ã€ŠEkalius Onlineã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Leo sat still in a brown leather covered office chair. His hands were constantly changing position from a fist to interlocked fingers to simply laying flat on the table. He listened carefully to the words being said, anger showing on his face.

    How long had he worked here? 15 years? Does that mean nothing? Does loyalty for 15 years not mean anything? Does practically ensuring the company¡¯s success in the game mean nothing?

    Leo could not understand why they were firing him. He read through the piece of paper in front of him over and over again.

    Termination notice

    Leo Claude is hereby terminated from employment at Elecur on the basis of section ¡ì3-1a under his contract, signed 28th of February, 2025.

    The character Zero in the popular game Garius Online will be reset back to 0 and all gear will be forcefully returned back to Elecur¡¯s official Guild; as described in the original contract under section ¡ì4-2.

    Regret. Anger. Injustice. Stupidity. Leo felt a plethora of emotions making it difficult to discern which one was more important. He had never been driven by his emotions before. His personality was so emotionless that his best friend Alex had described him as a robot in human clothing. He had always operated on strict logic.

    Leo was hired for his analytical capabilities. His brain captures everything he sees, hears and feels. He can easily learn complicated formulas in a heartbeat, solve complicated pattern problems in seconds and see what others cannot. This has led to his emotions becoming locked. He struggles to ascertain when his emotions are genuine. Even now, sitting here, reading his termination notice, he still couldn¡¯t determine if his emotions were real.

    He only felt confusion in his heart. Their actions lacked logic. The Saint Trials were just about to begin and he had already secured his spot in Elecur¡¯s name. Why would they throw him out now?

    Leo reluctantly signed the termination notice. It did not matter how much he argued, he was already done for. This entire meeting was simply a formality. His signature only served as a way to document that he had received the termination notice. Nothing he said would change the situation. Despite this, he was still unwilling to be fired under section ¡ì3-1a. Fired because his position was no longer needed? What kind of bullshit was that? Who would believe that an expert like him was not needed anymore?

    Leo begrudgingly stood up from his chair and walked out of the room. He entered the parking lot and got in his car. The city quickly faded away and Leo arrived at his mansion located slightly outside of the city. The security gate opened as he approached and a green light atop the gate shone brightly, indicating that the security system had recognized him. The bright light stood out in the otherwise pitch black night. The moon was obstructed by clouds and rain could be seen slowly falling down to meet the earth.

    Leo threw his keys on the kitchen counter and entered his office. His mansion was massive with more rooms than he would ever need. In fact, Leo was unsure of what several of the rooms even contained. He had never felt the need to know. The rooms get cleaned on a regular basis so he didn¡¯t fear them pilling up dust.

    His office was filled with computer screens constantly showing data that most people would describe as random numbers and letters. In the middle of the room stood his gaming capsule. The capsule was roughly 1.5m wide and 2.5m tall. It looked almost like an oversized egg with its white color and rounded appearance. This was his only way of accessing the revolutionary VRMMORPG Garius Online. A game entirely created by humanity¡¯s most advanced A.I.

    The game was marketed as a collaboration between the world¡¯s superpowers but Leo had a feeling that they did not create it. The game was simply too advanced. The game system¡¯s combat, realism, and balance were far beyond the capabilities of even the most powerful of nations. It even had the ability to slow down time to ? of the real world. This was, of course, only relative and not a physical difference. It¡¯s like when you read a good book or play a great game. When you¡¯re having fun, time seems to speed up. When you¡¯re bored, time seems to slow down.

    Leo turned on the TV and watched as an image of a woman and a man in formal attire appeared.

    [Linda] ¡°Good evening players! Are you excited for the opening of the Saint¡¯s Gate? We here at Pioneer Record are excited to bring you the hottest news straight from the freshest sources! Isn¡¯t that right Adam?¡±

    [Adam] ¡°That¡¯s right Linda, we have just received information that the gates will open in 24 hours. As you all know, there are currently 100 players qualified to participate. These men and women have conquered the most difficult quests and earned themselves the right to participate in the highly anticipated Saint Trials!¡±

    [Linda] ¡±They sure have, Adam. We cannot wait to see how ¡­ What? ¡­ Is that confirmed? ¡­ Alright, players! We have just received news that the number 43 ranked player Zero has withdrawn from the challenge! His name no longer stands proudly on the global leaderboard.¡±

    [Adam] ¡±A shock for sure. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past 8 years, let me bring you up to speed. Zero quickly came to fame after performing spectacularly in the World Championship 8 years ago. He came out of seemingly nowhere and quickly fought his way to the grand finals in his first year participating! He could unfortunately not beat the top tier experts of Garius Online, but his actions have been ingrained in the minds of every player, young and old.¡±

    [Linda] ¡±That¡¯s right, Adam. Zero is the only Spearman in the entire top rankings. Using a normal class to fight against the top-rated Legendary Classes such as ¡®Blood Witch¡¯, ¡®Demon Knight¡¯ and ¡®Shadowblade¡¯ is simply remarkable.¡±

    [Adam] ¡±It is indeed. Zero¡¯s unmatched movement and precision have greatly helped him in completing this feat. I can¡¯t even imagine how much more powerful he would be with a Legendary Class!¡±

    [Linda] ¡±I would also like to see that. Oh, it seems like we have the number 1 ranked player in the Assassin¡¯s category with us. Carla, take it away!¡±

    [Carla] ¡±Thank you, Linda. I¡¯m currently standing here with the infamous Shadowblade ¡®Bringer of Death¡¯ Farox. So Farox, you have fought Zero multiple times, what do you think about this sudden announcement?¡±

    [Farox] ¡°I think it came out of the blue. There¡¯s no hiding that I don¡¯t care much for Zero, but I still respect him as a player. I honestly thought that he would be a top contender for the Trials.¡±

    [Carla] ¡°What do you think about the analysis desk¡¯s hypothesis that Zero would be able to rank #1 with a Legendary Class?¡±

    [Farox] ¡°Don¡¯t make me laugh. Zero is like a robot, his actions are so predictable that there¡¯s hardly any chance of him winning against the top players in a 1v1. I admit that I could never do what he does, but that¡¯s also the reason he¡¯ll never be a top tier expert. Unless he figures out how to be less reliant on perfection, he¡¯ll continue to be read like an open book in duels.¡±

    [Carla] ¡°That¡¯s some strong words coming from someone who lost to him in the recent duel qualifiers.¡±

    [Farox] ¡°That was a fluke. I admit that when he gets inside your defense there¡¯s absolutely no way to win. It was my mistake to allow that to happen, not him being strong.¡±

    [Carla] ¡°You heard it here first folks! I¡¯m looking forward to ... ¡°

    Leo turned off the TV and sat down in a chair with his hands pressed against his temple. He was still thinking about why he was fired just hours before the Saint¡¯s Gate opens. He had a good chance at winning the Trials and his victory would also be Elecur¡¯s victory. Why did they cut him off now?

    While Leo was thinking about his current predicament, four masked men appeared outside his mansion. They wore black garments, perfectly blending in with the pitch black night. They wore masks of the highest quality with the most advanced technology for night-based operations.

    The men slowly made their way through the estate''s outer security like they were taking a stroll in the park. The shortest man amongst them quickly began typing something on a tablet.

    [Unknown #1] ¡°What¡¯s taking so long? We can¡¯t stay here forever you know.¡±

    [Unknown #2] ¡°I¡¯d like to see you try to hack into one of the most advanced security systems in the world without sending out a warning signal to every law enforcement agency in the country.¡±

    [Unknown #3] ¡°Will the both of you shut up? Do you not see how many guards patrol the area?¡±

    [Unknown #4] ¡°Relax. Since when has third tier security guards stopped us from a mission?¡±

    [Unknown #1] ¡°When will you stop underestimating people? Even an idiot can destroy a highly coordinate mission when encountered at an inopportune time.¡±

    [Unknown #2] ¡°I feel bad for this fellow for being killed by morons like you. He sure pissed off the wrong people¡±

    [Unknown #2] ¡°Alright we¡¯re in. The time limit is 45 seconds, be quick.¡±

    [Unknown #4] ¡°Finally! I call dibs on the kill.¡±

    [Unknown #1] ¡°You never change. Whoever finds him gets the kill. Do not sabotage this mission.¡±

    [Unknown #4] ¡°Alright, alright. I get it. But I¡¯m taking the office. Like there¡¯s a doubt where he¡¯s at.¡±

    [Unknown #2] ¡°40 seconds.¡±

    The two men quickly searched the mansion and found Leo sitting in his office. Cobra stealthily approached Leo, a curved jet-black dagger appearing in his right hand. Leo was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he failed to notice the assassin closing in on him. He was, after all, in his mansion. He had 20 people guarding the premise at any given time. There was simply no way anyone would be able to get in here without him knowing.

    [Unknown #2] ¡°Somethings wrong. Finish quickly!¡±

    An alarm rang out and alerted the security guards. Leo quickly stood up in a panic and began to turn around but it was already too late. The jet-black dagger pierced his neck. Leo died instantly without ever knowing why.

    [Unknown #4] ¡°Have you finished ¡­ For God¡¯s sake why the dagger? What would you have done if the alarm came earlier?! That man was a highly trained fighter.¡±

    [Cobra] ¡°Relax, Viper. I know what I¡¯m doing. It got the job done, didn¡¯t it?¡±

    [Unknown #2] ¡°I don¡¯t mean to interrupt your little tea party, but we have guests. Get out, now!¡±

    [Viper] ¡°Whatever, let¡¯s just get out while we still can.¡±

    <hr>

    On an unknown planet deep within the center of the universe were four lifeforms more advanced than any on Earth. They gathered together to discuss Leo¡¯s death.

    [Lifeform #1] ¡°Ekalius you can¡¯t be serious? Why now? Have we not seen situations like this occur countless times before? What¡¯s different this time?¡°

    [Lifeform #2] ¡°I agree, why this boy? You know the consequences of meddling with the universe. Let¡¯s see how it plays out and leave this universe if it fails, like always.¡°

    [Lifeform #3] ¡°We can¡¯t try again without you. If you leave us now, we¡¯ll be at the mercy of a mere human.¡°

    [Ekalius] ¡°The decision has been made. I am tired of fighting over and over again. How many times have we lost? A thousand? A million? A billion? It¡¯s been so long that I can¡¯t even tell the difference between days anymore. I¡¯m tired of the endless fighting. I want it to end. For all of us. For our people. They have done nothing to deserve this cruel fate. We have put our trust in others over and over yet the outcome is always the same. Is it so wrong of me to give it my all, one last time?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    [Lifeform #2] ¡±I understand, but I just don¡¯t see what¡¯s so special about that boy. Unless ¡­ No that can¡¯t be ¡­ Or can it?¡±

    [Lifeform #1] ¡±Garius if you have something to say, speak.¡±

    [Garius] ¡°Is he ¡­ Is he a Nin?¡±

    [Lifeform #1] ¡°What are saying? If he was a Nin, that would mean Ekalius would die when changing the universe. Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±

    Ekalius let out a heavy breath. His eyes turned serious, showing that he was prepared to make a grand sacrifice.

