《Eternal Awakening [LitRPG] [EtA Book 1]》 Prologue - A Quests Payout *Thud* Obi felled another Treant, backing up in the process. His client, a rich businessman''s son with the in-game name ofx_slayerrr_x,had just been smacked into a tree by the main boss. It was a tall, lumbering beast of wood, only separated between Obi''s client by a mere sapling. He was only a level 11 Sorcerer, there was no way his armor could withstand the weakest of hits, let alone a full-fledged special. If the attack was executed, Obi''s client would die and take a few hours to respawn. He would lose some income off of that. There was no way Obi would let that slide. He was a level 79 Tank, and there would be no way a puny Wood Golem could ruin his chances of a heavy payout. Obi activated his[Shield Dash]Gem on his Shield. He was flung forward at an incredible speed, using his shield as a barrier and ramming straight into the Golem''s flank. Obi knew his armor could take the hit and keep him relatively unhurt. The impact threw the Golem a few feet into the grass. [Golem Health: 70/120] He turned to his client and glared. "If you wanna fight, come help. If you can''t, just stay there and watch." His client just stared back at him, shaking. He was hopeless, hiding behind a sapling that barely gave him any cover. As Obi talked, the Golem stood back up, and he heard a whoosh coming from the Golem. The Golem began to convert all its rage into a special form, which lasts briefly but enhances its strength and defense. A golden shimmering aura surrounded the Golem, forming a golden skin on top of the already hardened bark. The Golem''s eyes glowed a bright gold and power emanated from the beast. The Golem stomped once, and before Obi knew what was going on, began charging at the two. Obi knew he had to lure the beast away from his client. He held up his shield and started yelling. This made him take aggro, and the Golem narrowed its eyes upon him. As it charged, he rolled away and waited to see what it did next. It ran after him, gaining speed by the second. Obi turned and sprinted, not very easy in his clunky armor, though not fast enough to outrun the Golem. He was going to have to face it sooner or later. He had figured out its weakness. The Golem had a limp in its right foreleg which couldn''t allow the right side''s weight to be balanced. This meant that the Golem was overcompensating for it. He could hear the crunch of the leaves as he took heavy steps, and also the pounding of the Golem''s feet. Breathing in the fresh, pine-scented air, and the rich fragrance of the earth, Obi was invigorated and relaxed a bit. He kept running until he reached the edge of the clearing. Obi turned to face the Golem as it bore down on him, and fast. There was a tinge of fear in his eyes, but he brushed it away. He knew he could easily defeat a low-level Boss! Obi had formulated a plan in the few seconds it took the Golem to reach him. The huge beast made a giant leap with claws extended, that was on point, or not on point. Obi had moved away at the last possible moment, making the Golem smash headfirst into a tree. Obi smiled, as he readied his shield and sword. He was surprised when the beast stood back up and shook its head, willing for more of a fight. The Golem lunged at Obi just before he activated his[Golden Wall]ability. It allowed him to negate all damage done to him for 5 seconds. The beautifully engraved shield started glowing golden as he activated the ability and doubled in size. The Golem threw itself at the shield, looking for any kind of purchase on the slippery enchanted shield.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Obi noticed the golden glow flickering and realized his mana was depleting quicker than he thought. While the shield was still up, Obi checked his Mana bar. Mana: 10/300 He knew he couldn''t use an ability with 10 Mana so he had to take drastic measures. Obi reached into his satchel and held onto a Mana Crystal. It was the last of which he had acquired, but the situation left him no choice. Obi pulled out the Mana Crystal from his bag and held it up high in the air. He crushed the Crystal into his fist and shards flew everywhere. Blue tendrils of Pure Mana drifted up and around his arm and into his chest, slowly brightening in intensity. He checked his Mana bar again. Mana: 300/300 "Perfect", Obi said to himself as he readied his sword for an attack. Obi was ready for the Golem when the shield went down and channeled Mana into his sword. He activated his[Mighty Cut]ability from the second gem slot in his sword. Just as he was about to hit the Golem, he felt a falling sensation, and his surroundings became a light blue with white streaks moving up rapidly. His attack hit no-one, and he could see the mana flow out of the sword and join the tunnel. After a good 4-5 seconds, Obi found himself next to his client. The first thing he did was check for the Golem. It was confused and trying to grab the air. "Sean, you actual IDIOT! Why the HELL did you teleport me?" "I saw you getting hit by the... creature, and I thought you were getting hurt so I teleported you. You told me to help, right?" "You just made me use my last mana crystal, and then you teleport me while I''m attacking? I lost almost a quarter of that mana through that teleport! You know what? Just stand over there, don''t move, and DON''T DO ANYTHING STUPID!", Obi yelled as he pointed to a thick, tall tree. Obi watched Sean slowly shuffle and was about to tell him to hurry up, when he got the chills up his spine. He realized that he still kept aggro from the Golem, and turned around to find the Golem leaping at him. The Golem overshot Obi, and landed between Sean and Obi, changing its target to Sean. It slowly prowled forward, sensing weakness as Sean panicked. As it all unfolded before his eyes, Obi barely had time to think before he used his[Shield Dash]and put himself between Sean and the Golem. He grabbed a branch growing out of the Golem''s head and used all his strength to throw the Golem away from Sean. It just stood back up and stared at Obi. What a resilient beast it was. The Golem exhaled, and the golden form slowly evaporated, and the shimmering-gold skin withdrew itself. The entire body seemed to droop in exhaustion, but the Golem still stood to fight. Obi took one look at the Golem and pitied it. After such a good fight, he didn''t want to end such a good beast. The notion momentarily stopped him, but he knew he had the mana for the killing blow. Obi could hear his client screeching over the mic, and so he muted the channel. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Not only was the Golem angry, but it was also ready to fight. Obi gathered mana in his hand and charged his shield. He activated his[Pivot Point]gem and steadied his foot. As the beast charged at him, Obi threw his body weight against his shield and slammed it against the spine of the Golem. The shield''s blunt point concentrated all the force against it and threw the Golem to the ground. [Golem Health: 0/120] The Golem skid a few feet before stopping against a large boulder. When Obi looked at it, he saw a magnificent creature, one of noble qualities and bravery, yet only created for people like his client to waste their time upon, and just play a game. As he walked up to the defeated Golem, Obi unmuted his Client who was cowering behind a tree. "T-that was so close, hadn''t you been there, I would have been crushed!" "Shut it, Sean, now where''s the money?", Obi gruffly said. Sean slowly extracted himself from the tangle of branches and walked up. As he mustered up the confidence to talk back to Obi, a wire transfer of 17 Thousand in-game credits took place. Sean began, "That was awesommee!! See, I even leveled up! I just want to -" "My work''s done. Now leave my party.", Obi interrupted. He hated it when these brats kept prattling on and on about their fantasies and gear. The loot involved:3x medicinal herbs, 32x Wood Chunks, 2x Magical Leaves. All junk at his level. One item caught his eye though. It was a mythical rank gem. He pocketed it before turning away to look at it later. It was time for Obi to log off. His 4-hour timer had just gone off, and no amount of justification could keep his guardian, Dern, from scolding his ears off. His armor had taken a beating. It would anyways take a long time for his[Shield Dash]to recharge. Obi''s combat tag wore off, and he was able to teleport back to spawn. The Devs had changed the decorations for the occasion. FelliFest was around the corner, and they couldn''t miss a chance to brighten up the place with some bits and bobs. As Obi logged off, he watched the red streaks fly by him