《The Broken Realm Online》 Chapter 1: An Invitation [Jaese - Start] "Melanie?¡± Jaese asked, turning to his partner whom was sitting beside him in the driver''s seat of their squad car. ¡°Yep.¡± Chris replied. ¡°Stephanie?¡± He continued. ¡°Stephanie.¡± ¡°Okay, okay, what about Christina then?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Hmm, which Christina?¡± Chris replied as his brows furrowed. ¡°Blake, the one working dispatch this month.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, definitely.¡± Chris grinned. ¡°Shut up, you¡¯re really saying you¡¯ve been with half our department?¡± Jaese asked with skepticism. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying.¡± Chris bragged. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Jaese sighed, turning his head away to gaze forward through the windshield at an empty city road in front of them, with tall buildings all around them and a clear night sky above. Their police car was currently parked out front of a coffee shop. ¡°Come now, it isn¡¯t so hard. All you have to do is talk to them. You¡¯re handsome enough, they¡¯d probably go for you.¡± Chris shrugged. ¡°Eh, I¡¯m more of a one woman type of guy.¡± Jaese responded. ¡°You¡¯re more of a no woman type of guy.¡± Chris retorted. ¡°I just haven¡¯t me-¡± ¡°All units, we¡¯ve got a 10-33 at the QO Bank on main, possible robbery in progress, requesting two officers to check it out.¡± A woman¡¯s voice transmitted over their police radio. Jaese and Chris both glanced at each other for a moment, then Chris reached forward to grab the police radio¡¯s microphone, but stopped when he heard another voice. ¡°10-4, unit 7 heading.¡± A man¡¯s voice spoke. ¡°We should start heading in that direction just in case.¡± Chris suggested Jaese as he started up the engine. ¡°You really think someone is robbing the bank? Do people even still rob banks?¡± Jaese asked with a raised brow. ¡°Guess we¡¯ll find out.¡± Chris shrugged. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that Christina on the radio just now?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Yep.¡± Chris smirked, moving out of park and heading down the road in the direction of the bank. ¡°Isn¡¯t it weird to work with her now? I mean, uncomfortable and what not?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Listen, you¡¯re putting way too much thought into it. It¡¯s not as complicated as all those movies make it out to b-¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got a 2-11 in progress, shots fired, suspect is armed with a strange weapon!¡± A man shouted over the radio. ¡°Guess people do still rob banks.¡± Chris said as he and Jaese fixed their eyes on the street in front of them and the vehicle picked up speed. ¡°All units, we¡¯ve got a 2-11 in progress at the QO Bank on main, one suspect confirmed armed, shots fired. Code 3.¡± ¡°I regret complaining that night shift is always boring.¡± Chris joked as he grabbed the microphone of their police radio. ¡°Unit 10 en-route.¡± He said into it. Jaese then flicked on the squad car¡¯s sirens and the blue and red lights on the roof of the car began flashing and wailing throughout the sleeping city around them. Their car sped through the streets, turning onto main where they were joined by a second police car driving beside them. ¡°Hey, what is that? Do you see that?¡± Jaese pointed out the windshield, looking up toward the sky. In the glow of the street lights they were driving past they could spot small white flakes of snow fluttering down towards the ground. ¡°Is that snow?¡± Chris said in disbelief. ¡°It is...¡± Jaese mumbled with wide eyes. ¡°It¡¯s the end of April, isn¡¯t it?¡± Chris asked. ¡°It is...¡± ¡°There¡¯s not a single cloud in the sky, right?¡± Chris went on, leaning forward in his seat to get a better view of the clear night sky as Jaese did the same, then looked at the sidewalks and pavement to see a thin white layer of snow forming on the ground. ¡°Dispatch, there¡¯s something weird going on, we¡¯ve got snow all over the ground on main around the QO Bank.¡± Jaese said into the radio after grabbing the microphone. ¡°10-9 Unit 10, did you say there¡¯s snow?¡± ¡°Yes, snow.¡± Jaese replied as their car came up on the QO Bank. Another police car was already stopped out front of it with lights flashing. Chris slammed the brakes to stop their car right next to the already parked car, as the third police vehicle driving with them stopped on its other side, creating a 3-car wall in front of the bank¡¯s entrance. Jaese and Chris both un-holstered their guns and got out of the vehicle, quickly moving to the side of their car opposite the bank to use it for cover, as the other officers did the same. Now six, they ducked behind their cars and turned to the first responders. ¡°What''s the situation?¡± Chris asked. ¡°He shot something at us as he was going in, didn¡¯t sound like a gun though. He said we¡¯d better be gone when he came back out or we¡¯d regret it.¡± The first responding officer said, motioning to a broken car door window above his head as he knelt down. ¡°Was it just one?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°As far as I can tell, yeah.¡± ¡°He just walked in through the front door? How¡¯s he planning to get away with this?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°No idea, better question is what the hell is with all this snow.¡± Another officer replied, brushing the snow off of his shoulder ¡°Hah.¡± A high pitched voice shouted out, coming from the broken glass doors of the bank. ¡°Not only did you not listen, you brought friends.¡± Hearing him speak, Chris carefully poked his head up over the hood of their car to get a good look at him. The man was wearing all black, his face hidden underneath a black hooded cloak. He was carrying a thick long pole in one hand, and a large suitcase in the other. Seeing this, Chris lifted his gun up over the hood of the car and pointed it at the man, as all other officers followed suit. ¡°This is the ECPD, put the pole and the case down and put your hands behind your head.¡± Chris shouted. ¡°How about you put your guns down and walk away?¡± He replied, his voice scratching as he spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you have for a weapon, but we¡¯ve got 6 loaded firearms pointed directly at you. If you do not comply we will use deadly force. I¡¯ll ask you one more time. Put the pole and the case down, and put your hands behind your head now!¡± Chris shouted, as more snow began to gather on the ground around them. ¡°You expect me to be afraid of your guns? Do you know who I am!?¡± The man shouted, and a sudden powerful gust of wind shot outward from him pushing all the snow in the air away from him, while simultaneously shattering all glass windows nearby, causing the officers to flinch and duck back down behind their vehicles. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on but I¡¯m getting a really bad vibe from this guy.¡± Jaese said anxiously to the other officers. ¡°I say we take him out and ask questions later.¡± Another officer suggested. ¡°Agreed.¡± A second joined in. Chris glanced at Jaese who gently shook his head in disagreement, which caused Chris to release a nervous sigh. ¡°Alright on three. One, two, three!¡± Chris shouted, and 5 of the six officers stood up from behind their cars with their guns pointed at the cloaked man, though Jaese did not. They all immediately opened fire on him, the sound of gunfire filling the streets as the bullets flew through the air, hitting the cloaked man. Once their magazines were empty, they were met with a dark glare of glowing red eyes from a completely unharmed man. ¡°You really shot at me? ME? Of ALL PEOPLE!? You need to learn your place! Kavricida!¡± He screeched, and there was a sudden flash of blue light before 5 small objects shot through the air, each connecting to the 5 officers and knocking them backward off their feet. Jaese watched in horror as Chris fell to the ground with a sharp chunk of ice lodged into his chest, glancing briefly at the other officers to see chunks of ice stuck in their foreheads, necks, and hearts, seeming to all die instantly. As Chris hit the ground he locked eyes with Jaese and saw the fear in his eyes. Jaese prepared to lunge forward to help his partner, but Chris lifted his hand to signal him to not move, causing Jaese to freeze in place. ¡°Insects.¡± The cloaked man spoke, Jaese hearing him from the other side of the car. He then heard a loud crackling sound and the snow all around them suddenly vanished, as did the ice lodged into the officers, and warm air returned to the area around them. It was completely silent, save for the ringing bank alarm still echoing off the city buildings around them. Jaese remained still, listening for any sound of the cloaked man, until finally he got the courage to turn his head slowly and peak through the door window of his squad car to see what the man was doing, but to his surprise he was gone. Not a trace of the cloaked man remained. The instant Jaese saw this he dove to Chris and applied pressure to the wound in his chest as blood began to soak into his police uniform, grabbing his radio with his free hand. ¡°Officers down, I repeat officers down at the QO bank, suspect gone, I need multiple ambulances now! 5 officers are down!¡± Jaese panicked, looking directly into Chris¡¯s eyes. He was blinking, but seemed out of breath and unable to speak. ¡°NOW GOD DAMN IT!¡± Jaese shouted as he heard the faint sound of sirens approaching in the distance.
[Darith - Start] ¡°Get on my level!¡± Ryan shouted as he pressed the buttons on his controller furiously, sitting on a large brown sofa next to his friends Darith and Jacob. ¡°Why would I want to go lower in level!¡± Darith replied, also pressing buttons furiously, the three were staring intently at a fighting game they were playing using Ryan¡¯s large flat-screen television. The three of them were teenagers in the age range of 16. Darith was on the heavy side wearing plain clothes with short blonde hair. Ryan was the shortest of the bunch with messy black hair that could use some shampoo, and Jacob was much taller and thinner than the other two, but no muscle on his bones could be seen.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°He¡¯s gonna use that cheap combo again, watch out!¡± Jacob shouted to Darith, as Darith¡¯s health in the game dropped to 10 while Ryan¡¯s was already sitting at 5. Darith moved his character forward to hit Ryan¡¯s, but just as Darith attacked, Ryan jumped his character back out of range of Darith¡¯s, then used a long range attack and hit Darith for 1 health. ¡°I told you, he just does it over and over.¡± Jacob replied. ¡°That¡¯s cheap, using the ranged attack against a melee fighter.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all about strategy.¡± Ryan smirked. Darith tried to attack him again, but Ryan used the same tactic, taking Darith down another point of health, they were now sitting at 5-8 respectively. ¡°I tried everything man, you can¡¯t hit him when he starts using that jump back ranged attack stuff, that character is OP.¡± Jacob sighed, seemingly uninterested in the match now. Darith backed his character away and looked closely at the screen, glancing all around at the details of the stage they were fighting on. Darith then dashed around Ryan¡¯s character to the side a few times, forcing Ryan to turn to keep facing him, then Darith charged forward at Ryan a third time. Using the same tactic, Ryan was able to leap back and hit Darith with a ranged attack, but Darith instantly ran to attack again and again. ¡°No matter how fast you keep trying to run in, I can keep jumping back, this skill doesn¡¯t have a cooldown.¡± Ryan said mockingly as he hit Darith a few more times until he was down to 3 health but Darith didn¡¯t let up and kept charging in, getting hit to 2, then 1 health. But just as Ryan was preparing to jump back one last time to finish the job, his retreating skill landed him up against the wall of the stage, canceling his retreat skill to allow Darith to finally land a heavy hit on Ryan, dealing 5 damage and defeating him. ¡°Ah, damn it! Stupid wall, that¡¯s cheating!¡± Ryan shouted angrily as the words Victory appeared above Darith¡¯s character. ¡°It¡¯s all about strategy.¡± Darith grinned. ¡°Out played!¡± Jacob cheered, then raised his hand to high five Darith. ¡°Hey why are you cheering for him? It¡¯s my house you¡¯re in.¡± Ryan grumbled at Jacob. ¡°You¡¯re always using that cheap tactic on me, good to see you get beat for once.¡± Jacob shrugged. ¡°I thought you said you don¡¯t play fighting games.¡± Ryan turned to Darith. ¡°I don¡¯t, but I used to play ¡®em.¡± ¡°Used to, psh. Come on let¡¯s rematch, I¡¯ll play serious this time.¡± Ryan replied as the game returned to a character selection screen. Just then the doorbell of the house rang. ¡°What are you talking about? You were playing serious.¡± Jacob replied as Ryan stood up from the couch. ¡°If you don¡¯t start cheering for me I¡¯ll kick you out!¡± Ryan shouted at him as he headed towards the front door of his house. ¡°Whatever, I got next. Who¡¯s ringing your door at 10:00 pm anyway?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Oh no, it¡¯s 10 pm?¡± Darith replied surprised, shooting up off the couch. ¡°If my mom is back from work before me she¡¯ll kill me.¡± ¡°Really, you got a curfew? Does your mom know you¡¯re in high school now and aren¡¯t still a baby?¡± Jacob replied to him sarcastically. ¡°He¡¯s still a baby.¡± Ryan commented as he opened his front door to see another boy standing there with short spiky blond hair and broad shoulders. ¡°Jason? What are you-¡± Ryan started asking, but before he could finish Jason forced himself in the house past Ryan and shut the door, causing Jacob and Darith to both stop and stare at him. Jason looked nervous, glancing around the room at windows and leaning his back against the door to keep it shut. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± Ryan asked, startled. ¡°You guys are alone here? Are your parents here?¡± Jason asked in an anxious tone. ¡°Well y-¡± Ryan started saying, but Jacob spoke up over him. ¡°Ryan¡¯s dad is upstairs. He''s a big muscular guy too. He was in the army, and he has shotguns and a black belt in karate.¡± Jacob replied confidently. ¡°I thought his dad was an accountant?¡± Darith replied to Jacob¡¯s statement, but this got him an annoyed glare from Jacob. ¡°Listen, I''m not going to start any trouble, you don¡¯t need to get your dad or anything like that.¡± Jason replied. ¡°Relax guys he knows my Dad anyway. Why¡¯re you at my house?¡± Ryan asked him. ¡°You guys are good at games right? You¡¯re all into that nerdy stuff?¡± Jason replied, glancing briefly at the television across the room to see the fighting game being played on it. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re into that nerdy stuff, sorry we can¡¯t all be on the football team.¡± Jacob snapped back. ¡°I need your help, I got stuck in this game and all this weird stuff is happening. Look, it¡¯s here on my phone.¡± Jason said, scrambling into his pockets and pulling out his cell phone after fumbling it a bit. He then held up his cell phone to show a picture of himself on the screen with a health bar below his name, and different statistics listed around it such as strength, agility, intellect, and under status was written ¡®afraid, anxious¡¯. ¡°What¡¯re we looking at exactly?¡± Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°It¡¯s me, duh. Look! I¡¯m in this game!¡± Jason shouted at him angrily. ¡°Now help me get out of it before I die!¡± He shouted at them, sweat rolling down his face. ¡°Yo, are you on drugs or something man?¡± Jacob replied, taken back a bit. ¡°No I¡¯m not on drugs! I need your help, I want you guys to play this game with me to help me win it or whatever!¡± Jason shouted, and as he did there were two buzzing noises in the room. One came from a backpack that had been tossed on the floor by Ryan when he had gotten home from school, the other came from Jacob¡¯s pocket. ¡°That¡¯s probably my dad texting me, I gotta take off. You need to get this guy out of your house now though, he¡¯s definitely high on something.¡± Jacob replied, reaching into his pocket for his phone. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not helping you after you beat me up last year, go find some other nerds to help you with your little cell phone game.¡± Ryan replied coldly. Jason glared angrily at him, glancing briefly at the other two who only stared back at him like he was crazy, then swung the door open violently. ¡°Fine, forget you guys!¡± He shouted, then stepped out the door and slammed it shut. ¡°What the heck was that about?¡± Jacob said as he looked at his cell phone. ¡°Aw hell no.¡± Jacob sighed. ¡°What?¡± Ryan asked as Darith started putting on his shoes. ¡°Look at this, he¡¯s got one of those weird chain-mail game things.¡± Jacob said as he showed the screen of his phone to the others. The cell phone¡¯s screen had turned completely blue save for a message in the middle. ¡®Jason has invited you to join his party in [Broken Realm]. Do you accept?¡¯ the message read, with an accept and decline button. ¡°Of course I don¡¯t accept.¡± Jacob said and hit decline instantly, returning his phone screen to normal. ¡°Speaking of cell phones...¡± Darith mumbled to himself as he started patting his pockets. ¡°Oh man, not only am I going to be late but I left my phone at home.¡± Darith sighed after being unable to find his phone. ¡°I¡¯ll see you guys tomorrow at school.¡± ¡°Later, but we gotta have a rematch, don¡¯t think you won already!¡± Ryan said as Darith ran out of his house. ¡°Dude, he did already win though.¡± Jacob replied to Ryan as the door shut. Darith ran home as fast as he could, which only took him about 10 minutes. Not because he was particularly fast, he was slow, very out of shape and overweight, but rather because he didn¡¯t live far from Ryan. As he got closer and closer to the house he started going over in his head the excuses he¡¯d use on why he was coming home so late, but none were sounding remotely believable to himself. When he finally got to the front door of the townhouse he was living in he hesitated. Then after taking a deep breath, he turned the door knob and opened it, stepping inside. ¡°I¡¯m home.¡± Darith called inside nervously. ¡°About time.¡± A girl''s voice called back as he heard the turning of wheels across his house, only to see a girl in a wheelchair turn a corner down the hall from him. ¡°Liana? Where¡¯s mom?¡± Darith asked as he took his shoes off, feeling slightly relieved. ¡°She was here, but she got called back to work. Something about a bank robbery and some injured police officers at the hospital. I¡¯m supposed to yell at you for getting home so late and you¡¯re supposed to make sure I take my medicine and make me feel comfortable.¡± Liana replied, though the last part was said with very little enthusiasm. ¡°Phew, saved by a bank robbery then.¡± Darith replied sarcastically. ¡°Well, do you feel comfortable?¡± He asked. ¡°Like I was born here.¡± Liana grumbled back sarcastically. ¡°Oh, also, your mom said to make sure you do your homework.¡± She added as she turned her wheelchair around and her voice trailed off deeper into the house. ¡°What are you up to? Did you take your medicine already?¡± Darith asked as he headed into the living room with Liana to see her staring at the television watching a cartoon. ¡°Your mom left it on the counter in the kitchen.¡± She replied, nodding her head in the direction of the kitchen. ¡°Right.¡± Darith replied, heading to the kitchen to grab the pills and a glass of water for Liana. He then returned to Liana¡¯s side and held out the pills for her to take in her right hand, her left arm unable to move as it was in a cast. She took the pills from Darith and threw them back into her throat as Darith handed her the glass of water. Without taking her eyes off the television she put the glass of water to her mouth and poured until she made a big gulp sound. ¡°Good?¡± Darith asked as he took the glass from her. ¡°Yup.¡± She replied. ¡°So why are you so late? What were you doing today?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Showing Ryan how to play T-Fighter.¡± Darith grinned. ¡°Was he any good?¡± Liana asked. ¡°He was using that cheap kiting strategy, so no.¡± Darith said as he sat down on a black couch beside Liana¡¯s wheelchair. ¡°Ready to start where we left off?¡± Darith asked as he grabbed the television remote off of the coffee table in the center of the living room to change the video input of the TV to his video game, grabbing the game controller next. ¡°Are you kidding? I¡¯ve been waiting all day!¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°We need to get those last diamonds so we can open the final gate in ruins, I still think it''s going to be a trap though.¡± ¡°Whoa whoa, no spoilers, you didn¡¯t read any game guides while I was at school, did you?¡± ¡°No, but it¡¯s pretty obvious that those good guys are going to betray you!¡± Liana replied enthusiastically, her eyes lighting up as she stared at the starting screen of a video game appeared on the television. ¡°Remember, if my mom asks, you were helping me with my homework.¡± Darith said. ¡°Of course.¡± Liana smiled. The two of them then focused in on the game, Liana giving Darith tips and advice to solve the puzzles as Darith controlled the character. The two of them had a routine of playing games together like this for over a year now since Darith¡¯s mom had started bringing Liana home from the hospital where she worked. Liana was paralyzed from the waist down, and her left arm had been crushed and made unusable in a car accident. She had long silky brown hair and dark brown eyes, but several very bad burn marks on the left side of her face. Among these things, she had also lost her parents in the accident, and without any close relatives tried suicide a few times until she got close to Darith¡¯s mom. When Darith met Liana he had to resist staring at the burn marks on her face, but he got past it after he let Liana watch him play a few games and saw how interested she was in them. Her treatment required her to stay in hospital care very often and she had no close relatives, so Darith¡¯s mom took it upon herself to convince Children¡¯s Aid workers to let her take care of Liana, and help her get out of the hospital whenever she could. Despite Liana being 3 years younger than Darith, they got along perfectly fine. The two of them played late into the night, until around 2AM when Liana fell asleep in her chair right beside Darith, who did the same shortly after on the couch. It wasn¡¯t until 7:15 am that morning that Darith awoke to the sound of the front door opening. He could hear the sound of his mom¡¯s keys jingling in her hands to which his alertness level heightened and he realized he had to quickly turn off his game and the television. He shot up off the couch and hit all the power buttons just as Darith¡¯s mom turned the corner into the living room to look at them. ¡°Oh don¡¯t tell me you were up all night playing video games.¡± His mom sighed disappointedly. ¡°N-no, of course not, we did homework and then watched a bit of TV.¡± Darith replied nervously. ¡°Whatever, I¡¯m too exhausted to scold. You¡¯re late for school, and I¡¯m going to pass out for a few precious hours of sleep.¡± His Mother, Kristen, replied. ¡°W-wait, what happened? Liana said something about a robbery and police officers?¡± Darith asked as his mom walked sleepily towards the couch he had just been sleeping on and fell face forward into it. ¡°4 dead officers, one critical, and one rambling about snow. Go to school and let me sleep.¡± She grumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow, her face was now buried in. ¡°Okay.¡± Darith said, glancing around for his backpack, grabbing it and then slipping his shoes back on to head out. ¡°Have a good day. Oh and take your damn cell phone with you. No point in even having one if you won¡¯t carry it with you.¡± She shouted just as Darith was about to head out the door. ¡°Oh, right.¡± He stopped, quickly grabbing his phone that was resting on an end table near the door. ¡°Bye mom!¡± Darith shouted before closing the door. He let out a loud yawn and stretched his hands way up over his head with phone still in hand, but as he did he caught a brief glimpse of a blue screen on his cell phone. Curling his brow in curiosity he moved the phone back down to eye level to see a message.
Alert!: Player Jason has invited you to join his party in The Broken Realm. Do you accept? Accept??Decline
¡°... What the hell?¡± Darith said to himself. Chapter 2: Game Start Darith arrived at his first class earlier than usual, sitting in his desk and nervously looking to the door while tapping his foot. His left hand was in his left pocket, sweatily clenching his cell phone that had the message still on it, asking him to accept or decline the invitation. As minutes past, he pulled it out of his pocket to look at the time as a reflex to his impatience, but before looking he remembered and shoved it back in his pocket, opting to look at the class-room clock instead that sat above the door. He¡¯d already tried different methods to get the blue screen on his phone to disappear without hitting decline or accept, but the screen wouldn¡¯t change no matter what other buttons he pressed. The room clock read 7:48, 12 minutes before the first class would start. As he registered the time in his head he watched the door open, the sounds of other students in the hallways flooded into the room temporarily. He stood up anxiously awaiting the person who opened the door to enter, only to see a girl in his class step inside, shutting the door behind her to create silence once more. He let out a sigh of disappointment, not the person he was hoping for. ¡°What?¡± She asked in a repulsed tone after hearing his sigh. ¡°Sorry, waiting for someone.¡± He replied timidly, the girl eyeing him up and down and looking at him disgusted, as if it were her first time seeing him. Seeing her reaction, Darith couldn¡¯t help but get self-conscious, and he himself looked down at his body as he sat back down at his desk. He was overweight, by a fair margin, and his clothes weren¡¯t exactly loose. He saw his stomach hanging over his legs and larger than normal chest standing out, and attempted to pull at his shirt to stretch it over his body, but it was a futile effort, one that he was embarrassed about in itself. Afterward he looked back up to see if the girl had watched him do this, but she was already at her desk looking at her cell phone. Knowing no eyes were on him, he wanted to take this time to correct other parts of his clothing to hide his weight as much as possible. He looked to his arms, pulling his black t-shirt¡¯s sleeves down the arms as far as he could to hide the lack of muscle and surplus of flab he had. Despite his best attempts, he could hide nothing, and turned to just covering his head with his hands, almost completely forgetting about his phone until the door swung open again. He was tempted to stand up out of anticipation, but he thought against it as he didn¡¯t want a repeat of the look he got from last time. Luckily for him though, this time entered the person he was waiting for. ¡°Ryan!¡± Darith called out to get his attention quickly. ¡°Darith! Man you are not going to believe it, something weird happened.¡± Ryan replied, seeming equally excited. As they spoke, the girl from before once again looked up in disgust, this time directed at Ryan who wasn¡¯t so attractive either. He was not overweight though, instead short and skinny with pale skin and greasy hair. ¡°Was it your phone?¡± Darith asked, his voice going quiet as they both noticed the girl eyeing them. ¡°How¡¯d you know? Look, I got the same message as Jacob.¡± Ryan replied as he got to his desk right next to Darith¡¯s and pulled his desk together with his. On his phone was the same blue screen with the same message. ¡°I got it too.¡± Darith said as he pulled out his own phone, showing the screen to Ryan. ¡°What the hell? That doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡± Ryan replied. ¡°I know! My phone wasn¡¯t even on me when he was there. How¡¯d I get it?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Maybe it went off of your phone number? Does Jason have your phone number?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Why would he have my phone number? Did you give it to him?¡± Darith replied. ¡°Why would I give him your phone number?¡± Ryan replied. ¡°I don¡¯t know, you said he knew your Dad last night like you guys used to be friends or something.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Used to is the key word, you know, before high school and he became king of jocks. He didn¡¯t get your number from me though. Didn¡¯t get Jacob¡¯s number from me either.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°Well then how did he get it? How did this game send invites to our phones when my phone wasn¡¯t even on the same block?¡± Darith asked, more students had entered the classroom and were chatting, drowning out the sound that these two were making. ¡°I dunno.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°We¡¯ll have to ask him. You gonna accept or decline the invite?¡± He then asked. Darith turned his eyes to the screen of his cell phone and looked at it in deep concentration. ¡°I¡¯m curious now what sort of game this is, it really had your friend freaked out. But I can¡¯t get a virus on this thing or my mom will kill me, it¡¯s for her to contact me when she¡¯s working late, not for games.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Alright then let¡¯s ask him, We can catch him after school.¡± Ryan said, and Darith nodded in response.
[Liana - Start] Liana awoke to the sound of loud snoring, her vision groggy and her neck aching more than usual from sleeping in her wheelchair. She turned her head upright and could feel an inkling of drool that had made its way out of the side of her mouth while she was sleeping. She carefully lifted her right arm up to wipe the drool off, then let out a silent yawn and stretched her neck in a way that aggravated her left shoulder as little as possible. She could feel bits of it, but she couldn¡¯t tell it what to do, nor the rest of her left arm, and it frustrated her to no end. She tried again, multiple times while squinting her eyes in an attempt to focus on it. She imaged in her mind her own nervous system, and tried to mentally send the signals to her arm as if through psychic powers rather than the bodies natural way, but it didn¡¯t work. It never worked, no matter how many times she tried. Her imagination let her believe that it could, though. She believed that eventually if she trained her brain hard enough, she could gain powers to enable her to move her body freely again. As she continued, she felt a tingling feeling in her bladder, one she was all too familiar with. She immediately gave up on moving her left arm in it¡¯s cast and glanced to Kristen who was laying on the couch, legs and arms spread and her mouth wide open while snoring blissfully. She then turned to the joystick controls on the right arm of her wheelchair and gripped it tightly, moving it forward to steer the wheelchair out of the living room towards the hall. It made a quiet buzzing noise as the motor activated and she lightly bumped the coffee table in the center of the room. She paused, unable to turn around to see if Kristen was still sleeping, or was awoken by the noise. Instead she relied on her ears to hear Kristen snoring. It continued without skipping a beat, so Liana continued to move her wheelchair around the coffee table and into the hall, then forward towards the bathroom only to see it closed. She let out a quiet sigh to herself, parking her wheelchair alongside the door so that her right hand was closest to the handle. She lifted her hand just enough to turn the knob and swing the door open, but not high enough to turn the light on. This wasn¡¯t the first time she had made it this far to using the bathroom by herself, but it was far as she could get. She then took the next step, driving the wheelchair into the bathroom, but before she could get in she heard a loud beeping sound coming from the living room, followed by a loud snore being cut off and transforming into a barely comprehensible sound. ¡°Huhwhat? Huh?¡± Kristen shouted as she shot upright, glancing around confused before turning to her cell phone in her pocket. ¡°Oh, right. It¡¯s 12:00 already?¡± She groaned as she pulled out her phone and turned the alarm off. She let out a loud yawn, stretched out her arms, then flopped her head back down into the couch pillow. ¡°I miss sleep.¡± She groaned. She then resentfully rolled up off the couch and spotted Liana attempting to sit up in her chair to move onto the toilet, but it wasn''t going so well. ¡°Oh, honey, if you had to go to the bathroom you should have just woken me up.¡± Kristen said as she quickly made her way across the living room to the bathroom, flicking the light on and lifting Liana out of her wheelchair onto the toilet. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to, I mean I know you hardly get any sleep as it is.¡± Liana said as Kristen helped hert. ¡°I¡¯m fine, just a rough day yesterday. Hard to sleep anyway, really worried about those cops. You know, the one that wasn¡¯t hurt wouldn¡¯t change his story? He said the others were all shot with ice, and it was snowing.¡± Kristen said as she stood up and waited for Liana to finish. ¡°Really? Was he hit on the head or something?¡± Liana asked. ¡°No, he wasn¡¯t hurt at all.¡± ¡°Do you think maybe he¡¯s just crazy? Or on drugs?¡± ¡°He wasn¡¯t on drugs, the doctors ran drug tests... He didn¡¯t seem crazy either, he sounded pretty sure of what he was saying... I don¡¯t know, the whole thing was weird. The injured cops really didn¡¯t have injuries consistent with bullets.¡± ¡°That sounds like a weird mystery.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Finished!¡± She added. ¡°Yeah, maybe you can solve it today while I¡¯m working.¡± Kristen smiled at her as she helped get her back up. ¡°I can do that.¡± Liana smiled as she was lifted gently back into her wheelchair. ¡°Okay, great, my turn then.¡± Kristen said as Liana used her controls to move her chair out of the bathroom. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s been 2 days almost since your last bath, hasn¡¯t it? I can¡¯t keep letting you skip days, you¡¯ll have to have your bath at the hospital before you do any detective work.¡± ¡°Will you be doing it or will Cindy?¡± Liana replied with a grumpy expression. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best to make sure I have the time to do it, okay?¡± ¡°I hate that Cindy lady, she¡¯s way too rough and mean.¡± Liana commented. ¡°I know, I tried to talk to her about it, didn¡¯t do much but get her angry at me though.¡± Kristen sighed as she stood up and flushed the toilet. ¡°We¡¯re out of the house in 25 minutes, what do you want for breakfast?¡± ¡°Cereal¡¯s okay.¡± Liana replied. Kristen headed to the kitchen as Liana followed behind her. ¡°Oh, did Darith get his homework done?¡± She asked as she pulled out two bowls. ¡°Yup, everything finished.¡± Liana lied, poorly. ¡°Really now?¡± Kristen asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Not even a little bit of it.¡± Liana grinned back. ¡°Jeez, I don¡¯t even know which of you is being the bad influence to the other.¡± ¡°Probably me.¡± She smiled. ¡°Can I ask you a question in secret?¡± Kristen said in a more serious tone now. ¡°Of course.¡± Liana smiled. ¡°I¡¯m starting to get worried about him playing video games. He at least has friends, right?¡± ¡°Games are pretty popular nowadays, almost everyone is playing them. I think he has some friends¡­¡± Liana replied. ¡°If I¡¯m remembering highschool correctly, he¡¯s probably not having the best of times. I feel like I should do something but I just don¡¯t know what, he seems so happy playing those games.¡± Kristen said worriedly. ¡°I think he¡¯ll be okay, he¡¯s really smart, so...¡± Liana said. ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t be talking to you about this, I just need to find the right time to talk to him about it.¡± She said to herself as she finished pouring milk into their bowls and Liana pulled up her wheelchair to the table, lifting her right hand up to grab the spoon. Kristen noticed and quickly pushed her bowl closer to the edge of the table to help Liana leaned her head forward and began eating by herself, something she felt good about every time she did it. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯d probably worry too. He is just a bit unhealthy, and all of his friends are boys except me. I don¡¯t think he can even talk to a girl properly yet.¡± Liana chuckled, to which Kristen simply raised her eyebrows and smiled.
[Elise - Start] ¡°WHERE ARE THEY?!¡± A loud, screeching voice echoed throughout the house. ¡°Miss, they¡¯re still sleeping.¡± A quiet, frightened woman squeaked back. ¡°I don¡¯t care if they¡¯re sleeping.¡± She snapped back, and her stomping could be heard through the door as she moved across the house towards Elise¡¯s bedroom, who lay curled up in her queen sized bed. Hearing the stomping get closer, she sat up and looked across the large, luxurious bedroom at another bed, where an older version of herself sat up staring back at her. The two girls, nearly identical apart from their height and hair length, simply rolled their eyes at each other as their bedroom door swung open. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± A tall, thin woman with long straight blonde hair shouted at them, holding two papers out in front of herself. Neither girl replied, they simply looked at her with a blank expression. ¡°Elise, an average of C+!?¡± She shouted, throwing Elise¡¯s report card to the ground, the younger of the two sisters. ¡°Karin, B- average?¡± She then threw the second report card down. ¡°Do you have an explanation for this?¡± ¡°Well, you make us take all those dance classes...¡± Elise mumbled back while looking away, but this response caused their mother¡¯s face to disfigure, and she stomped across the room towards Elise¡¯s bed. As she pulled her arm back, Elise knew what was coming and shut her eyes tight. There was a loud, echoing slap that carried through the house. ¡°Don¡¯t you talk back to me. I know the reason behind this, it¡¯s that damn public school your father insisted on letting you girls go to. Not strict enough, you girls filling your head with stupid, useless things. At least Karin shows talent in dancing, but you!¡± She snapped at Elise, leaning forward threatening to cause harm again which caused Elise to pull away into her bed further. ¡°I just hope you start taking SOMETHING seriously.¡± She sighed, then turned to Karin. ¡°And you, Karin, a B- average?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry mother, I was too focused on my dancing technique. I promise to improve it.¡± Karin said shamefully. ¡°I expect nothing less of you.¡± She replied, then did a sharp turn and stomped out of the room, her heels clunking into the carpet of the large bedroom. As she slammed the door shut, the two blonde haired sisters went back to looking at each other. ¡°Suck up.¡± Elise grumbled at her sister. ¡°Better than getting slapped.¡± Karin replied. ¡°I¡¯d rather get slapped then suck up to her.¡± Elise replied, rubbing the red part of her face where she¡¯d been hit. ¡°She¡¯s got a point though, you don¡¯t even try in the dance classes.¡± Karin replied as the two of them got out of bed and walked over to their wardrobes. ¡°She¡¯s forcing us to learn ballet and classical dance, is anyone even interested in that stuff anymore?¡± Elise replied. ¡°Of course, its sophisticated and classy, maybe a bit hard for you to understand considering the music you listen to.¡± Karin replied. ¡°Great, you¡¯re a perfect clone of her like always.¡± Elise replied as the two picked out the clothes they wanted to wear and began to dress, just as the maid of the house walked in. ¡°I¡¯m just saying, that music and dancing you like is just a mess of noise and, how can I say this, wiggling around to impress boys?¡± ¡°Better then bending around like a doll.¡± Elise retorted. ¡°Why are your grades so low anyway, I thought you were actually doing your homework?¡± Karin asked. ¡°Sorry I can¡¯t convince the school¡¯s bookworms to do my work for me, which, by the way, makes it even more sad that you¡¯ve still only got a B-.¡± Elise replied. ¡°I just need to find a better bookworm, that¡¯s all. And it¡¯s not like you couldn¡¯t do the same thing, if you tried dressing cute for once.¡± Karin replied as she eyed Elise¡¯s outfit up and down. ¡°No thanks, barbie.¡± Elise replied sarcastically, not even bothering to look at what Karin was wearing, and the two headed out of their bedroom only to be met by the maid standing out front of their door looking worriedly at the two. ¡°Is everything alright?¡± The maid asked, quickly eyeing the red mark on Elise¡¯s cheek. ¡°We¡¯re okay, Miranda. Breakfast better be ready for us.¡± Karin replied coldly, walking past her as Miranda gently patted Elise and rubbed her hand over the mark on her cheek. ¡°You poor thing, did she hit you again?¡± She asked. ¡°It¡¯s fine, nothing I can¡¯t handle.¡± Elise shrugged back. Walking past the maid Miranda as well. ¡°I¡¯ll inform your father right away, he won¡¯t accept her acting like this.¡± Miranda replied. ¡°No, don¡¯t, it¡¯ll just make it worse.¡± Elise sighed back regretfully. ¡°And we¡¯ll ruin another one of his very important business trips.¡± Karin added, putting sarcasm around the word business as she spoke. ¡°Is there anything I can do to help?¡± Miranda asked desperately. ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯ve been dealing with that woman my entire life now.¡± Elise replied. ¡°At least let me drive you girls to school today.¡± Miranda insisted. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Miranda. I got my license for a reason.¡± Karin replied. ¡°Not because she¡¯s any good at driving.¡± Elise mumbled so that only Miranda could hear, as Karin was a ways down the long, oversized hallway of their Mansion home now. ¡°What was that?¡± Karin called back. ¡°Nothing.¡± Elise replied. ¡°If you need any help with your studying, just ask me, okay? I may not look it, but I passed highschool with flying colors.¡± Miranda smiled. ¡°Okay, thanks.¡± Elise replied with a polite smile.
[Jaese - Crazy] Beeping. Footsteps, beeping and wheels rolling around, with the occasional chatter. Those were the sounds faintly making their way into Jaese¡¯s ears as he sat in the waiting room of the hospital, still wearing his police uniform from the night before. He was tired, yet wide awake at the same time. The images of the cloaked man were still in his mind, but the more he thought about it, the more he questioned his own sanity. He replayed the images of the snowflakes falling around him, replayed the image of the cloudless night sky. The shattering of the squad car¡¯s glass... that was real, he was sure of it. The glass broke from nothing but the mans shout, he knew from that fact that he wasn¡¯t crazy... or was he? he thought. ¡°Hey, Jaese. How¡¯re you doing?¡± A man spoke, knocking Jaese out of thought and causing him to look up from the tiled floor of the hospital¡¯s waiting room. He recognized the man as his captain, Arnold. An old man with short white hair and a large build with a bit of a beer belly, wearing a gray suit. ¡°I¡¯m uh, I¡¯m alright. Any news?¡± ¡°Well, about that.¡± Arnold said as he sat down in a chair across from Jaese. ¡°I heard the reports you gave to the detectives, and I listened over the recordings from last night, and something just doesn¡¯t add up, so I¡¯d like to hear your story personally. You know, just so I don¡¯t get anything confused.¡± ¡°What¡¯s to be confused about?¡± Jaese replied with a hint of hostility. ¡°Just, run me through it one more time.¡± Arnold replied, keeping his voice calm. Jaese looked Arnold in the eyes, he could see the look of Arnold, the same one he¡¯d been getting all night and morning, that look of doubt, that look that said that they thought they were looking at someone crazy. He got angry at first, but calmed himself down by taking a deep breath and let out a sigh. ¡°Alright. We were in our squad car, me and Chris, and we got the call about the bank robbery. On our way to the scene both of us spotted snow, we called it in, you should have the recordings... not just from us either, right? The other units as well?¡± Jaese asked, Arnold didn¡¯t reply though, just looked silently back at him. ¡°When we got there, the first responders said there was an armed suspect inside, and when he came out Chris did the usual put your weapon down and surrender. The guy shouted something, and it shattered all of our windows. We duck for cover and the other officers suggest to take him out, I told them something wasn¡¯t right but they didn¡¯t listen, They all stood up and unloaded their magazines into him. Guy didn¡¯t get a single scratch on him. He let out some weird laugh next and shouted some weird words, next thing I know all the officers were down.¡± Jaese said. ¡°And why didn¡¯t you get hurt as well?¡± Arnold asked. ¡°Because... I felt something was off, so I stayed behind cover.¡± ¡°What do you mean? Why did you feel something was off?¡± Arnold asked in a condescending tone. ¡°Because it was snowing without any clouds in the fricken sky, and this guy shattered the windows of our car with his damn voice!¡± Jaese shouted at him. ¡°Alright, alright, calm down. We¡¯re going to look into this further, for now you take some time off and rest.¡± Arnold replied. ¡°You have to believe me, I¡¯m not making this up. It sounds crazy, but that¡¯s what happened.¡± Jaese pleaded with him. ¡°The only thing I know right now is that we''ve got 4 officers dead and one in critical condition. Let¡¯s pray Chris makes it so we can make sense of all this.¡± Arnold said. ¡°What about the security footage from the bank? That¡¯s gotta show something right?¡± Jaese asked as Arnold stood up. ¡°It¡¯s useless, all destroyed. You just get some rest, I¡¯ll get this sorted out and we¡¯ll figure out what happened.¡± Arnold replied as he headed out of the waiting area, another officer joining him as he left the room. Jaese looked up to see several other people in the waiting room looking at him strangely, but they looked away quickly when his eyes met with theirs. He then spotted a familiar nurse rushing across the room and quickly glanced at her name tag.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Kristen, nurse Kristen, right?¡± He called out to her as he stood up, and she quickly turned to look at him. ¡°Yes?¡± She replied politely. ¡°Any news on Chris? The officer in surgery?¡± Jaese asked her anxiously. ¡°The doctor will let you know as soon as he knows. They¡¯re doing everything they can right now.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°Right, thanks.¡± Jaese replied, looking away extremely disappointed. ¡°Can I get you anything, something to drink?¡± She asked, he saw guilt in her eyes but he wasn¡¯t sure why. ¡°No, I¡¯m okay...¡± He replied without thinking, turning from her. Before he got back to his chair, though he spoke again. ¡°A coffee, maybe, if it¡¯s not too much trouble.¡± ¡°It¡¯s no problem, how do you take it?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°Two sugars, and thanks.¡± Jaese replied as he sat back down. ¡°I¡¯ll be back with it as soon as I can.¡± Kristen smiled, then headed out of the waiting room on the opposite side she entered. As she left, Jaese had time to glance around again and saw the other waiters once again giving him strange looks, but he ignored it and focused on the boring patterns of the floor tiles. The captain for sure, he¡¯ll believe me, I mean there¡¯s the recording from the radio, and the broken glass, the bullet casings should be there too. Even without video, all of that backs up my story, Jaese thought to himself. But the longer he sat there in silence thinking about it, the more doubt began to fill his mind, and he began tapping his foot on the floor lightly to combat the anxiety building up inside him. His mind raced, it filled once more with the sound of the screeching laugh of the cloaked man, the image of Chris¡¯ horrified expression as he fell to the ground with a piece of ice in his chest. ¡°Is that him?¡± He heard a girl whisper, breaking him out of his thoughts as this was followed by a ¡®shh¡¯ sound, and the clinking of shoes across the hospital floor. He looked up just as Kristen held out a plain white triple cupped coffee. ¡°There you are, be careful, it¡¯s a bit hot. Just let me or the other nurses know if you need anything else. If you¡¯d like, I can get you an empty room to rest in, you¡¯ve been here all night.¡± She suggested. ¡°I¡¯m fine, thanks.¡± He replied dismissively as he took the cup and looked into the coffee to watch the steam rise out of it. Kristen said nothing more, and Jaese listened to the sound of her walking out of the waiting area. He took a deep breath and then sipped a bit of the coffee before pulling it back from his lips. As she had told him, it was too hot. ¡°Hi.¡± He heard a girl say suddenly, turning his head to the side to see Liana in her wheelchair, right hand on the chairs controls. His eyes were naturally drawn to her burn marks at first, but seeing her smile he quickly corrected his manners and looked into her eyes. ¡°Hello.¡± He said politely, forcing a smile. ¡°My name is Liana, what¡¯s your name?¡± She asked as she smiled and moved the wheelchair a bit closer. ¡°I¡¯m Jaese, nice to meet you Liana.¡± He replied, though he was at a loss for anything else to say while simultaneously anxious about why this girl was talking to him. ¡°I heard about what happened. Kristen is kind of like my caretaker nurse. Is it all true?¡± Liana asked curiously. ¡°It¡¯s official police business, you don¡¯t need to worry about any of that. We¡¯ll have it all sorted out, it¡¯s only a matter of time.¡± Jaese replied, almost sounding like a textbook. ¡°It sounded like you guys got attacked by a wizard.¡± Liana replied nonchalantly. ¡°A wizard?¡± Jaese raised an eyebrow at her. ¡°You know, like, Merlin? Have you ever heard of Merlin?¡± ¡°I know what a wizard is, those only exist in stories though.¡± Jaese said, rolling his eyes at her. ¡°Well, how else can you explain someone shooting ice?¡± Liana asked. ¡°How much about what happened do you know? You seem really well in-formed.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do much else than listen, being well informed is all I¡¯m good at nowadays.¡± Liana shrugged back as much as her body allowed. ¡°What happened, if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± ¡°Car accident.¡± She replied without hesitation. ¡°Don¡¯t feel bad about staring, everyone does it, well almost everyone. I think it¡¯s part of human nature. You get to learn a lot about that when you¡¯re stuck in a wheelchair.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± He replied as he took another sip of the coffee, still hot. ¡°So, how do you explain it? The ice?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know... That¡¯s the problem.¡± Jaese sighed back. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you.¡± Liana whispered. ¡°Everyone kind of thinks you¡¯re crazy, or you were on drugs or something.¡± She said so that only he could hear. ¡°I¡¯m NOT crazy.¡± He stood up and shouted, drawing the eyes of everyone once again. Seeing this, he realized he overreacted and sat back down, noticing that Liana wasn¡¯t startled at all by his outburst. ¡°I¡¯m not on drugs, I know what I saw.¡± He said. ¡°Okay, so how do you explain it?¡± She asked again. ¡°Well, it certainly wasn¡¯t a wizard.¡± He replied grumpily at her, realizing he was getting needlessly angry at this poor little girl stuck in a wheelchair. ¡°So how else does someone shoot ice? And make it snow? You said you saw snow, right?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know... The ice, maybe throwing it? But so fast? And the snow, I¡¯ve got no explanation.¡± Jaese sighed as he scratched his head with one hand aggressively. ¡°Maybe it was someone who wanted to make you look crazy? Like a distraction from what he was doing, maybe he wanted you to think he was kind of like a wizard?¡± Liana suggested. ¡°How would someone do that? They emptied entire magazines into-¡± He said, noticing that the information he was saying shouldn¡¯t be heard by everyone, and switched to a whisper. ¡°The officers shot him at least 20 times and he was fine, and then he just disappeared.¡± Jaese said to her. ¡°Hmm. I played a video game with my friend where the bad guy kept using weird tricks, all different tricks unrelated to each other, and made them all look like one big trick, just to distract you from what he was really trying to do. Maybe this guy used a whole bunch of weird, little tricks, to create this one big bank robbery. If you can explain all the weird things he did with simple weird trick explanations, even if it seems unlikely, that could be what happened.¡± Liana suggested. ¡°Okay, so by your theory, let''s start with the snow.¡± Jaese said, humoring Liana for a moment as he leaned back and looked up at the ceiling of the waiting area. ¡°He made it snow around the bank, a pretty large area around the bank too, but there weren¡¯t any clouds. A small trick? Maybe he had something throwing snow off of the building roofs? But that seems like a lot of trouble to-. ¡°Stop! Don¡¯t doubt the weird explanations as long as they fit! If it fits, it fits!¡± Liana replied with enthusiasm. ¡°Alright, alright. So let¡¯s assume he set up a bunch of snow blowing machines on the buildings around the bank.¡± He said with sarcasm. ¡°Next is the shattering glass when he shouted.¡± ¡°I heard that there are some high frequencies of sound that can break glass. Only in video games though, not sure if that¡¯s real.¡± Liana suggested. ¡°So he had a high frequency sound device somewhere that broke the glass?¡± Jaese asked her with a raised brow again. Liana only replied with her minimal movement shrug. ¡°There you are!¡± A woman¡¯s voice called from across the waiting room, a large woman with brown hair wearing a nurse outfit and the nametag Cindy on. ¡°Are you ready for your bath?¡± Cindy asked Liana. ¡°What? Already? But what about Kristen?¡± Liana asked nervously as Jaese watched the two interact curiously. ¡°She¡¯s a bit busy right now dear, but don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll take good care of you as usual.¡± Cindy smiled as she grabbed the back of Liana¡¯s wheelchair and started pulling her away, her unwillingness to go was clearly visible on her face. ¡°Liana was your name, right?¡± Jaese asked her. ¡°Yup.¡± She replied. ¡°Thanks for the chat.¡± Jaese smiled at her. ¡°No problem, crazy cop.¡± She smiled back as her chair turned and she was whisked away by Cindy.
[Darith - Rules] ¡°So you¡¯re sayin¡¯ that you somehow got invited to a game on your phone when your phone was across the city?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Yeah, weird huh? And you¡¯re sure you¡¯ve never given him your number?¡± Darith asked Jacob as the two as well as Ryan stood together out front of their school in a little circle, glancing around to find Jason among the sea of other students flocking out of the building. ¡°Positive. So he somehow invited us to the game just by being in the same room as us? That is some next level paranormal stuff.¡± Jacob replied. ¡°Kind of wish I didn¡¯t decline it so fast.¡± ¡°Well if it''s real we can just ask him to invite you again.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°Yeah, right.¡± Jacob rolled his eyes. ¡°He¡¯s here, look!¡± Darith exclaimed, pointing at Jason leaving the school building with another boy. ¡°You¡¯re going to do the talking right?¡± He asked Ryan timidly. ¡°I guess so.¡± Ryan sighed, and the three maneuvered around the other students to stand in front of Jason and his friend. ¡°Oh lookie here! It¡¯s a beach ball, a grease ball and a lamp post.¡± Jason¡¯s friend chuckled at the three. Hearing this, Darith lowered his head and made small attempts to stretch his shirt again, but the tall lanky Jacob and short Ryan did not react to his remarks. ¡°What do you want?¡± Jason snapped. ¡°We want to know what was up with that game you sent to our phones last night.¡± Ryan questioned. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Jason retorted. ¡°This, after you were at my place it popped up on all of our phones. How¡¯d you do that?¡± Ryan replied, holding up his cell phone to Jason to show him the blue screen. ¡°Is this some sort of nerd joke?¡± Jason replied. ¡°No, it¡¯s not, look it came up on my phone too and my phone wasn¡¯t even there! You have my phone number?¡± Darith chimed in, showing Jason his phone as well. ¡°Why the hell would I have your number?¡± Jason grimaced at Darith. ¡°Well how else did you send it to all of our phones?¡± Jacob asked while raising his chin and furrowing his brows.. ¡°I didn¡¯t send anything to your phones, and I wasn¡¯t at your place last night. I don¡¯t have a clue what you guys are talking about right now but you¡¯re pissing me off.¡± ¡°All three of us saw you!¡± Ryan declared. ¡°Well all three of you are crazy. Now get lost before I break your stupid phones in half.¡± Jason barked, pushing past them with his friend in tow. ¡°Then show us your phone! If you¡¯re telling the truth then just let us look at your phone.¡± Ryan shouted to his back. ¡°I aint showing you anything.¡± Jason replied without looking back. ¡°Show us or I¡¯ll tell everyone your secret.¡± Ryan shouted, and after he had he immediately regretted it, as it caused Jason to freeze in place for a moment as his friend turned back. ¡°What secret? You got some sort of secret?¡± Jason¡¯s friend asked excitedly. Hearing his friend react. Jason turned and stomped back towards the three with his fists clenched, as other students around them were now listening in and watching. The three boys nervously stepped back but it did nothing to stop Jason from clenching Ryan¡¯s shirt around the collar to pull his head in towards Jason. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re trying to pull right now, but you better cut it out or you¡¯ll regret it for the rest of your life.¡± Jason growled at him in a whisper, so that only the three boys could hear him. ¡°You¡¯re the one that¡¯ll regret it if I tell everyone what you did.¡± Ryan replied as Jacob and Darith looked at him surprised. Jason turned to the two, then looked back at Ryan. ¡°What the hell do you want.¡± Jason replied, tightening his grip on Ryan¡¯s collar by twisting it around his fist so that it wrapped around Ryan¡¯s neck. ¡°Just let us see your cell phone.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°I lost it.¡± Jason replied. ¡°What do you mean you lost it?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°I woke up this morning, it wasn¡¯t anywhere. Couldn¡¯t even call it to get it to ring, its gone.¡± Jason replied. ¡°Alright then what was all that stuff last night about a game, how¡¯d you send it to our phones?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know what game you¡¯re talking about, but I was never at your place last night.¡± ¡°All three of us saw you there man, we just want to know how you did it, we don¡¯t want a fight or anything.¡± Jacob said to him. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything. I don¡¯t know what you guys saw, but it wasn¡¯t me, okay?¡± Jason shouted at them. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t you then where were you last night?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Look, last night I was-¡± Jason said, starting his sentence off confidently until his face suddenly went blank. He then broke eye contact with Ryan and looked down at the ground for a moment. ¡°I was... At home sleeping, I guess... I don¡¯t know.¡± As he said this he released his grip on Ryan¡¯s collar. ¡°You want me to take these guys down a level?¡± Jason¡¯s friend asked as he walked to stand beside him again. ¡°Nah, we¡¯re done here.¡± Jason said, turning to walk away from the three but with a still confused look. His friend quickly followed him as the surrounding students lost interest. ¡°I think he was on some hardcore drugs, what do you guys think?¡± Jacob said as the three boys turned to look at each other. ¡°I don¡¯t know, this is pretty weird. You guys believe what he said?¡± Darith asked. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t lie, not with what I threatened him with. So he really lost his phone, and he seems like he doesn¡¯t remember last night.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°Or he was on some hardcore drugs. What was that secret thing about anyway?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Eh it¡¯s nothing, something from when we were younger. So what should we do?¡± Ryan asked as he looked at his phone once more, Darith mimicking him seconds later. ¡°I¡¯ve beaten every game I¡¯ve ever played... If I lose this phone my mom will kill me, but at the same time I really want to find out what this game is and what is going on.¡± Darith said. ¡°So you¡¯re going to hit accept?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°I guess so.¡± Darith shrugged as he put his thumb over the accept button and both Ryan and Jacob moved to watch his screen from over his shoulders. He pressed the accept button and immediately afterwards a new text box appeared.
Warning! Your party leader was killed. Do you still wish to Accept? Accept??Decline
¡°Huh, party leader?¡± Jacob said confused. ¡°That would be Jason wouldn¡¯t it? Since he invited us to play?¡± Ryan suggested. ¡°April 24th is today, so that means he died at 2:31 am? Is that why he lost his cell phone?¡± Darith pondered. ¡°Maybe, so if you don¡¯t want your mom to kill you then don¡¯t die in the game?¡± ¡°How¡¯s a game going to make me lose a phone?¡± Darith asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know man, but I¡¯m gettin¡¯ some weird vibes from this.¡± Jacob replied. ¡°Whatever, I¡¯ll just be careful not to die.¡± Darith shrugged, and pressed yes again.
Warning!: Before playing you must read and agree to all of the rules. Continue
¡°Okay, rules, got it.¡± Darith said, clicking the continue button.
Warning!: You only have 1 life. If you die you will be removed from the game permanently. Continue
¡°So you only get one shot then.¡± Jacob said as Darith hit continue.
Warning!: If caught revealing the game to non-players, City Guard will remove you from the game permanently. Continue
¡°City guards?¡± Ryan said. ¡°Yeah, keep going.¡± Jacob said excitedly as Darith continued.
Warning!: Inviting disabled until level 5 PvP Disabled until level 10 Guilds disabled until level 20
¡°Alright, it¡¯s definitely an MMORPG.¡± Ryan said. ¡°Damn man, I love MMO¡¯s, if it''s good you gotta invite me to your party at level 5 so I can play.¡± Jacob said. ¡°That¡¯s if he doesn¡¯t die first.¡± Ryan chuckled. ¡°What other rules does it have?¡± ¡°Seems like this is the last one...¡± Darith said as they looked at the screen.
Warning!: Defeating the final boss will end the game for all players. Do you accept these rules? Accept??Decline
¡°Doesn¡¯t seem that complicated, hitaccept and let¡¯s see it!¡± Jacob said excitedly. Darith moved his finger over the yes button, but hesitated for a moment. He looked up from his cell phone to glance around at their surroundings. ¡°What is it?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Well, it said if I reveal the game to anyone not a part of it, city guards would kick me out.¡± Darith replied. ¡°What city guards? How are they going to know if I¡¯m revealing the game to someone?¡± Darith asked. ¡°I dunno, I can¡¯t see how it''s possible that something in the game would know that you¡¯re letting us watch you play.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°Yeah, but I also don¡¯t know how it knew to send the invite to my phone when Jason didn¡¯t have my number, and my phone wasn¡¯t even nearby.¡± Darith replied. ¡°You think there¡¯s going to be a city guard standing around watching you play with your phone?¡± Jacob replied sarcastically as he watched Darith glance around. ¡°You really have played way too many games.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not gonna risk my reputation of never not beating a game until I know what¡¯s going on.¡± Darith said after a few seconds more of glancing around, then slid his phone into his pocket. ¡°Aw c¡¯mon, seriously? You¡¯re not going to try it after all that?¡± Jacob groaned. ¡°I¡¯m going to, just when I get home and not in front of all these people.¡± Darith said. ¡°That¡¯s a new level of paranoia. Then you show us Ryan.¡± Jacob said, turning to Ryan. ¡°Ah, he¡¯s kinda right. We don¡¯t know much about it, I¡¯ll check it at home too.¡± Ryan replied, also putting his phone into his pocket. ¡°Man, screw both of you.¡± Jacob complained, and started walking away from them. ¡°I¡¯ll invite you if it¡¯s good, as soon as I get level 5!¡± Ryan sympathized ¡°Yeah whatever, I hope you both die at level one and lose your phones.¡± Jacob shouted back. ¡°So we can still talk about it to each other right? If we¡¯re both playing?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Seems like it.¡± Darith nodded. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s try it out and see what''s up tomorrow. I¡¯m heading home.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°Okay, same here.¡± Darith said, and the two turned from each other and started walking quickly, both with excited and anxious grins on their faces. ¡°I¡¯m home!¡± Darith shouted as he walked into his house, but he was met with complete silence. He slipped off his shoes and dropped his backpack on the floor, heading into the kitchen. As he reached to open the fridge door he noticed a note from his mom stuck to it with a magnet. ¡®Working until around 7, Liana¡¯s with me today. Do homework.¡¯ It said, written with messy blue penmanship. ¡°Perfect.¡± He said to himself, grabbing a can of coke and a microwavable dinner from the fridge. After popping it in the microwave he searched and found a bag of chips unopened, his favorite kind. He started grabbing handfuls until he heard the ding of the microwave and pulled out his dinner while taking a big sip of cola. Then, with careful balance he grabbed all three and headed up to his room, shutting the door behind him with his foot. He placed all the food carefully on his bed with his cola on the floor beside it, then laid down on his stomach and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. The screen was exactly the way he left it, waiting for him to accept the rules to start playing. He held the phone in one hand and his fork in another, taking a big bite into his dinner and then pressing the accept button. ¡°Broken Realm, hm...¡± Darith read, taking another bite as the animated screen faded to black, then another image faded in revealing a 3d model of himself in his phone. The model was an exact replica, right down to the clothes he was wearing. His character was large, wearing baggy shorts and a large baggy t-shirt with his messy short blonde hair and blue eyes. Even the white socks matched his, and as he saw this he coughed on his food, shooting up into a sitting position on his bed with his eyes going wide. ¡°What the hell?¡± He shouted, looking down at his clothes, then back to his phone. He turned the phone around to look at the phone¡¯s camera for a moment, squinting his eyebrows to come up with a reasonable explanation. ¡°It used my camera or something?¡± He said to himself and turned the phone back around to face himself. ¡°I didn¡¯t even know this phone could handle graphics like this.¡± He began pressing arrows on the screen to rotate the character, then saw an arrow at the top and pressed it. A drop down menu appeared over the top half of his screen.
Character Customization Race: Default (?) Gender: Default (?) Class: None (?) Appearance: Default (?) Attributes: Default (?) Select to Modify
¡°Huh, let¡¯s check race first.¡± Darith said, pressing the race button.
Race Customization Human (Default) (?) Elf (?) Lizardfolk* (?) Nemothyne* (?) Orc* (?) Races marked with * will be removed from the game by City Guard if seen by non-players
¡°Okay, so if I pick Lizardfolk, Nemothyne or Orc I have to keep myself hidden from people who don¡¯t play? What the heck is aLizardfolkeven?¡± Darith said as he pressedLizardfolk and his character model behind the menu changed, still somewhat resembling himself but with gray, scaly skin and pitch black eyes. He also gained hind legs like a dog and grew taller, and his hair changed to a blonde mane that went down his neck, with two horns on his forehead and asnake-like tail on his bottom. ¡°Alright,Lizardfolkstands out a bit too much.¡±Darith read through their description, then moved over to Nemothyne. His character modelchanged to a small creature, but in order to resemble his large size it made the model appear as a short chubby ball with furry ears and a long fuzzy tail. ¡°Oh! These look kind of cute. What are they good at?¡± he said as he quickly skimmed through the description. ¡°Fast, nimble, rely on intelligence...¡± Darith said, then quickly went through the last two, Elf and Orc. ¡°So the Orc¡¯s the tough one, I guess he¡¯s good at taking hits. Looks like Elf is good with a bow...Lizardfolk for a fighter, Nemothyne for a magic user and human seems to be all around.¡± Darith said to himself, looking away from the screen to grab a handful of chips and think for a moment. ¡°Let¡¯s try Nemothyne then.¡± Darith shrugged, selecting it. ¡°But I¡¯m not going to look like a fat fur ball.¡± He added.. ¡°If you¡¯re going to have ears and a tail, you¡¯ve got to be as cute and tiny as possible.¡± He said to himself, trying to justify the choices he was making out loud as he changed the characters weight to be more slender and fit. His character model also changed hair color, facial features, but still remained similar to what he looked like in real life. ¡°Pffft.¡± He chuckled, seeing what he¡¯d look like as a tiny person with ears. He took a bit more time changing the appearance, starting with his ear color, tail, hair color, until finally he was satisfied. His character was now a slim, tiny male with short brown hair, tiny pointed brown fox ears and a long fluffy brown and white tail, the figure of an 8 year old, but still wearing his clothes. ¡°I¡¯ll have to figure out how to change outfits later I guess.¡± He shrugged as he failed to find anything in the appearance options. ¡°Alright, next up is class...¡± He pressed it.
Info: You will be able to choose your class during gameplay at your own discretion. Once it is chosen it can''t be changed.
¡°Hmm, okay so it''s one of those choose your own path type games, that¡¯s cool.¡± Darith said, moving to the statistics menu next.
Name: Darith Gender: Male(Male) Level: 1 Race: Nemothyne Title: None Class: None Basic Attributes Health: 100/100 - Mana: 80/80 - Energy: 50/50 Strength: 4 Agility: 1 Endurance: 1 Charisma: 1 Intelligence: 15 Constitution: 4 Spirit: 5 Luck: 1
¡°Hmm, let¡¯s see. Strength is pretty straight forward, agility for reflexes and accuracy, intelligence for problem solving, memory, and magic damage. Endurance for recovery and energy before getting tired, spirit for mana recovery, morale, and ambition, andconstitution for health, how much damage I can take before dying. Default means they picked it based off of my race? Or based off of me...¡± He said as he frowned at Agility and Endurance. ¡°Charisma for how well I am liked and can talk to people, and luck is just luck. Whatever, if I¡¯m going to be a Nemothyne using magic, these stats should be okay.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Guess I¡¯m done then?¡± He asked himself as he eyed his character up and down once more. Feeling satisfied, he hit finished, and was prompted one final time.
Warning!: You have selected a high profile race. If seen revealing the game to non-players by the City Guard, you will be removed from the game.
He hit accept after reading the message.
Warning!: You will be unable to edit your choices beyond this point. Are you Sure? Accept??Decline
He hit accept without hesitation.
Initializing: Connecting to Master Server... ...Connected Welcome to The Broken Realm
The screen read, but that was the last thing Darith could see before his vision suddenly went black, and he passed out on his bed. Chapter 3: Instructions Not Included ¡°Ngyyuaa.¡± Darith yawned, though he didn¡¯t quite recognize his own voice as he heard himself. He opened his eyes slowly to find himself staring up at the ceiling. He felt strange, his entire body felt different in so many ways that he shot up in his bed to look down at himself, moving a lot faster and easier than he was expecting. What he saw was a body that was not his, and clothes that were too big for him, or a body that was just way too tiny for it¡¯s clothes. He pulled his shirt outward to look down it, then slammed his shirt back against his chest with his hand in panic. ¡°Oh no...¡± He said to himself, but his voice sounded like an elementary schooler, causing him to slap his hands over his mouth. ¡°Oh no!¡± He squeaked again in a high pitched voice. He looked at his cell phone to see a blue screen with a 3D model of his Nemothyne character and an options menu button. He studied it for a moment, then looked down between his legs to see a brown and white tail that matched the character model¡¯s perfectly. He nervously reached out to touch it, but upon feeling its soft fur he jerked his hand away horrified and turned his attention to the options button on his phone. After fumbling his phone to press it as fast as he could, two more buttons popped up as a result. Interface and Automation. ¡°No no no, not interface and automation. Where¡¯s exit? Return to normal? What the hell! Ah! Stop talking!¡± He said, his voice startling himself again. He then jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom, bumping the door handle of his room against his shoulder as he ran past it. Once in the bathroom, he could only see the top of his head and his pointy brown ears in the mirror. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me!¡± He whispered to himself. He then scrambled up on to the sink to see his tiny, Nemothyne body. ¡°I¡¯m a tiny animal boy! Is this a dream?¡± He said as suddenly his pants fell down from being way too big for him. ¡°Oh hell no!¡± He shouted, seeing that certain parts he was accustomed to having were now.. different. ¡°Clothes, I need clothes!¡± He squeaked, running out of the bathroom back towards his bedroom, ¡°I hope this is some sort of bad dream.¡± He said to himself, quickly digging through his drawers for any sort of underwear or pants that¡¯d fit - because of his size he didn¡¯t have a belt around on hand as he hadn¡¯t ever needed one. But every single pair of clothing he found was both way too big for this body, and was being obstructed by the large flapping tail. ¡°There¡¯s got to be some way to undo this...¡± He said to himself, grabbing the cell phone once again, only to see twomessages on it.
Unequipped: Cargo Shorts Unequipped: Boxers
¡°What the hell... What kind of game is this?¡± Darith said with wide eyes. Just then he heard the front door to his house open, causing him to turn and look out the window and see the sun had already set. ¡°We¡¯re back!¡± He heard his mom call out as she pushed Liana¡¯s wheelchair into the house. ¡°Oh no...¡± Darith¡¯s voice squeaked. He looked down at his body once more, turning his head around to see his tail wiggling. He then recalled the rule of not being allowed to be seen by others not a part of this game. ¡°Hope you did some homework instead of just playing games.¡± His mom called again. He glanced around the room as adrenaline heated him up and spotted his 2nd story window as the only option for escape, and ran towards it. Hearing the sound of his mom''s footsteps coming up the stairs, he swung the window open as fast as he could and looked out from it. He wasn¡¯t normally afraid, he had stepped out of the window like this in the past, but with his tiny body now he wasn¡¯t sure what would happen. Just as he was about to make his leap, he remembered the phone lying on the bed. He turned to face it as his mom knocked on his bedroom door. ¡°You in there?¡± She asked, and he turned and swiped the phone off the bed, then ran for the window a second time. As he jumped, he was expecting the landing to be painful on the ground outside but he landed surprisingly soft, barely feeling it at all. He took another glance back up to the open window, cell phone in hand and his over-sized shirt acting as a dress now. As he looked he heard the sound of his bedroom door open. ¡°Sorry mom...¡± He whispered, then ran from the side yard of their building towards the front yard. His mother stepped into the room and looked around for a moment. ¡°Hm... Light on but not here...¡± She said to herself. ¡°Is he playing with headphones on?¡± Liana called up from downstairs. ¡°Nope, not here-¡± She stopped as she spotted the mess of clothing tossed all over his bedroom. Her expression froze for a moment, then she turned off the light and closed his door, stepping backwards. ¡°I¡¯m not cleaning that up.¡± She said, then nodded to herself and walked away. As Darith made it to the front of his house and saw the street, he jerked himself backward into the shadow of his building, realizing that if anyone saw him he¡¯d lose this game, whatever it was. He then wondered to himself if at this point he even cared about this game, looking down at his tiny fingers wrapped around his cell phone. ¡°So this is what happened to Jason, he got pulled into this game and was asking for help.¡± Darith said to himself, looking up from the phone around the corner of his house to see if anyone was walking around on the street. ¡°That means if I die in this body or get caught by guards, I¡¯ll lose my memory and my phone like he did.¡± He concluded. ¡°But he looked normal, does that mean he picked human as his race? Or is there someway to turn back to normal...? I have to find a way to hide my ears and tail without anyone seeing me.¡± He glanced at his phone once more to see the replica of himself with statistics listed beside it, and underneath read status ¡®scared, anxious,¡¯. ¡°One thing is for sure, this is definitely not a normal game... Let¡¯s see, can I move this?¡± He then turned back to his tail and tried shaking his butt to get it to move, but it only moved with his butt. ¡°Hrmm.¡± He then reached his free hand down to his tail and flicked it. ¡°Ow! Whoa, I can feel it! It¡¯s like another muscle...¡± He said as the pain gave him a better feel for his new body part addition. He then tried moving the tail using the feeling, and it worked, swaying his tail back and forth. ¡°Haha, awesome!¡± He smiled. ¡°But now I¡¯ve got to hide it...¡± He then moved the tail up his back into his shirt, making a big bump but hiding it from plain sight. ¡°Good enough... Now these.¡± He said, moving his eyes upward to his brown ears and messy short brown hair. He first tried flicking them, and though he felt pain he could not grasp a muscle in his new body that would let him move them. He tried folding them down with his hands, but they simply shot back up in the air. He then pulled at his new hair and started to wrap it around his ears to hide them as best as possible. After a lot of effort and wrapping it worked, though it looked as though he had a balloon on his head. He then looked at his cell phone once more to see that his model changed to reflect his new appearance. ¡°This game is really something else...¡± He mumbled, then spotted a notification at the bottom.
Skill Gained: Conceal (?)
¡°Huh?¡± He tapped the ? button with his finger.
Conceal - Rank 1 The ability to hide the true nature of a person, item, or ability using deception. Higher ranks make what is hidden harder to detect. Effect: Reduce chance of being discovered by 1%
¡°Whoa...¡± He said, leaning his tiny figure back against the side wall of his house, looking up at the night sky with squinted eyes for a few seconds. ¡°My body takes on the form of the character... Probably the stats as well, now even my actions are making skills. It¡¯s like I¡¯m living in this game... Or rather the game has become my life? Wait, the rules said that if I can beat the game it will end for everyone... So how do I beat the game?¡± He asked, looking at his cell phone once more, when suddenly he saw a large blue flash of light shot into the sky, catching his attention. He looked to see a pillar of dark blue light coming from the ground a few blocks away, and his eyes widened in disbelief. ¡°What the heck is that?¡± He said in awe, and as he looked across the streets and over the houses in front of him, he noticed a group of people walking by, but not one of them turned their attention to the light. ¡°Something tells me that¡¯s related to this game... I¡¯ve got to get over there.¡± He said, but as he took a step out from the safety of his house¡¯s shadow, he paused and looked around. ¡°Without being seen...¡± He added, waiting for the group of teenagers to walk out of sight down the street. ¡°Now!¡± He said to psych himself up, then sprinted out from the shadow of his house onto the street and across the road in the direction of the blue light, reaching the backyards of the houses opposite his, but as he got to the backyard gates sitting between the walls of two houses, he felt completely exhausted, as though his legs wouldn¡¯t move on their own anymore, and was wheezing for air. ¡°The.. What the heck, I didn¡¯t...¡± He said in his high pitched voice between breaths. ¡°I feel so light running in this body, why am I getting tired?¡± He asked, looking to his cell phone. He now noticed three bars at the top of his screen, and a new notification at the bottom.
Skill Gained: Sprint (?)
He quicklypressedthe information on the sprint skill. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!
Sprint - Rank 1 Run at maximum speed at the cost of energy. Cost: 5energy per second Passive: +1 Endurance
¡°So sprinting is a skill... What¡¯s up with endurance and energy?¡± He asked, hitting the back button to see the three bars on his character screen. One was red, one was blue, and a third that was nearly empty but slowly refilling was yellow. Red represented his health, blue his mana, and yellow his energy, but the energy bar was sitting at 2/50. ¡°No wonder, I have almost no energy... So my physical abilities are directly affected by the stats in this game, this is something else. ¡± He said as he opened the character menu.
Name: Darith Level: 1 Title: None Gender: Male(Male) Race: Nemothyne Class: None Basic Attributes Health: 100/100 - Mana: 80/80 - Energy: 2/50 Strength: 4 Agility: 1 Endurance: 2 Charisma: 1 Intelligence: 15 Constitution: 4 Spirit: 5 Luck: 1 Armor: 0 Unused Points: 0 Basic Skills Conceal - Rank 1 Sprint - Rank 1
¡°Alright time to really understand how these stats are going to affect me...¡± He said as he first clicked to strength. ¡°Controls how much I am able to carry and lift, and how strong my physical attacks are. I¡¯m guessing with 4 I can¡¯t do much. It tried to match my stats to my regular body, so even though I look different, I still have to act as though I¡¯m in my normal body for now...¡± He said to himself, looking up briefly to make sure no one was walking by or listening. ¡°Agility is my speed and reflexes and accuracy, and affects my damage with ranged weapons. So I guess I¡¯ve got bad accuracy and I¡¯m slow. Intelligence affects my memory and problem solving, and damage with magic attacks. I¡¯m smart and have a good memory, but it¡¯s not really useful, I don¡¯t know how to use anything like magic. I think I made a mistake with these stats.¡± He sighed to himself, moving on to Endurance. ¡°Increases your maximum energy, energy regeneration, and your ability to resist incoming damage. Energy is used for physical related tasks and skills,energyregeneration is 1 point a minute... not very fast. The stat is at 2 now thanks to that sprint skill, but still really low. I¡¯ll need to find a way to improve my physical skills. Normally I only have to play games with a controller.¡± Darith said, disappointed in himself. ¡°Spirit increases your morale, ambition, and mana regeneration My mana regeneration is 1.25 a minute. I guess this is okay.Constitution increases my maximum health and mana. My maximum health is currently 100, and mana is 80.Constitutionseems like a pretty important stat to raise.¡± ¡°Charisma, improves how well others perceive me, effects manipulation related skills. It figures that mine is low... And Luck affects chance related skills and critical hit chance. Current critical hit chance: 0.01%. Ouch.¡± He said, exiting out of the menu to see his energy now at 5/50, and noticing an icon under his status, clicking on it.
Debuff: Exhaustion Reaching 0 energy will leave you exhausted for 5 minutes
As he read it, he realized why he suddenly felt so weak moments ago. He watched as the status effect faded and he felt his body return to normal. ¡°Okay, I need to be careful about using too much energy, hitting 0 can cause a lot of trouble. I¡¯ll have to avoid sprinting for now until I somehow raise these stats... The sprint skill gave me +1 endurance, so maybe other skills can do the same.¡± He nodded. ¡°Of all the games to not have a tutorial, it had to be something like this... How is all of this even possible?¡± He carefully analyzed his phone. ¡°I¡¯ve just got to follow the rules of this game for now and try and beat it.¡± He concluded, and just then another notification popped up on his phone
Skill Gained: Gamer''s Mind (?)
¡°Heh.¡± He smirked as he clicked the skill to read it.
Gamer''s Mind - No Ranks Your experience at playing games has allowed you to favor logic over panic, fear, and anxiety when faced with dangerous situations. Effect 1: Immune to panic, fear, anxious mind states and related abilities Effect 2: +1 Int, +1 Spr
¡°Well then, gaining skills doesn¡¯t seem that hard in this game.¡± He smiled to himself proudly. ¡°I just need to find a spell somehow, hopefully before anything bad happens.¡± He said, turning his attention to the blue light once more. ¡°Let¡¯s get there without sprinting.¡± He took a glance down at his feet, covered in only his now-baggy socks, once white but now covered in dirt from running across the street. He then looked back out to the street, and then behind him over the gates to see the blue light behind the backyards of suburban houses, not more than one or two blocks away. He decided to avoid the street and tried opening the gate, but to no avail as it was locked shut. He then reached his tiny arms to the top of the gate and pulled himself up with all his might, barely making himself get to the top and rolling over the wooden gate onto the other side into the backyard of a stranger. He glanced at his cell phone, half expecting to have learned a climb skill, but nothing. He only noted that his energy bar moved down three points. ¡°Okay, seems good so far...¡± He whispered to himself, and began tiptoeing through the backyard, watching his feet as to not step on anything sharp. He only had the light of the moon from above and distant street lamps to guide his path, the house whose backyard he was traversing had residents who were either not home or already asleep, as all the lights inside their home were off. Making it to the back of the yard he was met with a fence that separated this backyard from another home¡¯s across the way. He used his tiny arms once more to lift up and roll over the fence, glancing again at his phone to see hisenergydropped to 2, but seconds later went back up to 3. ¡°I really regret wasting energy on sprinting.¡± He sighed to himself, looking ahead to see that this house had lights on and he could see a woman walking around in one of the windows, appearing to be washing dishes in the kitchen. He ducked his head down and bent his knees to make himself as tiny as possible, then slowly stepped across the yard towards the gate at the side of the house, his eyes not moving off of the woman inside. Without watching his feet, he accidentally stepped on a sharp toy, and it cut into his foot slightly. He was tempted to make a noise of pain but instead bit his lip in frustration, quickly moving his foot off the toy and onto the grass. He paused for a moment to make sure the woman didn¡¯t see him, then continued forward, avoiding putting pressure on his cut foot. When he finally arrived at the gate at the side of the house, out of the view of the woman, he leaned against the gate and lifted his foot to see how bad the cut was, but not only was there was no cut or blood, the pain was gone. He was sure he felt his skin get cut though, so quickly turned to the cell phone. His health bar had gone down 2 points, but aside from that there was nothing. ¡°Any injuries I take go to my health bar? But my body doesn¡¯t seem to get hurt? Let¡¯s try...¡± He then looked around his surroundings to find something sharp, spotting a tiny splinter of wood on the gate sticking out. He then carefully pressed his index finger on the sharp part of the wood to try and cut it. ¡°Ow!¡± He squeaked as quietly as he could, flinching from the pain, then pulled his finger back to look. No blood, no mark at all, but looking back at his cell phone he saw his health bar had dropped another point. Seconds later, the pain was also gone. ¡°Wow...¡± He said in amazement. ¡°This body is really like a game character¡¯s body... I wonder if it gets hungry.¡± He eyed his arms and legs once more, still shocked by his new tiny form. He then turned to the blue light once more and used his low strength to pull himself over one last gate, landing as quietly as he could on the other side. Looking at his phone again he saw a notification.
Attribute Up!: +1 Endurance
HisEnergy bar now showed a 55 maximum, with 3 remaining, and a 1.1 energy regeneration rate. ¡°Just like in a game... If I train this body it¡¯ll get stronger... But this isn¡¯t a game, this is the real world. Just how strong can this body get? What are the limits on how I can use it in the real world? I guess that explains the city guard rule.¡± He said to himself. ¡°Could I run around and do push-ups to raise my strength and endurance, or maybe study to raise my intelligence, pray to raise spirit? Hit on girls or gamble or fight... Would all of this raise these stats?¡± He asked himself. ¡°Then again, that isn¡¯t too far from reality, if you train something you get better at it. Maybe this game is just applying number values to these things. It¡¯s going to take a while to get used to this Broken Realm game.¡± He clenched his tiny fist. ¡°I really want to know what that blue light is, it¡¯s got to be a part of this.¡± He turned to the light once more, it was very close now, just down the street a bit and around the corner. He carefully glanced out from the house he was beside, seeing an empty street ahead of him with the sound of cars traveling on roads in the distance. ¡°Perfect, now to walk as quickly as I can without using sprint...¡± He whispered to himself, stepping out onto the street, then beginning to power walk, taking as big steps as his tiny legs would allow, his tail wiggling about in the back of his shirt and his hair brushing over his concealed ears. He then suddenly spotted the bright headlights of a car turning onto the street and driving in his direction. He could feel the fur on his tail and ears stand upright, but he didn¡¯t feel any panic, he calmly ducked behind a blue recycling bin that was set out on the street, hiding behind it until the car passed. ¡°Huh...¡± He looked at his high standing tail fur quickly. ¡°Immune to panic, that¡¯s going to be handy.¡± He stepped back out and went back to power walking, the base of the blue beam of light coming into view now. What he saw was not expected, it was a giant doorway made of jagged dark blue ice and a closed wooden door. Behind it was nothing, it was simply a door sitting between two houses giving off cold air that sent a chill down his spine as he approached. ¡°There¡¯s no way this is normal, it¡¯s got to be a part of the game... But what is it?¡± He said as he stepped forward, reaching his hand out to the old door latch on the right side of the door. It was freezing to the touch, but he quickly pressed the latch to hear a clunking sound, then pushed the door open. He expected to simply see through the door to the backyards of the houses behind it, but what he saw was entirely beyond his wildest imagination. The door revealed a large frozen cavern with an icy, rock covered ground and frozen icicles hanging from the ceiling, only a few meters wide. It seemed to go on quite far but he couldn¡¯t make out how long it was as there was a turn ahead of him, and the cave was lit by old wooden torches bolted to the walls. Then, in thin air he saw letters begin to form in front of the door in icy white font.
World Gate: Frost Caverns Level 1-9 (Dungeon)
¡°No way, are you kidding me?¡± He said with wide eyes, looking left and right down the street to see if anyone was coming, if anyone could see what he was seeing, but there was no one. ¡°How... How is something like this possible? This is like a dream! A game in the real world? I can¡¯t believe this is something human technology can pull off...¡± He said to himself in disbelief, and just then saw another vehicle driving up the street. Without hesitation he dashed forward through the doorway, his baggy socks touching down on the icy floor. He then spun around, looking to see if the driver of the car saw him walk through the door, but it drove past as if nothing was there. ¡°They really can¡¯t see this? Only people a part of the game can see it? Maybe that means other players will show up... The rules said fighting other players is disabled until level 10 so I don¡¯t have to worry about them attacking me... Maybe someone will come that knows a bit more about the game.¡± He said, looking behind him into the frozen cave, feeling cold air blowing towards him from within. He stood there a bit, battling inside his head of whether he should wait, or try doing this ¡®dungeon¡¯ by himself. Eventually the excitement got the best of him and he began walking forward into the dungeon. Chapter 4: Frozen Caverns ¡°Brrr... If I don¡¯t feel pain, why do I feel cold?¡± Darith grumbled, stepping into the cave as he felt his toes sting from the icy chill of the frozen ground. He glanced at his cell phone to see under status ¡®Cold¡¯. ¡°No duh.¡± He sighed as he pulled his arms into his thin, oversized shirt. He walked on excitedly nonetheless, the idea that he was now inside a living game dungeon gave him enough energy to make him feel like he was staying warm, and it wasn¡¯t long into the cave that he began to hear the sound of crackling firewood, different from that of the torches lighting the cavern walls. Darith ran forward deeper into the cave, turning around a corner to see a small opening in the cavern with a wooden campfire set in the center, and a body laying beside the fire on the ground wearing a snowsuit, shivering in the cold with pale blue skin. There was also a large blue ball floating above the person''s head that got Darith¡¯s attention. ¡°Hello? Are you alright?¡± Darith asked as he moved closer, worried but cautious. ¡°H-help, pl-please...¡± She replied, it was a female with a soft voice, struggling to speak. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Are you freezing? Should I get you out of the cave?¡± He asked worriedly, stepping closer now to see inside her big furred hood that this girls skin was a light shade of purple. ¡°N-n-not freezing, poisoned. N-need Frostberrys, th-they will c-c-cure... Please, the-three frost b-berries.¡± She stuttered, shaking into a ball shape as she spoke. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what a frost berry is.. Are they in this cave?¡± ¡°Y-yes, just a b-b-bit further that w-way. Pl-please!¡± She begged, and as she finished a ding noise came from his cell phone. He lifted his phone up to see that his avatar was gone and a new interface was on the screen, showing a model of the girl before him.
Name: Poisoned Girl (Neutral) - Level: ?? Quest: Gather 3 Frostberries and bring them to the girl to cure her of her poison Objective: 0/3 Frostberries Reward: Unknown Accept??Decline
¡°Wow, unreal! So she¡¯s not even a real person? Are you an NPC?¡± Darith asked her excitedly, but she did not reply, she remained quiet and shivering on the ground of the cave. ¡°I¡¯ll accept your quest!¡± He said excitedly, pressing the accept button. ¡°Th-thank you, please hu-hurry!¡± She replied.
Alert!: Quest log menu unlocked. Can be accessed through the main menu interface.
The cell phone read, and as it did he turned to see the blue ball above the girls head turn a dark gray color. He noted the color change and assumed it was related to accepting her quest. ¡°Alright! Time to do my first Broken World quest!¡± He said excitedly, looking deeper into the cave. It was still cold, but he was too excited to let it bother him now. He walked deeper into the cave with a skip in his step, looking around his surroundings to find anything that might resemble a frost berry. He didn¡¯t have to travel far before he spotted a small white plant growing against the cavern wall with a single blue berry hanging off one of its leaves. ¡°That was easy!¡± He said, walking towards it and leaned down to pick the berry, as he did the leaves jingled back and small flakes of snow fell off of them. Darith then turned to his cell phone to see a message read
Acquired: Frostberry x 1 Store in inventory? Yes??No
¡°Inventory? I have an inventory?¡± Darith said excitedly, hitting the Y button. He then watched the blue berry in his hand disintegrate into tiny balls of white light which traveled towards the phone in his opposite hand, landing in a small bag icon in the corner of his phone, just beside the new quest menu there. Before he could press it, another message appeared.
Alert!: Quest items will now be automatically sent to inventory.
¡°Right, automation and display menus. I should probably take a look at those, but first...¡± Darith said as he excitedly pressed the bag icon. The bag then opened up to show a 10 across, 3 down square menu with almost all the squares empty save for the first top four. From left to right he saw a pair of plain brown shoes, pants, shirt, then the frost berry. ¡°What is this?¡± He said as he clicked on first the shoes.
Name: Beginner Nemothyne Shoes(Common) Slot: Feet Type: Leather Armor: 1 Description: Made from simple leather, given to new adventurers.
¡°Yes! Of course!¡± Darith said as he excitedly hit yes, and as if it was magic he watched white balls of light emit from his cell phone screen. The balls then began to form together in the air in front of him, slowly taking the appearance of two brown shoes. Once they finished forming, the shoes both fell to the ground at Darith¡¯s feet. ¡°Are you kidding me? I had starting clothes this whole time?¡± He said as he took his baggy oversized and dirty socks off to slip his feet into the perfectly fitted and warm brown shoes.
Unequipped: Dirty Socks Equipped: Beginner Nemothyne Shoes
¡°Alright! Pants and shirt next.¡± Darith said, using the same method to make the brown long-sleeved shirt and pants appear in front of him. He first slipped on the pants which had a hole in them for his tail that matched perfectly, then as fast as he could, he pulled off his baggy shirt and put on the Nemothyne Beginner Chest piece. ¡°Much better!¡± Darith said as he stretched out his arms and legs, for the first time feeling comfortable in his new body. He then looked at his shirt and socks sitting on the ground. ¡°Now let¡¯s see...¡± He went back to his cell phone and looked at his clothes. ¡°I wonder if I can put these in my inventory somehow...¡± He tried touching an empty box in the inventory and a prompt appeared telling him to touch an object with his index finger.He eyed his left index finger, but it looked completely normal. He then touched his shirt, and sure enough it disintegrated into tiny balls of light that floated into the cell phone screen, and in a box appeared an item.
Name: Basic Shirt(Common) Slot: Outfit Type: Cloth Description: A basic shirt made of cotton.
¡°Awesome! What else can I put in here?¡± Darith said as he glanced around, spotting the leaves of the frostberry plant. He walked over to it and snapped off a leaf, it broke as if it were ice. He then used the same method of touching it with his left finger after picking an inventory slot, and sure enough the leaf vanished and appeared in his inventory.
Name: Frostberry Leaf Type: Crafting Material Quality: Low Used In: Alchemy, Grinding/Processing Description: A leaf from the Frostberry plant that typically grows in cold climates.
¡°Oh man, the game even has crafting. What else... How about dirt?¡± Darith wondered, as he dug his fingers into the frozen dirt beneath him, gathering as big of a pile as his tiny figures could. He then repeated the process to put it in his inventory and it worked again.
Acquired: Dirt (Junk)
¡°Huh, it even tells me if it''s useful or not.¡± He said as he removed the dirt from his inventory and it fell back to the ground. ¡°Alright let''s find those last two frost berries.¡± He began looking around carefully again, moving deeper into the cave while leaving his old socks on the ground behind him. It didn¡¯t take long before he found the second Frostberry plant and picked the berry, only this time the berry immediately went to his inventory. He broke off a few of the leaves as well to put in his inventory, though he wasn¡¯t sure what to use them for yet. ¡°Alright, one more to go.¡± He said excitedly, stepping even deeper into the frozen cave. He turned a few corners until he arrived at a large open room in the cave with a single Frostberry plant growing in the center. He excitedly took a few steps forward, but paused immediately after he heard the clittering of feet above him. He looked up to see a small blue creature climbing around on the ceiling of the cave, causing him to take a few steps back. The creature then began floating down from the ceiling on a web coming from its rear, landing on the ground in front of the frostberry plant on it¡¯s eight legs. ¡°Uh oh.¡± Darith stepped back, pointing his cell phone at it. The cell phone responded to it just as it did to the girl earlier, displaying its model, name, and other information.
Name: Frost Spiderling (Hostile) - Level: 1 Health: 15/15
¡°Hostile! That means...¡± Darith said to himself, but as he looked up from his phone, the tiny ice-like spider lunged forward at his legs with its fangs. Darith quickly moved his leg and jumped to the side out of the path of the spider, causing it to let out a hissing sound. ¡°How do I fight? I don¡¯t have any spells or anything yet!¡± Darith said, but his mind didn¡¯t go into a panic, he felt himself stay calm and he was able to glance around at his surroundings to look for any sort of weapon. He saw nothing he could use though. The spider then lunged forward once again, this time Darith reacted by trying to kick it. As the fangs of the Spiderling cut into his shin, the tip of Darith¡¯s foot connected with the bottom of the spider, sending it backward. The pain he felt was gone in a few seconds, but he quickly looked to his phone as the spider landed quite a ways across the cavern and slowly recovered. The Frost Spiderling¡¯s health bar changed to show 10/15, while Darith¡¯s health bar changed to show 82/100. A notification also appeared, and he spotted his energy bar move down one point, sitting it at 8 now.
Skill Gained: Kick (?)
¡°Kick only did 5 damage, that bite did 15 to me, I can¡¯t let it get any more bites off. It¡¯s only a level 1 monster, shouldn¡¯t be that hard...¡± Darith said, turning his attention back to the Frost Spiderling as it charged at him. Using the same method of attack, it lunged at Darith and he jumped out of the way again, only once he avoided the bite this time he kicked the spider from the side, sending it backward across the cavern again. He glanced at his phone once again to see it lost another 5 health points. It then repeated the same attack pattern of charging at Darith again. ¡°Take this!¡± Darith shouted excitedly as he kicked the spider from the side a third time, this time watching it land upside down and it¡¯s 8 long icy legs curl upward. ¡°Hell yeah! I beat my first monster!¡± He cheered, comfortable with his young voice now. He looked at his phone again to see a new message stating he''d gained 2 experience points. ¡°Nice, it really is just like an RPG.¡± he smiled, then noticed something sparkly pop out of the spiders body and fall to the ground. He walked over to the sparkling object on the ground and picked it up.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Acquired: Frost Spidersilk x 1
¡°They even drop items!¡± He said as he watched the item float into his phone like the others. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see what happens when I finish this quest.¡± He quickly ran over to the Frostberry plant and picked the last berry, making sure to pick up a few leaves off the plant as well.
Quest Complete! Return to Mayiera
¡°Got it, have to take it back to that poor poisoned girl.¡± He said, turning to start running back in the direction from which he came, but then stopped himself and looked at hisenergy bar, seeing it was now at 6. ¡°I¡¯ll need to be careful about usingenergy using my kick skill will take 3energy per Spiderling, and I¡¯m only regenerating oneenergy every minute. That means it¡¯ll take 3 minutes per spiderling... I really need to raise my Endurance stat.¡± Darith sighed, slightly disappointed in his current abilities. He walked back as quickly as he could. He arrived at the girl laying on the ground just as he left her, only now the ball above her head was green. He figured out now that blue meant there was a quest, gray that it was in progress, and green that it was completed. ¡°Here, I got you the frost berries!¡± Darith said excitedly, going into his inventory in his phone to take all three out. He caught them in his hands before they could fall to the ground, then held them out for the poisoned girl. She reached out with one of her hands and grabbed them, quickly putting all three in her mouth and eating them. ¡°Oh thank you, thank you so much!¡± She said as her purple skin began to turn back to normal. The berries cured her instantly and she sat upright. ¡°You saved my life, I thought that poison would kill me for sure. Here, you should take one of these weapons, it¡¯s dangerous to travel around unarmed!¡± She said, and then held out her hands, causing Darith¡¯s phone to make a ring sound. He looked to it to see multiple weapons appear on his phone¡¯s screen.
Quest Complete! Choose a Reward: Name: Beginner''s Axe(Common) Slot: Weapon Type: Axe Damage: 1-5 Speed: Slow Special: Teaches the skill Slash Description: Copper metal with pine handle Name:Beginner''s Bow(Common) Slot:Weapon Type:Bow (Requires Arrows) Damage:1-3 Speed:Slow Special:Teaches the skillImbued Shot Description:Pine with linen string Name:Beginner''s Staff(Common) Slot:Weapon Type:Staff Damage:1-1 Speed:Slow Special:Teaches the skillFirebolt Description:Made from Pine wood Name:Beginner''s Sword(Common) Slot:Weapon Type:Sword Damage:1-4 Speed:Average Special:Teaches the skillStab Description:Copper metal with pinehilt
¡°It looks like this is where I choose my starting weapon... Seems like they each teach a skill. An axe, A bow, astaff, and a sword.I¡¯ve already got the intelligence to be a spellcaster, might as well get started on learning how to be one. I¡¯ll take the staff please!¡± Darith said to the girl. ¡°Good choice!¡± She smiled, and the menu disappeared from his phone, changing to its normal self with a notification saying quest completed, with +5 experience gained. The staff appeared from thin air in front of the quest giver, and before it could fall to the ground Darith grabbed it. It was a simple long wooden staff with a large thicker sphere of wood on the top that matched his height, it had no special markings on it whatsoever, by all accounts it was just a stick, but nevertheless Darith felt excited to hold it. He glanced at his phone to see a notification.
Equipped: Beginner''s Staff Learn Firebolt from this item? Yes????No
¡°Yes, of course!¡± Darith said excitedly, pressing the yes button. He got a message that he had learned the skill and immediately clicked it for more information.
Firebolt - Rank 1 Shoot a bolt of fire dealing FIRE DAMAGE to the first target hit. Damage: 16 (1 + Int (15)) Cost: 10mp Cast Time: 5s Command: Firebolt (change)(?)
¡°Alright, 10 mana, and I have 80. 5 second cast is pretty long though... Cast command? What¡¯s that?¡± Darith said as he clicked the question mark.
Info: Cast command is a word or action used to cast a spell
¡°So if I say Firebolt it will st-¡± As he said it, he noticed a red circle appear in the air in front of him, forming slowly. It startled him at first and he took a step backward, causing the red circle to stop forming and break apart, vanishing into nothing. ¡°Whoa! What was that, was it casting? Because I said it? No way, this is too cool!¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°Let¡¯s leave it like that for now. Why did it stop casting though?¡± ¡°It''s hard to cast a spell while you¡¯re moving, it breaks the incantation.¡± The girl replied, surprising Darith. He closed out the phone¡¯s menu and put it in his pants pocketwhile turning to the girl. ¡°You can talk?¡± ¡°Of course I can talk.¡± She replied with a smile. ¡°I mean, you can talk freely, like normal conversations?¡± He asked, and she returned a confused expression to him. ¡°Well... Yes?¡± She replied while turning her head sideways. ¡°Are you a guide? Can you tell me anything about this game?¡± He asked. ¡°N-no... What game?¡± She asked. ¡°Hrm.¡± Darith thought for a moment, realizing that she was still an NPC, this wasn¡¯t a game to her but rather it was a world she was a part of. ¡°Nevermind... Do you know how I can make my skills stronger?¡± He asked. ¡°Practice!¡± ¡°How can I make myself stronger?¡± ¡°Training!¡± she said cheerfully. ¡°Hrmm, not very useful information. How about learning more skills and spells?¡± ¡°You could find spell books, there are many in the Avistion Magic Academy Library! Thats a bit far from here though... You could just try making your own spells! Oh that can be dangerous though, my little brother tried to make a spell once and blew up our barn.¡± The girl replied, trailing off into thought after her last statement. ¡°Where¡¯s the Avistion Library?¡± Darith asked excitedly. ¡°Well that¡¯s in the City of Avistion of course!¡± She replied. ¡°Where¡¯s Avistion?¡± He asked. ¡°You don¡¯t know where Avistion is? You¡¯re a traveler from the other world, aren¡¯t you?¡± She asked curiously. ¡°I... I guess so...¡± Darith shrugged hesitantly. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s my first time meeting one! Well, Avistion is a long way from here, a lot of dangerous creatures near it too. You shouldn¡¯t try to go there just yet. I heard from other world travellers that they had gates to Avistion open once they''d been in our world for awhile though, so maybe wait for that.¡± She shrugged. ¡°So the gates maybe have some conditions behind them opening... Alright, so where are we now? What are you doing in this cave? Better yet, do you have a name?¡± Darith blurted out all his questions too quickly. ¡°My name is Mayiera, and these are the Frost Caverns in the Coldrinn Mountains. It took me a month to find these caves, then I got bit by a Gnark and almost died before I could...¡± She stopped herself from finishing the sentence. ¡°Before what?¡± Darith asked curiously. ¡°You¡¯ll just make fun of me...¡± ¡°I promise I won¡¯t laugh.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Well, it¡¯s said that somewhere in this Labyrinth of frozen tunnels is the Coldrinn ruins where the frost core is hidden, I was hoping to find it...¡± ¡°Coldrinn ruins? Frost core? Labyrinth?¡± Darith asked confused, causing Mayiera to let out a tiny giggle. ¡°Too much at once? These Caverns are a huge Labyrinth of tunnels that no one has ever been able to map, most people who travel inside never make it back out. Speaking of which, how did you find me?¡± She asked. ¡°Well, I just appeared here, from the other world I guess?¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Wow, I am really lucky then!¡± She smiled. ¡°The Coldrinn are the ancients of the northern frost realm, that¡¯s where we are now. They¡¯re all gone now, but their ancient city is rumored to be frozen beneath these very mountains! No one believes it''s here anymore, but I have to find it! It¡¯s the only place the Frozen Core can still be hiding.¡± ¡°Why do you need this frozen core?¡± Darith asked. ¡°That...¡± She turned her head to the ground. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you.¡± Darith watched her smile change to worry. ¡°Okay, then what¡¯s a Gnark?¡± Darith asked her. ¡°Oh, Gnark¡¯s are nasty creatures that live in these caves, they blend into the ice on the walls and try and poison you when you least expect it!¡± She said angrily. ¡°Stupid Gnark¡¯s, they¡¯re the only reason I can¡¯t find the Coldrinn ruins.¡± She pouted, and just then a blue ball appeared above her head. ¡°You got the frost berries for me though... Maybe you could help? Do you think you could search through these frost caverns for me? I know it¡¯s dangerous, but I promise I¡¯ll reward you!¡± She asked, as Darith heard his phone ring in his pocket. He pulled it out quickly to see the new quest on his cell phone.
Name: Mayiera (Neutral) - Level: ?? Quest: Find the entrance to the Coldrinn Ruins Objective: 0/1 Coldrinn Ruins Found Reward: Unkown Accept??Decline
¡°Accept.¡± Darith said without hesitation. ¡°Now we¡¯re talkin, it''s adventure time!¡± Darith said, and turned to start marching back in the direction of the frost berry plants. ¡°Wait, that¡¯s the wrong way! That¡¯s the way out!¡± Mayiera stopped him. ¡°Huh? But I got into the cave from that direction...¡± Darith said, pointing from the path he took originally before he found her, opposite to the frost berries trail. ¡°Nevertheless, that¡¯s the direction outside, and there¡¯s a freezing blizzard out there right now, without extra warm clothing it¡¯d be suicide!¡± She warned. ¡°But... the door I used to enter is this way, isn¡¯t it? Come to think of it, that¡¯s how I also get out of here...¡± Darith said to himself, feeling a chilling sensation down his spine as he ran down the tunnel from where he came, turning several corners until arriving at the area where the frost door back to the street was, but the door was no longer there. Instead there was a fork in the cavern, leading down two separate paths. ¡°What? No... The door is gone? How am I supposed to get out of the cave then? How do I get back to my world? How do I get out of this game?¡± Darith asked himself, feeling the walls around where the door was, though his heart did not race, he remained calm and didn¡¯t feel any sort of panic. He then heard Mayiera running up behind him. ¡°I almost forgot, here, take this!¡± She smiled, holding out a small key made of ice. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Darith asked. ¡°It¡¯s a World Key to these caves, I can¡¯t use it but I heard that you other worlders use it to travel to places right? Maybe it¡¯s for that door you were talking about.¡± She shrugged. After hearing this Darith quickly took the key from her hands, causing his phone to ding as the key vanished into thin air as particles of light and floated into his phone.
Skill Gained: Return (?) Skill Gained: Gate (?) Frost Gate Key Obtained: Allows travel to the Coldrinn Mountain Region Frost Caverns: 1-9 (Dungeon) Coldrinn Ruins: 60-100 (Dungeon)
¡°Question mark for information...¡± Darith hastily pressed it.
Gate - No Ranks Open a gate to any area that you have obtained a Gate Key for. Taking damage will interrupt casting. Gate Keys: 1 Current: Frost Key Cast Time: 10s Command: Gate (change)(?)
¡°Okay, so this key lets me come back here? And this return skill is supposed to allow me to get back home...¡± Darith quickly moved to his skills menu to see Return on the list now, and quickly selected it.
Return- No Ranks Returns you to the last real world location you were before entering The Broken Realm. Taking damage will interrupt casting. Can only be used inside a Broken Realm area. Cast Time:10s Command:Gate (change)(?)
¡°Let¡¯s make sure it works before we do anything else. Return!¡± Darith shouted, and suddenly he felt a warm glow all around him. Instead of a red circle like his firebolt was making, he was surrounded by multiple white circles forming all around him, all varying in sizes and completing themselves slowly, glowing brighter as they grew. ¡°You¡¯re returning to your world? Will you be back to help me?¡± Mayiera asked him with a worried expression. ¡°Y-yeah... I think so...¡± He replied, not confident about what was about to happen. After the 10 seconds went by all of the circles finished forming and there was a bright flash of light, blinding him for a moment. When the light was gone he found himself standing on the street in the middle of the night, everything quiet and warm with no people or cars in sight. Darith glanced around, disoriented for a moment as he took in his surroundings, realizing he was back to where he had entered the door in the first place. He then let out a deep sigh of relief. ¡°Wow, I have to tell Ryan, and Jacob! Wait... No not Jacob, he¡¯s not a part of, uh oh the city guard!¡± Darith said as his brain caught up to his excitement, realizing his tail and ears were now in plain sight. He moved away from the street into the shadow of a nearby house, holding his staff in one hand and his cell phone in the other. ¡°I really should have just picked human. I still have to find a way to hide this tail and ears...Gate!¡± Darith said hastily. A light then suddenly shot out from his phone, emitting particles that formed into large chunks of ice. As the chunks formed the doorway similar to the one before, Darith tried to remain patient,looking around to make sure no one was watching. He wasn¡¯t expecting the door to appear in such a flashy manner. He then recalled that those people in the car couldn¡¯t see the door when they drove past, and wondered if they¡¯d be able to see it now. Within 10 seconds the door had fully formed, and looking through the doorway Darith could once again see the Frozen Cavern with Mayiera standing on the other side. Darith jumped through the doorway excitedly, surprising Mayiera. ¡°You¡¯re back! Where¡¯d you come from!?¡± She said surprised, but happy at the same time. ¡°I came through the door, you can¡¯t see this door?¡± Darith said, pointing behind him. ¡°What door?¡± She replied curiously, glancing around the cavern walls. ¡°Nevermind...¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°So which way was I supposed to be heading?¡± He asked her once more. ¡°That way!¡± She pointed with a smile. ¡°Before you go, I should heal your wounds! Here.¡± She stepped forward and tapped Darith¡¯s forehead with her index finger, causing a bright yellow light to surround him for an instant, then vanish. He felt a warm friendly sensation all over his body for a moment, until she removed her finger. ¡°Anytime you are injured you can come back to me, I¡¯ll be at my camp fire, okay?¡± ¡°Neat...¡± Darith said as he glanced at his phone once more to see his health and energybars were full. ¡°Good to know, thanks a lot Mayiera!¡± Darith smiled. ¡°Good luck in the caverns, and watch out for Gnarks!¡± She cheered. ¡°Alright!¡± He turned, heading towards the fork in the cave. He looked left, then right, then left, nodded to himself, and walked into the left tunnel. ¡°Adventure, adventure, a real life game adventure~¡± He hummed as he skipped forward with staff and phone in hand. Chapter 5: Display and Automation ¡°Okay, first I¡¯ve got to see this.¡± Darith said as he held out his staff in front of himself. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He shouted excitedly, then watched as once again the red glowing circle began to form in front of him, different glyphs and symbols forming in and around the circle, until after 5 seconds it fully formed and from its front shot forward a small ball of fire, Instantly after the ball shot forward the circle disappeared, and the ball traveled in a straight line, crashing into the ice wall of the cave, but not leaving any marks in the ice as it dissipated. He then quickly looked to his phone to see his mana had gone down by 10. Moving his finger to his mana bar revealed he was regenerating 1.50 mana a minute. ¡°One Firebolt every 5 minutes, that¡¯s not that efficient. I guess I can¡¯t expect much though, I¡¯m still level 1.¡± He shrugged. ¡°First I need to be able to aim this spell though, if it only travels in a straight line then I probably won''t even hit a Frost Spiderling. Let¡¯s try it again... Firebolt!¡± He said again, and the process repeated, But as the fireball finished forming he tried waving his staff downward to tell the fireball to shoot downward instead of straight. It worked, but barely. The fireball only slightly arched downward, not in the direction of his staff though, it followed something else. He looked at the path the fireball took as it hit to the right, but he swung his staff downward to the left as it was in his left hand. He turned to his right hand holding the phone. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He said, and began casting a third time. This time as it finished, he waved his right hand downward to the ground with his index finger sticking out, causing the fireball to shoot downward in the exact direction of his hand. Simultaneously, he heard a ding on his phone. ¡°Hah, got it! My right hand helps me control the path of the Firebolt.
Skill Gained: Spell Mastery (?)
¡°That sounds awesome.¡± He said as he excitedly clicked the ? to find out about it.
Spell Mastery - Rank 1 Allows manipulation and control over your spells. Higher ranks increase your control and capabilities with different spells and allows you to learn more powerful spells. Passive does not increase with ranks. Effect: Increases Int and Spr by 5%
¡°Cool, so this skill is allowing me to control what direction my spells move. That passive seems nice too, I¡¯ll need more mana or spirit if I want to cast Firebolt more often... Or somehow get it to cost less mana... Training, like Mayiera said.¡± Darith shrugged, noting that his mana was now at 52. ¡°Let¡¯s find another monster first.¡± Darith said excitedly, hopping and skipping deeper into the cave, It didn¡¯t take long for him to arrive in an open room with a Frozen Spiderling crawling across the wall on the far side. It hadn¡¯t noticed him yet though. ¡°Firebolt.¡± He whispered, and it didn¡¯t react to his voice, it continued to skitter aimlessly across the far wall, and as the five seconds ended and the fireball shot forth, Darith motioned his tiny Nemothyne hand for the fireball to move towards the Spiderling. It landed a direct hit right on its back, exploding around the Spiderling and causing it to fall to the ground, its legs curled up as the first one had. ¡°Yes!¡± Darith said excitedly, looking to see he had gained another 2 experience and was now 9/10 experience from level 2. He also spotted something sparkling at the feet of the vanishing spider corpse. ¡°More silk?¡± He asked himself, stepping forward into the open area of the cave, only to hear clittering behind him, and before he could react he felt a bite on his back. ¡°Argh! he shouted in pain as he stumbled forward, though the pain subsided quickly. He regained his balance and turned to see another Frozen Spiderling had dropped from the ceiling above him. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He started casting, but as the spider lunged at him he reactively moved out of the way, causing the Firebolt spell cast to cancel. ¡°Ugh, no use, he¡¯s just going to bite me if I stand still to cast.¡± Darith muttered. ¡°Then let¡¯s try this!¡± He shouted as he swung the staff at the spiderling with all his might, knocking it back and causing a ding on his phone. He quickly glanced to see he had learned a new skill called staff mastery, his Energywas at 45, and the spider¡¯s health was at 5/15. Before reading any more information he charged forward at the Spiderling and hit it with his staff again, killing it and gaining more experience. From this he felt a sudden burst of energy as light swirled all around him for a moment, before fading. Looking at his phone once more he saw a big
Level up!: You''ve reached Level 2! +1 Unspent Attribute Point
¡°Awesome!¡± Darith said excitedly.. ¡°First, what¡¯s staff mastery?¡±
Staff Mastery - Rank 1 Increases your mana regeneration as well as weapon damage when wielding a staff. Higher ranks improve damage and mana regeneration Bonus Damage: 10 (5 + Weapon(1-1) + Str (4)) Effect: Grants 1mp per minute
¡°Looks like it¡¯s dealing 10 damage a swing and my mana regen is up to 2.5 a minute now, not bad. I can improve my mana regeneration if I train myself with using the staff. The swing was taking 5 Energy though, so its faster but not as efficient as just using kick. Nonetheless I should probably use this instead of kicking so I can raise my staff Mastery.¡± He said, then moved to his attributes page and saw he had one bonus to spend. ¡°Now the tough choice... Picking attributes. I want to be a spell caster, so I¡¯d normally go for Intelligence or spirit, but Strength would help me with basic attacks, Endurance as well for everyday activities... And what about Luck and Charisma.¡± He said, looking over all of the stats carefully for a bit. ¡°I¡¯ll save this point for now I think.¡± He decided, closing the menu. He then walked to where the two Spiderlings had died and picked up a silk from each. ¡°Now where do I go.¡± He pondered, looking around the open room. The cavern had 4 exits. One was the path from which he came, there was a ramp leading up into another tunnel on one side, a straight path through on another wall, and then a ramp leading downward on the last side. ¡°Mayiera wasn¡¯t kidding when she said this place was a Labyrinth... I should probably find a way to start mapping this place if I ever want to find the ruins. For now though I want to try training a bit!¡± Darith said excitedly. He decided to take the upward tunnel out of the opening and found himself walking through another torch lit ice tunnel. This tunnel had an upward slant to it and as he traveled it he could hear the skittering of spiders in the distance. He slowed his step and opened his eyes wide, looking for any signs of a Spiderling leg sneaking around the walls or ceiling. Finally he spotted one far into the cave ahead. ¡°Firebolt.¡± He whispered, starting the spell while being sure to stand still. It seemed fine for a few seconds, but the Spiderling eventually spotted him before the cast finished and began running forward. Darith carefully aimed the Firebolt with his hand to collide with the Spiderling as it charged at him, almost missing. ¡°Phew.¡± He said in relief as the spider died and he heard a ding on his phone.
Rank Up!: Firebolt reached Rank 2!
Darith clicked to see that its damage went up by 1, its manacost and cast time went down by 0.1. ¡°Nice, so Mayiera was right, just train hard and it¡¯ll improve.¡± Darith grinned, looking forward down the tunnel, still hearing a lot of skittering spiderlings, but not able to see them at first. He took a few more steps forward and then suddenly saw three Frozen Spiderlings skittering down the tunnel toward him. ¡°Firebolt!¡± Darith said nervously, knowing he wouldn¡¯t be able to cast it enough times before the spiders got to him. ¡°Firebolt, Firebolt!¡± He said two more times, not sure what would happen. Sure enough though, three red circles appeared in front of him instead of two, though they were all smaller than before and he heard his phone ding as they formed. ¡°Uhh, how am I going to Aim all three?¡± Darith said, watching as they finished forming. The time delay between when he said Firebolt separated how fast each Fire circle finished forming. The first was a second before the other two, and he waved his right hand upward towards a Spiderling coming at him from the ceiling, It hit directly, and he quickly flicked his hand right and then left milliseconds later to try and direct his other two firebolts, his motions were successful and he sent a firebolt at each Frozen Spiderling, but not one of the three died, they simply flinched and then continued running. Now too close for Darith to cast again, he prepared his staff and started swinging at them while backing away to avoid their stings. One staff hit to each of them was enough to take out all three. ¡°Man... This game is complicated. Will it let me do anything I can think of? Are the limits only my mana and energy bars?¡± He asked himself as he watched the three spiderlings legs curl up. He then turned to his phone to see his mana now at 9 and energy at 31.
Rank Up!: Spell Mastery reached Rank 2! Skill Gained: Multicast (?)
Darith clicked Multicast without hesitation.
Multicast - Rank 1 Allows the casting of multiple simple spells at the same time. Higher ranks reduce the damage reduction and mana cost penalties. Effect 1: -50% Spell dmg when Multicasting Effect 2: -5mp Per spell when Multicasting
¡°That explains the mana loss and why it didn¡¯t kill it in one hit like it did the other spiders. I¡¯ll need to rank this up before I try doing too much multicasting, 15 mana firebolts that are only dealing half damage aren¡¯t very helpful.¡± He said, and as he did he could still hear legs skittering down the tunnel in front of him. ¡°I should head back to Mayiera and have her restore my mana and energy.¡± Darith then turned and headed back in the direction he came. It wasn¡¯t difficult to find his way back as he hadn¡¯t traveled very far yet, and sure enough Mayiera was still sitting at her camp fire, wiggling her toes to the flame, but she had a blue ball above her head again. ¡°Hey! You¡¯re back so soon, did you find the ruins?¡± She asked hopeful. ¡°Nope, no ruins yet, is there something else you need?¡± He asked, his eyes on the blue ball that she seemed oblivious to. ¡°Well... Now that you ask...¡± she said, looking down to her stomach as it made a loud rumbling sound. ¡°You¡¯re hungry? What do you want to eat?¡± He asked her.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Anything, I¡¯ll eat anything really! Do you have any food?¡± She asked desperately. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything on me, I think...¡± ¡°Do you think you could bring me something? I have not eaten since I got into this cave.¡± She asked, and a notification appeared on his phone.
Name: Mayiera (Neutral) - Level: ?? Quest: Bring something to eat to Mayiera in the Frost Caverns Objective: 0/1 Food for Mayiera Reward: Unknown Accept Decline
¡°Sure, I can find something.¡± Darith shrugged, hitting accept. ¡°Can you eat Frost Spiderling meat? Or maybe Gnark meat?¡± Darith asked. ¡°No... You wont find anything to eat in this cave. I was hoping you could bring it from the other world, since you are a world traveler.¡± She smiled hesitantly, showing guilt of her request. Her emotions started to make Darith think of how complex an AI she must be. ¡°Okay... Speaking of which, what time is it? My mom is going to start panicking if I don¡¯t let her know where I am...¡± Darith said, looking at his phone to see the time but it had nothing resembling his old phones display and didn¡¯t include a clock. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what time it is.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I should head back, maybe Ryan has figured out something about this appearance. Oh, can you restore my mana before I leave?¡± Darith asked her, and she nodded with a smile, gently pressing her index finger to his forehead. He felt the familiar warmth, then glanced at his phone to see his mana and energy full again. ¡°Thanks! That¡¯s really helpful.¡± Darith smiled, and she nodded back. ¡°Return!¡± He called out, and the white circles formed around him again, lighting the space around him over 10 seconds until it flashed bright and disappeared, returning him to the yard of this strangers house, back into his world. He was once again in a warmer environment, quiet without anyone in sight. ¡°So...¡± Darith opened his inventory and took out his baggy shirt. He first did his best attempt to shove his tail back through the rear hole in his pants and down his back right pant leg. It was extremely uncomfortable, barely fit, and made his left leg look very odd, but it hid his tail somewhat. Then he took his baggy shirt and made it into a makeshift hat, tying it around his ears in an odd fashion to hide them and prevent it from falling off easily.
Rank Up!: Conceal reached Rank 2!
His phone dinged, causing Darith to simply roll his eyes. ¡°I can at least not be as obvious, but I can¡¯t go home like this.¡± Darith said, now betting on the fact that Ryan also wanted to try this game. He began walking quickly across the city under the moonlight towards his friends house. As he walked he crossed the path of a few cars, but no one seemed too suspicious of the little boy with a shirt onhis head walking around at night. When he arrived at Ryan¡¯s front door and lifted his hand to the doorbell, he hesitated. He saw lights on inside so he knew there were people awake, and he was confident they wouldn¡¯t spot his ears, but he couldn¡¯t imagine whoever answered to door would not be curious about who he was. ¡°Here goes nothing.¡± He mumbled, but hearing his own little boyish voice worried him even more. He paused again, then pressed the doorbell and could hear it ring on the other side of the door. He waited anxiously as he heard footsteps approach, then the door swung open to reveal Ryan¡¯s mom, wearing an apron with a kitchen towel tossed over her shoulder as though she was interrupted while cooking. ¡°Oh hello there, it¡¯s a little late to be selling cookies isn¡¯t it?¡± She asked as she looked down to Darith, towering over his tiny body. ¡°Uhm... I¡¯m not selling anything.¡± Darith replied nervously. ¡°Is Ryan home?¡± he asked. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re a friend of Ryan¡¯s? One second sweetie.¡± She replied. She then turned her head towards a staircase to the right of the front door. ¡°Ryan! Door!¡± She shouted up. ¡°I¡¯m busy!¡± Ryan shouted back through his upstairs bedroom door. ¡°Well a young boy is here to see you!¡± She said, then walked from the door, and within seconds the door to his bedroom swung open and he ran out of the room, quickly running down the stairs and looking at Darith. ¡°H-hey...¡± He said nervously. ¡°What¡¯s up? Do I know you?¡± Ryan asked, and Darith was both relieved and worried to see that he looked completely normal. ¡°Did you start it?¡± Darith asked cautiously. ¡°Start what?¡± He asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°You know...¡± He then took out his cellphone and pointed at it with over exaggeration. ¡°Who are you, how do you know about the game?¡± Ryan asked, looking panicked and defensive now, until he seemed to glance at something above Darith¡¯s head. ¡°It¡¯s me!¡± He whispered in his boyish voice. ¡°Wait a second, Darith?¡± Ryan replied. ¡°Darith!¡± He whispered. He watched as Ryan¡¯s expression went through several changes. First panicked to confused, then his eyebrows raised to surprised, then his face curled up with a smile, putting his hand over his mouth to hold back a loud laugh, but failing horribly. Anyone on the street or in his house would have heard him cackling. ¡°Are you kidding me? Really?¡± He said between laughing as Darith just crossed his arms and turned away, tapping his right foot as he waited for his friend to stop laughing at him. ¡°Come, c¡¯mon to my room.¡± He motioned Darith in. ¡°My friends coming up to my room for a bit okay mom?¡± ¡°Sure thing, does he want to stay for dinner? I can make extra.¡± ¡°N-no, that¡¯s okay.¡± Darith replied, then followed Ryan up the stairs into his messy bedroom, clothes scattered all over the floor. Ryan quickly shut the door as Darith sat in Ryan¡¯s wheeled computer chair. ¡°So you picked a Nemothyne?¡± Ryan asked, trying to hold back more laughter. ¡°I didn¡¯t know it¡¯d take over my body! If I did I would have kept my appearance the same like you.¡± He sighed. ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t keep it normal, want to see?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Well, yeah, what¡¯d you pick?¡± Darith asked. Ryan lifted his hand up and started poking his index finger in the air as if he was pressing invisible buttons, then suddenly a light flashed around him and his body and clothing transformed into a taller male human wearing gray boots, pants and a chest piece not unlike Darith¡¯s. His new body was handsome, muscular and perfectly symmetrical with black hair and dark eyes.. Awesome was the first word that came to Darith¡¯s mind, but it was replaced with excitement and curiosity. ¡°You can turn back to normal? How!? How¡¯d you do that?¡± Darith asked as he stood up from the chair. ¡°You¡¯re a pro-gamer who beats everyone at every game he plays, and you don¡¯t even look at all the options when you get pulled into something like this? Did you open up your Display and Automation menus yet?¡± Ryan replied, his voice deep and more manly now. Darith quickly pulled out his phone to open the display menu.
