>Since his mom was taking longer than he decided to take a stroll and explore the dojang. The dojang wasn’t located in the same place during Ahn Hyundo’s time. They had to relocate owing to city’s expansion plan. None of the masters objected since they were being allocated a larger land and even being compensated for the cost of the new building. It did sadden them that they had to move, they had spent their youth with so many memories…but that was all in the past. In time they came to accept those memories for what they were and cherish them. What was important to them was continuing Ahn Hyundo’s legacy. Lee Hyun also felt the same way, he tried the hardest of them all to preserve the original dojang but in the end in his personal capacity he was unable to prevent Ahn Hyundo’s dojang from being demolished. After that they could do nothing but carry on his legacy in the newly built dojang at the outskirts of the city.<br><br>As he walked around, he found Ji Woo pouting while staring into the pond.<br><br>“What happened?” He asked from behind her.<br><br>“Nothing…” She replied not realizing whom she was talking to.<br><br>“Then why are you pouting?” Lee Jun asked out of curiosity.<br><br>“Because that kid from yesterday couldn’t join the dojang even though the masters finally agreed…why are you asking me…” Ji Woo turned around to see Lee Jun staring at her. “You! Why are you here!”<br><br>“ah..things happened, so now I am member of the dojang. I am in your care.” Lee Jun said with a slight bow of gratitude.<br><br>Ji Woo smiled, “That’s great. Please try your hardest, I am also very sorry about yesterday. The masters should not have pushed you so much…” Ji Woo saddened slightly as she recalled the events of yesterday. Even though it was her masters doing she felt somewhat responsible for it.<br><br>“No please don’t be guilty about it.” Lee Jun said completely reading her. “I am unusually stubborn, I don’t know why but I wanted to go all out when I was being tested.”<br><br>Ji Woo smiled slightly she did feel relieved that he was holding her responsible for it. “You were pretty awesome yesterday…” She whispered.<br><br>“Pardon me, I couldn’t hear that.” Lee Jun said as he sat down next to her.<br><br>“Nothing…” Ji Woo said, she went slight red with embarrassment. ‘I so did not just compliment him! Kyaa! Whats wrong with me!!’<br><br>Lee Jun quietly stared into the pond. He kept going through yesterday in his mind. He wanted to stretch himself like that more, past his limits…that’s when he really felt alive…<br><br>Ji Woo kept stealing glances. ‘Why is my heart beating so fast? Is this for real? Don’t tell me I like him? Why him? He isn’t even that cute, he is shorter than me and younger than me…’<br><br>“Thanks.” Lee Jun said after the brief moment of silence. “I don’t think I would have ever had the courage to pursue something like this on my own. I am not very good at making friends, so this feels good.”<br><br>Ji Woo smiled. ‘Yeah…that’s why…even I am not good at making friends…this is the first time I have had a normal conversation with another person…its always been masters who treat me like their daughters or the disciples who treat me like their sister…I guess this is what friendship feels like.’<br><br>“Thanks.” Ji Woo said as she got up.<br><br>Lee Jun was slightly confused, he didn’t know why she just said thank you. ‘Wouldn’t you say welcome?’<br><br>“I think your mom is looking for you?” Ji Woo said pointing in the direction of the admin office where his mom was panicking and looking around frantically for Lee Jun.<br><br>“Sigh…” Lee Jun slowly got up and tidied his clothes. “See you around.” He said as he waived back to her.<br><br>Ji Woo slowly waived back to him. <br><br>Behind a tree hidden, stod Ma Song and Roi Lee. They had come to cheer up Ji Woo and ended up witnessing the entire conversation. They were completely devastated.<br><br>“Ma Song…Ma Song…” Roi Lee wailed. “Ji Woo is growing up…Ma Song did you see her smile…she had been sulking since yesterday…”<br><br>-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-<br><br><br>“Remember not to overly exert yourself.” Lee Jun’s mom said as she got into the car. “Let me know if you want me to come pick you up.”<br><br>“Don’t worry!” Roi Lee said as he put his both his hands on Lee Jun’s shoulders. “We will take good care of your son, Ma’am.” <br>Lee Jun shivered slightly, he could feel something sinister behind those words. He quietly waved to his mom as she drove… “So when do we begin trainin…”<br><br>Roi Lee dragged Lee Jun into the dojang. “Listen kid, even if Ji Woo likes you, I don’t approve of someone weaker than her. Remember, in the end you weren’t even able to touch Hwa Young. It is only because of Ji Woo we accepted.”<br><br>“Roi Lee stop lying.” Chung Il said as he pulled Roi Lee back. <br><br>“But Chung…” Roi Lee complained. However, Chung Il would not listen to him.<br><br>“Your opponent was a senior and he was a strong one. You made a poor judgment in picking him. However, what is important is not whether you could or could not have landed the blow but your resolve.” Chung Il said. He did not say it to make Lee Jun feel better but he simply stated the truth.<br><br>“Yes, that’s true.” Choi Jong added. “Resolve is important. If you had given up and walked away half heartedly then even if we trained you, you wouldn’t become stronger. The yoggu (desire) to become stronger is what is truly important. So let me officially welcome you to Kumdo Dojang.” <br><br>“But Chung!!” Roi Lee was still wailing and complaining, he was not going to accept Lee Jun anytime soon.<br>The other three chose to ignore him. Chung Il and Choi Jong were slightly surprised that Ma Song who was the most attached to Ji Woo was not even saying a word. ‘Something suspicious indeed.’<br><br>“Lee Jun, we don’t normally handle the training of disciples. However, we are unsure which group to put you in right now.” Chung Il spoke as he walked along with Lee Jun. “For now I want you to explore the dojang and find something that interests you. I would have suggested with a strength training regime but you are much too young for that now.”<br><br>“I lack stamina…” Lee Jun spoke softly.<br><br>“Yes, we noticed. Building your stamina is important but if it isn’t balanced with proper nutritional intake it won’t help. So we need to look into your diet as well. But that is not so important. Other people might think otherwise. However, I think you will simply tire yourself out of training and find it boring if I asked you to only run and do stretches. What I want you to have is goal to strive towards. It helps to have a goal.” Chung Il was slow and careful with his words. He would have normally ordered a student like Lee Jun with weak stamina to build stamina through running up and down a hill and plenty of stretching exercise. However, Lee Jun was not a normal student. He was born with an innate battle sense and he also did imitate the half step. <br><br>Chung Il was more interested in the latter half, was it a fluke? Or something more? He and the others were curious to know if Lee Jun could imitate moves just by seeing them once. Even if one seems something once, it is usually impossible to copy it to the same degree of likeness. Lee Jun was the exception to this rule, though he could not bring out the same speed and power in his movement like Hwa Young, it was definitely the half step that he had replicated that day.<br><br>“I don’t understand. I thought become stronger is a goal?” Lee Jun asked. <br>“No it isn’t. I don’t think you might understand right away what I mean. So for now please do as I say.” Chung Il had grown quite cunning with his words. <br><br>“…ok..” Lee Jun said with uncertainty. ‘He basically just wants me to do nothing?’<br><br>“Let’s begin here.” Chung Il said. They stood in front of a room and Lee Jun could hear Roi Lee talking inside. <br><br>“Please excuse us.” Chung Il said as he guided Lee Jun inside. “I leave him in your care. Be nice to him.” Chung Il wore a stern look on his face as he spoke to Roi Lee.<br><br>Lee Jun took his seat in front with other new disciples who had joined earlier last month. There were 14 of them in all. <br><br>Roi Lee began seriously with his lectures. When he taught, all humor, jokes, fun and games went out the window. “Remember even though you are using strength; don’t forget that in real life situations are not that simple. You need to read your opponents moves, and respond precisely like how a willow tree sways with the wind but does not fly away with it.”<br><br>Lee Jun raised his hand. He did not really comprehend what Roi Lee just said.<br><br>“Lee Jun this is not a class room. If you have questions please reserve them for later. Learning martial arts is experiencing. So it is unlikely, if my explanation to your question would answer your question.” Roi Lee replied coldly. ‘This one is a complete geek…what does Ji Woo see in him anyways…’<br><br>“There are four basic forms in the martial arts I teach and guide. Those under this branch, will learn the way of the calmness. It is the first and last steps of your training where you must build mental fortitude. I am assigning you all to your groups. Please visit your respective instructors for the training.”<br><br>Roi Lee handed paper slips to the thirteen except Lee Jun. “I was not informed that you would be coming to this branch. I do not have an instructor specifically to assign to you. Is this where you wish to begin your study?”<br><br>“I would like to know about the other three branches as well. I don’t really know what the other three are.” Lee Jun replied cautiously to Roi Lee’s sudden politeness.<br><br>“I see you haven’t been told anything.” Roi Lee rubbed his forehead, ‘What is that Chung Il thinking of. Why did he bring him to me without explaining anything.’<br><br>The four instructors took over the dojang once Ahn Hyundo passed on. Remembering his last word which were “Remember my beloved pupils there must be balance to everything. Each of you has honed a different skill, so unique to you that you must leave behind your own legacy. In doing so you will leave me proud.” <br><br>After Ahn Hyundo’s death, Lee Hyun bluntly turned down the post of being successor no matter how many times the others read out the will and offered it. Lee Hyun kept respectfully turned it down. Lee Hyun was still regarded as the true successor to the dojang by the other four even if Lee Hyun turned it down. With Lee Hyun no longer wanting to lead the helm, each of the four instructors was crowned as masters by him before he vacated his position as a successor. <br><br>Lee Hyun however did ensure that Ahn Hyundo’s last wishes were carried out to the end. Before leaving, he split the Ahn Hyundo’s teachings into four branches. Each instructor was a master of a branch. Disciples would now alternate between branches to grow quickly on their never ending quest to master the way of the sword and martial arts.<br><br>The next few days Lee Jun went to the dojang everyday spending most of his time attending lectures or watching others practice. He wasn’t assigned sparring partners or given any instructors. It was almost as if he was being punished. Lee Jun would often reflect back on Roi Lee’s words, “Ji Woo begged us to accept you.” Lee Jun sighed as he went from one lecture to another. <br><br>Doubt clouded his heart… “Maybe I should quit…everything....there is no hope for me...not here or in virtual reality.”<br><br><br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. Happy reading!<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1325" target="_blank">Yes</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

Lee Jun’s mom pulled out her car from the garage and Lee Jun locked the house before accompanying. They decided to go immediately to the dojang after breakfast and sign up. As they drove by Lee Jun’s mom had a lot of questions to ask, “You said it would help you with other stuff? Mind sharing what that is?” ‘Great! Not now mom!’ Lee Jun thought to himself as he turned to look away. He had never told her about the bullying and if he mentioned it now she would surely speak about it to the teachers. Not that anything would come of it. The bullies punishment would amount to nothing more than a slap on the wrist and his life thereafter would be complete hell. “It really isn’t that big of a deal. It is something I can overcome…” “You need to be more open with me. One person alone can’t burden everything. Its why we are family.” His mom replied. She too wasn’t keen on forcing Lee Jun what it was but she had a rough idea already what it could be. After reaching the dojang, Lee Jun’s mom went and met with the instructors. Lee Jun stood outside the admin office as his mom sorted out the paper work. Yesterday appeared so surreal and distant to Lee Jun now. He couldn’t believe himself that he was able exceed his own limits the way he. ‘I can do this.’ Since his mom was taking longer than he decided to take a stroll and explore the dojang. The dojang wasn’t located in the same place during Ahn Hyundo’s time. They had to relocate owing to city’s expansion plan. None of the masters objected since they were being allocated a larger land and even being compensated for the cost of the new building. It did sadden them that they had to move, they had spent their youth with so many memories…but that was all in the past. In time they came to accept those memories for what they were and cherish them. What was important to them was continuing Ahn Hyundo’s legacy. Lee Hyun also felt the same way, he tried the hardest of them all to preserve the original dojang but in the end in his personal capacity he was unable to prevent Ahn Hyundo’s dojang from being demolished. After that they could do nothing but carry on his legacy in the newly built dojang at the outskirts of the city. As he walked around, he found Ji Woo pouting while staring into the pond. “What happened?” He asked from behind her. “Nothing…” She replied not realizing whom she was talking to. “Then why are you pouting?” Lee Jun asked out of curiosity. “Because that kid from yesterday couldn’t join the dojang even though the masters finally agreed…why are you asking me…” Ji Woo turned around to see Lee Jun staring at her. “You! Why are you here!” “ah..things happened, so now I am member of the dojang. I am in your care.” Lee Jun said with a slight bow of gratitude. Ji Woo smiled, “That’s great. Please try your hardest, I am also very sorry about yesterday. The masters should not have pushed you so much…” Ji Woo saddened slightly as she recalled the events of yesterday. Even though it was her masters doing she felt somewhat responsible for it. “No please don’t be guilty about it.” Lee Jun said completely reading her. “I am unusually stubborn, I don’t know why but I wanted to go all out when I was being tested.” Ji Woo smiled slightly she did feel relieved that he was holding her responsible for it. “You were pretty awesome yesterday…” She whispered. “Pardon me, I couldn’t hear that.” Lee Jun said as he sat down next to her. “Nothing…” Ji Woo said, she went slight red with embarrassment. ‘I so did not just compliment him! Kyaa! Whats wrong with me!!’ Lee Jun quietly stared into the pond. He kept going through yesterday in his mind. He wanted to stretch himself like that more, past his limits…that’s when he really felt alive… Ji Woo kept stealing glances. ‘Why is my heart beating so fast? Is this for real? Don’t tell me I like him? Why him? He isn’t even that cute, he is shorter than me and younger than me…’ “Thanks.” Lee Jun said after the brief moment of silence. “I don’t think I would have ever had the courage to pursue something like this on my own. I am not very good at making friends, so this feels good.” Ji Woo smiled. ‘Yeah…that’s why…even I am not good at making friends…this is the first time I have had a normal conversation with another person…its always been masters who treat me like their daughters or the disciples who treat me like their sister…I guess this is what friendship feels like.’ “Thanks.” Ji Woo said as she got up. Lee Jun was slightly confused, he didn’t know why she just said thank you. ‘Wouldn’t you say welcome?’ “I think your mom is looking for you?” Ji Woo said pointing in the direction of the admin office where his mom was panicking and looking around frantically for Lee Jun. “Sigh…” Lee Jun slowly got up and tidied his clothes. “See you around.” He said as he waived back to her. Ji Woo slowly waived back to him. Behind a tree hidden, stod Ma Song and Roi Lee. They had come to cheer up Ji Woo and ended up witnessing the entire conversation. They were completely devastated. “Ma Song…Ma Song…” Roi Lee wailed. “Ji Woo is growing up…Ma Song did you see her smile…she had been sulking since yesterday…” -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- “Remember not to overly exert yourself.” Lee Jun’s mom said as she got into the car. “Let me know if you want me to come pick you up.” “Don’t worry!” Roi Lee said as he put his both his hands on Lee Jun’s shoulders. “We will take good care of your son, Ma’am.” Lee Jun shivered slightly, he could feel something sinister behind those words. He quietly waved to his mom as she drove… “So when do we begin trainin…” Roi Lee dragged Lee Jun into the dojang. “Listen kid, even if Ji Woo likes you, I don’t approve of someone weaker than her. Remember, in the end you weren’t even able to touch Hwa Young. It is only because of Ji Woo we accepted.” “Roi Lee stop lying.” Chung Il said as he pulled Roi Lee back. “But Chung…” Roi Lee complained. However, Chung Il would not listen to him. “Your opponent was a senior and he was a strong one. You made a poor judgment in picking him. However, what is important is not whether you could or could not have landed the blow but your resolve.” Chung Il said. He did not say it to make Lee Jun feel better but he simply stated the truth. “Yes, that’s true.” Choi Jong added. “Resolve is important. If you had given up and walked away half heartedly then even if we trained you, you wouldn’t become stronger. The yoggu (desire) to become stronger is what is truly important. So let me officially welcome you to Kumdo Dojang.” “But Chung!!” Roi Lee was still wailing and complaining, he was not going to accept Lee Jun anytime soon. The other three chose to ignore him. Chung Il and Choi Jong were slightly surprised that Ma Song who was the most attached to Ji Woo was not even saying a word. ‘Something suspicious indeed.’ “Lee Jun, we don’t normally handle the training of disciples. However, we are unsure which group to put you in right now.” Chung Il spoke as he walked along with Lee Jun. “For now I want you to explore the dojang and find something that interests you. I would have suggested with a strength training regime but you are much too young for that now.” “I lack stamina…” Lee Jun spoke softly. “Yes, we noticed. Building your stamina is important but if it isn’t balanced with proper nutritional intake it won’t help. So we need to look into your diet as well. But that is not so important. Other people might think otherwise. However, I think you will simply tire yourself out of training and find it boring if I asked you to only run and do stretches. What I want you to have is goal to strive towards. It helps to have a goal.” Chung Il was slow and careful with his words. He would have normally ordered a student like Lee Jun with weak stamina to build stamina through running up and down a hill and plenty of stretching exercise. However, Lee Jun was not a normal student. He was born with an innate battle sense and he also did imitate the half step. Chung Il was more interested in the latter half, was it a fluke? Or something more? He and the others were curious to know if Lee Jun could imitate moves just by seeing them once. Even if one seems something once, it is usually impossible to copy it to the same degree of likeness. Lee Jun was the exception to this rule, though he could not bring out the same speed and power in his movement like Hwa Young, it was definitely the half step that he had replicated that day. “I don’t understand. I thought become stronger is a goal?” Lee Jun asked. “No it isn’t. I don’t think you might understand right away what I mean. So for now please do as I say.” Chung Il had grown quite cunning with his words. “…ok..” Lee Jun said with uncertainty. ‘He basically just wants me to do nothing?’ “Let’s begin here.” Chung Il said. They stood in front of a room and Lee Jun could hear Roi Lee talking inside. “Please excuse us.” Chung Il said as he guided Lee Jun inside. “I leave him in your care. Be nice to him.” Chung Il wore a stern look on his face as he spoke to Roi Lee. Lee Jun took his seat in front with other new disciples who had joined earlier last month. There were 14 of them in all. Roi Lee began seriously with his lectures. When he taught, all humor, jokes, fun and games went out the window. “Remember even though you are using strength; don’t forget that in real life situations are not that simple. You need to read your opponents moves, and respond precisely like how a willow tree sways with the wind but does not fly away with it.” Lee Jun raised his hand. He did not really comprehend what Roi Lee just said. “Lee Jun this is not a class room. If you have questions please reserve them for later. Learning martial arts is experiencing. So it is unlikely, if my explanation to your question would answer your question.” Roi Lee replied coldly. ‘This one is a complete geek…what does Ji Woo see in him anyways…’ “There are four basic forms in the martial arts I teach and guide. Those under this branch, will learn the way of the calmness. It is the first and last steps of your training where you must build mental fortitude. I am assigning you all to your groups. Please visit your respective instructors for the training.” Roi Lee handed paper slips to the thirteen except Lee Jun. “I was not informed that you would be coming to this branch. I do not have an instructor specifically to assign to you. Is this where you wish to begin your study?” “I would like to know about the other three branches as well. I don’t really know what the other three are.” Lee Jun replied cautiously to Roi Lee’s sudden politeness. “I see you haven’t been told anything.” Roi Lee rubbed his forehead, ‘What is that Chung Il thinking of. Why did he bring him to me without explaining anything.’ The four instructors took over the dojang once Ahn Hyundo passed on. Remembering his last word which were “Remember my beloved pupils there must be balance to everything. Each of you has honed a different skill, so unique to you that you must leave behind your own legacy. In doing so you will leave me proud.” After Ahn Hyundo’s death, Lee Hyun bluntly turned down the post of being successor no matter how many times the others read out the will and offered it. Lee Hyun kept respectfully turned it down. Lee Hyun was still regarded as the true successor to the dojang by the other four even if Lee Hyun turned it down. With Lee Hyun no longer wanting to lead the helm, each of the four instructors was crowned as masters by him before he vacated his position as a successor. Lee Hyun however did ensure that Ahn Hyundo’s last wishes were carried out to the end. Before leaving, he split the Ahn Hyundo’s teachings into four branches. Each instructor was a master of a branch. Disciples would now alternate between branches to grow quickly on their never ending quest to master the way of the sword and martial arts. The next few days Lee Jun went to the dojang everyday spending most of his time attending lectures or watching others practice. He wasn’t assigned sparring partners or given any instructors. It was almost as if he was being punished. Lee Jun would often reflect back on Roi Lee’s words, “Ji Woo begged us to accept you.” Lee Jun sighed as he went from one lecture to another. Doubt clouded his heart… “Maybe I should quit…everything....there is no hope for me...not here or in virtual reality.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. Happy reading! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Yes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1325) | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Trapped in the alley skylar waited as Grage’s search brought him closer. &nbsp;Suddenly a paladin walked by the alley from the other direction. &nbsp; As he passed by he looked directly at Skylar then moved on without saying anything. <br> <br>“Have you seen anyone suspicious around here?” &nbsp;Grage called out to the man. <br> <br>“Suspicious?” <br> <br>“Yea, like a seedy looking person in messed up cloth probably covered in paint.” <br> <br>“Yes I’ve seen someone like that.” <br> <br>“Where.” <br> <br>“Right there” <br> <br>“Not me you idiot. &nbsp;I means someone else.” <br> <br>“Oh, in that case think I saw someone like that over there.” <br> <br>“Really thanks.” <br> <br>Skylars heart sank. &nbsp;So this is how it ends. &nbsp;Taking out his knife he resolved to fight even if it was hopeless. &nbsp;Given his recent strategic choices perhaps a dignified death wasn’t such a bad thing. <br> <br>One set of footsteps moved away from him while another moved towards the alley. &nbsp; Crouching he waited gripped his knife tightly. <br> <br>As soon as he saw someone come around the corner he pounced brandishing his knife screaming. <br> <br>Suddenly he felt a tightness around his wrists and everything turned upside down. &nbsp; &nbsp;Laying on his back looking up at the sky he wondered exactly what had happened. &nbsp; <br> <br>“A bit bloodthirsty aren’t you?” <br> <br>It was the paladin from before. What was going here? <br> <br>“Are you Skylar?” <br> <br>How does he know my name? <br> <br>“Yes.” <br> <br>“I’ve been sent to fetch you. &nbsp;Come with me.” <br> <br>Getting up he considered trying to run off, but his curiosity got the better of him. &nbsp;He followed the paladin through a maze of streets. <br> <br>“Where are we going?” <br> <br>“You’ll know when we get there.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“What was that thing you did to me before.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“A simple hip throw.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Would you teach it to me?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“No.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;No much of a conversationalist. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;They finally arrived at their destination. &nbsp;Not surprisingly it was a large shack. &nbsp;Well over ninety percent of the building in town were similarly built large shacks. &nbsp;He had asked around about it and eventually found out that they had all been made by the Lord when he was developing the town. &nbsp; <br> <br>The lord seemed like a really interesting person. &nbsp;Depending on who you asked he was either a scam artist, a cheapskate or a benevolent ruler. &nbsp;Skylar hoped that he would get the chance to meet him someday. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Out of the shack came Maria with her brother following close behind. &nbsp;Actually he seemed to be very close, or more accurately he seemed to be trying to hide behind her. &nbsp;Did I do something to scare him? &nbsp;Well besides blowing up that is… <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Someone other people came out of the shack as well. &nbsp; A group of paladins and a young boy. &nbsp;What was going on here anyway? <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Thank you so much for helping my brother. &nbsp;He’s the only family I have left. &nbsp;I don’t know what I would do if something happened to him.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Complete! <br> <br>Help Maria's Brother <br> <br>You succeeded in protecting Maria's Brother. While some might question your tactics you still succeeded in a difficult task using the resources you had available. &nbsp;Maria is grateful to have her brother returned safely. <br> <br>Fame rises 15 point. (+15 Fame) <br> &nbsp; You have leveled up! <br> &nbsp; &nbsp;You have leveled up!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“It’s ok, I’m glad I was able to help.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Owen don’t you have something to say?” she said to her little brother. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;*mumble* *mumble* *mumble* <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“What was that? &nbsp;Speak clearly Owen.” <br> <br>“I said I’m sorry for causing you trouble, and thanks for helping me.” <br> <br>“It’s ok. &nbsp;Standing up for your sister is a good thing, but try not to make her worry alright?” <br> <br>He nodded then ran towards the house, but then right before he went inside he turned back around. <br>&nbsp; <br>“Just you wait. &nbsp;I’m going to train really hard and become much stronger than you. &nbsp;Than I’ll be able to protect my sister on my own.” he shouted then disappeared inside. <br> <br>Skylar was astounded. &nbsp;At what point did he demonstrate strength? &nbsp;At best his actions could be described as cunning at worst it might be labeled a cowardly sneak attack, but to call it strong... &nbsp; <br> <br>Kids are weird. &nbsp;They have a tendency to see what they want to see, or maybe everyone was like that sometimes. <br> <br>“Don’t mind him. &nbsp;He’s a good kid, but sometimes he’s a bit overprotective. &nbsp;I don’t have a lot to give you as a reward, but do &nbsp;have these things my father left behind before he disappeared. &nbsp;they aren’t much, but they are good for a beginner. <br> <br>He received four items from her. <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have received Used Leather Boots</td></tr><tr><td>You have received Used Leather Gloves</td></tr><tr><td>You have received Used Leather Armor</td></tr><tr><td>You have received Used Bow</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>“Also, there is a trick my father showed me for how to use a bow properly. &nbsp;I'll teach it to you as well." &nbsp; She explained what he needed to do. &nbsp;After demonstrating it a few times he tried it out himself and eventually a window popped up. <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>New Skill: You have learned Chain Shot</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>New Skill: You have learned Penetrating Shot</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>These two skill were things that can usually only be learned by archer or rangers. &nbsp;They were beginer level skill, but still they were popular skills for a reason so being able to learn them was a good reward. <br> <br>“I also have a reward for you as well.” <br> <br>It was the kid with the paladins. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Who are you?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I’m Priest of the church of Gunther.” <br> <br>Why would priest of Gunther&nbsp;be here to give him a reward. &nbsp;This quest didn’t have anything to do with the Church of Gunther. &nbsp;If they were involved at all he would expect it to be to hunt him down for bearing the mark of a murder. <br> <br>"May the blessing of&nbsp;Gunther be upon you." <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Due to the mercy of God Gunther, Your outrageous sins were saved.</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Mark of a murder removed.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Unwinding his bandana he checked his forehead to find that the mark of the murder was indeed gone. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“The god of Goddess Gunther is indeed merciful, but I can’t help wonder why such mercy would fall upon someone as unworthy as my self.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“You’re too modest. &nbsp;I happened to be in the area when word reached me of your noble act. &nbsp;After hearing about it I felt it was the will of Gunther that I should help you.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Some of the paladins looked less than convinced that priest should be acting this way. &nbsp;Skylar himself thought it was a bit weird, but he wasn't going to complain. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I am grateful to Gunther and his church.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Alberone noded in acknowledgment. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Walk in the light.” He said before he and the paladins departed. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“So what will you do now?” &nbsp;Skylar asked Maria. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;So long as Grage was around the danger to her and her brother wasn’t really over. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Everything should be fine. &nbsp;I switched houses with a friend. &nbsp;Someone he won't be able to threaten.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“That’s good to hear.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“There’s still one more thing.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;What, there was still more reward? <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;She walked up to him and before he realized what was happening kissed him on the cheek. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Thanks again.” &nbsp;She said before going into her house. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;So does that count as my first kiss? &nbsp;It was from a NPC and on the cheek. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Putting on his new armor he started to wander around town lost in thought. <br>&nbsp; <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;People made games as an entertaining escape from reality. &nbsp;Over time games became more and more realistic until the present where they had a game that was like a whole new reality. &nbsp; A new reality where people can lived out their fantasies, and also in that reality there was remarkably realistic NPCs. &nbsp; Indeed it wasn’t always easy to tell who was a player and who was and NPC. &nbsp;He predicted this was going to become a problem someday. &nbsp;Eventually people will start becoming attached to NPCs and when they do you’ll start wondering thing like; why do NPCs need to die when this is only a game, and is it alright to kill NPCs for exp and quests? <br> <br>When this happens philosophical questions like; do NPC really feel pain, do they have consciousness or do they have a soul won't make any difference. &nbsp;The fact that they act and look like human being is enough. &nbsp; People have the tendency to personify even inanimate objects doing things like giving ships names and yelling at their car when it breaks. &nbsp;How much worse will this tendency be when dealing with thing that actually look and act human. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;This game exists because it lets people experience their fantasies, yet if people decide the fantasies are wrong and demand that they stop then this game will no longer have a reason to exist. &nbsp;Ironically it might turn out that this game is to realistic for it's own good. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Why are you walking holding your cheek grinning like an idiot.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“What... Grage… I have no idea what you’re talking about.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Who’s Grage? &nbsp;I’m Grend. &nbsp;Have you forgotten about me already?” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Familiarity with Grend decreased slightly.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;To many Gr names lately. &nbsp;It’s getting confusing. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Sorry I’ve been distracted.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I’ll say. &nbsp;You look like you’ve been walking around in a daze.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I’ve been contemplating stuff.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Grend smirked. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“It’s ok my boy. &nbsp;I used to “contemplate stuff” when I was your age as well.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Skylar decided that Grend was a bit annoying. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Is there something you need from me?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“That right. &nbsp;I’ve been looking for you. &nbsp;I heard about what you did and I decided to offer you a class. &nbsp;How would you like to become the new necromancer of justice?” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Class Change! <br> <br> &nbsp; &nbsp;You can convert to a secret class Necromancer of Justice. If you accept it, you can learn exclusive skills for the class that are withheld from the primary classes. <br> <br> &nbsp; &nbsp;Do you want to convert to Necromancer of Justice?</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>What? &nbsp;So sudden. &nbsp;Was getting hidden classes supposed to be like this. &nbsp;It seemed too convenient somehow. <br> <br>The necromancer of justice. &nbsp;What the heck kind of hidden class was that. &nbsp;Some type of necromancer he guessed. &nbsp;He’d never even considered being a necromancer of any type. &nbsp;Should he take it? &nbsp;A hidden class had a lot of appeal to him regardless of the type. &nbsp; <br> <br>"I accept." &nbsp;Suddenly his avatar was enveloped in light. <br> <br>He checked his skills and states. <br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 0.9em;">&nbsp;“Statue Window”</span></div> <br><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 0.9em;">*Ting*</span></div> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><br><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 0.9em;"></span></div><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Status Window</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Name</td><td width="25%">Skylar</td><td width="25%">Type</td><td width="25%">Human</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">13</td><td width="25%">Fame</td><td width="25%">15</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan="3">None</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Class</td><td colspan="3">Necromancer of Justice</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">137</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">131</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health Regen/sec</td><td width="25%">0.04</td><td width="25%">Mana Regen/sec</td><td width="25%">0.16</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Intelligence</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Justice</td><td width="25%">1</td></tr> <tr><td colspan="4"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Can Not Change&nbsp;</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Class</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br><div style="text-align: left;">“Skill Window” <br>*Ting* <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Active Skills</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Death's Embrace: Level 1 — 0% <br>Mana cost: 1</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Chain Shot: Level 1 — 0% <br>Mana cost: 10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Penetrating Shot: Level 1 — 0% <br>Mana cost: 10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Mana Sense: Level 1 — 0% <br>Mana cost: 6 Per Minute</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Meditate: Level 1 — 0% <br>Mana cost:0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Identify: Level 1 — 0% <br>Mana cost:20</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Passive skills</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Cooking: Level 2 — 22%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Axe Mastery: &nbsp;Level 2 — 56%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Cleaning Skill: Level 3 — 9%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Illustration Skill: Level 3 — 9%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Painting skill: Level 1 — 0%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Carving Skill: Level 1 — 0%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>“How come not much has changed, and also what does it mean I can’t change to another class. &nbsp;You never mention that.” <br> <br>“I didn’t? &nbsp;It must of slipped my mind. &nbsp; &nbsp;Listen becoming a necromancer isn’t easy. Usually it involves a lot of quests, and can only been done by people who are versed in magic and also much more experienced &nbsp;than you.“ <br> <br>“So you're saying that I’m stuck like this?” <br> <br>Being trapped without a viable class like this would really suck. &nbsp; <br> <br>“No, there is a way for you to fix it. &nbsp;You just need to carry out a small quest.” <br> <br>“What kind of quest?” Skylar asked suspiciously. <br> <br>“Nothing that difficult. &nbsp;All I need you to do is find a fresh corpse and bring it to the graveyard at midnight.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Mysterious Ritual &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br>Grend requires you to bring a fresh corpse to the cemetery at midnight in order to participate in a mysterious ritual. &nbsp;This suspicious ritual should allow you to learn necromancy. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br>Difficulty: F &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br>Quest Requirement: &nbsp; &nbsp; <br>Familiarity with Grend <br>Have the Justice Stat <br>Accept hidden class Necromancer of Justice without proper qualifications &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br>Reward:Become a true Necromancer.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>“What kind of corpse, and how fresh?” <br> <br>“Any kind of corpse will do, and it needs to be less than 24 hours old.” <br> <br>That didn’t seem to hard, but he was finding it difficult to trust Grend. &nbsp;Still he didn’t really have much of a choice. <br> <br>“Fine, I’ll do it.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">You accepted the quest.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>“Great I’ll see you there.” <br> <br>&nbsp;A corpse. &nbsp;He decided that he would go kill a weak monster. &nbsp;Going out into the beginners hunting area he saw a variety of different creatures. &nbsp;There were foxes, raccoons and rabbits. &nbsp;Chasing those animals around were a bunch of newbie players. &nbsp;The closest animal to him was a white rabbit. &nbsp;It was bigger than a real life rabbit, but still a lot smaller then he was. &nbsp; Maybe it weighed around fifty pounds. <br> <br>Taking out his bow he let loose a series of arrows using the ability chain shot. &nbsp; A few arrows missed, but the third struck home. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Suddenly the bunnies eyes flashed red. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;That doesn’t seem good. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;The bunny started charging him. &nbsp; He shot a some more arrows at it but it was a fast and small target and only one of his arrows struck home. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;The bunny took a flying leap at him, and he dived out of the way barely avoiding being hit. &nbsp;Taking out his knife he prepared for the next attack. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;The bunny leapt again this time striking his leg chomping down. <br> <br>Skylar swung his knife at it and hit. &nbsp; <br> <br>The bunny leaped back, and the whole process started over. &nbsp;Like this the human bunney deathmatch continued until finally Skylar managed to strike home the finishing blow. <br> <br>"Yes!" skylar shouted feeling triumphant over winning his first fight. &nbsp;He was rather happy about the whole thing until he looked around and noticed that some people were watching him with less than impressed expressions. &nbsp;Well victory over a bunney probably wasn’t something to celebrate over. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Some players frowned over beginers killing cute little animals but if you really think about it wasn’t it the more intelligent monsters that you should really feel sorry for? <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Don’t look at me like that cute little dead bunny. &nbsp;It’s all in the name of justice.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He put the bunny in his bag and went back to hunting. &nbsp;It was hard for him because he hadn’t used any of the stats points from his level ups. &nbsp;At first he didn’t use them because he didn’t really need them yet, but now he wasn’t using them because he didn’t know what states a necromance of justice needed to focus on. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Eventually it became dark, so he went to the grave yards to wait. &nbsp;It was a spooky place, but surprisingly it was a safe zone. &nbsp;You would think it would be filled with undead monsters or something. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Eventually Grend showed up. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“You’re here early.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I have nothing else to do.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He didn’t want to hunt monsters when it was dark. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Well I’ll start setting up. &nbsp;It would have been a lot more dramatic if you had come after I was done.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He took out a portable altar and a bunch of random stuff then started drawing lines on the ground in weird patterns. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“You might as well go ahead and put the body on the alter.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He took it out of his bag and set it on the alter. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“A rabbit?” he asked incredulously. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“You said any fresh bodie was fine.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“No, no, it’s fine. &nbsp;No problem at all.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Somehow Skylar didn’t believe him, but it was too late to worry about it now. &nbsp; Midnight was less than an hour away. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“It’s time to begin the ceremony. &nbsp;Go stand it that spot over there.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Ok, now what do I do.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Just wait.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He began to change to bunch of seemingly nonsensical words while using various tools in seemingly nonsensical ways. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Suddenly skylar didn’t feel very well. <br> <br>“There it’s done.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I don’t feel very well.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Good that means it’s working.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“What do you mean good? &nbsp;This doesn’t seem good at all.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“The ceremony creates a link between you and the dead rabbit. &nbsp;This link creates an affinity with death that most people seeking the art of necromancy have to struggle to achieve. &nbsp;Of course it will eventually kill you.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“What?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“You ask a lot of questions my boy, but there’s not time to talk now. &nbsp;You have to hurry up and read this book.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Dare I ask what the book is.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“This book contains the secrets of necromancy. &nbsp;Well at least some of them. &nbsp;You have to read it, and use what you learn to resurrect the rabbit before you die. &nbsp;You better hurry. &nbsp;Even though you foreigners resurrect after you die if you fail to complete the ceremony you won't get a second chance.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Skylar decided that Grend had officially moved onto his dislike list. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Taking the book he started reading. &nbsp;It was more difficult than it would be normally because of the increasing level of discomfort, and because of the pressure he was under, but he stayed focused and kept going. &nbsp;Finally after what felt like forever he finished. <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Skill: You learned Basic Resurrect Dead Spell. <br> <br>Allows you to create undead. <br>Usually creates weaker types like zombies and skeletons.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Skill: You learned Death Sense Skill. <br> <br>Allows you to sense the presence of death including dead bodies and spirits. <br>Allows you to communicate with spirits.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Skill: You learned Minor Restore Undead Spell. <br> <br>Allows you to restore damaged undead. <br>Spell does damage to the living for one fourth the amount it restores the dead.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He had only 50 life points left. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Resurrect” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;The bunny obediently came back to life, and instantly he felt better again. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Great job. &nbsp;Now you can truly be called a necromancer.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Complete! <br> <br>Mysterious Ritual &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br>You've successfully completed the mysterious ritual becoming a necromancer in truth not just name. <br> &nbsp; <br> &nbsp; &nbsp;You have leveled up!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; Now that the quest was complete he couldn't help but wondered if he should try and get revenge against Grend for tricking him, but it wasn’t really his nature to be vindictive like that. &nbsp;Besides who knows what level Grend was. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“So what’s next?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Nothing you’re done. &nbsp;Well there is this.” &nbsp;he said handing Skylar a book. <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have received Namic's Journal</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“What now? &nbsp;Do I have to read it naked in a pit full of snakes under the light of the full moon?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“No of course not. &nbsp;Why on earth would you even think something like that?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Nothing would surprise me at this point.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“It’s part of Namic’s legacy. &nbsp;In order to truly be the necromancer of justice you must recover all of Namic’s legacy.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Recover Namic’s Legacy &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br>Namic was a Necromancer that fought and died for justice. &nbsp;Now you follow in his footsteps. &nbsp;In order to truly become the Necromancer of Justice you must recover his legacy. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br>Difficulty: B <br> <br>Quest Requirement: &nbsp; &nbsp; <br>Cancellation is not permitted. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br>Reward:Unknown</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;That did surprise him a bit. &nbsp;A difficulty B ranked quest at his level. &nbsp;Hidden classes really were something else. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Do you have any idea how to go about recovering Namic’s legacy?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Well you might want to check out Namic’s monument, but I wouldn’t go there just yet. &nbsp;There are still horrible demonic monsters in the area left over from the war, and also it is said only someone as just as Namic can recover his legacy.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I don’t suppose you can tell me how just that is.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Can anyone really measure justice?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Skylar gave him an incredulous look. &nbsp;The fact that a justice stat even existed meant that it was being measured by some criteria. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Fine, I think it’s around three hundred. &nbsp;Maybe. &nbsp;Don’t get mad at me if it’s wrong” Grend said giving in to skylars look. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“That’s quite a lot. &nbsp;Where is this monument anyway.” <br> <br>“Let me mark it on your map.” <br> <br>“I don’t have a map.” <br> <br>“Well get one and I’ll mark it for you.” <br> <br>“Ok, if that’s all I guess I’ll go start leveling up.” <br> <br>“Thats great my boy. &nbsp;Don’t forget your rabbit.” <br> <br>“My rabbit?” <br> <br>“Of course. &nbsp;Don’t tell me you forgot about it.” <br> <br>“I thought the rabbit was only needed for the ceremony.” <br> <br>“Yes, the ceremony that linked the two of you together so you better take good care of it.” <br> <br>I’m not liking the sound of this. <br> <br>“I think you better tell me exactly how this link works.” <br> <br>“It’s very simple. &nbsp;If the rabbit dies you die, and if you die the rabbit dies. &nbsp;Also if either of you get more then 20 meter away from each other both of you die.” &nbsp; <br> <br>“Thats terrible.” <br> <br>“Did you think you could get around the normal restrictions surrounding becoming a necromancer without any consequences?” <br> <br>“Yes, I did think that. &nbsp;How come you didn’t tell me any of this?” <br> <br>“Would you have done it if I had told you?” <br> <br>Skylar just glared at him. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Don’t worry my boy it’s not all bad. &nbsp;You’ll be free after a year when the link expires naturally.” <br> <br>&nbsp; Looking at the undead rabbit he decided that it was still kind of cute despite the horrible wound, the bloodstained fur and one of it's eyes hanging out. &nbsp; Unfortunately what it didn't look like was formidable. &nbsp;He predicted that this was going to be a long year. </div>

Trapped in the alley skylar waited as Grage’s search brought him closer.  Suddenly a paladin walked by the alley from the other direction.   As he passed by he looked directly at Skylar then moved on without saying anything. “Have you seen anyone suspicious around here?”  Grage called out to the man. “Suspicious?” “Yea, like a seedy looking person in messed up cloth probably covered in paint.” “Yes I’ve seen someone like that.” “Where.” “Right there” “Not me you idiot.  I means someone else.” “Oh, in that case think I saw someone like that over there.” “Really thanks.” Skylars heart sank.  So this is how it ends.  Taking out his knife he resolved to fight even if it was hopeless.  Given his recent strategic choices perhaps a dignified death wasn’t such a bad thing. One set of footsteps moved away from him while another moved towards the alley.   Crouching he waited gripped his knife tightly. As soon as he saw someone come around the corner he pounced brandishing his knife screaming. Suddenly he felt a tightness around his wrists and everything turned upside down.    Laying on his back looking up at the sky he wondered exactly what had happened.   “A bit bloodthirsty aren’t you?” It was the paladin from before. What was going here? “Are you Skylar?” How does he know my name? “Yes.” “I’ve been sent to fetch you.  Come with me.” Getting up he considered trying to run off, but his curiosity got the better of him.  He followed the paladin through a maze of streets. “Where are we going?” “You’ll know when we get there.”    “What was that thing you did to me before.”    “A simple hip throw.”    “Would you teach it to me?”    “No.”    No much of a conversationalist.      They finally arrived at their destination.  Not surprisingly it was a large shack.  Well over ninety percent of the building in town were similarly built large shacks.  He had asked around about it and eventually found out that they had all been made by the Lord when he was developing the town.   The lord seemed like a really interesting person.  Depending on who you asked he was either a scam artist, a cheapskate or a benevolent ruler.  Skylar hoped that he would get the chance to meet him someday.    Out of the shack came Maria with her brother following close behind.  Actually he seemed to be very close, or more accurately he seemed to be trying to hide behind her.  Did I do something to scare him?  Well besides blowing up that is…    Someone other people came out of the shack as well.   A group of paladins and a young boy.  What was going on here anyway?    “Thank you so much for helping my brother.  He’s the only family I have left.  I don’t know what I would do if something happened to him.” *Ting* | Quest Complete! Help Maria's Brother You succeeded in protecting Maria's Brother. While some might question your tactics you still succeeded in a difficult task using the resources you had available.  Maria is grateful to have her brother returned safely. Fame rises 15 point. (+15 Fame)   You have leveled up!    You have leveled up! | | --- |    “It’s ok, I’m glad I was able to help.”    “Owen don’t you have something to say?” she said to her little brother.    *mumble* *mumble* *mumble*    “What was that?  Speak clearly Owen.” “I said I’m sorry for causing you trouble, and thanks for helping me.” “It’s ok.  Standing up for your sister is a good thing, but try not to make her worry alright?” He nodded then ran towards the house, but then right before he went inside he turned back around.   “Just you wait.  I’m going to train really hard and become much stronger than you.  Than I’ll be able to protect my sister on my own.” he shouted then disappeared inside. Skylar was astounded.  At what point did he demonstrate strength?  At best his actions could be described as cunning at worst it might be labeled a cowardly sneak attack, but to call it strong...   Kids are weird.  They have a tendency to see what they want to see, or maybe everyone was like that sometimes. “Don’t mind him.  He’s a good kid, but sometimes he’s a bit overprotective.  I don’t have a lot to give you as a reward, but do  have these things my father left behind before he disappeared.  they aren’t much, but they are good for a beginner. He received four items from her. *Ting* | You have received Used Leather Boots | | --- | | You have received Used Leather Gloves | | You have received Used Leather Armor | | You have received Used Bow | “Also, there is a trick my father showed me for how to use a bow properly.  I'll teach it to you as well."   She explained what he needed to do.  After demonstrating it a few times he tried it out himself and eventually a window popped up. *Ting* | New Skill: You have learned Chain Shot | | --- | | New Skill: You have learned Penetrating Shot | | --- | These two skill were things that can usually only be learned by archer or rangers.  They were beginer level skill, but still they were popular skills for a reason so being able to learn them was a good reward. “I also have a reward for you as well.” It was the kid with the paladins.    “Who are you?”    “I’m Priest of the church of Gunther.” Why would priest of Gunther be here to give him a reward.  This quest didn’t have anything to do with the Church of Gunther.  If they were involved at all he would expect it to be to hunt him down for bearing the mark of a murder. "May the blessing of Gunther be upon you." *Ting* | Due to the mercy of God Gunther, Your outrageous sins were saved. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Mark of a murder removed. | | | |    Unwinding his bandana he checked his forehead to find that the mark of the murder was indeed gone.      “The god of Goddess Gunther is indeed merciful, but I can’t help wonder why such mercy would fall upon someone as unworthy as my self.”    “You’re too modest.  I happened to be in the area when word reached me of your noble act.  After hearing about it I felt it was the will of Gunther that I should help you.”    Some of the paladins looked less than convinced that priest should be acting this way.  Skylar himself thought it was a bit weird, but he wasn't going to complain.      “I am grateful to Gunther and his church.”    Alberone noded in acknowledgment.    “Walk in the light.” He said before he and the paladins departed.      “So what will you do now?”  Skylar asked Maria.    So long as Grage was around the danger to her and her brother wasn’t really over.    “Everything should be fine.  I switched houses with a friend.  Someone he won't be able to threaten.”    “That’s good to hear.”    “There’s still one more thing.”    What, there was still more reward?    She walked up to him and before he realized what was happening kissed him on the cheek.    “Thanks again.”  She said before going into her house.    So does that count as my first kiss?  It was from a NPC and on the cheek.    Putting on his new armor he started to wander around town lost in thought.      People made games as an entertaining escape from reality.  Over time games became more and more realistic until the present where they had a game that was like a whole new reality.   A new reality where people can lived out their fantasies, and also in that reality there was remarkably realistic NPCs.   Indeed it wasn’t always easy to tell who was a player and who was and NPC.  He predicted this was going to become a problem someday.  Eventually people will start becoming attached to NPCs and when they do you’ll start wondering thing like; why do NPCs need to die when this is only a game, and is it alright to kill NPCs for exp and quests? When this happens philosophical questions like; do NPC really feel pain, do they have consciousness or do they have a soul won't make any difference.  The fact that they act and look like human being is enough.   People have the tendency to personify even inanimate objects doing things like giving ships names and yelling at their car when it breaks.  How much worse will this tendency be when dealing with thing that actually look and act human.      This game exists because it lets people experience their fantasies, yet if people decide the fantasies are wrong and demand that they stop then this game will no longer have a reason to exist.  Ironically it might turn out that this game is to realistic for it's own good.    “Why are you walking holding your cheek grinning like an idiot.”    “What... Grage… I have no idea what you’re talking about.”    “Who’s Grage?  I’m Grend.  Have you forgotten about me already?” *Ting* | Familiarity with Grend decreased slightly. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |    To many Gr names lately.  It’s getting confusing.      “Sorry I’ve been distracted.”    “I’ll say.  You look like you’ve been walking around in a daze.”    “I’ve been contemplating stuff.”    Grend smirked.    “It’s ok my boy.  I used to “contemplate stuff” when I was your age as well.”    Skylar decided that Grend was a bit annoying.    “Is there something you need from me?”    “That right.  I’ve been looking for you.  I heard about what you did and I decided to offer you a class.  How would you like to become the new necromancer of justice?” *Ting* | Class Change!    You can convert to a secret class Necromancer of Justice. If you accept it, you can learn exclusive skills for the class that are withheld from the primary classes.    Do you want to convert to Necromancer of Justice? | | --- | What?  So sudden.  Was getting hidden classes supposed to be like this.  It seemed too convenient somehow. The necromancer of justice.  What the heck kind of hidden class was that.  Some type of necromancer he guessed.  He’d never even considered being a necromancer of any type.  Should he take it?  A hidden class had a lot of appeal to him regardless of the type.   "I accept."  Suddenly his avatar was enveloped in light. He checked his skills and states.  “Statue Window” *Ting* | Status Window | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Name | Skylar | Type | Human | | Level | 13 | Fame | 15 | | Title | None | | | | Class | Necromancer of Justice | | | | Health | 137 | Mana | 131 | | Health Regen/sec | 0.04 | Mana Regen/sec | 0.16 | | Strength | 10 | Agility | 10 | | Vitality | 10 | Intelligence | 10 | | Wisdom | 10 | Justice | 1 | | Can Not Change Class | | | | “Skill Window” *Ting* | Active Skills | | --- | | Death's Embrace: Level 1 — 0% Mana cost: 1 | | Chain Shot: Level 1 — 0% Mana cost: 10 | | Penetrating Shot: Level 1 — 0% Mana cost: 10 | | Mana Sense: Level 1 — 0% Mana cost: 6 Per Minute | | Meditate: Level 1 — 0% Mana cost:0 | | Identify: Level 1 — 0% Mana cost:20 | | Passive skills | | Cooking: Level 2 — 22% | | Axe Mastery:  Level 2 — 56% | | Cleaning Skill: Level 3 — 9% | | Illustration Skill: Level 3 — 9% | | Painting skill: Level 1 — 0% | | Carving Skill: Level 1 — 0% | “How come not much has changed, and also what does it mean I can’t change to another class.  You never mention that.” “I didn’t?  It must of slipped my mind.    Listen becoming a necromancer isn’t easy. Usually it involves a lot of quests, and can only been done by people who are versed in magic and also much more experienced  than you.“ “So you're saying that I’m stuck like this?” Being trapped without a viable class like this would really suck.   “No, there is a way for you to fix it.  You just need to carry out a small quest.” “What kind of quest?” Skylar asked suspiciously. “Nothing that difficult.  All I need you to do is find a fresh corpse and bring it to the graveyard at midnight.” *Ting* | Mysterious Ritual     Grend requires you to bring a fresh corpse to the cemetery at midnight in order to participate in a mysterious ritual.  This suspicious ritual should allow you to learn necromancy.           Difficulty: F     Quest Requirement:     Familiarity with Grend Have the Justice Stat Accept hidden class Necromancer of Justice without proper qualifications       Reward:Become a true Necromancer. | | --- | “What kind of corpse, and how fresh?” “Any kind of corpse will do, and it needs to be less than 24 hours old.” That didn’t seem to hard, but he was finding it difficult to trust Grend.  Still he didn’t really have much of a choice. “Fine, I’ll do it.” *Ting* | You accepted the quest. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Great I’ll see you there.”  A corpse.  He decided that he would go kill a weak monster.  Going out into the beginners hunting area he saw a variety of different creatures.  There were foxes, raccoons and rabbits.  Chasing those animals around were a bunch of newbie players.  The closest animal to him was a white rabbit.  It was bigger than a real life rabbit, but still a lot smaller then he was.   Maybe it weighed around fifty pounds. Taking out his bow he let loose a series of arrows using the ability chain shot.   A few arrows missed, but the third struck home.    Suddenly the bunnies eyes flashed red.      That doesn’t seem good.    The bunny started charging him.   He shot a some more arrows at it but it was a fast and small target and only one of his arrows struck home.    The bunny took a flying leap at him, and he dived out of the way barely avoiding being hit.  Taking out his knife he prepared for the next attack.      The bunny leapt again this time striking his leg chomping down. Skylar swung his knife at it and hit.   The bunny leaped back, and the whole process started over.  Like this the human bunney deathmatch continued until finally Skylar managed to strike home the finishing blow. "Yes!" skylar shouted feeling triumphant over winning his first fight.  He was rather happy about the whole thing until he looked around and noticed that some people were watching him with less than impressed expressions.  Well victory over a bunney probably wasn’t something to celebrate over.      Some players frowned over beginers killing cute little animals but if you really think about it wasn’t it the more intelligent monsters that you should really feel sorry for?    “Don’t look at me like that cute little dead bunny.  It’s all in the name of justice.”    He put the bunny in his bag and went back to hunting.  It was hard for him because he hadn’t used any of the stats points from his level ups.  At first he didn’t use them because he didn’t really need them yet, but now he wasn’t using them because he didn’t know what states a necromance of justice needed to focus on.      Eventually it became dark, so he went to the grave yards to wait.  It was a spooky place, but surprisingly it was a safe zone.  You would think it would be filled with undead monsters or something.      Eventually Grend showed up.    “You’re here early.”    “I have nothing else to do.”    He didn’t want to hunt monsters when it was dark.    “Well I’ll start setting up.  It would have been a lot more dramatic if you had come after I was done.”    He took out a portable altar and a bunch of random stuff then started drawing lines on the ground in weird patterns.    “You might as well go ahead and put the body on the alter.”    He took it out of his bag and set it on the alter.    “A rabbit?” he asked incredulously.    “You said any fresh bodie was fine.”    “No, no, it’s fine.  No problem at all.”    Somehow Skylar didn’t believe him, but it was too late to worry about it now.   Midnight was less than an hour away.    “It’s time to begin the ceremony.  Go stand it that spot over there.”    “Ok, now what do I do.”    “Just wait.”    He began to change to bunch of seemingly nonsensical words while using various tools in seemingly nonsensical ways.      Suddenly skylar didn’t feel very well. “There it’s done.”    “I don’t feel very well.”    “Good that means it’s working.”    “What do you mean good?  This doesn’t seem good at all.”    “The ceremony creates a link between you and the dead rabbit.  This link creates an affinity with death that most people seeking the art of necromancy have to struggle to achieve.  Of course it will eventually kill you.”    “What?”    “You ask a lot of questions my boy, but there’s not time to talk now.  You have to hurry up and read this book.”    “Dare I ask what the book is.”    “This book contains the secrets of necromancy.  Well at least some of them.  You have to read it, and use what you learn to resurrect the rabbit before you die.  You better hurry.  Even though you foreigners resurrect after you die if you fail to complete the ceremony you won't get a second chance.”    Skylar decided that Grend had officially moved onto his dislike list.    Taking the book he started reading.  It was more difficult than it would be normally because of the increasing level of discomfort, and because of the pressure he was under, but he stayed focused and kept going.  Finally after what felt like forever he finished. *Ting* | Skill: You learned Basic Resurrect Dead Spell. Allows you to create undead. Usually creates weaker types like zombies and skeletons. | | --- | | Skill: You learned Death Sense Skill. Allows you to sense the presence of death including dead bodies and spirits. Allows you to communicate with spirits. | | --- | | Skill: You learned Minor Restore Undead Spell. Allows you to restore damaged undead. Spell does damage to the living for one fourth the amount it restores the dead. | | --- |    He had only 50 life points left.    “Resurrect”    The bunny obediently came back to life, and instantly he felt better again.    “Great job.  Now you can truly be called a necromancer.” *Ting* | Quest Complete! Mysterious Ritual     You've successfully completed the mysterious ritual becoming a necromancer in truth not just name.      You have leveled up! | | --- |   Now that the quest was complete he couldn't help but wondered if he should try and get revenge against Grend for tricking him, but it wasn’t really his nature to be vindictive like that.  Besides who knows what level Grend was.    “So what’s next?”    “Nothing you’re done.  Well there is this.”  he said handing Skylar a book. *Ting* | You have received Namic's Journal | | --- |    “What now?  Do I have to read it naked in a pit full of snakes under the light of the full moon?”    “No of course not.  Why on earth would you even think something like that?”    “Nothing would surprise me at this point.”    “It’s part of Namic’s legacy.  In order to truly be the necromancer of justice you must recover all of Namic’s legacy.” *Ting* | Recover Namic’s Legacy     Namic was a Necromancer that fought and died for justice.  Now you follow in his footsteps.  In order to truly become the Necromancer of Justice you must recover his legacy.           Difficulty: B Quest Requirement:     Cancellation is not permitted.       Reward:Unknown | | --- |    That did surprise him a bit.  A difficulty B ranked quest at his level.  Hidden classes really were something else.      “Do you have any idea how to go about recovering Namic’s legacy?”    “Well you might want to check out Namic’s monument, but I wouldn’t go there just yet.  There are still horrible demonic monsters in the area left over from the war, and also it is said only someone as just as Namic can recover his legacy.”    “I don’t suppose you can tell me how just that is.”    “Can anyone really measure justice?”    Skylar gave him an incredulous look.  The fact that a justice stat even existed meant that it was being measured by some criteria.      “Fine, I think it’s around three hundred.  Maybe.  Don’t get mad at me if it’s wrong” Grend said giving in to skylars look.      “That’s quite a lot.  Where is this monument anyway.” “Let me mark it on your map.” “I don’t have a map.” “Well get one and I’ll mark it for you.” “Ok, if that’s all I guess I’ll go start leveling up.” “Thats great my boy.  Don’t forget your rabbit.” “My rabbit?” “Of course.  Don’t tell me you forgot about it.” “I thought the rabbit was only needed for the ceremony.” “Yes, the ceremony that linked the two of you together so you better take good care of it.” I’m not liking the sound of this. “I think you better tell me exactly how this link works.” “It’s very simple.  If the rabbit dies you die, and if you die the rabbit dies.  Also if either of you get more then 20 meter away from each other both of you die.”   “Thats terrible.” “Did you think you could get around the normal restrictions surrounding becoming a necromancer without any consequences?” “Yes, I did think that.  How come you didn’t tell me any of this?” “Would you have done it if I had told you?” Skylar just glared at him.    “Don’t worry my boy it’s not all bad.  You’ll be free after a year when the link expires naturally.”   Looking at the undead rabbit he decided that it was still kind of cute despite the horrible wound, the bloodstained fur and one of it's eyes hanging out.   Unfortunately what it didn't look like was formidable.  He predicted that this was going to be a long year.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> The Beast<br>Chapter 7: Riverdance<br>A Royal Road Fan Fiction… of sorts<br>By Halosty<br><br> “You know you’ll never level up fishing if you don’t have a fishing pole, little rabbit.” These were the first words that Roger heard the elf by the river speak.<br><br> Roger thought this elf was obviously crazy. Why would a rabbit want to level up in fishing. He generally knew what fishing was, and he saw no point. It was a waste of time that didn’t make him stronger. He didn’t care for that.<br><br> Roger tilted his head in an inquisitive fashion. Maybe there was something he was missing about fishing.<br><br> “Actually, little rabbit, I’ve recently obtained Intermediate level fishing. That means I can catch special fish, and my bait is 50% more effective! I even got an increase in reputation from it. Even my intelligence and wisdom increased from it, so I can use my special fishing skills more! I’m pretty awesome, aren’t I?”<br><br> Roger munched on some clovers nearby. Tasty, tasty clovers.<br><br> The elf, noticing Roger wasn’t impressed, sighed. “Not even a rabbit is impressed. Maybe I should find some way to switch to a respectable profession like warrior… at least the 2000 health I got from Intermediate fishing will help with that.”<br><br> Shortly afterwards, the elf found himself on his back, with a rabbit staring down at his face. He sighed again. “Great, even a rabbit will beat me in combat. Maybe I should just start a new character.”<br><br> Roger wasn’t able to communicate clearly with the silly elf, but he tried to get his point across by going over to the fishing rod the elf had set up, then back to the elf. Still lying on his back, the elf said, “You want fish? You didn’t seem interested before… besides, I thought rabbits ate vegetables?”<br><br> This time, Roger picked up the fishing rod in his mouth at an awkward angle. As he stood on the stupid elf, he used his fighting spirit to show his displeasure in his stupid, wrong guess. The elf just lay there trembling. “P-please don’t kill me. You can take the fishing rod if you want it! Just let me live!”<br><br> When Roger got off him to get a better angle for trying to pantomime what he wanted, the elf ran away. This time it was Roger’s turn to sigh. He didn’t care about the stupid fishing rod. He didn’t feel inspired to chase after the stupid elf though. He would somehow learn how to fish on his own.<br><br> Roger looked at the things left behind by the elf. There was a bucket with fish and water in it. Perhaps this person ate fish alive? Anyway, there was also another bucket, filled with worms. On the end of the fishing line was a hook with a worm on it.<br><br> Roger first took the worm off the hook and put it in the bucket. This wasn’t easy, but apparently with skill he should be able to do so without getting holes in the worms, since none of the ones in the bucket had holes.<br><br> Roger moved on to the next step of fishing. He couldn’t get the fish out of the bucket, so he knocked it over. Then, he put the hook in the hole he found in the mouth of the fish. This was a complicated task that would have been impossible without opposable thumbs, except for his high agility. Finally, he dragged the fishing line over into the water and dropped the fish in. Then he waited. He wasn’t exactly sure what was supposed to happen. Would the fish turn into a worm? That seemed unlikely. Maybe it would just swim off and he could catch the worms separately somehow.<br><br> He didn’t feel he was making any progress on the fishing skill at all. He watched the water, and noticed there were already a lot of fish in the water. Maybe he was supposed to take the fish out of the water? Roger tried lifting the fish on the string in and out of the water a whole bunch of times, but he still didn’t gain the fishing skill or any proficiency with it. Eventually, the line broke and the fish swam off.<br><br> Roger tried to figure out what he was supposed to do. Then he remembered the bucket. Maybe the point was to get fish into a bucket. Roger picked up the bucket by its handle, and dragged it with him. It was very awkward to move with. He got into the water and started swimming towards the fish, but they swam away much faster than he could catch them, especially with the bucket pulling on the water and slowing him down. Then, suddenly, he was in the middle of the river, and the current was too strong. He lost his grip on the bucket and was spun around in the current. By the time he got himself oriented, his bucket was nowhere to be seen, and he was probably almost a mile down the river.<br>*Ding*<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained the Swimming skill!<br><br>You can swim faster, and it takes less stamina.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained the Hold Breath skill!<br><br>You can hold your breath for longer, and don’t need to breathe as often.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Roger had accidentally picked up two skills on his adventure. He slogged back up the river towards the remaining bucket and fishing pole. He had no idea how to operate the fishing pole. Maybe fishing was really just catching worms and putting them in a bucket. <br><br> Roger tried his second method by digging holes in the soft, wet dirt near the river. He found quite a few earthworms, and put them in the bucket. He didn’t gain the fishing skill, but he got yet another one.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained the Dig skill!<br><br>You can dig faster, and it takes less stamina. At higher levels you will be able to construct structures out of dirt.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Roger thought this last skill would be quite useful if he decided to make a burrow. He hadn’t been old enough to construct one of his own when he started his “adventuring career”.<br><br> Roger decided to try one last thing to learn fishing. He couldn’t get fish in the bucket by dragging it in the water with him, but he might still be able to fulfill the purpose of getting fish in the bucket. He dumped the worms into the water and filled the bucket. While normally it would be impossible for a rabbit to lift a bucket full of water, Roger had very little problem doing so.<br><br> Roger then dove into the water and chased after fish. He was much quicker without the bucket dragging him back, but the fish were better swimmers. He couldn’t get close enough to them to do anything to get them out of the river. Roger felt he was able to catch them, and didn’t give up. He slowly increased his Swimming and Hold Breath skills, and slightly before sunset they were beginner level two. Just as it hit twilight, Roger’s nighttime stats came into effect, and he was able to catch up to a fish, even pass it, and using his hind legs, he kicked it out of the water. It even ended up on the correct side of the river. He put it in the bucket.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained the Fishing skill!<br><br>You will never be hungry* if you happen to be near a major source of water. You can get water and food* in rivers, lakes and seas. With each level of fishing gained your health will increase.<br><br>*Since you cannot digest meat, this does not apply to you.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>--------------------------<br> The Beast was happy to learn the fishing skill finally, but he had more important things to do now. He rushed off into the deeper parts of the forest to find more goblins.<br><br> In a way, he was slower in hunting because he couldn’t use stamina so carelessly as when Arasel was ready to feed him. However, it was also faster in a way because he didn’t have to wait for Cael’van to pull the monsters, or for Lailam to regenerate her mana. Plus, this way he got all the experience to himself. Well, except for the 20% that still went to Lailam.<br><br> As he got to the deepest parts of the forest, the number of goblins in each group started to be more than he could handle alone. After a particularly risky battle, The Beast decided to create traps for the goblins. Although he didn’t have many options for how to do this, he could dig pits to make it harder for them to reach him. From digging the holes, Roger got increases to his stamina and strength.<br><br> The pits worked, to some extent. Although the goblins rarely fell in, they had to walk between them to get to The Beast. This meant they had to fight him in smaller numbers again. <br><br> As a nice side effect of digging pits, he often found some tasty roots to eat. This helped him keep his satiety full, without having to leave the forest to go find clovers or carrots.<br><br> In the morning, the party was back online. Roger rejoined them quickly, with his innate knowledge of where Lailam was. He really preferred having buffs and hand fed carrots.<br><br>End Chapter 7: Riverdance. </div>

The Beast Chapter 7: Riverdance A Royal Road Fan Fiction… of sorts By Halosty “You know you’ll never level up fishing if you don’t have a fishing pole, little rabbit.” These were the first words that Roger heard the elf by the river speak. Roger thought this elf was obviously crazy. Why would a rabbit want to level up in fishing. He generally knew what fishing was, and he saw no point. It was a waste of time that didn’t make him stronger. He didn’t care for that. Roger tilted his head in an inquisitive fashion. Maybe there was something he was missing about fishing. “Actually, little rabbit, I’ve recently obtained Intermediate level fishing. That means I can catch special fish, and my bait is 50% more effective! I even got an increase in reputation from it. Even my intelligence and wisdom increased from it, so I can use my special fishing skills more! I’m pretty awesome, aren’t I?” Roger munched on some clovers nearby. Tasty, tasty clovers. The elf, noticing Roger wasn’t impressed, sighed. “Not even a rabbit is impressed. Maybe I should find some way to switch to a respectable profession like warrior… at least the 2000 health I got from Intermediate fishing will help with that.” Shortly afterwards, the elf found himself on his back, with a rabbit staring down at his face. He sighed again. “Great, even a rabbit will beat me in combat. Maybe I should just start a new character.” Roger wasn’t able to communicate clearly with the silly elf, but he tried to get his point across by going over to the fishing rod the elf had set up, then back to the elf. Still lying on his back, the elf said, “You want fish? You didn’t seem interested before… besides, I thought rabbits ate vegetables?” This time, Roger picked up the fishing rod in his mouth at an awkward angle. As he stood on the stupid elf, he used his fighting spirit to show his displeasure in his stupid, wrong guess. The elf just lay there trembling. “P-please don’t kill me. You can take the fishing rod if you want it! Just let me live!” When Roger got off him to get a better angle for trying to pantomime what he wanted, the elf ran away. This time it was Roger’s turn to sigh. He didn’t care about the stupid fishing rod. He didn’t feel inspired to chase after the stupid elf though. He would somehow learn how to fish on his own. Roger looked at the things left behind by the elf. There was a bucket with fish and water in it. Perhaps this person ate fish alive? Anyway, there was also another bucket, filled with worms. On the end of the fishing line was a hook with a worm on it. Roger first took the worm off the hook and put it in the bucket. This wasn’t easy, but apparently with skill he should be able to do so without getting holes in the worms, since none of the ones in the bucket had holes. Roger moved on to the next step of fishing. He couldn’t get the fish out of the bucket, so he knocked it over. Then, he put the hook in the hole he found in the mouth of the fish. This was a complicated task that would have been impossible without opposable thumbs, except for his high agility. Finally, he dragged the fishing line over into the water and dropped the fish in. Then he waited. He wasn’t exactly sure what was supposed to happen. Would the fish turn into a worm? That seemed unlikely. Maybe it would just swim off and he could catch the worms separately somehow. He didn’t feel he was making any progress on the fishing skill at all. He watched the water, and noticed there were already a lot of fish in the water. Maybe he was supposed to take the fish out of the water? Roger tried lifting the fish on the string in and out of the water a whole bunch of times, but he still didn’t gain the fishing skill or any proficiency with it. Eventually, the line broke and the fish swam off. Roger tried to figure out what he was supposed to do. Then he remembered the bucket. Maybe the point was to get fish into a bucket. Roger picked up the bucket by its handle, and dragged it with him. It was very awkward to move with. He got into the water and started swimming towards the fish, but they swam away much faster than he could catch them, especially with the bucket pulling on the water and slowing him down. Then, suddenly, he was in the middle of the river, and the current was too strong. He lost his grip on the bucket and was spun around in the current. By the time he got himself oriented, his bucket was nowhere to be seen, and he was probably almost a mile down the river. *Ding* | You have gained the Swimming skill!You can swim faster, and it takes less stamina. | | --- | | You have gained the Hold Breath skill!You can hold your breath for longer, and don’t need to breathe as often. | | --- | Roger had accidentally picked up two skills on his adventure. He slogged back up the river towards the remaining bucket and fishing pole. He had no idea how to operate the fishing pole. Maybe fishing was really just catching worms and putting them in a bucket. Roger tried his second method by digging holes in the soft, wet dirt near the river. He found quite a few earthworms, and put them in the bucket. He didn’t gain the fishing skill, but he got yet another one. | You have gained the Dig skill!You can dig faster, and it takes less stamina. At higher levels you will be able to construct structures out of dirt. | | --- | Roger thought this last skill would be quite useful if he decided to make a burrow. He hadn’t been old enough to construct one of his own when he started his “adventuring career”. Roger decided to try one last thing to learn fishing. He couldn’t get fish in the bucket by dragging it in the water with him, but he might still be able to fulfill the purpose of getting fish in the bucket. He dumped the worms into the water and filled the bucket. While normally it would be impossible for a rabbit to lift a bucket full of water, Roger had very little problem doing so. Roger then dove into the water and chased after fish. He was much quicker without the bucket dragging him back, but the fish were better swimmers. He couldn’t get close enough to them to do anything to get them out of the river. Roger felt he was able to catch them, and didn’t give up. He slowly increased his Swimming and Hold Breath skills, and slightly before sunset they were beginner level two. Just as it hit twilight, Roger’s nighttime stats came into effect, and he was able to catch up to a fish, even pass it, and using his hind legs, he kicked it out of the water. It even ended up on the correct side of the river. He put it in the bucket. | You have gained the Fishing skill!You will never be hungry* if you happen to be near a major source of water. You can get water and food* in rivers, lakes and seas. With each level of fishing gained your health will increase.*Since you cannot digest meat, this does not apply to you. | | --- | -------------------------- The Beast was happy to learn the fishing skill finally, but he had more important things to do now. He rushed off into the deeper parts of the forest to find more goblins. In a way, he was slower in hunting because he couldn’t use stamina so carelessly as when Arasel was ready to feed him. However, it was also faster in a way because he didn’t have to wait for Cael’van to pull the monsters, or for Lailam to regenerate her mana. Plus, this way he got all the experience to himself. Well, except for the 20% that still went to Lailam. As he got to the deepest parts of the forest, the number of goblins in each group started to be more than he could handle alone. After a particularly risky battle, The Beast decided to create traps for the goblins. Although he didn’t have many options for how to do this, he could dig pits to make it harder for them to reach him. From digging the holes, Roger got increases to his stamina and strength. The pits worked, to some extent. Although the goblins rarely fell in, they had to walk between them to get to The Beast. This meant they had to fight him in smaller numbers again. As a nice side effect of digging pits, he often found some tasty roots to eat. This helped him keep his satiety full, without having to leave the forest to go find clovers or carrots. In the morning, the party was back online. Roger rejoined them quickly, with his innate knowledge of where Lailam was. He really preferred having buffs and hand fed carrots. End Chapter 7: Riverdance.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> “So why me?” Lee Jun asked as he watched with boredom the scenery in the distance being left behind. <br><br>“…” Ji Woo didn’t answer back immediately. She was about to reply that she had been watching him forever….but then that would only sound so misleading. “Because you gave in so easily.”<br><br>Lee Jun turned and looked at her with skepticism. He understood somethings better than others. This was one of them. She probably took pity on him and thoughtlessly helped him, like when a little child tries to help a stray pup.<br><br>“I mean that you were being bullied and didn’t try resisting! Why didn’t you try resisting them!”<br><br>“You don’t know anything.” Lee Jun said as he turned away, he wasn’t really watching the scenery. His eyes were slightly dilated while he was lost in thoughts. The situation could still be salvaged. If he apologizes to Sam next week everything could go back to being normal…or at the very least the punishment won’t be as severe.<br><br>“I know you are a coward!” Ji Woo snapped. She was being nice and kind. She even went out of her war to help Lee Jun and this is how she was being thanked! She wouldn’t accept it.<br><br>“…” Lee Jun didn’t argue back. He could coolly analyze the situation and agree with her statement. He was indeed a coward. “I agree.” He replied his voice was steady not flowing with any emotion. It wasn’t cold either nor did it sound like a weakling giving in. It was just him in his most rationale of senses.<br><br>However, to a young outsider like Ji Woo, it had quite the opposite effect. She ended up thinking she bullied Lee Jun into agreeing with her.<br><br>“I didn’t mean it like that!” She replied while slightly flustered.<br><br>“Everything about the real world is unfair, so is it so wrong to be afraid of such a scary world?” Lee Jun asked while completely absorbed in his thoughts. He wasn’t even aware that he spoke out aloud his thoughts.<br><br>“…” Ji Woo had no reply. She felt that question had a more deeper meaning to it and it was something that just completely over her. As she stared at Lee Jun, her chest tightened in pain. Was it the painful look his eyes that she felt? Or something else? She did not know. She just wanted to hug him. <br><br>“Do we have the choice to choose whom we can be born to, or where or to what circumstances. All this is unfairly decided without our consultation.” Lee Jun grimly smirked. <br><br>Troubled by the darkness in Lee Jun’s heart Ji Woo searched for a retort, “Destiny is something we can created with our strength! Even if we are born into unfair circumstances, we can overcome it with our strength.”<br><br>“…” Lee Jun kept quiet. He really felt he was talking to a wall. ‘Where does that never ending flow of optimist thought come from’ He wondered.<br><br>“Have you heard of Lee Hyun?” Ji Woo asked Lee Jun.<br><br>Lee Jun looked at her suspiciously and nodded. He didn’t think that people took interest in developers anymore, no less an individual. Royal Road Elementarem Vim was an unpopular Korean game, if people knew the game title, he would consider it a big deal but to know the name of the developer is something else altogether… ‘Maybe this isn’t an ordinary girl?’ Lee Jun thought to himself. ‘Maybe she is some sort of VR gaming otaku?’ <br><br>“Not many people know this but he did not have parents from young. He had an ailing grandmother and sister to look after. He worked from a young age to look after them and do you know what he has accomplished?” Ji Woo proudly went on. “He is CEO of Unicorn Corp. He became strong with his own strength. He wrote his own destiny!” There was a certain romantic look in her eyes every time she referred to Lee Hyun. <br><br>“…” Lee Jun had to hand it to her she just used an ace card. Lee Hyun was one of his role models, so this information wasn’t a secret to him; he dug up everything he could about Lee Hyun as stalker would. However, he could not see himself being another Lee Hyun. Not in this world, at least in RREV he had a chance. <br><br>“And what if you could never become strong? What if you are born weak?” Lee Jun asked, his expression revealed his apathy.<br><br>“Everyone is born weak. You just have to become stronger. How can you not become stronger.” Ji Woo coolly replied. Her dojo taught her more than just physical training. Training of the spirit was considered equally important. She had the some of the same questions Lee Jun did and through training she found the answers. She was more than happy to share her knowledge with someone so similar to her.<br><br>“You keep saying become stronger, so what is strength?” Lee Jun was past brooding over the past. Once he reached the conclusion that there was nothing that can be done about spilt milk, he decided to question Ji Woo’s mental optimism and break it down as punishment.<br><br>“Master said it’s something we must find out for ourselves and that not all answers can be spoon fed. So my definition of strength might not be the strength you are looking for.” <br><br>Lee Jun expressions eased and he smiled at Ji Woo. He was satisfied with her response. Most of the people he met would impose their ideals on to others eliminating free thought. However, this answer seemed most appropriate to him. ‘Strength is something I must discover myself. What an interesting thought.’ <br>It had been a long time since he had smiled, his muscles almost hurt as he did. It had been a longer while that he found himself with someone he was comfortable with. Lee Jun wasn’t sure whether he could consider her a friend as yet, but he did know she wasn’t an enemy…though at the very least she was an idiot who would interfere in anyone’s life.<br><br>Seeing Lee Jun’s smile, eased Ji Woo too. She was finding it extremely difficult to encourage him and keep him away from depressing thoughts. “So why did you agree to come?” She asked slowly.<br><br>Lee Jun’s face turned red in embarrassment. He didn’t know how to tell Ji Woo that she was so strong that he could not break away from her grip and ended up being dragged into the taxi with her.<br>Ji Woo gave Lee Jun a perplexed looked. She did not understand Lee Jun.<br><br>“So this is it….” Lee Jun looked through the window of the taxi as it came to a halt outside two large wooden doors. <br><br>After paying the cab, they entered the dojang. Lee Jun had to wait for Ji Woo to push the door open as it was too heavy for him to push. Ji Woo didn’t notice that though, she just thought Lee Jun was being polite.<br><br>As they entered the dojang, Lee Jun saw many muscular men training inside. Some were practicing punches against a wooden pole and others were practicing balance on a single leg while standing on a pole. With their rhythmic and synchronized movements, they could have passed off as a circus had it not been for their bulging muscles and scars.<br><br>“They look like delinquents…” Lee Jun lowered his voice as he began to regret his decision to come here.<br><br>"Shhh" Ji Woo elbowed him in the torso. “I’ll go look for master." Ji Woo said as she ditched him. She handed him the new members form from the administration office and left him near the gate.<br><br>Lee Jun began regretting this. He looked completely out of place. Everyone present looked at least four to five years older than him. He began wondering if this was his funeral grounds where he would be buried. All the practitioners looked like they could make Tall Sam squeak like a mouse. Then what about him? He would be considered no more than an ant to them. Would he be squashed like an insignificant bug that hits the windscreen of a moving car only to be wiped of the wipers? As his imagination grew wild, the Dojang started looking less like a dojang and more like a bully haven. Suddenly, the rhythmic punches sounded a lot louder than they were. It was as if they were pounding the pole harder to send a message to him; that they would pound him hard like this.<br><br>As Lee Jun turned back and headed towards the exit. He heard a voice calling out behind him “Who are you?” Lee turned around to find a particularly nasty looking person calling out to him. The person was an instructor who had been watching Lee Jun since the time he entered the dojang with Ji Woo.<br><br>The man looked down at Lee Jun’s hand and saw the new members form. “OH, YOU MUST BE A NEW DISCIPLE TOO LET’S GO GREET THE MASTER!” The man shouted in a loud voice as he grabbed Lee Jun’s hand. He desperately looked around for Ji Woo but she was nowhere to be seen. <br><br>“Master I brought us a new disciple!” the person shouted as he excitedly dragged Lee towards the middle of the dojang.<br><br>Four elderly muscular men dressed in plain white keikogi stared at Lee Jun with rage. They too had been watching Lee Jun ever since he entered the dojang with their precious Ji Woo. There was anger in their eyes that Lee Jun did not comprehend, scarring the living wits out of Lee Jun. It wasn't just the masters but other practitioners too! Lee Jun could feel the killing intent of their gaze against his back. 'Why me!?'<br><br>Like a lost and frightened lamb that instinctively knew it was in danger of being killed by a ferocious predator at that moment all that was going through Lee Jun’s mind was “I’m screwed”.<br><br><br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. muahahahahaha....<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1300" target="_blank">Yes</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

“So why me?” Lee Jun asked as he watched with boredom the scenery in the distance being left behind. “…” Ji Woo didn’t answer back immediately. She was about to reply that she had been watching him forever….but then that would only sound so misleading. “Because you gave in so easily.” Lee Jun turned and looked at her with skepticism. He understood somethings better than others. This was one of them. She probably took pity on him and thoughtlessly helped him, like when a little child tries to help a stray pup. “I mean that you were being bullied and didn’t try resisting! Why didn’t you try resisting them!” “You don’t know anything.” Lee Jun said as he turned away, he wasn’t really watching the scenery. His eyes were slightly dilated while he was lost in thoughts. The situation could still be salvaged. If he apologizes to Sam next week everything could go back to being normal…or at the very least the punishment won’t be as severe. “I know you are a coward!” Ji Woo snapped. She was being nice and kind. She even went out of her war to help Lee Jun and this is how she was being thanked! She wouldn’t accept it. “…” Lee Jun didn’t argue back. He could coolly analyze the situation and agree with her statement. He was indeed a coward. “I agree.” He replied his voice was steady not flowing with any emotion. It wasn’t cold either nor did it sound like a weakling giving in. It was just him in his most rationale of senses. However, to a young outsider like Ji Woo, it had quite the opposite effect. She ended up thinking she bullied Lee Jun into agreeing with her. “I didn’t mean it like that!” She replied while slightly flustered. “Everything about the real world is unfair, so is it so wrong to be afraid of such a scary world?” Lee Jun asked while completely absorbed in his thoughts. He wasn’t even aware that he spoke out aloud his thoughts. “…” Ji Woo had no reply. She felt that question had a more deeper meaning to it and it was something that just completely over her. As she stared at Lee Jun, her chest tightened in pain. Was it the painful look his eyes that she felt? Or something else? She did not know. She just wanted to hug him. “Do we have the choice to choose whom we can be born to, or where or to what circumstances. All this is unfairly decided without our consultation.” Lee Jun grimly smirked. Troubled by the darkness in Lee Jun’s heart Ji Woo searched for a retort, “Destiny is something we can created with our strength! Even if we are born into unfair circumstances, we can overcome it with our strength.” “…” Lee Jun kept quiet. He really felt he was talking to a wall. ‘Where does that never ending flow of optimist thought come from’ He wondered. “Have you heard of Lee Hyun?” Ji Woo asked Lee Jun. Lee Jun looked at her suspiciously and nodded. He didn’t think that people took interest in developers anymore, no less an individual. Royal Road Elementarem Vim was an unpopular Korean game, if people knew the game title, he would consider it a big deal but to know the name of the developer is something else altogether… ‘Maybe this isn’t an ordinary girl?’ Lee Jun thought to himself. ‘Maybe she is some sort of VR gaming otaku?’ “Not many people know this but he did not have parents from young. He had an ailing grandmother and sister to look after. He worked from a young age to look after them and do you know what he has accomplished?” Ji Woo proudly went on. “He is CEO of Unicorn Corp. He became strong with his own strength. He wrote his own destiny!” There was a certain romantic look in her eyes every time she referred to Lee Hyun. “…” Lee Jun had to hand it to her she just used an ace card. Lee Hyun was one of his role models, so this information wasn’t a secret to him; he dug up everything he could about Lee Hyun as stalker would. However, he could not see himself being another Lee Hyun. Not in this world, at least in RREV he had a chance. “And what if you could never become strong? What if you are born weak?” Lee Jun asked, his expression revealed his apathy. “Everyone is born weak. You just have to become stronger. How can you not become stronger.” Ji Woo coolly replied. Her dojo taught her more than just physical training. Training of the spirit was considered equally important. She had the some of the same questions Lee Jun did and through training she found the answers. She was more than happy to share her knowledge with someone so similar to her. “You keep saying become stronger, so what is strength?” Lee Jun was past brooding over the past. Once he reached the conclusion that there was nothing that can be done about spilt milk, he decided to question Ji Woo’s mental optimism and break it down as punishment. “Master said it’s something we must find out for ourselves and that not all answers can be spoon fed. So my definition of strength might not be the strength you are looking for.” Lee Jun expressions eased and he smiled at Ji Woo. He was satisfied with her response. Most of the people he met would impose their ideals on to others eliminating free thought. However, this answer seemed most appropriate to him. ‘Strength is something I must discover myself. What an interesting thought.’ It had been a long time since he had smiled, his muscles almost hurt as he did. It had been a longer while that he found himself with someone he was comfortable with. Lee Jun wasn’t sure whether he could consider her a friend as yet, but he did know she wasn’t an enemy…though at the very least she was an idiot who would interfere in anyone’s life. Seeing Lee Jun’s smile, eased Ji Woo too. She was finding it extremely difficult to encourage him and keep him away from depressing thoughts. “So why did you agree to come?” She asked slowly. Lee Jun’s face turned red in embarrassment. He didn’t know how to tell Ji Woo that she was so strong that he could not break away from her grip and ended up being dragged into the taxi with her. Ji Woo gave Lee Jun a perplexed looked. She did not understand Lee Jun. “So this is it….” Lee Jun looked through the window of the taxi as it came to a halt outside two large wooden doors. After paying the cab, they entered the dojang. Lee Jun had to wait for Ji Woo to push the door open as it was too heavy for him to push. Ji Woo didn’t notice that though, she just thought Lee Jun was being polite. As they entered the dojang, Lee Jun saw many muscular men training inside. Some were practicing punches against a wooden pole and others were practicing balance on a single leg while standing on a pole. With their rhythmic and synchronized movements, they could have passed off as a circus had it not been for their bulging muscles and scars. “They look like delinquents…” Lee Jun lowered his voice as he began to regret his decision to come here. "Shhh" Ji Woo elbowed him in the torso. “I’ll go look for master." Ji Woo said as she ditched him. She handed him the new members form from the administration office and left him near the gate. Lee Jun began regretting this. He looked completely out of place. Everyone present looked at least four to five years older than him. He began wondering if this was his funeral grounds where he would be buried. All the practitioners looked like they could make Tall Sam squeak like a mouse. Then what about him? He would be considered no more than an ant to them. Would he be squashed like an insignificant bug that hits the windscreen of a moving car only to be wiped of the wipers? As his imagination grew wild, the Dojang started looking less like a dojang and more like a bully haven. Suddenly, the rhythmic punches sounded a lot louder than they were. It was as if they were pounding the pole harder to send a message to him; that they would pound him hard like this. As Lee Jun turned back and headed towards the exit. He heard a voice calling out behind him “Who are you?” Lee turned around to find a particularly nasty looking person calling out to him. The person was an instructor who had been watching Lee Jun since the time he entered the dojang with Ji Woo. The man looked down at Lee Jun’s hand and saw the new members form. “OH, YOU MUST BE A NEW DISCIPLE TOO LET’S GO GREET THE MASTER!” The man shouted in a loud voice as he grabbed Lee Jun’s hand. He desperately looked around for Ji Woo but she was nowhere to be seen. “Master I brought us a new disciple!” the person shouted as he excitedly dragged Lee towards the middle of the dojang. Four elderly muscular men dressed in plain white keikogi stared at Lee Jun with rage. They too had been watching Lee Jun ever since he entered the dojang with their precious Ji Woo. There was anger in their eyes that Lee Jun did not comprehend, scarring the living wits out of Lee Jun. It wasn't just the masters but other practitioners too! Lee Jun could feel the killing intent of their gaze against his back. 'Why me!?' Like a lost and frightened lamb that instinctively knew it was in danger of being killed by a ferocious predator at that moment all that was going through Lee Jun’s mind was “I’m screwed”. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. muahahahahaha.... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Yes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1300) | | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Necromancer<br>A Royal Road Fan Fiction<br>By: Halosty<br>Chapter 25<br><br> Angelo grudgingly entered the Moaning Mines again. This was, unfortunately, the best place nearby for players in this level range to level. The party prepared for a slow, painful trek through the dungeon, as the previous days had been.<br><br> After a time, the party began to notice a difference. It was slight at first. There were less traps than they had remembered, but that could have just been because their minds exaggerated the “around every corner”. There may have been fewer ghosts, but with no indication of where they might spawn, it was hard to tell if it was just the path they took. The final indicator that something was different, however, was that the ghosts were behaving differently. It was very little, but there was a small hesitation in their movements. It was as if they were afraid of something. This was, of course, a ridiculous idea. Ghosts weren’t afraid of anything.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> The first thing Quietus tested after his fight with The Cursed Archer was the Dark Arrow spell. It was relatively hard to aim, but Quietus knew he would get used to it eventually. It wouldn’t be in this dungeon, however. This was simply because ghosts seemed to be immune to it. Whether they were in their normal incorporeal state or under the effect of Soul Bind, the arrows of darkness alternatively passed through them or broke apart upon contact, inflicting no damage. There was another reason he didn’t practice it too thoroughly. Like his Dark Hand spell, there was a jolt of pain when he used it. Although it was short, he wasn’t really fond of pain.<br><br> The normal ghosts were no longer a challenge of any sort, once he stopped wasting mana on Dark Arrow. Instead, he used Soul Bind and Snakebite. The ghosts were not prepared to fight in a vulnerable state, and most of them quickly perished. Once he made the ghosts fight on his terms, the fight was trivial.<br><br> Quietus continued to find and disarm what traps there were. He was getting pretty good at it. In fact…<br><br>*ding*<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have reached Intermediate level in the Search Skill!<br><br>-You now have a small chance to find nearby traps based on the level of the trap and your Search skill.<br>-5% less damage taken from traps.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br> <br> As he explored the dungeon, Quietus started encountering ghosts in small groups. They always attempted to ambush him from two, or possibly three sides. He had to start straining himself to listen at all times.<br><br> He could still defeat the ghosts, but it took longer than he would have liked. He couldn’t kill any one of them as quickly when they were in a group, because he had to watch out for attacks from behind and because he had to use more mana at once to make them all Soul Bound. He may have been in trouble if the ghosts came in larger groups… or had any sense of teamwork beyond attacking from different directions. They all attacked at different times, but still in fairly predictable patterns. Quietus didn’t even die finding that out.<br><br> Quietus also learned a very interesting thing about Soul Bind. After killing around twenty ghosts using Soul Bind, he would obtain an increase in a seemingly random statistic. At the same time, Sadism always was increased as well. He was curious to see how long this would keep happening, so he made sure to kill every ghost he saw.<br><br> Of course, he was still looking for the named ghosts. If Quietus had a map, or even any hint at to where they were, he would have found them much sooner. Instead, he had to wait until he stumbled upon them, like the first.<br><br> Since he did avoid traversing the same tunnels repeatedly, he eventually came across a ghost named The Tormented Murderer. He could only assume it would have some kind of unknown special ability.<br><br> Quietus got as close as he could before it noticed him. Ghosts had very good senses, which bothered him.<br><br> Quietus used Soul Bind just as it turned around. The first attempt failed. He only rarely failed to use it, even at his low proficiency, because it was also tied to Dark Magic Mastery. Of course it would fail at the most important time.<br><br> Although he was still about fifteen feet away from the miniboss, it raised a claw as if to swing it at him. He prepared to dodge any projectile it might throw at him. The claw swept down, but Quietus saw nothing. He did, however, feel an attack from behind, which took out about a quarter of his health.<br><br> He turned around to look, but there was nothing there. By the time he had turned back to The Tormented Murderer, it was right in front of him. Quietus retreated from its attack, he needed to take a potion since he had taken such damage early in the fight. This time, he was ready for the claw swiping down, and even though he sensed nothing, he dodged to the side. He was barely grazed on his shoulder.<br><br> Quietus used Soul Bind again, and this time it succeeded. Quietus was quickly back in melee range, which unfortunately seemed to be the favored distance of The Tormented Murderer.<br><br> Quietus relatively easily dodged the clawed hand that swiped at him, countering with a Snakebite of his own. He dodged to the side of the claw he knew was coming down from behind.<br><br> This time, however, even though the hand that made the motion did a vertical slash, the attack came from the side. Quietus was lucky enough to have picked the direction away from the attack to dodge, but he still took a significant hit with the followthrough.<br> Quietus wasn’t sure how he would dodge an attack that he didn’t know which direction it would come from. He looked around to see if there were any obstacles. Thankfully, the floor here was reasonably smooth, at least compared to some of the tunnels.<br><br> After moving in for the next attack, Quietus avoided the attack that he could watch, and got in some quick slashes. Then, he dodged the attack he knew was coming from somewhere by activating Backslide.<br><br> This was when he first saw the floating hand. Then, it vanished. Not that he thought it was gone for long. Quietus knew that whenever an attack was made, the hand would appear just before.<br><br> Quietus went in for a repeat of the same action. Named monsters learned tactics much more quickly than other monsters, and thus when Quietus used Backslide, he was still hit. Although the placing of the attack had been a little off, he knew the next time it would have the distance correct. One weakness of Backslide is he always went straight back, and always the same number of steps.<br><br> So, Quietus improvised. This time, when he dodged he rapidly twisted his body first. This let him avoid the attack by changing the direction he went. Of course, with the rapid twist and quick backwards steps, he was sent rolling across the floor. He was prepared for that though. The next time, he had better control of his balance.<br><br> The time after that, he was out of mana. He drank a mana potion he had made, but unfortunately the effects took some time to recover his mana enough. He managed to avoid the ghost’s attacks by moving quick circles around it, as well as slashing at its sides. It was effective, but it consumed a lot of stamina. He barely kept it up long enough to recover a good portion of his mana.<br><br> Now, The Tormented Murderer was at barely a sliver of health, and Quietus at around 15%. Quietus went with a final series of Snakebites. He avoided the first claw attack, and somehow dodged the one from behind. This would have been perfect, except it took him into the path of the actual attack, which the floating hand was just following.<br><br> 10% of Quietus’ health was gone. He slashed with Snakebite as quick as he could, using the last of his mana. Then, as a claw came towards his face, his final, regular attack hit.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have leveled up!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Before Quietus distributed stat points, or read his next message window, he quickly pulled out some health potions. He barely drank them in time to stop himself from dying due to bleedout. He would need to make some more soon.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>The Tormented Murderer has been bound!<br><br>You have learned:<br>Specral Hand<br>Creates a spectral hand at a distance. The hand can do anything that yours could do, although there is a lack of tactile feedback.<br>Mana cost: 10 per second.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Quietus tested the ability right away. What could he do with it? All his spells were cast with a single hand, so they should work. He created a spectral hand in front of him, and watched it move in response to his actions. The arrow was even less accurate than from his physical hand. He had created the spectral hand at a slight angle to his own, and it rotated accordingly. It was even worse when he tried with the hand facing towards himself. He meant to shoot a good five feet to his left, but managed to hit himself. It hurt. Still, Quietus was glad that the initial castings of it didn’t hurt. This would be very useful, once he could handle it. Currently, the furthest he could make it appear was ten feet away, although it could move a bit further if he concentrated on it.<br><br> Quietus went through several more rooms with regular ghosts.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Strength Rises by 1 point! (+1 STR)</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Well, at least he didn’t have to increase his strength with points from a level up. He still preferred those to go to other areas.<br><br> As the inevitable passage of time would have it, Quietus finally found the third named spirit. This one was just called The Lonely Doctor. It looked a bit smaller and weaker than the other two.<br><br> Quietus’ Soul Bind was effective on the first use, and he rushed in to attack it. Surprisingly, he got in some hits, and the ghost didn’t even retaliate, it just retreated back some.<br> <br> Then, Quietus heard rumbling. The ground was shaking. Then, something grabbed his ankle. Soon after that, his other ankle. Shortly after that, Quietus was surrounded by zombies. Then…<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have died!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>End Chapter 25<br><br>Previous Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1247&amp;p=7277#p7277"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1247&amp;p=7277#p7277&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt;<br>Next Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1291"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1291&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt; </div>

Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 25 Angelo grudgingly entered the Moaning Mines again. This was, unfortunately, the best place nearby for players in this level range to level. The party prepared for a slow, painful trek through the dungeon, as the previous days had been. After a time, the party began to notice a difference. It was slight at first. There were less traps than they had remembered, but that could have just been because their minds exaggerated the “around every corner”. There may have been fewer ghosts, but with no indication of where they might spawn, it was hard to tell if it was just the path they took. The final indicator that something was different, however, was that the ghosts were behaving differently. It was very little, but there was a small hesitation in their movements. It was as if they were afraid of something. This was, of course, a ridiculous idea. Ghosts weren’t afraid of anything. -------------------------- The first thing Quietus tested after his fight with The Cursed Archer was the Dark Arrow spell. It was relatively hard to aim, but Quietus knew he would get used to it eventually. It wouldn’t be in this dungeon, however. This was simply because ghosts seemed to be immune to it. Whether they were in their normal incorporeal state or under the effect of Soul Bind, the arrows of darkness alternatively passed through them or broke apart upon contact, inflicting no damage. There was another reason he didn’t practice it too thoroughly. Like his Dark Hand spell, there was a jolt of pain when he used it. Although it was short, he wasn’t really fond of pain. The normal ghosts were no longer a challenge of any sort, once he stopped wasting mana on Dark Arrow. Instead, he used Soul Bind and Snakebite. The ghosts were not prepared to fight in a vulnerable state, and most of them quickly perished. Once he made the ghosts fight on his terms, the fight was trivial. Quietus continued to find and disarm what traps there were. He was getting pretty good at it. In fact… *ding* | You have reached Intermediate level in the Search Skill!-You now have a small chance to find nearby traps based on the level of the trap and your Search skill.-5% less damage taken from traps. | | --- | As he explored the dungeon, Quietus started encountering ghosts in small groups. They always attempted to ambush him from two, or possibly three sides. He had to start straining himself to listen at all times. He could still defeat the ghosts, but it took longer than he would have liked. He couldn’t kill any one of them as quickly when they were in a group, because he had to watch out for attacks from behind and because he had to use more mana at once to make them all Soul Bound. He may have been in trouble if the ghosts came in larger groups… or had any sense of teamwork beyond attacking from different directions. They all attacked at different times, but still in fairly predictable patterns. Quietus didn’t even die finding that out. Quietus also learned a very interesting thing about Soul Bind. After killing around twenty ghosts using Soul Bind, he would obtain an increase in a seemingly random statistic. At the same time, Sadism always was increased as well. He was curious to see how long this would keep happening, so he made sure to kill every ghost he saw. Of course, he was still looking for the named ghosts. If Quietus had a map, or even any hint at to where they were, he would have found them much sooner. Instead, he had to wait until he stumbled upon them, like the first. Since he did avoid traversing the same tunnels repeatedly, he eventually came across a ghost named The Tormented Murderer. He could only assume it would have some kind of unknown special ability. Quietus got as close as he could before it noticed him. Ghosts had very good senses, which bothered him. Quietus used Soul Bind just as it turned around. The first attempt failed. He only rarely failed to use it, even at his low proficiency, because it was also tied to Dark Magic Mastery. Of course it would fail at the most important time. Although he was still about fifteen feet away from the miniboss, it raised a claw as if to swing it at him. He prepared to dodge any projectile it might throw at him. The claw swept down, but Quietus saw nothing. He did, however, feel an attack from behind, which took out about a quarter of his health. He turned around to look, but there was nothing there. By the time he had turned back to The Tormented Murderer, it was right in front of him. Quietus retreated from its attack, he needed to take a potion since he had taken such damage early in the fight. This time, he was ready for the claw swiping down, and even though he sensed nothing, he dodged to the side. He was barely grazed on his shoulder. Quietus used Soul Bind again, and this time it succeeded. Quietus was quickly back in melee range, which unfortunately seemed to be the favored distance of The Tormented Murderer. Quietus relatively easily dodged the clawed hand that swiped at him, countering with a Snakebite of his own. He dodged to the side of the claw he knew was coming down from behind. This time, however, even though the hand that made the motion did a vertical slash, the attack came from the side. Quietus was lucky enough to have picked the direction away from the attack to dodge, but he still took a significant hit with the followthrough. Quietus wasn’t sure how he would dodge an attack that he didn’t know which direction it would come from. He looked around to see if there were any obstacles. Thankfully, the floor here was reasonably smooth, at least compared to some of the tunnels. After moving in for the next attack, Quietus avoided the attack that he could watch, and got in some quick slashes. Then, he dodged the attack he knew was coming from somewhere by activating Backslide. This was when he first saw the floating hand. Then, it vanished. Not that he thought it was gone for long. Quietus knew that whenever an attack was made, the hand would appear just before. Quietus went in for a repeat of the same action. Named monsters learned tactics much more quickly than other monsters, and thus when Quietus used Backslide, he was still hit. Although the placing of the attack had been a little off, he knew the next time it would have the distance correct. One weakness of Backslide is he always went straight back, and always the same number of steps. So, Quietus improvised. This time, when he dodged he rapidly twisted his body first. This let him avoid the attack by changing the direction he went. Of course, with the rapid twist and quick backwards steps, he was sent rolling across the floor. He was prepared for that though. The next time, he had better control of his balance. The time after that, he was out of mana. He drank a mana potion he had made, but unfortunately the effects took some time to recover his mana enough. He managed to avoid the ghost’s attacks by moving quick circles around it, as well as slashing at its sides. It was effective, but it consumed a lot of stamina. He barely kept it up long enough to recover a good portion of his mana. Now, The Tormented Murderer was at barely a sliver of health, and Quietus at around 15%. Quietus went with a final series of Snakebites. He avoided the first claw attack, and somehow dodged the one from behind. This would have been perfect, except it took him into the path of the actual attack, which the floating hand was just following. 10% of Quietus’ health was gone. He slashed with Snakebite as quick as he could, using the last of his mana. Then, as a claw came towards his face, his final, regular attack hit. | You have leveled up! | | --- | Before Quietus distributed stat points, or read his next message window, he quickly pulled out some health potions. He barely drank them in time to stop himself from dying due to bleedout. He would need to make some more soon. | The Tormented Murderer has been bound!You have learned:Specral HandCreates a spectral hand at a distance. The hand can do anything that yours could do, although there is a lack of tactile feedback.Mana cost: 10 per second. | | --- | Quietus tested the ability right away. What could he do with it? All his spells were cast with a single hand, so they should work. He created a spectral hand in front of him, and watched it move in response to his actions. The arrow was even less accurate than from his physical hand. He had created the spectral hand at a slight angle to his own, and it rotated accordingly. It was even worse when he tried with the hand facing towards himself. He meant to shoot a good five feet to his left, but managed to hit himself. It hurt. Still, Quietus was glad that the initial castings of it didn’t hurt. This would be very useful, once he could handle it. Currently, the furthest he could make it appear was ten feet away, although it could move a bit further if he concentrated on it. Quietus went through several more rooms with regular ghosts. | Strength Rises by 1 point! (+1 STR) | | --- | Well, at least he didn’t have to increase his strength with points from a level up. He still preferred those to go to other areas. As the inevitable passage of time would have it, Quietus finally found the third named spirit. This one was just called The Lonely Doctor. It looked a bit smaller and weaker than the other two. Quietus’ Soul Bind was effective on the first use, and he rushed in to attack it. Surprisingly, he got in some hits, and the ghost didn’t even retaliate, it just retreated back some. Then, Quietus heard rumbling. The ground was shaking. Then, something grabbed his ankle. Soon after that, his other ankle. Shortly after that, Quietus was surrounded by zombies. Then… | You have died! | | --- | End Chapter 25 Previous Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1247&p=7277#p7277">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1247&p=7277#p7277</a><!-- l --> Next Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1291">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1291</a><!-- l -->

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> "Where is he?" Vera asked in a shout barging in Monthu's house on whose side was the office.<br><br>The guy was already awake and eating breakfast but he didn't even turn her way. Aurora, a white haired cleric, answered instead of him. "Who are you looking for? If Hawk, he's away for the moment."<br><br>Vera didn't acknowledge her at all. She stomped straight towards Monthu and with a back of her hand hit his cup of tea spilling it. "Don't ignore me. Where is he?" she asked angrily.<br><br>Monthu looked sadly at his tea. Aurora had made it and it was quite good to wake him up in the morning. He might exchange coffee to tea if he got used to it more which seemed likely.<br><br>"Ech..." he sighed and finally raised his head towards the enraged female. She was a really annoying specimen. Usually he was polite and gentle towards the other gender but this one was able to show all the bad qualities. He saw nothing in her he could respect or admire like in others. There was just no way he could care about her feelings and being more fragile. "Who do you have in mind?" he asked off-handedly standing up and not giving her a second glance.<br><br>"Who do you think, bastard? Where did you hide Ang? You know I have the bigger army, right? And I'm not afraid to use it" she said trying to make him look at her by catching his arm but Monthu didn't budge.<br><br>"Wasn't he supposed to stay at your place? Par went to him there."<br><br>"Like hell he did! Ang went to him near the midnight!"<br><br>Monthu was having a bad feeling about that. His brother would never do anything stupid but if Ace was with him... everything was possible. And that guy even taught his brother to lie. Although it's no surprise Ace was so adept at it having lived with this witch all his life.<br><br>He wasn't really too afraid. The kid might have many bad qualities and was a horrible influence, he had never hurt his brother. That gave him a few more hours until a search would be warranted and Ace burned like sorcerer for stealing youth.<br><br>"Tell me! Where did you hide him?" Vera asked running in front of him and glaring but he just walked around her as if she was a random pillar.<br><br>"Par is with him. They'll be back soon enough."<br><br>"What do you mean soon enough? Where are they?" she asked huffing angrily, no longer sure how to gain his attention. It had never happened before. Usually the guys were eager to follow her every word.<br><br>"Who knows? They're kids like you clearly said before." Monthu said entering his office and letting two warriors in. They looked very uncertain being in a presence of the shouting female. "Come in and state your business" Monthu said not giving them a choice.<br><br>"With the addition of a hundred hungry mouths we're running out of food again, sir. What should we do?" The female smiled like a winner. He would have to send more players away becoming defenseless or ask for her help. Either way he'll be in her power.<br><br>Monthu thought for a moment and wrote a few numbers in his notes scattered over a table. "Tell the 5th and 7th divisions to come back and send the rangers. We're almost finished here so they can exercise in the open space. The survivors should have some work for them too" he said calmly making the female clench her teeth. He wasn't going down easily but it was going to cost him. How much more could rangers hunt down than swordsman?<br><br>"Yes, general" the guy said bowing a goodbye to Vera and saluting Monthu. The soldiers had quickly adapted to using such words and gestures because it was more fun. They could pretend that they were really in an army and had fought in a true battle.<br><br>"What general is he?" Vera said with a laugh. "He's just a stupid pretentious boy who thinks he's all that."<br><br>Monthu didn't even glance her way while the still standing guy glared at her. The leader might not have been the highest level player but he did what he said without any kind of pretending and never promised anything he couldn't do. The soldiers grumbled half the time but in reality they liked him for his good planning and caring for their opinion which happened not that often with other leaders. So her words weren't going to be accepted with agreement even if she was a pretty girl having a whole army behind her back.<br><br>"Ignore her Jacob. She's not worth it. What did you have to report?" Monthu asked.<br><br>The guy ceremoniously turned from her and faced Monthu. "The survivors are asking for your permission to seek help from your army. They need houses rebuilt and rubble cleared."<br><br>"Granted. There's no point in us staying idle. Tell the guys they'll gain lots of favor from this and shouldn't shy away from manual labor. The survivors will give twice as much favor and experience as they're so low on possession and in need of help"<br><br>The guy nodded and left after a salute without even a glance towards Vera. That made her even angrier and without spectators she could release her whole fury.<br><br>"Where the hell is he?" she asked in a shout that could be heard a mile away.<br><br>"Did it look to you like I got some new information about them? If so, please tell me because I didn't notice it" Monthu said taking out a map. He looked at it for a bit and then drew a few lines.<br><br>"Tell me where is he, you b..." She wasn't able to finish as the door opened and Hawk's voice flew in.<br><br>"Monthu, I've been thinking what if..." his voice fell flat as he noticed the female. "I think I'll come later" he said turning around quickly.<br><br>"Don't mind her. She thinks I stole Ace so she now acts like a parasite" Monthu said raising his head to his friend.<br><br>"What did you call me?" Vera asked in a shout outraged but no one gave her any attention.<br><br>"Oh... But didn't..?"<br><br>Monthu gave Hawk a look that said do you even need to ask and the ranger understood. It was Ace they were talking about at the moment.<br><br>"Do you think?"<br><br>"Stop ignoring me!"<br><br>"Yeah, I think he wants to live so I'm waiting right now."<br><br>"Damn, you guys!"<br><br>"Would you like company?"<br><br>"Stop it!"<br><br>"Do you have time?"<br><br>"Come on, you bastards!"<br><br>"Sure, why not. I'm not desperate enough for favor to go and do manual labor" Hawk said with a laugh and Monthu answered him with a smile. Then Hawk sat down and they started to discuss when would be the right time to leave.<br><br>Vera was furious but she couldn't do a thing. If the guy had really stolen Ang and she killed him there would be no leads left. But if he really didn't know anything and Ang was just running around with Par it might anger and sadden the kid. She had to always keep in mind that he was still young and didn't understood what was good and what bad for him. That left her with a single solution, when she found Ang, to leave. This way she could get him away from these monsters and be able to make sure his next friends were truly good people. So she calmed down and waited. If he'd lied, there will be no mercy to anyone.<br><br>Hour and a half later the doors opened up revealing two disgruntled faces. They were yawning widely and looking through glassy eyes. Vera shot like a rocket towards the golden haired boy.<br><br>"Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you?" she asked desperately.<br><br>Ace looked at her with uncomprehending eyes. "Who was supposed to hurt me?" he asked in the end.<br><br>"You've been gone for so long! I was worried sick and this guy wouldn't say me anything!" she said hugging him and trying to worsen his opinion of Monthu at the same time. It didn't help as the kid started laughing instead.<br><br>"He didn't know anything!"<br><br>"What do you mean? Why would he have stayed here if he wasn't sure you'd come here?" Vera asked confused.<br><br>"Par and me, we wanted to have an adventure of our own! But because you kept me so long we started so late, went to sleep later and woke up only now. We came here because Par's big brother is very dutiful and would surely be here" Ace explained with a bright smile, his sleepiness receding.<br><br>"So you came here to see him first... Didn't you think I'd be more worried? He was just sitting here like nothing was going on!" Vera said in a hurt voice. The guy had clearly corrupted the innocent kid.<br><br>"I knew you'd be here" Ace said in a confident voice.<br><br>"Why would you know it?" Vera asked surprised.<br><br>"Because you two like each other!"<br><br>Silence descended on the room and four pairs of eyes filled with incredulousness fell on Ace's smiling face.<br><br>Monthu was the first to roll his eyes to the heavens and look at Ace as if he was stupid. "And where did you get that idea from?" he asked barely containing the sarcasm.<br><br>"Since she came you're always together and argue all the time. My grandpa always said that that was the sign of true love and I should never settle for a girl with which I never disagree. When I asked how could I live with her if we always argued he sat me on his legs and with a very serious voice said 'My dear boy, such a girl will help you to reach the skies by always questioning you and never letting you leave half way. And the arguments will become friendly jabs when tension disappears' I just don't remember what tension he mentioned" Ace said with a thoughtful look. You could see he was trying very hardly to remember the word from his scrunched eyebrows and wandering eyes.<br><br>Monthu and Vera took a few steps away from each other and Ace. Vera was as red as a tomato and let her hair fall over her face. What the kid said was so wrong on so many levels. She decided to tackle the easiest one hoping to forget how her interactions with the guy had been interpreted by a kid.<br>"Which grandpa told you about it?" she asked. Her voice was supposed to be strong and demanding but somehow it was still shaking lightly. She decided never to see the guy again.<br><br>Monthu was staring at Ace as if he was the devil. What was he playing at with this? Monthu had never believed Vera's words about him being just a kid and saw a scheming mastermind behind the innocent smile which seemed very real. Maybe he was just trying to embarrass them for the sake of it? Well, he wasn't going to be meeting Vera again probably so in a way it could be interpreted as a good thing. Or was it? He was clearly lost.<br><br>"Grandpa Umbert, of course!" Ace said happily.<br><br>"You're never going to see him again!" Vera said in a crystal clear voice.<br><br>"Yes, I will" Ace said crossing his arms.<br><br>"No, you won't. The man is clearly a bad influence and your parents won't allow you to see him ever again once I tell them what he's been talking to you about!" Vera said angrily. She'd happily ship the guy to the other side of the world if she only could.<br><br>"Ha! They know! And I've still seen him countless times after that!" 'That means twice but it's not like it was my choice. I can't drive myself there and parents are always away...'<br><br>"You mean they really know? What kind of parents are they?" Vera asked angrily.<br><br>Ace asked himself that question often enough too but not exactly for this kind of reason. There was no answer to it anyway.<br><br>"They gave him a few lectures on what should be said around a kid and what shouldn't. He's my mother's father! We must go see him as often as we can!" Ace said with a serious expression on his face.<br><br>"Lectures don't change a person!"<br><br>"So why are you telling them to me all the time?" Ace screamed in his own turn.<br><br>Vera was speechless for a moment and Ace used that time to run out. He chose the shortest street behind whose first bend he activated [Shadow Veil]. Now he was free for some time more. Although he was going to have a very long conversation with Vera about proper behavior and shouting in public later on... It was very hypocritical of her but he better didn't ask her out on it.<br><br>He walked around for a bit before coming to the assassins' house. Elena had promised him a few lessons on using Sai so he better take them now. The future was very misty and hardly held any more free time for him.<br><br>The doors were broken down so he entered without knocking and looked for Elena. He wished he could turn off [Instincts of a Predator] because now it was just too easy. He will never be able to play Hide and Seek if this continued... That was a big problem that needed to be solved in some way.<br><br>"Welcome back, Ace" Elena said coming from around a corner.<br><br>"Hi! Do you have some time now?" Ace asked with a smile. He was so used to it that it would be strange to be less smiling and jumping around all the time.<br>"Not really. But I think you're here to take what I've promised?" she asked tiredly. For the last days they had been living by hope only. When they were told they were finally free. It made everyone ecstatic but reality was a harsh one. They may have regained their home but the houses were destroyed. Doors smashed, windows shattered, furniture broken, food gone. All they had were pieces of cloth and walls to protect from wind but not from cold and the winter was on their noses. It made her feel exhausted only thinking about everything that had to be done before the snow fell.<br><br>But a promise was a promise. They were family and had to take care of each other. He helped them to get free and she had to help him get stronger. It was as simple and as complicated as that.<br><br>Ace nodded and took out the weapons. The steel gleamed in a soft sunlight streaming from a broken window.<br><br>"Follow me then. I'll take you to our training grounds. I suppose you know simple fighting well?"<br><br>"As well as someone who had been learning for almost a year can. There's still much for me to find out" Ace said following her, his smile was still there but more subdued the eyes were a color of deep ocean.<br><br>"I'd be honored to teach you all that I know but we hardly have time for that. It'll have to be enough and now I'll teach you the basics of Sai fighting" she said and started to explain the theory. "Sai are better at defending than frontal attacks although once you've mastered they become equal actions. For now I'll show the basic stances that you'll have to practice until you can make them fluidly. Don't despair if at first you'll feel like a log. It is natural that different weapons require the use of different muscles that you haven't trained yet. Once you master the first stances I suggest you go and find another master. It is better not to try creating a bicycle yourself when it already exists. You can start thinking of your own moves when you master the basics and know the weapons strengths, weaknesses and your own body’s capabilities."<br><br>When she finished they were in a wide courtyard. It's center was a wide open space while the sides were filled with all kinds of devices. From simple training dummies to some narrows wooden planks positioned in different angles so you had to jump from one to another, suddenly change directions while keeping balance, go by your hands, pull up and go over a rope without holding onto anything. 'It would be really fun going over that' Ace decided.<br><br>"Look at me" Elena said stopping in the middle of the place and taking out her own Sai. They were much more beautiful than Ace's.<br><br>She stood in a pose where her hands where stretched forth and bent over an elbow with Sai facing up. Her left leg was ahead of the other just like her left hand was further too. The legs were slightly bent as if ready to jump.<br><br>"This is the first pose from which you'll start almost everything. Follow my movements now" she said slowly moving her hands and legs in what could be only called a defensive position. Her movements were very fluid that even Ace could know she was at master level.<br><br>That was mostly everything he'd learnt from what she showed. The moves were easy but complicated if that was possible. Once she finished he tried to repeat it but it didn't flow at all. He felt more like he was going against the current than with it.<br><br>"Don't try to force it. No one was borne knowing. Just repeat it again and again. After a few hundred tries you'll catch it."<br><br>"That's a very long time" Ace said annoyed trying to repeat it but it looked as if his hand was broken. He shook his head and tried again. And again. And again. "This is impossible!" he said throwing Sai down. Before Elena could say anything he had picked them up and was in position to start again.<br><br>"There has to be a trick to it" Ace said grumbling to himself. He hated repeating the same action again and again without seeing any kind of results. It felt so pointless even if in reality it wasn't.<br><br>"Deep breaths, they can solve everything" he said to himself starting over. He had grasped the main point of the stance but it was just so hard to execute! He wasn't sure if he got it right even once.<br><br>Tired and annoyed he decided to take a break and hit some training dummies. They happily received his punishment turning this way and another. He specifically chose the moving ones so it would be more fun. Jumping, kicking, slashing, blocking, everything was used to protect against their swinging blades.<br><br>Fighting like this he felt better. He knew no rules to follow and could move in any way he felt like. It probably wasn't even close to what it was supposed to be but who cared? Elena had taken a leave some time ago saying something he didn't catch.<br><br>"Ang you're here!" came a cheerful voice from somewhere behind and Ace turned around plastering a smile. On the entrance stood Elena with an apologetic expression and Vera. She seemed quite angry. 'Oh well...' he thought and turned around to kick the dummy. Its blade rotated towards Ace's head but he caught it with the right hand and attacked its heart with the left before blocking another blade.<br>"Ang stop it! It's dangerous!" Vera said in a shout running closer but Ace ignored her. He twisted his body to evade a blade and kicked at the dummy's stomach. A soft humph sounded followed by a clashing of blades.<br><br>"I told you to stop it!" Vera repeated herself not really wanting to get closer to the rotating blades. She never really liked such dangerous mechanisms and preferred the normal one on one fighting.<br><br>There was no reaction from the boy. He just kept on hitting and kicking like nothing happened. His face was very serious while the body moved in grace. Even Elena was staring at him with awe.<br><br>"Where did you learn that?" Vera asked reverently. She expected him to be a useless player but to her surprise he was showing skills way beyond what even she could achieve.<br><br>Ace kept on hitting the thing. If he stopped, he would have to turn back and face her, listen to her moralizing him, pretend to be happy to leave. Kick. He didn't want to leave yet. He still had to learn the way of the Sai. Slash. There were lots to learn yet but he would never do it if he pushed it for later on. That later never happened. Block. How was he to return under her control when he had felt the taste of freedom? He had had forgotten it but now it was fresh in his mind and he had to freely give it up? Stab. Could he do it without going mad? Jump, twist, slash, dodge and a [Burst] setting the dummy on fire.<br><br>Ace's eyes flashed a dangerous red as he watched the flames enveloping the poor training device but soon they returned to the natural light blue. With that he turned around and faced Vera. He wasn't exactly smiling but neither was there a frown just a tired person ready for whatever was to come.<br>"What are you doing here?" Vera asked finally.<br><br>"I've heard there is a good training ground here so I came to see it" Ace said shrugging. "Can I stay here a bit longer?"<br><br>That broke the spell and Vera felt back in her element. "I'm sure it'll be okay for an hour or two if you don't go near that thing again. Later on we'll be leaving from this place."<br><br>"But I can't leave just yet!" Ace said in a shout. "I haven't finished the quest yet!"<br><br>"Don't worry about it. We'll do other quests together" she said with a smile patting his shoulder.<br><br>Ace was having none of that. "That's not the same! I worked very hard to help here! I want to see it finished!" he said angrily, clenching his hands into fists.<br>"You did it well already, sweetie. There's no need to return to hear someone unknown calling you great. We all know you're that, don't we?" Vera said squatting down before him and looking in his eyes that had become a shade darker.<br><br>"It's not that! I started this adventure with Par and I don't want to give it up half-way! I'd be known as a quitter for my whole life then!" Ace said taking a step back. 'There is a thing called personal space.'<br><br>"Hey, sweetie. No one will say that about you! You're the best little guy there is!" Vera said nodding encouragingly.<br><br>"Of course, they will! And it'll be true!" Ace said shaking his head angrily, the curls bouncing around. "Why can't we stay with Par and Monthu for a while until the quest is finished?"<br><br>It was a hard question. How could she explain to him that Monthu was bad influence? That he was very cold-hearted and uncaring. A kind of person a kid should never associate with. It was sad that Ang's friend Par had to live with him, he seemed such a nice kid too but nothing could be done to save him. If they only weren't family, she would take custody of him in an instant.<br><br>"Please, can we stay? Pretty please?" Ace asked with his best puppy dog eye look.<br><br>She looked at him for a long moment before finally giving up. "Okay we'll stay until the quest is finished. But not a moment later! You hear me?" she said to Ace who was already on the other side of the place.<br><br>"I've gotta tell it to Par!" he shouted out and ran off disappearing from her sight in a second.<br><br>"But I just..." the rest of her words were said to the wind as Ace was running away at full speed. There wasn't anything that could make him turn back and here her out. Who cared if she had just come after half a day of searching for him? No one was preventing her from doing that again.<br><br>He breathed fresh air and ran towards Monthu's office. Maybe they had stayed there? It was a poor choice but there wasn't any other specific place they could be at. <br><br>As luck would have it for some reason they had stayed in the room. Monthu was filling documents while Par read a book about spell casting most likely. They didn't even raise their heads when he entered!<br><br>Ace didn't like that at all. No one was allowed to ignore him but he shook his head. Acting like a spoiled brat wouldn't help him win Monthu’s favor and it might be needed to escape Vera.<br><br>"Hey! Par do you have a moment?"<br><br>"Sure. What is happening?" the kid asked in a monotone voice. That made bells in Ace's ears ring. Clearly something was wrong here but he couldn't think of anything that might have put him in a bad light. 'Par adores me, so why is he suddenly so cold?'<br><br>Ace's accusing eyes fell on Monthu. That had to be his work. So the brother didn't appreciate their secret night outing as much as he pretended to. From his behavior around Vera it looked like he didn't mind it that much... Seems like he had been to some acting classes too.<br><br>"Nothing" Ace said lightly and turned around. That moment he saw an emotion cross Par's previously emotionless face but he didn't stop and left. Nothing could be achieved here now. He'll have to catch Par some time without Monthu around and win him back. 'But what could the guy said to make Par change his mind so quickly? There had to be some big words involved for sure. It would be great to find them out but no one else probably heard them beside the duo. Well, I'll have to work around it somehow.'<br><br>Now he had nothing to do. He had gained free time to play with Par but the guy was busy at the moment. 'Where else could I go?' He thought for a moment and decided to give back the earth mage his ring. There was no longer any use from it.<br><br>He walked around not hurrying, knowing Vera was looking for him in Monthu's place. It should take her some time as he just loves to annoy her. He smiled slightly. It had been fun to see their faces when he announced them as a great pair. Hopefully it'll prevent them from talking too much and allying themselves against him.<br><br>The mage's house was a large one. It still had a terrible garden made of vines and thorny bushes so he stayed away from that side. The front doors were opened like so many others and there were voices coming from the inside.<br><br>"...too much."<br><br>"But you're not giving me anything!"<br><br>"That is all I've got" Darius said angrily hitting the table of his study as Ace entered.<br><br>Ignoring the thick atmosphere around he jogged to the table and sat on the corner where a little small space free of papers was.<br><br>"I've come to give you something back!" Ace said with a bright smile. He could feel some guy glaring at his back but it was his own fault for not concluding the conversation earlier.<br><br>"What do you mean?"<br><br>Ace smiled and raised his hand on which a dark green seal ring stayed. He took it off and dropped on the table. It rolled closer to the mage.<br><br>"I thought you'd need it back" Ace said jumping down from the table and turning to leave.<br><br>"Thank you for keeping it well' Darius said nodding and put the ring back on. It glowed a light green for a moment but when Ace turned to make sure he didn't dream it, it was gone.<br><br>"What was that?" Ace asked coming back closer and poking the ring. It seemed as normal as when he wore it but why did it glow when the mage put it on?<br>"What are you talking about?" the mage asked faking ignorance.<br><br>"Come on..." Ace groaned knowing the answer wasn't coming. When grown-ups pretended not to see something, it always meant it wasn't something a kid was supposed to know. It made him mad. Why couldn't anyone ever understand that he was no longer a kid?<br><br>Shaking his head he left the room. One day he'll find out why an item could glow when equipped by a specific person. It probably had something to do with being a high level player and an item being legendary. Sometimes he wished he had the identify skill to know about items' capabilities and not only find them out by accidents.<br><br>Outside he went around for a bit. Today seemed like a very boring day with nothing happening and him being chased out of the single place that might have helped to pass the time.<br><br>Bored he went towards the castle and found Caro's room. It was dark having no windows and Ace heightened his flame. He didn't like being in a closed up space all alone in the dark. Here it was impossible to feel that outside it was mid-day with sun high up.<br><br>He sat down against the wall where his place was. It was a comfortable spot that allowed him to see the whole small room and the doors.<br><br>"And what am I supposed to do now..?"<br><br>There was nothing new in the room so it meant no one went out of his way to check it. Very bored Ace decided to check his announcement window. He had done it very long time ago too.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>*Caro has requested to register you as a friend. Will you accept?*</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>'Wait, what? When did he?' That was a good question. All the time he pretended to be a goblin so when could the guy have figured it out? His last action! 'He grabbed my hand after I stabbed him! But why would he have wanted to befriend me? I was killing him at the moment...' That made no sense. Being friends didn't allow you to track the other down so it couldn't be it. Not finding a good enough reason Ace accepted the request. It was one of the easiest ways to find out.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>*Caro has been registered as a friend*</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>But the guy was offline. 'Pfff....'<br><br>Level up!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Level up: Fear of the Hungry [4]<br><br>Movement speed increased to 27%<br>Reaction tine increased to 55% <br>Strength boost increased to +7%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Level up: Fear of the Hungry [5]<br><br>Movement speed increased to 29%<br>Reaction tine increased to 60% <br>Strength boost increased to +9%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>'Well, that could be expected thinking of how much I used it some nights ago...' He deleted the messages and looked on.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>New Stat Acquired: Grace<br><br>You move effortlessly with unmatchable elegance. The more you advance the more charming you become. It helps to impress other people and gain their favor more easily, The stat grows depending on your taken actions.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>There was a slight increase in dagger mastery, luck, agility and alchemy. Some why the last skill gained experience even by using poison. Maybe it was taken as experimenting? That gave him an idea.<br><br>He went to the storage room and found a pot which he put in the bag. From there he went to the food storage and took some dried meat and all the herbs he found. Neither goblins nor humans often used them so there was a ton of them filling up Ace's backpack to the brim.<br><br>Bowed slightly under the weight, he carried it all to the small room. There he took out the pot and filled with water he had stored in his bag from some time ago. He made [Flare] go under the pot held in the air by [Gust] and put a few candles there too to faster boil the water.<br><br>That left him in almost darkness. Unhappily he lied down so his face was level to the flames. He watched them dance around and hypnotize him. Before falling asleep he managed to put a lot of herbs inside.<br><br>"Aaah!!!" he screamed when something extremely hot touched his hand waking him up in moments. He jumped up looking around with hazy eyes, still half-asleep. There was a hot liquid running on the ground. There was something wrong with that.<br><br>"My poison!" he said in a shout jumping to the boiling pot. Water was running down its sides to the ground but because the candles were below the middle of the pot it never reached them. Ace fell to the ground on his hands and ignoring the pain of burnt hands squatted down blowing some air to extinguish the flames. [Flare] left the place at the same time and Ace stood up.<br><br>He looked at his hands that were very red. 'Not too good. I should ask Aurora to heal me before I run into any more trouble'. There was not a chance he could fight well like that. Annoyed he came closer to the pot and lowered him down to the ground. There was around half the water he'd put in there, herbs were at the bottom so it might still have worked out. He wasn't sure if he was really trying to make a poison but that's what he wanted it to end up in. The liquid looked like crystal clear water and gave no smell to indicate what it was. Ace took out some bottles and with [Gust]'s help filled them. He'll have to test his creation later. Unlike most other alchemists he wasn't eager to test everything on himself. Dying wasn't one of the best experiences, he'd heard.<br><br>He opened the doors and taking a last look of the room left. There still were much water on the ground and it'll stay until someone cleaned it up which would make it bad for Ace in turn. Hiding places had to be secret and known by none or only a few.<br><br>As he walked he remembered Silver Wing was absent for a very long time. He'll have to do something about it. Probably some secret place from which he could travel swiftly to any place he wanted to. That was nice but where should he make it? In a town? A forest? Or in some dead land where nobody lives?<br>Ech, who cares? He'll do it once the right time shows up. There's no need to tire your mind out for something that will be in the future. Maybe there won't be any future.<br><br>He walked around the castle for a bit before deciding to come back to the training room in assassins' house. He found Elena and asked her to help him with his stances a bit more. With a tired sigh she agreed. <br><br>This was mainly the only thing he did to pass the time the next few weeks. Vera tried to get him out but when he repeatedly refused she let him be. It seemed like he was having an argument with his friend and didn't want to meet him which worked in her favor. Besides as long as he wasn't endangering himself and spending time with evil corrupting people almost everything was acceptable.<br><br>Ace learned a lot in that time about Sai but the more he trained the more he understood how lacking his skills were. Sai were different than daggers while being similar at the same time. They were quick and seemingly delicate but had ways to block even swords without the danger of breaking. It was a magnificent weapon for sure.<br><br>When the time came to come back to Lasran city, Ace was sad to go. If only he had a choice, he would stay here for a year at least. But no. Now he had to say goodbye to Elena and her husband and leave surrounded by stupid villagers who pretended to be heroes.<br><br>He walked among them through the fallen first wall of Vascas castle and didn't turn back. What was the point? Vera asked if he's eager to finish the quest and be off so he smiled and said yes. She continued asking him about random things so he listened with one ear smiling and nodding. Soon enough others picked up the conversation and everyone was talking excitedly about upcoming adventures leaving him alone. That was exactly what he wanted. Or maybe not. He wanted to be at the front of expedition with Par and Monthu laughing and thinking of what to do next. They were great people who treated him like a human being but now he was separated from them. That wasn't fine and he was getting it back. One way or another he'll create a plan and make Par help him. And he won't be having a choice of disagreement. Some things just had to be done.<br><br>Next Chapter--&gt;<a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&amp;t=1161" target="_blank">http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&amp;t=1161</a><br>Previous Chapter--&gt;<a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&amp;t=1097&amp;p=5944#p5944" target="_blank">http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&amp;t=1097&amp;p=5944#p5944</a><br><br>Author's Note:<br><br>So this is a chapter about nothing. I hope you liked it non the less. I'm having a lot of problems with school at the moment so my next chapter will probably be a week later on the next Sunday. Sorry about that. </div>

"Where is he?" Vera asked in a shout barging in Monthu's house on whose side was the office. The guy was already awake and eating breakfast but he didn't even turn her way. Aurora, a white haired cleric, answered instead of him. "Who are you looking for? If Hawk, he's away for the moment." Vera didn't acknowledge her at all. She stomped straight towards Monthu and with a back of her hand hit his cup of tea spilling it. "Don't ignore me. Where is he?" she asked angrily. Monthu looked sadly at his tea. Aurora had made it and it was quite good to wake him up in the morning. He might exchange coffee to tea if he got used to it more which seemed likely. "Ech..." he sighed and finally raised his head towards the enraged female. She was a really annoying specimen. Usually he was polite and gentle towards the other gender but this one was able to show all the bad qualities. He saw nothing in her he could respect or admire like in others. There was just no way he could care about her feelings and being more fragile. "Who do you have in mind?" he asked off-handedly standing up and not giving her a second glance. "Who do you think, bastard? Where did you hide Ang? You know I have the bigger army, right? And I'm not afraid to use it" she said trying to make him look at her by catching his arm but Monthu didn't budge. "Wasn't he supposed to stay at your place? Par went to him there." "Like hell he did! Ang went to him near the midnight!" Monthu was having a bad feeling about that. His brother would never do anything stupid but if Ace was with him... everything was possible. And that guy even taught his brother to lie. Although it's no surprise Ace was so adept at it having lived with this witch all his life. He wasn't really too afraid. The kid might have many bad qualities and was a horrible influence, he had never hurt his brother. That gave him a few more hours until a search would be warranted and Ace burned like sorcerer for stealing youth. "Tell me! Where did you hide him?" Vera asked running in front of him and glaring but he just walked around her as if she was a random pillar. "Par is with him. They'll be back soon enough." "What do you mean soon enough? Where are they?" she asked huffing angrily, no longer sure how to gain his attention. It had never happened before. Usually the guys were eager to follow her every word. "Who knows? They're kids like you clearly said before." Monthu said entering his office and letting two warriors in. They looked very uncertain being in a presence of the shouting female. "Come in and state your business" Monthu said not giving them a choice. "With the addition of a hundred hungry mouths we're running out of food again, sir. What should we do?" The female smiled like a winner. He would have to send more players away becoming defenseless or ask for her help. Either way he'll be in her power. Monthu thought for a moment and wrote a few numbers in his notes scattered over a table. "Tell the 5th and 7th divisions to come back and send the rangers. We're almost finished here so they can exercise in the open space. The survivors should have some work for them too" he said calmly making the female clench her teeth. He wasn't going down easily but it was going to cost him. How much more could rangers hunt down than swordsman? "Yes, general" the guy said bowing a goodbye to Vera and saluting Monthu. The soldiers had quickly adapted to using such words and gestures because it was more fun. They could pretend that they were really in an army and had fought in a true battle. "What general is he?" Vera said with a laugh. "He's just a stupid pretentious boy who thinks he's all that." Monthu didn't even glance her way while the still standing guy glared at her. The leader might not have been the highest level player but he did what he said without any kind of pretending and never promised anything he couldn't do. The soldiers grumbled half the time but in reality they liked him for his good planning and caring for their opinion which happened not that often with other leaders. So her words weren't going to be accepted with agreement even if she was a pretty girl having a whole army behind her back. "Ignore her Jacob. She's not worth it. What did you have to report?" Monthu asked. The guy ceremoniously turned from her and faced Monthu. "The survivors are asking for your permission to seek help from your army. They need houses rebuilt and rubble cleared." "Granted. There's no point in us staying idle. Tell the guys they'll gain lots of favor from this and shouldn't shy away from manual labor. The survivors will give twice as much favor and experience as they're so low on possession and in need of help" The guy nodded and left after a salute without even a glance towards Vera. That made her even angrier and without spectators she could release her whole fury. "Where the hell is he?" she asked in a shout that could be heard a mile away. "Did it look to you like I got some new information about them? If so, please tell me because I didn't notice it" Monthu said taking out a map. He looked at it for a bit and then drew a few lines. "Tell me where is he, you b..." She wasn't able to finish as the door opened and Hawk's voice flew in. "Monthu, I've been thinking what if..." his voice fell flat as he noticed the female. "I think I'll come later" he said turning around quickly. "Don't mind her. She thinks I stole Ace so she now acts like a parasite" Monthu said raising his head to his friend. "What did you call me?" Vera asked in a shout outraged but no one gave her any attention. "Oh... But didn't..?" Monthu gave Hawk a look that said do you even need to ask and the ranger understood. It was Ace they were talking about at the moment. "Do you think?" "Stop ignoring me!" "Yeah, I think he wants to live so I'm waiting right now." "Damn, you guys!" "Would you like company?" "Stop it!" "Do you have time?" "Come on, you bastards!" "Sure, why not. I'm not desperate enough for favor to go and do manual labor" Hawk said with a laugh and Monthu answered him with a smile. Then Hawk sat down and they started to discuss when would be the right time to leave. Vera was furious but she couldn't do a thing. If the guy had really stolen Ang and she killed him there would be no leads left. But if he really didn't know anything and Ang was just running around with Par it might anger and sadden the kid. She had to always keep in mind that he was still young and didn't understood what was good and what bad for him. That left her with a single solution, when she found Ang, to leave. This way she could get him away from these monsters and be able to make sure his next friends were truly good people. So she calmed down and waited. If he'd lied, there will be no mercy to anyone. Hour and a half later the doors opened up revealing two disgruntled faces. They were yawning widely and looking through glassy eyes. Vera shot like a rocket towards the golden haired boy. "Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you?" she asked desperately. Ace looked at her with uncomprehending eyes. "Who was supposed to hurt me?" he asked in the end. "You've been gone for so long! I was worried sick and this guy wouldn't say me anything!" she said hugging him and trying to worsen his opinion of Monthu at the same time. It didn't help as the kid started laughing instead. "He didn't know anything!" "What do you mean? Why would he have stayed here if he wasn't sure you'd come here?" Vera asked confused. "Par and me, we wanted to have an adventure of our own! But because you kept me so long we started so late, went to sleep later and woke up only now. We came here because Par's big brother is very dutiful and would surely be here" Ace explained with a bright smile, his sleepiness receding. "So you came here to see him first... Didn't you think I'd be more worried? He was just sitting here like nothing was going on!" Vera said in a hurt voice. The guy had clearly corrupted the innocent kid. "I knew you'd be here" Ace said in a confident voice. "Why would you know it?" Vera asked surprised. "Because you two like each other!" Silence descended on the room and four pairs of eyes filled with incredulousness fell on Ace's smiling face. Monthu was the first to roll his eyes to the heavens and look at Ace as if he was stupid. "And where did you get that idea from?" he asked barely containing the sarcasm. "Since she came you're always together and argue all the time. My grandpa always said that that was the sign of true love and I should never settle for a girl with which I never disagree. When I asked how could I live with her if we always argued he sat me on his legs and with a very serious voice said 'My dear boy, such a girl will help you to reach the skies by always questioning you and never letting you leave half way. And the arguments will become friendly jabs when tension disappears' I just don't remember what tension he mentioned" Ace said with a thoughtful look. You could see he was trying very hardly to remember the word from his scrunched eyebrows and wandering eyes. Monthu and Vera took a few steps away from each other and Ace. Vera was as red as a tomato and let her hair fall over her face. What the kid said was so wrong on so many levels. She decided to tackle the easiest one hoping to forget how her interactions with the guy had been interpreted by a kid. "Which grandpa told you about it?" she asked. Her voice was supposed to be strong and demanding but somehow it was still shaking lightly. She decided never to see the guy again. Monthu was staring at Ace as if he was the devil. What was he playing at with this? Monthu had never believed Vera's words about him being just a kid and saw a scheming mastermind behind the innocent smile which seemed very real. Maybe he was just trying to embarrass them for the sake of it? Well, he wasn't going to be meeting Vera again probably so in a way it could be interpreted as a good thing. Or was it? He was clearly lost. "Grandpa Umbert, of course!" Ace said happily. "You're never going to see him again!" Vera said in a crystal clear voice. "Yes, I will" Ace said crossing his arms. "No, you won't. The man is clearly a bad influence and your parents won't allow you to see him ever again once I tell them what he's been talking to you about!" Vera said angrily. She'd happily ship the guy to the other side of the world if she only could. "Ha! They know! And I've still seen him countless times after that!" 'That means twice but it's not like it was my choice. I can't drive myself there and parents are always away...' "You mean they really know? What kind of parents are they?" Vera asked angrily. Ace asked himself that question often enough too but not exactly for this kind of reason. There was no answer to it anyway. "They gave him a few lectures on what should be said around a kid and what shouldn't. He's my mother's father! We must go see him as often as we can!" Ace said with a serious expression on his face. "Lectures don't change a person!" "So why are you telling them to me all the time?" Ace screamed in his own turn. Vera was speechless for a moment and Ace used that time to run out. He chose the shortest street behind whose first bend he activated [Shadow Veil]. Now he was free for some time more. Although he was going to have a very long conversation with Vera about proper behavior and shouting in public later on... It was very hypocritical of her but he better didn't ask her out on it. He walked around for a bit before coming to the assassins' house. Elena had promised him a few lessons on using Sai so he better take them now. The future was very misty and hardly held any more free time for him. The doors were broken down so he entered without knocking and looked for Elena. He wished he could turn off [Instincts of a Predator] because now it was just too easy. He will never be able to play Hide and Seek if this continued... That was a big problem that needed to be solved in some way. "Welcome back, Ace" Elena said coming from around a corner. "Hi! Do you have some time now?" Ace asked with a smile. He was so used to it that it would be strange to be less smiling and jumping around all the time. "Not really. But I think you're here to take what I've promised?" she asked tiredly. For the last days they had been living by hope only. When they were told they were finally free. It made everyone ecstatic but reality was a harsh one. They may have regained their home but the houses were destroyed. Doors smashed, windows shattered, furniture broken, food gone. All they had were pieces of cloth and walls to protect from wind but not from cold and the winter was on their noses. It made her feel exhausted only thinking about everything that had to be done before the snow fell. But a promise was a promise. They were family and had to take care of each other. He helped them to get free and she had to help him get stronger. It was as simple and as complicated as that. Ace nodded and took out the weapons. The steel gleamed in a soft sunlight streaming from a broken window. "Follow me then. I'll take you to our training grounds. I suppose you know simple fighting well?" "As well as someone who had been learning for almost a year can. There's still much for me to find out" Ace said following her, his smile was still there but more subdued the eyes were a color of deep ocean. "I'd be honored to teach you all that I know but we hardly have time for that. It'll have to be enough and now I'll teach you the basics of Sai fighting" she said and started to explain the theory. "Sai are better at defending than frontal attacks although once you've mastered they become equal actions. For now I'll show the basic stances that you'll have to practice until you can make them fluidly. Don't despair if at first you'll feel like a log. It is natural that different weapons require the use of different muscles that you haven't trained yet. Once you master the first stances I suggest you go and find another master. It is better not to try creating a bicycle yourself when it already exists. You can start thinking of your own moves when you master the basics and know the weapons strengths, weaknesses and your own body’s capabilities." When she finished they were in a wide courtyard. It's center was a wide open space while the sides were filled with all kinds of devices. From simple training dummies to some narrows wooden planks positioned in different angles so you had to jump from one to another, suddenly change directions while keeping balance, go by your hands, pull up and go over a rope without holding onto anything. 'It would be really fun going over that' Ace decided. "Look at me" Elena said stopping in the middle of the place and taking out her own Sai. They were much more beautiful than Ace's. She stood in a pose where her hands where stretched forth and bent over an elbow with Sai facing up. Her left leg was ahead of the other just like her left hand was further too. The legs were slightly bent as if ready to jump. "This is the first pose from which you'll start almost everything. Follow my movements now" she said slowly moving her hands and legs in what could be only called a defensive position. Her movements were very fluid that even Ace could know she was at master level. That was mostly everything he'd learnt from what she showed. The moves were easy but complicated if that was possible. Once she finished he tried to repeat it but it didn't flow at all. He felt more like he was going against the current than with it. "Don't try to force it. No one was borne knowing. Just repeat it again and again. After a few hundred tries you'll catch it." "That's a very long time" Ace said annoyed trying to repeat it but it looked as if his hand was broken. He shook his head and tried again. And again. And again. "This is impossible!" he said throwing Sai down. Before Elena could say anything he had picked them up and was in position to start again. "There has to be a trick to it" Ace said grumbling to himself. He hated repeating the same action again and again without seeing any kind of results. It felt so pointless even if in reality it wasn't. "Deep breaths, they can solve everything" he said to himself starting over. He had grasped the main point of the stance but it was just so hard to execute! He wasn't sure if he got it right even once. Tired and annoyed he decided to take a break and hit some training dummies. They happily received his punishment turning this way and another. He specifically chose the moving ones so it would be more fun. Jumping, kicking, slashing, blocking, everything was used to protect against their swinging blades. Fighting like this he felt better. He knew no rules to follow and could move in any way he felt like. It probably wasn't even close to what it was supposed to be but who cared? Elena had taken a leave some time ago saying something he didn't catch. "Ang you're here!" came a cheerful voice from somewhere behind and Ace turned around plastering a smile. On the entrance stood Elena with an apologetic expression and Vera. She seemed quite angry. 'Oh well...' he thought and turned around to kick the dummy. Its blade rotated towards Ace's head but he caught it with the right hand and attacked its heart with the left before blocking another blade. "Ang stop it! It's dangerous!" Vera said in a shout running closer but Ace ignored her. He twisted his body to evade a blade and kicked at the dummy's stomach. A soft humph sounded followed by a clashing of blades. "I told you to stop it!" Vera repeated herself not really wanting to get closer to the rotating blades. She never really liked such dangerous mechanisms and preferred the normal one on one fighting. There was no reaction from the boy. He just kept on hitting and kicking like nothing happened. His face was very serious while the body moved in grace. Even Elena was staring at him with awe. "Where did you learn that?" Vera asked reverently. She expected him to be a useless player but to her surprise he was showing skills way beyond what even she could achieve. Ace kept on hitting the thing. If he stopped, he would have to turn back and face her, listen to her moralizing him, pretend to be happy to leave. Kick. He didn't want to leave yet. He still had to learn the way of the Sai. Slash. There were lots to learn yet but he would never do it if he pushed it for later on. That later never happened. Block. How was he to return under her control when he had felt the taste of freedom? He had had forgotten it but now it was fresh in his mind and he had to freely give it up? Stab. Could he do it without going mad? Jump, twist, slash, dodge and a [Burst] setting the dummy on fire. Ace's eyes flashed a dangerous red as he watched the flames enveloping the poor training device but soon they returned to the natural light blue. With that he turned around and faced Vera. He wasn't exactly smiling but neither was there a frown just a tired person ready for whatever was to come. "What are you doing here?" Vera asked finally. "I've heard there is a good training ground here so I came to see it" Ace said shrugging. "Can I stay here a bit longer?" That broke the spell and Vera felt back in her element. "I'm sure it'll be okay for an hour or two if you don't go near that thing again. Later on we'll be leaving from this place." "But I can't leave just yet!" Ace said in a shout. "I haven't finished the quest yet!" "Don't worry about it. We'll do other quests together" she said with a smile patting his shoulder. Ace was having none of that. "That's not the same! I worked very hard to help here! I want to see it finished!" he said angrily, clenching his hands into fists. "You did it well already, sweetie. There's no need to return to hear someone unknown calling you great. We all know you're that, don't we?" Vera said squatting down before him and looking in his eyes that had become a shade darker. "It's not that! I started this adventure with Par and I don't want to give it up half-way! I'd be known as a quitter for my whole life then!" Ace said taking a step back. 'There is a thing called personal space.' "Hey, sweetie. No one will say that about you! You're the best little guy there is!" Vera said nodding encouragingly. "Of course, they will! And it'll be true!" Ace said shaking his head angrily, the curls bouncing around. "Why can't we stay with Par and Monthu for a while until the quest is finished?" It was a hard question. How could she explain to him that Monthu was bad influence? That he was very cold-hearted and uncaring. A kind of person a kid should never associate with. It was sad that Ang's friend Par had to live with him, he seemed such a nice kid too but nothing could be done to save him. If they only weren't family, she would take custody of him in an instant. "Please, can we stay? Pretty please?" Ace asked with his best puppy dog eye look. She looked at him for a long moment before finally giving up. "Okay we'll stay until the quest is finished. But not a moment later! You hear me?" she said to Ace who was already on the other side of the place. "I've gotta tell it to Par!" he shouted out and ran off disappearing from her sight in a second. "But I just..." the rest of her words were said to the wind as Ace was running away at full speed. There wasn't anything that could make him turn back and here her out. Who cared if she had just come after half a day of searching for him? No one was preventing her from doing that again. He breathed fresh air and ran towards Monthu's office. Maybe they had stayed there? It was a poor choice but there wasn't any other specific place they could be at. As luck would have it for some reason they had stayed in the room. Monthu was filling documents while Par read a book about spell casting most likely. They didn't even raise their heads when he entered! Ace didn't like that at all. No one was allowed to ignore him but he shook his head. Acting like a spoiled brat wouldn't help him win Monthu’s favor and it might be needed to escape Vera. "Hey! Par do you have a moment?" "Sure. What is happening?" the kid asked in a monotone voice. That made bells in Ace's ears ring. Clearly something was wrong here but he couldn't think of anything that might have put him in a bad light. 'Par adores me, so why is he suddenly so cold?' Ace's accusing eyes fell on Monthu. That had to be his work. So the brother didn't appreciate their secret night outing as much as he pretended to. From his behavior around Vera it looked like he didn't mind it that much... Seems like he had been to some acting classes too. "Nothing" Ace said lightly and turned around. That moment he saw an emotion cross Par's previously emotionless face but he didn't stop and left. Nothing could be achieved here now. He'll have to catch Par some time without Monthu around and win him back. 'But what could the guy said to make Par change his mind so quickly? There had to be some big words involved for sure. It would be great to find them out but no one else probably heard them beside the duo. Well, I'll have to work around it somehow.' Now he had nothing to do. He had gained free time to play with Par but the guy was busy at the moment. 'Where else could I go?' He thought for a moment and decided to give back the earth mage his ring. There was no longer any use from it. He walked around not hurrying, knowing Vera was looking for him in Monthu's place. It should take her some time as he just loves to annoy her. He smiled slightly. It had been fun to see their faces when he announced them as a great pair. Hopefully it'll prevent them from talking too much and allying themselves against him. The mage's house was a large one. It still had a terrible garden made of vines and thorny bushes so he stayed away from that side. The front doors were opened like so many others and there were voices coming from the inside. "...too much." "But you're not giving me anything!" "That is all I've got" Darius said angrily hitting the table of his study as Ace entered. Ignoring the thick atmosphere around he jogged to the table and sat on the corner where a little small space free of papers was. "I've come to give you something back!" Ace said with a bright smile. He could feel some guy glaring at his back but it was his own fault for not concluding the conversation earlier. "What do you mean?" Ace smiled and raised his hand on which a dark green seal ring stayed. He took it off and dropped on the table. It rolled closer to the mage. "I thought you'd need it back" Ace said jumping down from the table and turning to leave. "Thank you for keeping it well' Darius said nodding and put the ring back on. It glowed a light green for a moment but when Ace turned to make sure he didn't dream it, it was gone. "What was that?" Ace asked coming back closer and poking the ring. It seemed as normal as when he wore it but why did it glow when the mage put it on? "What are you talking about?" the mage asked faking ignorance. "Come on..." Ace groaned knowing the answer wasn't coming. When grown-ups pretended not to see something, it always meant it wasn't something a kid was supposed to know. It made him mad. Why couldn't anyone ever understand that he was no longer a kid? Shaking his head he left the room. One day he'll find out why an item could glow when equipped by a specific person. It probably had something to do with being a high level player and an item being legendary. Sometimes he wished he had the identify skill to know about items' capabilities and not only find them out by accidents. Outside he went around for a bit. Today seemed like a very boring day with nothing happening and him being chased out of the single place that might have helped to pass the time. Bored he went towards the castle and found Caro's room. It was dark having no windows and Ace heightened his flame. He didn't like being in a closed up space all alone in the dark. Here it was impossible to feel that outside it was mid-day with sun high up. He sat down against the wall where his place was. It was a comfortable spot that allowed him to see the whole small room and the doors. "And what am I supposed to do now..?" There was nothing new in the room so it meant no one went out of his way to check it. Very bored Ace decided to check his announcement window. He had done it very long time ago too. | *Caro has requested to register you as a friend. Will you accept?* | | --- | 'Wait, what? When did he?' That was a good question. All the time he pretended to be a goblin so when could the guy have figured it out? His last action! 'He grabbed my hand after I stabbed him! But why would he have wanted to befriend me? I was killing him at the moment...' That made no sense. Being friends didn't allow you to track the other down so it couldn't be it. Not finding a good enough reason Ace accepted the request. It was one of the easiest ways to find out. | *Caro has been registered as a friend* | | --- | But the guy was offline. 'Pfff....' Level up! | Level up: Fear of the Hungry [4]Movement speed increased to 27%Reaction tine increased to 55% Strength boost increased to +7% | | --- | | Level up: Fear of the Hungry [5]Movement speed increased to 29%Reaction tine increased to 60% Strength boost increased to +9% | | --- | 'Well, that could be expected thinking of how much I used it some nights ago...' He deleted the messages and looked on. | New Stat Acquired: GraceYou move effortlessly with unmatchable elegance. The more you advance the more charming you become. It helps to impress other people and gain their favor more easily, The stat grows depending on your taken actions. | | --- | There was a slight increase in dagger mastery, luck, agility and alchemy. Some why the last skill gained experience even by using poison. Maybe it was taken as experimenting? That gave him an idea. He went to the storage room and found a pot which he put in the bag. From there he went to the food storage and took some dried meat and all the herbs he found. Neither goblins nor humans often used them so there was a ton of them filling up Ace's backpack to the brim. Bowed slightly under the weight, he carried it all to the small room. There he took out the pot and filled with water he had stored in his bag from some time ago. He made [Flare] go under the pot held in the air by [Gust] and put a few candles there too to faster boil the water. That left him in almost darkness. Unhappily he lied down so his face was level to the flames. He watched them dance around and hypnotize him. Before falling asleep he managed to put a lot of herbs inside. "Aaah!!!" he screamed when something extremely hot touched his hand waking him up in moments. He jumped up looking around with hazy eyes, still half-asleep. There was a hot liquid running on the ground. There was something wrong with that. "My poison!" he said in a shout jumping to the boiling pot. Water was running down its sides to the ground but because the candles were below the middle of the pot it never reached them. Ace fell to the ground on his hands and ignoring the pain of burnt hands squatted down blowing some air to extinguish the flames. [Flare] left the place at the same time and Ace stood up. He looked at his hands that were very red. 'Not too good. I should ask Aurora to heal me before I run into any more trouble'. There was not a chance he could fight well like that. Annoyed he came closer to the pot and lowered him down to the ground. There was around half the water he'd put in there, herbs were at the bottom so it might still have worked out. He wasn't sure if he was really trying to make a poison but that's what he wanted it to end up in. The liquid looked like crystal clear water and gave no smell to indicate what it was. Ace took out some bottles and with [Gust]'s help filled them. He'll have to test his creation later. Unlike most other alchemists he wasn't eager to test everything on himself. Dying wasn't one of the best experiences, he'd heard. He opened the doors and taking a last look of the room left. There still were much water on the ground and it'll stay until someone cleaned it up which would make it bad for Ace in turn. Hiding places had to be secret and known by none or only a few. As he walked he remembered Silver Wing was absent for a very long time. He'll have to do something about it. Probably some secret place from which he could travel swiftly to any place he wanted to. That was nice but where should he make it? In a town? A forest? Or in some dead land where nobody lives? Ech, who cares? He'll do it once the right time shows up. There's no need to tire your mind out for something that will be in the future. Maybe there won't be any future. He walked around the castle for a bit before deciding to come back to the training room in assassins' house. He found Elena and asked her to help him with his stances a bit more. With a tired sigh she agreed. This was mainly the only thing he did to pass the time the next few weeks. Vera tried to get him out but when he repeatedly refused she let him be. It seemed like he was having an argument with his friend and didn't want to meet him which worked in her favor. Besides as long as he wasn't endangering himself and spending time with evil corrupting people almost everything was acceptable. Ace learned a lot in that time about Sai but the more he trained the more he understood how lacking his skills were. Sai were different than daggers while being similar at the same time. They were quick and seemingly delicate but had ways to block even swords without the danger of breaking. It was a magnificent weapon for sure. When the time came to come back to Lasran city, Ace was sad to go. If only he had a choice, he would stay here for a year at least. But no. Now he had to say goodbye to Elena and her husband and leave surrounded by stupid villagers who pretended to be heroes. He walked among them through the fallen first wall of Vascas castle and didn't turn back. What was the point? Vera asked if he's eager to finish the quest and be off so he smiled and said yes. She continued asking him about random things so he listened with one ear smiling and nodding. Soon enough others picked up the conversation and everyone was talking excitedly about upcoming adventures leaving him alone. That was exactly what he wanted. Or maybe not. He wanted to be at the front of expedition with Par and Monthu laughing and thinking of what to do next. They were great people who treated him like a human being but now he was separated from them. That wasn't fine and he was getting it back. One way or another he'll create a plan and make Par help him. And he won't be having a choice of disagreement. Some things just had to be done. Next Chapter--><http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=1161> Previous Chapter--><http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=1097&p=5944#p5944> Author's Note: So this is a chapter about nothing. I hope you liked it non the less. I'm having a lot of problems with school at the moment so my next chapter will probably be a week later on the next Sunday. Sorry about that.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Aaron was upset for once again letting Crazed get away but knew that he could do nothing for now. <br><br>Riclamin, “we have put a great dent in the guilds numbers.”<br><br>Aaron, “we sure did but there are still more out there.”<br><br>Aaron, Laee and Riclamin had been working their way back through the guilds underground base taking out a few more groups along the way.<br> <br>They had just reached the trap door to get back out to the city. <br><br>Laee, “That’s for sure…” She looked up at the open trap door. “Look’s like there are some more up there.” <br><br>Aaron and Riclamin looked at her then back up the trap door.<br><br>Aaron, “Are you sure?”<br><br>Laee, “yes!”<br><br>Riclamin, “Should we find another way out then.”<br><br>Laee, “No need.”<br><br>She grabbed Aaron who was still in Enea’s form and Riclamin under her arms while casting a spell. As she finished she jumped flying up through the Trap door and over the awaiting rogues on to a stack of crates. She quickly set the two down to face the stunned rogues.<br><br>Guild Leader, “So you are the three who have been tearing apart my guild.”<br><br>Riclamin, “No it can’t be you where supposed to be dead!”<br><br>Riclamin seemed shocked to see the man, which soon turned to blind anger.<br><br>Guild Leader, “Ah if it isn’t Riclamin my old friend.”<br><br>Riclamin, “Why! Why did you do it?”<br><br>The guild leader just laughed before answering. <br><br>“Oh poor Riclamin My family has been in control of this guild for generations since we where expelled from the continent. We wanted our deserved reward for helping our home country but they threatened us and your family who we served after. Everyone used us without being given what was rightfully ours! So my family planned our revenge and finally made our move.”<br><br>Riclamin, “I thought we where friends was I wrong!?”<br><br>Guild leader, “You still don’t understand I just played a part to get close to you and your brother.”<br><br>Aaron, “Um Riclamin can you tell us what’s going on?”<br><br>Riclamin turned to him with his face still twisted in anger.<br><br>Riclamin, “This man was once one of my brothers hands in protecting the city. He also was one of the first believed to be killed before the city fell to the Guild.”<br><br>Guild Leader, “You forgot to mention to your friend that we where once friends fighting to help protect this city for years.”<br><br>Riclamin, “you are no friend of mine.”<br><br>Guild Leader, “well I had that coming but I still can not let you live to reclaim the city.”<br><br>Riclamin, “I will not let you continue to have your way with the city.”<br><br>Riclamin jumped down off the crates and drew his daggers. Aaron and Laee quickly followed him down.<br><br>Guild Leader, “well if it’s a fight you want it’s a fight you will get. Men get them!”<br><br>The bandits closest to Aarons group readied their blades and began to move.<br><br>Guild Leader, “I said get them!” He turned to see the rest of his men unconscious laying on the floor where they had been standing.<br><br>Laee, “Oh did your men decide to take a little nap.”<br><br>The guild leader became paled as he turned to see Riclamin Kill the two men in front of him. Aaron was already hacking through the other rogues as if on a berserkers rampage. <br><br>Guild leader, “so your friends are quite skilled.”<br><br>Riclamin did not say a thing throwing one of his daggers at him. The guild leader jumped to the side drawing his daggers. They charged each other using their speed a n precision while striking at each others weak points. Riclamin was nicked twice while the guild leader could barely block half of Riclamin’s attacks. <br><br>Guild leader, “you sure have improved since our old sparing matches.”<br><br>Riclamin did not say anything back as the guild master brought his foot up with a dagger coming out. Riclamin sidestepped but the blade still grazed the outer part of his thigh. He quickly throws a dagger as the guild leader was still bringing down his leg causing him to drop down on his back to doge the dagger. <br><br>Riclamin had another dagger pop out of his sleeve and throw both daggers he had in his hands into the guild leaders shoulders. The guild leader dropped the daggers he was holding due to losing control of his arms. He quickly drew another dagger from his belt and held it against the guild leaders throat.<br><br>Riclamin, “do you have any last words before I take your life.”<br><br>The guild leader just laughed and spat in his face.<br><br>“there is nothing I have to say to you. Do you expect me to beg for mercy? You are still the kind hearted Riclamin who would never take a life unless he had to .”<br><br>Riclamin, “then its settled, good bye old friend.”<br><br>Riclamin was beginning to move his arm to slit the guild leaders throat when Laee grabbed his shoulder. <br><br>Laee, “that is not wise.”<br><br>Riclamin, “I must revenge my family!”<br><br>Aaron walked over sliding his blades back into their sheaves, “Riclamin you have already taken your revenge the guild has fallen.”<br><br>Riclamin, “this man deserves death for what he has done.”<br><br>Aaron, “No, the people of this city should decide his fate since they also have suffered at his and the guilds hands.”<br><br>Riclamin, “but… you are right another mans death will mean nothing.”<br><br>Riclamin got up and walked away from the man grabbing the dead rogues loot while mumbling to himself.<br><br>The guild leader began to try and slide away but Laee held him in place with on of her boots.<br><br>Laee, “Oh no you don’t.”<br><br>Guild master, “was worth a try.”<br><br>Aaron grabbed out some rope and tied the man up.<br><br>Aaron, “I have some questions for you.”<br><br>Guild master, “fire away that does not mean I will answer you.”<br><br>Aaron punched him in the gut before dragging the man to his feet.<br><br>[Enea, “don’t be to rough with him.”]<br><br>[Aaron, “Yah I know but I am still sick of people like him.”]<br><br>[Laee, “most people are.”]<br><br>Aaron, “well we should probably drag this guy back to the fortress.”<br><br>Laee, “Good Idea, Riclamin are you coming along.”<br><br>Riclamin turned to them, “sure I have some old friends I need to talk to anyway.”<br><br>Aaron's group dragged the man along walking down the early morning streets. As they went a crowd of onlookers began to appear. Some of the thugs that where out in the day saw the man that was being dragged and ran away or slunk back into the near by ally’s. <br><br>As they reached the area near the Fortress the cities few guards began to walk out.<br><br>Guard Captain, “what do you think you are doing.”<br><br>Riclamin, “Hello captain.”<br><br>Guard Captain, “Riclamin? By the Light it’s good to see you. Have you come back to reclaim your family’s throne?”<br><br>Riclamin, “No I will not take the throne that has the blood of my family spilt on it.”<br><br>Guard Captain, “then why are you here?”<br><br>Aaron, “We have taken out the Thieves guild that has been plaguing the city.”<br><br>Guard Captain, “And who are you!?”<br><br>Aaron, “I am Aaron the Chosen to the goddess Enea and this is The Goddess Laee who is also a chosen.”<br><br>Guard Captain, “Oh the hero’s of the east! I am grateful to have meet you but may I ask why you are here?”<br><br>Aaron, “Well…”<br><br>Laee interrupted him.<br><br>“We where here to get a ship to the Island to the north and became caught up in the guilds business so we asked for assistance from Riclamin here to help eliminate the guild.”<br><br>Guard Captain, “we are grateful for the help.”<br><br>Riclamin, “Since I will not take the city’s thrown I recommend Aaron here for the position.”<br><br>Aaron, “what!? But you barely know me and I’ve only helped take out the guild.”<br><br>Riclamin, “this city needs a leader or it will continue to fall into ruin, and since you are the ruler of the rest of the Island I believe the city will grow prosperous.”<br><br>Guard Captain, “Well Riclamin you are the only one currently in any form of rule in this city so we will do as you say.” He turned back to Aaron then got down on his knee. “We the knights of Silver City give our fealty to you and will follow you to our dying breath.”<br><br>[Aaron, "I did not know this city was called Silver, well the city did have a lot of the color silver and it might also have to do with Riclamins last name."]<br><br>Aaron, “please stand up, if you wish it Riclamin I will do the best I can for the city.”<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">You are now ruler of silver city!<br><br>A new starting city has been opened to players!<br><br>You have gained +500 fame!<br>You have Gained +500 Faith!<br><br>You have leveled up!<br><br>You have leveled up!<br><br>You have leveled up!</span><br><br>[Aaron, “I was not expecting that.”]<br><br>[Enea, “neither was I.”]<br><br>Aaron quickly opened up his stat window.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Status Window</span><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Name|</span> Aaron <span style="font-weight: bold;">Primary Class|</span> Enea's Chosen<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gender|</span> Neutral <span style="font-weight: bold;">Height|</span> 6'4"<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Health|</span> 2000 <span style="font-weight: bold;"> Mana|</span> 2800<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Level|</span> 85 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Race|</span> Human<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Health Regen/sec|</span> 8.5 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mana Regen/sec|</span> 8.5<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Strength|</span> 50 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Agility|</span> 50<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wisdom|</span> 40 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Intelligence|</span> 36<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stamina|</span> 44 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Vitality|</span> 24<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dexterity|</span> 36<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Faith|</span> 2000<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fame|</span> 1020<br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Skills</span><br>Precise shot-Basic Level 8, Blade Proficiency-Intermediate level 2, Bow Proficiency-intermediate level 1, Knife Proficiency-Basic level 8, Amidexstris/Dual Wielding-Intermediate level 4, Repair-Basic level 9, Handicraft-Basic Level 7,Blacksmith-Basic level 6, Carpenter-Basic Level 2, Stealth-Basic level 6,Traps-Basic Level 4, Digging-Basic Level 2, Construction-Basic Level 2, First Aid- Basic level 4, Identify- Basic Level 7, Cooking- basic Level 4, Shout- Basic Level 2, Leadership - Basic Level 4,<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Weapon Forms</span><br>Faint, Slash, Stab, Whirlwind, Twin Blade, Enea's Form, Shadow Step,<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spells</span><br>Demonic Aura, Holly Aura, Fireball, Fire Blade, Fire Wall,<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Language</span><br>Common, Ancient<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Equipment</span><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Head Enea's Helmet:</span> Durability 20/20 +6<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Neck Reinforced Scarf:</span> Durability 20/20, Defense +8<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Armor/Torso Enea's armor:</span> durability 40/40, Defense +16<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arms Enea's Gantlets:</span> Durability 30/30, Defense +8<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pants/Legs Enea's armor:</span> durability 40/40, Defense +16<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Feet Enea's Boots:</span> Durability 20/20, Defense +10<br><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Enea's Armor</span><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Durability|</span> 150/150 total <span style="font-weight: bold;">Defense|</span> 64<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Armor|</span> Heavy <span style="font-weight: bold;">Class|</span> Ultimate Rare<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Abilities</span><br>Enea was once the peacekeeper of the gods along with five other goddesses to keep the balance between the forces of the dark and light. Enea's armor was created from Mitheral and a rare forgotten metal of the gods along with part of Enea's flesh. This Armor was first worn by Enea and has now been passed down to her chosen. This armor Levels and evolves with the wearer. <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Evolution|</span> Stage 3 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Level|</span> 85<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Evolutions Affects</span><br>Hawk- Do to players use of precision and speed Armor has morphed to accommodate adding +2 speed, Blacksmiths hands-Armor can now combine with certain items, Flame-Due to the heavy use of fire magic by the player fire runes have been added to armor raising fire attacks and allowing user to automatically cast Fire blade and fireball without an incantation<br><br><br>Aaron had finally reached level 85 due to all the experience he earned from the battles and the quest he did not even know he had activated.<br><br>Aaron, “Can I see the throne room?”<br><br>Riclamin, “I can take you there.”<br><br>Aaron turned back to the guild leader he had almost forgotten about.<br><br>Aaron, “Guard Captain can you take this man to the dungeon to prepare for a trial.”<br><br>The guard captain walked to the man and gave a shocked gasp.<br><br>Guard Captain, “Riclamin do you know who this man is!?”<br><br>Riclamin, “yes I know that he is the traitor and was the leader of the thieves guild.”<br><br>Guard Captain, “how dare you betray us!”<br><br>Guild leader, “I don’t care can you just drag me to a cell already.”<br><br>The guard Captain balled up his armored fist and punched the man in the gut.<br><br>“You deserve far worse then you are currently given.” He turned back to Aaron. “I will deal with this traitor as you have commanded my lord.”<br><br>Aaron, “Please do not be so formal.”<br><br>Guard Captain, “As you say Lord Aaron.”<br><br>The Guard Captain with a few of his guards dragged the guild leader away while Aaron sighed.<br><br>Aarons group headed into the fortress and worked their way to the thrown room.<br><br>Riclamin, “I have not been in here in years.”<br><br>Aaron, “are you ok?”<br><br>Riclamin, “I will be fine.”<br><br>Aaron then looked at the throne stepped up and sat in it.<br><br>Do you wish to access Region Control Panel?<br><br>Aaron, “yes!”<br><br>A view of the region soon popped up in front of Aaron like it had at the old fort. Looking over it he saw the window with the amount of gold he had at the side said that he had about 60,000 gold. A proportion was added from this month’s tax, Silver city’s treasury and the gold he had found in the thieves guild base.<br><br>Aaron quickly selected Silver city to view its details. Much of the city was falling apart abandoned or just thrown together. He began by repairing the housing areas and improving the city’s sanitation.<br><br>He then selected the city’s old falling apart temple and rebuilt it dedicating it to Enea and Laee religion since the temple had no current deity or god. Next he selected the markets and port repairing and upgrading parts.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Do to repairing old Dry docks you now have access to building more and building ships!</span><br><br>[Aaron, “nice this should help a lot.”]<br><br>[Enea, “if we eventually get more we can build a proper navy to prevent future invasions to the Isles.”]<br><br>[Aaron, “A navy! God I forgot about that entirely.”]<br><br>[Enea, “well we still are a long ways off but since we do have a major port now trade will begin to grow.”]<br><br>[Aaron, “another good thing for our region.”]<br><br>[Laee, “I can try more varieties of alcohol now!”]<br><br>[Aaron and Enea, “Laee!”]<br><br>The last thing Aaron did was repair the fortress. Leaving him with about 3,500 gold for emergency’s. Before closing out of the region control panel he looked at his regions current stats. <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Region Stat Window</span><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Culture</span> 50 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Research</span> 20<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Military</span> 54 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Faith</span> 50<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Transportation</span> 80 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mines</span> 35<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Technology</span> 30 <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sanitation</span> 75%<br><br>Aaron, “well since that is done we should probably go search for the other chosen again.”<br><br>Riclamin, “my lord Aaron what do you wish me to do?”<br><br>Aaron turned to Riclamin.<br><br>“Riclamin you can do as you wish I do not wish to control every detail of anyone’s lives.”<br><br>Riclamin, “But my purpose for the last few years was to fight the guild and since they are gone I do not know what to do.”<br><br>Laee, “what do you wish to do.”<br><br>Riclamin just shrugged his shoulders. <br><br>Aaron, “Why don’t you train more thief catchers so something like this does not happen again. Also there are still the thugs and the guilds remnants that need to be taken care of.”<br><br>Riclamin, “good Idea my lord I will do as you wish.”<br><br>Aaron, “I will send word for Knight captain Jonathan to come and give you assistance here…” </div>

Aaron was upset for once again letting Crazed get away but knew that he could do nothing for now. Riclamin, “we have put a great dent in the guilds numbers.” Aaron, “we sure did but there are still more out there.” Aaron, Laee and Riclamin had been working their way back through the guilds underground base taking out a few more groups along the way. They had just reached the trap door to get back out to the city. Laee, “That’s for sure…” She looked up at the open trap door. “Look’s like there are some more up there.” Aaron and Riclamin looked at her then back up the trap door. Aaron, “Are you sure?” Laee, “yes!” Riclamin, “Should we find another way out then.” Laee, “No need.” She grabbed Aaron who was still in Enea’s form and Riclamin under her arms while casting a spell. As she finished she jumped flying up through the Trap door and over the awaiting rogues on to a stack of crates. She quickly set the two down to face the stunned rogues. Guild Leader, “So you are the three who have been tearing apart my guild.” Riclamin, “No it can’t be you where supposed to be dead!” Riclamin seemed shocked to see the man, which soon turned to blind anger. Guild Leader, “Ah if it isn’t Riclamin my old friend.” Riclamin, “Why! Why did you do it?” The guild leader just laughed before answering. “Oh poor Riclamin My family has been in control of this guild for generations since we where expelled from the continent. We wanted our deserved reward for helping our home country but they threatened us and your family who we served after. Everyone used us without being given what was rightfully ours! So my family planned our revenge and finally made our move.” Riclamin, “I thought we where friends was I wrong!?” Guild leader, “You still don’t understand I just played a part to get close to you and your brother.” Aaron, “Um Riclamin can you tell us what’s going on?” Riclamin turned to him with his face still twisted in anger. Riclamin, “This man was once one of my brothers hands in protecting the city. He also was one of the first believed to be killed before the city fell to the Guild.” Guild Leader, “You forgot to mention to your friend that we where once friends fighting to help protect this city for years.” Riclamin, “you are no friend of mine.” Guild Leader, “well I had that coming but I still can not let you live to reclaim the city.” Riclamin, “I will not let you continue to have your way with the city.” Riclamin jumped down off the crates and drew his daggers. Aaron and Laee quickly followed him down. Guild Leader, “well if it’s a fight you want it’s a fight you will get. Men get them!” The bandits closest to Aarons group readied their blades and began to move. Guild Leader, “I said get them!” He turned to see the rest of his men unconscious laying on the floor where they had been standing. Laee, “Oh did your men decide to take a little nap.” The guild leader became paled as he turned to see Riclamin Kill the two men in front of him. Aaron was already hacking through the other rogues as if on a berserkers rampage. Guild leader, “so your friends are quite skilled.” Riclamin did not say a thing throwing one of his daggers at him. The guild leader jumped to the side drawing his daggers. They charged each other using their speed a n precision while striking at each others weak points. Riclamin was nicked twice while the guild leader could barely block half of Riclamin’s attacks. Guild leader, “you sure have improved since our old sparing matches.” Riclamin did not say anything back as the guild master brought his foot up with a dagger coming out. Riclamin sidestepped but the blade still grazed the outer part of his thigh. He quickly throws a dagger as the guild leader was still bringing down his leg causing him to drop down on his back to doge the dagger. Riclamin had another dagger pop out of his sleeve and throw both daggers he had in his hands into the guild leaders shoulders. The guild leader dropped the daggers he was holding due to losing control of his arms. He quickly drew another dagger from his belt and held it against the guild leaders throat. Riclamin, “do you have any last words before I take your life.” The guild leader just laughed and spat in his face. “there is nothing I have to say to you. Do you expect me to beg for mercy? You are still the kind hearted Riclamin who would never take a life unless he had to .” Riclamin, “then its settled, good bye old friend.” Riclamin was beginning to move his arm to slit the guild leaders throat when Laee grabbed his shoulder. Laee, “that is not wise.” Riclamin, “I must revenge my family!” Aaron walked over sliding his blades back into their sheaves, “Riclamin you have already taken your revenge the guild has fallen.” Riclamin, “this man deserves death for what he has done.” Aaron, “No, the people of this city should decide his fate since they also have suffered at his and the guilds hands.” Riclamin, “but… you are right another mans death will mean nothing.” Riclamin got up and walked away from the man grabbing the dead rogues loot while mumbling to himself. The guild leader began to try and slide away but Laee held him in place with on of her boots. Laee, “Oh no you don’t.” Guild master, “was worth a try.” Aaron grabbed out some rope and tied the man up. Aaron, “I have some questions for you.” Guild master, “fire away that does not mean I will answer you.” Aaron punched him in the gut before dragging the man to his feet. [Enea, “don’t be to rough with him.”] [Aaron, “Yah I know but I am still sick of people like him.”] [Laee, “most people are.”] Aaron, “well we should probably drag this guy back to the fortress.” Laee, “Good Idea, Riclamin are you coming along.” Riclamin turned to them, “sure I have some old friends I need to talk to anyway.” Aaron's group dragged the man along walking down the early morning streets. As they went a crowd of onlookers began to appear. Some of the thugs that where out in the day saw the man that was being dragged and ran away or slunk back into the near by ally’s. As they reached the area near the Fortress the cities few guards began to walk out. Guard Captain, “what do you think you are doing.” Riclamin, “Hello captain.” Guard Captain, “Riclamin? By the Light it’s good to see you. Have you come back to reclaim your family’s throne?” Riclamin, “No I will not take the throne that has the blood of my family spilt on it.” Guard Captain, “then why are you here?” Aaron, “We have taken out the Thieves guild that has been plaguing the city.” Guard Captain, “And who are you!?” Aaron, “I am Aaron the Chosen to the goddess Enea and this is The Goddess Laee who is also a chosen.” Guard Captain, “Oh the hero’s of the east! I am grateful to have meet you but may I ask why you are here?” Aaron, “Well…” Laee interrupted him. “We where here to get a ship to the Island to the north and became caught up in the guilds business so we asked for assistance from Riclamin here to help eliminate the guild.” Guard Captain, “we are grateful for the help.” Riclamin, “Since I will not take the city’s thrown I recommend Aaron here for the position.” Aaron, “what!? But you barely know me and I’ve only helped take out the guild.” Riclamin, “this city needs a leader or it will continue to fall into ruin, and since you are the ruler of the rest of the Island I believe the city will grow prosperous.” Guard Captain, “Well Riclamin you are the only one currently in any form of rule in this city so we will do as you say.” He turned back to Aaron then got down on his knee. “We the knights of Silver City give our fealty to you and will follow you to our dying breath.” [Aaron, "I did not know this city was called Silver, well the city did have a lot of the color silver and it might also have to do with Riclamins last name."] Aaron, “please stand up, if you wish it Riclamin I will do the best I can for the city.” You are now ruler of silver city! A new starting city has been opened to players! You have gained +500 fame! You have Gained +500 Faith! You have leveled up! You have leveled up! You have leveled up! [Aaron, “I was not expecting that.”] [Enea, “neither was I.”] Aaron quickly opened up his stat window. Status Window Name| Aaron Primary Class| Enea's Chosen Gender| Neutral Height| 6'4" Health| 2000 Mana| 2800 Level| 85 Race| Human Health Regen/sec| 8.5 Mana Regen/sec| 8.5 Strength| 50 Agility| 50 Wisdom| 40 Intelligence| 36 Stamina| 44 Vitality| 24 Dexterity| 36 Faith| 2000 Fame| 1020 Skills Precise shot-Basic Level 8, Blade Proficiency-Intermediate level 2, Bow Proficiency-intermediate level 1, Knife Proficiency-Basic level 8, Amidexstris/Dual Wielding-Intermediate level 4, Repair-Basic level 9, Handicraft-Basic Level 7,Blacksmith-Basic level 6, Carpenter-Basic Level 2, Stealth-Basic level 6,Traps-Basic Level 4, Digging-Basic Level 2, Construction-Basic Level 2, First Aid- Basic level 4, Identify- Basic Level 7, Cooking- basic Level 4, Shout- Basic Level 2, Leadership - Basic Level 4, Weapon Forms Faint, Slash, Stab, Whirlwind, Twin Blade, Enea's Form, Shadow Step, Spells Demonic Aura, Holly Aura, Fireball, Fire Blade, Fire Wall, Language Common, Ancient Equipment Head Enea's Helmet: Durability 20/20 +6 Neck Reinforced Scarf: Durability 20/20, Defense +8 Armor/Torso Enea's armor: durability 40/40, Defense +16 Arms Enea's Gantlets: Durability 30/30, Defense +8 Pants/Legs Enea's armor: durability 40/40, Defense +16 Feet Enea's Boots: Durability 20/20, Defense +10 Enea's Armor Durability| 150/150 total Defense| 64 Armor| Heavy Class| Ultimate Rare Abilities Enea was once the peacekeeper of the gods along with five other goddesses to keep the balance between the forces of the dark and light. Enea's armor was created from Mitheral and a rare forgotten metal of the gods along with part of Enea's flesh. This Armor was first worn by Enea and has now been passed down to her chosen. This armor Levels and evolves with the wearer. Evolution| Stage 3 Level| 85 Evolutions Affects Hawk- Do to players use of precision and speed Armor has morphed to accommodate adding +2 speed, Blacksmiths hands-Armor can now combine with certain items, Flame-Due to the heavy use of fire magic by the player fire runes have been added to armor raising fire attacks and allowing user to automatically cast Fire blade and fireball without an incantation Aaron had finally reached level 85 due to all the experience he earned from the battles and the quest he did not even know he had activated. Aaron, “Can I see the throne room?” Riclamin, “I can take you there.” Aaron turned back to the guild leader he had almost forgotten about. Aaron, “Guard Captain can you take this man to the dungeon to prepare for a trial.” The guard captain walked to the man and gave a shocked gasp. Guard Captain, “Riclamin do you know who this man is!?” Riclamin, “yes I know that he is the traitor and was the leader of the thieves guild.” Guard Captain, “how dare you betray us!” Guild leader, “I don’t care can you just drag me to a cell already.” The guard Captain balled up his armored fist and punched the man in the gut. “You deserve far worse then you are currently given.” He turned back to Aaron. “I will deal with this traitor as you have commanded my lord.” Aaron, “Please do not be so formal.” Guard Captain, “As you say Lord Aaron.” The Guard Captain with a few of his guards dragged the guild leader away while Aaron sighed. Aarons group headed into the fortress and worked their way to the thrown room. Riclamin, “I have not been in here in years.” Aaron, “are you ok?” Riclamin, “I will be fine.” Aaron then looked at the throne stepped up and sat in it. Do you wish to access Region Control Panel? Aaron, “yes!” A view of the region soon popped up in front of Aaron like it had at the old fort. Looking over it he saw the window with the amount of gold he had at the side said that he had about 60,000 gold. A proportion was added from this month’s tax, Silver city’s treasury and the gold he had found in the thieves guild base. Aaron quickly selected Silver city to view its details. Much of the city was falling apart abandoned or just thrown together. He began by repairing the housing areas and improving the city’s sanitation. He then selected the city’s old falling apart temple and rebuilt it dedicating it to Enea and Laee religion since the temple had no current deity or god. Next he selected the markets and port repairing and upgrading parts. Do to repairing old Dry docks you now have access to building more and building ships! [Aaron, “nice this should help a lot.”] [Enea, “if we eventually get more we can build a proper navy to prevent future invasions to the Isles.”] [Aaron, “A navy! God I forgot about that entirely.”] [Enea, “well we still are a long ways off but since we do have a major port now trade will begin to grow.”] [Aaron, “another good thing for our region.”] [Laee, “I can try more varieties of alcohol now!”] [Aaron and Enea, “Laee!”] The last thing Aaron did was repair the fortress. Leaving him with about 3,500 gold for emergency’s. Before closing out of the region control panel he looked at his regions current stats. Region Stat Window Culture 50 Research 20 Military 54 Faith 50 Transportation 80 Mines 35 Technology 30 Sanitation 75% Aaron, “well since that is done we should probably go search for the other chosen again.” Riclamin, “my lord Aaron what do you wish me to do?” Aaron turned to Riclamin. “Riclamin you can do as you wish I do not wish to control every detail of anyone’s lives.” Riclamin, “But my purpose for the last few years was to fight the guild and since they are gone I do not know what to do.” Laee, “what do you wish to do.” Riclamin just shrugged his shoulders. Aaron, “Why don’t you train more thief catchers so something like this does not happen again. Also there are still the thugs and the guilds remnants that need to be taken care of.” Riclamin, “good Idea my lord I will do as you wish.” Aaron, “I will send word for Knight captain Jonathan to come and give you assistance here…”

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Aaron and Laee where shocked to see the thief catcher that had been searching for all day was sitting right there in their inn. Aaron and Laee looked at each other before they sat next to the men but still being cautious of their surroundings. <br><br>[Enea, “be Carful this may be a trap.”]<br><br>[Aaron, “I know I’ll be carful.”]<br><br>[Laee, “I’m here so you don’t have to worry about him.”]<br><br>[Enea, “That just makes me even more worried.”]<br><br>[Aaron, “Really are we going to start this right now!”]<br><br>he sighed before asking the thief catcher.<br><br> “Why should I believe you are a thief catcher?”<br><br>The man looked at the bottom of his almost empty mug before answering.<br><br>Thief Catcher, “Well before I answer you why don’t we move this conversation somewhere more private so no one could over hear us.”<br><br>He nodded his head at a group of men sitting at one of the Inns tables throwing some glances at them.<br><br>Aaron, “there is plenty of noise so they can’t hear us.”<br><br>The man shook his head as if to agree.<br><br>Thief Catcher, “That is true but would you be willing to risk letting anything slip that you do not want overheard?”<br><br>Laee, “No we would not. We have a room and I can cast a spell to make sure no one can hear us.”<br><br>She got up from her seat and nodded to the stairs. Aaron and the thief catcher got up and headed for the stairs. Laee went up first fallowed by the thief catcher with Aaron coming up behind keeping an eye on him and made sure no one was following them. Once they entered the room they closed the door and locked it behind them.<br><br>Laee, “so now would you like to talk?”<br><br>Thief Catcher, “Of course my lady. Well to start the moment you entered the city dressed like that you have been a target for the city’s thieves Guild. They are currently the ones ruling this city since the last late rulers death.”<br><br>Aaron watched as the man sat on one of the room’s two chairs.<br><br>Laee, “this isn’t really doing anything that will lead us to believe you.”<br><br>The thief catcher turned to her.<br><br>“You really should be patient. Well since I’ve been tracking the thieves’ guilds movements for some time you gave me an opportunity to weaken them a bit. I noticed that once you began to search for help to get whatever it is that was stolen I thought I would take the chance to help you and weaken their power in this city.”<br><br>Aaron, “and why do you wish to stop them so much let alone help us?”<br><br>The man looked at them then lowered his shoulders a bit.<br><br>The thief catcher began to speak with a hint of sadness to his words. “I lost my family to the guild a long time ago. My Brother was the last ruler of this city before the guild truly came to power. I lived in the city with… my wife and newborn son. But soon the guilds influence began to rapidly grow along with a number of the higher ups dying mysteriously. <br><br>When we finally noticed that the guild was behind it we where to late. The guild had begun to move rapidly and kill all those in power including my brother. I had been rushing back to get my family and flee the city but when I arrived…when I arrived my family where already slain. I was so overcome with grief that I almost did not notice that the guild still had men in my home."<br><br>Laee was already tearing up due to the mans story while Aaron was still not to sure about him.<br><br>Aaron, “how did you survive the guilds attack?”<br><br>The thief catcher looked up at Aaron with a sorrowful stone cold face.<br><br>“I killed the closest assailants and ran for my life. I knew I could not outrun them so I faked my death while falling into one of the canals with one of their men. Since then I’ve been trying to take revenge on them for my family.”<br><br>Laee was already balling at this point while drinking some of her mead she had stashed.<br><br>Laee, “I’m so sorry for your loss.”<br><br>She handed him a bottle of mead.<br><br>Thief catcher, “That’s why I’m willing to help you.”<br><br>[Enea, “I believe the man is telling the truth.”]<br><br>Enea also sounded like she was tearing up at his story.<br><br>Aaron agreed with Enea and believed the man was sincere but was still not sure if the man could help them.<br><br>Aaron, “I’m willing to work with you but can you give me your name?”<br><br>The thief catcher nodded, “sorry I did not introduce myself earlier. My name is Riclamin Silvershaper.<br><br>Aaron, “nice to meet you Riclamin and sorry about your loss.”<br><br>Riclamin, “I’m just grateful for another chance to hurt the guild, by the way what were you trying to get back from them.”<br><br>Aaron, “well when we arrived they stole the gold we needed for getting a ship to take us to the northern Island. I also believe we discovered the guilds base of operations.”<br><br>Riclamin just stared at him for a moment before talking.<br><br>“If you already have the information and since you have the skills why do you need a thief catcher?”<br><br>Laee, “We don’t have any of the skills needed to deactivate traps or sneak in so we needed someone to help us.”<br><br>Riclamin, “I have the skills that you need then and if it really is their base of operations then we can possibly take them down for good or at least heart them bad enough they would take years to regain what they’d lose.”<br><br>Aaron, “That’s the idea.”<br><br>They began to strategize through the night about how they where going to strike. While they where planning Aaron returned to his original form freaking Riclamin out. They had to explain to him about who they were so he began calling them chosen and hero’s of the East.<br><br>The next day they headed out to the warehouse district just before sunset and waited. Once the only thing providing light was the moon they quickly headed for the warehouse. They stopped across the way spotting a guard posted by the door sitting on one of the many crates lying about.<br><br>Riclamin, “I will take care of him.”<br><br>Aaron, “be carful.”<br><br>Riclamin was gone before Aaron could finish what he was saying. He quickly turned back to watch the guard. Soon a figure appeared on the other side of the crate from the guard. The figure slowly rose then covered the mans mouth while pulling his head back and slitting his throat. As the man began to convulse he was dragged behind the nearby crates.<br><br>[Enea, “That man sure is skilled.”]<br><br>[Aaron, “I hope I never get on the wrong side of him.”]<br><br>Soon the figure moved out from behind the crates and singled them over. They quickly ran for the warehouses side door.<br><br>Aaron, “nice job back there.”<br><br>Riclamin, “thanks but we should stay quiet.”<br><br>Aaron quickly nodded in understanding.<br><br>They gathered around the door while Riclamin looked in to make sure the coast was clear. Once he was sure he opened the door and ran in with Aaron and Laee in tow. <br><br>As they made their way through the stacks of crates they came upon two men talking while in front of a open trap door in the floor.<br><br>Guard, “have you heard about what those travelers did to Charles group?”<br><br>Second guard, “yah they took a beating, not even one of the one that confronted them survived.”<br><br>Guard, “yah, I hope I don’t have to face them anytime soon.”<br><br>Second guard, “same here I’d just prefer to stay on guard duty since nothing ever happens.”<br><br>As the guard finished his sentence he noticed there was a knife sticking out of the others neck. As he was about to give a yell a hand grabbed over his mouth as he heard a whisper in his ear.<br><br>Riclamin, “are you sure you prefer guard duty now!?”<br><br>All the man could do was try and pry the man off his mouth while his throat was slit open. For a few moments he tried to breath but only had blood run down his throat drowning him. Soon the two guards had disintegrated into piles of loot. <br>Riclamin whispered, “hurry we need to go down there.”<br><br>Aaron nodded before fallowing him down the trap door. At the bottom they had to stop as Riclamin had to disarm a few trap wires that lead down the underground hall. Once that was done they continued on.<br><br>Soon they reached a few doors hat where locked. Riclamin quickly unlocked the doors with his lock pick and kit. They moved through the rooms but they where just storage. Aaron grabbed as much of the loot as he could finding some interesting books on tactics of war and some blueprints. <br>They quickly moved on further down the hall checking rooms the came upon. After a while they came upon an intersection where some rouges where coming around the corner. Riclamin was already throwing his knives as Aaron was drawing his bow back to shoot some arrows and Laee began chanting. <br><br>The rouges did not expect the borage of projectiles that where coming at them from down the hall. Most of them where dead in seconds while one fell to the floor an arrow in his side and another one was running down the hall.<br><br>Aaron used shadow step to prevent the one from getting away while Riclamin finished off the wounded one. But as they were about to look down the intersection more rouges came out of the near by rooms to see what had caused the commotion. <br><br>When the spotted Aarons group they drew weapons while yet again another rouge ran down the hall right into Aaron thinking that he was going to warn the others about what was going on. <br><br>Aaron drew his swords and began to hack away at the man but missed a number of times do to his speed. Soon he was on the defensive at the man drew his knives throwing one here and there at Aaron's vital points. He had to continuously doge until he got an opening and slammed the rouge against the wall.<br><br>Laee was shooting lightning out of her hands at the other rouges while Riclamin was bissy fighting off another two rouges. Soon Laee was finished with her group while Riclamin managed to take one out by throwing one of his daggers up through the mans lower jaw neck area.<br>Aaron had the rouge that he was facing pinned against the wall. Using his free hand he was stabbing the man repeatedly watching as his health dropped. He stabbed one more time while stepping back to free his other hand and cut his throat making his health hit zero.<br><br>Stepping back Aaron turned to see that the other two where finished and where picking up the scattered loot. He picked his up and walked back to check the rooms that the rouges had come out of.<br><br>Aaron, “that was a close one. They almost warned the rest further on.”<br><br>Riclamin, “I’m not sure they need to warn them anymore but we may be lucky.”<br><br>Aaron, “why is that?”<br><br>Riclamin, “Though we needed to take out the group the magic was loud enough to echo down the halls.”<br><br>Laee, “Oh come on dose everything have to be my fault!”<br><br>Aaron turned to her; “No it is not your fault since without you we may have been swamped by them.”<br><br>Laee, “thanks Aaron though it was still a mistake to use those spells. I should have put them to sleep.”<br><br>Aaron, “don’t worry about it.”<br><br>Aaron once again changed into Enea’s form making Riclamin jump.<br><br>Riclamin, “Do you have control over that or is it just random!?”<br><br>Aaron, “I have no control over it what so ever.”<br><br>They then quickly headed further into the tunnels. They ran into another two groups before coming to a door at the end of the tunnel. Slowly they slid into a large cavern with a ship anchored at a dock.<br><br>There seemed to be no one in sight so they slowly walked forwards until the reached a wider area before the dock. <br><br>Aarons group soon had to stop as more then thirty people came out of hiding surrounding them. Aaron recognized one of them as Crazed and that one of the others where dressed like a necromancer with a black robe.<br><br>Crazed, “Ah if it isn’t my little toy. Have you come to have a little bit of fun.”<br><br>Laee, “you are not laying a hand on him again.”<br><br>Crazed turned to her, “oh and if it isn’t the lightning wench did you gain some weight.”<br><br>Laee, “oh that’s it you’re a dead man!”<br><br>Aaron, “calm down we need to be carful or else this could end badly.”<br><br>Riclamin looked around before asking, “Do you know this guy.”<br><br>Aaron, “we have had a few run ins in the past but right now is not a good time to talk about it.”<br><br>Crazed, “Ah I thought we where on a better relationship than this. We even kissed.”<br><br>Aaron almost throw up just thinking about it but instead just spat at the ground towards crazed.<br><br>Laee, “you forced yourself on her... him you bastared.” <br><br>[Enea, “hurry begin to cast firestorm.”<br><br>[Laee, “alright good Idea.”]<br><br>Laee began to quietly chant the spell.<br><br>Crazed, “Oh but she did not even resist.”<br><br>Aaron, “How could I have after nearly being blown to bits. I barely had the strength to even stay conscious. Oh and how was the bight is it even healed yet.”<br><br>Crazed just laughed.<br><br>Necromancer, “I can deal with them.”<br><br>Crazed, “You can have the other two but you can not touch my precious little toy.”<br><br>The necromancer began to chant while the mix of rouges and bandits moved forward.<br><br>Aaron quickly slid his blades out but stayed next to Laee while she was still casting her spell. Riclamin stood on the other side of her drawing his knives while looking back and forth between the oncoming attackers.<br><br>As a bandit neared Aaron he nocked the sword out of the mans hands disarming him and stabbed through the mans chest piercing the mans lungs. He quickly pulled the blades out while kicking the man back. As the man fell he disintegrated falling through a rouge that came at Aaron.<br><br>While that was happening Riclamin was fighting another rouge cutting his arms to ribbons while dogging his feints. As he blocked another attack he brought up his foot with a blade popping out into the mans crotch. The man gave a high-pitched scream before falling to his knees.<br><br> Riclamin said, “how did you like them nutcrackers.” While he stabbed his two daggers into both sides of the mans neck.<br><br>Aaron was finishing off the rouge when another bandit came at him with an axe. He quickly used twin blade to cut of the mans arm and strike his leg. As the man fell Aaron stepped back and hacked at the back of the mans neck. <br><br>As that happened the necromancer finished his spell causing the dead to rise once again and new ones to emerge out of crates near the dock. <br>Aaron quickly took out the ones that where rising around him while Riclamin did the same. They readied themselves as more of the attackers came closer. Right as they where nearly upon them Laee finished her spell and activated a shield to cover her Aaron and Riclamin.<br><br>The remaining bandits and rouges where being in ripped apart wile the undead exploded into flying bits of bone. As the last of them fell Laee deactivated the spell and waited for the fire to stop before removing the shield. Looking around the group noticed that the ship that was anchored was beginning to cast off and set sail.<br><br>Aaron, “Oh you are not getting away this time Crazed.”<br><br>They ran for the end of the dock but had to stop as the ship got to far to jump. They looked at the back of the ship as Crazed began to waive at them.<br><br>Crazed, “sorry I could not play more with you my toy but we will be seeing each other once again soon.”<br><br>Aaron, “Stop running away you coward and face me like a man.”<br><br>Crazed laughed out across the water as the ship exited the cavern. </div>

Aaron and Laee where shocked to see the thief catcher that had been searching for all day was sitting right there in their inn. Aaron and Laee looked at each other before they sat next to the men but still being cautious of their surroundings. [Enea, “be Carful this may be a trap.”] [Aaron, “I know I’ll be carful.”] [Laee, “I’m here so you don’t have to worry about him.”] [Enea, “That just makes me even more worried.”] [Aaron, “Really are we going to start this right now!”] he sighed before asking the thief catcher. “Why should I believe you are a thief catcher?” The man looked at the bottom of his almost empty mug before answering. Thief Catcher, “Well before I answer you why don’t we move this conversation somewhere more private so no one could over hear us.” He nodded his head at a group of men sitting at one of the Inns tables throwing some glances at them. Aaron, “there is plenty of noise so they can’t hear us.” The man shook his head as if to agree. Thief Catcher, “That is true but would you be willing to risk letting anything slip that you do not want overheard?” Laee, “No we would not. We have a room and I can cast a spell to make sure no one can hear us.” She got up from her seat and nodded to the stairs. Aaron and the thief catcher got up and headed for the stairs. Laee went up first fallowed by the thief catcher with Aaron coming up behind keeping an eye on him and made sure no one was following them. Once they entered the room they closed the door and locked it behind them. Laee, “so now would you like to talk?” Thief Catcher, “Of course my lady. Well to start the moment you entered the city dressed like that you have been a target for the city’s thieves Guild. They are currently the ones ruling this city since the last late rulers death.” Aaron watched as the man sat on one of the room’s two chairs. Laee, “this isn’t really doing anything that will lead us to believe you.” The thief catcher turned to her. “You really should be patient. Well since I’ve been tracking the thieves’ guilds movements for some time you gave me an opportunity to weaken them a bit. I noticed that once you began to search for help to get whatever it is that was stolen I thought I would take the chance to help you and weaken their power in this city.” Aaron, “and why do you wish to stop them so much let alone help us?” The man looked at them then lowered his shoulders a bit. The thief catcher began to speak with a hint of sadness to his words. “I lost my family to the guild a long time ago. My Brother was the last ruler of this city before the guild truly came to power. I lived in the city with… my wife and newborn son. But soon the guilds influence began to rapidly grow along with a number of the higher ups dying mysteriously. When we finally noticed that the guild was behind it we where to late. The guild had begun to move rapidly and kill all those in power including my brother. I had been rushing back to get my family and flee the city but when I arrived…when I arrived my family where already slain. I was so overcome with grief that I almost did not notice that the guild still had men in my home." Laee was already tearing up due to the mans story while Aaron was still not to sure about him. Aaron, “how did you survive the guilds attack?” The thief catcher looked up at Aaron with a sorrowful stone cold face. “I killed the closest assailants and ran for my life. I knew I could not outrun them so I faked my death while falling into one of the canals with one of their men. Since then I’ve been trying to take revenge on them for my family.” Laee was already balling at this point while drinking some of her mead she had stashed. Laee, “I’m so sorry for your loss.” She handed him a bottle of mead. Thief catcher, “That’s why I’m willing to help you.” [Enea, “I believe the man is telling the truth.”] Enea also sounded like she was tearing up at his story. Aaron agreed with Enea and believed the man was sincere but was still not sure if the man could help them. Aaron, “I’m willing to work with you but can you give me your name?” The thief catcher nodded, “sorry I did not introduce myself earlier. My name is Riclamin Silvershaper. Aaron, “nice to meet you Riclamin and sorry about your loss.” Riclamin, “I’m just grateful for another chance to hurt the guild, by the way what were you trying to get back from them.” Aaron, “well when we arrived they stole the gold we needed for getting a ship to take us to the northern Island. I also believe we discovered the guilds base of operations.” Riclamin just stared at him for a moment before talking. “If you already have the information and since you have the skills why do you need a thief catcher?” Laee, “We don’t have any of the skills needed to deactivate traps or sneak in so we needed someone to help us.” Riclamin, “I have the skills that you need then and if it really is their base of operations then we can possibly take them down for good or at least heart them bad enough they would take years to regain what they’d lose.” Aaron, “That’s the idea.” They began to strategize through the night about how they where going to strike. While they where planning Aaron returned to his original form freaking Riclamin out. They had to explain to him about who they were so he began calling them chosen and hero’s of the East. The next day they headed out to the warehouse district just before sunset and waited. Once the only thing providing light was the moon they quickly headed for the warehouse. They stopped across the way spotting a guard posted by the door sitting on one of the many crates lying about. Riclamin, “I will take care of him.” Aaron, “be carful.” Riclamin was gone before Aaron could finish what he was saying. He quickly turned back to watch the guard. Soon a figure appeared on the other side of the crate from the guard. The figure slowly rose then covered the mans mouth while pulling his head back and slitting his throat. As the man began to convulse he was dragged behind the nearby crates. [Enea, “That man sure is skilled.”] [Aaron, “I hope I never get on the wrong side of him.”] Soon the figure moved out from behind the crates and singled them over. They quickly ran for the warehouses side door. Aaron, “nice job back there.” Riclamin, “thanks but we should stay quiet.” Aaron quickly nodded in understanding. They gathered around the door while Riclamin looked in to make sure the coast was clear. Once he was sure he opened the door and ran in with Aaron and Laee in tow. As they made their way through the stacks of crates they came upon two men talking while in front of a open trap door in the floor. Guard, “have you heard about what those travelers did to Charles group?” Second guard, “yah they took a beating, not even one of the one that confronted them survived.” Guard, “yah, I hope I don’t have to face them anytime soon.” Second guard, “same here I’d just prefer to stay on guard duty since nothing ever happens.” As the guard finished his sentence he noticed there was a knife sticking out of the others neck. As he was about to give a yell a hand grabbed over his mouth as he heard a whisper in his ear. Riclamin, “are you sure you prefer guard duty now!?” All the man could do was try and pry the man off his mouth while his throat was slit open. For a few moments he tried to breath but only had blood run down his throat drowning him. Soon the two guards had disintegrated into piles of loot. Riclamin whispered, “hurry we need to go down there.” Aaron nodded before fallowing him down the trap door. At the bottom they had to stop as Riclamin had to disarm a few trap wires that lead down the underground hall. Once that was done they continued on. Soon they reached a few doors hat where locked. Riclamin quickly unlocked the doors with his lock pick and kit. They moved through the rooms but they where just storage. Aaron grabbed as much of the loot as he could finding some interesting books on tactics of war and some blueprints. They quickly moved on further down the hall checking rooms the came upon. After a while they came upon an intersection where some rouges where coming around the corner. Riclamin was already throwing his knives as Aaron was drawing his bow back to shoot some arrows and Laee began chanting. The rouges did not expect the borage of projectiles that where coming at them from down the hall. Most of them where dead in seconds while one fell to the floor an arrow in his side and another one was running down the hall. Aaron used shadow step to prevent the one from getting away while Riclamin finished off the wounded one. But as they were about to look down the intersection more rouges came out of the near by rooms to see what had caused the commotion. When the spotted Aarons group they drew weapons while yet again another rouge ran down the hall right into Aaron thinking that he was going to warn the others about what was going on. Aaron drew his swords and began to hack away at the man but missed a number of times do to his speed. Soon he was on the defensive at the man drew his knives throwing one here and there at Aaron's vital points. He had to continuously doge until he got an opening and slammed the rouge against the wall. Laee was shooting lightning out of her hands at the other rouges while Riclamin was bissy fighting off another two rouges. Soon Laee was finished with her group while Riclamin managed to take one out by throwing one of his daggers up through the mans lower jaw neck area. Aaron had the rouge that he was facing pinned against the wall. Using his free hand he was stabbing the man repeatedly watching as his health dropped. He stabbed one more time while stepping back to free his other hand and cut his throat making his health hit zero. Stepping back Aaron turned to see that the other two where finished and where picking up the scattered loot. He picked his up and walked back to check the rooms that the rouges had come out of. Aaron, “that was a close one. They almost warned the rest further on.” Riclamin, “I’m not sure they need to warn them anymore but we may be lucky.” Aaron, “why is that?” Riclamin, “Though we needed to take out the group the magic was loud enough to echo down the halls.” Laee, “Oh come on dose everything have to be my fault!” Aaron turned to her; “No it is not your fault since without you we may have been swamped by them.” Laee, “thanks Aaron though it was still a mistake to use those spells. I should have put them to sleep.” Aaron, “don’t worry about it.” Aaron once again changed into Enea’s form making Riclamin jump. Riclamin, “Do you have control over that or is it just random!?” Aaron, “I have no control over it what so ever.” They then quickly headed further into the tunnels. They ran into another two groups before coming to a door at the end of the tunnel. Slowly they slid into a large cavern with a ship anchored at a dock. There seemed to be no one in sight so they slowly walked forwards until the reached a wider area before the dock. Aarons group soon had to stop as more then thirty people came out of hiding surrounding them. Aaron recognized one of them as Crazed and that one of the others where dressed like a necromancer with a black robe. Crazed, “Ah if it isn’t my little toy. Have you come to have a little bit of fun.” Laee, “you are not laying a hand on him again.” Crazed turned to her, “oh and if it isn’t the lightning wench did you gain some weight.” Laee, “oh that’s it you’re a dead man!” Aaron, “calm down we need to be carful or else this could end badly.” Riclamin looked around before asking, “Do you know this guy.” Aaron, “we have had a few run ins in the past but right now is not a good time to talk about it.” Crazed, “Ah I thought we where on a better relationship than this. We even kissed.” Aaron almost throw up just thinking about it but instead just spat at the ground towards crazed. Laee, “you forced yourself on her... him you bastared.” [Enea, “hurry begin to cast firestorm.” [Laee, “alright good Idea.”] Laee began to quietly chant the spell. Crazed, “Oh but she did not even resist.” Aaron, “How could I have after nearly being blown to bits. I barely had the strength to even stay conscious. Oh and how was the bight is it even healed yet.” Crazed just laughed. Necromancer, “I can deal with them.” Crazed, “You can have the other two but you can not touch my precious little toy.” The necromancer began to chant while the mix of rouges and bandits moved forward. Aaron quickly slid his blades out but stayed next to Laee while she was still casting her spell. Riclamin stood on the other side of her drawing his knives while looking back and forth between the oncoming attackers. As a bandit neared Aaron he nocked the sword out of the mans hands disarming him and stabbed through the mans chest piercing the mans lungs. He quickly pulled the blades out while kicking the man back. As the man fell he disintegrated falling through a rouge that came at Aaron. While that was happening Riclamin was fighting another rouge cutting his arms to ribbons while dogging his feints. As he blocked another attack he brought up his foot with a blade popping out into the mans crotch. The man gave a high-pitched scream before falling to his knees. Riclamin said, “how did you like them nutcrackers.” While he stabbed his two daggers into both sides of the mans neck. Aaron was finishing off the rouge when another bandit came at him with an axe. He quickly used twin blade to cut of the mans arm and strike his leg. As the man fell Aaron stepped back and hacked at the back of the mans neck. As that happened the necromancer finished his spell causing the dead to rise once again and new ones to emerge out of crates near the dock. Aaron quickly took out the ones that where rising around him while Riclamin did the same. They readied themselves as more of the attackers came closer. Right as they where nearly upon them Laee finished her spell and activated a shield to cover her Aaron and Riclamin. The remaining bandits and rouges where being in ripped apart wile the undead exploded into flying bits of bone. As the last of them fell Laee deactivated the spell and waited for the fire to stop before removing the shield. Looking around the group noticed that the ship that was anchored was beginning to cast off and set sail. Aaron, “Oh you are not getting away this time Crazed.” They ran for the end of the dock but had to stop as the ship got to far to jump. They looked at the back of the ship as Crazed began to waive at them. Crazed, “sorry I could not play more with you my toy but we will be seeing each other once again soon.” Aaron, “Stop running away you coward and face me like a man.” Crazed laughed out across the water as the ship exited the cavern.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 1 – A fight Already?</span> <br> <br>A bright light submerged my body and I found myself in an unknown place again. But this time there were things around. <br> <br>“Selling Leather armor for 5 gold!” <br> <br>“Selling Iron Sword. Plus 10 strength option. 40 Gold!” <br> <br>“Buying all Rabbit Pelts 10 copper each!” <br> <br>It seems like there were merchants in the game. Well unless they rip me off, I won't hate in them since they seem like the kind of people who only care for money. Not like I'm better than them. I really have no idea what to do now. I read some guides on how to start out so I know the basic commands but what to do....I have no idea. <br> <br>So I started to walk around. It was nice to have the feeling of the ground underneath you. The town Tellop was it, was kinda run down. I read that Kallamore was one of the worst spots to start out in. Monster invasion every week and a high chance of dying. But I wanted a place with a lot of history and it had it. As a former Super-power of the continent, it had tones of history I could read about but where can I get that info...the library of course. <br> <br>I started to wonder around and try to find any place that you would store books to read. The library was an important place for mages as they could increase intelligence and wisdom. But I don't plan to go into combat. I have something smaller! Doing nothing and waste time! <br> <br>I don't care about fighting. I don't care about money. I don't care about the politics of this place. <br> <br>But before everything else I'm lost and need some direction. So I started to ask some random people. <br> <br>I walk up to a guy in some armor since I don't bother to look into much and asked, “Hey do you know where the library is?” <br> <br>I noticed that my voice was also kinda high-pitched as well. Just like a girl.....damnit. The guy took a form look at me and scanned my body. With a look of disgust the guy said, “Get lost” <br> <br>Annoyed I didn't. The guy repeated himself. <br> <br>“Get lost noob” <br> <br>The veins in my forehead started to thickened. I gave the guy whom was most likely a player like me and a person whom probably increased his height by 20 centimetres. As a result the guy towered over me in an attempt to stare me down. <br> <br>But I didn't budge asking again to the guy, “So do you know where the library is or what.” <br> <br>They guy started to try and stare me down again and a crowd of people started to gather around seeing a complete noob, me picking a fight against this guy who probably is a high levelled person. <br> <br>Eventually the guy lost his cool and drew out his sword that was dandling at his waist. <br> <br>Shuuuuuzin <br> <br>The sound it made when unsheathe was quite nice. Really realistic. But I was also about to be cut down as well. The guy swung the sword to my neck and just stopped before cutting me. <br> <br>Wuuuuuuuuush <br> <br>With a smug smile obviously trying to show his superiority, the guy said, “So what will you do now? Bitch.” <br> <br>The vein popped. Now I'm pissed off. I'm going to kill this guy no matter what anyone says. &nbsp; <br> <br>In an annoyed voiced I said, “I'm a guy asshole.” <br> <br>The guy was taken back a bit but was then calm again. The crowd was also giving their own comments though I didn't listen to them. <br> <br>“So you changed your appearance to be like a girl. I'll give you no mercy.” <br> <br>The guy swung his sword to the ground and a small cut was made on the ground. It made a boom sound. The guy of definitely trying to bait me to hit him but I was better than that. <br> <br>“This is my original appearance. I don't add 20 cm to my height like you.” <br> <br>I lied but it was a good lie. The guy was now seriously pissed off at me. He was on the verge to attacking me now. I'll just stand my ground and someone will eventually stop it. And someone did. <br> <br>“You there what are you two doing!” <br> <br>A voice rang throughout the area. A person in a full suit of armor appeared. Judging by the other guy's reaction, this person was stronger than him or a guard of high-rank. The guy next to me shuttered and tried to make up a lie quickly. <br> <br>“This person wanted to see my sword.” <br> <br>The guard person was not amused. As he was walking towards us he said, “Which sword do you mean. The one in your hand or the one in your pants. Though the latter would be disappointing to many.” <br> <br>The crowd started laughing. Insulting a man's pride was very funny for others but not the one being insulted. <br> <br>The guard looked at me and asked, “And what exactly is happening here maiden?” <br> <br>Well this guy thinks I'm a girl. Though very annoying I can use this to my advantage. In my most girlish voice I said. <br> <br>“Umm.....this man wanted to take me somewhere saying he'll show me his sword in private.” <br> <br>I even acted like a girl. Trying to become timid to gain some ground. <br> <br>The guard frown even more. He looked at the guy whom was very shocked and very screwed as well. <br> <br>“You there! Come with me. A knight should not do these things. Maybe you should revise in gaol.” <br> <br>The guard grabbed the guy and before leaving said to me. <br> <br>“I wish for the best for you. Is there anything else to ask?” <br> <br>Ah good now I can get my question answered. <br> <br>“Is there a library nearby?” <br> <br>Still acting like a timid girl I must have triggered some weird reaction in the guard. <br> <br>“Of course there's one south-west of here. The place is called the Sleeping Sheep centre. Its quite the large building so you shouldn't miss it. I wish I could personally escort you but I have to move this prisoner.” <br> <br>“Wait prisoner?! That person is lying. He's a GUY!” <br> <br>Now will my lie work or not. The guard became angry now. Good everything is working out for me. I know where the library is and I get a guy thrown in jail. All at the same time. <br> <br>“WHAT are you talking about?! How can you believe this fair maiden is a man?! You obviously need some more time to learn how to distinguish men and women! ” <br> <br>The guard dragged away the guy that was bothering me. What a fine feeling. To use others to get what you want. A silently laugh at my success on using people. So if I don't tell them my gender, people won't realise that I'm a guy despite selecting the male choice when creating my avatar. Well its time to get to the library <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 2 – Learning History</span> <br> <br>The library was sort of big. It wasn't as big as the massive library in Sydney though. And I bet there are much bigger libraries around the world as well. The building was made mostly of stone at least on the outside. There was a pattern engraved on the bricks that made of the place. I believe it was to look like a branch extending out surrounding the entrance which was the typical double wooden doors. <br> <br>It was impressive to me at least and it seems that I can kill some time here. I walked in the building which had the giant sign 'Sleeping Sheep Centre' on it. What kind of place is called that? Well name aside the place on the inside was impressive. There were shelves of books everywhere. But before reading I should try to talk to the librarian. <br> <br>Walking up to the counter near the entrance I said. <br> <br>“Hello, my name is Eden. Is this the place where I can read the history of this Kingdom?” <br> <br>The librarian was a short old man that looked lie one of the hobbits from the lord of the rings. That and the fact that he's reading a book with reading glasses. The librarian looked up and saw me. He placed a bookmark in the book he was reading and took off his reading glasses. <br> <br>“Yes this is the place where you can read the history of this kingdom. Not that anyone wanted to know.” <br> <br>Eh...that was a weird reaction. This old man seemed to be annoyed. Why? Trying to find out I said. <br> <br>“What do you meant no one wanted to know? This place obviously holds great amounts of knowledge!” <br> <br>The old man smiled and said. <br> <br>“Good! That's the reaction I wanted. This place, the mage guild and any other place with intelligence hold great knowledge. But what do the stupid fools want? To know how to kill a certain creature. Of course we have that knowledge. But we also have history. Do they ask how the knowledge was discovered? Do they ask what history is behind each creature? NO! They only care about how to appear like a knight! To gain Honour. There's no honour with a shallow mind!” <br> <br>The old man went on ranting about how stupid the melee class was. He praised the mage classes, the crafter classes and even the rouge classes. Well at least I'm not bored. This way I can learn a bit more about this place. After the old man rant was over I said. <br> <br>“I completely agree with you words. Not many appreciate the past and set out for the future blindly. But without the past, the future is bound to repeat the past.” <br> <br>The old man smiled even more and I felt the familiarly levels between us rise a bit. <br> <br>“Good. Eden you have the right mind set. Oh I didn't introduce myself yet. I am Dan. I've been taking care of this place for over 40 years now. You can ask me anything.” <br> <br>I see....maybe where the porn section is? No. That would be stupid. First of all I have to find all of the information about this town. <br> <br>“I ask that you tell me the section with the history of this town.” <br> <br>“I see it is over there. In section 35.” <br> <br>Dan pointed to the fifth row to the left. I thanked Dan and started to walk to the section. Each shelf seemed to be 7 metres long. There were 5 rows on each shelf and most likely 200 books on each shelf. I pasted section 33....34....35. I here now. The space in between the shelves was a good 3 metres. &nbsp; &nbsp; <br> <br>I pull out a book randomly and found a book titled “Slayer of 100 beasts”. Nope this isn't it. I searched around more and found some more books with titles like “How to tame rabbits” “Cooking for beginners” and “How to lose weight quickly”. <br> <br>These three books were useless. Well maybe not the cooking book but the other two had no use for me. After 10 minutes of pulling out books and putting them back in I finally found the book I was searching for. I opened it up and started reading. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">History of Tellop Town <br> <br>The town named after its founder had its fair share of events. As part of the Kingdom of Kallamore, it served to train young men into knights that would represent Honour of all kinds. Located in the Senbain mountains where monsters invade every week, the Kingdom has used this place to train for centuries. <br> <br>The original Tellap Town was destroyed in the Kallamore-Haven War and the survivors under the guidance of the descendent its founder Tellap, also named Tellap, they migrated to a new area where they built the current Tellap Town. <br> <br>Once used for farming, the town at first had the unexpected surprise known as monsters in less than 3 days where the initial farmers and their families were slaughtered by the invading monsters. The Kingdom quickly responded by sending a platoon of Knights to protect the small village that soon became a town. <br> <br>Unfortunately the town never became a city due to the constant monster threat. Attempts to find the reasons of the constant monster invasion has been futile. There has been many cases where the brave knights of Kallamore cleared out the entire mountain to find that in a week the monsters appeared again to invade. <br> <br>The explorer Tellop was known to be an person of high regard as he had scouted out many lands under Kallamore's orders and found places which were suited for human civilisation though this one was unfit. Tellop was killed during the first invasion of the monsters defending the town as the other villagers escaped. The town was as a result named after him in his honour. &nbsp; <br> <br>This book was very unexpected. He had known that the Kingdom of Kallamore had monster problems and that each week a monster invasion occurred. But he didn't know of the town name's origins and that this place was originally intended for farmlands. Putting back the book, I pulled out the next book titled “The rise and fall of Kallamore”.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">The rise and fall of Kallamore. <br> <br>The Kallamore Kingdom most known for housing the most powerful of knights was once a great kingdom whom nearly conquered the continent. There is little known on how the Kingdom arised but theories suggest that it was first formed from the dissolution of several other Kingdoms during the age of war 800 years ago although it officially formed much more recently . Since then, they have been gathering great power especially in terms of military might. For the first 100 years of its formation which was around 300 years ago, it has stayed silent for the most part, taking in people whom tried to escape the tyranny of other Kings and nobles alike. The Kingdom is said to originate in the central part of the continent, a bit north near the Niflheim empire before its fall. <br> <br>After the first 100 years of silent, the young King Vincent Kallamore the first declared war on several of its neighbouring Kingdom. Taking the initiative, Kallamore conquered a large portion of many countries before they countered. As a result, Kallamore managed to hold dominate over all other during the King's reign. When the crown was passed down to the King's son, King Vincent Kallamore the second, Kallamore was still in its golden age. However in the second half of the King's life, several Kingdoms allied together to try and take down the Giant known as Kallamore. These Kingdoms include Haven, Toreupan, Masen, Thor, Aidel. There were also several other smaller Kingdoms that were absorbed into the ones listed due to betrayal especially with the Haven Kingdom which is known as the enemy of the Kallamore Kingdom for many generations. With the alliance, Kallamore was picked off bit by bit. During this era, the King was slain in battle and the crown was passed down to the current King of Kallamore, King Vincent Kallamore the third but not before making peace treaties with the other Kingdoms. <br> <br>The true downfall of the Kallamore Kingdom occurred during the ruling of the current King. Before the King's rule, over half the Kingdom was lost already. With the peace treaty, there was some time before another War would occur. As a result the King ordered that the Kingdom would take preparation for another war. After 10 years of silent, the Haven Kingdom declared war against the Kallamore Kingdom. The capital was burnt down during the start of the war but with the great knight Koldeurim the King was able to reconquer and reclaim part of their Kingdom taken long ago. However the other Kingdoms were already suspecting such a war would occur again and another alliance was formed. During this war, Kallamore was pushed back and a stalemate occurred. <br> <br>30 years ago with the death of the great knight Koldeurim, the Kingdom lost many of its terrorties especially to the Haven Kingdom. Eventually they lost all their castles and now inhabit the Senbain Mountains among other small provinces. The war still continue today as both sides skirmish against each other though it seems the Haven Kingdom will win the war.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Most of this I already knew. But its the small details that people often miss. People know that the Kallamore Kingdom and Haven Kingdoms are sworn enemies but never considered when they were not. Nor do people truly know when the Kallamore Kingdom was pushed back to its current state. The name Koldeurim would've been well known for knights but is almost non-existent to all others. <br> <br>I continued to read for a couple more books before saying. <br> <br>“Well did something occur when I wasn't looking?” <br> <br>I checked for any messages that appeared since I wasn't paying attention to them. &nbsp; <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You gained 1 stat in wisdom</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You gained 1 stat in intelligence</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br> <br>Judging when the stats appeared, it was after I read the books. I continued to read for a couple more hours. Learning more about the details of different places and other kingdoms as well. But I stopped when I noticed the message in front of my eyes. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Satisfaction metre is under 10%</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Satisfaction also known as hunger. According to the guides I read, you have to eat a meal once every 5 hours unless your sleeping. I looked outside and saw that it was already night but I can't logout and I don't have a place to sleep. But before everything else I have to eat. <br> <br>Guuuuuuuaaaaaaaaarrrrrr <br> <br>It seems my stomach also agrees. <br>“Inventory window” <br> <br>A transparent window appeared before me showing all I had. Lets see....10 rye bread and a canteen filled with water. Apparently you can get water from a fountain in a city or from a river if outside or something like that. I take out a rye bread and started to chew on it. It was almost flavourless and hard. I almost cut my mouth chewing it before taking a slip form my canteen. Well this is the lowest of the low. Maybe I should learn the cooking skill? Nah there's others that can do that and I can't cook whether its in real life or in game. <br> <br>After eating the rye bread I looked at the Satisfaction metre again. It was now at 35%. So one rye bread can fill my metre by 1/3. But ever since I first go in the game it was little more than 12 hours. That means the bar will lower to almost nil every half a day when I'm awake. Though the metre will decrease more if you do physical activities. Not that I plan to do so. I ate another 2 pieces of rye bread. With my Satisfaction full I stood up putting back the books I took out. <br> <br>Now that food issue is somewhat resolved, I need a place to sleep. I walk back to the entrance of the library and noticed that Dan was still there. I walked up to him. Noticing me Dan said. <br> <br>“Oh Eden, how is your study of the past?” <br> <br>It seems that our friendship dropped a bit when I didn't see him. <br> <br>“Good. I learnt a lot about the history of this Kingdom and of other places as well. But I have to ask if you know a place where I can sleep tonight?” <br> <br>Noticing my concern which was pretty apparent Dan replied. <br> <br>“I have a room upstairs that isn't occupied. You can stay there for free from now on. That's the least I can do for a person like you. And while I'm at it why don't you work here for a while. I am in need of a spare set of hands.” <br> <br>Ding <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Job offer: Work at the library. <br> <br>Dan the librarian has offered you work. You are to work at the desk from 8 am to 10 pm, checking in and out all visitors. You are also to record any borrowed books coming in or out. <br> <br>Paid is 1 silver per day</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>I look at the details of the job which seemed simple enough to do and I do need some money at least before I can get out of the town. <br> <br>“I accept” <br> <br>There better not be a catch to this job. <br> <br>“Good, you work tomorrow. Also I may have some requests for you during the job” <br> <br>Shit. <br> <br>“I'll pay you extra to compensate for the task.” <br> <br>This better not be that. I better check. <br> <br>“Umm Dan....you do know I'm a guy right?” <br> <br>Come on that reaction..... <br> <br>“Yes of Course I know. No girl your age would have such small breasts.” Dan cheerfully said. <br> <br>Well that misunderstanding was resolved cleanly though I feel insulted. Now I really should get some sleep. <br> <br>I walk to the second story of the building and found that there were a couple of rooms down a hallway. I shouted down to Dan. <br> <br>“Heyyyyyyy. Which room do I go into?” <br> <br>Dan's voice echoed back. <br> <br>“The second one to the righttttttttt.” <br> <br>I walk up to the one Dan said and opened the old door. The room was a 5 by 5 metre big room. There was a bed and a table with a candle on it. There was also a window on the side as well with curtains. It was simple. Very simple but it would do. I closed the door behind me and lied in the bed. After a while of shutting my eyes I slept. &nbsp; <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 3 – Uncertain Day</span> <br> <br>I woke up to a very calm day. Stretching my arms I got out of bed and checked if anything happened. Hmm.....Satisfaction decreased by 20%. I looked out of the window and found that the day just started. Damn this game to too realistic. I wonder where Dan is, he didn't tell me what I have to do yet. <br> <br>I opened the door which I noticed didn't have a lock on it and walked downstairs. Before I couldn't really care about the structure of the building but since I'm going to spend some time here I might was well learn where everything is. The wooden stairs connecting the first and second floor was on the left side of the building next to the counter near the entrance. On the second floor I noticed there were more selves with books lined up. It seemed that there were more books on the first floor then the second since the living quarters and an unknown room that was locked was located on the second floor. <br> <br>“Dan are you here?” My voice echoed throughout the empty building. There was no response at all and that kinda worried me. Dan couldn't have ditched me here right? <br> <br>I walked to the counter trying not to trip over uneven floor that could really do with some fixing. I scanned the counter and found a note left for me. It read 'Eden I have to do some stuff so I leave the library to you. Don't worry so much, there aren't many that would come in here anymore.' <br> <br>Wait not many that would come here anymore? Was this place haunted or something? Shit! Why do all the bad stuff happen to me. But Dan has been here for decades. So nothing will happen to me right? But what if Dan was a ghost......I never considered that possibility. Shit I have to ask later. <br> <br>“Nothing bad will happen nothing bad will happen nothing bad will happen” I chanted hoping for the best. After a few moments I calmed down and decided to do some work. I hope that Dan left me something to do or I'm going to continue reading. <br> <br>Along with the note Dan gave me there were a couple other books that listed people who came here and what books are currently borrowed and one that list those to hunt down for stealing....well it seems Dan might be out to hunt now. I walked back to section 35 of the library and took out a couple of books to read while on the counter. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 4 – True Motives</span> <br> <br>The day was almost over and I gained another stat in intelligence form reading. It seemed that you gain stats from doing some stuff. I wonder of there was a limit to it. The day was uneventful. No one came in so I continued to read for the while day. I sighed. <br> <br>“When will Dan come back?” <br> <br>“You asked for me?” <br> <br>Eh...... <br> <br>“Holyyyyyyyyyyy Shittttttttttttttt!” I screamed. <br> <br>Holy shit indeed. Dan just appeared out of nowhere. He entered the library casually and said, “That's a very interesting reaction you have there. Do all youngsters act like you now?” as he chuckled. <br> <br>Still taken back I asked, “So where were you today?” <br> <br>Dan stood there for a bit before saying, “I heard from a friend that the church of Freya created a new training procedure. Apparently it was a huge success though those who participate are traumatised for life. I saw one of them and they started to say something like the scarecrows are coming to kill him. Poor kid.” <br> <br>Seriously.....what the hell are the people of a church doing?! Man I hope nothing like that will happen to me later. <br> <br>“So Eden did anyone come in?” <br> <br>“Nope.” <br> <br>“I see” Dan had a sad look in his eyes. I wonder why. <br> <br>“I hoped that a beauty like you could attract some people here.....” <br> <br>Eh......what the fuck did this old man say? Use me to attract people here? What am I a mascot? Fuck I really want to punch him now. But I can't. I need some money first. <br> <br>“Hey don't make that look Eden. If you smile countless men will try to court you~” <br> <br>I don't want men swarming to me! Shit! Why did I have to make my avatar look like a girl?! <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 5 – Weird Quest.</span> <br> <br>Well nothing much happened in the next 3 weeks. I got payed. I brought the rye bread to eat and replenished my water supply. Dan disappeared sometimes and reappeared later on. Occasionally he gave me a task to do. Resorting books, delivering stuff and taking stuff back. It was really boring but my stats involved a lot during those 3 weeks. From just reading my wisdom and intelligence stats increased by 30 each and from my other tasks strength, agility and stamina increased a bit as well. Ha...I wonder how much more I have to stay here? <br> <br>While I was in my thoughts Dan spoke to me. <br> <br>“Eden I want you to take these notes to the mage guild.” <br> <br>It seems that he's back from his trip. He was puffing out air like a steam train but that really didn't concern me. I took the thick set of notes and said “Okay”. The trip to the small mage guild was not strange to me. I went there a couple of times because of Dan but I really didn't want to be a mage even though the mage guildmaster wanted me to saying that I have potential. <br> <br>I ran for a couple of minutes to the nearby mage guild that was really understaffed. There were not that many books to other places that had a strong magic foundation and not many wanted to be mages here since its all about the knights. Clerics and priests are tolerated due to their function in battle but mages and rouge classes, less than insects. <br> <br>That's why I didn't want to be a mage. Drawing attention is a bad thing. Those in the spotlight will eventually be pulled down by others. <br> <br>I walk in the front entrance which had no door. Immediately I found the guildmaster and said, “Hey I have the notes from Dan.” <br> <br>The guildmaster called Rag immediately reacted to my words, “Ah good give them here.” <br> <br>His hand stretched out showed the countless scars on it. There were some flesh ones again. I handed over the notes and said, “Rag are you doing those experiments again?” <br> <br>The experiments Rag was conduction was whether a mage could fight unarmed against armed men without the usual magic they had. He devised a way to channel mana into the hands to block attacks. As such he went down to the knights place and request that they try to strike him down with their swords. Many agreed at first but then stopped when they saw Rag's will to live. A mage that possess a fighting spirit superior to the fable knights of Kallamore. How ironic. <br> <br>“Well yes I have to. To prove my worth in this Kingdom is my pride and joy. Eventually I want to alter this method to include Knights and other combat based classes. Imagine hundreds of Knights still fighting without their weapons in war, crushing their opponents with their bare hands.” <br> <br>I imagined the scene. It would be damn frightening to face such people at once. But that will never happen since I plan to get as far away from battles as possible. <br> <br>Rag was looking trough the notes I gave him. Saying ah and oh a couple of times before looking at me. <br> <br>“Eden will you help me?” Rag plead to me in a desperate voice. <br> <br>“Help with what?” I replied getting a bad feeling about this. <br> <br>“I need you to do something for me.” Rag smiled when I unconditionally agreed. <br> <br>I don't like where this was going... <br> <br>“I want you to investigate a certain thing that appeared nearby this town.” <br> <br>Can I find a way out? Wait! Outside? I can't go outside. Yes! <br> <br>“But I cannot go outside yet. I can't fulfil your request.” <br> <br>Rag smiled at my words. Shit! He got me. <br> <br>“Don't worry I can teleport you straight there.” <br> <br>Ding <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Investigate the unknown Tower <br> <br>The mage guildmaster of the town has requested you to investigate a mysterious tower that appeared out of nowhere. <br> <br>Rank: Unknown <br>You cannot deny this quest</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have accepted the quest.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>What? I can't deny the quest. What kind of fucked up system is this?! <br> <br>“Well then you should be going now.” <br> <br>Rag smiled and created a magic circle underneath me. Intending to get away I tried to run off it but... <br> <br>“Paralysis” <br> <br>My body was completely shut down by his spell. No. I don't want to do this! Why can't I spend my time in peace?! <br> <br>A bright light submerged my body and I felt a sensation of being pulled apart and reconstructed. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 6 – Time and Space distorted</span> <br> <br>I am sitting down on my chair right now, drinking the tea I brewed myself. A lot of things happened recently. The gathering of the 8 orbs, the attack of darkness and my own wave of destruction afterwards with the splitting of my body and soul into two. But that's all behind me now. Peace was somewhat achieved though its short-lived. Naturally as the strongest and wisest mage I will watch over this fragile world. But recently I've been watching the most chaotic of all beings...... <br> <br>The tower which had countless spells casted on it was shaking. A shard of the tower fell into my tea..... <br> <br>“DAMNIT CRYSERO WHAT DID YOU DO NOW?!!!!” <br> <br>I lost my cool. How could I not. This madman was doing something stupid again. Then that madmen dressed in green ran up to me with a grin on his face as always. <br> <br>“Ah Warlic, it seems I created a rift in time and space.” <br> <br>What? Seriously......how the hell does one make a rift in time and space. <br> <br>“What exactly did you do this time?” <br> <br>My hand was covering my face to the sheer stupidity of the situation. <br> <br>Crysero pointed his finger up and said cheerfully, “Well I was experimenting with some Bacon and tried to combine it with some essence of time to try to make it last forever.” <br> <br>Wait how did this man get some essence of time? Wasn't that one of the most dangerous things to use. Even the most evil would not carelessly obtain some but this man.....maybe he'll reflect if I seal him away forever. Yes that's what I'll do. For the sake of the world and my tea I'll.... <br> <br>I grabbed my staff and pointed it at Crysero. Preparing the spell I started to chant in my head the incarnation but the tower started shaking even more now. <br> <br>“Ah it seems the Tower is being teleported away with us in it~” <br> <br>Damn! I can't counter the teleportion and seal Crysero away forever at the same time. I have to choose. I'll never have such a chance again. But the tower......damnit what do I do?! <br> <br>I felt the tower being moved to an unknown world. A world so similar yet so different from our own. The I felt the core of the teleportion shatter into 7 fragments flying away into this world. This is bad. The amount of energy these fragments hold is tremendous being created from the essence of time. &nbsp; <br> <br>Damnit now I have to clean this up as well but stabilising the space around this tower comes first. Fixing the distortion in space and time created more mana in me then I imagined. It'll take some time to recover and I don't trust Crysero won't do something stupid in this world as well. I have to plan what to do next. <br> <br>Hmm..? A flash of light. Teleportation? Oh a kid. Maybe I can use him. Well I have to test him first. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 7 – The Mysterious Tower</span> <br> <br>My body appeared again after the flash of light. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have lost 10 Health</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>I hit the ground face first and lost some health. <br> <br>“Damnit why do I have the worst luck?” <br> <br>I looked around. There were a lot of trees so....I'm in a forest. There was the stupid tower in front of me. As a level 1 with most of my stats in the intelligence side, I'll get killed by a rabbit at this rate. Heck almost everything in this world can kill me. <br> <br>With no choice I walked into the tower in front of me hoping for the best. <br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Continue Misfortune?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1257&amp;p=7374#p7374" target="_blank">Previous</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161" target="_blank">Exit</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1266" target="_blank">Next</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <br> <br>Author's Notes <br>- The Beginning of Misfortune Begins Muhahahahahahhahahaha <br>- Yes this series is in first person <br>- Yes the main character is a guy that looks like a chick <br>- This chapter is 5757 words long. What a fun number <br>- I thank ninnin for letting me use his setting of Tellap town which I wrote some history on &nbsp;:) <br>- Reason why I'm hesitant on posting is that the Halloween event is still on and the update page is gone for now. <br>- Also I just noticed the forum auto censors swear words....meh. Doesn't matter to me </div>

Part 1 – A fight Already? A bright light submerged my body and I found myself in an unknown place again. But this time there were things around. “Selling Leather armor for 5 gold!” “Selling Iron Sword. Plus 10 strength option. 40 Gold!” “Buying all Rabbit Pelts 10 copper each!” It seems like there were merchants in the game. Well unless they rip me off, I won't hate in them since they seem like the kind of people who only care for money. Not like I'm better than them. I really have no idea what to do now. I read some guides on how to start out so I know the basic commands but what to do....I have no idea. So I started to walk around. It was nice to have the feeling of the ground underneath you. The town Tellop was it, was kinda run down. I read that Kallamore was one of the worst spots to start out in. Monster invasion every week and a high chance of dying. But I wanted a place with a lot of history and it had it. As a former Super-power of the continent, it had tones of history I could read about but where can I get that info...the library of course. I started to wonder around and try to find any place that you would store books to read. The library was an important place for mages as they could increase intelligence and wisdom. But I don't plan to go into combat. I have something smaller! Doing nothing and waste time! I don't care about fighting. I don't care about money. I don't care about the politics of this place. But before everything else I'm lost and need some direction. So I started to ask some random people. I walk up to a guy in some armor since I don't bother to look into much and asked, “Hey do you know where the library is?” I noticed that my voice was also kinda high-pitched as well. Just like a girl.....damnit. The guy took a form look at me and scanned my body. With a look of disgust the guy said, “Get lost” Annoyed I didn't. The guy repeated himself. “Get lost noob” The veins in my forehead started to thickened. I gave the guy whom was most likely a player like me and a person whom probably increased his height by 20 centimetres. As a result the guy towered over me in an attempt to stare me down. But I didn't budge asking again to the guy, “So do you know where the library is or what.” They guy started to try and stare me down again and a crowd of people started to gather around seeing a complete noob, me picking a fight against this guy who probably is a high levelled person. Eventually the guy lost his cool and drew out his sword that was dandling at his waist. Shuuuuuzin The sound it made when unsheathe was quite nice. Really realistic. But I was also about to be cut down as well. The guy swung the sword to my neck and just stopped before cutting me. Wuuuuuuuuush With a smug smile obviously trying to show his superiority, the guy said, “So what will you do now? Bitch.” The vein popped. Now I'm pissed off. I'm going to kill this guy no matter what anyone says.   In an annoyed voiced I said, “I'm a guy asshole.” The guy was taken back a bit but was then calm again. The crowd was also giving their own comments though I didn't listen to them. “So you changed your appearance to be like a girl. I'll give you no mercy.” The guy swung his sword to the ground and a small cut was made on the ground. It made a boom sound. The guy of definitely trying to bait me to hit him but I was better than that. “This is my original appearance. I don't add 20 cm to my height like you.” I lied but it was a good lie. The guy was now seriously pissed off at me. He was on the verge to attacking me now. I'll just stand my ground and someone will eventually stop it. And someone did. “You there what are you two doing!” A voice rang throughout the area. A person in a full suit of armor appeared. Judging by the other guy's reaction, this person was stronger than him or a guard of high-rank. The guy next to me shuttered and tried to make up a lie quickly. “This person wanted to see my sword.” The guard person was not amused. As he was walking towards us he said, “Which sword do you mean. The one in your hand or the one in your pants. Though the latter would be disappointing to many.” The crowd started laughing. Insulting a man's pride was very funny for others but not the one being insulted. The guard looked at me and asked, “And what exactly is happening here maiden?” Well this guy thinks I'm a girl. Though very annoying I can use this to my advantage. In my most girlish voice I said. “Umm.....this man wanted to take me somewhere saying he'll show me his sword in private.” I even acted like a girl. Trying to become timid to gain some ground. The guard frown even more. He looked at the guy whom was very shocked and very screwed as well. “You there! Come with me. A knight should not do these things. Maybe you should revise in gaol.” The guard grabbed the guy and before leaving said to me. “I wish for the best for you. Is there anything else to ask?” Ah good now I can get my question answered. “Is there a library nearby?” Still acting like a timid girl I must have triggered some weird reaction in the guard. “Of course there's one south-west of here. The place is called the Sleeping Sheep centre. Its quite the large building so you shouldn't miss it. I wish I could personally escort you but I have to move this prisoner.” “Wait prisoner?! That person is lying. He's a GUY!” Now will my lie work or not. The guard became angry now. Good everything is working out for me. I know where the library is and I get a guy thrown in jail. All at the same time. “WHAT are you talking about?! How can you believe this fair maiden is a man?! You obviously need some more time to learn how to distinguish men and women! ” The guard dragged away the guy that was bothering me. What a fine feeling. To use others to get what you want. A silently laugh at my success on using people. So if I don't tell them my gender, people won't realise that I'm a guy despite selecting the male choice when creating my avatar. Well its time to get to the library Part 2 – Learning History The library was sort of big. It wasn't as big as the massive library in Sydney though. And I bet there are much bigger libraries around the world as well. The building was made mostly of stone at least on the outside. There was a pattern engraved on the bricks that made of the place. I believe it was to look like a branch extending out surrounding the entrance which was the typical double wooden doors. It was impressive to me at least and it seems that I can kill some time here. I walked in the building which had the giant sign 'Sleeping Sheep Centre' on it. What kind of place is called that? Well name aside the place on the inside was impressive. There were shelves of books everywhere. But before reading I should try to talk to the librarian. Walking up to the counter near the entrance I said. “Hello, my name is Eden. Is this the place where I can read the history of this Kingdom?” The librarian was a short old man that looked lie one of the hobbits from the lord of the rings. That and the fact that he's reading a book with reading glasses. The librarian looked up and saw me. He placed a bookmark in the book he was reading and took off his reading glasses. “Yes this is the place where you can read the history of this kingdom. Not that anyone wanted to know.” Eh...that was a weird reaction. This old man seemed to be annoyed. Why? Trying to find out I said. “What do you meant no one wanted to know? This place obviously holds great amounts of knowledge!” The old man smiled and said. “Good! That's the reaction I wanted. This place, the mage guild and any other place with intelligence hold great knowledge. But what do the stupid fools want? To know how to kill a certain creature. Of course we have that knowledge. But we also have history. Do they ask how the knowledge was discovered? Do they ask what history is behind each creature? NO! They only care about how to appear like a knight! To gain Honour. There's no honour with a shallow mind!” The old man went on ranting about how stupid the melee class was. He praised the mage classes, the crafter classes and even the rouge classes. Well at least I'm not bored. This way I can learn a bit more about this place. After the old man rant was over I said. “I completely agree with you words. Not many appreciate the past and set out for the future blindly. But without the past, the future is bound to repeat the past.” The old man smiled even more and I felt the familiarly levels between us rise a bit. “Good. Eden you have the right mind set. Oh I didn't introduce myself yet. I am Dan. I've been taking care of this place for over 40 years now. You can ask me anything.” I see....maybe where the porn section is? No. That would be stupid. First of all I have to find all of the information about this town. “I ask that you tell me the section with the history of this town.” “I see it is over there. In section 35.” Dan pointed to the fifth row to the left. I thanked Dan and started to walk to the section. Each shelf seemed to be 7 metres long. There were 5 rows on each shelf and most likely 200 books on each shelf. I pasted section 33....34....35. I here now. The space in between the shelves was a good 3 metres.     I pull out a book randomly and found a book titled “Slayer of 100 beasts”. Nope this isn't it. I searched around more and found some more books with titles like “How to tame rabbits” “Cooking for beginners” and “How to lose weight quickly”. These three books were useless. Well maybe not the cooking book but the other two had no use for me. After 10 minutes of pulling out books and putting them back in I finally found the book I was searching for. I opened it up and started reading. | History of Tellop Town The town named after its founder had its fair share of events. As part of the Kingdom of Kallamore, it served to train young men into knights that would represent Honour of all kinds. Located in the Senbain mountains where monsters invade every week, the Kingdom has used this place to train for centuries. The original Tellap Town was destroyed in the Kallamore-Haven War and the survivors under the guidance of the descendent its founder Tellap, also named Tellap, they migrated to a new area where they built the current Tellap Town. Once used for farming, the town at first had the unexpected surprise known as monsters in less than 3 days where the initial farmers and their families were slaughtered by the invading monsters. The Kingdom quickly responded by sending a platoon of Knights to protect the small village that soon became a town. Unfortunately the town never became a city due to the constant monster threat. Attempts to find the reasons of the constant monster invasion has been futile. There has been many cases where the brave knights of Kallamore cleared out the entire mountain to find that in a week the monsters appeared again to invade. The explorer Tellop was known to be an person of high regard as he had scouted out many lands under Kallamore's orders and found places which were suited for human civilisation though this one was unfit. Tellop was killed during the first invasion of the monsters defending the town as the other villagers escaped. The town was as a result named after him in his honour.   This book was very unexpected. He had known that the Kingdom of Kallamore had monster problems and that each week a monster invasion occurred. But he didn't know of the town name's origins and that this place was originally intended for farmlands. Putting back the book, I pulled out the next book titled “The rise and fall of Kallamore”. | | --- | | The rise and fall of Kallamore. The Kallamore Kingdom most known for housing the most powerful of knights was once a great kingdom whom nearly conquered the continent. There is little known on how the Kingdom arised but theories suggest that it was first formed from the dissolution of several other Kingdoms during the age of war 800 years ago although it officially formed much more recently . Since then, they have been gathering great power especially in terms of military might. For the first 100 years of its formation which was around 300 years ago, it has stayed silent for the most part, taking in people whom tried to escape the tyranny of other Kings and nobles alike. The Kingdom is said to originate in the central part of the continent, a bit north near the Niflheim empire before its fall. After the first 100 years of silent, the young King Vincent Kallamore the first declared war on several of its neighbouring Kingdom. Taking the initiative, Kallamore conquered a large portion of many countries before they countered. As a result, Kallamore managed to hold dominate over all other during the King's reign. When the crown was passed down to the King's son, King Vincent Kallamore the second, Kallamore was still in its golden age. However in the second half of the King's life, several Kingdoms allied together to try and take down the Giant known as Kallamore. These Kingdoms include Haven, Toreupan, Masen, Thor, Aidel. There were also several other smaller Kingdoms that were absorbed into the ones listed due to betrayal especially with the Haven Kingdom which is known as the enemy of the Kallamore Kingdom for many generations. With the alliance, Kallamore was picked off bit by bit. During this era, the King was slain in battle and the crown was passed down to the current King of Kallamore, King Vincent Kallamore the third but not before making peace treaties with the other Kingdoms. The true downfall of the Kallamore Kingdom occurred during the ruling of the current King. Before the King's rule, over half the Kingdom was lost already. With the peace treaty, there was some time before another War would occur. As a result the King ordered that the Kingdom would take preparation for another war. After 10 years of silent, the Haven Kingdom declared war against the Kallamore Kingdom. The capital was burnt down during the start of the war but with the great knight Koldeurim the King was able to reconquer and reclaim part of their Kingdom taken long ago. However the other Kingdoms were already suspecting such a war would occur again and another alliance was formed. During this war, Kallamore was pushed back and a stalemate occurred. 30 years ago with the death of the great knight Koldeurim, the Kingdom lost many of its terrorties especially to the Haven Kingdom. Eventually they lost all their castles and now inhabit the Senbain Mountains among other small provinces. The war still continue today as both sides skirmish against each other though it seems the Haven Kingdom will win the war. | | --- | Most of this I already knew. But its the small details that people often miss. People know that the Kallamore Kingdom and Haven Kingdoms are sworn enemies but never considered when they were not. Nor do people truly know when the Kallamore Kingdom was pushed back to its current state. The name Koldeurim would've been well known for knights but is almost non-existent to all others. I continued to read for a couple more books before saying. “Well did something occur when I wasn't looking?” I checked for any messages that appeared since I wasn't paying attention to them.   | You gained 1 stat in wisdom | | --- | | You gained 1 stat in intelligence | | --- | Judging when the stats appeared, it was after I read the books. I continued to read for a couple more hours. Learning more about the details of different places and other kingdoms as well. But I stopped when I noticed the message in front of my eyes. | Satisfaction metre is under 10% | | --- | Satisfaction also known as hunger. According to the guides I read, you have to eat a meal once every 5 hours unless your sleeping. I looked outside and saw that it was already night but I can't logout and I don't have a place to sleep. But before everything else I have to eat. Guuuuuuuaaaaaaaaarrrrrr It seems my stomach also agrees. “Inventory window” A transparent window appeared before me showing all I had. Lets see....10 rye bread and a canteen filled with water. Apparently you can get water from a fountain in a city or from a river if outside or something like that. I take out a rye bread and started to chew on it. It was almost flavourless and hard. I almost cut my mouth chewing it before taking a slip form my canteen. Well this is the lowest of the low. Maybe I should learn the cooking skill? Nah there's others that can do that and I can't cook whether its in real life or in game. After eating the rye bread I looked at the Satisfaction metre again. It was now at 35%. So one rye bread can fill my metre by 1/3. But ever since I first go in the game it was little more than 12 hours. That means the bar will lower to almost nil every half a day when I'm awake. Though the metre will decrease more if you do physical activities. Not that I plan to do so. I ate another 2 pieces of rye bread. With my Satisfaction full I stood up putting back the books I took out. Now that food issue is somewhat resolved, I need a place to sleep. I walk back to the entrance of the library and noticed that Dan was still there. I walked up to him. Noticing me Dan said. “Oh Eden, how is your study of the past?” It seems that our friendship dropped a bit when I didn't see him. “Good. I learnt a lot about the history of this Kingdom and of other places as well. But I have to ask if you know a place where I can sleep tonight?” Noticing my concern which was pretty apparent Dan replied. “I have a room upstairs that isn't occupied. You can stay there for free from now on. That's the least I can do for a person like you. And while I'm at it why don't you work here for a while. I am in need of a spare set of hands.” Ding | Job offer: Work at the library. Dan the librarian has offered you work. You are to work at the desk from 8 am to 10 pm, checking in and out all visitors. You are also to record any borrowed books coming in or out. Paid is 1 silver per day | | --- | I look at the details of the job which seemed simple enough to do and I do need some money at least before I can get out of the town. “I accept” There better not be a catch to this job. “Good, you work tomorrow. Also I may have some requests for you during the job” Shit. “I'll pay you extra to compensate for the task.” This better not be that. I better check. “Umm Dan....you do know I'm a guy right?” Come on that reaction..... “Yes of Course I know. No girl your age would have such small breasts.” Dan cheerfully said. Well that misunderstanding was resolved cleanly though I feel insulted. Now I really should get some sleep. I walk to the second story of the building and found that there were a couple of rooms down a hallway. I shouted down to Dan. “Heyyyyyyy. Which room do I go into?” Dan's voice echoed back. “The second one to the righttttttttt.” I walk up to the one Dan said and opened the old door. The room was a 5 by 5 metre big room. There was a bed and a table with a candle on it. There was also a window on the side as well with curtains. It was simple. Very simple but it would do. I closed the door behind me and lied in the bed. After a while of shutting my eyes I slept.   Part 3 – Uncertain Day I woke up to a very calm day. Stretching my arms I got out of bed and checked if anything happened. Hmm.....Satisfaction decreased by 20%. I looked out of the window and found that the day just started. Damn this game to too realistic. I wonder where Dan is, he didn't tell me what I have to do yet. I opened the door which I noticed didn't have a lock on it and walked downstairs. Before I couldn't really care about the structure of the building but since I'm going to spend some time here I might was well learn where everything is. The wooden stairs connecting the first and second floor was on the left side of the building next to the counter near the entrance. On the second floor I noticed there were more selves with books lined up. It seemed that there were more books on the first floor then the second since the living quarters and an unknown room that was locked was located on the second floor. “Dan are you here?” My voice echoed throughout the empty building. There was no response at all and that kinda worried me. Dan couldn't have ditched me here right? I walked to the counter trying not to trip over uneven floor that could really do with some fixing. I scanned the counter and found a note left for me. It read 'Eden I have to do some stuff so I leave the library to you. Don't worry so much, there aren't many that would come in here anymore.' Wait not many that would come here anymore? Was this place haunted or something? Shit! Why do all the bad stuff happen to me. But Dan has been here for decades. So nothing will happen to me right? But what if Dan was a ghost......I never considered that possibility. Shit I have to ask later. “Nothing bad will happen nothing bad will happen nothing bad will happen” I chanted hoping for the best. After a few moments I calmed down and decided to do some work. I hope that Dan left me something to do or I'm going to continue reading. Along with the note Dan gave me there were a couple other books that listed people who came here and what books are currently borrowed and one that list those to hunt down for stealing....well it seems Dan might be out to hunt now. I walked back to section 35 of the library and took out a couple of books to read while on the counter. Part 4 – True Motives The day was almost over and I gained another stat in intelligence form reading. It seemed that you gain stats from doing some stuff. I wonder of there was a limit to it. The day was uneventful. No one came in so I continued to read for the while day. I sighed. “When will Dan come back?” “You asked for me?” Eh...... “Holyyyyyyyyyyy Shittttttttttttttt!” I screamed. Holy shit indeed. Dan just appeared out of nowhere. He entered the library casually and said, “That's a very interesting reaction you have there. Do all youngsters act like you now?” as he chuckled. Still taken back I asked, “So where were you today?” Dan stood there for a bit before saying, “I heard from a friend that the church of Freya created a new training procedure. Apparently it was a huge success though those who participate are traumatised for life. I saw one of them and they started to say something like the scarecrows are coming to kill him. Poor kid.” Seriously.....what the hell are the people of a church doing?! Man I hope nothing like that will happen to me later. “So Eden did anyone come in?” “Nope.” “I see” Dan had a sad look in his eyes. I wonder why. “I hoped that a beauty like you could attract some people here.....” Eh......what the fuck did this old man say? Use me to attract people here? What am I a mascot? Fuck I really want to punch him now. But I can't. I need some money first. “Hey don't make that look Eden. If you smile countless men will try to court you~” I don't want men swarming to me! Shit! Why did I have to make my avatar look like a girl?! Part 5 – Weird Quest. Well nothing much happened in the next 3 weeks. I got payed. I brought the rye bread to eat and replenished my water supply. Dan disappeared sometimes and reappeared later on. Occasionally he gave me a task to do. Resorting books, delivering stuff and taking stuff back. It was really boring but my stats involved a lot during those 3 weeks. From just reading my wisdom and intelligence stats increased by 30 each and from my other tasks strength, agility and stamina increased a bit as well. Ha...I wonder how much more I have to stay here? While I was in my thoughts Dan spoke to me. “Eden I want you to take these notes to the mage guild.” It seems that he's back from his trip. He was puffing out air like a steam train but that really didn't concern me. I took the thick set of notes and said “Okay”. The trip to the small mage guild was not strange to me. I went there a couple of times because of Dan but I really didn't want to be a mage even though the mage guildmaster wanted me to saying that I have potential. I ran for a couple of minutes to the nearby mage guild that was really understaffed. There were not that many books to other places that had a strong magic foundation and not many wanted to be mages here since its all about the knights. Clerics and priests are tolerated due to their function in battle but mages and rouge classes, less than insects. That's why I didn't want to be a mage. Drawing attention is a bad thing. Those in the spotlight will eventually be pulled down by others. I walk in the front entrance which had no door. Immediately I found the guildmaster and said, “Hey I have the notes from Dan.” The guildmaster called Rag immediately reacted to my words, “Ah good give them here.” His hand stretched out showed the countless scars on it. There were some flesh ones again. I handed over the notes and said, “Rag are you doing those experiments again?” The experiments Rag was conduction was whether a mage could fight unarmed against armed men without the usual magic they had. He devised a way to channel mana into the hands to block attacks. As such he went down to the knights place and request that they try to strike him down with their swords. Many agreed at first but then stopped when they saw Rag's will to live. A mage that possess a fighting spirit superior to the fable knights of Kallamore. How ironic. “Well yes I have to. To prove my worth in this Kingdom is my pride and joy. Eventually I want to alter this method to include Knights and other combat based classes. Imagine hundreds of Knights still fighting without their weapons in war, crushing their opponents with their bare hands.” I imagined the scene. It would be damn frightening to face such people at once. But that will never happen since I plan to get as far away from battles as possible. Rag was looking trough the notes I gave him. Saying ah and oh a couple of times before looking at me. “Eden will you help me?” Rag plead to me in a desperate voice. “Help with what?” I replied getting a bad feeling about this. “I need you to do something for me.” Rag smiled when I unconditionally agreed. I don't like where this was going... “I want you to investigate a certain thing that appeared nearby this town.” Can I find a way out? Wait! Outside? I can't go outside. Yes! “But I cannot go outside yet. I can't fulfil your request.” Rag smiled at my words. Shit! He got me. “Don't worry I can teleport you straight there.” Ding | Investigate the unknown Tower The mage guildmaster of the town has requested you to investigate a mysterious tower that appeared out of nowhere. Rank: Unknown You cannot deny this quest | | --- | | You have accepted the quest. | | --- | What? I can't deny the quest. What kind of fucked up system is this?! “Well then you should be going now.” Rag smiled and created a magic circle underneath me. Intending to get away I tried to run off it but... “Paralysis” My body was completely shut down by his spell. No. I don't want to do this! Why can't I spend my time in peace?! A bright light submerged my body and I felt a sensation of being pulled apart and reconstructed. Part 6 – Time and Space distorted I am sitting down on my chair right now, drinking the tea I brewed myself. A lot of things happened recently. The gathering of the 8 orbs, the attack of darkness and my own wave of destruction afterwards with the splitting of my body and soul into two. But that's all behind me now. Peace was somewhat achieved though its short-lived. Naturally as the strongest and wisest mage I will watch over this fragile world. But recently I've been watching the most chaotic of all beings...... The tower which had countless spells casted on it was shaking. A shard of the tower fell into my tea..... “DAMNIT CRYSERO WHAT DID YOU DO NOW?!!!!” I lost my cool. How could I not. This madman was doing something stupid again. Then that madmen dressed in green ran up to me with a grin on his face as always. “Ah Warlic, it seems I created a rift in time and space.” What? Seriously......how the hell does one make a rift in time and space. “What exactly did you do this time?” My hand was covering my face to the sheer stupidity of the situation. Crysero pointed his finger up and said cheerfully, “Well I was experimenting with some Bacon and tried to combine it with some essence of time to try to make it last forever.” Wait how did this man get some essence of time? Wasn't that one of the most dangerous things to use. Even the most evil would not carelessly obtain some but this man.....maybe he'll reflect if I seal him away forever. Yes that's what I'll do. For the sake of the world and my tea I'll.... I grabbed my staff and pointed it at Crysero. Preparing the spell I started to chant in my head the incarnation but the tower started shaking even more now. “Ah it seems the Tower is being teleported away with us in it~” Damn! I can't counter the teleportion and seal Crysero away forever at the same time. I have to choose. I'll never have such a chance again. But the tower......damnit what do I do?! I felt the tower being moved to an unknown world. A world so similar yet so different from our own. The I felt the core of the teleportion shatter into 7 fragments flying away into this world. This is bad. The amount of energy these fragments hold is tremendous being created from the essence of time.   Damnit now I have to clean this up as well but stabilising the space around this tower comes first. Fixing the distortion in space and time created more mana in me then I imagined. It'll take some time to recover and I don't trust Crysero won't do something stupid in this world as well. I have to plan what to do next. Hmm..? A flash of light. Teleportation? Oh a kid. Maybe I can use him. Well I have to test him first. Part 7 – The Mysterious Tower My body appeared again after the flash of light. | You have lost 10 Health | | --- | I hit the ground face first and lost some health. “Damnit why do I have the worst luck?” I looked around. There were a lot of trees so....I'm in a forest. There was the stupid tower in front of me. As a level 1 with most of my stats in the intelligence side, I'll get killed by a rabbit at this rate. Heck almost everything in this world can kill me. With no choice I walked into the tower in front of me hoping for the best. | Continue Misfortune? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Previous](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1257&p=7374#p7374) | [Exit](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161) | | [Next](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1266) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Author's Notes - The Beginning of Misfortune Begins Muhahahahahahhahahaha - Yes this series is in first person - Yes the main character is a guy that looks like a chick - This chapter is 5757 words long. What a fun number - I thank ninnin for letting me use his setting of Tellap town which I wrote some history on  :) - Reason why I'm hesitant on posting is that the Halloween event is still on and the update page is gone for now. - Also I just noticed the forum auto censors swear words....meh. Doesn't matter to me

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 2.5 Zed's Journal vol.1<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. <br><br>Date Jan 28 , 20XX<br><br><br>Dear Diary,<br><br> Today my gaming Capsule finally arrived. The company employees that installed that piece of equipment were nice enough fellows and installed it. I asked a bunch of questions about royal road and was satisfied with the answer. They finished their business and went on ahead. I was excited and couldn't help smile on the thought was royal road was launching 2 days from now.<br><br><br><br>Date Jan 30 , 20XX<br><br><br>Dear diary, <br><br> Today is finally the launching date of of that new VRMMO Royal Road. It has been the hottest topic around my peers. Reviews were phenomenal and no doubt this would entice the whole world, me included. They said that time runs 4 times faster in the game, how nice. Today I finally start on a new world.<br><br><br>Date Feb 5 , 20XX<br><br>Dear Diary,<br><br> I'm sorry I forgot to write a few days ago. They were right, it was awesome, I still remember my adventures. It went on like this:<br><br>I arrived at the library ready to find information from the books. The librarian stopped me and said that I needed a library card to read them. I asked him how would I could get to have one and replied that it cost 1 silver or worked for them. Since I only had 10 copper I decided to work for it. It was a quest and the reward was a library card.<br><br> Some time passed and I finally managed to finish the quest and was rewarded with a library card. I then proceeded to read some books. Some of the books, the books I read we're The history of Versailles, Job classes throughout the ages, The history of Rosenheim Kingdom, Magical theory, Tales of the legendary heoroes, The origin of church of freya and plenty of others. I gained some stats here in there with the wis and int stats and gained the skill magic mastery. It was repetitive but the rewards were worth it in the long run. Time passed and I ran out of rye bread. I decided to do a quest at the restaurant to gain cooking skills and gain intimacy with the npc to get some discount. I was hired as a bus boy at first delivering and shopping for ingredients, then was promoted to a waiter. While working I heard some gossips and rumors among the players about some crazy guy attacking the scarecrow nonstop with zeal and a quest handed at the church of freya. The players were stumped, many tried to challenge the quest but couldn't figure on what to do. The quest mentioned some haunted mansion, there were no monster but floating furniture attacked the players leaving them running out of the haunted mansion. It quickly become a popular double dare challenge and a test of courage among the players.<br><br> I was promoted yet again as an assistant chef at the kitchen. They were strict with orders and I learned my cooking skills there , It reached pretty high too, around level 5 beginner mastery. I also gained alot of dex and vit stats . I was finally satisfied and resigned on my position, the staff thanked me kindly and I went on my merry way. <br><br> I looked for an empty place to train my Magic mastery. My face and body was covered in soot as to mark of my trial and error. Time passed and I was finally able to discover the skill mana bolt and the lumus skill. I gained the concentration and focus stat too. I practiced some more and as time went by, I gained some level of mastery on the skills and gained some not and wis stats too.<br><br> I was finally satisfied and decided I need some sort of challenge, I remembered the quest that the church of freya gives from the time I was working at the restaurant. I decided to try that quest and went to the church. The priest of the church gave me 5 holy bottles containing holy water. I arrived at the haunted mansion shortly after walking for 20 minutes. I opened the large brown wooden antique door, it looked elegant. I entered the mansion and after stepping 10 meters inside the doors behind me suddenly closed. I shrugged it off as a typical haunted house setting and ventured deep inside. I passed by large pieces of armor, broken furnitures and paintings of people that eyes were giving the feeling of looking at you when you aren't looking at it. I climbed the creaky stairs on the 2nd floor. A sound of crying could be heard on the higher floor and I decided to follow the source of the sound. I climbed another set of stairs and ventured deep into the center of the third floor where the sound originated from. Suddenly the crying stopped, furniture started floating around and started attacking me I tried to dodge of course but some of those furnitures nicked me here and there. I was starting to panic seeing my hp bar started to plummet, I was a low level and the enemy can't be seen. I started casting lumus left and right while starting to spray the holy water from the bottles I received. the number of holy bottles began to dwindle untill the last one was left.I stared to panic more and casted a lumus and quickly opened my last remaining holy bottle. In my hurrying, the holy bottle spilled unto my lumos spell. I was begining to loose hope but suddenly the lumus began to grow double in size and began emitting a blue colored hue . A new skill found itself at my status window. The skill was ruwatch, it has the effect of revealing hidden enemies as well as damaging them if they are caught by the skill. I quickly casted it and revealed two ghost grunting from the spell damage, now that I could see them I then casted mana bolt at them. The ghost ghost decided to hide again but it was all for naught as I recasted my new ruwatch skill and the ghosts efforts were in vain. the ghost's hp suddenly plummeted to red and they suddenly stopped attacking and started begging me to spare them . I replied that I will spare them if they leave the mansion and stop the disturbance they caused. They replied that they can't because they wanted to see their daughter that escaped the assassins that they felled victim to for one last time. A quest window appeared describing their situation and I accepted it. Before I left, I asked the ghost couple for information that might help me to finding their daughter. They only mentioned that their daughter was blonde girl named Sheila and she has a stuffed teddy bear she treasured named Teddy.<br> I asked around town for some information, hopping from place to place and finally lucked out on finding the haunted mansions former nanny. I asked around regarding the daughter of said mansion and found that after that incident she became very determined and trained very hard everyday and became a soldier. She rose through the ranks very fast and she became the captain of the knights in the kingdom. I asked the Nanny how can I get to meet her and she replied to tell the guards that Annie sent me and that should get Shiela's attention. I thanked Annie and I walked towards the castle admiring the view and saw some nice statues. I received some nice bonus stat that lasts for 24 hours. I finally arrived at the castle and told that guard that I'm looking Shiela and told the guard that I was recommended by Annie. After 15 minutes of waiting Shiela arrived, I greeted her and asked if we could talk somewhere in private. The guards then quickly sprung into defensive position and became very protective of their captain. She defused the situation when she reminded the guards that she didn't receive her tittle and post for nothing and said that this man should not be a problem. Sheila led me to her office and I told her the situation regarding her parents. She didn't believed it right away and threatened me even. I quickly told her about her teddy bear named Teddy, she quickly stood there and gasped, she had no choice but believed the person in front of her. No-one should know the existance of Teddy except her parents and her nanny, She trusted Annie enough that she did not share her secrets with anyone. After that I escorted her back to the ghost mansion and traveled into the third floor.<br><br> A tearful family reunion took place and heartfelt words were being exchanged. After a couple of minutes they said goodbye to each other. After that the ghosts was surrounded by light and moved on. Wiping Shiela's eyes he quickly thanked me and gave me 10000 gold as my reward. I gained 6 levels and gained the skill ghost mastery. I was ready to leave the mansion and decided to collect the church of freya quest too. As if reading my thoughts Shiela suddenly cut right in front of me and suggested she report it instead, she looked at my puzzled expression and explained to me that the money I received was in fact the reward that the church was gonna give and it was revealed that it was her who asked the church to commission adventurers in this endeavor. She didn't want to have her parents name be sullied.<br><br> This quest finally made more sense to me and after she explained it, a feeling of understanding can be sensed from me. Finally we said goodbye to each other and Sheila was thanked me one last time and left. I stayed a bit longer and experimented the ghost mastery and unlocked the soul strike skill. Feeling satisfied I logged out and went to sleep dreaming happy dreams. </div>