as he ''flew up''. It never got old. He would be able to surprise his sister, Sara, with a present today. The paycheck of today''s quest granted himleeway for another month. The world slowly transitioned to black, and all noise faded until Dern took the headset off. Chapter 1 - Thoughts To Withhold After Obi''s long Dive, Dern was not happy with him. The peace of the Weld was interrupted by a yank, and incessant screeching from the overprotective butler. Dern knew the family''s predicament, knew about the financial struggles and knew that Obi was always in turmoil about his baby sister. "You know you can''t stay there for that long! You know the reports, I know the reports, YOU COULD GO MAD!", Dern screeched at Obi. Obi didn''t have a response. He never had one. He just stared at the gently lit ceiling, waiting for the rage to pass. Interestingly, Obi could make out new patterns in the ceiling. A swirl here, and a different shade there. Suddenly, Obi snapped back into existence; seeing that Dern had folded his arms and was looking at him intently. "You know what I was doing Dern. It''s not new. I know I was in there long, and I accept it may damage me, but fail-safes are put into place for reasons." "Oh, I don''t buy that at all! Your 4 hours here are 16 hours in there. Who knows when they''ll malfunction and permanently damage you in the end. You know Rory? Sector 12, A4? He had to be sent to a medical ward for multiple seizures! You can''t go on like this forever, if something happens to you, then... Who''ll take care of her?" That hit a deep spot inside of Obi. His only weak link was his precious little sister. He would do anything for her. Absolutely anything, such was the deep love he had for her. He stared back up at the ceiling again. Head rested against his wheelchair, and thoughts racing inside his mind. "I''ll try next time. I got 12 today. Not a hefty sum, but it''ll work. I wanna surprise Sara. When is she gonna be home? I heard she has some events today?" Obi wheeled over to the Holoscreen and clipped the table in the process. He groaned as he fell limp to the floor. "Sometime around 5 PM, she told me - which is just around 3 hours from now.", Dern said as he rushed over to help Obi back to his wheelchair. "Still a bit woozy eh, Obyn?" ''It''s Obi, not Obyn." Obi carefully positioned himself against the screen. He flicked through catalogs while nonchalantly shrugging. He peered at some items, but let them go. Most of them were too expensive for his budget. He found a scarf and immediately placed it to order. It was perfect. Just a solid grey color, and with pink running down the middle of it. Sara would love it, especially as it would go along with her pink prosthetic arm. "I placed it to order, it should arrive before she does.", Obi said cheerily. "You HAVE to be out of your mind! Our credit supply is already dwindling, and now you just spend it on a scarf?", Dern scolded.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "I have it covered. There should be a transfer of 17 thousand credits to our account, go check that. And while you''re at it, go check in on the mail. Hopefully, there''s some reply from the courts." Obi''s parents had kept a will ready before their death, and it stated that most of the assets and the family money would go to Obi, and some precious items locked away until he was 18, the legal adult age. Their family lawyer, C. Maglen, was a sneaky and cunning man; he was after the assets for a long time, and now he wanted to lay hands on them more than ever after Obi''s parents died. Maglen told the court that Obi could have a small portion of the inherited money, and a small rented house that he would provide, and twisted the will to his advantage by telling the courts to keep custody of the money and the items until he was 18. There was only 3 months until he was 18. Obi waited for Dern to go outside the house before rolling up to the wall and punching it as hard as he could. Wincing from the pain, he shut his eyes and calmed himself. Drifting off into another world, a world of his own. ~The Next Day~ ''I don''t think about the future. About what would happen when she becomes older. I would have to tell her the truth. The real reason why our parents were dead. About who they were, what they did, and how important they were.'' Obi thought. He turned onto his side. ~Crash~ The next thing he knew, Obi was sprawled across the floor with his tongue lolling on the floor. His bed''s side legs had fallen off, making him roll off and smash into his bedside table. The table was beyond repair now. Its hollow insides had been smashed in. Dern rushed in to investigate. He helped Obi into his wheelchair while tutting. "What a pity. Such a spontaneous occurrence isn''t it. Looks like it could have been worse, the table saved you from rolling farther." Dern took a closer look at the bed. He reached out to pick up one of the legs and was shocked to find all the fasteners missing! "I''ve found the reason. The fasteners have been removed from the legs!", Dern said while checking the other leg and confirming his suspicion. Obi snapped out of his reverie and took a careful look at the legs. It was 7 in the morning and he knew that no-one else could have tampered with it. Yesterday was a Wednesday, so it was only Obi, Dern, Sara and - "It could have been that cleaning lady. She was in here yesterday to mop up the house.", Dern suggested. "Well then, call her here. We need to have a talk." Sara meekly peeped around the door. She was ready for school, in her uniform, wearing her schoolbag, and clutching a small lunchbox. She had been watching them talk for the entire incident and seemed nervous. "It was me, Owi. I took them out for fun." She held out her palm filled with shiny metal screws, all neatly taken out and arranged in order of size. Obi was angry, but when he saw those beautiful wide blue eyes, he softened up a little. "I only did ith ''cause ith was gonna be funny, and I thougth it won''th gonna hurt big bwother.", Sara looked sad. "I wath only playing..." Sara''s front teeth had fallen out only a week before, and she still wasn''t used to it. Obi''s heart swelled. He was blessed to have such a good sister. All his anger floated away and he rolled up to Sara. "I''m thowwy Obi", Sara apologized. "It''s okay, Sara. This time, I didn''t get hurt. Being like this is good, but don''t take it too far, okay? That''s my good girl!" Obi ruffled her hair and sent her off to school. It was time for another dive in the weld, and this one was important. He had received a message from his gaming buddy, Cole. He had wanted to talk about some kind of a quest. Chapter 2 - The Meeting With Dern watching, Obi slipped on his headset. As all the background noise faded away, he could hear Dern''s faint voice telling him to be careful. His vision changed from black to horizontal streaks of silver. *Ding* A chime sounded in his head, and the streaks changed from silver to green. Obi lost all feeling to his limbs. He could see them, and move them in the virtual space, but there was no tactile response. "Connection successfully acquired. Ready to proceed with Kernel Sync. Voice confirmation required." The voice echoed all around him. It was his Dive Assistant, Emma, or that''s what he called her. "Hello Emma, confirm Kernel Sync. Hot Dive 2," Obi confirmed. "Kernel Sync completed. Welcome, Obyn, diving to Eternal Awakening." The streaks around him sped up and turned a light blue. A rushing sound filled his ears until the streaks became lines and then faded to a light blue that covered his vision completely. He shut his eyes, and when he opened them again, Obi was back at the spawn where he had logged out. Obi took a deep breath and took a few steps. The decorations from his last dive were gone, replaced by a few stark trees and the normal orange bushes. The air was fresh and laced with the smell of cinnamon. He was half an hour early to the meeting, so he walked down the cobbled path. Obi''s eyes flitted around until he saw a nice place to sit down until he spotted a flat roof that was in a perfect position to catch the wind. He used his [Leap] ability to jump up and land on his knee. Obi sat down and materialized his sack, spilling out the contents. x2 [Starter Gems], x3 [Rare Gems], x1 [Mythical Gems] Obi had found a mythical gem during his battle with the Golem. He had pocketed it to look at it later and now was his chance. --- [Double Swing]If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. When a first attack swings through the air, another one can immediately be executed in the opposite direction, ''phasing'' through the target. DMG: 30 + 40, 10 minute