Display Options Game Interface: Phone (Default) Appearance: Game Character Always (Default) Style: Dark Blue (Default) Display Tips: Yes (Default)
¡°Are you kidding me? I could change back to my normal appearance this whole time?¡± Darith said as he clicked on appearance and the menu dropped down to display multiple options. The options were to Always use his Game Character, Use it only in Broken Realm Areas, Change it with Commands, or Never use it. ¡°I¡¯ve been switching it between Never and Always, I haven¡¯t figured out this command stuff yet.¡± Ryan replied as he moved to look at his phone. ¡°You switched it just now in a menu? How? You weren¡¯t using your phone...¡± Darith asked curiously. ¡°Oh man, you¡¯re about to have your mind blown. Change the Game interface from phone to Peripheral Vision.¡± Ryan said, pointing excitedly at Darith¡¯s phone. Watching this tall handsome guy act as childish as his friend felt strange in that moment, but he imagined it was a lot more strange to see the little boy that Ryan saw. Darith moved through the menu and changed the Game Interface to Peripheral Vision as Ryan said, the only other display option that was available. His phone screen suddenly went black, and Darith felt a jolt of electricity go through the phone into his hand, then up to his eyes. His eyes stung for a moment as his vision went white, causing him to step back from Ryan and blink. ¡°I-I can¡¯t see!¡± Darith panicked. ¡°Just give it a second!¡± Ryan said excitedly. Sure enough, moments later Darith¡¯s vision slowly came back, only he could see different things in the air that he couldn¡¯t see before. The first thing he noticed was Ryan¡¯s name floating above his head in white letters outlined with black, next to his name displayed Level 1, and under it was a health bar that showed 80/80. ¡°Wow! What the heck? I can see your name above your head!¡± Darith said in amazement. ¡°Awesome, huh? It¡¯s above everyone¡¯s head, even my mom and dad. They¡¯re level 4 and 5 and have health bars of their own!¡± Ryan said as Darith swatted his hands out at the health bar and letters above Ryan, but his fingers just passed through them. ¡°The game does something to your eyes to show it, but it isn¡¯t really there, I already tested all that stuff. ¡°Then... What about the phone? How do I get into the menu?¡± Darith asked, looking to his phone to see it had returned to normal. This worried him and relieved him at the same time. ¡°That took me awhile to figure out, you should see a white circle somewhere right? Floating above you, maybe a bit silver.¡± Ryan asked, ¡°I couldn¡¯t notice it at first but I was also freaking out a bit.¡± ¡°Ah, I see it!¡± Darith said excitedly, spotting a floating white circle in his left eye. He reached forward and pressed it with his index finger, causing the normal cell phone menu to appear in front of him displaying his character portrait and all the other usual icons, as if his cell phone screen was floating in front of him. ¡°Wow, this is incredible! How does this game do it? I mean how is this stuff even possible?¡± Darith asked in disbelief. ¡°I don¡¯t know man, I think it¡¯s messing with the electrical signals in our brain, but that doesn¡¯t explain how we change our appearance.¡± Ryan replied as Darith started fiddling with the display options. He managed to get his interface to display his own health, mana, and energy bars in the topleft corner of his left eye. As he looked around the menu stayed in the corner of his vision, taking awhile for him to adjust to. He eventually found an option to make it slightly transparent so that it didn¡¯t distract him so much. ¡°I didn¡¯t get much further than the menu and options though. Why¡¯s your information showing up to me as question marks? I can¡¯t see your name or your level.¡± Ryan asked, stepping back curiously now. ¡°I¡¯m not sure...¡± Darith paused his menu tinkering to think for a second, then an idea popped in his head and he took the shirt off his head, pulling his tail through his pants like normal. ¡°Ah, wow, there! I can see it now. Darith, Level 2 Nemothyne. How¡¯d you do that?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°I think its my conceal skill, I learned it when I was trying to hide my ears and tail.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Whoa, you learned a skill already? What¡¯d you do exactly?¡± Ryan asked excitedly. Darith told Ryan in detail everything he had done so far in the game in detail, including the dungeon and the NPC, the monsters and the skills. ¡°So that¡¯s why you¡¯re carrying around that stick, it¡¯s a staff?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Yup, a magic staff.¡± Darith grinned. ¡°Let me try this then...¡± Ryan walked to his closet and pulled out a baseball bat. ¡°Yep, it¡¯s a weapon.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Darith asked impressed. ¡°Check it out!¡± Ryan tossed it to Darith and he caught it. Sure enough, he got a message that he''d equipped the bat and it did 2-4 damage. The text appeared in front of his eyes in a blue popup window now, though no one else could see it. He looked to see his staff in his other hand. ¡°Hah, I could be the baseball bat Wizard!¡± Darith said as he struck a pose with the two weapons. ¡°That means I can give you this staff right? It should teach you the firebolt skill.¡± ¡°Pass it over then!¡± Ryan said excitedly, and Darith threw the staff, but after leaving his hands it dissipated into thin air. Ryan reached out for it but caught only air. ¡°What the heck?¡±
Warning!: Bound items cannot be dropped or traded, only destroyed. Do you wish to Destroy this item? Yes??No
A prompt appeared in front of him. ¡°It¡¯s saying I can¡¯t trade bound items.¡± Darith shrugged as he hit No and the staff re-appeared in his left hand. He passed the bat back to Ryan. ¡°Lame.¡± ¡°So if you¡¯re level 1 and I am level 2, why¡¯d you say your parents are level 4 and 5?¡± Darith asked. ¡°I dunno, they definitely aren¡¯t part of the game though. I guess the game thinks everyone has a level?¡± Ryan replied. ¡°Right... But how does this game really make everything a part of it? It¡¯s starting to feel like it¡¯s not a game at all.¡± Darith said ominously. ¡°Well, we should have fun with it! I mean, with what you said we can train some awesome skills and raise stats on ourselves right? I bet people wouldn¡¯t mess with us at school if you shot a firebolt at them.¡± Ryan grinned. ¡°Yeah.¡± Darith chuckled. ¡°We can¡¯t use it around people though, we still don¡¯t even know what a city guard is yet.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Oh, right. City guards sound like buzzkills. Then let''s go into that dungeon you found and power up! We gotta get level 5 so we can invite Jacob!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t yet, I¡¯ve got to turn back to normal and let my mom know I¡¯m okay, she¡¯s probably freaking out.¡± Darith said as he began to navigate the menu to his appearance. ¡°Ah, hold up a second!¡± Ryan stopped him, causing Darith to focus his eyes on his friend over the menu in the air in front of him. ¡°What were you wearing when you turned into your character?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Uh, shorts and a t-shirt. Why?¡± ¡°Where¡¯s those clothes now?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Well, the shirts here, the shorts are back at my house...¡± ¡°Uhh... Here. I got a pair of baggy shorts somewhere here, they should fit you... When you turn back your armor won¡¯t transform with you, you¡¯ll be naked. It only does that the first time though.¡± Ryan said as he dug through his clothing drawers, pulling out a pair of big black cargo shorts and handing them to Darith. ¡°Don¡¯t do it in front of me, I don¡¯t want to see you naked. Better yet you should leave the house first, my mom¡¯ll get suspicious if a little boy enters my room and you leave instead.¡± ¡°Good idea.¡± Darith said with a smirk. ¡°I¡¯ll head home now then, we can try going into a dungeon tomorrow after school!¡± ¡°After school? Why even go to school when we can do stuff like learn to shoot firebolts?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°If I don¡¯t go to class my mom will kill me.¡± ¡°Well, my parents don''t care either way.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll try and learn some skills on my own tonight then. Good luck with your mom.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°Thanks.¡± Darith said, opening his bedroom door and running down the stairs. ¡°Take care!¡± Ryan¡¯s mom called as she heard the front door open. ¡°Bye!¡± Darith squeaked back, still nervous talking to others in this form, then shut the door and took off towards home. Chapter 6: Learn and Grow [Gabriel - Start] The sound of steel slamming against steel echoed throughout the garage, with loud rap music blaring from a tiny radio on a shelf. A large and muscular dark skinned man sat in the seat of a leg press placed at the back of the garage. He was shirtless wearing shorts and running shoes, pumping his legs using the weights on the machine while sweat dripped off of his muscles. ¡°10, 11, 12.¡± He let out a big breath with the last, releasing the weight carefully and breathing heavily. He stood up from the machine and stepped onto a mat, stretching his legs a bit while counting to 30 in a whisper. He had a shaved head, only black hair 1mm in length on it, and had a silver ball piercing in his left ear. As he turned and prepared to get back on the machine, the garage house door swung open to reveal a little boy. ¡°Gabriel!?¡± He called in to the Garage, locking eyes with his older brother. ¡°Oh there you are. Mendez is here.¡± ¡°Mendez? What the hell¡¯s he want?¡± Gabriel replied in his deep voice. ¡°How should I know? You ask him.¡± The boy shrugged, running from the doorway into the house. Gabriel let out a frustrated sigh and turned off the music, then stepped through the door and walked down a straight hall to the front of his house. He swung the door open to be met by a skinny tall man wearing oversized clothes. ¡°What?¡± Gabriel said angrily. ¡°I know I promised to leave you out of our business, cause you out, right?¡± Mendez asked, nervously glancing around like he was scared of something. ¡°I¡¯m out.¡± Gabriel affirmed him. ¡°So you know I wouldn¡¯t come here, ¡®less it was somethin¡¯ serious, right?¡± Mendez continued. ¡°Get lost.¡± Gabriel replied, shutting the door. The door was stopped though by Mendez as he desperately reached out and pushed it with his hand. ¡°Wai wai wai wai wai wait, hang on a sec, just a sec just hear me out, I just need advice. I swear, advice man.¡± Mendez pleaded. Gabriel paused for a moment, hesitating, then decided to open the door reluctantly. ¡°What is it?¡± Gabriel asked impatiently. ¡°It¡¯s Tai¡¯s boys.¡± Mendez said. ¡°That Chinese gang from Wash Town?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°Yeah, those are the ones. They took out Jamal¡¯s crew last week, completely wiped em all out, using the turf like it was nothin¡¯ now man.¡± Mendez said. ¡°So what¡¯s that got to do with you?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°People are talkin¡¯ man, sayin they used some freaky swords to take out Jamal¡¯s crew, not guns. Some weird samurai shit or something. They¡¯re also sayin they¡¯re aimin to take over this whole area, that means we¡¯re next.¡± ¡°You really think that tiny group of guys Tai¡¯s got following him around are stupid enough to step into this part of town?¡± Gabriel sighed. ¡°Yo we aint got the same presence we had when you were with us.¡± Mendez replied nervously. ¡°So send ¡®em a message. Let em know you¡¯re not to be tested.¡± Gabriel said. ¡°What kinda message?¡± Mendez asked. ¡°Be creative.¡± Gabriel shrugged. ¡°You mean like... Take one of ¡®em out?¡± Mendez asked. ¡°Nah man, you don¡¯t have to kill them to send a message, just let em know who they¡¯d be messing with if they keep overstepping their bounds. Don¡¯t wait for them to just start moving in. ¡°Alright, I hear ya, got it.¡± Mendez nodded nervously, scratching the back of his head. ¡°You sure you can¡¯t come back, just for this once? I could really use you man.¡± Mendez asked. ¡°I¡¯ll see you around.¡± Gabriel replied dismissively. He started to close the door but was stopped as a woman¡¯s voice called out. ¡°Mendez, is that you?¡± An older woman¡¯s voice called as her hand grabbed the door past Gabriel and swung it back open. ¡°Mrs. Estrada, oh it¡¯s great to see you again!¡± Mendez said as he changed his way of speaking. He leaned in to meet Mrs. Estrada¡¯s arms for a big hug. ¡°How have you been, it¡¯s been so long! Come, come in.¡± She insisted. ¡°We¡¯re about to eat, come join us.¡± She pulled his arm in, as Mendez and Gabriel locked eyes and Gabriel just shrugged. ¡°How is your mother doing?¡± ¡°She¡¯s doing good.¡± ¡°David, come to the table, we¡¯re eating now.¡± Mrs. Estrada shouted through the house, her call was met by footsteps running across the house to the dinner table, and the table was already covered with food that filled the noses of Gabriel, his little brother David, and Mendez. The four of them sat down at the table and they all closed their eyes and put their heads down while Mrs. Estrada said a short prayer in Spanish. ¡°Amen.¡± Gabriel and the other boys said after she had finished. ¡°Now eat up, there¡¯s plenty of food.¡± Mrs. Estrada said as she started taking some of the food off the center plates and putting it onto the plates of the three boys. ¡°Thank you, Mrs. Estrada.¡± ¡°Oh it''s no problem dear, you look skinny, have you been eating enough?¡± She asked him. ¡°I¡¯ve been eating plenty, just doing a lot of exercise.¡± Mendez replied politely. ¡°Oh, just like Gabriel, you two are were always so much alike.¡± She commented. ¡°I heard you guys used to roll together, is that true?¡± David asked excitedly, but was kicked by Gabriel under the table. ¡°Ow...¡± David replied, glaring at his older brother. ¡°Yeah, me and Gabriel were tight.¡± Mendez said with a smile. ¡°So what happened?¡± David asked, glancing between them. ¡°Your big bro got done with the game. You workin now, right?¡± Mendez said to Gabriel. ¡°Yeah.¡± Gabriel said as he took a bite of the meal, clearly not interested in the direction the conversation was taking. ¡°Where you workin¡¯ at, downtown somewhere right? Post Office I think?¡± Mendez asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°How much you makin¡¯ there? 12 an hour? 14?¡± Mendez asked. ¡°Somethin¡¯ like that.¡± He replied coldly, staring Mendez in the eyes briefly. ¡°You remember what we used to make when we worked together?¡± Mendez asked him. ¡°Yeah.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°How much did you guys make?¡± David asked excitedly. ¡°More than you can imagine.¡± Mendez said, smiling at David. ¡°Enough to buy a laptop?¡± David asked. ¡°We made so much you could buy a new laptop for everyday of the week.¡± Mendez chuckled at him, watching his face light up with excitement. ¡°Why¡¯d you stop rollin¡¯ with him, Gabe? That sounds sick!¡± David shouted excitedly. ¡°Well, your bro here wanted to-¡± He was interrupted by Gabriel slamming his fists on the table, shocking everyone. ¡°Didn¡¯t you have somewhere to be right now?¡± Gabriel asked, glaring at Mendez. Their eyes met and it went silent for a moment. ¡°Oh no, Mendez just got here! At least let him finish eating.¡± Mrs. Estrada insisted.. ¡°Naw, Gabriel¡¯s right, I forgot I had something to do.¡± Mendez said as he stood up from the table. ¡°Thank you for the delicious food Mrs. Estrada.¡± Mendez said as he leaned to kiss her on the cheek. ¡°Pound it!¡± Mendez said as he held his fist out across the table to David, who hit it with his own fist. ¡°Nice. I¡¯ll catch you later then.¡± He turned and headed out of the house, but before he left he stopped one last time to look at Gabriel and whisper in his ear. ¡°Remember what I said man, we could use you.¡± He said, then walked out of the house, shutting the door behind him. ¡°Oh what a nice boy.¡± Mrs. Estrada said, while David looked at Gabriel with disappointment. Gabriel however just silently continued eating. [Darith - Home] Darith wobbled home carefully, barefoot wearing Ryan¡¯s pants that barely fit, and with every step he regretted not asking for at least a pair of socks. As he arrived at the front door to his house he could only hope his mom wouldn¡¯t notice him walking in without shoes on. He got to the door and opened it as quietly as he possibly could, the game¡¯s overhead display still in his peripheral vision showing his health, mana and energy bar, but he was getting used to it now. With the door open he touched his toes down on the mat inside and closed the door behind him as slowly and quietly as possible. ¡°Where¡¯ve you been?¡± His mom asked, poking her head around the corner of the kitchen and startling Darith before he even finished shutting the door. ¡°Uh, I was at Ryan¡¯s house playing.¡± Darith replied nervously. ¡°But you came home first to take off your shoes and backpack?¡± She asked, eyebrows raised as she crossed her arms. Darith was momentarily distracted by his mother''s name and level displayed above her head. Kristen, Lvl 6. He made an impressed expression for a moment as he saw her level, causing his mom to give him a strange look, which shook him back to the conversation. ¡°Yeah! I swear, you can even call his mom! She was going to make dinner so I came back.¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± Kristen replied, making no attempt to hide her doubt. ¡°And the shoes? Why¡¯d you decide to leave them here?¡± ¡°I uh, they were wet! I stepped in a big puddle.¡± Darith replied nervously, to which his mom bent down and touched her finger to the bottom of his shoes. ¡°They seem dry to me.¡± She responded. ¡°Well of course, I left them here to dry.¡± Darith said. ¡°How¡¯d you find a puddle when it hasn¡¯t rained in a week?¡± Liana called from the living room. Kristen responded by lifting her index finger upward pointing slightly towards Liana and nodding her head. ¡°Well, uh, it must¡¯ve been from someones sprinkler, you know, on their lawn.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t sound too sure.¡± Kristen said. ¡°Why would I lie?! Why else would I go to Ryan¡¯s without any shoes on?¡± Darith said defensively. ¡°You know what, I really don¡¯t know, but whatever happened, you better clean up that mess you left in your room.¡± Kristen replied, then turned back to the kitchen where Darith could smell delicious food cooking. ¡°Going to my room.¡± Hesaid,and quickly ran up the stairs. ¡°Dinner¡¯s ready in about 15, you¡¯re eating with us.¡± Kristen called up to him as he closed his bedroom door, leaning against the back of it and letting out a long sigh. He quickly changed into his own shorts with underwear and put on a pair of socks, gettingmessages of clothing being equipped and unequipped with blue transparent messages in front of his face as he did. He made sure to move his cell phone into his new pocket, then looked around his room and spotted his food from earlier with the drink open, and walked to his bed to relax and finish eating it. As he picked up the drink he saw a message appear in front of him.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Name: Soft Drink Type: Consumable Quality: Low Effect: Restores 5mp Description: Mass produced canned beverage, mainly made up of sugar and water.
¡°Huh, that¡¯s interesting...¡± He then turned to grab the bag of chips.
Name:Bag of Chips Type:Consumable Quality:Low Effect:Restores2hp Description:Mass producedfried potatoes with seasoning
He then picked up the microwaveable dinner.
Name:Pre-cooked Meal Type:Consumable Quality:Low Effect:Restores 5hp Description:A meal that has been prepared, cooked, frozen, then reheated for consumption
¡°So that¡¯s one way to restore my mana and health, but I¡¯d have to eat and drink a lot of this stuff to get it fully restored. There¡¯s probably better foods and drinks for this.¡± Darith said, looking down at his legs and hands again to see it was back to normal. He was back to being heavy and chubby with extra fat on his body everywhere he looked. He moved his fingers in front of his face and clenched them into a fist, comparing it in his mind to his Nemothyne body. He let out an elongated sigh as he stretched his shirt down again to make it less tight around his large stomach, then took a drink of his cola. ¡°This game is really something else.¡± He said, his eyes staring off as he went deep into thought of all the things he wanted to try. It quickly felt as though he was wasting time doing nothing, falling behind if he wasn¡¯t making himself stronger. An idea popped into his head and he got up from the bed, dropping down to his hands and feet on his carpeted floor in push-up position. He then bent his arms down to do a push-up, but they began to wobble intensely from his weight and his lack of muscle. He squinted his eyes and held in his breath as he got as low to the ground as his arms would allow, then pushed himself back up while releasing a loud puff of air. It was tough, but he knew he could do more and seeing the energy bar drop from the push-up motivated him further, he knew the game was tracking his actions. He went down a second time, shaking more but moving faster to put less stress on them. His Energy bar dropped again, but that wasn¡¯t his goal, so he tried again, and again, and after 5 push-ups his energy bar was already half empty. As he went for the 6th push-up he calculated in his head he was using 5 energyper push up. Coming up from the 6th and going on his 7th he thought about boys in his gym class that could do 50 push-ups easily, but his energy bar would let him only do 10. Finishing the 7th push-up now, going on the 8th very slowly, he felt frustration, he tilted his head downward to see down his baggy shirt, seeing his fat hanging off his body towards the ground. On the ninth push-up he was sweating around his forehead, tiny droplets began to accumulate, and after the tenth he collapsed to the ground, seeing a sweat-drop icon appear beside his health bar with a 5minute timer next to it counting down. He knew it was the exhaustion effect from letting his energy hit 0. Laying on his stomach, he dazed off with his face turned to look under his bed. There he saw some messy clothes, empty chip bags and chocolate bar wrappers with empty soda cans and bottles. ¡°Those basic stats weren¡¯t just made up, huh... The game was just being honest.¡± He said, feeling angry at himself slightly, ashamed of all the junk under his bed. ¡°I¡¯m weak, all I¡¯ve got is high intelligence from playing games.¡± he then tried to roll up onto his arms again, still sitting at 0 energy with his exhausted effect on. ¡°That¡¯s not enough this time.¡± He groaned as he struggled to raise himself up on his arms. Sitting in a push-up position, he began bending his arms down to do another push-up, but he collapsed after not long. ¡°This can¡¯t be all I can do.¡± He groaned out in pain as he pushed back up, his arms feeling slightly numb and so weak they could barely sustain the weight of his body. Still, he attempted another push-up. He got all the way down without falling this time, but collapsed on his way back up. ¡°Twelve, come on we can do 15!¡± He said, accepting his half push ups as whole ones now just to prove the game wrong, to prove he was stronger than that Energy bar was saying he was. He forced himself back up, wobbling terribly, this time he couldn¡¯t even get back to the starting position of the push up. ¡°13!¡± He shouted with his cheek planted on his carpet floor. He hadn¡¯t noticed at this point, but his bedroom door had been opened slightly, and Kristen was looking inside the room to see what he was groaning about. He lifted himself up on his arms again. ¡°Grrrraaaaaah!¡± He said, holding steady as best he could as he went down on the 14th push up, his arms feeling completely numb now, but he knew he had to do just one more. He ignored the pain and exhaustion to push himself up and down to start the 15th fast, then up as fast as he could before his arms gave out and he fell flat on his stomach, letting out a huge sigh of relief as he gasped for air, his arms and forehead covered in droplets of sweat. ¡°15, not bad.¡± Kristen said as she revealed herself fully. ¡°It¡¯s- hard when - your energy bar- is empty.¡± Darith replied to her between breaths. ¡°I¡¯m sure it is. You¡¯re doing push-ups now?¡± She asked. ¡°I have to - get stronger.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Is there something you¡¯re not telling me? Is someone bullying you at school?¡± ¡°No - no bullies.¡± ¡°Honey you know you can talk to me about anything right?¡± ¡°No bullies mom - need to get stronger.¡± He said, his breathing relaxing a bit now. ¡°Is it a girl?¡± She asked. ¡°No!¡± Darith replied overly defensive. Kristen showed a look of disappointment to this, but he didn¡¯t notice. ¡°Alright, well I guess it¡¯s good you¡¯re trying something other than a video game. Dinner¡¯s ready, and remember to clean your room a bit.¡± Kristen replied, leaving the room. What she said caused a slight grin to grow over his face, both from her words and a notification that appeared on his screen.
Skill Gained: Through the Pain (?) Attribute Up!: +1 End
Seeing the pop up message, Darith lazily reached out his finger in front of his face to tap the (?).
Through the Pain - Rank 1 Allows the use of Energy beyond the normal limit, delaying the effects of exhaustion temporarily but extending its duration exponentially Effect 1: Delays Exhaustion for 1m Effect 2: Exhaustion Duration Increased by: 2 x (Current Exhaustion Duration) per 5 Energy spent while Through the Pain is active.
¡°Wow, wait a second, that means...¡± Darith turned to look at his exhaustion effect and saw 5 minutes changed to 2h 40m. ¡°Oh maaaan¡± Darith sighed. ¡°But this game really let¡¯s you push anything, I shouldn¡¯t think of following the game rules as much as I should let it follow the rules of real life, all it¡¯s doing is putting numbers and skill names to every day things... Well, minus the spell part. And the mana, and the inventory that makes stuff vanish into a floating menu that only I can see... Okay nevermind, I don¡¯t quite have this all figured out yet.¡± Darith said, then groaned as he rolled into a sitting position. ¡°You coming to eat or what?¡± Kristen called up. ¡°I¡¯m coming!¡± Darith shouted back, standing up on his feet and starting to feel the effects of the status. He felt it odd that though he only used his arms, the game was making his entire body feel tired rather than just making his arms sore. He couldn¡¯t decide just then if it was better or worse. He wobbled down the stairs to the kitchen table where Liana had her wheelchair pulled up and Kristen was sitting beside her, with an open chair across the table. Darith sat down to a plate of steaming rice with chicken and curry mixed in. He couldn¡¯t help but look at the game¡¯s information on the meal, reading that it was labelled as aWarm Homecooked Meal thatrestored 20 Health. He made another impressed expression which Kristen noticed as he sat down. ¡°First time I¡¯ve seen you make that face, you a fan of my curry now?¡± ¡°Well, it looks good is all.¡± Darith shrugged, remembering that his mom never missed anything he did. Almost anytime he¡¯d tried to hide something from his mom, she always seemed to know, sometimes noticing even before he knew himself. ¡°Wait till you try it!¡± Liana said, eating slowly with her mobile hand, taking only tiny spoon fulls at a time. Darith took a bite, and like with most food, he loved it and started digging in. ¡°So, are we going to finish the game tonight?¡± Liana asked excitedly. ¡°First you¡¯ll have to ask if he¡¯s done all his homework.¡± Kristen responded. ¡°Did you?¡± Liana asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t get any today.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Hrm, High school¡¯s gotten easier since I went.¡± Kristen replied after watching Darith to make sure he wasn¡¯t trying to lie. ¡°So we can finish the game?¡± Liana asked. ¡°I guess, but we''re going to have a movie night soon,you two are hogging the tv too much lately.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll have to make sure we beat it as soon as possible!¡± Darith replied with an enthusiastic expression, meant mainly to show Liana his interest, but as he said this he was still thinking about the game all around him. ¡°Don¡¯t take that as permission to stay up all night.¡± Kristen replied to the two. ¡°It won¡¯t be that late, we¡¯re almost finished!¡± Liana said to assure Kristen. ¡°You sure? I don¡¯t think that Gargonar is the real mastermind. I¡¯ve got a feeling there¡¯s still someone else pulling the strings.¡± Darith said while trying to show some excitement in his eyes, which Liana bit onto immediately. ¡°Really? Who?!¡± She asked, losing interest in eating completely. ¡°Hey now, finish eating my delicious meal before you go off into your game world.¡± Kristen interrupted them to get Liana to continue eating. ¡°Right! Gotta eat fast.¡± She said as she began eating as quickly as her body would allow, Darith just smiling at her. As they finished, Darith considered coming up with an excuse to get away and train himself more, but the status icon beside his health bar was a reminder that he had a lot of time to kill before he¡¯d be able to do anything useful, so without any reluctance he started up the game in the living room with Liana at his side. Kristen didn¡¯t stick around and went up to her room, and despite her warnings the two ended up staying up for several hours. Darith lost track of his status effect as Liana egged him on to finish the game, he got so into beating it that he forgot he wanted to train more. Through several boss battles and puzzles, 3 hours later they finally got to the ending credits. ¡°How¡¯d you know Gargonar wasn¡¯t the real bad guy, that it was Shin?¡± Liana asked excitedly. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t know it was Shin, but Gargonar didn¡¯t seem evil enough to be doing all those bad things. Remember he tried to help us before?¡± Darith said. ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s true, but you never know, some people can be really evil without you noticing. Just cause they do nice things doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re good.¡± Liana said. ¡°That¡¯s pretty deep, but we¡¯re talking about game characters here.¡± Darith replied, as a sudden pop-up appeared in front of his screen.
Attribute Up!: +1 Int
Seeing this message made Darith both sad and happy, first happy about the bonus attribute from beating the game, but sad that he forgot about training and it was now past midnight. ¡°Well, what should we play next?¡± Liana asked as they watched the credits roll on the tv in their dimly lit living room. ¡°Well...¡± Darith said, then got a sudden idea. He thought about how Broken Realm had changed him into a Nemothyne and wondered what effect it would have on Liana¡¯s body, who was stuck in a wheelchair. His face suddenly lit up as Liana watched him. ¡°You know another really good one?¡± She asked with a smile. ¡°Y-yeah, I think so! I¡¯m not sure if it will work though... How¡¯d you like to play it, you want to try playing a game with me?¡± ¡°What do you mean? You know I can¡¯t hold a controller.¡± She replied, a frown growing over her face. ¡°Well, you don¡¯t really play this game with a controller...¡± Darith said, his mind then racing over a few things. ¡°How do I play then?¡± She replied, very curious now. ¡°Can you wait until tomorrow? I¡¯ll try and... I¡¯ll try and get the game after school from a friend, then we can try it, okay?¡± Darith replied, making something up as fast as his wit allowed. ¡°Okay.¡± Liana nodded, looking curious and excited. ¡°We should go to bed though, before mom finds out we¡¯re up so late. I¡¯ll take you to your room okay?¡± Darith said, and she nodded. He pushed her chair into a side room just off the living room, it was small with only a bed and a dresser with a few dolls and stuffed animals from when she was younger, before her accident. With the chair pulled up to the bed Darith carefully lifted her out of the chair and helped her lay down in her bed, lifting her legs up over the side for her as well, and then tucking her in under her covers. ¡°You really have a game you think I can play?¡± She said as he started to leave the room. ¡°Yup, just wait!¡± He replied, and took a step out the door. ¡°Wait, Darith!¡± She stopped him. ¡°Whats up?¡± He turned back to her. ¡°Thanks for doing stuff with me, it¡¯s probably really boring right? I mean you have more fun playing games with your other friends.¡± She replied, and he could hear guilt in her voice. ¡°Nah, they all suck, if you could use both your hands you¡¯d probably own them. I have plenty of fun playing with you, so don¡¯t worry about it!¡± He smiled back, turning the light off. ¡°Good night.¡± ¡°Good night.¡± She smiled as he closed her door. Excitement filled up Darith at the thought of letting Liana walk around, and he wondered how good she¡¯d really be at this game. He imagined her strength and endurance would be just as bad as his starting out, and played out in his head how they¡¯d have to do push ups together. Thinking of that when he got to his room he noted that his Energy bar had refilled while they were playing so long, and now his body felt perfectly normal and full of energy. He dropped on all fours and started doing more push ups, this time able to do 11 before hitting exhaustion thanks to his gained endurance from his last set of 15. Once he hit exhaustion he stopped and got a notification.
Attribute Up!:+1 Str
¡°Nice, push-ups are giving me strength and endurance, seems like a good way to train! I¡¯ll have to try some other stuff tomorrow then.¡± He said to himself as he rolled up onto his bed. He took a long time to sleep as his mind kept racing over different ways he could power himself up, also about what having a party member was going to be like. Chapter 7: Priorities ¡°Up up up, we¡¯re all out the house in 30!¡± Kristen said while knocking hard on Darith¡¯s bedroom door. He woke up slowly, still tired from his lack of sleep. He drowsily made it to the bathroom while listening to the sound of busy feet downstairs in the kitchen. As he got in front of the bathroom mirror and started brushing his teeth, his eyes widened at the sight of his full Energy bar. He power-brushed his teeth and went back to his room, quickly doing 10 push-ups before getting dressed for the day. He didn¡¯t get any stat boosts, but he didn¡¯t want to waste any energy by letting his bar stay full. As long as the game would let him do push-ups without making his arms hurt, he¡¯d keep doing them. By the time he got out of the house with his lunch both Liana and Kristen were already in the car, driving off to the hospital for work. Darith waved them as they pulled out of the driveway, and both of them waved back. He felt different this morning. Normally walking to school he felt self-conscious, stretching down his shirt over his stomach and trying to be as invisible as possible. Today, he didn¡¯t care, he felt good, excited about leaving the house. Would he find a new dungeon? Would he find a new way to get stronger? Anything could happen with this game! He looked up at the sun rising over the city and stretched his arms out, walking with a skip in his step. By the time Darith arrived at school though, his confidence had all but left him. Seeing all the football players and other well dressed older boys as they stood around talking to girls he could only dream of being friends with helped set him back down to where he thought he belonged. It quickly became his goal to sneak past everyone into his first period class-room, and he went back to stretching his shirt down over his stomach and hoping he went unnoticed. He arrived in his class first as usual, sitting down and then staring at the door waiting for Ryan to walk in. First came the same girl from yesterday, barely glancing at Darith as she fiddled with her phone all the way to her desk. Then another group of boys walked in, and more kids, and more, and soon enough the first period bell was ringing. The last time the door opened was the Teacher, and Darith started to accept that Ryan wasn¡¯t coming. What was he doing? Was he okay? Did he find a new dungeon? Was he training one of his attributes, or a new skill maybe? Darith¡¯s imagination ran wild, and though the teacher started his lesson, his words only sounded like mumbling. Darith didn¡¯t want to be in that class-room, he wanted to get outside and enter a dungeon, he wanted to hit level 5. He eyed his health bar to see a new status appear, ¡®Impatient¡¯, it said. Reading this, Darith tried to calm down and take a deep breath as the teacher called his name for attendance. ¡°Here.¡± He said reluctantly, and as the teacher got to Ryan¡¯s name he felt a bit angry. Angry that Ryan could do what he wanted without his parents caring, while his Mom would yell at him and take away all games if she got the call from school saying he missed a single class. Why was his mom like that? Why couldn¡¯t he have cool parents like Ryan¡¯s. His mom just didn¡¯t understand. Darith began tapping his fingers on his desk, glancing around at the other students, his body began to heat up from his frustration; sweating was something it did easily. He felt as though other students were starting to look at him, making fun of his size in their heads. Every tiny glance they made at him, even for a second, got to him on a deep level. He hated their looks, he didn¡¯t want to be here, he¡¯d rather be playing the game, at home where no one would stare at him, where he could be left alone. He needed to go somewhere else fast to calm himself down. The teacher started walking up and down the class handing out worksheets, Darith hadn¡¯t been listening to know what it was about, but when he got it he could see simple questions that he could answer without much thought. He quickly filled it out and then dazed off out the window, half hoping to see a beam of light. In his mind he played out an imaginary scenario where he saw a beam and came up with an awesome excuse to run out of the class and go into the dungeon. He then looked around the class again to see everyone still staring intently down at their papers. He then glanced up to see his teacher sitting at his desk and eyeing him. ¡°Finished the test already Darith?¡± his Teacher asked. ¡°It was a test?¡± He replied surprised, though the teacher took this as arrogance. ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s try a bonus question just for you.¡± The teacher replied with a raised eyebrow, several students glancing at him with a surprised expression. The teacher stood up and began writing a more complex math equation on the blackboard, one that Darith had seen before but not in his math textbook for this grade. ¡°Is that even grade 10 Math?¡± Darith asked. ¡°No, grade 12.¡± The teacher replied smugly, sure that the question would stump this arrogant student. Darith was now interested, intrigued by the challenge, it was close to a game now, this real life puzzle. The fire in him that loved games lit up, he had to solve it, and he quickly copied the puzzle down on the back of his test paper. He could see the numbers, but he had never seen them put together like this. He didn¡¯t know what the equation was showing, or how he could even solve it. He didn¡¯t even know where to start. The sounds of the other students pencils scribbling on their papers calmed him though, he knew that as they worked on the test they probably wern¡¯t staring at him, judging his weight and thinking how disgusting he looked. He could think clearly. He first considered trying to use the game menu for help, but as he thought about it he couldn¡¯t think of anything he¡¯d learned of so far being able to help him. Still, the more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed, he had seen an equation like this before, in a game maybe? Or from something his mom had shown him. As the time ticked down he started playing with the numbers a bit, calculating them together in different ways, and it wasn¡¯t long before he figured out that the equation was actually points on a graph, it was a shape of some sort. He had to use the equation with it¡¯s only valid inputs to find the points on the graph, and at first they seemed random but as he put a few on the graph they started to form a shape. He noticed some points he found weren¡¯t matching the same on his makeshift graph he drew, so quickly went back to realize he had made mistakes in them. Before long he had pulled out a second piece of paper and started jotting down more attempts at putting valid numbers into the equation, until he felt he did 3 correct, and found the pattern. By this time a lot of the other students had finished their tests and had started whispering amongst each other, though a few took interest in the bonus question and started trying to solve it as well. Noticing this, the teacher started walking through the class to check on everyone, stopping to look over Darith¡¯s shoulder to see what he had so far. He wasn¡¯t sure what the teacher would say, if he¡¯d tell Darith he was wrong, tell him not even close, or even laugh, but the teacher simply tapped one number on his extra paper, a 13. ¡°14.¡± The teacher whispered. Darith turned up to him and smiled. ¡°Really impressive... Aside from that it looks like you¡¯ve got it.¡± He added, walking away. ¡°You should be in grade 12, what¡¯re you doing in this class?¡± He said, this time much louder so the whole class could hear. Several students looked to him with raised eyebrows, a boy with glasses and a girl with long brown hair walked over his desk quickly. ¡°How¡¯d you solve that? I couldn¡¯t even figure out what to do with the first number!¡± The boy asked as he looked at Darith¡¯s papers. ¡°Wow, I wasn¡¯t even close.¡± The girl commented, and before Darith could say much else the bell rang. ¡°Tests up to the front, finished or not.¡± The teacher said. ¡°We¡¯ll see how you did tomorrow!¡± Several students groaned as they reluctantly handed the tests in before leaving the class, but Darith felt good, confident again as though the glances he was getting as he got up were because he solved the problem, not because he was big.
Attribute Up!: +1 Int
The pop up message was just icing on the cake, but also reminded him that while he was in class gaining 1 intelligence, Ryan was probably running around in a dungeon doing a quest and fighting monsters. As he walked the halls he debated skipping the rest of the day, but he decided against it which only built up more spite for his mother inside of him. After a long second class he made it to his lunch period and headed to his normal corner of the cafeteria. There was still no sign of Ryan, but Jacob came to the table in a rush. ¡°So, what happened?¡± Jacob asked as he sat across from Darith. ¡°And where¡¯s Ryan?¡± ¡°No idea where Ryan is, and I can¡¯t say.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Aw cmon, you¡¯re not even level 5 yet? I thought that¡¯d be cake for you in one night. This game super hard or somethin¡¯?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Yeah, something like that.¡± Darith replied hesitantly, worried about saying the wrong thing. ¡°Well go on then, play it, I won¡¯t look I promise, just get level 5 fast.¡± Jacob said as he motioned to Darith¡¯s phone. ¡°It¡¯s not that simple.¡± ¡°What¡¯dya mean, you can¡¯t just play it to get level 5?¡± Jacob asked impatiently. ¡°No, not really.¡± Darith said, only briefly glancing at his phone as he set it on the table. ¡°Man just lemme see!¡± Jacob grabbed the phone and started looking through his apps. Darith wasn¡¯t worried though, he had already looked. There was nothing on his phone about the game at all anymore, Jacob wouldn¡¯t find anything. ¡°What the hell, you delete it or something?¡± ¡°I told you it¡¯s not that simple. I¡¯ll try to get level 5 tonight alright? Ryan¡¯s probably already doing it though, skipping school like usual.¡± ¡°That¡¯ll be a first that Ryan is better at a game than you are.¡± Jacob huffed with disbelief, and these words stung Darith as he remembered all of the menu options he didn¡¯t figure out on his own and had to learn from Ryan. As Darith took out his lunch he eyed the small bag of chips and the homemade sandwich, trying to pick one to save. He remembered the quest from Mayiera and wanted to keep one to give to her, eventually deciding to eat the chips as he figured a sandwich was a more normal meal for an NPC. ¡°You¡¯re on a diet now too or something?¡± Jacob commented. ¡°Not really.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Maaan this sucks! You¡¯re being all secretive! I want in on this game too, what the heck is going on!¡± He groaned, but just then Darith spotted Ryan running into the cafeteria through doors on the far side. He glanced towards them and power walked around the other students, Jacob spotting him after following Darith¡¯s eyes. ¡°Yo! Where you been?¡± Jacob called to him, but Darith didn¡¯t say anything. He got distracted by the bar above Ryan¡¯s head that said he was Level 5 with 160 HP, 120 Mana, and 100 Energy. ¡°Leveling up for you, duh!¡± Ryan said excitedly as he sat down with them. ¡°Whoa, so Ryan¡¯s better at this game than you Darith?¡± Jacob said to incite something, but he didn¡¯t need to, Darith was already frustrated. He felt as though Ryan had cheated him, skipping school to play. ¡°I invite you, Jacob, to join my party.¡± Ryan said excitedly, and moments later Jacob felt his cell phone buzz like it had the other night. ¡°Sweet!¡± Jacob said as he pulled out his phone, showing the same menu that Ryan and Darith had yesterday. ¡°Hurry up and accept all that stuff and make your character, I got a ton of stuff to tell you guys. Darith, I found a place like you did, with the light just like you said. It was purple though, the light.¡± Ryan said, barely able to contain himself, but his glances towards Jacob showed signs of him holding back a lot of information he wanted to blurt out. ¡°You sure he should start the game here? I mean...¡± Darith said nervously. ¡°Oh, shit, yeah you¡¯re right. Don¡¯t start it at school, it¡¯ll cause a big mess. Let¡¯s go back to my place, my parents are at work anyway.¡± Ryan said, standing up from the table and heading out. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to wait until after school?¡± Darith said, though Jacob had already stood up with him.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Are you kidding me? Who cares about school, this game is way beyond school.¡± Ryan replied, walking from the table with Jacob behind him who already had his face locked to his cell phone. ¡°You coming?¡± Ryan asked, halting after seeing Darith hadn¡¯t stood up yet. ¡°I can¡¯t, my mom will take away all my stuff if she gets a call saying I missed a class.¡± Darith replied reluctantly. ¡°Man, who cares about all that, this games better than all those console games.¡± Ryan replied. Darith¡¯s mind ran over these words. Why should he care if he can¡¯t play his console games when he really wanted to do this? He then thought about Liana being bored alone, and remembered he wanted to invite her to this game anyway. There was something else though, a reason he really didn¡¯t want to miss class, a promise he had made with his mother. A promise made when they left his dad. It was carved deep inside of him and he couldn¡¯t break it. ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t. I¡¯ll catch up with you guys after school.¡± Darith sighed. ¡°Alright, you¡¯re gonna fall behind though. Maybe we can power level you or something.¡± Ryan said, then the two sped out of the cafeteria, Ryan already looking at Jacob¡¯s phone to help him make his character, giving him pointers. As they left Darith alone in the cafeteria he sucked his teeth in frustration, then glanced around the cafeteria seeing the names and levels of the other students. Most were all 1 or 2, a few level 3 students but not more than he could count on his hand. He got bored of looking at their names fast and looked down at his untouched sandwich, thinking of his quest. What purple light? What area did Ryan find? How many areas were there? He had too many questions and was unable to get answers. Just as Darith was about done talking himself into going to the boys bathroom and sneaking into the Frozen Caverns for a bit, he spotted his first level 4 student enter the cafeteria, and she didn¡¯t just catch his attention but it seemed everyone turned to look at her, even if just for a brief second. She had long golden blonde hair that went past her shoulders, with fair skin and bright light blue eyes like the sky, a perfect figure hidden under a short white skirt and a skin tight white tank top with a small black short sleeved jean jacket over top. What got Darith¡¯s attention the most was how she seemed to be walking right towards him, her eyes even locked on him causing him to look away. ¡°Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?¡± She asked, her voice soft and friendly. ¡°N-no.¡± Darith replied nervously, not looking up at her as she pulled out Jacob¡¯s chair and sat across from him. ¡°Your name is Darith, right?¡± She asked. How did she know, could she see it above is head? Is that why she was level four? That would explain why she wanted to talk to him. He looked up to see Karin written above her head. ¡°And you are Karin, right?¡± Darith replied, trying to show confidence. His earlier shyness was brushed aside and replaced by is gaming mindset. He wasn¡¯t sure if she would be a friendly player or not. ¡°Oh, yes.¡± She smiled. ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡± She then asked, seeming genuinely confused. Seeing her expression Darith realized he¡¯d made a mistake. ¡°Uh, well, I¡¯ve seen you around I think.¡± he tried to recover. ¡°You¡¯re right, my name is Karin, nice to meet you.¡± She said, putting her hand out over the table to shake, but Darith didn¡¯t want to. ¡°My name is Darith, yes.¡± He said, pretending not to notice her hand. She pulled her hand back, making Darith feel bad, but she only misunderstood him, he thought. ¡°Sorry...¡± he mumbled. ¡°Hehe.¡± She smirked, her smile seeming to light up the room. ¡°What¡¯s funny?¡± He asked defensively, though trying his best not to sound aggressive. He immediately assumed she was making fun of him. ¡°Oh, well you didn¡¯t want to shake my hand but then you said sorry. It¡¯s like you were trying to be mean, but then you didn¡¯t want to be mean.¡± She giggled. ¡°Oh, no! I wasn¡¯t trying to be mean!¡± He replied nervously. ¡°Hehe, it¡¯s okay! I understand, strange girl you¡¯ve never met coming to talk to you out of nowhere, and she knows your name somehow, right?¡± She said. ¡°Y-yeah, I guess.¡± Darith replied, deciding to take her explanation for his actions as his own. It sounded better to him than ¡®I was too shy¡¯. ¡°Well, we had Mr. Tulk last period, he¡¯s our grade 11 math teacher, and he said there was a grade 10 student in his last class that solved a grade 12 question. I asked around and found out that was you, right?¡± She said, barely breaking eye contact with Darith as she spoke, while Darith kept looking away pretending to be interested in other things happening in the cafeteria, but this only made him aware of other male students staring at Karin. ¡°Y-yeah, that was me. It wasn¡¯t really anything special though...¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Really? Mr. Tulk said it was an advanced question too, he kept bragging about how you might be a genius or something.¡± She said, causing Darith to blush slightly as he tried to recall Mr. Tulk praising him, but didn¡¯t remember him saying anything close to that. She had to be over exaggerating, Darith thought, but he accepted what she said as truth simultaneously. ¡°I was wondering if you could maybe help me a little bit...¡± She said shyly now, looking away from Darith in a shameful manner. ¡°What¡¯d you need help with?¡± Darith replied enthusiastically. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been having trouble with my math grades, I just don¡¯t have enough time to study because of my dancing classes. I was wondering if you could help tutor me a bit?¡± She said with a desperate look in her eyes. ¡°You mean you want a grade 10 to tutor you in grade 11 math?¡± Darith asked in disbelief. ¡°Please! I don¡¯t know anyone else I can ask, all of the people I know just try to hit on me instead of actually helping me, or they¡¯re equally bad at it.¡± She said while putting her hands together on the table as if to pray. ¡°I don¡¯t know... I¡¯m not sure I can even do grade 11 math let alone teach it to someone.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Well, here! This is our homework today...¡± Karin said as she opened her bag and pulled out the math textbook, opening it to page 136. ¡°Mr. Tulk wants us to do these questions for homework. Do you think you could learn them and teach it to me after school?¡± She said, in a begging tone again. Darith hesitated, remembering he wanted to level a bit after school, but he then noticed a blue square appear floating above her head. ¡°What the...¡± he whispered as he looked at it curiously. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± She replied curiously, trying to look up and see what he was seeing, but it was invisible to her.
Name: Karin (Non-Player) Level: 4 Quest: Solve Karin''s Grade 11 math homework by the end of the day Objective: 0/1 Homework Solved Reward: 10 Experience, Favor with Karin Accept Decline
The message appeared beside the square causing Darith to raise his eyebrow, he couldn¡¯t believe it at first. ¡°I¡¯ll accept, I¡¯ll do it...¡± Darith said hesitantly, reaching out to hit accept as Karin watched his finger curiously. After hitting the button he noticed her eyes and tried to play it off like he was swatting an invisible fly, causing her to give him a strange look. ¡°O, okay great! Thank you so much! This means a lot, I have a really big dance recital soon and need all the time I can to practice, but if I start failing in school my mom will kill me!¡± She replied thankful as she stood up from the table. ¡°It¡¯s no problem, I understand, my mom is a bit like that.¡± He replied with a forced smile. ¡°Can you meet me in the studio room upstairs after school?¡± She asked. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be there.¡± Darith said. ¡°Okay, thank you so much, I owe you big time Darith!¡± She smiled at him one last time before heading out of the cafeteria, many eyes following her as she left. Darith stayed in a daze for a moment, incredibly pleased with himself now that he was helping a beautiful girl like that. He forgot for a moment that he actually had to do something difficult, and looked down to the math textbook. ¡°Hrmm...¡± He said as he eyed the page up and down, barely understanding anything on the page in front of him. Over the last two classes of the day, Darith took time analyzing the grade 11 math questions discreetly. He ignored almost everything his teachers said in those classes and tried covering up his work anytime they got near his desk. He was good at making it look like he was paying attention while he daydreamed his way through class, often thinking about games, but this time he was focused on a quest. As the final period came to an end he was confident he had the correct answers for the questions after much studying of the book by looking at previous pages and answer keys hidden at the back. He had already played out different ways he could teach Karin how to do it in his head, so that she could understand it much faster than he did. The bell rang and his mind was already trailing off thinking about what other types of quest he could get. He made the assumption that a square quest meant it was from a real person, but he wasn¡¯t sure. As the majority of the students headed out of the school, Darith headed up to the second floor towards the studio room. The room that he seldom visited, as half of it was filled with workout equipment for fitness classes, the other half left open for dancing, yoga, and other club activities. All things that Darith had never been interested in before. When he got there the door was open and quite a few students were inside stretching. It was easy to spot Karin, she looked even more beautiful now wearing black tight pants and tank top with white socks and ballerina shoes. She was standing with several other girls dressed identically to her, chatting while stretching as though getting ready to practice. He then stood in the doorway stumped, he wasn¡¯t sure if he should call out to her or knock, or walk up to her to get her attention. He nervously fiddled his fingers a bit, her math textbook under his arm. ¡°Watch it meatball.¡± A boy said as he pushed past Darith into the room, also wearing black tight pants and shirt. The push knocked Darith inside a bit, his leg hitting a bench that was along the left wall of the room. When he hit the bench he got the attention of a girl sitting on it with a textbook open on her lap. He looked to her just as she looked to him. ¡°You looking for someone?¡± She asked politely with a familiar smile, reminding Darith immediately of Karin. She had the same long golden hair and blue eyes, but looked a bit shorter and had several blue streaks in her hair. ¡°Uhm, I¡¯m here to talk to Karin.¡± Darith replied nervously as he quickly broke eye contact and made a futile attempt at stretching his shirt over his stomach. ¡°Oh.¡± She replied, moving her mouth to one side and crunching her eyebrows. ¡°Sis! Someone¡¯s looking for you.¡± she called across the room. Hearing her say sis, Darith understood their resemblance now. He looked to Karin and as she looked towards him he waved nervously, and she returned a half hearted smile while her friends looked at him disgusted, and seeing this he immediately felt regret. ¡°Hey, you made it!¡± Karin said cheerfully as she headed across the room to meet him. ¡°Did you figure it all out?¡± She asked hopeful. ¡°Y-yeah, I got all the answers written down, it¡¯s pretty easy, I could explain it to you!¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°Ah, well it turns out my group needs me to practice a lot more than I thought today.¡± Karin replied with a fake apologetic smile, one that Darith had seen before. She signaled back to her friends who were finishing their stretches. ¡°You got the answers though, right?¡± ¡°Yeah...¡± Darith replied. ¡°Thank you so much! I owe you big time. When I have free time you can help me study, okay? Tomorrow after school maybe.¡± She said as she took her textbook from him, opening it to double check the paper inside that Darith had written the answers on. ¡°Okay, don¡¯t worry about it, this was nothing.¡± Darith shrugged reluctantly. ¡°I¡¯ve got to get started now, so I¡¯ll see you tomorrow?¡± She asked in her friendly voice, standing on her tippy toes and pulling her book towards her chest while she asked. ¡°S-sure.¡± Darith shrugged back, he was now distracted by a pop-up appearing above Karin¡¯s head.
Name:Karin (Non-Player)Level:4 Quest:Solve Karin''s Grade 11 math homework by the end of the day Objective:1/1 Homework Solved Reward:10 Experience, Favor with Karin
He felt a bit bad for being used by her to do her homework, but getting experience from it made it not so bad. He saw past her smile and fake friendliness now and was just waiting to walk away, not expecting to see her again or get any favors. ¡°Bye!¡± She said, turning to go back to her friends. Darith was about to turn out of the room until he noticed that Karin¡¯s sister was looking at him with pity the whole time, and he met eyes with her again. ¡°She does that a lot.¡± She said to Darith just as he turned to leave. ¡°Does what?¡± He asked. ¡°Please help me I¡¯m a pretty little ballerina girl who can¡¯t do anything for herself!¡± Karin¡¯s sister whispered mockingly. ¡°Don¡¯t help her anymore, then maybe she¡¯ll have to do some work for once in her life.¡± She added, sounding incredibly bitter. ¡°Heh, I don¡¯t mind helping.¡± Darith shrugged back nervously. ¡°Yeah yeah, all the swooning boys don¡¯t mind.¡± She rolled her eyes as she went back to studying her textbook. Darith glanced at her once more, noting the bar above her head and her level. Elise, level 4 like her sister. He then shrugged off what she said and headed out of the studio, feeling better the further he got from the room. The whole exchange gave him a bad taste in his mouth, but the closer he got to leaving the building the more his excitement replaced his bad feelings, by the time he got outside he could only think of the Frozen Caverns. He pulled out his cell phone and tried calling Ryan, then Jacob, but neither would answer their phones after multiple attempts. He then glanced around the city skyline hoping to see a pillar of light for a new dungeon, but he didn¡¯t look hard before he switched to running home as fast as he could without using any energy. When he got there he was alone and threw his bag down while grabbing something to eat and drink out of the kitchen, he was starving from missing his sandwich at lunch. While eating he started thinking of anything he might need in the caves, he didn¡¯t want to come back until he was at least level 5. He remembered Mayiera mentioning it was a Labyrinth, so as he grabbed his sandwich he also grabbed a pencil and a few pieces of blank paper, then opened his menu and tried putting it all in hisinventory. The sandwich, the pencil, and the papers all took up 3 separate inventory slots, going right next to the silk and the frostberry leaves. Feeling prepared, he went up to his room. "Gate." He spoke, and the spell began to cast. From his floating transparent menu, game particles of light started forming the door of Ice in the middle of his room, though the door passed through anything it touched and didn¡¯t cause any damage, much to Darith¡¯s relief. ¡°Alright! One last thing to change.¡± He said as he opened his display menu, switching his appearance back to his tiny Nemothyne wielding a staff. ¡°Perfect! Finally, time to do some leveling up.¡± He said, stepping through the doorway into the Frost Caverns. The cold air chilled his fox tail¡¯s fur, making it stand on end along with the fur on his ears. He was a bit disoriented at first, forgetting what the cave looked like for a moment until he heard a familiar voice. Chapter 8: Spider Queen ¡°You¡¯re back! Did you bring something to eat? I¡¯m starving!¡± Mayiera called to him. Turning around he saw the snowsuit girl sitting by the fire just as he had left her. ¡°Yeah! I brought a sandwich.¡± Darith replied enthusiastically, taking it out of his inventory and handing it to her. ¡°Oh this is perfect!¡± She said as she started eating it, and the gray circle above her head turned green for a moment.
Name: Mayiera (Neutral) - Level: ?? Quest: Bring something to eat to Mayiera in the Frost Caverns Objective: 1/1 Food for Mayiera Reward: 10 Experience
It was only seconds later that a new blue circle appeared above her head. ¡°Did you need something else?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Well, I was thinking, even if you find the entrance to the ruins, these caves are probably too dangerous for me. I think there¡¯s a Frost Spider nest somewhere nearby... Maybe if you destroyed it, it would be easier for me to travel. I know that¡¯s a hard task, so I¡¯ll reward you for it! Please!¡± Mayiera asked while still eating the sandwich.
Name:Mayiera (Neutral) -Level:?? Quest:Find and destroy the nearby Frost Spider Nest Objective:0/1 Frost Spider Nest Destroyed Reward:Unknown
¡°Of course! I need to do some hunting to get stronger anyway.¡± Darith said, hitting the accept button that was floating in front of him without any hesitation. ¡°Thank you so much, good luck World Traveler.¡± She smiled. Darith then turned in the direction he had gone the night before. He walked to the first fork in the path and took the paper and pencil from his inventory, scribbling a circle for Mayiera and her campfire, then trying to keep the path of the cave as close resembling what it actually looked like as he drew up to the fork in the path. He didn¡¯t get much of the sketch done before his paper and pencil began glowing in his hands, and suddenly disintegrating into balls of light as if he was putting them in his inventory, but he wasn¡¯t. He stepped back and let go of them as he watched the paper form in the upper right corner of his peripheral vision, taking the shape of a light brown square with a compass on it.
Skill Gained: Cartography (?)
A notification said as the tiny bit he had drawn of his map so far appeared on the light brown square, as well as a blue dot for where he was standing and a green dot where he had marked Mayiera. ¡°Huh, weird...¡± He said, and tried walking backward. The map stayed centered on him and adjusted for how he moved. He then opened his skills menu to read what it did.
Cartography - Rank 1 Maps the ares and dungeons around you as you traverse them. Details and accuracy of the map improve with higher ranks. Toggle map display in the Display Menu or minimize the map by touching it with your Index Finger.
¡°Wow, and here I was planning on drawing all these caves myself. With this, it¡¯s only a matter of time before I find those ruins. But first, hunting and leveling.¡± He said, and he moved onward down the same path he had yesterday, arriving in the open cave area with 4 paths. Just like the previous day he spotted a Frost Spiderling skittering along the far wall. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve been waiting all day to do this. Firebolt!¡± He shouted, and the red circle formed, seconds later shooting the ball of fire forward at the Spiderling. He directed it with his hand and killed the Spiderling in one hit. Then, taking a step forward into the open cave he remembered in the very last second about the Spiderling that dropped behind him. He jumped forward while simultaneously spinning around to see the Spider¡¯s fangs barely missing him. He then swung his staff at the Spiderling to hit it away, then charged at it to hit it a second time for the killing blow. ¡°Two down!¡± He said, looking at his experience bar in the menu to see he was 31/50 to level 3. ¡°I¡¯ll have to travel all these paths to fully map out this place...¡± Darith said, heading to the upper path where he heard all the skittering yesterday. Down the path he spotted one spider, killed it, then saw the pack of three again. Rather than multicast again to waste his mana he decided to hit one and kill it quickly, then used his staff to kill the other 2 with 2 hits each while carefully avoiding their bites.
Skill Gained: Evade (?) Attribute Up!: +1 Agi
Without any hesitation Darith opened up the Evade menu.
Evade - No Ranks Allows for quick dodging of enemy physical attacks and gives a chance to completely avoid damage from a hit after it has connected. Higher agility increases your chance to evade. Chance: 1.2%
¡°Nice, though that chance isn¡¯t something I can really rely on. I¡¯ll have to get my agility up if I want to use that more. He glanced up at his current bars to see 52.5/80 mana and 31.1/55 energy. ¡°Good to keep going.¡± He said, moving further into the cave, further than he had been yesterday. He made sure to grab all the silk dropping along the way, and as he got deeper in he could hear the skittering get louder. He then started to walk into thick spider webbing that was strung across the cavern, but it snapped easily as he touched it as if it were made of ice. It was only a few strands at first, but the tunnel began to narrow and more webs strung across it, as fewer and fewer torches lit the path in front of him. Then, from further in the tunnel he saw the long legs of a much larger spider. It¡¯s health bar showed it as a level 2 monster, named Frost Spider. It had 26 health and was moving towards him slowly, it didn¡¯t seem to notice him yet. ¡°Firebolt.¡± Darith said, standing his ground as it wandered closer. When the bolt hit, the Spider charged forward at him angrily while hissing. He knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to cast another, so prepared to strike with his staff. He swung it at the spider from above when it got close, but the spider managed to stick one of its legs out and scratch Darith¡¯s leg at the same time. The spider died, and Darith took 20 damage. ¡°Wow, my defense is really bad! If I get hit 5 times I¡¯m dead?¡± Darith said as he looked at his bars, then spotted more silk falling out of the spiders body before it vanished. He picked it up and dusted himself off as the pain in his leg quickly subsided. He then checked to see that the big spider had given him 5 XP, leaving him at 44/50 now. Determined to at least hit level 3 before going back to Mayiera, he treaded forward carefully into the darkening tunnel, pushing his way through the Frozen webs, until finally the narrowing tunnel opened up into a large cavern, very dark and lit by only a few torches on the far wall, making it impossible to see anything in the center. But from the skittering sounds he felt as if the room was alive. Firebolt.¡± He whispered, deciding to try and light up the room, and when his bolt shot across the cavern it revealed glistening light blue spider eggs all across the ground with more big spiders and Spiderlings crawling the walls than he could count. His Firebolt managed to catch the attention of several, but luckily not all, and he quickly retreated back into the narrow tunnel. Behind him charged a large spider, and with no time to cast a Firebolt he was forced to turn and hit it with his staff. He hit it once and carefully dodged its striking leg, remembering how it hit him the last time. It flinched giving him time to back away, then repeat the process and hit it again bringing it to 5/25 Health. The third strike landed and killed it, but he was now at 7.2 Energy, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use his staff to kill the next Spider charging at him. Instead he decided to take a gamble. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He started casting immediately after the front spider died. It¡¯s body delayed the next spider from getting past it, but not for a full 5 seconds. The spider lunged at Darith and hit him in his leg with its sharp icy legs, dealing 20 damage before Darith¡¯s firebolt finished and hit it head on. He then followed up with a staff strike to kill it. He got several notifications at this time, but had no time to check them as another Spider was coming still, with several Spiderlings behind it. With 60 hitpoints left and only 2.2 Energy, Darith had no choice but to run. He knew he couldn¡¯t sprint or he¡¯d get exhausted and be a sitting duck for them, so he turned and walked away as quickly as possible, hoping the last spider corpse would slow them down enough. He felt weird, running for his life without being allowed to run as he heard their legs clattering on the icy stone walls behind him. Normally he¡¯d feel fear or panic, but his Gamer¡¯s mind passive was keeping him clear headed. Looking back, he could tell he wasn¡¯t going to outrun them much longer, he wouldn¡¯t make it to Mayiera unless he used through the pain to sprint, but he didn¡¯t want to spend the rest of the night exhausted. He got to the open cave, hoping they would stop chasing or something, but they did not, and as he jumped from the tunnel into the opening with four paths, they jumped out after him, one Spider and 2 Spiderlings, all lunging forward with their fangs. He prepared himself to take the hits, knowing it¡¯d bring him to only 10 HP, knowing he¡¯d have to sprint into his exhaustion, that he¡¯d fall even further behind Ryan. In that moment of frustration he felt something fly past his cheek, he couldn¡¯t make out what it was, but standing in front of him was a girl. She was tall with pointy ears holding a bow pointed at him. Turning, Darith saw the spiders flinching backward with arrows in their head. ¡°Careful, I don¡¯t do much damage with this multishot skill.¡± The Elf said, then pulled back another arrow and shot at them a second time while Darith moved out of the way. This time both the spiderlings died but the big one remained. ¡°One more....¡± She said, pulling back a third arrow and firing at the Spider, finally killing it. ¡°Got it!¡± She smiled. ¡°Thanks for the save.¡± Darith said, smiling at her. ¡°No problem. Nemothyne... Highest skill is Firebolt, 17.85 int... Neat, so you¡¯re a magic type player?¡± She asked. ¡°Yeah...¡± Darith said, looking at the name above the Elf¡¯s head it read Aaron, level 4. ¡°How¡¯d you know all that? I can only see your name and your level.¡± Darith asked. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s this analyze skill I got from analyzing stuff at work the other day, pretty neat huh? I can see your basic stats and your highest ranked skill. It says with higher ranks I can see more information.¡± She replied. ¡°That sounds really useful!¡± Darith said, looking at his notifications now.
Level Up!: You''ve reached level 3 +25 Health, +20 Mana, +10 Energy +1 Unspent Attribute Point Rank Up!: Firebolt reached Rank 3! Rank Up!: Staff Mastery reached Rank 2!
¡°Hm, so that¡¯s why Ryan had so much HP, you start getting more when you level.¡± Darith said to himself. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good to know, I was worried about being really easy to kill. One of those spiders hit me and my health was already almost 0.¡± Aaron replied, watching him press buttons in his menu. Darith saw his Firebolt base damage went up by 1 with .1 less cast time and mana cost. His staff attack and the passive mana regeneration went up by 1 from staff mastery as well. ¡°You¡¯re looking for the Spider nest, doing the quest?¡± Aaron asked. ¡°Yeah, how about you?¡± Darith asked as he started walking back towards where Mayiera was. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got the quest but... Have you seen a male elf around? I¡¯m trying to find my Wife.¡± ¡°Your wife? No... I didn¡¯t see any male elves.¡± Darith replied with a scrunched brow. ¡°It¡¯s weird, I know, but I¡¯m not creepy or anything playing a female character. If I¡¯d known I¡¯d get this body I would¡¯ve went male. My wife always picks guy characters though so I try to balance it out.¡± ¡°Hehe, a girl playing guy characters?¡± Darith replied, Aaron following him now back through the tunnel. ¡°Yeah I know right? She never likes the way the girls look in any game we play. This game¡¯s a bit different though... I really need to find her.¡± ¡°Well, do you know which way she went?¡± Darith asked. ¡°The way we just came from, one of those four paths, that¡¯s the last place I saw her.¡±Aaron said. ¡°Well, how long ago was that?¡± He asked. ¡°A couple days ago...¡± He said reluctantly. ¡°Wha- so long? How long have you been in this cave? Did you try checking outside the dungeon back at your house?¡± Darith suggested. ¡°Well yeah, of course. She hasn¡¯t come back yet, so she¡¯s got to be in here somewhere. To be honest I¡¯m pretty freaked out, these tunnels are endless, and she- well she wasn¡¯t in the best mental state when we got split up. I¡¯m worried she got killed by one of these monsters, do you know what happens if you die in this game?¡± Aaron asked Darith anxiously. ¡°Well, I think you lose your memory of the game and your phone, the guy who invited me to the game had that happen to him. He was fine otherwise...¡± Darith said, watching Aaron¡¯s worried expression. He felt weird knowing he was talking to a guy that looked like a pretty female elf. ¡°Well, you¡¯re doing that spider nest quest, right? Is it alright if I tag along? I haven¡¯t been able to check that tunnel out yet, I kept getting swarmed like you did. ¡°Sure, it should be easier if we team up, but I need to heal at Mayiera first.¡± Darith said. ¡°Gotcha, good idea.¡± He followed. When they got to her, she tapped them both on their foreheads and restored all of their stats fully. ¡°Nice, let''s go then.¡± Darith said, and Aaron nodded at him. His Elf body had abnormally long red hair that seemed to glow in the caves, and was wearing green armor that resembled Darith¡¯s Nemothyne starting armor. ¡°So what¡¯s it like with a bow, what sort of stuff does this game let you do?¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got only a few skills so far like analyze, multishot, and magic shot. The normal arrows use my energy and the magic shot that came with the bow uses my mana, it does more damage but as you can see, I don¡¯t have much mana. The multishot thing lets me hit a lot of targets but the damage isn¡¯t so good, uses my energy fast too.¡± ¡°That sounds like my multicast, I can fire more than one bolt but they cost a lot of mana.¡± Darith replied. ¡°That sounds cool, I haven¡¯t seen any real spells yet.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll show you when we get to the nest! The downside is that I can¡¯t move while I¡¯m casting, would probably be a lot easier if I just had a sword or something.¡± Darith shrugged.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Hah, I know what you mean, but the only stat this game said I had high was agility so I went with the bow.¡± ¡°Still probably better than intelligence.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°So you¡¯re someone really smart? I mean outside the game?¡± Aaron asked. ¡°Not really, I¡¯m just in high school.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Oh, hah! You¡¯re a lot younger then me but here I¡¯m asking you for help. This game¡¯s quite the equalizer. I¡¯m an electrician, usually get sent to places no one else wants to go like towers, ect. I guess that''s why the game gave me the agility.¡± Aaron replied. ¡°Do you normally play a lot of video games?¡± Darith asked as they got back to the 4-door opening, heading up to the tunnel leading to the spider nest. ¡°A bit with my wife, she¡¯s the big gamer though. We got invited by one of her friends but haven¡¯t seen him, or any other players really, since we started in this cave. This takes escaping reality to a whole other level though.¡± ¡°No kidding.¡± Darith smiled. ¡°How bout you, see any other players yet?¡± Aaron asked. ¡°No, well... Kind of. My friends got into this as well but they¡¯re in a party together off somewhere else, in another dungeon I think. I kind of got left behind. ¡°Well that sucks.¡± Aaron sighed. ¡°They¡¯re just excited I think.¡± Darith shrugged to himself. ¡°Alright, so we should make a plan for this. How much do your multishots hit for, and how many can you shoot?¡± ¡°They¡¯re hitting for about 9 damage each when I split them, don¡¯t think the number it can hit is limited, but my energy will hit zero if I fire more than 10 and I¡¯ll get that nasty exhausted status. I¡¯ve been using the energy for the multishot and then switching to magic shot for hitting one enemy.¡± Aaron replied. ¡°Okay, if we combine our multicast and multishot we can kill spiderlings in one hit, but I need 5 seconds to cast it, well 4.8 but I can shoot out about 6 before I have to stop using mana.¡± Darith said. ¡°So let¡¯s aim for taking out all the tiny ones first, then focus our big hits on whatever is left over. ¡°Got it.¡± Aaron nodded. The two approached the spider nest and could hear the loud skittering all around them. They both stepped into the nest from the narrow tunnel into the dark room, the ground feeling sticky from the webs on it now. ¡°I¡¯ll shoot a firebolt so we can see, then aim at all the spiderlings, okay?¡± Darith whispered, and Aaron nodded. ¡°Firebolt.¡± He said quietly, and Aaron watched in amazement as the red circle formed, then shot forth into the cavern to light it up. He didn¡¯t have time to say anything though, once the cavern was lit he quickly pulled back an arrow and moved his eyes to the 6 spiderlings visible crawling around the walls. ¡°Firebolt, firebolt firebolt firebolt firebolt firebolt .¡± Darith said as quickly as he could, thinking how inefficient of a way that was to multicast. All 6 bolts began filling their red circles and he just then realized he¡¯d have to aim them all within miliseconds of each other. He took a fighting stance with his left leg bent and back with his hands up, Aaron watching for the bolts to fire before shooting his arrows himself. He didn¡¯t want to disappoint Aaron, he wanted to show him how cool of a character he was in this game, so he focused everything he had in those 5 seconds to plan his hand motions, all the while the spiders seemed to notice them and let out a loud hiss, some skittering over the walls towards them while others began grappling down from the ceiling on their webs. The 5 seconds were up. He used both his hands this time, hoping the game would acknowledge it as part of his spell mastery, One up, one left, one right, one straight, another left, another right. He alternated moving each hand to send the fireballs out correctly, it worked and a notification popped up, but he couldn¡¯t look at it just yet. ¡°Multishot!¡± Aaron shouted, and the fireballs fanned out with arrows. All shots connected perfectly, all 6 spiderlings fell dead to the two of them, granting both of them 14 experience. ¡°Perfect, now back into the tunnel for the big spiders!¡± Darith said, and Aaron nodded as the two retreated backward into the narrow tunnel. ¡°I¡¯ll hit with my staff, you use the magic shot.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Aaron said, pulling back the bow string without an arrow in it as the first Spider ran in. Darith hit it once while dodging its leg strike, causing it to flinch. ¡°Magic Arrow!¡± Aaron said, making a blue translucent arrow appear in his bow which he fired into the Spider. It flinched but didn¡¯t die, so Darith hit it a second time to finish it off. ¡°Good, next one!¡± He said, a second Spider funneling into the tunnel. This time Aaron lead with an attack. ¡°Magic Arrow!¡± He called out, hitting it and flinching it before it got close to Darith. During the flinch Darith jabbed his staff forward, then stepped back as Aaron shot another magic arrow. ¡°Still 2 more.¡± Darith said. ¡°Right! Magic Arrow!¡± Aaron shouted, and with their alternating combination the two of them took out the remaining Spiders. Both gaining 20 experience. They both stood in their fighting stances for a bit longer until they were sure there wasn¡¯t anymore skittering. ¡°Whew, that was awesome!¡± Darith shouted with excitement, turning to give Aaron a high five. ¡°What a rush, this game is really intense!¡± Aaron replied. ¡°Let¡¯s head in and finish the quest. It said we have to destroy the nest.¡± Darith said. ¡°Yeah and my wife might be further in that cavern.¡± Aaron replied, the two walking back into the webbed, egg covered cavern as Darith eyed his stats. ¡°I¡¯ve got 8.5 mana left and 31.1 Energy, so I¡¯m good for 6 staff hits and in a minute a Firebolt.¡± Darith reported. ¡°I¡¯ve got about 3 Magic Arrows and a normal arrow in me for now, so we¡¯ll have to be careful.¡± Aaron replied. ¡°I¡¯ll try using kick then, only uses 1 Energy.¡± Darith said, and kicked at one of the spider eggs on the ground. He was expecting goo of some sort, but the egg shattered like ice and had something glowing blue inside. ¡°Whoa, what¡¯s this?¡± He said, Aaron walking over as he picked it up.
Name: Magic Potion Type: Consumable Quality: Low Effect: Restores 30mp Description: A weak potion made by beginner Alchemists
A pop up said as Darith picked it up. The potion then turned into light particles and floated to his waist, Aaron and Darith both looking in amazement. The potion then re-appeared in a strap on his Beginner Nemothyne Pants. ¡°Whoa." Darith said while counting the straps on his belt. "Looks like it can hold 2 potions from my inventory here." ¡°It says you can equip some consumables to your belt basically, so you can use them without having to open your inventory.¡± Darith said to Aaron. ¡°That sounds useful. You said you used a kick to break the egg right?¡± Aaron asked as he walked over to another egg across the cavern. ¡°Yup.¡± Darith replied, and Aaron then kicked an egg open. ¡°Oh cool, I just learned kick as well. Hah, who¡¯d have thought kicking something would be a skill.¡± Aaron shrugged. ¡°There¡¯s a red potion in this egg, looks like its for health.¡± ¡°Alright, you take that side of the cavern and I¡¯ll take this, let me know if you find anything else.¡± ¡°Got it! I¡¯ll need a break to regenerate some Energy though.¡± Aaron said. ¡°No problem I¡¯ll stick to my side.¡± Darith said as he kicked another egg open and found another blue potion. ¡°I¡¯ve got two now, both slots filled... I¡¯m going to try drinking one.¡± Darith said as he pulled the blue tiny glowing glass bottle off his belt. Aaron turned to watch as Darith popped the top off and poured the bottle into his mouth. ¡°Hmm... Mmm, wow, it tastes pretty good! Like blueberry juice or something.¡± Darith said as he looked to his mana bar and saw it jump up by 30 instantly, now sitting at 38.5.¡± ¡°Haha, nice.¡± Aaron smiled, then turned to kick another egg and found a yellow potion. ¡°Looks like this one is for Energy. It only restores 15 though. I wonder what it tastes like?¡± Aaron said as he popped it open and drank it. ¡°Ugh, banana.¡± Aaron said while squinting his face. ¡°You don¡¯t like Banana? I thought everyone liked Banana.¡± Darith said with a chuckle. ¡°Not everyone.¡± Aaron said as his Energy bar shot up, letting him kick more eggs without worry. The two took a while cleaning out the eggs, and ended up with a variety of potions, totaling about 15 each. ¡°Not a bad reward for clearing out all those spiders.¡± Darith said as they met in the middle. ¡°I¡¯d say, but the cavern goes a bit deeper there through that tunnel.¡± Aaron pointed. They both looked towards the tunnel, and through it was only darkness, no torches beyond the cavern. ¡°Hopefully Belle is there... Maybe she got stuck in there from all these spiders.¡± Aaron said, trying to stay positive. ¡°Well, if my knowledge of video games serves me right, there¡¯s probably a really big spider in there. How¡¯s your Energy?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Good, refilled it on the potions.¡± Aaron said, then eyed Darith to see his mana and Energy was also full. ¡°So we going in with a plan?¡± ¡°Let me check the notifications from that last fight first, I skipped over them.¡± Darith said. ¡°Good idea, I got some skill ups as well.¡± Aaron said, and the two started poking their fingers at the air pressing their game¡¯s interface buttons.
Rank Up!:Multicast reached Rank 2! Rank Up!:Staff Mastery reached Rank 3! Rank Up!:Spell Mastery reached Rank 3! Rank Up!:Firebolt reached rank 4! Attribute Up!:+1 Int
¡°Nice, four skill ups and an extra point in intellect. I¡¯m getting a bit more mana efficient now.¡± Darith said. ¡°Same, well, Endurance for me. Seems like the hardest part of this game right now is managing our resources. We sure get worn out fast.¡± Aaron said. ¡°Whatever is in there, both of us are ranged fighters, so let¡¯s try and keep enemies from getting close to us. I¡¯m a bit more vulnerable because I can¡¯t move while casting...¡± ¡°Right, I¡¯ll try and get its attention so you can use those firebolts.¡± Aaron replied. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see what¡¯s in that ominously dark tunnel.¡± Darith said sarcastically, stepping over some sticky ice webs into the tiny narrow tunnel. It stayed narrow to the point where even Darith had to duck down, Aaron behind him was crawling on his knees, until finally the tunnel opened up into a large round dimly lit room. Stepping forward out of the tunnel, Darith felt the ground was weird, different from the rest of the cave. It wasn¡¯t until Aaron stepped out onto it as well that Darith looked down to see it wasn¡¯t floor, it was a giant ice web suspended in mid air with a bottomless black pit beneath them. ¡°Uh oh, don¡¯t look down.¡± Darith said. ¡°Is this a giant spiderweb?¡± Aaron said in disbelief, looking around the room. ¡°I hope this thing isn¡¯t going to break...¡± ¡°I¡¯m more worried about the spider that made it.¡± Darith commented, looking around the room. He¡¯d played enough games to have a good idea where it¡¯d be coming from, and after a moment of hesitation he reluctantly looked up to the ceiling. Aaron followed Darith¡¯s eyes until both of them were staring up at a giant blue 8 legged beast staring down at them with 16 wiggling icy eyes.
Name: Ice Spider Queen (Boss) (Hostile) - Level: 7 Health: 500/500
¡°Analyze!¡± Aaron shouted as the Spider Queen began hovering down to them on a large thick web. ¡°She¡¯s got two abilities. Frost Fang and Webshot. Frostfang has a 2 second cast, she¡¯ll lunge back before she uses it. Web shot she has to face her back to you, but it''s only a 1 second cast.¡± Aaron said quickly and anxiously. ¡°Got it, so we stay on different sides of her, who ever she is chasing focuses on dodging her Frost Fangs, the other does as much damage as possible without getting hit by Web shot.¡± Darith said. Aaron nodded then ran to the right around the outside of the room while Darith ran left. ¡°Magic Arrow!¡± Aaron shouted from across the room, starting the fight by hitting the spider in the side and dealing 10 damage. The Queen quickly turned to face him and began winding up her Frost Fang attack, so Aaron quickly ran from her front. ¡°Firebolt!¡± Darith said as he made sure to be not behind the boss. The Spider queen finished her Frost Fang attack and lunged forward, hitting the side of the room and causing it to shake the ground beneath Darith, but it didn¡¯t interrupt the cast. The firebolt fired off and hit the boss for 22 Damage, bringing her down to 468 health. ¡°Uh, Darith we got a problem! My analyze left out the fact that her frost fang destroys the webbed floor we¡¯re standing on.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a timed fight then, we¡¯ve got to kill her fast!¡± Darith called back as the Queen turned to face him, charging her Frost Fang at him now. ¡°Right!¡± Aaron replied and began firing arrows at her rear using his Energy. He got off 4 shots dealing 15 damage each before she slammed her fangs into the wall again, and this time it was on Darith¡¯s side of the room so he could see the damage she was doing. The spider queen drove her fangs into the floor and ripped a gigantic hole in the web. Quickly glancing around the room Darith guessed that they had about 10 Frost fangs before the ground would give out. At 408 hitpoints she took aim at Aaron and he was forced to run. Darith reacted by immediately casting. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He called out. The third Frostfang hit and shook the ground worse this time, the web getting increasingly more unstable with every strike from the Queen. Moment¡¯s later his cast finished dealing another 22 damage. ¡°386.¡± Darith said as the queen turned to him. ¡°Not gonna make it in time...¡± He began running to avoid the frost fang, but this time ran in close with his staff out and began swinging his staff wildly at her legs. 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 damage as he used up 25 of his Energy, at the same time Aaron shot 4 more arrows off dealing 15 each, but each shot eating 5 of his energy as well. ¡°266, almost half dead!¡± Aaron shouted excitedly as the spider turned to cast her 5th Frost Fang on him. ¡°Firebolt!¡± Darith chanted. And seconds after the 5th frost fang shook the ground he landed the Firebolt, knocking her to 244 hit points, but her icy blue body suddenly turned bright red and an angry icon appeared next to her health bar as she turned to Darith and started casting Frost Fang a 6th time. He dashed out of the way, but it was just in time, as the Frost Fang fired off almost instantly, and she began casting it again, lunging her legs back in preparation to thrust her fangs forward, giving Darith no time to hit her with his staff. ¡°Uh oh, she¡¯s got a status effect on her saying her attack speed is increased by 100%!¡± Aaron shouted. ¡°Kill her fast, hit her with all you¡¯ve got!¡± Darith shouted as the ground began to feel more like a trampoline as it held up by fewer and fewer strands of the icy web. ¡°Uhhh, Multishot!¡± Aaron shouted, firing all remaining arrows that his energy would allow at once, but dealing half damage. The result left him with 3 Energy while dealing 91 damage to the spider queen, leaving her with 153 health left. She then quickly turned to cast her 8th Fang on Aaron. ¡°Alright, my turn.¡± Darith said as he grabbed a mana potion and chugged it fast, putting his mana back to full. ¡°Firebolt, Firebolt, Firebolt, Firebolt, Firebolt, Firebolt!¡± Darith shouted, forming the 6 circles in front as the 8th fang shook the web viciously, almost causing Darith to lose his Balance as Aaron ran for his life. The 9th hit as well a second later, just barely missing Aaron, and the final strands holding the web up began to snap like rubber bands. Darith¡¯s Gamer Mind kept him calm, but Aaron¡¯s lack of it was obvious as he let out a girlish scream while the 10th Fang was on its way. Just before it landed on the web Darith released his 6 Firebolts, hitting the Spider Queen for 55 Damage, leaving her at 98 health left. The last of the web snapped, the weight of the Spider Queen in the center pulling it down from under Darith and Aaron¡¯s feet. They both jumped to the wall of the room, grasping at the icy stone of the FrostCavern. The ice was chilling to the touch for Darith but he held on has best as his tiny Nemothyne hands would allow, while the Spider Queen fell only slightly before shooting a web from her rear at the wall, causing her to swing to it and dig her 8 giant spider legs in, shaking the cavern wall slightly as she did. Below them now, she looked to Darith who was last to attack her and let out a ferocious hiss as she charged across the wall towards him with incredible speed. ¡°I can¡¯t shoot anything without both hands free!¡± Aaron shouted from across the cavern. Darith heard this and knew he wouldn¡¯t be getting any help. As the wiggling glowing eyes of the Spider Queen came at him, he used his calm mind to think fast. 0 Mana, 45 Energy, 1 Mana pot left on quick bar, 98 health left on the boss. The Spider Queen reached Darith and pulled her mouth back to cast Frost Fang. 1 second cast, a second Darith used to propel himself off the wall with his feet towards the spider, jumping on the top side of the spiders head as she lunged forward with her fang into the wall of the cavern, shaking it violently. From the Spider¡¯s side he grabbed his mana potion with his left hand and popped the top off with his thumb, throwing the blue liquid into his mouth as his feet slipped along the back of the icy spider. He released the bottle and desperately threw his hand towards one of her lower legs as he fell below the spider Queen¡¯s icy body. Grabbing it just barely he felt tiny ice spines on her leg dig into his hand, but he held tight, watching his health bar drop by 10. He then swung his staff from his right hand upward at her, hitting her in another one of her legs as she began charging upward towards the ceiling trying to shake him off. His health dropped by another 10 points as he continued holding onto the icy leg, arriving at the ceiling he was now dangling against gravity. His health at 105, her¡¯s at 86 now, she began stampeding violently along the roof of the cavern trying to shake him off. Darith got another swing of his staff in before taking another 10 damage and losing his grip. 95, 74. He started to free fall down the center of the bottomless cave, but a thread of hope dangled beside him, the strand of silk that the boss had used to initially descend onto them remained hanging in the center, and he desperately grabbed at it with his left hand, his fingertips just barely catching hold of it as his body weight jerked towards the web, forcing it to swing slightly. ¡°Firebolt!¡± Darith shouted. A red circle appeared in front of him as he held onto the web. Though the web was not still, Darith was, and it let him cast without interruption while the Spider glared down at him, then began scurrying down from the ceiling back to the wall, ¡°She¡¯s going to lunge at you across the cavern, you¡¯ve gotta move out of her path!¡± Aaron shouted as the spider aligned herself on the wall at eye level with Darith. She got into lunging position with her fangs sticking out, and Darith knew he needed to swing out of the way or he¡¯d be dead for sure. He quickly turned his Firebolt on himself as it finished casting, the explosion propelling him out of the center of the cavern just as the Spider Queen leaped from one side of the cavern to the other, her fangs just barely missing Darith as he flew towards the far cave wall, releasing the strand of web and grabbing the wall again. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He shouted immediately after he had grabbed the wall, the cast starting as the Spider Queen regained her grip on the wall she had jumped to by stomping her Icy legs into it, tiny rocks and debris falling into the endless darkness below them. He was at 73 hit points now, the Queen still at 74. As she started stampeding towards him he counted down his Firebolt cast, watching the circle complete as she got close enough and began her Frost Fang lunge. The instant the cast finished and the bolt flew at her face, he released his grip on the cave wall and her Frost Fang just barely missed him, smashing the rocky wall where his hand was just gripping as his Firebolt splashed over her eyes dealing another 22 damage. ¡°52 left to go!¡± Aaron shouted, desperately looking around for any footing that would allow him to use both hands, spotting the tiny tunnel they had used to enter initially. He put his bow string in his mouth to carry his bow and freed up both hands as he began climbing towards the tunnel opening as fast as he could. Darith grabbed the cavern wall once more, but he was only centimeters from the Spider Queen, she had her legs dug into the cavern wall above him and turned her fangs downward, preparing another Frost Fang lunge. With little room for error, Darith propelled himself to the left with his legs and swung his staff wildly with his free hand. His staff connected with the Spider Queen mid lunge as her fangs just barely missed his leg, but her spiny legs brushed him dealing another 10 damage, knocking him down to 63 health and the queen down to 40. The queen turned too fast though, before Darith could even grab the wall again she was already casting her Frost Fang. He was planning to release his grip and fall again, but he didn¡¯t think it would be enough. He was going to get hit, and could only hope it would do less than 63 damage. ¡°Magic Arrow!¡± Aaron shouted, just barely making it in time to the ledge of the tunnel they used to enter. His blue arrow fired and hit the Queen in her eyes mid-lunge, and by some miracle for the first time that entire encounter, the queen Flinched, interrupting her lunge. She then turned to Aaron and lost interest in Darith, stomping along the wall of the cavern quickly. ¡°Firebolt!¡± Darith shouted. ¡°Magic Arrow!¡± Aaron shouted. The arrow casting first and hitting the Queen in the head once more, bringing her to 20 health. She got closer and closer to Aaron as he looked to his now empty mana bar. Darith watched anxiously as the red circle finished forming. The Queen began her lunge at Aaron and he flinched his eyes shut, but in the nick of time Darith¡¯s fireball released, hitting the IceSpider Queen directly in her back. She stopped her lunge at him and let out a horrific screech of pain, falling off the wall and down several meters to reveal the floor of the cave. Not an endless pit of death, but a dark floor with no light. The Queen began to scurry on the floor in pain, smashing countless spider eggs that had been laid there and sending shards of ice and stone in all directions as Aaron and Darith watched from above. Her rampage started to slow, and eventually came to a stop, and she rolled onto her back. Her legs curled up and the cavern suddenly filled with light as torches on the walls appeared all around them, then an icy ramp appeared from tiny balls of light that lead from the tunnel entrance to the floor of the cavern. ¡°Hell yeah!¡± Aaron shouted excitedly. ¡°That was awesome, where¡¯d you learn to do stuff like that?¡± Aaron asked. ¡°Lots of video games.¡± Chapter 9: Evidence Darith sighed with relief. ¡°Woulda been a lot easier if I knew there was a ground down there.¡± ¡°Haha, no kidding. That was awesome though! Phew, this certainly beats my day job.¡± Aaron said while hopping a bit, completely filled with Adrenaline. Darith slowly made his way down the wall as several pop up messages appeared and a big glowing light appeared at the center of the room on the floor.
Gained: +200 Experience Points Level Up!: You''ve reached level 4! +1 Unspent Attribute Point Title Earned: Spider Slayer(?) Rank Up!: Spell Mastery reached Rank 4! Attribute Up!: +1 Agi, +1 Con, +1 Int, +1 Str, +1 End!
Darith read the messages and double checked to confirm that the quest was marked as completed, which it was, while he climbed down to reach the floor, Aaron reading his own as he walked down the newly formed ice ramp. ¡°Hey, I got something called Spider Slayer, it says it increases my damage against all spider type monsters by 5.¡± Aaron said then looked to Darith. ¡°Oh hey, you¡¯ve got it too!¡± Aaron pointed to Darith¡¯s name, causing Darith to look up at Aaron¡¯s which now read Spider Slayer Aaron, Level 5. ¡°Hah, that¡¯s cool. It says we can change it in our character tab, but might as well use it, don¡¯t have any other titles yet.¡± Darith said. ¡°Yep, Congrats on level 4!¡± Aaron said. ¡°And you, level 5! That means you can invite other players to join your group now!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t think of anyone I know that¡¯d want to be a part of this.¡± Aaron replied with a shrug, then let out a laugh. The two then put aside their menus to take a closer look at the glowing light, both noticing that there were quite a few potions lying around from the eggs that the Queen destroyed while she was dying. Laying on the ground beside the body of the Queen glowing were 2 things. A bag with gold coins leaking out the top, and a shining pair of icy white gloves. ¡°The boss drops boss loot.¡± Darith smirked. ¡°Gloves huh?¡± Aaron said as he looked at them.
Name:Silk Grips of the Frozen Queen (Rare) Slot: Gloves Type: Cloth Armor: 3 Attributes: +2 Int, +2 Spr Special: Reduces casting time by 5% Description: Cold to the touch, made from the silk of the Ice Spider Queen
¡°Interesting, so you can get stats from items in this game.¡± ¡°And gold. How bout You take the gloves since they seem better for you, and I¡¯ll take the coins?¡± Aaron suggested. ¡°Sure... Do you know what you can use those coins on?¡± Darith asked curiously. ¡°Not a clue, but it never hurts to have money.¡± Aaron smiled as he picked up the bag and it vanished to his inventory, while Darith grabbed the gloves and they vanished in his hands only to reappear on his hands. ¡°These are awesome, they feel a little weird though. Now my Fireballs are a bit faster, that¡¯ll definitely help a ton.¡± Darith said, waving his hands around a bit as Aaron scanned over the room. ¡°She isn¡¯t here either. So she didn¡¯t fight this thing, she went a different way, deeper into the labyrinth.¡± Aaron said to himself, then looked at the ground with disappointment. ¡°Well, let¡¯s grab these potions and head back to Mayiera for now.¡± Darith said, and Aaron nodded, but all his excitement from a moment ago had already gone. The two were fairly quiet on their way back to Mayiera, and the tunnels were completely void of any more skittering, which was partly a relief to Darith but also worried him, it meant he had to find something else to hunt. When they got back to Mayiera she tapped them both on their heads to restore them to full.
Name: Mayiera(Neutral) - Level ?? Quest: Find and destroy the nearby Frost Spider Nest Objective: 1/1 Frost Spider Nest Destroyed Reward: + 100 Experience Points, Item: Beginner''s Ring of Meditation
Level Up!: You''ve Reached Level 5! You can now invite other players (4) +25 Health, +20 Mana, +10 Energy +1 Unspent Attribute Point
Name: Beginner''s Ring of Meditation (Common) Slot: Accessory Type: Ring Special: +2MP/Minute Description: Simple copper ring with a basic enchant - rewarded to aspiring adventurers
¡°Thank you so much for clearing out those spiders, now the only thing left to do is find those Coldrin ruins!¡± Mayiera said excitedly as she handed them both a ring. ¡°What¡¯d she give you?¡± Aaron asked as she watched a ring appear on Darith¡¯s finger. ¡°Looks like a mana regeneration ring, really helpful, with this I can almost cast a Firebolt a minute.¡± Darith said happily. ¡°Oh, she gave me an Energy regeneration ring.¡± Aaron said as he looked to the plain silver band on his finger, Darith¡¯s was over his gloves and bronze instead of silver. ¡°Alright, 2 levels and a bunch of skill ups, I need to have a look at myCharacter Info.¡± Darith said as he sat down across the fire from Mayiera and opened up his character window.
Name: Darith??Gender: Male(Male) Level: 5??Race: Nemothyne Title: Spider Slayer??Class: None Health: 155/155??Mana: 125/125??Energy: 80/80 Strength: 6??Intelligence: 21+1.05 Agiliy: 3??Constituion: 5 Endurance: 4??Spirit: 8+0.5 Charisma: 1??Luck: 1 Armor: 6??Unused Points: 4 Basic Skills Conceal Rank 2 Sprint Rank 1 Cartography Rank 1 Through the Pain Rank 1 Evade (No Rank) Gamer''s Mind (No Rank) Gate (No Rank) Return (No Rank) Masteries Spell Mastery Rank 4 Staff Mastery Rank 3 Spells and Abilities Firebolt Rank 4 Multicast Rank 2
He briefly looked overhis skills before looking at his equipment. He was wearing the gloves, the three starter pieces of armor with the staff, and the ring, but he hadquite a few empty equipment slots. He still had a lot of work to do, or so he thought to himself as he closed the menu. ¡°Alright, with this I can try inviting Liana into the game.¡± Darith said as he stood up and stretched. ¡°Ah, well good luck! Hopefully your friend accepts.¡± Aaron said with a distant smile. ¡°Well, first we¡¯ve got to find your wife, right?¡± Darith said, though quite reluctantly. Inside he wanted to instantly go grab Liana, but part of him knew he couldn¡¯t just leave Aaron alone in this Labyrinth. He himself was now curious what could have happened to her. ¡°You don¡¯t have to keep helping me, I understand you want to go with your friend.¡± Aaron said as he started to turn and walk back into the Labyrinth. ¡°Hey, you helped me reach level 5! It¡¯s only fair that we stick with it until the end, A quest is a quest right?¡± Darith replied. ¡°Eh... Killing that boss, getting stronger, it feels good. But my wife has been stuck in this cave somewhere for 2 days now. It¡¯s not a quest for me anymore, and I¡¯m not sure where I have left to look. I don¡¯t even know if she¡¯s even in this cave! I don¡¯t know enough about this game!¡± He shouted, getting frustrated the more he thought about the situation. ¡°If she''s here, in this cave, we¡¯ll find her.¡± Darith replied, trying to reassure him. ¡°How do you know? I¡¯ve wondered those tunnels endlessly already, I¡¯ve only ended up back here.¡± Aaron snapped back. ¡°Well, for starters, I¡¯ve got a map.¡± Darith said. ¡°Wha, huh? A map?¡± Aaron said, his face lighting up suddenly.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Wait, how?¡± He asked in disbelief. ¡°Well, I taught myself the Cartography skill. It¡¯s not complete, but my interface has been mapping the cave for me as I travel through it, so we can keep track of the dead ends.¡± Darith said. ¡°How¡¯d you do that? Teach yourself Cartography?¡± ¡°Well, I just started drawing a map and it turned into a skill.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Dang, why didn¡¯t I think of something like that?¡± ¡°Cmon, let¡¯s get going. Maybe we¡¯ll see one of those Gnark things that bit Mayiera.¡± Darith said as he marched back into the Frozen Caverns.¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather not see one.¡± Aaron replied.
[Jaese - Evidence] ¡°Officer Jaese?¡± A faint voice whispered, though Jaese could barely hear it, it sounded muffled and he couldn¡¯t see the source. All he could see was darkness, surrounded by black space on all sides. ¡°Excuse me, officer Jaese?¡± The female voice repeated, now much more clearly as he opened his eyes to see a nurse standing over him. He had fallen asleep in the waiting room. It took him a moment to regain his composure, and as he briefly glanced around he saw that it was now night outside and the people in the waiting room were all different from when he had shut his eyes. ¡°Y-yes, what is it?¡± He shot up, suddenly alert as feelings of worry about Chris flooded into him. ¡°The doctor can speak to you now, they just got out of the Operating room.¡± The nurse said, she was not Kristen though, he didn¡¯t recognize this nurse and briefly glanced at her name tag to read ¡®Sarah¡¯. ¡°Where?¡± Jaese said as he shot up out of his seat. ¡°Follow me.¡± Sarah replied, leading him out of the waiting room some good distance until they reached a group of doctors and nurses standing in a circle, all of them looking exhausted. ¡°How is he?¡± Jaese asked them without hesitation. ¡°You¡¯re his partner? The one that brought him in?¡± One doctor spoke as he stepped away from the group. This doctor had a bald patch on his head and white hair around the sides, aged and short. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Well, he¡¯s out of immediate danger, we stopped the bleeding, but whatever he was stabbed with cut him deep and in a weird shape, it punctured some organs. Once he¡¯s recovered a bit we will have to go back in. It¡¯d help us a lot if you told us what exactly he was stabbed with.¡± ¡°It was ice, he was hit with a chunk of sharp ice.¡± Jaese replied without hesitation. ¡°You¡¯re sure about that?¡± The doctor asked, though not in a manner of doubt, only of confirmation, which felt good to Jaese as he heard his response. ¡°Positive.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Alright, makes sense I guess, given the wound. Must¡¯ve been a pretty big piece though. There¡¯s nothing more we can do right now, you can see him but he won¡¯t be waking up, we¡¯ve got him heavily sedated. I recommend you get some rest and come back tomorrow, we¡¯ll let you know if anything changes.¡± ¡°Alright, thanks. I¡¯d like to see him first.¡± Jaese said. ¡°I¡¯ll show you to the room he¡¯s in.¡± Sarah replied, walking past the group of doctors. Jaese quickly followed her until they arrived at Chris¡¯s room and the nurse opened the door for him. As he entered he saw another nurse inside checking the machines hooked up to Chris. He was laying in the bed with his eyes closed and his chest covered with bandages, different machines and IV¡¯s hooked into his arm and a mask over his mouth to help him breath. Jaese didn¡¯t get far into the room, he just stood there staring at his partner from the door way for a moment, clenching his fists. Finally he walked in and stood over Chris¡¯ bed. ¡°Can he hear me, or is he completely asleep?¡± Jaese asked, turning to Sarah briefly. ¡°He¡¯s completely unconscious.¡± She replied. Jaese nodded slightly, then turned back to Chris. ¡°This is my fault... I was hiding... maybe if I followed, if I fired with you guys, he would¡¯ve gone down.¡± Jaese whispered as tears began to fill up his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re the tough one though, always going in first, always looking out for me. I¡¯m hiding in the back being scared again, and all I can do is wait for you to get up. No one even believes a word I¡¯m saying about what happened.¡± He whispered, taking a moment to wipe the small stream of tears rolling down his cheek. As he said this and looked down at his wounded partner, he remembered the words of the girl in the wheelchair from earlier in the day. ¡°No, not this time.¡± He clenched his fists and scrunched his brow. ¡°I¡¯m going to be the tough one this time. I¡¯m going to figure out what tricks this guy used and I¡¯m going to take him down.¡± Jaese said to himself, his expression now angry. ¡°Take good care of my partner.¡± Jaese said, directing his words to the Nurses now, then headed out of the room, the two nurses only exchanged looks with each other briefly as he left. He made is way to the elevator and to the first floor of the 5 story hospital, then headed out the front door. ¡°Jaese, how¡¯s he doing?¡± Arnold called out to him as he arrived at his car parked not far from the hospital¡¯s front doors. ¡°They just got him out of surgery, said he''s stable for now but not clear yet.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°He¡¯s tough, Chris. Something like this won¡¯t be enough to take him down, and when he¡¯s up we¡¯ll be able to go after this guy.¡± Arnold replied with a smile. ¡°What do you mean, when he¡¯s up? Go after this guy right now. I told you everything that happened.¡± Jaese replied as he stood beside his squad car door with Arnold moving to stand by it¡¯s headlights. ¡°Look, I¡¯ll be honest with you. What you gave us is useless. I mean, come on Jaese, what would you think if I told you it started snowing and some bulletproof man shattered glass and shot ice at you?¡± Arnold replied to him. ¡°It sounds crazy, I know. He must¡¯ve used some sort of weird tricks to pull it off, but the evidence backs up my story, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing that backs up your story. I¡¯m thinking maybe you hit your head, or maybe this guy used some sort of hallucinogen on you. Doctors are running blood tests, we¡¯ll figure it out. Until then, you just need to get some rest, and don¡¯t bla-¡± ¡°There wasn¡¯t a hallucinogen!¡± Jaese shouted angrily as he slammed his fist against the driver seat window of his car, making a loud thunk noise. ¡°You sure about that?¡± Arnold asked him with a raised voice, motioning his eyes to the window that Jaese had just punched. It took Jaese a moment to register why he was motioning to the window. ¡°No, that¡¯s impossible.¡± Jaese said as he knelt down and eyed the glass, checking all the windows of the car to see them all in perfect condition. ¡°This was broken. When I got to the hospital, it was broken! He must¡¯ve done something... Fixed it somehow, another trick maybe. My car has been parked here all day, right?¡± Jaese said panicking as he walked up closer to his Captain. ¡°It has... But...¡± Arnold tried interrupting him. ¡°Then check the security cameras on this parking lot, there¡¯s got to be something, someone must¡¯ve done this to make me look crazy...¡± Jaese insisted. ¡°Jaese, it isn¡¯t just the windows on this car, none of the squad cars had broken windows. There also isn¡¯t any radio reports of you or any officers saying they were seeing snow. Heck, we couldn¡¯t find a single bullet casing at the scene, and none of the officers were missing any ammo themselves.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible, I saw it, I¡¯m not making any of this up!¡± ¡°I know what you think you saw Jaese, but there¡¯s nothing to back it up. So just go home and get some rest, maybe when you wake up your memory will clear up, we¡¯ll know more about what happened when your blood work comes back and Chris is up.¡± Arnold replied calmly, but this only aggravated Jaese and caused him to step closer to his captain. ¡°But I¡¯m telling the tru-¡± Jaese started saying. ¡°That¡¯s an order. Go home and rest.¡± Arnold repeated, this time in a much more commanding tone, his expression changing to a very serious stare. Jaese paused, staring back a moment then looking up, going deep into thought, running his mind over everything that happened. He turned and angrily kicked the door of his car while shouting, then unlocked it and got in, starting up the engine. Arnold watched as Jaese drove out of the hospital parking lot, then pulled out his cell phone. ¡°Jaese is heading home, do me a favor and send a unit over to keep an eye on him. Something about all of this just isn¡¯t adding up.¡± Arnold said into his phone. Jaese¡¯s body flooded with adrenaline as he drove, his heart started to race as his mind ran over everything that happened. He was certain they made the call in about the snow. He knows he saw it, so how was it not recorded? How¡¯d the glass get fixed, or how¡¯d it break in the first place? Why¡¯d he see it break if it didn¡¯t break, what happened to the bullets? Chest wound... Chris has a chest wound. Four officers are dead. ¡°It happened.¡± He shouted at his windshield as he drove through the night of the city. As he did, it felt familiar. ¡°Last night, just like this, we drove, and it was snowing.¡± He mumbled. ¡°That¡¯s where I¡¯ll start.¡± He said while taking a deep breath, calming himself down as he turned his squad car on the next street, driving towards where he and Chris had been parked the night before. He stopped the car on the side of the road in the exact same spot they were, then turned off the engine. ¡°We were here. Chris was driving, but he saw the snow too.¡± He said to himself, then turned the engine back on and started driving towards the bank. He stayed calm, glancing out at the night sky every chance he got, but there was no snow, only a clear night sky. ¡°Here, this is where it started.¡± He whispered to himself, pulling the car over to the side of the road to park in front of a tall city building. It was a hotel, and he quickly turned off the engine and stepped out, still in his uniform from the night before. The hotel was classy and had a doorman and valet, the latter approaching him as he got out. ¡°I¡¯ll only be a minute.¡± Jaese said to the valet before he could say anything. ¡°No problem officer.¡± The valet replied while stepping out of Jaese¡¯s path. He walked into the hotel through rotating glass doors and across the lobby towards the front desk, meeting the receptionist there. ¡°Hello, how can I help you?¡± She replied, a young girl wearing the hotels dark red and white uniform. ¡°Hi there, I¡¯m officer Jaese. I¡¯d like to ask a few questions. Do you know who was working this shift last night?¡± He asked her politely, his mannerisms had transformed completely to appear as a respectful officer. ¡°Oh, well that was me, I work weekdays from 6 pm to 2 am. Did something happen?¡± She asked nervously. ¡°Nothing to worry about miss. Did you notice anyone suspicious entering or leaving the hotel?¡± He asked. ¡°Suspicious? Well, we get a lot of people around this time, but no one that I can think of really stood out.¡± She replied as her eyes looked up and to the left as she thought about it. ¡°Anyone wearing a large black or blue coat, maybe with a hood?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°No one like that.¡± She replied confidently. ¡°Would you mind if I spoke with your manager?¡± He asked. ¡°Sure, no problem, I¡¯ll get him down right now.¡± She replied. ¡°Thanks.¡± Jaese smiled at her politely as she picked up a phone. He took a moment to step away from the desk and look around the lobby. Perfectly normal, hotel staff walking around, with normal guests. ¡°He¡¯ll be here in one moment.¡± She said from behind him. ¡°Thank you for your cooperation.¡± He replied politely without turning around. He started glancing around for security cameras, spotting several, and to his luck one was pointed out of the front doors of the hotel. ¡°Officer Jaese, right?¡± A man called, causing Jaese to spin around and see a large chubby man with short brown hair wearing a black suit. ¡°And you are?¡± Jaese asked while reaching his hand out to shake the man''s hand. ¡°Name is George, I¡¯m this hotel manager. What seems to be the problem?¡± George asked. ¡°Oh, no problem, I just need to see your security footage from the previous night.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± George asked with raised brows. ¡°Well, did you hear about the bank robbery a few blocks away?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°I did.¡± ¡°We believe your cameras may have caught one of our suspects on tape, do you mind if I see the footage?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Don¡¯t you need a warrant for that?¡± George asked hesitantly. ¡°Only if you say I do.¡± Jaese replied politely. ¡°Alright, come on then.¡± George turned, leading Jaese through a door behind the reception desk. ¡°Heard that robber got away with quite a bit, shot a few police officers on the way out too. If I can help catch a guy like that, you better believe I¡¯ll do it.¡± George added. ¡°Did you notice anyone or anything suspicious last night?¡± Jaese asked as they traveled down a hallway and arrived at a metal door to which George pulled out keys and started unlocking. ¡°I¡¯m the wrong guy to ask, I don¡¯t come in every day, wasn¡¯t here last night. Here we are. This is Phil, he¡¯s watching our cameras, he was here last night too.¡± George said as they entered the security room, Phil standing up from his chair while putting down a cup of coffee, then reaching out to shake Jaese¡¯s hand. ¡°Nice to meet you, I¡¯m officer Jaese. Can you show me the security footage from last night between 10 pm and 11 pm? Of the front of your building.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Phil replied excitedly as he jumped back into his chair and started hitting some buttons on a keyboard. The room was small but had a large desk with 8 monitors hooked into the wall above it, each displaying black and white camera footage from different parts of the hotel. ¡°Here, the screen in the center. What are we looking for?¡± Phil said as he pointed at the monitor. ¡°I¡¯m looking for a police cruiser passing the front of your building.¡± Jaese said as he leaned in. The camera showed the entire front entrance of the hotel as well as the street in front of it, and as it played forward the street was empty. Phil fast forwarded the footage a bit until they spotted two police cars driving by. ¡°There, that¡¯s it. Can you show me that in slow motion?¡± Jaese asked. Phil rewinded the footage and played it slowly, showing the police car drive by the hotel in slow motion with its sirens flashing. There was nothing, not a single snowflake. Jaese was positive it was snowing when they passed this hotel. ¡°Can you show me any footage of the roof at this exact time?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Alright, give me one second.¡± Phil said as he pressed a bunch of keys on the keyboard. ¡°There.¡± As he said this, the monitor switched to display a view of the hotel roof looking over the city. ¡°Play it.¡± Jaese said, and Phil unpaused the footage. There was nothing, the rooftop was empty, not a single snowflake was present. Jaese let out an annoyed sigh. ¡°What are we looking for?¡± Phil asked as George watched silently. ¡°Nothing, doesn¡¯t look like your cameras caught what we¡¯re looking for. Thank you for your cooperation and sorry for the trouble.¡± Jaese said as politely as he could, shaking both of there hands. ¡°No problem.¡± Phil replied. ¡°Sorry we couldn¡¯t be of more help.¡± George added. ¡°You two have a nice evening.¡± Jaese said as he walked out of the room. ¡°Good luck catching the bad guys.¡± Phil replied enthusiastically. As he walked down the hall his mind was blank, he stopped thinking for a moment. Panic and doubt seeped into his mind as he stepped back into the main hall, and then out of the hotel. It wasn¡¯t until he sat back down in his squad car that he regained his focus. ¡°Maybe I really did imagine all of it. When I think about it, how could any of that stuff really happen?¡± Jaese asked himself in disbelief. ¡°A drug, or something? Arrgh. It felt so real!¡± He shouted to himself as he scratched his fingernails through his hair. ¡°The only way to know if I¡¯m crazy is to ask Chris, or wait for the drug tests to come back.¡± He let out a long sigh, then started the car engine to head back home. When he parked in front of his apartment building he started to feel his exhaustion set in. He stepped out of the car and heard two sets of footsteps walking toward him. Quickly turning to spot two police officers. He recognized their faces but couldn¡¯t remember their names. ¡°Jaese, right? Sounds like you had a rough 24 hours.¡± One of them said. ¡°Yeah... Captain send you guys to babysit me?¡± Jaese asked sarcastically. ¡°Just a precaution. So what happened at the bank?¡± He asked. ¡°Ah, I told everything to the captain already.¡± ¡°Yeah I heard you saying some ice shooting snow man killed our boys?¡± He asked, Jaese hearing a bit of hostility in his tone. ¡°Y-yeah...¡± Jaese said, and before he could say more he felt a hard fist connecting with his left cheek, knocking him clean off his feet and against his car. The officer that hit him stepped forward to swing again but was restrained by the second officer. ¡°Hey, calm down, relax man.¡± The calming officer said as he pulled the angry officer backward with his arms held down. ¡°Calm down? This guy¡¯s drinking or doing drugs or something on the job, and gets 4 officers killed. He got Joshua killed, man! And all he gives us is some bullshit story about snow and flying ice bullets! Screw you, Jaese.¡± The officer shouted at him angrily. ¡°You better hope Chris wakes up!¡± He shouted as he was pulled further and further from Jaese back to their car parked across the apartment buildings parking lot. Jaese wobbled back to his feet and rubbed his cheek where he had been punched. It hurt, a lot, he could still feel it stinging, but what hurt more was that he felt as if he deserved it. With that in his head he staggered slowly towards his apartment building, confused, tired, and in pain. Chapter 10: The Coldrinn Ruins Their breath turned to mist as they exhaled, walking endlessly through the Frozen Caverns. They encountered a few spiders, but nothing else as they turned around corridor after corridor. Every other turn seemed to lead to two or three more paths, and they found countless dead ends, but neither showed signs of wanting to give up. Darith kept an eye on his map which was quickly turning into mixed lines and swirls. When it was getting too hard to read he suddenly gained a rank in Cartography which allowed it to show multiple levels. This only revealed how vast the area was though, as his map skill considered it to have 8 different floors. The tunnels lead them up ramps and down ramps, ice stairs and frozen ladders mixed in, but no signs of any ruins. Two hours passed and they felt they hadn¡¯t gotten any closer to finding Belle or the ruins, though they both gained a few ranks in their attack skills, Darith reaching rank 6 in Firebolt. ¡°You sure we aren¡¯t walking in circles?¡± Aaron asked as they trudged along, being stuck in the caverns for over 3 hours now. ¡°I¡¯m positive, according to the map we¡¯re already at least an hours walk away from Mayiera.¡± Darith replied. ¡°I¡¯m really tired of seeing white ice walls and torches.¡± Aaron sighed. ¡°If this place was programmed into the game by someone, I hate that person.¡± ¡°Heh, it¡¯s normal in games to have areas that take awhile to travel through. But this is a bit excessive... Ah! Stop!¡± Darith said, holding his hand out in front of Aaron beside him to stop his movement. ¡°What is it? You see something on your map?¡± Aaron asked excitedly. ¡°No, not the map, look at that wall up ahead.¡± Darith pointed at a large chunk of the ice wall sticking out. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I just saw it blink...¡± Darith replied as he and Aaron both cautiously stepped back. ¡°Mayeria did say that Gnark¡¯s like to blend in with the wall... Let¡¯s see. Analyze.¡± Aaron said, staring at the protruding piece of wall. ¡°Gnark, Level 9, 200 health, has a poison bite skill. You were right.¡± ¡°Level 9? We¡¯re only level 5...¡± ¡°When I got the dungeon key from Mayeria it said the Frozen caverns was a level 1 to 9 area, so this is the highest possible monster we can find here, right?¡± ¡°Not necessarily, but it¡¯d be close. Doesn¡¯t seem like it knows we¡¯ve seen it yet. Think we can both do 200 damage to it instantly, before it can attack? I can cast 8 firebolts from full mana to deal about 100 damage.¡± Darith said. ¡°I¡¯ll multishot the rest when your cast is finished.¡± Aaron said. ¡°Firebolt.¡± Darith said quietly 8 times, and the 8 red circles formed over the course of 4 seconds. Once finished, they all shot out at the Gnark. ¡°Multishot!¡± Aaron shouted, 8 arrows shooting out and mixing with Darith¡¯s fireballs, setting some of the arrows on fire. The Gnark couldn¡¯t even react, the attacks all hit the icy creature and it fell off the wall dead, granting 25 experience to both of them and a notification, but they were distracted for the moment by the shape of the creature. It had an Icy blue shell on its back with a single stinger above its crab-like mouth and bird like talons that had been dug into the wall. The shape of its shell was long and oval and it was rock gray on the stomach with a tiny transparent ice tail, crystal blue eyes and cat-like back legs. As it fell over dead it dropped two pieces of Gnark Shell Fragments on the ground. ¡°That thing looks weird.¡± Aaron commented. ¡°Definitely not a monster I¡¯ve seen in any other game before.¡± ¡°Oh hey, check it out! I just learned a skill called Fire Arrow! It adds 5 fire damage to all of my arrow attacks but drains 5 mana! Thanks to your firebolt, no doubt!¡± Aaron said excitedly as Darith watched him press the buttons in the air in front of him.
Spell Gained: Fire Enchant(?)
¡°Hmm, I got a skill called Enchant.¡±
Fire Enchant Rank 1 Imbues an object with Fire. Adds FIRE damage to weapons, FIRE resist to armor. Does not work on flammable items. Damage: 7.2 (5+10% of Int(2.2)) Resistance:7.2 (5+10% of Int(2.2)) Cost: 25mp Cast Time: Instant Duration: 30s Command: Fire Enchant (change)(?)
¡°Hopefully it works on my staff... Let¡¯s see." Darith said, double checking the items he had equipped to see if any indicated it was flammable. "Looks like it works with the staff, but it¡¯ll burn any of my armor pieces. That¡¯s perfect! I can make my staff deal extra fire damage.¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°You want one of theseGnark Fangs? He dropped two.¡± Aaron said as he reached to pick one up from the vanishing Gnark¡¯s corpse. ¡°Sure.¡± Darith replied as he grabbed one as well. ¡°So we should be getting near the end of the Labryinth, right? I mean if we¡¯re seeing level 9¡¯s.¡± Aaron asked. ¡°That¡¯s usually what it means in any normal game, but I really don¡¯t have a clue.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Well we should keep going then!¡± He said excitedly as he quickly drank three energy potions from his bags to refill his bar somewhat. ¡°Alright.¡± Darith said, drinking three mana potions. He didn¡¯t feel good about using potions outside of a battle, but he saw how badly Aaron wanted to keep moving and didn¡¯t feel like getting left behind. As they traveled on for the next hour they encountered more and more Gnark¡¯s, treading carefully and making sure to kill them before they could attack. They also grabbed what frost berries they could find growing along the cave walls along the way just to be safe. ¡°Something... Something feels off.¡± Darith said as they continued on, Aaron having just hit level 6 from the Gnark slaying but Darith still a good 100 experience away. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Aaron asked as he glanced around. ¡°We¡¯ve been walking these caves for hours now and it''s been the same walls and turns over and over, but for some reason it''s starting to look different, feel different.¡± Darith said, looking at the walls carefully. ¡°I get what you mean, it¡¯s definitely starting to feel a lot colder, but...¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t found any turns or alternate paths in at least 5 minutes according to the map. We¡¯re walking straight, on a downward slope.¡± Darith said, glancing at his map. ¡°Ah, look!¡± Aaron pointed at the torches on the wall, and Darith could see now why the walls felt like they looked different. The torches were not still, they were blowing, a wind was coming from the direction they were walking. ¡°Wind? Does that mean we¡¯re near the exit?¡± Aaron asked. ¡°Mayiera said the exit was behind her, and we¡¯re travelling downward, deeper into the mountain. We¡¯ve got to be miles from the surface...¡± Darith replied. ¡°Then, the ruins?¡± Aaron said excitedly. ¡°Only one way to find out.¡± Darith smiled and Aaron grinned back. The two picked up their pace through the tunnel as it began to narrow, but the wind started to get stronger and colder. They stopped seeing Gnarks, but the light got dim and frost began to form on their eyelids and hair from snow blowing at them. ¡°Let me try something...¡± Darith said as the wind began to whistle in their ears, howling from deeper down the tunnel. ¡°Fire Enchant!¡± Darith said, holding out his staff. Sure enough the tip of the staff was suddenly surrounded by flames, as well as the bottom end. He held it out in front of himself so that the wind in front of them blew the heat of the flames back at him and kept him somewhat warm. ¡°My bow as well!¡± Aaron said as he held his bow out in front of his face. ¡°Fire Enchant!¡± Darith said while waving his hand at Aaron¡¯s bow causing it to also gain fire around it. Using the same tactic as Darith to keep himself warm the two marched on against the frigid wind. The howling got louder and more fierce to the point that the two had to shout to hear each other, snow blinding their vision of the tunnel in front of them as the wind got so heavy it started to push against them. Darith glanced at the map to see they were walking downward on a very steep ramp now, but the wind pushed against them so hard that it prevented them from sliding down the icy floor and was rather pushing them back up. ¡°How much further!¡± Aaron shouted over the freezing winds. ¡°No idea!¡± Darith called back, but a few steps further they saw a bright light glowing in front of them behind the torrents of snow blowing in their faces. There was an opening in the cave a head, a large one at that. They pushed forward until they passed through an icy Archway into a gigantic open cavern, both moving to the side of the archway once through it so that they could lean against the wall of the cavern without having to fight against the wind to keep their footing. ¡°What in the heck is that.¡± Aaron said as they both moved their hands around their eyes to see better through the thick snow. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Darith said with his jaw dropped. ¡°I¡¯ve only seen things like this in video games.¡± They were standing on a ledge high up in the huge cavern, it was filled with snow being blown about by the wind coming from a giant set of ice doors at least 10 meters high that were opened wide on the far side of the cavern in front of them. The light that lit up the cave came from two large statues on either side of the door. The statues looked human in form, but they had distinguishable features that were different, the major one being fur manes around their necks and their hind legs resembling that of a cat, not too unlike the Gnarks back legs. In their hands were giant torches made of metal, their flames blazing furiously through the wind and melting any snow that dare come near. The snow was blowing out from the doors with the wind and it seemed there was an endless supply. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. There was a steep icy staircase that lead from the ledge Darith and Aaron were standing on down to the floor of the cavern, but it was a long way down and parts of the staircase were broken, chipped away by the wind no doubt.
Quest Completed! Return to Mayeria
A pop up appeared for both of them. ¡°So this is then, huh? We found it.¡± Aaron said. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the entrance to the Coldrinn ruins.¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°Then this is the end of the Labryinth?¡± Aaron asked looking disheartened. ¡°Appears so...¡± ¡°And no sign of Belle, so maybe she isn¡¯t in the cave anymore.¡± Aaron said as he looked down, a lost expression on his face. ¡°We didn¡¯t check all the paths yet, there¡¯s still quite a few left... Don¡¯t give up yet!¡± Darith said to encourage him. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right, I doubt she¡¯d walk through this wind if she found it, she probably took a different path.¡± Aaron shrugged as he looked forward at the statues once more. ¡°I mean... Wait, there! Do you see those?¡± Aaron said as he leaned his head forward with wide eyes, looking down to the base of the open doors. ¡°See what?¡± Darith asked, following his eyes to see large chunks of ice frozen just in front of the open doors. He squinted his eyes to try and see through the snow more clearly, and saw tiny red dots above the blocks of ice. ¡°What are those? Are those...¡± ¡°Health bars. Are those NPC¡¯s in those blocks of ice? Monsters? I can¡¯t see from here! Analyze!¡± Aaron shouted, Darith turning to Aaron now to wait for his spell to finish casting. ¡°Robert, level 4, he has a status effect that says Frozen. His health is full though! Another, Lee, level 5. Jessica, Martin, Jose, Sun-yeong, Belle, level 8. Seriously? She¡¯s there, Darith! She¡¯s down there!¡± Aaron shouted as his face lit up with excitement. ¡°We¡¯ve got to get down there and help her!¡± He said, and without waiting he turned to the ice staircase and began running down it. ¡°Wait, Aaron!¡± Darith said, but Aaron didn¡¯t listen. ¡°I¡¯ve got a really bad feeling about this! I feel like I¡¯m forgetting something important... Something about the Coldrinn ruins.¡± Darith shouted, but the wind was too loud, Aaron couldn¡¯t hear him anymore. He let out a sigh, but not wanting to let Aaron go alone he followed after him down the icy stairs, running his mind over everything he had heard so far. ¡°Mayiera said the Coldrinn Ruins had something called a Core... The Frozen core, she was looking for it... Ancient civilization that went extinct. There were the Gnarks... What else!¡± Darith thought as he carefully stepped down the rigid and demented staircase, making his way down to the cave floor behind Aaron. ¡°Was it something she said or was it something else?¡± He said louder, this time so that Aaron could hear as he caught up to him slowly. ¡°I don¡¯t know, that sounds about all she said. Do you think your Firebolts will be enough to break that Frozen effect on all those people there?¡± Aaron asked.
Warning:you are entering a hazard area. Without proper equipment you will take periodic frost damage.
A pop up appeared for both of them. ¡°Enchant! Enchant!¡± Darith shouted, causing both their weapons to glow. ¡°Hopefully that¡¯ll help a bit... Still, this is reckless. We don¡¯t even know what froze them yet!¡± He shouted. ¡°I have to get to her, she¡¯s right there!¡± Aaron pointed, they were now nearing the base of the Cavern and it felt even colder. Darith and Aaron desperately held their flaming weapons nearby to keep themselves warm, but he could tell it wouldn¡¯t be enough as their health bars both dropped by 1 and they got a status effect.
Freezing Winds of the Core The closer you get to the Frozen Core, theharsher the winds. Deals FROST DAMAGE over time.
¡°We¡¯ve got health pots but I don¡¯t know, this seems a bit extreme for characters our level...¡± Darith said, then a memory flashed into his mind, an image from yesterday. He squinted his eyes to recall it properly as Aaron touched the cavern floor and ran forward through the winds towards the frozen players. ¡°The Frozen Caverns were levels 1 to 9, but the Coldrinn Ruins, it said something ridiculous. I didn¡¯t pay attention to it at the time, but...¡± Darith said as he quickly opened Gate skill to see the Frozen Key details.
Frost Key: Allows Travel to the Frost Caverns Frost Caverns: 1-9 (Dungeon) Coldrinn Ruins: 160-200 (Dungeon)
Reading this, Darith¡¯s eyes opened wide in shock, looking forward to see Aaron was already halfway across the cavern floor towards the frozen players. ¡°No, stop! AARON!¡± Darith shouted, but Aaron couldn¡¯t hear him. ¡°Damnit!¡± Darith yelled in frustration, running forward into the howling icy winds. He watched ahead of him as Aaron arrived at the blocks of ice and as fast as he could without using sprint he tried to catch up. ¡°She¡¯s here Darith, it¡¯s her! Try your Firebolt to melt the ice!¡± Aaron shouted excitedly, not noticing the shadow that appeared beneath his feet. Darith¡¯s jaw dropped as he looked past Aaron to see the creature hovering above him. Aaron saw Darith¡¯s expression and followed his eyes, but his eyes never saw the creature. Before Aaron could fully turn his body, it froze solid from the icy breath of the thing towering over him. The ice turned his elvish skin blue and grew outward from him until he was in a block, just like the other players around him.
Ice Wraith- Level ??? - Health ???/??? No information Available
It had glowing blue eyes and silver steel shoulder pads, with pure white skin and a large mouth, but no lips. Its arms were muscular and its head void of any hair, it lacked feet and instead its torso dissipated into white snow at the waist as if it were a ghost. Because of this, it levitated in the air rather than walking, and Darith had seen it came from within the ruins. Once it had finished casting its Ice breath down on Aaron, it turned its head to Darith. ¡°ENCHANT!¡± Darith shouted to light his staff once more, looking to his mana and Energy and seeing he was missing 75 mana from casting enchant. He drank a mana potion, then quickly equipped Energy potions to his belt as he turned to run. ¡°Sprint!¡± He shouted, feeling his legs speed up as he made for the staircase not far behind him. He glanced back to see the Ice Wraith drop to the floor of the cave and dig its white muscular fists into the floor to pull itself towards Darith faster, sending up chunks of the cave¡¯s icy floor into the air as it did. Darith felt his heart racing, but his mind remained calm, he was unable to panic thanks to his Gamer¡¯s Mind skill. He could feel the ground tremor behind him as the freezing winds pushed at his back, his health already down to 130 because of the cold. He only had one thing on his mind, and that was to escape. As he got to the stairs he turned back to see the Ice Wraith mere meters behind him. It lunged forward with its fist aimed directly at him, its fist alone was triple the size of Darith¡¯s tiny Nemothyne body. Darith quickly jumped with everything he had, all the energy he could muster into his calf muscles to launch himself out of the path of the fist. He felt abnormally fast as he did it, barely avoiding the fist of the Wraith as it punched into the base of the ice staircase, shattering them.
You¡¯ve gained the skillDash(?)
Darith had no time to read it, he watched as his escape plan fell to the ground as tiny shards of ice, there was no way he could get up the staircase now that the Ice Wrath had broken so much of it. ¡°Firebolt!¡± Darith called out desperately as the Ice Wrath recovered from its punch into the wall, its fist having gotten lodged into the ice. It used its free hand to struggle violently, but the time it took was well over three seconds. Darith watched as his Firebolt flew from the red circle and hit the Ice Wrath, but it simply turned into a puff of white smoke and the Wraith didn¡¯t even seem to notice it had been hit. Once the Ice Wraith broke free it turned to Darith and opened its mouth wide revealing a black darkness within, he saw it do this same thing to Aaron, he knew what was coming. ¡°Dash!¡± Darith shouted, using all his muscle strength again to move to the side away from the cavern walls and back into the flurry of snow, just in time too as the Ice Breath released a stream of blue down where Darith had been standing, creating solid chunks of ice on the ground. Darith looked to see he had 10 Energy left and quickly drank an Energy potion as he ran, drinking his second moments later, and the Ice Wraith began its pursuit again by digging its fists into the ground to propel it along. Darith glanced back to see it would catch up to him again, then looked to see how fast sprint was draining his energy, he had absolutely no chance against this creature and he knew it, he was not physically fit to keep running, his normal self would already be tired, exhausted.... ¡°Through the pain!¡± Darith shouted as his energy hit zero, causing his body to glow bright yellow. ¡°Dash! Dash! Dash! Dash! Dash!¡± Darith shouted repeatedly, forcing strength into his legs as they began to glow yellow as well and he watched his status.