    [Ekalius] ¡°That¡¯s right. He is a Nin.¡±

    [Garius] ¡°No! I won¡¯t allow it. Enkail died for a Nin yet nothing changed. I will not allow you to make the same mistake.¡±

    [Ekalius] ¡°It is not for you to decide. I also questioned Enkail when he gave up his life for a Nin. I was wrong. That Nin almost defeated Ezaeh. I have learned from Enkail¡¯s mistakes. This time will be different.¡±

    [Garius] ¡°What can you do? We can¡¯t directly interfere with the False World. We can¡¯t even help our own people here, in our world.¡±

    [Ekalius] ¡°There is a way. A loophole in the laws.¡±

    [Garius] ¡°If you¡¯ve found a way, why now? The boy can¡¯t possibly be the only Nin to appear since you took over the duty of Guardian from Enkail?¡±

    [Ekalius] ¡°You¡¯re right. He¡¯s not the only one to appear. But he¡¯s different. Please Garius. Can you honestly tell me that you believe your chosen fighters can win?¡±

    [Garius] ¡°I ¡­ I cannot.¡±

    [Ekalius] ¡°It¡¯s decided. Garius. I trust you will take my place if this fails. You are strong enough. Save our people if I can¡¯t.¡±

    Garius nodded, a single tear appearing in his left eye.

    [Garius] ¡°I will pray to Enkail for your success. Bring our people peace.¡±

    <hr>

    Leo awoke with a jolt. His hands automatically moved towards his neck in response to the feeling of a knife piercing through his neck. He could not find any blood on his neck. It was like he had just woken up from a bad dream. A voice reached his ear before he could comprehend the situation.

    ¡°Is there something wrong?¡±

    Leo looked at the woman in confusion. She had short black hair, dark brown eyes and wore formal business attire. Her outfit was grayish with a tight fitting skirt. She wore jet black heels on her feet and black-framed glasses on her face.

    ¡°Ah, n-no.¡±

    The woman began to talk once more.

    ¡°In that case, I will continue to explain the contract. Your character in Ekalius Online will belong to Elecur and be bound for the duration of your contract. Should you, for whatever reason, leave Elecur, you¡¯ll have to give up any items and gear on your character. Your character will also be forcefully reset to level 0. This is standard practice amongst administrative contracted players. We wouldn¡¯t want to use our precious resources just to have the player jump ship mid-game with all of our secrets.¡±

    Leo nodded his head slightly in agreement. It made sense to make sure that the contracted player can¡¯t just change company mid-game. Being set back to level 0 was quite harsh, but fair, depending on the contract.

    Leo remembered this exact moment. He sat in this very chair almost 15 years ago. Now that he looked at the woman again, he could tell for certain that she was Catherine, a member of the administrative personnel for Elecur.

    What happened? Why was he back 15 years in time? No. That¡¯s not right. Leo thought about her words and quickly found an anomaly. Ekalius Online. That was not the game he knew. Mind manipulation? But why would anyone go through the trouble of something like that and then change the details this much? Or was that the goal all along? Make him think it couldn¡¯t be something wrong with his mind?

    A parallel universe? It would explain why he¡¯s seemingly 15 years in the past, while also explaining the anomaly. Leo had several questions but no answers. Was this just a dream? Or was his past life just a long dream? The possibilities were endless and Leo decided to live in the moment. He continued on with the assumption that this is a parallel universe. When more anomalies start to show themselves, he¡¯ll have a better chance of figuring it out. He feared he would go crazy if he proceeded like this was all an illusion.

    ¡°Ekalius Online? Did you mean to say Garius Online?¡±

    Catherine knitted her eyebrows and wrinkled her forehead just enough to be noticeable. She had spent the last hour explaining Leo¡¯s role in Ekalius Online and how he could help Elecur reach the top. Why was he pretending that this was the first time he had heard about it? Was he trying to make it sound like the job was so uninteresting that he doesn¡¯t feel the need to listen? Was the salary too low? Catherine¡¯s head filled with questions but she quickly continued explaining the details once more. Her boss would not be happy if she ended up driving Leo away due to her anger.

    Leo listened to Catherine¡¯s explanation and became convinced that this was exactly like last time 15 years ago. The game was different, but it had the same setting. Leo fully expected the game to be the same as Garius Online. There might be changes to the continents in the game and quests, classes, monsters, etc. But the core should still stay the same. Leo let out a smile. He spent most of the starting phase stuck with administrative work. He only leveled when he needed to and never found true joy in the game.

    This changed when his best friend Alex showed him the true joy of games. The community, epic adventures, finding gear, fighting monsters, etc. To see yourself improve day by day. This realization led Leo to become the number 43 ranked player in the world. He still couldn¡¯t overcome his limits, but this time would be different. Maybe this world has just the thing he¡¯s looking for in order to overcome his limit.

    Leo politely declined the job offer and left the meeting room. He hurriedly made his way to his old apartment, sat down in front of the computer and ordered the gaming capsule. Although extremely expensive at a whopping $4,000, Leo knew that it was worth it. The virtual headset could not offer enough immersion for him to perform to the best of his abilities.

    Leo turned on the TV and flipped through the channels until he found a very familiar well-dressed individual.

    [Linda] ¡°Good morning gamers! We here at Pioneer Record welcome you to join us for an exclusive in-depth interview with Alexis Lishar, the spokeswoman for Ekalius Online! So Alexis, what can you tell us about this upcoming VRMMORPG?¡±

    [Alexis] ¡°Well Linda, I think most of what can be said has already found its ways to the ears of every potential player in the world.¡±

    [Linda] ¡°It has indeed. Can you tell us more about the A.I used in the game? Is it true that the game is fully made by the A.I without any input from a human?¡±

    [Alexis] ¡°That is mostly correct. The A.I system, codenamed Ekalius, is fully responsible for creating the actual game. We have very little control over it and mostly deal with keeping the servers working and exchange platform open. Ekalius requires tremendous amounts of power to work properly.¡±

    [Linda] ¡°What was the inspiration for creating the game? It¡¯s simply mind-boggling to me that so many nations have come together in anticipation of the game and all it brings. It¡¯s truly something light years ahead of its time.¡±

    [Alexis] ¡°Haha, yes, it¡¯s truly not of this world. The game is more than just a game. It¡¯s a way to explore a new world with unparalleled realism. We expect people to use the game as a way to earn money, relax, learn, fight and connect together as a community.¡±

    [Linda] ¡°It¡¯s interesting that you mention money. What was the reason for allowing a real-world transaction system? Many games have had this indirectly through the use of subscription tokens or similar that can be exchanged for the game¡¯s gold, but you actually want players to be able to sell the gold directly to potential buyers.¡±

    [Alexis] ¡°We believe that players will quickly find that the game is so much more than a simple game. Third party sites will pop up without fail and we wish to counteract this. The gold still has to be earned by a player and if they choose to sell it, then that¡¯s their choice. We believe that the market will regulate itself according to supply and demand. It was also requested by Ekalius. We do not know if it has the same reason as us, but we welcome it nonetheless.¡±

    [Alexis] ¡°The game is on such a large scale that there¡¯s simply no way for it to stay fair for every player. The strong will climb to the top and the weak will stay at the bottom. This is not to say that there¡¯s nothing for casual players to do. The game has Guild Wars for the competitive players, duels for everyone and even a fully non-combat copy of the entire game¡¯s world for parents to enjoy with their kids. The currency used in that version will be the same as the main game. Parents can, therefore, use real money to buy in-game currency to spend on their kids. Assuming there are players selling it, of course. They can even use the game to earn a living while sleeping.¡±

    [Linda] ¡°That¡¯s right! The gaming cabinet and virtual headset will allow players to play even while asleep! Such revolutionary technology! Tell us, how did you manage to create something like that?¡±

    [Alexis] ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t disclose any information.¡±

    [Linda] ¡°I see. Well, thank you for coming down to our studio for this interview! We¡¯re all excited to see Ekalius Online launch in less than 24 hours! I personally can¡¯t wait to jump in and kick some ass!¡±

    Leo turned off the TV and accessed the game¡¯s official website. He quickly found that many details were different, but the general rules of the game seemed to still apply. While scrolling through the site, he suddenly discovered something interesting.

    [Headline: Hidden Classes]

    The game will give players the chance at gaining a unique hidden class at character creation. This can be attempted by completing a series of trials to test your skill. This is not without risk! If you gain a hidden class you don¡¯t like, the only choice will be to delete your character. However, if you do this, you¡¯ll no longer be allowed to try again and will have to use one of the starting classes.

    But don¡¯t worry! Even if you fail the test, you still have a chance to encounter class change tokens throughout the game!

    Leo opened his eyes in shock. He could actually gain a hidden class before even entering the game? Leo could not hide his excitement, if luck allows it, he might be able to gain a well-suited class. He had played using the ordinary class advanced Spearman. He never found it to be any weaker than the higher quality special classes, but it still didn¡¯t fit him perfectly.

    He had the opportunity to view many class change tokens, but none of them stood out to him. Leo didn¡¯t want to have a special class just for the sake of it. It had to be customizable and fit his playstyle. If he could get a class with full freedom in the choice of skills and gear, he would definitely be able to overcome his limit.

    Leo continued to spend his time researching the changes and listening to the gaming news. Although he found the hosts to be very annoying, the information they provided was extremely useful. He would absolutely avoid them if he could. He hated doing interviews and now that he¡¯s not a part of a corporate Guild he can finally get some rest.

    Once the game finally starts, he¡¯ll stick to figuring out things himself. Leo let out a smile at the thought of experiencing the game from scratch again. He had missed this golden part of the game in his past and wanted to rectify that mistake.

    Leo entered deep though but was rudely awoken by a loud banging noise on his door. He got up from his chair and opened the door only to see a familiar face practically jump through the doorway.

    ¡°Close the door quickly!¡±

    Leo closed the door and locked it just to be sure. He had no idea why Alex was suddenly jumping into his apartment.

    ¡°Stay completely silent. If you don¡¯t breath, she¡¯ll eventually think we disappeared.¡±

    ¡°What are you¡­¡±

    ¡°Shhh, not a single word.¡±

    There was a loud banging noise on his door yet again, but this time he heard the voice of a woman.

    ¡°Alex I know you¡¯re in there! Don¡¯t you dare treat me like this!¡±

    Leo gazed at Alex.

    ¡°What? It¡¯s not my fault.¡±

    ¡°Is it ever your fault?¡±

    ¡°And here I thought we were brothers. Don¡¯t look at me like that. If you throw me out I¡¯ll die.¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re being a bit dramatic.¡±

    ¡°Dramatic? That woman is a complete psycho.¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright. I¡¯ll deal with it.¡±

    ¡°You, dealing with social interaction? Do you want us both to die today?¡±

    Leo let out a sigh. Alex certainly wasn¡¯t wrong. Leo was not very good at reading social cues and often ended up being misunderstood. He had learned a lot from his 15 years in Garius Online but he still lacked in the social department.