recharge --- Obi could not believe his eyes when he saw the gem. He had a [Stray''s Broadsword] from a large quest he had done before. Though not impressive, it had two gem slots. Obi had only one gem for the sword and had been meaning to acquire one for a long time. Luck had it that he would find something so rare! He examined his slots carefully and held the gem near the sword. Mythical gems had a purple-red aura around them. As he brought the gem closer, the shining jewel pulled itself into the sword and snapped into place. A glowing aura formed around the broadsword as Obi held it up. He was about to re-sheath it when the gem glowed a bright white, blinding him for a few seconds. When the glowing stopped, Obi found that the two gems he had on the sword had a golden link connecting them. He realized that the two gems had fused together to create more powerful versions of each other. Somehow, the two abilities had a way to link up to each other. Obi couldn''t wait to use them in battle now. "Hey! Are you done lounging up there? I ain''t got time for wasting time!" Cole had found him. Obi jumped down from the roof. He joined a personal chat with Cole. "Hey, Cole! Why''d you bring me down here? Not another cat video, I hope," Obi jested. "Oh, shut up. Have you looked at the Board recently?" The Board referred to an in-game pinboard, where all announcements are made - reaching all over the vast map. "No, why? I don''t think anything popped up recently," Obi said while pulling up the Board. He projected it out, a light emanating from his chest. Cole flicked by a few pins and found what he was looking for. He double-tapped the pin to make it larger. "They''ve put up a tournament and it''s been gathering some publicity. The winner gets any item of their choosing from the game, and also a special limited one-time-only reward. I have no hopes in us going that far, but maybe we''ll aim for something good. It''ll do us some good too." Obi''s eyes widened. He scrolled down, looking at the rewards. He noticed that it was a lot of resources for one tournament. "You think that there''s something else about this tournament? I feel like the devs are trying to change the balance of the game here. Remember my theories? How this game would have Phases, and we were in Phase 2, Phase 1 being Beta? I guess that this will lead to something big. Maybe a whole world relaunch or a transition into a new Phase. I''m looking at a HUGE update here." "Keep all that aside, have you looked at the prizes? The top 3 teams get 1 Million credits... each!" "But we don''t have a team. We''re not even in a guild!" Obi sat down on the bench. This conversation had been a waste of time. "C''mon Obi, I can find freelancers! We should try to get something out of this tournament! We can''t waste an opportunity." Obi nodded his head slowly. "I''ll post a call for people who are interested today. The tournament is a long way off, so we should start grinding too. Get each other to Level 100." "That''s my Obi!" Chapter 3 - New Individuals Obi logged out of Eternal Awakening and entered his Virtual Box. "Hello again, Emma." "Welcome back, Obyn." "Ah! You remind me too much of Dern. Change Profile name to Allestein, Obi." "Profile name changed. Welcome back, Obi." "Thank you, Emma. Dive to my personal workspace, please." "Initiating Dive..." Obi felt as if he was accelerating through the tunnel. The white room broke away into pieces and dissolved into the walls of the tunnel. Once again, everything faded into a dazzling white and Obi closed his eyes. He opened his eyes to see his dull, grey room appear before him. It was a messy sight. His notes on strategy littered the room, some crumpled, and others neatly stacked. There was little to nothing on the walls, only a notes-board, and a holo-screen. There were 3 workbenches in all, one that he used for planning, one that he used for socializing or reading, and one that was used for some kind of big projects, or tasks. Though the latter was mainly used to sort through all the papers he had lying around. Today, he would be spending most of his time online. Obi walked up to the holo-screen and switched it on. He sat down on his plush chair and put on his V-Glove. A V-glove allowed Obi to type using his fingertips, touching his thumb to his index would be A, touching this thumb to his second finger would be E, and so forth. Double-tapping would change the letters. Obi had learned to use this very efficiently and had even reverse-engineered another glove for his left hand, for tasks like hitting ''Enter'' with 1 tap instead of touching his thumb to his palm. He pinched the air with the glove to move the cursor and opened up his desktop. Obi had never been in a guild, never thought it would be necessary for him. He went onto a social networking site, Flick''n''Flit, where most of the gamers on Eternal spent their free time on. Obi only had a following of 30 because he didn''t post very much, but that doesn''t matter in F''n''F where a message can reach almost everyone regardless of follows. Obi started composing a post. --- To all Fighters, I''m assembling a team for a tournament coming up. If you''re above level 50, and would like to fight ~ Instamessage me. - @Obi (Obyn Allestein) --- He pressed ''Post'', and the message was sent across the 9 Towers. Obi sat back in his chair and rocked. It was time to wait and watch. He slapped on his earbuds and opened up a random podcast. Announcer: And those were some sick beats from AJ. Now we have our history segment from Barrie. Stay on for the ride through the epics! Barrie: Thanks, Ned! Don''t worry folks, this won''t be boring! Today we have the age-old story of how the New World came to fruition. A smile spread throughout Obi''s face. He loved this story. Getting up, and materializing a cushion, he sat back down and kept listening.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Barrie: Life wasn''t always like how it is now. There used to be 7 continents, and nearly a population of 15 billion in the entire world. Our predecessors were not as advanced as we are now. They used the ground as their main transport, and never utilized the skies properly. Their governments were constantly at each other''s throats, and peacekeeping organizations could not resolve the issues. One fateful day, an asteroid was spotted hurtling towards the earth. It was massive, and the UNSO predicted that it would land in what they called the Pacific Ocean. The United Nations Space Organization took it lightly, they didn''t know what would happen when the impact was absorbed by the earth. When the concave asteroid entered the atmosphere, it began to spark due to entering the atmosphere. Pressure built up inside the concave area of the asteroid, nearly increasing to the pressure of 12 atmospheres. As the asteroid made an act with the ocean, the tonnes of pressure explosively released, creating a shockwave that sent water flying. In minutes, coastlines were flooded and water seeped inward, affecting not only the area near the Pacific Ocean but the rest of the world as well. The next day, a lot of land had been lost to the Tsunami, even completely eradicating the giant landmass of Australia from the map. Islands were lost in an instant, even what people considered high ground on the mainlands were sunken beneath the surge. Panic ensued, and records were hazy from that point on. What we last knew of the Old World was that small patches of land had survived. Refuge for the minuscule amount of people still left alive. The world population dropped from 20 Billion to 7 Million across the globe. Reconstruction began, leading into the New World. A central tower was built in Asia. These towers were extremely tall, each around 4-5 thousand feet tall. They all had a main cylinder going down the center of the massive constructions. A support structure spiraled around the main cylinder, connecting to platforms that were separated by only 30 feet each. On the platforms, houses were built, and that is how we came to know life as it is now. A rail system was first developed, to bring transport people up and down the massive building. It was later abandoned for a recently developed hovercraft system that was much more efficient and quick. In the spirit to uni- *Ding* Obi was jolted back into reality with a ping from F''n''F. He had received a reply from his post earlier. Then he saw, not 1, but 3 replies. He must have really zoned out while listening to the podcast! The first reply was as follows: --- Hey @Obi! I''m a cross-class character, 60% Assassin, 40% Elementalist. I''m at level 78 right now, and I would be very willing to join! I''ve been in the game since it