Through the Pain- Immune to Exhaustion for 58 seconds
¡°I¡¯ve got 58 seconds to get away from this thing.¡± Darith said as he used dash in combination with sprint to start putting a distance between himself and the Ice Wrath, but it continued its pursuit as he ran across the flat cavern. As he got further away it let out a horrendous screech and stopped charging. Darith turned back curiously to see several blue circles forming in front of the Ice Wraith, not unlike his Firebolt circles. ¡°A monster that casts spells. Great.¡± Darith said. ¡°Dash, Dash!¡± He said again multiple times, trying to get further and further from the creature as giant sharp icicles began to form in front of the circles. Then in an instant they all shot forward at Darith with perfect accuracy. He used his dash to jump left twice, but the Ice Wraith redirected the ice to follow him. Darith then turned and Dashed up, jumping up over the ice using his glowing yellow empowered legs, but the bolts didn¡¯t simply fly past him into the cavern wall, they curved around and turned to keep chasing him. Darith glanced to see the Wraith moving its large hands to direct the chunks of ice. ¡°Changing their directions? Is that possible with higher spell mastery?¡± Darith said in disbelief. He watched as the bolts went in three separate directions and came at him from the front, left, and right. He used dash carefully to avoid them as he saw his Through the Pain timer ticking down to 30 seconds. ¡°I need an out now, fast.¡± He said, then using his calm mind he got an idea and started sprinting directly towards the Ice Wraith as it stood immobile while waving its hands, directing the three icicles to chase Darith from behind. ¡°Dash dash dash!¡± He shouted, making huge sudden leaps each time, barely keeping ahead of the icicles as they sped up behind him, until he arrived at the Ice Wraith. He then jumped a second time with all his might up to the stationary wraith, landing on its silver shoulder pad, then quickly rolling behind it causing the three icicles to hit the Ice Wraith, encasing it in transparent ice. Darith glanced back to see a status on Ice Wraith that had 9 seconds, he didn¡¯t bother to read the name, he instead quickly began dashing from the Wraith back to the base of the stairs. His health now at 110, he knew he¡¯d have to take a huge risk. ¡°Return!¡± Darith shouted, watching white circles form all around him. He had a 10 second cast to wait through and every second felt like an hour. He watched the status beside the Ice Wraith¡¯s ???? Health bar tick down from 9. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... It broke out of the ice, then quickly spun around to glare at Darith. He still had 3 seconds on return cast. The Ice Wraith screeched furiously and began charging forward with incredible speed. 2 Seconds, its fists slammed the icy cavern floor up, he watched as its large white muscles contracted and pulled its body forward toward him. 1 Second, his eyes looked straight into the glowing blue eyes of the creature, the black toothless mouth with no lips. It was like an ice demon, a creature he would not forget any time soon. As it got close enough it pulled back its right fist and began thrusting it forward, but the rest of the motion was blocked from Darith¡¯s vision by the blinding flash of his return skill, and when the flash ended he was in his bedroom, shivering as the snow built up in his hair and on his ears and tail fell to the floor, quickly melting on his carpet. He fell to his knees, then flopped over on his side and dropped his staff. Chapter 11: Ready Player Two
Dashhas reached Rank 2! Dashhas reached Rank 3! Dashhas reached Rank 4! Sprinthas reached Rank 2! Sprinthas reached Rank 3! Sprinthas reached Rank 4! Fire Enchanthas reached Rank 2! Your recent activities have granted you+2 Endurance, +2 Agility, +1 Intelligence.
Darith closed all of the notifications as he watched his Through the Pain buff disappear and his body stopped glowing yellow.
Debuff:Exhaustion:24h+
He didn¡¯t show any emotion in regards to its duration, but instead went into his display menu and changed his appearance back to normal, then stared up at his ceiling blankly for a bit. He could hear Kristen and Liana downstairs talking, but he wasn¡¯t trying to listen to what they were saying. ¡°Damn it!¡± he shouted suddenly, releasing his frustration as he punched his floor with clenched fists. He struggled to sit himself up and then leaned his back against the side of his bed. ¡°I¡¯ve got to get stronger, a lot stronger.¡± ¡°Where¡¯d you come from?¡± Kristen asked as she watched Darith slump down the stairs. ¡°Huh? Oh, my room.¡± He replied sluggishly, his entire body feeling weak and drained to the point that he was relying heavily on the handrails to descend without falling. ¡°Hm, I checked your room after I saw your shoes. I figured you¡¯d gone out barefooted again.¡± Kristen said while turning back to the stove as she made dinner, appearing uninterested. ¡°I guess I was in the bathroom.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Did you get it?!¡± Liana called excitedly from the living room. ¡°Get what?¡± Kristen asked before Darith could answer. ¡°Darith said he found a game that maybe I could play!¡± Liana replied. ¡°Ooh, that sounds fun.¡± Kristen responded, but was completely uninterested in games and tuned herself out of the conversation. Darith turned to the living room to see Liana looking up at him with a sparkle in her eye. He flopped onto the couch beside her, still running his mind over what to say. ¡°About the game...¡± Darith started saying, and Darith watched the sparkle in her eye immediately vanish. ¡°Oh... Okay.¡± Liana replied. ¡°It¡¯s just that, it¡¯s a lot more dangerous than I thought. I don¡¯t even know if I¡¯d call it a game...¡± Darith said as he looked away from her. ¡°But you said it was something I could do, even like this, right?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Well, I think so...¡± ¡°Then I don¡¯t care if its dangerous!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want anything bad to happen to you! I¡¯m just not strong enough yet...¡± Darith said, looking down at his feet. ¡°Huh? It¡¯s just a game though right?¡± She paused for a second, watching his expression carefully. ¡°Darith, look at me.¡± She said in a very serious tone, more serious than he had ever heard her. ¡°Something already has happened to me. When you said there was something I could do, even if it¡¯s just a game... That was the happiest I¡¯ve ever been in a long time. Please, just let me try it, whatever it is, if it¡¯s even real... I just want something to do.¡± She said, locking her eyes onto Darith¡¯s, though he looked away. He went deep into thought for a moment as he fiddled his fingers, images flashed in his mind of the Ice Wraith¡¯s glowing eyes, the expression on Aaron¡¯s face as he turned to ice. ¡°Something happened today, didn¡¯t it?¡± She asked. He knew he couldn¡¯t say, but he wanted to. ¡°Was it this game?¡± She asked, still no reply from Darith at first, then he nodded his head slightly. ¡°I can help you, we make a great team in games, don¡¯t we? Let me play it with you!¡± She asked. He didn¡¯t move his head again, no response, eyes locked down to the ground onto his feet. ¡°Please...¡± She said, desperation in her voice. The image of Liana appeared in his head, frozen in a block of ice. But his image blurred, she wasn¡¯t in her wheelchair anymore, was she? Would she get a new body like Darith and be standing? walking for the first time since her accident. What would she look like? What could they do together in the game? Would she be an archer like Aaron? If he protected her, if he got stronger and made sure she never went into a high level area like that, wouldn¡¯t her life be better? ¡°You have to promise you don¡¯t do anything in this game without me, okay?¡± Darith said, and the sparkle slipped back into her eyes. ¡°I promise!¡± She said instantly. ¡°I mean it, it¡¯s dangerous, I don¡¯t want you to try anything unless we¡¯re together.¡± Darith replied seriously, the two looking deep into each others eyes. ¡°I got it, we¡¯ll only play together.¡± Liana nodded. Darith hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath. ¡°I, Darith, invite Liana to join my party.¡± Darith said. Liana looked at him confused as the living room went silent save for the sound of the sitcom on the television. It stayed silent for a moment, Darith waiting for a sound from her cell phone, while Liana just remained confused. ¡°Huh?¡± Liana finally said, sounding incredibly disappointed. ¡°It didn¡¯t work?¡± Darith asked. ¡°What didn¡¯t work? Was saying that supposed to do something?¡± Liana asked with her eyebrow curled. ¡°Of course! It¡¯s supposed to send a message to your cell phone.¡± Darith replied. ¡°I don¡¯t have a cell phone.¡± Liana replied in a ¡®no-duh¡¯ tone. Darith then slapped his palm to his forehead. ¡°I forgot!¡± Darith sighed, falling back into the couch. ¡°So that means I can¡¯t play? It¡¯s some weird cell phone game?¡± Liana said grumpily. ¡°Weird cell phone- hey a second ago you were saying you¡¯d be fine playing anything.¡± Darith retorted. ¡°Well, yeah, I guess. You made it sound like something really cool though.¡± Liana sighed. ¡°Hey! It is cool!¡± Darith said defensively. ¡°Well, what¡¯s it called? What do you do in it?¡± She asked. ¡°I-I¡¯m not allowed to tell you, you have to be playing the game to talk to others about it.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s some sort of weird secretive mystery game?¡± Liana, sounding even more disappointed. ¡°N-no! I swear, it¡¯s cool. It¡¯ll blow your mind, we just need to get you a cell phone I guess. I don¡¯t really know how it works.¡± Darith replied. ¡°How are we going to get a cell phone? Do you have any money?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Well... No...¡± Darith replied hesitantly. ¡°Dinner¡¯s ready!¡± Kristen called from the kitchen as they heard the clinking of plates being set on the table. ¡°We can ask mom!¡± Darith said. ¡°Good luck with that.¡± Liana replied as Darith stood up, wobbling for a moment and almost falling back over. ¡°You okay?¡± Liana asked as she watched him stumble. ¡°Y-yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡± He said, grabbing onto the back of her wheelchair partly for balance, partly to move her to the kitchen table. ¡°And, how''s the game?¡± Kristen asked as all three arrived at the table, tonight was spaghetti. ¡°Can¡¯t play, Darith says I need a cell phone.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Mom, could we b-¡± ¡°Nope, money¡¯s tight.¡± Kristen replied before he could finish. ¡°Ask me again next Friday when I get paid and we¡¯ll see.¡± She said as she started eating. Darith looked to Liana to say sorry, but she already had an expression that said ¡®oh well¡¯. ¡°Okay.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Homework?¡± She then asked. ¡°Ah, none! Actually I did some girls grade 11 homework today, it wasn¡¯t that hard!¡± Darith said, trying to flow a conversation to keep his mind off the ice wraith. ¡°Oh? Are you trying to say grade 10 is too easy and you want to skip ahead?¡± his mom asked. ¡°You did it for a girl?¡± Liana asked with an eyebrow raised, taking an entirely different tone. ¡°Well... Yeah...¡± He replied hesitantly. ¡°Oh, what kind of girl is she? Maybe a girlfriend?¡± Kristen said excitedly, and both her and Liana stopped eating to watch Darith¡¯s face as he replied. ¡°N-no... Nothing like that, she just asked me for help, because she needed more time to practice her dance routine...¡± ¡°She was a dancer? Was she pretty?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Darith, don¡¯t let pretty girls use you, you¡¯re better than that. Next time she asks you tell her to do it herself. If you want a girlfriend, first you have to respect yourself.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°Wha-hey! You guys are just assuming stuff! I just helped her because I wanted the challenge!¡± Darith replied as his face started to go red. ¡°She definitely seduced him.¡± Liana said to Kristen. ¡°Yep, he¡¯s a sucker.¡± Kristen replied, both ignoring Darith¡¯s protest. ¡°She didn¡¯t!¡± he grumbled back. ¡°Ah, my hand... I can¡¯t lift this...¡± Liana said as she dropped her fork on the plate. ¡°Darith can you help me?¡± She asked in a pleading tone. ¡°Y-yeah, here...¡± He reached across the table to lift Liana¡¯s fork for her with spaghetti wrapped around it, slowly moving it up to her mouth for her. ¡°Oh gimme that, you¡¯re way too easy. I¡¯m not even pretty.¡± Liana rolled her eyes, grabbing the fork from Darith. ¡°What did I raise.¡± Kristen said while putting her palm to her forehead, causing Liana to chuckle. ¡°Fine! See if I ever help either of you ever again!¡± Darith said grumpily, making Kristen chuckle at him. ¡°Oh come on we¡¯re just teasing.¡± She laughed, but Darith was now ignoring them as he ate the spaghetti. ¡°I think he¡¯s mad at us.¡± Liana whispered, and Kristen nodded back at her as if Darith couldn¡¯t hear or see them still. He just let out an annoyed sigh at the two of them. The two continued to tease him until they finished eating, then Darith went straight to his room despite Liana asking him to play a game with her, so instead she watched TV with Kristen. When he got to his room he flopped to his bed again, glancing to see the exhaustion status was still showing more than 24 hours left. He imagined he¡¯d have it for quite a long time based on how often he used dash and sprint. The image of the ice wraith flashed through his mind once more. ¡°I¡¯ll get stronger, as soon as this effect is gone. I¡¯ll go back and defeat that Ice Wraith and free all those people.¡± He said, affirming his resolution to himself. ¡°No matter how long it takes.¡± He whispered, turning his head into his pillow in frustration. He wasn¡¯t used to this, being beat so badly in a game. It was hurting his pride more than anything that he¡¯d left Aaron there, that he had to run away. He got more frustrated as he thought about what Ryan and Jacob were doing, knowing they were probably playing without having to worry about an exhaustion effect. It took awhile, but he eventually dozed off. ¡°We¡¯re out of the house in 30! Thank god its Friday.¡± Kristen called into his room in the morning, knocking on his door. He drowsily opened his eyes and slowly rolled out of the bed, standing up to look around for clothes. ¡°Wait... Something''s off.¡± He said, then looked at his health bar to see no status effect there. ¡°What? Why is... It¡¯s gone? The exhaust effect is gone? How?¡± He shouted excitedly. He began shifting through his menus to look at his items and then his skills. Nothing under his regular skill list was different, but he then spotted a second menu button hidden at the top of his skills menu and clicked it.
Default Skills - Nemothyne Drinking:Passive Eating:Passive Sleeping:Passive Muscle Training:Passive Reflex Training:Passive Mind Training:Passive Endurance Training:Passive Luck Training:Passive Charisma Training:Passive ConstitutionTraining:Passive Spirit Training:Passive Tail Mobility(Nemothyne):Passive Magic Affinity(Nemothyne):Passive Nimble(Nemothyne):Passive
¡°Whoa, what the heck are all these?¡± Darith said with wide eyes. ¡°Drinking restores mana based on the quality of the drink... Eating restores health, sometimes medicine and food remove status effects... Hmm I didn¡¯t eat anything special though. Sleeping restores energy, sleeping for more than 5 hours removes all exhaustion effects... That¡¯s it! I removed it by sleeping? So I can start training right away?¡± Darith said excitedly, but he was more intrigued by the rest of the menu. ¡°All these passives, they¡¯re the reason I¡¯ve been getting attributes without leveling up? Muscle training will increase my strength when I use my muscles a lot, reflex training from reacting quickly and dodging attacks... That seems tricky, it requires someone attacking me. Mind training is increased by problem solving and studying? Endurance goes up from spending high amounts of energy, luck goes up from gambling? Wow, I would¡¯ve never figured that out.¡± Darith said as he continued. ¡°Charisma from improving relationships and meeting new people... Like flirting?¡± He asked himself with a raised brow. ¡°Constitution increases from taking hits, Spirit increases from strong emotions, maintaining resolutions and reaching goals. Huh that seems a little tricky to raise.¡± ¡°Tail mobility allows me to wiggle my tail, that explains why I could move it. Magic affinity increases the rate at which I gain experience for magic skills, and nimble increases the experience I get in reflex training. I guess because I¡¯m so tiny?¡± Darith commented, and he briefly looked at all of the training passives. Each passive had experience bars that showed how close he was to the next attribute gain. He noticed the Muscle training bar was almost full. ¡°Let¡¯s try it...¡± He said, dropping to the ground to do some push ups. He did one and saw the bar move by 1 point, 73 out of 75. He then did another, and another.
Attribute Up!: +1 Str
A message popped up. He then looked to see the bar was now 0/160. ¡°Huh, it gets harder and harder to raise a stat point the higher it gets. I should try and raise all of my stats as high as reasonably possible before I start spending attribute points in them.¡± Darith said to himself. ¡°Hey hey, come on let¡¯s get a move on!¡± Kristen called into his bedroom again, reminding Darith he had to get ready for school. By the time he finished his morning routine, Kristen and Liana were already out the door heading to the car. Darith stepped out after them just as a Post Delivery van stopped right in front of their house. Darith locked the door behind himself as Kristen started helping Liana get out of her chair into the passenger seat of the car. A man stepped out of the Van with a yellow padded envelope and a small device in his other hand, and walked straight up their driveway. ¡°Excuse me, I¡¯m looking for a Liana? Liana Hainsworth?¡± The delivery man said. ¡°Yes?¡± Liana said as Kristen stopped trying to get her out of her wheelchair and turned it to face the delivery man. ¡°Here, package for you.¡± He said as he handed her the envelope, giving her an odd disgusted look as he saw her scarred face, but she ignored it and looked at the envelope excitedly. ¡°Sign here please.¡± He asked, handing out an electronic device with a touch screen and a tiny black stick to sign it. She quickly scribbled her name with the stick using her right hand. ¡°Have a nice day.¡± He said quickly, turning from them to hop back in his Van. ¡°Who¡¯s the package from?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know... Oh, here...¡± She said as she turned it, then looked to Darith as he looked curiously back at her. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me you were sending me a package Darith!¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°What is it?!¡± She smiled as she turned back to the envelope.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°What¡¯s with the weird address?¡± Kristen pointed out, but Liana tore the envelope open too fast for her to repeat it completely. ¡°536 Main Square, AV? Broken Realm? That¡¯s not a country.¡± Kristen said. ¡°Ahehe...¡± Darith said nervously as he walked towards them quickly. ¡°It¡¯s a cell phone! You got me a cell phone? So I could play with you?¡± Liana said excitedly as she held the phone in her good hand and fiddled for the power button. ¡°Well... Yeah, of course!¡± Darith replied hesitantly. ¡°After all that saying you thought it was too dangerous, you already got it.¡± She smiled. ¡°You¡¯re the best!¡± She cheered. ¡°How¡¯d you get the money for a cell phone?¡± Kristen asked with squinted eyes. ¡°I uh, sold some old games...¡± He said as he avoided her gaze. ¡°Hmm...¡± She pondered for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to believe him. ¡°Well, that was very nice of you.¡± ¡°Darith has invited you to join his party in Broken World. Do you accept?¡± Liana read out loud after having turned the phone on. ¡°Of course I do!¡± She said excitedly. ¡°WAIT! Stop!¡± Darith shouted, shocking both Kristen and Liana. ¡°Ah, uh, sorry. Remember the promise, right? You can¡¯t play it without me.¡± He said slowly. ¡°Oh... Right.¡± Liana replied, smiling hesitantly ¡°Then we¡¯ll play tonight?¡± She asked, though her disappointment was blatantly obvious. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± He replied. Kristen eyed the two of them back and forth. ¡°Are you feeling alright, Darith?¡± Kristen then asked, walking towards him. ¡°Yeah! Of course.¡± He replied quickly, worried his mom had figured something out. ¡°Are you sure?¡± She asked as she put her hand on his forehead. ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± He replied, avoiding her eye contact. ¡°Hm, well, I¡¯m the nurse here and it seems to me you¡¯re burning up.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not!¡± Darith stepped back, checking his forehead himself. ¡°Oh you definitely are. You should stay home today. I¡¯ll leave Liana here to take care of you, just to be safe, okay?¡± Kristen said, and just then Darith clued in to what his mom was doing. ¡°Really?!¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°Just this once. I haven¡¯t seen you this excited before.¡± Kristen said, turning to smile at Liana. ¡°You¡¯re the best!¡± Liana shouted excitedly as Darith smiled, excitement filling up inside of him as his imagination ran wild. It was Friday, no school, that meant three days of playing, and with a new party member! ¡°You¡¯re awesome mom!¡± Darith said as he quickly grabbed Liana¡¯s wheelchair. ¡°Just make sure your room is clean when I get home.¡± She sighed as she got into her car. ¡°Have fun.¡± She waved and shut the driver side door, starting the engine. ¡°Can I hit accept now?!¡± Liana asked, the two looking like children on Christmas morning. ¡°Not yet not yet, let¡¯s go inside first!¡± Darith replied, pushing her chair back into the house, then locking it behind them again and taking her to the living room. ¡°Okay, now?¡± She asked. ¡°Yup, but read the rules, they¡¯re important.¡± Darith said as he sat on the couch in a way that let him look over Liana¡¯s shoulder and see the screen of the phone. As she read the rules Darith was more looking at the phone. It was brand new, but it had no brand name on it, it wasn¡¯t a model he had seen before. ¡°Okay so it¡¯s an MMORPG right? These rules look like an MMORPG.¡± Liana asked. ¡°Yup.¡± Darith replied and she arrived at the character creation menu. Her default avatar was strange though. When Darith reached this menu it displayed an avatar that resembled him perfectly, but Liana¡¯s avatar was different. Her avatar had none of her scars. It was wearing her clothes, and the hair and eyes were the same as was her height, but she had no scars. She had bright blue eyes and perfectly silky long brown hair and a beautiful face, more beautiful than Darith could have imagined. Seeing it though, Liana said nothing. She stared at the avatar as her mind went blank and tears began to stream down her face. ¡°W-what is this? Some sort of joke?¡± She said angrily. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Darith asked. ¡°This is me... What I used to look like, but older? Did you do this? You made this character?¡± She shouted angrily at him. ¡°I didn¡¯t, I swear! The game did it! It does things!¡± Darith said, leaning away from her. ¡°I¡¯m not stupid! Game¡¯s don¡¯t just do things!¡± She shouted, throwing the phone at him. ¡°This isn¡¯t funny, your stupid game. Is this how I was supposed to play?¡± ¡°N..no, that¡¯s not it at all, liste-¡± ¡°I want to go! Take me to the hospital, then go to school. I don¡¯t want to play this stupid game.¡± She shouted, turning away as tears covered her face and filled her eyes. Darith went quiet for a moment and watched her cover her face while making whimpering sounds behind the veil of her right arm. ¡°I didn¡¯t send that phone.¡± Darith said as he moved across the room and picked the phone up off the ground, handing it back to her. She refused to take it. ¡°Liar.¡± She said angrily. ¡°Just stop! Take me out of here!¡± She screamed over her crying. ¡°Just listen! Look at it! Sony? Samsung? Apple? What is it?¡± Darith said as he held it out to her. ¡°It has no brand, I have no idea where it came from! The game sent it!¡± He said, but she was too angry to reply. ¡°I told my mom I sold some games to buy it, right? Look, here.¡± He walked over to the TV where all the games they played were stacked. He started to lift the games up one by one to show her they were all still there. ¡°I didn¡¯t sell anything. That phone just appeared, it just knew what you would look like without your accident. This game knows a lot of strange stuff, but I can¡¯t talk about it until you are a part of it, it¡¯s one of the rules remember?¡± He said as calmly as he could. Seeing all the games seemed to calm her, she started wiping her tears away and looked to Darith again. ¡°How could a game do stuff like that?¡± Liana said in disbelief. ¡°Honestly I don¡¯t know, there¡¯s a lot I don¡¯t know, that¡¯s why I told you it was dangerous, but you said you wanted to try it anyway. So let¡¯s try it! Make your character.¡± Darith replied, holding the phone out for her. She just stared at it for a bit, the image of her old self looking back at her in the form of a video game character. ¡°It¡¯s fine like this then. I want to look like this.¡± She replied and took it stubbornly. ¡°Wait, there¡¯s other stuff you can change, like race and stats and-¡± Darith said. ¡°It¡¯s fine I said.¡± She hastily hitaccept, and the phone released a bright flash of light while making a buzzing sound. Liana¡¯s head fell back in her chair and her eyes closed, passing out instantly. ¡°Liana?¡± Darith called out worriedly, then remembered he also blacked out after starting the game. Her body then began glowing faintly, a weak white glow that slowly got brighter. Darith first moved his hands over his eyes, then turned away completely as the living room filled with bright light. He heard a strange humming sound in his ears for a moment, then in an instant the humming left and the light faded. In the top right corner of his peripheral vision, just underneath his health bars, appeared a player. It showed Liana''s name, level, health, mana, and energy, but all of her stats were very low. Her health was only 40, mana 20, and energy 5.A second later he got anotherpop upmessage that told him Liana had joined the party, and he was now the Party Leader. ¡°So it worked, she¡¯s in?¡± He said, turning around to see her. He was stunned. It was still Liana, he could tell, her height was the same, but all of her scars were gone. Her skin looked perfect, pale and fair. Her long hair seemed to be shining from the sunlight reaching into the living room through the windows. Her once weak looking legs looked normal, the cast on her left arm was gone too. She laid back in her chair with her eyes closed, mouth slightly open as he looked at the health bar above her head. The color of her name had changed from white to blue, to show that she was a party member. ¡°L-Liana?¡± Darith said nervously, but got no response from her, she seemed completely out. He then slowly moved his hand to her arm, poking her skin lightly. ¡°Ah!¡± She shot her head up, eyes open. ¡°You¡¯re back! How are you feeling?¡± He asked, taking a step away from her as he eyed her up and down. ¡°What just happened? I feel...¡± She said, looking around while still disoriented. She looked to her left hand, then right, and her eyes opened so wide it looked as though they would come out of their sockets. She lifted her left arm and wiggled her fingers, she then looked to her feet and wiggled her toes, lifting her legs. ¡°H-h-h-h-how... Di-di-di-di-¡± She was unable to speak as her body began trembling from both fear and excitement. ¡°I told you, this game can do some weird stuff. Welcome to your character¡¯s body, you¡¯re now a part of the Broken World RPG.¡± Darith said, standing back and smiling as he watched Liana¡¯s face. ¡°This... This is the game character? From the phone? How¡­¡± She said in disbelief, tears swelling up in her eyes. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re now an MMORPG character. You have stats, skills, everything. There¡¯s dungeons, quests... We¡¯re in the same party now too!¡± He said excitedly, but Liana was barely listening. She put her feet on the ground and then lifted herself up with most of her weight on her left hand pushing against her wheelchairs armrest. Once she put weight onto her feet and legs she immediately fumbled forward, but Darith quickly caught her and stopped her from falling completely. ¡°I can¡¯t walk?¡± She asked, confused. ¡°The game lets you change your appearance but your stats stay the same.¡± He replied as he set her back down in the chair. ¡°What stats?¡± She asked. ¡°Here.¡± Darith said as he took her phone and showed her her character.
Liana:Level 1, Female(Female), Human Health:40/40 Mana:20/20 Energy:5/5 Strength:0 Agility:0 Intelligence:10 Spirit:10 Endurance:0 Constitution:0 Charisma:3 Luck:3
¡°Wow.¡± Darith said as he looked at her stats. ¡°What is it?¡± She asked, wiping tears away. She didn¡¯t look at the screen, but rather her left arm and its fingers. ¡°Your stats are... Pretty bad. They are worse than what I started with. I guess it makes sense though, you¡¯re stuck in a wheelchair unable to move...¡± ¡°No duh.¡± She replied. ¡°So does that mean I can¡¯t walk, even with this body?¡± She asked him. ¡°No, you should be able to, we just need to raise your stats a bit...¡± Darith replied. ¡°How do we do that?¡± She asked. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything I know about the game so far, then we can figure it out together. We¡¯re going to be a team in this.¡± Darith said to her with a shy smile, finding it oddly hard to look her in the eyes now that she was so beautiful, but she noticed this fast. ¡°You¡¯re acting shy now? Relax Darith! It¡¯s still me!¡± She replied to him with a smile. ¡°Even if you say that, you look really pr-¡± He stopped himself. ¡°I look really what?¡± She asked with a big smile. ¡°Different.¡± He said nervously. He then began his explanation, starting with the display menu. He taught her to use the same display he did so that she didn¡¯t need the phone, which took her a lot of time to get used to, it was a lot to take in. Darith explained the dungeon to her, the quests, the skills, the default skills and how mana and health and energy worked, even items and the inventory. It was a good hour before he got through everything and finished answering Liana¡¯s questions. ¡°This is so cool, I really can¡¯t believe this! I can get stronger, and then I can live a normal life! I can go to school with you!¡± She said with a glowing face. ¡°Y-yeah... Remember though it¡¯s a game. Mom will expect you to be in a wheelchair, and we can¡¯t talk to anyone about it.¡± ¡°Oh, right...¡± She replied. ¡°Any more questions before we start your training?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yup! What about your character?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Ah, well... My character is a bit different. I didn¡¯t know about the game when I made it, so...¡± He started mumbling. ¡°Oh come on, show me!¡± She said excitedly. ¡°Alright but don¡¯t make fun of me.¡± Darith replied, moving through his menu and then hitting the button to swap his appearance. There was a bright flash of light, then he re-appeared in front of Liana in his Nemothyne body. Staff, Silk gloves and armor, brown pointy ears and tail. ¡°Oooooh, a different race! What can they do different from humans?¡± Liana asked, surprising Darith. ¡°You¡¯re not going to laugh that I¡¯m a boy?¡± He asked her, his voice now that of a child. ¡°Oh even your voice changed?!¡± She said excitedly. ¡°Of course you picked a Nemothyne because they¡¯re smaller right? Or something. You always look at the best character for your play style before you pick.¡± Liana shrugged, making Darith smile wide. ¡°Y-yeah! Nemothyne¡¯s are good at Magic. You picked humans so you are all around good I think.¡± ¡°Can you come close for a second?¡± She said, seeming to ignore his last statements. ¡°O-okay...?¡± He slowly moved towards her, and she reached up and started rubbing his ears. ¡°So soft!¡± She said in amazement. ¡°Ah-ahh! That tickles!¡± He pulled away, his face bright red. ¡°Aww, you make a cute little cat boy!¡± She cheered. ¡°Fox, I¡¯m a fox boy.¡± He replied grumpily. ¡°So I can pick a weapon too? If I do a starter quest in one of those dungeons?¡± ¡°Yup, but walking first, then we¡¯ll worry about a quest or a dungeon.¡± Darith said. ¡°Right... So how do I raise my stats?¡± She asked. ¡°Hm... You only have 5 energy. If you did a push up it would put you in exhaust state, so even if I gave you energy potions it wouldn¡¯t help. We need an activity that uses less than 5 Energy at a time so you can keep doing it without running out by using my potions. I¡¯ve got 9 Energy potions left, so hopefully that¡¯ll be enough to get you to walk.¡± ¡°Okay, so what¡¯s something that I can do for 1 Energy?¡± She asked. ¡°Kick, I think... Try kicking me!¡± Darith said, walking close to Liana. She then kicked out her leg at Darith, but a sudden blue wall appeared between them, blocking her kick. Both of them got a pop up message in front of their faces.
Warning!: PvP Combat is disabled for all players under level 10.
¡°Uh oh, we made it mad.¡± Liana said as she poked her finger in the air to close the message. ¡°Hmm, right. Okay, let¡¯s try this...¡± Darith grabbed a couch pillow and set it on the ground in front of Liana¡¯s wheelchair. ¡°Kick it!¡± He said, she then moved to the edge of her wheelchair and swung her foot forward, but her foot barely moved the pillow. ¡°It¡¯s hard to kick while sitting... Can you help me stand?¡± She asked. ¡°Y-yeah, I guess.¡± Darith said as he moved to her side. She pushed herself up with her right arm as Darith moved to her left side to help give her something to lean on. She started falling so Darith quickly put his arm around her waist to hold her up as best he could. ¡°Thanks...¡± She smiled. He thought it would be hard, but he felt she was light. He wasn¡¯t sure if she got lighter because of the game, or all of the strength he had gained so far was making a difference. ¡°Here goes nothing!¡± She winded her right foot back and then swung it forward with all her might, sending the pillow across the room. The motion caused her to completely lose her balance and fall over onto Darith while screaming lightly. ¡°Owww..¡± Darith groaned. ¡°Sorry, sorry!¡± She said as she rolled off of him. ¡°It¡¯s okay... Did it work?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Uhm.... Yeah! It worked! It worked! I learned a skill called kick! And my Energy went down by one!¡± She said excitedly as she looked up to the ceiling at her floating menu. ¡°Great! Let¡¯s try again!¡± Darith said as he jumped up onto his feet, then pulled Liana up by grabbing her right hand. Helping her balance, they walked over to the pillow and she kicked it again, this time without falling. Then a third time. ¡°Your recent activities have granted you 1 endurance, it says! Look! My maximum energy is now 10!¡± She said like an excited preschooler. ¡°Nice! Let¡¯s try and get it up to 20 so we can start working on your strength.¡± Darith said, and she nodded. He continued to help her kick the pillow around, but it took a lot of kicks to get to 2 endurance, he had to give her 2 Energy potions before it raised. ¡°Is it going a bit slow? The first point came so fast.¡± Liana asked. ¡°I think that¡¯s because you were at 0. It takes longer after each point. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ve got 7 potions left, if we can get you to 3 Endurance then we should be able to get you walking.¡± Darith reassured her. ¡°Okay.¡± She nodded. They kicked and kicked, going from 15 energy to 1, then back to 15 with a potion. The potions were more efficient now that she had 15 points to refill, and banana was one of her favorite flavors, but it was still taking a long time. It wasn¡¯t until Darith got down to his last potion that it raised up. ¡°Got it! Look! 6/20 Energy!¡± She cheered. I have 3 Endurance now. ¡°Alright! Now let¡¯s get you 1 point in strength!¡± Darith said. ¡°How do I do that?¡± Liana asked. ¡°A push up!¡± Darith said. ¡°Okay!¡± She dropped down on the ground slowly, then wiggled herself into a push-up position. ¡°My right arm feels normal, but the rest of my body still feels weird.¡± She commented as she wiggled up into push up position, nearly all her body weight on her right hand. ¡°That¡¯s normal, it¡¯s just like this tail here... It¡¯s a muscle I¡¯m not used to using, so when I use it, it feels weird.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s the same as having a tail.¡± Liana replied with a giggle. She slowly did her push up, her right arm shaking the whole way as it bore all of her wait, and her Energy dropped by 5. ¡°Okay, here, last one.¡± He handed her the yellow potion and she quickly drank it, bringing her Energy back to 16. ¡°You can do three more, I hope it''s enough.¡± Darith said as Liana went back into push up position. She did one and nothing, but after the second she got a message. ¡°I did it! My strength has increased by one! I have a strength point now!¡± She cheered. ¡°Great! You should be able to start walking then!¡± He replied and she nodded at him. Darith stood beside her and reached his hand out, pulling her up by her right hand. She wobbled around on her feet and started to fall over, but Darith held her up with his tiny arms. His head barely reached her shoulders when they stood side by side. ¡°It still feels weird, I can¡¯t...¡± She said as she wobbled. ¡°I don¡¯t think it''s just related to your stats... You just have to learn how to walk again. You haven¡¯t walked in so long...¡± Darith said. ¡°Okay...¡± She said nervously, trying to take a step but fumbling her weight back onto Darith. ¡°Try to balance your weight between your legs, remember your feet should be flat on the ground.¡± Darith said. ¡°I feel like a toddler learning to walk for the first time.¡± She sighed at herself. ¡°Well, you sort of are.¡± Darith replied with a shrug. ¡°I guess I am.¡± She replied nervously, taking another fumbling step, but didn¡¯t fall back this time. ¡°Good! That¡¯s a lot better. It¡¯s not a normal case of rehabilitation like mom deals with in the hospital. Your body has the muscles to walk, you just don¡¯t know how to use them. Like learning to ride a bike again, but with your legs... At least I think.¡± Darith said. She took another step though and fumbled back to him. ¡°I can¡¯t, it just feels too weird, too unnatural... I just can¡¯t walk.¡± Liana replied shamefully. ¡°You can. You need to forget your old body. It¡¯s not like before, this body has legs, it has muscles that you can control. You can do it!¡± Darith said. ¡°You say it like it¡¯s so easy...¡± She replied, fumbling again and almost pulling Darith down completely. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± She sighed in frustration. Darith held her still for a moment while thinking, then decided to let her go and step away. His sudden movement caused her to fall forward on her knees. ¡°H-hey!¡± She cried out to him. ¡°This game is strange. I¡¯m a fat chubby kid with no physical ability, but yesterday I was able to jump across a cavern and swing from a thread of silk, then hold up my own weight with my own arms.¡± Darith said, going into his display menu to change back to his normal appearance. ¡°These arms.¡± He pointed at his flabby, completely un-toned arms. ¡°The game let me do it, that stuff yesterday. Stuff that isn¡¯t normally possible.¡± Darith then turned back into his Nemothyne body. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He shouted, and the red circle began to form in front of his face. Liana looked with eyes opened wide as the red circle started to form, but Darith quickly moved to cancel the cast. ¡°Well, shooting fireballs inside the house is probably not a good idea, but you get the point. You can walk, you can do anything you can think of, you just have to think of it.¡± Darith said. ¡°Now come, walk to me, let¡¯s go on an adventure!¡± He smiled, holding out his hand for her while standing across the living room. Her face went serious, she looked at the ground for a moment while deep in thought. She then eyed her left arm up and down, and her right, then glanced at her wheelchair. ¡°This is my chance... A once in a lifetime chance to be normal.¡± She said to herself. ¡°I have working legs! I can do this!¡± She shouted, pushing herself up off both her arms this time, though her left wobbled. Then in a bent over position she attempted to stand upright, but fell forward, face first into the carpet. Darith watched and started moving forward to help her, it was hard to resist, but he did his best and pulled his foot back to where it was, waiting for her to grab his hand. ¡°Oww..¡± she groaned, then lifted herself up onto her hands again, this time leaning back slightly as she stood up right. She got up all the way but fell backwards as if slipping on ice, this time landing flat on her bottom. ¡°C¡¯mon Legs!¡± She shouted, getting up a third time. She fumbled left, right, forward and back, then put her hand on the top of the TV for balance, her knees bent inward while her legs shook as if she had to use the bathroom and was trying to hold it in. ¡°L-look! I¡¯m standing!¡± She cheered excitedly as she looked over to Darith, his hand still held out for her. ¡°Just a few steps, you can make it!¡± Darith said. Her smile went back to a serious expression and she nodded at him. She slowly moved her hand from the top of the television, wobbling a bit, then took a giant lunging step forward with her left foot. She leaned in and landed herself in an awkward lunge position, but she didn¡¯t fall over. She then slowly dragged her right foot forward to meet her left, then once she had her balance again took a tiny step forward towards Darith. She didn¡¯t fall. She wobbled and wiggled, but she stayed up. Another tiny step, then another. Her head was down as she watched her feet carefully, watching herself put one foot in front of the other. ¡°I-I¡¯m doing it....¡± She said in disbelief. Tears began to fill her eyes, rolling down her cheek as she took a few more tiny steps. ¡°I¡¯m walking...¡± ¡°Almost here!¡± Darith said, causing her to look up to him, losing her balance a bit. She stepped forward quickly, stumbling towards Darith as she reached out for his hand but missed, falling over on top of him instead. ¡°Ah, sorry... Sorry.¡± She whimpered as she started crying, but not from sadness. She had a huge smile on her face. ¡°Good job, Liana.¡± Darith replied, smiling back at her.
Attribute Up!: +1 Cha
Darith read the message and quickly closed it. ¡°This is the best game ever.¡± She said in between her sobs. Darith continued to cheer her on over the next hour as she practiced walking. The more she did it the easier it seemed to get and they moved to having her climb the stairs. After an hour of trying she could climb by herself and it seemed like she was comfortable using her leg muscles, muscles she hadn¡¯t had to use in years and never thought she¡¯d be using ever again. The two then moved to the table as the clock reached 12:00 and ate lunch together before deciding to head outside and walk without anything around to help support her. ¡°This is a bit scary...¡± Liana said as Darith walked closely beside her. ¡°It¡¯s just like walking inside.¡± He replied, in his normal body now. ¡°You¡¯re pretty lucky you know, you picked a human body. I can¡¯t let people see me as a Nemothyne, but you really can do whatever you want.¡± Darith said with a smile. ¡°We don¡¯t need to go outside though right? You said you had a key to a dungeon?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Y-yeah...¡± Darith said as his expression changed, and it didn¡¯t go unnoticed by Liana. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go back to that dungeon though, not yet.¡± He replied. ¡°Did something happen?¡± She asked. ¡°No, nothing.¡± He lied. ¡°Oh, okay... Then how can we find a new dungeon?¡± She asked, and just then at the end of the street there was a huge flashing beam of light that shot down from the sky. They both jerked their heads to look at the yellow beam, barely visible with the sunlight of the sky behind it, but at the base of the beam formed an archway out of swirling sand. Once the Archway formed, a pair of large wooden double doors appeared in it with text floating in front.
World Gate: Suutrin Desert, Level 1-9 (Region)
¡°Like that!¡± Darith said, excitement burning in his eyes. ¡°Come on! Let¡¯s go!¡± he started running toward it. ¡°H-hey, wait!¡± Liana said as she stumbled after him. Chapter 12: The Suutrin Desert ¡°Woooow!¡± Liana said with wide eyes as they stepped through the door way and Darith quickly changed to his Nemothyne body. In all directions around them was sand. Hills of sand and clear blue skies, but beside the door way that they used to enter were several other doorways. Darith glanced at the other doorways curiously to see unfamiliar cities on the other side, one doorway had a city with hanzi signs all around on shops and buildings, and just as he peered through he saw three people running towards the door, looking straight at Darith unlike most of the other people who didn¡¯t notice him looking into their world. He stepped back as the three young asian boys ran through the doorway and landed their feet into the desert sands, they couldn¡¯t have been older than 8 or 9. ¡°Nihao!¡± One shouted at him, showing as Jin - Level 5. He suddenly transformed into a tall male elf, while another boy turned into a lizard man and the other into a male nemothyne. The other two were only level 1 though. ¡°Hello!¡± Darith said with a smile. ¡°English?¡± Jin asked, and Darith nodded. ¡°Niceu tuu meetu!¡± He smiled, then turned to his friends and said something in mandarin Darith couldn¡¯t understand, Liana watching curiously. ¡°Bye bye!¡± The three boys shouted, then ran off towards the top of a sand dune. ¡°Wow, this portal came from China! This game is all over the world?¡± Darith asked in amazement. ¡°That¡¯s really cool.¡± Liana smiled, she was wearing her white starting armor now but she took off one of her shoes to wiggle her toes in the sand. ¡°Hehe...¡± She smiled excitedly. ¡°The boy was level 5 like me, he probably just invited his friends. I wonder where they were going though.¡± Darith said. ¡°Want to follow them?¡± He asked, and Liana nodded while putting her shoe back on. They then headed up the sand dune where the boys ran as they glanced back to see more people entering the desert from other doors. ¡°It¡¯s weird, when I got into the Frozen Caverns it was the only door, there weren¡¯t so many. It also said dungeon, not region... Maybe regions are easier to get into.¡± Darith said. ¡°Probably, it¡¯s strange to start out in a dungeon anyway, isn¡¯t it?¡± Liana replied. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right, most MMORPG¡¯s don¡¯t send you into dungeons until you¡¯ve learned the basics of the game. Maybe I got unlucky...¡± Darith replied. When they reached the top of the dune they could see over to the other side, in front of them was not sand but rather a lush green jungle filled with palm trees and other wild plants and strange birds flying above. ¡°Whoa, is that an Oasis?¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°Looks like it!¡± Darith replied. And there! The boys went to those NPC¡¯s over there, I bet there¡¯s some starter quests we can do, maybe get a weapon for you!¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± She cheered, and they walked down the dune towards a broken down wagon with a sleeping camel and 4 worn down looking men wearing desert clothing. They had lots of white cloth on with some wrapped around their heads, and wooden sandals. None of them were standing upright, they were all leaning on the broken wagon or laying near it to stay in the shade, and one had a blue circle above his head. ¡°That blue circle, is that a quest?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Yup, let¡¯s see what these guys need.¡± Darith replied as they got close and the three boys from China ran off towards the Oasis. ¡°Water.. Please, we need water. Oasis, monsters.... We can¡¯t get it ourselves...¡± The man with the blue circle said.
Thirsty Man(Neutral) Level: ?? Quest:Collect water from the nearby Oasis. Objective: 0/1 Filled Jug of Water Reward:?? Accept Decline
¡°I accept, right?¡± Liana asked, and Darith nodded. They both hit accept. ¡°Let¡¯s do the first quest!¡± Darith cheered, and Liana nodded, walking with a tiny skip in her step towards the oasis, however she didn¡¯t get far before tripping and falling face first into the sand. ¡°Ow.¡± ¡°Be careful.¡± Darith said while holding back laughter, lending a hand to help her stand. They walked towards the Oasis together, Darith taking note of more and more players arriving at the NPC¡¯s behind them. The cave felt lonely and cold but this place, it felt like it was a real MMORPG. Just how many people were a part of this game, he wondered. As the sand beneath their feet transformed into dirt, and then grass, the palm trees of the oasis began to tower over them and shield them from the scorching sun. The wildlife around them was beyond anything Darith or Liana could have imagined. There were wild plants and flowers with strange insects flying around them, and they could clearly see a pool of water ahead that reflected the sunlight. ¡°There!¡± Liana said as she walked ahead excitedly. ¡°Be careful!¡± Darith sped up to keep up with her, but she got to the water first. ¡°Starting quests are always easy, right?¡± She smiled, then reached down to the water. ¡°How do we pick this up?¡± She asked, realizing she didn¡¯t know what she was doing. ¡°We got a jug as a quest item, take it from your inventory and fill it up.¡± Darith said, the two of them opening their menu to make a jug appear in front of them. ¡°That¡¯s so cool! How do you think all of this is possible? Magic?¡± Liana asked as they both filled their jugs. ¡°Don¡¯t be silly, magic is impossible.¡± Darith replied. Liana only turned to him with a raised eyebrow, but from the corner of her eye she saw something dark under the water coming towards them. ¡°Watch out!¡± Darith pulled her back from the water as a tiny green head broke the surface and snapped at them.
Name: Oasis Hatchling(Hostile) - Level 1 Health:5/5
As they backed away from the water, the tiny little green shelled turtle waded out of it onto the ground, making little squeaks at them. ¡°Hm... It¡¯s really weak, compared to the spiders in the cave... I wonder if you get doors around you based on your stats.¡± Darith said, meanwhile Liana was terrified of the turtle and threw her jug at it, but before the jug hit it vanished and returned to her inventory. ¡°Darith what do we do! It¡¯s trying to bite me!¡± She cried at him. ¡°Use your kick skill!¡± He said as he backed away. ¡°No way, it will bite me!¡± She called back. ¡°Can¡¯t you shoot it with your fireball or whatever?¡± She asked. ¡°I think we got a door to this place for you, these monsters are really weak, so it''s the perfect chance for you to practice.¡± Darith replied. The turtle snapped its jaws at her again and she squeaked and then kicked it as hard as she could, dealing 3 damage to the turtle. It retaliated by biting her foot. ¡°Owww!¡± She shouted as she pulled her foot back, looking at her health she lost 5 points. She stumbled backward away from the turtle and landed flat on her bottom, but by the time she did the pain in her foot was already gone and she wiggled her toes a bit. ¡°That¡¯s weird, it stopped hurting so fast!¡± She commented. ¡°Remember that damage you take will go to your health bar, not your body. Just don¡¯t let it hit 0 and you¡¯ll be okay.¡± Darith said as the turtle waddled forward towards her. ¡°Okaaaay!¡± She stood up then gave the turtle another swift kick, causing it to flop over with 0 health remaining. ¡°I did it! I beat my first monster!¡± She cheered as she and Darith both saw 2 experience gains. ¡°Great! It seems like as long as we¡¯re in a party we both get the experience. And look, your first monster drop!¡± Darith pointed at a tiny piece of the turtle¡¯s shell on the ground. ¡°What do I do with that?¡± She asked. ¡°No idea, but it¡¯s better to collect this stuff for now, we might need it later.¡± He replied. ¡°Okay.¡± Liana nodded while picking it up. ¡°We have the water, so let''s return to the NPC.¡± Darith said, Liana nodding. The two turned and headed back through the Oasis, but on their way they walked past a lot of different players of all different races, most were unarmed and some hadn¡¯t figured out how to put on their armor yet, or were still holding their cell phones and looking at them for guidance. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of players around.¡± Liana commented, but most were so busy with the new world around them to look at Darith or Liana. He wondered what it would¡¯ve been like if he had started in a place like this. When they reached the NPC they both handed him a jug of water and all of his companions drank from it. He thanked them, then as expected offered them both to choose a beginner weapon. However the weapon selection he offered was not the same as Mayiera¡¯s. ¡°Hmm... A staff, a sword, a crossbow, and a sphere.¡± Darith said as he looked through them, several players around stopping to watch him while staring at his gloves. ¡°E-excuse me, where did you get your clothing?¡± A player asked him as Liana started reading about the weapon rewards. ¡°Oh, this is starting armor, it¡¯s in your inventory. The gloves are from a dungeon somewhere else though.¡± He replied, looking to the tall lizard man that asked him, whom was wearing torn clothes destroyed by his transformation into his new lizard body. ¡°Oh, I see, thanks!¡± He replied as he started going through his menu. ¡°No problem.¡± Darith said with a smile, other players around seemed to have heard as well and they started taking their starter armor out of their inventory. ¡°This staff teaches a skill called Waterbolt. I wonder if I can learn it too... I¡¯ll take the staff please.¡± Darith said to the NPC. ¡°Then I¡¯ll take the Sphere!¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°Wait, what¡¯s a sphere!?¡± Darith asked, but it was too late to check, the selection disappeared and the staff he chose appeared in the air in front of him. He turned to Liana to see a blue ball appear in front of her, it was transparent and glowing white as she grabbed it out of the air and held it in her hand. It didn¡¯t stay in her hand long though and began hovering above her hand. ¡°Wow, that thing looks cool!¡± He said while grabbing his staff.
Spell Gained: Waterbolt (?)
¡°What does it do exactly?¡± He asked Liana. ¡°Hmm, if I throw it, it comes back according to the menu. I learned a skill called Restore.¡± She added. ¡°Restore? Is that a healer item?¡± He asked. ¡°Yup!¡± She smiled while looking through her menu. ¡°You want to be a healer? I thought you¡¯d try the sword or something.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Well you said I could only play with you around, so that means you can kill stuff for me and I can keep us healthy!¡± She said excitedly. ¡°So how do I cast it?¡± she asked, other players were blatantly listening into their conversation now, desperate to learn the game but too shy to ask them directly. ¡°Well, if you look in your skill menu it has a cast command, by default you can cast it just by calling out its name, but you can change the cast command to whatever you want.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s try! Restore!¡± She shouted while pointing her orb outward at Darith. A green circle appeared in front of her and began slowly forming. ¡°Remember, you can¡¯t move while you are casting or it will cancel.¡± Darith said, and she nodded as they as well as all new players around them watched the circle form. After 5 seconds the circle vanished and a glowing green ball of light shot forward from it at Darith. The ball reached Darith and then spun around him releasing tiny green sparkles and causing his whole body to glow, and he saw a green +15 text appear over his health bar. ¡°You healed me for 15 health!¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°Yeah!¡± Liana cheered, some other players standing by making sounds of aw. ¡°It looked like it had a pretty long cast time though, and how much mana?¡± Darith asked, looking to see she had 0 mana now. ¡°Ahehe... 20 mana, and 5 second cast.¡± She said hesitantly. ¡°You¡¯re out of mana already?¡± Darith said in disbelief. ¡°Y-yeah...¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got a lot of training to do.¡± He sighed. ¡°The starting NPC¡¯s should be able to restore you back to full, try asking him.¡± Darith said, and she turned back to the NPC. ¡°Uhm, excuse me but can you return my mana?¡± She asked the man leaning against the side of the broken wagon, though very nervously. ¡°Yes, of course, anything for the one that got us water.¡± He replied, then stood up and tapped her forehead, restoring her mana after a bright glow surrounded her. ¡°Wow, thank you!¡± She smiled. ¡°It¡¯s no trouble. If you wouldn¡¯t mind, we could use more help, ask my companions what we need to get out of this place.¡± He replied, and a blue circle appeared above the heads of 2 other NPC¡¯s. ¡°Good work, you unlocked the next quests.¡± Darith said. ¡°Oh, and here, you should take this, both of you. I¡¯m told you world travelers need these to return to familiar locations.¡± He handed out a yellow key to both of them. ¡°Thanks.¡± Darith said as he grabbed a key, Liana taking one as well.
Desert Gate Key Obtained: Allows Travel to the Suutrin Desert Region Suutrin Desert: 1-9 (Area) Forgotten Sands: 10-19 (Area) Fyu''jin Ruins: 20-29 (Area) Forgotten Temple: 30-50 (Dungeon)
¡°The progression here seems much more normal... Why were the Frozen Caverns so different?¡± Darith wondered. ¡°Let¡¯s grab these quests.¡± Darith said and Liana nodded while playing with her sphere a bit, waving it around like a toy. They received a quest to collect scorpion meat and logs from the oasis to help rebuild the wagon and feed the caravan. ¡°Before we go, cast your heal spell a bit and try to improve it while the NPC is here to restore your mana. One heal every 30 minutes won¡¯t help us much and I don¡¯t have unlimited mana potions.¡± Darith said, and Liana nodded. She started casting Restore on herself while Darith went to his menu to his new spell, ignoring the staff that had identical stats to his current one. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Water Bolt - Rank 1 Shoot a bolt of water dealingWATER DAMAGEto the first target hit, Damage:12+ (1+50% of int(11)) Cost:5mp Cast:1.9(-5% from items) Command:Waterbolt (change)(?)
¡°Hm, with my gloves its a 1.9s cast, for only 5 mana. It does a lot less damage than Firebolt though. Easier to use I guess, so this place really is better for newer players.¡± Darith said. ¡°Let¡¯s try it! Waterbolt!¡± Darith shouted, a blue circle appearing in front of him. After a 1.9s delay the circle vanished and a ball of water shot out into the desert until Darith waved it into the sand to create a damp spot on the ground. ¡°Not bad... I wonder...¡± Darith said, oblivious to all the new players watching him excitedly. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He shouted, waiting a bit for the red circle to partially form. ¡°Waterbolt!¡± He then called out, the blue circle appearing beside the red, then both casts completed at the same time. He directed the waterbolt and firebolts to collide with each other and the water surrounded the flame, shooting forward into the sand ahead.
Spell Created: Scald (?)
¡°Wow, it worked! Awesome!¡± Darith shouted excitedly as he opened his menu once more.
Scald(Custom) - Rank 1 Shoot forth a ball of scorching hot water to melt your foes. Chance to inflict the Scalded effect on hit. Damage:16(5 + 50% of Int(11)) Mana Cost:15 Cast:5.8s (-5%) Effect Chance:10% Scalded:Increases fire damage taken by 10% for 10 seconds. Does not work on non-organic enemies. Command:Scald (Change)(?)
¡°Now that¡¯s interesting... Long cast but a neat effect. I¡¯ll have to use that for dangerous fights, hopefully the higher rank it gets the higher the scald chance is. For now I¡¯ll keep working on Firebolt though.¡± Darith said, messing with his menu. ¡°Hey! I got new skills! And Restore went up a rank! I also got lots of more mana regeneration!¡± Liana said as she walked to him away from the NPC¡¯s and crowd of new players. ¡°Really, that fast? What¡¯d you get exactly?¡± ¡°I got healing mastery, it increases my spirit by 5% and the amount I heal targets by +1. Then I got orb mastery for my weapon, which is really cool. My orb does damage based on spirit, and the mastery increases my spirit by 1! Oh and my restore only costs 19 mana now, 4.9 cast time.¡± She said excitedly while navigating her menu. ¡°You¡¯re a spirit based type then... You should start getting a lot of mana regeneration. What is your regeneration now?¡± Darith asked ¡°It¡¯s at 3.0 a minute... Still not very good.¡± Liana sighed. ¡°It¡¯s okay, first we should try and do these quests to get you more starter equipment. I got a ring that boosts my mana per minute by 5! You should also get more health and mana for leveling up.¡± Darith said. ¡°Okay, back to the Oasis then?¡± She asked, and Darith nodded. The two then left the side of the NPC¡¯s to step back under the shade of the palm trees. ¡°Let¡¯s split up the tasks. You try and find the logs, I¡¯ll get the scorpions killed.¡± Darith said to her. ¡°Are you sure that¡¯ll be okay?¡± Liana asked. ¡°It should, just grab enough for both of us. I¡¯ll do some power leveling.¡± He grinned, glancing around and spotting several scorpions wandering around the oasis. They were bigger than he expected, the size of a large dog, level 2 with 20 health, their chitin a bright red so they could be spotted easy. He opened his skill menu to make a change to his multicast skill. Once satisfied he lifted his hand holding the staff in front of his face and made the coolest pose he could think, Liana not watching but instead scavenging the ground for logs. ¡°MultiFirebolt 5!¡± Darith shouted, getting Liana¡¯s attention as 5 Firebolt circles appeared, and seconds later shot forward in different directions, each hitting a different scorpion and causing them to turn and run towards him. ¡°MultiWaterbolt 5!¡± He shouted, and 5 blue circles formed in front of him, casting fast enough to kill the scorpions before they reached him. ¡°Wow! You just made me level up!¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°Told you, power leveling! You pick up the items, I¡¯ll do the killing.¡± Darith said. ¡°Okay!¡± She said excitedly, running towards the bodies of the scorpions as Darith spotted another, drank a mana potion and started his next cast. The two continued to hunt in the Oasis long after their quests were marked as complete, Darith keeping his mana up by only using single casts and mana potions and Liana casting a heal every chance she got to try and skill it up. She also used her orb to attack scorpions a few times, shooting it like a ball that always came back, but she quickly learned its range wasn¡¯t more than 10 meters. The more Darith had her run around gathering the items that dropped the better her balance and walking got, earning her her first point in agility while she was at it. After an hour had past the two finally decided to head back to turn in their quests, the Oasis was starting to get crowded and a lot of players were trying to kill the scorpions for their quest. After turning in the quest Liana had reached level 4 and Darith reached level 6, but they got no new item rewards. ¡°Seems like we only get health, mana, and energy boosts every 2 levels.¡± Darith commented after leveling and not gaining more than a stat point. He had however gained another rank in Firebolt. ¡°I¡¯m almost 5, so I should get more then, right?¡± Liana asked, sitting at 65 health and 40 mana now with 30 energy. ¡°Yup. Here, they have another quest.¡± Darith said as they spotted a new blue ball above the main NPC¡¯s head. ¡°Thanks for the supplies, we¡¯re only missing one last thing before we can get moving past this Oasis. When we got attacked by the sandworm it scared away one of our camels, it ran off into the Oasis somewhere on the north side. If you could find him for us we could get out of here.¡± The NPC asked, and they both accepted the quest. ¡°Now we¡¯re camel hunting?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Yep! So, how are you liking it so far?¡± He asked. ¡°I feel so aliiiiive!¡± Liana cheered. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d ever be able to do something again, let alone live in a game world!¡± She cheered as she stretched her arms up to the sky. ¡°It¡¯s all because of you Darith!¡± She smiled, then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek suddenly. His face went bright red as he stumbled away. ¡°W-wh-what are you doing!?¡± He said shocked. ¡°It was just a thank you kiss.¡± She smiled innocently. ¡°I wanted to give you one, since you¡¯re always doing stuff with me.¡± ¡°Y-you can¡¯t just kiss people!¡± He protested angrily, though his bright red face was saying something else completely, and he found himself unable to look at her. ¡°You¡¯re really bad with girls, huh.¡± She shrugged, spun around in a circle then started walking towards the Oasis again, only to trip and fall head first into the sand once more. ¡°Ow.¡± ¡°Pfff¡± Darith chuckled. ¡°Sure, laugh at the girl in the wheelchair.¡± She replied angrily, her face now red from embarrassment. ¡°You can¡¯t use that line while we¡¯re playing this game.¡± He replied, and she turned to give in an angry glare. ¡°Okay sorry sorry, let¡¯s go find that camel.¡± The two headed back in and used Darith¡¯s map skills to explore the Oasis Jungle, making sure not to check the same area twice. The further they got into the jungle the fewer players they saw, and the scorpions started to go up in level. Anything Darith couldn¡¯t kill in one hit would be attacked by Liana¡¯s orb. Together they were able to kill anything before it could get close enough to attack. It wasn¡¯t long before they found themselves fighting level 7 and 8 monsters, and the experience they gained went up a lot, but so did their kill times. They gained several skill points and levels each, but it was an hour of walking before they finally spotted the Camel. ¡°He¡¯s just sitting there, but this is really far into the Oasis.¡± Darith said as they approached the oblivious camel drinking from a small pool of water, standing in a large opening in the jungle. They took a few steps forward and the camel looked up at them. Seconds later a notification came up telling the quest was completed. ¡°Well, that was easy.¡± Liana shrugged. They watched as the Camel ran past them in the direction they had come. ¡°Hm, I was kind of expecting a boss type monster or something.¡± Darith shrugged, and as they turned to follow the camel they were surrounded by a blue dome that formed over the open area, Liana bonking her head into it and fell backwards. ¡°Ow, what is this blue wall?¡± She asked as she stood up. ¡°I¡¯m guessing...¡± Darith began to reply as the ground beneath them rumbled, and moments later something began rising up out of the ground where the camel had been. As the sand and water poured off the creatures body it revealed a large black shelled scorpion.
Giant Scorpion (Boss)(Hostile) - Level 9 Health:300/300
¡°A boss... It looks as strong as the spider queen even though its two levels higher.¡± Darith commented. ¡°Uhh, what are you talking about? That thing is huge!¡± Liana panicked as she shuffled back to her feet and tried hiding behind the tiny nemothyne. ¡°Let¡¯s kill it¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°You know the basics of being a healer?¡± Darith asked Liana. ¡°Hide in the back and just heal people?¡± She asked. ¡°Yup!¡± Darith smiled. He was now level 8, his health was 180 with 140 mana and his Firebolt at rank 8 hitting was for 32 damage. ¡°Enchant!¡± Darith shouted, causing his weapon to glow red with fire, he then charged forward fearlessly at the Scorpion. It let out a loud screech at him and then swung one of its pincers towards him. He ducked under it then swung his staff at the scorpions head dealing 22 fire damage, fire exploding out of his staff on impact. The scorpion swung at him again though from the side and he wasn¡¯t watching for it, taking a direct hit and losing 50 health. ¡°Wow, this thing really hurts! And it¡¯s pretty fast!¡± Darith shouted as he tried to regain his balance. ¡°Restore!¡± Liana shouted, seconds later landing a heal on Darith for 19, putting his health back up to 149. ¡°Thanks! Firebolt!¡± Darith shouted, standing still to cast the spell as the scorpion turned to him and started running forward. With a less than 4s cast now he managed to finish it and then use dash backward to avoid the scorpions attack, dropping the scorpions health down to 246 health. He then charged forward again and hit the boss a few more times with his staff as Liana healed him for another 19 health. ¡°Good! It¡¯s not so scary taking damage when you¡¯ve got a healer.¡± Darith said to himself, but just then the scorpion spun around and hit Darith with its tail sending him flying off his feet into the blue wall that was locking them in the area, causing him to drop another 50 health. ¡°You have to be careful, I can¡¯t heal very much yet! 2 more and I¡¯m out of mana!¡± Liana called out to him. ¡°Restore!¡± ¡°Got it!¡± Darith said as he stood back up, the pain from the attack fading after a second. ¡°MultiFirebolt 7!¡± Darith shouted, creating the circles in front of him as the scorpion started its charge again. All 7 hit the black monster at once dealing 112 damage and causing the boss to flinch, canceling its charge. ¡°There, I¡¯m out of mana, I¡¯ll help attack now!¡± Liana said, Darith now missing only 24 health thanks to her healing. ¡°He¡¯s almost dead, but finish him quick, most bosses go crazy when they¡¯re low health!¡± Darith said, and just as he did the scorpion began stomping its legs into the ground and lunging its tail¡¯s stinger at Darith. Darith quickly dashed to avoid it as it crashed into the sand turning the ground green where it had hit. Darith noticed this and cautiously used Dash to get some distance. ¡°It¡¯s using a poison attack, don¡¯t get hit by the stinger.¡± Darith shouted. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it hasn¡¯t even noticed me!¡± Liana replied as she threw her sphere at the boss hitting it for 15 damage, but as Darith remembered from his previous encounter, it only took one hit on an enraged monster to get its attention. ¡°Watch out!¡± Darith shouted as the scorpion turned its stinger towards Liana. She started backing away but her movement was too slow, her legs went shaky from fear as the large scorpion stomped towards her. Darith stayed calm and used his dash skill to get across the area, arriving just in time to push Liana out of the way so that the Scorpion sting hit Darith instead, dealing 100 damage and adding a status effect. ¡°Darith!¡± Liana screamed as his health dropped to 56. ¡°It only has about 80 health left, hit it fast!¡± He shouted, feeling a burning sensation under his skin. ¡°R-right!¡± She replied, shooting out her sphere as Darith swung his staff at the scorpion a few times while drinking an energy potion. The scorpion tried to sting Darith again, but before it could finish it¡¯s attack it¡¯s health hit 0. Darith and Liana backed away as the Scorpion began screeching in pain and stampeding backward before collapsing flat on its stomach, its tail falling to the ground seconds later sending up a puff of sand.
Gained300Experience! Congratulations, you¡¯ve reachedlevel 9! You¡¯ve gained: +25 Health +20 Mana +10 Endurance +1 Attribute point Enchanthas reached rank 3! Staff Masteryhas reached rank 4! Your recent activities have increased yourConstitutionby 1!
¡°Nice! I leveled up!¡± Darith said excitedly, but noticed the status beside his health bar, and that his health was now green.
Scorpion¡¯s Venom:Lose 10 Health a minute, immune to healing effects.
As he read it his health dropped to 46. ¡°Uh oh... I¡¯ve got to get back to the Caravan fast, 4 minutes.¡± Darith said as he stood up. ¡°What is it?¡± Liana asked as she closed her menu, level 7 now with 105 health and 80 mana. ¡°I¡¯ve got a poison, it¡¯s draining 10 health a minute and it won¡¯t let me get healed by anything...¡± Darith said, watching as the blue wall around the area started coming down. ¡°4 minutes? It took us almost an hour to walk here...¡± Liana said worriedly. ¡°I know, if I through the pain I can probably dash and sprint in time... Maybe.¡± Darith said, not sure himself, and the seconds the wall was taking to disappear seemed like hours. ¡°Well, normally in games, doesn¡¯t the... Look!¡± Liana said, pointing at the vanishing corpse of the boss. Laying on the ground was a sack of gold and a book. ¡°What is it?¡± Darith asked as Liana quickly ran to the book. ¡°It¡¯s a spell tome! It says it teaches a skill called remove poison!¡± Liana said as she picked it up. ¡°Oh, perfect! Can you learn it?¡± Darith asked her as he walked forward. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to learn it?¡± She asked him. ¡°Of course not, you¡¯re the healer. Quick, learn it and cast it on me!¡± Darith said and she nodded, using the item from her inventory to gain the skill. ¡°Remove Poison!¡± She shouted and a green circle formed in front of her. After 5 seconds it shot a light that pierced through Darith¡¯s body, and the status effect was removed. His health turned back to red. ¡°Phew, that was really dangerous.¡± Darith let out a sigh of relief. ¡°I¡¯m sorry... You got hit because I am so slow.¡± Liana said while looking at her feet and kicking at the ground. ¡°It¡¯s my fault, we walked into a boss and I didn¡¯t take it seriously because of my last boss encounter.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Besides, that stinger did 100 damage, if it hit you it would have instantly killed you.¡± Darith said. ¡°Sorry... I¡¯m not a very good healer.¡± ¡°Nope, you¡¯re a great healer! I only lived because you kept healing me, that extra 56 health you gave me kept me alive. Of course we¡¯ve both got to level up a lot still though! We¡¯ll just keep raising our stats until we¡¯re the strongest people in this game! Okay?¡± Darith smiled at her. ¡°Okay... And what do we do after that?¡± She asked excitedly. Darith thought two things in that instant, that he wanted to save Aaron and that he wanted to beat the game. But as he thought this, he remembered the rules, that beating the game would end it for everyone. That would mean Liana as well. ¡°Well... We¡¯ll help some people first.¡± Darith replied hesitantly. ¡°Like heroes?¡± She asked, and he nodded. ¡°Cool!¡± She replied, cheerful once more. ¡°And now I can cure people of poison, do you think it would work at the hospital? Or maybe my restore spell too?!¡± ¡°Remember you can¡¯t let people know about the game or the city guards will get you.¡± Darith replied while picking up the sack of gold and putting it into his inventory. ¡°H-hey! We aren¡¯t sharing the gold?¡± She asked as she watched the gold vanish into Darith¡¯s inventory with sadness. ¡°Wha? But you took the book.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Only to save you!¡± Liana pouted. ¡°We don¡¯t even know what to spend it on yet.¡± He said, the two heading back into the oasis now. ¡°So... I still want some.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not going to be one of those loot hungry players are you?¡± Darith asked her with a raised brow. ¡°N-no...¡± The two walked back to the Caravan, taking only 20 minutes as they knew the direct path thanks to Darith¡¯s map. As they went along they used spells to help other players, Darith helping kill monsters and Liana randomly healing them as much as their mana allowed, getting a lot of thanks and smiles, but it wasn¡¯t completely selfless as their goal was to improve their skill ranks. When they arrived back at the wagon it looked completely different. The wagon was repaired and the 2nd camel was already tied up to it with the first, the three NPC¡¯s sitting on the back of it with their supplies. ¡°Great, you really saved us! I thought we¡¯d die in this desert. We¡¯re going to continue on our journey to the forgotten sands. If you feel you¡¯re strong enough, you should join us. I¡¯m sure we could use your help! Here, take this as a token of our gratitude.¡± The NPC said, handing them both a headband before turning the wagon and riding off around the Oasis.
Name: Cooling Headband of the Mind(Common) Slot: Head Type: Cloth Armor: 1 Attributes: +2 Int Special: Prevents damage from Overheat Description: Linen headband given to those who travel the Suutrin Desert
¡°Hmm... What''s overheat?¡± Darith said out loud. ¡°Mine says that too, Cooling Headband of Spirit, it gives me +2 Spirit! I¡¯m getting a lot of spirit!¡± Liana said as she equipped the white headband. Darith did the same, both headbands were bright blue and went around their foreheads, Darith¡¯s just under his big brown ears. ¡°I think I¡¯ve decided, I¡¯ll split my bonus points into mostly int and spirit. I don¡¯t think I really need the other stats if I¡¯m being a healer.¡± Liana said as she opened her character menu. ¡°I would save them, I think it¡¯s harder to raise the stats by themselves later on...¡± Darith said. ¡°They¡¯re burning a hole in my pocket!¡± She protested, ignoring his words and spending 3 points into her intelligence and 3 into spirit. With all her work so far she was now at 14 intelligence and 22 spirit, giving her 6 mana regeneration per minute, and her restore spell now costing 14 mana, meaning she could heal once every 3 minutes. ¡°Alright, shall we?¡± Darith said, motioning to the Caravan as it got further away. ¡°That¡¯s a level 10 to 19 area right? The forgotten Sands?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Yup!¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°You¡¯re sure we¡¯re strong enough for it?¡± She asked nervously. ¡°Of course!¡± He said confidently. ¡°Okay! I will keep you healthy while you kill everything fast.¡± She smiled and clenched her first. ¡°That¡¯s the spirit! We¡¯ve got about 2 hours left before mom is back from work, so let¡¯s make it count!¡± Darith cheered. ¡°What do we do when she gets home?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Well, she¡¯ll get suspicious if we¡¯re not there, so...¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have to go back to normal, right?¡± Liana frowned. ¡°We have to follow the rules, at least until we really understand the game.¡± ¡°Right...¡± ¡°It¡¯s only for a bit, its the weekend now, so we can play all night after she goes to bed! And after that too! Don¡¯t get so sad!¡± Darith said encouragingly, smiling at Liana, eventually getting her to smile back. ¡°Yeah, the weekend.¡± Chapter 13: The Game When the two of them caught up to the Caravan they were already out of sight of the Oasis and only saw desert in all directions. There was a complete lack of other players now as well, and Darith wondered how many players would manage to beat the scorpion boss. ¡°I think this game is meant to be played in a group of 5...¡± Darith said, the two now sitting on the back of the wagon. ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Well, that boss was pretty hard. Most people are trying this game for the first time alone, and I can¡¯t imagine anyone would beat it without dying. You only get one life in this game... So, It¡¯s just smarter to play with more people. That in turn encourages players to fill up their party, and if their leader dies they can form a new one... The game almost seems to be set up to spread like chain mail.¡± ¡°But who started it, where¡¯d it all come from? The same place that the phone came from?¡± Liana asked. ¡°I guess... I¡¯ve been too busy excited playing this game that I didn¡¯t stop to think how its all possible. I mean, this is a dream for people like us who love games.¡± Darith replied. ¡°We should just enjoy it then.¡± Liana smiled. Around them, a heavy wind began to pick up, and looking ahead of the Caravan they saw a vast sandstorm blowing wildly, blinding them from anything beyond a few meters in front of their faces. ¡°We¡¯re here, the Forgotten Sands... Surrounded in an endless sandstorm. The Guiding Flames that lead us through have been extinguished though! I can¡¯t see anything!¡± The main NPC said. ¡°Great, it¡¯s just one thing after the other!¡± Another replied. ¡°World Travelers, we¡¯ve already asked a lot, but you¡¯d save our lives if you could travel ahead and reignite the guiding Flames.¡± ¡°And while you¡¯re at it, take out some of those Nasty Sandworms that lurk under the ground here.¡± Another NPC asked. ¡°There¡¯s also delicious Sand Bats flying around in this storm, if you could kill them and bring their meat it¡¯d help us get by.¡± The third NPC said. ¡°Three quests at once! Nice.¡± Darith smiled, accepting all three. ¡°So we light Flames, kill worms, and collect bat meat?¡± Liana asked as she hopped off the back of the wagon. ¡°Yup! New monsters, so we should be careful. They¡¯ll probably all be level 10.¡± Darith said as he stretched out his arms. They began walking forward as Darith noted his map was blurred out and had a message that his Cartography skill was too low rank to use here. ¡°Which way do you think the first flame is?¡± Liana asked, they only saw sand in all directions. ¡°No idea...¡± Darith shrugged, but they both suddenly heard the sound of screaming, a man¡¯s voice shouting from somewhere in the storm. ¡°H-help! Somebody help!¡± The voice called out, weird laughter following. Liana and Darith both turned to the direction the sound came from to see someone running towards them wearing blue beginner armor, it was a human holding a crossbow. ¡°Please, help me!¡± He shouted as he reached out to them, and behind him they saw 3 silhouettes chasing. ¡°Restore!¡± Liana shouted, aiming the heal at the man as his health sat at only 10. She got the cast off and brought it up to 35 just in time as a Waterbolt hit him in the back dealing 17 damage. The Waterbolt had come from one of the three figures that were chasing him. ¡°Firebolt!¡± Darith said as he stepped forward, aiming it at the figures, but as they came into focus he recognized them and stopped his cast. ¡°Darith, those are...¡± Liana said as the screaming man got closer to them. Liana started another heal, but before it could land he was hit by a crossbow bolt in the back of his head dealing 20 damage. Liana and Darith¡¯s eyes opened wide in disbelief as the human fell face forward into the sand in front of them with 0 health.
Game Over
A message popped up above him. His body began to glow white and vanish into tiny particles as it transformed from his handsome body into a balding man wearing a business suit. The man then vanished into a flash of white light leaving behind his staff, beginner armor, and a headband of the mind as well as a bag of gold. ¡°What is... He... Died?¡± Liana said with her eyes open wide in horror. Darith was more surprised by what had killed him. It was the three boys from China, all above level 10 now, Jin being level 13. The three boys ran to the items that the dead player dropped and quickly picked them up, then began talking to each other and laughing, mocking the man''s screams. ¡°They were.. Those little kids. They¡¯re killing other players?¡± Darith said confused. ¡°Do you even know what you¡¯re doing!?¡± Liana shouted at them angrily. ¡°Haha, Niceu toou meetu. Hahaha.¡± Jin shouted back, and the three of them turned and walked away back into the heavy sands. ¡°Let¡¯s teach them a lesson!¡± Liana shouted as she started stomping forward angrily, rage filling her eyes, but Darith¡¯s panic immune passive helped him remain calm. ¡°No, we can¡¯t beat them. We can¡¯t even fight them, we aren¡¯t level 10 yet.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get level 10 and teach those brats a lesson!¡± She shouted back at him. ¡°No, they¡¯d probably win...¡± Darith said. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go back to the Oasis.¡± ¡°What? Why are we going back? We have quests here! They¡¯re only little kids!¡± She shouted. ¡°I¡¯m only a fat boy, and you¡¯re a girl in a wheelchair. It doesn¡¯t matter who they are outside the game, inside this game they are higher level and probably have higher stats than us, and even if they don¡¯t they outnumber us. I think... I¡¯ve been handling this game wrong.¡± Darith said, staring blankly at the wagon as Liana moved beside him. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I have been so busy trying to learn more about the game that I haven¡¯t been properly using what I already know... Too busy being amazed by how real this game seems, how it doesn¡¯t follow the rules of most games. It¡¯s life changing, beyond my wildest imagination. It¡¯s a gift to be able to play, to change your life, but if you¡¯re too focused on changing your life you¡¯ll be weaker than someone who plays it as a real game. Not just those kids, the monsters too... We had trouble with a level 9 boss, what¡¯ll happen at the next one?¡± Darith said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t even protect my friend in such an obvious danger area, I should have seen the danger coming from a mile away, such an obvious gameplay mechanic!¡± He shouted angrily while remembering the Coldrinn ruins. ¡°What do you mean, what are you talking about?¡± ¡°I mean to say that I¡¯ve been too busy having fun, I haven¡¯t been trying to be good at this game.¡± He said. ¡°Do you mean because of me?¡± Liana said with a sad expression. ¡°N-no, it¡¯s just, something happened before, and now this too. I feel weak in this game. I¡¯ve been following the flow of the game instead of focusing on the best way to play it, the best way to get stronger. This is the second time I¡¯m going to run away, because I know if we hit level 10 now then we will be destroyed. Maybe not by those kids, but surely other players that can be lurking in this world.¡± ¡°Then what should we do?¡± Liana asked curiously. ¡°We get stronger. You¡¯ve watched me play a lot of games... But this is the first time you can play a game yourself, so I won¡¯t make you follow me, but I¡¯m going to do some heavy training. It probably won¡¯t be fun, so...¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s do it together! You said we¡¯re going to be heroes together right? We¡¯ve got to become the strongest together. I¡¯ll be your healer.¡± Liana replied with a smile. ¡°Sorry for yelling at you, I¡¯ll do what you say! I made that promise and I¡¯ll keep it.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go back to the Oasis again.¡± Darith said, and she nodded at him. The two started walking back from once they came but they didn¡¯t get far before the Wagon driver turned it around and called out to them. ¡°Forget something at the Oasis? Hop on and we¡¯ll take you. Just let us know when you¡¯re ready to travel back the Forgotten Sands.¡± ¡°Perfect.¡± Darith said as they both hopped on. ¡°So what¡¯s your plan?¡± Liana asked. ¡°This game is well designed, whoever made it had a lot of experience in RPG¡¯s and Gaming, it covers a lot of aspects and is completely open, almost to a fault. I thought it odd that there were a lot of people in our world that were not level 1 despite not being a part of the game. Mom for example, she¡¯s level 6, so how is this possible?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Really, she¡¯s level 6?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Yeah... At first I thought it was related to their attributes. Me and you, we started out with pretty low attributes because we¡¯re weak in our normal bodies. We had intelligence and spirit because we used our minds, but... Nothing else. I thought maybe non-players had levels because they had higher stats, but the more we play the more it''s obvious that stats and levels are completely separate.¡± ¡°So how do non-players get level ups?¡± She asked. ¡°Doing quests, just like us. This game¡¯s ability to convert our lives into its game world is way beyond my understanding, but the other day I got a quest do to a girls homework. When I did it, she gave me 10 experience. It¡¯s not much experience when you consider that I need 1000 to reach level 10, but if you are doing quests throughout your entire life, then eventually you¡¯ll gain some levels. That¡¯s why adults are usually higher level than the kids at my school.¡± Darith said, Liana nodding. ¡°But we both started at level 1, does that mean we barely did any quests in our lives so far?¡± She asked.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°No, I think the game puts us back to level 1 when we start playing. But this doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯re equal with other level 1 players, it seems it''s just a measure of where we are in the games quests. At level 1 I was put into a dungeon that had much stronger monsters compared to this Oasis, but I could still handle them. I think the monsters were given to me to match my attributes, and I bet someone who started the game as a smarter, stronger player got put into an even harder starting area, but they were still level 1. So our level has absolutely nothing to with how strong we really are, it only gives us a bonus stat and more health, and so on.¡± Darith said, Liana listening intently. ¡°Once we reach level 5 we can invite other players, I think that is a mechanic in the game to make sure that the person inviting new players has a bit of knowledge, to tutor them on how it works. Then, at level 10 you can start fighting other players, maybe this is in place to prevent too many players in the game. This is all just a theory though, I can¡¯t explain everything yet as I¡¯ve not even seen a city guard so far.¡± ¡°It makes a bit of sense though... So what should we do?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Our natural passives allow us to raise our stats without gaining level experience. We also improve our skills by just using them, even if not on monsters. It¡¯s slower, but still effective. While levels allow us to move through the stages of the game, they don¡¯t govern our strength as much as raising our stats and skills individually do.¡± Darith said. ¡°So we need to train without killing monsters or doing quests?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Exactly. It drains our mana and energy, so the best place to train is...¡± ¡°Near one of those NPCs that can restore our stats!¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Then can¡¯t we start right here? The healing NPC is driving our wagon...¡± Liana said. ¡°I¡¯d rather do it near low level players, they won¡¯t catch on to what we¡¯re doing so easily. In the high level area where players are already attacking each other, if they start copying us it¡¯ll make our competition harder. This region we¡¯re in seems to be made for players with really low starting stats, no offense-¡± ¡°None taken.¡± Liana shrugged. ¡°So it¡¯s an ideal area to level up, but we¡¯ll have to make ourselves stronger first. I imagine more dungeons and region doors will appear for us outside too, the higher our stats get.¡± Darith said. ¡°I think I got it. You¡¯re starting to sound like you always do when we¡¯re playing games, telling me how everything is working while I¡¯m busy looking at the cute characters.¡± Liana smiled. ¡°I¡¯m serious now, let¡¯s become the strongest. I have to become the strongest, so that we don¡¯t have to run away anymore¡­ So that we can keep playing. I¡¯ve decided, we don¡¯t need to beat this game, but let''s protect the players who want to enjoy it.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to beat it...?¡± Liana asked. ¡°No... At least not yet. This game, this world, it¡¯s a chance for people like you and me to have a new life! It¡¯s really amazing! But it¡¯s also dangerous, there are player killers like we saw, or things worse than being killed...¡± Darith trailed off into thought. ¡°Before we start training, can you tell me what happened?¡± Liana asked while looking into Darith¡¯s eyes. ¡°What do you mean?¡± He said while looking away. ¡°I know something happened you¡¯re not telling me. If we¡¯re going to be a team you should tell me!¡± She said. He hesitated for a moment, leaving a long silence between the two. Eventually Liana sighed and leaned back thinking he wouldn¡¯t answer. ¡°Yesterday I met another player in the Frozen Caverns I told you about. He was looking for his wife, so we teamed up and searched everywhere for her. We beat a boss together, a really dangerous one, worse than that scorpion. I got these gloves, he let me take them.... But... Well, we found his wife and a bunch of other players. They weren¡¯t dead, they were trapped in Ice, frozen, unable to move or leave the dungeon, do anything. The game has them trapped inside the dungeon!¡± Darith said, Liana looking frightened. ¡°That can happen in this game?¡± Liana shivered. ¡°Yeah... That¡¯s why I said it was too dangerous. We got attacked, and my friend... Aaron, he was turned into Ice right in front of me by a ridiculously strong monster. An Ice Wraith, it was above level 160... I could only run away. It was my fault, I should¡¯ve remembered, we were warned it was a high level area.¡± Darith said while clenching his fist. ¡°That¡¯s why I have to stop messing around, I have to get stronger and get those people out. Otherwise they will be trapped there forever.¡± Darith said. ¡°Okay!¡± Liana said as she stood up confidently on the wagon. ¡°We¡¯ll do it, we¡¯ll become the strongest and we¡¯ll save those people together! We¡¯ll protect other players too, so that they can enjoy this awesome game!¡± Liana said while trying to look cool, but the moving wagon caused her to lose her balance and she fell back down. Darith smiled, letting out a little chuckle at her. ¡°I¡¯m glad I¡¯m not alone in this game anymore.¡± Darith smiled. ¡°The crippled healer and the fat wizard!¡± Liana cheered, putting her fist forward for Darith to bump it, and he did. ¡°Your high spirit stat is starting to show a bit.¡± ¡°So¡¯s your intelligence stat!¡± She retorted, and they both laughed at each other. ¡°We¡¯re here! Let us know when you¡¯re ready to travel back to the Forgotten Sands.¡± The Wagon driver said as it came to a complete stop. The two hopped off and looked around at all the level 1 players asking each other questions, trying to figure out the game. Darith and Liana both stretched their muscles. ¡°Before we get started, remember that this game gives you new skills based on what you can think of, so let¡¯s try to cover our weaknesses by being as creative as possible.¡± Darith said. ¡°Got it, think of the cutest spells possible.¡± She smiled. ¡°Ready?¡± He replied, and she nodded. ¡°MultiFirebolt 10!¡± Darith shouted, pointing his spells to the sky. ¡°Restore!¡± Liana shouted. Several new players looked to them, but they paid no mind.
[Elise - Siblings] After the final bell had rung, Elise quietly packed up her grade 9 science textbook into her backpack and threw it over her shoulder, heading out of the classroom ahead of most of the other students. She was quiet and kept to herself, avoiding interacting with any of them as she entered the busy school halls and made her way to the dance club room. She was the first to arrive as usual and sat on a bench off to the side of the room to put her bag down and pulled out her text book for science, then her own notebook as well. She opened the notebook first to double check what homework she was given by the teacher before setting the textbook down beside herself on the bench, opening it to the correct page and then glancing at the first set of questions. As she read through the text to search for answers she began chewing on the end of her mechanical pencil, a habit she was trying to break but usually didn¡¯t notice she was doing. It only came to her attention she was doing it when the doors of the room opened and a boy walked in wearing tights. ¡°You¡¯re not changed into your outfit for practicing again today?¡± The boy asked as he glanced at her before he began warming up in the middle of the room. ¡°Nope.¡± Elise replied without looking up from her book. ¡°Why not?¡± He asked. ¡°Got to get my grades up.¡± She replied dismissively. ¡°Maybe I could help, is that science?¡± He asked as he started walking towards her. ¡°Yes, but no thanks. I can figure it out myself.¡± She said coldly. ¡°Alright, just trying to help.¡± He shrugged back. ¡°You should try and be nicer like your sister sometimes.¡± He replied, a seemingly innocent remark he made, but to Elise it was a sharp jab in her side. ¡°I¡¯d rather not.¡± She responded. ¡°Do you mind?¡± ¡°Right right, you need to focus on the grade 9 science homework.¡± He replied with sarcasm, she just let out an annoyed sigh though as the door opened and her sister Karin walked in with her friends. ¡°Studying during club activities again? You¡¯re taking what mom said a little too seriously.¡± Karin commented as she walked past her sister, her and her friends also in tights ready to warm up. ¡°And you¡¯re not taking it seriously at all.¡± ¡°Sure I am. Tim?¡± Karin asked her friend. ¡°Tom.¡± Her friend replied. ¡°Tom will be here with my homework done any minute now.¡± She replied with a smile. ¡°Getting guys to do your homework for you isn¡¯t the same as actually raising your grade yourself, you aren¡¯t learning anything. You¡¯ll just end up failing the tests.¡± Elise replied. Annoyed at her sister''s attitude, she decided to stop trying to read and look up at her. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be jealous that boys want to do things for me. If I asked nice enough, I¡¯m sure they¡¯d help me study for any tests too. Maybe if you got rid of those stupid blue streaks in your hair then someone might be willing to help you as well.¡± Karin said as she flicked up one of the blue hair streaks Elise had in her hair. ¡°I¡¯d rather learn to do things by myself then have to keep relying on everyone else.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± Karin replied, now sounding irritated herself. ¡°Nothing, you¡¯re happy being moms pretty little ballerina, but I¡¯m not.¡± Elise replied as more dance students entered the room and began their warm-ups. ¡°That¡¯s because you can¡¯t be, at least I¡¯m good at something.¡± Karin replied coldly, turning from her sister with a mean smile. ¡°You know what, I¡¯m going to find somewhere else to study.¡± Elise said to herself in frustration, and started packing her books back into her bag. She then got up with her backpack over shoulder and started heading out of the room, but she was stopped however by an older lady entering. ¡°Ah, not practicing with us again today Elise?¡± The lady asked. ¡°Sorry Mrs. Yimmen, I¡¯m not feeling well again today.¡± Elise replied as she walked around the dance instructor and through the doorway. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to tell mom you¡¯re skipping dance class now.¡± Karin called to her from inside the room. Hearing this, something inside Elise snapped. She let her bag slide down her arm and turned around, stomping towards her sister. Her sister had a sudden expression of panic, backing away as other students also stepped back and moved out of Elise¡¯s way. As she got closer, Elise clenched her right hand into a tight fist and pulled her arm back, preparing to swing at her sister in anger, but just before she could hit, someone grabbed her arm and stopped the swing. ¡°Whoa, whoa, calm down there.¡± The boy from earlier said as he held Elise back and Karin¡¯s face changed from scared to confident. ¡°I hate you!¡± Elise snapped at her as she shook her arms free of the boy, the rest of the class completely silent and watching the scene. ¡°Elise, that¡¯s no behavior for this club. Sick or not, I want you out of here this instant.¡± Mrs. Yimmen commanded her. ¡°Fine by me, I¡¯m tired of stupid ballet anyway.¡± Elise retorted to the instructor, turning and stomping out of the room. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Elise heard the boy ask Karin as she was leaving. ¡°Y-yeah, I¡¯m fine. Thank you, you saved me.¡± Karin replied in her fake, polite voice. Elise slammed the door shut behind her as she left and picked up her bag. The halls were mostly empty now, but anyone left in them turned to look at the source of the slamming sound only to see Elise¡¯s angry expression. ¡°What?¡± She shouted at the strangers, causing them to stop staring and go back to what they were doing in the halls. She took a deep breath, then started making her way to the school library. Inside was mostly empty, save for a few other people sitting at tables and reading books. The librarian was nowhere to be found. Elise found a table to herself and sat down, unpacking her books once more to start on her homework, then putting in her earphones from her phone and navigating it to her music. She found her favorite hip hop playlist and started listening to it, her mind clearing of everything to do with her sister and mother. She had trouble understanding what the text was talking about at first, but after reading through it a few times she got the hang of it and quickly wrote her answers to the questions while nodding her head along to her music. After a good 6 songs later she had finished the last question and was in a good mood. She started tapping her foot to the music as she packed her books up and tucked her chair in, then walked with a rhythm to her step that matched her music, spinning and performing dance moves for fun with her eyes closed, then she slid herself up across the top of the table to land on the other side of it and did a quick spin before making more hip hop-style dance moves with her eyes closed, completely engulfed in the beat of the music until she felt a light tap on her shoulder, causing her to open her eyes and spin around, while simultaneously pulling one ear phone out. ¡°Yes?¡± She said loudly, just now noticing that everyone in the library was staring at her. ¡°Even though it looks like you¡¯re enjoying yourself, I¡¯ll have to ask you to not dance in the library.¡± The librarian whispered to her with a smile. Elise giggled from embarrassment as she realized what she was doing. ¡°Sorry.¡± She whispered back politely. ¡°No problem dear.¡± The kind old librarian replied. Elise then turned and continued heading out of the library. She didn¡¯t dance anymore save for a slight skip in her step and her hand tapping on her leg. As she got out of the library though, one of the other students who had been reading in it with her ran to catch up with her while stuffing his study notes into his backpack. ¡°Hey, wait up!¡± He called, causing Elise to stop and turn to the boy just outside of the library. He was handsome, well built, she recognized him from one of the sports teams but she couldn¡¯t remember which. ¡°What''s up?¡± She asked. ¡°I saw your dancing... You¡¯re Karin¡¯s little sister, right?¡± He asked with a smile. Elise replied with an elongated sigh, then slapped her hand upward to knock all of his papers out of his hands and into the air. ¡°Nope, I¡¯m Elise!¡± She replied with a devious smile, then spun around and continued walking down the hall. ¡°What the hell¡¯s your problem! Stupid bi-.¡± The last word was cut off for Elise as she put her second earphones back in her ear to listen to her music, then continued dancing her way down the hall. Chapter 14: Boot Camp ¡°Keep us alive as long as you can, then we¡¯ll switch places.¡± Darith said as he and Liana did push ups side by side while a small oasis hatchling snapped at their legs. They did their best to not let the attacks of the tiny turtles affect them while they trained their strength and Endurance. ¡°Restore All!¡± Liana shouted, causing a large green circle to form above her head, and after a short delay she healed both herself and Darith for almost half the amount of her normal heal. ¡°Firebolt.¡± Darith said, aiming his bolt straight ahead into a pool of water using the motion of his eyes rather than his hands. His Spell mastery was raising ranks almost as quickly as Multicast and Firebolt, but he wasn¡¯t using Waterbolt or Scald much yet. ¡°Say when you¡¯re out of mana or energy, I¡¯ll kill the turtles and we can head back to the healing NPC. ¡°Okay... One or two more casts I think. Oh! A point in constitution!¡± Liana cheered. She casted two more Restore All¡¯s before Darith turned to aim his Firebolts at the turtles attacking them. ¡°This feels great! I mean, I can really feel it inside my body.¡± Liana said as she stood up and stretched, looking at her arms and legs. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not just stats, our bodies are really getting stronger. The game makes us that way, check it out!¡± Darith said as he flexed his tiny nemothyne arm to reveal a bit of muscle. ¡°Ooh, I wonder if it gives you muscle and strength with your real body?¡± Liana asked. ¡°I¡¯ll have to try when we go back home for dinner... Speaking of... Uh oh, we¡¯ve gotta go back! Mom is going to be home any minute now! Return!¡± Darith shouted, beginning his cast of white circles. ¡°Return.¡± Liana copied him, though she was momentarily startled by the many white circles forming around her. After 10 seconds they both re-appeared on the street where the door to the desert had been. ¡°Uh, damn it!¡± Darith panicked, pressing buttons through his menu quickly to switch back to his human form. When he did, he released a flash of light, causing Liana to panic as she pointed at two adults walking on the sidewalk right beside them, but they acted as though they could see nothing. ¡°What? They can¡¯t see us?¡± Darith asked as he let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Look, we have a status effect!¡±
Return:Fading slowly back into your world over 10 seconds.
¡°Oh phew, that¡¯s lucky. I hadn¡¯t noticed that status before.¡± Darith said as he moved to the sidewalk with Liana. They were not far from their house and could see the driveway empty, but just then a familiar car drove past them and pulled into their driveway. ¡°Oh no, your mom!¡± Liana whispered to him as she pointed at the car. ¡°Uhhh, try and sneak in the back door, I¡¯ll distract her! Go, fast!¡± Darith said as he ran forward, Liana then followed after but headed into the backyard of the neighbors house as they got closer. ¡°What¡¯re you doing outside? And who was that girl you were walking with?¡± Kristen asked as she stepped out of her car. ¡°Oh, it was just a friend, she asked me to stop by and uh, I was helping her with something... From school! She wanted help with her homework.¡± Darith stumbled his words, but Kristen seemed in a hurry. ¡°Is that the girl you helped yesterday?¡± She asked as she got to their front door. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± He replied anxiously. ¡°She looked oddly familiar... Hm. I thought you¡¯d be at home with Liana, did she get tired of your game?¡± Kristen asked as she opened the door and walked inside. ¡°Liana, I¡¯m home!¡± She called as she took her shoes off and Darith followed her in. ¡°N-no, she was just tired and wanted to sleep a bit.¡± ¡°Okay. Can you put some water on the stove? I¡¯ve gotta use the toilet real bad.¡± His mom said, and without waiting for a response she walked into the washroom and shut the door. ¡°Su-sure!¡± Darith replied, then glanced to the back door to see Liana knocking on their glass sliding door and pointing at the handle. Darith remembered it was locked and quickly ran across the house to unlock it. ¡°Thanks... Back to my body I guess.¡± Liana said as she walked to her wheelchair and sat in it, the excitement of not getting caught was now washed away by the reality of her body. ¡°Only for dinner, then we¡¯ve got to get back to training.¡± Darith said to try and cheer her up and she nodded, pressed buttons in her menu and re-appeared after a flash of light as her regular self. As Darith headed to the kitchen to put a pot of water on the stove, Liana sat in her chair moving her right arm. ¡°It feels different...¡± She said as she wiggled her fingers, but as she tried to move other parts, nothing responded. She turned to look down the hall to see the bathroom door closed and Darith out of sight around the corner in the kitchen, then moved her wheelchair using the control on her right armrest so that she was out of view of the hall. ¡°Restore.¡± She whispered, and a green circle appeared in front of her right hand. After a few seconds it rotated around her body, but had no effect. She then lifted her right hand to her mouth, held it there for a moment of hesitation, then bit it as hard as she could.
Skill Gained: Bite (?)
She watched her health drop by 3. The red mark it left behind was gone within a few seconds, as was the pain. Darith then re-appeared in the room and sat on the couch beside her, letting out a relaxed sigh as they heard the toilet flush and the bathroom door opening seconds later. ¡°So, is Liana still sleeping?¡± Kristen called as she moved to the kitchen. ¡°Nope, I¡¯m awake!¡± Liana replied back across the house. ¡°And? How was it? Was it fun?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°Yeah...¡± She said as her voice trailed off for a moment. ¡°Yeah it¡¯s the best game ever!¡± She said excitedly, Darith smiling at her. ¡°Good, but this was a one time thing Darith, you¡¯re back to school on Monday. Don¡¯t forget our deal.¡± She called back. ¡°I got it.¡± He replied. ¡°I¡¯ll make you something extra tonight, being such a good little schmucky poo.¡± She said in a babying voice as the sounds of pans and dishes rattling filled the kitchen. ¡°Yeah yeah.¡± He replied reluctantly. ¡°Hey, Darith... Do you think maybe there¡¯s a spell that could fix my body?¡± She asked him hopeful. ¡°I¡¯m not sure... Maybe? I don¡¯t know how well spells work on our real bodies.¡± Darith whispered back. ¡°I don¡¯t think we can get cuts or burns or broken bones, because our wounds disappear right away...¡± Liana commented. ¡°Yeah, all damage goes to our health points instead of our bodies. And look, I just checked.¡± Darith said as he lifted his flabby arm and tried to flex his muscles, but nothing in his arm moved. ¡°All that work but no change... It¡¯s like my body is going to stay the way it was when I started the game.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Yeah... I guess it¡¯s probably not possible then.¡± She sighed. ¡°Well, we don¡¯t know for sure yet, we haven¡¯t tried anything. We don¡¯t know if the game lets our abilities even affect things not a part of the game. I haven¡¯t tried shooting a fireball at something in the real world yet.¡± ¡°Do you think maybe I can use Restore on people to help them get better?¡± ¡°Maybe, but then you¡¯d have to do it without them noticing, and we need an injured person first...¡± Darith replied. ¡°What about Kristen?¡± Liana replied. ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯s injured right now...¡± Darith replied. ¡°Well, we can try giving her a cut maybe?¡± Liana asked. ¡°We¡¯re not going to cut mom just to see if we can heal it.¡± Darith replied quickly. ¡°Maybe an animal then?¡± Liana suggested. ¡°We¡¯re not going to- let¡¯s just try my Firebolt first instead of going around cutting things.¡± Darith replied as he stood up and went to the backyard door, opening it. He took a glance back to make sure his mom wasn¡¯t in the hallway watching him, then looked down at the ground.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Firebolt.¡± He whispered, and after a short delay the ball of fire shot down into the dirt sending tiny pieces of grass and earth upward, leaving a small crater the size of a fist. ¡°It worked!¡± Darith whispered back to her. ¡°That¡¯s just the ground, try something else!¡± Liana called back in an excited whisper. ¡°Okaay...¡± Darith said as he looked to see if his mom was there again, then looked around for something to shoot a Firebolt at. He found a newspaper on their living room table and grabbed a page out, then quickly put it on the dirt in the backyard. ¡°Firebolt.¡± He whispered again after double checking for his mom. The firebolt hit the center of the newspaper and left a hole in it as well as setting the rest on fire. The Newspaper quickly burned up and turned to black ash as Darith and Liana watched excitedly. ¡°It worked!¡± Darith whispered back with excitement. ¡°What¡¯re you doing in the backyard?¡± Kristen asked with her head poking into the hallway of their house from the kitchen. ¡°Oh nothing, just getting a bit of fresh air.¡± Darith replied nervously. ¡°Close the screen door before bugs start flying in.¡± Kristen replied, her head disappearing back into the kitchen. ¡°Okay.¡± Darith replied, shutting the door then huddling back to Liana with excitement. ¡°It worked, that means we can use our spells on anything... Like our spells are real...¡± ¡°So I can heal people?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Well, maybe.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Why maybe?¡± She said with a frown. ¡°My firebolt is a bit different than your restore spell. It creates fire to burn enemies and do damage, but your heal spell is something used on strictly our health bars. Normal people don¡¯t have health bars to redirect their damage, they get real cuts and bruises. I don¡¯t think that the restore spell will work on anything like that, only our health bars.¡± Darith replied as he thought about it. ¡°So I¡¯ll need to learn a spell that can heal injuries instead of health bars.¡± Liana said. ¡°Yeah... We don¡¯t know if something like that exists though, injuries are outside of the game world. People in the game don¡¯t get injured, they only lose health, so it wouldn¡¯t have a reason to let you learn a spell to heal injuries.¡± Darith said. ¡°What about my remove poison spell?¡± She asked. ¡°It works on our status effects that say they are poison... We don¡¯t know if it will work on real poisons inside people.¡± ¡°So we just have to-¡± Liana started saying, but Darith stopped her. ¡°Before you suggest we poison my mom, I¡¯m going to say no.¡± Darith replied with raised brows. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be your mom, it ca-¡± ¡°No. First, it¡¯s too risky, so until we learn about the City Guard system you shouldn¡¯t try it. Second, if you really want to try it then you can do it on really sick people at mom¡¯s hospital, I guess... But only if you¡¯re absolutely sure no one sees you. Until then let¡¯s just leave it a mystery and focus on training.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Okay.¡± Liana replied but with visible disappointment. ¡°For now let¡¯s think about how we can improve ourselves for combat. Our biggest problem is our mana. My Firebolt is going down in cost slowly, but your heal stopped going down in mana cost at 10. Energy too. There¡¯s got to be some sort of skill to help us restore it in a fight so that we don¡¯t just drink potions all day.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Hmm, maybe something like meditating?¡± Liana suggested. ¡°A few games we played had meditate skills in them.¡± ¡°Not a bad idea, we can start from there...¡± Darith said, then looked down the hall from the living room. ¡°How long until Dinner¡¯s ready?¡± Darith asked. ¡°About 15 minutes, and no playing that game at the table.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°Okay!¡± Darith called back. ¡°Let¡¯s try learning something like meditate while we wait.¡± He whispered to Liana and she nodded. Darith then sat cross legged on the couch and put his hands on his knees, closing his eyes. Liana did her best to imitate by putting her right hand on her lap. ¡°I¡¯m not feeling anything.¡± Liana whispered. ¡°Try focusing really hard on your mana or something, imagine the bar filling up. ¡°Okay...¡± Liana replied. Darith then squinted his eyes as if to meditate harder, but still nothing. It went quiet between the two with the only sounds in the house being made by Kristen. ¡°In games they usually say you have to clear your mind to meditate.¡± Darith said. ¡°Right, clear my mind... Don¡¯t think of anything... Hummmm.¡± Liana said, carrying a quiet hum now. She went on for a good 10 seconds with it until Darith interrupted her. ¡°You don¡¯t have to hum.¡± He whispered at her. ¡°It helps clear my mind.¡± ¡°It distracts me though!¡± He replied. ¡°Hum with me then. Hummm.¡± Liana went on. Darith hesitated for a moment then tried humming as well, only quiet enough so that Kristen wouldn¡¯t hear them. A good minute went by with nothing happening, until finally Liana got a notification. ¡°Hey, a new spell!¡± She said excitedly, breaking Darith from his concentration.
Mind, Body, Spirit - Rank 1 Meditating for a short period of time will grant you increased synergy with your body and spirit, and grant you a calm mind. Cast:10s Duration:30m Effect 1:+1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Intelligence, +1 Spirit Effect 2:Immune to Mental status effects. Command:Mind Body Spirit (Change)(?)
Liana read it out loud of Darith. ¡°It¡¯s not exactly good for mana restoring, but that¡¯s still strong! I can even see it on your status!¡± Darith pointed at her health bar above her head. ¡°It has a white border, I guess white means good and red means bad like my poison had. How¡¯d you do that?¡± Darith asked her excitedly. ¡°Just clear your mind!¡± She replied. ¡°Okay, let me try a bit more.¡± Darith said, closing his eyes and continuing the humming as Liana watched for a bit while messing around in her menu. ¡°Dinner¡¯s ready!¡± Kristen¡¯s mom called, breaking his concentration. ¡°Ugh, still can¡¯t get it!¡± ¡°Clear your mind better.¡± Liana shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m trying.¡± He replied grumpily as he stood up and started moving her chair to the kitchen. ¡°Ah, Macaroni and cheese!¡± Darith said as the scent of dinner filled his nose, hurrying Liana along into the kitchen so that he could sit down and start eating. ¡°I figured you¡¯d be happy.¡± Kristen smiled. ¡°And I trust you cleaned your room?¡± She asked with a smirk. ¡°Ah- uhm, I was going to do that tonight.¡± Darith replied with his mouth full. ¡°You better. I¡¯ve got long shifts this weekend so we can have some extra cash this month, can I trust Liana with you?¡± She asked. ¡°Y-yeah, of course!¡± Darith replied. ¡°That is of course if you want to spend the weekend with this lady killer.¡± Kristen said, looking to Liana now. ¡°Lady killer?¡± Liana asked with a raised brow. ¡°I saw him walking back with a pretty cute girl just now.¡± Kristen said, gossiping to Liana. ¡°A c-c-cute girl? You thought she was cute?¡± Liana replied as her face started going red. ¡°Well not as cute as us of course.¡± Kristen shrugged. ¡°So, want to hang with gamer boy? Or would you like to sit with the nurses and have fun with me?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°I¡¯ll stay home, this game is really fun!¡± Liana smiled. ¡°Alright then, but don¡¯t just play the whole time, I don¡¯t want you to turn into Darith who only knows how to play games.¡± ¡°H-hey, I know more than just playing games!¡± He protested. ¡°Yes, yes of course you do my schnuckums.¡± Kristen replied sarcastically. She finished eating quickly and put the dishes in the sink. ¡°Oh, dishes too, do them. I¡¯m cashing in early, long day. Have a good night kids.¡± She stretched then headed up the stairs. Liana and Darith listened intently to her footsteps as they started eating faster and faster to fill their stomachs. Darith finished before Liana and hastily washed the dishes. Once Liana finished, she made sure Kristen was in her bedroom and then switched bodies to help Darith do the dishes. ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted to help clean them.¡± She smiled with enthusiasm. ¡°Really? Then you¡¯ll clean them from now on?¡± Darith asked excitedly. ¡°Not that badly.¡± She chuckled. After they were done and Liana had put her wheelchair away in her room, Darith opened the door back to the desert. They found themselves in their game bodies back by the NPC¡¯s with even more newer players now. Most were ranged from level 1-5 and a lot of them seemed to be forming groups, talking to each other about the game. Darith picked up on some conversations of people discussing where the game came from or how it was possible, another player talked of swearing he had seen this exact area in a game he¡¯d played before, but Liana and Darith didn¡¯t say a word. They walked calmly through the new players right into the shade of the Oasis, getting several stares of aww as they spotted Darith¡¯s level 9 health bar. ¡°E-excuse me, but how did you reach level 9 so quickly?¡± A tiny male Nemothyne asked with black short ears and a black tail. ¡°There¡¯s no secret to it.¡± Darith smiled at him and looked to see his name, Sam, a level one. A lot of other players walked in close to listen as they saw Darith stop to answer. ¡°Use your fists and feet to kill the low monsters until you can finish your first quest, pick a weapon and then use it to learn some new skills! I don¡¯t know much about the game, but it seems like the skills are limited only by your imagination.¡± Darith replied with a smile. ¡°Whoa, so the starter quest gives a weapon?¡± ¡°He said you can just punch monsters to beat them?¡± ¡°Any skill I can think of, wow!¡± Different people around them said. ¡°Uh, can you tell us how to get out of here? Some of us have been trying to figure it out for awhile now. If I don¡¯t get back soon my husband will worry...¡± A tall female elf with long blue hair asked. ¡°If the door you used to get here is closed you¡¯ll have to get the region key, that should teach you the return skill. Just do his first quest, he should give it to you. Then you can shout RETURN! And don¡¯t move for 10 seconds, it¡¯ll take you right back to where you came in.¡± ¡°Oh so that¡¯s it!¡± Some people whispered as Liana turned and smiled at the people asking questions. ¡°Thanks so much! You¡¯re a real savior!¡± One of them said. ¡°Come on guys, let¡¯s go get that Oasis water for the NPC!¡± Others cheered, and a large number of the players started heading into the trees towards the water. ¡°That was really nice of you.¡± Liana said. ¡°Well it¡¯s pretty hard to figure this game¡¯s basics out, the least we can do is share a bit.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to our training then, we should try letting a stronger monster hit us this time.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Liana nodded. ¡°Does that mean you are giving up on learning meditate?¡± She asked. ¡°N-no, I¡¯ll just try it later, there¡¯s too many other things on my mind to get a clear head. First, I want to understand how mana works in this game. I think if we can learn to call upon it without a spell we could turn it into whatever we want, just like we can use our bodies to make skills.¡± ¡°Hmm, you really think that¡¯d be possible?¡± Liana asked. ¡°It has to be! I think it''s related to our mind or body somehow, I mean intelligence affects our spells, andconstitution and spirit affects mana. We just need to learn where it¡¯s coming from.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Ask the game designers.¡± Liana replied sarcastically. ¡°If only we had a clue who designed the game. All we know is that it¡¯s called Broken Realm, and I¡¯ve never heard anything about it before. Something this big you¡¯d think would get announced by the company who made it, but they want to keep it as unknown as possible. It¡¯s probably made illegally.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s definitely made illegally.¡± Liana replied. ¡°First priority is to break those people out of the ice that are trapped in the game. I can only imagine what it feels like to be frozen, or what their families are thinking.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Ah, there, a scorpion. Ready to start?¡± Darith asked her. ¡°Yup!¡± She nodded back. Chapter 15: Into the Rabbit Hole ¡°89, 90, 91...¡± Gabriel said between heavy breaths. Up and down, up and down as he lifted himself up on a steel pull-up bar hanging in his garage. Shirtless, covered in sweat, with music blaring throughout the concrete floored room. ¡°99, 100.¡± He finished, dropping to the ground and stretching his arms a bit, shaking them and taking a few steps around. He then dropped to the ground and started doing pushups while his mother, Mrs. Estrada swung the door open and called out his name. The music was too loud though, he couldn¡¯t hear her. She called again but he just continued doing push-ups, until finally Mrs. Estrada turned his music off, getting his attention instantly. ¡°What is it ma?¡± Gabriel asked as he got back up to his feet, breathing heavily. He walked over to grab a towel and wipe sweat off, taking a drink of water. ¡°David isn¡¯t home yet, do you know where he¡¯s gone?¡± Mrs. Estrada asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, probably with one of his friends?¡± Gabriel shrugged. ¡°Could you call him for me to make sure he¡¯s safe?¡± Mrs. Estrada pleaded. ¡°Of course, ma.¡± He replied reluctantly. ¡°Oh thank you.¡± She smiled as he walked over to his phone resting on a small table in the Garage. He quickly dialed his little brother and put the phone to his ear while his mother watched. ¡°David? Where are you, it''s late and ma is worried.¡± ¡°I¡¯m okay, don¡¯t worry. Mendez is going to show me how I can get a new laptop!¡± David replied excitedly. ¡°You¡¯re at Mendez¡¯s place?¡± Gabriel said, his tone changing instantly. ¡°Oh, what a relief.¡± Mrs. Estrada said after hearing this, and she left the garage. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s awesome here, you should see all the honeys!¡± David cheered. ¡°Put Mendez on the phone.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°I think he¡¯s busy right now though.¡± ¡°Put him on the phone right now.¡± Gabriel shouted angrily. ¡°Aite, chill, one sec. Mendez!¡± David called out. ¡°Mendez, it¡¯s my bro!¡±. After this, Gabriel could hear some muffled shuffling sounds as the phone was handed off. ¡°Whats up Gabe?¡± Mendez said in high spirits. ¡°What the hell¡¯s my little bro doing at your place?¡± Gabriel shouted at him. ¡°Yo, relax, he came here on his own.¡± Mendez replied. ¡°I don¡¯t care why he¡¯s there, send him back now.¡± Gabriel ordered him. ¡°I aint his boss, if he wants to stay, he can stay. Maybe you should come too, see what you are missing. We celebratin¡¯ the message we sent Tai¡¯s boys, like you said.¡± ¡°Put my brother back on the phone.¡± Gabriel ordered. ¡°Aite homes.¡± Mendez said, followed by more phone rustling. ¡°You should come, it¡¯s awesome here.¡± David said excitedly. ¡°You get your ass home right now.¡± Gabriel ordered his brother. ¡°No way man, this party is crazy, I might even get laid tonight!¡± David shouted excitedly. ¡°David, ma is worried, you get your ass home this instant.¡± Gabriel shouted. ¡°You¡¯re not the boss of me man! Don¡¯t be such a buzz kill. Lemme have some fun for once instead of always tellin¡¯ me what to do!¡± David replied, and before Gabriel could get another word in, David hung up the phone. Gabriel instantly spun around and hit his punching bag with his empty hand as hard as he could, shouting in anger. He took a deep breath and stomped across the garage in his sweatpants, leaving into the house and heading to the front door. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re heading out?¡± Mrs. Estrada asked. ¡°Yeah ma, I¡¯m going to pick up David, be back in a bit.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Alright, can you grab some milk on your way back? We¡¯re almost out.¡± She replied. ¡°Of course, ma.¡± He replied as he threw a jacket on so that he wasn¡¯t topless and put on a pair of socks and shoes, then stomped out of the house. He then broke into a jog in the direction of Mendez¡¯ place, running through the suburban neighborhood under the night sky. Though it was late, the streets were still noisy with all sorts of people out on their porches playing music or talking loudly. The houses were worn down and the cars parked around all looked old and bought second hand. After about 10 minutes of jogging he saw Mendez¡¯ place with more than 10 cars parked in the driveway and on the street. All the lights were on and there was loud music playing, but that was it, no talking, and not a person in sight, or so Gabriel thought at first. It was strange, it made him worried, and even stranger was when he spotted a tall white man standing across the street from the house wearing a black suit and black sunglasses. The man was standing still like a statue staring at the house, looking like some sort of secret agent. Gabriel ignored him for the moment and headed to the house. As he got to the porch he spotted several people lying on the ground, none of them moving. ¡°Yo, what happened, you guys alright?¡± He asked, kneeling down to check them. None of them were bleeding. ¡°Yall pass out or something? The heck is everyone doing?¡± He said, kneeling next to a guy he recognized and trying to shake him awake, but as he did he spotted a burn mark on his shirt around the shoulder area. The guy didn¡¯t react to being shaken, worrying Gabriel further as he moved his shirt to the side to see under the burn hole, revealing a red burn on the skin of his shoulder surrounded by black marks. He then moved his hand over the guys mouth and nose to feel for breathing. Nothing. No air was going in or out. Gabriel tried to check a pulse, but he couldn¡¯t find one. He then stood up from kneeling, realizing that this guy was dead. He glanced around more carefully now at the other bodies. All of them had burn marks in their clothing in different spots, all of them completely still. Panic filled him, adrenaline rushed through his veins as he ran into the house, the music still obnoxiously loud. He quickly shut off the stereo while stepping over many bodies of different people, men and women, all completely still, all dead, all with burn marks somewhere on their bodies. ¡°David!¡± Gabriel shouted. ¡°Mendez! David!¡± He repeated. No response, just silence. He quickly but carefully walked around the house, but David was nowhere to be found on the first floor. He then made his way up the stairs, avoiding bodies even on the second floor. They were holding drinks, some of them smiling, eyes open. It didn¡¯t make sense, but Gabriel wasn¡¯t trying to make sense of it, he was desperately looking for his little brother. Then he saw him, laying in the hallway on the second floor. He was holding hands with a tall girl, laying on his stomach on the carpet, eyes opened wide with his face turned towards the staircase as Gabriel reached the top. ¡°David!¡± Gabriel shouted, dropping to the ground and rolling over his little brother onto his back. He spotted the burn mark on him as well, on his leg. ¡°David can you hear me?¡± he shouted, checking for a pulse. Nothing. He quickly pulled out his cell phone as his eyes started to swell up, dialing 911. ¡°I got an emergency! Everyone¡¯s dead, my little brother, he¡¯s not breathing, I need ambulances, I need a lot of ambulances!¡± He shouted in panic to the operator as she asked for an address. He quickly gave it, then dropped the phone and put his mouth to his brothers to breath air in, then started chest compressions. He hadn¡¯t been trained in CPR, but he saw it enough times on TV to try it. He pressed on his little brothers chest a couple times, then breathed more air into his mouth. ¡°Come on David, come on!¡± He shouted angrily, pressing his chest again multiple times. Hoping, praying for his little brother to wake up. Nothing happened though, no movement. He glanced around for a moment to see all the other dead bodies around him, then bent down again to breathe air into his brother. Again, he pressed on his chest as tears started streaming down his cheek. ¡°WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!¡± He shouted in a rage. ¡°I WAS TALKING TO YOU 10 MINUTES AGO!¡± He added, pounding down on his chest to try and start his heart again, but it was futile. No matter how many times he tried, he couldn¡¯t revive his brother. He kept trying, over and over, until he could hear the faint sound of sirens from outside the house.