Chapter 2.5 Zed's Journal vol.1 Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Date Jan 28 , 20XX Dear Diary, Today my gaming Capsule finally arrived. The company employees that installed that piece of equipment were nice enough fellows and installed it. I asked a bunch of questions about royal road and was satisfied with the answer. They finished their business and went on ahead. I was excited and couldn't help smile on the thought was royal road was launching 2 days from now. Date Jan 30 , 20XX Dear diary, Today is finally the launching date of of that new VRMMO Royal Road. It has been the hottest topic around my peers. Reviews were phenomenal and no doubt this would entice the whole world, me included. They said that time runs 4 times faster in the game, how nice. Today I finally start on a new world. Date Feb 5 , 20XX Dear Diary, I'm sorry I forgot to write a few days ago. They were right, it was awesome, I still remember my adventures. It went on like this: I arrived at the library ready to find information from the books. The librarian stopped me and said that I needed a library card to read them. I asked him how would I could get to have one and replied that it cost 1 silver or worked for them. Since I only had 10 copper I decided to work for it. It was a quest and the reward was a library card. Some time passed and I finally managed to finish the quest and was rewarded with a library card. I then proceeded to read some books. Some of the books, the books I read we're The history of Versailles, Job classes throughout the ages, The history of Rosenheim Kingdom, Magical theory, Tales of the legendary heoroes, The origin of church of freya and plenty of others. I gained some stats here in there with the wis and int stats and gained the skill magic mastery. It was repetitive but the rewards were worth it in the long run. Time passed and I ran out of rye bread. I decided to do a quest at the restaurant to gain cooking skills and gain intimacy with the npc to get some discount. I was hired as a bus boy at first delivering and shopping for ingredients, then was promoted to a waiter. While working I heard some gossips and rumors among the players about some crazy guy attacking the scarecrow nonstop with zeal and a quest handed at the church of freya. The players were stumped, many tried to challenge the quest but couldn't figure on what to do. The quest mentioned some haunted mansion, there were no monster but floating furniture attacked the players leaving them running out of the haunted mansion. It quickly become a popular double dare challenge and a test of courage among the players. I was promoted yet again as an assistant chef at the kitchen. They were strict with orders and I learned my cooking skills there , It reached pretty high too, around level 5 beginner mastery. I also gained alot of dex and vit stats . I was finally satisfied and resigned on my position, the staff thanked me kindly and I went on my merry way. I looked for an empty place to train my Magic mastery. My face and body was covered in soot as to mark of my trial and error. Time passed and I was finally able to discover the skill mana bolt and the lumus skill. I gained the concentration and focus stat too. I practiced some more and as time went by, I gained some level of mastery on the skills and gained some not and wis stats too. I was finally satisfied and decided I need some sort of challenge, I remembered the quest that the church of freya gives from the time I was working at the restaurant. I decided to try that quest and went to the church. The priest of the church gave me 5 holy bottles containing holy water. I arrived at the haunted mansion shortly after walking for 20 minutes. I opened the large brown wooden antique door, it looked elegant. I entered the mansion and after stepping 10 meters inside the doors behind me suddenly closed. I shrugged it off as a typical haunted house setting and ventured deep inside. I passed by large pieces of armor, broken furnitures and paintings of people that eyes were giving the feeling of looking at you when you aren't looking at it. I climbed the creaky stairs on the 2nd floor. A sound of crying could be heard on the higher floor and I decided to follow the source of the sound. I climbed another set of stairs and ventured deep into the center of the third floor where the sound originated from. Suddenly the crying stopped, furniture started floating around and started attacking me I tried to dodge of course but some of those furnitures nicked me here and there. I was starting to panic seeing my hp bar started to plummet, I was a low level and the enemy can't be seen. I started casting lumus left and right while starting to spray the holy water from the bottles I received. the number of holy bottles began to dwindle untill the last one was left.I stared to panic more and casted a lumus and quickly opened my last remaining holy bottle. In my hurrying, the holy bottle spilled unto my lumos spell. I was begining to loose hope but suddenly the lumus began to grow double in size and began emitting a blue colored hue . A new skill found itself at my status window. The skill was ruwatch, it has the effect of revealing hidden enemies as well as damaging them if they are caught by the skill. I quickly casted it and revealed two ghost grunting from the spell damage, now that I could see them I then casted mana bolt at them. The ghost ghost decided to hide again but it was all for naught as I recasted my new ruwatch skill and the ghosts efforts were in vain. the ghost's hp suddenly plummeted to red and they suddenly stopped attacking and started begging me to spare them . I replied that I will spare them if they leave the mansion and stop the disturbance they caused. They replied that they can't because they wanted to see their daughter that escaped the assassins that they felled victim to for one last time. A quest window appeared describing their situation and I accepted it. Before I left, I asked the ghost couple for information that might help me to finding their daughter. They only mentioned that their daughter was blonde girl named Sheila and she has a stuffed teddy bear she treasured named Teddy. I asked around town for some information, hopping from place to place and finally lucked out on finding the haunted mansions former nanny. I asked around regarding the daughter of said mansion and found that after that incident she became very determined and trained very hard everyday and became a soldier. She rose through the ranks very fast and she became the captain of the knights in the kingdom. I asked the Nanny how can I get to meet her and she replied to tell the guards that Annie sent me and that should get Shiela's attention. I thanked Annie and I walked towards the castle admiring the view and saw some nice statues. I received some nice bonus stat that lasts for 24 hours. I finally arrived at the castle and told that guard that I'm looking Shiela and told the guard that I was recommended by Annie. After 15 minutes of waiting Shiela arrived, I greeted her and asked if we could talk somewhere in private. The guards then quickly sprung into defensive position and became very protective of their captain. She defused the situation when she reminded the guards that she didn't receive her tittle and post for nothing and said that this man should not be a problem. Sheila led me to her office and I told her the situation regarding her parents. She didn't believed it right away and threatened me even. I quickly told her about her teddy bear named Teddy, she quickly stood there and gasped, she had no choice but believed the person in front of her. No-one should know the existance of Teddy except her parents and her nanny, She trusted Annie enough that she did not share her secrets with anyone. After that I escorted her back to the ghost mansion and traveled into the third floor. A tearful family reunion took place and heartfelt words were being exchanged. After a couple of minutes they said goodbye to each other. After that the ghosts was surrounded by light and moved on. Wiping Shiela's eyes he quickly thanked me and gave me 10000 gold as my reward. I gained 6 levels and gained the skill ghost mastery. I was ready to leave the mansion and decided to collect the church of freya quest too. As if reading my thoughts Shiela suddenly cut right in front of me and suggested she report it instead, she looked at my puzzled expression and explained to me that the money I received was in fact the reward that the church was gonna give and it was revealed that it was her who asked the church to commission adventurers in this endeavor. She didn't want to have her parents name be sullied. This quest finally made more sense to me and after she explained it, a feeling of understanding can be sensed from me. Finally we said goodbye to each other and Sheila was thanked me one last time and left. I stayed a bit longer and experimented the ghost mastery and unlocked the soul strike skill. Feeling satisfied I logged out and went to sleep dreaming happy dreams.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Approaching his first raccoon, Cloud snuck up behind it hoping to catch it unaware. Yet again, his skill at sneaking proved non-existent and the raccoon whipped around to face Cloud. <br><br>Within the same moment it dashed forward, Cloud's quick reaction speed saved him from nasty claw marks that would have caused some serious damage. <br><br>Hissing at raccoon in frustration from being noticed, Cloud pulled out his new sword that he had received from the training hall instructor.<br><br>Gripping the sword in both hands—his training affording him the ability to lift the sword easily despite his size—he took a cautious step forward to test the raccoon. It stayed in place, almost luring Cloud forward with it's eyes.<br><br>Darting in, Cloud cut his sword sideways, where he imparted a glancing blow to the raccoon's left flank. Cloud could have sworn the raccoon whimpered in pain.<br><br>Cloud stood in complete shock for a moment, he knew he was the fastest messenger in the city, but had never seen his speed first hand. The only thing saving the raccoons life had been its natural battle instincts.<br><br>In this moment of hesitation, when Cloud reveled in his ability, the raccoon sprang at Cloud and bit his right thigh.<br><br><blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>--You have contracted rabies. You will experience increasing paralysis, confusion, and hallucinations until disease causes death if you are not healed.--</blockquote><br><br>Barely registering the system message, Cloud snapped out of his musings. Circling the raccoon he looked for the moment the raccoon's attention faltered.<br><br>But the raccoon knew better, fighting by instinct it wouldn't let down its guard in the face of such swift danger.<br><br>'I need a distraction.'<br><br>Moving around the raccoon some more, Cloud inspected it. The only weak point he could find was the injury he gave it.<br><br>Quickly feinting to the left he then struck from the right. The raccoon had shifted too much weight to its injured leg and was stuck unprotected to its right.<br><br>Slicing the raccoon in half, Cloud watched it disappear. The raccoon left nothing but a silver coin.<br><br>A little frustrated from the lack of loot he looked for his next target. Before he could find one, the world tilted on its axis. Staggering a little, Cloud collapsed and found himself staring at the sky.<br><br>It would have been restful if the sky would stop spinning.<br><br>'Why is the sky moving? When did I get outside, I thought I was at Henry's home?'<br><br>The confusion from the bite had set in. Cloud couldn't understand any of his situation as he lay on the ground.<br><br>He felt feverish and dizzy, yet closing his eyes helped little with the vertigo. Opening them, he hoped the sky would still.<br><br>Pain suddenly stabbed at his right leg, and he felt jaws clamp onto his left wrist. The head connected to the fangs in his flesh shook like a dog playing with its chew toy. <br><br>At the edges of his vision, he saw flashes of red fur and a red tail tipped with white.<br><br>******<br><br>“Brother hurry!”<br><br>“Calm down Lark, we'll get there in due time. And how many times do I need to tell you; call me by my in game name. We don't need people to know we're related.”<br><br>“But then that girl you were talking to earlier might get the wrong idea, Danaus.”<br><br>Danaus looked to the horizon, attempting to appear unfazed, the reddening of his cheeks gave him away. Lark burst out laughing, holding her stomach as the muscles contracted to the point of pain.<br><br>“Stop laughing, would you? You were in a hurry and now you're rolling on the ground like a lunatic.”<br><br>“Fine, fine. Lets go.” They continued in almost silence, Lark unable to keep her snickering completely quiet.<br><br>Deciding the best course of action was to completely ignore her, he reviewed their objective.<br><br>“So now that we have finished our waiting period, we can begin hunting. What do you want to do first Lark?”<br><br>“Well, we spent a lot of time preparing, but we don't know our abilities yet.”<br><br>“You're right, we should start slow. Rabbits?”<br><br>“No, too slow. We should go for Raccoons.”<br><br>“Okay, how about over there.”<br><br>Danaus gestured to a mostly empty area of the vast field outside the city walls. Any other payers in the area were roaming other parts of the field where the creatures' population was far denser.<br><br>Walking to that section they scouted for the easiest target. Finding the most isolated raccoon they slowly approached.<br><br>Having discussed each others' skills earlier, they already had a basic plan. <br><br>Lark had chosen to be a mage, so she could do long range attacks to lure the mobs. While Danaus was a warrior, he acted as the tanker; taking damage as well as dealing quite a bit in return.<br><br>“Ice Dart!”<br><br>Lark yelled while casting, a chunk of ice shaped like an arrow head flew toward the raccoon they had selected. Missing the raccoon by a hairs width she did no more than gain its attention.<br><br>The raccoon raced toward Lark, preparing to attack in retaliation. Seeing as she was a mage the likelihood of surviving for long against physical attacks was quite low.<br><br>Danaus jumped into the path of the raccoon and sliced low with his wooden sword, damaging its legs.<br><br>“Good one, it probably lost speed from that!”<br><br>Lark stood by watching Danaus attempt to avoid damage, which was amusing from her point of view.<br><br>Not so much from the point of view of Danaus though.<br><br>“You wanna help?!”<br><br>“I think you're doing very well on you're own, don't you?”<br><br>“No! I'm dying here!”<br><br>“Okay, okay, Ice Dart!”<br><br>This time the ice pierced the right shoulder of the raccoon, causing it to stumble. Danaus jumped in and battered the raccoon, taking the killing blow. On the ground lay a couple copper coins and a slab of meat.<br><br>“That wasn't too bad.”<br><br>“Are you kidding me, I did all the work. Besides if we hadn't trained so much besides to quests we did, there's no way we would have won.”<br><br>“Take a chill pill Danaus. But we really did pretty well, and we'll do better once I can aim better.”<br>“I guess. Next one?”<br><br>“Yup, bring it on!”<br><br>For the rest of the afternoon Lark and Danaus fought raccoons until there wasn't much challenge in the fights. They could each solo a couple raccoons without risking their lives.<br><br>“Think we should go to something harder?”<br><br>Danaus thought about it for a moment. Scanning the field he spotted foxes out closer to the forest and wolves slipping between shadows beneath the canopy.<br><br>Lark wasn't even paying attention to the animals around her. What caught her attention was the sight of a little boy walking alone in the middle of the feild.<br><br>“Oh, no!”<br><br>“What?”<br><br>Danaus rushed over to Lark's side to see the problem. Following her line of sight he saw a young boy wandering the field.<br><br>“Come we should help him, Danaus.”<br><br>“Why? He doesn't look scared.”<br><br>“Sheesh, besides the fact that it's the right thing to do, he might have a quest. Why else would an NPC be out in these fields?”<br><br>Nodding to this Danaus followed Lark as the moved in the same direction as the young boy. They had automatically thought it to be an NPC since it was very rare for children to not alter their appearance. <br><br>Besides just wanting to be older, it was a well known fact that looking like a child was a detriment when it came to questing.<br><br>When the boy caught the attention of a nearby raccoon, Lark and Danaus rushed forward. They thought to save the boy from a terrible fate.<br><br>Well, that was the plan until the boy pulled out a sword that looked absolutely ridiculous in his hands. Compared to him the sword was over-sized, but he handled it astoundingly well.<br><br>“Are you sure he's a NPC, Lark?”<br><br>“He has to be, no one creates an avatar of a child.”<br><br>“Yeah,.....but I think you've just been proved wrong.”<br><br>Glaring at Danaus, Lark observed the young boy as he moved. <br><br>His speed alone was impressive. The raccoon was unable to touch him when he moved, yet for a second he was still. His mind seemed to wonder and the raccoon took advantage, biting the boy who instantly moved out of range as to avoid another attack.<br><br>“Damn, how does he keep going?”<br><br>“Danaus, just cause you're a wuss over a little bite, doesn't mean he's going to be.”<br><br>“Wait a minute. Those things have rabies, and it's hard to fight when you can't see straight.”<br><br>“What are you talking about?”<br><br>“You know the third raccoon we faced, where I had to get healed right after?”<br><br>“Yeah but that was because you got dizzy from low satiation.”<br><br>“No, I was watching my satiation the whole time when I was feeling dizzy. When I got healed, the healer in the guild told me to be careful about rabies and get it treated straight away.”<br><br>Watching some more, the boy finished the raccoon, then picked up the loot. Moments after he toppled over, then rolled to his back.<br><br>“And there he goes.”<br><br>“Geez, lets go help him.”<br><br>Approaching the boy, they were still a ways off when the situation got worse.<br><br>Two foxes had bounded out from the nearby bushes, taking advantage of the poor health of the player; the foxes began attacking his limp body.<br><br>“Ice Dart!”<br><br>Lark attacked the farthest fox, though she managed to catch the attention of both. <br><br>Slipping from behind Lark, Danaus began assailing the closest fox with a succession of blows, while Lark kept her focus on the other.<br><br>The foxes weren't as easy as the raccoons, as a higher level creature they displayed higher intelligence and stronger attacks.<br><br>The siblings fought each fox on their own mostly, yet often assisted one another to cause a distraction or deflect a scratch from a fox.<br><br>Slowly they damaged the foxes until they were out of breath and loot lay in the grass.<br><br>Lark picked up the loot from the foxes while Danaus lifted the boy into his arms.<br><br>“This kid is tiny.”<br><br>Danaus remarked, which was evident when comparing him to the adult that was Danaus. Lark was a little shocked though, when witnessing the fight, the boy didn't look so small.<br><br>'Maybe it was the distance...'<br><br>They rushed the boy to the healers guild as neither of them had any healing ability.<br><br>“What a looker this one is, if only he was a couple years older.”<br><br>The healer commented to her friends as she took care of the boy. Some of the older healers began fussing.<br><br>“What an adorable little boy.”<br><br>“Where did you find him?” The healer tending to the boy asked.<br><br>“Just outside the gates, he was fighting a raccoon.”<br><br>“Lucky, he must have a good quest.”<br><br>“I don't think he's a NPC, I'm pretty sure he's a player.”<br><br>Immediately the healers gave Danaus a doubtful look, as if to say 'What player would want to be so young?'<br><br>The siblings spent the rest of the day into the evening waiting for the boy to wake up.<br><br>Danaus used the time to study for his upcoming exam, while Lark read up on an ice spell she was interested in learning.<br><br>One of the older healers approached her as she completed the chapter, closing the book to take a rest.<br><br>“Wouldn't you be interested in becoming a healer? You could tend to these to lovely boys when they get injured so you don't have to keep coming here.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Class Change!<br><br>You can convert to the class Cleric. If you accept it, you can learn skills for the class such as healing allies as well as various forms of buffs and debuffs.<br><br>Do you want to convert to Cleric?</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Giving the healer a sad look, Lark declined without a second thought. No matter how much the healer pestered her, she didn't change her mind.<br><br>Not even the prone form of the young boy could convince her that she—of all people—could be a healer.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&amp;t=1147&amp;p=6319#p6319" target="_blank">&lt;PREVIOUS</a></div> </div>

Approaching his first raccoon, Cloud snuck up behind it hoping to catch it unaware. Yet again, his skill at sneaking proved non-existent and the raccoon whipped around to face Cloud. Within the same moment it dashed forward, Cloud's quick reaction speed saved him from nasty claw marks that would have caused some serious damage. Hissing at raccoon in frustration from being noticed, Cloud pulled out his new sword that he had received from the training hall instructor. Gripping the sword in both hands—his training affording him the ability to lift the sword easily despite his size—he took a cautious step forward to test the raccoon. It stayed in place, almost luring Cloud forward with it's eyes. Darting in, Cloud cut his sword sideways, where he imparted a glancing blow to the raccoon's left flank. Cloud could have sworn the raccoon whimpered in pain. Cloud stood in complete shock for a moment, he knew he was the fastest messenger in the city, but had never seen his speed first hand. The only thing saving the raccoons life had been its natural battle instincts. In this moment of hesitation, when Cloud reveled in his ability, the raccoon sprang at Cloud and bit his right thigh. > Quote:--You have contracted rabies. You will experience increasing paralysis, confusion, and hallucinations until disease causes death if you are not healed.-- Barely registering the system message, Cloud snapped out of his musings. Circling the raccoon he looked for the moment the raccoon's attention faltered. But the raccoon knew better, fighting by instinct it wouldn't let down its guard in the face of such swift danger. 'I need a distraction.' Moving around the raccoon some more, Cloud inspected it. The only weak point he could find was the injury he gave it. Quickly feinting to the left he then struck from the right. The raccoon had shifted too much weight to its injured leg and was stuck unprotected to its right. Slicing the raccoon in half, Cloud watched it disappear. The raccoon left nothing but a silver coin. A little frustrated from the lack of loot he looked for his next target. Before he could find one, the world tilted on its axis. Staggering a little, Cloud collapsed and found himself staring at the sky. It would have been restful if the sky would stop spinning. 'Why is the sky moving? When did I get outside, I thought I was at Henry's home?' The confusion from the bite had set in. Cloud couldn't understand any of his situation as he lay on the ground. He felt feverish and dizzy, yet closing his eyes helped little with the vertigo. Opening them, he hoped the sky would still. Pain suddenly stabbed at his right leg, and he felt jaws clamp onto his left wrist. The head connected to the fangs in his flesh shook like a dog playing with its chew toy. At the edges of his vision, he saw flashes of red fur and a red tail tipped with white. ****** “Brother hurry!” “Calm down Lark, we'll get there in due time. And how many times do I need to tell you; call me by my in game name. We don't need people to know we're related.” “But then that girl you were talking to earlier might get the wrong idea, Danaus.” Danaus looked to the horizon, attempting to appear unfazed, the reddening of his cheeks gave him away. Lark burst out laughing, holding her stomach as the muscles contracted to the point of pain. “Stop laughing, would you? You were in a hurry and now you're rolling on the ground like a lunatic.” “Fine, fine. Lets go.” They continued in almost silence, Lark unable to keep her snickering completely quiet. Deciding the best course of action was to completely ignore her, he reviewed their objective. “So now that we have finished our waiting period, we can begin hunting. What do you want to do first Lark?” “Well, we spent a lot of time preparing, but we don't know our abilities yet.” “You're right, we should start slow. Rabbits?” “No, too slow. We should go for Raccoons.” “Okay, how about over there.” Danaus gestured to a mostly empty area of the vast field outside the city walls. Any other payers in the area were roaming other parts of the field where the creatures' population was far denser. Walking to that section they scouted for the easiest target. Finding the most isolated raccoon they slowly approached. Having discussed each others' skills earlier, they already had a basic plan. Lark had chosen to be a mage, so she could do long range attacks to lure the mobs. While Danaus was a warrior, he acted as the tanker; taking damage as well as dealing quite a bit in return. “Ice Dart!” Lark yelled while casting, a chunk of ice shaped like an arrow head flew toward the raccoon they had selected. Missing the raccoon by a hairs width she did no more than gain its attention. The raccoon raced toward Lark, preparing to attack in retaliation. Seeing as she was a mage the likelihood of surviving for long against physical attacks was quite low. Danaus jumped into the path of the raccoon and sliced low with his wooden sword, damaging its legs. “Good one, it probably lost speed from that!” Lark stood by watching Danaus attempt to avoid damage, which was amusing from her point of view. Not so much from the point of view of Danaus though. “You wanna help?!” “I think you're doing very well on you're own, don't you?” “No! I'm dying here!” “Okay, okay, Ice Dart!” This time the ice pierced the right shoulder of the raccoon, causing it to stumble. Danaus jumped in and battered the raccoon, taking the killing blow. On the ground lay a couple copper coins and a slab of meat. “That wasn't too bad.” “Are you kidding me, I did all the work. Besides if we hadn't trained so much besides to quests we did, there's no way we would have won.” “Take a chill pill Danaus. But we really did pretty well, and we'll do better once I can aim better.” “I guess. Next one?” “Yup, bring it on!” For the rest of the afternoon Lark and Danaus fought raccoons until there wasn't much challenge in the fights. They could each solo a couple raccoons without risking their lives. “Think we should go to something harder?” Danaus thought about it for a moment. Scanning the field he spotted foxes out closer to the forest and wolves slipping between shadows beneath the canopy. Lark wasn't even paying attention to the animals around her. What caught her attention was the sight of a little boy walking alone in the middle of the feild. “Oh, no!” “What?” Danaus rushed over to Lark's side to see the problem. Following her line of sight he saw a young boy wandering the field. “Come we should help him, Danaus.” “Why? He doesn't look scared.” “Sheesh, besides the fact that it's the right thing to do, he might have a quest. Why else would an NPC be out in these fields?” Nodding to this Danaus followed Lark as the moved in the same direction as the young boy. They had automatically thought it to be an NPC since it was very rare for children to not alter their appearance. Besides just wanting to be older, it was a well known fact that looking like a child was a detriment when it came to questing. When the boy caught the attention of a nearby raccoon, Lark and Danaus rushed forward. They thought to save the boy from a terrible fate. Well, that was the plan until the boy pulled out a sword that looked absolutely ridiculous in his hands. Compared to him the sword was over-sized, but he handled it astoundingly well. “Are you sure he's a NPC, Lark?” “He has to be, no one creates an avatar of a child.” “Yeah,.....but I think you've just been proved wrong.” Glaring at Danaus, Lark observed the young boy as he moved. His speed alone was impressive. The raccoon was unable to touch him when he moved, yet for a second he was still. His mind seemed to wonder and the raccoon took advantage, biting the boy who instantly moved out of range as to avoid another attack. “Damn, how does he keep going?” “Danaus, just cause you're a wuss over a little bite, doesn't mean he's going to be.” “Wait a minute. Those things have rabies, and it's hard to fight when you can't see straight.” “What are you talking about?” “You know the third raccoon we faced, where I had to get healed right after?” “Yeah but that was because you got dizzy from low satiation.” “No, I was watching my satiation the whole time when I was feeling dizzy. When I got healed, the healer in the guild told me to be careful about rabies and get it treated straight away.” Watching some more, the boy finished the raccoon, then picked up the loot. Moments after he toppled over, then rolled to his back. “And there he goes.” “Geez, lets go help him.” Approaching the boy, they were still a ways off when the situation got worse. Two foxes had bounded out from the nearby bushes, taking advantage of the poor health of the player; the foxes began attacking his limp body. “Ice Dart!” Lark attacked the farthest fox, though she managed to catch the attention of both. Slipping from behind Lark, Danaus began assailing the closest fox with a succession of blows, while Lark kept her focus on the other. The foxes weren't as easy as the raccoons, as a higher level creature they displayed higher intelligence and stronger attacks. The siblings fought each fox on their own mostly, yet often assisted one another to cause a distraction or deflect a scratch from a fox. Slowly they damaged the foxes until they were out of breath and loot lay in the grass. Lark picked up the loot from the foxes while Danaus lifted the boy into his arms. “This kid is tiny.” Danaus remarked, which was evident when comparing him to the adult that was Danaus. Lark was a little shocked though, when witnessing the fight, the boy didn't look so small. 'Maybe it was the distance...' They rushed the boy to the healers guild as neither of them had any healing ability. “What a looker this one is, if only he was a couple years older.” The healer commented to her friends as she took care of the boy. Some of the older healers began fussing. “What an adorable little boy.” “Where did you find him?” The healer tending to the boy asked. “Just outside the gates, he was fighting a raccoon.” “Lucky, he must have a good quest.” “I don't think he's a NPC, I'm pretty sure he's a player.” Immediately the healers gave Danaus a doubtful look, as if to say 'What player would want to be so young?' The siblings spent the rest of the day into the evening waiting for the boy to wake up. Danaus used the time to study for his upcoming exam, while Lark read up on an ice spell she was interested in learning. One of the older healers approached her as she completed the chapter, closing the book to take a rest. “Wouldn't you be interested in becoming a healer? You could tend to these to lovely boys when they get injured so you don't have to keep coming here.” | Class Change!You can convert to the class Cleric. If you accept it, you can learn skills for the class such as healing allies as well as various forms of buffs and debuffs.Do you want to convert to Cleric? | | --- | Giving the healer a sad look, Lark declined without a second thought. No matter how much the healer pestered her, she didn't change her mind. Not even the prone form of the young boy could convince her that she—of all people—could be a healer. [<PREVIOUS](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=1147&p=6319#p6319)

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Road to Freedom by Moskatero<br><br>A0 - Prologue<br><br>“You’re doing what!” screamed the old man wearing an expensive suit at Kyle.<br><br>“Quitting John, I’m quitting. I’m officially giving you my two weeks’ notice” Kyle felt like dancing. After three years of working like a madman, he was done.<br><br>“Why in god’s name would you quit? Is it money? Did you get a better offer?” After three years, the screaming red face of his boss and mentor tinge the moment with bittersweet happiness, he would miss him.<br><br>With a small laugh that managed to deepen the color of John’s face, Kyle answered. “No John, I would never think of working anywhere else. To put it in working terms, I’m retiring.”<br><br>“You’re Twenty-Four what the f*** do you mean retire, you’ve made more money in three years here than most do in a decade, hell you’ll probably have my job if I’m not careful” <br><br>The face was getting closer to purple and Kyle was having the time of his life. John helped and mentored him for three years and Kyle considered him a friend, but making John’s face change color was the only hobby he had left everything else was consumed by work.<br><br>“What everyone else means when they say they’ll retire. I won’t work another day for the rest of my life. I already saved enough money working for you to live a normal life for years” <br><br>Hardly the whole truth of the matter, but it got the response he wanted. John’s face loosed most of the color he had gained and he sat back into his chair, he had started to rise with every scream, hovering over the seat in other to tower over Kyle.<br><br>“So what? All this time you just used me? You excelled at this company like no other, all so you could live a simple life without work?” <br><br>Now John looked disgusted and disappointed. Time to pull out the big cards<br><br>“John, I’m quitting for the same reason I quit college four years ago”.<br><br>Kyle said it with a smile, he knew it would go bad, he had to at least try to salvage this friendship and it was crumbling, fast. C’mon John take the bait<br><br>That was the question Kyle always refused to answer, the reason why he quit college years ago. John knew it had something to do with money after all the boundless dedication and ambition shown by Kyle ever since he met him.<br><br>“Ha, so you’re finally going to tell my why you dropped out? I researched you, you know? I never did understand how a kid with a scholarship in both computer science and design could drop it all to become a stockbroker, specially one who never dropped from the top of the class”. <br><br>Now Kyle smiled, John was relaxed and interested, he still looked pissed but he was willing to listen.<br><br>“What do you know about Unicorn Corporation” Time to rekindle an old argument, and end it.<br><br>“That bloody game company you’ve spent half your salary on for the past three years. What does that have to do with you quitting, I´ve told you before and I’ll tell you again, that company is a stockbroker´s nightmare, it´s been near bankruptcy over a dozen times and no one seems to be able to predict weather one of their products will hit or miss. Investing in it is a stupid gamble, if you didn’t do it with your own money and you weren’t so damn good at this job I would have fired you the second I found out about such a stupid endeavor” Kyle had to smile, John had screamed that little once a month for three years and it never got old.<br><br>Looking at the once again red face of his friend and mentor Kyle pushed when he’d always changed the subject. “And what do you know of their next game?”<br><br>“Completely ridiculous: Years in development, an outstanding ten-thousand dollar price tag not to mention the three-hundred dollar monthly fee. They’ll sink, and they’ll sink bad and take your money down with them, sell the stock kid, don’t follow the rabbit” Kyle had to smile at the reference, plus John only called him kid when he felt Kyle was winning an argument.<br><br>“That’s not what I asked John, what do you know of the game itself?” Trust any stockbroker not to look past the crazy corporation history and the high prices of the new game.<br><br>“It´s some sort of innovational crap, something about it having 99% realism and that it just won’t sell” Now John looked unsure of himself, lack of research into a company or product is a stupid mistake for a stockbroker to make, even if on the surface something looks bad.<br><br>“No John, it’s a lot more than that. It’s the first game to fully use Virtual Reality technology. It generates a complete immersion almost indistinguishable from reality. In this game you don’t control a character, you are the character. You can see, touch and smell everything your avatar does, and you move it just like you move your body in real life. <br>The Game also uses the most advanced artificial intelligence in existence. To the point that, unless they tell you, there is no way to distinguish between a player and an NPC. It transcends the meaning of game it is simply a whole new world”.<br><br>Kyle saw the stupefied expression in the old man and grinned, it’s not every day that someone shocks John Marquardt into silence .<br><br>“Four years ago when Unicorn Corp announced the development of Royal Road I started planning, even with the scholarship, life as a college student is not one of money. That’s why the second after the announcement was made I dropped out. You see, even back then I knew Royal Road would be expensive, really expensive. If I had continued studding it would have been a very long time before I could make enough money to play to my heart’s content, and even then I would have to keep on working”. <br><br>Kyle remembered his hand shaking when he dropped out and the terrible doubt that assailed him the following months.<br><br>“For the next year I studied the stock market, I learned as much as I could and started to invest all I had and make money, sooner or later someone would take notice and hire me, the rest you already know”. Kyle smiled at John when he finished remembering that strange interview three years ago.<br><br>“Of all the...” John looked completely devoid of words so Kyle kept on speaking.<br><br>“C’mon old man you knew I had a special reason for working my ass off. Hell, this isn’t even my field of expertise. I was studying computer science and design for Christ sake! Hardly a background worthy of a successful stockbroker. To this day I’m surprised you even hired me, grateful to my shoulder, but nevertheless surprised.” <br><br>Now it was John’s eyes that were glistening <br><br>“You are the most brilliant idiot I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. A game, you, who shock this company down to its foundations, who took to the job with mental abandon. Hell, you even inspired me to work harder and it was all for a game!”<br><br>By the end John was standing his face purple and his creams echoed in the building. He took a deep breath to continue yelling but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.<br><br>“John, this is my dream and my goal and nothing you say will change my path. I know you feel like I used you, and in a way I did. But in honor of our friendship I’m going to do two things, I’ll give you some advice and I’ll leave before our relationship crumbles any farther.”<br><br>Kyle stood up, and holding the old man’s shoulders, looked into his eyes.<br><br>“For the past four years the stock from Unicorn Corp has been slowly climbing, and in two weeks Royal Road will be released. It will change the world. <br><br>You say that I’m brilliant when it comes to stocks. Well, listen to me when I say this: Invest everything you have, everything the company has, hell, everything your family has into Unicorn, in two weeks the price will grow exponentially and from then on It will never go down, only up. With all your money you can probably get close to 1% of the stock. This is my advice to you as a thanks for everything you´ve done for me”.<br><br>With that Kyle turned and walked away and didn’t stop walking until he got home knowing he had lost his only friend and that it was time to go back to who he was before he even considered such notion after all a new world lay ahead.<br><br>For two weeks Kyle prepared for the launch of Royal Road. He installed a gym in the spare bedroom of his apartment foreseeing the need to work out after long sessions of playing in order to keep his body healthy.<br><br>Two hours before the release of the game, Kyle found himself inside the silver capsule, his mind going in circles about everything he knew of the game when a voice startled him.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Connect to Royal Road?</td></tr><tr><td>YES / NO</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Author Notes.<br><br>Hello welcome to my fan-fiction Road to freedom . Kyle´sa guy who´s lost all hope in the world and stakes everything into playing royal road, trying his luck at a whole new world.<br><br>I already have the first chapter written but i´ll post it after i get some feedback on this prologue, what do you guys think so far, it´s not much but i have a lot of cool things planned ahead and this fanfic will take place almost entirely on RR so this prologue is kind of an oddball.<br><br>If anyone could tell me how to change the size of a table so i´d be great.<br><br>Its a bit soon but i figured i might as well start looking for Editor/PR<br><br>Thanks for reading and hopefully i´ll update this fanfic at least once a week possibly more. </div>

Road to Freedom by Moskatero A0 - Prologue “You’re doing what!” screamed the old man wearing an expensive suit at Kyle. “Quitting John, I’m quitting. I’m officially giving you my two weeks’ notice” Kyle felt like dancing. After three years of working like a madman, he was done. “Why in god’s name would you quit? Is it money? Did you get a better offer?” After three years, the screaming red face of his boss and mentor tinge the moment with bittersweet happiness, he would miss him. With a small laugh that managed to deepen the color of John’s face, Kyle answered. “No John, I would never think of working anywhere else. To put it in working terms, I’m retiring.” “You’re Twenty-Four what the f*** do you mean retire, you’ve made more money in three years here than most do in a decade, hell you’ll probably have my job if I’m not careful” The face was getting closer to purple and Kyle was having the time of his life. John helped and mentored him for three years and Kyle considered him a friend, but making John’s face change color was the only hobby he had left everything else was consumed by work. “What everyone else means when they say they’ll retire. I won’t work another day for the rest of my life. I already saved enough money working for you to live a normal life for years” Hardly the whole truth of the matter, but it got the response he wanted. John’s face loosed most of the color he had gained and he sat back into his chair, he had started to rise with every scream, hovering over the seat in other to tower over Kyle. “So what? All this time you just used me? You excelled at this company like no other, all so you could live a simple life without work?” Now John looked disgusted and disappointed. Time to pull out the big cards “John, I’m quitting for the same reason I quit college four years ago”. Kyle said it with a smile, he knew it would go bad, he had to at least try to salvage this friendship and it was crumbling, fast. C’mon John take the bait That was the question Kyle always refused to answer, the reason why he quit college years ago. John knew it had something to do with money after all the boundless dedication and ambition shown by Kyle ever since he met him. “Ha, so you’re finally going to tell my why you dropped out? I researched you, you know? I never did understand how a kid with a scholarship in both computer science and design could drop it all to become a stockbroker, specially one who never dropped from the top of the class”. Now Kyle smiled, John was relaxed and interested, he still looked pissed but he was willing to listen. “What do you know about Unicorn Corporation” Time to rekindle an old argument, and end it. “That bloody game company you’ve spent half your salary on for the past three years. What does that have to do with you quitting, I´ve told you before and I’ll tell you again, that company is a stockbroker´s nightmare, it´s been near bankruptcy over a dozen times and no one seems to be able to predict weather one of their products will hit or miss. Investing in it is a stupid gamble, if you didn’t do it with your own money and you weren’t so damn good at this job I would have fired you the second I found out about such a stupid endeavor” Kyle had to smile, John had screamed that little once a month for three years and it never got old. Looking at the once again red face of his friend and mentor Kyle pushed when he’d always changed the subject. “And what do you know of their next game?” “Completely ridiculous: Years in development, an outstanding ten-thousand dollar price tag not to mention the three-hundred dollar monthly fee. They’ll sink, and they’ll sink bad and take your money down with them, sell the stock kid, don’t follow the rabbit” Kyle had to smile at the reference, plus John only called him kid when he felt Kyle was winning an argument. “That’s not what I asked John, what do you know of the game itself?” Trust any stockbroker not to look past the crazy corporation history and the high prices of the new game. “It´s some sort of innovational crap, something about it having 99% realism and that it just won’t sell” Now John looked unsure of himself, lack of research into a company or product is a stupid mistake for a stockbroker to make, even if on the surface something looks bad. “No John, it’s a lot more than that. It’s the first game to fully use Virtual Reality technology. It generates a complete immersion almost indistinguishable from reality. In this game you don’t control a character, you are the character. You can see, touch and smell everything your avatar does, and you move it just like you move your body in real life. The Game also uses the most advanced artificial intelligence in existence. To the point that, unless they tell you, there is no way to distinguish between a player and an NPC. It transcends the meaning of game it is simply a whole new world”. Kyle saw the stupefied expression in the old man and grinned, it’s not every day that someone shocks John Marquardt into silence . “Four years ago when Unicorn Corp announced the development of Royal Road I started planning, even with the scholarship, life as a college student is not one of money. That’s why the second after the announcement was made I dropped out. You see, even back then I knew Royal Road would be expensive, really expensive. If I had continued studding it would have been a very long time before I could make enough money to play to my heart’s content, and even then I would have to keep on working”. Kyle remembered his hand shaking when he dropped out and the terrible doubt that assailed him the following months. “For the next year I studied the stock market, I learned as much as I could and started to invest all I had and make money, sooner or later someone would take notice and hire me, the rest you already know”. Kyle smiled at John when he finished remembering that strange interview three years ago. “Of all the...” John looked completely devoid of words so Kyle kept on speaking. “C’mon old man you knew I had a special reason for working my ass off. Hell, this isn’t even my field of expertise. I was studying computer science and design for Christ sake! Hardly a background worthy of a successful stockbroker. To this day I’m surprised you even hired me, grateful to my shoulder, but nevertheless surprised.” Now it was John’s eyes that were glistening “You are the most brilliant idiot I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. A game, you, who shock this company down to its foundations, who took to the job with mental abandon. Hell, you even inspired me to work harder and it was all for a game!” By the end John was standing his face purple and his creams echoed in the building. He took a deep breath to continue yelling but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. “John, this is my dream and my goal and nothing you say will change my path. I know you feel like I used you, and in a way I did. But in honor of our friendship I’m going to do two things, I’ll give you some advice and I’ll leave before our relationship crumbles any farther.” Kyle stood up, and holding the old man’s shoulders, looked into his eyes. “For the past four years the stock from Unicorn Corp has been slowly climbing, and in two weeks Royal Road will be released. It will change the world. You say that I’m brilliant when it comes to stocks. Well, listen to me when I say this: Invest everything you have, everything the company has, hell, everything your family has into Unicorn, in two weeks the price will grow exponentially and from then on It will never go down, only up. With all your money you can probably get close to 1% of the stock. This is my advice to you as a thanks for everything you´ve done for me”. With that Kyle turned and walked away and didn’t stop walking until he got home knowing he had lost his only friend and that it was time to go back to who he was before he even considered such notion after all a new world lay ahead. For two weeks Kyle prepared for the launch of Royal Road. He installed a gym in the spare bedroom of his apartment foreseeing the need to work out after long sessions of playing in order to keep his body healthy. Two hours before the release of the game, Kyle found himself inside the silver capsule, his mind going in circles about everything he knew of the game when a voice startled him. | Connect to Royal Road? | | --- | | YES / NO | Author Notes. Hello welcome to my fan-fiction Road to freedom . Kyle´sa guy who´s lost all hope in the world and stakes everything into playing royal road, trying his luck at a whole new world. I already have the first chapter written but i´ll post it after i get some feedback on this prologue, what do you guys think so far, it´s not much but i have a lot of cool things planned ahead and this fanfic will take place almost entirely on RR so this prologue is kind of an oddball. If anyone could tell me how to change the size of a table so i´d be great. Its a bit soon but i figured i might as well start looking for Editor/PR Thanks for reading and hopefully i´ll update this fanfic at least once a week possibly more.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 2.3em;">#Melee</span></span><br><br>"HOLD UP! At least stop at the entrance!" I called out to the person I was chasing after, but despite my best efforts, the distance between us only increased.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Godamnit!*</span><br><br>Takamiya, as expected, did not heed my advice and ran straight into the enemy camp, and by the time I reached the entrance, the battle has already started.<br><br>The sight that greeted me was astounding.<br><br>Takamiya was running parallel to the human wave that was trying to get him, much like a surfer riding a big wave, with the wave (the bandits) always crashing just behind him, whilst having his right arm stretched over to his left side with his sword extended.<br><br>If you looked closely enough, he wasn't simply running fast, but he varied his speed to mess up the enemy's timing.<br><br>By the time he reached the other end of the "wave" almost all the bandits at the front line had been injured in one way or another. None of them were dead, which wasn't a big suprise, since a quick check verified they were all above level 40, a big difference from the few bandits I killed on the road.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*This is madness!*</span><br><span style="font-size: 0.7em;">(No, this is Patrick!)</span><br><br>Deciding to do what I can to help, I picked out one of the bandits that was attacking Takamiya and fired a shot at his head.<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Critical Hit!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Eh.... I guess no matter how good the shot, you simply can't kill them in one hit. Oh shit! Aggro!*</span><br><br>With an arrow still stuck in his head, the bandit that I shot started to run towards me with a large axe in his hands and an arrow still stuck in his head.<br><br>Quite frankly, it was a slightly disturbing image.<br><br>Reloading and aiming as quickly as I could, I fired at his head once more.<br><br>The shot kicked back his head for a moment, but didn't stop his progress.<br><br>He raised his axe up high and brought it down towards me with all his strength.<br><br>I easily dodged this attack by sidestepping and cut him with my weapon once before retreating to a safer distance.<br><br>After pulling his axe out of the ground, the bandit drew back his arms and swug his axe at me in a painfully slow arc.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Takamiya was right, these guys have absolutely no fighting skill!*</span><br><br>In order to defeat this guy, all I did after that was to dodge telegraphed strike after telegraphed strike, while insterting my own attacks wherever I could.<br><br>Shortly after, he fell over and his corpse disintegrated into nothing, and my exp bar shot up by a significant amount, in addition to some I already gained without noticing.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*This amount of experience, it means that Takamiya killed three of them while I was fighting one?*</span><br><br>Looking back to my party member, I saw that he had somehow managed to avoid getting surrounded and was fighting multiple opponents with considerable skill.<br><br>A single one of his sword strokes would slice at several enemies at once and his stabs would go through the smallest opponenings. He could defend his left side amazingly well by spinning and striking or simply by kicking at the enemy.<br><br>For an instant, one of the bandits tried to attack him from behind, but Takamiya reversed his grip and stabbed backwards so quickly the the enemies around him didn't even have time to take advantage of the opening before it was gone again.<br><br>Not to be outdone myself, I drew an arrow and considered my next course of action.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Simply shooting at a nearby bandit will cause aggro and make it harder for me to fight. Therefore, I should shoot at those in the back row, who will not be able to reach me.*</span><br><br>Aiming almost straight up, I guesstimated the angle I needed for me to hit the enemies further back and fired a shot.<br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Critical Hit!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>The bandit I hit turned to look at me and tried to push his way through the crowd, but failed and turned back and returned his focus to trying to get to Takamiya.<br><br>With this many enemies, I simply had to aim and fire at the general location of the crowd, and I could score a headshot effortlessly. Beyond that, all I had to do was unload arrows as quickly as I could and hope for the best.<br><br>It was very unlikely for me to actually kill anybody with this method, but as the battle progressed, majority of the bandits have had their hp bars reduced, some almost to death.<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Your "Stubbornness" skill has been triggered!<br><br>Your start to gain stat bonuses!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br>By this time, there were about 85 bandits left, quite dissapointing considering that we've been fighting long enough for my "Stubbornness" skill to trigger.<br><br>Only occasionally would an enemy fall dead, and of those only 2 of those were mine (not counting my first kill).<br><br>But if you look at it from another viewpoint, since many of the bandits have already been weakened, it could only get easier from now on.<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Due to your success rate in high angle shots, you have learned a New Skill!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Skill Learned!<br><br>Shower:<br><br>Magically split your each projectile into several arrows upon firing.<br><br>This skill can only be activated when using a high angle shot.<br><br>The power of each projectile is decreased by 30%<br><br>Number of projectiles each projectile will split into will increase by +1 for every skill level.<br><br>Mana cost will increase per skill level.<br><br>Current number of projectiles: 2<br><br>Mana cost: 50</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*A mid-to-end-game skill, since it will be hard to hit the target with only 2 arrows, unless in special situations like this.*<br></span><br>Even with the reduction in power, since the number of arrows is doubled, my damage output actually increases.<br><br>However, since I never added any points into intelligence, my mana was relatively low, and I could only use the skill a few times.<br><br><br>My sense of achievement at learning my new skill was short-lived, as the bandits had managed to push us against the camp wall and have cornered us, and my sense of despair deepened at what happened next.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">KrrlaaanG!</span><br><br>As he tried to parry a hammer, the durability of Takamiya's longsword finally reached 0, causing it to shatter into two, leaving him with the handle, which he promptly threw at the nearest bandit, miraculously killing him.<br><br>"Hah! A swordsman without a sword is like an Angel with wings! You're no longer a One-Winged Angel, you're a No-Winged Angel!" shouted one of the bandits.<br><br>"""NO-WINGED ANGEL! NO-WINGED ANGEL! NO-WINGED ANGEL!""<br><br>After chanting for a short moment, everyone fell into silence, as though waiting for a reply.<br><br>With the tension in the air, I didn't even dare to fire another shot.<br><br>"You're wrong on three points, silly man!"<br><br>Takamiya calmly walked towards the bandit that spoke. He was a barbarian carrying two short-swords, and was slightly thinner and taller than the rest. He was possibly the one who called himself "Two-Sword Mantis" earlier on.<br><br>"Firstly, you assume I am helpless without a sword, but I am only slightly less dangerous unarmed."<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Step.</span><br><br>"Secondly, you believe me unarmed, that I don't have a weapon. But let me tell you this: "All the swords in this world belong to me!" As long as there is a sword nearby, I am never unarmed!"<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Step.</span><br><br>"And lastly, though you're not entirely wrong, you believe that I am called the "One-Winged Angel" simply because I am a "One-Armed Swordsman"."<br><br>With one last step, Takamiya stood face-to-face with Two-Sword Mantis.<br><br>The size difference between the two was almost laughable, with Mantis more than a head taller that Takamiya, and twice as wide. Yet they stared at each other as though they were equals.<br>"YAAAARGH!" Two-Sword Mantis was the first one to make a move, bringing both swords up and slashing them back down in the classic "Hulk Smash" manouver.<br><br>But Takamiya calmly took a step backwards and evaded the move.<br><br><br><span style="font-size: 0.7em;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Taijutsu!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kasairyu!</span><br><span style="font-size: 1.7em;">"体術! 火砕流!"</span><br><span style="font-size: 0.7em;">Unarmed Technique!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Volcanic Eruption!</span><br><br><br>With pinpoint precision, Takamiya slid one foot between the two swords and hit Two-Sword Mantis in the belly with a back kick, and with some miraculous flick of his legs, managed to toss him into the air.<br><br><br>(Hey...)<br><br>(Yes mysterious voice in my head?)<br><br>(This is kinda hard to imagine...? so...)<br><br>(Oh fine...)<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><img src="http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w580/Koh_Shun_Merton/toribash2013-10-2-21-2-21-307_zpsf7ce27e7.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fi1330.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fw580...ce27e7.png"><br><br><img src="http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w580/Koh_Shun_Merton/toribash2013-10-2-21-5-30-319_zpsc0f37e34.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fi1330.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fw580...f37e34.png"><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>(Like that! Except more of upwards and less of backwards.)<br><br>(Ah, okay, thanks.)<br><br><br>Due to the force of the kick, Two-Sword Mantis's left hand momentarily loosened its grip on the sword. Takamiya quickly took advantage of this oppurtinity and snatched the sword out of his hand.<br><br>"Allocate all unused stat points into Dexterity," uttered Takamiya as he entered a low stance.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Eh? He still has unused stat points?*</span><br><br><br><span style="font-size: 0.7em;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ougi!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Katayoku no Tenshi!</span><br><span style="font-size: 1.7em;">"奥義! 片翼の天使!"</span><br><span style="font-size: 0.7em;">&nbsp;Hidden Technique!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;One-Winged Angel!</span><br><br><br>What I should mention right about now is that Royal Road has an "Afterimage" system, and what it does is that it allows objects that are travelling quickly enough to leave an afterimage. If a person were to slash fast enough, it would leave an afterimage at the location of the sword just before it moved.<br><br>What this means, is that should only be able to leave <span style="font-style: italic;">one</span> afterimage per attack.<br><br>But the move that Takamiya used somehow managed to leave several afterimages, leaving a trail of phantom-swords in the wake of his attack, creating an eerie image of a single wing sprouting from his back.<br><br>What seemed like an ordinary upward slash instead sliced the enemy into several pieces horizontaly.<br><br>Counting the number of pieces and the number of images, it seems like the enemy was slashed a total of four times in an instant.<br><br><br><br>(Hey... Yeah.. Again...)<br><br>(God Damnit you stupid voice!)<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><img src="http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w580/Koh_Shun_Merton/toribash2013-10-2-21-30-20-76_zps921baec5.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fi1330.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fw580...1baec5.png"><br><br><img src="http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w580/Koh_Shun_Merton/toribash2013-10-2-21-30-37-59_zps5b8b93da.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fi1330.photobucket.com%2falbums%2fw580...8b93da.png"><br><br><img src="http://you.lolipop.jp/s/ss/4/sasame.jpg" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fyou.lolipop.jp%2fs%2fss%2f4%2fsasame.jpg"><br><br><br><br><br><br>(That's as close as I can get!)<br><br><br>Silenced reigned for a short moment as the dismembered body parts fell onto the floor. However, perhaps due to their general dumbness and lack of sense of self-preservation, the rest of the bandits raised their weapons and charged us.<br><br>********************************************************************************<br><br><br>What followed afterwards was the biggest melee of my life. Surrounded by 70 mid-boss level enemies with our backs to the wall.<br><br>Well, <span style="font-style: italic;">my </span>back, at any rate.<br><br>Takamiya continued to run around evading all attacks. I swear there wasn't even a scratch on that Yukata of his.<br><br>His fighting style changed somewhat. Instead of the whirlwind of steel he was earlier on, he became more calculative, as it seems he needed the enemy to be wide open for him to use that strange move of his.<br><br>Throughout the battle he's had to change swords a number of times. Sometimes the swords were big and long, while others were closer to knives, but he had no trouble adapting to them on the fly.<br><br>As for me, it wasn't as if I had an easy time even with Takamiya at the front.<br><br>Many of the bandits that had arrows sticking out of their heads had a bone to pick with me, and even though Takamiya was thinning the crowd, I still often had to deal with them up close.<br><br>The "Bow Bash" was less useful than I hoped in this situation. Quite frankly I wasn't strong enough to reliably stun them with the skill, and to use it I had to get close enough to get hit by their bone-shattering strikes. Hence, most of my attacks were close-ranged shots, and I only used my skill when they were wide open.<br><br><br>By the time we were done, I was down to a handful of arrows, and it was a miracle that my weapon hasn't broken.<br><br>As my "Stubbornnes" skill wore off, an alert appeared in front of me.<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Class Change!<br><br>Skirmisher:<br><br>Due to your proficiency in both close and long ranged combat, you have earned the oppurtunity to &nbsp;convert to an Advanced class Skirmisher. <br><br>If you accept it, you can learn both close and long ranged skills up to Advanced level.<br><br>If you accept it, you can learn exclusive skills for the class that are withheld from other classes.<br><br>You will be limited to one type of melee weapon.<br><br>Do you want to convert to Skirmisher?</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br><br>"Decline."<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Are you sure you want to decline?<br><br>Y/N</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br>"Confirm."<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">You have declined the class change.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br><br>At first glance it seems like a good class, but if you think about it, there is also the Martial Artist class that can use ranged weapons alongside melee weapons. The only advantage of this class is the ability to learn skills of both sides, but this advantage is limited to only one type of melee weapon, and adds a skill level restriction.<br><br>In other words, it's a Jack-of-(almost) all-Trades kinds of deal, which I don't appreciate.<br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*But what's odd is that the quest is not yet complete.*</span><br><br>I opened up the quest interface to check.<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Beyond the grave:<br><br>The ghost of a dead soldier cannot pass on due to his lingering regrets.Help him to pass on by finishing his mission for him.<br><br>Quest Objective:<br>Clear the bandit encampment<br><br>Quest Difficulty: C<br><br>Quest Requirement: <br>Must not be a production class<br>Must not be affiliated with bandits<br><br>Quest Reward:<br>Equipment based on your class</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Bandits remaining: 1</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br>...<br><br>...<br><br>...<br><br>FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!<br><br>********************************************************************************<br><br>Author's Notes:<br><br>Hello again!<br><br>Can anyone say "Early release"?<br><br>I've had more free time than usual this week, and could write a WHOLE lot more.<br><br>Plus enough time to make those images :D<br><br>Couldn't resist the urge to add that bit at the end.<br><br>Diablo 2 players and Path Of Exile players will get it.<br><br>No... It's not a boss, so don't get your hopes up.<br><br><br>As usual, all comments and criticisms are appreciated! </div>

#Melee "HOLD UP! At least stop at the entrance!" I called out to the person I was chasing after, but despite my best efforts, the distance between us only increased. *Godamnit!* Takamiya, as expected, did not heed my advice and ran straight into the enemy camp, and by the time I reached the entrance, the battle has already started. The sight that greeted me was astounding. Takamiya was running parallel to the human wave that was trying to get him, much like a surfer riding a big wave, with the wave (the bandits) always crashing just behind him, whilst having his right arm stretched over to his left side with his sword extended. If you looked closely enough, he wasn't simply running fast, but he varied his speed to mess up the enemy's timing. By the time he reached the other end of the "wave" almost all the bandits at the front line had been injured in one way or another. None of them were dead, which wasn't a big suprise, since a quick check verified they were all above level 40, a big difference from the few bandits I killed on the road. *This is madness!* (No, this is Patrick!) Deciding to do what I can to help, I picked out one of the bandits that was attacking Takamiya and fired a shot at his head. | Critical Hit! | | --- | *Eh.... I guess no matter how good the shot, you simply can't kill them in one hit. Oh shit! Aggro!* With an arrow still stuck in his head, the bandit that I shot started to run towards me with a large axe in his hands and an arrow still stuck in his head. Quite frankly, it was a slightly disturbing image. Reloading and aiming as quickly as I could, I fired at his head once more. The shot kicked back his head for a moment, but didn't stop his progress. He raised his axe up high and brought it down towards me with all his strength. I easily dodged this attack by sidestepping and cut him with my weapon once before retreating to a safer distance. After pulling his axe out of the ground, the bandit drew back his arms and swug his axe at me in a painfully slow arc. *Takamiya was right, these guys have absolutely no fighting skill!* In order to defeat this guy, all I did after that was to dodge telegraphed strike after telegraphed strike, while insterting my own attacks wherever I could. Shortly after, he fell over and his corpse disintegrated into nothing, and my exp bar shot up by a significant amount, in addition to some I already gained without noticing. *This amount of experience, it means that Takamiya killed three of them while I was fighting one?* Looking back to my party member, I saw that he had somehow managed to avoid getting surrounded and was fighting multiple opponents with considerable skill. A single one of his sword strokes would slice at several enemies at once and his stabs would go through the smallest opponenings. He could defend his left side amazingly well by spinning and striking or simply by kicking at the enemy. For an instant, one of the bandits tried to attack him from behind, but Takamiya reversed his grip and stabbed backwards so quickly the the enemies around him didn't even have time to take advantage of the opening before it was gone again. Not to be outdone myself, I drew an arrow and considered my next course of action. *Simply shooting at a nearby bandit will cause aggro and make it harder for me to fight. Therefore, I should shoot at those in the back row, who will not be able to reach me.* Aiming almost straight up, I guesstimated the angle I needed for me to hit the enemies further back and fired a shot. | Critical Hit! | | --- | The bandit I hit turned to look at me and tried to push his way through the crowd, but failed and turned back and returned his focus to trying to get to Takamiya. With this many enemies, I simply had to aim and fire at the general location of the crowd, and I could score a headshot effortlessly. Beyond that, all I had to do was unload arrows as quickly as I could and hope for the best. It was very unlikely for me to actually kill anybody with this method, but as the battle progressed, majority of the bandits have had their hp bars reduced, some almost to death. | Your "Stubbornness" skill has been triggered!Your start to gain stat bonuses! | | --- | By this time, there were about 85 bandits left, quite dissapointing considering that we've been fighting long enough for my "Stubbornness" skill to trigger. Only occasionally would an enemy fall dead, and of those only 2 of those were mine (not counting my first kill). But if you look at it from another viewpoint, since many of the bandits have already been weakened, it could only get easier from now on. | Due to your success rate in high angle shots, you have learned a New Skill! | | --- | | Skill Learned!Shower:Magically split your each projectile into several arrows upon firing.This skill can only be activated when using a high angle shot.The power of each projectile is decreased by 30%Number of projectiles each projectile will split into will increase by +1 for every skill level.Mana cost will increase per skill level.Current number of projectiles: 2Mana cost: 50 | | --- | *A mid-to-end-game skill, since it will be hard to hit the target with only 2 arrows, unless in special situations like this.* Even with the reduction in power, since the number of arrows is doubled, my damage output actually increases. However, since I never added any points into intelligence, my mana was relatively low, and I could only use the skill a few times. My sense of achievement at learning my new skill was short-lived, as the bandits had managed to push us against the camp wall and have cornered us, and my sense of despair deepened at what happened next. KrrlaaanG! As he tried to parry a hammer, the durability of Takamiya's longsword finally reached 0, causing it to shatter into two, leaving him with the handle, which he promptly threw at the nearest bandit, miraculously killing him. "Hah! A swordsman without a sword is like an Angel with wings! You're no longer a One-Winged Angel, you're a No-Winged Angel!" shouted one of the bandits. """NO-WINGED ANGEL! NO-WINGED ANGEL! NO-WINGED ANGEL!"" After chanting for a short moment, everyone fell into silence, as though waiting for a reply. With the tension in the air, I didn't even dare to fire another shot. "You're wrong on three points, silly man!" Takamiya calmly walked towards the bandit that spoke. He was a barbarian carrying two short-swords, and was slightly thinner and taller than the rest. He was possibly the one who called himself "Two-Sword Mantis" earlier on. "Firstly, you assume I am helpless without a sword, but I am only slightly less dangerous unarmed." Step. "Secondly, you believe me unarmed, that I don't have a weapon. But let me tell you this: "All the swords in this world belong to me!" As long as there is a sword nearby, I am never unarmed!" Step. "And lastly, though you're not entirely wrong, you believe that I am called the "One-Winged Angel" simply because I am a "One-Armed Swordsman"." With one last step, Takamiya stood face-to-face with Two-Sword Mantis. The size difference between the two was almost laughable, with Mantis more than a head taller that Takamiya, and twice as wide. Yet they stared at each other as though they were equals. "YAAAARGH!" Two-Sword Mantis was the first one to make a move, bringing both swords up and slashing them back down in the classic "Hulk Smash" manouver. But Takamiya calmly took a step backwards and evaded the move.          Taijutsu!                     Kasairyu! "体術! 火砕流!" Unarmed Technique!    Volcanic Eruption! With pinpoint precision, Takamiya slid one foot between the two swords and hit Two-Sword Mantis in the belly with a back kick, and with some miraculous flick of his legs, managed to toss him into the air. (Hey...) (Yes mysterious voice in my head?) (This is kinda hard to imagine...? so...) (Oh fine...)   (Like that! Except more of upwards and less of backwards.) (Ah, okay, thanks.) Due to the force of the kick, Two-Sword Mantis's left hand momentarily loosened its grip on the sword. Takamiya quickly took advantage of this oppurtinity and snatched the sword out of his hand. "Allocate all unused stat points into Dexterity," uttered Takamiya as he entered a low stance. *Eh? He still has unused stat points?*            Ougi!                         Katayoku no Tenshi! "奥義! 片翼の天使!"  Hidden Technique!                 One-Winged Angel! What I should mention right about now is that Royal Road has an "Afterimage" system, and what it does is that it allows objects that are travelling quickly enough to leave an afterimage. If a person were to slash fast enough, it would leave an afterimage at the location of the sword just before it moved. What this means, is that should only be able to leave one afterimage per attack. But the move that Takamiya used somehow managed to leave several afterimages, leaving a trail of phantom-swords in the wake of his attack, creating an eerie image of a single wing sprouting from his back. What seemed like an ordinary upward slash instead sliced the enemy into several pieces horizontaly. Counting the number of pieces and the number of images, it seems like the enemy was slashed a total of four times in an instant. (Hey... Yeah.. Again...) (God Damnit you stupid voice!)    (That's as close as I can get!) Silenced reigned for a short moment as the dismembered body parts fell onto the floor. However, perhaps due to their general dumbness and lack of sense of self-preservation, the rest of the bandits raised their weapons and charged us. ******************************************************************************** What followed afterwards was the biggest melee of my life. Surrounded by 70 mid-boss level enemies with our backs to the wall. Well, my back, at any rate. Takamiya continued to run around evading all attacks. I swear there wasn't even a scratch on that Yukata of his. His fighting style changed somewhat. Instead of the whirlwind of steel he was earlier on, he became more calculative, as it seems he needed the enemy to be wide open for him to use that strange move of his. Throughout the battle he's had to change swords a number of times. Sometimes the swords were big and long, while others were closer to knives, but he had no trouble adapting to them on the fly. As for me, it wasn't as if I had an easy time even with Takamiya at the front. Many of the bandits that had arrows sticking out of their heads had a bone to pick with me, and even though Takamiya was thinning the crowd, I still often had to deal with them up close. The "Bow Bash" was less useful than I hoped in this situation. Quite frankly I wasn't strong enough to reliably stun them with the skill, and to use it I had to get close enough to get hit by their bone-shattering strikes. Hence, most of my attacks were close-ranged shots, and I only used my skill when they were wide open. By the time we were done, I was down to a handful of arrows, and it was a miracle that my weapon hasn't broken. As my "Stubbornnes" skill wore off, an alert appeared in front of me. | Class Change!Skirmisher:Due to your proficiency in both close and long ranged combat, you have earned the oppurtunity to  convert to an Advanced class Skirmisher. If you accept it, you can learn both close and long ranged skills up to Advanced level.If you accept it, you can learn exclusive skills for the class that are withheld from other classes.You will be limited to one type of melee weapon.Do you want to convert to Skirmisher? | | --- | "Decline." | Are you sure you want to decline?Y/N | | --- | "Confirm." | You have declined the class change. | | --- | At first glance it seems like a good class, but if you think about it, there is also the Martial Artist class that can use ranged weapons alongside melee weapons. The only advantage of this class is the ability to learn skills of both sides, but this advantage is limited to only one type of melee weapon, and adds a skill level restriction. In other words, it's a Jack-of-(almost) all-Trades kinds of deal, which I don't appreciate. *But what's odd is that the quest is not yet complete.* I opened up the quest interface to check. | Beyond the grave:The ghost of a dead soldier cannot pass on due to his lingering regrets.Help him to pass on by finishing his mission for him.Quest Objective:Clear the bandit encampmentQuest Difficulty: CQuest Requirement: Must not be a production classMust not be affiliated with banditsQuest Reward:Equipment based on your class | | --- | | Bandits remaining: 1 | | --- | ... ... ... FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!! ******************************************************************************** Author's Notes: Hello again! Can anyone say "Early release"? I've had more free time than usual this week, and could write a WHOLE lot more. Plus enough time to make those images :D Couldn't resist the urge to add that bit at the end. Diablo 2 players and Path Of Exile players will get it. No... It's not a boss, so don't get your hopes up. As usual, all comments and criticisms are appreciated!

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Author's Note: I'm back bitches!<br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Azrael, Vera, and Percy finally went on their way once more. They talked of miscellaneous things, and discussed their lives. It was then they got on the topic of how the Berriken came into existence, when Azrael asked Percy.<br><br>"It wasn't an act of love, like you all assume. The goddess Freya has a love for beautiful and cute things. She conceived us , and then moved on to other things which caught here interest. To simply make a cute race, not thinking of our toils and struggles. We are small, quite weak, and without proper guidance we would simply die out. Berrefos, being the strongest, took lead and would hear nothing of abandoning Freya. He managed to turn most of the Berriken into fanatics, and lived in denial. He thought we weren't abandoned, and that Freya would return, but most of us knew the truth. Not all of us were fanatics. Some of us were realists. I hold no love for the selfish god known as Freya, and sometimes even curse her for my existence. That was, until I met you, mein Furry."<br><br>Vera had tears in her eyes, and a new anger was welling up in Azrael. <br><br>"How could a god be so selfish? Making a race with no objective, and then abandoning them, simply for her own pleasure. It would seem this world is more twisted than I thought." Pondered Azrael.<br><br>While Azrael was lost in thought, finally another village could be seen on the horizon.<br><br>"You guys wait here, I will go scout the town to make sure it is devoid of the devout."<br><br>Azrael told Percy to guard Vera, and assured them that he would return with haste. He then made his way to the village. It was much larger than the last, and seemed to house many useful amenities. Once more, no church in sight. Things finally seemed to be looking up for the group. It was a small city, to be exact. It had guilds, shops, and all manner of things a player would need to survive.<br><br>"Excuse me sir, what is the name of this city?" Said Azrael to a lone guard.<br><br>"This is the city of Thrane. It's not too popular, but some come to spectate our matches." Said the Guard.<br><br>"Matches? What matches?" Replied Azrael.<br><br>"Ahh yes, you are new. We hold gladitorial events, and monthly tournaments. It's a shame you could not have viewed yesterday, but there is a special event next month. You should stick around, as it should be a good time." Said the guard, as he handed Azrael a flyer.<br><br>The flyer read, "Level 50 and under team tournament, prizes for placing first and second. First place gets an exclusive quest."<br><br>Azrael was quite intrigued by the rewards, and sought to go question the arena staff now. Before doing so, he felt he should gather the rest of his party. He then headed back to the hiding location.<br><br>Upon returning to the location, Azrael found Vera and Percy eating some of the prepacked lunch, and sat down. While eating, he discussed the rules.<br><br>"Apparently, you must be under level 50 to participate, and it is limited to teams of two. Pets are not allowed to enter with their masters, sorry Percy. But, if you are interested Vera, we have a little over a month to prepare, and learn more details."<br><br>"It sounds really fun! Plus, it would be nice to take place in an event without being hunted." retorted Vera.<br><br>"My thoughts exactly. Also, we have no idea what the hell we are doing right now, and a quest would be a godsend for us."<br><br>"Yeah, it'll be nice to do something other than grinding and travelling. Plus, we can test our mettle!" Exclaimed Vera.<br><br>"Yes...something like that...Anyway, I have been told the local hunting spots, and I find that there's a cave about one day west which sounds quite fitting. It is called the Cavern of the Pack. It consists of wolves, dire wolves, and at the last level...baby hellhounds. I want to get my hands on some of the furs in there. Hellhound furs are rare, and boast high defense and fire resistance. They will be great for raising my tailoring. It shouldn't be too hard, baby hellhounds range in the level 55-70 range. With our stats, and after decimating the other fodder, we should be able to take them with ease." Explained Azrael.<br>Vera nodded, and they headed into the town to make preparations. <br><br>After selling random loot, and acquiring the necessary supplies, the party headed west to their destination.<br>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>There was nothing special about the route. It was relatively all plains, and there was little vegetation. There was a small dirt path, and some type of large land dwelling bird seemed to frequent the area. Azrael held no interest in them, as their levels were low.<br><br>After about a day's travel, the party arrived at the cavern. It seemed as it wasn't traveled normally, and the entrance was actually quite a pain to find. This explained why hellhound furs were coveted and hard to acquire.<br><br>"Well, let's eat a quick meal before we go in."<br><br>As he said that, Azrael began to unpack a small picnic for the group. It was not much, a couple sandwiches and some soup. It was accompanied with a really refreshing mint tea. Most would see this as a boring meal, but Azrael learned to love anything that was not rock bread.<br><br>The group made small talk as they ate, and decided how to approach the coming battles. The focus would be raising the group's overall level, and perhaps acquiring a good deal of fur.<br><br>Upon finishing up and entering the cave, the group paused as the light levels were low. Vera casts a bit of novice magic nonchalantly, and a 15 meter radius around them was illuminated. It was then an ominous wind rolled by them, and many howls were heard. Vera shuddered as Azrael walked on with no fear.<br><br>When the group reached the first opening, there were normal wolves. They were a bit higher in level than noob fodder, but nothing the group had even a small amount of trouble with. Short work was made of them, and japtem was collected. Upon resting at the end of level one, the group made their way down to level two. <br><br>Dire wolves...Quite a bit higher in level, but still not much of a challenge. The group had a relatively sound hunting plan they were putting into effect. Azrael would tank two to three of the beasts, while Vera enchanted a couple with Berserk. Then Vera would proceed to pound them all with Dark Arrow in the confusion. Fallen enchanting proved quite useful in combat in some cases. Percy would sneak up on ones that were nearly dead, and just shank them...like...hundreds of times in an unrelenting manner, while yelling in some form of German-ish...Very creepy actually, but it worked. <br><br>The group continued like this for about a week before they decided to rest and head to floor three. They gained a bit of mastery, but as the monsters weren't very high leveled, not much. Percy had the most explosive growth level wise, he gained twelve levels, and quite a bit of mastery. Vera gained eight levels, and Azrael gained four. The two didn't really gain much in the way of masteries...Azrael did, however, gain a level in Beast Taming due to training Percy.<br><br>After resting a bit, and eating a small meal of fish stew and bread, the party descended down into the last level of the cavern... </div>

Author's Note: I'm back bitches! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Azrael, Vera, and Percy finally went on their way once more. They talked of miscellaneous things, and discussed their lives. It was then they got on the topic of how the Berriken came into existence, when Azrael asked Percy. "It wasn't an act of love, like you all assume. The goddess Freya has a love for beautiful and cute things. She conceived us , and then moved on to other things which caught here interest. To simply make a cute race, not thinking of our toils and struggles. We are small, quite weak, and without proper guidance we would simply die out. Berrefos, being the strongest, took lead and would hear nothing of abandoning Freya. He managed to turn most of the Berriken into fanatics, and lived in denial. He thought we weren't abandoned, and that Freya would return, but most of us knew the truth. Not all of us were fanatics. Some of us were realists. I hold no love for the selfish god known as Freya, and sometimes even curse her for my existence. That was, until I met you, mein Furry." Vera had tears in her eyes, and a new anger was welling up in Azrael. "How could a god be so selfish? Making a race with no objective, and then abandoning them, simply for her own pleasure. It would seem this world is more twisted than I thought." Pondered Azrael. While Azrael was lost in thought, finally another village could be seen on the horizon. "You guys wait here, I will go scout the town to make sure it is devoid of the devout." Azrael told Percy to guard Vera, and assured them that he would return with haste. He then made his way to the village. It was much larger than the last, and seemed to house many useful amenities. Once more, no church in sight. Things finally seemed to be looking up for the group. It was a small city, to be exact. It had guilds, shops, and all manner of things a player would need to survive. "Excuse me sir, what is the name of this city?" Said Azrael to a lone guard. "This is the city of Thrane. It's not too popular, but some come to spectate our matches." Said the Guard. "Matches? What matches?" Replied Azrael. "Ahh yes, you are new. We hold gladitorial events, and monthly tournaments. It's a shame you could not have viewed yesterday, but there is a special event next month. You should stick around, as it should be a good time." Said the guard, as he handed Azrael a flyer. The flyer read, "Level 50 and under team tournament, prizes for placing first and second. First place gets an exclusive quest." Azrael was quite intrigued by the rewards, and sought to go question the arena staff now. Before doing so, he felt he should gather the rest of his party. He then headed back to the hiding location. Upon returning to the location, Azrael found Vera and Percy eating some of the prepacked lunch, and sat down. While eating, he discussed the rules. "Apparently, you must be under level 50 to participate, and it is limited to teams of two. Pets are not allowed to enter with their masters, sorry Percy. But, if you are interested Vera, we have a little over a month to prepare, and learn more details." "It sounds really fun! Plus, it would be nice to take place in an event without being hunted." retorted Vera. "My thoughts exactly. Also, we have no idea what the hell we are doing right now, and a quest would be a godsend for us." "Yeah, it'll be nice to do something other than grinding and travelling. Plus, we can test our mettle!" Exclaimed Vera. "Yes...something like that...Anyway, I have been told the local hunting spots, and I find that there's a cave about one day west which sounds quite fitting. It is called the Cavern of the Pack. It consists of wolves, dire wolves, and at the last level...baby hellhounds. I want to get my hands on some of the furs in there. Hellhound furs are rare, and boast high defense and fire resistance. They will be great for raising my tailoring. It shouldn't be too hard, baby hellhounds range in the level 55-70 range. With our stats, and after decimating the other fodder, we should be able to take them with ease." Explained Azrael. Vera nodded, and they headed into the town to make preparations. After selling random loot, and acquiring the necessary supplies, the party headed west to their destination. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There was nothing special about the route. It was relatively all plains, and there was little vegetation. There was a small dirt path, and some type of large land dwelling bird seemed to frequent the area. Azrael held no interest in them, as their levels were low. After about a day's travel, the party arrived at the cavern. It seemed as it wasn't traveled normally, and the entrance was actually quite a pain to find. This explained why hellhound furs were coveted and hard to acquire. "Well, let's eat a quick meal before we go in." As he said that, Azrael began to unpack a small picnic for the group. It was not much, a couple sandwiches and some soup. It was accompanied with a really refreshing mint tea. Most would see this as a boring meal, but Azrael learned to love anything that was not rock bread. The group made small talk as they ate, and decided how to approach the coming battles. The focus would be raising the group's overall level, and perhaps acquiring a good deal of fur. Upon finishing up and entering the cave, the group paused as the light levels were low. Vera casts a bit of novice magic nonchalantly, and a 15 meter radius around them was illuminated. It was then an ominous wind rolled by them, and many howls were heard. Vera shuddered as Azrael walked on with no fear. When the group reached the first opening, there were normal wolves. They were a bit higher in level than noob fodder, but nothing the group had even a small amount of trouble with. Short work was made of them, and japtem was collected. Upon resting at the end of level one, the group made their way down to level two. Dire wolves...Quite a bit higher in level, but still not much of a challenge. The group had a relatively sound hunting plan they were putting into effect. Azrael would tank two to three of the beasts, while Vera enchanted a couple with Berserk. Then Vera would proceed to pound them all with Dark Arrow in the confusion. Fallen enchanting proved quite useful in combat in some cases. Percy would sneak up on ones that were nearly dead, and just shank them...like...hundreds of times in an unrelenting manner, while yelling in some form of German-ish...Very creepy actually, but it worked. The group continued like this for about a week before they decided to rest and head to floor three. They gained a bit of mastery, but as the monsters weren't very high leveled, not much. Percy had the most explosive growth level wise, he gained twelve levels, and quite a bit of mastery. Vera gained eight levels, and Azrael gained four. The two didn't really gain much in the way of masteries...Azrael did, however, gain a level in Beast Taming due to training Percy. After resting a bit, and eating a small meal of fish stew and bread, the party descended down into the last level of the cavern...

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Weed looked in shock to find Theodore pierced through the chest by the Shadow, blood was pouring out through the wound and he was not vanishing like a regular NPC.<br><br>“Ah....” The faint sound he made attracted the Shadow's eyes toward Lee Jun.<br><br>“Now it's your turn” the Shadow smiled menacingly at Lee Jun while discarding the dead body of Theodore.<br><br>“Give it to me!” Shadow demanded as it closed in on Lee Jun. No matter how much Lee Jun ran, there was no shelter in sight and no one around to save him.<br><br>“Dammit! Let me log out!” No matter how much he tried the game wouldn't allow him to log out.<br><br>“You cannot escape me.” Shadow quickly closed in on Lee Jun brandishing its sword.<br><br>“AAHHH!!” Lee Jun screamed getting up from bed. Recognizing his surroundings Lee Jun sighed in relief even though his back was drenched with cold sweat. It had been awhile since he had such a nightmare. They always sifted through the two VR titles that he had played.<br><br>‘I guess I failed then didn’t I?’ Lee Jun thought to himself as he stared at his clenched fist. ‘If only I had a little more stamina I would have got him.’ <br><br>After crossing Hwa, Lee Jun’s vision went completely black and he lost consciousness. It only went on to show how much he had pushed himself. Lee Jun had no regrets, he tried his best and in the end it didn’t work out…he was in fact pleased with the results. The masters were practically on their knees begging his mom not to sue them for not stopping the match sooner. She showed them one or two things about legalities when they waived his signed application form. In the end, it was his mom who decided against the dojang.<br><br>Lee Jun got up and after booting up his computer he heard a gentle mannered voice greet him, “Good Morning, Master”.<br><br>Lee Jun sighed “Good Morning, search terms related to RREV which relate to the Shadow”. <br><br>‘Something must be wrong with me….did I just greet the computer?’ Lee Jun stared suspiciously at himself in the mirror. <br><br>“Master I have found 1000+ posts. Would you like to additional filters to narrow the search results? Lee Jun looked at the Computer with an eerie look “Consider only official sources” he quickly said.<br><br>“There is one interview broadcast of Lee Hyun by KMC Media house. It is as close as I get to finding official sources. There are no public statements released by Unicorn Corp at this moment, Master.”<br><br>“Play broadcast.”<br><br>- Now playing –<br><br>“Who the hell was that in the hood? Is he still alive?” An audience asked Lee Hyun.<br><br>“All I can say is at this time, he goes by the name Shadow. I am afraid even I don’t know more as to the identity of this character. Is he alive? Yes he is.”<br><br>“Didn’t you develop the game?” An audience member asked with a puzzled look on his face.<br><br>“Yes, I did lay the initial foundations for the rules of this game. The actual story has been written by fictional and fantasy authors and even historians! I wouldn’t know who the characters are in this story. It is a complete secret to me as well, I only know what the initial story outline is. After that it the simulation which decides everything.” The audience was disappointed with the answer, it didn’t clarify anything.<br><br>“Then what is that thing?” asked someone else cautiously.<br><br>“My guess would be as good as any of yours, a monster of sorts.” Lee Hyun replied. “Maybe a high level boss…”<br><br>Mummers broke out.<br><br>‘Is he serious?’<br><br>‘A high level boss?’<br><br>‘But shouldn’t bosses be limited to a certain area like a dungeon?’<br><br>‘Yeah, that’s how all games are…’ <br><br>“Is there a concept of dungeons with bosses in RREV?” Shin Hye Min asked.<br><br>“Yes there is…but I am not sure if they are limited to dungeons. If that is what you are meaning to ask.” Lee Hyun cooly replied. <br><br>“Could you please tell us what happened to Skyholm city?” a young female in the audience asked.<br><br>“It got destroyed.” Lee Hyun replied casually.<br><br>“Yes, what element was it?” The young lady pursued.<br><br>Lee Hyun smiled. At least there were some people here who were asking the right questions. This would have been the same line of thought he would have pursued if he was playing the game. In a game where there are only six primary elements something that did not fit the bounds of those six is what should be understood. “I cannot say which element was it but I can assure you it is not among the six available.”<br><br>Everyone in the room wanted to know which element it was but Lee Hyun refused to say another word. In the end they didn’t pester him about it as they wanted to ask other questions in the limited time they had with him.<br><br>“You said that he is alive. Are you saying that attack which wiped out the entire Skyholm City could not wipe out that NPC? How can we even defeat him?”<br><br>“I am certain without doubt he can be defeated.” Lee Hyun assured the audience. “It is much like a done dragon, you may attack in droves of 100s but its health is just so completely humongous that you despair none of your attacks are having any effect.”<br><br> “…” The audience wasn’t very convinced. <br><br>“I found the NPC’s very different from other games in RREV.” Said someone in the audience, trying to change the topic from Shadow to something else. The audience knew that so far all questions they asked received vague and ambiguous replies. They did not have anything concrete to go on.<br><br>Lee Hyun smiled again. There was another who asked a very good question. “Yes, as you may have noticed, RREV NPCs are lifelike. They don’t act according to a predefined central program. Each NPC is like an independent entity and can think for itself…”<br><br>“What!” Shin Hye Min said out of shock.<br><br>Even the audience was astounded. <br><br>Lee Hyun continued, “I am not saying they are AIs. Well not all of them. More like they are governed by their own personalities, interests, likes dislikes and so on.”<br><br>“Then how do you make them follow the story line you planned? If they don’t have a central AI system in place?” <br><br>“That is Unicorn’s patented programming. I can however say even if we want the story to proceed one way it may not really go on as planned. This makes Elementarem Vim unique since the story is governed by the actions of players and not being driven a central AI.”<br>The audience was excited. A central AI governing the game had always been the backbone of VR games. The central system did balance the game but it made everything so monotonous. There was a level of artificiality to it. It always seemed like their actions were governed by something higher. Quests would only come out in a certain way guiding players as intended in the story. This did not mean that stories had a single path but multiple / finite number of scenarios. <br><br>“Can you please tell us is there an end goal of this game?” another audience member asked. In Royal Road, players had to unite the entire world. However, RREV had been less clear with it’s objectives.<br><br>Lee Hyun chuckled. “I thought that was more or less given in the name of the game.”<br><br>Everyone shot a quizzled look at Lee Hyun.<br><br>“Its name is Royal Road Elementarem Vim or Royal Road Elemental Powers…The one who unites all the elemental powers under them beats the game.”<br><br>“I think are allotted time is up.” Shin Hye Min said as she looked at Lee Hyun and then the audience.<br><br>“I have one more question!” Some members of the audience shouted out.<br><br>“I am sorry.” Lee Hyun said. “I have another appointment I must attend to.”<br><br>Lee Jun closed the video. He browsed around for a little before quickly tiring, “Computer, sleep.” Putting his computer to sleep Lee went downstairs hoping to get something to eat and maybe watch some of show of CTS Media on their T.V.<br><br>“Hey, Mom you there?” Lee Jun called out expecting to get a yes. He descended downstairs cautiously, his mom had been very upset that he left the school premise without informing and that she then got a call from the outskirts of the city requesting her to collect her son who had fainted.<br><br>“Lee, what have I told you about using “Hey” when talking to people.” she complained.<br><br>Lee found his mother in the kitchen with a large disposable bag placed on the counter. Lee Jun slowly approached her. She looked calm…<br><br>“Sorry Mom” Lee Jun answered as if he has been over this before. ‘Looks like she is playing it casual, maybe I should go with the flow.’ <br><br>“So, what’s for breakfast?” Lee Jun asked as he began to help his Mom put the groceries in the fridge, 'the faster this is done the faster I could finish breakfast and watch T.V.’ Lee thought as he continued to help store the groceries. He was sticking to the good boy act to avoid getting a scolding, he also did it because he felt guilty about worrying his mother.<br><br>When the bag was near empty Lee Jun's Mom picked it up planning to throw it in the trash, “Wait, there's still something in the bag” Lee Jun stopped his mom and took out a crumpled paper from there, “I think that’s the receipt.” Lee Jun said as he pulled it out. <br><br> “I was researching about the dojang..” His mom responded feeling slightly embarrassed.<br><br>It was a printout of a flier displaying a picture of two muscular young men clashing swords against one another and underneath read through as “Come to our dojang where strength, skill, and courage are hand in hand.” The line was short and spoke a lot about the person who thought up of the flier.<br><br>“I heard Weed also studied martial arts at this sword dojang.” His mom said shyly. “Is that why you went there?” she asked. “Did you want to meet him?”<br><br>“Remember the girl who was apologizing?” Lee Jun asked, his heart was beating excitedly. Maybe his mom was reconsidering. If she did reconsider then there was nothing stopping him from becoming a fully-fledged member as the masters did agree to let him join.<br><br>“Yes, the well mannered thoughtless girl who dragged you there in the first place…” His mom recalled coldly.<br><br>“She said something every interesting.” Lee Jun ignored his mom’s sharpness.<br><br>“…”<br><br>“She said I should just become stronger.” Lee Jun said after a pause. “And strength is something I have define for myself. I believe this could help me deal with the nightmares I've been having and other stuff…”<br><br>“…” His mom remained silent. Becoming stronger was easier said than done. She could not see how training in dojang would help him overcome his fear of VR.<br><br>“Can I please join?” Lee Jun implored. He was trembling as he requested and averted his gaze in avoid being caught crying as tears welled up in his eyes. He was truly desperate to overcome this mental disease that he was suffering from.<br><br>“…” His mom did not know what to say. He had never asked for something before and even though she could not see it, she knew he was suffering and desperate to grasp on to any ray of hope he could find. “Ok…but you can’t give up on this no matter how difficult it gets.”<br><br>Lee Jun jumped and hugged his mom as he tears flowed down his cheek. They were tears of happiness, he was so extremely excited that he was allowed to become a member of Kumdo Dojang; the same place where Lee Hyun trained.<br><br><br><br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. Happy reading!<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1323" target="_blank">Yes</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

Weed looked in shock to find Theodore pierced through the chest by the Shadow, blood was pouring out through the wound and he was not vanishing like a regular NPC. “Ah....” The faint sound he made attracted the Shadow's eyes toward Lee Jun. “Now it's your turn” the Shadow smiled menacingly at Lee Jun while discarding the dead body of Theodore. “Give it to me!” Shadow demanded as it closed in on Lee Jun. No matter how much Lee Jun ran, there was no shelter in sight and no one around to save him. “Dammit! Let me log out!” No matter how much he tried the game wouldn't allow him to log out. “You cannot escape me.” Shadow quickly closed in on Lee Jun brandishing its sword. “AAHHH!!” Lee Jun screamed getting up from bed. Recognizing his surroundings Lee Jun sighed in relief even though his back was drenched with cold sweat. It had been awhile since he had such a nightmare. They always sifted through the two VR titles that he had played. ‘I guess I failed then didn’t I?’ Lee Jun thought to himself as he stared at his clenched fist. ‘If only I had a little more stamina I would have got him.’ After crossing Hwa, Lee Jun’s vision went completely black and he lost consciousness. It only went on to show how much he had pushed himself. Lee Jun had no regrets, he tried his best and in the end it didn’t work out…he was in fact pleased with the results. The masters were practically on their knees begging his mom not to sue them for not stopping the match sooner. She showed them one or two things about legalities when they waived his signed application form. In the end, it was his mom who decided against the dojang. Lee Jun got up and after booting up his computer he heard a gentle mannered voice greet him, “Good Morning, Master”. Lee Jun sighed “Good Morning, search terms related to RREV which relate to the Shadow”. ‘Something must be wrong with me….did I just greet the computer?’ Lee Jun stared suspiciously at himself in the mirror. “Master I have found 1000+ posts. Would you like to additional filters to narrow the search results? Lee Jun looked at the Computer with an eerie look “Consider only official sources” he quickly said. “There is one interview broadcast of Lee Hyun by KMC Media house. It is as close as I get to finding official sources. There are no public statements released by Unicorn Corp at this moment, Master.” “Play broadcast.” - Now playing – “Who the hell was that in the hood? Is he still alive?” An audience asked Lee Hyun. “All I can say is at this time, he goes by the name Shadow. I am afraid even I don’t know more as to the identity of this character. Is he alive? Yes he is.” “Didn’t you develop the game?” An audience member asked with a puzzled look on his face. “Yes, I did lay the initial foundations for the rules of this game. The actual story has been written by fictional and fantasy authors and even historians! I wouldn’t know who the characters are in this story. It is a complete secret to me as well, I only know what the initial story outline is. After that it the simulation which decides everything.” The audience was disappointed with the answer, it didn’t clarify anything. “Then what is that thing?” asked someone else cautiously. “My guess would be as good as any of yours, a monster of sorts.” Lee Hyun replied. “Maybe a high level boss…” Mummers broke out. ‘Is he serious?’ ‘A high level boss?’ ‘But shouldn’t bosses be limited to a certain area like a dungeon?’ ‘Yeah, that’s how all games are…’ “Is there a concept of dungeons with bosses in RREV?” Shin Hye Min asked. “Yes there is…but I am not sure if they are limited to dungeons. If that is what you are meaning to ask.” Lee Hyun cooly replied. “Could you please tell us what happened to Skyholm city?” a young female in the audience asked. “It got destroyed.” Lee Hyun replied casually. “Yes, what element was it?” The young lady pursued. Lee Hyun smiled. At least there were some people here who were asking the right questions. This would have been the same line of thought he would have pursued if he was playing the game. In a game where there are only six primary elements something that did not fit the bounds of those six is what should be understood. “I cannot say which element was it but I can assure you it is not among the six available.” Everyone in the room wanted to know which element it was but Lee Hyun refused to say another word. In the end they didn’t pester him about it as they wanted to ask other questions in the limited time they had with him. “You said that he is alive. Are you saying that attack which wiped out the entire Skyholm City could not wipe out that NPC? How can we even defeat him?” “I am certain without doubt he can be defeated.” Lee Hyun assured the audience. “It is much like a done dragon, you may attack in droves of 100s but its health is just so completely humongous that you despair none of your attacks are having any effect.” “…” The audience wasn’t very convinced. “I found the NPC’s very different from other games in RREV.” Said someone in the audience, trying to change the topic from Shadow to something else. The audience knew that so far all questions they asked received vague and ambiguous replies. They did not have anything concrete to go on. Lee Hyun smiled again. There was another who asked a very good question. “Yes, as you may have noticed, RREV NPCs are lifelike. They don’t act according to a predefined central program. Each NPC is like an independent entity and can think for itself…” “What!” Shin Hye Min said out of shock. Even the audience was astounded. Lee Hyun continued, “I am not saying they are AIs. Well not all of them. More like they are governed by their own personalities, interests, likes dislikes and so on.” “Then how do you make them follow the story line you planned? If they don’t have a central AI system in place?” “That is Unicorn’s patented programming. I can however say even if we want the story to proceed one way it may not really go on as planned. This makes Elementarem Vim unique since the story is governed by the actions of players and not being driven a central AI.” The audience was excited. A central AI governing the game had always been the backbone of VR games. The central system did balance the game but it made everything so monotonous. There was a level of artificiality to it. It always seemed like their actions were governed by something higher. Quests would only come out in a certain way guiding players as intended in the story. This did not mean that stories had a single path but multiple / finite number of scenarios. “Can you please tell us is there an end goal of this game?” another audience member asked. In Royal Road, players had to unite the entire world. However, RREV had been less clear with it’s objectives. Lee Hyun chuckled. “I thought that was more or less given in the name of the game.” Everyone shot a quizzled look at Lee Hyun. “Its name is Royal Road Elementarem Vim or Royal Road Elemental Powers…The one who unites all the elemental powers under them beats the game.” “I think are allotted time is up.” Shin Hye Min said as she looked at Lee Hyun and then the audience. “I have one more question!” Some members of the audience shouted out. “I am sorry.” Lee Hyun said. “I have another appointment I must attend to.” Lee Jun closed the video. He browsed around for a little before quickly tiring, “Computer, sleep.” Putting his computer to sleep Lee went downstairs hoping to get something to eat and maybe watch some of show of CTS Media on their T.V. “Hey, Mom you there?” Lee Jun called out expecting to get a yes. He descended downstairs cautiously, his mom had been very upset that he left the school premise without informing and that she then got a call from the outskirts of the city requesting her to collect her son who had fainted. “Lee, what have I told you about using “Hey” when talking to people.” she complained. Lee found his mother in the kitchen with a large disposable bag placed on the counter. Lee Jun slowly approached her. She looked calm… “Sorry Mom” Lee Jun answered as if he has been over this before. ‘Looks like she is playing it casual, maybe I should go with the flow.’ “So, what’s for breakfast?” Lee Jun asked as he began to help his Mom put the groceries in the fridge, 'the faster this is done the faster I could finish breakfast and watch T.V.’ Lee thought as he continued to help store the groceries. He was sticking to the good boy act to avoid getting a scolding, he also did it because he felt guilty about worrying his mother. When the bag was near empty Lee Jun's Mom picked it up planning to throw it in the trash, “Wait, there's still something in the bag” Lee Jun stopped his mom and took out a crumpled paper from there, “I think that’s the receipt.” Lee Jun said as he pulled it out. “I was researching about the dojang..” His mom responded feeling slightly embarrassed. It was a printout of a flier displaying a picture of two muscular young men clashing swords against one another and underneath read through as “Come to our dojang where strength, skill, and courage are hand in hand.” The line was short and spoke a lot about the person who thought up of the flier. “I heard Weed also studied martial arts at this sword dojang.” His mom said shyly. “Is that why you went there?” she asked. “Did you want to meet him?” “Remember the girl who was apologizing?” Lee Jun asked, his heart was beating excitedly. Maybe his mom was reconsidering. If she did reconsider then there was nothing stopping him from becoming a fully-fledged member as the masters did agree to let him join. “Yes, the well mannered thoughtless girl who dragged you there in the first place…” His mom recalled coldly. “She said something every interesting.” Lee Jun ignored his mom’s sharpness. “…” “She said I should just become stronger.” Lee Jun said after a pause. “And strength is something I have define for myself. I believe this could help me deal with the nightmares I've been having and other stuff…” “…” His mom remained silent. Becoming stronger was easier said than done. She could not see how training in dojang would help him overcome his fear of VR. “Can I please join?” Lee Jun implored. He was trembling as he requested and averted his gaze in avoid being caught crying as tears welled up in his eyes. He was truly desperate to overcome this mental disease that he was suffering from. “…” His mom did not know what to say. He had never asked for something before and even though she could not see it, she knew he was suffering and desperate to grasp on to any ray of hope he could find. “Ok…but you can’t give up on this no matter how difficult it gets.” Lee Jun jumped and hugged his mom as he tears flowed down his cheek. They were tears of happiness, he was so extremely excited that he was allowed to become a member of Kumdo Dojang; the same place where Lee Hyun trained. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. Happy reading! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Yes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1323) | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 6 Battle Conclusion<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br>NOW LETS BATTLE!!! <br><br><br>Arceus: " I'll go first Venausaur use razor leaf!!."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> -Sharp-edged leaves are launched to slash at the opposing team. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><img src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110517204004/pokemontowerdefense/images/8/8f/Screen_shot_2011-05-17_at_4.39.30_PM.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fimages2.wikia.nocookie.net%2f__cb20....30_PM.png"><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Dementors -1000 hp (6000hp) </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "Wow that's powerful now it's my turn. Dementor shadow ball!!."<br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> -The user hurls a shadowy blob at the target. It may also lower the target's Sp. Def stat.<br>-This attack will hit any target that it comes in contact with. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><img src="http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111211163503/pokemontowerdefense/images/5/5f/Shadow_Ball.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fimages3.wikia.nocookie.net%2f__cb20...w_Ball.png"><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Venausaur: -2000 hp (3000 hp) Sp def greatly fell. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "Hoho that sure stings."<br><br>Arceus: "don't be so sure young man. Venausaur use rest!!."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> -The user goes to sleep. It fully restores the user's HP and heals any status problem. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><img src="http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110608221418/pokemontowerdefense/images/3/38/Sleeping.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fimages4.wikia.nocookie.net%2f__cb20...eeping.png"><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Venausaur fully recovers hp (5000 hp) </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: " I see, dementor use shadowball again."<br><br><br><br><br><img src="http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111211163503/pokemontowerdefense/images/5/5f/Shadow_Ball.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fimages3.wikia.nocookie.net%2f__cb20...w_Ball.png"><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> - Shadow ball critical hit Venausaur (-4999 hp) </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "take that, I see your venasaur is still asleep."<br><br>Arceus: "Not for long," Arceus sung a melodic hym. <br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Venausaur woke up. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Arceus: "I need your strength old friend, venasaur use Petal Dance!!."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> -The user attacks the target with scattering petals. The user then becomes confused. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><img src="http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110530225220/pokemontowerdefense/images/8/82/S.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fimages4.wikia.nocookie.net%2f__cb20...8%2f82%2fS.png"><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Dementors hp -2000 (4000 hp) Venausaur became confused. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: you made great effort, now dementor finish it with shadow ball.<br><br><br><br><br><br><img src="http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111211163503/pokemontowerdefense/images/5/5f/Shadow_Ball.png" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fimages3.wikia.nocookie.net%2f__cb20...w_Ball.png"><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Venausaur -2500 (0 hp) Venausaur fainted. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Arceus: "ENOUGH !! , I see you're worthy enough, and I can tell you are still holding back. There would be no point to continue battling using the rest of my pokemon when I already see that you have qualities that qualifies you for my teachings, that and much more."<br><br>Zed: " You knew?."<br><br>Arceus: "Of course I knew, you didn't use your dementors soul sucking ability. otherwise this battle would have been so one-sided. I see you have enough humility and knowledge that this was a test of your character and you ........PASS."<br><br>ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You have completed quest<br>fame +1000<br>you have gained ring of the aincients<br>you have gained the skill Arceus blessings<br>you have gained the skill spectral ball<br><br>level up<br>level up<br>level up </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: Identify!<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ring of the Ancients<br><br>-worn by people long ago when pokemon and people lived in coexistence<br><br>def:30 durability: 800/1000<br><br>-int + 20<br>-dex + 50<br>-HP and MP regeneration plus 15% </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: Skill window<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Arceus blessings<br><br>-????????????? </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Spectral ball <br>- a unique skill given by Arceus.<br>- able to use mana to form a create an Ultraball that is used to capture creatures(not bound to pokemon capture, can tame other creatures) and form a bond and soul link with the user.(chances may vary depending on circumstances)<br>-Normal pokeball, greatball, ultraball (other types of pokeball) can only catch pokemon with the exception of this skill<br>-Creature that are caught by this method are stored in a pocket dimension where they can rest and recover untill they are needed.<br>-This dimension has infinite space and match the creatures habitats leaving them quite comfortable. It is literally a new world in there.<br><br>mana cost 5000 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Arceus: "Ahh before I forget please deliver this egg to to pallet town's mayor. James will know the way."<br><br>ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Quest: Special Delivery<br><br>Arceus wants you to deliver an unknown egg to pallet town's mayor<br><br>Difficulty: C<br><br>Reward: unknown<br><br>Failure: Egg is destroyed </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: " I accept."<br><br>James: "I'll lead lead the way Lord Arceus. Zed congratulations, you passed Lord Arceus's test and he seems to like you."<br><br>Zed: "Ahh thanks, now let's get Jessie and meowth."<br><br>James led Zed through the forest and met up with Jessie and meowth. They congratulated zed and he explained to them that he received a quest from arceus. They gladly led zed through pallet town, it took a couple of hours walking and they arrived safely at their destination.<br><br>ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You have arrived at pallet town<br><br>-A rural town of humble beginnings </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>James: "Where here."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, this town feels homy and yet you can't help but feel drawn to it."<br><br>James: "Yes that's what I thought too when me, Jessie and came here for the quest for our class, we met with meowth after we finished the quest. Come, the mayor's house is this way, I will warn you though he is a bit eccentric."<br><br>Zed: "I see, it seems that were here, I'll knock on the door."<br><br>Someone: "Yes, yes I'll be right there in a moment. Oh, hello James,Jessie and who could forget meowth. are you guys here help me with my experiments?,"said the person that revealed to be a middle aged man with brown hair that has a glint in his eyes at the mention of experiment.<br><br>James: "I think I speak for the three of us professor that we'd like to avoid what happened last time, that we shall not mention EVER!!., No professor Oak, we're here on official business from Lord Arceus, more specifically my friend Zed here is. Oh, before I forget, let me introduce this loon, this man is professor Oak, self proclaimed scientist extraordinaire and this here is my friend and Boss Zed." James pointed to Zed.<br><br>Zed: "Nice to meet you professor oak, I'm here to deliver this egg to you from Lord Arceus." zed handed the egg over.<br><br>Oak: "Gasped!! can it be?, is that a pokemon egg??, I can't believe it, pokemon eggs nowadays can only be found inside "Illex Forest" that is closely guarded by <br>Lord Arceus himself, and this could only mean one thing, The time for the coexistence between people and pokemon are upon us and whosoever presents a pokemon egg to the mayor our village shall lead us to prosperity, that's the legend that has been passed down to this town since time immemorial."<br><br>Ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Quest Completed:<br><br>fame +500<br>Become Lord of Pallet Town<br>(cannot be refused) <br>Level up </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Quest: Sucess and Prosperity<br><br>As the Lord of Pallet Town it is your duty to improve the coexistence between pokemon and humans as it is your duty. Lead the town to prosperity to reclaim its place as the Crown Jewel city of Pallet Town like days of old.<br><br>Quest accepted automatically<br>(cannot be refused)<br><br>Difficulty: A<br><br>Rewards: Unknown </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Ding <br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You have now access to the Lord Menu:<br>You can access the<br>- build the town buildings adventurer buildings<br>-Military Status<br>-Economic Status<br>-etc.etc town related things </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Arceus Blessings<br><br>- Able to create exclusive buildings of the forgotten era of pokemon. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed: "James , Jessie , Meowth, I have just been promoted to the Lord of this town."<br><br>James: "That's great!! Congratulations."<br><br>Jessica: "We can finally have a headquarters we can be proud off."<br><br>Meowth: "I'm so happy, were finally 1 step closer to world domination."<br><br>Zed: "Guys, we all deserve some rest , meet me at the inn in pallet town in 5 days, here's 1000g you guys have a party or a vacation, you guys really deserve it. I'll be going somewhere else to check on something these couple of days."<br><br>James: "Were so lucky, we got a good villainous boss."<br><br>Jessie: "Yes he's so generous I could get 5 star spa treatmeant with half the amount he gave us."<br><br>Meowth: "We could have a feast with that amount of money."<br><br>Zed: "Yes it's no problem at all, I managed to find a dungeon and gained the 2x exp and 2x drop rate for 2 weeks and let's just say I managed to use those wisely." (especially with all the loots and gold and equipment that dropped there and with no weight limit, I was able to utilize those 2 weeks to its fullest by avoiding going back to town to store those rare equipments.) zed thought.<br><br>Zed: "well , see you guys in 5 days, enjoy" zed walked to somewhere.<br><br>James: "See you too soon boss."<br><br>Jessie: "Good luck to whatever you're planning"<br><br>Meowth: "Still I wonder where he's going?, nahh I'm sure he'll be fine, now on to the feast!!."<br><br><br>Note: Game currency 100 copper = 1 silver, 100 silver = 1 gold<br><br><br><br>Where is Zed going????? tune in next time on "Adventures of an Avid gamer." </div>

Chapter 6 Battle Conclusion Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. NOW LETS BATTLE!!! Arceus: " I'll go first Venausaur use razor leaf!!." | * -Sharp-edged leaves are launched to slash at the opposing team. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |  | * Dementors -1000 hp (6000hp) | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Wow that's powerful now it's my turn. Dementor shadow ball!!." | * -The user hurls a shadowy blob at the target. It may also lower the target's Sp. Def stat.-This attack will hit any target that it comes in contact with. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |  | * Venausaur: -2000 hp (3000 hp) Sp def greatly fell. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Hoho that sure stings." Arceus: "don't be so sure young man. Venausaur use rest!!." | * -The user goes to sleep. It fully restores the user's HP and heals any status problem. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |  | * Venausaur fully recovers hp (5000 hp) | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: " I see, dementor use shadowball again."  | * - Shadow ball critical hit Venausaur (-4999 hp) | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "take that, I see your venasaur is still asleep." Arceus: "Not for long," Arceus sung a melodic hym. | * Venausaur woke up. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Arceus: "I need your strength old friend, venasaur use Petal Dance!!." | * -The user attacks the target with scattering petals. The user then becomes confused. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |  | * Dementors hp -2000 (4000 hp) Venausaur became confused. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: you made great effort, now dementor finish it with shadow ball.  | * Venausaur -2500 (0 hp) Venausaur fainted. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Arceus: "ENOUGH !! , I see you're worthy enough, and I can tell you are still holding back. There would be no point to continue battling using the rest of my pokemon when I already see that you have qualities that qualifies you for my teachings, that and much more." Zed: " You knew?." Arceus: "Of course I knew, you didn't use your dementors soul sucking ability. otherwise this battle would have been so one-sided. I see you have enough humility and knowledge that this was a test of your character and you ........PASS." ding | * You have completed questfame +1000you have gained ring of the aincientsyou have gained the skill Arceus blessingsyou have gained the skill spectral balllevel uplevel uplevel up | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: Identify! | * Ring of the Ancients-worn by people long ago when pokemon and people lived in coexistencedef:30 durability: 800/1000-int + 20-dex + 50-HP and MP regeneration plus 15% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: Skill window | * Arceus blessings-????????????? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Spectral ball - a unique skill given by Arceus.- able to use mana to form a create an Ultraball that is used to capture creatures(not bound to pokemon capture, can tame other creatures) and form a bond and soul link with the user.(chances may vary depending on circumstances)-Normal pokeball, greatball, ultraball (other types of pokeball) can only catch pokemon with the exception of this skill-Creature that are caught by this method are stored in a pocket dimension where they can rest and recover untill they are needed.-This dimension has infinite space and match the creatures habitats leaving them quite comfortable. It is literally a new world in there.mana cost 5000 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Arceus: "Ahh before I forget please deliver this egg to to pallet town's mayor. James will know the way." ding | * Quest: Special DeliveryArceus wants you to deliver an unknown egg to pallet town's mayorDifficulty: CReward: unknownFailure: Egg is destroyed | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: " I accept." James: "I'll lead lead the way Lord Arceus. Zed congratulations, you passed Lord Arceus's test and he seems to like you." Zed: "Ahh thanks, now let's get Jessie and meowth." James led Zed through the forest and met up with Jessie and meowth. They congratulated zed and he explained to them that he received a quest from arceus. They gladly led zed through pallet town, it took a couple of hours walking and they arrived safely at their destination. ding | * You have arrived at pallet town-A rural town of humble beginnings | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | James: "Where here." Zed: "Yes, this town feels homy and yet you can't help but feel drawn to it." James: "Yes that's what I thought too when me, Jessie and came here for the quest for our class, we met with meowth after we finished the quest. Come, the mayor's house is this way, I will warn you though he is a bit eccentric." Zed: "I see, it seems that were here, I'll knock on the door." Someone: "Yes, yes I'll be right there in a moment. Oh, hello James,Jessie and who could forget meowth. are you guys here help me with my experiments?,"said the person that revealed to be a middle aged man with brown hair that has a glint in his eyes at the mention of experiment. James: "I think I speak for the three of us professor that we'd like to avoid what happened last time, that we shall not mention EVER!!., No professor Oak, we're here on official business from Lord Arceus, more specifically my friend Zed here is. Oh, before I forget, let me introduce this loon, this man is professor Oak, self proclaimed scientist extraordinaire and this here is my friend and Boss Zed." James pointed to Zed. Zed: "Nice to meet you professor oak, I'm here to deliver this egg to you from Lord Arceus." zed handed the egg over. Oak: "Gasped!! can it be?, is that a pokemon egg??, I can't believe it, pokemon eggs nowadays can only be found inside "Illex Forest" that is closely guarded by Lord Arceus himself, and this could only mean one thing, The time for the coexistence between people and pokemon are upon us and whosoever presents a pokemon egg to the mayor our village shall lead us to prosperity, that's the legend that has been passed down to this town since time immemorial." Ding | * Quest Completed:fame +500Become Lord of Pallet Town(cannot be refused) Level up | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Ding | * Quest: Sucess and ProsperityAs the Lord of Pallet Town it is your duty to improve the coexistence between pokemon and humans as it is your duty. Lead the town to prosperity to reclaim its place as the Crown Jewel city of Pallet Town like days of old.Quest accepted automatically(cannot be refused)Difficulty: ARewards: Unknown | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Ding | * You have now access to the Lord Menu:You can access the- build the town buildings adventurer buildings-Military Status-Economic Status-etc.etc town related things | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Ding | * Arceus Blessings- Able to create exclusive buildings of the forgotten era of pokemon. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "James , Jessie , Meowth, I have just been promoted to the Lord of this town." James: "That's great!! Congratulations." Jessica: "We can finally have a headquarters we can be proud off." Meowth: "I'm so happy, were finally 1 step closer to world domination." Zed: "Guys, we all deserve some rest , meet me at the inn in pallet town in 5 days, here's 1000g you guys have a party or a vacation, you guys really deserve it. I'll be going somewhere else to check on something these couple of days." James: "Were so lucky, we got a good villainous boss." Jessie: "Yes he's so generous I could get 5 star spa treatmeant with half the amount he gave us." Meowth: "We could have a feast with that amount of money." Zed: "Yes it's no problem at all, I managed to find a dungeon and gained the 2x exp and 2x drop rate for 2 weeks and let's just say I managed to use those wisely." (especially with all the loots and gold and equipment that dropped there and with no weight limit, I was able to utilize those 2 weeks to its fullest by avoiding going back to town to store those rare equipments.) zed thought. Zed: "well , see you guys in 5 days, enjoy" zed walked to somewhere. James: "See you too soon boss." Jessie: "Good luck to whatever you're planning" Meowth: "Still I wonder where he's going?, nahh I'm sure he'll be fine, now on to the feast!!." Note: Game currency 100 copper = 1 silver, 100 silver = 1 gold Where is Zed going????? tune in next time on "Adventures of an Avid gamer."

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-style: italic;">*This are thoughts*</span><br><br>~sound effects~<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">+++++</div><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chapter 02: The rip off Quest</span><br><br><br>Without bothering he turned his attention towards the longbows, having in mind, that using a bow that had a much higher drawing force would increase strength faster, so Neuron shuffled through the longbows, and stretching the bow-string towards his cheek, until he was sure, that the bow he had now in his hand was the hardest to draw.<br><br>While shooting at the nearest Target to get accustomed to the bow two messages appeared before him:<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">You have gained the skill: Bow Mastery</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">You have gained the skill: Shooting Posture: Passive</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>While being surprised that the message came so fast, because he heard, that you have to shoot at the same target for over an hour to get this skill, and he never heard of the second, so he decided to look at them. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Bow Mastery</span><br>Increases attack power with Bows (+10 % Attack Damage)<br>Increases Accuracy with Bows (+3 % Accuracy)<br>Raised by Shooting arrows. </li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shooting Posture: Passive</span><br>By shooting with the right posture accuracy and critical chance improve<br>+10% Accuracy<br>+3% critical hit chance<br>Lowers the restriction of bows by 5% </li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>His fast acquisition of Bow Mastery was because he had RL experience with bows, if you are already able to do something, it would be unthinkable to learn it from scratch in the game, because of that the skill acquisition and leveling of them becomes a little bit easier, but this goes only to a limited point, if you learned something in RR that you couldn`t perform outside beforehand you will struggle and have your difficulty with it, because of that most players get the short end of the stick, because in the training hall, the players there are just beating the scarecrows instead of using proper techniques, it wouldn`t matter if they were given a baseball bat, or a wooden sword.<br><br>And adding to his RL experience was, that he shot with many different bows to decide which bow to use in the future, because it would be deadly if you use a bow who you weren`t accustomed with. And having shown a mediocre to good performance with them<br><br>What he didn`t know, was that the Long Bow he chose had a drawing power of 50 kg, fortunately for him he found a shelf with finger protectors, if not, so much force would have cut deep into his fingers. But unfortunately, there were no armguards, because of all the players taking them with them, who experienced the most painful thing you can while shooting with a bow. And this is getting hit by the Bow-string on the forearm. Because of that many Archers have acquired the skill endurance.<br><br>After getting the feeling for the longbow he decided to shoot at the target furthest into the back at 70m. Just to see if he could hit and if he missed he could retrieve the arrows easier because the target is standing near the wall.<br>He took his stance, both his feet about a shoulder length apart with the left foot in front facing the target, and the right at a 90° degree angle to it. Then he nocked an arrow on the string bringing the bow upwards inhaling, and then exhaling while putting it down and drawing the arrow to his cheek using only his shoulder muscles. Then he holds his breath while aiming.<br>Activating Hawk eyes he saw the target as if he was standing in front of it, but he soon had to cancel it, because he only saw the target, and not the arrowhead which is used to aim.<br><br>So he remained a longer time in the ready position until…<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Strength: +1</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>He let out a grunt, and the arrow lose<br><br><br>The “instructor” being curious if the boy would hit the target at which he aimed, just shook his head, because he saw him twitching at the moment of release and the arrow flying way past the target<br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*That surprised me!*</span><br><br>Neuron shot arrows for approximately one hour only increasing his skill proficiency by 10%, because he now used more time for aiming but with no results so far. Due to nothing happening anymore he soon became annoyed, contributing to that was that he had to always to gather the arrows which reminded him of one of the reasons he quit archery, another reason he quit was, that he sometimes hit himself with the bowstring, while letting the arrow loose, thus making his left forearm all red and swollen, and each time losing 10Hp<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Why the fuck are there no Armguards around, is this is supposed to be an archery, or not?*</span><br><br>With that he now started another plan he had in his mind before playing.<br><br>If only he had found more information about the tailoring skill, this whole Episode wouldn`t have happened.<br><br>He went outside searching for a Blacksmith, seeing the advertising shield right next door. As he went near the shop he saw a sign<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">I`m away tending for a Friend</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>After reading it Neuron turned his head and asked the next person which came across: “Sorry are there other Blacksmiths in town?”<br><br>Passerby: “Why”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Oh, come on use your head a little*</span><br><br>While putting up a smile he said: “to learn the skill.”<br><br>The Passerby replied while shuddering at the sight of that smile: “Well that is literally impossible”<br><br>Now it was his time to ask: “Why”<br><br>“Because the other is a dwarf and dwarfs only teach dwarfs.”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Well maybe I can talk him to teaching me the skill*</span><br><br>Looking at him the passerby somehow knew what this man was thinking and added:”dwarfs aren`t susceptible for bribery or flattery, they`ll only think of it being some sort of insult when they’re coming from a human.”<br><br>“Ah, thanks for the info”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Just how is he able to read what I was thinking*</span><br><br>The passerby thought while turning around and going his ways, <span style="font-style: italic;">*poor guy, thinks he can deceive someone with his poor acting skills ^^*<br><br>Now with this minor (major) setback he asked the next passerby where the nearest tailoring shop is located, and soon after Neuron stood before the shop, inside the windows he saw well fabricated clothes, dresses and a leather armor, as advertisement for the adventurers.<br><br>While entering the Shopkeeper welcomed Neuron and asked what he could do for him.<br><br>“I`m here to learn the art of tailoring”<br><br>This is good, I need work to be done, and my assistant run away, if you do the work for me, I’ll teach you tailoring.<br><br>“I accept!” he replied immediately even before the quest window with the details showed up<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">You have accepted the quest</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">New Skill: Tailoring</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Then the shopkeeper accompanied him to a small windowless Backroom who was lacking furniture, well it was really small, so only a Table and a Chair could be fit inside facing to the right, and pointed at a large pile of clothes who were dumped on the table.<br><br>“There patch them all up”<br><br>[i]*Oh gawd, how long will it take, till I finish?*</span><br><br>At this time he noticed that the pile had many socks in it, so he asked the the tailor for a wooden egg, who was surprised at the fact that Neuron knew about this little tool. <br>It was thanks to his Grandma who he watched sewing when he was little. While mending socks she put a wooden egg to make the sewing process easier.<br><br>“Look inside the drawers of this table, there should be everything that you need, and if not come to me and I`ll give it to you.”<br><br>Then Neuron shouted “Show Quest Window!” Because he had accepted the quest, before it could pop up.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Quest:</span> <br>Patch all the clothes the tailor gives you, if you finish it in <br>4 days, additional rewards will be given to you.<br><br>Reward:<br>Tailoring skill<br>Monetary compensation<br><br>Completed:<br>0/200 </li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>While exiting the room the Tailor heard something that made him grin, it was Neuron, who cursed through his teeth.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">End of Chapter 02</div><br><br><br>Hope you liked it </div>

*This are thoughts* ~sound effects~ +++++ Chapter 02: The rip off Quest Without bothering he turned his attention towards the longbows, having in mind, that using a bow that had a much higher drawing force would increase strength faster, so Neuron shuffled through the longbows, and stretching the bow-string towards his cheek, until he was sure, that the bow he had now in his hand was the hardest to draw. While shooting at the nearest Target to get accustomed to the bow two messages appeared before him: | * You have gained the skill: Bow Mastery | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * You have gained the skill: Shooting Posture: Passive | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | While being surprised that the message came so fast, because he heard, that you have to shoot at the same target for over an hour to get this skill, and he never heard of the second, so he decided to look at them. | * Bow MasteryIncreases attack power with Bows (+10 % Attack Damage)Increases Accuracy with Bows (+3 % Accuracy)Raised by Shooting arrows. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Shooting Posture: PassiveBy shooting with the right posture accuracy and critical chance improve+10% Accuracy+3% critical hit chanceLowers the restriction of bows by 5% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | His fast acquisition of Bow Mastery was because he had RL experience with bows, if you are already able to do something, it would be unthinkable to learn it from scratch in the game, because of that the skill acquisition and leveling of them becomes a little bit easier, but this goes only to a limited point, if you learned something in RR that you couldn`t perform outside beforehand you will struggle and have your difficulty with it, because of that most players get the short end of the stick, because in the training hall, the players there are just beating the scarecrows instead of using proper techniques, it wouldn`t matter if they were given a baseball bat, or a wooden sword. And adding to his RL experience was, that he shot with many different bows to decide which bow to use in the future, because it would be deadly if you use a bow who you weren`t accustomed with. And having shown a mediocre to good performance with them What he didn`t know, was that the Long Bow he chose had a drawing power of 50 kg, fortunately for him he found a shelf with finger protectors, if not, so much force would have cut deep into his fingers. But unfortunately, there were no armguards, because of all the players taking them with them, who experienced the most painful thing you can while shooting with a bow. And this is getting hit by the Bow-string on the forearm. Because of that many Archers have acquired the skill endurance. After getting the feeling for the longbow he decided to shoot at the target furthest into the back at 70m. Just to see if he could hit and if he missed he could retrieve the arrows easier because the target is standing near the wall. He took his stance, both his feet about a shoulder length apart with the left foot in front facing the target, and the right at a 90° degree angle to it. Then he nocked an arrow on the string bringing the bow upwards inhaling, and then exhaling while putting it down and drawing the arrow to his cheek using only his shoulder muscles. Then he holds his breath while aiming. Activating Hawk eyes he saw the target as if he was standing in front of it, but he soon had to cancel it, because he only saw the target, and not the arrowhead which is used to aim. So he remained a longer time in the ready position until… | * Strength: +1 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | He let out a grunt, and the arrow lose The “instructor” being curious if the boy would hit the target at which he aimed, just shook his head, because he saw him twitching at the moment of release and the arrow flying way past the target *That surprised me!* Neuron shot arrows for approximately one hour only increasing his skill proficiency by 10%, because he now used more time for aiming but with no results so far. Due to nothing happening anymore he soon became annoyed, contributing to that was that he had to always to gather the arrows which reminded him of one of the reasons he quit archery, another reason he quit was, that he sometimes hit himself with the bowstring, while letting the arrow loose, thus making his left forearm all red and swollen, and each time losing 10Hp *Why the fuck are there no Armguards around, is this is supposed to be an archery, or not?* With that he now started another plan he had in his mind before playing. If only he had found more information about the tailoring skill, this whole Episode wouldn`t have happened. He went outside searching for a Blacksmith, seeing the advertising shield right next door. As he went near the shop he saw a sign | * I`m away tending for a Friend | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | After reading it Neuron turned his head and asked the next person which came across: “Sorry are there other Blacksmiths in town?” Passerby: “Why” *Oh, come on use your head a little* While putting up a smile he said: “to learn the skill.” The Passerby replied while shuddering at the sight of that smile: “Well that is literally impossible” Now it was his time to ask: “Why” “Because the other is a dwarf and dwarfs only teach dwarfs.” *Well maybe I can talk him to teaching me the skill* Looking at him the passerby somehow knew what this man was thinking and added:”dwarfs aren`t susceptible for bribery or flattery, they`ll only think of it being some sort of insult when they’re coming from a human.” “Ah, thanks for the info” *Just how is he able to read what I was thinking* The passerby thought while turning around and going his ways, *poor guy, thinks he can deceive someone with his poor acting skills ^^* Now with this minor (major) setback he asked the next passerby where the nearest tailoring shop is located, and soon after Neuron stood before the shop, inside the windows he saw well fabricated clothes, dresses and a leather armor, as advertisement for the adventurers. While entering the Shopkeeper welcomed Neuron and asked what he could do for him. “I`m here to learn the art of tailoring” This is good, I need work to be done, and my assistant run away, if you do the work for me, I’ll teach you tailoring. “I accept!” he replied immediately even before the quest window with the details showed up | * You have accepted the quest | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * New Skill: Tailoring | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Then the shopkeeper accompanied him to a small windowless Backroom who was lacking furniture, well it was really small, so only a Table and a Chair could be fit inside facing to the right, and pointed at a large pile of clothes who were dumped on the table. “There patch them all up” [i]*Oh gawd, how long will it take, till I finish?* At this time he noticed that the pile had many socks in it, so he asked the the tailor for a wooden egg, who was surprised at the fact that Neuron knew about this little tool. It was thanks to his Grandma who he watched sewing when he was little. While mending socks she put a wooden egg to make the sewing process easier. “Look inside the drawers of this table, there should be everything that you need, and if not come to me and I`ll give it to you.” Then Neuron shouted “Show Quest Window!” Because he had accepted the quest, before it could pop up. | * Quest: Patch all the clothes the tailor gives you, if you finish it in 4 days, additional rewards will be given to you.Reward:Tailoring skillMonetary compensationCompleted:0/200 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | While exiting the room the Tailor heard something that made him grin, it was Neuron, who cursed through his teeth. End of Chapter 02 Hope you liked it

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> The Beast<br>Chapter 4: Dungeon Hop<br>A Royal Road Fan Fiction… of sorts<br>By Halosty<br><br> When the three elves logged in, they saw a rabbit outside Moonbeam Dungeon. He was stretched out on his front, with his head on his paws, and his eyes closed.<br><br> “Looks like he’s been taking a nap too,” said Aeltas.<br><br> “Yep, a suuuper cute nap,” said Lailam. She didn’t bother mentioning that her level had gone up by two, again. She wasn’t exactly sure how Roger would be able to kill anything that could give experience anywhere near that amount.<br><br> The party entered the dungeon. Moonbeam Dungeon was a system of caves inhabited by brittle skeletons, who had no class associated with them. Further into the caves, the skeletons lost their “brittle” modifier, which just made them a bit more challenging. The monsters ranged from level 20-30 on average. At the end of the dungeon was a giant skeleton boss, Humeria, who was the real goal of the hunting party. It was a fairly popular dungeon for leveling, but few people tried to take on the boss, who was much harder than the rest of the dungeon.<br><br> The party progressed fairly quickly, with Aeltas and Cael’van making quick work of the brittle skeletons. Aeltas could easily dodge their hits, or sometimes block them if there was a larger group. Cael’van’s arrows weren’t as effective against skeletons, but he easily killed them anyway. They didn’t expect any trouble at this point in the dungeon. However, Cael’van soon noticed some peculiarities.<br><br> “Why is there loot just sitting around? Did people not want it? For that matter, where are all the players? I was sure that there would be more people here to compete with us.”<br><br> “Are you complaining about free loot and no competition?” asked Aeltas.<br><br> “No, but I am saying that something big might be around that is going to eat us.”<br><br> “Maybe Humeria started wandering around? That would explain all the loot and no players.”<br><br> “It would,” Lailam spoke up. “Roger says we should have turned left back at that tunnel.”<br><br> Cael’van broke out of his train of thought and looked around. “Ah yes, that should lead towards the chamber where Humeria is. Wait, why am I taking directions from a rabbit? Hmm, he is correct though.”<br><br> As they were getting deeper into the dungeon, regular skeletons started showing up. They weren’t even worrying in the groups of four they typically wandered in, but Aeltas had Lailam stay well back, just in case. As they were fighting one group, another showed up behind them.<br><br> Only Lailam noticed, because she was closest to the sound. When she turned to look, one of the group of skeletons was kneeling down, its kneecap apparently broken. There was also a brown and white blur running around. Lailam had been buffing Roger along with Cael’van and Aeltas, since she knew he would at least be of some help in an emergency situation. This was the first time she had seen him fight at his full capacity.<br><br> By the time the two elves in front turned around to see what Lailam was doing, there were only broken bones and loot left on the ground. Lailam was just staring with her jaw almost to the floor.<br><br> “How… how did you do that?” she asked. Roger came up and nuzzled her hand.<br><br> ‘I’m stronger at night’ was the information she got from him.<br><br> “How much stronger?”<br><br> ‘Many times.’ Roger would have told her four times, but a comprehension of numbers wasn’t really necessary for his AI. His understanding of increases in ability were more about the relative effects it had on him.<br><br> Cael’van and Aeltas were also sufficiently amazed, but they hadn’t really seen what was going on.<br><br> “Did he just… kill four of them? Real skeletons?”<br><br> “Yep.”<br><br> “And he’s… a rabbit, right?”<br><br> “Well, yeah. I mean, probably. Can’t you see him?”<br><br> “I was just checking in case my visual functions were broken.”<br><br> Roger snuggled up against Lailam’s ankle. ‘Should I show them?’<br><br> “Of course. Do you want the next group?”<br><br> Roger nodded.<br><br> The two elves were a bit hesitant to let him fight a group alone, but since he had apparently already done it, they figured he would be fine. If nothing else, they planned to jump in and save him. Lailam would be sad otherwise.<br><br> As it turned out, of course, there was no accident involved with his prior victory.<br><br> Roger started the battle by using his hop ability to quickly close in on an enemy, striking a weak location, such as a knee, with his rebounding hop, to bring him outside of the enemies radius of attack. He did this until his enemies were sufficiently disabled for him to attack points that did more damage. To those watching, it was much like a blur, with points at the end of the attacking and retreating lines that looked like rabbits, briefly.<br><br> “To be honest, now I’m not sure why I’m even here,” said Aeltas.<br><br> “Yeah, me neither,” remarked Cael’van.<br><br> Roger told Lailam his opinions on their usefulness. ‘The tough one is still better at distracting enemies, and reduces danger to Lailam. The skinny one is good for things that are far. He also has good senses, to detect things that will attack Lailam. Plus, the boss is too strong for me alone.’<br><br> She relayed his message, although much more diplomatically. She neglected to mention that he really only needed them to fight the Humeria. Who, incidentally, was in the next room.<br><br> The party rested up, and Lailam prepared the party with fresh buffs, including the ones that took more mana than was good for normal combats. This included Barkskin for Aeltas, which increased his defense, as well as a spell called Impact that made Cael’van’s arrows act more like bludgeoning weapons, which skeletons were weak to. Then, Aeltas walked into the room.<br> Out of the large pile of bones in the middle of the room rose a gigantic skeleton with glowing eyes. This skeleton was well over fifteen feet tall, and had four arms instead of the two a reasonable person would expect. The second pair faced backwards, and from a different angle, it was easy to tell that it was more like two skeletons fused together, back to back. Above his head floated the name Humeria in red.<br><br> Aeltas approached closer to draw his attention, while Cael’van and Lailam entered the room and spread out to the sides to avoid any skeletons that might appear in the hallway outside. Roger moved around behind Humeria, in an attempt to flank him.<br><br> Then, the battle started. Humeria swung its massive arms at Cael’van, who had the good sense not to try taking the attack head on. Its other arms threw bones from the pile at Roger, who was the most convenient target. It wasn’t particularly well optimized for attacking such a small target, so Roger only took damage from the splinters of bone as the ribcages and other bones shattered.<br><br> Cael’van immediately opened up with arrows towards the easiest part to hit, the ribcage. Lailam cast a beam of fire at the heads, to obscure their vision. Aeltas dodged and parried with his shield, trying to find a more stable position on the pile of bones. Roger moved in with some quick moves, but his speed was hindered among the bones. Then, he attacked at Humeria’s legs, but was not strong enough to provide significant enough amounts of damage to greatly hinder its movements.<br><br> Roger was glad that he had chased a group of adventurers into this room to see what the boss could do. They had done well enough in these beginning stages, but had been unprepared for the additional skeletons Roger now knew were coming when Humeria reached half health.<br><br> The battle continued on in about the same fashion until that point, although Lailam only used her fire powers sparingly, conserving mana for healing as necessary. When Humeria was half dead, the bones around him started trembling. Two more sets of arms rose up and attached to it awkwardly. These started throwing bones at the people standing at the edges of the room. Many more of the bones rose up and formed skeletons, who set out to attack the party.<br><br> At this point, Roger left Aeltas to fend for himself against Humeria. He went into action around the room attacking the extra skeletons. Cael’van’s damage output went down, because he had to dodge flying bones and keep away from the skeletons. Lailam had to move in to heal Aeltas, who could not avoid all of the damage. Skeletons kept continuously forming, almost as fast as they were destroyed, but Roger kept beating them back down.<br><br> Finally, the last regular skeleton was destroyed, at least for a few tens of seconds. Humeria was down to less than 5% health. Humeria focused all its fury on Aeltas. The flurry of powerful blows threatened to overwhelm him. Humeria had picked up a giant bone, somewhat like a club, with two of his hands, and was swinging it down in a overhead blow at Aeltas. Then, Roger ran through Humeria’s legs, from “behind”. Although Aeltas would never admit it later, Roger saved his life with his actions. He hopped up onto Aeltas’ face momentarily, then pushed off of him back towards Humeria. This action knocked Aeltas out of Humeria’s reach. It also propelled Roger straight into one of Humeria’s eyes.<br><br> With a great crash, bones scattered everywhere, echoing throughout the chamber. Along with bones were loot.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Level Up!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Roger did not care for the loot, he could not even pick it up with no where to put it, but he was happy at the level. Of course, he was also happy that Lailam would likely gain some things she wanted. He scanned the scattered armor, weapons, coins, and various trinkets. Then, his eyes fell upon something unexpected.<br><br> “Hey!” said Cael’van, who had the keenest senses. “Roger just ninja’d some of our loot!”<br><br> “Roger, give it back. We need to split it fairly,” admonished Lailam.<br><br>“Naw, I was just kidding. It was just a weird carrot anyway. He sure deserves at least that.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have eaten the Rainbow Carrot of Power!<br><br>Legend tells of a great rabbit emperor who gained his power by eating the carrots of power, which grant great powers to those who eat them. The legends are completely false, as any self respecting rabbit knows, but the power of the carrots are real!<br><br>+10 to all stats<br>+5% affinity with all elements</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a quest! You cannot refuse it because of your nature.<br><br>Carrots of Power<br><br>For some reason, magical power often gets absorbed into carrots by coincidence. Of these, there exist 5 major carrots of power, as well as 20 minor carrots of power. Collecting them all will compound their various effects!<br><br>0/5 Major carrots eaten<br>1/20 Minor carrots eaten<br><br>Special:Only one of each carrot exists at any time. If eaten, the power dwells in the consumer, and a new carrot of that type will not grow. If the consumer of a carrot of power is killed, the power can be extracted from his body if the killer had consumed any other carrots of power.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Roger was still dwelling on the exquisite taste of the carrot, but he was happy to know that more of them existed. He would definitely find them all.<br><br>End Chapter 4: Dungeon Hop </div>

The Beast Chapter 4: Dungeon Hop A Royal Road Fan Fiction… of sorts By Halosty When the three elves logged in, they saw a rabbit outside Moonbeam Dungeon. He was stretched out on his front, with his head on his paws, and his eyes closed. “Looks like he’s been taking a nap too,” said Aeltas. “Yep, a suuuper cute nap,” said Lailam. She didn’t bother mentioning that her level had gone up by two, again. She wasn’t exactly sure how Roger would be able to kill anything that could give experience anywhere near that amount. The party entered the dungeon. Moonbeam Dungeon was a system of caves inhabited by brittle skeletons, who had no class associated with them. Further into the caves, the skeletons lost their “brittle” modifier, which just made them a bit more challenging. The monsters ranged from level 20-30 on average. At the end of the dungeon was a giant skeleton boss, Humeria, who was the real goal of the hunting party. It was a fairly popular dungeon for leveling, but few people tried to take on the boss, who was much harder than the rest of the dungeon. The party progressed fairly quickly, with Aeltas and Cael’van making quick work of the brittle skeletons. Aeltas could easily dodge their hits, or sometimes block them if there was a larger group. Cael’van’s arrows weren’t as effective against skeletons, but he easily killed them anyway. They didn’t expect any trouble at this point in the dungeon. However, Cael’van soon noticed some peculiarities. “Why is there loot just sitting around? Did people not want it? For that matter, where are all the players? I was sure that there would be more people here to compete with us.” “Are you complaining about free loot and no competition?” asked Aeltas. “No, but I am saying that something big might be around that is going to eat us.” “Maybe Humeria started wandering around? That would explain all the loot and no players.” “It would,” Lailam spoke up. “Roger says we should have turned left back at that tunnel.” Cael’van broke out of his train of thought and looked around. “Ah yes, that should lead towards the chamber where Humeria is. Wait, why am I taking directions from a rabbit? Hmm, he is correct though.” As they were getting deeper into the dungeon, regular skeletons started showing up. They weren’t even worrying in the groups of four they typically wandered in, but Aeltas had Lailam stay well back, just in case. As they were fighting one group, another showed up behind them. Only Lailam noticed, because she was closest to the sound. When she turned to look, one of the group of skeletons was kneeling down, its kneecap apparently broken. There was also a brown and white blur running around. Lailam had been buffing Roger along with Cael’van and Aeltas, since she knew he would at least be of some help in an emergency situation. This was the first time she had seen him fight at his full capacity. By the time the two elves in front turned around to see what Lailam was doing, there were only broken bones and loot left on the ground. Lailam was just staring with her jaw almost to the floor. “How… how did you do that?” she asked. Roger came up and nuzzled her hand. ‘I’m stronger at night’ was the information she got from him. “How much stronger?” ‘Many times.’ Roger would have told her four times, but a comprehension of numbers wasn’t really necessary for his AI. His understanding of increases in ability were more about the relative effects it had on him. Cael’van and Aeltas were also sufficiently amazed, but they hadn’t really seen what was going on. “Did he just… kill four of them? Real skeletons?” “Yep.” “And he’s… a rabbit, right?” “Well, yeah. I mean, probably. Can’t you see him?” “I was just checking in case my visual functions were broken.” Roger snuggled up against Lailam’s ankle. ‘Should I show them?’ “Of course. Do you want the next group?” Roger nodded. The two elves were a bit hesitant to let him fight a group alone, but since he had apparently already done it, they figured he would be fine. If nothing else, they planned to jump in and save him. Lailam would be sad otherwise. As it turned out, of course, there was no accident involved with his prior victory. Roger started the battle by using his hop ability to quickly close in on an enemy, striking a weak location, such as a knee, with his rebounding hop, to bring him outside of the enemies radius of attack. He did this until his enemies were sufficiently disabled for him to attack points that did more damage. To those watching, it was much like a blur, with points at the end of the attacking and retreating lines that looked like rabbits, briefly. “To be honest, now I’m not sure why I’m even here,” said Aeltas. “Yeah, me neither,” remarked Cael’van. Roger told Lailam his opinions on their usefulness. ‘The tough one is still better at distracting enemies, and reduces danger to Lailam. The skinny one is good for things that are far. He also has good senses, to detect things that will attack Lailam. Plus, the boss is too strong for me alone.’ She relayed his message, although much more diplomatically. She neglected to mention that he really only needed them to fight the Humeria. Who, incidentally, was in the next room. The party rested up, and Lailam prepared the party with fresh buffs, including the ones that took more mana than was good for normal combats. This included Barkskin for Aeltas, which increased his defense, as well as a spell called Impact that made Cael’van’s arrows act more like bludgeoning weapons, which skeletons were weak to. Then, Aeltas walked into the room. Out of the large pile of bones in the middle of the room rose a gigantic skeleton with glowing eyes. This skeleton was well over fifteen feet tall, and had four arms instead of the two a reasonable person would expect. The second pair faced backwards, and from a different angle, it was easy to tell that it was more like two skeletons fused together, back to back. Above his head floated the name Humeria in red. Aeltas approached closer to draw his attention, while Cael’van and Lailam entered the room and spread out to the sides to avoid any skeletons that might appear in the hallway outside. Roger moved around behind Humeria, in an attempt to flank him. Then, the battle started. Humeria swung its massive arms at Cael’van, who had the good sense not to try taking the attack head on. Its other arms threw bones from the pile at Roger, who was the most convenient target. It wasn’t particularly well optimized for attacking such a small target, so Roger only took damage from the splinters of bone as the ribcages and other bones shattered. Cael’van immediately opened up with arrows towards the easiest part to hit, the ribcage. Lailam cast a beam of fire at the heads, to obscure their vision. Aeltas dodged and parried with his shield, trying to find a more stable position on the pile of bones. Roger moved in with some quick moves, but his speed was hindered among the bones. Then, he attacked at Humeria’s legs, but was not strong enough to provide significant enough amounts of damage to greatly hinder its movements. Roger was glad that he had chased a group of adventurers into this room to see what the boss could do. They had done well enough in these beginning stages, but had been unprepared for the additional skeletons Roger now knew were coming when Humeria reached half health. The battle continued on in about the same fashion until that point, although Lailam only used her fire powers sparingly, conserving mana for healing as necessary. When Humeria was half dead, the bones around him started trembling. Two more sets of arms rose up and attached to it awkwardly. These started throwing bones at the people standing at the edges of the room. Many more of the bones rose up and formed skeletons, who set out to attack the party. At this point, Roger left Aeltas to fend for himself against Humeria. He went into action around the room attacking the extra skeletons. Cael’van’s damage output went down, because he had to dodge flying bones and keep away from the skeletons. Lailam had to move in to heal Aeltas, who could not avoid all of the damage. Skeletons kept continuously forming, almost as fast as they were destroyed, but Roger kept beating them back down. Finally, the last regular skeleton was destroyed, at least for a few tens of seconds. Humeria was down to less than 5% health. Humeria focused all its fury on Aeltas. The flurry of powerful blows threatened to overwhelm him. Humeria had picked up a giant bone, somewhat like a club, with two of his hands, and was swinging it down in a overhead blow at Aeltas. Then, Roger ran through Humeria’s legs, from “behind”. Although Aeltas would never admit it later, Roger saved his life with his actions. He hopped up onto Aeltas’ face momentarily, then pushed off of him back towards Humeria. This action knocked Aeltas out of Humeria’s reach. It also propelled Roger straight into one of Humeria’s eyes. With a great crash, bones scattered everywhere, echoing throughout the chamber. Along with bones were loot. | Level Up! | | --- | Roger did not care for the loot, he could not even pick it up with no where to put it, but he was happy at the level. Of course, he was also happy that Lailam would likely gain some things she wanted. He scanned the scattered armor, weapons, coins, and various trinkets. Then, his eyes fell upon something unexpected. “Hey!” said Cael’van, who had the keenest senses. “Roger just ninja’d some of our loot!” “Roger, give it back. We need to split it fairly,” admonished Lailam. “Naw, I was just kidding. It was just a weird carrot anyway. He sure deserves at least that.” | You have eaten the Rainbow Carrot of Power!Legend tells of a great rabbit emperor who gained his power by eating the carrots of power, which grant great powers to those who eat them. The legends are completely false, as any self respecting rabbit knows, but the power of the carrots are real!+10 to all stats+5% affinity with all elements | | --- | | You have received a quest! You cannot refuse it because of your nature.Carrots of PowerFor some reason, magical power often gets absorbed into carrots by coincidence. Of these, there exist 5 major carrots of power, as well as 20 minor carrots of power. Collecting them all will compound their various effects!0/5 Major carrots eaten1/20 Minor carrots eatenSpecial:Only one of each carrot exists at any time. If eaten, the power dwells in the consumer, and a new carrot of that type will not grow. If the consumer of a carrot of power is killed, the power can be extracted from his body if the killer had consumed any other carrots of power. | | --- | Roger was still dwelling on the exquisite taste of the carrot, but he was happy to know that more of them existed. He would definitely find them all. End Chapter 4: Dungeon Hop

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Lee Hyun sipped tea while maintaining a seiza sitting posture (tea ceremony sitting posture). He would take a sip; enjoy the delicate flavours before sipping once again. ‘Delicious, they really know how to brew their tea.’<br><br>There was a knock on the door after which, Chung Il Hoon, Choi Jong Bom, Ma Sang Bom, and Roi Lee slid in. <br><br>They too sat down and poured tea for themselves. The awkard silence grew longer and longer as the five men sipped tea. There were no hostilities between them yet the tension in the air was stifling. It could best be described as monsters at Alice Wonderland’s tea party.<br><br>The four of the five men were renowned martial artists. The fifth was an uncrowned prince in sword play. The pressure they emitted at their ages only reflected the years and years of power that they had acquired.<br><br>“Delicious tea.” Lee Hyun commented. His gaze was lowered, shying away from facing them.<br><br>“Indeed.” Said Chung Il. “I appreciate you came to meet us, even though it might be bad for you.”<br><br>“No, there is nothing about it that can be done about that.” Lee Hyun said. “I, infact appreciate this. Your return will definitely create a buzz…”<br><br>“Everyone is worried.” Chung Il spoke with a hint of concern in his voice.<br><br>“…” <br><br>“You returned…” Roi Lee began.<br><br>“Because Kang Cheol requested of me.” Lee Hyun cut him off. Chung Il and the other three masters shot a piercing gaze at Lee Hyun. <br><br>“And how about when we requested you?” Choi Jong asked feeling offended.<br><br>“…”<br> <br>“That is enough.” Chung Il raised his voice while placing his empty tea cup on the table. “This is not why we came here.”<br><br>The other three began sulking. They wanted to throw a few punches, land a few sword blows at Lee Hyun to feel better.<br><br>“We don’t know why you have returned now Lee Hyun after twenty years. People have all sorts of explanations. But we know you better than those people. Know this, you can rely on us.” Chung Il said. “Even though you asked us not to, we have decided to go ahead and play this game of yours.”<br><br>“…”<br><br>Chung Il and the others slowly got up. Just before they left Lee Hyun spoke up, “Hyung nims (Author: is this even a plural word?), thank you for everything but I have decided to walk this path alone till the very end. I can only say this much, this is not royal road. You will need healers more than before.”<br><br>He frowned assuming the other four left without hearing him but then let out a smile when he heard Roi Lee shout out, “Who do you think we are? There are five times more Geomchis now. So you better be prepared.”<br><br>Chung Il and the other three laughed along as they left Unicorn Corp’s headquarters. The declaration of war had been served.<br><br>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX<br><br>The four masters had grown since their days of tutelage under Ahn Hyundo. Rather than ordering 2500 consoles right away they decided to take an elite group of students and instructors to <span style="font-style: italic;">Royal Road 2</span>, as they fondly called it, to get some first had information.<br><br>The four masters brought out their aging capsule from the warehouses and got it set up. They were uninterested in purchasing newer gaming gear. It was a similar story for the instructors and elite students who were party to the skirmish mission they were undertaking. Everyone owned a variety of gears. Some had head gears, others had sensory gears…a complete variety. The masters had wisened up from their days of friviolously spending. They did not see why they must buy new VR gear / consoles when their older models worked perfectly fine. Maybe this miserness was a rubbing off effect of sticking too loon with Weed / Lee Hyun.<br><br>Once they connected all their VR capsules and Gears, the masters looked at each nervously it was time to chose their names and christen the others. This was had become a holy tradition in their dojang at one time and continued on for many decades till they stopped playing the game.<br><br>“Then we are decided and agree?” Chung Il asked cautiously. <br><br>The others nodded their heads in agreement. <br><br>“Seonsaengnim’s (master’s) name Geomchi will not be used by any of us and we shall continue with our former titles?”<br><br>The other three masters nodded in unision again. This was the best that they could come up with. The name Geomchi was their pride and reputation in the VR world. A name meant many things; long before they played Royal Road they were nothing more than men who loved the way of the sword and only wanted to become stronger and get women however they were never truly satisfied with their strength till they began playing royal road. Killing monsters, helping people, completing quests and being appreciated for it…all of that quenched their desire for fame. They valued their names too much to change it to anything else. Players would recognize them for their names, everywhere they went, the women would drool over their muscular bodies.<br><br>“Then, I will be Geomchi 2 of the Earth.” Chung Il said.<br><br>“I’ll lead the students as Geomchi 3 of the Fire.” Ma Sangbeom said.<br><br>“Geomchi 4 of Water.” Choi Jong said as he raised his hand.<br><br>“Then that leaves Geomchi 5 with Air.” Roi Lee said.<br><br>“What about the other elements?” Ma Sangbeom asked. “He did say…”<br><br>“He might say many things but we must believe in what we see for ourselves.” Roi Lee cut in.<br><br>The other two seemed to agree. They never required healers before in Royal Road. It was true that they died a few more times than others and experienced more pain that others but real men did not shy away from a little pain and require bandages for it. Cold bandages were always good to have but that was not something needed.<br>“We can do without a healer; we will learn the bandage skill…” Choi Jong said as he wiped his capsule clean. This was proof of the Geomchis’ determination to defeat the game RREV. Earlier in Royal Road they did not care about dying or losing levels when fighting monsters. However, then they were only adventures who only cared about killing monsters and testing the limits of their sword mastery in the game. But now things were different, they were old and the game was built by Lee Hyun. Who knew how long before they could win the grand prize. They were aiming to be the strongest not the most famous anymore. The masters were all settled in life with women they loved (whom they found in Royal Road) and for them fame mattered no more. Though their students and instructors were still growing so they still chased after the trivial things like women…<br><br>They then began christening their instructors and senior students. In all there was Geomchi 2 to Geomchi 45. 44 people for an initial skirmishing mission into the game. The four masters made their account and character. They all chose humans as they weren’t interested in lean and thin elves and the dwarves were too short. Humans were best representations of their muscular bodies of art. They selected elemental affinities which suited them the best afterwhich they were assigned to different starting cities: Lavias, Aquaneos, Middle Earth and Durara.<br><br>Then they told their disciples which cities they were starting in and each was soon joined by 10 others (Author: 4 + 4x10 = 44)<br><br>“Oh look at them! They are so muscular! Are they professional body builders?” squealed female players upon seeing 10 young muscular men. The disciples and instructors were very much flattered, none of them had women in their lives unlike their masters they had yet to journey through the ardrous world of Royal Road and spread their wings of fame. The disciples waived to some of the women who were ogling at them. The instructors burned with jealousy. The disciples were still young and could behave like that. They however were middle aged men, if they tried to wave back to young players they might be branded as some creep. ‘No’ they refrained from being played around by their emotions. Their masters were able to find themselves such beautiful and intelligent wives, when they were middle aged too, they were certain that they could too! But still they burned with jealousy seeing how openly the younger ones were able to act so freely.<br>“This feels so similar…” Geomchi 2 whispered to the other three masters as he assessed the world and stood in a single spot for a while.<br><br>“Yes, but it feels so much different too.” Geomchi 3 replied back.<br><br>“I am experiencing lag in the game?” Geomchi 4 complained. “I think we might need to buy newer VR gear. This is not good enough.”<br><br>“Yes agreed, after we get out. We should instruct everyone to buy the latest VR gear. If we are aiming to be at the top of this game, we cannot let something like gaming lags affect our game play.”<br><br>“We should also tell our students to get the latest gear.”<br><br>The others agreed. This was the first thing they planned to do. <br><br>“I’ve never had this lagging feeling before.”<br><br>Nonetheless, even though their gaming gear was very old, the masters could feel everything. In fact the detailed sensation that they felt was much closer to reality than what they experienced in Royal Road. They could see and hear people chatting much more clearly than before, the air was woven in a multitude of scents and the ground had more unevenness and texture to it than before.<br><br>“Then let us embark on our mission.” Geomchi 2 said. “We need to find the training halls.” <br><br>“But Hyung-nim, will we really find a training hall? These are different games.”<br><br>“True…but this is Lee Hyun’s game and it is also called Royal Road ….something…so there must be a training hall to raise your stats!”<br><br>“…” The disciples and instructors weren’t sure if they should say anything in the group chat. There were no sword training halls in Elementarem Vim, only training temples. There were also practice grounds where scarecrows could be erected and stats could be raised through sheer effort of swinging a sword a million times…but if their masters were hoping to reach a beginner training hall and then level up to the next one they were dead wrong. In the 1.5 years of this game’s release, no one has been able to find an NPC instructor who said “Congratualtions you have completed beginner training.” <br><br>Even amongst the all cities and dungeons found, not one player (publicly or privately) could claim that they had couquered the beginner training hall, simply because there was no beginner training hall in the game.<br><br><br>As the four Geomchi’s made their way through the town, all sorts of talk could be heard. Since they were continuously keeping whisper mode on, they could hear conversations from each other's cities as well...(Author: Like two people on a phone and both in different noisy places, they can overhear background noise..)<br><br>“Did you hear about the elves?” (Air Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper)<br><br>“Selling steel swords for cheap!” (Earth Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper)<br><br>“Why did you take the elven race? Do you want to be killed.” (Air Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper)<br><br>“Need to find more people of the same level.” (Water Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper)<br><br>“This way to Elvish Swords and Charms! Buy the famous swords of Air Kingdom here! Perfect for beginners!” (Air Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper)<br><br>“Brought goods from southern villages to trade….buy now!” (Earth Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper)<br><br>“Require a container for a level E/100 fire user!” (Fire Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper)<br><br>But no matter how long they searched within each city, they could not find the beginner training hall. The Geomchi’s asked many many players but to no avail. Most players replied back with what their disciples and instructors already knew…there was no training hall.<br><br>“This is very strange indeed…how do we become stronger if there is no place dedicated for sword skills?” Geomchi2 asked the instructors and disciples accompanying him.<br><br>Before any of the disciples or instructors could talk about the elemental powers, Geomchi 2 nose picked up on a delicious scent. Even the other Geomchi’s had worked up an appetite from all that searching they had undertaken.<br><br>Sniff Sniff…they could smell something delectably delicious. The fragrance of delicious foods would grow stronger to those hungry…another of Lee Hyun’s ploys to get players to spend their money. Spending money was an important part of regulating the VR economy of the Versailles Continent. Since monsters dropped money and overtime more and more players would hunt more and more monsters, it was important to make sure players also spent the money. <br><br>Geomchis’ stomach growled as they smelled delicious food. Geomchi 2 was most curious; since the scent was very familiar…he followed his nose through the market square till he reached a food stall.<br><br>“Selling delicious food made with beginner cooking skill level 9, delicious kimbap rolls!”<br><br>Geomchi2 knew he would never forget this smell as long as he lived…it was the same savoury kimbap rolls he had when he met the love of his life for the first time. He turned his head and saw someone making food. “Cha Eunhee?” He asked suspiciously in a low voice.<br><br>The young woman froze on the spot and gave a crooked smile. “No dear sir, you must have mistaken me for someone else…who is this Cha Eunhee you speak of? Is she your daughter?”<br><br>Geomchi2 suspiciously stared at the young human making the kimbap rolls. She was far too young to be his wife…and her voice and face was different too…furtheremore he did not believe his wife would ignore his request of not to play RREV….and even if she did she would let him know about it?<br><br>The more he stared at the young lady, the more he grew convinced. The young woman too was acting suspiciously, she her face around and continued cooking. <br><br>“Go away…if you aren’t buying anything don’t block the way to my stall…” The young woman said with her back facing Geomchi2.<br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. So much work to be done. The releases will continue to be delayed till Jan 2014.....<br>2. Thank you jomke86 for pointing out that the language needed to be explained more clearly.<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1428" target="_blank">Yes</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

Lee Hyun sipped tea while maintaining a seiza sitting posture (tea ceremony sitting posture). He would take a sip; enjoy the delicate flavours before sipping once again. ‘Delicious, they really know how to brew their tea.’ There was a knock on the door after which, Chung Il Hoon, Choi Jong Bom, Ma Sang Bom, and Roi Lee slid in. They too sat down and poured tea for themselves. The awkard silence grew longer and longer as the five men sipped tea. There were no hostilities between them yet the tension in the air was stifling. It could best be described as monsters at Alice Wonderland’s tea party. The four of the five men were renowned martial artists. The fifth was an uncrowned prince in sword play. The pressure they emitted at their ages only reflected the years and years of power that they had acquired. “Delicious tea.” Lee Hyun commented. His gaze was lowered, shying away from facing them. “Indeed.” Said Chung Il. “I appreciate you came to meet us, even though it might be bad for you.” “No, there is nothing about it that can be done about that.” Lee Hyun said. “I, infact appreciate this. Your return will definitely create a buzz…” “Everyone is worried.” Chung Il spoke with a hint of concern in his voice. “…” “You returned…” Roi Lee began. “Because Kang Cheol requested of me.” Lee Hyun cut him off. Chung Il and the other three masters shot a piercing gaze at Lee Hyun. “And how about when we requested you?” Choi Jong asked feeling offended. “…” “That is enough.” Chung Il raised his voice while placing his empty tea cup on the table. “This is not why we came here.” The other three began sulking. They wanted to throw a few punches, land a few sword blows at Lee Hyun to feel better. “We don’t know why you have returned now Lee Hyun after twenty years. People have all sorts of explanations. But we know you better than those people. Know this, you can rely on us.” Chung Il said. “Even though you asked us not to, we have decided to go ahead and play this game of yours.” “…” Chung Il and the others slowly got up. Just before they left Lee Hyun spoke up, “Hyung nims (Author: is this even a plural word?), thank you for everything but I have decided to walk this path alone till the very end. I can only say this much, this is not royal road. You will need healers more than before.” He frowned assuming the other four left without hearing him but then let out a smile when he heard Roi Lee shout out, “Who do you think we are? There are five times more Geomchis now. So you better be prepared.” Chung Il and the other three laughed along as they left Unicorn Corp’s headquarters. The declaration of war had been served. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX The four masters had grown since their days of tutelage under Ahn Hyundo. Rather than ordering 2500 consoles right away they decided to take an elite group of students and instructors to Royal Road 2, as they fondly called it, to get some first had information. The four masters brought out their aging capsule from the warehouses and got it set up. They were uninterested in purchasing newer gaming gear. It was a similar story for the instructors and elite students who were party to the skirmish mission they were undertaking. Everyone owned a variety of gears. Some had head gears, others had sensory gears…a complete variety. The masters had wisened up from their days of friviolously spending. They did not see why they must buy new VR gear / consoles when their older models worked perfectly fine. Maybe this miserness was a rubbing off effect of sticking too loon with Weed / Lee Hyun. Once they connected all their VR capsules and Gears, the masters looked at each nervously it was time to chose their names and christen the others. This was had become a holy tradition in their dojang at one time and continued on for many decades till they stopped playing the game. “Then we are decided and agree?” Chung Il asked cautiously. The others nodded their heads in agreement. “Seonsaengnim’s (master’s) name Geomchi will not be used by any of us and we shall continue with our former titles?” The other three masters nodded in unision again. This was the best that they could come up with. The name Geomchi was their pride and reputation in the VR world. A name meant many things; long before they played Royal Road they were nothing more than men who loved the way of the sword and only wanted to become stronger and get women however they were never truly satisfied with their strength till they began playing royal road. Killing monsters, helping people, completing quests and being appreciated for it…all of that quenched their desire for fame. They valued their names too much to change it to anything else. Players would recognize them for their names, everywhere they went, the women would drool over their muscular bodies. “Then, I will be Geomchi 2 of the Earth.” Chung Il said. “I’ll lead the students as Geomchi 3 of the Fire.” Ma Sangbeom said. “Geomchi 4 of Water.” Choi Jong said as he raised his hand. “Then that leaves Geomchi 5 with Air.” Roi Lee said. “What about the other elements?” Ma Sangbeom asked. “He did say…” “He might say many things but we must believe in what we see for ourselves.” Roi Lee cut in. The other two seemed to agree. They never required healers before in Royal Road. It was true that they died a few more times than others and experienced more pain that others but real men did not shy away from a little pain and require bandages for it. Cold bandages were always good to have but that was not something needed. “We can do without a healer; we will learn the bandage skill…” Choi Jong said as he wiped his capsule clean. This was proof of the Geomchis’ determination to defeat the game RREV. Earlier in Royal Road they did not care about dying or losing levels when fighting monsters. However, then they were only adventures who only cared about killing monsters and testing the limits of their sword mastery in the game. But now things were different, they were old and the game was built by Lee Hyun. Who knew how long before they could win the grand prize. They were aiming to be the strongest not the most famous anymore. The masters were all settled in life with women they loved (whom they found in Royal Road) and for them fame mattered no more. Though their students and instructors were still growing so they still chased after the trivial things like women… They then began christening their instructors and senior students. In all there was Geomchi 2 to Geomchi 45. 44 people for an initial skirmishing mission into the game. The four masters made their account and character. They all chose humans as they weren’t interested in lean and thin elves and the dwarves were too short. Humans were best representations of their muscular bodies of art. They selected elemental affinities which suited them the best afterwhich they were assigned to different starting cities: Lavias, Aquaneos, Middle Earth and Durara. Then they told their disciples which cities they were starting in and each was soon joined by 10 others (Author: 4 + 4x10 = 44) “Oh look at them! They are so muscular! Are they professional body builders?” squealed female players upon seeing 10 young muscular men. The disciples and instructors were very much flattered, none of them had women in their lives unlike their masters they had yet to journey through the ardrous world of Royal Road and spread their wings of fame. The disciples waived to some of the women who were ogling at them. The instructors burned with jealousy. The disciples were still young and could behave like that. They however were middle aged men, if they tried to wave back to young players they might be branded as some creep. ‘No’ they refrained from being played around by their emotions. Their masters were able to find themselves such beautiful and intelligent wives, when they were middle aged too, they were certain that they could too! But still they burned with jealousy seeing how openly the younger ones were able to act so freely. “This feels so similar…” Geomchi 2 whispered to the other three masters as he assessed the world and stood in a single spot for a while. “Yes, but it feels so much different too.” Geomchi 3 replied back. “I am experiencing lag in the game?” Geomchi 4 complained. “I think we might need to buy newer VR gear. This is not good enough.” “Yes agreed, after we get out. We should instruct everyone to buy the latest VR gear. If we are aiming to be at the top of this game, we cannot let something like gaming lags affect our game play.” “We should also tell our students to get the latest gear.” The others agreed. This was the first thing they planned to do. “I’ve never had this lagging feeling before.” Nonetheless, even though their gaming gear was very old, the masters could feel everything. In fact the detailed sensation that they felt was much closer to reality than what they experienced in Royal Road. They could see and hear people chatting much more clearly than before, the air was woven in a multitude of scents and the ground had more unevenness and texture to it than before. “Then let us embark on our mission.” Geomchi 2 said. “We need to find the training halls.” “But Hyung-nim, will we really find a training hall? These are different games.” “True…but this is Lee Hyun’s game and it is also called Royal Road ….something…so there must be a training hall to raise your stats!” “…” The disciples and instructors weren’t sure if they should say anything in the group chat. There were no sword training halls in Elementarem Vim, only training temples. There were also practice grounds where scarecrows could be erected and stats could be raised through sheer effort of swinging a sword a million times…but if their masters were hoping to reach a beginner training hall and then level up to the next one they were dead wrong. In the 1.5 years of this game’s release, no one has been able to find an NPC instructor who said “Congratualtions you have completed beginner training.” Even amongst the all cities and dungeons found, not one player (publicly or privately) could claim that they had couquered the beginner training hall, simply because there was no beginner training hall in the game. As the four Geomchi’s made their way through the town, all sorts of talk could be heard. Since they were continuously keeping whisper mode on, they could hear conversations from each other's cities as well...(Author: Like two people on a phone and both in different noisy places, they can overhear background noise..) “Did you hear about the elves?” (Air Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper) “Selling steel swords for cheap!” (Earth Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper) “Why did you take the elven race? Do you want to be killed.” (Air Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper) “Need to find more people of the same level.” (Water Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper) “This way to Elvish Swords and Charms! Buy the famous swords of Air Kingdom here! Perfect for beginners!” (Air Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper) “Brought goods from southern villages to trade….buy now!” (Earth Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper) “Require a container for a level E/100 fire user!” (Fire Kingdom conversations overhear on group whisper) But no matter how long they searched within each city, they could not find the beginner training hall. The Geomchi’s asked many many players but to no avail. Most players replied back with what their disciples and instructors already knew…there was no training hall. “This is very strange indeed…how do we become stronger if there is no place dedicated for sword skills?” Geomchi2 asked the instructors and disciples accompanying him. Before any of the disciples or instructors could talk about the elemental powers, Geomchi 2 nose picked up on a delicious scent. Even the other Geomchi’s had worked up an appetite from all that searching they had undertaken. Sniff Sniff…they could smell something delectably delicious. The fragrance of delicious foods would grow stronger to those hungry…another of Lee Hyun’s ploys to get players to spend their money. Spending money was an important part of regulating the VR economy of the Versailles Continent. Since monsters dropped money and overtime more and more players would hunt more and more monsters, it was important to make sure players also spent the money. Geomchis’ stomach growled as they smelled delicious food. Geomchi 2 was most curious; since the scent was very familiar…he followed his nose through the market square till he reached a food stall. “Selling delicious food made with beginner cooking skill level 9, delicious kimbap rolls!” Geomchi2 knew he would never forget this smell as long as he lived…it was the same savoury kimbap rolls he had when he met the love of his life for the first time. He turned his head and saw someone making food. “Cha Eunhee?” He asked suspiciously in a low voice. The young woman froze on the spot and gave a crooked smile. “No dear sir, you must have mistaken me for someone else…who is this Cha Eunhee you speak of? Is she your daughter?” Geomchi2 suspiciously stared at the young human making the kimbap rolls. She was far too young to be his wife…and her voice and face was different too…furtheremore he did not believe his wife would ignore his request of not to play RREV….and even if she did she would let him know about it? The more he stared at the young lady, the more he grew convinced. The young woman too was acting suspiciously, she her face around and continued cooking. “Go away…if you aren’t buying anything don’t block the way to my stall…” The young woman said with her back facing Geomchi2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. So much work to be done. The releases will continue to be delayed till Jan 2014..... 2. Thank you jomke86 for pointing out that the language needed to be explained more clearly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Yes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1428) | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> DHOME - Introduction<br><br>2054, Earths population have reached a stagering 21 bilion citizens. 78% of Earths <br>citizens live in 'domes', inside the domes humankind sleeps. The rest of Earths <br>population of 22%, 4,62 bilion lives, are working the last fertile grounds of Earth <br>to produce food for the domes. Inside the domes, humankind live and die in Virtual <br>Reality. They are not prisoners, they may leave whenever they want, but who would relinquish a kingdom to become a farmer?<br>This is a story about a man, not a King, just a simple person, who wants to see whats <br>all the fuss is about. <br><br><br>Warning:<br>"This fanfic contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing".<br>"This fanfic contains strong language."<br><br>-Reader discretion is advised.<br><br><br>Author: The Swede. </div>

DHOME - Introduction 2054, Earths population have reached a stagering 21 bilion citizens. 78% of Earths citizens live in 'domes', inside the domes humankind sleeps. The rest of Earths population of 22%, 4,62 bilion lives, are working the last fertile grounds of Earth to produce food for the domes. Inside the domes, humankind live and die in Virtual Reality. They are not prisoners, they may leave whenever they want, but who would relinquish a kingdom to become a farmer? This is a story about a man, not a King, just a simple person, who wants to see whats all the fuss is about. Warning: "This fanfic contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing". "This fanfic contains strong language." -Reader discretion is advised. Author: The Swede.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ta-tump! Ta-tump!</span><br><br>‘Oh god that sound, it’s getting closer!’<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ta-tump! Ta-tump! Ta-tump!</span><br><br>‘Got to keep running, but getting so tired…’<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">ROAR—!</span><br><br>With renewed strength born from fear the man continued to run as he tried to pick up his pace, but in his haste due to being startled the man stumbled and fell onto the ground. Struggling to get up the man took a quick glance back and directly in his view was the two-headed monstrosity about to make its kill. Two giant wings unfurled as the giant beast took flight. Each second seemed to last an eternity and slowly the man continued to watch in horror as the beast flew straight down towards him. Raising his arms in a futile attempt to protect himself the man began to scream as the jaws of death approached closer and closer.<br><br>“Ahh—!”<br><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>Ding!</span><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned the skill: Banshee Scream!<br>A scream of absolute terror! All those that hear your scream will get the feeling of absolute fear, which can affect even the bravest of warriors!<br>Duration: 10 sec</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>“Huh?”<br><br>Even after the nightmare was over Dave continued to scream for 5 minutes straight, unaware that he was awake and that the monster chasing him was just a dream. The Banshee Scream, a skill only enabled to those that can scream for a long period of time with another condition of having the mindset of one who is absolutely terrified. Such is the unpredictable nature of Royal Road where new discoveries are being made each and every day!<br><br>Staring at the notification window in front of him Dave slowly began to take in his surroundings as he looked up, down and side to side. <br><br>‘I’m in a fancy bed, the room is clean, and that is definitely not my ceiling… oh no, oh no, no-no-no-’<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Ah, morning Human! I see you have awoken! But do tell me, does your kind scream when they wake up for if they do I’d rather be miles away for your screams rivals those of those ghastly banshees!”</span><br><br>…<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Human?”</span><br><br>‘No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-’<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Um, human are you awake?”</span><br><br>‘Oh no-no-no-no goddammit no-no-no’<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Human?”</span><br><br>‘Go away- go away- go away- please don’t be there- please don’t be-‘<br><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>Tap tap*<br></span><br>…<br><br>Feeling the tapping sensation of a claw on his shoulder Dave slowly turned around praying desperately that it wasn’t who he thought it was.<br><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>“Morning Human! …human? W-wait, no human! Don’t go through that—!”</span><br><br>Scared out of his wits Dave continued to run. His vision grew hazy and his body felt heavy as everything soon turned black.<br><br>“No—! Don’t eat me eat the butler! Ahh—!”<br><br>With heavy breaths Dave had finally woke up after suffering through another nightmare of being hunted down by the flying two headed beast. A small window popped up, which brought Dave back to his senses.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ding!</span><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Banshee Scream: [2] 13%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Quickly getting up from the ground he was passed out on Dave quickly scanned the area for the manticore. Breathing a sigh of relief after confirming that there was no manticore or any other monsters Dave slowly began to calm down as he observed his surroundings.<br><br>‘Where am I now? This place is definitely different from the last one, actually… what’s up with this place it’s freaking huge!’<br><br>Looking up Dave kept shaking his head for he couldn’t see the ceiling no matter how hard he tried to strain his eyes. He was definitely not indoors for he could not feel the breeze or see the sky nor the sun but the area was so vast that he couldn’t confirm whether the place actually had a ceiling or if it was just another feature of the game and the fact that the background was pure white didn’t help him at all. Even the very floor he was standing on was white giving Dave the impression he was floating. <br><br>The place would have driven him crazy if it weren’t for the peculiar thing he was staring at. In front and behind him were enormous books of all kinds of sizes arranged neatly on the biggest bookcases he had ever seen. For all he could tell Dave guessed he was in the middle of an aisle for there was a bookcase on his other side as well.<br><br>‘This is insane these bookcases might be really tall but how can it stretch so endlessly? I can’t even see the other end!’<br><br>From behind as well as in front of him Dave couldn’t see the end of the aisle. He could only assume there were probably several rows since he had no means of confirming the fact. Looking around he could see that some of the books were as big as he was and others ranged from the sizes of small houses to the size of a large castle. Even the little ledge the books were on were more than half of Dave’s height making the idea of climbing up a rather grim idea especially with nothing but his bare hands.<br><br>Walking past each book Dave also noted that despite the difference in size the books were all of the same color, a dull charcoal grey. The seemingly endless length of the bookcases made it impossible to tell if he was moving forward at all because everything looked the same. After spending about a three and a half hours walking endlessly he finally flopped down to rest his body which was depleted of stamina; a rumble of complaint from his belly reminded him that he hadn’t had a bite to eat for quite a while.<br><br>‘Ugh! This game’s creator sure is something, I mean too even feel tired and hungry in a game is just cruel… wait, this is a game so maybe.’<br><br>“Log out!”<br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Logging out feature is currently unavailable.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>“WH—AAT?”<br><br>Staring in disbelief at the message Dave quickly lost his cool.<br><br>‘The bloody hell? What do you mean I can’t log out! Fuck it, I’ll try again.’<br><br>“LOG OUTTTT!”<br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Logging out feature is currently unavailable.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>“Okay this is really bad. What should I do? …Oh right the A.I. said something about if I need help say Contact Player Support”<br><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>Ring-ring-ring-click*</span><br><br>“Hello sir, are you in need of assistance?”<br><br>“Yes, I’m having trouble logging off”<br><br>“I’m sorry sir?”<br><br>“I’m having a log out problem”<br><br>“Well sir, have you tried saying log out”<br><br>“Yes…and it says the feature is currently unavailable which is why I’m calling for your help”<br><br>“Ah I see, hold on for one second sir I shall consult with my superiors on how to best aid you”<br><br>15minutes later…<br><br>“Sorry for the wait sir, before I began would you happen to be Dave Grudginer?”<br><br>“Um…Yes, but why do you-“<br><br>“Ah! Then the matters all clear sir, as requested your log in feature shall be available for you within 27days and 9hours in game time which is about 7 days in real time sir.”<br><br>“…What?”<br><br>“Well sir, it states here that you specifically requested for this. We have your signatures of approval given to us by your manager.”<br><br>“My what?”<br><br>“Your manager sir, I must say I’m quite surprise at how dedicated authors can be. Requesting to be stuck in game in order to help inspire your next work is very admirable. Well I wish you luck on your next book sir”<br><br>“Wait hold on, there must be a misunderstanding here. I don’t have a manager and I am definitely not writing a story”<br><br>“Haha good one sir, but your manager said you might say something along those lines so he asked us to remind you about a video. Not sure why but that’s all he said. Well glad I could assist you, goodbye sir and I wish you luck on your story”<br><br>“W-what? No! Don’t go there’s a misundersta—”<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Click*</span><br><br>Unfortunately for Dave the so called player assistance service was of absolutely no use to him. So much for that idea he thought to himself and with a sigh Dave pondered on who could be pretending to be his nonexistent manager. With a groan it finally hit him.<br><br>“Wait a minute…video? Oh god that son of a—”<br><br>Stunned Keith continued to sit there as he pondered why the cruel butler wanted him to stay in the game. He would have continued to sit there asking himself why if it wasn’t for another grumble of complaint coming from his stomach.<br><br>‘Let’s see I think the A.I. said something about how we start off with food and water Now how do I take it out…oh I remember now!’<br><br>“Open Inventory!”<br><br>‘Now let’s see here all I have is 10 rye bread and a canteen of water… that’s it? Well I am a beginner so I guess there’s not helping it. Hmm press here and whoa! That’s kind of neat to see food just poof into your hands. Wonder how it tastes… yuck!’<br>It wasn’t until Keith took the first bite of the horrid bread that he finally realized just how miserable he truly was. From the encounter with his niece’s demonic butler to meeting with real monsters and demons along with the fact that his body was tired from over 3 hours of walking which seemed to have taken him nowhere and the idea of being stuck in this hell for another 27 long days. As his teeth bit into the bitter, rock hard bread tears dripped onto the floor as he continued to eat.<br><br>Replenishing his stamina and his spirit by resolving to get even with the villainous butler Dave got back up and continued to push on. <br><br>1hour later<br><br>‘I can do this, I’ll get out of here and get that bastard’<br><br>3hours later<br><br>‘Getting tired again, no! Got to keep going, can’t let that bastard of a butler win!’<br><br>5hours later<br><br>‘What the hell! I still can’t see the bloody end! What’s the point of going on? Butler? Screw the butler I’m freaking sick of this!’<br><br>After 8 hours Dave couldn’t go on any further. Just as he was about to collapse Dave felt a weird sensation. It was at that moment that the book next to him started to shake. Rubbing his eyes in case he was seeing thing Dave looked at the book again, but it was still shaking by itself! Suddenly without any warning the book shot out and smashed right into his body!<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bam!</span><br><br>-50hp!<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Thud!</span><br><br>-20hp!<br><br>The book tackled him with such force Dave’s body flew backwards causing his body to do a full three rotations! After the third rotation he landed painfully back on the ground.<br><br>‘W-what the hell? That took out almost ¾ of my health! Huh? What’s it doing now?’<br><br>Looking back at the book that had just sent him flying he could see the book emitting a strange light. Slowly the book’s cover flew open and the pages began to flip themselves.<br><br>‘Oh god this isn’t just creepy, this is the twilight zone creepy now!’<br><br>Soon the flipping pages stopped and as Dave continued to stare at the blank page a circle began to form. Inside the circle was a fuzzy image that was getting clearer and clearer. It was a heartwarming picture of a family…well as heartwarming as a family of goblins could be. Their lower jaws protruded out as a pair of ridiculous fangs jutted upwards. Their noses were ridiculously big and the swamp green complexion of their skin made them look that much more hideous to him. It didn’t help that the picture showed a family of goblins devouring a live helpless deer.<br><br>Slowly backing away from the book that suddenly began to glow Dave continued to watch until he began to hear voices.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Hyuk-hyuk-hyuk that was so easy to kill!”<br>“Mmm I can still taste it in my mouth!”<br>“I wish there was more my belly is still empty!”<br>“Heuk-heuk-heuk but we can’t hunt anymore now the deer all run away!”<br>“We go try tomorrow we go home now!”<br></span><br>With his guts urging him to hide Dave jumped up the ledge and climbed onto the smallest book he could find. From there he jumped up to next taller book until he was on top of one the size of a house. Making sure to keep his body down flat Dave peeked down from his vantage point observing the glowing book. He continued to watch as the surface of the book’s picture started to ripple like the ripple effect across a surface of water. Slowly a leg emerged from the rippling image and soon a pile of other arms and heads popped out. <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>“Argh! Stop pushing!”<br>“Hyuk-hyuk-hyuk me stuck!”<br>“Move your hand it’s in my face!”<br>“Heuk-heuk-heuk me can’t move!”<br>“Ah! My leg! Stop pushing!”</span><br><br>The circle which he assumed to be a portal was large enough for a couple of goblins to get out but not a whole mass of them. The portal flexed and contorted and with a splat the portal spit out the last of the goblins. The portal soon disappeared revealing a blank page once more and flew back into its shelf looking like any of the other books. Removing themselves from the entanglements of a pile of limbs the goblins shook their heads to regain back their senses.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Bleghk me hate portal!”<br>“It’s no portal fault you just fat!”<br>“EH? You take that back! You fat!”<br>“Hyuk-hyuk you both fat!”<br>“Heuk-heuk you fatter then all of us heuk!”</span><br><br>Suddenly Dave became a spectator to a battle royal match as the bigger goblins slugging it out while the little goblins laughed and giggle as they began to imitate their elders. <br><br>'Well now that they’re all fighting each other now’s my chance!'<br><br>Slowly moving away from the mass of goblins Dave crawled up and down the various books hoping to create enough distance to make his escape. As he was about to reach the top of the next book Dave grimaced as he touched his forehead.<br><br>‘Blood? That book must of hit me harder than I thought… damn you stupid game creators, the pain doesn’t have to be this realistic you know!’<br><br>Suppressing a big sigh Dave continued to climb over towards the next book swearing to himself that if he ever meets the creator of this game he would bop him one in the head.<br><br>‘Just a bit further, if I can make it to that next book I should be fine and—‘<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sniff sniff*</span><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">“What’s that smell?”</span><br><br>Dave froze as he slowly turned to look at the goblin. The goblin had his head up towards the air while his nostrils flared open as he continued to sniff. <br><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br>“Hmm? Now that you mention it… I do smell something”<br>“Heuk-heuk it smells delicious”<br>“Hyuk-hyuk-hyuk I think it’s coming from over there!”<br>“Mmm let’s go check it out!”</span><br><br>‘Oh no-oh no- oh no- oh no-no-no-no-fucking dammit!’<br><br>As the goblins hobbled towards his position Dave quickly got up as he leapt up towards the next book and jumped down to the next one in front of him, with every jump taking a small chunk of his stamina Dave’s situation kept turning worst and worst.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Heuk-heuk it’s fast!”<br>“It’s weak though, look! It’s slowing down!”<br>“Keep running me will climb and chase him above!”<br>“Heuk-heuk me too!”<br>“Yay we get to eat more!”</span><br><br>‘A-at this rate it’s only a matter of time before they catch up. I have to get out of here but how? There’s got to be a way to—!’<br><br>Dave continued to climb over the top of every book, his eyes glinting with a faint sign of hope.<br><br>‘It’s that sensation again!’<br><br>Looking ahead Dave could see one of the books was trembling. With renewed hope Dave put on a burst of speed, which in turn caused the goblins to speed up. The book was beginning to shake even more but luckily for Dave the goblins hadn’t notice for their attention was focused solely on him. <br><br>‘Not yet got to let them catch up a bit and… now!’<br><br>With all his remaining strength Dave jumped clear past the shaking book onto the top of the book next to it. It was at that moment the goblins chasing behind him had finally caught up as well as the ones chasing him from the ground. Unfortunately for them that was precisely when the book chose to shoot out. <br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Heuk-heuk we can catch it now!”<br>“It’s dinner time!”<br>“Hyuk-hyuk me hungry!”<br>“Kill it!”<br>“I can almost touch i— gah!”</span><br><br>With a big ‘oof’ a group of about 10 goblins got body slammed by the book sending them crashing into the books on the other side of the aisle. Due to their smaller stature the goblins bodies weighed about 1/3 of Dave’s body weight so it was no surprise to see the book sending the goblins flying straight through the air. The goblins that were chasing him on top of the books had planted their feet on top of the shaking book so when the book shot out the goblins were jerked off and fell violently onto the floor.<br>Not waiting for the goblins to recover Dave continued to run across the tops of the books. <br><br>‘Hahaha! I can’t believe that actually worked! I’m going to live! I’m going to— wait if goblins came out from the other book what’s going to come out of this one?’<br><br>Looking back as he continued to climb up one of the more slightly taller books Dave continued to stare at the book that began to glow. For some reason his heart begun to squeeze painfully and the more he stared the more he found it hard to breathe. Not wanting to believe what he saw Dave tried to run but due to fear all he could manage was a pitiful crawl as he fell and crash on top of the next much smaller book.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">ROAR—!</span><br><br>Staring helplessly Dave could only watch as the beast unfurled its giant bat like wings as it leapt straight into the air. As it flew closer and closer to him Dave closed his eyes as he gave up to the fate he had seen in his dreams. </div>

Ta-tump! Ta-tump! ‘Oh god that sound, it’s getting closer!’ Ta-tump! Ta-tump! Ta-tump! ‘Got to keep running, but getting so tired…’ ROAR—! With renewed strength born from fear the man continued to run as he tried to pick up his pace, but in his haste due to being startled the man stumbled and fell onto the ground. Struggling to get up the man took a quick glance back and directly in his view was the two-headed monstrosity about to make its kill. Two giant wings unfurled as the giant beast took flight. Each second seemed to last an eternity and slowly the man continued to watch in horror as the beast flew straight down towards him. Raising his arms in a futile attempt to protect himself the man began to scream as the jaws of death approached closer and closer. “Ahh—!” Ding! | You have learned the skill: Banshee Scream!A scream of absolute terror! All those that hear your scream will get the feeling of absolute fear, which can affect even the bravest of warriors!Duration: 10 sec | | --- | “Huh?” Even after the nightmare was over Dave continued to scream for 5 minutes straight, unaware that he was awake and that the monster chasing him was just a dream. The Banshee Scream, a skill only enabled to those that can scream for a long period of time with another condition of having the mindset of one who is absolutely terrified. Such is the unpredictable nature of Royal Road where new discoveries are being made each and every day! Staring at the notification window in front of him Dave slowly began to take in his surroundings as he looked up, down and side to side. ‘I’m in a fancy bed, the room is clean, and that is definitely not my ceiling… oh no, oh no, no-no-no-’ “Ah, morning Human! I see you have awoken! But do tell me, does your kind scream when they wake up for if they do I’d rather be miles away for your screams rivals those of those ghastly banshees!” … “Human?” ‘No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-’ “Um, human are you awake?” ‘Oh no-no-no-no goddammit no-no-no’ “Human?” ‘Go away- go away- go away- please don’t be there- please don’t be-‘ Tap tap* … Feeling the tapping sensation of a claw on his shoulder Dave slowly turned around praying desperately that it wasn’t who he thought it was. “Morning Human! …human? W-wait, no human! Don’t go through that—!” Scared out of his wits Dave continued to run. His vision grew hazy and his body felt heavy as everything soon turned black. “No—! Don’t eat me eat the butler! Ahh—!” With heavy breaths Dave had finally woke up after suffering through another nightmare of being hunted down by the flying two headed beast. A small window popped up, which brought Dave back to his senses. Ding! | Banshee Scream: [2] 13% | | --- | Quickly getting up from the ground he was passed out on Dave quickly scanned the area for the manticore. Breathing a sigh of relief after confirming that there was no manticore or any other monsters Dave slowly began to calm down as he observed his surroundings. ‘Where am I now? This place is definitely different from the last one, actually… what’s up with this place it’s freaking huge!’ Looking up Dave kept shaking his head for he couldn’t see the ceiling no matter how hard he tried to strain his eyes. He was definitely not indoors for he could not feel the breeze or see the sky nor the sun but the area was so vast that he couldn’t confirm whether the place actually had a ceiling or if it was just another feature of the game and the fact that the background was pure white didn’t help him at all. Even the very floor he was standing on was white giving Dave the impression he was floating. The place would have driven him crazy if it weren’t for the peculiar thing he was staring at. In front and behind him were enormous books of all kinds of sizes arranged neatly on the biggest bookcases he had ever seen. For all he could tell Dave guessed he was in the middle of an aisle for there was a bookcase on his other side as well. ‘This is insane these bookcases might be really tall but how can it stretch so endlessly? I can’t even see the other end!’ From behind as well as in front of him Dave couldn’t see the end of the aisle. He could only assume there were probably several rows since he had no means of confirming the fact. Looking around he could see that some of the books were as big as he was and others ranged from the sizes of small houses to the size of a large castle. Even the little ledge the books were on were more than half of Dave’s height making the idea of climbing up a rather grim idea especially with nothing but his bare hands. Walking past each book Dave also noted that despite the difference in size the books were all of the same color, a dull charcoal grey. The seemingly endless length of the bookcases made it impossible to tell if he was moving forward at all because everything looked the same. After spending about a three and a half hours walking endlessly he finally flopped down to rest his body which was depleted of stamina; a rumble of complaint from his belly reminded him that he hadn’t had a bite to eat for quite a while. ‘Ugh! This game’s creator sure is something, I mean too even feel tired and hungry in a game is just cruel… wait, this is a game so maybe.’ “Log out!” | Logging out feature is currently unavailable. | | --- | “WH—AAT?” Staring in disbelief at the message Dave quickly lost his cool. ‘The bloody hell? What do you mean I can’t log out! Fuck it, I’ll try again.’ “LOG OUTTTT!” | Logging out feature is currently unavailable. | | --- | “Okay this is really bad. What should I do? …Oh right the A.I. said something about if I need help say Contact Player Support” Ring-ring-ring-click* “Hello sir, are you in need of assistance?” “Yes, I’m having trouble logging off” “I’m sorry sir?” “I’m having a log out problem” “Well sir, have you tried saying log out” “Yes…and it says the feature is currently unavailable which is why I’m calling for your help” “Ah I see, hold on for one second sir I shall consult with my superiors on how to best aid you” 15minutes later… “Sorry for the wait sir, before I began would you happen to be Dave Grudginer?” “Um…Yes, but why do you-“ “Ah! Then the matters all clear sir, as requested your log in feature shall be available for you within 27days and 9hours in game time which is about 7 days in real time sir.” “…What?” “Well sir, it states here that you specifically requested for this. We have your signatures of approval given to us by your manager.” “My what?” “Your manager sir, I must say I’m quite surprise at how dedicated authors can be. Requesting to be stuck in game in order to help inspire your next work is very admirable. Well I wish you luck on your next book sir” “Wait hold on, there must be a misunderstanding here. I don’t have a manager and I am definitely not writing a story” “Haha good one sir, but your manager said you might say something along those lines so he asked us to remind you about a video. Not sure why but that’s all he said. Well glad I could assist you, goodbye sir and I wish you luck on your story” “W-what? No! Don’t go there’s a misundersta—” Click* Unfortunately for Dave the so called player assistance service was of absolutely no use to him. So much for that idea he thought to himself and with a sigh Dave pondered on who could be pretending to be his nonexistent manager. With a groan it finally hit him. “Wait a minute…video? Oh god that son of a—” Stunned Keith continued to sit there as he pondered why the cruel butler wanted him to stay in the game. He would have continued to sit there asking himself why if it wasn’t for another grumble of complaint coming from his stomach. ‘Let’s see I think the A.I. said something about how we start off with food and water Now how do I take it out…oh I remember now!’ “Open Inventory!” ‘Now let’s see here all I have is 10 rye bread and a canteen of water… that’s it? Well I am a beginner so I guess there’s not helping it. Hmm press here and whoa! That’s kind of neat to see food just poof into your hands. Wonder how it tastes… yuck!’ It wasn’t until Keith took the first bite of the horrid bread that he finally realized just how miserable he truly was. From the encounter with his niece’s demonic butler to meeting with real monsters and demons along with the fact that his body was tired from over 3 hours of walking which seemed to have taken him nowhere and the idea of being stuck in this hell for another 27 long days. As his teeth bit into the bitter, rock hard bread tears dripped onto the floor as he continued to eat. Replenishing his stamina and his spirit by resolving to get even with the villainous butler Dave got back up and continued to push on. 1hour later ‘I can do this, I’ll get out of here and get that bastard’ 3hours later ‘Getting tired again, no! Got to keep going, can’t let that bastard of a butler win!’ 5hours later ‘What the hell! I still can’t see the bloody end! What’s the point of going on? Butler? Screw the butler I’m freaking sick of this!’ After 8 hours Dave couldn’t go on any further. Just as he was about to collapse Dave felt a weird sensation. It was at that moment that the book next to him started to shake. Rubbing his eyes in case he was seeing thing Dave looked at the book again, but it was still shaking by itself! Suddenly without any warning the book shot out and smashed right into his body! Bam! -50hp! Thud! -20hp! The book tackled him with such force Dave’s body flew backwards causing his body to do a full three rotations! After the third rotation he landed painfully back on the ground. ‘W-what the hell? That took out almost ¾ of my health! Huh? What’s it doing now?’ Looking back at the book that had just sent him flying he could see the book emitting a strange light. Slowly the book’s cover flew open and the pages began to flip themselves. ‘Oh god this isn’t just creepy, this is the twilight zone creepy now!’ Soon the flipping pages stopped and as Dave continued to stare at the blank page a circle began to form. Inside the circle was a fuzzy image that was getting clearer and clearer. It was a heartwarming picture of a family…well as heartwarming as a family of goblins could be. Their lower jaws protruded out as a pair of ridiculous fangs jutted upwards. Their noses were ridiculously big and the swamp green complexion of their skin made them look that much more hideous to him. It didn’t help that the picture showed a family of goblins devouring a live helpless deer. Slowly backing away from the book that suddenly began to glow Dave continued to watch until he began to hear voices. “Hyuk-hyuk-hyuk that was so easy to kill!” “Mmm I can still taste it in my mouth!” “I wish there was more my belly is still empty!” “Heuk-heuk-heuk but we can’t hunt anymore now the deer all run away!” “We go try tomorrow we go home now!” With his guts urging him to hide Dave jumped up the ledge and climbed onto the smallest book he could find. From there he jumped up to next taller book until he was on top of one the size of a house. Making sure to keep his body down flat Dave peeked down from his vantage point observing the glowing book. He continued to watch as the surface of the book’s picture started to ripple like the ripple effect across a surface of water. Slowly a leg emerged from the rippling image and soon a pile of other arms and heads popped out. “Argh! Stop pushing!” “Hyuk-hyuk-hyuk me stuck!” “Move your hand it’s in my face!” “Heuk-heuk-heuk me can’t move!” “Ah! My leg! Stop pushing!” The circle which he assumed to be a portal was large enough for a couple of goblins to get out but not a whole mass of them. The portal flexed and contorted and with a splat the portal spit out the last of the goblins. The portal soon disappeared revealing a blank page once more and flew back into its shelf looking like any of the other books. Removing themselves from the entanglements of a pile of limbs the goblins shook their heads to regain back their senses. “Bleghk me hate portal!” “It’s no portal fault you just fat!” “EH? You take that back! You fat!” “Hyuk-hyuk you both fat!” “Heuk-heuk you fatter then all of us heuk!” Suddenly Dave became a spectator to a battle royal match as the bigger goblins slugging it out while the little goblins laughed and giggle as they began to imitate their elders. 'Well now that they’re all fighting each other now’s my chance!' Slowly moving away from the mass of goblins Dave crawled up and down the various books hoping to create enough distance to make his escape. As he was about to reach the top of the next book Dave grimaced as he touched his forehead. ‘Blood? That book must of hit me harder than I thought… damn you stupid game creators, the pain doesn’t have to be this realistic you know!’ Suppressing a big sigh Dave continued to climb over towards the next book swearing to himself that if he ever meets the creator of this game he would bop him one in the head. ‘Just a bit further, if I can make it to that next book I should be fine and—‘ Sniff sniff* “What’s that smell?” Dave froze as he slowly turned to look at the goblin. The goblin had his head up towards the air while his nostrils flared open as he continued to sniff. “Hmm? Now that you mention it… I do smell something” “Heuk-heuk it smells delicious” “Hyuk-hyuk-hyuk I think it’s coming from over there!” “Mmm let’s go check it out!” ‘Oh no-oh no- oh no- oh no-no-no-no-fucking dammit!’ As the goblins hobbled towards his position Dave quickly got up as he leapt up towards the next book and jumped down to the next one in front of him, with every jump taking a small chunk of his stamina Dave’s situation kept turning worst and worst. “Heuk-heuk it’s fast!” “It’s weak though, look! It’s slowing down!” “Keep running me will climb and chase him above!” “Heuk-heuk me too!” “Yay we get to eat more!” ‘A-at this rate it’s only a matter of time before they catch up. I have to get out of here but how? There’s got to be a way to—!’ Dave continued to climb over the top of every book, his eyes glinting with a faint sign of hope. ‘It’s that sensation again!’ Looking ahead Dave could see one of the books was trembling. With renewed hope Dave put on a burst of speed, which in turn caused the goblins to speed up. The book was beginning to shake even more but luckily for Dave the goblins hadn’t notice for their attention was focused solely on him. ‘Not yet got to let them catch up a bit and… now!’ With all his remaining strength Dave jumped clear past the shaking book onto the top of the book next to it. It was at that moment the goblins chasing behind him had finally caught up as well as the ones chasing him from the ground. Unfortunately for them that was precisely when the book chose to shoot out. “Heuk-heuk we can catch it now!” “It’s dinner time!” “Hyuk-hyuk me hungry!” “Kill it!” “I can almost touch i— gah!” With a big ‘oof’ a group of about 10 goblins got body slammed by the book sending them crashing into the books on the other side of the aisle. Due to their smaller stature the goblins bodies weighed about 1/3 of Dave’s body weight so it was no surprise to see the book sending the goblins flying straight through the air. The goblins that were chasing him on top of the books had planted their feet on top of the shaking book so when the book shot out the goblins were jerked off and fell violently onto the floor. Not waiting for the goblins to recover Dave continued to run across the tops of the books. ‘Hahaha! I can’t believe that actually worked! I’m going to live! I’m going to— wait if goblins came out from the other book what’s going to come out of this one?’ Looking back as he continued to climb up one of the more slightly taller books Dave continued to stare at the book that began to glow. For some reason his heart begun to squeeze painfully and the more he stared the more he found it hard to breathe. Not wanting to believe what he saw Dave tried to run but due to fear all he could manage was a pitiful crawl as he fell and crash on top of the next much smaller book. ROAR—! Staring helplessly Dave could only watch as the beast unfurled its giant bat like wings as it leapt straight into the air. As it flew closer and closer to him Dave closed his eyes as he gave up to the fate he had seen in his dreams.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: 2.3em;">#Attract! Opposites Attract!</span></span><br><br>Previously, on Trust me, I'm an Engineer:<br><br><br>Everytime the Giant tried to get back up, Splay Mark would smite him back down, and any shield he tried to project couldn't stand up to our onslaught. Meanwhile, Voltanis and his (correction, Freyr's) horse would intercept any attempt by the Giantess at shooting at us, even if the attack came from overhead.<br><br>Slowly but surely, the Giant's HP was dropping to dangerous levels.<br><br><br><br>But just before we could land the killing blow...<br><br>********************************************************************************<br><br>This time, on Trust me, I'm an Engineer:<br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 1.3em;">RRRRrraaaAAAAHH!!!</span></span><br><br>With a great cry, the Giant let loose what was probably the last of his strength in a mighty frost nova.<br><br><img src="http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/pathofexile.gamepedia.com/4/44/Ice_Nova_skill_screenshot.jpg" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fhydra-media.cursecdn.com%2fpathofex...enshot.jpg"><br><span style="font-size: 0.7em;">(ignore the skeletons) (and the fact that the character is female)</span><br><br>The blast of cold air hit us like an explosion, knocking us back as well as chilling us to the bone. If I didn't have my hood up, I might have even gotten a debuff like Kenobi and Splay Mark .<br><br><span style="font-size: 1.15em;"><span style="font-style: italic;">SCREEEEECH!!</span><br></span><br><br><span style="font-size: 2.3em;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 1.15em;">BOOOM!</span></span><br></span><br><br><br><span style="font-size: 1.3em;">"WAaaa</span><span style="font-size: 1.15em;">HA-HA-</span><span style="font-size: 0.75em;">HA-HA</span>-<span style="font-size: 0.7em;">HUUuuEEe</span>!"<br><br>Voltanis flew from where he was near the Giantess due to the force of a firebolt, his summon apparently having reached its time limit.<br><br>"Freya, light our hearts! [Warmth]!"<br><br>After Kenobi finished casting the spell, my body began to get mildly warmer, dispelling the earlier chill.<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Gained buff: [Warmth].<br><br>Mana regeneration has increased slightly.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br>"OW! Hot! Hot!" (Voltanis)<br><br>"... Well I can't please everybody."<br><br><br>Looking back at the Giant that had collapsed, it was obvious that he was going to die at any time soon. If this were a different game, there would be a big glowing "O" above his head prompting us to begin a QTE that would end his life in an epic and gruesome manner.<br><br>"He's weak, we can finish him," said Splay Mark as he began to walk forwards.<br><br>"Hold on," I said as I held him back, "Look!"<br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 1.15em;">SCREEEEECH!!</span></span><br><br><br>"Woah, she totally losing it." (Kenobi)<br><br>The Giantess was yanking at her chain while screeching incoherently. It seems as though she was trying to get to the Giant. After several tries, she attempted to burn through the chain with firebolts and flamethrowers, neither of which had any effect on it.<br><br>Of course, she'd probably have tried that countless times before trying to escape.<br><br>"What's happening?" asked Voltanis, "Oh hey she's looking this way no- 'OLY SHIT!"<br><br>While swing her free arm like crazy, she started flinging a barrage of firebolts in our direction!<br><br>"Everyone behind me!" (Splay Mark)<br><br>While dodgeing multiple firebolts, we quickly dashed over and huddled behind Splay Mark, who had placed his NaS in front of him and was using it as a shield.<br><br>"I can't hold on much longer! Anyone have any ideas?"<br><br>"Well, she's obviously trying to get to her boyfriend over there." (Kenobi)<br><br>"Boyfriend!?!" Splay Mark exclamined. It seems he's the only one who didn't realize it.<br><br>"I cast "Identify" on those chain not long ago. They're Dwarven-made Masterpieces, we ain't gonna break them any time soon," said Voltanis.<br><br>"But that shackle isn't," I said as I took a closer look. Indeed, the shackle on the Giantess's wrist was very obviously made from a different metal from the rest of the chain, "Can you check it?"<br><br>"Alright! [Identify]!" Voltanis took a moment as he checked the stats of the shackle, "It's made from a self-repairing metal, but it's definitely destructable!"<br><br>"Good! See that link over there?" I was refering to the spot where the shackle met the chain, "We need a single, strong impact, preferably with a spike, and it should break it!"<br><br>I roughly outlined my plan to the others.<br><br>"Are you sure this is going to work?" Kenobi asked, "I don't want us to die for nothing."<br><br>I flashed a cheeky smile.<br><br>"Trust me, I'm an Engineer."<br><br>********************************************************************************<br><br><br><br>A firebolt hit the boulder I was hiding behind. While it was just big enough for me to crouch behind, there's no way it'll last much longer.<br><br>"Next one incoming!" yelled Splay Mark as he tossed one more boulder in my direction, "Oh shoot!"<br><br>Splay Mark had tossed it a little too far ahead. He, together with Voltanis and Kenobi were hiding behind a significantly safer wall formed by Voltanis's "Stone Spears". In fact, the boulders he was tossing were shattered pieces of the spears that Voltanis was continuosly producing.<br>"No problem!" I yelled back, "I'm gonna finish this after that boulder! Kenobi, get ready!"<br><br>Gauging the distance between the next boulder and I, I figured it was a distance I could cover with "Lunge" if I ran forwards just a little.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: 1.15em;">BOOOM!</span></span><br><br>Taking full advantage of the small cooldown between each firebolt, I got up and started sprinting the moment I heard the boom.<br><br>Counting off the seconds in my head, I made a hard turn away from the Giantess just in time to avoid the next firebolt, before Lunging to safety behind the next boulder and waited for the my cooldown to end.<br><br>"Here goes nothing... [Lunge]!"<br><br>Quickly jumping up onto the boulder, I activated my skill and Lunged straight towards the arm of the Giantess.<br><br>"[Snap Shot]!"<br><br>A single fully-steel bolt, made by me specifically to break through armor, struck the link at point blank.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Crack!</span><br><br>And left nothing more than a small crack.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Oh well... I guess </span>that<span style="font-style: italic;"> didn't work.*</span><br><br>With one arm, I quickly grabbed the chain to stop my movements and pointed my crossbow at the Giantess, prepared to fire one last shot, when she raised her hand and pointed it at me, almost at point blank range. I could actually see her hand getting brighter as she charged her shot.<br><br>An attack from this range will almost certainly kill me, even with fire resist.<br><br><br>But this was all according to plan.<br><br><br>"[RESCUE]!"<br><br><br>That's right, the player with the fastest movement skill in the party, with a weapon perfect for this job: Kenobi.<br><br>The actualy speed of the "Rescue" skill isn't a flat amount. The speed varies so that he'll always arrive at the location just on time to intercept the attack.<br><br>This means, that the further he is from the target location, the faster he will travel. And he was at the farthest end of the room.<br><br>When Kenobi came hurtling at an impossible speed, he held his Lightsaber straight in front of him, with his buckler strapped on his right arm instead of his left (as his shield must always face the attack for the skill to work properly).<br><br>With the force of a thunderbolt and (I swear I heard it) a sonicboom, his weapon stabbed into the link with pin-point precision (as his accuracy stat was buffed by some Paladin supplication), shattering it instantly.<br><br><br>The Giantess stood, stunned for a moment as she couldn't believe what just happened, before she ran to the side of her beloved.<br><br><br>But Fire and Ice were never meant to be together, for the moment she placed her hand on him, steam and smoke arose from where they touched.<br><br>Undeterred, she clutched him in her arms, even as her body's glow started to grow weaker.<br><br>Originally unconcious the Giant opened his eyes, and smiled in contentment even as his body started to grow warmer.<br><br>As this happened, their bodies started to take on a grayish tone, and before we realized it, their bodies turned to stone.<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Hidden Quest Complete!<br><br>Unfortunate Lovers<br><br>You have united the lovers Fire Fury and Hailrake.<br><br><br>Rewards:<br>Fame +100<br>Lootable items have changed<br>Unique Sculpture has spawned</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">- You have appreciated Opposites Attract!<br><br>The Fire Giantess, Fire Fury, and the Ice Giant, Hailrake, have been in love since long before humans were born.<br><br>During the God's massacre of the Giants, they fled to Midgard only to be caught and chained apart by the Gods almost immediately.<br><br>Eventually they were released by a group of adventurers, finally united, even as their bodies turned to stone.<br><br>Perhaps the Gods knew this would happen if they ever got together?<br><br><br>- Fire &amp; Cold resist has been permanantly increased by 3%<br>- All debuffs have been removed<br>- Str has increased by 20 for a day<br>-All stats permanatly increased by 5<br>- If you have the "Faith" stat it will be decreased by 5% for a day.<br>- "Faith" stat permanantly increased by 40 if you have it.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Misc Items: &nbsp;Leyding &amp; Dromi<br><br>Chains originally meant to bind a stronger being, but failed at their task.<br><br>They have since been repaired and put to other use.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br>********************************************************************************<br><br><br>Authors Note:<br><br>Hello again!<br><br>Finally ended this fight.<br><br>Sorry for ending the story at a bad point last chapter.<br><br>As usual, any and all comments will be appreciated! </div>

#Attract! Opposites Attract! Previously, on Trust me, I'm an Engineer: Everytime the Giant tried to get back up, Splay Mark would smite him back down, and any shield he tried to project couldn't stand up to our onslaught. Meanwhile, Voltanis and his (correction, Freyr's) horse would intercept any attempt by the Giantess at shooting at us, even if the attack came from overhead. Slowly but surely, the Giant's HP was dropping to dangerous levels. But just before we could land the killing blow... ******************************************************************************** This time, on Trust me, I'm an Engineer: RRRRrraaaAAAAHH!!! With a great cry, the Giant let loose what was probably the last of his strength in a mighty frost nova.  (ignore the skeletons) (and the fact that the character is female) The blast of cold air hit us like an explosion, knocking us back as well as chilling us to the bone. If I didn't have my hood up, I might have even gotten a debuff like Kenobi and Splay Mark . SCREEEEECH!! BOOOM! "WAaaaHA-HA-HA-HA-HUUuuEEe!" Voltanis flew from where he was near the Giantess due to the force of a firebolt, his summon apparently having reached its time limit. "Freya, light our hearts! [Warmth]!" After Kenobi finished casting the spell, my body began to get mildly warmer, dispelling the earlier chill. | Gained buff: [Warmth].Mana regeneration has increased slightly. | | --- | "OW! Hot! Hot!" (Voltanis) "... Well I can't please everybody." Looking back at the Giant that had collapsed, it was obvious that he was going to die at any time soon. If this were a different game, there would be a big glowing "O" above his head prompting us to begin a QTE that would end his life in an epic and gruesome manner. "He's weak, we can finish him," said Splay Mark as he began to walk forwards. "Hold on," I said as I held him back, "Look!" SCREEEEECH!! "Woah, she totally losing it." (Kenobi) The Giantess was yanking at her chain while screeching incoherently. It seems as though she was trying to get to the Giant. After several tries, she attempted to burn through the chain with firebolts and flamethrowers, neither of which had any effect on it. Of course, she'd probably have tried that countless times before trying to escape. "What's happening?" asked Voltanis, "Oh hey she's looking this way no- 'OLY SHIT!" While swing her free arm like crazy, she started flinging a barrage of firebolts in our direction! "Everyone behind me!" (Splay Mark) While dodgeing multiple firebolts, we quickly dashed over and huddled behind Splay Mark, who had placed his NaS in front of him and was using it as a shield. "I can't hold on much longer! Anyone have any ideas?" "Well, she's obviously trying to get to her boyfriend over there." (Kenobi) "Boyfriend!?!" Splay Mark exclamined. It seems he's the only one who didn't realize it. "I cast "Identify" on those chain not long ago. They're Dwarven-made Masterpieces, we ain't gonna break them any time soon," said Voltanis. "But that shackle isn't," I said as I took a closer look. Indeed, the shackle on the Giantess's wrist was very obviously made from a different metal from the rest of the chain, "Can you check it?" "Alright! [Identify]!" Voltanis took a moment as he checked the stats of the shackle, "It's made from a self-repairing metal, but it's definitely destructable!" "Good! See that link over there?" I was refering to the spot where the shackle met the chain, "We need a single, strong impact, preferably with a spike, and it should break it!" I roughly outlined my plan to the others. "Are you sure this is going to work?" Kenobi asked, "I don't want us to die for nothing." I flashed a cheeky smile. "Trust me, I'm an Engineer." ******************************************************************************** A firebolt hit the boulder I was hiding behind. While it was just big enough for me to crouch behind, there's no way it'll last much longer. "Next one incoming!" yelled Splay Mark as he tossed one more boulder in my direction, "Oh shoot!" Splay Mark had tossed it a little too far ahead. He, together with Voltanis and Kenobi were hiding behind a significantly safer wall formed by Voltanis's "Stone Spears". In fact, the boulders he was tossing were shattered pieces of the spears that Voltanis was continuosly producing. "No problem!" I yelled back, "I'm gonna finish this after that boulder! Kenobi, get ready!" Gauging the distance between the next boulder and I, I figured it was a distance I could cover with "Lunge" if I ran forwards just a little. BOOOM! Taking full advantage of the small cooldown between each firebolt, I got up and started sprinting the moment I heard the boom. Counting off the seconds in my head, I made a hard turn away from the Giantess just in time to avoid the next firebolt, before Lunging to safety behind the next boulder and waited for the my cooldown to end. "Here goes nothing... [Lunge]!" Quickly jumping up onto the boulder, I activated my skill and Lunged straight towards the arm of the Giantess. "[Snap Shot]!" A single fully-steel bolt, made by me specifically to break through armor, struck the link at point blank. Crack! And left nothing more than a small crack. *Oh well... I guess that didn't work.* With one arm, I quickly grabbed the chain to stop my movements and pointed my crossbow at the Giantess, prepared to fire one last shot, when she raised her hand and pointed it at me, almost at point blank range. I could actually see her hand getting brighter as she charged her shot. An attack from this range will almost certainly kill me, even with fire resist. But this was all according to plan. "[RESCUE]!" That's right, the player with the fastest movement skill in the party, with a weapon perfect for this job: Kenobi. The actualy speed of the "Rescue" skill isn't a flat amount. The speed varies so that he'll always arrive at the location just on time to intercept the attack. This means, that the further he is from the target location, the faster he will travel. And he was at the farthest end of the room. When Kenobi came hurtling at an impossible speed, he held his Lightsaber straight in front of him, with his buckler strapped on his right arm instead of his left (as his shield must always face the attack for the skill to work properly). With the force of a thunderbolt and (I swear I heard it) a sonicboom, his weapon stabbed into the link with pin-point precision (as his accuracy stat was buffed by some Paladin supplication), shattering it instantly. The Giantess stood, stunned for a moment as she couldn't believe what just happened, before she ran to the side of her beloved. But Fire and Ice were never meant to be together, for the moment she placed her hand on him, steam and smoke arose from where they touched. Undeterred, she clutched him in her arms, even as her body's glow started to grow weaker. Originally unconcious the Giant opened his eyes, and smiled in contentment even as his body started to grow warmer. As this happened, their bodies started to take on a grayish tone, and before we realized it, their bodies turned to stone. | Hidden Quest Complete!Unfortunate LoversYou have united the lovers Fire Fury and Hailrake.Rewards:Fame +100Lootable items have changedUnique Sculpture has spawned | | --- | | - You have appreciated Opposites Attract!The Fire Giantess, Fire Fury, and the Ice Giant, Hailrake, have been in love since long before humans were born.During the God's massacre of the Giants, they fled to Midgard only to be caught and chained apart by the Gods almost immediately.Eventually they were released by a group of adventurers, finally united, even as their bodies turned to stone.Perhaps the Gods knew this would happen if they ever got together?- Fire & Cold resist has been permanantly increased by 3%- All debuffs have been removed- Str has increased by 20 for a day-All stats permanatly increased by 5- If you have the "Faith" stat it will be decreased by 5% for a day.- "Faith" stat permanantly increased by 40 if you have it. | | --- | | Misc Items:  Leyding & DromiChains originally meant to bind a stronger being, but failed at their task.They have since been repaired and put to other use. | | --- | ******************************************************************************** Authors Note: Hello again! Finally ended this fight. Sorry for ending the story at a bad point last chapter. As usual, any and all comments will be appreciated!

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Lee Jun found himself in a large chamber filled with people. Some were looking at him with disdain and others with contempt as he shuffled forward towards the front of the room. Looking up he started to tremble, he knew this place and time all too well. It was the same room, with the same judges …his court martial hearing in the game Athenos.<br><br>All though everything was the same, it felt a million times worse now. Being a dream, he could clearly hear the whispers and the sneers of each person present. Formerly distorted and inaudible whispers became as distinct as ever. <br><br>If that weren’t enough people everywhere around him began to laugh. As tears rolled down his cheeks, people surrounded him and the sneering and jeering became louder and louder. As he covered his ears, some people began attacking him with their decorated rapiers. The horror had no end in sight, everyones blurred laughing face became clearer and clearer, till he could see hundreds of him laughing at him. He sank to his knees and howled loudly. <br><br>“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Lee Jun screamed with his eye shut and hands covering his ears. <br><br>The shadows grew longer till there was nothing but darkness and silence. Lee Jun was gone, he was somewhere else….<br><br>Black like the starry sky, Lee Jun found himself floating through space. In the distance he could see a massive ball of burning flame. It was a star, as he floated across it, he could see another smaller star. They floated together beside each other, looking calm and unmovable but he knew better. This was Alpha Dankari a binary star. These two balls of power were rotating around each other offering light, heat, life to the nearby balls of rock that were planets. It was here that he had his second triumph. Tears welled up in Lee Jun’s eyes, just like how they did the first time when he saw this scene. It could only be captured in one word, beautiful. But as the seconds passed, Lee Jun grew afraid he did no longer wanted to see this scenery any more. The very steps he climbed to success in Athenos were also the very steps of his undoing. As regret filled his chest, he closed his eyes. He wanted nothing more to do with these starry night lights. They were soon behind him but there was just more darkness everywhere….<br><br>Moving forward he soon saw a ship, his second ship to be precise. The Arc had served him well but as Lee Jun racked up the promotions, his crew grew larger and he needed a bigger battleship. After the last ambush in the asteroid belt, he had been promoted Senior Tactical officer for the entire galactic sector and gifted with a Cruiser, the Royal Arc 2. <br><br>It was the newest most powerful cruiser available at the Federation and everyone had wanted to be a captain of one. Floating through space, he could see it and in all its glory. The Federation had taken its inspiration from early animations battleships of the 20th century and merged with designs of the wet navies of the past. The Cruiser was armed with missiles and the ARC laser but in addition to those, it looked majestic with rail guns mounted in front and behind. The Royal Arc 2 looked ready to rain fire on those who dared to challenge it.<br><br>Moving along with the ship, Lee Jun could see the flashes of light up ahead exploding in space. It was the Battle of Dankari. He knew that Federation forces were in trouble. It had been a simple duty in theory, a convoy of merchants with a light escort. The Royal Ark 2 was supposed to be the flagship but had been delayed at the docks. His crew later found out that the delay had been arranged to give the BloodPack Pirates time to try and hijack the convoy. With only smaller battleships to guard the merchant vessel, the BloodPack were going for an easy kill. <br><br>In the past, Lee Jun recalled, he had been able to devise a plan to use the moon of the second planet in the solar system as a sling shot to get the extra acceleration needed to quickly reach the attack zone. This combined with some excellent targeting and defensive work from his crew was enough to scare the BloodPack attackers before the convoy could be boarded. But here now, Lee Jun was terrified to see what could go wrong, he did after all know he was dreaming; a dream he could not wake up from or control. He prayed that it shouldn’t end like the court martial hearing.<br><br>Lee Jun felt his consciousness begin pulled towards the ship, faster and faster, until once again he found himself in a different environment altogether. He was now inside the bridge of the Royal Arc 2. It was larger and very similar same as the Arc’s bridge. As if seeing everything while wearing a mask, he could see a holographic map of the galaxy they were traversing through at the moment with the convoy. The Royal Arc 2 was docked at the space station at the moment, ready to be deployed. <br><br>“Are you crazy!” shouted the Lieutenant to Lee Jun. His core crew was the same as always; so called friends from school that had been playing together. It was the same lieutenant from his last dream; his classmate Wu Fang Li. He had a knack of being loud and questioning.<br><br>“Crazy? No.” replied Lee Jun calmly as his hands automatically moved through the air, shuffling through the holographic map. “Ready the rail guns and prepare the laser shooters. We are going to target those ships as we pass by.”<br><br>“Don’t ignore me like that!” Wu Fang Li shouted as stepped in Lee Jun’s way. “The moon is the other way, using it like a slingshot might not even work! Worst case, we might be pulled into it’s orbit and crash!! There is no one Athenos who has tried something so ridiculous before! It’s unheard off!”<br><br>“There are many things you may or may not have heard of while in Athenos. Legends are created by those who dare to take the risks not the cowards who hide behind the shadows.” Lee Jun calmly replied as he walked past Wu Fang to take this commander seat.”<br><br>“…” Wu Fang had nothing to say.<br><br>"If we were to use only our thrusters, we won’t be able to reach the convoy within time. They are already engaging the enemy. Taking a slight detour towards the moon and using it as a catapult will get us there a good thirty minutes earlier. I did all the maths and punched in the coordinates and which angle we need to take the leap.” Lee Jun slowly explained his plan to Wu Fang. “Theoretically, we switch on thrusters at that point at full power, we'll get a brief but powerful accelerated launch. Doubtless to say, there is a degree of risk, but both navigation and engineer have confirmed that we can do it. To sum it up, if we want to save the convoy, there is no other option."<br><br>"Very well Lee, I don't like the risk to the ship but your right we have no choice. Had it not been for that person on the convoy, I would have never agreed to this ridiculous plan." Wu Fang replied resigning his fate in the hands of the eccentric genius Lee Jun.<br><br>Lee Jun smiled, he always won these debates. <br><br>As they began to make the pass at the moon, everything unraveled the way it had as Lee Jun recalled. However, this was a dream and something had to go wrong. They moved forward faster and faster, so far there was no problem. As they came up behind the moon they entered into its shadow... Lee Jun instinctively knew there was something wrong now; they had never entered its shadow.<br><br>BOOM!!! The Royal Ark 2 shook violent as it reeled under the shockwave of an explosion. All the emergency lights turned on in the bridge. Lee Jun gripped on to his arm rests tightly.<br><br>"Captain we hit a mine, we're losing power, entering spin"<br><br>"How'd you miss a mine!" screamed Wu Fang as he brought up a screen to check the damage.<br><br>"I don't know there shouldn’t have been any mines here!" Lee Jun screamed as he scrambled to relay the energy around the ship to deal with the damage.<br><br>"Well you better hope there's nothing left of us at the end of this otherwise, my hands are going to be around your neck!" Wu Fang shouted at him.<br><br>Lee Jun watched through the smoke as they spun in an inward fashion. As they entered into shorter range he could hear the screams for help, and see the explosions one after another. The Royal Arc 2 was completely wrecked. A space mine is every navigators nightmare. Camouflaged black like space, made of wave absorbent material, they are nearly impossible to detect as they lay motionless in space awaiting for their prey. <br><br>Meanwhile a quest box popped up in front of Lee Jun. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">“The convoy and its escorts have fallen to the BloodPack. Mission failed.”</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Lee Jun hurriedly closed the in game window and focused on salvaging of what remained of his cruiser. Although only a dream, Lee Jun was completely absorbed in it’s pace, completely forgetting that it was unreal. With only minimal support systems, they could only watch as their battleship headed closer and closer towards collision with the moon.<br>Once again Lee Jun found himself in a dire state, the entire crew in the bridge stared at him. Their eyes looked at him, begging him to save them. Frightened and terrified of that look, Lee Jun sunk into his seat, hoping he would disappear. No matter how much he tried, he could not close his eyes. When his vision of the bridge finally faded, all he could he was a cruel yet familiar laughter…<br><br>When Lee Jun opened his eyes, he found himself again in a large chamber filled with people looking at him with disdain, with contempt as he shuffled forward towards the front of the room. It was like déjà vu. Looking up he started to tremble, why was he back in this room! It was the court martial hearing! Why did he always end up coming back here? He sank to his knees and began crying in his dreams. <br><br>Tearing himself away from the memory from the pain he looked around and felt fear. Just like before he was magically whisked away from the frightful memory and found himself somewhere else…<br><br>He was now boarding a small shuttle; it was an operation to board the BloodPack planet HQ. For good or worse, Lee Jun went with the flow. He was leading the advance team, it was his job to get in there and take out the defense network. Normally, sending the commander to the frontlines was unheard off, but Lee Jun was an exceptionally brilliant hacker. There was no second to his skill sets in the game. His past record of success with computer hacking and off the cuff ideas, earned him a place in his own advance offense unit. Given his high status of a commander, along with him were a dozen Federation Marines to protect him while he was inside. Lee Jun recalled he had been excited and terrified for this would be his first time in ground combat. Although, it was an adventurous quest this mission panned out terribly. <br><br>Four shuttles carrying the strike team were hovering at sub orbital awaiting further commands.<br><br>"Cockpit to control, we are ready to land.”<br><br>“Control to cockpit, deploy the strike team.” Wu Fang ordered.<br><br>“This is your pilot, please be ready, we're going in.”<br><br>The shuttle began to shudder and heat up, going down faster and faster. In the midst of the descent, Lee Jun could hear snippets on his com radio...<br><br>"Taking fire, need cov-“<br><br>"Shuttle two is down, I repeat, Shuttle two is down…”<br><br>*STATIC*<br><br>"Keep proceeding!” Wu Fang ordered, there was a certain coldness in his voice. <br><br>"Willy here, Shuttle 4, is hit…-ARGHH!”<br><br>The mariners in Lee Jun’s began whispering to each other, ‘half the strike team is dead!’ Panic was visibly set in and the team’s morale was down.<br><br>"Just shut up and pray.” Lee Jun blurted out as he gripped on to his safety gear. As captain, he could only be stern. <br><br>As their shuttle landed safely, the safety gear unfastened and the rear door of the craft opened up. The mariners quickly exited the shuttle and assembled in a protective formation. They had finally landed on the planet. Judging by the fireballs in the sky, they had lost the other three shuttles.<br><br>“Go, go, go, we can't turn back now!” Lee Jun shouted as the marines stood dazed. Regaining their composure they slowly headed towards the enemy outpost. As long as they could get Lee Jun inside any enemy base, they would be able to accomplish their mission and pull down the enemy defense network.<br><br>Lee Jun began to tremble; it was just like that <span style="font-style: italic;">time</span>. From here on out everything went wrong with this mission. Unlike all his previous memories, Lee Jun was not frightened here, if anything his heart burnt with fury. This was the very mission he was betrayed. As if on cue, a stun mine went off. Then there was a loud bang and screaming, as the marines moved for the door of the outpost to take cover, Lee Jun quietly followed. <br><br>Looking over the shoulders of the mariners how covered him; he could see he was standing in a cess pool of blood. The Corporal of this team had been hit and all his innards lay spread all over the place. Lee threw up and started to fall to his knees when one of the marines grabbed him and dragged him forward. They started running toward the bunkers in front of them.<br><br>Running forward Lee Jun wasn't aware of the tears streaking down his face, or least he hadn't the first time. This time he was able to feel each tear rolling down his cheeks, he felt so ashamed for being such a wimp. The mere sight of blood then used to give him the chills. <br><br>There were fires, lasers, explosions, bodies, and screaming everywhere. If there was a hell Lee Jun had been sure that this was it. Somehow they had made it inside the outpost but there were less of them now. Only a handful had made it this far but they had to keep going to finish the mission. One of the marines handed him a gun as they consolidated their position. Lee Jun held on to it even though he didn't have the skills to use it. Even if he fired shots most of them were likely to miss. Regardless of his accuracy, the situation now demanded him to carry it as they moved forward. The Marines picked up their pace and Lee Jun stumbled and fumbled, as he barely managed to keep up with them.<br><br>Pushing forward, they made it inside, moving steadily deeper. Each step, each doorway paved in blood until they had made it to the last door. By this point there were only two marines left and Lee was virtually painted red in blood and burns.<br><br>This mission was where learnt the true meaning of war; the screams of horror and the blood. The violence was nothing like he had experienced in space where it was clean and quiet. Space wars simply involved planning and strategies, a few laser showers and voila the mission would be accomplished! <br><br>However, the frontlines were far more unnerving. As the last two marines went through the door there was a hail of laser fire that hit them. Their bodies jerking back like leaves on a breeze, they died before they could even hit the ground. Fortunately, for Lee Jun, one of them had thrown a grenade through the door and there was a pair of explosions which blew the marines bodies back out onto Lee Jun. <br><br>At this point it was too much he just couldn't do it anymore, his mind wanted to fight on but his body refused to budge. The marines were gone, he was covered in blood, and there were enemies at the end of the hallway. Lee Jun ran back the way they came until he found a small hole, a closet whatever it was it was and hid himself there. It was small dark and dingy but safe. As he hid here, the laughing started….the same recurring cold and cruel laughter……the floor of the cabinet gave away and Lee Jun hung on to an invisible ledge….the laugh grew louder and louder……<br> <br>Suddenly Lee Jun found himself in a large chamber it was filled with people in uniform, his uniform. Everyone present looked at him with disdain and contempt. As he stumbled forward towards the front of the chamber, he was forced to halt in front of the tribunal. He was back at his court martial hearing. The judges were passing out the judgment. Like in the past they took it all away from him. He was stripped of his ranks, his awards, his achievements and uniform. His formal sword which marked him as an officer was broken and thrown at his feet. <br><br>As he stood there staring at months of work washed away, he could see Wu Fang in the distance laughing away. Lee Jun’s loss was Wu Fang’s gain. Blindly trusting him…all of it …just to be betrayed. <br><br>No one called out to Lee Jun, no one came to him. Everyone just left him to sink to the ground alone, broken. <br><br>The cold laughter that haunted him returned…there is no escape from your past. There is no escape from your fears…<br><br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. Confusing chapter.....maybe I should work on it a bit more.<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1236&amp;p=7179#p7179" target="_blank">Yes</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

Lee Jun found himself in a large chamber filled with people. Some were looking at him with disdain and others with contempt as he shuffled forward towards the front of the room. Looking up he started to tremble, he knew this place and time all too well. It was the same room, with the same judges …his court martial hearing in the game Athenos. All though everything was the same, it felt a million times worse now. Being a dream, he could clearly hear the whispers and the sneers of each person present. Formerly distorted and inaudible whispers became as distinct as ever. If that weren’t enough people everywhere around him began to laugh. As tears rolled down his cheeks, people surrounded him and the sneering and jeering became louder and louder. As he covered his ears, some people began attacking him with their decorated rapiers. The horror had no end in sight, everyones blurred laughing face became clearer and clearer, till he could see hundreds of him laughing at him. He sank to his knees and howled loudly. “GET AWAY FROM ME!” Lee Jun screamed with his eye shut and hands covering his ears. The shadows grew longer till there was nothing but darkness and silence. Lee Jun was gone, he was somewhere else…. Black like the starry sky, Lee Jun found himself floating through space. In the distance he could see a massive ball of burning flame. It was a star, as he floated across it, he could see another smaller star. They floated together beside each other, looking calm and unmovable but he knew better. This was Alpha Dankari a binary star. These two balls of power were rotating around each other offering light, heat, life to the nearby balls of rock that were planets. It was here that he had his second triumph. Tears welled up in Lee Jun’s eyes, just like how they did the first time when he saw this scene. It could only be captured in one word, beautiful. But as the seconds passed, Lee Jun grew afraid he did no longer wanted to see this scenery any more. The very steps he climbed to success in Athenos were also the very steps of his undoing. As regret filled his chest, he closed his eyes. He wanted nothing more to do with these starry night lights. They were soon behind him but there was just more darkness everywhere…. Moving forward he soon saw a ship, his second ship to be precise. The Arc had served him well but as Lee Jun racked up the promotions, his crew grew larger and he needed a bigger battleship. After the last ambush in the asteroid belt, he had been promoted Senior Tactical officer for the entire galactic sector and gifted with a Cruiser, the Royal Arc 2. It was the newest most powerful cruiser available at the Federation and everyone had wanted to be a captain of one. Floating through space, he could see it and in all its glory. The Federation had taken its inspiration from early animations battleships of the 20th century and merged with designs of the wet navies of the past. The Cruiser was armed with missiles and the ARC laser but in addition to those, it looked majestic with rail guns mounted in front and behind. The Royal Arc 2 looked ready to rain fire on those who dared to challenge it. Moving along with the ship, Lee Jun could see the flashes of light up ahead exploding in space. It was the Battle of Dankari. He knew that Federation forces were in trouble. It had been a simple duty in theory, a convoy of merchants with a light escort. The Royal Ark 2 was supposed to be the flagship but had been delayed at the docks. His crew later found out that the delay had been arranged to give the BloodPack Pirates time to try and hijack the convoy. With only smaller battleships to guard the merchant vessel, the BloodPack were going for an easy kill. In the past, Lee Jun recalled, he had been able to devise a plan to use the moon of the second planet in the solar system as a sling shot to get the extra acceleration needed to quickly reach the attack zone. This combined with some excellent targeting and defensive work from his crew was enough to scare the BloodPack attackers before the convoy could be boarded. But here now, Lee Jun was terrified to see what could go wrong, he did after all know he was dreaming; a dream he could not wake up from or control. He prayed that it shouldn’t end like the court martial hearing. Lee Jun felt his consciousness begin pulled towards the ship, faster and faster, until once again he found himself in a different environment altogether. He was now inside the bridge of the Royal Arc 2. It was larger and very similar same as the Arc’s bridge. As if seeing everything while wearing a mask, he could see a holographic map of the galaxy they were traversing through at the moment with the convoy. The Royal Arc 2 was docked at the space station at the moment, ready to be deployed. “Are you crazy!” shouted the Lieutenant to Lee Jun. His core crew was the same as always; so called friends from school that had been playing together. It was the same lieutenant from his last dream; his classmate Wu Fang Li. He had a knack of being loud and questioning. “Crazy? No.” replied Lee Jun calmly as his hands automatically moved through the air, shuffling through the holographic map. “Ready the rail guns and prepare the laser shooters. We are going to target those ships as we pass by.” “Don’t ignore me like that!” Wu Fang Li shouted as stepped in Lee Jun’s way. “The moon is the other way, using it like a slingshot might not even work! Worst case, we might be pulled into it’s orbit and crash!! There is no one Athenos who has tried something so ridiculous before! It’s unheard off!” “There are many things you may or may not have heard of while in Athenos. Legends are created by those who dare to take the risks not the cowards who hide behind the shadows.” Lee Jun calmly replied as he walked past Wu Fang to take this commander seat.” “…” Wu Fang had nothing to say. "If we were to use only our thrusters, we won’t be able to reach the convoy within time. They are already engaging the enemy. Taking a slight detour towards the moon and using it as a catapult will get us there a good thirty minutes earlier. I did all the maths and punched in the coordinates and which angle we need to take the leap.” Lee Jun slowly explained his plan to Wu Fang. “Theoretically, we switch on thrusters at that point at full power, we'll get a brief but powerful accelerated launch. Doubtless to say, there is a degree of risk, but both navigation and engineer have confirmed that we can do it. To sum it up, if we want to save the convoy, there is no other option." "Very well Lee, I don't like the risk to the ship but your right we have no choice. Had it not been for that person on the convoy, I would have never agreed to this ridiculous plan." Wu Fang replied resigning his fate in the hands of the eccentric genius Lee Jun. Lee Jun smiled, he always won these debates. As they began to make the pass at the moon, everything unraveled the way it had as Lee Jun recalled. However, this was a dream and something had to go wrong. They moved forward faster and faster, so far there was no problem. As they came up behind the moon they entered into its shadow... Lee Jun instinctively knew there was something wrong now; they had never entered its shadow. BOOM!!! The Royal Ark 2 shook violent as it reeled under the shockwave of an explosion. All the emergency lights turned on in the bridge. Lee Jun gripped on to his arm rests tightly. "Captain we hit a mine, we're losing power, entering spin" "How'd you miss a mine!" screamed Wu Fang as he brought up a screen to check the damage. "I don't know there shouldn’t have been any mines here!" Lee Jun screamed as he scrambled to relay the energy around the ship to deal with the damage. "Well you better hope there's nothing left of us at the end of this otherwise, my hands are going to be around your neck!" Wu Fang shouted at him. Lee Jun watched through the smoke as they spun in an inward fashion. As they entered into shorter range he could hear the screams for help, and see the explosions one after another. The Royal Arc 2 was completely wrecked. A space mine is every navigators nightmare. Camouflaged black like space, made of wave absorbent material, they are nearly impossible to detect as they lay motionless in space awaiting for their prey. Meanwhile a quest box popped up in front of Lee Jun. | “The convoy and its escorts have fallen to the BloodPack. Mission failed.” | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Lee Jun hurriedly closed the in game window and focused on salvaging of what remained of his cruiser. Although only a dream, Lee Jun was completely absorbed in it’s pace, completely forgetting that it was unreal. With only minimal support systems, they could only watch as their battleship headed closer and closer towards collision with the moon. Once again Lee Jun found himself in a dire state, the entire crew in the bridge stared at him. Their eyes looked at him, begging him to save them. Frightened and terrified of that look, Lee Jun sunk into his seat, hoping he would disappear. No matter how much he tried, he could not close his eyes. When his vision of the bridge finally faded, all he could he was a cruel yet familiar laughter… When Lee Jun opened his eyes, he found himself again in a large chamber filled with people looking at him with disdain, with contempt as he shuffled forward towards the front of the room. It was like déjà vu. Looking up he started to tremble, why was he back in this room! It was the court martial hearing! Why did he always end up coming back here? He sank to his knees and began crying in his dreams. Tearing himself away from the memory from the pain he looked around and felt fear. Just like before he was magically whisked away from the frightful memory and found himself somewhere else… He was now boarding a small shuttle; it was an operation to board the BloodPack planet HQ. For good or worse, Lee Jun went with the flow. He was leading the advance team, it was his job to get in there and take out the defense network. Normally, sending the commander to the frontlines was unheard off, but Lee Jun was an exceptionally brilliant hacker. There was no second to his skill sets in the game. His past record of success with computer hacking and off the cuff ideas, earned him a place in his own advance offense unit. Given his high status of a commander, along with him were a dozen Federation Marines to protect him while he was inside. Lee Jun recalled he had been excited and terrified for this would be his first time in ground combat. Although, it was an adventurous quest this mission panned out terribly. Four shuttles carrying the strike team were hovering at sub orbital awaiting further commands. "Cockpit to control, we are ready to land.” “Control to cockpit, deploy the strike team.” Wu Fang ordered. “This is your pilot, please be ready, we're going in.” The shuttle began to shudder and heat up, going down faster and faster. In the midst of the descent, Lee Jun could hear snippets on his com radio... "Taking fire, need cov-“ "Shuttle two is down, I repeat, Shuttle two is down…” *STATIC* "Keep proceeding!” Wu Fang ordered, there was a certain coldness in his voice. "Willy here, Shuttle 4, is hit…-ARGHH!” The mariners in Lee Jun’s began whispering to each other, ‘half the strike team is dead!’ Panic was visibly set in and the team’s morale was down. "Just shut up and pray.” Lee Jun blurted out as he gripped on to his safety gear. As captain, he could only be stern. As their shuttle landed safely, the safety gear unfastened and the rear door of the craft opened up. The mariners quickly exited the shuttle and assembled in a protective formation. They had finally landed on the planet. Judging by the fireballs in the sky, they had lost the other three shuttles. “Go, go, go, we can't turn back now!” Lee Jun shouted as the marines stood dazed. Regaining their composure they slowly headed towards the enemy outpost. As long as they could get Lee Jun inside any enemy base, they would be able to accomplish their mission and pull down the enemy defense network. Lee Jun began to tremble; it was just like that time. From here on out everything went wrong with this mission. Unlike all his previous memories, Lee Jun was not frightened here, if anything his heart burnt with fury. This was the very mission he was betrayed. As if on cue, a stun mine went off. Then there was a loud bang and screaming, as the marines moved for the door of the outpost to take cover, Lee Jun quietly followed. Looking over the shoulders of the mariners how covered him; he could see he was standing in a cess pool of blood. The Corporal of this team had been hit and all his innards lay spread all over the place. Lee threw up and started to fall to his knees when one of the marines grabbed him and dragged him forward. They started running toward the bunkers in front of them. Running forward Lee Jun wasn't aware of the tears streaking down his face, or least he hadn't the first time. This time he was able to feel each tear rolling down his cheeks, he felt so ashamed for being such a wimp. The mere sight of blood then used to give him the chills. There were fires, lasers, explosions, bodies, and screaming everywhere. If there was a hell Lee Jun had been sure that this was it. Somehow they had made it inside the outpost but there were less of them now. Only a handful had made it this far but they had to keep going to finish the mission. One of the marines handed him a gun as they consolidated their position. Lee Jun held on to it even though he didn't have the skills to use it. Even if he fired shots most of them were likely to miss. Regardless of his accuracy, the situation now demanded him to carry it as they moved forward. The Marines picked up their pace and Lee Jun stumbled and fumbled, as he barely managed to keep up with them. Pushing forward, they made it inside, moving steadily deeper. Each step, each doorway paved in blood until they had made it to the last door. By this point there were only two marines left and Lee was virtually painted red in blood and burns. This mission was where learnt the true meaning of war; the screams of horror and the blood. The violence was nothing like he had experienced in space where it was clean and quiet. Space wars simply involved planning and strategies, a few laser showers and voila the mission would be accomplished! However, the frontlines were far more unnerving. As the last two marines went through the door there was a hail of laser fire that hit them. Their bodies jerking back like leaves on a breeze, they died before they could even hit the ground. Fortunately, for Lee Jun, one of them had thrown a grenade through the door and there was a pair of explosions which blew the marines bodies back out onto Lee Jun. At this point it was too much he just couldn't do it anymore, his mind wanted to fight on but his body refused to budge. The marines were gone, he was covered in blood, and there were enemies at the end of the hallway. Lee Jun ran back the way they came until he found a small hole, a closet whatever it was it was and hid himself there. It was small dark and dingy but safe. As he hid here, the laughing started….the same recurring cold and cruel laughter……the floor of the cabinet gave away and Lee Jun hung on to an invisible ledge….the laugh grew louder and louder…… Suddenly Lee Jun found himself in a large chamber it was filled with people in uniform, his uniform. Everyone present looked at him with disdain and contempt. As he stumbled forward towards the front of the chamber, he was forced to halt in front of the tribunal. He was back at his court martial hearing. The judges were passing out the judgment. Like in the past they took it all away from him. He was stripped of his ranks, his awards, his achievements and uniform. His formal sword which marked him as an officer was broken and thrown at his feet. As he stood there staring at months of work washed away, he could see Wu Fang in the distance laughing away. Lee Jun’s loss was Wu Fang’s gain. Blindly trusting him…all of it …just to be betrayed. No one called out to Lee Jun, no one came to him. Everyone just left him to sink to the ground alone, broken. The cold laughter that haunted him returned…there is no escape from your past. There is no escape from your fears… ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. Confusing chapter.....maybe I should work on it a bit more. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Yes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1236&p=7179#p7179) | | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Road to freedom by Moskatero<br><br>Chapter 2<br><br>*WHACK*<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>HP - 128</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Don't overcook it!” Evangeline yelled at Kalthier after hitting him with a wooden spoon.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">This is hell…</span><br><br>Once again Kalthier cursed his luck. Not only were Evangeline's hits capable of killing him, due to the increased pain his race stupidly gave him he felt each hit like a sledgehammer. His life and bones only held together by food he ate. Worse still, after six hours of following her indications, striving to work under Evangeline's imposing presence and dreadful hits was becoming unbearable. Being hit with a wooden spoon over and over again only to be healed by that magnificent bread. Kalthier still couldnt fry a simple piece of meat.<br><br>What kind of monster is she, if it weren't for the food she gave me i would have died from a single hit of her wooden spoon. And this pain… 50% and i can hardly notice the difference, it just plain fucking hurts<br><br>Finally, after overcoming the distraction the pain caused him, not to mention learning to control the weak lethargic body his lowered stats left him with, Kalthier managed to successfully cook a slice of meat to perfection, or at least something above the blackened ruin that he'd been producing.<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained a new skill. Cooking (Beginner Lvl 1, 12%)</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Dexterity. DEX +1</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained a new stat. Fighting Spirit</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained a new stat. Concentration</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained a new stat. Endurance.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Grinning like an idiot he turned towards Eva, ready to show her his accomplishment (And thus avoid further attacks from the wooden spoon) Only to be dismayed after seeing her scowl. Silently, and just like every other time before it, Evangeline took the meat he just cooked and, without so much as a sniff, threw it in the garbage.<br><br>“Hey!, what the f...” Before he could finish, or rather get started on his cursing, Evangeline shoved something in his mouth. It was something soft, chewy and yet, it possessed a crispness in it's texture that was beyond perfect. Then there was the taste, a taste that almost caused his knees to buckle. It was succulent, juicy enough to be mistaken for raw meat and yet, judging by its taste it was cooked just slightly over medium rare. it was without a doubt better than any meat Kalthier could find in a five-star restaurant. It was good enough to make him forget his pain. Slowly Raising his head as he slowly chewed on the delicacy, he found Eva grinning at him.<br><br>You a eaten a simple bite of meat, cooked to perfection by a extremely skilled chef this is truly a masterpiece of simplicity, extracting everything the meat has to offer to the surface.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Fully restores Satiety<br>+1000 HP<br>Health regen +5%<br>Doubles max Stamina<br>Lasts for 10 Minutes (Due to a single bite being taken)</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>As much as the messages and the taste of the meat filled him with joy, it was the sight before him, that seeing Eva put down her wooden spoon, that actually caused caused him to scream out in relief.<br><br>“Yeaaaah..Ouch”<br><br>His celebration however, was interrupted by a gentle tap to the back of his head. (The fact that said tab felt like a punch and took close to thirty of his hitpoints was overlooked by a Kalthier who'd been slowly desensitized of chef explosive violence)<br><br>“Stop celebrating, you just spent six hours failing to fry single piece of meat, and not even a rare one at that. Really now, you don't show much promise as a chef, in fact, the idea of leaving you alone near a kitchen scares me” Apparently, Kalthier had a serious lack of control over his draconian features because Eva then proceeded to kiss him on the cheek giving him a hug, and completely shattering what was left of his control over his swirling emotions.<br><br>“...” Taking advantage of his baffled silence Eva carried on.<br><br>“But you have a determination the likes of which I've never seen, not even in those so called geniuses they sent me, who never lasted more than an hour under my tutelage. And yet here you are, a completely regular guy with no talent for cooking, the first to ever earn the right to be my apprentice”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have been offered an advanced apprenticeship by the legendary chef Evangeline Delacroft.<br><br>For as long as you are under her tutelage; <br>+5% skill growth<br>Free food prepared by Eva.<br><br>Requirements:<br>Must be deemed worthy by Evangeline.<br>Must perform all tasks ordered by Evangeline. Failure to do so lowers the intimacy and she might cancel you apprenticeship, casting you out (-1000 Intimacy with all chefs)<br><br>Rewards: Unknown, depends of the level of dedication the user shows gives towards this training. <br><br>If you wish to cancel the apprenticeship you must provide Eva with a good reason to avoid loss of intimacy.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Let me get this straight. The willingness to keep a useless, random promise to a person i just met, and a stupid determination that came disturbingly close to masochism, to finish what i started is something required by this madwoman to be considered worthy!?</span><br><br>Then again, it's free, heavenly food for as long as i stay here.<br><br> “I'll happily be your apprentice, as long as i never have to see that spoon of yours again” <br><br>“You don't like spoony? Ah well, we have a deal. First things first, you must learn the cooking skill. As i understand it you foreigners usually manage to grasp the basic concepts in a week or so, in your case we'll do it in two days” At this Kalthier couldn't help but feel a mix of relief and worry, so he laughed nervously.<br><br>“What!, twenty seconds as my apprentice and you're already laughing at my plans showing your kind teacher nothing but disrespect” Kalthier could see that Eva's usual anger was somehow fake, she looked like she was covering another emotion with her anger.<br><br>“Sorry, sorry. It's just that, thanks to your stupidly extreme methods of teaching, i already gained the cooking skill.” <br><br>“...” Her jaw hanging open Eva went to the garbage. all Kalthier saw was the changes in her expression as she checked the last piece of meat he cooked. first there was a frown, then came an expression of utter shock followed by relief. When Eva's expression finally settled into an evil grin that was so unlike her it caused Kalthier to ignore her when she once again threw the meat in the garbage. <br><br>“Hohoho, you really are talentless” Eva was now chuckling evilly as she approached Kalthier. he tried to take a step back but found his back against a wall.<br><br>“In order to make make such a talentless failure into a chef that won't ruin my reputation i'm going to have to severely extend your training” Seeing that evil grin on the grandmotherly chubby face once again caused Kalthier to break out in cold sweat.<br><br>“From now on, and until i tell you otherwise this will be your training schedule. From dawn to midday you will be here learning in a improved version of what you just went trough. Then you will head to the training hall. you can chose whatever weapon that suits you as long as you dedicate at least two hours of your daily training improving the Knife/dagger mastery skill”<br><br>Kalthier, whose body slowly became paler to the point that his skin looked almost human, was slowly shaking his head, his huge draconian eyes filled with tears of regret and fear.<br><br>“...After you stint in the training hall you will head to the library, where you will research the different topics i demand of you. Finally you will help me with the mass production of hell-bread”<br><br>Still ignoring the crestfallen look Kalthier was giving her Evangeline continued.<br><br>“Also, i know you foreigners tend to disappear from time to time so know this, every day that you miss will extend your apprenticeship longer. And don't even think of running away, i happen to cater to every member of royalty in the continent, not to mention the nobles. Creating a manhunt for a wayward apprentice is not the strangest request I've made of them”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have accepted the apprenticeship of hell by the legendary chef Evangeline Delacroft.<br><br>For as long as you are under her tutelage; <br>+5% skill growth<br>Free food prepared by Eva.<br><br>Requirements:<br>Must be deemed talentless by Evangeline.<br>Must have made food that impressed Evangeline.<br>Unknown<br><br>If you attempt to run away Eva will use her connections to call on a manhunt. Until you return to her +2000 Infamy. You will be forbidden to enter to any city controlled by a kingdom in the continent. Quests will be given for your capture. Dead or Alive.<br><br>Rewards: Unknown, depends of the level of dedication the user shows gives towards this training. <br><br>Cannot be canceled.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Fuck it, i'll just log out, wait a week and make a new character, i feel like the AI is toying with my emotions in a second i can go from relief to fear, from pride to anger, joy to hate...</span><br> <br>As Kyle was thinking of giving up on Kalthier he realized something. He actually felt something. Wonder began to fill his mind as he analyzed what happened. Not a day had passed, and, without him noticing, one of his long term goals of playing Royal Road was accomplished. Emotions, for the first time in twelve years he was feeling something. They were no longer an abstract concept.<br><br>Ever since 'THAT' happened the only thing he was ruled by was need. The need to eat, to sleep, to study, to talk and socialize; Always injecting the actions and words that were expected and required of him. A dead husk, twelve years devoid of feeling, until it finally came. The need to play Royal Road. <br><br>Completely ignoring the evil woman wearing an eager expression in front of him Kalthier continued to be lost in thought.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">The character creation...</span><br><br>He could hardly believe it. A week ago he was quitting his job, saying goodbye the the only person that he could consider a friend and feeling nothing about it. And this game, this wonderful invention managed to piss him off, to get an emotion out of him ten minutes into playing it.<br><br>“Well!...” The chilling tone of voice shook him out of his reverie. <br><br>Ignoring the baleful look that was directed at him and having decided to stick through whatever the game threw at him, he jumped, hugging a surprised Eva before firmly stating.<br><br>“Evangeline Delacroft, I will happily do everything you ask me in this ridiculous, hellish training of yours” Letting go of the frozen woman he walked towards the front of the bakery.<br><br>“I'm off to the training grounds, see you in a few hours, bye” One final look over his shoulder showed Kalthier a truly unique sight. Not only was Eva shocked to silence. Her face appeared to be stuck in a circle, from a cute, confused frown to a wistful smile, to an evil scowl and back to the frown. It filled Kalthier with giddy happiness as he went to find the training grounds, the best part, he was now completely aware of feeling it.<br><br>Having already walked a good portion of the city Kalthier knew exactly where to find the training hall.The smells, shouts and the intimidating giant by the entrance clearly marked it as he avoided it when he was looking for a restaurant earlier that morning.<br><br>Now constantly aware of the embarrassment he felt as people looked and pointed at him as he walked made him increase his pace to a trot.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Bloody appearance, i need to find a cloak, and something to hide the tail with.</span><br><br>As he reached the training hall he once again saw the mountain of a man, easily over seven feet tall (2.10m) the man constantly looked towards the interior of the building with his arms crossed and a bored, if slightly amused expression.<br><br>Having somehow sensed Kalthier's approach the man turned towards him.<br><br>“Greetings foreigner, are you by any chance interested in improving your migh… are you lost?”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Seriously? a six foot tall reddish creature with horns (cute little nubs) pointy teeth (ditto) and menacing monster like eyes () approaches him and he completely diminishes it, me. I Know he's tall but talk about overconfidence (Wishful thinking).</span><br><br>“Hello, my name is Kalthier and that old hag, Evangeline, told me to come here and train”<br><br>At the mention of Eva's name the guard came to full attention.<br><br> “Greetings Kalthier, my name is Bergroth and i am the master instructor of the city of Regus. I would like to know if you realize the consequences of lying to me and soiling her name?” The hostile attention Bergroth directed at Kalthier was impressive, but lame compared to Eva's. It only managed to piss him off.<br><br>“Who's lying?! And look, seeing as i'm now Eva's apprentice, apparently for life, I've earned the right to call that monstrous woman as i please... As long as she's not around of course.” <br><br>The instructor paled, burst out laughing, then paled again.<br><br>“Great so eventually we'll have two monster chefs to worry about...” Bergroth muttered “Anyhow, the training weapons are by the wall, you can chose the one you like the go hit a scarecrow” With that the man went back to watching people hit scarecrows, apparently doing his best to ignore Kalthier.<br><br>Seeing people swing all kinds of different weapons but no one using a knife or dagger Kalthier decided that it made sense, fighting armed only with a dagger seemed suicidal at best so he picked up a long-sword along with a knife.<br><br>Holding the long-sword in his right and and the knife in the left he approached an empty spot in the line of scarecrows.<br><br>*Whack*<br><br>His first blow with the long-sword left his whole arm tingling with numbness so he tried a couple of quick slashes with his knife as he recovered. The knife was awkward in his hand, and more often than not the edge of the blade hit the scarecrow at an angle, causing an ugly sound and sending reverberations through his arm. His main hand, holding the heavy wooden sword fared no better.<br><br>After an hour of swinging both weapons at the scarecrow Kalthier gave up. he had no idea how to wield a blade, much less use it and his arms had paid the price. His muscles prickled with a strange, numb pain, and a well of hate towards the scarecrow began to build within him. Sensing his lack of progress Kalthier went towards the instructor for, well, instructions.<br>“Hey, Bergroth , I need some help " <br><br>“Hah!, I saw you training. You need a miracle”<br><br>“Hey!, you're supposed to be an instructor, so instruct me damn you” <br><br>“Hehehe, don't let your feathers get ruffled so easily son, you'll live longer that way. Now, why don't you start by telling me why you chose those weapons?”<br><br>“Well, Eva insisted that I should practice with a knife and I've always been a fan of swords, plus holding a weapon in each hand not only looks cool but seems to give a wielder array of options for both attack and defense.”<br><br>Bergroth 's eyebrows shot up “Well, that’s unusually sound reasoning for someone who's never held a sword, but you missed something important. In order to wield two weapons at once one needs complete awareness of his body and surroundings.”<br><br>“I Also noticed that you took the light weapon in your off-hand.This is indeed the way to go in combat, as it allows you to easily parry attacks with it, leaving your opponents open to an attack from your main hand. But in training you should either use identical weapons in each hand, or constantly switch your light and heavy weapon. All in order to train your ambidexterity.”<br><br>“Now, give me your hands”<br><br>With a bit of reluctance, Kalthier extended his hands, which still held the wooden weapons, towards the instructor.<br><br>“See here, your grip on both weapons in wrong.” Slowly Bergroth moved Kalthier's hands, changing the way he held the wooden hilts. Showing him where his hands should be when he wanted to move the weapon a certain way. Reverse grips, throwing grips,and, picking up a sword with a longer hilt and a slightly longer blade, which he called a bastard sword, a two handed grip.<br><br>“You never know when you might lose a weapon, always be prepared to be just as effective with a single weapon.”<br><br>Approaching a scarecrow Bergroth then showed him how his whole body, not just his arms, should move when striking, he made a heavy emphasis in the footwork, calling it the savior or bane of fighters through the continent.<br><br>“Well, you've got some of the basics now. giving your build and your master's request i suggest that you practice using long-swords, bastard swords and knives in different combinations”<br><br>With that he turned and walked back to his spot by the entrance.<br><br>“Hey!, thanks for teaching me old man, your methods are quite refreshing after what i went through earlier at the hands of Eva.”<br><br>A raised hand with a small wave was all the indication he had that the giant heard him.<br><br>For the next four hours Kalthier did has he was bid, going from using two bastard swords, hacking violently at the scarecrow, to slashing it smoothly with a couple of knife-like daggers and everything in between until, soaked with sweat and a happy thrill, he got a couple of system messages.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Dexterity. DEX +1</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Strength. STR+1</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Stamina. STA+1</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Vitality. VIT+1</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Remembering he was on a tight schedule he waved goodbye to Bergroth who was busy talking with an elf, who Kalthier assumed was another player. Kalthier the ran back to the bakery. As soon as he entered the bakery Eva's voice came from the kitchen.<br><br>“Just in time. Your lunch is by the counter along with a list of books for you to read at the library. I already had a talk with head librarian. She knows you're coming and will give you the books on that list, plus she'll allow you to eat inside the library as you read”<br><br>Greedily taking the packed lunch which was giving of an exquisite aroma, he called back “Hey, Eva?, Where is the library?”<br><br>“Second largest building in the city, can't miss it, now scram” For a moment Kalthier thought he felt a bit of tenderness in her voice, but soon dismissed it as a deluded thought.<br><br>Walking out of the store with box and paper in hand, Kalthier headed towards what he once thought was the king's castle, for it was a big, cold looking building that resembled a fortress. However this building was without a doubt the second largest in the city, only inferior to the white cathedral that towered over the main plaza.<br><br>Resisting the urge to start eating as he walked Kalthier increased his pace. Soon he was walking through a large corridor in the chilling interior of the building, heading towards a small counter located at the center of the fortress-like library. An elderly woman, who looked just a day under three hundred greeted him with sharp, ancient eyes.<br><br>“Greetings. Judging by your appearance, not to mention the wonderful smell coming from that box, you must be Evangeline's apprentice, Kalthier”<br><br>“I am, are you by any chance the head librarian?” Kalthier figured that as long as people treated him better than Eva did, he could be polite towards them, especially if they knew her and could report back on his behavior.<br><br>“That I am. My name is Pleandra and, in the name of the city of Regus, I must offer you our deepest condolences and apologies”<br><br>Tilting his head to the side Kalthier asked her what she meant by that, though he felt he knew the answer<br><br>“You are miss Delacroft's apprentice, are you not? If so the whole city grieves at the suffering you will have to endure at her hands and we'll help you however we can. After all, her meals could keep a corpse dancing in hell, laughing as it burned to ash with the taste of glory on it's palate”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>The people of the city of Regus have heard of your plight and, knowing Evangeline deeply from rumors and past experiences, have decided to help you in any way then can.<br><br>Intimacy with the people of Regus (Minus Evangeline) +20</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>*Gulp*<br><br>Swallowing the knot of rekindled fear that started to rise in him, Kalthier tried to ignore the colorful description of his future, by trying lamely to change the subject.<br><br>“Yes, er… This are the books she wants me to read” Shoving the piece of paper towards the ancient woman he felt a small glimmer of relief. With other people helping him he might survive this. <br><br>His hope lasted until he saw the woman put a huge pile of thick, leather covered books that looked as old her in front of him.<br><br>“Yes, she told me in advance what you would be researching today, you can use one of the private rooms to your left. Enjoy”<br><br>Baffled at the amount of reading he was expected to do in a single day, make that closer to eight hours Kalthier silently picked the books and went towards the open door to his left. <br><br>Having found a single desk with a single chair he closed the door behind him and put his load on the table. reading the titles of the books while he opened his lunch Kalthier found himself intrigued by the diversity of subjects in the books the old woman gave him.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Herbology, the Hunter's Guide to Survival.<br>Biology of Versailles Vol 1<br>Deft Hands and Crafts Vol 1<br>The Forager, Never Starve in the Wilderness<br>Versailles Master Bestiary Vol 1</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Well, I can see how they can all somehow relate to cooking but how am it supposed to read this much in eight hours. Surely this are the books for the whole week</span><br><br>Turning his attention back to the lunch-box in front of him, Kalthier used his nose to inhale deeply.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Hummmm, Exquisite. This food is worth all my hard work and suffering. I wonder how much she charges for it.<br></span><br>After eating the pierced fish and rice Kalthier was once again shocked by the bonuses it gave him.<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have eaten the city of Regus' delicacy - The Sinful Scholar-<br>Made with the intention of helping lazy scholars in their studies, this this wonderful dish managed to combine the support from various herbs and spices while retaining the full flavor of a high class dish.<br><br>Fully restores satiety.<br>Reading speed 4x.<br>Helps memorization.<br><br>Lasts for 8 Hours.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Doubtful of such an effect even being possible he opened the herbology book to random page and read it. after twenty seconds he closed the book and with his eyes closed he silently repeated what was on the page, word for word. <br><br>Impressed, and excited that such a thing was possible, he opened the book on the first page and began to read. Flipping the pages as fast as he could as not to interrupt his possessed eyes from reading at top speed.<br><br>Eight hours later he closed the final book and stretched. Then he checked the system messages he had ignored while he was reading.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Wisdom. WIS+3</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Intelligence. INT+4</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You are now aware of the existence of the following skills: Herbalism, Alchemy, Blacksmithing and Foraging. Continuous study of a determined skill allows one to easily learn it in practice.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Concentration. CON +6</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Cooking Skill is now Beginner Lvl 1 (24%) + 11%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Incredibly happy about his gains, even though he didn't completely understood some of them, Kalthier cleaned up the desk and went to return the books to the head librarian.<br><br>“Thanks for the books, they were quite interesting. See you tomorrow Pleandra”<br><br>“Wait!”<br><br>Stopping, Kalthier turned towards the woman who had a expression of complete disbelief that went against everything her face and eyes usually portrayed.<br><br>“Huh?”<br><br>“Surely you don't expect me to believe you read all of this in under eight hours?”<br><br>“What can I say, Eva's food is pure magic. It allowed me to read at four times my usual speed and memorize more of it that I could normally do.”<br><br>This started a thirty minute long quiz. Pleandra asked Kalthier different questions regarding different subjects located in different parts of the books he just read. After answering everything perfectly the old woman was left speechless as Kalthier grinned from ear to ear.<br><br>“I'd love to stay and chat but i'm already late as it is”<br><br>“W-wait. Tell your mistress that I wish to order some of that food she gave you. Price does not matter”<br><br>“Will do”<br><br>An unusual sight welcomed Kalthier at the bakery. Every single light was lit, illuminating the street under the night sky for blocks. Even more shocking was the sight of people moving in and out of it, leaving with bags full of bread. some where even eating hell-bread!. <br><br>Kalthier had never seen anyone even approach the rundown bakery. At nighttime, with light pouring out of every window he had to admit it looked quite impressive, and customers seemed to be drawn towards it.<br><br>Hurrying towards the back entrance Kalthier silently entered the kitchen.<br><br>“You're late!” Being received by Eva's scream rattled his brain. How was it that people kept sensing when he approached?.<br><br>“W-well… I...”<br><br>“Doesn't matter, now grab an apron, stand next to me and repeat everything I do”<br><br>The process of making hell-bread was completely alien to that of making ordinary bread. A dozen strange ingredients were mixed in freezing water, stirred, pummeled and massaged until they turned into a familiar ball of hellish tastes. more surprising still, it hardened upon contact with air.<br><br>Kalthier had trouble holding back his tears. Not only was he making such a horrid thing with his bare hands, people actually seemed eager to buy dozens of his dreadful creations, worse still, his cooking skill was actually decreasing as he made hundreds of hell-breads through the night.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Dexterity. DEX+2</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Cooking Skill is now at Beginner Lvl 1 (19%) -5%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained some Concentration. CON+1</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Congratulations my shinny, faithful apprentice, you made it through your first day. Now, you foreigners don't seem to need actual sleep so, to rest for a little while, I will make us some dinner, or is it breakfast by now? Then you can sleep for an hour before getting started on tomorrow's training”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">So I get less than an hour of rest each day? That will force me to log out for at least a day for every four i spend here, and that means only spending eight hours of sleeping and eating outside for every twenty-four hours of playing. Both of my bodies are going to break before this bloody apprenticeship is through.<br></span><br>After enjoying another wonderful meal and ignoring the jaw dropping effects it surely gave him, Kalthier readied himself for another day of hell-training. while trying to imagine where in the demonic hierarchy would Evangeline Delacroft stand. A Duchess at the very least, yes that would fit her, with a prince or two under her thumb. Smiling faintly at the imagery in his head he went towards the kitchen, determined to become a chef worthy of being Eva's apprentice, and savoring each and every emotion he felt in this world, the good, the bad and the terrifying.<br>*********************************************************************<br>Chapter 2 End<br>*********************************************************************<br>Author Notes<br><br>Well, here it is, chapter 2.<br>I have a friend who helps me proofread but it is somehow still lacking.<br>I had to cut this chapter in half in order to have something to post today and improve the second half, which i now chapter 3 in the making.<br><br>Hope you enjoined it. </div>