was in Beta, and I''m sure I could help you out. In-game name is EmilyE. I''d be happy to grind if you need me to. - @EmilyE (Emily Evergreen) --- Emily sounded promising. You really didn''t find cross-classing these days. She was definitely on the team for now. The second reply was as follows: --- @Obi, My in-game name is Melissmarine, and my character is a level 48 Aquatic Coryphee. Don''t count me out so soon. Meet up with me, and I''ll show you what I can do. - @Melissmarine (Melissa Cennt) --- Obi was a bit skeptical about Melissa, but he''ll have to wait and see. The third and final reply was as follows: --- Heyo @Obi! I''m a longrunnin'' old dude from Tower 6, up in Europe. My characters a bullet and a half, a level 70 Gunslinger. I''m up for any task ya got for me, and I was a veteran in the Megapolis War. I can help command a team. So what? You up to take me in, boy? - @Tuggernaut (Tug Himmer) --- Obi wasn''t so sure about Tug either, but hey! He''ll take whatever he gets. Obi started creating a common reply to all of them. He could see the potential. --- @EmilyE, @Melissmarine, @Tuggernaut, Thank you for replying. Meet me at Fern Forest at 2 O''clock, 2 days from now, in real-time. I''m looking forward to meeting all of you. - @Obi (Obyn Allestein) --- Obi sent a quick message to Cole about the replies, and told him to come to Fern Forest too. Nearly nodding off on the workbench, he decided it was time to take a short break. He took some time to consider sleeping right then and there, but Dern''s harsh scolding yesterday was still fresh in his mind. He took off his V-gloves and shut down the holo-projector. He was about to leave when he found a picture of Sara lying in a corner. Picking it up, Obi smiled and pinned it to the board. Picking up a tablet, he scrolled through the feed. He opened the Board and went to the tournament page, where the prizes were shown. It said that the tournament began in 10 days. Obi knew he should start preparing. Maybe get to level 100 with Cole''s help. He logged out of the Weld for now. Once again, Dern took off the headset. Chapter 4 - A Visit to the Hospital A fresh smell of cinnamon wafted through the open window, and birds chirped to their heart''s content. Due to the tower''s hierarchical structure, the rich could buy houses near the higher end of the tower, and the poor would be stuck on the lower end. Sadly, Obi and his sister got the short end of the stick with their lawyer. He gave them a run of the mill, block apartment, with barely any furnishings. Obi was forced to build his way up from scratch, only depending on his gaming to support his sister and sometimes Dern, though Dern got a monthly stipend from the care organization. With all the love he had for his sister, he knew he couldn''t stay in that house forever, yet Maglen wouldn''t allow them to move out due to holding all of Obi''s assets with him. That was soon going to change, and the pressure would finally ease off Obi''s shoulders. *** It was a Saturday morning and a holiday for all schools in Tower 9. Sara had begun to complain about pain in her arm, so Obi needed to take her to the hospital to get the prosthetics checked. They both got ready very early in the morning and had a breakfast of Cere-O''s with chocolate milk. At the table, Sara seemed very uncomfortable. She kept shifting her arm around while eating, and the spoon was noticeably shaking violently. The spoon clattered to the floor, dropping cereal all over it. When her arm began to twitch, Obi had seen enough. "Oh, Sara! Don''t worry, it''ll be fine once we come back! Here, let me clean it up." He grabbed a napkin and cleaned up the mess. Picking up the spoon, he tossed it into the sink and took out a new one. Obi rolled back over to the table and pressed a few hidden switches to turn off the out-of-control hand. Since she couldn''t eat with her other hand, Obi fed her. He grabbed a spoon of the cereal and waved it in front of her. "Here comes the hovercraft! Open your mouth, Sara! Vroooooom!" Sara giggled after chewing. "I''m thoo old for thath bwother!" Obi smiled and brought up another spoon. As he fed Sara, he wondered about what Doc would say about the arm. She would definitely tell him to get a new one, but what could he do? He didn''t have the credits nor the influence to get a new one. The one that Sara had right now had been repaired nearly 25 times already. They both finished breakfast and were getting ready to head out. Obi wrote out a note for Dern to read when he came back from the stores. Obi called out for Sara, and he heard a muted reply from her room. Seconds later, she bounded out of the room with a teddy bear tucked underneath her left arm and come up to Obi. He just shook his head and smiled. "Are you ready now? Let''s go!"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. They both made their way out of their block complex and took a stroll to the landing port. Along the way, Sara told Obi all about her school, and how she loved it there. He could admit that she was kind of hard to follow, but he listened attentively nonetheless. They reached the port after nearly 10 minutes. Obi was still amazed at the immense size of the tower, and yet they said that this was one of the smaller towers. They went into the port and waited for a hovercraft to come up. It was usually only 3 minutes between the crafts, so Obi remained patient. Sara had found a friend to play with, a small kid who was clutching an action figure, and the two were roleplaying, Sara with her teddy bear and the boy with his figure. The hovercraft landed and Sara rushed back over to Obi. They moved over to the craft and got in with 3 other people. One was a man who looked bedraggled. He had an arched back and only a cane to support him up. The other two were mother and child, the child being the boy who was playing with Sara. They continued playing while the mother and Obi both watched over them. Obi reached over to press the button for the medical floor when he saw it was already pressed. The man must also be going to the medical floor. The woman and the boy both got off at the stores and only Obi, Sara and the man were left in the elevator. They got off and headed straight for the main block, where Obi had set an appointment with his doctor, Mary Thimbles, or Doc, as he called her. The doors slid open to reveal a white, clinical wall with a receptionist''s desk in front of it. They were told to wait a bit, and so Obi pulled up a newspaper while Sara talked to her teddy bear. Obi finally saw Doc walking hurriedly towards Obi with her aides. She was a very good friend of Obi''s parents, and for some reason, she was very fond of the two. She led them to another medical block, this one being only half the size of the main block. She took them to a viewing room in the block. Taking a look at Sara''s am, Doc smiled. "Oh, it''s nothing to worry dear, I just have to replace the readers in the arm. My assistant here will take you into that beautiful room there, and she''ll fix it! If you behave, I''ll even give you a candy. How does that sound, sweetheart?" Sara only nodded her head and stared at the assistant. They both went to the room and Doc had a staredown with Obi. "You said you would let me take a look at your legs the next time you would come up here. Now lift them up." Doc inspected the frail, thin legs and looked back up at Obi. "You''re gonna have to get out of that wheelchair soon, or you''ll never be able to get back out of it." "But Doc, you know I''ve not got enough money and Sara is just¡ª" "No Obi, don''t give me that crap. I know how much Sara means to you, but you can''t just live like this forever. I''ll see what I can do about the cost, but as a doctor in the United Front, there''s not much I can legally do." Obi just looked at her with blank eyes. "Alright, I''ll try my best, but I''d only give you an appraisal of around 3 months before you''re permanently in that wheelchair." Sara came back out of the room with a fixed arm. She moved it just to be sure and beamed a huge smile. "Thank you, Doc!" "It''s no problem Sara, were you well-behaved?" "Yea!" "Alright baby, here''s a chocolate. Remember, save it for later." Doc knelt and pulled out a sticker roll. "Doc''s even gonna give you a sticker! Which one do you want?" "Ooh! The heart!" "The heart it is then!" She stuck the heart sticker to the prosthetic and stood back up. Obi turned back to Doc and asked, "How much, Doc?" "I''ll waive it this time, go have fun!" They both went out of the block and towards the port. Sara kept chatting about how nice everyone was to her, and how it was fixed. It took them around a half-hour to get back home, mostly