[Jaese - Into the Rabbit Hole] ¡°Kavricida!¡± The cloaked man screeched. Jaese couldn¡¯t see him shout it, but he heard it clearly ringing through his ears, then he watched as Chris dropped to the ground in front of him, landing on black darkness. He and Chris were surrounded in darkness now, and the two locked eyes. Chris looked in horror as the chunk of ice stuck out of his chest, he reached his hand out for help, and as Jaese reached out to grab his hand, he vanished, and instead appeared the cloaked stranger. ¡°Insect.¡± He shouted, then a chunk of ice appeared and flew straight at Jaese¡¯s head. Just as it connected, he awoke, shooting up in his bed breathing heavily. ¡°A dream...¡± he mumbled to himself, hearing a faint sound echoing through his apartment. A light ringing coming from his cell phone that was buried under his uniform he had thrown on the floor. As he got out of the bed to answer it, he felt a stinging in his cheek. It was two nights ago now that he got punched, and he spent most of the previous day at the hospital watching over Chris. He¡¯d survived his second round of surgery, and he only had one left before he¡¯d be out of danger. Thinking this, Jaese felt a bit relieved. He thought as long as Chris would get up, he¡¯d get answers to what happened. The blood tests they got back on him yesterday only said what he already believed, that there was nothing in his system. Still, he couldn¡¯t explain anything. He couldn¡¯t feel anything but doubt. As he picked up his phone to answer it he briefly checked the display to see it was Arnold. ¡°What is it?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°It¡¯s about Chris.¡± Arnold replied, speaking in a tone that instantly stabbed into Jaese¡¯s chest. ¡°What about him?¡± Jaese asked nervously. ¡°He uh... He didn¡¯t make it through the night.¡± Arnold said. Numb, weak, his fingers lost grip on the phone and it dropped to the ground. Arnold spoke more, but Jaese couldn¡¯t hear it. He then dropped to his knees as it sunk into him. He couldn¡¯t believe it, it didn¡¯t seem real. Chris, dead? Chris didn¡¯t die, he was the tough one. All of this stuff happening, it couldn¡¯t be real. All of it had to be fake, just some sort of illusion or hallucination, right? He had to see him, he thought. He regained himself as best he could. He quickly got dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt, grabbed his keys and headed out of the door, rushing out of the building to his car, only to see the two officers watching over him get out of their cars and walk over to him slowly. ¡°Hey, sorry about hitting you...¡± The aggressive one spoke, but Jaese didn¡¯t respond to them, he simply got in the car and started the engine, driving off to the hospital. When he arrived he parked his car out front and ran inside seeing several officers already there crying, most of them female. He got to the hospital elevator and pressed the button, but it didn¡¯t open. He couldn¡¯t wait, he went to the stairwell instead and ran up to the 3rd floor where Chris¡¯ room was. He ran through the halls. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Just yesterday he was here, he thought. He was here and Chris was alive. So, why should today be different? Why is it different? He spotted Arnold standing with the nurse Kristen in front of the door as two doctors were pulling Chris¡¯ bed out of the room with a sheet over his body. ¡°No, no no no!¡±Jaese shouted as he ran at them, though Arnold stopped him from passing. ¡°How! What happened!¡± Jaese shouted at the doctors as they rolled the bed away. One doctor continued pulling the bed while the other, the same he had spoken to the day before, stepped forward. ¡°It was a miracle he held on so long with that damage to his heart. It just gave out during the night. I¡¯m sorry, we did everything we could.¡± The doctor replied. Jaese¡¯s chin crumpled up as tears rolled out. ¡°No.¡± He said one last time as he stumbled backward, almost losing his balance before Arnold grabbed him to help him stand. ¡°Whoa whoa, let¡¯s sit down, over here.¡± Arnold led him to a nearby chair lining the hospital halls. ¡°Can I get you anything? Any water?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°Water would be good.¡± Arnold instructed her, as Jaese¡¯ face went blank and the doctor walked away with the bed that had Chris in it. ¡°I know how you must be feeling, you guys have been partners since you joined the force...¡± Arnold said, trying to comfort Jaese but getting no response. ¡°He was a good cop, one of the best, he didn¡¯t deserve this. We¡¯ll catch the guys that did this, don¡¯t worry.¡± Arnold said while patting him on the shoulder. ¡°Guy.¡± Jaese replied, expressionless and staring at the wall with tears still forming in his eyes. ¡°What was that?¡± Arnold asked. ¡°You said you¡¯ll catch the guys that did this, but it was only one guy. One guy killed Chris.¡± Jaese replied as he clenched his fist. ¡°I know you think you know what you saw, but we¡¯ve gotta go after more realistic leads here.¡± Arnold replied to him. ¡°A police officer eye witness isn¡¯t a realistic lead?¡± Jaese shouted back at him angrily. ¡°Not when he¡¯s spouting bullshit about it snowing in April and a man shooting ice at people! Maybe if you told us what really happened we could catch the guy or guys that did this!¡± Arnold shouted back angrily, drawing the attention of several nurses and doctors. ¡°You think I¡¯m lying about how my partner was killed?¡± Jaese shouted at him, grabbing his shirt by the collar and pushing him against the wall of the hospital, causing several people to rush over. ¡°Whoa whoa whoa, calm down.¡± A doctor said as he and several nurses struggled to separate the two. ¡°Of course I don¡¯t, I think you need to get your shit together though, so you can give us some real information that we can use. Otherwise we¡¯ve got nothing. No evidence at the bank except for missing money, no bullets fired, no nothing. All we¡¯ve got is 5 dead cops and a living cop spouting crap! By all means, prove your story! I¡¯d love for someone to explain why the hell 5 good officers of mine just fell over dead!¡± Arnold shouted, showing equal amounts of anger and frustration towards Jaese. ¡°Oh I¡¯ll do you one better. I¡¯ll catch the son of a bitch.¡± Jaese said as he shook off the doctors and stomped away from his Captain, back towards the staircase. As he left the hospital and climbed into his car, he felt his emotions running wild. Anger, Sadness, Frustration, everything running through him. He had to take a minute to calm himself down. ¡°Come on Jaese, think. There¡¯s got to be some way to find out who did this, how this happened. There¡¯s no way he could make it all disappear like some magic trick. Somebody must have noticed.¡± He said to himself. Thinking for a minute, then starting up his car. When he turned the engine back off he was in the police station parking garage, and made his way inside to the detective floor. There were several units of detectives working different cases, all looking extremely busy at their desks as Jaese walked between them. As he made his way through the room he accidentally bumped into the legs of a man sitting in a chair against the wall of the office. ¡°Sorry.¡± Jaese said, looking down at him to see he was handcuffed to the chair, wearing sweatpants and an open jacket with no shirt underneath. Gabriel simply glanced up at Jaese, then went back to staring at the ground with a dead, emotionless stare. Not more than 2 feet away was his target, and he turned and gently knocked on the desk of a short but muscular asian man who was focused on some papers on his desk. ¡°Oh, hey, what is it Jaese? I heard about your partner, sorry.¡± The man replied. ¡°No problem, I need your help with something Richard. Do you know who¡¯s working the case?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°You¡¯re looking at him. I took it when I heard you were involved, but I gotta tell you, we got nothing. The only lead we have right now is your testimony which is backed by 0 evidence, and 5 dead cops that were shot with, by your words, ice.¡± ¡°Well, do you believe my testimony?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Well, it sounds crazy, but the wounds on the officers could be explained by ice. That¡¯s literally all we¡¯ve got though. So if the rest of your story is true, this is some weird houdini magic trick level stuff, I feel like I should be calling in Sherlock Holmes for this one.¡± ¡°Well, imagine putting yourself in my shoes. I saw it happen and can¡¯t convince anyone or prove to anyone that it happened.¡± Jaese said angrily. ¡°It¡¯s not looking good if you can¡¯t give us something else. Not a security camera in the bank or neighboring buildings gave us anything. No evidence of anyone arriving at the scene or leaving it. But hell, the bank cameras didn¡¯t even record you guys arriving, it¡¯s like the whole thing didn¡¯t happen, like it got erased.¡± Richard replied. ¡°These circumstances stand out at least, right? can you think of any other weird cases like this? Maybe you can find a lead that way.¡± Jaese suggested. ¡°You mean weird cases where there¡¯s no evidence of what actually happened? If those existed, how¡¯d I know about them?¡± ¡°I know one.¡± Gabriel said from his chair 2 feet away, causing both of them to look. ¡°Who¡¯re you?¡± Jaese turned to ask him. ¡°Gabriel.¡± He replied, not looking up to them as he spoke. ¡°What case do you know about?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Mine.¡± He replied. ¡°He came in this morning, found in a house with about 34 dead bodies, one of them his little brother.¡± Richard whispered to Jaese. ¡°34? What happened?¡± Jaese asked in disbelief. ¡°Early report says electrocution, all of them were hit with some powerful electrical charge. We¡¯re still looking into it.¡± Richard replied. ¡°I was talking to him. On the phone, I could hear them shouting, having their party. He hung up, so I went to get him. It took me less than 10 minutes to get there, and they were already dead.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Yeah yeah, we heard it already, Thanks for your cooperation, you¡¯re free to go.¡± Another detective said as he walked up to Gabriel and undid his handcuffs. ¡°Wait a sec, what did you see, do you know who might¡¯ve done it, or what might¡¯ve happened?¡± Jaese stopped Gabriel, walking over to him. He froze in place for a moment, as if thinking deep about something. ¡°The other guys said it must¡¯ve been some electrical problem with something in the house, only way you can electrocute all those people like that.¡± Gabriel replied hesitantly. ¡°And do you believe that? Or do you have reason to believe something else happened?¡± Jaese asked desperately. Gabriel paused again, turning silently to look Jaese in the eyes as Richard and the other detective watched. ¡°I believe my brother died for no reason. He didn¡¯t do anything wrong. He was a good kid.¡± Gabriel said with a frustrated expression, then turned and headed out of the office with a detective escort. Both Richard and Jaese watched him leave before Jaese turned back to Richard¡¯s desk. ¡°I think its related.¡± Jaese said to Richard confidently. ¡°What? Really? Why? I mean I know it¡¯s pretty strange, but its not ¡®shooting ice¡¯ strange.¡± Richard replied with a raised brow. ¡°Look for more cases like this, unexplained weapons being used to kill people. Ice, electricity, fire, anyone that has died recently to something other than good ol¡¯ fashion bullets and knives. I¡¯m going to go check this house out, what¡¯s the address?¡± ¡°Here...¡± Richard slid a paper to him after writing the address of Mendez¡¯ house on it. ¡°You know you¡¯re not a part of the detective unit, right? Tell me what you¡¯re thinking.¡± Richard asked as Jaese started heading out of the office. ¡°I¡¯m thinking someone out there is trying to pretend to be a wizard.¡± Jaese called back to him. The house was quite a ways away, it took Jaese close to an hour of driving to get to the rundown part of town that didn¡¯t welcome police cars, but as he arrived at the house there was already quite a few cars setting up a perimeter around the house to hold back onlookers and reporters. Jaese parked his car quite a ways away and was swarmed by reporters asking for details on what happened in the house, but he had no answers and no desire to speak with them. He simply pushed past them and through the crowd of onlookers, some crying from the loss of loved ones. When he got to the perimeter he showed his badge to an officer and was let through. But as he walked up to the porch of the house he was stopped by a man in a suit. ¡°Hey, this is a crime scene.¡± The man said, holding his hand out to block Jaese¡¯s path. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m a cop.¡± Jaese replied, flashing his badge. ¡°I don¡¯t care, I¡¯m a detective, this is my scene. I don¡¯t need anyone else messing with this shit show.¡± The detective replied. Jaese sighed and reached into his pocket to dial Richard, then held the phone out for the man. ¡°Here.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Yeah? Richard? God damn it this is my case, I- this is the ice cop? How is this related? Oh come on he¡¯s a uniform, he doesn¡¯t know the first thing about searching for evidence. Alr- alright, but if he messes with my crime scene it¡¯s your ass.¡± The suit said into the phone before handing it back to Jaese. ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything, you see something you like, you tell me.¡± The detective said as he moved from Jaese¡¯s path, and Jaese walked into the house. All of the bodies were gone now, just different people walking around taking pictures. ¡°So what happened? I heard 34 people got electrocuted, but how?¡± Jaese asked as he started glancing around. ¡°That, is the question of the day.¡± The detective replied. ¡°Any signs of a fight?¡± ¡°None, it seemed like not a single one knew what happened.¡± ¡°What are these numbers you have everywhere?¡± Jaese asked, eyeing yellow plastic cards with numbers on them. ¡°Each represents a body, every one of them had two burn marks on their body except for one.¡± The detective said. ¡°Where was the body with only one burn mark.¡± Jaese asked, glancing around the house. ¡°Upstairs, I¡¯ll show you, but don¡¯t touch anything, we¡¯re not done cataloging everything up there yet.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Jaese said as he followed him upstairs into a bedroom, and the detective pointed at a number 34 sitting on the bed. ¡°Why did this guy only have one burn mark?¡±. ¡°Richard said you¡¯d be helping me out, not asking questions I¡¯m still trying to solve myself. We¡¯ll know more about why and what sort of electricity killed them when we get the autopsy reports back.¡± The detective said, sounding annoyed, but Jaese then noticed something strange. ¡°Because he was the last one to die... the electricity didn¡¯t need to jump anymore...¡± Jaese said quietly as he looked carefully at the plastic card for 33. ¡°33 here, 32 here...¡± He followed the cards out of the bedroom to the upstairs hall, then headed down the stairs. ¡°23, 22...¡± He continued, the detective following behind him. He followed the cards all through the house, every single room, until he arrived back out front, on the porch. ¡°3, 2... 1.¡±Jaese stepped past the last yellow card. ¡°So it started here, outside, where there is no electricity at all?¡± The detective asked in disbelief. ¡°Yeah...¡± Jaese said as he glanced around the lawn of the house to try and spot some form of evidence, only briefly taking note of all the onlookers shouting as they were held back by the police. ¡°Let¡¯s say I follow the theory that 34 was last because the electricity was jumping from person to person, how would someone make electricity do that?¡± the detective asked. ¡°Not electricity... Lightning.¡± Jaese said quietly. ¡°Oh you gotta be kidding me, first ice, now lightning. I don¡¯t know why I listened to Richard.¡± The detective sighed angrily, turning from Jaese and heading back inside. Jaese ignored him and instead called up Richard on the phone. ¡°It¡¯s related, I think it¡¯s the same guy.¡± Jaese said to him as he started pushing back through the crowd to his car. ¡°How can you be sure?¡± Richard asked. ¡°They somehow shot electricity and made it jump between 34 people without it hitting anything else in the house. How would you control electricity like that to jump exactly where you want it to?¡± Jaese asked Richard. ¡°I don¡¯t know... Shove a bunch of lightning rods on all of them?¡± Richard suggested. ¡°Something like that would work, but it seems unbelievable that someone would be able to stick that on 34 people without being noticed, right? And if you remove them afterwards it would look like you used wizard magic to kill them...¡± Jaese went on. ¡°Gabriel said he talked to his brother 10 minutes before getting to the house. That means our guy had 10 minutes to shoot them with his electricity and remove all the ¡®mini¡¯ receptors or whatever he used, off of 34 people. That seems a bit much for one guy to do.¡± Richard replied doubtful. ¡°Could be more than one working together to pull off these tricks.¡± Jaese suggested. ¡°Alright, why kill 34 gangsters having a party?¡± Richard asked. ¡°The other officers were killed to rob the bank, when the guy talked he called us insects, like he felt superior to us... In this case, nothing was stolen, so they were killed for a reason. Maybe the gang unit might know. I¡¯m going to go ask Gabriel and see if he might know more than he was saying.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Got it.¡± Richard replied as he hung up the phone and Jaese climbed back into his car. Holding the steering wheel still felt strange, it was usually Chris that drove. As he thought this he felt sadness seeping in and shook it off quickly, clenching his fingers on the wheel as he started the engine. ¡°I¡¯ll catch this guy no matter what.¡± he said to himself, driving off. Chapter 16: New World Order Jaese calmly knocked on the door to Gabriel Estrada¡¯s house, then waited for someone to answer as he eyed the empty driveway. After a few moments, a elderly woman opened the door. ¡°Hello, how may I help you officer?¡± She said politely with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m looking for Gabriel Estrada, does he live here?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°He does, but I haven¡¯t seen him since last night. He went to get his younger brother from a friends place. Is everything alright officer? Did something happen?¡± She asked Jaese. ¡°He hasn¡¯t come back here yet?¡± He asked her. ¡°No... I was beginning to worry...¡± she added. ¡°He¡¯s not in trouble, I just wanted to ask him some questions is all, can you ask him to call the police and ask for detective Richard if you see him?¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Alright, and be sure to send them straight home if you see them, tell them their mother is worried.¡± She replied. ¡°Will do, m¡¯am. Take care.¡± He waved, turning and walking back to his car while pulling out his phone to call Richard. ¡°Gabriel didn¡¯t head home. I¡¯m thinking he knows who did this and is going after them.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Gang unit says a Chinese gang up in Wash Town has been losing a lot of its competition recently, and Mendez¡¯ group was one of them, the bodies in the house.¡± ¡°Where can I find them?¡± Jaese replied. ¡°You¡¯re just a uniform without a partner Jaese, going after gangsters on your own isn¡¯t part of your job. If you¡¯re heading, I¡¯m coming with you.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Tell me the address and I¡¯ll meet you there.¡±
[Gabriel] Gabriel arrived in front of a Chinese restaurant with different Kanji characters making up its sign name. It was small, crunched between many other small shops and buildings on the busy street, but the restaurant had a closed sign up and the curtains on the front windows were all shut to block the view inside. He walked to the door and swung it open, surprised to find it unlocked, then stepped inside. Despite it reading closed, the tables were all full, more specifically full of women. All early teens and young 20¡¯s, all of them in their underwear, different ethnicities, smiling and talking to each other and playing different games at the restaurant tables, some eating or looking at their phones. ¡°Where can I find Tai?¡± Gabriel asked one of the girls near the entrance as the door shut behind him. ¡°Oooh, are you one of his new friends?¡± She asked. ¡°Oh, is that a friend of Tai¡¯s?¡± Another girl asked as they all seemed to suddenly take notice of him. ¡°We promised to take good care of Tai¡¯s friends.¡± Another moaned as they started moving in closer to him, kissing his arms. ¡°The hell is going on?¡± He said angrily. ¡°We do anything he asks!¡± ¡°I just can¡¯t resist Tai!¡± ¡°Even if you aren¡¯t him, Tai told me to, so I just, I can¡¯t help it!¡± The girls began to swarm him, undoing his pants and pulling his shirt back as he felt lips and tongues touching him in different places. ¡°Get off!¡± He shouted, pushing some of them away. ¡°I¡¯m no friend of Tai, so get the hell off of me.¡± He added, and with this, almost instantly the girls seemed to lose interest. ¡°How boring.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not even Tai¡¯s friend.¡± ¡°If you aren¡¯t Tai¡¯s friend, I don¡¯t want you.¡± ¡°What the hell is going on here...¡± Gabriel said to himself in disbelief as he watched them all sit back at their tables and go back to what they were doing. He then looked to see a path to the back of the restaurant. He went through the empty kitchen and into a back room that was empty save for a round table and some chairs, one chair filled with another barely clothed girl. ¡°Oh, a friend of Tai¡¯s? I¡¯d love to please a friend of Tai...¡± She smiled, immediately standing up and walking towards him. ¡°What is with you girls? Why¡¯re you acting like this?¡± Gabriel asked her. ¡°We do anything Tai asks, we can¡¯t resist him, he¡¯s just so charming and romantic... So what would you like me to do for you?¡± She smiled as she began rubbing her hands over his arms. ¡°Can you tell me where Tai is?¡± Gabriel asked her, remaining calm and ignoring her advances.She moved behind him and tried pulling his jacket off, but he firmly pulled it back forward, causing her to let out a strange gasp. ¡°Tai went to see those strange guys for their big recruitment meeting. There were so many friends that came, it was really exciting. You missed quite a big party.¡± She smiled while kissing his shoulder. ¡°Where¡¯s this ¡®meeting¡¯ taking place?¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m not sure... They had a note I think, would you like me to get it for you?¡± She asked. ¡°Yes, please.¡± He said as politely as his anger and confusion allowed. She nodded, smiling at him before walking across the room to the table and picking up a small sheet of paper, then came back with a seductive walk, each foot placed directly in front of the other as she handed the paper out to him. ¡°He quickly grabbed it out of her hand to see an address written on it, with ¡®NWO Meeting¡¯ written at the top. ¡°NWO?¡± Gabriel asked, and the girl simply shrugged. ¡°Alright, thanks.¡± He said, turning to head out of the restaurant, but paused before he got out of the room. ¡°Why¡¯re you helping me so easily?¡± He asked. ¡°Because you¡¯re a friend of Tai¡¯s, of course.¡± She smiled. ¡°What if I told you I¡¯m not his friend.¡± Gabriel replied, and her expression instantly changed, eyes and brows squinted in anger, a sneering expression. ¡°Then you can die!¡± She shouted suddenly, turning to grab a knife from the table then charging at Gabriel while screaming, but Gabriel simply side stepped to avoid the blade in her hand and punched her square in the nose, knocking her back off her feet unconscious. ¡°Good to know.¡± He said coldly, making sure she was out, then left the room and closed the door, but as he headed back through the kitchen he spotted two girls standing there, staring at him with evil glares. They had no weapons and didn¡¯t move, only glared. He calmly walked forward around them, no reaction from either, and as he got into the main floor of the restaurant he noticed all of the girls sitting at the tables were frozen solid, glaring angrily at him, No laughing, no talking, no doing anything, just angry stares that felt like they were piercing through him. As he got near the front door, he heard the backroom door swing open, stepping out side and shutting the door behind himself.
[Jaese] ¡°I just arrived at the restaurant, it looks like its closed.¡± Jaese said into his phone as he stopped his car on the side of the road a few buildings down, trying not to get any unwanted attention. ¡°Alright hang tight, we¡¯re on the way, don¡¯t do anything until we get there.¡± Richard replied on the phone. ¡°Wait a sec, someone is coming out of the restaurant.¡± Jaese said, seeing the door open, and seconds later Gabriel walked out of the building. ¡°It¡¯s Gabriel Estrada, what¡¯s he doing here?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Probably the same thing we are, can you tail him?¡± Richard asked. ¡°I¡¯m on it... Not gonna be easy, I¡¯m still in my squad car.¡± ¡°If he just went in that restaurant to get revenge on Tai for killing his brother, we¡¯ll need to pick him up fast. Be careful and wait for an update before you make a move on him.¡± Richard replied. ¡°We¡¯re still about 10 minutes out from the restaurant.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Jaese replied, starting up his engine as Gabriel crossed the street and headed up the sidewalk to the first intersection onto one of the central streets of the city. He pulled out his cell phone as he walked, and once he got to the intersection he stood at the light a bit as if waiting for someone or something. Jaese parked the car a good distance away and waited, glancing at the time on his dashboard clock repeatedly. Three minutes passed with nothing happening until finally a yellow taxi arrived at the corner, Gabriel climbing in quickly. Seeing this, Jaese instantly fired up the engine and followed after the vehicle. He couldn¡¯t make out where the taxi was going exactly but he made sure to keep a safe distance to not get spotted. The longer the car drove the more Jaese started to wonder if he¡¯d been spotted though.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Just as they started turning off the main road, Jaese¡¯s phone rang again and he quickly answered. ¡°What happened at the restaurant?¡± Jaese asked instantly, seeing Richard¡¯s name on his phones display. ¡°Shi-shit man, Tai wasn¡¯t there, a bunch of crazy girls were, first they were seducing us then they were trying to stab us.¡± ¡°They working for Tai?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, we¡¯re calling in back up to take them all in for questioning.¡± ¡°You alright?¡± Jaese asked worriedly. ¡°Yeah, yeah I¡¯m fine, a few cuts. Other guys in my unit, not so much. Look, stay on Gabriel, follow procedure, get some back up.¡± Richard ordered him. ¡°Got it.¡± Jaese said, hanging up his phone and then turning on his police radio. ¡°This is Officer Jaese, I¡¯m in pursuit of a P.O.I. relating to the house murders earlier today, one Gabriel Estrada. He¡¯s traveling westbound on,¡± Jaese paused to look out the car window at the street signs. ¡°Corland Road in a yellow taxi, requesting back up.¡± Jaese said, placing the radio receiver down after he finished speaking. ¡°Copy that.¡± The operator replied. As he followed, they got further and further from downtown and deep into the industrial section of the city, surrounded by large warehouses and factories. It got increasingly difficult for Jaese to not get spotted as the traffic in the area died down significantly, to the point where Jaese was sure Gabriel was on to him, but eventually the taxi stopped out front of an abandoned factory building with no other vehicles parked there, and Gabriel got out. Jaese quickly parked out of view of the taxi as best he could to avoid being seen as Gabriel paid the driver and the taxi drove off. ¡°Suspect has left the Taxi out front of an abandoned warehouse on Stecklin Street.¡± Jaese reported to the radio. ¡°Copy that, hang tight, backup is on the way.¡± ¡°This is unit 17, we¡¯re about 5 minutes out.¡± Another officer reported on the radio. ¡°Copy that, holding.¡± Jaese replied as he watched Gabriel carefully from inside his car. Gabriel stood outside the building for a moment, looking up at it, then he shuffled his jacket and walked forward towards the building. ¡°Tai!¡± Gabriel shouted as he stepped inside the factory, shutting the rusting metal door behind him and making a loud clanging sound. ¡°Where you at, Tai. I know your here, one of your little girls told me.¡± Gabriel said, hesitating to say this as he remembered their strange behaviour. ¡°I told you someone was coming.¡± A deep voice spoke from behind Gabriel, causing him to jerk his head around. ¡°Yeah yeah, we all know your detection is the best.¡± Another voice said, Gabriel turning forward again to see someone standing there that was not a moment ago. ¡°Who is he?¡± Another voice spoke, now from his left side. They seemed to be appearing around him out of thin air, but Gabriel didn¡¯t recognize any of their voices, and they were all wearing strange cloaks over their bodies to hide their faces. ¡°He¡¯s an NPC.¡± Another spoke, and soon enough Gabriel found himself surrounded by 9 people, but he couldn¡¯t see a single one of their faces. ¡°How¡¯d an NPC find us here?¡± another asked. ¡°I¡¯m not no NPC or whatever. I¡¯m here for Tai.¡± Gabriel said, clenching his fists. Despite being outnumbered he showed no sign of fear. ¡°You know this guy, Tai?¡± One asked, turning to the person on his left. This caused Gabriel to turn to the person as well. ¡°Hmm, I dunno.¡± Tai said, pulling his cloak back to reveal his face. He was Asian with short black hair and broad shoulders and a perfect jawline. ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me, you aren¡¯t Tai. Now where is he? ¡± Gabriel replied angrily. ¡°Oh, but I am Tai.¡± he replied, and his body suddenly let off a bright flash of light, blinding Gabriel for a moment. He reactively put his hands up to cover his eyes, and when he lowered them he saw Tai standing there. A short little asian teenager with a thin build wearing baggy clothes. ¡°How th- what the hell did you just do?¡± Gabriel shouted in shock, his expression changed to confusing as he furled his brows. Tai, as well as the others around him, responded by letting out tiny chuckles and laughs. ¡°Ah, I recognize you. Yo, this is Gabriel! Remember he used to run Mendez¡¯ gang?¡± Tai said, turning to some of the other cloaked people. ¡°Yeah man, he¡¯s the one who beat you and Lee up to send you a message.¡± One replied. ¡°Yeah, haha. Man were you scary back then, huge muscles, crazy fighting skills man. You made Lee piss himself.¡± ¡°Shut up, I didn¡¯t piss myself.¡± Lee replied from behind Gabriel. ¡°Your boy tried to send us a message the other day again, just like you did before. Didn¡¯t go so well for him, did it guys?¡± Tai asked, causing them to chuckle. ¡°How did you find this meeting?¡± A high pitch voiced screeched, coming from a dark cloaked man who had not been partaking in the conversation thus far. ¡°One of your girls told me, said she¡¯d do anything for a friend of Tai.¡± Gabriel said as he threw the paper she handed him to the ground. ¡°Yo you didn¡¯t remove that charm spell on them before we left?¡± Lee asked Tai. ¡°Nah man, I wanted them there when we got back to have some more fun.¡± ¡°You¡¯re an idiot.¡± Another guy said. ¡°Shut up man, it¡¯s no big deal, it¡¯s just you, right?¡± Tai asked Gabriel. ¡°Yeah. Was it you who hit Mendez¡¯ place last night?¡± ¡°Yeah, just returning the favor, You know, ¡®sending a message¡¯.¡± Tai said, causing his friends to laugh. ¡°So why¡¯d you come here lookin¡¯ for me by yourself?¡± ¡°My little brother was at that house. Had nothing to do with Mendez¡¯ gang.¡± Gabriel said angrily, this time no laughter, the circle of 9 stayed quiet. ¡°I¡¯m here for your life.¡± ¡°Hah, well, that aint going to happen.¡± Tai said, taking a few steps closer to Gabriel. ¡°In the past, you could probably walk in here and take us all out like nothing. Shit, you remember those moves he pulled on us?¡± Tai said to Lee. ¡°Yeah, he was crazy strong man.¡± Lee smirked. ¡°But the worlds a bit different now.¡± ¡°No, the world¡¯s exactly the same.¡± Gabriel shouted, then lunged forward and took a swing at Tai¡¯s head, but instead only hit air. Tai disappeared completely, causing Gabriel to glance around until spotting him standing behind him. ¡°You¡¯re wrong, it¡¯s very different. Guys who used to be scary, strong, rich, beautiful, that doesn¡¯t matter anymore.¡± Tai said as the others watched silently. ¡°Now it''s our time to rule.¡± The high pitched voice called out. ¡°The New World Order, a guild for those with true power.¡± he followed his words with a cackle, then his hands started glowing blue as ice began to form under his feet. Moments later small snowflakes began to fall from the ceiling. Gabriel looked up in confusion, there was no hole in the roof for snow to come from, let alone that it shouldn¡¯t be snowing at all. ¡°Now, how about some pay back for kicking my ass before?¡± Tai said, and as Gabriel turned to Tai, he disappeared and reappeared in an instant, floating in the air above Gabriel, then super-man punched Gabriel in the head, the force behind the punch was unreal, and Gabriel could faintly see sparks of electricity coming off of his fist the milliseconds before he was hit. Gabriel flew backward off of his feet and slammed into a pillar holding up the old factory building. ¡°All those years of working out for muscles, all for nothing.¡± Tai laughed. ¡°I almost feel sorry for these NPC¡¯s.¡± He grinned as he walked forward, preparing to punch Gabriel again. Jaese waited patiently for something to happen, waiting for more officers to arrive, but seconds felt like hours as he tapped his dashboard nervously, eyeing the front entrance of the factory. He focused on it hard until he spotted something familiar, tiny specks of white snow falling down from the afternoon sky, landing on his windshield and the pavement around the building. ¡°It¡¯s snowing again, he¡¯s here! I¡¯m going in!¡± Jaese shouted into the radio as he popped open the dashboard of the police car and grabbed his gun, then swung the car door open and ran towards the building, ignoring the orders from the radio. His body rushed with emotions as he swatted his hand at the snowflakes. They were cold, wet, he could see them, feel them. They were real, he wasn¡¯t crazy, it was snowing. It was snowing just like it snowed the night at the bank. He gripped his gun tight as he got to the factory¡¯s front entrance and swung the metal door open. ¡°Freeze, nobody move!¡± Jaese shouted, not expecting to see what he saw. A circle of 8 cloaked people standing around an Asian boy, who was standing over Gabriel laying on the floor of the factory with his face covered in blood. He then noticed the Asian boy¡¯s fist also covered in blood. ¡°You¡¯re all under arrest.¡± Jaese shouted to them as Gabriel turned to look at Jaese, coughing up blood but unable to get any words out. Jaese quickly glanced between the 9 others, but none of them seemed to care that he was pointing a gun at them. ¡°Tai, was it?¡± The high pitched voice screeched, Jaese recognizing it immediately as the voice of the man that attacked them, the man that killed Chris. ¡°Yeah?¡± Tai asked, turning to face him. ¡°Not just a random NPC, but also cop found this meeting. I¡¯ve decided against letting your party join our guild.¡± He said, then turned and started walking away, as did 4 others from the group. ¡°Wait, yo, they¡¯re just NPC¡¯s. It was a tiny slip up, I swear.¡± Tai replied to him, sounding a bit desperate. ¡°We aim to rule over the new world, we don¡¯t have room for slip ups. Goodbye.¡± He said, and his cloak began to suddenly glow blue. ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere!¡± Jaese shouted, firing off a shot out of anger, After he shot, he knew he shouldn¡¯t have, but something in him pulled the trigger for him, almost against his will. It made the man¡¯s cloak stop glowing instantly, and he turned and looked at Jaese. ¡°You... YOU INSECT, DARE SHOOT AT ME?¡± He screeched angrily. ¡°It was definitely you, you were there at the bank, you made it snow!¡± Jaese shouted angrily. ¡°An insect lived? It¡¯s so hard to stomp them all with my boots sometimes. A few always slip through the cracks.¡± He shouted back, then revealed a long wooden staff from under his cloak, it¡¯s tip glowing blue. Before Jaese could react, a sudden chunk of ice appeared and shot out across the factory floor, piercing into the center of Jaese¡¯s chest and knocking him off his feet. ¡°See, that one wasn¡¯t even my fault, he was after you.¡± Tai pleaded with the angry blue cloaked man, as sirens began ringing in the distance. He simply turned and glared at Tai, showing sharp red eyes under his cloak. ¡°More insects...¡± he grumbled angrily, his staff starting to glow blue again. ¡°Yo, city guard is with them.¡± One of the cloaked men shouted. ¡°For real?¡± Tai replied. ¡°Don¡¯t doubt my detection skills man, he¡¯s comin hella fast.¡± ¡°We¡¯re leaving, NWO.¡± The blue cloaked man said, and within an instant 5 of the cloaked people disappeared. Jaese could only watch from the floor, he was gasping for air, his voice was gone, his chest felt both cold from the ice and warm from the blood coming out of the wound. ¡°Yo, finish them off at least man.¡± Lee shouted to Tai. Tai nodded and made a sword suddenly appear in his hand, preparing to swing it at Gabriel¡¯s head just as Gabriel managed to sit up and look Tai back in his eyes. ¡°No time, he¡¯s here man!¡± the detecting cloaked man shouted, and just then the steel door of the factory swung open, allowing the sounds of police sirens to flood into the room. Standing in the door way however was not a cop, it was a large man with shaved blonde hair wearing a black suit and black sunglasses. ¡°Shit, go guys.¡± Tai ordered, and within seconds, all remaining figures disappeared, leaving Gabriel coughing up blood and Jaese bleeding from his chest with the man in the suit. Gabriel used the last of his strength to run around a Pillar and a pile of old factory machinery to avoid the man in the suit, while Jaese could barely turn his head to see him, but he didn¡¯t see much. The suit stepped towards Jaese and held an open palm over Jaese¡¯s head, which briefly gave off a strange black glow, and then within seconds the man in the suit vanished as well, and with him vanished the ice in his chest and the snow that had been falling around him. ¡°The hell...¡± Gabriel said in disbelief as he pushed himself to his feet, wiping blood from his face as he glanced at Jaese bleeding out on the floor, then turned his head out the front door of the factory to see the police cars pulling up. Gabriel ran in the opposite direction, out of a back door in the factory. As he got out the back door, the first officer arrived beside Jaese and knelt down. ¡°I¡¯ve got an officer down, we need an ambulance.¡± The officer shouted into his radio. ¡°Hang in there Jaese, help is on the way.¡± He called out as he put his hands over Jaese¡¯s wound. ¡°N... Not pretending...¡± he managed to mumble, before he completely blacked out. Chapter 17: Ice Wraith ¡°What the heck are they doing?¡± A tall female Lizardfolk asked as she walked through the Suutrin Oasis, approaching a small group of people who had gathered. The group was watching the pair Darith and Liana as they did pushups while allowing a turtle to snap at their feet. Liana was casting healing on both of them repeatedly, while Darith was constantly shooting firebolts into the sky. ¡°I think they¡¯re trying to level up or something.¡± A Nemothyne commented. ¡°Do you guys need help? I can kill the turtle for you¡­¡± The lizardfolk asked shyly. ¡°We¡¯re okay, thanks!¡± Liana replied. It was late Sunday evening, the two had spent the entire weekend doing physical activity and casting their spells to level them up. ¡°9 997. 9998. 9 999. 10 000. Finally! Another point in strength!¡± Liana cheered as she stood up excitedly, her stamina getting close to zero now, as was her mana. ¡°How much experience does it need for the next point?¡± Darith asked as he stopped as well, the two ignoring the turtles still, much to everyone¡¯s amazement. They began walking back towards the NPCs at the wagon with the turtles nipping at them. ¡°75 000¡­¡± Liana sighed. ¡°Same as me. Push ups only give 1 strength training experience point¡­ it¡¯s not worth it to keep doing them. We stopped getting constitution, agility and endurance experience as well. I think we reached the limit of what we can do at this level.¡± Darith commented. ¡°How about your skills? I can¡¯t get my Restore skill to go up much anymore¡­¡± ¡°Well, from hitting the trees I could get staff mastery to 26, but it stopped getting experience. Firebolt and Multicast went up to 99, I think that is thanks to the experience bonus I get for spells as a Nemothyne, but they won¡¯t go up further, I think it''s the max.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s pretty good though right?¡± Laina asked as the turtles gave up chasing and the crowd stopped watching them. ¡°I think so¡­ I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s enough, but we should be okay going to level 10 soon. I got Firebolt down to 1 mana and 0.5 second cast, and Spell Mastery went up to 51 but it also stopped getting experience from Firebolt. Look!¡± Darith said as he started casting Firebolts all over the sky around them while moving, looking like Fireworks. ¡°For some reason I still can¡¯t move when I cast Restore¡­¡± Liana frowned. ¡°I can do it because of Spell Mastery, do you have some sort of mastery for your Restore spell?¡± ¡°No, just Sphere mastery¡­ I got it to 52 and it stopped like yours.¡± Liana said as she went into her menu and clicked around. ¡°It says it helps me regulate my mana for healing spells, and increases damage with spheres, and improves my mana regeneration by a lot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s different then Spell Mastery¡­ that¡¯s more like my Staff Mastery. They¡¯re both weapons I guess, it¡¯s weird you didn¡¯t get something like Healing Mastery too.¡± Darith commented. The two arrived at the NPCs and got quick taps on their foreheads to have their stats fully restored, looking at the new players still flooding into the area. ¡°So what do we do now? We have to go above level 9 to get stronger right? Do you think we¡¯re ready?¡± Liana asked as she looked to Darith. ¡°First let¡¯s see if we can make some new spells using our upgraded ranks. I¡¯m going to try some stuff out.¡± Darith commented. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try some too.¡± Liana clenched her fist excitedly. The two walked a good distance away from the caravan to stand on top of a sand dune and looked up to the sky. ¡°My firebolt cast is 0.5s, while moving even, and it only costs 1 mana. Because of the training I have 285 mana, but also my mana regen is at 131 a minute¡­ that means if I cast Firebolt constantly, I won¡¯t run out of mana unless I cast something else.¡± Darith said to himself. ¡°So you could make something like a machine gun?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Y-yeah¡­ Multicast doesn¡¯t increase the cost anymore, just reduces the damage by 5% at rank 99. So let¡¯s try this.¡± Darith fiddled around in his menu. He tinkered his cast command with Firebolt for a bit, then held out his hand. ¡°Chain Fire!¡± He shouted, and it began. Firebolt after Firebolt started casting, shooting outward up towards the sky from circles forming and disappearing in front of him every 0.5 seconds. ¡°Hah, it works!¡±
Skill Created: Chain Fire (?) Chain Fire - (Custom) Cast a Firebolt once per second from in front of you at a target of your choice. Damage: (Firebolt + Multicast) Cost:(Firebolt + Multicast) Cast Time: (Firebolt) Command: Chain Fire (change)(?)
¡°It¡¯s based off of Firebolt¡­ so it won¡¯t get any stronger, it¡¯s just a different way to cast. ¡°That¡¯s so cool! Let me try something too¡­ I was getting a weird feeling when I practiced the Mind Body Spirit skill.¡± Liana said. ¡°Don¡¯t move, okay?¡± She asked, and he cancelled the Chain Fire, turning to face her. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Darith asked curiously. ¡°Shh, I need to focus.¡± Liana replied. Darith nodded and went quiet, though she couldn¡¯t see him nod with her eyes closed. Seconds went by, then minutes, Darith started to get impatient, tapping his tiny feet in the sand, until suddenly a puff of blue and yellow energy shot out of Liana at him. ¡°I did it!¡± Liana cheered. Darith saw a quick message saying he had gained +100 mana and +100 energy.
Skill Created: Concentrate(?) Skill Created:Energize(?) Concentrate - No Ranks Transfer your mana to a nearby friendly target that you can see. Cannot be used when mana is below 100. Effect: Grant 100mp to a Friendly Target Cost: 100mp Cast Time: 3s Command: Concentrate (change)(?) Energize- No Ranks Transfer yourenergy to a nearby friendly target that you can see. Cannot be used whenenergy is below 100. Effect:Grant 100energy to a Friendly Target Cost:100energy Cast Time:3s Command:Energize (change)(?)
¡°Wha- how¡¯d you do that?¡± Darith asked in amazement. ¡°I could visualize them, and then give them to you. Look!¡± She pointed at her own mana and energy to show that they had gone down by 100. ¡°You gave me your mana and energy?¡± He asked in disbelief. ¡°Yup. Now I can heal all your stuff, not just health!¡± ¡°But that¡¯ll put you at risk if you drop your resources too low.¡± Darith commented. ¡°That¡¯s ok, I can be careful with it. This way you can do more fancy stuff when I don¡¯t need to heal much, since I can¡¯t really do much damage compared to you.¡± Liana shrugged. ¡°Alright¡­ in that case, I¡¯ve got another spell idea.¡± Darith grinned, then tinkered in his menu once more with Firebolt. ¡°Okay, got it. See that tree over there?¡± He said, pointing at a lone palm tree growing away from the Oasis. Liana nodded. ¡°Stand back a bit¡­¡± He said, then dug his heels in and held his hand out. ¡°Fire Storm!¡± He shouted with enthusiasm. In an instant Darith¡¯s mana hit 0, and in all directions around the palm tree, firebolt circles formed. He was able to cast 285 firebolts at once, and at rank 99 they were dealing 99 damage plus his intelligence, which he¡¯d gotten to 53. Reduced by 5% from multicast, each firebolt did 144 fire damage. In total, he watched as a huge 41, 040 damage number popped up on his screen, the tree was obliterated and the spell left a small crater where it stood, with a huge flash of red light. Several other players ran over to see what the light was.
Skill Created:Fire Storm(?) Fire Storm - (Custom) Consume all available mana, casting as many Firebolts as possible at locations surrounding the target. Damage: (Firebolt) + (Multicast) + Max MP Cost: All MP Cast Time: (Firebolt) Command: Fire Storm (change)(?)
¡°What the hell was that!¡± ¡°Did you just blow that up?¡± ¡°Holy cow did you guys see that?¡± Various onlookers commented. ¡°How the heck did you cast a spell like that?¡± A small female Nemothyne asked eagerly, looking to Darith. ¡°Practice!¡± Darith gave a thumbs up, repeating what Mayiera had said to him. ¡°I can do something like that too!¡± Liana joined in, turning to Darith. She quickly combined all of her mana into multiple restores using Multicast and used them all at the same time. With her mana of 225 now and restore costing 10 mana, she was able to cast 22 Restores at once, each healing for 43 from the rank of her restore spell plus 36 from her spirit, minus 5% from multicast, which equaled to 76. In total, after the 3 second cast, Darith was healed for 1672 health. ¡°Dang that wass like 5 times my health. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll need to use that one for a long time.¡± Darith commented. ¡°What¡¯s more impressive is your mana regeneration, you get it back full in less than a minute.¡± Darith said. ¡°Yup! It¡¯s because I got lots of spirit from Mind, Body, Spirit, and lots of regen from Sphere Mastery.¡± ¡°In that case you could help me cast that Firestorm more often! Hey, we¡¯re actually kind of strong! The only problem is I don¡¯t know how to get stronger¡­ why was Firebolt and Multicast so easy to hit max, while the others stopped getting experience almost completely? This game really needs a user manual.¡± Darith sighed. They began walking back towards the NPC again, several other players ogled and talked about them but they had gotten used to it at this point. ¡°I think we¡¯re strong enough to go save your friend in the ice now.¡± Liana said. ¡°What? That monster that froze them had to have been at least level 60!¡± Darith replied. ¡°Well, you said you were dodging him at level 5, as long as he doesn¡¯t hit us we should be okay right? Wouldn¡¯t it be more risky to do it when other players can attack us?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Y-yeah, that¡¯s true¡­ but it¡¯s risky either way. What if we get hit and lose? I don¡¯t want to risk having you taken out of the game.¡± Darith replied. ¡°I¡¯ve been watching you¡­ you¡¯ve been thinking about it all weekend, right? Worrying? I wonder what would happen to Kristen if me and you disappeared suddenly like that. Imagine all the families of those people you said were frozen there. We should go and save them now.¡± Liana said confidently. Darith watched her expression and saw her determination. ¡°Besides, look at our stats, we¡¯re really strong, even though we can¡¯t get stronger right now!¡± She exclaimed. He briefly looked over his character sheet and eventually gave her a nod. ¡°Okay, but if I get hit and game over¡¯d, you run away and just keep playing without me, okay?¡± Darith said to her in a serious expression. ¡°Psh relax, it¡¯s just a normal level 60 enemy. That won¡¯t happen!¡± Liana cheered excitedly. ¡°Don¡¯t go in so confident, that¡¯s how bad things happen.¡± Darith sighed. The two arrived back at the NPC and got their full restores. ¡°Alright¡­ let¡¯s go save those people.¡± Darith hesitated for a moment. In a normal game, kiting high level monsters was possible, and he already knew it was possible to outrun the Ice Wraith - it should theoretically be possible for them to win. But the game just felt too real, he wasn¡¯t completely sure. Either way, his desire to save the people won him over. ¡°Gate, Frost Key!¡± He called out. Liana watched as the icy gate formed in the desert over the course of 10 seconds. ¡°Be ready, it¡¯s really frickin¡¯ cold.¡± Darith said as the gate finished forming. ¡°Good, I¡¯m so tired of this heat!¡± Liana replied excitedly. Once they stepped through, the gate closed behind them and they felt the chill of the caverns, white misty breath forming in front of their mouths. ¡°Okay, which way to the Ice Wraith?¡± Liana replied. ¡°First, I want to check something.¡± Darith said as he turned from the familiar fork in the Cavern to walk back to Mayiera. ¡°When we found the ruins we completed a quest.¡± He walked forward, turning the corner to see Mayiera sitting there with the complete quest icon above her head. ¡°You found it?¡± Mayiera said excitedly as she stood up and ran to him. ¡°You really found the ruins? Wow, incredible! I was starting to think they didn¡¯t exist! So what did you see?¡± Mayiera asked excitedly. Darith didn¡¯t reply at first, he was waiting for a quest turn in to pop up, while Liana was staring at her curiously. ¡°Come on, tell me!¡± She asked again. ¡°Uhm... I saw giant Frozen Gates, heavy winds blowing from within them in a large open cavern. Two big statues of weird looking creatures that looked a bit like Gnarks.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Hmm hmm, a lot of theories about the Gnarks. Some people think they are descendants of the Coldrinn. I need to see it for myself though! Do you think you could escort me to the ruins?¡± She asked excitedly. ¡°Sure.¡± Darith shrugged, not sure how to interact with this NPC. ¡°Great! Oh, here, a reward for finding it for the world traveler.¡± She reached into a pocket and pulled out an amulet, handing it to Darith. Simultaneously he got a message saying he gained 300 experience for completing the quest, just 100 shy of leveling him to 10 now.
Name: Locket of Warmth (Common) Slot: Accessory Type: Necklace Special: Immune to Freezing Wind of the Core Description: Copper pendant with enchanted Lapiz Lazuli stone.
¡°And one for your party member as well!¡± She smiled, handing the exact same necklace to Liana. ¡°Oh, thank you!¡± Liana smiled as she put it on. ¡°It seems like some quests we complete count for each other as a group.¡± Darith shrugged.
Name: Mayiera(Neutral) - Level: ?? Quest: Bring Mayiera to the entrance of the Coldrinn Ruins Objective: 0/1 Mayiera Escorted Reward: Unknown Accept??Decline
¡°Accept.¡± Darith said as he pressed the button. ¡°Great! Lead the way, World Traveler!¡± She smiled
Info: Mayiera is now following you.
¡°An escort quest huh? I wonder how she¡¯ll interact with enemies.¡± Darith said. ¡°Maybe she¡¯s really good at fighting?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Or maybe she can¡¯t fight at all.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Hey, just because you are world travelers doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s okay to talk like I¡¯m not here!¡± Mayiera replied grumpily, causing both Liana and Darith to look at her, then each other. ¡°Sorry.¡± He said, leading the way forward. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I guess I should be happy, I heard some world travelers treat us Avistion¡¯s like we¡¯re not even living things. Stealing from us, killing us, kidnapping, even worse things than that!¡± She replied. ¡°What do you know about us? The World Travelers?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Well, you guys can look like any of the races from our world, and use very strange magic. You also get a lot stronger than any of us Avistion¡¯s could ever hope to get.¡± Mayiera shrugged. ¡°Why did you give me the staff? And the necklace? Because I did what you asked?¡± Darith questioned. ¡°Well, it¡¯s normal to reward the world travelers for helping you.¡± Mayiera shrugged. ¡°So you just carry rewards around with you wherever you go?¡± Darith asked. ¡°No, that¡¯d be insane! I use a spell we Avistions are all taught that helps us grant you rewards. We usually can¡¯t choose what we give you, the spell does it for us.¡± She replied. ¡°I see... Hm.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°She doesn¡¯t seem like an NPC.¡± Liana whispered. ¡°What¡¯s an NPC?¡± Mayiera butted her head forward between Liana and Darith. ¡°It¡¯s nothing... Something from our world.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Oh, I see.¡± She replied obliviously. ¡°So why did you want to go to the Coldrinn Ruins again?¡± Darith asked. ¡°It¡¯s a bit hard to explain...¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got time.¡± He replied. ¡°Well, it¡¯s said that finding the 6 cores will return our world to the way it was before the Realm Breaking incident. Most people don¡¯t believe it though, they just accept the world for the way it is now, Broken.¡± Mayiera replied. ¡°No one really knows if the cores exist, but I¡¯ve spent my life looking for them and all the rumors led me here, to the Frozen Core.¡± Mayeria replied. ¡°You just said a whole lot of stuff I didn¡¯t understand... Realm Breaking Incident? 6 Cores?¡± Darith asked curiously. ¡°Wow you must be brand new to our world!¡± Mayiera mocked. ¡°We are.¡± Liana boasted. ¡°Well, it all started from the Realm Breaking Incident, or at least that¡¯s all we know. Something happened in our World that tore it apart and made everyone lose their memories. We basically all woke up and the world was like this. We only know what it used to be like because of history books and libraries left behind. Lands were ripped apart and almost all the cities were destroyed, so everyone still alive headed to the last standing city, Avistion.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Hmm... So that sounds like how the Broken Realm was created. Every NP- every character in this world started from that point.¡± Darith said, then leaned in to Liana. ¡°It sounds like what she¡¯s describing is when this game¡¯s servers first went online, they don¡¯t realize they are NPC¡¯s.¡± He whispered into Liana¡¯s ear, and Liana nodded. ¡°The World Travelers started showing up not long after that, and so our leader taught us a way to use their strengths. He said they could help us with our problems, to help fix our Broken Realm, we only had to reward them using the spell.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I see. So these 6 cores, you think that if you find them you can return the realm to the way it once was, before you all lost your memories?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yup! And thanks to you, we may have finally found the first core!¡± Mayiera said excitedly. ¡°What are the other cores, where are they?¡± Darith asked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure... It¡¯s hard for us to travel to different lands of our world because of the tears, we usually have to ask you world travelers to travel to different places. Since I¡¯m suck in the Coldrinn Region, I only focused on searching here for a core, because travelling over the tears is dangerous. You¡¯ll have to ask for help from Avistions in the other areas to find their cores... If there¡¯s even cores there. It all seems really hopeless, doesn¡¯t it?¡± Mayiera sighed with sadness. ¡°No, it just sounds like this will be a hard game to beat.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Game to beat?¡± Mayiera replied sounding offended. ¡°Well, I mean... to fix the Broken Realm, we¡¯ll have to travel to all the different lands and find the 6 cores, and this core alone seems to be guarded by really strong monsters.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Right... well, if the core really is here I can tell the people of Avistion and I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll get all their hope back and start looking for the rest!¡± Mayiera replied. ¡°Is Avistion in the Coldrinn Region?¡± Liana asked. ¡°N-no, I used a Grendal to get here from Avistion... But it was killed by the creatures of the tears, so I¡¯m stuck here.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a Grendal, and a creature of the tear?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Jeez you really don¡¯t know anything! Those things you¡¯ll have to see for yourself.¡± Mayiera shrugged in response. ¡°Got it. I think I¡¯ve figured out most of what¡¯s going on.¡± Darith said, turning to Liana. ¡°The Broken Realm is like an MMO world, but traveling between the area¡¯s seems to be difficult because of these ¡®tears¡¯. So we have to use the doors to find each region and dungeon until we can collect the cores and restore the world, then everything will be finished.¡± ¡°Got it, but are we going to start going for them? If we...¡± Liana paused to glance at Mayiera. ¡°Finish the Broken Realm, then it will be over for all World Travelers, right?¡± she asked. ¡°Right... For now let¡¯s focus on what we came here to do.¡± Darith said, looking down the final tunnel leading to the Coldrinn ruins. He could already feel the Icy winds blowing up at them. ¡°Okay.¡± Liana nodded back to him. ¡°It¡¯s just ahead here.¡± He said to Mayeria, then walked forward against the wind gently blowing at them. They followed Darith on as he lead them down the steep tunnel, the winds getting heavier and colder as they continued. As they got closer to the entrance of the ruins Darith had a clear image in his head of the Ice Wraith, remembering how it Froze Aaron and threw around its heavy white fists. When they reached the cavern the three of them stepped out onto the high ledge overlooking the Coldrinn Ruin Gates. ¡°Wow.¡± Liana said in amazement. ¡°Unbelievable, I can¡¯t believe it at all! It¡¯s really here, the ancient ruins! So deep under the ice! You found it!¡± Mayiera cheered excitedly.
Name:Mayiera(Neutral) -Level:?? Quest:Bring Mayiera to the entrance of the Coldrinn Ruins Objective:1/1 Mayiera Escorted Reward:50 experience
A message popped up for Liana and Darith, this was edging them extremely close to hitting level 10 now. ¡°I¡¯ve got a pretty ominous feeling from these ruins though, I don¡¯t know if I should ask you World Traveler¡¯s to head in there just yet. You should try and travel around and get a bit stronger first.¡± Mayiera said to them. ¡°Right, we¡¯re too low level for your next quest. We¡¯re not here to do quests anyway.¡± Darith said as he walked towards the stairs. ¡°Wait one second. Mind, Body, Spirit!¡± Liana said, channeling a spell for a few seconds until she gained a status effect. ¡°Okay, ready.¡± She said, following behind Darith as they began descending down the icy staircase. Darith wasn¡¯t sure if it was from the cold or his nerves, but he began to shiver slightly as they got closer to the bottom, if it wasn¡¯t for his Gamer¡¯s Mind skill, he knew he¡¯d definitely be afraid. It wasn¡¯t long before they arrived at the broken part of the stairs where the Ice Wraith had punched trying to kill Darith, but the Ice Wraith was nowhere in sight. ¡°We¡¯ll have to jump here.¡± He said, and the two made a big hop down from the final stair to the ground of the Cavern where they got the status effect from the Icy Winds of the Frozen core. Thanks to their new necklaces though, it wasn¡¯t dealing any damage. ¡°Remember, if it''s going badly, make sure you run away, use return or something, okay?¡± Darith said, and Liana nodded while looking to the center of the large flat cavern. ¡°Is that them?¡± Liana asked as they looked ahead to the Frozen Players in front of the gate. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s them.¡± Darith replied, tightening his grip on his staff. ¡°Where¡¯s the Ice Wraith?¡± She asked as she glanced around. ¡°It¡¯ll come out when I get close. You stay back and focus on healing me and keeping my mana and energy up, and I¡¯ll deal the damage, okay?¡± Darith said and Liana nodded. ¡°Here goes nothing.¡± After a short pause he began slowly walking forward into the howling winds of the cavern. It seemed all too familiar, like he had just left the place, despite it being several days ago. As he got closer he got a more clear view of Aaron¡¯s health bar, still the level he was at before, still full HP, still blue skinned with wide eyes. He stepped right up to the block of ice. ¡°I¡¯m back, I¡¯m here to get you out.¡± Darith said as he put his hand on the block of ice, then saw a shadow appear beneath his feet. ¡°And I¡¯m here to kill you.¡± He said angrily, then dashed to the side as a beam of ice shot at where he was standing. Looking up he saw it, the same Ice Wraith that had attacked him before. The same one that froze his friend, and forced him to run for his life. ¡°Chain Fire!¡± Darith shouted to begin the barrage of Firebolts. Though he was generating 60 energy a minute now, it wasn¡¯t enough to outlast constant sprinting and dashes, so he had to reserve using them only when he needed to dodge. This time around, instead of puffs of smoke, he saw that his firebolts were dealing damage. It was less than expected, hitting between 90 and 110 against the high level ice based monster, but it was working. The Ice Wraith reacted to his attacks by turning to him and swinging it¡¯s fists down at Darith wildly, slamming its white knuckles into the earth of the cavern to send chunks of ice and rock upward, but Darith used Dash quickly get out of the path of the Ice Wraith. His mana was not going down very much so he was able to use this last second dash tactic for a good 2 minutes before his energy was getting dangerously low. ¡°Energize!¡± Liana shouted from across the cavern, a yellow circle appearing in front of her. After a short delay her circle shot a yellow beam of light at Darith that restored 100 Energy to his bar. ¡°Thanks! If this is all he¡¯s going to do, then we should be able to get this guy! It might take awhile though, he¡¯s resisting a lot of damage. He¡¯s high level but he¡¯s just a normal monster, nothing special!¡± Darith shouted confidently. As if he heard Darith speak, the Ice Wraith suddenly stopped trying to punch Darith and a huge blue circle appeared on the ground beneath it. The blue circle began expanding outward as Darith stopped moving and Liana took a few steps back, the circle slowly overtaking the entire Cavern¡¯s floor. ¡°I think I might have spoken too soon...¡± ¡°What¡¯s it doing? What¡¯s it casting?¡± Liana asked worriedly. ¡°I¡¯ve no clue, be ready to dodge!¡± Darith shouted. It didn¡¯t take long before the circle finished forming beneath their feet and the Ice Wraith let out a horrific screech. Starting from beneath the Wraith came huge sharp icicles erupting from the ground, the icicles began growing outward to cover the entire room, making a horrific crunching sound as they did. ¡°It¡¯s coming in a wave, time your dash forward to avoid the Icicles!¡± Darith called out to Liana and she nodded back at him. Darith waited patiently for the wave of Icicles to shoot up from the ground in front of him, then dashed forward into them just in time to avoid getting hit by the next wave as it shot up where he had been standing, and it continued to grow outward from the wraith to cover the room. Liana did the same so that they both avoided damage. ¡°Great job!¡± Darith cheered. ¡°No problem!¡± ¡°That¡¯s amazing, if spells like that are possible from a monster, I wonder what I can do.¡± Darith said in disbelief as he glanced behind him to see the icicles continue to shoot up and overtake the entire floor of the room. ¡°Focus!¡± Liana shouted at him. ¡°Right.¡± He nodded back as the cast finished, causing the icicles to dissipate and the ground return to normal. ¡°Let¡¯s see if I can do enough damage to end it with the big spell.¡± He said excitedly as he glanced at his mana to see it sitting at full still. He spread his legs out into a horse stance and slammed the base of his staff into the ground in front of him. ¡°Fire Storm!¡± Darith shouted, and the entire room suddenly filled with red circles on all sides of the Ice Wraith, changing the light of the cavern from icy blue to burning red. Liana watched as Darith¡¯s mana pool drop from 285 to 0. A few seconds later, the massive amount of firebolts crashed into the Ice Wraith creating an explosion of mist and flames. He saw the damage number, it dealt only 19 869 fire damage, less than half of that it did to the palm tree. As he anticipated, once the smoke cleared, the Wraith remained and it rushed it¡¯s frozen white fists forward at Darith forcing him to dash away. ¡°How much health do you think that thing has?¡± Liana said in disbelief. ¡°It¡¯s lowest possible level is 60, if you take into consideration that my Firebolts are hitting for 100, it¡¯ll take probably take about 5 of those Firestorms before it¡¯ll even get close to dying.¡± Darith replied as he began dashing and sprinting once more. ¡°If that''s the case, we¡¯ll definitely die if he hits us even once!¡± Liana said. ¡°Yup. That''s why I said it, If I go down, run away, okay?¡± Darith shouted back at her. ¡°Chain Fire!¡± Darith began streaming out his fire bolts once more. ¡°Concentrate!¡± Liana shouted, shooting the beam of blue energy at Darith to help restore his mana more quickly. The battle continued with the Ice Wraith for over 20 minutes. During this time he attempted to cast his large ground ice spell as well as tried sending Icicles out at Darith in bunches of three, but by managing their energy and Liana sharing her resources with Darith, they were both able to keep dodging his attacks, getting very comfortable with his attack patterns after the first few minutes. Whenever Darith got full mana he shot off another Firestorm, and every Firestorm that hit the Ice Wraith left them hopeful that it would end up dead, but every time the flames faded and they saw it still swinging its white fists they did not get discouraged, they instead prepared themselves for their next barrage. Close to what Darith predicted, it wasn¡¯t until the 8th Firestorm that the Ice Wraith let out an abnormal screech, different from its usual. As the light faded from Darith¡¯s firebolts they watched the Ice Wraith fall to the ground of the Ice Cavern, its white skin breaking on the icy floor as if it were snow, the only part of the Ice Wraith that kept its form was its silver shoulder pads, and in front of them dropped a glowing white item.
You gained 36 453 experience. Congratulations, you¡¯ve reached level 21! You¡¯ve gained 175 Health You¡¯ve gained 140 Mana You¡¯ve gained 70 Energy You¡¯ve gained 12 Bonus Attribute points. You¡¯ve unlocked the ability to form a guild! You¡¯ve unlocked the ability to fight other players! Rank Up!: Spell mastery reached rank 52! Rank Up!: Dash reached rank 16 Rank Up!: Sprint reached rank 11
Darith¡¯s message said. He was shocked by how many levels they had gained. He turned to Liana with his jaw dropped and saw a 21 above her head as well, and she looked back at him equally stunned. ¡°Maybe we should just kill these for training from now on.¡± Darith spoke. ¡°No thanks. So what did it drop?¡± Liana asked as they both walked forward to the glowing item in front of it¡¯s shoulders, spotting a large glowing golden book. ¡°What is that thing?¡± She asked as they both used their game interface to analyze it.
Name: Tome of Time Warp (Legendary) Type: Spellbook Teaches: Time Warp Rank 1 Description:A Legendary spell tome awarded to the first players that defeat a monster 50 levels or more above their own. One of the 1000 hidden spell tomes in The Broken Realm obtainable through various hidden challenges. This unique spell can only be learned once, by a single player. If the player is removed from the game, the Tome will be obtainable once more, but the method of obtaining it will become more difficult.
¡°Incredible, so this is like a super ultra secret spell?¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°If we learn this then no one else can learn it, unless they beat us and then copy what we just did!¡± Darith squeaked like a kid on Christmas. ¡°What does the spell do?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see!¡± Darith said as they looked to read the details
Time Warp - Rank 1 Creates an artificial zone in which time is slowed for all non-living things that attempt to pass through it. Effect: Time slowed by 1/100 (1s = 0.01s) Cost: 150mp Cast Time: Instant Duration: 15s Radius: 2m Command: Time Warp (change)(?)
¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t get it.¡± Liana said while scratching her head. ¡°It slows anything that isn¡¯t a player or NPC, like my firebolts for example... this is an incredibly powerful spell!¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°It doesn¡¯t do a lot of damage or anything like that though, right?¡± Liana said with disappointment. ¡°No, but this is much better than that, if it¡¯s used correctly... But that mana cost is hefty, and it¡¯s more of a support skill... I think you should take it.¡± Darith said to her. ¡°Are you sure? I don¡¯t really think I¡¯d use it.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Oh you¡¯ll definitely use it! We can do some really cool combinations with that.¡± Darith said excitedly as he started to tap his fingers together. ¡°Alright, if you say so.¡± Liana shrugged, picking up the golden book. Darith watched as the book dissipated and a bright golden glow swirled around Liana, until finally it gave her the message that she had learned Time Warp. ¡°Try it, try casting it!¡± Darith said excitedly, while Liana was visibly unenthusiastic about the spell. ¡°Time Warp!¡± She called out, her mana taking a huge hit as a purple dome appeared around them. The snow that was blowing in the wind around them began to slow to a near stop as it went into the dome, while everything outside the dome continued to blow around in the wind at normal speed. ¡°Wow.¡± Liana said in sudden amazement, moving her hands through the snow flakes in the air that were nearly motionless while inside the dome. ¡°See? Look!¡± Darith said then raising his staff. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He shouted, and as he fired the bolt, it froze outside it¡¯s red circle, traveling incredibly slow through the dome. ¡°Now try canceling it.¡± Darith said. Liana opened her menu to her spell commands to check the command on Time Warp to end the effect. ¡°Right, End Warp!¡± She shouted, and in an instant the dome vanished, the snow that collected in the dome suddenly blew into their faces all at once and Darith¡¯s firebolt shot out across the cavern. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll start practicing that one.¡± Liana grinned. ¡°Great, now the real problem.¡± Darith said, he turned and ran towards the players frozen in ice, Liana following after him. ¡°Can we just use your Firebolt?¡± Liana suggested. ¡°I hope so... Firebolt!¡± Darith shouted, and they both watched as the bolt hit the block of ice and dissipated, doing nothing. ¡°Didn¡¯t think so.¡± He sighed. ¡°We¡¯ll need to make a new spell, something that can melt ice...¡± Liana said as she put her right index finger to her chin. Just then a light bulb seemed to flick on in Darith¡¯s head. ¡°Scald!¡± He shouted, and after a few seconds his ball of boiling hot water shot at the block of ice. A tiny portion of the scalding hot water melted a bit of the ice down, but it wasn¡¯t nearly enough. ¡°Multi Scald 10!¡± Darith shouted as Liana stepped back, 10 Scald circles formed around Aaron¡¯s block of ice and hit it from all sides. It was working, but slowly, and Scald was draining Darith¡¯s mana much faster than Firebolt because of its lower rank. ¡°Concentrate!¡± Liana shouted to help boost his mana back up. ¡°Multi Scald 20!¡± Darith shouted, this time 20 balls of boiling water shot at Aaron¡¯s block of ice and melted the top half of it completely, down to his shoulders. As this happened 2 things changed about Aaron. His status changed to Half Frozen, and his health began to drop rapidly. ¡°Ah, Liana, heal him fast!¡± Darith shouted, but she was already on it. ¡°Restore!¡± She chanted, and within 3 seconds his health went full, but began dropping again. ¡°Restore! Get him out fast, Darith.¡± Liana said. ¡°Multi Scald, 20!¡± Darith shouted, aiming at the remaining ice left behind around his body, draining the last of his mana. His health continue to drop then go back to full as Liana continuously healed him, and Darith watched as his skin started to regain its color and his status effect faded, until finally he let out a loud gasp of air in his high pitched female elven voice, falling to his knees.
Skill Gained: Melt Ice (?) Melt Ice - Rank 1 Removes the Frozen Status Effect Effect: Removes Frozen Status Cost: 150mp Cast Time: 5s Command: Melt Ice (change)(?)
¡°Aaron , can you hear me?¡± Darith asked as he dropped to his knees beside the archer. ¡°Ugh, aheh, yeah...¡± Aaron said as his lungs cleared and heat returned to his body, his health stabilizing. ¡°What the heck happened? The last thing I re- Whoa! Why are you suddenly level 21?¡± Aaron said as he spotted Darith¡¯s health bar. ¡°You got frozen by a level 60 monster, but we beat it and got you out.¡± Darith replied. ¡°A what? A level 60 monster? Oh that''s right, my wife! She¡¯s here, there! Belle!¡± Aaron shouted as he stood up and turned towards his Wife. ¡°You got me out, right? You can get her out too?¡± Aaron asked anxiously. ¡°Let¡¯s try this new spell. Melt Ice!¡± Darith shouted and a dark red circle began to form above the block of ice with Belle frozen inside. After a 5 second delay a wave of heat and steam came down from Darith¡¯s spell circle and turned the block of ice around Belle into water. She instantly fell to her knees and let out a loud gasp of air. ¡°That was a lot better, no need for my healing.¡± Liana commented as they watched Aaron throw his arms around his wife. ¡°Belle, are you alright?¡± He asked her as she coughed for air. ¡°Y-yeah... What happened?¡± She said while putting her hands to her head, her voice deep and manly to match her male elf body. ¡°You can explain, I¡¯ll go free everyone else.¡± Darith said with a big satisfied grin, Liana nodding back to him. By the time Darith had run around the windy cold cavern there were over 20 players gathered around Liana, listening to her explanation on what had happened to them. ¡°If that date is correct, I¡¯ve been frozen here for three weeks. I¡¯ve got to get back to my family! I¡¯ll never forget this though, Darith and Liana, right?¡± One lizardfolk man asked them, looking to his two rescuers. Darith and Liana both nodded. ¡°I owe you guys one. If you ever need help, the Friendly Fox guild will be there. Return!¡± He shouted, surrounding himself in white light before disappearing. Several others expressed thanks and disappeared until all were gone but Belle and Aaron. ¡°You leveled up pretty quick from the last I saw you, it feels like it happened in just a few seconds... You were around my level, and then bam! 21!¡± Aaron said in his female elf voice. ¡°We did some heavy training.¡± Darith replied, looking at Belle briefly. She was also an elf, but in a males body with short blonde curly hair and holding a wooden harp in her hand. ¡°I¡¯m Belle, thanks for helping my husband and saving me.¡± She smiled, her boyish voice throwing Darith off a bit as she reached her hand out to shake Darith¡¯s, who happily obliged. ¡°That¡¯s a harp, right? Is that a weapon from the game?¡± Darith asked excitedly. ¡°Yup! I figured I¡¯d try a bard-type class since I¡¯m a musician outside of the game.¡± He shrugged as he held out the Harp for Darith and Liana to see. ¡°What kind of stuff can you do with a harp?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Eh, typical bard type spells. It started with restore, but I managed to learn an inspire spell.¡± She said, then plucked a few strings to make a gentle melody, and as she did a small green spell circle appeared over the harp strings, Moments later tiny glowing green music notes began to float around Darith and he saw a small green 19 number appear in front of him. ¡°Typical bard type spells, huh? You sound like you know a few games with bards in them.¡± Darith commented as he watched the music notes fade. ¡°Yep. Let¡¯s just say my music career leaves me with a lot of time for playing games.¡± Belle replied with a displeased expression. ¡°Just waiting for the perfect opportunity for it to take off.¡± Aaron replied supportively. ¡°Right.¡± She replied to him with raised eyebrows. ¡°Well, playing this harp in the game will probably give you some new great ideas.¡± He shrugged back. ¡°When¡¯s the last time you¡¯ve heard a popular song with a harp in it?¡± She replied. ¡°Maybe you can make it popular, make it like, your own style.¡± ¡°The second I can find a different bard type weapon, I¡¯m swapping it out.¡± She sighed back to him. Liana just watched them bicker with a nervous smile, while Darith seemed to be waiting for an opening to ask something. ¡°I was wondering if I could ask you something Aaron.¡± He finally spoke up, drawing Aaron and Belle¡¯s attention back to the two. ¡°Y-yeah, sure, what is it?¡± Aaron asked. ¡°I was wondering if you could tell us how you got that analyze skill in detail, so we can try and get it too.¡± Darith asked. ¡°Wha, you learned a skill in this game, all by yourself?¡± Belle replied surprised. ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that not only did I learn a skill, but me and Darith defeated a boss!¡± Aaron replied proudly. ¡°Whoa, really? Must¡¯ve been hard to carry this noob.¡± Belle replied to Darith sarcastically. ¡°Hehe.¡± Darith smiled at her. ¡°Your lingo is kind of refreshing, you seem to know a lot about MMO¡¯s.¡± Darith commented. ¡°Makes it more embarrassing that I got stuck in ice like this, Guess me¡¯n Aaron will have to do some power training too! Go on and teach him your analyze skill.¡± Belle bumped him forward. ¡°Well, I would but, I don¡¯t know how.¡± Aaron said. ¡°It¡¯s easy. Click on their names floating above their heads with both of your index fingers at the same time and click the teach option.¡± Belle said nonchalantly. ¡°Whoa, you can do something like that in this game?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yup! Try it! There¡¯s a couple of options available. You can only teach some basic skills though, not all of them, and not spells.¡± Belle replied. Darith and Liana both did it A small menu did appear that listed several options.
Liana - Level 21 Invite to Party Duel Inspect Teach Trade
¡°Huh, would you look at that.¡± Aaron said as he did the motion. ¡°So I probably want the teach menu, right?¡± Aaron asked as he clicked it. ¡°It says I can only teach you analyze, sprint, and evade.¡± ¡°Oh, how about in return for Analyze I teach you guys the ones I found? I¡¯ve got kick, conceal, cartography, dash, and a really good one called through the pain.¡± Darith suggested. ¡°It woulda been nice to know that you could teach it to me before you made me do those painful pushups to learn it myself.¡± Liana grumbled, remembering something unpleasant. ¡°Ooh, through the pain? What¡¯s that?¡± Belle asked. ¡°It¡¯s easier if I teach it so you can see all the details yourself.¡± Darith said as he pulled up the teach interface on Belle, selected through the pain, and confirmed to teach it. A sudden yellow spell circle appeared in front of both Darith and Belle and a clear yellow beam shot between them, connecting them. Then a bright yellow light surrounded her, getting brighter and brighter for a few seconds until after 10 seconds it flashed and vanished.
Info:Teaching Successful!
A message popped up in front of Darith¡¯s eyes. ¡°Whoa, this skill looks neat.¡± Belle said excitedly. ¡°I¡¯ll try next, here comes Analyze. Ready?¡± Aaron asked Darith, and Darith nodded back at him.
Info:PlayerAaronis attempting to teach you the skillAnalyze. Accept Decline
Darith quickly tapped the yes button with his finger. It took about 2 minutes for them to all exchange the basic skills so that all of them could use everything the four together had combined. ¡°This map thing is handy.¡± Belle said as she swatted at it with her hands, though she only caught the snow blowing around them. ¡°We really need to get back though, I¡¯ve got to call work and explain why I¡¯ve been missing.¡± ¡°Oh, right, we¡¯ve got to get back too before mom comes home!¡± Darith said, suddenly panicking. ¡°Then we¡¯ll see you around!¡± Belle smiled, and after saying goodbyes the four of them quickly cast their return spells, leaving the icy cavern. Darith and Liana re-appeared back in the living room of the house, it was now late Sunday evening and all of the lights were off in the house, allowing them to easily see the headlights of Kristen¡¯s car as she pulled into the driveway. ¡°Just in time.¡± Darith said relieved. ¡°Will we go back there tomorrow?¡± Liana asked as she reluctantly sat back in her wheelchair and returned to her normal body, Darith did the same and felt instantly uncomfortable in his clothes. He began stretching out his shirt fruitlessly. ¡°The level progression in the desert area seemed a lot more reasonable, we should head there tomorrow after school. I want to make sure those kids aren¡¯t still running around killing low-level players.¡± Darith said. ¡°Oh right, you have school...¡± Liana frowned. ¡°Do you think I could come to school with you? In my other body?¡± She asked. ¡°School? Are you crazy? That¡¯s way too risky!¡± Darith replied hastily. ¡°Why is it risky? I have a normal body.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Well.. Hmmm, but what about mom? She¡¯ll know something is up if you keep asking to stay home.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll mind.¡± Liana replied just as the door swung open to reveal an exhausted Kristen rushing to take off her shoes and run into the bathroom. ¡°Welcome home!¡± Liana said cheerfully towards the closing bathroom door. ¡°Thanks, Darith order pizza, I¡¯m too tired to cook.¡± She called back. ¡°Okay.¡± Darith replied excitedly, pulling out his cell phone. He hesitated for a moment, unsure if it would work normally, but to his relief after dialing the number he got a normal ring sound to say that his call was going through. ¡°Can I stay at the house tomorrow?¡± Liana then asked. ¡°Nope, you need a checkup and bath. Tuesday¡¯s fine though and I have a few days off starting Thursday so we can do whatever you want, okay?¡± Kristen replied, and after the toilet flushed she emerged to hear Darith ordering a pizza. ¡°Okay.¡± Liana replied, trying her best to hide her disappointment. ¡°Make sure you get meat. Lots of meat.¡± Kristen said to Darith, and he nodded back to his mom. Chapter 18: Debuffs 101 Tick... Tock... Tick... Tock... The old wooden clock hanging on the wall of the large room went on and on. Elise sat alone at her desk in the center of the room with her school books open, quietly reading by the light of the expensive chandelier above her. The windows were large, covered by oversized drapes, not that it mattered as it was already dark outside. The only way out of the red and black carpeted room was through a large wooden door with carved patterns on it that Elise occasionally glanced toward. She eventually let out a long drawn out sigh as she leaned back into her chair, head falling backwards over the top rest so that she could stare straight up at the ceiling. She then closed her mouth and pressed air out to make a weird sound, then started tapping her foot on the ground to the rhythm of the clock ticking. After a couple of taps an idea popped into her head and she sat up in the chair, then moved to her feet while still tapping her right foot along with the clock. She put her arms at her sides, then began trying dance moves in synchronization with the clock. At first by herself, then pretending her chair was a dance partner, and then sliding over the desk to the other side while knocking everything off of it, landing intentionally on her knees on the carpet after falling off, and began practicing ground moves she¡¯d seen other contemporary dancers do on TV. She ended up on her back and did a kick flip up to her feet to continue dancing there, but just as she did she heard the lock in the door turning, causing her heart to nearly jump out of her throat. Elise quickly turned and started grabbing her books to put them back on her desk, but it wasn¡¯t fast enough and the door swung open. To her relief however, it was only Miranda the maid. As Elise continued to put her things on the desk, calmly now, Miranda rushed across the room holding a silver tray of food. ¡°Are you alright dear?¡± Miranda asked worriedly. ¡°Yup, I¡¯m fine.¡± Elise smiled back at her. ¡°Come out of this room with me, it¡¯s ridiculous to stay locked up in here.¡± Miranda pleaded as she put the tray down on the desk. ¡°If I sneak out, she¡¯ll know you helped me and fire you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take the risk of being fired by that woman.¡± Miranda replied. ¡°It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m fine. I needed to study anyway.¡± ¡°Three days locked in this room is a bit too much time to study, don¡¯t you think?¡± Miranda commented, then began helping Elise pick up things from the floor. ¡°She was right though, my grades are too low. I¡¯ll need to raise them if I ever want to get out of here.¡± Elise sighed. ¡°The day you leave is the day I quit.¡± Miranda said confidently. ¡°Are you sure? Won¡¯t you miss my lovely mother and sister?¡± Elise asked sarcastically, to which Miranda simply rolled her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t understand that sister of yours. When I was your age me and my sister would defend each other over anything, even when we knew the other was wrong. Once, my sister stole from another girl in our school and was at risk of being expelled, I managed to convince the school the girl had simply lost it instead... Whatever that is a long story. Are you sure you want to stay in here?¡± ¡°Yup, I don¡¯t mind.¡± Elise replied, sitting back in her chair. ¡°It¡¯s okay to ask for help sometimes, dear. Don¡¯t be afraid to.¡± ¡°Thanks Miranda.¡± Elise said as she looked at the food now and began eating, but just then there was a loud shouting coming from outside the room. ¡°You did what!?¡± A man¡¯s voice called out. ¡°She tried to quit her dancing class in that vile place you call school! I warned you that those girls wouldn¡¯t learn anything in that place.¡± A woman¡¯s voice repeated behind him. Stomping from across the house quickly got closer until a tall man with short brown hair in a black suit appeared in the doorway of the room. ¡°Dad, you¡¯re back?¡± Elise said excitedly. ¡°Yes, come on out of that room sweetie.¡± He replied, motioning her towards the door with his hands as her mother appeared behind him, shortly after Karin approached as well. ¡°Hi Dad!¡± Karin said with a big smile, throwing her arms around him to receive a hug. ¡°Hey Karin, how are you doing?¡± He asked. ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡± she shrugged as Elise got closer with Miranda walking behind her, but didn¡¯t attempt to hug her father as her sister did. ¡°What kind of parent locks their kid in a room for 3 days just because she doesn¡¯t want to attend a stupid dance club?¡± Elise¡¯s father yelled at her mother. ¡°It¡¯s your fault! You¡¯re the one who suggested they go to that place.¡± She replied. ¡°Stop trying to force her to do things she doesn¡¯t want to do. The entire point of sending them to public schools is so that they could learn how the real world works and choose for themselves.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re so confident you can raise them better, then why don¡¯t you try doing it sometime?¡± She snapped back at him angrily as Elise felt Miranda put her hands on her shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m busy working so that you can have this ¡®lifestyle¡¯ that you wanted so badly. I¡¯d think that the only thing you have to do, raise our girls properly, wouldn¡¯t be too much to ask! You¡¯ve even got servants to cook and clean for you!¡± He snapped back. ¡°I¡¯m trying my best, but I can¡¯t do anything when she won¡¯t listen to me! I mean, look at her hair, what is that? Is she trying to be a street thug or something?¡± Her mother shouted while pointing to Elise¡¯s blue streaks in her hair. ¡°She¡¯s just expressing herself like a normal teenager.¡± Miranda said. ¡°You stay out of this.¡± Her mother growled at the maid. ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this. I only came home to see how my girls were doing, I¡¯ve got a plane leaving for Germany in an hour. If I find out you lock up one of our daughters again, so help me god.¡± He said as he turned and started heading back down the hall towards the large stairs out of the house. Elise quickly broke free of Miranda¡¯s hands and ran past Karin and her mother to catch up with him. ¡°Wait!¡± Elise stopped him, moving to walk beside him as they descended down the large stairs of the mansions main foyer. ¡°Take me with you.¡± Elise begged. ¡°I can¡¯t take you with me, it¡¯s an important business trip.¡± He replied coldly. ¡°It¡¯s always an important business trip.¡± She sighed. ¡°I won¡¯t cause any trouble, please. I don¡¯t want to stay here anymore.¡± Elise pleaded. Her father stopped at the bottom of the stairs and knelt down so that he was at eye level with Elise, putting his hands on her shoulder. ¡°If your mother tries anything like that again, I want you to call me instantly, okay? But this is your home, and you¡¯ve got school tomorrow.¡± He said as they looked into each others eyes. He then got back up and quickly walked towards the front doors of the house. ¡°If I call you, what are you going to do? Come back for five minutes to yell at her, then leave again?¡± Elise called out to him across the Foyer just as Karin appeared at the top of the stairs to watch him leave. ¡°You¡¯re just as bad as mom!¡± She shouted angrily with fists clenched. Hearing this, he stopped with the front door open to turn and look into Elise¡¯s eyes once more. He saw her angry expression, but said nothing. He simply turned, walked out the door and shut it behind him. Elise stood frozen in place for a bit, staring blankly. ¡°Why do you always make them fight? Why can¡¯t you just listen to mom?¡± Karin called out to Elise from the top of the stairs after a few moments of silence. Elise turned and looked up the long staircase to lock eyes with her older sister, giving her the angriest glare her face would allow. ¡°It¡¯s your fault that it¡¯s like this.¡± Karin said, then turned and walked towards her bedroom. After hearing the bedroom door shut behind Karin, Elise clenched her fist and let out a loud high pitched scream of frustration, but no one in the mansion reacted. Tears built up in her eyes as she stomped across the foyer and through a hall until arriving in a bathroom with a large mirror and fancy sink. On the sink she found a small pair of scissors and used it to aggressively start cutting out the blue streaks in her hair as tears rolled down her cheeks. [Darith - Short Term Growth] ¡°See you after school, I¡¯ll be waiting at home for you to play, so don¡¯t worry about falling behind or anything!¡± Darith said to Liana as she was lifted into Kristen¡¯s car, Darith walking down the driveway with his backpack on. He tried his best to speak in code whenever Kristen was listening.. ¡°Okay.¡± She called back cheerfully. ¡°Have a good day.¡± Kristen said to him. ¡°You too!¡± He replied, waving as he got to the sidewalk and headed towards the school. The more he walked in his regular body, the more he started to hate it. His legs started to chafe together in his baggy cargo shorts, and his shirt sleeves stuck to his arm as if they were choking them. He could feel extra parts shaking and wiggling as he stepped, feelings he didn¡¯t have with his game character. The more he lived as a tiny little Nemothyne, the more he started to hate the feeling of being overweight. He started daydreaming about how he could power up his real body using the game, so that he could lose weight. His mind wandered further to ask if it was even possible anymore, if something like healing Liana¡¯s real body would be possible using something from the game. Before he knew it, he had arrived at school and silently made his way through the crowds of other highschool students talking and standing in circles in front of the building. All he wanted was to be seen by as few people as possible, embarrassed about what they might see or what they might stare at. Every laughing student he walked past made him wonder if they were laughing at him, or something else. Finally he got into the empty class room and felt relieved, sitting in his desk without anyone around to stare. He used the time to fix his clothes as usual, preparing himself to look as skinny as possible before the first person walked in. Within about 20 minutes the classroom filled up and the bell rang, and not to his surprise, Ryan was not there. ¡°Absent again? Have you heard anything from Ryan?¡± The teacher asked Darith as the class quieted down and everyone sat in their desks. Darith simply shrugged in response. ¡°Alright, well, today we¡¯ll be starting from page 320 in your textbooks.¡± Their math teacher said, and the sound of bags and books shuffling filled the room. Darith took out his book and quickly looked at the 2 opened pages, then looked away a few seconds later out the window. His mind started daydreaming wondering what Ryan was doing. The same feeling returned to him from before, the feeling of wasting time and falling behind. He began to play out a scenario in his head where he snuck to the hospital to get Liana and they went into a dungeon together. He daydreamed about all of the types of bosses and monsters they might encounter. Then his mind started wondering about new spells he could make using his spell mastery. ¡°Darith? Care to answer?¡± His teacher said, drawing his attention back to the class and causing him to quickly jerk his head to the teacher. He saw most students looking bored at their books while a few turned to look at him. ¡°Answer what?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Question 3 on the page.¡± His teacher said with disappointment. ¡°Pay attention please instead of staring out the window.¡± ¡°-31.6.¡± Darith replied without thinking. He and the teacher both simultaneously got expressions of shock. ¡°Already solved it I see? Maybe this material is a bit too easy for you then.¡± the teacher eventually shrugged, then went back to his lecture. Meanwhile Darith was still surprised. How did he know that? He looked at the textbook closely, and it felt like all of the information on the pages were already in his head. By just glancing at it, he could recall all the words and numbers, and answer all of the questions. He opened his notebook and quickly jotted down the answers appearing in his mind for each question, then rushed through the book to the back to the answer keys. He found the answer key to page 320 in a second, and sure enough, all of his answers were accurate. ¡°At least stay on the same page, Darith.¡± The teacher commented as he watched Darith shuffle through the book. ¡°S-sorry.¡± Darith said, the teacher spotting Darith looking at the answer keys in the back. ¡°Ah-hah, cheating for the answers? You can¡¯t learn how it¡¯s done if you only look at the solution. Have you ever heard the expression ¡®teach a man to fish?¡¯¡± His teacher asked. ¡°I wasn¡¯t cheating, I can answer all of these... Really fast.¡± Darith said in amazement and confusion to himself, though the teacher considered this as boasting, all students eyes now on Darith. ¡°Alright then,¡± The teacher walked to his desk and shut his textbook, taking it away and walking to the chalkboard. He grabbed a piece of white chalk and quickly scribbled down an equation related to their current material. ¡°Solve thi-¡± ¡°902.¡± Darith replied, then threw his hands over his mouth, remembering now that he had drastically raised his intelligence stat over the weekend. Was it that? Or was it the analyze skill? Not only was he really smart, but thinking extremely fast with incredible memory. ¡°Hmm. Once more.¡± The teacher added another question. ¡°Thirty..... No, it¡¯s just 0.¡± Darith replied. He couldn¡¯t figure out himself why he knew the answer, but he just did.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Impressive. I¡¯ll make you a deal, Darith. You pretend to pay attention in class, and I¡¯ll get you an exam to see what grade you should be learning at for tomorrow, okay?¡± The teacher smiled. ¡°O-okay.¡± Darith replied, some of the students now mumbling to each other in amazement, but Darith himself was more amazed than any of them. [Liana + Jaese - Helping Hand] ¡°All clean now?¡± Kristen asked while pushing along Liana¡¯s wheelchair through the hospital. ¡°I feel dirtier than before Cindy started washing me.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Oh come on it can¡¯t be that bad.¡± Kristen said in disbelief. ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you should ask her to give you a sponge bath.¡± Liana retorted. ¡°Oh no, I¡¯ll take your word for it.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°So, how was your weekend, having fun with Darith?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s really fun! It¡¯s the most amazing game ever!¡± She said as her eyes suddenly lit up with excitement, though out of view of Kristen who stood behind her wheelchair. ¡°What sort of game is it, what do you guys do?¡± Kristen asked. Liana hesitated at answering, remembering that she wasn¡¯t supposed to tell people about it. ¡°Well, it¡¯s kind of like an adventure game. Darith is a wizard and I am a healer. Yesterday we fought a really strong monster and got a special reward from it.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a wizard, huh? Next time you are playing maybe tell him to learn some magic that¡¯ll keep his room clean.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any magic like that in the game.¡± Liana wondered. ¡°I doubt there¡¯s any magic in the world that¡¯ll make him keep it clean.¡± She laughed, Liana giggling a bit along with her. ¡°I¡¯ve got to get back to work, anywhere you¡¯d like to be dropped off?¡± ¡°Hmm, what about the police officers, are they still here?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s been so busy I didn¡¯t mention it. The officer that was in the ER didn¡¯t make it, and apparently the other officer you talked to went after the guys that did it. He ended up in the ER on Saturday as well, still didn¡¯t catch the guys. Luckily he¡¯s recovering, but pretty crazy situation.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°Can I see him?¡± Liana asked hopeful. ¡°I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll let you, but let¡¯s try and see how he¡¯s doing. I¡¯m also a bit worried about him.¡± Kristen commented. The first thing Jaese perceived was a vicious pain in his chest. The rest of his body felt light, numb even, except for the pain just below his right shoulder. He saw black, and when he slowly tried to open his eyes he was met with white light. His vision was blurry and took a moment to adjust to the lighting, but after a few seconds he was able to identify his surroundings. Hospital roof, hospital bed, hospital room. He turned his head slightly, lifting one arm to see an IV in it and some other monitors hooked up to his body, the rhythmic sound of the heart rate monitor beeping beside him. ¡°Jaese? Can you hear me?¡± A familiar voice spoke, causing him to turn his head and see Richard sitting at his bedside. ¡°Ugh, yeah...¡± Jaese replied hesitantly, sitting up slightly but stopping because of the pain in his chest. ¡°What happened?¡± Jaese asked, just as Richard quickly stood up and opened the room door. ¡°He¡¯s up.¡± He said to the officer guarding outside the room, and the officer nodded and grabbed his radio while Richard shut the door. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°You got hurt badly, we think by the same guys that robbed the bank. Luckily he missed any vitals, but it seemed whoever attacked you was aiming for your heart. The only reason you¡¯re alive is because the weapon they used had an odd shape. Doctors say it¡¯s consistent with the wounds of the other officers. You were out from blood loss but you should make a full recovery.¡± Richard said as he sat back down. ¡°Well isn¡¯t that great news.¡± Jaese replied sarcastically. ¡°I need to ask you a few questions about what happened, is that okay?¡± Richard said calmly. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fine.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°What¡¯s the last thing you remember?¡± He asked. ¡°Well, I-¡± He started confidently, but as he tried to think back to what happened he simply recalled nothing. A blank white image filled his head as he tried to think about getting injured. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I-¡± he thought harder for a few moments, until finally the white memory disappeared and he saw Gabriel entering the old building. ¡°I followed Gabriel into an old abandoned building. I followed him there, called it in, I was waiting for backup. That was after you told me you arrived at the restaurant. You said something about a bunch of girls going crazy?¡± ¡°You were found bleeding out with that wound in your chest inside the building. Do you remember why you went in, or what happened inside?¡± Richard asked. ¡°N-no... I can¡¯t remember. It¡¯s strange, all I can remember is just white, like the memory is blank.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°The girls we arrested in the restaurant said something similar just after they stopped acting crazy. Took them awhile before it happened though.¡± Richard commented, glancing away from Jaese for a moment. ¡°What about Gabriel then, he should¡¯ve been there. You think maybe he did this?¡± Jaese replied. ¡°He was nowhere to be seen. Jaese, the officer that arrived at the scene found you bleeding out, and right before you blacked out, you said something to him. You said ¡®not pretending¡¯. What did you mean by that?¡± Richard asked nervously. ¡°I don¡¯t... I¡¯ve got no idea.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°It¡¯s really important you remember, try if you can. Do you remember what you said to me at my desk, before I sent you to the gang house?¡± Richard asked. ¡°Yeah, I told you who ever is doing all of this is using tricks to try and make themselves look like some sort of wizard...¡± Jaese said, himself now realizing what his supposed words meant. ¡°So why would I say ¡®not pretending?¡¯¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I don¡¯t like this case one bit.¡± Richard sighed as he ran his hand through his short black hair, looking to the wall in deep thought. ¡°Too many things that aren¡¯t adding up, and we can¡¯t get any answers.¡± ¡°Have you tried tracking down Gabriel?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been watching his house, but he¡¯s disappeared. Tai¡¯s gone too, can¡¯t find any of his people.¡± ¡°I wish-¡± Jaese focused really hard, trying to pull up any useful memory, but nothing came up. ¡°Why can¡¯t I remember!¡± He said angrily. ¡°I¡¯m guessing some sort of drug is involved. Tests came back clean on you and the girls from the restaurant, but it''s the only realistic explanation left. The only alternative to that is what you said when you blacked out, that whatever is going on isn¡¯t just some trick.¡± ¡°You think, real magic?¡± Jaese asked in disbelief. ¡°At this point, I don¡¯t know what to think.¡± Richard said, just as the door opened and Kristen walked in the room. ¡°You¡¯re awake! How are you feeling?¡± Kristen asked ¡°Like I¡¯m on something.¡± Jaese commented as Richard stood up to be polite for the lady entering the room. ¡°That¡¯s just the painkillers. You lost a lot of blood and the doctors had to give you 16 stitches in your chest.¡± ¡°When can I get out of here?¡± He asked. ¡°We¡¯d like to keep you under observation for another day before you¡¯re free to go.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°Great.¡± Jaese sighed. ¡°Until then you should make sure you get a lot of rest. If you need anything you can press that button there.¡± She pointed to a nurse button on the side of his bed. ¡°Alright, thanks.¡± He replied politely, and Kristen quickly turned to step out of the room just as Arnold arrived outside the door. ¡°He¡¯s awake? What in the hell were you thinking! I told you to take time off not go chasing after the guys by yourself!¡± Arnold said angrily as he pushed into the room, but Richard blocked him from going further in. ¡°Doctor said he¡¯ll need rest, you can yell at him later.¡± ¡°To hell with that, you¡¯ve got a lot of questions to answer.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t cause too much stress for the patient, the wound could open back up.¡± Kristen said politely to the two. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s talk outside.¡± Richard insisted, leading Arnold out of the room. Kristen left after them. ¡°Thanks.¡± Jaese said to her quietly as she was closing the door. She simply turned and winked at him before shutting it, and he slumped back into his bed, trying once more to recall what had happened. Liana sat in her wheelchair down the hall a bit from the room, watching as Kristen, Arnold and Richard all left the room. While Arnold and Richard began arguing, Kristen walked over to Liana. ¡°So, how is he? Can I talk to him?¡± Liana asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good time right now, they seem a little on edge. Listen sweetie, I¡¯ve got some patients to check on, are you okay staying here?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± Liana nodded. ¡°Alright, don¡¯t get into any trouble okay?¡± Kristen said as she gently kissed Liana on the forehead. ¡°I won¡¯t!¡± Liana said, and Kristen walked off into the hospital. Contrary to her words however, Liana instantly used the control on her wheelchair to move closer to the arguing detective and police captain. ¡°He can¡¯t remember.¡± Liana heard Richard say to Arnold. ¡°And you believe him? That¡¯s bullshit.¡± Arnold replied angrily. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure he¡¯s telling the truth, just like those girls.¡± Richard replied calmly. Arnold responded by putting his palm to his forehead and pacing slightly, turning around once. ¡°Someone better tell me something. I want to know what the hell is going on in this city. The commissioner is so far up my ass I¡¯m starting to cough up his toupee.¡± Arnold said angrily, but in a whisper. ¡°I know how you feel. Right now all we¡¯ve got is Gabriel, if we can find him, maybe whoever is doing this hasn¡¯t messed with his memories like they¡¯ve done to Jaese and the girls from the restaurant.¡± Richard said. ¡°Alright.¡± Arnold said as he pulled out his phone and pressed a few numbers. ¡°I want all available units looking for this Gabriel Estada guy, get a city wide APB on him. Set up a press conference so we can get his face on the news. I want this guy found yesterday.¡± Arnold said, then quickly rushed down the hall with Richard behind him. Liana was then left with just the officer standing quietly in front of Jaese¡¯s hospital door, leaning against the wall. Liana hesitated for a moment, then decided to move towards him. As she got close, the buzzing sound of her wheelchairs motor got his attention and he turned to look at her. ¡°Excuse me officer, can you tell me what happened to Officer Jaese?¡± ¡°Sorry little girl, that¡¯s official police business.¡± He replied, and as he looked at her he did his best to not stare at her scars. He failed horribly, and Liana noticed it, but she pretended not to. ¡°Do you think I could talk to him?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Are you a friend of his?¡± He asked. ¡°Well... N-no... Not really. I¡¯m just a patient here, I talked to him the other day.¡± ¡°Ah, I see. You don¡¯t need to worry about him, he¡¯ll make a full recovery, he just needs to rest. What¡¯s your name? I¡¯ll let him know you stopped by.¡± he replied politely, though his eyes on her scars made him seem rude to her. ¡°Liana.¡± She replied with a pouting expression, turning her wheelchair and driving it away. Her curiosity was left unsatisfied, and she started brainstorming about something else she could do to kill time. She just remembered that she wanted to try a healing spell on a patient when she heard an odd thunk sound behind her. She turned around to see the officer she had just been talking to sitting down on the ground with his back against the wall, head tilted to the side. Eric Jesthen - Lvl 6 She saw above his head, just like all other people in the hospital had their names and levels. This wasn¡¯t unusual for her now since she was a part of the game, what was unusual was the status effect icon sitting below it. She quickly tapped her right index finger towards the icon to see what it meant. Sleep - Rank 81 The target of this spell will sleep for the duration or until damage is taken. Time Remaining: 2m53s Seeing this, Liana¡¯s eyes opened wide. She understood why he fell over now, but why? What was going on? She quickly glanced around the hospital looking for someone that could have cast the spell, but there were only doctors and nurses in the hall around them. Nothing stood out at first, Liana glancing around to the best of her ability. She then considered going to wake the officer up, but how? Could she dispel him? She didn¡¯t know any magic to do that. If he takes damage, she thought. She then started wheeling her chair forward with the plan on pinching the sleeping officer, but stopped when she spotted a doctor walking down the hall from the other side of the hospital. She felt an odd aura from him, and when she looked at his name above his head she instantly knew why. ???? - Level ?? Seeing this, she panicked. She quickly turned her wheelchair around and moved in the opposite direction. She knew she was above level 10 and could be attacked by other players, and she also knew that this guy was way higher level than she was. Her first thought was that she needed to get out of her body, but not knowing where she could do it. Was there a city guard watching her? No, probably not, that guy just cast a sleep spell, she thought, and as her mind raced she saw an open door lining the hall and steered her wheelchair into it. Inside the room were 4 hospital beds, each filled with older people who all glanced at Liana for a moment before losing interest and going back to reading books and magazines. Liana saw them and got annoyed, with them in the room she couldn¡¯t switch to her game body, but at least she was out of the view of the other man. She quickly turned her chair around and drove it right in the door frame so that she could peer out of the room, though it wasn¡¯t as subtle as she was hoping for. Regardless, the ??? Player was preoccupied, he immediately walked into the hospital room Jaese was in, completely confident as he stepped through the door in his white scrubs. She made out shaved blonde hair and a bony facial structure, but she couldn¡¯t see much more details about him than that. He was in the room, then out. Only a few seconds, then he left the same way he came. He didn¡¯t glance around to see if anyone saw him, he walked as if he didn¡¯t care, and this bothered Liana more than his ?? Level. Once she was sure he was gone Liana used her controls to drive her wheelchair towards the sleeping officer. Her first idea was to pinch him to wake him up, but she hesitated and changed her mind, deciding to check and see what the player did inside the room. She opened the door with some difficulty using her right hand, then drove the chair inside. Jaese was sleeping soundly in the hospital bed with two separate status effects. Sleep - Rank 81 The target of this spell will sleep for the duration or if damage is taken. Remaining: 2m11s It was the same status as the officer¡¯s outside. She then moved her finger to look at the other. Curse: Doom - Rank 10 Targets afflicted by this curse will die when the duration reaches zero. Reamining: 23h59m11s. Liana¡¯s eyes opened wide, and without hesitation she lifted her right hand. ¡°Grand Restore!¡± She said, causing a large green circle to appear in front of her hand, moments later a large green light shot over Jaese, showing large green numbers to represent how much he¡¯d been healed. The status effect remained. ¡°Remove poison!¡± She tried, a similar spell circle cast, but it had no effect. ¡°It¡¯s a curse, how do I remove a curse?¡± Liana panicked. She glanced to see Darith¡¯s health bar in her party interface, and she knew what she had to do. Before leaving the room she looked at the time on the curse, and then struggled to pull her phone out of her front right pocket, navigating to the alarms menu. She set an alarm to track the timer on the curse, then used the remote to back out of the room. ¡°Kristen!?¡± Liana called instantly, shouting out into the halls of the hospital. ¡°Kristen!¡± She repeated, getting plenty of attention as she went full speed down the halls until finally a nurse stopped her. ¡°Is everything alright Liana?¡± Nurse Cindy asked, stepping out from one of the rooms. ¡°Do you know where Kristen is? I need Kristen right now!¡± Liana begged. ¡°What¡¯s wrong dear?¡± She asked worriedly, meeting Liana at eye level. ¡°Nothing is wrong, I just need to talk to Kristen.¡± Liana replied impatiently. ¡°I¡¯ll page her then, one moment. Cindy said as she walked into a room to grab a phone that was hooked into the wall, pressing some numbers. ¡°She¡¯ll be here as soon as she can, do you need anything?¡± Cindy asked worriedly. ¡°No, no I¡¯m okay I just need to talk to Kristen.¡± Liana replied again. Cindy asked a few more times worriedly, but eventually left Liana to wait by the door until Kristen arrived about 5 minutes later. ¡°What is it, is everything okay?¡± Kristen said with a panicked expression. ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡± Liana assured her. ¡°Oh thank god, I was worried, what¡¯s wrong then?¡± Kristen asked as she let out a sigh of relief. ¡°I need to go home to talk with Darith, can you take me home?¡± Liana pleaded. ¡°Right now? Is it about that game?¡± Kristen asked, noticing her cellphone on her lap. ¡°Yes... Well, sort of, but it¡¯s really important.¡± Liana insisted. ¡°Sweetie, Darith won¡¯t be at home for a few more hours, he¡¯s still at school.¡± Kristen replied, sounding slightly annoyed now. ¡°It¡¯s really really important though!¡± Liana begged with desperate eyes, eyes that Kristen never saw from Liana before. She hesitated for a moment, then let out a long sigh. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what, I¡¯ll take my break around 3:30 and drop you off at home then, okay? That¡¯s when Darith gets home from school.¡± Kristen replied reluctantly. ¡°O-okay, thanks a lot!¡± Liana said with a nervous smile, reaching for her phone to see the timer counting down from 23 hours, 50 minutes, seeing it was only 11:30 am as well.¡± Chapter 19: Staring Contest Darith found himself sitting alone in the cafeteria again. Not only Ryan, but it seemed Jacob was also done with school thanks to the game. Though it bothered him earlier, now he didn¡¯t care so much about where they had gone, he felt pretty happy with himself and his high stats. He started to wonder what other things he¡¯d be able to do with his high intelligence, and just then he conveniently spotted Karin entering the cafeteria, instantly eyeing him. He nervously looked away from the beautiful girl, but was hoping she was walking towards him to give him another quest. ¡°Hi again, Darith.¡± Karin smiled as she sat across from him at his empty table. ¡°H-hi again. Karin, right?¡± He said, thinking it¡¯d be smooth to pretend he had trouble remembering her name. ¡°You remembered!¡± She smiled excitedly, making Darith blush slightly and turn his head away. This gave him time to notice once again the many eyes on him in the cafeteria. ¡°I know this is a lot to ask, but you did so amazing last time, you really saved me with that homework! I was wondering if you¡¯d-¡± She started to ask as a quest icon appeared above her head. ¡°I¡¯d love to!¡± He replied excitedly. ¡°Really? That¡¯s so nice of you!¡± She said as she pulled out her grade 11 math book. His eyes lit up at the sight of it, wondering if he could skim through it and immediately learn grade 11 math. As he pulled the book towards himself he saw the quest accepted message. ¡°Could you bring it to me after school again? Same place as last time.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Oh thank you so much, you¡¯re a real lifesaver! I owe you even more!¡± She added, but Darith was barely listening to her now, his attention was on the book. She stood up from the chair and started to step away, but stopped suddenly. This got Darith¡¯s attention, and he looked up from the book to see her staring wide eyed across the cafeteria with her mouth open. ¡°Wow...¡± She whispered as her breath seemed to leave her. Darith turned to see what she was looking at and saw two handsome young men walking into the cafeteria. One he recognized immediately, the other taller man he hadn¡¯t seen before, but a quick glance at the names above their heads told Darith who they were. Ryan - Level 19 Jacob - Level 17 As he watched them walk towards him in their game character bodies, all girls in the cafeteria seemed to be staring at them. ¡°What¡¯re you guys doing?¡± Darith said in disbelief. ¡°Coming to get you, man.¡± Ryan replied as the two sat at the table, ignoring the fact that Karin was standing there still, staring at them with her jaw open. ¡°Not that, I mean, why are you guys looking like that in school?¡± Darith replied. ¡°Why not? We both picked human.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°Haha, yeah, Ryan told me about your cute little tail.¡± Jacob laughed, his voice much deeper than usual. ¡°But dang man, 29? I thought we were doin good in leveling.¡± ¡°I tried calling you guys...¡± Darith commented. ¡°We tried you too, seems like it doesn¡¯t work when you¡¯re in the, you know.¡± Ryan said, stopping when he noticed Karin staring at them. ¡°Can I help you?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Well, I was just wondering, a-are you new h-here?¡± She asked nervously to Jacob. ¡°Well yeah girl, as a matter of fact I am. Name¡¯s Jacob. You¡¯re Karin, right?¡± Jacob turned to face her, winking at her. ¡°Y-you know my name?¡± She replied flushed. ¡°Of course, I know the names of all the beautiful girls at this school.¡± He replied smoothly, prompting Darith to look at Ryan for an explanation as to what was happening, but Ryan simply rolled his eyes. Karin let out an awkward giggle as she blushed. ¡°Do you think I could get your number, so we could talk sometime?¡± She asked shyly. ¡°How bout you give me yours and I¡¯ll call you, baby?¡± Jacob said smoothly. ¡°O-okay.¡± She said excitedly, quickly pulling out a paper and writing her number on it. ¡°I¡¯m free tonight.¡± She quickly added. ¡°That¡¯s great, maybe I¡¯ll hit you up. Me and my boys needa have a talk now though, mind giving us some privacy?¡± Jacob said. ¡°Of-of course! Bye!¡± She smiled, waving like a little girl and holding her bag to her chest before turning and nervously walking away. ¡°What the heck just happened?¡± Darith asked in disbelief. ¡°Well, this idiot here spent the entire weekend raising his Charisma to seduce girls. Only works on NPC¡¯s though.¡± Ryan sighed. ¡°That wasn¡¯t an NPC.¡± Darith commented. ¡°Non-player characters, yeah, anyone not in the game is considered an NPC, they can even give quests and stuff.¡± Ryan said. ¡°How do you not know that much when you went ¡®n hit 29 so fast?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been in the game world most of the time, didn¡¯t try much in the real world.¡± ¡°It¡¯s crazy yo, you can use all of the stuff in the game in real life!¡± ¡°I got my strength up high enough that I can almost lift a car, still working on it though.¡± Ryan grinned. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get out of here and do something like a dungeon! I heard some other players saying you can get really good equipment and spells from them.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t, still got class.¡± Darith replied. ¡°You kiddin me with that shit? Forget class.¡± Jacob sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t, made a promise to my mom. Besides, I¡¯ve got to wait for my other party member, promised I¡¯d only do stuff in the game with her.¡± Darith said. ¡°Other party member? Did you bring Liana into the game?¡± Ryan asked, and Darith nodded. ¡°Shit, your crippled sort-of-sister? How¡¯d that work? What happened to her?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°She can walk and everything, it¡¯s amazing!¡± He said excitedly. ¡°She¡¯s a really good healer, level 28 now.¡± ¡°Nice, then let¡¯s wait for your healer and do a dungeon, should make it a lot safer.¡± Ryan said excitedly. ¡°How¡¯d you guys level to 19 by the way? Did you get attacked by any other players?¡± ¡°Just like you probably, stayed in the guard areas.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°Guard areas?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yeah, you know, city guards patrolling the area? If you stay anywhere near them then they attack any players that try to PvP.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°We didn¡¯t see any guards... What kind of places did you level up in?¡± Darith asked. ¡°We were in some field/forest area called Avistion Outskirts. What about you?¡± Ryan replied. ¡°A desert and an ice cave... But there weren¡¯t any guards...¡± Darith said while recalling hearing Avistion before. ¡°Oh man that sounds rough, so you already had to PvP?¡± Jacob asked.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°No, not exactly...¡± Darith replied, but as he spoke the bell simultaneously rang throughout the school. ¡°Aw man. I hate that sound.¡± Jacob sighed as Darith started packing his books in his bag along with Karin¡¯s textbook. ¡°You¡¯re really going to class?¡± Ryan said with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s actually really easy now with a high intelligence stat. I can memorize stuff crazy fast.¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°That¡¯s cool. Then let¡¯s meet up after school at your place and go find a dungeon?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Yeah! Sounds good.¡± Darith smiled back ¡°Aite, Imma go seduce all the girls that used to make fun of me.¡± Jacob grinned. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s kind of abusing the game powers? Using it on random people like that?¡± Darith asked as he recalled Karin¡¯s attitude shift. Something about it bothered him. ¡°Of course, but who cares! Gotta enjoy this game to the fullest.¡± Jacob grinned back. Darith looked at him disapprovingly and headed out of the cafeteria towards his class, but the way Karin acted towards him left a sour taste in his mouth. He recalled Jacob¡¯s real appearance, and how Karin would never talk to him like she had under normal circumstances. He then started wondering what would happen if he also raised his Charisma stat, and an image of himself being surrounded by hot, bikini clad women filled his mind. His face went red and he shook his head to clear the thought out. [Gabriel - Repair] ¡°You up, man?¡± Gabriel heard a voice, opening his eyes slowly as he came to. He was laying on a table in a dark room with a pillow under his head, and sat up slowly to see a brown skinned man in a white coat standing over him. Gabriel¡¯s head was pounding, covered in cuts and bruises. ¡°Yeah.¡± He replied, rubbing the back of his head. ¡°Cops got you all over the news, they goin¡¯ all out to find you. Only a matter of time before they start lookin¡¯ up this clinic, you gotta bounce.¡± He said. ¡°Yeah.¡± Gabriel replied, rolling off the table in the lab room onto the floor. He felt a bit dizzy but was able to keep his balance. ¡°What the hell happened man, I heard our old crew got taken out! And now this, and the cops?¡± ¡°It¡¯s better if you don¡¯t know.¡± Gabriel said, stretching his arms a bit before walking towards the exit of the room. ¡°Who did it, at least tell me that, I was a part of that crew before too.¡± ¡°Tai.¡± ¡°He the one that did you up like this?¡± He asked, Gabriel didn¡¯t reply, just kept walking. ¡°Shit, that little Asian punk? How the f-.¡± He replied angrily. ¡°Something wasn¡¯t right about them.¡± Gabriel commented. ¡°What¡¯re you gonna do now?¡± ¡°Find him and kill him.¡± Gabriel replied without hesitation. ¡°Shit, alone? Like this? You¡¯re gonna be the one getting killed. At least let me come with you.¡± He said. ¡°Nah, I need you to take care of my mom. She¡¯s gonna need someone to look out for her.¡± Gabriel said, opening the door and stepping out of the room. ¡°She¡¯s got you, don¡¯t she?¡± He replied, following Gabriel out of the room into a lit hallway. Gabriel didn¡¯t reply, he just walked down the hall into an open waiting area of the building with a reception desk on the side. All people in the waiting room had an animal with them, be it dogs or cats, and they all stared at the battered Gabriel as he headed out. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything stupid man!¡± His veterinarian friend called to him as he left through the glass door of the building, ignoring the warnings. He stepped out onto the busy city street, the sunlight blinding him a moment as his eyes adjusted. He clenched his fists and started walking down the street in the direction of Tai¡¯s restaurant. [Darith + Elise - Staring Contest] Darith nervously walked into the studio room after the final bell rang, spotting Karin already in her dancing outfit across the room with her friends. He also noticed Elise again, sitting on the bench to the side of the room like before, but her blue streaks in her hair had been removed. ¡°You got rid of the blue?¡± Darith commented to her, causing her to look up at the chubby boy. ¡°Yeah.¡± Elise replied, looking away back to her textbook as she did. ¡°Oh. I thought they looked really cool though.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re doing more stuff for my sister, right? Karin!¡± She called across the room reluctantly. ¡°Man servant number 15 is here.¡± She said sarcastically, making Darith turn red. Karin turned and saw Darith, smiled and ran across the room. ¡°Could you finish it?¡± She asked excitedly. ¡°Yup, really easy stuff.¡± He replied confidently as he handed her the book with the answers written on a paper tucked inside the pages. ¡°Thank you so much! I won¡¯t be able to tutor today either, it¡¯s still really busy here.¡± Karin replied as she took the book and double checked the paper. ¡°No problem, you can ask anytime!¡± Darith replied as he watched the experience gain pop up in front of him from the quest completed. ¡°You¡¯re the best!¡± She said as she set her book down beside Elise¡¯s bag and went back across the room to her friends. Darith was about to leave until Elise stopped him. ¡°You know, she¡¯s never going to date you.¡± Elise said in a matter-of-fact tone. ¡°Oh, I know.¡± Darith replied shyly. ¡°Or kiss you, hug you, hold your hand, she¡¯s just using you.¡± Elise said, still not looking up from her textbook. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s okay.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s okay?¡± Elise asked, eyebrows raised as she looked up from her textbook at him. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± He got nervous having her eyes on him, he couldn¡¯t help but think she was looking at his fat and being disgusted, and couldn¡¯t keep eye contact with her, so pretended to spot something interesting on the wall. ¡°Why just help someone for nothing?¡± She asked sounding slightly annoyed. ¡°Not for nothing, I¡¯m kind of using her too.¡± Darith said, trying to defend his dignity a bit. ¡°Using her by doing her homework for her?¡± Elise said in disbelief. ¡°Well-¡± Darith hesitated, he couldn¡¯t answer that he was doing a quest. ¡°I really like math, that¡¯s all.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Riight. You like math. Here, then do mine too.¡± Elise said, holding out her textbook. ¡°Ah, well-¡± Darith replied slowly, remembering that Ryan and Jacob were waiting for him. His excitement about going to a dungeon was slowly overpowering him. ¡°Thought so, it¡¯s only fun to do math if it¡¯s for a pretty girl in a cute little outfit, huh?¡± Elise said sarcastically as she pulled the book back. ¡°If that was true, then I¡¯d be doing yours too.¡± Darith replied to defend himself, only realizing a few seconds later what he was implying. His face then went bright red. ¡°Riiight.¡± Elise replied while rolling her eyes at him. ¡°What I meant was that, well, I mean that you, too, argh nevermind.¡± Darith sighed in frustration, embarrassment taking over him and causing him to quickly turn and start walking away. ¡°Not very good at talking to girls, huh.¡± Elise shrugged to herself. ¡°N-no, I can talk to girls, I talk to my sister and mom all the time!¡± Darith spun around to blurt out back to her. She was looking back in her book already, but hearing this made her giggle at him. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Well, for starters, you¡¯re so nervous you won¡¯t even look me in the eyes. It¡¯s kind of annoying actually.¡± She replied. ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem looking you in the eyes.¡± Darith said back, sounding like an angry 3 year old now with a bright red face, speaking this long to a girl as pretty her was making his palms sweat profusely as he kept his fists clenched, doing his best to stand in ways that flattered the way he looked as much as possible. It wasn¡¯t helping, Elise could clearly see he was overweight. ¡°Is that so, then stare at me for 10 seconds.¡± Elise said, looking up and locking eyes with Darith. He looked back at her as best he could, and as he looked into her deep blue eyes he saw the perfect, soft looking skin around it and tiny strings of blond hair hanging down. Her tiny, cute, perfectly shaped nose, and her beautiful lips. It felt weird, uncomfortable, staring at a girl this pretty for so long made him feel creepy, she was too pretty for someone fat and ugly like him to look at, he thought, and before 5 seconds were up he looked away, causing Elise to laugh at him. ¡°Is it really that hard?¡± She smiled. Darith stepped forward and quickly pulled her textbook into his hands. ¡°Grade 9 math? You¡¯re in grade nine?¡± He said as he looked from the book at the answers she had written already in her notebook. ¡°Yeah?¡± She said, a bit surprised that he took her book away. ¡°Well, so what if I can¡¯t look at pretty girls, at least I can do math, your answers to 4 and 5 are wrong. Here,¡± He pulled out a pencil and quickly wrote the answers and their solutions beside her wrong answers. ¡°You¡¯ve got to carry these numbers over properly, otherwise you¡¯ll keep getting wrong answers.¡± He said, then handed her back the book and turned around, walking out of the room for a second time, this time feeling like he had won. ¡°Wait! You really like math?¡± Elise stopped him. He turned to face her again but ended up only looking at her shoes. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± He shrugged. Elise hesitated for a moment, recalling Miranda¡¯s words that it was okay to ask for help sometimes. ¡°I¡¯ll make you a deal, if you help me with my classes I can teach you to talk to girls a bit, that way I won¡¯t be taking it for free like my sister does.¡± Elise suggested. ¡°I don¡¯t need help talking to girls.¡± Darith replied defensively. ¡°You need help looking them in the eyes when talking to them.¡± She replied jokingly. Darith didn¡¯t answer right away, he wanted to say no because he didn¡¯t have the confidence to spend time with girls like this, even this conversation was making him sweaty and anxious. He couldn¡¯t imagine spending more time with this girl to teach her anything, what would he say? How would he act? Did he need to dress special? Maybe he¡¯d smell bad. All of these thoughts ran over his mind until he thought about Jacob using his charisma to talk to girls with ease. If he thought of it like that, maybe he could get charisma points from talking to her. ¡°A-alright.¡± He replied finally. ¡°Great!¡± She patted a spot on the bench beside her, implying he should sit now and teach her. ¡°O-oh, I can¡¯t tonight, some friends are waiting for me.¡± Darith replied, feeling pretty cool about having prior engagements. It was his first time really saying no to a girl. ¡°How about tomorrow then?¡± Elise asked, not phased by his refusal. ¡°Tomorrow should be fine.¡± He replied nervously. ¡°I¡¯ll see you then!¡± Elise added, and as she did a quest icon appeared above her head. This made a grin grow on Darith¡¯s face and he hit accept without thinking. ¡°I accept!¡± He said weirdly, while poking at the accept button, but to Elise she saw him poking thin air. Darith noticed this and went red again. ¡°See you tomorrow!¡± He nervously spun around and left the room. Elise raised her eyebrows and smiled to herself at how strange he was, then went back to her textbook. Chapter 20: Ganking Darith ran home as fast as his normal body would allow, but as he got on his street and closer to his house he spotted his mom¡¯s car driving away. He wasn¡¯t sure why until he got home and opened the door to see Liana standing there in her game body. ¡°You¡¯re back already?¡± Darith asked her as he dropped his bag down. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°It¡¯s really bad! I saw another player at the hospital today!¡± Liana said panicked. ¡°What? Did he attack you!?¡± Darith¡¯s eyes opened wide. ¡°No, he didn¡¯t notice me! He was really high level though, I couldn¡¯t see his name or level just like that Ice Wraith thing.¡± Liana added. ¡°What¡¯d he do then? What happened?¡± Darith asked anxiously. ¡°He used a sleep spell on some police officers in the hospital, they just fell asleep instantly, then he put a curse on one! He¡¯s going to die!¡± Liana panicked. ¡°What do you mean he¡¯s going to die?¡± ¡°The curse he had was called Doom, it said that if the curse wasn¡¯t removed within 24 hours then he would die. There¡¯s only-¡± She paused to look at her phone. ¡°20 hours left.¡± ¡°They can cast spells like that in this game? On a police officer?¡± Darith said in disbelief, using the powers from the game like this had never even crossed his mind so far. But as he thought about what Jacob was doing using his charisma, something like this didn¡¯t seem so far fetched. ¡°We have to save him! He doesn¡¯t even realize what''s happening to him, it¡¯s too unfair!¡± She pleaded to Darith. ¡°Won¡¯t the city guards do something? They¡¯re supposed to stop players from rev-¡± As he spoke, it hit him like a brick wall. As long as people don¡¯t know about the game or get caught, they could do anything. Charisma... Curses... There were thousands of spells and ideas that rushed to Darith¡¯s head on how to use the game without being seen using it by anyone. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what a city guard looks like. Can¡¯t we learn to remove curses ourselves somehow? I tried healing him and remove poison but it didn¡¯t work.¡± Liana asked worriedly. ¡°We need to learn a remove curse spell then... We¡¯ve got 20 hours left to find it.¡± Darith said to Liana as he transformed into his Nemothyne body, feeling alive once more as his body weight and size dropped significantly and he could sway his tail around. Just then there was a knock at the door, startling Liana. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± Liana asked, Darith ran to answer it without hesitation though. ¡°My friends were coming by to run a dungeon with us, maybe they know something.¡± Darith said as he opened the door. ¡°Haha, wow you weren¡¯t kidding, Darith really is a cute little fox boy.¡± Jacob said as he and Ryan walked into the house so Darith could shut the door. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re Liana?¡± Ryan said in disbelief as he and Jacob looked at her. ¡°Yup.¡± She replied nervously, waving at them. ¡°Ryan and Jacob? You guys look completely different! Really handsome!¡± She commented. ¡°I know, right?¡± Jacob winked at her, to which she raised an eyebrow. ¡°Charisma doesn¡¯t work, she¡¯s a player.¡± Ryan mumbled to him. ¡°Oh yeah.¡± Jacob sighed. ¡°So where we headed?¡± Ryan said excitedly. ¡°I¡¯m itchin¡¯ to show you my awesome spells.¡± ¡°Something came up, actually. We need to find a remove curse spell by the end of the day, you guys know where we might find one?¡± Darith asked the two. ¡°Remove curse?¡± Ryan said while looking to Jacob. ¡°No idea man.¡± Jacob shrugged. ¡°Do you know anyone you could ask, or NPC¡¯s maybe?¡± He asked hopeful. ¡°All of the players we met knew less than we did.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°Game NPC¡¯s were dumb as doorknobs too, only repeat the same things even when you seduce them.¡± Jacob said, as both looked deep in thought. ¡°Darith, what about Mayiera?¡± Liana suggested. ¡°Right, maybe she knows!¡± Darith replied as if a light bulb turned on in his head. ¡°Who¡¯s Mayiera?¡± Jacob asked with a grin on his face. ¡°She¡¯s a really weird NPC, she doesn¡¯t act like one at all. She told us all about the Broken Realm and the story behind it.¡± Darith replied as he pulled the Ice Cavern key out of his bags and opened the gate. As the icy doors formed and opened, not one of the four were surprised or startled by it. ¡°This the Ice place you talked about?¡± Ryan asked as they stepped through the gate in Darith¡¯s house, arriving in the icy cold caverns. ¡°Yeah... Normally the gate doesn¡¯t lead here though.¡± Darith commented, finding themselves standing in the heavy winds of the Coldrinn Ruins. The gate had opened for them right on the ledge overlooking the giant Coldrinn Ruins gate, the heavy winds and snow blowing in their faces the moment they stepped into the dungeon, and sitting there with her back against the wall on the ledge was Mayiera. ¡°You¡¯re back, and you brought some friends! It still doesn¡¯t look like you¡¯re strong enough to venture into the ruins yet though.¡± She commented upon seeing the four. ¡°You¡¯re right, that does seem weird for an NPC.¡± Ryan commented, and to this comment Mayiera turned her head sideways like a curious puppy, while Jacob looked down deep into the large gates of the Coldrinn ruins. ¡°Whoa, this place is unreal man!¡± He said excitedly. ¡°That¡¯s a dungeon down there right? Let¡¯s go loot hunting!¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°NO!¡± Liana and Darith both shouted at him simultaneously, before he could even put a foot down on the ledge¡¯s descending staircase, shocking him. ¡°Why not?¡± He asked curiously. ¡°Trust me, you don¡¯t want to do that dungeon, it¡¯s level 160.¡± Darith said. ¡°Very dangerous.¡± Mayiera commented, getting all attention back on her again. ¡°Mayiera, could I ask you a question about this world?¡± Liana asked, stepping closest to her. ¡°Of course.¡± Mayiera smiled back. ¡°We need to find a way to remove curses, do you know where we might find a spell to do that?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Hmmm.¡± Mayiera put her index finger to her chin and tapped it a few times. ¡°Two things come to mind when you say curses to me. Obrinthar Forest and the Fyu¡¯jin Tribe.¡± ¡°What and the who now?¡± Jacob replied. ¡°Obrinthar Forest? You know, the spooky trees, where all those ghost stories come from?¡± Mayiera replied, but only got blank stares back at her. ¡°So the game has a haunted Forest.¡± Ryan commented. ¡°How can we get there?¡± Darith asked. ¡°You¡¯re world travellers aren¡¯t you? You can just appear there.¡± Mayiera suggested. ¡°If you wanted to use normal methods, that¡¯d take forever. It¡¯d probably take you just a week to leave the north lands!¡± Mayeira said nervously, feeling guilty as she saw their expressions all turn to disappointed. ¡°The chances of us finding a gate there are really low, it¡¯s completely random right? What about the Fyu¡¯jin Tribe?¡± Darith asked her. ¡°Oh, those guys are extinct, just like the Coldrinn here. They were a desert tribe.¡± Mayiera replied, and as she said this Darith opened his inventory to find his yellow key, reading it once more. Suutrin Desert, Level 1-9 Forgotten Sands, Level 10-19 Fyu¡¯jin Ruins, Level 20-29 Forgotten Temple, Level 30-50 ¡°That¡¯s it, we¡¯ve got the key to that area.¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°Alright!¡± Ryan said with excitement. ¡°Awesome, let¡¯s go find that curse removal spell then.¡± Jacob said, and Liana smiled with hopeful eyes as Darith pulled out the yellow key and opened the sandy gate, Mayeria completely oblivious to it. ¡°Thanks a lot for the help Mayeria!¡± Liana said to her, and she smiled back and waved as she watched them vanish into thin air, but really they simply walked through the sand gate and stepped into the Suutrin Desert. ¡°From freezing cold to blazing hot, phew.¡± Jacob commented as the snow that had settled on their clothes seemed to melt instantaneously. ¡°Is it always this crowded?