Road to freedom by Moskatero Chapter 2 *WHACK* | HP - 128 | | --- | “Don't overcook it!” Evangeline yelled at Kalthier after hitting him with a wooden spoon. This is hell… Once again Kalthier cursed his luck. Not only were Evangeline's hits capable of killing him, due to the increased pain his race stupidly gave him he felt each hit like a sledgehammer. His life and bones only held together by food he ate. Worse still, after six hours of following her indications, striving to work under Evangeline's imposing presence and dreadful hits was becoming unbearable. Being hit with a wooden spoon over and over again only to be healed by that magnificent bread. Kalthier still couldnt fry a simple piece of meat. What kind of monster is she, if it weren't for the food she gave me i would have died from a single hit of her wooden spoon. And this pain… 50% and i can hardly notice the difference, it just plain fucking hurts Finally, after overcoming the distraction the pain caused him, not to mention learning to control the weak lethargic body his lowered stats left him with, Kalthier managed to successfully cook a slice of meat to perfection, or at least something above the blackened ruin that he'd been producing. | You have gained a new skill. Cooking (Beginner Lvl 1, 12%) | | --- | | You have gained some Dexterity. DEX +1 | | --- | | You have gained a new stat. Fighting Spirit | | --- | | You have gained a new stat. Concentration | | --- | | You have gained a new stat. Endurance. | | --- | Grinning like an idiot he turned towards Eva, ready to show her his accomplishment (And thus avoid further attacks from the wooden spoon) Only to be dismayed after seeing her scowl. Silently, and just like every other time before it, Evangeline took the meat he just cooked and, without so much as a sniff, threw it in the garbage. “Hey!, what the f...” Before he could finish, or rather get started on his cursing, Evangeline shoved something in his mouth. It was something soft, chewy and yet, it possessed a crispness in it's texture that was beyond perfect. Then there was the taste, a taste that almost caused his knees to buckle. It was succulent, juicy enough to be mistaken for raw meat and yet, judging by its taste it was cooked just slightly over medium rare. it was without a doubt better than any meat Kalthier could find in a five-star restaurant. It was good enough to make him forget his pain. Slowly Raising his head as he slowly chewed on the delicacy, he found Eva grinning at him. You a eaten a simple bite of meat, cooked to perfection by a extremely skilled chef this is truly a masterpiece of simplicity, extracting everything the meat has to offer to the surface. | Fully restores Satiety+1000 HPHealth regen +5%Doubles max StaminaLasts for 10 Minutes (Due to a single bite being taken) | | --- | As much as the messages and the taste of the meat filled him with joy, it was the sight before him, that seeing Eva put down her wooden spoon, that actually caused caused him to scream out in relief. “Yeaaaah..Ouch” His celebration however, was interrupted by a gentle tap to the back of his head. (The fact that said tab felt like a punch and took close to thirty of his hitpoints was overlooked by a Kalthier who'd been slowly desensitized of chef explosive violence) “Stop celebrating, you just spent six hours failing to fry single piece of meat, and not even a rare one at that. Really now, you don't show much promise as a chef, in fact, the idea of leaving you alone near a kitchen scares me” Apparently, Kalthier had a serious lack of control over his draconian features because Eva then proceeded to kiss him on the cheek giving him a hug, and completely shattering what was left of his control over his swirling emotions. “...” Taking advantage of his baffled silence Eva carried on. “But you have a determination the likes of which I've never seen, not even in those so called geniuses they sent me, who never lasted more than an hour under my tutelage. And yet here you are, a completely regular guy with no talent for cooking, the first to ever earn the right to be my apprentice” | You have been offered an advanced apprenticeship by the legendary chef Evangeline Delacroft.For as long as you are under her tutelage; +5% skill growthFree food prepared by Eva.Requirements:Must be deemed worthy by Evangeline.Must perform all tasks ordered by Evangeline. Failure to do so lowers the intimacy and she might cancel you apprenticeship, casting you out (-1000 Intimacy with all chefs)Rewards: Unknown, depends of the level of dedication the user shows gives towards this training. If you wish to cancel the apprenticeship you must provide Eva with a good reason to avoid loss of intimacy. | | --- | Let me get this straight. The willingness to keep a useless, random promise to a person i just met, and a stupid determination that came disturbingly close to masochism, to finish what i started is something required by this madwoman to be considered worthy!? Then again, it's free, heavenly food for as long as i stay here. “I'll happily be your apprentice, as long as i never have to see that spoon of yours again” “You don't like spoony? Ah well, we have a deal. First things first, you must learn the cooking skill. As i understand it you foreigners usually manage to grasp the basic concepts in a week or so, in your case we'll do it in two days” At this Kalthier couldn't help but feel a mix of relief and worry, so he laughed nervously. “What!, twenty seconds as my apprentice and you're already laughing at my plans showing your kind teacher nothing but disrespect” Kalthier could see that Eva's usual anger was somehow fake, she looked like she was covering another emotion with her anger. “Sorry, sorry. It's just that, thanks to your stupidly extreme methods of teaching, i already gained the cooking skill.” “...” Her jaw hanging open Eva went to the garbage. all Kalthier saw was the changes in her expression as she checked the last piece of meat he cooked. first there was a frown, then came an expression of utter shock followed by relief. When Eva's expression finally settled into an evil grin that was so unlike her it caused Kalthier to ignore her when she once again threw the meat in the garbage. “Hohoho, you really are talentless” Eva was now chuckling evilly as she approached Kalthier. he tried to take a step back but found his back against a wall. “In order to make make such a talentless failure into a chef that won't ruin my reputation i'm going to have to severely extend your training” Seeing that evil grin on the grandmotherly chubby face once again caused Kalthier to break out in cold sweat. “From now on, and until i tell you otherwise this will be your training schedule. From dawn to midday you will be here learning in a improved version of what you just went trough. Then you will head to the training hall. you can chose whatever weapon that suits you as long as you dedicate at least two hours of your daily training improving the Knife/dagger mastery skill” Kalthier, whose body slowly became paler to the point that his skin looked almost human, was slowly shaking his head, his huge draconian eyes filled with tears of regret and fear. “...After you stint in the training hall you will head to the library, where you will research the different topics i demand of you. Finally you will help me with the mass production of hell-bread” Still ignoring the crestfallen look Kalthier was giving her Evangeline continued. “Also, i know you foreigners tend to disappear from time to time so know this, every day that you miss will extend your apprenticeship longer. And don't even think of running away, i happen to cater to every member of royalty in the continent, not to mention the nobles. Creating a manhunt for a wayward apprentice is not the strangest request I've made of them” | You have accepted the apprenticeship of hell by the legendary chef Evangeline Delacroft.For as long as you are under her tutelage; +5% skill growthFree food prepared by Eva.Requirements:Must be deemed talentless by Evangeline.Must have made food that impressed Evangeline.UnknownIf you attempt to run away Eva will use her connections to call on a manhunt. Until you return to her +2000 Infamy. You will be forbidden to enter to any city controlled by a kingdom in the continent. Quests will be given for your capture. Dead or Alive.Rewards: Unknown, depends of the level of dedication the user shows gives towards this training. Cannot be canceled. | | --- | Fuck it, i'll just log out, wait a week and make a new character, i feel like the AI is toying with my emotions in a second i can go from relief to fear, from pride to anger, joy to hate... As Kyle was thinking of giving up on Kalthier he realized something. He actually felt something. Wonder began to fill his mind as he analyzed what happened. Not a day had passed, and, without him noticing, one of his long term goals of playing Royal Road was accomplished. Emotions, for the first time in twelve years he was feeling something. They were no longer an abstract concept. Ever since 'THAT' happened the only thing he was ruled by was need. The need to eat, to sleep, to study, to talk and socialize; Always injecting the actions and words that were expected and required of him. A dead husk, twelve years devoid of feeling, until it finally came. The need to play Royal Road. Completely ignoring the evil woman wearing an eager expression in front of him Kalthier continued to be lost in thought. The character creation... He could hardly believe it. A week ago he was quitting his job, saying goodbye the the only person that he could consider a friend and feeling nothing about it. And this game, this wonderful invention managed to piss him off, to get an emotion out of him ten minutes into playing it. “Well!...” The chilling tone of voice shook him out of his reverie. Ignoring the baleful look that was directed at him and having decided to stick through whatever the game threw at him, he jumped, hugging a surprised Eva before firmly stating. “Evangeline Delacroft, I will happily do everything you ask me in this ridiculous, hellish training of yours” Letting go of the frozen woman he walked towards the front of the bakery. “I'm off to the training grounds, see you in a few hours, bye” One final look over his shoulder showed Kalthier a truly unique sight. Not only was Eva shocked to silence. Her face appeared to be stuck in a circle, from a cute, confused frown to a wistful smile, to an evil scowl and back to the frown. It filled Kalthier with giddy happiness as he went to find the training grounds, the best part, he was now completely aware of feeling it. Having already walked a good portion of the city Kalthier knew exactly where to find the training hall.The smells, shouts and the intimidating giant by the entrance clearly marked it as he avoided it when he was looking for a restaurant earlier that morning. Now constantly aware of the embarrassment he felt as people looked and pointed at him as he walked made him increase his pace to a trot. Bloody appearance, i need to find a cloak, and something to hide the tail with. As he reached the training hall he once again saw the mountain of a man, easily over seven feet tall (2.10m) the man constantly looked towards the interior of the building with his arms crossed and a bored, if slightly amused expression. Having somehow sensed Kalthier's approach the man turned towards him. “Greetings foreigner, are you by any chance interested in improving your migh… are you lost?” Seriously? a six foot tall reddish creature with horns (cute little nubs) pointy teeth (ditto) and menacing monster like eyes () approaches him and he completely diminishes it, me. I Know he's tall but talk about overconfidence (Wishful thinking). “Hello, my name is Kalthier and that old hag, Evangeline, told me to come here and train” At the mention of Eva's name the guard came to full attention. “Greetings Kalthier, my name is Bergroth and i am the master instructor of the city of Regus. I would like to know if you realize the consequences of lying to me and soiling her name?” The hostile attention Bergroth directed at Kalthier was impressive, but lame compared to Eva's. It only managed to piss him off. “Who's lying?! And look, seeing as i'm now Eva's apprentice, apparently for life, I've earned the right to call that monstrous woman as i please... As long as she's not around of course.” The instructor paled, burst out laughing, then paled again. “Great so eventually we'll have two monster chefs to worry about...” Bergroth muttered “Anyhow, the training weapons are by the wall, you can chose the one you like the go hit a scarecrow” With that the man went back to watching people hit scarecrows, apparently doing his best to ignore Kalthier. Seeing people swing all kinds of different weapons but no one using a knife or dagger Kalthier decided that it made sense, fighting armed only with a dagger seemed suicidal at best so he picked up a long-sword along with a knife. Holding the long-sword in his right and and the knife in the left he approached an empty spot in the line of scarecrows. *Whack* His first blow with the long-sword left his whole arm tingling with numbness so he tried a couple of quick slashes with his knife as he recovered. The knife was awkward in his hand, and more often than not the edge of the blade hit the scarecrow at an angle, causing an ugly sound and sending reverberations through his arm. His main hand, holding the heavy wooden sword fared no better. After an hour of swinging both weapons at the scarecrow Kalthier gave up. he had no idea how to wield a blade, much less use it and his arms had paid the price. His muscles prickled with a strange, numb pain, and a well of hate towards the scarecrow began to build within him. Sensing his lack of progress Kalthier went towards the instructor for, well, instructions. “Hey, Bergroth , I need some help " “Hah!, I saw you training. You need a miracle” “Hey!, you're supposed to be an instructor, so instruct me damn you” “Hehehe, don't let your feathers get ruffled so easily son, you'll live longer that way. Now, why don't you start by telling me why you chose those weapons?” “Well, Eva insisted that I should practice with a knife and I've always been a fan of swords, plus holding a weapon in each hand not only looks cool but seems to give a wielder array of options for both attack and defense.” Bergroth 's eyebrows shot up “Well, that’s unusually sound reasoning for someone who's never held a sword, but you missed something important. In order to wield two weapons at once one needs complete awareness of his body and surroundings.” “I Also noticed that you took the light weapon in your off-hand.This is indeed the way to go in combat, as it allows you to easily parry attacks with it, leaving your opponents open to an attack from your main hand. But in training you should either use identical weapons in each hand, or constantly switch your light and heavy weapon. All in order to train your ambidexterity.” “Now, give me your hands” With a bit of reluctance, Kalthier extended his hands, which still held the wooden weapons, towards the instructor. “See here, your grip on both weapons in wrong.” Slowly Bergroth moved Kalthier's hands, changing the way he held the wooden hilts. Showing him where his hands should be when he wanted to move the weapon a certain way. Reverse grips, throwing grips,and, picking up a sword with a longer hilt and a slightly longer blade, which he called a bastard sword, a two handed grip. “You never know when you might lose a weapon, always be prepared to be just as effective with a single weapon.” Approaching a scarecrow Bergroth then showed him how his whole body, not just his arms, should move when striking, he made a heavy emphasis in the footwork, calling it the savior or bane of fighters through the continent. “Well, you've got some of the basics now. giving your build and your master's request i suggest that you practice using long-swords, bastard swords and knives in different combinations” With that he turned and walked back to his spot by the entrance. “Hey!, thanks for teaching me old man, your methods are quite refreshing after what i went through earlier at the hands of Eva.” A raised hand with a small wave was all the indication he had that the giant heard him. For the next four hours Kalthier did has he was bid, going from using two bastard swords, hacking violently at the scarecrow, to slashing it smoothly with a couple of knife-like daggers and everything in between until, soaked with sweat and a happy thrill, he got a couple of system messages. | You have gained some Dexterity. DEX +1 | | --- | | You have gained some Strength. STR+1 | | --- | | You have gained some Stamina. STA+1 | | --- | | You have gained some Vitality. VIT+1 | | --- | Remembering he was on a tight schedule he waved goodbye to Bergroth who was busy talking with an elf, who Kalthier assumed was another player. Kalthier the ran back to the bakery. As soon as he entered the bakery Eva's voice came from the kitchen. “Just in time. Your lunch is by the counter along with a list of books for you to read at the library. I already had a talk with head librarian. She knows you're coming and will give you the books on that list, plus she'll allow you to eat inside the library as you read” Greedily taking the packed lunch which was giving of an exquisite aroma, he called back “Hey, Eva?, Where is the library?” “Second largest building in the city, can't miss it, now scram” For a moment Kalthier thought he felt a bit of tenderness in her voice, but soon dismissed it as a deluded thought. Walking out of the store with box and paper in hand, Kalthier headed towards what he once thought was the king's castle, for it was a big, cold looking building that resembled a fortress. However this building was without a doubt the second largest in the city, only inferior to the white cathedral that towered over the main plaza. Resisting the urge to start eating as he walked Kalthier increased his pace. Soon he was walking through a large corridor in the chilling interior of the building, heading towards a small counter located at the center of the fortress-like library. An elderly woman, who looked just a day under three hundred greeted him with sharp, ancient eyes. “Greetings. Judging by your appearance, not to mention the wonderful smell coming from that box, you must be Evangeline's apprentice, Kalthier” “I am, are you by any chance the head librarian?” Kalthier figured that as long as people treated him better than Eva did, he could be polite towards them, especially if they knew her and could report back on his behavior. “That I am. My name is Pleandra and, in the name of the city of Regus, I must offer you our deepest condolences and apologies” Tilting his head to the side Kalthier asked her what she meant by that, though he felt he knew the answer “You are miss Delacroft's apprentice, are you not? If so the whole city grieves at the suffering you will have to endure at her hands and we'll help you however we can. After all, her meals could keep a corpse dancing in hell, laughing as it burned to ash with the taste of glory on it's palate” | The people of the city of Regus have heard of your plight and, knowing Evangeline deeply from rumors and past experiences, have decided to help you in any way then can.Intimacy with the people of Regus (Minus Evangeline) +20 | | --- | *Gulp* Swallowing the knot of rekindled fear that started to rise in him, Kalthier tried to ignore the colorful description of his future, by trying lamely to change the subject. “Yes, er… This are the books she wants me to read” Shoving the piece of paper towards the ancient woman he felt a small glimmer of relief. With other people helping him he might survive this. His hope lasted until he saw the woman put a huge pile of thick, leather covered books that looked as old her in front of him. “Yes, she told me in advance what you would be researching today, you can use one of the private rooms to your left. Enjoy” Baffled at the amount of reading he was expected to do in a single day, make that closer to eight hours Kalthier silently picked the books and went towards the open door to his left. Having found a single desk with a single chair he closed the door behind him and put his load on the table. reading the titles of the books while he opened his lunch Kalthier found himself intrigued by the diversity of subjects in the books the old woman gave him. | Herbology, the Hunter's Guide to Survival.Biology of Versailles Vol 1Deft Hands and Crafts Vol 1The Forager, Never Starve in the WildernessVersailles Master Bestiary Vol 1 | | --- | Well, I can see how they can all somehow relate to cooking but how am it supposed to read this much in eight hours. Surely this are the books for the whole week Turning his attention back to the lunch-box in front of him, Kalthier used his nose to inhale deeply. Hummmm, Exquisite. This food is worth all my hard work and suffering. I wonder how much she charges for it. After eating the pierced fish and rice Kalthier was once again shocked by the bonuses it gave him. | You have eaten the city of Regus' delicacy - The Sinful Scholar-Made with the intention of helping lazy scholars in their studies, this this wonderful dish managed to combine the support from various herbs and spices while retaining the full flavor of a high class dish.Fully restores satiety.Reading speed 4x.Helps memorization.Lasts for 8 Hours. | | --- | Doubtful of such an effect even being possible he opened the herbology book to random page and read it. after twenty seconds he closed the book and with his eyes closed he silently repeated what was on the page, word for word. Impressed, and excited that such a thing was possible, he opened the book on the first page and began to read. Flipping the pages as fast as he could as not to interrupt his possessed eyes from reading at top speed. Eight hours later he closed the final book and stretched. Then he checked the system messages he had ignored while he was reading. | You have gained some Wisdom. WIS+3 | | --- | | You have gained some Intelligence. INT+4 | | --- | | You are now aware of the existence of the following skills: Herbalism, Alchemy, Blacksmithing and Foraging. Continuous study of a determined skill allows one to easily learn it in practice. | | --- | | You have gained some Concentration. CON +6 | | --- | | Cooking Skill is now Beginner Lvl 1 (24%) + 11% | | --- | Incredibly happy about his gains, even though he didn't completely understood some of them, Kalthier cleaned up the desk and went to return the books to the head librarian. “Thanks for the books, they were quite interesting. See you tomorrow Pleandra” “Wait!” Stopping, Kalthier turned towards the woman who had a expression of complete disbelief that went against everything her face and eyes usually portrayed. “Huh?” “Surely you don't expect me to believe you read all of this in under eight hours?” “What can I say, Eva's food is pure magic. It allowed me to read at four times my usual speed and memorize more of it that I could normally do.” This started a thirty minute long quiz. Pleandra asked Kalthier different questions regarding different subjects located in different parts of the books he just read. After answering everything perfectly the old woman was left speechless as Kalthier grinned from ear to ear. “I'd love to stay and chat but i'm already late as it is” “W-wait. Tell your mistress that I wish to order some of that food she gave you. Price does not matter” “Will do” An unusual sight welcomed Kalthier at the bakery. Every single light was lit, illuminating the street under the night sky for blocks. Even more shocking was the sight of people moving in and out of it, leaving with bags full of bread. some where even eating hell-bread!. Kalthier had never seen anyone even approach the rundown bakery. At nighttime, with light pouring out of every window he had to admit it looked quite impressive, and customers seemed to be drawn towards it. Hurrying towards the back entrance Kalthier silently entered the kitchen. “You're late!” Being received by Eva's scream rattled his brain. How was it that people kept sensing when he approached?. “W-well… I...” “Doesn't matter, now grab an apron, stand next to me and repeat everything I do” The process of making hell-bread was completely alien to that of making ordinary bread. A dozen strange ingredients were mixed in freezing water, stirred, pummeled and massaged until they turned into a familiar ball of hellish tastes. more surprising still, it hardened upon contact with air. Kalthier had trouble holding back his tears. Not only was he making such a horrid thing with his bare hands, people actually seemed eager to buy dozens of his dreadful creations, worse still, his cooking skill was actually decreasing as he made hundreds of hell-breads through the night. | You have gained some Dexterity. DEX+2 | | --- | | Cooking Skill is now at Beginner Lvl 1 (19%) -5% | | --- | | You have gained some Concentration. CON+1 | | --- | “Congratulations my shinny, faithful apprentice, you made it through your first day. Now, you foreigners don't seem to need actual sleep so, to rest for a little while, I will make us some dinner, or is it breakfast by now? Then you can sleep for an hour before getting started on tomorrow's training” So I get less than an hour of rest each day? That will force me to log out for at least a day for every four i spend here, and that means only spending eight hours of sleeping and eating outside for every twenty-four hours of playing. Both of my bodies are going to break before this bloody apprenticeship is through. After enjoying another wonderful meal and ignoring the jaw dropping effects it surely gave him, Kalthier readied himself for another day of hell-training. while trying to imagine where in the demonic hierarchy would Evangeline Delacroft stand. A Duchess at the very least, yes that would fit her, with a prince or two under her thumb. Smiling faintly at the imagery in his head he went towards the kitchen, determined to become a chef worthy of being Eva's apprentice, and savoring each and every emotion he felt in this world, the good, the bad and the terrifying. ********************************************************************* Chapter 2 End ********************************************************************* Author Notes Well, here it is, chapter 2. I have a friend who helps me proofread but it is somehow still lacking. I had to cut this chapter in half in order to have something to post today and improve the second half, which i now chapter 3 in the making. Hope you enjoined it.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&amp;t=1308&amp;p=7715#p7715" target="_blank">Previous Chapter</a> <br> <br>Author's Note: <br> <br>This is a very short one but I just couldn't add anything else. It was supposed to contain many other things but it looked like a good place to end the chapter and Ace no longer wanted to do anything. He needed a bit of a rest before being able to stand up again. ;) <br> <br>**** <br> <br>"You sure this is a good idea? We'll waste half of our resources for it." <br> <br>"We must. No one can escape after opposing us or we'll become a laughing stock. We can't let our name be damaged!" <br> <br>"But it's just one person! And a kid at that!" <br> <br>"That's why we'll look like idiots if truth was ever found!" <br> <br>"We'll look like monsters if we actually succeed. Do you imagine how will the world see it? As you just said, they don't know a thing about him doing anything!" <br> <br>"Shut up, Caro. You seem to not understand the point of it so just go and follow your orders. I hope you can do that at least, can't you?" <br> <br>*** <br> <br>Ace woke up in a welcoming blackness. There was no one around to disturb him but it was time to get up. He had promised those people outside to play a game with them and he didn't want to disappoint anyone. <br> <br>Outside of the wagon it was much lighter. Wagons were moved to make a big circle and large fires had been lighted in two rings; one outside, surrounding wagons and one inside, where all the people had gathered. None of them were sleeping, all looking around with wide eyes, grasping their weapons tightly. 'So you chose to be sitting ducks? How boring.' <br> <br>But they were in a large group which prevented him from just assassinating them one by one. He needed some other way to take their lives. 'Should I just throw stuff at them? But that would reveal me... Mask!' <br> <br>He rummaged through his backpack and found the fox mask he had bought in the carnival. It covered his eyes and nose, leaving his malicious smile to be seen by everyone. Done, he looked for something to throw in his inventory. There were five throwing axes, two metal fans, thirty swords and fifty throwing knifes. Well, there were also fifteen claymores but he wasn't sure whether he would throw them or be stuck at trying to lift them. <br> <br>Carefully he took out all the weapons in succession at different roofs of all wagons. He covered all blades with random poisons to be tested out; some would probably be deadly while others probably only gave diarrhoea. He was going to enjoy watching them deal with it all. <br> <br>*Swiish!* <br> <br>One of the axes embedded themselves into a mercenary's forehead. "Awghh!" he screamed, pulling it off. Purple liquid dripped from it. <br> <br>Moment later when people grasped the situation, they looked at the direction the weapon had come from. A dark figure stood on a wagon, outlined by the fires. His clothes were tattered, burnt and bloody along with his whole body. Crimson covered everything but a single piece of wood which resembled a trickster fox. It gave off a strange contrast with the rest of the body. The guy held an axe which quickly embedded itself into another mercenary. <br> <br>This time white foam formed onto the wound and the man started to claw at it. "Burns! It burns! Get it off of me!" he screamed but no one was able to help him. There simply were nothing on the man’s wound. So all everyone could do was watch in horror as the man kept on tearing his own skin and screaming. That is until one of them couldn't it take it any more and killed his own comrade. "I'm sorry Lilian..." <br> <br>'So it was a girl? Oh well, too bad. But that poison was interesting. Not only did it corrode blood but made a person start to hallucinate in an instant. If I ever planned to scare anyone to death, this would be the perfect choice.' Strange shadows danced in his eyes as he jumped behind the wagons to reuse [Shadow Veil] and choose a different direction to attack from. Even if they had no mages, they could throw something at him and that would be dangerous. There was no reason to take any risks. <br> <br>"What is that thing? Is he even human?" <br> <br>"What are these cursed weapons?" <br> <br>"We're doomed! There's no chance for us to survive!" <br> <br>Ace listened to them walking on the rooftops, choosing a position. It was just luck that those poisons worked and were deadly. He didn't count on others to follow the same path. It was rare for many of his creations to actually be useful. Maybe every fifth or so brought actual results and even of those half were only minor de-buffs. But people had no knowledge of that and it showed on their paper white faces. <br> <br>"Calm down! If you lose to panic, we'll all be wiped out! We must determine from where he's attacking and catch him there! He's just a single person! And there are fires outlining him from both sides!" the pristinely clean mercenary said, still pretending to be the leader. He was annoying Ace so the kid aimed his next attack at him. <br> <br>The third try brought results. Of the worst kind, of course. The mercenary received only a small slash on the cheek and didn't seem to show any kinds of sickness. He even looked better, the wound closing up in seconds and his skin starting to glow soft yellow. 'Dammit. Why do poisonous plants mixed up sometimes turn into potions? It's stupid. And like always on all the wrong people' he cursed jumping down and finding another place to throw a dagger. <br> <br>It had no real effect again. The guy started to cough. 'Dammit'. <br> <br>"Look at it! This guy is just using whatever he has! It's all a farce to make us afraid!" some merchant shouted throwing a dagger back at Ace who easily avoided it and returned the favour by throwing a long sword at the guy. He, unlike the merchant, hit his target. It skewered the man's heart. <br> <br>Ace laughed maniacally. Merchants were a class without any defence characteristics allowing them to be easily killed. But even Ace didn't expect to see such a big contrast between his power and their defence. Were they level twenty or something? <br> <br>"How did he..." <br> <br>"Is that even possible? To one hit anyone?" <br> <br>"That's insane!" <br> <br>People shouted in raised voices with their wide eyes looking for confirmation from each other. It was an extremely rare thing to see anyone die from a single hit because people with such big differences never fought against each other. There was just no point to it. <br> <br>"He's a high level user. Be careful to evade all the projectiles!" <br> <br>"But we can't see him before he attacks!" <br> <br>"So you think you could evade then?" Ace asked in a whisper. "We'll see about that." <br> <br>This time instead of hiding he picked up a dagger coated in a random poison and started to run around. He jumped from one wagon to another, back and forth before throwing it from one of the farthest corners. It only scratched one of the merchant's hands but it was all it took for poison to take effect. The guy started to convulse and vomit blood. "Iagaha - waghga..." He tried saying something but no words could be understood between all the coughing. He died soon after that. <br> <br>To annoy them more Ace’s laugh echoed in the night's silence, disturbed only by the cracking of fire. He continued with his running around and throwing. There were still enough of them to hit someone with ease. <br> <br>One guy couldn't take it and tried to run through the fires in a vain hope to escape. "I hate those who try to run away before finishing what they had started" Ace hissed and jumped down from a wagon, appearing right in front of the man. He didn't live long after that. <br> <br>The game continued on. They had thought to protect themselves by making three rings of defences but now it worked against them. There was no way to escape his daggers that flew without ever missing their designed targets. <br> <br>"Should we make a break for it? Then at least some of us might survive" someone said, suggesting a new kind of plan which Ace didn't like at all. <br> <br>"Is everyone ready?" the leader mercenary asked after a moment’s delay. <br> <br>Ace hissed like an angry kitten and took out a bunch of daggers. Two of them were coated in one of his favourite poisons in existence. "Go mad!" he screamed, aiming it at the leader and the mercenary who suggested the stupid plan. They tried evading to the best of their abilities but mercenaries weren't known for their high agility. They tended to sneer at rogues who relied on quickness while priding themselves in their strength, now which was their folly.&nbsp; <br> <br>Theirs eyes turned red while face's twisted in strangest of ways, hands grabbed onto weapons and swung them. Crimson liquid splashed around and screams rose in the night as soft fires cracked continuously. Their warm light fell on the two who were slaughtering everything that moved, themselves included. Few people that managed to escape their eyes were picked off by uncounted for daggers. <br> <br>Ace watched it happening and smiled gleefully; the man who wanted to save everyone the most was about to be finished with killing them all. Only he and another berserker were left standing. Ace took out a piece of dried meat and sat down on an edge of a wagon. Dangling his legs, he watched the fight before him. <br> <br>Both men used claymores, wore similar armour and seemed equal in levels as neither had the advantage. Or wait. The pretend leader was bleeding from his eye, it couldn't be helping for him to see better. Yet both fighters were on equal footing. 'Does that mean the pretend leader is a much more experienced player?' <br> <br>Sparks flew as swords clashed, their wielders quickly attacking again and again. Somehow the claymores were moved easily in the hands of the two mercenaries as if they were as light as feathers. Left, left, right, left, left, a kick. 'So in berserk mode you don't fight fair even though normally you would? I haven't noticed that before.' <br> <br>That kick fell the plan maker and he received a huge slash over his chest which destroyed armour and took his last health points. Ace used that moment to sneak behind the pretend leader and use his attacks. "Curse of the Hungry! Heart-seeker!" It killed the man in an instant allowing Ace to look through his inventory. There were many maps, books, letters, orbs and jewellery. No heavy items like weapons or armor were present. <br> <br>"Aw... I expected him to have some more high level equipment as he kept his so clean. Probably he took care of it himself and then walked cleanly pretending to be rich. What a loser" he said, moving all the items besides a silver wing to his own inventory. After that he collected all the other items dropped by dead players and put out most of the fires. One was enough. <br> <br>He sat &nbsp;down next to it and decided to look through the messages he had received. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have leveled up!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have leveled up!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have leveled up!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have leveled up!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have leveled up!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Dagger master has reached Intermediate!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Flare has reached Master level!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Heart-seeker has reached Average 9!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Curse of the Hungry has reached Average 6!]/window] <br>[window]Phantasm has reached Average 3!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Phantasm has reached Beginner 4!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Backstab has reached Average 7!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Cut-throat has reached Average 7!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Shadow Veil has reached Average 10!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Silent Steps has reached Average 6!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Evasion has reached Average 5!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Instincts of a Predator has reached Average 4</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Alchemy mastery has reached Average 1!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>"When was the last time I looked through this?' he asked himself, deleting all the messages 'They're so annoying. Why can't I just turn them off...’ <br> <br>"They said I'm a high level user yet I doubt that. I'm still in the early numbers of a hundred. And the bastard L forgot to acknowledge my quest as finished so I didn't get the experience for the siege. I'm clearly behind many others who didn't waste half a year learning dagger fighting and continues to run around doing random stuff. It'll soon be a year since I'm in a game and I've only been in a single low levelled dungeon! What am I doing?" he asked himself, gazing at the flames. &nbsp;"Eh... Who cares? I'm fine and with that. What's important is expanding my knowledge." <br> <br>He shook his head and ate some barley bread. It was as soft as a rock and as tasty as paper but together with water it filled his stomach and his satiety went up to the maximum. Then he took a journal out of his bag. It was the girl's from the magician guild he'd once wiped out.&nbsp; <br> <br>He had never managed to finish reading it while she almost overthrew his rule in the guild. Maybe there was more to her rage when just being killed and losing all items? People tend to share their stories with books for some reason. He could never understand why they did it, there was memory for that which kept all the important things and removed the unnecessary ones. <br> <br>After ten minutes of reading an interesting paragraph caught his eye. <br> <br>*I think there's a way to combine magic with weaponry but not in a way enchanters do that. Instead of giving a small buff or adding a permanent quality, it would add an ability to that particular weapon for a duration you keep the spell on it. <br> <br>I've tested it with a fireball and an ice type sword. It still did ice type damage but every fifth strike it flamed up dealing extreme heat damage. The contact with it burned enemies along with allies. There was no difference even if it was me, the caster. I'll have to find a way to control it. <br> <br>When you try to combine elements of the same type, the weapon's power is doubled but it breaks in a short time. Ice type with ice ball deals extreme cold damage and apply a random chance to freeze your opponent. The sword broke after three minutes. Same happened with other elements.* <br> <br>After that she wrote down all other experiments that she had conducted with fusing magic with metals but there was hardly anything more than the beginning said. 'If that is truth, why didn't I read this thing before?' <br> <br>He took out a normal dagger with no specifics. "Gust!" he said trying to push it inside the weapon. After a bit of fighting against a wind he somehow managed to get it in. "Item Preview!" <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Dagger of Raging Wind! <br> <br>Attack Damage 30 <br>Durability 20/20 <br> <br>Simple dagger made by a good blacksmith. <br> <br>+ Each hit releases a small gust dealing small damage. Some attacks might push your opponent back</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>"Amazing! How did I survive so long without it? If this low level skill can do this much, what would happen if I knew a truly strong spell? Maybe I should acquire one just for that? I'll see about that when I get to the city. I should read all other books I had taken up till now. They might actually contain useful information!" he said with a smile and exchanged the girl's journal for the guild leader's one. It was possible that the old man was actually the one that had taught the girl. <br> <br>It showed up to have been a vain hope. There was nothing besides a few notes about the girl's talents and how she's the best student he'd ever had. Everything else was only guild's things so quite soon he threw the journal into the fire. There was no point in carrying a worthless book. <br> <br>After that he took out a pot, filled it with water and cast [Gust] to keep it afloat over the fire. When water boiled, he put a new combination of herbs in and took out another book to read. This was how he spent four days; creating potions and reading everything ranging from magic to history and fighting descriptions. <br> <br>On the fifth day's morning he heard hoof beats from somewhere far away. 'They're early' he thought yawning and put all of his things in the backpack. Then used [Shadow Veil] and decided to watch from the forest. One round against them was more than enough for him. He was pretty sure they had created gazillions of ways to counter every step he had done or might do. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have come here. <br> <br>"Are you sure this is a good idea? What if he's waiting in ambush?" <br> <br>"It's day now and we're prepared. Back then he caught us unaware and we didn't know what we were dealing with. Everyone had thought that he left or changed professions but to think we'd encounter him here... And we even invited him in by going to look for him! It was just very very bad luck" an elderly man said to his friend who smiled forcefully. <br> <br>"I don't even remember killing him...” Ace murmured watching them pass. There was strange emptiness in his chest and many unanswerable questions rose in his head. "Gaaah!" he screamed into the bright sky, where the sun was only raising. <br> <br>Horses halted and bows aimed at Ace who glared at everyone through the spaces in his mask. There was such deep hatred in his eyes that people could only stare at him with wide eyed expressions, their own anger forgotten. None dared to attack and soon like a living shadow the creature disappeared into the forest. <br> <br>Only after some time did people start to ask questions. <br> <br>"What was that..?" <br> <br>"Is that..?" <br> <br>"Yeah..." <br> <br>"What happened to him..?" <br> <br>"Is he really human..?" <br> <br>"It is said so... But..." <br> <br>"What had to be done to turn him into that... Isn't he just a kid?" <br> <br>"I heard the owners of the game allowed only children who needed psychological help to enter the game. Their actions are recorded by special cameras that read brainwaves. But I never thought it was so bad... What must have happened for a kid to become like this..?" <br> <br>"An avatar of destruction? He had to be destroyed from the inside" the old man at the front said. There was sadness in his eyes as he gazed at the space where the boy had disappeared. <br> <br>"Why do you think he showed up to us? And what's with the ear-splitting scream?" <br> <br>"Who knows? Maybe he can actually still feel guilt?” <br> <br>Ace ran back into the forest, he heard bits and pieces of conversation and it made him double his speed. He had no wish to hear them talk about his life and not even come close to it. It was his own burden to bear and others had no reason to butt in. <br> <br>When he was sure no sounds would reach him, he stopped to take a breath. "I'm so tired..." he murmured and sat down. "Maybe I should annoy L some?" <br> <br>"Hellooo! How are you doiiing?" he asked using voice chat. <br> <br>Ten or so minutes later a short reply was sent to him. <br> <br>/Meeting./ <br> <br>'Really that took you so long to write?' <br> <br>"Really? And here I thought you wanted to hear some secrets of Morion... How silly of me. I'll remember not to disturb you again, oh Master!" Ace said in an exaggerated manner cutting off the chat. <br> <br>Five seconds later he received a call. <br> <br>"What do you know?" <br> <br>"But I thought you were in a meeting! You can't just up and leave it!" <br> <br>"Forget that! What did you find out?" <br> <br>"So nooow you're interested? Why the sudden change?" Ace asked with a smile. He could hear impatience in his opponent’s voice and wanted to drag it out even more. <br> <br>"Stop playing around! Tell me!" L said, his voice shaking slightly. <br> <br>"Say sorry and please! You know you've been a bad boy, giving me the worst of missions. And even sending people to follow me..." Ace said, improvising. It was always good to pretend to know more than you did, it kept the superiors doubting themselves and whether they can fool you. <br> <br>"What? How do you know about Rowena?" L asked quickly. <br> <br>'So that's what her name was! Wait! &nbsp;She is a spy? Since when?' "You should pick better people for that. Did you really think I wouldn't see through her?" 'Well, I didn't but you were kind enough to enlighten me on my mistake. I'll make sure to remember that you're truly an untrustworthy type.' <br> <br>"Dammit, I knew she wasn't cut for it but I wanted to send her away. She should have been safer away from this city. Dammit, how did you find it out anyway?" L asked tiredly. For a moment there were sounds of quiet conversation so Ace kept silent. Only when they stopped did he answer. <br> <br>"Accidents don't happen. And I'm really not the trusting kind. Suddenly a girl wants to join two kids? That doesn't sound likely. Next time find someone that could at least infiltrate..." 'What nonsense am I spewing now, seriously...' <br> <br>"At least tell me how is she? Can you see her now?" <br> <br>"What? Eh... Not really. Things happened and Par is in real life for a sixth day here, Rowena is in the witch's hut and I'm somewhere in a wide forest. Or that's how it was five mornings ago when I left..." Ace said, scratching the back of his head. <br> <br>"You left her all alone? Are you a mad?" L screamed. <br> <br>"Hey! I'm a kid here! I need protection, not she!" Ace said with his voice raised. <br> <br>"You're a killer, not a kid! And she's a sheltered young lady! You should have noticed that!" <br> <br>"Oh really?" Ace asked dryly. "So why in the god's name did you send this princess to follow a killer? A monster that you expected to betray you at the first possible moment? And on top of that you expect this despicable creature to suddenly develop a kind heart? I think you've read too many fairy tales when you were a kid." <br> <br>"You..." L said, not finding words to express his frustration. <br> <br>"No longer have anything to add? I'm grateful to have heard everything you had to say" Ace said in a perfectly calm and friendly voice. "I'll make sure to keep it in mind. Hopefully, we won't meet again." <br> <br>"Wait!" <br> <br>Ace cut off the chat, quickly typed North Wind’s letter and sent it to L while ignoring his calls. Then he deleted the guy from his friends list. On a second though he also abandoned the siege quest that he hadn't given in yet. After that he carefully took out a flute and brushed his fingers over its surface. It was crude and uneven but it was his only friend so he held it closer to his heart and after a moment started to play. It was the song of a little swallow. <br> <br> <br><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&amp;t=1399" target="_blank">Next Chapter</a> </div>

[Previous Chapter](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=1308&p=7715#p7715) Author's Note: This is a very short one but I just couldn't add anything else. It was supposed to contain many other things but it looked like a good place to end the chapter and Ace no longer wanted to do anything. He needed a bit of a rest before being able to stand up again. ;) **** "You sure this is a good idea? We'll waste half of our resources for it." "We must. No one can escape after opposing us or we'll become a laughing stock. We can't let our name be damaged!" "But it's just one person! And a kid at that!" "That's why we'll look like idiots if truth was ever found!" "We'll look like monsters if we actually succeed. Do you imagine how will the world see it? As you just said, they don't know a thing about him doing anything!" "Shut up, Caro. You seem to not understand the point of it so just go and follow your orders. I hope you can do that at least, can't you?" *** Ace woke up in a welcoming blackness. There was no one around to disturb him but it was time to get up. He had promised those people outside to play a game with them and he didn't want to disappoint anyone. Outside of the wagon it was much lighter. Wagons were moved to make a big circle and large fires had been lighted in two rings; one outside, surrounding wagons and one inside, where all the people had gathered. None of them were sleeping, all looking around with wide eyes, grasping their weapons tightly. 'So you chose to be sitting ducks? How boring.' But they were in a large group which prevented him from just assassinating them one by one. He needed some other way to take their lives. 'Should I just throw stuff at them? But that would reveal me... Mask!' He rummaged through his backpack and found the fox mask he had bought in the carnival. It covered his eyes and nose, leaving his malicious smile to be seen by everyone. Done, he looked for something to throw in his inventory. There were five throwing axes, two metal fans, thirty swords and fifty throwing knifes. Well, there were also fifteen claymores but he wasn't sure whether he would throw them or be stuck at trying to lift them. Carefully he took out all the weapons in succession at different roofs of all wagons. He covered all blades with random poisons to be tested out; some would probably be deadly while others probably only gave diarrhoea. He was going to enjoy watching them deal with it all. *Swiish!* One of the axes embedded themselves into a mercenary's forehead. "Awghh!" he screamed, pulling it off. Purple liquid dripped from it. Moment later when people grasped the situation, they looked at the direction the weapon had come from. A dark figure stood on a wagon, outlined by the fires. His clothes were tattered, burnt and bloody along with his whole body. Crimson covered everything but a single piece of wood which resembled a trickster fox. It gave off a strange contrast with the rest of the body. The guy held an axe which quickly embedded itself into another mercenary. This time white foam formed onto the wound and the man started to claw at it. "Burns! It burns! Get it off of me!" he screamed but no one was able to help him. There simply were nothing on the man’s wound. So all everyone could do was watch in horror as the man kept on tearing his own skin and screaming. That is until one of them couldn't it take it any more and killed his own comrade. "I'm sorry Lilian..." 'So it was a girl? Oh well, too bad. But that poison was interesting. Not only did it corrode blood but made a person start to hallucinate in an instant. If I ever planned to scare anyone to death, this would be the perfect choice.' Strange shadows danced in his eyes as he jumped behind the wagons to reuse [Shadow Veil] and choose a different direction to attack from. Even if they had no mages, they could throw something at him and that would be dangerous. There was no reason to take any risks. "What is that thing? Is he even human?" "What are these cursed weapons?" "We're doomed! There's no chance for us to survive!" Ace listened to them walking on the rooftops, choosing a position. It was just luck that those poisons worked and were deadly. He didn't count on others to follow the same path. It was rare for many of his creations to actually be useful. Maybe every fifth or so brought actual results and even of those half were only minor de-buffs. But people had no knowledge of that and it showed on their paper white faces. "Calm down! If you lose to panic, we'll all be wiped out! We must determine from where he's attacking and catch him there! He's just a single person! And there are fires outlining him from both sides!" the pristinely clean mercenary said, still pretending to be the leader. He was annoying Ace so the kid aimed his next attack at him. The third try brought results. Of the worst kind, of course. The mercenary received only a small slash on the cheek and didn't seem to show any kinds of sickness. He even looked better, the wound closing up in seconds and his skin starting to glow soft yellow. 'Dammit. Why do poisonous plants mixed up sometimes turn into potions? It's stupid. And like always on all the wrong people' he cursed jumping down and finding another place to throw a dagger. It had no real effect again. The guy started to cough. 'Dammit'. "Look at it! This guy is just using whatever he has! It's all a farce to make us afraid!" some merchant shouted throwing a dagger back at Ace who easily avoided it and returned the favour by throwing a long sword at the guy. He, unlike the merchant, hit his target. It skewered the man's heart. Ace laughed maniacally. Merchants were a class without any defence characteristics allowing them to be easily killed. But even Ace didn't expect to see such a big contrast between his power and their defence. Were they level twenty or something? "How did he..." "Is that even possible? To one hit anyone?" "That's insane!" People shouted in raised voices with their wide eyes looking for confirmation from each other. It was an extremely rare thing to see anyone die from a single hit because people with such big differences never fought against each other. There was just no point to it. "He's a high level user. Be careful to evade all the projectiles!" "But we can't see him before he attacks!" "So you think you could evade then?" Ace asked in a whisper. "We'll see about that." This time instead of hiding he picked up a dagger coated in a random poison and started to run around. He jumped from one wagon to another, back and forth before throwing it from one of the farthest corners. It only scratched one of the merchant's hands but it was all it took for poison to take effect. The guy started to convulse and vomit blood. "Iagaha - waghga..." He tried saying something but no words could be understood between all the coughing. He died soon after that. To annoy them more Ace’s laugh echoed in the night's silence, disturbed only by the cracking of fire. He continued with his running around and throwing. There were still enough of them to hit someone with ease. One guy couldn't take it and tried to run through the fires in a vain hope to escape. "I hate those who try to run away before finishing what they had started" Ace hissed and jumped down from a wagon, appearing right in front of the man. He didn't live long after that. The game continued on. They had thought to protect themselves by making three rings of defences but now it worked against them. There was no way to escape his daggers that flew without ever missing their designed targets. "Should we make a break for it? Then at least some of us might survive" someone said, suggesting a new kind of plan which Ace didn't like at all. "Is everyone ready?" the leader mercenary asked after a moment’s delay. Ace hissed like an angry kitten and took out a bunch of daggers. Two of them were coated in one of his favourite poisons in existence. "Go mad!" he screamed, aiming it at the leader and the mercenary who suggested the stupid plan. They tried evading to the best of their abilities but mercenaries weren't known for their high agility. They tended to sneer at rogues who relied on quickness while priding themselves in their strength, now which was their folly.  Theirs eyes turned red while face's twisted in strangest of ways, hands grabbed onto weapons and swung them. Crimson liquid splashed around and screams rose in the night as soft fires cracked continuously. Their warm light fell on the two who were slaughtering everything that moved, themselves included. Few people that managed to escape their eyes were picked off by uncounted for daggers. Ace watched it happening and smiled gleefully; the man who wanted to save everyone the most was about to be finished with killing them all. Only he and another berserker were left standing. Ace took out a piece of dried meat and sat down on an edge of a wagon. Dangling his legs, he watched the fight before him. Both men used claymores, wore similar armour and seemed equal in levels as neither had the advantage. Or wait. The pretend leader was bleeding from his eye, it couldn't be helping for him to see better. Yet both fighters were on equal footing. 'Does that mean the pretend leader is a much more experienced player?' Sparks flew as swords clashed, their wielders quickly attacking again and again. Somehow the claymores were moved easily in the hands of the two mercenaries as if they were as light as feathers. Left, left, right, left, left, a kick. 'So in berserk mode you don't fight fair even though normally you would? I haven't noticed that before.' That kick fell the plan maker and he received a huge slash over his chest which destroyed armour and took his last health points. Ace used that moment to sneak behind the pretend leader and use his attacks. "Curse of the Hungry! Heart-seeker!" It killed the man in an instant allowing Ace to look through his inventory. There were many maps, books, letters, orbs and jewellery. No heavy items like weapons or armor were present. "Aw... I expected him to have some more high level equipment as he kept his so clean. Probably he took care of it himself and then walked cleanly pretending to be rich. What a loser" he said, moving all the items besides a silver wing to his own inventory. After that he collected all the other items dropped by dead players and put out most of the fires. One was enough. He sat  down next to it and decided to look through the messages he had received. | You have leveled up! | | --- | | You have leveled up! | | --- | | You have leveled up! | | --- | | You have leveled up! | | --- | | You have leveled up! | | --- | | Dagger master has reached Intermediate! | | --- | | Flare has reached Master level! | | --- | | Heart-seeker has reached Average 9! | | --- | | Curse of the Hungry has reached Average 6!]/window] [window]Phantasm has reached Average 3! | | --- | | Phantasm has reached Beginner 4! | | --- | | Backstab has reached Average 7! | | --- | | Cut-throat has reached Average 7! | | --- | | Shadow Veil has reached Average 10! | | --- | | Silent Steps has reached Average 6! | | --- | | Evasion has reached Average 5! | | --- | | Instincts of a Predator has reached Average 4 | | --- | | Alchemy mastery has reached Average 1! | | --- | "When was the last time I looked through this?' he asked himself, deleting all the messages 'They're so annoying. Why can't I just turn them off...’ "They said I'm a high level user yet I doubt that. I'm still in the early numbers of a hundred. And the bastard L forgot to acknowledge my quest as finished so I didn't get the experience for the siege. I'm clearly behind many others who didn't waste half a year learning dagger fighting and continues to run around doing random stuff. It'll soon be a year since I'm in a game and I've only been in a single low levelled dungeon! What am I doing?" he asked himself, gazing at the flames.  "Eh... Who cares? I'm fine and with that. What's important is expanding my knowledge." He shook his head and ate some barley bread. It was as soft as a rock and as tasty as paper but together with water it filled his stomach and his satiety went up to the maximum. Then he took a journal out of his bag. It was the girl's from the magician guild he'd once wiped out.  He had never managed to finish reading it while she almost overthrew his rule in the guild. Maybe there was more to her rage when just being killed and losing all items? People tend to share their stories with books for some reason. He could never understand why they did it, there was memory for that which kept all the important things and removed the unnecessary ones. After ten minutes of reading an interesting paragraph caught his eye. *I think there's a way to combine magic with weaponry but not in a way enchanters do that. Instead of giving a small buff or adding a permanent quality, it would add an ability to that particular weapon for a duration you keep the spell on it. I've tested it with a fireball and an ice type sword. It still did ice type damage but every fifth strike it flamed up dealing extreme heat damage. The contact with it burned enemies along with allies. There was no difference even if it was me, the caster. I'll have to find a way to control it. When you try to combine elements of the same type, the weapon's power is doubled but it breaks in a short time. Ice type with ice ball deals extreme cold damage and apply a random chance to freeze your opponent. The sword broke after three minutes. Same happened with other elements.* After that she wrote down all other experiments that she had conducted with fusing magic with metals but there was hardly anything more than the beginning said. 'If that is truth, why didn't I read this thing before?' He took out a normal dagger with no specifics. "Gust!" he said trying to push it inside the weapon. After a bit of fighting against a wind he somehow managed to get it in. "Item Preview!" | Dagger of Raging Wind! Attack Damage 30 Durability 20/20 Simple dagger made by a good blacksmith. + Each hit releases a small gust dealing small damage. Some attacks might push your opponent back | | --- | "Amazing! How did I survive so long without it? If this low level skill can do this much, what would happen if I knew a truly strong spell? Maybe I should acquire one just for that? I'll see about that when I get to the city. I should read all other books I had taken up till now. They might actually contain useful information!" he said with a smile and exchanged the girl's journal for the guild leader's one. It was possible that the old man was actually the one that had taught the girl. It showed up to have been a vain hope. There was nothing besides a few notes about the girl's talents and how she's the best student he'd ever had. Everything else was only guild's things so quite soon he threw the journal into the fire. There was no point in carrying a worthless book. After that he took out a pot, filled it with water and cast [Gust] to keep it afloat over the fire. When water boiled, he put a new combination of herbs in and took out another book to read. This was how he spent four days; creating potions and reading everything ranging from magic to history and fighting descriptions. On the fifth day's morning he heard hoof beats from somewhere far away. 'They're early' he thought yawning and put all of his things in the backpack. Then used [Shadow Veil] and decided to watch from the forest. One round against them was more than enough for him. He was pretty sure they had created gazillions of ways to counter every step he had done or might do. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have come here. "Are you sure this is a good idea? What if he's waiting in ambush?" "It's day now and we're prepared. Back then he caught us unaware and we didn't know what we were dealing with. Everyone had thought that he left or changed professions but to think we'd encounter him here... And we even invited him in by going to look for him! It was just very very bad luck" an elderly man said to his friend who smiled forcefully. "I don't even remember killing him...” Ace murmured watching them pass. There was strange emptiness in his chest and many unanswerable questions rose in his head. "Gaaah!" he screamed into the bright sky, where the sun was only raising. Horses halted and bows aimed at Ace who glared at everyone through the spaces in his mask. There was such deep hatred in his eyes that people could only stare at him with wide eyed expressions, their own anger forgotten. None dared to attack and soon like a living shadow the creature disappeared into the forest. Only after some time did people start to ask questions. "What was that..?" "Is that..?" "Yeah..." "What happened to him..?" "Is he really human..?" "It is said so... But..." "What had to be done to turn him into that... Isn't he just a kid?" "I heard the owners of the game allowed only children who needed psychological help to enter the game. Their actions are recorded by special cameras that read brainwaves. But I never thought it was so bad... What must have happened for a kid to become like this..?" "An avatar of destruction? He had to be destroyed from the inside" the old man at the front said. There was sadness in his eyes as he gazed at the space where the boy had disappeared. "Why do you think he showed up to us? And what's with the ear-splitting scream?" "Who knows? Maybe he can actually still feel guilt?” Ace ran back into the forest, he heard bits and pieces of conversation and it made him double his speed. He had no wish to hear them talk about his life and not even come close to it. It was his own burden to bear and others had no reason to butt in. When he was sure no sounds would reach him, he stopped to take a breath. "I'm so tired..." he murmured and sat down. "Maybe I should annoy L some?" "Hellooo! How are you doiiing?" he asked using voice chat. Ten or so minutes later a short reply was sent to him. /Meeting./ 'Really that took you so long to write?' "Really? And here I thought you wanted to hear some secrets of Morion... How silly of me. I'll remember not to disturb you again, oh Master!" Ace said in an exaggerated manner cutting off the chat. Five seconds later he received a call. "What do you know?" "But I thought you were in a meeting! You can't just up and leave it!" "Forget that! What did you find out?" "So nooow you're interested? Why the sudden change?" Ace asked with a smile. He could hear impatience in his opponent’s voice and wanted to drag it out even more. "Stop playing around! Tell me!" L said, his voice shaking slightly. "Say sorry and please! You know you've been a bad boy, giving me the worst of missions. And even sending people to follow me..." Ace said, improvising. It was always good to pretend to know more than you did, it kept the superiors doubting themselves and whether they can fool you. "What? How do you know about Rowena?" L asked quickly. 'So that's what her name was! Wait!  She is a spy? Since when?' "You should pick better people for that. Did you really think I wouldn't see through her?" 'Well, I didn't but you were kind enough to enlighten me on my mistake. I'll make sure to remember that you're truly an untrustworthy type.' "Dammit, I knew she wasn't cut for it but I wanted to send her away. She should have been safer away from this city. Dammit, how did you find it out anyway?" L asked tiredly. For a moment there were sounds of quiet conversation so Ace kept silent. Only when they stopped did he answer. "Accidents don't happen. And I'm really not the trusting kind. Suddenly a girl wants to join two kids? That doesn't sound likely. Next time find someone that could at least infiltrate..." 'What nonsense am I spewing now, seriously...' "At least tell me how is she? Can you see her now?" "What? Eh... Not really. Things happened and Par is in real life for a sixth day here, Rowena is in the witch's hut and I'm somewhere in a wide forest. Or that's how it was five mornings ago when I left..." Ace said, scratching the back of his head. "You left her all alone? Are you a mad?" L screamed. "Hey! I'm a kid here! I need protection, not she!" Ace said with his voice raised. "You're a killer, not a kid! And she's a sheltered young lady! You should have noticed that!" "Oh really?" Ace asked dryly. "So why in the god's name did you send this princess to follow a killer? A monster that you expected to betray you at the first possible moment? And on top of that you expect this despicable creature to suddenly develop a kind heart? I think you've read too many fairy tales when you were a kid." "You..." L said, not finding words to express his frustration. "No longer have anything to add? I'm grateful to have heard everything you had to say" Ace said in a perfectly calm and friendly voice. "I'll make sure to keep it in mind. Hopefully, we won't meet again." "Wait!" Ace cut off the chat, quickly typed North Wind’s letter and sent it to L while ignoring his calls. Then he deleted the guy from his friends list. On a second though he also abandoned the siege quest that he hadn't given in yet. After that he carefully took out a flute and brushed his fingers over its surface. It was crude and uneven but it was his only friend so he held it closer to his heart and after a moment started to play. It was the song of a little swallow. [Next Chapter](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=1399)

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> The elemental brawler<br><br><br>Chapter 6: Safe? house.<br><br><br>Part 1<br><br><br>As Cilerius drove his cart to the city gates, he thought again about what happened the day before, with the brigands. That earned him many benefits. Level up, spirit intimacy increase and, the most important with his new class, brawling skill increase.<br><br>‘That was nice. But I can’t expect morons to run at me each time I may need them to. I’ll have to find ways to provoke somes. That could be fun… but even without the red mark, I’ll build a reputation. That could prove a problem. And there is the arena thing. I can’t stay shackled to it.’<br><br>“Damn!” he shouted, deep in his thoughts as he was almost at the gate.<br><br>At this exclamation, the guards standing there looked up to see the origin of this ruckus. They saw a man on the bench of his cart, that seemed annoyed for some reasons.<br><br>“Halt! What’s your business here?” Shouted one of the guards.<br><br>As if waking up from a dream, Cilerius, at his turn, looked up too and saw the two guards there, then realised that he had sweared aloud.<br><br>“Hi, officer… I’m just a traveler coming from Nivese.”<br><br>“I’m no officer… don’t try to flatter me. What’s in the cart?”<br><br>“well, hmmm, some goods I’m carrying from a friend.”<br><br>“Ah ah… Are you a merchant?”<br><br>“uhhhh nope… can’t say I am… It’s just an occasional transport.”<br><br>“What goods are they? Nothing prohibited?”<br><br>“No clues what the goods are. I just know who I have to carry that to. Let me look for the names, I have a scroll with the list in my bag.”<br><br>As he was saying that and beginning to rummage in his bag, a soldier climbed on the back of the cart and opened one of the barrels then exclaimed:<br><br>“By Freya sake! What’s that?”<br><br>Turning his head to the back, Cilerius could see what was inside the barrel for the first time. There was a slimy, smelly green substance that bubbled.<br><br>At the guard exclamation and seeing jump from the cart and fumbling to pull his sword out of its scabbard, the two other guards now pointed their lance toward Cilerius, threatening.<br><br>After a short moment of surprise, he looked at them and said:<br><br>“Easy… easy now… I’m gonna pull this scroll from my bag as I told you and hand it to you.”<br><br>“Don’t make no funny stuff. Pull the scroll with two finger and don’t try to unroll it or read it!” Shouted one of the guard with an air of scared character in a violent movie. If that was a player, he for sure had seen too many movies. If that was a NPC, it was well programmed to give a living feel.<br><br>Slowly, to not induce bad response, Cilerius pulled the scroll to the guard who seemed in charge and asked:<br><br>“Now, read by yourself who are the people I’m running this errand for and go ask them if there is any problem.”<br><br>“Don’t tell me what to do.” Answered the soldier as he began to read the scroll. The color of his face gradually faded as his mouth gaped down.<br><br>“ermmm, hmmm… how to say that that. That’s quite the list you have here. And you say those goods are for them?”<br><br>“well, yes, of course. I have no idea who they are nor what this stuff is. I just was asked to deliver it to them, safely and untouched. I got through some brigands yesterday, I wonder if I’ll have to tell the “customers” that was guards that delayed or docked their shipment.” Answered Cilerius, pointing with his thumb the back of his cart and getting assurance as he had seen the guard losing his. The “customers” must have been some big shoot in the city if the guard was about to cry.<br><br>“okay… move on, don’t be late!!! wait a sec… did you say brigands?”<br><br>“yes, a day ago down the road. They tried to ambush me but proved lacking in their robbing skills.”<br><br>“If that’s true, welcome in Hartburg. Brigands are a problem we like to be relieved of. Go and see our guard captain at the watch office later. There may have been some price on their heads.”<br><br>“I’ll do that, thanks soldier.” And he drove his cart through the gates.<br><br>‘I don’t know what’s this stuff is, but at least those “customers” mean something here.’<br><br>And, slowly, he headed for the central place of the city, where he could look its map. There, he looked around a located the plan. From the scroll, he read the first two name and their address just to see they were in opposed places of the city. Cilerius could already figure that none of them would be close of the other. And with a single look at the map, he saw that the city had a complex topography. Sure, some streets were well orderly, but for the most part, it was a maze.<br><br>From this point, Cilerius only one course of obvious action open to him. He pulled a big blank piece of paper, his pen and the ink. Then he began to draw, copying the outline to the city plan. It was hard and tedious work, but with the original to look at, it was easier. As he was done, the familiar ring of system windows popping up was heard but he dismissed them immediately as he could figure what they were about. His calligraphy and drawing skills had gone up due to the success of a difficult work.<br><br>Raising his head once his work done, Cilerius then realised that many peoples were around, looking at what he was doing. He was packing up his tools when a human, dressed in a robe, asked:<br><br>“by any chance, were you drawing the map of the city?”<br><br>“yes, why?”<br><br>“errrrr, could you do it again? I’d pay one gold piece for a map.”<br><br>“Hey! Don’t listen to him. I’ll pay two golds.”<br><br>“Me two and ten silvers!”<br><br>Shouts were coming from all around and Cilerius was confused.<br><br>“Why are you all wanting to buy a map from me?”<br><br>The shouts recessed and after looking left and right, the first man to spoke before answered:<br><br>“Well… the city is literally a maze, yes? They don’t sell maps anywhere. If we want to get somewhere, we have to use the guide… and they charge us with ten silvers a tour. And there are many quest that require running around here. We can’t just let the possibility to get credential pass. We’re willing to pay for your work, pay well. Would you do that for us, please? We all would be very grateful.”<br><br>For one second, Cilerius contemplated the power he wielded here. Then, after weighting the pros and cons, he answered:<br><br>“Listen! That’s not something I can do right here and right now. I have some business to attend.”<br><br>Boo retended and some even said, loud enough for Cilerius to hear, as it was intended:<br><br>“damn that greedy bastard… he want to charge us more now that he know we’re in need… or does he want to keep this advantage for himself?”<br><br>“I heard that…”<br><br>“shaddup, you moron… what if he decide to not help us because of you!”<br><br>“Listen… I said right here and right now… Like I said, I have some business to attend and it can’t wait. Once I’m done with that, I’ll draw some more of those maps. And I’ll charge you only two gold each for the first batch I do. That will be a lot of work, at least at the beginning. Later, when I can produce them more easily and faster, I’ll charge less. If you want to be served on the first batch, be here tomorrow at… let’s say at the sun set.”<br><br>Murmures still echoed on the place but peoples didn’t shout anymore. They understood who holded the power right now and their need.<br><br>Cilerius, he, had seized the opportunity that presented itself. That was like looking in a river and finding a gold nugget then, instead of running to exchange it and claiming everywhere his luck, keeping to himself and looking for more. Here, he could make a lot of money, raise his skills and make connections. Well, a lot of money if you forget that he had made a lot more in bettings. But for someone under level 100, that was a lot. Few tradeskill could earn him that.<br><br>His map in hands, Cilerius climbed on the bench of his cart and headed to the first point of the delivery route he had devised. Some peoples were still following him, till they saw him get near the gates of some wealthy house and in, after a short talk to the guards. A few were still following him when he exited and headed for the next point, but then, they stopped, wondering how this guy was entering the households of some of the mens that were the most hard to approach.<br><br>Cilerius, not paying attention to his followers, arrived to the first house and at the question of the guards, answered he had a delivery for the master of this household. The guards were about to send him back when he precised that was a delivery from Gurdianson. At this name, the guards bowed and apologized profusely for holding someone who their master waited on so much.<br><br>Inside the house court, He was told to wait for them to go inform their master. Who came off fast.<br><br>“I’m told you were sent by Gurdianson?”<br><br>“yes, he asked me to make some delivery and, I have something for you.” Answered Cilerius as he looked for something in the cart, one eye at a second scroll he had. <br><br>“Here it is… this is the bag addressed to you.” He said, handing a bag to the master of the house.<br><br>The man received it with excitation, opened it a little to look inside then closing it with a big grin on his face, said:<br><br>“thank you for the delivery. Here, catch this purse. It will cover the fare.”<br><br>“oh! thanks, that too much.”<br><br>“no, no. I’m grateful of you for this quick delivery.”<br><br>“that was no problem, sir. Only a few brigands on the way, just enough to relieve me from the boredom.”<br><br>“Brigands? And you protected the cargo? Good… even better. Be advised that if you ever need something, you be at least welcome here to ask. Now, be on you way, and stay safe.”<br><br>!Ding!<br><br>Familiarity with the Everthop household raise by 50.<br><br>“Thank you. Stay safe too.”<br><br>More than the money compensation, that was what he was after. Credentials with some of influential NPC’s was a more valuable asset than gold, sometimes.<br><br>Cilerius Drove his cart out of the house court then to the next point of his delivery route, noticing fewer peoples following him. He passed the rest of the day to make his deliveries, garnering credentials and purses as he did so.<br><br>At the sun set, he was done and the cart was almost empty, but for his own bagages. Figuring he would need a place to rest, he headed to an inn but, as he was about to climb down the cart, he reconsidered and headed for the watch office. There, he asked for the guard captain. Since he didn’t have familiarity with the guards yet, the captain came a long moment later and asked, almost scornfully:<br><br>“what do you want from me… I was eating such a succulent dinner.”<br><br>“Please excuse me then for the derangement, I was told to come and report to you some encounter I made on my way here from Nivese.”<br><br>“Encounter? Do I have a look to care about the squirrels that crossed the route on your way here?”<br><br>“Squirrels? Hahahah… that’s funny… No, of course I wouldn’t trouble you for that. But what about brigands?”<br><br>“Brigands? We did receive reports of brigands lurking around the city, yes… but if it’s to report a robbery, you can see with the attendant, there, at the desk…” he was about turn and head back in his office when Cilerius continued:<br><br>“I’m not reporting a robbery… I’m reporting the disposal of the said brigands…”<br><br>The captain stopped his walk away, tuned on himself again and for the first time, examined carefully the adventurer facing him.<br><br>“Disposal? Do you mean you disposed of them?”<br><br>“yes, I would come to report for anything less…”<br><br>“Do you have any proof of your claim.” asked the captain, now interested.<br><br>“Well, of course I didn’t cut heads to show off, I’m civilized. But they all had those badges.” said Cilerius, handing one of the badges he had collected in the loots without paying attention at the time.<br><br>“Oh, yes… I see, those are the the badges of the wolves of the red forest. I heard those brigands changed their leader some times ago. They weren’t there when we headed in their hide-out to capture them. So they were in the forest around the road from Nivese?”<br><br>“I suppose, yes. At least, that’s where they tried to ambush me.”<br><br>“Okay… the badges are legit. 15 badges… good work man…” Now, the captain was more friendly and, as proof of that, a system window flashed:<br><br>!Ding!<br><br>Familiarity with the Hartburg guard raise significantly. +150.<br><br>‘Good, that was 10 points a head.’<br><br>“here, catch this…” Said the captain, throwing him a purse.<br><br>“They were small time offender so, the reward is … small.”<br><br>“That’s more than enough. But in fact, I would be delighted with another reward…”<br><br>“what…?” asked the captain with a frown drawing on his face.<br><br>“Nothing important… just a piece of information.”<br><br>“Ask and, if it’s in my power, I’ll answer.”<br><br>“That should be. Here, you see, earlier, I was looking for a room to rent at an inn, then I figured I could try to rent a little house. So, I was wondering if you could advise me on where to look or with who to talk…”<br><br>The captain face loosened a little hearing the request, as it wasn’t something abusive.<br><br>“I see… so you want a house in this fine city. I can understand why you ask me that. seeing how this city is a maze. Well… depending your budget, there are three kinds of houses availables, and three different men to see. If you ever want to buy or rent a mansion, go to the Marble Hand near the central place. It’s expensive but worth it. If you want a normal house, near the marketplace, go see the Stone Hand. If your budget doesn’t allow you the first two places, in the slum, you can look for the Beggar Hand. Well, this one isn’t in building, his office is a table in an alley at the south entrance of the slum.”<br><br>“I see… thank you captain. I’ll go and check those offices. Have a good night.”<br><br>“Good bye. And stay away from the slum at night. It’ more healthy.”<br><br>On those words, Cilerius left and as he was driving his cart away, marked down on his map, the three locations explained by the guard captain.<br><br>He headed to the second location, as, if he guessed he had enough to buy a mansion, he didn’t need to for the use he planned for it. At the marketplace, the merchants were starting to pack their displays. He looked around and spotted the building with signboard marked Stone Hand.<br><br>Climbing down his cart, he tied his percheron to a post, picked his bags from the cart and crossed the place to the office. He entered and could see at a desk, a woman dive nodding, sign of a long work day without much activity. He approached the desk and stood there, waiting for the woman to react. After half a minute, as she didn’t, he tried to attract her awareness.<br><br>“hmmm”<br><br>No reaction…<br><br>“HMMM Hmmm!”<br><br>Still no reaction…<br><br>“Excuse me!”<br><br>She was still dive nodding…<br><br>Cilerius noticed a book on the desk, took it and slammed it on the table, producing a really loud sound and shaking the desk at the same time. This time, the woman reacted:<br><br>“AHHHHHHH!?!? What is it? no, no… I wasn’t sleeping. Absolutely not!”<br><br>“Hi… could you please advise me on property acquisition?”<br><br>The woman, in her mid 30ties, still had clouded eyes and a little slobber at the corner of her mouth. regaining her senses, she whipped her mouth with her sleeve in mouvement showing practice and focused on the man facing her.<br><br>“Hi, what can I do for you?”<br><br>“errr, like I said, I’d like counseling on property acquisition.”<br><br>She raised from her chair and as if she was scanning him, looked at him from head to toes and seemed to make a conclusion of that.<br><br>“Well, if you’re here to look for a future home, I can of course advise you. But the day is nearing its end and I’m closing soon.” From his look, she rightly deemed Cilerius under level 100 and guessed he couldn’t possibly afford to buy or even rent one the house or flat she could propose. And she didn’t feel like making effort for someone who wouldn’t pay today.<br><br>“Then I’ll be brief. I’m looking for an at least two rooms lodging, nothing too grand but good enough. What would be the monthly rent and the buyout price for something like that?”<br><br>Since the question was precise enough and he didn’t seem to plan some window shopping, she thought for a few second and answered:<br><br>“Depending the location and the size, you would need from 5 golds a month to 40 for rent, or 600 golds to about 5000 golds to buy it.”<br><br>Cilerius made a quick calculation in his head and concluded:<br><br>“So the buyout is worth about 10 years on rent.”<br><br>“Yes, that’s about it.”<br><br>“Okay… then, I’d like to see what you have to propose for… let’s say, 1000 golds.” He said, opening a pouch full of gold in front of the woman.<br><br>Then, for a whole minute, she could only loot alternately at him and the pouch, with her mouth gaping wide and a unique sound coming out:<br><br>“Heeeeeee?”<br><br>Then she regained her thoughts began to act as the realtor she was.<br><br>“So, estimmed customer, do you intend to buy a house? I have the perfect one, not too close to the market but on main street. Of course, it would cost you a little more than 1000 golds.” She now was trying to sell something more expensive since her cut was 25% on the base price.<br><br>“No… the main street would be too noisy and I’d like to stay a little away of the busiest parts of the city.”<br><br>She keep trying to propose houses or flats that were over 1000 golds, then she gave up and concentrated on what he was really looking for.<br><br>“So, let’s resume. Not too big, not upstanding, at least two rooms, away from the busiest part of the city… I may have that, but you have to come with me to look if it suit you.” She said, taking a key with her and inviting him to follow. She closed the office door behind her and lead the way to a three floor house.<br><br>“See, this house is divided in three parts. Two flats and a place for either a shop or a workshop on main floor. The access to the flats is made by those stairs outside. Would the location suit you?”<br><br>“That seem correct. Can I take a look inside?”<br><br>“Of course, that’s why I took the key with me. The flats up for sale is the once just under the roof.”<br><br>She climbed the stairs up to the second floor, followed by Cilerius who was looking around. She opened the door and entered, continuing to make a sale speech. Basically, that was a three rooms flats, with an entrance by the stairs, two windows in this room and a door leading to the second room. That one had also two window, looking to the roof of the house next to this one and another door leading to the third room. The last room was a blind room. No windows, only the door that permitted to enter it. That was a little room, almost like a closet, just a little wider.<br><br>“So, what do you think about this flat?”<br><br>“hmmm… the location is good and the arrangement of the flat itself could suit my needs. How much?”<br><br>“This one would be 950 golds.”<br><br>“Hmmm… that seem a little expensive for this location and the size.”<br><br>Cilerius was loaded, but that didn’t mean he would throw gold like that.<br><br>“Of course, I didn’t deduct the usual discount, so that would be 900 golds.”<br><br>“It seem empty since a long time…”<br><br>“And as the actual owner would like to sell it, we are able the cut the price a little more to 850 golds.”<br><br>“Really empty… no furnitures, nothing…”<br><br>“You’re right, I forgot about that… what about a discount of 20 golds?”<br><br>“And it need renovation… the floor crack a lot…”<br><br>Now, the woman was desperate. She needed to sell this flat to increase her accounting skill but her cut was reducing to a trickle.<br><br>“Listen, about that, I can only add a discount of 10 golds and refer you to a good craftsman.”<br><br>“820 golds then? hmmm… “<br><br>Cilerius still affected to show hesitation but he was already ready to buy. He just needed to make her think he was doing her a favor.<br><br>“Okay then for 820 golds.” He said as if with reluctance, subtracting some pieces from the pouch then giving it to her.<br><br>In return, he received the flat’s key from a smiling woman who thought she had made a good sale with an exigent customer. She gave him as promised, the referrals to the craftsman and left, sure she was the winning one in the deal.<br><br>Of course, Cilerius thought of it differently since he made a nice saving with tactful negotiation.<br><br>‘That seem perfect… the main door in front, two windows that lead to the roof of the house next door and a blind room. Good.’<br><br>Of course, he could have look for a flat to rent, since on short term, it would cost him less, but he was one to like owning things. And this way, he was sure no landlord would come in. With a quick look around, he assessed what furnitures he needed and left after marking his map with the location of his house. The city was made so that without a map of a guide, you could walk near the place you were looking for and still miss it.<br><br>He exited the place, locked the door and climbed down the stairs. Then he walked toward the marketplace, according to the map, then to a shop. That was a general store with all kinds of goods for sale. He bought what he needed immediately and ordered for some furnitures he needed. The merchant told him to come back the next day after noon for it and he left. He still had one thing to do and headed to his cart, untied the reins and lead it toward a stable. There, he negociate with the groom and paid kim for taking care of his sturdy horse and storing the cart. Cilerius wasn’t sure he would need them again, but thought it was likely and best to keep a know horse and cart instead of selling them with a discount just to have to buy them again later. Also, the pension wasn’t expensive so…<br><br>As he exited the stable, he noticed a shadow quickly removing itself from view, behind a corner two streets down. Not too worried but careful enough, he walked away, took a turn then ran till the next corner and took another sharp turn. Then, melting himself in the shadow of the street, waited. Soon after, without a sound announcing it, a shadow in the form a person, walked fast past the street, looking right and left, then, as if not noticing Cilerius, walked further. But Cilerius had noticed a the very little hesitation at the moment the shadow saw him.<br><br>‘sneak skill, some sort of track probably. What does he want with me? I’m alone here, nobody to help in case… if that was an assassin or a thief, he could have made his strike just now. Speaking of track…’ Next, Cilerius whispered:<br><br>“Track!” And immediately, the trail of his stalker highlighted and he could see it lead further then turn at a corner. Passing the intersection without real head movement, he checked with only the corner of his eyes and could see the trail leading in a shadow of the street. Cilerius couldn’t stop a little grin to show on his face, but with the poor light, it wouldn’t be seen. He couldn’t almost notice the shadow melted in the shadow, only helped by the hunting skill that gave him a little passive buff to spot hidden live beings.<br><br>Now sure he was the target of this track, Cilerius began to plan a way to first lose his follower, then to know what he wanted.<br><br>‘Apparently, he isn’t a hunter or ranger… so his track skill shouldn’t be the same as mine… I have some convenient skills to use for that… I just need a diversion.’<br><br>He then checked his map for something and headed for the place he was looking for. There, he entered a little shop, luckily still open despite the late hour. The light was too dim for the signboard to be readable, but the inside didn’t let any doubts of what was being sold here. That was an alchemy shop.<br><br>Cilerius asked the merchant for a few products, paid for them and then left and headed for the slums. On his way, he mixed some ingredients in three different pouches. Soon, he was near the slums, as the populace roaming around was a clue. Many not so engaging faces were there, some men using a dagger to clean their nails or juggling with. For anyone not ready enough, this was suicide to enter the slum like that, alone. For Cilerius, that wasn’t a real problem. Whatever happening now would be to his benefit. If someone attacked him, it would benefit his brawling skill. They would also hinder the moves of his stalker. The only risk was the presence of a high level malicious thug. But his research about this city, on the net, didn’t hint about this case. So Cilerius was feeling safe.<br><br>Once in the slum, some other peoples followed him for a while but lost interest as he was walking around without goal, seeming to be lost, tacking many times the same way after turning again and again at each corners.<br><br>That was to make his tracks mixed again and again, so the latest couldn’t be told from the oldest. At the same time, he was looking for a good spot where to use his diversion. He finally found what he wanted and once again, passed and passed again on the same track near the chosen spot. Still having his own track engaged on his stalker, he discreetly checked on his actual position and took the three pouches out. He stopped where he had planned and after untying the pouches a little, whispered:<br><br>“Fire coating!” targeting the pouches. With the properties of this spell, the pouches were safe, but not their contents if it was touched by the flames. Then, with the burning pouches in hands, he turned, looked at the place his stalker was, made an exaggerated wink then, throw one pouch in his direction, one in the opposing direction and the last where he was standing. Upon hitting the ground, the pouches all opened and their contents exploded as it wath licked by the fire. The explosion wasn’t violent, just loud and produced thick colored smoke. This done, Cilerius proceeded with the rest of his plan and ran to one of the alley where he didn’t create a smoke screen and hide where he planned.<br><br>On his first passage here, he had noticed on the side, all the wastes, including a cover. He didn’t create smoke here, where he was planning to hide, for two reasons.<br><br>One, misleading the stalker. It was natural to think the prey would use the smoke to cover his escape and the stalker would run through the smoke, ignoring the side alleys without smokes.<br><br>Second, he needed a clear view to check on his stalker position when he would pass the crossroad.<br><br>‘and I succeeded in creating smoke bombs… easy enough if you get black powder and some coloring agents. I even got the recipe registered and a nice raise of alchemy skill… but next, I must learn to make black powder myself… it’s expensive to buy.’<br><br>The shadow, still sneaking but not silencious since he was profusely cussing, passed through the crossroad without a look on the side. He was running his head down, looking at the ground, trying to pick a fresh trail.<br><br>Cilerius stayed lying a long moment, waiting for his stalker to pass and pass again, to finally look on the sides but walk next to his hiding place without any clues. After 10 minutes, the guy finally throw the towel and seemed to contact someone using the friend list. Cilerius couldn’t of course hear what was said, but at the expressions show on his face, he could understand that it wasn’t plaisant.<br><br>‘Ok… that’s not an individual but a group that check on me… now, to know who they are...’<br><br>Cilerius waited for the stalker to finish his conversation then move away. He waited a little more, then, activating his own sneak skill, got out of his hiding place and carefully headed for the crossroad, checking for his trail. With great care, he then walked, almost hugging the walls and followed this trail, leaving space between his old stalker and now prey, and him. The trail lead to a mansion.<br><br>Of course, he didn’t follow up to the doors, but stopped as soon he knew what building it was. In this city, only some wealthy NPC’s and guild possessed mansions. And that wasn’t a NPC mansion.<br><br>‘Now… what would a guild want with me who only came in town today? Is it about the maps? Noooo… they wouldn’t bother when they could buy them all tomorrow… what then? Only one solution to know. I have to go and spy… ninja time...’<br><br>He chuckled a little at this thought and then prepared to enter the mansion. He first checked the surroundings for an access, then when he found one, looked for escape routes.<br><br>‘Going in is usually easy enough. The problem is always when you have to run out with possible pursuers.’<br><br>Using the shadows and the side alleys, he approached his entrance point, a wall on the back, totally in darkness. Now, he had to climb or find another way. Lucky for him, he had another way. A trick he used for offensive purpose before. Now, he needed to adapt it for this purpose. In a whisper, he said in sequence:<br>“Ice shield, Wind walk.” Then, lowering his power to the minimum and targeting the area just under him:<br><br>“Earth needles”.<br><br>The result? Remember how the guy was throw up in the arena? Well, that’s the same process, but for the lower power so he wouldn’t fly too high.<br><br>‘Nice to have a trick like that. I’m sure many who would sell a kidney for it.’<br><br>Wizards could get the levitate spell when reaching the intermediate level in the wind mastery. But there was a quest involved and regent used, costly regent. Some other class had trick too, to climb a wall or something alike. But this trick didn’t need regent nor tools. Just basics spells and imagination.<br><br>Even with lowering the power of the earth needle, he was throw 2 meters higher than the wall but was safe thanks to the wind walk that allowed him to land safely on top of the wall. He released the spell then, using sneak, walked to a point where the mansion roof was close to the wall. A jump and he landed on it. He then looked around for an entrance and noticed a fanlight he opened with care and slided through. <br><br>He was in the attic. With a lot of care, because sneak doesn’t resolve everything, even more with a skill low as his, he walked near the edge of the attic floor then crouched and crawled till he could see and hear what was going down in the hall.<br><br>Down there, many peoples were assembled. Dressed in all kind of attire, spellcasters, heavy melee or nimble types were discussing, loudly. Obviously, they weren’t happy and a man on the side, dressed in black, was the target of many angry glances.<br><br>“damnit! They asked us… I mean commanded us to keep an eye on him and we lost him? How do you want me to report that? They fund us to keep order in this city and sometime run errands for them. What if they decide the switch the supported guild? We would lose funds and position.”<br><br>“yes… but who the f..k is this guy. They ask us to watch his every moves, to protect him in case of problems with another player, but everything while staying in the shadow. And he could lose him like that? What level is he?”<br><br>Here, the man suffering the anger of everyone spoke:<br><br>“I don’t know for sure. But according his gear, I would say between level 50 and 80. Not higher. He noticed me when he got out of the stable, so we could keep watch there too, not only at his flat.”<br><br>“yeh… we will do that. Did he do anything else noticeable?”<br><br>“He probably has many skills. He used some alchemy trick to create a thick smoke to lose me. His build is athletic but he seem to use magic.”<br><br>“what a fucked of character. Though I’d like this smoke screen trick.”<br><br>“yeh, but that’s not the point here. If we don’t find him before they ask for a report or if something happen to him, we’re fucked!”<br><br>“okay, you, you and you, go on the lookout at the designated places. We will send relieving each 2 hours to be certain we have alert peoples on watch duty. You, go in the slum and see if he’s still around.” At those words, four peoples left in hurry.<br><br>“now, you, did you check the non smocked alley?”<br><br>“not immediately. I assumed he used the smoke to escape so I ran through. Then when I looked for his trail, everything was mixed up.”<br><br>“later, in the side non smocked alleys, did you check if he was hiding there?”<br><br>A long silence was the only answer.<br><br>“damn… at least learn from your mistakes. This guy is smart. He applied real life trick with the game possibilities. From now on, when dealing with him, keep thinking of the most devious move he could use. The probability it’s the one he will use is high.”<br><br>At that, everyone shouted a loud yes, then as if this was their dismissal, they scattered in small groups, exited or simply disappeared, loging out.<br><br>‘ok… I know enough for now and it’s not like they will expose their plans in the open for me to see. I better leave before someone notice me.’<br><br>On this thought, Cilerius crawled back from the floor edge, then raised and walked to the fanlight and slipped out. The rest was easier, he just had to jump to the wall and down in the dark alley.<br><br>That done, he headed back in the direction of the slum, using side alley and keeping watch of move around. From what he heard, if those players were even only half intelligent, they wouldn’t lose his trail that easily anymore.<br><br>He headed for the slum because he figured that would be the place where it would be the easiest to lose a stalker again. That and since he heard they knew about his flat, he figured he needed an alternate place, unknow of them and where they couldn’t find him easily.<br><br>Arrived at the edge of the slum, from an alley, he looked around to see if there was any spotter. On the negative and after a long wait, he moved to a guy sat behind a table.<br><br>“Is it the Beggar Hand office?”<br><br>“yes.. it is indeed… what can I do for you?”<br><br>“I’d like to buy a little house, two rooms or more, in the slum… away from preying eyes.”<br><br>“Hmmm… that I could get you… that I could have… but do you have the money for it?”<br><br>“Speak your price.”<br><br>“If you want to buy it, that would cost you 300 golds. Discretion is an additional 100 gold…”<br><br>‘Crap… I let my need show and now he’s taking advantage... but I better don’t start to bargain now, with someone unwanted who could show up anytime.’<br><br>“okay for the buyout price and your silence price.” Answered dryly Cilerius, throwing a purse to the man. He was caught cold as he expected him to try and bargain, then he could have raised the price again since there was a need… but this guy facing him didn’t try to bargain. The shack he was selling him was overpriced by 50%. His so called silence was expensive, but it was as if this guy guessed what would happen in case of bargain. The beggar Hand tenant pulled a key and gave it to Cilerius, saying the address of the shack sold at a so high price.<br><br>“maybe you want someone to guide you there? That would cost you only one gold.”<br><br>“No, thanks… if the address is correct, I will find my way alone.”<br><br>“As you wish… but rescue in the slum if you’re lost will cost you 10 times more.”<br><br>“I’ll keep that in mind and take care of not losing my way. Thank you.”<br><br>Thanks were the last thing he wanted to give that common thief, but to create a commotion here and now wouldn’t be smart.<br><br>Putting the key in his belt hidden pocket and the map in hand, he dive in the slum, heading toward the address pointed on the map. Once he spotted the said shack, he walked past it and around a few time, looking for all the surroundings, for escape routes or preying eyes. When sure he was here alone, he headed for the door, pulled the key and opened his new home.<br><br>Once inside, Cilerius almost let a cussing shout out as the shack seemed to be composed of only one room. He was about to throw all discretion and go gibe a lesson to this damn thief, when he saw a trap on the ground. He raised it and could see stairs leading down to a door.<br><br>‘Well, I didn’t say how I wanted the rooms set...’<br><br>He climbed down and opened the door that was currently unlocked. Beside this door, there was no other access. With preparation, he could hide the trap and so, the stair and the second room.<br><br>“perfect…” ‘this thief probably doesn’t know he sold me exactly what I needed...’<br><br>He climbed back to the main floor, closed the door then descended in the cave after shutting the trap, then the door behind him. Then, he did what he planned by buying this house. He pulled his golden key, the key of knowledge, from his bag and, used it in the lock of the door. The expected effect happened. The lock flashed with light and the around of the door as well. Cilerius removed the key from the lock, then opened the door, that revealed this blue smoky light through which he could see his library reserve office. He walked through.<br><br>On the other side, things were as he had let them. Only the carrier of the key could enter this reserve. Since he had to wait for one hour before the passage closed and he could move from this room, he pulled paper, ink and his pen, then using the first map he had draw as reference, began to make a copy.<br><br>That was easier and faster now, since that was a work he already completed once with success. It had took him 45 minutes to complete the first map, from the original. But he had, at the time, to scale down everything. Now, with a better knowledge of the city and of the map, without having to scale it down again, he could draw it faster. This first copy was done in 30 minutes. As soon it was completed, he started with a second copy and increased his drawing speed again, managing to finish it in 25 minutes. He was getting the hang of it.<br><br>Now, the waiting time was almost over and so, Cilerius prepared to leave this room. But he wasn’t planning to return just now to his Hartburg shack. Since he had the money for and he was aware of some unwanted attention, he planned to buy a flat here in Nivese too, as well as another poor house in some remote location of the harbor city.<br><br>Since he was loaded, he was intending to make full use of this incredible item, the key of knowledge, and create a network of teleport gates with the library reserve office acting as the hub.<br><br>With this intention, as soon the doorway was free for the smoky light, he entered the reserve itself then exiting it, entered the library. He walked toward the exit, just to find Desmond at his desk, as always. Upon seeing Cilerius in front of him, he was surprised.<br><br>“Wh… where did you come from???”<br><br>Feeling like teasing him a little, Cilerius answered:<br><br>“Well, from the inner library, of course, as you can see… didn’t you see me come in?”<br><br>“uhhhh? No, I didn’t see you come. That’s impossible…”<br><br>“hehe, don’t worry, Desmond. I came from the reserve.”<br><br>“From the reserve?... Ohhhhh yes… from the reserve, of course! Useful, aren’t they?”<br><br>“Yes, you can that. The ways of knowledge are full of surprise.”<br><br>“Yes, yes… but what are you doing here?”<br><br>“Well, I thought I could make use of a home here, in Nivese. So I came to buy one.”<br><br>“That’s a good idea. Do you know who to ask for this?”<br><br>“No, but I have a guess, you, you know who.”<br><br>“yes, here, take this note and go see the man at this address. The note will give you diligence and discretion from him.”<br><br>“I didn’t say I needed discretion…”<br><br>“Well, even if you didn’t say it, from the way you used to come here and how some guys asked for you shortly after you left, I thought you wouldn’t mind discretion.”<br><br>“Desmond, you really are a wisdom well. Thank you for the introduction note.”<br><br>“That’s nothing… by the way… when are you fighting again?”<br><br>“Tss tss tss… Desmond, take care, betting may become an addiction…”<br><br>“No! Honest! I just wanted to see you fight again…”<br><br>“Yeh, sure, of course. Okay, See you later, maybe.”<br><br>“See you, and stay safe.”<br><br>“Always, friend, always…”<br><br>On those last words, Cilerius left and headed to the address Desmond gave him. On the way, he took care to make tour and detour to check if someone was following him. It was late and but for dumb luck, peoples who thought him gone wouldn’t encounter him like that. Sure he wasn’t stalked, he knocked at the door and waited. Soon after, the door partially opened and a grumpy voice what he wanted so late. Cilerius, as a silent answer to that question, handed him the note.<br><br>“A friend of Desmond, uh? Okay, what do you want? He asked me to help you to the best of my capacities.” He said, opening fully the door and inviting his newfound guest inside.<br><br>“I heard from him that you were the man to see if I wanted to buy a housing.”<br><br>“That’s true. I probably have the most possibilities of housing in this city, with a great variety of locations.”<br><br>“Then you are the man of the situation. I’d like to buy two. First, either a flat or a house with at least two rooms, one being blind. The location doesn’t matter, but nothing too ostentatious nor luxurious. Second, a poor housing, same as before, two rooms, one being blind, in a remote location.”<br><br>“okay… for the first one, it’s easy and I can think of many possibilities. For the second, I may have something.”<br><br>“I would also like utmost discretion regarding the second one. And if there are good escape ways, for both, it would be perfect.”<br><br>“If you weren’t send by Desmond, I’d wonder what evil plan you have… but since he gave you referrals.”<br><br>“I just like discretion… and in this world, many want to deprive you of it.”<br><br>“So, for the second one, its entrance is in dark alley and close by the sewers entrance. You could move through them if you really want to and if you don’t fear for your smell sense. For the first one, that should do too.”<br><br>“Then it’s perfect… the last thing we have to do is talk about a price.”<br><br>“I’d say… 1200 gold for the first one…”<br><br>“1200? isn’t it a little expensive?”<br><br>“Let me finish… for the second, nothing… You told me you wanted discretion, right? I have some paperwork to do in case of sale… so, if you want discretion about the second one, that wouldn’t do it, yes?”<br><br>“No, that wouldn’t do, so?”<br><br>“So I charge you for the first with the cost of both together and for some reason, I will have lost both the property paper and the key of the second and you were lucky to find them.”<br><br>“Clever… okay, then here are the 1200 golds.” Said Cilerius, handing this man a purse heavy with gold pieces.<br><br>“If there are inquiries, you can talk about the first one, it’s no problem, but keep the second secret, okay?”<br><br>“Of course, that was crystal clear the moment we agreed on the process and the price.”<br><br>“Then I thank you and hope your business prosper.” Finished Cilerius, taking the keys and owning papers the man facing him was handing.<br><br>“Thank you and stay safe… and hidden…” answered this man, with a knowing smile.<br><br>Cilerius left this house and immediately got in the shadow of an alley and stood there, checking his surroundings. Nothing seemed strange so, he took the opportunity to think a little, about which house he would connect first to his “network”. He came to the conclusion that the longer he stayed outside, the more probable it was someone concerned would see him and report to those investigating him or even follow him himself. The best course of action was to go now add this secret housing then proceed with the not so secret.<br><br>And so, Cilerius, with care of his own discretion, using sneak skill all the way, headed for the place that was located near the sewers entrance. With the address, he found it somewhat easily and first checked his surroundings again in search of a possible tail, then for the escape routes. Once done, he got to the alley that was really dark and there, found a stair going down to a door in a building that seemed totally anonymous. He used the given key and opened the door.<br><br>The inside was really common and without any special feature. There was another door leading to an 20m long hallway and another door. he opened this one too, to find himself in a blind room.<br><br>‘No clue what this was used for, but it’s perfect. The long hallway would be easy to defend. I even could plant traps...’<br><br>He closed the door, then pulled his precious key and used it, creating yet another gate to his reserve office. He crossed the doorway and was, again in his office. As if it was now a habit, he pulled for his bag, papers, ink and the pen and resumed with his maps drawing.<br><br>‘I’ll have to think about good light sources if I want to work in all those blind rooms. Adding that to the to do list.’ It was a fact that his actuals light sources were lacking for the work he was doing, and adding fatigue to his eyes.<br><br>He was halfway done with w third map in a row when the refresh time of the door was here. Now, he had two possibilities. He could set the access of the other flat in Nivese or go and do the same but in Hartburg. Following the same logic as before, he decided to first do with the one where nobody was looking for him yet then proceed with the Hartburg flat.<br><br>Since he was in the same city, since it wouldn’t wise to be seen coming from the hidden housing, he exited the normal way his office and the library, saluting yet again Desmond on the way and thanking him for the referral to the realtor.<br><br>Next was now a drilled habit. Sneak, move in the shadows…<br><br>‘I wonder if I missed my career path… maybe thief or assassin would have suited me as a profession.’ He thought with a smirk. The diversity of his possible actions was something he liked a lot. There was no place for humdrum if you looked hard enough in this game.<br><br>He soon got to the new bought flat, which was at the third floor of a building and that you could access by an outdoor stair. There were two flats on this floor, one with windows facing the street and his facing the back, another smaller building. Here too, he could escape by the roofs if needed. He entered and found an ordinary interior consisting a big occupying three quarter of the flat, the last quarter being a room in the back right, he could access by a door.<br><br>Satisfied with his lodging, he didn’t drag and got in the secondary room and repeated for the third time that night, the same action leading to the creation of a gate to his office.<br><br>There, he continued the unfished map and had the time to draw two more and even begin a third one, just enough to do the main lines. Then, he opened the gate to his shack in Hartburg and continued there his work, till he could exit the cave.<br><br>On the main floor, he looked through the windows a moment, to see if there was any suspect activity and, was about to leave when he thought about something.<br><br>“Sylphea?”<br><br>“Yes, master… I’m so happy you’re calling me… did you miss me?”<br><br>“Yes, of course… I’m sorry I didn’t play with you four lately. I was a little busy… Listen, I’m playing some kind of hide and seek with other peoples. Could you go and take a look around, if there are suspicious peoples around. Wait… that isn’t the right word… If you see peoples on the lookout, please tell me where.”<br><br>“Do you want to cheat? And yes, there is a suspicious person close by… he’s just facing me. Hihihi…”<br><br>“Funny, you little prankster… so, could you do that for me?”<br><br>“Yes, but cheating is bad, master.”<br><br>“It isn’t a real game, Sylphea… It’s more like those people are looking for me and I don’t want them to find me.”<br><br>“Okay, I’ll be right back.”<br><br>Ten minutes after, she came back and told him:<br><br>“I locked around everywhere at a distance of 500m. There are 10 thieves waiting for prey, 25 beggars and one assassin.”<br><br>“Where the assassin is?”<br><br>“To the north.”<br><br>“Thank you. You can stay with me if you want, but be like a breeze, almost unnoticeable.”<br><br>“I get to play with you? Yes yes yes!!!”<br><br>“Be quiet now… tsss”<br><br>“Sorry master.” And she shut up.<br><br>Now sure of the state of his immediate surrounding, Cilerius got out of his shack, closed the door, then headed to the south. The probability that this assassin was the one looking for was high. Turning again and again, he progressed to the edge of the slum while avoiding the waiting thieves. They could have been a good way for him to increase his brawling skill, but right now, he was seeking discretion, not the ruckus a fight would cause. Since he didn’t know where the other stalkers were, around his flat, he decided to be prudent and approach it from a different direction than he was coming effectively. To do so, he got to the south wall then followed it till he reached the west city gate, from which he first entered the city earlier the day before. From there, he headed straight to his flat without taking any precaution, just asking Sylphea to watch and report him after, where peoples were on the lookout. Additionally to the three he could see himself, on the way there, she reported another eight. As he pointed their locations on his map, he could see how their deployment was and guess that there probably were five more spy. They were on two circles of eight sentry, centered on his flat, one with a radius of 100m and the second 200m, with their watchpoint alternating. This was designed to efficiently cover the area. The rest, depended on their discretion, that most of them laked. or at least, it was short for a guy with a hunting skill, even at low level and even more for an elemental air spirit.<br><br>‘full grade for their deployment strategy but non passing grade for using it with mediocre men.’<br><br>Even when if they were his opponent, Cilerius always analyzed used tactics and strategies. That was the way to learn more, imagine counters and improvements for his own use. Of course, a cool mind was necessary for this kind of feat. That’s probably why most of the guild leaders weren’t melee class but staying in the back, where they weren’t intoxicated by the heat of the fight.<br><br>‘Their leader must be good, and he know it, that would explain his anger before, at the mansion.’ Even a good artisan, with poor material, will only produce mediocre result. Of course, the effort invested in the work could improve it, but not so much.<br><br>He could see most of them moving now, closing to his position as he was himself closing to his flat. <br><br>‘I’d have much to tell them if they were my men...’<br><br>He still had to climb the stairs and enter his housing, but they didn’t make contact.<br><br>‘At least they follow orders.’<br><br>Now in his flat, he relaxed since he only had one easy task to perform for the night, setting the last gate to his office. Since his office was better equipped than all of his new housings, he stayed there after going through the gate and settled to draw more maps.<br><br>‘Sentry in a city, for a non moving target… now that’s a job that I would hate.’ He thought, after he completed his tenth map in a row. He was now able to draw three and half a map an hour and was doing so with application. In result, both his calligraphy and drawing skill were growing steadily. Additionally, the handicraft was too, at a smaller rate but still, it was raising. Of course, Cilerius knew that from a certain level of skill, repetitive task like that wouldn’t help much to increase to skill level, but he could think about it when the time came.<br><br>‘too bad, drawing and calligraphy are artistic skills, I can’t use real life knowledge for a shortcut to success… but I will have to study chemistry a little, for alchemy skill purpose.’<br><br>For some of the production skills, real life recipes were used in the game mechanics, in the earlier stages of the skill mastery at least. So knowing about how the real life recipe were and adapting them for the game purpose would help a lot at the beginning. For the artistics skills, those shortcuts were fewer and you had to rely on the hard work and application in game.<br><br>‘but since the grow is harder, the benefits should be higher too, with an high mastery.’<br><br>Upon learning and raising those skills, Cilerius bet on the future and the fortune that may come. With this kind of thoughts, it wasn’t that hard to keep doing this repetitive work, drawing continuously the same map, writing its captions.<br><br>Subtracting the time lost in travel between each of his houses and his spying expedition at the guild mansion, since the end of his delivery tour the day before, he could work on his map making for 21h. If he could only complete two maps in the first hour, he gradually speed up the process and was able to draw almost four an hour at the end. He finished his 74th one then, since he had to take in consideration the one hour refresh and it was little more than one hour before the sun set, he opened the gate to his flat crossed it.<br><br>There, he pulled every maps from his bag, set them on the side and pulled clothes he got from the loots on his hunts. Using tailoring skill, he just dismantled them to obtain fabrics. He then cut those fabrics in ribbons. When he finished to do so with the fabrics he had yet, he had around 100 ribbons of different colors. He then took a map and rolled it up. He was about to just use the ribbon to tie the map when a thought came to him. He searched his bag again, till he found what he was looking for. He still had some candle he bought back in Nivese. He made the wax melt in a bowl and mixed in it some of the red colored powder he still had. Thus, he obtained red wax. He then took the rolled map, put the ribbon on the verso edge then let a drop a wx fix it. He then rolled the ribbon around the scroll he used a little more wax to seal it.<br><br>Upon completing this task, he got the window message stating that he had completed a fine work. He was happy to note a raise in both his skills and even got the surprise to see a new one, like a specialization, be created.<br><br>!Ding! new skill: mapmaking. You are now able to create maps from either an existing one or from observation of your surroundings. The higher the skill, the better you will be able to convey your observation in your drawing. The completion of more maps will now raise this skill in priority and the drawing and calligraphy skill secondarily.<br><br>That wasn’t too bad, since his skill raise already slowed a lot now. And the benefit to be able to make a map on the spot, from what he could see, or maybe hear from others, was big. Mapmaking was one of the skills thought to be monopolized by the adventurer class.<br><br>‘So, there was this way to learn it… good.’<br><br>Then he resumed his work, sealing each map with ribbons and wax. Each time one was completed, he got the skills raise notification. The waiting hour was almost up when he finished. At the end, his calligraphy skill was at B9 (98%), just short of graduating to the intermediate level and, his drawing skill was at B8 (56%). The mapmaking skill raised up to B5 (12%) in a short time, thanks to the completion of that many maps. Apparently, he could now convey the exact distance or the angles of the way, on the spot, as he would travel.<br><br>He packed the completed maps and, as soon the door wasn’t occupied by a blueish smoke anymore, he exited his room then his flat and headed for the central place where many peoples were waiting on him.<br><br>When he arrived there, many were those who let expectating sighs out. But they were all behaving. No riot like the previous day.<br><br>“Okay, hello everyone… so, I’m here like I promised. I have, in the meantime, completed 74 maps for sale…”<br><br>“Only?”<br><br>“So few…”<br><br>Many disappointment reactions could be heard, but they stopped fast as peoples came to the realisation that it was, in fact much. They had see him draw a part of the first map and saw that the process was slow, at the time.<br><br>“Sorry, I could have made a few more but I was disturbed by some pest on my way home, last night.”<br><br>“Who?”<br><br>“What the bastard come in the way of your work and our easier life?”<br><br>Indignant shouts raised from the crowd. Someone was hindering their hope for and easiest life in the city. That couldn’t be forgiven.<br><br>“No clue, but some peoples kept following me around last evening and they were even waiting for me to appear near my house late at night after I lost them… Well, whatever, I have 74 maps for sale today. As I said yesterday, I will charge 2 golds for each. Only one per person to be fair.”<br><br>He had throw a little jab to the interested peoples, that obviously were around and even in the crowd since some would try to buy a map too. That was to make them aware he know perfectly about them and it annoyed him. A crowd like this one could easily be transformed into a mob if a target to hate was given. As a testament to his obvious threat, he could see some faces grow uneasy among the assembled peoples.<br><br>He then began the sale of the maps and that was, as one could expect, an instant success. From what he could see, he had work for days and even weeks if he kept at it. Of course, he wasn’t planning to be a cartographer, so he would make maps for some more days then return to his own activities.<br><br>“Okay, tomorrow, same time, I’ll have more. Don’t lose your way.”<br>“We won’t, thanks to you.” Answered some of the lucky one’s who had bought the map already. </div>

The elemental brawler Chapter 6: Safe? house. Part 1 As Cilerius drove his cart to the city gates, he thought again about what happened the day before, with the brigands. That earned him many benefits. Level up, spirit intimacy increase and, the most important with his new class, brawling skill increase. ‘That was nice. But I can’t expect morons to run at me each time I may need them to. I’ll have to find ways to provoke somes. That could be fun… but even without the red mark, I’ll build a reputation. That could prove a problem. And there is the arena thing. I can’t stay shackled to it.’ “Damn!” he shouted, deep in his thoughts as he was almost at the gate. At this exclamation, the guards standing there looked up to see the origin of this ruckus. They saw a man on the bench of his cart, that seemed annoyed for some reasons. “Halt! What’s your business here?” Shouted one of the guards. As if waking up from a dream, Cilerius, at his turn, looked up too and saw the two guards there, then realised that he had sweared aloud. “Hi, officer… I’m just a traveler coming from Nivese.” “I’m no officer… don’t try to flatter me. What’s in the cart?” “well, hmmm, some goods I’m carrying from a friend.” “Ah ah… Are you a merchant?” “uhhhh nope… can’t say I am… It’s just an occasional transport.” “What goods are they? Nothing prohibited?” “No clues what the goods are. I just know who I have to carry that to. Let me look for the names, I have a scroll with the list in my bag.” As he was saying that and beginning to rummage in his bag, a soldier climbed on the back of the cart and opened one of the barrels then exclaimed: “By Freya sake! What’s that?” Turning his head to the back, Cilerius could see what was inside the barrel for the first time. There was a slimy, smelly green substance that bubbled. At the guard exclamation and seeing jump from the cart and fumbling to pull his sword out of its scabbard, the two other guards now pointed their lance toward Cilerius, threatening. After a short moment of surprise, he looked at them and said: “Easy… easy now… I’m gonna pull this scroll from my bag as I told you and hand it to you.” “Don’t make no funny stuff. Pull the scroll with two finger and don’t try to unroll it or read it!” Shouted one of the guard with an air of scared character in a violent movie. If that was a player, he for sure had seen too many movies. If that was a NPC, it was well programmed to give a living feel. Slowly, to not induce bad response, Cilerius pulled the scroll to the guard who seemed in charge and asked: “Now, read by yourself who are the people I’m running this errand for and go ask them if there is any problem.” “Don’t tell me what to do.” Answered the soldier as he began to read the scroll. The color of his face gradually faded as his mouth gaped down. “ermmm, hmmm… how to say that that. That’s quite the list you have here. And you say those goods are for them?” “well, yes, of course. I have no idea who they are nor what this stuff is. I just was asked to deliver it to them, safely and untouched. I got through some brigands yesterday, I wonder if I’ll have to tell the “customers” that was guards that delayed or docked their shipment.” Answered Cilerius, pointing with his thumb the back of his cart and getting assurance as he had seen the guard losing his. The “customers” must have been some big shoot in the city if the guard was about to cry. “okay… move on, don’t be late!!! wait a sec… did you say brigands?” “yes, a day ago down the road. They tried to ambush me but proved lacking in their robbing skills.” “If that’s true, welcome in Hartburg. Brigands are a problem we like to be relieved of. Go and see our guard captain at the watch office later. There may have been some price on their heads.” “I’ll do that, thanks soldier.” And he drove his cart through the gates. ‘I don’t know what’s this stuff is, but at least those “customers” mean something here.’ And, slowly, he headed for the central place of the city, where he could look its map. There, he looked around a located the plan. From the scroll, he read the first two name and their address just to see they were in opposed places of the city. Cilerius could already figure that none of them would be close of the other. And with a single look at the map, he saw that the city had a complex topography. Sure, some streets were well orderly, but for the most part, it was a maze. From this point, Cilerius only one course of obvious action open to him. He pulled a big blank piece of paper, his pen and the ink. Then he began to draw, copying the outline to the city plan. It was hard and tedious work, but with the original to look at, it was easier. As he was done, the familiar ring of system windows popping up was heard but he dismissed them immediately as he could figure what they were about. His calligraphy and drawing skills had gone up due to the success of a difficult work. Raising his head once his work done, Cilerius then realised that many peoples were around, looking at what he was doing. He was packing up his tools when a human, dressed in a robe, asked: “by any chance, were you drawing the map of the city?” “yes, why?” “errrrr, could you do it again? I’d pay one gold piece for a map.” “Hey! Don’t listen to him. I’ll pay two golds.” “Me two and ten silvers!” Shouts were coming from all around and Cilerius was confused. “Why are you all wanting to buy a map from me?” The shouts recessed and after looking left and right, the first man to spoke before answered: “Well… the city is literally a maze, yes? They don’t sell maps anywhere. If we want to get somewhere, we have to use the guide… and they charge us with ten silvers a tour. And there are many quest that require running around here. We can’t just let the possibility to get credential pass. We’re willing to pay for your work, pay well. Would you do that for us, please? We all would be very grateful.” For one second, Cilerius contemplated the power he wielded here. Then, after weighting the pros and cons, he answered: “Listen! That’s not something I can do right here and right now. I have some business to attend.” Boo retended and some even said, loud enough for Cilerius to hear, as it was intended: “damn that greedy bastard… he want to charge us more now that he know we’re in need… or does he want to keep this advantage for himself?” “I heard that…” “shaddup, you moron… what if he decide to not help us because of you!” “Listen… I said right here and right now… Like I said, I have some business to attend and it can’t wait. Once I’m done with that, I’ll draw some more of those maps. And I’ll charge you only two gold each for the first batch I do. That will be a lot of work, at least at the beginning. Later, when I can produce them more easily and faster, I’ll charge less. If you want to be served on the first batch, be here tomorrow at… let’s say at the sun set.” Murmures still echoed on the place but peoples didn’t shout anymore. They understood who holded the power right now and their need. Cilerius, he, had seized the opportunity that presented itself. That was like looking in a river and finding a gold nugget then, instead of running to exchange it and claiming everywhere his luck, keeping to himself and looking for more. Here, he could make a lot of money, raise his skills and make connections. Well, a lot of money if you forget that he had made a lot more in bettings. But for someone under level 100, that was a lot. Few tradeskill could earn him that. His map in hands, Cilerius climbed on the bench of his cart and headed to the first point of the delivery route he had devised. Some peoples were still following him, till they saw him get near the gates of some wealthy house and in, after a short talk to the guards. A few were still following him when he exited and headed for the next point, but then, they stopped, wondering how this guy was entering the households of some of the mens that were the most hard to approach. Cilerius, not paying attention to his followers, arrived to the first house and at the question of the guards, answered he had a delivery for the master of this household. The guards were about to send him back when he precised that was a delivery from Gurdianson. At this name, the guards bowed and apologized profusely for holding someone who their master waited on so much. Inside the house court, He was told to wait for them to go inform their master. Who came off fast. “I’m told you were sent by Gurdianson?” “yes, he asked me to make some delivery and, I have something for you.” Answered Cilerius as he looked for something in the cart, one eye at a second scroll he had. “Here it is… this is the bag addressed to you.” He said, handing a bag to the master of the house. The man received it with excitation, opened it a little to look inside then closing it with a big grin on his face, said: “thank you for the delivery. Here, catch this purse. It will cover the fare.” “oh! thanks, that too much.” “no, no. I’m grateful of you for this quick delivery.” “that was no problem, sir. Only a few brigands on the way, just enough to relieve me from the boredom.” “Brigands? And you protected the cargo? Good… even better. Be advised that if you ever need something, you be at least welcome here to ask. Now, be on you way, and stay safe.” !Ding! Familiarity with the Everthop household raise by 50. “Thank you. Stay safe too.” More than the money compensation, that was what he was after. Credentials with some of influential NPC’s was a more valuable asset than gold, sometimes. Cilerius Drove his cart out of the house court then to the next point of his delivery route, noticing fewer peoples following him. He passed the rest of the day to make his deliveries, garnering credentials and purses as he did so. At the sun set, he was done and the cart was almost empty, but for his own bagages. Figuring he would need a place to rest, he headed to an inn but, as he was about to climb down the cart, he reconsidered and headed for the watch office. There, he asked for the guard captain. Since he didn’t have familiarity with the guards yet, the captain came a long moment later and asked, almost scornfully: “what do you want from me… I was eating such a succulent dinner.” “Please excuse me then for the derangement, I was told to come and report to you some encounter I made on my way here from Nivese.” “Encounter? Do I have a look to care about the squirrels that crossed the route on your way here?” “Squirrels? Hahahah… that’s funny… No, of course I wouldn’t trouble you for that. But what about brigands?” “Brigands? We did receive reports of brigands lurking around the city, yes… but if it’s to report a robbery, you can see with the attendant, there, at the desk…” he was about turn and head back in his office when Cilerius continued: “I’m not reporting a robbery… I’m reporting the disposal of the said brigands…” The captain stopped his walk away, tuned on himself again and for the first time, examined carefully the adventurer facing him. “Disposal? Do you mean you disposed of them?” “yes, I would come to report for anything less…” “Do you have any proof of your claim.” asked the captain, now interested. “Well, of course I didn’t cut heads to show off, I’m civilized. But they all had those badges.” said Cilerius, handing one of the badges he had collected in the loots without paying attention at the time. “Oh, yes… I see, those are the the badges of the wolves of the red forest. I heard those brigands changed their leader some times ago. They weren’t there when we headed in their hide-out to capture them. So they were in the forest around the road from Nivese?” “I suppose, yes. At least, that’s where they tried to ambush me.” “Okay… the badges are legit. 15 badges… good work man…” Now, the captain was more friendly and, as proof of that, a system window flashed: !Ding! Familiarity with the Hartburg guard raise significantly. +150. ‘Good, that was 10 points a head.’ “here, catch this…” Said the captain, throwing him a purse. “They were small time offender so, the reward is … small.” “That’s more than enough. But in fact, I would be delighted with another reward…” “what…?” asked the captain with a frown drawing on his face. “Nothing important… just a piece of information.” “Ask and, if it’s in my power, I’ll answer.” “That should be. Here, you see, earlier, I was looking for a room to rent at an inn, then I figured I could try to rent a little house. So, I was wondering if you could advise me on where to look or with who to talk…” The captain face loosened a little hearing the request, as it wasn’t something abusive. “I see… so you want a house in this fine city. I can understand why you ask me that. seeing how this city is a maze. Well… depending your budget, there are three kinds of houses availables, and three different men to see. If you ever want to buy or rent a mansion, go to the Marble Hand near the central place. It’s expensive but worth it. If you want a normal house, near the marketplace, go see the Stone Hand. If your budget doesn’t allow you the first two places, in the slum, you can look for the Beggar Hand. Well, this one isn’t in building, his office is a table in an alley at the south entrance of the slum.” “I see… thank you captain. I’ll go and check those offices. Have a good night.” “Good bye. And stay away from the slum at night. It’ more healthy.” On those words, Cilerius left and as he was driving his cart away, marked down on his map, the three locations explained by the guard captain. He headed to the second location, as, if he guessed he had enough to buy a mansion, he didn’t need to for the use he planned for it. At the marketplace, the merchants were starting to pack their displays. He looked around and spotted the building with signboard marked Stone Hand. Climbing down his cart, he tied his percheron to a post, picked his bags from the cart and crossed the place to the office. He entered and could see at a desk, a woman dive nodding, sign of a long work day without much activity. He approached the desk and stood there, waiting for the woman to react. After half a minute, as she didn’t, he tried to attract her awareness. “hmmm” No reaction… “HMMM Hmmm!” Still no reaction… “Excuse me!” She was still dive nodding… Cilerius noticed a book on the desk, took it and slammed it on the table, producing a really loud sound and shaking the desk at the same time. This time, the woman reacted: “AHHHHHHH!?!? What is it? no, no… I wasn’t sleeping. Absolutely not!” “Hi… could you please advise me on property acquisition?” The woman, in her mid 30ties, still had clouded eyes and a little slobber at the corner of her mouth. regaining her senses, she whipped her mouth with her sleeve in mouvement showing practice and focused on the man facing her. “Hi, what can I do for you?” “errr, like I said, I’d like counseling on property acquisition.” She raised from her chair and as if she was scanning him, looked at him from head to toes and seemed to make a conclusion of that. “Well, if you’re here to look for a future home, I can of course advise you. But the day is nearing its end and I’m closing soon.” From his look, she rightly deemed Cilerius under level 100 and guessed he couldn’t possibly afford to buy or even rent one the house or flat she could propose. And she didn’t feel like making effort for someone who wouldn’t pay today. “Then I’ll be brief. I’m looking for an at least two rooms lodging, nothing too grand but good enough. What would be the monthly rent and the buyout price for something like that?” Since the question was precise enough and he didn’t seem to plan some window shopping, she thought for a few second and answered: “Depending the location and the size, you would need from 5 golds a month to 40 for rent, or 600 golds to about 5000 golds to buy it.” Cilerius made a quick calculation in his head and concluded: “So the buyout is worth about 10 years on rent.” “Yes, that’s about it.” “Okay… then, I’d like to see what you have to propose for… let’s say, 1000 golds.” He said, opening a pouch full of gold in front of the woman. Then, for a whole minute, she could only loot alternately at him and the pouch, with her mouth gaping wide and a unique sound coming out: “Heeeeeee?” Then she regained her thoughts began to act as the realtor she was. “So, estimmed customer, do you intend to buy a house? I have the perfect one, not too close to the market but on main street. Of course, it would cost you a little more than 1000 golds.” She now was trying to sell something more expensive since her cut was 25% on the base price. “No… the main street would be too noisy and I’d like to stay a little away of the busiest parts of the city.” She keep trying to propose houses or flats that were over 1000 golds, then she gave up and concentrated on what he was really looking for. “So, let’s resume. Not too big, not upstanding, at least two rooms, away from the busiest part of the city… I may have that, but you have to come with me to look if it suit you.” She said, taking a key with her and inviting him to follow. She closed the office door behind her and lead the way to a three floor house. “See, this house is divided in three parts. Two flats and a place for either a shop or a workshop on main floor. The access to the flats is made by those stairs outside. Would the location suit you?” “That seem correct. Can I take a look inside?” “Of course, that’s why I took the key with me. The flats up for sale is the once just under the roof.” She climbed the stairs up to the second floor, followed by Cilerius who was looking around. She opened the door and entered, continuing to make a sale speech. Basically, that was a three rooms flats, with an entrance by the stairs, two windows in this room and a door leading to the second room. That one had also two window, looking to the roof of the house next to this one and another door leading to the third room. The last room was a blind room. No windows, only the door that permitted to enter it. That was a little room, almost like a closet, just a little wider. “So, what do you think about this flat?” “hmmm… the location is good and the arrangement of the flat itself could suit my needs. How much?” “This one would be 950 golds.” “Hmmm… that seem a little expensive for this location and the size.” Cilerius was loaded, but that didn’t mean he would throw gold like that. “Of course, I didn’t deduct the usual discount, so that would be 900 golds.” “It seem empty since a long time…” “And as the actual owner would like to sell it, we are able the cut the price a little more to 850 golds.” “Really empty… no furnitures, nothing…” “You’re right, I forgot about that… what about a discount of 20 golds?” “And it need renovation… the floor crack a lot…” Now, the woman was desperate. She needed to sell this flat to increase her accounting skill but her cut was reducing to a trickle. “Listen, about that, I can only add a discount of 10 golds and refer you to a good craftsman.” “820 golds then? hmmm… “ Cilerius still affected to show hesitation but he was already ready to buy. He just needed to make her think he was doing her a favor. “Okay then for 820 golds.” He said as if with reluctance, subtracting some pieces from the pouch then giving it to her. In return, he received the flat’s key from a smiling woman who thought she had made a good sale with an exigent customer. She gave him as promised, the referrals to the craftsman and left, sure she was the winning one in the deal. Of course, Cilerius thought of it differently since he made a nice saving with tactful negotiation. ‘That seem perfect… the main door in front, two windows that lead to the roof of the house next door and a blind room. Good.’ Of course, he could have look for a flat to rent, since on short term, it would cost him less, but he was one to like owning things. And this way, he was sure no landlord would come in. With a quick look around, he assessed what furnitures he needed and left after marking his map with the location of his house. The city was made so that without a map of a guide, you could walk near the place you were looking for and still miss it. He exited the place, locked the door and climbed down the stairs. Then he walked toward the marketplace, according to the map, then to a shop. That was a general store with all kinds of goods for sale. He bought what he needed immediately and ordered for some furnitures he needed. The merchant told him to come back the next day after noon for it and he left. He still had one thing to do and headed to his cart, untied the reins and lead it toward a stable. There, he negociate with the groom and paid kim for taking care of his sturdy horse and storing the cart. Cilerius wasn’t sure he would need them again, but thought it was likely and best to keep a know horse and cart instead of selling them with a discount just to have to buy them again later. Also, the pension wasn’t expensive so… As he exited the stable, he noticed a shadow quickly removing itself from view, behind a corner two streets down. Not too worried but careful enough, he walked away, took a turn then ran till the next corner and took another sharp turn. Then, melting himself in the shadow of the street, waited. Soon after, without a sound announcing it, a shadow in the form a person, walked fast past the street, looking right and left, then, as if not noticing Cilerius, walked further. But Cilerius had noticed a the very little hesitation at the moment the shadow saw him. ‘sneak skill, some sort of track probably. What does he want with me? I’m alone here, nobody to help in case… if that was an assassin or a thief, he could have made his strike just now. Speaking of track…’ Next, Cilerius whispered: “Track!” And immediately, the trail of his stalker highlighted and he could see it lead further then turn at a corner. Passing the intersection without real head movement, he checked with only the corner of his eyes and could see the trail leading in a shadow of the street. Cilerius couldn’t stop a little grin to show on his face, but with the poor light, it wouldn’t be seen. He couldn’t almost notice the shadow melted in the shadow, only helped by the hunting skill that gave him a little passive buff to spot hidden live beings. Now sure he was the target of this track, Cilerius began to plan a way to first lose his follower, then to know what he wanted. ‘Apparently, he isn’t a hunter or ranger… so his track skill shouldn’t be the same as mine… I have some convenient skills to use for that… I just need a diversion.’ He then checked his map for something and headed for the place he was looking for. There, he entered a little shop, luckily still open despite the late hour. The light was too dim for the signboard to be readable, but the inside didn’t let any doubts of what was being sold here. That was an alchemy shop. Cilerius asked the merchant for a few products, paid for them and then left and headed for the slums. On his way, he mixed some ingredients in three different pouches. Soon, he was near the slums, as the populace roaming around was a clue. Many not so engaging faces were there, some men using a dagger to clean their nails or juggling with. For anyone not ready enough, this was suicide to enter the slum like that, alone. For Cilerius, that wasn’t a real problem. Whatever happening now would be to his benefit. If someone attacked him, it would benefit his brawling skill. They would also hinder the moves of his stalker. The only risk was the presence of a high level malicious thug. But his research about this city, on the net, didn’t hint about this case. So Cilerius was feeling safe. Once in the slum, some other peoples followed him for a while but lost interest as he was walking around without goal, seeming to be lost, tacking many times the same way after turning again and again at each corners. That was to make his tracks mixed again and again, so the latest couldn’t be told from the oldest. At the same time, he was looking for a good spot where to use his diversion. He finally found what he wanted and once again, passed and passed again on the same track near the chosen spot. Still having his own track engaged on his stalker, he discreetly checked on his actual position and took the three pouches out. He stopped where he had planned and after untying the pouches a little, whispered: “Fire coating!” targeting the pouches. With the properties of this spell, the pouches were safe, but not their contents if it was touched by the flames. Then, with the burning pouches in hands, he turned, looked at the place his stalker was, made an exaggerated wink then, throw one pouch in his direction, one in the opposing direction and the last where he was standing. Upon hitting the ground, the pouches all opened and their contents exploded as it wath licked by the fire. The explosion wasn’t violent, just loud and produced thick colored smoke. This done, Cilerius proceeded with the rest of his plan and ran to one of the alley where he didn’t create a smoke screen and hide where he planned. On his first passage here, he had noticed on the side, all the wastes, including a cover. He didn’t create smoke here, where he was planning to hide, for two reasons. One, misleading the stalker. It was natural to think the prey would use the smoke to cover his escape and the stalker would run through the smoke, ignoring the side alleys without smokes. Second, he needed a clear view to check on his stalker position when he would pass the crossroad. ‘and I succeeded in creating smoke bombs… easy enough if you get black powder and some coloring agents. I even got the recipe registered and a nice raise of alchemy skill… but next, I must learn to make black powder myself… it’s expensive to buy.’ The shadow, still sneaking but not silencious since he was profusely cussing, passed through the crossroad without a look on the side. He was running his head down, looking at the ground, trying to pick a fresh trail. Cilerius stayed lying a long moment, waiting for his stalker to pass and pass again, to finally look on the sides but walk next to his hiding place without any clues. After 10 minutes, the guy finally throw the towel and seemed to contact someone using the friend list. Cilerius couldn’t of course hear what was said, but at the expressions show on his face, he could understand that it wasn’t plaisant. ‘Ok… that’s not an individual but a group that check on me… now, to know who they are...’ Cilerius waited for the stalker to finish his conversation then move away. He waited a little more, then, activating his own sneak skill, got out of his hiding place and carefully headed for the crossroad, checking for his trail. With great care, he then walked, almost hugging the walls and followed this trail, leaving space between his old stalker and now prey, and him. The trail lead to a mansion. Of course, he didn’t follow up to the doors, but stopped as soon he knew what building it was. In this city, only some wealthy NPC’s and guild possessed mansions. And that wasn’t a NPC mansion. ‘Now… what would a guild want with me who only came in town today? Is it about the maps? Noooo… they wouldn’t bother when they could buy them all tomorrow… what then? Only one solution to know. I have to go and spy… ninja time...’ He chuckled a little at this thought and then prepared to enter the mansion. He first checked the surroundings for an access, then when he found one, looked for escape routes. ‘Going in is usually easy enough. The problem is always when you have to run out with possible pursuers.’ Using the shadows and the side alleys, he approached his entrance point, a wall on the back, totally in darkness. Now, he had to climb or find another way. Lucky for him, he had another way. A trick he used for offensive purpose before. Now, he needed to adapt it for this purpose. In a whisper, he said in sequence: “Ice shield, Wind walk.” Then, lowering his power to the minimum and targeting the area just under him: “Earth needles”. The result? Remember how the guy was throw up in the arena? Well, that’s the same process, but for the lower power so he wouldn’t fly too high. ‘Nice to have a trick like that. I’m sure many who would sell a kidney for it.’ Wizards could get the levitate spell when reaching the intermediate level in the wind mastery. But there was a quest involved and regent used, costly regent. Some other class had trick too, to climb a wall or something alike. But this trick didn’t need regent nor tools. Just basics spells and imagination. Even with lowering the power of the earth needle, he was throw 2 meters higher than the wall but was safe thanks to the wind walk that allowed him to land safely on top of the wall. He released the spell then, using sneak, walked to a point where the mansion roof was close to the wall. A jump and he landed on it. He then looked around for an entrance and noticed a fanlight he opened with care and slided through. He was in the attic. With a lot of care, because sneak doesn’t resolve everything, even more with a skill low as his, he walked near the edge of the attic floor then crouched and crawled till he could see and hear what was going down in the hall. Down there, many peoples were assembled. Dressed in all kind of attire, spellcasters, heavy melee or nimble types were discussing, loudly. Obviously, they weren’t happy and a man on the side, dressed in black, was the target of many angry glances. “damnit! They asked us… I mean commanded us to keep an eye on him and we lost him? How do you want me to report that? They fund us to keep order in this city and sometime run errands for them. What if they decide the switch the supported guild? We would lose funds and position.” “yes… but who the f..k is this guy. They ask us to watch his every moves, to protect him in case of problems with another player, but everything while staying in the shadow. And he could lose him like that? What level is he?” Here, the man suffering the anger of everyone spoke: “I don’t know for sure. But according his gear, I would say between level 50 and 80. Not higher. He noticed me when he got out of the stable, so we could keep watch there too, not only at his flat.” “yeh… we will do that. Did he do anything else noticeable?” “He probably has many skills. He used some alchemy trick to create a thick smoke to lose me. His build is athletic but he seem to use magic.” “what a fucked of character. Though I’d like this smoke screen trick.” “yeh, but that’s not the point here. If we don’t find him before they ask for a report or if something happen to him, we’re fucked!” “okay, you, you and you, go on the lookout at the designated places. We will send relieving each 2 hours to be certain we have alert peoples on watch duty. You, go in the slum and see if he’s still around.” At those words, four peoples left in hurry. “now, you, did you check the non smocked alley?” “not immediately. I assumed he used the smoke to escape so I ran through. Then when I looked for his trail, everything was mixed up.” “later, in the side non smocked alleys, did you check if he was hiding there?” A long silence was the only answer. “damn… at least learn from your mistakes. This guy is smart. He applied real life trick with the game possibilities. From now on, when dealing with him, keep thinking of the most devious move he could use. The probability it’s the one he will use is high.” At that, everyone shouted a loud yes, then as if this was their dismissal, they scattered in small groups, exited or simply disappeared, loging out. ‘ok… I know enough for now and it’s not like they will expose their plans in the open for me to see. I better leave before someone notice me.’ On this thought, Cilerius crawled back from the floor edge, then raised and walked to the fanlight and slipped out. The rest was easier, he just had to jump to the wall and down in the dark alley. That done, he headed back in the direction of the slum, using side alley and keeping watch of move around. From what he heard, if those players were even only half intelligent, they wouldn’t lose his trail that easily anymore. He headed for the slum because he figured that would be the place where it would be the easiest to lose a stalker again. That and since he heard they knew about his flat, he figured he needed an alternate place, unknow of them and where they couldn’t find him easily. Arrived at the edge of the slum, from an alley, he looked around to see if there was any spotter. On the negative and after a long wait, he moved to a guy sat behind a table. “Is it the Beggar Hand office?” “yes.. it is indeed… what can I do for you?” “I’d like to buy a little house, two rooms or more, in the slum… away from preying eyes.” “Hmmm… that I could get you… that I could have… but do you have the money for it?” “Speak your price.” “If you want to buy it, that would cost you 300 golds. Discretion is an additional 100 gold…” ‘Crap… I let my need show and now he’s taking advantage... but I better don’t start to bargain now, with someone unwanted who could show up anytime.’ “okay for the buyout price and your silence price.” Answered dryly Cilerius, throwing a purse to the man. He was caught cold as he expected him to try and bargain, then he could have raised the price again since there was a need… but this guy facing him didn’t try to bargain. The shack he was selling him was overpriced by 50%. His so called silence was expensive, but it was as if this guy guessed what would happen in case of bargain. The beggar Hand tenant pulled a key and gave it to Cilerius, saying the address of the shack sold at a so high price. “maybe you want someone to guide you there? That would cost you only one gold.” “No, thanks… if the address is correct, I will find my way alone.” “As you wish… but rescue in the slum if you’re lost will cost you 10 times more.” “I’ll keep that in mind and take care of not losing my way. Thank you.” Thanks were the last thing he wanted to give that common thief, but to create a commotion here and now wouldn’t be smart. Putting the key in his belt hidden pocket and the map in hand, he dive in the slum, heading toward the address pointed on the map. Once he spotted the said shack, he walked past it and around a few time, looking for all the surroundings, for escape routes or preying eyes. When sure he was here alone, he headed for the door, pulled the key and opened his new home. Once inside, Cilerius almost let a cussing shout out as the shack seemed to be composed of only one room. He was about to throw all discretion and go gibe a lesson to this damn thief, when he saw a trap on the ground. He raised it and could see stairs leading down to a door. ‘Well, I didn’t say how I wanted the rooms set...’ He climbed down and opened the door that was currently unlocked. Beside this door, there was no other access. With preparation, he could hide the trap and so, the stair and the second room. “perfect…” ‘this thief probably doesn’t know he sold me exactly what I needed...’ He climbed back to the main floor, closed the door then descended in the cave after shutting the trap, then the door behind him. Then, he did what he planned by buying this house. He pulled his golden key, the key of knowledge, from his bag and, used it in the lock of the door. The expected effect happened. The lock flashed with light and the around of the door as well. Cilerius removed the key from the lock, then opened the door, that revealed this blue smoky light through which he could see his library reserve office. He walked through. On the other side, things were as he had let them. Only the carrier of the key could enter this reserve. Since he had to wait for one hour before the passage closed and he could move from this room, he pulled paper, ink and his pen, then using the first map he had draw as reference, began to make a copy. That was easier and faster now, since that was a work he already completed once with success. It had took him 45 minutes to complete the first map, from the original. But he had, at the time, to scale down everything. Now, with a better knowledge of the city and of the map, without having to scale it down again, he could draw it faster. This first copy was done in 30 minutes. As soon it was completed, he started with a second copy and increased his drawing speed again, managing to finish it in 25 minutes. He was getting the hang of it. Now, the waiting time was almost over and so, Cilerius prepared to leave this room. But he wasn’t planning to return just now to his Hartburg shack. Since he had the money for and he was aware of some unwanted attention, he planned to buy a flat here in Nivese too, as well as another poor house in some remote location of the harbor city. Since he was loaded, he was intending to make full use of this incredible item, the key of knowledge, and create a network of teleport gates with the library reserve office acting as the hub. With this intention, as soon the doorway was free for the smoky light, he entered the reserve itself then exiting it, entered the library. He walked toward the exit, just to find Desmond at his desk, as always. Upon seeing Cilerius in front of him, he was surprised. “Wh… where did you come from???” Feeling like teasing him a little, Cilerius answered: “Well, from the inner library, of course, as you can see… didn’t you see me come in?” “uhhhh? No, I didn’t see you come. That’s impossible…” “hehe, don’t worry, Desmond. I came from the reserve.” “From the reserve?... Ohhhhh yes… from the reserve, of course! Useful, aren’t they?” “Yes, you can that. The ways of knowledge are full of surprise.” “Yes, yes… but what are you doing here?” “Well, I thought I could make use of a home here, in Nivese. So I came to buy one.” “That’s a good idea. Do you know who to ask for this?” “No, but I have a guess, you, you know who.” “yes, here, take this note and go see the man at this address. The note will give you diligence and discretion from him.” “I didn’t say I needed discretion…” “Well, even if you didn’t say it, from the way you used to come here and how some guys asked for you shortly after you left, I thought you wouldn’t mind discretion.” “Desmond, you really are a wisdom well. Thank you for the introduction note.” “That’s nothing… by the way… when are you fighting again?” “Tss tss tss… Desmond, take care, betting may become an addiction…” “No! Honest! I just wanted to see you fight again…” “Yeh, sure, of course. Okay, See you later, maybe.” “See you, and stay safe.” “Always, friend, always…” On those last words, Cilerius left and headed to the address Desmond gave him. On the way, he took care to make tour and detour to check if someone was following him. It was late and but for dumb luck, peoples who thought him gone wouldn’t encounter him like that. Sure he wasn’t stalked, he knocked at the door and waited. Soon after, the door partially opened and a grumpy voice what he wanted so late. Cilerius, as a silent answer to that question, handed him the note. “A friend of Desmond, uh? Okay, what do you want? He asked me to help you to the best of my capacities.” He said, opening fully the door and inviting his newfound guest inside. “I heard from him that you were the man to see if I wanted to buy a housing.” “That’s true. I probably have the most possibilities of housing in this city, with a great variety of locations.” “Then you are the man of the situation. I’d like to buy two. First, either a flat or a house with at least two rooms, one being blind. The location doesn’t matter, but nothing too ostentatious nor luxurious. Second, a poor housing, same as before, two rooms, one being blind, in a remote location.” “okay… for the first one, it’s easy and I can think of many possibilities. For the second, I may have something.” “I would also like utmost discretion regarding the second one. And if there are good escape ways, for both, it would be perfect.” “If you weren’t send by Desmond, I’d wonder what evil plan you have… but since he gave you referrals.” “I just like discretion… and in this world, many want to deprive you of it.” “So, for the second one, its entrance is in dark alley and close by the sewers entrance. You could move through them if you really want to and if you don’t fear for your smell sense. For the first one, that should do too.” “Then it’s perfect… the last thing we have to do is talk about a price.” “I’d say… 1200 gold for the first one…” “1200? isn’t it a little expensive?” “Let me finish… for the second, nothing… You told me you wanted discretion, right? I have some paperwork to do in case of sale… so, if you want discretion about the second one, that wouldn’t do it, yes?” “No, that wouldn’t do, so?” “So I charge you for the first with the cost of both together and for some reason, I will have lost both the property paper and the key of the second and you were lucky to find them.” “Clever… okay, then here are the 1200 golds.” Said Cilerius, handing this man a purse heavy with gold pieces. “If there are inquiries, you can talk about the first one, it’s no problem, but keep the second secret, okay?” “Of course, that was crystal clear the moment we agreed on the process and the price.” “Then I thank you and hope your business prosper.” Finished Cilerius, taking the keys and owning papers the man facing him was handing. “Thank you and stay safe… and hidden…” answered this man, with a knowing smile. Cilerius left this house and immediately got in the shadow of an alley and stood there, checking his surroundings. Nothing seemed strange so, he took the opportunity to think a little, about which house he would connect first to his “network”. He came to the conclusion that the longer he stayed outside, the more probable it was someone concerned would see him and report to those investigating him or even follow him himself. The best course of action was to go now add this secret housing then proceed with the not so secret. And so, Cilerius, with care of his own discretion, using sneak skill all the way, headed for the place that was located near the sewers entrance. With the address, he found it somewhat easily and first checked his surroundings again in search of a possible tail, then for the escape routes. Once done, he got to the alley that was really dark and there, found a stair going down to a door in a building that seemed totally anonymous. He used the given key and opened the door. The inside was really common and without any special feature. There was another door leading to an 20m long hallway and another door. he opened this one too, to find himself in a blind room. ‘No clue what this was used for, but it’s perfect. The long hallway would be easy to defend. I even could plant traps...’ He closed the door, then pulled his precious key and used it, creating yet another gate to his reserve office. He crossed the doorway and was, again in his office. As if it was now a habit, he pulled for his bag, papers, ink and the pen and resumed with his maps drawing. ‘I’ll have to think about good light sources if I want to work in all those blind rooms. Adding that to the to do list.’ It was a fact that his actuals light sources were lacking for the work he was doing, and adding fatigue to his eyes. He was halfway done with w third map in a row when the refresh time of the door was here. Now, he had two possibilities. He could set the access of the other flat in Nivese or go and do the same but in Hartburg. Following the same logic as before, he decided to first do with the one where nobody was looking for him yet then proceed with the Hartburg flat. Since he was in the same city, since it wouldn’t wise to be seen coming from the hidden housing, he exited the normal way his office and the library, saluting yet again Desmond on the way and thanking him for the referral to the realtor. Next was now a drilled habit. Sneak, move in the shadows… ‘I wonder if I missed my career path… maybe thief or assassin would have suited me as a profession.’ He thought with a smirk. The diversity of his possible actions was something he liked a lot. There was no place for humdrum if you looked hard enough in this game. He soon got to the new bought flat, which was at the third floor of a building and that you could access by an outdoor stair. There were two flats on this floor, one with windows facing the street and his facing the back, another smaller building. Here too, he could escape by the roofs if needed. He entered and found an ordinary interior consisting a big occupying three quarter of the flat, the last quarter being a room in the back right, he could access by a door. Satisfied with his lodging, he didn’t drag and got in the secondary room and repeated for the third time that night, the same action leading to the creation of a gate to his office. There, he continued the unfished map and had the time to draw two more and even begin a third one, just enough to do the main lines. Then, he opened the gate to his shack in Hartburg and continued there his work, till he could exit the cave. On the main floor, he looked through the windows a moment, to see if there was any suspect activity and, was about to leave when he thought about something. “Sylphea?” “Yes, master… I’m so happy you’re calling me… did you miss me?” “Yes, of course… I’m sorry I didn’t play with you four lately. I was a little busy… Listen, I’m playing some kind of hide and seek with other peoples. Could you go and take a look around, if there are suspicious peoples around. Wait… that isn’t the right word… If you see peoples on the lookout, please tell me where.” “Do you want to cheat? And yes, there is a suspicious person close by… he’s just facing me. Hihihi…” “Funny, you little prankster… so, could you do that for me?” “Yes, but cheating is bad, master.” “It isn’t a real game, Sylphea… It’s more like those people are looking for me and I don’t want them to find me.” “Okay, I’ll be right back.” Ten minutes after, she came back and told him: “I locked around everywhere at a distance of 500m. There are 10 thieves waiting for prey, 25 beggars and one assassin.” “Where the assassin is?” “To the north.” “Thank you. You can stay with me if you want, but be like a breeze, almost unnoticeable.” “I get to play with you? Yes yes yes!!!” “Be quiet now… tsss” “Sorry master.” And she shut up. Now sure of the state of his immediate surrounding, Cilerius got out of his shack, closed the door, then headed to the south. The probability that this assassin was the one looking for was high. Turning again and again, he progressed to the edge of the slum while avoiding the waiting thieves. They could have been a good way for him to increase his brawling skill, but right now, he was seeking discretion, not the ruckus a fight would cause. Since he didn’t know where the other stalkers were, around his flat, he decided to be prudent and approach it from a different direction than he was coming effectively. To do so, he got to the south wall then followed it till he reached the west city gate, from which he first entered the city earlier the day before. From there, he headed straight to his flat without taking any precaution, just asking Sylphea to watch and report him after, where peoples were on the lookout. Additionally to the three he could see himself, on the way there, she reported another eight. As he pointed their locations on his map, he could see how their deployment was and guess that there probably were five more spy. They were on two circles of eight sentry, centered on his flat, one with a radius of 100m and the second 200m, with their watchpoint alternating. This was designed to efficiently cover the area. The rest, depended on their discretion, that most of them laked. or at least, it was short for a guy with a hunting skill, even at low level and even more for an elemental air spirit. ‘full grade for their deployment strategy but non passing grade for using it with mediocre men.’ Even when if they were his opponent, Cilerius always analyzed used tactics and strategies. That was the way to learn more, imagine counters and improvements for his own use. Of course, a cool mind was necessary for this kind of feat. That’s probably why most of the guild leaders weren’t melee class but staying in the back, where they weren’t intoxicated by the heat of the fight. ‘Their leader must be good, and he know it, that would explain his anger before, at the mansion.’ Even a good artisan, with poor material, will only produce mediocre result. Of course, the effort invested in the work could improve it, but not so much. He could see most of them moving now, closing to his position as he was himself closing to his flat. ‘I’d have much to tell them if they were my men...’ He still had to climb the stairs and enter his housing, but they didn’t make contact. ‘At least they follow orders.’ Now in his flat, he relaxed since he only had one easy task to perform for the night, setting the last gate to his office. Since his office was better equipped than all of his new housings, he stayed there after going through the gate and settled to draw more maps. ‘Sentry in a city, for a non moving target… now that’s a job that I would hate.’ He thought, after he completed his tenth map in a row. He was now able to draw three and half a map an hour and was doing so with application. In result, both his calligraphy and drawing skill were growing steadily. Additionally, the handicraft was too, at a smaller rate but still, it was raising. Of course, Cilerius knew that from a certain level of skill, repetitive task like that wouldn’t help much to increase to skill level, but he could think about it when the time came. ‘too bad, drawing and calligraphy are artistic skills, I can’t use real life knowledge for a shortcut to success… but I will have to study chemistry a little, for alchemy skill purpose.’ For some of the production skills, real life recipes were used in the game mechanics, in the earlier stages of the skill mastery at least. So knowing about how the real life recipe were and adapting them for the game purpose would help a lot at the beginning. For the artistics skills, those shortcuts were fewer and you had to rely on the hard work and application in game. ‘but since the grow is harder, the benefits should be higher too, with an high mastery.’ Upon learning and raising those skills, Cilerius bet on the future and the fortune that may come. With this kind of thoughts, it wasn’t that hard to keep doing this repetitive work, drawing continuously the same map, writing its captions. Subtracting the time lost in travel between each of his houses and his spying expedition at the guild mansion, since the end of his delivery tour the day before, he could work on his map making for 21h. If he could only complete two maps in the first hour, he gradually speed up the process and was able to draw almost four an hour at the end. He finished his 74th one then, since he had to take in consideration the one hour refresh and it was little more than one hour before the sun set, he opened the gate to his flat crossed it. There, he pulled every maps from his bag, set them on the side and pulled clothes he got from the loots on his hunts. Using tailoring skill, he just dismantled them to obtain fabrics. He then cut those fabrics in ribbons. When he finished to do so with the fabrics he had yet, he had around 100 ribbons of different colors. He then took a map and rolled it up. He was about to just use the ribbon to tie the map when a thought came to him. He searched his bag again, till he found what he was looking for. He still had some candle he bought back in Nivese. He made the wax melt in a bowl and mixed in it some of the red colored powder he still had. Thus, he obtained red wax. He then took the rolled map, put the ribbon on the verso edge then let a drop a wx fix it. He then rolled the ribbon around the scroll he used a little more wax to seal it. Upon completing this task, he got the window message stating that he had completed a fine work. He was happy to note a raise in both his skills and even got the surprise to see a new one, like a specialization, be created. !Ding! new skill: mapmaking. You are now able to create maps from either an existing one or from observation of your surroundings. The higher the skill, the better you will be able to convey your observation in your drawing. The completion of more maps will now raise this skill in priority and the drawing and calligraphy skill secondarily. That wasn’t too bad, since his skill raise already slowed a lot now. And the benefit to be able to make a map on the spot, from what he could see, or maybe hear from others, was big. Mapmaking was one of the skills thought to be monopolized by the adventurer class. ‘So, there was this way to learn it… good.’ Then he resumed his work, sealing each map with ribbons and wax. Each time one was completed, he got the skills raise notification. The waiting hour was almost up when he finished. At the end, his calligraphy skill was at B9 (98%), just short of graduating to the intermediate level and, his drawing skill was at B8 (56%). The mapmaking skill raised up to B5 (12%) in a short time, thanks to the completion of that many maps. Apparently, he could now convey the exact distance or the angles of the way, on the spot, as he would travel. He packed the completed maps and, as soon the door wasn’t occupied by a blueish smoke anymore, he exited his room then his flat and headed for the central place where many peoples were waiting on him. When he arrived there, many were those who let expectating sighs out. But they were all behaving. No riot like the previous day. “Okay, hello everyone… so, I’m here like I promised. I have, in the meantime, completed 74 maps for sale…” “Only?” “So few…” Many disappointment reactions could be heard, but they stopped fast as peoples came to the realisation that it was, in fact much. They had see him draw a part of the first map and saw that the process was slow, at the time. “Sorry, I could have made a few more but I was disturbed by some pest on my way home, last night.” “Who?” “What the bastard come in the way of your work and our easier life?” Indignant shouts raised from the crowd. Someone was hindering their hope for and easiest life in the city. That couldn’t be forgiven. “No clue, but some peoples kept following me around last evening and they were even waiting for me to appear near my house late at night after I lost them… Well, whatever, I have 74 maps for sale today. As I said yesterday, I will charge 2 golds for each. Only one per person to be fair.” He had throw a little jab to the interested peoples, that obviously were around and even in the crowd since some would try to buy a map too. That was to make them aware he know perfectly about them and it annoyed him. A crowd like this one could easily be transformed into a mob if a target to hate was given. As a testament to his obvious threat, he could see some faces grow uneasy among the assembled peoples. He then began the sale of the maps and that was, as one could expect, an instant success. From what he could see, he had work for days and even weeks if he kept at it. Of course, he wasn’t planning to be a cartographer, so he would make maps for some more days then return to his own activities. “Okay, tomorrow, same time, I’ll have more. Don’t lose your way.” “We won’t, thanks to you.” Answered some of the lucky one’s who had bought the map already.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Fire. Fire was everywhere. I felt that my very being was engulfed. I was being sucked into a void, a void that did not end. I fought against its pull as much as possible but could not win. My loss was close. The air was being sucked out, as my consciousness was leaving me. I still resisted but this time instead of fully resisting the pull I grabbed at it. I heaved on it with all my will. I would not fail. For my father, for myself I would not let it end here. I finally grasped something. It felt like the endless abyss itself was in my hand. What should have eaten me was now mine? This doesn’t make much sense does it? But who cares now there is a chance I might come out of this.<br><br>I decided to devour that which sought to devour me. I didn’t know if this would even do anything or if it was all in my dying mind as a delusion meant to assuage the dead and help them pass on. The cold that had seeped into me became as ice in my veins now. <br><br>I swallowed.<br><br>I felt it.<br><br>The surge of endless darkness was clawing at me. My insides screamed. I thought for a moment that I was somehow being burned from the inside out. But I knew with my entire being that instead of burning I was freezing. It is like when one puts his hand in a really hot fire and it feels cold. This is just the opposite. So cold it burns.<br><br>And so I burned. Burned like the darkest sun to ever set its self in the deepest pits. Burned with hatred and rage and the incongruity of it all. How could we be blamed for a man who chose to be killed instead of seeing reason? And the whole reason was because we would not forge him a sword? REDICULOUS!!!!<br><br>There was a pulsing around me. The darkness began to pulse. I still burned but it felt as but a simple bit of cold. Finally the dark itself cracked and light burst in through it. <br><br>I was blinded.<br>Wait I can see enough to be blinded?<br><br>Slowly the light faded but only enough to allow me to see beyond the chasm the crack had become. I floated out of the crack. There was an endless white room. Endless in that it was like the darkness but I felt I could see now instead of the lack of from before. I turned around and there was the crack. It was tiny almost like a scratch but so obvious as it marred the perfect white walls. Slowly at first and then faster pure blackness flowed out of the scratch and enveloped me trying to pull me in. Instead of succeeding it seems I absorbed it instead. This continued until the scratch itself disappeared. I’m mind boggled by this point. What is going on?<br>A voice. It was everywhere but nowhere at once. A deep voice filled with power.<br>“I have seen your plight young man. And give you this chance to live again. I have but one concession you must make to.”<br><br>I look around me but see no one. Slowly I answer, “I will live and find those who harmed us. I will live to see them gone. Tell me what you wish of me?” by the end my voice is almost screaming with my pent up fury.<br><br>Silence reigns for a moment. Then “I like the look you have. So I’ll make it simple. You may live again only if you use what you make use of the tool I give you. It will work in perfect conjunction with what you wish to accomplish. A small trinket, but it is powerful. Will you accept it?”<br><br>I thought for but a moment. “Yes whatever it is I will take it. You who have given me this chance will be my god.”<br><br>Laughter explodes from all sides. “I’m no one that special, hah, but if you really want to then just call me Loptr.”<br><br>“Then, Loptr, you will be my lord.” I try to bow but everything looks the same now. So there is really no telling up from down.<br><br>“Well then have fun with your second life. I will pray you are able to get what you desire.” And then the silence came.<br><br>Slowly the white room changed to a gray room with seemingly endless horizons. I waited here for a bit wondering what was next. I still felt the cold, but it was a familiar thing to me now. It did not feel as it did before like and endless nothingness trying to devour me. Instead it felt like an endless nothingness that was inside me. Not much of a difference but the thoughts were what counted.<br><br>Time passed in this state. At least it seems that it did. Maybe no time passed at all.<br><br>A voice rang out from everywhere. <br><br>-The scan on your iris and vein…wait a second your not a player!-<br>The frantic sounding person seemed to be upset about me not being a player. Well good I’m glad I’m not one of those indiscriminate killers…yet at least I guess.<br><br>-It seems there has been an error. One moment p-<br>Her words were cut off. It seems like a lot of people are not allowed to finish their sentences lately.<br>-Thanks for waiting I am the admin of the account registration A.I. we noticed an abnormality within our A.I. It seemed to be trying to state to us that you weren’t a new user but instead were also an A.I. We’ll be manually logging you in as it seems we need to perform some diagnostics on her. Sorry about that.-<br>A new voice rang out after the other female one was cut off.<br><br>I thought about how to answer this and decided I should just go with the flow on this one. “No problem sir. I understand that these…what was it again… A.I.’s? Have many erm, problems.”<br><br>-Nah it’s just that sometimes they act up funny. We’ll get her fixed in no time no worries. Anyways its not like what she says has any premise here since its obvious to us here that your data is legitimate.- He sounded somewhat annoyed about the A.I. thing. Oh well at least he’s not about to remove or something. But I wondered how he knew I was a person and not one of those things he talked about.<br><br>So I asked. “Um, sir? How is it that you can tell I am a person and not one of those, eh, A.I. things you were talking about?”<br><br>He sounded a bit surprised at this but readily answered.<br>-Ah we are monitoring your brainwaves and heart rate right now. Plus we have a retina scan and genetic imprint right now in our system stating you are a legitimate player-<br><br>I had no idea what all that meant but apparently I passed? Oh well.<br><br>-Alrighty then. Lets get started. Let’s see here what was the order of this stuff again. (papers shuffling) Ah here it is. Select the name of your Avatar.-<br><br>Hm I wonder if I should use the same name I’ve always had. Ah well not like they will recognize it anyways.<br>“Devant.”<br><br>-Ok. Next select your gender from Male, Female, or Neutral. Though it would be kinda weird for you to be a female or a neutral since you sound preeetty masculine bud.-<br><br>Boy can this guy give an opinion. Not that I don’t agree with him. And since I never even knew you had a choice as to your gender before I guess it never really mattered. So I just went with who I am again.<br><br>“I’ll just be male then since I have already been one for so long as it is.”<br><br>The sound of chuckling could be heard.<br>-Ah that’s a good answer. I like that. Next, what race do you wanna be? Royal Road has fourty-nine races. You can select from the primary 29.-<br><br>Well, this was a bit weird for me. I didn’t even know you could be anything other than human and be sane in Versailles.<br>“Um, I honestly don’t know. What do you think I should be?” I asked. I seriously had no idea.<br><br>-Well let me use this scan and see what pops up as the best option.-<br>I hear the sound of clicking echo around the area. This room is really strange with voices coming out from everywhere. Finally there was a BEEP sound.<br><br>-Hm well the search came up with 3 options. Of course if you want to hear the whole list later that’s fine too. The search has Human, Elf, and Void on it. Wait void is supposed to be a forbidden race. That’s odd. Well whatever it came up in the search so you can choose whatever you wanna be.-<br>He said this breezily. Man this guy was pretty relaxed it seemed.<br><br>“Well I don’t really like elves much. And being a human hasn’t gotten me very far so far.” I said this with only a pinch of venom. I really had to hold back from getting really mad. “so I guess I’ll be a void then.”<br><br>-Ok. A void it is. Odd that it popped up. Ah well. What do you wanna look like?-<br>I didn’t know that I could choose my appearance too. But I guessed that made sense considering I had already been asked so many other options.<br><br>I thought for a moment carefully and decided that I wanted to be a nightmare for any who saw me. I wanted to be the end for them as they were for my father and I. So I think I’ll allow my race decide my appearance for me.<br>“I’d like to be five feet ten inches tall. I want my hair to be shoulder length. I’d like to use my normal appearance as a base and allow the rest to be modified by the racial characteristics.”<br>I decided this based off two things. One the word void reminds me completely of what is inside me. So I think it will turn out pretty well either way. Secondly, I believe that altering my appearance manually would ruin the effect of the revenge I wanted.<br><br>-Ok. Here’s what you look like with all that in mind.-<br><br>It was perfect.<br><br>Everything about that body screamed that death was here. The height wasn’t even right since I said let the race affect everything anyways. This body was six feet tall. It shoulder length hair at some points but near the center of the head the hair went all the way down to the waist. The body shape was not overly bulky but had a sense of power to it that was undeniable. The head had four horns going up it. Two larger middle horns and two side ones which were swept back just like the hair. The nose had a strong bridge. The eyes were almond shaped and when the body blinked became slits. The pupils themselves were slashes. The appearance was almost lizard like. I wondered if I would have the ability to fly then noticed two nubs on the back of the creature just atop the shoulder blades. I guess that answered that question. I pondered this appearance for a moment then decided it was perfect.<br><br>“This will do nicely thank you sir.” I said politely.<br><br>The voice seemed to sigh with relief.<br>-Well everyone has their own tastes glad you like it. So last thing is to select a city and Kingdom you will start at. Oh hold up. Ah never mind. Thought something had popped up for a second. Ok so where do you want to start?-<br><br>I was curious why he paused for a moment and what might have popped up. But that was a passing thought and I was back to thinking about where I should begin. Then it hit me. I should start in the city I was born in, the same city that those men were in, the same place where I died. The Kingdom of Joren.<br>“The Kingdom of Joren.”<br><br>-Perfect. Well then welcome to Royal Road then. Have fun!-<br><br>I will. Oh I will. </div>

Fire. Fire was everywhere. I felt that my very being was engulfed. I was being sucked into a void, a void that did not end. I fought against its pull as much as possible but could not win. My loss was close. The air was being sucked out, as my consciousness was leaving me. I still resisted but this time instead of fully resisting the pull I grabbed at it. I heaved on it with all my will. I would not fail. For my father, for myself I would not let it end here. I finally grasped something. It felt like the endless abyss itself was in my hand. What should have eaten me was now mine? This doesn’t make much sense does it? But who cares now there is a chance I might come out of this. I decided to devour that which sought to devour me. I didn’t know if this would even do anything or if it was all in my dying mind as a delusion meant to assuage the dead and help them pass on. The cold that had seeped into me became as ice in my veins now. I swallowed. I felt it. The surge of endless darkness was clawing at me. My insides screamed. I thought for a moment that I was somehow being burned from the inside out. But I knew with my entire being that instead of burning I was freezing. It is like when one puts his hand in a really hot fire and it feels cold. This is just the opposite. So cold it burns. And so I burned. Burned like the darkest sun to ever set its self in the deepest pits. Burned with hatred and rage and the incongruity of it all. How could we be blamed for a man who chose to be killed instead of seeing reason? And the whole reason was because we would not forge him a sword? REDICULOUS!!!! There was a pulsing around me. The darkness began to pulse. I still burned but it felt as but a simple bit of cold. Finally the dark itself cracked and light burst in through it. I was blinded. Wait I can see enough to be blinded? Slowly the light faded but only enough to allow me to see beyond the chasm the crack had become. I floated out of the crack. There was an endless white room. Endless in that it was like the darkness but I felt I could see now instead of the lack of from before. I turned around and there was the crack. It was tiny almost like a scratch but so obvious as it marred the perfect white walls. Slowly at first and then faster pure blackness flowed out of the scratch and enveloped me trying to pull me in. Instead of succeeding it seems I absorbed it instead. This continued until the scratch itself disappeared. I’m mind boggled by this point. What is going on? A voice. It was everywhere but nowhere at once. A deep voice filled with power. “I have seen your plight young man. And give you this chance to live again. I have but one concession you must make to.” I look around me but see no one. Slowly I answer, “I will live and find those who harmed us. I will live to see them gone. Tell me what you wish of me?” by the end my voice is almost screaming with my pent up fury. Silence reigns for a moment. Then “I like the look you have. So I’ll make it simple. You may live again only if you use what you make use of the tool I give you. It will work in perfect conjunction with what you wish to accomplish. A small trinket, but it is powerful. Will you accept it?” I thought for but a moment. “Yes whatever it is I will take it. You who have given me this chance will be my god.” Laughter explodes from all sides. “I’m no one that special, hah, but if you really want to then just call me Loptr.” “Then, Loptr, you will be my lord.” I try to bow but everything looks the same now. So there is really no telling up from down. “Well then have fun with your second life. I will pray you are able to get what you desire.” And then the silence came. Slowly the white room changed to a gray room with seemingly endless horizons. I waited here for a bit wondering what was next. I still felt the cold, but it was a familiar thing to me now. It did not feel as it did before like and endless nothingness trying to devour me. Instead it felt like an endless nothingness that was inside me. Not much of a difference but the thoughts were what counted. Time passed in this state. At least it seems that it did. Maybe no time passed at all. A voice rang out from everywhere. -The scan on your iris and vein…wait a second your not a player!- The frantic sounding person seemed to be upset about me not being a player. Well good I’m glad I’m not one of those indiscriminate killers…yet at least I guess. -It seems there has been an error. One moment p- Her words were cut off. It seems like a lot of people are not allowed to finish their sentences lately. -Thanks for waiting I am the admin of the account registration A.I. we noticed an abnormality within our A.I. It seemed to be trying to state to us that you weren’t a new user but instead were also an A.I. We’ll be manually logging you in as it seems we need to perform some diagnostics on her. Sorry about that.- A new voice rang out after the other female one was cut off. I thought about how to answer this and decided I should just go with the flow on this one. “No problem sir. I understand that these…what was it again… A.I.’s? Have many erm, problems.” -Nah it’s just that sometimes they act up funny. We’ll get her fixed in no time no worries. Anyways its not like what she says has any premise here since its obvious to us here that your data is legitimate.- He sounded somewhat annoyed about the A.I. thing. Oh well at least he’s not about to remove or something. But I wondered how he knew I was a person and not one of those things he talked about. So I asked. “Um, sir? How is it that you can tell I am a person and not one of those, eh, A.I. things you were talking about?” He sounded a bit surprised at this but readily answered. -Ah we are monitoring your brainwaves and heart rate right now. Plus we have a retina scan and genetic imprint right now in our system stating you are a legitimate player- I had no idea what all that meant but apparently I passed? Oh well. -Alrighty then. Lets get started. Let’s see here what was the order of this stuff again. (papers shuffling) Ah here it is. Select the name of your Avatar.- Hm I wonder if I should use the same name I’ve always had. Ah well not like they will recognize it anyways. “Devant.” -Ok. Next select your gender from Male, Female, or Neutral. Though it would be kinda weird for you to be a female or a neutral since you sound preeetty masculine bud.- Boy can this guy give an opinion. Not that I don’t agree with him. And since I never even knew you had a choice as to your gender before I guess it never really mattered. So I just went with who I am again. “I’ll just be male then since I have already been one for so long as it is.” The sound of chuckling could be heard. -Ah that’s a good answer. I like that. Next, what race do you wanna be? Royal Road has fourty-nine races. You can select from the primary 29.- Well, this was a bit weird for me. I didn’t even know you could be anything other than human and be sane in Versailles. “Um, I honestly don’t know. What do you think I should be?” I asked. I seriously had no idea. -Well let me use this scan and see what pops up as the best option.- I hear the sound of clicking echo around the area. This room is really strange with voices coming out from everywhere. Finally there was a BEEP sound. -Hm well the search came up with 3 options. Of course if you want to hear the whole list later that’s fine too. The search has Human, Elf, and Void on it. Wait void is supposed to be a forbidden race. That’s odd. Well whatever it came up in the search so you can choose whatever you wanna be.- He said this breezily. Man this guy was pretty relaxed it seemed. “Well I don’t really like elves much. And being a human hasn’t gotten me very far so far.” I said this with only a pinch of venom. I really had to hold back from getting really mad. “so I guess I’ll be a void then.” -Ok. A void it is. Odd that it popped up. Ah well. What do you wanna look like?- I didn’t know that I could choose my appearance too. But I guessed that made sense considering I had already been asked so many other options. I thought for a moment carefully and decided that I wanted to be a nightmare for any who saw me. I wanted to be the end for them as they were for my father and I. So I think I’ll allow my race decide my appearance for me. “I’d like to be five feet ten inches tall. I want my hair to be shoulder length. I’d like to use my normal appearance as a base and allow the rest to be modified by the racial characteristics.” I decided this based off two things. One the word void reminds me completely of what is inside me. So I think it will turn out pretty well either way. Secondly, I believe that altering my appearance manually would ruin the effect of the revenge I wanted. -Ok. Here’s what you look like with all that in mind.- It was perfect. Everything about that body screamed that death was here. The height wasn’t even right since I said let the race affect everything anyways. This body was six feet tall. It shoulder length hair at some points but near the center of the head the hair went all the way down to the waist. The body shape was not overly bulky but had a sense of power to it that was undeniable. The head had four horns going up it. Two larger middle horns and two side ones which were swept back just like the hair. The nose had a strong bridge. The eyes were almond shaped and when the body blinked became slits. The pupils themselves were slashes. The appearance was almost lizard like. I wondered if I would have the ability to fly then noticed two nubs on the back of the creature just atop the shoulder blades. I guess that answered that question. I pondered this appearance for a moment then decided it was perfect. “This will do nicely thank you sir.” I said politely. The voice seemed to sigh with relief. -Well everyone has their own tastes glad you like it. So last thing is to select a city and Kingdom you will start at. Oh hold up. Ah never mind. Thought something had popped up for a second. Ok so where do you want to start?- I was curious why he paused for a moment and what might have popped up. But that was a passing thought and I was back to thinking about where I should begin. Then it hit me. I should start in the city I was born in, the same city that those men were in, the same place where I died. The Kingdom of Joren. “The Kingdom of Joren.” -Perfect. Well then welcome to Royal Road then. Have fun!- I will. Oh I will.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 1 – The voice that ceased </span> <br> <br>Its been a week since I destroyed that Kobold dungeon and I still didn't find a town. My luck really is bad. To land in a place like this and get lost in a thick forest. During th epast week I've been attacked by all sorts of creatures with the exception of humans which annoyed me greatly. If they were bandits then I could force one of them to reveal my current location and possibly the location of the nearest town. But no, there's not one trace of humans anywhere. <br> <br>[….................listen.......................know..............................] <br> <br>And this voice has been here as well trying to communicate with me. The problem is that the voice is completely fragmented to the point that the words have no meaning at all with each other. Though it got better with time. At first I could only hear parts of words and now I can hear the words completely even though they don't connect in a sentence. I sighed at this fact. <br> <br>“Man I really have nothing to do if I'm listening to a voice that may or may not be there.” <br> <br>I checked the mana detector again. The target was still around 40 kilometres away from me which didn't help. Another thing that didn't help was the the target was moving. That means something picked the mana fragment up. Which also mean I have to face a creature that was overly bluffed by the mana fragment. <br> <br>Rustle Rustle <br> <br>Was it time to be attacked by wolves again? Good. I was getting a bit bored all by myself and this voice. 4 white wolves jumped in front of me. It was indeed a foolish idea to let me see you wolves but this was a mere decoy. <br> <br>Rustle Rustle <br> <br>There seems to be some more wolves hiding in the bushes aiming to ambush me. Well might was well play into their hands...in case it would be claws right? One of the wolves jumped towards me, intending to take a bite. <br> <br>“Wow. Mana Shield.” <br> <br>Mana Shield took 86 damage <br> <br> <br>The wolf instead hit the mana shield which I used frequently. As a result it had levelled up twice during these two weeks and could withstand up to 500 damage now with a cost of 90 mana. Another thing that was nifty was the fact that I could summon more shields now to be more precise up to 3. I also found out that I could manipulate the shield as well as use it on any target I desired. By focusing the shield in one area instead of my body, it would take less damage and would protect my body more easily. <br> <br>“Mana Shield. Mana Shield.” <br> <br>I covered my right hand in the transparent shield then ran up to the wolf that tried to bite me and punched it in the face. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Critical hit!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 12 damage in the impact</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 7 damage in the impact</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>The wolf was thrown back into a tree and was bleeding from the mouth. Even though my character wasn't a melee type I still dealt quite a bit of damage there, even getting a critical hit in. &nbsp; <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 52 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 74 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 83 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Ah it seems the other wolves decided to me to help their injured friend. And speaking of friends the other ones hiding came out. What wonderful companionship. Now to kill them all. I imagined a field of fire which the wolves cannot escape from. They will be sucked into the middle of it being burnt to death. <br> <br>“Fire Field. Wind Vortex.” <br> <br>The ground being a field of fire of course centring around me. The wolves which numbered 13 I believe including the one I punched were forcefully sucked into the middle of it along with the fire. The wolves cried in pain but their fate was sealed. After no more than a minute they all died leaving the pieces of loot they held. Lets see...a couple pieces of meat I can fry and eat later....some fur and some teeth as well. Nothing of too much value but I can still sell these things off at a NPC store or something. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Satisfaction Levels have fallen below 10%</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Oh what good timing. I can fry these pieces of meat and eat them now. I went around and gathered some dry twigs into a pile and lit it on fire using my magic. I also collected some dry leaves as well and placed them in the fire as well which increased in size rapidly. Taking out a piece of meat, I stuck it through a long stick and planted it at an angle into the ground so the meat was above the fire. I took several more pieces of meat out and did this as well. <br> <br>“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” <br> <br>Looks like the smell of meat attracted more wolves. Even though the meat was their comrade's. I should find some rabbits to kill. But there's a lacking of them in this area for some reason and the other creatures usually come out whenever I make a fire to cook some meat. <br> <br>“Hmm.....I shouldn't attract more attention then I am by cooking meat here.” <br> <br>“Ice Bolt.” I said without any concern to what's there. <br> <br>A bolt made of ice appeared in my hands. I threw it at where I thought the enemy was. <br> <br>BONG <br> <br>Eh.....what was that sound? Did I hit metal or something? <br> <br>“Ah that was close. You almost killed me mage.” said a male voice. <br> <br>That was strange I thought there was the sound of a wolf nearby but I was wrong. From the brushes came a man in his late twenties wearing a worn out outfit and was carrying a metal pot with my ice spear stuck in it. <br> <br>“Man now I have to replace this.” complained the man. <br> <br>I really have no idea what was happening. This person doesn't seem like a player like me so....he's a NPC. Well NPC or not, the chances of being back stabbed are the same either way. &nbsp; <br> <br>“Sorry about that. Everytime I made a fire to cook with. Wolves and other creatures came out to kill me so I didn't bother to check.” I commented on what happened the last couple of times I tried to light a fire in the forest. <br> <br>“I see I see. You have that problem as well.” The man nodded understanding my situation. <br> <br>The man looked at the pieces of meat I was cooking over the fire and asked, “Can I have one.” with drool slipping down from his mouth. <br> <br>A bit stunned on how a person can be so hungry I said, “Su-sure.” <br> <br>And so the two of us sat down by the fire waiting for the wolf meat to cook properly even though I didn't have an once of cooking skill. As we waited we chatted for a bit to get to know each other better as fellow humans in a forest without humans civilisation. <br> <br>“So why are you starved for some cheap meat?” I asked still wondering why someone would starve themselves to such an extent. <br> <br>“Eh? Oh. It was because every time I tried to cook something in this forest recently, some creature comes out of nowhere and steals it or tries to eat me.” said the man while still staring at the meat cooking in front of him. <br> <br>“Anyway I didn't get your name. Mine's Eden.” <br> <br>“Patrick Danite.” said Patrick as he smiled. <br> <br>3 minutes of awkward silence later... <br> <br>“The meat seems to be done now. Though a bit burnt.” I said prompting Patrick to eat something. Well I was hungry too. <br> <br>Patrick immediately grabbed two of the 5 sticks I had and started munching down the meat. I took one too and ate it. It didn't taste good since it was wolf's meat but it didn't taste too bad. It was a bit hard to chew on since it was mostly muscle but there was enough fat that it was durable. <br> <br>Patrick finished the two sticks he had and took another one saving the last one for me to eat. After we were done eating...no when I was done eating. Patrick finished long before me. We got up and started walking East since it was my destination and Patrick was following me. <br> <br>“So where are we heading?” asked Patrick trying to get a general idea we would end up at. <br> <br>“East” I answered. Not that I had any other answer than that. <br> <br>“Umm...where exactly East?” asked Patrick again this time a bit more concern by my blunt answer. <br> <br>“Until I find what I need to find.” <br> <br>After that Patrick was a bit depressed for the next couple of hours. Then I heard or rather we heard the noise of wolves nearby. &nbsp; <br> <br>“Get behind me!” I commanded. <br> <br>Patrick hid behind my back as a group of wolves came out. They had the feeling that they were very hungry. A common trait that I have been encountering wolves recently. <br> <br>“Mana Shield Mana Shield.” <br> <br>I casted a mana shield for both of us. Patrick was a bit surprised when the mana shield was around him as well. <br> <br>“Eden what is this?” asked Patrick as he poked the Mana Shield around him. <br> <br>The wolves whom were surrounding us slowly started their assault. First I need to get rid of some of them. I aimed at the ones in front of me first. <br> <br>“Fire Field.” <br> <br>The ground under 3 of the wolves suddenly caught on fire and the wolves themselves were burning. <br> <br>“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” <br> <br>I looked behind me to find a frightened Patrick on the floor with a wolf's mouth just a bit away from his head, obviously being blocked by my mana shield. Man this was a efficient and handy skill unlike the magic creation one. <br> <br>I pointed my hand to the head of the wolf and said, “Ice spear.” <br> <br>An ice spear as produced from my hand and pierced the head of the wolf that was trying to get Patrick. Blood spattered over him and the wolf dropped dead. There's.....4 of them left. Aiming at the one nearest to us I said, “Chain Lightning.” <br> <br>From my fingertips lightning came out and stuck the first wolf and it then jumped and hit the second then third and finally fourth wolf. The wolves dropped dead as well. It looks like I'm strong enough to handle these guys even when I'm completely sealed. <br> <br>“That...that was intense.” shuddered Patrick <br> <br>“Yeah.” I responded emotionlessly. <br> <br>“What do you mean yeah. You killed so many of them so easily!” exclaimed Patrick. <br> <br>“True.” I started to gather the loot the wolves dropped as Patrick continued to pester me. <br> <br>As he was complaining about stuff I eventually asked, “Hey, you know why the creatures in this forest seem so hungry?” <br> <br>Patrick was taken back by my question but after taking a moment to think about it he said, “Most likely a foreign creature came in and started consuming everything in the forest or a group of them did.” <br> <br>That seems plausible but there's only one mana fragment in this forest so I assume its been eating things quickly. <br> <br>“Is there any chance that it was a creature that originated from this forest?” I asked knowing that it was a high possibly that the mana fragment was involved. <br> <br>“No unless it has been sleeping for a very very long time. Something like this never happened in the past 400 years as far as I know.” answered Patrick. <br> <br>Ah so this guy has knowledge about this place from 400 years back. Does this mean he knows the way to a town? <br> <br>“What's the nearest town?” I asked immediately trying to escape this forest in an instance. <br> <br>“Ponit why?” Patrick had a confused look on his face. <br> <br>I have no idea where that place is. <br> <br>“You know how to get there?” I asked again hoping that Patrick would give me some good news for once. <br> <br>“Only if you asked a month or so back. The place has been a mess ever since then and even I can't find my way around here anymore. So many creatures have moved from their original positions and even the trees aren't in the same place as they were.” <br> <br>I see so you're useless. I started walking East to the target. It was probably big. That's what I know. And it has been eating a lot of stuff in this forest. Maybe some of the creatures as well. That Kobold from before which I killed with delicate handling also complained about being almost eaten. So what kind of creature would be capable of doing so much destruction to such a large forest? <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 2 – The man known as an Explorer</span> <br> <br>Several days has passed since Patrick joined up with me in travelling in this forest and he proved to be useful in some ways. For starters he had the identify skill which he used on my recently acquired new gloves and boots. The second was that had had the skill Medical Botany which he used to dig out some herbs and other plants form the ground. Apparently it was very useful since he can identify the plant before he digs them out so he knows the true value of the plant in the first place. <br> <br>Well they were often closely related to potions crafting and such so they must make some sort of money off it. Speaking of money, I'm planning to sell the gloves but not the boots later on. The reason was simple. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Glove of the Betrayed &nbsp;Durability: 12/20 Defence: 1 <br> <br>Gloves that were stained by one who was betrayed by a close friend. In his last breath he cursed the person and swears eternal vengeance against the betrayer. <br> <br>Effects: <br>- More likely to be betrayed by companions <br>- Will be cursed if worn. Forced to seek the betrayer.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Those effects were enough for me to burn the damn thing but Patrick said that if I did then I would be also cursed and if I abandoned it then I would also be cursed. So the only option I had was to keep it until I could see it off. The boots on the other hand were a bit better. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Boots of the Fallen &nbsp;Durability: 15/25 &nbsp;Defence: 5 <br> <br>The boots of a brave adventurer that searched the land for evil to slay. He had lost his life protection the innocent and these boots stained with his pure hearted blood carries these beliefs as well <br> <br>Effect: <br>- Increase stats if protecting the innocent <br>- Increase protection from magical attacks by 1%</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>They did increase my magic resistance even though I haven't been fighting those types of enemies yet. Also my stats increased in battle every time now since I'm protecting Patrick from the monsters as well. It was a very small bonus but a bonus indeed. It wasn't that comfortable to wear but it was much better than going around bare foot in a forest. <br> <br>“By the way, have I told you about my job here?” said Patrick trying to make some conversation. <br> <br>“No.” I wasn't interested but knowing a bit more about someone didn't hurt. <br> <br>“Ah. I come from a line of explorers. My family has been in service of countless Kings and their Kingdoms throughout the ages. There were many that were recorded in history. Mostly we are recruited to scout an area out regardless of the dangers, sometimes we are used to start a town in the middle of nowhere which is very &nbsp;hard mind you...” <br> <br>Yadadadadadadadadada. Some stuff about his family. I don't care. I don't want to listen. <br> <br>“......Tellap...” <br> <br>What? Tellap? <br> <br>“Wait are you related to that Tellap?” I was stunned. <br> <br>A descendent of a famous explorer. I &nbsp;read a lot about this Tellap. From what I know he was a pretty cool guy. Except when he died protecting others. Why would one protect others with their life. Did he have something to gain from it? Perhaps his family was compensated for the lost. <br>“Yes I am. Though a very distanced relative. I'm related to a few other famous ones but none of them match the achievements of Tellap though. A lot is known about the more recent one but the more ancient one, not many knows what he did. If they knew then they would be praising him.” <br> <br>“I'm interested. Speak.” I wanted to know as much as possible to tell Dan later on. <br> <br>And so started the discussion on history. (You may skip this if you want.) <br> <br>“Tellap was also part of the Danite family. Well both of them were. The more recent one was employed by the late King of Kallamore whom wanted some background for his citizens if he failed in battle. Which he did. Before that Tellap had been exploring the continent in search for ancient ruins left by his ancestor Tallap whom he was named after. Now what are these ruins the previous Tellap left you say? Let me explain that as well...” <br> <br>(Lot of stuff is said so I'm going to give a summary in a text box below.) <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">History of the Explorer Tellap <br> <br>Tellap born roughly 351 years ago was born in the era of betrayal. As such as a child he was trained in combat in case he would ever need to battle. While not as good in the blade as his head, Tellap was respected by his peers for his quick wits in situations he faced. At the age of 15, his small village was caught in war and many perished. Saddened by this, Tellap set out to found another village in memory of his fallen comrades, friends and family. As such the man known as an explorer was created. For the next 5 years Tellap had went around helping those in need and help manage their towns. His fame spread far and wide of a 'freeman' that never stays in one place and moves in the face of danger. Many have tried to find him but he had alluded them time and time again. <br> <br>Tellaps period of exploring ended when the Kings of several small Kingdoms request for him to scout out a certain lands to see if they were habitable by humans in the future. These Kingdoms soon later became the Haven and Kallamore Kingdoms whom sit try to bite each other's necks off. The reason why these two Kingdoms were forged and hate each other relate to Tellap greatly. Along with Tellap the Kings sent several young men whom included the later King Vincent Kallamore and later King Morphesis Haven. The journey later known to few as the journey of Betrayal was a dangerous trilling one. A total of 14 have set off to the unknown lands including Telllap. During this trip they have passed through large battlefields and the constructions of forts and castles. <br> <br>In total 4 have died during the trip. Each one of them were famed people whom sacrificed themselves to allow the others to continue. The first was a brave warrior that never retreated before, he died protecting the entrance to an underground maze to a horde of monsters. The second was a well known archer whom was shot by an arrow near the heart and died in the arms of his dear friends. The third was an assassin that was assassinated by those who did not want the group to succeed though he managed to kill many of them before perishing. And the fourth was a intelligence wizard used a self destruct spell to cripple an evil sorcerer whom ruled over demons. The ruins that Tellap later built were in memory of these three companions. However there were another 7 ruins he built. They were to permanently seal the souls of 7 of his former friends. <br> <br>Why he did this? In the lands known as the forest of death, the now 10 companions explored It and found a species of intelligence humanoids called the Reish that were preparing for war with humans. They planned to take the lands forcefully and set their own race as the dominant ones. In terms of power, speed, magic abilities and even intelligence, they were superior to humans. They offered to turn the companions of 10 into them to save them from the wraith of the soon to be war. 7 had accepted the offer while the other 3 rejected it. The two groups in called the Betrayed and Betrayer fought each other during the invasion of the Reish. This war would span over a decade and ended in the humans' victory with the help of the Gods aiding them. However it is in the nature of the Reish to regain their bodies after a while back in their homelands. As such the capital of the Reish, the forest of death was sealed off permanently. However this did not apply to the Betrayers. Their body soon reappeared in parts of the continent, creating chaos as they regain their bodies. As such Tellap had devised a way to seal them off as well. He and countless architects created the tombs that would hold their souls forever. They were eventually successful but had lost many people including the very Kings that employed them. <br> <br>Kingless and in shambles the Kingdoms were on the verge of war with countless nobles trying to gain the throne. In sight of this the group of now 3 had to do something. They were famed Heroes right now and the people would follow their word. They had to choose a new King for these Kingdoms. Choosing more than one may lead to war. One of the companions suggest that one of them should become King. The group immediately decided on Tellap their leader but he refused saying that the role of King did not suit him. Then the pther two of the companions Vincent Kallamore and Morphesis Haven offered to take his place at the same time. The two argued and the Tellap watching them suggested that they both get equal amounts of land and value to ensure the two new Kingdoms forged through this event do not go to war at each other. As such the Kallamore Kingdom and Haven Kingdom were forged. The peace between the Kingdoms lasted a century but it was later apparent that both sides built up their forces to invade each other. Kallamore dealt the first blow in the first war. Later it was Haven who did it first. <br> <br>As what happened to Tellap later, he went off to explore some more. Tellap married and had children in his later years. But before that they built a memoriam for his fallen comrades and even the betrayers. Nothing much is known on what happened after these events but it is said that he lived a long life preventing wars from occurring as much as possible as a secret advisor to multiple Kingdoms.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Wow..that's a lot of information feed to me. A lot of details on how two very powerful and renown Kingdoms were built as well. Who knew that such a person was involved so much in the events he described. Dan would be very happy if I gave him this information as it involves the Kingdom he lives in. Hell I could get a reward from a noble if I told him in story. <br> <br>“Part of the reason I'm here is because of that story you know.” said Patrick in confidence. <br> <br>“Really.” I replied with a bit of respect now. <br> <br>What could he do here that relates to the story. <br> <br>“Apparently Tellap was buried in this place so I'm trying to find it.” said Patrick indifferently. <br> <br>So he was stuck here god knows when because of a minor thing like that. <br> <br>“And his legacy was said to be there as well. His treasure were placed in his tomb which on the other hand made my family pretty poor afterwards.” His eyes sparkled at the thought of what he could find about the past. <br> <br>Treasure you say? I'm all in now. Lets find this place! <br> <br>“All I need is a sign that says we're going in the right direction....any thing even a rock....” Patrick sighed at the fact. <br> <br>Patrick looked down depressed. I don't blame him, he spent so much time in this place and yet to have any success. I started to look around the place as well trying to see anything. While trees covered most of the place which made any kind of landmark near impossible to find, else taller than the trees and seeable from high up which would mean every fool whom are searching for the treasure would find it which I'm sure the people who built it did not want to happen. <br> <br>Wait there seems be be a conveniently placed rock I can see that may or may not lead to such and such tomb. (Its either this plot mover or I make them search or a couple more days....wait lets try that way) <br> <br>Several days later.... <br> <br>I am exhausted....the two of us have been trying to track down this tomb with no luck. And luck has it, more and more wolves have been attacking out for no reason and less and less more um...innocent creatures such as raccoons and rabbits disappear from sight either by hiding or being eaten. I'm pretty sure the ecosystem of the forest is screwed. <br> <br>“How...how many days has it been since we've tried to find this tomb?” I asked trying to focus on finding some way to locate the damn thing. <br> <br>“4 days. How many times have you asked me this question today?” said Patrick pretty annoyed right now. <br> <br>“7 times.” ignoring the fact that he was annoyed badly by my inpatient. I can't blame him though. I walked up to another large rock and started to feel it. Damn I sound like a pervert. Huh? This one feels a bit different.....and I sound like a pervert. <br> <br>“Patrick get here now.” I commanded. <br> <br>Patrick came over and looked at the rock I was feeling and said, “Why are you feeling that rock.” staring at me like I was crazy. <br> <br>“It feels different.” moving my hand over it in a circular manner. <br> <br>“Yeah its a rock.....and why are you feeling it?” repeated Patrick still thinking I'm crazy. <br> <br>“Feel it.” <br> <br>“No.” <br> <br>“Why not?” I shot a glare at him <br> <br>“I'm not crazy.” <br> <br>“I'll cook and eat you with fire magic.” I threatened. <br> <br>Patrick went and felt the rock as well. Now who's crazy. Not me. Definitely not me nut but you....muhahahahaha......I need to meet new people....before I go insane..... <br> <br>“Oh your right, this one seems different. It feels man-made.” Patrick said in astonishment. <br> <br>“Then...” I waited in suspense. <br> <br>I hope this is the right one. Else we're going to stay in this forest together for a while more...for the treasure. <br> <br>“Yeah the tomb should be here somewhere. Maybe underground.” He finally confirmed. <br> <br>“With my Earth magic we could dig in.” I suggested. <br> <br>“No. It might damage the tomb itself. But considering that we spent so much time searching for it, go ahead. Try to keep the damage to a minimal.” Pondered Patrick. <br> <br>“Right Earth Rip.” <br> <br>The ground next to the rock split open. It seems that there was a tomb down there. Well time to jump in. <br> <br>“Eden we have to be careful. Don't jump in.” advised Patrick. <br> <br>I jumped in. <br> <br>“You son of a bit-” muttered Patrick. <br> <br>My foot landed on the very old stone. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have discovered “Tomb of Tellap” <br> <br>Every day for one week, double EXP and double item drops. The rarest items will drop from killing the first monster of each type. Subsequent kills will drop common items. <br> <br>+100 Fame</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Well I didn't die yet so it shouldn't be trapped..I think. I called out to Patrick, “Get in here!” After grumbling a bit Patrick also jumped in the tomb and started to examine the walls. <br> <br>“This detail! This style of carving!” exclaimed Patrick. <br> <br>And now he's going on about something. <br> <br>“And what about it?” I asked trying to understand what was going on. <br> <br>“I can't understand it at all!” <br> <br>I literally almost stacked myself from that. You don't usual says stuff and then proceed to kill off hope like that. Pacing my breathing I also took a look around. It seems that we're not that far from the actual entrance of the place though it might be trapped so I have no intentions on going out that way. The colour of the place was the first thing I noticed. It was a rusty yellow colour. The ones you would see in the old Egyptian tombs. Now I have a bad feeling about this. <br> <br>“Lets go Eden!” said Patrick. <br> <br>He was quite energetic for a guy that was grumbling a bit before about my actions. We went in the next room with me leading of coarse. Patrick argued that I had my mana shield so I should be fine even though I could cast it on him as well. Then he said I had magic so the possible of me living was still higher. Its not like I have that much more chance of surviving a cruel cruel trap like spike walls closing on me or bottomless pits or the classic boulder crushing me. <br> <br>In the next room it was well pitch black. That's what you expect from a tomb hidden away underground. <br> <br>“Light balls.” <br> <br>I summoned several light balls. One was kept near me and Patrick and the others went around the room to allow us to see if there were any traps that the human eye could see. One characteristics of the light balls were that they had physical properties which I was very surprised about. Unless the trap was designed to bring the place down, we were mostly safe. Examining the room I noticed that there were no traps yet. <br> <br>“No traps.” I said. <br> <br>“Hopefully.” responded Patrick behind me. <br> <br>I took a step forward. I was well aware that there could be traps that activate using pressure pads but still....it would take us forever if we were completely conscious about setting traps off. I stopped for a bit. No traps were activated. I took another step. Nothing happened again. Was this part of the trap or was there nothing here? I should test it with some Earth magic. I imagined a small layer of dirt being produced and spreading, pushing down everything it goes under. <br> <br>“Earth Wave.” <br> <br>An extremely small amount of mana was consumed since the spell was designed for much larger targets. A very small wave went from my feet to the 4 corners of the room. Nothing still happened. <br> <br>“Its perfectly safe.” <br> <br>Patrick sighed in relief. We started to examine the room more closely before heading to the next doorway. I made sure that the light balls were the things that entered the next room first. It was a stairway down. It seems the place had more than one floor. That would make sense. It was pretty hard to get to the top floor in the first place. <br> <br>“You first.” said Patrick. <br> <br>He was definitely trying not to get killed here. Well I still didn't tell him I was a player so it was fine. Maybe he thought I couldn't revive as well or something. Well either way he still prioritized his life first. That's fine. I'm doing the same as well. We walked down or rather tip toed our way down the stairs. <br> <br>“Don't you have a skill to identify traps or something?” I asked since he was an explorer. <br> <br>“No. Usually you have a thief to do that. But since we don't have one...” replied Patrick while looking away from me. <br> <br>We agreed that it would be best to be more careful from now on. <br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Continue Misfortune?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1293" target="_blank">Previous</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161" target="_blank">Exit</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1307" target="_blank">Next</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br> <br>Author's Notes: <br>- Word Count 5394 <br>- Introducing a new character!!!!! Yay. Nothing will kill this character..... <br>- The next chapter could've been longer and fun but.....I'm writing THAT much in a chapter.....you will understand tomorrow. <br>- No skill to identify traps.....the tomb is going to be fun.....very fun..... </div>

Part 1 – The voice that ceased Its been a week since I destroyed that Kobold dungeon and I still didn't find a town. My luck really is bad. To land in a place like this and get lost in a thick forest. During th epast week I've been attacked by all sorts of creatures with the exception of humans which annoyed me greatly. If they were bandits then I could force one of them to reveal my current location and possibly the location of the nearest town. But no, there's not one trace of humans anywhere. [….................listen.......................know..............................] And this voice has been here as well trying to communicate with me. The problem is that the voice is completely fragmented to the point that the words have no meaning at all with each other. Though it got better with time. At first I could only hear parts of words and now I can hear the words completely even though they don't connect in a sentence. I sighed at this fact. “Man I really have nothing to do if I'm listening to a voice that may or may not be there.” I checked the mana detector again. The target was still around 40 kilometres away from me which didn't help. Another thing that didn't help was the the target was moving. That means something picked the mana fragment up. Which also mean I have to face a creature that was overly bluffed by the mana fragment. Rustle Rustle Was it time to be attacked by wolves again? Good. I was getting a bit bored all by myself and this voice. 4 white wolves jumped in front of me. It was indeed a foolish idea to let me see you wolves but this was a mere decoy. Rustle Rustle There seems to be some more wolves hiding in the bushes aiming to ambush me. Well might was well play into their hands...in case it would be claws right? One of the wolves jumped towards me, intending to take a bite. “Wow. Mana Shield.” Mana Shield took 86 damage The wolf instead hit the mana shield which I used frequently. As a result it had levelled up twice during these two weeks and could withstand up to 500 damage now with a cost of 90 mana. Another thing that was nifty was the fact that I could summon more shields now to be more precise up to 3. I also found out that I could manipulate the shield as well as use it on any target I desired. By focusing the shield in one area instead of my body, it would take less damage and would protect my body more easily. “Mana Shield. Mana Shield.” I covered my right hand in the transparent shield then ran up to the wolf that tried to bite me and punched it in the face. | Critical hit! | | --- | | Mana Shield took 12 damage in the impact | | --- | | Mana Shield took 7 damage in the impact | | --- | The wolf was thrown back into a tree and was bleeding from the mouth. Even though my character wasn't a melee type I still dealt quite a bit of damage there, even getting a critical hit in.   | Mana Shield took 52 damage | | --- | | Mana Shield took 74 damage | | --- | | Mana Shield took 83 damage | | --- | Ah it seems the other wolves decided to me to help their injured friend. And speaking of friends the other ones hiding came out. What wonderful companionship. Now to kill them all. I imagined a field of fire which the wolves cannot escape from. They will be sucked into the middle of it being burnt to death. “Fire Field. Wind Vortex.” The ground being a field of fire of course centring around me. The wolves which numbered 13 I believe including the one I punched were forcefully sucked into the middle of it along with the fire. The wolves cried in pain but their fate was sealed. After no more than a minute they all died leaving the pieces of loot they held. Lets see...a couple pieces of meat I can fry and eat later....some fur and some teeth as well. Nothing of too much value but I can still sell these things off at a NPC store or something. | Satisfaction Levels have fallen below 10% | | --- | Oh what good timing. I can fry these pieces of meat and eat them now. I went around and gathered some dry twigs into a pile and lit it on fire using my magic. I also collected some dry leaves as well and placed them in the fire as well which increased in size rapidly. Taking out a piece of meat, I stuck it through a long stick and planted it at an angle into the ground so the meat was above the fire. I took several more pieces of meat out and did this as well. “Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” Looks like the smell of meat attracted more wolves. Even though the meat was their comrade's. I should find some rabbits to kill. But there's a lacking of them in this area for some reason and the other creatures usually come out whenever I make a fire to cook some meat. “Hmm.....I shouldn't attract more attention then I am by cooking meat here.” “Ice Bolt.” I said without any concern to what's there. A bolt made of ice appeared in my hands. I threw it at where I thought the enemy was. BONG Eh.....what was that sound? Did I hit metal or something? “Ah that was close. You almost killed me mage.” said a male voice. That was strange I thought there was the sound of a wolf nearby but I was wrong. From the brushes came a man in his late twenties wearing a worn out outfit and was carrying a metal pot with my ice spear stuck in it. “Man now I have to replace this.” complained the man. I really have no idea what was happening. This person doesn't seem like a player like me so....he's a NPC. Well NPC or not, the chances of being back stabbed are the same either way.   “Sorry about that. Everytime I made a fire to cook with. Wolves and other creatures came out to kill me so I didn't bother to check.” I commented on what happened the last couple of times I tried to light a fire in the forest. “I see I see. You have that problem as well.” The man nodded understanding my situation. The man looked at the pieces of meat I was cooking over the fire and asked, “Can I have one.” with drool slipping down from his mouth. A bit stunned on how a person can be so hungry I said, “Su-sure.” And so the two of us sat down by the fire waiting for the wolf meat to cook properly even though I didn't have an once of cooking skill. As we waited we chatted for a bit to get to know each other better as fellow humans in a forest without humans civilisation. “So why are you starved for some cheap meat?” I asked still wondering why someone would starve themselves to such an extent. “Eh? Oh. It was because every time I tried to cook something in this forest recently, some creature comes out of nowhere and steals it or tries to eat me.” said the man while still staring at the meat cooking in front of him. “Anyway I didn't get your name. Mine's Eden.” “Patrick Danite.” said Patrick as he smiled. 3 minutes of awkward silence later... “The meat seems to be done now. Though a bit burnt.” I said prompting Patrick to eat something. Well I was hungry too. Patrick immediately grabbed two of the 5 sticks I had and started munching down the meat. I took one too and ate it. It didn't taste good since it was wolf's meat but it didn't taste too bad. It was a bit hard to chew on since it was mostly muscle but there was enough fat that it was durable. Patrick finished the two sticks he had and took another one saving the last one for me to eat. After we were done eating...no when I was done eating. Patrick finished long before me. We got up and started walking East since it was my destination and Patrick was following me. “So where are we heading?” asked Patrick trying to get a general idea we would end up at. “East” I answered. Not that I had any other answer than that. “Umm...where exactly East?” asked Patrick again this time a bit more concern by my blunt answer. “Until I find what I need to find.” After that Patrick was a bit depressed for the next couple of hours. Then I heard or rather we heard the noise of wolves nearby.   “Get behind me!” I commanded. Patrick hid behind my back as a group of wolves came out. They had the feeling that they were very hungry. A common trait that I have been encountering wolves recently. “Mana Shield Mana Shield.” I casted a mana shield for both of us. Patrick was a bit surprised when the mana shield was around him as well. “Eden what is this?” asked Patrick as he poked the Mana Shield around him. The wolves whom were surrounding us slowly started their assault. First I need to get rid of some of them. I aimed at the ones in front of me first. “Fire Field.” The ground under 3 of the wolves suddenly caught on fire and the wolves themselves were burning. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” I looked behind me to find a frightened Patrick on the floor with a wolf's mouth just a bit away from his head, obviously being blocked by my mana shield. Man this was a efficient and handy skill unlike the magic creation one. I pointed my hand to the head of the wolf and said, “Ice spear.” An ice spear as produced from my hand and pierced the head of the wolf that was trying to get Patrick. Blood spattered over him and the wolf dropped dead. There's.....4 of them left. Aiming at the one nearest to us I said, “Chain Lightning.” From my fingertips lightning came out and stuck the first wolf and it then jumped and hit the second then third and finally fourth wolf. The wolves dropped dead as well. It looks like I'm strong enough to handle these guys even when I'm completely sealed. “That...that was intense.” shuddered Patrick “Yeah.” I responded emotionlessly. “What do you mean yeah. You killed so many of them so easily!” exclaimed Patrick. “True.” I started to gather the loot the wolves dropped as Patrick continued to pester me. As he was complaining about stuff I eventually asked, “Hey, you know why the creatures in this forest seem so hungry?” Patrick was taken back by my question but after taking a moment to think about it he said, “Most likely a foreign creature came in and started consuming everything in the forest or a group of them did.” That seems plausible but there's only one mana fragment in this forest so I assume its been eating things quickly. “Is there any chance that it was a creature that originated from this forest?” I asked knowing that it was a high possibly that the mana fragment was involved. “No unless it has been sleeping for a very very long time. Something like this never happened in the past 400 years as far as I know.” answered Patrick. Ah so this guy has knowledge about this place from 400 years back. Does this mean he knows the way to a town? “What's the nearest town?” I asked immediately trying to escape this forest in an instance. “Ponit why?” Patrick had a confused look on his face. I have no idea where that place is. “You know how to get there?” I asked again hoping that Patrick would give me some good news for once. “Only if you asked a month or so back. The place has been a mess ever since then and even I can't find my way around here anymore. So many creatures have moved from their original positions and even the trees aren't in the same place as they were.” I see so you're useless. I started walking East to the target. It was probably big. That's what I know. And it has been eating a lot of stuff in this forest. Maybe some of the creatures as well. That Kobold from before which I killed with delicate handling also complained about being almost eaten. So what kind of creature would be capable of doing so much destruction to such a large forest? Part 2 – The man known as an Explorer Several days has passed since Patrick joined up with me in travelling in this forest and he proved to be useful in some ways. For starters he had the identify skill which he used on my recently acquired new gloves and boots. The second was that had had the skill Medical Botany which he used to dig out some herbs and other plants form the ground. Apparently it was very useful since he can identify the plant before he digs them out so he knows the true value of the plant in the first place. Well they were often closely related to potions crafting and such so they must make some sort of money off it. Speaking of money, I'm planning to sell the gloves but not the boots later on. The reason was simple. | Glove of the Betrayed  Durability: 12/20 Defence: 1 Gloves that were stained by one who was betrayed by a close friend. In his last breath he cursed the person and swears eternal vengeance against the betrayer. Effects: - More likely to be betrayed by companions - Will be cursed if worn. Forced to seek the betrayer. | | --- | Those effects were enough for me to burn the damn thing but Patrick said that if I did then I would be also cursed and if I abandoned it then I would also be cursed. So the only option I had was to keep it until I could see it off. The boots on the other hand were a bit better. | Boots of the Fallen  Durability: 15/25  Defence: 5 The boots of a brave adventurer that searched the land for evil to slay. He had lost his life protection the innocent and these boots stained with his pure hearted blood carries these beliefs as well Effect: - Increase stats if protecting the innocent - Increase protection from magical attacks by 1% | | --- | They did increase my magic resistance even though I haven't been fighting those types of enemies yet. Also my stats increased in battle every time now since I'm protecting Patrick from the monsters as well. It was a very small bonus but a bonus indeed. It wasn't that comfortable to wear but it was much better than going around bare foot in a forest. “By the way, have I told you about my job here?” said Patrick trying to make some conversation. “No.” I wasn't interested but knowing a bit more about someone didn't hurt. “Ah. I come from a line of explorers. My family has been in service of countless Kings and their Kingdoms throughout the ages. There were many that were recorded in history. Mostly we are recruited to scout an area out regardless of the dangers, sometimes we are used to start a town in the middle of nowhere which is very  hard mind you...” Yadadadadadadadadada. Some stuff about his family. I don't care. I don't want to listen. “......Tellap...” What? Tellap? “Wait are you related to that Tellap?” I was stunned. A descendent of a famous explorer. I  read a lot about this Tellap. From what I know he was a pretty cool guy. Except when he died protecting others. Why would one protect others with their life. Did he have something to gain from it? Perhaps his family was compensated for the lost. “Yes I am. Though a very distanced relative. I'm related to a few other famous ones but none of them match the achievements of Tellap though. A lot is known about the more recent one but the more ancient one, not many knows what he did. If they knew then they would be praising him.” “I'm interested. Speak.” I wanted to know as much as possible to tell Dan later on. And so started the discussion on history. (You may skip this if you want.) “Tellap was also part of the Danite family. Well both of them were. The more recent one was employed by the late King of Kallamore whom wanted some background for his citizens if he failed in battle. Which he did. Before that Tellap had been exploring the continent in search for ancient ruins left by his ancestor Tallap whom he was named after. Now what are these ruins the previous Tellap left you say? Let me explain that as well...” (Lot of stuff is said so I'm going to give a summary in a text box below.) | History of the Explorer Tellap Tellap born roughly 351 years ago was born in the era of betrayal. As such as a child he was trained in combat in case he would ever need to battle. While not as good in the blade as his head, Tellap was respected by his peers for his quick wits in situations he faced. At the age of 15, his small village was caught in war and many perished. Saddened by this, Tellap set out to found another village in memory of his fallen comrades, friends and family. As such the man known as an explorer was created. For the next 5 years Tellap had went around helping those in need and help manage their towns. His fame spread far and wide of a 'freeman' that never stays in one place and moves in the face of danger. Many have tried to find him but he had alluded them time and time again. Tellaps period of exploring ended when the Kings of several small Kingdoms request for him to scout out a certain lands to see if they were habitable by humans in the future. These Kingdoms soon later became the Haven and Kallamore Kingdoms whom sit try to bite each other's necks off. The reason why these two Kingdoms were forged and hate each other relate to Tellap greatly. Along with Tellap the Kings sent several young men whom included the later King Vincent Kallamore and later King Morphesis Haven. The journey later known to few as the journey of Betrayal was a dangerous trilling one. A total of 14 have set off to the unknown lands including Telllap. During this trip they have passed through large battlefields and the constructions of forts and castles. In total 4 have died during the trip. Each one of them were famed people whom sacrificed themselves to allow the others to continue. The first was a brave warrior that never retreated before, he died protecting the entrance to an underground maze to a horde of monsters. The second was a well known archer whom was shot by an arrow near the heart and died in the arms of his dear friends. The third was an assassin that was assassinated by those who did not want the group to succeed though he managed to kill many of them before perishing. And the fourth was a intelligence wizard used a self destruct spell to cripple an evil sorcerer whom ruled over demons. The ruins that Tellap later built were in memory of these three companions. However there were another 7 ruins he built. They were to permanently seal the souls of 7 of his former friends. Why he did this? In the lands known as the forest of death, the now 10 companions explored It and found a species of intelligence humanoids called the Reish that were preparing for war with humans. They planned to take the lands forcefully and set their own race as the dominant ones. In terms of power, speed, magic abilities and even intelligence, they were superior to humans. They offered to turn the companions of 10 into them to save them from the wraith of the soon to be war. 7 had accepted the offer while the other 3 rejected it. The two groups in called the Betrayed and Betrayer fought each other during the invasion of the Reish. This war would span over a decade and ended in the humans' victory with the help of the Gods aiding them. However it is in the nature of the Reish to regain their bodies after a while back in their homelands. As such the capital of the Reish, the forest of death was sealed off permanently. However this did not apply to the Betrayers. Their body soon reappeared in parts of the continent, creating chaos as they regain their bodies. As such Tellap had devised a way to seal them off as well. He and countless architects created the tombs that would hold their souls forever. They were eventually successful but had lost many people including the very Kings that employed them. Kingless and in shambles the Kingdoms were on the verge of war with countless nobles trying to gain the throne. In sight of this the group of now 3 had to do something. They were famed Heroes right now and the people would follow their word. They had to choose a new King for these Kingdoms. Choosing more than one may lead to war. One of the companions suggest that one of them should become King. The group immediately decided on Tellap their leader but he refused saying that the role of King did not suit him. Then the pther two of the companions Vincent Kallamore and Morphesis Haven offered to take his place at the same time. The two argued and the Tellap watching them suggested that they both get equal amounts of land and value to ensure the two new Kingdoms forged through this event do not go to war at each other. As such the Kallamore Kingdom and Haven Kingdom were forged. The peace between the Kingdoms lasted a century but it was later apparent that both sides built up their forces to invade each other. Kallamore dealt the first blow in the first war. Later it was Haven who did it first. As what happened to Tellap later, he went off to explore some more. Tellap married and had children in his later years. But before that they built a memoriam for his fallen comrades and even the betrayers. Nothing much is known on what happened after these events but it is said that he lived a long life preventing wars from occurring as much as possible as a secret advisor to multiple Kingdoms. | | --- | Wow..that's a lot of information feed to me. A lot of details on how two very powerful and renown Kingdoms were built as well. Who knew that such a person was involved so much in the events he described. Dan would be very happy if I gave him this information as it involves the Kingdom he lives in. Hell I could get a reward from a noble if I told him in story. “Part of the reason I'm here is because of that story you know.” said Patrick in confidence. “Really.” I replied with a bit of respect now. What could he do here that relates to the story. “Apparently Tellap was buried in this place so I'm trying to find it.” said Patrick indifferently. So he was stuck here god knows when because of a minor thing like that. “And his legacy was said to be there as well. His treasure were placed in his tomb which on the other hand made my family pretty poor afterwards.” His eyes sparkled at the thought of what he could find about the past. Treasure you say? I'm all in now. Lets find this place! “All I need is a sign that says we're going in the right direction....any thing even a rock....” Patrick sighed at the fact. Patrick looked down depressed. I don't blame him, he spent so much time in this place and yet to have any success. I started to look around the place as well trying to see anything. While trees covered most of the place which made any kind of landmark near impossible to find, else taller than the trees and seeable from high up which would mean every fool whom are searching for the treasure would find it which I'm sure the people who built it did not want to happen. Wait there seems be be a conveniently placed rock I can see that may or may not lead to such and such tomb. (Its either this plot mover or I make them search or a couple more days....wait lets try that way) Several days later.... I am exhausted....the two of us have been trying to track down this tomb with no luck. And luck has it, more and more wolves have been attacking out for no reason and less and less more um...innocent creatures such as raccoons and rabbits disappear from sight either by hiding or being eaten. I'm pretty sure the ecosystem of the forest is screwed. “How...how many days has it been since we've tried to find this tomb?” I asked trying to focus on finding some way to locate the damn thing. “4 days. How many times have you asked me this question today?” said Patrick pretty annoyed right now. “7 times.” ignoring the fact that he was annoyed badly by my inpatient. I can't blame him though. I walked up to another large rock and started to feel it. Damn I sound like a pervert. Huh? This one feels a bit different.....and I sound like a pervert. “Patrick get here now.” I commanded. Patrick came over and looked at the rock I was feeling and said, “Why are you feeling that rock.” staring at me like I was crazy. “It feels different.” moving my hand over it in a circular manner. “Yeah its a rock.....and why are you feeling it?” repeated Patrick still thinking I'm crazy. “Feel it.” “No.” “Why not?” I shot a glare at him “I'm not crazy.” “I'll cook and eat you with fire magic.” I threatened. Patrick went and felt the rock as well. Now who's crazy. Not me. Definitely not me nut but you....muhahahahaha......I need to meet new people....before I go insane..... “Oh your right, this one seems different. It feels man-made.” Patrick said in astonishment. “Then...” I waited in suspense. I hope this is the right one. Else we're going to stay in this forest together for a while more...for the treasure. “Yeah the tomb should be here somewhere. Maybe underground.” He finally confirmed. “With my Earth magic we could dig in.” I suggested. “No. It might damage the tomb itself. But considering that we spent so much time searching for it, go ahead. Try to keep the damage to a minimal.” Pondered Patrick. “Right Earth Rip.” The ground next to the rock split open. It seems that there was a tomb down there. Well time to jump in. “Eden we have to be careful. Don't jump in.” advised Patrick. I jumped in. “You son of a bit-” muttered Patrick. My foot landed on the very old stone. | You have discovered “Tomb of Tellap” Every day for one week, double EXP and double item drops. The rarest items will drop from killing the first monster of each type. Subsequent kills will drop common items. +100 Fame | | --- | Well I didn't die yet so it shouldn't be trapped..I think. I called out to Patrick, “Get in here!” After grumbling a bit Patrick also jumped in the tomb and started to examine the walls. “This detail! This style of carving!” exclaimed Patrick. And now he's going on about something. “And what about it?” I asked trying to understand what was going on. “I can't understand it at all!” I literally almost stacked myself from that. You don't usual says stuff and then proceed to kill off hope like that. Pacing my breathing I also took a look around. It seems that we're not that far from the actual entrance of the place though it might be trapped so I have no intentions on going out that way. The colour of the place was the first thing I noticed. It was a rusty yellow colour. The ones you would see in the old Egyptian tombs. Now I have a bad feeling about this. “Lets go Eden!” said Patrick. He was quite energetic for a guy that was grumbling a bit before about my actions. We went in the next room with me leading of coarse. Patrick argued that I had my mana shield so I should be fine even though I could cast it on him as well. Then he said I had magic so the possible of me living was still higher. Its not like I have that much more chance of surviving a cruel cruel trap like spike walls closing on me or bottomless pits or the classic boulder crushing me. In the next room it was well pitch black. That's what you expect from a tomb hidden away underground. “Light balls.” I summoned several light balls. One was kept near me and Patrick and the others went around the room to allow us to see if there were any traps that the human eye could see. One characteristics of the light balls were that they had physical properties which I was very surprised about. Unless the trap was designed to bring the place down, we were mostly safe. Examining the room I noticed that there were no traps yet. “No traps.” I said. “Hopefully.” responded Patrick behind me. I took a step forward. I was well aware that there could be traps that activate using pressure pads but still....it would take us forever if we were completely conscious about setting traps off. I stopped for a bit. No traps were activated. I took another step. Nothing happened again. Was this part of the trap or was there nothing here? I should test it with some Earth magic. I imagined a small layer of dirt being produced and spreading, pushing down everything it goes under. “Earth Wave.” An extremely small amount of mana was consumed since the spell was designed for much larger targets. A very small wave went from my feet to the 4 corners of the room. Nothing still happened. “Its perfectly safe.” Patrick sighed in relief. We started to examine the room more closely before heading to the next doorway. I made sure that the light balls were the things that entered the next room first. It was a stairway down. It seems the place had more than one floor. That would make sense. It was pretty hard to get to the top floor in the first place. “You first.” said Patrick. He was definitely trying not to get killed here. Well I still didn't tell him I was a player so it was fine. Maybe he thought I couldn't revive as well or something. Well either way he still prioritized his life first. That's fine. I'm doing the same as well. We walked down or rather tip toed our way down the stairs. “Don't you have a skill to identify traps or something?” I asked since he was an explorer. “No. Usually you have a thief to do that. But since we don't have one...” replied Patrick while looking away from me. We agreed that it would be best to be more careful from now on. | Continue Misfortune? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Previous](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1293) | [Exit](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161) | | [Next](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1307) | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes: - Word Count 5394 - Introducing a new character!!!!! Yay. Nothing will kill this character..... - The next chapter could've been longer and fun but.....I'm writing THAT much in a chapter.....you will understand tomorrow. - No skill to identify traps.....the tomb is going to be fun.....very fun.....

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> As Daemon walked through the town square, he noticed that everyone was either staring at him or sneaking glances so very often. With his hate for attracting attention in real life, Daemon could not stand the attention in the game as well. He knew he had good looks but the continuous staring in the game from players and NPC’s alike, began creeping him out. He therefore chose to walk through a dark lonely alley where he wouldn’t be bothered. As he went through the alley, he kept to the shadows and suddenly he received a message.<br><br>TRRRINNGGGG!!!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned the skill Sneak!<br><br>By sticking to the shadows or just treading lightly you have a reduced chance of being seen. <br>And at night or in different environments, you receive bonus expertise when practicing.<br><br>Skill level is beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Interesting, unlike a normal elf, dark elves can receive skills just by walking around and doing activities.” Daemon commented. As an elf, he had to repeat the activity many times before he could learn the skill. Sneak skill took him a really long time to learn before. ‘Or maybe because I knew that walking in lonely dark street alleys is more effective….I was able to learn it quicker?’<br><br>He quickly did a common delivery errand to reach level one (quest available in all starter cities) and activated his skill sets.<br><br>He then decided to practice his sneaking ability a bit more. When he had the elf character he unlocked the sneak ability quite by accident. It then took nearly forever to raise the skill to a level where he could go around town without arousing any attention towards himself. However things were different now. Daemon knew exactly under which circumstances would sneak ability rise the most and he was going to exploit his previous knowledge. So, he went back to the town square to sneak around. <br><br>As he stepped out of the alley way, he quickly hid behind a wagon. As the wagon proceeded, he took each carefully, pacing himself with the wagon. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have attained beginner level 2 Sneak! <br><br>You have begun unraveling the secrets of sneaking around. Your ingenious intuition helped you realize coordinated movements keep low visibility!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Once close enough to a pottery shop, he hid behind a large jar. Like an overly large rate scurrying around the city, Daemon moved behind shop and person, hiding in the shadows and staying as quiet as possible. It would be a lie to say that he succeeded; it was just too obvious. Some players laughed as they say him play ninja in broad day light, NPCs were worried someone deranged had escaped the dungeons, but Daemon content.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have attained beginner level 3 Sneak! <br><br>You have begun unraveling the secrets of sneaking around. Did you know it is better to wear black clothes in the dark to avoid being seen? Always wear clothes to match your background, it will camouflage you!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Daemon was happy, his progress was rather explosive. It had taken him an entire month to unlock beginner level 3 sneaking. Now, he accomplished it in a few hours. He didn’t bother buying any ninja like clothes as wearing basic gear in this city left him looking like a beggar. No one was really that bothered or interested in him anymore.<br><br>Daemon happily, sneaked around a little more till he noticed his rapidly declining satiation levels. He took out some stale bread and decided to sit and the people go about in the game. After an hour or so, Daemon was surprised to receive more messages;<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned the skill observe!<br><br>You can observe the environment around you in greater detail.<br><br>Skill level is beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned the skill laze!<br><br>You recover stamina faster if you laze around<br><br>Skill level is beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>‘Oh these ones are new! I never unlocked these last time…I wonder how observe can develop? Maybe I can view hundreds of miles ahead at master level? Laze can be useful….though I am not sure if I will have the opportunity to level it up as much….’ <br><br>When he got back to the square he noticed that there were two acrobats putting on a performance, full of flips rolls and daring speed combos of agility. ‘Now that is cool!’ Daemon thought to himself. <br><br>When the duo acrobats were done, he approached the pair. “Excuse me!”<br><br>The male acrobat looked and greeted, “Greetings weary traveler, my name is Sparrow. This is my wife, Hummingbird. How may we help you?”<br><br>“I was wondering if you would show me a thing or two about being an acrobat.”<br><br>“Indeed we can, but acrobatics are not for the weak of will. They require you to master your body’s movements and learn to flow with the momentum of your movements, so are you sure you want to learn acrobatics as a profession?”<br><br>“Yes, I want to learn acrobatics and show the world the beauty of movement that is unrestricted, unlike dancers who are bound to the ground with their footwork and routines.” Daemon unhesitantly went a bit melodramatic with his reply. ‘I will gladly accept all the professions this world has to offer, even useless ones like these….’<br><br>“Here, take this and meet us after you retrieve the item listed. We will be waiting in the middle of the park near the gazelle statue at night.” Sparrow replied as he handed over a something wrapped up in brown paper.<br><br>TRRRING!!!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have received Acrobatic Suit: <br><br>This suit has high durability, but no defense. To make up for the loss of defense it gives 10% bonus move speed and 5% bonus to agility.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>TRRRING!!!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a special map!<br><br>The arrow indicates your current location and the star is your destination. As you walk the arrow will move accordingly. This map is as intelligent as you are, the more you invest in intelligence (INT) the more details it will reveal to you!!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>TRRRING!!!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a quest!<br><br>Retrieve the item hidden away in the caves to Sparrow and his fair wife Hummingbird<br><br>Quest level: FF<br>Quest requirements: unknown</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Daemon’s eyes sparkled with greed. ‘Who knew appreciating these fools would earn me a suit so good! I think I might just stick a bit longer with them….to see what else they offer.’<br><br>“Well, then wary traveler, we will be off!” Sparrow said as he packed away his equipment and began leaving.<br><br>“Thank you!” Daemon shouted back. “I truly appreciate these tokens!”<br><br>“No problem, but be careful at night. The fog rolls down from the mountains, and monsters and thieves roam rampant on the streets. This is a mountain city and weak are doomed to die here.” Sparrow smiled as he replied.<br><br>“By the way…where are these caves located?”<br><br>“The Valley in Hidden Mist, weary traveler. ”<br><br>‘Ominous name….Heh…. ‘ Daemon wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk his life so early on in the game just to get some low level item. The quest wasn’t even level F.’ He shyly replied, “Well see you later” as he tried to hide his intentions of not going after the quest.<br><br>“Goodbye and see you later.” Sparrow said as he disappeared into the ocean of people in the town square. <br><br>‘The name of this place makes me wonder why and how did it get that name. I guess I can read through the history behind it later to find out….for now…more sneaking and observing!’<br><br>He changed his attire and wore the acrobatic suit. The AGI and SPD were astounding for a beginner level equipment. As it grew darker, the sneak ability became more and more effective. With the added effect of the suit, Daemon was also faster than before. The added benefit of the darkness and increased speed, help Daemon greatly increase his sneaking ability to beginner level 6! He even unlocked a new skill stealth which provided greater cloaking abilities!<br><br>Daemon however grew wary of sneaking around. He was quieter when he moved, he barely had a presence…and Daemon was unsure whether he wanted more. ‘For now this is good enough.’<br><br>Daemon looked around what else could he do, but soon concluded other than trivial quests and learning more about the water element, there wasn’t really much to do here. ‘How boring! I guess I should have started in the first city and come here with a group after leveling up.’<br><br>Daemon took out the map from his pocket and began following a dotted line that appeared between him and the caves. Daemon was expecting guards to prevent him from leaving the village but no one even noticed him…the fog was so thick that Daemon was pretty much invisible to the guards checking the entrance. ‘Strange…’ Daemon thought, ‘I thought you could only a city after spending three weeks in it….this is definitely strange…’<br><br>With his presence so thin by his sneak and stealth abilities and the fog masking whatever else was left of his presence, Daemon found himself walking through the rough mountain terrain without attracting the attention of even foxes or wolves. ‘I wonder if I leveled those abilities too much?’<br><br>The journey was rather boring and uneventful. Daemon was expecting more action, a few bad monsters but in under an hour he reached the cave entrance; there awaited a small girl.<br><br>“You made it weary traveler!” She said as he stood a foot away from her (otherwise she might not have seen him or realized it was him).<br><br>“Why are you here?” Daemon asked suspiciously. It would be suspicious to anyone to find a little girl no more than the age of six outside the village by the entrance of an ominous cave greeting absolute strangers.<br><br>“To give you the item.” She replied.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Completed!<br><br>Quest reward:<br><br>You have received Acrobatic shoes: <br><br>These shoe have high durability, but no defense. To make up for the loss of defense it gives 10% bonus move speed and 5% bonus to agility.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>“Awesome!” Daemon exclaimed. The equipment was really good for beginner level and could even be used at mid levels. “Thank you so much!”<br><br>“…” Only silence greeted Daemon.<br><br>“Little girl?” Daemon called out.<br><br>The fog slowly receded only to reveal that other than Daemon there was no one else there. The little girl vanished into the fog…<br><br>‘Freaky….’ Daemon thought to himself, he was getting goosebumps. He just received a noob level quest and the reward did not match the effort and then there was the disappearing 6 year old girl, ‘who the heck was she?’…something was wrong here, his hunch told him to be wary of Sparrow.<br><br>Daemon decided to go to the park early and hide there while reading his book issued from the library, “Water Affinity for Dummies”. The book helped reveal the secrets of water’s three forms and how it could be found anywhere. When he finished the book, he got 3 messages.<br><br>TRRININGGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Water Mastery:<br><br>This increases your affinity for water. As you level, your affinity will grow stronger with water. Since you are a Dark Elf you start with Beginner level 2!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br>TRRININGGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Water Crafting:<br><br>This skill allows you to control water. You can manipulate and shape it in all of its forms. Remember the greatest limitation and strength of water warrior is water itself. You need to carry a pouch of water with you at all times!<br><br>As a dark elf, you start at Beginner level 2.<br><br>As Water Mastery and this skill increase hand in hand. At higher level you will be able to create more complex forms with water.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>TRRININGGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Dehydrate:<br><br>This skill is only limited to the dark elves. It allows you to steal water from the earth and plants. At higher levels you can heal and replenish stamina while this skill is active.<br><br>Skill limitations: requires you to be touching the target.<br><br>-Warning- Excessive use of this skill may have adversely effect on you. Please use with caution.<br><br>Dehydrate skill is beginner 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>‘Interesting abilities….though isn’t the dark elf a little too overpowered? I guess races which are unlocked later tend to be stronger….to compensate for the players lower level…’ <br><br>Daemon looked around a bit to see if anyone was approaching the park. The entire village was like ghost town. Most players were busy in quests and hunting during this time. The thick fog added on to the spooky feel factor. ‘Time to try them out.’<br><br>Daemon held his arm straight and began to concentrate. ‘Gather the water droplets in the air.’<br>Daemon sense’s lit up like a Christmas tree. He could feel millions of water droplets suspended in the air. However, he was struggling to gather them. <br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Your skill level is too low to use this ability. If you continue trying to do so, you will deplete your stamina!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Daemon immediately stopped with the fruitless struggle after seeing the message. Instead he looked around for readily available source of water. He was lucky enough to find a muddy puddle in the park itself.<br><br>He tried again; he closed his eyes trying to imagine raising water as a natural action like raising a limb. With great difficulty, he summoned one sphere of water. It was no bigger than a tennis ball. As he was struggling to hold it up, there were ripples all over its surface as it struggled to maintain form.<br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You created your first Water Sphere! Water Crafting and Water Mastery have increased!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Daemon opened his eyes and read the message. He was fairly pleased with the message. He stared at the sphere of water as it remained floating above the surface of the puddle. It was crystal clear and there wasn’t a single speck of dirt in it. When manipulating water, that is all he could do. The residual dirt and sand would be left behind. It looked surreal as it continued to float on the surface of the puddle. <br><br>‘Raise!’ Daemon focused all his thoughts of raising the sphere into the air.<br><br>As he attempted to do so, it slowly started to rise while being supported by a column of a water. <br><br>Daemon was a little disappointed with the effect. He was hoping to make it hover in air. However, water affinity only enabled players to manipulate water’s shape and move it around. It was still subjected to physical laws of the game world. In short, his hopes for making it fly around like a speeding bullet went up in smokes.<br><br>However, Daemon didn’t lose heart, water users were fairly strong. All though they could not manipulate water to fly around as they wished, they could use the mana to shoot water pellets around. He had seen a fairly high level user’s VR posting, where the user raised four pillars of water around a fire user. After which the user shot hundreds of water pellets through those pillars at the fire user. The result was devastating. At first the fire user dodged a few of the water pellets, but the water user was just toying with him. He then launched thousands of pellets scattering them in every possible direction…making it impossible for the fire user to dodge….that VR posting went viral within a few hours posting.<br><br>Daemon smiled as he remembered that VR posting. ‘Well that stupid fire user had it coming to him…trying to fight a water user next to a stream is obviously going to have a devastating impact….for now I am content with this level of ability.’<br> <br>Daemon then started shaping his water sphere as it stood on top of the water column. First, Daemon made shapes like cubes and pyramids to get the basics down, but as he continued, he started shaping it into shapes of weapons. The most basic weapon he could come up with was a small needle and if he added all the water in the puddle to it, he could enlarge it to the size of a thin pointy stick. More detailed weapons and objects required higher levels of water crafting and mastery.<br><br>“Hmmmm..... a high level water user could make infinite weapons of water, so I don’t have to worry about buying weapons then…”<br><br>Daemon then proceeded to make all kinds of sharp shapes. The only problem he struggled with was maintain form or switching from one shape to another. However that problem was dependent to his level and he was confident he could overcome it soon. Since he used a huge variety of weapon shapes in a short period of time, he learned a new skill:<br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Water Weapons Mastery<br><br>This skill increases the damage of any water weapon you create and use.<br><br>This skill is beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Also, an information window about Water Crafting popped up.<br><br><br>Also, an information window about Water Crafting popped up.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learnt Water Forging:<br><br>By squeezing large amounts of water into a smaller space and you can create denser weapons and objects, increasing levels of this skills will deal more damage. Forge more water weapons and objects to level this skill up.<br><br>This skill is beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“I see, so this skill can be used throughout my levels since I can make stronger weapons, which means I don’t have to waste any money on high level weapons either…”<br><br>Daemon checked the time, ‘they should be on their way here…’ <br><br>He headed to the designated meeting location. As he was suspicious of the couple, he decided to practice his sneak ability and ensure there were no traps set up for him there. So he stuck to the shadows and treaded lightly on his way to the center of the park, which had a variety of statues depicting different classes, along with a fountain of heroes in the center. When he got there, he saw that no one was there…. ‘I am still too early?’ <br><br>TRRRINGGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Critical hit!<br><br>50% reduction of health<br><br>You have been critically hit! You have been stunned! You have lost consciousness!<br><br>Penalties of being unconscious:<br><br>You have lost all sensory functions temporarily. This state will only end quickly when you are splashed with cold water or other similar stimulus or if you are healed. If you are not woken up / healed, you will resume consciousness after the 3 hours, with 20% lower HP.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>After that everything went black in Daemon screen. A single window popped up, <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Unconsciousness time remaining: 2:59:69</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. Well I wonder if this story progressed too quickly? I can elaborate on it later, so there might be a revised version of this soon. Hope you all like it now.<br>2. Thank you Jetmann for writing most of this and allowing me to use it.<br>3. Maybe I should do a side story for fire and earth affinities as well after this?<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1377" target="_blank">Yes</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

As Daemon walked through the town square, he noticed that everyone was either staring at him or sneaking glances so very often. With his hate for attracting attention in real life, Daemon could not stand the attention in the game as well. He knew he had good looks but the continuous staring in the game from players and NPC’s alike, began creeping him out. He therefore chose to walk through a dark lonely alley where he wouldn’t be bothered. As he went through the alley, he kept to the shadows and suddenly he received a message. TRRRINNGGGG!!! | You have learned the skill Sneak!By sticking to the shadows or just treading lightly you have a reduced chance of being seen. And at night or in different environments, you receive bonus expertise when practicing.Skill level is beginner level 1. | | --- | “Interesting, unlike a normal elf, dark elves can receive skills just by walking around and doing activities.” Daemon commented. As an elf, he had to repeat the activity many times before he could learn the skill. Sneak skill took him a really long time to learn before. ‘Or maybe because I knew that walking in lonely dark street alleys is more effective….I was able to learn it quicker?’ He quickly did a common delivery errand to reach level one (quest available in all starter cities) and activated his skill sets. He then decided to practice his sneaking ability a bit more. When he had the elf character he unlocked the sneak ability quite by accident. It then took nearly forever to raise the skill to a level where he could go around town without arousing any attention towards himself. However things were different now. Daemon knew exactly under which circumstances would sneak ability rise the most and he was going to exploit his previous knowledge. So, he went back to the town square to sneak around. As he stepped out of the alley way, he quickly hid behind a wagon. As the wagon proceeded, he took each carefully, pacing himself with the wagon. | You have attained beginner level 2 Sneak! You have begun unraveling the secrets of sneaking around. Your ingenious intuition helped you realize coordinated movements keep low visibility! | | --- | Once close enough to a pottery shop, he hid behind a large jar. Like an overly large rate scurrying around the city, Daemon moved behind shop and person, hiding in the shadows and staying as quiet as possible. It would be a lie to say that he succeeded; it was just too obvious. Some players laughed as they say him play ninja in broad day light, NPCs were worried someone deranged had escaped the dungeons, but Daemon content. | You have attained beginner level 3 Sneak! You have begun unraveling the secrets of sneaking around. Did you know it is better to wear black clothes in the dark to avoid being seen? Always wear clothes to match your background, it will camouflage you! | | --- | Daemon was happy, his progress was rather explosive. It had taken him an entire month to unlock beginner level 3 sneaking. Now, he accomplished it in a few hours. He didn’t bother buying any ninja like clothes as wearing basic gear in this city left him looking like a beggar. No one was really that bothered or interested in him anymore. Daemon happily, sneaked around a little more till he noticed his rapidly declining satiation levels. He took out some stale bread and decided to sit and the people go about in the game. After an hour or so, Daemon was surprised to receive more messages; | You have learned the skill observe!You can observe the environment around you in greater detail.Skill level is beginner level 1. | | --- | | You have learned the skill laze!You recover stamina faster if you laze aroundSkill level is beginner level 1. | | --- | ‘Oh these ones are new! I never unlocked these last time…I wonder how observe can develop? Maybe I can view hundreds of miles ahead at master level? Laze can be useful….though I am not sure if I will have the opportunity to level it up as much….’ When he got back to the square he noticed that there were two acrobats putting on a performance, full of flips rolls and daring speed combos of agility. ‘Now that is cool!’ Daemon thought to himself. When the duo acrobats were done, he approached the pair. “Excuse me!” The male acrobat looked and greeted, “Greetings weary traveler, my name is Sparrow. This is my wife, Hummingbird. How may we help you?” “I was wondering if you would show me a thing or two about being an acrobat.” “Indeed we can, but acrobatics are not for the weak of will. They require you to master your body’s movements and learn to flow with the momentum of your movements, so are you sure you want to learn acrobatics as a profession?” “Yes, I want to learn acrobatics and show the world the beauty of movement that is unrestricted, unlike dancers who are bound to the ground with their footwork and routines.” Daemon unhesitantly went a bit melodramatic with his reply. ‘I will gladly accept all the professions this world has to offer, even useless ones like these….’ “Here, take this and meet us after you retrieve the item listed. We will be waiting in the middle of the park near the gazelle statue at night.” Sparrow replied as he handed over a something wrapped up in brown paper. TRRRING!!! | You have received Acrobatic Suit: This suit has high durability, but no defense. To make up for the loss of defense it gives 10% bonus move speed and 5% bonus to agility. | | --- | TRRRING!!! | You have received a special map!The arrow indicates your current location and the star is your destination. As you walk the arrow will move accordingly. This map is as intelligent as you are, the more you invest in intelligence (INT) the more details it will reveal to you!! | | --- | TRRRING!!! | You have received a quest!Retrieve the item hidden away in the caves to Sparrow and his fair wife HummingbirdQuest level: FFQuest requirements: unknown | | --- | Daemon’s eyes sparkled with greed. ‘Who knew appreciating these fools would earn me a suit so good! I think I might just stick a bit longer with them….to see what else they offer.’ “Well, then wary traveler, we will be off!” Sparrow said as he packed away his equipment and began leaving. “Thank you!” Daemon shouted back. “I truly appreciate these tokens!” “No problem, but be careful at night. The fog rolls down from the mountains, and monsters and thieves roam rampant on the streets. This is a mountain city and weak are doomed to die here.” Sparrow smiled as he replied. “By the way…where are these caves located?” “The Valley in Hidden Mist, weary traveler. ” ‘Ominous name….Heh…. ‘ Daemon wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk his life so early on in the game just to get some low level item. The quest wasn’t even level F.’ He shyly replied, “Well see you later” as he tried to hide his intentions of not going after the quest. “Goodbye and see you later.” Sparrow said as he disappeared into the ocean of people in the town square. ‘The name of this place makes me wonder why and how did it get that name. I guess I can read through the history behind it later to find out….for now…more sneaking and observing!’ He changed his attire and wore the acrobatic suit. The AGI and SPD were astounding for a beginner level equipment. As it grew darker, the sneak ability became more and more effective. With the added effect of the suit, Daemon was also faster than before. The added benefit of the darkness and increased speed, help Daemon greatly increase his sneaking ability to beginner level 6! He even unlocked a new skill stealth which provided greater cloaking abilities! Daemon however grew wary of sneaking around. He was quieter when he moved, he barely had a presence…and Daemon was unsure whether he wanted more. ‘For now this is good enough.’ Daemon looked around what else could he do, but soon concluded other than trivial quests and learning more about the water element, there wasn’t really much to do here. ‘How boring! I guess I should have started in the first city and come here with a group after leveling up.’ Daemon took out the map from his pocket and began following a dotted line that appeared between him and the caves. Daemon was expecting guards to prevent him from leaving the village but no one even noticed him…the fog was so thick that Daemon was pretty much invisible to the guards checking the entrance. ‘Strange…’ Daemon thought, ‘I thought you could only a city after spending three weeks in it….this is definitely strange…’ With his presence so thin by his sneak and stealth abilities and the fog masking whatever else was left of his presence, Daemon found himself walking through the rough mountain terrain without attracting the attention of even foxes or wolves. ‘I wonder if I leveled those abilities too much?’ The journey was rather boring and uneventful. Daemon was expecting more action, a few bad monsters but in under an hour he reached the cave entrance; there awaited a small girl. “You made it weary traveler!” She said as he stood a foot away from her (otherwise she might not have seen him or realized it was him). “Why are you here?” Daemon asked suspiciously. It would be suspicious to anyone to find a little girl no more than the age of six outside the village by the entrance of an ominous cave greeting absolute strangers. “To give you the item.” She replied. | Quest Completed!Quest reward:You have received Acrobatic shoes: These shoe have high durability, but no defense. To make up for the loss of defense it gives 10% bonus move speed and 5% bonus to agility. | | --- | “Awesome!” Daemon exclaimed. The equipment was really good for beginner level and could even be used at mid levels. “Thank you so much!” “…” Only silence greeted Daemon. “Little girl?” Daemon called out. The fog slowly receded only to reveal that other than Daemon there was no one else there. The little girl vanished into the fog… ‘Freaky….’ Daemon thought to himself, he was getting goosebumps. He just received a noob level quest and the reward did not match the effort and then there was the disappearing 6 year old girl, ‘who the heck was she?’…something was wrong here, his hunch told him to be wary of Sparrow. Daemon decided to go to the park early and hide there while reading his book issued from the library, “Water Affinity for Dummies”. The book helped reveal the secrets of water’s three forms and how it could be found anywhere. When he finished the book, he got 3 messages. TRRININGGG! | You have learned Water Mastery:This increases your affinity for water. As you level, your affinity will grow stronger with water. Since you are a Dark Elf you start with Beginner level 2! | | --- | TRRININGGG! | You have learned Water Crafting:This skill allows you to control water. You can manipulate and shape it in all of its forms. Remember the greatest limitation and strength of water warrior is water itself. You need to carry a pouch of water with you at all times!As a dark elf, you start at Beginner level 2.As Water Mastery and this skill increase hand in hand. At higher level you will be able to create more complex forms with water. | | --- | TRRININGGG! | You have learned Dehydrate:This skill is only limited to the dark elves. It allows you to steal water from the earth and plants. At higher levels you can heal and replenish stamina while this skill is active.Skill limitations: requires you to be touching the target.-Warning- Excessive use of this skill may have adversely effect on you. Please use with caution.Dehydrate skill is beginner 1. | | --- | ‘Interesting abilities….though isn’t the dark elf a little too overpowered? I guess races which are unlocked later tend to be stronger….to compensate for the players lower level…’ Daemon looked around a bit to see if anyone was approaching the park. The entire village was like ghost town. Most players were busy in quests and hunting during this time. The thick fog added on to the spooky feel factor. ‘Time to try them out.’ Daemon held his arm straight and began to concentrate. ‘Gather the water droplets in the air.’ Daemon sense’s lit up like a Christmas tree. He could feel millions of water droplets suspended in the air. However, he was struggling to gather them. TRRRINGG! | Your skill level is too low to use this ability. If you continue trying to do so, you will deplete your stamina! | | --- | Daemon immediately stopped with the fruitless struggle after seeing the message. Instead he looked around for readily available source of water. He was lucky enough to find a muddy puddle in the park itself. He tried again; he closed his eyes trying to imagine raising water as a natural action like raising a limb. With great difficulty, he summoned one sphere of water. It was no bigger than a tennis ball. As he was struggling to hold it up, there were ripples all over its surface as it struggled to maintain form. TRRRINGG! | You created your first Water Sphere! Water Crafting and Water Mastery have increased! | | --- | Daemon opened his eyes and read the message. He was fairly pleased with the message. He stared at the sphere of water as it remained floating above the surface of the puddle. It was crystal clear and there wasn’t a single speck of dirt in it. When manipulating water, that is all he could do. The residual dirt and sand would be left behind. It looked surreal as it continued to float on the surface of the puddle. ‘Raise!’ Daemon focused all his thoughts of raising the sphere into the air. As he attempted to do so, it slowly started to rise while being supported by a column of a water. Daemon was a little disappointed with the effect. He was hoping to make it hover in air. However, water affinity only enabled players to manipulate water’s shape and move it around. It was still subjected to physical laws of the game world. In short, his hopes for making it fly around like a speeding bullet went up in smokes. However, Daemon didn’t lose heart, water users were fairly strong. All though they could not manipulate water to fly around as they wished, they could use the mana to shoot water pellets around. He had seen a fairly high level user’s VR posting, where the user raised four pillars of water around a fire user. After which the user shot hundreds of water pellets through those pillars at the fire user. The result was devastating. At first the fire user dodged a few of the water pellets, but the water user was just toying with him. He then launched thousands of pellets scattering them in every possible direction…making it impossible for the fire user to dodge….that VR posting went viral within a few hours posting. Daemon smiled as he remembered that VR posting. ‘Well that stupid fire user had it coming to him…trying to fight a water user next to a stream is obviously going to have a devastating impact….for now I am content with this level of ability.’ Daemon then started shaping his water sphere as it stood on top of the water column. First, Daemon made shapes like cubes and pyramids to get the basics down, but as he continued, he started shaping it into shapes of weapons. The most basic weapon he could come up with was a small needle and if he added all the water in the puddle to it, he could enlarge it to the size of a thin pointy stick. More detailed weapons and objects required higher levels of water crafting and mastery. “Hmmmm..... a high level water user could make infinite weapons of water, so I don’t have to worry about buying weapons then…” Daemon then proceeded to make all kinds of sharp shapes. The only problem he struggled with was maintain form or switching from one shape to another. However that problem was dependent to his level and he was confident he could overcome it soon. Since he used a huge variety of weapon shapes in a short period of time, he learned a new skill: TRRRINGG! | You have learned Water Weapons MasteryThis skill increases the damage of any water weapon you create and use.This skill is beginner level 1. | | --- | Also, an information window about Water Crafting popped up. Also, an information window about Water Crafting popped up. | You have learnt Water Forging:By squeezing large amounts of water into a smaller space and you can create denser weapons and objects, increasing levels of this skills will deal more damage. Forge more water weapons and objects to level this skill up.This skill is beginner level 1. | | --- | “I see, so this skill can be used throughout my levels since I can make stronger weapons, which means I don’t have to waste any money on high level weapons either…” Daemon checked the time, ‘they should be on their way here…’ He headed to the designated meeting location. As he was suspicious of the couple, he decided to practice his sneak ability and ensure there were no traps set up for him there. So he stuck to the shadows and treaded lightly on his way to the center of the park, which had a variety of statues depicting different classes, along with a fountain of heroes in the center. When he got there, he saw that no one was there…. ‘I am still too early?’ TRRRINGGG! | Critical hit!50% reduction of healthYou have been critically hit! You have been stunned! You have lost consciousness!Penalties of being unconscious:You have lost all sensory functions temporarily. This state will only end quickly when you are splashed with cold water or other similar stimulus or if you are healed. If you are not woken up / healed, you will resume consciousness after the 3 hours, with 20% lower HP. | | --- | After that everything went black in Daemon screen. A single window popped up, | Unconsciousness time remaining: 2:59:69 | | --- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. Well I wonder if this story progressed too quickly? I can elaborate on it later, so there might be a revised version of this soon. Hope you all like it now. 2. Thank you Jetmann for writing most of this and allowing me to use it. 3. Maybe I should do a side story for fire and earth affinities as well after this? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Yes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1377) | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 4 The letter R<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. <br><br><br>Zed logged back to royal road feeling excited. He was fidgeting like a kid on sugar high. Zed was thinking of what to do next, he was pretty high level and should probably joined a guild or make one. Probably gain a city to control considering he has vast fortunes of currency in game to support a city.<br><br>Zed walked to a random directions while his thoughts we're filled with possibilities. After a few hours of walking zed stumbled upon a couple of players with a pet cat-like creature.<br><br>Those players halted zed and one of them said:<br><br>"Halt you!, A player that looks very shady like you must have have lots of rare valuables" the man said.<br><br> Zed sweatdropped on what the man said to him, zed thought "I'm shady?? , sigh...., I never noticed, it's probably because of my new cloak, I probably looked like some evil villain. though he was right that I have rare valuables though."<br><br>"No response ehh?, I guess your right James" said the woman<br><br>"You're right Jessie" said James<br><br>" Shall we do the usual?" asked James<br><br>" yes let's " replied Jessie<br><br><br>On cue some sort of music intro started playing.<br><br> <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> JESSIE:<br>"Prepare for trouble!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"Make it double!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"To protect the world from devastation!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"To unite all peoples within our nation!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"To extend our reach to the stars above!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"Jessie!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"James!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"<br><br>MEOWTH:<br>"Meowth! that's right!" </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>End music while showers of confetti were produced on the background.<br><br><br>Zed couldn't help contain himself any longer and laughed his ass off, he guffawed, gasped, and spluttered words of ...of laughter.<br><br>The other group were stunned.<br><br>"Hey Jessie that guys laughing at our team motto" said James.<br><br>"Your right James, let's teach him not to laugh at our sacred motto" said Jessie.<br><br>"That's right!, Meowth!" the cat said now revealed to be meowth.<br><br>"Let's teach him a lesson" said James.<br><br>"That's right and make it doubled" replied Jessie.<br><br>James: "time to show him, we mean business"<br><br>Jessie: "Yes let's!!, I'll go first go arbok!!" a snakelike creature appeared.<br><br>James: "Its my turn, go weezing!!" a smoglike ballonish creature. appeared.<br><br>Meowth:" Don't forget about me, Meowth!" the cat-like creature said.<br><br>Zed was stunned....... only for a minute then started laughing again.<br><br>James: " I think he's crazy Jessie"<br>Jessie: " your right James"<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth! that's right."<br><br>Zed: "Ahahahahaha!, Ahahahahahahahaha, cough!! cough!. ahh that's better. I'm sorry about that "<br><br>James: "Its not funny, we took up a couple of days to come up with that and your laughing your ass off."<br><br>Jessie: "Its to late to apologize now, you better surrender ,your outnumbered 5 to 1."<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth! that's right"<br><br>Zed: "Ahahahahahahahaha...... sorry.. sorry about that, I was thinking you said that you outnumber me 5 to 1?"<br><br>Jessie: "That's right! what's so funny?"<br><br>Zed: "ohh sorry about that well it goes like this, "Summon Dementors!!" two wraithlike creatures appeared (since he was lv 80+ he summoned 2).<br><br>The temperature suddenly plummeted and the party of James,Jessie, and meowth were shaking while arbok and wheezing vanished in a plume of smoke.<br><br>" we're sorry, we're sorry please call them off " the group begged.<br><br>Zed: "okay, okay, as long as you know what's good for you (the dementors were dismissed.)"<br><br>Zed was about to walk away away when he heard a shout, "WAIT!!!" Zed stoped in his tracks. He then turned around to see what these people want.<br><br>James: "WAIT!!! ....... please wait!."<br><br>Zed: "okay you have my attention."<br><br>James: "YOU!!, you whose aura that screams mystery and those creatures you summoned that SCREAMS!! EVIL!! you who radiates the aura of a leader. Please lead this humble group to greatness." The team begged.<br><br>Jessie: "Yes!!, please lead us poor souls who are unworthy of your presence the way to salvation."<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth! that's right."<br><br>Zed: "well I have been thinking of joining a guild so why not?"<br><br>James: "That's great you're perfect to lead us."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> James invites you to guild Team Rocket<br> Yes/No </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed: "Yes"<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You have joined Team Rocket Guild </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You have been promoted to guild leader! </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>James,Jessie,Meowth: "Yes!!!! "<br> <br><br>James: "By the way what's you're name."<br><br>Zed: My name's Zed and before I forget what does this guild do?.<br><br>James: "Well, we're a group of evil organization built for world domination." James said casually.<br><br>Jessie: "That's right Boss."<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth! that's right."<br><br><br>Zed: " ........................WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ??????." </div>

Chapter 4 The letter R Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Zed logged back to royal road feeling excited. He was fidgeting like a kid on sugar high. Zed was thinking of what to do next, he was pretty high level and should probably joined a guild or make one. Probably gain a city to control considering he has vast fortunes of currency in game to support a city. Zed walked to a random directions while his thoughts we're filled with possibilities. After a few hours of walking zed stumbled upon a couple of players with a pet cat-like creature. Those players halted zed and one of them said: "Halt you!, A player that looks very shady like you must have have lots of rare valuables" the man said. Zed sweatdropped on what the man said to him, zed thought "I'm shady?? , sigh...., I never noticed, it's probably because of my new cloak, I probably looked like some evil villain. though he was right that I have rare valuables though." "No response ehh?, I guess your right James" said the woman "You're right Jessie" said James " Shall we do the usual?" asked James " yes let's " replied Jessie On cue some sort of music intro started playing. | * JESSIE:"Prepare for trouble!"JAMES:"Make it double!"JESSIE:"To protect the world from devastation!"JAMES:"To unite all peoples within our nation!"JESSIE:"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"JAMES:"To extend our reach to the stars above!"JESSIE:"Jessie!"JAMES:"James!"JESSIE:"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"JAMES:"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"MEOWTH:"Meowth! that's right!" | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | End music while showers of confetti were produced on the background. Zed couldn't help contain himself any longer and laughed his ass off, he guffawed, gasped, and spluttered words of ...of laughter. The other group were stunned. "Hey Jessie that guys laughing at our team motto" said James. "Your right James, let's teach him not to laugh at our sacred motto" said Jessie. "That's right!, Meowth!" the cat said now revealed to be meowth. "Let's teach him a lesson" said James. "That's right and make it doubled" replied Jessie. James: "time to show him, we mean business" Jessie: "Yes let's!!, I'll go first go arbok!!" a snakelike creature appeared. James: "Its my turn, go weezing!!" a smoglike ballonish creature. appeared. Meowth:" Don't forget about me, Meowth!" the cat-like creature said. Zed was stunned....... only for a minute then started laughing again. James: " I think he's crazy Jessie" Jessie: " your right James" Meowth: "Meowth! that's right." Zed: "Ahahahahaha!, Ahahahahahahahaha, cough!! cough!. ahh that's better. I'm sorry about that " James: "Its not funny, we took up a couple of days to come up with that and your laughing your ass off." Jessie: "Its to late to apologize now, you better surrender ,your outnumbered 5 to 1." Meowth: "Meowth! that's right" Zed: "Ahahahahahahahaha...... sorry.. sorry about that, I was thinking you said that you outnumber me 5 to 1?" Jessie: "That's right! what's so funny?" Zed: "ohh sorry about that well it goes like this, "Summon Dementors!!" two wraithlike creatures appeared (since he was lv 80+ he summoned 2). The temperature suddenly plummeted and the party of James,Jessie, and meowth were shaking while arbok and wheezing vanished in a plume of smoke. " we're sorry, we're sorry please call them off " the group begged. Zed: "okay, okay, as long as you know what's good for you (the dementors were dismissed.)" Zed was about to walk away away when he heard a shout, "WAIT!!!" Zed stoped in his tracks. He then turned around to see what these people want. James: "WAIT!!! ....... please wait!." Zed: "okay you have my attention." James: "YOU!!, you whose aura that screams mystery and those creatures you summoned that SCREAMS!! EVIL!! you who radiates the aura of a leader. Please lead this humble group to greatness." The team begged. Jessie: "Yes!!, please lead us poor souls who are unworthy of your presence the way to salvation." Meowth: "Meowth! that's right." Zed: "well I have been thinking of joining a guild so why not?" James: "That's great you're perfect to lead us." | * James invites you to guild Team Rocket Yes/No | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Yes" | * You have joined Team Rocket Guild | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * You have been promoted to guild leader! | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | James,Jessie,Meowth: "Yes!!!! " James: "By the way what's you're name." Zed: My name's Zed and before I forget what does this guild do?. James: "Well, we're a group of evil organization built for world domination." James said casually. Jessie: "That's right Boss." Meowth: "Meowth! that's right." Zed: " ........................WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ??????."