due to Sara just being overexcited about her fixed arm. Obi was exhausted after all that movement, but he wanted to check if he got any messages from F''n''F. He loaded up his gear and went into the Weld. Emma popped up into the space. "Connection successfully acquired. Ready to proceed with¡ª" Everything blacked out and a message popped up in front of him. Announcement: The Weld is shutting down for a small 45-minute maintenance break, please try logging in later. Obi took the headset off and regrettably flopped himself onto his bed. He would have to log back in the next day. Chapter 5 - A Show of Skill It was a new day and Obi rolled off his bed and into his wheelchair. It was a perfect Sunday with cool winds and a clear sky. Dern was getting Sara ready as she wanted to go to the park to play. They all had breakfast together and Dern took Sara out. Obi went through the normal Dive procedures and headed straight into EtA. He was planning to do a little bit of training before the meeting to loosen himself up. Coincidentally, he found Cole near the Desert Trader with a stack of old gear on the table. He walked up to Cole and tapped on his shoulder. "Hey, Cole! Funny seeing you here, great Warden. I thought you were supposed to be in Sylis, doing a few contracts. What are you still doing in Cylvador? You won''t be able to train easily in the forests." "You see, Obi. I need a challenge. I just reached level 80, and you know what that means. I''m not a Warden anymore, you call me a Warlord now. Watch me." Cole pulled out his regular sword, the one he carried all the time, and Obi just stared. "What''s different?" "You still haven''t seen it. Now look." Cole pulled out a previously invisible second sword and waved it around with his left hand. He twirled them around and took a stance. "That is cool, but can you do anything with it?" "You want to see? Come to the training ground." Cole leaped skywards, nearly reaching 50 feet in height, and landed straight in front of the training ground. "Showoff," Obi muttered to himself, and he trudged over to the ground while loosening himself up for the fight. He found Cole smirking at him while leaning against a wooden wall. They went over to the Gatekeeper and asked for a pass to the ground. Gatekeeper: Welcome to the training ground. Would you like to proceed? Cole responded with, "For the two of us please." Gatekeeper: Very well then, enter and train. Your items and gear have been kept as a backup, your status and profile will be reverted when you exit the grounds again. 20 credits will be deducted from you. The gate lifted and the two were led into a transparent dome. They stood at opposite sides and waited for the center wall to be lifted. Cole gave a signal and a countdown began. Obi prepared himself by readying his shield and checking his equipped gems. As soon as the wall vanished, he ran along the edge with his back always towards the curved wall. Cole whipped out his two swords, and then seemed to reconsider. He put away one of his swords and pulled out a dagger. He slowly closed the gap with Cole, barreling straight for the thin, toned Warlord. While sprinting, Obi looked away for a second to check his health and mana. He saw a flash out of the corner of his eye and involuntarily raised his shield. *Twang* He saw a dagger poking out of his shied and was startled. Cole wasn''t a ranged class, he had always been Melee. Obi slowed down and took a look at Cole. He just waved another dagger and threw it. Obi dodged it and started to think more strategically. By the time he had reached Cole, he had formulated a plan. Cole approached him with his two swords and swung at Obi with one. He used his shield to block and brought out his sword as well. They exchanged blows for a bit, and Obi realized that Cole was very proficient with his second sword, though he did notice that using a second sword required Cole to use up a little bit of mana to keep the sword steady and block attacks. Obi used his shield to go on complete defense while he charged mana into it. Using a lot of his stored mana, he used his [Triplet Shield] ability. His shield glowed gold and created two duplicates that surrounded him from all sides. They rotated around him to protect all sides and gave him the freedom to let go of his shield and focus more on his sword.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. He checked his mana bar and it showed him that he had barely enough to use his new sword ability. Once again, Obi channeled mana into his sword and activated his Mythical [Double Swing] ability. He led into a massive swing that phased in and out of Cole, heavily damaging him. He didn''t release the momentum, instead, he spun against his 3 shields and carried all his force into his [Mighty Cut] ability. Cole swung back with unnatural speed and blocked the heavy attack with both his swords. They both pressed forward, but with Obi not being a sword main, Cole won the struggle and pushed Obi down, twirling his main sword and stabbing down with mana concentrated at the tip of the sword. The attack struck one of the shields and cracked. The two golden mirages merged back into the large shield and it fell to Obi''s side. They both stopped and faced each other once again. Picking up his shield, Obi took up a battle stance. "Oh, I''m finished. You saw my new abilities? You unlock so much more power at level 80!" Obi relaxed and sheathed his sword. "How''d you throw those daggers? You''re a melee class right?" "That''s the kind of power you get when you level up a class. You''re at level 79, and I want to see what you turn into!" "Alright, let''s go fight something then¡ªOH SHIT! I have a meeting with some people who''re interested in joining the team." Obi checked the time, it was 2:05. "I''ve gotta run, wanna tag along?" "Sure, I''m also gonna be in the team anyway, so it won''t hurt to know who''s on it." They used the spawn teleport to instantaneously travel to Fern Forest. Obi looked around for a bit while Cole fiddled with his rucksack. After he was finished, they both headed towards the Shedee tree, one that towered above the rest of the forest, and was the Forest King''s Daughter''s home. She occasionally had quests, but not very important ones. Today, barely anyone had bothered to hang around. The group stuck out like a sore thumb, one with shimmering blue and green armor and lithe figure, another with some kind of Dancer''s attire, and the last with a long beard and grey heavy armor with a hand cannon over his shoulder. The two approached the group and sized them up. The girl in the Dancer''s costume spoke up first. "So you''re Obi, huh? And you are?" "I''m Cole. I''ll be the other Leader for this team." Obi looked at the ragtag bunch and sighed. "Alright, everyone introduce themselves. I''ll start. My name is Obi Allestein and I''m a level 79 ShieldWielder. For all of you who don''t know, that''s basically the equivalent of an offensive tank. I''ve had experience in this game from Alpha stage, so I know a lot about it. You next, Cole." Cole looked to him and nodded. He unsheathed both his swords for dramatic effect and began. "My name is Cole Magnus. I''m a level 80 Warlord, and I''ve been playing for the same length of time as Obi. I can fight very well, and I have a whole slew of abilities from melee to ranged." The Dancer spoke up next. The one on the right, who Obi suspected to be Emily, was unnaturally quiet. He glanced at her before he turned to the Dancer and urged her to continue. "My name is Melissa Cennt. I''m an Aquatic Coryph¨¦e, and that means I can buff people by dancing. My real profession is being a Ballerina, so this fits me very well. I''ve been playing for round about half a year." Melissa ended by twirling about. The man with the hand cannon spoke. He had a very rough and deep voice, like he smoked frequently, and been through tough times. "Tug here. Tug Himmer. Ah was battlin'' in the Megapolis war. Rough times, them. I''m a tough, heavy hitter, can summat trust my big guns o''er here. Put me through anything, ah''ll always be by yer side. Ah''m a level 70 Gunslinger. Pack a punch, I can!" Tug lifted his Hand Cannon and took aim at a tree. He blasted the trunk, and birds flew out from the trees. Great aim, and an even greater hole in the deadwood tree. "My name''s Emily Evergreen. I''m a cross-class, and I decided to go for Assassin and Elementalist. I can throw down some good spells, and if you need me to, I can sneak up on targets. I''m very quick and very fast. Since I''m an Elementalist as well, I can use all kinds of spells, and work in all kinds of environments. I''ve been playing since Beta, and I''m currently at level 78."