¡± Ryan commented, all of them glancing around the sands and Oasis in front of them to see hundreds of players standing around talking and doing quests. Most were sitting at level 10 exactly, some 9. ¡°There wasn¡¯t nearly this many people last time we were here...¡± Darith commented as they walked forward towards the wagon of NPC¡¯s. ¡°Come, that wagon will take us to the Forgotten Sands, from there we should be able to find the Fyu¡¯jin ruins if this key is correct.¡± Darith said. ¡°Those NPC¡¯s have quests for us, you mind if we do the first one fast to get the key to the area ourselves?¡± Ryan asked. Darith turned to Liana for the answer, knowing she was anxious about the time. ¡°I don¡¯t mind, it was really easy you just had to get some water.¡± Liana shrugged. ¡°Awesome, be back in a second then.¡± Ryan replied, and he and Jacob ran up to the first NPC leaning against the wagon. Darith and Liana watched them run off and decided to stand around by the wagon, glancing around at the other players to try and listen in on what they were all talking about. ¡°Why¡¯re there so many people here, level 10? Why don¡¯t they keep going on with the quests.¡± Liana asked curiously. ¡°I think I can guess why...¡± Darith mumbled to himself, then tapped the shoulder of a male elf talking in a small circle. ¡°Excuse me, do you know why there¡¯s so many players gathered here?¡± he asked. ¡°Well yeah, we can¡¯t go any further because of that stupid group of PKers.¡± He replied. ¡°Bastards killed one of my friends, can¡¯t even play with him anymore!¡± Another commented. ¡°Why would people want to PK in a game like this? I just don¡¯t get it. Complete idiots.¡± Another said with a British accent. ¡°Attacking other players is disabled in any level 1-9 area though, so most of us are trying to get stronger here. It¡¯s kind of hard when we only have tiny monsters, and they¡¯re way over farmed... Whoa hold on a second! You¡¯re level 29?¡± The first elf commented, and as he shouted this many other players around them turned to Darith and Liana, gathering around them mumbling random questions, but too many at once making it all incomprehensible. ¡°Guys quiet, shut up a second!¡± The elf finally shouted, getting people to settle down. ¡°Can you tell us how you got to level 29 without going to the higher area?¡± He asked. ¡°Well, lots of grinding I guess, and we went to another map.¡± Darith replied nervously, all eyes on his tiny nemothyne self. ¡°Aw, another map.¡± A loud sigh came from the crowd. ¡°You guys could leave this map and maybe find another one? I heard there are starting areas with guards that protect from PvPers.¡± He suggested. ¡°We already did some testing on that, turns out you can only go through new gates if you meet some special requirements. Haven¡¯t been able to figure out what they are, but most of us are stuck in this area.¡± ¡°Stupid pvpers ruining the game for new players.¡± Another shouted, followed by several more angry shouts. ¡°What¡¯s happenin?¡± Jacob said as he and Ryan returned to Darith and Liana¡¯s side. ¡°They say the next area has got a bunch of PvPers who keep killing everyone who shows up.¡± Darith said, turning to his two high school gaming friends and grinning. Jacob grinned back. ¡°Heh.¡± Ryan grinned, to which Liana looked at them confused. ¡°Chance to show you my awesome spells.¡± ¡°Teach those kids a lesson about respecting other players.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Get the ladies.¡± Jacob added. ¡°What¡¯re you guys thinking?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Did I ever tell youabout the first game that me Jacob and Ryan played together? It was in an MMO.¡± Darith said as Jacob climbed to the highest part of the caravan¡¯s wagon. ¡°The three of us were just starting out and there were some high levels killing low level new players. It got so bad that we thought about quitting to play something else, but we didn''t like the idea of letting those gankers win. So we decidedfight back, and using our low level skills we were able to chase them all off.¡± Darith said. ¡°Ahem, Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please!¡± Jacob shouted out across the sands. ¡°The thing in any game we hate the most, are lowbie killers.¡± Ryan said to Liana, quietly under Jacob¡¯s yell. All of the nearby players turned to them. ¡°Me and my party will venture forth and cleanse the Forgotten Sands of the vile PvPers, but, alas, I must ask something from you all in return!¡± He shouted, easily captivating everyone with his high charisma stat. ¡°I ask that you never forget the names of those that stood up for you when you could not stand up for yourselves. With me stands Ryan, the Dark Summoner!¡± Jacob shouted as he drew attention to Ryan who rolled his eyes. ¡°The Great Wizard, Darith!¡± He then directed their eyes to the tiny fox eared Nemothyne. ¡°The Holy Cleric, Liana!¡± He pointed to Liana who was too embarrassed and looked down at her feet. ¡°And last but not least, I, the Legendary Warrior, the one and only, Knight Jacob!¡± He shouted as he raised his sword into the air, and suddenly everyone started cheering wildly and excitedly for the four. ¡°Charisma has its uses I guess.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°He either just made us famous or hated by everyone.¡± ¡°I forgot how stupid you guys act when you play games together.¡± Liana sighed with a red face. ¡°Onward! To the Forgotten Sands!¡± Jacob shouted, then hopped off the caravan. ¡°There we go, now everyone¡¯s ready for the heroes to strike. So... How do we get there exactly?¡± Jacob asked. Chapter 21: Battle in the Sand The four of them hopped out of the back of the Caravan wagon as it arrived in the Forgotten sands. It was exactly as Darith remembered it, sand blowing in all directions, blocking their vision completely so that they could barely see their hands in front of their faces. ¡°This place is gonna be sucky to fight in.¡± Jacob commented. ¡°Well, knowing lowbie killers, we won¡¯t have to look far, usually they attack instantly to catch you buy surpri-¡± Darith was interrupted as an arrow hit him in his shoulder, dealing 50 damage. ¡°Ni hao!¡± A voice shouted out to them followed by several voices laughing, though they couldn¡¯t make out the direction. ¡°Only 50 damage?¡± Darith said confidently. ¡°Darith, look, our levels!¡± Liana said worriedly, prompting Darith to look at his interface. Level 20(29(?)) ¡°What? It says I¡¯m 20!¡± Darith said, noticing his HP was much lower than it was normally. He quickly clicked the question mark, as did Liana. ¡°It downscaled it because we are only in a level 10-19 area, it says. We¡¯re only allowed to be level 20 here! Our skills are all downscaled too!¡± Liana said. ¡°How far for the skills?¡± Darith asked as he opened his menu to see all of his skills downscaled to level 50. ¡°So what? That meansthose guys are stuck at that level too. Game is trying to keep the PvP balanced.¡± Ryan said. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re scared of a fair fight?¡± Jacob said jokingly, making Darith grin. As he did, a second arrow came flying at Darith from somewhere in the desert, but this time before it could connect it was blocked by a wooden shield. Darith looked to see a white skeleton holding the shield in one hand and a sword in the other, glowing slightly purple. ¡°What the heck!?¡± Darith said startled. ¡°Dark summoner, I started with summon skills. Meet my pal, bones.¡± Ryan grinned ear to ear. More arrows began to fly at them, then waterbolts as well, and Ryan responded by summoning two more skeletons to run around them with their shields blocking the projectiles. ¡°Three¡¯s my max right now though, and they¡¯re really only good for taking hits." ¡°I¡¯m no good unless I¡¯m in melee. You guys got a way to find them in this storm?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Yeah, Liana?¡± Darith turned to her and she nodded, raising her hand into the air. ¡°Time Warp!¡± She shouted, and a large purple dome formed around them slowing the sand blowing into it to a near stop. ¡°Whoa, what kind of spell is this?¡± Ryan said in amazement. ¡°It slows all moving things, use it to see where their attacks are coming from.¡± Darith replied. Jacob nodded and glanced around the outside of the dome until he spotted an arrow flying into it and stopping. Then, with incredible speed he dashed forward in that direction into the sands with his sword drawn. ¡°Sun strike!¡± Jacob shouted after he disappeared from their sight, and there was a bright flash of light in the distance. Before they could ask what happened, Darith spotted the Waterbolt enter the time warp and looked in that direction. ¡°My turn. Firestorm!¡± Darith shouted, and suddenly a large number of red circles appeared in front of him, not nearly as many as he had used on the ice wraith, but still nearly fifty. ¡°Holy cow!¡± Ryan commented as the firebolts shot in the direction of the waterbolt after a 1.5 second delay. The cast time had gone up from the level reduction, but luckily his spell mastery level 50 still allowed him to move while casting. ¡°Did you get him?¡± ¡°I''ll go check. Don''t let anything happen to Liana, okay?¡± Darith said, and he excitedly ran out of the dome towards where his bolts hit. "Got it." Ryan nodded as the dome vanished. ¡°It only lasts 30 seconds.¡± Liana commented. ¡°No problem, stay here with me until those guys get back, the skeletons can protect us from anything unexp- watch out!¡± Ryan shouted as he pushed Liana out of the way. A nemothyne dropped from the sky above them wielding a spear aiming it directly at Liana, but luckily he missed and the spear went into the sand. He then rotated his spear in a full circle to hit them but they both jumped backward while the three skeletons ran forward towards him with their swords out, swinging at him from all sides. He moved impressively to deflect the swords and moved his spear incredibly fast around their shields to jab at them, dropping the health of the skeletons quickly. ¡°Group Heal!¡± Liana quickly shouted, and after a short delay and a green circle, light surrounded the skeletons and restored their health to full. ¡°Nice.¡± Ryan gave her a thumbs up. ¡°Tch.¡± The spear nemothyne sucked his teeth, then jumped into the air incredibly high again. ¡°Sky drop.¡± He called out, then his spear surrounded itself in blue light and he flew like a missile towards Liana, but she saw it coming and dashed out of the way so that he only hit sand. ¡°You¡¯re smart enough to go for the healer, but not smart enough to know you¡¯re outmatched!¡± Ryan smirked as the spearman charged at Liana. ¡°Shadow bind!¡± he casted, and a black spell circle appeared in front of him, seconds later a ball shot out at the Spearman''s legs and wrapped itself around his ankles, causing him to fall face forward mid-charge into the sand. Without hesitation, Ryan ordered his skeletons to charge at him and drive their swords downward into him, but a sudden flash of white light around the spearman removed the shadow bind, and he quickly jumped up and out of the way of the skeletons. ¡°They¡¯ve got a healer somewhere!¡± Ryan shouted, trying to let Darith and Jacob know, though he wasn¡¯t sure what they were up to. ¡°Got it.¡± Darith called back. ¡°So do you!¡± The spearman shouted in heavily accented english. He charged at Liana again, but a wall of skeletons jumped in front to stop them.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Behind you!¡± Jacob suddenly called out, causing Liana to turn but too late, a barrage of arrows collided with her and did 700 damage, knocking her health really low. She quickly healed herself back up, then noticed Jacob¡¯s health at half and healed him too. ¡°They¡¯ll have an easier time healing because they¡¯re in a group, but Liana can¡¯t see our health bars so we should stay close.¡± Ryan noted. ¡°You two should stay close to me then, let Darith find the healer, I can still see his health bar at full.¡± Liana said. ¡°Got it, let me deal with spear boy then, send your skellies out to find the healer. They¡¯re using some weird stealth skill that hides them in the sand.¡± Jacob said, trying to talk loud enough for Darith to hear, not worried about the enemies listening in. Jacob charged past the skeletons and clashed the blade of his sword with the spearman. ¡°Now this is what I call an MMO!¡± Jacob grinned, deflecting the spear away as the spearman jumped back. Ryan, meanwhile, sent the skeletons out in different directions, beyond their vision and into the heavy sandstorm around them. ¡°They¡¯re all going for Liana now! I lost track of the caster, be careful!¡± Darith shouted through the storm. Just then a waterbolt flew towards Liana¡¯s head but she ducked around it. ¡°I kinda expected this, shouldn¡¯t have picked the healer.¡± She sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll protect you.¡± Ryan said. ¡°Okay.¡± She replied nervously, she couldn¡¯t help but shake a bit, she wasn¡¯t used to the amount of adrenaline rushing through her, but at the same time it felt amazing. She felt more alive then she ever had in the wheelchair, and the threat of losing it to these enemy players only made the feeling more exciting. ¡°They¡¯ve been fighting here for days, they have a huge environmental advantage with their skills.¡± Ryan said worriedly, spotting a barrage of waterbolts flying at them from somewhere in the storm and dodging away from them. ¡°Maybe.¡± Darith called back. ¡°But like all lowbie killers, they don¡¯t know how to deal with people that know how to fight back. I just thought of a new spell.¡± Darith grinned. ¡°Really? What kinda spell?¡± Jacob called back, though he was much more focused on defending himself against the spearman than he was letting on. ¡°Fire Nova!¡± Darith shouted from within the sandstorm, and there was a sudden huge flash of red light from the ground and a large torrent of wind. Darith had formed 8 fireballs around himself and shot them outward in a spiraling circle to create his first real area of effect spell. It drained his mana quickly as he maintained the fireballs, allowing them to fly further and further away from him at incredible speed, burning up and clearing out the sand in the area for a few seconds, making it possible to see, until finally the circle reached a figure hiding in the sand. ¡°There! Found the healer!¡± Darith pointed. ¡°On it!¡± Ryan shouted, motioning his three skeletons to collapse on the healer wearing a large brown sand covered cloak. Just as the skeletons surrounded the healer holding an orb, arrows shot down from above and knocked all the skeletons down into the sand. ¡°Pinning Shot!¡± The bow wielder shouted as he jumped through the air above his healer. ¡°Can you keep him still?¡± Jacob asked Ryan. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll need to take him out in one hit so he can¡¯t heal himself, say when!¡± Darith shouted to Jacob as both of them ran towards the healer, just then the magic user appeared in front of Darith between him and the healer and started casting a barrage of waterbolts. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to do better than that!¡± Darith grinned, then used his rank 50 dash skill to vanish completely from the casters sight, making him completely lose track of Darith.¡°Firestorm!¡± Darith shouted a few feet away from the healer. ¡°Shadow Bind!¡± Ryan called out, hitting the healers feet and preventing him from moving, to guarantee Darith¡¯s barrage of Fireballs while Jacob continued to guard Liana with the help of the skeletons. The attack did massive damage, taking the healers health to 0 instantly. The healers tall human form vanished in a flash of light and was replaced by the body of ayoung boy, who then also disappeared with the message ¡®Game Over¡¯ above him, his items all falling to the ground around him. ¡°Now the rest.¡± Ryan said as his skeletons were finally able to move again, and he sent them straight at the archer. The archer dashed away and fired at them several times but eventually Ryan landed a shadow bind on him. The archer lost his balance and Liana watched as the 3 skeletons caught up to him, driving their swords into him. From that she could only see the Game Over message appear above him. Distracted by this, the spearman charged at her from behind, but she could react just in time to move out of the way and pull out her orb, throwing it at him. It did some damage, but not enough to discourage him and he continued charging until Jacob appeared and knocked his spear to the side, then slashed his sword past him doing massive damage. Meanwhile Darith had enchanted his staff and began dashing around the slower enemy caster, avoiding his bolts and hitting him with his burning weapon until the game over message appeared. After Liana and Jacob landed a few more hits on the spearman, he also got a game over. ¡°Whew! First PvP battle over!¡± Ryan cheered as the four gathered closer to each other. ¡°Man this is on a completely different level. What a rush yo.¡± Jacob said with a smile. ¡°I feel a bit bad, they were all just little kids.¡± ¡°They were.¡± Darith said calmly. ¡°But we¡¯re in a game, and in a game, everyone is a player, it¡¯s the great equalizer. A place where people can be whatever they want.¡± He said as he reached his hand up towards the dimly lit sky. ¡°And players who try to ruin that for others are players we can¡¯t forgive.¡± Darith grinned. ¡°Isn¡¯t that our old guild motto from when we played that MMO?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°It is.¡± Ryan said with a smirk. ¡°I thought I was nerdy like you guys, but your speech takes it to a whole other level.¡± Liana rolled her eyes, and the four started laughing, partly because it was funny, partly to calm their nerves down. ¡°So what do we do with the items they dropped?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Well, there were four of them, so...¡± Darith commented. ¡°Dibs on the spear dudes stuff.¡± Jacob said, running back to where he gave him game over to find his items on the ground, but before he could pick anything up, they all got messages in front of their faces. ¡°Bounty Claimed: 1022 gold awarded.¡± Ryan said as he read the message out loud. ¡°Seems like if you kill too many players you get a bounty put on your head.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good news, we can become somethin¡¯ like bounty hunters then, right?¡± Jacob suggested. ¡°That¡¯d be cool.¡± Liana smiled as she walked towards where the healer had fallen and picked up some items. Though none of it seemed really good. ¡°Seems like all these guys did was steal loot from low level players, most of this is junk, they have these sand cloaks though.¡± Ryan said as he and the others picked them up and equipped them. Cloak of Shifting Sands +1 Armor Effect: Improves your stealth related abilities while within any desert environment. ¡°So this is how they were sneaking around. Only when you¡¯re in a desert though.¡± Darith commented. ¡°Better than nothing?¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°So, what next, should we send word back to the oasis that the way is clear?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Probably, but there¡¯s no way to prevent more PvPers from showing up.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°We need to get to the ruins as fast as possible to find a remove curse spell.¡± Liana said. ¡°It¡¯d probably be faster if all those players weren¡¯t fighting over our monsters.¡± Darith said. ¡°We¡¯ll have to do the quests to get to the next area, I¡¯m thinking.¡± ¡°Looks like the cat is already out of the bag.¡± Jacob said as he pointed towards the caravan through the heavy sands. Players began arriving in large numbers already. ¡°You guys really did it! You¡¯re awesome!¡± Different people cheered. ¡°Just remember! If you attack other players, the Knights of Justice will come for you!¡± Jacob shouted at them. ¡°Whoa, so cool.¡± ¡°That guy is awesome!¡± ¡°Knights of justice huh? I kind of want to join!¡± Different people shouted. ¡°Less showing off, more doing quests. Grab the first three and let¡¯s get through this area as fast as possible.¡± Darith said, Liana smiling at him. Chapter 22: The Fyujin Ruins ¡°It¡¯s here, I found it!¡± Liana called out to the others through the sandstorm. She stood in front of a tall snake statue with its tongue sticking out, one eye a glowing red ruby, the other eye socket empty. Darith, Jacob and Ryan all reached her within a few seconds, as did a few other players that had been following them closely on the quests through the Forgotten Sands. ¡°The caravan guys said that putting the jewel of the beast in its eye would lead the way out of the storm.¡± Darith said as others waited behind Liana. ¡°Let¡¯s hope this is the last quest, I¡¯m tired of this sand storm.¡± Ryan commented. ¡°No kidding,¡± Another player behind them said. Liana placed a red gem from her inventory into the eye socket of the snake. Suddenly there was a loud booming roar and the ground shook around their feet. The winds picked up for a few seconds until suddenly they completely stopped and all of the sand dropped out of the sky. ¡°Whoa, it stopped! The sandstorm completely stopped! I can see the whole area clearly!¡± Darith shouted excitedly, glancing at his map. ¡°Even my map is working now.¡± He smiled. ¡°Finally, I¡¯m tired of getting sand in my ears.¡± Ryan said. ¡°Same.¡± Jacob added, as others made similar comments while brushing sand out of their hair. ¡°Whoa, look at that!¡± A player called out, pointing some distance across the desert behind the snake statue. Standing in the middle of the desert under the scorching hot sun was a large ruined city, partially covered in sand. ¡°Incredible, this is the first time I¡¯ve seen it! The Fyu¡¯jin Ruins! Come on, World Traveler, hop in and let¡¯s go! Who knows what treasures await!¡± The Caravan leader said, suddenly appearing with his wagon, camels and companions beside them. Travel to Fyu¡¯jin ruins? Level 20-29 ¡°Finally made it, and our level restriction will be almost gone.¡± Darith said as he and Lianna hopped in the wagon, Ryan and Jacob joining shortly after. ¡°About time!¡± Jacob said excitedly. After having finished all the quests in the area, both Jacob and Ryan had reached 20 and 22 respectively, while Liana hit 29 and Darith hit 30. They enjoyed the ride and rest they got in the wagon. ¡°Remember guys, our first priority is to find a spell to remove curses.¡± Darith said. ¡°How do you find a spell anyway?¡± Ryan asked curiously. ¡°I think bosses drop them, that¡¯s how I got remove poison.¡± Liana shrugged. ¡°Hrm, so we lookin¡¯ for a boss then?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Guess so.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Cool, wonder what kinda monsters are gonna be in this place.¡± Jacob said excitedly. It wasn¡¯t long before the wagon passed through a large archway and entered the ruined city. It looked just like something out of a movie, only they were able to walk around and explore it. All of their faces lit up with excitement as they hopped off the wagon, grabbing the only quest from the caravan leader. ¡°Quest says we need to find the entrance to the Forgotten Temple.¡± Ryan said. ¡°According to the desert key we got, that¡¯s the next level area.¡± Darith said. ¡°Seems like there¡¯s not much to do here then.¡± Jacob replied, sounding a bit disappointed. ¡°Mayiera wouldn¡¯t tell us about this place being related to curses unless it really was, she¡¯s an NPC after all. We¡¯ll find something.¡± Darith said reassuringly as several more players started entering the city behind them. ¡°Let¡¯s get started then!¡± Jacob shouted, and they ventured forth into the city. They didn¡¯t get very far before they found a large black glowing stone sitting plain as day in the middle of the sandy streets. ¡°What¡¯s that thing?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Not sure, treasure?¡± Ryan suggested as he started walking forward to pick it up. ¡°Analyze.¡± Darith casted on the gem. Cursed Soul Gem - Level 22 Normal Monster, uses swipe and blinding sand attacks. ¡°Watch out, it¡¯s a monster!¡± Darith shouted just in time to stop Ryan as the gem shot upward from the ground surrounded by sand which swirled and twirled around it until the sand took the form of a humanoid figure and started slashing its fingers out at Ryan. ¡°I got it.¡± Jacob said, unsheathing his sword and charging at it to cut it in half with ease, but the monster took no damage and turned to swipe him for 200 damage. ¡°What the heck?¡± Jacob said as he was hit by a heal from Liana back to full health. ¡°Try the gem. Chain Fire!¡± Darith shouted, releasing a stream of 8 fireballs at the black gem in the sand figures chest. The gem exploded and the creature died. ¡°Ah, yeah, go figure.¡± Jacob said to himself. ¡°Those things seem pretty cool, wonder if I can learn to summon them like the skeletons.¡± Ryan commented. ¡°Now we know at least one type of monster around here, so watch out for glowing black gems on the ground.¡± Darith said. The others nodded and they continued onward. As more and more players arrived in the ruins, the group of four only got more and more lost. There were plenty of soul gem monsters to fight, varying in shape, size, and level, but aside from that there was nothing. The ruined city had no building that stood out to them, nothing that resembled a forgotten temple, and none of the monsters were using curses. After an hour of wandering, discussing findings with other groups of players and Liana repeatedly looking at the time on her cell phone, they were still no closer to discovering where the temple was. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s hot and I¡¯m getting tired of seeing sand.¡± Ryan sighed as he leaned against the wall of a nearby building. ¡°We can¡¯t give up, we have to find a curse removal skill!¡± Liana pleaded to him. ¡°Why do you need it so badly anyway?¡± He asked her, Darith ignoring the conversation and going deep into thought. ¡°It''s a bit complicated... Someone I know got cursed by another player though, a very bad curse that¡¯s going to kill them unless I remove it.¡± Liana said. ¡°Whoa, a death curse, those exist in this game?¡± Jacob asked surprised, to see Liana nod. ¡°Damn man, now I wanna learn to remove curses too.¡± Ryan¡¯s expression became more serious from Liana¡¯s words as well, and looked to see Darith. ¡°You¡¯re usually the genius game beater, you figure out anything?¡± ¡°I¡¯m looking at the map of the ruins I have so far. I¡¯ve leveled up my cartography quite a bit now and it¡¯s showing me accurate details of the environment. I¡¯m trying to see anything that stands out.¡± Darith said, moving his index finger over his map. He had opened a large window in front of his vision that only he could see and was panning around it by dragging his index finger. ¡°There¡¯s no single building that stands out... Except, hrm.¡± Darith said as he looked at the building next to them. ¡°There¡¯s 5 symbols on the map that look like they represent towers, this building is one of them, but it¡¯s not a tower at all.¡± He pointed across the street from where they were standing. ¡°Maybe it used to be a tower?¡± Liana suggested. ¡°We already checked inside. Just one of those soul gem things.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°I¡¯ll check again just to be sure.¡± Darith said, running into the building. Liana followed without hesitation, as did Jacob, but Ryan walked rather slowly behind them. Inside it seemed like a normal house with several rooms, nothing on the walls and no form of furniture remaining, just piles of sand that had been blown in from the wind. Darith then ran up to the second floor, and it was completely roofless and wall-less. ¡°If this was a tower, it means the top fell off.¡± Darith said, walking to the edge of the 2nd floor to look down at the streets below, then panning over the city around them. ¡°Look, the house next to us, it didn¡¯t have a second floor, right?¡± Liana said while pointing to a dark square room across from them. They could see inside it from where they stood because there was no wall, and the group of them all moved closer to get a better look. ¡°It looks like the walls are sideways...¡± Ryan commented. ¡°That must be it! That¡¯s the top of this tower we¡¯re standing on!¡± Darith said excitedly as he hopped over the gap between the buildings into the side-ways broken top half of the tower. It was difficult to traverse through the sideways building but eventually they hit a dead end room, lit scarcely by sunlight coming through a hole in the middle of the wall in front of them, which normally would¡¯ve been the roof of the tower. ¡°Nothing, empty just like the rest.¡± Ryan sighed as Darith stepped forward into the room and made a weird clunk sound. They all looked at his feet to see a round golden metal gong that seemed to have broken off the roof. ¡°Is that a gong?¡± Jacob asked as Darith stepped off of it. ¡°It¡¯s gotta be a secret or something, let¡¯s see what it does!¡± Darith replied, and without hesitation he lifted his staff up and swung it downward at the center of the half-buried gong, It let out an odd ringing sound that silenced itself as it was unable to vibrate on the ground under sand. ¡°Gotta lift it up first.¡± Liana rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Right.¡± Darith nodded, stepping forward and trying to lift it up, but the gong was way heavier than expected, even despite the high strength stat Darith had. ¡°My strength is being brought down to only30 in this map... Ugh, can you give me a hand?¡± Darith asked.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± Jacob said, moving to help him lift it. ¡°Oh man this thing is heavy, I¡¯m also capped at 30.¡± he and Darith both struggled together, until finally Ryan joined in, and together they managed to get the gong standing upright. ¡°If this gong requires90 strength to lift, and this area limits our strength to 30, that means we¡¯d only be able to do this with at least 3 people no matter what our level is.¡± Darith said as they caught their breath. ¡°What¡¯s your point?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Whatever this gong is for, it''s like the game wants to make sure we have a group before we ring it, so be ready.¡± Darith said, and the others nodded at him. ¡°I¡¯ll ring it, are you guys ready?¡± Liana said, and the three boys nodded. She then hit the side of her fist into the center of the gong and it let out a loud ringing sound, it didn¡¯t last very long, but long enough. Small engravings and symbols on the gong began to glow black, until suddenly a black light shot out from the gong out of the top of the tower, then upwards into the sky. ¡°Whoa, look!¡± Darith said as the boys dropped the gong and ran to a window in their ceiling to watch. The black light hovered over the center of the city for a few seconds, then disappeared. They all waited for something else to happen, but nothing did, and they heard the sound of several footsteps approaching from outside. ¡°What now?¡± Liana asked Darith. ¡°There is 5 of them on the map... Maybe we need to hit all 5 at the same time.¡± Darith suggested as they stepped in front of the open wall of the broken tower to see quite a few other players arriving in the streets below. ¡°What was that light?¡± ¡°Did you guys figure something out?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t those the Knights of Justice guys?¡± Different players called up to them. ¡°There¡¯s no way we can hit all 5 at once, it took three of us just to lift one gong, the level restriction pretty much guarantees that doing that is impossible.¡± Ryan sighed as he glanced at the scorching sun for a moment again, wiping sweat from his forehead. ¡°If it¡¯s just us, yeah... Think you can convince the other players here to work with us?¡± Darith asked Jacob, who smiled and hopped from the broken tower onto the open second floor of the neighboring building, then walked towards the ledge closest to the street in order to have the gathering crowd of players below see him clearly. ¡°Who here is on a quest to find the Forgotten Temple somewhere in these ruins? Show of hands please.¡± He called to them, and without hesitation they all put their arms up. ¡°Just your luck, the Knights of Justice may have discovered the secret to these ruins, but to unlock it we will need your help.¡± He said, and all of the players below seemed to go quiet instantly. ¡°We¡¯ll need four parties to pull this off, the players in each group will need to have a combined strength of90 points. Once we can meet that criteria, we can go forward with the next step.¡± ¡°My group meets that criteria.¡± A dark skinned tall, muscular man said as he stepped forward. He had a large round wooden shield on his back and a small sword sheathed on his beginners belt. ¡°Chadwin, level 21, not bad. We¡¯ll need need three more groups then.¡± Jacob said, watching over the groups as they started gathering together and discussing their stats to one another. ¡°Why do we need90 strength?¡± One player asked. ¡°Once we¡¯ve got all the groups my friend Darith, the Great Wizard, will explain the plan.¡± ¡°He¡¯s really pushing these titles on us, huh?¡± Liana raised her eyebrows. ¡°Yep, that¡¯s Jacob.¡± Darith chuckled back. ¡°Hope this plan works.¡± Ryan shrugged as he sat against one of the towers walls. ¡°Otherwise they¡¯ll probably think we¡¯re a bunch of morons.¡± ¡°It¡¯s gotta work, that light can¡¯t be for nothing, right?¡± Darith replied, though he now started to doubt himself a bit. ¡°We¡¯ve got it too!¡± A tall female orc with dark brown skin said as she stepped forward wielding her axe. Jacob noted her name as Ashley, a level 23. ¡°Do the players need to be in the same party?¡± One from below asked Jacob. ¡°No, and it doesn¡¯t have to be just 5 players in each group, we just need 4 groups that have90 strength.¡± Jacob replied. ¡°Okay, then if his group comes with ours we¡¯ll have enough.¡± The Gorthan replied. ¡°We need 50 more strength in our group!¡± Another person called. ¡°I¡¯ve got 30!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got 32!¡± Two players replied to them. ¡°Great, then with them we have enough as well.¡± The leader of the group called up to him. ¡°Perfect, that gives us 4 full groups with90 strength. Darith, your up!¡± Jacob called to him, and he nervously hopped from the broken tower onto the roof with Jacob. ¡°I ah, well, my Charisma skill isn¡¯t very high, so forgive me for not being good at speaking good.¡± Darith said as he nervously walked across the wall-less second floor. ¡°Just give us the plan.¡± One player shouted up to him. ¡°Al-alright. Using my mapping skills I was able to locate 5 special buildings in the city. My map displayed them as towers, but as you can see, there are no towers in this city, because they¡¯re all ruined. This, right here, is one of the towers.¡± Darith pointed to where Liana and Ryan were standing, then looked back to see the crowd of players staring up at him silently, waiting for his next words. His heart skipped a beat as he glanced down at his feet, then remembered that it wasn¡¯t his fat normal self they saw, but his nemothyne body with fox ears. He let out a sigh of relief to himself, then continued. ¡°Inside the Tower we found a gong, it took us a combined90 strength to lift it, and ring it, and that was the cause of the light you all saw. We believe that in order to solve the puzzle of these ruins we¡¯ll need to ring all 5 gongs at the same time, that is why we needed 4 more groups to go to the other 4 towers and ring the gongs all at the same time.¡± Darith said. ¡°And then what happens?¡± Chadwin asked from below. ¡°I¡¯ve got no idea, this whole game is a mystery to me.¡± Darith replied nervously. ¡°Aint that the best part about it though? So what do you guys say, you in?¡± Jacob called to the players. ¡°Sounds like a better plan than just wandering around aimlessly.¡± Ashley shrugged. ¡°Yeah no kidding, been here for over an hour now.¡± Another player said. ¡°I¡¯m in. Where are the other towers?¡± Chadwin asked. ¡°Alright, leaders of each group please come up here.¡± Darith said, and without hesitation all 4 players heading the groups used jump skills to hop up on top of the building next to Darith. Chadwin, Ashley, a Gorthan and a female Nemothyne with raccoon ears and tail. ¡°Chadwin¡¯s group should head that way. You see the intersection on that side of the city?¡± Darith pointed across the ruined buildings. ¡°The one with the window missing its top half, and no roof?¡± ¡°I see it.¡± replied after squinting his eyes. ¡°The broken tower should be around there.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± He nodded. ¡°Ashley¡¯s group can head straight north, to the tower there, near those two buildings leaning on each other.¡± He said, and she nodded to him as she followed his pointing finger to spot it. He quickly gave similar directions to the other two players. ¡°How will we know when to ring the gongs?¡± Chadwin asked just as they were about to head out.¡± ¡°Do all of the groups have their own staff user, or spell user?¡± Darith asked after thinking for a moment. ¡°We¡¯ve got one.¡± Chadwin replied. ¡°Us too.¡± Ashley added. ¡°Same.¡± The other two party leaders said. ¡°When you find the gong, have your casters shoot a waterbolt or two into the sky. Once I see all four waterbolts, I¡¯ll fire a firebolt up right here. When you see it, hit the gong.¡± ¡°Sounds good, let¡¯s do it then.¡± Chadwin said, hopping off the roof and running in the direction of his tower, the others following suit. ¡°What should the rest of us players do?¡± Some left over players asked, still standing in the street. ¡°You guys can act as escorts for those guys, help them find the gongs faster and clear out any monsters for them!¡± Darith suggested and they all nodded excitedly, everyone seemingly eager to be a part of Darith¡¯s plan. ¡°Alright guys, execute Knight of Justice Plan: Ring the Gongs!¡± Jacob shouted, causing the players to cheer as they all headed out in different directions. ¡°Phew, that went a lot better than expected.¡± Darith let out a sigh of relief as the last of the players left the area. ¡°That was awesome Darith! You came up with a good plan with all those guys so fast.¡± Liana cheered. ¡°That was nothin¡¯, this guy used to come up with all sorts of crazy strategies for bosses and stuff.¡± Jacob said as he patted the little fox boy on the back. ¡°I¡¯m surprised they all listened.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Well of course they¡¯d listen, they¡¯re all players just like us. This is really starting to feel like an MMO, but it''s so much more.¡± Ryan said as he stood up and stretched his legs. ¡°It¡¯s incredible though. We¡¯re really standing inside the desert ruins of a video game, not with just a controller.¡± ¡°At this point, I¡¯m too afraid to ask how it¡¯s all possible.¡± Liana added as they enjoyed the view of the ruined desert city. Just then they spotted a waterbolt shoot to the sky from the Direction of Chadwin¡¯s tower. ¡°Look, they found one gong already! My plan is working!¡± Darith said. ¡°Why you soundin¡¯ so surprised?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t even sure there¡¯d be gongs in the other towers. There¡¯s also something else, you notice how I sent them north, south, west and east?¡± Darith said. ¡°Yeah... Our tower is right in the middle?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Yep... So whatever those gongs do, it''s most likely going to happen here.¡± Darith grinned. ¡°Heh, smart thinking.¡± Jacob grinned. Just then, 2 more waterbolts shot up, then the final one a minute later. ¡°It¡¯s time, let¡¯s lift it again!¡± Darith said as he and Jacob hopped back into the tower. Using all their strength and groaning along the way, they lifted up the gong. ¡°Ready to hit it?¡± he asked Liana. ¡°Yeah... But, I was thinking...¡± she started saying, but Darith didn¡¯t wait for her to speak, the gong was too heavy to hold up long. ¡°Firebolt!¡± He shouted, shooting the bolt out of a nearby window up to the sky. ¡°Hit it now!¡± He shouted, and she struck the gong as hard as she could just like before. It rang loud for a few seconds, began glowing black, then once again shot its light into the sky. ¡°Let¡¯s go see!¡± Ryan said excitedly as the boys dropped the gong and ran out of the broken tower back onto the neighboring roof. As their black light reached the sky above them, the lights from the four other gongs shot up as well. They were not perfectly in sync, but they all managed to eventually gather together directly above Darith and the others. They all bent their necks back to watch what would happen. ¡°You were saying something?¡± Darith asked Liana as they watched the combined black glow of the 5 lights start growing bigger. ¡°You said that because of the level limit it would require more than one person to lift each gong, right?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Yeah?¡± Darith replied. ¡°And then there are 5 gongs, so it would require about 5 groups working together, right? Like 25 people?¡± Liana asked, and Darith quickly realized what she was getting at, as did Jacob and Ryan. They watched as the black light began to form into the shape of a black gem, not unlike the gems they¡¯d been seeing scattered across the ruins, when suddenly they all received a debuff. Raid Boss Area Inside a raid boss area, the use of Keys and Return skills are disabled, as is attacking other players. Raid Boss areas can only be exited once the Raid Boss has been defeated. They all read the debuff and looked at each other nervously, watching as a large dome grew outward from the giant soul crystal in the sky until it covered the entirety of the Fyu¡¯jin ruins. ¡°That¡¯d mean that the game was making sure there were at least 25 players nearby to progress... Because...¡± Liana said nervously as she saw a health bar and a name appear above the giant black crystal in the sky. ¡°Raid boss.¡± Darith grinned nervously, holding his staff out in a fighting stance, as Jacob unsheathed his sword and Ryan summoned his 3 skeletons. The black gem then dropped straight down to the ground landing on the street not far from where they stood. It made a loud thunk sound and left a huge crater in the sandy stone streets of the ruins, sending up a puff of dust and sand. It then began to wobble a bit and rise up, shaking the ground around them as large amounts of sand began to fly up from their surroundings, swirling around the gem and blinding their vision for a good 15 seconds until the Gem had finished gathering sand to take on its form. It took the shape of a giant, fully armored creature, the sand changing color to show silver shoulder pads carved in the shape of eagle¡¯s faces, large leather strapped boots with silver knee pads and highly detailed and engraved golden armor. On its back was a very, very large two handed sword, and in place of a head, the giant black gem sat in on its neck, a small ring of sand rotating around it. The giant was at least 5 stories tall, and as it took a step, its footsteps echoed loudly throughout the city. Ancient Temple Watcher - Level 30 Raid Boss(?) ¡°What¡¯s it say about bosses?¡± Darith said to himself as he hastily hit the question mark with his index finger. Enemies that are shown as Raid Bosses are extremely difficult and should only be challenged by a large group of organized players. ¡°This game is really good at giving warnings too late.¡± ¡°No kidding.¡± Jacob said, making a loud gulping sound as he swallowed the saliva in his mouth. ¡°Analyze!¡± Darith shouted, aiming the spell at the Temple Watcher. ¡°My analyze skill is too low to tell me his abilities, but it does tell me how much health he has.¡± Darith said as his eyes opened wide. ¡°How much?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Just over 10 million...¡± Darith said in disbelief. Chapter 23: Raid Boss ¡°Gonna have to find out what this guy can do the old fashioned way.¡± Ryan grinned nervously. ¡°Got a plan Darith?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°I¡¯ll be sitting in the back healing, I hope.¡± Liana said. ¡°Y-yeah, we can do this. First we need to figure out what he does. Let¡¯s assume he¡¯s similar to the other monsters in this area, meaning we¡¯ll have to hit the head to do damage to it. Start the fight by using your skeletons to see what he does, I¡¯ll attack the gem and see what sort of damage I can do. Jacob you stay and guard Liana in case something unexpected happens, and Liana try and keep Ryan¡¯s skeletons alive as long as you can. Ready?¡± He said, and they all nodded. ¡°Go!¡± He shouted, and Ryan¡¯s hands motioned his three skeleton fighters forward, jumping off the top of the building and running at the Watcher. It spotted them immediately and drew it¡¯s sword off it¡¯s back, then swung it downward at one of them, instantly killing it. ¡°I can¡¯t heal that!¡± Liana said, startled by the skeletons immediate death. ¡°How fast can you make new ones?¡± Darith asked Ryan. ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of speed, it costs a lot of mana!¡± Ryan replied as he summoned a third skeleton again and sent it forward, while at the same time the Watcher killed a second skeleton. Darith glanced to see Ryan¡¯s mana already almost at half from just one summon. ¡°Instead of healing the skeletons, try to keep his mana up.¡± Darith said, and Liana nodded. ¡°Concentrate!¡± She shouted, releasing a blue light from herself to transfer mana to Ryan. ¡°Uh, Darith, he¡¯s doing something!¡± Jacob pointed to the Gem¡¯s head, and it suddenly created a large black spell circle in the sky above the city, and from it, hundreds of small soul gems rained down on them, many landing around the group. Seconds after they landed they began forming into the small Fyu¡¯jin monsters that they¡¯d been fighting all day. ¡°Keep them off us as best you can Jacob, first let¡¯s see how to hurt the big one.¡± Darith said, then put his hands out in front of himself and aimed them up at the head of the watcher. ¡°Chain Fire!¡± Darith shouted, and a stream of firebolts began to fire one by one from red circles around him, flying with perfect accuracy to the Watcher¡¯s black gem head. The first connected and Darith saw his damage numbers, because of all of this level balances his fireballs were only hitting for 200. One hit, then another, and the boss didn¡¯t react much, he was busy swinging and killing more and more. ¡°Darith you¡¯re getting a debuff from hitting the boss!¡± Liana commented, as Darith looked to see a black icon next to his health, a number on it stacking each time one of his streaming fireballs hit. ¡°Darith stop hitting it, NOW, STOP HITTING IT NOW!¡± She screamed hysterically, panicking Darith. He canceled the Chain fire spell and started redirecting any already flying fireballs away from the gem so that they wouldn¡¯t connect. ¡°What is it, what happened?¡± Darith said surprised, not having heard Liana ever scream like that before. He clicked on the icon to get more information. Curse of the Fyu¡¯jin Attacking the Temple Watcher¡¯s Soul Gem will strengthen its connection with your soul. At 10 stacks, the Gem will absorb your soul and add your strength to its own. Remaining: 57s Darith read it out loud, and noted that he was at 9 stacks. If he had hit the gem one more time, he¡¯d be dead. ¡°Thanks for the save.¡± Darith said to her. ¡°It looks like you can¡¯t attack it more than 9 times every minute, or it¡¯ll kill you. I¡¯ll have to switch to big attacks instead of a bunch of small ones. ¡°In the meantime, can you give me a hand? These things are everywhere!¡± Jacob shouted as she dashed around cutting up the smaller ones, but his endurance bar was quickly dropping. ¡°Got it,¡± Darith said, turning to shoot fireballs at the smaller ones instead for a bit. ¡°I¡¯m out of mana, I can¡¯t summon anymore! Can you concentrate me again?¡± Ryan turned to Liana as the Temple Watcher killed another skeleton, getting ready to kill the last. ¡°I can¡¯t, I¡¯m also out!¡± ¡°Uh oh.¡± Ryan said with wide eyes, the last skeleton breaking apart under the Watcher¡¯s giant sword. It then began stomping towards them and created a large shadow over them to block the sun. ¡°Dodge!¡± Darith shouted, and all of them jumped to different directions off of the building seconds before the Watcher swung its sword down on them, demolishing the structure into an explosion of dust and smoke. Because of this, Darith lost sight of Liana for a moment, only seeing Ryan standing beside him coughing from the dust. ¡°Liana?!¡± He shouted. ¡°I¡¯m here!¡± She called back as the dust quickly cleared and she ran towards him with her hand on her mouth, and her back to the watcher. The watcher lifted his sword up high into the sky with his sights on her, and began swinging it downward. ¡°Liana!¡± Darith shouted, quickly casting dash multiple times to get to her side and push her out of the way. He made it in time milliseconds before the sword connected, but he himself wasn¡¯t able to get out of the way. As the sword slammed into the street of the ruined city where Liana had been, she fell backward from Darith¡¯s push, and the last thing she saw before the rising dust from the sword strike was Darith underneath it. ¡°Darith!¡± She screamed terrified. She couldn¡¯t see him through the dust, but instead turned to look at his health in the party window and saw it was still full. As the dust cleared she saw him ducking down on the ground, the Temple Watcher¡¯s sword hovering just above his head, being blocked by a large wooden shield held by Chadwin. ¡°You didn¡¯t plan on taking on a raid boss with just 4 guys, did you?¡± Chadwin said with a strained expression as he held back the sword with difficulty. Liana let out a loud sigh of relief, quickly gone though as she saw a smaller soul gem creature charging at Chadwin and Darith from behind. ¡°Look out!¡± She shouted, but before the creature got close enough, its gem was shattered in half by Ashley¡¯s axe as her orcish figure dropped down from a nearby rooftop. Liana looked up on the roof to see several other players shooting waterbolts and arrows around them to take out more of the tiny monsters. ¡°What''s the plan, Great Wizard?¡± Ashley said as she reached out to Darith, grabbed his hand and pulled him back to his feet. ¡°It should be to move, holding this guy off using block is draining my endurance fast!¡± Chadwin shouted. ¡°Right!¡± Darith shouted, moving out from under Chadwin and the large sword, as did Ashley. Once they were safe, Chadwin dashed to the side and let the sword crash into the ground. ¡°You got a plan to beat this guy?¡± Chadwin asked as the Temple Guardian prepared to swing down on them again. Darith glanced around to see all of the players that had run to hit the gongs had returned and were fighting off small minions all around them. It was starting to look like the minions were all dead, but another giant black circle appeared in the sky above them and sent more black gems down on them just as the Boss took another swing, this time they all dodged out of the way. ¡°We¡¯re all stuck in this boss area now because of your gong plan, so you better come up with something.¡± Ashley said between taking out another couple of small ones. ¡°Do you think you can tank this boss?¡± Darith asked Chadwin. ¡°Judging by the rate he was draining endurance on my block skill, he¡¯d kill me in three hits, so not really.¡± ¡°Three is plenty. Liana, focus your healing on Chadwin.¡± Darith said and she nodded. ¡°Ryan, I want you to watch Chadwin¡¯s health and Liana¡¯s mana, anytime they need some time to regenerate Endurance or Mana, use your Skeletons to buy them time.¡± Ryan heard this and nodded. Darith then jumped on to the top of a nearby building. ¡°Everyone listen up! All players with healing spells, use your spells to heal Chadwin, he¡¯ll keep the attention of the boss as best he can! All players using close combat weapons like swords and axes, your job is to take out the smaller monsters that the boss keeps creating! And the players that can attack with ranged attacks, I want you to focus your damage on killing the boss! Be careful though, you can only hurt him by hitting the Gem in his head, and if you hit it more than 9 times in 1 minute, it will kill you. Try to only use big attacks, and stop at 8 attacks to be safe, until the curse wears off. Use the downtime to regenerate Endurance, mana, or help the close combat fighters deal with the little guys.¡± ¡°You heard him boys, let¡¯s kill ourselves a raid boss!¡± Jacob shouted to fire them all up, and all of the nearby players shouted battlecries of excitement. Darith¡¯s eyes opened wide in amazement. He watched as the healers from the different groups ran towards Liana and start casting restore spells on Chadwin, while Chadwin blocked the boss¡¯s strikes with his shield, dropping his endurance and health by large chunks each time, Ryan respawning his skeletons as fast as his mana would allow to help out. He watched as the melee fighters turned to the smaller monsters and protected the ranged fighters and healers from them, while the ranged fighters charged up giant Waterbolts and huge glowing arrows, firing them up into the sky at the Gem of the Temple Guardian. They were all listening, it looked like a boss fight from an MMO! No, this was different, it was real, all around him it was really happening. He was living in it, inside the MMO, and he was leading the group against it. His mind came to this realization very slowly as he stood silently, Ashley and Jacob dashing around him to keep him safe from smaller monsters as more began coming down from the sky around them. ¡°Yo, Darith, you okay? Snap out of it man.¡± Jacob shouted to him. ¡°Can you believe this? We¡¯re living in a raid battle! I never knew it¡¯d feel like this, it¡¯s incredible!¡± He shouted excitedly, many other players heard him shout and grinned as well, including Ashley and Chadwin. ¡°Yeah but, your debuffs gone, so stop slackin¡¯ off and kill that thing before we all run out of endurance.¡± Jacob replied. ¡°Oh, r-right!¡± Darith said embarrassed. ¡°I need a new spell that does a lot of damage in a single hit. So I¡¯ll just...¡± He said to himself, looking at his mana, then taking a horse stance. ¡°Firestorm!¡± He shouted, and created nearly 70 firebolt circles in the sky around him, but they all aimed towards where he was standing. He then held out his staff, and as the firebolts fired he had them all collide with one another at the tip of his staff. It took all of his concentration and mana to use his spell mastery to stop the firebolts from disappearing, and instead tried gathering them into one giant fireball that floated in front of him, releasing blazing hot waves of heat around them. Ashley, Jacob and several other players stepped back and looked in amazement. ¡°Did you just make that spell up?¡± Ashley asked in disbelief. ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯ll name it...¡± He paused as he pondered for a bit, trying to think of the coolest name possible. ¡°Meteor!¡± He shouted, and then shot the giant fireball forward. It lit up the sky and caught the attention of all players nearby. They all watched as the giant fireball smashed into the black gem to deal almost 15 000 damage. It was a lot, but it barely moved the health bar of the boss down much, and it drained him of his mana. He saw only one stack of the debuff though and let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Nice, but we¡¯ll need a lot more of those to take this thing down.¡± Ryan said as he joined beside him. ¡°Keep it up guys, this things got a lot of health, but as long as we work together, we¡¯ll get out of here!¡± Jacob shouted to everyone. That it would take awhile was an understatement, as the group of players battled the Temple guardian for nearly 30 minutes before its health dropped below 10%. At this point, the body of the Guardian began to glow red, as did its sword, and it suddenly began attacking Chadwin much faster. ¡°Uh, I can¡¯t tank him like this!¡± Chadwin shouted. ¡°Our mana won¡¯t keep up! It¡¯s doing too much damage!¡± Liana shouted to Darith. ¡°It¡¯s enraged or something. I was expecting this. Everyone listen, we have to kill this thing now, fast, or we¡¯re going to lose our tank! All casters that have a curse debuff, focus on protecting our healers from the small monsters! Every melee fighter, do what you can to help damage the boss, and use your most powerful attacks.¡± ¡°Finally!¡± Ashley grinned, turning and dashing towards the boss. Just as it had struck Chadwin and was pulling it¡¯s arm back up from the wing, both she and Jacob jumped onto it¡¯s arm and used it as a ramp to run up to the boss¡¯s shoulders. Several other melee fighters began using high jump and dash skills to climb similarly using nearby buildings around the boss. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Heaaaaavvvvvvyyyy~¡± Ashley called out as she closed in on the Gem, her axe glowing bright purple as she held it behind her body. ¡°Strike!¡± She shouted as she leapt into the air above the Gem, slashing her axe down on it and creating a huge flash of purple light, dealing massive damage. She then flipped backward from the gem back onto its shoulder, eyed the curse at one stack, and prepared a second strike just as several other melee fighters arrived on the boss¡¯s shoulders and joined in. ¡°Sun Strike!¡± Jacob shouted with a glowing yellow sword, slashing it down into the head of the giant boss. On the ground, Darith had jumped from the roof of the building and started casting Chain fire, shooting firebolts rapidly out at all small monsters charging towards the healers, while behind him stood Chadwin and the 7 sphere wielding healers, casting restore on him while Ryan sent in his skeleton soldiers. As more players focused on attacking the boss, more small monsters began to converge on the healers. Darith was getting overwhelmed until a male elf bow user with blue hair appeared on a nearby rooftop, firing arrows along with Darith. Then a human male staff user jump to the ground beside Darith and began shooting Waterbolts from blue spell circles. Within seconds there were tons of ranged players protecting the healers. Darith took a moment to see everyone¡¯s mana was getting low, then looked to see the boss¡¯s health almost at 0, but most of the melee fighters were forced to back off because of curse stacks. ¡°We¡¯re not going to finish it in time, the curse is preventing us from bursting it!¡± Ryan shouted. Darith looked at his curse and saw it tick down from 3 seconds, so turned to face the boss one last time. The moment the debuff faded, he held his staff forward, ignoring the small monsters charging at him as the archers and waterbolt casters around him kept them at bay. ¡°One last time.¡± he shouted as he pulled the last of his spider-egg mana potions out and drank them. By this time, all of the melee fighters had left the boss and returned to the ground. ¡°METEOR!¡± He shouted as loud as he could, and the gigantic fireball formed at the tip of his staff over the course of a long, 8 second cast time. Once fully formed, it shot forward up over Chadwin and the healers, and over the temple guardians giant sword, crashing violently into the black gem on its head, reducing the bosses health to zero. In that instant, all of the smaller monsters gems shattered into tiny pieces and their sand bodies returned to the ground. The Boss dropped its sword to the ground and stumbled backward, wobbling in its step as the Gem began to glow a dark purple. The body of the giant began to lose its color, slowly turning back into yellow sand and dripping to the ground As all of the players watched in amazement. Several cracks began to form in the Gem as the giant¡¯s body fell to its knees from its feet completely turning into sand, then it fell forward toward Chadwin and the healers, forcing them to all quickly dash out of the way. Within seconds the body had completely turned to sand, all that remained was the glowing, slowly cracking gem. It suddenly shot a huge black light up to the sky, the raid boss circle around them fading and the debuff of the raid boss battle disappearing with it. That wasn¡¯t all though, the light hit something in the sky above them. It was hard to make out at first, but the light from the gem slowly grew outward revealing something large floating in the sky above them. After a few seconds, it became obvious what it was. ¡°That¡¯s the forgotten temple, isn¡¯t it?¡± Liana said excitedly as she moved to Darith¡¯s side. ¡°Looks like it was above the city this whole time.¡± Darith smiled. It wasn¡¯t long before the floating temple in its entirety was visible above them, it was dripping sand and had tons of amazing carvings and statues on its wall. ¡°But how do we get up there?¡± Ryan asked as he and Jacob also arrived at Darith¡¯s side. ¡°Look, it aint done yet!¡± Jacob pointed to the gem as it cracked more and more and lit up brighter, until it suddenly exploded in a burst of light. Everyone near it tried to cover their bodies from the broken shards, but to their relief, the shards of the gem only shot upward, and remained levitating in the air at different heights. Then a huge whirlpool of sand began to swirl downward from the temple above, slowly forming into stairs that connected between the shards of the broken gem. Over the course of 30 seconds, the sand stairs reached right to the ground, then solidified into stone and changed color from yellow sand to gray stone like the buildings around them. Quest completed Return to the Caravan Leader You¡¯ve gained 3000 experienced! You¡¯ve gained the skill Meteor(?) Darith read his menu pop up, among many other skill ups and stat gains. A few seconds later, his ears filled with cheers from all the players around them. ¡°Hell yeah!¡± Jacob shouted excitedly, pumping his fist in the air to join in. ¡°Whew! That was AWESOME!¡± Chadwin shouted, raising his shield in the air as his party members gathered around him to cheer him on. Darith smiled and looked at Liana who smiled back, and the two panned around at all of the happy players. They quickly quieted down though as a sudden huge flash of white light appeared at the base of the stairs, and after the flash faded there was a huge pile of gold along with several other items. ¡°That¡¯s the loot?¡± Ryan asked, and Liana¡¯s expression suddenly got serious. She and Darith both spotted three spellbooks on top of the pile at the same time. It went very quiet as everyone¡¯s excitement turned to worry, staring at the other players. ¡°What do we do with it?¡± ¡°How should we divide the rewards?¡± Some players started asking, everyone turning to each other, but no one daring to go towards the items first. ¡°We¡¯ll divide it up evenly, we all fought bravely together, it¡¯s only fair!¡± Ashley shouted. This quieted the questions and nodded. ¡°How do you suggest we do that?¡± Another player asked. ¡°Anaylze.¡± Liana whispered as they spoke, aiming her eyes on the spellbooks. Tome of Remove Curse Teaches the user the ability to remove curses. Learning this ability will consume the tome. ¡°It¡¯s it, it''s the curse removal we¡¯re looking for! We have to get that book no matter what!¡± Liana said to Darith nervously, just as Chadwin and his party walked past them and overheard her. ¡°We¡¯ll sort it like this. I¡¯ll show an item and write a number down. Anyone who wants the item can write a number in the sand here, at the foot of these stairs. Whoever is closest will get the item. Anyone left without anything at the end will divide the gold up between each other. One item per person.¡± Ashley said to everyone. ¡°Sounds fair, yo. Best way to do it!¡± Jacob shouted, and hearing his agreement inspired most of the other players to quickly agree. ¡°I¡¯ll agree to that, under one condition. I say Darith the Great Wizard is allowed to pick anything he wants from the pile first. If it wasn¡¯t for him we probably would¡¯ve never killed that thing.¡± Chadwin shouted, and everyone went silent again. All eyes seemed to turn to him, and he only had a dumbfounded expression, he was not expecting something like this. ¡°Yeah... Yeah! That was some awesome leading skills!¡± One player shouted from a building top. ¡°That was awesome, it felt like I was in a raid group with a real raid leader!¡± Another shouted, others joining in, until it suddenly turned into a chant. ¡°Darith! Darith! Darith!¡± they chanted ¡°Why¡¯re they only chanting his name?¡± Ryan mumbled annoyed. ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it man.¡± Jacob shrugged with a smile, then joined in shouting Darith¡¯s name. Darith was flabbergasted, his cute tiny little nemothyne face lit up as Liana smiled excitedly at him. ¡°Guys it wasn¡¯t much, the boss wasn¡¯t that complicated.¡± He replied shyly. ¡°Well, what item would you like?¡± Ashley said from atop the loot pile as the crowd quieted down. ¡°Are you guys sure it¡¯s alright? We all worked together.¡± ¡°Go for it man!¡± ¡°If you didn¡¯t take out those pkers, we wouldn¡¯t even be here!¡± More players shouted, others yeah¡¯ing in agreement. ¡°Alright, one of the spellbooks then.¡± Darith said. Ashley quickly grabbed one of the three Curse Removal Tomes from the pile of gold and tossed it to him. ¡°What kind of spell is it?¡± Ashley asked after she had tossed it. ¡°It¡¯s remove curse.¡± Darith replied. Ashley gave a nod of approval. ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s get through the rest of this stuff, first up is one...¡± Ashley said as she lifted up a sword. ¡°Blade of the Fyu¡¯jin, gives +10 strength, endurance, and Agility! Everyone interested, step forward and write a number in the sand with your feet from 1 to 100.¡± Ashley shouted, Jacob stepped forward as did many other players, but Darith and Liana lost interest. ¡°Hardly seems fair that you got to pick the item when it was all of us together that got here.¡± Ryan said grumpily. ¡°You know why we need this spell book, remember?¡± Liana replied to him. ¡°Yeah yeah, whatever.¡± Ryan said dismissively, walking away from the two. ¡°Ignore him, he¡¯s always like that about loot. Here, take it.¡± Darith handed the book to Liana. ¡°Are you sure, shouldn¡¯t you learn it? I mean, I already got the other spell.¡± Liana said nervously. ¡°You¡¯re the one who needs it right? I can¡¯t get to the hospital tomorrow, I¡¯ve got school. Just promise me you¡¯ll only remove the curse when no one is looking, and if you see that high level guy come back, don¡¯t fight him, call me or something.¡± Darith said, holding the book out to her. ¡°Okay, I promise.¡± She nodded, eventually taking it, and within seconds she had learned the spell. ¡°Speaking of hospital, what time is it? We¡¯ve been in here for quite awhile.¡± Darith asked, pulling his cell phone out of his inventory. ¡°Oh damn, mom¡¯s gonna be home by now! We gotta get back before she sees your empty Wheelchair!¡± Darith panicked. ¡°Return!¡± The two of them shouted, other players not paying attention anymore as they were too focused on the drops, Jacob and Ryan included. After the 10 second cast and the bright flash of light, they re-appeared in the living room of their house to see Kristen running up the stairs ¡°Darith?! Liana?!¡± She shouted up worriedly, running to check Darith¡¯s room. ¡°Shit, too late... Quick, before our fading in buff goes away...¡± Darith transformed back into his normal body. ¡°But she already saw the empty wheelchair!¡± Liana panicked. ¡°Uh, put your arms around me then,¡± Darith said quickly. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Just trust me! Put your arms around my neck and then turn back.¡± He insisted. Liana hesitated, then did as he said. She stood behind him and put her arms around his neck, then returned to her regular body just as Kristen ran down the stairs looking hysterical to see Darith holding Liana¡¯s burned, crippled body on his back as if he was giving her a ride around. ¡°What in the hell are you doing?! Where the hell were you?¡± Kristen shouted furiously as she stomped towards them. ¡°I was just walking her around the backyard a bit!¡± Darith replied nervously. ¡°Walking around the- are you crazy? She¡¯s not a dog! Put her back in her chair now!¡± She shouted as she got to Darith and helped him carefully lower Liana into her chair. ¡°It¡¯s not his fault Kristen! I asked him to! I kept begging him until he finally said okay. I just wanted to know what it felt like to walk a bit!¡± Liana said in a pleading voice. Kristen sighed angrily and took a step back. ¡°Come on Liana, you know how dangerous that can be. Your body is really fragile! And Darith, you know better than that.¡± She scolded them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Liana said with puppy eyes. ¡°Sorry mom.¡± Darith said shamefully. She looked between the two for a moment. ¡°Just don¡¯t do something like that again, you scared me half to death.¡± She groaned, turning to head into the kitchen and jingling some pots to signal she was starting dinner. Darith then collapsed on the couch beside Liana¡¯s wheelchair and let out a huge sigh of relief. He glanced to Liana and she looked back, and after a few seconds the two burst into laughter. ¡°That was the most amazing thing I¡¯ve ever done!¡± She said, referring to the boss, but Kristen heard this and assumed otherwise, smiling from the other room. They started whispering to each other about the different skill increases they got, and Liana talked about how intense it was making sure Chadwin¡¯s health and endurance didn¡¯t hit 0. After a few minutes of this though, there was a sudden flash of light in the living room, and from it appeared Jacob and Ryan. Darith¡¯s eyes went wide, glancing down the hall to the kitchen to make sure his mom didn¡¯t see. ¡°Sup.¡± Jacob smiled as they reappeared. ¡°You guys gotta go, my mom is here!¡± He whispered as he opened the backyard door and quickly rushed the two out, closing the door behind him so the three boys were standing under the moonlight in his backyard. ¡°Check it, I got this ring of the sun, makes my light skills do more damage. Works with most of my sword skills.¡± Jacob said as he held his hand out to show Darith the ring. ¡°Thats awesome!¡± Darith commented as he looked to see Ryan wearing a new necklace, it was a soul gem hanging on a chain. ¡°Whoa, whats that?¡± ¡°Amulet of souls, makes my undead summons more powerful, pretty nice eh?¡± Ryan said proudly as he held it up. ¡°What else happened after I left?¡± He asked. ¡°Loot went surprisingly fast, no one argued.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°We turned in the quest but no one could get in the temple. Caravan guy said we¡¯d have to find a key that was last seen somewhere in some swamp area?¡± ¡°Kulantus Swamp.¡± Ryan finished for him. ¡°So we can¡¯t go into the temple yet after all that work?¡± Darith said with disappointment. ¡°Yeah but no biggie man, that was by far the most awesome thing ever! We gotta go celebrate!¡± Jacob grinned. ¡°Celebrate?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yeah man, lets go to a club and get some girls.¡± Jacob replied enthusiastically. ¡°We¡¯re not even old enough to get in.¡± ¡°That means nothing to NPC¡¯s with how high his Charisma is, they pretty much let him do what he wants.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°It¡¯s awesome man, we can get any girls we want.¡± Jacob said proudly. ¡°Did you use it to... You know... Do it with someone?¡± Darith asked nervously. ¡°He got a girl to a hotel room but then he chickened out.¡± Ryan replied for him. ¡°Hey man, I just wasn¡¯t ready yet, that¡¯s all.¡± He replied defensively. ¡°Do you guys really think it''s okay to use the game on other people?¡± ¡°Why not? As long as we don¡¯t do anything obvious and get caught by guards, we should be enjoying this stuff.¡± Ryan shrugged. ¡°Yeah man, we¡¯re the Knights of Justice now, heroes! Not the same as we were before.¡± Jacob said excitedly. Darith turned to look back through the glass door at Liana sitting in the chair staring back at him curiously. ¡°I still don¡¯t think you should use the game like that¡­ besides, Liana won¡¯t be able to come along, can¡¯t convince my mom to let me leave with her.¡± Darith replied. ¡°So what? Boys night, she doesn¡¯t need to see us pickin up ladies anyway.¡± Jacob shrugged back. Darith thought about it for a moment, but one more look to Liana helped him make up his mind. ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll sit out. You guys go and have fun, I¡¯d feel bad leaving Liana out.¡± ¡°You sure man?¡± Jacob said disappointed. ¡°He¡¯s probably still too scared to talk to girls.¡± Ryan joked. ¡°Whatever, yeah I¡¯m sure. Just don¡¯t do anything bad, we shouldn¡¯t abuse this game power.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Yes mom.¡± Ryan replied sarcastically. ¡°Aite, peace out then man, catch you tomorrow. We gotta find that Swamp so we can get into the temple.¡± Jacob said as the two turned and headed out of Darith¡¯s backyard around the side of the house. ¡°Cya later.¡± Darith said, then opened the door and walked back in the house. ¡°What did you guys talk about?¡± Liana asked him excitedly. ¡°Uh, nothin much, they¡¯re just going to celebrate some items they got.¡± Darith shrugged as he sat back down beside Liana and turned on the TV. ¡°You¡¯re not going with them?¡± She asked curiously. ¡°Nah, I wouldn¡¯t really fit in.¡± Darith replied as he looked down at his normal body briefly. Chapter 24: A Knight of Justice Gabriel walked down the city street alongside a long line of people wearing dresses and dress shirts, chatting to each other or on their phones. He ignored them, heading down the sidewalk right to the front of the line. He stopped in front of a large white bald man wearing all black. ¡°Yo shit, What happened to you Gabe?¡± The bouncer said as he eyed Gabriel up and down to see his bruises and cuts on his face. ¡°Tai inside?¡± Gabriel asked, ignoring his question. ¡°Don¡¯t know, didn¡¯t see him come in.¡± The bouncer replied nervously, breaking eye contact. ¡°I¡¯ll ask again. Tai inside?¡± Gabriel said angrily, glaring at the bouncer. ¡°Look man I don¡¯t want any trouble in the club, I owe you and all but I can¡¯t have you going in and stirring shit up, I¡¯ll lose my job man.¡± The bouncer replied reluctant. ¡°You heard what happened?¡± Gabriel asked him. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± he said hesitantly. ¡°You going to stop me from going in?¡± He asked, clenching his fists now. The bouncer thought about it for a few seconds then slowly moved to the side. ¡°Shit man.¡± He said as he did, regretting it before Gabriel had even walked past him. Gabriel stepped around the bouncer and entered the night club, loud base filling his ears as he got further inside, until he walked through a doorway that opened into a large dance floor filled with people dancing, a DJ on a stage at the far side of the club under spinning lights. Gabriel wasn¡¯t interested in any of it, he immediately started scanning the room for Tai and his gang. After a few moments of glancing around he spotted Tai sitting at a table on a balcony floor overlooking the dance floor, surrounded by 5 girls fawning over him. ¡°One at a time ladies.¡± He mouthed as they rubbed their hands over him. Gabriel couldn¡¯t hear him, but he saw his mouth movements. He then started pushing himself through the dance floor towards the stairs leading up to him. When he got to the top floor, he walked straight towards Tai who was facing the opposite direction. Once he was close enough, he didn¡¯t hold back. He pulled his fist back and thrust it forward with all his might into the back of Tai¡¯s head, startling several people around them as some girls let out tiny screams of shock. Tai however didn¡¯t move at all. Despite the force of Gabriel¡¯s punch, it wasn¡¯t enough to even push Tai¡¯s head forward. He let out an annoyed sigh then stood up and turned to look at Gabriel. ¡°You came after me again? Why?¡± Tai said calmly. ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you.¡± He shouted angrily, pulling a knife out of his pocket and quickly driving it into the side of Tai¡¯s head. This caused everyone around to scream in panic, the girls clearing away. ¡°You¡¯re chasing away the girls man.¡± Tai replied, still calm despite Gabriel holding a knife in the side of his head. ¡°The fuck?¡± Gabriel said with wide eyes. ¡°You still don¡¯t get it!¡± Tai finally punched forward, his fist moved so fast Gabriel couldn¡¯t see it. It hit him square in the chest and sent him flying backwards off his feet across the top floor of the club until he slammed into the far wall. Tai then pulled the knife out of his head and dropped it to the ground, not a spot of blood on it. ¡°The hell is going on!¡± Gabriel shouted, filled with rage and confusion as he struggled back to his feet. The pain in his chest was immense, he could feel bones broken, and he looked down to see burn marks in his shirt where he had gotten hit. ¡°Your strength doesn¡¯t matter anymore! No one¡¯s does!¡± Tai chanted, strutting forward across the floor towards Gabriel. ¡°The police, the army, guns, bombs, knifes. Not even muscles. The only real strength lies in my stats. My skills. My gear. The world is now fair, it is equalized.¡± He preached, loving the sound of his own voice. ¡°And in this new world, it¡¯s people like me who stand on top.¡± He finally said, stopping in front of Gabriel. He wanted to punch this punk, but he could barely stand, it took everything he had to stay up right. He could only look up and glare angrily at this kid, this punk, who was doing things outside of Gabriel¡¯s comprehension. ¡°Let me show you what true power is.¡± Tai smiled, and from a flash of light in his right hand, a long tachi appeared that emitted tiny sparks of electricity. Gabriel could only stare at it, feeling more confused, angry, frustrated. At himself, at the situation, at his brothers death. He didn¡¯t know what was going on, he only knew that he couldn¡¯t do anything to stop Tai. In an instant Tai lifted his sword and swung it down at Gabriel, but instead of getting cut he heard a clash of metal, as a sudden man appeared in front of him from nowhere wearing a sand-covered cloak with black hair.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Lowbie killing¡¯s one thing, but NPC¡¯s? That¡¯s a whole new level of sad.¡± Jacob said, holding back Tai¡¯s sword with his own. ¡°Oh, another player?¡± Tai said surprised, taking a few steps back. ¡°And who might you be?¡± ¡°A knight of justice.¡± Jacob replied. ¡°What the... Heck is going on...¡± Gabriel asked the stranger in front of him, desperate for answers. ¡°His level¡¯s showing up as question marks. He¡¯s way above us!¡± Another man called from the floor below, Ryan staring up from the dance floor as many of the dancers started clearing away screaming in panic. ¡°Can¡¯t just let other players go around killing people though.¡± Jacob replied. ¡°Hah, you noobs make me laugh. If you leave now I¡¯ll forgive you.¡± Tai replied to them. ¡°Aww hell naw, you aint callin¡¯ me a noobie.¡± Jacob shouted, dashing forward and slashing at Tai, but Tai simply dashed to the side out of the way and then swung his sword down at Jacob from behind, moving way faster than him. The sword would have hit if not for the sudden appearance of a skeleton soldier to block it, thanks to Ryan from below. At the sight of this, anyone who hadn¡¯t been running away out of the club screaming definitely started to now. ¡°Oh, nice, a summoner?¡± Tai said impressed, then with another quick swing of his sword he cut the skeleton in half and killed it, while Ryan created two more behind him to try and sneak a strike in. It was futile though. Tai spun in a circle so fast to cut the skeletons, Ryan didn¡¯t even see him move. ¡°Sun strike!¡± Jacob shouted, his sword glowing yellow as he thrust it forward at Tai, but Tai deflected the attack into the 2nd floor railing, causing his sword to cut clean through the metal. ¡°You gotta be kidding me, you¡¯re still using voice commands for your skills? Sun strike¡¯s a starter skill too. You guys can¡¯t be more than a week old.¡± Tai laughed at them mockingly. ¡°Jacob, let¡¯s get out of here, this isn¡¯t our fight! We came to celebrate!¡± Ryan shouted at him. ¡°Yeah we¡¯ve only been playing a bit, but we still know better than to attack NPC¡¯s.¡± Jacob shouted angrily, then swung his sword at Tai again, but this time Tai blocked it with his sword, and the clash resulted in Tai¡¯s sword cutting through Jacob¡¯s, breaking it in half. ¡°You should¡¯ve listened to your friend.¡± Tai said as Jacob looked him in the eyes in shock, watching in slow motion as the end of his sword fell to the ground. The same time the broken blade landed on the floor, Tai drove his sword through Jacob. His health bar instantly rolled down to zero. ¡°NOOO!¡± Ryan shouted angrily, gritting his teeth in anger as he summoned another skeleton to swing furiously at Tai. This time Tai didn¡¯t react, he let the skeleton hit him over and over again. It was hardly doing any damage to Tai. He pulled his sword out of Jacob and Jacob collapsed to the ground, his game character appearance vanished as his items appeared on the ground around Tai¡¯s feet. In its place appeared the tall boy with greasy black hair. Moments later Jacob vanished as well, leaving behind only a broken cell phone. ¡°Hah, some nerdy kid trying to be a hero.¡± Tai said as he leaned down and picked up Jacob¡¯s ring. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look bad though.¡± He said as he put it on. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Ryan shouted out, summoning a second skeleton as his mana permitted, and both struck Tai continuously, though he acted as though they weren¡¯t there. ¡°Do you even know what level I am?¡± Tai called down to Ryan, then vanished suddenly and re-appeared behind him, his Tachi to the back of Ryan¡¯s neck, causing him to freeze in fear. ¡°92.¡± He said with a smirk, preparing to thrust his sword forward, but was interrupted by a bullet hitting him from across the room. He looked over to see Gabriel holding a handgun, firing at Tai multiple times giving Ryan time to run away, using dash and sprint to get out of the club as fast as possible. ¡°Aw, don¡¯t run, I want to see if you have any nice items like your pal!¡± Tai said coldly, vanishing from the dance floor leaving Gabriel by himself. ¡°Shit.¡± Gabriel shouted angrily, stumbling into a run towards the exit as well, clutching the gun tightly. As he got out of the club through the front door, he only saw the scared Ryan grabbing his knees gasping for air, and several men in black suits standing around. ¡°Ci-city guards.¡± Ryan said to himself with a sigh of relief. ¡°Where¡¯d he go?¡± Gabriel yelled at Ryan. Ryan turned and glared at Gabriel, tears swelled up in his eyes. ¡°Gone.¡± He replied as he stood up right and clenched his fists angrily. ¡°What the hell was all that, what the heck is going on!¡± Gabriel shouted at Ryan, desperate for answers. Ryan said nothing at first, just stood up and started walking down the street away from the men in black suits, all of them wearing sunglasses and not saying a word. ¡°Don¡¯t go after that guy, you¡¯ll only die. He¡¯s mine now.¡± Ryan replied to Gabriel as he walked away faster. Gabriel wanted to follow him, get answers, but the pain in his chest was becoming too much and there was a faint sound of approaching sirens in the distance. He turned to look down the road and saw the flashing lights coming from behind groups of on-lookers. ¡°Tch.¡± Gabriel sucked his teeth, stumbling and wobbling forward into an alleyway across the street to get out of sight. He couldn¡¯t make sense of it, and the more he thought about the situation, the more his mind filled with anger. He burned the image of Ryan¡¯s character and both of Jacob¡¯s appearances into his mind, with every intention to track them down for answers. Chapter 25: Serious ¡°You sure you want to come today? You could stay home and play, you had your check up and bath yesterday.¡± Kristen said as she pushed Liana¡¯s wheelchair out to the driveway to the passenger side of the car. ¡°Yup!¡± Liana replied cheerfully as Darith stepped out of the house and locked the door behind him as usual. ¡°Have a good day, don¡¯t forget what I said!¡± Darith said to Liana as he walked down the driveway to the street. ¡°You too.¡± Kristen and Liana called back, then turned to Liana as she lifted her carefully into the passenger seat of the car. ¡°What¡¯d he say?¡± Kristen asked curiously. ¡°Oh nothing, just something about the game.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Ugh, you two and video games.¡± Kristen rolled her eyes. After securing Liana in the car she drove the two straight to the hospital and brought Liana with her into the changing room as Kristen switched from her casual wear to her hospital uniform. ¡°Anywhere I should drop you off today?¡± Kristen asked as they left the changing rooms. ¡°Hmm, can I stop by the police officer again?¡± Liana asked, trying to sound innocent while at the same time being anxious. ¡°I thought you said they wouldn¡¯t let you talk to him yesterday.¡± Kristen replied curiously. ¡°Maybe today though!¡± Liana said with enthusiasm. ¡°Alright.¡± Kristen shrugged, taking Liana into an elevator up to the floor with Jaese¡¯s room, and stopping her in front of it where a different officer was standing guard today. ¡°How¡¯s he doing?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°He¡¯s getting antsy, says he feels fine and wants to know when he can get out of here.¡± The officer replied to Kristen. Kristen then opened the door and walked inside to see Jaese sitting up in his bed, still in hospital gown and reading a newspaper. ¡°Ah, Nurse Kristen, right?¡± Jaese asked, recognizing her immediately. ¡°You remembered.¡± She smiled. ¡°Are you here to tell me I¡¯m good to leave?¡± Jaese asked her hopeful as Kristen went to glance at his chart sitting at the edge of his bed, then checked the monitors hooked up to him. ¡°Hmm, you look like you¡¯re doing okay... I¡¯ll see if I can find a doctor to have a look at you and see if your safe to discharge.¡± Kristen smiled at him. ¡°Great, thanks.¡± Jaese replied politely. As Kristen walked out of the room Liana had just finished pulling out her phone from her pocket using her right hand, seeing the timer she had set ticking down from 3 hours. ¡°Can I talk to him now?¡± Liana asked anxiously. ¡°Ask him yourself, I¡¯ll be back with a doctor as soon as possible.¡± Kristen said to Liana, then to the officer standing guard. ¡°Thank you m¡¯am.¡± The officer replied politely. ¡°Excuse me officer, is it okay If I go in to talk to officer Jaese?¡± Liana asked him as politely as she could. ¡°You a friend of his?¡± The officer asked. ¡°I think so, sort of.¡± Liana shrugged impatiently. ¡°Alright, sure, I don¡¯t see why not.¡± He shrugged at the scarred girl, holding the door open for her as she quickly used her controls with her right hand to move her wheelchair forward into Jaese¡¯s room. Jaese turned to look at her after hearing her motor buzzing into the room. ¡°Oh, hey. Liana was your name, right?¡± Jaese said to her, setting down the newspaper. ¡°Yup! How are you feeling?¡± She asked awkwardly. Now that she was in the room with him, she wasn¡¯t quite sure how to go about casting the remove curse without being noticed. ¡°I¡¯m alright. I wanted to thank you, that advice you gave about following their tricks. It gave us some real leads.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about that.¡± Liana replied nervously, only now realizing that the tricks he had described were most likely done by the same player that cursed him. ¡°I think you should stop chasing that bad guy.¡± She said. ¡°I can¡¯t stop chasing bad guys, it¡¯s my job as a police officer.¡± Jaese smiled at her. ¡°These bad guys are the reason you are here though right?¡± She replied. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true, but that¡¯s part of the job. Sometimes police officers get hurt so that they can protect other people.¡± He reassured her. ¡°Besides, I¡¯m almost out of here, I¡¯m doing fine.¡± He smiled. Liana heard this and tried to force a smile back at him, but every time she looked at him she couldn¡¯t help but focus on the icon of the curse beside his floating name. ¡°Did you want to ask me something?¡± Jaese then asked, watching her strange expressions while not staring at her scars like most people did. ¡°Uhm, yeah! One second!¡± She said, spinning her wheelchair around to shut the door behind them, then turning back to face Jaese. ¡°could you close your eyes tight for me, and cover them with your hands?¡± ¡°Close my eyes and cover them? Why?¡± Jaese replied confused. ¡°It¡¯s a... It¡¯s a surprise!¡± She replied hesitantly as she pondered a good excuse. ¡°You don¡¯t seem too sure about that.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°I won¡¯t do anything weird, I promise!¡± Liana pleaded. ¡°People usually only say that when they¡¯re doing something weird.¡± Jaese replied, and this only made Liana accidently shrug in agreement. ¡°Hah, no way.¡± He commented after he saw this. ¡°Please, just for a few seconds!¡± She begged. He stared at her closely, then sighed. ¡°Alright, whatever.¡± Jaese shrugged. He closed his eyes tight and put his hands over them. ¡°No peeking, okay?¡± Liana said. ¡°Got it.¡± ¡°Promise?¡± ¡°I promise.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Okay.¡± Liana said. ¡°Remove curse.¡± She whispered as quietly as possible. Jaese couldn¡¯t make out her words, and when the spell released it¡¯s bright flash of light, he didn¡¯t see a thing. ¡°Done!¡± Liana said happily, seeing the curse had been removed. She let out a huge sigh of relief. ¡°And, what was the surprise?¡± Jaese asked confused, looking around the room. Just then the door opened and the officer outside stepped in. ¡°What was that green flash of light just now?¡± the officer asked. ¡°Ask her, she made me close my eyes.¡± Jaese looked at her curiously. ¡°What green light? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Liana replied nervously, lying horribly as she spun her wheelchair around and drove it out of the room past the guarding officer. ¡°What was that about?¡± The officer asked Jaese. ¡°No idea.¡± He shrugged, picking the newspaper back up.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. [Darith - Serious] Darith made it through his first classes with extreme ease. He was disappointed that his math teacher wasn¡¯t able to get the new exam yet so that he could test the limits of his intelligence, but not surprised to see that Ryan hadn¡¯t shown up for class. When he got to the cafeteria he ended up sitting alone at the same table as always, thinking about calling Ryan or Jacob to see what they were doing, but to his surprise he spotted Jacob entering the cafeteria in his normal body. He instantly felt excited, anxious to talk about the game about how they could find the key to the temple, but he also felt something was off. Unlike yesterday, no girls or anyone seemed to notice him, was it because he wasn¡¯t in his characters body? ¡°Sup.¡± Jacob said as he sat at the table and put his bag down to pull out his lunch. ¡°Ryan skipping again?¡± He asked, and it was then that Darith saw his level. Jacob - Level 1 ¡°Why are you level one?¡± Darith asked nervously, scared about the answer he would get. ¡°What? In what game are you talking about?¡± Jacob replied confused. ¡°Broken Realm...?¡± ¡°That a new one you¡¯re playin? Haven¡¯t heard about it. It any good?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°What happened last night, what¡¯d you do last night?¡± Darith asked with eyes wide open, leaning forward towards his friend. ¡°I-I don¡¯t know man.¡± He replied startled. ¡°What''s with you? You¡¯re actin weird.¡± He said as he pulled out his lunch. ¡°You can¡¯t remember?¡± Darith ¡°Nah¡­ it¡¯s all fuzzy for some reason. Musta just crashed after school. What¡¯d you do? What¡¯s this Broken Realm game like?¡± Jacob replied, but rather than answer him Darith hastily pulled out his phone. ¡°Hang on a sec.¡± He said, quickly dialing Ryan¡¯s number. Pressing his phone to his ear, it rang a few times until it went to voicemail as Jacob started eating his lunch. ¡°Of course he doesn¡¯t answer.¡± Darith mumbled to himself in frustration. As thoughts began to rush through his mind, he felt a light tap on his shoulder causing both Jacob and Darith to look at Karin standing behind him with a smile. ¡°Hi! Darith!¡± Karin said. Her appearance broke him out of his thoughts for a moment. ¡°Is, uhm, your friend around today?¡± She asked, looking to find Jacob¡¯s game character. ¡°I¡¯m his friend, how you doin?¡± Jacob winked at her. ¡°Ew, no, not you.¡± Karin replied, and seeing the exchange made Darith put his hand to his forehead. ¡°He¡¯s not here.¡± Darith sighed back at her. ¡°Oh, well, do you think you could hel-¡± ¡°What page and questions?¡± Darith said impatiently. ¡°108, questions 1 to 8.¡± She replied. ¡°Got it.¡± He said unenthusiastic as the quest icon appeared and he subtly hit the accept button. ¡°Thank you, you¡¯re the best!¡± She smiled excitedly, dropping her book down on the desk and heading away. ¡°Dang, since when are you talking to the hottest girl in school?¡± Jacob asked him in disbelief. ¡°Since she needs me to do her math homework.¡± He replied. ¡°Nice, I¡¯d do a lot more than her math homework if she was talkin to me, you know what I mean?¡± Jacob said excitedly. ¡°I know what you mean.¡± Darith replied emotionless. ¡°You alright man?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯m fi-¡± Interrupted by his ringtone. He looked to see it was Ryan calling, and quickly answered. ¡°What the hell happened?¡± Darith blurted out immediately. ¡°Are you somewhere we can talk?¡± Ryan asked. ¡°Not in front of Jacob though, he¡¯s out. I¡¯m guessin¡¯ you already saw.¡± Ryan added. Darith hesitated for a moment looking at Jacob eating obliviously. ¡°Gotta use the bathroom real quick.¡± Darith said to Jacob, lowering his phone from his ear. Jacob replied with an ¡®mm¡¯ sound with a mouth full of food as he pulled out his own cell phone and started fiddling with it. When Darith got outside of the cafeteria, he moved out front of the school building to a secluded area and pulled his phone back up. ¡°Alright I¡¯m alone. Tell me what happened to Jacob.¡± Darith said with urgency. ¡°We ran into another player last night at the club. Some NPC was fighting him and the other player was gonna kill him, so Jacob jumped in. The guy was way too strong but Jacob wouldn¡¯t back down, so he got taken out in one hit. It was insane, everyone in the club saw it happen. The guy even chased me outside into the streets, but just when I thought I was done for, some guys in black suits showed up. It freaked the other player out, he said they were city guards and he teleported away.¡± Ryan said quickly, stumbling some of his words as he spoke. Darith heard it all but it took a second for him to process it. ¡°You guys were using your abilities in a club and nothing happened?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yeah seems like those city guards are guys in suits, but they¡¯re not everywhere at all times. I bet you can get away with a lot more. I used my skeleton soldiers, but the guards didn¡¯t do anything to me when they saw me outside.¡± ¡°That¡¯s insane¡­¡± Darith said in disbelief. ¡°You¡¯re tellin me. These high level guys are running around doing whatever they want. That¡¯s why we gotta power up man, start takin¡¯ this game more seriously. I¡¯m on my way to get the rest of my party members.¡± Ryan replied. ¡°What? Who?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Well I¡¯m starting with Kevosh.¡± ¡°Wait Kevosh? He was our main healer from our old guild right?¡± ¡°Best healer on the server. Gotta get people who know how to play. I should be able to meet you in 1 hour then we can start grinding.¡± ¡°W-wait. I¡¯m still in school, gotta wait until after.¡± Darith replied. ¡°You serious? Forget about school man. This is way more important, this can be life or death.¡± ¡°...I can¡¯t, I made a promise with my mom.¡± ¡°That shit is the reason Jacob got taken out. You¡¯re too busy playing house and ditching us, I bet if you were with us at the club then Jacob would still be in.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not fa-¡± Darith tried replying but was talked over. ¡°What the hell do you think is gonna happen if you keep screwing around? You think your gonna live a happy life with the game now just cause Liana can walk around or something? While you¡¯re doing that, these guys are level 90 spouting shit about the world changing. And you¡¯re supposed to be the pro gamer in our group.¡± ¡°I told you guys not to go, maybe you should¡¯ve listened! Next time listen to me if you think I¡¯m such a pro gamer!¡± Darith snapped back defensively. He didn¡¯t mean to, he wanted to say something else, but his nerves got the best of him. ¡°Screw you man. I don¡¯t even need you to get stronger. I¡¯ll leave you in the dust while you¡¯re sitting at school all day.¡± Ryan shouted back, then hung up the phone. Darith heard the click, being denied a chance to reply. He took a deep breath, then shouted out in anger, turning to punch the brick wall of the school behind him. As his fist hit the wall, he felt no pain and instead broke off a few pieces of brick, leaving a large crater around his fist. He pulled it back and stared at the crater for a moment in silence. The longer he spent processing that he just punched a wall and broke it, the more Ryan¡¯s words sunk in. ¡°What am I doing¡­¡± he asked himself as he leaned his back against the wall with his head down. [Jaese + Liana - Snowfall] ¡°No heavy lifting, and don¡¯t overexert yourself. And change the bandage at least once a day.¡± The doctor said to Jaese as Kristen stood beside him. ¡°I understand.¡± Jaese replied politely. ¡°I spoke to your boss about getting your paid leave, and you¡¯ll need to come back in next Tuesday to get the stitches removed. Set up a date with Kristen or one of the nurses here on your way out. Do you have any questions?¡± The doctor asked. ¡°No questions, thanks for taking care of me doc.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Your clothes are over there, have a good day.¡± The doctor motioned to a shelf with a drawer, then turned and headed out of the room. ¡°You too, thanks for taking care of me.¡± Jaese said to Kristen as he slid his legs off the side of the bed and stood up, stretching them out a bit. ¡°Just doing my job. Don¡¯t hesitate to call if you have questions or concerns or something happens. And please take the doctors words seriously, don¡¯t overexert yourself.¡± She said. ¡°Got it.¡± He nodded to her. ¡°Okay, good bye then, have a nice day.¡± She smiled, leaving the room as well to see Liana waiting outside again, the guarding officer looking at her weirdly. ¡°How was he, did he seem okay?¡± Liana asked Kristen as she came into the hallway and closed the door behind her. ¡°He¡¯s fine, he just got discharged. Why¡¯re you so worried about him anyway?¡± Kristen asked her curiously as she moved behind Liana¡¯s wheelchair and started pushing her along down the hall. ¡°No reason, he¡¯s a cop, they¡¯re the good guys, right?¡± Liana shrugged. ¡°Most of the time, yeah. But that¡¯s not the first time you¡¯ve seen a police officer patient.¡± ¡°This one looked cute.¡± Liana shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t you think?¡± She asked in an attempt to change Kristen¡¯s focus. ¡°I don¡¯t know about that...¡± Kristen replied shyly, but just then Liana noticed a familiar looking doctor walk past them, only briefly catching a glimpse of the ???¡¯s above his head. ¡°Wait, can you stop me here? I want to go back and check something.¡± Liana said suddenly. ¡°Huh? I was about to go grab something to eat for us, it''s my break now.¡± Kristen said confused, but stopping the wheelchair. ¡°It won''t be long! I forgot to say something to the officer!¡± Liana replied impatiently as Kristen let go of the chair and Liana used her controls to turn it around. ¡°A-alright...¡± Kristen replied confused, then shrugged. ¡°Teenagers.¡± she mumbled to herself. As Kristen walked away, Liana moved her wheelchair after the ??? Doctor, and as she feared, she watched the officer sitting outside the room slide down against the wall as the doctor approached, fast asleep. She then glanced out one of the windows of the hall to see something peculiar that caught her eye. There were tiny snowflakes falling outside the hospital, and as she looked up she saw a few begin to fall from the ceiling, appearing out of nowhere. A status effect icon appeared beside her name and she quickly clicked on it as she watched the doctor enter Jaese¡¯s room. Snowstorm - Environment While in this environment, increase the effectiveness of all cold related spells by 10% After she read it, her eyes opened wide at the snowflakes landing on her. Chapter 26: War Zone When the last bell rang, Darith didn¡¯t feel any excitement. He wasn¡¯t thinking about the forgotten temple anymore, or new spells he could learn, he just felt sad. It was like one of his friends was dead, but his friend didn¡¯t really die. It gave him just a sick feeling in his stomach, and a confused one. He didn¡¯t want to see Jacob again, he didn¡¯t know how to act around him anymore, but this only made him feel worse about it. On top of that, Ryan¡¯s words stuck in his head. His body automatically carried him to the second floor of the school to the dance club room, and he stood in the doorway as usual, spotting Karin across the room doing stretches. ¡°You did it again?¡± Elise asked, drawing Darith¡¯s attention to her as she sat on the bench as usual. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the only person I¡¯ve met in my life that loves school work.¡± She replied with an odd stare. ¡°Karin, delivery for you!¡± Elise shouted, getting the attention of her sister across the room. Karin turned and rushed over with a smile. ¡°You¡¯re my hero!¡± Karin said as she took her textbook from his hands, quickly checking to see a paper tucked inside by Darith with the answers. As she did this Darith spotted the quest completed message, awarding him a small amount of experience. It didn¡¯t make him happy though, it annoyed him. He quickly waved his hand at it to make the pop up disappear, then turned from the two girls without another word. ¡°Thanks!¡± Karin said one last time, turning to put her book on the ground near Elise. ¡°You¡¯re leaving?¡± Elise said annoyed. ¡°Oh, I forgot!¡± Darith replied, turning back around and heading into the room. ¡°You don¡¯t have to if you¡¯ve got something else to do.¡± Elise replied. ¡°No, it¡¯s okay... Nothing else to do.¡± Darith replied, pausing to think about it for a moment. ¡°You¡¯re doing hers too? Good, she¡¯s terrible at math.¡± Karin smirked before heading back across the room to her friends. ¡°He¡¯s not doing it for me, unlike you I want to learn to do it myself.¡± Elise grumbled back as Darith set his bag down and sat on the bench beside Elise a good 20cm away from her, quickly trying to fix his shirt over his stomach to hide it from her. ¡°Here, this is what I¡¯m stuck on.¡± Elise said, without hesitation sliding her bottom along the bench to be closer to Darith, holding her book out to him. As she did this, Darith caught a whiff of her hair, the scent of her shampoo filling his nose. It caught him off guard, but he quickly focused on what she was showing him. ¡°I don¡¯t understand how I¡¯m supposed to solve this, and the teacher is terrible at explaining.¡± ¡°We-well...¡± he said nervously, her head leaned down beside him and he had a close up of her beautiful blonde hair, her fair smooth looking skin on her arm as she held the book over him. Suddenly having trouble focusing on the book, he swallowed a big bulge of saliva in his mouth nervously, causing it to dry up in seconds. ¡°It¡¯s not so hard, your goal here is to find out this variable¡¯s value in relation to this one so that you can plot a line.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± She replied. ¡°Don¡¯t get it?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Nope.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Well first, a variable is a number that affects the equation, but it can be any number, we don¡¯t know what it is, we¡¯re using it to draw a line though that follows this equation.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± She replied as she put the back of her pencil on her lower lip. ¡°Okay, here¡¯s a line.¡± Darith said as he pointed at a diagram in the book. He said, and explained carefully the example, then related it to the equation so that Elise could understand what she was doing. ¡°Oh, so we¡¯re making lines using math?¡± Elise clued in as Darith finished. ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°Why doesn¡¯t anyone just say that? Why do they all try and use technical math terms.¡± She sighed as she leaned back away from Darith, making him let out a sigh of relief, his heart taking a much needed break from racing as they got some distance. ¡°I think I get it now, thanks.¡± She smiled, then started trying to solve the problem herself. ¡°Is everything alright with you? You looked pretty down when you got here.¡± She asked while scribbling in her book. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± Darith replied. ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡± He added as he slid a bit away from Elise, hiding it by pretending he was reaching to look for something in his bag. ¡°Nope, this is part of your training.¡± She replied, and moved herself right beside him again. ¡°Huh?¡± Darith replied embarrassed. ¡°I¡¯m sitting close to you on purpose, if you can¡¯t even handle being near a girl, you¡¯ll never be able to look them in the eyes.¡± She replied nonchalantly as she continued to stare at her note book, taking breaks to think by putting the tip of her pencil on her lip. ¡°I can handle sitting next to you just fine.¡± Darith replied defensively, now even more nervous to be so close to her though. ¡°Is that why you¡¯re sweating, frozen like a statue and you keep swallowing your saliva?¡± She mocked. ¡°I-I¡¯m not doing that!¡± He replied defensively. ¡°Yeah you are.¡± She shrugged back. Realizing how obvious his behavior was, he quickly started trying to correct the points she made. He stopped swallowing any drop of saliva that formed in his dry mouth, then wiped his palms on his pant leg as subtly as he could, but doing his made him accidentally brush his arm against Elise¡¯s. ¡°Ah, sorry.¡± he said apologetically, quickly pulling his arm away from her. ¡°For what?¡± She asked, not reacting but instead writing something in her book, then reaching for her calculator out of her bag. ¡°For rubbing against your arm.¡± He said nervously, looking down at his feet. ¡°Why¡¯d you apologize for that.¡± She asked while curling her eyebrows at him. ¡°Well, it¡¯s gross, isn¡¯t it?¡± He asked. ¡°Gross to touch people?¡± She said confused. ¡°To touch me, because... I¡¯m big, and sweaty.¡± He said nervously. ¡°You¡¯ve got some serious confidence issues. I¡¯m younger than you and you¡¯re way smarter than me, why are you so scared?¡± ¡°Well, because you¡¯re... pretty.¡± He said as his face went bright red, barely whispering out the last word. Your recent activities has granted you +1 Charisma ¡°Now you¡¯re smooth talking me?¡± She chuckled as Darith quickly swung a finger at the message to make it disappear, but as he did this he noticed Liana in his party interface missing a good portion of her mana bar. He then spotted an icon beside her name just as Elise went back to reading her book. His eyes opened wide as he quickly tapped on the icon to read what it said. Snowstorm - Environment While in this environment, increase the effectiveness of all cold related spells by 10% ¡°Oh no...¡± Darith said with wide eyes as he shot up off the bench. ¡°What? What is it? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Elise asked. ¡°I need to get to the hospital.¡± He replied to her panicked. ¡°Huh? The hospital? Are you having a heart attack or something?¡± Elise said jokingly. ¡°I need to get there right now!¡± Darith turned, speaking loudly at her in panic. She saw his sudden attitude shift and looked back at him startled. ¡°Well, my sister has a car...¡± Elise suggested nervously, and Darith turned to Karin across the room as she was practicing a dance move with her friend. ¡°Karin!¡± He called out, saying her name for the first time. This caused her friends around her to give him an annoyed look. ¡°We¡¯re busy right now.¡± One girl said dismissively. ¡°Karin, could you drive me to the hospital?¡± Darith asked her with desperation in his eyes, this only seemed to gross Karin out and she pulled back away from him. ¡°What? Why?¡± ¡°My friend is in trouble, please!¡± He begged. ¡°I can¡¯t drive you right now, I¡¯m in club practice...¡± She replied quickly. ¡°Please, you said you owed me didn¡¯t you?¡± Darith asked, glancing at Liana¡¯s bars to watch her mana and endurance drop more, but luckily her health remained the same. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean like I¡¯d drive you around somewhere, besides the hospital is pretty far.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you do something for someone else for once?¡± Elise said annoyed as she moved to stand beside Darith. ¡°She lets him speak to her, that should be plenty enough.¡± Karin¡¯s friend chimed in. To this, Karin didn¡¯t comment, but her expression said that she was thinking the same thing as she made a fake sympathetic smile. ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this.¡± He said angrily, turning and running out of the room. ¡°You¡¯re the worst.¡± Elise snapped at her. ¡°What?¡± Karin shrugged as if she did nothing wrong. ¡°Darith wait!¡± Elise called out, but he ignored her and was already out of the room leaving his backpack behind. Elise eyed it, then eyed Karin¡¯s backpack on the floor near the entrance with the rest of the dance club¡¯s bags. Elise glanced to see Karin going back to dancing, then walked across the room to Karin¡¯s bag and sneakily opened a side pocket to pull out a pair of keys. Darith sprinted down the hall as fast as he could, millions of thoughts rushing into his head about what was happening to Liana. He recalled what she had told him about the high level player using the curse, then remembered what Ryan had said about what happened to Jacob. ¡°In the real world, there isn¡¯t any level balance...¡± He mumbled to himself as he got to a stairwell, ran to the first floor and out of the stairwell exit towards the front of the school. He got to the street where there were still quite a few cars parked and students loitering about despite classes being dismissed, his mind racing over what to do next. ¡°Dash... Sprint... If I use them, the entire city will see me.¡± He said to himself aggressively. ¡°C¡¯mon, think!¡± He shouted, knocking himself on the head, glancing up at nearby buildings. ¡°Rooftops, If I jump fas-¡± He got distracted by the sound of screeching wheels, and turned to see a hot red corvette speeding up to him with Elise behind the wheel. ¡°Get in!¡± Elise shouted as she leaned over to open the passenger side door. Darith didn¡¯t hesitate, he ran around the car and jumped in the seat, and before he could even shut the door Elise started driving forward out of the school parking lot and onto the street. ¡°You¡¯re going to drive me to the hospital?¡± Darith asked as he shut the door and looked to her. ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°Wh-why?¡± He asked. ¡°Just think of it as paying back my sisters debts.¡± ¡°Do you have a driving license?...¡± He said anxiously. ¡°I thought this was an emergency.¡± She replied to dismiss the comment. Darith then nodded hesitantly, deciding to ignore the fact that a grade 9 girl was driving him, clearly breaking speed limit laws.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°It is.¡± He said as he eyed Liana¡¯s health bar again. ¡°Then you better put your seatbelt on.¡± She said, flicking on the radio for music, but instead got a news broadcast. ¡°-thout any clouds at all in the sky. I¡¯ve never seen anything like it, the snow is cold as ice, it¡¯s like the area around the Ecrim Hospital has turned into a magical Winter Wonderland.¡± The reporter said on the radio. Hearing this, Darith¡¯s expression became serious, and Elise turned to glance at him in confusion. ¡°It¡¯s snowing around the hospital? What? Did you know about this?¡± Elise asked. ¡°As fast as you can, please.¡± He replied while staring forward, clenching his fist as Liana¡¯s mana dropped below half. [Jaese + Liana - War Zone] Several minutes earlier¡­ Jaese leaned over the sink to see his beard and mustache growing in, standing in the hospital bathroom shirtless. He rubbed his hands over the tiny growing hairs and took note he¡¯d have to shave the next chance he got. His eyes then moved down to the large bandage wrapped around his upper chest. He attempted to lift the bandage a bit to see the wound for himself, but just touching around it hurt, so he changed his mind. He then bent down and splashed water into his face to clear his head before looking himself in the eyes. He tried again to recall what had happened, how he ended up bleeding. It was ice, according to the doctor, so he knew it must¡¯ve been the same guy that killed Chris. That meant that whatever happened, he¡¯d let the guy get away again. He angrily slammed his fists down on the counter around the sink. Then let out a frustrated sigh. ¡°I¡¯ll find you.¡± He said to his reflection, then grabbed a white t-shirt and put it on over his bandage. He opened the bathroom door and stepped out into his hospital room again, but standing there beside his bed staring back at him was a pair of glowing red eyes, coming from underneath a very dark blue cloak. The wearer of the cloak held in his left hand a long staff, and all around them in the room fell tiny snowflakes. ¡°You...¡± Jaese said with wide eyes, instinctively reaching for his gun at his waist, but he wasn¡¯t carrying it. He then turned to look for the officer standing watch outside, but could only see his arm laying in front of the opened doorway on the ground. ¡°The insect lived. Tell me, how are you still alive?¡± He said in an angry, high pitched voice. ¡°Your aim is shit.¡± Jaese scowled at him. ¡°I meant the curse, insect. What happened to the curse?¡± He replied. ¡°What the hell are you talking about? What the hell is this snow, how are you doing this! What did you do to my memory!¡± Jaese shouted in anger and confusion with his fists clenched, but something deep down in his body froze him in fear. Despite his mind forgetting what happened, his muscles did not, and though he wanted to kill this man, he couldn¡¯t get the courage to move. ¡°Noisy. You don¡¯t know. Perhaps an update to the guards so they can remove curses. That¡¯d be troublesome.¡± He said to himself while glaring at Jaese. ¡°No matter. ¡°Vestra.¡± He chanted, and within a second a blue chunk of ice shot forward from the tip of his staff flying directly at Jaese¡¯s head. He had no time to react, it appeared out of nowhere and moved as fast as a bullet. The only reason he even knew what was happening was because it stopped moving suddenly, mere centimeters from his forehead, as the light around them suddenly tinted purple. ¡°Hoh?¡± The cloaked man said. ¡°Come on!¡± Liana shouted to Jaese, now in her character body. She reached into the room and grabbed Jaese¡¯s arm, pulling him out of the path of the Ice bolt just as the purple tint of her time warp spell vanished, causing the bolt to speed up and smash into the room wall. ¡°I¡¯ve not seen that spell before.¡± He said impressed, as Liana kicked the officer on the floor to wake him up as she pulled Jaese past him. ¡°W-what the hell? What is going on?!¡± Jaese shouted to the girl with long brown hair pulling him along with abnormal strength. He couldn¡¯t stop her from pulling him even if he wanted to. Jaese turned around to see the cloaked man step out of the room and start walking past the now-waking officer, eyes only on them. ¡°Vestra!¡± He shouted, and suddenly 5 bolts of ice shot out from in front of him, down the hall like bullets towards them. ¡°Time Warp!¡± Liana shouted, creating the purple dome around them and slowing the bolts to a near stop, Jaese watched in disbelief. ¡°You¡¯re like him? You can tell me what¡¯s going on?¡± Jaese said with wide eyes. ¡°I¡¯m not like him, he¡¯s way stronger than me! We have to run!¡± Liana said anxiously. ¡°Come on!¡± She tugged Jaese¡¯s arm just as the officer on the ground picked up his radio. ¡°There¡¯s a man wearing a strange outfit, he¡¯s shooting ice, and I¡¯m not bullshitting you.¡± The officer said into the radio on his uniform as he stood up and pulled his gun on the Ice Mage. ¡°Freeze, don¡¯t move or I¡¯ll shoot!¡± The officer shouted. ¡°Freeze? What a lovely idea!¡± The Ice mage cackled hysterically, turning to the officer as he opened fire, but the bullets hitting the cloaked man didn¡¯t faze him at all. ¡°Oh no... Uh, duck, get down now!¡± Liana shouted to Jaese, pulling him to the ground inside her time warp spell. Once they were down, she released the time warp and the 5 bolts coming at them shot over their heads down the hall of the hospital until colliding with the walls on the far side, Many doctors and nurses saw this and started screaming and panicking. ¡°Time warp!¡± Liana shouted, creating a purple bubble over the cloaked man and the police officer down the hall in front of her and Jaese. ¡°He¡¯s got to run, tell that guy to run!¡± Liana said to Jaese. ¡°Get out of there Jeff, run!¡± Jaese shouted as Jeff stumbled backward in shock at the sight of everything happening around him. ¡°It seems this field slows projectiles. So how about melee attacks? Krestil.¡± The Ice wizard said, and suddenly a giant ball of ice with spikes formed around his left fist. ¡°No!¡± Liana shouted, shooting up to her feet, and to Jaese¡¯s amazement she made a round sphere appear out of nowhere, then threw it forward at the Wizard. As it hit him he stumbled forward, stopping him from swinging his spiked iceball at the cowering officer below him. ¡°A sphere user? You¡¯re a support type then. It was you that removed the curse?¡± He turned to her, grinning. ¡°Liana, level 30.¡± ¡°Liana?¡± Jaese said in confusion, just then noticing the empty wheelchair in the hall near the Ice Wizard. She heard Jaese, but she was too scared about the wizard to talk to him or explain anything. ¡°Do you know what level I am?¡± He asked. ¡°N-no.¡± She replied nervously as her sphere returned to her hand, holding a fighting stance as she stood in front of Jaese. ¡°Much, much higher.¡± He cackled. ¡°I don¡¯t care, I won¡¯t let you hurt anymore people!¡± ¡°People? These are not people, they are NPCs.¡± He replied coldly as he began stepping forward. ¡°It just so happens my guild is looking for a strong healer, and you seem to have some unique skills for a support type of level 30. Would you like to join?¡± He asked her. ¡°I¡¯d never join people like you.¡± She replied angrily, though in truth she was so scared her legs were shaking. She glanced momentarily to Darith¡¯s health bar in her party interface, and hoped with everything inside herself that he noticed something. ¡°Really? But you don¡¯t even know the benefits yet. Being in a high level guild like mine allows you to do things like this...¡± He said with a grin, reaching his hand up into the air as it began to glow bright red. Then a light suddenly shot up into the hospital ceiling, going further than that above the building roof and into the sky over the hospital, then from out of it grew a red dome not unlike the dome the boss area created, putting a new icon on Liana¡¯s bar. ¡°War Zone.¡± He spoke as the spell finished casting, and the dome complete. War Zone Removes all city guards from a 1 kilometer radius for 30 minutes. This guild spell can only be cast by guild members with high rankings within the guild, and once a week per guild. Remaining: 29m58s. He was expecting reactions such as despair, or amazement from Liana, but as she read this she instead got hope. She remembered something about the game she had forgotten. City guards. ¡°Can you see the dome around us?¡± Liana said to Jaese while pointing out a nearby window, stepping back slowly. ¡°Yeah?¡± Jaese said as he looked as well. ¡°If we can get outside of it, he can¡¯t hurt us anymore.¡± Liana said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to run from him, I want to arrest him. Can you stop him from doing that weird stuff with ice?¡± Jaese glared at the man. ¡°N-no, he¡¯s too strong. Maybe if my friend was here, but he¡¯s in school. Please, we have to run, he¡¯ll really kill you.¡± Liana pleaded. ¡°You realize I can hear you, right? If you won''t be joining my guild, then I¡¯ll take that nice time warp spell of yours from your dead body. Vestra!¡± He shouted, shooting ice out at them again. ¡°Time Warp!¡± Liana stopped the bolts, but this time the wizard was expecting it and started dashing towards them down the hall. Jaese¡¯s eyes remained opened wide in disbelief for a moment, watching the ice bolts suspended mid air in the dome of purple, but he quickly snapped out of it. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go!¡± Jaese shouted, turning to run down the hall with Liana just as the hospital fire alarm began ringing and the sprinklers went off, mixing water in with the falling snow. Liana grabbed Jaese¡¯s arm and began dashing away with him, making them move much faster than Jaese normally could, but slower than Liana¡¯s normal dash, and not nearly fast enough to outrun the Ice mage. As he got close to them he pulled back his left fist with the spiked ball on it, ready to thrust it forward. Jaese saw this and grabbed a nearby empty gurney in the hall, flinging it backward into the Ice Wizard as they ran past it. It stopped his swing and threw him off balance slightly, allowing Liana to pull Jaese a bit further ahead again and into the stairwell of the hospital. The two leapt down the stairs as fast as they could as they heard an explosion behind them, the stairwell door flying off its hinges into the stairwell from a burst of ice. ¡°You might manage to escape if you leave the insect behind. He needs to die, he knows too much about the game.¡± The Ice Wizard called into the stairwell from above them as he continued his pursuit. ¡°I¡¯m not going to let you use this game to kill people!¡± She shouted angrily, throwing her sphere backward up the stairs just as he came around the bend and took the hit to his head, causing him to stumble momentarily as it returned down the stairwell to Liana, passing through the floor to do so. When they reached the bottom floor, Jaese swung open the emergency stairwell exit and they found themselves outside the hospital in the parking lot. From there they could get a clear view of the edge of the dome, it extended far across the parking lot of the hospital and over some of the roads and buildings across the street. Many cars were stopping and trying to drive around it, hundreds of onlookers watching the dome and the falling snow in amazement as it built up a white layer on the ground. ¡°Come on!¡± Jaese said as he saw at least 20 police cars driving up to the hospital with their sirens blaring. As they got into the parking lot of the hospital Jaese started sprinting towards them, the pain in his chest starting to flare up violently. Liana followed after him just as the Ice Mage stepped out of the hospital behind them, but he was no longer chasing, he simply walked behind them slowly as his staff began to glow blue. Richard and Arnold¡¯s police cars came to a halting stop as they arrived in the hospital¡¯s parking lot, as did the many accompanying cars, and officers poured out. ¡°What''s the situation!?¡± Richard called out as he saw Jaese and the little girl running towards the newly formed blockade of police cars in front of them. ¡°Get everyone out of the red dome, everyone has to get out now!¡± Liana screamed hysterically. ¡°Listen to the girl, turn your cars around and get the hell out of here!¡± Jaese shouted with her. ¡°Tell us what''s going on now Jaese!¡± Arnold shouted at him in confusion. ¡°JUST DO IT!¡± Jaese shouted, and he didn¡¯t stop to talk, he and Liana ran straight past the police blockade towards the edge of the dome. ¡°Ivicio.¡± A loud booming voice suddenly spoke, echoing through the air around them, and following it came a loud rumbling, the ground shaking slightly. Liana kept running, as fast as she could, dashing ahead of Jaese now. She then spotted a line of men wearing black suits and black sunglasses. There were several of them standing like statues at the edge of the red dome. City Guard - Level ?? ¡°There, we¡¯re almost safe!¡± She said with enthusiasm. She felt a huge wave of relief at the sight of them, until a sudden glistening blue light appeared around the base of the doom. Seconds later, following heavier rumbling, a huge thick wall of ice shot up from the ground at the edge of the dome. The ice wall was so sharp as it rose up it cut the back end of an approaching police car off, the front half of the car rolling down off the wall towards them. Liana and Jaese stopped instantly, and all the hope drained from her eyes. She could still see the city guards through the somewhat transparent ice wall, but as the wall rose up higher and higher, they got further and further away. ¡°Can you do something about that?¡± Jaese asked Liana, turning to her. She silently shook her head no. ¡°We¡¯re stuck in here with him for 25 minutes.¡± She said, scaring herself with her own words as her mouth went dry. ¡°Hahahahaha!¡± The Ice Wizard cackled, and all the officers staring at the sudden appearance of the ice wall turned to face him. ¡°Insects stuck outside in the winter, very dangerous! You should know better than to come out from under the ground when it is snowing. Even ants know better than that!¡± He screeched. ¡°That him Jaese?¡± Richard asked Jaese. ¡°That¡¯s him, that¡¯s the guy that killed Chris.¡± Jaese shouted back. ¡°Open Fire!¡± Arnold shouted to the many officers standing behind the cover of their police cars. All officers did as they were ordered, unloading over 100 bullets in total at him, but he didn¡¯t even flinch. ¡°Why aren¡¯t bullets working? Why isn¡¯t he getting hurt?¡± Jaese asked Liana. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I can¡¯t see his health, he¡¯s too much stronger than me. His defense is probably too high, normal weapons won¡¯t hurt him.¡± Liana replied, but she spoke loud enough so that most of the officers could hear her. ¡°What the hell is that girl talking about?¡± Arnold shouted back at Jaese, but not taking eyes off of the Ice wizard as he reloaded his gun. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but she¡¯s the only reason I¡¯m still alive.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Not for long!¡± The wizard laughed hysterically. ¡°Kavricida!¡± He called out, and a sudden field of icebolts appeared in the air above him, well over 50, and shot forward like bullets. ¡°Time Warp!¡± Liana screamed in panic, stopping the bolts, some just in time. ¡°Move, everyone run, get out of the way! She only slows them down!¡± Jaese shouted. Some officers froze from shock, some in fear, but others ran. ¡°Come on damn it!¡± Jaese shouted angrily, running into the time warp dome to pull the officers away just in time as Liana¡¯s time warp ended and the ice bolts smashed into the cars and the ground all around them. ¡°How do we stop this guy?!¡± Richard said in disbelief. ¡°You can¡¯t! Only I can!¡± Liana shouted to them as she clenched her fists, nervously walking forward through the field of ice bolts sticking out of the ground. ¡°You could run, you know. You could easily use your dash and jump skills to get out of the dome. You aren¡¯t stuck in here like the insects.¡± The wizard said to her as she got closer to him, her legs visibly trembling. The police could do nothing but watch, none of them having the slightest clue the situation they were in. ¡°I¡¯m not going to run.¡± She said. ¡°You don¡¯t strike me as a stupid player. You¡¯re under level, yes, but you seem to know how to play the game unlike most new players I meet. So you should know that you don¡¯t stand a chance. You¡¯re a healer, but I can kill you in one hit if I want, so that wont help you. Why stay? To protect these NPC¡¯s? The world is different now, they don¡¯t matter anymore.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not NPC¡¯s, they¡¯re people too, just like us! I won¡¯t run because I-¡± she hesitated, taking a fighting stance and raising her sphere. ¡°I¡¯m a Knight of Justice!¡± She shouted, trying to psych herself up, but she couldn¡¯t shake her fear. ¡°One of those types, huh. Oh well. Yuki-tachi.¡± He chanted, and a gigantic sword of ice suddenly formed over his left hand, it was well over 10 meters long and he swung it at Liana from a distance at incredible speed, giving her no time to avoid it, she could only cringe her eyes shut and put her arms up to protect herself, but just before the sword connected, a gigantic ball of fire slammed into the Ice Wizard, breaking the sword and knocking him backwards off his feet. Seconds later, a tiny fox eared Nemothyne wielding a wooden staff dropped from the sky and landed in front of Liana. ¡°That¡¯s enough of that.¡± Darith said. Chapter 27: Of Ice and Fire Elise stepped out of the corvette wide-eyed, joining hundreds of gathering onlookers outside the wall of ice staring in while police tried to set up a perimeter and keep them back. It wasn¡¯t the wall of ice that had her surprised though, nor the snow falling from a cloudless sky, or the red dome. It was that an overweight boy from her school had suddenly jumped 30 feet over the wall of ice and transformed into a little boy with a tail mid-air. That is why she was surprised. ¡°Tch, and who the hell are you, one of her group members?¡± The wizard said as he got back to his feet. ¡°That was quite the fireball for a little level 31.¡± He added. Darith didn¡¯t reply to him, he only glared back. ¡°Analyze.¡± He shouted. ¡°Thomas Rakten, level 115, ice affinity, who would¡¯ve guessed.¡± Darith said sarcastically. ¡°He wants to kill that officer over there, Jaese, and I can¡¯t get them out of the dome with that ice wall. The guards can¡¯t get inside here, he used a guild spell to keep them out.¡± Liana said, her attitude had suddenly changed from seeing Darith. ¡°So we¡¯ve got to either survive until the red dome wears off, or give him game over?¡± Darith asked, and Liana nodded. ¡°Should we really fight him? He¡¯s really strong and fast, he knows a lot about this game!¡± Liana said to Darith worriedly. ¡°Jacob got killed last night.¡± Darith replied to her. She opened her eyes wide in surprise but didn¡¯t speak. ¡°It was my fault, I wasn¡¯t with them. Ryan was right. I¡¯ve been treating this thing like a fun game, but I¡¯m starting to get it.¡± Darith said as he tightened his grip on his staff. ¡°It¡¯s so much more than a game.¡± The Ice Wizard replied to his words, making both Liana and Darith glare at him. ¡°We take him together.¡± Darith said. ¡°Okay.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Interesting, haha!¡± He screeched hysterically. ¡°Here I was expecting a boring extermination, and I¡¯ve got myself a pair of wanna be heroes who think they can challenge a member of the New World Order?¡± ¡°He talks a lot.¡± Liana sighed to Darith. ¡°Bad players usually do.¡± Darith shrugged back, stopping Thomas from laughing instantly. ¡°What can we do to help?¡± Jaese shouted from behind them as they stood back with the other officers. ¡°Don¡¯t come anywhere close to us.¡± Darith shouted back to him. ¡°We¡¯re taking orders from a little boy with ears and a tail now?¡± Arnold said angrily. ¡°Got a better idea?¡± Richard replied. ¡°Enchant. Chain Fire.¡± Darith shouted, dashing forward as his staff lit up in flames and a stream of firebolts began to shoot out at Thomas. Thomas didn¡¯t move, he allowed the Firebolts to hit him, each dealing 560 damage but not bothering him at all. Snow kicked up from the ground around Darith¡¯s feet with each dash, moving closer and closer. Once in swinging range he pulled his staff back and used all his might to swing it forward. ¡°Ivencia.¡± Thomas said in monotone, and the ground beneath his feet began to glow bright blue for a moment. Seeing this, Darith canceled his staff swing and dashed backward, just in time as razor sharp icicles shot up out of the ground, not too unlike what the Ice Wraith did, but a much smaller scale. ¡°Vedrica.¡± He then chanted, and a long thin needle of ice appeared. It shot straight at Darith at first, then levitated to the ground while rotating quickly, causing the snow to swirl around it until it looked like a drill. Darith continued to dash with his Chain fire actively hitting Thomas, but the drill was catching up. ¡°Time Warp!¡± Liana shouted, catching the drill in her purple dome and slowing it down to a near halt. Seeing this action, Darith jumped high into the air and held his staff out front. ¡°Fire storm!¡± He shouted, and in an instant an immensely large number of Firebolts shot from all directions, flying at Thomas from all sides as the light around them tinted crimson. ¡°That looks dangerous.¡± Thomas commented. ¡°Crescna!¡± He called out, creating a sudden dome of ice around himself to protect against the barrage of countless Firebolts. It worked to an extent, but after enough hits the ice dome broke and many fire bolts got through, hitting him and doing a large amount of damage, but still he stood tall unfazed. ¡°Hm, not bad for a leve-¡± He began speaking, but was interrupted as a burning staff flew at him and collided with his face, knocking him backwards off his feet and letting off a slight blue flash of light. He fell on his back into the snow and quickly jumped back to his feet. ¡°You¡¯re pissing me off.¡± He screeched, and without chanting, he made over 100 ice bolts appear in front of himself and shoot forward at Darith with no delay, at incredible speeds. He had no time to react, but luckily Liana did. ¡°Time Warp!¡± Liana shouted, slowing the bolts just millimeters from Darith¡¯s face, giving him time to dash away. This caused Thomas to turn to Liana and glare angrily, holding up an open palm towards her that began glowing blue. He then closed it into a fist before she or Darith could react. A sudden block of ice formed around Liana, freezing her solid and giving her a status effect. Once she was frozen, he turned back to Darith and released another 100 Ice bolts at him. With no time warp to protect him this time, he had to rely on his speed. He knew they were coming this time though, even without the chanting of Thomas, he pre-emptively dashed backward to avoid them as they crashed into the snow and cars parked around the parking lot of the hospital. ¡°Melt Ice!¡± Darith shouted, shooting forth a spell at Liana that removed the block around her, as well as the status effect icon on her health bar. A few seconds later she was able to move again and let out a gasp for air. ¡°Tch, annoying! Like flies buzzing around, hard to swat, but still just flies.¡± He shouted as Darith returned to Liana¡¯s side. ¡°You can¡¯t even scratch me.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t scratch us either. He¡¯s a full wizard type player, that¡¯s why he¡¯s not dodging much, instead of raising his agility and strength he put it all into his spirit and intelligence. He¡¯s not taking any damage because it seems to be going into that blue shield I saw just now, I¡¯m guessing it''s a shield based on his mana bar. His mana regeneration is probably so ridiculously high that the only way we¡¯ll get through it is with a lot of damage all at once, that¡¯s why he got nervous when he saw my fire storm spell.¡± Darith said to Liana, ¡°Hah... Hahahaha,¡± He laughed as he heard Darith speak. ¡°You¡¯re not just any fly, are you? A player who has actually played MMO¡¯s before. You must be, oh perfect, wonderful, just great!¡± He shouted hysterically as ice began to form around him, rotating like a tornado of icicles. ¡°How do we beat him then?¡± Liana asked worriedly as she saw the tornado get larger. ¡°Need to make sure all of my Firestorm firebolts land. Once my mana is full, we go. Until then, stay mobile and I¡¯ll keep him busy.¡± Darith whispered to her, so that this wasn¡¯t heard by Thomas. Liana nodded back as the tornado got worse and the red dome got covered in a thick blizzard, reminding them of the Coldrinn ruins. Jaese, Arnold, Richard and the other officers backed away from the storm to take cover behind cars further away in the parking lot. ¡°What¡¯s he doing?¡± Liana asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but be ready for anything. This game lets you make up your own spells, so what he can do with his ice magic is only limited by his imagination.¡± He replied. Liana nodded, taking a second to look at Darith. She had seen him focus during difficult games before, but she had never seen him serious like this. His mind was calm, calculating every factor around him, gathering information about Thomas every second. Suddenly giant chunks of ice started flying out of the Tornado in random directions. At first only a few, but more and more, until the ice shards were barraging the area around them. They smashed into cars, the ground, trees, the ice wall, and some started smashing into the hospital, shooting through windows and walls. Seeing this, Darith¡¯s eyes opened wide, remembering his mom was working there. ¡°We have to stop that storm, time warp it on three!¡± Darith said, Liana nodded as he charged forward with his enchanted staff. Dash after dash he moved in a zig zag pattern towards it, avoiding shards of ice that shot out of it. It wasn¡¯t aiming for anything in particular, the shards were being shot out completely randomly. ¡°Time Warp!¡± Liana shouted, creating a purple dome at the base of the cyclone, which cut the rest of it out of sync and sent the remaining ice chunks shooting all at once while the tornado stopped. Several chunks shot at Liana and forced her to quickly dash out of the way. Meanwhile Darith took advantage of Thomas being inside the dome with the remaining bottom section of the tornado moving in slow motion, and maneuvered around the ice to swing at him with his staff. Thomas was ready though, and blocked the staff swing with his own in his right, then swung his left fist which was enhanced as a spiky ice ball at Darith to counter. Darith jumped backward out of the Time Warp, and as Thomas chased him, Liana canceled the time warp causing the last icebolts to suddenly speed up and slam into Thomas, causing damage to himself and knocking him off his feet. ¡°Are you having fun?¡± He said as he stood up angrily dusting himself off. ¡°Don¡¯t you care about the people you are hurting? There¡¯s innocent people in that hospital!¡± Darith shouted at him angrily. ¡°They¡¯re not people, they¡¯re NPC¡¯s.¡± He replied coldly as he brushed the snow off of his cloak. ¡°They¡¯re people, just like you. The only difference is you got invited to a game. That doesn¡¯t make you better than them!¡± Darith shouted. ¡°Oh, but it does.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°No! Why?! Why¡¯s there gotta be players like you in this game! It has so much power to do so many cool things, giving people a chance to walk when they couldn¡¯t before, making people popular who aren¡¯t normally, going on adventures to places that could never exist in reality... That¡¯s what the game should be, not this!¡± ¡°This is what it means to be powerful, to be better than everyone else.¡± Thomas replied with a long cackle. ¡°Oh shut up man. New World Order? Only Ice Skills, completely immobile? You¡¯re high level, but that¡¯s it. Aside from that, you suck at this game, and you¡¯re a horrible person for trying to ruin it for others, and hurt people that aren¡¯t involved.¡± Darith said angrily, his words clearly aggravating Thomas. ¡°The fly wants to tell me I¡¯m bad? I¡¯M BAD?¡± He screeched. ¡°Fly... Insect... roleplaying like you¡¯re some sort of god. I¡¯ll show you how a real gamer plays this game.¡± Darith glared, then jumped into the air as high as he could. ¡°Fire Storm!¡± He shouted as his mana filled. ¡°It won¡¯t work. Crescna.¡± He said, creating the dome of ice around himself to guard against thousands of Firebolts lighting up the War Zone dome, melting all the snow in the sky instantly. ¡°Time Warp!¡± Liana shouted, creating the purple dome on top of Thomas¡¯s ice dome. As all of Darith¡¯s fireballs entered the small time warp dome, they stopped, just outside of the ice dome protecting Thomas. Darith then carefully swung his staff through the fire storm in a small opening of the barrage he made intentionally before he fired it. His staff connected with the ice dome and cracked it, then another swing created a tiny hole in it for Thomas to look out and see what Darith was doing, but by then it was too late. One last swing of his fire enchanted staff and the dome shattered. Liana then canceled the time warp, and all of the firebolts exploded around Thomas, not a single shot missing and creating a huge burst of smoke and dust as Darith jumped back a bit. ¡°It worked, you got him!¡± Liana cheered, but Darith wasn¡¯t so sure. ¡°Hah...¡± Thomas said, surprised himself that he¡¯d survived, running his hands over his body to make sure he was still in his game character. ¡°Hahah, your strongest attack, all of it, I took all of the damage! Not a scratch! You can¡¯t kill me, you can¡¯t even hurt me! I am a GOD!¡± He shouted, then shot several ice bolts at Darith, forcing him to dash away to Liana¡¯s side. ¡°It didn¡¯t work? What¡¯ll we do now?¡± Liana panicked. ¡°I don¡¯t know... We don¡¯t have enough damage to beat him right now... What¡¯s the timer on this red dome?¡± Darith replied, still calm thanks to his Gamer¡¯s mind. ¡°10 minutes...¡± Liana said as she checked it. ¡°Hahahaha, you¡¯ll be long dead by then!¡± He screamed excitedly, shooting several more ice bolts at the two. Liana dashed and Darith dashed apart, then back together again. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a choice, little flies. You can abandon your idea of being a Knight of Justice and escape the dome, or you can stay here and die to my legendary spell like the rest of the insects. Deep Freeze.¡± He shouted, the first spell he¡¯d cast using English. From it, the ground around him began to turn into solid thick ice, growing outward from his feet. The ice crept up car tires, freezing them, deflating them, and then making them shatter into pieces as the rest of the car followed after. The ice continued to grow outward and froze everything and anything, even the ground began to crack, trees shattering into tiny shards of ice dust. Meanwhile, Thomas remained standing still, glowing blue as if he were channeling the spell. ¡°What is that, what is he doing?¡± Jaese shouted as he ran up beside Darith and Liana. ¡°I don¡¯t know, I think he¡¯s trying to freeze everything inside the dome.¡± Darith replied nervously as he stepped away from the impending ice. ¡°Can you stop him?¡± Jaese asked anxiously. ¡°N-no, I don¡¯t think so, that was my strongest attack.¡± Darith said with a gulp. Jaese looked Darith in the eyes, then looked to Liana. ¡°Alright, just promise me you¡¯ll get everyone out of here safely.¡± Jaese said before stepping forward in front of them. ¡°You¡¯re Thomas, right? It¡¯s me you want isn¡¯t it? So let all of these people go, just take me!¡± Jaese shouted to him over the freezing parking lot. ¡°It is too late for that, little insect. I cannot let those who challenge and insult me so easily walk away, I must make an example of you all.