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <div style="text-align: center;">!Attention!</div><br><div style="text-align: center;">Due to his new skill Swear, I`m not censoring swearing, so be warned.</div><br><br><br>Like always <span style="font-style: italic;">*thoughts*</span><br><br><br>~sound effects~<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">+++++</div><br><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chapter 07: Preparation</span><br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Now where to start*</span><br><br>Thought Neuron, while looking at the map Brairan gave him, marking all the wealthy households that could be found inside town with a red circle, but he pointed out to Neuron, that he had to train so he marked other houses with a green color.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Ok, now to start with the green ones*</span><br><br>He didn`t even wonder, how he chose those houses, but it was most likely that Brairan had some grudges with the owners.<br><br>Now Neuron stood behind a house using a tree that grew in the yard to hide.<br><br>Standing before him was building complex which gave lodgings for approximately 5 families; it had two stories with the target living in the attic, but he could also live on the moon, because Neuron had no possibilities of going up there.<br><br>So now Neuron was standing before that house and wondering what to do, he actually never had broken in a house, or even stolen something.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Well first I have to gain stealth, it is needed for everything, that the public eye shouldn’t see*</span><br><br>“Hey Kyle you there?”<br><br>“Hmmm yeah”<br><br>“Can you help me out?”<br><br>“Ask, right away”<br><br>“How do I gain the skill stealth?”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*What, why has a archer to use stealth?* </span><br><br>“Well you just have to stalk a person some time and never let him find out, that he`s been followed”<br><br>“Thanks, later”<br><br>“Later”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Ok, now I need to find a pedestrian*</span><br><br>He walked around town, but it was completely devoid of live<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Damn, then I have to find another way*</span><br><br>Thus he went around town, jumping between each shadow to practice, until he saw a person walking out a shady bar.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*There it is my little prey*</span><br><br>He stalked the man, but this was a hard task, because he was nervous and looking around, sometimes Neuron had to lay on the ground, pretending to be garbage. Luckily the Mantle which was made out of scraps had the bonus stealth, without that he would have been spotted right away. Fortunately it actually looked like garbage!<br><br>He followed the guy, until he arrived at a house, took out a lock pick and used it on the door.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Good, now let’s see a thief in action*</span><br><br>Neuron followed him inside and saw him sneaking around, while he positioned himself near a clothes tree. The only thing he saw from that position was a dark hallway, activating the special option of the Hawk eyes he now saw the hall as if the sun was shining from outside through the window, but he couldn`t see the thief anymore.<br><br>Then finally the message came:<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stealth: Beginner Lv1 0%</span><br>It is harder for people to notice you while this skill is active.<br>Stamina consumption is doubled<br>Quick movement and combat cancels the skill.</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>When the thief finally left the house, he took a quick glance at the clothe tree, “what’s that, damn the rich and their taste in fashion” he mumbled while going off, leaving Neuron standing there his heart pounding all the way to his throat.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Whew, luckily he didn`t notice me*</span><br><br>He exited through the now open door, and kept his stealth skill activated, while checking the houses marked with a red circle.<br><br>None of them where an easy target, having a high fence around their yard, and some even had guardsmen stationed in front who would patrol around.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Ok, I`m leaving the guarded houses alone for now*</span><br><br>After the last house he decided, that it was fruitless to try to break in without any preparation, even those houses that didn`t belong to any Nobleman, he couldn`t find a way to break in, so Neuron decided to head back to the archery.<br><br>There he made himself a makeshift bed out of all the clothes and slept till daybreak. After daybreak he started to sew, till he finally finished with those clothes around midday. But something was amiss<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Completed:</span><br>199/200</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>While swearing loudly he searched all the clothes and even the socks, but couldn`t find anything, then he remembered.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Its missing, the dirty underwear is missing!! I don`t want to even touch it, and now I have to patch it! Oh, I’m so gonna enjoy my revenge*</span><br><br>But he was interrupted in his visions of revenge by<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Your satiety is low,<br>Eat something or you will die of hunger</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>At this he pulled out his last barley bread and chewed on it.<br><br>When he finished eating, Neuron got up, and went to Wanton’s shop, there he went in. His shop had a small sales section, but the most part of the room was occupied by a large forge. <br>Behind the forge Neuron could spot two doors.<br><br>“Ah I see your ogling my collection” said Warnton coming over to where Neuron stood, “what do you need from me?”<br><br>“Well I have a favor to ask”<br><br>“Alright, tell me and I’ll see what I can do”<br><br>As Warnton did feel somewhat guilty about his involvement in the training, he wanted to do Neuron a favor.<br><br>“Could you make me some barbed arrow heads?”<br><br>“Well yeah, but do you know how to attach them on the arrows?”<br><br>“No” was the meekly answer<br><br>“Alright, so how many arrows do you need?”<br><br>“About 15, I think, but I can`t pay you right now”<br><br>“That doesn`t matter, their on me”, but some tip would surely be appreciated when you’re not short of the ready anymore.”<br><br>“Thanks, will they be ready?”<br><br>“They should be ready about nightfall”<br><br>“I`m sorry to ask this, but I need one right at the moment”<br><br>“No prob, wait here, I’ll make you one soon enough”<br><br>Warnton went to the smithy, turned up the heat, and put a small iron rod inside, then he asked Neuron “which purpose shall the arrow be for?”<br><br>“Purpose? , ah yeah, it should get stuck in wood, “<br><br>“Alright” was the only reply, when it was heated up enough, Warnton t grabbed it with a huge tong and brought it to the anvil, where he hammered a part of the rod flat, and formed it into a triangular form, he then took out a chisel and brought it near the tip of that triangle and swung his hammer down to cut that part, thus making a gash, he repeated the same process at the other part of the triangle. He then put it back in the forge, and when it was glowing red he took it out again, and cut off some parts of the rod and fastened the part with the tip inside a vice, then Warnton picked up a nail, and hammering on its head, binging it deep inside the cut part of the rod, making a hole. When he was satisfied with its width he loosened the arrowhead, held it again with a tong, this time a small one, then he took an arrow and brought both to the anvil, where he REPLACEed it inside the hole, then hammered down on it, to fasten the iron around the wood of the arrow, after that he placed the arrow tip in a water bucket. <br>“There a well made arrow, when I may say so myself”<br><br>Neuron took it, but didn`t know what to do with it<br><br>Noticing that Neuron was insecure, he shouted identify, and showed the appearing window to him<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Barbed Arrow</span><br>Durability 5/5 Damage 4-6<br>If the arrow is forced out of the target it causes bleeding, and some damage<br>Bleeding: -10Hp/min<br>20 Damage<br></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Can I learn that too, of course I’m gonna pay you back”<br><br>“Yeah with interest” was the playful answer he got<br><br>Warnton then explained, how it was done, when<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> New skill: Identify Beginner Lv1</span><br>Enables you to identify Items<br></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Thanking Warnton many times he left the shop<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Whew, now to make some more arrows.* </span><br><br>Warnton was actually really grateful for the task he had gotten, because he rarely had something to do, and thus he would have made anything free of charge (for Neuron only of course), just so that he had something to do.<br><br>As soon as Neuron was near his edge he began to identify all the clothes he had gotten for his quest, it was enough, to level the skill up once.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Ok now to training*</span><br><br>He took out the barbed arrow, connected with the tip, because it was the only part of the arrow that could support his weight, and then shot it towards the ceiling, aiming at a beam, of which he had confidence, that it could hold his weight; it struck the wood with a low thunk near the wall.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*that was rather loud*</span><br><br>After he put the bow away he materialized the Mana thread, grabbed it with both hands and put his feet against the wall trying to climb, when he was halfway up, the thread snapped<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Uh oh*</span><br><br>And Neuron then got to know the ground better than he ever wanted to.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You have fallen from low altitude: -20hp </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Groaning he looked at the ceiling and saw that the arrow was firmly stuck in it<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Damn, I have to go to Warnton again and ask him, if he has finished some of the arrows*</span><br><br>When he came back with another arrow, the instructor was standing right under the arrow examining it.<br><br>“Was that your doing?” he asked Neuron when he noticed him<br><br>“Well yeah, sorry”<br><br>At that exclamation Brairan began to have a fierce look in his eyes<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Well shit, I should have done that outside, now I`m screwed*</span><br><br>Before Brairan could say a word Neuron dashed out a lot of excuses, how he is sorry, didn`t think it trough, and that he would give him compensation, when he actually gets his hands on money.<br><br>But the only reaction he received was laughter.<br><br>“Ha?” was the only reaction Neuron could make, because he thought, that if this archery was his property he would be furious, enough to kick the one out who did it. But what he didn`t knew was, that in another part of the archery’s ceiling where a bunch of holes, mainly because Brairan was bored, because he had nothing to do. Well his job was tending to players needs, and teaching them how to handle bows, but because the Town was discovered quite recently, he never had something to do, it was the same for Warnton, his shop selling weapons and the likes. <br><br>Before Brairan became the archery instructor, he actually had gotten himself a name outside this city, but now his times of glory where over, he settled down in this town called Gaber, doing something he was good at. But soon boredom struck and the he laid on the ground tossing darts in the air, and making bets with Warnton when it would fall down, while doing this and other stupid things their time flew by till Neuron came into their life, and finally they weren`t bored anymore, it being like that they would have forgiven Neuron for many things.<br><br>“It’s alright, it’s alright, I don’t mind, but I wonder why you did that”<br><br>“Well, it’s for training, so I can climb houses, and enter through the windows”<br><br>“Go ahead, show me”<br><br>Neuron wondered why he was so understanding, but the only thing he could do is repeat the process, only this time he made two threads and so he climbed the wall, reaching the arrow he shot previously and trying to pull it out. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Climbing: Beginner1</span><br>Less stamina is used to climb<br>Falling will hurt less</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> “I`m sorry but its stuck, if I remove it, there`s going to be a hole left”<br><br>“Do it, “came the reply, “and while you’re at it, remove the other arrow too”<br><br>“What, that’s like cutting the branch on where I`m sitting”<br><br>“Do it, and then try to land on your feet” he said, while watching closely<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*It’s like a show for him, I bet if he had some Popcorn, he would have taken it out by now*</span><br><br>And really, Brairan took out some dried meat and began chewing<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Are you kidding me!?* </span><br><br>Neuron carefully removed the first arrow and then pondered, how he should remove the second<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Ok, nothing goes*</span><br><br>With that he grabbed the arrow and moved it from one side to another widening the hole, till he heard a crunch, and met the floor again.<br><br>“Tss, you should always land on your feet”<br><br>Although his voice sounded disappointed, Brairan`s eyes had a glint in them showing, that he enjoyed the show of Neuron getting up swearing and massaging his behind.<br><br>“Do that again, till you are able to land on your feet”<br><br>“Again!?”<br><br>“Yes”<br><br>Neuron was reluctant, but had to do it nonetheless, because he feared the possible revenge when the training is going to be resumed.<br><br>He repeated the process many times, but still couldn`t land on his feet, if this weren`t a game, his back would have looked like one giant bruise, but while climbing he learned something new.<br>One time, he couldn`t lift up his arms due to fatigue, but he was already midway up, so Neuron tried to pull himself up through willpower, well basically he imagined the mana thread being rolled up inside himself, and so climbing up the wall, like that he had both of his hands free. Thus being able to control his posture, managing to land on his feet for the first time. He repeated that action, till Neuron had confidence that he could always land on his feet.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">End chapter 07</div><br><br><br>Before you guys begin pestering me how the window for those clothes he upgraded looks like^^<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Patched Shirt</span><br>Defense: 1 Durability: 5/5<br><br>This shirt was patched up by an inexperienced tailor with different colors<br>The patches are all over the place adding a little bit to Defense, but reducing durability<br><br>No one in their right mind would wear this, because it looks like a fool gown<br></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>I hope you like it :D </div>

!Attention! Due to his new skill Swear, I`m not censoring swearing, so be warned. Like always *thoughts* ~sound effects~ +++++ Chapter 07: Preparation *Now where to start* Thought Neuron, while looking at the map Brairan gave him, marking all the wealthy households that could be found inside town with a red circle, but he pointed out to Neuron, that he had to train so he marked other houses with a green color. *Ok, now to start with the green ones* He didn`t even wonder, how he chose those houses, but it was most likely that Brairan had some grudges with the owners. Now Neuron stood behind a house using a tree that grew in the yard to hide. Standing before him was building complex which gave lodgings for approximately 5 families; it had two stories with the target living in the attic, but he could also live on the moon, because Neuron had no possibilities of going up there. So now Neuron was standing before that house and wondering what to do, he actually never had broken in a house, or even stolen something. *Well first I have to gain stealth, it is needed for everything, that the public eye shouldn’t see* “Hey Kyle you there?” “Hmmm yeah” “Can you help me out?” “Ask, right away” “How do I gain the skill stealth?” *What, why has a archer to use stealth?* “Well you just have to stalk a person some time and never let him find out, that he`s been followed” “Thanks, later” “Later” *Ok, now I need to find a pedestrian* He walked around town, but it was completely devoid of live *Damn, then I have to find another way* Thus he went around town, jumping between each shadow to practice, until he saw a person walking out a shady bar. *There it is my little prey* He stalked the man, but this was a hard task, because he was nervous and looking around, sometimes Neuron had to lay on the ground, pretending to be garbage. Luckily the Mantle which was made out of scraps had the bonus stealth, without that he would have been spotted right away. Fortunately it actually looked like garbage! He followed the guy, until he arrived at a house, took out a lock pick and used it on the door. *Good, now let’s see a thief in action* Neuron followed him inside and saw him sneaking around, while he positioned himself near a clothes tree. The only thing he saw from that position was a dark hallway, activating the special option of the Hawk eyes he now saw the hall as if the sun was shining from outside through the window, but he couldn`t see the thief anymore. Then finally the message came: | * Stealth: Beginner Lv1 0%It is harder for people to notice you while this skill is active.Stamina consumption is doubledQuick movement and combat cancels the skill. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | When the thief finally left the house, he took a quick glance at the clothe tree, “what’s that, damn the rich and their taste in fashion” he mumbled while going off, leaving Neuron standing there his heart pounding all the way to his throat. *Whew, luckily he didn`t notice me* He exited through the now open door, and kept his stealth skill activated, while checking the houses marked with a red circle. None of them where an easy target, having a high fence around their yard, and some even had guardsmen stationed in front who would patrol around. *Ok, I`m leaving the guarded houses alone for now* After the last house he decided, that it was fruitless to try to break in without any preparation, even those houses that didn`t belong to any Nobleman, he couldn`t find a way to break in, so Neuron decided to head back to the archery. There he made himself a makeshift bed out of all the clothes and slept till daybreak. After daybreak he started to sew, till he finally finished with those clothes around midday. But something was amiss | * Completed:199/200 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | While swearing loudly he searched all the clothes and even the socks, but couldn`t find anything, then he remembered. *Its missing, the dirty underwear is missing!! I don`t want to even touch it, and now I have to patch it! Oh, I’m so gonna enjoy my revenge* But he was interrupted in his visions of revenge by | * Your satiety is low,Eat something or you will die of hunger | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | At this he pulled out his last barley bread and chewed on it. When he finished eating, Neuron got up, and went to Wanton’s shop, there he went in. His shop had a small sales section, but the most part of the room was occupied by a large forge. Behind the forge Neuron could spot two doors. “Ah I see your ogling my collection” said Warnton coming over to where Neuron stood, “what do you need from me?” “Well I have a favor to ask” “Alright, tell me and I’ll see what I can do” As Warnton did feel somewhat guilty about his involvement in the training, he wanted to do Neuron a favor. “Could you make me some barbed arrow heads?” “Well yeah, but do you know how to attach them on the arrows?” “No” was the meekly answer “Alright, so how many arrows do you need?” “About 15, I think, but I can`t pay you right now” “That doesn`t matter, their on me”, but some tip would surely be appreciated when you’re not short of the ready anymore.” “Thanks, will they be ready?” “They should be ready about nightfall” “I`m sorry to ask this, but I need one right at the moment” “No prob, wait here, I’ll make you one soon enough” Warnton went to the smithy, turned up the heat, and put a small iron rod inside, then he asked Neuron “which purpose shall the arrow be for?” “Purpose? , ah yeah, it should get stuck in wood, “ “Alright” was the only reply, when it was heated up enough, Warnton t grabbed it with a huge tong and brought it to the anvil, where he hammered a part of the rod flat, and formed it into a triangular form, he then took out a chisel and brought it near the tip of that triangle and swung his hammer down to cut that part, thus making a gash, he repeated the same process at the other part of the triangle. He then put it back in the forge, and when it was glowing red he took it out again, and cut off some parts of the rod and fastened the part with the tip inside a vice, then Warnton picked up a nail, and hammering on its head, binging it deep inside the cut part of the rod, making a hole. When he was satisfied with its width he loosened the arrowhead, held it again with a tong, this time a small one, then he took an arrow and brought both to the anvil, where he REPLACEed it inside the hole, then hammered down on it, to fasten the iron around the wood of the arrow, after that he placed the arrow tip in a water bucket. “There a well made arrow, when I may say so myself” Neuron took it, but didn`t know what to do with it Noticing that Neuron was insecure, he shouted identify, and showed the appearing window to him | * Barbed ArrowDurability 5/5 Damage 4-6If the arrow is forced out of the target it causes bleeding, and some damageBleeding: -10Hp/min20 Damage | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Can I learn that too, of course I’m gonna pay you back” “Yeah with interest” was the playful answer he got Warnton then explained, how it was done, when | * New skill: Identify Beginner Lv1Enables you to identify Items | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Thanking Warnton many times he left the shop *Whew, now to make some more arrows.* Warnton was actually really grateful for the task he had gotten, because he rarely had something to do, and thus he would have made anything free of charge (for Neuron only of course), just so that he had something to do. As soon as Neuron was near his edge he began to identify all the clothes he had gotten for his quest, it was enough, to level the skill up once. *Ok now to training* He took out the barbed arrow, connected with the tip, because it was the only part of the arrow that could support his weight, and then shot it towards the ceiling, aiming at a beam, of which he had confidence, that it could hold his weight; it struck the wood with a low thunk near the wall. *that was rather loud* After he put the bow away he materialized the Mana thread, grabbed it with both hands and put his feet against the wall trying to climb, when he was halfway up, the thread snapped *Uh oh* And Neuron then got to know the ground better than he ever wanted to. | * You have fallen from low altitude: -20hp | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Groaning he looked at the ceiling and saw that the arrow was firmly stuck in it *Damn, I have to go to Warnton again and ask him, if he has finished some of the arrows* When he came back with another arrow, the instructor was standing right under the arrow examining it. “Was that your doing?” he asked Neuron when he noticed him “Well yeah, sorry” At that exclamation Brairan began to have a fierce look in his eyes *Well shit, I should have done that outside, now I`m screwed* Before Brairan could say a word Neuron dashed out a lot of excuses, how he is sorry, didn`t think it trough, and that he would give him compensation, when he actually gets his hands on money. But the only reaction he received was laughter. “Ha?” was the only reaction Neuron could make, because he thought, that if this archery was his property he would be furious, enough to kick the one out who did it. But what he didn`t knew was, that in another part of the archery’s ceiling where a bunch of holes, mainly because Brairan was bored, because he had nothing to do. Well his job was tending to players needs, and teaching them how to handle bows, but because the Town was discovered quite recently, he never had something to do, it was the same for Warnton, his shop selling weapons and the likes. Before Brairan became the archery instructor, he actually had gotten himself a name outside this city, but now his times of glory where over, he settled down in this town called Gaber, doing something he was good at. But soon boredom struck and the he laid on the ground tossing darts in the air, and making bets with Warnton when it would fall down, while doing this and other stupid things their time flew by till Neuron came into their life, and finally they weren`t bored anymore, it being like that they would have forgiven Neuron for many things. “It’s alright, it’s alright, I don’t mind, but I wonder why you did that” “Well, it’s for training, so I can climb houses, and enter through the windows” “Go ahead, show me” Neuron wondered why he was so understanding, but the only thing he could do is repeat the process, only this time he made two threads and so he climbed the wall, reaching the arrow he shot previously and trying to pull it out. | * Climbing: Beginner1Less stamina is used to climbFalling will hurt less | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “I`m sorry but its stuck, if I remove it, there`s going to be a hole left” “Do it, “came the reply, “and while you’re at it, remove the other arrow too” “What, that’s like cutting the branch on where I`m sitting” “Do it, and then try to land on your feet” he said, while watching closely *It’s like a show for him, I bet if he had some Popcorn, he would have taken it out by now* And really, Brairan took out some dried meat and began chewing *Are you kidding me!?* Neuron carefully removed the first arrow and then pondered, how he should remove the second *Ok, nothing goes* With that he grabbed the arrow and moved it from one side to another widening the hole, till he heard a crunch, and met the floor again. “Tss, you should always land on your feet” Although his voice sounded disappointed, Brairan`s eyes had a glint in them showing, that he enjoyed the show of Neuron getting up swearing and massaging his behind. “Do that again, till you are able to land on your feet” “Again!?” “Yes” Neuron was reluctant, but had to do it nonetheless, because he feared the possible revenge when the training is going to be resumed. He repeated the process many times, but still couldn`t land on his feet, if this weren`t a game, his back would have looked like one giant bruise, but while climbing he learned something new. One time, he couldn`t lift up his arms due to fatigue, but he was already midway up, so Neuron tried to pull himself up through willpower, well basically he imagined the mana thread being rolled up inside himself, and so climbing up the wall, like that he had both of his hands free. Thus being able to control his posture, managing to land on his feet for the first time. He repeated that action, till Neuron had confidence that he could always land on his feet. End chapter 07 Before you guys begin pestering me how the window for those clothes he upgraded looks like^^ | * Patched ShirtDefense: 1 Durability: 5/5This shirt was patched up by an inexperienced tailor with different colorsThe patches are all over the place adding a little bit to Defense, but reducing durabilityNo one in their right mind would wear this, because it looks like a fool gown | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | I hope you like it :D

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> The Plains Rider - Prologue<br> <br>The sound of tires squealing followed by the feeling of excruciating pain wakes Willow from her slumber. Taking a minute to collect herself she realizes she is on a plane bound for Korea. It has been almost a year and a half since the accident leaving her with a broken spirit and tattered body. Living on the reservation for most of her life this is the first time she has left the country much less the comfort of her home. Being only 18 she was heading to take part in a new medical program sponsored by one of Korea’s top medical companies. The accident had left her right hand partially paralyzed and she needed a cane to walk. She had been receiving treatment at a local hospital off the reservation when a lady around her 30s approached her. The lady had offered the chance to take part in a new experimental program to help people recover from accidents that left them with disabilities. The program was supposed to use Capsules supplied by the Unicorn Corporation and the use of Royal Road was to help cope with the trauma of losing limbs or becoming disabled. She had lived for all of her life on the reservation with her grandfather Benjamin Brighthoof. They lived together on a small ranch with five horses, a few chickens and pigs, and a goat named Silva. Most of her days were spent tending the animals, checking the traps or fishing and hunting with her grandfather. She had sold all of the horses and the grazing pastures to help pay for the medical bills leaving her with only the main house. She had lost her Grandfather and most of her home.<br><br>Looking out the window it was just before dawn and the horizon was starting to shine as the sun peeked out from beyond. She had been flying for almost 12 hours now reaching to her side to get her crutch. It was a metallic crutch with an arm brace she had to use in order to walk. Picking it up and slowly turning to the aisle she noticed a young boy about the age of 7 staring at her as she tried to get up. Not paying much attention to him she noticed he was reading a book on archery. Finally positioning herself and getting up she made way to the restroom in the middle of the plane. Washing her face she looks into the mirror, her long straight black hair hanging down to her waist covering most of her tan face. Standing there, staring into the mirror, her dark brown eyes look as if the go on forever showing a solemn and deep seeded sadness. Using the palm of her right hand, she struggles to open the door, unable to use her fingers to grip the latch it takes her a few minute to get out of the restroom. Once returns to her seat she hears the boy and his mother talking about attending an archery school once he returns and how when he gets older how he will win a gold medal in the Olympics. Listening to the boy she is reminded how she and her grandfather would go hunting in the mountains. They used to hunt for many things like deer, pheasant, and wild turkeys. Her grandfather had taught her a lot on how to survive off the land from gathering herb for medicine, skinning and gutting game, fishing, and how to smoke meats and fish to preserve them for the winter. Clutching her right hand she is reminded how she can’t do these things anymore. Her eyes start to get misty, her grandfather isn’t here anymore and she can’t grip with her right hand. Things that had been everyday occurrences like riding horses or shooting a bow had become a distant memory to her. *Bing* “Please fasten your seat belt the airplane will be landing shortly”<br><br>After landing she had to get her luggage and go through customs which took a considerable amount of time. She was supposed to wait near the entrance for someone to pick her up. As she struggled towards the entrance dragging her suitcase she noticed a man in his 20s wearing white scrubs holding a sign with her name on it. Reaching into her bag she pulls out her passport as she struggles with her luggage. Showing her passport to the man he introduces himself. “I’m Park Kwan I work at the hospital where you will be staying while you’re here”. (Hmm she is about 160cm tall, that’s some build, it is hard to think she is disabled) Kwan thinks to himself. Upon a further appraisal he notices her blue jeans accenting her sensual curves and thick thighs and ample rear. Willow nods to Kwan as he grabs her suitcase and they proceeds to leave. While in the car Kwan sneaks peeks in the rear view mirror watching Willow as she gazes out the window. “From what I hear you will be with us for a while.” “There are plenty of things to do close to the hospital.” Kwan state as he gazes back to see if there is a reaction from Willow. Turning her head slightly avoiding eye contact Willow nods to Kwan. Kwan continues to try to make conversation as Willow pays little attention to him. Kwan thinks to himself (Wow that is some wall she has built for herself). They soon arrive at the hospital where she was to stay in a dorm that rests on the edge of the hospital grounds. Other people going through long term physical therapy also reside there. Kwan shows her to her room and places her luggage in the room for her. “Dr. Kim should be around shortly to see you, Take your time to unpack and rest a bit.”, Kwan says with a smile as he waves goodbye before he turns and leaves. She takes look around the room it has a twin bed, a desk beside it a small bookshelf, and in the corner a Capsule. She had seen a capsule before in the information she was given by the lady when offered her the chance to be in the program.<br>After about 30 minutes had past Willow heard a knock on the door. Opening the door she is greeted by a woman in her late 20s wearing a white lab coat over a modest blouse and knee length skirt. “Hello I’m Kim Jin Ae, I’ll be your primary doctor while you’re here. During your stay you will be required attend school since you haven’t finished your schooling, as well as go through physical therapy and counseling.There is also the mandatory use of the capsule where you will need to login to Royal Road.” Nodding in agreement Willow gives here consent. “While you play Royal Road you are free to do whatever you like. We however will be monitoring your gameplay and will from time to time give you activities or objectives you should try to complete with the best of your ability. For the time being since you just arrived today you have free time to do what you like. I would suggest you take the time to go ahead and log into Royal Road setup your account and look around a bit.” Dr. Kim then hands her an Id with her picture and a small golden square about 1 inch by 1 inch at the bottom of it. “You will need this to get your meals, You can use it at the vending machines as well, it also is used to unlock your door.” “Since today is Friday you will be starting school Monday, and since it is almost lunch time so you should head to the cafeteria.” “If you need anything just ask one of the nurses or if you want to talk you can always come see me anytime, as long as I’m not busy I will do the my best to help you.” Ok Willow nods again and with a low barely audible voice “Thank you.”<br><br>Taking some time to go to the cafeteria, Willow grabbed some lunch. While she over hears people talking. “I finally unlocked my advanced class. It has taken me forever to get it done; I suck at leveling”, a male off about 25 years of age says. “Well you are doing better than me. I choose a production class, it’s murder just staying alive and not starving to death.” the female next to him exclaims. “Well at least you started in Morata, thanks to Weed, it not hard to start as a production class there.” Thinking to herself (what are they talking about), She hasn’t played many video games much less a VRMMORPG. She finishes her lunch while listen to others talking about Royal Road and various thing they have been doing in it. Taking her time she finishes her meal and heads to her room her with thoughts of Royal Road and wondering what it is like.<br><br>She had finished unpacking already before she left for lunch. Looking around her room once again, she notices the papers that Dr. Kim left for her to look through on the desk. Looking at the paperwork, it was standard admission paperwork and a schedule for her day to day activities. Apparently she had a lot of free time after school and therapy. With nothing else to do, Willow decides to log into Royal Road. She had seen news about it a few times on the tv and in magazines and with the chatter from the cafeteria her interests were at its peak. She wasn’t much into video games so this would be her first time playing a VRMMORPG. She had read the paper work and knew how to use the capsule and a general idea on what she needed to do. Getting into the capsule she is greeted with;<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road<br>Yes | No</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> </div>

The Plains Rider - Prologue The sound of tires squealing followed by the feeling of excruciating pain wakes Willow from her slumber. Taking a minute to collect herself she realizes she is on a plane bound for Korea. It has been almost a year and a half since the accident leaving her with a broken spirit and tattered body. Living on the reservation for most of her life this is the first time she has left the country much less the comfort of her home. Being only 18 she was heading to take part in a new medical program sponsored by one of Korea’s top medical companies. The accident had left her right hand partially paralyzed and she needed a cane to walk. She had been receiving treatment at a local hospital off the reservation when a lady around her 30s approached her. The lady had offered the chance to take part in a new experimental program to help people recover from accidents that left them with disabilities. The program was supposed to use Capsules supplied by the Unicorn Corporation and the use of Royal Road was to help cope with the trauma of losing limbs or becoming disabled. She had lived for all of her life on the reservation with her grandfather Benjamin Brighthoof. They lived together on a small ranch with five horses, a few chickens and pigs, and a goat named Silva. Most of her days were spent tending the animals, checking the traps or fishing and hunting with her grandfather. She had sold all of the horses and the grazing pastures to help pay for the medical bills leaving her with only the main house. She had lost her Grandfather and most of her home. Looking out the window it was just before dawn and the horizon was starting to shine as the sun peeked out from beyond. She had been flying for almost 12 hours now reaching to her side to get her crutch. It was a metallic crutch with an arm brace she had to use in order to walk. Picking it up and slowly turning to the aisle she noticed a young boy about the age of 7 staring at her as she tried to get up. Not paying much attention to him she noticed he was reading a book on archery. Finally positioning herself and getting up she made way to the restroom in the middle of the plane. Washing her face she looks into the mirror, her long straight black hair hanging down to her waist covering most of her tan face. Standing there, staring into the mirror, her dark brown eyes look as if the go on forever showing a solemn and deep seeded sadness. Using the palm of her right hand, she struggles to open the door, unable to use her fingers to grip the latch it takes her a few minute to get out of the restroom. Once returns to her seat she hears the boy and his mother talking about attending an archery school once he returns and how when he gets older how he will win a gold medal in the Olympics. Listening to the boy she is reminded how she and her grandfather would go hunting in the mountains. They used to hunt for many things like deer, pheasant, and wild turkeys. Her grandfather had taught her a lot on how to survive off the land from gathering herb for medicine, skinning and gutting game, fishing, and how to smoke meats and fish to preserve them for the winter. Clutching her right hand she is reminded how she can’t do these things anymore. Her eyes start to get misty, her grandfather isn’t here anymore and she can’t grip with her right hand. Things that had been everyday occurrences like riding horses or shooting a bow had become a distant memory to her. *Bing* “Please fasten your seat belt the airplane will be landing shortly” After landing she had to get her luggage and go through customs which took a considerable amount of time. She was supposed to wait near the entrance for someone to pick her up. As she struggled towards the entrance dragging her suitcase she noticed a man in his 20s wearing white scrubs holding a sign with her name on it. Reaching into her bag she pulls out her passport as she struggles with her luggage. Showing her passport to the man he introduces himself. “I’m Park Kwan I work at the hospital where you will be staying while you’re here”. (Hmm she is about 160cm tall, that’s some build, it is hard to think she is disabled) Kwan thinks to himself. Upon a further appraisal he notices her blue jeans accenting her sensual curves and thick thighs and ample rear. Willow nods to Kwan as he grabs her suitcase and they proceeds to leave. While in the car Kwan sneaks peeks in the rear view mirror watching Willow as she gazes out the window. “From what I hear you will be with us for a while.” “There are plenty of things to do close to the hospital.” Kwan state as he gazes back to see if there is a reaction from Willow. Turning her head slightly avoiding eye contact Willow nods to Kwan. Kwan continues to try to make conversation as Willow pays little attention to him. Kwan thinks to himself (Wow that is some wall she has built for herself). They soon arrive at the hospital where she was to stay in a dorm that rests on the edge of the hospital grounds. Other people going through long term physical therapy also reside there. Kwan shows her to her room and places her luggage in the room for her. “Dr. Kim should be around shortly to see you, Take your time to unpack and rest a bit.”, Kwan says with a smile as he waves goodbye before he turns and leaves. She takes look around the room it has a twin bed, a desk beside it a small bookshelf, and in the corner a Capsule. She had seen a capsule before in the information she was given by the lady when offered her the chance to be in the program. After about 30 minutes had past Willow heard a knock on the door. Opening the door she is greeted by a woman in her late 20s wearing a white lab coat over a modest blouse and knee length skirt. “Hello I’m Kim Jin Ae, I’ll be your primary doctor while you’re here. During your stay you will be required attend school since you haven’t finished your schooling, as well as go through physical therapy and counseling.There is also the mandatory use of the capsule where you will need to login to Royal Road.” Nodding in agreement Willow gives here consent. “While you play Royal Road you are free to do whatever you like. We however will be monitoring your gameplay and will from time to time give you activities or objectives you should try to complete with the best of your ability. For the time being since you just arrived today you have free time to do what you like. I would suggest you take the time to go ahead and log into Royal Road setup your account and look around a bit.” Dr. Kim then hands her an Id with her picture and a small golden square about 1 inch by 1 inch at the bottom of it. “You will need this to get your meals, You can use it at the vending machines as well, it also is used to unlock your door.” “Since today is Friday you will be starting school Monday, and since it is almost lunch time so you should head to the cafeteria.” “If you need anything just ask one of the nurses or if you want to talk you can always come see me anytime, as long as I’m not busy I will do the my best to help you.” Ok Willow nods again and with a low barely audible voice “Thank you.” Taking some time to go to the cafeteria, Willow grabbed some lunch. While she over hears people talking. “I finally unlocked my advanced class. It has taken me forever to get it done; I suck at leveling”, a male off about 25 years of age says. “Well you are doing better than me. I choose a production class, it’s murder just staying alive and not starving to death.” the female next to him exclaims. “Well at least you started in Morata, thanks to Weed, it not hard to start as a production class there.” Thinking to herself (what are they talking about), She hasn’t played many video games much less a VRMMORPG. She finishes her lunch while listen to others talking about Royal Road and various thing they have been doing in it. Taking her time she finishes her meal and heads to her room her with thoughts of Royal Road and wondering what it is like. She had finished unpacking already before she left for lunch. Looking around her room once again, she notices the papers that Dr. Kim left for her to look through on the desk. Looking at the paperwork, it was standard admission paperwork and a schedule for her day to day activities. Apparently she had a lot of free time after school and therapy. With nothing else to do, Willow decides to log into Royal Road. She had seen news about it a few times on the tv and in magazines and with the chatter from the cafeteria her interests were at its peak. She wasn’t much into video games so this would be her first time playing a VRMMORPG. She had read the paper work and knew how to use the capsule and a general idea on what she needed to do. Getting into the capsule she is greeted with; | Connect to Royal RoadYes | No | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Necromancer<br>A Royal Road Fan Fiction<br>By: Halosty<br>Chapter 29<br><br> Quietus finally went to turn in the quest he had come to Twinsburg Heights for. He went to the morgue to see Alva.<br><br> “I’m done.”<br><br> Alva turned to look at him. “You certainly are. I’ve already heard news of how all the ghosts are gone from the Moaning Mines. Well, I guess they’re just “the mines” now.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have completed a quest!<br><br>Level up!<br>Level up!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Two levels, not too bad for a quest where he also learned four new spells.<br><br> “Can you direct me to more people who can teach me?”<br><br> “Well, most things you can learn on your own now. There are some people around who can teach you some more things, but you’ll have to find them on your own. They’re very secretive, most of the time.”<br><br> “Well, thank you for teaching me.” Quietus turned to leave<br><br> “You’re welcome. Say… before you go, I noticed you’re using that dagger still.”<br><br> “Of course, it’s a good dagger.”<br><br> “No doubt… do you know its origin?”<br><br> Quietus thought about it for a minute. “I heard it belonged to the apprentice of a powerful necromancer. Not much else.”<br><br> “What do you know about necromancers?”<br><br> “They make zombies?”<br><br> Alva laughed at his response. “Well, you’re not entirely wrong. However, if that were true, even you would be a necromancer. Actually, Necromancers study magic dealing with death. This involves things like creating undead, the specialty of Blood Necromancers. Blood Necromancers also learn to use magic to increase the strength of their undead. Then, there are Spirit Necromancers, who specialize in ghosts. They often create undead to use as vessels for spirits they control, but are not as specialized in that as Blood Necromancers.. A Mind Necromancer specializes in dark magic and curses, although nothing prevents them from being proficient at the creation of undead. As a warlock, you are not too different from a necromancer, although they are more likely to employ a staff to bolster their magical power than a dagger. In fact, Necromancers can come from any type of magical background.”<br><br> “So, was the necromancer who had this dagger a warlock?”<br><br> “No, actually. The dagger was meant to be used for sacrifices. Although it generally grows stronger in terms of physical use, it can be attuned to increase magical power instead.”<br><br> “Interesting. Who would know how to do such a thing?”<br><br> “The necromancers who live on the Plains of Despair may know. Some of them have left the Plains of Despair, as well, but I do not know where they have gone.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a quest!<br><br>Attune the Sacrificial Dagger.<br><br>Seek out the necromancers who lived on the Plains of Despair to teach you how to attune the Sacrificial Dagger of the Apprentice. The Plains of Despair are full of dangerous monsters, and may contain undead remaining behind after the defeat of Bar-Khan.<br><br>Difficulty: B</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“I’ll seek them out.” It would still be quite some levels before he could do a B ranked quest. However, it would give him something to work towards in the future.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Quest accepted.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> “I wish you well, Quietus.”<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> During the next few weeks, Mortimer was constantly busy. Besides training with Master Valrao and playing Royal Road, he also studied for, and took, his finals. He ended up in a very odd sleep schedule during this time. This was because of what was going on in Royal Road.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> In Royal Road, Quietus spent a lot of time working on his level and skills. He had no immediate quest to work towards. What really caused his sleep schedule to go off of what was normal was Abaddon.<br><br> Quietus hadn’t forgiven him for killing his cousin, and Ruby. Maratis too, technically, but that was somewhat of an afterthought in the not forgiving. Abaddon was no longer marked as a murderer after being killed. To Quietus, this meant that he had to go around in disguise more.<br><br> Quietus killed Abaddon in various ways. He tried poison, but it was really hard to tell exactly how effective it was. All of his data was skewed by the bleeding damage. He sometimes killed him with Backstab, at least if he was in a hurry. After a few deaths, Abaddon started logging in at odd times, and less frequently. This is what caused Quietus to keep a strange sleep schedule. He would sleep whenever it was convenient between times when Abaddon could log on. Unfortunately for Abaddon, he was never able to log on while Quietus was in finals, not that he could have known they were happening.<br> After about a week in the real world, Quietus started seeing a lot of people with red birds on their armor or clothes. At first, Quietus thought nothing of it. Of course, this lasted only a few minutes, as the warrior and archer he saw attacked him. He wasn’t ready for something like that, and was killed. This happened shortly after he had killed Abaddon. This meant that he could still log on before him. He also learned something important. He could sense the location of Abaddon’s body when it was Soul Bound. Visually, it was like a pale line connecting the two of them.<br><br> This ability allowed Quietus to find where the two people with the red bird had taken Abaddon’s body. With the element of surprise on Quietus’ side, the archer died quickly. The warrior didn’t notice before he too was inflicted with a heavy dose of pain, caused by a dagger in his back. He survived this, but Quietus discovered that armor doesn’t do much to prevent dislocated shoulders, at least if performed properly.<br><br> Quietus clashed quite a lot with these people who had red birds. He now spent all his time sneaking about. Sometimes, he got the drop on the enemy and took them out. Once or twice he fell into a trap, attacking someone who was seemingly alone but being attacked by others. Sometimes he misjudged the strength of his enemies. However, he still had a pretty good record of killing versus dying. He also had the advantage of coming back to life more quickly… and not having a predictable respawn location. He was fortunate to drop no items he considered important. Well, one time he had lost some good boots he picked up, but he got those back the next day. Plus interest.<br><br> After a while, though, Quietus was starting to get tired of these people. They had started traveling in larger and larger groups, so he mostly had to avoid them now. Quietus had learned something important, though, because he was now a much better judge of players levels. It basically ended up with shinier equipment equalled higher level. This wasn’t the limit of his skills there, but that was the best summary.<br><br> Then, about a week into summer, Angelo messaged Quietus.<br><br> “I finished putting together the guild! I found a lot of people who wanted to join. You need to join too.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a guild invitation.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have joined The Children of Light!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Angelo continued talking about the guild. “I got the idea for the guild after we were killed by that stupid wizard. We’re an anti-pk guild. We only kill those who have murderer’s marks. Well, unless they have histories of being a player killer. Speaking of which, we’re at war with a guild called The Crimson Raven. So if you see anyone with a red bird on their uniform, leave a message in the guild chat. Maybe some people will be nearby to help take them out.”<br><br> Quietus almost wanted to quit the guild immediately. Not that he had anything against killing players. He obviously had nothing against killing pkers either. It was just that he <del>completely</del> <span style="font-style: italic;">technically</span> was a player killer. It had mostly been for quests though, so he didn’t feel bad about killing people he didn’t know for unknown reasons. Also, a couple people that annoyed him.<br><br> He couldn’t quit the guild though. Not without making his cousin upset. Instead, he decided he would just stay on the fringe. Also, although there wasn’t anything technically wrong with being a warlock, he would just pretend he was a rogue. It seemed simpler. Besides, he could do most of the stuff they did anyway. Not that he planned to group with members of the guild very often.<br><br> “Oh, one more thing. We’ve discovered they have a base. It’s nothing too impressive, but we’re planning to attack it next week. I’d appreciate you coming to that, although you don’t have to.”<br><br> Quietus would definitely be there. Although, he planned to check it out first. Maybe he could help weaken their defenses before the real battles would start.<br><br>End Chapter 29<br><br>[Shameless plug]<br>Note: Hey, if you’re interested in fantasy novels, I suggest checking out this one written by someone I know :) [/Shameless plug]<br><br>Previous Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1332&amp;p=7845#p7845"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1332&amp;p=7845#p7845&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt;<br>Next Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1356"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1356&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt; </div>

Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 29 Quietus finally went to turn in the quest he had come to Twinsburg Heights for. He went to the morgue to see Alva. “I’m done.” Alva turned to look at him. “You certainly are. I’ve already heard news of how all the ghosts are gone from the Moaning Mines. Well, I guess they’re just “the mines” now.” | You have completed a quest!Level up!Level up! | | --- | Two levels, not too bad for a quest where he also learned four new spells. “Can you direct me to more people who can teach me?” “Well, most things you can learn on your own now. There are some people around who can teach you some more things, but you’ll have to find them on your own. They’re very secretive, most of the time.” “Well, thank you for teaching me.” Quietus turned to leave “You’re welcome. Say… before you go, I noticed you’re using that dagger still.” “Of course, it’s a good dagger.” “No doubt… do you know its origin?” Quietus thought about it for a minute. “I heard it belonged to the apprentice of a powerful necromancer. Not much else.” “What do you know about necromancers?” “They make zombies?” Alva laughed at his response. “Well, you’re not entirely wrong. However, if that were true, even you would be a necromancer. Actually, Necromancers study magic dealing with death. This involves things like creating undead, the specialty of Blood Necromancers. Blood Necromancers also learn to use magic to increase the strength of their undead. Then, there are Spirit Necromancers, who specialize in ghosts. They often create undead to use as vessels for spirits they control, but are not as specialized in that as Blood Necromancers.. A Mind Necromancer specializes in dark magic and curses, although nothing prevents them from being proficient at the creation of undead. As a warlock, you are not too different from a necromancer, although they are more likely to employ a staff to bolster their magical power than a dagger. In fact, Necromancers can come from any type of magical background.” “So, was the necromancer who had this dagger a warlock?” “No, actually. The dagger was meant to be used for sacrifices. Although it generally grows stronger in terms of physical use, it can be attuned to increase magical power instead.” “Interesting. Who would know how to do such a thing?” “The necromancers who live on the Plains of Despair may know. Some of them have left the Plains of Despair, as well, but I do not know where they have gone.” | You have received a quest!Attune the Sacrificial Dagger.Seek out the necromancers who lived on the Plains of Despair to teach you how to attune the Sacrificial Dagger of the Apprentice. The Plains of Despair are full of dangerous monsters, and may contain undead remaining behind after the defeat of Bar-Khan.Difficulty: B | | --- | “I’ll seek them out.” It would still be quite some levels before he could do a B ranked quest. However, it would give him something to work towards in the future. | Quest accepted. | | --- | “I wish you well, Quietus.” -------------------------- During the next few weeks, Mortimer was constantly busy. Besides training with Master Valrao and playing Royal Road, he also studied for, and took, his finals. He ended up in a very odd sleep schedule during this time. This was because of what was going on in Royal Road. -------------------------- In Royal Road, Quietus spent a lot of time working on his level and skills. He had no immediate quest to work towards. What really caused his sleep schedule to go off of what was normal was Abaddon. Quietus hadn’t forgiven him for killing his cousin, and Ruby. Maratis too, technically, but that was somewhat of an afterthought in the not forgiving. Abaddon was no longer marked as a murderer after being killed. To Quietus, this meant that he had to go around in disguise more. Quietus killed Abaddon in various ways. He tried poison, but it was really hard to tell exactly how effective it was. All of his data was skewed by the bleeding damage. He sometimes killed him with Backstab, at least if he was in a hurry. After a few deaths, Abaddon started logging in at odd times, and less frequently. This is what caused Quietus to keep a strange sleep schedule. He would sleep whenever it was convenient between times when Abaddon could log on. Unfortunately for Abaddon, he was never able to log on while Quietus was in finals, not that he could have known they were happening. After about a week in the real world, Quietus started seeing a lot of people with red birds on their armor or clothes. At first, Quietus thought nothing of it. Of course, this lasted only a few minutes, as the warrior and archer he saw attacked him. He wasn’t ready for something like that, and was killed. This happened shortly after he had killed Abaddon. This meant that he could still log on before him. He also learned something important. He could sense the location of Abaddon’s body when it was Soul Bound. Visually, it was like a pale line connecting the two of them. This ability allowed Quietus to find where the two people with the red bird had taken Abaddon’s body. With the element of surprise on Quietus’ side, the archer died quickly. The warrior didn’t notice before he too was inflicted with a heavy dose of pain, caused by a dagger in his back. He survived this, but Quietus discovered that armor doesn’t do much to prevent dislocated shoulders, at least if performed properly. Quietus clashed quite a lot with these people who had red birds. He now spent all his time sneaking about. Sometimes, he got the drop on the enemy and took them out. Once or twice he fell into a trap, attacking someone who was seemingly alone but being attacked by others. Sometimes he misjudged the strength of his enemies. However, he still had a pretty good record of killing versus dying. He also had the advantage of coming back to life more quickly… and not having a predictable respawn location. He was fortunate to drop no items he considered important. Well, one time he had lost some good boots he picked up, but he got those back the next day. Plus interest. After a while, though, Quietus was starting to get tired of these people. They had started traveling in larger and larger groups, so he mostly had to avoid them now. Quietus had learned something important, though, because he was now a much better judge of players levels. It basically ended up with shinier equipment equalled higher level. This wasn’t the limit of his skills there, but that was the best summary. Then, about a week into summer, Angelo messaged Quietus. “I finished putting together the guild! I found a lot of people who wanted to join. You need to join too.” | You have received a guild invitation. | | --- | | You have joined The Children of Light! | | --- | Angelo continued talking about the guild. “I got the idea for the guild after we were killed by that stupid wizard. We’re an anti-pk guild. We only kill those who have murderer’s marks. Well, unless they have histories of being a player killer. Speaking of which, we’re at war with a guild called The Crimson Raven. So if you see anyone with a red bird on their uniform, leave a message in the guild chat. Maybe some people will be nearby to help take them out.” Quietus almost wanted to quit the guild immediately. Not that he had anything against killing players. He obviously had nothing against killing pkers either. It was just that he ~~completely~~ technically was a player killer. It had mostly been for quests though, so he didn’t feel bad about killing people he didn’t know for unknown reasons. Also, a couple people that annoyed him. He couldn’t quit the guild though. Not without making his cousin upset. Instead, he decided he would just stay on the fringe. Also, although there wasn’t anything technically wrong with being a warlock, he would just pretend he was a rogue. It seemed simpler. Besides, he could do most of the stuff they did anyway. Not that he planned to group with members of the guild very often. “Oh, one more thing. We’ve discovered they have a base. It’s nothing too impressive, but we’re planning to attack it next week. I’d appreciate you coming to that, although you don’t have to.” Quietus would definitely be there. Although, he planned to check it out first. Maybe he could help weaken their defenses before the real battles would start. End Chapter 29 [Shameless plug] Note: Hey, if you’re interested in fantasy novels, I suggest checking out this one written by someone I know :) [/Shameless plug] Previous Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1332&p=7845#p7845">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1332&p=7845#p7845</a><!-- l --> Next Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1356">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1356</a><!-- l -->

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> For almost a month Aaron has been repeating the same schedule every day. He would practice in the sparing fields for a day, then go hunting, and do any available quests from the town. With all that work he has finally reached Level 30.<br><br>Aaron has explored this entire area, and has figured out the Heavenly realm is made up of floating islands and mountains instead of just being one large land mass. The last area he had left was the Far East end of the island that was known as the heavens second training ground.<br><br>He now wore light leather armor with his swords on both hips hanging from a pouch belt. Two of his knives where concealed up his sleeves, and two in his boots. The Two long knives were fastened next to his swords. He also now wears a scarf around his neck and lower face with something similar to chain mail on the outside of it. Aaron had also got a new pack that carried more weight, had a few more pouches, and an arrow quiver. One basic Blacksmith kit, Repair kit, a small shovel, some trap lines, and a rope was stored in his new pack.<br>Status Window<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%">Name</td><td width="25%">Aaron</td><td width="25%">Primary Class</td><td width="25%">N/A</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">800</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">400</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td colspan="3">30</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan="3">N/A</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health Regen/Sec</td><td width="25%">3</td><td width="25%">Mana Regen/Sec</td><td width="25%">3</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">26</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">30</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">14</td><td width="25%">Intelligence</td><td width="25%">16</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Stamina</td><td width="25%">24</td><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">16</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Dexterity</td><td colspan="3">24</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Faith</td><td width="25%">N/A</td><td width="25%">Fame</td><td width="25%">N/A</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Skills</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Precise shot-Basic Level 3</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">You are adept at directing ranged attacks.<br>Benefit: You can use ranged weapons on an opponent engaged in melee without penalty to your attack.</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blade Proficiency-basic level 5</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Through training and practice you have become proficient in using bladed weapons <br>Benefit: As you use a bladed weapon over time it will feel like an extension of your arm</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bow Proficiency-Basic level 6</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Through Practice and an aptitude for the bow you are as skilled as an Elf<br>Benefit: As you continue to master the bow you are able to hit targets further away</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Knife Proficiency-Basic level 4</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Through practice you have become skilled with a variety of knives <br>Benefit: You can use a variety of knives as if they were a part of your hand and light as a feather</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Amidesxstis/Dual Wielding-Basic level 3</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Through will power and practice you can now use both your hands to their full potential<br>Benefit: You are now able to use weapons in either hand with out difficulty</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Repair-Basic level 2</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">You have the ability to repair your weapons and items<br>Benefit: Through practice and knowledge you can repair almost anything</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Handicraft-Basic Level 2</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">with the use of creativity, Art, and skill you can make basic works<br>Benefit: increases the ability of craftsmen and Artists</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blacksmith-Basic level 1</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Learning the skills of meatal working from a master you can now make weapons and armor<br>Benefit: You can now create metal weapons, Armors, and works of art</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Carpenter-Basic Level 1</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">From the teachings of a master and helping in construction you can now build objects and items from Wood<br>Benefit: The ability to build a variety of wooden constructs and items</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stealth-Basic level 1</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Due to hiding and sneaking through the woods you have learned stealth<br>Benefit: It is harder for others to spot you when you are hiding or sneaking around</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Traps-Basic Level 2</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">through studying and building contraptions you have learned to make traps<br>Benefit: You are able to build a variety of traps and contraptions</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Digging-Basic Level 2</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Due to working at a construction site and repeatedly digging you have became skilled at the art of... Digging<br>Benefit: You can dig holes in a short amount of time</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Construction-Basic Level 1</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Through hard work and the use of other skill you can now build a variety of building and structures<br>Benefit: You can now build a variety of buildings and structures</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">First Aid- Basic level 3</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Through the use of many bandages and basic knowledge you have learned First Aid<br>Benefit: You can now regenerate health faster then without the use of magic</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Identify- Basic Level 2</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">You have leaned the ability to identify objects<br>Benefit: You can identify objects along with their abilities and features</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cooking- basic Level 2</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Due to many attempts of cooking food you have learned the cooking skill<br>Benefit: You can now cook a variety of foods</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Aaron was going out for his last hunting day. He passed many new players running around trying to earn some loot or cash at the outer east gates. As he headed for a path that lead deep into the forest, but before he even reached the path he saw four new players being chased by a large boar. Aaron slowed down to watch as they jumped out of the way of its charge's while trying to run from the boar.<br><br>Aaron sighed and started to walk towards the boar as he pulled one of his swords out of his belt and one of the knives out of his sleeve. Three of the four players ran by him screaming with glee and fear. The fourth was a lot slower than the other three with a large carved staff in his hands. He jumped out of the way as the boar charged again letting out a sound that was a mix of a pig squeal and roar. As the boar turn to face its prey that he had just missed, Aaron raised his knife over his shoulder and throws it at the boars chest. The knife hit the right side of its chest causing it to squeal in pain and turn to face its new target.<br><br>As the Boar turned Aaron drew his other sword while keeping eye contact with the boar. The boar started to paw at the ground as it prepared its charge. Aaron readied his swords as the Boar ran right at him, as the boar got close Aaron sidestepped it and sliced the side of its legs to slow it down. The boar slowed down almost immediately coming to a staggering walk.<br><br>The boar turned again to face Aaron, with no less rage then before, but the boar knew it must flee. The boar ran staggering towards the forest, but Aaron was to fast. He ran up to its side and sliced at its uninjured legs causing the boar to fall and skid to a halt. He walked up to its head and slit its throat. A few moments later it disintegrated into a pile of loot. Aaron grabbed the few silver and copper coins before turning to the four new players.<br><br>Aaron read each of their names as they spoke.<br><br>“That was amazing! Thanks for helping us with that big meanie.” Said Alimore Serpenthelm.<br><br>Merlin Wizardsblood took his glasses off and cleaned them, more out of habit than anything else.” Thanks for saving me, I was almost a goner.”<br><br>Aaron slid his swords back in to his scabbards and replied, “It was nothing I was just passing by and saw that you needed some help.”<br><br>“Wouldn’t it have been easier with your bow?” Said Marcella Dawntracker.<br><br>Aaron looked back to her, “The bow would work if you had good aim, and if boars were slower, but Boars have a thicker hide and are very fast.”<br><br>“Yes, a true warrior always sticks to his sword!” Said Kevril Falconsflight<br><br>Aaron shook his head, “that’s not true using an array of weapons is better than just the sword, and it varies on the situation you are in.”<br><br>Marcella Dawntracker walked up to Aaron and put her hands on her hips. “You sound like a know it all, but you got spunk, and you did help us. So you’re okay in my book.” She then playfully punches Aaron’s shoulder.<br><br>Aaron rubs his shoulder, “uh, thanks, I guess.”<br><br>“Marcy, don’t hurt him! You always play too rough.” Alimore Serpenthelm says as she pouts at Marcella Dawntracker.<br><br>After a moment of silence, Aaron looked back at the boar’s loot, “The rest is yours, I should get going. I’m heading deep into the forest to hunt.”<br><br>Merlin Wizardsblood pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and asked “Hey wait, would you like to party up with us?”<br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have been offered to join a Party!<br>Would you like to join Yes/No?</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>Aaron thought for a moment, “um, ok.”<br><br>You have joined the party!<br><br>(Party) “Yes!”<br><br>Aaron asked, “What are your guys levels?”<br><br>“I’m a level 11 and I also just became a Cleric. You can call me Ali!” Alimore Serpenthelm said with a bright smile.<br><br>“ I’m a level 14 archer. Ali seems to like to call me Marcy,” said Marcella Dawntracker, as she shifted the bow on her back.<br><br>“um, I’m a level 13 Mage, Merlin Wizardsblood, but my friends just call me Merlin.” Said Merlin.<br><br>Kevril stood tall and said “I’m Kevril, and I’m proud to say that I am a Level 15 Knight!”<br><br>“What’s your level?” asked Marcella Dawntracker.<br><br>Aaron said, “I’m level 30.”<br><br>Kev asked, “Do you have a profession?”<br><br>Aaron, “not currently I’m not sure what I want to be just yet.”<br><br>Kev took a proud stance and said, “Well that’s fine but I hope you choose to be a knight!”<br><br>“Well you said you were going deep in the forest, what were you planning on doing?” asked Ali.<br><br>Aaron, “I was planning on hunting some large spiders, that I have heard about from the instructor!”<br><br>Ali turned pale.<br><br>They walked down the trail into the forest. As they went, Aaron taught the Archer, by shooting squirrels and rabbits they passed, how to use the bow better with breathing and aiming ahead of the target. As they where traveling it started to get darker as the trees blocked out the light.<br><br>Soon it became very quiet, and then the wolves started to howl. The group stopped to look around them, drawing their weapons out. Suddenly, glowing eyes had them surrounded. With another howl they charged at the party.<br><br>Merlin and Ali started to give buffs to the others. While Marcy started to shoot her arrows into the oncoming wolves.<br>Aaron positioned himself between the oncoming wolves and the support members of the party. The first wolf came at him jumped up and tried to snap his throat, as he thrust his sword out into the wolf’s oncoming chest. As it fell, he pulled out his blade to face the next one.<br><br>At the same time, Kevril was slashing at two wolves with his large claymore. He continued until one got to close. Kevril brought his blade down on the wolf, making its hit points drop to zero.<br><br>Marcy released arrow after arrow into the wolves, trying to circle around them, putting one down here and there with a well-placed shot. One eventually got up close enough and lunged at her. She used her bow to knock it aside while drawing a knife from her belt. It came back at her knocking her down as she repeatedly stabbed it. She got back up and continued to launch arrows into the wolves.<br><br>Merlin kept yelling and using a basic lightning bolt spell on any wolves that he could. Eventually he saw some wolves grouping together, and he sent a fireball into their midst, sending a few flying.<br><br>Ali was keeping an eye on the group using healing hand on anyone who needed it and buffing all their stamina so they would not exhaust. Ali continued on as she noticed the wolves numbers where starting to severely drop.<br><br>Aaron continued to slice and stab the wolves that were coming at him. Soon he could only see one in front of him. It was larger than the others and had a scar running across his muzzle. It came charging forward, lunging at him. Aaron sidestepped the attack and tried to slice the wolf’s front leg, but he missed. He turned around to face the wolf once again. It was showing its teeth and growling at him. As it pounced at him, Aaron stabbed both his blades into its chest. As he fell backwards, he kicked the huge wolf back over his head, holding his blades firmly in his hands causing the beast to be thrown from them.<br><br>Aaron rolled over and jumped up on to his feet while looking at the wolf. It was struggling to rise to its feet and whimpering, but was still showing its teeth. He slowly walked up to it readying his blades. He then stabbed both his blades into its heart to put it out of its misery.<br><br>There were no wolves left, the attack was over. The group sat to rest and collect the loot, which they split evenly amongst themselves.<br><br>Kevril Asked, “Aaron where did you learn how to fight like that?”<br><br>Aaron looked at the knight with a smile.<br><br>“Through hard work and determination of solo fighting, along with a few angry rampages.” He replied<br><br>“Ha, a few rampages? It seemed like you where a berserker.” commented Kevril.<br><br>Aaron thought about that for a moment then shrugged his shoulders.<br><br>“It didn’t seem like that to me. I just concentrated on fighting and not getting hit directly.”<br><br>“Well you don’t have to worry about getting hit any more. If you ever are hit I could just heal you.” Ali said.<br><br>Aaron looked down for a moment.<br><br>Aaron said, “I don’t have much time left here on Heavens training grounds. I only have 3 days left to join the tournament or select my starting location.”<br><br>Ali smiled brightly, “Don’t worry about it. We could always meet up after, when we finally get to start on the continent. Here I’ll friend request you!”<br><br>(Party) “Yah lets all add you to our friends list!”<br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have received Friend requests!<br>Names: Alimore Serpenthelm, Kevril Falconsflight, Marcella Dawntracker, and Merlin Wizardsblood<br>Will you accept Yes/No?</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>Aaron with a smile spreading across his face, “I would gladly accept!”<br><br>After that they chatted as they walked deeper into the forest.<br><br>After awhile they started to see cobwebs hanging from the trees around them. They proceed in a formation of Aaron and Kevril leading on the front two sides with the Marcy holding the rear. Ali and Merlin were in the middle so they were not in any eminent danger.<br><br>As they moved forward they started to hear clicking sounds coming from all around them. Moment’s later large spiders started to drop down and others walked out of the brush.<br><br>“There sure are a lot of them, do you think we can handle this many?” said Ali nervously.<br><br>Marcy responded, “If we are careful we might, but there is a high chance that we might not make it.”<br><br>Aaron looked around thinking of a way to win this.<br><br>With that Ali and Merlin started to buff everyone. As the spiders drew closer Marcy started to shoot her arrows at them. Then Aaron and Kevril started to Hack and slash at the closest spiders while slowly taking steps back.<br><br>Merlin, seeing the spiders starting to crowd, started to launch fireballs and lightning bolts at the spiders. The numbers of the spiders slowly dropped as they continued to work their way back down the trail. The spiders started to go into a frenzy as large portions of their webs started to catch fire and burn them as they fell. Eventually the last of the spiders that attacked them were finished off.<br><br>“We did it! We actually did it!” Ali cheered.<br><br>Merlin pushed up his glasses and smiled, “That was amazing I even leveled up a bit!”<br><br>Most of the group leveled up quite a bit, while Aaron only leveled up once. They gathered their loot and rested. The spiders had dropped poison sacks, silk webbing, legs, some eyes, and some shells. After that they continued on deeper into the spiders nest.<br><br>They eventually ran in to a few more groups of spiders, but the party finished them off just like they did the first group. Finally they reached a clearing with a massive spider that had hundreds of egg sacks. They were scattered about hanging from trees and lying on the ground. The group moved slowly forward trying not to disturb the large spider.<br><br>Once the spider reacted Aaron and Kevril charged forward to attack and keep it distracted. Marcy used fire arrows and rapid shot to aim for the eyes, trying to blind it. Merlin did the same thing as last time, firing away with his fireballs and lightning bolts.<br><br>Aaron and the Kevril had to dodge the Spiders spiked legs as it continued to try and smash them. With Marcy’s and Merlin’s Fire attacks the spider caught fire and became blinded. It started to spasm under the blows and roar high pitch screams as it was slowly coming to its death.<br><br>The giant spider collapsed but still tried to bat its attackers away with its legs. Kevril climbed up on to the spider’s body and started to hack at it, drawing and splattering green goo all over. Aaron went around to each leg and hacked them off. Soon the spider stopped moving at all and disintegrated into a pile of loot.<br>The Party started to cheer and high-five each other before going to get the loot and collecting a number of the eggs.<br><br>Ali pinched her nose and said “Ewww, Kevril you’re covered in goo! You stink.”<br><br>“Yes, I’m covered in goo, but that just means I did a lot of work.” Kevril retorted.<br>Aaron, “well that was fun but we should probably head back to town since we can’t really carry any more loot.”<br><br>The party agreed so they started on back facing a few more groups of spiders. They were almost to the edge of the woods when three players stepped out to block their path. One looked like a knight with a great sword, another a mage, and the last seemed to be a rogue. The knight had a killers mark above his head but the others didn’t.<br><br>The Rogue said, “It seems you have had a successful hunt!”<br><br>Aaron, “we did. What is it to you?”<br><br>The Rouge laughed at him with his companions soon joining in. Then the rouge stopped and looked right at Aaron.<br><br>“Well I’m Hercules and this here is our road. We require a fee for anyone using it!”<br><br>He rubbed his fingers together for emphasis.<br><br>Kevril, “what do you mean your road, we’ve used this road plenty of times!”<br><br>Hercules, “Well if you don’t pay we’ll just have to take it from you and make your lives miserable from now on.”<br><br>Aaron, “Are you sure you want to try that? There are five of us and only three of you. Or would you like to take a beating?”<br><br>The enemy knight went to draw his sword, but the rouge raised his hand to stop him.<br><br>Hercules, “we’ll stop for now, but understand if we meet again you are not going to come out of it so easily. Come on lads lets go.”<br><br>They walked away back towards the town talking to each other.<br><br>“We could have easily taken them!” Marcy exclaims.<br><br>Kevril shook his head, “I’m not so sure of that their equipment seemed to be high grade!”<br><br>Aaron, “Yeah, you’re right. That would have been a hard fight if it came to it.”<br><br>The party headed into town and sold most of the loot they had earned that day.<br><br>Aaron smiled at the party, “Well that was fun, see you guys again sometime. I’m heading over to town hall to register for the tournament.”<br><br>The party said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.<br><br><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Unedited version</span><br><div class="spoiler"><div class="smalltext" style="margin-bottom:2px"><b>Spoiler</b> : <input type="button" value="Show" class="spoilerButton"></div><div class="spoilerContent"><div style="display: none;">For almost a month Aaron has been repeating the same schedule every day. He would practice in the sparing fields for a day, then go hunting, and do any available quests from the town. With all that work he has finally reached Level 30. <br><br>Aaron has explored this entire area, and has figured out the Heavenly realm is made up of floating islands and mountains instead of just being one large land mass. The last area he had left was the Far East end of the island that was known as the heavens second training ground.<br><br>He now wore light leather armor with his swords on both hips hanging from a pouch belt. Two of his knives where concealed up his sleeves, and two in his boots. The Two long knives were fastened next to his swords. He also now wears a scarf around his neck and lower face with something similar to chain mail on the outside of it. Aaron had also got a new pack that carried more weight, had a few more pouches, and an arrow quiver. One basic Blacksmith kit, Repair kit, a small shovel, some trap lines, and a rope was stored in his new pack.<br><br>Status Window<br>Name Aaron Primary Class N/A<br>Health 800 Mana 400<br>Level 30<br>Health Regen/sec 3 Mana Regen/sec 3<br>Strength 26 Agility 29<br>Wisdom 14 Intelligence 16<br>Stamina 24 Vitality 16<br>Dexterity 24<br>Faith 0<br>Fame 0<br>Skills<br>Precise shot-Basic Level 3, Blade Proficiency-basic level 5, Bow Proficiency-Basic level 6, Knife Proficiency-Basic level 4, Amidesxstis/Dual Wielding-Basic level 3, Repair-Basic level 2, Handicraft-Basic Level 2,Blacksmith-Basic level 1, Carpenter-Basic Level 1, Stealth-Basic level 1,Traps-Basic Level 2, Digging-Basic Level 2, Construction-Basic Level 1, First Aid- Basic level 3, Identify- Basic Level 2, Cooking- basic Level 2<br><br><br><br><br><br>Weapon Forms<br>Feint, Slash, Stab, <br><br>Spells<br>none<br><br>Language<br>Common, <br><br><br><br>Aaron was going out for his last hunting day. He passed many new players running around trying to earn some loot or cash at the outer east gates. As he headed for a path that lead deep into the forest, but before he even reached the path he saw four new players being chased by a large boar. Aaron slowed down to watch as they jumped out of the way of its charge's while trying to run from the boar.<br><br>Aaron sighed and started to walk towards the boar as he pulled one of his swords out of his belt and one of the knives out of his sleeve. Three of the four players ran by him screaming with glee and fear. The fourth was a lot slower than the other three with a large carved staff in his hands. He jumped out of the way as the boar charged again letting out a sound that was a mix of a pig squeal and roar. As the boar turn to face its prey that he had just missed, Aaron raised his knife over his shoulder and throws it at the boars chest. The knife hit the right side of its chest causing it to squeal in pain and turn to face its new target. <br><br>As the Boar turned Aaron drew his other sword while keeping eye contact with the boar. The boar started to paw at the ground as it prepared its charge. Aaron readied his swords as the Boar ran right at him, as the boar got close Aaron sidestepped it and sliced the side of its legs to slow it down. The boar slowed down almost immediately coming to a staggering walk. <br><br>The boar turned again to face Aaron, with no less rage then before, but the boar knew it must flee. The boar ran staggering towards the forest, but Aaron was to fast. He ran up to its side and sliced at its uninjured legs causing the boar to fall and skid to a halt. He walked up to its head and slit its throat. A few moments later it disintegrated into a pile of loot. Aaron grabbed the few silver and copper coins before turning to the four new players. <br><br>Aaron read each of their names as they spoke.<br><br> “That was amazing! Thanks for helping us with that big meanie.” Said Alimore Serpenthelm.<br><br>Merlin Wizardsblood took his glasses off and cleaned them, more out of habit than anything else.“ Thanks for saving me, I was almost a goner.”<br>Aaron slid his swords back in to his scabbards and replied, “It was nothing I was just passing by and saw that you needed some help.”<br><br> “Wouldn’t it have been easier with your bow?” Said Marcella Dawntracker.<br><br>Aaron looked back to her, “The bow would work if you had good aim, and if boars were slower, but Boars have a thicker hide and are very fast.”<br><br> “Yes, a true warrior always sticks to his sword!” Said Kevril Falconsflight<br><br>Aaron shook his head, “that’s not true using an array of weapons is better than just the sword, and it varies on the situation you are in.”<br><br>Marcella Dawntracker walked up to Aaron and put her hands on her hips. “You sound like a know it all, but you got spunk, and you did help us. So you’re okay in my book.” She then playfully punches Aaron’s shoulder. <br><br>Aaron rubs his shoulder, “uh, thanks, I guess.”<br><br>“Marcy, don’t hurt him! You always play too rough.” Alimore Serpenthelm says as she pouts at Marcella Dawntracker.<br><br>After a moment of silence, Aaron looked back at the boar’s loot, “The rest is yours, I should get going. I’m heading deep into the forest to hunt.”<br><br>Merlin Wizardsblood pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and asked “Hey wait, would you like to party up with us?”<br><br>You have been offered to join a Party!<br>Would you like to join Yes/No?<br>Aaron thought for a moment, “um… ok.”<br><br>You have joined the party!<br><br>(Party) “Yes!”<br><br>Aaron asked, “What are your guys levels?”<br><br> “I’m a level 11 and I also just became a Cleric. You can call me Ali!” Alimore Serpenthelm said with a bright smile.<br><br> “ I’m a level 14 archer. Ali seems to like to call me Marcy,” said Marcella Dawntracker, as she shifted the bow on her back.<br><br> “um, I’m a level 13 Mage, Merlin Wizardsblood, but my friends just call me Merlin.” Said Merlin.<br><br>Kevril stood tall and said “I’m Kevril, and I’m proud to say that I am a Level 15 Knight!”<br><br>“What’s your level?” asked Marcella Dawntracker.<br><br>Aaron said, “I’m level 30.”<br><br>Kev asked, “Do you have a profession?”<br><br>Aaron, “not currently I’m not sure what I want to be just yet.”<br><br>Kev took a proud stance and said, “Well that’s fine but I hope you chose to be a knight!”<br><br> “Well you said you were going deep in the forest, what were you planning on doing?” asked Ali.<br><br>Aaron, “ I was planning on hunting some large spiders, that I have heard about from the instructor!”<br><br>Ali turned pale. <br><br>They walked down the trail into the forest. As they went, Aaron taught the Archer, by shooting squirrels and rabbits they passed, how to use the bow better with breathing and aiming ahead of the target. As they where traveling it started to get darker as the trees blocked the light out.<br>Soon it became very quiet, and then the wolves started to howl. The group stopped to look around them, drawing their weapons out. Suddenly glowing eyes had them surrounded. With another howl they charged at the party.<br><br>Merlin and Ali started to give buffs to the others. While Marcy started to shot her arrows into the oncoming wolves. <br>Aaron positioned himself between the oncoming wolves and the support members of the party. The first wolf came at him jumped up and tried to snap his throat, as he thrust his sword out into the wolf’s oncoming chest. As it fell, he pulled out his blade to face the next one. <br>At the same time, Kevril was slashing at two wolves with his large claymore. He continued until one got to close. Kevril brought his blade down on the wolf, making its hit points drop to zero. <br><br>Marcy released arrow after arrow into the wolves, trying to circle around them, putting one down here and there with a well-placed shot. One eventually got up close enough and lunged at her. She used her bow to knock it aside while drawing a knife from her belt. It came back at her knocking her down as she repeatedly stabbed it. She got back up and continued to launch arrows into the wolves.<br><br>Merlin kept yelling and using a basic lightning bolt spell on any wolves that he could. Eventually he saw some wolves grouping together, and he sent a fireball into their midst, sending a few flying.<br><br>Ali was keeping an eye on the group using healing hand on anyone who needed it and buffing all their stamina so they would not exhaust. Ali continued on as she noticed the wolves numbers where starting to severely drop. <br><br>Aaron continued to slice and stab the wolves that were coming at him. Soon he could only see one in front of him. It was larger than the others and had a scar running across his muzzle. It came charging forward, lunging at him. Aaron sidestepped the attack and tried to slice the wolf’s front leg, but he missed. He turned around to face the wolf once again. It was showing its teeth and growling at him. As it pounced at him, Aaron stabbed both his blades into its chest. As he fell backwards, he kicked the huge wolf back over his head, holding his blades firmly in his hands causing the beast to be thrown from them.<br><br>Aaron rolled over and jumped up on to his feet while looking at the wolf. It was struggling to rise to its feet and whimpering, but was still showing its teeth. He slowly walked up to it readying his blades. He then stabbed both his blades into its heart to put it out of its misery. <br>There were no wolves left, the attack was over. The group sat to rest and collect the loot, which they split evenly amongst themselves.<br><br>Kevril Asked, “Aaron where did you learn how to fight like that?”<br><br>Aaron looked at the knight with a smile.<br><br>“Through hard work and determination of solo fighting, along with a few angry rampages.” He replied <br><br>“Ha, a few rampages? It seemed like you where a berserker.” commented Kevril.<br><br>Aaron thought about that for a moment then shrugged his shoulders.<br><br>“It didn’t seem like that to me. I just concentrated on fighting and not getting hit directly.”<br><br> “Well you don’t have to worry about getting hit any more. If you ever are hit I could just heal you.” Ali said.<br><br>Aaron looked down for a moment.<br><br>Aaron said, “I don’t have much time left here on Heavens training grounds. I only have 3 days left to join the tournament or select my starting location.”<br><br>Ali smiled brightly, “Don’t worry about it. We could always meet up after, when we finally get to start on the continent. Here I’ll friend request you!”<br><br>(Party) “Yah lets all add you to our friends list!”<br><br>You have received Friend requests from!<br>Names: Alimore Serpenthelm, Kevril Falconsflight, Marcella Dawntracker, and Merlin Wizardsblood<br>Will you accept Yes/No?<br><br>Aaron with a smile spreading across his face, “I would gladly accept!”<br><br>After that they chatted as they walked deeper into the forest.<br><br>After awhile they started to see cobwebs hanging from the trees around them. They proceed in a formation of Aaron and Kevril leading on the front two sides with the Marcy holding the rear. Ali and Merlin were in the middle so they were not in any eminent danger.<br><br>As they moved forward they started to hear clicking sounds coming from all around them. Moment’s later large spiders started to drop down and others walked out of the brush.<br><br>“There sure are a lot of them, do you think we can handle this many?” said Ali nervously.<br><br>Marcy responded, “ If we are careful we might, but there is a high chance that we might not make it.”<br><br>Aaron looked around thinking of a way to win this.<br><br>With that Ali and Merlin started to buff everyone. As the spiders drew closer Marcy started to shoot her arrow at them. Then Aaron and Kevril started to Hack and slash at the closest spiders while slowly taking steps back. <br><br>Merlin, seeing the spiders starting to crowd, started to launch fireballs and lightning bolts at the spiders. The numbers of the spiders slowly dropped as they continued to work their way back down the trail. The spiders started to go into a frenzy as large portions of their webs started to catch fire and burn them as they fell. Eventually the last of the spiders that attacked them were finished off.<br><br> “We did it! We actually did it!” Ali cheered.<br><br>Merlin pushed up his glasses and smiled, “That was amazing I even leveled up a bit!”<br><br>Most of the group leveled up quite a bit, while Aaron only level up once. They gathered their loot and rested. The spiders had dropped poison sacks, silk webbing, legs, some eyes, and some shells. After that they continued on deeper into the spiders nest. <br><br>They eventually ran in to a few more groups of spiders, but the party finished them off just like they did the first group. Finally they reached a clearing with a massive spider that had hundreds of egg sacks. They were scattered about hanging from trees and lying on the ground. The group moved slowly forward trying not to disturb the large spider.<br><br>Once the spider reacted Aaron and Kevril charged forward to attack and keep it distracted. Marcy used fire arrows and rapid shot to aim for the eyes, trying to blind it. Merlin did the same thing as last time, firing away with his fireballs and lightning bolts.<br><br>Aaron and the Kevril had to dodge the Spiders spiked legs as it continued to try and smash them. With Marcy’s and Merlin’s Fire attacks the spider caught fire and became blinded. It started to spasm under the blows and roar high pitch screams as it was slowly coming to its death.<br><br>The giant spider collapsed but still tried to bat its attackers away with its legs. Kevril climbed up on to the spider’s body and started to hack at it, drawing and splattering green goo all over. Aaron went around to each leg and hacked them off. Soon the spider stopped moving at all and disintegrated into a pile of loot.<br><br>The Party started to cheer and high-five each other before going to get the loot and collecting a number of the eggs.<br><br>Ali pinched her nose and said “Ewww, Kevril you’re covered in goo! You stink.”<br><br>“Yes, I’m covered in goo, but that just means I did a lot of work.” Kevril retorted.<br>Aaron, “well that was fun but we should probably head back to town since we can’t really carry any more loot.”<br><br>The party agreed so they started on back facing a few more groups of spiders. They were almost to the edge of the woods when three players stepped out to block their path. One looked like a knight with a great sword, another a mage, and the last seemed to be a rogue. The knight had a killers mark above his head but the others didn’t.<br><br>The Rogue said, “It seems you have had a successful hunt!”<br><br>Aaron, “we did. What is it to you?”<br><br>The Rouge laughed at him with his companions soon joining in. Then the rouge stopped and looked right at Aaron.<br><br>“Well I’m Hercules and this here is our road. We require a fee for anyone using it!”<br><br>He rubbed his fingers together for emphasis. <br><br>Kevril, “what do you mean your road, we’ve used this road plenty of times!”<br><br>Hercules, “Well if you don’t pay we’ll just have to take it from you and make your lives miserable from now on.”<br><br>Aaron, “Are you sure you want to try that? There are five of us and only three of you. Or would you like to take a beating?”<br><br>The enemy knight went to draw his sword, but the rouge raised his hand to stop him. <br><br>Hercules, “we’ll stop for now, but understand if we meet again you are not going to come out of it so easily. Come on lads lets go.”<br><br>They walked away back towards the town talking to each other.<br><br> “We could have easily taken them!” Marcy exclaims.<br><br>Kevril shook his head, “I’m not so sure of that their equipment seemed to be high grade!”<br><br>Aaron, “Yeah, you’re right. That would have been a hard fight if it came to it.”<br><br>The party headed into town and sold most of the loot they had earned that day. <br><br> Aaron smiled at the party, “Well that was fun, see you guys again sometime. I’m heading over to town hall to register for the tournament.” <br><br>The party said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.</div></div></div> </div>

For almost a month Aaron has been repeating the same schedule every day. He would practice in the sparing fields for a day, then go hunting, and do any available quests from the town. With all that work he has finally reached Level 30. Aaron has explored this entire area, and has figured out the Heavenly realm is made up of floating islands and mountains instead of just being one large land mass. The last area he had left was the Far East end of the island that was known as the heavens second training ground. He now wore light leather armor with his swords on both hips hanging from a pouch belt. Two of his knives where concealed up his sleeves, and two in his boots. The Two long knives were fastened next to his swords. He also now wears a scarf around his neck and lower face with something similar to chain mail on the outside of it. Aaron had also got a new pack that carried more weight, had a few more pouches, and an arrow quiver. One basic Blacksmith kit, Repair kit, a small shovel, some trap lines, and a rope was stored in his new pack. Status Window | Name | Aaron | Primary Class | N/A | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Health | 800 | Mana | 400 | | Level | 30 | | | | Title | N/A | | | | Health Regen/Sec | 3 | Mana Regen/Sec | 3 | | Strength | 26 | Agility | 30 | | Wisdom | 14 | Intelligence | 16 | | Stamina | 24 | Vitality | 16 | | Dexterity | 24 | | | | Faith | N/A | Fame | N/A | | Skills | | --- | | Precise shot-Basic Level 3 | | You are adept at directing ranged attacks.Benefit: You can use ranged weapons on an opponent engaged in melee without penalty to your attack. | | Blade Proficiency-basic level 5 | | Through training and practice you have become proficient in using bladed weapons Benefit: As you use a bladed weapon over time it will feel like an extension of your arm | | Bow Proficiency-Basic level 6 | | Through Practice and an aptitude for the bow you are as skilled as an ElfBenefit: As you continue to master the bow you are able to hit targets further away | | Knife Proficiency-Basic level 4 | | Through practice you have become skilled with a variety of knives Benefit: You can use a variety of knives as if they were a part of your hand and light as a feather | | Amidesxstis/Dual Wielding-Basic level 3 | | Through will power and practice you can now use both your hands to their full potentialBenefit: You are now able to use weapons in either hand with out difficulty | | Repair-Basic level 2 | | You have the ability to repair your weapons and itemsBenefit: Through practice and knowledge you can repair almost anything | | Handicraft-Basic Level 2 | | with the use of creativity, Art, and skill you can make basic worksBenefit: increases the ability of craftsmen and Artists | | Blacksmith-Basic level 1 | | Learning the skills of meatal working from a master you can now make weapons and armorBenefit: You can now create metal weapons, Armors, and works of art | | Carpenter-Basic Level 1 | | From the teachings of a master and helping in construction you can now build objects and items from WoodBenefit: The ability to build a variety of wooden constructs and items | | Stealth-Basic level 1 | | Due to hiding and sneaking through the woods you have learned stealthBenefit: It is harder for others to spot you when you are hiding or sneaking around | | Traps-Basic Level 2 | | through studying and building contraptions you have learned to make trapsBenefit: You are able to build a variety of traps and contraptions | | Digging-Basic Level 2 | | Due to working at a construction site and repeatedly digging you have became skilled at the art of... DiggingBenefit: You can dig holes in a short amount of time | | Construction-Basic Level 1 | | Through hard work and the use of other skill you can now build a variety of building and structuresBenefit: You can now build a variety of buildings and structures | | First Aid- Basic level 3 | | Through the use of many bandages and basic knowledge you have learned First AidBenefit: You can now regenerate health faster then without the use of magic | | Identify- Basic Level 2 | | You have leaned the ability to identify objectsBenefit: You can identify objects along with their abilities and features | | Cooking- basic Level 2 | | Due to many attempts of cooking food you have learned the cooking skillBenefit: You can now cook a variety of foods | Aaron was going out for his last hunting day. He passed many new players running around trying to earn some loot or cash at the outer east gates. As he headed for a path that lead deep into the forest, but before he even reached the path he saw four new players being chased by a large boar. Aaron slowed down to watch as they jumped out of the way of its charge's while trying to run from the boar. Aaron sighed and started to walk towards the boar as he pulled one of his swords out of his belt and one of the knives out of his sleeve. Three of the four players ran by him screaming with glee and fear. The fourth was a lot slower than the other three with a large carved staff in his hands. He jumped out of the way as the boar charged again letting out a sound that was a mix of a pig squeal and roar. As the boar turn to face its prey that he had just missed, Aaron raised his knife over his shoulder and throws it at the boars chest. The knife hit the right side of its chest causing it to squeal in pain and turn to face its new target. As the Boar turned Aaron drew his other sword while keeping eye contact with the boar. The boar started to paw at the ground as it prepared its charge. Aaron readied his swords as the Boar ran right at him, as the boar got close Aaron sidestepped it and sliced the side of its legs to slow it down. The boar slowed down almost immediately coming to a staggering walk. The boar turned again to face Aaron, with no less rage then before, but the boar knew it must flee. The boar ran staggering towards the forest, but Aaron was to fast. He ran up to its side and sliced at its uninjured legs causing the boar to fall and skid to a halt. He walked up to its head and slit its throat. A few moments later it disintegrated into a pile of loot. Aaron grabbed the few silver and copper coins before turning to the four new players. Aaron read each of their names as they spoke. “That was amazing! Thanks for helping us with that big meanie.” Said Alimore Serpenthelm. Merlin Wizardsblood took his glasses off and cleaned them, more out of habit than anything else.” Thanks for saving me, I was almost a goner.” Aaron slid his swords back in to his scabbards and replied, “It was nothing I was just passing by and saw that you needed some help.” “Wouldn’t it have been easier with your bow?” Said Marcella Dawntracker. Aaron looked back to her, “The bow would work if you had good aim, and if boars were slower, but Boars have a thicker hide and are very fast.” “Yes, a true warrior always sticks to his sword!” Said Kevril Falconsflight Aaron shook his head, “that’s not true using an array of weapons is better than just the sword, and it varies on the situation you are in.” Marcella Dawntracker walked up to Aaron and put her hands on her hips. “You sound like a know it all, but you got spunk, and you did help us. So you’re okay in my book.” She then playfully punches Aaron’s shoulder. Aaron rubs his shoulder, “uh, thanks, I guess.” “Marcy, don’t hurt him! You always play too rough.” Alimore Serpenthelm says as she pouts at Marcella Dawntracker. After a moment of silence, Aaron looked back at the boar’s loot, “The rest is yours, I should get going. I’m heading deep into the forest to hunt.” Merlin Wizardsblood pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and asked “Hey wait, would you like to party up with us?” | You have been offered to join a Party!Would you like to join Yes/No? | | --- | Aaron thought for a moment, “um, ok.” You have joined the party! (Party) “Yes!” Aaron asked, “What are your guys levels?” “I’m a level 11 and I also just became a Cleric. You can call me Ali!” Alimore Serpenthelm said with a bright smile. “ I’m a level 14 archer. Ali seems to like to call me Marcy,” said Marcella Dawntracker, as she shifted the bow on her back. “um, I’m a level 13 Mage, Merlin Wizardsblood, but my friends just call me Merlin.” Said Merlin. Kevril stood tall and said “I’m Kevril, and I’m proud to say that I am a Level 15 Knight!” “What’s your level?” asked Marcella Dawntracker. Aaron said, “I’m level 30.” Kev asked, “Do you have a profession?” Aaron, “not currently I’m not sure what I want to be just yet.” Kev took a proud stance and said, “Well that’s fine but I hope you choose to be a knight!” “Well you said you were going deep in the forest, what were you planning on doing?” asked Ali. Aaron, “I was planning on hunting some large spiders, that I have heard about from the instructor!” Ali turned pale. They walked down the trail into the forest. As they went, Aaron taught the Archer, by shooting squirrels and rabbits they passed, how to use the bow better with breathing and aiming ahead of the target. As they where traveling it started to get darker as the trees blocked out the light. Soon it became very quiet, and then the wolves started to howl. The group stopped to look around them, drawing their weapons out. Suddenly, glowing eyes had them surrounded. With another howl they charged at the party. Merlin and Ali started to give buffs to the others. While Marcy started to shoot her arrows into the oncoming wolves. Aaron positioned himself between the oncoming wolves and the support members of the party. The first wolf came at him jumped up and tried to snap his throat, as he thrust his sword out into the wolf’s oncoming chest. As it fell, he pulled out his blade to face the next one. At the same time, Kevril was slashing at two wolves with his large claymore. He continued until one got to close. Kevril brought his blade down on the wolf, making its hit points drop to zero. Marcy released arrow after arrow into the wolves, trying to circle around them, putting one down here and there with a well-placed shot. One eventually got up close enough and lunged at her. She used her bow to knock it aside while drawing a knife from her belt. It came back at her knocking her down as she repeatedly stabbed it. She got back up and continued to launch arrows into the wolves. Merlin kept yelling and using a basic lightning bolt spell on any wolves that he could. Eventually he saw some wolves grouping together, and he sent a fireball into their midst, sending a few flying. Ali was keeping an eye on the group using healing hand on anyone who needed it and buffing all their stamina so they would not exhaust. Ali continued on as she noticed the wolves numbers where starting to severely drop. Aaron continued to slice and stab the wolves that were coming at him. Soon he could only see one in front of him. It was larger than the others and had a scar running across his muzzle. It came charging forward, lunging at him. Aaron sidestepped the attack and tried to slice the wolf’s front leg, but he missed. He turned around to face the wolf once again. It was showing its teeth and growling at him. As it pounced at him, Aaron stabbed both his blades into its chest. As he fell backwards, he kicked the huge wolf back over his head, holding his blades firmly in his hands causing the beast to be thrown from them. Aaron rolled over and jumped up on to his feet while looking at the wolf. It was struggling to rise to its feet and whimpering, but was still showing its teeth. He slowly walked up to it readying his blades. He then stabbed both his blades into its heart to put it out of its misery. There were no wolves left, the attack was over. The group sat to rest and collect the loot, which they split evenly amongst themselves. Kevril Asked, “Aaron where did you learn how to fight like that?” Aaron looked at the knight with a smile. “Through hard work and determination of solo fighting, along with a few angry rampages.” He replied “Ha, a few rampages? It seemed like you where a berserker.” commented Kevril. Aaron thought about that for a moment then shrugged his shoulders. “It didn’t seem like that to me. I just concentrated on fighting and not getting hit directly.” “Well you don’t have to worry about getting hit any more. If you ever are hit I could just heal you.” Ali said. Aaron looked down for a moment. Aaron said, “I don’t have much time left here on Heavens training grounds. I only have 3 days left to join the tournament or select my starting location.” Ali smiled brightly, “Don’t worry about it. We could always meet up after, when we finally get to start on the continent. Here I’ll friend request you!” (Party) “Yah lets all add you to our friends list!” | You have received Friend requests!Names: Alimore Serpenthelm, Kevril Falconsflight, Marcella Dawntracker, and Merlin WizardsbloodWill you accept Yes/No? | | --- | Aaron with a smile spreading across his face, “I would gladly accept!” After that they chatted as they walked deeper into the forest. After awhile they started to see cobwebs hanging from the trees around them. They proceed in a formation of Aaron and Kevril leading on the front two sides with the Marcy holding the rear. Ali and Merlin were in the middle so they were not in any eminent danger. As they moved forward they started to hear clicking sounds coming from all around them. Moment’s later large spiders started to drop down and others walked out of the brush. “There sure are a lot of them, do you think we can handle this many?” said Ali nervously. Marcy responded, “If we are careful we might, but there is a high chance that we might not make it.” Aaron looked around thinking of a way to win this. With that Ali and Merlin started to buff everyone. As the spiders drew closer Marcy started to shoot her arrows at them. Then Aaron and Kevril started to Hack and slash at the closest spiders while slowly taking steps back. Merlin, seeing the spiders starting to crowd, started to launch fireballs and lightning bolts at the spiders. The numbers of the spiders slowly dropped as they continued to work their way back down the trail. The spiders started to go into a frenzy as large portions of their webs started to catch fire and burn them as they fell. Eventually the last of the spiders that attacked them were finished off. “We did it! We actually did it!” Ali cheered. Merlin pushed up his glasses and smiled, “That was amazing I even leveled up a bit!” Most of the group leveled up quite a bit, while Aaron only leveled up once. They gathered their loot and rested. The spiders had dropped poison sacks, silk webbing, legs, some eyes, and some shells. After that they continued on deeper into the spiders nest. They eventually ran in to a few more groups of spiders, but the party finished them off just like they did the first group. Finally they reached a clearing with a massive spider that had hundreds of egg sacks. They were scattered about hanging from trees and lying on the ground. The group moved slowly forward trying not to disturb the large spider. Once the spider reacted Aaron and Kevril charged forward to attack and keep it distracted. Marcy used fire arrows and rapid shot to aim for the eyes, trying to blind it. Merlin did the same thing as last time, firing away with his fireballs and lightning bolts. Aaron and the Kevril had to dodge the Spiders spiked legs as it continued to try and smash them. With Marcy’s and Merlin’s Fire attacks the spider caught fire and became blinded. It started to spasm under the blows and roar high pitch screams as it was slowly coming to its death. The giant spider collapsed but still tried to bat its attackers away with its legs. Kevril climbed up on to the spider’s body and started to hack at it, drawing and splattering green goo all over. Aaron went around to each leg and hacked them off. Soon the spider stopped moving at all and disintegrated into a pile of loot. The Party started to cheer and high-five each other before going to get the loot and collecting a number of the eggs. Ali pinched her nose and said “Ewww, Kevril you’re covered in goo! You stink.” “Yes, I’m covered in goo, but that just means I did a lot of work.” Kevril retorted. Aaron, “well that was fun but we should probably head back to town since we can’t really carry any more loot.” The party agreed so they started on back facing a few more groups of spiders. They were almost to the edge of the woods when three players stepped out to block their path. One looked like a knight with a great sword, another a mage, and the last seemed to be a rogue. The knight had a killers mark above his head but the others didn’t. The Rogue said, “It seems you have had a successful hunt!” Aaron, “we did. What is it to you?” The Rouge laughed at him with his companions soon joining in. Then the rouge stopped and looked right at Aaron. “Well I’m Hercules and this here is our road. We require a fee for anyone using it!” He rubbed his fingers together for emphasis. Kevril, “what do you mean your road, we’ve used this road plenty of times!” Hercules, “Well if you don’t pay we’ll just have to take it from you and make your lives miserable from now on.” Aaron, “Are you sure you want to try that? There are five of us and only three of you. Or would you like to take a beating?” The enemy knight went to draw his sword, but the rouge raised his hand to stop him. Hercules, “we’ll stop for now, but understand if we meet again you are not going to come out of it so easily. Come on lads lets go.” They walked away back towards the town talking to each other. “We could have easily taken them!” Marcy exclaims. Kevril shook his head, “I’m not so sure of that their equipment seemed to be high grade!” Aaron, “Yeah, you’re right. That would have been a hard fight if it came to it.” The party headed into town and sold most of the loot they had earned that day. Aaron smiled at the party, “Well that was fun, see you guys again sometime. I’m heading over to town hall to register for the tournament.” The party said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Unedited version **Spoiler** : For almost a month Aaron has been repeating the same schedule every day. He would practice in the sparing fields for a day, then go hunting, and do any available quests from the town. With all that work he has finally reached Level 30. Aaron has explored this entire area, and has figured out the Heavenly realm is made up of floating islands and mountains instead of just being one large land mass. The last area he had left was the Far East end of the island that was known as the heavens second training ground. He now wore light leather armor with his swords on both hips hanging from a pouch belt. Two of his knives where concealed up his sleeves, and two in his boots. The Two long knives were fastened next to his swords. He also now wears a scarf around his neck and lower face with something similar to chain mail on the outside of it. Aaron had also got a new pack that carried more weight, had a few more pouches, and an arrow quiver. One basic Blacksmith kit, Repair kit, a small shovel, some trap lines, and a rope was stored in his new pack. Status Window Name Aaron Primary Class N/A Health 800 Mana 400 Level 30 Health Regen/sec 3 Mana Regen/sec 3 Strength 26 Agility 29 Wisdom 14 Intelligence 16 Stamina 24 Vitality 16 Dexterity 24 Faith 0 Fame 0 Skills Precise shot-Basic Level 3, Blade Proficiency-basic level 5, Bow Proficiency-Basic level 6, Knife Proficiency-Basic level 4, Amidesxstis/Dual Wielding-Basic level 3, Repair-Basic level 2, Handicraft-Basic Level 2,Blacksmith-Basic level 1, Carpenter-Basic Level 1, Stealth-Basic level 1,Traps-Basic Level 2, Digging-Basic Level 2, Construction-Basic Level 1, First Aid- Basic level 3, Identify- Basic Level 2, Cooking- basic Level 2 Weapon Forms Feint, Slash, Stab, Spells none Language Common, Aaron was going out for his last hunting day. He passed many new players running around trying to earn some loot or cash at the outer east gates. As he headed for a path that lead deep into the forest, but before he even reached the path he saw four new players being chased by a large boar. Aaron slowed down to watch as they jumped out of the way of its charge's while trying to run from the boar. Aaron sighed and started to walk towards the boar as he pulled one of his swords out of his belt and one of the knives out of his sleeve. Three of the four players ran by him screaming with glee and fear. The fourth was a lot slower than the other three with a large carved staff in his hands. He jumped out of the way as the boar charged again letting out a sound that was a mix of a pig squeal and roar. As the boar turn to face its prey that he had just missed, Aaron raised his knife over his shoulder and throws it at the boars chest. The knife hit the right side of its chest causing it to squeal in pain and turn to face its new target. As the Boar turned Aaron drew his other sword while keeping eye contact with the boar. The boar started to paw at the ground as it prepared its charge. Aaron readied his swords as the Boar ran right at him, as the boar got close Aaron sidestepped it and sliced the side of its legs to slow it down. The boar slowed down almost immediately coming to a staggering walk. The boar turned again to face Aaron, with no less rage then before, but the boar knew it must flee. The boar ran staggering towards the forest, but Aaron was to fast. He ran up to its side and sliced at its uninjured legs causing the boar to fall and skid to a halt. He walked up to its head and slit its throat. A few moments later it disintegrated into a pile of loot. Aaron grabbed the few silver and copper coins before turning to the four new players. Aaron read each of their names as they spoke. “That was amazing! Thanks for helping us with that big meanie.” Said Alimore Serpenthelm. Merlin Wizardsblood took his glasses off and cleaned them, more out of habit than anything else.“ Thanks for saving me, I was almost a goner.” Aaron slid his swords back in to his scabbards and replied, “It was nothing I was just passing by and saw that you needed some help.” “Wouldn’t it have been easier with your bow?” Said Marcella Dawntracker. Aaron looked back to her, “The bow would work if you had good aim, and if boars were slower, but Boars have a thicker hide and are very fast.” “Yes, a true warrior always sticks to his sword!” Said Kevril Falconsflight Aaron shook his head, “that’s not true using an array of weapons is better than just the sword, and it varies on the situation you are in.” Marcella Dawntracker walked up to Aaron and put her hands on her hips. “You sound like a know it all, but you got spunk, and you did help us. So you’re okay in my book.” She then playfully punches Aaron’s shoulder. Aaron rubs his shoulder, “uh, thanks, I guess.” “Marcy, don’t hurt him! You always play too rough.” Alimore Serpenthelm says as she pouts at Marcella Dawntracker. After a moment of silence, Aaron looked back at the boar’s loot, “The rest is yours, I should get going. I’m heading deep into the forest to hunt.” Merlin Wizardsblood pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose and asked “Hey wait, would you like to party up with us?” You have been offered to join a Party! Would you like to join Yes/No? Aaron thought for a moment, “um… ok.” You have joined the party! (Party) “Yes!” Aaron asked, “What are your guys levels?” “I’m a level 11 and I also just became a Cleric. You can call me Ali!” Alimore Serpenthelm said with a bright smile. “ I’m a level 14 archer. Ali seems to like to call me Marcy,” said Marcella Dawntracker, as she shifted the bow on her back. “um, I’m a level 13 Mage, Merlin Wizardsblood, but my friends just call me Merlin.” Said Merlin. Kevril stood tall and said “I’m Kevril, and I’m proud to say that I am a Level 15 Knight!” “What’s your level?” asked Marcella Dawntracker. Aaron said, “I’m level 30.” Kev asked, “Do you have a profession?” Aaron, “not currently I’m not sure what I want to be just yet.” Kev took a proud stance and said, “Well that’s fine but I hope you chose to be a knight!” “Well you said you were going deep in the forest, what were you planning on doing?” asked Ali. Aaron, “ I was planning on hunting some large spiders, that I have heard about from the instructor!” Ali turned pale. They walked down the trail into the forest. As they went, Aaron taught the Archer, by shooting squirrels and rabbits they passed, how to use the bow better with breathing and aiming ahead of the target. As they where traveling it started to get darker as the trees blocked the light out. Soon it became very quiet, and then the wolves started to howl. The group stopped to look around them, drawing their weapons out. Suddenly glowing eyes had them surrounded. With another howl they charged at the party. Merlin and Ali started to give buffs to the others. While Marcy started to shot her arrows into the oncoming wolves. Aaron positioned himself between the oncoming wolves and the support members of the party. The first wolf came at him jumped up and tried to snap his throat, as he thrust his sword out into the wolf’s oncoming chest. As it fell, he pulled out his blade to face the next one. At the same time, Kevril was slashing at two wolves with his large claymore. He continued until one got to close. Kevril brought his blade down on the wolf, making its hit points drop to zero. Marcy released arrow after arrow into the wolves, trying to circle around them, putting one down here and there with a well-placed shot. One eventually got up close enough and lunged at her. She used her bow to knock it aside while drawing a knife from her belt. It came back at her knocking her down as she repeatedly stabbed it. She got back up and continued to launch arrows into the wolves. Merlin kept yelling and using a basic lightning bolt spell on any wolves that he could. Eventually he saw some wolves grouping together, and he sent a fireball into their midst, sending a few flying. Ali was keeping an eye on the group using healing hand on anyone who needed it and buffing all their stamina so they would not exhaust. Ali continued on as she noticed the wolves numbers where starting to severely drop. Aaron continued to slice and stab the wolves that were coming at him. Soon he could only see one in front of him. It was larger than the others and had a scar running across his muzzle. It came charging forward, lunging at him. Aaron sidestepped the attack and tried to slice the wolf’s front leg, but he missed. He turned around to face the wolf once again. It was showing its teeth and growling at him. As it pounced at him, Aaron stabbed both his blades into its chest. As he fell backwards, he kicked the huge wolf back over his head, holding his blades firmly in his hands causing the beast to be thrown from them. Aaron rolled over and jumped up on to his feet while looking at the wolf. It was struggling to rise to its feet and whimpering, but was still showing its teeth. He slowly walked up to it readying his blades. He then stabbed both his blades into its heart to put it out of its misery. There were no wolves left, the attack was over. The group sat to rest and collect the loot, which they split evenly amongst themselves. Kevril Asked, “Aaron where did you learn how to fight like that?” Aaron looked at the knight with a smile. “Through hard work and determination of solo fighting, along with a few angry rampages.” He replied “Ha, a few rampages? It seemed like you where a berserker.” commented Kevril. Aaron thought about that for a moment then shrugged his shoulders. “It didn’t seem like that to me. I just concentrated on fighting and not getting hit directly.” “Well you don’t have to worry about getting hit any more. If you ever are hit I could just heal you.” Ali said. Aaron looked down for a moment. Aaron said, “I don’t have much time left here on Heavens training grounds. I only have 3 days left to join the tournament or select my starting location.” Ali smiled brightly, “Don’t worry about it. We could always meet up after, when we finally get to start on the continent. Here I’ll friend request you!” (Party) “Yah lets all add you to our friends list!” You have received Friend requests from! Names: Alimore Serpenthelm, Kevril Falconsflight, Marcella Dawntracker, and Merlin Wizardsblood Will you accept Yes/No? Aaron with a smile spreading across his face, “I would gladly accept!” After that they chatted as they walked deeper into the forest. After awhile they started to see cobwebs hanging from the trees around them. They proceed in a formation of Aaron and Kevril leading on the front two sides with the Marcy holding the rear. Ali and Merlin were in the middle so they were not in any eminent danger. As they moved forward they started to hear clicking sounds coming from all around them. Moment’s later large spiders started to drop down and others walked out of the brush. “There sure are a lot of them, do you think we can handle this many?” said Ali nervously. Marcy responded, “ If we are careful we might, but there is a high chance that we might not make it.” Aaron looked around thinking of a way to win this. With that Ali and Merlin started to buff everyone. As the spiders drew closer Marcy started to shoot her arrow at them. Then Aaron and Kevril started to Hack and slash at the closest spiders while slowly taking steps back. Merlin, seeing the spiders starting to crowd, started to launch fireballs and lightning bolts at the spiders. The numbers of the spiders slowly dropped as they continued to work their way back down the trail. The spiders started to go into a frenzy as large portions of their webs started to catch fire and burn them as they fell. Eventually the last of the spiders that attacked them were finished off. “We did it! We actually did it!” Ali cheered. Merlin pushed up his glasses and smiled, “That was amazing I even leveled up a bit!” Most of the group leveled up quite a bit, while Aaron only level up once. They gathered their loot and rested. The spiders had dropped poison sacks, silk webbing, legs, some eyes, and some shells. After that they continued on deeper into the spiders nest. They eventually ran in to a few more groups of spiders, but the party finished them off just like they did the first group. Finally they reached a clearing with a massive spider that had hundreds of egg sacks. They were scattered about hanging from trees and lying on the ground. The group moved slowly forward trying not to disturb the large spider. Once the spider reacted Aaron and Kevril charged forward to attack and keep it distracted. Marcy used fire arrows and rapid shot to aim for the eyes, trying to blind it. Merlin did the same thing as last time, firing away with his fireballs and lightning bolts. Aaron and the Kevril had to dodge the Spiders spiked legs as it continued to try and smash them. With Marcy’s and Merlin’s Fire attacks the spider caught fire and became blinded. It started to spasm under the blows and roar high pitch screams as it was slowly coming to its death. The giant spider collapsed but still tried to bat its attackers away with its legs. Kevril climbed up on to the spider’s body and started to hack at it, drawing and splattering green goo all over. Aaron went around to each leg and hacked them off. Soon the spider stopped moving at all and disintegrated into a pile of loot. The Party started to cheer and high-five each other before going to get the loot and collecting a number of the eggs. Ali pinched her nose and said “Ewww, Kevril you’re covered in goo! You stink.” “Yes, I’m covered in goo, but that just means I did a lot of work.” Kevril retorted. Aaron, “well that was fun but we should probably head back to town since we can’t really carry any more loot.” The party agreed so they started on back facing a few more groups of spiders. They were almost to the edge of the woods when three players stepped out to block their path. One looked like a knight with a great sword, another a mage, and the last seemed to be a rogue. The knight had a killers mark above his head but the others didn’t. The Rogue said, “It seems you have had a successful hunt!” Aaron, “we did. What is it to you?” The Rouge laughed at him with his companions soon joining in. Then the rouge stopped and looked right at Aaron. “Well I’m Hercules and this here is our road. We require a fee for anyone using it!” He rubbed his fingers together for emphasis. Kevril, “what do you mean your road, we’ve used this road plenty of times!” Hercules, “Well if you don’t pay we’ll just have to take it from you and make your lives miserable from now on.” Aaron, “Are you sure you want to try that? There are five of us and only three of you. Or would you like to take a beating?” The enemy knight went to draw his sword, but the rouge raised his hand to stop him. Hercules, “we’ll stop for now, but understand if we meet again you are not going to come out of it so easily. Come on lads lets go.” They walked away back towards the town talking to each other. “We could have easily taken them!” Marcy exclaims. Kevril shook his head, “I’m not so sure of that their equipment seemed to be high grade!” Aaron, “Yeah, you’re right. That would have been a hard fight if it came to it.” The party headed into town and sold most of the loot they had earned that day. Aaron smiled at the party, “Well that was fun, see you guys again sometime. I’m heading over to town hall to register for the tournament.” The party said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> The nearby village, Varrock, could be seen. However, something was amiss. The village was under siege! Hundreds of Ratfolk were charging towards the village while the village guards got into formation.<br><br>“Quick, the village is under siege! We must hurry and help them!” Isabelle proclaimed.<br><br>“Run! We must hurry before the village falls!” Commanded the Knight.<br><br>Although he had been sticking with the party, the only name he knew till now was Isabelle’s, who was the priest.<br><br>With his short legs, Kayle started to sprint. Although everyone’s stride was longer, he was faster due to his high Dexterity, gained from the training hall. Everyone was amazed as he rushed down from the 400 meter rocky hill with steep steps and slopes, Sunshine flying behind him closely. The catapults of the ratfolk were 500 meters away.<br><br>“Kayle, get Sunshine to disrupt the artillery troops!” Kayle received a private message from Isabelle.<br><br>“Sunshine, use your magic to stop the catapults!”<br><br>“Piiiiiiii” Sunshine’s horn shone in brown and the catapults started sinking into the ground. Sunshine’s magic had turned the rocky terrain into quicksand, due to the catapults heavy weight, they sank. The ratfolk panicked as some of their allies, who were holding spare rocks for the catapults, started to sink into the quicksand, disappearing without a trace.<br><br>With light and stealthy footsteps, Kayle dashed behind a ratfolk who was trying desperately to dig out the cannon, while his ally ran off to report the incident. He drew out his sword as he lunged past the Ratfolk. The Ratfolk tilted his head up at Kayle’s flashy appearance, but before it could even speak, its upper body fell forward and disappeared into thin air.<br><br>As Kayle had executed his skill silently, the alarm wasn't raised, and he started killing the ratfolk who were alone and unaware of his presence. “Isabelle, keep the Ratfolk leader alive!” Kayle sent a private message.<br><br>“Okay, I will relay your message,” Isabelle replied within seconds.<br><br>Isabelle’s party finally arrived and started charging into the village as well, following the frontlines of the Ratfolk. Due to their obvious entrance into the fray, the alarm was raised. “POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo!!!!! POOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” A low pitch sound echoed throughout the open rocky terrain, surrounded by tall mountain ridges. The alarm suddenly stopped as the Ratfolk in charge of blowing the commands found a dagger sticking out of his body, and another one out of his throat. The Ratfolk turned around to check out who’s the retard who couldn't even blow the horn properly. To their horror, they saw a Knight charging towards them, and arrows raining down and driving straight into their heads.<br><br>“Kill ’em all!” Shouted the Knight to the village guards, while activating his “Roar” skill to improve the guards’ morale.<br><br>Together with Sunshine, Kayle jumped into a line of mages and priests. He senses sharpened and his speed increased. With a step, he dashed forward with explosive speed, ending up 12 meters away. Heads behind him started to fall to the ground and begin rolling. He had swiftly executed a wave of mages who were stupidly standing in a single file, which allowed him to slice through them in one strike. Sunshine, on the other hand, used its magic to create a pitfall, dropping the priest into it while showering them with icicles. Next, spikes shot out from the pitfall from all directions, and icicles shattered and showered onto the survivors of the first wave of spikes.<br><br>The mages and priest were taken out. Without delay, arrows flew towards Kayle and Sunshine. Sunshine flew towards Kayle as its horns glowed grey. A strong wind started blowing. The arrows were blown away, and the Ratfolk were blown off their feet. As Kayle was as tall as the Ratfolk, he was almost blown off his feet as well. He quickly hugged Sunshine, as the wind was too strong. <br><br>Sunshine stopped its magic, as the Ratfolk were prone on the floor. Those who were blown off found themselves in the middle of the fighting, and was killed instantly by the guards. Kayle then advanced quickly and started his rampage, slicing and dicing anyone who attempted to get on their feet. <br><br>After the massacre, the fight ended and the Ratfolk commander was captured. <br><br>The commander was wearing a skull helmet, with long whiskers sticking out from its nose. It had large scars on its face and beady crimson eyes. He had on a well-carved wooden armor and a large, fancy rod. The poor Ratfolk’s tail was also tied into a butterfly knot to prevent it from swinging around wildly.<br><br>The guard captain escorted their saviors inside the barrack as they started questioning the rat. <br><br>“Who sent you here?” Asked the village mayor.<br><br>“Squeak,” replied the Rat. (what?)<br><br>“What?" Asked the mayor.<br><br>"Squeak squeak," it replied with a snarl. (what you want from me.)<br><br>The mayor sighed as he couldn't get any sensible reply from the Ratfolk commander, other than squeaks.<br><br>“Let’s kill him,” suggested the village guard captain.<br><br>“Wait, let me try something,” Kayle walked forward and raised his hands, putting them on the sides of the Ratfolk commander’s head, and used his class skill Bestial Memories.<br><br>His vision grew dark, and he found himself on a foreign land, an old Ratfolk sat on a long table, beside a Dark Elf with his underling behind him. They were talking(sqeaking) loudly. Kayle turned his head around and saw the Ratfolk commander who had been captured. He walked forward to take a look at the piece of paper on the table. <br>The paper was written in a readable language. It seemed to have been written by the Dark Elf. It read:<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Alliance Agreement<br>Ratfolk dictator has agreed to form an alliance with Dark Elves. Together, we will invade the human land at the foot of the round mountain, and claim back the land our ancestor lived in. This treaty will allow us to pool our resources together, manpower, skills, money and intelligence. Together, we will arrange an invasion to chase the humans away. We must claim back what we have lost!<br><br>Signature of Dictator<br>Ratsuya Squekaka <br>Signature of Dark Elf ambassador<br>Kudada Darkseeker</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>Kayle took a screenshot of the agreement, before he forgot the contents. Then, he tilted his head up to see the Ratfolk dictator shaking hands with the Dark Elf, while the generals and subjects of the two races applauded them for their alliance.<br><br>Kayle exited the conference room and started wandering around. He saw a timer counting down beside his health bar. He had 18 minutes remaining. As he was able to walk through walls, he entered the deepest part of the library and saw books. He took out some picture books and started browsing through them out of boredom. <br><br>Through the pictures, he saw the history of the Ratfolk… <br><br>The Ratfolk once walked on the lowlands. However, humans expanded their territory and found the Ratfolk. Due to the humans’ wild ambitions, they started a war and forced the Ratfolk out of of their homeland. They fled to the surrounding mountains. Years later, humans settled down on their once homeland. In anger, the Ratfolk started raiding the human settlements. Humans learnt about it, and a war started. After the Ratfolk lost the war, the humans chased the Ratfolk into the mountains. The Ratfolk climbed higher and higher up a very tall mountain, which had a large plateau. They rushed into the plateau and threw rocks and boulders down, stopping the humans’ advance. Unable to proceed further, the humans stopped their pursuit. Fearing that the Ratfolk would rebuild their forces and try invading again, the ancient Tian empire of Lung Wa hired a powerful sorceress, Hao Kin, to teleport a massive sphere of stone, collapsing the pathways and tunnels which led to their current homeland. Resentment and hatred remained in the Ratfolk’s heart as this history was passed down from generation to generation. They excavated the pathways day and night until it was completed, and had finally completed their first step for revenge…<br><br>As time was running out, he started taking screenshots as he flipped through the pages. He returned the books back, and started looking for more picture books. After flipping through several books, he came across a torn and tattered one. As he opened the book, it glows in color as knowledge flood into him.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>System message<br>You have memorised ancient magic<br>You are unable to use them due to your class, however, you are entitled to transfer your knowledge to one person.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>The timer ticked to zero as he closed the system message, and bright light surround him. When he opened his eyes, the rat general was in front of him.<br><br>“What happened? You stood there like a scarecrow without moving for so long!” Isabelle asked frantically.<br><br>Kayle described what he saw to the people in the conference room, and took out the evidence he had found. After hearing his story, the mayor slammed his hands on the table. “We must stop them! Quick, pass me some paper! I need to inform the King as soon as possible!”<br><br> Attendants rushed out and returned immediately with inks,brushes and paper. The mayor then asked, “Please, saviors, help us delay them. I mean, find their base for us while we wait for the King’s order”. <br><br>A system message appeared in front of Kayle and the party.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Infiltrate, spy and map!<br>You have been given a quest to find the Ratfolk’s living grounds. Map a path out and kill as many enemies as you can! <br><br>Difficulty: C<br><br>Reward:<br>Gain fame and favor from the Mayor.<br>Gold pieces depending on the quality of the map.<br>50 silver per Ratfolk or Dark Elf killed.<br>Time Limit: Before the Ratfolk launch their offense.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Kayle turned his head towards Isabelle, and she smiled. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Isabelle invited you the party.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Kayle accepted both the quest and party request happily.<br><br>=====================================================================================================================<br>I actually wanted to make this a prologue but oh well why not make it a short chapter :/<br><br>sorry if my updates gets slower since common test is coming.... need to catch up on certain lots of subjects xD </div>

The nearby village, Varrock, could be seen. However, something was amiss. The village was under siege! Hundreds of Ratfolk were charging towards the village while the village guards got into formation. “Quick, the village is under siege! We must hurry and help them!” Isabelle proclaimed. “Run! We must hurry before the village falls!” Commanded the Knight. Although he had been sticking with the party, the only name he knew till now was Isabelle’s, who was the priest. With his short legs, Kayle started to sprint. Although everyone’s stride was longer, he was faster due to his high Dexterity, gained from the training hall. Everyone was amazed as he rushed down from the 400 meter rocky hill with steep steps and slopes, Sunshine flying behind him closely. The catapults of the ratfolk were 500 meters away. “Kayle, get Sunshine to disrupt the artillery troops!” Kayle received a private message from Isabelle. “Sunshine, use your magic to stop the catapults!” “Piiiiiiii” Sunshine’s horn shone in brown and the catapults started sinking into the ground. Sunshine’s magic had turned the rocky terrain into quicksand, due to the catapults heavy weight, they sank. The ratfolk panicked as some of their allies, who were holding spare rocks for the catapults, started to sink into the quicksand, disappearing without a trace. With light and stealthy footsteps, Kayle dashed behind a ratfolk who was trying desperately to dig out the cannon, while his ally ran off to report the incident. He drew out his sword as he lunged past the Ratfolk. The Ratfolk tilted his head up at Kayle’s flashy appearance, but before it could even speak, its upper body fell forward and disappeared into thin air. As Kayle had executed his skill silently, the alarm wasn't raised, and he started killing the ratfolk who were alone and unaware of his presence. “Isabelle, keep the Ratfolk leader alive!” Kayle sent a private message. “Okay, I will relay your message,” Isabelle replied within seconds. Isabelle’s party finally arrived and started charging into the village as well, following the frontlines of the Ratfolk. Due to their obvious entrance into the fray, the alarm was raised. “POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo!!!!! POOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” A low pitch sound echoed throughout the open rocky terrain, surrounded by tall mountain ridges. The alarm suddenly stopped as the Ratfolk in charge of blowing the commands found a dagger sticking out of his body, and another one out of his throat. The Ratfolk turned around to check out who’s the retard who couldn't even blow the horn properly. To their horror, they saw a Knight charging towards them, and arrows raining down and driving straight into their heads. “Kill ’em all!” Shouted the Knight to the village guards, while activating his “Roar” skill to improve the guards’ morale. Together with Sunshine, Kayle jumped into a line of mages and priests. He senses sharpened and his speed increased. With a step, he dashed forward with explosive speed, ending up 12 meters away. Heads behind him started to fall to the ground and begin rolling. He had swiftly executed a wave of mages who were stupidly standing in a single file, which allowed him to slice through them in one strike. Sunshine, on the other hand, used its magic to create a pitfall, dropping the priest into it while showering them with icicles. Next, spikes shot out from the pitfall from all directions, and icicles shattered and showered onto the survivors of the first wave of spikes. The mages and priest were taken out. Without delay, arrows flew towards Kayle and Sunshine. Sunshine flew towards Kayle as its horns glowed grey. A strong wind started blowing. The arrows were blown away, and the Ratfolk were blown off their feet. As Kayle was as tall as the Ratfolk, he was almost blown off his feet as well. He quickly hugged Sunshine, as the wind was too strong. Sunshine stopped its magic, as the Ratfolk were prone on the floor. Those who were blown off found themselves in the middle of the fighting, and was killed instantly by the guards. Kayle then advanced quickly and started his rampage, slicing and dicing anyone who attempted to get on their feet. After the massacre, the fight ended and the Ratfolk commander was captured. The commander was wearing a skull helmet, with long whiskers sticking out from its nose. It had large scars on its face and beady crimson eyes. He had on a well-carved wooden armor and a large, fancy rod. The poor Ratfolk’s tail was also tied into a butterfly knot to prevent it from swinging around wildly. The guard captain escorted their saviors inside the barrack as they started questioning the rat. “Who sent you here?” Asked the village mayor. “Squeak,” replied the Rat. (what?) “What?" Asked the mayor. "Squeak squeak," it replied with a snarl. (what you want from me.) The mayor sighed as he couldn't get any sensible reply from the Ratfolk commander, other than squeaks. “Let’s kill him,” suggested the village guard captain. “Wait, let me try something,” Kayle walked forward and raised his hands, putting them on the sides of the Ratfolk commander’s head, and used his class skill Bestial Memories. His vision grew dark, and he found himself on a foreign land, an old Ratfolk sat on a long table, beside a Dark Elf with his underling behind him. They were talking(sqeaking) loudly. Kayle turned his head around and saw the Ratfolk commander who had been captured. He walked forward to take a look at the piece of paper on the table. The paper was written in a readable language. It seemed to have been written by the Dark Elf. It read: | Alliance AgreementRatfolk dictator has agreed to form an alliance with Dark Elves. Together, we will invade the human land at the foot of the round mountain, and claim back the land our ancestor lived in. This treaty will allow us to pool our resources together, manpower, skills, money and intelligence. Together, we will arrange an invasion to chase the humans away. We must claim back what we have lost!Signature of DictatorRatsuya Squekaka Signature of Dark Elf ambassadorKudada Darkseeker | | --- | Kayle took a screenshot of the agreement, before he forgot the contents. Then, he tilted his head up to see the Ratfolk dictator shaking hands with the Dark Elf, while the generals and subjects of the two races applauded them for their alliance. Kayle exited the conference room and started wandering around. He saw a timer counting down beside his health bar. He had 18 minutes remaining. As he was able to walk through walls, he entered the deepest part of the library and saw books. He took out some picture books and started browsing through them out of boredom. Through the pictures, he saw the history of the Ratfolk… The Ratfolk once walked on the lowlands. However, humans expanded their territory and found the Ratfolk. Due to the humans’ wild ambitions, they started a war and forced the Ratfolk out of of their homeland. They fled to the surrounding mountains. Years later, humans settled down on their once homeland. In anger, the Ratfolk started raiding the human settlements. Humans learnt about it, and a war started. After the Ratfolk lost the war, the humans chased the Ratfolk into the mountains. The Ratfolk climbed higher and higher up a very tall mountain, which had a large plateau. They rushed into the plateau and threw rocks and boulders down, stopping the humans’ advance. Unable to proceed further, the humans stopped their pursuit. Fearing that the Ratfolk would rebuild their forces and try invading again, the ancient Tian empire of Lung Wa hired a powerful sorceress, Hao Kin, to teleport a massive sphere of stone, collapsing the pathways and tunnels which led to their current homeland. Resentment and hatred remained in the Ratfolk’s heart as this history was passed down from generation to generation. They excavated the pathways day and night until it was completed, and had finally completed their first step for revenge… As time was running out, he started taking screenshots as he flipped through the pages. He returned the books back, and started looking for more picture books. After flipping through several books, he came across a torn and tattered one. As he opened the book, it glows in color as knowledge flood into him. | System messageYou have memorised ancient magicYou are unable to use them due to your class, however, you are entitled to transfer your knowledge to one person. | | --- | The timer ticked to zero as he closed the system message, and bright light surround him. When he opened his eyes, the rat general was in front of him. “What happened? You stood there like a scarecrow without moving for so long!” Isabelle asked frantically. Kayle described what he saw to the people in the conference room, and took out the evidence he had found. After hearing his story, the mayor slammed his hands on the table. “We must stop them! Quick, pass me some paper! I need to inform the King as soon as possible!” Attendants rushed out and returned immediately with inks,brushes and paper. The mayor then asked, “Please, saviors, help us delay them. I mean, find their base for us while we wait for the King’s order”. A system message appeared in front of Kayle and the party. | Infiltrate, spy and map!You have been given a quest to find the Ratfolk’s living grounds. Map a path out and kill as many enemies as you can! Difficulty: CReward:Gain fame and favor from the Mayor.Gold pieces depending on the quality of the map.50 silver per Ratfolk or Dark Elf killed.Time Limit: Before the Ratfolk launch their offense. | | --- | Kayle turned his head towards Isabelle, and she smiled. | Isabelle invited you the party. | | --- | Kayle accepted both the quest and party request happily. ===================================================================================================================== I actually wanted to make this a prologue but oh well why not make it a short chapter :/ sorry if my updates gets slower since common test is coming.... need to catch up on certain lots of subjects xD

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Like Samuel, Winter had not really expected them to have a bond of comradeship so quickly. He had initially thought Rinne was bothersome, and Samuel, an annoying bugger. Everything sort of came back to Adria, in a way. When he saw Rinne being harassed, he just had to jump in. It was not the elegant save he had pictured in mind, since he could not bear listening to another second of Samuel’s rapid ranting, yet he did the job.<br><br>When he was tackled by Rinne and asked to help them out in their quest, he obliged out of an inability to find a pause to say ‘NO’. Everyone met this sort of person once in awhile. The sort that dragged you along their pace, and you were helpless against it. Winter already had such a person in his family. He ought to be at least immune to strangers doing it to him, yet the outcome was the same anyway.<br><br>Upon hearing they were bards, Winter was not sure how much help they would be. So he soloed all monsters on the way by himself. After his first near death experience in a while, he became more curious about the two’s capabilities. <br><br><br>A fast-paced jig was playing. Winter made another neat quick turn and slice, finishing up the last Orc. The Orc’s head parted from its body and fell, then quickly graying out and pixelating. <br><br>“That’s the last of it. Let’s move before there are more,” said Winter.<br><br>“Sure, dude. But I don’t think we need to worry about mobs. You seem to be handling them well.”<br><br>Samuel, when you got to know him a little better, was a nice kid, really. He was rough around the edges, but had a good heart. And he was wickedly skilled with his Lute. Winter had gone through the usual phase of youth. He could not play any instrument, but he saw plenty of his classmates in music class that were pretty damn good with it. Samuel was a class above even the best he knew. His fingers flew with sure deftness and stops. <br><br>The tune he played was called &lt;&lt;Soldier’s March&gt;&gt;. A nice uplifting tune. It improved party member’s movement speed by 15% while he played it. Winter imagined a repeated tune, since it could not possibly be fifteen minutes long. Yet, for the whole duration, Samuel never played in the same way twice. He changed tempo, added some chords in pauses, like the personal touches of an artist. <br><br>Rinne was not idle. She was humming the whole time too, though Winter could not hear it since he was too busy battling one mob after another. He had heard enough during their planning session though, to admire her singing ability. If there was a one man band, Rinne was a one girl choir. She sang in three different voices! Winter could not say what amazed him more. Whether the girl thought it was normal to be able to do that, or that a human could even do it. Winter suspected the rather cheeky girl was gaming him. It was probably some sort of bard skill in Royal Road.<br><br>&lt;&lt;Silent Forest&gt;&gt; was a song for close range concealment. As long as there were other players around her, she would not be targeted by any monster. The range extended for around a two meter radius. Therefore, Samuel. who was close to her, was completely safe too.<br><br>“No reason to take chances, kid. I am worried about you two when the battles are prolonged. I can run, fast. You two? I doubt it.”<br><br>It sobered Samuel up to the fact that Winter, despite his monster-slaying ability, was still a single player. It meant no back ups, no safety nets when things became sour. He was more than mildly impressed, though he would never admit it to the mage, that monsters that should be handled by a complete party could be taken care of so easily by him.<br><br>“Whatever, dude,” replied Samuel, letting go of his Lute, leaving it to dangle from him.<br><br>“Samuel!” Rinne immediately reprimanded Samuel for his behavior.<br><br>A grimace quickly formed on his face. Winter, who had been on the other end of Rinne’s unusually bossy behavior when it came to points of courtesy, was in tacit agreement that when dealing with Rinne, they were best friends.<br><br>“Never mind, let’s go,” waved Winter.<br><br>They had been roaming around the Orcs’ territory for two days, testing out each other’s ability. Winter thought he would be done with them after they exited the dungeon that had somehow collapsed right after they were outside, buried under rocks and more rocks. But six hours of pleading from Rinne, a log out, and log in. with Rinne still camped out at where he last logged out, and more pleading for him to travel with them (or was it for them to join in his travelling? - Winter was not sure which was which anymore), he gave up and just let her do whatever she wanted.<br><br>Since it appeared that they would be stuck together for a while, Winter wished to know everything they could tell about their class. Which surprisingly, and very interestingly, was contrary to what he knew and believed.<br><br>Artists and artisans were not the same, for a start. Artisans were normal craft classes. Artists meanwhile, usually mistaken for craft professions by normal players, were actually classes with a performance-related concept. Artists consisted of Bards, which then branched out to Singers (which were actually bards too, but had always been regarded as a different class due to learning different abilities and skill sets), Dancers, and Acrobats. Winter had lost the thread of the conversation after Acrobats. There were a lot more!<br><br>Most of their spell effects (in the form of Songs, Tunes, Hymns, etc), were aimed at party members within a broad range. Most of their spellsongs (what the bards actually called their abilities) were the same, since they started with the same class, Bard. Both could do movement speed buffs, minor attack buffs, minor mana restoration, improve vitality and defense improvement. Samuel then had the &lt;&lt;Kyrie Eleison&gt;&gt; which was incredibly handy in tight spot. Winter’s eyes were hard pressed to follow the speed at which Samuel’s fingers finished the sequence.<br><br>The latest spellsong Rinne had learned &lt;&lt;Desert Lullaby&gt;&gt; ,was her first one that targeted monsters. Apparently, such spellsongs were rare. Aside from that, Winter was surprised that she actually had active defense capabilities in the form of green vines which she sang out of the ground, sealing her in completely for five minutes. It reminded Winter of some princess story he read, the vines were thick, with barbs as long as his fingers. Rinne told him the skill was not very useful anyway, since it was a last ditch effort. If she ever had to use it, it meant it was bad indeed. (Winter quietly disagreed, since she mentioned that the vines were invulnerable for the whole duration)<br><br>Rinne was decent with flutes, apparently. She had given a good account of herself during mealtimes, though she was apparently not even close to Samuel’s standard. But since Samuel could not sing even a spit worth, it evened out. The two days were a good time for them. With a Bard and Singer around, it really felt like a true adventure for him. The times of conversation times he had spent awkwardly with Zaya somehow did not compare. In the two days, Winter had leveled up twice, while Rinne went up by seven and Samuel, by nine.<br><br>The trip back to town was quite pleasant. Winter opened up the path easily with Samuel and Rinne’s support. Their conversation topics could use a little more work though. They were still probing each other’s comfort points. They had just exited the edge of the forest when Winter spotted a player with a green headwrap, who dashed into hiding upon seeing him. Groaning, Winter could foresee another battle. Somehow, he had the feeling that Daffy might just get him this time.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">xXx</div><br><br>It did not take long for Daffy’s friends to surround him. He would have preferred Rinne and Samuel to not be around him. Yet the decision was out of his hands within three minutes after he was spotted. In twos and threes, green headwraps begin appearing. If their skills were about Daffy’s range, he probably could take out ten out of the twenty or so that had gathered to surround him, but they were doing nothing in particular. Winter was interested to find out what they were waiting for, but had a good guess. After going through one adventure with Winter, Rinne and Samuel had become more aggressive somehow. Winter had no idea what caused it. They refused to logout as an option to avoid certain confrontation, and very possible death and its penalties.<br><br>Shrugging, Winter and the two waited for the climax of the uncalled for gathering. He had never been in a large scale combat with another player. The castle raid did not count, as he had not been participating in any battle capacity (him cooking food was the only visible contribution!). He supposed he could have logged out and came back in…. half year? No way they would be waiting for him that long. But Winter had never been one to back down from a challenge. He would dodge them as much as he could, yes, but he always gave it his best shot eventually (after whining and bitching about it usually, or when the mood struck and he felt particularly good, just finishing it up immediately).<br><br>Therefore, just to tell the group of green headwraps and Daffy, whom he had spotted immediately among the twenties, that he was not going anywhere, he sat on the ground and begin to sew. <br><br>“What are you doing?” Asked Daffy.<br><br>“What? Can’t you tell? I am sewing,” replied Winter, without looking away.<br><br>“I can see you are sewing. But why?” he asked again, as if the answer was not obvious.<br><br>“You all seem to be waiting for someone to arrive. I assume there will be another duel. So, I thought at least, I should relax,” said Winter, while putting another hole in the fabric.<br><br>“Yeah. Right. This time, you are dead!” As if that was an invitation that Daffy was looking for, he began to share that he had asked someone strong to kill Winter. Winter paused when he heard the word ‘Kill’.<br><br>“What is stopping me from breaking through and logging out within the city? I hate dying for no good reason.”<br><br>“That’s…” Stuttered Daffy, trying to think up of a reason quickly.<br><br>“Because there are twenty-three of us, moron, and only three of you!” One goon to Daffy’s left stepped to his rescue.<br><br>“Yes. There are more of us than you!” Spoke Daffy loudly, to cover his pause.<br><br>“That did not seem to affect the odds last time. What can you do to stop me? Kill me? Okay. Who is up for it? I would even give you a good shot,” Winter pointed to the goon who had spoken up earlier.<br><br>As a general rule of thumb, a regular player was not fond of killing another player. Penalties from a Murderer’s Mark were rather heavy. Winter was not yet clear as to how to remove it. But judging from the hesitation that all players who surrounded him exhibited, they were not ready to do that yet.<br>“Me? I see that twenty or so of you might make it worth the time for me to spend getting the Mark. A lot of money in those gear, I think. So, really. Who here is ready to kill me? Because If nobody wants to kill me, all of you will be dead!” Winter let out a slightly mad laugh, for good measure.<br><br>“You can’t do that!” A nervous voice called from behind him. Winter looked at the general direction where the voice came from, smiling with as much predatory menace as he could summon. From the looks of it, it was a success. Putting back his sewing items, Winter stood and drew his sword.<br><br>“Stop me?” cackled Winter. Weapons were drawn immediately. All of them.<br><br>That was usually when whatever above chose to screw with him. And they never disappointed. A small commotion broke through the dread that had enveloped the band of thieves. Winter turned around to meet the figure of blond-haired, handsome, rough and tough-looking warrior. The Mark was prominent on his forehead.<br><br>“Sure. Think you are up for it, old man?” Whoever this new guy was, he did not waste time drawong his two-handed sword, and took a stance.<br><br>“Ah! Umber! You are finally here!” <br><br>Daffy, who was probably the most nervous out of all of them, recovered his composure. He was about to launch into more threats ,when Umber’s eyes, which never left Winter, swung his sword idly to smack Daffy on the head. Daffy staggered and fell on his ass.<br><br>“What was that for!” Exclaimed Daffy. His voice rose to a whine.<br><br>“Shut up.” With those two words, Daffy closed his mouth and began edging away. Rinne, who was better at reading the feel of the virtual air, pulled Samuel, who was oblivious to the sparks flying between Winter and Umber, away. The space between the two were clear.<br><br>‘This guy…. I might be in trouble.’<br><br>Winter’s inner dialogue worked in fever pitch arguments against each other. He usually never bothered to listen to them as they gave contradictory messages and ones he was usually not happy about. But this time, they were unanimous, “Run!”<br><br>Recently, Winter could somehow read if an opponent was strong. He judged that the player in front of him was stronger than him, from his confidence. None but Rinne and Samuel knew that he was a Mage. Maybe he could capitalise that to his advantage.<br><br>Moving his left foot a couple inches forward, Winter leapt to make a slash that he intended as a feint, and have his sword come from the other side. It never happened. He was forced to use Reflex to save his own head. Umber’s weapon range was at least one and a half times longer than his sword, and he used it pretty damn quick. The counterslash was straightforward, but sliced down fast enough that Winter’s Reflex had barely kept up with the speed of the swing, as he had been focused on offense. Bending his left knee, Winter managed to alter his posture to a quick half backstep and launched himself forward again in a diving thrust. Umber was pretty damn quick too with his reaction, twisting away so that he only received a small nick instead of eating the whole sword.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You inflicted 60 damage to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>They exchanged positions. Winter stood back up quickly from his roll after the dive, while Umber took his previous stance, that was almost a mirror to his, only with a longer sword.<br><br>“Impressive. It has been a while since someone got me,” Umber licked his lips in anticipation.<br><br>Everyone thought it was a big deal too. They were whispering and pointing, from what Winter could gather, without turning away from Umber.<br><br>“Think you can dodge the next one?”<br><br>Umber’s body was rocking left and right in a subtle motion. Winter, who had been paying attention to the motion, almost missed the starting motion of the side swipe. He barely managed to get his sword to a blocking position. He executed a move he had practiced against the strong Dullahans. With his feet off the ground and jumping in the same direction as the blow, Winter was propelled away from the range of the next slash that Umber had prepared for him. His sword was poised for another quick, and very likely, quite fatal downward strike. His grin of pleasure was still pasted on his face.<br><br>It somehow annoyed Winter that this player loved killing another player. It did not feel right to him. Problem was, he was not sure he could kill this Umber character. In the short period that they had clashed, his estimate was that Umber was even stronger than Gordon. Killing another player with a Mark gained no penalty. It even had a small bonus of fame and bounty, if the player was notorious enough. The bout between Winter and Umber would be to the death. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;">xXx</div><br><br>‘First things first. Stall!’<br><br>That was a must. Like Umber said. He was not sure he could dodge further attacks if he did not have Reflex. The cooldown period was still left with eighteen seconds.<br><br>“Say…. why are you doing this?”<br><br>Winter had asked out of pure curiosity, yet he was also using the time they were circling each other to wait for his Reflex to finish its cooldown.<br><br>“Does one need any reason to kill?” Replied Umber carelessly.<br><br>Not waiting for further talk from Winter, Umber launched into three rapid stabs. Winter managed to dodge the first one, narrowly parried the second one, but the third one hit him square in the stomach.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Critical Hit!<br>You received 970 damage!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>For a proper swordsman, they could probably sneeze at that amount of damage. For Winter, that amounted to over three quarters of his health cleared in one blow. He put a counter blow on Umber’s neck, as he knew he could not dodge the third stab.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Critical Hit!<br>You inflicted 250 damage on <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Winter groaned internally. He was putting a good hit on his opponent’s neck, an even better spot than his stomach, yet he inflicted less damage! It was probably due to the difference in their armor. He could assume that Umber would have at least five times the amount of health he had. That would make his desperate attack a bare pittance.<br><br>“Huh…. Are you sure you are a swordsman?”<br><br>Umber carelessly pulled out his sword, and Winter quickly made distance. He was confused. In all of his battles against warriors, he had never scored such a big hit. He turned angrily to Daffy.<br><br>“Oi! Did you just give me a small fry? Huh!”<br><br>He was brandishing his sword threateningly at Daffy, who cowered and got equally confused.<br><br>‘Comradeship is definitely detrimental to me!’ Thought Winter.<br><br>Kneeling on the ground, Winter quickly put out two short whispers to Rinne and Samuel.<br><br>‘Run when you see me running.’ That was the short message’s content. Rinne gave a slight nod. Winter wanted to throttle Samuel’s neck. Samuel had jumped in surprise and looked at him like he was mad. Anyone who paid any attention (which luckily none did, fixated they were with Umber) could tell that Winter had been communicating with him!<br><br>“What are you talking about?”<br><br>“I am talking about this swordsman! Are you kidding me? You lose to someone at least forty levels under you! How weak can you guys be!”<br><br>Umber’s calculation would not be off if he used a standard swordsman status. Yet of course, he was off by a large margin. Winter, who had discreetly gulped his last health potion, straightened up again and took a stance. He did not stop their argument. In fact, it would be beneficial for him if they kept on going and ignored him for as long as possible, so his health could fully recover. It was short-lived though. Daffy wised up at that moment.<br><br>“I don’t care if he is weaker than me! The contract! You have to finish him up!” Screamed Daffy, feeling particularly defiant for once. That cooled Umber’s ire quickly. Contract breaching in the guild was a serious offense. He always fulfilled his contract. Sighing then shrugging, Umber turned back to Winter, who did not say a word while they were arguing.<br><br>“Sorry there, puny swordsman. You have to die. Normally, I would prefer to let you go. But he paid.”<br><br>“But, Winter is a..” Samuel almost stole Winter’s thunder. <br><br>“You! Shut up!” Yelled Winter. Samuel’s mouth closed with a clack. For good measure, Rinne ground her foot on Samuel’s. It did not injure him badly, but he got the point.<br><br>“Well. Yeah. He is right,” Winter got back in gear. He quite enjoyed this part, somehow.<br><br>“Oh. You are not a swordsman? What are you?” Umber was quite smart, surprisingly, catching on quickly.Somehow, it deflated Winter’s enjoyment.<br><br>“I will tell you if you let me go?” Winter asked, without much hope.<br><br>“No can do, ” came the instant reply.<br><br>“Then I guess you will never find out.”<br><br>Umber laughed at Winter’s reply. It was rather audacious to hold a small mystery over everyone’s head in such situation. Umber somehow felt that he could like this mature-looking player. He then narrowed his eyes and tightened his stance. Winter would have licked ten more seconds. His health point would be full by then. The next ten seconds or so, unfortunately, would decide everything for him.<br><br>A leaping slash by Umber, which Winter chose not to use Reflex to dodge. Winter replied with a quick chop to Umber’s head, which got parried. Sliding the sword down, Winter kicked at Umber’s chest, but it did not budge at all! Expecting to make some distance, but turning out to be wrong, Winter took the chance to instead, kick off to make some distance. He almost stumbled backwards and fell on his ass. It was what probably saved him, as he did not notice a quick swipe that was aimed at his head. He was looking at the tip from less than two inches away. Using the momentum of the attack, turning it into a spin, Umber was about to do an upwards slash. That was the moment Winter chose to use Reflex. Umber was completely blind in that small fraction of seconds. <br><br>First, was the Stone Coffin that ruined his stance. It grew out from the earth at an angle almost parallel to the ground, and tackled Umber’s feet. As much as he tried to correct his stance, the one second he was in the air was enough for Winter to strike four slashes at Umber’s avatar. <br><br>Left shoulder, head, right shoulder, head again. The shape of infinity he pictured was formed clearly on Umber’s body. Umber looked shocked that he had been caught completely off guard. Not done yet, Winter planted his sword on Umber’s skull, driving it to the ground, while at the same time, a spike of earth jutted through his guts from below. Winter finished off the impromptu combo with a quick shot of Fire Strike, before time sped up to normal. In the clear view of stunned goons.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You inflicted 25 Earth damage to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!<br>You inflicted 120 damage to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!<br>Critical Hit!<br>You inflicted 386 damage to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!<br>You inflicted 115 damage to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!<br>Critical Hit!<br>You inflicted 400 damage to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!<br>Critical Hit! <br>You inflicted 860 damage to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!<br>You inflicted 315 Earth damage to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!<br>You inflicted 560 Fire damage to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span>!<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Umber</span> is stunned for 3 seconds!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Not wasting his good fortune, Winter grew two Stone Coffins, which pinned Umber’s body to the ground. It was also possibly his one and only chance. <br><br>In his nowadays well-practiced focus, Winter ran towards the direction of the frontier city, blocked by Daffy and his cronies, while casting Gust. It toppled four players. Time then sped back up to normal.<br><br>“Run!” Screamed Winter. <br><br>Startled and galvanised, both Rinne and Samuel began running to the opening Winter had made. They obviously would not make it. Not without help. It was up to Winter to stop and stall. <br><br>Winter did not recall pulling out his sword and staking Umber to the grassy earth. He was screaming censored profanities very loudly. He just bumped one thug with Earth Coffin and nearly took another one’s head off. Rinne and Samuel needed to reach town. It was not far. Only two kilometers or so. Yet, they would need really big headstart to get there. Agility-oriented thieves (probably) like Daffy and friends, could catch up to them. Winter needed to buy likely two minutes of time before he could make his own escape. First things first.<br><br>Daffy recovered quickly from his prone position due to Winter’s spell, and struck out at the mage. Winter did not bother blocking. It was exactly what he needed. The dagger struck at his left rib, instantly decreasing whatever was left of his health to near death, literally. Another blow, even a light one, would possibly finish him. Daffy was shocked at the nonexistent attempt to block. The reply was swift, a chop to Daffy’s left knee, that severed it neatly. Daffy tumbled to the ground, leaving Winter some space to backpedal a couple steps.<br><br>“Now….. I have only….” Winter checked his health.<br><br>“130 HP left. Next blow will likely kill me. So… who is up to be a murderer!” Cackled Winter.<br><br>Everyone froze at that. It was an audacious plan. A player with the mark would have a lot of disadvantages. Foremost of all, the inability to enter a town without being harmed. Winter did not plan to kill anyone. Yet. If all possible, he would stall then run. If he killed someone, it would be Umber. It was a ten thousand to one chance he would be badly killed. Everyone was ignoring his cries for assistance.<br><br>“What! What sort of plan is that!” The one closest to him shouted.<br><br>To make his point, Winter rushed at him. The kid reflexively attacked Winter. At the very last moment, Winter diverted the kid’s slash high, totally missing. Not having such restraint, Winter chopped off another leg. That was the delaying tactic he chose. The ten minutes it took them to recover their legs, even slowpokes like Rinne and Samuel would be able to make it back to town. That left Winter being chased. Hard. He needed to disable all of them, or at least discourage them enough to leave him alone.<br><br>He repeated the same manoeuvre six times, before two fellows wised up enough to help Umber out, so he could do all the killing. Winter cast two more Stone Coffins to bump them off, while he quickly covered the distance to chop off their legs. The two recovered fast enough to wiggle away.<br><br>“You bastard! I will kill you! I will KILLL YOU!!!” Cursed Umber from underneath the tightly hemmed coffin. He could not gain any leverage to destroy the spell. Winter ignored the rest of his curses, which were very uncreative in their content, but never lacked in volume.<br><br>Winter did not waste an ytime to create a hexagon shape that walled off the screaming Umber like a tent. He retook his position on the direction to the town. <br><br>“What are you waiting for?! Kill him!” Yelled Daffy. Everyone with two legs hesitated.<br><br>“But…” Spoke one, finished by another, “He has low health! No way will I get a mark!”<br><br>Point.<br><br>The standoff did last pretty long, with Winter attacking savagely and chopping legs as the main target. Over a minute and a half. Not all was well, really. Three got away from him far enough to run away. Winter pulled every trick he knew. A fireball aimed at the face to dazzle and distract, while he kept running full tilt and aimed low enough, hoping to chop off limbs. He never stayed put long enough for anyone to have a grab at him. Weapons had been abandoned for direct body-grabbing. Twice, and when it failed, he used Reflex wisely to chop off enemies that came close. At one point, a little too close, that he had to stagger one with another Stone Coffin spell. That left him one more, before Umber could get away free. Even then… he did not have much time before the spell wore off on its own.<br>Enemies that thought Winter was under the same restriction of ‘not killing’ was right. They left their body open for his attacks, which he was happy to oblige. They had full health, mostly. A lot of them found out after the first couple blows, that he always aimed for their legs. An ankle lost was as good as the whole foot to the knee to him. Even half a foot would slow someone down in a long distance run.<br><br>*Clang*<br><br>“YOU DIE NOW! MAGE!” Roared Umber. The time was up. He should make his getaway now while Umber was still trying to destroy his makeshift barrier. <br><br>Turning to run, was when Winter was most vulnerable. Yet that was his best option. Seven still standing green-headwrapped thugs tried to grasp at him the moment his back was turned. They missed him due to Reflex, which had finished its cooldown, one he had kept for such a purpose. And then he was off.<br><br><br>“*Pant* Think *Pant* He would *Pant* Make it?” Asked Samuel, who ran slightly behind Rinne. She did not answer, intent on reaching the town gates, which were not even a kilometer away now. Two of Daffy’s goons were in pursuit, with another one already dropped out of the race as he was too far away to be of any help. That was how much of a lead Winter had bought the two. <br><br>Several puzzled players looked at them being chased on the field, yet ignored the scene. Some knew the thieves’ guild from their stay. Some others were not interested in helping. Other players were indifferent, as it was not their business. Rinne thought her best chance would be the decent-sized party of of at least thirty, just heading out, if she and Samuel could just get to it.<br><br>“Please! Help!” She tackled the confused leader. An archer with a very prominent moustache. Samuel did not quite manage to tackle an armored giant beside him, but instead bounced back on his ass.<br> <br><div style="text-align: center;">xXx</div><br><br>It was not difficult for Winter to prevent Umber from killing him. He simply needed to use a lot of Umber’s comrades as a meat shield. Since there were plenty of them, that was no problem. Umber was so enraged that he did not care who he slashed to get to Winter. Winter managed to get another three killed, by throwing them at Umber, or using them as body shields. It was not pretty, and he had managed to make so little distance. He only needed to delay a bit more and more. <br><br>It took a little time, but soon, Winter lost cover, when the thieves wised up and never tried to capture Winter by themselves. Between bumps of Earthspike, Stone Coffin and Reflex, combined with his crude swordmanship, he managed to slither around a lot. It helped too, that he used a lot of the coffins to knock Umber down onto his ass. Winter’s running away came to an end anyway, when his mana ran out. As much as he wanted to run and leave them behind, Umber would kill him the moment he turned his back for more than two seconds.<br><br>There came a point too, that he finally had nothing else to give, and chose to run for broke. He got caught. Winter only pitied himself for his last view to be killed by Umber. He would have preferred a female player. The prettier the better, if possible. Umber’s glee was quite palpable. He was swishing his sword around, as if he was practicing for decapitation. Winter thought it was overkill, since his HP was barely 250, even with all the recovery he had had. Small scratches, that barely left him keeling over, constantly decreased his health. He could have gotten himself killed easily by any of the greenies. Yet it was not in him to simply give up.<br><br>The greenies with missing legs had recovered. Winter had received a message a little while ago that Samuel and Rinne had found some help. Nothing yet. He preferred not to die, yes, but it seemed unlikely that he would survive this. He could not use his hands to type back his reply, since Daffy and another one of his comrades were hanging around his right and left arms. The cheering had been interesting, really. They kept chanting “KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!” continuously. <br><br>“Any last words? Mage.”<br><br>Said Umber. Winter rolled his eyes, bored. For his last words, he only said, “Just get it over with.”<br><br>Hefting his sword in a baseball swing posture, Winter expected Umber to decapitate him. It never happened. It might have, if not for a streak of light that blew everyone off the ground, and left a crater. Winter saw something fast and blue piercing through Umber’s head, before it disappeared.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You are stunned!<br>Unable to act for 6 seconds!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Somehow, the phrase <span style="font-style: italic;">Bolt from the Blue</span> fit. Groans and exclamations of surprise echoed throughout the field. In the six seconds of stun, Winter admired the disappearing ornately-carved arrow with a broad metallic head. The whole arrow was made of metal, which pixelated quickly, shortly after its impact blew off Umber’s head, and created a crater with its concussion effect. <br><br>“Well, that looks fun. Think you can get up, my friend?”<br><br>Winter’s ears perked up. He knew the voice. When he turned around, he knew who he would be seeing. The moustache and hunter-style cap with a feather was still the same. The coloring scheme was the same too. The gear had definitely been upgraded though, as it looked more elaborate. Summer did not have his bow drawn. From between the view of legs and armor, Winter saw the small form of an archer tucking in her bow, and began jogging to the rest of them. Somehow, Winter knew she was the one that had killed Umber.<br><br>“My friend, you sure have the worst timing. You came to help me when I was ready to kill them?” Replied Winter, while getting up slowly. Summer barked a laugh at that. Winter saw the form of Julianne, who was extremely large and intimidating, booting the running green headwraps. They could still kill Winter, yes, but none were really motivated to do it on their own without Umber.<br><br>“Seriously. I got them surrounded,” insisted Winter in good humour.<br><br>“Rambo? Really?” Asked Summer. Winter could only shrug, clasping hands with Summer. <br><br>Winter was indeed quoting a Rambo joke. An old show he had watched with Daniel when they were younger. It was quite silly when two people claimed to have surrounded the whole troop of army. Winter did not quite get there yet, but he was pretty close. Most of the younger folks with Summer, of course, did not get the joke reference. They understood humor though, so they chuckled politely.<br><br>Quickly looking around the cleared field, Winter said to Summer, “I think I need a drink.”<br><br><br>The aftermath was quick. There was no point of fighting, when either side was reluctant to kill anyone. Besides, Summer’s numbers was close to triple of Daffy’s. Reluctantly, Daffy slinked away, spouting the usual line of ‘It’s not over yet’. Typical.<br><br>After that, it was a matter of getting back to town for a celebratory drink ,while they traded stories. Winter was surprised that Dougal and his comrades were together with Summer. Winter recognised most of the group that he had joined up with in the siege. There were some additions too. One caught his eye, an archer garbed in a blue leather top and black pants. The bow was exquisitely carved from metal, instead of the wooden one Summer used. At one glance, Winter could tell that this archer was better than Summer. She was a tad short, though, compared to her bow, which was almost as tall as her. She probably barely reached 160cm. Her black hair with blue highlights near the tips reminded him of some sort of calico cat.<br><br>Winter did not get to thank her or have a word of conversation with her, as he was too busy catching up with Summer. Then, there was Rinne and Samuel, who had run headfirst into Summer - in Samuel’s case, it was Odette. Winter praised Rinne and thanked her, giving the same treatment to Samuel grudgingly. Rinne thanked him too for buying them time, by giving him a peck on the cheek. The look on Samuel’s face made the trouble almost worth it. He would not spoil it by telling them that he would have done it either way. He expected no thanks from Samuel after the show from Rinne, but surprisingly got it. He did not say it in so many words, but Winter was the type to take what he could get.<br><br>“ Uncle. Really. Can you please stop getting yourself in trouble? Please?” Odette was laughing at the story Winter told them, of how he got himself involved in a feud with the local guild. <br><br>“ Not my fault. Those youngsters irked me badly,” replied Winter, scowling. His good-natured reply betrayed the scowl.<br><br>Rinne and Samuel had logged out early, unable to join the celebrations. They cited having something to do offline. Winter did not pry.<br><br>“So. Why are you here, Summer? Another quest?” Winter asked in a slightly more serious tone.<br><br>“Now? Yes. Originally, I was here for recruitment, since I was passing through anyway.”<br><br>Winter raised his eyebrow in question. He waited for Summer to enjoy his beer. Summer would talk when he was ready. He was, after a long pull which finished up the mug, then slammed it onto the table. Nobody jumped, since the place was full of loudly talking players.<br><br>“Where was I? Oh. Yeah. Recruitment,” Summer picked the thread of the conversation back.<br><br>“Remember the siege?” Winter nodded.<br><br> “We have the castle and the province now, I’ve told you that. What I never told you was that I am now the leader of the alliance,” Summer grinned, pointing at himself with his thumb. Winter’s eyebrows rose in surprise.<br><br>“You? I guess that is sort of fitting. You like the job? I thought you were busy enough with your current guild.” <br><br>Summer waved the comment away, “I can handle it just fine. It is like my current job, really, just more people to manage and more freedom!” Winter toasted at that. “Amen!”<br><br>“You have not answered my question.” Summer had a habit of getting sidetracked by his own story. He eventually got to the point, but Winter was not patient enough to wait for the whole night and day for him to get there. So he had to prod Summer many times to get him to proceed.<br><br>“It’s recruitment, Uncle Winter,” Odette chipped in. “Recruitment?” She nodded.<br><br>“Yes. Recruitment,” Summer stated, as if that was obvious to Winter. Noticing the look of confusion on Winter’s face, Summer continued.<br><br>“It is after the siege. We have a castle, we have land, we have enough people. But not enough competent ones. We especially need strong players. You would not be my choice. Sorry, my friend,” said Summer apologetically. Winter just nodded in understanding. His friend would help him in a heartbeat, but he was pragmatic and practical when it came to assigning jobs according to skill level.<br><br>“Anyway, Dougal there was actually in the siege, though you never met him.” Summer toasted to Dougal, who was drinking with some of Summer’s group members. Dougal, who saw it, though did not know what the conversation was about, raised a toast in reply too. “While we are travelling, we are supposed to be on the lookout for good players. He recommended you after your act of saving his ass. Imagine my surprise when I recognised the description and skill sets.” <br><br>“I don’t know what had happened to you in the past month or so, but you are a little distant,” Summer was understating the issue. Winter knew he was sort of a wreck. Odette was not as good with a poker face as her father. Her countenance told Winter that she was extremely worried. That made Winter realise that he had been acting selfishly. It was not uncommon for him. He was selfish by nature. What he never did, was making his friends worry due to his issues.<br><br>“Sorry about that, Odette, Summer. I am okay now. I had it rough for a while. I never expected the game to be so…. emotionally charged,” Odette and Summer gave a nod of understanding. It also contained forgiveness. They had a little inkling that Royal Road stuff was not always happy. They also knew that when Winter felt ready, he would tell them all about it. The issue was dropped. They sipped their mug quietly.<br><br>“So, now I am good enough, eh?” Winter grinned at Summer. He gave the aura of smugness that made Odette chuckle and Summer sigh in disgust.<br><br>“Yeah. Yeah. You are a monster, according to Dougal. You have extremely good defense strategy, though lacking in offensive capability. He told me that your swordsmanship was near unique, as you are a Mage. He had good words to say about you. I thought it is a good chance to see you again.”<br><br>“So. You want me to join you? But I have already joined, haven’t I?” Odette groaned at Winter’s question. Winter could tell he was saying something silly. Summer was trying to keep a straight face.<br><br>“Uncle, you are not in our guild yet,” Odette’s words told Winter that he was indeed being a little daft. They were recruiting for a guild. He wondered why Summer did not ask him the last time they met. His best guess was that he never thought it mattered. Winter thought his guess was right when Summer tried not to look in his direction.<br><br>“He forgot about it, eh,” smiled Winter.<br><br>“Forget about what, Uncle?” Asked Odette. “Inviting me to the Guild,” smirked Winter. <br><br>“That’s right. I gave him a piece of my mind for that. I cannot believe he forgot about it,” Summer tried to hide his face with his drink, by drinking and having the mug cover as much of his face as possible. Julianne had always had a better sense of practicality compared to her father. It made Daniel always on the whipped end of an argument with his daughter.<br><br>“Okay, you can forgive him now, Odette. I will join. I cannot believe I forgot about it too. I guess we were too caught up.” Summer looked sheepish, when he stopped hiding by using his mug.<br><br>A minute later, Winter became part of Summer’s guild. Royal Road Research Society was such a dumb name, that Winter almost regretted his choice. Good thing their Alliance had better taste in names. It was called Surging Wave alliance. Summer refused to tell why it was named that way, while Odette was not privy to the reason. Winter made sure to remember to do an extra bit of pettiness to Summer when he got the chance. <br><br>Odette was from different guild, but was also part of the Alliance now. She told Winter the functions and advantages of being in a guild or alliance. Summer was chatting with Dougal, while Odette was telling Winter about the locator, which acted as a party beacon, but worked outside the dungeon too. Then, the guild chat, of course. There was a guild fee that Winter paid promptly (5 gold) and alliance fee (another 10 gold), that made Winter grumble a little. Winter thought it was useless, since he did not plan to be in the alliance’s territory, which was Ranbell castle and the area surrounding it. He told Odette that he needed to journey to Arcanum to finish up his quest. <br><br>Summer joined them again, right when Winter began telling that the curse had been lifted and that it was actually worse than when he was cursed. This brought interest from Summer. Winter told them that his skill was much lower than the average mage, due to his mana restriction and his reliance on AOE spells, that were not useful for solo hunting. Summer asked around if any of the alliance members was heading to Arcanum in the common board that could be accessed by members. This impressed Winter, as it had a lot of potentially useful information. There was no reply yet, though Summer told him to be optimistic about it. Somehow, Winter doubted that he would find anyone heading his direction soon, as there was a general call of arms for the whole alliance to enter the Mountain of Sorrow’s center side for a class B quest. Winter had never been to that area, aside from skirting around it. The guide was rather sparse on that account, except to tell all players that had not gotten to level 200 to stay the hell away, or enjoy dying.<br><br>One look at a large Basilisk from a distance, made Winter agree on the assessment. Winter told Summer whatever he knew about the area, adding the mapping he had done, and any advice he could give. Summer and Odette were surprised that Winter had braved the mountain pass alone. He would never admit to them that it was not easy, though Summer probably already suspected it. In the end, his story wound down to Rinne and Samuel, and the ridiculously short dungeon that collapsed after they exited to his ‘rescue’. Odette and Summer did not have much to tell, as both of them were chipping around the Southern side of the grand dungeon, and were continuously going deeper into itm while finding exits when they were running out of supplies. Summer and Odette were already beyond level 200, and ready for a profession change, after they were done with their current quest.<br><br>“Good luck you two. I would love to join, but I want to finish my quest. I want it to be done as soon as possible. And now that you have a GPS lock on me, you can find me anytime, right?” They chuckled at that. <br><br>A little more pleasantries here and there, then Summer logged off, leaving Odette telling Winter about her life in general, which was mainly full of studying, socialising and the occasional partying. That reminded Winter of Aloine. He apologised for Aloine’s treatment, calling her names and all. Odette told him to forget about it, though her look was that of puzzlement. She was groaning in disgust when Winter told her that Aloine had wanted a date with him. Something he was normally happy to oblige, if she had not come at the wrong time. Thanking him for the information, Odette logged off quickly. Shrugging, Winter logged out too. Others were still drinking here and there. He felt no particular connection to the rest of them, however.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">xXx</div><br><br>“Think Arcanum has a lot of songs to learn?” Asked Rinne. <br><br>“I don’t know. It is supposed to be the center of Magic around the central continent. I think they may have everything related to magic, including spellsongs,” replied Winter. <br><br>A ballad tune, courtesy of Samuel who was idle with his hands, accompanied their journey to Arcanum. They had put Daffy and Umber away to the back of their minds, now. The three agreed, after a very short discussion, that they needed to leave the city. A short query to Summer told him that he made the right decision. Summer said he could suppress the hostility against Winter, Samuel and Rinne while he was in town. Since he was already on his way, Summer could not guarantee Winter’s playing experience if he insisted on staying. Rinne and Samuel thought they were done with the city too. They were there to find someone to accompany them to complete their quest, anyway. Since that was done, there was no reason for them to stick around.<br><br>“Yo, what you two think of this one?” Samuel, who was done with his solo recital, asked Winter and Rinne.<br><br>“It is wonderful, Samuel. You always play the best song,” said Rinne. Samuel beamed in happiness, that made it easy for Winter to deflate his ego.<br><br>“I think you can use more practice. Your strumming sucks,” Winter made a disgusted face, though inside, he admitted that the kid had fingers made of gold. <br><br>“What! Say that again?” Challenged Samuel.<br><br>“I said your song sucks. Compared to Rinne, that is.” Winter was playing dirty. Comparing Rinne’s and Samuel’s skill was like comparing a golden apple to a golden orange. Both were gold, but different in flavor. Like he predicted, Samuel deflated. He probably did not notice he was doing it, but his finger was still playing a tune, only it sounded like a dirge, now.<br><br>Rinne, who wanted to scold Winter, had to hold back her laughter at the act too. She slapped Winter on his shoulder to express her disapproval. Rinne let Samuel play for a bit until he went quiet, before she began singing. Samuel instantly perked up and matched the silver voice to a golden tune. This was an old song. Fly me to the Moon. The rendition was beautiful. The air felt as if it was charged, while the two were busying themselves with their songs.<br><br>Winter clapped when they were done. Rinne smiled in thanks. Samuel was a little too smug, so Winter had to raise an Earth Coffin to bump him off. Rinne sighed at his juvenility, but did not bother to scold him anymore. Somehow, along the way, Samuel had been demoted to the kid that got bullied by a petty mage. Winter thought it helped him practice his skills.<br><br>The road to Arcanum was still a long way off, but it would not be boring.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">xXx</div><br><br>Julianne was worried about Penny. They were not even close to being friends. She was neutral to her. For some reason though, Penelope Waters was determined to hate Julianne. She could not think of whatever reason for Penny, as she was called by everyone else despite her objection, to hate her.<br><br>Julianne had never been good with subtleties. It was one skill her father had never been able to teach her. The result of the confrontation was quite ugly. She asked Penny straight if she was intending to date her godfather. From the way Penny blew up, Julianne thought her uncle had hurt her schoolmate deeper than he thought. <br><br>Though Julianne was not subtle in her approach of things, she was a good judge of character. And Penny was in the region of narcissistic, vain, and in constant self-awe of her beauty. That did not make her a bad person, just someone extremely hard to get along with. Julianne disliked her attitude, though. She constantly told Julianne off when she was dropping subtle insults to her friends. Subtle in her thought she was not, maybe. Julianne was smart enough to pick up such insults, though. <br><br>So when Penny ran away crying, giving her extremely baleful looks, it made Julianne wonder what her godfather had said to her. She also did not keep up with her usual fashion. She used a lot of concealer to hide the black bags under her eyes. Her hair was not brushed properly, free of tangles. Her clothes were not crisp at all. She had also forgotten to apply her lipstick when Julianne went to see her. What made her feel bad was the snickers the bystanders gave Penny when she fled. It made her worry if she had deeper issues than insults and words, something physical. <br><br>Shrugging, Julianne put the thought out of her mind. She had a class to catch up to.<br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">That bitch! She has the gall to ask what is wrong with me! She must be gloating inside!</span><br><br>Penelope Waters was sobbing in the girl’s cubicle. She ignored the few concerned knocks on the door. None shall ever see her this vulnerable. Penelope wondered if she was all that older man said. If she was shallow, arrogant and conceited. She was the most beautiful girl in the school. Even Julianne Somner was no match for her beauty. She had a lot of friends, and boyfriends, too. Yet she felt something, after being told off by the older man. Something that clicked inside her mind. She wondered if she secretly knew that she was all that the older man said.<br><br>Shallow. Arrogant. Conceited. No. Penelope Waters was smart, beautiful and elegant. Everyone had always said that. But somehow, her friends felt off, recently. Her boyfriends and admirers felt hollow. She wondered why she was unhappy. She was the most popular person. Drying her tears, she remembered the handsome player she met in Royal Road. Both of them were connected. He wanted revenge. She wanted one too. Against Winter. Nobody insults Penelope Waters and gets to walk away happy.<br><br>She had to be the best. Most beautiful. Smartest. There was no other path for Penelope Waters. Filling herself with her last bastion, Pride, Penelope Waters reapplied her concealer. She needed to talk to Campbell. She had a plan to regain her lost dignity. His, too.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">xXx</div><br><br>Campbell was especially chipper today. He just found more information on Winter. He had been seen in one of the border towns near the Mountain of Sorrow. Transferring 500 dollars for the information, Campbell put a direction to shadow the man, plus his two new companions. Thieves’ guilds were very good when it came to information. He should have done it without being told by Aloine.<br><br>Ah… Aloine. Beautiful, angry, smart and prideful. Campbell felt an instant liking to the girl behind the avatar. He wondered if she looked like her avatar in real life. Somehow, Campbell felt it was pretty close. That made Aloine worthy in his eye. <br><br>Campbell had not had the chance to meet her again since their first encounter in Cosare. Her hatred for Winter was palpable. He found himself savoring the thought of both of them successfully paying back the old man for the humiliation he had inflicted on Campbell, and whatever he had done to the beautiful Aloine.<br><br>She rebuffed his attempts to shower her with gifts, sweet talk and companionship, choosing to be aloof and focused on tracking their quarry. Aloine told Campbell that she knew someone offline that had a direct relation to the Mage. There was no contact yet from her for a while now. But Campbell had great patience when it came to inflicting pain and humiliation. He was a winner. Always a winner. He never lost. He would eventually win. Anyone who delayed him from winning must be squashed.<br><br>Oh. Zaya. Campbell lost track of her. She was probably ahead of Winter, travelling with a cart. He had no idea why they split up. That was a small, unnecessary detail. That female player would be dealt with after he was done with Winter. Royal Road might be a big universe, but Campbell has a long reach.<br><br>Smiling happily, Campbell entered his capsule and booted it up. He had someone to punish.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=99&amp;t=1089" target="_blank">&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt; Previous Chapter</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=99&amp;t=1609" target="_blank">Next Chapter &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>============================================================================================================================================================<br>Author's Note:<br>1. Thank you -The Slacker- for the PR. Though you are hard pressed for time!<br>2. Thanks for friends that had been encouraging me through my blue feeling<br>3. I know, I know, I am late compared to my usual release time. But better late than never! Sorry too. It is shorter. I hope I made it up with the content.<br>4. Let me know if you found any mistakes.<br>5. Enjoy, folks. </div>

Like Samuel, Winter had not really expected them to have a bond of comradeship so quickly. He had initially thought Rinne was bothersome, and Samuel, an annoying bugger. Everything sort of came back to Adria, in a way. When he saw Rinne being harassed, he just had to jump in. It was not the elegant save he had pictured in mind, since he could not bear listening to another second of Samuel’s rapid ranting, yet he did the job. When he was tackled by Rinne and asked to help them out in their quest, he obliged out of an inability to find a pause to say ‘NO’. Everyone met this sort of person once in awhile. The sort that dragged you along their pace, and you were helpless against it. Winter already had such a person in his family. He ought to be at least immune to strangers doing it to him, yet the outcome was the same anyway. Upon hearing they were bards, Winter was not sure how much help they would be. So he soloed all monsters on the way by himself. After his first near death experience in a while, he became more curious about the two’s capabilities. A fast-paced jig was playing. Winter made another neat quick turn and slice, finishing up the last Orc. The Orc’s head parted from its body and fell, then quickly graying out and pixelating. “That’s the last of it. Let’s move before there are more,” said Winter. “Sure, dude. But I don’t think we need to worry about mobs. You seem to be handling them well.” Samuel, when you got to know him a little better, was a nice kid, really. He was rough around the edges, but had a good heart. And he was wickedly skilled with his Lute. Winter had gone through the usual phase of youth. He could not play any instrument, but he saw plenty of his classmates in music class that were pretty damn good with it. Samuel was a class above even the best he knew. His fingers flew with sure deftness and stops. The tune he played was called <<Soldier’s March>>. A nice uplifting tune. It improved party member’s movement speed by 15% while he played it. Winter imagined a repeated tune, since it could not possibly be fifteen minutes long. Yet, for the whole duration, Samuel never played in the same way twice. He changed tempo, added some chords in pauses, like the personal touches of an artist. Rinne was not idle. She was humming the whole time too, though Winter could not hear it since he was too busy battling one mob after another. He had heard enough during their planning session though, to admire her singing ability. If there was a one man band, Rinne was a one girl choir. She sang in three different voices! Winter could not say what amazed him more. Whether the girl thought it was normal to be able to do that, or that a human could even do it. Winter suspected the rather cheeky girl was gaming him. It was probably some sort of bard skill in Royal Road. <<Silent Forest>> was a song for close range concealment. As long as there were other players around her, she would not be targeted by any monster. The range extended for around a two meter radius. Therefore, Samuel. who was close to her, was completely safe too. “No reason to take chances, kid. I am worried about you two when the battles are prolonged. I can run, fast. You two? I doubt it.” It sobered Samuel up to the fact that Winter, despite his monster-slaying ability, was still a single player. It meant no back ups, no safety nets when things became sour. He was more than mildly impressed, though he would never admit it to the mage, that monsters that should be handled by a complete party could be taken care of so easily by him. “Whatever, dude,” replied Samuel, letting go of his Lute, leaving it to dangle from him. “Samuel!” Rinne immediately reprimanded Samuel for his behavior. A grimace quickly formed on his face. Winter, who had been on the other end of Rinne’s unusually bossy behavior when it came to points of courtesy, was in tacit agreement that when dealing with Rinne, they were best friends. “Never mind, let’s go,” waved Winter. They had been roaming around the Orcs’ territory for two days, testing out each other’s ability. Winter thought he would be done with them after they exited the dungeon that had somehow collapsed right after they were outside, buried under rocks and more rocks. But six hours of pleading from Rinne, a log out, and log in. with Rinne still camped out at where he last logged out, and more pleading for him to travel with them (or was it for them to join in his travelling? - Winter was not sure which was which anymore), he gave up and just let her do whatever she wanted. Since it appeared that they would be stuck together for a while, Winter wished to know everything they could tell about their class. Which surprisingly, and very interestingly, was contrary to what he knew and believed. Artists and artisans were not the same, for a start. Artisans were normal craft classes. Artists meanwhile, usually mistaken for craft professions by normal players, were actually classes with a performance-related concept. Artists consisted of Bards, which then branched out to Singers (which were actually bards too, but had always been regarded as a different class due to learning different abilities and skill sets), Dancers, and Acrobats. Winter had lost the thread of the conversation after Acrobats. There were a lot more! Most of their spell effects (in the form of Songs, Tunes, Hymns, etc), were aimed at party members within a broad range. Most of their spellsongs (what the bards actually called their abilities) were the same, since they started with the same class, Bard. Both could do movement speed buffs, minor attack buffs, minor mana restoration, improve vitality and defense improvement. Samuel then had the <<Kyrie Eleison>> which was incredibly handy in tight spot. Winter’s eyes were hard pressed to follow the speed at which Samuel’s fingers finished the sequence. The latest spellsong Rinne had learned <<Desert Lullaby>> ,was her first one that targeted monsters. Apparently, such spellsongs were rare. Aside from that, Winter was surprised that she actually had active defense capabilities in the form of green vines which she sang out of the ground, sealing her in completely for five minutes. It reminded Winter of some princess story he read, the vines were thick, with barbs as long as his fingers. Rinne told him the skill was not very useful anyway, since it was a last ditch effort. If she ever had to use it, it meant it was bad indeed. (Winter quietly disagreed, since she mentioned that the vines were invulnerable for the whole duration) Rinne was decent with flutes, apparently. She had given a good account of herself during mealtimes, though she was apparently not even close to Samuel’s standard. But since Samuel could not sing even a spit worth, it evened out. The two days were a good time for them. With a Bard and Singer around, it really felt like a true adventure for him. The times of conversation times he had spent awkwardly with Zaya somehow did not compare. In the two days, Winter had leveled up twice, while Rinne went up by seven and Samuel, by nine. The trip back to town was quite pleasant. Winter opened up the path easily with Samuel and Rinne’s support. Their conversation topics could use a little more work though. They were still probing each other’s comfort points. They had just exited the edge of the forest when Winter spotted a player with a green headwrap, who dashed into hiding upon seeing him. Groaning, Winter could foresee another battle. Somehow, he had the feeling that Daffy might just get him this time. xXx It did not take long for Daffy’s friends to surround him. He would have preferred Rinne and Samuel to not be around him. Yet the decision was out of his hands within three minutes after he was spotted. In twos and threes, green headwraps begin appearing. If their skills were about Daffy’s range, he probably could take out ten out of the twenty or so that had gathered to surround him, but they were doing nothing in particular. Winter was interested to find out what they were waiting for, but had a good guess. After going through one adventure with Winter, Rinne and Samuel had become more aggressive somehow. Winter had no idea what caused it. They refused to logout as an option to avoid certain confrontation, and very possible death and its penalties. Shrugging, Winter and the two waited for the climax of the uncalled for gathering. He had never been in a large scale combat with another player. The castle raid did not count, as he had not been participating in any battle capacity (him cooking food was the only visible contribution!). He supposed he could have logged out and came back in…. half year? No way they would be waiting for him that long. But Winter had never been one to back down from a challenge. He would dodge them as much as he could, yes, but he always gave it his best shot eventually (after whining and bitching about it usually, or when the mood struck and he felt particularly good, just finishing it up immediately). Therefore, just to tell the group of green headwraps and Daffy, whom he had spotted immediately among the twenties, that he was not going anywhere, he sat on the ground and begin to sew. “What are you doing?” Asked Daffy. “What? Can’t you tell? I am sewing,” replied Winter, without looking away. “I can see you are sewing. But why?” he asked again, as if the answer was not obvious. “You all seem to be waiting for someone to arrive. I assume there will be another duel. So, I thought at least, I should relax,” said Winter, while putting another hole in the fabric. “Yeah. Right. This time, you are dead!” As if that was an invitation that Daffy was looking for, he began to share that he had asked someone strong to kill Winter. Winter paused when he heard the word ‘Kill’. “What is stopping me from breaking through and logging out within the city? I hate dying for no good reason.” “That’s…” Stuttered Daffy, trying to think up of a reason quickly. “Because there are twenty-three of us, moron, and only three of you!” One goon to Daffy’s left stepped to his rescue. “Yes. There are more of us than you!” Spoke Daffy loudly, to cover his pause. “That did not seem to affect the odds last time. What can you do to stop me? Kill me? Okay. Who is up for it? I would even give you a good shot,” Winter pointed to the goon who had spoken up earlier. As a general rule of thumb, a regular player was not fond of killing another player. Penalties from a Murderer’s Mark were rather heavy. Winter was not yet clear as to how to remove it. But judging from the hesitation that all players who surrounded him exhibited, they were not ready to do that yet. “Me? I see that twenty or so of you might make it worth the time for me to spend getting the Mark. A lot of money in those gear, I think. So, really. Who here is ready to kill me? Because If nobody wants to kill me, all of you will be dead!” Winter let out a slightly mad laugh, for good measure. “You can’t do that!” A nervous voice called from behind him. Winter looked at the general direction where the voice came from, smiling with as much predatory menace as he could summon. From the looks of it, it was a success. Putting back his sewing items, Winter stood and drew his sword. “Stop me?” cackled Winter. Weapons were drawn immediately. All of them. That was usually when whatever above chose to screw with him. And they never disappointed. A small commotion broke through the dread that had enveloped the band of thieves. Winter turned around to meet the figure of blond-haired, handsome, rough and tough-looking warrior. The Mark was prominent on his forehead. “Sure. Think you are up for it, old man?” Whoever this new guy was, he did not waste time drawong his two-handed sword, and took a stance. “Ah! Umber! You are finally here!” Daffy, who was probably the most nervous out of all of them, recovered his composure. He was about to launch into more threats ,when Umber’s eyes, which never left Winter, swung his sword idly to smack Daffy on the head. Daffy staggered and fell on his ass. “What was that for!” Exclaimed Daffy. His voice rose to a whine. “Shut up.” With those two words, Daffy closed his mouth and began edging away. Rinne, who was better at reading the feel of the virtual air, pulled Samuel, who was oblivious to the sparks flying between Winter and Umber, away. The space between the two were clear. ‘This guy…. I might be in trouble.’ Winter’s inner dialogue worked in fever pitch arguments against each other. He usually never bothered to listen to them as they gave contradictory messages and ones he was usually not happy about. But this time, they were unanimous, “Run!” Recently, Winter could somehow read if an opponent was strong. He judged that the player in front of him was stronger than him, from his confidence. None but Rinne and Samuel knew that he was a Mage. Maybe he could capitalise that to his advantage. Moving his left foot a couple inches forward, Winter leapt to make a slash that he intended as a feint, and have his sword come from the other side. It never happened. He was forced to use Reflex to save his own head. Umber’s weapon range was at least one and a half times longer than his sword, and he used it pretty damn quick. The counterslash was straightforward, but sliced down fast enough that Winter’s Reflex had barely kept up with the speed of the swing, as he had been focused on offense. Bending his left knee, Winter managed to alter his posture to a quick half backstep and launched himself forward again in a diving thrust. Umber was pretty damn quick too with his reaction, twisting away so that he only received a small nick instead of eating the whole sword. | You inflicted 60 damage to Umber! | | --- | They exchanged positions. Winter stood back up quickly from his roll after the dive, while Umber took his previous stance, that was almost a mirror to his, only with a longer sword. “Impressive. It has been a while since someone got me,” Umber licked his lips in anticipation. Everyone thought it was a big deal too. They were whispering and pointing, from what Winter could gather, without turning away from Umber. “Think you can dodge the next one?” Umber’s body was rocking left and right in a subtle motion. Winter, who had been paying attention to the motion, almost missed the starting motion of the side swipe. He barely managed to get his sword to a blocking position. He executed a move he had practiced against the strong Dullahans. With his feet off the ground and jumping in the same direction as the blow, Winter was propelled away from the range of the next slash that Umber had prepared for him. His sword was poised for another quick, and very likely, quite fatal downward strike. His grin of pleasure was still pasted on his face. It somehow annoyed Winter that this player loved killing another player. It did not feel right to him. Problem was, he was not sure he could kill this Umber character. In the short period that they had clashed, his estimate was that Umber was even stronger than Gordon. Killing another player with a Mark gained no penalty. It even had a small bonus of fame and bounty, if the player was notorious enough. The bout between Winter and Umber would be to the death. xXx ‘First things first. Stall!’ That was a must. Like Umber said. He was not sure he could dodge further attacks if he did not have Reflex. The cooldown period was still left with eighteen seconds. “Say…. why are you doing this?” Winter had asked out of pure curiosity, yet he was also using the time they were circling each other to wait for his Reflex to finish its cooldown. “Does one need any reason to kill?” Replied Umber carelessly. Not waiting for further talk from Winter, Umber launched into three rapid stabs. Winter managed to dodge the first one, narrowly parried the second one, but the third one hit him square in the stomach. | Critical Hit!You received 970 damage! | | --- | For a proper swordsman, they could probably sneeze at that amount of damage. For Winter, that amounted to over three quarters of his health cleared in one blow. He put a counter blow on Umber’s neck, as he knew he could not dodge the third stab. | Critical Hit!You inflicted 250 damage on Umber! | | --- | Winter groaned internally. He was putting a good hit on his opponent’s neck, an even better spot than his stomach, yet he inflicted less damage! It was probably due to the difference in their armor. He could assume that Umber would have at least five times the amount of health he had. That would make his desperate attack a bare pittance. “Huh…. Are you sure you are a swordsman?” Umber carelessly pulled out his sword, and Winter quickly made distance. He was confused. In all of his battles against warriors, he had never scored such a big hit. He turned angrily to Daffy. “Oi! Did you just give me a small fry? Huh!” He was brandishing his sword threateningly at Daffy, who cowered and got equally confused. ‘Comradeship is definitely detrimental to me!’ Thought Winter. Kneeling on the ground, Winter quickly put out two short whispers to Rinne and Samuel. ‘Run when you see me running.’ That was the short message’s content. Rinne gave a slight nod. Winter wanted to throttle Samuel’s neck. Samuel had jumped in surprise and looked at him like he was mad. Anyone who paid any attention (which luckily none did, fixated they were with Umber) could tell that Winter had been communicating with him! “What are you talking about?” “I am talking about this swordsman! Are you kidding me? You lose to someone at least forty levels under you! How weak can you guys be!” Umber’s calculation would not be off if he used a standard swordsman status. Yet of course, he was off by a large margin. Winter, who had discreetly gulped his last health potion, straightened up again and took a stance. He did not stop their argument. In fact, it would be beneficial for him if they kept on going and ignored him for as long as possible, so his health could fully recover. It was short-lived though. Daffy wised up at that moment. “I don’t care if he is weaker than me! The contract! You have to finish him up!” Screamed Daffy, feeling particularly defiant for once. That cooled Umber’s ire quickly. Contract breaching in the guild was a serious offense. He always fulfilled his contract. Sighing then shrugging, Umber turned back to Winter, who did not say a word while they were arguing. “Sorry there, puny swordsman. You have to die. Normally, I would prefer to let you go. But he paid.” “But, Winter is a..” Samuel almost stole Winter’s thunder. “You! Shut up!” Yelled Winter. Samuel’s mouth closed with a clack. For good measure, Rinne ground her foot on Samuel’s. It did not injure him badly, but he got the point. “Well. Yeah. He is right,” Winter got back in gear. He quite enjoyed this part, somehow. “Oh. You are not a swordsman? What are you?” Umber was quite smart, surprisingly, catching on quickly.Somehow, it deflated Winter’s enjoyment. “I will tell you if you let me go?” Winter asked, without much hope. “No can do, ” came the instant reply. “Then I guess you will never find out.” Umber laughed at Winter’s reply. It was rather audacious to hold a small mystery over everyone’s head in such situation. Umber somehow felt that he could like this mature-looking player. He then narrowed his eyes and tightened his stance. Winter would have licked ten more seconds. His health point would be full by then. The next ten seconds or so, unfortunately, would decide everything for him. A leaping slash by Umber, which Winter chose not to use Reflex to dodge. Winter replied with a quick chop to Umber’s head, which got parried. Sliding the sword down, Winter kicked at Umber’s chest, but it did not budge at all! Expecting to make some distance, but turning out to be wrong, Winter took the chance to instead, kick off to make some distance. He almost stumbled backwards and fell on his ass. It was what probably saved him, as he did not notice a quick swipe that was aimed at his head. He was looking at the tip from less than two inches away. Using the momentum of the attack, turning it into a spin, Umber was about to do an upwards slash. That was the moment Winter chose to use Reflex. Umber was completely blind in that small fraction of seconds. First, was the Stone Coffin that ruined his stance. It grew out from the earth at an angle almost parallel to the ground, and tackled Umber’s feet. As much as he tried to correct his stance, the one second he was in the air was enough for Winter to strike four slashes at Umber’s avatar. Left shoulder, head, right shoulder, head again. The shape of infinity he pictured was formed clearly on Umber’s body. Umber looked shocked that he had been caught completely off guard. Not done yet, Winter planted his sword on Umber’s skull, driving it to the ground, while at the same time, a spike of earth jutted through his guts from below. Winter finished off the impromptu combo with a quick shot of Fire Strike, before time sped up to normal. In the clear view of stunned goons. | You inflicted 25 Earth damage to Umber!You inflicted 120 damage to Umber!Critical Hit!You inflicted 386 damage to Umber!You inflicted 115 damage to Umber!Critical Hit!You inflicted 400 damage to Umber!Critical Hit! You inflicted 860 damage to Umber!You inflicted 315 Earth damage to Umber!You inflicted 560 Fire damage to Umber!Umber is stunned for 3 seconds! | | --- | Not wasting his good fortune, Winter grew two Stone Coffins, which pinned Umber’s body to the ground. It was also possibly his one and only chance. In his nowadays well-practiced focus, Winter ran towards the direction of the frontier city, blocked by Daffy and his cronies, while casting Gust. It toppled four players. Time then sped back up to normal. “Run!” Screamed Winter. Startled and galvanised, both Rinne and Samuel began running to the opening Winter had made. They obviously would not make it. Not without help. It was up to Winter to stop and stall. Winter did not recall pulling out his sword and staking Umber to the grassy earth. He was screaming censored profanities very loudly. He just bumped one thug with Earth Coffin and nearly took another one’s head off. Rinne and Samuel needed to reach town. It was not far. Only two kilometers or so. Yet, they would need really big headstart to get there. Agility-oriented thieves (probably) like Daffy and friends, could catch up to them. Winter needed to buy likely two minutes of time before he could make his own escape. First things first. Daffy recovered quickly from his prone position due to Winter’s spell, and struck out at the mage. Winter did not bother blocking. It was exactly what he needed. The dagger struck at his left rib, instantly decreasing whatever was left of his health to near death, literally. Another blow, even a light one, would possibly finish him. Daffy was shocked at the nonexistent attempt to block. The reply was swift, a chop to Daffy’s left knee, that severed it neatly. Daffy tumbled to the ground, leaving Winter some space to backpedal a couple steps. “Now….. I have only….” Winter checked his health. “130 HP left. Next blow will likely kill me. So… who is up to be a murderer!” Cackled Winter. Everyone froze at that. It was an audacious plan. A player with the mark would have a lot of disadvantages. Foremost of all, the inability to enter a town without being harmed. Winter did not plan to kill anyone. Yet. If all possible, he would stall then run. If he killed someone, it would be Umber. It was a ten thousand to one chance he would be badly killed. Everyone was ignoring his cries for assistance. “What! What sort of plan is that!” The one closest to him shouted. To make his point, Winter rushed at him. The kid reflexively attacked Winter. At the very last moment, Winter diverted the kid’s slash high, totally missing. Not having such restraint, Winter chopped off another leg. That was the delaying tactic he chose. The ten minutes it took them to recover their legs, even slowpokes like Rinne and Samuel would be able to make it back to town. That left Winter being chased. Hard. He needed to disable all of them, or at least discourage them enough to leave him alone. He repeated the same manoeuvre six times, before two fellows wised up enough to help Umber out, so he could do all the killing. Winter cast two more Stone Coffins to bump them off, while he quickly covered the distance to chop off their legs. The two recovered fast enough to wiggle away. “You bastard! I will kill you! I will KILLL YOU!!!” Cursed Umber from underneath the tightly hemmed coffin. He could not gain any leverage to destroy the spell. Winter ignored the rest of his curses, which were very uncreative in their content, but never lacked in volume. Winter did not waste an ytime to create a hexagon shape that walled off the screaming Umber like a tent. He retook his position on the direction to the town. “What are you waiting for?! Kill him!” Yelled Daffy. Everyone with two legs hesitated. “But…” Spoke one, finished by another, “He has low health! No way will I get a mark!” Point. The standoff did last pretty long, with Winter attacking savagely and chopping legs as the main target. Over a minute and a half. Not all was well, really. Three got away from him far enough to run away. Winter pulled every trick he knew. A fireball aimed at the face to dazzle and distract, while he kept running full tilt and aimed low enough, hoping to chop off limbs. He never stayed put long enough for anyone to have a grab at him. Weapons had been abandoned for direct body-grabbing. Twice, and when it failed, he used Reflex wisely to chop off enemies that came close. At one point, a little too close, that he had to stagger one with another Stone Coffin spell. That left him one more, before Umber could get away free. Even then… he did not have much time before the spell wore off on its own. Enemies that thought Winter was under the same restriction of ‘not killing’ was right. They left their body open for his attacks, which he was happy to oblige. They had full health, mostly. A lot of them found out after the first couple blows, that he always aimed for their legs. An ankle lost was as good as the whole foot to the knee to him. Even half a foot would slow someone down in a long distance run. *Clang* “YOU DIE NOW! MAGE!” Roared Umber. The time was up. He should make his getaway now while Umber was still trying to destroy his makeshift barrier. Turning to run, was when Winter was most vulnerable. Yet that was his best option. Seven still standing green-headwrapped thugs tried to grasp at him the moment his back was turned. They missed him due to Reflex, which had finished its cooldown, one he had kept for such a purpose. And then he was off. “*Pant* Think *Pant* He would *Pant* Make it?” Asked Samuel, who ran slightly behind Rinne. She did not answer, intent on reaching the town gates, which were not even a kilometer away now. Two of Daffy’s goons were in pursuit, with another one already dropped out of the race as he was too far away to be of any help. That was how much of a lead Winter had bought the two. Several puzzled players looked at them being chased on the field, yet ignored the scene. Some knew the thieves’ guild from their stay. Some others were not interested in helping. Other players were indifferent, as it was not their business. Rinne thought her best chance would be the decent-sized party of of at least thirty, just heading out, if she and Samuel could just get to it. “Please! Help!” She tackled the confused leader. An archer with a very prominent moustache. Samuel did not quite manage to tackle an armored giant beside him, but instead bounced back on his ass. xXx It was not difficult for Winter to prevent Umber from killing him. He simply needed to use a lot of Umber’s comrades as a meat shield. Since there were plenty of them, that was no problem. Umber was so enraged that he did not care who he slashed to get to Winter. Winter managed to get another three killed, by throwing them at Umber, or using them as body shields. It was not pretty, and he had managed to make so little distance. He only needed to delay a bit more and more. It took a little time, but soon, Winter lost cover, when the thieves wised up and never tried to capture Winter by themselves. Between bumps of Earthspike, Stone Coffin and Reflex, combined with his crude swordmanship, he managed to slither around a lot. It helped too, that he used a lot of the coffins to knock Umber down onto his ass. Winter’s running away came to an end anyway, when his mana ran out. As much as he wanted to run and leave them behind, Umber would kill him the moment he turned his back for more than two seconds. There came a point too, that he finally had nothing else to give, and chose to run for broke. He got caught. Winter only pitied himself for his last view to be killed by Umber. He would have preferred a female player. The prettier the better, if possible. Umber’s glee was quite palpable. He was swishing his sword around, as if he was practicing for decapitation. Winter thought it was overkill, since his HP was barely 250, even with all the recovery he had had. Small scratches, that barely left him keeling over, constantly decreased his health. He could have gotten himself killed easily by any of the greenies. Yet it was not in him to simply give up. The greenies with missing legs had recovered. Winter had received a message a little while ago that Samuel and Rinne had found some help. Nothing yet. He preferred not to die, yes, but it seemed unlikely that he would survive this. He could not use his hands to type back his reply, since Daffy and another one of his comrades were hanging around his right and left arms. The cheering had been interesting, really. They kept chanting “KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!” continuously. “Any last words? Mage.” Said Umber. Winter rolled his eyes, bored. For his last words, he only said, “Just get it over with.” Hefting his sword in a baseball swing posture, Winter expected Umber to decapitate him. It never happened. It might have, if not for a streak of light that blew everyone off the ground, and left a crater. Winter saw something fast and blue piercing through Umber’s head, before it disappeared. | You are stunned!Unable to act for 6 seconds! | | --- | Somehow, the phrase Bolt from the Blue fit. Groans and exclamations of surprise echoed throughout the field. In the six seconds of stun, Winter admired the disappearing ornately-carved arrow with a broad metallic head. The whole arrow was made of metal, which pixelated quickly, shortly after its impact blew off Umber’s head, and created a crater with its concussion effect. “Well, that looks fun. Think you can get up, my friend?” Winter’s ears perked up. He knew the voice. When he turned around, he knew who he would be seeing. The moustache and hunter-style cap with a feather was still the same. The coloring scheme was the same too. The gear had definitely been upgraded though, as it looked more elaborate. Summer did not have his bow drawn. From between the view of legs and armor, Winter saw the small form of an archer tucking in her bow, and began jogging to the rest of them. Somehow, Winter knew she was the one that had killed Umber. “My friend, you sure have the worst timing. You came to help me when I was ready to kill them?” Replied Winter, while getting up slowly. Summer barked a laugh at that. Winter saw the form of Julianne, who was extremely large and intimidating, booting the running green headwraps. They could still kill Winter, yes, but none were really motivated to do it on their own without Umber. “Seriously. I got them surrounded,” insisted Winter in good humour. “Rambo? Really?” Asked Summer. Winter could only shrug, clasping hands with Summer. Winter was indeed quoting a Rambo joke. An old show he had watched with Daniel when they were younger. It was quite silly when two people claimed to have surrounded the whole troop of army. Winter did not quite get there yet, but he was pretty close. Most of the younger folks with Summer, of course, did not get the joke reference. They understood humor though, so they chuckled politely. Quickly looking around the cleared field, Winter said to Summer, “I think I need a drink.” The aftermath was quick. There was no point of fighting, when either side was reluctant to kill anyone. Besides, Summer’s numbers was close to triple of Daffy’s. Reluctantly, Daffy slinked away, spouting the usual line of ‘It’s not over yet’. Typical. After that, it was a matter of getting back to town for a celebratory drink ,while they traded stories. Winter was surprised that Dougal and his comrades were together with Summer. Winter recognised most of the group that he had joined up with in the siege. There were some additions too. One caught his eye, an archer garbed in a blue leather top and black pants. The bow was exquisitely carved from metal, instead of the wooden one Summer used. At one glance, Winter could tell that this archer was better than Summer. She was a tad short, though, compared to her bow, which was almost as tall as her. She probably barely reached 160cm. Her black hair with blue highlights near the tips reminded him of some sort of calico cat. Winter did not get to thank her or have a word of conversation with her, as he was too busy catching up with Summer. Then, there was Rinne and Samuel, who had run headfirst into Summer - in Samuel’s case, it was Odette. Winter praised Rinne and thanked her, giving the same treatment to Samuel grudgingly. Rinne thanked him too for buying them time, by giving him a peck on the cheek. The look on Samuel’s face made the trouble almost worth it. He would not spoil it by telling them that he would have done it either way. He expected no thanks from Samuel after the show from Rinne, but surprisingly got it. He did not say it in so many words, but Winter was the type to take what he could get. “ Uncle. Really. Can you please stop getting yourself in trouble? Please?” Odette was laughing at the story Winter told them, of how he got himself involved in a feud with the local guild. “ Not my fault. Those youngsters irked me badly,” replied Winter, scowling. His good-natured reply betrayed the scowl. Rinne and Samuel had logged out early, unable to join the celebrations. They cited having something to do offline. Winter did not pry. “So. Why are you here, Summer? Another quest?” Winter asked in a slightly more serious tone. “Now? Yes. Originally, I was here for recruitment, since I was passing through anyway.” Winter raised his eyebrow in question. He waited for Summer to enjoy his beer. Summer would talk when he was ready. He was, after a long pull which finished up the mug, then slammed it onto the table. Nobody jumped, since the place was full of loudly talking players. “Where was I? Oh. Yeah. Recruitment,” Summer picked the thread of the conversation back. “Remember the siege?” Winter nodded. “We have the castle and the province now, I’ve told you that. What I never told you was that I am now the leader of the alliance,” Summer grinned, pointing at himself with his thumb. Winter’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You? I guess that is sort of fitting. You like the job? I thought you were busy enough with your current guild.” Summer waved the comment away, “I can handle it just fine. It is like my current job, really, just more people to manage and more freedom!” Winter toasted at that. “Amen!” “You have not answered my question.” Summer had a habit of getting sidetracked by his own story. He eventually got to the point, but Winter was not patient enough to wait for the whole night and day for him to get there. So he had to prod Summer many times to get him to proceed. “It’s recruitment, Uncle Winter,” Odette chipped in. “Recruitment?” She nodded. “Yes. Recruitment,” Summer stated, as if that was obvious to Winter. Noticing the look of confusion on Winter’s face, Summer continued. “It is after the siege. We have a castle, we have land, we have enough people. But not enough competent ones. We especially need strong players. You would not be my choice. Sorry, my friend,” said Summer apologetically. Winter just nodded in understanding. His friend would help him in a heartbeat, but he was pragmatic and practical when it came to assigning jobs according to skill level. “Anyway, Dougal there was actually in the siege, though you never met him.” Summer toasted to Dougal, who was drinking with some of Summer’s group members. Dougal, who saw it, though did not know what the conversation was about, raised a toast in reply too. “While we are travelling, we are supposed to be on the lookout for good players. He recommended you after your act of saving his ass. Imagine my surprise when I recognised the description and skill sets.” “I don’t know what had happened to you in the past month or so, but you are a little distant,” Summer was understating the issue. Winter knew he was sort of a wreck. Odette was not as good with a poker face as her father. Her countenance told Winter that she was extremely worried. That made Winter realise that he had been acting selfishly. It was not uncommon for him. He was selfish by nature. What he never did, was making his friends worry due to his issues. “Sorry about that, Odette, Summer. I am okay now. I had it rough for a while. I never expected the game to be so…. emotionally charged,” Odette and Summer gave a nod of understanding. It also contained forgiveness. They had a little inkling that Royal Road stuff was not always happy. They also knew that when Winter felt ready, he would tell them all about it. The issue was dropped. They sipped their mug quietly. “So, now I am good enough, eh?” Winter grinned at Summer. He gave the aura of smugness that made Odette chuckle and Summer sigh in disgust. “Yeah. Yeah. You are a monster, according to Dougal. You have extremely good defense strategy, though lacking in offensive capability. He told me that your swordsmanship was near unique, as you are a Mage. He had good words to say about you. I thought it is a good chance to see you again.” “So. You want me to join you? But I have already joined, haven’t I?” Odette groaned at Winter’s question. Winter could tell he was saying something silly. Summer was trying to keep a straight face. “Uncle, you are not in our guild yet,” Odette’s words told Winter that he was indeed being a little daft. They were recruiting for a guild. He wondered why Summer did not ask him the last time they met. His best guess was that he never thought it mattered. Winter thought his guess was right when Summer tried not to look in his direction. “He forgot about it, eh,” smiled Winter. “Forget about what, Uncle?” Asked Odette. “Inviting me to the Guild,” smirked Winter. “That’s right. I gave him a piece of my mind for that. I cannot believe he forgot about it,” Summer tried to hide his face with his drink, by drinking and having the mug cover as much of his face as possible. Julianne had always had a better sense of practicality compared to her father. It made Daniel always on the whipped end of an argument with his daughter. “Okay, you can forgive him now, Odette. I will join. I cannot believe I forgot about it too. I guess we were too caught up.” Summer looked sheepish, when he stopped hiding by using his mug. A minute later, Winter became part of Summer’s guild. Royal Road Research Society was such a dumb name, that Winter almost regretted his choice. Good thing their Alliance had better taste in names. It was called Surging Wave alliance. Summer refused to tell why it was named that way, while Odette was not privy to the reason. Winter made sure to remember to do an extra bit of pettiness to Summer when he got the chance. Odette was from different guild, but was also part of the Alliance now. She told Winter the functions and advantages of being in a guild or alliance. Summer was chatting with Dougal, while Odette was telling Winter about the locator, which acted as a party beacon, but worked outside the dungeon too. Then, the guild chat, of course. There was a guild fee that Winter paid promptly (5 gold) and alliance fee (another 10 gold), that made Winter grumble a little. Winter thought it was useless, since he did not plan to be in the alliance’s territory, which was Ranbell castle and the area surrounding it. He told Odette that he needed to journey to Arcanum to finish up his quest. Summer joined them again, right when Winter began telling that the curse had been lifted and that it was actually worse than when he was cursed. This brought interest from Summer. Winter told them that his skill was much lower than the average mage, due to his mana restriction and his reliance on AOE spells, that were not useful for solo hunting. Summer asked around if any of the alliance members was heading to Arcanum in the common board that could be accessed by members. This impressed Winter, as it had a lot of potentially useful information. There was no reply yet, though Summer told him to be optimistic about it. Somehow, Winter doubted that he would find anyone heading his direction soon, as there was a general call of arms for the whole alliance to enter the Mountain of Sorrow’s center side for a class B quest. Winter had never been to that area, aside from skirting around it. The guide was rather sparse on that account, except to tell all players that had not gotten to level 200 to stay the hell away, or enjoy dying. One look at a large Basilisk from a distance, made Winter agree on the assessment. Winter told Summer whatever he knew about the area, adding the mapping he had done, and any advice he could give. Summer and Odette were surprised that Winter had braved the mountain pass alone. He would never admit to them that it was not easy, though Summer probably already suspected it. In the end, his story wound down to Rinne and Samuel, and the ridiculously short dungeon that collapsed after they exited to his ‘rescue’. Odette and Summer did not have much to tell, as both of them were chipping around the Southern side of the grand dungeon, and were continuously going deeper into itm while finding exits when they were running out of supplies. Summer and Odette were already beyond level 200, and ready for a profession change, after they were done with their current quest. “Good luck you two. I would love to join, but I want to finish my quest. I want it to be done as soon as possible. And now that you have a GPS lock on me, you can find me anytime, right?” They chuckled at that. A little more pleasantries here and there, then Summer logged off, leaving Odette telling Winter about her life in general, which was mainly full of studying, socialising and the occasional partying. That reminded Winter of Aloine. He apologised for Aloine’s treatment, calling her names and all. Odette told him to forget about it, though her look was that of puzzlement. She was groaning in disgust when Winter told her that Aloine had wanted a date with him. Something he was normally happy to oblige, if she had not come at the wrong time. Thanking him for the information, Odette logged off quickly. Shrugging, Winter logged out too. Others were still drinking here and there. He felt no particular connection to the rest of them, however. xXx “Think Arcanum has a lot of songs to learn?” Asked Rinne. “I don’t know. It is supposed to be the center of Magic around the central continent. I think they may have everything related to magic, including spellsongs,” replied Winter. A ballad tune, courtesy of Samuel who was idle with his hands, accompanied their journey to Arcanum. They had put Daffy and Umber away to the back of their minds, now. The three agreed, after a very short discussion, that they needed to leave the city. A short query to Summer told him that he made the right decision. Summer said he could suppress the hostility against Winter, Samuel and Rinne while he was in town. Since he was already on his way, Summer could not guarantee Winter’s playing experience if he insisted on staying. Rinne and Samuel thought they were done with the city too. They were there to find someone to accompany them to complete their quest, anyway. Since that was done, there was no reason for them to stick around. “Yo, what you two think of this one?” Samuel, who was done with his solo recital, asked Winter and Rinne. “It is wonderful, Samuel. You always play the best song,” said Rinne. Samuel beamed in happiness, that made it easy for Winter to deflate his ego. “I think you can use more practice. Your strumming sucks,” Winter made a disgusted face, though inside, he admitted that the kid had fingers made of gold. “What! Say that again?” Challenged Samuel. “I said your song sucks. Compared to Rinne, that is.” Winter was playing dirty. Comparing Rinne’s and Samuel’s skill was like comparing a golden apple to a golden orange. Both were gold, but different in flavor. Like he predicted, Samuel deflated. He probably did not notice he was doing it, but his finger was still playing a tune, only it sounded like a dirge, now. Rinne, who wanted to scold Winter, had to hold back her laughter at the act too. She slapped Winter on his shoulder to express her disapproval. Rinne let Samuel play for a bit until he went quiet, before she began singing. Samuel instantly perked up and matched the silver voice to a golden tune. This was an old song. Fly me to the Moon. The rendition was beautiful. The air felt as if it was charged, while the two were busying themselves with their songs. Winter clapped when they were done. Rinne smiled in thanks. Samuel was a little too smug, so Winter had to raise an Earth Coffin to bump him off. Rinne sighed at his juvenility, but did not bother to scold him anymore. Somehow, along the way, Samuel had been demoted to the kid that got bullied by a petty mage. Winter thought it helped him practice his skills. The road to Arcanum was still a long way off, but it would not be boring. xXx Julianne was worried about Penny. They were not even close to being friends. She was neutral to her. For some reason though, Penelope Waters was determined to hate Julianne. She could not think of whatever reason for Penny, as she was called by everyone else despite her objection, to hate her. Julianne had never been good with subtleties. It was one skill her father had never been able to teach her. The result of the confrontation was quite ugly. She asked Penny straight if she was intending to date her godfather. From the way Penny blew up, Julianne thought her uncle had hurt her schoolmate deeper than he thought. Though Julianne was not subtle in her approach of things, she was a good judge of character. And Penny was in the region of narcissistic, vain, and in constant self-awe of her beauty. That did not make her a bad person, just someone extremely hard to get along with. Julianne disliked her attitude, though. She constantly told Julianne off when she was dropping subtle insults to her friends. Subtle in her thought she was not, maybe. Julianne was smart enough to pick up such insults, though. So when Penny ran away crying, giving her extremely baleful looks, it made Julianne wonder what her godfather had said to her. She also did not keep up with her usual fashion. She used a lot of concealer to hide the black bags under her eyes. Her hair was not brushed properly, free of tangles. Her clothes were not crisp at all. She had also forgotten to apply her lipstick when Julianne went to see her. What made her feel bad was the snickers the bystanders gave Penny when she fled. It made her worry if she had deeper issues than insults and words, something physical. Shrugging, Julianne put the thought out of her mind. She had a class to catch up to. That bitch! She has the gall to ask what is wrong with me! She must be gloating inside! Penelope Waters was sobbing in the girl’s cubicle. She ignored the few concerned knocks on the door. None shall ever see her this vulnerable. Penelope wondered if she was all that older man said. If she was shallow, arrogant and conceited. She was the most beautiful girl in the school. Even Julianne Somner was no match for her beauty. She had a lot of friends, and boyfriends, too. Yet she felt something, after being told off by the older man. Something that clicked inside her mind. She wondered if she secretly knew that she was all that the older man said. Shallow. Arrogant. Conceited. No. Penelope Waters was smart, beautiful and elegant. Everyone had always said that. But somehow, her friends felt off, recently. Her boyfriends and admirers felt hollow. She wondered why she was unhappy. She was the most popular person. Drying her tears, she remembered the handsome player she met in Royal Road. Both of them were connected. He wanted revenge. She wanted one too. Against Winter. Nobody insults Penelope Waters and gets to walk away happy. She had to be the best. Most beautiful. Smartest. There was no other path for Penelope Waters. Filling herself with her last bastion, Pride, Penelope Waters reapplied her concealer. She needed to talk to Campbell. She had a plan to regain her lost dignity. His, too. xXx Campbell was especially chipper today. He just found more information on Winter. He had been seen in one of the border towns near the Mountain of Sorrow. Transferring 500 dollars for the information, Campbell put a direction to shadow the man, plus his two new companions. Thieves’ guilds were very good when it came to information. He should have done it without being told by Aloine. Ah… Aloine. Beautiful, angry, smart and prideful. Campbell felt an instant liking to the girl behind the avatar. He wondered if she looked like her avatar in real life. Somehow, Campbell felt it was pretty close. That made Aloine worthy in his eye. Campbell had not had the chance to meet her again since their first encounter in Cosare. Her hatred for Winter was palpable. He found himself savoring the thought of both of them successfully paying back the old man for the humiliation he had inflicted on Campbell, and whatever he had done to the beautiful Aloine. She rebuffed his attempts to shower her with gifts, sweet talk and companionship, choosing to be aloof and focused on tracking their quarry. Aloine told Campbell that she knew someone offline that had a direct relation to the Mage. There was no contact yet from her for a while now. But Campbell had great patience when it came to inflicting pain and humiliation. He was a winner. Always a winner. He never lost. He would eventually win. Anyone who delayed him from winning must be squashed. Oh. Zaya. Campbell lost track of her. She was probably ahead of Winter, travelling with a cart. He had no idea why they split up. That was a small, unnecessary detail. That female player would be dealt with after he was done with Winter. Royal Road might be a big universe, but Campbell has a long reach. Smiling happily, Campbell entered his capsule and booted it up. He had someone to punish. | [<<<<< Previous Chapter](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=99&t=1089) | | [Next Chapter >>>>>](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=99&t=1609) | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | ============================================================================================================================================================ Author's Note: 1. Thank you -The Slacker- for the PR. Though you are hard pressed for time! 2. Thanks for friends that had been encouraging me through my blue feeling 3. I know, I know, I am late compared to my usual release time. But better late than never! Sorry too. It is shorter. I hope I made it up with the content. 4. Let me know if you found any mistakes. 5. Enjoy, folks.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 7 Sudden Encounters<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br>Zed was in pallet town's entrance , he got the feeling like he forgot something, and thought "OMG!! what about the town's protection??, any invasion force that's coming for this town can easily conquer it!!!, what to do, what to do" zed thought until he heard a sound.<br><br>ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You have been made Lord of Pallet Town in Lord Arceus's name<br><br>- Arceus casts a barrier in your new town , deflecting invading force's that has I'll intent for your town.<br><br>-Barrier lasts 45 Days.<br><br>-You have gained 5000 public rewards points towards Lord Arches for becoming Lord of Pallet Town and completing the test earlier. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "Phew* , I'm saved, thanks Arceus."<br><br>Zed: "Time to continue my secret side project. Hehehehehehehe."<br><br>Zed arrived at the location on where he was going. Where you might ask is this at?, take a guess?? no? okay it was the "Valley of the Porings".<br><br> Zed walked around for hours looking for something like a needle in a haystack, finally he found what he was looking for and confronted it. It being a monster he saw during his earlier travels that he oh so wanted.<br><br>Zed: "We finally meet face Obi-wan , I mean my my comfy bean bag / pillow, soon I will have you, my precious ...MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"<br><br>The monster in question sweatdropped, and as if understanding what he heard, Zed could hear him say. " It is useless Lord Vader for I shall win, I mean,You'll never take me alive you crazy person!!!. "<br><br>Zed: "You!!, you can talk!!, and you know my inside jokes too!!!!, Zed sweatdropped, it doesn't matter, ACCEPT your FATE!! and become my pillow/ bean bag."<br><br>Monster: "You!!, I said it once and I'll say it again "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!! EVER!!" I summon you my minions protect your master from this evil person." An army of blobs/poring of different species appeared.<br><br>Zed: "I commend you my future pillow/bean bag, for this battle of outmost importance, I shall leave no stone left unturned and do what I must for a glorious victory. SPECTACLES! do your thing reveal to me the secrets of my pillow/ beanie bag."<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Angeling<br><br> <img src="http://www.cute-factor.com/members/blitz-albums-ragnarok-gifs-picture2700-angeling.gif" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fwww.cute-factor.com%2fmembers%2fblitz...geling.gif"> <br>-Angeling is the final evolution form of Poring! Unlike its cute appearance, it is pretty strong. It has hated humans ever since it spotted other innocent brethren get damaged by them. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> HP: 55000 <br>Level: 20<br>Race: Angel<br>Property: Holy 4<br>Size: Medium<br>Hit(100%): 90<br>Flee(95%): 163. Base Experience 163<br>Walk Speed: Slow Job Experience 144<br>Atk Delay :1.07s <br>Attack: 120-195 Base Exp Per HP 0.003:1<br>Def: 0 Job Exp Per HP 0.003:1<br>Magic Def: 70 Delay After Hit Average<br>Atk Range: 1 cells Str 1 Int 75<br>Spell Range: 10 cells Agi 50 Dex 68<br>Sight Range: 12 cells Vit 20. Luk 200<br><br>Note: Cells = Meters </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Elements:<br><br>Neutral. 100%<br>Water. 0%<br>Earth. 0%<br>Fire . 0%<br>Wind. 0%<br>Poison. 0%<br>Holy. -100%<br>Shadow. 200%<br>Ghost. 0%<br>Undead. 175% </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Monster skills:<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br><br> Safety Wall [Lv5] <br><br>-Creates a Safety Wall effect in 1 cell. The effect will protect anyone standing on that cell from 1+SkillLV Physical attacks. The attacks do not have to hit to count against the total number of protected hits. Multiple Safety Walls do not stack on one cell.<br>Skills from monsters closer than 4 cells are considered as melee attacks.<br><br>Other Notes :<br>Cannot be used in Sealed Shrine<br>Spell cannot be stacked </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Level Description:<br><br>1. 2 Protected Hits<br>2. 3 Protected Hits<br>3. 4 Protected Hits<br>4. 5 Protected Hits<br>5 . 6 Protected Hits<br>6 . 7 Protected Hits<br>7. 8 Protected Hits<br>8. 9 Protected Hits<br>9. 10 Protected Hits<br>10. 11 Protected Hits </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Teleportation [Lv1] <br><br>-At level 1, you can teleport to a random spot on the same map. At level 2, you can also choose to teleport to your save point. When Teleportation is actually cast, a window will appear showing the available options (including cancel). </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Heal [Lv9]<br><br>-Heals a target's HP for [(BaseLV+INT)/8]*(4+8*SkillLV). When used against Undead property monsters, it is a holy attack that ignores MDEF and INT, but deals only half damage (that is, HealValue*ElementModifier/2). </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Holy Attribute Attack [Lv 5]<br><br>-Spell attack that is imbued with holy properties. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Reverse Orcish [Lv1]<br><br>Stay Duration: 1200 sec<br>Effect: Changes head of another player to that of an Orc. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Summon minion [Lv 9]<br><br>-Summon slaves to do your bidding. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed: "You must be on steroids if your only level 20, and you have like 55k HP, but luckily for me I'm stronger than you, summon Dementors!!, attack them!! kill them all accept the blob with Angel wings. You can weaken him and Don't let it teleport."<br><br>The creature known as angeling tried to put up a good fight, but luck was not on his side today. With zed's AOE spell "call of the haunted" skill, large amount of gelatinous explosions could be seen. <br>"Oh the horror of it all" the angeling thought.<br><br>It took only 10 minutes and the battle was over and angeling was on its last legs.<br><br>Angeling: "I give up , kill me , boil me or (gulp*) make me a pillow/bean bag, I surrender."said looking dejected.<br><br>Zed: Why are you looking sad? is it because you really don't want to be my pillow/ bean bag? <br><br>Angeling: "Yes!!! it's a fate worst than death!!."<br><br>Zed: "MWAHAHAHAHAHA!! silly creature, trix are for kids....cough!! cough!! pardon the terrible pun but seriously??, Why don't you use your slaves/minions as a replacement? You seem to have endless supply of them."<br><br>Angeling: ".......... (smacks his face) why didn't I think of that? I definitely have infinite minions to do my bidding. Okay mister , you have yourself a deal. But how are you gonna bring me and my minions along?"<br><br>Zed: "Trust me, this might look and feel weird at first but I promise you will be satisfied with the end result." the angeling noded in anticipation for something.( that sounded dirty ) the angeling secretly thought.<br><br>Zed: "Spectral ball go !!" A black ball-like object could be seen hitting the angeling and sucking it inside the ball.<br><br>ding*<br>ding*<br>ding*<br><br>Ting*<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> System message<br><br> You have captured angeling<br><br>-fame +200 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "Yessss!! , I caught an angeling." cue dramatic music while zed said that with V sign on his fingers.<br><br>Zed: "~ Hey angeling can you hear me? ~" zed said telepathically.<br><br>Angeling: "~ Yes, I can hear you..... [ !!! ]is this a palace ??, [!!!] and is that a poring shaped throne just for me?, [!!!] those paintings and murals on the walls are depicting my magnificence? Master I love it here!! I'll follow you wherever you go. [!!!] Are those food ?? OMG!! they're endless and they seem to have my favorite , oh!! munch!! munch !!munch!! call, munch!!, when, munch!!, you need me, munch!! munch!!.~"<br><br>Zed: "~I told you , you would like it, I'll call you when I need you.~"<br><br>Zed then went to The Citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim Kingdom to sell his mountains of loot. He asked around people there to find who was the most reliable merchant and the name Mapan came to light.<br><br><br> He asked around some more and found out about Mapan. Zed heard that Mapan just made a killing on orc lands on the "plains of despair", thankfully he was at Rosenheim kingdom right now and zed managed to track him down.<br><br> Zed introduced himself to Mapan and they started doing business which earned him 150k gold when he sold all his stuff to Mapan. Both players were quite happy , especially Mapan when most the equipment zed sold to him had gotten had good stats and some unique items too boot. Friendship quickly formed between them and Mapan informed zed that he was a friend of Weed and shared stories between the two. <br><br>Zed told Mapan that he had just become a Lord of a town, and Mapan could relate to the hardship on how to manage the town since weed had also encountered the same problem. Zed asked if Mapan could contact weed and ask if he has advice for a starting Lord seeing as he was one himself.<br><br>Zed assured Mapan that the town zed governed has potential and assured him that something would attract many enemies in his town as well as a multitude of players as his town offered something many players woud truly value.<br><br>Mapan was curious in the confident tone his new friend was saying "something players would truly value?", what could it be?. It nagged Mapan to no end and it resulted in him nagging zed about it.<br><br>Zed struggled , but who could truly resist a merchant whose caliber in tenacity was only second to Weed?. In the end Zed revealed that his town will unveil a hidden class that only his town has access too, the pokemon tamer class, a version of summoner type class and zed told Mapan the battle he had with Arceus and how powerful the creatures trully were. Zed asked to tell only those he trusted with the information as it would garner much hostility on future enemies.<br><br>Flashback:<br><br>while walking towards Rosenheim, zed fiddled with his Lord Menu on some buildings that were only accessible to him and found many wonderful buildings. One particular building caught his eye.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Church of Arceus<br><br>-In the hopes of spreading the word of pokemon , Arceus has granted you the construction of his church.<br><br>-Doubles exotic products production rate, population of your town.<br>-Doubles wheat production and harvest due to its strong connection to nature.<br>-Doubles worth Ethic<br>-Art + 500 to town<br>-Culture +15%<br>-Faith + 500 to town<br>-Able to convert players to the hidden class "Pokemon Tamer" and indoctrinate them to teachings of pokemon.<br><br>Cost of building 50000 Gold </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed was thinking " This is a must have for the city, this is a multipurpose building that could put my small rural town in the world map, so expensive to build though" zed sighed.<br><br>End Flashback<br><br><br>Mapan was stunned, a city that would gain monopoly of a hidden class? now that surely would attract many players and many business opportunity as well as many enemies.<br><br>Mapan complied and sent a message to his friend Weed that he just made a new friend and business partner, exaggerating on how much loot the guy was selling that would in turn made him a fortune if he re-sell the items he bought and told Weed about their sharing of stories to his new friend and asked if he had any tips on how to manage a town(Not yet city).<br><br>On the other side of the continent Weed was thinking "Wow I'm happy for you Mapan, you made a new friend/client?, and he's asking for tips on how to manage a city, What??? be sure to keep what a secret?? a secret class you say?. Weeds innerthought was this, "Wow that guy just sold many Japtem?, grumble, grumble, Someone made more money than me, should I tell him some tips?, Well on the plus side the guy is a serious adventurer like me, it might help me get an alliance on a future big city and a secret class to draw in the players? truly a rival has appeared, and its a win-win for me, oh the trade routes of import and export of products that only they would be able to monopolize if they form an alliance filled his greedy mind. Japtem!!Japtem!!Japtem!., Mapan tell your firend this........". An evil plot filled Weed's mind<br><br>Mapan told zed that Weed would like him to build culture stat in his city, and the rest he should figure it out for himself .Zed thought" why would weed tell him to raise the useless culture in his city?, Oh well Weed knows best". Weed finally told Mapan to tell that he would want an alliance in the future.<br><br>Unknown to Weed and Zed that in the future , the culture stat is revealed to be very important to keep town's population happy and a avoid a revolt or causes them to migrate to other towns.<br><br>Zed told Mapan to tell Weed that he would love too, as soon as his town becomes a city and function properly , Zed will contact Mapan and or Weed. <br><br>Zed added Mapan and Weed to his friend list and all parties were very happy.<br><br>Zed bought some supplies especially food and repaired Zed repaired his equipments. Zed then used 2 days on making wine and gained intermediate mastery of the wine skill that resulted in zed getting + 5 all stats.<br><br>Zed has now 175k gold in his person, 150k gold from Mapan and 40k from the gold drops from Goblins Heaven. 15k was used to buy tons of cooking ingredients and tons of wine ingredients.<br><br><br><br>Zed logged out and started to research and to manage his new town then sleep to energize his worn body. </div>

Chapter 7 Sudden Encounters Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Zed was in pallet town's entrance , he got the feeling like he forgot something, and thought "OMG!! what about the town's protection??, any invasion force that's coming for this town can easily conquer it!!!, what to do, what to do" zed thought until he heard a sound. ding | * You have been made Lord of Pallet Town in Lord Arceus's name- Arceus casts a barrier in your new town , deflecting invading force's that has I'll intent for your town.-Barrier lasts 45 Days.-You have gained 5000 public rewards points towards Lord Arches for becoming Lord of Pallet Town and completing the test earlier. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Phew* , I'm saved, thanks Arceus." Zed: "Time to continue my secret side project. Hehehehehehehe." Zed arrived at the location on where he was going. Where you might ask is this at?, take a guess?? no? okay it was the "Valley of the Porings". Zed walked around for hours looking for something like a needle in a haystack, finally he found what he was looking for and confronted it. It being a monster he saw during his earlier travels that he oh so wanted. Zed: "We finally meet face Obi-wan , I mean my my comfy bean bag / pillow, soon I will have you, my precious ...MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The monster in question sweatdropped, and as if understanding what he heard, Zed could hear him say. " It is useless Lord Vader for I shall win, I mean,You'll never take me alive you crazy person!!!. " Zed: "You!!, you can talk!!, and you know my inside jokes too!!!!, Zed sweatdropped, it doesn't matter, ACCEPT your FATE!! and become my pillow/ bean bag." Monster: "You!!, I said it once and I'll say it again "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!! EVER!!" I summon you my minions protect your master from this evil person." An army of blobs/poring of different species appeared. Zed: "I commend you my future pillow/bean bag, for this battle of outmost importance, I shall leave no stone left unturned and do what I must for a glorious victory. SPECTACLES! do your thing reveal to me the secrets of my pillow/ beanie bag." | * Angeling http%3a%2f%2fwww.cute-factor.com%2fmembers%2fblitz...geling.gif -Angeling is the final evolution form of Poring! Unlike its cute appearance, it is pretty strong. It has hated humans ever since it spotted other innocent brethren get damaged by them. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * HP: 55000 Level: 20Race: AngelProperty: Holy 4Size: MediumHit(100%): 90Flee(95%): 163. Base Experience 163Walk Speed: Slow Job Experience 144Atk Delay :1.07s Attack: 120-195 Base Exp Per HP 0.003:1Def: 0 Job Exp Per HP 0.003:1Magic Def: 70 Delay After Hit AverageAtk Range: 1 cells Str 1 Int 75Spell Range: 10 cells Agi 50 Dex 68Sight Range: 12 cells Vit 20. Luk 200Note: Cells = Meters | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Elements:Neutral. 100%Water. 0%Earth. 0%Fire . 0%Wind. 0%Poison. 0%Holy. -100%Shadow. 200%Ghost. 0%Undead. 175% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Monster skills: | * Safety Wall [Lv5] -Creates a Safety Wall effect in 1 cell. The effect will protect anyone standing on that cell from 1+SkillLV Physical attacks. The attacks do not have to hit to count against the total number of protected hits. Multiple Safety Walls do not stack on one cell.Skills from monsters closer than 4 cells are considered as melee attacks.Other Notes :Cannot be used in Sealed ShrineSpell cannot be stacked | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Level Description:1. 2 Protected Hits2. 3 Protected Hits3. 4 Protected Hits4. 5 Protected Hits5 . 6 Protected Hits6 . 7 Protected Hits7. 8 Protected Hits8. 9 Protected Hits9. 10 Protected Hits10. 11 Protected Hits | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Teleportation [Lv1] -At level 1, you can teleport to a random spot on the same map. At level 2, you can also choose to teleport to your save point. When Teleportation is actually cast, a window will appear showing the available options (including cancel). | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Heal [Lv9]-Heals a target's HP for [(BaseLV+INT)/8]*(4+8*SkillLV). When used against Undead property monsters, it is a holy attack that ignores MDEF and INT, but deals only half damage (that is, HealValue*ElementModifier/2). | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Holy Attribute Attack [Lv 5]-Spell attack that is imbued with holy properties. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Reverse Orcish [Lv1]Stay Duration: 1200 secEffect: Changes head of another player to that of an Orc. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Summon minion [Lv 9]-Summon slaves to do your bidding. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "You must be on steroids if your only level 20, and you have like 55k HP, but luckily for me I'm stronger than you, summon Dementors!!, attack them!! kill them all accept the blob with Angel wings. You can weaken him and Don't let it teleport." The creature known as angeling tried to put up a good fight, but luck was not on his side today. With zed's AOE spell "call of the haunted" skill, large amount of gelatinous explosions could be seen. "Oh the horror of it all" the angeling thought. It took only 10 minutes and the battle was over and angeling was on its last legs. Angeling: "I give up , kill me , boil me or (gulp*) make me a pillow/bean bag, I surrender."said looking dejected. Zed: Why are you looking sad? is it because you really don't want to be my pillow/ bean bag? Angeling: "Yes!!! it's a fate worst than death!!." Zed: "MWAHAHAHAHAHA!! silly creature, trix are for kids....cough!! cough!! pardon the terrible pun but seriously??, Why don't you use your slaves/minions as a replacement? You seem to have endless supply of them." Angeling: ".......... (smacks his face) why didn't I think of that? I definitely have infinite minions to do my bidding. Okay mister , you have yourself a deal. But how are you gonna bring me and my minions along?" Zed: "Trust me, this might look and feel weird at first but I promise you will be satisfied with the end result." the angeling noded in anticipation for something.( that sounded dirty ) the angeling secretly thought. Zed: "Spectral ball go !!" A black ball-like object could be seen hitting the angeling and sucking it inside the ball. ding* ding* ding* Ting* | * System message You have captured angeling-fame +200 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Yessss!! , I caught an angeling." cue dramatic music while zed said that with V sign on his fingers. Zed: "~ Hey angeling can you hear me? ~" zed said telepathically. Angeling: "~ Yes, I can hear you..... [ !!! ]is this a palace ??, [!!!] and is that a poring shaped throne just for me?, [!!!] those paintings and murals on the walls are depicting my magnificence? Master I love it here!! I'll follow you wherever you go. [!!!] Are those food ?? OMG!! they're endless and they seem to have my favorite , oh!! munch!! munch !!munch!! call, munch!!, when, munch!!, you need me, munch!! munch!!.~" Zed: "~I told you , you would like it, I'll call you when I need you.~" Zed then went to The Citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim Kingdom to sell his mountains of loot. He asked around people there to find who was the most reliable merchant and the name Mapan came to light. He asked around some more and found out about Mapan. Zed heard that Mapan just made a killing on orc lands on the "plains of despair", thankfully he was at Rosenheim kingdom right now and zed managed to track him down. Zed introduced himself to Mapan and they started doing business which earned him 150k gold when he sold all his stuff to Mapan. Both players were quite happy , especially Mapan when most the equipment zed sold to him had gotten had good stats and some unique items too boot. Friendship quickly formed between them and Mapan informed zed that he was a friend of Weed and shared stories between the two. Zed told Mapan that he had just become a Lord of a town, and Mapan could relate to the hardship on how to manage the town since weed had also encountered the same problem. Zed asked if Mapan could contact weed and ask if he has advice for a starting Lord seeing as he was one himself. Zed assured Mapan that the town zed governed has potential and assured him that something would attract many enemies in his town as well as a multitude of players as his town offered something many players woud truly value. Mapan was curious in the confident tone his new friend was saying "something players would truly value?", what could it be?. It nagged Mapan to no end and it resulted in him nagging zed about it. Zed struggled , but who could truly resist a merchant whose caliber in tenacity was only second to Weed?. In the end Zed revealed that his town will unveil a hidden class that only his town has access too, the pokemon tamer class, a version of summoner type class and zed told Mapan the battle he had with Arceus and how powerful the creatures trully were. Zed asked to tell only those he trusted with the information as it would garner much hostility on future enemies. Flashback: while walking towards Rosenheim, zed fiddled with his Lord Menu on some buildings that were only accessible to him and found many wonderful buildings. One particular building caught his eye. | * Church of Arceus-In the hopes of spreading the word of pokemon , Arceus has granted you the construction of his church.-Doubles exotic products production rate, population of your town.-Doubles wheat production and harvest due to its strong connection to nature.-Doubles worth Ethic-Art + 500 to town-Culture +15%-Faith + 500 to town-Able to convert players to the hidden class "Pokemon Tamer" and indoctrinate them to teachings of pokemon.Cost of building 50000 Gold | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed was thinking " This is a must have for the city, this is a multipurpose building that could put my small rural town in the world map, so expensive to build though" zed sighed. End Flashback Mapan was stunned, a city that would gain monopoly of a hidden class? now that surely would attract many players and many business opportunity as well as many enemies. Mapan complied and sent a message to his friend Weed that he just made a new friend and business partner, exaggerating on how much loot the guy was selling that would in turn made him a fortune if he re-sell the items he bought and told Weed about their sharing of stories to his new friend and asked if he had any tips on how to manage a town(Not yet city). On the other side of the continent Weed was thinking "Wow I'm happy for you Mapan, you made a new friend/client?, and he's asking for tips on how to manage a city, What??? be sure to keep what a secret?? a secret class you say?. Weeds innerthought was this, "Wow that guy just sold many Japtem?, grumble, grumble, Someone made more money than me, should I tell him some tips?, Well on the plus side the guy is a serious adventurer like me, it might help me get an alliance on a future big city and a secret class to draw in the players? truly a rival has appeared, and its a win-win for me, oh the trade routes of import and export of products that only they would be able to monopolize if they form an alliance filled his greedy mind. Japtem!!Japtem!!Japtem!., Mapan tell your firend this........". An evil plot filled Weed's mind Mapan told zed that Weed would like him to build culture stat in his city, and the rest he should figure it out for himself .Zed thought" why would weed tell him to raise the useless culture in his city?, Oh well Weed knows best". Weed finally told Mapan to tell that he would want an alliance in the future. Unknown to Weed and Zed that in the future , the culture stat is revealed to be very important to keep town's population happy and a avoid a revolt or causes them to migrate to other towns. Zed told Mapan to tell Weed that he would love too, as soon as his town becomes a city and function properly , Zed will contact Mapan and or Weed. Zed added Mapan and Weed to his friend list and all parties were very happy. Zed bought some supplies especially food and repaired Zed repaired his equipments. Zed then used 2 days on making wine and gained intermediate mastery of the wine skill that resulted in zed getting + 5 all stats. Zed has now 175k gold in his person, 150k gold from Mapan and 40k from the gold drops from Goblins Heaven. 15k was used to buy tons of cooking ingredients and tons of wine ingredients. Zed logged out and started to research and to manage his new town then sleep to energize his worn body.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> 1.3 - Running Wild<br><br>Today was Friday and Willow could finally leave the city. Walking to the gates Willow could hear people looking for party members and selling various things. Stepping outside of the gates for the first time Willow saw numerous fields eventually leading to the forest. Willow looking around could see people hunting squirrels, rabbits, raccoons and foxes. Deciding to go after rabbits first readied her bow and set out.<br><br>Crouching down Willow watched the rabbits and the patterns in their movements for a while. Creeping forward she spotted her prey. Nocking an arrow, she drew her bow while standing up. Adjusting for the rabbits movement she fired her bow. The arrow flew scoring a hit, the rabbit which was in mid jump tumbled forward and started running again. It was meet with a second arrow shortly after. Taking note Willow went to claim her kill, she had received some exp and a rabbit fur. Willow then continued to hunt rabbits for a while.<br><br>After sometime hunting rabbits, Willow decided to try to set up snares for squirrels. Willow pulled out the hatchet and the copper wire she had gotten earlier. Finding a dead log, Willow used her hatchet to trim off the branches. The log was about 10 foot long and 12 inches around. She leaned the log at an angle against a tree that had nuts, she had seen the squirrels going after. She then tied the copper wire around the log and formed slip knots at the end. She did this about 5 times. Taking the hatchet she made notches in the log on the top side of the wires. Placing bits of crushed apple in the notches, her snares were now set.<br><br>Moving away from her trap, Willow sat off in the distance where she could still see the trap. Willow sat back and started to sow the rabbit furs she had gotten earlier. Once she had sewn enough together she started to make a water skin. Around the time she was finished she got a message window.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Critical Hit<br>Your trap has caught a squirrel dealing fatal damage.<br>You have gained experience.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Looking up she saw a squirrel hanging from one of the snares. Not soon after another squirrel followed. Running up the log the squirrel headed straight for the crushed apple. Running through the loop, the instinctively jumping once it felt the snare, snapping its own neck.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Critical Hit<br>Your trap has caught a squirrel dealing fatal damage.<br>You have gained experience.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>This continued to happen till all the snare where full. Willow, having finished making the water skin got up and went to collect the squirrels. Reseting the traps she collected the meat and went to go hunt rabbits some more. While hunting rabbits for awhile she had already reset the squirrel traps a few times.<br><br>Willow then moved her sights to foxes, the first kill didn’t go so well, they had a lot more hp than rabbits. Willow had to change her game plan. She would first set up a snare to lock the fox in place, then shoot from afar before the fox would get loose. After trial and error she changed her shooting style by holding arrows in her bow hand to allow her to shoot faster. The change lead her to be able to shoot almost three times as fast.<br><br>It was now approaching night time, Willow returned to outside the wall and made a fire. She had gotten quite a bit of meat and one level from the hunting she did today. Willow roasted some of the meat and made jerky with the rest. Looking at her arrows she wanted to make some more. Her bow had taken a good hit on durability as well. Willow decided to give Conner a visit in the morning. Willow then went out to the field and set traps for rabbits that she would check in the morning. After setting the traps Willow decided to logout for a few and grab some dinner.<br><br>After logging back in, it was already morning in game. Willow checked her traps, she had caught a few rabbits after collecting them, she left for the stables. Arriving at the stables Willow headed for the smithy.<br><br>“Hello Mr. Duncan,” Willow said as she greeted Duncan.<br><br>“Hey Willow, How have you been?”<br><br>Willow and Duncan chatted for awhile, talking about what she had been doing. Leading her to ask Duncan to teach her blacksmithing. Duncan started explaining the basics and showed her through examples. After about 30 minutes, Willow learned blacksmithing. Eager to test it out she sat off to the side and started to make some arrows. She was going to make some Flu-Flu arrows using the fur she had gotten from the foxes. Using the knife she cut very thin strips from the hide. Using some fine twine she had gotten when she was at the tailors guild she began to wrap the fur diagonally in a spiral where fletchings usually go. She repeated the process 3 times. While doing this Duncan watched her with a smile, nodding as he started to smith something.<br><br>After creating about 20 arrows, Willow stopped. Noticing she was done Duncan called to her, “Here use theses.” Duncan had been making some arrowheads while she was working away on the arrows. Receiving the arrowheads with a smile, Willow answered with a thank you. As she fastened the arrowheads Duncan spoke out, “I haven’t seen arrows like those before what are they?’ “They are Flu-Flu arrows. I’ll show you what they do when I’m finished,” Willow replied. Upon finishing the arrows, Willow stood up and grabbed her bow.<br><br>Looking for off in the distance she nocked an arrow. Letting loose the arrow, it was followed by a loud *Schhwaff* as if it was tearing through the air. The sound was considerably louder than a normal arrow and sounded like an over exaggerated movie sound effect.<br><br>Clapping Duncan said, “Now thats a cool arrow.” After retrieving the arrow, Willow pulled out some of the meat she had gathered from hunting. Making a small fire she began to roast the meat. The look and smell was considerable better than previous attempts. She was slowly getting better at cooking. Once she finished cooking she shared the meal with Duncan while they chatted more. After eating Willow asked Duncan to repair her bow. Once the repairs were done, Willow said her goodbyes and set off to the gates.<br><br>Setting some traps for rabbits, Willow then headed towards the woods. She was slowly mapping the area, noting the animal trails, man made paths, different animals territories. Willow also used this time to hunt deer and boar getting meat and hides. She continued to do this throughout the day. Taking breaks from time to time to get a better lay of the land. Once it was starting to approach evening she returned to outside the gates.<br><br>Making a fire she started to roast the deer meat she had gotten from the hunt today. She had mapped about 4 miles from the gates on the sides of the road. Pulling out the hides from the deer and boars she hunted today she started to sow. She made a tunic, pants, and an armguard for archery. The quality wasn’t great but it was better than the starter gear she was wearing. With a considerable amount of hides left she made a blanket. Wrapping the blanket around herself she sat there gazing at the stars.<br><br>*Hehe*”She look comfortable.”<br><br>“I have to get me one of those blankets it looks warm as hell.”<br><br>Willow was woken up by the words of passing by lower level player heading out to hunt. Collecting herself she packed up her gear and set off to check her traps. She had gotten a few rabbits during the night.<br><br>Staying near the edge of the forest Willow hunted foxes for a few hours collecting hides and meat. Around noon a commotion could be heard.<br><br>“Move your ass you piece of crap. You know how much gold I payed for you?” yelled a man on a wagon. <br><br>Willow looking towards the man, watched for moment as the man began to beat the horse with a barbed whip. The horse looked under nourished and tired, letting out pitiful neighs as it was hit with the whip. This went on for a few minutes, all the while rage started building up in Willow. A small crowd started to form around the merchant. <br><br>“Don’t you think that taking it too far?” and “Dude thats enough isn’t it” could be heard from the crowd.<br><br>Watching on Willow was at her limit. Then she seen the horse start to kneel, giving up. Knowing that if the horse laid down it wouldn’t get up. Willow snapped, with a shriek like a banshee an “Aaaaiiiieeee,” bellowed from WIllow’s mouth. As the crowd turned to see what was going on, Willow had grabbed a fistfull of arrows and began to fire. *Schhwaff* Was heard multiple times as the air was torn apart from the Flu-Flu arrows. <br><br>The merchant’s hand was pierced, followed by his wrist.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Critical Hit</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Critical Hit</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>More arrows continued to fly hitting the merchant one by one. Willow had fire all five arrows in her bow hand. Now grabbing three arrows at a time in between her fingers, the arrows protruding out like claws. Willow began to fire an arrow each step as she walked closer and closer to the merchant. Willow had fired her last arrows, the merchant turning grey and disappearing. The whole exchange had taken less than 30 seconds and Willow had fired over 20 arrows. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">An Innocent person has been killed.<br>Notoriety has increase by 100<br>Level up.<br>Level up.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Dude, did you see that she made a porcupine, a porcupine!!”<br><br>“What the hell was that, archers can shoot that fast? That wasn’t multi-shoot.”<br><br>“Serves him right for doing that.”<br><br>Various comments could be heard from the crowd. Before they could turn their full attention to Willow she started to run. Heading over to the horse, Willow unhooked it from the wagon and urged it to run. The horse turned and walked to where the merchant was picking up something. Willow reach out slapping its rear with a loud, “Yaaah.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Title Acquired: Horse Thief<br>Regardless of the circumstance, stealing is still stealing.<br>Notoriety +50</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Hey You Stop,” could be heard in the distance as guards were running over. Willow ran to her pack grabbing it and dashed to the forest. The guards still following her, she used animal trails and other paths to navigate the forest. After about an hour she had finally lost the guards. Wearing the red mark of a murder now, Willow didn’t know what to do but run. Willow continued to move till almost night time. Looking for a place to camp, she found a small overhang on the side of a ravine.<br><br>Willow gathered firewood for the night and set up camp under the overhang. Resting while cooking some food Willow sat there while thinking about what to do. She couldn’t go back to town for a while. Until she could get rid of the murders mark, she would have to stay away from the city. For now she would camp out and hunt. Willow would slowly move away from town, while scouting the area.<br><br>A noise was heard off in the distance, Willow grabbed her bow and knocked an arrow. As the sound grew louder, Willow readied her bow. From the clearing she could see a horses head coming out. The horse from earlier today was heading her way. The horse was badly wounded, but seemed to had tracked her down. Coming closer Willow greeted the horse, softly stroking its mane. “Lets get you cleaned up,” Willow said as she pulled some bandages from her pack. She was able to stop the bleeding but the horse was still badly hurt. "Sorry this will have to do for now, till I can find something better.” The horse had dropped something at her feet. Looking down Willow picked up a small pouch. Opening the pouch willow found 50 gold coins. Thinking to herself, “Great now I’m a not just a horse thief but a bandit as well.” Willow pulled the blanket out of her pack and sat down. Wrapping herself she pulled the meat from the fire and began to eat. Willow the rested, falling asleep while she waited for morning.<br><br>Once morning arrived, Willow left the camp to scout the area. While setting traps here and there near animal trails, Willow found a small stream. Filling her canteen and water skin with water. She scouted around noticing she was on the edge of the wolves territory. While scouting around she also saw signs of another hunter in the area. Moving around while covering her tracks as much as possible, She hunted on her way back to camp. Willow had been able to hunt a deer and a couple foxes providing her with some meat, hides, and bone.<br><br>Once back at camp willow found a large log, rolling it closer to the camp. Willow hollowed out the log and poured the water from the water skin into it. Willow gestured for the horse to come drink. While the horse was drinking Willow pulled some fruit from her pack and feed the horse. After feeding the horse Willow set out again. She was looking for wood to make arrows. She had fired almost all the arrows she had by the gates and only had 4 left. Searching for a while she had found enough wood to make arrows. Returning to camp she was greeted by the horse, who was looking some what better than before. Changing the horses bandages, Willow began to work. Using the bone from the deer she crafted arrowheads and from the fur she made makeshift fletchings. Once done she had made about 15 arrows.<br><br>Willow started a fire and began to cook. She was slowly adapting to the area. It soon became night and Willow set in for the night. Late into the night she was awoken by the sound of wolves howling. Quickly grabbing her bow and readying an arrow. Scanning the perimeter there were at least 5 wolves. Running to the fire she grabbed more firewood, throwing it on the fire. Taking a few burning logs, she threw them out towards the woods. The outlines of the wolves could be seen, it wouldn’t be long before the attacked.<br><br>Readying her bow, Willow fired 2 arrows at one of the wolves that was creeping closer. Firing at the wolves as the came closer, she was able to slowly bring their numbers down. Having lost 3 of their pack the remaining wolves launched their attack. Charging from the darkness the wolves drew closer. Shooting her last 3 arrows, willow was able to take out one of the wolves. Quickly grabbing her hatchet, she swung at the remaining wolf. The hit wasn’t enough to kill it. Coming around for another pass the wolf lunged towards Willow knocking her down, while tearing into her flesh. Struggling to get the wolf off of her, Willow was using all her strength to fight back. Even though she struggled it wasn’t enough. When she was about to give up, a flash came before her eyes. *Whoosh* A kick thundered through the air as the horse joined the fight, knocking the wolf away. The wolf slowly standing up only to fall over shortly after, dying in its place. Crawling to her feet Willow was bleeding a lot. Patting the horse Willow said, “Thanks you saved me there.” Pulling the last of her bandages from her pack, Willow was barely able to stop the bleeding. Limping over to the wolves she pulled the arrows. Dragging the wolves corpses closer to the fire. It took all her strength to not pass out. After collecting the leathers and meat from the wolves, Willow sat down.<br><br>The chirping of birds could be heard, Willow had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Slowly opening her eye she noticed a figure by the fire. Willow quickly grabbed her bow and knocked an arrow.<br><br>“Whoa there,” said the man. He was an older man dressed in the skins of various animals, with hood covering his face. Removing his hood as he stoked the fire.<br><br>“Names Urd, Gaven sent to me check on ya,”<br><br>“Gaven?” Willow replied.<br><br>“Ya he heard what happened. He thought I might be able to help you, teach you a thing or two. I have been tracking you since yesterday. You’re still green but you got potential. Gaven said you was good with a bow and I’ll give you that. Now come get you something to eat.”<br><br>Willow, lowering her bow headed towards the fire. Wrapping herself with the blanket, as she grabbed some meat from the fire and began to eat. She was still very sore from last night. While Willow was eating, Urd was watching her closely.<br><br>“First things first, won’t you tell me what happened?” Urd said while watching Willow. Willow then explained about the day before; killing the merchant, running from the guards, and finally setting up camp.<br><br>“Can’t blame you much, my kind isn’t welcomed much either. I’m usually seen as a vagabond or a gypsy. But don’t think you did a bad thing. If you did, that horse would have just left you last night.” Rubbing his hands together Urd said, “So what do you say want to learn my craft?” *Bing*<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest: Urd's Game<br><br>Play a game of hide and seek with Urd.<br><br>Difficulty: E<br><br>Quest Requirements: Track down Urd within a day. Failure will result in loss of the quest and being unable to get the quest again. Intimacy with Urd will be lost if failed.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“I’ll play your game,” willow replied.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Accepted</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> </div>

1.3 - Running Wild Today was Friday and Willow could finally leave the city. Walking to the gates Willow could hear people looking for party members and selling various things. Stepping outside of the gates for the first time Willow saw numerous fields eventually leading to the forest. Willow looking around could see people hunting squirrels, rabbits, raccoons and foxes. Deciding to go after rabbits first readied her bow and set out. Crouching down Willow watched the rabbits and the patterns in their movements for a while. Creeping forward she spotted her prey. Nocking an arrow, she drew her bow while standing up. Adjusting for the rabbits movement she fired her bow. The arrow flew scoring a hit, the rabbit which was in mid jump tumbled forward and started running again. It was meet with a second arrow shortly after. Taking note Willow went to claim her kill, she had received some exp and a rabbit fur. Willow then continued to hunt rabbits for a while. After sometime hunting rabbits, Willow decided to try to set up snares for squirrels. Willow pulled out the hatchet and the copper wire she had gotten earlier. Finding a dead log, Willow used her hatchet to trim off the branches. The log was about 10 foot long and 12 inches around. She leaned the log at an angle against a tree that had nuts, she had seen the squirrels going after. She then tied the copper wire around the log and formed slip knots at the end. She did this about 5 times. Taking the hatchet she made notches in the log on the top side of the wires. Placing bits of crushed apple in the notches, her snares were now set. Moving away from her trap, Willow sat off in the distance where she could still see the trap. Willow sat back and started to sow the rabbit furs she had gotten earlier. Once she had sewn enough together she started to make a water skin. Around the time she was finished she got a message window. | Critical HitYour trap has caught a squirrel dealing fatal damage.You have gained experience. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Looking up she saw a squirrel hanging from one of the snares. Not soon after another squirrel followed. Running up the log the squirrel headed straight for the crushed apple. Running through the loop, the instinctively jumping once it felt the snare, snapping its own neck. | Critical HitYour trap has caught a squirrel dealing fatal damage.You have gained experience. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | This continued to happen till all the snare where full. Willow, having finished making the water skin got up and went to collect the squirrels. Reseting the traps she collected the meat and went to go hunt rabbits some more. While hunting rabbits for awhile she had already reset the squirrel traps a few times. Willow then moved her sights to foxes, the first kill didn’t go so well, they had a lot more hp than rabbits. Willow had to change her game plan. She would first set up a snare to lock the fox in place, then shoot from afar before the fox would get loose. After trial and error she changed her shooting style by holding arrows in her bow hand to allow her to shoot faster. The change lead her to be able to shoot almost three times as fast. It was now approaching night time, Willow returned to outside the wall and made a fire. She had gotten quite a bit of meat and one level from the hunting she did today. Willow roasted some of the meat and made jerky with the rest. Looking at her arrows she wanted to make some more. Her bow had taken a good hit on durability as well. Willow decided to give Conner a visit in the morning. Willow then went out to the field and set traps for rabbits that she would check in the morning. After setting the traps Willow decided to logout for a few and grab some dinner. After logging back in, it was already morning in game. Willow checked her traps, she had caught a few rabbits after collecting them, she left for the stables. Arriving at the stables Willow headed for the smithy. “Hello Mr. Duncan,” Willow said as she greeted Duncan. “Hey Willow, How have you been?” Willow and Duncan chatted for awhile, talking about what she had been doing. Leading her to ask Duncan to teach her blacksmithing. Duncan started explaining the basics and showed her through examples. After about 30 minutes, Willow learned blacksmithing. Eager to test it out she sat off to the side and started to make some arrows. She was going to make some Flu-Flu arrows using the fur she had gotten from the foxes. Using the knife she cut very thin strips from the hide. Using some fine twine she had gotten when she was at the tailors guild she began to wrap the fur diagonally in a spiral where fletchings usually go. She repeated the process 3 times. While doing this Duncan watched her with a smile, nodding as he started to smith something. After creating about 20 arrows, Willow stopped. Noticing she was done Duncan called to her, “Here use theses.” Duncan had been making some arrowheads while she was working away on the arrows. Receiving the arrowheads with a smile, Willow answered with a thank you. As she fastened the arrowheads Duncan spoke out, “I haven’t seen arrows like those before what are they?’ “They are Flu-Flu arrows. I’ll show you what they do when I’m finished,” Willow replied. Upon finishing the arrows, Willow stood up and grabbed her bow. Looking for off in the distance she nocked an arrow. Letting loose the arrow, it was followed by a loud *Schhwaff* as if it was tearing through the air. The sound was considerably louder than a normal arrow and sounded like an over exaggerated movie sound effect. Clapping Duncan said, “Now thats a cool arrow.” After retrieving the arrow, Willow pulled out some of the meat she had gathered from hunting. Making a small fire she began to roast the meat. The look and smell was considerable better than previous attempts. She was slowly getting better at cooking. Once she finished cooking she shared the meal with Duncan while they chatted more. After eating Willow asked Duncan to repair her bow. Once the repairs were done, Willow said her goodbyes and set off to the gates. Setting some traps for rabbits, Willow then headed towards the woods. She was slowly mapping the area, noting the animal trails, man made paths, different animals territories. Willow also used this time to hunt deer and boar getting meat and hides. She continued to do this throughout the day. Taking breaks from time to time to get a better lay of the land. Once it was starting to approach evening she returned to outside the gates. Making a fire she started to roast the deer meat she had gotten from the hunt today. She had mapped about 4 miles from the gates on the sides of the road. Pulling out the hides from the deer and boars she hunted today she started to sow. She made a tunic, pants, and an armguard for archery. The quality wasn’t great but it was better than the starter gear she was wearing. With a considerable amount of hides left she made a blanket. Wrapping the blanket around herself she sat there gazing at the stars. *Hehe*”She look comfortable.” “I have to get me one of those blankets it looks warm as hell.” Willow was woken up by the words of passing by lower level player heading out to hunt. Collecting herself she packed up her gear and set off to check her traps. She had gotten a few rabbits during the night. Staying near the edge of the forest Willow hunted foxes for a few hours collecting hides and meat. Around noon a commotion could be heard. “Move your ass you piece of crap. You know how much gold I payed for you?” yelled a man on a wagon. Willow looking towards the man, watched for moment as the man began to beat the horse with a barbed whip. The horse looked under nourished and tired, letting out pitiful neighs as it was hit with the whip. This went on for a few minutes, all the while rage started building up in Willow. A small crowd started to form around the merchant. “Don’t you think that taking it too far?” and “Dude thats enough isn’t it” could be heard from the crowd. Watching on Willow was at her limit. Then she seen the horse start to kneel, giving up. Knowing that if the horse laid down it wouldn’t get up. Willow snapped, with a shriek like a banshee an “Aaaaiiiieeee,” bellowed from WIllow’s mouth. As the crowd turned to see what was going on, Willow had grabbed a fistfull of arrows and began to fire. *Schhwaff* Was heard multiple times as the air was torn apart from the Flu-Flu arrows. The merchant’s hand was pierced, followed by his wrist. | Critical Hit | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Critical Hit | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | More arrows continued to fly hitting the merchant one by one. Willow had fire all five arrows in her bow hand. Now grabbing three arrows at a time in between her fingers, the arrows protruding out like claws. Willow began to fire an arrow each step as she walked closer and closer to the merchant. Willow had fired her last arrows, the merchant turning grey and disappearing. The whole exchange had taken less than 30 seconds and Willow had fired over 20 arrows. | An Innocent person has been killed.Notoriety has increase by 100Level up.Level up. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Dude, did you see that she made a porcupine, a porcupine!!” “What the hell was that, archers can shoot that fast? That wasn’t multi-shoot.” “Serves him right for doing that.” Various comments could be heard from the crowd. Before they could turn their full attention to Willow she started to run. Heading over to the horse, Willow unhooked it from the wagon and urged it to run. The horse turned and walked to where the merchant was picking up something. Willow reach out slapping its rear with a loud, “Yaaah.” | Title Acquired: Horse ThiefRegardless of the circumstance, stealing is still stealing.Notoriety +50 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Hey You Stop,” could be heard in the distance as guards were running over. Willow ran to her pack grabbing it and dashed to the forest. The guards still following her, she used animal trails and other paths to navigate the forest. After about an hour she had finally lost the guards. Wearing the red mark of a murder now, Willow didn’t know what to do but run. Willow continued to move till almost night time. Looking for a place to camp, she found a small overhang on the side of a ravine. Willow gathered firewood for the night and set up camp under the overhang. Resting while cooking some food Willow sat there while thinking about what to do. She couldn’t go back to town for a while. Until she could get rid of the murders mark, she would have to stay away from the city. For now she would camp out and hunt. Willow would slowly move away from town, while scouting the area. A noise was heard off in the distance, Willow grabbed her bow and knocked an arrow. As the sound grew louder, Willow readied her bow. From the clearing she could see a horses head coming out. The horse from earlier today was heading her way. The horse was badly wounded, but seemed to had tracked her down. Coming closer Willow greeted the horse, softly stroking its mane. “Lets get you cleaned up,” Willow said as she pulled some bandages from her pack. She was able to stop the bleeding but the horse was still badly hurt. "Sorry this will have to do for now, till I can find something better.” The horse had dropped something at her feet. Looking down Willow picked up a small pouch. Opening the pouch willow found 50 gold coins. Thinking to herself, “Great now I’m a not just a horse thief but a bandit as well.” Willow pulled the blanket out of her pack and sat down. Wrapping herself she pulled the meat from the fire and began to eat. Willow the rested, falling asleep while she waited for morning. Once morning arrived, Willow left the camp to scout the area. While setting traps here and there near animal trails, Willow found a small stream. Filling her canteen and water skin with water. She scouted around noticing she was on the edge of the wolves territory. While scouting around she also saw signs of another hunter in the area. Moving around while covering her tracks as much as possible, She hunted on her way back to camp. Willow had been able to hunt a deer and a couple foxes providing her with some meat, hides, and bone. Once back at camp willow found a large log, rolling it closer to the camp. Willow hollowed out the log and poured the water from the water skin into it. Willow gestured for the horse to come drink. While the horse was drinking Willow pulled some fruit from her pack and feed the horse. After feeding the horse Willow set out again. She was looking for wood to make arrows. She had fired almost all the arrows she had by the gates and only had 4 left. Searching for a while she had found enough wood to make arrows. Returning to camp she was greeted by the horse, who was looking some what better than before. Changing the horses bandages, Willow began to work. Using the bone from the deer she crafted arrowheads and from the fur she made makeshift fletchings. Once done she had made about 15 arrows. Willow started a fire and began to cook. She was slowly adapting to the area. It soon became night and Willow set in for the night. Late into the night she was awoken by the sound of wolves howling. Quickly grabbing her bow and readying an arrow. Scanning the perimeter there were at least 5 wolves. Running to the fire she grabbed more firewood, throwing it on the fire. Taking a few burning logs, she threw them out towards the woods. The outlines of the wolves could be seen, it wouldn’t be long before the attacked. Readying her bow, Willow fired 2 arrows at one of the wolves that was creeping closer. Firing at the wolves as the came closer, she was able to slowly bring their numbers down. Having lost 3 of their pack the remaining wolves launched their attack. Charging from the darkness the wolves drew closer. Shooting her last 3 arrows, willow was able to take out one of the wolves. Quickly grabbing her hatchet, she swung at the remaining wolf. The hit wasn’t enough to kill it. Coming around for another pass the wolf lunged towards Willow knocking her down, while tearing into her flesh. Struggling to get the wolf off of her, Willow was using all her strength to fight back. Even though she struggled it wasn’t enough. When she was about to give up, a flash came before her eyes. *Whoosh* A kick thundered through the air as the horse joined the fight, knocking the wolf away. The wolf slowly standing up only to fall over shortly after, dying in its place. Crawling to her feet Willow was bleeding a lot. Patting the horse Willow said, “Thanks you saved me there.” Pulling the last of her bandages from her pack, Willow was barely able to stop the bleeding. Limping over to the wolves she pulled the arrows. Dragging the wolves corpses closer to the fire. It took all her strength to not pass out. After collecting the leathers and meat from the wolves, Willow sat down. The chirping of birds could be heard, Willow had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Slowly opening her eye she noticed a figure by the fire. Willow quickly grabbed her bow and knocked an arrow. “Whoa there,” said the man. He was an older man dressed in the skins of various animals, with hood covering his face. Removing his hood as he stoked the fire. “Names Urd, Gaven sent to me check on ya,” “Gaven?” Willow replied. “Ya he heard what happened. He thought I might be able to help you, teach you a thing or two. I have been tracking you since yesterday. You’re still green but you got potential. Gaven said you was good with a bow and I’ll give you that. Now come get you something to eat.” Willow, lowering her bow headed towards the fire. Wrapping herself with the blanket, as she grabbed some meat from the fire and began to eat. She was still very sore from last night. While Willow was eating, Urd was watching her closely. “First things first, won’t you tell me what happened?” Urd said while watching Willow. Willow then explained about the day before; killing the merchant, running from the guards, and finally setting up camp. “Can’t blame you much, my kind isn’t welcomed much either. I’m usually seen as a vagabond or a gypsy. But don’t think you did a bad thing. If you did, that horse would have just left you last night.” Rubbing his hands together Urd said, “So what do you say want to learn my craft?” *Bing* | Quest: Urd's GamePlay a game of hide and seek with Urd.Difficulty: EQuest Requirements: Track down Urd within a day. Failure will result in loss of the quest and being unable to get the quest again. Intimacy with Urd will be lost if failed. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “I’ll play your game,” willow replied. | Quest Accepted | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> After a week of working at the restaurant he managed to worm his way into the job of busboy. &nbsp;This job consisted of cleaning tables, and doing whatever else people needed done. &nbsp;Really the job wasn’t any better than being a waiter, but it allowed him to work in the kitchen occasional which is why he wanted it. &nbsp;After a week of getting to know the kitchen staff he managed to switch jobs to kitchen helper where he finally learned the cooking skill. &nbsp;At this point, having achieved his aims, he could quit, but because he was still stuck in the town for another week game time he decided that he might as well stick with it till then. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Finally the day he could leave the city came. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Shame you're leaving. &nbsp;With a bit of work you would make a good chef.” Shana said. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Thanks for the compliment, but I want to see the world and have adventures.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“You foreigners all seem to be obsessed with adventure. &nbsp;Still, you stuck around longer than most of them. &nbsp;Here, a reward for your hard work. &nbsp;If you're going to go gallivanting around you'll need something like it.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>General Purpose Knife <br>Durability: 20/20 <br>Damage: 3-4 <br> <br>This small knife is useful for a variety of tasks.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;His eyes widened slightly in surprise at the unexpected gift. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Thanks, I really appreciate it.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Don't mention it. &nbsp;If you ever get tired of the adventuring there's a job waiting for you here.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;With that &nbsp;she turned back to her work without saying goodbye, but what she had said was enough. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;After saying goodbye to some of the other staff Skylar set out feeling excited about the future. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Statue Window” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Status Window</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Name</td><td width="25%">Skylar</td><td width="25%">Type</td><td width="25%">Human</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">3</td><td width="25%">Fame</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan="3">None</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Class</td><td colspan="3">None</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">106</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">102</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health Regen/sec</td><td width="25%">0.03</td><td width="25%">Mana Regen/sec</td><td width="25%">0.12</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Intelligence</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td colspan="3">10</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>“Skill Window” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Cooking Skill: Level 2 — 25%</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Axe Mastery: &nbsp;Level 2 — 60%</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Cleaning Skill Level 3 — 12%</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Illustration Skill Level 3 — 11%</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Painting skill Level 1 — 0%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He had 134 copper. &nbsp;Maybe enough to buy a very low end Axe. &nbsp; With that he should be able to go hunting with some of the other newbie player and pick up some exp and loot, but first there was something he wanted to try. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Taking out a piece of wood and started to whittle it with his new knife. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He was really curious about material manipulation in this world. &nbsp; Taking raw materials and shaping them into new useful forms (i.e. crafting) seemed to require skills. &nbsp;Yet some forms of material manipulation seem to be possible without skills. &nbsp; For instance he was able to cut wood with an axe before he learned any skills at all. &nbsp;So he wondered, what would happen if he tried to shape a complex form out of wood without knowing the required skill? <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;So far it wasn't going very well. &nbsp;His hands seemed clumsier than they did in real life, and he had to concentrate very hard to get the results he wanted, but he kept at it, and slowly the wood began to take shape. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Five hours later. <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Crude Mask Created <br>Durability: 1/1 <br>This crude mask was created by a complete armature. &nbsp;It's impossible to tell what the mask was made to depict.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">New Skill: You have learned Carving Skill</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;So it would seem that you can learn at least some skill by doing things. &nbsp;So far he had learned two skills that way; Axe Mastery and Sculpture Mastery. &nbsp;Learning both those skills had had one thing in common, effort. &nbsp; He'd put a lot of effort into completing a task, and then a skill had suddenly appeared. &nbsp;Perhaps this game had been designed to reward hard work. &nbsp; Either that or maybe the designer was a masochist who liked the player to suffer. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp;Examining his work closely he decided that it really was crud. &nbsp;You could barely make out what it was at all. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Justice Man...” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;When he'd been younger he'd loved justice man. &nbsp;Really he'd been obsessed with the show going so far as to create his own justice man costume including a mask he carved out of balsa wood. &nbsp;The reason he'd learned to draw was because he was such a rabid fan that he wanted make his own justice man comic book. &nbsp;Latter on his obsession transferred over to other things. &nbsp;Other fantasies took justice man's place. &nbsp;Now he wasn't even sure what he had ever liked about the character. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Justice... what's so good about it anyway. &nbsp;The powerful make the rules and they call those rules just. &nbsp;If anyone disobeys the rules they use force in order to punish them and they call it justice. &nbsp;So basically power is justice, and power is not always used for good. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Perhaps I'm being a bit too cynical he thought to himself. &nbsp;The society he lived in really wasn't such a bad place, and the laws he lived under were fair enough for the most part. &nbsp; Part of getting older was learning that things can't always the way you want or think they should be. &nbsp;Really the truth was that he had simply outgrown Justice Man. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Putting the mask away he started to walk to the weapons store taking a short cut through some residential shacks. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Suddenly someone bowled into him knocking him over. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;It was Maria the NPC he'd worked for in the past. &nbsp; She was breathing hard, and she had the wide eyed look that people only get when they are truly panicked. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Maria, what wrong.” &nbsp;He asked helping her up. &nbsp; <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;She looked like she didn't recognize him for a second then her eyes became focused. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Skylar you have to help me. &nbsp;He has my brother.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Help Maria's Brother <br>Maria's brother needs your help. &nbsp;You better hurry or you might be too late! <br> <br>Difficulty level: D <br> <br>Quest requirements: <br>Familiarity with Maria <br>Be in the right place at the right time. <br>Reward: &nbsp;Unknown</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Difficulty D. &nbsp;That's impossible. &nbsp;There's no way he could handle a difficulty D quest. &nbsp;He opened his mouth to refuse, but seeing her expression he just couldn't do it. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Ok, take me there. &nbsp;No better yet, tell me where it is and go look for more help.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">You accepted the quest.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“By my shack. &nbsp;Hurry.” &nbsp;She said and ran off. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Maybe he should have asked for more detail, but it was probably better that spent her time finding someone who had a higher level. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He reached the shack quickly and saw a warrior covered in red paint holding a child up by his clothing shouting in his face. &nbsp;It was that jerk from the restaurant again. &nbsp;The one who thought he was a NPC. &nbsp;What did the girl call him again... Grage that was it. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;So now what? &nbsp;Judging by Grage's equipment his level was somewhere over a hundred. &nbsp;There was no possible way Skylar could win in a fight. &nbsp;He should just turn around and leave. &nbsp;Let someone deal with it. &nbsp;He’d be a fool to interfere at his level. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He took the mask out of his pack and put it own. &nbsp;If he was going to be a fool he was going to be a fool anonymously. &nbsp;Especially when there was a risk of angering high level players. <br> <br>"Put him down." he said. <br> <br>The guy just kept going. &nbsp;He was so enraged that he probably didn't even hear. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Put the boy down!” &nbsp;He shouted. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Finally turning away from the boy the man gave him a confused look. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Who are you?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“A warrior of justice.” he said doing his best Justice Man pose. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Are you an idiot?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Obviously he wasn't a fan of the show. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Why don't you let the poor kid go?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“No way. &nbsp;Look what he did to my armor. &nbsp;It's ruined! &nbsp;Do you know how expensive it was!” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I'm sure it was an accident. &nbsp;Right kid?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“No way! &nbsp;That creep was harassing my sister again. &nbsp;He deserved what he got!” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Stupid kid. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“You know now that I look at you more closely I think you look good in red. &nbsp;A crimson warrior. &nbsp;What could be more iconic?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Get the &lt;censored&gt; out of here you &lt;censored&gt; &lt;censored&gt;.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Wait, I have the cleaning skill at intermediate level (a lie). &nbsp;Maybe I can get the paint off.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“How do I know you telling the truth?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Look I'm obviously a noob so I can't hurt you right? &nbsp;So what do you have to lose?” <br> <br>The man scowled at him. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Fine, if you can get the paint of I'll let the kid go. &nbsp;Otherwise I'll kill both of you.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Ok, but why don't you put the kid down. &nbsp;It's too difficult to clean you with you holding him like that.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“No way. &nbsp;Do you think I'm stupid? &nbsp;If I set him down he'll run off.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I have some string. &nbsp;Why don't you let me tie him up for you?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He looked thoughtful for a moment. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“No, I'll tie him up myself. &nbsp;I have fairly high Rope Skill.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;That's kind of disturbing. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Let go over there. &nbsp;There's a trough of water I can use.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Ok, but don't even think about trying anything.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Scouts honor.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Like I'm a scout. <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">You failed to clean the item.</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">You failed to clean the item.</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">You failed to clean the item.</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">You failed to clean the item.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“It doesn't look like it's working.” the warrior said. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;My skill levels to low. &nbsp;There's no way this is going to work. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Wait a second. &nbsp;I have a potion which temporarily increases your skill levels.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“There's no potion like that.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“No really. &nbsp;I got a few from this crazy alchemist in purple robes. &nbsp;I have a few of them, do you want to try one?” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He paused for a second obviously thinking it through. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Nah, you'd probably try and poison me.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;He's smarter than he looks. &nbsp; <br> <br>*gulp* <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">30 second to self destruct.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>Well it's all about timing now. <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">You failed to clean the item.</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">You failed to clean the item.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“It's still not working.” Grage said. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Are you sure? &nbsp;I think I see a clean spot.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">25 second to self destruct.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“There's nothing there. I knew I shouldn't have listened to you.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Just give it a little more time.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">20 second to self destruct.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I've already given you enough time.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“What's the rush? &nbsp;I thought you like this armor.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">15 second to self destruct.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I know. &nbsp;Maybe I just need to use another potion.” Skylar said. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“I'm telling you there's no such thing as skill increasing potions. &nbsp;That alchemist ripped you off.” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">10 second to self destruct.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“But he had such an honest face.” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“That's it. &nbsp;I'm through waiting. &nbsp; You and the kid are both...” <br> <br>*Ting* <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">5 second to self destruct.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp; “But I love you.” Skylar said throwing himself on him. &nbsp;Embarrassing, but desperate times call for desperate measures. &nbsp; <br> <br>Grage turned red with rage and started to sputter out barely coherent sentences. <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;“Get the &lt;censored&gt; of me you &lt;censored&gt; &lt;censored&gt;. &nbsp;I'm going to..” <br> <br>&nbsp; &nbsp;Suddenly there was a deafening sound and everything turned white. &nbsp;Shortly after Skylar was logged out of the game. </div>

After a week of working at the restaurant he managed to worm his way into the job of busboy.  This job consisted of cleaning tables, and doing whatever else people needed done.  Really the job wasn’t any better than being a waiter, but it allowed him to work in the kitchen occasional which is why he wanted it.  After a week of getting to know the kitchen staff he managed to switch jobs to kitchen helper where he finally learned the cooking skill.  At this point, having achieved his aims, he could quit, but because he was still stuck in the town for another week game time he decided that he might as well stick with it till then.      Finally the day he could leave the city came.    “Shame you're leaving.  With a bit of work you would make a good chef.” Shana said.    “Thanks for the compliment, but I want to see the world and have adventures.”    “You foreigners all seem to be obsessed with adventure.  Still, you stuck around longer than most of them.  Here, a reward for your hard work.  If you're going to go gallivanting around you'll need something like it.” *Ting* | General Purpose Knife Durability: 20/20 Damage: 3-4 This small knife is useful for a variety of tasks. | | --- |    His eyes widened slightly in surprise at the unexpected gift.    “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”    “Don't mention it.  If you ever get tired of the adventuring there's a job waiting for you here.”    With that  she turned back to her work without saying goodbye, but what she had said was enough.      After saying goodbye to some of the other staff Skylar set out feeling excited about the future.      “Statue Window” *Ting* | Status Window | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Name | Skylar | Type | Human | | Level | 3 | Fame | 0 | | Title | None | | | | Class | None | | | | Health | 106 | Mana | 102 | | Health Regen/sec | 0.03 | Mana Regen/sec | 0.12 | | Strength | 10 | Agility | 10 | | Vitality | 10 | Intelligence | 10 | | Wisdom | 10 | | | “Skill Window” *Ting* | Cooking Skill: Level 2 — 25% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Axe Mastery:  Level 2 — 60% | | | | | Cleaning Skill Level 3 — 12% | | | | | Illustration Skill Level 3 — 11% | | | | | Painting skill Level 1 — 0% | | | |    He had 134 copper.  Maybe enough to buy a very low end Axe.   With that he should be able to go hunting with some of the other newbie player and pick up some exp and loot, but first there was something he wanted to try.      Taking out a piece of wood and started to whittle it with his new knife.      He was really curious about material manipulation in this world.   Taking raw materials and shaping them into new useful forms (i.e. crafting) seemed to require skills.  Yet some forms of material manipulation seem to be possible without skills.   For instance he was able to cut wood with an axe before he learned any skills at all.  So he wondered, what would happen if he tried to shape a complex form out of wood without knowing the required skill?    So far it wasn't going very well.  His hands seemed clumsier than they did in real life, and he had to concentrate very hard to get the results he wanted, but he kept at it, and slowly the wood began to take shape.    Five hours later. *Ting* | Crude Mask Created Durability: 1/1 This crude mask was created by a complete armature.  It's impossible to tell what the mask was made to depict. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | New Skill: You have learned Carving Skill | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |    So it would seem that you can learn at least some skill by doing things.  So far he had learned two skills that way; Axe Mastery and Sculpture Mastery.  Learning both those skills had had one thing in common, effort.   He'd put a lot of effort into completing a task, and then a skill had suddenly appeared.  Perhaps this game had been designed to reward hard work.   Either that or maybe the designer was a masochist who liked the player to suffer.    Examining his work closely he decided that it really was crud.  You could barely make out what it was at all.    “Justice Man...”    When he'd been younger he'd loved justice man.  Really he'd been obsessed with the show going so far as to create his own justice man costume including a mask he carved out of balsa wood.  The reason he'd learned to draw was because he was such a rabid fan that he wanted make his own justice man comic book.  Latter on his obsession transferred over to other things.  Other fantasies took justice man's place.  Now he wasn't even sure what he had ever liked about the character.      Justice... what's so good about it anyway.  The powerful make the rules and they call those rules just.  If anyone disobeys the rules they use force in order to punish them and they call it justice.  So basically power is justice, and power is not always used for good.      Perhaps I'm being a bit too cynical he thought to himself.  The society he lived in really wasn't such a bad place, and the laws he lived under were fair enough for the most part.   Part of getting older was learning that things can't always the way you want or think they should be.  Really the truth was that he had simply outgrown Justice Man.    Putting the mask away he started to walk to the weapons store taking a short cut through some residential shacks.      Suddenly someone bowled into him knocking him over.      It was Maria the NPC he'd worked for in the past.   She was breathing hard, and she had the wide eyed look that people only get when they are truly panicked.    “Maria, what wrong.”  He asked helping her up.      She looked like she didn't recognize him for a second then her eyes became focused.    “Skylar you have to help me.  He has my brother.” *Ting* | Help Maria's Brother Maria's brother needs your help.  You better hurry or you might be too late! Difficulty level: D Quest requirements: Familiarity with Maria Be in the right place at the right time. Reward:  Unknown | | --- |    Difficulty D.  That's impossible.  There's no way he could handle a difficulty D quest.  He opened his mouth to refuse, but seeing her expression he just couldn't do it.    “Ok, take me there.  No better yet, tell me where it is and go look for more help.” *Ting* | You accepted the quest. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |    “By my shack.  Hurry.”  She said and ran off.    Maybe he should have asked for more detail, but it was probably better that spent her time finding someone who had a higher level.    He reached the shack quickly and saw a warrior covered in red paint holding a child up by his clothing shouting in his face.  It was that jerk from the restaurant again.  The one who thought he was a NPC.  What did the girl call him again... Grage that was it.    So now what?  Judging by Grage's equipment his level was somewhere over a hundred.  There was no possible way Skylar could win in a fight.  He should just turn around and leave.  Let someone deal with it.  He’d be a fool to interfere at his level.    He took the mask out of his pack and put it own.  If he was going to be a fool he was going to be a fool anonymously.  Especially when there was a risk of angering high level players. "Put him down." he said. The guy just kept going.  He was so enraged that he probably didn't even hear.    “Put the boy down!”  He shouted.    Finally turning away from the boy the man gave him a confused look.    “Who are you?”    “A warrior of justice.” he said doing his best Justice Man pose.    “Are you an idiot?”    Obviously he wasn't a fan of the show.    “Why don't you let the poor kid go?”    “No way.  Look what he did to my armor.  It's ruined!  Do you know how expensive it was!”    “I'm sure it was an accident.  Right kid?”    “No way!  That creep was harassing my sister again.  He deserved what he got!”    Stupid kid.    “You know now that I look at you more closely I think you look good in red.  A crimson warrior.  What could be more iconic?”    “Get the <censored> out of here you <censored> <censored>.”    “Wait, I have the cleaning skill at intermediate level (a lie).  Maybe I can get the paint off.”    “How do I know you telling the truth?”    “Look I'm obviously a noob so I can't hurt you right?  So what do you have to lose?” The man scowled at him.    “Fine, if you can get the paint of I'll let the kid go.  Otherwise I'll kill both of you.”    “Ok, but why don't you put the kid down.  It's too difficult to clean you with you holding him like that.”    “No way.  Do you think I'm stupid?  If I set him down he'll run off.”    “I have some string.  Why don't you let me tie him up for you?”    He looked thoughtful for a moment.    “No, I'll tie him up myself.  I have fairly high Rope Skill.”    That's kind of disturbing.    “Let go over there.  There's a trough of water I can use.”    “Ok, but don't even think about trying anything.”    “Scouts honor.”    Like I'm a scout. *Ting* | You failed to clean the item. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | You failed to clean the item. | | | | | You failed to clean the item. | | | | | You failed to clean the item. | | | |    “It doesn't look like it's working.” the warrior said.    My skill levels to low.  There's no way this is going to work.    “Wait a second.  I have a potion which temporarily increases your skill levels.”    “There's no potion like that.”    “No really.  I got a few from this crazy alchemist in purple robes.  I have a few of them, do you want to try one?”    He paused for a second obviously thinking it through.    “Nah, you'd probably try and poison me.”    He's smarter than he looks.   *gulp* *Ting* | 30 second to self destruct. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Well it's all about timing now. *Ting* | You failed to clean the item. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | You failed to clean the item. | | | |    “It's still not working.” Grage said.    “Are you sure?  I think I see a clean spot.” *Ting* | 25 second to self destruct. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |    “There's nothing there. I knew I shouldn't have listened to you.”    “Just give it a little more time.” *Ting* | 20 second to self destruct. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |    “I've already given you enough time.”    “What's the rush?  I thought you like this armor.” *Ting* | 15 second to self destruct. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |    “I know.  Maybe I just need to use another potion.” Skylar said.    “I'm telling you there's no such thing as skill increasing potions.  That alchemist ripped you off.” *Ting* | 10 second to self destruct. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |    “But he had such an honest face.”    “That's it.  I'm through waiting.   You and the kid are both...” *Ting* | 5 second to self destruct. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |     “But I love you.” Skylar said throwing himself on him.  Embarrassing, but desperate times call for desperate measures.   Grage turned red with rage and started to sputter out barely coherent sentences.    “Get the <censored> of me you <censored> <censored>.  I'm going to..”    Suddenly there was a deafening sound and everything turned white.  Shortly after Skylar was logged out of the game.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> 1.2 - Preparations<br><br>After Leaving the ranch Willow found a place to sit down and decided to take a break. Logging out of royal road it was now 4 in the afternoon. Resting on her bed, she closed her eyes and thought back on the days events.<br><br>A knock was heard from the door and Dr. Kim came in. Dr. Kim was making her rounds and stopped by to check on Willow.<br><br>“How are you feeling?” Dr. kim asked<br><br>“I’m doing Ok,” willow said with a smile on her face.<br><br>Willow talked about her about her day and Royal Road. Willow talked about Spencer, how he had helped her and gave her the walking stick. One of Dr. Kims eyebrows raised after hearing this. Willow explained how she found her way to the stable after seeing the knights. Talking about the painted horse, as well as Sam and the Boss. She was happy giving the details of the quest and about helping the painted horse. Willow continued to talk as Dr. Kim listened waiting for her to finish.<br><br>“You were having problems with the use of your hand and with walking?” Dr. Kim asked.<br><br>“Yes,” Willow nodded.<br><br>“In Royal Road physical disabilities you have in the real world don’t carry over,” Dr. Kim explained<br><br>“What you are experiencing is something akin to phantom pains. Even though in Royal Road you should be able to use your hands and legs properly, your mind is stuck remembering your body in the real world.”<br><br>“I want you to do activities that will need you to use your legs and hands more actively”<br><br>Willow nodded again in conformation.<br><br>“You said the Boss told you to look for Granny WIlson, that will probably be a good start”<br><br>“There are also other things, like getting a job at a restaurant, or being a porter for at the trading post. There are plenty of jobs that could help you”<br><br>“You will also be able to gain a little money until you are able to leave the city.”<br><br>After talking a little more Dr. Kim left to finish her rounds. Willow decided she would go eat dinner then head back to her room to log in to Royal Road. Thinking to herself, Willow though even though its just a subsitute the ability to move freely and use her hand as she wished, excited her. After having a quick dinner Willow Logged back into Royal Road.<br><br>Once logged in Willow made her way to Granny Wilson’s farm. After a brief introduction, Granny Wilson asked, “I could use some help on the farm, if you’re up to it.” *Bing*<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">A Farmers Work<br><br>Help Granny Wilson on her farm. You will be need to care for the animals and help Granny wilson with any work she offers.<br><br>difficulty: F</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“I’ll help you out on the farm,” Willow stated.<br><br>“Alright start by taking care of the chickens, I’ll check your work when its done.”<br><br>Heading to the chicken coop, Willow started to work. She let the chickens out, gently gathered the eggs, and started to clean out the coop. It was work she was used to doing, so it didn’t take her long to finish. Around the time she finished, Granny Wilson came around. Granny Wilson having watched Willow work, gave a nod. <br><br>“Ok, Girly come with me.”<br><br>Following Granny Wilson she was lead to a small shed near the pig pens. <br><br>“Alright I’m going to show you how to make my speciality pig slop, “Piggy Delight.”” Granny Wilson said gesturing for Willow to come closer.After a getting all the ingredients together from different barrels, Granny Wilson started to mix it up. Paying close attention to Granny, Willow noted in her mind the order and how much to mix in. The whole process took about 3-4 minutes.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Skill: You have learned Cooking</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>When she was done Granny Wilson stood up, “You can finish up from here.”<br><br>Willow took the pale and headed to the trough, there was 4 pens, and about 20 pigs spread between them. Willow diligently did the work she was given, which took about 30 minutes to complete. After finishing up Willow went off to find Granny Wilson. Granny was in the kitchen making some lunch. Granny offered her some lunch, it was soup with veggies, bread, and cheese. The two chatted while they ate having a good conversation. After lunch Granny had willow do a bunch of odd jobs here and there. Once finishing Granny called her over and said “Thanks for helping out around the farm.”<br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Complete: A Famers Work<br>You have completed the work specified by Granny Wilson<br>You have been rewarded: 3 silver</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>For the rest of the weekend when Willow was free, she took up various jobs. She had cooked at a resturaunt, been a porter, and helped out at a few farms. She had helped weave grass baskets and mats as her primary job. Through the weaving job she had gained the skill Handicraft and was now at beginner lv. 3 in it. The weaving was also the most helpfully to her she could now close her right hand. Although it wasn’t a strong tight fist she was able to make one none the less.<br><br>It was now the start of a new week and Willow had to start going to school. She had enough credits so she only had to go to school for day. She spent most of her time in the library studying. While at school she went to the AV room and hopped on the internet. She was looking for pictures of a thumb ring used with the Mediterranean draw. She had seen her grandfather use it a couple times when talking about different ways to shoot a bow. It was a draw that would allow her to use a bow in her current state. After looking the pictures she was confident she could make one.<br><br>When Willow returned from school she completed her counseling and physical therapy. Willow quickly eat some dinner and headed straight to the capsule. She was on a mission, she had planned to spend the rest of the week practicing her archery and gather supplies to go hunting.<br> <br>After logging in Willow visited various stores. She went to the general store where purchased a larger backpack, various utensils and spices for cooking. Stopping by the Smithey she picked up a thin dagger that could be used for carving and a hatchet for cutting wood. She also picked up a spool of really thin copper wire. <br><br>Willow’s shopping was done, She now stood in front of the Archers Guild. Over the last few days she had read up on Royal Road. Willow thought being an archer was probably the closest profession to what she wanted to do. Although she was still unsure about it, she could still train her archery here. She found a place near the Archers Guild that was out of the way and sat down. Reaching into her backpack she pulled out a small block of wood and the knife she had gotten earlier. She carved away on the wood for about 5 minutes. Making a small ring with a long lip reach the end of her thumb. Willow had made her thumb ring, now all that was left to do was practice.<br><br>Entering the Archers Guild, she looked around there were a few Npcs, most dressing in leathers. Shortly after entering she was greeted with a warm hello. Walking to the man standing behind the counter, Willow ask, “Is it possible to train my archery here?” The man behind the counter was one of the guild’s instructors. He replied with, “Yes.”<br><br>Before continuing they introduced themselves. The man was named Gaven. Once the introductions were done Willow asked, <br><br>“Are there any training bows I can use? I can’t grip very well at the moment I would need one easy to draw. Since the strength in my hand is slowly coming back, I wanted to wait to buy one till I am able to shoot properly.”<br><br>“Well we might have some things laying around but, you aren’t part of the guild so it would be stretching it a little.” Gaven replied.<br><br>“I don’t have much money and i’m still unsure on what i want to do for my profession,” Willow said before pausing for a moment.<br><br>“Oh, How about this, I could help clean up around the guild.” Willow stated while facing Gaven. Unknown to her the other guys were giving their oks, or clasping the hand pleading to Gaven just out of her sight.<br><br>“Ok you got yourself a deal.” Gaven said with a light smile.<br><br>After excusing himself for a minute gaven returned with couple of bows and a quiver with a dozen arrows. Receiving the first bow, Willow set aside her walking stick then placed the thumb ring on her finger. Gaven stood watching while wondering what she was doing with the ring.<br>Taking the first bow in her left hand, she then got into her stance. Making a fist a couple times, she rested the bow string around on the inside of her thumb making a loose fist. She then began her draw till she had fully drawn the bow. Willow held it there for a few moments then release the string. Willow repeated this with the bows a few time before deciding to use the bow with the heavier draw.<br><br>Once willow had finished, Gaven remarked, “I haven’t seen that draw style in a long time. Where did you learn it?” Willow explained how she was taught how to shoot a bow by her grandfather and he has shown it to her a couple times.Gaven nodding, lead her to the archery range.<br><br>“If you need anything just ask,” Gaven said as he was returning to the counter.<br><br>Willow once again setting aside the walking stick, proceeded to nock an arrow. Willow took a breath, then exhaled. In her next breath in a fluid movement she started her draw finishing when she had taken a full breath. Holding her breath for a moment, she then fired the arrow. The arrow was horribly off target. Not being used the draw she continued to shoot till the quiver was empty. Retrieving the arrows she began to repeat the process. She continued to do this for about 3 hrs before her stomach started to growl. She went to her bag and pulled out her canteen and some bread and cheese she had gotten from Granny Wilson. Willow continued to practice till it was about an hour before she had to log out. After finishing up, she started to clean up the guild. The guild was full of cluther, a lot of the mounted trophies were dirty and full of dust. After working for an hour Willow returned the bow and quiver of arrow to Gaven, Thanking him and saying good bye. Willow then found a spot outside the guild to sit down and log out.<br>The next day she continued to practice, she could already see a considerable amount of improvement with the use of her hand and her aim. After about 2 hours she was greeted with a somewhat familiar window.*Bing*<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Skill: You have learned Archery</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Archery(Beginner Lv.1 0%)<br>Attack power with a Bow has increased by +10 %<br>Attack speed with a Bow has increased by +3 %</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Agility rises by 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>A smile of accomplishment flashed across Willows face. Willow retrieved the arrows, the headed toward the front counter. Where she was greeted by Gaven, “Working hard again to day I see. I take it, its time to move to a new bow?” Willow nodded, “Yes.” “I thought it was about time. I had prepared this for you to use,” Gaven says as he places another bow on the counter. <br><br>“You have improved a lot. Seems like you are getting better control of your hand.”<br><br>“Yes, it still has a long ways to go before it back to normal though.Thank you again, for letting me practice here,” Willow replied.<br><br>“No Problem you’re a great help around here. The place is already starting to look ten times better.”<br><br>Willow then headed back to practice.She would take a break from time to time to listen to Gaven tell stories about hunts and to learn about good hunting grounds.It was now Wednsday, Willow had gotten a considerable amount of stregenth back in her hand. Her leg to was starting to do a lot better, she was able to stand with no difficulties and walk easily without the walking stick.<br><br>Today, she decided to take a break from practice and pay the Boss a visit at the stables. When she was working odd jobs from time to time she would run in to him. While chatting with him Willow had learned his name was Conner Duncan.<br><br>Upon reaching the stables, she headed to the smithy to greet Corner. “ Hi Mr. Duncan,” Willow said from afar since he was in the middle of work. He was forging horseshoes and nails and repairing various tools.<br><br>“Hello Willow, What brings you here today?” Conner asked.<br><br>“I was hoping to help you, by working the bellows. My leg is doing a lot better and exercise would help me alot.”<br><br>“Hmm, Why not. I could use the company. Don’t tell anyone but this gets boring from time to time,” Conner said in a low voice.Willow then headed to the bellows, the Smithy’s bellows were a medium sized one that you had to step on to use. She used working the bellows to train her legs.<br><br>She would spend some time practicing archery at the archers guild and the rest helping Conner at the smithy. After a few days working the bellows, Willow was able to walk without the aid of the walking stick. Running was still a problem, she couldn’t run for more than 20 yards before her legs would start screaming.<br><br>In between her practices she would work as a porter at the grocery store. She especially like this job because she would make a little money and get fresh fruits as a reward. It was now the day before she could leave the city. Willow had gathered most of the supplies she would need for a hunt. She had information on good hunting spots around the city, which she had learn from Gaven and other at the Archers Guild. Willow had decided to wait on picking a profession till after her first hunt. Thinking that she would fine since she wasn’t going to stray far from the city.<br><br>Heading to the Archers guild, Willow still needed a bow. She was confident with the training she did and felt she would be able to use any standard bow. Once arriving to the guild, she quickly headed inside. Gaven was sitting on the other side of the counter fiddling with something. Noticing that Willow had arrived Gaven called out, “Hello again, so the day is finally tomorrow eh?”<br><br>“Yes, I have a general idea of where I want to hunt. I just need to get a bow and a few other supplies. I was hoping you could point me in the direction of where I could find a decent bow.” willow replied.<br><br>“Funny you should ask. I thought It was about time for you get one of your own. Normally we don’t help those outside the guild, but you have shown your skill in archery.”<br><br>*Ding*<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Beginner Archery Test<br>Gaven has given you the chance to test your skills. There are various animal shaped dummies on the range. To pass you need to score at least 5 kills shot with the 10 arrows provided.<br><br>Difficulty: F<br><br>Failure to complete the quest will result in lose of intimacy with Gaven and the Archers Guild</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“I will take the test.” Willow replied<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Accepted</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>“I’ll take the test,” Willow stated.<br><br>With a smile Gaven, hands Willow the bow and leads her to the range. Looking on to the range, Willow can see many target dummies of various animals. There are deer, foxes, boar, pheasants, a turkey, and even a bear in the back. Scanning the targets she can see red paint on the targets in different areas on indicating their vitals or kill shot locations. The setup reminded her of the a 3d range back home.(3D archery is a subset of field archery focusing on shooting at life-size models of game and is popular with hunters.)<br><br>Standing in position, Will readies herself and gets in to her shooting stance. Taking aim at the deer about 20 yards away she lets loose the first arrow. The arrows was a hit in the area around the heart, it was then followed by an arrow to the base of its neck on the side. Quickly switching targets she fires 2 arrow in rapid succession. Hitting the turkey and pheasant, she takes aim at her next target a cougar that is around 30 meters away. Taking her time to aim her shot, she fires this time it was a little off. Readjusting her stance and taking a deep breath, she lets loose another arrow. Its a hit in the appropriate location. Looking further down the range she take aim at the boar, fires, and scores a hit. With 3 arrows left she eyes the bear at about 40 meters away. Taking aim and firing, Willows first shot is off alittle. Shooting one more arrow she scores a hit. With one arrow left she takes aim at a moose that is at about 40 yard. Taking a breath, she draws, aims, and fires. The shot is a hit which is followed by *Bing*. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Complete: Beginner Archery Test<br><br>You have completed the test giving by Gaven. Return to him for the reward.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Clapping could be hear from Gaven’s direction, Gaven saying “Well Done.” Willow returns the bow to Gaven, replying with a smile, “That was fun.” Gaven then hands Willow a bow and a quiver with arrows, “Here you did a very well, you deserve these, though its not much. Happy hunting none the less.”<br><br>Receiving the bow and arrows, will replies, “Thank you.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Beginners Bow of Accuracy:<br><br>Durability: 50/ 50<br>Attack: 3-5<br><br>Multiple shot speed: 4<br>Agility: +5<br><br>A short bow designed with the beginner in mind. The maker payed close attention to balance, making it a suitable bow for precision strikes.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>After receiving the bow Willow said her goodbyes. Willow was now heading to the grocery store to pick up enough food to last a few days. She wasn’t planning on straying far from the city. Double checking through her pack, she felt she had everything she needed. With one task left Willow headed for the Tailors Guild, to learn tailoring. She would need tailoring to deal with leather she would get from hunting. After learning the tailoring skill,Willow was now ready to leave the city tomorrow. Willow took the time to look at her stats and skills, “Show Stats, Show Skills.”<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%">Character Name</td><td width="25%">Willow</td><td width="25%">Alignment</td><td width="25%">Neutral</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">3</td><td width="25%">Profession</td><td width="25%">None</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan="3">None</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Fame</td><td colspan="3">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">150</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">100</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">15</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">20(+5)</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">15</td><td width="25%">Intellect</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Charisma</td><td width="25%">5</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Luck</td><td width="25%">0</td><td colspan="2"></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Attack</td><td colspan="3">5</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Defense</td><td colspan="3">5</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Magic Resistance</td><td colspan="3">0</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Handicraft (Lv. 3 0%): Has extra effects on various types of craft skills, and sword mastery.<br><br>Archery (Lv. 4 57%): Increases attack power and accuracy for Bows.<br><br>Cooking (Lv. 2 89%): Allows you to cook meals. Prepared meals give a 5% bonus to life.<br><br>Bandaging (Lv. 1 5%): Enabled one to be able to tend minor wounds and stop bleeding, with the use of bandaging.<br><br>Tailoring (Lv. 1 0%): Can create cloth and leather armor.<br><br>Animal Husbandry(Lv. 4 20%): Allows you to care, breed, and raise animals.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Satisfied with her preparations, Willow logged off for the day. Tomorrow she would venture out past the gates. </div>