    The woman left around 10 minutes later. Leo could not help but feel relieved. If he hadn¡¯t known she was a woman, he¡¯d think his door was attacked by a group of wild dogs. Leo feared the door would collapse any second.

    He once more gazed at Alex with a questioning look.

    ¡°So~ how¡¯s your day going? Anything new in Leo¡¯s wonderful world?¡±

    ¡°Do you really want to avoid the obvious question?¡±

    ¡°Whatever do you mean? I came to see you after so long and this is how you treat me? You would kick your own brother when he¡¯s down?¡±

    Leo let out a laugh. Although Alex wasn¡¯t his real brother, they still considered each other to be brothers. They had known each other for 10 years and even after all that time, Alex had not changed at all.

    ¡°Okay, I give up. So besides bringing crazy women to my apartment, why did you come?¡±

    ¡°Can I not come over just to see my best friend? Do I need a reason to see you? That hurts. It really hurts.¡±

    Leo burst out in laughter. Alex jumped back for a moment in surprise. Since when had Leo been able to laugh like that?

    ¡°Who are you and what have you done to my robotic genius of a friend?¡±

    ¡°Am I not allowed to laugh in front of you? I do apologize your majesty. How improper of a lowly peasant to laugh at the wealthy king of the world.¡±

    ¡°You have changed. I like it. Maybe you¡¯ll actually find a girlfriend and marry after all. But for real though, I came to talk about Ekalius Online. I ¡­ My father wants to invite you to his corporate Guild. He thinks highly of you and wants to have you by his side while the Guild develops. I told him you don¡¯t like games, but he insisted.¡±

    ¡°You can tell him that I won¡¯t join his Guild. I don¡¯t mind working together with them, but I¡¯m planning on staying independent for now.¡±

    ¡°I honestly do not know if I¡¯m more surprised by the fact that you want to play the game or that you¡¯ve actually planned something out. Spill the details. What are you gonna do in the game? There¡¯s no way ¡®no fun Leo¡¯ would play a game just for fun, right?¡±

    ¡°Can I not play just for fun? What¡¯s wrong with that?¡±

    ¡°You know what, fine. I met her at a bar and kind of accidentally flirted with her. She took it way to seriously and became pissed when I tried to leave. I told you. Complete psycho.¡±

    ¡°Now that¡¯s something I can believe. Don¡¯t you get tired of constantly flirting with pretty girls? You always end up making them upset.¡±

    ¡°I do not. Is what I want to say, but I can¡¯t. What can I do? Look at this beautiful face. Women just fall for me and I¡¯m too weak to resist.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I plan to reach the number #1 spot on the rankings.¡±

    ¡°Wow, big goal. I believe in you. If you put your mind to it, anything''s possible. If you need any help, come find me. I¡¯m sure I can even get the old man to give you a helping hand. You don¡¯t need to join our Guild but don¡¯t be a stranger.¡±

    ¡°Also, where do you plan to start? We¡¯re starting in Characs Kingdom and will begin in Leomar Town, then move to Ferima City.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why I can¡¯t follow. It¡¯s as good as any of the starting spots, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°Great! Two brothers adventuring into the unknown. One a handsome, rich, smart man with a heart of gold. The other a robot trying to find love. The handsome man continues to dazzle every beauty in the world. Women falling left and right as he walks with his Legendary Bow in hand...¡±

    Alex continued on his fantasy adventure for a solid 10 minutes before finally concluding. Apparently, he ended up marrying a hundred women or something. Truly a man with a heart of gold.

 Chapter 2

    Leo entered his gaming capsule. The capsule was installed just a few hours ago, cutting it very close to the game¡¯s launch. It was jet-black with a width of 1.5 meters and a height of 2.5 meters. It still had the iconic egg-shaped appearance, very much to Leo¡¯s liking.

    Leo made sure that the nutrient tubes were properly connected. The gaming capsule would monitor his body and feed him nutrients when needed. Leo did not know the exact specifics, but from experience, he knew that the capsule has the function of improving a person¡¯s physique.

    The nutrient serves as a way to substitute eating and the capsule constantly stimulates his muscles, ensuring that he won¡¯t feel fatigued even after playing for hours. The capsule actually makes the user stronger with the effect increasing depending on how far the user pushes themselves within the game.

    Leo brought up the capsule¡¯s interface and initiated the DNA-linking sequence. Every capsule, as well as every virtual headset, was directly linked to the player¡¯s DNA. This made sure that a player¡¯s identity could always be verified, which was required when linking your banking information to use with the real world exchange system.

    A needle gently pinched the back of his neck and an image of his DNA sequence appeared in front of him. The capsule made a low humming noise and a robotic female voice entered his ears.

    Link establishing, please wait¡­

    Link established, proceeding to character creation.

    Please note that Ekalius Online will officially launch in 6 hours. You can still create your character before the launch.

    A bright white light appeared in front of Leo and the surrounding changed from his metallic gaming capsule to a medieval European town. The houses were mostly made of wood and stone.

    Several lights appeared around Leo and he quickly found 10 NPCs standing where the lights once were. These NPCs represented the 9 basic classes while the last one represented the Hidden Class Trial.

    Leo quickly ignored all of the NPC except for the last one. The last NPC was an old man in a wooden chair reading a book. The old man looked up from his book when Leo entered within his range.

    ¡°Do you seek the Trial?¡±

    The old man¡¯s voice was feeble yet it held a hint of nobility. It made Leo unconsciously feel that he should show the man respect.

    ¡°Yes, I wish to try the Combat Trial.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    The old man waved his hand and the scenery changed from an old town to a colosseum. The floor was completely made out of sand and Leo could see that the surrounding area was devoid of any life.

    Leo did not know what to expect. There was almost no information released about the Trial. He only knew that it would be slightly different for every player. Leo calmed himself down and prepared to react to anything.

    System announcement: Choose your weapons.

    The robotic voice sounded out yet again and a table with various weapons appeared. Leo could see various daggers, swords, shields, spears, staves, etc. He decided on a slightly short spear and a shield. Leo was used to using a two-handed spear but that was simply because it was the only option for his class.

    The table disappeared and a gray humanoid figure appeared in the previously empty sand-filled arena. Leo could clearly see its name and a health bar right below.

    Practice Dummy (Common)

    Level 0

    Health 10

    Leo looked at his spear to understand how much 10 health for a common monster is.

    [Simple Spear (Copper Quality)]

    Level requirement: 0

    Attack power: 2

    He would only need 5 hits to take the Practice Dummy down. Leo quickly assumed that this would be a wave-based challenge. He could not find any type of health potions and had to proceed on the assumption that health can¡¯t be instantly regained. He could only hope it resets for each wave.

    Leo inspected his shield to see if it had a durability that he would have to worry about.

    [Simple Shield (Copper Quality)]

    Level requirement: 0

    Defense: 2

    It seems like he won¡¯t need to think about the shield breaking during the fight. Leo moved closer to the Practice Dummy and quickly entered within its range. The Dummy had a simple sword in its hands and quickly began to swing it towards Leo when he approached within 3 meters.

    Leo easily avoided the sword and retaliated with his spear, aiming directly at its head.

    -4 Damage

    The attack dealt extra damage due to hitting its head. This told Leo that the Dummy probably has the same weak spots as a player. In Ekalius, the place you hit can affect the damage. Armor has a specific defense per piece and it¡¯s not counted as a whole. Having a great chestplate won¡¯t help you if you have a low-quality helmet and receive a strike to your head.

    For monsters, however, this does not hold completely true. The monster¡¯s A.I level increases depending on their level and rank. The lower level ones generally do a large attack that hit multiple parts of the body. This will make the attack lose a significant amount of its power.

    Leo quickly sent out another attack towards the Dummy¡¯s head and instantly killed it.

    -8! Critical

    The Dummy crumbled apart and a system announcement appeared.

    System announcement: Wave 0 complete. Proceeding to Wave 1.

    A new Dummy appeared, still using the same old sword.

    [Practice Dummy (Common)]

    Level 0

    Health 30

    It had far higher health but Leo was still not nervous. The Dummy still only had a rank of Common and would not be able to make complicated attacks. Leo entered within range and dodged the its first attack. He stabbed with his spear twice in quick succession before the Dummy could react.

    -4

    -4

    Leo then pushed his shield close to the Dummy¡¯s face, blocking its view. He continued to attack with his spear. Every time the Dummy tried to attack, Leo would interrupt with his Shield, not giving it any time to wind up an attack. The Dummy simple couldn¡¯t comprehend how to counter Leo¡¯s attacks. It died a pitiful death, unable to fight.

    This continued on for a while until Leo finally reached the end.

    System announcement: The final fight will begin in 60 seconds.

    Leo stood still and waited for the timer to run out. He hadn¡¯t really been challenged so far and was still full of energy. The timer quickly hit 0 and a new monster materialized in front of him.

    [Practice Dummy (Champion)]

    Level 0

    Health 650 000

    Leo stared at the new Practice Dummy in disbelief. Its insane health pool was at least manageable, but a Champion rank? Where did the Elite, Leader and Elite Leader rank ones go? A bug? No, impossible. Garius Online had never had a bug and he doubted Ekalius would be any different. There¡¯s always a reason, even if no one can see it.

    Leo thought about it logically. There¡¯s no way that a normal player would be able to win against a Champion ranked monster right now. Even he, with 15 years of experience, had practically no chance of winning.

    The Practice Dummy gazed at Leo and two bright lights appeared at its hands. A square shield and a short spear appeared in its left and right hand. A mirror match. Leo¡¯s lips curled into a smile with excitement.

    Leo made the first move and approached the Dummy. It quickly raised its shield and waited for Leo to attack. He sent the spear flying towards its feet but quickly changed the trajectory mid-strike, hitting its head instead.

    -4

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.The Dummy stepped backward and began to thrust its spear towards Leo in retaliation. Leo elegantly ducked and swung his entire body to the right. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and sent out another strike at its head.

    -8! Critical

    He continued dancing around the Dummy, hitting it from its blind spots and slowly draining its health. This one-sided fight continued for 20 minutes before the Dummy began to counter-attack.

    The Dummy sent its spear towards Leo but changed the trajectory mid-attack. Leo easily avoided it by stepping to the right and positioning his shield in-between himself and the Dummy. He had no time to relax as the Dummy quickly changed the trajectory once more, hitting Leo¡¯s shield.

    -(0) Damage received

    The hit did no damage due to the double trajectory switch. It simply had no power behind it. Leo¡¯s smile quickly faded, his eyebrows knitted slightly. The fight just turned serious. He no longer had the luxury of taking his opponent lightly.

    Leo dashed towards the Dummy and sent his spear towards its legs once more. The Dummy raised its shield towards its upper body, allowing Leo to hit its kneecap without resistance.

    -3

    The Dummy faltered slightly and Leo used this opportunity to send out several stabs with his spear.