¡± He shouted back. ¡°There are hundreds of innocent people in that hospital!¡± Jaese shouted angrily at him. ¡°All insects.¡± Thomas replied coldly. ¡°God damn you!¡± Jaese pulled his gun out and fired several rounds, the bullets doing nothing as they hit Thomas except for releasing a tiny blue flash of light as they impacted his mana shield. ¡°Darith we have to do something! Can we use Dash to get everyone outside of the dome?¡± Liana suggested. ¡°The ice is moving too fast.. I mean, some of them, but...¡± Darith replied hesitant. ¡°You have to think of something! Please, Darith!¡± Liana shouted. ¡°I...¡± Darith replied nervously, glancing around with his calm mind, trying to recede his anxiety as he watched the ice get closer and closer to Jaese, who was more focused on loading another magazine into his gun than avoiding the ice from touching his feet. Seeing this, Darith¡¯s eyes opened wide and he dashed forward, grabbed Jaese by his shirt, then jumped back away from the ice. ¡°I¡¯ve got a plan, it might work but I need you and the other officers to help!¡± Darith said to Jaese. ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± Jaese asked without hesitation. Darith quickly explained his instructions to Jaese who then ran back to Richard and the other officers. ¡°What the hell is going on, can they stop this guy?¡± Arnold shouted to Jaese. ¡°The little boy with the tail said to fire every single bullet we¡¯ve got at that guy, but make sure they pass through the purple dome when it appears. The signal word will be ¡®scald¡¯¡± Jaese replied to him. ¡°What the hell? This is real life not a comic book! I¡¯m not taking commands from a cartoon character.¡± Arnold snapped back. ¡°So what should we do then?¡± Richard asked Arnold as they could only watch the ice creep up on the base of the hospital from a distance. The parking lot was quickly becoming an icy wasteland void of anything but snow and mist. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s going on, but it''s pretty obvious who the guys trying to help are and who the bad one is. We should do what he says and ask them questions after.¡± Jaese said. ¡°This is crazy, I¡¯m not giving orders to open fire and risk drawing that guys attention to us after seeing all that, I¡¯ll just be getting good officers killed. You said this dome would be down soon, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Good officers have already been killed!¡± Jaese snapped at Arnold. ¡°By that guy! And we have a chance to stop him now, one we might not get again. Those two fighting there, I think... I think they¡¯re just kids, but still, if there¡¯s a chance their plan can work, you can¡¯t just do nothing and watch!¡± Jaese yelled. ¡°He¡¯s right.¡± Richard agreed, several other officers nodded. Arnold glared at Jaese, then the others for a moment. It wasn¡¯t their expression that made him decide though, it was snow blowing around in his face. ¡°Scald is the signal, full magazines, don¡¯t miss.¡± Arnold said, holding his gun in a firing position. All officers copied him as they moved to stand in a line, ready to shoot. ¡°It looks like you are choosing to die with the insects, so be it!¡± Thomas cackled in his high pitched voice as the ice began crawling up the walls of the hospital. ¡°We need to end this fast, get my mana full quick.¡± Darith said, Liana nodding. ¡°Concentrate, Concentrate, Concentrate!¡± She casted multiple times, until she only had enough left to cast one last time warp. ¡°Time warp my scald.¡± Darith whispered to Liana, and she didn¡¯t ask any questions, only nodded. ¡°Mass Enchant!¡± Darith shouted, causing his and Liana¡¯s weapons to glow with fire. ¡°Scald!¡± He shouted, and formed a dark blue circle not far from Thomas. ¡°Time Warp!¡± Liana shouted, surrounding the scald spell circle so that the moment it shot, the scald projectile stopped moving. ¡°That¡¯s the signal, open Fire!¡± Arnold shouted, and all officers remaining inside the red dome unloaded their bullets into the time warp. ¡°When I say now, cancel the timewarp.¡± Darith said to Liana as he glanced back to make sure the officers were done firing, but they started reloading their magazines and firing a second round. He looked to see the ice had reached the second floor of the hospital and start cracking and shattering the windows. ¡°Fire Storm!¡± He shouted, creating his thousand firebolts in the sky around Thomas. ¡°Now!¡± Darith said, and Liana canceled the time warp. ¡°You already tried that. It¡¯s useless, all of your mana isn¡¯t enough to burst through my shield. You¡¯re all going to die! I AM IMMORTAL!¡± He cackled hysterically. [Scalded: Increases fire damage taken by 10% for 15 seconds. Does not work on non-organic enemies.] [Standard Issue Police Firearm Damage: 25-100 Damage varies depending on where the target is hit. Requires Ammunition: Bullets Fire Enchanted: This weapon is currently enchanted with fire and does additional fire damage with each attack. Remaining: 9m31s] [Fire Storm Consumes all mana to fire as many fire bolts as possible at a single target, from all directions. Damage varies based on the amount of available mana, and the firebolt spells damage. Current Maximum: 1300 Current Firebolt Damage: 550] Scald first, then the rest. Thomas made no attempt to dodge given his confidence that Darith could not break through his shield, and a large burst of smoke appeared around the hooded ice wizard, but as it cleared this time, there was no laughing, only a message above his body as it fell over onto the frozen ground. Game Over At that moment the snow stopped, the Ice wall vanished, and the red dome disappeared, giving Darith and Liana a buff on their interface Phasing In You are entering an area controlled by the City Guard, make sure you do not reveal the game to any non players. Remaining: 10s. ¡°Huh? The dome is gone... But isn¡¯t it a bit late to hide the game from people?¡± Darith commented as he read it, then suddenly there was a big flash of light in the sky above them, and thousands of rays of light shot at the ground and area around them, blinding them momentarily, and when the light was gone, their entire surroundings had changed. The snow and ice were completely gone. The destroyed and shattered cars were back to normal. The destroyed walls of the hospital were repaired. It was as if everything went back to normal instantly. He glanced to Jaese and the other officers who had blank, empty expression, turning and looking at each other confused. ¡°DARITH!¡± Liana shouted, startling him to turn around and see a man in a black suit standing in front of him, wearing a black pair of sunglasses with short black hair. The man reached his hand out and put his palm towards Darith¡¯s face, and in his palm was nothing. A black void, as if his palm was sucking in light. ¡°Switch back, fast, the buff!¡± Liana pointed as the Phase in counted down from 3 seconds. He got a burst of adrenaline as he opened his menu, switching his appearance just in time while stumbling backward, landing on his fat bottom. The City guard stayed standing over him for a few more seconds, then turned and walked away. His heart rate was racing alone from that encounter more than the fight with Thomas. ¡°Phew...¡± He let out a sigh of relief. ¡°What just happened?¡± Liana asked, helping Darith get back up and then looking around the parking lot. The onlookers who had been watching from afar also seemed confused about what they were doing, and started wandering in different directions, including Elise who he watched get back into her sister''s car. ¡°What am I doing here, and why... Did I drive here?¡± She mumbled to herself as she got in the driver''s seat. ¡°And what about Thomas¡¯ items?¡± Darith turned to where Thomas died, but a City Guard was already standing there, and there was no item to be seen. ¡°They got rid of those too?¡± ¡°How did they do that? This isn¡¯t like in dungeons, this is the real world, isn¡¯t it?¡± Liana said in disbelief. ¡°I have no idea... But this is definitely more than just some video game.¡± Darith said with wide eyes. The two stood there for awhile, side by side and panning out their surroundings, not able to comprehend how something like that was possible. Chapter 28: City Guards ¡°What are you guys lookin¡¯ at?¡± Kristen heard a voice. Disoriented, she turned to see the speaker, a young man lying in a hospital bed with a leg harness. She couldn¡¯t answer, no matter how hard she thought, her mind was blank. Looking around, she saw several of her colleagues with similar expressions to hers, all standing in front of the large 4th floor windows of a Hospital Bedroom looking in the direction of the parking lot. She spotted a bunch of police cars, officers standing around them - all of them looking bewildered and their cars parked strangely around the lot. Scanning around longer, she noticed a familiar young boy. ¡°Darith? What the heck is he doing...¡± She whispered to herself, then her mind came to a few realizations. Her first worry immediately became Liana, she rushed out of the room and through the hospital corridors, spotting more confused doctors and nurses as they slowly got back to work. ¡°Liana?¡± She called out through the floor, checking each corridor. Remembering that she had left her near Jaese¡¯s room, she headed down a floor, but as she exited the stairwell and looked through the long hall, she saw Liana¡¯s wheelchair, empty. ¡°Liana?!¡± Kristed shouted, no longer concerned with the volume of her voice, causing others to look as she rushed towards the wheelchair. She reached it, looked in the empty room, then glanced around at others passing by. ¡°Have you seen Liana, the girl with the arm cast?¡± ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t think so¡­¡± a passing doctor replied, rubbing his head. He kept talking but Kristen didn¡¯t listen, she called out again. ¡°LIANA!¡± She looked into several more rooms. Then a thought popped into her mind - Darith. She rushed back to the Stairwell and ran down to the first floor, then towards the lobby, pushing past everyone without any concern until she reached the front foyer and waiting room of the hospital, where she saw Darith walking in. She felt relieved for a moment, but at the same time taken aback - everyone around had looks of confusion and bewilderment as she had - but Darith did not, he looked at her and smiled. ¡°Mom!¡± He said, with a look of relief as he rushed across the lobby and hugged her, to which she happily embraced him. ¡°Mom are you okay? Are you hurt?¡± He asked. ¡°Yes I¡¯m fine.¡± She replied. ¡°Why would I be hurt? What are you doing here? Nevermind, have you seen Liana?¡± ¡°I - well¡­ wasn¡¯t she with you?¡± Darith asked, avoiding eye contact with his Mom as he feigned glancing around the Hospital to look for her. Kristen watched his eyes carefully. ¡°Darith this isn¡¯t funny. If you know where she is, tell me. She can get seriously hurt if you keep -¡± Kristen was interrupted. ¡°I¡¯m here!¡± Liana called out, coming out of an elevator in her wheelchair, approaching the two of them. Kristen quickly turned to see her and rushed over, Darith following. ¡°Liana! Where were you?¡± ¡°I was just caught up in the Elevator¡­ you know¡­ I was trying to find what floor you were on!¡± Liana replied hesitantly. ¡°But I saw your Wheelchair, it was empty!¡± Kristen replied. Liana forced a shrug. ¡°Wasn¡¯t mine.¡± Liana replied. Kristen let out a sigh. for a moment doubting herself, then carefully eyed the two of them. ¡°And why did you come here Darith? What about school?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°It¡¯s finished¡­ I just came to hang out, yknow.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Right.¡± Kristen paused. ¡°My head¡¯s feeling a bit weird. I¡¯m going to take the rest of the day off and get my things. Both of you stay put.¡± Kristen replied, then rushed off further into the hospital. ¡°Phew.¡± Liana said once she was out of earshot. ¡°You think she believes us?¡± Darith asked. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t.¡± Liana sighed. The two were quiet for a moment, just now finally having time to compose themselves. Looking at Liana, Darith noticed her arm and neck trembling slightly. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Darith looked her in the eyes. ¡°Y-yeah¡­ probably just the adrenaline.¡± Liana replied. He watched her silently for a moment, then glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. ¡°I need to rethink this game¡¯s mechanics. Those City Guards specifically. Up until now I¡¯ve been afraid of them, but it seems like their punishment is really easy to avoid. First Jacob, then this - that guy even used a spell to avoid them from interfering in our fight in the middle of a city.¡± Darith said. ¡°It¡¯s almost like the game doesn¡¯t really care what happens to people who aren¡¯t playing.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Yeah¡­ I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what their true purpose is. If I had to guess, their job is to protect the game itself, not the players or non-players. We still don¡¯t really understand how all of this is possible.¡± ¡°So that means nothing¡¯s really stopping players from using spells like that Thomas guy?¡± ¡°Yeah. If people keep getting new and stronger spells, things might get even worse. I think¡­. I-¡± Darith hesitated for a moment, and Liana watched his expression carefully.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We should try to beat the game and end this before it gets out of hand?¡± Liana asked, predicting what he was going to say. ¡°Y-yeah, but that¡¯d mean we would lose our character bodies.¡± Darith replied. The two both looked down at their feet, each thinking over. ¡°I don¡¯t want the whole world to get destroyed just so I can walk.¡± Liana replied after a few moments of silence. ¡°It¡¯s not fair. In the Desert, and in the Frozen Caverns we met so many players enjoying the game for what it was without hurting others. Just because of a few bad people... There¡¯s got to be another way.¡± Darith said in frustration. He looked to Liana in her wheelchair, thinking for another moment. ¡°What if we do it?¡± Darith asked her. ¡°Do what?¡± Liana asked. ¡°What if we protect people from the bad players? We do what the City Guards are supposed to be doing?¡± Darith replied, and to this suggestion, Liana seemed to regain hope. ¡°How could we do something like that?¡± ¡°There¡¯s got to be a way. Tons of spells we haven¡¯t learned yet - if we learn the right ones we can make sure no one else gets hurt.¡± ¡°But Thomas was part of a guild, what if there¡¯s a whole bunch of people in it like him?¡± Liana replied. ¡°Then we give them all Game Over. We get stronger and we make sure that nothing like this happens anymore. We¡¯ll gather all the players like us to take a stand against the bad ones.¡± Darith said with confidence. ¡°Do you really think that¡¯ll work?¡± ¡°Yeah. If it doesn¡¯t, we¡¯ll try to beat the game instead. but I want to at least try.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ okay let¡¯s do it! Thank you, Darith.¡± Liana smiled at him, tears swelling up in her eyes. ¡°No problem, you¡¯re not the only one who likes their game body better.¡± Darith said while failing to flex his arm muscles. ¡°No, I mean, thanks for coming to save me.¡± Liana replied, to which Darith shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s what Knights of Justice do.¡± He said with a smile. ¡°Who¡¯s a Knight of Justice?¡± Kristen asked as she approached them from behind them in her casual attire. ¡°Ready to go home?¡± She asked. The two nodded cheerfully. ¡°Great, I can¡¯t wait to get there.¡± Kristen said in a sinister tone. The three of them drove with few words said between them. It wasn¡¯t until they arrived back at home and shut the door behind them that Kristen spoke up. ¡°Alright.¡± She said in a commanding tone. ¡°The two of you are going to tell me what the hell is going on.¡± Kristen said, shocking both of them into looking at her. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Darith replied, avoiding her eyes. ¡°You¡¯ve never come to the hospital to just ¡®hang out¡¯. Not to mention your classes ended 30 minutes before you showed up, so unless you became a world record sprinter overnight or have a jet in your pocket, that means you left school early. And you -¡± She said, turning to Liana. ¡°I saw your wheelchair empty. That¡¯s twice this week I found it like that. I don¡¯t know who you got to carry you around in the hospital, but this isn¡¯t a joke. You could cause more damage to your body if you keep being reckless like that.¡± She finished, looking at them. The two nervously looked at each other. ¡°Well, I was just coming to play that game with Liana, it¡¯s really fun.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me you are missing school for a video game.¡± Kristen snapped back. ¡°No, I didn¡¯t, I just came after class.¡± Darith said hesitantly. ¡°Darith don¡¯t you dare lie to me. That¡¯s how it started with your father, just like this.¡± From this, something snapped in Darith¡¯s mind and Liana watched his expression change. ¡°I¡¯m nothing like him!¡± Darith shouted back. ¡°You¡¯re acting like he did. Lost his job from missing too much work to play games, just like you¡¯re trying to get out of school. Then the next step is staying at home doing nothing with yourself for the rest of your life. I knew giving you a day off was a mistake.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t miss any classes!¡± Darith shouted back. ¡°I go to every single one just to make you happy, just to keep our damn promise because you¡¯re so scared I¡¯ll be like him.¡± ¡°You think I want you to go to classes for me? That I made you promise to go for my benefit?¡± Kristen shouted at him. ¡°Of course! None of my friends¡¯ parents are as strict about it as you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because I care about you.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°If you cared so much then why¡¯d you leave me alone with Dad all the time.¡± ¡°Mom, Darith, stop!¡± Liana shouted, getting both of their attention finally. As they turned, they saw her standing, now in her game body. Both eyes wide open, moreso for Kristen. ¡°Darith was telling the truth, he was in Class but he came to the hospital to help me out a-¡± Before Liana could finish, Kristen fainted, falling backwards, with Darith able to move to catch her before her head hit the floor. He then looked at Liana. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Well, since the City Guards suck, I figured¡­ y''know. I wanted you guys to stop fighting.¡± Liana shrugged nervously. ¡°C¡¯mon, help me carry her to the couch.¡± Darith replied, and the two carefully moved the unconscious Kristen into the living room. Once she was settled down, they took a step back. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to explain it to her, I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll want to hear it from me.¡± ¡°You should apologize and explain it. Your mom was right, you know, she just cares about you.¡± ¡°She said I was acting like Dad, when I¡¯ve been trying so hard to not be like him. It just got me so mad.¡± Darith replied angrily. ¡°Look at it from her perspective, this game stuff is really weird and she doesn¡¯t know what has been happening like we do.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right.¡± He said hesitantly. ¡°Good, so you apologize and explain what''s happening. If you tell her what''s going on then I bet she¡¯ll stop making you go to class. Y¡¯know, protecting all the people from bad players and stuff.¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± Darith replied. ¡°I¡¯ll go make her favorite tea for when she gets up.¡± Liana said, a spring in her step. As she walked past her wheelchair she began folding it into a smaller form, then tucked it beside the coat rack. ¡°Won¡¯t be needing you anymore.¡± She smiled to herself. As the kettle from the kitchen began to whistle, Darith watched over his mother on the couch as her eyes began to slowly open, and she looked up to see Darith¡¯s face. ¡°That¡¯s twice in one day.¡± She mumbled while rubbing her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for yelling at you. I don¡¯t want to be like Dad.¡± Darith said, as she sat up. ¡°You¡¯re not. I¡¯m sorry too...¡± She paused with a disfigured expression. ¡°Di - was Liana just standing?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°Yeah. Let me explain everything that¡¯s been happening.¡± Darith said, then took a deep breath preparing to start. ¡°Wait, wait, before that.¡± She paused. ¡°Did she also just call me Mom?¡± Kristen asked, this time in a whisper. Chapter 29: Nothing is Normal [Darith+Liana][Strokes for Folks] ¡°Hm.¡± Kristen said, taking a sip from her tea while staring at Liana. Darith had just finished explaining everything that had happened up until now, including how the game worked, why Liana could walk, and what happened with the police at the hospital. Without asking, Kristen leaned forward and placed her hands on Liana¡¯s face, feeling around her skin for a moment, then moving to her arms, then legs. ¡°You can feel all of this?¡± She asked. ¡°Yes-mmhmph.¡± Liana replied, muffled by the fingers scrunching her cheeks. ¡°Incredible¡­ and you¡¯re so pretty.¡± Kristen said in disbelief, making Liana blush. ¡°Alright, if everything you said is true, then show me yours Darith.¡± ¡°Show you what?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Your character, you know, the game character.¡± Kristen replied, turning to him. ¡°Well it¡¯s kind of embarrassing to show¡­¡± Darith hesitated, worried what his mom would think about his race choice. ¡°Just show me.¡± She said impatiently. Darith made a nervous sigh, then pressed the buttons in his interface to turn into his Nemothyne body with tiny fox ears and a tail. Kristen¡¯s eyes went wide for a moment, she leaned towards him over their living room table, and started touching his ears. ¡°Wow, so soft. Can you feel this?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± He replied in his little boy voice. She then reached for his tail and stroked it, giving Darith a tickle sensation. He quickly hit her hand away while giggling. ¡°Ah it tickles.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me.¡± Kristen said in disbelief, pulling back and standing up, then began pacing up and down the hall between the living room and kitchen. ¡°So you see, we think it''s important we get stronger in this game to stop more bad people.¡± Liana asked. ¡°You mean it¡¯s important Darith stops going to class to ¡®level up¡¯ as you put it.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°Well y-yeah.¡± ¡°Why not just invite the police officers? Let them do their job Darith, you don¡¯t need to run around like some video game vigilante putting your life at risk.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°I already told you, my life isn¡¯t at risk, worst case I get game over and forget all about the game. And there¡¯s no guarantee that the police will be good people when they get into the game, or be able to get good enough to stop the guys causing trouble. I can only let in people I trust, that''s why I was thinking maybe you c-¡± Before Darith could finish, Kristen turned to him and put her hand up. ¡°No, no chance. I¡¯m perfectly happy being normal and not having a tail. You said you can only invite 3 more players right?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°Yeah..¡± ¡°You have some people in mind?¡± Kristen asked, and Darith nodded. She went silent and sat again, taking a sip of her tea to calm herself down. ¡°I still don¡¯t like it. It¡¯s too dangerous, why can¡¯t someone else do it and you stop with this crazy game?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°Because Darith is really good. I know you don¡¯t like games much, but Darith is great at figuring out the best ways to handle situations in them. So far he¡¯s already done some incredible things.¡± Liana defended him. Kristen turned to look at her, then back at Darith. ¡°Well you should at least tell the Police what is going on. 5 officers have been killed already by this game, they¡¯re all furious and chasing down the wrong people.¡± Kristen said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I thought about it, but won¡¯t that put them in more danger? The City Guards erase everything after a conflict, it''s probably rare that non-players get into a confrontation with a player that doesn¡¯t end in either the non-player dying, or the city guard wiping their memory. I also don¡¯t know how the City Guard would react if police start hunting down players - and even if they did they couldn¡¯t stop them.¡± Darith replied. Kristen and Liana both listened, then Kristen took another sip of her tea. ¡°I need time to process this. This is a lot to take in. Until then, everything stays normal. You go to school like normal. I want everything normal this evening. We eat, we watch TV, no tails, no ears, no fireballs, nothing. I need everything normal so I can think.¡± Kristen said, then stood up and moved towards the kitchen. ¡°Can I stay out of my wheelchair?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Of course.¡± Kristen grumbled back. ¡°Thanks!¡± Liana replied cheerfully. Moments later they heard the rattling of pans in the kitchen as Kristen began cooking. ¡°That wasn¡¯t that bad, was it?¡± Liana replied with a nervous smile. ¡°She took that better tha-¡± Darith started saying, but stopped as Kristen suddenly rushed out of the kitchen back to them, leaned in to Liana and pinched her cheek, all three went quiet for a moment. She then shook her head, rubbing her own eyes, then gently tugged on Liana¡¯s left hand fingers, to which Liana winced slightly. ¡°Fuck a dancing horse shoe on Sunday.¡± She mumbled while rolling her eyes and turning away, going back to the kitchen. Once she was gone, Darith and Liana looked at each other with smirks. ¡°Better than expected.¡± Darith finished, and the two giggled quietly. [Elise][Trouble] The red corvette slowly pulled into the driveway of the gated mansion, stopping near the front door. The yard was a well kept garden filled with beautiful green trees, grass, and bushes and brightly colored flowers. A nice clean stone path leading from the driveway up to the large stonestairs, which ended at a set of double doors leading into Elise¡¯ home. Not a single part of it wasn¡¯t stylized. As Elise turned off the engine and stepped out, she saw the house doors already open with her mother staring down at her, arms crossed with Karin standing behind her, both with angry expressions. Elise approached them without making eye contact. ¡°What do you have to say for yourself?¡± Elise¡¯s mother shouted. ¡°I was just paying back Karin¡¯s debts.¡± Elise replied nervously. ¡°What kind of debt requires you to steal your sisters car and drive around without a license!?¡± Her mother shouted back in anger, standing to block Elise¡¯s path. ¡°Darith needed a ride to the hospital, it sounded important. It¡¯s the least she should¡¯ve done since he¡¯s been doing all of her schoolwork.¡± This caused her mother to look back at Karin. ¡°Is this true, is this Darith boy doing your schoolwork for you?¡± ¡°He¡¯s only helping me study mom, he said he likes doing it.¡± Karin replied. ¡°He¡¯s not helping you, he¡¯s doing it all for you so you can prance around like mommy¡¯s little ballerina.¡± ¡°She¡¯s lying, she¡¯s just jealous she¡¯s bad at studying and dancing.¡± Karin snapped back. ¡°I can dance circles around you if I wanted to.¡± Elise shouted. ¡°Enough! I¡¯m tired of your lies, and your rebelling. This time you¡¯ve gone too far.¡± Her mom shouted back. ¡°No, enough from you! You always take her side, you don¡¯t even try to listen to me. I¡¯m leaving.¡± Elise shouted, turned around and walked down the staircase. ¡°Elise you get back here right now. Don¡¯t you walk away from me.¡± Her mother growled angrily. Elise ignored her, instead dropping the car keys at the bottom of the stairs, grabbing her backpack out of the car then heading down the driveway towards the street. ¡°Where are you going!¡± Karin said, a hint of panic and guilt in her voice. Just then Miranda pushed past the two. ¡°If she¡¯s leaving, I¡¯m quitting.¡± Miranda said as she ran down the driveway after Elise. When Miranda caught up to Elise on the street, the yelling of Elise and Karin could barely be heard. The two began walking side by side, and Miranda saw tears streaming down Elise¡¯s cheeks. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry dear, I¡¯ll tell your father and he¡¯ll sort this out.¡± Miranda said to try and comfort her. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want you to tell him, he doesn¡¯t care anyway.¡± Elise mumbled back. ¡°Well where are you planning to go?¡± Elise asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°At least come back with me to my place for now. It¡¯s not much but it''s better than you living on the street. Okay?¡± Miranda replied. ¡°O-okay.¡± Elise mumbled between sniffles. ¡°It¡¯s not fair, I didn¡¯t do anything bad, I just wanted to help someone. Why do I always get yelled at.¡± Elise added, as her tears began to flow stronger. ¡°Come here.¡± Miranda stopped Elise and gave her a big hug, squeezing her tightly and rubbing her back gently. ¡°It¡¯s not bad to help people.¡± Miranda said, the two were now standing on the sidewalk not far from Elise¡¯s house in a rich neighborhood, several cars driving past. Elise buried her face in Miranda¡¯s shirt and whimpered into it, Miranda began gently stroking her hair. ¡°You¡¯re a good girl, everything is going to be okay, so don¡¯t worry.¡± Miranda comforted her. After a minute, Elise finally pulled away. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Why can¡¯t my mom be more like you.¡± Elise said, wiping away her tears. ¡°Oh you don¡¯t want a mom like me, I¡¯m obsessed with keeping things clean. I¡¯d make you clean all day instead of dance.¡± Miranda replied. Elise smiled slightly. ¡°Did you really drive through the whole city with your sisters car?¡± She asked in a whisper. ¡°Yeah.¡± Elise replied. ¡°How was it?¡± ¡°Kinda scary, kinda easy. I was going really fast though, I think it was an emergency¡­ for some reason I can¡¯t even remember getting to the hospital¡­¡± ¡°You can¡¯t remember?¡± Miranda asked confused as the two started walking again. ¡°Yeah, I just remember being parked on the street suddenly by myself, a bunch of other people too, it was really weird.¡± ¡°That boy didn¡¯t drug you or anything ,did he?¡± ¡°Huh? Darith? No chance, he¡¯s so shy he can¡¯t even look me in the eyes.¡± ¡°But still, driving through the city like that for him, Do you like this boy?¡± Miranda asked with a sly grin. ¡°No way! I just felt bad for him, that¡¯s all.¡± Elise replied, to which Miranda looked at her with a raised brow. ¡°What? He¡¯s helping me learn Math. He¡¯s a good teacher.¡± Elise mumbled back. Miranda shrugged and motioned to a rusted blue car parked on the side of the road. ¡°This is me. It¡¯s no corvette.¡± Miranda said as she unlocked the doors. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I like it.¡± Elise smiled as she got in the passenger seat. [Darith + Liana][Recruitment] ¡°Right. Wasn¡¯t that a great, happy, normal evening? The Mummy, it¡¯s a classic. I can¡¯t get enough of Brandon. What a handsome guy.¡± Kristen said as the credits for the movie rolled down the screen, Liana and Darith sitting on either side of her with a bowl of popcorn on the table, that had gone completely untouched. ¡°Well, it¡¯s late. I¡¯m going to try and rest. You two sleep, no adventures, got it?¡± She said as she stood up. ¡°Got it.¡± ¡°Yes mom.¡± The two replied. They listened to her footsteps trail upstairs. Hearing her door close, Liana turned to Darith while Darith pulled out his cell phone. ¡°Who were you talking about, you know people you can invite?¡± Liana asked excitedly. ¡°I figured I¡¯d start with some of my old guildmates that I raided with the last time I was playing an MMO. Josh first.¡± ¡°Josh as in Executioner? That pro gamer you said you knew?¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°You remember?¡± ¡°Of course, you made me watch his semifinal match in that boring moba game.¡± Liana sighed. ¡°He¡¯s going to be good at an MMORPG?¡± ¡°That guy is a pro at any game he touches, he was our strongest PVP player when he was in our guild.¡± Darith said as he found his contact info on his phone and dialed it right away, as Liana leaned in towards Darith to listen in. The phone picked up after 4 rings. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Hey, Josh, it¡¯s Darith, do you remember me?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Darith? I don¡¯t know any Darith, sorry man.¡± ¡°Uh- I mean, Paradigm! I played a Sage back in Gate Online?¡± ¡°Oh shit, I remember, how are you?¡± Josh replied. ¡°I¡¯m doing good, I watched your matches at Worlds, you were awesome.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Eh, still didn¡¯t make it to finals. Those eastern teams are crazy man. I¡¯m taking a break now though, enjoying the offseason. It¡¯s crazy you called, I just got a call from Shadowkiller, you remember him?¡± He said excitedly, Darith could hear the sound of keyboard keys tapping in the background. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± Darith hesitated, Liana mouthed the word ¡®who¡¯ to Darith, to which he mouthed back ¡®Ryan¡¯. ¡°Two calls from old guild officers in one day, it¡¯s like the old days when a world boss spawned. He said he found a crazy new game he wants me to play with him and some others from our old guild. They¡¯re all comin¡¯ to my place this weekend to check it out. You should come too man, it¡¯ll be like old times.¡± Josh said excitedly. ¡°N-no thanks, I¡¯ll have to pass, I¡¯ve got to go to school.¡± Darith sighed back. ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks for the offer though.¡± Darith said. ¡°Aite man, I¡¯m in a match right now so I gotta focus, cool talkin to you again though.¡± Josh replied, then ended the call abruptly. ¡°It looks like Ryan had the same idea as me. He can¡¯t invite all of our old guildies though.¡± Darith said, then scrolled through his old contacts again. ¡°Just how many of your old guildmates do you have on there?¡± Liana asked as she watched. ¡°A lot, the MMORPG we played had some heavily contested world bosses, so we¡¯d call each other anytime we found one up, to get everyone online to kill it.¡± Darith then grabbed a paper and a pencil from his backpack and put it on the table, quickly jotting down the names of his old guild members. ¡°These are the guys I¡¯d trust to help us, they¡¯re good players and friendly guys, no lying, stealing or cheating from any of them.¡± Darith said, he then crossed out 4 names. ¡°Two are Jacob and Ryan, the other two it looks like Ryan went for, they¡¯re the better players of the bunch so I¡¯m not surprised. There¡¯s one other really good player, I¡¯ll try calling her but I bet Ryan already did.¡± Darith said as he tapped a name at the top, Glitterstar. ¡°Glitterstar? Who would name themselves Glitterstar, isn¡¯t there a big streamer with that name?¡± Liana asked, to which Darith gestured a nod. To his surprise, Glitterstar picked up, but after a very brief conversation, the call ended. ¡°Figures. Now we know who Ryan¡¯s party is.¡± Darith said as he crossed her name out. ¡°He¡¯s inviting an esports moba player, an FPS streamer and the old top healer in your guild?¡± Liana asked with wide eyes. ¡°Yeah¡­ it¡¯s not bad though, even though Ryan was pissed the last time we talked, I bet he¡¯ll help get rid of the bad players too. We just need to find 3 others, there¡¯s plenty left on the list.¡± Darith said, as he moved to the next name. One by one he crossed out the names. Most of the numbers were not in service, and the few he could get were not interested in games anymore, some had kids, others had jobs, some just didn¡¯t answer at all. In less than an hour, he found himself crossing out the last name on the list. The two of them leaned back into the living room couch and pouted. ¡°That went really badly.¡± Liana commented. ¡°What about your other friends from school?¡± She asked. ¡°What other friends?¡± Darith grumbled in response. ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the only friend I need!¡± She said with a cute smile, to which Darith rolled his eyes. ¡°What about Jaese?¡± ¡°Jaese?¡± ¡°The Police Officer we saved, the one I decursed. He seemed like a good guy.¡± Liana shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about him. I bet he¡¯ll suck at getting the principles of the game. Look, it¡¯s fine. I left a bunch of messages, I¡¯m sure some of them will call back tomorrow, it¡¯s just late.¡± Darith stood up. ¡°We should get some sleep and see what happens tomorrow, can¡¯t do much until mom makes her decision anyway.¡± Darith added, then started heading up the stairs. ¡°Goodnight.¡± ¡°Goodnight.¡± Liana replied. She waited patiently for him to close his bedroom door, then made her way into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. She began to run her fingers through her own hair and on her skin and smiled at herself, then looked to see Kristen¡¯s makeup messily scattered around the sink. Without hesitation she started grabbing eyeliner, lipstick, mascara, everything she could find and started putting it on herself hastily, then washing it off and trying something new. Once she was done she grabbed Kristen¡¯s hairbands and started doing up her hair in different ways. She wasn¡¯t very good, she had no experience in putting on makeup or doing up her own hair, but she was having fun with it, randomly making weird faces at herself and pretending to sing. Before she knew it, an hour had gone by and she eventually stopped, cleaning up after herself before climbing into bed. [Gabriel][Last Hope] Gabriel awoke in the familiar backroom of the veterinarian office, the lights off but the glow from the morning sun shining in through the window. He was laying on a couch in the dim light but could see the shelves of the room packed with boxes, some opened, and a computer desk with the monitor turned on placed in the corner. He sat up to find himself wrapped in bandages around his chest and right shoulder, shirt and shoes off, sitting neatly at the base of the couch. There was a sharp pain in his chest and he ached all over. He didn¡¯t let it bother him, and got off of the backroom couch he had been sleeping on and put on his shoes. Just as he was slowly making his way onto his feet, the door leading into the room from the front of the building swung open and two figures walked inside, both familiar. The veterinarian friend of his, Samuel, wearing his white coat, and the bouncer from the club the night before, Gerald, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and black jeans. ¡°Finally, you¡¯re up.¡± Samuel said. ¡°You come here with a busted nose and jaw like you got your ass kicked, and some heat on you. I patch you up, let you go, you come back even worse with 2 broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and as the most wanted man in the city. Sit your ass back down man, you shouldn¡¯t even be walkin¡¯ right now let alone goin anywhere outside this room, your face is all over the news.¡± He grumbled as he tugged Gabriel back to the couch and began inspecting his bandages and cuts. ¡°How long was I out?¡± He asked. ¡°It¡¯s Wednesday morning, you were out for about 24 hours. From the ass kicking you got this time you¡¯re lucky your ribs didn¡¯t puncture anything. This Tai shit is getting out of hand.¡± Samuel replied. ¡°You saw what happened?¡± Gabriel asked, turning to Gerald. ¡°Shit man, everyone in that god damned club saw what happened. That little 18 year old punk took a knife to the head and pulled out a sword, man, what the shit is goin¡¯ on bro!¡± Gerald said in disbelief. ¡°That mother fucker killed your lil bro too?¡± Gerald said, Samuel turned to him impatiently though. ¡°Just tell him why you¡¯re here, stop the small talk.¡± Samuel said. ¡°Right right. Lost my job ¡®cause I let you in. Don¡¯t regret it though, knew somethin¡¯ fishy¡¯s been goin¡¯ on with how Tai took over his big bro¡¯s crew and started takin¡¯ everyone out. Didn¡¯t leave empty handed tho, I got somethin for you.¡± Gerald said as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. ¡°That guy that jumped in to try and save you, when he-¡± He stopped himself for a second to pick his words. ¡°When he, yknow, got stabbed and poofed or whatever? This thing was on the ground.¡± Gabriel took the phone from Gerald and tried turning it on, but it didn¡¯t work. ¡°It¡¯s broken.¡± Gabriel said disappointed. ¡°Can you find out who owned it?¡± He turned to Samuel. Samuel stopped fidgeting with Gabriel¡¯s bandages and took it, then moved over to one of the nearby empty shelves in the backroom. ¡°Lemme see.¡± He said as he popped it open. Black smoke puffed out, the battery pitch black. ¡°Shit this thing got fried good.¡± Samuel said while plucking the battery out, eventually finding the sim card. ¡°Might be able to get somethin¡¯ off this, got a reader in the other room. Gimme a sec.¡± Samuel said, leaving the room to just the two of them. ¡°What¡¯dyou thinks goin¡¯ on, you thinkin they got super powers? like from radioactive stuff?¡± Gerald asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Gabriel replied impatiently. ¡°Dude was movin around like an anime character, you know like Mugen, or Ichigo or somethin.¡± Gerald replied with a hint of excitement ¡°He killed my old crew and my little brother.¡± Gabriel replied coldly, shutting down the excitement instantly. They went quiet, and a few minutes later, Samuel re-entered. ¡°Couldn¡¯t get much, just a name, card was toasted too. Luckily this guy tags his stuff, found this.¡± Samuel said as he flashed the back, showing letters drawn into the back side of the plastic cover that had been over the sim card. ¡°Property of Jacob Finley.¡± He tossed the parts on the desk next to the PC and sat in front of it. He booted it up and typed the name into a google search along with their city name, as Gabriel and Gerald got up to watch over his shoulder. ¡°Ain''t much, just some facebook pages. You recognize his face?¡± Samuel said as he scrolled through them, ¡°Yeah, that one, that¡¯s him. Where¡¯s he live?¡± Gabriel asked as Samuel clicked on the link and went through the page. ¡°Doesn¡¯t say, only says he¡¯s attending the High School on the other side of the city.¡± Samuel replied. ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Gabriel said as he grabbed his shirt laying on the floor by the couch and slowly started putting it on, he had to stop a few times because of the pain. ¡°What¡¯re you gonna do?¡± Gerald ask. ¡°Find that kid and ask him what the fuck is happenin.¡± ¡°Not like that you won''t. You deaf or somethin? The whole city is lookin¡¯ for you. You should lay low for now.¡± Samuel replied. ¡°Not a fuckin¡¯ chance.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°At least take this man.¡± Gerald replied, taking off his black hooded sweatshirt to reveal a white t-shirt underneath, then handing it to Gabriel. ¡°Hide your face, yknow?¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Gabriel replied, taking it and putting it on before moving to the door leading out the back of the building. ¡°Hey Gabe.¡± Samuel called out just before he opened the door, and Gabriel turned to look at him. ¡°Be careful man. You take another beating like that, I don¡¯t think I can save you.¡± Gabriel nodded at him, opened the back door, then stepped outside the building. Chapter 30: The Stars Align The morning was awkward. Everyone woke up without being told, Kristen much earlier than usual. By the time Darith got downstairs, Liana and Kristen were already working together to prepare breakfast, and Darith could see how Kristen wasn¡¯t sure how to handle the situation. ¡°Did you think about it yet?¡± Darith asked, sounding like a kid waiting to unwrap his presents on Christmas morning. ¡°You¡¯re going to your classes today.¡± Kristen replied without looking at him. ¡°What about me, can I go to class too?¡± Liana asked. ¡°That¡¯s not how high school works sweetie. You can come to the hospital with me today or stay at home.¡± ¡°Do I have to go in my wheelchair?¡± Liana asked as she finished setting a plate down for Darith with toast on it. Kristen paused to think about it. ¡°Not as long as you don¡¯t mention who you are, okay? Don¡¯t make anyone suspicious.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She replied cheerfully. They made it through the morning routine without much talk, Kristen had to stop herself a few times from trying to help Liana do things, up until when they were getting into the car, as Darith walked down the driveway. ¡°Remember Darith, no funny stuff, okay? I promise I won¡¯t drag this out, but it¡¯s not as simple as you think for me.¡± Kristen called to him. ¡°I got it.¡± He replied. While he was walking to school, he checked his phone for messages. Now that it was morning he was hopeful someone might¡¯ve replied, but no such luck. When he got to his first period classroom and sat down, he felt his discomfort at an all time high. More than ever he felt like he was in a place he didn¡¯t want to be. As his classmates all sat down and prepared for the start of the day, his mind wandered off, planning on how to get stronger, and thinking of all the factors he¡¯d not taken into account so far, things about the game he still didn¡¯t know, but the bigger concern for him was finding the last few members of his group. When his teacher arrived he walked straight to Darith¡¯s desk and put down a thick stack of papers, bringing him back to reality. ¡°Finish that by the end of the lesson to the best of your ability. Don¡¯t get frustrated if you can¡¯t answer it all, some of those questions are tough even for me.¡± His teacher said. Darith looked at it and read the title. ¡°High School Math Proficiency Examination.¡± He mumbled to himself, while a blue mark appeared from his teacher. Quest: Complete the test within the allotted time. Reward: +1 intelligence, 100xp Accept(x) Decline(x) He quickly accepted it and got to work. At first it felt difficult, he saw equations he hadn¡¯t seen before, but the more he looked at the pages, the more the logic began to flow through him. As long as he understood the meaning of the symbols, he was able to deduct most of the questions, much to his amazement. The test was in total 12 pages long, and Darith was just barely able to finish it before the bell rang, not giving him enough time to double check his work. As the other students began packing up their books and heading out of the room, the teacher walked over to him and picked up the test. ¡°How¡¯d you do?¡± He asked as he began flipping through the pages. ¡°I think I got most of it. That was way harder than the stuff you¡¯ve been teaching.¡±Darith replied. ¡°Incredible. That¡¯s because some of this is at the University level. I can¡¯t say how well you did, but I¡¯ll grade this and get back to you tomorrow. You know what this means, right?¡± His teacher asked with wide eyes. ¡°I¡¯m really good at math suddenly?¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°This could be a first step towards a scholarship. There¡¯s always universities looking to snag up students like you.¡± His teacher replied excitedly. ¡°Oh¡­ I hadn¡¯t thought about that yet.¡± Darith replied as he began packing up his things. ¡°You might want to, by the looks of this test, you might have learned all you can from Highschool already.¡± His teacher chuckled, but as Darith faced his back to him to leave the room, he felt guilty more than he did happy - knowing he likely wouldn¡¯t have been able to complete that test without the help of the game. Quest Complete Gained: +1 Intelligence 100 Experience By the time he reached his Lunch period he managed to shake it off and tried thinking that it¡¯d be stupid not to take advantage of it. He entered the cafeteria while checking his phone for messages, but still nothing. Looking around the room he was able to spot Jacob already sitting alone eating his lunch and quickly joined him. ¡°Sup.¡± Jacob said with a nod. ¡°Hey. How¡¯s it going?¡± Darith replied. ¡°Not bad. Hey you talked to Ryan at all? Haven¡¯t heard from him, can¡¯t get him online or on his phone.¡± Jacob asked. Darith hesitated, pulling his lunch out of his bag. ¡°He¡¯s probably just playing another game hardcore.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Hey.¡± Elise said suddenly, as she shuffled into a chair beside Darith and plopped her bag on the table beside him. ¡°What the hell happened yesterday?¡± Her sudden appearance left Jacob and Darith shocked, both for different reasons. ¡°I auhh- what do you mean?¡± He replied nervously. ¡°You asked me for a ride to the Hospital. Don¡¯t you remember? I remember driving, but then it goes all fuzzy and suddenly I was standing around.¡± Elise asked. ¡°Oh, yeah¡­ me too, a bunch of people had that. I think it was a gas leak or something?¡± Darith said, remembering a line used in a movie during a similar situation. ¡°Really weird. Well was everything okay?¡± ¡°Yeah man, something happen with your mom?¡± Jacob asked, now sounding concerned as well. ¡°Ah, yeah it ended up being okay, just needed to take care of Liana.¡± Darith replied, fumbling his words a bit. Elise only looked at him more confused. ¡°My mom works at the hospital, Liana is kind of like my little sister.¡± Darith added. ¡°Ah, gotcha.¡± Elise replied, then began pulling out books from her backpack. ¡°So how do you two know each other?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°He¡¯s helping me study.¡± Elise replied. ¡°Oh, like Karin?¡± Jacob said as he bit into his lunch. ¡°Oh, there she is.¡± Hearing this both Elise and Darith turned to look where Jacob was looking and saw Karin, who had been walking towards them but slowed down after seeing Elise. Jacob and Darith immediately felt the atmosphere thicken with tension. ¡°Hey Elise.¡± Karin said, but Elise didn¡¯t answer. ¡°Where did you go?¡± ¡°None of your business.¡± Elise replied, looking away. ¡°Your little favor yesterday got Elise in a ton of trouble, did you know that?¡± Karin asked Darith. ¡°Sorry¡­ it was an emergency.¡± Darith replied shyly. ¡°It¡¯s alright, but since you did borrow my car you owe me now.¡± She changed her tone to her cutesy voice. ¡°Could you please help me out again? Mr. Hensworth is really giving us hard stuff these days.¡± she pleaded. Darith watched the quest icon appear in his peripheral vision, and he almost reactively reached out to touch it, then glanced at Elise who was angrily staring down at a textbook, pretending to not care about the situation. ¡°I can¡¯t, I¡¯m busy today.¡± Darith replied, then hit the decline button. ¡°Huh? With what?¡± Karin¡¯s tone changed. ¡°Helping Elise study.¡± Darith said, trying to show confidence, but in truth, without his game body he wanted to avoid confrontation, and practically winced after saying this - he wasn¡¯t used to saying no outright to people like Karin. ¡°You¡¯re wasting your time, she¡¯s a lost cause.¡± Karin said coldly. ¡°Hey yo, that aint cool. Don¡¯t be bringing people down like that, aint like you¡¯re doing your schoolwork any better.¡± Jacob stepped in. ¡°Ugh whatever, I¡¯ll find someone else.¡± Karin groaned. ¡°Have fun with these losers.¡± She said as she turned and walked away. ¡°Man what the heck is her deal.¡± Jacob replied while shaking his head to himself. Darith turned to see a small smile on Elise¡¯s face. ¡°Thanks.¡± She said without looking up. ¡°You guys are fighting because of me, so¡­¡± Darith replied as he looked at his lunch. ¡°Nah, we¡¯re always fighting, I hate the way she is. Always takes advantage of people, never does anything herself except dancing. She¡¯s not even that good and she only practices stupid ballet.¡± Elise replied. ¡°Aren¡¯t you also practicing it though? I mean you¡¯re in the club room usually.¡± Darith asked. ¡°Not by choice. It¡¯s because- it¡¯s just complicated.¡± Elise replied. ¡°I¡¯m not going to be going back there anymore anyway.¡± ¡°Oh, okay¡­¡± ¡°How come we¡¯ve never see you during third lunch before?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°That¡¯s because I use it to practice usually.¡± Elise shrugged. ¡°I thought you just said ballet was stupid.¡± Jacob looked at her confused. ¡°Not ballet, I practice contemporary and hip hop.¡± Elise said with a sparkle in her eye, but the two looked back at her confused. ¡°I know hip hop music, what''s contemporary?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°It¡¯s like ballet but a lot more floor movements and more fluidity, it¡¯s more free. A wider range of moves, and when you mix it with hip hop you can use it to transition into the harder moves that pop out, since hip hop focuses a lot on directing people¡¯s eyes to more specific body movements.¡± Elise said passionately, but Jacob just looked more confused. ¡°Do you guys know anything about dancing?¡± She followed up. ¡°Darith got an S on Butterfly in DDR a few years back. He was moving like crazy then.¡± Jacob said, and Darith could tell Jacob thought he was bragging on his behalf, but it didn¡¯t sound impressive at all in light of what Elise was saying. ¡°You play DDR? I used to love that game, got really easy after practice though.¡± Elise said as she pulled out her phone. ¡°I had to stop playing it, kept getting leg cramps¡­ I¡¯m surprised you played.¡± ¡°My Dad bought an arcade machine of it for my Birthday two years ago.¡± She said nonchalantly, but Darith and Jacob both looked at each other wide eyed, knowing the general price range of something like that. Jacob mouthed ¡®She¡¯s loaded¡¯ to Darith, but Elise didn¡¯t notice as she was flicking through her phone. ¡°Here, this is what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Elise said, turning the screen to them with a video on it. It was a youtube video showing a group of people performing a dance routine on stage. The music started slow but as it picked up they went faster. Jacob lost interest, but Darith watched with amazement, just as Elise said, the dance moves drew his eyes to certain movements and they were spinning and doing flips all over the place. Once the video finished she pulled the phone away.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°That¡¯s what I do.¡± She smiled. ¡°I¡¯m not a pro like those guys but can do most of that stuff already. Hard to practice alone though.¡± ¡°You¡¯re tellin me you can move like that?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Yeah. I mean, I don¡¯t have a teacher or a place to practice and my mother hates that style so she tries to keep me from doing anything related to it. That¡¯s why I usually use this lunch break to do it.¡± She shrugged. Darith was awestruck, his mind running through thoughts. ¡°You can move like a thief, or a rogue¡­¡± He said in half whisper. ¡°Huh?¡± She said confused, Jacob blurted out a laugh. ¡°I think he means you can move like a cat.¡± Jacob replied. ¡°Oh. Yeah I guess you can put it like that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s more than that. No matter how high my ag- no matter how agile I get, I¡¯d never be able to move around like that. Stats aren¡¯t everything¡­¡± Darith said to himself. ¡°Alright now I¡¯m lost too.¡± Jacob shrugged. Elise shook her head as she began opening her school books. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m here to study!¡± She exclaimed. ¡°If I get stuck on something you¡¯ll help me out, right?¡± ¡°Y-yeah sure.¡± Darith replied then looked at his phone. Still no messages. He went deep in thought for a moment, then turned to her. ¡°Elise, why did you decide to help me yesterday?¡± Darith asked. She paused to think on it. ¡°I dunno. You looked like you needed help, and I knew I could do it, so I just did it. I don¡¯t want to be like my sister, only taking help all the time when she could do it herself. Pisses me off.¡± Elise replied, then began scribbling in a notebook the questions from a textbook. Darith turned from her, looking at his lunch, then his phone, then Jacob. ¡°What if I told you I know a place where you can practice dancing, unlike any place you¡¯ve ever been to before?¡± Darith asked as he began nervously tapping his fingers on the table. ¡°Where is it?¡± She asked with intrigue. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you¡­ I mean, the place has some rules, really strict rules that you have to follow no matter what.¡± Darith replied. ¡°I can follow strict rules, no problem.¡± She replied confidently, she was hooked in already. ¡°Are you free after school today?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I can take you, but you¡¯ll have to agree to the rules first.¡± ¡°Alright so what are the rules?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you them here, but if you come over to my house after school I can.¡± Darith said excitedly. He already had images in his head of Elise bending around monsters with blades in her hands, but this was shattered quickly by her next words. ¡°Wait is this a weird trick to get me on a date to your house or something?¡± Elise said, taken aback. Darith turned to look at her, then Jacob¡¯s expression as well, staring at him with crazy eyes. ¡°That sounds like a whole lotta weird and mysterious to me.¡± Jacob said. Darith¡¯s face went bright red. ¡°N-n-no, nothing like a date, I swear. It¡¯s real! You have to just trust me.¡± He replied, avoiding eye contact with Elise. She eyed him for a moment, watching him squirm nervously. ¡°Okay, but if it sucks then you¡¯ll have to help me study for the rest of the semester.¡± Elise finally replied. ¡°Deal.¡± Darith said back with a smile and a sigh of relief. ¡°Hey what about me, I like dancing.¡± Jacob said. ¡°No you don¡¯t.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Yeah you¡¯re right I don¡¯t.¡± [Jaese][Mourning] The sound of bagpipes filled the air as Jaese stood shoulder to shoulder with several other men. Some were wearing black suits and ties, other wore their police uniforms. They stood in a field of graves with bright green grass. Many of the people present were in tears. Before them lay a beautifully carved auburn casket being lowered into a 6ft hole. Jaese watched it go down, full of emotions. He was angry, sad, and frustrated, but tried his best to hold it in. His breaking point was seeing Chris¡¯ parents crying across from him, his empathy forced him to imagine how they must feel to have lost their son, and this forced the tears out of him. The next emotion was regret that he didn¡¯t do anything to stop it from happening. Jaese stood there long after the service had concluded and the last of the dirt was piled onto the coffin. Many of the officers and family members had gathered on the pathways leading out of the fenced graveyard, but finally Chris¡¯ father approached Jaese. He was a much older gentleman with white hair and wrinkles. Tall, like Chris, but hunched over in his black suit. ¡°You were his partner.¡± He said, it sounded like a mix between a question and a statement. ¡°Yes sir.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°He talked a lot about you. Said you were a dreamer, wanted to work for the FBI someday. Dudly do-right.¡± He said, his voice raspy. ¡°He talk about me at all?¡± ¡°All the time, he said you were his inspiration for joining the force.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Lotta good that did. I knew a lot of guys like you in my day. I heard the stuff you¡¯ve been spewing about who did this to my boy. From how my Chris talked about you, you don¡¯t seem to be the type to jerk around on this. You¡¯re the type that takes this to your head and blame yourself.¡± ¡°I keep thinking if I had done something differently, if I had told him not to stand up or-¡± ¡°Hindsight is always 20-20. Listen here.¡± He said as he put his hand on Jaese¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You don¡¯t waste that energy on blame, guilt, or self-pity. You use that energy to catch the son of a bitch that took my son away. You¡¯re the only one that can. You got it?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Jaese replied. The old man patted his shoulder. ¡°Good. First you oughta get that checked out.¡± He motioned to Jaese¡¯s other shoulder, and through his white shirt, a red blood stain could be seen. ¡°Ah shit. my stitches.¡± Jaese replied as he touched the shirt and got blood on his fingers. He said his goodbyes to the other officers quickly and rushed to his vehicle, driving to the hospital with his emotions still hanging over him. still unsure how to proceed with the investigation. He knew Richard and his team were looking into it, but wasn¡¯t sure what they¡¯d find. He tried again to recall the events in the warehouse, but nothing came up. When he walked into the front foyer of the hospital he was quickly directed to wait in a side room and instructed to take his shirt off. He ended up sitting there shirtless with a small stream of blood trickling out of the wound for 10 minutes. He couldn¡¯t take his mind off of what Chris¡¯ father said. Eventually the door swung open to reveal a familiar doctor and nurse. ¡°Jesus, you got out yesterday didn¡¯t you? I said take it easy and it looks like you went straight to the gym to lift weights. What¡¯d you do?¡± The doctor asked. ¡°I - yknow I don¡¯t really know. I¡¯m pretty sure I just went home to rest.¡± Jaese replied with a shrug as the Doctor inspected him. ¡°Sure. Alright, well it doesn¡¯t look that bad, you¡¯ll need new stitches though. Can you handle this?¡± The doctor turned to ask Kristen to which she nodded. ¡°Great. And this time, really, just take it easy.¡± He said as he left the room. Kristen nervously shuffled through some of the cabinets lining the room to get what she needed and pulled a tray up beside Jaese as he sat on the side of a poorly padded hospital bed. ¡°Does it hurt at all?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°Yea- I mean no, it¡¯s alright.¡± Jaese replied. Kristen began working on the stitches. ¡°I¡¯ll try and get it done quickly, let me know if I¡¯m hurting you, and try to stay still.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± He said. Kristen couldn¡¯t help but notice his attire, and quickly concluded where he had just come from. The two stayed silent, Kristen focusing on closing up the wound. ¡°Finished.¡± She said, pulling back and looking to see tears running down Jaese¡¯ face. ¡°Oh no, was I too rough? I¡¯m sorry, you should have said something!¡± Kristen replied anxiously. ¡°No, no, you¡¯re fine, it¡¯s not that.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°So I¡¯m good to leave?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Yes, all patched up.¡± Kristen said as she turned from him to clean up the tools, nervously fumbling around which was unlike her. ¡°Take care this time and try not to open them anymore okay? Just get some rest.¡± Kristen said. ¡°Yes m¡¯am.¡± He replied as he began putting his shirt back on. Kristen opened the door as if to leave, but then hesitated, and shut it again. ¡°You¡¯re frustrated, aren¡¯t you? About all those officers dying.¡± Kristen asked, turning to look at him. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± He mumbled back. ¡°And no one believes you about what happened?¡± She added. He didn¡¯t reply, instead broke eye contact and finished putting on his jacket. ¡°We¡¯ve got a lead now though. Once we find him we might get answers.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°I saw. On the news. Gabriel, right?¡± She asked. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± He replied. Kristen took a deep breath, looking distressed as she stared out the window of the narrow room. ¡°What if I told you I can help?¡± Kristen said, she instantly got Jaese¡¯ full attention. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s conditional. You can¡¯t tell anyone else.¡± Kristen hastily replied. ¡°If you know anything about this investigation that you aren¡¯t saying, please tell me.¡± ¡°You have to promise, only you can know. Just you.¡± Kristen said sternly. He looked her in the eyes and thought on it. A light of hope in his clouded mind. ¡°I promise.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Alright.¡± She let out a deep sigh of relief. ¡°You¡¯ll have to come back with me to my place.¡± ¡°Your place, why? Is something there?¡± ¡°Yes, well, sort of I¡¯m not the right person to explain it to you. My shift is over soon, so just wait for me in the lobby okay?¡± Kristen said, and Jaese nodded. As they swung the door open, a young girl with beautiful brown hair was standing here. ¡°Lian-li-Linda. There you are.¡± Kristen said, stopping herself. ¡°H-hey there.¡± Liana said awkwardly as she watched the two step out of the room. ¡°Officer Jaese here is going to be coming home with us today, make sure you get your things and are ready to leave.¡± Kristen said, to which Liana looked at her wide eyed. Jaese however politely reached out to shake her hand. ¡°Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Jaese, and you are Linda?¡± he asked. ¡°Y-yes, I am Linda, Kristen¡¯s uhm... niece. Nice to meet you.¡± She smiled back. ¡°I¡¯ll see you in a bit.¡± Kristen said while turning down a hall, Jaese watched her and ¡®Linda¡¯ as Liana rushed after Kristen. ¡°What did you say to him?¡± Liana said in a shout whisper. ¡°I had to to say something, he was crying! They¡¯re chasing some poor guy named Gabriel!¡± Kristen shout whispered back. ¡°I don¡¯t think Darith¡¯s going to be happy about this.¡± Liana replied anxiously. [Darith + Elise][Non-confrontational] ¡°Hey!¡± Elise waved at Jacob and Darith as they walked out of the school with hundreds of other students. ¡°You weren¡¯t joking about that stuff at lunch, right?¡± Elise asked. ¡°No, completely serious.¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°You really taking her to some secret dance place?¡± Jacob asked apprehensively. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± ¡°How¡¯d you find something like that?¡± ¡°Y¡¯know¡­ from a guy, that uh- my mom works with.¡± Darith replied with a forced shrug. ¡°Feels weird leaving this early.¡± Elise said, walking beside the two, now out of the school grounds but turning to look back at the building. ¡°It¡¯s alright, high school clubs don¡¯t mean much anyway.¡± Jacob said as he walked with them. ¡°Isn¡¯t your house the other way?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yeah, I thought I¡¯d come check this dance thing out too though. That a problem?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Or is this really like a date or something, you two want to be alone?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not, right?¡± Elise asked ¡°N-no, I swear, its not!¡± Darith replied nervously. ¡°Cool, then it¡¯s no problem.¡± Jacob smiled triumphantly. The three made their way around the corner from the school and the amount of students around them dwindled significantly. ¡°So what do you guys do for fun? Obviously not dance.¡± Elise asked. ¡°Oh we play games. Online, competitive, single player, especially team based stuff, and we¡¯re pretty sick too. Won some small tournaments here and there. You play any aside from DDR?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Nope, not really, bu-¡± Elise was interrupted by a large figure pushing her back with his shoulder, as a man in a black hooded shirt grabbed Jacob by his shirt collar and pulled him off the sidewalk, pushing him up against a tree. ¡°Whoa what the hell!?¡± Jacob shouted in surprise as Elise and Darith both took steps back. Staring at Jacob from under the hood was Gabriel, but none of the three recognized him. ¡°I don¡¯t want any trouble, I just want answers.¡± Gabriel said. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the hell you¡¯re talkin¡¯ about man, let go of me.¡± Jacob shouted as he struggled to get free, at which point Gabriel flashed a knife in his free hand. ¡°Oh shit what the fuck dude?!¡± Jacob panicked, as did Elise, but Darith remained calm. ¡°Shit, I know this won¡¯t hurt you, but c''mon, those guys killed my little brother. I know you aint with them, so just tell me!¡± Gabriel shouted desperately. ¡°That thing will definitely hurt me man, what the fuck are you talking about? Call the cops Darith! This guys on drugs!¡± Jacob shouted, but he was unable to break free from Gabriel¡¯s grip. ¡°Let him go!¡± Elise screamed. Gabriel carefully watched Jacob¡¯s reaction and got progressively more annoyed. ¡°I¡¯m tired of this shit. Stop fucking with me!¡± Gabriel shouted angrily, thrusting the knife forward towards Jacob¡¯s hand. Darith quickly dashed and held his hand up to catch the knife, moving faster than any of the three could see. As the knife went into his hand, no blood came out, instead Gabriel could pull it out cleanly with no wound, he then let go of Jacob and turned to Darith. ¡°He¡¯s not lying, he doesn¡¯t know anything.¡± Darith said as calmly as he could, but all three were looking at him with disbelief. ¡°You¡¯re saying that someone who can do stuff like this¡­¡± Darith pointed to his hand, while personally noting the 10 damage he took to his hitpoints. ¡°Killed your brother? You were at the club the other night?¡± Darith replied. ¡°What the hell is goin¡¯ on Darith?¡± Jacob said in confusion. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± Gabriel replied hesitantly. Darith looked between them and took a deep breath, he was caught between the fact that he revealed himself, and that this person was the victim of another bad player. ¡°Okay. I can explain but not here. And you have to promise to keep it to yourself. And not try to hurt anyone else, okay?¡± Darith replied, holding his hand out for the knife. Gabriel looked at his hand, then looked back up at him. ¡°You¡¯re not even a little bit afraid of me and I¡¯m twice your size with a knife.¡± Gabriel said while shaking his head, then handed it to him. ¡°You better be explaining it to me too.¡± Jacob added. ¡°How did you move that fast?¡± Elise said in amazement. ¡°Come on, my house isn¡¯t far from here.¡± Darith replied. The three followed him quickly, Darith¡¯s mind racing on how to sort out this situation with the best possible outcome. ¡°Have you seen him do that before?¡± Elise whispered to Jacob. ¡°No fricken away, that was some ninja shit.¡± Jacob replied. When they got to the house, Darith saw his mother''s car in the driveway. ¡°This is going to be complicated.¡± He mumbled to himself as he motioned them up the small lawn of the townhouse and opened the front door. The four of them stepped inside and closed the door. ¡°Welcome home!¡± Kristen said awkwardly as she turned around the corner of the living room to look down the hall towards them. ¡°I uh, brought some friends.¡± Darith replied while scratching his head and looking at her nervously, but he noticed she had a similar expression. ¡°So did we.¡± Liana called out, turning the corner as well to join in on the awkwardness, and a moment later Darith could see Jaese standing behind them. Jaese went from looking at Darith in the front of the 4 in the hallway to staring at the tallest figure, Gabriel, and the two locked eyes with immediate recognition. ¡°Gabriel.¡± Jaese shouted. ¡°Uh oh.¡± Liana said to herself. Chapter 31: Party Leader ¡°Shit, don¡¯t tell me you brought me here to talk to this cop.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Gabriel Estrada you are under arrest. Thanks Kristen.¡± Jaese said as he pushed past her. ¡°I didn¡¯t do shit so fuck off man. You saw those guys beat the shit out of me too.¡± Gabriel said, stepping back. ¡°What gu-¡± ¡°Jaese stop, I didn¡¯t bring you here to arrest him. Darith why did you bring him here?¡± Kristen asked while grabbing Jaese¡¯s sleeve. ¡°What the heck is going on?¡± Elise asked confused. ¡°Yeah what she said.¡± Jacob chimed in. ¡°Wait a second, Liana?¡± He said surprised as he looked at her. ¡°Hi.¡± She smiled and waved awkwardly. ¡°He knows something about the cop killers. I only want to take him in for questioning.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°I don¡¯t know shit.¡± Gabriel shouted back. ¡°The only reason I¡¯m here is ¡®cause this kid said he¡¯d tell me what''s goin¡¯ on.¡± ¡°Is that true?¡± Jaese turned to Darith, who stood in the middle of the argument. Darith glanced between the adults, his friend Jacob, and the pretty girl Elise, all staring at him, he could feel his palms getting sweaty. ¡°Darith, I¡¯m sorry for bringing him, it¡¯s just¡­¡± Kristen said apologetically. He looked at her, then the others, all eyes were on him, but he couldn¡¯t think of what to say, the best way to handle the situation. ¡°Pretend you¡¯re the raid leader, like you did in the desert.¡± Liana whispered to him. Darith locked eyes with her, then nodded and took a deep breath. ¡°Okay, listen up.¡± He said as confidently as he could. ¡°You¡¯re all here because you¡¯ve been affected by the same thing, in one way or another. Except you Elise... There is a game. I don¡¯t know where it came from or how it started, but once you are invited, you can become your game character and change your appearance. This game character can level up and train skills and gain abilities, and enter a fantasy world to fight monsters. That part is great, and it''s a lot of fun. Liana here is normally in a wheelchair, but because she has a game character body, she is able to walk around.¡± ¡°You¡¯re Liana from the hospital?¡± Jaese turned to her in disbelief, and she nodded. ¡°The problem is that you can also use the powers of your character in the real world. And a lot of bad people have been doing it. The game has something called City Guards, that I thought were supposed to protect the world from players. It says that if the city guards catch you revealing the game to non-players, it¡¯ll take you out of the game.¡± ¡°The city guard, they the guys in black suits?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s them.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t do shit.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve realized that it''s really easy to avoid them, the only purpose they apparently serve seems to be to protect the game, not people. All the City Guards do is reverse the damage caused by the game and erase people¡¯s memory of it.¡± Darith said. ¡°Assume I believe all of this is true, how do I stop people like that? The guy I met, he shot ice and killed 5 officers, and bullets wouldn¡¯t hurt him at all.¡± Jaese asked. ¡°You can¡¯t¡­ unless you¡¯re a part of the game. If you aren¡¯t, the only chance is to find a City Guard to protect you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen some crazy shit the last few days, but if what you¡¯re sayin¡¯ is true, you¡¯re part of the game, right?¡± Gabriel asked, and Darith nodded. ¡°Prove it.¡± Darith turned to Liana and she shrugged. ¡°Restore!¡± She shouted, and the green circle formed in front of her, illuminating the hall before it shot light to Darith and surrounded him. ¡°Holy shit!¡± Jacob shouted. ¡°Whoa!¡± Elise flinched. ¡°What the fuck¡­¡± Gabriel said with wide eyes. ¡°Get back!¡± Jaese called out as he pulled Kristen with him away from Liana. ¡°It¡¯s fine¡­ it¡¯s a healing spell.¡± Darith replied calmly. ¡°The guy who killed the officers and robbed the bank, he tried to kill you in the hospital yesterday. Liana and I stopped him and gave him a game over, so he¡¯s no longer a part of the game.¡± ¡°Who was it?¡± Jaese asked while regaining his composure. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ a guy named Thomas. He doesn¡¯t remember anything though. Once you die in the game you go back to a normal life, you lose your memory of ever playing¡­¡± Darith then turned to Jacob, and the two locked eyes. ¡°Once you get game over you can¡¯t be reinvited. That¡¯s what happened to you Jacob, you were in Ryan¡¯s party.¡± ¡°Shit, seriously?¡± Jacob said in disbelief, scratching his head as if trying to remember something, as Gabriel looked to him with guilt. ¡°You jumped in to protect me at the club, you don¡¯t remember at all?¡± Gabriel asked him. ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°The same guy that game over¡¯d Jacob, he killed your little brother?¡± Darith asked, Gabriel turned and nodded. ¡°More than thirty others, and that¡¯s only that we know of.¡± Jaese added. ¡°This is crazy weird and all, but what does this have to do with me?¡± Elise asked. ¡°I¡¯m starting to think that whole dance thing was a lie.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t, I wanted you to come because I can invite 3 more people to the game. At first I thought it might be better to invite people really good at gaming, but when I thought about how you already have skills that can translate well in the game world, and that you wanted to help people¡­ I thought maybe you¡¯d make the perfect party member.¡± ¡°You want to invite me to join you in this game?¡± Elise said, taken aback. ¡°Y-yeah. I need help. I don¡¯t want the game to end, because it has so much potential to be fun, and it let Liana walk out of her wheelchair, who knows what else it can do. But at the same time, I can¡¯t let bad players run wild without doing something about it. So I wanted to invite people that will help me stop them.¡± Darith said, looking at Elise but then turning between the others. ¡°And I can¡¯t rejoin?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°No, sorry¡­¡± Darith replied hesitantly. ¡°Both of you, you lost someone because of this game.¡± He looked between Jaese and Gabriel. ¡°But inviting you, it¡¯s risky. I don¡¯t know what sort of people you guys will be once you get strong in this game. If I bring you into my party, you both have to promise to follow all of my rules, I¡¯ll be the leader, okay?¡± Darith said, looking at the two of them. ¡°You¡¯ll help me take out Tai, right?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°As soon as possible.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll follow your rules.¡± Gabriel said, holding his hand out, to which Darith shook it. ¡°You didn¡¯t even ask him what the rules were.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Don¡¯t care, as long as I get revenge for my lil bro. And it sounds like this is gonna be my only way to do it.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°This is crazy.¡± Jaese said, rubbing his hands through his hair. ¡°You¡¯re saying people acting as game characters are going through the city causing all this damage, killing people? And the only way for me to start catching them is if I agree to your rules?¡± Jaese asked. Darith nodded. ¡°What are your rules.¡± Jaese asked. ¡°One, you always listen to my instructions. I¡¯m the leader. I know you guys are older than me, and you¡¯re good at different things, but for a party to succeed, everyone has to work together. Two, no using the game powers on non-players, no matter what. Don¡¯t use them to do any bad things at all. And Three, follow the game rules, you¡¯ll get those after I invite you¡­ that¡¯s basically it, I uh, if I come up with more rules you¡¯ll have to follow those too.¡± Darith shrugged at Liana and she gave him a thumbs up. ¡°What about arresting these guys after they¡¯re out of the game?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°You won¡¯t have any proof, the City Guard removes it, and the player won¡¯t even remember what they did.¡± Darith replied. ¡°So after we beat Tai and his boys, I¡¯m supposed to just let him walk away, ¡®cause he¡¯ll forget what he did?¡± Gabriel said angrily. ¡°This game sounds twisted yo. Messed with my head, messing with everyone¡¯s head.¡± Jacob said. ¡°It¡¯s got some downsides, that''s why I want your help to make it better. You either agree with my rules or you don¡¯t.¡± Darith replied, looking between them. Out of things to say, he let out a big breath of air. It went silent for a moment, but you could almost hear the brains on everyone in the room as they worked through what Darith had said. ¡°Was this the dance thing you were talking about? A place I can dance as much as I want?¡± Elise replied. Darith nodded. ¡°Okay... I¡¯m in. I¡¯ll help you out in this game. I already ran away from home anyway.¡± Elise shrugged. ¡°Worst thing that¡¯ll happen is that I forget about the game right? I still don¡¯t get how my dancing is supposed to help you though.¡± ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t think of a reason to say no¡­¡± Jaese hesitated. ¡°My son has a good heart. And he¡¯s really talented at games. He wants the same thing as you.¡± Kristen smiled, then looked to Darith. ¡°Darith, about what we talked about¡­ I think I¡¯ve made my choice. Helping these people and playing this game seems more important than school, but you have to promise to always keep me updated okay? I want to know you¡¯re safe at least once a day.¡± Kristen replied.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°O-okay.¡± ¡°Rule number 4, make sure Kristen knows Darith is safe every day!¡± Liana said jokingly. No one laughed, but Darith smiled at his mom and Liana. ¡°Okay, you guys ready?¡± Darith asked Elise, Gabriel and Jaese, they all nodded. ¡°I invite Jaese, Gabriel and Elise to join my party.¡± Darith said, and simultaneously there were three dings on their phones. Each reached into different pockets to pull them out and saw the invitation prompt. ¡°Read the rules carefully, then we¡¯ll work on your characters.¡± ¡°This could probably take awhile.¡± Liana whispered to Kristen. ¡°I¡¯ll order Pizza.¡± Kristen said as she pulled out her phone. Five minutes went by, the group made their way into the living room and all took seats. Kristen had brought a few chairs from the dining table to accommodate the extra bodies. Jacob was leaning over Elise¡¯s shoulder to read her screen. ¡°So what race should I pick?¡± Jaese asked as he was glancing through the stats. ¡°Right, our group right now consists of me, a magic damage dealer, and Liana, a healer. So what we¡¯re missing is a tank and more damage dealers. It depends on what sort of fighting you are most capable of though.¡± ¡°Tank?¡± Elise asked. ¡°Someone who gets the attention of the enemy and absorbs the damage.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Since you are really good at dancing, I thought you could use your abilities as a rogue type class, moving around fast and using melee weapons.¡± Darith said to Elise. ¡°Okay, that sounds pretty cool, so what race should I pick for that?¡± She asked. ¡°Well, Nemothynes are tiny, and Elves are pretty agile, or you could go with Human. The downside of changing races is you¡¯ll get a new body that you¡¯ll have to get used to.¡± Darith said. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll keep it all the same.¡± ¡°Pretty white girl wants to stay pretty.¡± Gabriel mumbled under his breath as he flicked through his screen. Elise threw him an angry glare, then flicked around with some of her facial features, then clicked finished. ¡°Wait yo!¡± Jacob called out, seeing what she had done. ¡°Wait, you can¡¯t change it!¡± Darith tried to stop her, but it was too late, a huge bright light enveloped the entire room, and once it was gone, Elise was laying with her eyes closed on the couch. She had a giant X scar across the middle of her face, the center being on her nose, and blue streaks in her blonde hair. When the light faded, everyone turned to look, while Jacob smacked his hand to his forehead. ¡°She still looks pretty though.¡± Liana commented ¡°Is she okay?¡± Jaese asked worriedly as he stood up. ¡°She¡¯s fine, she¡¯ll wake up in a second.¡± Darith reassured him. He eyed in his peripheral vision that underneath Liana¡¯s name, he could now see Elise as a level 1. ¡°What are you good at, Jaese?¡± Darith asked him. ¡°I, uh¡­ well I have basic martial arts training from the academy. I¡¯m a good shot too.¡± ¡°And you Gabriel?¡± ¡°I use my fists.¡± ¡°Do you know any fighting styles or anything like that?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Nah, I just hit them harder than they hit me. Does the trick.¡± Gabriel replied, intimidating Darith slightly as he eyed the size of his muscles. ¡°How about you act as our tank, you take the attention of enemies and we support you.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Sounds fine to me. I wanna be the big dude though.¡± He said as he turned his phone screen towards Darith to show the Orc character Gabriel had selected. In the time they¡¯d been talking Gabriel customized the orc to look nothing like himself, but toned down the orc skin color to match that of his own. It looked as though it was just a larger human with a bigger than usual jaw and large teeth jutting out of its mouth. No hair, gigantic muscles, and angry looking eyes. ¡°Th-that¡¯s pretty good. Just remember the City Guard won¡¯t want to see you in the real world.¡± ¡°Business as usual then.¡± Gabriel said while eyeing Jaese, then hit the accept button, and another bright flash filled the room. Afterwards, Gabriel could be seen in his orc body in a chair beside the tv. ¡°Wicked.¡± Jacob said as he looked at him. Seconds later the chair broke under his weight, causing several gasps, but Gabriel didn¡¯t wake up. ¡°Seriously?¡± Kristen said as she looked to Darith, and he just shrugged. ¡°Uh, right, Jaese. I don¡¯t think there are guns, but there¡¯s things like bows, or crossbows probably. You should go with Elf and we can figure out how you can use a ranged weapon in the game world.¡± Darith said. ¡°Got it.¡± He replied, flicking around the screen a bit. ¡°Here goes nothing.¡± He took a deep breath, then hit the accept button, and the third and final flash filled the room. When the light was gone it left behind a taller Jaese with pointy ears and much longer, silkier brown hair, not unlike Liana¡¯s. The three were now quiet, all with their eyes closed, laying around the room. ¡°Darith we did it, we got a party! It¡¯s perfect!¡± Liana shouted excitedly as she jumped up for joy, and it was contagious, he got a big smile on his face as well. ¡°I just hope they¡¯ll listen and follow the rules.¡± ¡°Man this sucks yo. Can you find a way to revive me or some shit?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Y-yeah, I¡¯ll look into it, I promise.¡± Darith replied. Just then the doorbell rang. ¡°Oooh Pizza.¡± Kristen said, running the door. ¡°What are we going to do first?¡± Liana asked excitedly. ¡°Well we gotta teach them the basics, then level up. There¡¯s still a lot of things I want to figure out, like where to spend gold and get better equipment, but now that we can play nonstop it shouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡± Darith replied excitedly as Kristen came back with two pizza boxes. She plopped them down on the table and opened them, to which each of them grabbed a slice. ¡°I smell pizza.¡± Elise moaned as she opened her eyes slowly, sitting up and looking around. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°You entered the game.¡± Darith smiled as he pointed at her scar. She ran her hand over her face to feel it, then stood up in panic. ¡°Where¡¯s your bathroom?¡± She asked. He pointed to it and she ran in, looking in the mirror. ¡°Oh shit, I didn¡¯t think it was real! Is this permanent?¡± She came out after looking. ¡°N-no, you can switch it back, it¡¯s like an extra body. Look.¡± Darith said, trying to calm her down. He transformed into his Nemothyne form. ¡°Wha- you¡¯re one of the animal people. Oh my god you¡¯re so cute!¡± Elise said excitedly as she walked forward and stroked his ear, and his face went red. ¡°I know, isn¡¯t he?¡± Liana joined in, stroking the other one. Elise then pulled back and felt her scar again. ¡°Well if it isn¡¯t permanent¡­ then, isn¡¯t it badass? Don¡¯t I look like a kick ass warrior lady?¡± She said as she walked back over to the mirror. ¡°Yeah totally.¡± Jacob said with a mouthful of pizza. A groan came from Gabriel on the ground as he opened his eyes and sat upright. He looked down at his body, and then stood up, his head nearly hitting the ceiling. ¡°Oh hell yeah.¡± He said as he started flexing and twisting his arms. He then eyed the pizza and looked to Kristen. ¡°Do you mind if I eat a piece of pizza, ma¡¯am?¡± Gabriel asked politely, his tone unlike anything he¡¯d said before. ¡°Of course, help yourself.¡± Kristen replied, taken aback. ¡°Thank you ma¡¯am.¡± He replied, and reached down to grab a slice. As he bit into it though Darith watched him struggle with his oddly shaped jaw. Seeing this though, Gabriel looked down at him confused. Darith¡¯s head barely made it over Gabriel¡¯s waistline . ¡°What¡¯s with the fox ears, and where¡¯d Darith go?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°I¡¯m Darith, this is my game character.¡± He replied in his little boy voice. ¡°Why¡¯d you pick such a tiny one?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°They¡¯re good at magic.¡± ¡°If you say so.¡± He shrugged back. Finally came Jaese, rubbing his eyes as he looked around the room. He spotted Elise¡¯s scar, the tiny Nemothyne, then the big orc. He stood up and felt off balance for a moment, not expecting to be as tall as he was. Then felt around his ears and his hair. ¡°Incredible. I¡¯m really an elf.¡± He said to himself. ¡°You¡¯re a pretty handsome elf too.¡± Kristen smiled. ¡°Thank you ma¡¯am.¡± Jaese replied shyly. ¡°What¡¯s with all the ma''am''s. You guys are making me feel old.¡± Kristen sighed as she shook her head. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go smash Tai¡¯s teeth in.¡± Gabriel said as he punched his left fist into his right hand. ¡°Whoa hold on, no way. Ryan said he was around level 90, you¡¯re level 1. Just cause you have big muscles doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll be stronger than him, he¡¯ll wipe the floor with us if we go now.¡± Darith replied. ¡°First we have to level up and get stronger.¡± ¡°How do we do that?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°We¡¯ll need to go into the game world and fight monsters, do quests, and train our stats and abilities.¡± Darith replied. ¡°What kind of monsters?¡± Elise said apprehensively. ¡°Stuff like spiders, crabs, wraiths, giant sand golems, you know, fantasy like monsters.¡± ¡°Are there Dragons too?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°We didn¡¯t see one yet.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Let¡¯s go then. How do we get there?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°Slow down, first you need to learn the basics of how to play. Pick up your phones, I¡¯ll teach you about all of the stats and interface commands. Take a seat and grab some pizza, cause it¡¯s gonna take awhile.¡± Darith said as they all grabbed their phones. It took a good 30 minutes of Darith explaining each of the stats in detail after getting them to use the proper interface. He noted that all three of them had much higher starting stats than he did across the board. Elise: Level 1 0/10 experience Health: 100/100 Mana: 20/20 Endurance: 75/75 Strength: 10 Agility: 18 Intelligence: 6 Spirit: 9 Endurance: 13 Vitality: 9 Charisma: 10 Luck: 1 ------------------------------------- Jaese: Level 1 0/10 experience Health: 100/100 Mana: 40/40 Endurance: 70/70 Strength: 15 Agility: 11 Intelligence: 10 Spirit: 12 Endurance: 12 Vitality: 10 Charisma: 12 Luck: 5 ------------------------------------- Gabriel: Level 1 0/10 experience Health: 150/150 Mana: 25/25 Endurance: 75/75 Strength: 19 Agility: 9 Intelligence: 7 Spirit: 12 Endurance: 15 Vitality: 18 Charisma: 5 Luck: 1 Once they all got accustomed to the interface in their peripheral vision, they were able to pocket their phones and took out their starting armor. Each took turns in the bathroom changing into it until everyone was wearing similar looking clothing. Luckily only Gabriel had to destroy the clothes he¡¯d been wearing in the process, as it had torn during the transformation into the orc. ¡°Alright, next I¡¯m going to teach you the basic skills I¡¯ve learned this far. They¡¯ll start out as level 1 though.¡± As he said this, he noticed all three staring blankly at him. Kristen walked over and leaned into Darith¡¯s ear. ¡°Maybe take a little break, I think they need time to process all this, just like I did.¡± She whispered. Darith nodded. ¡°Well, l-let¡¯s stop for now and you guys get used to everything, We¡¯ll take a 5 minute break.¡± Darith said, and the three let out sighs of relief. They began pressing buttons and reading things in their character menu, but to everyone else it looked like they were tapping thin air. Chapter 32: The Kingdom of Avistion ¡°So what¡¯s Ryan up to now, why isn¡¯t he here?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Last time we talked we fought. He¡¯s recruiting our old guild members to do something similar to what I¡¯m doing.¡± Darith replied. ¡°It¡¯s messed up he didn¡¯t tell me what happened.¡± Jacob sighed. ¡°Was I at least good?¡± ¡°Yeah! You were really cool, you had a sword.¡± Liana smiled. ¡°Damn right I did, swords are the best weapon.¡± Jacob replied. Darith took a few minutes to tell Jacob about his character and what they had done, and when he noticed the other three stopped pressing their menu and were listening in, he turned back to them. ¡°You guys ready to continue?¡± He asked, and got three nods. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to teach you my basic skills, remember that to make anything stronger in this game, you have to train it by using it. The ones I have are Kick, Sprint, Dash, Analyze, Cartography, Through the Pain, Evade and Conceal. I have another, but not all can be shared.¡± As he began the process of teaching them one by one, he began explaining. ¡°Cartography lets you see a map of the area around you. The more you map, the more it levels up. Higher levels give more detail. Mine is only Level 5 so far, but it shows me clear maps and different floors in buildings, ect. If it gets higher I bet it can show more stuff, maybe even hidden places.¡± He said as he taught it to all of them. ¡°Kick is a basic attack that uses 1 endurance. I haven¡¯t used it much. Really, you just use it automatically whenever you kick something. The more you kick stuff, the better it gets.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Jaese nodded as they all learned it. ¡°Sprint is the skill for running fast, it consumes energy, higher ranks mean you run faster. I¡¯ve noticed that most of the energy based abilities don¡¯t cost less no matter how you train them, so if you use a lot you¡¯ll need to instead increase your endurance.¡± Darith said as he went through teaching it. ¡°Endurance is like our energy, right?¡± Elise asked. ¡°Right, think of it like your stamina in real life, like how long you can run or dance without getting tired, and how long it takes for you to recover and do it again.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Makes sense.¡± Gabriel shrugged. ¡°Dash is like sprint.¡± Darith continued. ¡°Except instead of running, its like short jumps, to move suddenly, and quickly. It costs more energy than sprint. It¡¯s what I used outside to protect Jacob. If you use it a lot, you¡¯ll be able to dash faster and further distances at a time.¡± ¡°I¡¯m definitely training this one.¡± Elise said as she was taught it. ¡°Analyze lets you gather information about someone or something. If you see something for the first time, make sure to use this skill on it. It only levels up when you use it on new things so it''s hard to improve, but the higher it gets the more information you can get. Stops you from being caught off guard, and has saved me more than once. So don¡¯t forget to use it when you can.¡± Darith said, and the three nodded. ¡°Evade is a passive ability, if you have high agility it¡¯ll give a chance that you don¡¯t take damage from some attacks, it''s hard to improve the chance though. And lastly is Through the Pain, this is a last ditch effort ability that makes it so you can use unlimited amounts of energy for 1 minute, but once that minute is up you suffer a huge penalty until you sleep, so don¡¯t use it unless you absolutely have to.¡± Darith finished explaining. ¡°That¡¯s cool and all, but what about the spells? Teach ¡®em the spells.¡± Jacob asked while eating pizza and leaning back, watching the random glowing lights appear and surround people. ¡°I can¡¯t teach spells. You¡¯ll have to learn those yourself. The beginner weapons usually teach a spell tied to that fighting style, so we¡¯ll do some beginner tasks and you guys can start getting a feel for how you want to fight.¡± Darith said as he took a step back. ¡°Any questions so far?¡± ¡°Nope, you¡¯ve explained it clearly.¡± Jaese replied as he looked over the basic skills he had just learned. ¡°None.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°I think I get it so far.¡± Elise said. ¡°Great! The only thing left is how to use the abilities.¡± Darith said as he looked to Liana. ¡°Energy based abilities can be used by just doing the action, or using a command. For example, if I want to use the kick ability, I just kick!¡± Darith said as he kicked forward, and the force sent out a small gust of air towards the curtains on the back window. ¡°If I want to do something like - Dash!¡± He shouted, and suddenly moved across the house to the front door, out of their view, causing everyone to gasp. ¡°Where¡¯d he go?¡± Jaese asked as he stood up, looking around. ¡°Dash!¡± He shouted, and re-appeared in the living room. ¡°I can say the skill¡¯s name as a command to use it. But¡­ can any of you tell me why that¡¯s bad?¡± Darith asked as he looked over the three. Jacob shot his hand up. ¡°Oh, I know, I know!¡± Jacob exclaimed. Gabriel briefly glanced at Jacob, then back at Darith. ¡°If you gotta call out what you¡¯re doin¡¯, won¡¯t the person you¡¯re fighting know what to expect?¡± Gabriel said. ¡°Exactly. There¡¯s a few ways around this, since you can customize the command to use an ability. The first way is to change the name to something only you know. For example, that Ice guy,Thomas, he shot Ice bolts by shouting Kavricida, which is a made up word, I tried googling it. This is okay at first, but after one or two uses, your opponent would catch on unless its a monster or something. The better way to do it is like this.¡± Darith said, then quickly dashed away and dashed back. ¡°Wait, like what, what¡¯d you do?¡± Elise asked confused. ¡°Commands can also be body movements. You can assign them in the menu, you can even make the body movements really subtle, suitable for fights where you need to be able to use your abilities really quickly. Like my Melt Ice spell, I can set it to a command where I - ¡° Darith stopped, opened his mouth wide, then bit down on his tongue. Once he did, the Melt Ice spell circle began forming, but he waved his hand to cancel it. ¡°The downside to casting like this with subtle movements is you might accidentally make the movement when you don¡¯t mean to. So make sure you change around your commands and get comfortable with them, everyone understand?¡± Darith asked, and they all nodded. ¡°Dang that¡¯s pretty cool, so you could cast spells by wiggling a toe or something?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Y-yeah but if you accidentally wiggle your toe while walking then it¡¯d be bad.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Darith, look!¡± Liana tugged on his shoulder, as a bright white light flashed through the backdoor, illuminating the entire room for a moment. ¡°What the hell is that?¡± Jaese said startled, as Elise and Gabriel stood up while Darith turned. ¡°What is what? I don¡¯t see anything?¡± Kristen asked confused. ¡°Me either, what¡¯s happening?¡± Jacob joined in. Darith watched as the light hit the ground in the backyard and slowly expanded outward and upward as it turned from light into stone. One by one, white stone bricks piled up on top of each other forming an archway with a closed wooden door. Requirements Met: Play for 1 Week Reward: Key to Avistion Region Unlocked- Avistion City, Level ~ (Safe Zone)(?) Darith watched as a white key appeared in his hand, then disintegrated into light as it entered his inventory with his other two keys. The others saw it happen. ¡°Is that one of the doorways you were talking about?¡± Jaese asked, meanwhile Liana began hopping with excitement. ¡°A new area, it''s that city that Mayiera mentioned!¡± She cheered excitedly. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s a doorway... it looks like it¡¯s a city.¡± Darith said as he hit the ?. Player vs Player combat is disabled within a Safe Zone. ¡°We can probably buy equipment and learn more about the game. Let¡¯s postpone training a bit and check out this city.¡± Darith said with a twinkle in his eye, he stopped looking like a party leader, and returned to looking like a kid, as his imagination ran wild with what they¡¯d find on the other side of the door. ¡°Make sure you guys stay close, alright?¡± Darith asked. ¡°We¡¯re going? Into the game world?¡± Elise said in disbelief as Darith opened the backyard door and moved to the white gate. ¡°I still don¡¯t see anything yo.¡± Jacob sounded disappointed. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Gabriel said as he moved to follow Darith. ¡°Bye Mom, we¡¯ll be safe, no fighting can happen in this place.¡± Darith said back to her. ¡°O-okay. Take care, don¡¯t let anyone get hurt, and don¡¯t get into any trouble. And take care of Liana!¡± She replied nervously. ¡°I will!¡± He said, then stepped through. Gabriel walked through after him without hesitation. Liana followed, then Elise awkwardly poked her hand through the doorway and eventually stepped through. ¡°Thank you¡­ for doing all this.¡± Jaese said to Kristen, She smiled back at him, and with that he moved through the doorway to follow the others. To Jacob and Kristen, they had all stepped out into the backyard and simply vanished, and the two were left in the living room in silence, Jacob chewing the pizza loudly. Kristen let out a deep sigh, then looked to Jacob as he reached into the pizza box to grab another slice. He eventually noticed she was watching him. ¡°Oh, I guess I should probably get going.¡± Jacob said awkwardly, standing up. ¡°Thanks for the pizza.¡± ¡°Get home safely.¡± Kristen smiled. He stumbled to the front door with the slice still in hand, slipped on his bag and shoes, then left the house. Kristen flopped down on the couch, glanced around the room, eyeing the broken chair, then grabbed a slice and the TV remote. ¡°Tom Cruise, I need some good ol¡¯ Cruise tonight.¡± She said as she flicked it on. [All][The City of Avistion] White cobblestone streets. Grey and white stone buildings all around them, some towering high above others as far as the eye could see. In the distance, a gigantic palace could be seen reaching up towards the clear blue sky that drew in Darith¡¯s attention. As he looked up he saw flying creatures soaring around, some appeared to have riders on them, and mixed about were flying airships. They appeared in a large plaza with a big fountain in the middle, Darith could see dozens of other gates opening and closing around the fountain all around them. The fountain itself was made of elegantly carved marble figures, one representing each race in the game, and the clear water shooting out of various parts reflected the light, making the fountain sparkle. It was noisy, people talking and shouting while hammers clanged about, beasts of burden pulled along carts filled with crates, barrels, and other goods. The horses and donkeys were easy to recognize, but there were large bird like creatures, bull-like, and other sorts as well pulling the various vehicles through the streets. Stalls were set up on the outskirts of the plaza with merchants calling out to grab the attention of those passing by. Guards visibly stood idling around the plaza wearing heavy armor bearing the emblem of a blue eagle with its wings outstretched. Many of the shops also bore banners, most had the same design of a red circle with a red fist in the middle, but some varied. ¡°Wow.¡± Liana said in amazement. ¡°This is your first time here?¡± Jaese asked as he looked around with his jaw dropped. ¡°Is this place real?¡± Elise asked. Gabriel was silent but his eyes were open wide. ¡°Y-yeah, this is- this is what I call an MMORPG!¡± Darith shouted excitedly, unable to contain himself any longer. ¡°Welcome, welcome to Avistion city, you must be new here, right?¡± A voice spoke, as from behind them a tall Lizard-like creature approached. He was wearing advanced looking leather armor with a tabard bearing the red fist symbol on it. ¡°You must be confused, it¡¯s a lot to take in? Don¡¯t worry, our guild will help you out. All you have to do is join, and we¡¯ll answer all of your questions.¡± He said with a smile. ¡°Ah-ah-ah-ah, not so fast.¡± Another voice called out, as two familiar elves appeared from the crowd and approached. Darith recognized them both immediately, it was Aaron and Belle. The lizard turned to them annoyed. ¡°You don¡¯t want to make the mistake of getting involved with the wrong sorts, now that you¡¯re starting your new life in this world. Trust me. Join the New World Order and you¡¯ll be set.¡± The lizard replied, pretending to ignore the two of them. The name immediately struck a nerve with half the people in Darith¡¯s party, and the air got tense. ¡°We¡¯re not interested.¡± Darith replied coldly. ¡°You¡¯ll regret it¡­ we control everything in this world. If you don¡¯t join, you might as well quit on the spot.¡± He said with hostility now. ¡°Didn¡¯t one of your high levels get taken out the other day? I wouldn¡¯t spout lies to the newbies. Buzz off.¡± Aaron said to him. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Suit yourself.¡± The lizard-man hissed, then walked away, quickly spotting another group entering the city from a different gate wearing beginner armor, and running to approach them. ¡°Phew, we found you! Been waiting all day!¡± Aaron said as he smiled and reached his hand out to shake Darith¡¯s. ¡°You¡¯ve been waiting for me?¡± He asked confused. ¡°Yeah, not long after you saved us, we got the door to enter this city. Belle decided that to pay you back, we¡¯d learn everything we could and then share it with you. We knew roughly when you¡¯d get the gate because you said when you started when we met.¡± Aaron shrugged. ¡°Looks like you filled out your party. Nice to meet you all, I¡¯m Aaron. I¡¯m actually a man, so don¡¯t mind the female body.¡± He said as he reached to shake Liana¡¯s hand, then moved through the others. ¡°I¡¯m Jaese, nice to meet you.¡± ¡°Gabriel.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Elise.¡± She smiled. Belle quickly did the same. ¡°This place is pretty incredible, huh? But wow, you got level 30!¡± Belle said in amazement, Darith noting that both of them were 21. ¡°Y-yeah, we did a bit more questing and grinding since then.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Come, follow us, let¡¯s get out of this part of the city where it''s safer to talk. This area¡¯s controlled mostly by the New World guys.¡± Belle said as she lead them down a busy narrow street, the others following. ¡°What¡¯s with that guild?¡± Darith asked, and everyone in his party listened intently.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°They¡¯re one of the majority ruling guilds in Avistion, and they¡¯re literally insane, I heard the leader is a senator or something in the US. They have almost all the highest level players and control a lot of the resources, and kill anyone not a part of their guild that leaves the Avistion Safe zones. Makes it a nightmare for players to level up or get gear unless they join. And if you do join, they enforce taxes on you - the lot of them are nuts. I hear they¡¯re doing similar things in the real world. So for now we just avoid them. They¡¯ve been particularly pissed off lately because someone took out one of their high level members yesterday and they¡¯ve been trying to figure out who did it and what guild they were from.¡± Belle replied. Darith and Liana looked at each other nervously. ¡°Good news is, most of their members are low levels and the guild taxes they enforce really hinders their progress, they funnel most of their resources to the highest level members who are always grinding away somewhere, so if you find a secret dungeon or area to grind, you¡¯ll be fine. Most people form groups with other more friendly guilds to level safely. We haven¡¯t joined one yet though. Haven¡¯t even left the city for that matter.¡± Aaron said. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t encounter one of their top players or officers, it¡¯s fine. But those guys are really powered up so if you see one, run. Don¡¯t know anything about how good they are as players, but they¡¯ll be crazy high level with good gear. Which makes it even more impressive that someone took one of them out.¡± Belle added. ¡°Here.¡± She pointed forward as the street went from narrow to open again, entering another Plaza. ¡°This here is Griffon Square, it¡¯s controlled by the Friendly Fox guild, they allow all the merchants and crafters to do business here without taxes, and don¡¯t allow the New World guys here.¡± Aaron said. He pointed at an even larger statue with a griffon standing on its hind legs, water spouting out of its beak. This area was much more crowded, and the shops lining the street were much more busy. ¡°When you survive a week in this game, you finally get a chance to learn about it in detail. And boy is there a lot to learn. Come, let¡¯s get something to eat first, the food in this place is crazy.¡± Belle said with a smile, leading them into one of the buildings lining the main plaza that was bustling with customers. Darith paused for a moment and looked to Liana and the others. All of them looked completely bewildered, staring in various directions at all of the many people walking around them of the varying races, all wearing different sets of armor and wielding different weapons and equipment. Some were shouting trade deals, some recruitment calls. ¡°Buy copper ore in bulk, level up your blacksmithing today!¡± ¡°Looking for some DPS for the Wolf Den, please be level 15 or higher!¡± ¡°Selling Wool robes, 25 gold pieces, great for aspiring spell casters!¡± ¡°Donkey and cart for sale, 200 gold pieces, good condition!¡± ¡°Can any crafters make me a new bow? A goblin stole mine! Please? I have materials!¡± Darith took a minute to take it in as well. ¡°This is so cool!¡± Liana said excitedly ¡°This is crazy!¡± Elise replied. ¡°Come on guys, stay close.¡± Darith said, grinning ear to ear as he led his party to follow Aaron and Belle. When they entered the restaurant Belle and Aaron found them a large table in the corner with enough chairs to accommodate 10 people, the chairs built sturdy enough for an orc. Before they had even all sat down, a female orc with long braided black hair and dark green skin appeared with small tusks appeared wearing plain clothes with an apron on top, Darith noted her name, Fumiko, level 11. ¡°Hello, may I take your order?¡± She asked. ¡°Are you a player?¡± Darith asked, noting her name. ¡°Y-yes,¡± She replied politely. ¡°Wow, you can work in the shops here?¡± Liana asked. ¡°Yes, it''s a good way to earn gold to buy great starting gear and level up my cooking skills.¡± She smiled. ¡°Sorry, they¡¯re all new to Avistion.¡± Aaron said. ¡°No problem, we get that a lot.¡± Fumiko replied. ¡°We¡¯ll take 7 orders of Gorak Steak.¡± Belle grinned. ¡°Anything to drink?¡± ¡°Nemothyne style Coffee for each of us. That¡¯ll be all.¡± Belle replied. ¡°Very well, your order should be done shortly!¡± Fumiko replied gleefully. ¡°You guys are gonna love this. Plus, she gets a ton of experience from preparing those dishes.¡± Belle shrugged. ¡°What the hell¡¯s a Gorak?¡± Gabriel asked with a raised brow. ¡°Nasty creatures, high level monsters that look like bears, they hang out in the south western forest. Taste delicious though.¡± Belle replied. ¡°Now, first thing is first, how much gold do you have?¡± She turned to Darith, as everyone turned to him. ¡°I-¡± He hesitated, not sure if it was good to disclose it. ¡°Have you got at least 250 gold yet? I know its a lot.¡± Belle asked. ¡°Y-yeah.¡± Darith replied, relieved to hear that. He had gotten 1106 gold from all the hunting thus far, most of it coming from the bounties of the PKers in the desert. ¡°Great! That lady over there is a high level member of the Friendly Fox guild, she¡¯s leveled up Scholar Mastery.¡± She pointed across the way to a Nemothyne with fancy detailed robes on sitting at a bar, drinking from a mug and chatting with others. ¡°Normally it costs a lot of gold to upgrade your spellbook to show scholar level information, and you have to pay per ability to do it, but she¡¯ll do it all for 250 gold pieces.¡± Belle said. ¡°Scholar level information?¡± Darith asked. ¡°The information you get at the start is like the beginner info, it leaves out a lot of details, I think to prevent new players from getting overwhelmed. If you let a scholar upgrade it, it¡¯ll explain to you in more detail how everything is working. Makes it way easier to level things up. It''s easier for you to buy her services and check out what it does to your spells then to have me explain.¡± Belle replied. ¡°But what about my other party members?¡± Darith asked as he looked to them. ¡°Well¡­ it''s 250g each. You should start with yourself. Trust me though, it¡¯s the best deal you¡¯ll get, the NPC¡¯s in Avistion charge 50g per ability to give you scholar information on it, and what she does is permanent. I¡¯ll go get her, okay?¡± She said, then stood up and walked across the restaurant to talk to her. ¡°It¡¯s crazy what you¡¯ll learn. I found out that the spells I was making up with my multishot were already skills that could be learned separately.¡± Aaron said as they watched Belle across the restaurant, but it was too noisy to hear her talking to the Nemothyne. ¡°What do you mean, be learned separately?¡± Darith asked confused. ¡°You can make up abilities using what you know, but they can¡¯t level up on their own until you normalize them. Until you do that, they¡¯ll always be based off of the - you know what, Belle¡¯s right, talk to the scholar first, then it¡¯ll be easier to explain.¡± Aaron said as he fumbled around his words a bit. A few seconds later Belle returned with the Nemothyne beside her. It was a young female Nemothyne, level 58, named Vanessa. She smiled and looked over the bunch. ¡°Bella tells me you¡¯re all new to Avistion. Which one of you would like me to Scholarize your abilities?¡± She smiled with a squeaky mouse-like voice. ¡°Me, but I was wondering if I could make a deal?¡± Darith asked, as all eyes turned to him, but as Vanessa looked at him her eyes went wide with shock. ¡°Seal Fate!¡± She shouted, raising her hand as a purple spell circle formed in front of her, and a beam shot out of it at Darith¡¯s forehead, everyone at the table stood up. ¡°Wait, what are you doing?¡± Darith asked. ¡°It¡¯s not PvP related, right?¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be, this is a safe zone. What are you doing Vanessa?¡± Belle asked as the spell continued to cast. ¡°Saving this boy''s life.¡± She said in a serious tone. ¡°S-saving his life? From what?¡± Liana asked. And a few seconds later, the purple circle disappeared and the beam vanished. ¡°You too, little one. Seal Fate!¡± She called out, then a similar light went to Liana¡¯s head. ¡°This spell will seal away an action you did related to the game, so that other high level scholars or telepathic spells cannot read them. It deletes it from the knowledge of the game world, sort of like ripping a page out of a book. You¡¯ll still remember it happened, but no one else will be able to read that page, does that make sense?¡± Vanessa said, and with her words, both Darith and Liana knew what she was talking about. Once the spell finished casting, she let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Did any other high level players talk to you since you arrived?¡± She asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Darith replied. ¡°What is she talking about, Darith?¡± Elise asked, confused. ¡°You mustn¡¯t speak of it, or brag, or anything of the sort, you will get in more trouble than you know. Understand?¡± Vanessa said, locking eyes with the two of them. They both nodded apprehensively. ¡°You either did something really bad, or really good¡­¡± Belle commented as she watched the exchange. ¡°Sorry about being so abrupt. It was for your own good. Now, you were asking about a deal?¡± She returned to her normal, happy, squeaky voice. ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡± Darith replied nervously. ¡°I was wondering if you could Scholarize my entire party for 1000 gold.¡± He said. ¡°Whoa Darith, you got 1000 gold already?¡± Aaron said surprised. ¡°Hmm.. for what you did, a service to all who play this game - I¡¯ll agree to that.¡± Vanessa said while putting her finger on her chin, followed by a nod. ¡°Gold first.¡± She said. Darith navigated through his inventory and clicked on his gold, then withdrew 1000, and it appeared in his hand in a small brown pouch. He quickly handed it to her, and she took it. Moments later it dissipated into her hand as light. ¡°Hold out your hand, each of you.¡± Vanessa squeaked. Darith did so, then Liana and Elise, and finally Gabriel and Jaese. One by one she held their hands tight, and a purple light went from her hand and swirled around theirs. Darith immediately noticed the shift in his interface layout. Name: Darith Title: Spider Slayer Race: Nemothyne Gender: Male (Male) Level: 31 Health: 625/625 (0/m) Mana: 1300/1300 (132/m) Endurance: 690 (45/m) Armor: 7 Strength: 36 Agility: 30 Intelligence: 81 + 4.0 (5%) Spirit: 21 + 1 (5%) Endurance: 43 Vitality: 39 Charisma: 5 Luck: 2 Unused: 0 0 Party Invites Remaining Bonuses: +5 Spider Damage (Title) -5% Cast Speed (Item) Basic Skills: Gamer¡¯s Mind* (Panic Immune, +1 Int, +1 Spr) Evade* (2.6% Chance to Avoid Damage) Kick - Rank 10 (Dmg: 11 + Str) Conceal - Rank 3 (97.5%) Sprint - Rank 10 (Cost: 5e/s) Cartography - Rank 5 Through the Pain - Rank 2 (5e = 5x Exhaust, 61s Delay) Dash - Rank 14 (Cost: 15e) Analyze - Rank 6 (Cost: 50mana) Masteries: Staff Mastery: - Rank 71 (Dmg: Weapon + 75, +81mp/m) Spell Mastery - Rank 54 Rank 15: Able to move while casting beginner spells Rank 30: Able to choose the casting point of beginner spells Rank 50: Able to completely control the movement beginner spells Rank 50: Able to learn intermediate spells Spells - Beginner: Firebolt - Rank 99 (Max)(?) (Dmg: 475 + Int, 1mp, 0.5s cast) Waterbolt - Rank 3 (Dmg: 3 + 50% of Int, 5mp, 2s cast) Multicast - Rank 99 (Max)(?) (2% Less dmg) Fire Enchant - Rank 58 (Bonus: 290 + 10% of Int, 25mp, Instant, 5min Duration) Spells - Custom(?): (N)Scald: Made Using Multicast, Firebolt, Waterbolt (Can be Normalized(?)) Chain Fire: Made using Multicast, Firebolt, Spell Mastery Rank 15+ Firestorm: Made using Multicast, Firebolt, Spell Mastery Rank 30+ (N)Melt Ice: Made using Multicast, Firebolt, Waterbolt (Can be Normalized(?)) Fire Nova: Made using Multicast, Firebolt (N)(A)Meteor: Made using Multicast, Firebolt (Spell Mastery too low to Normalize(?)) (N)(I)Mass Fire Enchant: Made using Multicast, Firebolt (Can be Normalized(?)) Equipped: Head: Cooling Headband of the Mind (Common)(Bound) Type: Cloth Armor: 1 +2 Intelligence Special: Prevents damage from Overheat Hands: Silk Grips of the Frozen Queen (Rare) Type: Cloth Armor: 3 +2 Intelligence +2 Spirit Special: Reduces casting time by 5% Weapon: Beginner¡¯s Staff (Common)(Bound) Damage: 1~1 Speed: Slow Special: Teaches Firebolt Finger:Beginners Ring of Meditation (Common)(Bound) Special: Increases mana regeneration by 2 Feet: Beginner Nemothyne Shoes (Common)(Bound) Armor: 1 Chest: Beginner Nemothyne Chest (Common)(Bound) Armor: 1 Legs: Beginner Nemothyne Legs (Common)(Bound) Armor: 1 Inventory: Gold: 106gp Frozen Silk: 7 (Crafting: Tailoring, Leatherworking, Woodworking, Blacksmithing) Frostberry: 13 (Crafting: Alchemy, Cooking) Frostberry Leaf: 34 (Crafting: Alchemy, Cooking) Turtle Shell Fragment: 5 (Crafting: Leatherworking, Blacksmithing Desert Bat Wing: 8 (Crafting: Alchemy, Leatherworking) Cursed Stone Fragment: 3 (Crafting: Jewelcrafting, Blacksmithing) ¡°Beginner? Normalize? What is all that?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Beginner spells are the basic ones you learn starting out. They help determine what class you can become, or what affinity you will obtain. They¡¯re always tied to a specific mastery though. For example, sword spells and abilities will be tied to Sword Mastery. Healing spells are generally tied to healing spheres, offensive magic will be tied to spell mastery typically.¡± Vanessa answered, as everyone listened. ¡°Beginner spells are easy to use and level up, but they cannot level beyond 99. As a scholar I can read lower level players skills and levels easily and I must say, for someone so low level as yourself, to have maxed out two beginner skills already is very impressive. Even more is that your mastery is high enough to learn intermediate spells now, even though you yourself are not even level 50 yet. There aren¡¯t more than 1000 players I know of that are working on training their intermediate abilities already.¡± Vanessa said while looking at Darith. ¡°You¡¯ll have to visit the Avistion Magic Academy to upgrade your beginner spells, but when you do it¡¯ll revert back to level 1. Albeit more powerful. Intermediate can go up to level 500, and then they can be upgraded to advanced. No one knows how high advanced goes though. Only a few players are known to have reached that point, and they haven¡¯t shared that information.¡± Belle said. ¡°It¡¯s hard for scholars to get information from high level players like that.¡± Vanessa commented. ¡°So what''s that got to do with normalizing?¡± Liana asked, noting some of her skills had that option as well. ¡°The Broken Realm lets you create custom abilities by combining the ones you know, the downside is that the custom abilities will always gain their power from the skill you base them off of. For example, you made the spell meteor using your beginner Firebolt skill, so meteor will always do damage based off of Firebolt.¡± Vanessa said while talking to Darith. ¡°If a custom ability says it can be normalized, it means that a spell exists in the game world that does exactly what yours does. That means it''s possible to learn that spell and make it its own, allowing it to deal its own damage and level up by itself. 9 times out of 10, normalizing will improve the spell. And its cheaper to normalize a spell then to buy the original outright. I can give you one easy example in your spell list - you created an ability called ¡®Melt Ice¡¯, right?¡± Vanessa asked, and Darith nodded. ¡°I have the real version of that spell, it¡¯s called Thaw. Once you rank up Thaw it can be casted much faster than yours, and for less mana. On the other hand, because your Meteor custom skill is marked with an A beside it, that means that its normalized version requires you to be able to learn Advanced level magic, so you can¡¯t learn that one yet.¡± ¡°I¡¯m getting a headache from all this.¡± Gabriel said, just then arrived Fumiko and began putting plates down on the table, while Vanessa made room for her. After several trips, they all had steak and coffee, and the aroma from it was hypnotizing. ¡°Well, Belle and Aaron can probably fill in the rest. I¡¯ll let you to it. Be safe, and don¡¯t tell anyone what you did.¡± Vanessa squeaked, then turned and walked away. Aaron grabbed a knife and fork and dug in, while Jaese took a sip of the coffee while browsing through his interface once more. ¡°That means all the leveling I did for my beginner spells were a waste?¡± Darith asked Belle, looking disappointed. ¡°N-no, the experience carries over a bit.¡± Belle replied. ¡°Still though, 99? What the heck were you guys doing this last week?¡± ¡°Grinding!¡± Liana said with enthusiasm. ¡°This is great news isn¡¯t it Darith? It should be a lot easier now to learn new spells and power them up instead of just having to make them all up, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess¡­ that¡¯s one way to look at it. So where¡¯s the Magic Academy in Avistion?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll take you there after the meal. Try it, it''s great!¡± Aaron exclaimed. ¡°Hey Leader.¡± Gabriel turned to Darith. ¡°You¡¯re gonna handle all this, and just tell me how to get strong right?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°I¡¯ll figure it all out for us.¡± Darith replied with a nod. ¡°Good.¡± Gabriel and Elise both sighed with relief, though it was apparent Jaese was intent on figuring it all out for himself as he listened intently. Chapter 33: Tao Chengs Equipment Emporium ¡°The steak is good, trust me! You guys aren¡¯t interested?¡± Aaron asked as the plates of food remained nearly untouched. ¡°To be honest, we all just loaded up on pizza.¡± Darith shrugged, drinking the coffee. ¡°Coffee is delicious though.¡± ¡°We appreciate it!¡± Liana smiled. ¡°At least store it in your inventory, it restores a lot of health and grants 20 health regeneration a minute for an hour.¡± Belle said, as she hadn¡¯t eaten much either and reached forward to grab the plate. A few moments later, the food vanished into light. ¡°You can save food for later? That¡¯s awesome.¡± Elise exclaimed, she reached forward and grabbed the plate, and within seconds figured out how to do it too. It didn¡¯t take long before everyone had stored the meal in their inventory except for Aaron, who quickly finished the last bites. ¡°Well alright then. I¡¯ll leave a tip and we can get going.¡± He said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin, then plopped down a sack of coins on the table. The 7 stood up and made their way out of the restaurant back into the noisy plaza. ¡°There¡¯s a few places you oughta see before you get too lost in this madness. We can take you to a beginner shop, the martial arts academy, the crafters square, the guild hall, the auction house, the Avistion stables or of course the Magic Academy. There¡¯s also a few inn¡¯s that are good to stay at if you plan on living here instead of going back to the real world.¡± Belle said. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of places.¡± Jaese commented. ¡°People live here?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°Y-yeah, some people hate their real life so much they just move to Avistion, buy a cheap house and get a job in this world. It¡¯s pretty nuts.¡± Aaron replied. ¡°I can guess what most of those places are just by their names, but it¡¯s still good to learn about them. Which is the closest?¡± Darith asked Belle. ¡°There¡¯s a beginner shop right across the plaza run by the Friendly Fox guild, they¡¯ll sell you all the basic weapons that teach beginner skills.¡± Belle said while pointing to one of the larger buildings with a sword and shield sign hanging out front. ¡°That sounds perfect, since these three still haven¡¯t chosen beginner weapons yet.¡± Darith replied. ¡°C¡¯mon!¡± Belle said excitedly, leading them through the crowds. As they entered the shop they heard the jingle of the bell above the door, and the seven of them stepped inside. There were a few people browsing around, and a tall human behind the counter on the far end with big bushy orange hair smiling at them. ¡°Welcome to Tao Cheng¡¯s Equipment Emporium, I¡¯m Tao Cheng! If you need help with anything, please let me know! All goods are crafted of the highest quality by members of the Friendly Fox guild.¡± The man said excitedly as they entered. ¡°Hey Tao!¡± Belle replied back. ¡°Ah welcome back Belle and Aaron, I see you brought some friends with you today.¡± ¡°Yep, these are the guys that saved us from the Ice.¡± ¡°Wow, incredible, I heard the story! You saved a few guild mates of ours as well, quite the heroes. Darith, is it?¡± He asked, and Darith nodded awkwardly. ¡°We just received a message from one of our officers, Vanessa. She said we are to treat you as one of our own and to help you out in any way that we can. You must¡¯ve done quite some impressive feats to get that treatment out of Vanessa.¡± Tao said to Darith, meanwhile the others began glancing around the large shop. ¡°Oh¡­ you don¡¯t need to go that far, we have some money still¡­¡± Darith replied. ¡°Nonsense. All of the goods here are high quality, but it''s all made with simple materials so it¡¯s in high supply. It¡¯s no trouble to give some beginner equipment away.¡± Tao replied with a smile. ¡°Since most crafters and gatherers are lower level, they¡¯re stuck to gathering in the safe zone where PvP players like the New World Order can¡¯t attack them. The only materials you find in the safe zone though is copper, linen, simple leather, you know, basic materials. So most people trying to level up their crafting professions are forced to level up using just these materials, even though they stop giving decent experience after a certain point. As a result, you¡¯ll find an abundance of well made basic items.¡± Belle answered. ¡°I see. These New World guys really seem to be ruining the game for everyone.¡± Darith replied. ¡°It¡¯s not so bad, every once in awhile we get a source of higher level materials like Iron or Silk. You can always buy from that guild too, but the prices are marked up ridiculously high.¡± Tao answered. ¡°So what weapons did you have in mind?¡± He asked as he looked at the browsing bunch. ¡°Do you mind if we test some of them out?¡± Jaese asked as he eyed a rack of weapons off to the side. ¡°Of course not, there are some training dummies through the back door.¡± Tao smiled. ¡°Thanks.¡± Jaese replied, then walked away from the group. ¡°Try to find something you¡¯ll feel comfortable fighting with, it doesn¡¯t matter what it is as long as it feels right.¡± Darith said, and with that Gabriel and Elise split off as well. ¡°Do you mind if I look too?¡± He asked. ¡°Of course, it''s pretty common for players to have learned quite a few of the beginner spells, to test out which they like the most.¡± Tao replied. Darith briefly looked at Liana, and she smiled back with a nod, and the two joined in the hunt. The shelves were packed with weapons of all imaginable sorts. Off to one side were row upon row of swords of varying sizes, some two handed, some short, some curved. Large shields, round shields, kite shields. Elise found herself walking towards them and tried picking up one of the larger two handed swords and struggled to get it off the rack. She held it up, tried swinging it, then shook her head and put it back down. Next she tried a short sword, smaller and lighter. She held it in one hand to get a feel for the weight of it, then gave it a few swings in the shop. Quickly glancing to see the others still browsing, she took it with her through the back door where she found a large room with hay on the floor and several wooden figures made to look like humans, stuffed with hay wielding wooden swords and shields covered in dents and scratches. Elise moved towards one and took a swing, hitting the dummy easily enough, but she had trouble keeping a firm grip on the handle. She stepped back and took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment, then lunged at it, pairing the sword strike with several dance movements she was comfortable with. The first two strikes landed elegantly, but as she moved her hands around and spun, she ended up hitting herself with the sword, inflicting 10 damage on herself. ¡°Ow, shit!¡± She shouted out as she dropped the blade, rubbing the side of her stomach where it had cut, but there was no blood, and soon the pain went away. ¡°This is¡­¡± She sighed to herself as she picked it up, then made her way back into the shop. ¡°These swords are too big, I can¡¯t move well with them.¡± Elise called out to Darith as he browsed some aisles away. ¡°Why don¡¯t you try daggers?¡± Darith asked. ¡°They¡¯re right over there.¡± Tao pointed at another aisle of shelves. Elise shrugged and put the sword back, then headed down the aisle. On the shelves, she found sets of small knives, blades, kunai, shurikens, needles, and daggers, all of them a copper color and nicely laid out on pieces of cloth. Elise jokingly picked up a few shuriken first and played around with over exaggerated movements as she pretended to be a ninja, throwing in dance steps as well. ¡°Hey.¡± Darith said as he turned to watch her, causing her to immediately stop and look embarrassed. ¡°Hey. This is uh, this is pretty crazy. I¡¯m really supposed to fight monsters with these things?¡± Elise said nervously as she put the shuriken back down. ¡°I know it sounds crazy but it can be really fun, going on adventures and getting stronger, don¡¯t you think?¡± Darith said with a sparkle in his eye. Elise was noticing he seemed like a much more lively person since he¡¯d been in his game character body. ¡°I guess.¡± She smiled. ¡°You picked me because I could move really well, like dancing, right? So which of these weapons do you think I should use?¡± ¡°Well¡­ daggers are really light and small, easy to swing. They require you to get really close to enemies though, so you have to be nimble with them.¡± Darith said as he picked up a set of daggers. ¡°They usually don¡¯t do much damage, so it¡¯s good to use two. And you also want a way to hit things from far away.¡± He held out the daggers for Elise to take as he eyed the other weapons. She took them and looked at them, testing out their weight, it was no different than holding a kitchen knife. ¡°You could go with a bow or a crossbow, but when you¡¯re moving around fast with daggers you probably want something that''s not clunky. Bows take two hands, crossbows need to be reloaded. So thrown weapons are ideal, you just pull them out and throw. Any of these could do the trick.¡± Darith said as he looked over the kunai, shuriken, needles and throwing knives, as well as darts. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to throw stuff like that. I¡¯ll end up hitting you by mistake.¡± Elise joked. ¡°You can learn it though, this game will probably give you a skill to help. With enough practice I bet you could master using any of these.¡± Darith said enthusiastically. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ are you sure you made the right choice inviting me? I mean this is really cool and all, but I just like dancing.¡± Elise replied nervously, looking over the weapons. ¡°I¡¯m sure¡­¡± Darith said as confidently as he could, trying his best to reassure Elise, but in truth he himself was unsure about how it would all turn out. She locked eyes with him and watched his expression for a moment. ¡°Y¡¯know you are a lot cooler when you¡¯re a little fox boy. You¡¯re not afraid to look me in the eyes anymore. Is it the scar?¡± Elise smirked as she rubbed her hands over it. ¡°N-no.¡± He replied while breaking eye contact. ¡°This is just¡­ you know, what I¡¯m good at. Playing games, learning them and figuring them out, and playing with other people. Those are probably my favorite things to do in the entire world. I feel like this is the sort of place I belong in, you know what I mean? Like the real world is great, it¡¯s where my Mom is and I love her¡­ but¡­¡± ¡°You wish you could live somewhere else?¡± Elise asked with a serious tone, staring at the daggers in her hands while deep in thought. ¡°Yeah.. I guess¡­ kind of. That¡¯s why I want to protect this world.¡± ¡°I get it.¡± She said, then walked over to the shelf and grabbed a set of Kunai. ¡°I¡¯ll try these out.¡± Elise added while taking them along with the daggers towards the backroom, but before she left the aisle she turned to look at Darith once more. ¡°Hey¡­ thanks for inviting me.¡± Elise smiled, and he smiled back with a nod. She entered the back room and stood in front of the target dummy again, placing the Kunai on the ground, then gripping the daggers in either hand. She did the same movements as before, this time swinging the daggers around her steps, stabbing at the target dummy. A lot of swings missed, but she could hit the dummy a few times without hitting herself. After roughly 15 swings, she took a step back and hopped in place to psych herself up. ¡°I can totally do this.¡± She smiled to herself, then looked down at the Kunai. She put down her daggers and picked one up, then held it in a throwing position, then after carefully aiming, chucked it at the dummy. It flew straight down into the hay. ¡°I totally can¡¯t do that.¡± She sighed to herself, then retrieved all the weapons and came back out, moving towards the counter. As Elise placed down the set of copper daggers and the pack of copper kunai, beside her walked up Gabriel and placed on the counter a huge pile of clunking copper weapons. ¡°Uh, which of those beginner weapons did you want to choose?¡± Tao asked nervously as Gabriel looked down confidently at the pile. ¡°All of them.¡± He replied with a deadpan stare. ¡°You said it¡¯s free, right?¡± He asked, as Darith walked up to the scene. Tao looked to Darith, then back to Gabriel. ¡°Y-yes, the problem is more about how you plan to use them all?¡± ¡°Little man said I can get stronger with anything if I use it enough, right?¡± Gabriel turned to Darith. ¡°That¡¯s true¡­ but are you planning to level all of your weapon masteries?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± Gabriel said bluntly. ¡°I-I suppose that¡¯s one way about deciding your affinity, but¡­ how about you start out with just a few?¡± ¡°Nah I¡¯ll take ¡®em all.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°But this¡¯ll fill up your entire inventory.¡± Tao said in disbelief. ¡°We¡¯ll also probably need you as our tank, so you should think about a shield¡­¡± Darith commented. ¡°Ah yeah, right. I forgot. I¡¯ll take one of them shields too. The big one.¡± He said as he pointed at a copper shield hanging on the shelf across the way. ¡°Seriously?¡± Tao replied. ¡°Well you did say you guys have an abundance of beginner gear.¡± Belle said, it was clear Belle and Aaron were barely holding back laughter. Tao rolled his eyes then began investigating the pile of weapons. ¡°One long sword, one maul, one halberd, one spear, a short sword, a mace, a flail, a trident, a longbow, bladed knuckles¡­¡± Tao said as he went through the weapons. ¡°Those I¡¯m already good with.¡± Gabriel commented. ¡°A great axe and a kite shield.¡± Tao sighed to himself. ¡°One moment, I need to ask Vanessa something.¡± He said as he tapped his fingers in the air for a moment. Then let out another sigh. ¡°She said to make sure you don¡¯t forget to buy armor as well. I don¡¯t know what you did but she really likes you guys.¡± Tao said as he shrugged. ¡°And daggers and Kunai for you, miss?¡± Tao asked as he turned to Elise. ¡°Yes please.¡± Elise smiled politely. ¡°Alright. The transaction is complete, they¡¯re all bound to you guys now, you should be able to learn the beginner skills from them. You¡¯ll find armor over there.¡± He said as he pointed across the shop. ¡°Thanks.¡± Gabriel smiled, one by one adding the weapons to his inventory before heading towards the armor racks. ¡°You guys wouldn¡¯t happen to have any copper guns, would you?¡± Jaese called from across the shop. ¡°No we don''t have copper guns.¡± Tao groaned back. A few moments later, Liana walked up behind Darith and placed down a staff and a wand. ¡°What¡¯d you find?¡± Darith asked her excitedly. ¡°This staff teaches basic light magic, and this wand does enhancement magic I think.¡± Liana smiled. ¡°Going all out on the support type? Light Magic isn¡¯t completely support magic though.¡± Belle commented.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°I have to be able to defend myself, I don¡¯t want a repeat of¡­ well, you know.¡± She said to Darith and he nodded. ¡°Good thinking. Make sure to pick out armor, I¡¯ll go check on Jaese.¡± Darith replied, then left to see Jaese in an aisle lined with crossbows and bows. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± ¡°I know you said I should get a ranged weapon but I¡¯ll be honest with you, I haven¡¯t the slightest idea how to use any of this stuff.¡± Jaese replied as he picked up a heavy crossbow. ¡°Learning it you can do after¡­ I think you should pick what feels good first. Crossbows are the closest things to guns I guess. It doesn¡¯t have to be a ranged weapon if you don¡¯t feel comfortable with them.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Nah one of these oughta be the way to go, I can¡¯t see myself running up and punching dragons with my miniscule martial arts training. I think this is the one.¡± He said as he walked over to a hand crossbow and picked it up. ¡°It¡¯s not as heavy as the others. On second thought¡­¡± he put it down and then picked up a longbow. ¡°This one looks like it¡¯d hurt more, and shoot further.¡± ¡°You could always go with both.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°I mean, since we¡¯re getting a free pass on beginner stuff.¡± He whispered. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, alright.¡± Jaese nodded to himself, grabbing a longbow with quiver, then the hand crossbow with a quiver of bolts and heading to the counter. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve got a well rounded group.¡± Belle said to Darith as she watched the last member go up to the counter. ¡°What about you, you are looking to learn some more basic spells too?¡± She asked. ¡°Of course, but well, I¡¯m starting to feel bad taking all this stuff.¡± Darith replied. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Tao called out to him, then snapped his fingers. There were several flashes of light around the shop as each of the empty spots on the shelves were refilled with new versions of the weapons Darith¡¯s party had taken. ¡°Like I said, we¡¯ve got tons of inventory. We had one blacksmith in our guild make 300 copper daggers in a day just to get half a level in his blacksmithing skill.¡± Tao shrugged. ¡°In that case¡­¡± Darith said guiltily, as he walked over to the staff section. A few minutes later he came out with 8 different staves and dropped them on the counter. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I expected. That¡¯s pretty much all of them, right? Beginner Lightning, Ice, Earth, Wind, Nature, Light, Dark, and Arcane. I¡¯m guessing you¡¯ve already got Fire and Water?¡± Tao said as he looked over them all. ¡°Yep.¡± Darith smiled guiltily. ¡°What affinity are you aiming for?¡± Tao asked. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, I don¡¯t really get how Affinity¡¯s work.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Oh, right. I¡¯ll explain.¡± Belle jumped in. ¡°Affinity is the equivalent to your job or class in other games. Once you reach level 50 in a mastery you can choose an affinity related to that mastery. So in your case, since you have spell mastery above 50, you¡¯d be eligible to become a Wizard. A wizard is a general spellcaster that can use all types. You could also go more specific and become a Fire Wizard because of your high Firebolt level, that¡¯ll give you significant bonuses to fire spells, but your other magic would suffer. An affinity for something means you¡¯ll be more effective using it, and be able to level it up faster, which is a big deal when you jump into intermediate spells as they go up really slow. ¡± Belle explained. ¡°So if a guy went all in on Ice magic and took the Ice Wizard affinity, he¡¯d be really good at Ice magic but suck at everything else.¡± Darith replied as he remembered Thomas. ¡°Exactly.¡± Aaron nodded. ¡°A Wizard levels up all magic schools with a 30% experience bonus and all spells are 30% more effective, but a Fire Wizard would receive 100% experience towards Fire spells only, and they¡¯d be 100% more effective. So you could choose to be good at all of them, or really really good at one.