1.2 - Preparations After Leaving the ranch Willow found a place to sit down and decided to take a break. Logging out of royal road it was now 4 in the afternoon. Resting on her bed, she closed her eyes and thought back on the days events. A knock was heard from the door and Dr. Kim came in. Dr. Kim was making her rounds and stopped by to check on Willow. “How are you feeling?” Dr. kim asked “I’m doing Ok,” willow said with a smile on her face. Willow talked about her about her day and Royal Road. Willow talked about Spencer, how he had helped her and gave her the walking stick. One of Dr. Kims eyebrows raised after hearing this. Willow explained how she found her way to the stable after seeing the knights. Talking about the painted horse, as well as Sam and the Boss. She was happy giving the details of the quest and about helping the painted horse. Willow continued to talk as Dr. Kim listened waiting for her to finish. “You were having problems with the use of your hand and with walking?” Dr. Kim asked. “Yes,” Willow nodded. “In Royal Road physical disabilities you have in the real world don’t carry over,” Dr. Kim explained “What you are experiencing is something akin to phantom pains. Even though in Royal Road you should be able to use your hands and legs properly, your mind is stuck remembering your body in the real world.” “I want you to do activities that will need you to use your legs and hands more actively” Willow nodded again in conformation. “You said the Boss told you to look for Granny WIlson, that will probably be a good start” “There are also other things, like getting a job at a restaurant, or being a porter for at the trading post. There are plenty of jobs that could help you” “You will also be able to gain a little money until you are able to leave the city.” After talking a little more Dr. Kim left to finish her rounds. Willow decided she would go eat dinner then head back to her room to log in to Royal Road. Thinking to herself, Willow though even though its just a subsitute the ability to move freely and use her hand as she wished, excited her. After having a quick dinner Willow Logged back into Royal Road. Once logged in Willow made her way to Granny Wilson’s farm. After a brief introduction, Granny Wilson asked, “I could use some help on the farm, if you’re up to it.” *Bing* | A Farmers WorkHelp Granny Wilson on her farm. You will be need to care for the animals and help Granny wilson with any work she offers.difficulty: F | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “I’ll help you out on the farm,” Willow stated. “Alright start by taking care of the chickens, I’ll check your work when its done.” Heading to the chicken coop, Willow started to work. She let the chickens out, gently gathered the eggs, and started to clean out the coop. It was work she was used to doing, so it didn’t take her long to finish. Around the time she finished, Granny Wilson came around. Granny Wilson having watched Willow work, gave a nod. “Ok, Girly come with me.” Following Granny Wilson she was lead to a small shed near the pig pens. “Alright I’m going to show you how to make my speciality pig slop, “Piggy Delight.”” Granny Wilson said gesturing for Willow to come closer.After a getting all the ingredients together from different barrels, Granny Wilson started to mix it up. Paying close attention to Granny, Willow noted in her mind the order and how much to mix in. The whole process took about 3-4 minutes. | Skill: You have learned Cooking | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | When she was done Granny Wilson stood up, “You can finish up from here.” Willow took the pale and headed to the trough, there was 4 pens, and about 20 pigs spread between them. Willow diligently did the work she was given, which took about 30 minutes to complete. After finishing up Willow went off to find Granny Wilson. Granny was in the kitchen making some lunch. Granny offered her some lunch, it was soup with veggies, bread, and cheese. The two chatted while they ate having a good conversation. After lunch Granny had willow do a bunch of odd jobs here and there. Once finishing Granny called her over and said “Thanks for helping out around the farm.” | Quest Complete: A Famers WorkYou have completed the work specified by Granny WilsonYou have been rewarded: 3 silver | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | For the rest of the weekend when Willow was free, she took up various jobs. She had cooked at a resturaunt, been a porter, and helped out at a few farms. She had helped weave grass baskets and mats as her primary job. Through the weaving job she had gained the skill Handicraft and was now at beginner lv. 3 in it. The weaving was also the most helpfully to her she could now close her right hand. Although it wasn’t a strong tight fist she was able to make one none the less. It was now the start of a new week and Willow had to start going to school. She had enough credits so she only had to go to school for day. She spent most of her time in the library studying. While at school she went to the AV room and hopped on the internet. She was looking for pictures of a thumb ring used with the Mediterranean draw. She had seen her grandfather use it a couple times when talking about different ways to shoot a bow. It was a draw that would allow her to use a bow in her current state. After looking the pictures she was confident she could make one. When Willow returned from school she completed her counseling and physical therapy. Willow quickly eat some dinner and headed straight to the capsule. She was on a mission, she had planned to spend the rest of the week practicing her archery and gather supplies to go hunting. After logging in Willow visited various stores. She went to the general store where purchased a larger backpack, various utensils and spices for cooking. Stopping by the Smithey she picked up a thin dagger that could be used for carving and a hatchet for cutting wood. She also picked up a spool of really thin copper wire. Willow’s shopping was done, She now stood in front of the Archers Guild. Over the last few days she had read up on Royal Road. Willow thought being an archer was probably the closest profession to what she wanted to do. Although she was still unsure about it, she could still train her archery here. She found a place near the Archers Guild that was out of the way and sat down. Reaching into her backpack she pulled out a small block of wood and the knife she had gotten earlier. She carved away on the wood for about 5 minutes. Making a small ring with a long lip reach the end of her thumb. Willow had made her thumb ring, now all that was left to do was practice. Entering the Archers Guild, she looked around there were a few Npcs, most dressing in leathers. Shortly after entering she was greeted with a warm hello. Walking to the man standing behind the counter, Willow ask, “Is it possible to train my archery here?” The man behind the counter was one of the guild’s instructors. He replied with, “Yes.” Before continuing they introduced themselves. The man was named Gaven. Once the introductions were done Willow asked, “Are there any training bows I can use? I can’t grip very well at the moment I would need one easy to draw. Since the strength in my hand is slowly coming back, I wanted to wait to buy one till I am able to shoot properly.” “Well we might have some things laying around but, you aren’t part of the guild so it would be stretching it a little.” Gaven replied. “I don’t have much money and i’m still unsure on what i want to do for my profession,” Willow said before pausing for a moment. “Oh, How about this, I could help clean up around the guild.” Willow stated while facing Gaven. Unknown to her the other guys were giving their oks, or clasping the hand pleading to Gaven just out of her sight. “Ok you got yourself a deal.” Gaven said with a light smile. After excusing himself for a minute gaven returned with couple of bows and a quiver with a dozen arrows. Receiving the first bow, Willow set aside her walking stick then placed the thumb ring on her finger. Gaven stood watching while wondering what she was doing with the ring. Taking the first bow in her left hand, she then got into her stance. Making a fist a couple times, she rested the bow string around on the inside of her thumb making a loose fist. She then began her draw till she had fully drawn the bow. Willow held it there for a few moments then release the string. Willow repeated this with the bows a few time before deciding to use the bow with the heavier draw. Once willow had finished, Gaven remarked, “I haven’t seen that draw style in a long time. Where did you learn it?” Willow explained how she was taught how to shoot a bow by her grandfather and he has shown it to her a couple times.Gaven nodding, lead her to the archery range. “If you need anything just ask,” Gaven said as he was returning to the counter. Willow once again setting aside the walking stick, proceeded to nock an arrow. Willow took a breath, then exhaled. In her next breath in a fluid movement she started her draw finishing when she had taken a full breath. Holding her breath for a moment, she then fired the arrow. The arrow was horribly off target. Not being used the draw she continued to shoot till the quiver was empty. Retrieving the arrows she began to repeat the process. She continued to do this for about 3 hrs before her stomach started to growl. She went to her bag and pulled out her canteen and some bread and cheese she had gotten from Granny Wilson. Willow continued to practice till it was about an hour before she had to log out. After finishing up, she started to clean up the guild. The guild was full of cluther, a lot of the mounted trophies were dirty and full of dust. After working for an hour Willow returned the bow and quiver of arrow to Gaven, Thanking him and saying good bye. Willow then found a spot outside the guild to sit down and log out. The next day she continued to practice, she could already see a considerable amount of improvement with the use of her hand and her aim. After about 2 hours she was greeted with a somewhat familiar window.*Bing* | Skill: You have learned Archery | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Archery(Beginner Lv.1 0%)Attack power with a Bow has increased by +10 %Attack speed with a Bow has increased by +3 % | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Agility rises by 1. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | A smile of accomplishment flashed across Willows face. Willow retrieved the arrows, the headed toward the front counter. Where she was greeted by Gaven, “Working hard again to day I see. I take it, its time to move to a new bow?” Willow nodded, “Yes.” “I thought it was about time. I had prepared this for you to use,” Gaven says as he places another bow on the counter. “You have improved a lot. Seems like you are getting better control of your hand.” “Yes, it still has a long ways to go before it back to normal though.Thank you again, for letting me practice here,” Willow replied. “No Problem you’re a great help around here. The place is already starting to look ten times better.” Willow then headed back to practice.She would take a break from time to time to listen to Gaven tell stories about hunts and to learn about good hunting grounds.It was now Wednsday, Willow had gotten a considerable amount of stregenth back in her hand. Her leg to was starting to do a lot better, she was able to stand with no difficulties and walk easily without the walking stick. Today, she decided to take a break from practice and pay the Boss a visit at the stables. When she was working odd jobs from time to time she would run in to him. While chatting with him Willow had learned his name was Conner Duncan. Upon reaching the stables, she headed to the smithy to greet Corner. “ Hi Mr. Duncan,” Willow said from afar since he was in the middle of work. He was forging horseshoes and nails and repairing various tools. “Hello Willow, What brings you here today?” Conner asked. “I was hoping to help you, by working the bellows. My leg is doing a lot better and exercise would help me alot.” “Hmm, Why not. I could use the company. Don’t tell anyone but this gets boring from time to time,” Conner said in a low voice.Willow then headed to the bellows, the Smithy’s bellows were a medium sized one that you had to step on to use. She used working the bellows to train her legs. She would spend some time practicing archery at the archers guild and the rest helping Conner at the smithy. After a few days working the bellows, Willow was able to walk without the aid of the walking stick. Running was still a problem, she couldn’t run for more than 20 yards before her legs would start screaming. In between her practices she would work as a porter at the grocery store. She especially like this job because she would make a little money and get fresh fruits as a reward. It was now the day before she could leave the city. Willow had gathered most of the supplies she would need for a hunt. She had information on good hunting spots around the city, which she had learn from Gaven and other at the Archers Guild. Willow had decided to wait on picking a profession till after her first hunt. Thinking that she would fine since she wasn’t going to stray far from the city. Heading to the Archers guild, Willow still needed a bow. She was confident with the training she did and felt she would be able to use any standard bow. Once arriving to the guild, she quickly headed inside. Gaven was sitting on the other side of the counter fiddling with something. Noticing that Willow had arrived Gaven called out, “Hello again, so the day is finally tomorrow eh?” “Yes, I have a general idea of where I want to hunt. I just need to get a bow and a few other supplies. I was hoping you could point me in the direction of where I could find a decent bow.” willow replied. “Funny you should ask. I thought It was about time for you get one of your own. Normally we don’t help those outside the guild, but you have shown your skill in archery.” *Ding* | Beginner Archery TestGaven has given you the chance to test your skills. There are various animal shaped dummies on the range. To pass you need to score at least 5 kills shot with the 10 arrows provided.Difficulty: FFailure to complete the quest will result in lose of intimacy with Gaven and the Archers Guild | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “I will take the test.” Willow replied | Quest Accepted | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “I’ll take the test,” Willow stated. With a smile Gaven, hands Willow the bow and leads her to the range. Looking on to the range, Willow can see many target dummies of various animals. There are deer, foxes, boar, pheasants, a turkey, and even a bear in the back. Scanning the targets she can see red paint on the targets in different areas on indicating their vitals or kill shot locations. The setup reminded her of the a 3d range back home.(3D archery is a subset of field archery focusing on shooting at life-size models of game and is popular with hunters.) Standing in position, Will readies herself and gets in to her shooting stance. Taking aim at the deer about 20 yards away she lets loose the first arrow. The arrows was a hit in the area around the heart, it was then followed by an arrow to the base of its neck on the side. Quickly switching targets she fires 2 arrow in rapid succession. Hitting the turkey and pheasant, she takes aim at her next target a cougar that is around 30 meters away. Taking her time to aim her shot, she fires this time it was a little off. Readjusting her stance and taking a deep breath, she lets loose another arrow. Its a hit in the appropriate location. Looking further down the range she take aim at the boar, fires, and scores a hit. With 3 arrows left she eyes the bear at about 40 meters away. Taking aim and firing, Willows first shot is off alittle. Shooting one more arrow she scores a hit. With one arrow left she takes aim at a moose that is at about 40 yard. Taking a breath, she draws, aims, and fires. The shot is a hit which is followed by *Bing*. | Quest Complete: Beginner Archery TestYou have completed the test giving by Gaven. Return to him for the reward. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Clapping could be hear from Gaven’s direction, Gaven saying “Well Done.” Willow returns the bow to Gaven, replying with a smile, “That was fun.” Gaven then hands Willow a bow and a quiver with arrows, “Here you did a very well, you deserve these, though its not much. Happy hunting none the less.” Receiving the bow and arrows, will replies, “Thank you.” | Beginners Bow of Accuracy:Durability: 50/ 50Attack: 3-5Multiple shot speed: 4Agility: +5A short bow designed with the beginner in mind. The maker payed close attention to balance, making it a suitable bow for precision strikes. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | After receiving the bow Willow said her goodbyes. Willow was now heading to the grocery store to pick up enough food to last a few days. She wasn’t planning on straying far from the city. Double checking through her pack, she felt she had everything she needed. With one task left Willow headed for the Tailors Guild, to learn tailoring. She would need tailoring to deal with leather she would get from hunting. After learning the tailoring skill,Willow was now ready to leave the city tomorrow. Willow took the time to look at her stats and skills, “Show Stats, Show Skills.” | Character Name | Willow | Alignment | Neutral | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Level | 3 | Profession | None | | Title | None | | | | Fame | 0 | | | | Health | 150 | Mana | 100 | | Strength | 15 | Agility | 20(+5) | | Vitality | 15 | Intellect | 10 | | Wisdom | 10 | Charisma | 5 | | Luck | 0 | | | | Attack | 5 | | | | Defense | 5 | | | | Magic Resistance | 0 | | | | Handicraft (Lv. 3 0%): Has extra effects on various types of craft skills, and sword mastery.Archery (Lv. 4 57%): Increases attack power and accuracy for Bows.Cooking (Lv. 2 89%): Allows you to cook meals. Prepared meals give a 5% bonus to life.Bandaging (Lv. 1 5%): Enabled one to be able to tend minor wounds and stop bleeding, with the use of bandaging.Tailoring (Lv. 1 0%): Can create cloth and leather armor.Animal Husbandry(Lv. 4 20%): Allows you to care, breed, and raise animals. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Satisfied with her preparations, Willow logged off for the day. Tomorrow she would venture out past the gates.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 9 Renovation Domination<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br>WARNING: There's swearing in this chapter be warned.<br><br><br>Zed: "Alright, it's time to turn this rural town into a bustling city. James, Jessie , Meowth take this 10k gold for your starting expenses and make a transportation, don't forget to bring angeling with you to sell those pillows/ beanie bags."<br><br>James: "Yes leave it to us, with this much money well be able to build an [RVWNH]."<br><br>Zed: " [RVWNH] ?, what's that."<br><br>Jessie: "Let me answer that for you, it stands for ( Revolutionary Vehicle With No Horse )."<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth! that's right."<br><br>Zed: "Okay, ohh before I forget, if you ever run into a pinch, call angeling for back up, Despite angeling's cuteness he's very powerful, I mean he's only lv 20 and has 55k hp with high recovery skills, so no need for additional security."<br><br>James: "Wow, that's boss's partner for you, so dependable."<br><br>Jessie: "Yes, who would've thought. Shows you can't judge a book by its cover."<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth! that's right."<br><br>The angeling in question was beaming with happiness with the high praises he's been given and was determined to do its job with a passion.<br><br>Zed decided to give his subordinates time to prepare and left outside of the mansion on the hill and stared at the town. <br><br>Zed: "Its time, Lord affairs mode."<br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Poke Wal-Mart<br><br>-known building in the pokemon era as a one stop Superstore, this establishment is also peak in technological innovation<br>-serves as an Adventures Shop, Blacksmith Shop, Mage shop, and all kinds of shop known to Versailles.<br>-There's also a big trading post inside<br>-The rate of commercial development will accelerate by 15%.<br>-The rate of industrial development will increase by 15%.<br>-The rate of technological development will increase by 15%.<br>-The rate of cultural development will increase by 15%.<br>-The residents' rate of increasing Faith will be doubled.<br>-Residents happiness increases.<br>-Willingness of residents to pay taxes increase by 20%.<br>-Fame +1000<br><br>Cost 50000 Gold </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "Build Poke Wal-Mart."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Church of Arceus<br><br>-In the hopes of spreading the word of pokemon , Arceus has granted you the construction of his church.<br><br>-Doubles exotic products production rate, population of your town.<br>-Doubles wheat production and harvest due to its strong connection to nature.<br>-Doubles worth Ethic<br>-Art + 500 to town<br>-Culture +15%<br>-Faith + 500 to town<br>-Able to convert players to the hidden class "Pokemon Tamer" and indoctrinate them to teachings of pokemon.<br><br>Cost of building 50000 Gold </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "Build Church of Arceus."<br><br>Zed also invested in 20k on a super tavern, 20k on a super inn, and 20k for a super dining hall.<br><br>That leaves zed with 15k remaining gold and he was still short for what he needed. He still needed more money for what zed has planned, he racked his brain on what to do until.<br><br>Zed: "Eureka!!, I do still have some money I'll check my investments in gringots. OMG!!! I have accumulated 250k gold for that patented SPECTACLES, well I never checked my investment before these past months, what luck."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Poke Warehouse<br><br>- an advance warehouse warehouse used by the pokemon era.<br>- Stores infinite amount of food and goods.<br>-Items inside are preserved forever.<br>-Security is 100% state of the art that stealing is 100% fail.<br>- Protect goods and food inside from any natural disasters.<br>-The rate of technological development +500<br>-The rate of cultural development +500<br>-The rate of commercial development +500<br>-The rate of industrial development +500<br>-Fame +1000<br><br>Cost 50000 Gold </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "Build Poke Warehouse."<br><br>Zed expanded his city and also used 15k gold to expand his vast territory and dungeons. Zed also spent 30k to the development of wheat field and crop filled lands, He also commissioned 25k in building a super smithy and spent 20k on the housing projects and spent 5k in the furnishings of those houses. <br><br>Zed: "Alright, all that's left is for our village security."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Super barracks<br><br>- can accommodate plenty amount of soldiers<br>- can train soldiers with advanced facilities inside<br>-culture +500<br>-Security +1000<br><br>Cost 15000 Gold </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "Build Supper barracks."<br><br>Zed also hired soldiers and mercenary like package deals.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Premium package deal ( level 70+)<br>-10knights<br>-100 Mages<br>-500 Archers<br>-500 warriors<br><br>Cost 5000 Gold </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>Zed bought 4 packages and that left zed with 85k gold. Zed decided to build a specific building.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Poke Ranch<br><br>- A ranch home to different kinds of pokemons.<br>- exotic products can be made exclusively here from pokemon.<br>- Offers plenty of Job offers to town residents<br>-Doubles exotic products production rate<br>-The rate of commercial development will accelerate by 10%.<br>-culture +500<br>-Faith +500 (Faith to pokemon God Arceus)<br>- Fame +1000<br><br>Cost 35000 Gold </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: "Build Poke Ranch."<br><br>Zed was left with 50k gold and spent 10k to build a warriors guild, 10k to build a merchants guild, 10k on magicians guild and 10k on a mercenary guild.<br><br>Zed was now left with 10k gold left and he heard a sound.<br><br>Ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Has triggered the development of a New City in Pallet Province.<br><br>Pallet has distinguished itself in the area of the former Pokemon<br>Empire!<br>The softly blooming flower of Culture and is firmly instilled with Faith.<br>In places which are economically underdeveloped, a lot of money has been invested.<br>The inhabitants of Pallet City, with the teachings of the God Arceus, will<br>try to enrich their lives.<br>Productivity will increase by 45% for 2 months.<br>With Pallet’s expansion and development, it is heading towards<br>urbanization .<br>Along with the development, influx of migrants is growing. The number of residents is rapidly increasing.<br><br>Military 400 Economy 500<br>Culture 450 Technology 300<br>Urban Development 250<br>Sanitation 70 Security 85%<br>Fund 10000 Gold </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Just like that zed transformed Pallet Town into Pallet City, Zed decided to show the changes in the city to his subordinates.<br><br>James: "Holy F***!!!!, we were planning on the schematics inside and you have been busy, very busy indeed."<br><br>Jessie: "James!!, watch you language, besides, I would have said it myself, You boss have been very very naughty."<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth! that's, oh for Pete's sake, Holy F***!!! doesn't even describe it."<br><br>James: "Your making us look bad. Jessie , Meowth, let's get constructing, we won't loose to our boss."<br><br>Jessie: "Your right James let's get to it."<br><br>Meowth: "Meowth!! that's right."<br><br>Zed: "That's my subordinates for you, now to set the tax for 2% and give professor Oak the 10k left funds for my secret project."<br><br>Elsewhere across the continent of Versailles, NPC's are gossiping about Pallet City.<br><br>NPC: "Hey did you hear? the church of Arceus has emerged once again and spread its influence on a thriving city. I heard you can convert to the legendary pokemon tamer class."<br><br>NPC: "That's not all, I heard the facilities there are top notch and advanced and I heard that they build and revived the legendary Poke Wal-Mart."<br><br>NPC: "Yes, I heard the legendary Poke Wal-Mart is a store that has everything in it, I mean Everything."<br><br>NPC: "The quest there are so high paying, I heard that they're making plenty of houses, not just ordinary houses I mean Lavish houses. They also have high security and they're still expanding."<br><br>NPC: "I heard that they have plenty of buildings there, the tavern is so big, the inn and dining hall are supersised too."<br><br>NPC: "I heard that the Lord of Pallet City set taxes at a very low percentage. by the way who is the Lord of Pallet City?."<br><br>NPC: "Its Lord Zed, what are we waiting for? I'm moving in there with my family."<br><br>NPC: "I'm migrating over there too."<br><br>Players over Royal Road are in an uproar, no-one since the famous town of Morata had the NPC spread rumors about. Players asked the Forums on where this town is located.<br><br> "Hey guys did you hear about the new city?."<br><br>"You mean Pallet City?, who wouldn't, NPC's are gossiping about it all over Versailles. Has anyone seen this town?."<br><br>" I saw it xd, it is a really beautiful town and I even managed to convert to a hidden class."<br><br>"Your joking?, a hidden class?, I'm so there."<br><br>"Count me in, I hear the quest rewards are phenomenal especially to sculptors and architects."<br><br> "Me too, I heard the Poke Wal-Mart has Everything there."<br><br>"Omg!!!, they're giving away free delicious MEATBUNS!!!."<br><br>Back at the location of Zed.<br><br>Zed: "Hehehehe, soon word will spread about those delicious MEATBUNS that I had professor Oak serve adventurers. Soon they will be popular and at the height of their popularity, I'll introduce my pillows/bean bags shaped meatbun-shaped pets as Pallet City's mascot that I'm sure rumors were spread throughout Versailles with James and his group that are travelling around selling those delightful not so cheap Human-Creature resources and after a few months, I will recall them and tell players that they can only be sold exclusively at Pallet City. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!."<br><br>Across the continement, one player got a big case of shivers.<br><br>Weed: "My Japtem senses are tingling, someone out there is about to make tons of money. Curse you whoever you are!!!, Curse you for making more money than me. Who could it be?, could it be that young upstart Lord Mapan talked about?, nahh couldn't be, I made sure to sabotage him by giving him useless tips to raise in culture and the only way to raise culture is by building useless statues and buildings as far that I know of." </div>

Chapter 9 Renovation Domination Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. WARNING: There's swearing in this chapter be warned. Zed: "Alright, it's time to turn this rural town into a bustling city. James, Jessie , Meowth take this 10k gold for your starting expenses and make a transportation, don't forget to bring angeling with you to sell those pillows/ beanie bags." James: "Yes leave it to us, with this much money well be able to build an [RVWNH]." Zed: " [RVWNH] ?, what's that." Jessie: "Let me answer that for you, it stands for ( Revolutionary Vehicle With No Horse )." Meowth: "Meowth! that's right." Zed: "Okay, ohh before I forget, if you ever run into a pinch, call angeling for back up, Despite angeling's cuteness he's very powerful, I mean he's only lv 20 and has 55k hp with high recovery skills, so no need for additional security." James: "Wow, that's boss's partner for you, so dependable." Jessie: "Yes, who would've thought. Shows you can't judge a book by its cover." Meowth: "Meowth! that's right." The angeling in question was beaming with happiness with the high praises he's been given and was determined to do its job with a passion. Zed decided to give his subordinates time to prepare and left outside of the mansion on the hill and stared at the town. Zed: "Its time, Lord affairs mode." | * Poke Wal-Mart-known building in the pokemon era as a one stop Superstore, this establishment is also peak in technological innovation-serves as an Adventures Shop, Blacksmith Shop, Mage shop, and all kinds of shop known to Versailles.-There's also a big trading post inside-The rate of commercial development will accelerate by 15%.-The rate of industrial development will increase by 15%.-The rate of technological development will increase by 15%.-The rate of cultural development will increase by 15%.-The residents' rate of increasing Faith will be doubled.-Residents happiness increases.-Willingness of residents to pay taxes increase by 20%.-Fame +1000Cost 50000 Gold | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Build Poke Wal-Mart." | * Church of Arceus-In the hopes of spreading the word of pokemon , Arceus has granted you the construction of his church.-Doubles exotic products production rate, population of your town.-Doubles wheat production and harvest due to its strong connection to nature.-Doubles worth Ethic-Art + 500 to town-Culture +15%-Faith + 500 to town-Able to convert players to the hidden class "Pokemon Tamer" and indoctrinate them to teachings of pokemon.Cost of building 50000 Gold | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Build Church of Arceus." Zed also invested in 20k on a super tavern, 20k on a super inn, and 20k for a super dining hall. That leaves zed with 15k remaining gold and he was still short for what he needed. He still needed more money for what zed has planned, he racked his brain on what to do until. Zed: "Eureka!!, I do still have some money I'll check my investments in gringots. OMG!!! I have accumulated 250k gold for that patented SPECTACLES, well I never checked my investment before these past months, what luck." | * Poke Warehouse- an advance warehouse warehouse used by the pokemon era.- Stores infinite amount of food and goods.-Items inside are preserved forever.-Security is 100% state of the art that stealing is 100% fail.- Protect goods and food inside from any natural disasters.-The rate of technological development +500-The rate of cultural development +500-The rate of commercial development +500-The rate of industrial development +500-Fame +1000Cost 50000 Gold | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Build Poke Warehouse." Zed expanded his city and also used 15k gold to expand his vast territory and dungeons. Zed also spent 30k to the development of wheat field and crop filled lands, He also commissioned 25k in building a super smithy and spent 20k on the housing projects and spent 5k in the furnishings of those houses. Zed: "Alright, all that's left is for our village security." | * Super barracks- can accommodate plenty amount of soldiers- can train soldiers with advanced facilities inside-culture +500-Security +1000Cost 15000 Gold | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Build Supper barracks." Zed also hired soldiers and mercenary like package deals. | * Premium package deal ( level 70+)-10knights-100 Mages-500 Archers-500 warriorsCost 5000 Gold | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed bought 4 packages and that left zed with 85k gold. Zed decided to build a specific building. | * Poke Ranch- A ranch home to different kinds of pokemons.- exotic products can be made exclusively here from pokemon.- Offers plenty of Job offers to town residents-Doubles exotic products production rate-The rate of commercial development will accelerate by 10%.-culture +500-Faith +500 (Faith to pokemon God Arceus)- Fame +1000Cost 35000 Gold | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: "Build Poke Ranch." Zed was left with 50k gold and spent 10k to build a warriors guild, 10k to build a merchants guild, 10k on magicians guild and 10k on a mercenary guild. Zed was now left with 10k gold left and he heard a sound. Ding | * Has triggered the development of a New City in Pallet Province.Pallet has distinguished itself in the area of the former PokemonEmpire!The softly blooming flower of Culture and is firmly instilled with Faith.In places which are economically underdeveloped, a lot of money has been invested.The inhabitants of Pallet City, with the teachings of the God Arceus, willtry to enrich their lives.Productivity will increase by 45% for 2 months.With Pallet’s expansion and development, it is heading towardsurbanization .Along with the development, influx of migrants is growing. The number of residents is rapidly increasing.Military 400 Economy 500Culture 450 Technology 300Urban Development 250Sanitation 70 Security 85%Fund 10000 Gold | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Just like that zed transformed Pallet Town into Pallet City, Zed decided to show the changes in the city to his subordinates. James: "Holy F***!!!!, we were planning on the schematics inside and you have been busy, very busy indeed." Jessie: "James!!, watch you language, besides, I would have said it myself, You boss have been very very naughty." Meowth: "Meowth! that's, oh for Pete's sake, Holy F***!!! doesn't even describe it." James: "Your making us look bad. Jessie , Meowth, let's get constructing, we won't loose to our boss." Jessie: "Your right James let's get to it." Meowth: "Meowth!! that's right." Zed: "That's my subordinates for you, now to set the tax for 2% and give professor Oak the 10k left funds for my secret project." Elsewhere across the continent of Versailles, NPC's are gossiping about Pallet City. NPC: "Hey did you hear? the church of Arceus has emerged once again and spread its influence on a thriving city. I heard you can convert to the legendary pokemon tamer class." NPC: "That's not all, I heard the facilities there are top notch and advanced and I heard that they build and revived the legendary Poke Wal-Mart." NPC: "Yes, I heard the legendary Poke Wal-Mart is a store that has everything in it, I mean Everything." NPC: "The quest there are so high paying, I heard that they're making plenty of houses, not just ordinary houses I mean Lavish houses. They also have high security and they're still expanding." NPC: "I heard that they have plenty of buildings there, the tavern is so big, the inn and dining hall are supersised too." NPC: "I heard that the Lord of Pallet City set taxes at a very low percentage. by the way who is the Lord of Pallet City?." NPC: "Its Lord Zed, what are we waiting for? I'm moving in there with my family." NPC: "I'm migrating over there too." Players over Royal Road are in an uproar, no-one since the famous town of Morata had the NPC spread rumors about. Players asked the Forums on where this town is located. "Hey guys did you hear about the new city?." "You mean Pallet City?, who wouldn't, NPC's are gossiping about it all over Versailles. Has anyone seen this town?." " I saw it xd, it is a really beautiful town and I even managed to convert to a hidden class." "Your joking?, a hidden class?, I'm so there." "Count me in, I hear the quest rewards are phenomenal especially to sculptors and architects." "Me too, I heard the Poke Wal-Mart has Everything there." "Omg!!!, they're giving away free delicious MEATBUNS!!!." Back at the location of Zed. Zed: "Hehehehe, soon word will spread about those delicious MEATBUNS that I had professor Oak serve adventurers. Soon they will be popular and at the height of their popularity, I'll introduce my pillows/bean bags shaped meatbun-shaped pets as Pallet City's mascot that I'm sure rumors were spread throughout Versailles with James and his group that are travelling around selling those delightful not so cheap Human-Creature resources and after a few months, I will recall them and tell players that they can only be sold exclusively at Pallet City. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!." Across the continement, one player got a big case of shivers. Weed: "My Japtem senses are tingling, someone out there is about to make tons of money. Curse you whoever you are!!!, Curse you for making more money than me. Who could it be?, could it be that young upstart Lord Mapan talked about?, nahh couldn't be, I made sure to sabotage him by giving him useless tips to raise in culture and the only way to raise culture is by building useless statues and buildings as far that I know of."

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 4 Progress<br><br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br>Timeline: Zed arrived a year before the rookie 9 was formed. Team Guy's team graduated to genin a year ahead.<br><br><br>Zed's POV:<br><br>I went outside the Hokage tower with my newly minted Hitai ite, <br> ( headband used to identify which shinobi belongs to which village in my case it's konohagakure ) I was pondering on the recent events these past half year in my stay in konoha. I really wanted to avoid being a ninja at all cost, so I could live a rosy life. I even took steps to insure it, I hired a tutor for self defence purposes, I even studied these world's unique techniques for survival, I did like those fuinjutsu books though, it held so many possibilities. No, I must not get distracted, I had enough money to last me a lifetime and possible 20 generations of my future line, if I even get married, which would be possible right now since I revealed that I had a kekeigenkai to the hokage. Oh, the irony of it all, somewhere down the line , my plan backfired. Sigh, oh well, when life gives you lemon, you make lemonade. I must get stronger!!, to the library's fuinjutsu section.<br><br>~Time skip, half a year later~<br><br>~Flashback~<br><br>Alot has happened since then, I studied fuinjutsu like a madman driven into a corner. I learned the five pronged seal, and the five pronged seal release. But that was not why I studied fuinjutsu for, it was all for the wards or barrier technique's that I truly covet. I learned my original barrier variation from existing ones to call them my own original jutsu. I learned kekkai mode ( wards ), that I use at my house that repels those with ill intent towards me, then I learned kekkai mode ( defense ), which is a regular barrier that's defense is ten times more powerful, I also learned kekkai mode ( reflect ), that reflect jutsu back to its caster. My most prized technique that I learned was kekkai mode ( fidellius ) , An immensely complex spell or jutsu involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find — unless, of course, the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret Keeper refused to speak , the enemy can never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!.<br><br><br>I casted my many barriers in my house and I bought the lands in my surrounding area so I could train privately. I casted the barriers around them too, and I trained the spells that I retained from Royal Road. I did improve my safety wall skill to make it attach to a person instead of a stationary space and since it was a barrier type is spell, I managed to tweak to it easily. I trained with my angeling too and told him what to expect from this world. During this time I reminisced the times I had in royal road, and thought how it would be wonderful if I learned that warp portal spell, even if a powered down version of it. I consulted angeling on my idea and he said it was possible. That brightened my day and I started experimenting. Since I already mastered the teleport spell, it only took half the time to learn it.<br><br>ding<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Skill Learned:<br><br>Warp Portal<br><br>-Creates a warp portal at the targeted cell after a destination is selected from a list the user remembers. This spell cannot be cast under a monster or player.<br>If anyone steps onto the targeted cell while the destination is being selected, the spell will fail. After successful casting, anyone stepping onto the affected cell will be teleported to the selected destination.<br><br>-The maximum capacity of people that the caster can warp at a time is 8 regardless of its skill level. No more than 3 Warp Portals cast by the one caster can be in effect at the same time. If the caster leaves the area where the portal has been cast, the portal disappears. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>I celebrated with angeling that night, I made a feast for the successfull completion of a powered down warp spell.<br><br><br>I mostly did D-rank missions and was stationed at the hospital, I was quite popular there, they gave me the monicker "Angel" since I seemed to be able to heal almost anything. I also trained with Guy-sensei and his team now and then, they didn't dare use the sunset no jutsu around me anymore and I was thankful for it.<br><br>The year that I have been here was most fruitful even if did get dragged into a war. Nothing eventfull happened, except for the Uchiha massacre, and my days continued its monotony. My chakra stores did grow though, I can now make 15 shadow clones of myself and still have half the chakra left for me to use.<br><br>~Flashback end~<br><br><br>Zed: "Sigh, I'm bored, this is what I wanted right? a boring safe rosy life. No exciting news have reached my ears except the graduating genins this year, I heard that the graduating class are full of clan heirs, things will be lively soon."<br><br>As if to answer zed's guess, a swirl of leaves appeared and an Anbu appeared.<br><br>Anbu: "hello zed-san, the Hokage would like to see you as soon as possible."<br><br>Zed: "I'll be going there Anbu-san."<br><br>The Anbu vanished in a swirl of leaves.<br><br>Zed: "Show off!!, fine if that's how it's going to be , I can do it too."<br><br>Zed: "Teleport!."<br><br><br>I arrived and teleported to the Hokage towers office silently, it's just that nature of that spell. It's not flashy, a prize to those veteran ninja's who know the true value of stealth.<br><br>Zed: "hello hokage-sama, you called for me?"<br><br>Sarutobi: "AAaahhh!!!, you startled me zed-san, interesting shunshin ( not really a teleport spell but a high speed movement jutsu ) you have there, yes I did call for you. I just received a report from one of my jonin that a C-rank mission they took, became an A-rank and they requested back-up. normally I would send a jonin team with more experience, but sadly they are all in a mission and you are the only one available at the moment for me to send as back-up."<br><br>Zed: "Ok hokage-sama, Whose team will I be joining as back-up, and where are they currently at?"<br><br>Sarutobi: "You will be joining jonin Hatake Kakashi, and team 7 on the guarding of bridge builder Tazuna on the land of Waves."<br><br>Zed: "Hai! hokage-sama, I'll be there as soon as possible." </div>

Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 4 Progress Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Timeline: Zed arrived a year before the rookie 9 was formed. Team Guy's team graduated to genin a year ahead. Zed's POV: I went outside the Hokage tower with my newly minted Hitai ite, ( headband used to identify which shinobi belongs to which village in my case it's konohagakure ) I was pondering on the recent events these past half year in my stay in konoha. I really wanted to avoid being a ninja at all cost, so I could live a rosy life. I even took steps to insure it, I hired a tutor for self defence purposes, I even studied these world's unique techniques for survival, I did like those fuinjutsu books though, it held so many possibilities. No, I must not get distracted, I had enough money to last me a lifetime and possible 20 generations of my future line, if I even get married, which would be possible right now since I revealed that I had a kekeigenkai to the hokage. Oh, the irony of it all, somewhere down the line , my plan backfired. Sigh, oh well, when life gives you lemon, you make lemonade. I must get stronger!!, to the library's fuinjutsu section. ~Time skip, half a year later~ ~Flashback~ Alot has happened since then, I studied fuinjutsu like a madman driven into a corner. I learned the five pronged seal, and the five pronged seal release. But that was not why I studied fuinjutsu for, it was all for the wards or barrier technique's that I truly covet. I learned my original barrier variation from existing ones to call them my own original jutsu. I learned kekkai mode ( wards ), that I use at my house that repels those with ill intent towards me, then I learned kekkai mode ( defense ), which is a regular barrier that's defense is ten times more powerful, I also learned kekkai mode ( reflect ), that reflect jutsu back to its caster. My most prized technique that I learned was kekkai mode ( fidellius ) , An immensely complex spell or jutsu involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find — unless, of course, the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret Keeper refused to speak , the enemy can never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!. I casted my many barriers in my house and I bought the lands in my surrounding area so I could train privately. I casted the barriers around them too, and I trained the spells that I retained from Royal Road. I did improve my safety wall skill to make it attach to a person instead of a stationary space and since it was a barrier type is spell, I managed to tweak to it easily. I trained with my angeling too and told him what to expect from this world. During this time I reminisced the times I had in royal road, and thought how it would be wonderful if I learned that warp portal spell, even if a powered down version of it. I consulted angeling on my idea and he said it was possible. That brightened my day and I started experimenting. Since I already mastered the teleport spell, it only took half the time to learn it. ding | * Skill Learned:Warp Portal-Creates a warp portal at the targeted cell after a destination is selected from a list the user remembers. This spell cannot be cast under a monster or player.If anyone steps onto the targeted cell while the destination is being selected, the spell will fail. After successful casting, anyone stepping onto the affected cell will be teleported to the selected destination.-The maximum capacity of people that the caster can warp at a time is 8 regardless of its skill level. No more than 3 Warp Portals cast by the one caster can be in effect at the same time. If the caster leaves the area where the portal has been cast, the portal disappears. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | I celebrated with angeling that night, I made a feast for the successfull completion of a powered down warp spell. I mostly did D-rank missions and was stationed at the hospital, I was quite popular there, they gave me the monicker "Angel" since I seemed to be able to heal almost anything. I also trained with Guy-sensei and his team now and then, they didn't dare use the sunset no jutsu around me anymore and I was thankful for it. The year that I have been here was most fruitful even if did get dragged into a war. Nothing eventfull happened, except for the Uchiha massacre, and my days continued its monotony. My chakra stores did grow though, I can now make 15 shadow clones of myself and still have half the chakra left for me to use. ~Flashback end~ Zed: "Sigh, I'm bored, this is what I wanted right? a boring safe rosy life. No exciting news have reached my ears except the graduating genins this year, I heard that the graduating class are full of clan heirs, things will be lively soon." As if to answer zed's guess, a swirl of leaves appeared and an Anbu appeared. Anbu: "hello zed-san, the Hokage would like to see you as soon as possible." Zed: "I'll be going there Anbu-san." The Anbu vanished in a swirl of leaves. Zed: "Show off!!, fine if that's how it's going to be , I can do it too." Zed: "Teleport!." I arrived and teleported to the Hokage towers office silently, it's just that nature of that spell. It's not flashy, a prize to those veteran ninja's who know the true value of stealth. Zed: "hello hokage-sama, you called for me?" Sarutobi: "AAaahhh!!!, you startled me zed-san, interesting shunshin ( not really a teleport spell but a high speed movement jutsu ) you have there, yes I did call for you. I just received a report from one of my jonin that a C-rank mission they took, became an A-rank and they requested back-up. normally I would send a jonin team with more experience, but sadly they are all in a mission and you are the only one available at the moment for me to send as back-up." Zed: "Ok hokage-sama, Whose team will I be joining as back-up, and where are they currently at?" Sarutobi: "You will be joining jonin Hatake Kakashi, and team 7 on the guarding of bridge builder Tazuna on the land of Waves." Zed: "Hai! hokage-sama, I'll be there as soon as possible."

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 13 Goddess on the Battlefield<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br><br> <br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> The battle was Won, the End </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Just Kidding </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Zed's POV:<br><br><br>I quickly left the interview with Maylon to greet my troops. Weed had just gotten out of the portal accompanied by the church of Freya's Palladins and priests. He is also accompanied by his circle of friends and a group of martial artist, I heard that the group were called geomichi's. I greeted Weed and we exchanged a few greetings and I told him that he has free command over my troops this battle. He put on a confused face and then it turned into a smirking face, He must've agree with my strategy seeing as he has more experience in leading an army. After that they went to outside the gates, I was going to follow them to battle, but James, Jessie and Meowth stopped me , saying that I should live no matter the outcome. <br><br><br>The group of James , Jessie and Meowth left outside the city to confront the enemy soldiers. I formed a clever idea from my mind and I quickly went to the nearest poke wal-mart. I purchased a pink wig, and a medic costume, to complete the transformation I called upon my partner angeling and told him to stay put on my head (picture nurse Joy with an angeling nestled on her head), I explained to him that there was a war going on outside the city and I was forced to stay behind, so I thought of a convoluted scheme to dress up as a female medic. Brilliant if I do say so myself and Angeling nods in understanding. I ordered angeling to watch my health and heal me, or create a barrier on me, and told him that his only priority was me. I also told him that I will handle most of the healing. I also talked about a secret strategy with angeling and we agreed on it. <br><br>On the way out, I bought tons of fast regenerating mp potions and I mean loads of them. As I exited the city the battle has already begun, tons of arrows and long range magic were exchanged but Weed skillfully commanded the troops in a way that we avoided the brunt of the attack. The battle resumed, It was so epic, both sides had many casualties and our priest couldn't keep up the heals. It was finally my chance to shine, I weaved through the battlefield and casted my "sanctuary skill" ( an AOE heal spell ) on our demoralized troops repeatedly, it's amazing how the tide of battle went quickly back to our side. I must've looked like a goddess on the battlefield healing left and right, and chugging the Mp pots like there's no tomorrow. The battle quickly slowed down and I saw Weed dueling .. "is that Prince?", with all the chaos I must be hallucinating, I saw James, Jessie, and Meowth facing off a kid, "that must be Ash Ketchum". James and the group did their thing with the motto, it's quite catchy, it went like this.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> JESSIE:<br>"Prepare for trouble!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"Make it double!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"To protect the world from devastation!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"To unite all peoples within our nation!"<br>JESSIE:<br>"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"To extend our reach to the stars above!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"Jessie!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"James!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"<br><br>MEOWTH:<br>"Meowth!, well defend our city with all our might!" </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>I went to my healing mode again until I was stopped by a strange group of what looked liked wizard class players. <br><br>Wizard: "I am Albus Dumbledore, and we are the guild Order of the Phoenix's top players."<br><br>Shaman: "My name is Hermione Granger, top elementalist ( summons 3 spirits )."<br><br>Necromancer: "I am Ronald Weasley, top necromancer ( summons 4 skeletons )."<br><br>Albus: "I'm sorry but we must stop you miss medic, from healing all those soldiers, it is all for the greater good."<br><br>Zed: "Whatever shall I do?" I said in a girly voice.<br><br>Zed: "I know!!, I'll do this!!!."<br><br>Zed: "Secret art, PORING DOMINATION !!!!."<br><br>With that, I signalled my angeling to summon tons of his PORING minions and the other party were shocked, I used this chance to summon my dementors and since I was level 180, I was able to summon 4 dementors. I ordered my dementors to attack the Hermione girl and the Weaseley boy, I sneaked in some high level soul strike between the two and they were soon killed in action.<br><br>My health was dropping fast but thanks to my instructions to angeling, I was healed constantly. Albus managed to kill of my dementors and it was just the two of us .<br><br>Albus: "Why won't you fall, I must win, I am the champion of the light, I am the leader of the order of the Phoenix, I MUST WIN FOR THE GREATER GOOD!!!."<br><br>Zed: "There just something about you old man that just gets on my nerves, you know I haven't used this spell as of yet as it would be to cruel and it is my trump card, but you leave me no choice old man."<br><br>Zed: "AVEDA KADEVRA!!!!."<br><br>A green beam of spell hit the old man and with that, the great Albus Dumbledore, champion of the light, leader of the order of Phoenix and a crazy old man who likes to say "for the greater good", died on the spot.<br><br><br>I quickly resumed my healing duty on the battlefield. Little did I know that my epic battle with those trio was recorded by a player and would put me in the hall of fame.<br><br><br>As the battle raged on, it was clear who the winning side was, and the invading force surrendered. I quickly headed to James group, I'm assuming they won their battle since they were still alive, and healed them up, I congratulated them and they asked who I was, I quickly took of my disguise and the group froze with their mouth gaping. Oh, the look on there faces was so funny that I laughed my ass off, that quickly snapped them back to their senses and we went back into the city.<br><br>The battle was shown live!! in CTS news, especially for their program Weed TV, a player forwarded a video about my epic battle and everyone was asking who that goddess nurse medic was, but people saw me without my disguised wig, and the people stood frozen with their jaws hanging when it was revealed that the great goddess on the battlefield was the crossdresing Lord of Pallet City. That didn't stop from making me into the Hall of fame though. I quickly gained many fans of both genders and the questionable bunch of them were crossdressers. When my team found out that some of my fans were crossdressers, they were laughing their ass out at me. I knew this prank would bite me in the ass one day, but I did not expect it would be so soon.<br><br><br><br><br><br>And with that, this arc comes to a close. Happy reading.<br><br>Sincerely,<br><br>zed019 </div>

Chapter 13 Goddess on the Battlefield Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. | * The battle was Won, the End | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Just Kidding | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed's POV: I quickly left the interview with Maylon to greet my troops. Weed had just gotten out of the portal accompanied by the church of Freya's Palladins and priests. He is also accompanied by his circle of friends and a group of martial artist, I heard that the group were called geomichi's. I greeted Weed and we exchanged a few greetings and I told him that he has free command over my troops this battle. He put on a confused face and then it turned into a smirking face, He must've agree with my strategy seeing as he has more experience in leading an army. After that they went to outside the gates, I was going to follow them to battle, but James, Jessie and Meowth stopped me , saying that I should live no matter the outcome. The group of James , Jessie and Meowth left outside the city to confront the enemy soldiers. I formed a clever idea from my mind and I quickly went to the nearest poke wal-mart. I purchased a pink wig, and a medic costume, to complete the transformation I called upon my partner angeling and told him to stay put on my head (picture nurse Joy with an angeling nestled on her head), I explained to him that there was a war going on outside the city and I was forced to stay behind, so I thought of a convoluted scheme to dress up as a female medic. Brilliant if I do say so myself and Angeling nods in understanding. I ordered angeling to watch my health and heal me, or create a barrier on me, and told him that his only priority was me. I also told him that I will handle most of the healing. I also talked about a secret strategy with angeling and we agreed on it. On the way out, I bought tons of fast regenerating mp potions and I mean loads of them. As I exited the city the battle has already begun, tons of arrows and long range magic were exchanged but Weed skillfully commanded the troops in a way that we avoided the brunt of the attack. The battle resumed, It was so epic, both sides had many casualties and our priest couldn't keep up the heals. It was finally my chance to shine, I weaved through the battlefield and casted my "sanctuary skill" ( an AOE heal spell ) on our demoralized troops repeatedly, it's amazing how the tide of battle went quickly back to our side. I must've looked like a goddess on the battlefield healing left and right, and chugging the Mp pots like there's no tomorrow. The battle quickly slowed down and I saw Weed dueling .. "is that Prince?", with all the chaos I must be hallucinating, I saw James, Jessie, and Meowth facing off a kid, "that must be Ash Ketchum". James and the group did their thing with the motto, it's quite catchy, it went like this. | * JESSIE:"Prepare for trouble!"JAMES:"Make it double!"JESSIE:"To protect the world from devastation!"JAMES:"To unite all peoples within our nation!"JESSIE:"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"JAMES:"To extend our reach to the stars above!"JESSIE:"Jessie!"JAMES:"James!"JESSIE:"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"JAMES:"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"MEOWTH:"Meowth!, well defend our city with all our might!" | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | I went to my healing mode again until I was stopped by a strange group of what looked liked wizard class players. Wizard: "I am Albus Dumbledore, and we are the guild Order of the Phoenix's top players." Shaman: "My name is Hermione Granger, top elementalist ( summons 3 spirits )." Necromancer: "I am Ronald Weasley, top necromancer ( summons 4 skeletons )." Albus: "I'm sorry but we must stop you miss medic, from healing all those soldiers, it is all for the greater good." Zed: "Whatever shall I do?" I said in a girly voice. Zed: "I know!!, I'll do this!!!." Zed: "Secret art, PORING DOMINATION !!!!." With that, I signalled my angeling to summon tons of his PORING minions and the other party were shocked, I used this chance to summon my dementors and since I was level 180, I was able to summon 4 dementors. I ordered my dementors to attack the Hermione girl and the Weaseley boy, I sneaked in some high level soul strike between the two and they were soon killed in action. My health was dropping fast but thanks to my instructions to angeling, I was healed constantly. Albus managed to kill of my dementors and it was just the two of us . Albus: "Why won't you fall, I must win, I am the champion of the light, I am the leader of the order of the Phoenix, I MUST WIN FOR THE GREATER GOOD!!!." Zed: "There just something about you old man that just gets on my nerves, you know I haven't used this spell as of yet as it would be to cruel and it is my trump card, but you leave me no choice old man." Zed: "AVEDA KADEVRA!!!!." A green beam of spell hit the old man and with that, the great Albus Dumbledore, champion of the light, leader of the order of Phoenix and a crazy old man who likes to say "for the greater good", died on the spot. I quickly resumed my healing duty on the battlefield. Little did I know that my epic battle with those trio was recorded by a player and would put me in the hall of fame. As the battle raged on, it was clear who the winning side was, and the invading force surrendered. I quickly headed to James group, I'm assuming they won their battle since they were still alive, and healed them up, I congratulated them and they asked who I was, I quickly took of my disguise and the group froze with their mouth gaping. Oh, the look on there faces was so funny that I laughed my ass off, that quickly snapped them back to their senses and we went back into the city. The battle was shown live!! in CTS news, especially for their program Weed TV, a player forwarded a video about my epic battle and everyone was asking who that goddess nurse medic was, but people saw me without my disguised wig, and the people stood frozen with their jaws hanging when it was revealed that the great goddess on the battlefield was the crossdresing Lord of Pallet City. That didn't stop from making me into the Hall of fame though. I quickly gained many fans of both genders and the questionable bunch of them were crossdressers. When my team found out that some of my fans were crossdressers, they were laughing their ass out at me. I knew this prank would bite me in the ass one day, but I did not expect it would be so soon. And with that, this arc comes to a close. Happy reading. Sincerely, zed019

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> ~Sounds~<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*thoughts*</span><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">+++++</div><br><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chapter 09: Making Plans </span><br><br><br>Now Neuron was eagerly jumping rope.<br><br>He thought about what to do really hard, he had some options, shooting arrows, and increasing his climb proficiency, but he didn`t want to do either, and stealth was out of the question with Brairan and Warnton, who came later, being here in the archery.<br><br>With that he browsed through his skills list and decided that it wouldn´t hurt to try leveling his jumping skill.<br><br>Neuron got himself a rope and began to jump rope. He assumed, that the skill jump could be leveled up by just doing that, but also without using Mana. Well to train the skill while using mana was unprofitable, because the skill cast so much mana, that he could only jump once<br><br>It looked silly, because he was never very good at it, but after some time (almost at dusk) he could finally do it Boxer style. While doing it he also gained +1 Strength and +1 Vitality, and. Then finally<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Jump: Beginner Lv2 </span><br><br>Enables you to jump higher and further<br>Decreases the damage from falling<br>Makes you able to endure strong impacts with your feet<br>Mana cost: 190</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> <span style="font-style: italic;">*Let’s see, how it improved*</span><br><br>“Jump” he said, while bouncing off the ground, and going higher than he ever imagined till…, <br>Well till he hit the ceiling<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li>For receiving a heavy impact to the head you are stunned -100Hp <br>Stun duration: 1min</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>And now he even hit the ground<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li>You hit the ground: -10Hp </li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>At least this was under the restriction of the climbing and jumping skill, and thus halving the damage.<br><br>Luckily for him, he received the Vitality stat while training, and the reduced damage from falling, if not, he would have died the most pathetic death ever. Because somehow he never received stats, while under Brairan’s tutelage.<br><br>Because he was stunned, he couldn`t do his favorite activity, well he did it in his mind, but it wasn’t as satisfying, as shouting his frustration out aloud. <br><br>Luckily Warnton and Brairan had already left the archery, as they would have definitely made fun of him.<br><br>After the Stun wore off, you could see the door to the archery open, and a indistinct hooded figure leaving it, vanishing in the shadows, as soon as the door closed.<br><br>This time he didn`t need so much time to choose his target, because he intended to break in either the house of Liagen, or Aterar, of course he informed himself, where they were located in the city.<br><br>But this night, it was harder, because they were alerted, and thus hired more guards. He had to spy on those houses from afar, to not risk anything. <br><br>The first was a dud, no open Windows, or anything of the like, with guards even patrolling in the yard.<br><br>So there he was on the roof of another house looking at the Liagen mansion, luckily he had his hawk Eyes with the night vision bonus, if not, he wouldn`t have spotted the tiny window, all the way up on the fourth floor, right under the gable witch most likely was connected to the attic, from what it looked like it wouldn`t be too hard to open it from outside.<br><br>Well normally he wouldn`t choose a approach that could make so much noise, example while opening the window, or the creaking of wood, while sneaking through the attic, but this being his only option. Neuron had to do it this night, because he also got other plans, and he didn`t like having loose ends hanging around.<br><br>But there was still one problem, the guards. This time they were patrolling around the mansion in a different pattern. At the Ribanild mansion the guard patrolling around the wall, was only there to scare possible thief’s, but here being alerted and all, they had stationed two guards on each side of the wall looking out for lawbreakers.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*I have to make a diversion*</span> <br><br>A average thief would have steered clear of a house like this, with its heavy locked doors. <br>This house was specially made to prevent theft, but they didn`t cover for an entrance from above, well a thief could climb up to this particular window, but it would take him a lot of effort, and due to moving and the Stamina drain one couldn`t use stealth while climbing, so everyone refrained from doing it. But climbing up a rope was much easier and faster, like Neuron could do. Too boot, he could also use stealth, because he just reels himself up, so he hasn`t to move any part of his body.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Yeah, this drunkard could do a good job*</span><br><br>He thought, when he noticed a figure, and walking down the street, swaying from one side to the other, while talking with himself<br><br><br><br> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Flash-forward </span></div><br><br>In a dark room were sitting two persons in front of each other at a table, were the only light source stood, a oil lamp that was flickering, because somewhere entered air, and thus creating many scary shadows. One of them being visibly afraid, and the other with a calm face. <br>Then the calm one began to speak.<br><br>“So what happened last night?”<br><br>“Ok, ~gulp~ So I was there heading home, I was coming from a party, you know, then suddenly a hooded figure jumped out of the dark, under the hood I could see two eyes gleaming, they were off a yellowish color. This scared the shit out of me, nearly sobering me up.<br>Then the figure started to speak in a deep voice, and asked me if I want to earn some gold while showing me three gold coins, then he said, that if I do the job I would earn one coin now, and the rest after I did what he requested”<br><br>“And what did he request?”<br><br>“Nothing much, just that I should go there to that wall, and make a ruckus, well I did like he had told me, because you know, I’m low on coins, and have a heavy debt, thus…”<br><br>At this the other person interrupted him seemingly annoyed, “What happened then!?”<br><br>“Alright”<br><br>……<br><br>“I did it like he wanted, well it isn´t hard to cause a ruckus when your drunk, no one takes you seriously, and thus you can do nonsense” at this he looked to the other person that was now standing pointing him to go on<br>“Good, when I thought I did the job, I went to the place he pointed out, and waited, like an hour or so later he showed up, nearly scaring me to death, when he jumped down off the roof in front of me. Then he came over gave me the two coins we agreed upon, and also a silver more, he then said job well done, and disappeared”<br><br>“Literally?”<br><br>“No of course not, he just went in an alleyway and from then on I couldn`t see him anymore.”<br><br>“So what did he look like?”<br><br>“I haven`t seen that much about him, because I was distracted about those eyes, they looked like those of a demon, and somehow drew my eyes to them.”<br><br>“Then tell me what you remember”<br><br>“His mantle looked terrible, it looked like it was made from scraps, all of a different color, and he had also a hood, that was deep down in his face, but it didn`t cover the eyes, o those eyes” At this he shivered<br><br>“You didn´t think about why he asked you to make a diversion?”<br><br>“Well no, no you mean I worked together with him,” his voice became panicked<br><br>“Till today, I didn`t even know that a bandit named the “Smiling Chinese” even existed, I can prove it” At this he looked up and saw, that the other one was annoyed, but continued nonetheless, because he now had to defend himself.<br><br>“Yesterday my friend had a wedding, me and some friends prepared it, like the tradition, meaning waking the lovebirds up at 5o clock with firecrackers, then at 8 was the wedding, after it we went straight to party, when the restaurant closed the two Newlyweds, some close friends me included went to their House, to party some more, when I noticed that everyone was completely wasted, well not me though, I can hold my liquor, and the couple looked like it wanted some alone time, well no one would think bad of them because of it. ~dirty grin~<br>Thus I began chasing out all drunkards, and went home. So you see, I had no chance to hear about him, Well I knew he would do something shabby, but not that he would break inside the house of Liagen, no one would be that crazy!”<br><br>The last part was said with complete haste, and even if the questioner would have bothered listening to all, he couldn´t understand, because he was talking to fast, stumbling over the words he said.<br><br>But the calm one let him speak apparently pondering about something, and then waiving him to leave,<br><br>“Thank thank you” <br><br>“Wait”<br><br>With shocked eyes he stopped<br><br>“You have to return the money; it was likely stolen as well.”<br><br>At this he left the room with dropped shoulders, but happy that he wouldn`t get arrested.<br><br>The other remained inside the room looking at the oil lamp, apparently brooding over something<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">End of Flash-forward </span></div><br><br><br><br>After Neuron gave the coins to the drunkard he headed to the archery while thinking about what he had done. <br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*That went rather well, the drunkard was a nice distraction, and I got my hands on some good stuff, I even found a hidden treasure chest. But the attic was a pain, all the creaking, I nearly turned tail, glad I didn`t. ~Gehe~, just how will they react tomorrow, when they see their hallway full with my scribbles*</span><br><br>Neuron decided to stick with his scribbling, because he thought it fun, and he also liked the nickname he had gotten through them.<br><br>Back at the archery he made a 180° turn, because he remembered something he had to do.<br><br>He walked to the house marked yellow on his map and knocked on it, as soon as the sun rose up.<br><br>“Yeah, what do you want?” Was the answer of a grumpy caretaker, because he had had such an enjoyable dream.<br><br>Neuron ignoring it like he always did regarding Npc`s, asked<br><br>“Where can I find the Tailor?”<br><br>“he lives on the second floor, flat number 203.”<br><br>“Thanks”<br><br>“What do you want asked the Tailor” standing in the door, still in his nightgown<br><br>“Well I`m here, because I finished your quest, just one item is missing, and I wanted to complete it sooner than later”<br><br>“Couldn`t you have waited, till I open the shop!?”<br><br>“No”, said Neuron, while walking inside<br><br>“You damn little twerp, what do you think of yourself!” He shouted, becoming angrier at each moment<br><br>“You think I´m going to wait till you finally show up, no, I`ll be here till you are ready to leave the house, and then I`m going to accompany you to the shop”<br><br>At this his veins began to show, a sign of utter anger<br><br>“GO OUT NOW” he said in a low voice, repressing his anger<br><br>“No”<br><br>“Now you little…..!”<br><br>While hissing this line he tried to move Neuron forcibly, but couldn’t, because he fastened himself to the floor with his thread. <br><br>Soon, the tailor was huffing for air, and came to the conclusion that He would only leave with him, everything other than that was a waste of time, ah how he would have liked to kill him, but he couldn`t, because of himself shouting everyone woke up and looked inside his apartment, and because Neuron told them, why he was here. And assuring them, that he doesn`t pose a threat.<br><br>It being like this he headed towards his bedroom and dressing himself, taking an extra long time, just so he could make Neuron wait. And that was his doom, because Neuron used this time wisely<br><br>When they finally arrived at the shop, Neuron hurried inside, grabbed the underpants with his fingertips and began to patch it, finishing it in record time.<br><br>“Here I finished all” Neuron said, while putting all the clothes he upgraded on the floor.”<br><br>“What the fuck did you do!?”<br><br>“Well, I just patched them up, the quest didn`t indicate anything, about how it should be done, so yeah, see ya”<br><br>With this he left, leaving a most angry tailor behind him.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Wow, I didn`t know this one, he’s got quite the imaginative mind*</span> ~grin~<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Quest complete: </span><br>Rewards:<br>Tailoring skill<br>50 copper</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> <span style="font-style: italic;">*Only 50 copper and close to no Experience points?!* </span> But strangely he wasn`t angry at all<br><br>After the window popped up he sent a whisper to Kyle.<br><br>“Do you have some spare time?”<br><br>“Not much, hey wait, you whispering to me at this hour, don´t tell me, YOU DID IT AGAIN!”<br><br>“Well yeah”<br><br>“And now you need my help, am I guessing right?<br><br>“Yeah”<br><br>“I`m not going to steal!”<br><br>“No! I just want you to…..”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">End Chapter 09</div><br><br>The revenge is progressing nicely :twisted: </div>

~Sounds~ *thoughts* +++++ Chapter 09: Making Plans Now Neuron was eagerly jumping rope. He thought about what to do really hard, he had some options, shooting arrows, and increasing his climb proficiency, but he didn`t want to do either, and stealth was out of the question with Brairan and Warnton, who came later, being here in the archery. With that he browsed through his skills list and decided that it wouldn´t hurt to try leveling his jumping skill. Neuron got himself a rope and began to jump rope. He assumed, that the skill jump could be leveled up by just doing that, but also without using Mana. Well to train the skill while using mana was unprofitable, because the skill cast so much mana, that he could only jump once It looked silly, because he was never very good at it, but after some time (almost at dusk) he could finally do it Boxer style. While doing it he also gained +1 Strength and +1 Vitality, and. Then finally | * Jump: Beginner Lv2 Enables you to jump higher and furtherDecreases the damage from fallingMakes you able to endure strong impacts with your feetMana cost: 190 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | *Let’s see, how it improved* “Jump” he said, while bouncing off the ground, and going higher than he ever imagined till…, Well till he hit the ceiling | * For receiving a heavy impact to the head you are stunned -100Hp Stun duration: 1min | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | And now he even hit the ground | * You hit the ground: -10Hp | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | At least this was under the restriction of the climbing and jumping skill, and thus halving the damage. Luckily for him, he received the Vitality stat while training, and the reduced damage from falling, if not, he would have died the most pathetic death ever. Because somehow he never received stats, while under Brairan’s tutelage. Because he was stunned, he couldn`t do his favorite activity, well he did it in his mind, but it wasn’t as satisfying, as shouting his frustration out aloud. Luckily Warnton and Brairan had already left the archery, as they would have definitely made fun of him. After the Stun wore off, you could see the door to the archery open, and a indistinct hooded figure leaving it, vanishing in the shadows, as soon as the door closed. This time he didn`t need so much time to choose his target, because he intended to break in either the house of Liagen, or Aterar, of course he informed himself, where they were located in the city. But this night, it was harder, because they were alerted, and thus hired more guards. He had to spy on those houses from afar, to not risk anything. The first was a dud, no open Windows, or anything of the like, with guards even patrolling in the yard. So there he was on the roof of another house looking at the Liagen mansion, luckily he had his hawk Eyes with the night vision bonus, if not, he wouldn`t have spotted the tiny window, all the way up on the fourth floor, right under the gable witch most likely was connected to the attic, from what it looked like it wouldn`t be too hard to open it from outside. Well normally he wouldn`t choose a approach that could make so much noise, example while opening the window, or the creaking of wood, while sneaking through the attic, but this being his only option. Neuron had to do it this night, because he also got other plans, and he didn`t like having loose ends hanging around. But there was still one problem, the guards. This time they were patrolling around the mansion in a different pattern. At the Ribanild mansion the guard patrolling around the wall, was only there to scare possible thief’s, but here being alerted and all, they had stationed two guards on each side of the wall looking out for lawbreakers. *I have to make a diversion* A average thief would have steered clear of a house like this, with its heavy locked doors. This house was specially made to prevent theft, but they didn`t cover for an entrance from above, well a thief could climb up to this particular window, but it would take him a lot of effort, and due to moving and the Stamina drain one couldn`t use stealth while climbing, so everyone refrained from doing it. But climbing up a rope was much easier and faster, like Neuron could do. Too boot, he could also use stealth, because he just reels himself up, so he hasn`t to move any part of his body. *Yeah, this drunkard could do a good job* He thought, when he noticed a figure, and walking down the street, swaying from one side to the other, while talking with himself Flash-forward In a dark room were sitting two persons in front of each other at a table, were the only light source stood, a oil lamp that was flickering, because somewhere entered air, and thus creating many scary shadows. One of them being visibly afraid, and the other with a calm face. Then the calm one began to speak. “So what happened last night?” “Ok, ~gulp~ So I was there heading home, I was coming from a party, you know, then suddenly a hooded figure jumped out of the dark, under the hood I could see two eyes gleaming, they were off a yellowish color. This scared the shit out of me, nearly sobering me up. Then the figure started to speak in a deep voice, and asked me if I want to earn some gold while showing me three gold coins, then he said, that if I do the job I would earn one coin now, and the rest after I did what he requested” “And what did he request?” “Nothing much, just that I should go there to that wall, and make a ruckus, well I did like he had told me, because you know, I’m low on coins, and have a heavy debt, thus…” At this the other person interrupted him seemingly annoyed, “What happened then!?” “Alright” …… “I did it like he wanted, well it isn´t hard to cause a ruckus when your drunk, no one takes you seriously, and thus you can do nonsense” at this he looked to the other person that was now standing pointing him to go on “Good, when I thought I did the job, I went to the place he pointed out, and waited, like an hour or so later he showed up, nearly scaring me to death, when he jumped down off the roof in front of me. Then he came over gave me the two coins we agreed upon, and also a silver more, he then said job well done, and disappeared” “Literally?” “No of course not, he just went in an alleyway and from then on I couldn`t see him anymore.” “So what did he look like?” “I haven`t seen that much about him, because I was distracted about those eyes, they looked like those of a demon, and somehow drew my eyes to them.” “Then tell me what you remember” “His mantle looked terrible, it looked like it was made from scraps, all of a different color, and he had also a hood, that was deep down in his face, but it didn`t cover the eyes, o those eyes” At this he shivered “You didn´t think about why he asked you to make a diversion?” “Well no, no you mean I worked together with him,” his voice became panicked “Till today, I didn`t even know that a bandit named the “Smiling Chinese” even existed, I can prove it” At this he looked up and saw, that the other one was annoyed, but continued nonetheless, because he now had to defend himself. “Yesterday my friend had a wedding, me and some friends prepared it, like the tradition, meaning waking the lovebirds up at 5o clock with firecrackers, then at 8 was the wedding, after it we went straight to party, when the restaurant closed the two Newlyweds, some close friends me included went to their House, to party some more, when I noticed that everyone was completely wasted, well not me though, I can hold my liquor, and the couple looked like it wanted some alone time, well no one would think bad of them because of it. ~dirty grin~ Thus I began chasing out all drunkards, and went home. So you see, I had no chance to hear about him, Well I knew he would do something shabby, but not that he would break inside the house of Liagen, no one would be that crazy!” The last part was said with complete haste, and even if the questioner would have bothered listening to all, he couldn´t understand, because he was talking to fast, stumbling over the words he said. But the calm one let him speak apparently pondering about something, and then waiving him to leave, “Thank thank you” “Wait” With shocked eyes he stopped “You have to return the money; it was likely stolen as well.” At this he left the room with dropped shoulders, but happy that he wouldn`t get arrested. The other remained inside the room looking at the oil lamp, apparently brooding over something End of Flash-forward After Neuron gave the coins to the drunkard he headed to the archery while thinking about what he had done. *That went rather well, the drunkard was a nice distraction, and I got my hands on some good stuff, I even found a hidden treasure chest. But the attic was a pain, all the creaking, I nearly turned tail, glad I didn`t. ~Gehe~, just how will they react tomorrow, when they see their hallway full with my scribbles* Neuron decided to stick with his scribbling, because he thought it fun, and he also liked the nickname he had gotten through them. Back at the archery he made a 180° turn, because he remembered something he had to do. He walked to the house marked yellow on his map and knocked on it, as soon as the sun rose up. “Yeah, what do you want?” Was the answer of a grumpy caretaker, because he had had such an enjoyable dream. Neuron ignoring it like he always did regarding Npc`s, asked “Where can I find the Tailor?” “he lives on the second floor, flat number 203.” “Thanks” “What do you want asked the Tailor” standing in the door, still in his nightgown “Well I`m here, because I finished your quest, just one item is missing, and I wanted to complete it sooner than later” “Couldn`t you have waited, till I open the shop!?” “No”, said Neuron, while walking inside “You damn little twerp, what do you think of yourself!” He shouted, becoming angrier at each moment “You think I´m going to wait till you finally show up, no, I`ll be here till you are ready to leave the house, and then I`m going to accompany you to the shop” At this his veins began to show, a sign of utter anger “GO OUT NOW” he said in a low voice, repressing his anger “No” “Now you little…..!” While hissing this line he tried to move Neuron forcibly, but couldn’t, because he fastened himself to the floor with his thread. Soon, the tailor was huffing for air, and came to the conclusion that He would only leave with him, everything other than that was a waste of time, ah how he would have liked to kill him, but he couldn`t, because of himself shouting everyone woke up and looked inside his apartment, and because Neuron told them, why he was here. And assuring them, that he doesn`t pose a threat. It being like this he headed towards his bedroom and dressing himself, taking an extra long time, just so he could make Neuron wait. And that was his doom, because Neuron used this time wisely When they finally arrived at the shop, Neuron hurried inside, grabbed the underpants with his fingertips and began to patch it, finishing it in record time. “Here I finished all” Neuron said, while putting all the clothes he upgraded on the floor.” “What the fuck did you do!?” “Well, I just patched them up, the quest didn`t indicate anything, about how it should be done, so yeah, see ya” With this he left, leaving a most angry tailor behind him. *Wow, I didn`t know this one, he’s got quite the imaginative mind* ~grin~ | * Quest complete: Rewards:Tailoring skill50 copper | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | *Only 50 copper and close to no Experience points?!* But strangely he wasn`t angry at all After the window popped up he sent a whisper to Kyle. “Do you have some spare time?” “Not much, hey wait, you whispering to me at this hour, don´t tell me, YOU DID IT AGAIN!” “Well yeah” “And now you need my help, am I guessing right? “Yeah” “I`m not going to steal!” “No! I just want you to…..” End Chapter 09 The revenge is progressing nicely :twisted:

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 12 Live!! Report<br><br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Rumors spread on the forums, and on royal road about the the upcoming invasion to the city of Pallet, and the one leading this invasion Ash Ketchum.<br><br>"Hey did you hear?, the poring destroyer is leading a large invasion force to Pallet City."<br><br>"He must really hate those poring, even though he has one himself, hypocrite."<br><br>"No, I heard he went to PK the merchants who were selling them for easy money."<br><br>"No, I heard He was sent to steal the secret on how to breed those porings."<br><br>"Still, he gathered alot of people , He really should just crawl to his mancave and never return, I mean who would want to harm those great people who shared the remarkable innovation known as porings?, now I don't even have to pick up loots manually, Its a godsend."<br><br>"I know right , I just hope he fails."<br><br><br>In the real world:<br><br>" This is CTS Media's Nahee Yoon, reporting on royal road, In recent events, those wonderful porings are becoming a sensational item on royal road, and Pallet City is monopolizing these things. Nobody seems to know when they pop-up but they're certainly a big hit."<br><br>"On the other hand, the rising star, Pallet City has been the talk of the month since the town Morata, I heard that you can access a hidden class in there, They seem to have everything a player would want. They're On the top of list growing city and everyone wants to capture that city."<br><br><br>"Recent events have revealed that the player Ash Ketchum, known as the poring destroyer, has rallied together 20 guilds that estimates to have 20000 high level players. Will he succeed? , reports say that they are marching now to invade Pallet City and is only 1 miles near its castle walls."<br><br>"This just in, we have live coverage in Pallet Cities Lord Zed with our beautiful reporter, Shin Hye Min and her in-game name Maylon, Maylon what do you have for us?."<br><br><br>"This is Maylon speaking live in Pallet City, There seems to be alot of troops mobilizing here at the moment and Were in luck, I seem to be just approved to an interview with Lord Zed."<br><br>Maylon: "Lord Zed aren't you worried about the invading force of 20000 thousand players coming your way?."<br><br>Zed: "Please, Zed is fine, As to answer your question no, at the moment I have, 40 knights, 200 priests, 400 mages, 2000 archers, and 2000 warriors. Now, these numbers might be small to you but I assure you that these 4600 soldiers are all level 400+."<br><br>Marlon: "Gasp!! level 400+ , our research indicates that the average player is only level 200, but still those number of soldier's you spoke of might be overwhelmed by 20000 players."<br>Zed: "Normally your right, but did I forget to mention that I have another 40 knights, 400 mages 2000 archers, and 2000 warriors. That's an additional 4400 soldiers and these ones are level 300+."<br><br>Marlon: "Gasp!!, did you hear that viewers, 10000 super high level soldiers against 20000 that is composed of middle average players."<br><br>Zed: "Did I forget to mention that my soldiers are all npc, and did not include the players who is gonna lend a hand to help us defend the city?, and as for the Coup de grâce , I have an alliance with the town Morata and its Lord Weed."<br><br>Maylon: "Gasp!!!, Weed? but I don't see their soldiers anywhere?, are they they gonna be late to come to your rescue."<br><br>Zed: "Let me enlighten you, You do know that The church of Freya has monopoly on warp portals, and only high officials members of the church or a player that has done tremendous public achievements to the church of Freya can access to those Warp portals right?."<br><br>Maylon: "Yes?, what are you getting at?."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, as you know, Weed is a hero to the church of Freya, and as you know I have an alliance with him......." was interrupted by Maylon.<br><br>Maylon: "But that can't be, Weed is a very cheap person I know that first hand, he'd never agree to that,...... oooops!!!."<br><br>Zed: "I couldn't agree with you more normally, but as you can see, I commissioned him for the construction of that portal as part of the alliance."<br><br>Maylon: "Gasp!!!, so you mean that his troops will be here on time?"<br><br>Zed: "Yes, he'll be here soon, and as you know first hand Weed's leading prowess, I'll hand him the chain command for my troops."<br><br>Maylon: "Gasp!!, with those high level troops, and Weed's leadership, it's going to be a massacre, the battle of Ork Kawarchi is still fresh in my mind."<br><br>Zed: "Sorry for that Ms. Maylon, but I have to go. I'm still a leader of this city, and I can't relax while my troops are battling the invaders."<br><br>Zed left quickly to join his troops.<br><br>Maylon: "He's so cool, ahem!!!, this is Maylon reporting live!! from Pallet City, over and out."<br><br>Back to the real world.<br><br>"There you have it folks, this is CTS Media's Nahee Yoon, reporting on royal road, stay tuned in for more updates."<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>NOoooo!!!, Battle scene's are my weakness. I'm not confident that I can bring descriptive details in my next chapter. I'll try , but I make no promises. </div>

Chapter 12 Live!! Report Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Rumors spread on the forums, and on royal road about the the upcoming invasion to the city of Pallet, and the one leading this invasion Ash Ketchum. "Hey did you hear?, the poring destroyer is leading a large invasion force to Pallet City." "He must really hate those poring, even though he has one himself, hypocrite." "No, I heard he went to PK the merchants who were selling them for easy money." "No, I heard He was sent to steal the secret on how to breed those porings." "Still, he gathered alot of people , He really should just crawl to his mancave and never return, I mean who would want to harm those great people who shared the remarkable innovation known as porings?, now I don't even have to pick up loots manually, Its a godsend." "I know right , I just hope he fails." In the real world: " This is CTS Media's Nahee Yoon, reporting on royal road, In recent events, those wonderful porings are becoming a sensational item on royal road, and Pallet City is monopolizing these things. Nobody seems to know when they pop-up but they're certainly a big hit." "On the other hand, the rising star, Pallet City has been the talk of the month since the town Morata, I heard that you can access a hidden class in there, They seem to have everything a player would want. They're On the top of list growing city and everyone wants to capture that city." "Recent events have revealed that the player Ash Ketchum, known as the poring destroyer, has rallied together 20 guilds that estimates to have 20000 high level players. Will he succeed? , reports say that they are marching now to invade Pallet City and is only 1 miles near its castle walls." "This just in, we have live coverage in Pallet Cities Lord Zed with our beautiful reporter, Shin Hye Min and her in-game name Maylon, Maylon what do you have for us?." "This is Maylon speaking live in Pallet City, There seems to be alot of troops mobilizing here at the moment and Were in luck, I seem to be just approved to an interview with Lord Zed." Maylon: "Lord Zed aren't you worried about the invading force of 20000 thousand players coming your way?." Zed: "Please, Zed is fine, As to answer your question no, at the moment I have, 40 knights, 200 priests, 400 mages, 2000 archers, and 2000 warriors. Now, these numbers might be small to you but I assure you that these 4600 soldiers are all level 400+." Marlon: "Gasp!! level 400+ , our research indicates that the average player is only level 200, but still those number of soldier's you spoke of might be overwhelmed by 20000 players." Zed: "Normally your right, but did I forget to mention that I have another 40 knights, 400 mages 2000 archers, and 2000 warriors. That's an additional 4400 soldiers and these ones are level 300+." Marlon: "Gasp!!, did you hear that viewers, 10000 super high level soldiers against 20000 that is composed of middle average players." Zed: "Did I forget to mention that my soldiers are all npc, and did not include the players who is gonna lend a hand to help us defend the city?, and as for the Coup de grâce , I have an alliance with the town Morata and its Lord Weed." Maylon: "Gasp!!!, Weed? but I don't see their soldiers anywhere?, are they they gonna be late to come to your rescue." Zed: "Let me enlighten you, You do know that The church of Freya has monopoly on warp portals, and only high officials members of the church or a player that has done tremendous public achievements to the church of Freya can access to those Warp portals right?." Maylon: "Yes?, what are you getting at?." Zed: "Yes, as you know, Weed is a hero to the church of Freya, and as you know I have an alliance with him......." was interrupted by Maylon. Maylon: "But that can't be, Weed is a very cheap person I know that first hand, he'd never agree to that,...... oooops!!!." Zed: "I couldn't agree with you more normally, but as you can see, I commissioned him for the construction of that portal as part of the alliance." Maylon: "Gasp!!!, so you mean that his troops will be here on time?" Zed: "Yes, he'll be here soon, and as you know first hand Weed's leading prowess, I'll hand him the chain command for my troops." Maylon: "Gasp!!, with those high level troops, and Weed's leadership, it's going to be a massacre, the battle of Ork Kawarchi is still fresh in my mind." Zed: "Sorry for that Ms. Maylon, but I have to go. I'm still a leader of this city, and I can't relax while my troops are battling the invaders." Zed left quickly to join his troops. Maylon: "He's so cool, ahem!!!, this is Maylon reporting live!! from Pallet City, over and out." Back to the real world. "There you have it folks, this is CTS Media's Nahee Yoon, reporting on royal road, stay tuned in for more updates." NOoooo!!!, Battle scene's are my weakness. I'm not confident that I can bring descriptive details in my next chapter. I'll try , but I make no promises.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-style: italic;">*This are thoughts*</span><br><br>~Sound effects~<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">+++++</div><br><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chapter 01:Beginning of Training</span><br><br><br>Neuron thought that because he had buried himself in info of Royal Road he wouldn`t be surprised of what awaited him in the starting city, but he soon knew, that nothing could prepare you for the sight he was seeing right now.<br> <br>He was teleported in the middle of a square inside a town he didn`t know the name of where a tall fountain stood that left his mouth agape.<br><br>Then he turned around, and let the scenery work on him.<br><br>It was a round square, around it standing medieval houses at a height of three stories.<br><br>Then he began to stroll through the town, he made plans on what to do once he finally got his capsule, but those plans didn`t matter anymore, because he was like a kid gazing at the wonders this new world had to offer.<br><br>While walking he noticed something<br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Wait, why are the houses so small, and it really doesn`t look like the screenshots I saw players had posted about different cities, actually everything looks really worn down*</span><br><br>Then he heard loud noises and his natural curiosity won, and so he headed towards them. <br><br>When he turned at the corner, he was stunned because his eyes, ears and nose where overloaded by all this new information they had to process, it was the marketplace where everyone was shouting why exactly their wares where the best you could by for money. His brain was so overloaded, that it activated one of the oldest instincts, and thus making Neuron flee from this place.<br><br>Then he finally remembered his plans and started to head towards the Archery.<br><br>Because he had no idea where the training ground for archers was he asked the first person he came across for directions, after receiving them he run towards the direction pointed, but soon he was lost, but nonetheless he run aimlessly until he dropped to the ground completely exhausted, because he knew by doing strenuous actions he would be awarded with stats.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Wow, I run till I depleted all my stamina, but didn`t gain a stat, just what do you have to do to gain them?*</span><br><br>There he laid huffing for air and a popup message appeared in the middle of his vision, but not the message he had hoped for.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li>You are exhausted, and can`t move, until your stamina is restored <br>Drinking water accelerates the process</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>After reading this he cursed himself for not looking through his inventory. <br><br>Inside his pockets where a canteen, empty of course, and some bread that is named Barley, but didn`t look edible, the only thing he could do now was leaning against the wall, waiting for his stamina to recover.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Damn it with all that running around I should have at least gotten some plus in stamina.*</span><br><br>While gasping for air a group of players passed him pointing at him and laughing/giggling, because one of them was a girl.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Great, now I’m the laughing stock of some players*</span><br><br>He couldn`t differentiate between NPC`s and Players, but because the group where made of a warrior, a priest and a rouge which he recognized due to the armor, the staff, and the daggers respectively. He assumed them to be Players, to his eyes they also looked quite high level, but that was only because he compared their gear to his, and of course, everything is miles better than the beginner gear.<br><br>Actually their level was in the higher 80s<br><br>But it couldn`t be helped, because he collapsed in a rather large square. At the opposite of the square he could make out a Map but it was too far away to actually recognize anything, but nonetheless he strained his eyes and a shout of surprise left his mouth, making everyone in the square turn their head towards him, and wondering if this guy is just crazy.<br><br>But he couldn`t hear because his mind was occupied with something else, that thing being the map which he saw clearly as if standing right before it.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*What’s that, something like this shouldn`t be possible at all!*</span><br><br>After thinking of that matter he decided to look at his Stat Window. He refrained on doing so the moment he logged in, because he already knew how the stats of a beginner human look like, because he saw some screenshots.<br><br>So he called out: “Show status Window” <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Status Window</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Name</td><td width="25%">Neuron</td><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">1</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Class</td><td colspan="3">N/A</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Fame</td><td width="25%">0</td><td width="25%">Infamy</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan="3">N/A</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">100</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">100</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Dexterity</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Intelligence</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Luck</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Base Attack</td><td width="25%">3</td><td width="25%">Defence</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Magical Resistance</span></td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Fire</td><td width="25%">0%</td><td width="25%">Water</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Earth</td><td width="25%">0%</td><td width="25%">Air</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Dark</td><td width="25%">0%</td><td width="25%">Holy</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hawk Eye: Passive</span><br>Enables you to see things that are far away more clearly <br>Because of your special eyes it will activate when you strain them<br>They will only be visible when activated<br>Slightly increases critical hit chance.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Caution:</span><br>Because they look a lot like Demon eyes, NPC`s will be afraid of you, when they see them.</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Sweet just what I hoped for when I asked for those eyes, but I wonder why they didn`t allow it from the start?*</span><br><br>Because Neuron as Alex was something like a loner he didn`t mind the NPC`s beeing afraid of him, and he didn`t even think about the problems he would face when selling stuff to NPC`s.<br><br>Now he began to study the map with his new skill and as soon as his stamina recovered he bounced off the ground and continued his way towards the archery, but of course after asking for the way again.<br><br>Standing before the archery he took a deep breath and opened the door. As soon as he opened it he heard the sounds of letting bowstrings loose and arrows hitting their target, at least he expected hearing that, but to his surprise no one was here, except the instructor, well he assumed him to be the instructor, because he was the only one in there, who shot at the farthest target which was approximately 70m away. Neuron watched him for a moment and then stepping inside; when the instructor finished shooting the last arrows in his quiver he came over and asked: “what can I do for you?”<br><br>If Neuron even slightly bothered about looking at the target the “instructor” was shooting at, he would have seen that the arrows sticking out of the target where all over the place, not in a nice grouping, which you could expect a shooting instructor would be capable of doing. But he was too occupied at looking at all those practice bows that where aligned near the wall<br><br>The “instructor” looked like he was in his mid thirties, with short thinned out brown hair, coupled with a harsh look in his eyes and an overall grumpy look, but also wrinkles around his eyes that indicated that he is also able to laugh heartily, but his build was rather strange, being on the broader side, not with fat but because of well build muscles in the arms, that didn`t go well with an archer.<br>“Well I’d like to learn archery, and I’m glad I went to this city, because now that I’ve seen you shoot I know how capable you are” said Neuron trying to flatter him as much as possible<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*God, this much flattery is turning my tongue upside down, but hopefully it helps*</span><br><br>While he was thinking that the instructor made a face like he had to swallow something disgusting<br><br>“Glad to hear that, now come inside and choose a bow”<br><br>Because he didn`t have the Identify skill as of yet he had to examine those bows the normal way, meaning to test their performance<br><br>There where all kinds of bows, curved, short- and Longbows of course, but there was one bow he hasn’t seen before. Neuron was quiet curious about that bow, because he one time in his life underwent shooting practice and always took the archer or a ranged class in any game he has played, so of course Neuron knows some stuff about bows. Well to be true in his entire life he only used three different kinds of Bows, one being those he made himself as a kid from Hazelwood, the Recurve Bow with which he actually trained and a Compound Bow, one of his friends purchased one and let him shoot with it sometimes.<br>All those bows had one thing in common, and that was their Symmetry, this bow however had one limb that was towering above his head cause it had double the length of the opposing. With that at least deciding how to hold it was in vain.<br><br>Then he went to the arrows and examined them, they where all the same with a round arrowhead, ideal for shooting practice, cause the tip has no blade and thus it doesn`t damage the target as much as an arrowhead with edges. <br><br>With this he turned to the shooting range, on witch where 9 targets, standing at 5 to 20 meter with 5m distance between them, and from 20 to 70m with 10m distance between each.<br>Those targets where standing on a grassy field, with trails leading to the targets.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Great, grass, this will make finding missed arrows a loooot easier*</span><br><br>Because he wasn`t accustomed with that bow Neuron decided to shoot at the nearest target being only 5m away. He took his stance nocking an arrow on the string and pulling the string to his cheek, taking a deep breath and finally releasing the arrow.<br><br>Of course he hasn`t used a bow in a long time and thus being a bit rusty (lets change that to completely forgotten about the basics), but the “instructor” saw, that this guy had some experience with bows, unlike those other freedman who always pulled the string with force and thus decreasing their accuracy and depleting their stamina more than necessary.<br><br>Neuron thought that this bow is actually hard to handle as he watched the arrow fly way past the target. Reason for that being, that he wasn`t accustomed to the fact that this bow got his shooting power from the longer upper limb and because of that the posture he used and had learned wasn`t suited for a bow of that <br><br>But nether less he shot some more arrows just for the fun of trying something new, when he finished shooting 7 out of then arrows where stuck in the target with 2 even in the yellow section, but those where just some lucky shots. Then he went to gather the shot arrows, the two that missed took quite some time to be found.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Shooting at targets is nice and all, but recovering the arrows is a pain in the a..*</span><br><br>Then he tried the short bows, there were some different kinds, but he decided to try the Mongolian one, he leaned that because of his difficult making progress which involved putting some special pieces of wood together with some horn glue.<br>That was all he knew about a Bow like this.<br><br>But while shooting he realized that this bow or rather short bows weren`t suitable for him either.<br><br>Being tall is both an advantage and a disadvantage when it comes to bows. While pulling the string of the bow backwards force is exerted on the limbs of the bows and its grip, because most times the grip is made from different material than the limbs because of needing to have different properties, one being to remain still, and the other of being elastic. <br>But this connection is also the weak spot of any bow build like this.<br><br>If the archer is tall, his drawing length naturally increases because he has to bring the arrow to his cheek, so the pressure on the intersection rises, and with the short bows there is an even greater disadvantage, because of them being what their name implies the drawing length of those bows is shortened thus putting more pressure on the limbs of the bow and because every material has a breaking point, or a point when it loses its performance the durability of such a bow used by a large player would naturally decrease faster, and the accuracy is of course decreased too. <br>Just imagine bending a stick, at some point it won`t go back to its original form.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Damn I wanted to use short bows, why is that game so realistic!*</span><br><br>The reason being, that it is easier to hide with a short bow, and thus ambushing targets, a long bow can only be shot in a standing position, because it normally was 1,8m tall.<br>Well it technically is possible to hold it horizontally, but then the accuracy drops significantly, and the drawing length decreases, making the arrow lose force and thus inflicting less damage on the target.<br><br>….<br><br>…<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Man I want to punch myself, there I´ve wished my entire life for a VR-game like this coming out, and now I´m complaining, that it’s too realistic...*</span><br><br>~Whack!~<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You have received a hit: -10Hp </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Ouch, I didn`t hit myself that hard!*</span><br><br><br>The “instructor” couldn’t understand this particular freedman; there he was trying out every bow, although it was quite obvious that he has to take the Longbow and after dropping the Mongolian bow he actually hit himself quite hard and then laid groaning on the floor…<br><br>Because of those actions and the over the top adulation Neuron dished out at the beginning he decided to distance himself from this boy letting him do what he wanted, and only giving advice when asked.<br><br>Adding to his disgust towards Neuron was the fact, that he was only the temporary instructor, because the old man suddenly got ill, he wasn`t even that good with a bow himself cause of him being a Blacksmith and shooting some arrows only to relax after a strenuous day of work.<br><br>It wasn`t because of the behavior of the other three freedmen he saw while tending for the Training Ground the last week, only coming here to learn the skill and then leaving, not bothering to train some more till they could hit the target <span style="font-weight: bold;">almost</span> every time (well just hitting it), it definitely wasn`t!<br><br>But it being like this is also quite understandable, because of the task of getting the arrows back, first it could sometimes be quite hard to pull an arrow out of the target, and second the task of recollecting them itself. You can`t shoot an infinite amount of arrows at the target, because then you can`t see where it hit, and it also makes the retrieving harder, if they are stuck near each other.<br>And also the long and annoying search for arrows that missed the target they were aiming at, which happened quite often, but this was compensated by leveling up and thus letting the system help them out, so no one bothered to stay long.<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">End Chapter 01</div><br><br>So, I REPLACEed some trivia about bows, hope you liked it, because I got more :twisted: <br><br>As always keep the criticism moderate and feel free to point out any errors you find.<br>Well, as I am a native German speaker, and have some problems with English, I would like to have a proofreader, PM me If you feel up for this task. </div>

*This are thoughts* ~Sound effects~ +++++ Chapter 01:Beginning of Training Neuron thought that because he had buried himself in info of Royal Road he wouldn`t be surprised of what awaited him in the starting city, but he soon knew, that nothing could prepare you for the sight he was seeing right now. He was teleported in the middle of a square inside a town he didn`t know the name of where a tall fountain stood that left his mouth agape. Then he turned around, and let the scenery work on him. It was a round square, around it standing medieval houses at a height of three stories. Then he began to stroll through the town, he made plans on what to do once he finally got his capsule, but those plans didn`t matter anymore, because he was like a kid gazing at the wonders this new world had to offer. While walking he noticed something *Wait, why are the houses so small, and it really doesn`t look like the screenshots I saw players had posted about different cities, actually everything looks really worn down* Then he heard loud noises and his natural curiosity won, and so he headed towards them. When he turned at the corner, he was stunned because his eyes, ears and nose where overloaded by all this new information they had to process, it was the marketplace where everyone was shouting why exactly their wares where the best you could by for money. His brain was so overloaded, that it activated one of the oldest instincts, and thus making Neuron flee from this place. Then he finally remembered his plans and started to head towards the Archery. Because he had no idea where the training ground for archers was he asked the first person he came across for directions, after receiving them he run towards the direction pointed, but soon he was lost, but nonetheless he run aimlessly until he dropped to the ground completely exhausted, because he knew by doing strenuous actions he would be awarded with stats. *Wow, I run till I depleted all my stamina, but didn`t gain a stat, just what do you have to do to gain them?* There he laid huffing for air and a popup message appeared in the middle of his vision, but not the message he had hoped for. | * You are exhausted, and can`t move, until your stamina is restored Drinking water accelerates the process | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | After reading this he cursed himself for not looking through his inventory. Inside his pockets where a canteen, empty of course, and some bread that is named Barley, but didn`t look edible, the only thing he could do now was leaning against the wall, waiting for his stamina to recover. *Damn it with all that running around I should have at least gotten some plus in stamina.* While gasping for air a group of players passed him pointing at him and laughing/giggling, because one of them was a girl. *Great, now I’m the laughing stock of some players* He couldn`t differentiate between NPC`s and Players, but because the group where made of a warrior, a priest and a rouge which he recognized due to the armor, the staff, and the daggers respectively. He assumed them to be Players, to his eyes they also looked quite high level, but that was only because he compared their gear to his, and of course, everything is miles better than the beginner gear. Actually their level was in the higher 80s But it couldn`t be helped, because he collapsed in a rather large square. At the opposite of the square he could make out a Map but it was too far away to actually recognize anything, but nonetheless he strained his eyes and a shout of surprise left his mouth, making everyone in the square turn their head towards him, and wondering if this guy is just crazy. But he couldn`t hear because his mind was occupied with something else, that thing being the map which he saw clearly as if standing right before it. *What’s that, something like this shouldn`t be possible at all!* After thinking of that matter he decided to look at his Stat Window. He refrained on doing so the moment he logged in, because he already knew how the stats of a beginner human look like, because he saw some screenshots. So he called out: “Show status Window” | Status Window | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Name | Neuron | Level | 1 | | Class | N/A | | | | Fame | 0 | Infamy | 0 | | Title | N/A | | | | Health | 100 | Mana | 100 | | Strength | 10 | Dexterity | 10 | | Wisdom | 10 | Intelligence | 10 | | Vitality | 10 | Luck | 0 | | Base Attack | 3 | Defence | 0 | | Magical Resistance | | | | | Fire | 0% | Water | 0% | | Earth | 0% | Air | 0% | | Dark | 0% | Holy | 0% | | * Hawk Eye: PassiveEnables you to see things that are far away more clearly Because of your special eyes it will activate when you strain themThey will only be visible when activatedSlightly increases critical hit chance.Caution:Because they look a lot like Demon eyes, NPC`s will be afraid of you, when they see them. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | *Sweet just what I hoped for when I asked for those eyes, but I wonder why they didn`t allow it from the start?* Because Neuron as Alex was something like a loner he didn`t mind the NPC`s beeing afraid of him, and he didn`t even think about the problems he would face when selling stuff to NPC`s. Now he began to study the map with his new skill and as soon as his stamina recovered he bounced off the ground and continued his way towards the archery, but of course after asking for the way again. Standing before the archery he took a deep breath and opened the door. As soon as he opened it he heard the sounds of letting bowstrings loose and arrows hitting their target, at least he expected hearing that, but to his surprise no one was here, except the instructor, well he assumed him to be the instructor, because he was the only one in there, who shot at the farthest target which was approximately 70m away. Neuron watched him for a moment and then stepping inside; when the instructor finished shooting the last arrows in his quiver he came over and asked: “what can I do for you?” If Neuron even slightly bothered about looking at the target the “instructor” was shooting at, he would have seen that the arrows sticking out of the target where all over the place, not in a nice grouping, which you could expect a shooting instructor would be capable of doing. But he was too occupied at looking at all those practice bows that where aligned near the wall The “instructor” looked like he was in his mid thirties, with short thinned out brown hair, coupled with a harsh look in his eyes and an overall grumpy look, but also wrinkles around his eyes that indicated that he is also able to laugh heartily, but his build was rather strange, being on the broader side, not with fat but because of well build muscles in the arms, that didn`t go well with an archer. “Well I’d like to learn archery, and I’m glad I went to this city, because now that I’ve seen you shoot I know how capable you are” said Neuron trying to flatter him as much as possible *God, this much flattery is turning my tongue upside down, but hopefully it helps* While he was thinking that the instructor made a face like he had to swallow something disgusting “Glad to hear that, now come inside and choose a bow” Because he didn`t have the Identify skill as of yet he had to examine those bows the normal way, meaning to test their performance There where all kinds of bows, curved, short- and Longbows of course, but there was one bow he hasn’t seen before. Neuron was quiet curious about that bow, because he one time in his life underwent shooting practice and always took the archer or a ranged class in any game he has played, so of course Neuron knows some stuff about bows. Well to be true in his entire life he only used three different kinds of Bows, one being those he made himself as a kid from Hazelwood, the Recurve Bow with which he actually trained and a Compound Bow, one of his friends purchased one and let him shoot with it sometimes. All those bows had one thing in common, and that was their Symmetry, this bow however had one limb that was towering above his head cause it had double the length of the opposing. With that at least deciding how to hold it was in vain. Then he went to the arrows and examined them, they where all the same with a round arrowhead, ideal for shooting practice, cause the tip has no blade and thus it doesn`t damage the target as much as an arrowhead with edges. With this he turned to the shooting range, on witch where 9 targets, standing at 5 to 20 meter with 5m distance between them, and from 20 to 70m with 10m distance between each. Those targets where standing on a grassy field, with trails leading to the targets. *Great, grass, this will make finding missed arrows a loooot easier* Because he wasn`t accustomed with that bow Neuron decided to shoot at the nearest target being only 5m away. He took his stance nocking an arrow on the string and pulling the string to his cheek, taking a deep breath and finally releasing the arrow. Of course he hasn`t used a bow in a long time and thus being a bit rusty (lets change that to completely forgotten about the basics), but the “instructor” saw, that this guy had some experience with bows, unlike those other freedman who always pulled the string with force and thus decreasing their accuracy and depleting their stamina more than necessary. Neuron thought that this bow is actually hard to handle as he watched the arrow fly way past the target. Reason for that being, that he wasn`t accustomed to the fact that this bow got his shooting power from the longer upper limb and because of that the posture he used and had learned wasn`t suited for a bow of that But nether less he shot some more arrows just for the fun of trying something new, when he finished shooting 7 out of then arrows where stuck in the target with 2 even in the yellow section, but those where just some lucky shots. Then he went to gather the shot arrows, the two that missed took quite some time to be found. *Shooting at targets is nice and all, but recovering the arrows is a pain in the a..* Then he tried the short bows, there were some different kinds, but he decided to try the Mongolian one, he leaned that because of his difficult making progress which involved putting some special pieces of wood together with some horn glue. That was all he knew about a Bow like this. But while shooting he realized that this bow or rather short bows weren`t suitable for him either. Being tall is both an advantage and a disadvantage when it comes to bows. While pulling the string of the bow backwards force is exerted on the limbs of the bows and its grip, because most times the grip is made from different material than the limbs because of needing to have different properties, one being to remain still, and the other of being elastic. But this connection is also the weak spot of any bow build like this. If the archer is tall, his drawing length naturally increases because he has to bring the arrow to his cheek, so the pressure on the intersection rises, and with the short bows there is an even greater disadvantage, because of them being what their name implies the drawing length of those bows is shortened thus putting more pressure on the limbs of the bow and because every material has a breaking point, or a point when it loses its performance the durability of such a bow used by a large player would naturally decrease faster, and the accuracy is of course decreased too. Just imagine bending a stick, at some point it won`t go back to its original form. *Damn I wanted to use short bows, why is that game so realistic!* The reason being, that it is easier to hide with a short bow, and thus ambushing targets, a long bow can only be shot in a standing position, because it normally was 1,8m tall. Well it technically is possible to hold it horizontally, but then the accuracy drops significantly, and the drawing length decreases, making the arrow lose force and thus inflicting less damage on the target. …. … *Man I want to punch myself, there I´ve wished my entire life for a VR-game like this coming out, and now I´m complaining, that it’s too realistic...* ~Whack!~ | * You have received a hit: -10Hp | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | *Ouch, I didn`t hit myself that hard!* The “instructor” couldn’t understand this particular freedman; there he was trying out every bow, although it was quite obvious that he has to take the Longbow and after dropping the Mongolian bow he actually hit himself quite hard and then laid groaning on the floor… Because of those actions and the over the top adulation Neuron dished out at the beginning he decided to distance himself from this boy letting him do what he wanted, and only giving advice when asked. Adding to his disgust towards Neuron was the fact, that he was only the temporary instructor, because the old man suddenly got ill, he wasn`t even that good with a bow himself cause of him being a Blacksmith and shooting some arrows only to relax after a strenuous day of work. It wasn`t because of the behavior of the other three freedmen he saw while tending for the Training Ground the last week, only coming here to learn the skill and then leaving, not bothering to train some more till they could hit the target almost every time (well just hitting it), it definitely wasn`t! But it being like this is also quite understandable, because of the task of getting the arrows back, first it could sometimes be quite hard to pull an arrow out of the target, and second the task of recollecting them itself. You can`t shoot an infinite amount of arrows at the target, because then you can`t see where it hit, and it also makes the retrieving harder, if they are stuck near each other. And also the long and annoying search for arrows that missed the target they were aiming at, which happened quite often, but this was compensated by leveling up and thus letting the system help them out, so no one bothered to stay long. End Chapter 01 So, I REPLACEed some trivia about bows, hope you liked it, because I got more :twisted: As always keep the criticism moderate and feel free to point out any errors you find. Well, as I am a native German speaker, and have some problems with English, I would like to have a proofreader, PM me If you feel up for this task.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Part 3 <br><span style="font-style: italic;"><br>The boy who had been called and given the job as a Divine Saint looked around him on the corpse filled field wearing a robe that was now dyed red with blood. He looked a few years older than before. However, he was still nothing more than a child barely in his teenage years. <br><br>Just a few hours ago, this field had been full of combatants from both his church and the dark church of Beelzebub.<br><br>Looking around he could only see corpses. There lay the headless body of the former head priest. Everywhere he looked there was only dead bodies. His entire church had been annihilated. Among the wreckage he could spot the bodies his fallen comrades lying next to him. He wanted to escape to truth he had seen before him. These comrades were the ones who had suffered, endured and passed the same horrific experiences he had.<br><br>After all they had been through, he had secretly held the belief that together they were indestructible. However, reality was cruel. He had been foolish in his beliefs that he could protect everyone. The thought of protecting his comrades and being protected by them had provided him with strength. <br><br>However, the gods had shown him just how easily his power of friendship could be crushed. In the face of a far more overwhelming power he that his own could do nothing but watch helplessly. <br><br>Like him, the one who welded the power to crush his beliefs was the one who directly channelled the power of gods.<br><br> The Divine Saint Knight of Beelzebub.<br><br>Although both of them were supposed to be on the same tier, all the boy could see was the overwhelming difference between the two.<br><br>Further and further the boy sank into despair. It was only due to the power of the Divine Saint that he was able to return from the realm of the dead. Only to find that he had lost everything. <br><br>His mind broke. All the childish emotions he had suppressed were released. All his logical reasoning, all of his decision making skills, all of it caved in.<br><br>Despite his adult-like behaviour, he was really just a child, <br><br>Without any help,<br><br>without any intervention,<br><br>he really would become as his appearance suggested. <br><br>An emotionless shell.<br></span><br><br>A little while later…<br><br>“Yo! We meet again!”<br><br>“Yeah… bit sooner than I expected though…”<br><br>Reta greeted Godou with a wave as he joined the group of people in front of here. She was still wearing the same attire he had last saw her in so Godou concluded that she was probably still trying to go incognito. Godou had the feeling that he would be meeting up with Reta again but he didn’t think it would be again so soon.<br><br>“Okay, since there’s 5 people here how so we should be enough to make a party.”<br><br>Indeed besides Godou, the other people gathered in front of Reta included Ferrex, a player wearing plate armour carrying a great sword and someone wearing a robe carrying a staff.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%">You have received a party invitation. Would you like to accept?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">You have joined the party.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>Godou’s current situation was the result of a few events that took place shortly after first parting with Reta. <br><br>After scanning around the town square he had reunited with Ferrex in the crowd of players. By now there were at least 3000 people gathered in the town square. At least half of them seemed to be players. Godou remembered seeing about 50 strong looking knights with high quality equipment and war horses. These were probably the Kallamore knights. Strangely enough, there were no paladins or priests belonging to the church of Freya present.<br><br>After exchanging their greetings, Ferrex had promptly shoved a bunch of stuff ranging from smoke bombs to rye bread into Godou’s hands. When Godou asked him about it, Ferrex merely shook his head and started muttering to himself. Something about strangers trying to burying him with gifts. <br><br>Remembering the advice he had given a short while ago, Godou used his identification skill on all the items.<br><br>Soon afterwards a representative from the church of Freya had stepped up the address the assembled crowd. Godou recognised the priest as the person who answered the door when he went to report the monster raid.<br><br>“Since we don’t have much time, I will skip the usual long morale raising speeches and simply say this. My name is Seirph and I am a messenger sent by the church of Freya. The forces of the church of Freya have already moved to another place close to the monster army and are setting up camp. Everyone assembled here will move up to join them. That is all. And may Freya… be with us.”<br><br>After saying that the priest started walking out of town. The Kallamore Knights and NPC soldiers slowly started to march out after him. Godou thought the speech seemed strange though, especially the last bit which sounded like it was only added as an afterthought. Murmurings of similar thoughts could be heard from the people around him as well. Godou was about to mention it to Ferrex when–<br><br>“ALL PLAYERS LISTEN UP!!!”<br><br>A loud voice suddenly split across the town square. Godou stared in the direction of it and saw one of the high level players he had seen call Reta over addressing the crowd.<br><br>“Before we leave we need everyone to form parties with each other if you haven’t already done so. Those of you who haven’t joined one yet please do so. I don’t care if you think you’ll just drag everyone down because of your class or level! I don’t care if you think you’re too good for a party! Just do it!”<br><br>Godou wonder what was going on. The mid-level players around him immediately started following these instructions so this seemed to be a routine event. He noticed that he wasn’t the only one who seemed confused because there were also few players in newbie outfits staring around blankly. <br><br>At lost with what to do, he had simply decided to go with the flow and started walking around only to be pulled over by a strong tug on his arm. Thus this led him to his current predicament. <br><br>“What’s going on?”<br><br>“This is one of Kallamore’s basic battle strategies. Just listen, the details will be explained it soon. These strategies tend to vary from place to place but the ones organising this are high level players in the area. The player who just spoke has the call-sign Quick Shot.” (Plenty of innuendo there)<br><br>Godou queried Reta who seemed to know what was going on only to receive her answer of “Just wait and see.”<br><br>“So anyway while we wait for everyone to settle down why don’t we introduce ourselves.”<br> <br>Reta spoke again, this time addressing all the people gathered in front of her.<br><br>“…”<br><br>“I guess I’ll start off since no-one else wants to. Hi everyone! My name’s Reta! I’ve started in Kallamore quite a while ago so if you have any question feel free to ask me. As for my class, well, it’s a bit hard to explain so just think of me as an assassin. I think golden slimes are cute and like torturing sheep!”<br><br>… Was that last part really necessary? Godou’s impression of Reta being normal was starting to crumble. Then again, that impression sort of wasn’t that strong to begin with, considering the fact that she chose to a tree branch as her hiding place instead of other more easily reachable hiding spots. <br><br>“Okay! Your turn!”<br><br>Reta suddenly pointed at the player who seemed like a mage who started before saying:<br><br>“I am Flay, a level 101 Mage. I specialise in Ice magic.”<br><br>Point.<br><br>“… I am a knight. That’s all you need to know.”<br><br>Point. <br><br>“My name Ferrex Dakef, a native to Versailles. Pleased to meet you. I can cast generic holy spells.”<br><br>Godou noticed that the knight appeared displeased as he heard Ferrex’s self-introduction but had no further time to ponder on it as Reta pointed at him. Speaking of which Godou didn’t recall Ferrex casting anything but generic holy spells. Holy spells could be divided into two categories: generic spells and specialised ones. <br><br>Generic holy spells were the spells that did not require the caster to be in a religious order to use. In short, they were the spells used by beginner priests. Specialised holy spells on the other hand could only be used if one joined the order of a religion and their incantations often included the name the deity worshiped in the religion as well. Compared to generic spells, specialised ones where a lot more potent in terms of strength, duration and efficiency. Specialised spells also branched out into different categories, allowing them to do many things generic spells couldn’t.<br><br>“I am Godou. I started playing recently and still don’t have a class. Please take care of me.”<br><br>“Okay! Now that introductions are over and done with, everyone try to get along with each other. Come on! Make small talk or something!”<br><br>“…”<br><br>“…”<br><br>“…”<br><br>Ferrex, Flay and the knight said nothing. Somehow this felt really awkward. Godou also noticed that knight seemed even more displeased when Godou clarified that he didn’t have a class. The knight was now glaring in his direction.<br><br>“So did you find the person you were looking for?”<br><br>Reta cheerily broke the silence by asking Godou a question.<br><br>“Ah yeah. You just met him. I was looking for Ferrex.”<br><br>“Oh so is he the friend you were looking for? I thought you were looking for a girl though…”<br><br>“Eh what gave you that impression?”<br><br>“Well, how should I put it… Although you don’t seem like a bad person you give off the vibe of playboy or a pimp. Well, how should I put it? You just seem like someone really used to being around women.”<br><br>“D D D Don’t just go accusing someone you just met an hour ago such things!”<br><br>Despite how much he wanted to deny it, Reta’s statement shook Godou to the core. In actual fact, many of his friends and acquaintances in reality had told him this fact but he had always thought that they were joking around or had a misunderstanding of some sort. But to have an absolute stranger point this out was really startling... <br><br>Just who are you calling a womaniser! Kusanagi Godou was certainly not that sort of lowlife. Though there were times when he had to rely heavily on his female friends… especially if it involved using his unreliable powers but… Nope don’t think about it. That kind of thing was only because the situation demanded it– <br><br>“Well, that’s what my woman’s intuition tells me.”<br><br>“W W Woman’s intuition?” How frightening.<br><br>“Yup! It also tells me that there are aliens on Mars, fairies are real and that shop assistants are all scammers.”<br><br>Okay… Reta, I don’t get how your mind works at all. That being said, fairies were actually real apparently but aliens? At this point Godou decided to give up thinking any deeper into this.<br><br>“OKAY, ARE YOU ALL IN PARTIES NOW?”<br><br>As the crowd settled down, the player who was apparently known as Quick Shot started to talk again.<br><br>“The level of cooperation between players is a lot lower than the NPCs because there’s no real chain of command between us. Therefore, the players can’t divide can’t separate themselves into specialised units full of people with the same class. We can’t use complex strategies either because of this so why bother trying? We could easily get slaughtered if we tried and got ambushed because we can’t react in time. Not to mention the fact that the mobs don’t seem to attack in waves of one type or level either.<br><br>One of the solutions that we developed over the course of our time here to compensate for this was to divide everyone up into smaller groups with at least one experienced person in it to reduce causalities. Just think of your own group as a single hunting party and try your best not to get in anyone else’s way. Each group should have people of differing levels and abilities to help them react faster in unexpected situations.”<br>“WHY DO WE NEED THIS SORT OF SYSTEM? If I have if fight while dragging a bunch of noobs behind me then I’d rather just fight alone!”<br><br>It was the knight in Godou’s party who had spoken up.<br><br>“This system is the product of many trails and errors that we have created for the sake of surviving in Kallamore. If you don’t want to follow it then feel free to fight the monster army on your own”<br><br>“Rather than fighting with a party full of leeches wouldn’t be better for Kallamore to have high level players like me growing stronger?”<br><br>Generally the players in Kallamore were welcoming to new players because the more defenders, the lower the chance of Kallamore being overrun with monsters. There were exceptions to this though. There were high level newbie players who had yet to realise the importance of having strong comrades and only saw everyone else as competition. Players from other kingdoms who had just arrived in Kallamore were also exceptions for the same reason. Nevertheless, the attitudes of these exceptions would change after joining in a defence quest or two.<br><br>Looking at the high level equipment worn by the knight it was evident that he was part of the latter group.<br><br>“So you’re saying “quality over quantity” then huh. It might sound like a valid reason but aren’t you just against it because don’t get a chance to monopolise the drops and experience?”<br><br>“Even if you argue “quality over quantity” Kallamore already has the best quality it is. Or are you saying that you’re stronger than a Kallamore Knight?”<br><br>It was Reta who started to join in in reprimanding the knight.<br><br>“That –”<br><br>“In the other kingdoms you can use whatever half-assed methods you want but you’re not in another kingdom right now are you? Here in Kallamore, we have to cooperate with each other do things seriously instead of fighting over the drops. Kallamore needs more strong players in it and the best way to get strong players is to help the lower levels level up.”<br><br>“HOW DO WE KNOW THAT YOU’RE NOT TRYING TO EXPLOIT THE REST OF US IN SOME WAY HUH?!”<br><br>The knight seemed to go red in the face as he started shouting back at Quick Shot who just calmly replied:<br><br>“If it’s experience you’re concerned about then don’t worry, there will be plenty of mobs rushing at you trying to rip your head off. If it’s drops you’re after then go raid a monster village, there’s plenty of them out there. Just keep in mind that if you start infighting during the battle then you’ll be the one digging your own grave! And if you don’t die in battle, there will be plenty of bored bounty hunters out there to come after you.”<br><br>“BUT STILL, WHY DO I HAVE TO GET STUCK WITH SOME NOOB WHO DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A CLASS!!!”<br><br>“How long do you intend to stand here and argue? The soldiers are moving away as we speak and frankly all you’re doing is causing trouble.”<br><br>“GREAT, NOW I HAVE TO LISTEN TO ANOTHER FUCKING NOOB WHO HASN’T JOINED A RELIGION YET.”<br><br>Wow this was getting out of hand. Even Ferrex had jumped into the argument as the knight pointed at Godou.<br><br>Instead of responding to the knight, Ferrex looked over at Quick Shot and said:<br><br>“Do you mind if I handle him. At this rate we will be left behind.”<br><br>“This seems interesting, okay I’ll let you take care of this stranger.”<br><br>Was the reply Ferrex received. Meanwhile, Reta suddenly stirred next to Godou as she suddenly started a conversation.<br><br>“Hmmm you two seem pretty close. Ah, so that’s how it is!”<br><br>“How what is?”<br><br>“You’re one of those guys who bat for both camps aren’t you?”<br><br>“What?!! How did you come to that conclusion?”<br><br>“I mean, look at Ferrex! Getting so heated up for your sake! You even have matching cloaks! Fu fu fu just how many flags have you been raising until now?”<br><br>Reta stared at him strangely feverish expression, her eyes shining with enthusiasm.<br><br>“No no no that’s not how it is! Stop letting your imagination run wild!”<br><br>“Oh, so you only swing that way then… well that’s fine as well. I’ll be rooting for you!”<br><br>“Don’t just ignore what I said! Listen to me!”<br><br>Godou tried his best to argue in his defence against Reta who had steered the conversation into a very strange direction but seemed to be losing ground. <br><br>Hmm, was it just him or did Flay just take a few steps back? Godou noticed that the other the guys around him were also slowly backing off. Some of the girls were starting staring at him with the same feverish expression as Reta. What is the uncomfortable feeling I’m getting?<br><br>The knight they had been arguing with also had a disgusted expression on his face while Ferrex just… had the same poker face on which… wasn’t really helpful in this situation. All these stares where starting to hurt. Godou pulled the hood of his cloak up to hide his face.<br><br>“Anyway…”<br><br>The one to break the silence as Ferrex.<br><br>“If you’re just here to cause trouble then it would be better if you just didn’t try.”<br><br>“Are you trying to pick a fight punk?”<br><br>“People like you will cause more harm than good on the battlefield. Therefore it would be best to take you down before you can cause trouble. After all, it’s not like you’re going to die.”<br><br>“Oh bitch! If you’re asking for a duel then I accept!” <br><br>“Yep that’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%">A Duel has started.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>As soon as that message appeared, the two combatants moved simultaneously. Meanwhile gambling calls started as spectators started to bet on the winner. Reta dragged Godou a fair distance away as the crowd around the two backed off to give them space.<br><br>The knight drew his great sword and charged at Ferrex. Meanwhile, Ferrex raised his hand towards the knight and muttered:<br><br>“Slow”<br><br>A bolt of light flew and struck the knight, slowing his movements to a crawl. <br><br>“Oh, so he can use magic. Then was I wrong to assume that Ferrex was a paladin because he had a sword?”<br><br>Next to Godou, Reta started to give some helpful commentary on the fight.<br><br>“HAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”<br><br>The knight’s movement speed suddenly sped up, even exceeding his original speed despite the 70% movement reduction from Ferrex’s curse. He made a diagonal slash at Ferrex who just barely managed to duck under it.<br><br>“So to counter the effects of a slowing curse, he used an even stronger movement buffing skill. A brute force strategy but it was the correct choice. Ferrex will be in trouble if he lets that knight set the pace.”<br><br>The knight seemed to realise this was well because he started to speed up, delivering a series of heavy blows in rapid succession.<br><br>“Shield Commandment!”<br><br>To face this onslaught, Ferrex had activated a spell of some sort. A dense silver aura manifested and covered his body and equipment. Each of the attacks delivered by the knight struck Ferrex squarely. However, Ferrex remained unmoved. It was as if he didn’t feel the attacks at all. <br><br>“Oh that’s a surprise, is Ferrex a war priest? He just used one of the class restricted war priest spells.”<br><br>“War priest?”<br><br>“Priests are generally divided into two categories. Ones that can use weak AOE support spells to multiple targets and ones that can use strong support spells but only hit a single target at a time. War priests are an extreme branch of the latter. War priests aren’t really that popular though because although their spells give large bonuses, they only last a few seconds and have long cool downs.”<br><br>While they were having this conversation, the knight, seeing his attacks dealing no visible damage to Ferrex, had stepped back, holding his sword back in preparation for a stronger attack.<br><br>“IMPACT…”<br><br>“So this was what that guy was so confident about. That’s an advanced Knight skill that has the ability to deal a large amount of damage and stun the target all in the same move. But wow, that stance is full of openings. Too bad…”<br><br>“…BREAKER!!!”<br><br>“… it won’t be enough to break the defensive buff of a war priest.”<br><br>The knight’s great sword glowed orange as swung towards Ferrex viciously. It struck Ferrex on the side but just like the previous attacks it was ignored. The knight seemed shocked at this and thus was too slow on the uptake as Ferrex wrapped his arm around the knight’s great sword trapping it between his arm and his body.<br><br>The knight could have been retrieved his sword through brute strength but before he could react Ferrex directed his palm in the direction of the knight’s face and chanted:<br><br>“Vengeful spirits that vow for revenge, Rebound!”<br><br>“GAAAHHHHH!!”<br><br>A dark ripple in the air seemed to travel from Ferrex’s palm and struck the knight in the face. With a cry, the knight was blown 5 metres backwards, sword and all. <br><br>“Well I’m lost with that one. I don’t think I’ve seen that holy spell before.”<br><br>Probably because that was a dark spell not a holy one… Seriously, church of Freya what are you doing? Godou felt such retorts welling up inside him but he chose not to release them in order to concentrate on Ferrex’s fight.<br><br>But this time, the silver aura around Ferrex had vanished. However, one could say that it had served its purpose. The knight, who seemed to have the advantage moments ago, was now stunned and unable to move due to having all the power of his skill rebound on himself.<br><br>“Arms Commandment!”<br><br>A violent red aura manifested this time around Ferrex as he walked towards the knight. He drew his previously unsheathed sword and stabbed the knight in the chest.<br><br>“GAAUKK!” <br><br>The knight gave a strangled cry before dissolving into a mass of grey flames.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%">The Duel has ended. The winner is Ferrex Dakef</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Although being stunned doubles any damage you receive, I didn’t expect Ferrex to be able to finish him off with a stab. Must have been a strong offensive buff. He was wearing high quality armour after all and a hard iron sword was used so the base damage shouldn’t be that high. Also, those war priest spells lasted longer than I expected as well. Ferrex’s proficiency with them must be pretty high. He didn’t use any incantations for them either…”<br><br>Godou was also surprised at this. Although he knew that Ferrex was a lot stronger than the current him, it occurred to Godou that he still didn’t know the upper limits of Ferrex’s strength.<br><br>Having taken out the knight, Ferrex started to follow the last of the departing soldiers. The assembled players watched him stunned for a while until they came to their senses and started to follow his lead.<br><br>------<br>I got the idea of splitting players into smaller units in the army by reading a warfare manga (Kingdom). <br>The idea of call-signs came from watching Ben-To (Yes, these call-signs will be just as half-assed as the Wolf Titles).<br>Golden Slimes came from... well let's just leave it at that...<br>Hmm… I wonder what other things will influence me.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=96&amp;t=2590" target="_blank">Table of Contents</a></td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=96&amp;t=1337" target="_blank">Previous</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=96" target="_blank">Exit</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=96&amp;t=1489&amp;p=8991#p8991" target="_blank">Next</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> </div>

Part 3 The boy who had been called and given the job as a Divine Saint looked around him on the corpse filled field wearing a robe that was now dyed red with blood. He looked a few years older than before. However, he was still nothing more than a child barely in his teenage years. Just a few hours ago, this field had been full of combatants from both his church and the dark church of Beelzebub. Looking around he could only see corpses. There lay the headless body of the former head priest. Everywhere he looked there was only dead bodies. His entire church had been annihilated. Among the wreckage he could spot the bodies his fallen comrades lying next to him. He wanted to escape to truth he had seen before him. These comrades were the ones who had suffered, endured and passed the same horrific experiences he had. After all they had been through, he had secretly held the belief that together they were indestructible. However, reality was cruel. He had been foolish in his beliefs that he could protect everyone. The thought of protecting his comrades and being protected by them had provided him with strength. However, the gods had shown him just how easily his power of friendship could be crushed. In the face of a far more overwhelming power he that his own could do nothing but watch helplessly. Like him, the one who welded the power to crush his beliefs was the one who directly channelled the power of gods. The Divine Saint Knight of Beelzebub. Although both of them were supposed to be on the same tier, all the boy could see was the overwhelming difference between the two. Further and further the boy sank into despair. It was only due to the power of the Divine Saint that he was able to return from the realm of the dead. Only to find that he had lost everything. His mind broke. All the childish emotions he had suppressed were released. All his logical reasoning, all of his decision making skills, all of it caved in. Despite his adult-like behaviour, he was really just a child, Without any help, without any intervention, he really would become as his appearance suggested. An emotionless shell. A little while later… “Yo! We meet again!” “Yeah… bit sooner than I expected though…” Reta greeted Godou with a wave as he joined the group of people in front of here. She was still wearing the same attire he had last saw her in so Godou concluded that she was probably still trying to go incognito. Godou had the feeling that he would be meeting up with Reta again but he didn’t think it would be again so soon. “Okay, since there’s 5 people here how so we should be enough to make a party.” Indeed besides Godou, the other people gathered in front of Reta included Ferrex, a player wearing plate armour carrying a great sword and someone wearing a robe carrying a staff. | You have received a party invitation. Would you like to accept? | | --- | | You have joined the party. | Godou’s current situation was the result of a few events that took place shortly after first parting with Reta. After scanning around the town square he had reunited with Ferrex in the crowd of players. By now there were at least 3000 people gathered in the town square. At least half of them seemed to be players. Godou remembered seeing about 50 strong looking knights with high quality equipment and war horses. These were probably the Kallamore knights. Strangely enough, there were no paladins or priests belonging to the church of Freya present. After exchanging their greetings, Ferrex had promptly shoved a bunch of stuff ranging from smoke bombs to rye bread into Godou’s hands. When Godou asked him about it, Ferrex merely shook his head and started muttering to himself. Something about strangers trying to burying him with gifts. Remembering the advice he had given a short while ago, Godou used his identification skill on all the items. Soon afterwards a representative from the church of Freya had stepped up the address the assembled crowd. Godou recognised the priest as the person who answered the door when he went to report the monster raid. “Since we don’t have much time, I will skip the usual long morale raising speeches and simply say this. My name is Seirph and I am a messenger sent by the church of Freya. The forces of the church of Freya have already moved to another place close to the monster army and are setting up camp. Everyone assembled here will move up to join them. That is all. And may Freya… be with us.” After saying that the priest started walking out of town. The Kallamore Knights and NPC soldiers slowly started to march out after him. Godou thought the speech seemed strange though, especially the last bit which sounded like it was only added as an afterthought. Murmurings of similar thoughts could be heard from the people around him as well. Godou was about to mention it to Ferrex when– “ALL PLAYERS LISTEN UP!!!” A loud voice suddenly split across the town square. Godou stared in the direction of it and saw one of the high level players he had seen call Reta over addressing the crowd. “Before we leave we need everyone to form parties with each other if you haven’t already done so. Those of you who haven’t joined one yet please do so. I don’t care if you think you’ll just drag everyone down because of your class or level! I don’t care if you think you’re too good for a party! Just do it!” Godou wonder what was going on. The mid-level players around him immediately started following these instructions so this seemed to be a routine event. He noticed that he wasn’t the only one who seemed confused because there were also few players in newbie outfits staring around blankly. At lost with what to do, he had simply decided to go with the flow and started walking around only to be pulled over by a strong tug on his arm. Thus this led him to his current predicament. “What’s going on?” “This is one of Kallamore’s basic battle strategies. Just listen, the details will be explained it soon. These strategies tend to vary from place to place but the ones organising this are high level players in the area. The player who just spoke has the call-sign Quick Shot.” (Plenty of innuendo there) Godou queried Reta who seemed to know what was going on only to receive her answer of “Just wait and see.” “So anyway while we wait for everyone to settle down why don’t we introduce ourselves.” Reta spoke again, this time addressing all the people gathered in front of her. “…” “I guess I’ll start off since no-one else wants to. Hi everyone! My name’s Reta! I’ve started in Kallamore quite a while ago so if you have any question feel free to ask me. As for my class, well, it’s a bit hard to explain so just think of me as an assassin. I think golden slimes are cute and like torturing sheep!” … Was that last part really necessary? Godou’s impression of Reta being normal was starting to crumble. Then again, that impression sort of wasn’t that strong to begin with, considering the fact that she chose to a tree branch as her hiding place instead of other more easily reachable hiding spots. “Okay! Your turn!” Reta suddenly pointed at the player who seemed like a mage who started before saying: “I am Flay, a level 101 Mage. I specialise in Ice magic.” Point. “… I am a knight. That’s all you need to know.” Point. “My name Ferrex Dakef, a native to Versailles. Pleased to meet you. I can cast generic holy spells.” Godou noticed that the knight appeared displeased as he heard Ferrex’s self-introduction but had no further time to ponder on it as Reta pointed at him. Speaking of which Godou didn’t recall Ferrex casting anything but generic holy spells. Holy spells could be divided into two categories: generic spells and specialised ones. Generic holy spells were the spells that did not require the caster to be in a religious order to use. In short, they were the spells used by beginner priests. Specialised holy spells on the other hand could only be used if one joined the order of a religion and their incantations often included the name the deity worshiped in the religion as well. Compared to generic spells, specialised ones where a lot more potent in terms of strength, duration and efficiency. Specialised spells also branched out into different categories, allowing them to do many things generic spells couldn’t. “I am Godou. I started playing recently and still don’t have a class. Please take care of me.” “Okay! Now that introductions are over and done with, everyone try to get along with each other. Come on! Make small talk or something!” “…” “…” “…” Ferrex, Flay and the knight said nothing. Somehow this felt really awkward. Godou also noticed that knight seemed even more displeased when Godou clarified that he didn’t have a class. The knight was now glaring in his direction. “So did you find the person you were looking for?” Reta cheerily broke the silence by asking Godou a question. “Ah yeah. You just met him. I was looking for Ferrex.” “Oh so is he the friend you were looking for? I thought you were looking for a girl though…” “Eh what gave you that impression?” “Well, how should I put it… Although you don’t seem like a bad person you give off the vibe of playboy or a pimp. Well, how should I put it? You just seem like someone really used to being around women.” “D D D Don’t just go accusing someone you just met an hour ago such things!” Despite how much he wanted to deny it, Reta’s statement shook Godou to the core. In actual fact, many of his friends and acquaintances in reality had told him this fact but he had always thought that they were joking around or had a misunderstanding of some sort. But to have an absolute stranger point this out was really startling... Just who are you calling a womaniser! Kusanagi Godou was certainly not that sort of lowlife. Though there were times when he had to rely heavily on his female friends… especially if it involved using his unreliable powers but… Nope don’t think about it. That kind of thing was only because the situation demanded it– “Well, that’s what my woman’s intuition tells me.” “W W Woman’s intuition?” How frightening. “Yup! It also tells me that there are aliens on Mars, fairies are real and that shop assistants are all scammers.” Okay… Reta, I don’t get how your mind works at all. That being said, fairies were actually real apparently but aliens? At this point Godou decided to give up thinking any deeper into this. “OKAY, ARE YOU ALL IN PARTIES NOW?” As the crowd settled down, the player who was apparently known as Quick Shot started to talk again. “The level of cooperation between players is a lot lower than the NPCs because there’s no real chain of command between us. Therefore, the players can’t divide can’t separate themselves into specialised units full of people with the same class. We can’t use complex strategies either because of this so why bother trying? We could easily get slaughtered if we tried and got ambushed because we can’t react in time. Not to mention the fact that the mobs don’t seem to attack in waves of one type or level either. One of the solutions that we developed over the course of our time here to compensate for this was to divide everyone up into smaller groups with at least one experienced person in it to reduce causalities. Just think of your own group as a single hunting party and try your best not to get in anyone else’s way. Each group should have people of differing levels and abilities to help them react faster in unexpected situations.” “WHY DO WE NEED THIS SORT OF SYSTEM? If I have if fight while dragging a bunch of noobs behind me then I’d rather just fight alone!” It was the knight in Godou’s party who had spoken up. “This system is the product of many trails and errors that we have created for the sake of surviving in Kallamore. If you don’t want to follow it then feel free to fight the monster army on your own” “Rather than fighting with a party full of leeches wouldn’t be better for Kallamore to have high level players like me growing stronger?” Generally the players in Kallamore were welcoming to new players because the more defenders, the lower the chance of Kallamore being overrun with monsters. There were exceptions to this though. There were high level newbie players who had yet to realise the importance of having strong comrades and only saw everyone else as competition. Players from other kingdoms who had just arrived in Kallamore were also exceptions for the same reason. Nevertheless, the attitudes of these exceptions would change after joining in a defence quest or two. Looking at the high level equipment worn by the knight it was evident that he was part of the latter group. “So you’re saying “quality over quantity” then huh. It might sound like a valid reason but aren’t you just against it because don’t get a chance to monopolise the drops and experience?” “Even if you argue “quality over quantity” Kallamore already has the best quality it is. Or are you saying that you’re stronger than a Kallamore Knight?” It was Reta who started to join in in reprimanding the knight. “That –” “In the other kingdoms you can use whatever half-assed methods you want but you’re not in another kingdom right now are you? Here in Kallamore, we have to cooperate with each other do things seriously instead of fighting over the drops. Kallamore needs more strong players in it and the best way to get strong players is to help the lower levels level up.” “HOW DO WE KNOW THAT YOU’RE NOT TRYING TO EXPLOIT THE REST OF US IN SOME WAY HUH?!” The knight seemed to go red in the face as he started shouting back at Quick Shot who just calmly replied: “If it’s experience you’re concerned about then don’t worry, there will be plenty of mobs rushing at you trying to rip your head off. If it’s drops you’re after then go raid a monster village, there’s plenty of them out there. Just keep in mind that if you start infighting during the battle then you’ll be the one digging your own grave! And if you don’t die in battle, there will be plenty of bored bounty hunters out there to come after you.” “BUT STILL, WHY DO I HAVE TO GET STUCK WITH SOME NOOB WHO DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A CLASS!!!” “How long do you intend to stand here and argue? The soldiers are moving away as we speak and frankly all you’re doing is causing trouble.” “GREAT, NOW I HAVE TO LISTEN TO ANOTHER FUCKING NOOB WHO HASN’T JOINED A RELIGION YET.” Wow this was getting out of hand. Even Ferrex had jumped into the argument as the knight pointed at Godou. Instead of responding to the knight, Ferrex looked over at Quick Shot and said: “Do you mind if I handle him. At this rate we will be left behind.” “This seems interesting, okay I’ll let you take care of this stranger.” Was the reply Ferrex received. Meanwhile, Reta suddenly stirred next to Godou as she suddenly started a conversation. “Hmmm you two seem pretty close. Ah, so that’s how it is!” “How what is?” “You’re one of those guys who bat for both camps aren’t you?” “What?!! How did you come to that conclusion?” “I mean, look at Ferrex! Getting so heated up for your sake! You even have matching cloaks! Fu fu fu just how many flags have you been raising until now?” Reta stared at him strangely feverish expression, her eyes shining with enthusiasm. “No no no that’s not how it is! Stop letting your imagination run wild!” “Oh, so you only swing that way then… well that’s fine as well. I’ll be rooting for you!” “Don’t just ignore what I said! Listen to me!” Godou tried his best to argue in his defence against Reta who had steered the conversation into a very strange direction but seemed to be losing ground. Hmm, was it just him or did Flay just take a few steps back? Godou noticed that the other the guys around him were also slowly backing off. Some of the girls were starting staring at him with the same feverish expression as Reta. What is the uncomfortable feeling I’m getting? The knight they had been arguing with also had a disgusted expression on his face while Ferrex just… had the same poker face on which… wasn’t really helpful in this situation. All these stares where starting to hurt. Godou pulled the hood of his cloak up to hide his face. “Anyway…” The one to break the silence as Ferrex. “If you’re just here to cause trouble then it would be better if you just didn’t try.” “Are you trying to pick a fight punk?” “People like you will cause more harm than good on the battlefield. Therefore it would be best to take you down before you can cause trouble. After all, it’s not like you’re going to die.” “Oh bitch! If you’re asking for a duel then I accept!” “Yep that’s exactly what I’m suggesting.” | A Duel has started. | | --- | As soon as that message appeared, the two combatants moved simultaneously. Meanwhile gambling calls started as spectators started to bet on the winner. Reta dragged Godou a fair distance away as the crowd around the two backed off to give them space. The knight drew his great sword and charged at Ferrex. Meanwhile, Ferrex raised his hand towards the knight and muttered: “Slow” A bolt of light flew and struck the knight, slowing his movements to a crawl. “Oh, so he can use magic. Then was I wrong to assume that Ferrex was a paladin because he had a sword?” Next to Godou, Reta started to give some helpful commentary on the fight. “HAAAAAAAAAHHHH!” The knight’s movement speed suddenly sped up, even exceeding his original speed despite the 70% movement reduction from Ferrex’s curse. He made a diagonal slash at Ferrex who just barely managed to duck under it. “So to counter the effects of a slowing curse, he used an even stronger movement buffing skill. A brute force strategy but it was the correct choice. Ferrex will be in trouble if he lets that knight set the pace.” The knight seemed to realise this was well because he started to speed up, delivering a series of heavy blows in rapid succession. “Shield Commandment!” To face this onslaught, Ferrex had activated a spell of some sort. A dense silver aura manifested and covered his body and equipment. Each of the attacks delivered by the knight struck Ferrex squarely. However, Ferrex remained unmoved. It was as if he didn’t feel the attacks at all. “Oh that’s a surprise, is Ferrex a war priest? He just used one of the class restricted war priest spells.” “War priest?” “Priests are generally divided into two categories. Ones that can use weak AOE support spells to multiple targets and ones that can use strong support spells but only hit a single target at a time. War priests are an extreme branch of the latter. War priests aren’t really that popular though because although their spells give large bonuses, they only last a few seconds and have long cool downs.” While they were having this conversation, the knight, seeing his attacks dealing no visible damage to Ferrex, had stepped back, holding his sword back in preparation for a stronger attack. “IMPACT…” “So this was what that guy was so confident about. That’s an advanced Knight skill that has the ability to deal a large amount of damage and stun the target all in the same move. But wow, that stance is full of openings. Too bad…” “…BREAKER!!!” “… it won’t be enough to break the defensive buff of a war priest.” The knight’s great sword glowed orange as swung towards Ferrex viciously. It struck Ferrex on the side but just like the previous attacks it was ignored. The knight seemed shocked at this and thus was too slow on the uptake as Ferrex wrapped his arm around the knight’s great sword trapping it between his arm and his body. The knight could have been retrieved his sword through brute strength but before he could react Ferrex directed his palm in the direction of the knight’s face and chanted: “Vengeful spirits that vow for revenge, Rebound!” “GAAAHHHHH!!” A dark ripple in the air seemed to travel from Ferrex’s palm and struck the knight in the face. With a cry, the knight was blown 5 metres backwards, sword and all. “Well I’m lost with that one. I don’t think I’ve seen that holy spell before.” Probably because that was a dark spell not a holy one… Seriously, church of Freya what are you doing? Godou felt such retorts welling up inside him but he chose not to release them in order to concentrate on Ferrex’s fight. But this time, the silver aura around Ferrex had vanished. However, one could say that it had served its purpose. The knight, who seemed to have the advantage moments ago, was now stunned and unable to move due to having all the power of his skill rebound on himself. “Arms Commandment!” A violent red aura manifested this time around Ferrex as he walked towards the knight. He drew his previously unsheathed sword and stabbed the knight in the chest. “GAAUKK!” The knight gave a strangled cry before dissolving into a mass of grey flames. | The Duel has ended. The winner is Ferrex Dakef | | --- | “Although being stunned doubles any damage you receive, I didn’t expect Ferrex to be able to finish him off with a stab. Must have been a strong offensive buff. He was wearing high quality armour after all and a hard iron sword was used so the base damage shouldn’t be that high. Also, those war priest spells lasted longer than I expected as well. Ferrex’s proficiency with them must be pretty high. He didn’t use any incantations for them either…” Godou was also surprised at this. Although he knew that Ferrex was a lot stronger than the current him, it occurred to Godou that he still didn’t know the upper limits of Ferrex’s strength. Having taken out the knight, Ferrex started to follow the last of the departing soldiers. The assembled players watched him stunned for a while until they came to their senses and started to follow his lead. ------ I got the idea of splitting players into smaller units in the army by reading a warfare manga (Kingdom). The idea of call-signs came from watching Ben-To (Yes, these call-signs will be just as half-assed as the Wolf Titles). Golden Slimes came from... well let's just leave it at that... Hmm… I wonder what other things will influence me. | [Table of Contents](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=2590) | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Previous](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=1337) | [Exit](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=96) | | [Next](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=96&t=1489&p=8991#p8991) |

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 2 : Become The Owner of a Region<br><br>“Hey, are you okay?” <br><br>Babel right now was on the floor, he suddenly fell on the floor after he used a magic to move this realm..<br><br>“Uhh... ah yes, I just need some rest.” He answered with a weak voice.<br><br>“What kind of magic was that?”<br><br>She remembered when Babel was flying and created a white magic circle in the air which was quite big and there were ancient runes written inside it. she then heard a chanting voice from Babel, it was strange language, even though she had mastered 32 foreign languages, but this was her first time hearing that kind of language, she thought maybe that was an ancient language that only exist in Royal Road.<br><br>When the chanting stopped, the ground began shaking and the books that had been neatly arranged on the shelves began to fall to the floor, she tried to not to fall by holding on to the shelf near her, and then a bright light suddenly filled the entire room, when she realized it, Babel had been lying on the floor. <br><br>“It was the same magic you used to seal this realm, I just modified it a bit. I thought it will be fine for me if I just used it once but it seems that I was wrong. I cannot handle the burden of using that magic.”<br><br>It had been a millennia since goddess Aria sealed this place, the feeling of helplessness and regret, he didn’t want to experience it for the second time so he kept searching for a way to help her when she returned, and the answer was that magic. the magic that even goddess Aria must sacrifice her memory to use it for the second time. <br><br>“You are too reckless.” She shook her head in disbelief.. <br><br>“I am sorry my lady, but that’s the only way to avoid the other gods.”<br><br>“(Sigh). So are we in Mortal World now?” She took Babel which was still lying on the floor.<br><br>She couldn’t tell if they were in Mortal World realm or not, so she asked Babel if the magic was a success or not..<br><br>“Yes, this realm has merge with Mortal World realm.”<br><br>“What did you mean by merge?”<br><br>Babel explained that her realm had merged with Versailles continent in Mortal World and became part of it, right now they were in the western part of Versailles continent in the middle of forest. To be exact they were in the western side of Rosenheim Kingdom at the Etna forest. <br><br>No one dared to step inside the Etna forest, it was because this forest was the most dangerous forest in the western part of the continent, not only the monsters here had level over 550 but also the natural maze that were created by mist and magical plants that spread out sweet smell, this sweet smell would make the adventurers lost their sense of direction and if they kept inhaling it for a long time, they will lose their sanity and began to see hallucination. <br><br>So they shouldn't worry about someone finding this place and he said later on he would use a magic barrier to conceal this place. <br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">(Then, what should I do now?... Ah let’s just do that.)</span><br><br>“Babel, I want to explore this place.”<br><br>“As your wish my lady.”<br><br>Aria walked through the corridor of shelves while holding Babel on her right hand, the books that had fall to the floor before now had magically returned to it’s original place. <br><br>Babel began the explanation of Babel tower like a tour guide who was guiding tourists through the tourist spots. Babel tower was created by goddess Aria in the era before the ancient times, goddess Aria loved knowledge, she collected all the knowledge from all over the realm and world and stored it inside the tower, to preserve and protect the knowledge, so that everyone (Gods, Human, Elf, Dwarf, and many other races) could learn and expand their knowledge. <br><br>At first it was a success, many races and even gods came to learn, but after a few decades many of them started to misuse their knowledge by doing many researches and experiments that shouldn’t be done. Goddess Aria who learned about this banned everyone from using the tower and moved it into her realm, so that no one could use it anymore. <br><br>Babel tower had 100 floors and in every floor there were about 750.000 books, it were also divided into four sections, the first section or the first library, this section were from the 1st floor to 50th floor, normal books or basic books were stored in here, the second section or second library were from 51th floor to 80th floor, this section contained a rare or advance books, and the third section or third library was from 81th floor to 97th floor. It contained very rare and dangerous books. <br><br>When Aria reached the end of the corridor, she saw a magic circle on the floor, Babel told her that was a teleportation circle that will teleport them to wherever floor you wanted to go, Aria stood on the circle and suddenly she was teleported to a big hallway, and at the end of the hallway there was a huge twin doors.<br>Aria asked where they were, and Babel replied that they were in the fourth section or goddess Aria personal room, this section were from 98th to 100th , and this section were also divided into two section, the first was goddess Aria personal library, it was 98th and 99th floor, this library were contained with goddess Aria favorite books and the books that should never exist in this world, no one could enter this library except for goddess Aria herself. And right now they were in the second section of goddess Aria personal room the throne room.<br><br>Aria walked through the huge twin doors and she saw a room like a throne room that she saw in the picture book when she was little, a huge and majestic room, filled with about 10 paladin full armors that were located on each side of the wall, it was like they were ready to protect and attack anyone who dared to harm their lord, a red carpet that stretched from the door to the throne, vases and paintings were decorating the room, made the room look more beautiful, and a majestic throne that was located at the center back of the room.<br><br>“This is your throne room my lady, and at the back of the throne there was your chamber.”<br><br>Aria walked to the throne and saw a red curtain at the back of the throne, she walked behind the throne and opened the curtain, behind the curtain there was a small hallway, she walked trough the hallway and at the end of it she saw a luxurious bedroom, the bedroom had a huge king size bed at the center of the room, a round white table with a blue flower vase on top of it and two white chairs were on the right side of the room, a black wooden wardrobe and a dresser were on the left side of the room, a red carpet was covering the entire floor, and many other furnitures. <br><br>“Why don’t you change your clothes while you are here my lady?” <br><br>Right now she was wearing the basic gears for beginners, a brown clothes and short brown pant, and a bag with 10 barley breads inside it.<br><br>“Can I?”.<br><br>“Yes my lady, you can use and take whatever you want because all of this was yours to begin with.” <br>She was walking towards the wardrobe when she saw something shining on the dresser, she changed her mind walked towards the dresser, when she got closer, she could see a golden crown, and next to it she saw a jewelry box with a blue gem on the center of it’s lid.<br><br>She took the crown and checked it’s stats.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Crown of Thames</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Durability : Unlimited<br>Defense : 2<br>Level : 1(0%)<br><br>This crown was a symbol of Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom. created by Goddess Aria using a forgotten technique and unknown metal, she infused her divine power into the crown for 100 days till she run out of stamina, this crown will allow you to use magic without a staff, You can learn a special skill or unlock it’s ability if you filled a certain conditions. <br><br>Requirements : <br>Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom class only.. <br><br>Effects :<br>+ 100 Health and Mana<br>+ 10 All stats.<br>Cannot be unequip.<br>Grow along with the wearer.<br>Soul bind to player Aria.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>It was a unique item for her class, she put it inside her bag and leave the jewelry box untouched. <br><br>She walked to the black wooden wardrobe, when she opened it, she wasn’t sure if this was really a wardrobe, it was a lot of big... no it wasn’t even on the level of a wardrobe anymore, it was a room, yes, a room filled with dresses, clothes, robes, coats and many other things. <br><br>She was walking around inside the wardrobe when she realized something strange about the clothes, no, it was not the design or the color of the clothes that was strange, but all of the clothes... no everything inside the wardrobe were on her size, even the underwear.<br><br>“Why... the size?” She took a cute pink bra at the left side of the wardrobe. <br><br>“Is there something wrong with the size my lady?”<br><br>“No... never mind.”<br><br>She thought that if she was treated as goddess Aria of NPC than no wonder that if all of her clothes and equipments were on her size.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">(it seems that the game have adjusted all of goddess Aria equipments to my size.)</span> <br><br>She put back the bra and began searching for a clothes that fits her.<br><br>About 15 minutes later, she had found some clothes, dresses and shoes that she liked, but when she checked it, the level restriction was too high, she kept searching but the lowest level of restriction she could find was a blue dress with restriction of lv250.. <br><br>She was about to give up when Babel suggest her to make it herself by using her Divine Aura skill.<br><br>Aria then tried to remember her white dress in the real world and concentrating all of her Divine Aura to her right hand, she began to imagining that dress on her hand and controlled her Divine Aura to form it into a white dress, and a few second later a white dress appeared in her right hand. <br><br>“Ting!”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Divine Pure White Dress</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Durability : 85/85<br>Defense : 30<br><br>This dress was created by Goddess Aria using her divine aura. The people who see this pure white dress will decrease his/her hostility and suspicion towards the wearer of this dress. <br><br>Requirements : None. <br><br>Effects :<br>+ 25 Vit.<br>+ 15 Agi.<br>+ 20 Int and Wis.<br>+ 40 Charm and Elegance.<br> + 15% Holy and Dark magic resistance.<br>Can’t be dirtied.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“It’s much more better than I thought.” <br><br>She looked at the dress in her hand, it was the perfect copy of her dress from the real world. <br><br>“Hm.... let’s make something else.” <br><br>She repeated the same process and made a pair of shoes and a necklace.<br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Divine Pure White Shoes</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Durability : 50/50<br>Defense : 16<br><br>This pair of shoes was created by Goddess Aria using her divine aura. The wearer of this shoes can walk in any kind of terrain without any difficulty and less stamina usage.<br><br>Requirements : None. <br><br>Effects :<br>+ 25 Agi.<br> - 20% Stamina when walking.<br>+ 40 Charm and Elegance.<br>Can’t be dirtied.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Necklace of Purity</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Durability : 45/45<br>Defense : 15<br><br>This necklace was created by Goddess Aria using her divine aura. The necklace will emitting an aura of purity that will make people with evil intention cannot get near the wearer. <br><br>Requirements : None. <br><br>Effects :<br>+ 30 Int and Wis..<br>+ 40 Charm and Elegance.<br>+ 35 Luck<br>+ 25% Effect of Holy based magic..<br>+ 20% Holy and Dark magic resistance.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Looking at her creation, she nodded her head in satisfaction.<br><br>“Now lets check the realm status window, I wonder how it is now. since the realm had merged with the continent”<br><br><br>“Open Realm Status Window.”<br><br>“Ting!”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Because your realm had merged with Etna forest in Rosenheim Kingdom, you are now the owner of Etna forest. <br><br>You have become the owner of Etna forest.<br><br>Because of your realm had merge with Rosenheim Kingdom territory, Etna forest now become a special independant region within Rosenheim kingdom.<br><br>Special Independant Region :<br>+ Independant from the kingdom.<br>+ The owner have the same status as a king of his/her own region.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Do you want to rename your tower?<br>Yes/No<br><br>“No.”<br><br>Do you want to view your region status?<br>Yes/No<br><br>“Yes.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Region Status Window</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Region name : Etna Forest<br>Status : Special Independent Region. <br>Total area : 59462km <br><br>Property Name : Babel Tower<br>Inhabitants : 1<br>Facilities : Babel Tower Library <br><br>Monthly Income : 0 gold<br>Monthly Expenditure : 0 Gold<br><br>Total Fund : 0</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">(So now I Become the owner of a region Haa... so many things happen in one day, I hope now I can relax and read some books.)</span><br><br>Wearing her new gears, she went back to the throne room and started heading to the teleportation circle, she went back to the first floor and began reading a random book. </div>

Chapter 2 : Become The Owner of a Region “Hey, are you okay?” Babel right now was on the floor, he suddenly fell on the floor after he used a magic to move this realm.. “Uhh... ah yes, I just need some rest.” He answered with a weak voice. “What kind of magic was that?” She remembered when Babel was flying and created a white magic circle in the air which was quite big and there were ancient runes written inside it. she then heard a chanting voice from Babel, it was strange language, even though she had mastered 32 foreign languages, but this was her first time hearing that kind of language, she thought maybe that was an ancient language that only exist in Royal Road. When the chanting stopped, the ground began shaking and the books that had been neatly arranged on the shelves began to fall to the floor, she tried to not to fall by holding on to the shelf near her, and then a bright light suddenly filled the entire room, when she realized it, Babel had been lying on the floor. “It was the same magic you used to seal this realm, I just modified it a bit. I thought it will be fine for me if I just used it once but it seems that I was wrong. I cannot handle the burden of using that magic.” It had been a millennia since goddess Aria sealed this place, the feeling of helplessness and regret, he didn’t want to experience it for the second time so he kept searching for a way to help her when she returned, and the answer was that magic. the magic that even goddess Aria must sacrifice her memory to use it for the second time. “You are too reckless.” She shook her head in disbelief.. “I am sorry my lady, but that’s the only way to avoid the other gods.” “(Sigh). So are we in Mortal World now?” She took Babel which was still lying on the floor. She couldn’t tell if they were in Mortal World realm or not, so she asked Babel if the magic was a success or not.. “Yes, this realm has merge with Mortal World realm.” “What did you mean by merge?” Babel explained that her realm had merged with Versailles continent in Mortal World and became part of it, right now they were in the western part of Versailles continent in the middle of forest. To be exact they were in the western side of Rosenheim Kingdom at the Etna forest. No one dared to step inside the Etna forest, it was because this forest was the most dangerous forest in the western part of the continent, not only the monsters here had level over 550 but also the natural maze that were created by mist and magical plants that spread out sweet smell, this sweet smell would make the adventurers lost their sense of direction and if they kept inhaling it for a long time, they will lose their sanity and began to see hallucination. So they shouldn't worry about someone finding this place and he said later on he would use a magic barrier to conceal this place. (Then, what should I do now?... Ah let’s just do that.) “Babel, I want to explore this place.” “As your wish my lady.” Aria walked through the corridor of shelves while holding Babel on her right hand, the books that had fall to the floor before now had magically returned to it’s original place. Babel began the explanation of Babel tower like a tour guide who was guiding tourists through the tourist spots. Babel tower was created by goddess Aria in the era before the ancient times, goddess Aria loved knowledge, she collected all the knowledge from all over the realm and world and stored it inside the tower, to preserve and protect the knowledge, so that everyone (Gods, Human, Elf, Dwarf, and many other races) could learn and expand their knowledge. At first it was a success, many races and even gods came to learn, but after a few decades many of them started to misuse their knowledge by doing many researches and experiments that shouldn’t be done. Goddess Aria who learned about this banned everyone from using the tower and moved it into her realm, so that no one could use it anymore. Babel tower had 100 floors and in every floor there were about 750.000 books, it were also divided into four sections, the first section or the first library, this section were from the 1st floor to 50th floor, normal books or basic books were stored in here, the second section or second library were from 51th floor to 80th floor, this section contained a rare or advance books, and the third section or third library was from 81th floor to 97th floor. It contained very rare and dangerous books. When Aria reached the end of the corridor, she saw a magic circle on the floor, Babel told her that was a teleportation circle that will teleport them to wherever floor you wanted to go, Aria stood on the circle and suddenly she was teleported to a big hallway, and at the end of the hallway there was a huge twin doors. Aria asked where they were, and Babel replied that they were in the fourth section or goddess Aria personal room, this section were from 98th to 100th , and this section were also divided into two section, the first was goddess Aria personal library, it was 98th and 99th floor, this library were contained with goddess Aria favorite books and the books that should never exist in this world, no one could enter this library except for goddess Aria herself. And right now they were in the second section of goddess Aria personal room the throne room. Aria walked through the huge twin doors and she saw a room like a throne room that she saw in the picture book when she was little, a huge and majestic room, filled with about 10 paladin full armors that were located on each side of the wall, it was like they were ready to protect and attack anyone who dared to harm their lord, a red carpet that stretched from the door to the throne, vases and paintings were decorating the room, made the room look more beautiful, and a majestic throne that was located at the center back of the room. “This is your throne room my lady, and at the back of the throne there was your chamber.” Aria walked to the throne and saw a red curtain at the back of the throne, she walked behind the throne and opened the curtain, behind the curtain there was a small hallway, she walked trough the hallway and at the end of it she saw a luxurious bedroom, the bedroom had a huge king size bed at the center of the room, a round white table with a blue flower vase on top of it and two white chairs were on the right side of the room, a black wooden wardrobe and a dresser were on the left side of the room, a red carpet was covering the entire floor, and many other furnitures. “Why don’t you change your clothes while you are here my lady?” Right now she was wearing the basic gears for beginners, a brown clothes and short brown pant, and a bag with 10 barley breads inside it. “Can I?”. “Yes my lady, you can use and take whatever you want because all of this was yours to begin with.” She was walking towards the wardrobe when she saw something shining on the dresser, she changed her mind walked towards the dresser, when she got closer, she could see a golden crown, and next to it she saw a jewelry box with a blue gem on the center of it’s lid. She took the crown and checked it’s stats. | Crown of Thames | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Durability : UnlimitedDefense : 2Level : 1(0%)This crown was a symbol of Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom. created by Goddess Aria using a forgotten technique and unknown metal, she infused her divine power into the crown for 100 days till she run out of stamina, this crown will allow you to use magic without a staff, You can learn a special skill or unlock it’s ability if you filled a certain conditions. Requirements : Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom class only.. Effects :+ 100 Health and Mana+ 10 All stats.Cannot be unequip.Grow along with the wearer.Soul bind to player Aria. | | | | It was a unique item for her class, she put it inside her bag and leave the jewelry box untouched. She walked to the black wooden wardrobe, when she opened it, she wasn’t sure if this was really a wardrobe, it was a lot of big... no it wasn’t even on the level of a wardrobe anymore, it was a room, yes, a room filled with dresses, clothes, robes, coats and many other things. She was walking around inside the wardrobe when she realized something strange about the clothes, no, it was not the design or the color of the clothes that was strange, but all of the clothes... no everything inside the wardrobe were on her size, even the underwear. “Why... the size?” She took a cute pink bra at the left side of the wardrobe. “Is there something wrong with the size my lady?” “No... never mind.” She thought that if she was treated as goddess Aria of NPC than no wonder that if all of her clothes and equipments were on her size. (it seems that the game have adjusted all of goddess Aria equipments to my size.) She put back the bra and began searching for a clothes that fits her. About 15 minutes later, she had found some clothes, dresses and shoes that she liked, but when she checked it, the level restriction was too high, she kept searching but the lowest level of restriction she could find was a blue dress with restriction of lv250.. She was about to give up when Babel suggest her to make it herself by using her Divine Aura skill. Aria then tried to remember her white dress in the real world and concentrating all of her Divine Aura to her right hand, she began to imagining that dress on her hand and controlled her Divine Aura to form it into a white dress, and a few second later a white dress appeared in her right hand. “Ting!” | Divine Pure White Dress | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Durability : 85/85Defense : 30This dress was created by Goddess Aria using her divine aura. The people who see this pure white dress will decrease his/her hostility and suspicion towards the wearer of this dress. Requirements : None. Effects :+ 25 Vit.+ 15 Agi.+ 20 Int and Wis.+ 40 Charm and Elegance. + 15% Holy and Dark magic resistance.Can’t be dirtied. | | | | “It’s much more better than I thought.” She looked at the dress in her hand, it was the perfect copy of her dress from the real world. “Hm.... let’s make something else.” She repeated the same process and made a pair of shoes and a necklace. | Divine Pure White Shoes | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Durability : 50/50Defense : 16This pair of shoes was created by Goddess Aria using her divine aura. The wearer of this shoes can walk in any kind of terrain without any difficulty and less stamina usage.Requirements : None. Effects :+ 25 Agi. - 20% Stamina when walking.+ 40 Charm and Elegance.Can’t be dirtied. | | | | | Necklace of Purity | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Durability : 45/45Defense : 15This necklace was created by Goddess Aria using her divine aura. The necklace will emitting an aura of purity that will make people with evil intention cannot get near the wearer. Requirements : None. Effects :+ 30 Int and Wis..+ 40 Charm and Elegance.+ 35 Luck+ 25% Effect of Holy based magic..+ 20% Holy and Dark magic resistance. | | | | Looking at her creation, she nodded her head in satisfaction. “Now lets check the realm status window, I wonder how it is now. since the realm had merged with the continent” “Open Realm Status Window.” “Ting!” | Because your realm had merged with Etna forest in Rosenheim Kingdom, you are now the owner of Etna forest. You have become the owner of Etna forest.Because of your realm had merge with Rosenheim Kingdom territory, Etna forest now become a special independant region within Rosenheim kingdom.Special Independant Region :+ Independant from the kingdom.+ The owner have the same status as a king of his/her own region. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Do you want to rename your tower? Yes/No “No.” Do you want to view your region status? Yes/No “Yes.” | Region Status Window | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Region name : Etna ForestStatus : Special Independent Region. Total area : 59462km Property Name : Babel TowerInhabitants : 1Facilities : Babel Tower Library Monthly Income : 0 goldMonthly Expenditure : 0 GoldTotal Fund : 0 | | | | (So now I Become the owner of a region Haa... so many things happen in one day, I hope now I can relax and read some books.) Wearing her new gears, she went back to the throne room and started heading to the teleportation circle, she went back to the first floor and began reading a random book.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Summary: an addicted gamer who wanted to try Royal Road.<br><br>Chapter 1 : A new world <br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. This is my first fanfic, I hope I did a decent job.<br><br>Theme: Adventure/Humor<br><br><br>Zed was an ordinary teenager who has a craving for RPG and MMORPG games, recently he currently has his eye out for a particular game called Royal Road, he heard about some VRMMO before like SAO and THE WORLD, but both those games became a game to die for (literally).With a crazy creator and some npc(AI) gone rouge and what not. This new game had has his hopes up, sure the other games that turned into a death game gave him shivers, but he wanted to be a hero too (without the dangerous life threatening consequences). It has always been his dream to be a hero, so with his money saved up from the jobs he did, he finally bought his own capsule with the game and after setting it up he was ready to enter a new world.<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Royal Road Connect? <br> Yes/No </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed: yes<br><br>Brilliant lights of different colors zoomed across zed's eyes and a feeling dizziness warping his senses and when it passed away, he was greeted with a girl with long hair, cute blue eyes, rosy cheeks , a tan skin and red lips. She was wearing casual clothes with a frilly skirt. One thing he noticed though was that she was sitting on a hovering on a metallic looking chair. He guessed that she was an AI and she greeted him.<br><br>AI: Welcome to Royal Road, please select your name.<br><br>Zed: Zed.<br><br>AI: Please select your gender.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> [Male/Female/Neutral] </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed: Male<br><br>AI: Please select your Avatar. Currently there are 49 avatar races available.<br><br>Zed: "Hmm 49, probably from the demands of fans, I'll just use the the most balanced one." Human.<br><br>AI: Do you want to change your appearance?<br><br>Zed: No, I'll start as is.<br><br>AI: Where do you want to start your character?<br><br>Zed: I'll go with random.<br><br>AI: You will be teleported to The Citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim Kingdom.<br><br>Zed was surrounded by light and was teleported at the city of Rosenheim. What he saw was breathtaking and the realism was outstanding. He was looking around town and wandered near the city gates until he was stopped at the gates. The guards said that new Freeman are not allowed outside the city gates for four weeks. He guessed that Freeman was a term for players and wondered what to do. He checked his inventory and saw it contained 10 pieces of rye bread , a canteen and 10 pieces of copper. He pondered on what to do as these item won't last long. He decided he needed information, so he asked around town for the library and decided to walk there. After he arrived there he decided to ask the librarian on information on how to get stronger but the librarian that he should go to the training hall across town but zed was lazy and asked if there are other ways to get stronger. The librarian replied there is also spiritual strength and said that it can be found on books on the library and asked if zed had a library card. Zed asked where he could buy a library card and the librarian told him that it costs 1 silver. Sadly zed didn't have that much money and asked if there was any way he could get it by working. The librarian told him that ther has a shipment of new books arriving and he need help carrying and arranging it.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> *ding*<br><br>Quest: Help in the library<br><br>-The librarian is looking for people to help him in the library<br><br>Difficulty: E<br><br>Rewards: Library card </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>Zed decided to accept the quest and helped the librarian and after a few hours, he finished his quest. <br><br>.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> *ding*<br>-You have leveled up. Reached level 2 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br>Zed decided to ignore it for now and decided to explore the library and read a bunch of books. He noticed after he finished reading the books that he got some bonus stats on Int and Wis. Zed's knowledge grew and found out that there are many professions available and some of them are hidden or a secret class. After pondering about the possibilities Zed decided to get a class at his reach and since he had amassed a couple of int and wiz stat, he would decide to be a mage and asked the librarian mage related books. The librarian gave zed a pile of books to choose from and decided to start reading and after a few days and stumbled upon a skill.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Learned skill:<br>Magic mastery lv 1(01%)<br><br>-enables a person to manipulate mana.<br><br>Int +2<br>Neutral magic + 5%<br>Casting speed + 5% </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed was exited, the thought of having discovered such skill that had such possibilities meant that this was a gateway to freeform magic which meant unique magic. Zed had no doubt that some players have gained access to this but creativity and imagination varies from person to person so the possibility may vary and with it new skills. Zed really wanted to experiment but sadly his supply of food was very low and decided to look for more quests. He decided to find a quest at the restaurant in order to get food and get the chance of learning the cooking skill, It was like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. After Zed two week service at the restaurant, he managed to get the cooking skill lv5 and managed to get some dex and stamina stat to boot. Zed was pretty satisfied with himself and decides to use his remaining two weeks to practice his magic.<br><br>After fining a nice place to train Zed practiced and thought to form his mana to a ball in his hand.He managed to make it form after a couple of tries and he decided that he wanted to make it brighter. Zed succeeded and he heard a ping sound.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> *Ding*<br><br>learned skill:<br>Lumus lv1(01%)<br><br>-Illuminates the surrounding area at the distance of 5 meters, distance increases with level.<br><br>Cost 50 mana<br>Light affinity +5% </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> *Ding*<br><br>-You have gained light affinity, some spells increase their damage and magic resistance depending on their affinity.<br>-can now imbue magic with light properties. Usually this affinity can be gained through priest class. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed was happy but was exhausted and decided to sit to recover his mana. Zed tried again and he willed his mana to form a pencil and he struggled on its form, 20 minutes passed and he had successfully formed a needle form of mana and throwed it on the ground. It left a small dent, suddenly he heard a sound.<br><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> *Ding*<br><br>Learned skill:<br>Mana Bolt lv1 (01%)<br><br>-Hits the targeted enemy with 1 Neutral Element Bolt per SkillLV for 1*MATK each(number of built increases per lv and mastery, as skill increases so does the the number of bolts mana consumption and damage)<br>Cost 70 mana </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Zed was inspired even more and racked up his brain for new ideas since it was paying off. After 4 weeks passed he managed to gain 3 New more skills and these were:<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Learned Skill: <br>Ruwach lv1(57%)<br><br>-Reveals Hiding and Cloaking players and monsters within 5% range. Revealed players and monsters are hit with a holy element Magic attack with a strength of MATK*1.45.<br><br>-Cost 100 mana </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Learned skill: <br>Soul strike lv1(89%)<br><br>-Hits the target with (1+SkillLV/2) bolts for 1*MATK using Ghost Element. Does extra 5% damage per SkillLV to Undead property Monsters. Bolts increases as skill level increases<br><br>Cost 200 mana </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Learned skill:<br>Napalm Beat lv1(80%)<br><br>-Hits every Enemy in a 3x3 area around the target for an MATK of (70+10*SkillLV)% using Ghost Element. This damage is spread equally between all targets. For example, if 3 monsters are hit, then each takes 1/3rd of the damage a single target would take.<br><br>Cost 150 mana </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>How Zed gained these skills were a lucky coincidence. he received a quest from church of Freya about exercising a ghost on an abandoned mansion. The church gave zed 5 bottles of holy water for this quest. Upon reaching the abandoned mansion. at night time, Zed went inside the building and reached its innermost part. Zed wasn't afraid because of his Lumus skill, but upon reaching his destination things started to float eerily near him, scared senseless zed took his vials of holy water and sprayed it around him like a madman. Zed was scared, he was left with his last bottle of holy water and accidentally poured it on his lumus spell. A sudden his lumus spelled glowed blue and a ding caught his attention and saw his status window with a new skill. This is how he got his ruwach skill, Zed quickly used his new spell and revealed two ghost. With renewed vigor zed attacked the ghosts and when the ghosts was almost killed they started to beg him for mercy. Surpried by this event he decided to humor them and asked them to leave the building or be exercised. The ghost revealed to be a couple told zed their story and a quest appeared.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Quest:<br>Help the ghost couple<br><br>-Ghost revealed the reason they haunt the mansion was because they wanted to meet their alive daughter one last time before moving on, Please help them reunite.<br><br>Difficulty: G<br>Rewards: unknown </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed accepted this quest. <br><br>After much investigation, it is revealed that after the accident their daughter studied and trained to become a knight to protect people and was promoted to a captain. Zed talked to the Sheila(the ghost couple's daughter) about her parents and decided to come with zed to the abandoned mansion. After a teary reunion the couple moved on and Shiela thanked zed.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> *Ding* Quest Completed<br>-Level up x8<br>-received 10000 gold (if your wondering about the amount of gold rewarded was because their daughter was rich, they did lived in a mansion and Shiela received her inheritance)<br><br>-gained ghost affinity 5%<br>You have gained ghost affinity, some spells increase their damage and magic resistance depending on their affinity. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br>Skill learned:<br><br>Ghost mastery lv1(01%)<br><br>-believed to be a branch of magic lost throughout the ages due to unpopularity ever since it got associated with Bar`khan's dark magic.<br><br>Can imbue spells with ghost property </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Zed decided to train this new skill and after much zeal in practice, Zed received 3 New skills. Zed was very very happy, after all he did received a large sum of gold and gained New skills to boot. Zed decided that that was an intense 4 week and decided to log off. That night in his room, a giggling sound could be heard, Zed was dreaming how to spend his gold and how his new skills could make him a force to be reckoned with and what new adventures he would have. </div>

Summary: an addicted gamer who wanted to try Royal Road. Chapter 1 : A new world Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. This is my first fanfic, I hope I did a decent job. Theme: Adventure/Humor Zed was an ordinary teenager who has a craving for RPG and MMORPG games, recently he currently has his eye out for a particular game called Royal Road, he heard about some VRMMO before like SAO and THE WORLD, but both those games became a game to die for (literally).With a crazy creator and some npc(AI) gone rouge and what not. This new game had has his hopes up, sure the other games that turned into a death game gave him shivers, but he wanted to be a hero too (without the dangerous life threatening consequences). It has always been his dream to be a hero, so with his money saved up from the jobs he did, he finally bought his own capsule with the game and after setting it up he was ready to enter a new world. | * Royal Road Connect? Yes/No | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: yes Brilliant lights of different colors zoomed across zed's eyes and a feeling dizziness warping his senses and when it passed away, he was greeted with a girl with long hair, cute blue eyes, rosy cheeks , a tan skin and red lips. She was wearing casual clothes with a frilly skirt. One thing he noticed though was that she was sitting on a hovering on a metallic looking chair. He guessed that she was an AI and she greeted him. AI: Welcome to Royal Road, please select your name. Zed: Zed. AI: Please select your gender. | * [Male/Female/Neutral] | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed: Male AI: Please select your Avatar. Currently there are 49 avatar races available. Zed: "Hmm 49, probably from the demands of fans, I'll just use the the most balanced one." Human. AI: Do you want to change your appearance? Zed: No, I'll start as is. AI: Where do you want to start your character? Zed: I'll go with random. AI: You will be teleported to The Citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim Kingdom. Zed was surrounded by light and was teleported at the city of Rosenheim. What he saw was breathtaking and the realism was outstanding. He was looking around town and wandered near the city gates until he was stopped at the gates. The guards said that new Freeman are not allowed outside the city gates for four weeks. He guessed that Freeman was a term for players and wondered what to do. He checked his inventory and saw it contained 10 pieces of rye bread , a canteen and 10 pieces of copper. He pondered on what to do as these item won't last long. He decided he needed information, so he asked around town for the library and decided to walk there. After he arrived there he decided to ask the librarian on information on how to get stronger but the librarian that he should go to the training hall across town but zed was lazy and asked if there are other ways to get stronger. The librarian replied there is also spiritual strength and said that it can be found on books on the library and asked if zed had a library card. Zed asked where he could buy a library card and the librarian told him that it costs 1 silver. Sadly zed didn't have that much money and asked if there was any way he could get it by working. The librarian told him that ther has a shipment of new books arriving and he need help carrying and arranging it. | * *ding*Quest: Help in the library-The librarian is looking for people to help him in the libraryDifficulty: ERewards: Library card | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed decided to accept the quest and helped the librarian and after a few hours, he finished his quest. . | * *ding*-You have leveled up. Reached level 2 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed decided to ignore it for now and decided to explore the library and read a bunch of books. He noticed after he finished reading the books that he got some bonus stats on Int and Wis. Zed's knowledge grew and found out that there are many professions available and some of them are hidden or a secret class. After pondering about the possibilities Zed decided to get a class at his reach and since he had amassed a couple of int and wiz stat, he would decide to be a mage and asked the librarian mage related books. The librarian gave zed a pile of books to choose from and decided to start reading and after a few days and stumbled upon a skill. | * Learned skill:Magic mastery lv 1(01%)-enables a person to manipulate mana.Int +2Neutral magic + 5%Casting speed + 5% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed was exited, the thought of having discovered such skill that had such possibilities meant that this was a gateway to freeform magic which meant unique magic. Zed had no doubt that some players have gained access to this but creativity and imagination varies from person to person so the possibility may vary and with it new skills. Zed really wanted to experiment but sadly his supply of food was very low and decided to look for more quests. He decided to find a quest at the restaurant in order to get food and get the chance of learning the cooking skill, It was like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. After Zed two week service at the restaurant, he managed to get the cooking skill lv5 and managed to get some dex and stamina stat to boot. Zed was pretty satisfied with himself and decides to use his remaining two weeks to practice his magic. After fining a nice place to train Zed practiced and thought to form his mana to a ball in his hand.He managed to make it form after a couple of tries and he decided that he wanted to make it brighter. Zed succeeded and he heard a ping sound. | * *Ding*learned skill:Lumus lv1(01%)-Illuminates the surrounding area at the distance of 5 meters, distance increases with level.Cost 50 manaLight affinity +5% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * *Ding*-You have gained light affinity, some spells increase their damage and magic resistance depending on their affinity.-can now imbue magic with light properties. Usually this affinity can be gained through priest class. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed was happy but was exhausted and decided to sit to recover his mana. Zed tried again and he willed his mana to form a pencil and he struggled on its form, 20 minutes passed and he had successfully formed a needle form of mana and throwed it on the ground. It left a small dent, suddenly he heard a sound. | * *Ding*Learned skill:Mana Bolt lv1 (01%)-Hits the targeted enemy with 1 Neutral Element Bolt per SkillLV for 1*MATK each(number of built increases per lv and mastery, as skill increases so does the the number of bolts mana consumption and damage)Cost 70 mana | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed was inspired even more and racked up his brain for new ideas since it was paying off. After 4 weeks passed he managed to gain 3 New more skills and these were: | * Learned Skill: Ruwach lv1(57%)-Reveals Hiding and Cloaking players and monsters within 5% range. Revealed players and monsters are hit with a holy element Magic attack with a strength of MATK*1.45.-Cost 100 mana | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Learned skill: Soul strike lv1(89%)-Hits the target with (1+SkillLV/2) bolts for 1*MATK using Ghost Element. Does extra 5% damage per SkillLV to Undead property Monsters. Bolts increases as skill level increasesCost 200 mana | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Learned skill:Napalm Beat lv1(80%)-Hits every Enemy in a 3x3 area around the target for an MATK of (70+10*SkillLV)% using Ghost Element. This damage is spread equally between all targets. For example, if 3 monsters are hit, then each takes 1/3rd of the damage a single target would take.Cost 150 mana | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | How Zed gained these skills were a lucky coincidence. he received a quest from church of Freya about exercising a ghost on an abandoned mansion. The church gave zed 5 bottles of holy water for this quest. Upon reaching the abandoned mansion. at night time, Zed went inside the building and reached its innermost part. Zed wasn't afraid because of his Lumus skill, but upon reaching his destination things started to float eerily near him, scared senseless zed took his vials of holy water and sprayed it around him like a madman. Zed was scared, he was left with his last bottle of holy water and accidentally poured it on his lumus spell. A sudden his lumus spelled glowed blue and a ding caught his attention and saw his status window with a new skill. This is how he got his ruwach skill, Zed quickly used his new spell and revealed two ghost. With renewed vigor zed attacked the ghosts and when the ghosts was almost killed they started to beg him for mercy. Surpried by this event he decided to humor them and asked them to leave the building or be exercised. The ghost revealed to be a couple told zed their story and a quest appeared. | * Quest:Help the ghost couple-Ghost revealed the reason they haunt the mansion was because they wanted to meet their alive daughter one last time before moving on, Please help them reunite.Difficulty: GRewards: unknown | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed accepted this quest. After much investigation, it is revealed that after the accident their daughter studied and trained to become a knight to protect people and was promoted to a captain. Zed talked to the Sheila(the ghost couple's daughter) about her parents and decided to come with zed to the abandoned mansion. After a teary reunion the couple moved on and Shiela thanked zed. | * *Ding* Quest Completed-Level up x8-received 10000 gold (if your wondering about the amount of gold rewarded was because their daughter was rich, they did lived in a mansion and Shiela received her inheritance)-gained ghost affinity 5%You have gained ghost affinity, some spells increase their damage and magic resistance depending on their affinity. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | . | * Skill learned:Ghost mastery lv1(01%)-believed to be a branch of magic lost throughout the ages due to unpopularity ever since it got associated with Bar`khan's dark magic.Can imbue spells with ghost property | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Zed decided to train this new skill and after much zeal in practice, Zed received 3 New skills. Zed was very very happy, after all he did received a large sum of gold and gained New skills to boot. Zed decided that that was an intense 4 week and decided to log off. That night in his room, a giggling sound could be heard, Zed was dreaming how to spend his gold and how his new skills could make him a force to be reckoned with and what new adventures he would have.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Not everyone can live a rich life. The rich have the poor do all their work for them, and as such never lift a finger. Such a person is Jae Hwa. She never had to do a single thing herself. There was always a maid who did her room, her laundry, and even washed her. Although her mother and father were always busy with work, she found comfort in playing Virtual Reality games. It never seemed to bother with her studies. She was a top contender to get accepted by Korea University, so her parents allowed her to play it as long as she wanted.<br><br> As Jae Hwa was on her way to Whimoon High School, she heard people talking about the newest craze, Royal Road, made by a genius engineer and owned by Unicorn Corporations. Royal Road was said to be the most complex Virtual Reality to date. During homeroom, Jae Hwa’s friends, Eun Sun and Soo Min, came up to her.<br><br>“Do you want to play with us in Royal Road?” asked Eun Sun.<br>“Why not? It seems popular and an interesting thing to play.”<br>“Great, can you pay the ten million to buy the capsule?” inquired Soo Min.<br>“Of course.”<br>Jae Hwa’s friends were also very rich, and all three of them could easily afford the initial price to pay for Royal Road. It was ten million won to buy the capsule, and if they decided to continue playing, it would cost an additional three hundred thousand won a month.<br><br> Right after school, Jae Hwa, Eun Sun, and Soo Min agreed to keep the capsules at Jae Hwa’s spacious underground house. Whenever Jae Hwa wanted to game without anyone bothering her, she would come to this house. It was equipped with everything you would need: water, snacks, a kitchen, a bathroom, a sleeping quarter and a giant living room. What used to be an empty living room was now filled with three giant capsules each designed to fit a person inside. Jae Hwa, Eun Sun, and Soo Min all entered their capsules.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br><br>Do you want to connect to Royal Road?<br>Yes / No<br><br></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> </div>

Not everyone can live a rich life. The rich have the poor do all their work for them, and as such never lift a finger. Such a person is Jae Hwa. She never had to do a single thing herself. There was always a maid who did her room, her laundry, and even washed her. Although her mother and father were always busy with work, she found comfort in playing Virtual Reality games. It never seemed to bother with her studies. She was a top contender to get accepted by Korea University, so her parents allowed her to play it as long as she wanted. As Jae Hwa was on her way to Whimoon High School, she heard people talking about the newest craze, Royal Road, made by a genius engineer and owned by Unicorn Corporations. Royal Road was said to be the most complex Virtual Reality to date. During homeroom, Jae Hwa’s friends, Eun Sun and Soo Min, came up to her. “Do you want to play with us in Royal Road?” asked Eun Sun. “Why not? It seems popular and an interesting thing to play.” “Great, can you pay the ten million to buy the capsule?” inquired Soo Min. “Of course.” Jae Hwa’s friends were also very rich, and all three of them could easily afford the initial price to pay for Royal Road. It was ten million won to buy the capsule, and if they decided to continue playing, it would cost an additional three hundred thousand won a month. Right after school, Jae Hwa, Eun Sun, and Soo Min agreed to keep the capsules at Jae Hwa’s spacious underground house. Whenever Jae Hwa wanted to game without anyone bothering her, she would come to this house. It was equipped with everything you would need: water, snacks, a kitchen, a bathroom, a sleeping quarter and a giant living room. What used to be an empty living room was now filled with three giant capsules each designed to fit a person inside. Jae Hwa, Eun Sun, and Soo Min all entered their capsules. | Do you want to connect to Royal Road?Yes / No | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> After a few minutes of sitting there I decide to go see how Jill is doing since I finished cooking already.<br><br>Outside of the house is again cold so I hurry to the outhouse to see if Jill was done. I do end up calling out to her so that she could also enjoy the stew I made.<br><br>"Hey Jill the food is ready. Take a break from heating the bath and eat."<br><br>"No it is alright just give me another minute and I'll be done."<br><br>"Alright. Do you need any help?"<br><br>"No I got it and I can't just ask a guest to help heat the bath water."<br><br>"Ok then but would it be alright if I play around with the instruments that are in the guest room?"<br><br>"Yes but be careful not to break any of the instruments. Also have to ask but you play also?"<br><br>"Why yes I do. I mainly play the guitar but my I sometimes sing to."<br><br>"Alright the why don't you play and sing for me and my mom since you prepared a meal for us all. My dad would love you just if you are able to play well enough."<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Music<br>successfully play music, sing, and prepare dinner for Jill and her family<br>Quest difficulty:E<br>Rewards: Better relationship with Jill and her Mother</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>"I don't see why not just give me a few minutes to tune up the guitar."<br>Quest Accepted<br><br>"k will see you inside."<br><br>So I end up heading inside the house and go to the guest room and while I was going into the room Jill's mother opens up the front door.<br><br>She looks startled to see a person she never met in her house and yells<br><br>"HELP THIEF!!!"<br><br>Right as she was screaming that she saw Jill coming into the house.<br><br>"Jill go out and get help!! NOW!!!"<br><br>"MOM!!! THIS IS A GUEST NOT A THIEF!!!"<br><br>My ears are beginning to throb now. I begin to wonder if it is a good idea to stay here any longer. While this mother/daughter combo calms down I should go and tune the guitar.<br><br>Part 2<br><br>I walk into the room and begin to look in the corner I saw the guitar in earlier. I walk over to it and I look at the details of it. The guitar is a six string acoustic guitar with a little age to it but nothing that should ruin the sound of the guitar.<br><br>I begin to tune the strings to the right tune for the songs I intend to play. I immediately notice that a few of the strings were slightly out of tune but besides that they were pretty close to being in tune. I then walk out to the mother and daughter to see that they are still arguing about what to do with me.<br><br>"-ldn't of just brought a person you don't know in here!!!" Jill's mother said.<br><br>"MOM DUSK WAS FREEZING OUTSIDE WITH A COLD!!! YOU AND DAD TOLD ME TO BE KIND TO ANYONE WHO NEEDS HELP!!! I TOLD HIM THAT I WOULD PREPARE A BATH AND SERVE FOOD!!! BUT DUSK EVEN PREPARED FOOD FOR US!!! ISN'T -" Jill was in the middle of ranting at her mom.<br>"Um sorry is this a good time? If not I could just go back and continue tuning the guitar," I said.<br><br>Jill hurriedly looked at her mother then said,"No everything is perfectly alright. We are just getting ready to eat. Right Mom?"<br><br>Her mom looked tired as she said,"Alright fine. Lets try the food this novice created. But she better be good at playing that guitar or she is out."<br><br>I finally decide that it is time to clear up this mistake that both of them have made about my gender.<br><br>"You both realize that I am a man right?"<br><br>They look like I just told them that I was actually a rabbit. Then they both tell me at the same time while laughing their butts off.<br><br>"Good one Dusk. Thank you for trying to lift up the mood for us."<br><br>"But I am actually a 32 year old man."<br><br>"Ha ha ha ha very funny Dusk you don't even look like you could be 18 year old woman yet alone a 32 year old man."<br><br>In the back of my head I begin to think of ways to get back at these two. But I need to get back to the present.<br><br>"Okay lets forget about that for now and how about you two start eating before it gets colder than it is. Also I need to ask Jill why did you tell me to prepare 3 meals when there is only the two of you?"<br><br>"Lets just say that you will find out in a bit."<br><br>"???"<br><br>While being pretty confused I decide just to play songs that I would normally play in the bar back in reality.<br><br>But just before I can begin the front door opens and I meet who I can assume is the dad.<br><br>The dad looks to be 30 and his hair has already gone completely white. He looks like he has see his share of a hard life. His face has scars all over and he appears to be huge. His eyes are hazel and at the moment he is staring at me with suspicion.<br><br>"Who is this lass that is holding my guitar?"<br><br>"Uh dad meet Dusk she is a freedman who just arrived and looked to need help so I brought her here. She has prepared dinner for us and was about to begin playing music for us to listen to while we eat."<br><br>Again I have been mistaken for a girl and I put on my mental check list to figure out a way to get back at that damn A.I.<br><br>"Alright Jill but next time ask me first before you will let someone play my instrument. Also Dusk make sure you don't mess up my guitar or there will be consequences."<br><br>While I think about that I decide to pick up the guitar and play.<br><br>I apologize for the wait everyone. There has been so many problems that I haven't really been able to write too much. But now I should be more open for the next while. Unless of course something unexpected happens. For the song list just look up on youtube Auld Lang Syne, Another Irish Drinking Song, and The Parting Glass. </div>

After a few minutes of sitting there I decide to go see how Jill is doing since I finished cooking already. Outside of the house is again cold so I hurry to the outhouse to see if Jill was done. I do end up calling out to her so that she could also enjoy the stew I made. "Hey Jill the food is ready. Take a break from heating the bath and eat." "No it is alright just give me another minute and I'll be done." "Alright. Do you need any help?" "No I got it and I can't just ask a guest to help heat the bath water." "Ok then but would it be alright if I play around with the instruments that are in the guest room?" "Yes but be careful not to break any of the instruments. Also have to ask but you play also?" "Why yes I do. I mainly play the guitar but my I sometimes sing to." "Alright the why don't you play and sing for me and my mom since you prepared a meal for us all. My dad would love you just if you are able to play well enough." | Musicsuccessfully play music, sing, and prepare dinner for Jill and her familyQuest difficulty:ERewards: Better relationship with Jill and her Mother | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | "I don't see why not just give me a few minutes to tune up the guitar." Quest Accepted "k will see you inside." So I end up heading inside the house and go to the guest room and while I was going into the room Jill's mother opens up the front door. She looks startled to see a person she never met in her house and yells "HELP THIEF!!!" Right as she was screaming that she saw Jill coming into the house. "Jill go out and get help!! NOW!!!" "MOM!!! THIS IS A GUEST NOT A THIEF!!!" My ears are beginning to throb now. I begin to wonder if it is a good idea to stay here any longer. While this mother/daughter combo calms down I should go and tune the guitar. Part 2 I walk into the room and begin to look in the corner I saw the guitar in earlier. I walk over to it and I look at the details of it. The guitar is a six string acoustic guitar with a little age to it but nothing that should ruin the sound of the guitar. I begin to tune the strings to the right tune for the songs I intend to play. I immediately notice that a few of the strings were slightly out of tune but besides that they were pretty close to being in tune. I then walk out to the mother and daughter to see that they are still arguing about what to do with me. "-ldn't of just brought a person you don't know in here!!!" Jill's mother said. "MOM DUSK WAS FREEZING OUTSIDE WITH A COLD!!! YOU AND DAD TOLD ME TO BE KIND TO ANYONE WHO NEEDS HELP!!! I TOLD HIM THAT I WOULD PREPARE A BATH AND SERVE FOOD!!! BUT DUSK EVEN PREPARED FOOD FOR US!!! ISN'T -" Jill was in the middle of ranting at her mom. "Um sorry is this a good time? If not I could just go back and continue tuning the guitar," I said. Jill hurriedly looked at her mother then said,"No everything is perfectly alright. We are just getting ready to eat. Right Mom?" Her mom looked tired as she said,"Alright fine. Lets try the food this novice created. But she better be good at playing that guitar or she is out." I finally decide that it is time to clear up this mistake that both of them have made about my gender. "You both realize that I am a man right?" They look like I just told them that I was actually a rabbit. Then they both tell me at the same time while laughing their butts off. "Good one Dusk. Thank you for trying to lift up the mood for us." "But I am actually a 32 year old man." "Ha ha ha ha very funny Dusk you don't even look like you could be 18 year old woman yet alone a 32 year old man." In the back of my head I begin to think of ways to get back at these two. But I need to get back to the present. "Okay lets forget about that for now and how about you two start eating before it gets colder than it is. Also I need to ask Jill why did you tell me to prepare 3 meals when there is only the two of you?" "Lets just say that you will find out in a bit." "???" While being pretty confused I decide just to play songs that I would normally play in the bar back in reality. But just before I can begin the front door opens and I meet who I can assume is the dad. The dad looks to be 30 and his hair has already gone completely white. He looks like he has see his share of a hard life. His face has scars all over and he appears to be huge. His eyes are hazel and at the moment he is staring at me with suspicion. "Who is this lass that is holding my guitar?" "Uh dad meet Dusk she is a freedman who just arrived and looked to need help so I brought her here. She has prepared dinner for us and was about to begin playing music for us to listen to while we eat." Again I have been mistaken for a girl and I put on my mental check list to figure out a way to get back at that damn A.I. "Alright Jill but next time ask me first before you will let someone play my instrument. Also Dusk make sure you don't mess up my guitar or there will be consequences." While I think about that I decide to pick up the guitar and play. I apologize for the wait everyone. There has been so many problems that I haven't really been able to write too much. But now I should be more open for the next while. Unless of course something unexpected happens. For the song list just look up on youtube Auld Lang Syne, Another Irish Drinking Song, and The Parting Glass.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Attention to all Readers, I`m posting a picture that might offend some of you, but know I only wanted it to be comical, and sorry, but I want to use it as running gag<br><br>~Sounds~<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*thoughts*</span><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">+++++</div><br><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chapter 08: Haul </span><br><br><br>Again when the sun went down, a hooded figure left the archery, merging even sooner with the dark.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Now where to start*</span><br><br>Neuron sneaked around, and went to the first house he visited the last night, but with more confidence than before. Luckily for him the window where he wanted to sneak in was open, well no one expects a robber to enter a house this way, because the façade was really smooth, and so the owner of the flat could let the window open without worrying, well till Neuron came that is.<br><br>He then readied his bow, Neuron got permission from Brairan to take it with him beforehand, nocked a barbed arrow on the string, and shot it straight at the gable of the house, when Neuron heard the sound of impact he hid behind the tree hoping that no one had noticed it, because he thought it was even louder than in the archery.<br><br>When Fifteen minutes went past and nothing happened he decided that it was save, went beneath the spot where the arrow struck., There he tried to materialize the two threads he needed to climb, but only one thread was formed, because he ran out of mana for the second, but he didn`t bother because he made many balls of thread beforehand, for if he ever run low on mana, After the second one was materialized, Neuron began climbing, well literally pulling himself up, what still counted as climbing, because in the game climbing is referred as going straight up a wall, tree or whatever, what he basically was doing, minus the effort though.<br><br>He entered the room, which was apparently the kitchen, and slowly made his way around, he even entered the bedchamber of the owner, who was snoring loudly, deciding to give him a little scare. <br><br>For that purpose he took a calligraphy set, he saw lying on the table inside his bedchamber and used it to scribble on his face. All went well, till he had to go out. He tried removing the arrow like he had done in the archery but failed to stay perpendicular in mid air, because when he removed the arrow a little spin was given to him every time, it didn`t matter in the archery, because the ceiling was quite lower, all of this caused him to meet the ground in a way he didn`t enjoy. <br><br>After he got up, Neuron left the yard hobbling and swearing <br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*That went rather well*</span><br><br>Now he went sneaking around town looking for a house that was marked with red on his map, which had the same properties as the one he successfully broke in.<br><br>It was a rather hard task, because the houses where located in different parts of the town, and out of fright he never cancelled the stealth skill like yesterday, where he only scouted the houses, and thus only activated stealth near them. But that gave him also time to make more balls with his thread, which he made in every free minute he had, because out of experience with other games he knew, that you can never have too much mana potions, especially if your most used skill is a mana drainer.<br><br>When he finally found a house with an open window, it was one of those with guards.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Damn my luck, it had to be one of those*</span><br><br>Making his way around it he looked for a way to enter the yard, but the wall surrounding it didn`t provide any footholds<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Man I`m the lowest equipped thief ever, next time, I have to ask Warnton to make me a hook*</span><br><br>Neuron couldn`t find a way to enter the yard, this was until he saw a tree standing in the middle of it, but from his position he couldn`t get a good angle to shoot at it. Consequently he had to climb a house near the wall. There he was now standing on the ceiling and shot the arrow right at the tree, this time he was happy about the sound the arrow made, because it meant that it was stuck deep inside one of the branches, his worry that the arrow may pass harmlessly between them cleared.<br><br>Before climbing down the house, he had to make the connection there, because of the skills limitation to only connect in a straight line, which used two balls.<br><br>Then he waited that the guard which was patrolling around the wall came by, and disappeared. While he sneaked around, he noticed them to patrol around the wall every half an hour.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*If I could only connect the other end to the ceiling, then I could slide across that yard*</span><br><br>But he couldn`t so he had to go down, but this time he didn`t remove the arrow, and left it stuck with two threats hanging down.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*I`m going to remove it later, I don`t want to fall down and alert the guards*</span><br><br>Now he used the threads to climb over the wall, and got safely inside the yard. Of course he observed the entire part of the yard beforehand he could see from the roof beforehand, but there were no guards around, it appeared, that the owners where quite paranoid, only allowing guards outside their property. But of course Neuron was happy about that, one thing less to worry, because his stealth skill was at the low side, making him detectable if someone cared to give a closer look at the part where he stood inside a shadow.<br><br>After safely entering the yard he made his way to the open window and shot another arrow, repeating everything again, this time he hid even longer, to be on the safe side.<br><br>The room to which the window lead to, was a bedroom, with a little girl sleeping in a bed that seemed way to huge for her little body. Not to wake her up, he went on tiptoes to the door, that lead to a large hallway with precious things aligned alongside it on pedestals, shelves and showcases.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Whew, that looks like some mighty valuable stuff*</span><br><br>Now began the most enjoyable part of breaking inside the house of another person, the sneaking around and pocketing everything one could lay his hands on. Neuron didn`t even bother to identify them, everything of interest landed in his backpack.<br><br>Soon he got a message<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> You are overloaded </span><br>Movement speed is decreased by 10%</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> <span style="font-style: italic;">*Crap*</span><br><br>After being lighter he made his way back to the room where the girl was sleeping, then he paused with one foot on the window board. Because he suddenly got an idea, well it wasn`t a smart one, but he didn’t care.<br><br>He took out the calligraphy set he stole from that guy on witch`s face he scribbled and got to work.<br><br>While scribbling his (From now on) Signature on the walls, floor, well everywhere he could reach, he got rather absorbed in his tusk when<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">New skill: Scribbling</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> <span style="font-style: italic;">*Ok, do I need that?* </span><br><br><br>…….<br><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*No!* </span><br><br>“Delete” he whispered<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> The skill scribbling has been deleted; you can gain it another time, if you repeat the task. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> <span style="font-style: italic;">*Well, how am I going repeat that*</span> he thought while turning around and looking at the Masterpiece he had created.<br><br>What he actually painted on the walls while his tongue was sticking out, a sign of great effort was a scribble he had made in school. <br><br>When he was bored and had nothing else to do, he invented this<br><br><img src="http://s8.postimg.org/vmhezjul1/face_001.jpg" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fs8.postimg.org%2fvmhezjul1%2fface_001.jpg"> <br><br>After being satisfied with his work of art he left the room through the window, but before he put his backpack down, because he didn`t want to fall, alerting everyone.<br><br>Then Neuron was climbing up to where the arrow was stuck, and removed it. But he learned from his mistakes and thus fastened some threads around the beam beforehand. <br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*I can`t believe how stupid I am not doing this on the flat where I broke in before, even if I had managed to land on my feet it would have hurt, damn I`m seeing this only as a game, this will surely lead to many deaths, if I don`t change my way of thinking*</span><br><br>When he reached the ground he cancelled the skill, thus not leaving any evidence behind, he even climbed the tree and removed that arrow too.<br><br>Now came a difficult part, that is leaving the ground, at least he thought of it being difficult, but the wall was designed to keep robbers outside. <br><br>Soon after he saw a shed, that was build near the wall, where most likely the gardener kept his tools, he climbed it and looked over to the wall<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*It`s rather far*</span><br><br>Neuron bent his knees, drawing all his strength to them, and jumped off, he flew over the wall, and landed safely in the street, after landing he performed a roll, just like in the movies he liked, not bothering for the popup Message that appeared, because he had to quickly leave the place.<br><br>When he got some distance between himself and the house, but not before removing the last arrow, to do that he pulled on the two strings with all his might. <br>At the second try the arrow finally came loose and just missed his head by a few millimeters.<br><br>Then placing himself in a shadowy corner he opened the message log and read the system message he ignored earlier.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Jump: Beginner1 </span><br><br>Enables you to jump higher and further<br>Decreases the damage from falling<br>Makes you able to endure strong impacts with your feet<br>Mana cost: 200<br></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> <span style="font-style: italic;">*Ok, could be useful, at least more so than scribbling*</span><br><br>Content with the loot and skill he gained that night Neuron went back to the archery, logging out, and catching up on his overdue sleep time, even though the sun was high up indicating that it was midday.<br><br>But Alex woke up after only 4 hours of sleep, he was too curious, what gossip is currently going around in Gaber<br><br>So he logged back in, but not before eating something, Alex believed that he could play better on a not so empty stomach, and he was too accustomed to that, to change it, even if the game is Virtual reality. Well the real reason is, that he doesn`t have to go to fetch something to eat so fast.<br><br>Brairan came over to him, as soon as he saw Neuron. <br>He had a bright grin on his face, and before Neuron could ask…<br><br>“Yesterday someone broke in Arded`s apartment, apparently nothing was stolen, but the intruder scribbled on his face, man how I would have liked to see it”<br><br>Neuron could only ask “Who is Arded” <br><br>“He is the Landlord of my flat, and an annoying prick”<br><br>With that said, he walked of while whistling a happy tune<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Good that he`s so happy, now to see what news Kylar has*</span><br><br>“Hey you free now?”<br><br>“Yes?”<br><br>“I just logged back in, and wanted to hear what news you had”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*His tone is too cheerful, something is wrong*</span><br><br>“Well apparently someone broke in the mansion of the Ribanild family, and stole many precious things…<br><br><br><br>…<br><br><br><br>…<br><br><br><br>“THAT WAS YOU WASN`T IT?!”<br><br>When Kylar began shouting Neuron covered his ears out of Reflex, but to no avail, because the whispers where received directly inside the brain, and not with the ears. Luckily Unicorn Corporation regarded whispers as a private conversation, so no one could hear a thing.<br><br>“Please don`t shout so much”<br><br>“I`M SHOUTING AS LOUD AS I WISH!, wait, you don`t know who this family is?”<br><br>“No, please enlighten me”<br><br>“Good, so what do you know about this town?”<br><br>“That it`s called Gaber”<br><br>~Siiiiiiigh~<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Ok, so he knows nothing*</span><br><br>“Good, this city is part of a bigger Kingdom, well that Kingdom was once really big, but that is now history, well the ruler of this Kingdom is a little boy, who hasn`t even grown his hair down there, and apparently he is being manipulated for a struggle for power inside the capital, thus no one is paying attention to a rural place like this, and so three families have gained the power to rule over this city. Those are called Liagen, Aterar and the Ribanild.”<br><br>“Uh, oh,”<br><br>“That’s all you say after that, man I`m worried you know, if you ever get caught, they will shun you from this city, and then I`m alone fighting all those OVERPOWERED RABBITS” His tone growing louder while speaking and in the end he was shouting once again.<br><br>“Hey, don´t be afraid, my stealth skill is now level two, almost level three”<br><br>“That doesn`t say much” he said in a whiny tone<br><br>“Then what about my assurance that I`ll never be caught?”<br><br>“Isn`t worth anything”<br><br>“Good, I get it,<br><br>~silence~<br><br>“Did you hear about the graffiti I smeared on their wall” ~big grin~<br><br>“Yeah, I even saw a poster of it, it was hilarious, and do you know how you are called now?”<br><br>“Nope, I logged out after I was done, and just logged in”<br><br>“Well you know, they call you the smiling Chinese, ~pfftkekeahaha<br><br>“Well that’s khuhu good”<br><br>And now with all the tension gone they laughed<br><br>“So, I have to go, don´t go breaking in another of those houses, each other house is fine but not those” <br><br>“A moment, how do you know so much?”<br><br>“I talked with the instructor, he grew friendly with me really quick, I wonder why?”<br><br>“Well good, now by” said Neuron knowingly<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Good to know about those big shots*</span> he thought while a really evil grin was showing on his face<br><br>Brairan was looking at him during his silent conversation<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*what is he doing now, I see him speaking, but to whom, and why can`t I hear anything? Now he is laughing really hard, I wonder what happened*</span><br><br>Then he noticed the evil grin, and counting two and two together he came to four.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Freya, the tailor is screwed, I don`t want to be his enemy*</span><br><br>Naturally Brairan had heard about the robbery, but till now he couldn`t think of Neuron doing it, that was after he showed his expression of course<br><br>When he finished grinning Neuron went to Warnton.<br><br>“Could you make me a hook?”<br><br>“What for?”<br><br>“To climb walls” was the playful answer<br><br>“Yeah, can do it, but do you intend on doing with it?” Warnton wasn`t an idiot, so he also figured out what Neuron did in the night, he didn`t want to make his hands dirty.<br><br>Neuron being on the bold side told him everything.<br>“Well, I want to get back at the tailor, reducing some of the wealth of those so called three families, and also pocketing something for myself” <br><br>“And if you get caught?” This was said partly about worry for himself, worry about Neuron, but mostly he was worried to not having something to do, and going back to his old and boring life<br><br>“Don´t worry, they won`t catch me”<br><br>“You sound rather convinced”<br><br>“Yeah, I have ways of breaking in that no one else has” REPLACE grin<br><br>“Yup, that you surely do”<br><br>“And could you also tell me where the tailor lives”<br><br>“Yeah, give me your map” he replied marking a house with a bright yellow color.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Now how to pass the time, till I can go out gaining some more loot*</span><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">End of Chapter 08</div><br><br>Comments are always apreciated :) </div>

Attention to all Readers, I`m posting a picture that might offend some of you, but know I only wanted it to be comical, and sorry, but I want to use it as running gag ~Sounds~ *thoughts* +++++ Chapter 08: Haul Again when the sun went down, a hooded figure left the archery, merging even sooner with the dark. *Now where to start* Neuron sneaked around, and went to the first house he visited the last night, but with more confidence than before. Luckily for him the window where he wanted to sneak in was open, well no one expects a robber to enter a house this way, because the façade was really smooth, and so the owner of the flat could let the window open without worrying, well till Neuron came that is. He then readied his bow, Neuron got permission from Brairan to take it with him beforehand, nocked a barbed arrow on the string, and shot it straight at the gable of the house, when Neuron heard the sound of impact he hid behind the tree hoping that no one had noticed it, because he thought it was even louder than in the archery. When Fifteen minutes went past and nothing happened he decided that it was save, went beneath the spot where the arrow struck., There he tried to materialize the two threads he needed to climb, but only one thread was formed, because he ran out of mana for the second, but he didn`t bother because he made many balls of thread beforehand, for if he ever run low on mana, After the second one was materialized, Neuron began climbing, well literally pulling himself up, what still counted as climbing, because in the game climbing is referred as going straight up a wall, tree or whatever, what he basically was doing, minus the effort though. He entered the room, which was apparently the kitchen, and slowly made his way around, he even entered the bedchamber of the owner, who was snoring loudly, deciding to give him a little scare. For that purpose he took a calligraphy set, he saw lying on the table inside his bedchamber and used it to scribble on his face. All went well, till he had to go out. He tried removing the arrow like he had done in the archery but failed to stay perpendicular in mid air, because when he removed the arrow a little spin was given to him every time, it didn`t matter in the archery, because the ceiling was quite lower, all of this caused him to meet the ground in a way he didn`t enjoy. After he got up, Neuron left the yard hobbling and swearing *That went rather well* Now he went sneaking around town looking for a house that was marked with red on his map, which had the same properties as the one he successfully broke in. It was a rather hard task, because the houses where located in different parts of the town, and out of fright he never cancelled the stealth skill like yesterday, where he only scouted the houses, and thus only activated stealth near them. But that gave him also time to make more balls with his thread, which he made in every free minute he had, because out of experience with other games he knew, that you can never have too much mana potions, especially if your most used skill is a mana drainer. When he finally found a house with an open window, it was one of those with guards. *Damn my luck, it had to be one of those* Making his way around it he looked for a way to enter the yard, but the wall surrounding it didn`t provide any footholds *Man I`m the lowest equipped thief ever, next time, I have to ask Warnton to make me a hook* Neuron couldn`t find a way to enter the yard, this was until he saw a tree standing in the middle of it, but from his position he couldn`t get a good angle to shoot at it. Consequently he had to climb a house near the wall. There he was now standing on the ceiling and shot the arrow right at the tree, this time he was happy about the sound the arrow made, because it meant that it was stuck deep inside one of the branches, his worry that the arrow may pass harmlessly between them cleared. Before climbing down the house, he had to make the connection there, because of the skills limitation to only connect in a straight line, which used two balls. Then he waited that the guard which was patrolling around the wall came by, and disappeared. While he sneaked around, he noticed them to patrol around the wall every half an hour. *If I could only connect the other end to the ceiling, then I could slide across that yard* But he couldn`t so he had to go down, but this time he didn`t remove the arrow, and left it stuck with two threats hanging down. *I`m going to remove it later, I don`t want to fall down and alert the guards* Now he used the threads to climb over the wall, and got safely inside the yard. Of course he observed the entire part of the yard beforehand he could see from the roof beforehand, but there were no guards around, it appeared, that the owners where quite paranoid, only allowing guards outside their property. But of course Neuron was happy about that, one thing less to worry, because his stealth skill was at the low side, making him detectable if someone cared to give a closer look at the part where he stood inside a shadow. After safely entering the yard he made his way to the open window and shot another arrow, repeating everything again, this time he hid even longer, to be on the safe side. The room to which the window lead to, was a bedroom, with a little girl sleeping in a bed that seemed way to huge for her little body. Not to wake her up, he went on tiptoes to the door, that lead to a large hallway with precious things aligned alongside it on pedestals, shelves and showcases. *Whew, that looks like some mighty valuable stuff* Now began the most enjoyable part of breaking inside the house of another person, the sneaking around and pocketing everything one could lay his hands on. Neuron didn`t even bother to identify them, everything of interest landed in his backpack. Soon he got a message | * You are overloaded Movement speed is decreased by 10% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | *Crap* After being lighter he made his way back to the room where the girl was sleeping, then he paused with one foot on the window board. Because he suddenly got an idea, well it wasn`t a smart one, but he didn’t care. He took out the calligraphy set he stole from that guy on witch`s face he scribbled and got to work. While scribbling his (From now on) Signature on the walls, floor, well everywhere he could reach, he got rather absorbed in his tusk when | * New skill: Scribbling | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | *Ok, do I need that?* ……. *No!* “Delete” he whispered | * The skill scribbling has been deleted; you can gain it another time, if you repeat the task. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | *Well, how am I going repeat that* he thought while turning around and looking at the Masterpiece he had created. What he actually painted on the walls while his tongue was sticking out, a sign of great effort was a scribble he had made in school. When he was bored and had nothing else to do, he invented this  After being satisfied with his work of art he left the room through the window, but before he put his backpack down, because he didn`t want to fall, alerting everyone. Then Neuron was climbing up to where the arrow was stuck, and removed it. But he learned from his mistakes and thus fastened some threads around the beam beforehand. *I can`t believe how stupid I am not doing this on the flat where I broke in before, even if I had managed to land on my feet it would have hurt, damn I`m seeing this only as a game, this will surely lead to many deaths, if I don`t change my way of thinking* When he reached the ground he cancelled the skill, thus not leaving any evidence behind, he even climbed the tree and removed that arrow too. Now came a difficult part, that is leaving the ground, at least he thought of it being difficult, but the wall was designed to keep robbers outside. Soon after he saw a shed, that was build near the wall, where most likely the gardener kept his tools, he climbed it and looked over to the wall *It`s rather far* Neuron bent his knees, drawing all his strength to them, and jumped off, he flew over the wall, and landed safely in the street, after landing he performed a roll, just like in the movies he liked, not bothering for the popup Message that appeared, because he had to quickly leave the place. When he got some distance between himself and the house, but not before removing the last arrow, to do that he pulled on the two strings with all his might. At the second try the arrow finally came loose and just missed his head by a few millimeters. Then placing himself in a shadowy corner he opened the message log and read the system message he ignored earlier. | * Jump: Beginner1 Enables you to jump higher and furtherDecreases the damage from fallingMakes you able to endure strong impacts with your feetMana cost: 200 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | *Ok, could be useful, at least more so than scribbling* Content with the loot and skill he gained that night Neuron went back to the archery, logging out, and catching up on his overdue sleep time, even though the sun was high up indicating that it was midday. But Alex woke up after only 4 hours of sleep, he was too curious, what gossip is currently going around in Gaber So he logged back in, but not before eating something, Alex believed that he could play better on a not so empty stomach, and he was too accustomed to that, to change it, even if the game is Virtual reality. Well the real reason is, that he doesn`t have to go to fetch something to eat so fast. Brairan came over to him, as soon as he saw Neuron. He had a bright grin on his face, and before Neuron could ask… “Yesterday someone broke in Arded`s apartment, apparently nothing was stolen, but the intruder scribbled on his face, man how I would have liked to see it” Neuron could only ask “Who is Arded” “He is the Landlord of my flat, and an annoying prick” With that said, he walked of while whistling a happy tune *Good that he`s so happy, now to see what news Kylar has* “Hey you free now?” “Yes?” “I just logged back in, and wanted to hear what news you had” *His tone is too cheerful, something is wrong* “Well apparently someone broke in the mansion of the Ribanild family, and stole many precious things… … … “THAT WAS YOU WASN`T IT?!” When Kylar began shouting Neuron covered his ears out of Reflex, but to no avail, because the whispers where received directly inside the brain, and not with the ears. Luckily Unicorn Corporation regarded whispers as a private conversation, so no one could hear a thing. “Please don`t shout so much” “I`M SHOUTING AS LOUD AS I WISH!, wait, you don`t know who this family is?” “No, please enlighten me” “Good, so what do you know about this town?” “That it`s called Gaber” ~Siiiiiiigh~ *Ok, so he knows nothing* “Good, this city is part of a bigger Kingdom, well that Kingdom was once really big, but that is now history, well the ruler of this Kingdom is a little boy, who hasn`t even grown his hair down there, and apparently he is being manipulated for a struggle for power inside the capital, thus no one is paying attention to a rural place like this, and so three families have gained the power to rule over this city. Those are called Liagen, Aterar and the Ribanild.” “Uh, oh,” “That’s all you say after that, man I`m worried you know, if you ever get caught, they will shun you from this city, and then I`m alone fighting all those OVERPOWERED RABBITS” His tone growing louder while speaking and in the end he was shouting once again. “Hey, don´t be afraid, my stealth skill is now level two, almost level three” “That doesn`t say much” he said in a whiny tone “Then what about my assurance that I`ll never be caught?” “Isn`t worth anything” “Good, I get it, ~silence~ “Did you hear about the graffiti I smeared on their wall” ~big grin~ “Yeah, I even saw a poster of it, it was hilarious, and do you know how you are called now?” “Nope, I logged out after I was done, and just logged in” “Well you know, they call you the smiling Chinese, ~pfftkekeahaha “Well that’s khuhu good” And now with all the tension gone they laughed “So, I have to go, don´t go breaking in another of those houses, each other house is fine but not those” “A moment, how do you know so much?” “I talked with the instructor, he grew friendly with me really quick, I wonder why?” “Well good, now by” said Neuron knowingly *Good to know about those big shots* he thought while a really evil grin was showing on his face Brairan was looking at him during his silent conversation *what is he doing now, I see him speaking, but to whom, and why can`t I hear anything? Now he is laughing really hard, I wonder what happened* Then he noticed the evil grin, and counting two and two together he came to four. *Freya, the tailor is screwed, I don`t want to be his enemy* Naturally Brairan had heard about the robbery, but till now he couldn`t think of Neuron doing it, that was after he showed his expression of course When he finished grinning Neuron went to Warnton. “Could you make me a hook?” “What for?” “To climb walls” was the playful answer “Yeah, can do it, but do you intend on doing with it?” Warnton wasn`t an idiot, so he also figured out what Neuron did in the night, he didn`t want to make his hands dirty. Neuron being on the bold side told him everything. “Well, I want to get back at the tailor, reducing some of the wealth of those so called three families, and also pocketing something for myself” “And if you get caught?” This was said partly about worry for himself, worry about Neuron, but mostly he was worried to not having something to do, and going back to his old and boring life “Don´t worry, they won`t catch me” “You sound rather convinced” “Yeah, I have ways of breaking in that no one else has” REPLACE grin “Yup, that you surely do” “And could you also tell me where the tailor lives” “Yeah, give me your map” he replied marking a house with a bright yellow color. *Now how to pass the time, till I can go out gaining some more loot* End of Chapter 08 Comments are always apreciated :)

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 1 A new adventure<br><br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br>Hello, My name is zed, I am just you average gamer, I am famously known for a very successful gamer in the game Royal Road. I have built a successful city with my guild Team Rocket. It has been months now since the great invasion of Pallet City where I reign as its Lord. I have accumulated over 50 million gold in-game currency, and I have reached level 455. I also gained 4 New skills from my pet angeling who taught it to me, those skills became very valuable to me. These are:<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Safety wall<br><br>Creates a Safety Wall effect in 1 cell. The effect will protect anyone standing on that cell from 1+SkillLV Physical attacks. The attacks do not have to hit to count against the total number of protected hits. Multiple Safety Walls do not stack on one cell.<br>Skills from monsters closer than 4 cells are considered as melee attacks. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Increase agility<br><br>Increases AGI of target by 2+SkillLV and increases movement speed by 25%. Casting is accompanied by the "AGI UP" message over the target. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Resurrection<br><br>Returns a dead character to life with the indicated percentage of HP restored. When used on Undead property monsters, it has a chance to instantly kill or at least damage them. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Energy Coat<br><br>Reduces damage from Physical attacks (punching, weapons and skills using weapons) by draining MP. Damage reduction is better and MP lost is higher with higher MP, according to the following table:<br>% of MP Remaining, % of Damage Reduction, % of MP Used.<br>1-20, 6, 1<br>21-40, 12, 1.5<br>41-60, 18, 2<br>61-80, 25, 2.5<br>81-100, 30, 3 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>I mastered these skills along with my other known skills to Master level expertise. With these skills, I was harder to kill than a cockroach. Couple with my summon Dementors skill and my high level angeling. I was a force to be reckoned with. I was dubbed as an Over Powered character. I don't blame them actually but it is also true that I trained very hard to get them. Also luck played a big role to my success, I would not be here today without the support of James, Jessie and Meowth.<br><br><br>I zed , Master of death (class) , Lord of Pallet City was bored. I went to sleep last night with a simple wish.<br><br>"I wish I have a real life adventure"<br><br>Little did I know that my innocent wish would be granted, just not what I expected it to be.<br><br><br>I woke up in the morning feeling sore all over my body. I also noticed that I'm not in my room anymore or my house for that matter. I yawned, and was surprised, I seem to have my status window from Royal Road. I toogled with it a bit and my equipments materialized in my hand. It felt strange that my status window was materializing in real life, but who am I to complain?, this smells like adventure with my name all over it.<br><br><br> I quickly stored my equipment in my status inventory and did an experiment. I gestured my hand to fire my simplest spell mana bolt. It shocked me to no end that my spell worked. I did a happy dance there, I quickly realized that I have carried over my skills from Royal Road, and from the looks of it, It may include my OP skills and stats, this screamed awesomeness.<br><br><br>I quickly realize that I need to find some sort of civilization. I walked for an hour in a random direction until I saw a fort sized wall with a leaf marking on it. The gates were guarded by 2 guards wearing green flack jackets. I approached them slowly until.<br><br>Guard A : "Halt, what is your business to our village."<br><br>Zed: "I'm sorry, I seem to be lost and your village looks like a comfortable place to get my bearings, may I come in?."<br><br>Guard B: "I don't know, are you a spy?, or are you an enemy ninja?."<br><br>Guard A: "I think your wrong Kotetsu, from his stance he looks like an everyday civilian, and his chakra is average too."<br><br>Kotetsu: "Your right Izumo, plus he's got too many openings and he's very polite. Alright but you can see our Hokage first. He might be able to help you more, plus its a great excuse from his paperwork, I know he hates paperwork."<br><br>Izumo: "Your right Kotetsu , I'll lead him there so that he won't get lost."<br><br>Zed: "Thank you, good sirs."<br><br>Izumo: "wow, he is polite, alright follow me."<br><br>Zed followed Izumo to what looked like a tall tower near the mountains with faces, yes faces. "Some high level sculptor must've carved those faces," zed thought<br><br>Izumo: "alright this is the place, just ask the Secretary to have a meeting with the hokage."<br><br>Zed: "Right, right, quick question, is it normal for you guys to be flying around in rooftops?."<br><br>Izumo: "Why yes, see ya later kid." with that Izumo vanished in a swirl of leaves.<br><br>Zed: "Cool!!, well I better get going."<br><br>Zed went in inside the building which was dubbed hokage building and zed asked the receptionist nicely for a meeting of the Lord Hokage. I waited for 30 minutes and finally it was my turn.<br><br><br>I entered the wooden doors to what reveals to be an office, inside it was an old man wearing a hat in the middle of his desk with tons of paperwork. He motioned over for me to sit and I was able to get a close look at his face, It is a face of a hardened, battle weary warrior veteran and he is projecting a commanding aura.<br>Hokage: "Hello young man, how can I help you today."<br><br>Zed: "Hello good sir, I just arrived in your wonderful village today, because I'm terribly lost and your village seems to be the nearest source of civilization I stumbled across, the kind village guards told me to meet you and they also kindly guided me here. Now can you tell me what village this is and what country?, or if it would be possible that you have a world map?."<br><br>Hokage: "This village is known as Konohagakure or also known as the village hidden in the leaf and we are in Hi no kuni or Fire country, And I do have a world map here young man."<br><br>Zed: "Ahh, thank you kindly."<br><br>Zed: "Hmm, This seems to be a different geography from where I am from and with that I can conclude that I'm in a different world or a different dimension." Zed thought.<br><br>Zed: "Ahh, thank you good sir , that really helped, I am indeed very far away from home and now onto my next question, How do you apply for a citizenship here?."<br><br>Hokage: "Ahh, just sign these papers here, you will need to stay here for half a year to gain full citizenship."<br><br>Zed: "Oh by that way, do you know where the bank and the real estate agency is?."<br><br>Hokage: "I'll send one of my Anbu ninja to help escort you."<br><br>Zed: "Thank you kindly, by the way my name is Zed no last name."<br><br>Hokage: "My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen or Sarutobi for short, it was nice meeting you , young man. On a side note, do you want to be a ninja?."<br><br>Zed: "I'll have to respectfully decline Sarutobi-san (I think these people are Japanese so I decided to add suffixes ) [zed thought inwardly], That jobs seems to need alot of commitment and I'll be forced to kill enemies as I advance in my later years of service if I take that job."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Hmm, how insightful of you young man, most people assume it's about saving princesses and ninja going hero. pity though, you would have made a fine ninja."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Anbu!!", a masked ninja appeared.<br><br>Sarutobi: "Please escort Zed-san to the bank and the real estate agency."<br><br>With that, the Anbu escorted me to the nearest bank and I exchanged my 50k Gold coins for the local currency, Surprisingly it was worth alot of money and I gained 500k Ryo. The staff quickly put the money in a brief case and I asked if there was a private room I could use. They guided me to the next office and I asked the Anbu to wait for me outside for 5 minutes. I then stored the money in my status inventory, I walked out outside with a surprised Anbu and the ninja muttered something about storage scrolls, We then went to the real estate agency. I browsed at their selection and chose a Mansion with 1 master bedroom and 6 large bedrooms with 4 large bathrooms. We then went to check the house and I was satisfied with it, surprisingly the house has many furnishings with a working refrigerator and I paid the the real estate guy with 250k Ryo. I thanked the real estate guy and the Anbu ninja, and they left. I rested for 1 hour and I went to a restaurant to eat, after that I did some grocery shopping, clothes shopping and went home. I called my angeling to sleep with beside me to act as my guard. I'm not crazy enough to trust this ninjas, Better be safe than sorry.<br><br>I woke up next morning refreshed , I cooked some breakfast and shared it with angeling, I then took a bath (it was party of the package deal that it came with free working water system and electricity for a month and after that they would send me the bill.) I changed to my new clothes and dismissed my angeling , I then decided to explore the town and buy some books. I managed to find some books at Higurashi's Ninja toolshop ( Tenten's shop ) I bought history of the leaf village book, introduction to chakra, different chakra exercise, an academy guide to ninjutsu and an introduction to fuinjutsu. I then went home to read my new books.<br>I read them over and finished them with my system popping that I gained some wis and int stats. I noticed something though, it seemed only I can see and hear my system status window. I decided to try my hand at chakra, surprisingly it was easy, my mana was considered the spiritual half of my chakra that I had plenty of and my physical aspect of chakra was low. Not surprising seing as I have average str stat, well it was 100 str and I was doing some chakra exercise, mostly leaf sticking exercise. <br><br><br>A month passed and I mastered the art of tree walking and water walking, I also mastered the academy 3 Justus which were Henge( transformation), kawarimi( substitution ) and bunshin jutsu ( clone technique ). I do so love the the kawarimi, that I mastered it to such a degree that instead of logs I substituted it with a straw dummy out of nowhwere. I was able to advance my fuinjutsu where I can now make a storage scrolls and my own exploding notes. I decided to visit the hokage and ask if I could commision a private tutor for mostly tajutsu ( hand to hand combat). He said that he had the perfect person in mind and will send the person to me the next day at my new residence.<br><br>Next day I woke up early eager to meet with my private tutor. I cooked some delicious breakfast and since my cooking skill carried over from Royal road, they were delicious. A knock came to my door and I opened said door to reveal a middle aged man, well built and muscular sporting a bowl style haircut, with a bushy eyebrow, really bushy eyebrow.<br><br>Ninja: "My name is my Maito Guy!, and I will be your tutor from now on Zed-san." Guy said with his nice guy pose and with his teeth shining.<br><br>Zed: "What have I gotten myself into?." I thought dreadfully.<br><br><br><br>Hurray!! for new cross-over, if anyone can find a nice jutsu library website, please let me know.<br><br>Sincerely,<br><br>zed019 </div>

Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 1 A new adventure Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Hello, My name is zed, I am just you average gamer, I am famously known for a very successful gamer in the game Royal Road. I have built a successful city with my guild Team Rocket. It has been months now since the great invasion of Pallet City where I reign as its Lord. I have accumulated over 50 million gold in-game currency, and I have reached level 455. I also gained 4 New skills from my pet angeling who taught it to me, those skills became very valuable to me. These are: | * Safety wallCreates a Safety Wall effect in 1 cell. The effect will protect anyone standing on that cell from 1+SkillLV Physical attacks. The attacks do not have to hit to count against the total number of protected hits. Multiple Safety Walls do not stack on one cell.Skills from monsters closer than 4 cells are considered as melee attacks. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Increase agilityIncreases AGI of target by 2+SkillLV and increases movement speed by 25%. Casting is accompanied by the "AGI UP" message over the target. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * ResurrectionReturns a dead character to life with the indicated percentage of HP restored. When used on Undead property monsters, it has a chance to instantly kill or at least damage them. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Energy CoatReduces damage from Physical attacks (punching, weapons and skills using weapons) by draining MP. Damage reduction is better and MP lost is higher with higher MP, according to the following table:% of MP Remaining, % of Damage Reduction, % of MP Used.1-20, 6, 121-40, 12, 1.541-60, 18, 261-80, 25, 2.581-100, 30, 3 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | I mastered these skills along with my other known skills to Master level expertise. With these skills, I was harder to kill than a cockroach. Couple with my summon Dementors skill and my high level angeling. I was a force to be reckoned with. I was dubbed as an Over Powered character. I don't blame them actually but it is also true that I trained very hard to get them. Also luck played a big role to my success, I would not be here today without the support of James, Jessie and Meowth. I zed , Master of death (class) , Lord of Pallet City was bored. I went to sleep last night with a simple wish. "I wish I have a real life adventure" Little did I know that my innocent wish would be granted, just not what I expected it to be. I woke up in the morning feeling sore all over my body. I also noticed that I'm not in my room anymore or my house for that matter. I yawned, and was surprised, I seem to have my status window from Royal Road. I toogled with it a bit and my equipments materialized in my hand. It felt strange that my status window was materializing in real life, but who am I to complain?, this smells like adventure with my name all over it. I quickly stored my equipment in my status inventory and did an experiment. I gestured my hand to fire my simplest spell mana bolt. It shocked me to no end that my spell worked. I did a happy dance there, I quickly realized that I have carried over my skills from Royal Road, and from the looks of it, It may include my OP skills and stats, this screamed awesomeness. I quickly realize that I need to find some sort of civilization. I walked for an hour in a random direction until I saw a fort sized wall with a leaf marking on it. The gates were guarded by 2 guards wearing green flack jackets. I approached them slowly until. Guard A : "Halt, what is your business to our village." Zed: "I'm sorry, I seem to be lost and your village looks like a comfortable place to get my bearings, may I come in?." Guard B: "I don't know, are you a spy?, or are you an enemy ninja?." Guard A: "I think your wrong Kotetsu, from his stance he looks like an everyday civilian, and his chakra is average too." Kotetsu: "Your right Izumo, plus he's got too many openings and he's very polite. Alright but you can see our Hokage first. He might be able to help you more, plus its a great excuse from his paperwork, I know he hates paperwork." Izumo: "Your right Kotetsu , I'll lead him there so that he won't get lost." Zed: "Thank you, good sirs." Izumo: "wow, he is polite, alright follow me." Zed followed Izumo to what looked like a tall tower near the mountains with faces, yes faces. "Some high level sculptor must've carved those faces," zed thought Izumo: "alright this is the place, just ask the Secretary to have a meeting with the hokage." Zed: "Right, right, quick question, is it normal for you guys to be flying around in rooftops?." Izumo: "Why yes, see ya later kid." with that Izumo vanished in a swirl of leaves. Zed: "Cool!!, well I better get going." Zed went in inside the building which was dubbed hokage building and zed asked the receptionist nicely for a meeting of the Lord Hokage. I waited for 30 minutes and finally it was my turn. I entered the wooden doors to what reveals to be an office, inside it was an old man wearing a hat in the middle of his desk with tons of paperwork. He motioned over for me to sit and I was able to get a close look at his face, It is a face of a hardened, battle weary warrior veteran and he is projecting a commanding aura. Hokage: "Hello young man, how can I help you today." Zed: "Hello good sir, I just arrived in your wonderful village today, because I'm terribly lost and your village seems to be the nearest source of civilization I stumbled across, the kind village guards told me to meet you and they also kindly guided me here. Now can you tell me what village this is and what country?, or if it would be possible that you have a world map?." Hokage: "This village is known as Konohagakure or also known as the village hidden in the leaf and we are in Hi no kuni or Fire country, And I do have a world map here young man." Zed: "Ahh, thank you kindly." Zed: "Hmm, This seems to be a different geography from where I am from and with that I can conclude that I'm in a different world or a different dimension." Zed thought. Zed: "Ahh, thank you good sir , that really helped, I am indeed very far away from home and now onto my next question, How do you apply for a citizenship here?." Hokage: "Ahh, just sign these papers here, you will need to stay here for half a year to gain full citizenship." Zed: "Oh by that way, do you know where the bank and the real estate agency is?." Hokage: "I'll send one of my Anbu ninja to help escort you." Zed: "Thank you kindly, by the way my name is Zed no last name." Hokage: "My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen or Sarutobi for short, it was nice meeting you , young man. On a side note, do you want to be a ninja?." Zed: "I'll have to respectfully decline Sarutobi-san (I think these people are Japanese so I decided to add suffixes ) [zed thought inwardly], That jobs seems to need alot of commitment and I'll be forced to kill enemies as I advance in my later years of service if I take that job." Sarutobi: "Hmm, how insightful of you young man, most people assume it's about saving princesses and ninja going hero. pity though, you would have made a fine ninja." Sarutobi: "Anbu!!", a masked ninja appeared. Sarutobi: "Please escort Zed-san to the bank and the real estate agency." With that, the Anbu escorted me to the nearest bank and I exchanged my 50k Gold coins for the local currency, Surprisingly it was worth alot of money and I gained 500k Ryo. The staff quickly put the money in a brief case and I asked if there was a private room I could use. They guided me to the next office and I asked the Anbu to wait for me outside for 5 minutes. I then stored the money in my status inventory, I walked out outside with a surprised Anbu and the ninja muttered something about storage scrolls, We then went to the real estate agency. I browsed at their selection and chose a Mansion with 1 master bedroom and 6 large bedrooms with 4 large bathrooms. We then went to check the house and I was satisfied with it, surprisingly the house has many furnishings with a working refrigerator and I paid the the real estate guy with 250k Ryo. I thanked the real estate guy and the Anbu ninja, and they left. I rested for 1 hour and I went to a restaurant to eat, after that I did some grocery shopping, clothes shopping and went home. I called my angeling to sleep with beside me to act as my guard. I'm not crazy enough to trust this ninjas, Better be safe than sorry. I woke up next morning refreshed , I cooked some breakfast and shared it with angeling, I then took a bath (it was party of the package deal that it came with free working water system and electricity for a month and after that they would send me the bill.) I changed to my new clothes and dismissed my angeling , I then decided to explore the town and buy some books. I managed to find some books at Higurashi's Ninja toolshop ( Tenten's shop ) I bought history of the leaf village book, introduction to chakra, different chakra exercise, an academy guide to ninjutsu and an introduction to fuinjutsu. I then went home to read my new books. I read them over and finished them with my system popping that I gained some wis and int stats. I noticed something though, it seemed only I can see and hear my system status window. I decided to try my hand at chakra, surprisingly it was easy, my mana was considered the spiritual half of my chakra that I had plenty of and my physical aspect of chakra was low. Not surprising seing as I have average str stat, well it was 100 str and I was doing some chakra exercise, mostly leaf sticking exercise. A month passed and I mastered the art of tree walking and water walking, I also mastered the academy 3 Justus which were Henge( transformation), kawarimi( substitution ) and bunshin jutsu ( clone technique ). I do so love the the kawarimi, that I mastered it to such a degree that instead of logs I substituted it with a straw dummy out of nowhwere. I was able to advance my fuinjutsu where I can now make a storage scrolls and my own exploding notes. I decided to visit the hokage and ask if I could commision a private tutor for mostly tajutsu ( hand to hand combat). He said that he had the perfect person in mind and will send the person to me the next day at my new residence. Next day I woke up early eager to meet with my private tutor. I cooked some delicious breakfast and since my cooking skill carried over from Royal road, they were delicious. A knock came to my door and I opened said door to reveal a middle aged man, well built and muscular sporting a bowl style haircut, with a bushy eyebrow, really bushy eyebrow. Ninja: "My name is my Maito Guy!, and I will be your tutor from now on Zed-san." Guy said with his nice guy pose and with his teeth shining. Zed: "What have I gotten myself into?." I thought dreadfully. Hurray!! for new cross-over, if anyone can find a nice jutsu library website, please let me know. Sincerely, zed019

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 8 The Unexpected Twist<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br>Zed's POV:<br><br><br>I seem to have given Kurenai-san the impression that I'm funny, I don't really know, maybe it is an inside joke?. Hmm, possibly, Maybe it's a hit and miss kind of thing. It's hard to be a comedian, since when did I become a comedian again?. Oh right, after Kurenai-san pointed out that I'm funny for having a sarcastic personality. Oh well, at least somebody's happy. I was pondering these thoughts while eating at a restaurant, Hours passed by and I think I saw Kurenai-san enter this establishment. She saw me, I hope she got that funnybone out of her system.<br><br>Kurenai: "Hello again zed-san."<br><br>Zed: "Hello Kurenai-san, how did it go?."<br><br>Kurenai: "Oh, it seems a hit, zed-san, only those who knows Guy-san and Lee can get the joke, and that is mostly all the villagers and ninja's in this village."<br><br>Zed: "Ahh, I see."<br><br>Kurenai: "By the way, I never did get the answer to the side-project of yours, let me guess, the hurdle was too high?. I would not blame you if you quit half-way to it." Kurenai said in a knowing voice.<br><br>Zed: "Actually I finished it ages ago."<br><br>Kurenai: "Really?, did it stop them from using the sunset no jutsu ever again?."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, but only whenever I'm around, The shock of my completed jutsu was effective, but they don't remember it to be permanent, they only get the feeling of dire consequences when they do it near me."<br><br>Kurenai: "How did they ended up like that?, What went wrong with it?, did it only suppress their instinct to do it near you since that jutsu is only associated to you?."<br><br>Zed: "Oh, they only seem to affect me, The jutsu was so effective that I put Guy and his team incapacitated. Guy, and Lee were hysterical or mentally unstable, while Neji and Tenten where put into a comma."<br><br>Kurenai: "Impossible!, that rumor was about you?, it only lasted 3 days for that rumor to stop as Guy's team was seen fit as a fiddle the very next day that rumor started, and the rumor became baseless and died shortly just as quick is it started."<br><br>Zed: "Hmm, Someone healed them apparently, with skills that rivals Tsunade. Who healed them though is up for debate."<br><br>Kurenai: "Ahh, but wait If you did that jutsu that could incapacitate a veteran Jonin and his team, It would definitely cause an international uproar, even if someone managed to do damage control by fixing Guy's team."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, your right about that, the hokage made another damage control method that could both salvage and turn around that whole fiasco."<br><br>Kurenai: "I'm curious, what did the hokage do?, and why do you know so much about it."<br><br>Zed: "I'm surprised you haven't noticed, The only other thing the Hokage could do, is to turn the said person into a ninja of the leaf village, therefore the strength that caused severe damage to a veteran jonin shinobi and his team, becomes the Villages Power that can inflict damage to potential enemy ninja teams, metaphorically speaking."<br><br>Kurenai: "Impossible, that would make you a ninja." said in a shocked voice.<br><br>Zed: "I'm shocked that you haven't notice my Hitae ite on my shoulder Kurenai-san."<br><br>Kurenai: "Gasp!!, your right, I was to busy laughing at your jokes, OMG!! we're those part of your secret weapon really?, it certainly was effective."<br><br>Zed: "No, that was me trying to strike a conversation with you, but as you have noticed, certain quirks of my teacher seems to have rubbed off on me. Be thankful, I did not follow their hairstyle and facial eyebrow sense of style, and especially those Mystical green spandex jumpsuit."<br><br>Kurenai: "Gasp!!, your right, I'm thankful that you only acquired their quirks that has a good side effects on you, especially that smile. God forbid you started wearing those green spandex jumpsuits too."<br><br>Zed: "Quite, I was barely able to avoid wearing that mystical object when Guy-sensei wanted to officially induct me to be his second apprentice."<br><br>Kurenai: "Luck seems to be on your side zed-san."<br><br>Zed: "Quite, with my other quirkiness I even gained a brother through a strange and convoluted means."<br><br>Kurenai: "I'm curious, in what way did you gain a brother?, what method."<br><br>Zed: "The answer is quite simple really, you girls do it to guys you like."<br><br>Kurenai: "You mean."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, through food."<br><br>Kurenai: "That is unusual, well, it has been nice talking with you zed-san, I hope we meet again soon."<br><br>Zed: "See you soon as well Kurenai-san, I have to go now, I have to prepare my house to receive my new brother who will live with me."<br><br>I headed home that night and prepared my house to receive a special household member. I woke up the next morning, did some light exercise, took a bath, and finally used my kagebunshin to prepare a feast for Naruto. I then heard a knock on the door.<br><br>Zed: "I'll be right there in a minute." opens the door.<br><br>Zed: "Why hello there Hokage-sama and Naruto, I'm glad you could make it. Come in, I made a feast just for this special occasion." Zed led the group inside the dining area.<br><br>Zed: "I'm assuming that hokage-sama is here about the land of Waves mission?."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Yes that's a part of it, another part of why I visited you here personally, is to congratulate you on your success as a comedian, God, I haven't laughed like that in ages, I almost died of laughter, first that jutsu, and now this, are you trying to kill me zed-san.?"<br><br>Naruto: "Nooo!, you can't die yet Jiji, not untill I take the Hokage position from you."<br><br>Everyone in the room sweatdropped.<br><br>Sarutobi: "Anyways, the main reason I'm here is to make sure that you were sincere to Naruto, and seing the preperations you made, I can only assume that what you said to Naruto was genuine."<br><br>Zed: "Hokage-sama, I assure you my actions are genuine towards my ototo, I can see that he deserves a chance of happiness, and I too wanted a family member."<br><br>Sarutobi: "I see, in that case there is something you must know. What I'm about to reveal to you is an S-rank village secret, punishable by death if you tell people without my permission and Naruto's consent. You see years ago our village was attacked by a biju, a biju is a being of mass chakra and harbingers of destruction. One of the biju that attacked our village is one of the strongest, the "Kyubi no Yoko". We lost half of our forces that day, and it weren't for the fourth hokage, this village would not be standing at all. He used a forbidden sealing technique that cost his life in exchange for summoning a death-god to seal the beast into a newborn baby, and that baby is Naruto Uzumaki............"<br><br>Zed: "????, was there some kind of reaction your waiting for Hokage-sama?. I know Naruto is a good kid and not some monster that your villagers portray him to be, You may or may not know this, but I started studying the art of sealing myself or fuinjutsu and I am an advanced practitioner of it, if I say so myself. I understand the difference between a scroll and the sealed kunai within the scroll are two different things."<br><br>Sarutobi: "I'm glad, You pass my test zed-san, If I thought that you were only using naruto for your own gains, I would have killed you on the spot."<br><br>Zed: "I would do the same too Hokage-sama, from what Naruto told me, You are one of his precious people he wants to protect, and one he considers family. Family always sticks together, and one does not let any harm to one's precious loved ones, and one must do all we can to insure the happiness of the person we want to protect, even if we dirty our hands." said with conviction.<br><br>Sarutobi: "Now that I know what your true intentions are, I heard from naruto that you wanted to be real blood brothers, and become real siblings."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, but one can only dream hokage-sama, one can only dream."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Well why don't I grant that dream for you."<br><br>Zed: "What!!??, please tell me your joking Hokage-sama."<br>Sarutobi: "I'm afraid not, you see, we of the Sarutobi clan have a really old ancient technique that lets people become real live relatives, Its called the blood adoption ritual."<br><br>Sarutobi: "The ritual literally makes the adopting recepients become related by<br>blood. Depending on how powerful the recipients are, the parties involved would share the physical appearance they change into, and also share their abilities in rare cases. Their names will also show up on the parties birth certificate."<br><br>Sarutobi: "So zed-san, Naruto-kun do you want to go with the ritual?."<br><br>Zed: "I would be honored Sarutobi-san."<br><br>Sarutobi: "How about you Naruto?."<br><br>Naruto: "Are you kidding me?, I'm all for it Jiji, Now I can have a real<br> nii-san datebayo!."<br><br>Sarutobi: "We will need an empty room with enough space for the ritual."<br><br>Zed: "Ahh, we can use one of the empty guest rooms."<br><br>We all went into the the guest room and prepared for the ritual. Sarutobi used some ink and brush to draw some complicated runes on the floor, He also cut Naruto's and my wrist to get some blood, and he started mixing them with questionable ingredients, and divided it in two cups. He gave one to each of us.<br><br>Sarutobi: "Now both of you stand in the middle of the circle, and when I say drink the cup , drink it simultaneously."<br><br> "Okay." Both Naruto and I said simultaneously.<br><br>Sarutobi: "Mumble, mumble, mumble, Oh God's above, May you bless these two souls who want to become a true family, May their journey bear fruit, and may your blessings bring them happiness,<br>Secret art: Blood Ritual no Jutsu!, now drink the cup."<br><br>We quickly drank the cup and the runes started glowing. Excruciating pain filled my body, I could feel my body transforming into something, deep level of pain overwhelmed my senses, and finally I passed out.<br><br>I woke up hours later feeling sore throughout my body, I noticed Naruto sitting in a chair near me with Sarutobi talking about something.<br><br>Zed: "I see you look the same Naruto, I'm sorry the ritual failed."<br><br>Naruto: "What are you talking about nii-san?, the ritual worked, here take a look at yourself." Naruto handed me a mirror.<br><br>I took a look at my reflection, and I see a person I don't recognize. My tame black hair became a spiky sunkist blond hair like naruto's, and my black eyes became cerulian blue like naruto's, My body still feels the same, except I seem to have more chakra.<br><br>Zed: "Wow I almost don't recognize myself."<br><br>Naruto: "You see nii-san, the ritual worked, now we really are brothers. I just wished I got something from you, I don't feel any different."<br><br>Zed: "Naruto, I want you to try something, I want you to gather as much chakra in your hand, and think of a person you want to heal or get better. Imagine yourself trying to heal, well, yourself, and say healing hand."<br><br>Naruto: "Well okay nii-san."<br><br>I can see Naruto trying to gather chakra in his hand.<br><br>Naruto: "Healing Hand!!."<br><br>Naruto was ingulfed in a bright white light, and as soon as it disappeared, his complexion was healthier now from our earlier debacle from the ritual.<br><br>Naruto: "I feel much better now, nii-san, what was that?."<br><br>Zed: "Well it seems some of my abilities got shared with you during the ritual, and finding out which ones will be a surprise."<br><br>Sarutobi: "That's great you two, you both got something from each<br> other."<br><br>Zed: "Thank you very much Sarutobi-san, can I ask you a favor?, can you put a privacy seal around this room, there's something I want to talk about with you two."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Your welcome Zed-san, and as for your request, its as good as done." makes hand seals for the privacy jutsu.<br><br>Zed: "Well, where to start, I come from another world, or a dimension similar to this one."<br><br>Sarutobi: "What!!??."<br><br>Naruto: "OMG!!, my nii-san's an Alien."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, I would probably fall into that category to some degree, but let me tell you where I am from. I came from a world where humans didn't have chakra, and people rely on technologies that it advanced to a frightening degree of development."<br><br>Naruto: "But nii-san, you have chakra."<br><br>Zed: "I'm getting there, You see our technology was so advance that we have carriages that don't need a horse to run, and we have giant metal birds that carry people across the country in a mere hours. Our greatest achievement was the creation of a World within a world. let me clarify this for you. We have created an artificial world where we people access it from our house. These artificial worlds are like the real ones with one exception. You can become someone else, and use a variety of abilities that seem limitless , just like your jutsu here. I was a very well known there, and you could say that I run my own village there, and quite successful at that. We survived countless attacks from many enemies, and we expanded our village that we became a famous city."<br><br>Naruto: "Wow! my nii-san's a kage!!." said in an awed voice.<br><br>Zed: "Why thank you Naruto, now where was I, Even though our abilities in this artificial world are great, we don't have that abilities in real life."<br><br>Zed: "One day when I fell asleep, I woke up in the outskirts of Konoha, and I seem to gained my abilities from that artificial world that carried over to this one along with chakra. One of those abilities is the one I just showed you."<br><br>Naruto: "Wow!! that means my nii-san is not just a super awesome Medic, but also great warrior."<br><br>Zed: "We'll not a warrior, but a strong magician."<br><br>Naruto: "Sugoi!!, my nii-san's a magician."<br><br>Zed: "That's just a term we use for people who rely more on jutsu's than taijutsu."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Ahh, I see, I assume one of these abilities was the one you used to ressurect the dead, and its not just a false revival, but a true revival without the use of a human sacrifice?."<br><br>Zed: "Why yes Hokage-sama , along with my other abilities that I have kept hidden, since such information can be deadly if it falls into enemy hands."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Ahh, so true zed-san, with that little show you did at the wave, many enemy shinobi would have heard of it right by now, and your bounty in the bingo book would make you an easy target."<br><br>Zed: "Oh, they are in for a surprise Hokage-sama. They only think that I'm a medic, and has no fighting repertoire of jutsu's that can harm them, but they are in for a nasty surprise."<br><br>Sarutobi: "That's reassuring Zed-san, I have to go now and let you two celebrate your new siblinghood."<br><br>Sarutobi: "See you soon Zed-san, or should I say, Zed Uzumaki."<br><br>The hokage quickly left with shunshin and went to his office. He pondered on the things that happened today and one thing came to his mind.<br><br>Sarutobi: "I'm too old for this shit!."<br><br>Meanwhile back at the New Uzumaki's house, both siblings can be seen eating the feast, and both fell asleep peacefully from having eaten too much food.<br><br>Zed never did notice a new pop-up in his window.<br><br><br>.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> New Traits:<br><br>You have become an Uzumaki:<br><br>-Some of your traits are now shared through the adoption ritual with your other party.<br>-Your Chakra has increased tenfold.<br>-Your stamina has increased tenfold.<br>-Your life force and Longevity has increased tenfold.<br>-Your regeneration has increased tenfold.<br>- You have gained some sensory abilities. [ you can now sense chakra signatures 15 meters around you, distance increase when level is <br>higher ]. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><br><br>Author's Note:<br><br>I was supposed to release this chapter tomorrow, but it sounded so good that I had to share it immediately.<br><br><br>Happy Reading,<br><br>zed019 </div>

Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 8 The Unexpected Twist Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Zed's POV: I seem to have given Kurenai-san the impression that I'm funny, I don't really know, maybe it is an inside joke?. Hmm, possibly, Maybe it's a hit and miss kind of thing. It's hard to be a comedian, since when did I become a comedian again?. Oh right, after Kurenai-san pointed out that I'm funny for having a sarcastic personality. Oh well, at least somebody's happy. I was pondering these thoughts while eating at a restaurant, Hours passed by and I think I saw Kurenai-san enter this establishment. She saw me, I hope she got that funnybone out of her system. Kurenai: "Hello again zed-san." Zed: "Hello Kurenai-san, how did it go?." Kurenai: "Oh, it seems a hit, zed-san, only those who knows Guy-san and Lee can get the joke, and that is mostly all the villagers and ninja's in this village." Zed: "Ahh, I see." Kurenai: "By the way, I never did get the answer to the side-project of yours, let me guess, the hurdle was too high?. I would not blame you if you quit half-way to it." Kurenai said in a knowing voice. Zed: "Actually I finished it ages ago." Kurenai: "Really?, did it stop them from using the sunset no jutsu ever again?." Zed: "Yes, but only whenever I'm around, The shock of my completed jutsu was effective, but they don't remember it to be permanent, they only get the feeling of dire consequences when they do it near me." Kurenai: "How did they ended up like that?, What went wrong with it?, did it only suppress their instinct to do it near you since that jutsu is only associated to you?." Zed: "Oh, they only seem to affect me, The jutsu was so effective that I put Guy and his team incapacitated. Guy, and Lee were hysterical or mentally unstable, while Neji and Tenten where put into a comma." Kurenai: "Impossible!, that rumor was about you?, it only lasted 3 days for that rumor to stop as Guy's team was seen fit as a fiddle the very next day that rumor started, and the rumor became baseless and died shortly just as quick is it started." Zed: "Hmm, Someone healed them apparently, with skills that rivals Tsunade. Who healed them though is up for debate." Kurenai: "Ahh, but wait If you did that jutsu that could incapacitate a veteran Jonin and his team, It would definitely cause an international uproar, even if someone managed to do damage control by fixing Guy's team." Zed: "Yes, your right about that, the hokage made another damage control method that could both salvage and turn around that whole fiasco." Kurenai: "I'm curious, what did the hokage do?, and why do you know so much about it." Zed: "I'm surprised you haven't noticed, The only other thing the Hokage could do, is to turn the said person into a ninja of the leaf village, therefore the strength that caused severe damage to a veteran jonin shinobi and his team, becomes the Villages Power that can inflict damage to potential enemy ninja teams, metaphorically speaking." Kurenai: "Impossible, that would make you a ninja." said in a shocked voice. Zed: "I'm shocked that you haven't notice my Hitae ite on my shoulder Kurenai-san." Kurenai: "Gasp!!, your right, I was to busy laughing at your jokes, OMG!! we're those part of your secret weapon really?, it certainly was effective." Zed: "No, that was me trying to strike a conversation with you, but as you have noticed, certain quirks of my teacher seems to have rubbed off on me. Be thankful, I did not follow their hairstyle and facial eyebrow sense of style, and especially those Mystical green spandex jumpsuit." Kurenai: "Gasp!!, your right, I'm thankful that you only acquired their quirks that has a good side effects on you, especially that smile. God forbid you started wearing those green spandex jumpsuits too." Zed: "Quite, I was barely able to avoid wearing that mystical object when Guy-sensei wanted to officially induct me to be his second apprentice." Kurenai: "Luck seems to be on your side zed-san." Zed: "Quite, with my other quirkiness I even gained a brother through a strange and convoluted means." Kurenai: "I'm curious, in what way did you gain a brother?, what method." Zed: "The answer is quite simple really, you girls do it to guys you like." Kurenai: "You mean." Zed: "Yes, through food." Kurenai: "That is unusual, well, it has been nice talking with you zed-san, I hope we meet again soon." Zed: "See you soon as well Kurenai-san, I have to go now, I have to prepare my house to receive my new brother who will live with me." I headed home that night and prepared my house to receive a special household member. I woke up the next morning, did some light exercise, took a bath, and finally used my kagebunshin to prepare a feast for Naruto. I then heard a knock on the door. Zed: "I'll be right there in a minute." opens the door. Zed: "Why hello there Hokage-sama and Naruto, I'm glad you could make it. Come in, I made a feast just for this special occasion." Zed led the group inside the dining area. Zed: "I'm assuming that hokage-sama is here about the land of Waves mission?." Sarutobi: "Yes that's a part of it, another part of why I visited you here personally, is to congratulate you on your success as a comedian, God, I haven't laughed like that in ages, I almost died of laughter, first that jutsu, and now this, are you trying to kill me zed-san.?" Naruto: "Nooo!, you can't die yet Jiji, not untill I take the Hokage position from you." Everyone in the room sweatdropped. Sarutobi: "Anyways, the main reason I'm here is to make sure that you were sincere to Naruto, and seing the preperations you made, I can only assume that what you said to Naruto was genuine." Zed: "Hokage-sama, I assure you my actions are genuine towards my ototo, I can see that he deserves a chance of happiness, and I too wanted a family member." Sarutobi: "I see, in that case there is something you must know. What I'm about to reveal to you is an S-rank village secret, punishable by death if you tell people without my permission and Naruto's consent. You see years ago our village was attacked by a biju, a biju is a being of mass chakra and harbingers of destruction. One of the biju that attacked our village is one of the strongest, the "Kyubi no Yoko". We lost half of our forces that day, and it weren't for the fourth hokage, this village would not be standing at all. He used a forbidden sealing technique that cost his life in exchange for summoning a death-god to seal the beast into a newborn baby, and that baby is Naruto Uzumaki............" Zed: "????, was there some kind of reaction your waiting for Hokage-sama?. I know Naruto is a good kid and not some monster that your villagers portray him to be, You may or may not know this, but I started studying the art of sealing myself or fuinjutsu and I am an advanced practitioner of it, if I say so myself. I understand the difference between a scroll and the sealed kunai within the scroll are two different things." Sarutobi: "I'm glad, You pass my test zed-san, If I thought that you were only using naruto for your own gains, I would have killed you on the spot." Zed: "I would do the same too Hokage-sama, from what Naruto told me, You are one of his precious people he wants to protect, and one he considers family. Family always sticks together, and one does not let any harm to one's precious loved ones, and one must do all we can to insure the happiness of the person we want to protect, even if we dirty our hands." said with conviction. Sarutobi: "Now that I know what your true intentions are, I heard from naruto that you wanted to be real blood brothers, and become real siblings." Zed: "Yes, but one can only dream hokage-sama, one can only dream." Sarutobi: "Well why don't I grant that dream for you." Zed: "What!!??, please tell me your joking Hokage-sama." Sarutobi: "I'm afraid not, you see, we of the Sarutobi clan have a really old ancient technique that lets people become real live relatives, Its called the blood adoption ritual." Sarutobi: "The ritual literally makes the adopting recepients become related by blood. Depending on how powerful the recipients are, the parties involved would share the physical appearance they change into, and also share their abilities in rare cases. Their names will also show up on the parties birth certificate." Sarutobi: "So zed-san, Naruto-kun do you want to go with the ritual?." Zed: "I would be honored Sarutobi-san." Sarutobi: "How about you Naruto?." Naruto: "Are you kidding me?, I'm all for it Jiji, Now I can have a real nii-san datebayo!." Sarutobi: "We will need an empty room with enough space for the ritual." Zed: "Ahh, we can use one of the empty guest rooms." We all went into the the guest room and prepared for the ritual. Sarutobi used some ink and brush to draw some complicated runes on the floor, He also cut Naruto's and my wrist to get some blood, and he started mixing them with questionable ingredients, and divided it in two cups. He gave one to each of us. Sarutobi: "Now both of you stand in the middle of the circle, and when I say drink the cup , drink it simultaneously." "Okay." Both Naruto and I said simultaneously. Sarutobi: "Mumble, mumble, mumble, Oh God's above, May you bless these two souls who want to become a true family, May their journey bear fruit, and may your blessings bring them happiness, Secret art: Blood Ritual no Jutsu!, now drink the cup." We quickly drank the cup and the runes started glowing. Excruciating pain filled my body, I could feel my body transforming into something, deep level of pain overwhelmed my senses, and finally I passed out. I woke up hours later feeling sore throughout my body, I noticed Naruto sitting in a chair near me with Sarutobi talking about something. Zed: "I see you look the same Naruto, I'm sorry the ritual failed." Naruto: "What are you talking about nii-san?, the ritual worked, here take a look at yourself." Naruto handed me a mirror. I took a look at my reflection, and I see a person I don't recognize. My tame black hair became a spiky sunkist blond hair like naruto's, and my black eyes became cerulian blue like naruto's, My body still feels the same, except I seem to have more chakra. Zed: "Wow I almost don't recognize myself." Naruto: "You see nii-san, the ritual worked, now we really are brothers. I just wished I got something from you, I don't feel any different." Zed: "Naruto, I want you to try something, I want you to gather as much chakra in your hand, and think of a person you want to heal or get better. Imagine yourself trying to heal, well, yourself, and say healing hand." Naruto: "Well okay nii-san." I can see Naruto trying to gather chakra in his hand. Naruto: "Healing Hand!!." Naruto was ingulfed in a bright white light, and as soon as it disappeared, his complexion was healthier now from our earlier debacle from the ritual. Naruto: "I feel much better now, nii-san, what was that?." Zed: "Well it seems some of my abilities got shared with you during the ritual, and finding out which ones will be a surprise." Sarutobi: "That's great you two, you both got something from each other." Zed: "Thank you very much Sarutobi-san, can I ask you a favor?, can you put a privacy seal around this room, there's something I want to talk about with you two." Sarutobi: "Your welcome Zed-san, and as for your request, its as good as done." makes hand seals for the privacy jutsu. Zed: "Well, where to start, I come from another world, or a dimension similar to this one." Sarutobi: "What!!??." Naruto: "OMG!!, my nii-san's an Alien." Zed: "Yes, I would probably fall into that category to some degree, but let me tell you where I am from. I came from a world where humans didn't have chakra, and people rely on technologies that it advanced to a frightening degree of development." Naruto: "But nii-san, you have chakra." Zed: "I'm getting there, You see our technology was so advance that we have carriages that don't need a horse to run, and we have giant metal birds that carry people across the country in a mere hours. Our greatest achievement was the creation of a World within a world. let me clarify this for you. We have created an artificial world where we people access it from our house. These artificial worlds are like the real ones with one exception. You can become someone else, and use a variety of abilities that seem limitless , just like your jutsu here. I was a very well known there, and you could say that I run my own village there, and quite successful at that. We survived countless attacks from many enemies, and we expanded our village that we became a famous city." Naruto: "Wow! my nii-san's a kage!!." said in an awed voice. Zed: "Why thank you Naruto, now where was I, Even though our abilities in this artificial world are great, we don't have that abilities in real life." Zed: "One day when I fell asleep, I woke up in the outskirts of Konoha, and I seem to gained my abilities from that artificial world that carried over to this one along with chakra. One of those abilities is the one I just showed you." Naruto: "Wow!! that means my nii-san is not just a super awesome Medic, but also great warrior." Zed: "We'll not a warrior, but a strong magician." Naruto: "Sugoi!!, my nii-san's a magician." Zed: "That's just a term we use for people who rely more on jutsu's than taijutsu." Sarutobi: "Ahh, I see, I assume one of these abilities was the one you used to ressurect the dead, and its not just a false revival, but a true revival without the use of a human sacrifice?." Zed: "Why yes Hokage-sama , along with my other abilities that I have kept hidden, since such information can be deadly if it falls into enemy hands." Sarutobi: "Ahh, so true zed-san, with that little show you did at the wave, many enemy shinobi would have heard of it right by now, and your bounty in the bingo book would make you an easy target." Zed: "Oh, they are in for a surprise Hokage-sama. They only think that I'm a medic, and has no fighting repertoire of jutsu's that can harm them, but they are in for a nasty surprise." Sarutobi: "That's reassuring Zed-san, I have to go now and let you two celebrate your new siblinghood." Sarutobi: "See you soon Zed-san, or should I say, Zed Uzumaki." The hokage quickly left with shunshin and went to his office. He pondered on the things that happened today and one thing came to his mind. Sarutobi: "I'm too old for this shit!." Meanwhile back at the New Uzumaki's house, both siblings can be seen eating the feast, and both fell asleep peacefully from having eaten too much food. Zed never did notice a new pop-up in his window. . | * New Traits:You have become an Uzumaki:-Some of your traits are now shared through the adoption ritual with your other party.-Your Chakra has increased tenfold.-Your stamina has increased tenfold.-Your life force and Longevity has increased tenfold.-Your regeneration has increased tenfold.- You have gained some sensory abilities. [ you can now sense chakra signatures 15 meters around you, distance increase when level is higher ]. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Author's Note: I was supposed to release this chapter tomorrow, but it sounded so good that I had to share it immediately. Happy Reading, zed019