Obi shifted and knew that there was something off about Emily. He shook it off and proceeded. "Alright. To check, we have a Shieldwielder, a Warlord, a Coryphee, a Gunslinger, and a versatile cross-class. That means we have a Tank, a Warrior, Ranged, Support, and Utility. Exactly what we need for a full team." "Yeah!" "Great!" "Perfect!" Emily was the only one who had not responded. She just stared at Obi as they locked eyes. Obi shook his head and thought of it as nothing. "We''re gonna have to train hard if we want to go up against the Guilds. Especially WarMongers and Celerities. Everyone go get whatever you need. Meet you back here, same spot in 30 minutes. Let''s do some training." Everyone headed back over to the teleport and went to their respective cities. Cole and Obi stood looking at each other. "Time to get you to level 80, my friend." Obi looked at Cole and materialized his shield. A smile slowly spread across his face. Chapter 6 - Training Begins Cole and Obi headed deep into the forest. They only had 30 minutes before everyone had to re-convene. Obi noticed a large, beautiful glade in the congested forest, and the two stepped in to look for something to fight. While they searched for something to fight, Cole made a little small talk. "How''s your sister doing?" "Well, I took her for a check-up yesterday, she had a few small tweaks done to her arm." "What about you? Doc prolly said something." "Oh, you know Doc. She gave me an ultimatum and a final date for my leg replacement." ''Damn dude. I know how much you love her, but you should think of yourself too ya know?" "Don''t get me started again, Cole. Drop it." "Aight, don''t ya get jumpy now." Cole unsheathed his sword and mentally turned on his HUD. Seeing this, Obi was about to do the same when a massive spider landed on his head. He screamed and flailed as he tried to get it off, and Cole finally found the opportunity to get it off and kill it. Once the tension wore off, Cole reached out his hand and helped him up. After a few seconds, Cole began to chuckle, and they both broke into all-out laughter. After the light moment began to wear off, Obi checked his Experience bar. Exp: 77,890|79,000 "Hey, I''m only around a thousand away from level 80! Let''s get cracking." Cole headed forward again when he saw a few more spiders. It was easy to get rid of them, maybe even too easy. They kept walking and found a massive cave entrance. "Hey, if there are so many spiders, there should be a spider boss in here somewhere." Obi stopped walking. He was terrified at the thought of spiders and mortified when he saw them. He had nightmares, and he did not want to re-live them. "Oh c''mon. I''ll be right there, just follow me." Obi reluctantly agreed and they trudged into the cave. For the first few minutes, all they saw were small spiders no larger than their heads. After picking them off, they kept continuing deeper and deeper. Once another few minutes had passed, they could hear a rough scuttling in front of the, what seemed like nearly hundreds of spiders. Obi began to hyperventilate as he saw them pour down the congested tunnel. There were hundreds, even thousands of the creepy 8-legged arachnids. They knew they wouldn''t be able to fight the spiders off, and so they turned tail and ran. Thankfully, they were faster than the spiders and were able to sprint back out without a scratch. "Damn, Obi! That was supposed to be a low-level boss battle. I''ve never seen anything like this in Fern Forest!" "Well, who knows? We need a good mage to take that down." "Agreed, we can''t do that on our own. How about we head a bit further in? It''s only been around 10 minutes." They continued deeper into the forest, talking and exchanging stories. They soon came upon a troop of goblins and immediately hid behind some massive trees. "Why are there goblins in the forest, this is fishy. First the spiders and now the goblins." "There is something wrong, Cole, and look, the Chief is level 27. This area is only a level 5-10 zone!" "We better get rid of the group before they terrorize other players." Cole and Obi kept sneaking around the goblin''s camp until they reached the back of the encampment. Obi nodded, and Cole whipped out a dagger, sticking a firm throw straight into the back of a goblin. Cole and Obi both looked impressed. The body quietly fell to the ground and they advanced while keeping an eye out. Cole left most of the kills to Obi, knowing that he needed the experience. They continued until they had eliminated most of the goblin guards in the camp. Instead of directly communicating with Cole, Obi opened up a Voice Chat and mentally talked to him. "Where''s the Chief? I thought he was supposed to be back here?"Stolen novel; please report. "I dunno, maybe he moved?" "Weird." They continued moving forward again, leaving the Chieftain''s hut in shambles. The chief was no-where to be found. His elite bodyguards were also missing. Obi felt a chill run down his spine as he noticed all the weapons missing, and involuntarily, he used his [Shield Dash] Gem and flung himself forward with his shield extended, covering Cole''s open back, and blocking a massive spear, headed straight towards Cole''s head with considerable force. Cole swung himself around and readied another dagger as Obi kept his shield up. His hands were tied as all kinds of weaponry was hurled at his shield. Obi had no choice but to advance into one of the shoddily-built goblin huts and let his mana recover. When he had been building his character, Obi had never worried about his mana storage, but he was now realizing that it was a major problem in his battles. His max mana was around 300 when most of his abilities took over 100 or even more. Cole followed him into the hut just after he retaliated with another dagger throw that just missed one of the attacking goblins. They re-grouped and Obi started re-gaining mana. He had to start using his shield gems more, especially his new [Double Swing] Gem. "So that''s where they''re at, huh? "Goblins are supposed to be stupid, how''d they even know to flank us?" "Man screw that, thanks for the block back there." "Enough talk, time for you to do your damage. Stay behind me until I pop my wall." Obi slotted out his [Triplet Shield] Gem for his [Golden Wall] Gem. When Cole unsheathed his second sword, Obi rushed out with shield in front of him and he had already gained a lot of ground before the knucklehead goblins spotted him. The second he heard weapons clattering behind him, Obi used his [Golden Wall] Gem to give Cole the time and distraction to open up on the enemy. His shield enlarged and was slowly enveloped in gold. His shield glowed bright enough to keep the Goblin''s eyes on it. They were naturally greedy and so were attracted to anything that glowed gold. Cole saw this massive distraction and sprinted around the Goblins to get behind them. They never knew what hit them when two swords wreaked havoc among them. A few minutes later, all the Chieftain''s Elites were on the ground in pieces. Cole backed the Chieftain into a corner and then backed off to let Obi get the kill. The goblin did have a decently sized hitpool, but Obi wanted to do it in style. He walked up to the goblin and pulled his sword out from his back. Activating his [Double Swing] Gem, Obi cut into the goblin, and the ability phased the sword back through. [Chieftain Health: 20/100] Seeing that the Chieftain was still not dead, Obi swung around gracefully and decapitated the poor goblin. [Chieftain Health: 0/100] [Level Up! Current Level 80] "Yeah! You did it!" "Let''s go! I''ll check the Chieftain, you check the bodyguards." Cole nodded and they went in separate directions. Obi knelt and went through the loot. 1x Medicinal Herb, 1x Book of Knowledge, 2x Potion of Healing, 1x Goblin''s Spear, 6x Mana Fruit, 1x Chieftain''s Battle Axe, 1x Secret Gem, 2x Epic Gem "Hey Cole, this guy''s got some really good loot." Cole didn''t find much of interest, and he came back empty-handed. When he saw the loot, his jaw dropped and he started picking through it all. "You can have the spear and axe, and we can split the Mana Fruit. You can also take an Epic Gem, I''ll take the other two." "Alrighty, Obi." Obi checked the Gems, and he found that the Secret one was for his shield and the Epic one was for his sword. He put them in his sack before turning to face Cole. "Well, it''s time to pick your next class, go on." "Don''t rush me, Cole." Obi opened up his in-game menu and it materialized in front of his eyes. Reaching out to scroll to his profile, he opened the screen so Cole could see the options as well. There was a glowing circle next to his avatar, and