¡± Belle replied. ¡°Being more flexible is good, but a Wizard¡¯s fire spells could never be as strong as a Fire Wizards..¡± Tao said. ¡°What about mixing magic with weapons, or other sorts?¡± Darith asked. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of combinations, Spell blades are common. There¡¯s a lot of variations to them, but they usually specialize in one type of magic and one type of weapon, to get bonuses to both..¡± Belle replied. ¡°You can become a paladin if you reach level 50 in light magic, sword mastery and shield mastery. I like to call them Knight Lights though.¡± Aaron chuckled to himself. ¡°Most of the affinities end up combining 1 to 2 types of masteries or spell schools. There are a few exceptions, but not many. The scholars research the more complex affinities, but haven¡¯t found many. Some affinities are hidden in quests or from trainers out in the world, so there''s a lot that hasn¡¯t been discovered yet.¡± Tao shrugged. ¡°What happens if I don¡¯t choose one?¡± Darith asked curiously. ¡°Nothing really, but you¡¯ll struggle. Like I said, intermediate abilities level painfully slow without an affinity towards them, Masteries as well - and you¡¯ll be much less effective. You¡¯ve probably already noticed that compared to your beginner spells, after level 50 Spell Mastery stopped going up so fast. Rather than trying to stay a jack of all trades beginner, it''s best to choose a path. Even I chose my affinity as a Trader, by using my Merchant Mastery and Crafting Mastery, combined with my high level bargaining, blacksmithing and tailoring skills.¡± Tao replied. ¡°This game really covers all skills like that?¡± Darith asked in disbelief. ¡°Yep, from farming to singing to hunting, mining, and cooking. Whatever you want to be, you can be. It¡¯s truly a second life.¡± Belle smiled. ¡°Beats the hell out of my factory job in the real world.¡± Tao replied. ¡°So I need to choose a good affinity.¡± Darith said to himself. ¡°Well, with these you¡¯d be on your way to becoming a decent Wizard. That¡¯s one of the more versatile affinities and it''s pretty easy to get, only requires one mastery at 50. I¡¯ve bound the staves to you, so you can learn the skills. You oughta pick out some armor too.¡± Tao said as he tapped his fingers through the air and suddenly a light flashed in front of Darith¡¯s eyes. Acquired: Beginner¡¯s Lightning Staff x1 Acquired: Beginner¡¯s Nature Staff x1 Acquired: Beginner¡¯s Wind Staff x1 Acquired: Beginner¡¯s Dark Staff x1 Acquired: Beginner¡¯s Light Staff x1 Acquired: Beginner¡¯s Arcane Staff x1 Acquired: Beginner¡¯s Earth Staff x1 Acquired: Beginner¡¯s Ice Staff x1 Each item prompted him to learn the respective spell, and he accepted each and every one of them. Each taught a bolt spell of the respective element, very similar to Fire bolt. They varied in damage, cost, and cast speed, but more importantly each indicated their weaknesses, such as Lightning bolt being useless against stone and rock creatures. You have learned the spell Lightning Bolt!(?) You have learned the spell Nature Bolt!(?) You have learned the spell Wind Bolt!(?) You have learned the spell Shadow Bolt!(?) You have learned the spell Radiant Bolt!(?) You have learned the spell Arcane Bolt!(?) You have learned the spell Earth Bolt!(?) You have learned the spell Ice Bolt!(?) ¡°I¡¯m not sure If I¡¯ll level these but it''s good to have the option.¡± Darith said. ¡°Thanks a lot.¡± He said, turning to join the others, but he saw them instead approaching him, each holding different sets of gear. ¡°Here, I got you the robes, they improve your mana regeneration, so I figured you¡¯d want them.¡± Liana smiled as she handed him a set of brown linen robes, she herself having a set as well. ¡°Oh. What¡¯s the other armor types too?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Leather¡¯s light, makes it easy to move. I picked the simple stuff because its tighter fitting, doesn¡¯t get in the way of moving.¡± Elise said as she plopped down her leather armor on the counter. ¡°I went with heavier leather. Same reasons but I don¡¯t¡­ well I prefer it more loose.¡± He said as he placed down heavy leather armor. There was a loud clunk as Gabriel dropped chainmail on the counter with big shiny copper shoulderpads, legplates, greaves, the whole deal. Everyone looked at Gabriel and he just shrugged. ¡°Had the most armor.¡± ¡°Was there any other choices?¡± Darith asked. ¡°With beginner armor you won¡¯t get much variety, they pretty much summed it up.¡± Tao said as he went one by one giving out the armor. ¡°That should be everything, right?¡± He forced a smile. ¡°I think so. Thank you so much for helping us out.¡± Darith replied while bowing politely. ¡°No problem, just don¡¯t forget it was the Friendly Fox guild, if you see any of our guys in trouble be sure to help them out.¡± Tao replied. ¡°We will.¡± Darith nodded politely. Everyone else threw out thanks and bows as the 7 of them left the shop back into the plaza. ¡°How about we stop by the martial arts academy next? They¡¯ll train you in any weapon mastery up until its level 5 for free. It¡¯s a good way to learn how to use a weapon.¡± Belle suggested. ¡°You should see me with a bow now.¡± Aaron grinned. ¡°Y-yes please, let¡¯s go there.¡± Elise pleaded, looking to Darith. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s check it out.¡± He nodded. The group began travelling away from Griffin square down another busy street, occasionally bumping shoulders with people. Jaese took this time to walk beside Liana who was busy taking in all the buildings and people around them. ¡°Liana¡­ I wanted to ask you something.¡± Jaese asked, and she turned to look at him. ¡°What¡¯d you want to ask?¡± She smiled. ¡°When we met in the hospital¡­ did you already know what had happened at the bank?¡± ¡°Nope, I had no idea. Darith didn¡¯t invite me to the game until Friday.¡± Liana replied. ¡°I see¡­ what made you want to try and help me?¡± Jaese asked, sounding a bit relieved. ¡°I thought the things you were saying were crazy, like something from a video game, so maybe I could¡¯ve helped¡­ turns out it actually was from a video game though.¡± Liana shrugged. ¡°Darith said he wants to get us stronger and stop bad players, and I agree that''s what we should do¡­ but do you have any idea how he plans to do it?¡± Jaese asked her. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet, but he¡¯ll figure it out.¡± Liana smiled. ¡°You seem so sure, why do you believe in him so much?¡± Jaese asked, Gabriel and Elise started listening in while Darith walked in front talking with Aaron and Belle. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen him give up on a game, no matter how hard it was. The more challenging it is, the harder he tries. Once he spent 3 days playing a jump-rope mini-game just to get a collectable item, didn¡¯t even have anything to do with the rest of the game, but he wouldn¡¯t stop doing it until he got it done.¡± Liana replied. ¡°This is a bit more serious than just a game though.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°He jumped in to save your life, and mine, and all the other police officers. That Thomas guy was way higher level than us, and we could¡¯ve escaped easily. But instead he stayed and kept trying until he found a way to win. Even if its more than a game, Darith is the same, he won¡¯t give up ¡®til he wins.¡± Liana smiled. The three listening just went silent, it was broken by Aaron turning back to get their attention. ¡°There it is! Avistion Martial Arts Academy! Most people just call it the Training Grounds.¡± Aaron said as he pointed to the large building. It had castle like walls with a large wooden gate held wide open, several other people going in and out wearing beginner armor. As they stepped through the gate they found a stone walkway going directly into the building in the center that resembled a castle with blue roof tiles, but on the left the area opened up into a wide field. The field was filled with row upon row of training dummies, archery targets, and all sorts of equipment used to practice different weapons and skills. The group could see at least 20 other players already training various weapons. Among them were NPC¡¯s marked with ??? levels giving them instructions, they all had the same attire of plain white shirt and brown pants with a black armband bearing the blue spread eagle on it. ¡°The lead instructor is the big guy sitting on the bench under that tree.¡± Belle said as she pointed across the training grounds at him. It was a large muscular human with dark skin and shaved black hair. He sat with a sleeveless white shirt on, his arms crossed revealing his unusually large muscles. ¡°I can learn to use Kunai here?¡± Elise asked. ¡°Yup, just tell him the weapon mastery you¡¯d like to learn and you¡¯ll get an instructor. You get experience here really really slow, and once you hit level 5 in the mastery it¡¯ll cost you money to get more training. It¡¯s really only worth it to train your base stats through physical activities and learn how to use the weapons themselves here. After that you¡¯re better off hunting monsters.¡± Belle replied. ¡°Okay, cool. Darith I¡¯d like to train here for a bit and try and figure out the Kunai thing, that okay?¡± She asked. ¡°Same here.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Me too.¡± Gabriel added. ¡°A-alright,¡± ¡°What about Magic, can I practice my light magic here?¡± Liana asked. ¡°You¡¯ll have to do that at the Magic Academy.¡± Aaron replied. ¡°Then do we split up?¡± Liana asked. ¡°That sounds risky, this city is really big¡­¡± Darith thought on it. ¡°You should be able to keep in contact with party chat. Do you know how to use it?¡± Aaron asked. ¡°W-well, we kinda just made this party.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s easy enough, just touch the person''s name in your party interface that you want to talk to, and they¡¯ll be able to hear what you say. If you touch all 4 of them at once, they¡¯ll all hear you. Don¡¯t feel bad about not figuring that out, someone else had to tell us too, and apparently they figured it out by chance.¡± Belle replied. ¡°Testing testing!¡± Liana said while touching all 4 of the others names, and they could hear her voice once from her mouth and a second time in their heads. ¡°Whoa!¡± Elise exclaimed. ¡°Awesome¡­¡± Darith said as he touched the four names in the top left of his peripheral vision as well. ¡°Can you guys hear me?¡± he asked. ¡°Loud and clear.¡± Jaese replied, while Gabriel nodded. ¡°Okay great. You guys stay here and learn as much as you can, me and Liana will go and check out the Magic Academy and see what else we can learn, then we¡¯ll meet back here.¡± Darith said. ¡°You got it little man.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°I¡¯ll stay with them and get some more bow training in.¡± Aaron said. ¡°See you later.¡± Elise waved to Darith. ¡°Good luck guys.¡± Liana replied. Gabriel, Jaese, Elise and Aaron turned and walked towards the large muscular man on the bench. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll take you to the Magic Academy. You¡¯re gonna love it!¡± Belle cheered, leading the two out of the Martial Arts Academy and back into the streets. As they approached the man, his name above his head became visible. Lead Instructor Hagrim. He stood up and uncrossed his arms and looked at Gabriel first. ¡°You¡¯re here to learn how to fight, I take it. What mastery are you looking to train?¡± He asked in a deep voice. ¡°I¡¯ll start with this.¡± Gabriel said as he pulled out a two handed sword. ¡°Good choice.¡± He replied, then waved his hand around in a strange motion. Afterwards a glowing white figure appeared beside him. When the light dimmed and eventually diminished, a human with black hair tied in a ponytail was visible wearing the same clothing as the other trainers. ¡°Let¡¯s get started.¡± The man said, motioning Gabriel to follow him. The others watched as Gabriel was lead to the field of training dummies as the trainer began asking him basic questions. ¡°I want to learn how to use daggers and kunai.¡± Elise said excitedly after seeing what happened. ¡°Good enthusiasm. We¡¯ll start with daggers first.¡± Hagrim replied, this time a young female nemothyne with raccoon ears appeared, smiling at Elise. ¡°Crossbow for me.¡± Jaese said, and Hagrim nodded. Last but not least, a tall female elf with white hair appeared, smiling at Jaese. ¡°Let¡¯s begin.¡± She said, leading Jaese towards the archery targets. Aaron observed as the three began. ¡°Have you ever wielded a two handed sword before?¡± ¡°No.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°We¡¯ll start with the basic stances then.¡± The instructor said. He leaned in and demonstrated to Gabriel how to hold the weapon, Gabriel observing him closely and mimicking his behaviour. ¡°Good. But it¡¯s one thing to copy me, it''s another to understand what I am doing and why I am doing it.¡± He continued, as he began explaining the basics of shifting your weight to swing the weapon effectively. ¡°Hi there, I¡¯m Carsie.¡± The Nemothyne smiled, reaching to shake Elise¡¯s hand. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Elise¡­ nice to meet you.¡± Elise replied awkwardly. It was obvious she wasn¡¯t sure how to interact with this person. ¡°So you¡¯re looking to use daggers huh? Really good choice, they¡¯re super light, makes moving really easy!¡± Carsie said with a grin. ¡°Y-yeah¡­ I was just worried they aren¡¯t that good of weapons. The beginner skill I learned is just called stab¡­ It doesn¡¯t even seem like much of a skill.¡± Elise said as she watched Gabriel take his first swing with the two handed sword across the training grounds. Carsie followed Elise¡¯s eyes to see what she was looking at. ¡°True, a long sword can do some big hits. But daggers¡­¡± Carsie held out her hands as two daggers formed out of light in them from her inventory. She then dashed past a row of 6 training dummies in the blink of an eye, making several slashing noises. Elise watched as all 6 of the training dummies fell to the ground in pieces. ¡°Are more about speed and finesse.¡± Carsie grinned slyly. ¡°Holy- you did that with just the daggers?¡± Elise asked. ¡°Yup.¡± Carsie replied as the training dummies began repairing themselves, glowing faintly until they were back to their original states. ¡°Teach me how to move like that!¡± Elise said as she hopped in place with excitement. ¡°So¡­¡± Jaese asked as they reached the archery targets. ¡°Are you a¡­ a person?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Yes? That¡¯s an odd question.¡± The elf replied. ¡°I mean¡­ like, a real person?¡± ¡°I¡¯m real, my name is Luryala.¡± She rolled her eyes at him. ¡°Are you a real person?¡± She asked mockingly. ¡°Y-yeah, of course.¡± ¡°Do you mean to ask if I am from this world, or am I another worlder like you?¡± She asked. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I meant to ask.¡± ¡°I¡¯m from this world.¡± ¡°So do you have, like, feelings, and thoughts?¡± Jaese asked curiously. ¡°I feel uncomfortable. And I think I¡¯m stuck training a moron.¡± She replied. ¡°S-sorry, this is just my first time here.¡± He replied nervously. ¡°It¡¯s alright. We¡¯re used to it. Take out your crossbow.¡± She said, and he nodded, pulling it out along with a quiver. ¡°Show me what you¡¯ve got so far.¡± Jaese nodded, took aim, and fired the bolt, missing the target completely despite trying to line up the shot. ¡°You looked like you knew what you were doing for a second there, what happened?¡± She asked as she walked to pick up the bolt. ¡°I¡¯ve shot¡­ weapons like this before, in my world. Just not quite like a crossbow.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°I see. Reload it and try again.¡± She said as she walked back and handed him the bolt. Jaese struggled with the mechanism, fumbling around a bit until the crossbow made a weird clinking noise and the bolt flew up out of his hand, landing softly on the dirt beside Luryala. ¡°Do you want to know what my thoughts are now?¡± Luryala grinned at Jaese. He sighed and bent down to pick up the bolt. Chapter 34: A Scholars Life Darith and Liana looked up in awe at the structures before them. Five towers all built side by side of varying heights, connected together by numerous intertwining white stone walkways. Each tower had a roof of a different color - they were grey, purple, green, blue, and yellow. At the base of the towers was a wondrous garden filled with beautiful plants of all colors and sizes, and a paved stone walkway that lead to all 5 towers. In the center where the paths converged was a gigantic marble fountain depicting a faceless woman with long hair garbed in wizarding robes, surrounded by benches. The entire area was walled off from the rest of the city so that the loud bustling of Avistion couldn¡¯t be heard, and instead the calm sounds of nature dominated. The sound of water, birds chirping, and the occasional magic student walking by. The attire of the people in this area was something out of a fairy tale, with robes and wizard hats. Their noses dug into tomes of varying sizes, with staves and wands fastened on their backs or in their belts. ¡°The central tower with the grey roof is for general magic learning, its where the great library is and where you¡¯ll find most scholars studying to level up their mastery. The others represent the other schools of magic in The Broken Realm.¡± Belle asked as she lead them along the path to the Grey tower. ¡°What are the schools of magic?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Grey is for Spell Mastery, it covers the general destructive spells that utilize the elements. Green is Life Mastery, its spells revolve around life, healing, and curing status ailments. It¡¯s the second smallest of the towers. Blue is for Aura Mastery, which is what I¡¯ve taken. It focuses on beneficial and detrimental area affects. It covers anything from speeding up your allies, to scaring nearby enemies.¡± Belle said as she walked around the fountain and got closer to the Grey Tower. ¡°Yellow is the middle tower, its Enchantment Mastery, it covers applying magic to objects in the world. You can learn temporary enchantment, or permanent, I¡¯ve even seen people enchant swords to fight on their own. And lastly, the second largest, purple, is Conjuration Mastery, it¡¯s about summoning magic and creation magic.¡± ¡°I see, so a lot of spells use combinations of the masteries?¡± Darith asked. ¡°That¡¯s right. For example, if you combine Life Mastery with Conjuration, Spell, and the high level Dark beginner magic, you¡¯d be able to take the Necromancer affinity. Or if you put Life Mastery with Aura mastery you could learn a healing aura that restores health to people nearby. Myself personally I am going for a difficult Affinity, Bard, which requires 5 masteries. Aura, Spell, Bow, Healing, and Music. I¡¯ll get it done eventually but it takes awhile to level up that many masteries.¡± Belle shrugged as she walked through the open doorway into the tower. The inside seemed much bigger than it did from outside. There were several staircases going up to varying levels, with beautiful furnishings, paintings, and carpets all around them. Behind a large front desk sat a male nemothyne with cat ears and glasses on, furiously scribbling away on a piece of parchment with an ink pen. ¡°So where do we start?¡± Liana said, overwhelmed by the size of the building as she looked up, unable to see the top of the staircases and floors that wound around the circular tower. ¡°Well, you can learn about the intermediate spells you¡¯re capable of learning, or try studying the different masteries, and learn about varying affinities. The library in this tower has information about all of the masteries in this game world. Similar to The Martial Arts Academy, you can train any of the 5 magic masteries for free up until level 5 just to get an idea of what sort of magic is available to you using each one.¡± ¡°What do you think, Darith? What should I go for?¡± She asked, looking to see Darith was just as overwhelmed as she was. ¡°I uh-uhm. Normally it¡¯s risky to go purely support, but if you¡¯re always with us then having a powerful pure support player will make us incredibly strong. What seems most interesting to you?¡± He asked. ¡°I like healing and protecting people more than I like hurting them¡­ that sounds fine to me.¡± She smiled, then looked at one of the wands she bought, and her sphere. ¡°I didn¡¯t learn Life Mastery even though I¡¯ve been using Sphere Mastery for healing spells though, did I do something wrong?¡± ¡°No, Life mastery is very hard to obtain without coming here, and it''s tricky to level up.¡± Belle shrugged. ¡°Do you know about any good affinities for pure support?¡± Liana asked her with hopeful eyes. ¡°Uhm¡­ it¡¯s not really popular, but there is a Cleric affinity. It requires level 50 in Life, Aura and Enchantment Mastery, and level 50 in the beginner light magic spell. I¡¯ll warn you though, the only intermediate offensive magic you¡¯ll be good at is Light, and light is notoriously useless unless you¡¯re fighting Dark based or Undead foes. That¡¯s why not many people go for it. Something like a bard can both heal and deal damage decently.¡± ¡°That¡¯s okay, I want to be really good at healing and supporting everyone.¡± Liana said, clenching her fist to show her enthusiasm. ¡°You should start with the Life tower then, it¡¯s down that hall, just ask the desk about learning and they¡¯ll set you up with an instructor.¡± Belle pointed down one of the many paths leading from the main room they were idling in. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to go check it out now. Message me if something happens!¡± Liana said as she ran in the direction Belle pointed. ¡°Good luck.¡± Darith replied. ¡°She seems eager to learn.¡± Belle smiled. ¡°Me too, this is, man this is cool!¡± Darith grinned ear to ear, still taking in his surroundings. ¡°So what did you want to start with?¡± ¡°I¡­ before I pick an affinity or anything, I¡¯d like to learn what all the masteries can do. Not just because I might want one, but I also need to know what I can expect from other players.¡± Darith asked. ¡°You might as well pick up Scholar Mastery while you¡¯re studying then, it¡¯ll give you access to all the books in the libraries. I¡¯ve heard that if you get higher levels in it, they let you read more sections of the libraries in these towers.¡± Belle said. ¡°I can learn that by asking the guy at the desk, I take it?¡± ¡°You catch on quick.¡± Belle replied. Darith then hopped forward to the desk where the busy Nemothyne, named Fareson with a ??? level, looked at him over the top. ¡°Ah, a new face.¡± He smiled politely. ¡°How can I help you today?¡± ¡°I want to become a Scholar and study Masteries using the library here.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Wonderful, a man of knowledge. There is much of it to be obtained in these walls. Before I can let you enter, you must agree to the terms of our library.¡± Fareson said as he pulled out a piece of parchment and handed an ink pen to Darith. ¡°It simply says that you agree to not damage or steal any of the property here, respect other scholars and what not. You acknowledge the punishment that would come if you were to do so.¡± Fareson smiled. ¡°What¡¯s the punishment?¡± Darith asked as he was about to start signing. ¡°Death.¡± Fareson replied cheerfully. This halted Darith¡¯s hand for a moment. ¡°Eheh¡­ a bit extreme¡­¡± He replied, then finished the signature. ¡°We take the protection of knowledge very seriously here.¡± Fareson replied as he pulled the parchment away, then made it dissipate into a flash of light. ¡°Wonderful. Now, hold out your hand.¡± He instructed him, Darith nodded and did as he was told. Fareson then suddenly jabbed the inkpen into Darith¡¯s palm. ¡°Aw, what the hell?¡± Darith pulled his hand back. It didn¡¯t deal damage and only stung for a moment, and seconds later a black symbol appeared on the palm of his right hand resembling that of a scroll. You have gained the skill Scholar Mastery(?) Scholar Mastery is attempting to convert the Analyze Skill(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) He quickly clicked on the question mark for Scholar Mastery. Scholar Mastery - Rank 1 Passive: Increases Intelligence by 5% Improves your retention of knowledge from books and the speed at which you can acquire information from them, in addition to gathering information about the world around you through observation and magic reading. Higher ranks improve your ability to learn to communicate in other languages. This mastery is heavily influenced by your intelligence. Scholar Mastery is attempting to convert the Analyze Skill to the spell Magic Reading Current: Analyze - Rank 6 Gather information about a target. Higher ranks increase the amount of information gathered. Mana cost: 50 New: Magic Reading* Gather information about a target or object based on its magical aura and any information you have read about in the past. This skill is improved with higher ranks of Scholar Mastery. This spell has no ranks. Mana Cost: 60 Darith quickly hit accept to allow the conversion to happen. ¡°Congratulations, you are now officially a Scholar of the Avistion Magic Academy. You may use the lower levels of our library to your heart''s content. If you have any other questions, don¡¯t be afraid to ask me or another member of the staff.¡± Fareson said with a smile. ¡°Just one question¡­ are there other libraries other than this one?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Not in Avistion, at least not as filled out as ours. I imagine there are many out in the world that we lost when the Realm Broke though. If you happen upon any old texts, we¡¯ll pay greatly for them so be sure to bring them back here.¡± Fareson replied. ¡°Got it.¡± Darith nodded. ¡°C¡¯mon, it¡¯s this way.¡± Belle said as she led him up a winding staircase. The two walked quickly and didn¡¯t need to go far to reach the first floor of the library, the door was open but there was a faint grey light covering the entirety of the doorway.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, as long as you have the scholar mark, you can pass it. If you try to leave with a book I¡¯m pretty sure it kills you though, so don¡¯t do that.¡± Belle said as she stepped through. ¡°R-right.¡± Darith replied nervously as he followed her. Inside he saw row upon row of shelves covered in books, the shelves themselves towered up to the ceiling nearly 3 meters high - which appeared much bigger to Darith in his Nemothyne body. There were plenty of tables with chairs and not many seats were filled, but it was obvious everyone present was a player trying to learn more about the mastery they had chosen, or other aspects of the game. It was very quiet, the grey barrier seemed to block out all the sounds of the outside world so that all that could be heard was the occasional footsteps or page being turned mixed in with some low whispers. ¡°Here you are, all the knowledge you could ask for. I¡¯ve read pretty much everything I wanted to in here already, so I¡¯ll leave you to it. But first, -¡± Belle said while tapping the air, suddenly a message appeared. Player Belle has sent you a friend request(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) ¡°If you accept we¡¯ll be able to talk just like you do to your party, through the friends menu in the interface section. It¡¯ll appear once you have your first friend.¡± Belle whispered. Darith hit accept. ¡°Thanks for all the help, we¡¯d be completely lost without you guys.¡± ¡°And I''d be a block of ice if it wasn¡¯t for you, so don¡¯t think much of it.¡± Belle smiled. Darith was slowly getting used to the fact that he was talking to a woman, even though her elf avatar was male. ¡°Oh, one last thing. Try to ignore the ghost girl that walks around reading books. She¡¯ll jump out at you sometimes, but if you make noise because of her she¡¯ll get pissed, and if you scream really loud then you might get suspended from the library for 24 hours. Not that, you know¡­ that happened to me or anything...¡± ¡°A ghost?¡± Darith whispered back surprised. ¡°Y-yeah, apparently she died during the construction of the tower, the staff don¡¯t seem to be able to see her so they ignore her.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t forget that detail.¡± ¡°You¡¯re in the Broken Realm now, gotta get used to everything being weird.¡± Belle smiled, then waved as she walked out of the Library. Darith watched as she left, then turned back towards the Library, but instead standing directly in front of him was a transparent bluish, white-ish girl, mere millimeters from his eyes. She was the same height as him in his Nemothyne body, looking down at a book in her hands, standing idly directly in front of him - she had appeared suddenly and without making a noise. There was no name or level above her head. Darith stumbled back from surprise, but he felt no urge to shout or scream, in fact his heart didn¡¯t even skip a beat, it stayed perfectly calm. This worried him more than the fact that a ghost was standing in front of him, and he took a second to think about it. ¡°Gamer¡¯s mind¡­¡± He whispered to himself, as she suddenly walked forward into him, passing through him. It felt cold and icky, but still not scary. She walked towards the wall behind him and disappeared through it, and once she was gone he let out a sigh of relief. Glancing around he saw several people sitting at tables watching him, but as their eyes met they all went back to their books. He stepped forward towards the first shelf and grabbed the first book, looking at the cover. ¡®A beginner¡¯s guide to finding ore¡¯. He prepared to put it back, as it had nothing to do with a mastery, but then shrugged and took it as well as a few others. ¡®A Beginner¡¯s guide to Smelting¡¯, ¡®Advanced Smelting Techniques¡¯, ¡®Secrets Under the Earth - Identifying Mithril¡¯. He plopped all four down on a nearby table, pulled up a chair and began reading. He wasn¡¯t sure what to expect when he turned the first pages, but with his high intelligence and scholar skill, he felt the words on the page smoothly entering his mind. The terminology that he was unfamiliar with at first quickly became easy to understand, and despite the books each being over 100 pages in length, he was able to finish the first book in 15 minutes. Scholar Mastery skill reached rank 2! Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Mining(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) After finishing it, he looked up and thought about what he had read. The knowledge was there, he knew the basics of finding and refining copper, the entire process was in his head on what to look for and where to look for it. He shook his head in disbelief. ¡°So I can learn skills through reading as well instead of just buying weapons or tools.¡± Darith said as he hit the accept button. Mining - Rank 1 Find and harvest ore from earth and stone. Higher ranks enable you to effectively mine more precious metals and increase the chance of finding higher quality materials, as well as gems. A pickaxe is required to use this skill. Cost: 5 energy Mineable Ore: Copper Quality: Low: 90% - Normal: 10%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0% ¡°Awesome.¡± He said as he closed the first book and prepared to start on the next book, but before he did, he hesitated, glancing up at his party interface. He watched the energy bars of Gabriel, Elise and Jaese fluctuate, while Liana¡¯s mana bar went up and down. He reached forward and touched all four of their names. ¡°How¡¯s everyone doing?¡± ¡°I¡¯m gonna need to stay here awhile.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Me too, I promise I¡¯ll get really good though.¡± Elise said. ¡°Same.¡± Gabriel replied, all three sounding out of breath. ¡°This Life Mastery is tough.¡± Liana said, sounding a bit frustrated. ¡°Keep practicing, I¡¯m going to learn everything I can in the library. Let me know when you guys get tired or hungry and we can meet up and take a break.¡± Darith replied, and received an acknowledgement from all four. With that, a big smile grew on his face as he cracked his neck and leaned into the second book. By the time he had finished all three, about forty minutes had gone by. He gained a little bit of experience in Mining, but not enough to hit level 2, and got a few other messages. Scholar Mastery skill reached rank 3! Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Smelting(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Smelting - Rank 1 Convert raw ore into workable metal used in various crafts. Higher ranks increase efficiency, chance of better quality, and reduces the chance of wasted materials, as well as increase the types of metal you are able to smelt. The quality of the ore being worked also affects this process Cost: 5 energy Smeltable Ore: Copper (35% Failure Chance) Quality: Low: 90% - Normal: 10%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0% ¡°The experience was really low. Seems like reading is good for learning about the skills, but bad for leveling them up.¡± Darith said as he closed the last of the four books. He stood up from the chair and walked to the shelf, putting the four back and continued down the same shelf. This time he gathered 10 books, ranging from treating leather, to weaving, to basic herbalism, but as he was removing the books from the shelf he saw a ghostly girl staring through from the other side, glaring at him. The two locked eyes for a moment, and while he was definitely shocked, he didn¡¯t feel afraid. Darith awkwardly walked back to the table, pretending to have not seen her, then sat down with the books. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder what purpose she served, why the game put her here. He concluded her job was to stop people from staying in the library for too long, and got started on the next books. This time he took just over 2 hours of reading to get through the 10 books, and by the time he finished he had fully grasped the basics of refining nearly all types of materials in the game, from leather to cloth, to ore and wood. Scholar Mastery skill reached rank 4! Your recent activities have granted you +1 intelligence! Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Weaving(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Herbalism(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Tanning(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Skinning(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Woodcutting(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Refining Mastery(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Gathering Mastery(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) ¡°This is awesome.¡± Darith said to himself as he hit accept on all. They were fairly similar to the mining and smelting counterparts. Weaving covered turning raw materials into workable cloth, herbalism covered gathering plants usable in potions or weaving, skinning and tanning covered gathering and treating leather, and woodcutting covered chopping trees. What stood out were the masteries that popped up after he had gotten this batch of skills. Refining Mastery - Rank 1 Improves your ability to refine raw materials into workable materials using various skills. Higher ranks improve the chance of higher quality outcomes and reduce the chances of failing or wasting materials. This skill is influenced by Agility, Strength, Intelligence, and luck. Gathering Mastery - Rank 1 Improves your ability to gather raw materials of varying types using the many gathering skills. Higher ranks improve the chance of successfully harvesting materials as well as increases the chance of higher yields. Improves your ability to find materials related to known gathering skills. This skill is influenced by Agility, Strength, Intelligence and luck. He leaned back in his chair and stretched out his arms and legs, feeling quite satisfied with his new collection of skills, though not entirely sure what to do with it. Seeing different people sitting around him now than what he¡¯d seen when he started. He looked at his party interface again and saw the bars of his party members still moving up and down, not one of them sent a message to take a break. He stood up, put the 10 books back, and grabbed 10 more. This time they covered topics on foraging, lumber, and hunting. One book went over salvaging useful resources from monsters, which was much thicker than the others. He sat back down at the same table and began reading. He could already feel the difference, with Scholar Mastery at rank 4 he was able to comprehend and read even faster, and regardless of the speed he felt the knowledge remaining in his head. The first few taught him a Foraging Gathering skill, and a Lumbering skill for refining logs into lumber, while hunting taught him a Salvaging skill that covered gathering meet and other usable parts from animals. When he got to the last book, the largest one covering monsters, he was able to complete it in under 30 minutes despite it being well over 400 pages long. Once he read the last words, a message appeared in front of him. Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Synthesize(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) ¡°Another one.¡± Darith grinned as he hit the ?. Synthesize - Rank 1 Combine two or more objects in order to create a new one. Outcome is based off of chosen materials and skill rank. Quality of materials created and chance of success increases with each rank. Not all combinations will produce a new material. Cost: 5 energy, 15 mana Chance of Success: 10% Quality: Low: 95%, Normal: 5%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0% Known Combinations: 0 From reading thus far, Darith learned that quality on crafting materials contributed to how good the end product would be, and crafting skill was taken into account as well. A copper sword made with low quality copper would do less damage than one made with flawless copper, and it would have more bonuses if it was made by a high level blacksmith. Darith hit accept and began putting the books back on the shelves. He was preparing to grab more, having completely lost track of time, but his stomach made a loud rumbling sound. ¡°Guys, let¡¯s take a quick break. Everyone use the return still to meet back in my backyard.¡± Darith said through the interface. ¡°Got it.¡± Gabriel replied, clearly out of breath. ¡°O-okay.¡± Elise replied, also out of breath. ¡°Alright.¡± Liana said cheerfully. ¡°Will do.¡± Jaese said, sounding tired. Darith walked out of the library after double checking to make sure he had no books on him, then in the hall in front of the door he made sure to stand clear of everyone walking around. ¡°Return.¡± He shouted, and the white circles began to form. After 10 seconds and a bright flash he found himself standing in his backyard where 4 others were all waiting for him. Chapter 35: Adapting ¡°You¡¯re all back¡­ and sweaty.¡± Kristen said, standing in the doorway of the backdoor of the house after seeing them through the glass. ¡°Hey Mom.¡± Darith smiled. As she stepped out of the way, everyone moved back into the living room and Gabriel noticed the broken chair still in pieces on the floor. ¡°Sorry about the chair, ma¡¯am.¡± He said politely as he began to clean it up. Darith took note that the room was almost exactly as it had been left. ¡°I-it¡¯s fine, I was going to clean it up. So how did it go, in the magical place?¡± She motioned to the backyard. ¡°We learned a lot¡­ I found a library and was able to learn a bit of how the crafting works. I¡¯m going to go back and read everything I can but we¡¯re taking a break¡­ how are you guys doing?¡± Darith asked. ¡°The Life Magic, I learned the mastery and it taught me new versions of my healing spells from the Sphere mastery. Once I learned how the mastery works it got easier, but¡­ Darith, the NPCs that were fully recovering us, they won¡¯t do it anymore. They said once we¡¯ve joined their world for more than 7 days, it¡¯s no longer possible.¡± ¡°Damn¡­ really?¡± Darith asked, and she nodded. ¡°No more infinite training. I thought it was too good to be true. Now it makes sense why everyone wasn¡¯t ridiculously high leveled.¡± He turned to the others. ¡°The instructors in the Training Hall, they¡¯ve been able to restore your energy when you run out until now?¡± Darith asked, and they all nodded. ¡°Makes training skills way easier.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°It looks like they¡¯ll only do that for the first 7 days, so you guys should try and train as much as you can in that time.¡± Darith said, and they nodded. ¡°Before we go back, there¡¯s some things I need to take care of. You mind callin¡¯ off the police?¡± Gabriel asked, turning to Jaese. ¡°Right¡­ I can try, but it might take some time.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t got time, I need them gone by tomorrow.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t think it¡¯s gonna be that easy.¡± Jaese hesitated. ¡°Why not, you saw the same shit I did, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yeah, but¡­ I can¡¯t exactly tell them that.¡± ¡°Then make up some shit and tell them the truth, Tai¡¯s the criminal, he¡¯s the one that killed those people.¡± Gabriel snapped back. ¡°If he tells them that and they go after Tai..¡± Liana replied. ¡°She¡¯s right.¡± Darith joined in. ¡°I¡¯ll figure it out, I promise, but it might take some time to get their attention completely off you¡­¡± ¡°My brother¡¯s funeral is tomorrow, I aint got that time. They¡¯ll be sittin¡¯ around waiting for me. You tryin¡¯ to tell me I can¡¯t attend it?¡± Gabriel shouted at him, and everyone went silent. ¡°I need to tell Miranda where I am, she¡¯ll be worried. After that I¡¯ll come straight back and keep training with you guys, I promise.¡± Elise said, breaking the silence. ¡°We¡¯ll see you later.¡± Liana smiled and waved, and Elise smiled back at her. ¡°Walk home safe.¡± Kristen added. ¡°I¡¯ll go to the station and see what I can do. I can¡¯t promise anything but I¡¯ll try my best.¡± Jaese said, then followed Elise out. ¡°Shit.¡± Gabriel said to himself, sucking his teeth as the door shut behind Jaese. ¡°I haven¡¯t even been home to my Mom since all this happened, she must be destroyed right now.¡± Gabriel clenched his fists tight. ¡°Why not go like you are?¡± Kristen suggested, and this prompted Liana and Darith to eye him up and down. ¡°Y-yeah, that could work! You look kind of like a normal person. Just a really big one. All we¡¯d have to do is hide your tusks, right?¡± Darith asked. ¡°As long as you don¡¯t reveal yourself and no city guards see you, it should be okay.¡± Gabriel looked down at his large body, then to the others in the room. ¡°I can¡¯t wear this armor, and I doubt any of ya¡¯ll got somethin¡¯ in this house that¡¯ll fit me.¡± Gabriel said. ¡°What time is the Funeral? We could rent you a suit that fits from the Big ¡®n Small shop downtown.¡± Kristen suggested. ¡°Noon last I heard.¡± ¡°That works!¡± Liana ¡°I appreciate it but, why ya¡¯ll so tryin¡¯ to help someone like me out?¡± Gabriel asked as he looked at them, none of them anywhere close to the usual company he held. ¡°We¡¯re a team now.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Yeah.¡± Liana joined in. He looked at the two, not quite satisfied with their answer, but eventually shook it off. ¡°Aite, shit, let¡¯s try it. It¡¯s that or I go there and get arrested.¡± Gabriel shrugged. [Elise][Home] Elise knocked on the door of Miranda¡¯s apartment, now in her normal body. She glanced at her phone to see it was 9:15. The apartment hallway she stood in was in poor condition. The carpet had stains, the lights flickered, and on the far end was a group of guys in baggy clothes smoking cigarettes in front of the stairwell. She could hear the sound of Miranda approaching from the other side of the door before it swung open. ¡°Elise? There you are, come inside.¡± Miranda ushered her in, closing the door behind her. Contrasting heavily to the hallway, her apartment was spotless and very organized, not a single thing looked out of place. ¡°Where have you been? I¡¯ve been worried sick. I talked to the other maids at your house thinking maybe you went home, but none of them had seen you.¡± ¡°I was just out with a friend.¡± Elise replied. ¡°A friend, this late?¡± Miranda asked suspiciously. ¡°Y-yeah, sorry for coming here so late¡­¡± She began saying as the sound of a baby crying came from another room in the apartment. ¡°Oh great, Joseph is awake again.¡± Miranda sighed as she rushed off. Elise walked in and looked around, seeing a young boy of maybe 8 years old sitting in front of the TV playing a video game in the living room. Seconds later Miranda came back with a small baby over her shoulder crying as she gently tried to soothe him. ¡°Johnathan I said turn that game off, brush your teeth and go to bed. It¡¯s a school night.¡± Miranda snapped at him. The boy in front of the TV sighed and flicked off the TV, standing up and leaving the room. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be nosy in your business but I would appreciate it if you tried to come back before 9, and let me know where you are okay? I¡¯ll be responsible for you if anything happens when you are staying here.¡± Miranda said while trying to talk over the baby crying. Elise couldn¡¯t help but notice the trouble she was causing Miranda as the scene unfolded before her. ¡°Actually, I talked to my father¡­ he got me a place to stay on my own, so I just wanted to let you know that I¡¯ll be okay from now on.¡± Elise replied with a forced smile. ¡°Really?¡± Miranda asked, her attention split between the two. ¡°Y-yeah. I just wanted to say thanks for looking out for me. I¡¯m going to head over there now.¡± ¡°In one day, that¡¯s really fast.¡± ¡°Well you know my Dad, he loves problems that he can solve with money.¡± Elise shrugged nervously. ¡°Right¡­ okay sweetie. But if you need anything, or even if you just want someone to talk to, I¡¯m here for you, okay?¡± Miranda replied. ¡°Thanks.¡± Elise said as she leaned in and hugged Miranda and the baby. ¡°Good night.¡± ¡°Take care, be careful out there, it¡¯s late.¡± Miranda replied. Elise nodded and walked outside, the door closing helped block the sound of the crying baby. She made her way to the Elevator, and when it arrived empty, she stepped inside, but didn¡¯t press any buttons. Instead she went into her inventory and found the Avistion Key she was given upon entering the city, and used it. After a few seconds, a gate leading back into the city appeared and she stepped through it, leaving the building behind her. In Avistion, the sky was dimming as the sun began to set. She appeared in Griffin Square this time, and despite the later hour it was just as busy as when they¡¯d last seen it. She took a deep breath and took in the surroundings once more, then walked towards the only familiar place, Tao¡¯s shop. She pushed the door open to hear the familiar bell jingle as she stepped inside. ¡°We¡¯re just about to close up - ah, welcome back. Elise, right?¡± Tao said, he was in the midst of sweeping the floor. ¡°Hey, sorry to bother you. Do you know a place where I could stay the night?¡± Elise asked.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°The big building across the plaza, the Dragonhearth Tavern. It¡¯s a bit rowdy but the rooms have soundproof magic on them.¡± Tao said as he motioned in the direction she should go. ¡°O-okay¡­ thanks. Does it cost money to stay there?¡± Elise asked hesitantly. Tao didn¡¯t reply, instead he stopped sweeping and looked her in the eyes. ¡°It¡¯s a bit rough trying to live here starting out, why not sleep in the real world for now?¡± Tao replied. ¡°I don¡¯t have anywhere to sleep.¡± Elise replied. Tao stared back at her in silence for a moment, then let out a long sigh. ¡°You remind me of myself when I found this place. Didn¡¯t want to go back.¡± He walked over while pulling 3 gold coins from his inventory. ¡°This¡¯ll cover the cost of one night.¡± He handed out the gold to her, but at the same time handed her the broom. ¡°Sweep the shop spotless, and use the bucket of water behind the counter with the sponge to scrub down the counter. I¡¯m not a charity.¡± Tao said. Elise gladly took the broom and coins. ¡°Okay.¡± She replied, and immediately got to work. It took her an hour and a half, but once she had finished cleaning, a notification popped up for her. You have gained the skill Cleaning and Maintenance(?) Cleaning and Maintenance - Rank 1 Improves your ability to meticulously clean and maintain various objects and environments using water, soaps and other materials, as well as remove stains and rust. Higher ranks improve your efficiency. Stain Removal Methods Known: 0 Maintenance Methods Known: 0 ¡°Miranda would love this.¡± Elise smirked to herself as Tao locked up the shop and she headed out. The sun had set by this time and the streets were lit by lanterns lining the cobblestone roads. She made her way towards the tavern and stepped inside. Within there was loud music playing and creatures of all races shouting, drinking and telling tales to each other. The smell of ale was heavy and hard to take in at first, but Elise did her best to look like she belonged as she approached the bartender. ¡°I¡¯d like a room for the night please.¡± Elise asked politely, to see a tall orc with spiky black hair look down at her from the otherside of the bar. He finished filling up a mug with ale, put it down on the bar for another patron, then looked to her. ¡°What was that, miss?¡± He asked over the loud atmosphere, his voice as deep as possibly imaginable. ¡°I- a- would like a room for the night please.¡± ¡°How many nights?¡± ¡°Just one.¡± ¡°Three gold.¡± He replied. She quickly gave him the coins, he reached behind the bar and pulled out a key labeled 207. ¡°Up the stairs on the left.¡± he said, then went back to his business. Elise took the key and waded through the crowds of drunken patrons to the staircase across the way, making it up to the second floor where the music could still be heard with off tune singing to accompany it, often drowned out by laugher. She found the room labeled 207, put the key in and swung the door open. Once she shut the door behind her though it went dead silent. It was unnerving at first, but after a moment she let out a big sigh of relief. The room was simple. A single bed with a nightstand, a small desk with a chair, parchment and quill on it with an empty dresser. There was a lantern on the nightstand, but Elise hadn¡¯t the slightest clue how to use it, and instead just flopped down on the bed looking up at the ceiling. ¡°You can make it by yourself. You don¡¯t need mom, or dad, or anyone. You can do this.¡± She said to herself, trying to calm her own nerves. [Jaese][Poking and Prodding] Jaese entered the police station late at night, but there were still quite a few people walking about in the well lit building. He made his way to the elevator and rode it to the third floor, then walked down the hall to find Richard¡¯s desk. As he suspected, Richard was still working with 2 of his team members, looking at documents and typing at their computers. ¡°Oh hey, Jaese. Hows the-¡± Richard asked, pointing to his chest wound. ¡°It¡¯s fine, just some stitches. How¡¯s the investigation going?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Not good. We¡¯re going on the assumption that what happened at the hospital is somehow related. You know how we were standing around without knowing why?¡± Richard asked. ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡± Jaese replied. ¡°It sounded a lot like what you said happened after you were attacked, so we¡¯re looking into similar incidents.¡± Richard replied. ¡°You find anything?¡± ¡°A few odd cases, but nothing as violent as what happened at the Bank or the Mendez house. Something weird is definitely going on though. Those women at Tai¡¯s place, you shoulda seen it, it was like they were hypnotized or something.¡± Richard replied. ¡°You don¡¯t still think Gabriel did this, do you?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Gabriel Estrada? No, I bet he¡¯s just out for revenge. He was on his way to getting off the streets. Has a clean job and the gang unit reported he¡¯d left Mendez¡¯s crew. Arnold still thinks he¡¯s involved though.¡± ¡°What? Why? Gabriel didn¡¯t have anything to do with the killings.¡± Jaese replied defensively. ¡°I know, but given his track record he¡¯s a much more plausible suspect than that little Tai kid.¡± Richard replied. ¡°What sort of track record?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°Not convicted, but he¡¯s suspected in a few shootings. He used to run Mendez¡¯ gang and was quite the heavy hitter. Couldn¡¯t ever tie anything directly to him though. He¡¯s no saint.¡± Richard replied. ¡°You said he was getting out though?¡± Jaese asked, deep in thought. ¡°Yeah. And what about you, what do you think is going on?¡± Richard asked, eyeing him carefully. ¡°I¡­¡± He hesitated. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s Tai. Kid or not, we had some witnesses from downtown say they saw someone matching his description pull out a sword the other night and started swinging it. It fits with your theory that people are killing people using strange methods.¡± Richard replied. ¡°Problem is we can¡¯t find him anywhere, it¡¯s like he¡¯s completely vanished. Him and a few of his close relatives. His older brother who typically runs their gang has been missing for awhile too. We¡¯re staking out their home and place of business now, so I¡¯ll let you know if we find something.¡± Richard replied. ¡°D-don¡¯t.¡± Jaese blurted out. ¡°Don¡¯t what?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t approach him¡­ I mean, if he¡¯s really doing the things we think, then it could end really badly.¡± ¡°You mean like he¡¯s bullet proof and shoots ice at us?¡± Richard asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Y-yeah, something like that.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask. When we talked last time you said you thought people were running around killing and pretending to be Wizards. The officer that found you in the warehouse, he said before you passed out that your last words were ¡®not pretending¡¯. What¡¯d you mean by that?¡± Richard asked. ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t say. I mean, I don¡¯t remember. Just promise me if you find Tai you don¡¯t approach him without contacting me first, alright?¡± ¡°Jaese, we can handle apprehending a teenage suspect.¡± Richard replied. ¡°You don¡¯t know what he¡¯s capable of.¡± Jaese said in a serious tone, hitting his hand down on the desk so that everyone turned to look at him. Jaese realized he¡¯d overreacted and leaned back. ¡°I just mean, if he¡¯s really involved, you don¡¯t know what sort of weapon he used, it could be extremely dangerous.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Alright... We¡¯ll stick to surveillance. I don¡¯t see how you¡¯d be able to make a difference in the arrest though, if he really can do what you think he can.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got some experience with it now. Just trust me.¡± Jaese replied. Richard paused, looking directly at Jaese while seemingly deep in thought. ¡°Alright.¡± Richard finally said. ¡°I¡¯ll trust you, but until we find something, you need to rest. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be on leave?¡± Richard shrugged, going back to the papers on his desk. ¡°Y-yeah. I came in to try and talk Arnold out of hunting down Gabriel.¡± Jaese said, turning and walking down the hall away from Richard¡¯s desk and towards Arnold¡¯s office. ¡°Good luck with that.¡± Richard said sarcastically. Jaese reached the door and knocked on it gently. ¡°Come in.¡± Arnold called from the other side. Jaese quickly opened the door to see Arnold looking up at him from the other side of his desk. ¡°The hell you doin here?¡± Arnold asked in an annoyed tone. ¡°I just came by to report something.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Report what?¡± ¡°That Gabriel guy, he¡¯s innocent, he¡¯s got nothing to do with all this.¡± ¡°Says who?¡± ¡°Well¡­ me, sir?¡± ¡°And where¡¯d you get this information? If Gabriel¡¯s got nothing to do with it, then who does? Richard told me the two of you were tracking a crime related to the robbery, and it led you straight to Gabriel.¡± ¡°Gabriel¡¯s just another victim, he lost his brother in that gang attack, he¡¯s looking for the same sort of guys we are.¡± ¡°Why are you so sure both of those crimes are related?¡± Arnold asked. Jaese broke eye contact, trying to think of what to say, but Arnold picked up on it immediately. ¡°Is there something you¡¯re not telling me Jaese?¡± ¡°Just trust me on this. Gabriel¡¯s not worth catching.¡± ¡°Like I should trust you that 5 officers died to a guy shooting ice? No chance. If Gabriel¡¯s really innocent, then we¡¯ll find out when we catch him and bring him in for questioning. Until that time, he¡¯s a solid lead. And I don¡¯t want to see you here for two weeks. You need time to recover your body and your head.¡± ¡°Sir, I don¡¯t need two weeks off, I c-¡± ¡°It¡¯ll turn into a suspension if you don¡¯t cut that shit out. Take some time off, cool your head, we¡¯ll let you know if we find anything.¡± Arnold snapped back, then looked back down to the documents on his desk. Jaese stood there for a moment, filled with frustration, then walked out and stormed down the hall back to the elevator, eventually making his way out of the building and back to his car. He got inside, put both hands on his steering wheel and let out a deep breath. ¡°Fuck!¡± He shouted out, frustration overflowing from within. Knowing what happened, what was happening, and being unable to affect it in the way he wanted. He put his fingers up to his party interface and clicked on the other¡¯s names. ¡°I couldn¡¯t convince them to rescind the arrest warrant, they want you for questioning and they¡¯ve got me on paid leave for 2 weeks. My boss won¡¯t listen to anything I say. They all think I¡¯m crazy.¡± Jaese said. Elise listened silently as she laid in the tavern inn, unable to sleep. ¡°It¡¯s no problem, we figured something out for Gabriel.¡± Darith replied. ¡°It¡¯s worse than that, one of the detectives is onto Tai and staking out his residence. It¡¯s only a matter of time before they go after him. How long until we can take him out of the game?¡± Jaese asked his party. ¡°You guys are still level 1¡­ Tai and his group are around level 90¡­ if we go before we get strong enough, we¡¯ll just end up like Jacob. We have to train first if we want to stop them.¡± Darith replied to all 5 of them. ¡°Got it.¡± He started up his engine and drove back to his apartment. Once inside his room he shut the door behind himself, locked it, grabbed a glass of water along with a hastily made sandwich to fill his stomach, then opened the gate into Avistion, finding himself back in Griffin Square. Without any hesitation he made his way back to the Training Hall in the dead of night. It was lit by lanterns, but nothing like what it was during the day. He could make out much fewer people training still, but as he approached the field of target dummies, he recognized two of them. ¡°What are you guys doing here?¡± Jaese asked, looking at Elise as she practiced her daggers on the training dummy. ¡°Couldn¡¯t sleep. You?¡± Elise asked him. ¡°Same.¡± Jaese replied, taking his crossbow out of his inventory. ¡°Sorry Gabriel, I really tried.¡± Jaese said to him. Gabriel paused his next swing of his two handed sword, but didn¡¯t turn to look at Jaese. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. All that matters is that we take that punk out.¡± Gabriel replied coldly, then went back to swinging. Darith, unable to sleep in his bedroom, got out of bed at 10:30pm and used the gate back to Avistion. While walking towards the academy to read more, he noticed the energy bars fluctuating on Elise, Gabriel and Jaese, then spotted Liana¡¯s magic bar moving as well. ¡°You guys are all awake and training again?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Yep.¡± Elise said. ¡°Uh uh.¡± Liana replied. ¡°Can¡¯t sit around doing nothing while guys like Tai are running around.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Looks like I picked the right people¡­¡± He said to himself. ¡°You can eat the steak in your inventory if you get hungry. I¡¯ll be studying more, so let me know if you guys need anything.¡± Darith replied with a smile. He got 4 acknowledgements as he passed through the walls surrounding the Avistion Magic Academy. Chapter 36: Power Nap Darith entered the Library through the grey magical barrier once more, the room was lit by the yellow glow of lanterns lining the walls and shelves. He could see a few other people still in the library reading despite the late hour. Without hesitating he went back to the first shelf he had started on and skimmed through the books. There were some books that were story related that Darith skipped over, instead he focused only on reading the instructional and informative ones that he thought he could learn from. He picked up books on tailoring, woodworking, blacksmithing and jewelry crafting, 10 in total as usual, then sat down at a table by himself and began reading. Another 3 hours had passed and Darith¡¯s hunger was getting the best of him, but he¡¯d finished the next batch. While he didn¡¯t gain enough experience to get another skill up in Scholar Mastery, he did get a few new skill prompts. Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Blacksmithing(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Jewelry Craft(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Tailoring(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Woodworking(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Upon accepting the third of the four, he got another prompt. You have gained the skill Blacksmithing(?) You have gained the skill Jewelry Craft(?) You have gained the skill Tailoring(?) You have gained the skill Crafting Mastery(?) You have gained the skill Woodworking(?) Blacksmithing - Rank 1 Improves the crafting of items and objects using materials such as metals and ores. Utilizes forges, furnaces, grindstones, and anvils. Higher ranks allow the handling of more difficult materials, and improve the quality of your craft. Records known crafting recipes that are taught or learned. Workable Metals: Copper Quality: Low: 90% - Normal: 10%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0% Recipes Known: 11 Jewelry Craft - Rank 1 Improves the crafting of jewelry using materials such as metals and gemstones. Utilizes forges, furnaces, grindstones, and anvils and a Jeweler¡¯s kit. Higher ranks allow the handling of more difficult materials, and improve the quality of your craft. Records known crafting recipes that are taught or learned. Workable Materials: Copper, Quartz, Lapis Lazuli, Opal, Quality: Low: 95% - Normal: 5%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0% Recipes Known: 4 Tailoring - Rank 1 Improves your sewing skills when working with cloths, threads and textile based materials. Utilizes a sewing kit. Higher ranks allow the handling of more difficult materials, and improve the quality of your craft. Records known crafting recipes that are taught or learned. Workable Materials: Cotton, Linen Quality: Low: 90% - Normal: 10%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0% Recipes Known: 12 Crafting Mastery - Rank 1 Improves your ability to craft items using various materials and skills. Higher ranks improve the chance of higher quality outcomes and reduce the chances of failing or wasting materials. This skill is influenced by Agility, Strength and Intelligence. Woodworking - Rank 1 Improves the crafting of items and objects using wood based materials. Utilizes lumber mills, axes, saws, and a woodworker¡¯s kit. Higher ranks allow the handling of more difficult woods, and improve the quality of your craft. Records known crafting recipes that are taught or learned. Workable Wood: Pine Quality: Low: 90% - Normal: 10%, High: 0%, Superior: 0%, Flawless: 0% Recipes Known: 5 ¡°I wonder how many of these crafting skills exist...¡± Darith whispered to himself. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of crafting types.¡± He clicked to look through the known recipes. They were all very simple recipes he¡¯d read about in the books, copper daggers, swords, or pine bows and even a pine chair. He learned that cotton seemed to be used for common clothes, Linen was used for making robes and spellcaster attire. As he finished looking through his menu, he watched as suddenly a spectral head rose out of his table, causing him to slide back a bit, the ghost girl stood in his table, only her shoulders and above were visible. She simply glared at him for a moment, then walked away in the opposite direction. ¡°That woulda got me.¡± An old man spoke as he approached Darith from another table. ¡°You¡¯re not afraid of Ghosts?¡± He asked, Darith turned to see his name. Kenneth, level 9. ¡°No, not really.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°It seems like she¡¯s trying really hard though, that¡¯s the third time and I just got here today.¡± Darith whispered. ¡°Yeah, she messes with people all day.¡± The man said as he sat down. ¡°I noticed you reading through all the basic crafting books, you looking to be a craftsman?¡± He asked. ¡°Not particularly, just trying to learn about everything in this world.¡± Darith replied as he began closing the books. ¡°You¡¯ve got a lot of reading to do then.¡± Kenneth replied, ¡°Mind if I read here? She¡¯s less likely to try and scare people when they¡¯re in groups.¡± He asked. ¡°No problem.¡± Darith whispered back. Collecting the books, he went back to the shelf, this time he specifically targeted crafting books he thought would teach him the skills he was missing. He went after Leatherworking, Alchemy, Enchantment and Cooking, and grabbed any other books that looked similar to the ones that had taught him skills thus far. He made his way back to the table and placed them all down. ¡°You¡¯ll be spreading yourself thin if you try and do everything, it''s best to focus on one craft instead. Once you pick your affinity for intermediate level, it¡¯ll only grant experience boosts to the related skills.¡± Kenneth commented. ¡°I¡¯m mostly just trying to learn what they do, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll level them all.¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± Kenneth shrugged as Darith stretched and let out a yawn. He couldn¡¯t tell the time but he thought it¡¯d be at least past 1:00 am now. ¡°Tired?¡± ¡°N-not really.¡± ¡°I could help you with that.¡± Kenneth shrugged without looking up from his book. ¡°You mean like coffee?¡± Darith asked. ¡°No, a skill.¡± ¡°What kind of skill helps with sleep?¡± Darith replied, his interest piqued. ¡°The kind only an old man could learn.¡± Kenneth looked up with a smile. ¡°I could trade it with you.¡± He asked. Darith suddenly had a dozen red flags pop up in his head. A strange man approaching at night offering him a trade deal, all signs pointed to scam. Still, Darith wanted to know more of what he was talking about. ¡°What sort of trade?¡± Darith whispered, keeping the conversation as quiet as possible. ¡°My basic skill for one of yours.¡± Kenneth asked. ¡°So I teach you and you teach me?¡± Darith asked. ¡°That¡¯s how skill trading usually goes. Never done it before?¡± He asked with a friendly smile. More red flags, he was looking to see if Darith was new at this. ¡°No¡­ what¡¯s to stop you from leaving after I teach you?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re worried about that.¡± Kenneth shook his head. ¡°I can go first in that case, I¡¯m not looking to trick you.¡± Kenneth whispered back. ¡°What are you looking for?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Some new skills to teach my Granddaughter. In the real world I¡¯m a 70 year old man with my memory on its way out. My lovely granddaughter invited me, and since I¡¯ve gotten this body my memory has held up. I¡¯m not much for adventuring so I stick around here reading all the books I can, but I¡¯m always on the lookout for skills that I could teach my granddaughter to help her adventuring.¡± Kenneth replied. A story that draws sympathy, a common tactic from scammers both in games and the real world, Darith wasn¡¯t convinced. ¡°How old is your Granddaughter?¡± Darith asked. ¡°She¡¯s 16, young, naive and kind hearted.¡± ¡°She pick an affinity?¡± ¡°She calls herself a Paladin.¡± Kenneth replied. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to trade you don¡¯t have to, it was just a suggestion to let you spend more time here.¡± Kenneth shrugged, feigning lost interest as he went back to his book. Darith hesitated, also looking down at his book. He thought over the potential gain and loss, and in the end the idea of learning new skills won him over. ¡°Alright, what skill do you want from me?¡± Darith asked. ¡°You mind if I Magic Read you?¡± Kenneth asked. ¡°You can learn my skills from that?¡± Darith replied. ¡°Yes, I can see the names of them at least. I won¡¯t know what they do unless I¡¯ve read about them or seen them before though. It¡¯s one of the benefits of being a Scholar.¡± Kenneth replied. ¡°Okay, sure.¡± Darith shrugged. Kenneth reached forward and a purple spell circle appeared facing Darith, vanishing after a second. It looked very similar to the magic Vanessa had cast. ¡°Hm, not many. I¡¯m guessing you just started playing. Cartography, Dash, Sprint, got all these¡­ what¡¯s this ¡®Through the Pain¡¯ skill?¡± Kenneth said as he waved his finger in the air, going through the list of Darith¡¯s skills. ¡°That lets me use endless energy for a short time, but afterwards I get exhausted pretty much until I sleep. It¡¯s kind of an emergency last resort skill.¡± Darith whispered back. ¡°That sounds incredibly useful. Go ahead then, check my skills, let me know which one you want.¡± Kenneth said. ¡°Magic Reading.¡± Darith whispered, and a spell identical to Kenneth¡¯s came from Darith. His interface popped up with all the available information on Kenneth, including his level, affinity(none), name, list of basic skills. As Darith scrolled through the information he saw all of the skills he knew, but then dozens and dozens of skills he hadn¡¯t seen before. High Jump - Rank 1 Parry* Disarm - Rank 1 Grapple - Rank 1 Trip - Rank 1 Disengage - Rank 1 Shield Block - Rank 1 Cartography - Rank 1 Dash - Rank 1 Sprint - Rank 1 Evade* Calligraphy - Rank 6 Mimic - Rank 1 Conceal - Rank 1 Heat Tolerance - Rank 1 Cold Tolerance - Rank 1 Poison Resistance - Rank 1 Power Nap - Rank 26 Darith stopped after seeing the first high ranked skill, though the list went on. ¡°How do you have so many?¡± Darith asked in disbelief. ¡°Trading with young folks like you who pass through here.¡± Kenneth replied. Looking at the level of his basic skills, what he said seemed to be true, almost all of it was low rank as if it hadn¡¯t been used before. ¡°Most are happy to trade for my Power Nap skill.¡± He whispered back. ¡°What¡¯s it do?¡± Darith asked.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Makes you get a full nights sleep in a shorter time.¡± Kenneth replied with a proud grin. ¡°This game calls it a skill, but it¡¯s something I do every afternoon.¡± He chuckled. ¡°So how about it, I¡¯ll teach it to you and you teach me that Through the Pain skill?¡± Kenneth asked. ¡°Okay, deal.¡± Darith nodded, the thought of being able to sleep less meant more time for grinding and leveling up. If it really did what he said, it¡¯d be a huge advantage in this game. Kenneth started by reaching out his hand. Player Kenneth is trying to teach you the skill: Power Nap. Accept(x) Decline(x) You have gained the skill Power Nap(?) Power Nap - Rank 1 Reduces the amount of time needed to recover through sleep, but reduces experience gained by 10% for a period of time afterwards. Time required to power nap, and the length of the experience penalty reduces with ranks. Power Nap Duration: 2 Hours Experience Penalty Duration: 4 Hours ¡°Just be careful, you¡¯ll be hard to wake once you¡¯ve used that skill.¡± Kenneth said. ¡°Right, thanks.¡± Darith nodded, then reached out his hand to teach Through the Pain. Teaching Successful. ¡°What about your other skills, will you trade something for them?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Come to me with more skills and I¡¯d be happy to trade more with you.¡± Kenneth replied, then reached his hand out to his interface. ¡°Mandy, I¡¯ve got quite the new skill for you, come visit me next time you¡¯re in the city.¡± He said, his words directed at his party members rather than Darith. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea¡­ thanks, I¡¯ll see you around.¡± Darith smiled as he began closing up the books. ¡°Have fun.¡± Kenneth smiled. Darith rushed to put them back on the shelves, then stepped out of the library and pressed everyone¡¯s names. ¡°Guys let¡¯s take a break, meet at Griffin Square. I¡¯ve got a good skill for everyone.¡± Darith said, and got yup¡¯s and okay¡¯s from the four of them. He made his way down the stairs and out of the Academy where he saw Liana. ¡°Darith!¡± She smiled and waved while running over to him. ¡°What¡¯s the skill?¡± ¡°It sounds lame but its really good. It¡¯s called Power Nap. An old guy traded it to me.¡± Darith said with enthusiasm, and began teaching it to Liana as they walked. ¡°Whoa this is pretty good!¡± Liana said after learning it, looking at it in her menu. ¡°I also learned a bunch of basic crafting skills from reading about them. How¡¯s your healing going?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve almost got Life Mastery to rank 4, once I get it to 5 I¡¯ll move to the other towers. The experience goes slower now that I don¡¯t have endless mana, so it¡¯ll probably take me a few more hours to get it to 5.¡± Liana replied. ¡°That¡¯s fine, I¡¯ve got a ton more to read about. The depth and details in this world are incredible, even when it comes to making items.¡± Darith replied. The two talked about what they had learned until they reached Griffin square, and standing at the fountain in the dead of night were Elise, Gabriel, and Jaese. All three were looking run down, their starting armor sets were drenched in sweat. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± Darith asked. ¡°My dagger mastery is rank three now. I¡¯m getting the hang of it.¡± Elise smiled. ¡°I didn¡¯t think crossbows would be so much different than a gun, but I¡¯m starting to get the hang of it. My crossbow mastery is also at three.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Two-handed swords is almost five. I¡¯ll be going to the next weapon soon.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°We all got some Endurance, Strength and Agility stat boosts as well.¡± Jaese added. ¡°That¡¯s pretty good for a few hours of training, especially since none of you have used those weapons before. Here, I got this skill from a guy in the library.¡± Darith said as he began teaching Power Nap to the three of them. ¡°This¡¯ll lessen the amount of sleep we need to help maximize our efficiency. So we can get stronger as fast as possible.¡± ¡°Great, I¡¯m going to use it now.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Me too.¡± Liana added. The two of them both channeled their Return skill, and 10 seconds later vanished in a flash of light. ¡°Guess I should too. This thing forces me to sleep right?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°I think so, haven¡¯t tried it yet.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Aite. Thanks little man.¡± He replied. After using return, he too disappeared. ¡°Ah, Darith, before you go, I just thought you should know that I¡¯m staying in the Tavern over there, it¡¯s called the Dragonhearth Tavern.¡± Elise said, motioning towards it. ¡°Really, in the game world? Are you sure?¡± Darith asked with disbelief. ¡°Yeah¡­ I thought about what you said¡­¡± Elise replied. ¡°What about your parents?¡± ¡°My parents think I¡¯m staying with Miranda, my maid... and she thinks my dad got me a place, so for now I don¡¯t think anyone will be looking for me.¡± ¡°You could probably stay at my place¡­¡± Darith suggested. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine here. I¡¯ll find a way to make gold and get stronger and make it work. Thanks to you I see a way to be myself for once¡­ live the way that I want to. It¡¯s a bit scary but also exciting.¡± Elise smiled. ¡°Alright¡­ to be honest I¡¯m a bit jealous, that sounds awesome. If I could somehow get my mom to join I¡¯d probably do the same thing. I can¡¯t imagine what it¡¯s like staying in a fantasy tavern.¡± Darith replied with a twinkle in his eye. ¡°Wanna see it?¡± Elise shrugged. ¡°Your room?¡± ¡°Yeah! It¡¯s really cozy.¡± Elise replied. ¡°Of course!¡± Darith said excitedly. ¡°Cmon, I¡¯ll show you.¡± She replied, motioning him to follow her into the tavern. He stepped in and witnessed the scene of bards and drunkards singing and shouting with the heavy scent of musky ale filling his nose as he walked through the tavern towards the stairs. He watched in amazement at all the races standing around various tables with drinks in hand, barmaids rushing around from table to table trying to keep up with orders. Despite the late hour, the place was lively. When they reached the stairs, Elise led him up to the second floor to the room marked with a 207, opened the lock and led him inside. Once the door shut behind him, all the sound from the outside was blocked out, leaving them in silence. ¡°So that sound magic was used here too. It¡¯s like this in the Academy Library too.¡± Darith said as he looked around the room. ¡°So what do you think? Is this like in the games you¡¯ve played?¡± Elise asked as she sat on the bed. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s just like I imagined it, even a lantern. I always wondered what it¡¯d be like to live inside an MMORPG, and now we can actually do it.¡± Darith said with glowing eyes. "How much gold does it cost here? I could give you some to help out." Darith suggested. ¡°Nope, no thanks. I don''t want to rely on you, I can figure it out..." Elise waved her hand. "This fantasy magic stuff is really starting to grow on me. Do you think there¡¯s dancing in this world too?¡± Elise asked. ¡°There¡¯s gotta be. I¡¯ve been reading about different masteries and skills and they seem to cover everything you can imagine. You just gotta find it.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Cool! I¡¯m gonna try and look for it then. Once I¡¯m done with the dagger and kunai stuff. When are we gonna start hunting monsters though?¡± ¡°Once everyone¡¯s done figuring out their weapons we¡¯ll get started.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not scary or anything, right?¡± ¡°Nah, nothing that bad. Giant spiders, bats, turtles, stuff like that.¡± ¡°I hate spiders.¡± Elise shivered. ¡°That¡¯s what the daggers are for!¡± Darith replied. ¡°You think I¡¯m going to run up and stab spiders? I don¡¯t want to go anywhere near giant spiders.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll take care of the Spiders for you, you can stab the turtles.¡± Darith chuckled. ¡°Oh you¡¯re going to protect me?¡± Elise smirked. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it like that.¡± ¡°You went from being afraid to talk to me, to coming up to my bedroom late at night and telling me you¡¯ll protect me from big spiders.¡± Elise said while kicking her legs back and forth on the end of the bed. ¡°It¡¯s not really your bedroom.¡± Darith said with a red face. ¡°Hah, there¡¯s the Darith from School.¡± She said as he blushed. ¡°Now you¡¯re just making fun of me.¡± He sighed. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go sleep, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± ¡°Good night Romeo.¡± Elise mocked as Darith began channeling return, and a few seconds later he was gone. Elise flopped backwards into the bed and rolled up under the blankets, still smiling to herself as she clicked around in her menu. ¡°Alright let¡¯s try this thing. Power Nap!¡± She shouted, and was instantly asleep. [Darith + Liana + Gabriel][Suit Up] ¡°I got the biggest suit I could based on your orc measurements¡­ I just hope it¡¯s big enough.¡± Kristen said as she returned that morning while Gabriel, Liana and Darith sat in the living room eating cereal. All three of them still had the experience debuff for another two hours from using Power Nap, but felt completely refreshed. For lack of any chairs that could support Gabriel¡¯s Orc weight in the kitchen they opted to eat in the living room on the more durable furniture. They had been waiting for Kristen to return from the tailor shop with clothing that might fit Gabriel¡¯s orc body. The moment Kristen walked in Gabriel stood up and walked to meet her, taking the suit from her. It certainly looked big enough. ¡°Thank you ma¡¯am.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Go ahead and try it on.¡± She motioned him to the bathroom and he nodded, having to duck under the doorframe to avoid hitting his head. With the door shut, Kristen moved to join the others. ¡°Was it easy?¡± Darith asked. ¡°The tailor thought I was playing a joke on him when I gave him the measurements¡­ but they don¡¯t call themselves Big and Small for nothing.¡± Kristen shrugged. ¡°Hey Mom¡­ if I could get another invite, would you be interested?¡± Darith asked with a mouth full of cereal. ¡°Don¡¯t talk with your mouth full. And I don¡¯t think so, all that magic stuff seems a bit too crazy for me.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°It¡¯s not just magic, you can do anything, it¡¯s like you can become anyone you want, or just a better version of who you are. The city was filled with all sorts of cool skills, there was even people working as waitresses.¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°Well that sounds glamorous, being a waitress in a fantasy world.¡± Kristen rolled her eyes. ¡°Elise is already staying there, she said she¡¯s going to find a way to make gold, and got a tavern room.¡± Darith said. ¡°What do her parents think about that?¡± Kristen asked as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. ¡°I don¡¯t think she told them yet¡­¡± Darith hesitated. ¡°Mhm.¡± ¡°I think you¡¯d have a lot of fun, we could do so much stuff together there!¡± Liana said with excitement. Kristen noted her enthusiasm as she poured milk into her own bowl. ¡°What would I do in a fantasy city?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°You could do anything. Buy a house, build a house, own a shop, rent a wagon, learn to ride a griffon¡­¡± Darith said with excitement. ¡°Maybe meet a handsome knight on a white horse.¡± Liana jumped in. ¡°Mm, I like that one.¡± Kristen said with a nod towards Liana. ¡°But what¡¯ll happen to my job, to the house? I can¡¯t just pack up my life and move to a video game world.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°There¡¯s plenty of people who did, we met them.¡± Liana said. ¡°And what happens if we get game over, we lose our memory and we¡¯re homeless?¡± Kristen asked with a raised brow. ¡°That won¡¯t happen, Darith will protect us.¡± Liana smiled. ¡°Pfff, boy you two are persistent.¡± Kristen sighed. ¡°You¡¯d be able to see what we¡¯re doing and experience it all, so you don¡¯t have to worry about Darith so much.¡± Liana added, Darith went silent as he noticed Liana was being much more convincing than he was. ¡°Tell you what, if you find a way to invite me, I¡¯ll think about it alright? But if I understood all this game mumbo correctly, you¡¯re all out of invites. So we don¡¯t need to talk about it.¡± Kristen said as she took a spoonful of cereal in her mouth, and she could visibly see the sparks of determination light up in Liana and Darith¡¯s eyes simultaneously. ¡°If we find a way to invite mom¡­¡± Darith whispered to Liana, clearly audible to Kristen. ¡°Then we get to move to Avistion.¡± Liana whispered back excitedly. ¡°But what about my invites, I should have4too, right? We just figure out how to use them.¡± Liana said. ¡°You can¡¯t invite people unless you leave the party, and if I understood everything up until now, you can only do that if your party leader gets Game Over¡­ it¡¯s a weird system.¡± Darith said. ¡°Ok, that¡¯s not gonna work at all. We¡¯ll figure something else out!¡± Liana replied. Just then, the bathroom door opened and Gabriel stepped out. The suit was tight fitting, but it worked. He stood in the hall as a 6¡¯4 orc in a suit and tie. The seams looked as though they were screaming for help around his shoulders and back. ¡°It looks good, but I wouldn¡¯t bend over if I were you. It¡¯s a rental after all. Oh, and here, for those cute little tusks.¡± Kristen said as she pulled out a prop mustache and beard from her purse and carefully stuck it on Gabriel¡¯s face while standing on the tips of her toes. ¡°Got it at a prop store on the way, figured you¡¯d need it.¡± ¡°Thank you ma¡¯am.¡± Gabriel said. ¡°There you are.¡± Once she finished, it was hard to notice the oddly shaped jaw unless specifically looking for it. Gabriel got a message that his Conceal skill leveled up to 2. ¡°Now turn back into your normal self and I¡¯ll drive you.¡± Kristen said. Gabriel nodded and transformed back, but found himself standing there in his boxers and socks.. ¡°Ah, yeah, I forgot, the first time you change is a bit weird with clothing, if you take off what you were wearing, it stays off.¡± Darith said while squinting. ¡°Wow you¡¯ve got a lot of muscles.¡± Liana commented with eyes wide. Kristen turned red and quickly looked away. ¡°Ah, right, let me see if I can find some old clothing from Darith¡¯s father you can wear.¡± Kristen said as she rushed upstairs. Without any attempt to cover himself up, he turned towards the two, and Liana made no attempt to hide her ogling - she stopped watching the spoon she was eating from, but kept doing the motion of grabbing cereal and putting it in her mouth. ¡°Still don¡¯t get why ya¡¯ll are going through all this trouble. You don¡¯t even know me, or the sort of person I am. Or the things I¡¯ve done. I aint used to people being this nice to me for nothin.¡± Gabriel said as he looked at Darith, who was busy staring down at his own body but trying to hide the fact that he was doing so. ¡°In my experience, you help people for free like this, you just get taken advantage of.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not exactly for free, you¡¯re gonna help us, right?¡± ¡°Help you get revenge on my little bro? Still sounds like you¡¯re helpin¡¯ me.¡± Gabriel replied as Kristen came back downstairs with clothes, she had also thrown on a simple black dress quickly as well. ¡°I think what he¡¯s trying to say is that he doesn¡¯t want to be indebted to you.¡± Kristen said as she handed the clothes to him and he quickly put them on. ¡°You either, ma¡¯am.¡± Gabriel replied politely. ¡°How about you pay me back by taking care of these two little ones.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°I can do that, ma¡¯am.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Then¡­ can you¡­ y¡¯know.¡± Darith motioned awkwardly to Gabriel as he finished putting on his clothes. ¡°What?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°Can you help me get muscles like yours¡­¡± He asked shyly. ¡°Heh.¡± Gabriel smirked as he eyed Darith up and down as he sat plump on the couch in his normal body. ¡°Yeah, when all this is done with, we¡¯ll get you good ¡®n buff little man.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Ready to go?¡± Kristen asked. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± He replied. ¡°Remember, if anything happens just use the key and run to Avistion.¡± Darith said, and he nodded back while leaving the house with Kristen. ¡°You want to get big muscles?¡± Liana asked as she stood up, preparing to open a gate. ¡°Well, yeah¡­¡± ¡°Why? They don¡¯t help us in the game.¡± ¡°You know¡­ to look good. Girls like guys with big muscles, don¡¯t they?¡± Darith replied shyly as he stood up as well, waiting for Liana¡¯s gate to open. Liana rolled her eyes at him then gently put her hand on his shoulder after he¡¯d transformed back into his Nemothyne body. ¡°Oh my innocent young Darith, so much to learn.¡± She mocked him. ¡°I¡¯m older than you, remember.¡± Darith grumbled back as the two stepped through and entered Griffin Square. The sun was up and the place was lively once more with adventurers and merchants doing business, shouts for hunting companions and trade deals rang throughout. The two made their way straight towards the Magic Academy, but on the way Darith navigated to his friends menu to find Belle¡¯s name and pressed it. ¡°Hey Belle, can you hear me?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yup, how¡¯s it going?¡± Belle replied, her voice was audible inside his head, not too unlike how he¡¯d think to himself. It was still taking some getting used to it. ¡°It¡¯s going great, I wanted to ask you a question about inviting other players though.¡± ¡°Sure, what¡¯d you want to know?¡± Belle replied. Liana could hear Darith speaking beside him as they walked, but she couldn¡¯t hear the responses Belle was giving. ¡°After I use my4 party invites, is it still possible to invite more players somehow? Like use my party member¡¯s invites?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Nope. The game is set up so that they¡¯ll be able to make their own parties if they lose their leader, but otherwise they¡¯re stuck with you and you¡¯re stuck with them. Aaron pointed out that it¡¯s almost like a test of friendship between the party members.¡± Belle replied. ¡°A test of friendship? What do you mean?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Well, think about it. The first person, the party leader, usually knows less about the game starting out in the first week, and doesn¡¯t get access to Avistion until after that. Anyone he invites will have that 7 day grace period and be armed with all of the advantages of whatever their leader had gathered before they joined, making it pretty easy for them to surpass their leader in strength. Assuming they utilize that 7 day grace period the NPC¡¯s give beginners to the fullest. That¡¯s why you have to be careful who you invite, someone might get tired of you and try to take you out so that they can form their own party.¡± Belle replied. ¡°That¡¯s a good point¡­ I don¡¯t think anyone in our group would do something like that though¡­¡± Darith said as he thought to himself nervously, recalling Gabriel¡¯s words that they didn¡¯t know anything about him. He didn¡¯t know much about Jaese or Elise either. ¡°Well you can never be sure. The power you can get in this game changes people. That¡¯s why so far I¡¯ve stuck with just my husband.¡± Belle replied. ¡°Wait so you still have three invites?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yup. Why, did you have someone you want to invite to the game?¡± Belle asked. ¡°Y-yeah, my mom.¡± Darith replied. ¡°You could always try forming a guild.¡± Belle replied. ¡°Forming a guild, that lets you invite people?¡± Darith asked excitedly. ¡°Yep, from what I¡¯ve heard, The Guild Leader gets a game invite each time the guild gains a level by doing guild or city quests. They¡¯re big in scale though so you usually need a decently sized guild to start doing stuff like that.¡± Belle replied. ¡°That¡¯s okay, how do I form a guild?¡± Darith asked. ¡°You¡¯ll need to be high enough level which you¡¯ve got already, but it¡¯s expensive as all hell. You¡¯ll need 100 000 gold.¡± Belle replied. ¡°What? How do I get 100 000 gold?¡± Darith shouted out, Liana listening to the conversation from one side. ¡°Seriously, we need 100 000 gold?¡± Liana asked Darith in disbelief. ¡°Beats me, you had more gold than I did.¡± Belle replied. ¡°Damn¡­ so If I want to invite my mom on my own and form a guild we¡¯ll need to find a way to get 100 000 gold.¡± Darith sighed. ¡°Sorry.¡± Belle replied. ¡°I¡¯d offer my invites but I¡¯m still thinking I should hold on to them and use them to fill out my party with people I can trust.¡± ¡°No problem, I understand. This whole invite system, the way the game keeps itself hidden, it¡¯s all really strange. Why not just invite everyone.¡± Darith mumbled to himself in thought, but both Belle and Liana could here. ¡°My theory is that it¡¯s a beta test. The game is testing how the world reacts to what it can do, and if it has a bad effect or a good effect on people. Maybe the makers plan to tweak the rules and balance it based on how we act and treat each other. And guilds like New World Order are failing the test horribly.¡± Belle replied. Darith thought on her words, and it sounded plausible to him. ¡°If you make a guild, make sure to let me know and Aaron and I can join to help you do the guild quests.¡± ¡°Okay, great! Thanks.¡± Darith said, then turned to Liana. ¡°So how do we get that much gold?¡± Liana asked as they walked into the Academy Garden. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet¡­ I¡¯ll keep studying and hopefully come up with an idea. Our first priority should be to get stronger, find affinities and beat Tai.¡± Darith said. ¡°Right. I¡¯ll become a powerful Cleric as soon as possible.¡± Liana nodded as they reached the fountain in the garden where the path split towards each tower. ¡°I¡¯ll see you later.¡± She smiled, leaving towards the Green tower. ¡°See you.¡± Darith replied, then made his way towards the library, but not before looking to see Elise and Jaese¡¯s energy bars fluctuating. Chapter 37: Book of Affinities Dagger Mastery skill reached rank 5! ¡°Finally.¡± Elise said, gasping for air as she put her hands on her knees, her energy nearing 0. Carsie walked up to her, tapped her on the shoulder, and instantly her energy filled back up while simultaneously she felt her breath return. ¡°Congratulations. You did great! I think you¡¯re ready to handle the beasts outside the city gates.¡± Carsie smiled at her. ¡°Unfortunately If you want to learn more from me, it¡¯ll come at a cost.¡± ¡°Thanks¡­. How about kunai, can you teach me how to throw kunai?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Carsie nodded with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m good with those as well. They¡¯re a bit harder to learn than Daggers though.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see how that¡¯s possible.¡± Elise joked as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. ¡°Well¡­ it''s one thing to shoot a bow or crossbow.¡± She motioned to Jaese training across the field. ¡°But with Kunai, first you¡¯ll need to throw them and orient them correctly.¡± Carsie said as she materialized a kunai in her hand from her inventory and threw it, hitting a target dummy directly in the head. ¡°They¡¯re not very effective unless you can hit vital spots. Then, to take full advantage of them, you need to be able to aim while moving, against moving targets.¡± Carsie said, then charged forward with a dash, and simultaneously threw 4 kunai, hitting 4 different training dummies in their heads. ¡°That¡¯s what I wanna do.¡± Elise nodded as she watched Carsie retrieve the kunai. ¡°Show me what you¡¯re already capable of.¡± Carise asked, so Elise pulled a kunai out of her inventory, aimed it by closing one eye, then threw it. The kunai spun around and bounced off the shoulder of the training dummy she was aiming for. ¡°Ehehe¡­¡± Carsie watched nervously. ¡°It¡¯s hopeless, isn¡¯t it.¡± Elise sighed as she retrieved it. ¡°No no no! You can learn it, it¡¯s just going to take a lot of work.¡± Carsie tried to cheer her up. ¡°Why don¡¯t we take a break first though, I¡¯m starving. Let¡¯s pick it up again in 10 minutes, okay?¡± Carsie said as she ran off in a hurry towards one of the nearby entrances into the main Academy building. As she did, Elise heard a loud grumble from her stomach. Looking to her inventory, the steak was long gone, and she remembered she had entered Avistion with plans to make it here on her own, but hadn¡¯t thought about food. She looked to see Jaese approaching, while the elf that¡¯d been training him headed to the main building as well. ¡°They¡¯re calling for a lunch break. How¡¯s it going with you so far?¡± Jaese asked as he pulled a bottle of water out of his inventory and started drinking it. Elise locked eyes with the bottle and watched as it funnelled water into his mouth. ¡°G-good. I¡¯m done with daggers, about to start on kunai.¡± ¡°You thirsty?¡± Jaese asked, watching her eye his bottle. ¡°A¡­ a little.¡± She replied. ¡°Here.¡± He pulled another bottle out of his inventory and tossed it to her. ¡°I found out you could store items like this in your inventory, so I shoved all the bottles in my fridge into it.¡± Jaese said. Elise quickly opened the bottle and started chugging it, then watched as Jaese pulled a sandwich out of his inventory. Drool practically formed at the side of her mouth, causing him to roll his eyes and pull another out for her. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°No problem. This game is at least extremely convenient, once you get used to it.¡± ¡°How¡¯s your training going?¡± She asked with a mouthful of bread. ¡°I got the crossbow figured out. I¡¯m not perfect but atleast I won¡¯t be useless. Doubt it¡¯ll be good enough to deal with Tai yet though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s okay, Darith said once we finished training we¡¯d start leveling up on monsters.¡± ¡°Alright. Good. I¡¯m gonna get started on the Longbow and finish off with hand to hand if they¡¯ll train that here. I should at least already be good with that. What sort of skills did you get with the dagger so far?¡± Jaese asked. ¡°The beginner skill was stab... I also learned two others from Carsie¡­¡± Elise said as she opened her menu and explained them. Dagger Mastery - Rank 5 Increases your damage dealt and efficiency while wielding a dagger. This mastery contributes to all damage dealt by physical-based skills while wielding a dagger, so long as that skill is compatible with daggers. Damage: Weapon Damage + 5 + (50% of agility), (50% of strength) Energy Cost Per Swing: 5 Stab - Rank 1 (Dagger, Shortsword) Plunge the blade of your weapon into a target after activating this skill to use it. Releases a burst of mana into the target once the blade has penetrated the target. Mana cost and damage increase with each rank. Damage: Weapon Mastery + 10 Mana Cost: 5 Energy Cost: 10 Imbued Slash - Rank 1 (Dagger Only) Surrounds your dagger with mana, extending its range and improving its sharpness in order to cut targets further away and penetrate basic armor. Higher ranks increase the length of the blade, and its sharpness, as well as increase its mana cost. Mana Cost: 5 Mana per second Sharpness: 1 Armor Penetration Length Extension: 1mm. Bleeding Cut - Rank 1 (Dagger Only) Twist the blade after cutting a target in order to activate this ability. Causes the target to bleed and lose health over time. Duration and damage dealt based on Mastery and skill rank. Duration: 3 seconds Damage: 1% of Mastery Damage Energy Cost: 15 ¡°I couldn¡¯t really practice the Bleeding Cut because it doesn¡¯t work on the target dummies.¡± Elise shrugged. ¡°Well that¡¯s a given.¡± Jaese replied as he listened to her explanation of her skills. ¡°Sucks that we can¡¯t get skill experience here. All my skills are rank 1 still as well.¡± Jaese replied. ¡°Belle did say this place is really only good for learning how to use the weapons, not for leveling up.¡± Elise replied, taking another bite. ¡°What sort of skills did you get so far?¡± She asked. Crossbow Mastery - Rank 5 Increases your damage dealt and efficiency while wielding a crossbow. This mastery contributes to all damage dealt by ranged attack skills while wielding a crossbow, so long as that skill is compatible with crossbows. Damage: Weapon Damage + 2 + Agility Energy Cost Per Shot: 3 Imbued Shot - Rank 1 (Crossbow, Longbow, Shortbow) Imbues your next bolt or arrow with a bit of your mana, increasing its damage on impact. Higher ranks increase the mana cost and amount of mana you are able to imbue. The damage dealt is still considered physical. Damage: Weapon Mastery + 5 Mana Cost: 5 Energy Cost: 5 Reload - Rank 1 (Crossbow Only) Use mana to automatically place a bolt from your quiver into the loading slot of your crossbow. Higher ranks reduce the mana cost and casting time. Can be cast while moving. Cast time: 5s Mana Cost: 45 Crossbow Multi Shot - Rank 1 (Crossbow Only) After casting this spell, your next bolt shot will split into multiple bolts that fire in a fan in front of you, but each bolt will deal less damage. Number of splits, damage penalty, and mana cost change with higher ranks. Number of Bolts: 2 Damage Per Bolt: 50% Of Weapon Mastery Mana Cost: 50 Jaese explained each of them to Elise as he read through them. ¡°The instructor told me not to rely too much on the Reload skill. Most of them seem not that great but she promised they¡¯d be strong once I was able to rank them up.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Shooting two at the same time sounds pretty cool.¡± Elise commented. ¡°Never thought I¡¯d say this, but I can¡¯t wait until we start fighting monsters, Just so I can know this stuff isn¡¯t a complete waste.¡± ¡°Easy for you to say, you get to stand back and shoot at them.¡± ¡°Once you get that kunai thing figured out, you can do the same.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Elise rolled her eyes. ¡°That Carsie¡¯s gonna have to be a miracle worker to teach me to throw knives. Darith probably thinks I''ll be looking like a Ninja, but I¡¯m prolly gonna be looking like a clown.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t know until you try.¡± Jaese said, trying to reassure her, though the thought of having to learn how to throw a weapon accurately sounded way more difficult than what he was about to learn. The two watched as both of their instructors came back from inside the building and walked towards them. Carsie was holding a small bag, while Luryala brought with her a longbow. Seeing this, Jaese materialized his bow from his inventory. ¡°Looks like it''s time to get started.¡± Jaese said. Elise finished off the food and water bottle. ¡°Do you mind if I keep this?¡± She pointed to the bottle. ¡°Go for it.¡± He nodded, and she put the empty bottle in her inventory. Carsie walked up with a giant smile on her face, cheerful as ever. ¡°I brought you something that¡¯ll help with kunai learning.¡± Carsie said as she opened the bag and pulled out a thick leather glove with heavy padding on the fingertips and palm, and a strange rune etched on the back. ¡°Put this on.¡± She said while handing it to Elise. Elise took it, looked at it, then started putting it on her right hand. ¡°What is it?¡± Elise asked as Luryala and Jaese watched. ¡°It¡¯s a magic item, called a Training Glove. The enchantment on it is very powerful, so its very expensive. If you damage it you will need to pay the repair fees which usually go up to 10 000 gold.¡± Carsie smiled. Elise hadn¡¯t finished putting on yet, and with those words she halted and started taking it back off again, causing Carsie to laugh. ¡°Relax, it can only be damaged by magic or magical weapons. It was a joke¡­ just don¡¯t use magic on it and you¡¯ll be fine.¡± Carsie said. ¡°Do I really need to use something so valuable?¡± ¡°Those gloves were made specifically for people who want to learn throwing weapons, It¡¯s been invaluable in teaching Avisition Soldiers how to use them. It makes it possible for anyone to learn.¡± Luryala smiled. ¡°A-alright.¡± Elise said as she began to delicately put the glove back on. Equipped: Avistion Training Gloves (Grand) Avistion Training Gloves (Grand) Type: Leather Armor: 26 Special: Memorizes the hand motions used to throw weapons using this glove, and helps make adjustments to improve the throwing technique while teaching it to the wearer. Special 2: Any weapon thrown by this glove will return to the wearer¡¯s hand upon snapping their fingers. ¡°Great. Now take this.¡± Carsie said as she forced a kunai into Elise¡¯s hand with the glove on. ¡°Understand how to use them?¡± She asked. ¡°I just throw and snap my fingers?¡± Elise asked skeptically. ¡°If only it were that easy.¡± Luryala whispered. ¡°Let¡¯s start over here.¡± She motioned Jaese away. ¡°Good luck.¡± Jaese said and Elise gave him a nod. Carsie didn¡¯t reply to Elise¡¯s words, she instead suddenly pulled a small nemothyne sized stool out of her inventory and placed it on the ground next to Elise as they stood in front of the archery targets. Seconds later, Carsie pulled a book out of her inventory, sat down, then started reading. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Elise asked as she watched her for a moment. ¡°Huh? I thought you got how it works. Use those gloves to throw the kunai at the target, eventually you¡¯ll get it. Our best soldiers usually get it under 50 000 throws. Those gloves work wonders.¡± Carsie smiled, then went back to her book. ¡°Just wave anytime you run out of energy.¡± ¡°Wait what the hell, you want me to throw a kunai 50 000 times?¡± Elise said with wide eyes. ¡°Some soldiers take over 200 000 throws. You can only hope for the best. Get to throwing!¡± Carsie grinned. Elise let out an elongated sigh of disbelief, turning to look at the archery target in front of her. Looking to her left she saw Jaese fire his first arrow from the bow, missing horribly and dropping it. To the right she saw several others learning to shoot bows and crossbows. She was the only one practicing a thrown weapon. ¡°Here goes nothing.¡± She said, then threw the kunai. It didn¡¯t even reach the target, landing in the dirt in front of it. Elise then looked at the glove expectantly. ¡°I don¡¯t feel it doing anything, isn¡¯t the glove supposed to help?¡± Elise asked. ¡°It¡¯s a magic item not a miracle, you gotta give it time to do its thing. Just keep throwing.¡± Carsie said dismissively, not looking up from her book. Elise snapped her finger and the kunai re-appeared in her hand. She looked at it, then looked at the target, took a deep breath and hopped in place a few times to psych herself up. ¡°You can do this.¡± She said, then threw it again. Another total failure of a throw. [Gabriel][Mourning] ¡°We¡¯ll have to get out here to be safe.¡± Kristen said as she pulled the car up to a parking spot on the side of the road a few blocks from the cemetery. She got out of the car and looked in both directions to make sure there were no police, then opened the passenger door. Gabriel stood up and got out in his normal body, and once it looked as though no one was watching, he transformed back into his Orc form. ¡°I¡¯ll never get used to that.¡± Kristen said with wide eyes. ¡°Thank you for the ride, ma¡¯am.¡± Gabriel replied as he walked in the direction of the cemetery, Kristen following behind him. Gabriel noticed her coming, just realizing now that she had donned black attire and planned to come with him, he didn¡¯t comment on it though. Just as they anticipated, there were multiple unmarked police cars parked around the cemetery, which Gabriel had experience spotting out. Officers in plain clothing sitting in them, observing their surroundings. He tensed up and did his best to act natural as he reached the open metal gate that lead into the fenced cemetery and walked inside. Once they made it up the road leading in from the street he could relax a bit. Many of the cars in the parking lot were familiar to him, including his mothers. Kristen followed behind him walking hastily to keep up with the big steps that Gabriel made in his orc body. ¡°At least the disguise seems to be working.¡± Kristen whispered, but got no response this time. The cemetery itself had bright green grass that seemed to glow under the clear sky above them, with many trees spread about the field. Despite it being in the city, the size of it allowed for the sounds of vehicles driving on the roads nearby to be drowned out by the wind blowing through the trees. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. On the far side a crowd had gathered of people garbed in black attire, Gabriel recognizing them from a distance. It was a mixture of his relatives, friends, and friends of David. The two approached silently to see that they hadn¡¯t arrived too late, but as he approached, Gabriel slowly came to terms with the fact that he couldn¡¯t talk to anyone here. He spotted a few police officers pretending to be bystanders, they were walking around the cemetery on all sides acting as though they were visitors. He recognized them by how they occasionally put their finger to their ears and glanced around way more than any normal person would. To avoid suspicion, Gabriel simply went towards the coffin. It was suspended above the 6ft grave, prepared to be lowered in. There was a beautiful display of flowers nearby and a small podium, but no one was standing behind it yet. He took a few steps back from the grave and stood in silence with his head down, and Kristen stood beside him without saying a word. The size of the coffin bothered her. It was just big enough for a young adult, not unlike Darith. And from it, Kristen couldn¡¯t help but imagine what Gabriel or his mother must be feeling. She turned to look at him and saw tears streaming down his face, but he stood perfectly still and silent. Slowly but surely, the other visitors began to congregate, and eventually the ceremony began. The priest made a beautiful speech, but it did nothing to calm Gabriel¡¯s emotions. He kept looking towards his mother who was in tears, being supported by other family members that stood around her. All he wanted to do was go by her side to try and comfort her, to let her know he was going to make things right, but the fact that he couldn¡¯t built up an anger inside of him. The coffin was lowered, people made their peace, and the dirt was poured on top of it, all while Gabriel stood still. He saw Samuel speak with his mother and could only hope he¡¯d say something on his behalf as he and Kristen watched quietly. ¡°Terrible thing, such a young age. Much too soon to be leaving this world.¡± The priest spoke, startling them as he approached from behind. ¡°Yes, it is¡± Kristen replied. ¡°May I ask how you came to know David?¡± ¡°We, uh, we were teachers, in his school.¡± Kristen replied nervously. ¡°I see. Thank you for coming to attend, I¡¯m sure it means a lot to David.¡± The priest bowed to them politely. They watched him walk away and went silent once more, Gabriel wiping the tears from his face. ¡°Thank you.¡± He said to Kristen, and she gently pat Gabriel on the back. ¡°I¡¯m ready to leave now.¡± ¡°Alright¡­ one moment.¡± Kristen said, then walked towards Mrs. Estrada, making Gabriel nervous as he watched. Kristen moved to stand beside her once she had been left alone by relatives, staring in the direction of the grave. ¡°Hello Mrs. Estrada, my name is Kristen.¡± She spoke, but Mrs. Estrada didn¡¯t react. ¡°I just wanted you to know that your son Gabriel is safe. He¡¯ll be staying in hiding to avoid the police for now. But he didn¡¯t do anything wrong and he¡¯s working hard to find the person responsible. He wants you to know that he loves you very much.¡± Kristen said, causing Mrs. Estrada to turn her gaze to Kristen, reamining silent for a moment. ¡°You know where my Gabriel is?¡± She asked. ¡°I.. I do.¡± Kristen replied. Mrs. Estrada looked around the cemetery in the direction of several undercover police officers, then back to Kristen. ¡°You tell him that if he finds the one that did this to David, that he kills that son of a bitch.¡± Mrs. Estrada said angrily. Kristen was taken aback, not expecting those words from such a small, modest looking lady, but there was an anger behind her eyes of the likes that Kristen hadn¡¯t seen before. She nodded awkwardly, turned and began walking back to Gabriel. Once by his side, the two walked out of the cemetery together. ¡°What¡¯d you say?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°I just let her know that you were safe, and that you¡¯re innocent.¡± Kristen replied. ¡°And what¡¯d she say?¡± Gabriel said as he noticed Kristen¡¯s shocked expression. ¡°She said she loves you and to take care.¡± Kristen replied awkwardly. ¡°No she didn¡¯t.¡± Gabriel shook his head looking away from Kristen. ¡°No she most certainly didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Good. If she¡¯s like that, it means she¡¯s still got her spirit.¡± They were silent for the rest of the walk back to the car. ¡°Hop in, you can stay at our place in between your magic city adventures. I bet they¡¯re all waiting for you.¡± Kristen said as she got in the driver side. Gabriel glanced around quickly to see no one was looking, then turned back into his smaller body to fit in the car. ¡°Thank you ma¡¯am.¡± Within 30 minutes, Gabriel had gotten back to Kristen¡¯s house, used the Avistion gate to Griffin Square, and arrived back in the training hall to see Jaese working with the longbow and Elise throwing the kunai. ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± Jaese asked as he took a break upon seeing him. ¡°Was fine, didn¡¯t get caught. Your boys were all over the place though. Looks like you guys caught up a bit while I was gone, you done with your first weapons?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± Jaese replied, but Elise didn¡¯t look, she was focused on throwing. ¡°Kinda itchen to start using these things to kill monsters.¡± Jaese added as he pulled back another arrow in the bow. ¡°Don¡¯t be too eager, you¡¯ll end up getting yourself killed.¡± Luryala mocked him. Gabriel walked closer to Elise to see how she was progressing. ¡°322.¡± She said as she threw a kunai, it flew over the top of the target with a spinning motion. ¡°Don¡¯t think you¡¯re supposed to throw ¡®em like that.¡± Gabriel commented. Elise turned and threw him a nasty glare as she wiped the sweat from her face. ¡°What¡¯s your Kunai Mastery at so far?¡± He asked. ¡°Level 1, 0% experience.¡± She replied grumpily while snapping her fingers to make the kunai re-appear in the glove. ¡°Still 0% after throwing 322?¡± Gabriel asked. ¡°You need to hit a target to get experience.¡± Carsie said as she sat on the stool beside Elise, not looking up from her book. ¡°And here I was thinkin¡¯ I mighta fell behind.¡± Gabriel shook his head to himself. ¡°And here I was thinkin¡¯ I mighta fell behind.¡± Elise said in a mocking imitation, but in a whisper so that Gabriel couldn¡¯t hear as he walked away. He approached Hagrim who was using some of the training equipment to do pull ups, but as Gabriel got close he stopped. ¡°Hey big man, I wanna start on this.¡± Gabriel said as he brought a maul out of his inventory. ¡°Another weapon type. This time Maul eh? I know the guy for that.¡± Hagrim replied, and a few seconds later appeared a large dark green skinned orc with spiky white hair. ¡°Finally.¡± The orc said as he stretched his muscles and looked down at Gabriel, Gabriel looking to see his name. ¡®Cho¡¯ruk - ???¡¯ ¡°Someone brave enough to learn a real weapon.¡± Cho¡¯ruk grinned as he brought out his maul. He motioned Gabriel to follow him towards a section with thicker, more heavily armored training dummies. ¡°You know what a maul is good for?¡± He asked. ¡°Hittin'' shit.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Hah, that¡¯s one way to put it. Blades, they¡¯re good for cutting things up. Axes great for chopping, swords good at piercing. But what happens when you fight something a blade can¡¯t scratch? Heavy metal, stone, or tough armor. That¡¯s when it¡¯s time to smash em with this.¡± Cho¡¯ruk said as he gently pat the heavy end of the maul. ¡°How different is it from a two-handed sword? I just finished learnin'' it.¡± ¡°A lot different. All the weight is on the end of your weapon, and you¡¯re always aiming to land a hit with that on your opponent. Also means the handle of your tool is larger, so don¡¯t expect to keep your hands on a tiny little hilt the whole time while you swing this thing. You¡¯ve gotta learn to -¡± Cho¡¯ruk said as she quickly swapped his hand placements on the maul from the bottom of the shaft to the center, then spread his hands out. ¡°Be flexible with a weapon like this, or you¡¯ll leave yourself vulnerable. Despite what most people think, a maul is a gentleman''s weapon, requires skill, and thinking. You can¡¯t just swing out around hoping to cut stuff, you gotta know what you¡¯re doing.¡± Cho¡¯ruk said with pride. Gabriel couldn¡¯t help but hear the similarities in his boasting towards Mauls and the boasting his previous trainer made towards swords. ¡°I¡¯m lookin¡¯ forward to learnin¡¯.¡± Gabriel said as he gripped the handle of his own maul tightly. [Darith][Affinity Hunting] ¡°And that¡¯s the last of the crafting books.¡± Darith said to himself, having finished another set of books as a tiny bell jingled throughout the library signalling the hour change. He slammed the book shut and looked proudly to Kenneth sitting across from him. Scholar Mastery skill reached rank 5! ¡°That¡¯s pretty impressive, not even here for 24 hours yet. Decide on what craft you¡¯re interested in?¡± Kenneth asked as he looked up from his book. ¡°Huh? No, I¡¯m not planning on taking a crafting affinity. Just wanted to know how its working to better understand the resource hoarding that the New World guild is doing. Looks like higher level materials have a huge impact on gear quality. Even the jump from copper to iron is big.¡± Darith commented. ¡°Hate those guys. Because of them, almost everyone is stuck using copper, linen and pine. Makes it impossible to fight back even if you wanted to.¡± Kenneth grumbled. ¡°But if you aren¡¯t trying to be a crafter, what are you trying to be?¡± Kenneth asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet¡­ I started with crafting books because it was the smallest section¡­¡± Darith said, as both he and Kenneth turned towards the eastern section of the library. While half of the library was reserved for a combination of stories, folktales, crafting and weapon masteries, history and children¡¯s books, the other half - the eastern half - was entirely on spells. ¡°Eheh, yeah, it is a bit intimidating. Why not start with Fire magic first? I saw during the Magic Reading yesterday that you¡¯re quite good with Firebolt.¡± ¡°Right¡­ and those would be¡­¡± Darith whispered as he looked over the thousands of books on their towering shelves. ¡°They¡¯re color labeled. The shelves marked grey are Spell Mastery, If they¡¯re marked Grey and red, they¡¯ll be Fire spells. Actually, here, you¡¯ll need this.¡± Kenneth materialized a parchment from his inventory with an inkpen on the table and started jotting it down. ¡°Grey-Red is fire, Grey-Blue is water, Grey-Brown is earth¡­.¡± He went through indicating how to find each section. ¡°The Blue section is Aura Mastery, Purple is Conjuration, Green is Life, Yellow is Enchantment, basically the top color on the shelf labels indicate the mastery focus.¡± Kenneth marked down. Darith looked from his parchment, then looked at the shelves. ¡°Okay so what¡¯s with those rainbow looking shelves. That one is Blue on top, yellow on the bottom. Over there is Purple mixed with Grey and Red.¡± ¡°That¡¯s where it gets fun, you¡¯ll find more complex spells that utilize multiple masteries as well as a spell schools. For example, the necromancer spells you¡¯ll find over there.¡± He pointed at a shelf With Green, Yellow, then a small grey with black beside it. ¡°Once you memorize the colors affiliated with each mastery and spell school, it gets easy to navigate. Just remember, Scholar Mastery can¡¯t teach you a spell from a spellbook unless you meet the requirements for it, so I wouldn¡¯t bother with any of the advanced spells yet.¡± Kenneth commented. Darith motioned to one last section, a smaller shelf labeled with gold. ¡°What are those?¡± ¡°Those are books covering known affinities. They¡¯re long winded and told from the perspective of those who founded the affinity, but if you¡¯re determined to find one that suits you, you can read those. You won¡¯t get the affinities from the books though, for that you¡¯ll have to find the quest related to it. Best is just learning that they exist from those books, and what they do, and potentially where to start looking for the quest. To save you time, there¡¯s a user submitted book at the front of the shelf titled Broken Realm Affinities. One of the first few scholar players here went and did the research on all those gold books, and wrote a shortened version for other players.¡± Kenneth replied. ¡°Okay, thanks.¡± Darith said, standing up and moving to put the last of his crafting books away. Having gone through over 50 books by now, he was noticing a severe diminishing returns on experience gained for Scholar Mastery, and couldn¡¯t help think that some masteries could be much more difficult to level than others. Having finished reading the books in the crafting, refining, and gathering sections, and had obtained nearly all skills possibly related to those masteries. There were a few skills he chose to decline taking as he knew he¡¯d never need them and could come back for them later. Things like Painting and Architecture, he debated taking Brewing but decided against it after learning that the ale made from it didn¡¯t provide any buffs, it just got people drunk. Luckily the masteries for each category indicated which skills they covered, so he could keep track of what he had without looking through all of them. Gathering Mastery - Rank 1 Improves your ability to gather raw materials of varying types using the many gathering skills. Higher ranks improve the chance of successfully harvesting materials as well as increases the chance of higher yields. Improves your ability to find materials related to known gathering skills. This skill is influenced by Agility, Strength, Intelligence and luck. Gathering Skills: Mining(Rank 1), Herbalism(Rank 1), Skinning(Rank 1), Foraging(Rank 1), Hunting(Rank 1), Woodcutting(Rank 1), Fishing(Rank 1), Prospecting(Rank 1) Refining Mastery - Rank 1 Improves your ability to refine raw materials into workable materials using various skills. Higher ranks improve the chance of higher quality outcomes and reduce the chances of failing or wasting materials. This skill is influenced by Agility, Strength, Intelligence, and luck. Refining Skills: Weaving(Rank 1), Smelting(Rank 1), Wood Treatment(Rank 1), Grinding and Processing(Rank 1), Tanning(Rank 1), Extracting(Rank 1), Synthesize(Rank 1) Crafting Mastery - Rank 1 Improves your ability to craft items using various materials and skills. Higher ranks improve the chance of higher quality outcomes and reduce the chances of failing or wasting materials. This skill is influenced by Agility, Strength and Intelligence. Crafting Skills: Tailoring(Rank 1), Blacksmithing(Rank 1), Leatherworking(Rank 1), Cooking(Rank 1), Alchemy(Rank 1), Woodworking(Rank 1), Jewelry Craft(Rank 1), Dyeing(Rank 1) He reluctantly moved to stand in front of the spell section. For a moment it felt as though the shelves were growing larger and taunting him. He shook his head and walked towards the Fire spells and began browsing through the title of each book. Most were incredibly thick despite only containing information on a single spell. He found the Firebolt spell book and skimmed through it, not learning anything new until the end where he spotted the name of the intermediate version, Fireball. He then sought out that book on the shelf, and grabbed a few other fire spells that looked interesting. With 9 books in hand, he stumbled over to the golden shelf and grabbed the large book near the front with writing much easier to read than the others, titled Broken Realm Affinities. With it, he wobbled on back to the table and plopped them down. Cracked his fingers, then opened up the Fireball book first. The terminology was much more complex and there were many illustrations demonstrating the spell circles required in casting it, as well as information on the power and capabilities of the spell. Once he had finished the book, he received a prompt. Scholar Mastery is attempting to convert the Firebolt Spell(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Scholar Mastery is attempting to convert the Firebolt spell to the spell Fireball Current: Firebolt: Rank 99(Max)(?) (Beginner spells cannot go beyond level 99) Shoots a bolt of fire, dealing fire damage to the first target hit. Damage: 475 + Intelligence(86) = (561) Mana Cost: 1 Cast time: 0.5 Seconds. Cast Command: Firebolt(change)(?) New: Fireball - Rank 8 (+7 from Excess Firebolt Ranks) (Intermediate) Shoots a ball of fire, dealing fire damage to the first target hit. Damage: 80 + 110% of Intelligence(87) = (167) Mana Cost: 99 Cast Time: 4.8 (-5%) Cast Command: Fireball(change)(?) ¡°It scales a lot better¡­ Firebolt was giving about 5 damage per rank up, this is giving double that, but still¡­ only rank 8 from a rank 99 Firebolt.¡± Darith mumbled to himself. ¡°Those intermediates rank up slow, that¡¯s for sure, but they go up to rank 500. A beginner spell pales in comparison to what that Fireball will grow up to be.¡± Kenneth commented. Darith hit accept, watching as all his hard work into Firebolt transformed into a smaller, weaker Fireball. ¡°If I get an affinity tied to it, it¡¯ll level up faster, right?¡± ¡°And in some cases get bonus effects.¡± Kenneth motioned to the Affinity book on the table. Darith pulled it in front of himself and flipped the first page open. ¡®Written by Intermediate Scholar Master Vincent - ¡®To help those find their way in this strange, broken realm.¡¯¡¯ Darith read the cover page, then flipped to the table of contents. The affinities were listed alphabetically, and there were a lot. He stretched his neck left and right, then flicked over to the F section. ¡°Farmer¡­ Fire Magic, Flameblade, Flame Knight, Frostblade.¡± He read as he reached the F page. Out of curiosity he glanced over the farmer affinity quickly, then turned to Fire Magic. AFFINITY: Fire Magic Requirements: Spell Mastery 50, Firebolt 50/Fireball 1 Experience Bonus: 100% to Fire Spells Effect Bonus: 100% Fire Spell Damage Bonus: Fire spells can burn targets, dealing damage over time. Quest Location: Any Grand Mage in the Magic Academy Quest Difficulty: Easy Darith looked at the affinity while going deep into thought. Being an extremely powerful fire mage that could burn things could be useful. But would it really be all he needed to overpower all the players doing bad things? What if he encountered a player strong against Fire magic, or magic in general. He thought back to Thomas and his Ice Magic affinity, and it didn¡¯t seem all that strong. It wouldn¡¯t be enough. He shook his head then looked at the next on the page. AFFINITY: Flameblade Requirements: Spell Mastery 50, Firebolt 50/Fireball 1, (Sword Mastery, Dagger Mastery, or Axe Mastery 50), Enchantment Mastery 50 Experience Bonus: 70% to Fire Spells, Sword, Dagger, Axe, Enchantment Masteries. Effect Bonus: 60% to Fire Spell Damage, Sword, Dagger, Axe Masteries, Fire-based Enchantments Bonus: Resistant to Ice and Fire spells, Fire Enchantments have 0 mana upkeep costs. Quest Location: Blademaster Hall in the Martial Arts Academy Quest Difficulty: Average AFFINITY: Flame Knight Requirements: Spell Mastery 50, Firebolt 50/Fireball 1, Any Weapon Mastery 50, Shield Mastery 50, Riding 50, Knight 50, Enchantment Mastery 50 Experience Bonus: 50% to Fire Spells, Weapon Masteries, Shield Mastery, Enchantment Mastery, Knight Skill, Riding Skill, Effect Bonus: 40% to Fire Spell Damage, Weapon Masteries, Fire-based Enchantments, Shield Mastery, Riding Skill, Knight Skill Bonus: Immunity to Fire Damage for Self and Mount, 5% Less damage from all sources Quest Location: Avistion Royal Knight Academy Quest Difficulty: Hard ¡°Hm. Immune to Fire damage.¡± Darith said as he looked over the last one. ¡°A lot of spells and skills involved, so the bonuses you get to them aren¡¯t that high.¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t seen many Knight players, but they¡¯ve got a few affinities like that if they get through the Knight Academy.¡± Kenneth said, looking up to take a glimpse of the page Darith was looking at before going back to his own book. Darith leaned back in thought for a moment, then flicked back to the table of contents to find Cleric. AFFINITY: Cleric Requirements: Life Mastery 50, Aura Mastery 50, Enchantment Mastery 50, Radiant Bolt 50/Holy Bolt 1 Experience Bonus: 80% to Life Mastery and Life Mastery Spells, All Aura spells that affect Allies/Self, All Enchantment spells that affect Allies/Self, all Light Spells. Effect Bonus: 80% to Life Mastery and Life Mastery Spells, All Aura spells that affect Allies/Self, All Enchantment spells that affect Allies/Self, all Light Spells. Bonus: All spells that affect Allies/Self are imbued with light and change color accordingly. Healing based spells that are imbued with light will instead deal damage when used on Undead and Dark-based creatures. Quest Location: Great Chapel of Aros - Avistion City Quest Difficulty: Very Hard ¡°Bonuses aren¡¯t great but it has high experience and effect bonus¡­¡± Darith flicked back to the table of contents and browsed the list. Architect, good at construction and woodworking. Lumberjack, good at Woodworking, Woodcutting, and treating. Great Blacksmith, Master Jeweler, Trader, Alchemist. He even found a Caretaker affinity with 100% bonuses to cooking mastery and cleaning skills. Kenneth watched Darith look over the table and saw him slowly getting overwhelmed. ¡°Relax, there¡¯s no rush. You remind me of my Granddaughter, she couldn¡¯t find an affinity that suited her either, but the moment she saw Paladin she knew it was for her. I bet when you see the one that''s right for you, you¡¯ll know it.¡± Kenneth tried to reassure him. ¡°Here, try that one.¡± He pointed at Elementalist in the table of contents. Darith quickly flicked through to find it in the book. AFFINITY: Elementalist Requirements: Spell Mastery 50, Firebolt 50/Fireball 1, Waterbolt 50/Waterstream 1, Lighting Bolt 50/Lightning Shot 1, Earth Bolt 50/Stone bolt 1, Wind bolt 50/Slicing Wind 1, Ice bolt 50/Glacial Bolt 1 Experience Bonus: 75% to Fire, Water, Lightning, Earth, Wind and Ice based spells Effect Bonus: 70% Fire, Water, Lightning, Earth, Wind and Ice based spells Bonus: The damage type of any elemental spell can be split to deal half damage as another type. Quest Location: Grand Elementalist Jaha¡¯do in the Magic Academy Quest Difficulty: Hard ¡°How about it, did it jump out at you?¡± Kenneth asked. ¡°It looks pretty strong compared to Fire Magic, way more flexible¡­¡± Darith said, but didn¡¯t seem convinced. ¡°Well not to fret. If you can¡¯t find it in there that doesn¡¯t mean it doesn¡¯t exist. There¡¯s plenty of hidden affinities out there in the world that you can¡¯t read about here. ¡± Kenneth replied. ¡°I¡¯ll read through this at least and see what they can all do.¡± Darith replied as he leaned in to the book. He felt indecision slowly creeping in. In other games when he picked a class or job he didn¡¯t like, or found out was too weak to be the best, he always had the option to reroll, or force his way by overcoming the weaknesses of that role. In this game, if he picked blindly, he wouldn¡¯t be able to change his mind later, and it might not be possible to overcome those weaknesses. He began flipping through the pages, making sure not to skip over reading any possibility. Chapter 38: Follow Liana sat on a wooden stool in the center of a circular room. The floor was tiled with a circular pattern filled with various spell symbols she¡¯d been slowly getting familiar with. The ceiling was roughly 6 meters tall with narrow windows at the top on all sides, shining a small amount of sunlight down on her. Lining the walls around her were small training dummies dressed in various attire. Some looked to be dressed as adventurers, others as monsters and beasts, though they all looked rather cartoonish, as if a child had painted their faces to try and make them look scary. The room was completely silent save for Liana tapping her feet, looking around to see several paintings on the walls underneath the windows. After a solid few minutes of waiting, the singular door into the room swung open and her instructor walked through it, closing the door behind himself. It was a lizardfolk with a mix of blue and purple scales on his back, white and yellowish scales on the front. He wore no shoes so the tapping of his talons could be heard on the tile floor, but he wore long black robes bearing the blue eagle symbol, the symbol of Avistion. He made it all the way across the room and stood on the far wall, roughly 5 meters away from Liana, all the while looking down at a parchment in his hand. ¡°You are the one called Liana.¡± He finally spoke, looking up from the parchment. ¡°Yes.¡± She said as politely as she could, noting the name above his head. ¡®Varasoth - ???¡¯ ¡°And you wish to learn Aura Mastery.¡± He asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And you have learned Life Mastery thus far.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Tell me, what do you know of Aura Mastery?¡± He asked with an inquisitive stare. ¡°I only know that it is about using magic to affect the area around you, and that I need it to obtain my Cleric Affinity.¡± Liana replied. ¡°I see..¡± He said, looking at her with judgemental eyes. He began pacing around the outside of the room. ¡°Quite the difficult path you have chosen. I¡¯ve seen many in love with the idea of becoming a great cleric to protect their friends and family. The sentiment is nice, but in reality, it is not so easy. I trust you have already understood the difficulties of converting magic to an energy that restores life.¡± ¡°Yes, at first I was relying on my Sphere Mastery to handle the basic magical conversion, but after studying hard I was able to learn how to manipulate magic to heal many types of injuries.¡± Liana said with confidence. ¡°Good. you¡¯ll need that here. You see, it is quite easy to convert your magic into a standard Spell. Turn it into a ball of fire, or a bolt of lightning, then just throw it at your enemy. You don¡¯t need nearly as much care, because all that matters is that it hits your target and hurts them. As you¡¯ve learned, it¡¯s not so easy when you want to restore a friend and cure a wound. You must meld the mana into a form that gently recovers their life force. But I have some terrible news for you.¡± Varasoth stopped pacing, rolling up the parchment. ¡°Aura Mastery is much more difficult than that. You are going down a path that is much harder than other magics for the sake of your friends and family. There is a reason that Aura Mastery is the least popular of the Magic Masteries. It would certainly be much easier to instead learn Conjuring, or Spell Mastery. Are you sure you wish to proceed?¡± Varasoth asked. Liana nodded back with determination. ¡°Very well. Aura mastery is about spreading your mana out around you, evenly, and not allowing it to disrupt or be disrupted by the mana manipulation of others in that area. It requires incredible levels of concentration and control, and in a real combat situation you¡¯ll need to be able to do it while moving and utilizing other spells. Compared to simply shooting a bolt of ice, the difficulty is 10 fold. We¡¯ll start with the most basic practical use of Aura Mastery, a spell known as Mana Shield.¡± Varasoth said, then waved his hand in Liana¡¯s direction, and a pulse of blue energy shot through her. Varasoth is trying to teach you a skill: Aura Mastery(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Varasoth is trying to teach you a skill: Mana Shield(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Aura Mastery - Rank 1 Improves your manipulation of mana when spreading it into an area around you to affect your surroundings, as well as your concentration, mana efficiency when using aura-related abilities, and the range of your aura-related abilities. Higher ranks increase your concentration level. Concentration Level: 1 Mana Shield - Rank 1 Envelopes your body in a barrier made up of your own mana, blocking incoming damage from reaching you and instead redirecting it to your mana. Damage Blocked: 30% Damage to Mana Cost: 10mp per 1damage. Initial Mana Cost: 250mp Concentration Level Required While Stationary: 1 Concentration Level Required While Moving/Casting: 3 ¡°What is Concentration level?¡± Liana asked as she accepted the skills and read over them. ¡°It¡¯s how Aura Mastery measures your ability to maintain your Auras and control your mana around you. There are tales of Aura Masters able to maintain 10 auras at once, but most give up after having just learned Mana Shield.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to give up.¡± Liana replied back with fire in her eyes. ¡°Very well. You should think of concentration as a resource that you never lose, you just allocate it in an aura. If you for example reach Aura Mastery Rank 20, you should have a concentration level of 5. If you were to activate Mana Shield and run around, you would be using 3 of those 5, and have 2 remaining. If you stopped moving, you would get 2 back and only be using 1. If you try to go over your maximum concentration level, you will lose control on all of your auras and drain your mana to 0. Understand?¡± Varasoth asked, sounding slightly condescending. ¡°Y-yes, I get it.¡± ¡°Good, let¡¯s see what you can do. Activate Mana Shield.¡± Varasoth said, he faced towards her and crossed his arms expectantly. ¡°Okaaay.¡± Liana nodded, looking at Varasoth stare at her, then quickly breaking eye contact. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a few seconds, then shouted the spell name out. ¡°Mana Shield!¡± As she said it, there was no spell circle that appeared, instead she felt a force pulling on her. It felt as if air was leaving her body when she exhaled, but instead of through her mouth, the exhale happened all over her body, like it was pulling out of her skin but without actually touching her skin. She visually saw a brief glow of blue light around her hands in front of her face, and a light breeze pushed on her hair, then the feeling got stronger and blew outward in a sudden wild gust of wind. Mana Shield Concentration Failed. ¡°Disappointing, but to be expected.¡± Varasoth said as Liana looked to see her mana bar empty. ¡°Wait what? What happened? Why did it fail? I just have to cast the spell right?¡± Liana asked in confusion. ¡°I told you, Aura Mastery isn¡¯t like turning your mana into something and throwing it. It¡¯s about pushing your mana out around you to change your surroundings. To maintain an aura needs control.¡± Varasoth sighed. ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate you¡¯ve been a part of our world for 7 days. This will slow the learning process as I cannot directly rejuvenate your mana supply. Are you still sure you want to learn Aura Mastery?¡± This time he spoke almost in a mocking manner. ¡°I¡¯ll learn it.¡± Liana nodded back at him, clenching her fists. ¡°Very well. Methalo.¡± He chanted, a purple spell circle appeared in the air behind him, and out of it a bright purple light appeared for a moment, afterwards leaving behind a big glowing purple bell floating in the air. ¡°Whoa, what is that?¡± Liana asked as Varasoth walked towards the door. ¡°Simple conjuration spell. It¡¯s a bell. With intermediate Aura Mastery, you could place an aura around it that will cause the bell to ring if anything gets close enough, like an alarm. The potential of Aura Mastery is vast.¡± Varasoth bragged. ¡°This bell however will simply alert me when it is rung. Ring it once you¡¯ve successfully maintained Mana Shield for 1 minute.¡± Varasoth said as his last words, he left the room and shut the door behind himself, leaving Liana with the bell and the stool in the middle. Looking at her high mana regen and the initial cost of Mana Shield, she¡¯d be able to make an attempt once every roughly 45 seconds. She took this time to send a message to Darith through the party interface. ¡°Darith¡­ the way this guy is making me learn spells. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m using a skill anymore, it¡¯s like I actually have mana and need to learn how to use it. Are you sure this is really a game?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ all of these books I¡¯ve been reading are so elaborate, it¡¯s hard for me to believe it. If it is a game, it must have a really powerful AI.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Is it that hard to learn those masteries?¡± ¡°Y-yeah it¡¯s pretty tough, but honestly¡­¡± Liana smiled to herself. ¡°It¡¯s so damn cool! I feel like I finally get to go back to school but all the teachers are wizards! For Aura Mastery I have to control the mana, and he taught me Mana Shield like that Thomas guy had. You gotta try it out. The teacher was all like ¡®you can give up if it¡¯s too hard¡¯. I wanna see the look on his face when I learn to do it.¡± Liana shouted excitedly. ¡°You sound like you¡¯re having fun.¡± Darith chuckled. ¡°This is so fun. Oooh I can¡¯t wait, I¡¯m gonna fill you up with all my auras soon.¡± Liana exclaimed. ¡°That sounded kinda weird.¡± ¡°Yeah it did didn¡¯t it. Ok back to practicing!¡± Liana replied, seeing her mana was high enough to try again. Darith began loading books back onto the shelves in the library, trying to return them where they had been taken from. He saw nearby another human player, level 12, searching the shelf for a book in the same section as him. Darith looked away from the player for a moment to pick a few more books to read, but his attention was quickly pulled back. ¡°Fuck me!¡± The player shouted suddenly. Darith turned to see the ghost girl¡¯s head in the middle of the book shelf staring at the player. ¡°Aw damn it.¡± He sighed, as hurried footsteps rushed over. A Library attendant donning the Avistion Eagle symbol on their robe arrived around the corner of the shelf and made some angry gestures at him. ¡°You, outside.¡± The attendant scolded the player. He hung his head down in shame as he slumped past Darith and was led out of the library. Darith looked back at the ghost only to see she was gone, then suddenly out of his peripheral vision he saw her head lowering in front of him, upside down as she levitated midair, staring directly into Darith¡¯s eyes. He remained stoic, staring back at her. Eventually she spun herself rightside up, then walked away through several bookshelves towards one of the walls and disappeared through it. Darith watched her disappear, something felt strange about her behaviour. He grabbed a few more books he found interesting in the fire spell section, then returned to his table where Kenneth was sitting. ¡°Poor guy, happens to the best of us.¡± Kenneth commented as he watched the player get escorted out. ¡°Except you apparently.¡± ¡°At first I was just relieved one of my skills prevented her from scaring me¡­ but the more I think about it¡­¡± Darith said. ¡°Hm?¡± Kenneth asked. ¡°Eh, it¡¯s nothing.¡± Darith replied as he opened the next few books. Scholar Mastery is trying to teach you a new skill: Fire Wall(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) Fire Wall - Rank 1 (Intermediate) Requirements: Spell Mastery 50, Firebolt 50/Fireball 1 Create a wall of burning flames, the longer the wall the less height it will have. Enemies that stand in or pass through the Fire Wall will take fire damage. Damage, length, mana cost and upkeep improve with each rank. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Damage: 25 + Intelligence (111) per second Maximum Length: 3m Initial Mana Cost: 300 Upkeep Mana Cost: 50 per second Cast Time: 9.5s (-5%) Cast Command: Fire Wall(change)(?) Darith hit accept after finishing the book in 20 minutes, closed the book, then prepared to read the next one. The bell in the library rang, signalling the hour change.