    -2

    -3

    -4

    -2

    The Dummy slowly recovered from the sudden stabs to its knees. Its body lowered slightly as if to ensure that less of it stayed visible. Leo frowned at the Dummy¡¯s actions. He quickly dashed up to the Dummy and once more stabbed at its legs. This time, the Dummy lowered its entire body even more completely covering its entire body.

    Leo kicked the shield and watched as the Dummy stumbled backward, hitting the sandy ground. He quickly sent several stabs while his target lay on the ground.

    -4

    -4

    -3

    -4

    -3

    The Dummy recovered from its initial shock and managed to stand up. Leo moved within attacking range yet again and prepared to send out a quick stab. The Dummy raised its shield and took the stab head-on.

    -1

    Leo continued to attack its shield several times in quick succession.

    -1

    -1

    -1¡­

    After hitting the shield without pause, the Dummy no longer wanted to allow him to continue. It ignored the constant stabs and sent out several stabs of its own. Leo raised his shield and moved it slightly from left to right as his entire body followed a wave like motion.

    -(0)

    -(0)

    -(0)

    The Practice Dummy could not understand why its attacks did no damage. It did the exact same thing as Leo, yet none of its attacks managed to penetrate the shield¡¯s defense. This constant back and forth continued for three hours without stopping.

    Leo began to feel mental fatigue. Although the game doesn¡¯t physically make players feel exhaustion, the mental aspect still remains. This is why those that practice real fighting or exercise regularly can go on longer than those that don¡¯t. It¡¯s not because their physique is better, but because their minds are used to the feeling of exhaustion.

    Leo¡¯s body right now was scrawny. He was slightly above average height but underweight. His face made him look like a teen even though he was 18 years old. His black hair was cut slightly short and appeared rough and unkempt.

    Despite this, he still had the mental fortitude of 15 years of high-level fighting in the game. His body can¡¯t fully keep up in the real world but that did not matter. In the game, his constitution still upheld the highest standard.

    Leo inspected the Dummy¡¯s health and let out a laugh.

    Practice Dummy (Champion)

    Level 0

    Health: 434 129 / 650 000 (66.77%)

    He simply could not defeat the Dummy. Its health allowed it to live for a long time, constantly gathering information from every attack Leo made. After three hours of constant fighting, the Dummy had gathered enough information to win.

    Leo tried to hold on for a bit longer but the Dummy eventually managed to hit him, quickly reducing his mere 10 health to 0. This character had almost no attributes at all. Although Leo had the skill to kill the Dummy, his character was simply to low-spec for him to act on it.

    System announcement: The combat Trial has been completed. Congratulations on passing with a score of 937!

    System announcement: Do you wish to generate your Hidden Class now or also participate in the Professions Trial?

    Leo listened to the system announcement and instantly spiraled into confusion. Why was he given the option to try the Professions Trial? It should only be one or the other. Leo thought about it for a minute. Would doing the Professions Trial invalidate his Combat Trial? Or would they mix together into a new class? The announcement did not say he would lose his combat class. Leo went back and forth thinking about it and eventually decided to give it a try. He just couldn¡¯t believe that the game system would be cruel enough to stick him with a pure profession based class after completing the combat trial.

    Leo pressed the accept button and the scenery changed from a Roman colosseum to a large workshop. He could see a large furnace boiling with heat with a simple looking anvil right next to it. To his left was a large pot with several chemicals around it. To his right was a sewing kit and pieces of processed leather.

    He was unsure of what the game wanted him to do. Should he just pick one of the workstations and make something? Leo waited for a few minutes but no information appeared. He tried to walk up to the forge but still no change.

    Leo decided to start with the Blacksmithing profession and just make a dagger. He knew somewhat how the system should work based on his experience in Garius Online, but he was unsure if it still worked the same here.

    Leo began by taking a piece of iron about the size of a knife. He then heated up the forge and allowed the strip of iron to heat up. Leo then transferred the iron over to an anvil and began forming the tip of the blade with a hammer. He then moved on to form the handle by hitting it inwards.

    The process took about 15 minutes of constantly heating the blade, quenching, tempering, polishing, etc. Leo looked at the finished dagger with a satisfied look. He was quite happy with the quality of the blade but still needed to add the shaft.

    There were several premade shafts to choose from but Leo decided to make one himself at the woodwork table. He quickly managed to form the wood into a shaft and attached it to his dagger. The finished product was a simple iron dagger with sharp edges and a plain wooden shaft.

    System announcement: Do you wish to submit your dagger?

    Leo was about to accept when a sudden noise interrupted him. He quickly turned around and saw a small explosion at the enchanting workshop. He could not see anyone else nearby and had no idea why it suddenly exploded.

    Leo walked up to the workstation and saw that nothing seemed to be damaged. This did, however, give him the idea that he could enchant his dagger. Normally this would have to be done by someone with the Enchanting profession but right now Leo didn¡¯t seem to have any restrictions.

    He read through the instructions from a piece of paper and began enchanting the dagger. It was fairly simple as he only needed to replicate the symbols from the instruction paper. The symbols were somewhat complicated in appearance but that was nothing to Leo.

    The enchanting quickly finished and his dagger now looked slightly sharper and heavier. He felt happy about the outcome and finally submitted his creation.

    System announcement: Congratulations on completing the Professions Trial with a score of 916! Creating a class based on your total score...

    System announcement: The Creator class has been created!

    Class information:

    Name: Creator

    Main-weapon: All types

    Secondary-weapon: All types

    Primary role: All roles

    Secondary role: All roles

    Quality rating: Unknown

    Class specifics:

    Ability to create weapons and equipment of all types.

    Ability to learn any skill book.

    100% increase to needed experience for leveling.

    All learned skills will be 20% less effective and cost 30% more resources to use.

    Description: A flexible class with the ability to fit any role. A jack of all trades that offers a customized fighting style at the cost of decreased power. Can be both a combat class and profession class.

    Leo read through the class¡¯ information with a smile on his face. This was exactly the type of class he had always wanted. Even though it needed more experience per level, it was still worth it to have such freedom. Even with the decrease in the skills¡¯ power and increase to resources, Leo still found the class to be perfect for him.

    It was a bit of a gamble on the creation of weapon and equipment part. He had no idea how good the gear could be. For all he knew, the best he could make would be Bronze Quality gear.

    Leo accepted the class and created his character. He decided to start in Leomar Town and went with the human race. Leo had already reserved his name through the official website just 12 hours ago.

    System announcement: Character created.

    Character information

    Name: Zero

    Race: Human

    Class: Creator

    Guild: None

    Title(s): None

    General stats:

    Level 0 (0 / 200)

    Health: 10

    Mana: 12

    Spirit: 9

    Rage: 9

    Attack power: 9

    Spell power: 9

    Main attributes:

    Strength (STR): 4 (increase attack power & rage)

    Intelligence (INT): 4 (increase spell power)

    Dexterity (DEX): 4 (increase attack speed, movement speed & spirit)

    Piety (PIT): 4 (increase mana)

    Vitality (VIT): 4 (increase health)

    Resilience (RES): 4 (increase character¡¯s defense)

    Secondary attributes:

    Perception (ability to see through stealth): 1

    Charm (ability to make NPCs treat you favorably): 1

    Other information:

    Free attribute points: 6 per level and 10 extra per 5 levels.

    Passive attributes: 1 per level per attribute.

    Ability to create weapons and equipment of all types.

    Ability to learn any skill book.

    100% increase to needed experience for leveling.

    All learned skills will be 20% less effective and cost 30% more resources to use.

    Leo looked through the details with a satisfied look on his face. All he could do now was wait while the timer slowly ticked down and Ekalius Online officially launches.

    Capsule notification: You have an incoming call from ¡®Alex Reed¡¯. Do you wish to accept?

    Leo accepted the call and quickly heard Alex¡¯s voice through the capsule¡¯s communication system.

    ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡±

    ¡°Very well actually. I just finished getting my Hidden Class.¡±

    ¡°I knew you could do it. I tried the Trial but failed to get far enough to earn a new class. Well, whatever, I like the Ranger class anyway. Shooting foes from afar with my trusty bow. Have you decided on a name yet? I need to add you once we get into the actual game.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s Zero.¡±

    ¡°Alright, good. My name¡¯s Ace.¡±

    Leo and Alex talked with each other while watching the countdown slowly reach 0. A bright light appeared and transported them to their selected starting town.

 Chapter 3

    Leo materialized in the beginner location Leomar Town. He could see hundreds of lights appearing around him and players quickly materializing by the second. Some began to look around in wonder while others quickly left the town and began killing monsters in the vast grassland right outside the town.

    Leo noticed that he did not have any weapons in his inventory. He had 10 copper, the basic clothing and 10x [Scrap Metal], 5x [Copper Dust] and 1x [Copper Quill]. He was confused for a few seconds but realized that he¡¯s probably meant to make his own weapon. Leo accessed his menu an entered creation mode.

    A white light appeared and he suddenly appeared in a white room. The room only had a workbench and a single chair at the center. Leo walked up to the workbench and saw a parchment with some vague writing on it.

    The parchment explained how to access the creation menu and very briefly what he can do with it. Leo followed the instructions and watched as a holographic projection appeared in front of him with a menu filled with different categories of weapon and equipment.

    Leo took particular notice of the category called ¡®Custom¡¯ under the material section. Does that mean he can create his own types of material? Leo became more and more excited by the second.

    He quickly began creating his first weapon. Leo chose to make it a short spear and would pair it with a shield later. This would allow him to have great offensive power while also having the defensive capabilities of the shield.

    Leo used 10x [Metal Scrap] to make up the spear¡¯s body. The spear was very simple in appearance with a jet-black color and fully metallic. Leo then used 5x [Copper Dust] to increase the spear¡¯s quality. He ended the session by using the Copper Quill to draw a single enchantment before the quill dried out. Leo had very few enchantments to pick from and chose to add a small amount of extra attack power.

    He then confirmed the creation and chose for it to be bound to his character. Leo had learned from the parchment that bound items will not have an upper-level limit and he can upgrade it after getting better materials.

    System: Generating weapon ¡­ Binding to [Zero] ¡­ Weapon completed!

    System: Base: 14P, Quality: 9P, Enchantment: 10P. Overall score: 33P

    [Faithful Spear (Copper Quality)]

    Level: 0 (0 / 100)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Main-weapon

    Attribute requirements: None

    Attack power: 4-6 + (2-3)

    Durability: 25 / 25

    Leo looked at the spear with mixed feelings. He swung it around a few times and instantly felt like he was swinging a Legendary spear. Leo¡¯s face lit up in excitement. Having a weapon be this compatible with him would allow him to perform at a much higher level. This was the first time he had experienced such a strong connection to a weapon except for his previous Legendary spear.

    With only 10 copper to his name, there¡¯s no way he can buy equipment to deconstruct for materials. The only way is to fight monsters in the field. Leo contacted Alex and had him met up at the town¡¯s exit.

    It took 15 minutes for both of them to meet up. Although they ran directly to the town¡¯s gate, the sheer size of the town made it take this long. Leo invited Alex to his party and they both began walking towards the open fields.