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-style: italic;">* thoughts*</span><br><br>~sound effects~<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">+++++</div><br><br><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chapter 12: Training again</span><br><br><br>They both moved to Brairan’s office, where he served tea, while listening to Neurons worries.<br><br>As Neuron told him about his difficulties of hitting the rabbits he nodded, and when Neuron finally came to stop, he began to explain.<br><br>“Well your difficulty of hitting moving targets, is, because you aren`t used to it, and second for it being more difficult to hit them is, because you have gotten too accustomed to the big targets, where you basically just have to aim at the middle of a big circle, which is relatively easy.”<br><br>“So what can I do?”<br><br>“We`ll have to change the targets at witch you are shooting, we`ll have to make them irregular, or even better draw them and fasten them to the targets.”<br><br>“Well, so that you know, I can`t draw”<br><br>“Oh, don´t worry, I know of one who can, just do what you won`t, and then come back tomorrow, then you will find a surprise” Said Brairan with a glow in his eyes that made him look years younger.<br><br>“Thank you, really. So for what I can do now, hmmm, oh, I know, can you tell me where the training hall is?”<br><br>“Why”<br><br>“I need to learn some close range combat, today taught me, that hitting something that’s moving is really hard, so if someone manages to block my arrows and it comes to a close ranged fight i`m probably screwed”<br><br>“Well, I can`t disagree”<br><br>“But, why don´t you go over to Warnton?”<br><br>“Häh?”<br><br>“Oh, I thought you knew already, but Warnton is quite the Weapon maniac.” He said with a grin “And he knows how to fight with them too, Warnton sometimes even goes to the training hall just to spar with the instructor there.”<br><br>“And you think he would teach me”<br><br>“Yeah, I think so”<br><br>“Good bye then, I can`t wait for tomorrow to come” he said while he hurriedly run outside<br><br>“Hi Warnton”<br><br>“Oh hello, back so soon?” and noticing the now empty quiver, “what happened, do you need more arrows?”<br><br>“No” and the whining began once again<br><br>-------------<br><br>“Ah I see, and Brairan recommended me to teach you?”<br><br>“Yup”<br><br>“Oh, I feel flattered, now come with me, I have something to show to you”<br><br>And with that being said, he went to a door leading to a small room, much like the one in the tailor`s shop, only that there was no table and the wall and floor where plastered with different weapons. Some looking so exotic, that Neuron couldn`t think of how they are being used, some were impaired, others looked like tiny pitchforks, well to sum it up it was paradise for a weapon maniac. But Neuron noticed something, “Why are there no Bows around”<br><br>“Kuahaha, I expected you to notice it, well it’s because the only weapon I have trouble with is the bow, and in this room I put only weapons I am able to use”<br><br>“Wow, you seriously are a maniac”<br><br>“Thanks, but now browse through and pick any weapon you like”<br><br>“You don´t have to say it twice” and with a grin on his face only children can show, when it’s time to unpack presents, Neuron entered the room<br><br>And Neuron eagerly began his task of finding a weapon for him, he swung every weapon inside, beginning with weapons he knew, like swords and daggers, but he couldn`t get accustomed to them.<br>So he now tried out two short swords which he could use due to his ambidextrous skill. They felt quite nice so he put them to the side. He separated those into weapons he may be able to use., and those he would never touch, like the heavier weapons, but it was not because he couldn`t even lift them!<br>So the pile with weapons he wouldn`t use grew steadily, but the other pile remained small, because he only put paired weapons there, because he thought it cool, fighting with two weapons, and on the other hand those were by far the lighter ones, but of course this wasn`t the main reason.<br><br>After he was finally done browsing through every weapon, and playing around with each he could lift, he opened the door and said:”Hey Warnton, I have chosen some”<br><br>“Finally!”<br><br>“Why”<br><br>“Two hours are long past, admit it, you played around with them didn`t you” ~Big Grin~<br><br>“No”, but at the glance he received he reluctantly admitted it<br><br>“Good, now let’s see what you have chosen”<br><br>And so Neuron showed him the pile of weapons, “Oh, I see, so you are going two handed, only that you know, this requires much concentration, and you have to move the weapons as they are one, do you still want to learn their usage?<br><br>“Yes I do”<br><br>“Good, then now take a weapon and attack me”<br><br>“Really, here?”<br><br>“Do it already!”<br><br>“Ok, but don`t die”<br><br>“Kuahahaha, just try to land a hit, I`m looking forward to it” and with that his demeanor changed, he wasn`t the easygoing Blacksmith anymore.<br><br>After witnessing this Neuron felt a shiver running down his spine, <br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Ok, let’s start*</span><br><br>With that he now took the two short swords and charged towards Warnton, but he sidestepped him, and then neuron felt a sharp pain on his neck, before dropping to the ground.<br><br>“Don`t charge recklessly, when you use two weapons at the same time, you can`t use force, because each arm holds a weapon, so their strength lies in surprise and speed, try to distract your enemy with a wide swing, and then stab him in the side while he blocks, now do it” He explained, while he took a one handed sword.<br><br>Neuron soon tried it but still failed, because Warnton somehow managed to block both of his attempts to harm him with his sword.<br><br>“Good, now try another weapon”<br><br>“Really, I feel quite good with those”<br><br>“No, you should try out all those you chose, and then still more, till you find your most fitting weapon, and it can`t hurt to know how to use others too, so you can surprise your enemy, or take his weapon and use it against him, but the biggest advantage of knowing how to fight with all weapons is, that you know how your enemy can use them”<br><br>So they tried all other weapons, the fork witch Warnton named Sai, the daggers, chain and sickle, well he even had to use weapons he didn`t select, and Warnton also changed his weapon each time, Neuron did.<br>After two hours of just getting hit and being lectured Neurons head began to hurt and so he sat down.<br><br>“Wait, I can`t go on anymore, how about a little break”<br><br>“Good, I think I know which weapon you should use, just wait here, I’ll be back shortly”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*huh, I thought each of his weapons is inside this room*</span><br><br>Soon after Warnton came back with a pouch over his shoulder<br><br>“Here” he said while giving him the pouch, “I haven`t gotten used to those weapons yet, but I`m sure I know what weapons you can use now, and this being those I can`t”<br><br>And while unpacking them Neuron noticed something<br><br>“So why are all those weapons throwing ones?”<br><br>“Ähm, this is a secret of mine, don`t tell it to others, especially not to Brairan”<br><br>“Promise”<br><br>And after umming and erring for a bit he finally spit out his secret; “I`m no good when it comes to aiming”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*That’s it, this is his big secret!* </span> ~pffffft~<br><br>“Oi, don´t laugh, it’s quite hard to throw them, so that they get stuck in the target” he tried to justify his shortcoming<br><br>“Good, so how did you find out, that those are the weapons for me?<br><br>“I figured it out, after you nearly hit me with that dagger you threw at me before”<br><br>“Ähm, sorry”<br><br>“No no, don`t be, from that I finally found the weapons for you, but remember no one in their right mind would throw his weapon at the enemy when he hasn`t another!”<br><br>“Ok”<br><br>So now, choose your weapon<br><br>Neuron came here, to learn close combat, not to learn how to throw knives, but he found something he could use in that pile, that where two axes, but they where vastly different, than the battle axes he saw in that room before. The most noticeable difference was, the handle, it was much shorter, and curved at the end, also the blade was different, it wasn`t as big and the blade was also straight, and not curved.<br><br>Because they piqued his interest he picked them up, and swung them around, noticing, that their curved handle made it easier to swing them, and also harder to let them slip out of his hands, like what happened to him with one of the short swords, to his utter embarrassment. While swinging he noticed, that because they where heavier at the tip they could also hit harder than a sword, producing more force on impact.<br><br>While he swung them around Warnton was watching him <span style="font-style: italic;">*Not bad*</span><br><br>“So now let’s spar, try to hit me, but remember, when fighting with two handed weapons what do you have to do?”<br><br>“Using them as if they were meant to be together, and to circle around myself while fighting to distract the enemy, using one weapon to distract, the other to hit,…”<br><br>Like this he repeated all the lessons Warnton had drilled into him<br><br>“Good, now let’s see if you can also use those tactics while fighting”<br><br>And thus began their sparring, in the process Neuron even gained <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Axe mastery beginner Lv1 </span><br><br>Increases attack damage +10%<br>Increases critical hit chance +3%</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>They switched between Neuron and Warnton attacking, while Warnton changed his weapon frequently and Neuron sticking to his axes. This was done to give Neuron the possibility to try how to use his weapon best to defend and attack.<br><br>After another hour of fighting Warnton told Neuron to stop.<br><br>“Now try out those other weapons, try the throwing knives for starters” After saying this Warnton brought a Target<br><br>“Did you steal it from Brairan?”<br><br>“Yup, and till today he doesn`t know who did it ehehe”<br><br>“So now try to throw those daggers”<br><br>Neuron tried, but he couldn`t manage any knife to stay stuck in it, either they landed flat on it, or with the hilt, so he changed the distance throwing them again, and it worked, they all hit.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*So apparently the distance at which they are thrown effects, if they get stuck or not, now to see what other weapons he gave me*</span><br><br>Now Neuron was throwing vastly different weapons at the target, like shuriken, darts, chakrams, kunai, each time he picked up a weapon Warnton would give him the name of it. The only weapon he wasn`t allowed to use was something called Boomerang, the explanation being, that this weapon was restricted for being used indoors.<br><br>After he tried out everything Neuron decided to throw the axes too, because he assumed that them being inside the pouch meant that they were also throwing weapons, although he only used them for close quarter combat.<br><br>While throwing them he noticed that it was quite hard to get them stuck inside the target. Because unlike the other weapons he threw they were the most impaired. <br>Like all axes they are heavier at the head, and thus the center while spinning lies there, and so they have a rather strange flying stile.<br><br>“Good, now lets train close combat again” interrupted him Warnton<br><br>And like this Neuron alternated between throwing weapons and close combat training, when finally<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> New skill: throw: beginner Lv1 </span><br><br>Increases damage by 10%<br>Increases accuracy by 3%</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>After he got the skill he noticed, that he didn`t had to pay much attention of his distance towards the target, because apparently the skill works as amplifier.<br><br>While training he also heard some noise coming from the archery<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*I wonder what Brairan is up to?* </span><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">End Chapter 12</div><br><br>Comments are appreciated, as always<br>So, please tell me what you think of my FF, and if you have pointers, on how I can improve my writing, or other things, feel free to point them out. </div>

* thoughts* ~sound effects~ +++++ Chapter 12: Training again They both moved to Brairan’s office, where he served tea, while listening to Neurons worries. As Neuron told him about his difficulties of hitting the rabbits he nodded, and when Neuron finally came to stop, he began to explain. “Well your difficulty of hitting moving targets, is, because you aren`t used to it, and second for it being more difficult to hit them is, because you have gotten too accustomed to the big targets, where you basically just have to aim at the middle of a big circle, which is relatively easy.” “So what can I do?” “We`ll have to change the targets at witch you are shooting, we`ll have to make them irregular, or even better draw them and fasten them to the targets.” “Well, so that you know, I can`t draw” “Oh, don´t worry, I know of one who can, just do what you won`t, and then come back tomorrow, then you will find a surprise” Said Brairan with a glow in his eyes that made him look years younger. “Thank you, really. So for what I can do now, hmmm, oh, I know, can you tell me where the training hall is?” “Why” “I need to learn some close range combat, today taught me, that hitting something that’s moving is really hard, so if someone manages to block my arrows and it comes to a close ranged fight i`m probably screwed” “Well, I can`t disagree” “But, why don´t you go over to Warnton?” “Häh?” “Oh, I thought you knew already, but Warnton is quite the Weapon maniac.” He said with a grin “And he knows how to fight with them too, Warnton sometimes even goes to the training hall just to spar with the instructor there.” “And you think he would teach me” “Yeah, I think so” “Good bye then, I can`t wait for tomorrow to come” he said while he hurriedly run outside “Hi Warnton” “Oh hello, back so soon?” and noticing the now empty quiver, “what happened, do you need more arrows?” “No” and the whining began once again ------------- “Ah I see, and Brairan recommended me to teach you?” “Yup” “Oh, I feel flattered, now come with me, I have something to show to you” And with that being said, he went to a door leading to a small room, much like the one in the tailor`s shop, only that there was no table and the wall and floor where plastered with different weapons. Some looking so exotic, that Neuron couldn`t think of how they are being used, some were impaired, others looked like tiny pitchforks, well to sum it up it was paradise for a weapon maniac. But Neuron noticed something, “Why are there no Bows around” “Kuahaha, I expected you to notice it, well it’s because the only weapon I have trouble with is the bow, and in this room I put only weapons I am able to use” “Wow, you seriously are a maniac” “Thanks, but now browse through and pick any weapon you like” “You don´t have to say it twice” and with a grin on his face only children can show, when it’s time to unpack presents, Neuron entered the room And Neuron eagerly began his task of finding a weapon for him, he swung every weapon inside, beginning with weapons he knew, like swords and daggers, but he couldn`t get accustomed to them. So he now tried out two short swords which he could use due to his ambidextrous skill. They felt quite nice so he put them to the side. He separated those into weapons he may be able to use., and those he would never touch, like the heavier weapons, but it was not because he couldn`t even lift them! So the pile with weapons he wouldn`t use grew steadily, but the other pile remained small, because he only put paired weapons there, because he thought it cool, fighting with two weapons, and on the other hand those were by far the lighter ones, but of course this wasn`t the main reason. After he was finally done browsing through every weapon, and playing around with each he could lift, he opened the door and said:”Hey Warnton, I have chosen some” “Finally!” “Why” “Two hours are long past, admit it, you played around with them didn`t you” ~Big Grin~ “No”, but at the glance he received he reluctantly admitted it “Good, now let’s see what you have chosen” And so Neuron showed him the pile of weapons, “Oh, I see, so you are going two handed, only that you know, this requires much concentration, and you have to move the weapons as they are one, do you still want to learn their usage? “Yes I do” “Good, then now take a weapon and attack me” “Really, here?” “Do it already!” “Ok, but don`t die” “Kuahahaha, just try to land a hit, I`m looking forward to it” and with that his demeanor changed, he wasn`t the easygoing Blacksmith anymore. After witnessing this Neuron felt a shiver running down his spine, *Ok, let’s start* With that he now took the two short swords and charged towards Warnton, but he sidestepped him, and then neuron felt a sharp pain on his neck, before dropping to the ground. “Don`t charge recklessly, when you use two weapons at the same time, you can`t use force, because each arm holds a weapon, so their strength lies in surprise and speed, try to distract your enemy with a wide swing, and then stab him in the side while he blocks, now do it” He explained, while he took a one handed sword. Neuron soon tried it but still failed, because Warnton somehow managed to block both of his attempts to harm him with his sword. “Good, now try another weapon” “Really, I feel quite good with those” “No, you should try out all those you chose, and then still more, till you find your most fitting weapon, and it can`t hurt to know how to use others too, so you can surprise your enemy, or take his weapon and use it against him, but the biggest advantage of knowing how to fight with all weapons is, that you know how your enemy can use them” So they tried all other weapons, the fork witch Warnton named Sai, the daggers, chain and sickle, well he even had to use weapons he didn`t select, and Warnton also changed his weapon each time, Neuron did. After two hours of just getting hit and being lectured Neurons head began to hurt and so he sat down. “Wait, I can`t go on anymore, how about a little break” “Good, I think I know which weapon you should use, just wait here, I’ll be back shortly” *huh, I thought each of his weapons is inside this room* Soon after Warnton came back with a pouch over his shoulder “Here” he said while giving him the pouch, “I haven`t gotten used to those weapons yet, but I`m sure I know what weapons you can use now, and this being those I can`t” And while unpacking them Neuron noticed something “So why are all those weapons throwing ones?” “Ähm, this is a secret of mine, don`t tell it to others, especially not to Brairan” “Promise” And after umming and erring for a bit he finally spit out his secret; “I`m no good when it comes to aiming” *That’s it, this is his big secret!* ~pffffft~ “Oi, don´t laugh, it’s quite hard to throw them, so that they get stuck in the target” he tried to justify his shortcoming “Good, so how did you find out, that those are the weapons for me? “I figured it out, after you nearly hit me with that dagger you threw at me before” “Ähm, sorry” “No no, don`t be, from that I finally found the weapons for you, but remember no one in their right mind would throw his weapon at the enemy when he hasn`t another!” “Ok” So now, choose your weapon Neuron came here, to learn close combat, not to learn how to throw knives, but he found something he could use in that pile, that where two axes, but they where vastly different, than the battle axes he saw in that room before. The most noticeable difference was, the handle, it was much shorter, and curved at the end, also the blade was different, it wasn`t as big and the blade was also straight, and not curved. Because they piqued his interest he picked them up, and swung them around, noticing, that their curved handle made it easier to swing them, and also harder to let them slip out of his hands, like what happened to him with one of the short swords, to his utter embarrassment. While swinging he noticed, that because they where heavier at the tip they could also hit harder than a sword, producing more force on impact. While he swung them around Warnton was watching him *Not bad* “So now let’s spar, try to hit me, but remember, when fighting with two handed weapons what do you have to do?” “Using them as if they were meant to be together, and to circle around myself while fighting to distract the enemy, using one weapon to distract, the other to hit,…” Like this he repeated all the lessons Warnton had drilled into him “Good, now let’s see if you can also use those tactics while fighting” And thus began their sparring, in the process Neuron even gained | * Axe mastery beginner Lv1 Increases attack damage +10%Increases critical hit chance +3% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | They switched between Neuron and Warnton attacking, while Warnton changed his weapon frequently and Neuron sticking to his axes. This was done to give Neuron the possibility to try how to use his weapon best to defend and attack. After another hour of fighting Warnton told Neuron to stop. “Now try out those other weapons, try the throwing knives for starters” After saying this Warnton brought a Target “Did you steal it from Brairan?” “Yup, and till today he doesn`t know who did it ehehe” “So now try to throw those daggers” Neuron tried, but he couldn`t manage any knife to stay stuck in it, either they landed flat on it, or with the hilt, so he changed the distance throwing them again, and it worked, they all hit. *So apparently the distance at which they are thrown effects, if they get stuck or not, now to see what other weapons he gave me* Now Neuron was throwing vastly different weapons at the target, like shuriken, darts, chakrams, kunai, each time he picked up a weapon Warnton would give him the name of it. The only weapon he wasn`t allowed to use was something called Boomerang, the explanation being, that this weapon was restricted for being used indoors. After he tried out everything Neuron decided to throw the axes too, because he assumed that them being inside the pouch meant that they were also throwing weapons, although he only used them for close quarter combat. While throwing them he noticed that it was quite hard to get them stuck inside the target. Because unlike the other weapons he threw they were the most impaired. Like all axes they are heavier at the head, and thus the center while spinning lies there, and so they have a rather strange flying stile. “Good, now lets train close combat again” interrupted him Warnton And like this Neuron alternated between throwing weapons and close combat training, when finally | * New skill: throw: beginner Lv1 Increases damage by 10%Increases accuracy by 3% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | After he got the skill he noticed, that he didn`t had to pay much attention of his distance towards the target, because apparently the skill works as amplifier. While training he also heard some noise coming from the archery *I wonder what Brairan is up to?* End Chapter 12 Comments are appreciated, as always So, please tell me what you think of my FF, and if you have pointers, on how I can improve my writing, or other things, feel free to point them out.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Quickly scanning across my player status window, I paused for but a moment before dumping the rest of my saved-up points into vitality. Although my health was below 10% and I was bleeding profusely, the additional points had infused me with a large portion of health. My red and blinking health bar suddenly expanded, and healed back into a light shade of orange. I estimated that I had somewhere around 40%, and then turned back to the opponent in front of me.<br><br>My opponent had noticed my hesitation and charged into my defensive zone. He knew that I was distracted, but had no way of knowing what had changed. The blood on my body had already soaked through my clothing and armor, thus he had no way to know that the fatal wounds that he dealt had healed. His smirk was quite visible, as he unleased another flurry of blows. <br><br>Quite reasonably, his smirk turned into a frown as I took his blows and returned a counter back to him. Both of us were jolted from our exchange, yet I returned back into my stance just a moment faster than he did, and I activated my attack skill &lt;&lt;Hurricane Sweep&gt;&gt;. The sharp longsword held in my two hands glowed blindingly, as I directed it in a clockwise motion around my opponent. A gust of wind appeared out of nowhere, and lifted him up and spun him in a cartwheel motion while I drew back my weapon and slashed relentlessly. As the gust of wind died down, my opponent was loudly deposited onto the granite arena floor. Taking this chance, I swung my sword while he was on the floor, but unfortunately, I had only struck stone. <br><br>Since this was the final match of the month, spectators roared and screamed in excitement as my attack missed the gladiator champion. His years of experience coupled with his flexible yet highly defensive equipment allowed him to survive thus far, yet we both knew that the fight is near the end. Both his mana and stamina must be close to empty, as the fight has been dragging on for nearly fifteen minutes. My passive-enhancement skill sets gave me an advantages in longer fights, yet none of my active attack skills could kill him with a decisive blow. Alas, my love for passive-strength builds is also my greatest weakness – the stamina of a dragon yet the attack strength of an insect. But that is not to say a relentless swarm of wasps cannot kill.<br><br>I quickly dashed forward, giving pressure to the champion to prevent him into getting into a proper stance, or god-forbid, throw me into another stun-lock chain. I swung my longsword with both hands, hacking and slashing wildly with the intent to distract him rather than connect with any hits. The champion stumbled backward, yet expertly dodged all of my powerful swings. I took one particularly large swing, and then released and flung my longsword toward him while I drew a pair of sabres. As the champion attempted to dodge and avoid the large, hulking metal flying toward him, I dashed and sidestepped to his left side. A flurry of blows exchanged between my twin sabres and the champion’s left hand weapon, before both of us stood in a proper stance. I grinned wildly as I charged with reckless abandon, as I knew that I if I could not win the match now, the champion would have enough mana to activate his stun skills. <br><br>I slashed wildly with my right hand, while I carefully aimed my left sabre toward the gap underneath his armpit. I groaned as I received a heavy slash upon my right shoulder, but in retaliation, I stepped forward with a heavy stomp and leaned into the stab with all my weight. At the last second, the champion positioned his weapon between the two of us, and I jabbed myself into it, while I introduced the entire length of my sabre into the Champion’s chest. I watched grimly as my HP bar steadily fell, and hoped that the last blow I inflicted would earn me the victory. The two of us stared at one another while we gripped the weapon penetrated in our torso. After what felt like an eternity, the champion released his grip and fell down to his knees. The spectators erupted into a maelstrom of screams and cheers, as the gladiatorial champion dramatically fell face-first into the granite arena floor. <br><br>Stunned, I stood in my exact spot as the weapon in my body disappeared. I closed my eyes and reveled in the chaotic cheers and screams from the spectator stands. The cheers can be described as raw, emotional and relentless, and it made my blood boil and my heart pound. Cheers and shouts came from every side of the arena, and I simply enjoyed the feeling of warmth as I stood at the centre of attention. A large number of notifications flooded my screen, as I closed them with an automated habit. The notifications were guild invitations, level-ups, skill increases and quest completions. I struggled to put on a smile, as I limped and walked into the preparation pits. As soon as I reached the first bench, I slumped down onto it and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I quickly logged myself out of Royal Road, as the adrenaline rush of victory felt suffocating to me. I climbed out of my virtual reality console, I noticed my sheen of sweat despite the strong A/C being blasted in the typical Chinese summer. I took a few deep breaths, and felt my heart-beat slowly return to normal. I was definitely buzzed from the win, and knew that I had to calm down before going back. I shut down the console and the A/C, and decided to go out for a quick walk. The Saturday afternoon heat is quite oppressive, yet I wanted to go for a walk and buy some cool melon-cream flavoured popsicles as a prize for winning. <br>Jumping down the flights of stairs, I sighed deeply as I turned myself into deep thought. As a recently graduated engineer from university, I was lucky to be able to find a job immediately, while most of my classmates struggled. The spanking new job allowed me to splurge and buy a virtual reality console. Royal Road had already been in existence for three years, and it seems like everybody played it as if it was their second life. I had always been playing RPGs and fantasy-combat games since I was a child, with retro-games such as the black-and-white text MUD games, all the way up to Free To Play - Pay To Win fantasy RPG genres that seem to populate the Asian gaming industry previous to Royal Road. As I was an engineer, I had a penchant for numbers and optimization. A large number of my character builds were designed around passive enhancement skill trees. I always strived to maximize damage and health, while spending the least amount of effort and time (after all, a lazy engineer is the best engineer). Being of Chinese descent, my parent had drilled into me since early childhood that hard-work can always beat raw talent, 99% of the time. But of course, my favourite variation of the saying is that it wouldn’t hurt to have both talent and good work-ethics.<br><br>Absorbed in my own train of thought while walking to the 7-Eleven convenience store, I never noticed how the usual crowd of people slowly dwindled away and how the brutishly oppressive Chinese summer heat gave way to a chilling aura. I was still pumped up from the recent victory in Royal Road and lost deep in my own thought. I never noticed the signs until it was too late. I bumped into someone standing in front of me, and I quickly backed away. I quickly bowed my head as if I was still in university, I apologized before I continue on my way.<br><br>By the time I looked up, the person I was apologizing limped toward me, and grabbed my right arm with both hands. I screamed in shock as he suddenly jerked on my arm that gave me an excruciating pain in my shoulder. While I screamed and flailed against my attacker, and I delivered a strong front-kick, straight into the person’s chin. I silently thanked all the close-quarter combat training I had done in Royal Road, while I grabbed onto my now-dislocated shoulder with my left hand. Although the attacker released its grip on my arm, it stumbled back a few steps, before issuing a loud moan, and resumed his advance toward me. I noticed that the person in front of me had zombie-like pale blue skin and blood-shot eyes, and he slowly limped toward me like that of a typical zombie. I held onto my dislocated shoulder, and quickly ran away from it. Every step was a painful jolt to my shoulder, yet I had no intention of stopping. A few zombies could be seen, yet by the time they saw or heard me, I had already sprinted past them. <br><br>As the minutes wore on into what seems like hours, I leaned my back against a brick wall and tried to make sense of the situation. The normally packed street was completely empty, save for an eerie-looking sky and random zombies walking around. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have to say that I was transported to a beginner dungeon in a RPG, where I had to fight and gain experience against the slow moving zombies. A ridiculous hyena-like laughter came roaring through the empty streets, and I quickly looked around for the source. I noticed a well-dressed man approximately 100 metres away, and he approached me in full confidence. As he got closer, I knew instantly that he was a dangerous person, despite him being neither a monster nor a zombie. <br><br>“Well, well… Never thought there’d be another one’a ya here” The well-dressed man spoke, as his laughter never leaving his taunting tone.<br><br>“I ain’ one ta judge, but ya seem like a young punk. Just a friendly piece of advice: dun be comin’ into dis world, ‘less ya never wanna go back!”<br><br>I stared quizzically at the man as I noticed a line of letters and symbols above his head. I turned my attention back to his snobby smirk when suddenly, my vision seems to distort. I closed my eyes and shook my head to steady myself. As I turned back to look at the figure, it seems the world returned back to normal, and the streets became packed like a normal Saturday afternoon. Slowly and cautiously, I walked back to my apartment while I held onto my right shoulder. The pain was no longer an issue and I decided not to visit a doctor immediately. I needed to calm myself down and think of a logical explanation for what happened. Perhaps I had gone insane by playing too many games?<br><br>I cautiously opened the door to my apartment, and quizzically stared at the clock on the wall. I had only been out for five minutes, while the whole ordeal that I had gone through must have felt like hours. I gingerly removed my shirt in front of a mirror, and decided to take a look at my presumably-dislocated shoulder. There was no visible injury or swelling as I examined my shoulder, and I soon was able to move it freely, almost as if it nothing had happened at all. As I stopped focusing on my shoulder, I looked up and saw the following words appear above my head:<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">&lt;Araret Lvl 1&gt;</div><br><div style="text-align: center;">&lt;&lt;The Gamer&gt;&gt;</div> </div>

Quickly scanning across my player status window, I paused for but a moment before dumping the rest of my saved-up points into vitality. Although my health was below 10% and I was bleeding profusely, the additional points had infused me with a large portion of health. My red and blinking health bar suddenly expanded, and healed back into a light shade of orange. I estimated that I had somewhere around 40%, and then turned back to the opponent in front of me. My opponent had noticed my hesitation and charged into my defensive zone. He knew that I was distracted, but had no way of knowing what had changed. The blood on my body had already soaked through my clothing and armor, thus he had no way to know that the fatal wounds that he dealt had healed. His smirk was quite visible, as he unleased another flurry of blows. Quite reasonably, his smirk turned into a frown as I took his blows and returned a counter back to him. Both of us were jolted from our exchange, yet I returned back into my stance just a moment faster than he did, and I activated my attack skill <<Hurricane Sweep>>. The sharp longsword held in my two hands glowed blindingly, as I directed it in a clockwise motion around my opponent. A gust of wind appeared out of nowhere, and lifted him up and spun him in a cartwheel motion while I drew back my weapon and slashed relentlessly. As the gust of wind died down, my opponent was loudly deposited onto the granite arena floor. Taking this chance, I swung my sword while he was on the floor, but unfortunately, I had only struck stone. Since this was the final match of the month, spectators roared and screamed in excitement as my attack missed the gladiator champion. His years of experience coupled with his flexible yet highly defensive equipment allowed him to survive thus far, yet we both knew that the fight is near the end. Both his mana and stamina must be close to empty, as the fight has been dragging on for nearly fifteen minutes. My passive-enhancement skill sets gave me an advantages in longer fights, yet none of my active attack skills could kill him with a decisive blow. Alas, my love for passive-strength builds is also my greatest weakness – the stamina of a dragon yet the attack strength of an insect. But that is not to say a relentless swarm of wasps cannot kill. I quickly dashed forward, giving pressure to the champion to prevent him into getting into a proper stance, or god-forbid, throw me into another stun-lock chain. I swung my longsword with both hands, hacking and slashing wildly with the intent to distract him rather than connect with any hits. The champion stumbled backward, yet expertly dodged all of my powerful swings. I took one particularly large swing, and then released and flung my longsword toward him while I drew a pair of sabres. As the champion attempted to dodge and avoid the large, hulking metal flying toward him, I dashed and sidestepped to his left side. A flurry of blows exchanged between my twin sabres and the champion’s left hand weapon, before both of us stood in a proper stance. I grinned wildly as I charged with reckless abandon, as I knew that I if I could not win the match now, the champion would have enough mana to activate his stun skills. I slashed wildly with my right hand, while I carefully aimed my left sabre toward the gap underneath his armpit. I groaned as I received a heavy slash upon my right shoulder, but in retaliation, I stepped forward with a heavy stomp and leaned into the stab with all my weight. At the last second, the champion positioned his weapon between the two of us, and I jabbed myself into it, while I introduced the entire length of my sabre into the Champion’s chest. I watched grimly as my HP bar steadily fell, and hoped that the last blow I inflicted would earn me the victory. The two of us stared at one another while we gripped the weapon penetrated in our torso. After what felt like an eternity, the champion released his grip and fell down to his knees. The spectators erupted into a maelstrom of screams and cheers, as the gladiatorial champion dramatically fell face-first into the granite arena floor. Stunned, I stood in my exact spot as the weapon in my body disappeared. I closed my eyes and reveled in the chaotic cheers and screams from the spectator stands. The cheers can be described as raw, emotional and relentless, and it made my blood boil and my heart pound. Cheers and shouts came from every side of the arena, and I simply enjoyed the feeling of warmth as I stood at the centre of attention. A large number of notifications flooded my screen, as I closed them with an automated habit. The notifications were guild invitations, level-ups, skill increases and quest completions. I struggled to put on a smile, as I limped and walked into the preparation pits. As soon as I reached the first bench, I slumped down onto it and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I quickly logged myself out of Royal Road, as the adrenaline rush of victory felt suffocating to me. I climbed out of my virtual reality console, I noticed my sheen of sweat despite the strong A/C being blasted in the typical Chinese summer. I took a few deep breaths, and felt my heart-beat slowly return to normal. I was definitely buzzed from the win, and knew that I had to calm down before going back. I shut down the console and the A/C, and decided to go out for a quick walk. The Saturday afternoon heat is quite oppressive, yet I wanted to go for a walk and buy some cool melon-cream flavoured popsicles as a prize for winning. Jumping down the flights of stairs, I sighed deeply as I turned myself into deep thought. As a recently graduated engineer from university, I was lucky to be able to find a job immediately, while most of my classmates struggled. The spanking new job allowed me to splurge and buy a virtual reality console. Royal Road had already been in existence for three years, and it seems like everybody played it as if it was their second life. I had always been playing RPGs and fantasy-combat games since I was a child, with retro-games such as the black-and-white text MUD games, all the way up to Free To Play - Pay To Win fantasy RPG genres that seem to populate the Asian gaming industry previous to Royal Road. As I was an engineer, I had a penchant for numbers and optimization. A large number of my character builds were designed around passive enhancement skill trees. I always strived to maximize damage and health, while spending the least amount of effort and time (after all, a lazy engineer is the best engineer). Being of Chinese descent, my parent had drilled into me since early childhood that hard-work can always beat raw talent, 99% of the time. But of course, my favourite variation of the saying is that it wouldn’t hurt to have both talent and good work-ethics. Absorbed in my own train of thought while walking to the 7-Eleven convenience store, I never noticed how the usual crowd of people slowly dwindled away and how the brutishly oppressive Chinese summer heat gave way to a chilling aura. I was still pumped up from the recent victory in Royal Road and lost deep in my own thought. I never noticed the signs until it was too late. I bumped into someone standing in front of me, and I quickly backed away. I quickly bowed my head as if I was still in university, I apologized before I continue on my way. By the time I looked up, the person I was apologizing limped toward me, and grabbed my right arm with both hands. I screamed in shock as he suddenly jerked on my arm that gave me an excruciating pain in my shoulder. While I screamed and flailed against my attacker, and I delivered a strong front-kick, straight into the person’s chin. I silently thanked all the close-quarter combat training I had done in Royal Road, while I grabbed onto my now-dislocated shoulder with my left hand. Although the attacker released its grip on my arm, it stumbled back a few steps, before issuing a loud moan, and resumed his advance toward me. I noticed that the person in front of me had zombie-like pale blue skin and blood-shot eyes, and he slowly limped toward me like that of a typical zombie. I held onto my dislocated shoulder, and quickly ran away from it. Every step was a painful jolt to my shoulder, yet I had no intention of stopping. A few zombies could be seen, yet by the time they saw or heard me, I had already sprinted past them. As the minutes wore on into what seems like hours, I leaned my back against a brick wall and tried to make sense of the situation. The normally packed street was completely empty, save for an eerie-looking sky and random zombies walking around. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have to say that I was transported to a beginner dungeon in a RPG, where I had to fight and gain experience against the slow moving zombies. A ridiculous hyena-like laughter came roaring through the empty streets, and I quickly looked around for the source. I noticed a well-dressed man approximately 100 metres away, and he approached me in full confidence. As he got closer, I knew instantly that he was a dangerous person, despite him being neither a monster nor a zombie. “Well, well… Never thought there’d be another one’a ya here” The well-dressed man spoke, as his laughter never leaving his taunting tone. “I ain’ one ta judge, but ya seem like a young punk. Just a friendly piece of advice: dun be comin’ into dis world, ‘less ya never wanna go back!” I stared quizzically at the man as I noticed a line of letters and symbols above his head. I turned my attention back to his snobby smirk when suddenly, my vision seems to distort. I closed my eyes and shook my head to steady myself. As I turned back to look at the figure, it seems the world returned back to normal, and the streets became packed like a normal Saturday afternoon. Slowly and cautiously, I walked back to my apartment while I held onto my right shoulder. The pain was no longer an issue and I decided not to visit a doctor immediately. I needed to calm myself down and think of a logical explanation for what happened. Perhaps I had gone insane by playing too many games? I cautiously opened the door to my apartment, and quizzically stared at the clock on the wall. I had only been out for five minutes, while the whole ordeal that I had gone through must have felt like hours. I gingerly removed my shirt in front of a mirror, and decided to take a look at my presumably-dislocated shoulder. There was no visible injury or swelling as I examined my shoulder, and I soon was able to move it freely, almost as if it nothing had happened at all. As I stopped focusing on my shoulder, I looked up and saw the following words appear above my head: <Araret Lvl 1> <<The Gamer>>

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 1<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road<br>Yes | No</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> “Yes”<br><br>Willow is then greeted by a female voice.<br><br>“The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?<br><br>“Yes.”<br><br>“Select the name of your avatar.”<br><br>“Willow” She didn’t put much thought behind the name and thought it would be awkward to be called something different.<br><br>“Select your gender from male, female or neutral.”<br><br>“Female”<br><br>“Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine.”<br><br>“Human.”<br><br> “You may alter your appearance if you wish.”<br><br>“The way I am is fine.”<br><br>“Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road­”<br><br>“Select a city and kingdom you want to start in.”<br><br>“Anywhere is fine.” Not knowing much about Royal Road Willow decides to go with whatever the game chooses.”<br><br>“The Citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim Kingdom will be your starting area.”<br><br>“Welcome to Royal­ Road.”<br><br> A flash of white, followed by the sight of the blue sky.The chatter of a busy market could be heard. Looking around Willow suddenly becomes disorientated and began to stumble. Locking her knees, keeping her legs straight she regains some of her balance. Ahead of her is a large fountain about 30 feet away. The fountain is surrounded by grass before it meets a cobble stone road. Market stalls line the road with one and two story buildings behind them. Various goods are for sale; things like fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, assorted meats, and fresh bread amongst other things, much like the farmers market back home. *Giggle* “Look at her,” a girl says as she walks by with her arm interlocked with a guy. “She must be a new to VRMMORPGs,” the boy says in a manner urging the girl to not speak so loudly. Placing her hand on her on left leg, she grabs a hold of her pants leg. Shifting her weight to her right leg, she processed to stagger forward towards the fountain. Feeling the eyes of the people around her, the feelings of shame and uneasiness come over her. She had made it almost halfway there when she lost her balance and began to fall. Feeling a sudden tug, a large burly hand had gently grasped her arm. “Are you ok young lady?” A males voice could be heard. Willow, with her head hung low in shame glanced over to see a large man. He had large sturdy arms and a board chest. He was wearing worn leather clothing and had a L shaped pack with firewood stacked high on it. “Come lets get you to the fountain. That is where you wanted to go?” he asked. Looking up Willow timidly replied, “Y-Yes, could I borrow your shoulder?” Walking slowly with her hand on his shoulder she could feel his swelling muscles underneath his clothing. Reaching the fountain, Willow turns to the man and said “Thank you”. Now sitting down on the edge of the fountain, she sees he is an older man. His thick beard and the fact he is carrying large amount of firewood would make you think he was a lumberjack. Standing in front of her, looking down he says, “It seems your leg doesn't work so well. If you would like, you can have this walking stick of mine. It has treated me well in my hikes to collect firewood.” Willow looking up thinking he has already done more than enough by stopping and help her replies, “That's ok, you have done more than enough already. I couldn't ask for anything else from you,” flashing a gentle smile. The man probably old enough to be her father ears turn a reddish color. He turned head to the slightly to the side as if to hide his face. He then quickly turns slapping his fist into the open palm of his other hand, as if a light bulb had just turned on. “My name is Spencer,” he says *Heh* letting out a short embarrassed laugh. “I’m Willow. Its nice to meet you,” Willow replies. “Well I need to get going to sale this firewood,” Spencer said while giving a small polite bow. “Thank you again for your help,” Willow says while waving goodbye as he headed away.<br><br> Still sitting at the at the fountain, she notices Spencer had left his walking stick beside her. It was about four foot long with a carved hand hold about ¾ of the way up. Carved towards the top was a rough outline of a fox. She also had a small bag, when looking inside there was a canteen and what seemed to be some loaves of bread. Taking out the canteen she placed it to her lips. She could feel the coldness of the canteen and was shocked at the taste of the water. It had a clear taste to it without the taste of fluoride she had been used to. She hadn’t thought things like water would taste so real here. While resting, she looked around the area and up to the sky it was beautiful and the clouds looked so real. As the wind blew from time to time, she would be greeted with the scent of fresh baked bread, or the earthy scent from the dust and dirt from the cobble stone road. This was something she would have never dreamed of. After leisurely sitting there for more than an hour just soaking up the sun she gathered herself. “If this is how thing are here, I wonder what else I will get to see,” she thought to herself. Grabbing the walking stick Spencer had left, she slowly stood up. She knowdest she had feeling other than pain in her left leg for the first time since the accident. Puzzled she slowly applied pressure to her leg testing for pain. With no pain and just an awkward feeling, she proceeded to walk.<br><br> Taking her time, Willow walked around looking at shops, there were all kinds; selling clothing, jewelry, and even furniture. Strolling around, she starting to hear chatter picking up off in the distance. “The Knights are marching! I heard they are going on a hunt to clear monsters from the ruins to the north,” amongst other things could be heard from the growing crowd. The loud sounds of foot steps could be heard, now mixed with the metallic sounds of metal armor clanking about. Willow could see about a hundred soldiers wearing what looked to be chainmail covered with tunics welding longs spears as they marched past. *Tolt tolt* *Tolt, tolt* A familiar sound could be heard, one she hadn’t heard in a long time. As the sound grew closer and louder, so did her heart beat *Thump,thump* *Thump,thump* almost in unison as it grew louder. The appearance of Knights clad in plate mail riding horses reached her view. Her heart could be felt beating wildly in her chest. Slowly rising from chest, spreading to her shoulders, and finally reaching her head. Her legs began to buckle as she held tightly to the walking stick. Standing there for almost 30 minutes, she finally regained her senses. The image of the knights on horseback burned into her memory. Her body yearned for one thing, to be able to ride once again. With the realization that it would be impossible for her to do. She then sought to do the next best thing in her mind, which was to at least be near them once again.<br><br> Glancing down she had noticed they had been shod, from the minor indents and chipping on the cobble stone road. Scanning further, she could tell at least 50 horse had passed by. With this knowledge, they had to be from a considerably large stable. Following the the fresh trail of the horses, she proceeded to find the stable. “With that many horses, maybe I could find a way to help out,” she thought to herself. From time to time she would see traces of manure that wasn’t cleaned up properly. With the trail still fresh, she found herself on the edge of town just inside the walls of the city. Standing In front of her was a large archway with two horse shoes interlocked hanging from the middle. There was 4 large barns, grazing pastures, what looked to be a paddock, and a number of corrals. On the Side of one of the barns was a small smithy, with a few horses line up outside to get horseshoes. Looking around she could see a few horse here and there some in a corral being broken in, others grazing, and some being moved from place to place. There was quite a few stable hands doing various jobs. Looking up at the archway as the slowly walked through. She was greeted with, “Hey Hey you can’t be here,” from off behind her in the distance. Slowly turning around she could see a stable hand in dirty work clothes. Sam finally catching up to the girl, noticed she was using a walking stick as a cane to get around. She had just turned around allowing him to get a closer look. She was very pretty with long black hair and tanned skin, leaving him with the impression she had come from the desert to the south. “I’m Sorry,” Willow exclaimed.“I just wanted to see the horses. I used to own a few till I had to sell them because of my accident.” Sam not knowing what to say paused for a moment, “I’ll ask the boss if you can look around. Ok? So stay here till i get back,” Sam said as he headed towards the smithy. Willow watched Sam as he ran. He could be seen talking to a short pudgy man. From time to time he would place his hand on the back of his head while bowing slightly. After a few minutes Sam returned. “The boss said its ok for you to look around, but don’t get in the way of anyone working,” Sam said as he gave a little grin. Sam was smiling while saying, “The Boss is a big softy so don’t mind him. If you talk to him just call him Boss and I’m Sam by the way”. Willow, with a joyous smile nodding with an over exaggerated yes shake of the head, “Thank you Sam. I’m Willow, its nice to meet you.” Sam also nodding with a slight feeling of accomplishment said “Well I have to get back to work, enjoy yourself. I hope to get to talk to you again.” He then turned with almost a strut in his step as he walked away, returning to his work. Thinking to herself, “There are a lot of nice people here,” what she didn’t know that the people that had help her so far where NPCs.<br> Willow strolled around till she found herself resting against one of the corrals. A stable hand was trying to break in a painted horse inside the corral. Willow watched intently as the horse stubbornly fought bucking and kicking away. Resting there she has watch the stable hand struggle. For almost an hour, her eyes never left the horse. Finally the stable hand gave up trying, yelling and kicking the dirt before he left. Willow stood there watching the horse galloping with a sense of accomplishment as if it had just won a derby. Looking around she found a pale with some carrots and a few apples. Walking over an fetching a large carrot from the pale she turn to the horse with a childish smile on her face. Propping herself on the corral she extended her arm holding the carrot. Making small noises like one would when calling a cat. She was gesturing with a come over her movement with the carrot. Finally catching the horses attention, it had made eye contact. Digging with its right hoof, it lets out a snort while shaking its head from side to side. The horse then trotted in a small circle turning its back to her leaving her in the corner of its eye. Willow stood there watching the horse, with a I’m going to get you eat this carrot if its the last thing I do smile on her face. Since Willow had been watching the horse for over an hour, she had noticed it had been favoring one leg and started to wonder. Walking over to the gate she unlatched it and slipped into the corral. After closing the gate she received a message.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">A helping Hand<br><br>Through the use of observation, the painted horse seems to be favoring on leg. Befriend the horse and discover the cause.<br><br>Difficulty: F<br><br>Quest Requirements:<br>Befriend the painted horse and diagnose the problem. If you are unable to do so, you run the risk of losing the favor of the Stable and intimacy with the painted horse.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Do you Accept this Quest?<br>Yes | No</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> With the sudden pop up, Willow was surprised. It took her a moment to answer, “Yes.” Taking her time, she slowly walked towards the horse till it was within arm reach. Reaching out the hand with the carrot, the horse once again stamped down. Digging with its hoof, the horse lets out a loud snort while shaking its head in a fluid motion down to its shoulders. In a low calming voice, “Yoosh yoosh” she presented the carrot to the horse. Having calmed down a good bit, the horse finally accepted the carrot. While feeding the horse she slowly reaches out with her right hand towards the horse shoulder and gentle strokes its mane. After finishing the carrot the horse had become accustom to her. Willow then proceeded to move around the front the horse, making sure to keep in contact with it at all times. Once reaching his side, she reached around the back side of its leg. Running her hand down to its knee she applied pressure. Prompting it to raise its leg exposing the bottom of its hoof. Using the walking stick to kneel down on one knee, she rested its hoof on her knee. Taking a closer look she could see a nail protruding of the area between the hard and soft parts of the hoof. Bracing the hoof with her forearm she proceeded to gently remove the nail. Once finished she used the walking stick, bracing herself she slowly stood up.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Complete: A helping Hand<br>You were successful in befriending the painted horse. With your close inspection you were able to diagnose the problem. Going beyond what was required, you have gained greater rewards</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Skill: You have learned Bandaging</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Skill: You have learned Animal Husbandry</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> “Hmm I got some skills, what was that command again? Show Skill Window, Animal Husbandry.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Animal Husbandry(Lv. 1 0%): Allows you to care, breed, and raise animals. As skill rises you will be able to care for more animals to include wild and later exotic.<br><br>Controlling Flocks has been come easier.<br>Animal related skills gain a bonus of 1%</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Now more alert to her situation, Willow noticed there were people standing outside the corral. Among them was Sam and the Boss next to him standing with his arms crossed. “Come here Young Lady!” the Boss said while shaking his head. “You seem to know your way around the animals, But you can’t just go where ever you please. What if you had been hurt? Well since you are ok its fine. Looks like you could use some more training though. Hmmm, I think Grandma Wilson was needing some help. You should go to her, we can’t have you helping here with your level of skill.” Willow nods,”Thank you”. Turning her head looking over her shoulder she take one last glance at the painted horse. Saying goodbye to everyone Willow sets off. </div>

Chapter 1 | Connect to Royal RoadYes | No | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Yes” Willow is then greeted by a female voice. “The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account? “Yes.” “Select the name of your avatar.” “Willow” She didn’t put much thought behind the name and thought it would be awkward to be called something different. “Select your gender from male, female or neutral.” “Female” “Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine.” “Human.” “You may alter your appearance if you wish.” “The way I am is fine.” “Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road­” “Select a city and kingdom you want to start in.” “Anywhere is fine.” Not knowing much about Royal Road Willow decides to go with whatever the game chooses.” “The Citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim Kingdom will be your starting area.” “Welcome to Royal­ Road.” A flash of white, followed by the sight of the blue sky.The chatter of a busy market could be heard. Looking around Willow suddenly becomes disorientated and began to stumble. Locking her knees, keeping her legs straight she regains some of her balance. Ahead of her is a large fountain about 30 feet away. The fountain is surrounded by grass before it meets a cobble stone road. Market stalls line the road with one and two story buildings behind them. Various goods are for sale; things like fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, assorted meats, and fresh bread amongst other things, much like the farmers market back home. *Giggle* “Look at her,” a girl says as she walks by with her arm interlocked with a guy. “She must be a new to VRMMORPGs,” the boy says in a manner urging the girl to not speak so loudly. Placing her hand on her on left leg, she grabs a hold of her pants leg. Shifting her weight to her right leg, she processed to stagger forward towards the fountain. Feeling the eyes of the people around her, the feelings of shame and uneasiness come over her. She had made it almost halfway there when she lost her balance and began to fall. Feeling a sudden tug, a large burly hand had gently grasped her arm. “Are you ok young lady?” A males voice could be heard. Willow, with her head hung low in shame glanced over to see a large man. He had large sturdy arms and a board chest. He was wearing worn leather clothing and had a L shaped pack with firewood stacked high on it. “Come lets get you to the fountain. That is where you wanted to go?” he asked. Looking up Willow timidly replied, “Y-Yes, could I borrow your shoulder?” Walking slowly with her hand on his shoulder she could feel his swelling muscles underneath his clothing. Reaching the fountain, Willow turns to the man and said “Thank you”. Now sitting down on the edge of the fountain, she sees he is an older man. His thick beard and the fact he is carrying large amount of firewood would make you think he was a lumberjack. Standing in front of her, looking down he says, “It seems your leg doesn't work so well. If you would like, you can have this walking stick of mine. It has treated me well in my hikes to collect firewood.” Willow looking up thinking he has already done more than enough by stopping and help her replies, “That's ok, you have done more than enough already. I couldn't ask for anything else from you,” flashing a gentle smile. The man probably old enough to be her father ears turn a reddish color. He turned head to the slightly to the side as if to hide his face. He then quickly turns slapping his fist into the open palm of his other hand, as if a light bulb had just turned on. “My name is Spencer,” he says *Heh* letting out a short embarrassed laugh. “I’m Willow. Its nice to meet you,” Willow replies. “Well I need to get going to sale this firewood,” Spencer said while giving a small polite bow. “Thank you again for your help,” Willow says while waving goodbye as he headed away. Still sitting at the at the fountain, she notices Spencer had left his walking stick beside her. It was about four foot long with a carved hand hold about ¾ of the way up. Carved towards the top was a rough outline of a fox. She also had a small bag, when looking inside there was a canteen and what seemed to be some loaves of bread. Taking out the canteen she placed it to her lips. She could feel the coldness of the canteen and was shocked at the taste of the water. It had a clear taste to it without the taste of fluoride she had been used to. She hadn’t thought things like water would taste so real here. While resting, she looked around the area and up to the sky it was beautiful and the clouds looked so real. As the wind blew from time to time, she would be greeted with the scent of fresh baked bread, or the earthy scent from the dust and dirt from the cobble stone road. This was something she would have never dreamed of. After leisurely sitting there for more than an hour just soaking up the sun she gathered herself. “If this is how thing are here, I wonder what else I will get to see,” she thought to herself. Grabbing the walking stick Spencer had left, she slowly stood up. She knowdest she had feeling other than pain in her left leg for the first time since the accident. Puzzled she slowly applied pressure to her leg testing for pain. With no pain and just an awkward feeling, she proceeded to walk. Taking her time, Willow walked around looking at shops, there were all kinds; selling clothing, jewelry, and even furniture. Strolling around, she starting to hear chatter picking up off in the distance. “The Knights are marching! I heard they are going on a hunt to clear monsters from the ruins to the north,” amongst other things could be heard from the growing crowd. The loud sounds of foot steps could be heard, now mixed with the metallic sounds of metal armor clanking about. Willow could see about a hundred soldiers wearing what looked to be chainmail covered with tunics welding longs spears as they marched past. *Tolt tolt* *Tolt, tolt* A familiar sound could be heard, one she hadn’t heard in a long time. As the sound grew closer and louder, so did her heart beat *Thump,thump* *Thump,thump* almost in unison as it grew louder. The appearance of Knights clad in plate mail riding horses reached her view. Her heart could be felt beating wildly in her chest. Slowly rising from chest, spreading to her shoulders, and finally reaching her head. Her legs began to buckle as she held tightly to the walking stick. Standing there for almost 30 minutes, she finally regained her senses. The image of the knights on horseback burned into her memory. Her body yearned for one thing, to be able to ride once again. With the realization that it would be impossible for her to do. She then sought to do the next best thing in her mind, which was to at least be near them once again. Glancing down she had noticed they had been shod, from the minor indents and chipping on the cobble stone road. Scanning further, she could tell at least 50 horse had passed by. With this knowledge, they had to be from a considerably large stable. Following the the fresh trail of the horses, she proceeded to find the stable. “With that many horses, maybe I could find a way to help out,” she thought to herself. From time to time she would see traces of manure that wasn’t cleaned up properly. With the trail still fresh, she found herself on the edge of town just inside the walls of the city. Standing In front of her was a large archway with two horse shoes interlocked hanging from the middle. There was 4 large barns, grazing pastures, what looked to be a paddock, and a number of corrals. On the Side of one of the barns was a small smithy, with a few horses line up outside to get horseshoes. Looking around she could see a few horse here and there some in a corral being broken in, others grazing, and some being moved from place to place. There was quite a few stable hands doing various jobs. Looking up at the archway as the slowly walked through. She was greeted with, “Hey Hey you can’t be here,” from off behind her in the distance. Slowly turning around she could see a stable hand in dirty work clothes. Sam finally catching up to the girl, noticed she was using a walking stick as a cane to get around. She had just turned around allowing him to get a closer look. She was very pretty with long black hair and tanned skin, leaving him with the impression she had come from the desert to the south. “I’m Sorry,” Willow exclaimed.“I just wanted to see the horses. I used to own a few till I had to sell them because of my accident.” Sam not knowing what to say paused for a moment, “I’ll ask the boss if you can look around. Ok? So stay here till i get back,” Sam said as he headed towards the smithy. Willow watched Sam as he ran. He could be seen talking to a short pudgy man. From time to time he would place his hand on the back of his head while bowing slightly. After a few minutes Sam returned. “The boss said its ok for you to look around, but don’t get in the way of anyone working,” Sam said as he gave a little grin. Sam was smiling while saying, “The Boss is a big softy so don’t mind him. If you talk to him just call him Boss and I’m Sam by the way”. Willow, with a joyous smile nodding with an over exaggerated yes shake of the head, “Thank you Sam. I’m Willow, its nice to meet you.” Sam also nodding with a slight feeling of accomplishment said “Well I have to get back to work, enjoy yourself. I hope to get to talk to you again.” He then turned with almost a strut in his step as he walked away, returning to his work. Thinking to herself, “There are a lot of nice people here,” what she didn’t know that the people that had help her so far where NPCs. Willow strolled around till she found herself resting against one of the corrals. A stable hand was trying to break in a painted horse inside the corral. Willow watched intently as the horse stubbornly fought bucking and kicking away. Resting there she has watch the stable hand struggle. For almost an hour, her eyes never left the horse. Finally the stable hand gave up trying, yelling and kicking the dirt before he left. Willow stood there watching the horse galloping with a sense of accomplishment as if it had just won a derby. Looking around she found a pale with some carrots and a few apples. Walking over an fetching a large carrot from the pale she turn to the horse with a childish smile on her face. Propping herself on the corral she extended her arm holding the carrot. Making small noises like one would when calling a cat. She was gesturing with a come over her movement with the carrot. Finally catching the horses attention, it had made eye contact. Digging with its right hoof, it lets out a snort while shaking its head from side to side. The horse then trotted in a small circle turning its back to her leaving her in the corner of its eye. Willow stood there watching the horse, with a I’m going to get you eat this carrot if its the last thing I do smile on her face. Since Willow had been watching the horse for over an hour, she had noticed it had been favoring one leg and started to wonder. Walking over to the gate she unlatched it and slipped into the corral. After closing the gate she received a message. | A helping HandThrough the use of observation, the painted horse seems to be favoring on leg. Befriend the horse and discover the cause.Difficulty: FQuest Requirements:Befriend the painted horse and diagnose the problem. If you are unable to do so, you run the risk of losing the favor of the Stable and intimacy with the painted horse. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Do you Accept this Quest?Yes | No | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | With the sudden pop up, Willow was surprised. It took her a moment to answer, “Yes.” Taking her time, she slowly walked towards the horse till it was within arm reach. Reaching out the hand with the carrot, the horse once again stamped down. Digging with its hoof, the horse lets out a loud snort while shaking its head in a fluid motion down to its shoulders. In a low calming voice, “Yoosh yoosh” she presented the carrot to the horse. Having calmed down a good bit, the horse finally accepted the carrot. While feeding the horse she slowly reaches out with her right hand towards the horse shoulder and gentle strokes its mane. After finishing the carrot the horse had become accustom to her. Willow then proceeded to move around the front the horse, making sure to keep in contact with it at all times. Once reaching his side, she reached around the back side of its leg. Running her hand down to its knee she applied pressure. Prompting it to raise its leg exposing the bottom of its hoof. Using the walking stick to kneel down on one knee, she rested its hoof on her knee. Taking a closer look she could see a nail protruding of the area between the hard and soft parts of the hoof. Bracing the hoof with her forearm she proceeded to gently remove the nail. Once finished she used the walking stick, bracing herself she slowly stood up. | Quest Complete: A helping HandYou were successful in befriending the painted horse. With your close inspection you were able to diagnose the problem. Going beyond what was required, you have gained greater rewards | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Skill: You have learned Bandaging | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Skill: You have learned Animal Husbandry | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Hmm I got some skills, what was that command again? Show Skill Window, Animal Husbandry.” | Animal Husbandry(Lv. 1 0%): Allows you to care, breed, and raise animals. As skill rises you will be able to care for more animals to include wild and later exotic.Controlling Flocks has been come easier.Animal related skills gain a bonus of 1% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Now more alert to her situation, Willow noticed there were people standing outside the corral. Among them was Sam and the Boss next to him standing with his arms crossed. “Come here Young Lady!” the Boss said while shaking his head. “You seem to know your way around the animals, But you can’t just go where ever you please. What if you had been hurt? Well since you are ok its fine. Looks like you could use some more training though. Hmmm, I think Grandma Wilson was needing some help. You should go to her, we can’t have you helping here with your level of skill.” Willow nods,”Thank you”. Turning her head looking over her shoulder she take one last glance at the painted horse. Saying goodbye to everyone Willow sets off.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 5 The secret? what secret?<br><br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br><br>I quickly packed my supplies into my stat window including clothes, Food ingredients, and cooked dishes. The food doesn't go bad in my status window, while if you put them in storage scrolls they will rot, plus only I can access my status window, so no stealing.<br><br>I quickly headed to the land of waves by tree hopping, it's quite a refreshing experience plus I added chakra on to my legs for the boost, so I can arrive to my destination faster, I took a boat to an island, and asked for directions to Tazuna's house. I arrived there and knocked on the door.<br><br>Old-Man: "Yes, yes, I'm coming, who is it?."<br><br>Zed: "hello Good evening, is this Tazuna-San's place?."<br><br>Old-Man: "Depend whose asking?." the man eyed me cautiously.<br><br>Zed: "Ahh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Zed and I'm the back-up Konoha sent to help team 7 on their mission."<br><br>The cautiousness of the old man vanished and went cheery.<br><br>Old-Man: "Is that so, then you found the man your looking for, my name is Tazuna, and pardon the hostility, Some assassins are after my life."<br><br>Zed: "No problem at all, if I was in your place, I would do the same."<br><br>Tazuna: "what an understanding young man you are, come in, I'll guide you to Kakashi and his team."<br><br>Tazuna-san guided me to a room in his house where kakashi and his team where currently at the room, and we went in.<br><br>Zed: "Hello everyone, my name is zed, and I'm your back up."<br><br> I introduced myself with a smile that mimicked Guy-sensei's and Lee's shining smile without the good guy pose. I still remembered how I came to know this technique.<br><br>~ Flashback~<br><br>I was on a training session with Lee and his team, then Guy- sensei and Lee approached me.<br><br>Guy: Its been a while now that we've trained together, and although your not my official student, you are still my unofficial student.<br><br>Zed: "Thank you for your kind words, Guy-sensei."<br><br>Guy: "That is why it is finally time, to officially induct you to our group."<br><br>Zed: "But I thought I was already your unofficial student Guy-sensei?."<br><br>Guy: "That is only on the outside, it's time to officially make you my 2nd disciple, and to do that you must wear......... [ This ]."<br><br>What Guy-sensei was holding seems to be, dare I say it, a Green Spandex jumpsuit that seems to be shining brightly. I wonder how it does that...wait......wait....did he want me to wear that green spandex jumpsuit? ..... ah...sensei must be joking with me, I'll ask him again.<br><br>Zed: "That's a good one sensei, okay I admit you got me, for a second there I thought that you wanted me to wear that green spandex jumpsuit."<br><br>Guy: "Its no joke zed-san, this mystical green spandex jumpsuit does wonders to your training, making them improve you by leaps, and bounds isn't that right Lee?."<br><br>Lee: "Right!!! Guy-sensei, I was skeptical at first too zed-san, but I was wrong, The wonders of the mystical green spandex jumpsuit cannot be denied." said in a good-guy pose with his thumbs up with his teeth smile shining brightly.<br><br>Zed: "OMG!, OMG!, That's so wonderful Lee-san."<br><br><br>Guy: "So you'll accept wearing this mystical green spandex jumpsuit?."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, yes I'll have to.....humbly decline guy-sensei."<br><br>Guy: "I'm Glad you see it my way.......what??, but I thought you said yes?."<br><br>Zed: "Hmmm?, did you say something Guy-sensei?."<br><br>Guy: Curse you Kakashi!!, curse you and your hip attitude, You even corrupted one of my student. Curse! you, Curse you to no end.<br><br>Somewhere A white-haired ninja with an anti-gravity defying hair was Feeling proud for some strange reason, so happy in fact that he made a small happy dance.<br><br>Lee: "That's okay Guy-sensei well beat Kakashi with our hard work."<br><br>Guy: "Your right Lee."<br><br>Lee: "Guy-sensei!!."<br><br>Guy: "Lee!!."<br><br>Lee: "Guy-sensei!!."<br><br>Was about to Hug each other until<br><br>Zed: "AAHEEM!!."<br><br>The two quickly froze, and they suddenly get the feeling that it would be bad if they were doing their Teacher and student's bonding time around Zed.<br><br>Guy: Right, zed-san I'm sorry for bothering you, I'll leave now seeing as you don't want to learn from me. said in a sad voice.<br><br>Zed: "WAIT!, I'm sorry if I offended you Guy-sensei, but I'm not ready yet for the all powerful mystical green spandex jumpsuit, ( yeah, more like never) but There is something I can learn from you and only you, and it can only be seen as sign of being your student, binding them in a sacred brotherhood, or fraternity, however you take it."<br><br>Guy: "It is?, What is it , What is the thing that you can learn from me that can bee seen as being my student?." Guy said excitedly.<br><br>Zed: "Yes, what I want to learn from you, that every man aspires to copy, is The sacred art of the Good Guy Pose!!."<br><br>Guy: "The good guy pose??."<br><br>Lee: "The good guy pose??."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, It might come to you naturally, but for uncultured men like myself, that in itself is a sacred art, that can woo anyone at will, and make men shudder in their shortcomings for not having learnt it himself, please teach it to me, no I'm begging you to teach it to me Guy-Sensei!."<br><br>Guy was shocked!!, He never thought about it like that because it just come naturally to him.<br><br>Guy: "Is that really true zed-san?."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, Guy-sensei."<br><br>Guy: "Ahh, That must be why they shy away when I do that pose!, I'm so great I did not even realize it."<br><br>Zed: ( Actually, it's probably the green spandex jumpsuit that gets in the way, If you did a change of wardrobe and did that pose to the ladies, they would swoon themselves all over to you, minus the thumbs-up sign, and just focus on that dazzling smile, and the God's will bow down to you). Zed thought.<br>Guy: "Yosh!!,come zed-san, I will teach you the secret art of the good guy pose. Lee come with me, as Zed's sempai, it is your duty to help your kohai achieve greatness."<br><br>Lee: "Yes!, Guy-sensei!."<br><br>After that, I had a grueling months of secret training, and after such guidance of both Guy-sensei and Lee, I too can make a smile so dazzling, that can make any woman faint.<br><br>~Flashback end~<br><br><br>"Ahh ,what a dazzling and mesmerizing smile." everyone in the room thought.<br><br>White haired man: "I'm sorry, did I hear you say that your our back-up?."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, I did shinobi-san."<br><br>White haired man: "Ahh sorry about that, my name is Hatake Kakashi, what's your name."<br><br>Zed: "Its Zed, no last name."<br><br>Blonde haired boy: "He's our back-up?, I bet I could beat him, datebayo!."<br><br>Pink haired Girl: "Shut up!, Naruto!."<br><br>Naruto: "But, Sakura-chan."<br><br>Black haired boy: "don't judge a book by its cover, dobe!."<br><br>Naruto: "Like your one to talk, sasuke teme!."<br><br>Kakashi: "Mah, mah , I'm sure our back-up is a super strong shinobi, right zed-san." said while eyeing zed carefully.<br><br>Zed: "Sorry to disappoint you Kakashi- san, but I am a humble medic-nin."<br><br>Naruto: "See sasuke teme, I can totally beat him tebayo!."<br><br>Kakashi: "Don't be so hasty naruto, I heard rumors about zed-san here, He can almost heal anything, right Angel-sama, It is said that he is second only to Tsunade."<br><br>Zed: "Those are just rumors kakashi-san."<br><br>Naruto: "See Kakashi-sensei, I can totally win."<br><br>Sasuke: "Hnnn."<br><br>Sakura: ( Sasuke's so cool, he's cooler than zed-san's smile, wait why am I thinking of zed-san?, Shanaroo!!.) , thought sakura.<br><br>Kakashi: "Still, naruto he neither confirmed it, or denied it."<br><br>Naruto: "Nani!!, So he's a super awesome Medic?."<br><br>Zed: "Awww don't feel bad Naruto-san, here have some Ramen."<br><br>Zed got a hot steaming bowl of ramen from his stat window, and it looked to others like he was getting it from out of thin air. ( let me explain, while zed was on his stay at Konoha, He managed to stumbled upon a small ramen establishment called Teuchi's Ramen Stand, The ramen was good, more than any of it that he tasted in his world, that he vowed to make something just as good if not equally better ramen. So he experimented, his level now could be above Teuchi's with the aid of his cooking skill stat., but zed kept it to himself, he didn't want to run that restaurant out of business, plus he had already so much money in<br> hand. )<br><br>Naruto: "RAMEN!!!!, The food of the Gods, Thank you for showing this unworthy disciple a miracle in these desperate times. He quickly took the ramen and ate it so fast while muttering So Good, Omg! it's better than Teuchi's, huh?........ no more ramen?, Noooooooo!, why Ramen Gods have you abandoned me so!!, Sob!, Sob!."<br><br><br>Everyone the room sweatdropped.<br><br>Sasuke: ne, ne Kakashi-sensei, is he a magician?. said while his fingers are pointed at zed.<br><br>Kakashi: "I don't know Sasuke, I don't know."<br><br>Naruto: "RAMEN!!, sob!, sob!."<br><br>Sakura: ( sakuke-kun's so cool, why is Naruto crying?, why are Kakashi-sensei's and Sasuke-kun's face like that. ). thought Sakura.<br><br>Zed: "It's okay little guy here have some more."<br><br>two more ramen popped-up both in his hand, and Naruto Took it lightning fast this time. Naruto ate it just as fast this time while saying thank you, thank you, thank you.<br><br>Naruto: "Ahh I'm full."<br><br>Naruto: "You!!." pointed his fingers at zed.<br><br>Zed: "Yes?."<br><br>Naruto: "From now own, your my aniki!." the blonde teen declared.<br><br>Zed: "What!!!!!???." Zed said confused and puzzled.<br><br>Sasuke: "ne, ne, Kakashi-sensei, that didn't just happen right?." He said in a whisper to Kakashi.<br><br>Kakashi: "What?, you mean our back-up shinobi pulled ramen out of his ass, and Naruto is a ramen addict that became our back-up shinobi's brother/ follower?, yes that just happened Sasuke." said in an awed voice.<br><br>Naruto: "I said, from now on, your my brother, aniki."<br><br>Zed: "Ahh, I thought I heard you say that, yup." Zed said in the, I know what I'm doing, but not sure voice.<br><br>Naruto: "Yay, aniki accepts me." said in a cheerful voice.<br><br>Zed: "Well, when life gives you lemon, you make lemonade."<br><br>Sasuke: "They are both Crazy!, Crazy!."<br><br>Kakashi: "Step away from the crazy people Sasuke, come Sakura, let's get out while our sanity is still intact."<br><br>Sakura: "What?, okay Kakashi-sensei." said in a confused voice.<br><br>And just like that a week passed and Kakashi only managed to teach his team the tree walking exercise, and Zed and Naruto bonded some more with the talk of ramen, and training taijutsu's, while Kakashi and the rest of the group were nowhere found near the two.<br><br>Kakashi: "Its time to face zabuza."<br><br>Sakura: "But Kakashi-sensei, we didn't tell zed-san about the Hunter-nin and zabuza, plus he is still with naruto."<br><br>Kakashi: "Leave the crazy people alone Sakura, I'm sure Naruto will tell his new aniki, that today is the day we estimate that zabuza is recovered."<br><br>Sakura: "Your right Kakashi-sensei."<br><br>Sasuke: "Hnnn."<br><br><br><br><br>Authors Note:<br><br><br>I had a blast with this one, I was supposed to release it tomorrow, I was laughing very hard with this one, I mean I was just writing, and one thing led to the other and It turned out great. At least to me.<br><br><br>Happy Reading,<br><br>zed019 </div>

Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 5 The secret? what secret? Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. I quickly packed my supplies into my stat window including clothes, Food ingredients, and cooked dishes. The food doesn't go bad in my status window, while if you put them in storage scrolls they will rot, plus only I can access my status window, so no stealing. I quickly headed to the land of waves by tree hopping, it's quite a refreshing experience plus I added chakra on to my legs for the boost, so I can arrive to my destination faster, I took a boat to an island, and asked for directions to Tazuna's house. I arrived there and knocked on the door. Old-Man: "Yes, yes, I'm coming, who is it?." Zed: "hello Good evening, is this Tazuna-San's place?." Old-Man: "Depend whose asking?." the man eyed me cautiously. Zed: "Ahh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Zed and I'm the back-up Konoha sent to help team 7 on their mission." The cautiousness of the old man vanished and went cheery. Old-Man: "Is that so, then you found the man your looking for, my name is Tazuna, and pardon the hostility, Some assassins are after my life." Zed: "No problem at all, if I was in your place, I would do the same." Tazuna: "what an understanding young man you are, come in, I'll guide you to Kakashi and his team." Tazuna-san guided me to a room in his house where kakashi and his team where currently at the room, and we went in. Zed: "Hello everyone, my name is zed, and I'm your back up." I introduced myself with a smile that mimicked Guy-sensei's and Lee's shining smile without the good guy pose. I still remembered how I came to know this technique. ~ Flashback~ I was on a training session with Lee and his team, then Guy- sensei and Lee approached me. Guy: Its been a while now that we've trained together, and although your not my official student, you are still my unofficial student. Zed: "Thank you for your kind words, Guy-sensei." Guy: "That is why it is finally time, to officially induct you to our group." Zed: "But I thought I was already your unofficial student Guy-sensei?." Guy: "That is only on the outside, it's time to officially make you my 2nd disciple, and to do that you must wear......... [ This ]." What Guy-sensei was holding seems to be, dare I say it, a Green Spandex jumpsuit that seems to be shining brightly. I wonder how it does that...wait......wait....did he want me to wear that green spandex jumpsuit? ..... ah...sensei must be joking with me, I'll ask him again. Zed: "That's a good one sensei, okay I admit you got me, for a second there I thought that you wanted me to wear that green spandex jumpsuit." Guy: "Its no joke zed-san, this mystical green spandex jumpsuit does wonders to your training, making them improve you by leaps, and bounds isn't that right Lee?." Lee: "Right!!! Guy-sensei, I was skeptical at first too zed-san, but I was wrong, The wonders of the mystical green spandex jumpsuit cannot be denied." said in a good-guy pose with his thumbs up with his teeth smile shining brightly. Zed: "OMG!, OMG!, That's so wonderful Lee-san." Guy: "So you'll accept wearing this mystical green spandex jumpsuit?." Zed: "Yes, yes I'll have to.....humbly decline guy-sensei." Guy: "I'm Glad you see it my way.......what??, but I thought you said yes?." Zed: "Hmmm?, did you say something Guy-sensei?." Guy: Curse you Kakashi!!, curse you and your hip attitude, You even corrupted one of my student. Curse! you, Curse you to no end. Somewhere A white-haired ninja with an anti-gravity defying hair was Feeling proud for some strange reason, so happy in fact that he made a small happy dance. Lee: "That's okay Guy-sensei well beat Kakashi with our hard work." Guy: "Your right Lee." Lee: "Guy-sensei!!." Guy: "Lee!!." Lee: "Guy-sensei!!." Was about to Hug each other until Zed: "AAHEEM!!." The two quickly froze, and they suddenly get the feeling that it would be bad if they were doing their Teacher and student's bonding time around Zed. Guy: Right, zed-san I'm sorry for bothering you, I'll leave now seeing as you don't want to learn from me. said in a sad voice. Zed: "WAIT!, I'm sorry if I offended you Guy-sensei, but I'm not ready yet for the all powerful mystical green spandex jumpsuit, ( yeah, more like never) but There is something I can learn from you and only you, and it can only be seen as sign of being your student, binding them in a sacred brotherhood, or fraternity, however you take it." Guy: "It is?, What is it , What is the thing that you can learn from me that can bee seen as being my student?." Guy said excitedly. Zed: "Yes, what I want to learn from you, that every man aspires to copy, is The sacred art of the Good Guy Pose!!." Guy: "The good guy pose??." Lee: "The good guy pose??." Zed: "Yes, It might come to you naturally, but for uncultured men like myself, that in itself is a sacred art, that can woo anyone at will, and make men shudder in their shortcomings for not having learnt it himself, please teach it to me, no I'm begging you to teach it to me Guy-Sensei!." Guy was shocked!!, He never thought about it like that because it just come naturally to him. Guy: "Is that really true zed-san?." Zed: "Yes, Guy-sensei." Guy: "Ahh, That must be why they shy away when I do that pose!, I'm so great I did not even realize it." Zed: ( Actually, it's probably the green spandex jumpsuit that gets in the way, If you did a change of wardrobe and did that pose to the ladies, they would swoon themselves all over to you, minus the thumbs-up sign, and just focus on that dazzling smile, and the God's will bow down to you). Zed thought. Guy: "Yosh!!,come zed-san, I will teach you the secret art of the good guy pose. Lee come with me, as Zed's sempai, it is your duty to help your kohai achieve greatness." Lee: "Yes!, Guy-sensei!." After that, I had a grueling months of secret training, and after such guidance of both Guy-sensei and Lee, I too can make a smile so dazzling, that can make any woman faint. ~Flashback end~ "Ahh ,what a dazzling and mesmerizing smile." everyone in the room thought. White haired man: "I'm sorry, did I hear you say that your our back-up?." Zed: "Yes, I did shinobi-san." White haired man: "Ahh sorry about that, my name is Hatake Kakashi, what's your name." Zed: "Its Zed, no last name." Blonde haired boy: "He's our back-up?, I bet I could beat him, datebayo!." Pink haired Girl: "Shut up!, Naruto!." Naruto: "But, Sakura-chan." Black haired boy: "don't judge a book by its cover, dobe!." Naruto: "Like your one to talk, sasuke teme!." Kakashi: "Mah, mah , I'm sure our back-up is a super strong shinobi, right zed-san." said while eyeing zed carefully. Zed: "Sorry to disappoint you Kakashi- san, but I am a humble medic-nin." Naruto: "See sasuke teme, I can totally beat him tebayo!." Kakashi: "Don't be so hasty naruto, I heard rumors about zed-san here, He can almost heal anything, right Angel-sama, It is said that he is second only to Tsunade." Zed: "Those are just rumors kakashi-san." Naruto: "See Kakashi-sensei, I can totally win." Sasuke: "Hnnn." Sakura: ( Sasuke's so cool, he's cooler than zed-san's smile, wait why am I thinking of zed-san?, Shanaroo!!.) , thought sakura. Kakashi: "Still, naruto he neither confirmed it, or denied it." Naruto: "Nani!!, So he's a super awesome Medic?." Zed: "Awww don't feel bad Naruto-san, here have some Ramen." Zed got a hot steaming bowl of ramen from his stat window, and it looked to others like he was getting it from out of thin air. ( let me explain, while zed was on his stay at Konoha, He managed to stumbled upon a small ramen establishment called Teuchi's Ramen Stand, The ramen was good, more than any of it that he tasted in his world, that he vowed to make something just as good if not equally better ramen. So he experimented, his level now could be above Teuchi's with the aid of his cooking skill stat., but zed kept it to himself, he didn't want to run that restaurant out of business, plus he had already so much money in hand. ) Naruto: "RAMEN!!!!, The food of the Gods, Thank you for showing this unworthy disciple a miracle in these desperate times. He quickly took the ramen and ate it so fast while muttering So Good, Omg! it's better than Teuchi's, huh?........ no more ramen?, Noooooooo!, why Ramen Gods have you abandoned me so!!, Sob!, Sob!." Everyone the room sweatdropped. Sasuke: ne, ne Kakashi-sensei, is he a magician?. said while his fingers are pointed at zed. Kakashi: "I don't know Sasuke, I don't know." Naruto: "RAMEN!!, sob!, sob!." Sakura: ( sakuke-kun's so cool, why is Naruto crying?, why are Kakashi-sensei's and Sasuke-kun's face like that. ). thought Sakura. Zed: "It's okay little guy here have some more." two more ramen popped-up both in his hand, and Naruto Took it lightning fast this time. Naruto ate it just as fast this time while saying thank you, thank you, thank you. Naruto: "Ahh I'm full." Naruto: "You!!." pointed his fingers at zed. Zed: "Yes?." Naruto: "From now own, your my aniki!." the blonde teen declared. Zed: "What!!!!!???." Zed said confused and puzzled. Sasuke: "ne, ne, Kakashi-sensei, that didn't just happen right?." He said in a whisper to Kakashi. Kakashi: "What?, you mean our back-up shinobi pulled ramen out of his ass, and Naruto is a ramen addict that became our back-up shinobi's brother/ follower?, yes that just happened Sasuke." said in an awed voice. Naruto: "I said, from now on, your my brother, aniki." Zed: "Ahh, I thought I heard you say that, yup." Zed said in the, I know what I'm doing, but not sure voice. Naruto: "Yay, aniki accepts me." said in a cheerful voice. Zed: "Well, when life gives you lemon, you make lemonade." Sasuke: "They are both Crazy!, Crazy!." Kakashi: "Step away from the crazy people Sasuke, come Sakura, let's get out while our sanity is still intact." Sakura: "What?, okay Kakashi-sensei." said in a confused voice. And just like that a week passed and Kakashi only managed to teach his team the tree walking exercise, and Zed and Naruto bonded some more with the talk of ramen, and training taijutsu's, while Kakashi and the rest of the group were nowhere found near the two. Kakashi: "Its time to face zabuza." Sakura: "But Kakashi-sensei, we didn't tell zed-san about the Hunter-nin and zabuza, plus he is still with naruto." Kakashi: "Leave the crazy people alone Sakura, I'm sure Naruto will tell his new aniki, that today is the day we estimate that zabuza is recovered." Sakura: "Your right Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke: "Hnnn." Authors Note: I had a blast with this one, I was supposed to release it tomorrow, I was laughing very hard with this one, I mean I was just writing, and one thing led to the other and It turned out great. At least to me. Happy Reading, zed019

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> 1.4 - Teachers and Students<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Accepted</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Alright I'm going to start running. You can come after I’m out of sight,” Urd said. <br><br>Dropping to all fours, pulling up his hood, and covering his face, Urd Dashed off.<br><br>Once Urd was out of sight, Willow headed after him while scanning the area. Noticing boot prints Urd had left behind, Willow began to run after him. Willow soon started to topple over, rolling a couple times, her foot had gotten caught on something, Urd had set up a trip line. Just as Willow was about to begin to move again her footing gave way. Willow's right leg was knee deep in a pitfall. <br><br>“I see how this is going to go,” Willow thought to herself.<br><br>As Willow progressed further, she began to notice traps as she observed the landscape. There were many types of traps; trip wires, deadfalls, footholds, and pitfalls.<br><br>Soon the traps became deadlier, spikes were added and various other techniques were used increasing their lethality.<br><br>From time to time the traps were designed to capture, rather than to kill. <br><br>Willow’s pace has slowed down to a crawl. Willow had to constantly scan the terrain for traps, observe the surrounds, and look for signs of a trail left by Urd.<br><br>Getting hungry, Willow stopped to rest and eat. All she had with her was her bow, arrows, water skin, and some jerky she always kept in a small pouch for emergencies.<br><br>Half a day had already passed, if things kept to at this rate she would be forced to hunt. Oddly enough there were no traces of wildlife in the forest. It was so quiet, as if the forest had fallen asleep. No bird, not even the sounds of insects could be heard.<br><br>After eating Willow got up and proceeded to follows urds trail. The terrain was getting steeper as she went further.<br><br>Slowly moving forward, Willow noticed a dead drop designed to snare and hoist its target into the air.<br><br>Just as she was going to disable the trap, she was flung to the ground, knocking the wind out of her.<br><br>While gasping for breath, Willow was drug towards the top of a steep slope. Willow struggled to break free from the snare but it was too late.<br><br>Willow was launched into the air. Finally catching her breath, Willow braced herself as she plummeted towards the ground. While airborne Willow could see rows of spikes made of wood at the base of the Slope.<br><br>Once hitting the ground Willow had started to tumble. Willow slowly adjusted herself, bringing herself to a rapid slide. Attempting to slow herself, Willow looked for anything to grab ahold of. Coming into Willow’s sight was a large boulder. Willow, brought her knees to her chest, as the boulder came near. Leaning forward Willow jumped, flinging herself towards the boulder. Slamming into the boulder;<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2">-30 Hit Points</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Desperately grasping on the boulder, Willow as abled to stop her descent. Taking a moment she collected herself and slowly climbed her way up the hill.<br><br>Picking up Urd trail, Willow slowly progressed forward. The traps were getting less complex and Urd’s trail more noticeable.<br><br>Willow still had about a quarter of the allotted time left. With the traps thinning out Willow was able to pick up speed considerably. Willow was slowly making a circle, heading straight back to the camp.<br><br>With a few hours left made it to the edge of the clearing before the camp. Willow could see Urd stoking the fire, while preparing a meal.<br><br>Stepping into the clearing, Willow heard a small *Snap*, followed by a thin, *Woosh*, and an abrupt *Thwap*, the last trap was a simple sling.<br><br>Willow rubbed her butt and gave a pained smile as she walked into camp.<br><br>Slapping his knee, Urd gave off a loud chuckle.<br><br>“Remember just because you can see the finish line doesn’t mean its over. *Bing*<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Complete; Urd's Game<br><br>Through Urd's game you have learned many things. Tracking a target, observing the surroundings and the basics traps and their applications.<br><br>Skill: You have learned Observation.<br>Skill: You have learned Tracking.<br>Skill: You have learned Traps.<br>Skill: You have learned Vision.<br><br>Observation(Lv. 2 25%): You are able to analyse diverse landscape to gain vital information.<br>Tracking(Lv.3 10%): You are able to find targets by following subtle changes in the environment.<br>Traps(Lv.2 25%): You have the ability to make, place and disarm traps.<br>Vision(Lv.3 10%) By honing your sight you have the ability to see further and focus on targets at a longer distances.<br><br>+10 Agility<br>+10 Vitality<br>+5 Strength<br>+50 Fame<br>-50 Notoriety<br><br>Level up</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Now come over here and get you something to eat, while we fix you up.” Urd said.<br><br>Willow walked over to the fire getting herself some food. Urd turned to his side, pulling out some bandages and herbs. Combining them, Urd began to treat Willows wounds.<br><br>“Looks like you’re lacking a little in survival. You need to be able to fend for yourself. You’ll need to learn Repair and herb gathering, but I’ll leave that to someone else. We have other things to work on,” Urd stated. *Bing*<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest: The Hunt<br><br>You have much to learn from Urd. Proposing a hunt, Urd intends to teach you more of his craft.<br><br>Difficulty: F<br><br>Quest Requirements: Failure to accept the quest will result in permanent loss of Intimacy with Urd, being unable to take the quest again.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“A hunt sounds wonderful,” Willow replied.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Accepted</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Alright rest up. We will be leaving at dawn,” Urd announced.<br><br>Taking this time willow logged out. Willow headed for the cafeteria to grab some food. After eating she took a quick shower, it was Saturday afternoon. She had a day and a half before her play time would be limited by school. Willow needed to get the most out for the remaining time.<br><br>When Willow logged back into Royal Road, it was just before dawn. Willow went through her pack gathering what she would need for the hunt.Willow started to make breakfast, pulling some vegetables, and leftover wolf meat from her pack. Shortly after finishing the stew Urd joined her at the fire. Rubbing his hands together warming them on the fire.<br><br>Willow passed a bowl of stew to Urd. While eating Urd started to talk about archery techniques. He first talked about how to nock multiple arrows at once, how to hold them, and draw the bow. Once finished describing it in detail, he went on to talk about another technique. The next technique was a basic technique that would allow you to shoot through tough hides and even platemail. He explained the technique was used more for large game and some exotics. The sun rose soon after Urd finished his explanation.<br><br>“Ok, Lets get started. You can’t just lurk about. You have to use your whole body to move, watching your balance, and paying attention to your surroundings.”<br><br>Urd lowered his stance while distributing his weight, urging Willow to follow his example. Using his bow he adjusted Willow’s posture to match his while making a *shh* gesture.<br><br>As they proceeded Willow paid attention to Urd trying to mirror his movement. They had cover about a mile worth of ground.<br><br>Using his hand, Urd motioned for Willow to watch as he nocked four arrows. Drawing his bow, Urd was aiming at a large boar. Firing his bow, all four arrows hit their target. Surprised for a moment the boar began its charge.<br><br>“Ok this is where you use the second technique I showed you,” Urd Said.<br><br>Drawing his bow and repeatedly fired arrows. Willow could see the arrows were digging in deeper than the rest.<br><br>Walking over to the boar, Urd began to remove the hide, meat, bone, teeth and tusks. Urd was able to collect a lot more than she would have been able to.<br><br>“Ok let me show you something neat,” Urd said as he pulled tools from his pack. <br><br>Cutting thin strips from the hide, he removed the fur from them them making them clean. Gathering the tusks and teeth, Urd made small holes in them. Using the cut stirps in strung the tusk and teeth into a bracelet.<br><br>“Alright now its your turn.” Urd said while turning to Willow.<br><br>While Observing the land she was able to tell there were still quite a few boars in the area. Starting to move forward Willow caught the trail of a boar. Crouching down Willow silently moved forward.<br><br>After about 15 minutes of creeping through the woods WIllow found her prey. Repeating Urd’s example, Willow nocked four arrows and fired her bow. The arrows hitting the boar, Willow switched to the second technique. Willow had slain the boar rather quickly.<br><br>Willow gathered the hide, tusks, teeth, and meat from the boar. Now following Urd instructions, she began to make a bracelet out of the items. *Bing*<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Complete: The Hunt<br><br>Through hunting with Urd you have learned various archery skills. Steathily hunting with Urd has taught you how to sneak. Urd's use of the kill has shown you how to craft hunting trophies.<br><br>Skill: You have learned Multi-shot<br>Skill: You have learned Penetration<br>Skill: You have learned Trophy Crafting<br>Skill: You have learned Sneak<br><br>+5 Agility<br>+50 Fame<br>+50 Notoriety<br><br>Level up</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>"Alright lets head back to camp for now," Urd said.<br><br>After returning to camp Willow and Urd sat down to eat. Chatting for awhile, Willow listened to Urd tell stories of hunts and distant lands. Urd had lived most of his life as a nomad, moving from one place to the next.<br><br>“Well its about time for me to go, the rest you have to learn for yourself. I’ll leave this with you,” Urd handed will a small leather bound book. <br><br>“Thank you,” Willow replied. Nodding his head Urd grabbed his pack. Walking to the edge of the forest, Urd waved goodbye. As soon as Urd entered the forest, he disappeared.<br><br>Looking at the book closer it resembled a field journal. The cover had a picture of a white wolf with the roman numeral one burned into it. <br><br>Opening the cover looking inside will saw drawing and details on a rare wolf. The book contained rough sketches of a general location where it could be found. The book contained details on its diet, territorial habits, and activity cycles amongst other things. Closing the book Willow got a quest pop-up. *Bing*<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest: The Legendary Huntsmen<br><br>One of the great hunters, nears the end of the hunt. Knowledge passed from teacher to student, marks the beginning of the new hunt. You have been task to follow the footsteps of the teacher. Embraced by the land, feared by the prey, the hunt calls the hunter.<br><br>Difficulty: Unknown<br><br>Quest Requirements: Receive a field journal from a Huntsmen.<br><br>Quest Rewards: Unknown.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“I accept,” Willow spoke as she gripped the journal tightly.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Accepted</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Having only know Urd for two days wasn’t enough to form a meaningful relationship. None the less Urd had taught Willow many things. Opening a path, Urd had given Willow the tools to survive and to hunt.<br><br>Focusing on the task at hand, Willow needed to go to town. Willow was unsure of the location of the wolf she needed to hunt. With the murder’s mark still on her head, Willow would have to hunt to rid herself of it..<br><br>Grabbing her bow, Willow thought it was about time to find another. “Stat Window”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%">Character Name</td><td width="25%">Willow</td><td width="25%">Alignment</td><td width="25%">Neutral</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Profession</td><td width="25%">None</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan="3">Horse Thief</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Fame</td><td colspan="3">100</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">350</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">100</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">30</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">50(+5)</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">35(+5)</td><td width="25%">Intellect</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Charisma</td><td width="25%">7</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Luck</td><td width="25%">0</td><td width="25%">Notoriety</td><td width="25%">50</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Attack</td><td colspan="3">5</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Defense</td><td colspan="3">5</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Magic Resistance</td><td colspan="3">0</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Skill Window, Trophy Crafting”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Trophy Crafting:<br><br>This ability allows you to craft trophies from your kills.<br>As skill grows the benefits are greater.<br>Crafting trophies requires an abundant amount of knowledge animals and creatures.<br>+2% bonus to loot drops related to Trophy Crafting</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Thinking to herself, “Benefits? From Trophies?”<br><br>Pulling out the Boar trophy Willow took a look.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Simple Boar Trophy<br><br>Using parts of a boar, the crafter making the trophy was a novice. Only part of the boar’s essence was captured.<br><br>+3 vit</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Willow went through her pack and check supplies. Willow would soon need food, if she was going to get rid of the murder’s mark. Willow set out to hunt for food and materials to make a new bow.<br><br>After a day of hunting, Willow returned the camp. Upon arriving Willow started to make a smoker.She pulled out some of the hides she had gathered and started to fashion a large tarp. Digging a pit and starting a fire she built up a large amount of coals in the pit. Using three long logs, Willow tied them at the top and wrapped the tarp around them. Her smoker was now complete.<br><br>Willow Started the smoking process and then headed to her next task at hand. While she was hunting she had collected a lot of wood suitable for crafting a bows. Willow began to craft a bow. Willow used thin strips of animal hide braided tightly together to make a bow string. She carved the wood to make the bows body. Combining them together her first bow was finished.<br><br>Standing up Willow, drew and the released the bow several times. Unsatisfied with the bow, Willow set it aside and started crafting another.<br><br>Willow continued to craft through the evening, until taking a break to eat. <br><br>Checking on the horse it was still patiently waiting. Willow had been making sure it had water. The horse had been grazing in the clearing near the camp so it was good on food. The horse wounds where now healed and it was doing well.<br><br>Walking over to the horse, Willow started to tend to it. Brushing the horse, checking its hooves, and looking for any signs of health problems, Willow was satisfied with its condition.<br><br>“Looks like you’re here to stay.” Willow remarked while looking at the horse.<br><br>“So do you have a name?”<br><br>The horse within arms reach, used its head nudging Willow in the chest.<br><br>“You want a name do you?”<br><br>Thinking to herself Willow pondered for a few moments. The horse was dark brown in color with a white patch on its back that extended down one of its legs. It had numerous scars on its back and rear from its time spent with the merchant. One of the scars stood out quite a bit to Willow. It was in the shape of a small star.<br><br>“Alright I think I’ll call you Little Star.” Satisfied with the name Willow nodded.<br><br>In response to the name the horse lent it head over. Rubbing Willows cheek with the side of it head, as if asking for a hug. Willow gentle wrapped her arms around the horse’s neck, letting out a quiet, *Yoosh* *Yoosh*. Patting the horse on the head, Willow then returned to the fire.<br><br>Willow was still unsatisfied with the bows she had made. Continuing to craft bows throughout the night, morning soon came. Willow started to make breakfast, while working a hide to make a bridal. With the bridal finished, Willow ate breakfast and prepared to break camp.<br><br>With the camp broken down, willow grabbed her pack and walked over to Little Star.<br><br>Fitting the bridal on Little Star, Willow ask,“You ready to go?”<br><br>Little Star gave a small snorth, while stamping its hoof a few times.<br><br>“You’re going to have to help me out here.” Willow said while patting Little Star on the back of the head.<br><br>Little Star lowered its head. Willow placed one hand on the back of Little stars head and the other around its shoulder. Willow proceeded to jump placing her weight on Little Star. Locking her elbows, while Little star raised its head. Willow then threw her leg over Littles Stars back finally mounting the horse.<br><br>Patting Little Star, Willow remarked, “You’re good horse.”<br><br>Observing the surroundings, Willow headed towards the base of the mountains. Willow was looking for a good place to set up a new camp. Willow came to a river, heading up stream she found a suitable place to to set up a base camp. The waters of the river were abundant with fish, there was plenty of room for Little Star to graze and the forest was close by.<br><br>Hopping down from Little star Willow started to make camp. Willow set up a place for a fire surrounding it with large stones. She dug a pit and lined it with stones from the river this would serve as the base of a smoker.<br><br>Grabbing her hatchet, Willow headed to the forest. Gathering medium sized sticks together she made a few bundles. Making a few trips back and forth between the camp and forest. Willow had about 5 bundles of wood. <br><br>Using her hatchet Willow trimmed them down. Making a point on one end and their length about 3 foot. Gathering the produced sticks, Willow headed to the river. Making a pen off the bank with the sticks. Will made an entrance to the pen in a “V” shape, leaving the point of the “V” open. Willow had made a simple fish trap, that could hold a good number of fish.<br><br>With the fish trap made it, it was still early in the afternoon. Willow took the time to log out and get some some food. It was Sunday, and with the new camp Willow could hunt comfortably during the week.<br><br>Its was now Sunday evening and Willow still had a few hours before she needed to head to bed. Taking this time Willow logged back into Royal Road. It was Early morning in Royal Road. Willow decided to set traps for smaller game.<br><br>Heading to the forest, Willow started to mentally map the surrounding area. Through observation she had notice there was a large population of mountain goats in the area. There was a small pack of wolves in the area probably with only 1 alpha male and 2 to 3 females. There was the presence of cougars.<br><br>While walking through the forest and setting traps Willow gathered wood that would be suitable for a bow she had yet to make one to her satisfaction.<br><br>With her traps now set, Willow hunted till it was almost night time. She was slowly getting rid of her notoriety. She should be able to get rid of it just before the weekend.<br><br>While hunting on the way back to camp, Willow had seen signs of some type of humanoid creature. The tracks were rather small and they probably weighed in at around 120 pounds. The trails were still a good ways from her camp so she wouldn’t need worry about whatever they were at the moment.<br><br>Heading back to camp, Willow notice sign of another person in the area. It looked like they had been wondering around the forest as if lost. Quickly adjusting her posture Willow began to sneak as she went in the direction of the camp.<br><br>When she was around 100m from the camp she readied her bow and moved forward. Willow could see her camp, it was undisturbed. Scanning the area she saw a man standing in the river swinging a sword.<br><br>Willow watched the man for about 15 minutes, while she pondered about what to do about it. The man was almost 6 ft tall, with a very muscular build. What puzzled Willow the most was, more than half naked. He wore only what looked to be a loin cloth.<br><br>Willow sat back and watched, the man continued to swing his sword over and over.<br><br>Finally deciding this couldn’t go on, Willow crept closer till she was in shooting range.<br><br>When she was finally close enough to strike, Willow called out, “What is your business here?”<br><br>The man slow turned towards Willows direction.<br><br>“Slowly come out of the river, and don’t make any sudden movements!”<br><br>Following Willow’s directions, the man came out of the water.<br><br>Willow watching the man for any unnatural moments couldn’t take it anymore.<br><br>“Put your damn clothes on!!”<br><br>Putting his sword to the side, the man slowly got dressed.<br><br>“What is your business here?” Willow said with her bow still drawn.<br><br>“I don’t want any trouble.”<br><br>The man paused for a moment before speaking, “Food, could you spare some food please.”<br><br>Dumbfounded, Willow noticed the man kept glancing towards the fish trap. Thinking to herself, “If he was hungry why didn’t he just take some from the trap.”<br><br>“There are some fish in the trap over there, take some and leave.”<br><br>Pausing again them man looked at Willow before announcing, “ Um….I can’t cook.”<br><br>“What the hell are you doing all the way out here!!”<br>Finally deciding the man was not a threat and just stupid Willow lowered her bow. Walking into camp Willow put aside the wood and things she collected while hunting. Heading to the fish trap, Willow used two hands in a scooping motion to toss a few fish from the trap to the bank.<br><br>Willow heard clapping off the side followed by a, “Brilliant”<br><br>Picking up the fish Willow headed toward the fire pit and started a fire.<br><br>“Get over here and watch.”<br><br>Willow pulled out her knife and began to descale and gut the fish. Turning her head she noticed the man watching intently, using his hand to wipe the corner of his mount. Grabbing a few sticks, Willow skewered the fish and started cooking them.<br><br>“So what are you doing all the way out here?”<br><br>“Training, My sword is still lacking,” the man said.<br><br>“What is the point of training all the way out here if you’re going to die of starvation?”<br><br>“I have died many times in the pursuit of the sword.”<br><br>While waiting for the fish to finish cooking Willow, gather antlers and some deer hide she had gotten earlier from hunting and started to make a trophy. Using her knife she cut off a small grouping of 2 points of the rack. Using the hide she made twine and started to braid a small necklace. With the leftover twine Willow wrapped the base of the antler parts she had cut off.<br>Combining the necklace and the antlers together your trophy was finished.<br><br>The fish had finished cooking, removing them from the fire Willow handed one to the man.<br><br>Before taking the fish the man paused for a moment, “I..I’m Geomichi167, K..Kim Dae-jung.”<br><br>“I’m Willow.”<br><br>Willow took her time to eat. Geomichi167 finished the fish up rather quickly and looked towards the remaining one,”Can I have some more please?” Nodding Willow continued her meal. Geomichi167 made quick work of the fish and finished with a,”Thank you.. I was starving.”<br><br>“You paid attention to how I fixed it right?” <br><br>“Y-Yes.” Geomichi167 replied while his stomach let loose a growl.<br><br>“If you’re still hungry, go collect wood.” Pointing towards a bundle of wood leftover from making the fish trap, Willow said, “ Bring back about 5 bundles like that.” Quickly standing up Geomichi167, headed for the forest.<br><br>Willow taking this time to head over to the bank of the river. Willow was looking for a decent sized piece of slate. After finding a suitable piece Willow headed back to the camp and sat by the campfire. <br><br>Pulling out her hatchet, she used the back of the hatchet to start shaping the rock. Geomichi167 had returned with the bundles of wood while Willow was shaping the rock. The rock was starting to form a blade. Finishing the shape you grabbed a near by rock and started to put an edge to it. After a few minutes the blade was finished, taking some hide she wrapped the base making a handle.<br><br>“Bring the wood over here,” Willow said to Geomichi167.<br><br>WIllow started to craft the spikes like before when she made the fish trap. After making 2 she turned to Geomichi167 and handed him the knife.<br><br>“Just like that, do the rest of the bundles.”<br><br>“Ok,” Geomichi167 started to work with grin on his face.<br><br>While Geomichi167 was working, Willow tended the camp, finished setting up the smoker, and took care of Little star. <br><br>“I’m done.” Geoimichi167 announced while walking up to Willow.<br><br>“Alright, grab the wood and head over to the river.” <br><br>Willow then proceeded to show Geomichi167 how to make a fish trap. Using her trap as an example she watched over Geomichi167, giving him advice and explaining things here and there. With the fish trap fished, she walked to her trap and had Geomichi167 gather fish, then clean and gut them. With the fish ready to cook she watched over Geomichi167, while thinking “Least he won’t starve for a while.”<br><br>“You should be able to at least eat for the time being. I have to log out, I have school tomorrow.”<br><br>“Thank you very much…..Um……….Willow”, Geomichi167 said with a red face.<br><br>Not thinking anything about it Willow logged out, shortly after heading to bed.<br><br>It was now Monday, having gone to school and finished her therapy. Wilow was now once again in Royal Road. Looking around Willow noticed the beginnings of another camp just outside hers.<br>The camp seemed to almost mirror hers as if copying it.<br><br>Not thinking much about it, Willow went to check her traps and hunt. Spending most of the day she mapped out the area while looking for signs of others. On the way back to camp she came across what looked to be a patrol of Goblins, they were about 4 foot tall with greenish skin and long pointy ears. Hiding her presence she waited for them to path by noting on her map where she had seen them.<br><br>Once getting back to camp she was greeted by Geomichi167.<br><br>“H..Hello Willow.” Geomichi167 said while greeting Willow. The greeting was more natural than their previous conversations.<br><br>“Hello,” WIllow replied as she set her pack down. Willow started a fire in the pit of the smoker and then proceeded to work on the supplies she had gathered today.<br><br>“I did my best to copy your camp,” Geomichi said with a air of accomplishment.<br><br>“It looks good. You should be fine for now.”<br><br>Walking over Geomichi167 pulled out some hides and other monster parts presenting them to Willow. “I got these today while I was training, Please take them for your help yesterday. A debt must be repaid in full.”<br><br>Receiving the items Willow replied with a “Thank You.” Looking at the hides there were quite a few. Willow decided to make a blanket and ground cloth. While Willow was working the hides, Geomichi167 was watching full of interest. “What are you making?” Geomichi asked.<br><br>“I’m making some bedding and a blanket for you. It looks like you spend a lot of time in Royal Road and you don’t have your basic needs covered.” Willow continued to work finally producing the items for Geomichi167. “Here you go. Are you planning on staying here much longer?” Willow casually asked.<br><br>“I still have a lot of training to do”<br><br>“Alright I’ll show you how to make a smoker, It will make your food supply have a longer lifetime.” Willow proceeded to show Geomichi167 how to make a smoke. Willow taught Geomichi by example, giving advice here and there. With the smoker complete, she had him clean and gut the fish and place them in the smoker.<br><br> “Alright, around this time tomorrow the fish will be ready. I’m going to get some hunting done.”<br><br>Willow decided to hunt as much as possible, she would wait to process hides and items. Hunting for a few more hours before returning to camp her notoriety was slowly dropping.<br><br>It was starting to get dark so Willow made way to camp. Shortly after returning Willow was once again greeted by Geomichi167. This time he invited her to his camp and offered her a meal of fish he had caught with the fish trap. Watching her eat, Geomichi167 had a big grin full of satisfaction. <br><br>“Do you mind if I ask why you have the murder’s mark?” Geomichi167 asked.<br><br>Willow decided it was ok to talk to him about it, he seemed harmless and showed no animosity towards her. Willow started to explain to him about the merchant and how he was beating Little Star to the point of killing him if she hadn’t stepped in. Nodding and telling her it was the right thing to do. “Its a warrior’s duty to protect the weak, no matter if its a person or not.”<br><br>WIllow continuing to hunt over the next few days had only 10 points left of Notoriety left. Today was wednesday. Today when she logged in She saw Geomichi167 with 2 other people. When Geomichi167 noticed Willow, he waved and started to walk over.<br><br>“Hello Willow”<br><br>“Hi, they friends of yours?”<br><br>“They are fellow disciples at the sword school I attend.” Geomichi167 explained.<br><br>Nodding with an “I See look” Willow started to check her supplies and plan her hunt for today. While she was getting ready she watched as Geomichi167 was showing the other disciples how to make the fish traps and smokers.<br><br>With her supplies ready Willow set out to hunt. While she was checking her traps she noticed a couple of them had been sprung and the prey taken. Scanning the surrounding she could tell the goblins were expanding their territory. At the rate of expansion the camp would be in reach within a day or two. Quickly gathering her stuff Willow made her way back to camp.<br><br>Once at camp, she went through the wood she had collected and started to make bows. After making about five she was finally satisfied she had made one she could use.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Horn Bow of the Ram<br><br>Durability: 75/ 75<br>Attack: 6-7<br><br>Multiple shot speed: 4<br>+ 2% movement speed on hilly and rocky terrain<br><br>The bow was made using the horn of mountain goats know for their agility in rocky terrain. With Horn reinforcing the back and belly of the bow its durability has increased.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>After finishing the bow Willow moved to her next task. Willow started to make hip quiver. Willow made the quiver to hold about 20 arrows. When the quiver was finished she make arrows, using bone she had been collecting she made arrowheads with a serrated edges to promote bleeding. When Willow produced enough she stop and called out to Geomichi167, “Dae-Jung.”<br><br>Hearing his name being called Dae-Jung froze in place. Looking first at the other two disciples he could see them scowling at him causing him to wince before responding.<br><br>Walking over Dae-Jung responding to Willow’s call, “C-can I help you?”<br><br>“The goblins in the area are expanding their territory, we will be in there reach later today or tomorrow, I’m going to start launching attacks on their patrols thinning out there numbers. You should be careful. Hopefully I will be able to slow their expansion.”<br><br>Pulling out some red cloth showing it to Dae-Jung, Willow remarked, “When you see these clothes it means I have traps in the area. Be very careful, I’m going to be placing traps not for small animals but to kill goblins. Please tell that to your friends.”<br><br>“Do you need help?” Dae-Jung asked.<br><br>“No I’m just going after patrols and scouts it won’t be a problem,” Willow said as she handed a piece of red cloth to Dae-Jung. “Show that to your friends, I need to get going”<br><br>Willow fastened the new hip quiver to her side and walked over to Little Star. “I’m going away for awhile you have to take care of yourself for a while.”<br><br>Turning and walking to the forest Willow pulled out her map and headed to the first place she had marked that had goblin activity.<br><br>Before arriving to the spot, Willow started to scan the area for any new signs of activity. Willow was able to pick up the trail of a small patrol of four. The trail was relatively fresh maybe 20 minutes old. Following the trail Willow readied her bow and started to sneak through the forest.<br><br>After about an hour of tracking the Goblins, she got her first visual confirmation of them. There were four of them and the seemed to be taking a break in a small clearing where three paths met. Scanning the area she found some high ground and slowly moved to it.<br><br>Willow gathered some nearby sticks and started to sharpen them making some spikes. Placing the spikes in the ground she set up a trip wire just before them. Moving further from the goblins she made various traps as she moved. After placing 5 traps she made her way back to the high ground.<br><br>With the goblins at about 50 meters Willow nocked four arrows. Drawing her bow, Willow took aim at the closet goblin which was standing against a tree. Firing the arrows, Willow quickly grabbed a handful of arrows. The four arrow had all hit their mark. The goblins drew their rusty swords and started to look for the source of the arrows. The goblin that received the first attack was badly wounded and bleeding.<br><br>Drawing her bow, Willow switched targets and fired. The first arrow hitting the goblin in the right shoulder pierced through its shoulder. Firing again, Willow landed hits in its chest, leg, and arm. Willow wasn’t trying to kill she was trying to wound.<br><br>After the second set of arrows the goblins knew WIllows position. Raising their swords while yelling the began to run in her direction. Shooting arrows as the charged Willow was able to wound the third goblin.<br><br>Quickly turning Willow head towards the traps. After about making it 20 yards the 1st goblin was in ranged of the traps. Turning Willow nocked four arrows and lie in wait. When the goblin had almost reached the trap Willow fire scoring a hit. The goblin furious from the damage charged forward with no mind on the surroundings. Falling over from the trip wire the goblin tumbled meeting the spikes.<br><br>Raising itself the goblin was almost dead. Yelling as it got up only to be met with arrows one after another. Turning grey and disappearing just as the other three goblin arrived<br><br>Willow backtracked while firing arrows pulling the goblins into the traps she had laid earlier. Using kiting tactics Willow was able to finish of the goblins rather quickly.<br><br>With the fight over, Willow went through and collected the arrows she had shot. Willow collected some rusty weapons and crude iron armor.<br><br>Using ambush tactics and guerrilla warfare will was able to take out 5 patrols and scouting parties. Tracking the patrols she was able to locate the goblin encampment it was a shrewd camp with four poorly build huts and a large fire pit in the middle. Marking it on her map she made her way back to camp.<br><br>Reaching camp it was about nightfall, Willow stoked the coals in the fire pit and added more wood working up a fire. Pulling out a pot she headed to the river and filled it with water. Placing it on the fire, Willow called out to Dae-Jung.<br><br>“I was able to take out 5 patrols so they won’t be coming tonight. I’m planning on attacking their main encampment tomorrow. If all goes well the camp should fall after a few attacks.”<br><br>The pot now starting to boil Willow put in some meat and smoked fish. Quick to notice Dae-Jung presented Willow with some meat he had collect. Smiling while taking the meat, Willow added to the pot. Before she could turn from the pot, the other two disciples were beside her with meat in hand. While Willow was adding the meat to the pot Dae-Jung asked, “Would you like some help with the goblins?”<br><br>“With help we could probably break the camp in one go,” Willow replied.<br><br>“Alright, We shall help you. Let me introduce Geomichi423 and Geomichi378.”<br><br>The stew had finished cooking and Willow passed out bowls. Willow and the Geomichis chatted while they ate. Willow learned there were part of a sword school that was using Royal Road to further their training. Willow was shocked after hearing there were 505 of them total. Willow revealed a little about herself as well, telling them she was in Korea visiting. Willow and the Geomichis agreed they would attack the village tomorrow. They continued to chat till it was time for her to log out. <br><br>Willow went to school as usual, today in school she thought about ways to attack the goblin encampment. With the 3 geomichis the could herd the goblins in the camp. Pulling them out to traps or ambushing limiting the numbers they had to attack at once. Thinking of tactics the school day went by fast.<br><br>Willow ate dinner early so she would have extra time to take care of the goblins tonite. Logging in to Royal Road, Willow saw more Geomichi than before there were now 10 in total. Dae-jung was instructing them on how to get food with traps, how to cook and smoke fish. Happy that she was able to teach Dae-Jung how to survive a little easier, Willow smiled while nodding her head.<br><br>Willow greeted Dae-Jung, and talked about the tactics she thought up. Dae-jung agreed and said they would go along with whatever she decided. Gathering her gear, Willow checked her bow, arrows and made sure she had bandages and emergency supplies. With preparations complete Willow and the Geomichis set off for the goblin encampment.<br><br>Just outside of the encampment Willow, pulled out a few bags from here pack. Giving the bags to Dae-Jung, she instructed him to throw the contents out in front of them after the initial push into the camp. Willow had 5 of the geomichi wait back at the edge of the woods to flank the goblins when the got into range.<br><br>Willow, Dae-jung and four of the geomichis moved towards the camp. Willow grabbed a handful of arrows in her bow hand then nocked four arrows readying Multi-shoot. Moving forward the Geomichis walked ahead with Willow following at the rear.<br><br>At about 80 yards from the camp, goblins started to come into view. Drawing and raising her bow Willow fired, the arrows flying in a high arch before reaching their target. Having already nocked her bow Willow started to fire arrows. Yelling for the Geomichis to move forward the goblins started for pour out of the camp. <br><br>Colliding the Geomichis and the goblins entered melee combat. Goblins dropped one by one when meeting the blades of the Geomichis. Yells could be heard coming from the crowd. As the battle continued on.<br><br>Willow Shot arrow after arrow dropping goblins keeping them from fanning out and flanking the Geomichis while the geomichis started to push forward. The goblins slowly thinning out Willow yelled for the geomichis to throw out the contents of the bags and slowly retreat back.<br><br>Emptying the bags the field before the Geomichis was now covered with caltrops, slowing the goblins as the followed the Geomichis. As the group slowly moved towards the Geomichis that lay in wait. A loud roar rang out from the direction of the encampment.<br><br>Coming out from the shadow of one of the huts a cave troll appeared. Reaching around 10 ft. tall wielding a large tree trunk, the troll let loose another roar. Banging its makeshift club into the ground small craters were formed as dust and debris flew through the air. Following the troll was a goblin cracking a whip urging it forward.<br><br>Hastening the retreat Willow and the geomichis reached the ambush point. With the other Geomichis joining the fight most of the goblins were slain. The troll now in melee range Dae-Jung and 3 of the Geomichis broke from the pack and engaged it. Dodging the trolls club by inches the Geomichis launched counterattacks. <br><br>Providing covering fire Willow, helped the other Geomichis finish off the remaining goblins. With the goblins down everyone focused on the troll. With the Geomichis relentless assault and Willow arrows the fight came to an end.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Goblin Encampment Subjugation<br><br>With the Subjugation of the goblin camp the goblins expansion into the region has been stopped.<br><br>+50 fame<br>-13 Notoriety<br><br>Level up<br>Level up</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>With a loud yell the Geomichis rejoiced in the victory. Willow had fired close to 80 arrows in the fight going through her two equipped quivers and having to pull more stored in her pack. Willow had also gotten rid of the murder’s mark and could now goto town.<br><br>After the Geomichis calmed down, Willow and the Geomichis looted camp. Willow had gotten a couples shields, some armor and a few weapons. With the camp cleared Willow and the Geomichis headed back to their camp.<br><br>Upon returning Willow started to make some stew. The geomichis provided meat and fish, which they roasted. As they sat around the campfire the chatted and carried on as the ate. Willow collected hide from the Geomichis and made blankets and bedding for them. The Geomichis still eating having a good time long after she was done.<br><br>Sitting of to the side Willow watched, as the dance around the fire having a good time while eating. Dae-Jung soon joined her. <br><br>“You finally got rid of the murder’s mark, are you going to be leaving?”<br><br>“Yes I need to head to town, learn some skills, and replenish my supplies. I have been out for quite awhile. I also need to thank Gaven for sending out help for me even after I killed that merchant.”<br><br>Nodding Dae-Jung replied, “It was a fun week I have learned alot. The battle at the end was a good bonus.”<br><br>“Um….Can I add you as a friend?” Dae-jung sheepishly asked.<br><br>“Sure, aren’t we already friends?” Willow replied.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Geomichi167 has requested to be friends</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Friend request accepted</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“WoooHooo,” Dae-jung shouted while jumping into the air.<br><br>Willow and Dea-jung talked for awhile longer, while the Geomichi partied. <br><br>“I need to start to break camp so I can head to town when I login tomorrow. It has been a fun week.” Willow said before she got up and started to gather her equipment. It had been a good week she got rid of the murder’s mark and gotten a few levels, she was now level 15. “Stat Window”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%">Character Name</td><td width="25%">Willow</td><td width="25%">Alignment</td><td width="25%">Neutral</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">15</td><td width="25%">Profession</td><td width="25%">None</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan="3">Horse Thief</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Fame</td><td colspan="3">150</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">350(+30)</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">100</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">40</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">65(+2)</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">35(+3)</td><td width="25%">Intellect</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Charisma</td><td width="25%">9</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Luck</td><td width="25%">0</td><td width="25%">Notoriety</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Attack</td><td colspan="3">15</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Defense</td><td colspan="3">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Magic Resistance</td><td colspan="3">0</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> </div>

1.4 - Teachers and Students | Quest Accepted | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Alright I'm going to start running. You can come after I’m out of sight,” Urd said. Dropping to all fours, pulling up his hood, and covering his face, Urd Dashed off. Once Urd was out of sight, Willow headed after him while scanning the area. Noticing boot prints Urd had left behind, Willow began to run after him. Willow soon started to topple over, rolling a couple times, her foot had gotten caught on something, Urd had set up a trip line. Just as Willow was about to begin to move again her footing gave way. Willow's right leg was knee deep in a pitfall. “I see how this is going to go,” Willow thought to herself. As Willow progressed further, she began to notice traps as she observed the landscape. There were many types of traps; trip wires, deadfalls, footholds, and pitfalls. Soon the traps became deadlier, spikes were added and various other techniques were used increasing their lethality. From time to time the traps were designed to capture, rather than to kill. Willow’s pace has slowed down to a crawl. Willow had to constantly scan the terrain for traps, observe the surrounds, and look for signs of a trail left by Urd. Getting hungry, Willow stopped to rest and eat. All she had with her was her bow, arrows, water skin, and some jerky she always kept in a small pouch for emergencies. Half a day had already passed, if things kept to at this rate she would be forced to hunt. Oddly enough there were no traces of wildlife in the forest. It was so quiet, as if the forest had fallen asleep. No bird, not even the sounds of insects could be heard. After eating Willow got up and proceeded to follows urds trail. The terrain was getting steeper as she went further. Slowly moving forward, Willow noticed a dead drop designed to snare and hoist its target into the air. Just as she was going to disable the trap, she was flung to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. While gasping for breath, Willow was drug towards the top of a steep slope. Willow struggled to break free from the snare but it was too late. Willow was launched into the air. Finally catching her breath, Willow braced herself as she plummeted towards the ground. While airborne Willow could see rows of spikes made of wood at the base of the Slope. Once hitting the ground Willow had started to tumble. Willow slowly adjusted herself, bringing herself to a rapid slide. Attempting to slow herself, Willow looked for anything to grab ahold of. Coming into Willow’s sight was a large boulder. Willow, brought her knees to her chest, as the boulder came near. Leaning forward Willow jumped, flinging herself towards the boulder. Slamming into the boulder; | -30 Hit Points | | | --- | --- | Desperately grasping on the boulder, Willow as abled to stop her descent. Taking a moment she collected herself and slowly climbed her way up the hill. Picking up Urd trail, Willow slowly progressed forward. The traps were getting less complex and Urd’s trail more noticeable. Willow still had about a quarter of the allotted time left. With the traps thinning out Willow was able to pick up speed considerably. Willow was slowly making a circle, heading straight back to the camp. With a few hours left made it to the edge of the clearing before the camp. Willow could see Urd stoking the fire, while preparing a meal. Stepping into the clearing, Willow heard a small *Snap*, followed by a thin, *Woosh*, and an abrupt *Thwap*, the last trap was a simple sling. Willow rubbed her butt and gave a pained smile as she walked into camp. Slapping his knee, Urd gave off a loud chuckle. “Remember just because you can see the finish line doesn’t mean its over. *Bing* | Quest Complete; Urd's GameThrough Urd's game you have learned many things. Tracking a target, observing the surroundings and the basics traps and their applications.Skill: You have learned Observation.Skill: You have learned Tracking.Skill: You have learned Traps.Skill: You have learned Vision.Observation(Lv. 2 25%): You are able to analyse diverse landscape to gain vital information.Tracking(Lv.3 10%): You are able to find targets by following subtle changes in the environment.Traps(Lv.2 25%): You have the ability to make, place and disarm traps.Vision(Lv.3 10%) By honing your sight you have the ability to see further and focus on targets at a longer distances.+10 Agility+10 Vitality+5 Strength+50 Fame-50 NotorietyLevel up | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Now come over here and get you something to eat, while we fix you up.” Urd said. Willow walked over to the fire getting herself some food. Urd turned to his side, pulling out some bandages and herbs. Combining them, Urd began to treat Willows wounds. “Looks like you’re lacking a little in survival. You need to be able to fend for yourself. You’ll need to learn Repair and herb gathering, but I’ll leave that to someone else. We have other things to work on,” Urd stated. *Bing* | Quest: The HuntYou have much to learn from Urd. Proposing a hunt, Urd intends to teach you more of his craft.Difficulty: FQuest Requirements: Failure to accept the quest will result in permanent loss of Intimacy with Urd, being unable to take the quest again. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “A hunt sounds wonderful,” Willow replied. | Quest Accepted | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Alright rest up. We will be leaving at dawn,” Urd announced. Taking this time willow logged out. Willow headed for the cafeteria to grab some food. After eating she took a quick shower, it was Saturday afternoon. She had a day and a half before her play time would be limited by school. Willow needed to get the most out for the remaining time. When Willow logged back into Royal Road, it was just before dawn. Willow went through her pack gathering what she would need for the hunt.Willow started to make breakfast, pulling some vegetables, and leftover wolf meat from her pack. Shortly after finishing the stew Urd joined her at the fire. Rubbing his hands together warming them on the fire. Willow passed a bowl of stew to Urd. While eating Urd started to talk about archery techniques. He first talked about how to nock multiple arrows at once, how to hold them, and draw the bow. Once finished describing it in detail, he went on to talk about another technique. The next technique was a basic technique that would allow you to shoot through tough hides and even platemail. He explained the technique was used more for large game and some exotics. The sun rose soon after Urd finished his explanation. “Ok, Lets get started. You can’t just lurk about. You have to use your whole body to move, watching your balance, and paying attention to your surroundings.” Urd lowered his stance while distributing his weight, urging Willow to follow his example. Using his bow he adjusted Willow’s posture to match his while making a *shh* gesture. As they proceeded Willow paid attention to Urd trying to mirror his movement. They had cover about a mile worth of ground. Using his hand, Urd motioned for Willow to watch as he nocked four arrows. Drawing his bow, Urd was aiming at a large boar. Firing his bow, all four arrows hit their target. Surprised for a moment the boar began its charge. “Ok this is where you use the second technique I showed you,” Urd Said. Drawing his bow and repeatedly fired arrows. Willow could see the arrows were digging in deeper than the rest. Walking over to the boar, Urd began to remove the hide, meat, bone, teeth and tusks. Urd was able to collect a lot more than she would have been able to. “Ok let me show you something neat,” Urd said as he pulled tools from his pack. Cutting thin strips from the hide, he removed the fur from them them making them clean. Gathering the tusks and teeth, Urd made small holes in them. Using the cut stirps in strung the tusk and teeth into a bracelet. “Alright now its your turn.” Urd said while turning to Willow. While Observing the land she was able to tell there were still quite a few boars in the area. Starting to move forward Willow caught the trail of a boar. Crouching down Willow silently moved forward. After about 15 minutes of creeping through the woods WIllow found her prey. Repeating Urd’s example, Willow nocked four arrows and fired her bow. The arrows hitting the boar, Willow switched to the second technique. Willow had slain the boar rather quickly. Willow gathered the hide, tusks, teeth, and meat from the boar. Now following Urd instructions, she began to make a bracelet out of the items. *Bing* | Quest Complete: The HuntThrough hunting with Urd you have learned various archery skills. Steathily hunting with Urd has taught you how to sneak. Urd's use of the kill has shown you how to craft hunting trophies.Skill: You have learned Multi-shotSkill: You have learned PenetrationSkill: You have learned Trophy CraftingSkill: You have learned Sneak+5 Agility+50 Fame+50 NotorietyLevel up | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | "Alright lets head back to camp for now," Urd said. After returning to camp Willow and Urd sat down to eat. Chatting for awhile, Willow listened to Urd tell stories of hunts and distant lands. Urd had lived most of his life as a nomad, moving from one place to the next. “Well its about time for me to go, the rest you have to learn for yourself. I’ll leave this with you,” Urd handed will a small leather bound book. “Thank you,” Willow replied. Nodding his head Urd grabbed his pack. Walking to the edge of the forest, Urd waved goodbye. As soon as Urd entered the forest, he disappeared. Looking at the book closer it resembled a field journal. The cover had a picture of a white wolf with the roman numeral one burned into it. Opening the cover looking inside will saw drawing and details on a rare wolf. The book contained rough sketches of a general location where it could be found. The book contained details on its diet, territorial habits, and activity cycles amongst other things. Closing the book Willow got a quest pop-up. *Bing* | Quest: The Legendary HuntsmenOne of the great hunters, nears the end of the hunt. Knowledge passed from teacher to student, marks the beginning of the new hunt. You have been task to follow the footsteps of the teacher. Embraced by the land, feared by the prey, the hunt calls the hunter.Difficulty: UnknownQuest Requirements: Receive a field journal from a Huntsmen.Quest Rewards: Unknown. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “I accept,” Willow spoke as she gripped the journal tightly. | Quest Accepted | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Having only know Urd for two days wasn’t enough to form a meaningful relationship. None the less Urd had taught Willow many things. Opening a path, Urd had given Willow the tools to survive and to hunt. Focusing on the task at hand, Willow needed to go to town. Willow was unsure of the location of the wolf she needed to hunt. With the murder’s mark still on her head, Willow would have to hunt to rid herself of it.. Grabbing her bow, Willow thought it was about time to find another. “Stat Window” | Character Name | Willow | Alignment | Neutral | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Level | 10 | Profession | None | | Title | Horse Thief | | | | Fame | 100 | | | | Health | 350 | Mana | 100 | | Strength | 30 | Agility | 50(+5) | | Vitality | 35(+5) | Intellect | 10 | | Wisdom | 10 | Charisma | 7 | | Luck | 0 | Notoriety | 50 | | Attack | 5 | | | | Defense | 5 | | | | Magic Resistance | 0 | | | “Skill Window, Trophy Crafting” | Trophy Crafting:This ability allows you to craft trophies from your kills.As skill grows the benefits are greater.Crafting trophies requires an abundant amount of knowledge animals and creatures.+2% bonus to loot drops related to Trophy Crafting | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Thinking to herself, “Benefits? From Trophies?” Pulling out the Boar trophy Willow took a look. | Simple Boar TrophyUsing parts of a boar, the crafter making the trophy was a novice. Only part of the boar’s essence was captured.+3 vit | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Willow went through her pack and check supplies. Willow would soon need food, if she was going to get rid of the murder’s mark. Willow set out to hunt for food and materials to make a new bow. After a day of hunting, Willow returned the camp. Upon arriving Willow started to make a smoker.She pulled out some of the hides she had gathered and started to fashion a large tarp. Digging a pit and starting a fire she built up a large amount of coals in the pit. Using three long logs, Willow tied them at the top and wrapped the tarp around them. Her smoker was now complete. Willow Started the smoking process and then headed to her next task at hand. While she was hunting she had collected a lot of wood suitable for crafting a bows. Willow began to craft a bow. Willow used thin strips of animal hide braided tightly together to make a bow string. She carved the wood to make the bows body. Combining them together her first bow was finished. Standing up Willow, drew and the released the bow several times. Unsatisfied with the bow, Willow set it aside and started crafting another. Willow continued to craft through the evening, until taking a break to eat. Checking on the horse it was still patiently waiting. Willow had been making sure it had water. The horse had been grazing in the clearing near the camp so it was good on food. The horse wounds where now healed and it was doing well. Walking over to the horse, Willow started to tend to it. Brushing the horse, checking its hooves, and looking for any signs of health problems, Willow was satisfied with its condition. “Looks like you’re here to stay.” Willow remarked while looking at the horse. “So do you have a name?” The horse within arms reach, used its head nudging Willow in the chest. “You want a name do you?” Thinking to herself Willow pondered for a few moments. The horse was dark brown in color with a white patch on its back that extended down one of its legs. It had numerous scars on its back and rear from its time spent with the merchant. One of the scars stood out quite a bit to Willow. It was in the shape of a small star. “Alright I think I’ll call you Little Star.” Satisfied with the name Willow nodded. In response to the name the horse lent it head over. Rubbing Willows cheek with the side of it head, as if asking for a hug. Willow gentle wrapped her arms around the horse’s neck, letting out a quiet, *Yoosh* *Yoosh*. Patting the horse on the head, Willow then returned to the fire. Willow was still unsatisfied with the bows she had made. Continuing to craft bows throughout the night, morning soon came. Willow started to make breakfast, while working a hide to make a bridal. With the bridal finished, Willow ate breakfast and prepared to break camp. With the camp broken down, willow grabbed her pack and walked over to Little Star. Fitting the bridal on Little Star, Willow ask,“You ready to go?” Little Star gave a small snorth, while stamping its hoof a few times. “You’re going to have to help me out here.” Willow said while patting Little Star on the back of the head. Little Star lowered its head. Willow placed one hand on the back of Little stars head and the other around its shoulder. Willow proceeded to jump placing her weight on Little Star. Locking her elbows, while Little star raised its head. Willow then threw her leg over Littles Stars back finally mounting the horse. Patting Little Star, Willow remarked, “You’re good horse.” Observing the surroundings, Willow headed towards the base of the mountains. Willow was looking for a good place to set up a new camp. Willow came to a river, heading up stream she found a suitable place to to set up a base camp. The waters of the river were abundant with fish, there was plenty of room for Little Star to graze and the forest was close by. Hopping down from Little star Willow started to make camp. Willow set up a place for a fire surrounding it with large stones. She dug a pit and lined it with stones from the river this would serve as the base of a smoker. Grabbing her hatchet, Willow headed to the forest. Gathering medium sized sticks together she made a few bundles. Making a few trips back and forth between the camp and forest. Willow had about 5 bundles of wood. Using her hatchet Willow trimmed them down. Making a point on one end and their length about 3 foot. Gathering the produced sticks, Willow headed to the river. Making a pen off the bank with the sticks. Will made an entrance to the pen in a “V” shape, leaving the point of the “V” open. Willow had made a simple fish trap, that could hold a good number of fish. With the fish trap made it, it was still early in the afternoon. Willow took the time to log out and get some some food. It was Sunday, and with the new camp Willow could hunt comfortably during the week. Its was now Sunday evening and Willow still had a few hours before she needed to head to bed. Taking this time Willow logged back into Royal Road. It was Early morning in Royal Road. Willow decided to set traps for smaller game. Heading to the forest, Willow started to mentally map the surrounding area. Through observation she had notice there was a large population of mountain goats in the area. There was a small pack of wolves in the area probably with only 1 alpha male and 2 to 3 females. There was the presence of cougars. While walking through the forest and setting traps Willow gathered wood that would be suitable for a bow she had yet to make one to her satisfaction. With her traps now set, Willow hunted till it was almost night time. She was slowly getting rid of her notoriety. She should be able to get rid of it just before the weekend. While hunting on the way back to camp, Willow had seen signs of some type of humanoid creature. The tracks were rather small and they probably weighed in at around 120 pounds. The trails were still a good ways from her camp so she wouldn’t need worry about whatever they were at the moment. Heading back to camp, Willow notice sign of another person in the area. It looked like they had been wondering around the forest as if lost. Quickly adjusting her posture Willow began to sneak as she went in the direction of the camp. When she was around 100m from the camp she readied her bow and moved forward. Willow could see her camp, it was undisturbed. Scanning the area she saw a man standing in the river swinging a sword. Willow watched the man for about 15 minutes, while she pondered about what to do about it. The man was almost 6 ft tall, with a very muscular build. What puzzled Willow the most was, more than half naked. He wore only what looked to be a loin cloth. Willow sat back and watched, the man continued to swing his sword over and over. Finally deciding this couldn’t go on, Willow crept closer till she was in shooting range. When she was finally close enough to strike, Willow called out, “What is your business here?” The man slow turned towards Willows direction. “Slowly come out of the river, and don’t make any sudden movements!” Following Willow’s directions, the man came out of the water. Willow watching the man for any unnatural moments couldn’t take it anymore. “Put your damn clothes on!!” Putting his sword to the side, the man slowly got dressed. “What is your business here?” Willow said with her bow still drawn. “I don’t want any trouble.” The man paused for a moment before speaking, “Food, could you spare some food please.” Dumbfounded, Willow noticed the man kept glancing towards the fish trap. Thinking to herself, “If he was hungry why didn’t he just take some from the trap.” “There are some fish in the trap over there, take some and leave.” Pausing again them man looked at Willow before announcing, “ Um….I can’t cook.” “What the hell are you doing all the way out here!!” Finally deciding the man was not a threat and just stupid Willow lowered her bow. Walking into camp Willow put aside the wood and things she collected while hunting. Heading to the fish trap, Willow used two hands in a scooping motion to toss a few fish from the trap to the bank. Willow heard clapping off the side followed by a, “Brilliant” Picking up the fish Willow headed toward the fire pit and started a fire. “Get over here and watch.” Willow pulled out her knife and began to descale and gut the fish. Turning her head she noticed the man watching intently, using his hand to wipe the corner of his mount. Grabbing a few sticks, Willow skewered the fish and started cooking them. “So what are you doing all the way out here?” “Training, My sword is still lacking,” the man said. “What is the point of training all the way out here if you’re going to die of starvation?” “I have died many times in the pursuit of the sword.” While waiting for the fish to finish cooking Willow, gather antlers and some deer hide she had gotten earlier from hunting and started to make a trophy. Using her knife she cut off a small grouping of 2 points of the rack. Using the hide she made twine and started to braid a small necklace. With the leftover twine Willow wrapped the base of the antler parts she had cut off. Combining the necklace and the antlers together your trophy was finished. The fish had finished cooking, removing them from the fire Willow handed one to the man. Before taking the fish the man paused for a moment, “I..I’m Geomichi167, K..Kim Dae-jung.” “I’m Willow.” Willow took her time to eat. Geomichi167 finished the fish up rather quickly and looked towards the remaining one,”Can I have some more please?” Nodding Willow continued her meal. Geomichi167 made quick work of the fish and finished with a,”Thank you.. I was starving.” “You paid attention to how I fixed it right?” “Y-Yes.” Geomichi167 replied while his stomach let loose a growl. “If you’re still hungry, go collect wood.” Pointing towards a bundle of wood leftover from making the fish trap, Willow said, “ Bring back about 5 bundles like that.” Quickly standing up Geomichi167, headed for the forest. Willow taking this time to head over to the bank of the river. Willow was looking for a decent sized piece of slate. After finding a suitable piece Willow headed back to the camp and sat by the campfire. Pulling out her hatchet, she used the back of the hatchet to start shaping the rock. Geomichi167 had returned with the bundles of wood while Willow was shaping the rock. The rock was starting to form a blade. Finishing the shape you grabbed a near by rock and started to put an edge to it. After a few minutes the blade was finished, taking some hide she wrapped the base making a handle. “Bring the wood over here,” Willow said to Geomichi167. WIllow started to craft the spikes like before when she made the fish trap. After making 2 she turned to Geomichi167 and handed him the knife. “Just like that, do the rest of the bundles.” “Ok,” Geomichi167 started to work with grin on his face. While Geomichi167 was working, Willow tended the camp, finished setting up the smoker, and took care of Little star. “I’m done.” Geoimichi167 announced while walking up to Willow. “Alright, grab the wood and head over to the river.” Willow then proceeded to show Geomichi167 how to make a fish trap. Using her trap as an example she watched over Geomichi167, giving him advice and explaining things here and there. With the fish trap fished, she walked to her trap and had Geomichi167 gather fish, then clean and gut them. With the fish ready to cook she watched over Geomichi167, while thinking “Least he won’t starve for a while.” “You should be able to at least eat for the time being. I have to log out, I have school tomorrow.” “Thank you very much…..Um……….Willow”, Geomichi167 said with a red face. Not thinking anything about it Willow logged out, shortly after heading to bed. It was now Monday, having gone to school and finished her therapy. Wilow was now once again in Royal Road. Looking around Willow noticed the beginnings of another camp just outside hers. The camp seemed to almost mirror hers as if copying it. Not thinking much about it, Willow went to check her traps and hunt. Spending most of the day she mapped out the area while looking for signs of others. On the way back to camp she came across what looked to be a patrol of Goblins, they were about 4 foot tall with greenish skin and long pointy ears. Hiding her presence she waited for them to path by noting on her map where she had seen them. Once getting back to camp she was greeted by Geomichi167. “H..Hello Willow.” Geomichi167 said while greeting Willow. The greeting was more natural than their previous conversations. “Hello,” WIllow replied as she set her pack down. Willow started a fire in the pit of the smoker and then proceeded to work on the supplies she had gathered today. “I did my best to copy your camp,” Geomichi said with a air of accomplishment. “It looks good. You should be fine for now.” Walking over Geomichi167 pulled out some hides and other monster parts presenting them to Willow. “I got these today while I was training, Please take them for your help yesterday. A debt must be repaid in full.” Receiving the items Willow replied with a “Thank You.” Looking at the hides there were quite a few. Willow decided to make a blanket and ground cloth. While Willow was working the hides, Geomichi167 was watching full of interest. “What are you making?” Geomichi asked. “I’m making some bedding and a blanket for you. It looks like you spend a lot of time in Royal Road and you don’t have your basic needs covered.” Willow continued to work finally producing the items for Geomichi167. “Here you go. Are you planning on staying here much longer?” Willow casually asked. “I still have a lot of training to do” “Alright I’ll show you how to make a smoker, It will make your food supply have a longer lifetime.” Willow proceeded to show Geomichi167 how to make a smoke. Willow taught Geomichi by example, giving advice here and there. With the smoker complete, she had him clean and gut the fish and place them in the smoker. “Alright, around this time tomorrow the fish will be ready. I’m going to get some hunting done.” Willow decided to hunt as much as possible, she would wait to process hides and items. Hunting for a few more hours before returning to camp her notoriety was slowly dropping. It was starting to get dark so Willow made way to camp. Shortly after returning Willow was once again greeted by Geomichi167. This time he invited her to his camp and offered her a meal of fish he had caught with the fish trap. Watching her eat, Geomichi167 had a big grin full of satisfaction. “Do you mind if I ask why you have the murder’s mark?” Geomichi167 asked. Willow decided it was ok to talk to him about it, he seemed harmless and showed no animosity towards her. Willow started to explain to him about the merchant and how he was beating Little Star to the point of killing him if she hadn’t stepped in. Nodding and telling her it was the right thing to do. “Its a warrior’s duty to protect the weak, no matter if its a person or not.” WIllow continuing to hunt over the next few days had only 10 points left of Notoriety left. Today was wednesday. Today when she logged in She saw Geomichi167 with 2 other people. When Geomichi167 noticed Willow, he waved and started to walk over. “Hello Willow” “Hi, they friends of yours?” “They are fellow disciples at the sword school I attend.” Geomichi167 explained. Nodding with an “I See look” Willow started to check her supplies and plan her hunt for today. While she was getting ready she watched as Geomichi167 was showing the other disciples how to make the fish traps and smokers. With her supplies ready Willow set out to hunt. While she was checking her traps she noticed a couple of them had been sprung and the prey taken. Scanning the surrounding she could tell the goblins were expanding their territory. At the rate of expansion the camp would be in reach within a day or two. Quickly gathering her stuff Willow made her way back to camp. Once at camp, she went through the wood she had collected and started to make bows. After making about five she was finally satisfied she had made one she could use. | Horn Bow of the RamDurability: 75/ 75Attack: 6-7Multiple shot speed: 4+ 2% movement speed on hilly and rocky terrainThe bow was made using the horn of mountain goats know for their agility in rocky terrain. With Horn reinforcing the back and belly of the bow its durability has increased. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | After finishing the bow Willow moved to her next task. Willow started to make hip quiver. Willow made the quiver to hold about 20 arrows. When the quiver was finished she make arrows, using bone she had been collecting she made arrowheads with a serrated edges to promote bleeding. When Willow produced enough she stop and called out to Geomichi167, “Dae-Jung.” Hearing his name being called Dae-Jung froze in place. Looking first at the other two disciples he could see them scowling at him causing him to wince before responding. Walking over Dae-Jung responding to Willow’s call, “C-can I help you?” “The goblins in the area are expanding their territory, we will be in there reach later today or tomorrow, I’m going to start launching attacks on their patrols thinning out there numbers. You should be careful. Hopefully I will be able to slow their expansion.” Pulling out some red cloth showing it to Dae-Jung, Willow remarked, “When you see these clothes it means I have traps in the area. Be very careful, I’m going to be placing traps not for small animals but to kill goblins. Please tell that to your friends.” “Do you need help?” Dae-Jung asked. “No I’m just going after patrols and scouts it won’t be a problem,” Willow said as she handed a piece of red cloth to Dae-Jung. “Show that to your friends, I need to get going” Willow fastened the new hip quiver to her side and walked over to Little Star. “I’m going away for awhile you have to take care of yourself for a while.” Turning and walking to the forest Willow pulled out her map and headed to the first place she had marked that had goblin activity. Before arriving to the spot, Willow started to scan the area for any new signs of activity. Willow was able to pick up the trail of a small patrol of four. The trail was relatively fresh maybe 20 minutes old. Following the trail Willow readied her bow and started to sneak through the forest. After about an hour of tracking the Goblins, she got her first visual confirmation of them. There were four of them and the seemed to be taking a break in a small clearing where three paths met. Scanning the area she found some high ground and slowly moved to it. Willow gathered some nearby sticks and started to sharpen them making some spikes. Placing the spikes in the ground she set up a trip wire just before them. Moving further from the goblins she made various traps as she moved. After placing 5 traps she made her way back to the high ground. With the goblins at about 50 meters Willow nocked four arrows. Drawing her bow, Willow took aim at the closet goblin which was standing against a tree. Firing the arrows, Willow quickly grabbed a handful of arrows. The four arrow had all hit their mark. The goblins drew their rusty swords and started to look for the source of the arrows. The goblin that received the first attack was badly wounded and bleeding. Drawing her bow, Willow switched targets and fired. The first arrow hitting the goblin in the right shoulder pierced through its shoulder. Firing again, Willow landed hits in its chest, leg, and arm. Willow wasn’t trying to kill she was trying to wound. After the second set of arrows the goblins knew WIllows position. Raising their swords while yelling the began to run in her direction. Shooting arrows as the charged Willow was able to wound the third goblin. Quickly turning Willow head towards the traps. After about making it 20 yards the 1st goblin was in ranged of the traps. Turning Willow nocked four arrows and lie in wait. When the goblin had almost reached the trap Willow fire scoring a hit. The goblin furious from the damage charged forward with no mind on the surroundings. Falling over from the trip wire the goblin tumbled meeting the spikes. Raising itself the goblin was almost dead. Yelling as it got up only to be met with arrows one after another. Turning grey and disappearing just as the other three goblin arrived Willow backtracked while firing arrows pulling the goblins into the traps she had laid earlier. Using kiting tactics Willow was able to finish of the goblins rather quickly. With the fight over, Willow went through and collected the arrows she had shot. Willow collected some rusty weapons and crude iron armor. Using ambush tactics and guerrilla warfare will was able to take out 5 patrols and scouting parties. Tracking the patrols she was able to locate the goblin encampment it was a shrewd camp with four poorly build huts and a large fire pit in the middle. Marking it on her map she made her way back to camp. Reaching camp it was about nightfall, Willow stoked the coals in the fire pit and added more wood working up a fire. Pulling out a pot she headed to the river and filled it with water. Placing it on the fire, Willow called out to Dae-Jung. “I was able to take out 5 patrols so they won’t be coming tonight. I’m planning on attacking their main encampment tomorrow. If all goes well the camp should fall after a few attacks.” The pot now starting to boil Willow put in some meat and smoked fish. Quick to notice Dae-Jung presented Willow with some meat he had collect. Smiling while taking the meat, Willow added to the pot. Before she could turn from the pot, the other two disciples were beside her with meat in hand. While Willow was adding the meat to the pot Dae-Jung asked, “Would you like some help with the goblins?” “With help we could probably break the camp in one go,” Willow replied. “Alright, We shall help you. Let me introduce Geomichi423 and Geomichi378.” The stew had finished cooking and Willow passed out bowls. Willow and the Geomichis chatted while they ate. Willow learned there were part of a sword school that was using Royal Road to further their training. Willow was shocked after hearing there were 505 of them total. Willow revealed a little about herself as well, telling them she was in Korea visiting. Willow and the Geomichis agreed they would attack the village tomorrow. They continued to chat till it was time for her to log out. Willow went to school as usual, today in school she thought about ways to attack the goblin encampment. With the 3 geomichis the could herd the goblins in the camp. Pulling them out to traps or ambushing limiting the numbers they had to attack at once. Thinking of tactics the school day went by fast. Willow ate dinner early so she would have extra time to take care of the goblins tonite. Logging in to Royal Road, Willow saw more Geomichi than before there were now 10 in total. Dae-jung was instructing them on how to get food with traps, how to cook and smoke fish. Happy that she was able to teach Dae-Jung how to survive a little easier, Willow smiled while nodding her head. Willow greeted Dae-Jung, and talked about the tactics she thought up. Dae-jung agreed and said they would go along with whatever she decided. Gathering her gear, Willow checked her bow, arrows and made sure she had bandages and emergency supplies. With preparations complete Willow and the Geomichis set off for the goblin encampment. Just outside of the encampment Willow, pulled out a few bags from here pack. Giving the bags to Dae-Jung, she instructed him to throw the contents out in front of them after the initial push into the camp. Willow had 5 of the geomichi wait back at the edge of the woods to flank the goblins when the got into range. Willow, Dae-jung and four of the geomichis moved towards the camp. Willow grabbed a handful of arrows in her bow hand then nocked four arrows readying Multi-shoot. Moving forward the Geomichis walked ahead with Willow following at the rear. At about 80 yards from the camp, goblins started to come into view. Drawing and raising her bow Willow fired, the arrows flying in a high arch before reaching their target. Having already nocked her bow Willow started to fire arrows. Yelling for the Geomichis to move forward the goblins started for pour out of the camp. Colliding the Geomichis and the goblins entered melee combat. Goblins dropped one by one when meeting the blades of the Geomichis. Yells could be heard coming from the crowd. As the battle continued on. Willow Shot arrow after arrow dropping goblins keeping them from fanning out and flanking the Geomichis while the geomichis started to push forward. The goblins slowly thinning out Willow yelled for the geomichis to throw out the contents of the bags and slowly retreat back. Emptying the bags the field before the Geomichis was now covered with caltrops, slowing the goblins as the followed the Geomichis. As the group slowly moved towards the Geomichis that lay in wait. A loud roar rang out from the direction of the encampment. Coming out from the shadow of one of the huts a cave troll appeared. Reaching around 10 ft. tall wielding a large tree trunk, the troll let loose another roar. Banging its makeshift club into the ground small craters were formed as dust and debris flew through the air. Following the troll was a goblin cracking a whip urging it forward. Hastening the retreat Willow and the geomichis reached the ambush point. With the other Geomichis joining the fight most of the goblins were slain. The troll now in melee range Dae-Jung and 3 of the Geomichis broke from the pack and engaged it. Dodging the trolls club by inches the Geomichis launched counterattacks. Providing covering fire Willow, helped the other Geomichis finish off the remaining goblins. With the goblins down everyone focused on the troll. With the Geomichis relentless assault and Willow arrows the fight came to an end. | Goblin Encampment SubjugationWith the Subjugation of the goblin camp the goblins expansion into the region has been stopped.+50 fame-13 NotorietyLevel upLevel up | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | With a loud yell the Geomichis rejoiced in the victory. Willow had fired close to 80 arrows in the fight going through her two equipped quivers and having to pull more stored in her pack. Willow had also gotten rid of the murder’s mark and could now goto town. After the Geomichis calmed down, Willow and the Geomichis looted camp. Willow had gotten a couples shields, some armor and a few weapons. With the camp cleared Willow and the Geomichis headed back to their camp. Upon returning Willow started to make some stew. The geomichis provided meat and fish, which they roasted. As they sat around the campfire the chatted and carried on as the ate. Willow collected hide from the Geomichis and made blankets and bedding for them. The Geomichis still eating having a good time long after she was done. Sitting of to the side Willow watched, as the dance around the fire having a good time while eating. Dae-Jung soon joined her. “You finally got rid of the murder’s mark, are you going to be leaving?” “Yes I need to head to town, learn some skills, and replenish my supplies. I have been out for quite awhile. I also need to thank Gaven for sending out help for me even after I killed that merchant.” Nodding Dae-Jung replied, “It was a fun week I have learned alot. The battle at the end was a good bonus.” “Um….Can I add you as a friend?” Dae-jung sheepishly asked. “Sure, aren’t we already friends?” Willow replied. | Geomichi167 has requested to be friends | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Friend request accepted | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “WoooHooo,” Dae-jung shouted while jumping into the air. Willow and Dea-jung talked for awhile longer, while the Geomichi partied. “I need to start to break camp so I can head to town when I login tomorrow. It has been a fun week.” Willow said before she got up and started to gather her equipment. It had been a good week she got rid of the murder’s mark and gotten a few levels, she was now level 15. “Stat Window” | Character Name | Willow | Alignment | Neutral | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Level | 15 | Profession | None | | Title | Horse Thief | | | | Fame | 150 | | | | Health | 350(+30) | Mana | 100 | | Strength | 40 | Agility | 65(+2) | | Vitality | 35(+3) | Intellect | 10 | | Wisdom | 10 | Charisma | 9 | | Luck | 0 | Notoriety | 0 | | Attack | 15 | | | | Defense | 10 | | | | Magic Resistance | 0 | | |

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 2 The Branching Sarting Point ( A )<br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br>Harry finally exited the forest, he saw a fortified wall-like structure that seems to emulate the great wall of China by a degree. He also saw a large gate with a leaf design on it. He finally dicided to approach the village gate, but when he reached close to it, he was stopped by the The gatekeepers.<br><br>Kotetsu: "Hey kid, what's your purpose here?."<br><br>Harry: "I'm here to start a new lease on my new life, hopefully one that is safe and far away from danger as much as possible." Harry answered truthfully.<br><br>Izumo: "We're in the ninja world kid, no-one is completely safe. But our konoha village is the safest, because it is the top village among the five villages in this nation."<br><br>Harry: "I'm lucky that I got here instead of the other villages then. Can I come in now?."<br><br>Kotetsu: "Sure kid, but I have to accompany you to the Hokage first, he will know what to so with a lost orphan."<br><br>Kotetsu grabs Hary by the arm, and shunshined to the hokages office.<br><br>Kotetsu: "Hello hokage-sama , we have a lost boy here who wants to join our beautiful village."<br><br>Hokage: "Hello young man, why do you want to join this village?."<br><br>Harry: "As I said to gatekeepers before, I'm here to start a new lease on my new life, hopefully one that is safe and far away from danger as much as possible. "<br><br>Hokage: "That's a noble goal young man, but you have to get stronger to protect yourself from harm, no-one can do it for you but you yourself. So with that in mind, do you want to become a ninja?."<br><br>Harry: "What's a ninja?."<br><br>Hokage: "A ninja is a soldier of the village, do jobs to fulfill their missions by means of being a body guard, an assassination, and also being an errand boy sometimes when you get hired so you can fulfill the villagers need. They also train so they can use chakra, the combination of both physical and spiritual energy to perform supernatural feats."<br><br>Harry: "What's the other option?."<br><br>Hokage: "You go the orphanage." the hokage said bluntly.<br><br>Harry: "hmm... I'll choose neither, and go with option C, I'll by myself a clan compound, Hire some ninja's to protect me 24/7, and hire some tutors for self defense."<br><br>Hokage: "Hahahahahahahahhahahhah, that's a good one, I haven't laughed myself that hard in ages."<br><br>Kotetsu: "Hahahahahahahahah, your right hokage-sama, I'm glad I decided to stick around."<br><br>Harry: "How much is a minimum cost for a clan compound anyway?."<br><br>Hokage: "I'll humor you young man, the least is about 500k ryo and the most expensive can go to 5-10 million ryo."<br><br>Harry: "How about the security of these clan compunds?."<br><br>Hokage: "Well, we use seals to act as wards, and barriers around it. You'll probably have to pay more for the deluxe version of it."<br><br>Harry: "One last question hokage-sama, how much is a long-term guard mission with your finest ninja cost hokage-sama?."<br><br>Hokage: "For an A-rank one year mission with our elite ninja, it will cost around 300k ryo."<br><br>Harry: "Thank you hokage-sama, now as to answer your million ryo question as how I'm going to pay for it?, I'm going to pay with this!."<br><br>Harry opened his inventory, and took out one gold bar, and showed it to the hokage.<br><br>Hokage: "Gasp!, you were not joking?."<br><br>Kotetsu: "Gasp!, Holy shit!, the kid is loaded, did he seriously pull a gold bar out of his ass?, talk about a real live goose laying a golden egg. Is that a kekeigenkai of sorts?."<br><br>Harry: "What's a kekeigenkai?."<br><br>Hokage: "Kekegenkai or bloodline limit are special abilities that are passed on through family bloodline."<br><br>Harry: "I'm not sure if mine is a kekegenkai, but this ability of mine opens a pocket dimension that can hold infinite items including food, and it never go bad."<br><br>Hokage: "That is a convenient ability, are you sure you don't want to become a ninja?."<br><br>Harry: "I'm sure, for now, maybe if I get bored, and need some excitement in my life, and I'll join then. Now which do you recommend that is the most secure clan compound for sale hokage-sama?."<br><br>Hokage: "Well I do know of Senju Compund that's available, it's not the largest of compound, but the seals around that place are top notch. The price is steep though, after all it is used to be one of our former hokage's house, and cost 10 million ryo, and is a rather historical compund, and already has furniture inside."<br>Harry: "Done hokage-sama, I also need a long body-guard mission for me, and some private tutuors to learn your arts. Lastly, I need to go the bank, and exchange my gold bars."<br><br>Hokage: "Kotetsu kindly escort Harry to the bank."<br><br>Kotetsu: "Hia!, hokage-sama."<br><br>Kotetsu escorted me to the bank, and I exchanged 20k gold bars which is a total of 20 million ryo.<br><br>Hary: "Thanks Kotetsu, let's go back to the Hokage office and finalize the deal."<br><br>Kotetsu shunshined Harry back to the hokage's office.<br><br>Kotetsu: "Hello, Hokage-sama, were back to finalize the deal."<br><br>Harry: "How much is the total cost hokage-sama?."<br><br>Hokage: "The total cost 10 million, and 500 thousand ryo. 10m for the house, 300k for the elite Anbu guards for a year, and 200k for a elite Jonin tutor, you can ask for a different tutor if you require a different specialty."<br><br>Harry: "Here's 10m and 500k ryo hokage-sama." gives the money to the hokage.<br><br>Harry: "Nice doing business with you hokage-sama." shakes hokages hand.<br><br>Hokage: "The pleasure is all mine." shakes harry's hand back<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ding<br><br>®You have acquired Legendary Clan Compound<br><br>+ 500 fame </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Hokage: "You really are the richest kid I have ever met."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ding<br><br>®You have gained the tittle Richest kid.<br><br>-All stats +10 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Hokage: "The elite Anbu are guarding you know, I'm a safe and unnoticeable distance of course. Kotetsu, kindly guide young Harry here to his new clan compound."<br><br>Kotetsu: "Hai!, hokage-sama."<br><br>Harry: "Wait!, here hokage-sama for your hospitality, and here's some for you too Kotetsu." hands 5 Gold bars to hokage, and Kotetsu.<br><br>Hokage: "Thank you very much, Harry-san. Now I can finally buy that limited edition signed copy of Icha Icha volume 1 to volume 5." chuckles perversely.<br><br>Kotetsu: "Thank you too, Harry- san, Now I can take a vacation to kumo's famous hotspring." giggles perversely.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ding<br><br>®Familiarity with Hokage +10% </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ding<br><br>®Familiarity with Kotetsu +10% </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Kotetsu: "Lets go Harry-san. grabs Harry's shoulder and shunshined in front f Harry's new clan compund."<br><br>Harry: "Thank you very much Kotetsu-san."<br><br>Harry went inside his new compound and explored it thoroughly. He finally found the master bedroom.<br><br>Harry: "Stats!."<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Character Name: Harry Potter<br><br>Alignment: Neutral<br><br>Level:1<br><br>Profession: Master of death<br><br>Title: Richest Kid<br><br>Fame: 500<br><br>Health: 150<br><br>Mana: 150<br><br>Strength: 20<br><br>Agility: 20<br><br>Vitality: 20<br><br>Wisdom: 20<br><br>Intellect:20<br><br>Stamina: 20<br><br>Luck: 20<br><br>Attack: 40<br><br>Magic Attack: 40<br><br>Magic defense: 40<br><br>Defense: 40<br> </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Satisfied with the results Harry slept, and had a wonderful dream. </div>

Chapter 2 The Branching Sarting Point ( A ) Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Harry finally exited the forest, he saw a fortified wall-like structure that seems to emulate the great wall of China by a degree. He also saw a large gate with a leaf design on it. He finally dicided to approach the village gate, but when he reached close to it, he was stopped by the The gatekeepers. Kotetsu: "Hey kid, what's your purpose here?." Harry: "I'm here to start a new lease on my new life, hopefully one that is safe and far away from danger as much as possible." Harry answered truthfully. Izumo: "We're in the ninja world kid, no-one is completely safe. But our konoha village is the safest, because it is the top village among the five villages in this nation." Harry: "I'm lucky that I got here instead of the other villages then. Can I come in now?." Kotetsu: "Sure kid, but I have to accompany you to the Hokage first, he will know what to so with a lost orphan." Kotetsu grabs Hary by the arm, and shunshined to the hokages office. Kotetsu: "Hello hokage-sama , we have a lost boy here who wants to join our beautiful village." Hokage: "Hello young man, why do you want to join this village?." Harry: "As I said to gatekeepers before, I'm here to start a new lease on my new life, hopefully one that is safe and far away from danger as much as possible. " Hokage: "That's a noble goal young man, but you have to get stronger to protect yourself from harm, no-one can do it for you but you yourself. So with that in mind, do you want to become a ninja?." Harry: "What's a ninja?." Hokage: "A ninja is a soldier of the village, do jobs to fulfill their missions by means of being a body guard, an assassination, and also being an errand boy sometimes when you get hired so you can fulfill the villagers need. They also train so they can use chakra, the combination of both physical and spiritual energy to perform supernatural feats." Harry: "What's the other option?." Hokage: "You go the orphanage." the hokage said bluntly. Harry: "hmm... I'll choose neither, and go with option C, I'll by myself a clan compound, Hire some ninja's to protect me 24/7, and hire some tutors for self defense." Hokage: "Hahahahahahahahhahahhah, that's a good one, I haven't laughed myself that hard in ages." Kotetsu: "Hahahahahahahahah, your right hokage-sama, I'm glad I decided to stick around." Harry: "How much is a minimum cost for a clan compound anyway?." Hokage: "I'll humor you young man, the least is about 500k ryo and the most expensive can go to 5-10 million ryo." Harry: "How about the security of these clan compunds?." Hokage: "Well, we use seals to act as wards, and barriers around it. You'll probably have to pay more for the deluxe version of it." Harry: "One last question hokage-sama, how much is a long-term guard mission with your finest ninja cost hokage-sama?." Hokage: "For an A-rank one year mission with our elite ninja, it will cost around 300k ryo." Harry: "Thank you hokage-sama, now as to answer your million ryo question as how I'm going to pay for it?, I'm going to pay with this!." Harry opened his inventory, and took out one gold bar, and showed it to the hokage. Hokage: "Gasp!, you were not joking?." Kotetsu: "Gasp!, Holy shit!, the kid is loaded, did he seriously pull a gold bar out of his ass?, talk about a real live goose laying a golden egg. Is that a kekeigenkai of sorts?." Harry: "What's a kekeigenkai?." Hokage: "Kekegenkai or bloodline limit are special abilities that are passed on through family bloodline." Harry: "I'm not sure if mine is a kekegenkai, but this ability of mine opens a pocket dimension that can hold infinite items including food, and it never go bad." Hokage: "That is a convenient ability, are you sure you don't want to become a ninja?." Harry: "I'm sure, for now, maybe if I get bored, and need some excitement in my life, and I'll join then. Now which do you recommend that is the most secure clan compound for sale hokage-sama?." Hokage: "Well I do know of Senju Compund that's available, it's not the largest of compound, but the seals around that place are top notch. The price is steep though, after all it is used to be one of our former hokage's house, and cost 10 million ryo, and is a rather historical compund, and already has furniture inside." Harry: "Done hokage-sama, I also need a long body-guard mission for me, and some private tutuors to learn your arts. Lastly, I need to go the bank, and exchange my gold bars." Hokage: "Kotetsu kindly escort Harry to the bank." Kotetsu: "Hia!, hokage-sama." Kotetsu escorted me to the bank, and I exchanged 20k gold bars which is a total of 20 million ryo. Hary: "Thanks Kotetsu, let's go back to the Hokage office and finalize the deal." Kotetsu shunshined Harry back to the hokage's office. Kotetsu: "Hello, Hokage-sama, were back to finalize the deal." Harry: "How much is the total cost hokage-sama?." Hokage: "The total cost 10 million, and 500 thousand ryo. 10m for the house, 300k for the elite Anbu guards for a year, and 200k for a elite Jonin tutor, you can ask for a different tutor if you require a different specialty." Harry: "Here's 10m and 500k ryo hokage-sama." gives the money to the hokage. Harry: "Nice doing business with you hokage-sama." shakes hokages hand. Hokage: "The pleasure is all mine." shakes harry's hand back | * Ding®You have acquired Legendary Clan Compound+ 500 fame | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Hokage: "You really are the richest kid I have ever met." | * Ding®You have gained the tittle Richest kid.-All stats +10 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Hokage: "The elite Anbu are guarding you know, I'm a safe and unnoticeable distance of course. Kotetsu, kindly guide young Harry here to his new clan compound." Kotetsu: "Hai!, hokage-sama." Harry: "Wait!, here hokage-sama for your hospitality, and here's some for you too Kotetsu." hands 5 Gold bars to hokage, and Kotetsu. Hokage: "Thank you very much, Harry-san. Now I can finally buy that limited edition signed copy of Icha Icha volume 1 to volume 5." chuckles perversely. Kotetsu: "Thank you too, Harry- san, Now I can take a vacation to kumo's famous hotspring." giggles perversely. | * Ding®Familiarity with Hokage +10% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Ding®Familiarity with Kotetsu +10% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Kotetsu: "Lets go Harry-san. grabs Harry's shoulder and shunshined in front f Harry's new clan compund." Harry: "Thank you very much Kotetsu-san." Harry went inside his new compound and explored it thoroughly. He finally found the master bedroom. Harry: "Stats!." | * Character Name: Harry PotterAlignment: NeutralLevel:1Profession: Master of deathTitle: Richest KidFame: 500Health: 150Mana: 150Strength: 20Agility: 20Vitality: 20Wisdom: 20Intellect:20Stamina: 20Luck: 20Attack: 40Magic Attack: 40Magic defense: 40Defense: 40 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Satisfied with the results Harry slept, and had a wonderful dream.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Necromancer<br>A Royal Road Fan Fiction<br>By: Halosty<br>Chapter 32<br><br> One day, Quietus was walking along a road, minding his own business. No really, he didn’t even have a murderer’s mark. Anyway, he was minding his own business when he passed by someone on the road. He didn’t really say anything to them. Then, he heard the sounds of a sword swinging through the air. He quickly turned to dodge and see who it was.<br><br> His dodge was mostly ineffective, as he didn’t correctly choose a direction, and was left with half of his health gone. Then he saw a large man with blonde hair. He felt he should recognize him, but nothing clicked in his mind. He drew his dagger and struck back a few times, but he was at a disadvantage. Eventually, he failed to dodge another powerful attack.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have died!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>--------------------------<br><br>The sound of pickaxes rang throughout the mine. It was the sound of hard work. One of the workers grunted. If it didn’t pay so well, nobody would come here for this kind of hard labor.<br><br> Then, there was a rumbling sound. A cave in. Fortunately, nobody was caught directly in any of the falling rubble. This had happened before, and they would have to deal with it. The workers set upon the rubble, attempting to clear a path back outside. Once they had almost finished with the pile of rubble, there was a larger quake and a bigger collapse. <br><br> This repeated endlessly. For days upon days they labored. Their arms grew tired. The air grew thin. Their stomachs rumbled. The miners had not even tasted a drop of water in some time. Still they labored, but they did not die. They could not die. The last light burnt out. Now, they were trapped in darkness. <br><br> The miners were too weak to talk, but somehow screams could be heard in the darkness.<br><br> They sat in the mines, in the dark, cold, hungry, thirsty, and afraid. What was in the dark? There could be nothing there, but it screamed.<br><br> They could not escape the mines, so they waited.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> Mortimer woke up with a start. He hit his head on the inside of the capsule. Great, it was that thing again. Sometimes it was hard to tell. Afterwards, however, he could tell it was all a dream… or a vision? Well, since it was from a game, it must really be a cutscene. Lately, he’d been noticing that the perspective of each time changed. First had been the foreman, then he’d been seeing it through the senses of different miners. He felt their connections to each other and their sorrow at the deaths of their friends and companions. He still didn’t care about any of them. Maybe they would go away.<br><br> Then Mortimer thought about the warrior that had killed him. He seemed familiar somehow. Blonde hair and a big sword… He felt like it should ring a bell, but he just couldn’t think of who it was. Obviously someone higher level than him. The real problem hadn’t been that however. He’d gotten careless, and he was still weak. Somehow, he’d gotten arrogant, and was out of his habit of <del>sneaking</del> moving cautiously everywhere he went. He was obviously not good enough at fighting yet as well. The warrior hadn’t been much faster than him, and that had been owing to his high level. He hadn’t seemed particularly skilled though, so Mortimer knew Master Valarao could have beaten him even with the disadvantage in speed. He supposed he needed to train harder.<br><br> Well, since he was not playing Royal Road, he figured he might as well do some more exercises. He had a set of exercises and practice forms prescribed by Master Valarao. Since he couldn’t practice the proper moves for real, they were designed to keep his body in the correct condition to perform the required actions. Mortimer looked at his body in the mirror while he was changing into exercise clothes. He was still as pale as he had been before. He didn’t exactly go outside any more than he had used to. He was, however, noticing a significant increase in muscle definition. He was still very skinny though. He had been hoping that all the exercise he’d been getting would make him a bit bulkier. Then he wondered why he cared at all about how he looked.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> Out in the hallway Angela ran into Mortimer. Not literally this time, since they were both paying attention. She was still rather annoyed that he wouldn’t spar with her anymore, but grudgingly accepted it as the instructions were from Master Valarao. She didn’t want to interfere with his training. She’d heard from Mortimer’s parents that he’d actually chosen to learn from Master Valarao. Well, not him specifically, but his style. It was one of the few times he’d actually chosen to do something significant, and he was actually sticking with it. He was still just as skinny as he’d always been, but he somehow felt different.<br><br> “I thought you were playing Royal Road, Mortimer.”<br><br> “Yeah, I died though.”<br><br> “Seriously how many times have you died?”<br><br> “I’m not sure… a few, I guess.”<br><br> “I think you’ve died at least ten times since I’ve started playing. That’s like a third of your time spent dead! Isn’t it troublesome to make up the lost experience and skill proficiency? I don’t even know how you stay higher level than me.”<br><br> “It’s not that hard. It comes back pretty fast. Besides, if I die just before I would go to sleep, I can still play a few hours the next day.”<br><br> “Have you forgotten how to do math? 24 hours from when you died is just before you would go to sleep the next day.”<br><br> “Yeah, you’re right. Well, I’d better get to my exercises. I’ll talk to you later.”<br><br> It was rather obvious he was escaping from the conversation, but Angela let him go. He’d always been weird about dying in Royal Road. Angela wasn’t even sure he always mentioned when he died, as if he really didn’t care. Then she remembered something.<br><br> “Wait. You’re a rogue right? Are you still around the level 70 range?”<br><br> Mortimer turned around. “Close enough, anyway. Why?”<br><br> “Good, then you can come join my party in a dungeon. We could use a rogue for a dungeon we’re going to be in. We’ll start sometime tomorrow, depending on how long you take to get there.”<br><br> “But-”<br><br> “Don’t worry, there won’t be many people. Just a small group. You’ll be there right?”<br><br> “I don’t-”<br><br> “Good. Come to the Goblin Crags. You can look it up.”<br><br> “...”<br><br> Mortimer turned and walked away, but he had stopped refusing, which meant he gave in. Angela felt it would be good for him to be in a party occasionally. Actually, she wasn’t sure if he’d ever been in a party at all. He didn’t like large groups, but he would be able to handle a few other people. He’d have to learn to be comfortable with people that weren’t family eventually. Hopefully he’d at least talk to the others, but Angela had her doubts.<br>--------------------------<br><br> A small group of adventurers was waiting at the top of a small mountain. It was only a few hundred feet above the area around it, but it stuck out of the surrounding terrain like a pillar. The party was looking down at the path, waiting for the fifth party member to arrive.<br><br> “Where is he? You said he wasn’t far, right.” This was said by a man who looked to be a wizard. This one was certifiably reliable. He was named Nilrem. Not entirely original with his naming, but quite proficient with lightning magic.<br><br> Angelo responded, “Right. He should really be here right now. He’s online, but doesn’t seem to be responding to my whispers. Maybe he got into combat?”<br><br> Maratis answered that question with another, “With what? There’s nothing on the path up.”<br><br> “Well, we can wait. I hate traps.” Ruby shook her head at the thought of going into the dungeon without a full party.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> Quietus brought to mind the map he had looked up. Goblin Crags should be just a bit north of him. In fact, he thought he could see the entrance at the top. It was a fairly straightforward direction. Once Quietus got to the base, he looked around. There wasn’t really a convenient way up. He looked at the mountain. He checked his mental map again just to make sure it was the right place. The entrance was definitely at the top.<br><br> The cliffs didn’t look too bad, and there were plenty of outcroppings for him to rest on. Quietus started to climb up. It didn’t look that far.<br><br> The climb was fairly easy, with plentiful handholds and footholds. There were some points where the cliffs crumbled, but if he fell to his death at least he’d have a good excuse to get out of joining the party. Not that he intended to fall on purpose. He’d get in big trouble for that, and he wouldn’t be able to hide it. It did appear that his sense of perspective had gotten the better of him in this case. The climb was turning out to be far longer than he’d thought.<br><br> Quietus eventually made it to the first platform he’d seen. It turned out to be about a foot wide. Not too bad. He sat on the edge and looked down while his stamina regenerated. Not even a hundred feet up. He might even be able to survive a fall from here. Then again, maybe not. He’d never fallen from this high up. Perhaps he’d test the limits of that later.<br><br> Soon, Quietus found a situation where messing around with his avatar may have been beneficial. He was reaching for a handhold that was just a little bit too far away. If he’d just made himself taller, he could have reached it. Of course, then he’d have needed to get used to moving at a different height. A helpful tutorial popped up in his vision. He’d almost forgotten these could happen. Mostly, he ignored them. This one was rather helpful though. It told him that it was possible to reach the other handhold if he let go with other hand. It could be dangerous, but he didn’t want to climb back down any, he was almost to the next platform. He tried it.<br><br> He actually need to do a small hop as well to get his hand on the right grip. This let his feet slip out from under him. Then, he was hanging down from just the fingers of his right hand. He was reminded of a similar incident in the assassin’s guild, but it was slightly different here. First, a different hand was holding on, and it didn’t have spikes through it. Second, he didn’t have to hide because there wasn’t a golem coming to kill him. Quietus dangled there for what seemed like an hour, but was probably a few seconds, before he found new footholds and purchase for his other hand. He was glad that he’d invested a few of his precious attribute points in strength, but more glad for what he had gained from the training and using his climbing skill. If he hadn’t had both though, he probably would have lost his grip and fallen to his death.<br><br> Quietus was now about three quarters of the way up. His platform was a bit smaller, barely enough for him to stand with one foot sideways. It was good enough for him to regain a bit of stamina though. He looked down, and almost leaned too far. He barely maintained his balance. He would definitely die falling from this fight. Maybe if he had more levels he could survive, although he wasn’t sure whether or not falling damage was based on a percentage of health or a flat number. It didn’t matter in this case though. The climbing skill could only reduce falling damage so much, the rest he had to make up for with… well, not falling as far.<br><br> Speaking of his climbing skill, he soon received a new message.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have reached intermediate level in the Climbing skill!<br><br>As usual, each level reduces the stamina cost of climbing, makes climbing slightly easier, and slightly reduces the amount of falling damage you take.<br><br>Your hands are stronger. Grip strength is increased.<br><br>New functions:<br>-10% increase in unarmed damage.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> This was… slightly useful. It might fit well with the new moves he was learning from Master Valarao. Now all he had to do was get to the top. It wasn’t far.<br><br> As he reached the top, he saw something odd. Why was there something skin colored there? Of course it was skin. What else is skin colored. It appeared to be a pair of legs. The rear side of them. They weren’t particularly covered in cloth, although some other features of the rear of this person were slightly more covered. Only a few strips of cloth, really, but they probably supported the front of the outfit. On top of the torso was a head with red hair.<br><br> Quietus almost forgot he was climbing. He was close to letting go and jumping backwards in surprise. Instead, he slipped a bit. At least he was staring at a rock wall again, it let his heartbeat calm down. He hadn’t really thought about it, but Ruby had always been in the party with Angelo. He wasn’t really prepared for it. He climbed a bit over to the side before climbing up, fortunately not into anyones backside.<br><br> “I’m here.”<br><br> Four people turned to face him in shock. What, did they think he wasn’t coming?<br><br>End Chapter 32<br><br>Previous Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1385&amp;p=8197#p8197"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1385&amp;p=8197#p8197&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt;<br>Next Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=2232"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=2232&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt; </div>

Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 32 One day, Quietus was walking along a road, minding his own business. No really, he didn’t even have a murderer’s mark. Anyway, he was minding his own business when he passed by someone on the road. He didn’t really say anything to them. Then, he heard the sounds of a sword swinging through the air. He quickly turned to dodge and see who it was. His dodge was mostly ineffective, as he didn’t correctly choose a direction, and was left with half of his health gone. Then he saw a large man with blonde hair. He felt he should recognize him, but nothing clicked in his mind. He drew his dagger and struck back a few times, but he was at a disadvantage. Eventually, he failed to dodge another powerful attack. | You have died! | | --- | -------------------------- The sound of pickaxes rang throughout the mine. It was the sound of hard work. One of the workers grunted. If it didn’t pay so well, nobody would come here for this kind of hard labor. Then, there was a rumbling sound. A cave in. Fortunately, nobody was caught directly in any of the falling rubble. This had happened before, and they would have to deal with it. The workers set upon the rubble, attempting to clear a path back outside. Once they had almost finished with the pile of rubble, there was a larger quake and a bigger collapse. This repeated endlessly. For days upon days they labored. Their arms grew tired. The air grew thin. Their stomachs rumbled. The miners had not even tasted a drop of water in some time. Still they labored, but they did not die. They could not die. The last light burnt out. Now, they were trapped in darkness. The miners were too weak to talk, but somehow screams could be heard in the darkness. They sat in the mines, in the dark, cold, hungry, thirsty, and afraid. What was in the dark? There could be nothing there, but it screamed. They could not escape the mines, so they waited. -------------------------- Mortimer woke up with a start. He hit his head on the inside of the capsule. Great, it was that thing again. Sometimes it was hard to tell. Afterwards, however, he could tell it was all a dream… or a vision? Well, since it was from a game, it must really be a cutscene. Lately, he’d been noticing that the perspective of each time changed. First had been the foreman, then he’d been seeing it through the senses of different miners. He felt their connections to each other and their sorrow at the deaths of their friends and companions. He still didn’t care about any of them. Maybe they would go away. Then Mortimer thought about the warrior that had killed him. He seemed familiar somehow. Blonde hair and a big sword… He felt like it should ring a bell, but he just couldn’t think of who it was. Obviously someone higher level than him. The real problem hadn’t been that however. He’d gotten careless, and he was still weak. Somehow, he’d gotten arrogant, and was out of his habit of ~~sneaking~~ moving cautiously everywhere he went. He was obviously not good enough at fighting yet as well. The warrior hadn’t been much faster than him, and that had been owing to his high level. He hadn’t seemed particularly skilled though, so Mortimer knew Master Valarao could have beaten him even with the disadvantage in speed. He supposed he needed to train harder. Well, since he was not playing Royal Road, he figured he might as well do some more exercises. He had a set of exercises and practice forms prescribed by Master Valarao. Since he couldn’t practice the proper moves for real, they were designed to keep his body in the correct condition to perform the required actions. Mortimer looked at his body in the mirror while he was changing into exercise clothes. He was still as pale as he had been before. He didn’t exactly go outside any more than he had used to. He was, however, noticing a significant increase in muscle definition. He was still very skinny though. He had been hoping that all the exercise he’d been getting would make him a bit bulkier. Then he wondered why he cared at all about how he looked. -------------------------- Out in the hallway Angela ran into Mortimer. Not literally this time, since they were both paying attention. She was still rather annoyed that he wouldn’t spar with her anymore, but grudgingly accepted it as the instructions were from Master Valarao. She didn’t want to interfere with his training. She’d heard from Mortimer’s parents that he’d actually chosen to learn from Master Valarao. Well, not him specifically, but his style. It was one of the few times he’d actually chosen to do something significant, and he was actually sticking with it. He was still just as skinny as he’d always been, but he somehow felt different. “I thought you were playing Royal Road, Mortimer.” “Yeah, I died though.” “Seriously how many times have you died?” “I’m not sure… a few, I guess.” “I think you’ve died at least ten times since I’ve started playing. That’s like a third of your time spent dead! Isn’t it troublesome to make up the lost experience and skill proficiency? I don’t even know how you stay higher level than me.” “It’s not that hard. It comes back pretty fast. Besides, if I die just before I would go to sleep, I can still play a few hours the next day.” “Have you forgotten how to do math? 24 hours from when you died is just before you would go to sleep the next day.” “Yeah, you’re right. Well, I’d better get to my exercises. I’ll talk to you later.” It was rather obvious he was escaping from the conversation, but Angela let him go. He’d always been weird about dying in Royal Road. Angela wasn’t even sure he always mentioned when he died, as if he really didn’t care. Then she remembered something. “Wait. You’re a rogue right? Are you still around the level 70 range?” Mortimer turned around. “Close enough, anyway. Why?” “Good, then you can come join my party in a dungeon. We could use a rogue for a dungeon we’re going to be in. We’ll start sometime tomorrow, depending on how long you take to get there.” “But-” “Don’t worry, there won’t be many people. Just a small group. You’ll be there right?” “I don’t-” “Good. Come to the Goblin Crags. You can look it up.” “...” Mortimer turned and walked away, but he had stopped refusing, which meant he gave in. Angela felt it would be good for him to be in a party occasionally. Actually, she wasn’t sure if he’d ever been in a party at all. He didn’t like large groups, but he would be able to handle a few other people. He’d have to learn to be comfortable with people that weren’t family eventually. Hopefully he’d at least talk to the others, but Angela had her doubts. -------------------------- A small group of adventurers was waiting at the top of a small mountain. It was only a few hundred feet above the area around it, but it stuck out of the surrounding terrain like a pillar. The party was looking down at the path, waiting for the fifth party member to arrive. “Where is he? You said he wasn’t far, right.” This was said by a man who looked to be a wizard. This one was certifiably reliable. He was named Nilrem. Not entirely original with his naming, but quite proficient with lightning magic. Angelo responded, “Right. He should really be here right now. He’s online, but doesn’t seem to be responding to my whispers. Maybe he got into combat?” Maratis answered that question with another, “With what? There’s nothing on the path up.” “Well, we can wait. I hate traps.” Ruby shook her head at the thought of going into the dungeon without a full party. -------------------------- Quietus brought to mind the map he had looked up. Goblin Crags should be just a bit north of him. In fact, he thought he could see the entrance at the top. It was a fairly straightforward direction. Once Quietus got to the base, he looked around. There wasn’t really a convenient way up. He looked at the mountain. He checked his mental map again just to make sure it was the right place. The entrance was definitely at the top. The cliffs didn’t look too bad, and there were plenty of outcroppings for him to rest on. Quietus started to climb up. It didn’t look that far. The climb was fairly easy, with plentiful handholds and footholds. There were some points where the cliffs crumbled, but if he fell to his death at least he’d have a good excuse to get out of joining the party. Not that he intended to fall on purpose. He’d get in big trouble for that, and he wouldn’t be able to hide it. It did appear that his sense of perspective had gotten the better of him in this case. The climb was turning out to be far longer than he’d thought. Quietus eventually made it to the first platform he’d seen. It turned out to be about a foot wide. Not too bad. He sat on the edge and looked down while his stamina regenerated. Not even a hundred feet up. He might even be able to survive a fall from here. Then again, maybe not. He’d never fallen from this high up. Perhaps he’d test the limits of that later. Soon, Quietus found a situation where messing around with his avatar may have been beneficial. He was reaching for a handhold that was just a little bit too far away. If he’d just made himself taller, he could have reached it. Of course, then he’d have needed to get used to moving at a different height. A helpful tutorial popped up in his vision. He’d almost forgotten these could happen. Mostly, he ignored them. This one was rather helpful though. It told him that it was possible to reach the other handhold if he let go with other hand. It could be dangerous, but he didn’t want to climb back down any, he was almost to the next platform. He tried it. He actually need to do a small hop as well to get his hand on the right grip. This let his feet slip out from under him. Then, he was hanging down from just the fingers of his right hand. He was reminded of a similar incident in the assassin’s guild, but it was slightly different here. First, a different hand was holding on, and it didn’t have spikes through it. Second, he didn’t have to hide because there wasn’t a golem coming to kill him. Quietus dangled there for what seemed like an hour, but was probably a few seconds, before he found new footholds and purchase for his other hand. He was glad that he’d invested a few of his precious attribute points in strength, but more glad for what he had gained from the training and using his climbing skill. If he hadn’t had both though, he probably would have lost his grip and fallen to his death. Quietus was now about three quarters of the way up. His platform was a bit smaller, barely enough for him to stand with one foot sideways. It was good enough for him to regain a bit of stamina though. He looked down, and almost leaned too far. He barely maintained his balance. He would definitely die falling from this fight. Maybe if he had more levels he could survive, although he wasn’t sure whether or not falling damage was based on a percentage of health or a flat number. It didn’t matter in this case though. The climbing skill could only reduce falling damage so much, the rest he had to make up for with… well, not falling as far. Speaking of his climbing skill, he soon received a new message. | You have reached intermediate level in the Climbing skill!As usual, each level reduces the stamina cost of climbing, makes climbing slightly easier, and slightly reduces the amount of falling damage you take.Your hands are stronger. Grip strength is increased.New functions:-10% increase in unarmed damage. | | --- | This was… slightly useful. It might fit well with the new moves he was learning from Master Valarao. Now all he had to do was get to the top. It wasn’t far. As he reached the top, he saw something odd. Why was there something skin colored there? Of course it was skin. What else is skin colored. It appeared to be a pair of legs. The rear side of them. They weren’t particularly covered in cloth, although some other features of the rear of this person were slightly more covered. Only a few strips of cloth, really, but they probably supported the front of the outfit. On top of the torso was a head with red hair. Quietus almost forgot he was climbing. He was close to letting go and jumping backwards in surprise. Instead, he slipped a bit. At least he was staring at a rock wall again, it let his heartbeat calm down. He hadn’t really thought about it, but Ruby had always been in the party with Angelo. He wasn’t really prepared for it. He climbed a bit over to the side before climbing up, fortunately not into anyones backside. “I’m here.” Four people turned to face him in shock. What, did they think he wasn’t coming? End Chapter 32 Previous Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1385&p=8197#p8197">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1385&p=8197#p8197</a><!-- l --> Next Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2232">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2232</a><!-- l -->

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 5 The future of Suna<br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br>Hari's POV:<br><br>I spent the night with Gaara at my apartment, I knew that I would face the music today. I steeled myself to face the Kazekage, but then.<br><br>Ding*<br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> ®System Notice:<br><br>-Update patch Ver 1.2 has successfully installed.<br><br>-you may find a change in your stats to balance the game more. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>"Stats!."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Character Name: Hari no Sabaku<br><br>Alignment: Neutral<br><br>Level:1<br><br>Profession: Master of death<br><br>Title: Psuedo Jinchuuriki<br><br>Fame: 1000<br><br>Health: 8100<br><br>Mana: 20600 ( +1500 )<br><br>Strength: 180<br><br>Agility:240<br><br>Vitality: 310<br><br>Wisdom: 170<br><br>Intellect: 1030<br><br>Stamina:290<br><br>Luck: 210<br><br>Attack: 360<br><br>Magic Attack: 2060<br><br>Magic defense: 1030<br><br>Defense: 310 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>"Hmm, the system halved the magic defense, and defense value, but in exchange, they doubled my Hp, and Mp. Now I don't have to worry about my chakra. That should take care of my sand manipulation, and I'll have to work on some original sand moves that I can work with my sand. Hmm a sand tsunami, I'll work on you yet." thought Hari.<br><br>Hari left his apartment while leaving a note for Gaara, he then went to see the Kazekage. The walk took about thirty minutes, and he finally arrived at the Kazekage tower, and made an appointment with the Kazekage which was quickly approved.<br><br>"Jeez I wonder why.?" Hari thought while rolling his eyes.<br><br>I knocked on the door, and a voice said to come in.<br><br>"Good morning Kazekage-sama, I'm sorry about yesterday's debacle, but you must understand, surely we deserved a good sleep seing as I somehow stopped a fully manifested Biju, no thanks to yours truly" Hari said in a sarcastic tone while accusing the Kazekage of something.<br><br>"You must understand, the shukaku jinchuuriki is unstable, and we have no way of suppressing it, until today." the Kazekage said in a matter a fact tone.<br><br>"Yes, yes, Can you please stop assassinating Gaara?, now that I'm here." Hari said in a hopeful tone.<br><br>"That depends solely on you, you have to be bound to this village, and promise not to flee to another village, we need all the manpower we can get. Our villages safety hangs in the balance, and if War breaks out, we have no way to defend ourself against strong ninja villages like Kumo, and Konoha, I must insure our future, add to the fact that the Wind Daimyo has favored jobs offers to Konoha, our military strength is dwindling, and we can barely fund our ninja programs, Kami help me, I'm voicing my problem to a kid that is to young for the intricacies of politics that his age to comprehend." the Kazekage voiced his concerns.<br><br>"Maybe you should listen to your gut more, tell me, how much money does this village need to get back on its feet, and gather resources as needed, as well as increase the program quality at the ninja academy, as well as the citizens of suna, or better yet, how much money does it take to fund a ninja for a long term war, and come up on top?." Hari said in a suggestive voice.<br><br>The Kazekage's impression on Hari as a naive kid was quickly replaced by a warrior with a steel gaze, that seems to stare at his soul. He felt that he had no choice but to answer the kid, no, the warrior's question. "God, I must be going crazy." said the Kazekage<br><br>"Our village would need thirty million ryo for it to acquire back its needed resources to stand up again, and 10 million for our shinobi programs, another ten million for the equipment and repairs for our shinobi tools. As for a long term war against the world we would need at least another one hundered million ryo at least." the Kazekage answered truthfully.<br><br>"Why, why was he answering a child, his answer came to him with stare that he received by the child as if anticipating his disbelief." thought the Kazekage.<br><br>"Very well, for this to work, you would have to trust a complete stranger, possibly a spy, or assassin sent after you. You will take me to your village vaults alone. The fate of your village rest on your hands" Hari gave an ultimatum.<br><br>"The Kazekage was baffled, this child, a potential assassin, or spy was testing him, mocking him for solutions his villages desperately needs. Between his life, or the village, truly what he said that the fate of my village rests in my hand. On one hand, I could be killed, and my village could fall to ruin, on the other hand, a child that speaks of whispers of a solution to his village needs, like a devil tempting him on his desires, then snatching his soul at the last possible minute. He must be crazy for doing this, but dear God if there was a 0.1 percent of success against 99.9 percent of failure, he would choose the 0.1 percent, all for his beloved village." the Kazekage reasoned.<br>The Kazekage swallowed his pride, and he might as well be signing his life away, and then said to the child.<br><br>"Very well, I will take you to our Village Vault,... alone. Anbu, this is in order from your kazekage, do not follow us." the Kazekage ordered.<br><br>The Kazekage then lead Hari to the vaults of the village at its underground bunker that is said to have survived since the first ninja war started.<br><br>"I'm flattered, that you would sign in your life away like that Kazekage-sama, and now here is your just desserts, Mwahahahahahahaha!." Hari laughed evily.<br><br>There it is, the signal he has been waiting for, he closed his eyes waiting for the intending strike to cut his head off, 1 second, 30 second, 1 minute, and the fatal blow did not come. What he heard was a crazy laughter of a madman, but something feels odd, the craziness was replaced with a joyous laughter, so he opened his eyes to see what had happened.<br><br>"That was funny, okay, maybe it was a morbid kind of funny, but funny none the less." the kid said in front of him.<br><br>The Kazekage sweardropped.<br><br>"Now where was I?, oh yes the deal, today, a new legend will be born, for today is the start where Suna will rise as the top ninja village." Hari declared.<br><br>With one swift motion in the air, hundreds, no, thousands of gold came raining down on the empty Vault, it was slowly but steadily being filled to the brim with giant gold bars.<br><br>The Kazekage could not believe his eyes, the answer to all his problems, the village's problems came literally falling down into his lap. The Kazekage had only one thing to do, he cried, he cried of happiness. His Village, his beloved war torn village is now saved. The work of an angel, no, a demon, no, A god, has given him, and his village a miracle.<br><br>"Now I have filled your Village Vaults with two hundred thousand large gold bars, one gold bar of this pure gold is at least worth ten thousand ryo as the lowest exchange rate, and if you can find the right buyer, I'm sure you can double it. Assuming that you sell this gold bars at the lowest amount of ten thousand ryo, you my friend, have two billion ryo at your disposal." Hari motioned to the gold bars exageratingly.<br><br>"The rest, solely depends on your capabilities my friend, but I'm sure the defeat of the war has honed your ninja senses for a chance to fight back to those arrogant fools who crushed this village's ideals, hopes, and dreams. Now is the time, the time of a new era, Grab it, Grab it with all your might, this Village Legend is about to unfold." said Hari.<br><br>"I thank you, as a village leader, and as a man, from the bottom of my heart I thank you. Please, if theres anything you need, don't hesitate to ask."<br><br>Hari then popped the question, no, he's not getting married, you readers sure have a crazy mind. No, what Hari asked was.<br><br>"I want to be able to protect Gaara, and help him control his Biju, I want to learn this village's techniques, so that I might help it in anyway I can. I also want to undergo the same training as Gaara." requested Hari.<br><br>"That all can be simply done my friend, the solution is actually pretty simple. I will adopt you, you see Gaara is my son, and you have a high chance of protecting him, and guiding him as his brother. It also helps cement your status in this village, but I'm curious, why would you want the same training for a jinchuuriki.?" the Kazekage asked.<br><br>"The answer is simple, as you recall the incident yesterday, where I barely stoped Shukaku from taking over, after ten hours of long exposure to shukaku's toxic chakra, and having survived it, the Biju's chakra seemed to have merged with mine, and made me a an artificial Jinchuuriki, or a pseudo Jinchuuriki." Hari answered while sands are swirling over him<br><br>The Kazekage jaws were gaping for a full five minutes, and then it turned into a full blown laughter. Not only has his village now has the means to fund a long-term war, and have a failsafe mechanism for their junchuuriki if it is attempting to break free, but now, his village has now an artificial jinchuuriki as well, who is as just as strong as the original, without the side effects of suddenly going rogue, and going into a killing spree, but a real live usable weapon that is loyal to his village. Truly a boon has descended in his village today. The Kazekage didn't even need to think, and agreed to Hari's requests.<br><br>Soon, Soon we will show the world the might of Suna.<br><br>Ding*<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> ®New tittle received:<br><br>©Village Savior.<br><br>- Fame + 2000 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Ding*<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br>®New stats gained;<br><br>- HP +5000 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Authors Note:<br><br>This is freshly written, and newly proofread, there might be some that I missed, I'll try to proofread them as often as I can.<br><br>Enjoy </div>

Chapter 5 The future of Suna Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Hari's POV: I spent the night with Gaara at my apartment, I knew that I would face the music today. I steeled myself to face the Kazekage, but then. Ding* | * ®System Notice:-Update patch Ver 1.2 has successfully installed.-you may find a change in your stats to balance the game more. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | "Stats!." | * Character Name: Hari no SabakuAlignment: NeutralLevel:1Profession: Master of deathTitle: Psuedo JinchuurikiFame: 1000Health: 8100Mana: 20600 ( +1500 )Strength: 180Agility:240Vitality: 310Wisdom: 170Intellect: 1030Stamina:290Luck: 210Attack: 360Magic Attack: 2060Magic defense: 1030Defense: 310 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | "Hmm, the system halved the magic defense, and defense value, but in exchange, they doubled my Hp, and Mp. Now I don't have to worry about my chakra. That should take care of my sand manipulation, and I'll have to work on some original sand moves that I can work with my sand. Hmm a sand tsunami, I'll work on you yet." thought Hari. Hari left his apartment while leaving a note for Gaara, he then went to see the Kazekage. The walk took about thirty minutes, and he finally arrived at the Kazekage tower, and made an appointment with the Kazekage which was quickly approved. "Jeez I wonder why.?" Hari thought while rolling his eyes. I knocked on the door, and a voice said to come in. "Good morning Kazekage-sama, I'm sorry about yesterday's debacle, but you must understand, surely we deserved a good sleep seing as I somehow stopped a fully manifested Biju, no thanks to yours truly" Hari said in a sarcastic tone while accusing the Kazekage of something. "You must understand, the shukaku jinchuuriki is unstable, and we have no way of suppressing it, until today." the Kazekage said in a matter a fact tone. "Yes, yes, Can you please stop assassinating Gaara?, now that I'm here." Hari said in a hopeful tone. "That depends solely on you, you have to be bound to this village, and promise not to flee to another village, we need all the manpower we can get. Our villages safety hangs in the balance, and if War breaks out, we have no way to defend ourself against strong ninja villages like Kumo, and Konoha, I must insure our future, add to the fact that the Wind Daimyo has favored jobs offers to Konoha, our military strength is dwindling, and we can barely fund our ninja programs, Kami help me, I'm voicing my problem to a kid that is to young for the intricacies of politics that his age to comprehend." the Kazekage voiced his concerns. "Maybe you should listen to your gut more, tell me, how much money does this village need to get back on its feet, and gather resources as needed, as well as increase the program quality at the ninja academy, as well as the citizens of suna, or better yet, how much money does it take to fund a ninja for a long term war, and come up on top?." Hari said in a suggestive voice. The Kazekage's impression on Hari as a naive kid was quickly replaced by a warrior with a steel gaze, that seems to stare at his soul. He felt that he had no choice but to answer the kid, no, the warrior's question. "God, I must be going crazy." said the Kazekage "Our village would need thirty million ryo for it to acquire back its needed resources to stand up again, and 10 million for our shinobi programs, another ten million for the equipment and repairs for our shinobi tools. As for a long term war against the world we would need at least another one hundered million ryo at least." the Kazekage answered truthfully. "Why, why was he answering a child, his answer came to him with stare that he received by the child as if anticipating his disbelief." thought the Kazekage. "Very well, for this to work, you would have to trust a complete stranger, possibly a spy, or assassin sent after you. You will take me to your village vaults alone. The fate of your village rest on your hands" Hari gave an ultimatum. "The Kazekage was baffled, this child, a potential assassin, or spy was testing him, mocking him for solutions his villages desperately needs. Between his life, or the village, truly what he said that the fate of my village rests in my hand. On one hand, I could be killed, and my village could fall to ruin, on the other hand, a child that speaks of whispers of a solution to his village needs, like a devil tempting him on his desires, then snatching his soul at the last possible minute. He must be crazy for doing this, but dear God if there was a 0.1 percent of success against 99.9 percent of failure, he would choose the 0.1 percent, all for his beloved village." the Kazekage reasoned. The Kazekage swallowed his pride, and he might as well be signing his life away, and then said to the child. "Very well, I will take you to our Village Vault,... alone. Anbu, this is in order from your kazekage, do not follow us." the Kazekage ordered. The Kazekage then lead Hari to the vaults of the village at its underground bunker that is said to have survived since the first ninja war started. "I'm flattered, that you would sign in your life away like that Kazekage-sama, and now here is your just desserts, Mwahahahahahahaha!." Hari laughed evily. There it is, the signal he has been waiting for, he closed his eyes waiting for the intending strike to cut his head off, 1 second, 30 second, 1 minute, and the fatal blow did not come. What he heard was a crazy laughter of a madman, but something feels odd, the craziness was replaced with a joyous laughter, so he opened his eyes to see what had happened. "That was funny, okay, maybe it was a morbid kind of funny, but funny none the less." the kid said in front of him. The Kazekage sweardropped. "Now where was I?, oh yes the deal, today, a new legend will be born, for today is the start where Suna will rise as the top ninja village." Hari declared. With one swift motion in the air, hundreds, no, thousands of gold came raining down on the empty Vault, it was slowly but steadily being filled to the brim with giant gold bars. The Kazekage could not believe his eyes, the answer to all his problems, the village's problems came literally falling down into his lap. The Kazekage had only one thing to do, he cried, he cried of happiness. His Village, his beloved war torn village is now saved. The work of an angel, no, a demon, no, A god, has given him, and his village a miracle. "Now I have filled your Village Vaults with two hundred thousand large gold bars, one gold bar of this pure gold is at least worth ten thousand ryo as the lowest exchange rate, and if you can find the right buyer, I'm sure you can double it. Assuming that you sell this gold bars at the lowest amount of ten thousand ryo, you my friend, have two billion ryo at your disposal." Hari motioned to the gold bars exageratingly. "The rest, solely depends on your capabilities my friend, but I'm sure the defeat of the war has honed your ninja senses for a chance to fight back to those arrogant fools who crushed this village's ideals, hopes, and dreams. Now is the time, the time of a new era, Grab it, Grab it with all your might, this Village Legend is about to unfold." said Hari. "I thank you, as a village leader, and as a man, from the bottom of my heart I thank you. Please, if theres anything you need, don't hesitate to ask." Hari then popped the question, no, he's not getting married, you readers sure have a crazy mind. No, what Hari asked was. "I want to be able to protect Gaara, and help him control his Biju, I want to learn this village's techniques, so that I might help it in anyway I can. I also want to undergo the same training as Gaara." requested Hari. "That all can be simply done my friend, the solution is actually pretty simple. I will adopt you, you see Gaara is my son, and you have a high chance of protecting him, and guiding him as his brother. It also helps cement your status in this village, but I'm curious, why would you want the same training for a jinchuuriki.?" the Kazekage asked. "The answer is simple, as you recall the incident yesterday, where I barely stoped Shukaku from taking over, after ten hours of long exposure to shukaku's toxic chakra, and having survived it, the Biju's chakra seemed to have merged with mine, and made me a an artificial Jinchuuriki, or a pseudo Jinchuuriki." Hari answered while sands are swirling over him The Kazekage jaws were gaping for a full five minutes, and then it turned into a full blown laughter. Not only has his village now has the means to fund a long-term war, and have a failsafe mechanism for their junchuuriki if it is attempting to break free, but now, his village has now an artificial jinchuuriki as well, who is as just as strong as the original, without the side effects of suddenly going rogue, and going into a killing spree, but a real live usable weapon that is loyal to his village. Truly a boon has descended in his village today. The Kazekage didn't even need to think, and agreed to Hari's requests. Soon, Soon we will show the world the might of Suna. Ding* | * ®New tittle received:©Village Savior.- Fame + 2000 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Ding* | * ®New stats gained;- HP +5000 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Authors Note: This is freshly written, and newly proofread, there might be some that I missed, I'll try to proofread them as often as I can. Enjoy

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 9 Brotherly Bonding<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br>Zed's POV:<br><br><br>I woke up the next morning pretty early, much earlier than my usual. I feel that I seem to have too much energy to burn. I noticed a new pop up window.<br><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> New Traits:<br><br>You have become an Uzumaki:<br><br>-Some of your traits are now shared through the adoption ritual with your other party.<br>-Your Chakra has increased tenfold.<br>-Your stamina has increased tenfold.<br>-Your life force and Longevity has increased tenfold.<br>-Your regeneration has increased tenfold.<br>- You have gained some sensory abilities. [ you can now sense chakra signatures 15 meters around you, distance increase when level is <br>higher]. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>I seem to have inherited more from Naruto traits, from the adoption ritual, is is why Naruto is hyperactive?. I need to meditate to calm this excessive energy. After 30 minutes of meditation, I did some light exercise, took a bath and made breakfasts. Naruto seems to have woken up.<br><br>Zed: "Morning sleepy head, breakfast is ready, I tried a new Ramen recipe. Go wash up first so you eat breakfast."<br><br>Naruto: "RAMEN!!, your the best nii-san." quickly washes face in the bathroom.<br><br>Zed: "So, otouto, what are your plans for today?."<br><br>Naruto: "Probably going to my team, and do a bunch of D-rank missions, or more teamwork training nii-san."<br><br>Zed: "hmm, doesn't you sensei teach you jutsu and stuff?."<br><br>Naruto: "My sensei said that teamwork is important nii-san, and he seems to work with Sasuke more."<br><br>Zed: "So, he did not teach my precious otouto anything?, this is bad otouto, it's been three month's since you graduated from what I gathered, and he hasn't done any jutsu training at all?."<br><br>Naruto: "Well, he did teach us the tree-walking exercise nii-san."<br><br>Zed: "That's it?." said diabelievingly.<br><br>Zed: "This is got to stop now otouto, No-one , I mean no-one, makes my otouto defenseless in missions. I won't let anyone take my new precious otouto away from me." said with conviction.<br><br>Naruto: "What do you mean by defenseless, nii-san?."<br><br>Zed: "Let me rephrase it for you otouto, how many jutsu do you know?."<br><br>Naruto: "Well I know the kawarimi, Henge, and the kagebunshin jutsu, nii-san."<br><br>Zed: "Exactly otouto, you only know the basic academy three jutsu, and it is the responsibility of your sensei to teach you more, so you can help protect yourself, and increase the mission success rate."<br><br>Zed: "Your sensei is known as Sharingan no Kakashi, and is very well known in the ninja world as the man who copied a thousand jutsus. I wonder, in his oh so infinite wisdom, did he not even teach at least one jutsu to his students?."<br><br>Naruto: Now that I think about it, he really did not teach us anything.<br><br>Zed: Well quickly correct that otouto, thankfully you have in your jutsu repertoire a really useful technique that helps us in this predicament.<br><br>Naruto: "Really nii-san?, what jutsu is that?."<br><br>Zed: "The kagebunshin jutsu."<br><br>Zed: "Let me explain, with that jutsu, what your copy will learn , you will also learn when it gets dispelled, so you can be at two places at once."<br><br>Zed: "Now naruto, how many clones you can make?"<br><br>Naruto: "I can make 500 clones eassy nii-san, and 1000, if I really try hard."<br><br>Zed: "That's good, let's go to our private training grounds when you've finish eating."<br><br>After Naruto finished eating, The siblings went to the training ground.<br><br>Zed: "Now I want you to make 100 shadow clones this time I want you to put out more chakra like your using 500 shadow clones. That way, they will last more."<br><br>Naruto: "Okay nii-san, Kagebunshin no jutsu!." 100 naruto clones appeared.<br><br>Zed: "Now, order one of your clones to go to your team and I'll do the same with mine to work at the hospital. Naruto quickly told one of his clones to go with team 7."<br><br>Zed: "Kagebunshin no jutsu." 6 clones appeared.<br><br>Zed: "One of you, go the the hospital and Henge into my old appearance and fill in for me, and you 5 teach the 50 clones of naruto the taijutsu kata that Guy-sensei taught us. 30 of you Naruto's practice your jutsu untill you can do it without hand seals, and the last 19, practice your shurikenjutsu and kunai throwing. Don't for get to dispell by group of ten by 5 minutes interval, you don't want to overload Naruto's brain with too much information."<br><br>Zed: "Now follow me otouto, let's go to a secluded place."<br><br>Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san."<br><br>Zed: "Now I want to test something, Imagine a fist size shape ball of white light in your and and say lumus."<br><br>Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, lumus!." a small ball of light appeared in Naruto's hand.<br><br>Zed: "Looks great, it seems I can teach you most of my skills, and what's more, they can't be copied since it is a kekeigenkai. "<br><br>Naruto: "Really!!??, I won't have to worry about Sasuke teme stealing Justu's from me?, Yatta!!., teach me more nii-san."<br><br>Zed: "Okay now naruto, imagine a blue fire circling 1 meter around you , and say Ruwatch."<br><br>Naruto: "Okay nii-san, Ruwatch!." A blue fire circled around naruto.<br><br>Naruto: "That's great nii-san, but what's the difference around the first spell I just learned?."<br><br>Zed: "Okay otouto, extinguish the fire." Naruto extinguished the fire.<br><br>Zed: "Sneak!." zed's body began to disappear in front of Naruto.<br><br>Naruto: "Where did you go nii-san?."<br><br>Zed: "I'm in front of you otouto, now try the lumus jutsu I just taught you."<br><br>Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, Lumus!." a ball of white light appeared.<br><br>Naruto: "I still don't see you nii-san."<br><br>Zed: "Now try the Ruwatch jutsu I showed you."<br><br>Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, Ruwatch!." a circle of blue fire circled naruto<br><br>Naruto: "Now I see you nii-san."<br><br>Zed: "That's great otouto, that Ruwatch jutsu is useful for finding hidden enemies around you, and can break low to mid level genjutsu if you master it." <br><br>Naruto: "Sugoi!!, nii-san, that's really a very useful skill."<br><br>Zed: "Now here's another jutsu I want to teach you, this one is an attack jutsu."<br><br>Naruto: "Really!!?, teach it to me nii-san, teach it to me please!."<br><br>Zed: "okay naruto imagine a ball of energy, and think of guiding the energy with your thoughts to attack that training dummy over there, and say Soul Strike!."<br><br>Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, Soul Strike!." a small baseball sized energy zoomed in the training dummy and got broken.<br><br>Naruto: "Sugoi!!, nii-san, that jutsu is incredible."<br><br>Zed: "Now make some more shadow clones to train the jutsus I taught you, Be sure to focus on the Ruwatch, because the more you train it, the larger the distance you'll cover, and its practically an advance version of the lumus jutsu with benefits, and also train your soul strike accordingly, it's one of my strongest jutsu, and once you master it, you can increase the distance you can throw that jutsu, and increase the size of it, and last but not the least you can increase the numbers of the energy blast you are directing to your opponent, the more you master it, the more speed of will gain to hit your opponent.<br>Speed, Power, Strength, Versatility, Range and Technique. That jutsu has it all, and If you really really master it, you can face ten enemy shinobi at once, and throw 10 separate energy blast to each of them, or if you face a tough opponent, you can hit him with multiple orbs of energy blast, and deal large amount of damage while not closing the distance and range for your opponent to retaliate from your attacks."<br>Naruto: "Sugoi!!!, with this technique, it's possible to get so strong the more you master it. No wonder you were a Kage in your other world nii-san, with just some of your skills, it's power and versatility would make your opponents hide from you, but since you have the Ruwatch skill, they really can't." said in an awed voice.<br><br>Zed: "I'm glad I could impart those techniques to you otouto, master them well, I have a gut feeling that you will one day need it soon, plus you already learned the healing hand skill that bypasses the chakra's delicate control for mastering regular healing techniques."<br><br><br>Zed: "Now one last thing." Zed casted some jutsu to naruto and engulfed him in a white light.<br><br>Naruto: "What was that nii-san?."<br><br>Zed: "That otouto is a failsafe jutsu I casted on you. Whenever you are in danger, and feel like you are going to die 100% from an enemy or in a situation where you think you will die, think of me with all your might and shout teleport!! loudly with your mouth, or scream it with your mind. It should transport you to me, wherever I maybe."<br><br>Naruto: "Thank you nii-san."<br><br>Zed: "That's what's brothers are for tebayo!...........where, where did that come from? tebayo?, there It is again."<br><br>Naruto: "Pfpfphahahahahahahajaja, I thought I was the only one that did that tebayo!, We really are brothers now no matter what anyone says."<br><br>Zed: "Well I did gain an awesome otouto, a little verbal tick is a small price to pay, tebayo!."<br><br>Naruto: "Thank, you nii-san, I'll make you proud one day."<br><br>Zed: "I'm already proud of you, otouto."<br><br>Naruto: "Nii-san, why did you tell your clone to Henge into the old you? are you planning on pranking somebody.?"<br><br>Zed: "Why yes Naruto, why do you ask?."<br><br>Naruto: "I don't know nii-san, I think that ritual Is turning you into an older version of me."<br><br>Zed: "I don't feel any different, well besides the extra energy and some craving for a certain food."<br><br>Naruto: "Hmm, I wonder."<br><br>Zed: "I'll go make some food at the house, for some reason I'm really craving for some Ramen."<br><br>Naruto: RAMEN!!, Yatta!, my nii-san's finally seen the the magnificence of the food of the Gods that is RAMEN!!.<br><br>Zed: "Naruto, the way you described it, I can't help but drool, and have to get some more RAMEN!."<br><br>Naruto: "Yatta!!, we really are brothers now, Real live blood brothers, and Ramen brothers, tebayo!."<br><br>Zed: "Well as you later otouto, Ramen is calling, tebayo!."<br><br>Zed: "Oh before I forget, tomorrow were going clothes shopping, no brother of mine is wearing bright orange all the time."<br><br>Naruto: "Noooo!!, I like this orange jumpsuit, If you really are my brother you would wear one too tebayo!."<br><br>Zed: "Are you that adamant about this otouto?."<br><br>Naruto: "Why yes aniki, even if your my brother, you won't get to give up my favorite orange jumpsuit."<br><br>Zed: "Well Orange does look kinda nice."<br><br>Naruto: "See, see, you really are my aniki."<br><br>Zed: "Where did my sudden love of Orange come from?."<br><br>Naruto: "You, got it from me datebayo!."<br><br>Zed: "All right, let's compromise, I'll flip a coin and if it's head, we go shopping for new clothes that's not orange. If it's tail's, I'll wear some type of orange jumpsuit, BUT!!, in the off chance I loose, I get to choose which one. Hey, if I'm going to wear an orange jumpsuit I'll wear one with style and choose one that's not hurtful to the eyes. Okay otouto do we have a deal?."<br><br>Naruto: "Deal."<br><br>Zed: "Here goes."<br><br>Zed flipped the coin as high as he could and crossed his fingers, and finally it landed........ the result was............[ Tails ].<br><br>Zed: "Gasp!!, I lost!." said in a shocked voice.<br><br>Naruto: "Yatta!!, Now we really are brothers, both body and soul tebayo!." shouted Naruto cheerfully.<br><br>Zed: "Oh, well as they say, when life gives you lemon, you make lemonade. But!!, since its come to this I'll make a custom tailored orange jumpsuit, that the best money can buy, and not even God! Will laugh at me."<br><br>Zed: "Mwahahahaahahahah, I'll make Orange the God! of all colors!! tebayo!."<br><br>Naruto: "I'm so proud of you nii-san, your newfound love of the color orange has touched my heart. Well show the world the power of ORANGE!!."<br><br>Zed: "That's right otouto, I'll order one for you too that way well match tebayo!"<br><br>Naruto: "Yatta!, I love you nii-san."<br><br><br>That was the day, the color Orange became cool in everyone's book. <br><br>Zed: That's right, Money can buy everything!!, It can even turn the low leveled orange color into a GOD CLASS orange level color.<br><br><br>Authors note: <br><br>Skills flashback that was used so far.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Learned skill: <br>Soul strike lv1(89%)<br><br>-Hits the target with (1+SkillLV/2) bolts for 1*MATK using Ghost Element. Does extra 5% damage per SkillLV to Undead property Monsters. Bolts increases as skill level increases<br><br>Cost 200 mana </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Learned skill:<br>Napalm Beat lv1(80%)<br><br>-Hits every Enemy in a 3x3 area around the target for an MATK of (70+10*SkillLV)% using Ghost Element. This damage is spread equally between all targets. For example, if 3 monsters are hit, then each takes 1/3rd of the damage a single target would take.<br><br>Cost 150 mana </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> learned skill:<br>Lumus lv1(01%)<br><br>-Illuminates the surrounding area at the distance of 5 meters, distance increases with level.<br><br>Cost 50 mana<br>Light affinity +5% </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Skills Learned:<br><br>Sneak lv1(01%)<br><br>-able to blend in surrounding area making user less noticeable<br><br>Cost 50 mana per minute while active </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Healing hand lvl1 (01%)<br><br>-Heals a target's HP for [(BaseLV+INT)/8]*(4+8*SkillLV). When used against Undead property monsters, it is a holy attack that ignores MDEF and INT, but deals only half damage (that is, HealValue*ElementModifier/2).<br><br>Cost 70 mana </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>These were the beginner level when Zed first learned them, and mastered them already to the highest degree. </div>

Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 9 Brotherly Bonding Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Zed's POV: I woke up the next morning pretty early, much earlier than my usual. I feel that I seem to have too much energy to burn. I noticed a new pop up window. | * New Traits:You have become an Uzumaki:-Some of your traits are now shared through the adoption ritual with your other party.-Your Chakra has increased tenfold.-Your stamina has increased tenfold.-Your life force and Longevity has increased tenfold.-Your regeneration has increased tenfold.- You have gained some sensory abilities. [ you can now sense chakra signatures 15 meters around you, distance increase when level is higher]. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | I seem to have inherited more from Naruto traits, from the adoption ritual, is is why Naruto is hyperactive?. I need to meditate to calm this excessive energy. After 30 minutes of meditation, I did some light exercise, took a bath and made breakfasts. Naruto seems to have woken up. Zed: "Morning sleepy head, breakfast is ready, I tried a new Ramen recipe. Go wash up first so you eat breakfast." Naruto: "RAMEN!!, your the best nii-san." quickly washes face in the bathroom. Zed: "So, otouto, what are your plans for today?." Naruto: "Probably going to my team, and do a bunch of D-rank missions, or more teamwork training nii-san." Zed: "hmm, doesn't you sensei teach you jutsu and stuff?." Naruto: "My sensei said that teamwork is important nii-san, and he seems to work with Sasuke more." Zed: "So, he did not teach my precious otouto anything?, this is bad otouto, it's been three month's since you graduated from what I gathered, and he hasn't done any jutsu training at all?." Naruto: "Well, he did teach us the tree-walking exercise nii-san." Zed: "That's it?." said diabelievingly. Zed: "This is got to stop now otouto, No-one , I mean no-one, makes my otouto defenseless in missions. I won't let anyone take my new precious otouto away from me." said with conviction. Naruto: "What do you mean by defenseless, nii-san?." Zed: "Let me rephrase it for you otouto, how many jutsu do you know?." Naruto: "Well I know the kawarimi, Henge, and the kagebunshin jutsu, nii-san." Zed: "Exactly otouto, you only know the basic academy three jutsu, and it is the responsibility of your sensei to teach you more, so you can help protect yourself, and increase the mission success rate." Zed: "Your sensei is known as Sharingan no Kakashi, and is very well known in the ninja world as the man who copied a thousand jutsus. I wonder, in his oh so infinite wisdom, did he not even teach at least one jutsu to his students?." Naruto: Now that I think about it, he really did not teach us anything. Zed: Well quickly correct that otouto, thankfully you have in your jutsu repertoire a really useful technique that helps us in this predicament. Naruto: "Really nii-san?, what jutsu is that?." Zed: "The kagebunshin jutsu." Zed: "Let me explain, with that jutsu, what your copy will learn , you will also learn when it gets dispelled, so you can be at two places at once." Zed: "Now naruto, how many clones you can make?" Naruto: "I can make 500 clones eassy nii-san, and 1000, if I really try hard." Zed: "That's good, let's go to our private training grounds when you've finish eating." After Naruto finished eating, The siblings went to the training ground. Zed: "Now I want you to make 100 shadow clones this time I want you to put out more chakra like your using 500 shadow clones. That way, they will last more." Naruto: "Okay nii-san, Kagebunshin no jutsu!." 100 naruto clones appeared. Zed: "Now, order one of your clones to go to your team and I'll do the same with mine to work at the hospital. Naruto quickly told one of his clones to go with team 7." Zed: "Kagebunshin no jutsu." 6 clones appeared. Zed: "One of you, go the the hospital and Henge into my old appearance and fill in for me, and you 5 teach the 50 clones of naruto the taijutsu kata that Guy-sensei taught us. 30 of you Naruto's practice your jutsu untill you can do it without hand seals, and the last 19, practice your shurikenjutsu and kunai throwing. Don't for get to dispell by group of ten by 5 minutes interval, you don't want to overload Naruto's brain with too much information." Zed: "Now follow me otouto, let's go to a secluded place." Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san." Zed: "Now I want to test something, Imagine a fist size shape ball of white light in your and and say lumus." Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, lumus!." a small ball of light appeared in Naruto's hand. Zed: "Looks great, it seems I can teach you most of my skills, and what's more, they can't be copied since it is a kekeigenkai. " Naruto: "Really!!??, I won't have to worry about Sasuke teme stealing Justu's from me?, Yatta!!., teach me more nii-san." Zed: "Okay now naruto, imagine a blue fire circling 1 meter around you , and say Ruwatch." Naruto: "Okay nii-san, Ruwatch!." A blue fire circled around naruto. Naruto: "That's great nii-san, but what's the difference around the first spell I just learned?." Zed: "Okay otouto, extinguish the fire." Naruto extinguished the fire. Zed: "Sneak!." zed's body began to disappear in front of Naruto. Naruto: "Where did you go nii-san?." Zed: "I'm in front of you otouto, now try the lumus jutsu I just taught you." Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, Lumus!." a ball of white light appeared. Naruto: "I still don't see you nii-san." Zed: "Now try the Ruwatch jutsu I showed you." Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, Ruwatch!." a circle of blue fire circled naruto Naruto: "Now I see you nii-san." Zed: "That's great otouto, that Ruwatch jutsu is useful for finding hidden enemies around you, and can break low to mid level genjutsu if you master it." Naruto: "Sugoi!!, nii-san, that's really a very useful skill." Zed: "Now here's another jutsu I want to teach you, this one is an attack jutsu." Naruto: "Really!!?, teach it to me nii-san, teach it to me please!." Zed: "okay naruto imagine a ball of energy, and think of guiding the energy with your thoughts to attack that training dummy over there, and say Soul Strike!." Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, Soul Strike!." a small baseball sized energy zoomed in the training dummy and got broken. Naruto: "Sugoi!!, nii-san, that jutsu is incredible." Zed: "Now make some more shadow clones to train the jutsus I taught you, Be sure to focus on the Ruwatch, because the more you train it, the larger the distance you'll cover, and its practically an advance version of the lumus jutsu with benefits, and also train your soul strike accordingly, it's one of my strongest jutsu, and once you master it, you can increase the distance you can throw that jutsu, and increase the size of it, and last but not the least you can increase the numbers of the energy blast you are directing to your opponent, the more you master it, the more speed of will gain to hit your opponent. Speed, Power, Strength, Versatility, Range and Technique. That jutsu has it all, and If you really really master it, you can face ten enemy shinobi at once, and throw 10 separate energy blast to each of them, or if you face a tough opponent, you can hit him with multiple orbs of energy blast, and deal large amount of damage while not closing the distance and range for your opponent to retaliate from your attacks." Naruto: "Sugoi!!!, with this technique, it's possible to get so strong the more you master it. No wonder you were a Kage in your other world nii-san, with just some of your skills, it's power and versatility would make your opponents hide from you, but since you have the Ruwatch skill, they really can't." said in an awed voice. Zed: "I'm glad I could impart those techniques to you otouto, master them well, I have a gut feeling that you will one day need it soon, plus you already learned the healing hand skill that bypasses the chakra's delicate control for mastering regular healing techniques." Zed: "Now one last thing." Zed casted some jutsu to naruto and engulfed him in a white light. Naruto: "What was that nii-san?." Zed: "That otouto is a failsafe jutsu I casted on you. Whenever you are in danger, and feel like you are going to die 100% from an enemy or in a situation where you think you will die, think of me with all your might and shout teleport!! loudly with your mouth, or scream it with your mind. It should transport you to me, wherever I maybe." Naruto: "Thank you nii-san." Zed: "That's what's brothers are for tebayo!...........where, where did that come from? tebayo?, there It is again." Naruto: "Pfpfphahahahahahahajaja, I thought I was the only one that did that tebayo!, We really are brothers now no matter what anyone says." Zed: "Well I did gain an awesome otouto, a little verbal tick is a small price to pay, tebayo!." Naruto: "Thank, you nii-san, I'll make you proud one day." Zed: "I'm already proud of you, otouto." Naruto: "Nii-san, why did you tell your clone to Henge into the old you? are you planning on pranking somebody.?" Zed: "Why yes Naruto, why do you ask?." Naruto: "I don't know nii-san, I think that ritual Is turning you into an older version of me." Zed: "I don't feel any different, well besides the extra energy and some craving for a certain food." Naruto: "Hmm, I wonder." Zed: "I'll go make some food at the house, for some reason I'm really craving for some Ramen." Naruto: RAMEN!!, Yatta!, my nii-san's finally seen the the magnificence of the food of the Gods that is RAMEN!!. Zed: "Naruto, the way you described it, I can't help but drool, and have to get some more RAMEN!." Naruto: "Yatta!!, we really are brothers now, Real live blood brothers, and Ramen brothers, tebayo!." Zed: "Well as you later otouto, Ramen is calling, tebayo!." Zed: "Oh before I forget, tomorrow were going clothes shopping, no brother of mine is wearing bright orange all the time." Naruto: "Noooo!!, I like this orange jumpsuit, If you really are my brother you would wear one too tebayo!." Zed: "Are you that adamant about this otouto?." Naruto: "Why yes aniki, even if your my brother, you won't get to give up my favorite orange jumpsuit." Zed: "Well Orange does look kinda nice." Naruto: "See, see, you really are my aniki." Zed: "Where did my sudden love of Orange come from?." Naruto: "You, got it from me datebayo!." Zed: "All right, let's compromise, I'll flip a coin and if it's head, we go shopping for new clothes that's not orange. If it's tail's, I'll wear some type of orange jumpsuit, BUT!!, in the off chance I loose, I get to choose which one. Hey, if I'm going to wear an orange jumpsuit I'll wear one with style and choose one that's not hurtful to the eyes. Okay otouto do we have a deal?." Naruto: "Deal." Zed: "Here goes." Zed flipped the coin as high as he could and crossed his fingers, and finally it landed........ the result was............[ Tails ]. Zed: "Gasp!!, I lost!." said in a shocked voice. Naruto: "Yatta!!, Now we really are brothers, both body and soul tebayo!." shouted Naruto cheerfully. Zed: "Oh, well as they say, when life gives you lemon, you make lemonade. But!!, since its come to this I'll make a custom tailored orange jumpsuit, that the best money can buy, and not even God! Will laugh at me." Zed: "Mwahahahaahahahah, I'll make Orange the God! of all colors!! tebayo!." Naruto: "I'm so proud of you nii-san, your newfound love of the color orange has touched my heart. Well show the world the power of ORANGE!!." Zed: "That's right otouto, I'll order one for you too that way well match tebayo!" Naruto: "Yatta!, I love you nii-san." That was the day, the color Orange became cool in everyone's book. Zed: That's right, Money can buy everything!!, It can even turn the low leveled orange color into a GOD CLASS orange level color. Authors note: Skills flashback that was used so far. | * Learned skill: Soul strike lv1(89%)-Hits the target with (1+SkillLV/2) bolts for 1*MATK using Ghost Element. Does extra 5% damage per SkillLV to Undead property Monsters. Bolts increases as skill level increasesCost 200 mana | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Learned skill:Napalm Beat lv1(80%)-Hits every Enemy in a 3x3 area around the target for an MATK of (70+10*SkillLV)% using Ghost Element. This damage is spread equally between all targets. For example, if 3 monsters are hit, then each takes 1/3rd of the damage a single target would take.Cost 150 mana | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * learned skill:Lumus lv1(01%)-Illuminates the surrounding area at the distance of 5 meters, distance increases with level.Cost 50 manaLight affinity +5% | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | . | * Skills Learned:Sneak lv1(01%)-able to blend in surrounding area making user less noticeableCost 50 mana per minute while active | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Healing hand lvl1 (01%)-Heals a target's HP for [(BaseLV+INT)/8]*(4+8*SkillLV). When used against Undead property monsters, it is a holy attack that ignores MDEF and INT, but deals only half damage (that is, HealValue*ElementModifier/2).Cost 70 mana | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | These were the beginner level when Zed first learned them, and mastered them already to the highest degree.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&amp;t=1399&amp;p=8402#p8402" target="_blank">Previous Chapter</a> <br> <br>Author's Note: <br> <br>It's here! I finally finished editing it and it's probably even the longest chapter in this volume if I'm not mistaken. And that's when I had no time :D But that's probably because I received so much support from you guys and tried my best here. I truly love this chapter and it may be my favourite one so far. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.&nbsp; <br> <br>Sadly the pet thing didn't fit in as I had had no idea I was planning to include it in the near chapters until you brought that theme up and gave me so many useful ideas. Now I can promise that it'll be in this volume just not sure in which chapter. I stil have that idea I mentioned to play around with :) <br> <br>**** <br> <br>"May I ask what is so funny? You've just been found out and I'm going to make you pay for all the crimes. Don't expect a quick death" Perry said, looking at Ace with cold eyes. <br> <br>"I think you've messed up quite spectacularly" Ace said, his eyes losing their previous fake warmth. <br> <br>"You can't be serious! You're still trying to wriggle out of this? I thought I made it clear enough before that your child's act has no power on me!" she said rolling her eyes but Ace ignored her and turned to Brendon. <br> <br>"You say you remember him well, right?" <br> <br>"Yes" the guy said, looking at Ace with distrustful eyes. <br> <br>"Then tell me, please, what was truly in his eyes. You say sorrow and emptiness like in mine but madness doesn't recede quickly. So could it be that you were seeing your own feelings reflected in the monster's eyes?" <br> <br>"My own? You can't sa..." <br> <br>"You see sorrow in everyone's eyes. That can only mean you're pretending or having a horrible time of your own." <br> <br>"Kid stop the blaming game. We know it's you!" Perry said, not liking where this was going. <br> <br>"Do you now? You have an unstable witness that says he can tell a person's story just by looking at him and a bunch of reports that prove me innocent. I kind of like my chances at the trial" Ace said in a condescending tone, looking down at Perry with his arms crossed over his chest. <br> <br>"You little...!" <br> <br>"Think before you talk. Every word can and will be used against you if you drag me there" Ace said, finally free to make fun of her. "All your people will be witnesses." <br> <br>"You would lose!" <br> <br>"Are you sure of it? Take me there then" he said laughing and extending his hands for her to bind. "I'm all yours." <br> <br>"Why you..." Perry hissed trying to grab him but Nein stopped her. <br> <br>"Sorry my lady but we really have no proof of him being the culprit. It's all only guesswork" he said quietly in her ear. <br> <br>"I know!" she said tiredly. "But he's our only suspect. If he's not the one, we're back at square one." <br> <br>"Is that what this is all about? You want to punish someone? So just pick a random person and be done with it. After all, that's the main thing, isn't it?" Ace asked with a mocking smile. He was really enjoying the freedom to say whatever he wanted to her, it was so annoying to smile and pretend to like her. <br> <br>"That's not..." <br> <br>"Isn't that why you're grabbing for straws and trying to frame me no matter what?" Ace asked with a raised eyebrow. <br> <br>"You like to twist words, don't you?" Perry asked, glaring at him. <br> <br>"Nah, I just remove all the sugar coating from them. It's fun to see people having their words thrown back at them." <br> <br>Nein glared at him too but he had nothing to refute with. It's been more than half a year of them trying to avenge themselves but they haven't moved even a step forward. They listened to so many witnesses but none had anything useful to say. Everyone was always assassinated from behind, hardly ever getting a glimpse of their killer. <br> <br>This time Silver Wing had made a mistake and shown himself. He had thought it was an amazing victory for them but now he wasn't so sure. They had many new descriptions of the killer that half the time didn't match, many started to claim that he's just a hurt child and only needs love to become a good person while others called him a demon and prayed for his extermination.&nbsp; <br> <br>On top of that this kid appeared. He matched some of the descriptions but the worst thing was that he was impossible to decipher. He acted all nice at first but now started to show a whole different side. How they were to understand which of the side was fake and if he had more of them? He might be the killer but at the same he could be just a kid who doesn’t like to follow orders. <br> <br>"What will you do now?" he asked the kid, surprising him. <br> <br>"What do you mean?" <br> <br>"We have nothing on you so you're free to leave." <br> <br>"Nein! He can't!" Perry shouted out outraged. <br> <br>"He can. Calm down. If we ever need him again, we know where to find him. He gave us the information himself." <br> <br>"The guild!" <br> <br>"Yes. Romeo will be able to see where he is and will have to give us that information if we ever find this kid guilty of all the crimes done by Silver Wing." <br> <br>Ace looked at Nein. The guy was smarter than he had expected. He was thinking the right way with the information he had but he had too little of it to actually be a threat. Only the guild founder had the freedom to check where his underlings were, the leader could only do it if allowed by the founder but Ace didn't plan to do anything of the like. Romeo had no need to suspect him of being anyone besides a little kid. <br> <br>"So? What will you do now?" <br> <br>"Who knows? I'll go where my eyes take me" Ace said truthfully. It was better to tell the truth even if they didn't believe it. That way he was winning twice: making them waste time checking him and feeling guilty for doubting his words after they did. <br> <br>"And where do they point you now?" <br> <br>Ace smiled and with a small jump punched Brendon in the face. "Here. He needed to be taught a lesson. It's bad manners to point at people." <br> <br>"Really?" everyone around asked in unison, not having expected for a kid to actually hit someone. And an adult none the less. <br> <br>"Yes" Ace said, nodding. <br> <br>Brendon clutched his bleeding nose and glared at the kid. "I'm usually a nice man but you've stepped too far! You killed my friend and stole everything from him and me, not even leaving my one most prized possession which is worthless to anyone else! But that wasn't enough for you, was it? You still have to make fun of me and those who are trying their best to catch the monster? I won't take it any more!" he said and took out a large sword from thin air. <br> <br>'He had that hidden in his backpack?' Ace wondered jumping aside. The man had clearly lost control and was attacking without any plan. His movements were extremely quick and the giant sword was flying in all directions with the swiftness of a small bee. But Ace didn't really mind it. He trusted his evasion and instincts to take care of it while he decided on what to do now. He hadn't expected this to happen. The guy had seemed like a sensible man and the caravan's leader had called for him to take care of the problems. <br> <br>'What should I do... What should I do...' he sang in his head and dodged a swing followed by a kick. 'Pff... &nbsp;He even lost a sense of fair fighting. Not only is he trying to chop off a kid's head but he's even using dirty tricks to achieve that.' <br> <br>Ace laughed. "You can't sink lower, can you?" <br> <br>"You're despicable!" the man hissed in anger, his eyes blazing with furies from hell itself. <br> <br>"Now, now!" Ace laughed, twisting to the side and noticing how the whole group watched the fight. None seemed to plan to interrupt and help either of sides. 'What weaklings, they can't even choose a side. It should be so obvious from the first glimpse who is going to win.' <br> <br>A twisted smile appeared on the man's face. "You know you're going to tire out first, right monster?" <br> <br>"So I no longer am a human being? What horror! Not" Ace said faking joy and then showing indifference. Lately he had heard that far too often to even pay attention. The man should be a bit more creative if he wanted Ace to acknowledge him. <br> <br>"You..!" Brendon started to shout raising his hand for a vertical slash as Ace grabbed something from his bag and held it in his hands. It was a piece of paper with something drawn on it. Ace held it in a way that the piece would be cut with a next strike while not reaching him by millimetres. It was a dangerous gambit but he felt like playing around for the moment, being the bad guy. <br> <br>The man wasn't able to stop his attack and tore it apart, cutting Ace's tunic and even drawing blood on his chest. 'Dammit' Ace hissed, using the paper to brush the blood off. The wound was very shallow and only took ten health points so he dropped the pieces of torn and bloody paper. The man watched their fall with a horrified expression. <br> <br>That brought Ace's good mood back. A small wound was worth the sight before his eyes: a man weathered by life reduced to a heap of broken pieces like those of the paper. <br> <br>"Brendon! What happened?" Perry asked, rushing to him. <br> <br>The man just shook his head and continued to stare. Only Ace and the man knew what had been there, the guy having guessed from the short glimpse he'd had before cutting it. It had been a photo of a happy group. A child cut in too. And he did that. With his own two hands, his own child... A tear ran down his cheek. <br> <br>Ace watched him with cold indifference. The picture was of the man's family and from the reaction he could guess it was no longer in a perfect shape. Did any of them die? Or was it simply a divorce? No matter. <br> <br>He took out his dagger and in a swift motion embedded it into the man's back who hissed in pain from it. Ace dragged it out and whispered in the man's ear. "That's what you get for trying to fight me. It is a sad truth that you can't fight everything with fire. Sometimes more subtlety is needed." <br> <br> <br>"Healing hand!" a female shouted out from the group and the wound closed up, saving Brendon from imminent death but he didn't move a muscle. You could doubt,he really noticed what had happened if not for that hiss of pain at first. <br> <br>Ace looked at everyone and in a clear voice said. "That was for actually hitting me. I'm a vengeful person." <br> <br>"You're a monster" the female cleric said while casting a stronger spell to heal the wound completely. <br> <br>"That I am too" Ace said with a smile. He raised his eyes up. 'What a beautiful sky... It's so blue... So clear... Maybe it is trying to block the earth from the sun's view? All the dirt that humans love to collect inside themselves?' <br> <br>"Are you done? I would like to see you leave!" Perry said with an edge in her voice. Was she trying to say he was unwanted here? Maybe he should stay around just because of that? <br> <br>He smiled. It was so easy to win him over. He sat down in the middle of the road and took out his flute. Small agile fingers ran over the little holes producing different sounds so a melody could be born in the empty air. <br> <br>It was a story of a wanderer, someone who knew nothing about family ties and native lands. He had no idea who he was and travelled everywhere to uncover that mystery. Outwardly he was very loyal and nice, always going out of his way to help those in need. <br> <br>But then the melody slowed down and grew darker, edgier somehow. Deep down the man hated everyone and everything, he despised weak people but only because they might be useful one day he helped them out. This way through his travels he gained many loyal supporters from the poor to the richest. His lies were that good. <br> <br>Yet there was one thing he never lied about. He wanted to know who he was. He hoped to be a bastard son of some king or at least a noble but loneliness and fruitless search for years were making him to forget about it. Most likely he was born of a random whore who didn't want to take care of him. <br> <br>Ace played and the man's story ran from his fingers, out the flute and to the ears of his listeners. They stood quietly as if afraid to move and dispel the magic that was working before their eyes. It was hard to say whether those images of a man in his late forties were only their imagination or a game mechanic. <br> <br>The man went on another journey, got tired of his wanderings and tried to create an empire from nothing. In went well at first, he had a natural talent to lead, but other countries didn't feel like allowing him to become a major power. They destroyed his work while it was still young. The man raged and cursed the gods and world but nothing changed. <br> <br>The guards were defeated and killed like all the other inhabitants of his castle. And the enemies were coming closer. They were next to his room now. The melody rose higher, becoming shrill and ear piercing. Death was knocking on his door. <br> <br>And then they opened the door, the tone calming down in an instant. He was going to go down with pride, fighting to his last breath. His dream was short lived as they surrounded him and stabbed from all directions. His death was that of a wild animal and he knew it. There was bitter laughter on his lips which was hidden by his inability to move any part of his body, blood was gushing out of countless stab wounds. <br> <br>He was laying on the ground in the pool it. And that was the time when the enemy general came in and squatted down beside his barely breathing body. The newcomer’s song was still strong but tired as if age was slowing it down but soon it changed back to the man's barely heard notes. All listeners soundlessly moved closer to hear how it would end. Without their own consent they were taken in and mesmerized by the story which they could see in the notes that flew in the quiet air of the empty forest. <br> <br>The melody rose for a moment in surprise as the man noticed recognition in the commander’s eyes. The guy touched his hair beads that he had since he could remember himself reverently and whispered but words had already lost their meaning. A fleeting thought whether this was his father passed through his mind as the flickering light of his life went out and the melody quieted down with a last sigh. <br> <br>Ace held his flute for a moment longer before putting it inside his bag and falling on his back. The sky was still so blue without a single cloud to block the view. He raised his hand as if to reach at it but quickly let it fall down. Humans weren't meant to reach the sky. They were born as worms and had to die being them. There were no exceptions. <br> <br>"What... was... that..." someone asked and Ace looked in the direction of a voice. It was Nein who looked as if he had seen a ghost. <br> <br>"A story. What else?" Ace asked closing his eyes and enjoying the feel of lying on the cold hard ground. It made him feel like he was still alive. <br> <br>"Are you a bard? But I've never heard anything like that!" <br> <br>"It's magic" Ace said with a smile. He said the truth but in real life this saying was used so often to describe great things that it was doubtful anyone will take it literary. Truth made best lies when nobody expected it. <br> <br>"Keep it if you don't want to say it. It's not as if we're dying to know" Perry said, secretly taking a few quick steps back. Ace chuckled but said nothing. "So you won't say it?" she asked again. <br> <br>"I just did" he said with a smile, still lying on the ground with his eyes closed. Feet walked his way but he didn't move a muscle. <br> <br>"Why did you play it?" Nein asked squatting down. "What reason could you possibly have had to reveal your secret to us?" <br> <br>Ace opened his eyes and looked straight at Nein's violet ones. "Secret? It's nothing but a way to pass time. I play because I can. That's all there's to it. Not every action has to have a hidden meaning." <br> <br>That was yet another lie. People never did anything without a reason and they rarely fully explained what it was. It was in human nature to hide the truth and pretend so societies could exist. No one wanted to be alone. <br> <br>Nein shook his head slightly as if not really believing the answer but didn't press on. "Will you be staying with us?" <br> <br>"Will you let me?" Ace asked with sadness and disbelief in his voice, reverting back to his childish innocent self. He knew that character so much better; after all he'd used it for many years. <br> <br>Instead of answering Nein gave him a hand and helped to stand up. <br> <br>"Can I ask when did you gain the authority to allow people to join our group? I don't remember anyone making you a leader or passing the right to you!" Perry said angrily. She was tired of all the nonsense. First the kid was a suspect, then not, then returned to being one and again threw all the charges back at her as lies. But that wasn't all, he kept on joining her group and leaving every other minute depending on his mood. <br> <br>"As far as I know, we're all equal here. You have the freedom to choose our ways of fighting and what strategies we use but we never discussed you preventing us to bring people along. That isn't up to you" Nein said still holding the kid's hand who smiled like a little angel. It was hard to believe that not long ago he was stabbing people or playing like the most talented musician ever. He seemed like a normal little kid you see playing on the streets. <br> <br>"So you want to say I'm a bad leader? I don't know what's best for us? You think you'd be better? Stop dreaming! You're nothing but a follower! You don't know what it means to carry the responsibility of everyone's lives on your shoulders!" Perry hissed, coming closer. <br> <br>"Thanks for the reminder" Nein said and turned to Ace. "Are you sure you want to stay with us? It might be dangerous." <br> <br>"I'm sure big brother will protect me!" Ace said with a bright smile. He just didn’t want to be alone for the moment. He'll probably leave them in a next city but for now he could gain trust and find out more about them. Of course, he would have to make Romeo pay none the less. The guy had to warn him about such groups and their plans beforehand. <br> <br>Nein was surprised but he managed to hide it quite well. &nbsp;"Great! Let's go then" he said matching the child's mood. He wanted to learn more about him. The kid's actions were abnormal to say the least and his character changed every other minute. Nice, all-knowing, on the verge of cruel and innocent once again.&nbsp; <br> <br>'Does he have some kind of disorder or something? I doubt it's normal for kids to act the way he does and there's still the mystery of Silver Wing. He might not be the guy himself but there's not a chance he appeared here on an accident. He must have some kind of connection to the notorious killer.' <br> <br>"Everyone, let's get moving. We don't want to spend the night here, do we? Jake help Brendon and let's get moving" Nein said gently squeezing Ace's hand and choosing different direction than they had come from. 'Is there another city nearby?' Ace wondered following the guy and enjoying Perry's misery. She deserved so much more. <br> <br>Others didn't look comfortable but did as told. One of the guys took Brendon's hand and put it around his neck to get him up. This way he half carried half dragged him forward. Ace remembered how he was dragged the same way by a girl and shivered. He couldn't have looked that pathetic, could he? <br> <br>"Is something wrong?" <br> <br>Ace shook his head. "Just a cold wind passed by." <br> <br>"You should have said something!" Nein said in fake outrage. He rummaged through his backpack and brought out a yellow cloak. "I've never had the chance to use it so it's perfectly clean. You can have it." <br> <br>Ace nodded and allowed to be wrapped up. "Thank you" he said taking the man's hand again. It made people trust him more if he was in physical contact. If he acted as a child, it was harder for people to see him as anything else even if they knew a different side of his. <br> <br>"You're quite affectionate." <br> <br>"I'm just lonely" Ace said showing his tongue and getting his hand free. He skipped forward and turning around laughed. "Catch me if you can." With that he ran forward at full speed, ignoring Nein's calls to get back. He was no longer even sure if he wanted to, he had gained a cloak! He laughed and continued to run. <br>Nein was having trouble deciding what to do next. He could hurry after the kid or continue to lead the group. Both choices were bad for him. If only he had left Perry to deal with the kid alone! But no, he had to get his penny in... Now no matter what he did he was going to lose. <br> <br>&nbsp;If he went after the kid, he'd lose the prestige and Perry will make sure to throw him out but if he stayed the kid would get away and he would have angered his superior for no good reason. How did that kid manage to turn all his work into nothing in a few moments? And he was getting further away every second. <br> <br>"Go catch him, we won't disappear" the female cleric said with a sigh. <br> <br>"Deedara?" <br> <br>"There must be something wrong for him to act this way. Children aren't born evil, they are made into that. So go and get him back. It's dangerous for kids to run around without supervision." <br> <br>"Thanks!" Nein said with a smile and a lighter heart and ran off after the kid. If Deedara said it’ll be okay, it means she’ll make sure that nothing changes until he returns. She was a really nice person but you didn’t want to make her angry. None dared to disagree if she ever said anything. "I'll be back as quickly as I can!" <br> <br>"You're welcome" <br> <br>"Winds carry me forth, Quick Feet" he cast a simple spell that doubled his running speed and rushed forward. <br> <br>He passed a few bends but somehow the kid was nowhere in sight. 'Where could he have gone? I hope he didn't decide to explore the forest.’ <br> <br>Trees stood high on both sides with low undergrowth that allowed seeing well through them. It didn't seem like anyone had passed by there for some time but just in case Nein kept his eyes open. 'How fast could a kid be?' he asked himself, already starting to puff. Wizards really had no stamina. <br> <br>Luckily up ahead he noticed a small person with his back to a tree looking up at the sky. Using the last bits of his stamina Nein reached him. The kid lowered his head and looked at him with surprise. "You actually chased after me?" <br> <br>"Wasn't I supposed to?" Nein asked sitting down and taking deep breaths. <br> <br>"I don't know..." the kid said in a quiet voice, looking in the distance. <br> <br>"Let's go back to everyone. It's not nice to make women worry about us." <br> <br>"Perry doesn't care about what happens to me. She would only be happier if something befell me." <br> <br>"Don't mind her. It just takes time for her to warm up to people. If you stick around, you'll become best friends in moments!" he said, doubting his own words. <br> <br>The kid didn't seem to believe them either but didn't argue. He stepped away from the tree and came to sit next to him. <br> <br>At the same time cracking sounds reached their ears and before either one could stand up or react for that matter, they started to fall. Five, ten, fifteen seconds of free falling was a pretty scary thing and Nein managed to see at least half of his life pass through. The rest was reserved to come up with words for last breath important information sharing. He couldn't go out without leaving anything behind. <br> <br>Bumpt! Once and twice before hitting hard stone floor. Nein massaged his hurt bottom before turning around to see how he was still alive with his meagre health pool. <br> <br>A giant mushroom after which he could stand at full height grew right under the hole they dropped from. On its cap they had bounced and broken the fall. "Kid? Are your here? Did you get hurt?" he asked looking around but the shower of light revealing the mushroom didn’t extend into the cave they were in. It was pitch black. <br> <br>"I have a name and it's Ace" the kid said standing up from one of the shadows. A small wavering flame escaped from under the cloak and made his face look ghostly white with its bluish light. <br> <br>"Flare? Do you seriously just used that spell? It's useless!" Nein said coming closer and shaking his head lightly. <br> <br>"I did" Ace said in defiance. "And what are you going to do about it?" <br> <br>The mage laughed. "Nothing. I just wanted you to know that it's a waste of mana." <br> <br>"I'm aware of the spells characteristics" Ace said dismissively and turned to go explore the cave. <br> <br>"Hey! It's not the time to play adventurers. We must go back to the group!" <br> <br>"If you know how to fly, sure" Ace said crossing arms over his chest and looking with mockery in his eyes. It was clearly seen from the small light positioned in a way to strengthen the effect. Nein wondered whether it was made purposefully or just happened randomly. It was hard to say. <br> <br>"Dammit" Nein cursed looking at the hole high up in the air. "I don't specialize in that kind of thing." <br> <br>Ace's hands fell from surprise. "You mean you're high enough level?" <br> <br>"Plus minus a few. I don't remember the exact number required but I have increased statuses so probably if I was a wind mage or had many general skills..." <br> <br>"Woah..." Ace said extending the last notes. He never expected his hunters to actually be high levelled and this guy didn't even put any significance into it. Who exactly was he? <br> <br>"It seems you're right. We must find another way out" Nein said in a friendly tone and turned to go. "Can you light the way? I don't have any skill for that." <br> <br>Ace nodded and directed [Flare] ahead. He had many new things to consider and preferred some quietness. There will be time to figure out what the guy's profession was later on. <br> <br>Now he had to change his whole belief about the hunters. Previously he had thought that they were only stupid kids full of thoughts of revenge but what he saw didn't match it at all. Perry might have been a little too straightforward and quick to reveal all her cards but she was hard working and never giving up.&nbsp; <br> <br>The female cleric didn't seem to be mad either even if she called him a monster. She just helped one who needed it and looked at him with disapproving eyes, asking to think about his actions.&nbsp; <br> <br>This guy was very loyal, always having his master's best interests in his mind even if the master herself didn't know it. Not to forget that he was a high levelled mage. It was a truly terrifying bunch. He wasn't sure he wanted to learn about the others too. <br> <br>Drip! Cold water hit Ace's eye and he grimaced covering it with his hand. It hurt way too much for a drop of water. "Gust" he murmured to prevent it from happening again. <br> <br>"Hmm?" Nein asked turning around to glance at him. <br> <br>Ace quickly lowered his hand. "Nothing just remembered an old song we learnt in school." <br> <br>"Can you sing it for me? It's very boring here just walking like that" Nein asked with a smile. <br> <br>Ace hesitated for a moment before choosing his favourite childhood song. His parents always sang it for him before sleep. "I can try" <br> <br>"London Bridge is falling down, <br>Falling down, falling down. <br>London Bridge is falling down, <br>My fair lady. <br> <br>Build it up with wood and clay, <br>Wood and clay, wood and clay, <br>Build it up with wood and clay, <br>My fair lady. <br> <br>Wood and clay will wash away, <br>Wash away, wash away, <br>Wood and clay will wash away, <br>My fair lady..." <br> <br>He sang remembering his mother bowing over him to make sure he was warm enough, father coming to kiss him goodnight. <br> <br>Build it up with silver and gold, <br>Silver and gold, silver and gold, <br>Build it up with silver and gold, <br>My fair lady. <br> <br>Silver and gold will be stolen away, <br>Stolen away, stolen away, <br>Silver and gold will be stolen away, <br>My fair lady. <br> <br>He wondered where they were at the moment and whether they were happy. It was so long since the last time he'd seen them although he wasn't sure he wanted to have a meeting. Since long ago their relationship had strained and now no longer anyone knows how to act. It would be better for everyone if they never met again. <br> <br>Set a man to watch all night, <br>Watch all night, watch all night, <br>Set a man to watch all night, <br>My fair lady. <br> <br>Suppose the man should fall asleep,&nbsp; <br>Fall asleep, fall asleep.&nbsp; <br>Suppose the man should fall asleep? <br>My fair lady. <br> <br>Give him a pipe to smoke all night, <br>Smoke all night, smoke all night, <br>Give him a pipe to smoke all night <br>My fair lady. <br> <br>He finished closing his eyes. Somewhere deep down he wished to hear someone else's voice beside his but the song had ended and no one had joined him. His childish voice echoed alone in the cavern, the last notes flowing around not ready yet to fade into oblivion. <br> <br>"You have a nice voice. Have you ever thought about becoming a singer?" Nein asked glancing back at him. <br> <br>Ace shook his head. There was no future ahead of him so there was no point in dreaming. He gave up on it before even starting to have realistic dreams. 'What a sob story. Are you done?' he asked himself angrily and caught up to Nein. <br> <br>The walls of the cave were uneven and slimy. Dark freezing water ran down its walls and dropped from ceiling on Nein's head, Ace had already made sure not to get hit again.&nbsp; <br> <br>Noticing Ace's dark mood, Nein changed the direction of his questions. He wanted to learn more about the kid, but he didn't want to push too hard and scare him away. He needed to make him trust him and maybe even start to rely on him. Lonely children tended to look for older people to look up to even if they tried to deny it. <br> <br>"Hm... So have you sung that song often in your class?" <br> <br>"Not even once. I learnt it myself" &nbsp;'by listening to parents singing it.' <br> <br>'So is he from England or not?' Nein wondered. "Do you know how the game is played by it?" <br> <br>"A game? I never... Well, the melody is catchy. It shouldn't be surprising that someone thought up a game for it" Ace said, taking quick steps. He was slowly getting into a leading position. <br> <br>"Why did you start to hurry all of a sudden? I thought you didn't want to return?" <br> <br>'Is there anything he doesn't notice?' "It's not that. I'm just tired of these boring walls. And there's not even a single enemy here!" Ace said in a whiny voice, pretending to actually care about where he was walking. <br> <br>"You're such a child" Nein laughed and caught up to him so they walked at the same speed. "Myself I'm pretty happy we're not facing any enemies. It would be troublesome without a healer if we had to get through some monster encampment." 'And you would see my spells. Although, you're a child, there's a big chance you're a cold-blooded killer too.' <br> <br>Ace moved his head slightly to sides as if unsure but didn't continue to talk. <br> <br>Somewhere up ahead a small light appeared. It was bright and steady. As they came closer a door could be seen over which a lamp was lit. The surprising thing was that it was that the door was set into stone without any kind of man-made attachments. 'Could that mean that someone actually lives here?' Ace wondered coming closer. He carefully looked around for traps but bare walls didn't seem to contain anything. <br> <br>"Careful kid, there are probably some traps here!" Nein said, grabbing him by the shoulder. <br> <br>"And what are we supposed to do if there are? It's not like you can disable them, can you?" Ace asked, raising an eyebrow. 'Dammit, I forgot my act. What's going on?' <br> <br>The guy was taken aback by the reply but he could see the truth behind it. It's not like they could just go back and leave. The only thing they could do was move forward and hope for survival. "Silly me" Nein said with a laugh, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed smile. But quickly he became serious. "You should let me go first. If I die, at least you'll know how to evade the trap." <br> <br>"You're a mage, right?" Ace asked as if not hearing a thing. <br> <br>"Well, yes... Why..." <br> <br>"Then it's decided, I'll go first. I have at least a few points in dexterity." <br> <br>"Really? What is your class?" Nein asked, grabbing the opportunity to find out more about the kid but Ace didn't feel like sharing information. "I used a dagger to attack the man." <br> <br>'Yeah, but that could be only a cover to hide your true profession and you wouldn't be the first one to do it. Even I'm using it to an extent. Although, would you really just go in first if you were anything else but a rogue? You don't seem like a good Samaritan who would risk himself for the sake of others, me this time.' Nein asked questions in his head but he kept them to himself. It was easy to see that the kid isn't one for revealing things about himself. 'But just wait child. I'll find every single dirty secret of yours!' he vowed. <br> <br>"Wait, that's not the point! I'm an adult! I must be the one to lead the way even if it costs me my life!" <br> <br>Ace turned around and smiled brightly, tilting his head lightly. "Don't worry! I'll be fine. It's only ten steps to the door." 'And I've already made sure that there are no traps there' <br> <br>While Nein stared stunned Ace skipped forward with careless steps. Too careless. Right from under his feet a blade shot forward trying to skewer him. Ace managed to twist to the side at the last second but that released arrows hidden in the wall. They were aimed at people's chest but because of his height they were aiming at his head and he couldn't jump his own height. With a curse and a prayer he fell flat on the ground. <br> <br>Five places moved under him. 'Dammit.' Without a second thought he rolled to the side, clicking another set of traps and used [Shadow Dash] to get away but because of the rushed action he appeared in the place where he had been a second ago and green fumes were rolling around there. He was unable to get the single breath he had taken in out and a message appeared on the corner of his eyes. <br>*You've been poisoned! You'll continue to loose health until you drink an antidote or die* <br> <br>But that wasn't the end of his troubles. From somewhere a spark appeared and lighted the fumes, Ace tried his best to get away but the explosion caught him none the less and blasted him into the other wall. *Cough* There was blood on his hand with which he had covered his mouth and a swinging axe was coming his way. He fell to the side, the axe only brushing his legs. <br> <br>And the poison kept taking his hit points. <br> <br>Darts flew his way but he was too low for them to hit him. Ace was about to take a breath to calm his beating heart when he took notice of a wall before him moving. Where a moment ago arrows were being released along with green fumes a large hole was opening. That didn't bode well but Ace didn't really feel like moving. Each step only set a bunch of traps on him. From the corner of his eye he noticed Nein looking desperate and probably shouting something but at the moment he was in a survival mode. He'll ask what the guy wanted when he had made it through this. <br> <br>A huge round rock showed its nose out rolling at full speed and Ace didn't wait for another moment before getting away from his spot. Other traps he might be able to deal with but there's no way he could stop that thing from moving and not squishing him like a bug. <br> <br>He stepped to the left side and two fires from the remaining wall shot out scorching his feet as he jumped to evade them. He grabbed to take hold of the ceiling but it was too wet and slimy to hold it and he fell down. Although, he did manage to trigger some more traps. It seemed like they were everywhere. He fell right through the fire and onto another set of traps. His health got below half in seconds. <br> <br>The triggered trap opened up a wide hole filled with spikes. At the last second Ace managed to use [Shadow Dash] but the ground beneath him was moving, opening up and the awkward footing messed up his balance and even made him twist his ankle. <br> <br>The jump took him almost to the other side of the spike hole but it lacked a few centimetres and he only grabbed the edge with his hands, his legs dangling by the points of very sharp spikes. <br> <br>'If there was only something I could hold onto well and drag myself up...' <br> <br>"They who hate the touch of mankind rise and bind them for forever, Wild Vines!" Ace chanted directing it upwards. It was a spell to stop your opponent’s movements, but if he made them grow from the ceiling, maybe they could be used as a rope too? There was water at the top and probably dirt too as this was an underground cave. If only they could hurry up! His strength was receding quickly and the hold was so bad. <br> <br>Finding no living beings to bind the vines fell down lifelessly and that was exactly what Ace hoped for, now if only they could hold him. Noting his hands losing hold, he took a breath and putting his feet against the wall to help out too jumped on the vine. He grasped it like the dearest thing ever and held for a moment shaking all over. It was holding somehow. But he couldn't press his luck. He needed to get out.&nbsp; <br> <br>Using his tired limbs he dragged himself up and almost to the ceiling. From there he jumped to the edge he didn't fully reach last time. This time he made it but his left leg didn't hold and he fell down, almost sliding back down into the spike hole. <br> <br>He lay there breathing heavily and unable to move. His health was below ten percent and he didn't even have a required antidote. This place was extremely high levelled if he couldn't even sense the traps and his instincts were late to react. It was only a stroke of luck that he had made it through somehow.&nbsp; <br> <br>And it meant that even if he had had time he couldn't make an antidote. Unlike real alchemists he didn't spend his every waking hour on creating potions so his skill in alchemy was not even up to his level, not even talking about making anything even higher than that. <br> <br>Feeling like just lying there and dying he started to drag himself forward. Few steps ahead the door stood. He reached it and like a hero who had finished his quest but had met his bitter ending sat against it. His head lolled down and his vision started to blur but he smiled. No matter what, he had succeeded; having to die was only an unwanted side effect with which he could deal if he really tried. <br> <br>Three percent of health remained. He still had a few minutes. Or maybe not. It wasn't only poisoning killing him. The damage he received from fire opened imagined wounds from which he was supposedly bleeding. The game was made in a way that without healer's help or healing potions one wouldn't be able to survive after having less than ten percent of health. Now that he thought about it, wasn't it called internal bleeding? That's why you could die even if there were no open wounds you could see with naked eye. <br> <br>Freezing cold liquid entered his mouth and ran down the throat, chill passing through the whole body <br> <br>His sight cleared up and energy filled him once again. But there was something wrong with it. Even though he felt like he was ready to face anything again, there was no way to move. It was as if he was no longer the boss of his own body. <br> <br>"Sorry about this but I had no other idea how to help you" Nein said with a sheepish smile. Somehow Ace was looking straight at him even though he hadn't moved his head; it had done so on its own accord. <br> <br>"I see the question in your eyes so let me explain it in short. I like experimenting with alchemy and this is my best creation so far. It is an elixir that takes full control of a person's body, making it like that of a doll. That is why you're unable to move without my order but your death has been postponed. I hope you don't mind it too much." <br> <br>The glare in Ace's eyes could melt Antarctica. Twice. <br> <br> <br><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&amp;t=1587" target="_blank">Next Chapter</a> </div>