Obi touched it. Interestingly, instead of showing his options, a portal similar to a dive appeared and started to suck him in. Cole quickly grabbed onto Obi so he could go with him. They found themselves in a black room, and 3 choices were placed in front of him. He could see how his character would be impacted and how it would be changed if he picked each class. "It''s this fancy because this is the last stretch before max level. Ya have to choose wisely. The three choices were: ¡ªShielded Crusader ¡ªHammer Paladin ¡ªAuthority Obi spent a few minutes looking at each one, and immediately overlooked the Shielded Crusader and crossed it off his list. He was left with Hammer Paladin and Authority, but he couldn''t make up his choice. The Hammer Paladin would be able to tank, but boost up the team more, whereas the Authority would be able to soak up way more damage. He wondered if he could dual-class this late into the game, and the game read his thoughts before dropping an option to dual-class. It would cost him a few hundred credits to change this far into the game, but he accepted anyways, and Cole was shocked when both classes merged into one and were sucked into Obi. "I''m dual-classing now, Cole." "Holy shit that''s awesome! I never got that option though." "Well, I don''t know how that happened either. I''ll test my new powers out when we start training with the others." They were brought back into the game, and Obi pulled out his sword, now turned hammer. Cole gasped with shock as Obi grew with the armor growing with him, with Cole now standing at elbow height to Obi. His shield grew as well, almost covering his entire body while being impressively wide. Obi stood regally, with hammer and shield deployed. "I''m a Paladin, and an Authority." "Wow. You look amazing and terrifying at the same time! Let''s get back to the Shedee tree, we''re late and the others will be waiting"
Chapter 7 - Grouped Problems Obi and Cole were nearing the end of the soft, heavy-trodden road, one they had traveled for another few minutes. All around, the trees surged from the earth, scattering rainwater through the canopy. Snatches of white sky flickered between webs of brown and brittle leaves. Branches were flayed and the ground was covered in a rustling shroud of dry flakes. Their journey was encompassed mostly in silence. They didn''t speak, nor did they want to; instead they took the time to scout out areas for training, marking promising spots on a map found inside Cole''s rucksack. The day had quickly shifted to night as they trudged along, leading back to the Shedee tree. Just as they crossed into the clearing, a flock of crows lifted into the hazy orange sky as the sun began rising, just peeking out from the horizon. Below their feet, the two could feel branches moving about, slithering as if they were alive. A deep rumble caught everyone''s attention, and the movement underneath intensified. Cole knelt to the earthen floor, his fine silken cloak settling on the ground as a soft breeze began to speed up around them. "The nature spirits are agitated, they try to seek cover within me." Emily cried out. Cole pressed his hand to the ground as the winds grew stronger. He could feel the Nature Princess in distress. Probing further, he closed out all sound from around him, allowing his mind and body to become one with the earth. Mentally looking further down, he could see an image forming on the back of his eyelids. There was a flash of light, and he felt as if he was floating. Surrounded by darkness, he reached out to feel nothing, only to suddenly find that ground had appeared underneath him. His leather rucksack began to float upwards from its holster, and Cole reached to secure it in place. As his attention was diverted, a whisper began to form in the back of his mind. He turned sharply, but there seemed to be no-one behind him. A voice called out to him, his name, each syllable sounding raspy and hoarse. Almost as if it came from someone on their deathbed, yet the voice was ever more so powerful, commanding, even. Cole was enticed to take steps towards the voice, when he started. A chilling, wet substance began to flow into his boot, freezing him in place. Cole didn''t know what to do, or where he was, but he tried to shake off the ominous feeling and move against what seemed to be a flowing current of the substance, increasing in velocity as he moved towards the voice. A tug on his wrist made him start again, only to find nothing to cause it. Cole looked up, to find the roof of a cave when a drop of water hit him on the forehead. Another voice, in the back of his mind, came to life. It whispered into him, this time, almost pained, but a feminine voice he recognized almost instantly, it was the Princess. "Don''t go." She said, and Cole obeyed, retreating to where he thought he had begun. Just as he took another step, a loud, shrill scream pierced his mind, and he dropped to his knees while covering his ears to no avail. The Princess was in pain, and in great danger. Reaching out with his hand, he mentally receded to the mortal plane and noticed he had shifted a few meters. Thankfully, time had not seemed to pass, and Obi hadn''t noticed the shift. Cole decided to keep the raspy voice to himself, but hold back on everything.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Obi, the Princess seems to be hurt! I sense a quest here. Split into calls!" They had to shout over the wind to overhear each other, and the winds grew stronger, to the point where a shill howling began. Obi gestured and invited them all into a group Voice Chat. A few seconds later, the chat erupted into noise and Obi realized the chaos his soon-to-be team was in. He activated Loud Shout and spoke over all of them. "Get yourselves together, Cole thinks it''s a quest. Now''s the time to work together." "Yes, Sir!" "Of course, Obi." "Where do you need me?" The last response caught Obi by surprise. Emily had some kind of glowing green ball of energy in one hand, and a small, inconspicuous dagger in the other. He stared at the dagger before nodding and responding. "Stay with me. Melissa, Tug, and Cole go to the main entrance to the Shedee tree. Cole, I''ll follow through with a charge." Everyone sounded off, and they headed their ways. Obi fought through the harsh winds and noticed that everyone else was struggling. It was time to test his new class. Obi threw down his shield and sheltered behind it. Emily followed the lead and stayed behind him, almost 2 feet shorter than him, and sporting a much leaner build, she was easily able to stay behind him with room to spare. The made it a few feet before a sudden gust nearly blew Obi off his feet. He stuck his shield down and knew that they wouldn''t get any further with the shield''s help. Obi looked over at the other group''s progress, and thankfully, they had all made it. It seemed as though the wind had died down there but only grew stronger where Obi was. He looked back at Emily, and she looked determined, but helpless. "I could control the wind, but I''m not powerful enough ''cause I''m cross-classing." An idea struck Obi, and he turned back around, surveying the area. As soon as he poked his face out from the shield, the buffeting wind blinded him, and he ducked back down. Though, he still had a trick up his sleeve. Reaching out with his hand, he pressed the massive digits to the back of the shield and chanted. He closed his eyes and felt the mana draw out from his arm. Opening his eyes again, he saw the brown wood, and magical inscriptions fade away slowly while the shield became transparent. He peered through the now clear material and tried looking for a means of escape from the treacherous winds. Emily just looked at him with a quirk of her eye. From her point of view, all she saw was Obi staring into the grain of the brown, wooden shield. "Wha--" Obi hushed her while a plan formulated in his mind. He pulled his hand away from the shield, severing the mana connection and making sure not to waste any in the process. "Emily, could you create air resistance around my shield? I have a plan." "I can try. Air''s not my strong suit." "Do whatever you can. Just make sure you hold on to me." Emily grabbed onto the folds of Obi''s glistening armor and held tight. "But why do--" Obi rocketed forward with the shield, using his [Shield Dash] Gem to circumvent the massive wind force. After the initial shock, Emily steadied herself and helped by casting a layer of air resistance on the shield. They reached the side entrance, a small gap between two massive roots that jutted up from the earth. The roots formed an arch that ended where the two conjoined. Obi had found the