    ¡°Where do you want to go?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking we can start in Rainfall Forest and go from there.¡±

    ¡°Start in a level 5 zone? Well, I guess with your skill that should work out.¡±

    The two of them walked past the beginner zone and eventually entered Rainfall Forest. As a level 5 zone, the levels of monsters ranged from 3-7. In Ekalius Online, every 5 level indicates an upgrade. This holds true for monsters, players and gear.

    Leo spotted the first monster since entering the zone and quickly prepared to attack it.

    Wild Boar (Common)

    Level 3

    Health: 100

    ¡°Wait for me to control it¡¯s threat level then attack from range.¡±

    Leo dashed towards the boar and stab it with his spear right in its neck. The boar let out a painful cry at being attacked, it¡¯s eyes filling with burning rage.

    -13

    The boar quickly retaliated and swung its tusks towards Leo in a maddening rage. Leo elegantly dodged its attacks and used his spear once more to strike at its neck.

    -14

    -6

    Alex hit the boar with an arrow and quickly prepared to launch a follow-up attack. He didn¡¯t have the skill to hit the boar in a specific region of its body and relied on the guided system for projectiles.

    The boar ignored Alex and dashed towards Leo once more. Its feet left imprints on the soft ground as it launched its body towards Leo in a desperate attempt at destroying its enemy. Its efforts were useless as Leo constantly avoided its attempts at a counter-attack. The boar fell to the ground and became experience points for Leo and Alex.

    System: Young Boar defeated! Awarding 4 EXP!

    ¡°That was anticlimactic don¡¯t you think? What kind of godly weapon do you use?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that good. This is all skill.¡±

    Leo walked up to the boar and checked for any drops. The boar dropped 3 copper and a level 2 Copper Quality sword. Leo looked at the sword and thought about how many materials he could get for deconstructing it.

    ¡°Do you mind if I take the sword? You can get the 3 copper.¡±

    ¡°You do you. I¡¯m also curious to see how this creation class of yours turns out. Just promise me you¡¯ll make me a weapon too! And one for my future wife.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll make you a weapon. And for your future wives.¡±

    ¡°Harem?¡±

    ¡°Divorce.¡±

    ¡°Harsh. But anyway, we split the money 50/50. As long as I can¡¯t use the equipment you¡¯ll get it to test out your class. Call it an investment.¡±

    Leo deconstructed the sword and was left with a few materials.

    System: Deconstructing [Simple Sword (Copper Quality] has yielded 4x [Scrap Metal] and 1x [Copper Dust].

    They continued hunting Young Boars for about 20 minutes before Alex leveled up. It didn¡¯t take long to kill the boars, but they still haven¡¯t found a place where they spawn in large groups. Leo had also gained a total of 22x [Scrap Metal] and 8x [Copper Dust]. They had not yet gained any equipment Alex could use.

    ¡°What¡¯s the best way to allocate my points? Strength for more attack power, maybe?¡±

    ¡°You could, but I suggest spending most of it on dexterity instead. It will help you keep up with the monsters¡¯ speed more easily. It¡¯s also good for getting out more basic attacks per second.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t basic attacks just for now? Once we get skills, will we still use them?¡±

    ¡°Skills are good and all but basic attacks are still important later on.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I trust you. Dexterity and some strength it is then.¡±

    Leo and Alex continued to hunt Young Boars until they found a new target. In front of them, about 100m away was a large Wild Boar Elite. Leo quickly ran towards it with Alex closely behind, both of them showing smiles on their faces in anticipation of their first Elite encounter.

    Wild Boar (Elite)

    Level: 3

    Health: 900

    Leo stabbed the boar with his spear, perfectly hitting its right eye. The boar let out a cry and charged towards him. An arrow flew through the air and hit it in its right eye. The boar stumbled slightly and cried out in pain.

    -10

    -12

    Leo simply moved slightly to the side and hit in the back of its neck.

    -17!

    The boar tried its best to hit him but Leo would always move away just in time. This type of low-level monster was nothing to him. It had no way to learn from its mistakes and the boar quickly lost its life. Leo was slightly disappointed by how easy it was. He was still used to fighting high-level monsters with countless skills and varied attack patterns. The simple attack pattern and lack of any meaningful skills from these low-level monsters were nothing to him.

    System: Wild Boar (Elite) defeated! Awarding 38 EXP!

    Leo walked up to the Elite and collected the loot. This time, they actually got something useful.

    [Spear Thrust Skill Book (common)]

    Class restriction: Lancer

    Cast time: 0.5 seconds

    Cooldown: 4 seconds

    Cost: 3 rage

    Description: Thrust your spear dealing physical damage equal to 70% of attack power, 3x in quick succession.

    Leo took the skill book and instantly learned the skill. The boar also dropped two pieces of equipment which Leo quickly turned into 5x [Scrap Metal] and 3x [Copper Dust].

    Alex and Leo continued hunting in the zone for 8 hours before heading back to town. Alex managed to level up to 6 and Leo got to level 4. Leo allocated his attribute points into 8 STR, 8 DEX, 5 VIT, and 3 RES. He wanted to make a damage build while still having some survivability. Most of his tank related attributes would come from a shield and armor.

    Leo wasted 100 EXP on upgrading his spear only to find that its attack power rose by a scant 1. He decided to wait until he could upgrade the spear with better materials. Right now, he got more attack power from his attributes and wasting experience on the spear would be unwise.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna add the materials to the spear and create some armor. Do you want to just wait here or walk around the town for a bit? I don¡¯t think it will take long.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll just walk around the area. There are so many beauties here. How can I deny them the chance of looking at this lovable face?¡±

    ¡°Hah, just don¡¯t get arrested while I¡¯m gone.¡±

    ¡°You think too lowly of me. I¡¯m a man with a heart of gold. I would never hurt a woman ¡­ intentionally.¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Leo shook his head and left Alex to his own devices. He opened up the creation space once more and sat down in the chair. He had a total of 145 pieces of [Scrap Metal] and 74 pieces of [Copper Dust]. He had figured out that the amount he gets from deconstructing depended on the level of the equipment. It¡¯s also not a standard amount but within a range.

    Leo began by selecting his spear and adding 50 more [Scrap Metal] and 30 [Copper Dust]. He had to manually select the areas and decided to add more weight to the spear-head for greater power. The size of the spearhead did not change but the added materials served to make it sturdier and more compact. He used 20 [Copper Dust] on the spearhead and the rest on where he normally holds the spear. This should increase the quality of the spearhead while still having the spear balanced and easy to use. Leo feared that adding too much weight to the spearhead would make it difficult to use.

    He inspected the spear closely and finally hit the confirm button, officially beginning the rebalancing.

    System: Upgrading weapon¡­ Weapon completed!

    System: Base: 102P, Quality: 68P, Enchantment: 10P. Overall score: 180P

    [Faithful Spear (Copper Quality)]

    Level: 1 (0 / 200)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Main-weapon

    Attribute requirements: 4 STR, 2 DEX

    Attack power: 13-18 + (2-3)

    Durability: 35 / 35

    Attributes:

    STR +3

    DEX +1

    Leo looked at the spear¡¯s stats with a gleeful expression. It had become so much more powerful after adding more materials to it. He noticed that the Quality rating didn¡¯t change. He speculated that this was due to [Copper Dust] being too low quality to upgrade a piece of equipment to Bronze Quality.

    With the weapon completed, for now, Leo began to create his armor. He was pleasantly surprised by the fact that he could create a full armor set directly. This would save him a lot of trouble about when to upgrade certain parts and what to do if the upgrade fails.

    A complete set contained armor for his head, torso, legs, waist, feet, hands, and shoulders. The work of creating the equipment was still the same, but the chance of getting a good result was significantly increased by combining them into a set before creation. It would also make it easier to allocate EXP, although this was more for the quality of life aspect.

    Leo began by designing the armor for his torso as this would serve as the basis for the entire set¡¯s color scheme and style. He settled on a grayish black as the main color scheme.

    He designed the armor to be thin and sculptured it to fit his body. The chestplate looked like a tight-fitting long sleeve t-shirt and not like a protective gear at all. Leo began to add the plating to the t-shirt and it quickly transformed into a slick metal chestplate, fitting of being called an armor.

    He then made parts of it red and added ornamental metal in the form of various shapes in order to make the chestplate look more appealing. He would use these as canvases for his enchanting when he gets another quill.

    Leo proceeded to create the armor for the legs and head. The gear was sturdy while also being easy to move in. He looked at the gear with a smile. The different parts came together nicely, creating a natural look.

    The black perfectly highlighted the red and the ornamentals on the armor which gave off a dignified aura. It was thin enough that you would be hard pressed to believe it¡¯s made of metal, but not quite so thin as to be mistaken as cloth or leather armor.

    Leo was satisfied with the outcome and began to create the rest of the set. The set came together perfectly and Leo felt satisfied with its look. He used 95 pieces of [Scrap Metal] and 44 pieces of [Copper Dust] for the entire set. He knew that this was too little to make it powerful, but it should be enough until he can get his hands on more equipment to deconstruct.

    Leo entered the materials tab and began to design his own unique material to use on the armor. He made the head, torso, and legs out of a new armor type similar to plate armor, but lighter which made him able to avoid the movement penalty of plate armor. This reduced the defense moderately, but Leo considered the added mobility to more than compensate for it.

    He adjusted the physical defense down slightly and increased the magical defense slightly. Most magic attacks land on several parts of the body so he did not need to offer too much physical defense to still feel relatively safe from magic.

    Leo looked over the details and once more hit the confirm button.

    System: Creating armor set¡­ Binding to [Zero] ¡­ Armor set completed.

    System: Base: 67P, Quality: 35P. Overall score: 102P

    [Armor of Destiny (Copper Quality)]

    Level 0 (0 / 100)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Armor set

    Attribute requirements: 4 STR, 2 VIT

    Defense: 16

    Magical defense: 12

    Durability: 75 / 75

    Attributes:

    VIT +2

    RES +2

    Health +5

    Leo looked at the armor with an agreeing nod. It was good enough to use for now, but he couldn¡¯t wait to upgrade it further. He still needed to make a shield to finish his gear. Leo suddenly had a thought. Would it be possible to make a magic shield? That would allow him to have his spear give him high physical dps while the shield could provide intelligence and piety to allow him to use powerful magic. Leo grinned at the possibility. This would truly make him a jack of all trades, but that fitted him perfectly. He could use all these elements to make up for his shortcomings.

    A tank with healing abilities, physical and magical damage. He would practically be able to fight any opponent. If they have physical resistance, he¡¯ll just use magic. If they have high burst damage, he¡¯ll reduce it with a tank skill and heal himself before counter-attacking.

    Leo entered the blueprint mode and searched around for a while. After 5 minutes of going through a complicated interface with more options than one would ever need, he finally found it. It was a simple function called ¡®transform object x to object y¡¯.