[Previous Chapter](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=1399&p=8402#p8402) Author's Note: It's here! I finally finished editing it and it's probably even the longest chapter in this volume if I'm not mistaken. And that's when I had no time :D But that's probably because I received so much support from you guys and tried my best here. I truly love this chapter and it may be my favourite one so far. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.  Sadly the pet thing didn't fit in as I had had no idea I was planning to include it in the near chapters until you brought that theme up and gave me so many useful ideas. Now I can promise that it'll be in this volume just not sure in which chapter. I stil have that idea I mentioned to play around with :) **** "May I ask what is so funny? You've just been found out and I'm going to make you pay for all the crimes. Don't expect a quick death" Perry said, looking at Ace with cold eyes. "I think you've messed up quite spectacularly" Ace said, his eyes losing their previous fake warmth. "You can't be serious! You're still trying to wriggle out of this? I thought I made it clear enough before that your child's act has no power on me!" she said rolling her eyes but Ace ignored her and turned to Brendon. "You say you remember him well, right?" "Yes" the guy said, looking at Ace with distrustful eyes. "Then tell me, please, what was truly in his eyes. You say sorrow and emptiness like in mine but madness doesn't recede quickly. So could it be that you were seeing your own feelings reflected in the monster's eyes?" "My own? You can't sa..." "You see sorrow in everyone's eyes. That can only mean you're pretending or having a horrible time of your own." "Kid stop the blaming game. We know it's you!" Perry said, not liking where this was going. "Do you now? You have an unstable witness that says he can tell a person's story just by looking at him and a bunch of reports that prove me innocent. I kind of like my chances at the trial" Ace said in a condescending tone, looking down at Perry with his arms crossed over his chest. "You little...!" "Think before you talk. Every word can and will be used against you if you drag me there" Ace said, finally free to make fun of her. "All your people will be witnesses." "You would lose!" "Are you sure of it? Take me there then" he said laughing and extending his hands for her to bind. "I'm all yours." "Why you..." Perry hissed trying to grab him but Nein stopped her. "Sorry my lady but we really have no proof of him being the culprit. It's all only guesswork" he said quietly in her ear. "I know!" she said tiredly. "But he's our only suspect. If he's not the one, we're back at square one." "Is that what this is all about? You want to punish someone? So just pick a random person and be done with it. After all, that's the main thing, isn't it?" Ace asked with a mocking smile. He was really enjoying the freedom to say whatever he wanted to her, it was so annoying to smile and pretend to like her. "That's not..." "Isn't that why you're grabbing for straws and trying to frame me no matter what?" Ace asked with a raised eyebrow. "You like to twist words, don't you?" Perry asked, glaring at him. "Nah, I just remove all the sugar coating from them. It's fun to see people having their words thrown back at them." Nein glared at him too but he had nothing to refute with. It's been more than half a year of them trying to avenge themselves but they haven't moved even a step forward. They listened to so many witnesses but none had anything useful to say. Everyone was always assassinated from behind, hardly ever getting a glimpse of their killer. This time Silver Wing had made a mistake and shown himself. He had thought it was an amazing victory for them but now he wasn't so sure. They had many new descriptions of the killer that half the time didn't match, many started to claim that he's just a hurt child and only needs love to become a good person while others called him a demon and prayed for his extermination.  On top of that this kid appeared. He matched some of the descriptions but the worst thing was that he was impossible to decipher. He acted all nice at first but now started to show a whole different side. How they were to understand which of the side was fake and if he had more of them? He might be the killer but at the same he could be just a kid who doesn’t like to follow orders. "What will you do now?" he asked the kid, surprising him. "What do you mean?" "We have nothing on you so you're free to leave." "Nein! He can't!" Perry shouted out outraged. "He can. Calm down. If we ever need him again, we know where to find him. He gave us the information himself." "The guild!" "Yes. Romeo will be able to see where he is and will have to give us that information if we ever find this kid guilty of all the crimes done by Silver Wing." Ace looked at Nein. The guy was smarter than he had expected. He was thinking the right way with the information he had but he had too little of it to actually be a threat. Only the guild founder had the freedom to check where his underlings were, the leader could only do it if allowed by the founder but Ace didn't plan to do anything of the like. Romeo had no need to suspect him of being anyone besides a little kid. "So? What will you do now?" "Who knows? I'll go where my eyes take me" Ace said truthfully. It was better to tell the truth even if they didn't believe it. That way he was winning twice: making them waste time checking him and feeling guilty for doubting his words after they did. "And where do they point you now?" Ace smiled and with a small jump punched Brendon in the face. "Here. He needed to be taught a lesson. It's bad manners to point at people." "Really?" everyone around asked in unison, not having expected for a kid to actually hit someone. And an adult none the less. "Yes" Ace said, nodding. Brendon clutched his bleeding nose and glared at the kid. "I'm usually a nice man but you've stepped too far! You killed my friend and stole everything from him and me, not even leaving my one most prized possession which is worthless to anyone else! But that wasn't enough for you, was it? You still have to make fun of me and those who are trying their best to catch the monster? I won't take it any more!" he said and took out a large sword from thin air. 'He had that hidden in his backpack?' Ace wondered jumping aside. The man had clearly lost control and was attacking without any plan. His movements were extremely quick and the giant sword was flying in all directions with the swiftness of a small bee. But Ace didn't really mind it. He trusted his evasion and instincts to take care of it while he decided on what to do now. He hadn't expected this to happen. The guy had seemed like a sensible man and the caravan's leader had called for him to take care of the problems. 'What should I do... What should I do...' he sang in his head and dodged a swing followed by a kick. 'Pff...  He even lost a sense of fair fighting. Not only is he trying to chop off a kid's head but he's even using dirty tricks to achieve that.' Ace laughed. "You can't sink lower, can you?" "You're despicable!" the man hissed in anger, his eyes blazing with furies from hell itself. "Now, now!" Ace laughed, twisting to the side and noticing how the whole group watched the fight. None seemed to plan to interrupt and help either of sides. 'What weaklings, they can't even choose a side. It should be so obvious from the first glimpse who is going to win.' A twisted smile appeared on the man's face. "You know you're going to tire out first, right monster?" "So I no longer am a human being? What horror! Not" Ace said faking joy and then showing indifference. Lately he had heard that far too often to even pay attention. The man should be a bit more creative if he wanted Ace to acknowledge him. "You..!" Brendon started to shout raising his hand for a vertical slash as Ace grabbed something from his bag and held it in his hands. It was a piece of paper with something drawn on it. Ace held it in a way that the piece would be cut with a next strike while not reaching him by millimetres. It was a dangerous gambit but he felt like playing around for the moment, being the bad guy. The man wasn't able to stop his attack and tore it apart, cutting Ace's tunic and even drawing blood on his chest. 'Dammit' Ace hissed, using the paper to brush the blood off. The wound was very shallow and only took ten health points so he dropped the pieces of torn and bloody paper. The man watched their fall with a horrified expression. That brought Ace's good mood back. A small wound was worth the sight before his eyes: a man weathered by life reduced to a heap of broken pieces like those of the paper. "Brendon! What happened?" Perry asked, rushing to him. The man just shook his head and continued to stare. Only Ace and the man knew what had been there, the guy having guessed from the short glimpse he'd had before cutting it. It had been a photo of a happy group. A child cut in too. And he did that. With his own two hands, his own child... A tear ran down his cheek. Ace watched him with cold indifference. The picture was of the man's family and from the reaction he could guess it was no longer in a perfect shape. Did any of them die? Or was it simply a divorce? No matter. He took out his dagger and in a swift motion embedded it into the man's back who hissed in pain from it. Ace dragged it out and whispered in the man's ear. "That's what you get for trying to fight me. It is a sad truth that you can't fight everything with fire. Sometimes more subtlety is needed." "Healing hand!" a female shouted out from the group and the wound closed up, saving Brendon from imminent death but he didn't move a muscle. You could doubt,he really noticed what had happened if not for that hiss of pain at first. Ace looked at everyone and in a clear voice said. "That was for actually hitting me. I'm a vengeful person." "You're a monster" the female cleric said while casting a stronger spell to heal the wound completely. "That I am too" Ace said with a smile. He raised his eyes up. 'What a beautiful sky... It's so blue... So clear... Maybe it is trying to block the earth from the sun's view? All the dirt that humans love to collect inside themselves?' "Are you done? I would like to see you leave!" Perry said with an edge in her voice. Was she trying to say he was unwanted here? Maybe he should stay around just because of that? He smiled. It was so easy to win him over. He sat down in the middle of the road and took out his flute. Small agile fingers ran over the little holes producing different sounds so a melody could be born in the empty air. It was a story of a wanderer, someone who knew nothing about family ties and native lands. He had no idea who he was and travelled everywhere to uncover that mystery. Outwardly he was very loyal and nice, always going out of his way to help those in need. But then the melody slowed down and grew darker, edgier somehow. Deep down the man hated everyone and everything, he despised weak people but only because they might be useful one day he helped them out. This way through his travels he gained many loyal supporters from the poor to the richest. His lies were that good. Yet there was one thing he never lied about. He wanted to know who he was. He hoped to be a bastard son of some king or at least a noble but loneliness and fruitless search for years were making him to forget about it. Most likely he was born of a random whore who didn't want to take care of him. Ace played and the man's story ran from his fingers, out the flute and to the ears of his listeners. They stood quietly as if afraid to move and dispel the magic that was working before their eyes. It was hard to say whether those images of a man in his late forties were only their imagination or a game mechanic. The man went on another journey, got tired of his wanderings and tried to create an empire from nothing. In went well at first, he had a natural talent to lead, but other countries didn't feel like allowing him to become a major power. They destroyed his work while it was still young. The man raged and cursed the gods and world but nothing changed. The guards were defeated and killed like all the other inhabitants of his castle. And the enemies were coming closer. They were next to his room now. The melody rose higher, becoming shrill and ear piercing. Death was knocking on his door. And then they opened the door, the tone calming down in an instant. He was going to go down with pride, fighting to his last breath. His dream was short lived as they surrounded him and stabbed from all directions. His death was that of a wild animal and he knew it. There was bitter laughter on his lips which was hidden by his inability to move any part of his body, blood was gushing out of countless stab wounds. He was laying on the ground in the pool it. And that was the time when the enemy general came in and squatted down beside his barely breathing body. The newcomer’s song was still strong but tired as if age was slowing it down but soon it changed back to the man's barely heard notes. All listeners soundlessly moved closer to hear how it would end. Without their own consent they were taken in and mesmerized by the story which they could see in the notes that flew in the quiet air of the empty forest. The melody rose for a moment in surprise as the man noticed recognition in the commander’s eyes. The guy touched his hair beads that he had since he could remember himself reverently and whispered but words had already lost their meaning. A fleeting thought whether this was his father passed through his mind as the flickering light of his life went out and the melody quieted down with a last sigh. Ace held his flute for a moment longer before putting it inside his bag and falling on his back. The sky was still so blue without a single cloud to block the view. He raised his hand as if to reach at it but quickly let it fall down. Humans weren't meant to reach the sky. They were born as worms and had to die being them. There were no exceptions. "What... was... that..." someone asked and Ace looked in the direction of a voice. It was Nein who looked as if he had seen a ghost. "A story. What else?" Ace asked closing his eyes and enjoying the feel of lying on the cold hard ground. It made him feel like he was still alive. "Are you a bard? But I've never heard anything like that!" "It's magic" Ace said with a smile. He said the truth but in real life this saying was used so often to describe great things that it was doubtful anyone will take it literary. Truth made best lies when nobody expected it. "Keep it if you don't want to say it. It's not as if we're dying to know" Perry said, secretly taking a few quick steps back. Ace chuckled but said nothing. "So you won't say it?" she asked again. "I just did" he said with a smile, still lying on the ground with his eyes closed. Feet walked his way but he didn't move a muscle. "Why did you play it?" Nein asked squatting down. "What reason could you possibly have had to reveal your secret to us?" Ace opened his eyes and looked straight at Nein's violet ones. "Secret? It's nothing but a way to pass time. I play because I can. That's all there's to it. Not every action has to have a hidden meaning." That was yet another lie. People never did anything without a reason and they rarely fully explained what it was. It was in human nature to hide the truth and pretend so societies could exist. No one wanted to be alone. Nein shook his head slightly as if not really believing the answer but didn't press on. "Will you be staying with us?" "Will you let me?" Ace asked with sadness and disbelief in his voice, reverting back to his childish innocent self. He knew that character so much better; after all he'd used it for many years. Instead of answering Nein gave him a hand and helped to stand up. "Can I ask when did you gain the authority to allow people to join our group? I don't remember anyone making you a leader or passing the right to you!" Perry said angrily. She was tired of all the nonsense. First the kid was a suspect, then not, then returned to being one and again threw all the charges back at her as lies. But that wasn't all, he kept on joining her group and leaving every other minute depending on his mood. "As far as I know, we're all equal here. You have the freedom to choose our ways of fighting and what strategies we use but we never discussed you preventing us to bring people along. That isn't up to you" Nein said still holding the kid's hand who smiled like a little angel. It was hard to believe that not long ago he was stabbing people or playing like the most talented musician ever. He seemed like a normal little kid you see playing on the streets. "So you want to say I'm a bad leader? I don't know what's best for us? You think you'd be better? Stop dreaming! You're nothing but a follower! You don't know what it means to carry the responsibility of everyone's lives on your shoulders!" Perry hissed, coming closer. "Thanks for the reminder" Nein said and turned to Ace. "Are you sure you want to stay with us? It might be dangerous." "I'm sure big brother will protect me!" Ace said with a bright smile. He just didn’t want to be alone for the moment. He'll probably leave them in a next city but for now he could gain trust and find out more about them. Of course, he would have to make Romeo pay none the less. The guy had to warn him about such groups and their plans beforehand. Nein was surprised but he managed to hide it quite well.  "Great! Let's go then" he said matching the child's mood. He wanted to learn more about him. The kid's actions were abnormal to say the least and his character changed every other minute. Nice, all-knowing, on the verge of cruel and innocent once again.  'Does he have some kind of disorder or something? I doubt it's normal for kids to act the way he does and there's still the mystery of Silver Wing. He might not be the guy himself but there's not a chance he appeared here on an accident. He must have some kind of connection to the notorious killer.' "Everyone, let's get moving. We don't want to spend the night here, do we? Jake help Brendon and let's get moving" Nein said gently squeezing Ace's hand and choosing different direction than they had come from. 'Is there another city nearby?' Ace wondered following the guy and enjoying Perry's misery. She deserved so much more. Others didn't look comfortable but did as told. One of the guys took Brendon's hand and put it around his neck to get him up. This way he half carried half dragged him forward. Ace remembered how he was dragged the same way by a girl and shivered. He couldn't have looked that pathetic, could he? "Is something wrong?" Ace shook his head. "Just a cold wind passed by." "You should have said something!" Nein said in fake outrage. He rummaged through his backpack and brought out a yellow cloak. "I've never had the chance to use it so it's perfectly clean. You can have it." Ace nodded and allowed to be wrapped up. "Thank you" he said taking the man's hand again. It made people trust him more if he was in physical contact. If he acted as a child, it was harder for people to see him as anything else even if they knew a different side of his. "You're quite affectionate." "I'm just lonely" Ace said showing his tongue and getting his hand free. He skipped forward and turning around laughed. "Catch me if you can." With that he ran forward at full speed, ignoring Nein's calls to get back. He was no longer even sure if he wanted to, he had gained a cloak! He laughed and continued to run. Nein was having trouble deciding what to do next. He could hurry after the kid or continue to lead the group. Both choices were bad for him. If only he had left Perry to deal with the kid alone! But no, he had to get his penny in... Now no matter what he did he was going to lose.  If he went after the kid, he'd lose the prestige and Perry will make sure to throw him out but if he stayed the kid would get away and he would have angered his superior for no good reason. How did that kid manage to turn all his work into nothing in a few moments? And he was getting further away every second. "Go catch him, we won't disappear" the female cleric said with a sigh. "Deedara?" "There must be something wrong for him to act this way. Children aren't born evil, they are made into that. So go and get him back. It's dangerous for kids to run around without supervision." "Thanks!" Nein said with a smile and a lighter heart and ran off after the kid. If Deedara said it’ll be okay, it means she’ll make sure that nothing changes until he returns. She was a really nice person but you didn’t want to make her angry. None dared to disagree if she ever said anything. "I'll be back as quickly as I can!" "You're welcome" "Winds carry me forth, Quick Feet" he cast a simple spell that doubled his running speed and rushed forward. He passed a few bends but somehow the kid was nowhere in sight. 'Where could he have gone? I hope he didn't decide to explore the forest.’ Trees stood high on both sides with low undergrowth that allowed seeing well through them. It didn't seem like anyone had passed by there for some time but just in case Nein kept his eyes open. 'How fast could a kid be?' he asked himself, already starting to puff. Wizards really had no stamina. Luckily up ahead he noticed a small person with his back to a tree looking up at the sky. Using the last bits of his stamina Nein reached him. The kid lowered his head and looked at him with surprise. "You actually chased after me?" "Wasn't I supposed to?" Nein asked sitting down and taking deep breaths. "I don't know..." the kid said in a quiet voice, looking in the distance. "Let's go back to everyone. It's not nice to make women worry about us." "Perry doesn't care about what happens to me. She would only be happier if something befell me." "Don't mind her. It just takes time for her to warm up to people. If you stick around, you'll become best friends in moments!" he said, doubting his own words. The kid didn't seem to believe them either but didn't argue. He stepped away from the tree and came to sit next to him. At the same time cracking sounds reached their ears and before either one could stand up or react for that matter, they started to fall. Five, ten, fifteen seconds of free falling was a pretty scary thing and Nein managed to see at least half of his life pass through. The rest was reserved to come up with words for last breath important information sharing. He couldn't go out without leaving anything behind. Bumpt! Once and twice before hitting hard stone floor. Nein massaged his hurt bottom before turning around to see how he was still alive with his meagre health pool. A giant mushroom after which he could stand at full height grew right under the hole they dropped from. On its cap they had bounced and broken the fall. "Kid? Are your here? Did you get hurt?" he asked looking around but the shower of light revealing the mushroom didn’t extend into the cave they were in. It was pitch black. "I have a name and it's Ace" the kid said standing up from one of the shadows. A small wavering flame escaped from under the cloak and made his face look ghostly white with its bluish light. "Flare? Do you seriously just used that spell? It's useless!" Nein said coming closer and shaking his head lightly. "I did" Ace said in defiance. "And what are you going to do about it?" The mage laughed. "Nothing. I just wanted you to know that it's a waste of mana." "I'm aware of the spells characteristics" Ace said dismissively and turned to go explore the cave. "Hey! It's not the time to play adventurers. We must go back to the group!" "If you know how to fly, sure" Ace said crossing arms over his chest and looking with mockery in his eyes. It was clearly seen from the small light positioned in a way to strengthen the effect. Nein wondered whether it was made purposefully or just happened randomly. It was hard to say. "Dammit" Nein cursed looking at the hole high up in the air. "I don't specialize in that kind of thing." Ace's hands fell from surprise. "You mean you're high enough level?" "Plus minus a few. I don't remember the exact number required but I have increased statuses so probably if I was a wind mage or had many general skills..." "Woah..." Ace said extending the last notes. He never expected his hunters to actually be high levelled and this guy didn't even put any significance into it. Who exactly was he? "It seems you're right. We must find another way out" Nein said in a friendly tone and turned to go. "Can you light the way? I don't have any skill for that." Ace nodded and directed [Flare] ahead. He had many new things to consider and preferred some quietness. There will be time to figure out what the guy's profession was later on. Now he had to change his whole belief about the hunters. Previously he had thought that they were only stupid kids full of thoughts of revenge but what he saw didn't match it at all. Perry might have been a little too straightforward and quick to reveal all her cards but she was hard working and never giving up.  The female cleric didn't seem to be mad either even if she called him a monster. She just helped one who needed it and looked at him with disapproving eyes, asking to think about his actions.  This guy was very loyal, always having his master's best interests in his mind even if the master herself didn't know it. Not to forget that he was a high levelled mage. It was a truly terrifying bunch. He wasn't sure he wanted to learn about the others too. Drip! Cold water hit Ace's eye and he grimaced covering it with his hand. It hurt way too much for a drop of water. "Gust" he murmured to prevent it from happening again. "Hmm?" Nein asked turning around to glance at him. Ace quickly lowered his hand. "Nothing just remembered an old song we learnt in school." "Can you sing it for me? It's very boring here just walking like that" Nein asked with a smile. Ace hesitated for a moment before choosing his favourite childhood song. His parents always sang it for him before sleep. "I can try" "London Bridge is falling down, Falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, My fair lady. Build it up with wood and clay, Wood and clay, wood and clay, Build it up with wood and clay, My fair lady. Wood and clay will wash away, Wash away, wash away, Wood and clay will wash away, My fair lady..." He sang remembering his mother bowing over him to make sure he was warm enough, father coming to kiss him goodnight. Build it up with silver and gold, Silver and gold, silver and gold, Build it up with silver and gold, My fair lady. Silver and gold will be stolen away, Stolen away, stolen away, Silver and gold will be stolen away, My fair lady. He wondered where they were at the moment and whether they were happy. It was so long since the last time he'd seen them although he wasn't sure he wanted to have a meeting. Since long ago their relationship had strained and now no longer anyone knows how to act. It would be better for everyone if they never met again. Set a man to watch all night, Watch all night, watch all night, Set a man to watch all night, My fair lady. Suppose the man should fall asleep,  Fall asleep, fall asleep.  Suppose the man should fall asleep? My fair lady. Give him a pipe to smoke all night, Smoke all night, smoke all night, Give him a pipe to smoke all night My fair lady. He finished closing his eyes. Somewhere deep down he wished to hear someone else's voice beside his but the song had ended and no one had joined him. His childish voice echoed alone in the cavern, the last notes flowing around not ready yet to fade into oblivion. "You have a nice voice. Have you ever thought about becoming a singer?" Nein asked glancing back at him. Ace shook his head. There was no future ahead of him so there was no point in dreaming. He gave up on it before even starting to have realistic dreams. 'What a sob story. Are you done?' he asked himself angrily and caught up to Nein. The walls of the cave were uneven and slimy. Dark freezing water ran down its walls and dropped from ceiling on Nein's head, Ace had already made sure not to get hit again.  Noticing Ace's dark mood, Nein changed the direction of his questions. He wanted to learn more about the kid, but he didn't want to push too hard and scare him away. He needed to make him trust him and maybe even start to rely on him. Lonely children tended to look for older people to look up to even if they tried to deny it. "Hm... So have you sung that song often in your class?" "Not even once. I learnt it myself"  'by listening to parents singing it.' 'So is he from England or not?' Nein wondered. "Do you know how the game is played by it?" "A game? I never... Well, the melody is catchy. It shouldn't be surprising that someone thought up a game for it" Ace said, taking quick steps. He was slowly getting into a leading position. "Why did you start to hurry all of a sudden? I thought you didn't want to return?" 'Is there anything he doesn't notice?' "It's not that. I'm just tired of these boring walls. And there's not even a single enemy here!" Ace said in a whiny voice, pretending to actually care about where he was walking. "You're such a child" Nein laughed and caught up to him so they walked at the same speed. "Myself I'm pretty happy we're not facing any enemies. It would be troublesome without a healer if we had to get through some monster encampment." 'And you would see my spells. Although, you're a child, there's a big chance you're a cold-blooded killer too.' Ace moved his head slightly to sides as if unsure but didn't continue to talk. Somewhere up ahead a small light appeared. It was bright and steady. As they came closer a door could be seen over which a lamp was lit. The surprising thing was that it was that the door was set into stone without any kind of man-made attachments. 'Could that mean that someone actually lives here?' Ace wondered coming closer. He carefully looked around for traps but bare walls didn't seem to contain anything. "Careful kid, there are probably some traps here!" Nein said, grabbing him by the shoulder. "And what are we supposed to do if there are? It's not like you can disable them, can you?" Ace asked, raising an eyebrow. 'Dammit, I forgot my act. What's going on?' The guy was taken aback by the reply but he could see the truth behind it. It's not like they could just go back and leave. The only thing they could do was move forward and hope for survival. "Silly me" Nein said with a laugh, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed smile. But quickly he became serious. "You should let me go first. If I die, at least you'll know how to evade the trap." "You're a mage, right?" Ace asked as if not hearing a thing. "Well, yes... Why..." "Then it's decided, I'll go first. I have at least a few points in dexterity." "Really? What is your class?" Nein asked, grabbing the opportunity to find out more about the kid but Ace didn't feel like sharing information. "I used a dagger to attack the man." 'Yeah, but that could be only a cover to hide your true profession and you wouldn't be the first one to do it. Even I'm using it to an extent. Although, would you really just go in first if you were anything else but a rogue? You don't seem like a good Samaritan who would risk himself for the sake of others, me this time.' Nein asked questions in his head but he kept them to himself. It was easy to see that the kid isn't one for revealing things about himself. 'But just wait child. I'll find every single dirty secret of yours!' he vowed. "Wait, that's not the point! I'm an adult! I must be the one to lead the way even if it costs me my life!" Ace turned around and smiled brightly, tilting his head lightly. "Don't worry! I'll be fine. It's only ten steps to the door." 'And I've already made sure that there are no traps there' While Nein stared stunned Ace skipped forward with careless steps. Too careless. Right from under his feet a blade shot forward trying to skewer him. Ace managed to twist to the side at the last second but that released arrows hidden in the wall. They were aimed at people's chest but because of his height they were aiming at his head and he couldn't jump his own height. With a curse and a prayer he fell flat on the ground. Five places moved under him. 'Dammit.' Without a second thought he rolled to the side, clicking another set of traps and used [Shadow Dash] to get away but because of the rushed action he appeared in the place where he had been a second ago and green fumes were rolling around there. He was unable to get the single breath he had taken in out and a message appeared on the corner of his eyes. *You've been poisoned! You'll continue to loose health until you drink an antidote or die* But that wasn't the end of his troubles. From somewhere a spark appeared and lighted the fumes, Ace tried his best to get away but the explosion caught him none the less and blasted him into the other wall. *Cough* There was blood on his hand with which he had covered his mouth and a swinging axe was coming his way. He fell to the side, the axe only brushing his legs. And the poison kept taking his hit points. Darts flew his way but he was too low for them to hit him. Ace was about to take a breath to calm his beating heart when he took notice of a wall before him moving. Where a moment ago arrows were being released along with green fumes a large hole was opening. That didn't bode well but Ace didn't really feel like moving. Each step only set a bunch of traps on him. From the corner of his eye he noticed Nein looking desperate and probably shouting something but at the moment he was in a survival mode. He'll ask what the guy wanted when he had made it through this. A huge round rock showed its nose out rolling at full speed and Ace didn't wait for another moment before getting away from his spot. Other traps he might be able to deal with but there's no way he could stop that thing from moving and not squishing him like a bug. He stepped to the left side and two fires from the remaining wall shot out scorching his feet as he jumped to evade them. He grabbed to take hold of the ceiling but it was too wet and slimy to hold it and he fell down. Although, he did manage to trigger some more traps. It seemed like they were everywhere. He fell right through the fire and onto another set of traps. His health got below half in seconds. The triggered trap opened up a wide hole filled with spikes. At the last second Ace managed to use [Shadow Dash] but the ground beneath him was moving, opening up and the awkward footing messed up his balance and even made him twist his ankle. The jump took him almost to the other side of the spike hole but it lacked a few centimetres and he only grabbed the edge with his hands, his legs dangling by the points of very sharp spikes. 'If there was only something I could hold onto well and drag myself up...' "They who hate the touch of mankind rise and bind them for forever, Wild Vines!" Ace chanted directing it upwards. It was a spell to stop your opponent’s movements, but if he made them grow from the ceiling, maybe they could be used as a rope too? There was water at the top and probably dirt too as this was an underground cave. If only they could hurry up! His strength was receding quickly and the hold was so bad. Finding no living beings to bind the vines fell down lifelessly and that was exactly what Ace hoped for, now if only they could hold him. Noting his hands losing hold, he took a breath and putting his feet against the wall to help out too jumped on the vine. He grasped it like the dearest thing ever and held for a moment shaking all over. It was holding somehow. But he couldn't press his luck. He needed to get out.  Using his tired limbs he dragged himself up and almost to the ceiling. From there he jumped to the edge he didn't fully reach last time. This time he made it but his left leg didn't hold and he fell down, almost sliding back down into the spike hole. He lay there breathing heavily and unable to move. His health was below ten percent and he didn't even have a required antidote. This place was extremely high levelled if he couldn't even sense the traps and his instincts were late to react. It was only a stroke of luck that he had made it through somehow.  And it meant that even if he had had time he couldn't make an antidote. Unlike real alchemists he didn't spend his every waking hour on creating potions so his skill in alchemy was not even up to his level, not even talking about making anything even higher than that. Feeling like just lying there and dying he started to drag himself forward. Few steps ahead the door stood. He reached it and like a hero who had finished his quest but had met his bitter ending sat against it. His head lolled down and his vision started to blur but he smiled. No matter what, he had succeeded; having to die was only an unwanted side effect with which he could deal if he really tried. Three percent of health remained. He still had a few minutes. Or maybe not. It wasn't only poisoning killing him. The damage he received from fire opened imagined wounds from which he was supposedly bleeding. The game was made in a way that without healer's help or healing potions one wouldn't be able to survive after having less than ten percent of health. Now that he thought about it, wasn't it called internal bleeding? That's why you could die even if there were no open wounds you could see with naked eye. Freezing cold liquid entered his mouth and ran down the throat, chill passing through the whole body His sight cleared up and energy filled him once again. But there was something wrong with it. Even though he felt like he was ready to face anything again, there was no way to move. It was as if he was no longer the boss of his own body. "Sorry about this but I had no other idea how to help you" Nein said with a sheepish smile. Somehow Ace was looking straight at him even though he hadn't moved his head; it had done so on its own accord. "I see the question in your eyes so let me explain it in short. I like experimenting with alchemy and this is my best creation so far. It is an elixir that takes full control of a person's body, making it like that of a doll. That is why you're unable to move without my order but your death has been postponed. I hope you don't mind it too much." The glare in Ace's eyes could melt Antarctica. Twice. [Next Chapter](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=1587)

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> The Beast<br>Chapter 9: Order of the Rabbit<br>A Royal Road Fan Fiction… of sorts<br>By Halosty<br><br> The swimming, fishing rabbit was the next phenomenon that the fan club noticed. Nobody really thought it was a different rabbit from the first one. How could there be two exceptionally cute rabbits? Well, the rabbit was also exceptional in other ways. It was pretty fast, even while swimming. It had a voracious appetite. There were weird rumors about the rabbit killing some players, but these were quickly quashed. How could something so cute kill anyone? Even if it did… should it not be forgiven? Surely it was in self defense.<br><br> Members of the unofficial fanclub started adding each other to friends lists. They wanted to know as soon as possible if there were any new sightings. They liked to know any trivia about the rabbit. In fact, new information had recently been obtained. The rabbit was named Roger. The group instantly associated the name with cuteness. The members of the fanclub who had good eyes also noticed the cute bracelet it had around one paw. Obviously it was very fashionable. They started wearing wooden bracelets too, just as a way of recognizing each other.<br><br> When Roger moved from one side of the city to another, they of course went to visit the other location as well. Even the seller of vegetables and, apparently, fish, joined the club. Not that she gave anyone discounts because of it.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> At night, The Beast reigned supreme. Players talked of a new boss monster in the forest. They couldn’t really describe it, except as a blur. Then, you were dead. Those very few who had vision good enough to tell knew it was a rabbit. They wouldn’t tell anyone though. Seriously, a rabbit? They figured the information was best kept to themselves. Who dies to a rabbit anyway.<br><br> Of course, there was one warrior who was unashamed to tell people it was a rabbit. Somehow, he kept running across it. Everyone thought he was crazy. They didn’t make fun of him, because they knew he was a strong warrior. He <span style="font-style: italic;">couldn’t</span> have died to a rabbit, so obviously he was making up stupid stories. Still, the rumor spread, and some players believed him, even if they wouldn’t admit it.<br><br> The Beast cared not whether his prey were humans (or elves) or beasts. Everything was to be killed. Because of his extraordinary power compared to his level, it was not hard to become stronger. This, in turn, made hunting easier. It was a vicious cycle. Most vicious for the players and creatures in the forest, but vicious nonetheless.<br><br> Then, The Best smelled something. Something tasty. It was in a dungeon, somewhere nearby. Another Carrot of Power. The dungeon was no challenge- just giant spiders of around level 50. There were enough roots around for him to keep up his satiety. Poison might have been an issue, if he hadn’t recently gained large amounts of health. 50 health per level of fishing was good, but 120 was better. This was the actual benefit that The Beast received. He’d become strong and fast enough in the water that he actually fished just fine during the day.<br> <br> The boss wasn’t insignificant, however. A truly massive spider. Not dangerous so much for it’s direct attacks. Those, Roger could dodge. No, the boulders it shook down from the ceiling and the hordes of smaller spiders it summoned were the problem. They continuously wore The Beast down. Still, The Beast did not fear death. Not that it couldn’t happen, but if it did, well, he would accept it. However, this was only if he had done his best to be strong beforehand. He was not strong enough yet to die. He was, however, strong enough to kill the spider queen.<br><br> The Beast developed a pattern of attack where he bounced from wall, to spider, to ceiling, to spider. He never touched the floor. He didn’t have enough stamina, even when using satiety, to keep it up for long. However, he didn’t need to. The Beast was possessed of a massive amount of strength. Although he was not entirely focused on it, about even with his agility, his sheer effective level made up for the lack of single minded focus. Really, the giant spider was far out leveled. It only stood a chance because The Beast lacked anything in the way of equipment- except a single ring, and the effects of one carrot. Thus, it perished, in the middle of a pattern of attacks that moved back and forth across its body… almost like a web.<br><br> On its body were only two things The Beast cared about. First, was a carrot.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have eaten the Dark Green of Power!<br>Legend tells of a great rabbit emperor who gained his power by eating the carrots of power, which grant great powers to those who eat them. The legends are completely false, as any self respecting rabbit knows, but the power of the carrots are real!<br><br>+15% resistance to poison</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> The Beast was a bit disappointed with the results, but it was but a minor carrot. Besides, it did help to stave off one of the possible dangers of hunting alone.<br><br> The other item was a ring. It was hard to carry, but The Beast picked it up in his teeth. He would have someone help him get it on later, if it were any good. He really needed Arasel to get on. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> Once the party logged on, they actually went back into the dungeon. Besides Roger and Arasel, the others were still behind on experience. Instead, they had a lot of experience fighting tough monsters. That might not have been enough to keep up, normally, but Roger made up any difference left over. Especially in a dungeon, where they mostly just had to keep themselves alive.<br><br> The reason to go into the dungeon was, of course, to collect all the loot. They didn’t want their equipment and wealth to fall behind their level, after all.<br><br> Roger’s ring was also identified.<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Ring of Armor<br><br>Durability: 100/100<br><br>Defense: 10.<br><br>Special: Defense applies to the entirety of the body. Does not stack with any actual armor worn.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> Normally, rings like this were considered trash. The only people who found it at all helpful were wizards, but even their robes provided almost this much defense. More, sometimes.<br><br> For Roger, however, it was a great boon. Sure, he could get by with his endurance stat and decently high health. This would still help immensely, especially in situations where he couldn’t dodge all the attacks. Generally, in that kind of situation, each attack would be weak. Thus, having just a little bit of armor could be a big difference.<br><br> Nobody else in the party wanted it, and they would not have kept it from Roger anyway. After all, it was loot he had earned. Plus, he left all the rest of the boss loot for them. Fortunately, no players had been around to snatch it up. In fact, they’d noticed a lack of players in any dungeon they entered after Roger. It was rather strange.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> The fan club was gaining momentum quickly. After a while, most of the members knew each other. One of them even said, “This is like a guild.”<br><br> Then it was a guild. Sure, some guilds were formed by serious players with specific purposes. However, with millions of players, some guilds would inherently be more casual. In this case, it was a guild devoted to lovers of cute things, rabbits in particular. Thus, the Order of the Rabbit was formed. They had rather casual rules for joining, but recruited a lot of members.<br><br> “Do you like cute things?”<br><br> “Yeah!”<br><br> “Join our guild!”<br><br> Thus, the Order of the Rabbit grew. This included a small group composed of a warrior, a ranger, a gardener, and a druid. Somehow, even the druid’s animal companion was invited and joined. Normally, it would just be assumed. Nobody paid the quirk much mind, however.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> In situations where people are driven off the correct track, it is up to others to straighten them out. Thus it was in The War of The Beast. A group of brave soldiers rose up to slay The Beast. They were opposed by a group of cultists following The Beast. Conflict was inevitable. The Beast grew stronger by the day, but The Slayers also grew in number. They were devoted to eradicating all manner of dangerous monster, and would protect the world from anyone, even those who were not beasts. The inevitable conflict grew closer, although only the highest ranking members of The Slayers knew their true purpose. They would be responsible for defeating the most dangerous monster ever known, at least near the land of the elves. Nobody was sure how The Beast compared against a dragon, because the cultists also contributed to the final battle. All that is known is that many were slain personally by the teeth and claws of The Beast.<br><br>End Chapter 9: Order of the Rabbit </div>

The Beast Chapter 9: Order of the Rabbit A Royal Road Fan Fiction… of sorts By Halosty The swimming, fishing rabbit was the next phenomenon that the fan club noticed. Nobody really thought it was a different rabbit from the first one. How could there be two exceptionally cute rabbits? Well, the rabbit was also exceptional in other ways. It was pretty fast, even while swimming. It had a voracious appetite. There were weird rumors about the rabbit killing some players, but these were quickly quashed. How could something so cute kill anyone? Even if it did… should it not be forgiven? Surely it was in self defense. Members of the unofficial fanclub started adding each other to friends lists. They wanted to know as soon as possible if there were any new sightings. They liked to know any trivia about the rabbit. In fact, new information had recently been obtained. The rabbit was named Roger. The group instantly associated the name with cuteness. The members of the fanclub who had good eyes also noticed the cute bracelet it had around one paw. Obviously it was very fashionable. They started wearing wooden bracelets too, just as a way of recognizing each other. When Roger moved from one side of the city to another, they of course went to visit the other location as well. Even the seller of vegetables and, apparently, fish, joined the club. Not that she gave anyone discounts because of it. -------------------------- At night, The Beast reigned supreme. Players talked of a new boss monster in the forest. They couldn’t really describe it, except as a blur. Then, you were dead. Those very few who had vision good enough to tell knew it was a rabbit. They wouldn’t tell anyone though. Seriously, a rabbit? They figured the information was best kept to themselves. Who dies to a rabbit anyway. Of course, there was one warrior who was unashamed to tell people it was a rabbit. Somehow, he kept running across it. Everyone thought he was crazy. They didn’t make fun of him, because they knew he was a strong warrior. He couldn’t have died to a rabbit, so obviously he was making up stupid stories. Still, the rumor spread, and some players believed him, even if they wouldn’t admit it. The Beast cared not whether his prey were humans (or elves) or beasts. Everything was to be killed. Because of his extraordinary power compared to his level, it was not hard to become stronger. This, in turn, made hunting easier. It was a vicious cycle. Most vicious for the players and creatures in the forest, but vicious nonetheless. Then, The Best smelled something. Something tasty. It was in a dungeon, somewhere nearby. Another Carrot of Power. The dungeon was no challenge- just giant spiders of around level 50. There were enough roots around for him to keep up his satiety. Poison might have been an issue, if he hadn’t recently gained large amounts of health. 50 health per level of fishing was good, but 120 was better. This was the actual benefit that The Beast received. He’d become strong and fast enough in the water that he actually fished just fine during the day. The boss wasn’t insignificant, however. A truly massive spider. Not dangerous so much for it’s direct attacks. Those, Roger could dodge. No, the boulders it shook down from the ceiling and the hordes of smaller spiders it summoned were the problem. They continuously wore The Beast down. Still, The Beast did not fear death. Not that it couldn’t happen, but if it did, well, he would accept it. However, this was only if he had done his best to be strong beforehand. He was not strong enough yet to die. He was, however, strong enough to kill the spider queen. The Beast developed a pattern of attack where he bounced from wall, to spider, to ceiling, to spider. He never touched the floor. He didn’t have enough stamina, even when using satiety, to keep it up for long. However, he didn’t need to. The Beast was possessed of a massive amount of strength. Although he was not entirely focused on it, about even with his agility, his sheer effective level made up for the lack of single minded focus. Really, the giant spider was far out leveled. It only stood a chance because The Beast lacked anything in the way of equipment- except a single ring, and the effects of one carrot. Thus, it perished, in the middle of a pattern of attacks that moved back and forth across its body… almost like a web. On its body were only two things The Beast cared about. First, was a carrot. | You have eaten the Dark Green of Power!Legend tells of a great rabbit emperor who gained his power by eating the carrots of power, which grant great powers to those who eat them. The legends are completely false, as any self respecting rabbit knows, but the power of the carrots are real!+15% resistance to poison | | --- | The Beast was a bit disappointed with the results, but it was but a minor carrot. Besides, it did help to stave off one of the possible dangers of hunting alone. The other item was a ring. It was hard to carry, but The Beast picked it up in his teeth. He would have someone help him get it on later, if it were any good. He really needed Arasel to get on. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long. -------------------------- Once the party logged on, they actually went back into the dungeon. Besides Roger and Arasel, the others were still behind on experience. Instead, they had a lot of experience fighting tough monsters. That might not have been enough to keep up, normally, but Roger made up any difference left over. Especially in a dungeon, where they mostly just had to keep themselves alive. The reason to go into the dungeon was, of course, to collect all the loot. They didn’t want their equipment and wealth to fall behind their level, after all. Roger’s ring was also identified. | Ring of ArmorDurability: 100/100Defense: 10.Special: Defense applies to the entirety of the body. Does not stack with any actual armor worn. | | --- | Normally, rings like this were considered trash. The only people who found it at all helpful were wizards, but even their robes provided almost this much defense. More, sometimes. For Roger, however, it was a great boon. Sure, he could get by with his endurance stat and decently high health. This would still help immensely, especially in situations where he couldn’t dodge all the attacks. Generally, in that kind of situation, each attack would be weak. Thus, having just a little bit of armor could be a big difference. Nobody else in the party wanted it, and they would not have kept it from Roger anyway. After all, it was loot he had earned. Plus, he left all the rest of the boss loot for them. Fortunately, no players had been around to snatch it up. In fact, they’d noticed a lack of players in any dungeon they entered after Roger. It was rather strange. -------------------------- The fan club was gaining momentum quickly. After a while, most of the members knew each other. One of them even said, “This is like a guild.” Then it was a guild. Sure, some guilds were formed by serious players with specific purposes. However, with millions of players, some guilds would inherently be more casual. In this case, it was a guild devoted to lovers of cute things, rabbits in particular. Thus, the Order of the Rabbit was formed. They had rather casual rules for joining, but recruited a lot of members. “Do you like cute things?” “Yeah!” “Join our guild!” Thus, the Order of the Rabbit grew. This included a small group composed of a warrior, a ranger, a gardener, and a druid. Somehow, even the druid’s animal companion was invited and joined. Normally, it would just be assumed. Nobody paid the quirk much mind, however. -------------------------- In situations where people are driven off the correct track, it is up to others to straighten them out. Thus it was in The War of The Beast. A group of brave soldiers rose up to slay The Beast. They were opposed by a group of cultists following The Beast. Conflict was inevitable. The Beast grew stronger by the day, but The Slayers also grew in number. They were devoted to eradicating all manner of dangerous monster, and would protect the world from anyone, even those who were not beasts. The inevitable conflict grew closer, although only the highest ranking members of The Slayers knew their true purpose. They would be responsible for defeating the most dangerous monster ever known, at least near the land of the elves. Nobody was sure how The Beast compared against a dragon, because the cultists also contributed to the final battle. All that is known is that many were slain personally by the teeth and claws of The Beast. End Chapter 9: Order of the Rabbit

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 3 Me?, A Ninja?<br><br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br><br><br>The next day, I woke up very refreshed, I took a bath then breakfast. I decided to go grocery shopping. People were whispering something though. Something about a civilian defeating the dreaded sunset no jutsu technique by Guy and Lee.<br><br>I just realized something, that was me they're talking about but civilians didn't seem to notice me. Ninja's however were giving me a mix of awe and fear look that they couldn't help decide which they think of.<br><br>Suddenly a swirl of leaves appeared in front of me and a ninja with a mask revealed himself to me and it looks like he's an Anbu.<br><br>Anbu: "Zed-san, the Hokage wants to talk to you, please go to the Hokage tower as fast as possible." he said in a voice that has a fearful emotion behind it.<br><br>Zed: "Sure thing Anbu-san , I'll be right there as soon as I can."<br><br><br>The Anbu vanished in a swirl of leaves, and I Walked towards the Hokage tower. I asked to receptionist of my appointment to the Hokage and she seems to want to get rid of me quickly and told me that the Hokage is expecting me. I opened the door and Sarutobi was eyeing me strangely.<br><br>Sarutobi: "Hello zed-san, how have you been?."<br><br>Zed: "I've been pretty good hokage-sama , the exercise with Mighto Guy has been doing wonders to me."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Please call me Sarutobi-san like you did before."<br><br>Zed: "Please Forgive me for my slip-up Sarutobi-san if I accidentally insulted you before."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Not at all, it was quite refreshing actually, now I called you here today to let you know that your full citizenship has been approved, congratulation Zed-san, Your finally a full konoha citizen."<br><br>Zed: "Why thank you very much Sarutobi-san, but I doubt that's all that you are going to inform me, because that stuff can be done in the mail."<br><br>Sarutobi: "How perceptive of you zed-san, As you know I heard a strange rumor lately, something that spooked Guy-san and Lee-san recently. They are both in the hospital along with their team Tenten-san and Neji-san and that they are in a comma."<br><br>Zed: "Sigh, I guess the jig is up huh Sarutobi-san, I'm the only one interacting with the team that day and I'm the only one not in the hospital."<br><br>Sarutobi: "What exactly did you do zed-san?, as far as I know you are a civilian, What could you possibly do to harm my veteran ninja and his team."<br><br>Zed: "Sigh, as you know Sarutobi-san I am taking taijutsu lessons from Guy-sensei for about a half a year now."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Yes, Guy-san informed me of your youthful progress."<br><br>Zed: "Quite, and as you know or may not know , I have been studying the academies basic 3 jutsu for awhile now and some chakra exercise. I decided to inform Guy-sensei that I am studying the academy 3 and can do them without a hand sign."<br><br>Sarutobi: "That's impressive zed-san , That's a feat worthy of attention."<br><br>Zed: "Is it?, now where was I, When I informed and showed it to Guy-sensei, he seemed happy and proud at me, and he finally decided to let me meet his team for a spar. It went well the next day, until Guy-sensei formed a horrible sunset no jutsu with Lee, It was so horrible that it etched itself in my mind."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Yes, I can personally attest to that. Seing it once might traumatized the untrained mind."<br><br>Zed: "That's exactly what it did to my mind Sarutobi-san, That I had to find a way to stop it for our future sessions. for a month I studied various books on genjutsu that could nullify their effect, but as a civilian, there is only so much I could find. So I did the very next best thing, ask a ninja where I could learn it from, but as you can see people are reluctant to point me to the right direction because I'm a civilian, but I explained to them that it's purpose was to counter that horrible sunset jutsu. They quickly understood the situation and directed me to jonin Kurenai Yuhi and I told her what I have come for. She quickly teached me the basic freeform genjutsu and sent me off. She said that freeform genjutsu is the place where it can lead me to my answer. She was right, after studying the desired effect of what I wanted meticulously, I was able to finish it within a month and we had a meeting yesterday. I threatened Guy-sensei and Lee-kun to not do their horrible jutsu and they would not listen to me. So they left me no choice and activated my jutsu and you know the rest."<br><br>Sarutobi: "That's an amazing story zed-san, but really, tell me the truth honestly zed-san."<br><br>Zed: "You don't believe me Sarutobi-san?."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Its just hard to believe a civilian doing something to my Veteran jonin level shinobi and his team, especially Guy-san since I personally know him."<br><br>Zed: "Why don't we test it then hokage-sama, I'm sure that there are many brave shinobi out there? right?."<br><br>Sarutobi: "very well Zed-san , I'll humor you, please do that jutsu to me since I'm the most experienced here in the village."<br><br>Zed: "okay Sarutobi-san but I did warn you."<br><br><br>Zed: "Secret art: MOTTO DEVASTATION!!!."<br><br>On cue some sort of music intro started playing.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> JESSIE:<br>"Prepare for trouble!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"Make it double!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"To protect the world from devastation!"<br>JAMES:<br>"To unite all peoples within our nation!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"To extend our reach to the stars above!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"Jessie!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"James!"<br><br>JESSIE:<br>"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"<br><br>JAMES:<br>"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"<br><br>MEOWTH:<br>"Meowth! that's right!" the cat-like animal said. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <img src="http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2011/47/1322121076-tumblr_lts4rgj6sw1r4xd9jo1_500.gif" border="0" alt="http%3a%2f%2fimage.noelshack.com%2ffichiers%2f2011...o1_500.gif"> </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>End music while showers of confetti were produced on the background ending.<br><br>Sarutobi: "Ghahhh!! , Pant!!, Pant!!, pant!... That was too strong zed-san, If I did not have my years of experiences with me, I would be in a coma right now. That should be classified as a Rank S assassination technique."<br><br>Zed: "So you believe me now Sarutobi-san?, I'm sorry for Guy-san and his team and for that I apologize. Is that all Hokage-sama?."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Wait zed-san, As you know there are 5 hidden villages around the world, and All are fighting over the top place which is currently the village hidden in the leaf. We may seem like a peaceful Village, but that has a price on our shinobi forces with their blood, tears and sweat and their lives. They have given everything for this village's peaceful livelihood. We are currently at war zed-san ..." interrupted by zed.<br><br>Zed: "I don't like where this is going, gulp!*"<br><br>Sarutobi: "Please stop interrupting me zed-san, now where was I ?, ahh right, We are currently at war zed-san, that a tiny shift in the force could mean the life and death of our village. What you did zed-san is incapacitate one of my most trusted Jonin level ninja and his team, and that leaves a big hole in our fighting force. And we can't exactly let you go either zed-san, by now enemy villages have reached the news about a civilian that defeated a veteran Jonin and his team. All of them would like to get a hold of you zed-san to topple the balance of power. That leaves me with very little choice zed-san, It is rather you join us as a ninja, or you don't want to know what the other option is."<br><br>Zed: "Sigh, It looks like I have no choice in the matter, I maybe in the bingo book already. Sigh, I'll guess I have really no choice. Even if I heal Guy-sensei's team. The damage has already been done."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Wait!!, You mean you can heal them zed-san?." said in a hopeful voice.<br><br>Zed: "Can you put up a privacy seal hokage-sama?."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Done!!, uses hand seals and set-ups a privacy seal."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, hokage-sama I can heal them , As you know I may have certain abilities that qualify as a kekeigenkai hokage-sama. One of them is to heal."<br><br>Sarutobi: "That's great zed-san, with your current skill set we can place you in as a tokubetsu genin as a medic. Ohh right , I almost forgot, Can you please heal team Guy? zed-san."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, I better get right to it, They are my friends too you know."<br><br>Sarutobi: "That's great zed-san, I'll accompany you to the hospital."<br><br>The hokage accompanied me to the hospital where we were led to a room with Team Guy in it. The hokage used a privacy seal and it was finally my turn.<br><br>Zed: "Healing hand!, Healing hand!, Healing hand!, Healing hand!." A soft white-green light enveloped each person of team Guy as I casted the a healing spell.<br><br>Guy: "What happened?, all I remember is that zed-san was warning us not to do our teacher-student bonding session and after that its all blank."<br><br>Lee: "Same with me guy-sensei."<br><br>Lenten: "Same with me."<br><br>Neji: "Same here too."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Good!, it's best if you forget what happened and rest until you recover. Zed-san let's go back to my office."<br><br>We walked back to the Hokage tower, and the Hokage put up some privacy seals again.<br><br>Sarutobi: "All right zed-san, just sign these papers and wait 30 minutes to get the photographer to arrive here and you all set."<br><br>30 minutes and a photograph later.<br><br>Sarutobi: "Congratulations on being a shinobi zed-san."<br><br>Zed: "Oh joy, Wait!! I have a request to make hokage- sama."<br><br>Sarutobi: "As long as it is reasonable."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, hokage-sama , I need to know where I can find a copy of advanced fuinjutsu and do you have a jutsu that lets you be two places at once?."<br><br>Sarutobi: "take this ring, this should give you the clearance you need in the library's shinobi section and take this scroll , this contains a forbidden technique called kagebunshin no jutsu, which means shadow clone. I'm positive that you have enough chakra for this one, and it lets you clone yourself and whatever your clone learns, it's memory will be transferred back to the caster."<br><br>Zed: "thank you hokage-sama, this is very useful, by the way hokage-sama, why haven't you used the kagebunshin to complete you paperwork faster?."<br><br>For a moment the Hokage stood there unmoving, then he banged his head to the nearby wall saying stupid,stupid,stupid. The hokage then thanked me and casted the kagebunshin jutsu himself, and smiled as he tackled his mountains of paperwork. </div>

Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 3 Me?, A Ninja? Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. The next day, I woke up very refreshed, I took a bath then breakfast. I decided to go grocery shopping. People were whispering something though. Something about a civilian defeating the dreaded sunset no jutsu technique by Guy and Lee. I just realized something, that was me they're talking about but civilians didn't seem to notice me. Ninja's however were giving me a mix of awe and fear look that they couldn't help decide which they think of. Suddenly a swirl of leaves appeared in front of me and a ninja with a mask revealed himself to me and it looks like he's an Anbu. Anbu: "Zed-san, the Hokage wants to talk to you, please go to the Hokage tower as fast as possible." he said in a voice that has a fearful emotion behind it. Zed: "Sure thing Anbu-san , I'll be right there as soon as I can." The Anbu vanished in a swirl of leaves, and I Walked towards the Hokage tower. I asked to receptionist of my appointment to the Hokage and she seems to want to get rid of me quickly and told me that the Hokage is expecting me. I opened the door and Sarutobi was eyeing me strangely. Sarutobi: "Hello zed-san, how have you been?." Zed: "I've been pretty good hokage-sama , the exercise with Mighto Guy has been doing wonders to me." Sarutobi: "Please call me Sarutobi-san like you did before." Zed: "Please Forgive me for my slip-up Sarutobi-san if I accidentally insulted you before." Sarutobi: "Not at all, it was quite refreshing actually, now I called you here today to let you know that your full citizenship has been approved, congratulation Zed-san, Your finally a full konoha citizen." Zed: "Why thank you very much Sarutobi-san, but I doubt that's all that you are going to inform me, because that stuff can be done in the mail." Sarutobi: "How perceptive of you zed-san, As you know I heard a strange rumor lately, something that spooked Guy-san and Lee-san recently. They are both in the hospital along with their team Tenten-san and Neji-san and that they are in a comma." Zed: "Sigh, I guess the jig is up huh Sarutobi-san, I'm the only one interacting with the team that day and I'm the only one not in the hospital." Sarutobi: "What exactly did you do zed-san?, as far as I know you are a civilian, What could you possibly do to harm my veteran ninja and his team." Zed: "Sigh, as you know Sarutobi-san I am taking taijutsu lessons from Guy-sensei for about a half a year now." Sarutobi: "Yes, Guy-san informed me of your youthful progress." Zed: "Quite, and as you know or may not know , I have been studying the academies basic 3 jutsu for awhile now and some chakra exercise. I decided to inform Guy-sensei that I am studying the academy 3 and can do them without a hand sign." Sarutobi: "That's impressive zed-san , That's a feat worthy of attention." Zed: "Is it?, now where was I, When I informed and showed it to Guy-sensei, he seemed happy and proud at me, and he finally decided to let me meet his team for a spar. It went well the next day, until Guy-sensei formed a horrible sunset no jutsu with Lee, It was so horrible that it etched itself in my mind." Sarutobi: "Yes, I can personally attest to that. Seing it once might traumatized the untrained mind." Zed: "That's exactly what it did to my mind Sarutobi-san, That I had to find a way to stop it for our future sessions. for a month I studied various books on genjutsu that could nullify their effect, but as a civilian, there is only so much I could find. So I did the very next best thing, ask a ninja where I could learn it from, but as you can see people are reluctant to point me to the right direction because I'm a civilian, but I explained to them that it's purpose was to counter that horrible sunset jutsu. They quickly understood the situation and directed me to jonin Kurenai Yuhi and I told her what I have come for. She quickly teached me the basic freeform genjutsu and sent me off. She said that freeform genjutsu is the place where it can lead me to my answer. She was right, after studying the desired effect of what I wanted meticulously, I was able to finish it within a month and we had a meeting yesterday. I threatened Guy-sensei and Lee-kun to not do their horrible jutsu and they would not listen to me. So they left me no choice and activated my jutsu and you know the rest." Sarutobi: "That's an amazing story zed-san, but really, tell me the truth honestly zed-san." Zed: "You don't believe me Sarutobi-san?." Sarutobi: "Its just hard to believe a civilian doing something to my Veteran jonin level shinobi and his team, especially Guy-san since I personally know him." Zed: "Why don't we test it then hokage-sama, I'm sure that there are many brave shinobi out there? right?." Sarutobi: "very well Zed-san , I'll humor you, please do that jutsu to me since I'm the most experienced here in the village." Zed: "okay Sarutobi-san but I did warn you." Zed: "Secret art: MOTTO DEVASTATION!!!." On cue some sort of music intro started playing. | * JESSIE:"Prepare for trouble!"JAMES:"Make it double!"JESSIE:"To protect the world from devastation!"JAMES:"To unite all peoples within our nation!"JESSIE:"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"JAMES:"To extend our reach to the stars above!"JESSIE:"Jessie!"JAMES:"James!"JESSIE:"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"JAMES:"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"MEOWTH:"Meowth! that's right!" the cat-like animal said. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * http%3a%2f%2fimage.noelshack.com%2ffichiers%2f2011...o1_500.gif | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | End music while showers of confetti were produced on the background ending. Sarutobi: "Ghahhh!! , Pant!!, Pant!!, pant!... That was too strong zed-san, If I did not have my years of experiences with me, I would be in a coma right now. That should be classified as a Rank S assassination technique." Zed: "So you believe me now Sarutobi-san?, I'm sorry for Guy-san and his team and for that I apologize. Is that all Hokage-sama?." Sarutobi: "Wait zed-san, As you know there are 5 hidden villages around the world, and All are fighting over the top place which is currently the village hidden in the leaf. We may seem like a peaceful Village, but that has a price on our shinobi forces with their blood, tears and sweat and their lives. They have given everything for this village's peaceful livelihood. We are currently at war zed-san ..." interrupted by zed. Zed: "I don't like where this is going, gulp!*" Sarutobi: "Please stop interrupting me zed-san, now where was I ?, ahh right, We are currently at war zed-san, that a tiny shift in the force could mean the life and death of our village. What you did zed-san is incapacitate one of my most trusted Jonin level ninja and his team, and that leaves a big hole in our fighting force. And we can't exactly let you go either zed-san, by now enemy villages have reached the news about a civilian that defeated a veteran Jonin and his team. All of them would like to get a hold of you zed-san to topple the balance of power. That leaves me with very little choice zed-san, It is rather you join us as a ninja, or you don't want to know what the other option is." Zed: "Sigh, It looks like I have no choice in the matter, I maybe in the bingo book already. Sigh, I'll guess I have really no choice. Even if I heal Guy-sensei's team. The damage has already been done." Sarutobi: "Wait!!, You mean you can heal them zed-san?." said in a hopeful voice. Zed: "Can you put up a privacy seal hokage-sama?." Sarutobi: "Done!!, uses hand seals and set-ups a privacy seal." Zed: "Yes, hokage-sama I can heal them , As you know I may have certain abilities that qualify as a kekeigenkai hokage-sama. One of them is to heal." Sarutobi: "That's great zed-san, with your current skill set we can place you in as a tokubetsu genin as a medic. Ohh right , I almost forgot, Can you please heal team Guy? zed-san." Zed: "Yes, I better get right to it, They are my friends too you know." Sarutobi: "That's great zed-san, I'll accompany you to the hospital." The hokage accompanied me to the hospital where we were led to a room with Team Guy in it. The hokage used a privacy seal and it was finally my turn. Zed: "Healing hand!, Healing hand!, Healing hand!, Healing hand!." A soft white-green light enveloped each person of team Guy as I casted the a healing spell. Guy: "What happened?, all I remember is that zed-san was warning us not to do our teacher-student bonding session and after that its all blank." Lee: "Same with me guy-sensei." Lenten: "Same with me." Neji: "Same here too." Sarutobi: "Good!, it's best if you forget what happened and rest until you recover. Zed-san let's go back to my office." We walked back to the Hokage tower, and the Hokage put up some privacy seals again. Sarutobi: "All right zed-san, just sign these papers and wait 30 minutes to get the photographer to arrive here and you all set." 30 minutes and a photograph later. Sarutobi: "Congratulations on being a shinobi zed-san." Zed: "Oh joy, Wait!! I have a request to make hokage- sama." Sarutobi: "As long as it is reasonable." Zed: "Yes, hokage-sama , I need to know where I can find a copy of advanced fuinjutsu and do you have a jutsu that lets you be two places at once?." Sarutobi: "take this ring, this should give you the clearance you need in the library's shinobi section and take this scroll , this contains a forbidden technique called kagebunshin no jutsu, which means shadow clone. I'm positive that you have enough chakra for this one, and it lets you clone yourself and whatever your clone learns, it's memory will be transferred back to the caster." Zed: "thank you hokage-sama, this is very useful, by the way hokage-sama, why haven't you used the kagebunshin to complete you paperwork faster?." For a moment the Hokage stood there unmoving, then he banged his head to the nearby wall saying stupid,stupid,stupid. The hokage then thanked me and casted the kagebunshin jutsu himself, and smiled as he tackled his mountains of paperwork.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Volume 2 Chapter 6<br>The Fallen Future<br><br><br>In a tower within a castle in the capital of a certain kingdom in the west of Versailles met the eleven mystics who ruled over this domain. Each of these men shared a skill, the ability to see glimpses of the future. Alone the skill only gave vague references to effects from their cause, but when the men shared their visions, the image became clear. Like their predecessors and the ones before them, this group used their combined ability to secretly govern the futures of the kingdoms around them. Through insight into cause and effect they could see how their decisions affected the future and could choose whatever action that benefited them the most. In this way the members of this group had lived with greater luxuries than even royalty for almost a thousand years. <br><br>Once a month the men get together to share and interpret their visions. On this day however the eldest member was troubled, what he had seen over the past month was a nightmarish image over and over again. As he sat down at the table along with the others to discuss each vision they had over the past month, he could see some of the others were fidgety. It seemed he was not the only one who had seen it. As the senior member he had the duty of writing down each vision in a large tome. After taking it out and opening it to the current page, each member shared their visions over the past month.<br><br>-Rhinclast will fall<br>-The demons are to blame<br>-Demons rising, Rhinclast falling.<br>-Before the next moon, Rhinclast will fall<br><br>It went on like that for each man. Each one had described a group of demons faced men that was somehow linked to the fall of Rhinclast. A flaw of their ability was that they could see cause, and effect, but not much between. <br><br>Rhinclast was a small kingdom, the easternmost kingdom of their domain. The royal family of Rhinclast did what the mystics told them to, and in return the mystics prevented anything that would cause the downfall of the royal family. There had been hundreds of incidents in the past thousand years where they predicted a kingdom would fall, but each time they took the necessary measures far enough in advance to prevent it. They reason this was possible was because they always saw such things months, or even years in advance. Now however they saw it would happen within a month. <br><br>The room was loud with panicking, they understood that should the kingdom fall, it would change everything they had predicted would happen afterwards. The collected visions which foretold events to about a year in the future would be rendered worthless.<br><br>The eldest mystic closed the tome loudly, silencing everyone in the room. He said, “We cannot allow this to happen. This meeting will be extended until we have with absolute certainty, prevented the fall of Rhinclast. First we must find the identity of these demons.”<br><br>The men had their servants scour the city for all the information related to demons that had something to do with Rhinclast. In one hour they found it. The eldest shared the document with the rest.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Wanted: Demon Thieves<br>Bounty: 2150 Gold<br>Crime: Grand Theft, Murder, Evasion<br>Appearance: A group of about twenty men wearing demon masks<br>Most of them use different weapons, no magic users among them<br>Faces unknown, <br>Strength: Extreme combat coordination between them. None have been reported slain since their first appearance one month ago<br>Special note: Steals highly valuable cargo en route going to or from Soles, the capital city of Rhinclast. Many of the caravans that were stolen from recently had hired a number of guards, all of which were slain<br>Location last spotted: Downsure trail, after stealing a the gold tax payment of the town of Trisdon on its way to Soles.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>On the wanted poster where their is usually a sketch of the criminal was a terrifying demon mask, the same one that haunted their visions.<br><br>The eldest mystic instructed the others to look through old tomes to see if anything like this had ever happened before. He had to somehow figure out the connection between Rhinclast falling and these thieves. After a few hours, they believed they had an answer. About three hundred years back there was a band of barbarians that raided up and down the kingdoms. the mystic group at the time foresaw that if they were not stopped they kingdoms being raided would fall from their control. They succeeded and after investigating it was determined that at the time, the people who had suffered loss under the raids were rebelling against their government’s failure to stop the barbarians hords. <br><br>The eldest spoke, “We must under any circumstance stop these thieves.” The men agreed. They each contributed to a fund which they would use to stop this future. The men divided into three groups and over the next three days discussed various ways to remove the problem and their possibility of success. In the end it was decided on that they would hire a mercenary group within Rhinclast kingdom. After the decision was made, each mystic saw the fall of the demons. It was concluded that this action had a 100% guarantee to work.<br><br>--------------------------------------------<br><br><br>Varg had just gotten back from assignment. His crew had been hired by one of the local guilds to clear out a recently purchased mine of monsters. The mine was as larger than an average dungeon and had monsters between level 220 and 290. It was finished before the 2x experience had expired. Varg was one of the strongest mercenaries in the kingdom. <br><br>As he approached the counter of the client guild, the clerk said, “ Ahh, Varg. Good news to report I hope.”<br><br>“The place is empty and safe to work in.”<br><br>The clerk smiled, “Brilliant. You finished ahead of schedule, which means more money for the guild. Here is your payment in full, I do hope to work with you again.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Completed: Clear the mine<br>Difficulty:C<br>Reward: 1800 Gold<br>You have leveled up!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Varg left without a word. A happy customer was a repeat customer, and repeat customers were the lifeblood of a successful mercenary. However as he was leaving the man at the counter said, “Wait sir, we have a letter for you.”<br><br>Varg turned around, “Another request?”<br><br>“Don’t know, not from us anyways.”<br><br>Varg opened the letter and read its content.<br><br>-To the mercenary Varg,<br><br>On the behalf of the Kingdom of Rhinclast, our group wishes to hire your services. Stop the activities of the band of thieves who wear Demon masks. How you stop them is entirely up to you. But on the condition their activities come to a halt within ten days, you will be paid a sum of 65,000 gold. <br><br>-Sincerely, the Shinshoo group<br><br>Varg re-read the page twice. On the bottom was a genuine stamp of the Shinshoo group, the most influential group in six kingdoms. It was wasn’t something that could be faked even by a master forger, but the request didn’t seem to match the price. Varg brought up his contact list and clicked whisper to an acquaintance of his, an information broker named Quinn.<br><br>-Hey Quinn, you there? <br><br>-Varg, been a while. What can I do for you?<br><br>-I need information on a group of bandits in Rhinclast who wear demons masks.<br><br>-Ahh, them. Had you been around you would’ve heard about them, you been under a rock for the past week?<br><br>-Give me the info Quinn...<br><br>-Right, right. One moment.<br><br>Varg waited for about fifteen minutes before Quinn started up again.<br><br>-Alright, the Demon thieves, so named because of the scary masks they wear, have been wreaking havoc on the trade networks in and out of Rhinclast for about a month. They steal the best stuff, imported or exported. I’ve got reports of payments of gold being taken en route, some valuable gems and even garments being taken, and a long list of assorted goods of varying values and types. These guys haven’t limited themselves to one market, they pretty much steal anything that someone will pay a good amount for and they are relentless. It seems that not a single incident where they have tried to steal has actually failed. <br><br>-Sounds like they are overqualified to be thieves. Anyone with a 100% success rate shouldn’t be targeting anything less than the best but these guys seem to be deliberately targeting everything.<br><br>-That’s right. And the people are not happy. They’ve tried everything, sending their stuff in secret, sending it in quantities too large to steal, and even hiding their stuff with stuff that has almost no value like flour or wheat. They even hire security guards and such to protect them on route, but those bandits succeed each time. And apparently anyone who looks at those demon masks gets a debuff, so they can’t fight at full strength.<br><br>-I see, and even with such an advantage, to always be able to defeat the security guards means they must be strong.<br><br>-I’ll say, you should hear the reports. I’ll send you some contact info on some of the guys who fought against them. <br><br>-Sounds good, what else can you tell me about how the thefts are affecting the people.<br><br>-Well lets see...<br><br>Varg thought that there was something not right about this. Because every commodity was being robbed everyone was unhappy. But a professional thief would stick to only the most valuable of items. There was no need to anger so many, unless that was their plan in the first place. Quinn began up again.<br><br>-Yea, the people have been complaining to the government. They are convinced that the government should be able to do something about the bandits. In truth they have sent several units out there but most haven’t found anything, and some haven’t been seen since.<br><br>-I see. Send me anything else you can think of later, put the bill on my tab.<br><br>-Alright. <br><br>Varg went to a bar where he found an old colleague, a barbarian who Quinn said was one of the men hired to protect a supply shipment from the bandits but was slain.<br><br>“A pint for my friend here.” Varg paid for some beer and passed it to the barbarian who looked down at it and said, “You don’t give things for free, you’re not that kind of person. What do you want?”<br><br>Varg sat right beside the large man and said, “Only everything you can tell me about those demon guys. I’ll buy you all the beer you can drink until you’re done sharing.”<br><br>The barbarian smiled at the proposition. The longing he spoke, the more beer he got for free, and the more he talked, the more he would have to say. The man picked up the glass and drank it down in a half second flat before saying, “Three more.” He was going to get as much out of Varg as he could.<br><br>“Ok, what do you want to know?”<br><br>“How did they fight, tell me everything.”<br><br>In the time it took for Varg to complete his sentence the barbarians inhaled the three glasses and requested three more. “Well, the first thing is that there didn’t seem to be a mage among them. They were all martial combat fighters, and used a good variety of different weapons.”<br><br>Varg was almost impressed by the barbarian’s ability to speak a sentence, drink a glass of beer, and start up the next sentence without any break in the conversation.<br><br>“How many were there?”<br><br>“About twenty I think.” *Chug*<br><br>“Was there anything impressive about the way they fought?”<br><br>*Chug* “Oh yea, *Chug*, they fought like machines. *Chug* It was like a choreographed play.” *Chug*<br><br>“What do you mean?”<br><br>“Well, they fought like a perfect team. When I smacked one of them to the ground with my war hammer, three of them rushed me and attacked me simultaneously. I ain’t never seen anything like dat. My group had forty men total protecting the caravan but it wasn’t enough. Two of the bandits somehow managed to hold off almost half of the guards while the others methodically took care of each guard and myself. The merchants themselves had given up without a fight after we were all killed so the bandits took the supplies and left them unharmed.”<br><br>The barbarian’s grammar while chugging was both good and bad, watching it was oddly disturbing considering the man could not achieve such conversation skills while drinking unless he practiced a great deal.<br><br>Varg only had two more questions. “Did the two who were taking on most of the guard seem like the leaders?”<br><br>“Don’t know, they never spoke during the whole thing, never gave out orders, never shouted threats or warnings. It was eerie.”<br><br>Varg nodded and asked, “What effect did looking at the masks give?”<br><br>“Hmm, lower morale and fighting spirit. Not that effective against combat classes, but mages might freeze up if they get a good look at them.”<br><br>Varg got out some coins and placed them on the table saying, “Thanks for the info.”<br><br>Varg paid a visit to the commodity exchange and paid them well for some info. In two days a supply of rare Orichalcum ore was going to be secretly taken out of the kingdom, hidden in a large caravan of flour. It seemed it was a part of the kingdom’s own reserves, meant as payment to Windset for some of the much needed supplies the kingdom desperately needed. Varg had little doubt that the thieves would target the shipment.<br><br>Varg spent the next three hours going from guild to guild, asking for anyone who wanted an easy job, as well as from his own mercenary guild. Varg hired 200 NPCs and users from various guilds and 50 users from his own guild, men he trusted and could rely on.<br><br>It was a win win situation. His task was to stop the bandits from stealing. He guessed the reason to be the stability of the government. If the bandits showed up his 250 men would either capture or annihilate them. If they didn’t show up then the orichalcum ore would make it to its destination and help stabilize the economy. Either way he knew that he was expected to succeed, regardless of what happened.<br><br>--------------------------------------------<br><br>Rudolph was a user in a government position. Through an odd assortment of quests he had obtained a job that paid six gold coins a month as the assistant to the head of state of Rhinclast in the capital city of Soles. Basically he worked under the man who was in charge of keeping the kingdom’s commerce running smoothly and his own job was to make his boss’s job easier. He had chosen the class of merchant to strike it rich in one of the recently opened kingdoms of the west, but he found only misery. The kingdoms had laws that were made for the sheer purpose of ensuring that those in power stay in power and those without power never acquire it. Rudolph had hoped that he could change that and be the first of many to take advantage of the changes. It took a couple months but he succeeded in getting this far. However once he reached one of the highest points a user could reach, he realized it was a dead end. The men who had the power to change the laws were also protected by those same ancient laws. They would never change them. Rudolph would have to change them himself. Even after a month had passed, he still recalled every detail from the first time he met that kid. <br><br>It had been a long day filing civic orders and summarizing hundreds of documents down to the main points to give to his boss before the man complained that they were still too long. Of course had he left something out the head of state should know, he would receive a pay cut the following month. At the bar he frequented was a tall black haired kid he had never seen before drinking orange juice. <br><br>When Rudolph sat down, without even looking over, the kid asked, “If you could, how would you change the kingdom?”<br><br>Rudolph smiled and said, “Start from scratch. Erase all the laws and write new ones that don’t restrict trade or innovation. Make a kingdom where if a guy wants to make it rich, the kingdom itself won’t try to stop him.” Rudolph was of course speaking about personal experience. The houses of many of the great noblemen in Toles had family businesses that each had a specialty. When Rudolph showed up he tried to sell foreign goods at a decent price. However he found out that he could only legally sell them to one store who paid less than he purchased them for. That store was owned by one of the houses of noblemen. Because of the laws each controlled supply and demand for their own product, anyone who had the same must sell it to them. And anyone caught trying to sell elsewhere was severely punished.<br><br>The kid said, “How would the kingdom be able to start from scratch?”<br><br>After pondering for a moment he answered, “You would have to replace all the men in power.”<br><br>“And how would that be accomplished?”<br><br>Rudolph had thought of this conversation with a random kid and a theoretical exercise to satisfy a child’s curiosity. He said, “The laws that need to be changed protect the ones who don’t change them, the only way to replace them would be for the kingdom to fall to a rebellion from its own people.” Then as an afterthought he said, “But that would cost tens of thousands of gold.”<br><br>The kid said nothing and left. Rudolph wondered who he was but thought that in the end it didn’t matter. That was until the next day when the kid showed up in front of him with a sack of 20,000 gold and said, “What next?”<br><br>After that it got serious, the kid said that if a man who could replace the king swore his loyalty to the kid’s patron, the patron would pay for the uprising. Rudolph introduced the kid to the a nobleman named Dorruk. He was apart of a branch family who did not receive anything from the business of the main family and due to the laws in place, he basically had no future. He was not a good man but he wasn’t bad either. The kid discussed in private with him and after returning said Dorruk was acceptable. Afterwards Rudolph and the kid made their plans to drop the kingdom to its knees before taking off its head. First Rudolph gave the kid all the information he could on various trade routes and dates and times of departures of various goods. Because of Rudolph’s position he was able to obtain the information easily. Less than a week after the ‘Demon Bandits’ started raiding up everything of value, Rudolph’s boss was tasked with solving the bandit problem. He requested knights and troops of various strengths to scour the kingdom till the bandits were found. But because Rudolph had been leaking all of their movements, the kid only encountered the ones he could deal with. Because most of the citizens worked in some way for one of the great house's family businesses, with each theft the businesses suffered. However the greedy noblemen were unwilling to part with their fortunes to pay the workers of the stores no money had been made from due to the robbery so they simply fired their worker and made the ones they didn’t fire work harder for reduced pay. Needless to say the city was outraged. Jobless men and women who had families to feed would go hungry. However that is when Dorruk stepped in to save the day. Most of the money obtained from the thefts had gone to Dorruk to buy food and supplies for the angry masses. Massives groups were organized in secret by Dorruk who told all the people it was their government’s fault they had to rely on the kindness of another, it was the government’s fault that all of this was happening.<br><br>Somehow the kid had obtained hundreds of weapons and given them to Dorruk to spread to the masses. Because he had not bought them from any smith in the kingdom, there were no signs that a secret army was gathering right beneath the government’s nose. Rudolph suspected that most of the weapons and armors given were from pursuers the kid had slain but the drop rate for such items was low at best. He still partially wondered how someone could get so many weapons at once. <br><br>Back to the present, Rudolph was preparing for the end game. However he was never told what to do on his own. In fact he was specifically told that should the kid’s bandits be defeated, he should pretend he never met the kid and forget about everything. The kid was very serious about that point and made him swear it. He still didn’t understand why.<br><br>--------------------------------------------<br><br>Varg sat on a horse outside the Soles city limits with 250 men. Coming his way was a caravan of twenty one carts carrying flour, and secretly carrying orichalcum ore from the treasury of Soles. The young merchant in the driver’s seat stopped the wagon and said, “Please be on your way sir.”<br><br>Varg walked up to the side of the wagon and said, “My name is Varg. I am a mercenary here to ensure your caravan gets to Windset safely.”<br><br>The merchant looked as uneasy as one can when 250 armed men stand in front of you and said, “That won’t be necessary sir. I have already paid a group of warriors to guard my wagons. I fact they are the ones who are now driving the carts.”<br><br>Varg look back and counted. twenty-one carts, twenty guards, the same number as the members seen in the demon thieves. Varg noticed that many of the drivers seemed uneasy at the prospect of being escorted by 250 armed men. Though that nervousness could have just as easily come from the fact that they were currently surrounded.<br><br>Varg continued. “This is not a request. I was hired to ensure this caravan gets to its destination. I have been promised payment from another party, you don’t have to pay anything.”<br><br>The merchant seemed to be considering this before Varg stepped in closer and said, “Your cargo is the likely target of the demon thieves.” The merchant froze up for a second before Varg continued, “I was hired to take care of them. If we encounter them we will deal with them, if they don’t come then your delivery will be successful.”<br>After a moment the merchant relented. He whispered, “Very well. And to think I went through such measures as disguising guards as drivers so as not to draw attention to myself. But I guess if you found out about my cargo then it is likely the demon thieves know as well.”<br>The merchant started up in a louder voice, “You can come, but you will have to feed yourselves. I will not allow one speck of flour to taken during the trip. You have enough provisions for two weeks?”<br><br>Varg nodded, “The window the thieves attack is within three days after departure. We will of course escort you to the border of the kingdom, and have enough supplies to last us the week it will take to get there.”<br><br>“I see. Well, then, lets go.”<br><br>Varg’s horse kept the slow pace alongside the lead cart, there were a few things he wanted to ask the merchant about the guards he had hired. He silently sent whispers to his lieutenants to keep a close eye on them.<br><br>Varg made various small talk with the merchant. The man had never been robbed by the demon thieves before but was familiar with one of the noblemen houses of Soles. These combined were the likely reasons he was put in charge of carrying the orichalcum. <br><br>After a few hours Varg asked, “So where did you hire those guards?”<br><br>The merchant said, “Ah, yes, well. They came with one another. I was looking to hire some guards who wouldn’t mind driving the carts. That way I could go ‘incognito’ without anyone looking twice at my caravan. I always figured that those bandits sized up merchandise by how many people were guarding it, so if I was transporting flour with no guards, they wouldn’t notice me.”<br><br>Varg smiled for a moment before saying, “But those bandits were stealing precious objects and valuables before people began hiring guards.”<br><br>The merchant widened his eyes for a moment at the realization of the flaw in his logic and remained silent for a while.<br><br>Varg considered what the merchant said, that the entire group had been hired at once, that they all already knew how to drive a wagon, and that they seemed to have no problem with driving a wagon for two weeks to, then from a location, a whole month. Nothing about it added up unless they were in fact the masked bandits. Varg partially understood why the merchant didn’t suspect a thing. Not one of the guards had a murderer’s mark, the tell tale red diamond on their forehead or their name highlighted in red above their heads. That didn’t however mean much to Varg. It was possible that the masks they wore had some ability to shield them from the murderer’s mark if they killed while it was worn. Perhaps they simply fought a great deal of monsters before coming here, that too would erase the mark. Of course they also could have simply donated to the church and been relieved of their sins by the clergymen. It wasn’t cheap, but it was a fast reliable method for a murderer to appear safe. <br><br>Varg decided to tell the merchant his worries. The young man’s first reaction was, “Well to put it bluntly, how do I know you are not thieves here to kill me and take the ore? Nothing you have told me is something exclusive to them, even if you aren’t the demon bandits, you could still be thieves.”<br><br>Varg reflected on the idea, it was true that from his perspective the merchant would see Varg’s group far more threatening. Varg took out the letter from the Shinshoo group and showed it to the merchant. After allowing him to read it over he said, “I am being paid enough to keep me on task. I have never failed in my assignment. Even if I have to die you will get your cargo to Windset and I will stop the demon thieves.”<br><br>The merchant however was still looking at the letter. A small smile appeared on his face before disappearing so fast Varg wasn’t sure he saw it at all. The merchant said in an amazed voice, “65 thousand gold? That’s incredible! Ok, I believe you. So, what do you want to do? The orichalcum ore is stored beneath the flour of each wagon in a strong box bolted to the wagon itself.”<br><br>Varg considered this, his first priority was to get the bandits but to fulfil the spirit of his assignment if not the letter his second priority was to get the ore to Windset. If all the ore was in one wagon he could send it ahead with some of his men and used the rest would surround and capture the bandits, but that wasn’t an option. Varg said, “We need to capture them in a place they have no way to escape.”<br><br>The merchant looked ecstatic, “I know! There is a trail a few hours from here that leads into a canyon that is a complete dead end. I’m the only one here who knows the trail, the others won’t suspect a thing even if we change our route.”<br><br>Varg smiled, “Perfect.”<br><br>Two hours later the caravan was lead into a narrow canyon with no way to climb up the sides. After fifteen minutes through it they arrived at a dead end too steep to climb up. By then his men had armed themselves. Varg took out his sword and said, “Drivers, give yourself up or you will be killed.” By the end of his sentence each had at least three swords pointed at them. A few minutes later they were all tied up and Varg was speaking.<br><br>“Am I right to say you are the demon thieves?”<br><br>One of the younger looking captives spoke up saying, “You got the wrong guys pal.”<br><br>Varg thought this would make things easier, the one who spoke up was the one the merchant identified as the only one he hired and who the rest came with. This was the most likely candidate for leader. Varg said, “So you’re not the demon thieves then?”<br><br>The captive said, “Hell no, why you be tying us up without cause man?”<br><br>So it wasn’t going to be so easy after all. Varg drew his sword and put it up to the kid’s throat and said, “The demon thieves have 20 members, you came with twenty members, you think such a coincidence would be overlooked?”<br><br>The captive looked appalled by the logic, he said, “Hey man, we didn’t choose the number, that merchant did. I was da last person in line for this job so I got hired, but the guy behind me wasn’t.”<br><br>Varg said, “Excuse me? Tell me in full how you were hired.”<br><br>“Hey man, that merchant called out at the bar I hang out and said he was hiring 20 dudes who could drives a wagon for 1 week. He paid 2 gold when we signed up.”<br><br>Nothing the kid was saying matched the merchant’s testimony, so one of them was lying. Before he was certain it was the kid, but his manner of speaking made him think perhaps he wasn’t bright enough to fit the description of the demon thieves. If he wasn’t lying, then the merchant was. <br><br>Varg quickly looked around, the merchant was gone. Varg ran to the closest wagon and started throwing out the sacks of flour. After a few minutes with his men staring at him he nearly emptied the wagon. Nothing was underneath, no strong box, no orichalcum. However on the side of the wagon previously hidden from view by the bags of flour was a piece of paper stuck to the wagon’s interior. It was difficult to see at first because it was coated in a light layer of flour but now Varg could clearly see a rectangular strip of paper with a symbol on it that looked similar to the english letter F. Varg inspected the rest of the wagon to find that there were in fact, six such papers inside it. Suddenly a loud sound came from overhead. The sound of rocks breaking. One such rock broke off and fell onto a pair of men, crushing them.<br><br>Someone yelled, “Avalanche!!” Then another yelled, “Hide under the wagons!”<br><br>The men rushing under the closest wagon was like a scene of musical chairs. The space under the wagons could not fit everyone. A moment after everyone started gathering around the wagons another rock fell right onto a wagon. However against everyone’s expectations, the wagon immediately exploded in an enormous fire ball. An instant later the wagons on each side of the explosion exploded as well in a beyond deafening KABOOM! Like a domino effect the explosions spread one by one to all twenty one carts in less than four seconds. The fire from the explosions completely filled the canyons scorching everyone inside .The flour in the air burned everything like a dust explosion. The flour fueled inferno lasted about six seconds. When it had settles, all but the strongest were dead. However they died a moment later when the rocks the explosion broke off the canyon wall crushed everything. <br><br>------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Setsuna watched the blaze from a distance and knew to wait until the tremors had stopped before approaching. Crane had sent his men on another assignment, she only came to watch his plan unfold. When everyone was distracted by the apprehension of the drivers Crane hired, Setsuna lowered a rope from the top of the canyon and pulled Crane up. After that Crane waited for the mercenary to figure it out before he used Seismic stomp to cause some of the rocks to fall. Once a rock hit his wagon bombs the fire that shot out of the crevice looked like an erupting volcano. Setsuna told this to Crane but he assured her an erupting volcano looked very different. <br><br>The pair slid down the rocky cliff face to the bottom. It was too steep to climb up but not down. Their intent was to look for and finish off survivors but the rock covered everything so there wasn’t much to see besides crushed armor, broken burnt wood, and rocks, lots of rocks.<br><br>Setsuna asked, “You think this might have been a little excessive?”<br><br>Crane answered, “Absolutely. Before now I wasn’t allowed to do this kind of thing, I guess I was making up for lost time.”<br><br>“And why weren’t you allowed again?”<br><br>Crane pulled out a shrunken head and threw it to Setsuna who caught it on instinct before realizing what it was. She wasn’t squeamish so she didn’t think it was too bad, until it said, “Hello there.”<br><br>She almost dropped it before catching it at the last second. She called out to Crane, “Why do you have a talking shrunken head?”<br><br>While digging through more rubble he answered, “Its a radio. The guy on the other end gave it to me. He sees you talking through the matching shrunken head.”<br><br>Setsuna’s first thought was why someone would have a shrunken head radio. She held it up again and said, “Hello.”<br><br>“Hello again. I heard what you asked Crane. I am the one who told him to to use skills like this before now.”<br><br>Setsuna asked, “Why not? It’s effectiveness is pretty apparent.”<br><br>“Yes, but against the Shinshoo group, you must not use your best hand until it is ready.”<br><br>“The shinshoo group?”<br><br>“Yes, yes. Some time back me and some buddies raided west but good. It was a blast. We were unstoppable. But then that dam shinshoo group stopped us. I Only figured out later it was because they could see into the future. They could predict our moves and strategies. When Crane told me he was going to change the west, I told him about the shinshoo, and about the only way to fight them.”<br><br>“Which is?”<br><br>“Originality at the right moment. The only time we were able to fight back was when we came up with a completely original idea we had never tried. When we did that it was like those guys couldn’t see it, they saw something else.” <br><br>Crane walked over and continued where he left off. “Even in a video game you can’t predict the future due to free will. I’m guessing the foresight ability comes from some prediction calculation engine. Like something that takes all past experiences and tallies up the possible outcomes. But if it makes predictions based on the past, then something original would be outside its calculation parameters. Because of that I had to seal some of my abilities until the time was right.”<br><br>It was a bit complex, but Setsuna understood what he meant. To fight against fate itself, he had to play dirty. <br><br>The pair rode horses Setsuna had brought to the canyon the day before back to Soles. It was there that Crane’s men were training the rebel army that was gathering.<br><br>----------------------------------------------------<br><br>The mystics of the Shinshoo group called an emergency meeting. Up to the point where it actually happened, each man had seen the demon group being defeated and captured. After that they saw that the kingdom was safe. But after the mercenary group failed each man saw the kingdom’s imminent fall. <br><br>Upon arrival the group split into three groups and made predictions for each plan of action they thought was possible. But the image they came to was not clear. <br><br>-If the kingdom sends its strongest knights to deal with the bandits, the kingdom will fall.<br>-If the kingdom does nothing, it will fall.<br>-If another country sends aid, Rhinclast will fall.<br><br>No matter what was done, they could only see the fall of the kingdom. They didn’t know what to do. In cases where they couldn’t prevent an outcome like a specific law being passed they would assemble a team of bureaucrats they knew would be able to repel as soon as possible.<br><br>But this time was different. The future they saw seemed to stop at the fall of Rhineclast. Like the future after that had yet to be written. The group spent the next several days trying in vain to find a way to stop the future.<br><br>-------------------------------------------<br><br>Rudolph was at the palace. The head of state seemed furious. Rudolph wasn’t aware of this but his boss had received orders to stop the bandits, but not deploy the knight, or military. Rudolph handed him another summary of claims reports detailing losses of the noblemen family businesses. As soon as his boss opened it up he threw the report against the far wall. Of course the head of state had no way to know that at least three-fourths of the reports were false. Employees who had been forced to work more for less pay had been stealing from their own stores and blaming it on the Demon thieves. A reputation of steals everything, combined with never fails made for an excellent excuse to make money at the expense of the noblemen houses. Or course this had been the intention to begin with, to rot the economy from the inside, making victims into accomplices.<br><br>Rudolph’s boss said, “This is unacceptable, can’t these lazy fools do anything themselves?! Must I be expected to do everything for them?! Yet I can’t even use my own resources!”<br><br>Rudolph causally commented, “What do you need sir?”<br><br>After a snort he said, “I need those crow begotten thieves disemboweled!”<br><br>Rudolph nodded and said, “Then send the kingdom’s army, its not like they are needed here.”<br><br>The man practically growled, “I was advised that is not a wise decision....”<br><br>“If I may sir, I received reports that seem to indicate where the thieve’s permanent base of operation is.”<br><br>“You, What?!”<br><br>“It is in this folder sir.” Rudolph walked up to his boss’s table and pulled out one of the folder’s in the stack and casually handed it to the man who almost ripped it out of his hand.<br><br>The folder contained reports that stated the frequency of robberies was higher around a certain area, and that scouts who were sent to that area recently returned with reports that a camp has been set up. The report was of course a complete fabrication the kid handed to Rudolph to gie to his boss today.<br><br>Rudolph waited until he saw his boss’s eyes reach the bottom before he said, “Whoever said sending out the army may not have known about these most recent reports.”<br><br>After a silent moment the man said, “Indeed.”<br><br>A few minutes later orders were drafted up and given to Rudolph to give to the army. It was a full deployment, the 31,000 soldiers of the castle were to go to the camp and kill the thieves. <br><br>It was then that the Kid gave the signal. Along with the false document the kid had given Rudolph, he had also given him three boxes to sneak into the castle. After the signal he was to open them. The first had a map of the castle, Rudolph had given it to the kid who had marked over 200 locations on the map with precise detail. Under the map were stacks of paper with a symbol on it with instruction on what they were and how to use them. <br><br>Rudolph spent the night doing as the instructions clarified. He placed the notes onto specific points on interior and exterior walls in a specific alignment. The notes would turn into a large fireball after going off but wouldn’t go off unless disturbed. Placing them on walls was safe unless someone slammed into them so most were set on walls or wooden cross beams. After three hours he placed most of them, now he placed the triggers. By placing them on the ground, anyone stepping on them would be engulfed in flames. By placing them across a door and door frame, anyone opening the door would be engulfed in flames. And of course if anyone engulfed in flames approached another one of the flame tags, they would be set off, like dominos. <br><br>After placing the last one Rudolph hurried along the only safe path through the castle to the entrance. At the entrance were around six hundred armed men standing by, each wearing the mask of a demon. Apparently Dorruk had also been given the signal, and now Rudolph knew what was going to happen. He yelled out to the crowd before him. <br><br>“Everyone in this castle has failed you. And now they will pay with their lives. This castle will be set ablaze, and everyone who doesn’t wish to die will run through here where you will meet them. it it then you will be able to thank them for all they have done for you!” Rudolph raised the dagger at his side to make his point clear.<br><br>At this the men started yelling excitedly beneath their masks. This seemed to wake up many because the next thing Rudolph heard was a series of explosions. Someone had set off a trigger and now they would either be on fire or baking. Rudolph stood back so he could see the blaze. <br><br>Castles don’t catch on fire easily, and more specifically stone doesn’t catch on fire. However smoke does rise. Rudolph had already closed windows according to the instructions given by the kid. The smoke would purge every room of the castle’s upper levels while fire would torch every one of the lower floors. Because of the massive weight the castle had to hold the lower levels had more wooden support beams that were added later. After they all burned out it was likely that the castle itself would completely collapse. <br><br>A few minutes after the first explosion men wearing pajamas ran out of the castle only to be slain by armed rebels. Even women were slain, it wasn’t a pretty sight, it was mob mentality combined with the anonymity provided by the masks hiding their deeds. Several times groups came out escorted by guards who tried to protect them but there were skilled fighters amongst the masked rebels who easily took out the guards before they could do anything. It was overall a one sided massacre. <br><br>Loud rumblings shook the ground, Rudolph yelled at the top of his voice, “THE CASTLE”S COMING DOWN!!”<br><br>The men heard him well enough and ran away before the whole thing collapsed beneath its own weight. <br><br>----------------------------------------------------<br><br>In the morning after the rebellion Setsuna was buying goods from one of the newly opened markets. Several NPCs had been hoarding goods, likely stolen from the store they worked at, to sell after the plan went through. It was more expensive than an average store but still cheaper than the previous stores had the priced. Setsuna and some of Crane’s armed men went to the homes of each noblemen house with a copy of the new constitution. Setsuna made it clear each family had three options, sign the document agreeing to all terms, leave Rhinclast, or be executed for crimes against the people. Some actually took the option to leave, the rest signed the document. Afterwards she met Crane and the merchant Rudolph who had been speaking to the army that had just returned from their wild goose chase. It seemed to her that the whole lot was more relieved then angry about the whole thing. They appreciated that the plan to destroy the castle was held off until they weren’t in it. Later it seemed that Rudolph was assigned as the head of state. With his help Dorruk was able to get the government back up again in under a week. <br><br>That was when everything changed, Crane never told Setsuna was all of this was for. He had of course told her this was a job requested by the king of Donriel kingdom, the land three kingdoms over in the west. But he never told her why the king requested it, answering it each time she asked, “You’ll find out soon.” After the news had been sent to Donriel that the kingdom of Rhinclast was back up and that Dorruk was completely loyal to him, every user in Royal Road received a message.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Declaration of War<br>Herios Goldking VI, ruler of the Kingdom of Donriel, has declared war against the Kingdoms of Palmer, Koler, Omis, Ler'kal, and Thyest. <br><br>Over the past centuries these kingdoms have repressed their people to keep the old families in power. The newly appointed King of Donriel seeks to change the western fronteir of Versailles. <br><br>The Goal is to overthrow the kings within each kingdom. <br><br>As of this moment, all achievements, weapons, armors, and the prices of all basic necessities, will be frozen at the current place/price in all towns belonging to any of the participating kingdoms. <br><br>User who participates in quests related to the war will acquire an increase of 20% of the Experience points upon completion, as well as a 20% increase in Experience points for defeating those aligned against you.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Crane had been standing beside her when the message arrived. He calmly said, “This is where the fun begins.” </div>

Volume 2 Chapter 6 The Fallen Future In a tower within a castle in the capital of a certain kingdom in the west of Versailles met the eleven mystics who ruled over this domain. Each of these men shared a skill, the ability to see glimpses of the future. Alone the skill only gave vague references to effects from their cause, but when the men shared their visions, the image became clear. Like their predecessors and the ones before them, this group used their combined ability to secretly govern the futures of the kingdoms around them. Through insight into cause and effect they could see how their decisions affected the future and could choose whatever action that benefited them the most. In this way the members of this group had lived with greater luxuries than even royalty for almost a thousand years. Once a month the men get together to share and interpret their visions. On this day however the eldest member was troubled, what he had seen over the past month was a nightmarish image over and over again. As he sat down at the table along with the others to discuss each vision they had over the past month, he could see some of the others were fidgety. It seemed he was not the only one who had seen it. As the senior member he had the duty of writing down each vision in a large tome. After taking it out and opening it to the current page, each member shared their visions over the past month. -Rhinclast will fall -The demons are to blame -Demons rising, Rhinclast falling. -Before the next moon, Rhinclast will fall It went on like that for each man. Each one had described a group of demons faced men that was somehow linked to the fall of Rhinclast. A flaw of their ability was that they could see cause, and effect, but not much between. Rhinclast was a small kingdom, the easternmost kingdom of their domain. The royal family of Rhinclast did what the mystics told them to, and in return the mystics prevented anything that would cause the downfall of the royal family. There had been hundreds of incidents in the past thousand years where they predicted a kingdom would fall, but each time they took the necessary measures far enough in advance to prevent it. They reason this was possible was because they always saw such things months, or even years in advance. Now however they saw it would happen within a month. The room was loud with panicking, they understood that should the kingdom fall, it would change everything they had predicted would happen afterwards. The collected visions which foretold events to about a year in the future would be rendered worthless. The eldest mystic closed the tome loudly, silencing everyone in the room. He said, “We cannot allow this to happen. This meeting will be extended until we have with absolute certainty, prevented the fall of Rhinclast. First we must find the identity of these demons.” The men had their servants scour the city for all the information related to demons that had something to do with Rhinclast. In one hour they found it. The eldest shared the document with the rest. | Wanted: Demon ThievesBounty: 2150 GoldCrime: Grand Theft, Murder, EvasionAppearance: A group of about twenty men wearing demon masksMost of them use different weapons, no magic users among themFaces unknown, Strength: Extreme combat coordination between them. None have been reported slain since their first appearance one month agoSpecial note: Steals highly valuable cargo en route going to or from Soles, the capital city of Rhinclast. Many of the caravans that were stolen from recently had hired a number of guards, all of which were slainLocation last spotted: Downsure trail, after stealing a the gold tax payment of the town of Trisdon on its way to Soles. | | --- | On the wanted poster where their is usually a sketch of the criminal was a terrifying demon mask, the same one that haunted their visions. The eldest mystic instructed the others to look through old tomes to see if anything like this had ever happened before. He had to somehow figure out the connection between Rhinclast falling and these thieves. After a few hours, they believed they had an answer. About three hundred years back there was a band of barbarians that raided up and down the kingdoms. the mystic group at the time foresaw that if they were not stopped they kingdoms being raided would fall from their control. They succeeded and after investigating it was determined that at the time, the people who had suffered loss under the raids were rebelling against their government’s failure to stop the barbarians hords. The eldest spoke, “We must under any circumstance stop these thieves.” The men agreed. They each contributed to a fund which they would use to stop this future. The men divided into three groups and over the next three days discussed various ways to remove the problem and their possibility of success. In the end it was decided on that they would hire a mercenary group within Rhinclast kingdom. After the decision was made, each mystic saw the fall of the demons. It was concluded that this action had a 100% guarantee to work. -------------------------------------------- Varg had just gotten back from assignment. His crew had been hired by one of the local guilds to clear out a recently purchased mine of monsters. The mine was as larger than an average dungeon and had monsters between level 220 and 290. It was finished before the 2x experience had expired. Varg was one of the strongest mercenaries in the kingdom. As he approached the counter of the client guild, the clerk said, “ Ahh, Varg. Good news to report I hope.” “The place is empty and safe to work in.” The clerk smiled, “Brilliant. You finished ahead of schedule, which means more money for the guild. Here is your payment in full, I do hope to work with you again.” | Quest Completed: Clear the mineDifficulty:CReward: 1800 GoldYou have leveled up! | | --- | Varg left without a word. A happy customer was a repeat customer, and repeat customers were the lifeblood of a successful mercenary. However as he was leaving the man at the counter said, “Wait sir, we have a letter for you.” Varg turned around, “Another request?” “Don’t know, not from us anyways.” Varg opened the letter and read its content. -To the mercenary Varg, On the behalf of the Kingdom of Rhinclast, our group wishes to hire your services. Stop the activities of the band of thieves who wear Demon masks. How you stop them is entirely up to you. But on the condition their activities come to a halt within ten days, you will be paid a sum of 65,000 gold. -Sincerely, the Shinshoo group Varg re-read the page twice. On the bottom was a genuine stamp of the Shinshoo group, the most influential group in six kingdoms. It was wasn’t something that could be faked even by a master forger, but the request didn’t seem to match the price. Varg brought up his contact list and clicked whisper to an acquaintance of his, an information broker named Quinn. -Hey Quinn, you there? -Varg, been a while. What can I do for you? -I need information on a group of bandits in Rhinclast who wear demons masks. -Ahh, them. Had you been around you would’ve heard about them, you been under a rock for the past week? -Give me the info Quinn... -Right, right. One moment. Varg waited for about fifteen minutes before Quinn started up again. -Alright, the Demon thieves, so named because of the scary masks they wear, have been wreaking havoc on the trade networks in and out of Rhinclast for about a month. They steal the best stuff, imported or exported. I’ve got reports of payments of gold being taken en route, some valuable gems and even garments being taken, and a long list of assorted goods of varying values and types. These guys haven’t limited themselves to one market, they pretty much steal anything that someone will pay a good amount for and they are relentless. It seems that not a single incident where they have tried to steal has actually failed. -Sounds like they are overqualified to be thieves. Anyone with a 100% success rate shouldn’t be targeting anything less than the best but these guys seem to be deliberately targeting everything. -That’s right. And the people are not happy. They’ve tried everything, sending their stuff in secret, sending it in quantities too large to steal, and even hiding their stuff with stuff that has almost no value like flour or wheat. They even hire security guards and such to protect them on route, but those bandits succeed each time. And apparently anyone who looks at those demon masks gets a debuff, so they can’t fight at full strength. -I see, and even with such an advantage, to always be able to defeat the security guards means they must be strong. -I’ll say, you should hear the reports. I’ll send you some contact info on some of the guys who fought against them. -Sounds good, what else can you tell me about how the thefts are affecting the people. -Well lets see... Varg thought that there was something not right about this. Because every commodity was being robbed everyone was unhappy. But a professional thief would stick to only the most valuable of items. There was no need to anger so many, unless that was their plan in the first place. Quinn began up again. -Yea, the people have been complaining to the government. They are convinced that the government should be able to do something about the bandits. In truth they have sent several units out there but most haven’t found anything, and some haven’t been seen since. -I see. Send me anything else you can think of later, put the bill on my tab. -Alright. Varg went to a bar where he found an old colleague, a barbarian who Quinn said was one of the men hired to protect a supply shipment from the bandits but was slain. “A pint for my friend here.” Varg paid for some beer and passed it to the barbarian who looked down at it and said, “You don’t give things for free, you’re not that kind of person. What do you want?” Varg sat right beside the large man and said, “Only everything you can tell me about those demon guys. I’ll buy you all the beer you can drink until you’re done sharing.” The barbarian smiled at the proposition. The longing he spoke, the more beer he got for free, and the more he talked, the more he would have to say. The man picked up the glass and drank it down in a half second flat before saying, “Three more.” He was going to get as much out of Varg as he could. “Ok, what do you want to know?” “How did they fight, tell me everything.” In the time it took for Varg to complete his sentence the barbarians inhaled the three glasses and requested three more. “Well, the first thing is that there didn’t seem to be a mage among them. They were all martial combat fighters, and used a good variety of different weapons.” Varg was almost impressed by the barbarian’s ability to speak a sentence, drink a glass of beer, and start up the next sentence without any break in the conversation. “How many were there?” “About twenty I think.” *Chug* “Was there anything impressive about the way they fought?” *Chug* “Oh yea, *Chug*, they fought like machines. *Chug* It was like a choreographed play.” *Chug* “What do you mean?” “Well, they fought like a perfect team. When I smacked one of them to the ground with my war hammer, three of them rushed me and attacked me simultaneously. I ain’t never seen anything like dat. My group had forty men total protecting the caravan but it wasn’t enough. Two of the bandits somehow managed to hold off almost half of the guards while the others methodically took care of each guard and myself. The merchants themselves had given up without a fight after we were all killed so the bandits took the supplies and left them unharmed.” The barbarian’s grammar while chugging was both good and bad, watching it was oddly disturbing considering the man could not achieve such conversation skills while drinking unless he practiced a great deal. Varg only had two more questions. “Did the two who were taking on most of the guard seem like the leaders?” “Don’t know, they never spoke during the whole thing, never gave out orders, never shouted threats or warnings. It was eerie.” Varg nodded and asked, “What effect did looking at the masks give?” “Hmm, lower morale and fighting spirit. Not that effective against combat classes, but mages might freeze up if they get a good look at them.” Varg got out some coins and placed them on the table saying, “Thanks for the info.” Varg paid a visit to the commodity exchange and paid them well for some info. In two days a supply of rare Orichalcum ore was going to be secretly taken out of the kingdom, hidden in a large caravan of flour. It seemed it was a part of the kingdom’s own reserves, meant as payment to Windset for some of the much needed supplies the kingdom desperately needed. Varg had little doubt that the thieves would target the shipment. Varg spent the next three hours going from guild to guild, asking for anyone who wanted an easy job, as well as from his own mercenary guild. Varg hired 200 NPCs and users from various guilds and 50 users from his own guild, men he trusted and could rely on. It was a win win situation. His task was to stop the bandits from stealing. He guessed the reason to be the stability of the government. If the bandits showed up his 250 men would either capture or annihilate them. If they didn’t show up then the orichalcum ore would make it to its destination and help stabilize the economy. Either way he knew that he was expected to succeed, regardless of what happened. -------------------------------------------- Rudolph was a user in a government position. Through an odd assortment of quests he had obtained a job that paid six gold coins a month as the assistant to the head of state of Rhinclast in the capital city of Soles. Basically he worked under the man who was in charge of keeping the kingdom’s commerce running smoothly and his own job was to make his boss’s job easier. He had chosen the class of merchant to strike it rich in one of the recently opened kingdoms of the west, but he found only misery. The kingdoms had laws that were made for the sheer purpose of ensuring that those in power stay in power and those without power never acquire it. Rudolph had hoped that he could change that and be the first of many to take advantage of the changes. It took a couple months but he succeeded in getting this far. However once he reached one of the highest points a user could reach, he realized it was a dead end. The men who had the power to change the laws were also protected by those same ancient laws. They would never change them. Rudolph would have to change them himself. Even after a month had passed, he still recalled every detail from the first time he met that kid. It had been a long day filing civic orders and summarizing hundreds of documents down to the main points to give to his boss before the man complained that they were still too long. Of course had he left something out the head of state should know, he would receive a pay cut the following month. At the bar he frequented was a tall black haired kid he had never seen before drinking orange juice. When Rudolph sat down, without even looking over, the kid asked, “If you could, how would you change the kingdom?” Rudolph smiled and said, “Start from scratch. Erase all the laws and write new ones that don’t restrict trade or innovation. Make a kingdom where if a guy wants to make it rich, the kingdom itself won’t try to stop him.” Rudolph was of course speaking about personal experience. The houses of many of the great noblemen in Toles had family businesses that each had a specialty. When Rudolph showed up he tried to sell foreign goods at a decent price. However he found out that he could only legally sell them to one store who paid less than he purchased them for. That store was owned by one of the houses of noblemen. Because of the laws each controlled supply and demand for their own product, anyone who had the same must sell it to them. And anyone caught trying to sell elsewhere was severely punished. The kid said, “How would the kingdom be able to start from scratch?” After pondering for a moment he answered, “You would have to replace all the men in power.” “And how would that be accomplished?” Rudolph had thought of this conversation with a random kid and a theoretical exercise to satisfy a child’s curiosity. He said, “The laws that need to be changed protect the ones who don’t change them, the only way to replace them would be for the kingdom to fall to a rebellion from its own people.” Then as an afterthought he said, “But that would cost tens of thousands of gold.” The kid said nothing and left. Rudolph wondered who he was but thought that in the end it didn’t matter. That was until the next day when the kid showed up in front of him with a sack of 20,000 gold and said, “What next?” After that it got serious, the kid said that if a man who could replace the king swore his loyalty to the kid’s patron, the patron would pay for the uprising. Rudolph introduced the kid to the a nobleman named Dorruk. He was apart of a branch family who did not receive anything from the business of the main family and due to the laws in place, he basically had no future. He was not a good man but he wasn’t bad either. The kid discussed in private with him and after returning said Dorruk was acceptable. Afterwards Rudolph and the kid made their plans to drop the kingdom to its knees before taking off its head. First Rudolph gave the kid all the information he could on various trade routes and dates and times of departures of various goods. Because of Rudolph’s position he was able to obtain the information easily. Less than a week after the ‘Demon Bandits’ started raiding up everything of value, Rudolph’s boss was tasked with solving the bandit problem. He requested knights and troops of various strengths to scour the kingdom till the bandits were found. But because Rudolph had been leaking all of their movements, the kid only encountered the ones he could deal with. Because most of the citizens worked in some way for one of the great house's family businesses, with each theft the businesses suffered. However the greedy noblemen were unwilling to part with their fortunes to pay the workers of the stores no money had been made from due to the robbery so they simply fired their worker and made the ones they didn’t fire work harder for reduced pay. Needless to say the city was outraged. Jobless men and women who had families to feed would go hungry. However that is when Dorruk stepped in to save the day. Most of the money obtained from the thefts had gone to Dorruk to buy food and supplies for the angry masses. Massives groups were organized in secret by Dorruk who told all the people it was their government’s fault they had to rely on the kindness of another, it was the government’s fault that all of this was happening. Somehow the kid had obtained hundreds of weapons and given them to Dorruk to spread to the masses. Because he had not bought them from any smith in the kingdom, there were no signs that a secret army was gathering right beneath the government’s nose. Rudolph suspected that most of the weapons and armors given were from pursuers the kid had slain but the drop rate for such items was low at best. He still partially wondered how someone could get so many weapons at once. Back to the present, Rudolph was preparing for the end game. However he was never told what to do on his own. In fact he was specifically told that should the kid’s bandits be defeated, he should pretend he never met the kid and forget about everything. The kid was very serious about that point and made him swear it. He still didn’t understand why. -------------------------------------------- Varg sat on a horse outside the Soles city limits with 250 men. Coming his way was a caravan of twenty one carts carrying flour, and secretly carrying orichalcum ore from the treasury of Soles. The young merchant in the driver’s seat stopped the wagon and said, “Please be on your way sir.” Varg walked up to the side of the wagon and said, “My name is Varg. I am a mercenary here to ensure your caravan gets to Windset safely.” The merchant looked as uneasy as one can when 250 armed men stand in front of you and said, “That won’t be necessary sir. I have already paid a group of warriors to guard my wagons. I fact they are the ones who are now driving the carts.” Varg look back and counted. twenty-one carts, twenty guards, the same number as the members seen in the demon thieves. Varg noticed that many of the drivers seemed uneasy at the prospect of being escorted by 250 armed men. Though that nervousness could have just as easily come from the fact that they were currently surrounded. Varg continued. “This is not a request. I was hired to ensure this caravan gets to its destination. I have been promised payment from another party, you don’t have to pay anything.” The merchant seemed to be considering this before Varg stepped in closer and said, “Your cargo is the likely target of the demon thieves.” The merchant froze up for a second before Varg continued, “I was hired to take care of them. If we encounter them we will deal with them, if they don’t come then your delivery will be successful.” After a moment the merchant relented. He whispered, “Very well. And to think I went through such measures as disguising guards as drivers so as not to draw attention to myself. But I guess if you found out about my cargo then it is likely the demon thieves know as well.” The merchant started up in a louder voice, “You can come, but you will have to feed yourselves. I will not allow one speck of flour to taken during the trip. You have enough provisions for two weeks?” Varg nodded, “The window the thieves attack is within three days after departure. We will of course escort you to the border of the kingdom, and have enough supplies to last us the week it will take to get there.” “I see. Well, then, lets go.” Varg’s horse kept the slow pace alongside the lead cart, there were a few things he wanted to ask the merchant about the guards he had hired. He silently sent whispers to his lieutenants to keep a close eye on them. Varg made various small talk with the merchant. The man had never been robbed by the demon thieves before but was familiar with one of the noblemen houses of Soles. These combined were the likely reasons he was put in charge of carrying the orichalcum. After a few hours Varg asked, “So where did you hire those guards?” The merchant said, “Ah, yes, well. They came with one another. I was looking to hire some guards who wouldn’t mind driving the carts. That way I could go ‘incognito’ without anyone looking twice at my caravan. I always figured that those bandits sized up merchandise by how many people were guarding it, so if I was transporting flour with no guards, they wouldn’t notice me.” Varg smiled for a moment before saying, “But those bandits were stealing precious objects and valuables before people began hiring guards.” The merchant widened his eyes for a moment at the realization of the flaw in his logic and remained silent for a while. Varg considered what the merchant said, that the entire group had been hired at once, that they all already knew how to drive a wagon, and that they seemed to have no problem with driving a wagon for two weeks to, then from a location, a whole month. Nothing about it added up unless they were in fact the masked bandits. Varg partially understood why the merchant didn’t suspect a thing. Not one of the guards had a murderer’s mark, the tell tale red diamond on their forehead or their name highlighted in red above their heads. That didn’t however mean much to Varg. It was possible that the masks they wore had some ability to shield them from the murderer’s mark if they killed while it was worn. Perhaps they simply fought a great deal of monsters before coming here, that too would erase the mark. Of course they also could have simply donated to the church and been relieved of their sins by the clergymen. It wasn’t cheap, but it was a fast reliable method for a murderer to appear safe. Varg decided to tell the merchant his worries. The young man’s first reaction was, “Well to put it bluntly, how do I know you are not thieves here to kill me and take the ore? Nothing you have told me is something exclusive to them, even if you aren’t the demon bandits, you could still be thieves.” Varg reflected on the idea, it was true that from his perspective the merchant would see Varg’s group far more threatening. Varg took out the letter from the Shinshoo group and showed it to the merchant. After allowing him to read it over he said, “I am being paid enough to keep me on task. I have never failed in my assignment. Even if I have to die you will get your cargo to Windset and I will stop the demon thieves.” The merchant however was still looking at the letter. A small smile appeared on his face before disappearing so fast Varg wasn’t sure he saw it at all. The merchant said in an amazed voice, “65 thousand gold? That’s incredible! Ok, I believe you. So, what do you want to do? The orichalcum ore is stored beneath the flour of each wagon in a strong box bolted to the wagon itself.” Varg considered this, his first priority was to get the bandits but to fulfil the spirit of his assignment if not the letter his second priority was to get the ore to Windset. If all the ore was in one wagon he could send it ahead with some of his men and used the rest would surround and capture the bandits, but that wasn’t an option. Varg said, “We need to capture them in a place they have no way to escape.” The merchant looked ecstatic, “I know! There is a trail a few hours from here that leads into a canyon that is a complete dead end. I’m the only one here who knows the trail, the others won’t suspect a thing even if we change our route.” Varg smiled, “Perfect.” Two hours later the caravan was lead into a narrow canyon with no way to climb up the sides. After fifteen minutes through it they arrived at a dead end too steep to climb up. By then his men had armed themselves. Varg took out his sword and said, “Drivers, give yourself up or you will be killed.” By the end of his sentence each had at least three swords pointed at them. A few minutes later they were all tied up and Varg was speaking. “Am I right to say you are the demon thieves?” One of the younger looking captives spoke up saying, “You got the wrong guys pal.” Varg thought this would make things easier, the one who spoke up was the one the merchant identified as the only one he hired and who the rest came with. This was the most likely candidate for leader. Varg said, “So you’re not the demon thieves then?” The captive said, “Hell no, why you be tying us up without cause man?” So it wasn’t going to be so easy after all. Varg drew his sword and put it up to the kid’s throat and said, “The demon thieves have 20 members, you came with twenty members, you think such a coincidence would be overlooked?” The captive looked appalled by the logic, he said, “Hey man, we didn’t choose the number, that merchant did. I was da last person in line for this job so I got hired, but the guy behind me wasn’t.” Varg said, “Excuse me? Tell me in full how you were hired.” “Hey man, that merchant called out at the bar I hang out and said he was hiring 20 dudes who could drives a wagon for 1 week. He paid 2 gold when we signed up.” Nothing the kid was saying matched the merchant’s testimony, so one of them was lying. Before he was certain it was the kid, but his manner of speaking made him think perhaps he wasn’t bright enough to fit the description of the demon thieves. If he wasn’t lying, then the merchant was. Varg quickly looked around, the merchant was gone. Varg ran to the closest wagon and started throwing out the sacks of flour. After a few minutes with his men staring at him he nearly emptied the wagon. Nothing was underneath, no strong box, no orichalcum. However on the side of the wagon previously hidden from view by the bags of flour was a piece of paper stuck to the wagon’s interior. It was difficult to see at first because it was coated in a light layer of flour but now Varg could clearly see a rectangular strip of paper with a symbol on it that looked similar to the english letter F. Varg inspected the rest of the wagon to find that there were in fact, six such papers inside it. Suddenly a loud sound came from overhead. The sound of rocks breaking. One such rock broke off and fell onto a pair of men, crushing them. Someone yelled, “Avalanche!!” Then another yelled, “Hide under the wagons!” The men rushing under the closest wagon was like a scene of musical chairs. The space under the wagons could not fit everyone. A moment after everyone started gathering around the wagons another rock fell right onto a wagon. However against everyone’s expectations, the wagon immediately exploded in an enormous fire ball. An instant later the wagons on each side of the explosion exploded as well in a beyond deafening KABOOM! Like a domino effect the explosions spread one by one to all twenty one carts in less than four seconds. The fire from the explosions completely filled the canyons scorching everyone inside .The flour in the air burned everything like a dust explosion. The flour fueled inferno lasted about six seconds. When it had settles, all but the strongest were dead. However they died a moment later when the rocks the explosion broke off the canyon wall crushed everything. ------------------------------------------------------ Setsuna watched the blaze from a distance and knew to wait until the tremors had stopped before approaching. Crane had sent his men on another assignment, she only came to watch his plan unfold. When everyone was distracted by the apprehension of the drivers Crane hired, Setsuna lowered a rope from the top of the canyon and pulled Crane up. After that Crane waited for the mercenary to figure it out before he used Seismic stomp to cause some of the rocks to fall. Once a rock hit his wagon bombs the fire that shot out of the crevice looked like an erupting volcano. Setsuna told this to Crane but he assured her an erupting volcano looked very different. The pair slid down the rocky cliff face to the bottom. It was too steep to climb up but not down. Their intent was to look for and finish off survivors but the rock covered everything so there wasn’t much to see besides crushed armor, broken burnt wood, and rocks, lots of rocks. Setsuna asked, “You think this might have been a little excessive?” Crane answered, “Absolutely. Before now I wasn’t allowed to do this kind of thing, I guess I was making up for lost time.” “And why weren’t you allowed again?” Crane pulled out a shrunken head and threw it to Setsuna who caught it on instinct before realizing what it was. She wasn’t squeamish so she didn’t think it was too bad, until it said, “Hello there.” She almost dropped it before catching it at the last second. She called out to Crane, “Why do you have a talking shrunken head?” While digging through more rubble he answered, “Its a radio. The guy on the other end gave it to me. He sees you talking through the matching shrunken head.” Setsuna’s first thought was why someone would have a shrunken head radio. She held it up again and said, “Hello.” “Hello again. I heard what you asked Crane. I am the one who told him to to use skills like this before now.” Setsuna asked, “Why not? It’s effectiveness is pretty apparent.” “Yes, but against the Shinshoo group, you must not use your best hand until it is ready.” “The shinshoo group?” “Yes, yes. Some time back me and some buddies raided west but good. It was a blast. We were unstoppable. But then that dam shinshoo group stopped us. I Only figured out later it was because they could see into the future. They could predict our moves and strategies. When Crane told me he was going to change the west, I told him about the shinshoo, and about the only way to fight them.” “Which is?” “Originality at the right moment. The only time we were able to fight back was when we came up with a completely original idea we had never tried. When we did that it was like those guys couldn’t see it, they saw something else.” Crane walked over and continued where he left off. “Even in a video game you can’t predict the future due to free will. I’m guessing the foresight ability comes from some prediction calculation engine. Like something that takes all past experiences and tallies up the possible outcomes. But if it makes predictions based on the past, then something original would be outside its calculation parameters. Because of that I had to seal some of my abilities until the time was right.” It was a bit complex, but Setsuna understood what he meant. To fight against fate itself, he had to play dirty. The pair rode horses Setsuna had brought to the canyon the day before back to Soles. It was there that Crane’s men were training the rebel army that was gathering. ---------------------------------------------------- The mystics of the Shinshoo group called an emergency meeting. Up to the point where it actually happened, each man had seen the demon group being defeated and captured. After that they saw that the kingdom was safe. But after the mercenary group failed each man saw the kingdom’s imminent fall. Upon arrival the group split into three groups and made predictions for each plan of action they thought was possible. But the image they came to was not clear. -If the kingdom sends its strongest knights to deal with the bandits, the kingdom will fall. -If the kingdom does nothing, it will fall. -If another country sends aid, Rhinclast will fall. No matter what was done, they could only see the fall of the kingdom. They didn’t know what to do. In cases where they couldn’t prevent an outcome like a specific law being passed they would assemble a team of bureaucrats they knew would be able to repel as soon as possible. But this time was different. The future they saw seemed to stop at the fall of Rhineclast. Like the future after that had yet to be written. The group spent the next several days trying in vain to find a way to stop the future. ------------------------------------------- Rudolph was at the palace. The head of state seemed furious. Rudolph wasn’t aware of this but his boss had received orders to stop the bandits, but not deploy the knight, or military. Rudolph handed him another summary of claims reports detailing losses of the noblemen family businesses. As soon as his boss opened it up he threw the report against the far wall. Of course the head of state had no way to know that at least three-fourths of the reports were false. Employees who had been forced to work more for less pay had been stealing from their own stores and blaming it on the Demon thieves. A reputation of steals everything, combined with never fails made for an excellent excuse to make money at the expense of the noblemen houses. Or course this had been the intention to begin with, to rot the economy from the inside, making victims into accomplices. Rudolph’s boss said, “This is unacceptable, can’t these lazy fools do anything themselves?! Must I be expected to do everything for them?! Yet I can’t even use my own resources!” Rudolph causally commented, “What do you need sir?” After a snort he said, “I need those crow begotten thieves disemboweled!” Rudolph nodded and said, “Then send the kingdom’s army, its not like they are needed here.” The man practically growled, “I was advised that is not a wise decision....” “If I may sir, I received reports that seem to indicate where the thieve’s permanent base of operation is.” “You, What?!” “It is in this folder sir.” Rudolph walked up to his boss’s table and pulled out one of the folder’s in the stack and casually handed it to the man who almost ripped it out of his hand. The folder contained reports that stated the frequency of robberies was higher around a certain area, and that scouts who were sent to that area recently returned with reports that a camp has been set up. The report was of course a complete fabrication the kid handed to Rudolph to gie to his boss today. Rudolph waited until he saw his boss’s eyes reach the bottom before he said, “Whoever said sending out the army may not have known about these most recent reports.” After a silent moment the man said, “Indeed.” A few minutes later orders were drafted up and given to Rudolph to give to the army. It was a full deployment, the 31,000 soldiers of the castle were to go to the camp and kill the thieves. It was then that the Kid gave the signal. Along with the false document the kid had given Rudolph, he had also given him three boxes to sneak into the castle. After the signal he was to open them. The first had a map of the castle, Rudolph had given it to the kid who had marked over 200 locations on the map with precise detail. Under the map were stacks of paper with a symbol on it with instruction on what they were and how to use them. Rudolph spent the night doing as the instructions clarified. He placed the notes onto specific points on interior and exterior walls in a specific alignment. The notes would turn into a large fireball after going off but wouldn’t go off unless disturbed. Placing them on walls was safe unless someone slammed into them so most were set on walls or wooden cross beams. After three hours he placed most of them, now he placed the triggers. By placing them on the ground, anyone stepping on them would be engulfed in flames. By placing them across a door and door frame, anyone opening the door would be engulfed in flames. And of course if anyone engulfed in flames approached another one of the flame tags, they would be set off, like dominos. After placing the last one Rudolph hurried along the only safe path through the castle to the entrance. At the entrance were around six hundred armed men standing by, each wearing the mask of a demon. Apparently Dorruk had also been given the signal, and now Rudolph knew what was going to happen. He yelled out to the crowd before him. “Everyone in this castle has failed you. And now they will pay with their lives. This castle will be set ablaze, and everyone who doesn’t wish to die will run through here where you will meet them. it it then you will be able to thank them for all they have done for you!” Rudolph raised the dagger at his side to make his point clear. At this the men started yelling excitedly beneath their masks. This seemed to wake up many because the next thing Rudolph heard was a series of explosions. Someone had set off a trigger and now they would either be on fire or baking. Rudolph stood back so he could see the blaze. Castles don’t catch on fire easily, and more specifically stone doesn’t catch on fire. However smoke does rise. Rudolph had already closed windows according to the instructions given by the kid. The smoke would purge every room of the castle’s upper levels while fire would torch every one of the lower floors. Because of the massive weight the castle had to hold the lower levels had more wooden support beams that were added later. After they all burned out it was likely that the castle itself would completely collapse. A few minutes after the first explosion men wearing pajamas ran out of the castle only to be slain by armed rebels. Even women were slain, it wasn’t a pretty sight, it was mob mentality combined with the anonymity provided by the masks hiding their deeds. Several times groups came out escorted by guards who tried to protect them but there were skilled fighters amongst the masked rebels who easily took out the guards before they could do anything. It was overall a one sided massacre. Loud rumblings shook the ground, Rudolph yelled at the top of his voice, “THE CASTLE”S COMING DOWN!!” The men heard him well enough and ran away before the whole thing collapsed beneath its own weight. ---------------------------------------------------- In the morning after the rebellion Setsuna was buying goods from one of the newly opened markets. Several NPCs had been hoarding goods, likely stolen from the store they worked at, to sell after the plan went through. It was more expensive than an average store but still cheaper than the previous stores had the priced. Setsuna and some of Crane’s armed men went to the homes of each noblemen house with a copy of the new constitution. Setsuna made it clear each family had three options, sign the document agreeing to all terms, leave Rhinclast, or be executed for crimes against the people. Some actually took the option to leave, the rest signed the document. Afterwards she met Crane and the merchant Rudolph who had been speaking to the army that had just returned from their wild goose chase. It seemed to her that the whole lot was more relieved then angry about the whole thing. They appreciated that the plan to destroy the castle was held off until they weren’t in it. Later it seemed that Rudolph was assigned as the head of state. With his help Dorruk was able to get the government back up again in under a week. That was when everything changed, Crane never told Setsuna was all of this was for. He had of course told her this was a job requested by the king of Donriel kingdom, the land three kingdoms over in the west. But he never told her why the king requested it, answering it each time she asked, “You’ll find out soon.” After the news had been sent to Donriel that the kingdom of Rhinclast was back up and that Dorruk was completely loyal to him, every user in Royal Road received a message. | Declaration of WarHerios Goldking VI, ruler of the Kingdom of Donriel, has declared war against the Kingdoms of Palmer, Koler, Omis, Ler'kal, and Thyest. Over the past centuries these kingdoms have repressed their people to keep the old families in power. The newly appointed King of Donriel seeks to change the western fronteir of Versailles. The Goal is to overthrow the kings within each kingdom. As of this moment, all achievements, weapons, armors, and the prices of all basic necessities, will be frozen at the current place/price in all towns belonging to any of the participating kingdoms. User who participates in quests related to the war will acquire an increase of 20% of the Experience points upon completion, as well as a 20% increase in Experience points for defeating those aligned against you. | | --- | Crane had been standing beside her when the message arrived. He calmly said, “This is where the fun begins.”

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 7 The killer Comedian<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br>~Previously on Avid X-Over~<br><br>Kakashi: "Right........., you really are a mystery zed-san, First you pull Ramen out of your ass, then you pull gold coins out of your ass, what's next?, you gonna pull a rabbit out of your ass?."<br><br>Zed: "Maybe."<br><br>Everyone in the group sweatdropped.<br><br>Zed: "See you later zabuza-san and haku-san, I hope we meet again."<br><br>Naruto: "Wow I'm sure glad you're on our side aniki, who knows if you were an enemy. You might pull a weapon of mass destruction out of your ass."<br><br>Zed: "Who knows ototo, I just might." said in a serious voice.<br><br>Naruto: "Your scaring me aniki."<br><br><br>Chapter Start<br><br>Zed POV:<br><br>After the Scene I caused died down, we went back to Tazuna's house, and the villagers celebrated their newfound freedom. I served a feast for the villagers along with my stashes of beer, and the wine seems to mellow out the mood. I also cooked a special batch of ramen for my brother, and that seemed to get him out of his slump, and went back to his happy hyperactive self. I then invited Naruto to an empty room for a private discussions.<br><br>Naruto: "What do you want to talk to me about aniki?."<br><br>Zed: "I'm sorry Naruto, I heard about your situation from Inari."<br><br>Naruto: "Noooo!, Now you'll hate me now too." naruto said sadly.<br><br>Zed: "What are you talking about Naruto?, I don't hate you."<br><br>Naruto: "You don't?, but isn't that what you came here to discuss with me?."<br><br>Zed: "Silly Naruto, that's not why I called you here, I called you here because I thought that you might be lonely living alone, and ask you If you want to live with me since you are now my brother."<br><br>Naruto: "Really??, You want me to live with you?."<br><br>Zed: "Yes really, that way I can take care of you and serve you more delicious ramen."<br><br>Naruto: "RAMEN!!!, you got a deal aniki, now you can never get rid of me."<br><br>Zed: "Silly Ototo, Were family now, and family stick together no matter what. I won't give up on you, and share your burden with you if it's to much for you to carry alone. I just wish we could be real blood brothers, but I love you for who are, and no matter what anyone says to you, I will always be your brother."<br><br>Naruto: "Aniki!, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." said with tears forming out of naruto's eyes.<br><br> Naruto: "Aniki!.<br><br>Zed: "Naruto!."<br><br>Naruto: "Aniki."<br><br>Zed: "Naruto!."<br><br>Naruto: "Aniki!."<br><br> Naruto was about to hug zed.<br><br>Zed: "AHEM!!, don't you dare pull a Guy with me ototo."<br><br>Naruto: "Nani??."<br><br>Zed: "Trust me, you don't want to know."<br><br>Naruto: "Whatever you say aniki."<br><br>Zed: "Alright, that's Enough of the mushy stuff for one day, let's go back to the festival. I'll also make more of your favorite ramen."<br><br>Naruto: "RAMEN!!, come aniki let's go the party, so I can have more of your delicious ramen."<br><br>Zed: "That's my ototo for you, let's go slowpoke."<br><br>After that, the festivities continued with good food along with many bowls of delicious ramen, and the feast finally ended. We stayed with Tazuna to finish the bridge, and with naruto's unlimited stamina, along with the shadow clone jutsu, the bridge was finished within 3 days The citizens of the wave also named their bridge "the great Naruto Bridge". I handed Tazuna-san a scroll containing 100k gold with an estimated value of 1 million Ryo with a note saying "I trust you on what to do with this money". I told him to open it after 5 hours after we left. We arrived back to Konoha safely, and we went our seperate ways, because Kakashi-san insisted that he will do the reporting, I would probably guess that he will be emphasizing the technique I used to revive the two dead ninja, I just hoped no enemy ninja saw that technique, Oh who am I kidding, I'm in so much trouble, The whole mob of the wave villagers saw me doing it. I will just have to prepare myself for the worst, then nothing an enemy can do will surprise me. I think that is a well made plan, considering I made it on the spot. Mwahahaha! I'm so good, I even scare myself sometimes.<br><br>Now what to do with my free time. Ahh yes, I have to thank Kurenai for her help last time. I asked a passing ninja on where to find miss Kurenai, and He pointed me to training ground 8. I arrived at training ground 8 to see Kurenai's team doing practice jutsu ,and teamwork exercises, I then approached slowly at them.<br><br>Boy with puppy: "Hey sensei, I think there's a person here who's lost."<br><br>Kurenai: "Well let's greet them shall we?, everyone well take a break for ten minutes while I greet this person."<br><br>Kurenai approached me slowly and was about to speak but I interrupted her.<br><br>Zed: "Hello Kurenai-san, Its been a long time, I thank you for your tutelage.<br><br>Kurenai: "Do I know you stranger?."<br>Zed: "I'm hurt Kurenai-san, you don't remember me?, no?, Oh okay then, I'll refresh your memory, I'm that civilian that asked you for a lesson in genjutsu."<br><br>Kurenai: "You are?, How have you been?, I hardly even recognize you, when did you become such a hunk?, and did you ever complete the project you were working on?."<br><br>Zed: "Sigh, You would be this fit too Kurenai-san, if you train with Guy for nearly 2 years now. I was only asking for a little bit of defense lessons for fitness purposes, but the Hokage deemed it funny or overkill that he decided to send someone with a unique taste in fashion, and is also a slave driver."<br><br>Kurenai: "Pffff....Hahaha..hahahaha. I'm sorry zed-san, but I imagine you would quit the first few days and ask for a different instructor."<br><br>Zed: "You can do that?, Oh my God!, Noooooooo! My lost Youth!!!..."<br><br>Kurenai: "Hahahahahahaha!, I'm sorry zed-san but that is somewhat funny,..ok it's very funny, It seems that Guy-san has rubbed of on you."<br><br>Zed: "OMG!.. your right, I did sound like Guy-sensei for a moment there."<br><br>Kurenai: "mmmfpphahahaha... I'm sorry zed-san but the way you spoke it was almost a perfect copy of Lee."<br><br>Zed: "Oh! my! God!, I'll refrain myself from talking now, before I embaress myself further." said with a shining smile.<br><br>Kurenai: "pffpfpfp...Hahahahahahahahahahaha oh your killing me here zed-san, that smile, your definitely Guy's student. I would be admiring how cute you are with that smile and in any normal situation I would faint right now.. but this....., This is Gold Comedy!!." Kurenai declared.<br><br>Kurenai: "Oh what Anko would give for this kind of entertainment, I bow at your Magnificence and charisma Zed-sama."<br><br><br>Boy with Puppy: "Kurenai-sensei is that man attacking you with genjutsu?."<br><br><br>Kurenai: "pfpfpfhahahahahahaha, Oh he's attacking me alright, he's attacking me with Pure gold comedy that you would die for, I'm lucky to be alive to witness this person's genius. I can die happy now."<br><br>Boy with shades: "Kiba-kun, has Kurenai-sensei gone insane?."<br><br>Kiba: "Why yes, this man here attacked Kurenai-sensei with what Kurenai said and quote "This is Gold Comedy!!", this is bad Shino-san, this is worse than the horror stories in the T &amp; I divisions Morino Ibiki would do. Worse, the man is only a civilian and did not use any jutsu."<br><br>Girl with Pale eyes: "We must help Kurenai-sensei Kiba-kun."<br><br>Zed: "Yes, I bet if Kurenai-san would tell this Ibiki person to check on her mind and make a show out if it, Kurenai-san would be rich, if what she says that anyone would pay an arm and a leg for what she said and quote "This is Gold Comedy!!." material." zed said while rolling his eyes.<br><br>Kurenai: "pant!, pant!, pant!, That's absolutely brilliant zed-san, do you want the profits 50-50?."<br><br>Zed: "OMG!, I was merely kidding when I said that, but if your crazy enough to do it, you can take the whole share of it, you have my permission, The fame that it will bring me will be more than enough for the payment."<br><br>Kiernai: "You got yourself a deal Zed-san. I'm so going to so be rich." Kurenai ran straight to the T &amp; I building.<br><br>Three Students: "What just happened?."<br><br>Zed: "I believe my friends, that you have just entered the Twilight Zone."<br><br>Three Students: "Pfpfpfphahahahaha."<br><br>Kiba: "Kurenai-sensei was right, this guy is I quote "This is Gold Comedy!!.", pffffhahahahaha.<br><br>Girl with Pale eyes: "I don't get it."<br><br>Shino: "Pfahahahahahha, maybe someday, Hinata-san, maybe someday..pffffhahahahaha."<br><br>Hinata: "Mooh!, I wish I was closer to Kurenai-sensei when it happened, maybe then I would understand this and I quote "This is Gold Comedy!!." material. said in a depressed voice.<br><br>Zed: "Ohh you don't have to wait long Hinata-san, I'm sure kerenai-sensei will make it into a short movie, and you can watch it later, you should go to Kurenai-san right away to get the premium tickets before it gets well known, and tickets will be hard to come by." Zed said sarcastically.<br><br>Hinata: "Really?, I should go now then, before someone beats me to it. thank you civilian-san." Hinata bowed and run to the T &amp; I building.<br><br>Kiba: "Wait for me Hinata-chan."<br><br>Shino: "Yes, wait for us."<br><br>Zed: "Well, I'm glad I helped make someone's day brighter."<br><br><br>Little did Zed know that his sarcastic advice to Kurenai would later gain him the monicker "The killer Comedian" added to his title.<br><br><br>Authors Note:<br><br>I was laughing very hard while making this chapter, but after a few proofreading I seem to have lost the humor of it. Maybe it's is just me but when I read it the first time I was laughing so hard. The second time though I reread it though I seem to have lost my sense of humor. I want your honest opinion, when you read it the first time, what was your impression? Was it funny?, then re-read it the second time, is it still funny?.<br><br>I await your reviews,<br><br>zed019 </div>

Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 7 The killer Comedian Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. ~Previously on Avid X-Over~ Kakashi: "Right........., you really are a mystery zed-san, First you pull Ramen out of your ass, then you pull gold coins out of your ass, what's next?, you gonna pull a rabbit out of your ass?." Zed: "Maybe." Everyone in the group sweatdropped. Zed: "See you later zabuza-san and haku-san, I hope we meet again." Naruto: "Wow I'm sure glad you're on our side aniki, who knows if you were an enemy. You might pull a weapon of mass destruction out of your ass." Zed: "Who knows ototo, I just might." said in a serious voice. Naruto: "Your scaring me aniki." Chapter Start Zed POV: After the Scene I caused died down, we went back to Tazuna's house, and the villagers celebrated their newfound freedom. I served a feast for the villagers along with my stashes of beer, and the wine seems to mellow out the mood. I also cooked a special batch of ramen for my brother, and that seemed to get him out of his slump, and went back to his happy hyperactive self. I then invited Naruto to an empty room for a private discussions. Naruto: "What do you want to talk to me about aniki?." Zed: "I'm sorry Naruto, I heard about your situation from Inari." Naruto: "Noooo!, Now you'll hate me now too." naruto said sadly. Zed: "What are you talking about Naruto?, I don't hate you." Naruto: "You don't?, but isn't that what you came here to discuss with me?." Zed: "Silly Naruto, that's not why I called you here, I called you here because I thought that you might be lonely living alone, and ask you If you want to live with me since you are now my brother." Naruto: "Really??, You want me to live with you?." Zed: "Yes really, that way I can take care of you and serve you more delicious ramen." Naruto: "RAMEN!!!, you got a deal aniki, now you can never get rid of me." Zed: "Silly Ototo, Were family now, and family stick together no matter what. I won't give up on you, and share your burden with you if it's to much for you to carry alone. I just wish we could be real blood brothers, but I love you for who are, and no matter what anyone says to you, I will always be your brother." Naruto: "Aniki!, that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." said with tears forming out of naruto's eyes. Naruto: "Aniki!. Zed: "Naruto!." Naruto: "Aniki." Zed: "Naruto!." Naruto: "Aniki!." Naruto was about to hug zed. Zed: "AHEM!!, don't you dare pull a Guy with me ototo." Naruto: "Nani??." Zed: "Trust me, you don't want to know." Naruto: "Whatever you say aniki." Zed: "Alright, that's Enough of the mushy stuff for one day, let's go back to the festival. I'll also make more of your favorite ramen." Naruto: "RAMEN!!, come aniki let's go the party, so I can have more of your delicious ramen." Zed: "That's my ototo for you, let's go slowpoke." After that, the festivities continued with good food along with many bowls of delicious ramen, and the feast finally ended. We stayed with Tazuna to finish the bridge, and with naruto's unlimited stamina, along with the shadow clone jutsu, the bridge was finished within 3 days The citizens of the wave also named their bridge "the great Naruto Bridge". I handed Tazuna-san a scroll containing 100k gold with an estimated value of 1 million Ryo with a note saying "I trust you on what to do with this money". I told him to open it after 5 hours after we left. We arrived back to Konoha safely, and we went our seperate ways, because Kakashi-san insisted that he will do the reporting, I would probably guess that he will be emphasizing the technique I used to revive the two dead ninja, I just hoped no enemy ninja saw that technique, Oh who am I kidding, I'm in so much trouble, The whole mob of the wave villagers saw me doing it. I will just have to prepare myself for the worst, then nothing an enemy can do will surprise me. I think that is a well made plan, considering I made it on the spot. Mwahahaha! I'm so good, I even scare myself sometimes. Now what to do with my free time. Ahh yes, I have to thank Kurenai for her help last time. I asked a passing ninja on where to find miss Kurenai, and He pointed me to training ground 8. I arrived at training ground 8 to see Kurenai's team doing practice jutsu ,and teamwork exercises, I then approached slowly at them. Boy with puppy: "Hey sensei, I think there's a person here who's lost." Kurenai: "Well let's greet them shall we?, everyone well take a break for ten minutes while I greet this person." Kurenai approached me slowly and was about to speak but I interrupted her. Zed: "Hello Kurenai-san, Its been a long time, I thank you for your tutelage. Kurenai: "Do I know you stranger?." Zed: "I'm hurt Kurenai-san, you don't remember me?, no?, Oh okay then, I'll refresh your memory, I'm that civilian that asked you for a lesson in genjutsu." Kurenai: "You are?, How have you been?, I hardly even recognize you, when did you become such a hunk?, and did you ever complete the project you were working on?." Zed: "Sigh, You would be this fit too Kurenai-san, if you train with Guy for nearly 2 years now. I was only asking for a little bit of defense lessons for fitness purposes, but the Hokage deemed it funny or overkill that he decided to send someone with a unique taste in fashion, and is also a slave driver." Kurenai: "Pffff....Hahaha..hahahaha. I'm sorry zed-san, but I imagine you would quit the first few days and ask for a different instructor." Zed: "You can do that?, Oh my God!, Noooooooo! My lost Youth!!!..." Kurenai: "Hahahahahahaha!, I'm sorry zed-san but that is somewhat funny,..ok it's very funny, It seems that Guy-san has rubbed of on you." Zed: "OMG!.. your right, I did sound like Guy-sensei for a moment there." Kurenai: "mmmfpphahahaha... I'm sorry zed-san but the way you spoke it was almost a perfect copy of Lee." Zed: "Oh! my! God!, I'll refrain myself from talking now, before I embaress myself further." said with a shining smile. Kurenai: "pffpfpfp...Hahahahahahahahahahaha oh your killing me here zed-san, that smile, your definitely Guy's student. I would be admiring how cute you are with that smile and in any normal situation I would faint right now.. but this....., This is Gold Comedy!!." Kurenai declared. Kurenai: "Oh what Anko would give for this kind of entertainment, I bow at your Magnificence and charisma Zed-sama." Boy with Puppy: "Kurenai-sensei is that man attacking you with genjutsu?." Kurenai: "pfpfpfhahahahahahaha, Oh he's attacking me alright, he's attacking me with Pure gold comedy that you would die for, I'm lucky to be alive to witness this person's genius. I can die happy now." Boy with shades: "Kiba-kun, has Kurenai-sensei gone insane?." Kiba: "Why yes, this man here attacked Kurenai-sensei with what Kurenai said and quote "This is Gold Comedy!!", this is bad Shino-san, this is worse than the horror stories in the T & I divisions Morino Ibiki would do. Worse, the man is only a civilian and did not use any jutsu." Girl with Pale eyes: "We must help Kurenai-sensei Kiba-kun." Zed: "Yes, I bet if Kurenai-san would tell this Ibiki person to check on her mind and make a show out if it, Kurenai-san would be rich, if what she says that anyone would pay an arm and a leg for what she said and quote "This is Gold Comedy!!." material." zed said while rolling his eyes. Kurenai: "pant!, pant!, pant!, That's absolutely brilliant zed-san, do you want the profits 50-50?." Zed: "OMG!, I was merely kidding when I said that, but if your crazy enough to do it, you can take the whole share of it, you have my permission, The fame that it will bring me will be more than enough for the payment." Kiernai: "You got yourself a deal Zed-san. I'm so going to so be rich." Kurenai ran straight to the T & I building. Three Students: "What just happened?." Zed: "I believe my friends, that you have just entered the Twilight Zone." Three Students: "Pfpfpfphahahahaha." Kiba: "Kurenai-sensei was right, this guy is I quote "This is Gold Comedy!!.", pffffhahahahaha. Girl with Pale eyes: "I don't get it." Shino: "Pfahahahahahha, maybe someday, Hinata-san, maybe someday..pffffhahahahaha." Hinata: "Mooh!, I wish I was closer to Kurenai-sensei when it happened, maybe then I would understand this and I quote "This is Gold Comedy!!." material. said in a depressed voice. Zed: "Ohh you don't have to wait long Hinata-san, I'm sure kerenai-sensei will make it into a short movie, and you can watch it later, you should go to Kurenai-san right away to get the premium tickets before it gets well known, and tickets will be hard to come by." Zed said sarcastically. Hinata: "Really?, I should go now then, before someone beats me to it. thank you civilian-san." Hinata bowed and run to the T & I building. Kiba: "Wait for me Hinata-chan." Shino: "Yes, wait for us." Zed: "Well, I'm glad I helped make someone's day brighter." Little did Zed know that his sarcastic advice to Kurenai would later gain him the monicker "The killer Comedian" added to his title. Authors Note: I was laughing very hard while making this chapter, but after a few proofreading I seem to have lost the humor of it. Maybe it's is just me but when I read it the first time I was laughing so hard. The second time though I reread it though I seem to have lost my sense of humor. I want your honest opinion, when you read it the first time, what was your impression? Was it funny?, then re-read it the second time, is it still funny?. I await your reviews, zed019

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 1 A new Adventure<br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br>Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, The Chose one, Champion of light, Deafeater of You-know-Who, etc. etc. etc. and his most famous tittle, "The Master of Death".<br><br>Harry thought that his obligations was done. He fought a war, because a crazy old lady phrophesized, that he would be a chosen one to finally defeat You-know-Who. This led to the death of his beloved parents by hand of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Surprisingly, he was very lucky that the killing curse spell, a famous one-shot, one-kill spell rebounded and killed the dark wanker himself. The oh so great Dumbledore said that it was his parents love that saved him. He really did not believe the nonsense that it was love that saved him. He was just lucky, he rationalized that he had gained a sort of magical immunization from the Dark Lord when he was made into an accidental horcrux. He was Iucky that magic immunization saved him when he confronted professor Quirrel.<br><br>Harry Potter paid his dues to the magical community when he saved them from Vodemort. He expected that he could live a normal happy life now that the war was over.<br><br>Sadly, it was not meant to be. The whole magical community turned on him, claiming him to be the next uprising Dark Lord. He rationalized that they were probably after his money, after all he was the richest person in magical Britain. He was Heir to Hufflepuff, Heir to Gryffindor, Heir to Ravenclaw and Heir to Slytherin by rights of conquest.<br><br>He decided that he had enough, so he made a secret trip to gringots, and withrawed all of his assets to an enchanted bottomless pouch. He went to the veil into the department of mystery, and jumped in. He researched the veil enough to know that it was a magical doorway to another world or dimension, and was very hopeful that he could start a new life.<br><br>He wakes up in the middle of the forest and he noticed that he was a kid again. He estimated that he was age 7. Harry noticed that he had a blinking icon on his peripheral vision and he divided to touch it.<br><br>Ding.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br>®System Notice:<br><br>Dear Harry Potter,<br><br>As you may have noticed, you have been de-aged to grant your request to a new life. This is a system menu, it has your items, skills, money, and stats. To view your stats, say stats, and to view your skills, say skills and if you want to check your items, say inventory. I decided it would be fun if you start fresh, so I erased all your hard earned magical skills. Mad!?, Mwahahaha , I'm sorry but this is for my entertainment. I'm not that cruel so I will give a choice of 3 skills from another dimension, but take heed, you can only choose 3, and you can never have access from them ever again. Don't worry, all your wealth was transferred into large gold bars. One gold bar is equivalent to 10000 Ryo so you won't be poor in fact I believe you have enough money to buy a country, aren't I great?. This screen window will only be visible to you and this also acts as pocket dimension that will store infinite items, and food will never go bad if you decided to store it here. I'm so generous, praise me, praise me more. Oh shush you, Go on to your next adventure.<br><br>Sincerely,<br><br>Death<br><br>P.S<br><br>I have adjusted your body so you can understand this inhabitants language. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>"Sigh, even in here someone gets a last laugh, but oh well, I'll bite."<br><br>"Status Window!."<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br>Character Name: Harry Potter<br><br>Alignment: Neutral<br><br>Level:1<br><br>Profession: Master of death<br><br>Title:None<br>Fame: 0<br><br>Health: 100<br><br>Mana: 100<br><br>Strength: 10<br><br>Agility: 10<br><br>Vitality: 10<br><br>Wisdom: 10<br><br>Intellect:10<br><br>Stamina: 10<br><br>Luck: 10<br><br>Attack:20<br><br>Magic Attack: 20<br><br>Magic defense: 10<br><br>Defense:10 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>"Skills!" Harry choose from infinite number skills from another dimension. He had to choose carefully because, he can never access them again.<br><br>Harry chose the 3 skills he would need, He did not choose the Aveda Kadevra spell if that's what your wondering. Too much, bad memories on that one. He dubbed the skills he learned a secret, a secret skill art.<br><br>Harry also checked his inventory, he was surprised to find out he had 100 million gold bars at his disposal.<br><br>He now noticed that he was now in a forest. He decided that he wanted to find the nearest civilization. Harry walked for an hour, and he finally exited the forest, he saw a fortified wall-like structure that seems to emulate the great wall of China by a degree. He also saw a large gate with a leaf design on it. He finally dicided to approach the village gate, but when he reached close to it, he was stopped by the The gatekeepers.<br><br>"Hey kid, what's your purpose here?." asked one of the guard<br><br>"I'm here to start a new lease on my new life, hopefully one that is safe and far away from danger as much as possible." Harry answered truthfully.<br><br>"We're in the ninja world kid, no-one is completely safe. But our konoha village is the safest, because it is the top village among the five villages in this nation." replied the other ninja<br><br>"I'm lucky that I got here instead of the other villages then. Can I come in now?."<br><br>"Sure kid, but I have to accompany you to the Hokage first, he will know what to so with a lost orphan."<br><br>The gatekeeper grabs Harry by the arm, and shunshined to the hokage's office.<br><br>"Hello hokage-sama , we have a lost boy here who wants to join our beautiful village." informed the gatekeeper.<br><br>"Hello young man, why do you want to join this village?." asked the Hokage.<br><br>"As I said to gatekeepers before, I'm here to start a new lease on my new life, hopefully one that is safe and far away from danger as much as possible. " Harry replied with the same answer he gave earlier.<br><br>"That's a noble goal young man, but you have to get stronger to protect yourself from harm, no-one can do it for you but you yourself. So with that in mind, do you want to become a ninja?." asked the hokage<br><br>"What's a ninja?." questioned Harry.<br><br>"A ninja is a soldier of the village, do jobs to fulfill their missions by means of being a body guard, an assassination, and also being an errand boy sometimes when you get hired so you can fulfill the villagers need. They also train so they can use chakra, the combination of both physical and spiritual energy to perform supernatural feats." was the answer that the village leader gave.<br><br>"What's the other option?."Harry asked curiously.<br><br>"You go the orphanage." the hokage said bluntly.<br><br>"Hmm, I could use my money to buy a compound, but that would raise a flag in this village that I have money and some unsavory folks might come and visit him" Harry thought.<br><br>"I'll be a ninja hokage-sama." anwered Harry.<br><br>"Great, I'll guide you personally to your new apartment, and you can start the ninja academy tomorrow." great, now I have an excuse to ditch paperwork, and maybe I can introduce Naruto to a potential friend.<br><br>"This is our stop, by the way what's your name?"asked the hokage.<br><br>"Its Harry, hokage-sama, and thank you for your help."<br><br>"Your welcome Harry, oh, I almost forgot, you will receive your monthly stipend starting tomorrow delivered into your mail." informed the hokage.<br><br>The hokage then left with a swirl of leaves. Harry then went inside the apartment and slept happily of his new life. </div>

Chapter 1 A new Adventure Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, The Chose one, Champion of light, Deafeater of You-know-Who, etc. etc. etc. and his most famous tittle, "The Master of Death". Harry thought that his obligations was done. He fought a war, because a crazy old lady phrophesized, that he would be a chosen one to finally defeat You-know-Who. This led to the death of his beloved parents by hand of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Surprisingly, he was very lucky that the killing curse spell, a famous one-shot, one-kill spell rebounded and killed the dark wanker himself. The oh so great Dumbledore said that it was his parents love that saved him. He really did not believe the nonsense that it was love that saved him. He was just lucky, he rationalized that he had gained a sort of magical immunization from the Dark Lord when he was made into an accidental horcrux. He was Iucky that magic immunization saved him when he confronted professor Quirrel. Harry Potter paid his dues to the magical community when he saved them from Vodemort. He expected that he could live a normal happy life now that the war was over. Sadly, it was not meant to be. The whole magical community turned on him, claiming him to be the next uprising Dark Lord. He rationalized that they were probably after his money, after all he was the richest person in magical Britain. He was Heir to Hufflepuff, Heir to Gryffindor, Heir to Ravenclaw and Heir to Slytherin by rights of conquest. He decided that he had enough, so he made a secret trip to gringots, and withrawed all of his assets to an enchanted bottomless pouch. He went to the veil into the department of mystery, and jumped in. He researched the veil enough to know that it was a magical doorway to another world or dimension, and was very hopeful that he could start a new life. He wakes up in the middle of the forest and he noticed that he was a kid again. He estimated that he was age 7. Harry noticed that he had a blinking icon on his peripheral vision and he divided to touch it. Ding. | * ®System Notice:Dear Harry Potter,As you may have noticed, you have been de-aged to grant your request to a new life. This is a system menu, it has your items, skills, money, and stats. To view your stats, say stats, and to view your skills, say skills and if you want to check your items, say inventory. I decided it would be fun if you start fresh, so I erased all your hard earned magical skills. Mad!?, Mwahahaha , I'm sorry but this is for my entertainment. I'm not that cruel so I will give a choice of 3 skills from another dimension, but take heed, you can only choose 3, and you can never have access from them ever again. Don't worry, all your wealth was transferred into large gold bars. One gold bar is equivalent to 10000 Ryo so you won't be poor in fact I believe you have enough money to buy a country, aren't I great?. This screen window will only be visible to you and this also acts as pocket dimension that will store infinite items, and food will never go bad if you decided to store it here. I'm so generous, praise me, praise me more. Oh shush you, Go on to your next adventure.Sincerely,DeathP.SI have adjusted your body so you can understand this inhabitants language. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | "Sigh, even in here someone gets a last laugh, but oh well, I'll bite." "Status Window!." | * Character Name: Harry PotterAlignment: NeutralLevel:1Profession: Master of deathTitle:NoneFame: 0Health: 100Mana: 100Strength: 10Agility: 10Vitality: 10Wisdom: 10Intellect:10Stamina: 10Luck: 10Attack:20Magic Attack: 20Magic defense: 10Defense:10 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | "Skills!" Harry choose from infinite number skills from another dimension. He had to choose carefully because, he can never access them again. Harry chose the 3 skills he would need, He did not choose the Aveda Kadevra spell if that's what your wondering. Too much, bad memories on that one. He dubbed the skills he learned a secret, a secret skill art. Harry also checked his inventory, he was surprised to find out he had 100 million gold bars at his disposal. He now noticed that he was now in a forest. He decided that he wanted to find the nearest civilization. Harry walked for an hour, and he finally exited the forest, he saw a fortified wall-like structure that seems to emulate the great wall of China by a degree. He also saw a large gate with a leaf design on it. He finally dicided to approach the village gate, but when he reached close to it, he was stopped by the The gatekeepers. "Hey kid, what's your purpose here?." asked one of the guard "I'm here to start a new lease on my new life, hopefully one that is safe and far away from danger as much as possible." Harry answered truthfully. "We're in the ninja world kid, no-one is completely safe. But our konoha village is the safest, because it is the top village among the five villages in this nation." replied the other ninja "I'm lucky that I got here instead of the other villages then. Can I come in now?." "Sure kid, but I have to accompany you to the Hokage first, he will know what to so with a lost orphan." The gatekeeper grabs Harry by the arm, and shunshined to the hokage's office. "Hello hokage-sama , we have a lost boy here who wants to join our beautiful village." informed the gatekeeper. "Hello young man, why do you want to join this village?." asked the Hokage. "As I said to gatekeepers before, I'm here to start a new lease on my new life, hopefully one that is safe and far away from danger as much as possible. " Harry replied with the same answer he gave earlier. "That's a noble goal young man, but you have to get stronger to protect yourself from harm, no-one can do it for you but you yourself. So with that in mind, do you want to become a ninja?." asked the hokage "What's a ninja?." questioned Harry. "A ninja is a soldier of the village, do jobs to fulfill their missions by means of being a body guard, an assassination, and also being an errand boy sometimes when you get hired so you can fulfill the villagers need. They also train so they can use chakra, the combination of both physical and spiritual energy to perform supernatural feats." was the answer that the village leader gave. "What's the other option?."Harry asked curiously. "You go the orphanage." the hokage said bluntly. "Hmm, I could use my money to buy a compound, but that would raise a flag in this village that I have money and some unsavory folks might come and visit him" Harry thought. "I'll be a ninja hokage-sama." anwered Harry. "Great, I'll guide you personally to your new apartment, and you can start the ninja academy tomorrow." great, now I have an excuse to ditch paperwork, and maybe I can introduce Naruto to a potential friend. "This is our stop, by the way what's your name?"asked the hokage. "Its Harry, hokage-sama, and thank you for your help." "Your welcome Harry, oh, I almost forgot, you will receive your monthly stipend starting tomorrow delivered into your mail." informed the hokage. The hokage then left with a swirl of leaves. Harry then went inside the apartment and slept happily of his new life.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 11 ERROR ERROR<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime<br><br><br><br>Zed was greeted by Naruto the next day, and they greeted each other.<br><br>"So anything interesting happen in on your way here?."Zed asked.<br><br>"Nothing much, I just met a snake pedophile who molested Sasuke on the way here."Naruto answered casually.<br><br>"Is that so, good thing you got away safely." <br><br>~Time skip Day of the exams~<br><br>Zed arrived with his teleport technique, and startling the genins around him.<br><br>"Did I miss anything?." Zed asked.<br><br>"Nothing much nii-san, I won my match against Kiba, and its your turn next, so why are you late." Naruto asked.<br><br>"umm, I overslept." Zed answered truthfully.<br><br>Everyone near zed sweatdropped.<br><br>"Thankfully my match hasnt started yet, so whos's my opponent" zed asked.<br><br>The roulette on the monitor was spinning until.<br><br>Zed Uzumaki Vs ??????<br><br>"What's wrong with the monitor?." a jonin asked.<br><br>"Hey it's acting funny." a ninja declared.<br><br>ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR<br><br>Zed Uzumaki Vs Hari no Sabaku<br><br>" Who's that, I don't know any Hari from Suna" kankuro declared.<br><br>"Your right Kankuro." answered Temari.<br><br>A portal suddenly opened, and in it revealed a black haired teenager with a sand gourd on his back similar to Gaara's, Heck he was even sporting similar clothes to Gaara in a different mesh of color.<br><br>"Damn!, where did that portal take me?" the newly arrived teen asked.<br><br>"OMG!, he's a spitting Image of you Gaara, if I didn't know better maybe you are brothers." mused Kankuro.<br><br>"Oh but we are, but only due to a series of coincidence. Yo!, how have you been Kankuro, Temari." Hari asked casually.<br><br>"Do we know you?." both Kankuro, and Temari asked.<br><br>"Strange, if you don't know me, then I must be in another dimension that closely resembled to my own. Send my regards to Gaara for me. I'm supposed to be resting in my room for my chuunin exams, but I could use the warm up, so, who is my opponent?, Zed Uzumaki?, wow a tough opponent, well Shall we dance?" said Harry.<br><br>"I'll allow this Battle just this once, I have a feeling well see something good, no objections?, good, will Zed Uzumaki come to arena?"said the hokage.<br><br>"This will be good tebayo!, now for our viewers safety, Kekkai mode! defense!!" a barrier surrounded the arena.<br><br>"Good call, shall we?."Hari asked excitedly<br><br>"The Batle with Zed Uzumaki, and Hari no Sabaku will commence, Ready!, Set!, Go!" the proctor declared.<br><br>"I'll go first, an enemy with mystery abilities, I'll take a long range battle, Sand Shuriken!!." a group of shuriken made of sand flew towards zed, but he countered it with telekinesis, and stopped them cold, a smile formed on zed's face.<br><br>"Wow your good, I'll go full power, Summon Dementors!!." 10 dementor summons packed the small arena and surrounded Hari. All audiences were on the edge of their seats as the dementors gave of an otherworldly feeling.<br>"I'll counter your move, now Sanctuary!, Sanctuary!." an area heal appeared that covered the whole arena. The dementors had nowhere to run, they died after a minute of struggling because they are sort of undead, or demon type. The audience were stunned at the scene, They saw original, and powerful techniques thrown left, and right.<br><br>"My turn Soul Strike!" a couple of energy blasts headed towards zed, both players were surprised that they had some semblance of similar abilities. Zed couldn't think anymore as a series of bolts were heading his way.<br><br>"Sneak!." Zed's body began to disappear, and was about to get away but Hari used "Ruwatch!" and he was hit by the series of bolts.<br><br>"Huff!, Huff!, you're strong, Healing Hand!." Zed's body was healed. The fight was evenly matched but he still has a trick or two up his sleeve.<br><br>"Time for originality." 20 shuriken were floating above zed, and each one had exploding notes tied to it.<br><br>"TELEKINESIS + KUNAI + EXPLODING NOTES = I GOT THE SONIC, AND I GOT THE BOOM, PUT THEM TOGETHER, AND YOU GET A SONIC BOOM!!" as soon as he said those words, the series of exploding kunai's soared through, and went for Hari.<br><br>"Shit!, SAND DOME! + SUMMON ANGELING + SAFETY WALL = YOU GOT THE POWER, I GOT THE DEFENSE, ADD GOD'S HOLY BLESSING, AND YOU GOT ANGELIC ABSOLUTE DEFENSE!!" a flash of golden white light enveloped the dome shield that is made of sand. Both strong attack, and absolute defense met. A huge explosion covered the arena but thanks to zed's barrier everyone was safe. The explosion finally died and revealed a battered arena.<br><br>"Gahh!! Your like an Overpowered character that is is REPLACEed in this world!" Zed accused Hari.<br><br>"Same to you, pot, meet kettle, seriously, I have no doubt that we both have Aces in the hole saved up, since you probably noticed we have similar abilities, how about a truce.?." suggested Hari.<br><br>"sigh, I really wanted to keep my abilities under wraps, so I'm not revealing more techniques than I already have. You have yourself a deal." Zed accepted.<br><br>"Both parties have decided not to continue, this match is a draw."said the referee.<br><br>A hand of applauses was heard all around the stadium.<br><br>"Man that battle was so epic, too bad we couldn't showcase it."<br><br>"you bet, I'm sure it would sold all the tickets."<br><br>"If it were up to me, I would promote them already."<br><br>A portal suddenly appeared near Hari.<br><br>"Well looks like my ride is here, good to know you Zed Uzumaki." with that Hari disappeared into the portal.<br><br>"God, I'm so tired tebayo!, otouto assist me to my room please." Naruto quickly assisted his brother to his room and zed thanked him.<br><br>"Those who won their match have gained a one month preparation period to train, use you're time wisely, dismissed!." The hokage declared.<br><br><br>Authors Note:<br><br>Here it is, due to popular demand, a battle between Zed and Hari.<br><br>By the way, how is this style of writing compared to my script style one, which do you prefer. </div>

Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 11 ERROR ERROR Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime Zed was greeted by Naruto the next day, and they greeted each other. "So anything interesting happen in on your way here?."Zed asked. "Nothing much, I just met a snake pedophile who molested Sasuke on the way here."Naruto answered casually. "Is that so, good thing you got away safely." ~Time skip Day of the exams~ Zed arrived with his teleport technique, and startling the genins around him. "Did I miss anything?." Zed asked. "Nothing much nii-san, I won my match against Kiba, and its your turn next, so why are you late." Naruto asked. "umm, I overslept." Zed answered truthfully. Everyone near zed sweatdropped. "Thankfully my match hasnt started yet, so whos's my opponent" zed asked. The roulette on the monitor was spinning until. Zed Uzumaki Vs ?????? "What's wrong with the monitor?." a jonin asked. "Hey it's acting funny." a ninja declared. ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR Zed Uzumaki Vs Hari no Sabaku " Who's that, I don't know any Hari from Suna" kankuro declared. "Your right Kankuro." answered Temari. A portal suddenly opened, and in it revealed a black haired teenager with a sand gourd on his back similar to Gaara's, Heck he was even sporting similar clothes to Gaara in a different mesh of color. "Damn!, where did that portal take me?" the newly arrived teen asked. "OMG!, he's a spitting Image of you Gaara, if I didn't know better maybe you are brothers." mused Kankuro. "Oh but we are, but only due to a series of coincidence. Yo!, how have you been Kankuro, Temari." Hari asked casually. "Do we know you?." both Kankuro, and Temari asked. "Strange, if you don't know me, then I must be in another dimension that closely resembled to my own. Send my regards to Gaara for me. I'm supposed to be resting in my room for my chuunin exams, but I could use the warm up, so, who is my opponent?, Zed Uzumaki?, wow a tough opponent, well Shall we dance?" said Harry. "I'll allow this Battle just this once, I have a feeling well see something good, no objections?, good, will Zed Uzumaki come to arena?"said the hokage. "This will be good tebayo!, now for our viewers safety, Kekkai mode! defense!!" a barrier surrounded the arena. "Good call, shall we?."Hari asked excitedly "The Batle with Zed Uzumaki, and Hari no Sabaku will commence, Ready!, Set!, Go!" the proctor declared. "I'll go first, an enemy with mystery abilities, I'll take a long range battle, Sand Shuriken!!." a group of shuriken made of sand flew towards zed, but he countered it with telekinesis, and stopped them cold, a smile formed on zed's face. "Wow your good, I'll go full power, Summon Dementors!!." 10 dementor summons packed the small arena and surrounded Hari. All audiences were on the edge of their seats as the dementors gave of an otherworldly feeling. "I'll counter your move, now Sanctuary!, Sanctuary!." an area heal appeared that covered the whole arena. The dementors had nowhere to run, they died after a minute of struggling because they are sort of undead, or demon type. The audience were stunned at the scene, They saw original, and powerful techniques thrown left, and right. "My turn Soul Strike!" a couple of energy blasts headed towards zed, both players were surprised that they had some semblance of similar abilities. Zed couldn't think anymore as a series of bolts were heading his way. "Sneak!." Zed's body began to disappear, and was about to get away but Hari used "Ruwatch!" and he was hit by the series of bolts. "Huff!, Huff!, you're strong, Healing Hand!." Zed's body was healed. The fight was evenly matched but he still has a trick or two up his sleeve. "Time for originality." 20 shuriken were floating above zed, and each one had exploding notes tied to it. "TELEKINESIS + KUNAI + EXPLODING NOTES = I GOT THE SONIC, AND I GOT THE BOOM, PUT THEM TOGETHER, AND YOU GET A SONIC BOOM!!" as soon as he said those words, the series of exploding kunai's soared through, and went for Hari. "Shit!, SAND DOME! + SUMMON ANGELING + SAFETY WALL = YOU GOT THE POWER, I GOT THE DEFENSE, ADD GOD'S HOLY BLESSING, AND YOU GOT ANGELIC ABSOLUTE DEFENSE!!" a flash of golden white light enveloped the dome shield that is made of sand. Both strong attack, and absolute defense met. A huge explosion covered the arena but thanks to zed's barrier everyone was safe. The explosion finally died and revealed a battered arena. "Gahh!! Your like an Overpowered character that is is REPLACEed in this world!" Zed accused Hari. "Same to you, pot, meet kettle, seriously, I have no doubt that we both have Aces in the hole saved up, since you probably noticed we have similar abilities, how about a truce.?." suggested Hari. "sigh, I really wanted to keep my abilities under wraps, so I'm not revealing more techniques than I already have. You have yourself a deal." Zed accepted. "Both parties have decided not to continue, this match is a draw."said the referee. A hand of applauses was heard all around the stadium. "Man that battle was so epic, too bad we couldn't showcase it." "you bet, I'm sure it would sold all the tickets." "If it were up to me, I would promote them already." A portal suddenly appeared near Hari. "Well looks like my ride is here, good to know you Zed Uzumaki." with that Hari disappeared into the portal. "God, I'm so tired tebayo!, otouto assist me to my room please." Naruto quickly assisted his brother to his room and zed thanked him. "Those who won their match have gained a one month preparation period to train, use you're time wisely, dismissed!." The hokage declared. Authors Note: Here it is, due to popular demand, a battle between Zed and Hari. By the way, how is this style of writing compared to my script style one, which do you prefer.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Necromancer<br>A Royal Road Fan Fiction<br>By: Halosty<br>Chapter 34<br><br> The location with the goblin boss was very disadvantageous for players. There was a flat area for players to stand, with a drop on one side and cliffs going up the other. This made it so that players could be shot at by goblin archers who arrived as reinforcements, as well as be knocked off the edge by the boss or other goblins if they weren’t careful. Still, the strategy of the boss was well known, so the fight was winnable.<br><br> First the boss, a tall goblin known as the Goblin Lord, would come out with a spear and shield. He would attack players and try to knock them off the edge if the opportunity presented itself. After taking a certain amount of damage, he would escape either up or down, climbing on the sheer cliffs. If any players wandered over the edge to attack him when he was down on the cliffside, they got pulled over. He was momentarily open when climbing to higher ground, but it was hard to take advantage of because reinforcements arrived at this point, smaller spearmen and some archers.<br><br> Eventually, the Goblin Lord would come back out with throwing daggers, and attack from the top of the cliff or near the edge of the area where players could stand. After a certain amount of time, he alternated to his spear-wielding form again, and also summoned more reinforcements. This continued until his defeat. It was important for players to conserve mana if they could.<br><br> After hearing the explanation and preparing a strategy, Quietus and the party moved in. Angelo moved in first to draw the attention of the Goblin Lord, while Ruby and Maratis provided buffs. Nilrem conserved his enemy for when he would be needed. Quietus moved around behind the boss who was stabbing at Angelo. He quickly used Snakebite to apply his most potent poison. There was no better time to use it than on a boss.<br><br> Angelo did a good job of keeping to boss focused, so it wasn’t long before the boss moved on to the next stage. Nilrem fired lightning at the goblin archers who had just arrived. Angelo turned to fight the new goblin spearmen who swarmed in. They weren’t very strong, but Angelo couldn’t fight all of them at once. One of them moved towards Ruby, and Quietus was going to go help, but then she kicked it in the face. It appeared the bard could take care of herself… at least against one goblin. Quietus moved towards the goblins attacking Angelo, and started whittling down their health. He found it significantly helped his mana regeneration if he got bleeding or poison effects on as many different monsters as he could. Then he helped finish the goblins off one at a time.<br><br> About this time, the Goblin Lord showed up with throwing daggers. Angelo easily blocked, and Ruby and surprisingly Maratis managed to dodge. Unfortunately, Nilrem wasn’t quite quick enough. Quietus also got hit, but it was just a scratch.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have been poisoned!<br>Health will slowly decrease</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> A poisonous scratch, apparently. It wasn’t a strong one though. The effect was almost negligible after applying the effect of his Poison Resistance skill. Nilrem’s health was decreasing steadily, so Maratis healed him and purified him of poison. Nilrem managed to get his bearings, and started firing some powerful bolts of lightning at the boss. After a few more volleys of daggers, it retreated.<br><br> Soon it came back with a spear and shield again, and jumped down from above. The party all managed to avoid the attack by jumping away in various directions, but Quietus ended up at the edge of the precipice. The Goblin Lord saw this and charged towards him. However, Quietus didn’t move to dodge. The party saw a spear stab towards him, through him… but the Goblin Lord didn’t stop. Instead, he continued over the edge.<br><br> With their new perspective, the rest of the party could see that Quietus hadn’t actually been stabbed. He’d crouched down and allowed the spear to go overhead. They could see his arms outstretched, having just pulled on the Goblin Lord’s spear to send him over the edge.<br><br> “Well, that wasn’t so bad,” Quietus said. “Say, did you know there are actually two Goblin Lords?”<br><br> “What?”<br><br> “Watch up there.” Quietus pointed to the top of the cliff. Up at the top stood the Goblin Lord, armed with his throwing knives.<br><br> The rest of the party was still shocked at what had happened, and wasn’t ready for the next attacks, most of which were aimed at Maratis. The loss of the healer would be a huge blow to the party. However, Maratis didn’t get hit.<br> “You should really pay attention,” Quietus said from in front of Maratis. “That could kill you.” Quietus had no less than five throwing daggers sticking out of his front, and was glowing red. “That goblin is really in an inconvenient position… Spectral Hand!”<br><br> Quietus used his Spectral Hand ability with both hands, and tugged at the ankles of the Goblin Lord. Apparently, it hadn’t watched his previous battles. It tumbled down the cliff to within easy striking distance of Angelo and the rest of the party.<br><br> “Listen, guys. I’m gonna have to ask you to save me some loot. Don’t forget the stuff that fell down the cliff.”<br><br> It turned out that the poison was much more significant with five fully applied doses, along with the damage from the daggers themselves.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have died!<br>You are forbidden to log in for 21 hours and 30 minutes (85 hours in Royal Road)</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>--------------------------<br><br> This time, the miner was more terrified than any of the others. He had more to lose than the others, with a wife and children outside the mine. They barely had enough money to survive, and without him they would be in trouble.<br><br> Even while dreaming, Mortimer felt uneasy. He could understand fear of death, but he didn’t really understand what this miner was feeling. He was the first one who had feared not for himself, but for others who weren’t even in danger. It just didn’t make sense.<br><br>--------------------------<br><br> After he woke up, he thought about the dreams. He would really have to get around to doing something about them. Well, it could wait until he logged back in.<br><br> Mortimer got out of the capsule and stretched. He would have to thank Master Valarao for teaching him that excellent throw. Of course, it was much more useful next to a giant cliff, but it would likely be useful in other situations too. It definitely helped him in combat to have some basic techniques down. Master Valarao wouldn’t allow himself to get hit, but the training program also had dummies that could be programmed to follow specific movement patterns, allowing for proper practice of some abilities that couldn’t be safely practiced outside of virtual reality.<br><br> Mortimer decided it would be a good time for a snack. He’d rushed through dinner to get on Royal Road sooner, and he was hungry. He’d been eating a lot more lately, with all the exercise he’d been getting. After he was almost finished, Angela came into the room where he was eating.<br><br> “Too bad you died, huh, Mortimer?”<br><br> “It doesn’t really matter. I leveled up some skills, so it worked out. Get anything good?”<br><br> “I got a shield, and we found some boots for you. After we left the dungeon and walked to where the first Goblin Lord fell. How did you know there were two?”<br><br> “The dagger throwing one wasn’t bleeding or poisoned. His health only went down when Nilrem was hitting him. Of course, I wasn’t sure then. I only really knew when I saw him after throwing the other one over the edge.”<br><br> “Yeah, I’m surprised you didn’t die from that.”<br><br> “Well, most people probably don’t try it. They’re worried about losing experience if they mess up.”<br><br> “Or maybe they’re just not stupid.”<br><br> “Hah! Maybe.”<br><br> “What was that you pulled the other one down with?”<br><br> “Spectral Hand. I use it to disarm traps at range, if I need to.”<br><br> “Man, that’s the weirdest rogue skill ever.”<br><br> “Well, I got it from a special quest.”<br><br> “Oh yeah? Get any other tricks?”<br><br> “Some, but they’re all classified.” Mortimer smiled.<br><br> “Pfft, fine. Be secretive. Will you join us for dungeons again some other time?”<br><br> “Well, if it’s convenient. It’s really different from playing solo. I don’t know if I like being around people that much.”<br><br> “You could use the socialization though. Maybe you’ll make some friends once the semester starts up.”<br><br> “Maybe.” Mortimer didn’t particularly care. He was fine without friends. It made it easier to do whatever you felt like when no one else was around to restrict you.<br><br>End Chapter 34<br><br>Previous Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=2232&amp;p=14527#p14527"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=2232&amp;p=14527#p14527&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt;<br>Next Chapter: &lt;!-- l --&gt;&lt;a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1546"&gt;viewtopic.php?f=47&amp;t=1546&lt;/a&gt;&lt;!-- l --&gt; </div>

Necromancer A Royal Road Fan Fiction By: Halosty Chapter 34 The location with the goblin boss was very disadvantageous for players. There was a flat area for players to stand, with a drop on one side and cliffs going up the other. This made it so that players could be shot at by goblin archers who arrived as reinforcements, as well as be knocked off the edge by the boss or other goblins if they weren’t careful. Still, the strategy of the boss was well known, so the fight was winnable. First the boss, a tall goblin known as the Goblin Lord, would come out with a spear and shield. He would attack players and try to knock them off the edge if the opportunity presented itself. After taking a certain amount of damage, he would escape either up or down, climbing on the sheer cliffs. If any players wandered over the edge to attack him when he was down on the cliffside, they got pulled over. He was momentarily open when climbing to higher ground, but it was hard to take advantage of because reinforcements arrived at this point, smaller spearmen and some archers. Eventually, the Goblin Lord would come back out with throwing daggers, and attack from the top of the cliff or near the edge of the area where players could stand. After a certain amount of time, he alternated to his spear-wielding form again, and also summoned more reinforcements. This continued until his defeat. It was important for players to conserve mana if they could. After hearing the explanation and preparing a strategy, Quietus and the party moved in. Angelo moved in first to draw the attention of the Goblin Lord, while Ruby and Maratis provided buffs. Nilrem conserved his enemy for when he would be needed. Quietus moved around behind the boss who was stabbing at Angelo. He quickly used Snakebite to apply his most potent poison. There was no better time to use it than on a boss. Angelo did a good job of keeping to boss focused, so it wasn’t long before the boss moved on to the next stage. Nilrem fired lightning at the goblin archers who had just arrived. Angelo turned to fight the new goblin spearmen who swarmed in. They weren’t very strong, but Angelo couldn’t fight all of them at once. One of them moved towards Ruby, and Quietus was going to go help, but then she kicked it in the face. It appeared the bard could take care of herself… at least against one goblin. Quietus moved towards the goblins attacking Angelo, and started whittling down their health. He found it significantly helped his mana regeneration if he got bleeding or poison effects on as many different monsters as he could. Then he helped finish the goblins off one at a time. About this time, the Goblin Lord showed up with throwing daggers. Angelo easily blocked, and Ruby and surprisingly Maratis managed to dodge. Unfortunately, Nilrem wasn’t quite quick enough. Quietus also got hit, but it was just a scratch. | You have been poisoned!Health will slowly decrease | | --- | A poisonous scratch, apparently. It wasn’t a strong one though. The effect was almost negligible after applying the effect of his Poison Resistance skill. Nilrem’s health was decreasing steadily, so Maratis healed him and purified him of poison. Nilrem managed to get his bearings, and started firing some powerful bolts of lightning at the boss. After a few more volleys of daggers, it retreated. Soon it came back with a spear and shield again, and jumped down from above. The party all managed to avoid the attack by jumping away in various directions, but Quietus ended up at the edge of the precipice. The Goblin Lord saw this and charged towards him. However, Quietus didn’t move to dodge. The party saw a spear stab towards him, through him… but the Goblin Lord didn’t stop. Instead, he continued over the edge. With their new perspective, the rest of the party could see that Quietus hadn’t actually been stabbed. He’d crouched down and allowed the spear to go overhead. They could see his arms outstretched, having just pulled on the Goblin Lord’s spear to send him over the edge. “Well, that wasn’t so bad,” Quietus said. “Say, did you know there are actually two Goblin Lords?” “What?” “Watch up there.” Quietus pointed to the top of the cliff. Up at the top stood the Goblin Lord, armed with his throwing knives. The rest of the party was still shocked at what had happened, and wasn’t ready for the next attacks, most of which were aimed at Maratis. The loss of the healer would be a huge blow to the party. However, Maratis didn’t get hit. “You should really pay attention,” Quietus said from in front of Maratis. “That could kill you.” Quietus had no less than five throwing daggers sticking out of his front, and was glowing red. “That goblin is really in an inconvenient position… Spectral Hand!” Quietus used his Spectral Hand ability with both hands, and tugged at the ankles of the Goblin Lord. Apparently, it hadn’t watched his previous battles. It tumbled down the cliff to within easy striking distance of Angelo and the rest of the party. “Listen, guys. I’m gonna have to ask you to save me some loot. Don’t forget the stuff that fell down the cliff.” It turned out that the poison was much more significant with five fully applied doses, along with the damage from the daggers themselves. | You have died!You are forbidden to log in for 21 hours and 30 minutes (85 hours in Royal Road) | | --- | -------------------------- This time, the miner was more terrified than any of the others. He had more to lose than the others, with a wife and children outside the mine. They barely had enough money to survive, and without him they would be in trouble. Even while dreaming, Mortimer felt uneasy. He could understand fear of death, but he didn’t really understand what this miner was feeling. He was the first one who had feared not for himself, but for others who weren’t even in danger. It just didn’t make sense. -------------------------- After he woke up, he thought about the dreams. He would really have to get around to doing something about them. Well, it could wait until he logged back in. Mortimer got out of the capsule and stretched. He would have to thank Master Valarao for teaching him that excellent throw. Of course, it was much more useful next to a giant cliff, but it would likely be useful in other situations too. It definitely helped him in combat to have some basic techniques down. Master Valarao wouldn’t allow himself to get hit, but the training program also had dummies that could be programmed to follow specific movement patterns, allowing for proper practice of some abilities that couldn’t be safely practiced outside of virtual reality. Mortimer decided it would be a good time for a snack. He’d rushed through dinner to get on Royal Road sooner, and he was hungry. He’d been eating a lot more lately, with all the exercise he’d been getting. After he was almost finished, Angela came into the room where he was eating. “Too bad you died, huh, Mortimer?” “It doesn’t really matter. I leveled up some skills, so it worked out. Get anything good?” “I got a shield, and we found some boots for you. After we left the dungeon and walked to where the first Goblin Lord fell. How did you know there were two?” “The dagger throwing one wasn’t bleeding or poisoned. His health only went down when Nilrem was hitting him. Of course, I wasn’t sure then. I only really knew when I saw him after throwing the other one over the edge.” “Yeah, I’m surprised you didn’t die from that.” “Well, most people probably don’t try it. They’re worried about losing experience if they mess up.” “Or maybe they’re just not stupid.” “Hah! Maybe.” “What was that you pulled the other one down with?” “Spectral Hand. I use it to disarm traps at range, if I need to.” “Man, that’s the weirdest rogue skill ever.” “Well, I got it from a special quest.” “Oh yeah? Get any other tricks?” “Some, but they’re all classified.” Mortimer smiled. “Pfft, fine. Be secretive. Will you join us for dungeons again some other time?” “Well, if it’s convenient. It’s really different from playing solo. I don’t know if I like being around people that much.” “You could use the socialization though. Maybe you’ll make some friends once the semester starts up.” “Maybe.” Mortimer didn’t particularly care. He was fine without friends. It made it easier to do whatever you felt like when no one else was around to restrict you. End Chapter 34 Previous Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2232&p=14527#p14527">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=2232&p=14527#p14527</a><!-- l --> Next Chapter: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1546">viewtopic.php?f=47&t=1546</a><!-- l -->

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 2 Harry's Secret Technique<br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br>It was a beautiful morning in konoha, so peaceful, so.."Get Back here you kids!."a ninja shouted, to which the kid replied "Never!, catch if if you can slowpokes."<br><br>"Don't taunt them any further Naruto, it's bad enough that you roped me into doing one of your pranks, How did it come to this?." the new voice interrupted.<br><br>"Aww, but you love pranking with me, gone was the shy person I knew, and in its place was replaced by a pranking demon" the blond teen named naruto declared.<br><br>"Save it, we'll talk at the meeting place, till then let's split." a back haired teen said.<br><br>"Okey dokey, Harry, man it's been a fun four years." naruto said.<br><br>"Yeah, yeah, don't forget to practice the bunshin jutsu, you know this is your last chance to be hokage". the teen that is now revealed to be Harry said.<br><br>"Yup, thanks for the reminder, see ya later."<br><br>"See ya, later." with that, the teens split ways, and after 30 minutes, Harry finally lost his pursuers.<br><br>"I still remember it like it was yesterday."<br><br>~Flashback ~<br><br>It was the first day of the academy, and Harry was nervous.<br><br>"Okay class, We have a new student joining us today." the teacher named Iruka declared.<br><br>"Is it a boy?, I hope he's cute."<br><br>"I hope it's a cute girl."<br><br>"QUIET!." shouted Iruka who used the Big head jutsu.<br><br>The room fell silent, and then "All right, come in, introduce yourself."<br><br>Harry walked into the room full of ninja kids that was filled with anticipation, on who was the transfer student.<br><br>"Hello my, name is Harry, nice to meet you." Harry intruduced himself.<br><br>"Kyaaa!, He's so cute and, dreamy."<br><br>"Che!, He's a guy."<br><br>"QUIET!." shouted Iruka who used the Big head jutsu again.<br><br>"Now that you have settled down, Harry please take a seat."<br><br>Harry then took a seat at the back of the class, and the lessons continued untill break arrived.<br><br>Harry noticed children the playing playing ninja, but he also noticed another kid with spiky, and sunkist blond hair with cerulian eyes. Harry approached the blond haired kid to find out if he wanted to play.<br><br>"Hi there, wanna play a game?." Harry asked.<br><br>"Are you, talking to me?, are you sure?." The blond haired kid asked in a hopeful tone."<br><br>"Sure, so what game do you want to play?." Harry asked.<br><br>"Lets play tag, by the way my name is Naruto Uzumaki, the next hokage." the blond declared.<br><br>"Names Harry, Harry Potter, the next Dark Lord." Harry said sarcastically.<br><br>"Really?." The blond asked in a hopeful voice.<br><br>"No, but if I do become one, I'll be a dark lord, and your right hand man, a hokage does need people He can trust after all." Harry said in a matter a fact tone.<br><br>"Great, don't go back on your word now, after all , promises are meant to be kept." the blond kid answered sagely.<br><br>After that incident, Harry, and Naruto became friends , the hyper kid's smile was infectious, and it didn't take long for Naruto to invite Harry to one of his pranks.<br><br>The rest as they say is history.<br><br>~Flashback End~<br><br>"Ahh, good times, good times." Harry remembered the pranks they pulled, and for the 4 years they attended the academy together, Harry could have passed the ninja exams but decided against it, he wanted to be with Naruto, and flunked the other tests with him. Tomorrow though will be their last chance to graduate.<br><br>"Stat!."<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <br>Character Name: Harry Potter<br><br>Alignment: Neutral<br><br>Level:1<br><br>Profession: Master of death<br><br>Title:None<br><br>Fame: 0<br><br>Health: 500<br><br>Mana: 1000<br><br>Strength: 50<br><br>Agility: 100<br>Vitality: 50<br><br>Wisdom: 50<br><br>Intellect:100<br><br>Stamina: 150<br><br>Luck: 100<br><br>Attack:100<br><br>Magic Attack: 200<br><br>Magic defense: 100<br><br>Defense:50 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Harry then met Naruto at the rendezvous point, and practiced the academy jutsus to perfection.<br><br>~Time skip Day of exams ~<br><br>"Congratulations Harry, you passed." Naruto said cheerfully.<br><br>"I'll wait for you at the rendezvous point, I know you got this one in the bag already." Harry declared confidently.<br><br>Little did Harry know that Mizuki, Naruto's teacher, sabotaged his test, and tricked him into stealing the forbidden scroll of sealing.<br><br>Naruto learned the Kagebunshin jutsu but then he got caught by Iruka, and told him that there was no secret exam, and Mizuki tricked him.<br><br>Mizuki revealed to Naruto why he was hated, and caused internal turmoil within him, and Mizuki used this opening to throw a giant shuriken at him. Luckily Iruka covered for Naruto, and assured him that he was only the vessel, and not the Fox himself.<br><br>Naruto filled with determination used a mass shadow clone technique. He was about to give Mizuki the beat down of his life, when Suddenly.<br><br>"Ahh here you are Naruto, why haven't you gone to our meeting place yet?" asked Harry.<br><br>A sudden glint could be seen in Mizuki's eyes as his thoughts were filled with malicious deeds.<br><br>"I see your friend has arrived, and I see that you care for him, DEMON!." Mizuki spat.<br><br>"If I'm going down, I'm going to take your friend with me, and kill him first." Mizuki declared.<br><br>Mizuki then ran towards Harry.<br><br>"Harry!, run!, Mizuki's going to kill you!." Naruto shouted hoping his best friend would escape.<br><br>"Oh no you don't, your friend is dead, Demon!." Mizuki countered.<br><br>"Kill me?, Shit!, I won't make it away in time!." Harry shouted.<br><br>"Hehehehehehehe, I almost got you now kid, you'll soon be dead." Mizuki said in finality as he throwed some shuriken at Harry.<br><br>"Gah!, that hurts, Bitch!, I guess you leave me no choice, I was hoping to never use this technique." Harry declared.<br><br>"Ha!, as if a kid like you has a technique that can defeat me!." Mizuki said in an arrogant tone, but was interrupted when.<br><br>"<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">I understand of the full lights of the heavens commands me.</span></span>" Harry's voice echoed to the sorrounding area, his voice was filled with power, and Mizuki stood there frozen.<br><br>"<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Opens the gates of hell.</span></span>" A large complicated circle runic array formed around Mizuki, the arrays were moving, and the runes were dancing gracefully. One would notice that an octagon shaped, pentagram carved beautifully along the runic arrays.<br><br>"<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Come forth divine lightning.</span></span>" The eight sides of the octagon shot up a blast of light five meters off the ground, and then the beams converged at the center, and with their collective energy, It shot, and rocketed to the sky leaving a hole in the clouds, and leaving the stratosphere very quickly.<br><br>"<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">This Ends Now!, Hi-Ougi!, Indignation!</span></span>" As soon as these words left Harry's mouth, the large energy that exited the atmosphere came down like a pillar of lightning, only 10 times more thick, and stronger than a regular lightning bolt. It striked Mizuki who was in the the middle of the runic array. A large blast of concentrated energy rained down on Mizuki, and the blast exploded in a torrential wave of energy that could rival a Bijudama. The poor Mizuki was burned to ashes, and no doubt the explosion would caused an earthquake, and alert the village.<br><br>As soon as the explosion died down one word came out of Harry's mouth.<br><br>"Ooops!" Harry said Sheepeshly. </div>

Chapter 2 Harry's Secret Technique Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. It was a beautiful morning in konoha, so peaceful, so.."Get Back here you kids!."a ninja shouted, to which the kid replied "Never!, catch if if you can slowpokes." "Don't taunt them any further Naruto, it's bad enough that you roped me into doing one of your pranks, How did it come to this?." the new voice interrupted. "Aww, but you love pranking with me, gone was the shy person I knew, and in its place was replaced by a pranking demon" the blond teen named naruto declared. "Save it, we'll talk at the meeting place, till then let's split." a back haired teen said. "Okey dokey, Harry, man it's been a fun four years." naruto said. "Yeah, yeah, don't forget to practice the bunshin jutsu, you know this is your last chance to be hokage". the teen that is now revealed to be Harry said. "Yup, thanks for the reminder, see ya later." "See ya, later." with that, the teens split ways, and after 30 minutes, Harry finally lost his pursuers. "I still remember it like it was yesterday." ~Flashback ~ It was the first day of the academy, and Harry was nervous. "Okay class, We have a new student joining us today." the teacher named Iruka declared. "Is it a boy?, I hope he's cute." "I hope it's a cute girl." "QUIET!." shouted Iruka who used the Big head jutsu. The room fell silent, and then "All right, come in, introduce yourself." Harry walked into the room full of ninja kids that was filled with anticipation, on who was the transfer student. "Hello my, name is Harry, nice to meet you." Harry intruduced himself. "Kyaaa!, He's so cute and, dreamy." "Che!, He's a guy." "QUIET!." shouted Iruka who used the Big head jutsu again. "Now that you have settled down, Harry please take a seat." Harry then took a seat at the back of the class, and the lessons continued untill break arrived. Harry noticed children the playing playing ninja, but he also noticed another kid with spiky, and sunkist blond hair with cerulian eyes. Harry approached the blond haired kid to find out if he wanted to play. "Hi there, wanna play a game?." Harry asked. "Are you, talking to me?, are you sure?." The blond haired kid asked in a hopeful tone." "Sure, so what game do you want to play?." Harry asked. "Lets play tag, by the way my name is Naruto Uzumaki, the next hokage." the blond declared. "Names Harry, Harry Potter, the next Dark Lord." Harry said sarcastically. "Really?." The blond asked in a hopeful voice. "No, but if I do become one, I'll be a dark lord, and your right hand man, a hokage does need people He can trust after all." Harry said in a matter a fact tone. "Great, don't go back on your word now, after all , promises are meant to be kept." the blond kid answered sagely. After that incident, Harry, and Naruto became friends , the hyper kid's smile was infectious, and it didn't take long for Naruto to invite Harry to one of his pranks. The rest as they say is history. ~Flashback End~ "Ahh, good times, good times." Harry remembered the pranks they pulled, and for the 4 years they attended the academy together, Harry could have passed the ninja exams but decided against it, he wanted to be with Naruto, and flunked the other tests with him. Tomorrow though will be their last chance to graduate. "Stat!." | * Character Name: Harry PotterAlignment: NeutralLevel:1Profession: Master of deathTitle:NoneFame: 0Health: 500Mana: 1000Strength: 50Agility: 100Vitality: 50Wisdom: 50Intellect:100Stamina: 150Luck: 100Attack:100Magic Attack: 200Magic defense: 100Defense:50 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Harry then met Naruto at the rendezvous point, and practiced the academy jutsus to perfection. ~Time skip Day of exams ~ "Congratulations Harry, you passed." Naruto said cheerfully. "I'll wait for you at the rendezvous point, I know you got this one in the bag already." Harry declared confidently. Little did Harry know that Mizuki, Naruto's teacher, sabotaged his test, and tricked him into stealing the forbidden scroll of sealing. Naruto learned the Kagebunshin jutsu but then he got caught by Iruka, and told him that there was no secret exam, and Mizuki tricked him. Mizuki revealed to Naruto why he was hated, and caused internal turmoil within him, and Mizuki used this opening to throw a giant shuriken at him. Luckily Iruka covered for Naruto, and assured him that he was only the vessel, and not the Fox himself. Naruto filled with determination used a mass shadow clone technique. He was about to give Mizuki the beat down of his life, when Suddenly. "Ahh here you are Naruto, why haven't you gone to our meeting place yet?" asked Harry. A sudden glint could be seen in Mizuki's eyes as his thoughts were filled with malicious deeds. "I see your friend has arrived, and I see that you care for him, DEMON!." Mizuki spat. "If I'm going down, I'm going to take your friend with me, and kill him first." Mizuki declared. Mizuki then ran towards Harry. "Harry!, run!, Mizuki's going to kill you!." Naruto shouted hoping his best friend would escape. "Oh no you don't, your friend is dead, Demon!." Mizuki countered. "Kill me?, Shit!, I won't make it away in time!." Harry shouted. "Hehehehehehehe, I almost got you now kid, you'll soon be dead." Mizuki said in finality as he throwed some shuriken at Harry. "Gah!, that hurts, Bitch!, I guess you leave me no choice, I was hoping to never use this technique." Harry declared. "Ha!, as if a kid like you has a technique that can defeat me!." Mizuki said in an arrogant tone, but was interrupted when. "I understand of the full lights of the heavens commands me." Harry's voice echoed to the sorrounding area, his voice was filled with power, and Mizuki stood there frozen. "Opens the gates of hell." A large complicated circle runic array formed around Mizuki, the arrays were moving, and the runes were dancing gracefully. One would notice that an octagon shaped, pentagram carved beautifully along the runic arrays. "Come forth divine lightning." The eight sides of the octagon shot up a blast of light five meters off the ground, and then the beams converged at the center, and with their collective energy, It shot, and rocketed to the sky leaving a hole in the clouds, and leaving the stratosphere very quickly. "This Ends Now!, Hi-Ougi!, Indignation!" As soon as these words left Harry's mouth, the large energy that exited the atmosphere came down like a pillar of lightning, only 10 times more thick, and stronger than a regular lightning bolt. It striked Mizuki who was in the the middle of the runic array. A large blast of concentrated energy rained down on Mizuki, and the blast exploded in a torrential wave of energy that could rival a Bijudama. The poor Mizuki was burned to ashes, and no doubt the explosion would caused an earthquake, and alert the village. As soon as the explosion died down one word came out of Harry's mouth. "Ooops!" Harry said Sheepeshly.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> “Geomchi2 did you find that player?” Geomchi3 (Ma Sangbeom) asked curiously over the whisper.<br><br>“No, it looks like she has moved her food stall or logged out.” Geomchi2 said regretfully.<br><br>“You sure it was Cha Eunhee?” Geomchi4 (Choi Jong) asked. “Could just be your daughter…”<br><br>“My daughter doesn’t know how to cook anything….” Geomchi2 (Chung Il) said hesitatingly.<br><br>“…”<br><br>“I guess, it was someone who looked just like her?” Geomchi2 asked the other for reassurance.<br><br>“Yes, that must be it! You know how they say in this world for each person their exist two other people who look just like them even though they are not related by blood…” Geomchi4 chirped away happily.<br><br>“Yes, even I have heard of that saying!” Geomchi3 backed Geomchi4.<br><br>“…”<br><br>“Were any of you able to find a sword training hall?” Geomchi2 asked the others.<br><br>“No…nothing here in fire kingdom…all they have is fire magic…” Geomchi 3 said.<br><br>“Nothing here in water in either…though we found out that there are professional schools to learn the way of the way of the sword in this kingdom…very few take up the way of the sword…” Geomchi4 reported in.<br><br>“I see, I can say the same here…” Geomchi5 said. “We too have searched the entire city of Lavias and have found no training hall. We have heard rumors of sword schools but only restricted to members…”<br><br>“I do not understand…how can Lee Hyun make no training halls?” Geomchi2 asked furiously.<br><br>“I do not know either brother…” Geomchi4 said as he helped an NPC push boxes into a warehouse.<br><br>“For now we are all doing quests and levelling up before we exit the city.” Geomchi3 said, “It will help us when we kill the monsters.”<br><br>“But that is not truly the way of the sword is it now?” Geomchi2 asked.<br><br>“…but even if I buy a sword where do I find practicing grounds?” Geomchi3 asked angrily, he did not like being questioned how he trained his students.<br><br>“…”<br><br>“We have yet to bring the other disciples to this game…if we are not adept with the sword here then we will lose our rights are as masters, teachers and seniors.” Geomchi2 spoke. “Even though we are masters of the sword in this world if we don’t train our senses to attune to this world, we will only make a mockery of ourselves in front of our students.”<br><br>“…”<br><br>“Remember when master, Ahn Hyundo, died?” Geomchi2 asked. “The humiliation was unbearable and are master did not rest till he did not exact revenge. However, I am not sure if we can compare to our masters resolve. If we were to lose are lives here easily, it will leave a bad impression on the young ones.”<br><br>“Then what do you suggest?” Geomchi4 asked bored of being lectured by the eldest of the lot.<br><br>Geomchi2 then narrated his experience how he was able to secure sword practice. After listening to his experience, the other Geomchi’s were very much impressed with Geomchi2’s luck and journey so far. <br><br>“As expected of our brother!” Geomchi3 said with pride when he heard that Geomchi2 gained a disciple in this world through display of his sheer skills. <br><br>“But this disciple Krug, is he not an NPC?” Geomchi5 asked. <br><br>“…yes…which is why I am most worried about him, as his master I cannot lay about thinking about the next day but his entire future…” Geomchi2 said. His voice conveyed his worry. “I was hoping that by practicing we would become stronger…but it seems no matter how long we hit the practice targets, we are unable to increase our stats.”<br><br>“Ah!” Geomchi5 exclaimed. “I overheard this, you will not gain any stats in this game till you reach level one.”<br><br>“What!” The other three were taken by surprise.<br><br>“Did you not already know brother, Ma Sangbeom?” Geomchi5 asked as Ma Sangbeom had been doing quests.<br><br>“I never realized that you won’t be able to gain any stats. Since we couldn’t find the training hall, all of us here just began questing and gaining levels…” Geomchi3 explained.<br><br>“I see so before we rush into sword training it is important to make sure all students are level one.” Geomchi2 said as he brooded on the matter. “This explains why we haven’t been able to gain any stats…”<br><br>“Then let us resume where we left off.” Geomchi3 suggested. “We will find ways to practice the sword in our respective continents.”<br><br>“And I will see the results of our training after we all reach level one.” Geomchi2 said.<br><br>“Then it is decided I guess more or less…” Geomchi5 said sheepishly, “We bring remainder students to train here tomorrow?”<br><br>“Yeah…”<br><br>With that the Geomchi’s resumed their attention to their respective tasks at hand.<br><br>Geomchi 5 (Roi Lee) called the other Wind Geomchis to for a meeting. <br><br>“I have some bad news…” He began, “after discussing with the others, we have realized that there are no Training Halls here…”<br><br>The practioners were disappointed, some of them had played Royal Road and the Training Hall was their favourite memory of it…<br><br>Seeing his disappointed disciple’s faces, Geomchi5 quickly added, “However…Geomchi2 has been able to still persevere and they have been able to continue practicing the way of the sword. They may have no roof over their heads and they may sweat it out under the sun but they have been able to find a place to practice the sword. We too must find our own way to practice the sword.”<br><br>“But master where do we find good practicing grounds?” WiGeomchi7 asked. “We have bought good swords with the money we got from the quest…but in this city I do not know where we can practice…”<br><br>“…”<br><br>“Master, maybe because we are looking for practicing area in the middle of the city, it is surely the reason we haven’t found place to practice.” WiGeomchi 9 said. “If we are to move out of this city maybe then we can find better a better area…”<br><br>“Oh, so we could do that…”<br><br>The rest of the Geomchis were smiling, but Wind Geomchi4 shook his head.<br><br>“We can’t leave the city for three weeks so it looks like we’re going to have to find a place within the city...”<br><br>“…”<br><br>“Then how about towards the outskirts?” Geomchi5 said. “It looked less crowded than here…”<br><br>“Yes, I noticed too!” Wind Geomchi 10 said excitedly. “But which gate do we take?”<br><br>“Like the rising sun, let us begun our journey from the east?” Geomchi5 joked.<br><br>His disciple’s eyes sparkled. The Geomchi’s quickly began making their way through the market square towards the eastern exit and towards the Eastern Gate. They passed through expensive residential houses and small slum like dwellings…crossing paved roads to muddy paths…till they began seeing the farmlands of Lavias. Originally, there were plenty of lush fields and the inner city was much smaller. However, with rising number of players and increasing game population, development was quite haphazard in the city. Lavias unlike other cities in other kingdom’s was quite a small starter city. Even the smallest percentage of increase in population was pushing the limit the city to accommodate. The result being… the farms nearest to the city were being closed down and changed into dwelling units. The rich began living in the center of the city and the poor towards the outskirts…<br><br>After what seemed like a few hours walk or so, the Geomchi’s finally began seeing open spaces…there were lush green farms on both their sides. Geomchi5 could sense his disciples’ excitement. This all was working out excellent….now that they found open places they only required some practicing targets… <br><br>“Master, look what I found!” Wind Geomchi 6 said as he pointed in the direction of what appeared to be an abandoned dilapidated ranch of sorts…<br><br>“Yes we can use that!” Geomchi5 said excitedly. “I do not think anyone lives in this anymore. You two go and see the house and see if there is anyone living there and the others ask around to see if we can practice here…I don’t want to encroach upon someone else’s property.”<br><br>The eleven Geomchi’s stepped in and began exploring. Wind Geomchis’ 3 and 11 explored the house, however they found it completely empty. There were no signs of this house being inhabited. It wore signs of being previously occupied…but now it appeared to have fallen to ruins. There were signs of vandalism and a few broken windows here and there but nothing out of the ordinary….and more importantly nothing that they could use. Nonetheless, if this house was truly abandoned it would be of great comfort to occupy during the three weeks they planned to stay in the city.<br><br>Wind Geomchis 6 to 8, began checking out the barn. Although it was closed tight, with a little bit of struggle they opened the barn doors and to their surprise they found a single wagon standing there. Unlike the exterior of the house and barn, the wagon appeared to be extremely well maintained. As the Geomchi’s peered into the wagon, they found tons and tons of low level weapons lying inside. Their eyes grew bright in excitement. They quickly told Geomchi5 what they found.<br><br>“Good!” He praised them, “This will serve as good material to practice with when we are allowed to go outside hunting. Now the other newcomers won’t have to worry about buying a new sword.”<br><br>The other wind geomchi’s began reporting back in. <br><br>“Master, we found some loose boards in the house which we can use…”<br><br>“Excellent! We can use these to practice on…along with the dried hay they found in the barn house…”<br><br>Geomchi5 and the others quickly tied the hay around the wooden planks and set them into the ground. After a little more effort they had twenty such practicing targets… <br>“For today this much will do…, we can cut the trees for the others tomorrow. Then let us begin practicing some sword strikes…” Geomchi5 said. <br><br>Just as they were about to begin, another ground of wind geomchi’s returned.<br><br>“Master, we talked to the neighbours and they confirmed this house belonged to an old couple but it seems like they left this place. It has not been occupied in the last eighteen months.”<br><br>“Then I guess it settles it. We will occupy this place until the couple returns. This will be an excellent place to begin practice.” Geomchi5 said excitedly.<br><br>“…” However, the group that brought the news of the couple had something more to say. <br><br>“Master, some of the neighbours also said this place is haunted…”<br><br>“…”<br><br>“They say at night you can find strange balls of light floating wandering through the air in this ranch and many people here at night to see it.”<br><br>“A little bit of light at night will be helpful..” Geomchi5 chirped back. He wasn’t afraid of any ghost in a game.<br><br>“And master…some say that monsters roam in these ranches…there is howling often heard here… and those who get to close to the house at night have said that they could hear some monster growling at them as a warning…”<br><br>“Wonderful!” Geomchi5 said, “Having monsters come to us is the best thing possible. Otherwise we have to wait 3 weeks before we can fight monsters!”<br><br>“Master…and they say sometimes…this place grows so dark at night…as if someone hid it behind a veil of darkness…the neighbors complain of the chills reaching their bones and the hair standing on their back like a cat in fear…master this place may not be such a good idea…”<br><br>“We will continue swinging our swords. Only concentrate on swinging the sword! There is no need to listen to such gibberish stories”<br><br>“Yes Master! We will focus on the sword.” The practioners chirped back.<br><br>“Oh, Master how admirable.”<br><br>The Wind Geomchis applauded.<br><br>Then the eleven of them began to beat the scarecrow. Even though they were tired, it gave them more willpower.<br><br>Geomchi5 smiled seeing his students working so hard. They were probably tired and some of them were scared by ghost stories, nonetheless for his sake they put everything aside and practiced the way of the sword.<br><br>A few neighbours who were passing by were glad to see such enthusiasm from the practitioners. The house which had long been abandoned by every living soul finally sounded noisy and busy. The eerie feeling it kept giving away was receding slowly.<br><br>The Geomchi’s continued practicing strikes and ignored all players who stared at them. The scene of seeing Geomchi’s reminded many players of Royal Road and they wondered if this was the dawn of a new cult or something. Some of them also thought that they looked a lot like the Geomchi’s whom they had read about…little did they know that the Geomchi’s had returned.<br><br>As night crawled on they continued striking their targets. Since they had been questing earlier during the day, we were able to earn enough copper to buy bread to last them a week.<br><br>Even though it was late into the night and the practioners had been swinging the sword for several hours, they continued to endure the harsh training. Since the VR world moved three times faster than the real world, it meant they could practice three times more. The opportunity was to be taken seriously! Moreso, since the practioners were competing with other fellow Geomchi’s across the kingdom.<br><br>“Is anyone tired?” Geomchi5 teased his disciples.<br><br>“We live only for the sword!” His disciple replied back in chorus.<br><br>Suddenly, Geomchi5 stopped. His sharp sense could tell something had changed…He raised his hand up and motioning his disciples to stop.<br><br>“Who is there?” He shouted out in a stern voice. He didn’t like that they were being watched so secretly.<br><br>“Master what is wrong..” A disciple began…however Geomchi5 motioned him to be silent.<br><br>Only the soft gentle breeze blowing through the ranch could be heard.<br><br>“Come out! I know you are there!” Geomchi5 shouted again. Others might think he was a senile old man, but Geomchi5 could tell apart even the smallest changes in the environment.<br><br>After a few seconds, something moved in the distance…the Geomchi’s gripped their sword tightly, they knew well about the ghost stories…<br><br>A hooded figure began approaching them.<br>The ground became cold and the leaves around the mysterious being began to grey and wilt. Even though it was dark, Geomchi5’s sharp senses could tell what was happening. Geomchi5 knew this was a monster that they had to deal with swiftly.<br><br>The hooded figure stood no more than a few feet away from the Geomchis and stared at them silently. The Geomchi’s stared back and they could only see darkness. There was no face beneath that hood, only complete darkness. They could feel chills throughout their body…the disciples were scared. Even though this was a game, they could clearly sense the difference between of power between them. The being in front of them was a monster. A monster so vicious, it could eat them up alive without a care in the world.<br><br>Geomchi5 could sense his student’s hesitation and fear. Without giving it further thought, he leaped in front and swung his sword down. He knew he could do no damage given his low level but at least he could give his students some courage.<br><br>The being caught the sword in mid air with his bare hands…Geomchi5 was in shock. The attack by no means was sloppy, even if his agility was low; Geomchi5’s movements were perfect from the point of view of a swordsman. This creature was so vile that by just touching his sword it began corroding away…Geomchi5 retracted his sword and swung again. The hooded creature quickly pulled out a black sword and defended the slash. <br><br>The wind geomchi’s who were scared quickly got their attack together. They certainly weren’t going to let their master handle this by himself. They too quickly joined the action. But now matter what type of combination of attack they tried, they could not best the monster. It would dodge attacks from the back as if it had eyes behind its hood.<br><br>Its movements were so spectacular that Geomchi5 began wondering whether this creature was really serious about killing them. He could tell that they were being toyed with. Geomchi5 grew frustrated, this match reminded him a lot of Lee Hyun in the dojang. When they crossed swords, this was the exact same feeling. Lee Hyun would dodge all his attacks so effortlessly, it frustrated him. This monster was no less. However, Geomchi5 could tell all though this monster was good it was a lot like Lee Hyun in his early days, rough and relying greatly on pure raw power. <br><br>The thought did cross Geomchi5’s mind whether this was Lee Hyun. However this was something he would only be able to confirm when he was back in the real world.<br><br>‘If that is all you can do…then let us see if you can handle this.’ Geomchi5 said as he began with more complex movements. His sword was no longer following a regular attack pattern. He could parry his weapon either direction and sometimes would change hands, surprising the monster with his reach. Given that his disciples were coordinating with him on the attacks, they were really able to pressure the monster into a corner…and then Geomchi5 finally succeeded!<br><br>He finally managed to pierce the monster with his sword…however it could be said that Geomchi5 opened pandora’s box with that single strike. The starry sky and moonlight faded into the darkness and the Geomchi’s could no longer see or hear anything. The disciples stood motionless hoping to detect some sounds but before they heard wind gromchi 6 scream in agony. One by one, each disciple fell. Geomchi5’s was boiling in anger, hearing his student’s scream. Since they had maintained a high level of tolerance to pain in the VR gear’s option setting, they felt the sword strike almost like a real one. <br><br>Geomchi heard a faint sound of someone approaching him, he raised his sword to defend and sparks flew everywhere. For a fraction of moment, he could see the monster attacking him. Its clothes were covered in crimson blood of the disciples. Before Geomchi5 could do anything else, he was killed.<br><br>The starry sky and moonlight sky revealed themselves once again. There lay eleven slain bodies of the Geomchi’s in a pool of their own blood and a hooded figure peering down on them. The small scar that the creature received quickly healed itself…the monster touched the place of the wound before disappearing into the night.<br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. Happy Reading!<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1532" target="_blank">Yes</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

“Geomchi2 did you find that player?” Geomchi3 (Ma Sangbeom) asked curiously over the whisper. “No, it looks like she has moved her food stall or logged out.” Geomchi2 said regretfully. “You sure it was Cha Eunhee?” Geomchi4 (Choi Jong) asked. “Could just be your daughter…” “My daughter doesn’t know how to cook anything….” Geomchi2 (Chung Il) said hesitatingly. “…” “I guess, it was someone who looked just like her?” Geomchi2 asked the other for reassurance. “Yes, that must be it! You know how they say in this world for each person their exist two other people who look just like them even though they are not related by blood…” Geomchi4 chirped away happily. “Yes, even I have heard of that saying!” Geomchi3 backed Geomchi4. “…” “Were any of you able to find a sword training hall?” Geomchi2 asked the others. “No…nothing here in fire kingdom…all they have is fire magic…” Geomchi 3 said. “Nothing here in water in either…though we found out that there are professional schools to learn the way of the way of the sword in this kingdom…very few take up the way of the sword…” Geomchi4 reported in. “I see, I can say the same here…” Geomchi5 said. “We too have searched the entire city of Lavias and have found no training hall. We have heard rumors of sword schools but only restricted to members…” “I do not understand…how can Lee Hyun make no training halls?” Geomchi2 asked furiously. “I do not know either brother…” Geomchi4 said as he helped an NPC push boxes into a warehouse. “For now we are all doing quests and levelling up before we exit the city.” Geomchi3 said, “It will help us when we kill the monsters.” “But that is not truly the way of the sword is it now?” Geomchi2 asked. “…but even if I buy a sword where do I find practicing grounds?” Geomchi3 asked angrily, he did not like being questioned how he trained his students. “…” “We have yet to bring the other disciples to this game…if we are not adept with the sword here then we will lose our rights are as masters, teachers and seniors.” Geomchi2 spoke. “Even though we are masters of the sword in this world if we don’t train our senses to attune to this world, we will only make a mockery of ourselves in front of our students.” “…” “Remember when master, Ahn Hyundo, died?” Geomchi2 asked. “The humiliation was unbearable and are master did not rest till he did not exact revenge. However, I am not sure if we can compare to our masters resolve. If we were to lose are lives here easily, it will leave a bad impression on the young ones.” “Then what do you suggest?” Geomchi4 asked bored of being lectured by the eldest of the lot. Geomchi2 then narrated his experience how he was able to secure sword practice. After listening to his experience, the other Geomchi’s were very much impressed with Geomchi2’s luck and journey so far. “As expected of our brother!” Geomchi3 said with pride when he heard that Geomchi2 gained a disciple in this world through display of his sheer skills. “But this disciple Krug, is he not an NPC?” Geomchi5 asked. “…yes…which is why I am most worried about him, as his master I cannot lay about thinking about the next day but his entire future…” Geomchi2 said. His voice conveyed his worry. “I was hoping that by practicing we would become stronger…but it seems no matter how long we hit the practice targets, we are unable to increase our stats.” “Ah!” Geomchi5 exclaimed. “I overheard this, you will not gain any stats in this game till you reach level one.” “What!” The other three were taken by surprise. “Did you not already know brother, Ma Sangbeom?” Geomchi5 asked as Ma Sangbeom had been doing quests. “I never realized that you won’t be able to gain any stats. Since we couldn’t find the training hall, all of us here just began questing and gaining levels…” Geomchi3 explained. “I see so before we rush into sword training it is important to make sure all students are level one.” Geomchi2 said as he brooded on the matter. “This explains why we haven’t been able to gain any stats…” “Then let us resume where we left off.” Geomchi3 suggested. “We will find ways to practice the sword in our respective continents.” “And I will see the results of our training after we all reach level one.” Geomchi2 said. “Then it is decided I guess more or less…” Geomchi5 said sheepishly, “We bring remainder students to train here tomorrow?” “Yeah…” With that the Geomchi’s resumed their attention to their respective tasks at hand. Geomchi 5 (Roi Lee) called the other Wind Geomchis to for a meeting. “I have some bad news…” He began, “after discussing with the others, we have realized that there are no Training Halls here…” The practioners were disappointed, some of them had played Royal Road and the Training Hall was their favourite memory of it… Seeing his disappointed disciple’s faces, Geomchi5 quickly added, “However…Geomchi2 has been able to still persevere and they have been able to continue practicing the way of the sword. They may have no roof over their heads and they may sweat it out under the sun but they have been able to find a place to practice the sword. We too must find our own way to practice the sword.” “But master where do we find good practicing grounds?” WiGeomchi7 asked. “We have bought good swords with the money we got from the quest…but in this city I do not know where we can practice…” “…” “Master, maybe because we are looking for practicing area in the middle of the city, it is surely the reason we haven’t found place to practice.” WiGeomchi 9 said. “If we are to move out of this city maybe then we can find better a better area…” “Oh, so we could do that…” The rest of the Geomchis were smiling, but Wind Geomchi4 shook his head. “We can’t leave the city for three weeks so it looks like we’re going to have to find a place within the city...” “…” “Then how about towards the outskirts?” Geomchi5 said. “It looked less crowded than here…” “Yes, I noticed too!” Wind Geomchi 10 said excitedly. “But which gate do we take?” “Like the rising sun, let us begun our journey from the east?” Geomchi5 joked. His disciple’s eyes sparkled. The Geomchi’s quickly began making their way through the market square towards the eastern exit and towards the Eastern Gate. They passed through expensive residential houses and small slum like dwellings…crossing paved roads to muddy paths…till they began seeing the farmlands of Lavias. Originally, there were plenty of lush fields and the inner city was much smaller. However, with rising number of players and increasing game population, development was quite haphazard in the city. Lavias unlike other cities in other kingdom’s was quite a small starter city. Even the smallest percentage of increase in population was pushing the limit the city to accommodate. The result being… the farms nearest to the city were being closed down and changed into dwelling units. The rich began living in the center of the city and the poor towards the outskirts… After what seemed like a few hours walk or so, the Geomchi’s finally began seeing open spaces…there were lush green farms on both their sides. Geomchi5 could sense his disciples’ excitement. This all was working out excellent….now that they found open places they only required some practicing targets… “Master, look what I found!” Wind Geomchi 6 said as he pointed in the direction of what appeared to be an abandoned dilapidated ranch of sorts… “Yes we can use that!” Geomchi5 said excitedly. “I do not think anyone lives in this anymore. You two go and see the house and see if there is anyone living there and the others ask around to see if we can practice here…I don’t want to encroach upon someone else’s property.” The eleven Geomchi’s stepped in and began exploring. Wind Geomchis’ 3 and 11 explored the house, however they found it completely empty. There were no signs of this house being inhabited. It wore signs of being previously occupied…but now it appeared to have fallen to ruins. There were signs of vandalism and a few broken windows here and there but nothing out of the ordinary….and more importantly nothing that they could use. Nonetheless, if this house was truly abandoned it would be of great comfort to occupy during the three weeks they planned to stay in the city. Wind Geomchis 6 to 8, began checking out the barn. Although it was closed tight, with a little bit of struggle they opened the barn doors and to their surprise they found a single wagon standing there. Unlike the exterior of the house and barn, the wagon appeared to be extremely well maintained. As the Geomchi’s peered into the wagon, they found tons and tons of low level weapons lying inside. Their eyes grew bright in excitement. They quickly told Geomchi5 what they found. “Good!” He praised them, “This will serve as good material to practice with when we are allowed to go outside hunting. Now the other newcomers won’t have to worry about buying a new sword.” The other wind geomchi’s began reporting back in. “Master, we found some loose boards in the house which we can use…” “Excellent! We can use these to practice on…along with the dried hay they found in the barn house…” Geomchi5 and the others quickly tied the hay around the wooden planks and set them into the ground. After a little more effort they had twenty such practicing targets… “For today this much will do…, we can cut the trees for the others tomorrow. Then let us begin practicing some sword strikes…” Geomchi5 said. Just as they were about to begin, another ground of wind geomchi’s returned. “Master, we talked to the neighbours and they confirmed this house belonged to an old couple but it seems like they left this place. It has not been occupied in the last eighteen months.” “Then I guess it settles it. We will occupy this place until the couple returns. This will be an excellent place to begin practice.” Geomchi5 said excitedly. “…” However, the group that brought the news of the couple had something more to say. “Master, some of the neighbours also said this place is haunted…” “…” “They say at night you can find strange balls of light floating wandering through the air in this ranch and many people here at night to see it.” “A little bit of light at night will be helpful..” Geomchi5 chirped back. He wasn’t afraid of any ghost in a game. “And master…some say that monsters roam in these ranches…there is howling often heard here… and those who get to close to the house at night have said that they could hear some monster growling at them as a warning…” “Wonderful!” Geomchi5 said, “Having monsters come to us is the best thing possible. Otherwise we have to wait 3 weeks before we can fight monsters!” “Master…and they say sometimes…this place grows so dark at night…as if someone hid it behind a veil of darkness…the neighbors complain of the chills reaching their bones and the hair standing on their back like a cat in fear…master this place may not be such a good idea…” “We will continue swinging our swords. Only concentrate on swinging the sword! There is no need to listen to such gibberish stories” “Yes Master! We will focus on the sword.” The practioners chirped back. “Oh, Master how admirable.” The Wind Geomchis applauded. Then the eleven of them began to beat the scarecrow. Even though they were tired, it gave them more willpower. Geomchi5 smiled seeing his students working so hard. They were probably tired and some of them were scared by ghost stories, nonetheless for his sake they put everything aside and practiced the way of the sword. A few neighbours who were passing by were glad to see such enthusiasm from the practitioners. The house which had long been abandoned by every living soul finally sounded noisy and busy. The eerie feeling it kept giving away was receding slowly. The Geomchi’s continued practicing strikes and ignored all players who stared at them. The scene of seeing Geomchi’s reminded many players of Royal Road and they wondered if this was the dawn of a new cult or something. Some of them also thought that they looked a lot like the Geomchi’s whom they had read about…little did they know that the Geomchi’s had returned. As night crawled on they continued striking their targets. Since they had been questing earlier during the day, we were able to earn enough copper to buy bread to last them a week. Even though it was late into the night and the practioners had been swinging the sword for several hours, they continued to endure the harsh training. Since the VR world moved three times faster than the real world, it meant they could practice three times more. The opportunity was to be taken seriously! Moreso, since the practioners were competing with other fellow Geomchi’s across the kingdom. “Is anyone tired?” Geomchi5 teased his disciples. “We live only for the sword!” His disciple replied back in chorus. Suddenly, Geomchi5 stopped. His sharp sense could tell something had changed…He raised his hand up and motioning his disciples to stop. “Who is there?” He shouted out in a stern voice. He didn’t like that they were being watched so secretly. “Master what is wrong..” A disciple began…however Geomchi5 motioned him to be silent. Only the soft gentle breeze blowing through the ranch could be heard. “Come out! I know you are there!” Geomchi5 shouted again. Others might think he was a senile old man, but Geomchi5 could tell apart even the smallest changes in the environment. After a few seconds, something moved in the distance…the Geomchi’s gripped their sword tightly, they knew well about the ghost stories… A hooded figure began approaching them. The ground became cold and the leaves around the mysterious being began to grey and wilt. Even though it was dark, Geomchi5’s sharp senses could tell what was happening. Geomchi5 knew this was a monster that they had to deal with swiftly. The hooded figure stood no more than a few feet away from the Geomchis and stared at them silently. The Geomchi’s stared back and they could only see darkness. There was no face beneath that hood, only complete darkness. They could feel chills throughout their body…the disciples were scared. Even though this was a game, they could clearly sense the difference between of power between them. The being in front of them was a monster. A monster so vicious, it could eat them up alive without a care in the world. Geomchi5 could sense his student’s hesitation and fear. Without giving it further thought, he leaped in front and swung his sword down. He knew he could do no damage given his low level but at least he could give his students some courage. The being caught the sword in mid air with his bare hands…Geomchi5 was in shock. The attack by no means was sloppy, even if his agility was low; Geomchi5’s movements were perfect from the point of view of a swordsman. This creature was so vile that by just touching his sword it began corroding away…Geomchi5 retracted his sword and swung again. The hooded creature quickly pulled out a black sword and defended the slash. The wind geomchi’s who were scared quickly got their attack together. They certainly weren’t going to let their master handle this by himself. They too quickly joined the action. But now matter what type of combination of attack they tried, they could not best the monster. It would dodge attacks from the back as if it had eyes behind its hood. Its movements were so spectacular that Geomchi5 began wondering whether this creature was really serious about killing them. He could tell that they were being toyed with. Geomchi5 grew frustrated, this match reminded him a lot of Lee Hyun in the dojang. When they crossed swords, this was the exact same feeling. Lee Hyun would dodge all his attacks so effortlessly, it frustrated him. This monster was no less. However, Geomchi5 could tell all though this monster was good it was a lot like Lee Hyun in his early days, rough and relying greatly on pure raw power. The thought did cross Geomchi5’s mind whether this was Lee Hyun. However this was something he would only be able to confirm when he was back in the real world. ‘If that is all you can do…then let us see if you can handle this.’ Geomchi5 said as he began with more complex movements. His sword was no longer following a regular attack pattern. He could parry his weapon either direction and sometimes would change hands, surprising the monster with his reach. Given that his disciples were coordinating with him on the attacks, they were really able to pressure the monster into a corner…and then Geomchi5 finally succeeded! He finally managed to pierce the monster with his sword…however it could be said that Geomchi5 opened pandora’s box with that single strike. The starry sky and moonlight faded into the darkness and the Geomchi’s could no longer see or hear anything. The disciples stood motionless hoping to detect some sounds but before they heard wind gromchi 6 scream in agony. One by one, each disciple fell. Geomchi5’s was boiling in anger, hearing his student’s scream. Since they had maintained a high level of tolerance to pain in the VR gear’s option setting, they felt the sword strike almost like a real one. Geomchi heard a faint sound of someone approaching him, he raised his sword to defend and sparks flew everywhere. For a fraction of moment, he could see the monster attacking him. Its clothes were covered in crimson blood of the disciples. Before Geomchi5 could do anything else, he was killed. The starry sky and moonlight sky revealed themselves once again. There lay eleven slain bodies of the Geomchi’s in a pool of their own blood and a hooded figure peering down on them. The small scar that the creature received quickly healed itself…the monster touched the place of the wound before disappearing into the night. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. Happy Reading! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Yes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1532) | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> “Master what is your level?” Krug asked suspiciously.<br><br>“Level 0.”<br><br>“…I see in that case I can arrange something else. Please come with me, we can arrange all this right away!” Krug said excitedly.<br><br>Geomchi2 smiled with gratefulness. “I remembered we still haven’t given you a disciple’s title.”<br><br>The other practioners nodded in agreement. “Yes master, he definatelly needs a name.”<br><br>“Earthen Geomchi 11?” Suggested Earthen Geomchi 10.<br><br>“No…I do not believe that will suit him.” Geomchi 2 said.<br><br>The others looked at their master puzzled…<br><br>“You will be Wangja Meonji (prince of dust).”<br><br>Krug bowed upon receiving his title. “I do not know what it means, but I receive this titles bestowed upon me by you, my great master, with great honor.”<br><br>Krug was quick to arrange for wooden swords and practicing targets (a pole wrapped in layers of cloth). Geomchi2 was filled with excitement. “Yes this is indeed perfect.” Geomchi2 said as the last pole was hammered into the ground. A few onlookers gathered plahyers and NPC, seeing all the work being carried out. The practioners decided to ignore them.<br><br>“Then let us begin!” <br><br>Geomchi2 explained to Krug the basics of sword strike and watched him practice strikes till he got the movement right. Then together they began to hit the poles with the wooden swords. <br><br>“So it’s a must to do this?” Krug asked another practioner.<br><br>The practioner simply nodded as he pounded the pole with the wooden stick.<br><br>“Boom!”<br><br>Geomchi2 felt a bit of nostalgia from swinging the sword like this again. Constantly hitting a fixed object was like the training method practiced only in VR games. Training students like this had long been discarded in reality (about 50 years ago).<br><br>“Argh! Shout louder!” Geomchi2 said.<br><br>“Yes!” Shouted back the practioners.<br><br>The Geomchis eagerly beat the poles. ‘I must hit it harder than the others!’ Each Earthen Geomchi thought to themselves. <br><br>Some of the onlookers began thinking that the Geomchi’s were crazy.<br><br>‘What use is the sword in this world?’<br><br>‘Isn’t the elemental control far more powerful?’ They whispered to each other.<br><br>‘Isn’t that Krug Rosenheim?’ whispered some NPCs who were watching.<br><br>‘Aye! It is one the shrine’s instructors!’<br><br>‘Why is he practicing swords?’<br><br>‘Is this some kind of joke?’<br><br>Geomchi2and the others however continued to ignore them. Learn the sword first; a sword cuts monsters as knife cuts butter. That had been there dojang teachings. But no matter how many hours they swung their sword, their strength and other abilities did not grow. This was because only upon gaining level 1, could stats be applied and skills are learnt. However the Geomchi’s did not deter, they only began to think they were not putting in enough spirit.<br><br>‘I must become master’s best disciple!’<br><br>With that thought, their eyes grew brighter and brighter. However, they could not escape the rules of this world. The more they exerted themselves the more hungry they became and faster their bread diminished.<br><br>“Master, we have two pieces of bread left each!” Earthen Geomchi3 cried out.<br><br>“Hmmm…” Geomchi2 was in deep thought. Neither he nor his disciples were able to raise their stats. ‘Maybe Lee Hyun built this game to be much harder than before?’<br><br>“Eat one bread each and lets look for a quest. If we do a quest we will receive some money and then be able to buy more bread.” Geomchi2 suggested. He had grown wiser than before. He wasn't going to let his disciples die out of hunger.<br><br>The Geomchis ate the bread that was left. Now each Geomchi had only one bread left. Krug too ate bread as he was now under the training of his master. He would eat whatever they would eat, drink whatever they would drink and sleep wherever they would sleep. So if they decided to go on a quest he would too go on a quest! He had decided that he would imbibe the way of the Geomchis!<br><br>“I feel full thanks to the bread now!” Said earthen Geomchi4.<br><br>“Oh, yea! Krug you look quite proficient now.” Earthen Geomchi4 said.<br><br>“Yes I gained the sword mastery stat! and my strength also increased!” Krug replied excitedly.<br><br>The other Geomchi’s scowled. How was it that when they were doing the samething that he was the only one able to gain stats?<br><br>“Che!”<br><br>“It’s ok!” Geomchi2 said, seeing his frustrated disciples. “I am sure we must try even harder!”<br><br>“Master, you are right.” The others said.<br><br>“Krug-nim, we are looking to do a quest to earn some money. Do you know where we can get a quest?” The Geomchi’s asked.<br><br>“I think there are plenty of people in the town who needs work done. I do not know of these people but I often hear from my men that there are many errand workers here.”<br><br>“Alright then.” Geomchi2 said coming to a decision. “All of you head to the town and find quests for yourself. Once you do that buy money with the bread and comeback here. We shall continue our training from where we left.”<br><br>The Geomchi’s nodded and left. Just as Krug was about to leave with them, Geomchi2 turned and said, “Not you krug, you are still the newest member amongst us all, you must practice the way of the sword even more. So if you feel hungry then eat but don’t die of hunger.” <br><br>“…” Krug silently accepted his master’s orders and began swinging his sword. <br><br>Silence surrounded the group after what Geomchi2 had just said. <br><br>“Master weren’t you too harsh on him?”<br><br>“Master, he is not that weak.”<br><br>“He will grow stronger; we will even call him to practice in the dojang.”<br><br>Earthen Geomchi 8 said, “He is not one of us.”<br><br>The atmosphere became tense after those words had been said carelessly.<br><br>“What do you mean brother?”<br>Geomchi2 spoke, “He is an NPC.”<br><br>The Geomchis began questioning.<br><br>“Are you sure?” The other 9 began asking. <br><br>“I mean, how do you know?”<br><br>“This is a serious situation. What do we do?”<br><br>“This means Krug-nim can never practice in the dojang with us?”<br><br>“Is that why master asked him to practice more here?”<br><br>“Fools.” Geomchi2 spoke irritatedly. “This is more serious than that. He needs to grow much stronger than us. Have you ever heard of an NPC coming back to life after dying?”<br><br>“…” The Geomchis had no answer.<br><br>“Unlike us Krug will be playing with his life on the line when we enter the battlefront. If he is not strong enough then he will wither away.” Geomchi2 continued feeling slightly emotional. Though he just met Krug, he had grown fond of his new disciple. He could not help feeling concerned about each of his disciples.<br><br>“Master! I think I know.” Spoke a Geomchi.<br><br>“Earthen Geomchi 6 (Author: shortened to EGeomchi), tell me your idea. What would you do?” Geomchi2 ordered.<br><br>“If Wangja Meonji is in danger we can protect him! We just have to grow stronger ourselves!”<br><br>“Sigh…” Geomchi2 felt his disciples need more training in the art of consideration. “Would you like me to save you everytime you were in danger?” He asked EGeomchi6.<br><br>“Never master! I can never have you save me!” EGeomchi 6 spoke back embarrassed that his master made such an offer.<br><br>“Then alright, how about having all other EGeomchi’s stick out their neck before you?” Geomchi2 casually asked as they reach the town square.<br><br>“…” EGeomchi6 and the others finally understood what their master was driving towards. They weren’t thinking about how Krug-nim would feel to be continuously protected by others. It would serve as a reminder of how weak he was and furthermore it would crush his pride as a warrior.<br><br>“For now, it is best if he practices and becomes stronger and stronger. If a level 0 like me can kill him, can you imagine how weak he is?” Geomchi2 asked.<br>“Master…we have been meaning to ask you…how did you defeat him?” EGeomchi4 asked. <br><br>The others looked at Geomchi2 eagerly. Even though they had witnessed it, they did not understand everything. All that they saw was their master hiding behind trees and quickly reaching behind Krug. However, what interested them was how he could creep up so quietly behind Krug nim, especially since the ground was littered with falling autumn leaves.<br><br>“Yes master tell us! How did you dodge his attack with your eyes closed?”<br><br>“You can feel the tremors of an attack before they reach you.” Geomchi2 replied with a smug smile.<br><br>“Ahhh!” The other Geomchi’s exclaimed.<br><br>“And how did you move around with your eyes closed?” asked a senior practioner.<br><br>“He probably memorized the place when he walked in…” muttered an instructor as he turned red with embarrassment for not being able to figure it out sooner.<br><br>“And how did you hide your presence?”<br><br>“You mean soft wind steps?” Geomchi2 asked.<br><br>“Ah!! You used another branches ability.” The Geomchi’s exclaimed.<br><br>“I think you are mistaken. We aren’t branches of different teachings. We are branches of the same teaching. You must complete mastery of each branch before you can claim to be a master.”<br><br>“…” The disciples were speechless. They had spent the past several years trying to master just one branch. The instructors weren’t surprised they were already at a stage where they had mastered two branches and were mastering the other ones. Since all elements had some common points, progressing across all four branches wasn’t as difficult as the disciples imagined it to be. Nonetheless it did take significant time to master the remaining branches. The disciples and instructors could only look up in awe at their master.<br><br>"However, this is VR. Had it been a fight to the death, I would have lost." Geomchi2 said to tarnish that sheen of his victory that was building up in the eyes of his disciples. "With only 80 HP and such little damage, it would have been impossible to kill Krug."<br><br>The Geomchi's understood what their master meant here. This is not reality and by the rules here this wasn't really a victory. They had to become stronger!<br><br>“Then let us split here. We shall return only after buying enough bread for ourselves. I have created a whisper conference for Earthen Geomchi’s. If any of you are in trouble or find a good quest to share, let the others know.” Geomchi2 said.<br><br>With that the Geomchi’s went in different directions across the town.<br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. Created the following abbreviations: EGeomchi = Earthen Geomchi, FGeomchi = Fire Geomchi, WiGeomchi = Wind Geomchi, WaGeomchi = Water Geomchi.<br>2. I sleep, eat, write and post. Happy reading.<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1439" target="_blank">Side Story</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

“Master what is your level?” Krug asked suspiciously. “Level 0.” “…I see in that case I can arrange something else. Please come with me, we can arrange all this right away!” Krug said excitedly. Geomchi2 smiled with gratefulness. “I remembered we still haven’t given you a disciple’s title.” The other practioners nodded in agreement. “Yes master, he definatelly needs a name.” “Earthen Geomchi 11?” Suggested Earthen Geomchi 10. “No…I do not believe that will suit him.” Geomchi 2 said. The others looked at their master puzzled… “You will be Wangja Meonji (prince of dust).” Krug bowed upon receiving his title. “I do not know what it means, but I receive this titles bestowed upon me by you, my great master, with great honor.” Krug was quick to arrange for wooden swords and practicing targets (a pole wrapped in layers of cloth). Geomchi2 was filled with excitement. “Yes this is indeed perfect.” Geomchi2 said as the last pole was hammered into the ground. A few onlookers gathered plahyers and NPC, seeing all the work being carried out. The practioners decided to ignore them. “Then let us begin!” Geomchi2 explained to Krug the basics of sword strike and watched him practice strikes till he got the movement right. Then together they began to hit the poles with the wooden swords. “So it’s a must to do this?” Krug asked another practioner. The practioner simply nodded as he pounded the pole with the wooden stick. “Boom!” Geomchi2 felt a bit of nostalgia from swinging the sword like this again. Constantly hitting a fixed object was like the training method practiced only in VR games. Training students like this had long been discarded in reality (about 50 years ago). “Argh! Shout louder!” Geomchi2 said. “Yes!” Shouted back the practioners. The Geomchis eagerly beat the poles. ‘I must hit it harder than the others!’ Each Earthen Geomchi thought to themselves. Some of the onlookers began thinking that the Geomchi’s were crazy. ‘What use is the sword in this world?’ ‘Isn’t the elemental control far more powerful?’ They whispered to each other. ‘Isn’t that Krug Rosenheim?’ whispered some NPCs who were watching. ‘Aye! It is one the shrine’s instructors!’ ‘Why is he practicing swords?’ ‘Is this some kind of joke?’ Geomchi2and the others however continued to ignore them. Learn the sword first; a sword cuts monsters as knife cuts butter. That had been there dojang teachings. But no matter how many hours they swung their sword, their strength and other abilities did not grow. This was because only upon gaining level 1, could stats be applied and skills are learnt. However the Geomchi’s did not deter, they only began to think they were not putting in enough spirit. ‘I must become master’s best disciple!’ With that thought, their eyes grew brighter and brighter. However, they could not escape the rules of this world. The more they exerted themselves the more hungry they became and faster their bread diminished. “Master, we have two pieces of bread left each!” Earthen Geomchi3 cried out. “Hmmm…” Geomchi2 was in deep thought. Neither he nor his disciples were able to raise their stats. ‘Maybe Lee Hyun built this game to be much harder than before?’ “Eat one bread each and lets look for a quest. If we do a quest we will receive some money and then be able to buy more bread.” Geomchi2 suggested. He had grown wiser than before. He wasn't going to let his disciples die out of hunger. The Geomchis ate the bread that was left. Now each Geomchi had only one bread left. Krug too ate bread as he was now under the training of his master. He would eat whatever they would eat, drink whatever they would drink and sleep wherever they would sleep. So if they decided to go on a quest he would too go on a quest! He had decided that he would imbibe the way of the Geomchis! “I feel full thanks to the bread now!” Said earthen Geomchi4. “Oh, yea! Krug you look quite proficient now.” Earthen Geomchi4 said. “Yes I gained the sword mastery stat! and my strength also increased!” Krug replied excitedly. The other Geomchi’s scowled. How was it that when they were doing the samething that he was the only one able to gain stats? “Che!” “It’s ok!” Geomchi2 said, seeing his frustrated disciples. “I am sure we must try even harder!” “Master, you are right.” The others said. “Krug-nim, we are looking to do a quest to earn some money. Do you know where we can get a quest?” The Geomchi’s asked. “I think there are plenty of people in the town who needs work done. I do not know of these people but I often hear from my men that there are many errand workers here.” “Alright then.” Geomchi2 said coming to a decision. “All of you head to the town and find quests for yourself. Once you do that buy money with the bread and comeback here. We shall continue our training from where we left.” The Geomchi’s nodded and left. Just as Krug was about to leave with them, Geomchi2 turned and said, “Not you krug, you are still the newest member amongst us all, you must practice the way of the sword even more. So if you feel hungry then eat but don’t die of hunger.” “…” Krug silently accepted his master’s orders and began swinging his sword. Silence surrounded the group after what Geomchi2 had just said. “Master weren’t you too harsh on him?” “Master, he is not that weak.” “He will grow stronger; we will even call him to practice in the dojang.” Earthen Geomchi 8 said, “He is not one of us.” The atmosphere became tense after those words had been said carelessly. “What do you mean brother?” Geomchi2 spoke, “He is an NPC.” The Geomchis began questioning. “Are you sure?” The other 9 began asking. “I mean, how do you know?” “This is a serious situation. What do we do?” “This means Krug-nim can never practice in the dojang with us?” “Is that why master asked him to practice more here?” “Fools.” Geomchi2 spoke irritatedly. “This is more serious than that. He needs to grow much stronger than us. Have you ever heard of an NPC coming back to life after dying?” “…” The Geomchis had no answer. “Unlike us Krug will be playing with his life on the line when we enter the battlefront. If he is not strong enough then he will wither away.” Geomchi2 continued feeling slightly emotional. Though he just met Krug, he had grown fond of his new disciple. He could not help feeling concerned about each of his disciples. “Master! I think I know.” Spoke a Geomchi. “Earthen Geomchi 6 (Author: shortened to EGeomchi), tell me your idea. What would you do?” Geomchi2 ordered. “If Wangja Meonji is in danger we can protect him! We just have to grow stronger ourselves!” “Sigh…” Geomchi2 felt his disciples need more training in the art of consideration. “Would you like me to save you everytime you were in danger?” He asked EGeomchi6. “Never master! I can never have you save me!” EGeomchi 6 spoke back embarrassed that his master made such an offer. “Then alright, how about having all other EGeomchi’s stick out their neck before you?” Geomchi2 casually asked as they reach the town square. “…” EGeomchi6 and the others finally understood what their master was driving towards. They weren’t thinking about how Krug-nim would feel to be continuously protected by others. It would serve as a reminder of how weak he was and furthermore it would crush his pride as a warrior. “For now, it is best if he practices and becomes stronger and stronger. If a level 0 like me can kill him, can you imagine how weak he is?” Geomchi2 asked. “Master…we have been meaning to ask you…how did you defeat him?” EGeomchi4 asked. The others looked at Geomchi2 eagerly. Even though they had witnessed it, they did not understand everything. All that they saw was their master hiding behind trees and quickly reaching behind Krug. However, what interested them was how he could creep up so quietly behind Krug nim, especially since the ground was littered with falling autumn leaves. “Yes master tell us! How did you dodge his attack with your eyes closed?” “You can feel the tremors of an attack before they reach you.” Geomchi2 replied with a smug smile. “Ahhh!” The other Geomchi’s exclaimed. “And how did you move around with your eyes closed?” asked a senior practioner. “He probably memorized the place when he walked in…” muttered an instructor as he turned red with embarrassment for not being able to figure it out sooner. “And how did you hide your presence?” “You mean soft wind steps?” Geomchi2 asked. “Ah!! You used another branches ability.” The Geomchi’s exclaimed. “I think you are mistaken. We aren’t branches of different teachings. We are branches of the same teaching. You must complete mastery of each branch before you can claim to be a master.” “…” The disciples were speechless. They had spent the past several years trying to master just one branch. The instructors weren’t surprised they were already at a stage where they had mastered two branches and were mastering the other ones. Since all elements had some common points, progressing across all four branches wasn’t as difficult as the disciples imagined it to be. Nonetheless it did take significant time to master the remaining branches. The disciples and instructors could only look up in awe at their master. "However, this is VR. Had it been a fight to the death, I would have lost." Geomchi2 said to tarnish that sheen of his victory that was building up in the eyes of his disciples. "With only 80 HP and such little damage, it would have been impossible to kill Krug." The Geomchi's understood what their master meant here. This is not reality and by the rules here this wasn't really a victory. They had to become stronger! “Then let us split here. We shall return only after buying enough bread for ourselves. I have created a whisper conference for Earthen Geomchi’s. If any of you are in trouble or find a good quest to share, let the others know.” Geomchi2 said. With that the Geomchi’s went in different directions across the town. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. Created the following abbreviations: EGeomchi = Earthen Geomchi, FGeomchi = Fire Geomchi, WiGeomchi = Wind Geomchi, WaGeomchi = Water Geomchi. 2. I sleep, eat, write and post. Happy reading. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Side Story](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1439) | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blessing of Xenogoth</span><br>Being the archfiend of Hebereus, Xenogoth blesses you. He dislikes him deep to his core and offers you a hand of help. This blessing grants you immunity to holy attacks, the speciality of Herbereus's henchlings.</div><br>'Child, it may be unknown, whether there are still followers of Herbereus but I give you this gift so that you can fight against them and other orders of light. I have heard that the goddess of Freya has a huge rise lately and I won't ignore that. Hence go forth and fight this holy weaklings! Don't be afraid of the light but stay close to the darkness. Embrace it so that you can become one.'<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">New stat: Storage of darkness</span> (Beginner 1)<br>Description: When you linger around in dark or desecrated places you store unholy power. The power of darkness may be used to strengthen your attacks or to defend yourself. This is not all but you have to discover the secrets of this skill yourself. You cannot add points to this stat. Storage capacity 100(+5 per stat).</div><br>'Unholy, and immune to holy attacks? That's friggin awesome. '<br>I rejoiced. I rejoiced so happily - well as happily as you can if you are corporal or whatever I was. Still I was happy about what I just received. <br>A man suddenly manifested in a forest. The sun shone fiercelly on his face which was pale white. He had long pointy ears and a statue of an athlete.Trees staggered high all around hin and made a huge roof out of leaves. <br>It would have looked really beautiful if you didn't were in pain. The man was lying on the ground covering his face with his palms. He roared out in pain. <br>'What's wrong with me? My skin is burning.'<br>I didn't know what to do at first. My HP bar dropped to the half in mere seconds. I began to panic. <br>The man who obviously did not know what was happening continued to roll over the ground. Maybe out of luck or maybe because fate had it's hand in the game he rolled into a shadow of a tree. <br>The pain suddenly stopped. I breathed steadily now. The shock was still there and I tried to find out what happened.<br>Only then did I notice that the sun was blocked by a big old oak tree. I wanted to try sonething out. Taking the glove off my right hand, I held it out inside the sun. <br>The man was getting weirder and weirder. His pale face from before was now fire-red. He looked like a tomato head, and it wasn't even Halloween. He stripped off his right hand glove - topping everything else, he holds out his hand and burns it miserably. He shook his hand through the air and pulled it back into the shadows, slowly grasping what was happening to him. <br>'Unholy mother of hell - Is this the effect of my vampirism?'<br>"Open skill window!"<br>And to no surprise the vampirism was on a new stage. <br><div style="text-align: center;">---------------<br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Evolved Vampirism</span><br>You get burned when you walk through the sun. Without any protection you might turn into ash in seconds.<br>Additionally you get a boost of 35% to all your stats at night or in darkness.</div><br>'Hmm. Goddamn it so early already?!? That's just stupid. But I still got the passive to protect myself from the sun so there's one other positive thing about this.' <br>The surroundings didn't look familiar at all. On top of that did it seem that I was outside of town. But there were no monsters or anything around.<br>After rummaging through my bags and checking out what I had left which ran out to be my equipment and some breads, an empty canteen, japtem and things I couldn't equip I went into the direction most comfortable for me. <br>The man walked deeper and deeper into the forest without knowing what was awaiting him. Rumors of this forest had spread out like a wildfire after a caravan was slaughtered, massacred to say the truth. It was like a horror nightmare. Everyone was killed. And the finished picture was extraordinary ugly. This was art in the cruelest form possible. <br><div style="text-align: center;">-----------</div><br><br>Fáilariel could not believe her eyes, as she stood there in shock between the leftovers of her former comrades. Everything happened so fast that - that... She still couldn't believe it - if she would not have witnessed this she would never have believed anyone who might have told her in the future. Not that anyone was still alive except her - the bandits slain by the once so bluish sapphire brigade which itself fell most likely into the same trap as the bandits they had pursuited. And now everyone was dead except Fáilariel who had survived out of sheer luck and the demon which was starring at her with bull eyes. <br>The demon was a massive nine feet high red monster that still looked agile even with his overlayered muscles. He had long fingernails that looked like they could slice through stone. The eyes were pitch black through which the demon emitted an even shaddier aura than it already had. <br>"Finally." The demon said it with a satisfactory yet at the same gluttonous voice. "Finally someone summoned me after all this time. It has been too long that a drop of blood ran down my throat. This taste, how I have craved for it, is almost hilarious. I had sat in my realm - on my big throne - waiting for a mortal to challenge me but no human dares to come into my realm since "that" time."<br>You could see in her face that she didn't understand one word. Still being under shock, she couldn't make up one clear thought. The only thing she could hear inside her head were the screams of her now fallen, new conrades. Even though she did not know them for a long time she still grew attached to them. And now they were dead and she was the only one still alive. Again. <br>“So, it seems my old master had abandoned me. And you, a mere elf took up his position of being my master? That’s somewhat weird. But it seems you have made this sacrifice for me.” The demon said it so naturally that you wouldn’t have thought that this was totally weird if you looked at the situation. An elf in a state of well whatever because of her thought that she’s going to get killed and a demon who says master to her. ‘Me, his master? What is this? A sunday morning comedy show or what?’<br>“Are you the one who made this sacrifice or not? I won’t ask again.” The demon prepared to attack and raised his hands to the sides to show off his long sharp claws. A deep roar could be heard from his throat.<br>Fáilariel didn’t know what to do. So she followed the flow.<br>“Of course I am your master. I lead all the humans here so that I could summon you, a loyal companion and servant.” Hopefully the demon didn’t see the drop of sweat running down her forehead.<br>"So be it then. For now I will follow your lead but if you do anything stupid I will haunt you for the rest of my life. And I have already lived for many centuries and don't want to die in the near future. And by the way I am the demon Azrad, the fierce. People fear my name throughout Versailles and in the future they will fear it all around the world!" With that, the demon made a contract with Fàilariel. Her first contract with a demon.<br><div style="text-align: center;">--------------</div><br>I wandered around aimlessly. The forest blocked most of the sunlight and I could cherish the moments I had. It was so peaceful out here. The rustling of the leaves, the singing of the birds, the flow of a river somewhere, somewhat cracking on the ground - cracking on the ground? I looked to my feet and gasped. I was so fixed on the treetops and everything that I didn’t realise that I was walking through the leftovers of a big battle. The cracking came from an arrowhead beneath my feet. Suddenly a urge that I couldn’t resist formed, and my body moved behind a tree. Behind the tree lay a person on the ground, or what was left of it which was the upper part. It looked like a soldier, he still had his helmet on and in his right hand was a rusty sword. But to me only the blood was visible at that moment. I couldn’t resist the urge to bite into this dead person’s neck. So I bit into his flesh vigorously and salvaged what was left of his blood.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;">--------------<br>You drank the blood of a dead person.<br>+ 5 Infamy<br>-------------<br>You drank blood.<br>Stat boost of 10% for the next three hours.<br>Now that you got introduced to blood you can control the urge.<br>--------</div><br>The vampire took up the helmet of the guard and made a face cover with the cloth of the soldiers armor. Eventually he stood up refreshed and went around searching for more japtem. He took his time and didn’t notice the newcomers at the other end of the clearing. <br>“Hey, you!” A weird dressed guy said.”What are you doing in our territory? This is our japtem!”<br>As the vampire turned around, his mouth still bloody, he looked at the four guys without a hint of fear. You could see that he had been through a lot already. “Your territory,” he said,”I would say it’s mine.” He turned around completely and faced the four guys face to face. <br>One of the four guys whispered to another. “Hey bro, I don’t think this was a good idea. Don’t you see the blood around his mouth?” The other man hit him with his elbow into his stomach. “You idiot, we all see it. But we have to keep up a straight face and don’t show fear so that we look stronger than we are.”<br>The whispering went. To their disappointment the vampire could hear it all through his enhanced ears. “You know that I can hear everything you say?” He had a smug look on his face.<br>They gulped. ‘Oh man, it’s over with us.’ They thought in union. Still they took out their weapons. They wouldn’t give up so easily. Two of them took out shields and positioned themselves in front of the other two. Another equipped a bow and the fourth guy just stood there. <br><div style="text-align: center;">-------------</div><br>'Fuck it. They are getting ready to attack. Maybe it is time to test out my new strength.' I unsheathed my katana that hung around my waist in it's sheath way too long.<br> They circled me. Wary. The archer took an arrow to his bow and pulled the string. And let loose. The arrow went with a hiss beside my head. With that the battle begun. <br>I stormed at the two enemies waiting in front of me with their shields raised. Using the momentum to my advantage, I ducked low and cut both of their legs. One of them dodged the attack, the other one got hit straight and received a huge amount of damage. At least it looked like it. The archer shot arrow after arrow, some of them cut my arms but did no major damage. The one I hit earlier stumbled back and you could see a gash.<br>‘Seems like he deceived a bleeding dot’<br>The attack was followed by another strike. I began to continue swinging my sword against his shield and forgot about my surroundings. Sparks flew, and if you would have the time it would have looked really beautiful. His shield-arm got heavy and as his shield lowered a bit I sliced his hit and did a critical hit. <br>Just then I collapsed to the ground. My health dropped enormously. It seemed that the fourth guy backstabbed me. As I looked around I didn’t see him but I still knew that he was there. <br>“Finally, what took you so long?” One of the shield guys said. <br>I heard a demonic chuckle. I couldn’t locate it. The guys regrouped but he fourth guy was still missing. A bush rustled behind me and I turned around immediately. But to my disappointment no one was there and on top of that did a arrow struck my helmet. If I hadn’t equipped that thing back then I would have regretted it now. Furthermore did the helm make a weird sound and I could sense that something happened to it. <br>As I breathed in deeply I could feel the other two guys who already got damage behind me. I could hear their blood pulsing through their veins and especially through their wounds. It was really tempting but I couldn’t avert my eyes and my thoughts from the battle. <br>'Wait, if I get the chance to drain their blood then I could replenish my Hp.' Another thought went through my mind. 'I totally forgot about my skills. I am such a fool.' </div>

Blessing of Xenogoth Being the archfiend of Hebereus, Xenogoth blesses you. He dislikes him deep to his core and offers you a hand of help. This blessing grants you immunity to holy attacks, the speciality of Herbereus's henchlings. 'Child, it may be unknown, whether there are still followers of Herbereus but I give you this gift so that you can fight against them and other orders of light. I have heard that the goddess of Freya has a huge rise lately and I won't ignore that. Hence go forth and fight this holy weaklings! Don't be afraid of the light but stay close to the darkness. Embrace it so that you can become one.' New stat: Storage of darkness (Beginner 1) Description: When you linger around in dark or desecrated places you store unholy power. The power of darkness may be used to strengthen your attacks or to defend yourself. This is not all but you have to discover the secrets of this skill yourself. You cannot add points to this stat. Storage capacity 100(+5 per stat). 'Unholy, and immune to holy attacks? That's friggin awesome. ' I rejoiced. I rejoiced so happily - well as happily as you can if you are corporal or whatever I was. Still I was happy about what I just received. A man suddenly manifested in a forest. The sun shone fiercelly on his face which was pale white. He had long pointy ears and a statue of an athlete.Trees staggered high all around hin and made a huge roof out of leaves. It would have looked really beautiful if you didn't were in pain. The man was lying on the ground covering his face with his palms. He roared out in pain. 'What's wrong with me? My skin is burning.' I didn't know what to do at first. My HP bar dropped to the half in mere seconds. I began to panic. The man who obviously did not know what was happening continued to roll over the ground. Maybe out of luck or maybe because fate had it's hand in the game he rolled into a shadow of a tree. The pain suddenly stopped. I breathed steadily now. The shock was still there and I tried to find out what happened. Only then did I notice that the sun was blocked by a big old oak tree. I wanted to try sonething out. Taking the glove off my right hand, I held it out inside the sun. The man was getting weirder and weirder. His pale face from before was now fire-red. He looked like a tomato head, and it wasn't even Halloween. He stripped off his right hand glove - topping everything else, he holds out his hand and burns it miserably. He shook his hand through the air and pulled it back into the shadows, slowly grasping what was happening to him. 'Unholy mother of hell - Is this the effect of my vampirism?' "Open skill window!" And to no surprise the vampirism was on a new stage. --------------- Evolved Vampirism You get burned when you walk through the sun. Without any protection you might turn into ash in seconds. Additionally you get a boost of 35% to all your stats at night or in darkness. 'Hmm. Goddamn it so early already?!? That's just stupid. But I still got the passive to protect myself from the sun so there's one other positive thing about this.' The surroundings didn't look familiar at all. On top of that did it seem that I was outside of town. But there were no monsters or anything around. After rummaging through my bags and checking out what I had left which ran out to be my equipment and some breads, an empty canteen, japtem and things I couldn't equip I went into the direction most comfortable for me. The man walked deeper and deeper into the forest without knowing what was awaiting him. Rumors of this forest had spread out like a wildfire after a caravan was slaughtered, massacred to say the truth. It was like a horror nightmare. Everyone was killed. And the finished picture was extraordinary ugly. This was art in the cruelest form possible. ----------- Fáilariel could not believe her eyes, as she stood there in shock between the leftovers of her former comrades. Everything happened so fast that - that... She still couldn't believe it - if she would not have witnessed this she would never have believed anyone who might have told her in the future. Not that anyone was still alive except her - the bandits slain by the once so bluish sapphire brigade which itself fell most likely into the same trap as the bandits they had pursuited. And now everyone was dead except Fáilariel who had survived out of sheer luck and the demon which was starring at her with bull eyes. The demon was a massive nine feet high red monster that still looked agile even with his overlayered muscles. He had long fingernails that looked like they could slice through stone. The eyes were pitch black through which the demon emitted an even shaddier aura than it already had. "Finally." The demon said it with a satisfactory yet at the same gluttonous voice. "Finally someone summoned me after all this time. It has been too long that a drop of blood ran down my throat. This taste, how I have craved for it, is almost hilarious. I had sat in my realm - on my big throne - waiting for a mortal to challenge me but no human dares to come into my realm since "that" time." You could see in her face that she didn't understand one word. Still being under shock, she couldn't make up one clear thought. The only thing she could hear inside her head were the screams of her now fallen, new conrades. Even though she did not know them for a long time she still grew attached to them. And now they were dead and she was the only one still alive. Again. “So, it seems my old master had abandoned me. And you, a mere elf took up his position of being my master? That’s somewhat weird. But it seems you have made this sacrifice for me.” The demon said it so naturally that you wouldn’t have thought that this was totally weird if you looked at the situation. An elf in a state of well whatever because of her thought that she’s going to get killed and a demon who says master to her. ‘Me, his master? What is this? A sunday morning comedy show or what?’ “Are you the one who made this sacrifice or not? I won’t ask again.” The demon prepared to attack and raised his hands to the sides to show off his long sharp claws. A deep roar could be heard from his throat. Fáilariel didn’t know what to do. So she followed the flow. “Of course I am your master. I lead all the humans here so that I could summon you, a loyal companion and servant.” Hopefully the demon didn’t see the drop of sweat running down her forehead. "So be it then. For now I will follow your lead but if you do anything stupid I will haunt you for the rest of my life. And I have already lived for many centuries and don't want to die in the near future. And by the way I am the demon Azrad, the fierce. People fear my name throughout Versailles and in the future they will fear it all around the world!" With that, the demon made a contract with Fàilariel. Her first contract with a demon. -------------- I wandered around aimlessly. The forest blocked most of the sunlight and I could cherish the moments I had. It was so peaceful out here. The rustling of the leaves, the singing of the birds, the flow of a river somewhere, somewhat cracking on the ground - cracking on the ground? I looked to my feet and gasped. I was so fixed on the treetops and everything that I didn’t realise that I was walking through the leftovers of a big battle. The cracking came from an arrowhead beneath my feet. Suddenly a urge that I couldn’t resist formed, and my body moved behind a tree. Behind the tree lay a person on the ground, or what was left of it which was the upper part. It looked like a soldier, he still had his helmet on and in his right hand was a rusty sword. But to me only the blood was visible at that moment. I couldn’t resist the urge to bite into this dead person’s neck. So I bit into his flesh vigorously and salvaged what was left of his blood. -------------- You drank the blood of a dead person. + 5 Infamy ------------- You drank blood. Stat boost of 10% for the next three hours. Now that you got introduced to blood you can control the urge. -------- The vampire took up the helmet of the guard and made a face cover with the cloth of the soldiers armor. Eventually he stood up refreshed and went around searching for more japtem. He took his time and didn’t notice the newcomers at the other end of the clearing. “Hey, you!” A weird dressed guy said.”What are you doing in our territory? This is our japtem!” As the vampire turned around, his mouth still bloody, he looked at the four guys without a hint of fear. You could see that he had been through a lot already. “Your territory,” he said,”I would say it’s mine.” He turned around completely and faced the four guys face to face. One of the four guys whispered to another. “Hey bro, I don’t think this was a good idea. Don’t you see the blood around his mouth?” The other man hit him with his elbow into his stomach. “You idiot, we all see it. But we have to keep up a straight face and don’t show fear so that we look stronger than we are.” The whispering went. To their disappointment the vampire could hear it all through his enhanced ears. “You know that I can hear everything you say?” He had a smug look on his face. They gulped. ‘Oh man, it’s over with us.’ They thought in union. Still they took out their weapons. They wouldn’t give up so easily. Two of them took out shields and positioned themselves in front of the other two. Another equipped a bow and the fourth guy just stood there. ------------- 'Fuck it. They are getting ready to attack. Maybe it is time to test out my new strength.' I unsheathed my katana that hung around my waist in it's sheath way too long. They circled me. Wary. The archer took an arrow to his bow and pulled the string. And let loose. The arrow went with a hiss beside my head. With that the battle begun. I stormed at the two enemies waiting in front of me with their shields raised. Using the momentum to my advantage, I ducked low and cut both of their legs. One of them dodged the attack, the other one got hit straight and received a huge amount of damage. At least it looked like it. The archer shot arrow after arrow, some of them cut my arms but did no major damage. The one I hit earlier stumbled back and you could see a gash. ‘Seems like he deceived a bleeding dot’ The attack was followed by another strike. I began to continue swinging my sword against his shield and forgot about my surroundings. Sparks flew, and if you would have the time it would have looked really beautiful. His shield-arm got heavy and as his shield lowered a bit I sliced his hit and did a critical hit. Just then I collapsed to the ground. My health dropped enormously. It seemed that the fourth guy backstabbed me. As I looked around I didn’t see him but I still knew that he was there. “Finally, what took you so long?” One of the shield guys said. I heard a demonic chuckle. I couldn’t locate it. The guys regrouped but he fourth guy was still missing. A bush rustled behind me and I turned around immediately. But to my disappointment no one was there and on top of that did a arrow struck my helmet. If I hadn’t equipped that thing back then I would have regretted it now. Furthermore did the helm make a weird sound and I could sense that something happened to it. As I breathed in deeply I could feel the other two guys who already got damage behind me. I could hear their blood pulsing through their veins and especially through their wounds. It was really tempting but I couldn’t avert my eyes and my thoughts from the battle. 'Wait, if I get the chance to drain their blood then I could replenish my Hp.' Another thought went through my mind. 'I totally forgot about my skills. I am such a fool.'