lore to this tree, and he had spent days painstakingly collecting all the pieces of lore-scroll to complete the portion of the massive lore that could be found all over the game world. At that moment, he fought the urge to open up the lore-scroll, and looked for the others. *** Cole split off into a separate call when he realized that the wind was somehow interfering with their chats. He knew that the chats operated on a plane different to the game server, and he''d never seen anything like comms being cut off. The second he saw the body on the ground, it clicked. Chapter 8 - It All Begins Cole rushed over to the Princess, holding the arm that she weakly held out. Her jewel-encrusted tiara was over by the left wall, most likely having rolled away by the impact. She was rolled onto her back, and had an unnaturally pale face, whispering incoherently. She was covered in a velvety green robe, with leaves pinned to the edges, and the ends of sleeves. Tug and Melissa had caught up with Cole, with Obi and Emily joining soon after. No-one spoke a word, understanding the severity of a world-changing event. Together, all 5 looked at the Princess as Cole activated the dialogue. Princess: The world is coming to a new expanse, and a new dawn will arise upon you, if action is not taken. They have come for me, and they will go with me. It has begun. Cole was presented with a choice dialogue, and all the others could see. He had the options to:
  1. Ask about the incident 2. Ask who did it 3. Cancel
Together, they chose the first, and dialogue began again. Cole: My Princess, what is this you talk about? What has begun? Princess: I am not the right person to tell you, strong one. When he arrives, tell him that they came, and I shall go in peace. Cole: My Princess! And with those final few words, the life faded from her deep-green eyes, and she stopped breathing. The tree all around them let out a rumbling groan, and the group could visibly see the color seep out from the tree and into the fallen body of the Princess. A massive branch came tumbling towards them, the very structure of the Shedee tree crumbling apart. ¡°The tree is connected to the Princess! If she goes down, the tree goes down with her! RUN!¡± Obi screamed the order in Voice Chat, momentarily stunning them all, until Emily made the move towards the exit. They turned tail and fled out of the cavernous tree, all while more branches crashed down where they had previously been gathered around. They all made it through unscathed, and watched from a distance as the now-gray tree trunk feel in on itself, collapsing and burying the royal Princess in her habitat. Plumes of dust and splinters covered the sky, and the noise slowly faded down as the tree came to a rest. A server announcement pooped up on Obi¡¯s HUD, and he could hear dings from the other 4. [Announcement]: Guild [The Fifth Table] [TFT] has started the server event - Rise of the Fallen Kingdom. All members of this guild will retain a stat boost throughout the duration of the event, and will receive loot based on class. Everyone looked at each other in wonder, until Melissa broke the silence. ¡°Ain¡¯t that our guild?¡± Obi slowly nodded, and looked into global chat. It was being spammed about the event, and some people were asking about the mystery guild. Suddenly people began to shift towards talking about Obi and Cole when someone searched up the guild. He closed world chat and turned his attention back to his teammates. Suddenly, a golden light enveloped everyone¡¯s figures, creating silhouettes of light where they were stood before. In an instant, the glow was gone and gear appeared in front of all of them. Dancer¡¯s shoes for Melissa, two new guns for Tug, a small inscribed dagger and tome for Emily, 3 potions and a new waist-belt for Cole, and finally, a new helmet and 2 Gems for Obi. As they all checked out their gear, Obi put all his exhilaration behind him for the moment, and picked up the loot. Aside from all the gear, stacks of coins were neatly placed in the center, and so was a small runestone.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Obi studied the helmet, pulling up his HUD to check the stats. The helmet he had on him at the moment was one he had found in Sticky Sands, near the Pyroussir city. It was only level 30 gear. He ran his hands over the new helmet, feeling the shiny, scratchless surface, and saw that it was level 80 gear. Immediately, he switched out helmets, knowing the new one would be miles better than the old. The new HUD flickered in, and provided much more information than the old one. The experience was almost like switching from 1080p to 4k. Obi went over to pick up the coins and the runestone. When he examined it, he realized that the group was in for more than they had bargained for. For now, he didn¡¯t want to ruin the mood, so he kept it to himself, and spoke in Voice Chat. ¡°Alright, that was an eventful day. I¡¯d be happy to do this with you guys! Now do what you want, I¡¯m going to have to head back up. I¡¯ll post a time in Guild chat.¡± Everyone sounded off, and Obi headed back to the forest spawn. He knew it was time to get back, and so he ended the Dive, going through the routine, and lifting off the headset. As he rolled over to the kitchen, his trails of thought wandered. He refreshed himself, before mindlessly turning on the radio and heading off to take a bath. Slipping out of his wheelchair and into his bathing chair, he was moved forward into the bathroom. Announcer: And once again, it¡¯s time for a bit of history. Clear your ears and relax, for we have the channel¡¯s most soothing voice, Barrie! Barrie: Oh Ned, cut the praise. We all know it¡¯s the story that interests the folks! Announcer: You do you, Barrie! Barrie: This time, it¡¯s all about the world¡¯s greatest invention that took the New World by storm, and you all know it by the popular term users have created, the ¡®Dive-Set¡¯. It¡¯s now kept in every household in the entirety of the New World, becoming one of the necessities of life, rivalling food and water. The community welcomed it with open arms, and began developing on it. Soon, it became a very popular medium, with apps like Workbench, EtA, and CDE Engine. The mechanics behind this amazing machine is complex and ingenious. On the first time of access, neural connections are formed with the headset, creating a neuro-electronic connection between headset and your brain. With this, the headset is able to communicate motion, feel, movement and more to your brain without you doing anything in the physical world. Connection is made through the Dive Cloud, where signal is boosted to connectors across tower floors, and then broadcasted through massive transmitters at the very top of the towers. Going deeper would require a technical analysis, and that just wouldn¡¯t be interesting at all! Back to you, Ned! Obi had finished bathing and had come out halfway through the radio special. Seeing Dern passed out on the living room couch, he grabbed a blanket and covered Dern. The afternoon sunlight peeked in through the half-open blinds, casting long shadows over the adjacent walls. Though it had been a long time in-game, only 3 hours had passed in the real world. He rolled up to the front door and checked the holo-mail. Only a few coupons from the traders in the shopping floor, and an assignment update from Sara¡¯s school. With nothing else left to do, He moved to Sara¡¯s room. The walls were painted a sky-blue, with clouds near the top. Unlike Obi¡¯s, her room was immaculately kept, with nothing out of place. Seeing a small book lying on the desk, he moved to pick it up. It was titled ¡°The Saunters of Slippery Jack¡±. Smiling, Obi turned around to leave when he heard a little squeak from the far corner of the room. Rolling over to where he heard the little squeak, he found Winston inside his cage. Winston was Sara¡¯s cuddly little gerbil. He was very fluffy, and Sara had always wanted a pet to look after. On her 6th birthday, that was exactly what Obi got her as a present! A cute little gerbil named Winston. He¡¯d grown out of his original cage quite quickly, and Obi had to get a larger cage almost immediately, not that he didn¡¯t like Winston. Honestly, Winston loved them all, and despised any other stranger, even nearly biting off a visitor¡¯s finger when they came to pet him. Reaching out to the treats box, he pet the fuzzball and fed him a few balls of treats. Wondering about the runestone, and the massive implications it made, he decided to sleep all the tension off. Just like Dern, Obi didn¡¯t even get time to get to his bed before he passed out in his wheelchair due to sheer mental exhaustion.