¡°1361.¡± Elise threw a Kunai, it bounced off the side of the target. She snapped her fingers, it returned to her hand. ¡°1362.¡± She threw it again.
¡°Mana Shield!¡± Liana shouted out, holding out her hands on either side of her with her eyes closed, doing her best to focus. The blue glow remained steady for a second, then blasted out in a burst of wind, draining her mana. She sighed, opened her eyes, and looked at the purple bell.
¡°If there¡¯s no force behind the swing, don¡¯t bother swinging.¡± Cho¡¯ruk shouted into Gabriel¡¯s ear. Gabriel took a swing and hit a training dummy, to which Cho¡¯ruk swung beside him and hit the neighboring dummy so hard it pulled loose from the ground and went flying while breaking into pieces midair. ¡°Come on, are you really an orc?¡± He shouted. Gabriel wiped the sweat away and grunted loudly as he took another swing.
¡°Your enemies aren¡¯t going to wait for you to grab an arrow and take aim. Faster!¡± Luryala shouted at Jaese as he fumbled to reach over his shoulder for his quiver to grab an arrow. Trying to shoot immediately after retrieving it, the arrow went wide and hit the wall behind the archery targets. ¡°Again!¡± Luryala yelled.
The bell in the library rang. Scholar Mastery is attempting to normalize the Melt Ice spell to the spell Thaw(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) ¡°Eeeeek!¡± A girl screamed from across the library, a young female Elf. Immediately afterwards, she put her head down in shame as a library attendant approached. ¡°I know, I know¡± she grumbled as she made her way out of the Library. Darith looked to Kenneth who just shrugged.
¡°2108.¡± Clink. Snap. ¡°2109.¡± Clink. Snap. ¡°2110.¡± Clink. Snap.
¡°Mana shield.¡± Liana shouted, she held the shield up for 5 seconds, then it faded. ¡°C¡¯mon!¡± She shouted at herself.
¡°I used to swing like that when I was an infant! This training dummy thinks you¡¯re massaging him!¡± Cho¡¯ruk shouted at Gabriel as he pulled back another swing.
¡°You¡¯re in front of the target¡­¡± Jaese said to Luryala as she leaned against it. ¡°It¡¯s the safest place to stand when you are shooting.¡± She said, then faked a yawn.
The bell in the library rang. Scholar Mastery is attempting to normalize the Scald spell to the spell Searing Bolt(?) Accept(x) Decline(x) As Darith moved to return the books he''d just finished reading to their places on the shelves, he saw the ghost girl appear at the end of the aisle he was in. She suddenly rushed at him with unnatural speed, twisting her limbs in unnatural directions and seemingly skipped around, teleporting to the left and right sides of the aisle until she was directly in front of him, her nose nearly touching his. She stood there for a moment while Darith stared back at her with wide eyes. She eventually lost interest, turned and walked towards a wall, disappearing through it. He let out a sigh of relief, turning around to see Kenneth give him a thumbs up, some other library visitors gave him nods of respect. Darith shook it off and continued his book search.
¡°Got any extra?¡± Gabriel asked as he joined Jaese and Elise standing together drinking water out of bottles. ¡°Yep, here.¡± Jaese tossed him a bottle and a sandwich. ¡°How¡¯dya get that?¡± Gabriel asked as he opened the bottle and drank some. ¡°Inventory.¡± ¡°That¡¯s convenient.¡± Gabriel commented. ¡°This kunai stuff sucks.¡± Elise sighed.
Liana sat in the kitchen of their home eating a plate of spaghetti with Kristen, wrapping it around her fork. ¡°And so It was like - whoosh- and I¡¯m like, hnnnnnng. You know? But it¡¯s really hard to hold it. But then I remembered that other guy was holding it and casting all those spells at the hospital so I thought, if he can do it, I can totally do it.¡± Liana said excitedly. ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Kristen replied while sipping coffee.
The bell in the library rang. Darith stepped out of the library to use return and get back home. He moved to the kitchen to see a plate with spaghetti on it already waiting for him. ¡°The spaghetti¡¯s already made?¡± as he sat down and started eating while Kristen sat in the living room watching tv. ¡°Yep, Liana poofed in already and said she was hungry.¡± ¡°I love cold Spaghetti!¡± Darith cheered as he began wolfing it down. ¡°Why do I get the feeling this house is turning into a magical land pit stop.¡± Kristen grumbled to herself.
¡°3094.¡± Elise said as she watched the kunai fly over the target, then paused to look at the gloves with disappointment. ¡°Sweet!¡± Carsie shouted out suddenly. Elise turned to her as Carsie looked back. ¡°Oh sorry, not you, the story - it''s really good.¡± Carsie replied while motioning to her book. ¡°I mean, uh, keep up the good work, you¡¯re doing great!¡± She forced out enthusiasm before going back to reading. Elise shook her head to herself, snapped her fingers, then prepared to throw again.
¡°Now you¡¯re talking.¡± Cho¡¯ruk grinned as Gabriel slammed his maul into a target and cracked the wooden chest of the dummy. ¡°Keep that up and you just might be worthy to wield this fine weapon.¡±
¡°Your aim is alright, but your draw is too slow. I know 200 year old elves that draw faster than you.¡± Luryala said to Jaese after he had landed an arrow near the center of an archery target. ¡°What, really?¡± Jaese asked as he straightened his back to catch a small break. ¡°Of course, I¡¯m 230 myself.¡± Luryala replied. ¡°You look so young though.¡± Jaese answered with confusion. ¡°Oh why thank you.¡± Luryala smiled shyly
Liana kept her eyes closed, focusing on the blue energy of the mana shield around her. It held steady around her skin for 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds. She focused as hard as she could, standing completely still to maintain concentration. After 10 seconds passed, she opened her eyes to look. 11 seconds, 12 seconds. ¡°I¡¯m doing it¡­¡± she whispered to herself excitedly, but the moment she did, the spell went wild and blew outward in a gust of wind, draining her mana. ¡°Damn it.¡± She sighed.
The bell in the library rang several more times. Darith finished off the fire magic section. As far as he could tell, he had acquired every fire spell possible at this time. He¡¯d learned about a lot of others, but almost all required higher ranks of intermediate. There was basically nothing outside of Firebolt for beginners. He¡¯d managed to learn about quite a few more affinities in the process of studying the golden book, but still hadn¡¯t found any that stood out to him. He thought about going for fire again for a moment, but shook it off. He needed to be more versatile. And if he wanted to accomplish the goals he had in the game, to be strong enough to stop anyone he needed to, he would need a very strong, very versatile affinity. He stood in front of the shelves for a long while, deciding what section to read next, until he suddenly heard the scattering of paper. ¡°Oooaah dang it!¡± Kenneth shouted. Darith turned back to see Kenneth fall backwards out of his chair with the ghost girl standing in the middle of his table. Kenneth didn¡¯t bother getting up right away, he laid on the floor looking defeated for a moment as a library attendant ran up to him. ¡°Guess that¡¯s my que to go Power Nap.¡± He sighed to himself as he stood up. He looked in Darith¡¯s direction to give him a wave, and Darith waved sympathetically back and watched as Kenneth left the library. The sun had long since set and the number of occupants in the library dwindled. Looking around, Darith couldn¡¯t see anyone else sitting at any of the tables anymore, just a few people browsing through the shelves by lantern light. He watched as the ghost walked towards the wall of the library and disappeared through it. ¡°She always leaves through the same wall.¡± He said to himself, standing idly and looking at the spot where she had disappeared. Suddenly a light flicked on in his head. ¡°She¡¯s not trying to scare us, she¡¯s trying to get our attention.¡± He whispered out loud. Darith quickly walked towards the wall that the ghost had disappeared behind. When he reached it, he felt around the wall. It was made of large white stone bricks, they appeared normal, just like the rest of the outer walls of the library. He felt around all of the stones, hoping for one to push in or something of the like, but nothing. He took a step back and thought for a moment. ¡°Magic Reading.¡± He whispered, Magic Reading spell failed to cast. A more powerful spell is preventing it. ¡°What?¡± He whispered to himself in confusion. He took a few steps back from the wall. ¡°Magic Reading.¡± Magic Reading: The area in front of you is under the effects of a powerful spell you are not familiar with. It appears to block the use of magic. The magic reading indicated on his interface that it was only a specific section of the wall under the influence of the spell. It was the exact area that the ghost had been disappearing into the entire time. A giant grin grew across Darith¡¯s face. He walked back to the wall and began gently knocking each brick with his knuckle. He felt the wall nearby, loud clunks, solid. He knocked on the wall around where the ghost had gone through, light clunks. Hollow. He took a step back again, glancing around the library while putting his hand on his chin, then spotted a lizardfolk who had just sat down at a table with a book, looking barely awake. Darith hastily walked towards her, getting close enough to see her name and level. ¡®Samantha - 7¡¯. ¡°Hey there, my name is Darith.¡± Darith said as he sat across from her, she looked up. ¡°Hello.¡± She whispered back sleepily. ¡°Are you planning to read here much longer?¡± Darith asked. ¡°N-no, I¡¯ll probably return in a bit, why... do you want to read this?¡± Samantha asked as she motioned to the book in her hand. ¡°No, not that. I was wondering if you could do something for me. I can pay you, 10 gold.¡± ¡°10 Gold?¡± Samantha asked curiously, she straightened up her long lizard neck. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± ¡°I need you to go all the way into that area of the library.¡± He pointed in the part furthest from the suspicious wall. ¡°And scream as loud as you can, nonstop, until you get the attention of as many attendants as possible.¡± Darith asked. ¡°Huh? Why? They¡¯ll kick me out for 24 hours.¡± ¡°I just, I wanna try something.¡± ¡°Make it 25 gold.¡± Samantha replied. Darith hesitated, he wasn¡¯t exactly rich, but his curiosity was burning inside of him. Darith took 25 out of his inventory and placed it on the table. Samantha took it, closed her book and stood up. ¡°That corner over there?¡± She asked, and Darith nodded. ¡°Just count to 30, then start. Really loud and for as long as possible please.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Alright, whatever.¡± She shrugged, looking at Darith like he was the weirdest person she¡¯d ever met. As she walked towards the corner, Darith walked back towards the wall and took his staff out of his inventory. He moved as close to the wall as possible, glancing around to make sure no one was in this part of the library. Luckily the books on the shelves near the wall were mainly children¡¯s stories, which were not popular reads for players with Scholar Mastery. ¡°AHHHHHHH!¡± Darith heard from across the library. The scream carried, echoing throughout the entire place so that all players and attendants began rushing over. He put all the force he could into his staff and swung at the hollow section. The bricks pushed back off the mortar as it chipped away, but it made a loud thunk. Only a few bricks came loose from the strike, but Darith¡¯s nemothyne body was small enough that he didn¡¯t need to loosen many. He swung again, and a second time, more bricks loosened, but the screaming stopped. It was enough. He looked into the hole to see it was a large, dark empty space, like a hidden room. He dug in his tiny hands and pushed at the loose bricks to widen the hole, just wide enough for him to fit through. He heard the sound of footsteps coming closer from across the library. Head first, he forced his way into the hole, despite the other side being pitch black. He pulled and clawed and wiggled desperately to get through until he made it, falling a few centimeters down onto the ground below. The only light was coming from the hole he had climbed through, but it suddenly began to mend itself until it was sealed shut. It went quiet. It was pitch black, and he knew he couldn¡¯t use magic. He gripped his staff tightly with one hand, feeling around the walls with his other. He felt webs tangling around his fingers as he rubbed the cold stone walls. The place he was in was narrow. Using his sense of direction, he knew if he went left he¡¯d be going in the direction of the center of the tower, and to the right was away from the center. With this in mind, he decided to go right, following the narrowing path aimlessly until he felt with his feet that the floor stopped. Walking carefully, he was able to avoid falling in, but it was very apparent even in the darkness that there was a steep drop ahead of him. He tried prodding around with the staff to see how steep the hole was, or how wide, but he couldn¡¯t get an answer to either using just the length of his staff. When looking down however, he could see a very faint light. It took a second for his eyes to pick up on what he was staring at, but eventually he could focus in on the light in the darkness to see that it was a pair of eyes staring back at him, the little girl¡¯s. ¡°Thank you Gamer¡¯s Mind.¡± He whispered to himself. He knew that without it, he¡¯d probably have wet himself by now. ¡°You want me to jump?¡± Darith asked her. Using her as a judge of distance, the drop was at least 10 meters. She didn¡¯t reply to his words, instead she disappeared leaving him in the dark again. ¡°Hoh boy, this¡¯ll probably hurt.¡± Darith sighed to himself, then jumped forward into the hole. You have taken 56 falling damage. A red message warned him, but he didn¡¯t need it, he felt the excruciating pain in his legs when he landed. Luckily the pain faded quickly and he still had plenty of hit points left. It was still very dark, but he could now see the outline of the room. The walls gave off a faint glow of light in some spots. ¡°Magic Reading.¡± Darith tried shouting. Magic Reading spell failed to cast. A more powerful spell is preventing it. ¡°Figures.¡± He sighed. ¡°Darith are you okay? Why¡¯d you take damage?¡± Liana messaged him with a worried voice through their party chat. ¡°I¡¯m okay¡­ just falling damage. I think I found a secret area.¡± Darith replied back, addressing his whole party. ¡°Really? That¡¯s awesome?! What¡¯s in it?¡± Liana said excitedly as the others listened. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet, I¡¯ll keep you updated.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Be careful!¡± Liana answered. Darith took a deep breath and gripped his staff tightly. He took the time to take in what he could see. The room looked to be roughly 3 meters wide, the ceiling 2 meters high. The walls were made of the same stones as the tower above, but they looked to be stained with a strange greenish-blueish liquid that was giving off the faint illumination which was allowing him to see. There wasn¡¯t much of it on his side of the room, but the further down the narrow halls in front of him he looked, the more prominent the stains on the walls seemed to be. He could make out broken stones and damaged sections of the walls and ceilings, as well as endless cobwebs laid out in front of him. Darith glanced back to see the hole he had come through, wondering if it would be possible for him to climb back up. Half of his mind was beginning to think this was a one way ticket to game over, the other half was excited and curious. One of his favorite parts of playing games was finding secrets like this. That part of his mind got the best of him and he began walking forward. He didn¡¯t need to get very far before he saw something in the hall that he couldn¡¯t see from a distance, a fork in the hallway. The path split off to the left and right, but continued forward as well. Looking down each corridor, it split multiple times beyond this intersection. He had to choose which way to go. He looked to the left, then straight ahead, but as he turned right, once again the ghost was standing there in front of him, she had appeared silently and stared at him blankly for a moment. ¡°Uh¡­ you want me to go this way?¡± Darith asked hesitantly. A small red ball appeared above the ghosts head. Quest: Find the resting place of the young girl. Requirement: This quest must be completed alone. Reward: ?? Penalty: Abandoning the quest or leaving this area will make this quest permanently unavailable to you. Once accepted, this quest cannot be taken by another player. Accept(x) Decline(x) ¡°It¡¯s red instead of blue like the rest of the quests so far. Is that because it has a penalty?¡± Darith asked the ghost, but she didn¡¯t reply. ¡°Alright. Fine. If a quest is hidden like this, it¡¯s gotta be worth trying.¡± He said to her, and hit accept. The moment he did the girl¡¯s ghost disappeared. Quest accepted. Chapter 39: The Darklight Caverns Darith walked forward through the underground ruins, carefully watching his step as he got deeper and deeper into the tunnels. When he reached the first intersection he could see all but one direction had caved in, leaving him little choice on which way to go. He followed the hall along, remaining as alert as possible with his staff in hand. His ears were quite good at picking up sounds due to their size, but he heard only the sound of his own footsteps along with the occasional dripping of water from the ceiling.
Cartography skill reached rank 6!
He took note that Cartography was tracking the path he took, even including where the deadends were, but upon leveling up, the map even labeled the area as ¡®Unknown Location¡¯. Eventually the hallway came to a large stone door in front of him, as he approached he noticed a second stone door in the wall on his left. Both had black metal handles that appeared so polished they shined, contrasting heavily with the decrepit surroundings. The door immediately in front of him had a strange stone lock on it to keep it from being opened from the opposite side, luckily it appeared easy enough to unlock from this side. He turned his attention to the side door first and cautiously grabbed the handle. It took a lot of strength to get it to budge from the dust and debris that had gathered around it over the years, but he managed to move the door, causing a loud grinding sound as it scraped inward into the room. Inside he saw several bookshelves that had been cleaned of books, and a desk and chair. The room looked as if it had been tossed, the drawers were pulled out, the chair was broken, the carpet torn, the bookshelves were on their sides. There was a piece of parchment on the desk held down by a small stone. Darith walked over to take a look at the parchment, it looked newer and placed in a way that it would be noticed easily. He quickly read over the contents.
-Royal Decree- The Darklight Caverns are Off-Limits By order of the Royal Family, all magic experimentation under Avistion is to cease and the Darklight Caverns are to be sealed off. Any Unnatural creatures created as a result of Conjuration Experimentation are to be sealed into the Lower Caverns permanently. The Academy of Magical Arts has agreed to such measures after the Realm Breaking incident which has caused a loss in memory to all Avistion Inhabitants. The conjurers no longer remember what they had conjured before the Realm Breaking Incident, nor how to handle them. Therefore the greatest Mages of the Academy have placed a powerful seal on the Lower levels. Do not attempt to break the seal under any circumstances unless given permission by the Royal Family.
Upon finishing the read, he saw as his map text updated to read ¡®Darklight Caverns Upper Level¡¯. ¡°So that¡¯s what this place this. I guess that¡¯s why they sealed magic down here.¡± He mumbled to himself. He decided it best to leave the parchment there for anyone else who might come this way. He was about to check behind the desk, but he suddenly heard a loud sloshing sound behind him, as if someone had spilled a bucket of water. He looked in the doorway and saw nothing at first, but the sound continued to get louder slowly. It took a second to spot it in the dim light, but moving into the room were a collection of tiny floating rocks and pebbles that slowly disintegrated, then he watched as the aged carpet on the floor began to dissolve. If it wasn¡¯t for his experience in playing MMORPG¡¯s before, he would have no idea what was in front of him, but anyone who has played an RPG before could identify the creature that was causing the carpet to dissolve. Very faint letters were visible in the doorway above its body as the creature made its way past the opened stone door.
Darklight Ooze - Level 27 - Hostile HP: 1348/1348
It was lower level than him. That normally would help a lot, especially with his very powerful magic. The problem was his inability to use it. Luckily the Ooze was moving very slowly, so simply backing up was enough for now. He grabbed a piece of the broken chair and flung it at the ooze to get an idea of its size and also see what affect it would have. When the broken chair leg hit, the clear transparent outline of the ooze could be seen for a moment, but at the same time its liquid form splashed outwards, some of it getting on Darith¡¯s robes. It burned through the robes and onto his skin in an instant.
You have taken 42 Acid Damage. You have gained the skill Acid Resistance(?)
42 from that tiny drop. He knew if this thing got him he was dead. The wood from the chair leg dissolved in seconds without affecting it¡¯s HP at all. He grabbed another piece, this time throwing it over top where the ooze might be, and it was able to fly through the doorway and clamber against the wall in the hallway. The ooze wasn¡¯t very tall. Darith got up onto the desk, dug in his heels, and prepared to jump. ¡°Dash!¡± He shouted out, and with a burst of speed he was able to get overtop of the ooze back into the hallway. The ooze didn¡¯t need to turn around, it changed directions quickly. Knowing his destination was likely beyond the locked door, he ran towards it the last few meters down the hallway. He unlocked the door with ease and began pushing it open, glancing back to see as the ooze slugged its way back into the hall very slowly. It was difficult to track because of its transparency, but Darith noticed as it moved it was leaving behind the greenish-blueish stains on the ground that gave off a fluorescent glow. He knew now where the stains on the walls and ceilings came from. As he pushed the door open, he came to this realization just in time, that the oozes could climb walls and ceilings. He looked up to see a second ooze directly above him. He lunged through the door just as it attempted to drop down on top of him. He found himself standing on dark stone and kept moving forward to stay ahead of the two slow moving oozes. The walls and floor were no longer paved, instead it was a rocky cavern made up of dark grey rock and dark brown dirt. While it started narrow, the cavern widened as it sloped downward. He saw more of the stains on the wall which let him know he wasn¡¯t out of danger yet, and continued to move cautiously by holding his staff out in front of himself.
Upper Darklight Caverns have been discovered for the first time! All experience gained in this dungeon by the discovering player will double for the next 5 days.
Darith held back his excitement on the message, not having much time to process it. He was more concerned about the dangers that might be around him. As the slope angle rose, a staircase carved out of the dark grey stone could be seen, and Darith stepped down quickly until he reached the bottom. At the base of the slope, the roof of the cave that had blocked his view from the top of the stairs stopped obstructing the cavern ahead of him, allowing him to see the Upper Darklight Caverns in all its glory. It was a gigantic cavern that went on as far as he could see. The cavern looked to have multiple levels. He was on a level about 5 meters above the lowest, and the ceiling was at least 10 meters higher than he was. In the middle of the cavern was a large body of water, illuminated by large glowing stones scattered throughout the cavern. The stones were all uniform in size giving the impression that they were man made and placed intentionally, but there were plenty of dark spots still that Darith could see nothing of. He didn¡¯t have very long to take it all in, the sloshing of the oozes was getting closer. But before he could take another step down the stairs he heard tiny clitter-clatter sounds, as if hundreds of tiny legs were approaching from the darkness of the cave around him. He used his Nemothyne ears to track the direction, only to see from the darkness not hundreds of creatures, but a single very long creature.
Darklight Centipede - Level 24 - Hostile HP: 2151/2151
It scrambled along the stone and dirt parallel to the staircase, approaching Darith very quickly. Once it got within a few meters, it poised itself upright and waved its mandibles in the air. Darith prepared himself for it to strike, and it did just that. The creature launched itself forward with a lunge at Darith, and he quickly dashed out of the way to avoid it as the Centipede, nearly twice his size, slammed its jaw into the stone staircase. Darith glanced back to prepare for its next strike, this time planning to retaliate with his staff ready, but instead the Centipede continued up the stairs. He considered running, but he knew he needed to learn to beat the creatures in this cave if he wanted to complete the quest. Thinking it best to challenge them in low numbers, he pursued the Centipede. He watched as the long creature got up to the slope, completely ignoring him. Instead it reared its head upright again, then shot out a spray of white mist across the dirt. As the mist coated the ground in front of the centipede, Darith could hear an odd bubbling sound - the Oozes that had been chasing him. He watched as the mist was absorbed by the oozes, and it quickly solidified them and turned them into hard white pasty chunks. The centipede lowered its head back down and moved forward, taking a bite into the ooze pancakes it had made as their HPs had hit 0 in an instant.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Rock beats scissors¡­¡± Darith mumbled, he couldn¡¯t help but feel disgusted by what the oozes would taste like, but at the same time he didn¡¯t want to waste the opportunity. He walked as quietly as possible with staff in hand. The centipede paid no mind to him at all, which Darith felt odd. A creature that lived in the dark like this with all those legs normally would detect vibrations in the ground, maybe it was bad programming by the developers? Once close enough, he slammed his staff down on the hind of the centipede. It made a loud clunk sound, as if he had just hit hard metal.
Darklight Centipede - Level 24 - Hostile HP: 2149/2151
¡°Seriously?¡± Darith said in disbelief, he watched as the centipede angrily turned around and reared its head at him. Darith dashed backward as it shot out another breath of white mist, just barely avoiding it. It didn¡¯t have much projectile strength, thus easy to avoid. Missing annoyed the centipede further and it gave chase. Darith turned tail and ran down the staircase. Without magic he couldn¡¯t do anything to the ooze or the centipede, so just how was he supposed to complete this quest? This frustrated him. He reached the bottom of the stairs finally, able to stay ahead of the centipede because of Dash, though just barely. His energy was draining quickly. He saw one of the tall glowing stones nearby and made his way towards it. He knew he¡¯d most likely need to use through the pain to escape this creature, get back to the door, close himself in that sealed office to rest and come up with a plan. A few more dashes and his energy was low. He got to the glowing stone, it was roughly twice his height and illuminated a fair distance around itself with a light blue glow, making it easy to see the centipede approaching. Darith backed up and prepared to loop around the stone, but before he could, the ground rumbled. In an instant, a large spike shot out of the dirt underneath the centipede, piercing through its body. Darith watched as a huge brown creature rose out of the ground. It resembled a scorpion, but instead of pincers it had large needle-like arms and a needle-like tail with no visible venom sac. It pierced the centipede multiple times in its stomach and back, stopping it from moving by holding it in the air. The centipede puffed out the white mist but it had no effect on the scorpion.
Darklight Needle Claw - Level 25 - Hostile HP: 1820/1820
Darith watched the Needle Claw pull the dead centipede back under the dirt with itself. He was distracted momentarily, but noticed just in time that another mound of dirt was shifting and moving towards him. He dashed away from the light rock just in time as a 2nd Needle Claw attempted to skewer him. His first thought was to continue with his plan until he watched the Needle Claw dash after him, his dash almost as good as Darith¡¯s. It moved with jolt like speed then thrusted one of its needles at him. Darith sidestepped to dodge just in time, getting grazed only slightly.
You have taken 212 Piercing Damage.
One direct hit and I¡¯m dead. Darith was able to stay calm. Every game is made to be beaten. If I follow the logic up until this point, there¡¯s a simple solution to this situation. Darith thought as he dashed away, running low on energy. He had about 5 dashes left in him, and everytime he moved, the Needle Claw followed with its own dash. Darith scanned the surroundings to find what he was looking for, stains of blueish-green on a nearby rock formation, and beside it, what looked to be a puddle. Darith dashed towards the puddle, then around it, so that it was between him and the Needle Claw. He watched as the Needle Claw dashed right into the puddle and immediately screeched out in pain, but the screeching was muffled in seconds as the puddle grew upward and engulfed it. The puddle, now obviously a darklight ooze, worked to digest the scorpion in seconds as Darith leaned back against the nearby cavern wall, watching the process. He was cautiously making sure nothing else was approaching as the Needle Claw¡¯s hit points hit zero, giving himself time to regenerate his energy. The ooze remained stationary during the process, and once it had finished, every part of the Needle Claw had dissolved except for its tail. The ooze made a strange bubbling sound and rolled the left-over tail out of its body, then went back to pretending to be a puddle. ¡°Darith what is going on? Your HP is getting really low! Are you okay?¡± Liana panicked. ¡°Yo little man, you aite?¡± Gabriel worriedly. ¡°Can you hear us?¡± Elise sounded concerned. He couldn¡¯t reply yet. He¡¯d need full energy to grab that needle and get back to safety. If he made noise, he might attract one of them. He waited patiently, which only caused his party members to send him more messages. It took a few long minutes of letting them panic and Darith staying perfectly still for his bar to refill.
You have gained the skill Stealth(?)
He didn¡¯t need to click it to guess what that skill did. ¡°I¡¯m okay, can¡¯t talk right now.¡± He whispered into his party interface once his energy was full. The sound was enough to draw the ooze towards himself and further from the Needle it spat out. This made it easier to dash around the slow ooze and grab the needle, putting it in his inventory, then made his way towards the stairs. When he got up to where the centipede had spit at him, he saw the white mist had settled into white powder on the ground. The only item in his inventory he had to collect it was the plate left over from the steak. It was a bit awkward, but he managed to scoop up the white powder onto the plate without touching it, then put it back into his inventory. Lastly, he dashed next to the solidified white ooze and snapped off a piece with his staff. He suspected it wasn¡¯t going to deal acid damage anymore but still didn¡¯t want to risk it, and took out his old Beginner Armor to use as makeshift gloves to pick it up and put it in his inventory. Final step, he dashed back through the stone doors, then into the office that had been sealed with the parchment. He closed the door behind himself after checking to make sure no oozes were inside, then leaned against the door and let out a sigh of relief.
Health: 235/625 (0/m)
¡°Sorry guys, I¡¯m in a place filled with weird creatures, I couldn¡¯t talk or they¡¯d find me. I¡¯m okay now.¡± ¡°You sure you don''t need my help? I could come heal you and make it easy!¡± Liana replied. ¡°The quest says it has to be completed alone, without leaving the area¡­ and if I fail it can¡¯t get accepted again. I¡¯m fine, trust me.¡± Darith tried reassuring her. ¡°But it¡¯s getting late, aren¡¯t you coming home to sleep soon?¡± ¡°If I want to do this quest, I¡¯ll probably need to sleep here. Can you tell Mom I¡¯m okay?¡± ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡± Liana hesitated. ¡°Is the quest really that important? It sounds really dangerous.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± Darith replied. "It means the reward has got to be good." ¡°You better not get game over before you kill any monsters with me.¡± Elise commented. ¡°I promised your mom I¡¯d take care of you little man.¡± Gabriel joined in. ¡°You¡¯re the only one who really knows whats going on. We need you.¡± Jaese said. ¡°Guys relax, have a little faith in me!¡± Darith replied. ¡°If I think I can¡¯t handle it, I¡¯ll run away.¡± ¡°Pffft. Yeah right.¡± Liana responded. Darith made sure to secure the door. He noticed this room had no stains from the oozes, so assumed that as long as the door was shut, they couldn¡¯t get in. This unfortunately made it pitch black and hard to see, but still a good place to rest and think for a second.
You have gained the skill Dark Sight(?)
It popped up just before he could dig into his inventory. The moment it did, he was able to see a little bit in front of himself, though everything was tinted dark grey. Another skill he didn¡¯t need to read yet to understand, he was more interested in his inventory items.
Lithrox Powder (Crafting Material) A powder known to be toxic to the eyes and when inhaled. Can be used as a powerful base by alchemists, to dilute acids, or various other alchemy recipes. Quality: Normal(?) Used in: Alchemy Known Sources(Scholar Mastery): Can be obtained from Darklight Centipedes
Black Iron Needle - (Uncommon) Once the tail of a Needle Claw, after being exposed to the acid of a Darklight Ooze, the needle corroded into this purified form of Iron(?). Quality: Normal(?) Used in: Smelting, Blacksmithing, Woodworking Known Sources(Scholar Mastery): Waste of a Darklight Ooze after having consumed a Darklight Needle Claw
Hardened Ooze Fragment - (Uncommon) A solidified ooze resulting from the removal of an Ooze creatures acidity, and thus its ability be sentient, killing it. Returning the ooze to an acidic state from this form will not return it to life. Quality: Normal Used in: Alchemy, Woodworking, Enchanting, Jewelry Craft, Known Sources(Scholar Mastery): Introduce Lithrox Powder to a Darklight Ooze and it will turn into this form
(?)Black Iron is a rare purified form of iron that is highly resistant to acid damage, but very difficult to work with. Requires Intermediate Smelting.
¡°I think I get it.¡± Darith said after reading over the items. ¡°It really is rock paper scissors.¡± He sighed with relief. With these items in his inventory, he could find a way to beat all three creatures he¡¯d seen thus far in the cavern. The black iron looked particularly valuable. He just needed to figure out how to use these things, and to hope those creatures were the only ones lurking around in the Darklight Caverns. Still, it¡¯d be smarter to take the chance to rest now and get full health while he still could. Next he wanted to check over the new skills he had just gotten during that fiasco.
Acid Resistance - Rank 1 Reduces the damage taken from acid based attacks. Gains experience by taking acid damage. Higher ranks reduce the damage further, based on the power of the attack. Acid Resistance Rating: 10
Stealth - Rank 1 Reduces the sound made by you and improves your ability to go undetected. Effectiveness varies depending on the sensing capabilities of enemies. Sound Reduction: 1%
Dark Sight - Rank 1 Allows you to see in places with no light. Unable to see color under these circumstances. Higher ranks improve visibility. This has no effect in magical-based darkness.
He made one last check to confirm the door was sealed tight enough that no liquid could possibly get through, then moved behind the broken desk with his back against the wall, eyes facing forward at the door. ¡°Here goes nothing¡­ Power Nap.¡± Chapter 40: Survival of the Fittest Darith awoke in the Darkness, still barely able to see the desk in front of him, but his HP was full. He was still in one piece, and he could hear no strange noises inside the room, his plan had worked. He looked to see he had two status effects, 1 green and 1 red. The green was his double experience bonus he¡¯d gotten from finding the dungeon which he planned to make use of, the red was the penalty for using power nap. As he stood up he saw the bluish white figure of the ghost girl standing in front of the door staring at him expectantly. ¡°I¡¯m working on it.¡± He sighed back at her, causing her to disappear by walking backwards through the stone door. He put his staff back into his inventory and took out the Needle Claw Spike. It was long, sharp, and pretty heavy. In its current form it would be difficult to wield as a weapon, but he didn¡¯t have much choice. Next, he took the plate of Lithrox powder from his inventory. He had a hunch, based on his experience with oozes in this game and others, that he¡¯d need it the moment he opened that door. He moved to the door and placed the plate down on the ground in front of it, then opened the door and backed up. Sure enough, he heard the sloshing sound of an ooze immediately as it slimed into the room. With little to no intelligence, it sloshed over the plate and immediately began to harden and died, granting him decent experience. He got to work immediately, breaking the solidified ooze into fragments and placing them in his inventory. He now had a stack of Hardened Ooze Fragments saved up. When he left the office he made sure to check all directions for another ooze, including the ceiling, and closed the door behind himself to keep the room secure, then headed towards the Darklight Caverns. He felt more confident now, knowing what to look for, but at the same time he couldn¡¯t be sure he¡¯d seen all the monsters the cavern had to offer yet. He also wasn¡¯t sure how he could use the Ooze Fragments on the Needle Claws, so he intended to avoid them for the time being. He made his way down the staircase as quietly as possible, reaching the ground floor of the cavern. Looking around, it was truly vast. There were stalagmites and stalactites all over the place, he had no idea where to start looking for the girls resting place. For the time being he¡¯d have to rely on Cartography and just start mapping it out as best as possible. He decided to avoid the glowing light stones for now as he¡¯d assumed that was where the Needle Claws were most likely hiding. Darith travelled along the left most wall of the cavern¡¯s lowest level first, relying on his ears to stay alert as his Dark Sight wasn¡¯t very effective yet. He went on for a good 10 minutes without encountering anything and was beginning to feel as though the cavern wasn¡¯t as dangerous as he had initially thought.
Dark Sight skill reached rank 2! Stealth skill reached rank 2!
Once he got the notifications, he was able to see the ground and walls more clearly. He spotted in the dirt a pack of mushrooms growing, they had odd brown flattened tops. Not one to let things go to waste, he used the Needle to carefully cut the base and added them to his inventory. Further along the wall he found thick wooden roots protruding out of the stone. He thought he¡¯d give Magic Reading another shot, but he got the same message that it was unusable. Using the needle he cut a few of the visible roots out of the wall, they were dry and brittle and seemed to break easily so he wasn¡¯t sure how useful they¡¯d be.
Acquired - Dried Theorlan Root x 13 Acquired - Darklight Mushroom x 6 Foraging skill reached rank 2!
He was tempted to start with the trial and error as his stomach growled, but thought it better not to risk death by poisonous mushroom. He continued along the wall until he felt the dark grey rock morph into paved, mortared stone. There was a small section of the cavern that had been man made using the samewhite stonework from the tunnels. Following it along a bit further he came across a tipped over brazier laying on the ground, two in fact, with their coal spilled out across the dirt. In between the two he saw a stone door that had been left ajar. Darith cautiously peered inside to see the fluorescent glow left behind by acid stains all around the walls. The room looked fairly large and had a lot of broken objects and rubble scattered about, but more importantly in the center of the room he saw a big chunk of solidified ooze, and heard a crunching sound. He spotted a centipede in the middle of snacking on a dead ooze. He wanted to explore the room, but he knew he¡¯d have to deal with that centipede first. He started by pushing the door shut until the opening was very narrow. The scraping sound of the stone door on the ground drew the attention of the centipede and it began chittering across the floor towards him. He pulled back the Needle in a striking position and waited. The moment the centipede poked its head through the small opening, he lunged forward to pierce it with the needle. It penetrated the chitin easily, and he forced the needle through into the dirt, pinning the creature to the ground dealing 402 damage, a critical strike. The centipede struggled with its back legs and tail, trying to break itself free of the needle, and was able to lodge it out of the ground and lift it. Darith quickly pulled back the needle as this was happening to make sure not to lose it, the centipede reared its head upward and shot out the white mist at Darith. Darith was forced to dash backward to avoid the mist as the centipede skittered out of the room fully and attempted to use its speed to maneuver around Darith for a lunging strike. He anticipated it, having seen this lunge attack already once before. When the creature lunged forward, Darith sidestepped it and pierced the Needle into its back, then pulled back and pierced it several more times as fast as he could, but noticed each strike was draining his energy significantly. After getting below 500 health, the centipede began to panic and attempted to scurry away. Darith dashed beside it to keep up and thrust the needle into its side 3 more times, reducing its health to 0. It let out one last chattering screech with its mandibles as it collapsed onto the dirt. Darith took a moment to see that not only his energy was almost empty, but he had lost health despite not getting hit. Looking down at his hands he saw red marks from wielding the crudely shaped needle. Because the weapon was improvised, its shape was causing damage to Darith as he struck with it, but not a great amount. Still, his health was down 112 points. He got several notifications as well, but took his time to make sure he didn¡¯t draw the attention of any nearby enemies before trying to look at them. He opted to grab the centipede¡¯s body by its tail and drag it back into the room. It was a lot heavier than he¡¯d been expecting. Once inside he quickly checked over the room to make sure it was monster free, then moved to drag the braziers into the room as well and put the charcoal from them in his inventory. He then moved to pull the door shut to make sure he was safe for a moment.
You have gained the skill Polearm Mastery(?) You have gained the skill Lunging Strike(?) Polearm Mastery - Rank 1 Increases your damage dealt and efficiency while wielding any Polearm type weapon. This mastery contributes to all damage dealt by physical-based skills while wielding a Polearm, so long as that skill is compatible with Polearms. Polearm Damage Bonus: 5% Energy Cost Per Swing: 10 Lunging Strike - Rank 1 (Polearm Only) Lunge forward and strike with a polearm from the maximum possible distance to activate this skill. Increases the energy cost of the strike as well as the damage it deals. Damage: +15 Energy Cost: 30
¡°That must mean it considers this big needle a polearm.¡± Darith said to himself, going into his equipment menu to see if Scholar Mastery had more information on it now.
Weapon: Black Iron Needle (Uncommon) Type: Polearm (Crude)(Improvised) Damage: 87~96 Speed: Average Special: Deals double damage to insectoid type enemies. Special 2: The crude nature of the needle makes it difficult to wield, causing damage to the wielder with each strike. Quality: Normal Used in: Smelting, Blacksmithing, Woodworking Description: Once the tail of a Needle Claw, after being exposed to the acid of a Darklight Ooze, the needle corroded into this purified form of Iron. (?)
¡°The high quality copper Polearms in Tao¡¯s shop dealt around 20 to 30 damage if I remember correctly¡­¡± Darith said as he tried clinking it against the ground. ¡°I wonder how much something like this is worth?¡± He took the time to look around in the dark room to try and find anything useful, using the light coming off of the fluorescent stains the ooze¡¯s had left behind. ¡°Dariiiiiiiiiiiith.¡± Liana said with a stern voice through party chat. ¡°I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine, I hurt myself by accident.¡± Darith replied. ¡°How¡¯d you manage to do that?¡± She asked doubtful. ¡°Improvised weapon, hurt my hands. Had to use it though.¡± ¡°What are you fighting anyway?¡± She asked. ¡°It was a giant centipede.¡± ¡°Ew! Gross! Seriously?¡± Elise shouted back. ¡°How giant we talkin¡¯?¡± Gabriel asked, he didn¡¯t sound too excited by the idea either. ¡°Well it was about twice my size, so probably about the size of you or Jaese.¡± ¡°How do I quit the game?¡± Elise replied disgusted. ¡°Hah, what¡¯d you expect we¡¯d be fighting?¡± Jaese chimed in. ¡°Oh you know, evil bunnies or angry wolves. Those I¡¯m okay with.¡± Elise replied. ¡°There¡¯s probably some of those too!¡± Liana said in an attempt to cheer her up. ¡°Are you almost done? You¡¯ve gotta be starving by now.¡± Liana said to Darith. ¡°I¡¯m just getting started. I¡¯ll probably have to eat this centipede.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Ok I¡¯m gonna hurl.¡± Elise moaned back, causing Jaese and Gabriel to chuckle for a second, until Jaese watched Elise actually hurl near him in the Training grounds. ¡°Oh she actually did. I¡¯ll go make sure she¡¯s okay.¡± Jaese said. ¡°I¡¯ll lay off the gross talk, sorry.¡± Darith said apologetically. ¡°If it tastes good, save some for me.¡± Gabriel joked. ¡°Seriously?¡± Elise replied angrily. Darith used the time during the conversation to find a few useful items in the room, including some text etched into the wall near the door stating that this was a Conjuration Supply room. Almost everything in the room had been dissolved or partially dissolved by the oozes, including the shelves. The only objects intact were small metal ones that were stained black but oddly shiny, just like the door nobs of all the doors he¡¯d seen so far. It wasn¡¯t too unlike the appearance of the Needle he had equipped. He was able to find a mining pick made of black iron, minus the handle. As well as four black iron pots and ladles and handle-less blades. ¡°Alright.¡± He said to himself, stretching his fingers and neck as he gained another level in Dark Sight. He laid out the needle on the ground with the other black metal object¡¯s he¡¯d collected. ¡°I¡¯ve got some work to do.¡± He said to himself. He started by setting a brazier upright and refilling it with the charcoal he had found on the ground. He took from his inventory all of the dried Theorlan Root and mixed it into the charcoal with any and all of the wood he could find still in the room. Next, he pressed his wooden staff into the brazier and begin grinding it to generate heat until he had enough to ignite the Theorlan root. Eventually the Theorlan root caught fire and began burning, spreading to the other wood chips. He made sure to blow on it to help it head up the charcoal.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
You have gained the skill Survival Mastery(?)
He ignored it for now, waiting until he had the brazier glowing nice and red with a flame to produce heat for the room. The next step was to try and retrieve something edible from the centipede. He used the needle to pry off the chitin and found sticky black meat underneath, which gave him hope that it was somewhat edible. He worked on prying off each piece of chitin and collected them in a separate pile off to the side, though he broke quite a few in the process, then gathered the meat in a pot.
Skinning skill reached rank 2! Raw Darklight Centipede Meat (Common)(Cooking Material) If eaten will release a thick substance in the mouth and throat that hardens quickly, blocking the airways and giving off a foul taste and odor. Cooking the meat will draw out the tar-like substance. Quality: Poor Flavor: Poor
¡°Right.¡± Darith moved his needle to hold the chunk of meat above the brazier, while at the same time he grabbed one of the Black Iron pots and prepared to use it for the substance. Sure enough after a few minutes, a black liquid began to drip out of the meat. He quickly held the pot to catch the drops and eventually the meat changed color to a brownish white, not unlike typical cooked chicken meat. He pulled both the pot and the meat back once it seemed the process was finished.
Cooking skill reached rank 2! Extracting skill reached rank 2!
Cooked Darklight Centipede Meat (Common)(Food) Restores 5 Health Quality: Poor Flavor: Poor
Darklight Tar (Common)(Crafting Material) A thick, sticky black tar extracted from various vegetation and creatures within the Darklight Tavern. Extremely sticky, hardens when cooled and liquifies when heated. Used in: Woodworking, Blacksmithing, Alchemy
He put the pot of tar in his inventory, then turned to the meat. It smelt awful. He closed his eyes and took a bite. It tasted awful, like he was chewing on a tire. But he bared with it and after finishing he was able to get the 5 health back and stave off his hunger somewhat. Next was to repeat the process for the rest of the meat chunks. This time he was more careful with how he cooked it and retrieved the tar, and once he¡¯d finished he was able to completely fill one Black Iron Pot with tar, but it was hardening and cooling even while in his inventory, so he knew he¡¯d have to heat it up again if he wanted to use it. In the end he was able to eat enough to restore his health to full, but his mouth was crying for some sort of flavor to replace that of the meat. ¡°I¡¯ve gotta find a better way to cook that stuff.¡± He grumbled to himself. Next up, he looked at the chitin plates.
Darklight Centipede Chitin (Common)(Crafting Material) The hard chitin shells may be used to reinforce various types of armor and shields if used by a skilled artisan, Used in: Blacksmithing, Leatherworking
After reading it, he loaded all in-tact plates into his inventory. His next step started with him placing the needle down on the ground next to the Pickaxe and the knife blades. He took out one of the beginner pine staves he had gotten from Tao¡¯s shop and his beginner Nemothyne pants, and a piece of charcoal he hadn¡¯t used. He began by taking the pot of tar out of his inventory and placing it in the brazier. Next, he took the needle¡¯s blunt end and pressed it against the top of his spare staff, then used the charcoal to mark the area he¡¯d need to carve out. Then he wrapped the beginner pants around the base of the knife blade and tried using it to carve out the marked section. The Black Iron was durable and sharp, but without a handle on the knife it made it hard to use. It took him awhile to carve deep enough into the wood of his staff, but once he felt satisfied, he moved to the next step. He pulled the pot out of the brazier, using the spare pants as oven mitts, and placed it on the ground. The tar like substance was nice and bubbly. He used one of the Black Iron Ladle¡¯s to scoop it up and pour some into the newly formed hole in the top of his staff, and lightly coated some on the blunt end of the needle. Lastly, he carefully pressed the Black Iron Needle Claw into the top of the staff and secured it in as tightly as possible, using his pants to wipe away any excess tar that spilled out during the process. For good measure, he took out a long thread of Frost Spider Silk he¡¯d gotten from the spiders in the Frozen Caverns and wrapped it around the needle and the staff to help secure the two together.
Woodworking skill reached rank 2! You have successfully crafted: Black Iron Needle Spear.(?)
Weapon: Black Iron Needle Spear (Poor) Type: Polearm Damage: 67~76 Durability: 20/20 Speed: Average Special: Deals double damage to insectoid type enemies. Description: Made by corroding a Darklight Needle Claw Tail in Darklight Ooze, then combining it with Pinewood, Darklight Tar, and Frozen Spider Silk.
¡°The damage went down by 20 and it now has durability, but it won''t hurt me anymore when I use it.¡± Darith said as he checked out the item. Despite the poor quality, he was proud of his new weapon, smiling ear to ear. He followed a similar process to first make a handle for the knife blade, then a handle for the pickaxe. The last thing he had to do was extract more Lithrox powder from the dead centipede and filled it into another Black Iron Pot. With that done, he now had a food supply and proper countermeasures for two of the three monsters lurking in the cavern. He pushed the door of the supply room open slowly and stepped back outside, closing it behind him to keep the room secure, then looked at the large cavern before him. ¡®If I were a little girl in a cave, where would I go?¡¯ he thought to himself. How did she get down here in the first place? She wasn¡¯t wearing Avistion Academy clothing, so it didn¡¯t appear she was a student. He thought on this has he continued mapping out the cave. The oozes were slow, and the Needle Claws seemed to stick to the glowing stones, and with Dash and his new weapon he could handle the centipedes, this allowed him to speed up his exploration of the cave. After about an hour and 5 dead centipedes later he had mapped out the entire outside wall of the lower level, and began looking at elevated ledges for new clues. Hours went by of him searching the ledges until he finally came across something that looked different. A ledge on the outer wall of the cavern about 8 meters off the ground floor had wooden posts dug it, signs that there was once a bridge leading to this ledge from somewhere. He climbed up the jagged stone walls to get atop the ledge and found that the back wall on the ledge had a tunnel sloping upwards out of the main cavern, and standing on the slope was the young ghost girl staring back at him, as if beckoning him to continue towards her. Darith double checked his surroundings before beginning his ascent up the sloped tunnel. The color of the stone began to change, there were cracks in the stone of varying colors. At first it was mainly purple, but then other colors begin to mix in. Yellow, blue, red, green, pink, white. They became more abundant and overlapped the further up the slope he went, getting larger and larger. They appeared on the walls, ceiling, and floor as well, and eventually went from being cracks to fissures that Darith had to step over cautiously, they were all giving off a powerful energy of some sort that he could feel not but quite describe. Eventually the upward slope stopped and the tunnel opened up into a large cavern that screamed boss room. Darith hesitated entering it. He double checked and confirmed his magic was still being blocked by a more powerful spell, but at the same time he saw the young girl¡¯s ghost standing in the middle of the wide room. On the far side he saw a tunnel leading upward further, with a faint light coming from it - it looked as though it was an exit out of the caverns to the surface. ¡°Is this where you died?¡± Darith called out while remaining outside the room. She didn¡¯t reply, instead just looked at him expectantly. ¡°Fine.¡± He grumbled while doing some last minute stretches. ¡°This better be worth it.¡± He stepped forward towards her, and as he did, she held out her hand towards him. Each step he took was made with caution, he had eyes on the colorfully cracked walls and floor, making sure there wasn¡¯t anything hiding out of his vision waiting to pounce on him. Much to his surprise, he was able to get right up to the girls ghost without anything jumping out. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what to do, but decided to reach out and touch her hand. The moment he did, his vision went blank, his ears deafened and the smells and sensations he had from the cavern vanished in an instant. ¡°We promise we will take care of your daughter.¡± An old bearded man spoke, wearing the robes of the Academy. He was standing in the doorway of a small home in a village unfamiliar to Darith, whom was watching from inside the house looking over the shoulder of the young girl and her mother, she was very much alive. ¡°You¡¯ll find out what is happening to her?¡± The mother spoke. ¡°Yes. Having unusually high magic potential isn¡¯t unheard of. Though I do admit her power is like nothing I¡¯ve ever seen, with the help of myself and the other Archmage¡¯s of the Academy, we¡¯ll be able to help her understand her power and control it. We¡¯re offering a full scholarship for her, and room and board for you and your daughter in the city of Avistion. We want you both to feel as welcome and comfortable as possible.¡± ¡°This¡­ this seems too good to be true.¡± The mother replied, the daughter cowering behind her legs. ¡°Think about it, don¡¯t feel forced into any decisions. If you should have any questions, feel free to write me directly.¡± The old man bowed politely. Darith¡¯s vision blurred, he now saw the mother and little girl packing their things. ¡°Do we have to leave mommy? I want to stay here with my friends.¡± She pleaded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry sweetie, Avistion is a wonderful city where you¡¯ll be able to make many more friends. And those strange things that have been happening, you¡¯ll learn to control them, okay?¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Her mother reassured her. Darith¡¯s vision blurred again. He was now watching a carriage being pulled by two horses. Inside was the daughter and mother with their belongings. The carriage was being escorted by heavily armored Avistion guards, not unlike the ones he had seen loitering around the city. ¡°Are we almost there mommy?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be there in a few more days, don¡¯t you worry.¡± Her mother replied, the two holding each other close as they sat in the carriage. His vision blurred, once it came back, the carriage was travelling through the rain on a dark and stormy day. The mother was singing a soft lullaby to calm her daughter¡¯s nerves. It blurred again. This time, it was sunny. The road they travelled on was closing in on the city of Avistion, the great white palace could be seen in the distance. The curtains on the wagon were pulled open and both the mother and daughter were looking at it in awe. ¡°Look sweetie, The City of Avistion! We¡¯re almost there!¡± The mother cheered. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s huge!¡± The young girl smiled ear to ear. The sound of horses galloping towards them could be heard, and on the road ahead, a group of more than 10 riders were coming towards their carriage. As they closed in, they began shooting arrows at the knights escorting them. The little girl and mother screamed as the knights protecting them began shouting. The sounds of swords clashing echoed as the two forces collided. Darith¡¯s vision blurred. He was now in the forest surrounding the road. The mother was bleeding, an arrow in her abdomen, but she held her daughters arm tight, leading her through the forest with haste. The sound of footsteps following behind them could be heard in the surrounding brush. ¡°Give us the girl, there¡¯s nowhere to run.¡± A man with a deep voice shouted through the forest. Dairth¡¯s vision blurred again. He saw the mother and daughter find the entrance to a cave, and the mother led her inside, but she looked pale now, it was clear she had lost a lot of blood. The pursuers continued after them. He caught glimpses of them. They wore Avistion armor, but instead of a blue eagle symbol, it was a blue eagle with a black X over its chest. His vision blurred one last time. He was now standing in the same circular room where he had been before he touched the girls hand. The mother had collapsed to her knees, the daughter holding her tight and crying, the armored men approached. ¡°Come with us little one, and we will save your mother.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t listen to them sweetie. Run, please, run.¡± The mother pleaded. ¡°No! I won¡¯t leave you!¡± The little girl cried out. ¡°It¡¯s the only chance you have to save her. We have healers with us. We promise we¡¯ll take good care of both of you.¡± The leading knight spoke, his face hidden by his helmet as he stepped forward. Despite them clearly having the upperhand, they were very apprehensive about approaching the two, Darith noted. ¡°You won¡¯t have my daughter.¡± The mother shouted angrily as she pulled a small blade out of a pouch on her belt, struggling to get back to her feet. She held it out in front of herself as if she intended to fight. Seeing this, one of the knights fired an arrow at her head, but before it could impact it bounced away. ¡°NO!¡± The little girl screamed, and a huge burst of magical energy shot out from her, cracking the ground around her feet in various colors. ¡°Calm down little girl.¡± The leading knight took a step back, then threw an angry glare at the knight that fired the arrow. Just then, the ground began to rumble violently as if quaking. From deeper in the caverns, large stomping could be heard. The girl, the mother, and the knights all looked to see a gigantic Needle Claw burrowing its way up the tunnel, seeking out the source of the tremor the little girl had created.
Darklight Needle Claw Queen - Level 61 HP: ??
Despite its size, the knights did not run in fear, instead drawing their blades. ¡°Come with us now little girl, it¡¯s not safe here!¡± The leading Knight shouted. Darith¡¯s vision blurred. This time, the scene didn¡¯t change, only his point of view of the cavern. He was now seeing the scene from the point of view of the little girl. He looked to see his stats on his window had changed.
Name: ???? Health: 94/94 Mana: 2059603 / 2059803 Energy: 50 / 50
He looked down at his hands and feet. He was the little girl. He took a deep breath as he got a notification in front of his eyes.
Quest Updated! Quest: Survive. Requirement: ?? Reward: ?? Penalty: Abandoning the quest or leaving this area will make this quest permanently unavailable to you. Once accepted, this quest cannot be taken by another player.
¡°Shit what the hell?¡± Darith panicked as the Queen stomped closer. His body wasn¡¯t that different from his Nemothyne¡¯s, but it still felt odd. Seeing the mana and lack of stamina, he knew he¡¯d have to rely on magic and quickly navigated to his spell menu to see what he could cast.
Spell Mastery - Rank 1(Beginner) Aura Mastery - Rank 1 (Beginner) Enchant Mastery - Rank 1 (Beginner) Conjuration Mastery - Rank 1 (Beginner)
Meteor - Rank 19 (Advanced) Control Weather - Rank 23 (Advanced) Earthquake - Rank 305 (Advanced) Gravity - Rank 206 (Advanced) Fireblast - Rank 603 (Advanced)
The list went on, but Darith stopped after seeing Fireblast, the only one he had read about in the library, it was the advanced version of Fireball and Firebolt. ¡°Fireblast!¡± Darith shouted out, planning to aim it at the knights.
WARNING!: Using advanced spells without high enough ranks in the corresponding mastery will lead to unpredictable results.
What initially started out as a spell similar to Firebolt, only larger, instead turned into a wild explosion of flames that shot out in all directions, but luckily not hitting himself or the girls mother. At the same time, the ground beneath Darith¡¯s feet began to break apart with red cracks. ¡°Glacier Barrage!¡± One of the knights shouted, causing several rows of blue spell circles to begin forming in front of him. Darith took a deep breath as he looked to the wounded woman beside him. Enemies on both sides, unknown spells that he couldn¡¯t control, vague victory conditions. ¡°Gamer¡¯s mind, don¡¯t fail me now.¡± He mumbled to himself as he clenched the little girls(his) fists shut. Chapter 41: The Realm Breaking Incident Boom, crash, slam. The large scorpion-like creature charged into the open cavern, its gigantic needle claws at least 3 meters in length. It had no eyes, instead hundreds of wriggling feelers fidgeted around its large fanged jaw, dripping with saliva. It let out a horrendous screech as a gigantic flash of blue light came from the spell circles the 8 gathered knights had casted Out of the circles shot large icicles, razor sharp, much larger than the ones Thomas had used. None were aimed at Darith, but instead at the girl''s mother and the Needle Claw Queen. Darith jumped towards the mother, attempting to trigger dash as he pushed her to the ground, but it didn¡¯t work. Instead he fell on top of the wounded woman, knocking her out of the path of the glacial shots just in time. He saw in this girls character information that she had the ability to cast a massive amount of spells, virtually all spells in existence with an enormous mana pool, but no ability to control them. And no basic skills to speak of. The Needle Claw Queen reacted to the two falling on the ground and scurried towards them, thrusting its gigantic Needle at them with enormous speed. With no ability to sprint or dash, he had no way to dodge it. Badump. His heart pounded as the large needle went straight towards his head. His body began to shake, his heart pounding so loud it shook his ears. Fear. One of the knights dashed in front of him at the last moment, wielding a giant blue-silver shield. The shield absorbed the blow of the needle and the knight was able to deflect it as he dug the heels of his greaves into the dirt to hold his ground. A second Knight rushed forward and grabbed Darith, pulling him off of the mother with ease. This girl did not have strength or agility, only intense magic that she couldn¡¯t control. He struggled to break free of the knight¡¯s grip, but couldn¡¯t. Darith watched as he was carried away from the girl''s mother while stuck in the girl''s body, unable to do anything. The knight that had deflected the Needle Claw¡¯s strike quickly moved out of the way, no longer standing between the Needle Claw Queen and the girl''s mother. She was now defenseless on the ground, bleeding with an arrow in her abdomen, the Queen towering over her, slowly getting further away from Darith as he was carried towards the other knights. ¡°I have the girl, retreat.¡± The knight shouted. Panic. It was happening so fast, it didn¡¯t even feel like a quest or a game anymore. The girl''s emotions were flooding into Darith¡¯s mind. It was painfully obvious that while in this girl''s body, he no longer had the gamer''s mind passive. Was this what it felt like to play this game without the passive? Was he really this weak minded? Liana was able to jump to the safety of Jaese in that hospital, risking her life. She didn¡¯t have gamer''s mind. Snap out of it. It¡¯s been a week, you haven¡¯t felt this emotion since you started playing, but it¡¯s not like you can¡¯t handle it. Stop panicking. Stop being afraid. If you don¡¯t do something, the mother will die. ¡°Gravity!¡± Darith shouted out.
WARNING!: Using advanced spells without high enough ranks in the corresponding mastery will lead to unpredictable results.
A black spell circle formed around the little girl and exploded in random directions, black cracks opening up in the earth beneath the knight carrying her. Suddenly the weight of everyone in the vicinity shifted towards the ceiling, lifting upwards. All the knights, his mother, the Needle Claw Queen, at once began floating upwards towards the ceiling at a falling speed. But it quickly destabilized, changing directions towards the western side of the room, then back to the floor. Then up again. ¡°Dispel!¡± One of the knights shouted, canceling out the wild gravity magic that Darith couldn¡¯t control. This caused them all to fall back to the ground, but the grip the knight had on Darith loosened. He broke free and ran back towards his mother as the Needle Claw Queen regained its composure and charged at the Knights. One Knight pursued him and reached out for his arm, the knight running much faster than Darith¡¯s tiny girl form could. The fear of being grabbed by these knights, clearly high level and way more powerful than he was, sent his heart rate through the roof. The knight wrapped his fingers around Darith''s wrist and tugged him back away from the mother, yanking him off his feet. He turned and placed his hand on the knights plate chest armor. ¡°Fireblast Fireblast Fireblast!¡± Darith shouted, three giant spell circles formed at point blank range. The knight panicked and let go of his arm in favor of leaping away from the spell circles. ¡°Negation, Type: Fire!¡± The knight shouted out, and a grey spell circle formed over top of the three Fireblast spell circles. The grey circle merged itself with the Fireblast circles and cancelled them out, stopping the casts. Darith didn¡¯t know something like that was possible. It was obvious, these knights came here to capture this girl. Of course they would be prepared to deal with her wild magic. The commotion of the knights was more attractive to the Needle Claw Queen than Darith¡¯s tiny footsteps, and it charged at them. They created a shield formation and blocked the claw strikes. Their equipment was extremely powerful. Despite the size of the Queen''s needle claws, the shields wern¡¯t even being scratched. Darith used this chance to get back to the mother¡¯s side. She was still concious, though very pale. He tried to help her stand up. The only option he had in his mind was to rely on the creatures of the Darklight Cavern. He knew how to beat them, but these knights did not. If he could only get further into the cavern. The little girl was barely strong enough to help the mother to her feet, and in that time one of the knights not wielding a shield, but instead a bow, drew an arrow and aimed at the mother like he had before. Come on Darith. He shouted at himself inside his mind. This is a game. This is a quest. Games are made to be beaten. Think, don¡¯t panic. If you weren¡¯t feeling this girls emotions, what would be the solution? A light bulb clicked in his head as the arrow shot out from the knights bow towards the mother. ¡°TIME WARP!¡± Darith shouted as loud as he could. A gigantic purple dome formed around the cave, slowing the arrow to a halt, as well as the dirt and stone that had been knocked into the air by the rampaging Needle Claw Queen. It worked, this girl could cast it, a powerful spell that could be used without a mastery. The knight saw the arrow slow and quickly shouldered his bow, breaking into a charge towards the two while drawing his sword, the other 7 knights caught up in the fight with the Needle Claw. ¡°Firewall!¡± Darith tried shouting. It was only intermediate, perhaps he¡¯d be able to control it somewhat. The concentration on Timewarp dispersed and the arrow sped up again, but they had moved out of the path of it. Instead, the entire ground of the cavern around them began to catch fire.
WARNING!: Using intermediate spells without high enough ranks in the corresponding mastery will lead to unpredictable results.
He had no control over it, as was expected, but it created a nice buffer between them and the Knight, or so Darith hoped. But the knight suddenly began to glow red and walk through the fire, taking no damage from the flames. ¡°Deep Freeze!¡± Darith shouted, a wild blast of ice magic shot out from Darith¡¯s feet, encasing his feet, his mother, and the knights, dispelling a lot of the fire. In some spots the wild burning flames of the firewall turned to solid ice, a testament to the chaotic nature of this girls magic control. Slowly the ice grew outward, spreading not only across the cavern towards the Needle Claw and other knights, but creeping up his and the mother¡¯s legs. ¡°Thaw, Thaw!¡± He shouted quickly, dispelling the freezing nature of the Deep Freeze spell that was occuring on them. It worked, but only temporarily. The wild ice continued to spread and re-encase their feet after a few steps, as the walls and floor of the cavern began to fill with blue cracks. Once all of the firewall had dispersed or froze thanks to deep freeze, the pursuing knights changed the glow around his armor to blue, and all of the ice that had begun encasing him shattered. He had some sort of skill that could change the element he was resistant to, Darith thought as he watched. Only solution to that was to add more elements. He quickly scanned through the girls spell menu, picking a few at random that sounded like different elements. ¡°Chain Lighting! Upheaval! Holy Smite!¡± He chanted them all. He got the warning three times. The cracks of varying colors spread out from his feet, breaking the ice around him. The knight pursuing him heard the spell casts and dropped down to a kneel, holding one hand out in front of himself. ¡°Elemental Guard!¡± He called out, and a rainbow colored shield formed in front of himself, the colors constantly shifting in its semi-transparent form. The spells fired off seconds later. The chain lighting went wild, shooting all around the cave, bouncing off the walls. It hit the Queen and several knights that were fighting her, but it bounced off the Elemental Guard. Next came Upheaval, giant spikes of earth and stone erupted from the ground, crashing into the ceiling of the cavern. It scattered the formation of the 7 knights, while at the same time knocking the Needle Claw Queen back from them. None formed near the knight with the Elemental Guard, however. Holy smite fired off last, the white spell circle completing in front of Darith. A bright beam of radiant energy shot forward like a cannon at the kneeling Knight, colliding with the Elemental Guard. Being a non-elemental spell, it broke through the guard and shot beyond it, piercing the knight as a pure form of energy and slamming into the wall behind him, creating a small crater. The beam held steady for a good 5 seconds before destabilising and bursting outward in all directions in a blinding flash. Once the light faded, Darith saw the kneeling knight had a giant gaping hole in his chest where the beam had hit. He collapsed down towards the ground, his health dropping extremely fast. He felt a moment of relief. Finally something had worked, he was able to take one of the 7 out, until a sudden green flash of light shot out from one of the other Knights. The green light hit the dying knight and surrounded him with life magic, closing the hole in his chest and restoring his health back to full. The damage to his armor and gear remained, but he himself fully recovered. A sense of helplessness and despair crept back into Darith¡¯s mind. Is this even possible to win? As he was thinking this, a stream of the stray chain lightning shot directly towards him, forcing him to pull the mother down to the ground again with him to avoid it. He looked to her to see she was barely conscious, her eyes sunken in and her breathing sporadic.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Run, Nara, escape by yourself. Please.¡± She pleaded to Darith before coughing up blood. He hesitated after learning the girls name. The quest only said to survive, but he had this uncontrollable urge to keep this woman alive with him. He could feel the emotions of Nara mixing in with his own. It was frustrating. He had so much power, way more than he could imagine, yet he couldn¡¯t do anything with it. The sound of the earth rumbling behind him continued. The upheaval spell ran rampant, the chain lightning bounced around. He turned to see the knight with broken armor rushing towards them once more. The Needle Claw Queen regained its composure, now cut off from the other knights by the rising pillars of earth, it turned towards the knight charging at Darith and the mother. His blue-silver shield still in tact, he lifted it just in time to block one of the claws of the creature. This was his chance. If he could avoid the wild magic, he could get further into the tunnel. He stood up one more time, pulling the mother up to her feet and dragged her along. The tunnel was now in sight, the other knights were cut off by Upheaval, desperately trying to dispel the Chain lightning that kept bouncing around. He saw the slope leading down to the Darklight Caverns. A thought crossed his mind, if this was in the past, perhaps some Avistion Conjuration students would be down there and could help him. He could get to the academy through the tunnels. The path to victory began to show itself, until he felt a sudden force thrust him from the side, knocking him down off of his feet. It was the mother that had pushed him, knocking him out of the way. He turned to see her staring at him, her back illuminated by the bouncing chain lightning. Sticking out of the middle of her chest was a long 2 meter needle, and seconds later her body was lifted off the ground from the Needle Claw Queen¡¯s tail that had pierced her chest, killing her. Darith froze. Nara froze. Was that it? Just like that? Quest failed? He sat on the ground of the cave, watching as the Needle Claw Queen pulled back from the knight and curled its tail down over its mouth, opening it and dropping the lifeless body of Nara¡¯s mother inside. Darith¡¯s vision blurred. He was standing next to Nara, watching her on the ground. On the opposite side appeared Nara¡¯s ghost, flanking the living Nara and watching her blank expression as looked towards the Knights fighting the Needle Claw Queen. ¡°I thought it was my fault.¡± The ghost spoke, as suddenly time slowed down around them. Cracks of varying colors began to form around the living Nara, growing outward from her in random directions as enormous amounts of mana was released from her. ¡°I thought maybe if I had done something differently, I could have escaped with my mother. If perhaps I controlled the power I was given better, the outcome would be different. I see now, after putting you in the same position as me, that the outcome was the same.¡± The ghost Nara spoke as the cracks around the cave continued to grow. ¡°In the end, the truth is that it was hopeless. The world just isn¡¯t a fair place.¡± ¡°No, let me try again! I can get her out of there!¡± Darith shouted back at the ghost. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I have lived this scenario out endlessly for the past 50 years, No matter what I have tried, it always ends the same. You made it further than I had. You have helped in showing me that there was just no way. What happened was destined to happen. I can move on with no regrets.¡± Nara replied. ¡°Do you feel it?¡± She asked as she stepped closer, turning to look at her living form. Darith looked to the ghost Nara, then looked at the living Nara sitting amongst the growing cracks. ¡°Powerlessness¡­¡± Darith replied to her. ¡°But you aren¡¯t dead, you survived? You are still alive somewhere?¡± ¡°No.¡± Nara said bluntly. The ghost disappeared and time sped back up. The cracks expanded wildly in all directions, the cavern began to shake violently and more and more mana released from the young Nara, first in the form of many elements, but then the mana went pitch black, releasing as large pulsing shockwaves. The energy sliced the Needle Claw Queen in half, the knights as well, but some managed to flee including the leader. Darith¡¯s vision blurred, he was now floating high in the sky, looking down at the city of Avistion. He could see, even from so high up, the black shockwaves being released from Nara. They caused tremors, fires, and storms in the lands around Avistion, the ground itself began to crack in places. Nara¡¯s ghost appeared beside him, looking down as well. ¡°In my anger, I released all of my mana at once. It caused a chain reaction that ignited all other natural magic nearby, like pouring a stream of oil onto a flame, the reaction spread outward, causing the magic in the realm to act wildly. It broke the realm apart and shattered the minds of those who lived in it, creating the tears and mutating the creatures within to unseen aberrations.¡± ¡°This was¡­ this is the Realm Breaking Incident.¡± Darith spoke, and his vision blurred. He re-appeared in the cavern. He was back in his Nemothyne body wielding his Black Iron Needle Spear.
Quest Complete!
He got a notification, but nothing else. Instead, standing before him was the ghost of Nara and the ghost of Nara¡¯s mother. Both of them had red circles above their heads, signalling they each had a quest. They smiled at him expectantly, holding out their left hands. He hesitated, his mind finally calming down as he regained his Gamer¡¯s mind passive. He double checked to make sure all of his stats and spells were back to normal, then reached out and touched Nara¡¯s hand first.
Quest: Choose the path of the Realm Breaker Requirement: Defeat 1 or more players. Defeated players must have obtained a class to count towards completion. Objective: 1/1 Players with a class defeated Reward: [Class: Realm Breaker](?) Restriction: Only one Realm Breaker can exist at a time. Unable to Accept this Quest.(?)
Realm Breaker Experience Bonus: 0 Effect Bonus: 0 Bonus: Gain 1% Experience bonus and 1% Effect bonus to all spells and skills for each player you defeat. Defeated players must have obtained a class to count towards this bonus. Defeated players that are 15 or more levels higher than you at the time of defeat grant 2% Experience and 2% Effect instead. Bonus 2: For every 25 players defeated you may choose a class bonus to add to your own. The bonus will not activate unless you meet the requirements of that class. Defeated players must have obtained a class to count towards this bonus. Current Bonuses: 0 Note: Defeating a player with the Realm Protector class will upgrade this class to Realm Destroyer.
(?)Info: You are unable to accept this quest because a different player has already obtained this class through another method.
Darith read the information on the class, then the information on why he couldn¡¯t accept the quest. He got excited and disappointed at the same time, knowing someone else in this game had already taken it. He had no choice but to walk towards Nara¡¯s mother and take her hand instead.
Quest: Choose the path of the Realm Protector Requirement: Must have defeated 0 innocent players. Defeat 1 or more Boss Rank Enemy. Boss Rank Enemy must not be more than 5 levels below the player at the time of their defeat to count towards completion. Objective: 1/1 Boss Rank Enemy Defeated Reward: [Class: Realm Protector](?) Restriction: Only one Realm Protector can exist at a time. Accept(x) Decline(x)
Realm Protector Experience Bonus: 0 Effect Bonus: 0 Bonus: Gain 1% Experience bonus and 1% Effect bonus to all spells and skills for each Unique Boss Rank Enemy you defeat. Defeated Boss Rank Monsters must not be more than 5 levels below the player at the time of their defeat to count towards this bonus. Raid Boss Rank Enemies contribute 2% Experience and 2% Effect instead. Bonus 2: For every 25 Unique Boss Rank Monsters defeated you may choose a class bonus to add to your own. The bonus will not activate unless you meet the requirements of that class. Defeated Boss Rank Monsters must not be more than 5 levels below the player at the time of their defeat to count towards this bonus. Current Bonuses: 0 Note: Defeating a player with the Realm Breaker class will upgrade thisclass to Realm Guardian.
¡°Kenneth was right. When you see the right class for you¡­¡± Darith said to himself as he hit accept.
Class Chosen: You have Chosen the Class: Realm Protector. Info: You have the option to hide your Class from other players. Players with a high enough Scholar Mastery rank will still be able to identify your class.
Class: Realm Protector Boss Rank Enemies Slain: 2 Raid Boss Rank Enemies Slain: 1 Experience Bonus: 4% (All Spells and Skills) Effect Bonus: 4% (All Spells and Skills)
Once he took the quest, he read over the other notifications and made sure he understood it all. He was happy to see the bonus was retroactive, but 4% wasn¡¯t much. Before he could think about it, a new quest icon appeared above Nara¡¯s head, another red quest.
Quest: Discover the identity of the knights that ambushed and killed Nara and her mother, and destroy every last one of them. Objective: 0/1 Nara¡¯s Revenge Achieved Reward: ?? Penalty: Abandoning the quest will make this quest permanently unavailable to you. Accept(x) Decline(x)
¡°With pleasure.¡± Darith hit the accept button, simultaneously getting one last notification.
Quest Accepted! Gate Key Obtained: Darklight Key Darklight Caverns Upper: 22-35 (Dungeon) Darklight Caverns Lower: 55-82 (Dungeon)
Seconds later, both the ghost of Nara and her mother dissipated, leaving Darith alone in the cave. He double checked his surroundings to make sure he hadn¡¯t missed anything before using his return spell, and 10 seconds later he re-appeared in the living room of his house where his mom was waiting for him. She jumped up off the couch and ran to Darith, giving him a big hug. ¡°Thank goodness, you¡¯re okay?¡± She asked worriedly while squeezing him tight. ¡°I¡¯m.. mom... please... I need to eat something that isn¡¯t centipede meat!¡± Darith pleaded. Chapter 42: Progress Report ¡°Darith¡­ I¡¯m happy you¡¯re back and all¡­¡± His mom calmly spoke while the two remained in each others arms in the living room for an awkward few moments. ¡°But if you want me to make you something to eat, you¡¯re going to have to let me go.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± Darith released his tiny Nemothyne arms from around her. ¡°I¡¯m just glad you¡¯re safe.¡± He brushed off some of the cave dust still on his robes. ¡°I¡¯m safe? I should be saying that to you, Liana tells me you disappeared into a secret place with giant centipedes, now you tell me you¡¯ve been eating them? You alright up there?¡± Kristen gently knocked him on the head. ¡°Y-yeah. I¡¯m fine, I just did a quest¡­¡± He pondered on Nara and her mother and their struggle to together. ¡°Being a Mom is hard, huh?¡± Darith spoke as Kristen turned towards the kitchen. ¡°You¡¯re just now realizing that?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯ll protect you!¡± He called out after her. ¡°Right.¡± The sounds of cupboards opening drowned out her voice slightly. ¡°And we found a way to invite you into the game! It¡¯ll take some work but I think we can manage it.¡± Darith followed into the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water from the tap. ¡°Good. Because I gave it some thought. If you¡¯re going to be disappearing into that fantasy place like that, I want to be able to at least talk to you. I won¡¯t promise anything like moving or quitting my job or something crazy though.¡± She replied. ¡°Okay.¡± Darith nodded before throwing the water into the back of his throat. ¡°Now do that weird telephone thing to your friends and let¡¯s all eat lunch together.¡± Kristen awkwardly mimicked the hand motions that they had been doing to use their interface. Darith complied, and one by one the party members began to arrive. Liana and Gabriel both appeared first in the living room, Gabriel covered in sweat and Liana¡¯s eyes sunken in from exhaustion. Around the time that the food was ready, Elise arrived in Jaese¡¯s car and the two entered together. ¡°Hey, it''s the bug eater!¡± Elise smiled at Darith as she walked in. Both of them looked worn out as they pulled up chairs at the table while Liana helped Kristen serve the rice and curry she¡¯d made. ¡°Finally we get to eat something that isn¡¯t Jaese¡¯s sandwiches.¡± Gabriel commented as the plate was placed before him. ¡°Thank you for the meal, ma¡¯am.¡± He politely bowed his head to Kristen. ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± ¡°Any news on Tai?¡± Darith asked as all eyes went to Jaese. ¡°Nothing yet, detective unit is still watching his house and shop, he¡¯s not showing. I¡¯m gonna guess he¡¯s still in the game world.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good¡­ it gives us more time. How is everyone doing with the training?¡± He turned to the others. ¡°Look! Mana shield!¡± Liana held out her hands excitedly as a blue wave of energy surrounded her body. ¡°Awesome!¡± Darith cheered. ¡°No spells in the kitchen.¡± Kristen responded sternly. ¡°S-sorry.¡± Liana cancelled the shield. ¡°I can throw kunai pretty good. I¡¯m not¡­ going to demonstrate though¡­¡± Elise looked to Kristen as she said this, and got an approving nod from her. ¡°I¡¯m feeling about ready to use a bow and crossbow on some monsters.¡± Jaese added. ¡°I can use almost everything the games got to offer. Takin¡¯ advantage of all them free trainin¡¯ lessons.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°Good¡­ I managed to get a class that suits me, that¡¯s going to help us all in the long run. Liana decided on what class she¡¯ll play too. I¡¯d like you guys to try and find a class that suits each of you as well, find out the requirements, and then we can work towards them together.¡± ¡°How are we supposed to do that?¡± Elise asked as she took a spoonful of rice into her mouth. ¡°The classes are like hidden quests, I think. Some are obvious and easy, but there¡¯s a lot that are hidden. If you pursue what you are good at or like doing, one should pop up. And if you have trouble, just ask me and I¡¯ll tell you about all the classes I found in the library.¡± Darith replied. ¡°Okay.¡± Jaese replied while Gabriel nodded. ¡°Keep training your skills and basic stats too like I told you, the NPCs will only full restore you up to the end of the week. I know it¡¯s not exactly exciting but you¡¯ll regret not doing it later.¡± ¡°Nah I don¡¯t mind it. Helps take my mind off things.¡± Gabriel replied. ¡°What are you gonna be doing?¡± ¡°I¡­ might have found a way to get us all much stronger equipment, and make enough money to start our own guild. I can¡¯t work iron yet so I¡¯ll have to level up on the low level stuff first. Also, my class gets stronger the more bosses I defeat, so I¡¯ll try to find where some are. Once the week is over, we¡¯ll start leveling up and hunting bosses, that should make us strong enough to take out Tai and start formulating a plan to deal with those New World Order guys.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°What exactly is your class?¡± Liana asked curiously. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ kind of a secret. People knowing my class would be bad so try not to mention it to anyone.¡± Darith replied hesitantly. ¡°Okaaaay.¡± Liana grumpily replied. The 6 of them continued small talk about what they¡¯d experienced so far and what centipedes tasted like until they¡¯d all finished their meals, then opened the gate back into the city of Avistion, leaving Kristen to watch more movies in the living room. Darith and Liana waved off Jaese, Gabriel and Elise as they headed back to the training hall, then Liana leaned in to Darith excitedly. ¡°Okay, now you can tell me, right?¡± She asked with a sparkle in her eyes. The two were standing in the middle of the busy Griffin Square with crowds of people walking around. ¡°Not now.¡± Darith cautiously looked around. ¡°How close are you done with your mastery learning?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not telling, that is also a secret.¡± Liana pouted as she began strutting away in the direction of the magic Academy.. Darith just sighed to himself as she vanished into the crowds. He found himself alone in the busy square, the loud shouting of merchants trying to sell their wares filling his ear. He stretched his arms and neck and faced Tao¡¯s shop. ¡°Step one.¡± He whispered to himself, walking forward to the front door of the shop. The bell jingled as he walked inside to see the familiar interior, a few other patrons browsing his wares. ¡°Welcome back Darith, let me know if I can help you with anything specific.¡± Tao called out to Darith gleefully from behind his desk. Darith headed straight to the desk and leaned in towards Tao. ¡°I wanted to ask you a few questions¡­¡± Darith whispered. ¡°Okay¡­¡± Tao whispered back apprehensively. ¡°What are the prices of ore like, you know. Copper and Iron?¡± Darith whispered. ¡°Copper goes for 1 gold per 10. Iron goes for 20 gold per 1. If you try and buy it from The New World, they¡¯ll try to sell you 1 Iron ore for 100 gold.¡± Tao sucked his teeth. ¡°What about weapons, like a copper short sword compared to an iron one?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Copper will cost 1 gold to 10, depending on the quality. An Iron short sword would go for about 100 to 200 gold, depending on quality. The best ones go for 500. If you try and buy that from the new world though¡­ yeah, you¡¯re looking at spending 2000 gold. Not worth it.¡± Tao replied in a whisper. ¡°This isn¡¯t exactly top secret information, why do we need to whisper?¡± He asked, to which Darith straightened his back awkwardly. ¡°N-no reason.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re wondering what¡¯s more valuable, I¡¯d say the weapons. None of the blacksmiths outside New World Order get much opportunity to work iron, so the stuff they make is always low quality. If someone was able to make some decent Iron weapons and sell them at a reasonable price, they¡¯d make a killing.¡± Tao shrugged. Following those words he leaned in awkwardly to Darith. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to have found a source of Iron, would you?¡± Tao whispered. ¡°Nope.¡± Darith broke eye contact. ¡°Where would one go to mine copper?¡± He tried to change the subject. ¡°Here.¡± Tao pulled out a scroll casing from a barrel behind his desk. ¡°This is the mapped area of the Avistion outskirts. It¡¯s player made so its not perfect, but it should update any Cartography skill you have with its information. It¡¯ll tell you where everything in the outskirts is that most people know about. 5 gold pieces.¡± Tao held out a hand expectantly, while waving the scroll around in his other hand. Darith reluctantly pulled out 5 gold from his inventory, his funds now getting dangerously low, and handed it over. Tao happily took the coins and passed the scroll casing to Darith who quickly opened it and unravelled the map to see the Broken Realm in all its glory.
Info: Cartography map updated!
Darith looked from the scroll to his map in his interface and expanded it to see that it had updated not only with the information on the map, but it also marked out the locations that Darith had explored around the world using the gates thus far. ¡°Just be careful, if you cross the river in the south, or pass over the eastern mountains, you¡¯ll leave the Avistion outskirts and therefore be vulnerable to PvP. New World Guys have high level players watching the borders, it¡¯s a real pain.¡± Tao commented as he watched Darith ogle the map. ¡°Aweseome¡­ thanks for the information. Do you have any gathering tools I should grab before heading out?¡± Darith asked as he rolled the scroll back up and put it in his inventory. ¡°What sort of gathering?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Darith briefly scrolled through his gathering skills. ¡°Pretty much all of them I guess.¡± Tao just let out a long sigh as he got out from behind the desk and wandered around his shop a few seconds, gathering different tools. He then plopped them all down on the counter. A copper pickaxe, a woodcutting axe, a sickle, a skinning knife, and a fishing rod. ¡°Which one?¡± Tao asked. ¡°All of them.¡± Darith smiled. ¡°5 gold.¡± Tao held out his hand. Darith regretfully pulled out 5 gold and handed it to him, and the item ownership of the tools were transferred to him. ¡°One last question¡­¡± Darith began putting each tool in his inventory. ¡°Where would I go to smelt and things like that?¡± ¡°There¡¯s the public Craftsman Guildhall in Avistion, it¡¯s free to use but crowded and their stuff is not that great. Our Friendly Fox Guildhall has the high end workstations for different crafters. I could probably ask the guild officers to let you use it¡­¡± Tao leaned in again to Darith. ¡°On the condition that if you do, ¡®accidentally¡¯ find Iron¡­¡± He whispered while looking to make sure no one was listening. ¡°You sell it to me.¡± Tao grinned. Darith hesitated for a second as he thought about the deal. Having someone else handle the selling side of his plan would help him a lot, as long as it was kept quiet. ¡°If I somehow¡­ you know¡­ find iron, by accident. And I sell it to you¡­ you wouldn¡¯t tell anyone who you got it from, right?¡± Darith whispered back awkwardly. He clearly wasn¡¯t good at this sort of thing. ¡°Of course not, what kind of fool would share that information with others.¡± Tao grinned back, holding his hand out to shake on it. ¡°Okay¡­ deal.¡± Darith whispered, casually shaking his hand. ¡°Wonderful.¡± Tao smiled as he pulled away again. ¡°In that case, have this on the house.¡± He grabbed a high quality copper pickaxe and transferred ownership to Darith. ¡°When you¡¯re ready to start crafting, drop in and I¡¯ll get someone to escort you to the guild hall.¡± ¡°Okay great. See you around.¡± Darith smiled as he turned and headed out of the shop. Once out back into the square, he fidgeted around with his cartography map to get a good idea of where he wanted to go first. He closed the map and looked around at his surroundings, staring down the various city streets until he spotted the large city gates leading south out of the city, and with a skip in his step he began his journey into the Avistion Outskirts. ¡°Step two.¡± Chapter 43: Popularity Darith arrived at the front gates of Avistion with his jaw dropped. The large walls, giant gates, and towers filled with guards made him feel like he was sitting in the middle of a fantasy movie, it was surreal. When he got over the wonder of it all he noticed a large crowd gathering at the threshold leading out of the city. From a distance he could not tell if it was a gathering of NPC¡¯s or players, but as he got closer and heard them talking he could tell they were definitely other players. They were of all sorts of varying races and levels, some below 10, some much higher than Darith, and they all seemed to be crowding around something in the middle. Darith found himself somewhat interested, but decided it best to focus on his goals, opting to instead inch around the crowd as they shouted and giggled with excitement with one another. ¡°AHEM!¡± An obnoxiously loud forced coughing sound came from the center of the crowd, a female voice that sounded somewhat familiar to Darith. He turned to look just as he¡¯d passed the crowd to see it parting, opening a path in the crowd between the person in the center to Darith, as the crowd all turned to look at him curiously. ¡°You¡¯re going to walk by without saying hello, Paradigm?¡± She was a small Nemothyne, but beyond beautiful with long bright pink hair that could stand out in any crowd, a young asian girl wearing beginner armor with big white bunny ears and a puffy bunny tail and small pink star tattoos around her eyes. As Darith recognized who this person was, without even needing to read her name, he also recognized the angry glares he was getting from the, now obviously made up of only men, crowd that had parted for him. ¡°H-hey Glitterstar.¡± Darith waved at her awkwardly, causing her to run over to him through the crowd excitedly. ¡°Finally, the person I was waiting for. No need to escort me guys!¡± She called to the crowd, while doing an indicative eye motion to Darith that only he could see. ¡°Y-yeah, sorry I was late.¡± He scratched his ears nervously, the stares were piercing him. ¡°Who the hell is that guy?¡± ¡°He¡¯s too low level to protect her, I should go with Glitterstar instead.¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t that the one from the Desert?¡± ¡°Oh it''s one of those Knight of Justice guys.¡± The crowd began talking amongst themselves. ¡°Should we get going then?¡± Glitterstar smiled, grabbing Darith¡¯s arm and leading him through the gates out of the city of Avistion. He heard a few angry mumbles as the crowd behind them began dispersing, Glitterstar pulling his arm quickly along. ¡°What was that about?¡± Darith asked once they¡¯d gotten a good enough distance away. ¡°Ahehe, someone recognized me so I thought it¡¯d be okay to give an autograph, but then suddenly everyone knew who I was. News really goes fast in this place huh.¡± She sighed as she let go of his arm. ¡°Finally I found you! Ryan said you were also playing.¡± She skipped forward a step to turn and look at Darith. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°If I¡¯d known that¡¯s what you were calling about I would¡¯ve joined your party instead. Wow already so high level!¡± She commented as she looked at his level, then went back to walking beside him. ¡°So, watcha up to?¡± ¡°I¡¯m uh¡­ heading to mine some copper. Not really exciting.¡± Darith shrugged. ¡°Can I tag along?¡± She asked with a smile. ¡°I guess¡­ I mean I doubt it¡¯s going to be fun.¡± ¡°It¡¯s gotta be better than what the other guys in my group are doing. They apparently got some really good classes lined up and are working on unlocking them. What about you, what class do you want?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not sure yet.¡± ¡°There¡¯s so many to choose from right?¡± Glitterstar chimed in with an enthusiastic nod. Darith noted her real name, [Olivia - Level 9], above her head, but couldn¡¯t help but think of her as Glitterstar, the alias she used in the games they¡¯d play together in the past as well as her streaming handle that she¡¯d become famous for. ¡°I¡¯m kind of just trying out everything. You¡¯re going to try the crafting stuff?¡± ¡°Yeah, figured since the New World Guys¡¯ are hogging all the good resources, better to try and find a way around it.¡± ¡°Good idea.¡± She nodded. Darith continued to watch his map to navigate in the direction of the copper mines as the two continued to talk. Glitterstar for Darith was always easy to talk to for him, simply because she felt more like another guy friend from all the time they¡¯d spent playing together. The two caught up about the game and what they¡¯d been doing in it so far, Darith admitting he¡¯d watched her stream a few times since they¡¯d last played a game together. He was more interested in learning what Ryan was up to, but was happy to hear that he and his party members were equally annoyed with the New World guys and none of his party were planning on joining them. He couldn¡¯t get any information about what classes they were going for however. As they travelled off the main road they found themselves walking through fields of grass with the odd tree here and there. There were groups of other players and solo adventurers scattered about the fields as well, fighting in the tall grass the many creatures that resided around them. Simple level 1 slimes or small boars rushed about as players got familiar with the game through fighting them. They eventually closed in on the rocky mountains west of Avistion where they could see scaffolding of wood built into the cliff sides as the grassy fields turned to dirt and stony terrain. Scattered about the rocks were numerous players in various attire working hard to mine the stone and ore in the area, the loud clanking of their pickaxes echoing throughout the hills nearby. A main path leading up the mountainside split off into multiple cavern entrances, but as the two began to ascend upwards Darith spotted a chunk of copper ore sticking out of stone, and quickly pulled out a pickaxe and ran to it. ¡°That¡¯s copper?¡± Glitterstar asked as he clinked away at it a few times, watching as pieces broke off and appeared in his inventory. ¡°Yup! This is easier than I thought.¡± ¡°Look¡¯s kinda tiring.¡± Glitterstar commented. ¡°I bet there¡¯s more in the caves.¡± She pointed up. ¡°Probably, but we¡¯re safer out here than going into a narrow cave. I don¡¯t know what sort of monsters are around here.¡± Darith replied between swings. ¡°Those things, right?¡± Glitterstar motioned to a strange creature climbing over some rocks nearby. It resembled a ram, but with stony skin instead of fir and large stone horns. It was able to nimbly navigate the steep and stony area around them, and as Darith watched, many players mining near it made sure to clear away as it roamed close, being careful not to aggro it. Darith reached his hand upwards towards it without hesitation. ¡°Magic Reading.¡± He whispered so that only Glitterstar could hear him.
Stonegoat - Level 13 HP: 560 Magic Reading: Uses the [Charge] and [Horn] skills, high rank [Sprint] and [Climb] High Physical Defense High Lightning Resistance Low Water Resistance.
¡°Ooh, a scholar?¡± Glitterstar grinned as Darith¡¯s purple spell circle faded. ¡°It fights exactly how it looks.¡± Darith replied, then went back to mining. ¡°Imma kill it.¡± She stepped towards it with a devilish twinkle in the corner of her eye. Darith looked up to see a sword materialize in one hand, a small crossbow appear in the other as she got closer to it. ¡°You¡¯ll save me if I¡¯m in trouble right?¡± She turned back and smiled, to which Darith rolled his eyes and went back to mining. He occasionally looked up to watch her battle the goat, starting with her weapons as she dashed around the charging Stonegoat. She mixed in spells from various elements and added them to her attacks, almost as if she was trying to level up multiple skills at once. Several other nearby players stopped mining to watch as the tiny pink haired nemothyne skillfully dispatched of the Stonegoat without taking a single hit. Once it was dead, she pulled out a skinning knife and attempted to skin the creature, but Darith could see her getting frustrated as her skill seemed too low to skin the beast. ¡°Well done, Glitterstar. I¡¯m a big fan of yours. Impressive that you beat it as just a level 9 player.¡± A loud voice called out, echoing through the hills. While his words were directed at the frustrated Glitterstar, the man spoke loud enough to be sure all around could hear him. ¡°Thanks.¡± She politely smiled while glancing up at him as he approached, then went back to her goat, but did a double take after taking a glance at his name and level. Darith uneasily stopped mining as well, as did the other players.
Cardian - Level 81 HP: ??
The player¡¯s most interesting feature was that he had seven swords sheathed on his back and around his waist, all high grade metals, materials far beyond Iron that Darith didn¡¯t recognize. What made him uneasy however was the tabard of the New World Order that the player was wearing. Darith gently did a hand motion to cast Magic Reading silently on him, but the moment he did, Cardian turned and waved his hand at Darith. A grey spell circle appeared in front of Darith¡¯s magic reading spell circle, fusing with it and canceling it out. ¡°Tsk tsk, no peeking.¡± Cardian wagged his finger in Darith¡¯s direction. Darith recognized the spell, it was the same that the high level Knights had used against Nara. He was able to keep his composure knowing that they were in the safe zone, but he still remained on edge. ¡°There¡¯s no need for you all to struggle here, mining copper to make ends meet in this fantastic world. New World Order offers a place for all of you, and promises protection, equipment, supplies. Top grade mining gear, or weapons to hunt the beasts beyond the safe zone. Join us and experience this world the way it was meant to be experienced.¡± Cardian waved his hands out, giving his speech to all around the mines before turning back to Glitterstar. ¡°You in particular, you¡¯d be treated with great reverence, with your reputation and skill you¡¯d surely rise the ranks and reap the benefits of being a high ranking New World Order member.¡± Cardian leaned forward while unsheathing a sword, cutting the Stonegoat into leather in a second. Glitterstar sighed frustratedly as she stood up and backed away, looking at the Stoneleather item that dropped to the ground in front of her. ¡°No thanks.¡± Glitterstar glared at him, ignoring the item on the ground. Other players watched the scene unfold anxiously, Cardian staring down at Glitterstar as Darith watched from a distance. The two looked at each other for a tense few seconds before Cardian let out a soft chuckle. ¡°Well, that¡¯s a shame. You¡¯re throwing away a great opportunity. How about the rest of you, are you happy digging away at stone all day using poor materials, when you could instead be living a life of luxury with endless power at your fingertips?¡± He spun around to the onlookers as he spoke, including a glance towards Darith. While all nearby players looked at him, none reacted, some taking a chance to glance at each other nervously instead, as if everyone was waiting to see what everyone else would do. ¡°Unfortunate, but not unexpected.¡± Cardian sighed overdramatically while putting his hand to his forehead, shaking his head in disapproval. ¡°I pity you all for your stubbornness.¡± He mumbled quieter as he took one last grin at Glitterstar before walking around her up into the mountain, stepping into the caves. The other players slowly went back to what they were doing as Glitterstar walked back towards Darith. ¡°Being a streamer used to be fun.¡± She groaned as she got close enough to Darith. ¡°You alright?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. What¡¯s with the way that dude was talking though?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, I think they all talk like that.¡± ¡°Bunch of RP fanatics. Man I can¡¯t wait to get high enough to kick their asses.¡± She clenched her fists as she looked up in the direction of the cave that Cardian had entered. Darith didn¡¯t reply, but looked as well for a second before he went back to mining. After a few clinks of Glitterstar watching him mine intently, he stopped to look at her. ¡°You sure you¡¯re okay?¡± Darith asked. ¡°Yup, fine. Why, you don¡¯t like me watching you mine?¡± ¡°N-no, I don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°Good, I¡¯m just gonna watch you mine then. Stupid stonegoat.¡± She mumbled under her breath while taking a disappointed glance at her skinning knife. She eventually put it back in her inventory and sat on a rock directly beside Darith, kicking her legs around and watching as he chipped away the ore with his pickaxe, noting his Mining had reached rank 2. ¡°It¡¯d be nice if we could play together, you know, like we used to, but in this game. I was really sad when you quit our guild. Why¡¯d you stop playing?¡± Glitterstar asked. ¡°Well... beat everything. Top guild, top players, highest ranks. Nothing left to do.¡± Darith replied between swings.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°It was still fun though, spending time together, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ it was. I wanted to try out that new one, Silvergate Online, remember?¡± ¡°I know! I heard you went and started playing it. I started playing too when I heard, but it was a bit too late, I think you already stopped.¡± Glitterstar sighed. ¡°Really? You played? But that game was terrible, super buggy and unbalanced.¡± ¡°Yeah I know, but I thought it¡¯d be fun to play with you again. Instead I ended up just streaming it, and suddenly everyone wanted to watch. And¡­ yeah, here we are.¡± She did a waving hand motion. ¡°Sorry about that, didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°What¡¯d you play after?¡± ¡°I started playing a bunch of single player and console games. My mom took in a girl who was in a car accident, and she liked watching me play, so¡­ yeah.¡± Darith shrugged back. ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s where you went. Playing with another girl hm?¡± Glitterstar leaned back, laying her head on the ground to look up at the sky. ¡°She¡¯s a lot like you, you¡¯d like her. You should meet, she¡¯s in my party!¡± Darith stopped mining for a second to look at her excitedly. ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Glitterstar replied skeptically. ¡°So she¡¯s like your girlfriend?¡± ¡°Huh? Liana? No, she¡¯s more like my little sister.¡± Darith went back to mining. ¡°Really?¡± Glitterstar sat back up slowly. ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s 3 years younger than me and, you know, she lost her family so I feel like I¡¯ve got to look out for her. She¡¯s also a pretty good healer.¡± Darith added. ¡°Hmm.¡± Glitterstar replied as she began swinging her tiny nemothyne legs in the air again. It went quiet for a few moments as Darith mined more copper. ¡°I¡¯m glad we finally get to play again together.¡± She said as she moved towards Darith¡¯s pickaxe, and sat directly beside it so that her eyes were millimeters from where it was hitting the ore. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t mind me watching?¡± She asked in monotone. ¡°That¡¯s a bit close, I might hit you¡­¡± Darith stopped swinging. ¡°How about here, can I watch from here?¡± She moved to stand directly in front of where he was striking. ¡°That¡¯s even worse.¡± He sighed as he leaned back, giving his energy a second to recover as she moved to stand in front of him with her back facing him, so that her bunny ears wiggled around in his face. ¡°How bout this. Is this bothering you?¡± She chuckled. ¡°Perfect, best spot.¡± Darith groaned sarcastically. Suddenly a white flash of light appeared on the main path near them, one that lead up the mountain to the cavern entrances. Both of them turned to look and see Cardian standing there once more, walking away from the caves. ¡°Last chance, people of Avistion. Join the New World Order or risk your own demise.¡± Cardian shouted out, turning to face the miners. Everyone stopped once more to look at him. ¡°Nice try buddy, this is the Avistion safe zone.¡± An orc miner shouted out angrily at him from across the stony hills. Cardian turned to face him with a devilish grin, and seeing his expression Darith got a bad feeling, quickly putting away his pickaxe and taking out his Polearm. Glitterstar had a similar reaction. Darith¡¯s brain went to work, seeing that grin, what could Cardian do that would validate his threat, given the rules that Darith knew about the game already? He began considering the possibility of another guild spell, one that might disable the safe zone, if that was the case, he couldn¡¯t imagine beating a fighter type player that outleveled him, not one that wielded 7 swords and could counter his spells. As he tightened the grip on his spear, the uneasiness spread to the other miners, and eventually the ground around them began to rumble, and seconds later a familiar debuff appeared on his character interface indicating they had entered a boss area and could not use return skills, but no dome had appeared. ¡°No takers?¡± Cardian shouted out disappointedly. ¡°Since you refused this first offer, the next offer will come at the cost of all of your gold and copper ore that you¡¯ve collected.¡± He paused, then dashed to a nearby mound of stone and sat atop it. ¡°If he did what I think he did, we should probably go.¡± Glitterstar whispered to Darith. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of low level players here¡­¡± Darith replied to her, the two having reached the same conclusion. Darith jumped up onto a nearby high rock as well and looked to the nervous players. ¡°He¡¯s most likely gone into the caves and aggroed a boss monster, and who knows how many others from within. I think he¡¯s planning to lure them to us to let the creatures kill us. Everyone should run now!¡± Darith shouted as loud as he could to all the nearby miners. Hearing his words, the players stopped what they were doing and started rushing down the mountain back towards the plains below, some shouting in panic as the rumbling on the ground got louder. ¡°Very keen observation. As expected of Glitterstar¡¯s escort. Interesting weapon you have there as well. Darith. If you were to join our guild, our skilled crafters would make you some fine equipment suitable for a polearm fighter.¡± Cardian commented, watching Darith turn to face him. ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate that you weren¡¯t fast enough to get your message to the players already inside the caves though.¡± He smirked. ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s go.¡± Glitterstar tugged on Darith¡¯s arm as the rumbling got louder and louder. Darith began walking quickly with Glitterstar, but glanced back multiple times to watch the various cavern entrances that lined the mountainside, some entrances higher up the cliffs than others. From one entrance suddenly a huge stampede of Stonegoats began rushing out of it, row upon row of them ramming against the stone walls of the cave and each other as rock and dirt flew upward from their hooves. Easily over 20 pushed out before a second stampede formed from another cave entrance, all charging down the hills at maximum speed in the direction of Cardian, who raised his hand into the air. ¡°Taunting Roar!¡± Cardian shouted, as a brown spell circle formed above him that amplified his voice, causing it to echo through the hills. Once it was done casting, all of the Stonegoats turned to face him and continued charging angrily down the hills while he dashed to catch up with the other fleeing players. ¡°He¡¯s not going to let everyone just run away¡­¡± Darith said to Glitterstar as they started running. ¡°I can dash pretty fast, I think we¡¯ll be okay.¡± Glitterstar replied nervously. ¡°What about the other players?¡± ¡°They¡¯ll have to join his stupid guild if they can¡¯t outrun them¡­¡± Glitterstar sucked her teeth as she watched Cardian move ahead of the fleeing players, he was significantly faster than them using his dash skill. ¡°Please, help!¡± A voice screamed out, causing Darith and Glitterstar to turn back towards the caves. 4 out of the 5 mine entrances were now pouring with Stonegoats, but the 5th, the highest up the mountainside, instead had 7 figures standing in front of it. There was a heavily armored female human standing in front while carrying 4 other players that looked badly beaten, 2 others next to her looking exhausted, all of varying races. Darith noticed the female had a faint yellow glow around her body, but as she called out for help once more, the yellow glow faded.
Mandy - Level 26 HP: 205/835 Class: Paladin Debuff: Exhaustion - 24h+
¡°She just used through the pain¡­ that¡¯s Kenneth¡¯s¡­¡± Darith mumbled to himself as he stopped moving down the mountain, causing Glitterstar to stop as well. Just then there was a loud booming crash as large chunks of stone flew out of the cavern entrance behind Mandy and a huge, scruffy Stonegoat stomped out behind them, causing the 7 of them to desperately limp away.
Stonegoat Matriarch - Level 25 - Boss HP: 35 000 / 35 000
¡°They haven¡¯t hit it yet, I can get its attention.¡± Darith said as he carefully aimed his right hand towards the giant Stonegoat Matriarch, the stampede of hundreds of smaller Stonegoats quickly approaching. ¡°Doing stupid stuff that¡¯ll probably get us killed? Just like old times.¡± Glitterstar smiled as she moved to stand beside Darith while aiming her crossbow up at the Matriarch. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, you promised to save me if I¡¯m in trouble.¡± She fired the crossbow at the Matriarch, causing it to let out an angry roar and turn towards her, much to the relief of Mandy and the players she was fleeing with. The Matriarch quickly stomped down the mountain and joined the herd of Stonegoats as they rushed towards Cardian, while Glitterstar turned tail and started running away. Darith watched the scene unfold as he moved back as well. Some of the Stonegoats were beginning to break off and charge in the direction of the 7 players that were stranded on the mountainside with no clear way to get through the herd, while the ones rushing towards Cardian were moving too quickly, there was no way that the fleeing players would be able to outrun them. It was only a matter of time before they ran out of stamina. It was obvious from a quick glance, every player around them with the exception of himself and Glitterstar had only 2 possible options. Get Game Over, or join the New World Order. As Darith thought this, he glared at the herd of Stonegoats and the Matriarch rushing down the hillside. He made his decision, digging his heels into the ground and taking a fighting stance as Glitterstar glanced back to see that Darith wasn¡¯t running yet. ¡°Come on, we¡¯ve got to go, what are you doing?¡± ¡°My goal is to stop these guys. The world isn¡¯t going to wait for me to get strong enough, I have to start here. Keep running, I don¡¯t want to be the guy who got two people from Ryan¡¯s party killed.¡± Darith shouted to her. ¡°I¡¯m not a person from Ryan¡¯s party, idiot. I¡¯m Glitterstar.¡± She shouted back, having stopped sprinting away as well. ¡°If you¡¯re gonna fight all those monsters, I¡¯m going to help.¡± He glanced back to see her determined expression, then looked up to see the goats breaking off into random directions, surrounding the players trapped on the hillside. He¡¯d figured that Cardian¡¯s taunting skill had worn off and the beasts began to run wild, though the Matriarch and the majority were still running down the hills. Darith stomped his left foot down and rose up his right hand, the motion he decided would be the casting command for Firewall. A large ring of red flames grew up in a circle around Mandy and the other weakened players, causing the goats that were rushing towards them to get burned and cry out in pain. Seeing the flames, the Stonegoats stopped charging towards the 7, and those that had gotten damaged quickly turned their attention towards Darith down the mountainside. Once he was sure he¡¯d gotten them all away from the 7 weakened players and had their focus on himself, he canceled the Firewall to conserve mana. ¡°You¡¯ve got an AoE Spell? It¡¯s intermediate?¡± Glitterstar commented as she watched it cast. ¡°It¡¯s a fire wall, it does a lot of damage but only in a line, and it drains a lot of mana fast.¡± Darith replied to her as she moved to stand next to Darith again, watching to Matriarch stomp towards them. ¡°In that case¡­ Wind Wave!¡± Glitterstar shouted, waving her sword up the mountain towards the Stonegoats. A large blade of wind shot forward from her sword, piercing through the Stonegoats as it travelled upward in a cone shape. Darith noted that it was dealing roughly 1 to 2 damage to the Stonegoats as it hit them, but it aggravated the goats into focusing the stampede towards Glitterstar. ¡°If they just pass through it once, it won¡¯t be enough. I¡¯ll need them to run in the line through it to take damage for as long as possible.¡± Darith shouted, the rumbling of stone and hooves was drowning out most other sounds now as the beasts got within 100 meters of them. ¡°Got it. Everyone form a nice straight line! No need for pushing! Plenty of fire for everyone, coming right up!¡± Glitterstar shouted out at the goats. She began dashing to the left and right sides of the mountain, attempting to herd them so that they rushed at her in as narrow a line as possible. They slowly began to close in on Glitterstar due to her non linear movements, but once the Stonegoats were gathered in as narrow a line as possible, Darith dashed to stand behind her, stomped his foot down and raised his hand to cast Firewall. He used his spell mastery to line up the wall for maximum length starting from the front line of the goats and ending up through the herd The firewall wasn¡¯t wide enough to burn all of them, but because they were funneled together and pushing against each others stony hides, the ones on the inside of the stampede had trouble pushing their way out of the spell Darith¡¯s mana drained quickly, but as the goats were stuck running in the center for over 5 seconds, they began dying. A staggering amount of Stonegoats died from the initial firewall. Darith instantly gained 1 rank in the skill and reached his next level which caused his mana to refill. He took advantage of the mana to cancel the first firewall and cast a second, cutting off any partially damaged goats that broke from the left side of the firewall. It worked, he got a ton of more dead goats which granted him even more experience and another level up. Once they had dispersed enough on that side, he cancelled the firewall and casted it once more on the opposite side, this time he killed another large amount of them, but not enough to level up, and his mana quickly hit 0. ¡°That went pretty well, but you missed a few. Particularly the big angry one!¡± Glitterstar shouted as the Matriarch continued her charge down at them. Roughly 50 Stonegoats charged down with her, having survived the ordeal. Suddenly Darith¡¯s entire body began to glow blue, and he watched as his mana bar began to fill back up. He looked to see a buff suddenly appear on his interface and tapped it quickly without losing track of the approaching goats.
Oath of Infusion - Rank 13 While under the effects of the Oath of Infusion, the paladin who pledged the oath will share their mana with your own, allowing you to utilize their mana in place of yours. You may only have one Paladin Oath pledged to you at a time.
Darith read it and turned to look up the mountain and see the same blue glow surrounding Mandy as she and the other players looked down at him from above. With access to her mana, he had the chance to cast one last firewall. He carefully dashed around the Stonegoats until his energy was nearing depletion but was able to line up the last few as effectively as possible, while the Matriarch ignored him and kept charging Glitterstar. ¡°Finish the little guys, I¡¯m okay with big momma.¡± Glitterstar shouted as she lured the Matriarch away. Darith nodded back, and with his last dashes, he got a nice clean row of angry charging Stonegoats coming directly at him. ¡°Firewall!¡± He shouted out, this time using Mandy¡¯s mana. He drained her mana incredibly fast, but just as his firewall ended from lack of mana, the last of the Stonegoats fell over. He let out a momentary sigh of relief and turned to Glitterstar across the rocky mountainside only to see she had stopped dashing, clearly out of energy. Darith dashed in her direction with the intention to get the Matriarch¡¯s attention, then saw his energy getting dangerously low, with his mana still sitting near 0. With no option remaining, Darith¡¯s body began to glow a dark yellow. He had a timer of his through the pain buff counting down from 61 seconds. He didn¡¯t waste it, dashing multiple times in quick succession to get to the Matriarch, he used his lunge skill to stab at its legs. It only took two strikes to have it stop rushing at Glitterstar and instead attempt to stomp and attack him. Knowing he only had 60 seconds to kill the boss, he didn¡¯t hold back and constantly dashed and attacked furiously, gaining multiple skill ups for his polearm Mastery as he turned the creature into a pin cushion. The moment he had the mana to spare, he enchanted his weapon with fire and continued the barrage of attacks while constantly dashing around the Matriarch, causing her to spin in circles attacking him wildly. He took small amounts of damage as she began slamming the rocks and earth around herself, but Darith was forced to ignore it and keep up the onslaught. As the seconds ticked down on his through the pain buff, so did the Stonegoat Matriarch¡¯s hit points, and it wasn¡¯t long before Glitterstar joined in with attacking. When the timer ticked down on his buff to 15 seconds, the Matriarch still had 20 000 hit points left, her skin highly resistant to his attacks. Darith began considering how to run away until magical bolts began to fly at the Matriarch from all directions. Arrows, Waterbolts, Firebolts, Radiant Bolts. Darith looked to see that not only the players with Mandy had joined in, but many of the mining players that had run away had come back to help him fight. The health of the beast began to drop much more quickly until just as Darith¡¯s through the pain buff wore off, the Matriarch fell over dead. A loud cheer roared through the hillside from the mining players as they all rushed towards Darith, Glitterstar arriving first to watch Darith collapse on his bottom on a hardrock. ¡°That¡¯s some pretty good movement. You gotta teach me that one.¡± Glitterstar spoke as the two of them panted to catch their breath. ¡°Just like old times.¡± Darith grinned at her, as the other players cheered. ¡°Take that, New World Losers!¡± ¡°I aint ever joining you idiots!¡± ¡°Bunch of scumbags!¡± The various shouts roared out at Cadrian as he climbed back up the mountain, making his way towards Darith and Glitterstar. Just as he arrived, so did Mandy and her group of adventurers. ¡°Thanks for the save. This jerk pulled the Matriarch of the cave, she has a skill that calls for the help of all the nearby Stonegoats. We¡¯ve been working on clearing the cave of Stonegoats so that we could challenge her¡­ but I guess if you challenge her first and then just set all the Stonegoats on fire, it''s also effective.¡± Mandy said as she reached her hand out to shake Darith and Glitterstars. They couldn¡¯t make out any of her facial features due to her full plate mail, but both gladly shook her hand. ¡°Looks like your plan failed.¡± Glitterstar smiled as Cadrian looked down at them. ¡°Not exactly. Recruiting lowly miners was a secondary objective. The primary one was to learn the capabilities of you and your allies, to see if you¡¯d be a threat to our guild. You are quite famous after all. I¡¯d be careful about getting in our way in the future, seeing as how it¡¯s so easy to find out where you and your family live, Olivia.¡± Cadrian glared down at her. ¡°What the hell, you¡¯re threatening her family?¡± Mandy shouted at him angrily. ¡°They have nothing to do with the game!¡± Glitterstar joined in. ¡°Oh that¡¯s cute. You¡¯re still calling it a game.¡± Cadrian smirked. ¡°Take care, and watch your back.¡± He turned to glare at Darith, seconds later using a spell to disappear. ¡°Man I frickin hate those guys, they¡¯re the worst.¡± One player nearby commented. Glitterstar went quiet, looking down at the ground for a second. ¡°You really think they¡¯d go after my mom and dad?¡± She looked up to Darith worriedly. He didn¡¯t reply right away, looking back into her eyes for a moment. ¡°I¡¯ve gotta hurry up and make better equipment.¡± Darith mumbled, looking to his spear before putting it in his inventory. ¡°I¡¯m definitely gonna stop them.¡± He tried to reassure Glitterstar.