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"># You Shall Not Pass!</span><br><br><br>"Now that that's done, let's go up and- Oh Shit! There's another Boss up there." (Me)<br><br>"What are you talking about, we just- Oh motherfucker, there IS another Boss." (Kenobi)<br><br>"How do you kno- Oh Shoot! The Faerie!" (Splay Mark)<br><br>"That's right, and supposedly whatever's up there is stronger than these two put together," Voltanis reminded us, "I vote we call it a day and come back tomorrow."<br><br>"""Agreed."""<br><br>"See you guys tommorow," Splay Mark waved once and dissapeared.<br><br>"I'm gonna go too, bye," I said before logging off.<br><br>********************************************************************************<br><br><br>As usual, I was the first to log back in, and, as usual, I spent my time doing miscellaneous tasks. Such as repairing gear and making new arrows as well as updating my Dragon's Breath.<br><br>The "New" Dragon's Breath included a screw-on detachable barrel which contains the flint blocks. Removing the barrel makes the crossbow quieter, and slightly increases the projectile speed, but doesn't cause the bolt to be set on fire.<br><br>When Splay Mark arrived, I helped to repair his weapon, and when everyone had gathered, we agreed that Voltanis should get the chains, since (according to him) his class quests occasionally required such items.<br><br>"Okay," Splay Mark said, "Before we start, how 'bout some more of that mead, Voltanis?"<br><br>"I'm afraid not," Voltanis replied, "There's still a week before the summon finishes its cooldown."<br><br>"... That's one long ass cooldown," I said<br><br>"Well... Blóðughófi's cooldown is even longer. The Faerie's cooldown is over though, but I doubt it'll (genderless?) be of any use here. Perhaps Kenobi can buff us?"<br><br>"Not my specialty, but I can try blessing your weapons."<br><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;">Your weapon has been blessed!<br><br>Its damage has been temporarily increased!<br>It is temporarily more effectice against Dark Forces!<br>It cannot be wielded by Dark Forces!<br>It has gained a (badass) glow!</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br>Well, it wasn't anywhere near the baddassery of Kenobi's Lightsaber, but it still looked pretty impressive.<br><br>"By the way, I did some research on the "Isran Kingdom"," I said, "It seems that it's an Ancient Kingdom that used to exist before the Great War."<br><br>"Great War? Oh yeah, that's a story even that happened a long time ago, isn't it?" said Kenobi, "Wait, doesn't that mean that we were transported back in time?"<br><br>"That's... Quite a big deal.. Isn't it?" (Splay Mark)<br><br>"Well, yeah," I replied, "With any luck, the final boss will drop something <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> good."<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Step, Step, Step</span><br><br>And here we are.<br><br>"Finally!" said Splay Mark, "That staircase was as high as all the others put together!"<br><br>In front of us was a door similar to the one we passed through earlier on before fighting the Giants, only just a little bigger. Even so, it was obvious that the Giants couldn't have possibly fit through it.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*I guess the Gods really</span> did <span style="font-style: italic;">put them down there?*</span><br><br>"You know what would be really stupid?" Voltanis walked forward with the key, "It would be if this key doesn't open the door."<br><span style="font-style: italic;">Thok!</span><br><br>...<br><br>...<br><br>...<br><br>...<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Thok!</span><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Thok!</span><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Thok!</span><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Crack!</span><br><br>...<br><br>...<br><br>...<br><br>...<br><br>""""SERIOUSLY!"""<br><br>********************************************************************************<br><br>"Here you go, Sir! Found it!"<br><br>It was the Faerie, summoned again in order to find the key that we managed to miss.<br><br>"Alright, thanks," Voltanis said as he took the key, "Hey, what can you tell us about the next boss?"<br><br>"He's strong! He's not as old as the two Giants, but he's lived here most of his life! He's Human (I think)! He's a He!"<br><br>"That wasn't really helpful, but thanks anyway, I guess."<br><br>"No problem! Goodbye now! Good luck!"<br><br>"Thanks again."<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Poof!</span><br><br>"This one had better work."<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Click!</span><br><br>The door opened with a groan.<br><br>"GO!"<br><br>"But-"<br><br>"I said GO! NOW!"<br><br>At the other end of the "room" was a door that leads to what looks like the interior of a castle, but to call it a "room" wouldn't be correct. In truth it was a tower, about as big as the Giants's room, but helluva lot taller. At the very top of the tower were four stained-glass windows, but it was impossible to see the designs from the ground.<br><br>Standing in front of the door was a single man, dressed in pretty much the same fashion as Splay Mark. He was unarmed, and had tattoos of chains running all over his body.<br><br>On the other side of the door I glimpsed a petite hooded figure just before the man closed it, and sealed it shut with chains that he seemingly plucked out of nowhere (as I swear, he wasn't carrying them a moment ago).<br><br><br>"You're here," he said, "I expected that the Bromba soldiers would eventually make it past the Necromancer I imprisoned down there, but I never expected anyone to get past the two Giants."<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Huh?*</span><br><br>"I am The Warden. My job is to make sure that nobody gets in, or out of this place" he continued, "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. And I don't know how you magiked your way in here. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you turn back now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will kill you."<br><br>********************************************************************************<br><br>Author's note:<br><br>Hello Again!<br><br>First off, I would like to apologize for the short chapter.<br><br>For this week and the next month (maybe even January) I will be doing (unpaid) OT at work. In fact I just had to do OT during on my 21st brithday :cry:<br><br>As it is, this chapter was mostly typed during lunch breaks, and my fingers hurt from typing on dem stiff computer keyboards instead of my laptop with its gentle, shallow keystroke.<br><br>As usual, any and all comments and criticisms are welcome! </div>

# You Shall Not Pass! "Now that that's done, let's go up and- Oh Shit! There's another Boss up there." (Me) "What are you talking about, we just- Oh motherfucker, there IS another Boss." (Kenobi) "How do you kno- Oh Shoot! The Faerie!" (Splay Mark) "That's right, and supposedly whatever's up there is stronger than these two put together," Voltanis reminded us, "I vote we call it a day and come back tomorrow." """Agreed.""" "See you guys tommorow," Splay Mark waved once and dissapeared. "I'm gonna go too, bye," I said before logging off. ******************************************************************************** As usual, I was the first to log back in, and, as usual, I spent my time doing miscellaneous tasks. Such as repairing gear and making new arrows as well as updating my Dragon's Breath. The "New" Dragon's Breath included a screw-on detachable barrel which contains the flint blocks. Removing the barrel makes the crossbow quieter, and slightly increases the projectile speed, but doesn't cause the bolt to be set on fire. When Splay Mark arrived, I helped to repair his weapon, and when everyone had gathered, we agreed that Voltanis should get the chains, since (according to him) his class quests occasionally required such items. "Okay," Splay Mark said, "Before we start, how 'bout some more of that mead, Voltanis?" "I'm afraid not," Voltanis replied, "There's still a week before the summon finishes its cooldown." "... That's one long ass cooldown," I said "Well... Blóðughófi's cooldown is even longer. The Faerie's cooldown is over though, but I doubt it'll (genderless?) be of any use here. Perhaps Kenobi can buff us?" "Not my specialty, but I can try blessing your weapons." | Your weapon has been blessed!Its damage has been temporarily increased!It is temporarily more effectice against Dark Forces!It cannot be wielded by Dark Forces!It has gained a (badass) glow! | | --- | Well, it wasn't anywhere near the baddassery of Kenobi's Lightsaber, but it still looked pretty impressive. "By the way, I did some research on the "Isran Kingdom"," I said, "It seems that it's an Ancient Kingdom that used to exist before the Great War." "Great War? Oh yeah, that's a story even that happened a long time ago, isn't it?" said Kenobi, "Wait, doesn't that mean that we were transported back in time?" "That's... Quite a big deal.. Isn't it?" (Splay Mark) "Well, yeah," I replied, "With any luck, the final boss will drop something really good." Step, Step, Step And here we are. "Finally!" said Splay Mark, "That staircase was as high as all the others put together!" In front of us was a door similar to the one we passed through earlier on before fighting the Giants, only just a little bigger. Even so, it was obvious that the Giants couldn't have possibly fit through it. *I guess the Gods really did put them down there?* "You know what would be really stupid?" Voltanis walked forward with the key, "It would be if this key doesn't open the door." Thok! ... ... ... ... Thok! Thok! Thok! Crack! ... ... ... ... """"SERIOUSLY!""" ******************************************************************************** "Here you go, Sir! Found it!" It was the Faerie, summoned again in order to find the key that we managed to miss. "Alright, thanks," Voltanis said as he took the key, "Hey, what can you tell us about the next boss?" "He's strong! He's not as old as the two Giants, but he's lived here most of his life! He's Human (I think)! He's a He!" "That wasn't really helpful, but thanks anyway, I guess." "No problem! Goodbye now! Good luck!" "Thanks again." Poof! "This one had better work." Click! The door opened with a groan. "GO!" "But-" "I said GO! NOW!" At the other end of the "room" was a door that leads to what looks like the interior of a castle, but to call it a "room" wouldn't be correct. In truth it was a tower, about as big as the Giants's room, but helluva lot taller. At the very top of the tower were four stained-glass windows, but it was impossible to see the designs from the ground. Standing in front of the door was a single man, dressed in pretty much the same fashion as Splay Mark. He was unarmed, and had tattoos of chains running all over his body. On the other side of the door I glimpsed a petite hooded figure just before the man closed it, and sealed it shut with chains that he seemingly plucked out of nowhere (as I swear, he wasn't carrying them a moment ago). "You're here," he said, "I expected that the Bromba soldiers would eventually make it past the Necromancer I imprisoned down there, but I never expected anyone to get past the two Giants." *Huh?* "I am The Warden. My job is to make sure that nobody gets in, or out of this place" he continued, "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. And I don't know how you magiked your way in here. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you turn back now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will kill you." ******************************************************************************** Author's note: Hello Again! First off, I would like to apologize for the short chapter. For this week and the next month (maybe even January) I will be doing (unpaid) OT at work. In fact I just had to do OT during on my 21st brithday :cry: As it is, this chapter was mostly typed during lunch breaks, and my fingers hurt from typing on dem stiff computer keyboards instead of my laptop with its gentle, shallow keystroke. As usual, any and all comments and criticisms are welcome!

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Be brutal (not too brutal, constructive only please). This is my first time doing creative writing.<br><br>I thought it would be interesting to experience the game from a different perspective.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Someone (probably MC's) thoughts</span><br>~Machine-like voice~<br>-sound effect-<br>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Darkness. More accurately, nothingness, as I could see myself perfectly fine.<br><br>~The scan on your irises and veins have determined that you are an unregistered user. Would you like to create an account?~<br><br>“Yes please.”<br><br>~Select the name of your Avatar.~<br><br>“Hmm…”<br><span style="font-style: italic;">I kind of like Loor………Oops!</span><br>“Loor”<br><br>~Select a gender from Male, Female, or Neutral.~<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Ooh, I wonder what neutral gender is…If it’s really bad I can just remake my character.</span><br>“Neutral”<br><br>~Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine available~<br><br>“Random, please.”<br><br>~You may alter your appearance. Would you like to do so?~<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">I should really make sure I didn’t end up as something disgusting.</span><br>“May I see how I look?”<br><br>Floating in front of Loor’s eyes, a person dressed in nondescript brown clothing appears. At first glance it seems to be a 5’6” tall, tan, effeminate human male. Shoulder-length brown hair, bright green eyes, and a rather large, aquiline nose are readily apparent. Upon closer inspection, he notices sharply pointed ears, thus deducing it must be an elf. <br><br>“I’ve never really liked my nose…could you make it a little smaller and straighter?”<br><br>The nose of the ‘person’ in front of Loor appears much more in proportion to the rest of the face now.<br><br>“Thanks. That’s all.” <br><br>~Your account has been activated. Your stats and skills will be determined while you are playing Royal Road.~<br>~Select a city in which you wish to start.~<br><br>“Random, please.”<br><br>~Welcome to Royal Road. Would you like to participate in the tutorial?~<br><br>“Yes please.”<br><br>"Really?!"<br><br>“Yes. Is something wrong with that?”<br><br>"Oh, umm." ~No. Have a pleasant journey.~<br><br>“Why thank you.”<br><br>A bright light flashes and Loor finds himself blinking in the middle of a small clearing in the forest. He is wearing the same brown clothes as the floating person was before. The sun is shining down brightly from an extremely blue cloudless sky. A young woman stands at the edge of the tree line. <br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Oh yeah,</span> that's <span style="font-style: italic;">why it’s called sky blue. Don't really see that too often.</span><br><br>-bong-<br><br>Suddenly a translucent window appears before him. <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Royal Road Tutorial</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Welcome to Royal Road. This tutorial will guide you along basic tasks in order to give you a general understanding of how to work within the highly realistic Virtual Reality. Additionally, you will be provided with some basic items and useful tips that will prove helpful at the start of your journey.<br><br>Current Task: Open Quest window <br><br>Information: To open the quest list, say “quests.” Alternatively, you may say “Character Menu” and navigate to the quest window from there. We encourage you to try all possibilities. Once at the quest window, open the window for this quest by tapping it with your finger. You may move on once you have done so.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Quests”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest List</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">--Royal Road Tutorial--<br>An introduction to the mechanics of high realism virtual reality and Royal Road.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Whoa, that is so cool. Wait…what is that?</span><br><br>To Loor’s complete surprise, he looks behind himself and sees a long, furry, feline tail. It looks just like a brown panther’s tail. <span style="font-style: italic;">Where in the world did that come from…? It’s kinda cute. I’ll investigate more later.</span><br><br>“Character Menu”<br><br>A bunch of floating, translucent ovals appear in front of Loor. Each one has a different word inside. He starts scanning them, looking for Quests.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Inventory……Friends……Ignore……Aha! Quests.</span><br><br>As Loor taps the quest oval the Quest List window appears again. This time he also taps the Royal Road Tutorial rectangle and is rewarded with a nice, cheery chime.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Royal Road Tutorial</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Congratulations on taking your first step into becoming an emperor. From now on you may use the process you just learned to return to this quest window if you ever forget what your current task is. Furthermore, the chime you just heard indicates an update of the current task.<br><br>Current Task: View the stat window.<br><br>Information: You can either simply say “Stats,” or use the character menu you just learned about and navigate to ‘stats.’ Alternatively, saying ‘Character Window’ shows a picture of your avatar, your stats, and a list of the names of learned skills. Additionally, say ‘Information &lt;name of stat&gt;’ to view more information about an individual stat.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>“Character window.”<br>Instantly, a large window with oodles of information appears.<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td width="25%">Name</td><td width="25%">Loor</td><td width="25%">Race</td><td width="25%">Hybrid Elf</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">80/80</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">120/120</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">Experience</td><td width="25%">0.00%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">8</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">12</td><td width="25%">Intelligence</td><td width="25%">12</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Dexterity</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">8</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Stamina</td><td colspan="3">80/80</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Characteristics</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">—Androgynous—<br>—Elemental Connection—<br>—Animal Magnetism—<br>—Natural Camouflage—<br>—Infravision—<br>—Maker's Skill—</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Skills</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">—Handicraft—</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Yikes, that’s a lot of information. Gonna have to figure out what some of those mean.</span><br><br>“Information Vitality”<br><br>-ding-<br>To Loor’s surprise, the chime indicating a task change sounds when the window appears.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">I guess that was the next task.</span><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Vitality<br>A rough measurement of physical resilience. Helps determine Health and Stamina.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>“Information Mana”<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Mana<br><br>A measure of overall mental force. Allows for the manipulation of magic.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Hmm, that’s kind of annoying…I wonder if I can just…say them all at once.</span><br>“Information Maker's Skill, Information Infravision, Information Natural Camouflage, Information Animal Magnetism, Information Elemental Connection, Information Androgynous”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Maker's Skill [Passive]<br><br>Gray elves, like dwarves, are naturally drawn towards creating. As only part gray elf, you are are not fully affected by this compulsion.<br><br>Effect: Handicraft skill obtained</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Infravision<br><br>Dark elves have the ability to see in total darkness by looking into the infrared spectrum. As only part dark elf, you must use mana to activate this ability.<br><br>Effect: See subtle differences in Heat<br>Mana Cost: 3/sec</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Natural Camouflage [Passive]<br><br>Wood elves have a natural ability to blend into the forest, even exuding the scent of the forest. As only part wood elf, this ability is only half as effective for you.<br><br>Effect: Enemies less likely to detect you in woody environments.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Animal Magnetism [Passive]<br><br>Moon elves have a natural connection with all wild beasts. As only part moon elf, this connection is only half as strong for you.<br><br>Effect: +5 familiarity with any non-humanoid beast.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Elemental Connection [Passive]<br><br>High elves have natural talents with all forms of magic. As only part high elf, these talents are only half as strong for you.<br><br>Effect: All magical effects cast by you gain +5% magnitude</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Androgynous [Passive]<br><br>As a member of the neutral gender, all natives see you as whichever gender they prefer to speak with. However, if you get too close with someone, they may discover you are not actually what they thought you were. Therefore, you keep your distance.<br><br>Effect: Player gains relationship bonuses of both genders, without the penalties.<br>Penalty: Relationship may not progress beyond Good Friends.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Cool, they give you lots of fun stuff, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to see heat.</span><br><br>Loor attempts to activate his Infravision skill, but quickly runs into a problem.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">……Right…how do I actually use a skill? Guess I should just continue with the tutorial.</span><br><br>Having thought this, Loor navigates again to the tutorial quest window.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Royal Road Tutorial</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Now that you know what some of your stats mean, it is time to look at your skills. Don’t worry, soon you will know enough to start interacting with the world around you.<br><br>Current Task: Open Skill list<br><br>Information: To open the skill list, say “skills.” Alternatively, you may use the character menu and navigate to skills from there. “Information &lt;name of skill&gt;” can be used to acquire more detailed information about a specific skill. Or you could just tap the skill name in the skill list.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br>Loor, having already seen his skill list, powers right through these instructions by barely glancing at the windows that pop up.<br><br>-ding-<br>-ding-<br><br>A smug look appears on Loor’s face after hearing two chimes in quick succession.<br><span style="font-style: italic;">Hehe, I must be doing this much faster than other people!</span><br><br>He again navigates to the quest window.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Royal Road Tutorial</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Very good. Remember, without first obtaining a class, you are limited to only 15 total skills. This restriction is completely lifted after your first transition into a class. Additionally, skill level restrictions may apply according to your primary class. Gaea will further instruct you.<br> <br>Current Task: Speak with the Lady at the edge of the trees.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Uh oh…what does that mean ‘skill level restrictions.’ Skills have levels? I shouldn’t have skipped the other windows.</span><br><br>Deciding that there is nothing he could do about it now, Loor walks towards the woman in order to continue learning. She is a beautiful woman, with long golden hair, and a soft, kind face. A simple moss green dress hints at a well-proportioned body and complements eyes the color of the sky above.<br><br>“Hello miss, you are Gaea, correct?”<br><br>The Lady’s eyes sparkle with amusement as her mouth turns up at the corners into a grin. She says in a melodious voice “Yes, I am Gaea, The Holy Seeress. It is nice to finally see someone out here. Come, you have much to learn young one.”<br><br>“You wouldn’t happen to have a hairband, would you? This is kinda getting in the way.” Loor asks, gesturing at his hair.<br><br>“Ah, yes, here you go.” Gaea reaches into the pocket of her dress, retrieves a dark brown hairband, and hands it to Loor. With a practiced motion, Loor pulls up his hair into a neat ponytail.<br><br>“Now, follow me”<br><br>They trek a short way into the broadleaf forest before coming upon a small camp. Around the fire pit stand two stumps sized perfectly for sitting and a small tent a bit further away. As Gaea sits down, she motions for Loor to take a seat on the stump opposite her. “Let us begin.” She says. “First say ‘inventory.’ This command shows you any items currently in your possession, as well as how much they weigh.”<br><br>After saying this command, an empty window appears before Loor. “Nothing’s there.”<br><br>“Of course, you have not yet obtained any items.” Gaea says, laughing softly. “Here, take this canteen and place it in the window.”<br><br>Loor takes the leather-wrapped, metal canteen, sticks his arm through the surface of the window, and opens his hand.<br><span style="font-style: italic;">That looks so weird.</span><br>“Wow!”<br>-bong- <br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Stat Created: Innocence</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Gaea giggles at Loor’s wonder.<br><br>“Ooh, a new stat was created! Does that mean a lot more stats than just the starting ones exist?”<br><br>Gaea looks at Loor in surprise. “You must have done that quite a bit before if a stat was created. Yes there are many different stats. Why don’t you check how that stat works? I don’t mind waiting.”<br><br>“Okey dokey, I’ll do that. Information Innocence.”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Innocence<br><br>Your childlike delight and naivety causes sentient beings to be more hesitant to harm you. However, if non-sentient beasts detect your Innocence, they will attack.<br><br>Stat points may not be distributed to this stat.<br>This stat will rise spontaneously as a result of your actions.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Loor closes the window and looks again at Gaea.<br><br>“Now, young one, I will teach you how to use a skill. To use a skill, you must first have a skill, so I will teach you how to make a campfire.”<br><br>Gaea takes Loor through the steps of building a campfire. From collecting nice, dry tinder to large pieces of fuel. Finally, she teaches him how to light a campfire without using any special tools. <br><br>-bong-<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">You have learned a new skill: Campfire</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Now, you may either go through the full process of creating a campfire the way I just showed you, or you may gather the materials, tap them, and simply say ‘Campfire.’” Gaea instructs “The first method has the advantages of training the skill much faster and customization of the shape of the campfire. As you may imagine, the second method is much easier. Now you try.”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Just tapping a pile of logs doesn’t sound like much fun.</span><br><br>Loor gathers all the materials and rubs a dry stick against the tinder in order to create sparks. After about five minutes of effort, a tiny curl of smoke starts rising from the point of connection between the sticks and log. He gently blows on the miniscule spark to fan it into life. The fire starts licking at the dry kindling surrounding the tinder and catches. As it begins to crackle merrily, a rectangular window appears in front of Loor.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Campfire gains 20% proficiency.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“I did it! I’ve never made a campfire like that before!”<br><br>“Well done!” Gaea says, smiling warmly “Now you know how to use skills. Next I will show you some basic fighting.”<br><br>Gaea walks into the tent and returns with a small bundle. “First, what color clothes would you like?”<br><br>“But I already have clothes.”<br><br>“Those boring old things? You need something nicer.”<br><br>“Okay, what colors do you have?”<br><br>“All of the basic colors of the rainbow, black, and white.”<br><br>“Can I get a blue shirt and black pants?”<br><br>“Of course, here you are.” Gaea reaches into the bundle and pulls out a shirt and trousers similar in style to those Loor is already wearing.<br>“Just put on the clothing as you would normally. You may use the tent for some privacy.”<br>Loor enters the tent and replaces his brown clothing with the more interesting colors. The fabric they are made of seems much finer than the ones he just took off. When he exits the tent, he jumps in startled fright, seeing Gaea holding a short metal sword.<br><br>Gaea giggles softly and holds out the sword for Loor to take.<br>“Tap the sword, and select examine, or just say ‘examine sword’ to see the readily visible statistics.”<br>Loor does so and a window appears in front of him.<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Beginner’s Iron Sword Damage 1-5 Durability 50/50<br><br>A sword given by the Holy Seeress as part of your training.<br><br>Cannot be Improved</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Wow, thanks!”<br><br>“You’re quite welcome. Get ready to use that sword.”<br><br>“What?”<br><br>Gaea grins, brings her right hand to her mouth, and lets out a piercing whistle.<br><br>Loor hears rustling in the forest and starts to panic. Just as he is about to run away, a small brown rabbit emerges from the bushes and stares at him.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">………I was afraid of a bunny</span><br><br>Grinning at his foolishness, Loor is taken by surprise when the bunny suddenly jumps to attack him. He tries to evade it, but stumbles and is gashed on the forearm by her large teeth. Loor attempts to retaliate with a clumsy swing of his new sword. The bunny avoids it easily. The sword is heavier than he expected and he overbalances. He does a funny little pirouette and falls to the ground. Taking advantage of his weakness, the bunny jumps on his chest and starts kicking his face like crazy. The red bar in the corner of his eye was getting very low at this point. Just as it was about to empty completely, Gaea calls for the bunny to stop and says a few words.<br><br>“Healing Hand.”<br><br>Suddenly, a bright light appears above Loor’s head and the red bar returns to full.<br><br>“Until you are able to defeat Nerat here, we cannot move on.”<br><br>Slightly annoyed by this pronouncement, Loor nevertheless stands up and gets into a ready position. This time, he attempts to draw first blood in the battle.<br><br>He fails.<br><br>Nerat evades his slow thrust and slashes at his leg with her teeth. Desperate to get the rabbit away from him, Loor kicks out wildly. By some lucky chance, he connects directly with Nerat’s body. She goes flying into a tree. Much to Loor’s consternation, she gets back up without a problem. Now, however, Nerat is swaying on her feet. She seems to have gotten a concussion. She hops drunkenly towards Loor, much slower than before. Loor gets ready to swing his sword and times it to make perfect contact with Nerat. <br><br>Gaea again calls for the battle to stop. She says those same words and a light appears over Nerat this time. Gaea pets Nerat, thanks her, and dismisses her.<br>“Congratulations, you are ready to adventure through the world.” Gaea pronounces as she pats him on the back “All that’s left is to teach you how to rest your soul, and give you a small gift.”<br><br>“Rest my soul?”<br><br>“Yes, either say ‘Log out’ or 'System Menu' and tap the words that say log out.”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Ah, so that is the term for logging out.</span><br><br>“Do I have to do it now?”<br><br>“No, you just needed to know how to do it.”<br><br>Gaea enters the tent again and returns with a brown leather backpack. “Here is the gift I mentioned, It increases your inventory capacity, and has some helpful items inside already.”<br><br>“Thank you so much for helping me!”<br><br>“Think nothing of it. I will now drop you off just inside the city gates. You will not be allowed to leave for one month. I suggest either going to the training hall to practice your sword skills, or going to the library to learn some more.”<br><br>They walk on a path through the forest for a short time. Exiting the forest, they see a large field absolutely covered with tree stumps. Near the large wooden walls in the distance is a cluster of people engaged in heated battle with rabbits and the occasional fox. While they walk along the road to reach the gates of those walls, no animals attack them and people turn to stare, eyes wide, at the golden-haired beauty. As Loor and Gaea walk through the gates, the guards bow deeply to the Holy Seeress.<br><br>“This is where I must leave you, good luck on your journey.”<br><br>-bong-<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">You have completed the Tutorial!<br><br>For being the first player to complete the tutorial, +5 unallocated stat points.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>The only thing running through Loor’s mind as she reads this is...<span style="font-style: italic;">What the……I thought this game has been out for over a year now.</span><br>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Pronouns referring to Loor are interchangeable. Am trying to use the opposite of whichever gender is more abundant in the area.<br><br>Don't hesitate if anything in the tutorial seems unreasonable. I tried to make it fairly balanced.<br><br>I am horrible at inventing names, any suggestions for the city?<br><br>Should i keep it third person or switch to first person from Loor's point of view? Past tense or Present tense?<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=182" target="_blank">Home</a>|<a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=182&amp;t=1519" target="_blank">Next Chapter</a></div> </div>

Be brutal (not too brutal, constructive only please). This is my first time doing creative writing. I thought it would be interesting to experience the game from a different perspective. Someone (probably MC's) thoughts ~Machine-like voice~ -sound effect- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darkness. More accurately, nothingness, as I could see myself perfectly fine. ~The scan on your irises and veins have determined that you are an unregistered user. Would you like to create an account?~ “Yes please.” ~Select the name of your Avatar.~ “Hmm…” I kind of like Loor………Oops! “Loor” ~Select a gender from Male, Female, or Neutral.~ Ooh, I wonder what neutral gender is…If it’s really bad I can just remake my character. “Neutral” ~Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine available~ “Random, please.” ~You may alter your appearance. Would you like to do so?~ I should really make sure I didn’t end up as something disgusting. “May I see how I look?” Floating in front of Loor’s eyes, a person dressed in nondescript brown clothing appears. At first glance it seems to be a 5’6” tall, tan, effeminate human male. Shoulder-length brown hair, bright green eyes, and a rather large, aquiline nose are readily apparent. Upon closer inspection, he notices sharply pointed ears, thus deducing it must be an elf. “I’ve never really liked my nose…could you make it a little smaller and straighter?” The nose of the ‘person’ in front of Loor appears much more in proportion to the rest of the face now. “Thanks. That’s all.” ~Your account has been activated. Your stats and skills will be determined while you are playing Royal Road.~ ~Select a city in which you wish to start.~ “Random, please.” ~Welcome to Royal Road. Would you like to participate in the tutorial?~ “Yes please.” "Really?!" “Yes. Is something wrong with that?” "Oh, umm." ~No. Have a pleasant journey.~ “Why thank you.” A bright light flashes and Loor finds himself blinking in the middle of a small clearing in the forest. He is wearing the same brown clothes as the floating person was before. The sun is shining down brightly from an extremely blue cloudless sky. A young woman stands at the edge of the tree line. Oh yeah, that's why it’s called sky blue. Don't really see that too often. -bong- Suddenly a translucent window appears before him. | Royal Road Tutorial | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Welcome to Royal Road. This tutorial will guide you along basic tasks in order to give you a general understanding of how to work within the highly realistic Virtual Reality. Additionally, you will be provided with some basic items and useful tips that will prove helpful at the start of your journey.Current Task: Open Quest window Information: To open the quest list, say “quests.” Alternatively, you may say “Character Menu” and navigate to the quest window from there. We encourage you to try all possibilities. Once at the quest window, open the window for this quest by tapping it with your finger. You may move on once you have done so. | | | | “Quests” | Quest List | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | --Royal Road Tutorial--An introduction to the mechanics of high realism virtual reality and Royal Road. | | | | Whoa, that is so cool. Wait…what is that? To Loor’s complete surprise, he looks behind himself and sees a long, furry, feline tail. It looks just like a brown panther’s tail. Where in the world did that come from…? It’s kinda cute. I’ll investigate more later. “Character Menu” A bunch of floating, translucent ovals appear in front of Loor. Each one has a different word inside. He starts scanning them, looking for Quests. Inventory……Friends……Ignore……Aha! Quests. As Loor taps the quest oval the Quest List window appears again. This time he also taps the Royal Road Tutorial rectangle and is rewarded with a nice, cheery chime. | Royal Road Tutorial | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Congratulations on taking your first step into becoming an emperor. From now on you may use the process you just learned to return to this quest window if you ever forget what your current task is. Furthermore, the chime you just heard indicates an update of the current task.Current Task: View the stat window.Information: You can either simply say “Stats,” or use the character menu you just learned about and navigate to ‘stats.’ Alternatively, saying ‘Character Window’ shows a picture of your avatar, your stats, and a list of the names of learned skills. Additionally, say ‘Information <name of stat>’ to view more information about an individual stat. | | | | “Character window.” Instantly, a large window with oodles of information appears. | Name | Loor | Race | Hybrid Elf | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Health | 80/80 | Mana | 120/120 | | Level | 1 | Experience | 0.00% | | Strength | 8 | Agility | 10 | | Wisdom | 12 | Intelligence | 12 | | Dexterity | 10 | Vitality | 8 | | Stamina | 80/80 | | | | Characteristics | | | | | —Androgynous——Elemental Connection——Animal Magnetism——Natural Camouflage——Infravision——Maker's Skill— | | | | | Skills | | | | | —Handicraft— | | | | Yikes, that’s a lot of information. Gonna have to figure out what some of those mean. “Information Vitality” -ding- To Loor’s surprise, the chime indicating a task change sounds when the window appears. I guess that was the next task. | VitalityA rough measurement of physical resilience. Helps determine Health and Stamina. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Information Mana” | ManaA measure of overall mental force. Allows for the manipulation of magic. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Hmm, that’s kind of annoying…I wonder if I can just…say them all at once. “Information Maker's Skill, Information Infravision, Information Natural Camouflage, Information Animal Magnetism, Information Elemental Connection, Information Androgynous” | Maker's Skill [Passive]Gray elves, like dwarves, are naturally drawn towards creating. As only part gray elf, you are are not fully affected by this compulsion.Effect: Handicraft skill obtained | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | InfravisionDark elves have the ability to see in total darkness by looking into the infrared spectrum. As only part dark elf, you must use mana to activate this ability.Effect: See subtle differences in HeatMana Cost: 3/sec | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Natural Camouflage [Passive]Wood elves have a natural ability to blend into the forest, even exuding the scent of the forest. As only part wood elf, this ability is only half as effective for you.Effect: Enemies less likely to detect you in woody environments. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Animal Magnetism [Passive]Moon elves have a natural connection with all wild beasts. As only part moon elf, this connection is only half as strong for you.Effect: +5 familiarity with any non-humanoid beast. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Elemental Connection [Passive]High elves have natural talents with all forms of magic. As only part high elf, these talents are only half as strong for you.Effect: All magical effects cast by you gain +5% magnitude | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Androgynous [Passive]As a member of the neutral gender, all natives see you as whichever gender they prefer to speak with. However, if you get too close with someone, they may discover you are not actually what they thought you were. Therefore, you keep your distance.Effect: Player gains relationship bonuses of both genders, without the penalties.Penalty: Relationship may not progress beyond Good Friends. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Cool, they give you lots of fun stuff, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to see heat. Loor attempts to activate his Infravision skill, but quickly runs into a problem. ……Right…how do I actually use a skill? Guess I should just continue with the tutorial. Having thought this, Loor navigates again to the tutorial quest window. | Royal Road Tutorial | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Now that you know what some of your stats mean, it is time to look at your skills. Don’t worry, soon you will know enough to start interacting with the world around you.Current Task: Open Skill listInformation: To open the skill list, say “skills.” Alternatively, you may use the character menu and navigate to skills from there. “Information <name of skill>” can be used to acquire more detailed information about a specific skill. Or you could just tap the skill name in the skill list. | | | | Loor, having already seen his skill list, powers right through these instructions by barely glancing at the windows that pop up. -ding- -ding- A smug look appears on Loor’s face after hearing two chimes in quick succession. Hehe, I must be doing this much faster than other people! He again navigates to the quest window. | Royal Road Tutorial | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Very good. Remember, without first obtaining a class, you are limited to only 15 total skills. This restriction is completely lifted after your first transition into a class. Additionally, skill level restrictions may apply according to your primary class. Gaea will further instruct you. Current Task: Speak with the Lady at the edge of the trees. | | | | Uh oh…what does that mean ‘skill level restrictions.’ Skills have levels? I shouldn’t have skipped the other windows. Deciding that there is nothing he could do about it now, Loor walks towards the woman in order to continue learning. She is a beautiful woman, with long golden hair, and a soft, kind face. A simple moss green dress hints at a well-proportioned body and complements eyes the color of the sky above. “Hello miss, you are Gaea, correct?” The Lady’s eyes sparkle with amusement as her mouth turns up at the corners into a grin. She says in a melodious voice “Yes, I am Gaea, The Holy Seeress. It is nice to finally see someone out here. Come, you have much to learn young one.” “You wouldn’t happen to have a hairband, would you? This is kinda getting in the way.” Loor asks, gesturing at his hair. “Ah, yes, here you go.” Gaea reaches into the pocket of her dress, retrieves a dark brown hairband, and hands it to Loor. With a practiced motion, Loor pulls up his hair into a neat ponytail. “Now, follow me” They trek a short way into the broadleaf forest before coming upon a small camp. Around the fire pit stand two stumps sized perfectly for sitting and a small tent a bit further away. As Gaea sits down, she motions for Loor to take a seat on the stump opposite her. “Let us begin.” She says. “First say ‘inventory.’ This command shows you any items currently in your possession, as well as how much they weigh.” After saying this command, an empty window appears before Loor. “Nothing’s there.” “Of course, you have not yet obtained any items.” Gaea says, laughing softly. “Here, take this canteen and place it in the window.” Loor takes the leather-wrapped, metal canteen, sticks his arm through the surface of the window, and opens his hand. That looks so weird. “Wow!” -bong- | Stat Created: Innocence | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Gaea giggles at Loor’s wonder. “Ooh, a new stat was created! Does that mean a lot more stats than just the starting ones exist?” Gaea looks at Loor in surprise. “You must have done that quite a bit before if a stat was created. Yes there are many different stats. Why don’t you check how that stat works? I don’t mind waiting.” “Okey dokey, I’ll do that. Information Innocence.” | InnocenceYour childlike delight and naivety causes sentient beings to be more hesitant to harm you. However, if non-sentient beasts detect your Innocence, they will attack.Stat points may not be distributed to this stat.This stat will rise spontaneously as a result of your actions. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Loor closes the window and looks again at Gaea. “Now, young one, I will teach you how to use a skill. To use a skill, you must first have a skill, so I will teach you how to make a campfire.” Gaea takes Loor through the steps of building a campfire. From collecting nice, dry tinder to large pieces of fuel. Finally, she teaches him how to light a campfire without using any special tools. -bong- | You have learned a new skill: Campfire | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Now, you may either go through the full process of creating a campfire the way I just showed you, or you may gather the materials, tap them, and simply say ‘Campfire.’” Gaea instructs “The first method has the advantages of training the skill much faster and customization of the shape of the campfire. As you may imagine, the second method is much easier. Now you try.” Just tapping a pile of logs doesn’t sound like much fun. Loor gathers all the materials and rubs a dry stick against the tinder in order to create sparks. After about five minutes of effort, a tiny curl of smoke starts rising from the point of connection between the sticks and log. He gently blows on the miniscule spark to fan it into life. The fire starts licking at the dry kindling surrounding the tinder and catches. As it begins to crackle merrily, a rectangular window appears in front of Loor. | Campfire gains 20% proficiency. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “I did it! I’ve never made a campfire like that before!” “Well done!” Gaea says, smiling warmly “Now you know how to use skills. Next I will show you some basic fighting.” Gaea walks into the tent and returns with a small bundle. “First, what color clothes would you like?” “But I already have clothes.” “Those boring old things? You need something nicer.” “Okay, what colors do you have?” “All of the basic colors of the rainbow, black, and white.” “Can I get a blue shirt and black pants?” “Of course, here you are.” Gaea reaches into the bundle and pulls out a shirt and trousers similar in style to those Loor is already wearing. “Just put on the clothing as you would normally. You may use the tent for some privacy.” Loor enters the tent and replaces his brown clothing with the more interesting colors. The fabric they are made of seems much finer than the ones he just took off. When he exits the tent, he jumps in startled fright, seeing Gaea holding a short metal sword. Gaea giggles softly and holds out the sword for Loor to take. “Tap the sword, and select examine, or just say ‘examine sword’ to see the readily visible statistics.” Loor does so and a window appears in front of him. | Beginner’s Iron Sword Damage 1-5 Durability 50/50A sword given by the Holy Seeress as part of your training.Cannot be Improved | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Wow, thanks!” “You’re quite welcome. Get ready to use that sword.” “What?” Gaea grins, brings her right hand to her mouth, and lets out a piercing whistle. Loor hears rustling in the forest and starts to panic. Just as he is about to run away, a small brown rabbit emerges from the bushes and stares at him. ………I was afraid of a bunny Grinning at his foolishness, Loor is taken by surprise when the bunny suddenly jumps to attack him. He tries to evade it, but stumbles and is gashed on the forearm by her large teeth. Loor attempts to retaliate with a clumsy swing of his new sword. The bunny avoids it easily. The sword is heavier than he expected and he overbalances. He does a funny little pirouette and falls to the ground. Taking advantage of his weakness, the bunny jumps on his chest and starts kicking his face like crazy. The red bar in the corner of his eye was getting very low at this point. Just as it was about to empty completely, Gaea calls for the bunny to stop and says a few words. “Healing Hand.” Suddenly, a bright light appears above Loor’s head and the red bar returns to full. “Until you are able to defeat Nerat here, we cannot move on.” Slightly annoyed by this pronouncement, Loor nevertheless stands up and gets into a ready position. This time, he attempts to draw first blood in the battle. He fails. Nerat evades his slow thrust and slashes at his leg with her teeth. Desperate to get the rabbit away from him, Loor kicks out wildly. By some lucky chance, he connects directly with Nerat’s body. She goes flying into a tree. Much to Loor’s consternation, she gets back up without a problem. Now, however, Nerat is swaying on her feet. She seems to have gotten a concussion. She hops drunkenly towards Loor, much slower than before. Loor gets ready to swing his sword and times it to make perfect contact with Nerat. Gaea again calls for the battle to stop. She says those same words and a light appears over Nerat this time. Gaea pets Nerat, thanks her, and dismisses her. “Congratulations, you are ready to adventure through the world.” Gaea pronounces as she pats him on the back “All that’s left is to teach you how to rest your soul, and give you a small gift.” “Rest my soul?” “Yes, either say ‘Log out’ or 'System Menu' and tap the words that say log out.” Ah, so that is the term for logging out. “Do I have to do it now?” “No, you just needed to know how to do it.” Gaea enters the tent again and returns with a brown leather backpack. “Here is the gift I mentioned, It increases your inventory capacity, and has some helpful items inside already.” “Thank you so much for helping me!” “Think nothing of it. I will now drop you off just inside the city gates. You will not be allowed to leave for one month. I suggest either going to the training hall to practice your sword skills, or going to the library to learn some more.” They walk on a path through the forest for a short time. Exiting the forest, they see a large field absolutely covered with tree stumps. Near the large wooden walls in the distance is a cluster of people engaged in heated battle with rabbits and the occasional fox. While they walk along the road to reach the gates of those walls, no animals attack them and people turn to stare, eyes wide, at the golden-haired beauty. As Loor and Gaea walk through the gates, the guards bow deeply to the Holy Seeress. “This is where I must leave you, good luck on your journey.” -bong- | You have completed the Tutorial!For being the first player to complete the tutorial, +5 unallocated stat points. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | The only thing running through Loor’s mind as she reads this is...What the……I thought this game has been out for over a year now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pronouns referring to Loor are interchangeable. Am trying to use the opposite of whichever gender is more abundant in the area. Don't hesitate if anything in the tutorial seems unreasonable. I tried to make it fairly balanced. I am horrible at inventing names, any suggestions for the city? Should i keep it third person or switch to first person from Loor's point of view? Past tense or Present tense? 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<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 1 – A Good Night Sleep</span> <br> <br>I collected some pieces of copper and wolf meat from the corpses of the wolves. Well it was a kill joy that they weren't even able to dodge or block that attack of mine. <br> <br>[Well you are a lot more powerful then they are] <br> <br>True but they easily dodged the attack of the archer Jack didn't they? <br> <br>[His agility stat is a lot lower then yours and you have the benefits of a unique race and class as well] <br> <br>I can't really complain now can I. Anyway we should head back to town. I started walking to the city gates when llyfr said something to me. <br> <br>[Although the others don't seem to want you to go] <br> <br>Hmm? <br> <br>“EDEN! JOIN MY GUILD!” commanded Han while shouting at me. Just a moment ago he was scared shitless and then speechless. Where the hell does his confidence comes from. And also his attitude pissed me off long ago. <br> <br>With my best evil stare I said, “Piss off.” <br> <br>Han was taken a bit back at that but then he decided to continue annoying me. <br> <br>“If we join up I can provide you will everything you need. My guild the 'Headless Might' can even power level you to 100 easily.” <br> <br>I am level 86. I think it will be easier if I hunt alone then let some idiots drag me around. And also I still have the problem that my skill proficiency is low for my level due to the Minotaur incident. <br> <br>“Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah” <br> <br>That was what I was hearing come out of Han's mouth right now. If he doesn't back off then I'll kill him. I'm not in a good mood right now. Hell I'll kill him even if I was in a very good mood. <br> <br>[Don't kill him. I hear that you get a murderer mark which will annoy you even further and restrict you in the city as well as allow a free pass on anyone to hunt you down] <br> <br>So hurt him enough that he wishes to be dead? Fine. I prepared a small weak spell in my head. <br> <br>“Lightning Bolt” <br> <br>ZAP <br> <br>I shot a lightning bolt next to where Han was standing. His shocked face at what I just did was very....refreshing for some reason. After that Han was very hesitant to actively recruit me but he still followed me when I headed to the gate with the rest of the party. Apparently they were all in the same guild and that was why they were following Han's orders. According to Han, his guild was one of the 'major' guilds in the city have 'influence' over some players. I really see no point in being a lackey so I continued to ignore him. <br> <br>“Hey LISTEN to me!” plead Han. <br> <br>He went up to me and grabbed my shoulder again. That's it. I'm going to kill him. <br> <br>[DON'T] <br> <br>Yes yes I know. Just make it so he suffers. I imagine this fool being encased by ice. <br> <br>“Ice prison” <br> <br>Crack Crack Crack <br> <br>Ice suddenly appeared and covered his legs quickly and continued to his body. His was unable to move and eventually his annoying mouth was covered as well. I left and the party that was now trying to free in the forest as I arrived to the city gate. <br> <br>There was a number of people heading in the city now. It was becoming night quickly so I don't blame them. The 50% strength boost at night made hunting a lot more difficult even with the 30% experience boost. Although this only applies when your in the low levels since you'll be hunting in dungeons that have these same effects on the monsters for most of the time later on. Anyway when I was about to pass by the guards they suddenly stopped me. <br> <br>“You there! You're not from this city. State your business” demanded the guard on the right. They drew their swords and pointed them at me. Will this always happen when I arrive in a new city? <br> <br>[No idea. Play along] <br> <br>Right. But I have no idea what to say right now. <br> <br>“State your business Demi-human!” <br> <br>Demi-human? What's that? I should really learn what some of these terms people have in this game. <br> <br>[I believe its a term for beings that look like humans but aren't at the same time. With perfectly fits you right now. Your not exactly human but you look the part from afar] <br> <br>Ah....so are they stopping me because I'm new here or because I'm a demi-human? <br> <br>[Probably both. Hurry up and answer the, before they attack. Also there's a crowd gathering right now because of you] <br> <br>I looked around and saw there were around 30 people behind me waiting to get in. Hey the gate is pretty big so go around me not behind! They had both the look of discontent and interest at me. Well it would most likely be the first time they see such a scene. I look back at the guards whom were patiently waiting for my answer. <br> <br>“I seek to stay for the night and resupply while gathering some information.” I answered cleanly. <br> <br>The two guards looked at each other and nodded. I was expecting them to attack me but they sheathed their swords and let me through. <br> <br>“Have a pleasant stay” <br> <br>I walked through the large gate with ease after that and arrived at a stand that had a map of the city. This is really convenient. <br> <br>[True. Now you won't get lost, well at least I won't get lost. I don't know about you] <br> <br>Its not like I get lost easily. Anyway the inn is three streets up and five buildings to the left while the information guild his to the twenty buildings to the right of it. They must have designed the city to allow more efficiently for travellers. I started walking to the inn when llyfr started a conversation with me. <br> <br>[Eden how are you finding my powers?] <br> <br>Hmm? Why do you ask? <br> <br>[Because most people either hate it with a passion or be consumed by it. In both cases they cause trouble to those around them] <br> <br>I see. I don't find your power to be that bad. In fact I find it handy since I have the edge over other players when the time comes. Honestly if I wasn't sent to the tower and got you stuck in me, I've probably be in the library in Tellap town. <br> <br>[Hmm....interesting. I still have things to discuss with you but first get some sleep. You're at the inn now] <br> <br>That was fast! I was just talking to you for a bit. <br> <br>The inn like everything else in this game was medieval style. The inn was made with a combination of wood and stone. The inn was three times as big as the other buildings next to it. I wonder if it was because this a a major city with all the new players I see and they need a way to give some sort of service to them. I opened the wooden door and heard the sound of a large number of people inside. They mostly ignored me a random person but some still looked. I made my way through the many people sitting at a table and went to the person at the counter. The person was a young female probably in her early 20s or late teens. <br> <br>“What do you need?” the person asked in a kind voice. She was also taking orders form the people at the tables as well so I should make this quick. <br> <br>“I wish to stay the night.” I immediately answered. <br> <br>The lady smiled and said, “That will be 5 silver per night.” <br> <br>I took out the 5 silver needed to handed it to the lady. When the silver fell to her hand, she asked, “Also I'll need your name for clarification.” <br> <br>I wonder why they would need my name? Meh. It doesn't matter to me. <br> <br>“Its Eden” <br> <br>I thought I heard the place become a bit quieter when I said my name but it was probably my imagination. <br> <br>“Your room is the one third to the left. Here's the key. Remember to lock it when you sleep.” the lady grinned and took the order of the person waiting behind me. <br> <br>I ignored the stares of the people below and walked up the stairs and went in my room. I made sure to lock the door when I closed the door as well. The room in question was surprisingly similar to the one at the Sleeping Sheep Centre back in Tellap. It was completely simple but it served my needs. I got in the bed and started to sleep. I have a long day tomorrow and its been a while since I slept in a proper bed. <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 2 – Rejection</span> <br> <br>I woke up to the sensation of my body loosening up. It has been a while since I've been able to sleep properly without any fear of being attacked out of nowhere or being kidnapped. Trying to adjust to this 'new' feeling I have right now I steadily got up from the bed and stretched my arms up high and then proceeded to stretch my legs as well. <br> <br>[Morning Eden] <br> <br>Morning llyfr, did you get some rest as well? <br> <br>[I'm a being that does not require sleep so no] <br> <br>Doesn't that tire you out? Or at least bore you? <br> <br>[Not at all. I spend my time recounting what happened before so I'm never bored] <br> <br>…...that's the definition of boredom right there. Anyway why do we need to go to the information guild anyway? We do have the mana detector on hand and we can track the mana fragment using just that. <br> <br>[First check the mana detector] <br> <br>Fine. I took out the mana detector from my inventory and looked at where the six remaining arrows are pointed. The arrow was pointing to the north-east. The mana fragment was around 100 kilometres away. <br> <br>[Hmm....that's a fair distance to cover on foot. You should try to get a form of transport like a horse to travel there] <br> <br>I see but why do we need to go to the information centre in the first place? <br> <br>[To find out what that place is and how to get there! Did you not think on where exactly are we going nor how we get there? Have you not consider what enemies you will have to face as well?] <br> <br>Well can't we deal with them when we get there? I thought the rest of the journey would be at least better than the first part. <br> <br>[FOOL! That kind of thinking almost got you eaten in the first place remember?!] <br> <br>The vivid image of being eaten alive once again appeared in my head. That was something I did not want nor need to remember right now especially before breaksfast. Speaking of breaksfast I'm hungry right now. The saturation metre is almost at zero right now and I didn't eat yesterday. Hmm...that's strange. <br> <br>[What is it? Please don't think of something stupid] <br> <br>Hey that's mean! Its been a while since I've eaten so why haven't I noticed at all and usually my saturation metre should've been at zero when I went to sleep. So why is it near zero and not exactly at zero? <br> <br>[It seems you inherited another trait of mine when the seal on me broke. I noticed the mana absorption started all of a sudden when you were sleeping] <br> <br>WAIT! The mana absorption started?! What about the people around this place? <br> <br>[Calm down. They probably didn't notice a thing. Most of them were drunk and they don't exactly check their mana in a safe zone] <br> <br>So what exactly is this sudden change? <br> <br>[You body is more adaptable with my power and you can sustain yourself to a certain point using the mana in your body although this power seems to be incomplete so you still need to eat] <br> <br>Umm...I don't get it. <br> <br>[Basically your saturation metre will lower more slowly at times] <br> <br>I see. <br> <br>[Damn idiot] <br> <br>What was that? I was suddenly getting annoyed right now. I wonder why..... <br> <br>[Anyway eat breaksfast and get to the information guild] <br> <br>Yes yes slave driver. I got the key from my inventory and unlocked the door to the room I rented. I headed downstairs to find the place filled with people from yesterday sleeping at their table. It seems they fell asleep drunk. I have no pity on them when they wake up with a headache. I walked up to the counter and found the same person as yesterday there as well. <br> <br>“Did you have a nice sleep?” the lady asked with a smile. <br> <br>Was she here the whole time without any sleep? <br> <br>“Good” I answered back while giving her the key to the room. <br> <br>I looked back at the inn that also for some reason served as a restaurant as well. There was around 30 people sleeping and some spare tables around for me to sit at. <br> <br>“Do you serve breaksfast here?” I asked the lady at the counter. <br> <br>If they didn't then I'll buy something from the grocery store. <br> <br>“Yes~” the lady answered once more with a smile. <br> <br>She took out some sort of menu for me. I scanned through it quickly. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Menu of the inn “Giant's Den” <br> <br>Main Meals: <br>Bacon and Eggs – 3 silver 45 copper <br>Steak – 5 silver <br>Chicken Warp – 4 silver 75 copper <br>Special Meal – 1 gold <br> <br>Side Dishes: <br>Sandwich – 2 silver <br>Salad – 50 copper <br>Any fruit – 10 copper <br>Toast – 15 copper <br>Rye Bread with jam – 20 copper <br> <br>Drinks: <br>Water – free <br>Orange Juice – 30 copper <br>Apple Juice – 30 copper <br>Rum – 1 silver 15 copper <br>Beer – 1 silver 30 copper</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>“This is the breaksfast menu~” the lady added as I looked through the choices. <br> <br>There isn't much here but the place was also an inn so I wasn't expecting much. Most of this stuff was pretty cheap and probably didn't taste as good as a proper restaurant. I have no intentions on getting the so called special menu and I don't drink as well. <br> <br>“I'll get two toasts, some water and sandwich” <br> <br>“That will be 2 silver and 30 copper~” the lady smiled stretching her hand out for the money. <br> <br>I have a feeling that this person was someone you don't want to defile. I took out the 2 silver and 30 copper and handed it over to her. She pulled out a plate with the toast and the sandwich on it and a glass of water out of nowhere. Was this magic? I have no idea even though I can use magic myself. <br> <br>I took the plate and glass of water and said, “Thank you” before heading to a empty table. <br> <br>I ate alone for a couple of minutes and my saturation metre went back up to 60%. Well its time to head to the information guild. I left the plate and glass of water on the table and left the inn. <br> <br>The moment I got out of the inn I noticed that the sun had only recently risen meaning it was about 6 or 7 am right now. I made my way to the information guild passing by the few opened stores and a few people. It seems most people don't wake up early and prefer to sleep in. A couple of minutes later I reached the information guild and noticed immediately that there was a much larger quantity of people here than anywhere else. <br> <br>[People seek information. Its natural that such a place would be crowded no matter the time] <br> <br>So what do I need to find out? <br> <br>[First the place where the mana fragment is. Then the means of transport and the enemies you would be likely to face] <br> <br>Good, that's simple enough. As I walked through the door less entrance that was 3 meres tall and 5 metres in width I once again noticed that there were people staring at me for some reason. <br> <br>[Maybe its because of the markings on your face and body] <br> <br>Ah. Damn. I have to deal with it then. I shifted my hair to try to cover more of my face and walked to what seemed to be the main counter for everything in this place. The person behind this counter was also a female similar in age to the one at the inn but without the smile. She had a more mature feeling compared to the inn lady. <br> <br>I went up to her and said, “I wish to seek some information.” <br> <br>The person stopped what she was doing and looked at me. <br> <br>Her face turned into a frown and she said quite distinctively, “We don't get information to demi-humans” <br> <br>Then she went back to what she was doing before. Wait the hell just happened? <br> <br>[She rejected you based on your race] <br> <br>Isn't that racism? <br> <br>[Yeah. Its quite common no matter what the world you're in] <br> <br>So what now? <br> <br>[Persist and try again] <br> <br>A bit annoyed by the fact that I was ignored I tried asking in a less friendly tone. “I wish to seek some information” <br> <br>The person without looking up to me said, “Didn't I tell you to leave?” <br> <br>Damn this bitch. If it weren't the fact that I need information off of you then I would've tortured you right now. But I have to keep my calm. <br> <br>I tried not to express my discontent with this bitch and asked again, “I seek some information off you. Or at least direct me to someone who knows what I want.” <br> <br>My voice was more commanding this time and it seems to have back fired. The person backed away when she saw my face again and shouted, “Guards. Kill this beast!” <br> <br>I thought I saw some fear in her eyes for a moment there. <br> <br>Soon enough I was surrounded by 5 armed men. All armored and wielding spears pointed at me. This was kinda of a bad situation right? <br> <br>[You could've resolved this peacefully but since its you.....] <br> <br>Hey! I was kindly asking that person you know! <br> <br>[You looked like you were about to kill her] <br> <br>Really? I touched my face for a bit but didn't notice any difference. It seems I gained the attention of everyone in this place right now. A person being surrounded by armed people about to be killed. Damn why does this have to happen to me. Also why aren't they attacking just yet? <br> <br>[They're waiting for a opening to strike. They know nothing of you. They are being cautious] <br> <br>I see so I shouldn't do anything and they'll not do anything to me right? <br> <br>[No, they're waiting for a chance to strike at the same time. Look they're nodding their heads right now. Put up a barrier before your killed] <br>“Mana Shield” I said. <br> <br>“Damnit NOW!” shouted one of the guards. Wait all I did was make a shield for myself to defend with! <br> <br>[And that made them think your going to do something] <br> <br>All five guards moved quickly to stab at me. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 213 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 248 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 259 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 174 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield took 206 damage</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Mana Shield Broke</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br> <br>However my mana shield deflected the attacks and shattered in the process. They were at least strong enough to pose a threat. When my mana shield broke and their strikes were deflected they moved in again to strike at me. Making a mana shield will end up being destroyed. I have to disable them. I &nbsp;quickly imagined a barrier of wind that will rip apart everything that strikes at me. <br> <br>“Wind Barrier” <br> <br>Wind gathered and formed a barrier protecting me. Unlike the mana shield, this spell drain a constant amount of mana from me but would regenerate when ever broken. Problem was that I don't know how much it can take. <br> <br>SNAP <br> <br>When the guards' spear hit the wind barrier the tip of the blade was chipped away and it broke rendering the weapon mostly useless now. <br> <br>“Damn Fiend.” muttered one of the guards. <br> <br>So what I'm not human anymore. You don't attack things on sight you know. The guards backs away a bit from me but never took their eyes off me. I looked around the place and saw many faces that were either shocked or interested in what I was doing. Armless the guards at least tried to restrict any sudden movement that could harm someone. So...what now? <br> <br>[We wait for someone more powerful than these fools to show up and hope they're rational] <br> <br>So I have to wait here with these people afraid of me? I noticed that the person I was 'talking' to disappeared already. Maybe she's bringing her boss here or something. Soon enough it really happened. <br> <br>“WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING?!” shouted a loud man. <br> <br>Everyone in the room looked at the overly bluffed man in armor. He was a giant of over 2 metres tall. You can easily deduct that he was a seasoned warrior with the authory his voice has itself. The man looked at me and the guards. <br> <br>With a grunt he said, “All of you stand down.” <br> <br>The guards immediately dropped their broken weapons and moved away from me. I myself deactivated by wind barrier spell but I did not move at all from the spot I was standing at. I saw the woman shaking behind the man. I see. It was her that brought this man here. Was he the boss of this place or another set of muscles? <br> <br>“Hey...why did you not kill that thing” the woman commented on the situation before us all. She continued speaking against me. “You know that those things can't bee trusted. KILL THAT THING NOW” <br> <br>It seems she was determined to get rid of me. I prepared a lightning bolt in my hand with was a consequent caused sparks to fly out of my hand. In that moment several more guards appeared and other players prepared to fight me as well. If I wanted to survive, I have to take them all out at once. I looked at the woman hiding behind the much stronger man and wanted to rip her apart. <br> <br>I was expecting the man to immediately attack me for that act but all he did was raised his hand to stop everyone from attacking me. <br> <br>He calmly said, “Maria you don't need to be so frightened. This one did not attack you and was simple defending itself.” <br> <br>With that the guards and other players did not attack me but prepared themselves to attack when needed. I see that the humans in this place had a close bond with each other. <br> <br>The man continued speaking, “Now then, to the demi-human over there. I thank you for not harming anyone during this...misunderstanding. The guildmaster has a great fear of those not human.” <br> <br>I see that even in this world, racism still exist. And man sighed at the fact and continued. <br> <br>“Unfortunately in this information guild, we do not or rather cannot provide information of any kind to demi-humans which include dwarves and elves. This branch of the information guild is not ruled by a king or count and they cannot interfere with our business.” <br> <br>So that means I can't get information out you guys? What the hell do I do now? I don't even know where and what the next city is. <br> <br>[Calm down. The man is still speaking] <br> <br>“This...restriction is caused by Maria who is still hiding behind me. She has...close ties with some....people. However fortunately most people didn't like this idea of hers and tried to get rid of it. Unfortunately again this was not overruled for some reason.” <br> <br>The man looked behind him at Maria with some hatred before speaking again. “For those who are not dwarves or elves such as yourself demi-human, we require for you to do us a favour first which is set by Maria here.” <br> <br>I have to do that bitch a favour?! Man this place sucks. You think I have enough power to level this city llyfr? <br> <br>[Not all of it but you can probably destroy a large chunk of it] <br> <br>The one named Maria started talking after some reassurance from the man. “The test will be to slay a Cyclops near the forest of Serbine which has troubled this kingdom for a while.” <br> <br>The man's eyes widened for a bit before going back to normal. Judging by his and everyone's else's reaction, this was very hard. “Also you need to bring some proof of the deed” <br> <br>Ding <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Hunt the Cyclops Terrorising the Kingdom in the forest of Serbine <br> <br>The information guild has request for you to prove your worth to them by hunting the Cyclops down. The information guild requires you to show proof of your deed as well which will be determined by the information guild as well. <br> <br>Difficulty Rank: B <br>Restriction: Fails if you die <br>Reward: Any and all information you request from the information guild</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>“Fine I accept” <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">You have accepted the Quest</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>Now I have to find out where this forest of Serbine is. I doubt this place will willingly give me the information judging my the behaviour of the so called guildmaster. <br> <br>[You should try to get the information elsewhere. I suggest buying some new gear since you're still in the default armor] <br> <br>Ah! That's true. 86 levels in and I still have this crappy armor on. Hey llyfr, there was a armor store nearby right? <br> <br>[I'll tell you the way] <br> <br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Part 3 – New Gear and New Comrades </span> <br> <br>Well I made it to the armor store. It was located near the city gate and right next to the weapon store and the grocery store which was very helpful. The stores were roughly the same size of around 10 metres in width. I opened the wooden door with a window and looked around the place. <br> <br>The place had a couple of people already in their examining the merchandise. Well it was an armor store which along side with the weapon store was the most visited place besides the grocery store which had all the supplies. I noticed the merchandise was arranged in order of type. The helmets, chest-piece, bracers, leg guards and boots were all separated unless it was placed as a set. Hmm...what should I get? <br> <br>[Anything that would allow you to survive. You don't need boots so I suggest you buy anything but that] <br> <br>I see. I should get some bracers and some pants to wear. I went to the bracer section of the store which had no one there and looked at what the place had to offer. There was currently 7 different types of bracers I could buy. From what I could see, 2 of them was made of leather, 2 was completely made of metal and the other three was a combination of both. I rather not be burdened by the weight and I would like some defence so I have to choose from three of them then. <br> <br>“Would you like some help?” A voice came out of nowhere. <br> <br>I was already used to such things...kinda but at least I didn't scream out loud right? I looked to where the voice came from and saw a young man that was taller than me and had short brown straight hair and a pretty face. Hmm....I don't have the identify skill so... <br> <br>“Can you identify these three items?” I asked. <br> <br>From my request the man smiled at me and said, “Ma’am, all items in the store are all identified and you can see the details of them. However unless your of the blacksmith profession, then some details will inevitably be left out.” <br> <br>Oh....that kinda makes sense. <br> <br>“Its fine then” I said quickly trying to hide my embarrassment. <br> <br>The man then left to attend to other customers. I picked up the bracer that had a metal guard but clearly made mostly of leather up. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Metal Guard Bracers &nbsp; Durability: 50/50 &nbsp; Defence: 8 <br> <br>A metal guard was sewed in the leather bracers allowing the wearer to parry attacks. However the metal guard was made thin to allow flexibility which lowers the defence. <br> <br>Restriction: Level 80. Combat class <br>Effects: <br>Strength +3 <br>Agility +5</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>It was kinda good in the sense that it added a bit to my defence without making my arms heavy. But I have to check the other bracers first. I picked up the next bracer that was covered in metal but there was leather underneath it to make it more comfortable. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Fluent Metal Bracers &nbsp; Durability: 60/60 &nbsp; Defence: 10 <br> <br>Bracers that was made almost completely of metal to allow blocking. The amount of metal used is average which allows some flexibility but more defence when attacked. <br> <br>Restriction: Level 80. Combat Class <br>Effects: <br>Strength +5 <br>Agility +3</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>This one was as good was the other one and it looked a lot better as well. I picked up the third bracer and noticed that it was a lot heavier than the other two. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Heavy Plate Bracers &nbsp; Durability: 80/80 &nbsp; Defence: 15 <br> <br>Part of a plate set for combat classes, these bracers will provide large amounts of defence in exchange of sacrificing speed. As these bracers are heavy, it will provide a bonus to attack strength but a reduction in attack speed. <br> <br>Restriction: Level 80. Combat Class <br>Effects: <br>Strength +7 <br>Agility -2</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>This one was....kinda crap. There was some leather made into this but for it to be that heavy is a minus no matter how you look at it. However if you combine this with the rest of the armor set, then you would be a tank which will be helpful in a party. <br> <br>But I'm not in a party right now so this was useless. I discarded the thought of buying this particular set of bracers and looked but at the other two. Hmm....wait....combat class? Does this mean I'm unable to equip these equipment? <br> <br>[No, you should be able to. My pass processors were all kinds of classes, not just mages] <br> <br>Ah. Thanks for telling me. I decided to get the fluent metal bracers. Next is to get something for the lower half of my body. I left the fluent metal bracers behind and went to the leg section. There I saw many leg guards designed to be worn over pants. Now I think about I should get some pants later at a clothing store. I don't need that much defence on my legs so I just picked one that I liked the look of. <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Light Leg Guards &nbsp; Durability: 50/50 &nbsp; Defence: 10 <br> <br>Leg guards designed to provide some form of protection against attack without restricting movements. Made partly from the hide of a crocodile, it adds more defence to the leg guard. <br> <br>Restriction: Level 80. Combat class <br>Effects: <br>Strength +3 <br>Agility +5</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>These light leg guards was mostly made of leather but had a metal guard under the 'skin' of it which provided some defence. The leather in some parts were hard while in other parts it was soft which allowed both a bonus to strength and agility. I don't think I need a helmet since I've facing a Cyclops but I could use a new set of pants. <br> <br>[I don't think you'll need pants. You're used to this pair right? Also a good pair of pants could cost more than you have. How much Gold do you have?] <br> <br>I checked the amount of money I had and counted 105 gold 31 silver and 19 copper coins. <br> <br>[Hmm....I believe that the good quality stuff cost more than 100 gold. I suggest you forget about getting some pants since the cost of the armor may take up all your funds] <br> <br>Well I should see how much two pieces of armor cost first. I took the leg guard and the barcers I selected and brought them both to the counter ignoring the fact that there was probably a price tag somewhere. <br> <br>“The leg guards are 25 gold and the bracers are 35 gold for a total of 60 gold” said the clerk of the store. That was much less then I expected but it still costed most of my funds. <br> <br>[Remember to see the gloves you have] <br> <br>All yeah....I took out the cursed gloves and gave it to the clerk whom seemed to not noticed that it was cursed. <br> <br>He then said, “I'll buy this for 3 gold and 40 silver so the total cost will be now 56 gold and 60 silver” <br> <br>I took out the money needed and equipped my new bracers and leg guards and got out of the store before they notice that it was cursed. Now I have to get some supplies for the trip and then gather some information. <br> <br>“Hey your the one who made a racket at the information guild right?” <br> <br>Damn what's is it with people talking to me when I have my back turned on them. Anyway feeling a little annoyed I turned around and found there was several people gathered to greet me. There was 5 of them which consisted with two melees, an archer, mage and a priest. It was pretty much the same set up as Han's party but it had one less party member. Well I should reply to them to see what they want. <br> <br>“Yeah, and what about it” I said with a attitude. <br> <br>The person nearest to me smiled and said, “We can help you with the quest.” <br> <br>This person was acting cocky. I could probably kill him but judging by the armor he and his friends are wearing I say he was past level 200 which meant they as a party could kill me. Well I have nothing against using people to make my life easier. <br> <br>I replied with “Fine, as long as you know where that Cyclops is.” The man once more smiled and said, “In that case join our party.” <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">Don sent a party invite</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>“I accept” <br> <br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center">The Quest “Hunt the Cyclops” has been added for your party</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <br> <br>“Well then we already have the supplies needed for the trip. We can get to the Cyclops in around two days of walking. Introductions can come later.” <br> <br>Without a comment I followed the new found party I have now out of the gate and onto the path to the ravaged town we need to pass by. &nbsp; <br> <br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Continue Misfortune?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1378" target="_blank">Previous</a></td><td colspan="2"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161" target="_blank">Exit</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&amp;t=1529" target="_blank">Next</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> <br> <br>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br> <br>Author's Notes: <br>- Word Count 5861 words <br>- This chapter is setting up the next one. I believe you can expect what the next monster fight will be like.... <br>- I have a habit of killing off people since its fun to do.....and if I can't do that then MC will suffer...Muhahahahahahahaha <br>- RandomLeech...that idea with creation magic is indeed interesting but unfortunately the brain in MC isn't good enough to even comprehend he could do such a thing. Maybe when he's in a situation that forces him to think about his food supplies such as starving in a desert, he'll finally use it that way. </div>

Part 1 – A Good Night Sleep I collected some pieces of copper and wolf meat from the corpses of the wolves. Well it was a kill joy that they weren't even able to dodge or block that attack of mine. [Well you are a lot more powerful then they are] True but they easily dodged the attack of the archer Jack didn't they? [His agility stat is a lot lower then yours and you have the benefits of a unique race and class as well] I can't really complain now can I. Anyway we should head back to town. I started walking to the city gates when llyfr said something to me. [Although the others don't seem to want you to go] Hmm? “EDEN! JOIN MY GUILD!” commanded Han while shouting at me. Just a moment ago he was scared shitless and then speechless. Where the hell does his confidence comes from. And also his attitude pissed me off long ago. With my best evil stare I said, “Piss off.” Han was taken a bit back at that but then he decided to continue annoying me. “If we join up I can provide you will everything you need. My guild the 'Headless Might' can even power level you to 100 easily.” I am level 86. I think it will be easier if I hunt alone then let some idiots drag me around. And also I still have the problem that my skill proficiency is low for my level due to the Minotaur incident. “Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah Bah” That was what I was hearing come out of Han's mouth right now. If he doesn't back off then I'll kill him. I'm not in a good mood right now. Hell I'll kill him even if I was in a very good mood. [Don't kill him. I hear that you get a murderer mark which will annoy you even further and restrict you in the city as well as allow a free pass on anyone to hunt you down] So hurt him enough that he wishes to be dead? Fine. I prepared a small weak spell in my head. “Lightning Bolt” ZAP I shot a lightning bolt next to where Han was standing. His shocked face at what I just did was very....refreshing for some reason. After that Han was very hesitant to actively recruit me but he still followed me when I headed to the gate with the rest of the party. Apparently they were all in the same guild and that was why they were following Han's orders. According to Han, his guild was one of the 'major' guilds in the city have 'influence' over some players. I really see no point in being a lackey so I continued to ignore him. “Hey LISTEN to me!” plead Han. He went up to me and grabbed my shoulder again. That's it. I'm going to kill him. [DON'T] Yes yes I know. Just make it so he suffers. I imagine this fool being encased by ice. “Ice prison” Crack Crack Crack Ice suddenly appeared and covered his legs quickly and continued to his body. His was unable to move and eventually his annoying mouth was covered as well. I left and the party that was now trying to free in the forest as I arrived to the city gate. There was a number of people heading in the city now. It was becoming night quickly so I don't blame them. The 50% strength boost at night made hunting a lot more difficult even with the 30% experience boost. Although this only applies when your in the low levels since you'll be hunting in dungeons that have these same effects on the monsters for most of the time later on. Anyway when I was about to pass by the guards they suddenly stopped me. “You there! You're not from this city. State your business” demanded the guard on the right. They drew their swords and pointed them at me. Will this always happen when I arrive in a new city? [No idea. Play along] Right. But I have no idea what to say right now. “State your business Demi-human!” Demi-human? What's that? I should really learn what some of these terms people have in this game. [I believe its a term for beings that look like humans but aren't at the same time. With perfectly fits you right now. Your not exactly human but you look the part from afar] Ah....so are they stopping me because I'm new here or because I'm a demi-human? [Probably both. Hurry up and answer the, before they attack. Also there's a crowd gathering right now because of you] I looked around and saw there were around 30 people behind me waiting to get in. Hey the gate is pretty big so go around me not behind! They had both the look of discontent and interest at me. Well it would most likely be the first time they see such a scene. I look back at the guards whom were patiently waiting for my answer. “I seek to stay for the night and resupply while gathering some information.” I answered cleanly. The two guards looked at each other and nodded. I was expecting them to attack me but they sheathed their swords and let me through. “Have a pleasant stay” I walked through the large gate with ease after that and arrived at a stand that had a map of the city. This is really convenient. [True. Now you won't get lost, well at least I won't get lost. I don't know about you] Its not like I get lost easily. Anyway the inn is three streets up and five buildings to the left while the information guild his to the twenty buildings to the right of it. They must have designed the city to allow more efficiently for travellers. I started walking to the inn when llyfr started a conversation with me. [Eden how are you finding my powers?] Hmm? Why do you ask? [Because most people either hate it with a passion or be consumed by it. In both cases they cause trouble to those around them] I see. I don't find your power to be that bad. In fact I find it handy since I have the edge over other players when the time comes. Honestly if I wasn't sent to the tower and got you stuck in me, I've probably be in the library in Tellap town. [Hmm....interesting. I still have things to discuss with you but first get some sleep. You're at the inn now] That was fast! I was just talking to you for a bit. The inn like everything else in this game was medieval style. The inn was made with a combination of wood and stone. The inn was three times as big as the other buildings next to it. I wonder if it was because this a a major city with all the new players I see and they need a way to give some sort of service to them. I opened the wooden door and heard the sound of a large number of people inside. They mostly ignored me a random person but some still looked. I made my way through the many people sitting at a table and went to the person at the counter. The person was a young female probably in her early 20s or late teens. “What do you need?” the person asked in a kind voice. She was also taking orders form the people at the tables as well so I should make this quick. “I wish to stay the night.” I immediately answered. The lady smiled and said, “That will be 5 silver per night.” I took out the 5 silver needed to handed it to the lady. When the silver fell to her hand, she asked, “Also I'll need your name for clarification.” I wonder why they would need my name? Meh. It doesn't matter to me. “Its Eden” I thought I heard the place become a bit quieter when I said my name but it was probably my imagination. “Your room is the one third to the left. Here's the key. Remember to lock it when you sleep.” the lady grinned and took the order of the person waiting behind me. I ignored the stares of the people below and walked up the stairs and went in my room. I made sure to lock the door when I closed the door as well. The room in question was surprisingly similar to the one at the Sleeping Sheep Centre back in Tellap. It was completely simple but it served my needs. I got in the bed and started to sleep. I have a long day tomorrow and its been a while since I slept in a proper bed. Part 2 – Rejection I woke up to the sensation of my body loosening up. It has been a while since I've been able to sleep properly without any fear of being attacked out of nowhere or being kidnapped. Trying to adjust to this 'new' feeling I have right now I steadily got up from the bed and stretched my arms up high and then proceeded to stretch my legs as well. [Morning Eden] Morning llyfr, did you get some rest as well? [I'm a being that does not require sleep so no] Doesn't that tire you out? Or at least bore you? [Not at all. I spend my time recounting what happened before so I'm never bored] …...that's the definition of boredom right there. Anyway why do we need to go to the information guild anyway? We do have the mana detector on hand and we can track the mana fragment using just that. [First check the mana detector] Fine. I took out the mana detector from my inventory and looked at where the six remaining arrows are pointed. The arrow was pointing to the north-east. The mana fragment was around 100 kilometres away. [Hmm....that's a fair distance to cover on foot. You should try to get a form of transport like a horse to travel there] I see but why do we need to go to the information centre in the first place? [To find out what that place is and how to get there! Did you not think on where exactly are we going nor how we get there? Have you not consider what enemies you will have to face as well?] Well can't we deal with them when we get there? I thought the rest of the journey would be at least better than the first part. [FOOL! That kind of thinking almost got you eaten in the first place remember?!] The vivid image of being eaten alive once again appeared in my head. That was something I did not want nor need to remember right now especially before breaksfast. Speaking of breaksfast I'm hungry right now. The saturation metre is almost at zero right now and I didn't eat yesterday. Hmm...that's strange. [What is it? Please don't think of something stupid] Hey that's mean! Its been a while since I've eaten so why haven't I noticed at all and usually my saturation metre should've been at zero when I went to sleep. So why is it near zero and not exactly at zero? [It seems you inherited another trait of mine when the seal on me broke. I noticed the mana absorption started all of a sudden when you were sleeping] WAIT! The mana absorption started?! What about the people around this place? [Calm down. They probably didn't notice a thing. Most of them were drunk and they don't exactly check their mana in a safe zone] So what exactly is this sudden change? [You body is more adaptable with my power and you can sustain yourself to a certain point using the mana in your body although this power seems to be incomplete so you still need to eat] Umm...I don't get it. [Basically your saturation metre will lower more slowly at times] I see. [Damn idiot] What was that? I was suddenly getting annoyed right now. I wonder why..... [Anyway eat breaksfast and get to the information guild] Yes yes slave driver. I got the key from my inventory and unlocked the door to the room I rented. I headed downstairs to find the place filled with people from yesterday sleeping at their table. It seems they fell asleep drunk. I have no pity on them when they wake up with a headache. I walked up to the counter and found the same person as yesterday there as well. “Did you have a nice sleep?” the lady asked with a smile. Was she here the whole time without any sleep? “Good” I answered back while giving her the key to the room. I looked back at the inn that also for some reason served as a restaurant as well. There was around 30 people sleeping and some spare tables around for me to sit at. “Do you serve breaksfast here?” I asked the lady at the counter. If they didn't then I'll buy something from the grocery store. “Yes~” the lady answered once more with a smile. She took out some sort of menu for me. I scanned through it quickly. | Menu of the inn “Giant's Den” Main Meals: Bacon and Eggs – 3 silver 45 copper Steak – 5 silver Chicken Warp – 4 silver 75 copper Special Meal – 1 gold Side Dishes: Sandwich – 2 silver Salad – 50 copper Any fruit – 10 copper Toast – 15 copper Rye Bread with jam – 20 copper Drinks: Water – free Orange Juice – 30 copper Apple Juice – 30 copper Rum – 1 silver 15 copper Beer – 1 silver 30 copper | | --- | “This is the breaksfast menu~” the lady added as I looked through the choices. There isn't much here but the place was also an inn so I wasn't expecting much. Most of this stuff was pretty cheap and probably didn't taste as good as a proper restaurant. I have no intentions on getting the so called special menu and I don't drink as well. “I'll get two toasts, some water and sandwich” “That will be 2 silver and 30 copper~” the lady smiled stretching her hand out for the money. I have a feeling that this person was someone you don't want to defile. I took out the 2 silver and 30 copper and handed it over to her. She pulled out a plate with the toast and the sandwich on it and a glass of water out of nowhere. Was this magic? I have no idea even though I can use magic myself. I took the plate and glass of water and said, “Thank you” before heading to a empty table. I ate alone for a couple of minutes and my saturation metre went back up to 60%. Well its time to head to the information guild. I left the plate and glass of water on the table and left the inn. The moment I got out of the inn I noticed that the sun had only recently risen meaning it was about 6 or 7 am right now. I made my way to the information guild passing by the few opened stores and a few people. It seems most people don't wake up early and prefer to sleep in. A couple of minutes later I reached the information guild and noticed immediately that there was a much larger quantity of people here than anywhere else. [People seek information. Its natural that such a place would be crowded no matter the time] So what do I need to find out? [First the place where the mana fragment is. Then the means of transport and the enemies you would be likely to face] Good, that's simple enough. As I walked through the door less entrance that was 3 meres tall and 5 metres in width I once again noticed that there were people staring at me for some reason. [Maybe its because of the markings on your face and body] Ah. Damn. I have to deal with it then. I shifted my hair to try to cover more of my face and walked to what seemed to be the main counter for everything in this place. The person behind this counter was also a female similar in age to the one at the inn but without the smile. She had a more mature feeling compared to the inn lady. I went up to her and said, “I wish to seek some information.” The person stopped what she was doing and looked at me. Her face turned into a frown and she said quite distinctively, “We don't get information to demi-humans” Then she went back to what she was doing before. Wait the hell just happened? [She rejected you based on your race] Isn't that racism? [Yeah. Its quite common no matter what the world you're in] So what now? [Persist and try again] A bit annoyed by the fact that I was ignored I tried asking in a less friendly tone. “I wish to seek some information” The person without looking up to me said, “Didn't I tell you to leave?” Damn this bitch. If it weren't the fact that I need information off of you then I would've tortured you right now. But I have to keep my calm. I tried not to express my discontent with this bitch and asked again, “I seek some information off you. Or at least direct me to someone who knows what I want.” My voice was more commanding this time and it seems to have back fired. The person backed away when she saw my face again and shouted, “Guards. Kill this beast!” I thought I saw some fear in her eyes for a moment there. Soon enough I was surrounded by 5 armed men. All armored and wielding spears pointed at me. This was kinda of a bad situation right? [You could've resolved this peacefully but since its you.....] Hey! I was kindly asking that person you know! [You looked like you were about to kill her] Really? I touched my face for a bit but didn't notice any difference. It seems I gained the attention of everyone in this place right now. A person being surrounded by armed people about to be killed. Damn why does this have to happen to me. Also why aren't they attacking just yet? [They're waiting for a opening to strike. They know nothing of you. They are being cautious] I see so I shouldn't do anything and they'll not do anything to me right? [No, they're waiting for a chance to strike at the same time. Look they're nodding their heads right now. Put up a barrier before your killed] “Mana Shield” I said. “Damnit NOW!” shouted one of the guards. Wait all I did was make a shield for myself to defend with! [And that made them think your going to do something] All five guards moved quickly to stab at me. | Mana Shield took 213 damage | | --- | | Mana Shield took 248 damage | | --- | | Mana Shield took 259 damage | | --- | | Mana Shield took 174 damage | | --- | | Mana Shield took 206 damage | | --- | | Mana Shield Broke | | --- | However my mana shield deflected the attacks and shattered in the process. They were at least strong enough to pose a threat. When my mana shield broke and their strikes were deflected they moved in again to strike at me. Making a mana shield will end up being destroyed. I have to disable them. I  quickly imagined a barrier of wind that will rip apart everything that strikes at me. “Wind Barrier” Wind gathered and formed a barrier protecting me. Unlike the mana shield, this spell drain a constant amount of mana from me but would regenerate when ever broken. Problem was that I don't know how much it can take. SNAP When the guards' spear hit the wind barrier the tip of the blade was chipped away and it broke rendering the weapon mostly useless now. “Damn Fiend.” muttered one of the guards. So what I'm not human anymore. You don't attack things on sight you know. The guards backs away a bit from me but never took their eyes off me. I looked around the place and saw many faces that were either shocked or interested in what I was doing. Armless the guards at least tried to restrict any sudden movement that could harm someone. So...what now? [We wait for someone more powerful than these fools to show up and hope they're rational] So I have to wait here with these people afraid of me? I noticed that the person I was 'talking' to disappeared already. Maybe she's bringing her boss here or something. Soon enough it really happened. “WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING?!” shouted a loud man. Everyone in the room looked at the overly bluffed man in armor. He was a giant of over 2 metres tall. You can easily deduct that he was a seasoned warrior with the authory his voice has itself. The man looked at me and the guards. With a grunt he said, “All of you stand down.” The guards immediately dropped their broken weapons and moved away from me. I myself deactivated by wind barrier spell but I did not move at all from the spot I was standing at. I saw the woman shaking behind the man. I see. It was her that brought this man here. Was he the boss of this place or another set of muscles? “Hey...why did you not kill that thing” the woman commented on the situation before us all. She continued speaking against me. “You know that those things can't bee trusted. KILL THAT THING NOW” It seems she was determined to get rid of me. I prepared a lightning bolt in my hand with was a consequent caused sparks to fly out of my hand. In that moment several more guards appeared and other players prepared to fight me as well. If I wanted to survive, I have to take them all out at once. I looked at the woman hiding behind the much stronger man and wanted to rip her apart. I was expecting the man to immediately attack me for that act but all he did was raised his hand to stop everyone from attacking me. He calmly said, “Maria you don't need to be so frightened. This one did not attack you and was simple defending itself.” With that the guards and other players did not attack me but prepared themselves to attack when needed. I see that the humans in this place had a close bond with each other. The man continued speaking, “Now then, to the demi-human over there. I thank you for not harming anyone during this...misunderstanding. The guildmaster has a great fear of those not human.” I see that even in this world, racism still exist. And man sighed at the fact and continued. “Unfortunately in this information guild, we do not or rather cannot provide information of any kind to demi-humans which include dwarves and elves. This branch of the information guild is not ruled by a king or count and they cannot interfere with our business.” So that means I can't get information out you guys? What the hell do I do now? I don't even know where and what the next city is. [Calm down. The man is still speaking] “This...restriction is caused by Maria who is still hiding behind me. She has...close ties with some....people. However fortunately most people didn't like this idea of hers and tried to get rid of it. Unfortunately again this was not overruled for some reason.” The man looked behind him at Maria with some hatred before speaking again. “For those who are not dwarves or elves such as yourself demi-human, we require for you to do us a favour first which is set by Maria here.” I have to do that bitch a favour?! Man this place sucks. You think I have enough power to level this city llyfr? [Not all of it but you can probably destroy a large chunk of it] The one named Maria started talking after some reassurance from the man. “The test will be to slay a Cyclops near the forest of Serbine which has troubled this kingdom for a while.” The man's eyes widened for a bit before going back to normal. Judging by his and everyone's else's reaction, this was very hard. “Also you need to bring some proof of the deed” Ding | Hunt the Cyclops Terrorising the Kingdom in the forest of Serbine The information guild has request for you to prove your worth to them by hunting the Cyclops down. The information guild requires you to show proof of your deed as well which will be determined by the information guild as well. Difficulty Rank: B Restriction: Fails if you die Reward: Any and all information you request from the information guild | | --- | “Fine I accept” | You have accepted the Quest | | --- | Now I have to find out where this forest of Serbine is. I doubt this place will willingly give me the information judging my the behaviour of the so called guildmaster. [You should try to get the information elsewhere. I suggest buying some new gear since you're still in the default armor] Ah! That's true. 86 levels in and I still have this crappy armor on. Hey llyfr, there was a armor store nearby right? [I'll tell you the way] Part 3 – New Gear and New Comrades Well I made it to the armor store. It was located near the city gate and right next to the weapon store and the grocery store which was very helpful. The stores were roughly the same size of around 10 metres in width. I opened the wooden door with a window and looked around the place. The place had a couple of people already in their examining the merchandise. Well it was an armor store which along side with the weapon store was the most visited place besides the grocery store which had all the supplies. I noticed the merchandise was arranged in order of type. The helmets, chest-piece, bracers, leg guards and boots were all separated unless it was placed as a set. Hmm...what should I get? [Anything that would allow you to survive. You don't need boots so I suggest you buy anything but that] I see. I should get some bracers and some pants to wear. I went to the bracer section of the store which had no one there and looked at what the place had to offer. There was currently 7 different types of bracers I could buy. From what I could see, 2 of them was made of leather, 2 was completely made of metal and the other three was a combination of both. I rather not be burdened by the weight and I would like some defence so I have to choose from three of them then. “Would you like some help?” A voice came out of nowhere. I was already used to such things...kinda but at least I didn't scream out loud right? I looked to where the voice came from and saw a young man that was taller than me and had short brown straight hair and a pretty face. Hmm....I don't have the identify skill so... “Can you identify these three items?” I asked. From my request the man smiled at me and said, “Ma’am, all items in the store are all identified and you can see the details of them. However unless your of the blacksmith profession, then some details will inevitably be left out.” Oh....that kinda makes sense. “Its fine then” I said quickly trying to hide my embarrassment. The man then left to attend to other customers. I picked up the bracer that had a metal guard but clearly made mostly of leather up. | Metal Guard Bracers   Durability: 50/50   Defence: 8 A metal guard was sewed in the leather bracers allowing the wearer to parry attacks. However the metal guard was made thin to allow flexibility which lowers the defence. Restriction: Level 80. Combat class Effects: Strength +3 Agility +5 | | --- | It was kinda good in the sense that it added a bit to my defence without making my arms heavy. But I have to check the other bracers first. I picked up the next bracer that was covered in metal but there was leather underneath it to make it more comfortable. | Fluent Metal Bracers   Durability: 60/60   Defence: 10 Bracers that was made almost completely of metal to allow blocking. The amount of metal used is average which allows some flexibility but more defence when attacked. Restriction: Level 80. Combat Class Effects: Strength +5 Agility +3 | | --- | This one was as good was the other one and it looked a lot better as well. I picked up the third bracer and noticed that it was a lot heavier than the other two. | Heavy Plate Bracers   Durability: 80/80   Defence: 15 Part of a plate set for combat classes, these bracers will provide large amounts of defence in exchange of sacrificing speed. As these bracers are heavy, it will provide a bonus to attack strength but a reduction in attack speed. Restriction: Level 80. Combat Class Effects: Strength +7 Agility -2 | | --- | This one was....kinda crap. There was some leather made into this but for it to be that heavy is a minus no matter how you look at it. However if you combine this with the rest of the armor set, then you would be a tank which will be helpful in a party. But I'm not in a party right now so this was useless. I discarded the thought of buying this particular set of bracers and looked but at the other two. Hmm....wait....combat class? Does this mean I'm unable to equip these equipment? [No, you should be able to. My pass processors were all kinds of classes, not just mages] Ah. Thanks for telling me. I decided to get the fluent metal bracers. Next is to get something for the lower half of my body. I left the fluent metal bracers behind and went to the leg section. There I saw many leg guards designed to be worn over pants. Now I think about I should get some pants later at a clothing store. I don't need that much defence on my legs so I just picked one that I liked the look of. | Light Leg Guards   Durability: 50/50   Defence: 10 Leg guards designed to provide some form of protection against attack without restricting movements. Made partly from the hide of a crocodile, it adds more defence to the leg guard. Restriction: Level 80. Combat class Effects: Strength +3 Agility +5 | | --- | These light leg guards was mostly made of leather but had a metal guard under the 'skin' of it which provided some defence. The leather in some parts were hard while in other parts it was soft which allowed both a bonus to strength and agility. I don't think I need a helmet since I've facing a Cyclops but I could use a new set of pants. [I don't think you'll need pants. You're used to this pair right? Also a good pair of pants could cost more than you have. How much Gold do you have?] I checked the amount of money I had and counted 105 gold 31 silver and 19 copper coins. [Hmm....I believe that the good quality stuff cost more than 100 gold. I suggest you forget about getting some pants since the cost of the armor may take up all your funds] Well I should see how much two pieces of armor cost first. I took the leg guard and the barcers I selected and brought them both to the counter ignoring the fact that there was probably a price tag somewhere. “The leg guards are 25 gold and the bracers are 35 gold for a total of 60 gold” said the clerk of the store. That was much less then I expected but it still costed most of my funds. [Remember to see the gloves you have] All yeah....I took out the cursed gloves and gave it to the clerk whom seemed to not noticed that it was cursed. He then said, “I'll buy this for 3 gold and 40 silver so the total cost will be now 56 gold and 60 silver” I took out the money needed and equipped my new bracers and leg guards and got out of the store before they notice that it was cursed. Now I have to get some supplies for the trip and then gather some information. “Hey your the one who made a racket at the information guild right?” Damn what's is it with people talking to me when I have my back turned on them. Anyway feeling a little annoyed I turned around and found there was several people gathered to greet me. There was 5 of them which consisted with two melees, an archer, mage and a priest. It was pretty much the same set up as Han's party but it had one less party member. Well I should reply to them to see what they want. “Yeah, and what about it” I said with a attitude. The person nearest to me smiled and said, “We can help you with the quest.” This person was acting cocky. I could probably kill him but judging by the armor he and his friends are wearing I say he was past level 200 which meant they as a party could kill me. Well I have nothing against using people to make my life easier. I replied with “Fine, as long as you know where that Cyclops is.” The man once more smiled and said, “In that case join our party.” | Don sent a party invite | | --- | “I accept” | The Quest “Hunt the Cyclops” has been added for your party | | --- | “Well then we already have the supplies needed for the trip. We can get to the Cyclops in around two days of walking. Introductions can come later.” Without a comment I followed the new found party I have now out of the gate and onto the path to the ravaged town we need to pass by.   | Continue Misfortune? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Previous](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1378) | [Exit](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=161) | | [Next](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=161&t=1529) | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes: - Word Count 5861 words - This chapter is setting up the next one. I believe you can expect what the next monster fight will be like.... - I have a habit of killing off people since its fun to do.....and if I can't do that then MC will suffer...Muhahahahahahahaha - RandomLeech...that idea with creation magic is indeed interesting but unfortunately the brain in MC isn't good enough to even comprehend he could do such a thing. Maybe when he's in a situation that forces him to think about his food supplies such as starving in a desert, he'll finally use it that way.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> It has been quite some time since I last updated this fanfiction. I had been busy with school and helping Japtem on the side with translating LMS. Anyways here is the next installment of Sun's adventures in Royal Road.<br><br>Death Calls<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------<br>The sound of metal scraping along the floor echoed throughout the hall.<br><br>“Quickly! We must get there before they escape!”<br><br>The holy knights were sprinting as quickly as they could to catch the culprits behind the necromancy. In order to keep up with everyone Sun, Alveron, Calvin, and Alena were being carried by the holy knights.<br><br>In order to get through as quickly as possible, they could not fight every undead along the way. Thankfully most of the high level undead and already been dealt with and only intermediate level undead had remained. Using their momentum, they ran through the underground passage while cleaving through the enemies with their swords and shields.<br><br>The undead were most certainly a problem that the church could not ignore but the necromancers had a higher precedence. They could always go back and sweep up the undead, however if they didn’t finish off the necromancers then the cycle would ceaselessly continue.<br><br>“Is this as fast as we can go?”<br><br>The pace that they were moving was relatively fast but, from the distance that he perceived from his elemental sight, the necromancers were still far off. The large culmination of dark element that he was sensing up ahead was far from normal. Though the holy knights had high strength, agility, and endurance stats, they were weighed down by their heavy armor and weapons. Since there were some holy knights that had to carry the priests, the rest of the holy knights had to match their pace so that they don’t get left behind.<br><br>“Goddess Freya, grant us your strength. Haste!”<br><br>Alveron, who was being carried by a holy knight, chanted a spell over the group. With his high skill proficiency, their movement speed increased by a staggering 60%. Due to the long cooldown he could not multicast it to stack the effects but with his high skill proficiency he was able to mass cast it onto a group. It was more than enough to compensate not stacking the buff.<br><br>The distance to the necromancers was rapidly decreasing. After bashing their way through a couple more undead waves, they could finally see their goal ahead. A light permeated from a hole at the end of the cave.<br><br>Of course the necromancers were not foolish enough to leave themselves unguarded. There were 4 high ranked undead that were standing guard at the entrance. Each of these undead guards were above level 320 and could each count as a dungeon boss. These undead were unfamiliar to Sun, but they had a slight resemblance to Death Knights. In actuality they were a undead knights known as Vandal Knights.<br><br>Though these undead were not to be matched to Chaos Knights, Liches, Bone Dragons and other legendary undead, they were still stronger than most bosses. However they were still a far cry from unique Bosses with titles, such as Vampire Lords. A skilled party of similarly leveled users would still have difficulty fighting a single one of these undead without a dedicated healer and skilled fighters.<br><br>That was if it was a normal party of users. In most parties the main force is comprised of a mage, a resilient melee fighter to draw aggro, an archer, a healer, and a agile thief type class. Each of these classes provide an essential role in fighting against enemies.<br><br>This was different in this case though. These monster were undead. When dealing against the undead, holy magic was the most effective means to destroy them. So while these may have been high ranked undead, they were far from being unique type undead such as Death Lords and Liches. With a group of holy knights, all of them in their mid 300s, and 3 highly skilled priests with powerful blessing skills, these undead faced complete decimation.<br><br>Blowing through the corpses of the Vandal Knights, the holy knights broke into the center of the room.<br><br>“Who’s there!?”<br><br>Several robed figures yelled out in shock. The necromancers had not been able to sense any holy magic as they had not used any holy element within the area in which they could sense. The holy knights had been relying on their sword skills to beat aside the undead without using any skills as to avoid detection.<br><br>Sun took this time to quickly assess how many necromancers were in the room. He had not been able to get a clear number before since the dark element was highly obstructive in his elemental sight.<br><br>The necromancers numbered a total of 10. However, none of these necromancers stood out distinctly. Though twisted, necromancers could be considered one of the intellectually minded groups that devoted themselves to research. In organizations such as these, there was usually one guy that looked different, with a spiffy looking robe that says “I’m the leader around here.”<br><br>Sun looked ahead and saw that there was another door at the other end of the room. If this was the base of commands then there was no need to have another facility deeper within. Quickly passing his elemental sight through it, he saw another lone figure next to a large mass of dark element.<br><br>‘As I expected.’<br><br>The person that he saw was most definitely the leader of these necromancers. Furthermore, his expectations had been exactly right. This large influx of dark element was not being used for something as petty as reanimating corpses into undead. Something as simple as that could have been done by their own necromancy powers.<br><br>They had been gathering dark element from killing humans and creating undead. Dark element was a culmination of matter formed upon the death of living things. If someone died with dark emotions or in a painful way then more dark element would be formed. Dark element was not limited to death either. Emotions could easily form dark element; usually corruption and other insidious thoughts. This is small in contrast to death but still notable when there is enough of it. To deliberately form such a large mass of dark element could only mean two things.<br><br>The first was to perform the spell that tore away the necromancer’s physical body and replace it with an immortal undying body of a lich by sealing away their soul into a source of mana, such as it had been for Pink. Such a spell requires many sacrifices and an especially powerful necromancer. However, this process was very lengthy and the necromancers would refuse to cooperate with each other since this process only allowed one individual to become a lich at the cost of countless resources and research.<br><br>That left only one other possibility. This was the most plausible but also the most terrifying.<br><br>All magic draws power from somewhere. Be it from the gods, nature, or from within oneself. Each with their own capabilities and power. Naturally a god would have infinitely more power than a mere human. But what would happen should a god manifest itself in the mortal realm?<br><br>The results would be unimaginable. As destructive as a master magician’s magic may be, it is nothing before the might of a god.<br><br>The necromancers were trying to summon a being of darkness.<br><br>Demon King. God of Death and Carnage. Destruction and Despair. Disease and Famine.<br><br>There were any number of beings that would bring chaos to the world.<br><br>The necromancers finally snapped out of their confusion and grabbed onto their staves.<br><br>“Kill them! The ritual must succeed at any cost!”<br><br>The necromancers were certainly very high level, most likely around level 300 and above. To have summoned such high level undead, in such high quantity, required extremely powerful skills.<br><br>Each of the necromancers quickly used their staves to draw magic circles in the air and summon a large number of undead. Many corpses rose from the floor while others dug their way up from beneath the earth.<br><br>These undead were not as strong as high ranking undead, but they were in the intermediate level range and high in number.<br><br>Around a thousand undead sprang forth from the ground to fight against the holy knights. There were a large variety of undead corpses since the necromancers had been using this place to experiment.<br><br>Seeing no need to hide their skills any longer, the holy knights activated all their holy magic blade skills.<br><br>The necromancers took this time to drop a multitude of hexes on the holy knights, but it had no effect thanks to the strength of the holy blessings.<br><br>That did not mean that they could just leave the necromancers alone. Even if they could not debuff the holy knights, they could buff the undead and lengthen the fight. There was no knowing how long it would take before this ritual of theirs would complete, but it could not be long since the necromancers were so readily willing to fight.<br><br>“Light Binding!”<br><br>Sun decided to take the initiative before the necromancers had realized that their spells had failed. Throwing on a number of chains onto each of the necromancers, he bound a number of the necromancers and to prevent them from casting spells. Since his light binding skill was not that high level, he was only able to bind 5 of the necromancers.<br><br>The bound necromancers struggled to break the chains, but these chains had been forge out of holy light and were capable of binding down giant monsters. The measly strength of a necromancer was nothing before the binding spell.<br><br>“Undead! Free us!”<br><br>The necromancers commanded a few nearby undead to free them from the constraints. The undead ran up to rip the chains off from their bodies.<br><br>“Fwoosh!”<br><br>The holy light from the chain reacted against the undead touch and caused holy fire to ignite, repelling the undead.<br><br>“Damn it! Forget it then. Bring us the staves!”<br><br>When the necromancers had been bound by chains, their staves had been knocked away. Once the necromancers got their staves back, they could use black magic to lift the chains.<br><br>Sun took a hold of a few remaining vials of holy water mixed with oil. Taking out his bow of light, he stuck the vial onto a light arrow and shot it towards the few undead that had previously tried to remove the chains by hand.<br><br>The vial exploded on impact and burst into flames from the holy fire. The corpses of the undead crumpled to the floor and forced a holy fire wall that blocked the undead from the necromancers.<br><br>The remaining necromancer used their spells to free the necromancers from the constraints. However, even though the bound necromancers had been freed, they could no longer cast spells since their staves had been knocked away.<br><br>The necromancers that could cast spells used Blink Teleportation to get out of the fire. They wanted to retrieve the staves for their allies, but they could not teleport holding the other Necromancer’s staff as it would create an imbalance of mana and cause the spell to reflux on them.<br><br>Throwing the staves at the necromancers would not work either since they were surrounded by a ring of fire. Since the staves were made of magical wood they would burn rather easily.<br><br>Seeing that they could not aid their fellow necromancers, they focused on fighting the battle. A large amount of their mana had been spent on summoning the undead so now they focused using their mana on buffing their undead and using what little attack spells that they had.<br><br>As intellectually minded necromancers, they had not bothered to advance combat related magic such as Dark Spear. They had other magic spells that they could use but they were rendered useless in front of the priests’ magical protection spells.<br><br>There are a number of various categories to priest spells.<br><br>Healing, Buffing, Attack Spells, Cleansing Spells, Debuff spells, Revive spells.<br><br>There were many different type of spells that priests could use. Once specialized, priests would get a job advance that would allow them to learn even more categories of spells in relation to their specialization.<br><br>There was an especially useful field of support spells that only a few priests decided to specialize in.<br><br>Barriers.<br><br>Barrier spells were support magic that shields against all forms of attacks and depended on the user’s mana to sustain. There were spells that block all damage for as long as the mana held out at a fixed usage rate and then there were also spells that use a fixed amount of mana to block a set amount of damage for a set duration.<br><br>It was a very skill based class since choosing barriers meant that they could not become another specialized priest, which usually have more potent healing or buffing spells.<br><br>Calvin was such a priest. After reaching level 330, he had chosen the path of the Aegis Priest, which was a priest that specialized in defensive skills. With the helpful use of his barriers, none of the dark magic was able to harm any of the holy knights.<br><br>Hacking away at the undead, the holy knights gradually whittled down the undead.Soon enough they clear the room of all of the undead.<br><br>Now that they had finished wiping out the undead, they had to deal with the necromancers.<br><br>Naturally necromancers were criminals that the church abhorred. But there was a process to these sort of things. They would be sent back to the church as criminals, tried in court, and then punished. Execution was the most likely sentence from the mass murders that they had orchestrated.<br><br>Tying up the necromancers, and kicking them in the stomach a couple of times, Sun and the holy knights made their way into the next room.<br><br>Standing before a large pit of darkness was a single robed man, who looked to be in his 50s. This man was a clear cut above the rest of the necromancers. He had a distinctly ornate robe and staff, with an atmosphere befitting that of a master mage. The necromancer took notice of their sudden appearance in this chamber, clearly displeased with the incompetency of his subordinates.<br>“You dogs of the church have managed to make it this far.”<br><br>The necromancer hit his staff against the floor and a large magic circle activated.<br><br>“You are already too late.”<br><br>The magic circle slowly started to expand, sucking in the vast quantities of dark element.<br><br>The necromancer then recited a brief incantation before casting another spell.<br><br>“...as death binds down all living things. Gravity!”<br><br>Gravity was an immobilization spell that was effective in increasing the weight of its target. It was used to slow down large monsters that did not have good magic defense.<br><br>It was particularly effective on the holy knights. The holy knights wore large, heavy armor and had very low magic resistances. The gravity spell hit them hard and knocked them onto the floor.<br><br>The priests were not doing any better. Even though they had high magic defense, they did not possess the physical strength to stand up even with reduced effects of the gravity spell.<br><br>The entire underground structure began to shake violently from the force of the spell circle. Sun looked up as he tried to get back up.<br><br>The darkness oscillated within itself as it began to take form. The distinct appearance of a human being was being formed from the darkness. However, this being was anything but human.<br><br> A dark mist permeated from the figure, and the land decayed around him unnaturally. This being was most certainly a darkness god that brought with it death and destruction.<br><br>As the violent tremors stopped, Sun and the others looked up to the death god that was floating in the air. If not for the violent unholy darkness that leaked from his body, he would have appeared to have been a normal looking magician. This god was dressed in a black robe and magician hat. A long intricate staff floated behind him as well as several other magical items.<br><br>The god looked coldly upon the necromancer.<br><br>“Why have you summoned me mortal?”<br><br>Though he had only been speaking, his voice was deathly chilling as it spoke into each of their souls.<br><br>“Mii-milord! I, your most humble servant, have summoned you into this realm so that you may take your rightful place as its ruler.”<br><br>The necromancer managed to utter with much difficulty.<br><br>“Is that so? Then do you know who I am?”<br><br>The god asked almost as if what the necromancer had said was of no importance to him.<br><br>“Of course. You are the God of Death himself, the all powerful Thanatos!”<br><br>The god tilted his head back and laughed uproariously.<br><br>“Hahahahahaaaa! You think I am Thanatos? To compare me to a weakling like him is foolish.”<br><br>The necromancer was clearly shocked. The ritual had been made to summon the god of death Thanatos. So if this was not Thanatos then who could it be?<br><br>“This is impossible…”<br><br>The necromancer fell to the floor in dismay. This was not the god that the necromancers had contracted with so they had no means of using his power.<br><br>“I have no more need of you.”<br><br>The god raised his hand slowly and then activated a small but powerful spell circle.<br><br>Kuk kuk kuk.<br><br>Countless spears of darkness ripped the necromancer apart. The necromancer yelled in pain before collapsing onto the floor in a bloody heap.<br><br>A number of screams could be heard from the distance. The god had noticed the necromancers in the other room and had dealt with them as well.<br><br>The god looked over to the holy knights.<br><br>With the sudden appearance of a god level enemy, the tension among the holy knights intensified dramatically. This was not an enemy that they could beat.<br><br>Sun gritted his teeth to try and find a way out of this situation. With the necromancer’s death, the Gravity spell had lost its effect but now they were faced with a much more powerful enemy.<br><br>“Hey you.”<br><br>The god said as he looked over to Sun.<br><br>“What?”<br><br>Sun replied reflexively.<br><br>“Who are you? You don’t belong in this world.”<br><br>The god asked, clearly aware that Sun was not an inhabitant of this world.<br><br>“I...I am Sun.”<br><br>Sun took a moment to think before answering.<br><br>“Hooo, to think that such a coincidence would happen.”<br><br>The god was clearly amused at Sun’s answer. Then he took a look at Alena before he came to a realization.<br><br>‘So that’s how it is.’<br><br>The god charged up some dark element to throw it before noticing a slight magical discharge from his mana. It would appear that he was not entirely stable yet. Using a high powered spell here could cause it to reflux on him. The holy knights were not able to harm him, but if his spell refluxed on him then he could very well kill himself accidentally.<br><br>“I will leave for today.”<br><br>The god turned away before looking back to say one final comment with a smirk on his face.<br><br>“I will see you again, Knight Captain Sun.”<br><br>The mage teleported out of the cavern.<br><br>Everyone collapsed to the floor from mental exhaustion. Facing a god was no easy task, especially with such a small force and without the protection of the gods.<br><br>Sun sat there shocked at the god’s words.<br><br>‘I will see you again. Knight Captain Sun.’<br><br>This god knew his identity as the Captain of the Twelve Holy Knights of the Church of the God of Light. There had to be some connection between this god and his world.<br><br>However, all that mattered now was that they had managed to survive. They had been in front of a god of death and they were still alive.<br><br>“Is everyone alright?”<br><br>Calvin asked after a few minutes. A few mumbles came as a response.<br><br>“We should go back then.”<br><br>After thoroughly destroying the necromancer lab, they looked back to check on the state of the other necromancers. They had indeed been brutally killed by the god’s magic, perhaps in an attempt to hide any knowledge of the summoning ritual. Along the way to the surface, they cleaned out the rest of the undead that they had ignored on the way in.<br><br>Heading back to the surface, they decided to split up their group.<br><br>Calvin and 70 of the holy knights would go on a separate mission to clear away any of the remaining undead in the mountain. Sun and 30 holy knights were escort Alveron back to the town’s teleport gate so that he could return to Somuren Liberty City.<br><br>Once they reached the town, they could solve the problem with Alena. They needed to see if they could find her parents or if she needed to be taken in by the church.<br><br>The next city that they needed to go to that had an operation teleport gate was the capital city of the Kallamore Kingdom, Senbain.<br><br>However this region was extremely dangerous, which is why Calvin had sent 30 holy knights with them. This region was known to be infested with high level monsters. However this would pose no problem to the extremely high level and skilled holy knights.<br><br>There were waves and waves of monsters that surrounded this kingdom. Ever since the decline of the Kallamore Kingdom several decades ago, after the loss of their Knight Commander Koldeurim, the region had been infested with high level monsters.<br><br>Thankfully they weren’t the only ones fighting the monsters.<br><br>The brave knights of the Kallamore Kingdom fought against the monsters on a daily basis to drive them out of their land. Hardened through countless against against high level monsters, the knights of the Kallamore Kingdom were some of the best in the land.<br><br>Aside from the Kallamore Knights, there were the users that had joined into the ranks of the Kallamore Kingdom.<br><br>Once it had been discovered that fighting monsters in the name of the Kallamore Kingdom would increase the Honor stat, an essential exclusive stat for users of the Knight class.<br><br>The Honor stat was a universal stat that embodied the beliefs of the knight class. It increases loyalty among subordinates and it was similar to being recognized nobility. A higher Honor stat increases a knight’s rank. The higher a knight’s rank, the better the benefits.<br><br>After a week of traveling and fighting off monsters, they had finally made it to the capital city of Senbain. Since they were members of the Church of Freya, they were immediately given entrance into the city.<br><br>The very first thing that they needed to do was to head to the Church of Freya in this town.<br><br>At the Church of Freya, they asked for the church’s head priest to get briefed on the latest information regarding the events related to the church.<br><br>The information they received had been staggering.<br><br>In the time that they had left on this mission, the Hero Weed had undertaken a quest to find the necromancers in the Plains of Despair. There the hero had rallied the orcs against the Dark Elves who had allied with the necromancers. After a brilliant victory, the hero decided to spare the necromancer’s lives and hear their story.<br><br>It appears that the necromancers had been working to defeat the Lich Shire, an evil necromancer that had demonized Bar Khan to fall off the righteous path and become a persona of evil. Since then the Lich Shirehad been building an Undying Legion to conquer the continent.<br><br>Weed led a coalition army of the Orcs, Dark Elves, Necromancers, and Humans against this army and emerged victorious by killing the Lich Shire.<br><br>However, now there were summons for Alveron to return to the church. The church had received a request to investigate the nobility of a fallen kingdom and had passed the quest onto Hero Weed. In order to assist Weed in his investigation, the church had dispatched Alveron to the North.<br><br>“I’ll see you again Alveron.”<br><br>Sun said his farewells to Alveron. Thankfully he had managed to add Alveron to his friend list so he could speak to him whenever he wanted.<br><br>“It was truly a pleasure Grisia.”<br><br>Alveron stepped into the teleport gate and warped to the church in Somuren.<br><br>The matter with Alena would have to wait since Sun was not allowed to use the teleport gate without Calvin being present. Since the church could not do anything about it, he needed provide her with a place to stay until Calvin arrived. In other words, he had to take care of her.<br><br>Sitting in the middle of the town square, next to the fountain, Sun sighed deeply.<br><br>‘So it came down to this anyways...’<br><br>He had thought that the church would be able to take care of her. However, since Calvin was the representative from the Church of the Citadel of Serabourg, the Church of Freya in the capital city of Sebain would not authorize it. Even if Calvin was here, the task of locating her parents and providing for her well being fell upon the church members that found her. That meant Sun.<br><br>He had been abandoned by his fellow church members who had gone off to drink in a nearby bar. Seeing as children were not allowed in bars, and the fact that the task of taking care of Alena fell to him, he was not allowed to accompany them in drinking alcohol.<br><br>Now that he was stuck with watching over her, he decided to ask her some questions to get an idea of how to deal with her.<br><br>“Alena, do you know where your parents are?”<br><br>“?”<br><br>She looked at him as if not understanding the question.<br><br>“You know. Your guardians, the people that take care of you.”<br><br>The young girl looked as if she understood.<br><br>“There.”<br><br>She randomly pointed into the sky with her finger.<br><br>Seeing as that had not helped him in any way, Sun tried to think of what else to ask.<br><br>After mulling it over for several moments, he heard a low growling sound.<br><br>He looked over to see that it was coming from Alena. Moments later it was followed by the growling of his own stomach.<br><br>Sun stood awkwardly for a bit before saying.<br><br>“Let’s go get something to eat.”<br><br>Stopping by a nearby family restaurant, they ordered a couple of dishes to eat.<br><br>This restaurant was rather peculiar as it serves many foods that he had never heard of before.<br><br>The main reason for this was because this store was managed by users and not NPCs, something that Sun was not aware of.<br><br>Sun picked up his strange sandwich that he had never seen before in his life. It was a sandwich made from bread, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and some sort of processed meat that tasted like beef. It was served with a side of potato sticks and a strange dark carbonated beverage.<br><br>There was no problem with the taste so he ate it anyways, but he could only wonder as to what it was.<br><br>Alena, who was sitting across from him, had ordered something that looked like a triangular piece of bread and sticks of bread. Except this bread had cheese, tomato sauce, and thin red circles of meat on it.<br><br>They simply sat there eating for awhile. Sun was rather hungry so he didn’t bother talking about anything. Aside from that, the taste was exquisite. He had never eaten anything like this in his life before.<br><br>Finishing up his meal, Sun decided that it was finally time to ask some more questions. That was until the waitress came by and asked if he wanted to order any desserts.<br><br>Soon enough there were some desserts that he had never seen before on the table.<br><br>Time passed as they ate the assorted desserts. There were all manners of things that he had never seen before. Things called crepes, brownies, scones, and other sweets.<br><br>By the time they were done, it was already nightfall. Since it wasn’t safe to stay around at the streets after dark, he decided to check them into an inn.<br><br>The two of them went into the room and went to sleep, rather tired from eating all that food.<br><br>After all those distractions, he never did get around to asking those questions. </div>

It has been quite some time since I last updated this fanfiction. I had been busy with school and helping Japtem on the side with translating LMS. Anyways here is the next installment of Sun's adventures in Royal Road. Death Calls -------------------------------------------------------------- The sound of metal scraping along the floor echoed throughout the hall. “Quickly! We must get there before they escape!” The holy knights were sprinting as quickly as they could to catch the culprits behind the necromancy. In order to keep up with everyone Sun, Alveron, Calvin, and Alena were being carried by the holy knights. In order to get through as quickly as possible, they could not fight every undead along the way. Thankfully most of the high level undead and already been dealt with and only intermediate level undead had remained. Using their momentum, they ran through the underground passage while cleaving through the enemies with their swords and shields. The undead were most certainly a problem that the church could not ignore but the necromancers had a higher precedence. They could always go back and sweep up the undead, however if they didn’t finish off the necromancers then the cycle would ceaselessly continue. “Is this as fast as we can go?” The pace that they were moving was relatively fast but, from the distance that he perceived from his elemental sight, the necromancers were still far off. The large culmination of dark element that he was sensing up ahead was far from normal. Though the holy knights had high strength, agility, and endurance stats, they were weighed down by their heavy armor and weapons. Since there were some holy knights that had to carry the priests, the rest of the holy knights had to match their pace so that they don’t get left behind. “Goddess Freya, grant us your strength. Haste!” Alveron, who was being carried by a holy knight, chanted a spell over the group. With his high skill proficiency, their movement speed increased by a staggering 60%. Due to the long cooldown he could not multicast it to stack the effects but with his high skill proficiency he was able to mass cast it onto a group. It was more than enough to compensate not stacking the buff. The distance to the necromancers was rapidly decreasing. After bashing their way through a couple more undead waves, they could finally see their goal ahead. A light permeated from a hole at the end of the cave. Of course the necromancers were not foolish enough to leave themselves unguarded. There were 4 high ranked undead that were standing guard at the entrance. Each of these undead guards were above level 320 and could each count as a dungeon boss. These undead were unfamiliar to Sun, but they had a slight resemblance to Death Knights. In actuality they were a undead knights known as Vandal Knights. Though these undead were not to be matched to Chaos Knights, Liches, Bone Dragons and other legendary undead, they were still stronger than most bosses. However they were still a far cry from unique Bosses with titles, such as Vampire Lords. A skilled party of similarly leveled users would still have difficulty fighting a single one of these undead without a dedicated healer and skilled fighters. That was if it was a normal party of users. In most parties the main force is comprised of a mage, a resilient melee fighter to draw aggro, an archer, a healer, and a agile thief type class. Each of these classes provide an essential role in fighting against enemies. This was different in this case though. These monster were undead. When dealing against the undead, holy magic was the most effective means to destroy them. So while these may have been high ranked undead, they were far from being unique type undead such as Death Lords and Liches. With a group of holy knights, all of them in their mid 300s, and 3 highly skilled priests with powerful blessing skills, these undead faced complete decimation. Blowing through the corpses of the Vandal Knights, the holy knights broke into the center of the room. “Who’s there!?” Several robed figures yelled out in shock. The necromancers had not been able to sense any holy magic as they had not used any holy element within the area in which they could sense. The holy knights had been relying on their sword skills to beat aside the undead without using any skills as to avoid detection. Sun took this time to quickly assess how many necromancers were in the room. He had not been able to get a clear number before since the dark element was highly obstructive in his elemental sight. The necromancers numbered a total of 10. However, none of these necromancers stood out distinctly. Though twisted, necromancers could be considered one of the intellectually minded groups that devoted themselves to research. In organizations such as these, there was usually one guy that looked different, with a spiffy looking robe that says “I’m the leader around here.” Sun looked ahead and saw that there was another door at the other end of the room. If this was the base of commands then there was no need to have another facility deeper within. Quickly passing his elemental sight through it, he saw another lone figure next to a large mass of dark element. ‘As I expected.’ The person that he saw was most definitely the leader of these necromancers. Furthermore, his expectations had been exactly right. This large influx of dark element was not being used for something as petty as reanimating corpses into undead. Something as simple as that could have been done by their own necromancy powers. They had been gathering dark element from killing humans and creating undead. Dark element was a culmination of matter formed upon the death of living things. If someone died with dark emotions or in a painful way then more dark element would be formed. Dark element was not limited to death either. Emotions could easily form dark element; usually corruption and other insidious thoughts. This is small in contrast to death but still notable when there is enough of it. To deliberately form such a large mass of dark element could only mean two things. The first was to perform the spell that tore away the necromancer’s physical body and replace it with an immortal undying body of a lich by sealing away their soul into a source of mana, such as it had been for Pink. Such a spell requires many sacrifices and an especially powerful necromancer. However, this process was very lengthy and the necromancers would refuse to cooperate with each other since this process only allowed one individual to become a lich at the cost of countless resources and research. That left only one other possibility. This was the most plausible but also the most terrifying. All magic draws power from somewhere. Be it from the gods, nature, or from within oneself. Each with their own capabilities and power. Naturally a god would have infinitely more power than a mere human. But what would happen should a god manifest itself in the mortal realm? The results would be unimaginable. As destructive as a master magician’s magic may be, it is nothing before the might of a god. The necromancers were trying to summon a being of darkness. Demon King. God of Death and Carnage. Destruction and Despair. Disease and Famine. There were any number of beings that would bring chaos to the world. The necromancers finally snapped out of their confusion and grabbed onto their staves. “Kill them! The ritual must succeed at any cost!” The necromancers were certainly very high level, most likely around level 300 and above. To have summoned such high level undead, in such high quantity, required extremely powerful skills. Each of the necromancers quickly used their staves to draw magic circles in the air and summon a large number of undead. Many corpses rose from the floor while others dug their way up from beneath the earth. These undead were not as strong as high ranking undead, but they were in the intermediate level range and high in number. Around a thousand undead sprang forth from the ground to fight against the holy knights. There were a large variety of undead corpses since the necromancers had been using this place to experiment. Seeing no need to hide their skills any longer, the holy knights activated all their holy magic blade skills. The necromancers took this time to drop a multitude of hexes on the holy knights, but it had no effect thanks to the strength of the holy blessings. That did not mean that they could just leave the necromancers alone. Even if they could not debuff the holy knights, they could buff the undead and lengthen the fight. There was no knowing how long it would take before this ritual of theirs would complete, but it could not be long since the necromancers were so readily willing to fight. “Light Binding!” Sun decided to take the initiative before the necromancers had realized that their spells had failed. Throwing on a number of chains onto each of the necromancers, he bound a number of the necromancers and to prevent them from casting spells. Since his light binding skill was not that high level, he was only able to bind 5 of the necromancers. The bound necromancers struggled to break the chains, but these chains had been forge out of holy light and were capable of binding down giant monsters. The measly strength of a necromancer was nothing before the binding spell. “Undead! Free us!” The necromancers commanded a few nearby undead to free them from the constraints. The undead ran up to rip the chains off from their bodies. “Fwoosh!” The holy light from the chain reacted against the undead touch and caused holy fire to ignite, repelling the undead. “Damn it! Forget it then. Bring us the staves!” When the necromancers had been bound by chains, their staves had been knocked away. Once the necromancers got their staves back, they could use black magic to lift the chains. Sun took a hold of a few remaining vials of holy water mixed with oil. Taking out his bow of light, he stuck the vial onto a light arrow and shot it towards the few undead that had previously tried to remove the chains by hand. The vial exploded on impact and burst into flames from the holy fire. The corpses of the undead crumpled to the floor and forced a holy fire wall that blocked the undead from the necromancers. The remaining necromancer used their spells to free the necromancers from the constraints. However, even though the bound necromancers had been freed, they could no longer cast spells since their staves had been knocked away. The necromancers that could cast spells used Blink Teleportation to get out of the fire. They wanted to retrieve the staves for their allies, but they could not teleport holding the other Necromancer’s staff as it would create an imbalance of mana and cause the spell to reflux on them. Throwing the staves at the necromancers would not work either since they were surrounded by a ring of fire. Since the staves were made of magical wood they would burn rather easily. Seeing that they could not aid their fellow necromancers, they focused on fighting the battle. A large amount of their mana had been spent on summoning the undead so now they focused using their mana on buffing their undead and using what little attack spells that they had. As intellectually minded necromancers, they had not bothered to advance combat related magic such as Dark Spear. They had other magic spells that they could use but they were rendered useless in front of the priests’ magical protection spells. There are a number of various categories to priest spells. Healing, Buffing, Attack Spells, Cleansing Spells, Debuff spells, Revive spells. There were many different type of spells that priests could use. Once specialized, priests would get a job advance that would allow them to learn even more categories of spells in relation to their specialization. There was an especially useful field of support spells that only a few priests decided to specialize in. Barriers. Barrier spells were support magic that shields against all forms of attacks and depended on the user’s mana to sustain. There were spells that block all damage for as long as the mana held out at a fixed usage rate and then there were also spells that use a fixed amount of mana to block a set amount of damage for a set duration. It was a very skill based class since choosing barriers meant that they could not become another specialized priest, which usually have more potent healing or buffing spells. Calvin was such a priest. After reaching level 330, he had chosen the path of the Aegis Priest, which was a priest that specialized in defensive skills. With the helpful use of his barriers, none of the dark magic was able to harm any of the holy knights. Hacking away at the undead, the holy knights gradually whittled down the undead.Soon enough they clear the room of all of the undead. Now that they had finished wiping out the undead, they had to deal with the necromancers. Naturally necromancers were criminals that the church abhorred. But there was a process to these sort of things. They would be sent back to the church as criminals, tried in court, and then punished. Execution was the most likely sentence from the mass murders that they had orchestrated. Tying up the necromancers, and kicking them in the stomach a couple of times, Sun and the holy knights made their way into the next room. Standing before a large pit of darkness was a single robed man, who looked to be in his 50s. This man was a clear cut above the rest of the necromancers. He had a distinctly ornate robe and staff, with an atmosphere befitting that of a master mage. The necromancer took notice of their sudden appearance in this chamber, clearly displeased with the incompetency of his subordinates. “You dogs of the church have managed to make it this far.” The necromancer hit his staff against the floor and a large magic circle activated. “You are already too late.” The magic circle slowly started to expand, sucking in the vast quantities of dark element. The necromancer then recited a brief incantation before casting another spell. “...as death binds down all living things. Gravity!” Gravity was an immobilization spell that was effective in increasing the weight of its target. It was used to slow down large monsters that did not have good magic defense. It was particularly effective on the holy knights. The holy knights wore large, heavy armor and had very low magic resistances. The gravity spell hit them hard and knocked them onto the floor. The priests were not doing any better. Even though they had high magic defense, they did not possess the physical strength to stand up even with reduced effects of the gravity spell. The entire underground structure began to shake violently from the force of the spell circle. Sun looked up as he tried to get back up. The darkness oscillated within itself as it began to take form. The distinct appearance of a human being was being formed from the darkness. However, this being was anything but human. A dark mist permeated from the figure, and the land decayed around him unnaturally. This being was most certainly a darkness god that brought with it death and destruction. As the violent tremors stopped, Sun and the others looked up to the death god that was floating in the air. If not for the violent unholy darkness that leaked from his body, he would have appeared to have been a normal looking magician. This god was dressed in a black robe and magician hat. A long intricate staff floated behind him as well as several other magical items. The god looked coldly upon the necromancer. “Why have you summoned me mortal?” Though he had only been speaking, his voice was deathly chilling as it spoke into each of their souls. “Mii-milord! I, your most humble servant, have summoned you into this realm so that you may take your rightful place as its ruler.” The necromancer managed to utter with much difficulty. “Is that so? Then do you know who I am?” The god asked almost as if what the necromancer had said was of no importance to him. “Of course. You are the God of Death himself, the all powerful Thanatos!” The god tilted his head back and laughed uproariously. “Hahahahahaaaa! You think I am Thanatos? To compare me to a weakling like him is foolish.” The necromancer was clearly shocked. The ritual had been made to summon the god of death Thanatos. So if this was not Thanatos then who could it be? “This is impossible…” The necromancer fell to the floor in dismay. This was not the god that the necromancers had contracted with so they had no means of using his power. “I have no more need of you.” The god raised his hand slowly and then activated a small but powerful spell circle. Kuk kuk kuk. Countless spears of darkness ripped the necromancer apart. The necromancer yelled in pain before collapsing onto the floor in a bloody heap. A number of screams could be heard from the distance. The god had noticed the necromancers in the other room and had dealt with them as well. The god looked over to the holy knights. With the sudden appearance of a god level enemy, the tension among the holy knights intensified dramatically. This was not an enemy that they could beat. Sun gritted his teeth to try and find a way out of this situation. With the necromancer’s death, the Gravity spell had lost its effect but now they were faced with a much more powerful enemy. “Hey you.” The god said as he looked over to Sun. “What?” Sun replied reflexively. “Who are you? You don’t belong in this world.” The god asked, clearly aware that Sun was not an inhabitant of this world. “I...I am Sun.” Sun took a moment to think before answering. “Hooo, to think that such a coincidence would happen.” The god was clearly amused at Sun’s answer. Then he took a look at Alena before he came to a realization. ‘So that’s how it is.’ The god charged up some dark element to throw it before noticing a slight magical discharge from his mana. It would appear that he was not entirely stable yet. Using a high powered spell here could cause it to reflux on him. The holy knights were not able to harm him, but if his spell refluxed on him then he could very well kill himself accidentally. “I will leave for today.” The god turned away before looking back to say one final comment with a smirk on his face. “I will see you again, Knight Captain Sun.” The mage teleported out of the cavern. Everyone collapsed to the floor from mental exhaustion. Facing a god was no easy task, especially with such a small force and without the protection of the gods. Sun sat there shocked at the god’s words. ‘I will see you again. Knight Captain Sun.’ This god knew his identity as the Captain of the Twelve Holy Knights of the Church of the God of Light. There had to be some connection between this god and his world. However, all that mattered now was that they had managed to survive. They had been in front of a god of death and they were still alive. “Is everyone alright?” Calvin asked after a few minutes. A few mumbles came as a response. “We should go back then.” After thoroughly destroying the necromancer lab, they looked back to check on the state of the other necromancers. They had indeed been brutally killed by the god’s magic, perhaps in an attempt to hide any knowledge of the summoning ritual. Along the way to the surface, they cleaned out the rest of the undead that they had ignored on the way in. Heading back to the surface, they decided to split up their group. Calvin and 70 of the holy knights would go on a separate mission to clear away any of the remaining undead in the mountain. Sun and 30 holy knights were escort Alveron back to the town’s teleport gate so that he could return to Somuren Liberty City. Once they reached the town, they could solve the problem with Alena. They needed to see if they could find her parents or if she needed to be taken in by the church. The next city that they needed to go to that had an operation teleport gate was the capital city of the Kallamore Kingdom, Senbain. However this region was extremely dangerous, which is why Calvin had sent 30 holy knights with them. This region was known to be infested with high level monsters. However this would pose no problem to the extremely high level and skilled holy knights. There were waves and waves of monsters that surrounded this kingdom. Ever since the decline of the Kallamore Kingdom several decades ago, after the loss of their Knight Commander Koldeurim, the region had been infested with high level monsters. Thankfully they weren’t the only ones fighting the monsters. The brave knights of the Kallamore Kingdom fought against the monsters on a daily basis to drive them out of their land. Hardened through countless against against high level monsters, the knights of the Kallamore Kingdom were some of the best in the land. Aside from the Kallamore Knights, there were the users that had joined into the ranks of the Kallamore Kingdom. Once it had been discovered that fighting monsters in the name of the Kallamore Kingdom would increase the Honor stat, an essential exclusive stat for users of the Knight class. The Honor stat was a universal stat that embodied the beliefs of the knight class. It increases loyalty among subordinates and it was similar to being recognized nobility. A higher Honor stat increases a knight’s rank. The higher a knight’s rank, the better the benefits. After a week of traveling and fighting off monsters, they had finally made it to the capital city of Senbain. Since they were members of the Church of Freya, they were immediately given entrance into the city. The very first thing that they needed to do was to head to the Church of Freya in this town. At the Church of Freya, they asked for the church’s head priest to get briefed on the latest information regarding the events related to the church. The information they received had been staggering. In the time that they had left on this mission, the Hero Weed had undertaken a quest to find the necromancers in the Plains of Despair. There the hero had rallied the orcs against the Dark Elves who had allied with the necromancers. After a brilliant victory, the hero decided to spare the necromancer’s lives and hear their story. It appears that the necromancers had been working to defeat the Lich Shire, an evil necromancer that had demonized Bar Khan to fall off the righteous path and become a persona of evil. Since then the Lich Shirehad been building an Undying Legion to conquer the continent. Weed led a coalition army of the Orcs, Dark Elves, Necromancers, and Humans against this army and emerged victorious by killing the Lich Shire. However, now there were summons for Alveron to return to the church. The church had received a request to investigate the nobility of a fallen kingdom and had passed the quest onto Hero Weed. In order to assist Weed in his investigation, the church had dispatched Alveron to the North. “I’ll see you again Alveron.” Sun said his farewells to Alveron. Thankfully he had managed to add Alveron to his friend list so he could speak to him whenever he wanted. “It was truly a pleasure Grisia.” Alveron stepped into the teleport gate and warped to the church in Somuren. The matter with Alena would have to wait since Sun was not allowed to use the teleport gate without Calvin being present. Since the church could not do anything about it, he needed provide her with a place to stay until Calvin arrived. In other words, he had to take care of her. Sitting in the middle of the town square, next to the fountain, Sun sighed deeply. ‘So it came down to this anyways...’ He had thought that the church would be able to take care of her. However, since Calvin was the representative from the Church of the Citadel of Serabourg, the Church of Freya in the capital city of Sebain would not authorize it. Even if Calvin was here, the task of locating her parents and providing for her well being fell upon the church members that found her. That meant Sun. He had been abandoned by his fellow church members who had gone off to drink in a nearby bar. Seeing as children were not allowed in bars, and the fact that the task of taking care of Alena fell to him, he was not allowed to accompany them in drinking alcohol. Now that he was stuck with watching over her, he decided to ask her some questions to get an idea of how to deal with her. “Alena, do you know where your parents are?” “?” She looked at him as if not understanding the question. “You know. Your guardians, the people that take care of you.” The young girl looked as if she understood. “There.” She randomly pointed into the sky with her finger. Seeing as that had not helped him in any way, Sun tried to think of what else to ask. After mulling it over for several moments, he heard a low growling sound. He looked over to see that it was coming from Alena. Moments later it was followed by the growling of his own stomach. Sun stood awkwardly for a bit before saying. “Let’s go get something to eat.” Stopping by a nearby family restaurant, they ordered a couple of dishes to eat. This restaurant was rather peculiar as it serves many foods that he had never heard of before. The main reason for this was because this store was managed by users and not NPCs, something that Sun was not aware of. Sun picked up his strange sandwich that he had never seen before in his life. It was a sandwich made from bread, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and some sort of processed meat that tasted like beef. It was served with a side of potato sticks and a strange dark carbonated beverage. There was no problem with the taste so he ate it anyways, but he could only wonder as to what it was. Alena, who was sitting across from him, had ordered something that looked like a triangular piece of bread and sticks of bread. Except this bread had cheese, tomato sauce, and thin red circles of meat on it. They simply sat there eating for awhile. Sun was rather hungry so he didn’t bother talking about anything. Aside from that, the taste was exquisite. He had never eaten anything like this in his life before. Finishing up his meal, Sun decided that it was finally time to ask some more questions. That was until the waitress came by and asked if he wanted to order any desserts. Soon enough there were some desserts that he had never seen before on the table. Time passed as they ate the assorted desserts. There were all manners of things that he had never seen before. Things called crepes, brownies, scones, and other sweets. By the time they were done, it was already nightfall. Since it wasn’t safe to stay around at the streets after dark, he decided to check them into an inn. The two of them went into the room and went to sleep, rather tired from eating all that food. After all those distractions, he never did get around to asking those questions.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Chapter 2 The Branching Sarting Point ( B )<br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br>Harry exited the forest, and found a Vast expanse of a desert, there was only one thing on Harry's mind.<br><br>Harry: "Bloody Hell!, Death sent me near in a Bloody Desert, with no means to find civilization."<br><br>Harry cursed, and cursed, but he did not do him any good. He finally decided to treck the desert. An hour passed, two hour passed, and three hours passed. Harry's stamina could not take it anymore, and collapsed in the middle of a dessert.<br><br>Luckily for our young Harry, a passing Suna ninja team returning from their recent mission saw young Harry's passed out body, and the ninja decided to help him, after all who in the right mind would abandon a child in the middle of the dessert.<br><br>The Suna ninja finally arrived in the hidden village of the sand, and reported to their leader right away.<br><br>Suna-nin: "Kazekage-sama we have returned."<br><br>Kazekage: "Is the mission a success?."<br><br>Suna-nin: "Hai!, Kazekage-sama."<br><br>Kazekage: "Is there something else?."<br><br>Suna-nin: "Hai!, Kazekage-sama, we found a child passed out in the dessert, what would you have us do Kazekage-sama?."<br><br>Kazekage: "Treat him to the hospital, he should be a nice addition to our village, and we need as many ninja we can train to bolster our forces. I'll visit him later."<br><br>Suna-nin: "Hai!, Kazekage-sama."<br><br>Harry woke up from his early debacle. He was tired, thirsty and hungry. Worst of all he was in a hospital. In a bloody hospital, he hated the bloody hospital. Hospitals reminded him too much of his close encounters with death, that was far too many than he could count. With a groan he decided to voice out his displeasure.<br><br>Kazekage: "I see you're awake." the voice interrupted Harry with his musings.<br><br>Harry obserserved the man in front of him, and he decided that he did not like this man one bit. He knew this man's kind very well. He was the type of a person that looks down on others, and would do anything to achieve his goals, worst of all this was a person that definitely has a giant stick up his ass. He decided to play his cards safe.<br><br>Harry: "Good morning."<br><br>Kazekage: "Good morning, as you know, one of my men found you in the middle of the dessert, and brought you to us. Here are your options, You can go to an orphanage, and train to be a ninja, or you can live by yourself, and find a way to survive, and train to be a ninja.<br><br>Harry hit the jackpot on his guess. He had no bloody choice but be a ninja. Harry really hated the man with a passion, but this ninja's did save him, the least Harry could do to repay the man, is to become this ninja profession that this person was adamant for him to become.<br><br>Harry: "I'll choose option two, I can take care of myself."<br><br>The Kazekage inwardly laughed, a young boy pretending to be independent. How is he gonna survive without money except to choose to be put in the orphanage. If he decided to play this game, then why not let him. Let's see how long this kid will last.<br><br>Kazekage: "Very well, what's your name?."<br><br>Harry: "Harry Potter."<br><br>Kazekage: "Seing as you are now a member of this village, your name from now on will be Sabaku no Hari."<br><br>Kazekage: "I'll send someone to fetch for you next week to start you at the ninja academy. Your free to leave the hospital today."<br><br>With that the Kazekage vanished in a swirl of sand.<br><br>Harry Cursed in his mind. The bloody wanker just changed his bloody name without his consent. Harry decided that the leader of this village was bad for his health. He groaned, and moved his tired body to find the nearest bank ,and exchange one of his gold bar for money. Surprising the exchange rate was high, and Harry received 10k ryo.<br><br>Harry or Hari now as he was called, God he hated the name, but it was his saviors wish. He knew about blood debts, and all that shit! that came along with it. He was a wizard dammit!, he had pride even if he was stripped of all his magical skills.<br><br>Hari now decided to find a restaurant and decided to pig out. He didn't care about manners because he was very hungry. The establishment he dined in was very happy. A kid just ordered a whole week worth of food.<br>Hari rented a small apartment, and bought some basic necessities. He had alot on his mind, but for now he needed rest.<br><br>Hari finally slept peacefully while his thoughts were on how to extract his revenge, on that leader person that has a large stick up his ass.<br><br>Hari woke up the next day feeling refreshed, he ate a light breakfast, and took a bath. Hari decided to go to the library to get his bearings on what kind of convuluted situation he got himself into. He first read on Intrudction to Ninja, then he read the history of the Hidden Villages, Introduction to Chakra, Introduction to Ninja weapons, Weapon Speacialty in Suna, Legends and Myths, Tales of the legendary Gutsy Ninja and many others.<br><br>Hari was so absorbed in his reading that he didn't notice that it was nearly closing time and the librarian called to him that it was closing time. Hari thanked the librarian and headed home. There he made dinner, and was about to go to bed, but he noticed a blinking lights on his system menu, and decided to click it.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ding<br><br>®System Notice<br><br>-Int + 20<br><br>-Wis + 10 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Hari: "Probably got these new stats from my focused reading."<br><br>Hari: "Stats!."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Character Name: Hari no Sabaku<br><br>Alignment: Neutral<br><br>Level:1<br><br>Profession: Master of death<br><br>Title:None<br><br>Fame: 0<br><br>Health: 100<br><br>Mana: 200<br><br>Strength: 10<br><br>Agility: 10<br><br>Vitality: 10<br><br>Wisdom: 20<br><br>Intellect: 30<br><br>Stamina: 10<br><br>Luck: 10<br><br>Attack:20<br><br>Magic Attack: 60<br><br>Magic defense: 60<br><br>Defense: 20 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Hari then slept, and on the next day spent his morning with another light breakfast, and a bath. Today he decided to to check the ninja stores to check on they're stock of weapons. He saw small daggers that they called kunai, a throwing star that they called shuriken, some variety of swords, and short swords. What really caught his eyes were the battle fans that are native to suna. He saw giant battle fans and a normal sized battle fan.<br><br>Hari excitedly bought two regular battle fans, and decided to practice them in an empty training field. He did his daily routine of eat, sleep, and train untill the end of the week. Hari gained a new skill that week.<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ding<br><br>® Learned skill:<br><br>© Fan Mastery lv 1<br><br>-Increases attack power Fan (+10 % Attack Damage)<br><br>-Increases Accuracy with Fan (+3 % Accuracy) </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Ding<br><br>® Stats acummulated:<br><br>- Str +10<br><br>- Agi +30<br><br>- Stm +30<br> </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Hari: "Stats!."<br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Character Name: Hari no Sabaku<br><br>Alignment: Neutral<br><br>Level:1<br><br>Profession: Master of death<br><br>Title:None<br><br>Fame: 0<br><br>Health: 100<br><br>Mana: 200<br><br>Strength: 30<br><br>Agility: 40<br><br>Vitality: 10<br><br>Wisdom: 20<br><br>Intellect: 30<br><br>Stamina: 40<br><br>Luck: 10<br><br>Attack:60<br><br>Magic Attack: 60<br><br>Magic defense: 60<br><br>Defense: 20 </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Hari's week was finally up, and it was finally time to join the ninja academy. </div>

Chapter 2 The Branching Sarting Point ( B ) Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. Harry exited the forest, and found a Vast expanse of a desert, there was only one thing on Harry's mind. Harry: "Bloody Hell!, Death sent me near in a Bloody Desert, with no means to find civilization." Harry cursed, and cursed, but he did not do him any good. He finally decided to treck the desert. An hour passed, two hour passed, and three hours passed. Harry's stamina could not take it anymore, and collapsed in the middle of a dessert. Luckily for our young Harry, a passing Suna ninja team returning from their recent mission saw young Harry's passed out body, and the ninja decided to help him, after all who in the right mind would abandon a child in the middle of the dessert. The Suna ninja finally arrived in the hidden village of the sand, and reported to their leader right away. Suna-nin: "Kazekage-sama we have returned." Kazekage: "Is the mission a success?." Suna-nin: "Hai!, Kazekage-sama." Kazekage: "Is there something else?." Suna-nin: "Hai!, Kazekage-sama, we found a child passed out in the dessert, what would you have us do Kazekage-sama?." Kazekage: "Treat him to the hospital, he should be a nice addition to our village, and we need as many ninja we can train to bolster our forces. I'll visit him later." Suna-nin: "Hai!, Kazekage-sama." Harry woke up from his early debacle. He was tired, thirsty and hungry. Worst of all he was in a hospital. In a bloody hospital, he hated the bloody hospital. Hospitals reminded him too much of his close encounters with death, that was far too many than he could count. With a groan he decided to voice out his displeasure. Kazekage: "I see you're awake." the voice interrupted Harry with his musings. Harry obserserved the man in front of him, and he decided that he did not like this man one bit. He knew this man's kind very well. He was the type of a person that looks down on others, and would do anything to achieve his goals, worst of all this was a person that definitely has a giant stick up his ass. He decided to play his cards safe. Harry: "Good morning." Kazekage: "Good morning, as you know, one of my men found you in the middle of the dessert, and brought you to us. Here are your options, You can go to an orphanage, and train to be a ninja, or you can live by yourself, and find a way to survive, and train to be a ninja. Harry hit the jackpot on his guess. He had no bloody choice but be a ninja. Harry really hated the man with a passion, but this ninja's did save him, the least Harry could do to repay the man, is to become this ninja profession that this person was adamant for him to become. Harry: "I'll choose option two, I can take care of myself." The Kazekage inwardly laughed, a young boy pretending to be independent. How is he gonna survive without money except to choose to be put in the orphanage. If he decided to play this game, then why not let him. Let's see how long this kid will last. Kazekage: "Very well, what's your name?." Harry: "Harry Potter." Kazekage: "Seing as you are now a member of this village, your name from now on will be Sabaku no Hari." Kazekage: "I'll send someone to fetch for you next week to start you at the ninja academy. Your free to leave the hospital today." With that the Kazekage vanished in a swirl of sand. Harry Cursed in his mind. The bloody wanker just changed his bloody name without his consent. Harry decided that the leader of this village was bad for his health. He groaned, and moved his tired body to find the nearest bank ,and exchange one of his gold bar for money. Surprising the exchange rate was high, and Harry received 10k ryo. Harry or Hari now as he was called, God he hated the name, but it was his saviors wish. He knew about blood debts, and all that shit! that came along with it. He was a wizard dammit!, he had pride even if he was stripped of all his magical skills. Hari now decided to find a restaurant and decided to pig out. He didn't care about manners because he was very hungry. The establishment he dined in was very happy. A kid just ordered a whole week worth of food. Hari rented a small apartment, and bought some basic necessities. He had alot on his mind, but for now he needed rest. Hari finally slept peacefully while his thoughts were on how to extract his revenge, on that leader person that has a large stick up his ass. Hari woke up the next day feeling refreshed, he ate a light breakfast, and took a bath. Hari decided to go to the library to get his bearings on what kind of convuluted situation he got himself into. He first read on Intrudction to Ninja, then he read the history of the Hidden Villages, Introduction to Chakra, Introduction to Ninja weapons, Weapon Speacialty in Suna, Legends and Myths, Tales of the legendary Gutsy Ninja and many others. Hari was so absorbed in his reading that he didn't notice that it was nearly closing time and the librarian called to him that it was closing time. Hari thanked the librarian and headed home. There he made dinner, and was about to go to bed, but he noticed a blinking lights on his system menu, and decided to click it. | * Ding®System Notice-Int + 20-Wis + 10 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Hari: "Probably got these new stats from my focused reading." Hari: "Stats!." | * Character Name: Hari no SabakuAlignment: NeutralLevel:1Profession: Master of deathTitle:NoneFame: 0Health: 100Mana: 200Strength: 10Agility: 10Vitality: 10Wisdom: 20Intellect: 30Stamina: 10Luck: 10Attack:20Magic Attack: 60Magic defense: 60Defense: 20 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Hari then slept, and on the next day spent his morning with another light breakfast, and a bath. Today he decided to to check the ninja stores to check on they're stock of weapons. He saw small daggers that they called kunai, a throwing star that they called shuriken, some variety of swords, and short swords. What really caught his eyes were the battle fans that are native to suna. He saw giant battle fans and a normal sized battle fan. Hari excitedly bought two regular battle fans, and decided to practice them in an empty training field. He did his daily routine of eat, sleep, and train untill the end of the week. Hari gained a new skill that week. | * Ding® Learned skill:© Fan Mastery lv 1-Increases attack power Fan (+10 % Attack Damage)-Increases Accuracy with Fan (+3 % Accuracy) | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Ding® Stats acummulated:- Str +10- Agi +30- Stm +30 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Hari: "Stats!." | * Character Name: Hari no SabakuAlignment: NeutralLevel:1Profession: Master of deathTitle:NoneFame: 0Health: 100Mana: 200Strength: 30Agility: 40Vitality: 10Wisdom: 20Intellect: 30Stamina: 40Luck: 10Attack:60Magic Attack: 60Magic defense: 60Defense: 20 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Hari's week was finally up, and it was finally time to join the ninja academy.

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">This is supposed to be something similar to a control center {[999baw}]:</span></span><br>but as of now still incomplete, due to it being somewhat boring to construct tables and so :)<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&amp;t=1517" target="_blank">*Discussions, Replies and other Stuff</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&amp;t=1518&amp;p=9166#p9166" target="_blank">*Table of Content (TOC):</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&amp;t=1518&amp;p=9167#p9167" target="_blank">*Skills</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&amp;t=1518&amp;p=9169#p9169" target="_blank">*Stats</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">*Stat Windows<div class="spoiler"><div class="smalltext" style="margin-bottom:2px"><b>Spoiler</b> : <input type="button" value="Show" class="spoilerButton"></div><div class="spoilerContent"><div style="display: none;"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&amp;t=1518&amp;p=9170#p9170" target="_blank">Alexander</a><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&amp;t=1518&amp;p=9171#p9171" target="_blank">Other characters</a></div></div></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&amp;t=1518&amp;p=9172#p9172" target="_blank">*Magic Elements</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&amp;t=1518&amp;p=9173#p9173" target="_blank">*Classes</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&amp;t=1518&amp;p=9183#p9183" target="_blank">*Races</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><br>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div> </div>

This is supposed to be something similar to a control center {[999baw}]: but as of now still incomplete, due to it being somewhat boring to construct tables and so :) | [*Discussions, Replies and other Stuff](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1517) | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [*Table of Content (TOC):](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1518&p=9166#p9166) | | | | | [*Skills](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1518&p=9167#p9167) | | | | | [*Stats](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1518&p=9169#p9169) | | | | | *Stat Windows**Spoiler** : [Alexander](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1518&p=9170#p9170)[Other characters](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1518&p=9171#p9171) | | | | | [*Magic Elements](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1518&p=9172#p9172) | | | | | [*Classes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1518&p=9173#p9173) | | | | | [*Races](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=1518&p=9183#p9183) | | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> To Daemon, it seemed like forever, but finally he woke up when someone poured a healing potion down his mouth.When he opened his eyes, he saw Hummingbird. <br><br>His reaction was almost instantaneous. He attempted to attack her with his fists, but quicker than a snake, Hummingbird grabbed his hands and pinned him down. He decided not to use his any of his water element because he figured it was best to have something in reserve for a surprise attack.<br><br>“Calm down. We only used this method because we can’t just reveal secret locations like it’s nothing.” She said.<br><br>“What do you mean secret location?” he asled, immediately suspicious as he inspected the room.<br><br>The room was a nice,cozy room that had one bed, a wardrobe,a small table, a few chairs and some lamps hanging around the room.<br><br>Hummingbird replied warmly, “Welcome to the Night Blades. We like to remain hidden, so we couldn’t just show you how to get here or have you follow us.”<br><br>Daemon, “Ah.... So you and your husband are ninjas?”<br><br>She replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm, “No, we’re just fluffy bunnies waiting for a nice owner. Of course we are ninjas!”<br><br>She continued, “As elves of the water, we are the perfect candidates for being ninjas, since we have high agility, intelligence and wisdom. Ninjas use techniques which we excel at, and we use our high mobility to avoid attacks while countering, setting traps, ambushing and preparing elemental attacks to be unleashed.”<br><br>Hummingbird started walking out of the room, and as she reached the door, she said, “Come…It’s time to train, so follow me.”<br><br>Having where to go and no other choice he followed her through the dark hallways that were dimly lit by torches placed at even intervals. After a brief walk, they arrived at a large room with a padded floor Sparrow stood a the center and greeted him.<br><br>Daemon, “Hello Sparrow.”<br><br>“Greetings Traveler…” Sparrow spoke with a bemused smile on his face. “What is your name? Because calling someone Traveler gets old after a while...”<br><br> “My name is Daemon. And are you two really going to teach me acrobatics or ninja techniques?” Daemon was happy to learn either but more interested in the latter. He wondered how many people were brought here and had the chance to learn from these ninja’s. He had never even heard of there being ninja’s in the game before.<br><br>“Of course.We are going to teach you acrobatics and much, much more.” He spoke with a devilish smile.<br><br>“Like what else?” Daemon asked curiously. He was a bit worried after seeing such a crooked grin.<br><br> “That will only be revealed if you join our crew. So will you join our ranks as a fellow ninja?”<br><br>TRRRING!!!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have been offered to join the Night Blades:<br><br>By joining, you will become a ninja and will be entitled to learn the art of the night blades from the masters.<br><br>-Warning-<br><br>There is no quitting this crew once you have joined, even if you change jobs. If you try to leave, they will send people to capture you, lock you in the dungeon, and occasionally torture you until you rejoin….<br><br>When you rejoin, you will be heavily distrusted, not allowed to be alone, and restricted to certain areas of the HQ only.<br><br>Do you accept this offer?</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> “I would gladly join the ranks of your order and learn the ancient arts of the ninja.” Daemon didn’t see any problem’s in joining, it didn’t seem restrictive in any manner.<br><br>TRRRING!!!<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have become a professional Ninja! <br><br>As a ninja, you are now required to train for a month as the apprentice of Sparrow and Hummingbird. <br><br>Only after they deem your skills acceptable, will you be able to leave from here.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br>Daemon was slightly bothered by the concept that until they deemed his skills worth…only then would he be allowed to leave however he realised that ninjas must be a hidden profession because no one had posted about it on the various forums as yet. <br><br>As he was thinking, Sparrow spoke up, “Your training shall last from dawn to dusk. To start with we will focus on acrobatics and proper movements. You are in need of much training!”<br><br>For the next couple hours, Sparrow drilled Daemon on how to take a fall safely, get up using the momentum from the fall, flip through the air, and run silently and quickly. After this was over, Daemon received some notices.<br><br>TRRRING!!!<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Your agility has increased by 5!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>TRRRING!!!<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You stamina has increased by 5!</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Finally, Sparrow called for a stop. Daemon was relieved since he was worn out from constantly going about the movements and learning how to transition from one to the other.<br><br>“Good. Now that you have the basics down, it is time to learn the more advanced stuff.” Sparrow said. He lead Daemon to a new room full of obstacles like radom walls, posts in the ground, tightropes, and ledges…if Daemon looked closer he could see slits in the wall...<br><br>Curious about his surroundings, Daemon asked, “What is with this room?”<br><br>Sparrow replied, “This is where you will learn about balance, climbing, and all other parkour related trainings.”<br><br>Daemon questioned, “Parkour?”<br><br>Sparrow sagely replies, “Yes parkour, it is the art of moving through any terrain and goes well with acrobatics, since they are used in parkour.”<br><br>Sparrow then had Daemon start. He learned how to jump from wall to wall, make use of small surfaces as footholds, and run rapidly across tightropes. Daemon didn’t find the training particularly difficult since the gaming systems provided him with additional support. Finally, he received the notice he had been waiting for, and an unexpected one.<br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Acrobatics:<br><br>This skill helps you with quick movements and stunts<br><br>You get 10% increased movespeed, and a 5% bonus to agility.<br><br>Attacks are now easier to dodge.<br><br>This skill is at beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Parkour:<br><br>This skill allows you to move through any terrain quickly and utilises Acrobatics to help.<br><br>You get 10% increased movespeed, 50% stamina use reduction and a 5% bonus to agility.<br><br>Also has the active ability of increasing your movespeed by 50%, but consumes 15 stamina per second.<br><br>This skill is at beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Sparrow noticed the movements became better and congratulated Daemon. “Excellent, now it is time for stage two of your training.”<br><br>Sparrow then led him to a suspicious-looking corridor. <br><br>Daemon asked suspiciously, “What is this?”<br><br> “This is the Hallway of Trials. In this hallway, you will be tested on the skills we are now going to teach you.”<br><br>Sparrow then beckoned him to follow, and they soon arrived in another room. This time, it was Hummingbird who spoke.<br><br>She said, “I shall teach you how to detect, disable and dodge traps.”<br><br>She then showed Daemon that in the room, there were tripwires, pressure pads, and water barriers. <br><br>He learned that with trip wires, you could simply step over them, cut them, or sacrifice someone /something to trigger it, but the last method was not advisable, unless you know what would happen when the trap was activated. <br><br>Pressure pads were best avoided, by not using the floor. This method used a tightrope to avoid the floor, or by using parkour and acrobatics to jump from wall to wall, thus not touching the floor. <br><br>But for the final type, water barriers, she taught him a new skill.<br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have been taught the skill True Vision:<br><br>This skill allows you to manipulate your vision and passively notice traps.<br><br>You can now manipulate how far you can see, view magic, notice enemy weaknesses and identify objects while this skill is active.<br><br>Looking at magic helps identify what it is, what it can do, and it allows you to see past illusions.<br><br>You can see where an enemy is vulnerable and attacking vulnerable points causes you to critically hit. -Warning- Enemies with high endurance have a chance of taking a normal hit instead of a critical one.<br>Traps are easier to detect while active.<br><br>Costs 100 stamina to use and lasts a maximum of 10 minutes.<br><br>This skill is at beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Hummingbird exclaimed, “Congratulations! You are a quick learner. It took me weeks to learn that secret skill when I was little. The acrobatic suit you wear helps you learn ninja skills faster!”<br><br>Daemon, “Really? I had no idea this suit was so valuable. Thank you so much for it. If your explanation wasn’t as good it would have taken me much more time to learn.”<br><br>“Hahaha! No, you are a true genius. Now, let me teach you how to deactivate the barriers.”<br><br>Hummingbird palced her hand on Daemon’s chest and till a message popped up.<br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>Your life has been cleansed! You have learned Water Barrier Manipulation:<br><br>This skill allows you to neutralize water barriers. You neutralize the barrier through altering a barrier’s properties after you have identified its original properties.<br><br>Barrier altering cost varies. The cost varies based on the complexity and magnitude of the effect.<br><br>This skill also allows you to copy water barriers that you have seen. Erecting a barrier has varying costs.<br>The cost depends on the complexity and magnitude of the effect.<br><br>This skill is beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Daemon wanted to ask her how she did that but Hummingbird spoke first, “Now you can disable water barriers and even make your own traps. It seems that you have the basics down, so it’s time for you to learn your next skill: lock picking.”<br><br>Daemon was a bit disappointed he could not see what a water barrier looked like.<br><br>She then motioned for him to follow and they ended up in a room full of locks. There were big ones, small ones, little ones, hidden ones, trapped ones and many more. You name a type of lock, they had it.<br><br> “As you can see, we have all types of locks. And you, are going to learn how to bypass them all.”<br><br> “I’ll never be able to get past all of them.....” Daemon began to speak seeing the thousands that there were…<br><br> “Ofcourse not. These locks are for all different levels of skill, and you haven’t even learned the basics yet…”<br><br>She then pulled out a packet of tools and opened it. <br><br>“These tools are your keys to any lock. You use them to push the right tumblers up and open the lock.”<br><br>After a few hours of rigorous training, Daemon finally managed to acquire the skill.<br><br>TRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Lock Picking:<br><br>This skill allows you to utilise a special set of tools to bypass the need for a key.<br><br>You can now pick locks.<br><br>-Warning-<br><br>If seen by the lock’s owner they will attack you, attempt to capture you, and report you to the guards.<br><br>This skill is beginner level 1</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>After he unlocked the 100th lock, Humming Bird congratulated him. “Great, now it is time for the third stage of your training. We will now teach you to combat using various weapons and skills.”<br><br>Sparrow and Hummingbird lead him to a room that had various weapons hanging from the walls. There were daggers, claws, short swords, long swords, katanas, throwing knives, needles and almost any weapon a player could think of.<br><br>Hummingbird explained, “I will be teaching you long ranged weapons and magic, while my husband will teach you mid-range to short range combat. Sparrow will be teaching you first.”<br><br>Sparrow, “First, let us see what weapon suits you best.”<br><br>After going through various weapons, they decided that the katana, and dual claws, were what he’d do best with.<br><br> “Now that we have selected what weapons you will use, Hummingbird will teach you some water elemental movements. After which you can finally rest.” Sparrow spoke with a smile. Daemon deserved a break for working so diligently and not even complaining.<br><br>“What kind of water elemental movements?” Daemon asked curiously.<br><br> “I will just teach you one basic skill.” Hummingbird said as she stepped forward. She went on to make a couple of hand symbols rapidly. When she was done, she held her hands outwards and a sphere of water formed around them. <br><br>Daemon avoided touching the water…since it appeared to be moving around them very quickly. “What is this?” He asked as the barrier like sphere of water continued to whirl around them.<br><br>“This is a simple water barrier. However, you missed the more important question.”<br><br>“…”<br><br>“How did I make one without calling out it’s name.”<br><br>“…I never realized you need to call out names to actival elemental abilities.” Daemon said. “I always just visualized the attack itself.”<br><br>Hummingbird and Sparrow stood in shock. That was a level higher than what they were teaching him.<br><br>“However, I don’t think I could imagine something so complex…” Daemon said tapering down the achievement. “I can only make simple shapes…”<br><br>Hummingbird and Sparrow laughed at their own stupidity…anyone can do that….so he isn’t as prodigal as they thought he was.<br><br> “This is one of our ninja specialties. We can cast water attacks with hand symbols instead of verbal attacks.” Humming bird explained. “But during that time, you cannot have a weapon in hand.This is because you need your hands free to make the symbols, or else the spell could fail and the backlash will incapacitate you.”<br><br> “Ah...” Daemon exclaimed. This could be useful when you want to keep the enemy guessing what attack you are about to launch. ‘This skill will go extremely well with my Water Forging.’<br><br>After numerous attempts, Daemon managed to use True Vision by making hand symbols.<br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Hand Gesture Casting:<br><br>This skill allows you to cast spells with symbolic acts, but the cast time is twice as long as the original spell. <br><br>-Warning-<br><br>Failure to cast can result in a backlash of power which can stun you, blind you, and various other effects based on what spell you failed.<br><br>This skill is at beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br> “Nice job. Now take these and practice with them in your room.” Hummingbird said. “The target board should be in the wardrobe.”<br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You received pouch of assorted throwing weapons:<br><br>This pouch contains shuriken, throwing knives, and needles.<br><br>Thrown weapons deal damage based on your Thrown Weapons Mastery and what materials the projectiles are made out of.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>After he was led back to his room, he practiced with the thrown weapons until he acquired the skill.<br><br>TRRRINGG!<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Weapon Throwing!<br><br>This skill makes your throws faster, more accurate and damaging based on your mastery of it.<br><br>This skill is beginner level 1.</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Finally having achieved his goal, he went to sleep....<br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Authors Note:<br><br>1. So this is the last chapter of Daemon Side Story. Hope you all enjoyed it. You will get to see Daemon later on in RREV as character of the main story.<br>2. Thank you Jetmann for letting me use material you had written.<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?</td></tr><tr><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=1505" target="_blank">Yes</a></td><td width="25%"><a href="http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&amp;t=348" target="_blank">No</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- </div>

To Daemon, it seemed like forever, but finally he woke up when someone poured a healing potion down his mouth.When he opened his eyes, he saw Hummingbird. His reaction was almost instantaneous. He attempted to attack her with his fists, but quicker than a snake, Hummingbird grabbed his hands and pinned him down. He decided not to use his any of his water element because he figured it was best to have something in reserve for a surprise attack. “Calm down. We only used this method because we can’t just reveal secret locations like it’s nothing.” She said. “What do you mean secret location?” he asled, immediately suspicious as he inspected the room. The room was a nice,cozy room that had one bed, a wardrobe,a small table, a few chairs and some lamps hanging around the room. Hummingbird replied warmly, “Welcome to the Night Blades. We like to remain hidden, so we couldn’t just show you how to get here or have you follow us.” Daemon, “Ah.... So you and your husband are ninjas?” She replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm, “No, we’re just fluffy bunnies waiting for a nice owner. Of course we are ninjas!” She continued, “As elves of the water, we are the perfect candidates for being ninjas, since we have high agility, intelligence and wisdom. Ninjas use techniques which we excel at, and we use our high mobility to avoid attacks while countering, setting traps, ambushing and preparing elemental attacks to be unleashed.” Hummingbird started walking out of the room, and as she reached the door, she said, “Come…It’s time to train, so follow me.” Having where to go and no other choice he followed her through the dark hallways that were dimly lit by torches placed at even intervals. After a brief walk, they arrived at a large room with a padded floor Sparrow stood a the center and greeted him. Daemon, “Hello Sparrow.” “Greetings Traveler…” Sparrow spoke with a bemused smile on his face. “What is your name? Because calling someone Traveler gets old after a while...” “My name is Daemon. And are you two really going to teach me acrobatics or ninja techniques?” Daemon was happy to learn either but more interested in the latter. He wondered how many people were brought here and had the chance to learn from these ninja’s. He had never even heard of there being ninja’s in the game before. “Of course.We are going to teach you acrobatics and much, much more.” He spoke with a devilish smile. “Like what else?” Daemon asked curiously. He was a bit worried after seeing such a crooked grin. “That will only be revealed if you join our crew. So will you join our ranks as a fellow ninja?” TRRRING!!! | You have been offered to join the Night Blades:By joining, you will become a ninja and will be entitled to learn the art of the night blades from the masters.-Warning-There is no quitting this crew once you have joined, even if you change jobs. If you try to leave, they will send people to capture you, lock you in the dungeon, and occasionally torture you until you rejoin….When you rejoin, you will be heavily distrusted, not allowed to be alone, and restricted to certain areas of the HQ only.Do you accept this offer? | | --- | “I would gladly join the ranks of your order and learn the ancient arts of the ninja.” Daemon didn’t see any problem’s in joining, it didn’t seem restrictive in any manner. TRRRING!!! | You have become a professional Ninja! As a ninja, you are now required to train for a month as the apprentice of Sparrow and Hummingbird. Only after they deem your skills acceptable, will you be able to leave from here. | | --- | Daemon was slightly bothered by the concept that until they deemed his skills worth…only then would he be allowed to leave however he realised that ninjas must be a hidden profession because no one had posted about it on the various forums as yet. As he was thinking, Sparrow spoke up, “Your training shall last from dawn to dusk. To start with we will focus on acrobatics and proper movements. You are in need of much training!” For the next couple hours, Sparrow drilled Daemon on how to take a fall safely, get up using the momentum from the fall, flip through the air, and run silently and quickly. After this was over, Daemon received some notices. TRRRING!!! | Your agility has increased by 5! | | --- | TRRRING!!! | You stamina has increased by 5! | | --- | Finally, Sparrow called for a stop. Daemon was relieved since he was worn out from constantly going about the movements and learning how to transition from one to the other. “Good. Now that you have the basics down, it is time to learn the more advanced stuff.” Sparrow said. He lead Daemon to a new room full of obstacles like radom walls, posts in the ground, tightropes, and ledges…if Daemon looked closer he could see slits in the wall... Curious about his surroundings, Daemon asked, “What is with this room?” Sparrow replied, “This is where you will learn about balance, climbing, and all other parkour related trainings.” Daemon questioned, “Parkour?” Sparrow sagely replies, “Yes parkour, it is the art of moving through any terrain and goes well with acrobatics, since they are used in parkour.” Sparrow then had Daemon start. He learned how to jump from wall to wall, make use of small surfaces as footholds, and run rapidly across tightropes. Daemon didn’t find the training particularly difficult since the gaming systems provided him with additional support. Finally, he received the notice he had been waiting for, and an unexpected one. TRRRINGG! | You have learned Acrobatics:This skill helps you with quick movements and stuntsYou get 10% increased movespeed, and a 5% bonus to agility.Attacks are now easier to dodge.This skill is at beginner level 1. | | --- | TRRRINGG! | You have learned Parkour:This skill allows you to move through any terrain quickly and utilises Acrobatics to help.You get 10% increased movespeed, 50% stamina use reduction and a 5% bonus to agility.Also has the active ability of increasing your movespeed by 50%, but consumes 15 stamina per second.This skill is at beginner level 1. | | --- | Sparrow noticed the movements became better and congratulated Daemon. “Excellent, now it is time for stage two of your training.” Sparrow then led him to a suspicious-looking corridor. Daemon asked suspiciously, “What is this?” “This is the Hallway of Trials. In this hallway, you will be tested on the skills we are now going to teach you.” Sparrow then beckoned him to follow, and they soon arrived in another room. This time, it was Hummingbird who spoke. She said, “I shall teach you how to detect, disable and dodge traps.” She then showed Daemon that in the room, there were tripwires, pressure pads, and water barriers. He learned that with trip wires, you could simply step over them, cut them, or sacrifice someone /something to trigger it, but the last method was not advisable, unless you know what would happen when the trap was activated. Pressure pads were best avoided, by not using the floor. This method used a tightrope to avoid the floor, or by using parkour and acrobatics to jump from wall to wall, thus not touching the floor. But for the final type, water barriers, she taught him a new skill. TRRRINGG! | You have been taught the skill True Vision:This skill allows you to manipulate your vision and passively notice traps.You can now manipulate how far you can see, view magic, notice enemy weaknesses and identify objects while this skill is active.Looking at magic helps identify what it is, what it can do, and it allows you to see past illusions.You can see where an enemy is vulnerable and attacking vulnerable points causes you to critically hit. -Warning- Enemies with high endurance have a chance of taking a normal hit instead of a critical one.Traps are easier to detect while active.Costs 100 stamina to use and lasts a maximum of 10 minutes.This skill is at beginner level 1. | | --- | Hummingbird exclaimed, “Congratulations! You are a quick learner. It took me weeks to learn that secret skill when I was little. The acrobatic suit you wear helps you learn ninja skills faster!” Daemon, “Really? I had no idea this suit was so valuable. Thank you so much for it. If your explanation wasn’t as good it would have taken me much more time to learn.” “Hahaha! No, you are a true genius. Now, let me teach you how to deactivate the barriers.” Hummingbird palced her hand on Daemon’s chest and till a message popped up. TRRRINGG! | Your life has been cleansed! You have learned Water Barrier Manipulation:This skill allows you to neutralize water barriers. You neutralize the barrier through altering a barrier’s properties after you have identified its original properties.Barrier altering cost varies. The cost varies based on the complexity and magnitude of the effect.This skill also allows you to copy water barriers that you have seen. Erecting a barrier has varying costs.The cost depends on the complexity and magnitude of the effect.This skill is beginner level 1. | | --- | Daemon wanted to ask her how she did that but Hummingbird spoke first, “Now you can disable water barriers and even make your own traps. It seems that you have the basics down, so it’s time for you to learn your next skill: lock picking.” Daemon was a bit disappointed he could not see what a water barrier looked like. She then motioned for him to follow and they ended up in a room full of locks. There were big ones, small ones, little ones, hidden ones, trapped ones and many more. You name a type of lock, they had it. “As you can see, we have all types of locks. And you, are going to learn how to bypass them all.” “I’ll never be able to get past all of them.....” Daemon began to speak seeing the thousands that there were… “Ofcourse not. These locks are for all different levels of skill, and you haven’t even learned the basics yet…” She then pulled out a packet of tools and opened it. “These tools are your keys to any lock. You use them to push the right tumblers up and open the lock.” After a few hours of rigorous training, Daemon finally managed to acquire the skill. TRRINGG! | You have learned Lock Picking:This skill allows you to utilise a special set of tools to bypass the need for a key.You can now pick locks.-Warning-If seen by the lock’s owner they will attack you, attempt to capture you, and report you to the guards.This skill is beginner level 1 | | --- | After he unlocked the 100th lock, Humming Bird congratulated him. “Great, now it is time for the third stage of your training. We will now teach you to combat using various weapons and skills.” Sparrow and Hummingbird lead him to a room that had various weapons hanging from the walls. There were daggers, claws, short swords, long swords, katanas, throwing knives, needles and almost any weapon a player could think of. Hummingbird explained, “I will be teaching you long ranged weapons and magic, while my husband will teach you mid-range to short range combat. Sparrow will be teaching you first.” Sparrow, “First, let us see what weapon suits you best.” After going through various weapons, they decided that the katana, and dual claws, were what he’d do best with. “Now that we have selected what weapons you will use, Hummingbird will teach you some water elemental movements. After which you can finally rest.” Sparrow spoke with a smile. Daemon deserved a break for working so diligently and not even complaining. “What kind of water elemental movements?” Daemon asked curiously. “I will just teach you one basic skill.” Hummingbird said as she stepped forward. She went on to make a couple of hand symbols rapidly. When she was done, she held her hands outwards and a sphere of water formed around them. Daemon avoided touching the water…since it appeared to be moving around them very quickly. “What is this?” He asked as the barrier like sphere of water continued to whirl around them. “This is a simple water barrier. However, you missed the more important question.” “…” “How did I make one without calling out it’s name.” “…I never realized you need to call out names to actival elemental abilities.” Daemon said. “I always just visualized the attack itself.” Hummingbird and Sparrow stood in shock. That was a level higher than what they were teaching him. “However, I don’t think I could imagine something so complex…” Daemon said tapering down the achievement. “I can only make simple shapes…” Hummingbird and Sparrow laughed at their own stupidity…anyone can do that….so he isn’t as prodigal as they thought he was. “This is one of our ninja specialties. We can cast water attacks with hand symbols instead of verbal attacks.” Humming bird explained. “But during that time, you cannot have a weapon in hand.This is because you need your hands free to make the symbols, or else the spell could fail and the backlash will incapacitate you.” “Ah...” Daemon exclaimed. This could be useful when you want to keep the enemy guessing what attack you are about to launch. ‘This skill will go extremely well with my Water Forging.’ After numerous attempts, Daemon managed to use True Vision by making hand symbols. TRRRINGG! | You have learned Hand Gesture Casting:This skill allows you to cast spells with symbolic acts, but the cast time is twice as long as the original spell. -Warning-Failure to cast can result in a backlash of power which can stun you, blind you, and various other effects based on what spell you failed.This skill is at beginner level 1. | | --- | “Nice job. Now take these and practice with them in your room.” Hummingbird said. “The target board should be in the wardrobe.” TRRRINGG! | You received pouch of assorted throwing weapons:This pouch contains shuriken, throwing knives, and needles.Thrown weapons deal damage based on your Thrown Weapons Mastery and what materials the projectiles are made out of. | | --- | After he was led back to his room, he practiced with the thrown weapons until he acquired the skill. TRRRINGG! | You have learned Weapon Throwing!This skill makes your throws faster, more accurate and damaging based on your mastery of it.This skill is beginner level 1. | | --- | Finally having achieved his goal, he went to sleep.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: 1. So this is the last chapter of Daemon Side Story. Hope you all enjoyed it. You will get to see Daemon later on in RREV as character of the main story. 2. Thank you Jetmann for letting me use material you had written. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Yes](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1505) | [No](http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=348) | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 10 Chuunin exams and A Blast from the Past<br><br><br>Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime.<br><br><br><br>A week passed by quickly and Team 7 never noticed that the naruto with them was a shadow clone. Zed's shadow clone also didn't get discovered. The time has finally come for the Chuunin exams that is held in the village of the leaf.<br><br>Somewhere in the office of the Hokage, a meeting of Jonins, took place<br><br>Kurenai: "I nominate Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and Hinata Hyuga for the chuunin exams."<br><br>Asuma: "I nominate Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akamichi for the chuunin exams."<br><br>Kakashi: "I nominate Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki for the chuunin exams."<br><br>Iruka: "Objection your honor, My students are not yet ready, especially Naruto."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Objection Sustained, They are soldiers of the village now and if their Jonin instructor deem them worthy for this exam, then they are worthy. Besides I have a feeling that Naruto might surprise you this exam." the hokage said cryptically. <br><br>Kakashi: "What just happened?."<br><br>Kurenai: "Pfpfphahahahahahaha, Oh , you haven't seen the New movie Kakaahi-san?."<br><br>Kakashi: "What movie?."<br><br>Kurenai: "The New comedy movie, it was quite a huge hit, I'm the owner of that movie, I have permission from the actor to freely distribute its copy inside konoha. He's so generous, He let me have the profits all to myself. It was a very big hit that most of the population in konoha had started developing their sense of humor."<br><br><br>Kakashi: "Who's your benefactor that would give-away the profits.?"<br><br>Kurenai: "He's very famous right now, His name is Zed."<br><br>Kakashi: "Oh, him, if it's him I believe you."<br><br>Kurenai: "You've met him Kakashi-san.? I bet he did something amazing that made you feel like that. I mean, coming from you it's a high praise, what did he do to make you respect him so much."<br><br>Kakashi: "Oh, nothing much, he just raised two dead shinobi and pulled 10 million Ryo worth of gold coins out of his ass, and gave it to said newly revived shinobi to help fulfill their dream."<br><br>Kurenai: "Pfpfphahahaha, Oh, I didn't know you watched the show too Kakashi-san, your sense of humor seems to have improved."<br><br>Kakashi: "I'm not joking."<br><br>Kurenai: "Really!!??, then no wonder, he said the reputation of fame was more than enough as payment for letting me use the materials he provided." <br><br>A sudden voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.<br><br>Guy: "Ahh, My youthful apprentice has finally found his talent, and spread his youthful magnificence around konoha, Sorry I'm late hokage-sama, I nominate Rock Lee, Tenten Higurashi, and Neji Hyuga for the chuunin exams."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Guy-san, I noticed that you did not include your new apprentice, why?."<br><br>Guy: "He's not ready Hokage-sama, I hear he's only a back-up medic. nin."<br><br>Kakashi: "Yeah that guy can revive dead people like it was nothing, I'm sure he can pull out an S-rank jutsu out of his ass."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Gasp!!, How did you know that Kakashi.?"<br><br>Kakashi: "What!!!??, He really has an S-rank jutsu He can pull out of his ass?, your joking right, hokage-sama."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Well since the cat is already out of the bag, I'll nominate him myself for the chuunin exams."<br><br>Guy: "Your joking hokage-sama, please don't send my youthful student to his untimely death, I beg of you."<br><br>Sarutobi: "Sigh, You may have not remembered the incident Guy-san, but your bonding technique with Lee made Zed-san used his last resort technique to make you stop using your sunset no jutsu with Lee. It was so effective that it made you and Lee medically insane and Tenten and Neji was sent into a coma."<br><br>Guy: "Imposible, I don't remember any of it."<br><br>Sarutobi: "That's because a healer healed you and the healer also said that as a coping mechanism your whole team forgot the incident. I saw the technique personally and without my many years of experience, I would be in a coma too, and I deem the technique an S-class rank jutsu."<br><br>Sarutobi: "So any objections?....... I see then this meeting is adjourned."<br><br>Guy: "I'll inform my second apprentice of your decision hokage-sama, It is my duty as his sensei to inform him." with a shunshin guy left the room<br><br>~Elsewhere~<br><br>Zed: "How's the training coming along otouto?."<br><br>Naruto: "Its doing great nii-san."<br><br>Naruto: "These new orange jumpsuits are great nii-san, we look good."<br><br>Zed: "Your right otouto, it's not that bad."<br><br>A knock interrupted their conversation.<br><br>Zed: "I'll go get it." opens the door.<br><br>Guy: "Why hello young man, is my youthful student zed-san here, in this house?."<br><br>Zed: "Why hello there Guy-sensei, Its good to see you again." said with the good guy pose with the shining smile to go with it.<br><br>Shock overcame to Guy's senses, as this person in front of him claiming to be his student. This person had spiky sunkist blond hair, and cerulian blue eyes, and wore a stylish orange jumpsuit that rivaled his own green spandex jumpsuit. This orange jumpsuit seem to radiate a flair in its style, and has a mystic feeling that seemed to have surpassed his own mystical green spandex jumpsuit. The Orange color was surprisingly catchy, and is pleasant to eyes. That can't be right?, orange that is pleasant in the eyes?, what trickery is this?, they must have used some otherworldly technique to achieve the impossible, it was actually rivaling his own style. The person wearing it is performing my original good guy pose, along with that shining smile, no-one other than my students know that pose. He actually makes an impressive impression.<br><br>While these thoughts filled Guys mind, Guy was staring and gaping in his students form for five minutes.<br><br>Guy: "Is that really you zed-san?."<br><br>Zed: "Yes it's me Guy-sensei, as you have noticed, I had a drastic change, so to speak."<br><br>Guy: "Ahh, by the way those clothes seems to rival my own, is this why you refused my offer?, I'm so proud of you for rivaling my mystical green spandex jumpsuit. I approve!!." Guy said approvingly<br><br>Zed: "Why thank you, Guy-sensei."<br><br>Guy: "I can't help it, but you look familiar, ahh, that's it, you look like an older brother of one Naruto Uzumaki."<br><br>Zed: "I see that you have met my brother, as you can probably tell, we did a jutsu that makes us real brothers, as we now share the same blood. Of course it was done with supervision with the Hokage so you can rest assured that it went smoothly." said with the shining smile.<br><br>Guy: "Hmmmmmmm, I'm happy for you zed-san, on finding your true family. Zed Uzumaki, it does have a nice ring to it."<br><br>Zed: "Thank you very much Guy-sensei."<br><br>Guy: "Oh right, I almost forgot, I came here to tell you that your qualified for the chuunin exams, here are your forms."<br><br>Zed: "Thanks again Guy-sensei, I'll try to stay alive, do I have a team with me?.<br><br>Guy: "Thats the thing my youthful student, the hokage recommended you himself, and deemed that you are strong enough for a one man team, but I dont want to believe it, He said that had used an S-rank technique on me, and I can only assume, you have hidden other techniques. Can you please help your sensei's mind at ease, and show me a decent jutsu to help you survive in this exam?.<br><br>Zed: "I'll give you a demonstration sensei, try to move NOW!." I quickly used my mastered telekinesis skill on Guy-sensei.<br><br>Sudden Pressure poured over Guy's body, and no matter what he tried to do, he could not break free of the jutsu his student has casted on him, it reminded him of Nara's shadow bind or shadow possession technique, but there seems to be no shadow binding him. How powerful is my student?.<br><br>Zed: "Okay, you can move now Guy-sensei."<br><br>The pressure around Guy quickly disappeared as Zed said those words.<br><br>Guy: "That was incredible zed-kun, thank you easing my mind, I have to go to my team now to give them some last minute advice, see you tommorow at the academy at 9 am on the third floor, just drop off your application at the hokage tower sometime today."<br><br>With that Guy shunshined away, and I went back inside.<br><br>Naruto: "Who was that nii-san?."<br><br>Zed: "It was my sensei otouto, apparently I qualified to take the chuunin exams alone, and I think your sensei will recommend your team too if my hunch is correct."<br><br>Naruto: "Sugoi!!, that's my nii-san for you, and the chuunin exams. nii-san?."<br><br>Zed: "Yes otouto, We should get some supplies at Higurashi's ninja shop, and I'll drop off the my forms at the Hokage tower while we are there."<br><br>~Time skip 1 day~<br><br>Zed: "Are you ready otouto?."<br><br>Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, I've packed everything."<br><br>Zed: "Don't forget the ramen otouto, you know how touchy you are when you don't get your daily ramen."<br><br>Naruto: "Like your one to talk nii-san, you get irritated when you don't eat yours."<br><br>Zed: "I can't help it otouto, If I don't have my daily ramen, I can't focus very well."<br><br>Naruto: "Its the same with me nii-san, and don't worry, I packed enough to last for a month."<br><br>Zed: "I'll meet you at the ninja academy for the test."<br><br> I walked into the ninja academy, and headed to the third floor, I ignored the simple genjutsu on the second floor. I was greeted with Guy-sensei, and wished me goodluck. I entered the exam room, and choose a quiet corner. Time passed and Naruto's team came over, and he was greeted his graduating ninja classmates. Then suddenly:<br><br><br>Naruto: "I'm going to defeat everyone of you!!!." Naruto declared.<br><br>Man with glasses: You shouldn't underestimate your opponents, I heard that the villages sent their elites especially those team in Ame, I heard that they call themselves the champions of the light, pretty corny if you ask me, but they have the skills to back it up, all members of that team have unusual and powerful kekeigenkai.<br><br>Zed: Isn't it a bit early for you to be this hyper otouto?, did you not get enough ramen this morning?.<br><br>Naruto: "Mooh!, stop embarrassing me nii-san."<br><br>Sasuke: "Nii-san?, Naruto, the only brother I know you have is that crazy ninja we met at the land of wave. For some reason I believe you. You [points at zed] have the same hair and eyes just like naruto, and you also wear an orange jumpsuit like him, if you really are, I thank you for teaching Naruto a sense of fashion, Naruto's orange jumpsuit now actually looks kinda cool now."<br><br>Zed: "Why it's nice too see you again Sasuke, Sakura."<br><br>Sasuke: "Gasp!!, you mean you really are that crazy ninja?., you know what, I don't even want to know, I still want to keep my sanity intact."<br><br>Man with glasses: "I don't want to be rude or anything but who are you?."<br><br>Zed: "I'm Zed Uzumaki, at your service, what's your name?."<br><br>Man with glasses: "I'm Yakushi Kabuto, I specialize in information gathering with these ninja info cards. If you want to find out on information on your competitors, I'm your Man."<br><br>Sasuke: "I have a few people I want to find out like Lee or Sabaku no Gaara but you can forget about them, What I really wanna know is the information about Zed Uzumaki."<br><br>Kabuto: "Okay........[ presses chakra on the ninja info card ], let's see,...... that's strange, there's no information on Zed Uzumaki."<br><br>Zed: ( Of course,you wouldn't find any, I was just recently adopted with my brother, so there's no Information on me ). Zed thought.<br><br>Naruto: "That's my nii-san for you, so mysterious. Let me introduce my ninja batchmates nii-san."<br><br>Naruto: "You already know my team, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha."<br><br>Naruto: "Now, the one with the blond hair girl is Ino Yamanaka, and the one with a pineapple hairstyle is Nara Shikamaru, the big boned boy is Choji Akamichi, Their part of team 9 which is lead by jonin Asuma Sarutobi .<br><br>I exchange greetings with them.<br><br>Naruto: "The one with the puppy is Kiba Inuzuka, The one with the shades is Shino Aburame, and the one with Pale eyes is Hinata Hyuga, Their team 8 and their Jonin Kurenai Yuhi.<br><br>Zed: "Its good to see you again Hinata-san, did you get the first premium tickets just as I adviced?."<br><br>Hinata: "Why yes, I was the first one to get it, but who are you. ninja-san?."<br><br>Zed: "Oh, you must not recognize me now Hinata-san, as I had make a drastic change, and make-over, but I was the one who introduced Kurenai-san to and quoted "This is Gold Comedy!!." material." Zed said with the shining smile<br><br>Hinata: "Gasp!!, It can't be, but that smile, it really was you civilian-san, or should I call you by your new nickname, "The Killer Comedian"?.<br><br>Naruto: "Nii-san, I didn't know that your that popular."<br><br>Kiba: "Oh he is Naruto, you should see the movie, it was so hilarious that you could die of laughter. It was so good that it earned your brother the nickname "The Killer Comedian".<br><br>Kiba: "It was so good, that it even made the quiet Shino laugh for hours."<br><br>Shino: "Its true, I never laughed so hard, that my insides hurt very much the next day."<br><br>Kiba: "So you had a drastic make-over, and you were a ninja?, I must say you look pretty good."<br><br>Zed: "Why thank you Kiba-san."<br><br>Kiba: "You better watch out guys, this guy will kill you with laughter, well who can complain if I get killed laughing, but I'll try my best to pass this exam."<br><br>Instructor: "All right that's enough chit-chat, it's time for the first phase of the chuunin exam, I will be your proctor, Morino Ibiki.<br><br>Zed: "See you later otouto."<br><br>I left to my assigned seat, the proctor tested us on information gathering skills. The time was almost up, and I can see my brother is struggling. I quickly substituted my paper with a finished one from another ninja, and used substitution on Naruto's paper with one with answers from another ninja. He seemed to calm down a bit, and the tenth question came. My brother used his brave speech about his dream to become hokage, and changed the tense mood. <br><br>We passed the first part of the exam after that, and the second instructor introduced herself as Mitarashi Anko. We quickly changed location to the forest of death, and Anko gave each team a scroll, and for us to pass, we have to get is counterpart, and arrive at the chuunin tower at the center of the forest of death. I received my heaven scroll, and I wished my brother good luck, and we went our separate ways.<br><br>I quickly tree-hopped to my destination, but I was stopped by a bunch of Kumo ninja's. They threathened me to hand my scroll, but I just used my mastered telekinesis skill to hold them on the spot, and got another heaven scroll.<br><br>I went to my towards the chuunin building again, towards the center of the forest of death, until I was stopped by a strange group of what looked liked wizard cosplaying ninja's from Ameme. <br><br>Wizard: "I am Albus Dumbledore, and we are the team, Champions of light, and our organisation is a called the order of the phoenix."<br><br>Shaman: "My name is Hermione Granger, with the kekeigenkai elementalist ( summons 3 spirits )."<br><br>Necromancer: "I am Ronald Weasley, with the kekeigenkai, necromancer ( summons 4 skeletons )."<br><br>Albus: "I'm sorry but we must stop you konoha ninja-san, from getting ahead to the chuunin exam building, it is all for the greater good."<br><br>Zed: Pfpfphahahahahahaha, now this looks like a familiar face, how have you guys been Dumbledore-san, and team, it's been a while since we've done this.<br><br>As the question from zed reached the ears of the strange Ame ninja's,the team seemed confused, They have a feeling they know this konoha ninja from somewhere, but for the life of them, they could not put their finger on it.<br><br>Albus: "How you know us, konoha ninja-san?."<br><br>Zed: "Oh, you don't recognize me like this, sorry about that, Henge!, how about now?"<br><br>What appeared before them was a cute woman with two long pink pigtails with a nurse outfit ( Nurse Joy ).<br><br>Zed: "Do you remember me now?."<br><br>A shocked faces of the ame team could clearly be seen.<br><br>~Flashback~<br><br><br>Royal Road:<br><br>Someone's POV:<br><br><br><br><br>I am Albus Dumbledore , a powerful wizard , Leader of the the guild "Order of the Phoenix". Our guild is known as the best magicians, sorcerers, mage , shamans , elementalist, and also necromancers in royal road, Our guild is currently occupying a town called Hogwarts and I am currently at my castle. My guild mates or my underlings are Hermione Granger, our top shaman and Ronald Weasley, our top necromancer. We were currently discussing on what to do. Our town Hogwarts have survived countless raids, but the town is not very lively at all and I keep hearing about rumors on this new City called pallet. My villagers are slowly abandoning my great town of Hogwarts. I must find a solution, for the greater good.<br><br>Ronald: "Why don't we just take the town and be done with it?."<br><br>Hermione: "We can't take the town without justifiable reason, it will make us look bad."<br><br>Albus: "Hermione is right, we always be in the light."<br><br>Stranger: "Maybe I can help, My name is Ash Ketchum, knight of justice at your service."<br><br>Hermione: "You mean was a knight of justice, our intelligence network shows that you closed down a couple of respectable merchants and gained an angry mob to yourself for trying to rob those innocent people."<br><br>Ash: "Innocent, innocent, I'm the one that's innocent, those people framed me, I knew them when they were small time crooks but somehow, someway they gained a backing of an evil powerful backer and I'm positive it's the Lord of that new Pallet City."<br><br>Ronald: "You can't just expect to believe those lies."<br><br>Albus: "Ronald, this maybe the excuse we need, If we fail well just blame it on him."<br><br>Hermione: "Oh you're so brilliant professor Dumbledore, it's a fullproof plan, it's a win win situation, well start making invasion plans immediately, but we still need more allies."<br><br>Ash: "leave that to me, I'll gather more allies to finally see justice to those criminals.<br><br>As Ash was leaving, I used my mind reading secret skill.<br><br>Albus: "Secret art: Legimency no jutsu."<br><br><br>~Ash's Flashback~<br><br>Ash POV:<br><br><br>My name is Ash Ketchum, I am am a knight of justice, of course that's all self proclaimed. I started playing Royal Road in hopes of becoming a real knight. I trained really hard at the training hall, I almost gave up, but my dreams to become a knight must have a foundation and I refuse to abandon my dream. I eventually passed the basic training program with pure guts and determination alone.<br><br>I ash Ketchum finally passed that dreadful training program. I eventually did quest to help those in the city. Knight code no.1, always help those in need. Although I did not meet any damsel in distress and any evil Lord to slay, I was content.<br><br>Weeks past and by a twist of complete coincidence I stumbled to a knight of justice hidden class. I so graciously accepted the class and with passion continued my good deeds.<br><br>This led me with amassing stats of course, and finding hidden dungeons. I slew many evil beast inside and was rewarded with rare loots and praises from the people that are in actuality NPC's, my fame is just that high.<br><br>As I did my daily routine, I met a bunch of suspicious characters, I preached to them the oh so wonderful ways of chivalry and good deeds. At some point during my wonderful speech, the odd group suddenly attacked me. They use strange creatures to fight with them, but they were no match to my awesome self who was not a self proclaimed knight of justice any longer, but a real knight of justice. They put up a good fight but in the end I disposed of those savages. No one can best me, the knight of justice.<br><br>I went my merry way after hearing some sort of promise of revenge from those strange group calling themselves Team Rocket, but I thought nothing of it. That is until They showed up the next day when I fell down a pitfall trap and they decided to get their revenge. I won this time again, I wish I could forget them but those cheesy motto they use are quite catchy and it makes me hard for me to forget them.<br><br>A week passed by, and the odd group decided to show up again, this time they build a giant robot. I couldn't actually believe my eyes, a robot. It pained my heart to destroy that robot but justice must always prevail.<br><br><br>My meetings with these strange group seems to be frequent, and each time they get more bolder and sneakier with their attempt to teach me my lesson but as always, justice prevails.<br><br>On the coming days of my playing , they suddenly stopped their attempts at my life. On one hand I'm thankful , but on the other hand they could be planning something big this time. I must be ever vigilant on my training.<br><br>Another month passed and I became stronger from my training as well as richer as well. I eventually came to some rumors about a city that became popular just as Morata. That didn't interest me in the slightest, Another popular rumor seemed to pop up on another month about a group of merchants selling adorable portable pet/pillow/beanie bag that loots drops for you. Naturally I was interested as it became a bother to pick up loots. But the oddest thing was that the seller of this Hot item piece was a man with sky blue hair, a woman with red hair and a talking cat. This seemed to match that the group that was harassing me constantly. I thought to congratulate them on their success on turning to a new leaf, and maybe buy one of those cute pets. They're oh so all-purpose functionality is a must for a knight of justice like me, plus I heard that these pets are a chick magnet, I must boost my image as a respectable knight of justice by getting one of those pets.<br><br><br>I researched the forums and the ever popularity of those pets were ever growing. I read that they were somewhere in the eastern continent. I decided to travel there, and after another month I found them. They were surrounded with so many people swarming them, I too was one of those people. The people formed a line and they quickly thinned out, I managed to get my turn and decided to purchase the most expensive one they sold. They seem to not recognise me, I noticed that they seem to have never ending stocks of these things and they seem to have more at their RV type vehicle.<br><br>I decided to congratulate them personally on their success and for turning a new leaf. I confronted them at closing time and decided to reintroduce myself. Things seem to have went a wrong turn when they decided to get their revenge. Of course I was happy to comply, and with my high level and stats it seemed to be no problem to take care of these chumps!, who knows, maybe they'll drop tons of money to expand my ever growing greatness. I seem to be winning as usual and they are on their last legs. I was going to finish them off untill they shouted a name, they shouted a strange name and summoned forth a monster of horrible cute proportions. I laughed my ass of at the strange cute beast but I was interrupted when it casted a recovery spell on the other group, I quickly regained my composure and attacked the cute beast. My sword was blocked by a strange barrier and I was stunned. The cute beast casted a holy spell at me, along the barrage of other attacks from the criminal group, I stood no chance and died. I promise on my knighthood to get my revenge on those criminals when I log back on.<br><br>When I logged back on I was met with glares from many people, I wondered why they would do that to me and I asked them. I was surprised with their response. They said that the group selling those pets said that they're closing down for good. Some of the people saw him fight those merchants and pointed out that it was because of his behaviour that they ran out of town and decided to never sell those wonderful creatures again.<br><br>Without meaning too, the criminal group who won against this knight of justice accidentally framed him on a misunderstanding and he became public enemy number one.<br><br><br>Ash Ketchum , Knight of justice, Hero of many people ( mostly NPC's), became public enemy number one and his oh so popular reputation he spent gruelling many months raising, crumbled to dust overnight.<br><br>Ash: "I'll get you for this Team Rocket if that's the last thing I do". Ash vowed.<br><br>~ Ash's Flashback end~<br><br>After that, I gathered and trained our guilds core members untill the fateful day we attacked Pallet City.<br><br>On that great battlefield our group tried to stop a pretty cute woman with two pink pigtails with a medic outfit ( Nurse Joy ) from healing the enemies allies.<br><br><br>Wizard: "I am Albus Dumbledore, and we are the guild Order of the Phoenix's top players."<br><br>Shaman: "My name is Hermione Granger, top elementalist ( summons 3 spirits )."<br><br>Necromancer: "I am Ronald Weasley, top necromancer ( summons 4 skeletons )."<br><br>Albus: "I'm sorry but we must stop you miss medic, from healing all those soldiers, it is all for the greater good."<br><br>Zed: "Whatever shall I do?" I said in a girly voice.<br><br>Zed: "I know!!, I'll do this!!!."<br><br>Zed: "Secret art, PORING DOMINATION !!!!."<br><br>With that, the cute medic signalled her angeling pet to summon tons of his PORING minions, and we were pretty shocked, The cute medic used this chance to summon her dementors, and since her level was level 180, She was able to summon 4 dementors. She ordered her dementors to attack my subordinates Hermione, and Ron, she sneaked in some high level soul strike spell between my two subordinates, and they were soon killed in action.<br><br> I was able to damage the cute medic pretty badly, but that stupid but cute angeling pet she has healed her pretty fast making my damage moot. I managed to kill all her dementors, God those were creepy, and scary creatures, and just like that it was just the two of us.<br><br>Albus: "Why won't you fall, I must win, I am the champion of the light, I am the leader of the order of the Phoenix, I MUST WIN FOR THE GREATER GOOD!!!." I shouted with conviction.<br><br>Zed: "There just something about you old man that just gets on my nerves, you know I haven't used this spell as of yet as it would be to cruel and it is my trump card, but you leave me no choice old man."<br><br>Zed: "AVEDA KADEVRA!!!!."<br><br>A green beam of spell hit the old man and with that, the great Albus Dumbledore, champion of the light, leader of the order of Phoenix and a crazy old man who likes to say "for the greater good", died on the spot.<br><br>After that great battle, it went downhill for our guild, "The order of the phoenix". Our resources were dried up, and most of my members left leaving only my faithful subordinates Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley.<br><br>We tried to protect our City of Hogwarts, but without the manpower, we lost. We tried to make the best of the situation but it never was quite the same, and we slowly lost interest in the Virtual Reality game, Royal Road.<br><br>One day, I woke up one morning in a forest clearing. I found out that Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley were near the vicinity where I woke up. We quickly searched for a nearby civilization, which was Ame, and we found out that this was a different world, that is a world filled with war, and grief. This world was run with a military system, with soldiers that could use supernatural powers called ninja's. We also found out that we retained our abilities from Royal Road, and the ninja's dubbed it as kekeigenkai or bloodline limit. We were quickly inducted to the Ame ninja ranks as ninja, and trained in their arts.<br><br>Seing the state of this world, we quickly reformed our old guild ( the order of the phoenix ), and formed a ninja team together named champions of the light. We quickly distinguished ourselves, and got sent to the chuunin exams. We must win at all cost for the peace of this world, and so we can advance in rank, so we could gather funds for our great organisation. After all "Money talks, and Bullshit! walks," as the saying goes.<br><br>We easily passed the first exam, and entered the second, We quickly looked for an easy target to steal our scrolls counterpart, and we found a spiky sunkist blond ninja, alone heading to the chuunin tower at the center of the forest of death.<br><br>~Flashback End~<br><br>Albus: "Its you!!, I guess if we got here, there's also a possibility of others just like us who got thrown in this world."<br><br>Albus: "We will give up our earth scroll, please don't hurt us."<br><br>Hermione: "We can't, Professor Dumbledore, what about our dream of world peace to spread to this world?."<br><br>Ron: "We can't give up, we need to advance in rank so we can gather funds to help the needy."<br><br>Albus: "We have no choice, our opponent is strong, we can't save this world if we are dead, we will have our chance."<br><br>Albus: "Here, take our earth scroll, and we wish you good luck."<br><br>Albus handed their earth scroll to Zed, and just as he was about to leave.<br><br>Zed: "Wait!!!."<br><br>Zed swiped his fingers out the invisible air, and handed a scroll to the strange Ame ninja.<br><br>Albus: "What's this for?." <br><br>Zed: "Now that I know your story, and your noble intentions, I can't just leave you guys alone. Inside that scroll contains 5 million gold coins from our world, that should be an estimate of 50 million worth of Ryo at the very least. Use that to get your organization started towards world peace."<br><br>Shocked faces could clearly be seen on the faces of the strange Ame team.<br><br>Albus: "Thank you very much, konoha shinobi-san. With this much money, we could buy a village worth of land, and more. We can definitely help those in need in this world. It's sad that this is a war-torn world we've landed into, but we must not forget our kindness, as that is what makes us human."<br><br>Zed: "You're very right there, Albus-kun, I go by the name Zed Uzumaki now due to certain circumstances, and I gained a family here. I feel your sentiments exactly. Also, you three are the only close people I know from our world, we must stick together, who knows, If we got here with our abilities intact, there's also a possibility that other people from our world came here too, along with their overpowered abilities. You know this full well Albus-kun, as you have experienced this first hand, ( With great power comes great responsibility.), and without restraint, we become monsters. Who knows if other people came here just like us who is evil, and blinded by their power, that could result in massive death's of inocent people. It's nice to know, that you have true friends you can truly count on."<br><br>Albus: "Your very right Zed-kun, we will contact you if we've found people just like us who have gone mad with power. Also consider yourself an honorary member of the Order of the Phoenix, We know we can always rely on you."<br><br>Albus: "Farewell for now and good luck. Hermione, Ron let us go, many people await our help."<br><br>With that the Ame team left, and zed arrived at the tower with no problem.<br><br><br>Authors Note: <br><br>I'm back with a vengeance, with 5.6k words.<br><br>Happy reading,<br><br>zed019<br><br>Skill legend:<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Skill learned:<br><br>-Aveda Kadevra [ fixed skill ]<br><br>-known as the killing curse. originally this spell was to relieve patients from their suffering if they were incurable.<br><br>- An all out attack spell that uses all the the casters mp<br>- Believed to be a one shot one kill spell that all magic users covet. but the book states that regular monsters has 1/2 chance to kill instantly mini bosses has 1/3 the success and main bosses 1/4 chance of success.<br>- Additional success is added depending on the casters lv and int<br><br>- Due to the nature of this spell, you can only use it once a day. </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Skills Learned:<br><br>-Summon dementors. [fixed]( able to summon dementors that are known to suck the life living )<br><br>-number of dementors summoned increase every 40 lvls ( HP and MP of dementors dependent on the int of the user<br><br>- Mana cost 2000 Mp </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div> </div>

Avid X-over (Naruto) Chapter 10 Chuunin exams and A Blast from the Past Disclaimer: I own nothing , this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment. Cross-over from various games , books and anime. A week passed by quickly and Team 7 never noticed that the naruto with them was a shadow clone. Zed's shadow clone also didn't get discovered. The time has finally come for the Chuunin exams that is held in the village of the leaf. Somewhere in the office of the Hokage, a meeting of Jonins, took place Kurenai: "I nominate Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and Hinata Hyuga for the chuunin exams." Asuma: "I nominate Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akamichi for the chuunin exams." Kakashi: "I nominate Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki for the chuunin exams." Iruka: "Objection your honor, My students are not yet ready, especially Naruto." Sarutobi: "Objection Sustained, They are soldiers of the village now and if their Jonin instructor deem them worthy for this exam, then they are worthy. Besides I have a feeling that Naruto might surprise you this exam." the hokage said cryptically. Kakashi: "What just happened?." Kurenai: "Pfpfphahahahahahaha, Oh , you haven't seen the New movie Kakaahi-san?." Kakashi: "What movie?." Kurenai: "The New comedy movie, it was quite a huge hit, I'm the owner of that movie, I have permission from the actor to freely distribute its copy inside konoha. He's so generous, He let me have the profits all to myself. It was a very big hit that most of the population in konoha had started developing their sense of humor." Kakashi: "Who's your benefactor that would give-away the profits.?" Kurenai: "He's very famous right now, His name is Zed." Kakashi: "Oh, him, if it's him I believe you." Kurenai: "You've met him Kakashi-san.? I bet he did something amazing that made you feel like that. I mean, coming from you it's a high praise, what did he do to make you respect him so much." Kakashi: "Oh, nothing much, he just raised two dead shinobi and pulled 10 million Ryo worth of gold coins out of his ass, and gave it to said newly revived shinobi to help fulfill their dream." Kurenai: "Pfpfphahahaha, Oh, I didn't know you watched the show too Kakashi-san, your sense of humor seems to have improved." Kakashi: "I'm not joking." Kurenai: "Really!!??, then no wonder, he said the reputation of fame was more than enough as payment for letting me use the materials he provided." A sudden voice suddenly interrupted their conversation. Guy: "Ahh, My youthful apprentice has finally found his talent, and spread his youthful magnificence around konoha, Sorry I'm late hokage-sama, I nominate Rock Lee, Tenten Higurashi, and Neji Hyuga for the chuunin exams." Sarutobi: "Guy-san, I noticed that you did not include your new apprentice, why?." Guy: "He's not ready Hokage-sama, I hear he's only a back-up medic. nin." Kakashi: "Yeah that guy can revive dead people like it was nothing, I'm sure he can pull out an S-rank jutsu out of his ass." Sarutobi: "Gasp!!, How did you know that Kakashi.?" Kakashi: "What!!!??, He really has an S-rank jutsu He can pull out of his ass?, your joking right, hokage-sama." Sarutobi: "Well since the cat is already out of the bag, I'll nominate him myself for the chuunin exams." Guy: "Your joking hokage-sama, please don't send my youthful student to his untimely death, I beg of you." Sarutobi: "Sigh, You may have not remembered the incident Guy-san, but your bonding technique with Lee made Zed-san used his last resort technique to make you stop using your sunset no jutsu with Lee. It was so effective that it made you and Lee medically insane and Tenten and Neji was sent into a coma." Guy: "Imposible, I don't remember any of it." Sarutobi: "That's because a healer healed you and the healer also said that as a coping mechanism your whole team forgot the incident. I saw the technique personally and without my many years of experience, I would be in a coma too, and I deem the technique an S-class rank jutsu." Sarutobi: "So any objections?....... I see then this meeting is adjourned." Guy: "I'll inform my second apprentice of your decision hokage-sama, It is my duty as his sensei to inform him." with a shunshin guy left the room ~Elsewhere~ Zed: "How's the training coming along otouto?." Naruto: "Its doing great nii-san." Naruto: "These new orange jumpsuits are great nii-san, we look good." Zed: "Your right otouto, it's not that bad." A knock interrupted their conversation. Zed: "I'll go get it." opens the door. Guy: "Why hello young man, is my youthful student zed-san here, in this house?." Zed: "Why hello there Guy-sensei, Its good to see you again." said with the good guy pose with the shining smile to go with it. Shock overcame to Guy's senses, as this person in front of him claiming to be his student. This person had spiky sunkist blond hair, and cerulian blue eyes, and wore a stylish orange jumpsuit that rivaled his own green spandex jumpsuit. This orange jumpsuit seem to radiate a flair in its style, and has a mystic feeling that seemed to have surpassed his own mystical green spandex jumpsuit. The Orange color was surprisingly catchy, and is pleasant to eyes. That can't be right?, orange that is pleasant in the eyes?, what trickery is this?, they must have used some otherworldly technique to achieve the impossible, it was actually rivaling his own style. The person wearing it is performing my original good guy pose, along with that shining smile, no-one other than my students know that pose. He actually makes an impressive impression. While these thoughts filled Guys mind, Guy was staring and gaping in his students form for five minutes. Guy: "Is that really you zed-san?." Zed: "Yes it's me Guy-sensei, as you have noticed, I had a drastic change, so to speak." Guy: "Ahh, by the way those clothes seems to rival my own, is this why you refused my offer?, I'm so proud of you for rivaling my mystical green spandex jumpsuit. I approve!!." Guy said approvingly Zed: "Why thank you, Guy-sensei." Guy: "I can't help it, but you look familiar, ahh, that's it, you look like an older brother of one Naruto Uzumaki." Zed: "I see that you have met my brother, as you can probably tell, we did a jutsu that makes us real brothers, as we now share the same blood. Of course it was done with supervision with the Hokage so you can rest assured that it went smoothly." said with the shining smile. Guy: "Hmmmmmmm, I'm happy for you zed-san, on finding your true family. Zed Uzumaki, it does have a nice ring to it." Zed: "Thank you very much Guy-sensei." Guy: "Oh right, I almost forgot, I came here to tell you that your qualified for the chuunin exams, here are your forms." Zed: "Thanks again Guy-sensei, I'll try to stay alive, do I have a team with me?. Guy: "Thats the thing my youthful student, the hokage recommended you himself, and deemed that you are strong enough for a one man team, but I dont want to believe it, He said that had used an S-rank technique on me, and I can only assume, you have hidden other techniques. Can you please help your sensei's mind at ease, and show me a decent jutsu to help you survive in this exam?. Zed: "I'll give you a demonstration sensei, try to move NOW!." I quickly used my mastered telekinesis skill on Guy-sensei. Sudden Pressure poured over Guy's body, and no matter what he tried to do, he could not break free of the jutsu his student has casted on him, it reminded him of Nara's shadow bind or shadow possession technique, but there seems to be no shadow binding him. How powerful is my student?. Zed: "Okay, you can move now Guy-sensei." The pressure around Guy quickly disappeared as Zed said those words. Guy: "That was incredible zed-kun, thank you easing my mind, I have to go to my team now to give them some last minute advice, see you tommorow at the academy at 9 am on the third floor, just drop off your application at the hokage tower sometime today." With that Guy shunshined away, and I went back inside. Naruto: "Who was that nii-san?." Zed: "It was my sensei otouto, apparently I qualified to take the chuunin exams alone, and I think your sensei will recommend your team too if my hunch is correct." Naruto: "Sugoi!!, that's my nii-san for you, and the chuunin exams. nii-san?." Zed: "Yes otouto, We should get some supplies at Higurashi's ninja shop, and I'll drop off the my forms at the Hokage tower while we are there." ~Time skip 1 day~ Zed: "Are you ready otouto?." Naruto: "Hai!, nii-san, I've packed everything." Zed: "Don't forget the ramen otouto, you know how touchy you are when you don't get your daily ramen." Naruto: "Like your one to talk nii-san, you get irritated when you don't eat yours." Zed: "I can't help it otouto, If I don't have my daily ramen, I can't focus very well." Naruto: "Its the same with me nii-san, and don't worry, I packed enough to last for a month." Zed: "I'll meet you at the ninja academy for the test." I walked into the ninja academy, and headed to the third floor, I ignored the simple genjutsu on the second floor. I was greeted with Guy-sensei, and wished me goodluck. I entered the exam room, and choose a quiet corner. Time passed and Naruto's team came over, and he was greeted his graduating ninja classmates. Then suddenly: Naruto: "I'm going to defeat everyone of you!!!." Naruto declared. Man with glasses: You shouldn't underestimate your opponents, I heard that the villages sent their elites especially those team in Ame, I heard that they call themselves the champions of the light, pretty corny if you ask me, but they have the skills to back it up, all members of that team have unusual and powerful kekeigenkai. Zed: Isn't it a bit early for you to be this hyper otouto?, did you not get enough ramen this morning?. Naruto: "Mooh!, stop embarrassing me nii-san." Sasuke: "Nii-san?, Naruto, the only brother I know you have is that crazy ninja we met at the land of wave. For some reason I believe you. You [points at zed] have the same hair and eyes just like naruto, and you also wear an orange jumpsuit like him, if you really are, I thank you for teaching Naruto a sense of fashion, Naruto's orange jumpsuit now actually looks kinda cool now." Zed: "Why it's nice too see you again Sasuke, Sakura." Sasuke: "Gasp!!, you mean you really are that crazy ninja?., you know what, I don't even want to know, I still want to keep my sanity intact." Man with glasses: "I don't want to be rude or anything but who are you?." Zed: "I'm Zed Uzumaki, at your service, what's your name?." Man with glasses: "I'm Yakushi Kabuto, I specialize in information gathering with these ninja info cards. If you want to find out on information on your competitors, I'm your Man." Sasuke: "I have a few people I want to find out like Lee or Sabaku no Gaara but you can forget about them, What I really wanna know is the information about Zed Uzumaki." Kabuto: "Okay........[ presses chakra on the ninja info card ], let's see,...... that's strange, there's no information on Zed Uzumaki." Zed: ( Of course,you wouldn't find any, I was just recently adopted with my brother, so there's no Information on me ). Zed thought. Naruto: "That's my nii-san for you, so mysterious. Let me introduce my ninja batchmates nii-san." Naruto: "You already know my team, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto: "Now, the one with the blond hair girl is Ino Yamanaka, and the one with a pineapple hairstyle is Nara Shikamaru, the big boned boy is Choji Akamichi, Their part of team 9 which is lead by jonin Asuma Sarutobi . I exchange greetings with them. Naruto: "The one with the puppy is Kiba Inuzuka, The one with the shades is Shino Aburame, and the one with Pale eyes is Hinata Hyuga, Their team 8 and their Jonin Kurenai Yuhi. Zed: "Its good to see you again Hinata-san, did you get the first premium tickets just as I adviced?." Hinata: "Why yes, I was the first one to get it, but who are you. ninja-san?." Zed: "Oh, you must not recognize me now Hinata-san, as I had make a drastic change, and make-over, but I was the one who introduced Kurenai-san to and quoted "This is Gold Comedy!!." material." Zed said with the shining smile Hinata: "Gasp!!, It can't be, but that smile, it really was you civilian-san, or should I call you by your new nickname, "The Killer Comedian"?. Naruto: "Nii-san, I didn't know that your that popular." Kiba: "Oh he is Naruto, you should see the movie, it was so hilarious that you could die of laughter. It was so good that it earned your brother the nickname "The Killer Comedian". Kiba: "It was so good, that it even made the quiet Shino laugh for hours." Shino: "Its true, I never laughed so hard, that my insides hurt very much the next day." Kiba: "So you had a drastic make-over, and you were a ninja?, I must say you look pretty good." Zed: "Why thank you Kiba-san." Kiba: "You better watch out guys, this guy will kill you with laughter, well who can complain if I get killed laughing, but I'll try my best to pass this exam." Instructor: "All right that's enough chit-chat, it's time for the first phase of the chuunin exam, I will be your proctor, Morino Ibiki. Zed: "See you later otouto." I left to my assigned seat, the proctor tested us on information gathering skills. The time was almost up, and I can see my brother is struggling. I quickly substituted my paper with a finished one from another ninja, and used substitution on Naruto's paper with one with answers from another ninja. He seemed to calm down a bit, and the tenth question came. My brother used his brave speech about his dream to become hokage, and changed the tense mood. We passed the first part of the exam after that, and the second instructor introduced herself as Mitarashi Anko. We quickly changed location to the forest of death, and Anko gave each team a scroll, and for us to pass, we have to get is counterpart, and arrive at the chuunin tower at the center of the forest of death. I received my heaven scroll, and I wished my brother good luck, and we went our separate ways. I quickly tree-hopped to my destination, but I was stopped by a bunch of Kumo ninja's. They threathened me to hand my scroll, but I just used my mastered telekinesis skill to hold them on the spot, and got another heaven scroll. I went to my towards the chuunin building again, towards the center of the forest of death, until I was stopped by a strange group of what looked liked wizard cosplaying ninja's from Ameme. Wizard: "I am Albus Dumbledore, and we are the team, Champions of light, and our organisation is a called the order of the phoenix." Shaman: "My name is Hermione Granger, with the kekeigenkai elementalist ( summons 3 spirits )." Necromancer: "I am Ronald Weasley, with the kekeigenkai, necromancer ( summons 4 skeletons )." Albus: "I'm sorry but we must stop you konoha ninja-san, from getting ahead to the chuunin exam building, it is all for the greater good." Zed: Pfpfphahahahahahaha, now this looks like a familiar face, how have you guys been Dumbledore-san, and team, it's been a while since we've done this. As the question from zed reached the ears of the strange Ame ninja's,the team seemed confused, They have a feeling they know this konoha ninja from somewhere, but for the life of them, they could not put their finger on it. Albus: "How you know us, konoha ninja-san?." Zed: "Oh, you don't recognize me like this, sorry about that, Henge!, how about now?" What appeared before them was a cute woman with two long pink pigtails with a nurse outfit ( Nurse Joy ). Zed: "Do you remember me now?." A shocked faces of the ame team could clearly be seen. ~Flashback~ Royal Road: Someone's POV: I am Albus Dumbledore , a powerful wizard , Leader of the the guild "Order of the Phoenix". Our guild is known as the best magicians, sorcerers, mage , shamans , elementalist, and also necromancers in royal road, Our guild is currently occupying a town called Hogwarts and I am currently at my castle. My guild mates or my underlings are Hermione Granger, our top shaman and Ronald Weasley, our top necromancer. We were currently discussing on what to do. Our town Hogwarts have survived countless raids, but the town is not very lively at all and I keep hearing about rumors on this new City called pallet. My villagers are slowly abandoning my great town of Hogwarts. I must find a solution, for the greater good. Ronald: "Why don't we just take the town and be done with it?." Hermione: "We can't take the town without justifiable reason, it will make us look bad." Albus: "Hermione is right, we always be in the light." Stranger: "Maybe I can help, My name is Ash Ketchum, knight of justice at your service." Hermione: "You mean was a knight of justice, our intelligence network shows that you closed down a couple of respectable merchants and gained an angry mob to yourself for trying to rob those innocent people." Ash: "Innocent, innocent, I'm the one that's innocent, those people framed me, I knew them when they were small time crooks but somehow, someway they gained a backing of an evil powerful backer and I'm positive it's the Lord of that new Pallet City." Ronald: "You can't just expect to believe those lies." Albus: "Ronald, this maybe the excuse we need, If we fail well just blame it on him." Hermione: "Oh you're so brilliant professor Dumbledore, it's a fullproof plan, it's a win win situation, well start making invasion plans immediately, but we still need more allies." Ash: "leave that to me, I'll gather more allies to finally see justice to those criminals. As Ash was leaving, I used my mind reading secret skill. Albus: "Secret art: Legimency no jutsu." ~Ash's Flashback~ Ash POV: My name is Ash Ketchum, I am am a knight of justice, of course that's all self proclaimed. I started playing Royal Road in hopes of becoming a real knight. I trained really hard at the training hall, I almost gave up, but my dreams to become a knight must have a foundation and I refuse to abandon my dream. I eventually passed the basic training program with pure guts and determination alone. I ash Ketchum finally passed that dreadful training program. I eventually did quest to help those in the city. Knight code no.1, always help those in need. Although I did not meet any damsel in distress and any evil Lord to slay, I was content. Weeks past and by a twist of complete coincidence I stumbled to a knight of justice hidden class. I so graciously accepted the class and with passion continued my good deeds. This led me with amassing stats of course, and finding hidden dungeons. I slew many evil beast inside and was rewarded with rare loots and praises from the people that are in actuality NPC's, my fame is just that high. As I did my daily routine, I met a bunch of suspicious characters, I preached to them the oh so wonderful ways of chivalry and good deeds. At some point during my wonderful speech, the odd group suddenly attacked me. They use strange creatures to fight with them, but they were no match to my awesome self who was not a self proclaimed knight of justice any longer, but a real knight of justice. They put up a good fight but in the end I disposed of those savages. No one can best me, the knight of justice. I went my merry way after hearing some sort of promise of revenge from those strange group calling themselves Team Rocket, but I thought nothing of it. That is until They showed up the next day when I fell down a pitfall trap and they decided to get their revenge. I won this time again, I wish I could forget them but those cheesy motto they use are quite catchy and it makes me hard for me to forget them. A week passed by, and the odd group decided to show up again, this time they build a giant robot. I couldn't actually believe my eyes, a robot. It pained my heart to destroy that robot but justice must always prevail. My meetings with these strange group seems to be frequent, and each time they get more bolder and sneakier with their attempt to teach me my lesson but as always, justice prevails. On the coming days of my playing , they suddenly stopped their attempts at my life. On one hand I'm thankful , but on the other hand they could be planning something big this time. I must be ever vigilant on my training. Another month passed and I became stronger from my training as well as richer as well. I eventually came to some rumors about a city that became popular just as Morata. That didn't interest me in the slightest, Another popular rumor seemed to pop up on another month about a group of merchants selling adorable portable pet/pillow/beanie bag that loots drops for you. Naturally I was interested as it became a bother to pick up loots. But the oddest thing was that the seller of this Hot item piece was a man with sky blue hair, a woman with red hair and a talking cat. This seemed to match that the group that was harassing me constantly. I thought to congratulate them on their success on turning to a new leaf, and maybe buy one of those cute pets. They're oh so all-purpose functionality is a must for a knight of justice like me, plus I heard that these pets are a chick magnet, I must boost my image as a respectable knight of justice by getting one of those pets. I researched the forums and the ever popularity of those pets were ever growing. I read that they were somewhere in the eastern continent. I decided to travel there, and after another month I found them. They were surrounded with so many people swarming them, I too was one of those people. The people formed a line and they quickly thinned out, I managed to get my turn and decided to purchase the most expensive one they sold. They seem to not recognise me, I noticed that they seem to have never ending stocks of these things and they seem to have more at their RV type vehicle. I decided to congratulate them personally on their success and for turning a new leaf. I confronted them at closing time and decided to reintroduce myself. Things seem to have went a wrong turn when they decided to get their revenge. Of course I was happy to comply, and with my high level and stats it seemed to be no problem to take care of these chumps!, who knows, maybe they'll drop tons of money to expand my ever growing greatness. I seem to be winning as usual and they are on their last legs. I was going to finish them off untill they shouted a name, they shouted a strange name and summoned forth a monster of horrible cute proportions. I laughed my ass of at the strange cute beast but I was interrupted when it casted a recovery spell on the other group, I quickly regained my composure and attacked the cute beast. My sword was blocked by a strange barrier and I was stunned. The cute beast casted a holy spell at me, along the barrage of other attacks from the criminal group, I stood no chance and died. I promise on my knighthood to get my revenge on those criminals when I log back on. When I logged back on I was met with glares from many people, I wondered why they would do that to me and I asked them. I was surprised with their response. They said that the group selling those pets said that they're closing down for good. Some of the people saw him fight those merchants and pointed out that it was because of his behaviour that they ran out of town and decided to never sell those wonderful creatures again. Without meaning too, the criminal group who won against this knight of justice accidentally framed him on a misunderstanding and he became public enemy number one. Ash Ketchum , Knight of justice, Hero of many people ( mostly NPC's), became public enemy number one and his oh so popular reputation he spent gruelling many months raising, crumbled to dust overnight. Ash: "I'll get you for this Team Rocket if that's the last thing I do". Ash vowed. ~ Ash's Flashback end~ After that, I gathered and trained our guilds core members untill the fateful day we attacked Pallet City. On that great battlefield our group tried to stop a pretty cute woman with two pink pigtails with a medic outfit ( Nurse Joy ) from healing the enemies allies. Wizard: "I am Albus Dumbledore, and we are the guild Order of the Phoenix's top players." Shaman: "My name is Hermione Granger, top elementalist ( summons 3 spirits )." Necromancer: "I am Ronald Weasley, top necromancer ( summons 4 skeletons )." Albus: "I'm sorry but we must stop you miss medic, from healing all those soldiers, it is all for the greater good." Zed: "Whatever shall I do?" I said in a girly voice. Zed: "I know!!, I'll do this!!!." Zed: "Secret art, PORING DOMINATION !!!!." With that, the cute medic signalled her angeling pet to summon tons of his PORING minions, and we were pretty shocked, The cute medic used this chance to summon her dementors, and since her level was level 180, She was able to summon 4 dementors. She ordered her dementors to attack my subordinates Hermione, and Ron, she sneaked in some high level soul strike spell between my two subordinates, and they were soon killed in action. I was able to damage the cute medic pretty badly, but that stupid but cute angeling pet she has healed her pretty fast making my damage moot. I managed to kill all her dementors, God those were creepy, and scary creatures, and just like that it was just the two of us. Albus: "Why won't you fall, I must win, I am the champion of the light, I am the leader of the order of the Phoenix, I MUST WIN FOR THE GREATER GOOD!!!." I shouted with conviction. Zed: "There just something about you old man that just gets on my nerves, you know I haven't used this spell as of yet as it would be to cruel and it is my trump card, but you leave me no choice old man." Zed: "AVEDA KADEVRA!!!!." A green beam of spell hit the old man and with that, the great Albus Dumbledore, champion of the light, leader of the order of Phoenix and a crazy old man who likes to say "for the greater good", died on the spot. After that great battle, it went downhill for our guild, "The order of the phoenix". Our resources were dried up, and most of my members left leaving only my faithful subordinates Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. We tried to protect our City of Hogwarts, but without the manpower, we lost. We tried to make the best of the situation but it never was quite the same, and we slowly lost interest in the Virtual Reality game, Royal Road. One day, I woke up one morning in a forest clearing. I found out that Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley were near the vicinity where I woke up. We quickly searched for a nearby civilization, which was Ame, and we found out that this was a different world, that is a world filled with war, and grief. This world was run with a military system, with soldiers that could use supernatural powers called ninja's. We also found out that we retained our abilities from Royal Road, and the ninja's dubbed it as kekeigenkai or bloodline limit. We were quickly inducted to the Ame ninja ranks as ninja, and trained in their arts. Seing the state of this world, we quickly reformed our old guild ( the order of the phoenix ), and formed a ninja team together named champions of the light. We quickly distinguished ourselves, and got sent to the chuunin exams. We must win at all cost for the peace of this world, and so we can advance in rank, so we could gather funds for our great organisation. After all "Money talks, and Bullshit! walks," as the saying goes. We easily passed the first exam, and entered the second, We quickly looked for an easy target to steal our scrolls counterpart, and we found a spiky sunkist blond ninja, alone heading to the chuunin tower at the center of the forest of death. ~Flashback End~ Albus: "Its you!!, I guess if we got here, there's also a possibility of others just like us who got thrown in this world." Albus: "We will give up our earth scroll, please don't hurt us." Hermione: "We can't, Professor Dumbledore, what about our dream of world peace to spread to this world?." Ron: "We can't give up, we need to advance in rank so we can gather funds to help the needy." Albus: "We have no choice, our opponent is strong, we can't save this world if we are dead, we will have our chance." Albus: "Here, take our earth scroll, and we wish you good luck." Albus handed their earth scroll to Zed, and just as he was about to leave. Zed: "Wait!!!." Zed swiped his fingers out the invisible air, and handed a scroll to the strange Ame ninja. Albus: "What's this for?." Zed: "Now that I know your story, and your noble intentions, I can't just leave you guys alone. Inside that scroll contains 5 million gold coins from our world, that should be an estimate of 50 million worth of Ryo at the very least. Use that to get your organization started towards world peace." Shocked faces could clearly be seen on the faces of the strange Ame team. Albus: "Thank you very much, konoha shinobi-san. With this much money, we could buy a village worth of land, and more. We can definitely help those in need in this world. It's sad that this is a war-torn world we've landed into, but we must not forget our kindness, as that is what makes us human." Zed: "You're very right there, Albus-kun, I go by the name Zed Uzumaki now due to certain circumstances, and I gained a family here. I feel your sentiments exactly. Also, you three are the only close people I know from our world, we must stick together, who knows, If we got here with our abilities intact, there's also a possibility that other people from our world came here too, along with their overpowered abilities. You know this full well Albus-kun, as you have experienced this first hand, ( With great power comes great responsibility.), and without restraint, we become monsters. Who knows if other people came here just like us who is evil, and blinded by their power, that could result in massive death's of inocent people. It's nice to know, that you have true friends you can truly count on." Albus: "Your very right Zed-kun, we will contact you if we've found people just like us who have gone mad with power. Also consider yourself an honorary member of the Order of the Phoenix, We know we can always rely on you." Albus: "Farewell for now and good luck. Hermione, Ron let us go, many people await our help." With that the Ame team left, and zed arrived at the tower with no problem. Authors Note: I'm back with a vengeance, with 5.6k words. Happy reading, zed019 Skill legend: | * Skill learned:-Aveda Kadevra [ fixed skill ]-known as the killing curse. originally this spell was to relieve patients from their suffering if they were incurable.- An all out attack spell that uses all the the casters mp- Believed to be a one shot one kill spell that all magic users covet. but the book states that regular monsters has 1/2 chance to kill instantly mini bosses has 1/3 the success and main bosses 1/4 chance of success.- Additional success is added depending on the casters lv and int- Due to the nature of this spell, you can only use it once a day. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Skills Learned:-Summon dementors. [fixed]( able to summon dementors that are known to suck the life living )-number of dementors summoned increase every 40 lvls ( HP and MP of dementors dependent on the int of the user- Mana cost 2000 Mp | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- |

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> On the fourth week in game, Rion received an interesting message in addition to the usual.<br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Strength increased by 1 point. (+1 STR)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Fame increased by 10 points. (+10 FAME)</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">Health increased by 100 points. (+100 HP)</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>Fame. A valuable stat. Fame would help a user in the long run, being able to get discounts in shops and NPCs favoring you the higher the stat. It could mean the difference between a good weapon or a great weapon, and the difference between a normal quest and a hidden quest.<br><br>The instructor approached Rion.<br>"Congratulations. You have trained as much as you could in the Training Hall. You are the 3,804th person to finish the basic training program. You completed it just as fast as Weed-nim."<br>"Weed?"<br>"The boy over there." The instructor pointed at the boy who was humiliated by her friends.<br><br>The instructor pulled out a sword. "This sword is awarded to anyone who completes the program. Take it."<br>"Item Stat Window!"<br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Hard Iron Sword: Durability 54/54<br>Damage: 10-14<br>Awarded to those who completed the Basic Training Program. This widely-used long sword is better than basic-type weapons that are available in a blacksmith's workshop.<br>Equip: +10 STR<br>Limits: STR 40+, VIT 35+</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>Unfortunately, Rion could not use the sword as she did not have 40 strength.<br>"With players like you, this could mean a new golden age for swords." The instructor looked pleased.<br> <br>As Rion walked out, a message appeared. It was a whisper from her friend, Minix.<br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Sender: Minix<br>Come to where the foxes are! It's hunting season.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>Foxes. One of the monsters that beginning who finished their four weeks preyed upon. Foxes gave a good amount of exp in the low levels, but were very difficult for players to solo. As such, a player usually formed a part with other people.<br><br>As soon as Rion approached the hunting ground, a flock of users closed in on her.<br>"Do you want to join our party?"<br>"I'm a Level 10 Monk"<br>"We have a part of four, a mage, a cleric, an archer, and a monk, all Level 5."<br>"Please, we need a front line."<br>A hand suddenly pulled Rion away from the crowd.<br><br>Minix dragged Rion to Plase, who was counting her japtem.<br>"When were you little miss popular?"<br>"Um..."<br>Plase pointed as Rion's sword. Minix looked at it in awe.<br>"That is a pretty cool sword. What are the stats on it?"<br><br>The sword was likely the reason why players wanted Rion in their party. A sword with different aesthetics than a normal one was usually super rare and extremely powerful, and a player with one could hunt much faster than most.<br><br>"5-8 damage."<br>Minix looked disappointed.<br>"So it's just a cool looking sword huh."<br>Plase got up from the rock she was sitting on and put all the japtem away. She picked up her staff and stared at Minix and Rion.<br>Minix looked at Plase and changed the subject.<br>"Let's hunt together Jae Hwa. I'm a Level 3 archer and Soo Min is a Level 3 mage. What are you?"<br>"A Level 1 warrior."<br>"You won't be as much use right now, but you can do as the front line. It'll get better when you level up."<br><br>And so the three began hunting foxes. Rion drew out two foxes and provoked them, while Minix and Plase slowly lowered the HP of the foxes.<br>It was unfortunate that neither of the three chose to be a priest. Rion did not have the money to buy potions, and as such when she lost HP, she had to rest to replenish it.<br><br>After killing the two foxes, Rion leveled up. All stat points were pushed into agility.<br>Although she could not increase her strength, agility would supplement any strength she had. Each agility increased her attack speed and chance to deal a fatal blow, not to mention it would be easier to dodge attacks.<br>Rion immediately felt the benefits from the agility. Luring a single fox, Rion skipped around light-footed. She could dodge slightly more attacks from the fox than before, and the fox died quicker from Rion's relentless assault.<br><br>When Rion hit Level 5, the hunt revved up. Rion could handle several more foxes at once, Minix had gained the skill piercing shots, and Plase got a passive splash damage on her fireball.<br>A horde of 10 foxes was spotted, and Rion lured all of them. Because she was dodging and hitting by running around the foxes, it was inevitable to be hit by Plase's splash damage and Minix's piercing shot. Rion's HP dropped to a shockingly low 70 HP after all the foxes had died.<br>At this point, Rion leveled to 6, while Minix and Plase hit 7. They took a rest, with their HP and Mana too low to continue.<br><br>"This sure goes faster with you Rion. We don't have to lure out foxes one at a time, which took forever! Plus, look at all this japtem and fox meat we can sell!"<br>Rion stared at the sky. There was a cloud that looked like it had a shadow on it. Was that a glitch?<br><br>A quest suddenly appeared.<br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Boss Battle: Yurin the Fox<br>The mother fox has sought out the ones who have killed her children. Enraged, there is no turning back against a fight. Prepare yourself.<br>Difficulty Level: F<br>Reward: +10 FAME<br>This quest cannot be denied. Quest will fail upon death.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>The three girls jumped in unison. The sky faded to a dark blue and everything became eerily silent. Suddenly, a large rustling was heard from the trees, and out came a monstrously huge fox.<br><br>"T-th-that's a BIG fox." stuttered Minix.<br><br>Rion and Plase grabbed their weapons and prepared themselves for a hard fight. After all, why else would a quest suddenly pop up for a single monster?<br>"I'll distract it. You two hit it as many times as you can." Rion shouted.<br>Rion rushed at the mother fox and the fox roared. Minix and Plase shot the fox as many times as they could in succession.<br>As Rion dodged the slow attacks from the fox, she noticed how quickly the fox's HP was dropping.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Doesn't seem as hard as I thought.</span><br><br>What she didn't suspect was that the true power of the fox was still latent. When Rion dealt the final blow to the mother fox, the fox did not collapse. Instead, it turned red, and its HP shot back to 100%.<br><br>"What's going on right now!" shouted Minix.<br>Everyone was confused at this point. Didn't they just kill the fox?<br><br>There was no time to think, the fox leaped at Rion. Rion tried to dodge the attack, but this time the fox was too fast. Rion could still dodge some of the attacks, but the mother fox was exponentially faster.<br><br>Rion noticed something very strange. When Minix and Plase had to rest a little to restore their mana or reload their quiver, the damage her sword did was zero. The fox went unflinched against her attacks and the fox's HP did not drop a point. Rion had to retreat. She simply could not do anything to the fox, and fighting it would kill her, as at this point Rion had less than 100 HP.<br>As for Minix and Plase, the damage from their attacks also lessened, but not to the extent where it did no damage. <br><br>When the fox had hit 50% HP, which took much longer than the initial 100%, the fox roared again. This time, the fox turned black.<br><br>"Oh no, what's it going to do this time." groaned Minix.<br><br>As if the fox suddenly grew a brain, instead of going for Rion who was fully dedicated to running away, it leapt at Plase, who was the only one at the time dealing damage.<br><br>Plase's HP instantly dropped to 50, and, scared for her life, ran.<br><br>"Hey over here you ugly fox!" said Minix as she hit the fox in the leg.<br>The fox jumped at Minix and ferociously bit her. Minix's HP diminished all the way to 0, and was fading away.<br><br>When a character dies in Royal Road, heavy penalties occur. A level is lost, and the stats gained by that level are also removed. Skill experience also diminishes greatly, but the biggest penalty is the 24 hour realtime ban from the game.<br>To the three girls, the time ban did not matter, they had other things to do besides play the game all day. But the level and skill experience had to be regained, which took even more time out of their hands.<br><br>The mother fox turned towards Plase, who turned, looked at the fox in terror, and tripped.<br>"No..." Rion said weakly, thrusting out her hand at the fox. She simply couldn't do anything at all. Feelings of anger and anguish welled up inside her.<br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">You have cased Mana Bolt.<br>-5 MP</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">New Skill: Mana Bolt</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">The precursor to today's known magic.<br>Damage is equal to the amount of mana used.<br>Mana usage can be adjusted from 1 to 10.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>The fox turned around, hit by the Mana Bolt. It ran towards Rion with the intent to kill.<br>Rion's heart stopped. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact.<br><br>The impact never happened. When Rion opened her eyes, she saw Plase weakly holding up her staff and the mother fox running back towards Plase. Rion once again casted Mana Bolt towards the fox, and the fox turned around and started running back at her.<br><br>Rion yelled as loud as she could.<br>"The fox reacts to the last hit. Hit it right before it reaches me!"<br>Plase nodded.<br><br>After about two hours, the fox was defeated. By casting one ranged attack after the other person casts theirs, the fox was running laps. Rion and Plase let the fox get as close as possible before striking it so they could maximize their mana regeneration. <br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Quest Completed</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">+10 FAME</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">You have leveled up.</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">You have leveled up.</td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">You have leveled up.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>Three levels and ten fame seemed far too little for what the two had gone through. However, the real reward came from the items the mother fox had dropped. Rion hopped in anticipation.<br><br>Rion looked at the items<br><span style="font-style: italic;">An egg, a book, and a quiver.</span><br>"Identify!"<br><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Unhatched Egg<br>A mysterious egg. What could be inside?</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Alvadd's Knowledge<br>Filled to the brim with arcane knowledge. Seems to only be the basic of the basics.<br>Use: +20 INT</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4">Mechanical Automatic Quiver<br>A quiver designed with long-forgotten technology.<br>+80% Attack Speed<br>+5 Dexterity</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br><br>Since Minix was the archer, she of course got the best item dropped, the quiver. Rion and Plase decided that Plase would take the book, as Rion did not need the intelligence stat at all the Plase heavily relied on the stat. So of course, the last item, the egg, went to Rion. The egg looked completely useless.<br><br>The egg looked like japtem, felt like japtem, so what could it be but japtem? </div>

On the fourth week in game, Rion received an interesting message in addition to the usual. | Strength increased by 1 point. (+1 STR) | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Fame increased by 10 points. (+10 FAME) | | | | | Health increased by 100 points. (+100 HP) | | | | Fame. A valuable stat. Fame would help a user in the long run, being able to get discounts in shops and NPCs favoring you the higher the stat. It could mean the difference between a good weapon or a great weapon, and the difference between a normal quest and a hidden quest. The instructor approached Rion. "Congratulations. You have trained as much as you could in the Training Hall. You are the 3,804th person to finish the basic training program. You completed it just as fast as Weed-nim." "Weed?" "The boy over there." The instructor pointed at the boy who was humiliated by her friends. The instructor pulled out a sword. "This sword is awarded to anyone who completes the program. Take it." "Item Stat Window!" | Hard Iron Sword: Durability 54/54Damage: 10-14Awarded to those who completed the Basic Training Program. This widely-used long sword is better than basic-type weapons that are available in a blacksmith's workshop.Equip: +10 STRLimits: STR 40+, VIT 35+ | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Unfortunately, Rion could not use the sword as she did not have 40 strength. "With players like you, this could mean a new golden age for swords." The instructor looked pleased. As Rion walked out, a message appeared. It was a whisper from her friend, Minix. | Sender: MinixCome to where the foxes are! It's hunting season. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Foxes. One of the monsters that beginning who finished their four weeks preyed upon. Foxes gave a good amount of exp in the low levels, but were very difficult for players to solo. As such, a player usually formed a part with other people. As soon as Rion approached the hunting ground, a flock of users closed in on her. "Do you want to join our party?" "I'm a Level 10 Monk" "We have a part of four, a mage, a cleric, an archer, and a monk, all Level 5." "Please, we need a front line." A hand suddenly pulled Rion away from the crowd. Minix dragged Rion to Plase, who was counting her japtem. "When were you little miss popular?" "Um..." Plase pointed as Rion's sword. Minix looked at it in awe. "That is a pretty cool sword. What are the stats on it?" The sword was likely the reason why players wanted Rion in their party. A sword with different aesthetics than a normal one was usually super rare and extremely powerful, and a player with one could hunt much faster than most. "5-8 damage." Minix looked disappointed. "So it's just a cool looking sword huh." Plase got up from the rock she was sitting on and put all the japtem away. She picked up her staff and stared at Minix and Rion. Minix looked at Plase and changed the subject. "Let's hunt together Jae Hwa. I'm a Level 3 archer and Soo Min is a Level 3 mage. What are you?" "A Level 1 warrior." "You won't be as much use right now, but you can do as the front line. It'll get better when you level up." And so the three began hunting foxes. Rion drew out two foxes and provoked them, while Minix and Plase slowly lowered the HP of the foxes. It was unfortunate that neither of the three chose to be a priest. Rion did not have the money to buy potions, and as such when she lost HP, she had to rest to replenish it. After killing the two foxes, Rion leveled up. All stat points were pushed into agility. Although she could not increase her strength, agility would supplement any strength she had. Each agility increased her attack speed and chance to deal a fatal blow, not to mention it would be easier to dodge attacks. Rion immediately felt the benefits from the agility. Luring a single fox, Rion skipped around light-footed. She could dodge slightly more attacks from the fox than before, and the fox died quicker from Rion's relentless assault. When Rion hit Level 5, the hunt revved up. Rion could handle several more foxes at once, Minix had gained the skill piercing shots, and Plase got a passive splash damage on her fireball. A horde of 10 foxes was spotted, and Rion lured all of them. Because she was dodging and hitting by running around the foxes, it was inevitable to be hit by Plase's splash damage and Minix's piercing shot. Rion's HP dropped to a shockingly low 70 HP after all the foxes had died. At this point, Rion leveled to 6, while Minix and Plase hit 7. They took a rest, with their HP and Mana too low to continue. "This sure goes faster with you Rion. We don't have to lure out foxes one at a time, which took forever! Plus, look at all this japtem and fox meat we can sell!" Rion stared at the sky. There was a cloud that looked like it had a shadow on it. Was that a glitch? A quest suddenly appeared. | Boss Battle: Yurin the FoxThe mother fox has sought out the ones who have killed her children. Enraged, there is no turning back against a fight. Prepare yourself.Difficulty Level: FReward: +10 FAMEThis quest cannot be denied. Quest will fail upon death. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | The three girls jumped in unison. The sky faded to a dark blue and everything became eerily silent. Suddenly, a large rustling was heard from the trees, and out came a monstrously huge fox. "T-th-that's a BIG fox." stuttered Minix. Rion and Plase grabbed their weapons and prepared themselves for a hard fight. After all, why else would a quest suddenly pop up for a single monster? "I'll distract it. You two hit it as many times as you can." Rion shouted. Rion rushed at the mother fox and the fox roared. Minix and Plase shot the fox as many times as they could in succession. As Rion dodged the slow attacks from the fox, she noticed how quickly the fox's HP was dropping. Doesn't seem as hard as I thought. What she didn't suspect was that the true power of the fox was still latent. When Rion dealt the final blow to the mother fox, the fox did not collapse. Instead, it turned red, and its HP shot back to 100%. "What's going on right now!" shouted Minix. Everyone was confused at this point. Didn't they just kill the fox? There was no time to think, the fox leaped at Rion. Rion tried to dodge the attack, but this time the fox was too fast. Rion could still dodge some of the attacks, but the mother fox was exponentially faster. Rion noticed something very strange. When Minix and Plase had to rest a little to restore their mana or reload their quiver, the damage her sword did was zero. The fox went unflinched against her attacks and the fox's HP did not drop a point. Rion had to retreat. She simply could not do anything to the fox, and fighting it would kill her, as at this point Rion had less than 100 HP. As for Minix and Plase, the damage from their attacks also lessened, but not to the extent where it did no damage. When the fox had hit 50% HP, which took much longer than the initial 100%, the fox roared again. This time, the fox turned black. "Oh no, what's it going to do this time." groaned Minix. As if the fox suddenly grew a brain, instead of going for Rion who was fully dedicated to running away, it leapt at Plase, who was the only one at the time dealing damage. Plase's HP instantly dropped to 50, and, scared for her life, ran. "Hey over here you ugly fox!" said Minix as she hit the fox in the leg. The fox jumped at Minix and ferociously bit her. Minix's HP diminished all the way to 0, and was fading away. When a character dies in Royal Road, heavy penalties occur. A level is lost, and the stats gained by that level are also removed. Skill experience also diminishes greatly, but the biggest penalty is the 24 hour realtime ban from the game. To the three girls, the time ban did not matter, they had other things to do besides play the game all day. But the level and skill experience had to be regained, which took even more time out of their hands. The mother fox turned towards Plase, who turned, looked at the fox in terror, and tripped. "No..." Rion said weakly, thrusting out her hand at the fox. She simply couldn't do anything at all. Feelings of anger and anguish welled up inside her. | You have cased Mana Bolt.-5 MP | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | New Skill: Mana Bolt | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | The precursor to today's known magic.Damage is equal to the amount of mana used.Mana usage can be adjusted from 1 to 10. | | | | The fox turned around, hit by the Mana Bolt. It ran towards Rion with the intent to kill. Rion's heart stopped. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact. The impact never happened. When Rion opened her eyes, she saw Plase weakly holding up her staff and the mother fox running back towards Plase. Rion once again casted Mana Bolt towards the fox, and the fox turned around and started running back at her. Rion yelled as loud as she could. "The fox reacts to the last hit. Hit it right before it reaches me!" Plase nodded. After about two hours, the fox was defeated. By casting one ranged attack after the other person casts theirs, the fox was running laps. Rion and Plase let the fox get as close as possible before striking it so they could maximize their mana regeneration. | Quest Completed | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | +10 FAME | | | | | You have leveled up. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | You have leveled up. | | | | | You have leveled up. | | | | Three levels and ten fame seemed far too little for what the two had gone through. However, the real reward came from the items the mother fox had dropped. Rion hopped in anticipation. Rion looked at the items An egg, a book, and a quiver. "Identify!" | Unhatched EggA mysterious egg. What could be inside? | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Alvadd's KnowledgeFilled to the brim with arcane knowledge. Seems to only be the basic of the basics.Use: +20 INT | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Mechanical Automatic QuiverA quiver designed with long-forgotten technology.+80% Attack Speed+5 Dexterity | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Since Minix was the archer, she of course got the best item dropped, the quiver. Rion and Plase decided that Plase would take the book, as Rion did not need the intelligence stat at all the Plase heavily relied on the stat. So of course, the last item, the egg, went to Rion. The egg looked completely useless. The egg looked like japtem, felt like japtem, so what could it be but japtem?

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> anything you guy can think over that i could do better place it in this topic </div>

anything you guy can think over that i could do better place it in this topic

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> Disclaimer<br>This is a fan fiction based on the mix of the popular light novel “Legendary Moonlight Sculptor” and the newly minted online graphic novel “The Gamer”. I claim zero ownership over any material. This production is purely for enjoyment purposes. <br>Enjoy ~ </div>

Disclaimer This is a fan fiction based on the mix of the popular light novel “Legendary Moonlight Sculptor” and the newly minted online graphic novel “The Gamer”. I claim zero ownership over any material. This production is purely for enjoyment purposes. Enjoy ~

<div class="chapter-inner chapter-content"> <span style="font-style: italic;">* thoughts*</span><br><br>~sound effects~<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">+++++</div><br><br><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chapter 05: The Instructor returns </span><br><br><br>While Neuron was watching TV, a light bulb appeared above his head, he jumped up and shouted<br><br>“Yes that’s what I`m going to do!”<br><br>And a really evil smile appeared on his face, luckily no one was in the room, and he not logged in, because then he might have gotten some Infamy, just because he was able to make such a evil expression.<br><br>Actually Alex is an only child, with his father far away, (think what you want), and his mother being a pilot, he was mostly alone at home, but that didn`t bother him much. He knew how to pass time.<br><br>As soon as the show finished he logged back in and went to ask the tailor a few questions.<br>Depending on the answer he would then perform his revenge.<br><br>“Do you know, that the normal way to acquire tailoring is sewing on some bottoms?”<br><br>“Yeah, I do, but my assistant ran away, leaving the work behind, and then you came in, perfect not?”<br><br>“Well yeah, but what would happen if I abandon the quest?”<br><br>“Oh, right, well I set it so, that you`d never be able to learn tailoring”<br><br>With this he expected the boy to give some reaction, but nothing came, he only went inside the room<br><br>“Well that’s it for ya, just so you know, you have to finish in a week time, if not, I`ll cancel the quest” he shouted through the door<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Have it your way, I’m having it my way*</span><br><br>With this he began to remove all the stitches, well he left the socks alone. It was good to see, that even with that activity he gained proficiency at tailoring.<br><br>Then he began to patch the clothes again, but this time not looking if the scraps he sewed on had the right pattern, actually he choose those who had the worst color, he also used different bottoms on each shirt, thus making the finished products looking hilarious.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Looking good, although only a clown would dress up with them*</span><br><br>He didn`t care if this was childish, he had fun and that counted, and to boot he could increase his proficiency.<br><br>So night fell, but he never noticed, until the candle went out, there he was now in pitch black room searching for the door, when he found it he tumbled out, straining his eyes, so that he could see but nonetheless he couldn`t see his hand before his eyes, so while he tried to find the door he bumped into everything. Reducing his health quite a bit and leveling up endurance once, finally arriving at the door he pulled down the door handle, but couldn`t open the door.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*That does it, now I`m really pissed *</span><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> New skill: Night vision </span><br>You are now able to see in the dark<br>Because you already have a vision skill, <br>this skill will be added to its list</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>“Show Hawk Eye”<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hawk Eye: Passive</span><br>Enables you to see things that are far away more clearly <br>Because of your special eyes it will activate when you strain them<br>They will only be visible when activated<br>Contrary to their nature they allow you to see in the dark, costs 20mana per minute <br>Slightly increases critical hit chance.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">Caution:</span><br>Because they look a lot like Demon eyes, NPC`s will be afraid of you, when they see them.<br> </li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Neuron activated the night vision, and finally could see the path of carnage he had made<br><br>Then he tried to pick the lock, but to no avail<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Well I`m not gonna work through the night*</span> With that thought he logged out.<br><br>As soon as it was day again in RR he logged back in.<br><br>The next day he put all those clothes in his inventory, and headed out of the shop, while the tailor asked him<br><br>“What already enough of my hospitality, you sure, that you don`t want to work inside my shop anymore?” Keukkeuk<br><br>Ignoring him Neuron went his ways<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*He`s going to get some problems when I bring back the clothes.* </span><br><br>While walking to the archery a new pop up appeared<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mana Connection has leveled up: Beginner Lv5</span><br>The thread has gotten stronger<br>It now costs 50 Mana per meter</li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Then he decided to ask Kyle something, to determine his course of action<br><br>“Kyle do you have a moment?”<br><br>“Yeah, just taking a break, What`s the matter?” Kyle thought it had to be something important, because he never heard Neuron being this serious<br><br>“Well how important are stats really in this game?”<br><br>“What?”<br><br>Neuron could actually hear Kyle`s mouth drop”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Damn was this question really that stupid?* </span><br><br>“Why do you think I`m beating stupid scarecrows all day long?”<br><br>“Well…”<br><br>“It’s to gain stats!, in this game everything is counted using your stats and your level, if you have more stats you are more powerful, and have an easier time fighting” <br><br>At this answer Neuron let out a long sight<br><br>“What?”<br><br>“Well I just thought about what I have to do”<br><br>“and because that you sigh?”<br><br>“Well it involves a lot of work”<br><br>“Ah yeah…, I bet you thought you have to level your stats?”<br><br>“Yes, and that’s an unpleasant thought, oh I so don`t wanna do that…”<br><br>“Then don`t do it”<br><br>“Well I`ll have to”<br><br>At that they closed Neuron closed the whisper<br><br>Shaking his head Kyle got up, his break had ended<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Well I don`t want to do this either*</span><br><br>But what he didn`t tell Neuron was, that the Monsters outside where much tougher than the ones you find around normal city’s, his brother told him laughing, that if he didn`t train his stats even a single rabbit outside town could kill him, them being Lv5.<br>With dropped shoulders Neuron walked around town to find a somewhat large stone he could take with him, finding one, he brought it to the archery, not minding the looks and pointing fingers he got<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Luckily those are all NPC`s so no one will film me*</span><br><br>When he arrived at the archery he took out a empty cotton reel and wrapped his mana string around.<br><br>As soon as his mana had recovered a bit he wrapped more thread around.<br><br>Then he reeled everything back in. To do that, he just had to imagine himself as a reel that, well, reeled the thread back in, it looked really cross seeing the thread being reeled in through his navel, but with that he could store a tremendous amount of mana, even if only for 5min.<br><br>Now he went to the boulder, and connected himself to it. Then he touched the stone with both hands, creating two connections and thus two mana threats.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*Now back to shoot*</span><br><br>He began with the well trained process of shooting at each target from where he stood, having finished his arrows he went to dash two the nearest target, dragging the stone behind him.<br><br>He arrived at the first target panting heavily<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*This is harder than I thought*</span><br><br>He then went to gather all arrows dragging the boulder behind him<br><br>But then he heard a sound like a tree branch breaking, after that he became disoriented, because the world turned upside down, when he got his sense s back, he found himself lying headfirst on the ground with his butt sticking out and pointing to heaven.<br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Due to a strong impact you have lost 50Hp </span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto"><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><ul><br><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Endurance: +1</span></li></ul><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><br><br>Then Neuron heard a loud laughter from the entrance<br><br>“Who thought that when I finally got my health back and returned to my archery the first thing I’d see is a butt!”<br><br>Standing in the entrance was a old man with long white hair, that touched his shoulders, but despite him being old, he hasn`t lost a single strand of hair, he looked really unassuming, just like any old man, but it wasn`t a coincidence that he was the Instructor of this hall, when he held a bow his demeanor totally changed, at this moment he sent of an aura of danger, but without a bow in his hands he was a playful character, <br><br>After hearing that the “instructor” came out of his office and after seeing the person shouted<br><br>“Well look whose back from the deathbed”<br><br>“Glad to see you too, anything happen while I was away”<br><br>“Nothing much, just some freedman who went to our village and tried to learn archery, but gave up”<br><br>“What about him” he said, while pointing towards neuron who finally got into a sitting position, holding his head, hoping it would soon stop spinning<br><br>“Well that’s an odd one, he browsed through all bows, testing some of them out, and only choosing a bow to shoot with, after one hour”<br><br>“Heh” was the only sound the old man made<br><br>“Well so now I´m going back to my shop”<br><br>Neuron understanding something rose up and asked: “Does that mean you aren`t the instructor?”<br><br>“Well yeah, I`m a Blacksmith”<br><br>“What a blacksmith, then is the shop right next to this archery yours?”<br><br>“Yup”<br><br>Kyle just wanted to say something, but was interrupted by the old man<br><br>“Do you even know this kids name?”<br><br>“No, we had something of a rough start, and then with mutual understanding we never bothered with each other, him coming and going how he pleased, and me tending to this archery, although nothing ever happens!”<br><br>“Well do I have to remind you of your debt?”<br><br>“No, of course not” he said trying to make a smile.<br><br>“So now it`s introduction time, I`m Brairan the Archery instructor, who fell ill and came back”<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">*has this old man some screws loose?*</span><br><br>“Hello my name is Neuron, and I`m here for training”<br><br>“Well, anyone can find out, from you being here” was the Blacksmiths reply<br><br>“What he meant was probably that he wanted to stick to his training till he has completed it, right?”<br><br>The last part was aimed at Neuron, so he answered “Well yes, I heard it will help you in the long run”<br><br>“Ya see” Brairan said nodding towards the temporary instructor<br><br>“OK ok, I understand, so hello my name is Warnton, and finally I can go to my shop, the business stagnation wasn`t good for my shop” <br>“although I don`t have any business right now, but everything is better than tending to this archery” the last part was mumbled, while he went towards the exit, so no one could understand him<br><br>“Now Neuron, let’s talk”<br><br>“Ähm ok.”<br><br>“So I heard you didn`t choose a bow right off the bat and tried shooting, why”<br><br>“That’s because i had to find a bow that suited me”<br><br>“And which bow did you choose?<br><br>“This” he said while handing it to Brairan<br><br>“Well, well”, he said while examining the bow, “so why did you choose this particular bow?”<br><br>“Hmm, because it has the biggest drawing strength of all the bows in here”<br><br>“Yeah” Brairan said, while waving him to continue<br><br>“Well if the drawing strength is greater, aiming becomes more difficult, and I thought, if I can master this bow, I won`t have problems with the others”<br><br>“Good, and what does it have to do with that stone you dragged behind you like a madman till you kissed the ground”<br><br>Neuron opened his mouth to give a retort, but then saw the old man smiling<br><br>“It was to train”<br><br>“Training dragging a boulder behind you, now that’s something for a martial artist, but not for an archer”<br><br>“No, it was to raise stamina and vitality, a archer also has to learn close combat, because it will not always be possible to wipe out the enemy before they reach you”<br><br>“True, true, well I think we will have quite a fun time together”<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center;">End of chapter 05</div> </div>

* thoughts* ~sound effects~ +++++ Chapter 05: The Instructor returns While Neuron was watching TV, a light bulb appeared above his head, he jumped up and shouted “Yes that’s what I`m going to do!” And a really evil smile appeared on his face, luckily no one was in the room, and he not logged in, because then he might have gotten some Infamy, just because he was able to make such a evil expression. Actually Alex is an only child, with his father far away, (think what you want), and his mother being a pilot, he was mostly alone at home, but that didn`t bother him much. He knew how to pass time. As soon as the show finished he logged back in and went to ask the tailor a few questions. Depending on the answer he would then perform his revenge. “Do you know, that the normal way to acquire tailoring is sewing on some bottoms?” “Yeah, I do, but my assistant ran away, leaving the work behind, and then you came in, perfect not?” “Well yeah, but what would happen if I abandon the quest?” “Oh, right, well I set it so, that you`d never be able to learn tailoring” With this he expected the boy to give some reaction, but nothing came, he only went inside the room “Well that’s it for ya, just so you know, you have to finish in a week time, if not, I`ll cancel the quest” he shouted through the door *Have it your way, I’m having it my way* With this he began to remove all the stitches, well he left the socks alone. It was good to see, that even with that activity he gained proficiency at tailoring. Then he began to patch the clothes again, but this time not looking if the scraps he sewed on had the right pattern, actually he choose those who had the worst color, he also used different bottoms on each shirt, thus making the finished products looking hilarious. *Looking good, although only a clown would dress up with them* He didn`t care if this was childish, he had fun and that counted, and to boot he could increase his proficiency. So night fell, but he never noticed, until the candle went out, there he was now in pitch black room searching for the door, when he found it he tumbled out, straining his eyes, so that he could see but nonetheless he couldn`t see his hand before his eyes, so while he tried to find the door he bumped into everything. Reducing his health quite a bit and leveling up endurance once, finally arriving at the door he pulled down the door handle, but couldn`t open the door. *That does it, now I`m really pissed * | * New skill: Night vision You are now able to see in the darkBecause you already have a vision skill, this skill will be added to its list | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | “Show Hawk Eye” | * Hawk Eye: PassiveEnables you to see things that are far away more clearly Because of your special eyes it will activate when you strain themThey will only be visible when activatedContrary to their nature they allow you to see in the dark, costs 20mana per minute Slightly increases critical hit chance.Caution:Because they look a lot like Demon eyes, NPC`s will be afraid of you, when they see them. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Neuron activated the night vision, and finally could see the path of carnage he had made Then he tried to pick the lock, but to no avail *Well I`m not gonna work through the night* With that thought he logged out. As soon as it was day again in RR he logged back in. The next day he put all those clothes in his inventory, and headed out of the shop, while the tailor asked him “What already enough of my hospitality, you sure, that you don`t want to work inside my shop anymore?” Keukkeuk Ignoring him Neuron went his ways *He`s going to get some problems when I bring back the clothes.* While walking to the archery a new pop up appeared | * Mana Connection has leveled up: Beginner Lv5The thread has gotten strongerIt now costs 50 Mana per meter | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Then he decided to ask Kyle something, to determine his course of action “Kyle do you have a moment?” “Yeah, just taking a break, What`s the matter?” Kyle thought it had to be something important, because he never heard Neuron being this serious “Well how important are stats really in this game?” “What?” Neuron could actually hear Kyle`s mouth drop” *Damn was this question really that stupid?* “Why do you think I`m beating stupid scarecrows all day long?” “Well…” “It’s to gain stats!, in this game everything is counted using your stats and your level, if you have more stats you are more powerful, and have an easier time fighting” At this answer Neuron let out a long sight “What?” “Well I just thought about what I have to do” “and because that you sigh?” “Well it involves a lot of work” “Ah yeah…, I bet you thought you have to level your stats?” “Yes, and that’s an unpleasant thought, oh I so don`t wanna do that…” “Then don`t do it” “Well I`ll have to” At that they closed Neuron closed the whisper Shaking his head Kyle got up, his break had ended *Well I don`t want to do this either* But what he didn`t tell Neuron was, that the Monsters outside where much tougher than the ones you find around normal city’s, his brother told him laughing, that if he didn`t train his stats even a single rabbit outside town could kill him, them being Lv5. With dropped shoulders Neuron walked around town to find a somewhat large stone he could take with him, finding one, he brought it to the archery, not minding the looks and pointing fingers he got *Luckily those are all NPC`s so no one will film me* When he arrived at the archery he took out a empty cotton reel and wrapped his mana string around. As soon as his mana had recovered a bit he wrapped more thread around. Then he reeled everything back in. To do that, he just had to imagine himself as a reel that, well, reeled the thread back in, it looked really cross seeing the thread being reeled in through his navel, but with that he could store a tremendous amount of mana, even if only for 5min. Now he went to the boulder, and connected himself to it. Then he touched the stone with both hands, creating two connections and thus two mana threats. *Now back to shoot* He began with the well trained process of shooting at each target from where he stood, having finished his arrows he went to dash two the nearest target, dragging the stone behind him. He arrived at the first target panting heavily *This is harder than I thought* He then went to gather all arrows dragging the boulder behind him But then he heard a sound like a tree branch breaking, after that he became disoriented, because the world turned upside down, when he got his sense s back, he found himself lying headfirst on the ground with his butt sticking out and pointing to heaven. | * Due to a strong impact you have lost 50Hp | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | * Endurance: +1 | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | Then Neuron heard a loud laughter from the entrance “Who thought that when I finally got my health back and returned to my archery the first thing I’d see is a butt!” Standing in the entrance was a old man with long white hair, that touched his shoulders, but despite him being old, he hasn`t lost a single strand of hair, he looked really unassuming, just like any old man, but it wasn`t a coincidence that he was the Instructor of this hall, when he held a bow his demeanor totally changed, at this moment he sent of an aura of danger, but without a bow in his hands he was a playful character, After hearing that the “instructor” came out of his office and after seeing the person shouted “Well look whose back from the deathbed” “Glad to see you too, anything happen while I was away” “Nothing much, just some freedman who went to our village and tried to learn archery, but gave up” “What about him” he said, while pointing towards neuron who finally got into a sitting position, holding his head, hoping it would soon stop spinning “Well that’s an odd one, he browsed through all bows, testing some of them out, and only choosing a bow to shoot with, after one hour” “Heh” was the only sound the old man made “Well so now I´m going back to my shop” Neuron understanding something rose up and asked: “Does that mean you aren`t the instructor?” “Well yeah, I`m a Blacksmith” “What a blacksmith, then is the shop right next to this archery yours?” “Yup” Kyle just wanted to say something, but was interrupted by the old man “Do you even know this kids name?” “No, we had something of a rough start, and then with mutual understanding we never bothered with each other, him coming and going how he pleased, and me tending to this archery, although nothing ever happens!” “Well do I have to remind you of your debt?” “No, of course not” he said trying to make a smile. “So now it`s introduction time, I`m Brairan the Archery instructor, who fell ill and came back” *has this old man some screws loose?* “Hello my name is Neuron, and I`m here for training” “Well, anyone can find out, from you being here” was the Blacksmiths reply “What he meant was probably that he wanted to stick to his training till he has completed it, right?” The last part was aimed at Neuron, so he answered “Well yes, I heard it will help you in the long run” “Ya see” Brairan said nodding towards the temporary instructor “OK ok, I understand, so hello my name is Warnton, and finally I can go to my shop, the business stagnation wasn`t good for my shop” “although I don`t have any business right now, but everything is better than tending to this archery” the last part was mumbled, while he went towards the exit, so no one could understand him “Now Neuron, let’s talk” “Ähm ok.” “So I heard you didn`t choose a bow right off the bat and tried shooting, why” “That’s because i had to find a bow that suited me” “And which bow did you choose? “This” he said while handing it to Brairan “Well, well”, he said while examining the bow, “so why did you choose this particular bow?” “Hmm, because it has the biggest drawing strength of all the bows in here” “Yeah” Brairan said, while waving him to continue “Well if the drawing strength is greater, aiming becomes more difficult, and I thought, if I can master this bow, I won`t have problems with the others” “Good, and what does it have to do with that stone you dragged behind you like a madman till you kissed the ground” Neuron opened his mouth to give a retort, but then saw the old man smiling “It was to train” “Training dragging a boulder behind you, now that’s something for a martial artist, but not for an archer” “No, it was to raise stamina and vitality, a archer also has to learn close combat, because it will not always be possible to wipe out the enemy before they reach you” “True, true, well I think we will have quite a fun time together” End of chapter 05