    Leo quickly opened the function and created two blueprints. One was a shield imbued with magical properties while the other was an attachment to his spear, also imbued with magic. After designing the two objects, Leo used the function and combined them together. He then pressed the ¡®simulate¡¯ button and saw the shield transform into a semi-long stick. Leo grinned from ear to ear at the result. He would still need to physically make it to be sure, but this should allow him to take on the role of a tank when needed and quickly switch to pure dps when it¡¯s not.

    The only problem still standing is skill books. Due to the limit of 50 skill books per character, he can¡¯t just add every skill he comes across. He even had 75 skill slots, 15 more than anyone else and it still wouldn¡¯t be enough. Most players prioritize passive skills to increase their overall power and active skills to complement the passives. This quickly fills up the skill slots.

    Leo would eventually have to go out of his way to collect rare and higher quality skill books to compensate for his playstyle. His lips curled into a smile and his eyes narrowed slightly at the thought. How long had he not searched for a suitable class in Garius Online? What¡¯s spending a few years finding top tier skill books to complement his class?

    Leo exited his creation space after spending around 30 minutes on everything. He contacted Alex and they quickly met up again.

    ¡°Trade me.¡±

    ¡°Okay?¡±

    Alex traded over a total of 148 pieces of equipment of Copper Quality and a level ranging from 0 to 2. Leo understood what this meant and wanted to say something but Alex interrupted him.

    ¡°This is from me, okay? It¡¯s to make my bow. You do not owe anything to our Guild. Besides, the more you learn about your class and the creation process, the easier it is to commission equipment from you, haha.¡±

    ¡°Still, this is far more than I need to create your bow. I have already confirmed that I need higher quality gear to upgrade the quality rank.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I will need to have you constantly upgrade it after all. Consider the rest payment for the work. And don¡¯t worry. Our Guild won¡¯t miss such bad gear anyway.¡±

    Leo let out a sigh and nodded at Alex¡¯s remark. It¡¯s not like a gigantic corporation like Reed¡¯s Clothing struggle to get equipment for their Guild. Leo once more entered his creation space and began by deconstructing all the equipment. He got a total of 258x [Scrap Metal] and 152x [Copper Dust].

    Although there didn¡¯t seem to be a max limit to the number of materials he could add, he doubted it would do any good. Leo decided to make Alex¡¯s bow with 100x [Scrap Metal] and 70x [Copper Dust]. He could use this to test how much of a difference adding more materials would make.

    Leo designed the bow to be made of wood and colored it to be slightly golden. He figured it would fit Alex¡¯s taste quite well. Leo distributed the materials and choose to bind the bow to Alex. After looking it over, he once more pressed the confirm button and watched the bow turn into reality.

    System: Creating weapon ¡­ Binding weapon to [Ace] ¡­ Weapon completed!

    System: Base: 129P, Quality: 82P. Overall score: 211P

    [Fool¡¯s Longbow (Copper Quality)]

    Level 0 (0 / 100)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Ace]

    Item category: Main-weapon

    Attribute requirements: 4 STR, 3 DEX

    Attack power: 16-20

    Durability: 40 / 40

    Attributes:

    STR +2

    DEX +3

    Leo looked at the bow and let out a sigh. This was enough to confirm that adding more materials will make the base stats higher, but the amount reduces drastically the closer it gets to the hidden material cap. There¡¯s no denying that the bow is powerful for its Quality rating, but needing EXP also balances that power somewhat.

    Leo used the rest of the materials to make his shield/attachment combo. He designed the shield to be square in shape but lighter than ordinary shields. The size was also reduced quite a bit as he wanted to use it in PVP situations. The ordinary shield [Knights] use is just too large and heavy for his playstyle.

    He added the switch function and confirmed the creation. His eyes shone brightly with hope that it would turn out like he wanted.

    System: Creating shield ¡­ Processing functions ¡­ Binding to [Zero] ... Shield completed!

    System: Base: 134P, Quality: 88P, Functionality: 102P. Overall score: 324P.

    [Tricky Magic Shield (Copper Quality)]

    Level 0 (0 / 100)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Secondary weapon

    Attribute requirements: 3 STR, 2 DEX

    Durability: 40 / 40

    Shield mode:

    Defense 22

    Magic defense 24

    Attributes

    +2 VIT

    +3 RES

    +5 Health

    Attachment mode:

    Attack power: 2-5

    Spell power: 18-24

    Attributes

    INT +5

    PIT +5

    Mana +5

    Leo jumped slightly in joy from seeing the finished product. It had worked out exactly how he wanted and he could not have wished for anything more. He especially noted that the shield had a functionality score. Leo had no way to know if that had a specific impact on the shields¡¯ stats, but he expected to find out more as the game progressed.

    Leo exited his creation space and handed the bow over to Alex. He could clearly see that Alex was happy about the quality given the poor raw materials and enjoyed the color scheme.

    ¡°Fool¡¯s Longbow? Seriously?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not the one making the names.¡±

    Alex looked at Leo with dubious eyes but resigned himself to fate. He upgraded the bow by adding experience and quickly fell from level 6 back to 5. He managed to get his bow to level 4 but still needed 900 EXP to level it up again.

    Leo also upgraded his weapon to level 4. He transformed his shield to the attachment mode and connected it to his spear. The two of them then headed to Tuliun Forest in order to try out the first dungeon Wasted Mines. The dungeon had a recommended level of 3-7 and was considered to be a tutorial dungeon.

    As more and more players joined the game, the hunting spots quickly became occupied. Dungeons offered a way to gain experience while not having to fight with others for it. The dungeons generally have good drops from the bosses, but a player would overall gain more equipment from hunting in the fields. This is the game¡¯s way of balancing fast experience vs good gear.

    Leo and Alex quickly made their way to the dungeon entrance. The area was filled with players looking to form parties. This lively atmosphere stood in deep contrast to the dead trees and withered grass making up the surrounding area. He could hear players constantly shouting.

    [Unimportant Player #1] ¡°Recruiting 1 healer and 1 main-tank for our party!¡±

    [Unimportant Player #2] ¡°Need 1 healer for our party, we have a great main-tank and DPS, dungeon clear guaranteed!¡±

    [Dave] ¡°DPS with 25 attack power looking for party! Please don¡¯t ignore me. I¡¯m so lonely. So very lonely.¡±

    Although Alex was in the Guild Moonlight, he still chose to not ask any of the members to join them. This was his way of showing Leo that them playing together had nothing to do with the Guild unless Leo wanted it to. Leo felt happy to have a friend like Alex. He knew Alex better than anyone and although he¡¯s a blatant womanizer on the outside, he¡¯s actually very calculating and thoughtful on the inside.

    ¡°Look Leo! There are so many beautiful women here! Let¡¯s show them our strength and make a party.¡±

    And he¡¯s back to normal. Leo could only let out a sigh and shake his head. He wanted to respond but was interrupted by another player. In front of him was a short girl in full plate armor. She had a gigantic shield in her left hand and a short sword in her right hand. Leo let out a low laugh at the humorous gap between her height and the size of her armor. Even Alex who stood right next to him didn¡¯t hear his laugh, but the girl somehow did.

    ¡°Y-y-you laughed at me! How can you be so rude to a beauty like me?¡±

    Leo wanted to respond but was quickly interrupted by a tall man in leather armor.

    ¡°That¡¯s a weird way to pronounce brute.¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling a brute?!¡±

    The man turned his gaze towards Alex and Leo then said ¡°Don¡¯t mind our short tempered party leader. Haha.¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling short?!¡±

    The girl flew into a rage and began hitting the leather-armored man with her tiny fists. Leo had no idea what was going on and turned towards Alex for help only to see him practically kneeling on the ground from laughter.

    Leo had no idea what to do but luckily didn¡¯t need to do anything at all. A third player walked up to the two of them and hit their heads. He then bowed slightly and apologized to Leo and Alex.

    ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry about their behavior. I can assure you that they¡¯re normally more well behaved.¡±

    ¡°Ah, no it¡¯s fine. If anything, I should apologize for my friend¡¯s inappropriate behavior.¡±

    ¡°Wow there! That was funny, you can¡¯t blame me for laughing.¡±

    Leo and Alex introduced themselves and the five of them decided to make a party for the dungeon. The little girl named [Lily] was the main-tank with her role of Knight. Although her appearance and behavior said otherwise, she¡¯s supposedly 24-years-old. The leather armored man was [Hawk] and played a Ranger. The last one was [Lightbringer] and he played the Priest role.

    They overall had a decently balanced party. The dungeon was fairly straight forward but it still held enough of a challenge that most players hadn¡¯t even gotten through [Normal Mode] yet. Leo expected this to change quickly when players became more accustomed to the game¡¯s combat system.

    Lily initiated the dungeon and the five of them were transported into the dungeon on Normal Mode.

 Chapter 4

    The party materialized inside the dungeon. The area was mostly made of rock and Leo could see remnants of the long lost mining operation. The entrance had a small tent and a minecart sitting on a railroad leading into the mine. A few pickaxes lay scattered around as if they were thrown to the ground in a hurry.

    The party began by walking deeper into the mines. The mines were dark, light only appearing from the occasional torches attached to the walls. After walking for a few minutes they finally found the first enemies. In the large open cave were several packs of wolves ranging from small groups of 2-3 to larger ones with up to 6 in each pack.

    The wolves walked around as if to patrol the cave in search of intruders. They had to be careful about pulling more than one group at the time. A single mistake could make them end up having to fight every wolf at ones. Leo was hardly concerned with the number of wolves, but he couldn¡¯t guarantee that he could hold their threat level stable. He still hadn¡¯t gotten a good skill for tanking, unlike someone like Lily who had the Knight class which came with a few tanking skills straight from character creation.

    Lily initiated the pull with her skill [Threat Pull] once a pack of wolves wandered far enough away from the rest. The wolves quickly dashed towards Lily with their claws and teeth ready to kill.

    Gray Wolf [Common]

    Level 3

    Health: 1 250

    Leo watched as Lily slowly managed to control the wolves threat level. He could instantly tell that she was skilled but she still had a very long way to go. It pained him to see a Knight so stationary. Her footwork was decent enough but she hardly used her shield at all. It was like the shield was only there for decoration, almost like she thought its defense somehow covered her character as well.

    ¡°Lily? Quick question. Do you know that your shield¡¯s defense only counts when it''s attacked?¡±

    Lily turned around and looked at Leo with a confused expression. Leo let out a faint smile and transformed his spear-extension into a shield. He felt that for some reason trying to explain it would take too long. It would be far faster to just give her an example in person.

    ¡°Let the threat go and watch me. Take especially notice on how I use my shield.¡±

    The party members looked at Leo in confusion and wonder, when he suddenly pulled out a shield from his spear. Alex simply stood there with an evil grin on his face. He had noticed that the three of them were members of Rising Embers, a Guild his Moonlight Guild had tried to keep friendly relations with. Rising Embers was currently the favorite to take a top position in Ferima City.

    If he could make them recognize Moonlight as an ally, that would make things so much easier later on. Alex had never heard about Lily or the others before so he had little hope about their position in the guild. He thought that once they see how powerful Leo is, they¡¯ll tell the upper-management in a heartbeat. Alex had sworn to Leo that he wouldn¡¯t push him into Moonlight, but if he just so happens to be the reason they manage to make this connection, then who can blame him for letting it happen? It¡¯s not like he told Leo to go full teacher mode and show his experience.

    Lily did as she was told and dropped her threat on the wolves. The others also stopped attacking to ensure they wouldn¡¯t draw the wolves attention. Leo dashed forward and hit the three wolves once each in quick succession.

    -72

    -78

    -76

    Lily, Hawk, and Lightbringer opened their jaws at the insane amount of damage. They could not understand how a level 4 player could deal so much damage. Leo¡¯s damage wasn¡¯t actually that high. His weapon only accounted for half of his attack power while the rest came from his attributes. He also did not gain any more attribute points than anyone else. Although his weapon was better than the rest of them, he still only managed to output around 50 damage normally.

    ¡°Lily, pay attention. Did you see where my spear hit?¡±

    ¡°Um, their faces?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. A wolf¡¯s weak spot is their vital organs such as the heart and lungs, but also soft areas like their eyes and joints. Notice that I hit them in their eyes. This lets me increase the damage output by roughly 50%.¡±

    Lily¡¯s face lit up in excitement. She was a top player in the previously popular VRMMORPG Ace Edge Online. Although it¡¯s VR capabilities could not hold a candle to Ekalius Online, it¡¯s still a very popular game. She never imagined that Ekalius Online would have weak spots for every monster. She was used to only bosses sometimes having weak spots but they were all due to some kind of mechanic during the fight. Where you hit a monster generally didn¡¯t matter.

    ¡°I see! That¡¯s amazing!¡±

    Leo let out a smile at her enthusiasm. He could even see her jumping around slightly.

    ¡°Good. Pay attention to my shield and describe back to me what you see.¡±

    Leo stabbed the wolves with his spear once more, moved his body slightly to the left and pushed his shield towards a wolf jumping at him from his left. The shield hit the wolf and Leo gently moved with the momentum and practically pushed the wolf off his shield.

    -72

    -71

    -(0)

    ¡°What? Why didn¡¯t that last hit deal any damage?¡±

    ¡°Think about it once more. What did I do with my shield?¡±

    Lily concentrated on remembering what Leo did. She then jumped with a bright smile on her face.

    ¡°You moved the shield to meet the attack and followed the momentum, reducing the attack to nothing! But, shouldn¡¯t the attack still deal damage from the impact?¡±

    Leo curled his lips into a smile after hearing Lily¡¯s analysis. From an outside perspective what he did might not seem difficult at all, but it¡¯s not something anyone could do without practicing. For her to see through it this quickly was truly miraculous. A genius?

    ¡°That¡¯s right! The attack only hit the shield but my movement reduced the impact on my hand. No force, no damage.¡±

    Leo could see light bulbs turning on in Lily¡¯s eyes. He planned to keep going for a while longer but it seemed like that wasn¡¯t necessary. Leo switched places with Lily and issued corrections throughout the fight. The wolves continued to growl as Lily happily dodged their attacks and utilized her shield to reduce damage taken.

    [x3] System: Gray Wolf defeated! Awarding 14 EXP!

    The dungeon continued on like this until they found the boss. Leo managed to get his spear to level 4 and Lily had become far better at dodging and using her shield properly. The others had also learned a lot about the combat system and how to perform better. Even Alex, who has been following Leo from the beginning learned a few new tricks.

    The normal mode only had a single boss with limited skills and attack patterns. The boss stood in front of an emerald-colored orb with blue lights surrounding it. They needed to destroy the orb to finish the dungeon, but the protective field would only disappear once the boss dies.

    Leo observed the surroundings to see if he could find any potential environmental mechanics. Sometimes bosses like to run rampant and wreak havoc with the surrounding area. He could not see anything particularly suspicious after surveying the environment. This was not surprising considering this was the first dungeon.

    The boss was a gigantic wolf about twice the size of a normal wolf. Except for its size, there really wasn¡¯t anything out of the ordinary about it. Leo could see a few cracks on the ground around the wolf¡¯s feet, but he had no way of determining if those were there for a reason or simply aesthetics. Lily prepared to initiate the fight and dashed towards the giant wolf after receiving a nod from Leo.

    Giant Gray Wolf (Leader)

    Level 4

    Health: 15 000

    The boss howled and dashed towards Lily once she entered within its range. She met the attack head-on and began to move around, dodging its attacks while using her shield to mitigate as much damage as possible.

    Leo entered from the side and began to hit the boss with his spear using [Spear Thrust].

    -35

    -37

    -35

    The boss growled in anger but its threat level was fully focused on Lily and it couldn¡¯t deal with Leo¡¯s onslaught. Leo twisted his spear and thrust it right at the wolf¡¯s abdomen. The attack penetrated the soft abdomen and dealt extra damage.

    -64

    -67

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Leo continued focusing on the wolf¡¯s vital spots while the rest of the party attacked from the backline. Both Hawk and Alex still used the guided mode for their arrows. Alex tried firing off a few shots without relying on the system, but he still lacked the skill to hit the target¡¯s vitals. The arrows actually dealt less damage when he only relied on himself.

    Leo watched as Lily danced with the boss. Her face had changed from her usual cheery smile to that of someone fully concentrated on a single task. It was almost scary how serious she looked.

    The boss continued to lose health at a rapid pace and quickly reached 80%. It stopped attacking and crouched slightly. It looked as if the gravity around the boss had increased, forcing it towards the floor. The wolf began to shake slightly as its tail became enveloped by a light blue flame.

    Leo instinctively jumped backward and positioned himself far from the wolf. The wolf continued shaking, the cracks on the floor deepening. It was at that moment he realized what the wolf was doing but before he could warn Lily it was already too late. The wolf spun around and hit her with its tail. The impact created a loud boom sound and she flew tens of meters backward. Her health bar instantly reduced to zero.

    -(250)

    Everyone looked at the scene in disbelief. Although they had all seen through the attack early and expected it to be an AOE ability, they never expected it to be so powerful. Leo replayed the attack in his mind while waiting for Lily to run back from the respawn area. He visually estimated the AOE range to be around 15 meters. The wolf stopped attacking for 3 seconds before unleashing the attack.

    Lily walked back to the group with heavy footsteps. The group quickly talked about the attack and how to counter it before starting the second attempt. This was the type of risk they had to deal with when exploring a new dungeon. Luckily, dying in a dungeon on normal difficulty does not reduce a player¡¯s level or EXP.

    Lily once more initiated the fight. The events continued like last time and the boss quickly hit 80%. Lily retreated to avoid the attack while Leo continued to hit the boss a few more times before moving away. Now that he had seen the attack, he felt confident in dishing out a few stabs before he had to retreat.

    -68

    -35

    -36

    -34

    Leo jumped back and ran out of the boss¡¯ attack range. The attack hit empty air and Lily immediately ran forward to secure the boss¡¯ threat. Leo entered melee range and let out several attacks.

    -64

    -68

    -63

    Leo quickly checked his threat level to ensure he was not generating too much. Assured that Lily had managed to stabilize the threat, he continued to let out attack after attack, dealing massive damage.

    The boss¡¯ health slowly decreased until it hit 50%. Its tail once more lit up but it did not stop attacking. Seeing this Leo quickly retreated backward. Lily also began to run away but stopped when Leo shouted at her.

    ¡°Run the other way, quickly! As far away from us as you can get!¡±

    Lily was confused by his words for a second but decided to not question it. When she turned around again, she saw that the boss had followed her. She let out a relieved sigh when she realized that she would have made the team wipe had she continued to run.

    Lily ran in the opposite direction of the party while the others backed off as much as possible. The boss followed her for a few dozen meters before swinging its tail around, sending a blue fire wave in every direction.

    -(15)

    Except for Lily, everyone else took 15 damage which was about half their total health. Lightbringer freaked out at this sudden outburst of damage and prepared to heal them up when Leo interrupted him.

    ¡°Lightbringer, quickly run into range of Lily and prepare to heal her.¡±

    Lightbringer was confused by this sudden order but quickly did as he was told. He knew perfectly well that Leo was a professional player and he had probably noticed something.

    After the room-wide AOE, Leo noticed that the tail was still burning with the blue flame. Last time the fire burned out the moment it attacked. A normal level 3 player usually only has around 20-30 HP, there was simply no way that the boss would send out a second attack in quick succession.

    Leo made a gamble that the attack would be directed towards the tank. Lily did not take any damage from the AOE and it was highly possible that she would receive the next attack. The wolf turned its body and hit Lily with its burning tail several times without pausing. Lily managed to avoid most of the attacks but she couldn¡¯t keep up with the boss¡¯ speed.

    -(5)

    -(5)

    -(6)

    -(6)

    The attack brought Lily down to just 10 health. Lightbringer entered within the healing range and began to restore her health. Lily¡¯s health bar continued to swing up and down like a yoyo.

    +8 Healing received

    -(5)

    +10

    -(6)

    +8

    Lightbringer brought her up to full health before healing the rest of the party. After everyone was back to full health, they once more began barraging the boss with attacks. Leo constantly observed its movements in the hope of figuring out if it had any more skills.

    40%

    30%

    15%

    5%

    When the boss hit 5% health remaining, it suddenly let out a loud howl. Its entire body became engulfed in a light blue flame and its eyes turned blood-red. The boss crouched slightly, cracks forming at its feet.

    Leo was about to jump back but noticed that the flames were slowly fading into the wolf¡¯s body. He thought about the attack pattern up until now and shouted at the three party members in the back.

    ¡°Quickly, run over here!¡±

    They hastily followed his command and ran towards the boss. The boss¡¯ blue flame had completely faded into its body by the time they entered 2 meters from the boss. With a loud howl, a ring of fire erupted around them. The flames quickly filled up the entire room, before slowly fading away.

    The Boss had no other special skills left and quickly found itself defeated. The emerald core shattered when its guardian disappeared, officially ending the dungeon.

    System: Giant Gray Wolf (Leader) defeated! Awarding 560 EXP!

    System announcement: Congratulations on completing [Wasted Mines] on [Normal Mode]! Awarding 250 EXP to all players!

    The party let out a small cheer when the system announcement popped up. The dungeon had proceeded far smoother than any one of them had anticipated, making the ending somewhat anticlimactic.

    Leo decided to not allocate any experience to his armor just yet. He hadn¡¯t taken any damage so far and doubted that upgrading the armor would help him when he eventually does. The shield also gave mostly magic power which he couldn¡¯t utilize right now. It would be better to gain more experience and upgrade his spear first.

    Alex gained enough EXP to level his bow up to 5 while the others managed to level up at least once.

    Lily walked up to the boss and initiated the distribution of loot. They used the standard loot settings which had each item appear in a holographic interface with the item¡¯s information and a [Need], [Greed] or [Pass] option.

    [Shield Bash Skill Book (uncommon)]

    Level requirement: 1

    Class restriction: Knight

    Item category: Skill book

    Cast time: 0.25 seconds

    Cooldown: 15 seconds

    Cost: 8 Rage

    Description: Bash your shield into an enemy generating 10 threat and dealing 70% of attack power. It has a 20% chance to stun the enemy for 3 seconds.

    Lily became ecstatic when the skill book appeared. She immediately pressed the need button and awaited her new skill. Confusion filled her face for a brief moment when the skill book didn¡¯t go to her immediately. She had completely forgotten that Leo could also use a shield.

    ¡°Zero, you ¡­ You wouldn¡¯t take this skill book from an innocent little girl, would you? You already have such an amazing Hidden Class yet you want to steal from a defenseless little girl?¡±

    Lily made herself look as small as possible and gazed at Leo with puppy eyes. Leo was about to respond when Lightbringer hit her in the head.

    ¡°So now you¡¯re an innocent little girl? You should feel ashamed trying to trick a boy hardly old enough to drive. Think about your age!¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°No buts! I¡¯m sorry about this useless leader of ours. We roll on everything that more than one person needs.¡±

    Leo nodded at Lightbringer¡¯s words. He didn¡¯t really need the skill that much. It¡¯s better than nothing, but it''s not like he¡¯ll stay awake at night thinking about what could have been. He wouldn¡¯t mind selling it to Lily if he ends up getting the book.

    Zero: 65

    Lily: 78

    Lily jumped up and down after getting the skill book. She immediately learned it as if she thought Leo would try to take it from her. The next item appeared shortly after.

    [Basic Longbow (Bronze Quality)]

    Level requirement: 2

    Class restriction: Ranger

    Item category: Weapon

    Attack power: 19

    Attributes:

    DEX +3

    Description: A basic longbow made out of simple wood attached with a string.

    The bow wasn¡¯t anything special and neither Alex nor Hawk needed it. The bow was therefore randomly distributed based on the highest roll.

    Zero: 67

    Ace: 3

    Lily: 35

    Hawk: 16

    Lightbringer: 63

    Leo ended up with the bow and would deconstruct it for the materials later. This would be the first time he deconstructs a Bronze Quality item. He looked forward to seeing if the materials change or if it¡¯s only the quantity.

    The rest of the drops were simple potions and a few copper. They split the copper equally, giving everyone 20 each and each one got one potion.

    ¡°This was fun! Do you two want to join us for a higher difficulty? I think we could go all the way to Nightmare Mode with this party!¡±

    Leo listened to Lily¡¯s proposal for continuing the party. He did not have anything against it and even doubted that Nightmare Mode would be much more difficult. This is, after all, a tutorial dungeon. Leo expected it to take half a day at most before the first clear for the Nightmare Mode.

    The problem about completing the dungeon now is that no one else has done it. If they manage to get the first clear, they¡¯ll also gain a kingdom-wide announcement as well as extra loot and experience.

    This wouldn¡¯t be a problem if they were all independent players, but three of them were from Rising Embers while Alex was from Moonlight. Leo turned his head towards Alex and gave him a questioning look.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind us tagging along for Nightmare Mode, but we need to talk about who gets the announcement. If you can get someone important from Rising Embers to come over and discuss it, I¡¯m sure we can come to an agreement.¡±

    Leo looked at Alex, a slight shock filling his face. He knew that Alex could be serious when he wanted to, but he still had few memories from this version of Alex.

    ¡°Hmm, I guess I can talk to Guild Leader Snow or Vice Guild Leader Young Leaf.¡±

    ¡°Snow it is then.¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay then.¡±

    Leo once more looked at Alex with a confused expression. He seemed to be awfully familiar with Rising Embers and it¡¯s members. Alex simply smiled and gave him the ¡®don¡¯t worry about it¡¯ look.

    They decided to exit the dungeon and talk about the arrangement on the outside. Lily was the first to leave, followed by Alex, then Hawk and finally Lightbringer. Leo brought up the interface and pressed ¡®leave dungeon¡¯.

    System announcement: You cannot leave the Trial until it¡¯s either failed or completed.

    Leo panicked at the sudden announcement. Trial? He had already completed the dungeon, why would there be more? Leo thought about it logically and suddenly turned his questioning face into a bright smile.

 Chapter 5

    Leo surveyed the entire room in an attempt to understand the details of the trial. The Giant Wolf had completely faded away and the boss room was devoid of any life besides Leo. The ground began to shake and split apart. A rocky hand appeared from the cavern floor and quickly transformed into a 5-meter tall golem.

    The golem had two giant swords in both of its hands. Its eyes glowed a pure red which was only highlighted by the cavern¡¯s dim lighting. Leo inspected the golem with anticipating eyes.

    Guardian Golem (Leader)

    Level 5

    Health 1,500

    The golem¡¯s health was fairly high for a level 5 monsters, but Leo did not worry about it at all. His attack could hit in the 50s even slightly higher now that he had upgraded his spear. Leo walked towards the Golem without making a single sound. His steps were so light that anyone would find it difficult to hear them. He slowly closed the distance.

    30 meters

    20 meters

    15 meters

    5 meters

    The golem continued to stay still as if it hadn¡¯t detected him yet. Leo gazed at the golem in confusion.

    ¡°Are you blind or something?¡±

    Leo had only murmured the words but the golem still heard it. Its gigantic swords came down like a meteor and created a large crater where Leo stood just a second ago. Leo realized that he had moved without making a sound. Some monsters have great hearing and can detect players even before seeing them. Leo had fought such monsters so many times that his movements have become silent by default. It¡¯s not completely soundless, but it''s more than enough to fool monsters.

    Leo quickly sent out an attack with his [Spear Thrust] skill and followed up by a normal attack before moving away once more.

    -28

    -29

    -27

    -39

    The golem¡¯s defense was quite strong but he still dealt enough damage to slowly chip away at its health. Leo danced around the golem, constantly attacking from behind. The golem cried out in anger at being played with but its movements were too slow to keep up.

    Leo thrust his spear at the golem over and over until its health fell to 60%. The golem let out an angry cry, its eyes changing from red to blue. It quickly locked eyes with Leo as if to announce that its eyes were working again.

    Leo curled his lips into a smile and continued attacking. Even with its eyes working, Leo did not have any fear. He continued dodging its slow attacks with ease and countered with his spear.

    The golem¡¯s health slowly decreased.

    50%

    40%

    35%

    At 35% it once more made a move. Its eye changed to green and its swords began to shoot out magic. Leo moved in a predictable pattern and changed the direction the second the magic attacks flew out from the swords. Golems were all brawn and no brains. Even as a Leader rank, the golem couldn¡¯t comprehend why its attacks continued to miss.

    The golem¡¯s attack increased in speed but Leo could still easily avoid them. The golem¡¯s health slowly decreased and Leo was assured of his imminent victory.

    30%

    20%

    10%

    5%

    4%

    3%

    The golem was about to die when a sudden magic attack flew towards Leo. He quickly threw his body to the side and narrowly avoided the attack. He turned around and heard a loud boom as the cavern walls crumbled from the impact. Leo shuddered at the thought of what would happen if he took the attack head-on.

    Leo quickly gazed towards the attack¡¯s origin and saw a woman in a white dress standing in the corner. Her lips were pressed together and her eyes stared daggers towards Leo. He could easily see that she was annoyed by missing her attack. Leo quickly saw that she had a green name over her head, indicating that she was a friendly NPC, or she should at least be friendly. He could barely read the name ¡®Liana¡¯ before she disappeared again. Leo could no longer detect her presence and switched his focus back to the golem. He was far more on guard against a second attack but nothing happened. He finished killing the golem and quickly moved his head in every direction to see if Liana had appeared again.

    System: Guardian Golem (Leader) defeated! Awarding 100 EXP!

    Leo had his guard up for a solid 15 minutes before deciding that she probably wouldn¡¯t attack again. He had no idea why she attacked him in the first place. He walked up to the golem and picked up the loot.

    [Black Cloak (Bronze Quality)]

    Level requirement: 0

    Class restriction: none

    Item category: Back

    Special trait:

    The cloak hides a player¡¯s name, class, and level. Perfect for anyone looking for anonymity. It can be seen through by certain skills and NPCs.

    The cloak was fairly useless as a piece of equipment but Leo could see many non-combat related uses. This was not the item he was excited about though. The second and last item was a plain looking gold ring.

    [Ring of Saint Ferima (Legendary Quality)]

    Level requirement: 0

    Class restriction: none

    Item category: Quest item

    Special trait:

    Unlocks the Legendary Questline ¡®Finding the Saint¡¯s Scroll¡¯.

    System announcement: You have found the Ring of Saint Ferima and earned the right to start the Legendary Questline ¡®Finding the Saint¡¯s Scroll. If you choose to accept the quest, you will not be able to refuse later on. There will be severe consequences for failing the quest. It is recommended that only those willing to start their character all over again in the event of failure, accept this quest.

    Leo let out a laugh after reading the announcement. He was very familiar with the Saint¡¯s Ring and its questline. He had spent 8 years completing it in his past life and earned the right to enter the Saint¡¯s Gate to participate in the Saint Trials. He knew better than anyone how difficult the quest was, especially the consequences for failing.

    Leo knew about roughly 1,000 players who had received the ring one way or another. Only 99 of them managed to complete the questline while the rest deleted their characters and began anew. The penalty differed for each of them but he knew that one player had received a permanent 95% reduction in all attributes after failing.

    Nobody knew when the rings would show up or why. Leo did not question why he found it this early. It¡¯s not the first time they¡¯ve appeared in the early zones. Leo accepted the quest and was greeted by a series of announcements.

    System announcement: Congratulations on accepting the Legendary Questline ¡®Finding the Saint¡¯s Scroll¡¯. You have taken the first step towards the Saint¡¯s Gate!

    System announcement: You have received the title of [Knight] in Ferima Province.

    System announcement: You have received +50 global reputation.

    [Questline - Finding the Saint¡¯s Scroll (Legendary Rank)]

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.This is a Legendary Rank questline with multiple sub-quests ranging from Copper to Sub-Legendary in difficulty.

    Time limit: 12 years

    Rewards: Right to participate in the Saint Trials, ???

    Failure: ???

    Leo looked at the description of the quest. He was surprised by the time limit. Last time, every sub-quest had their own time limit but the overall quest never had one. He even had less time overall. 12 years of in-game time is equivalent to 3 years in the real world. He spent 8 years of real time on the quest last time and barely managed to finish it. How was he supposed to do that in less than half the time?

    Leo pushed the time limit aside for now. If he only had 3 years of real time, then so be it. He pulled up the first quest from the questline.

    [Sub-Quest-1: Visit Elion Themaer for further guidance (Copper Rank)]

    Find Elion Themaer in his smithy ¡®Flux Crux¡¯ located south of the Auction House in Ferima City.

    Bonus: If you visit Elion while near the owner of Saint Vialu¡¯s Ring, you¡¯ll both gain an extra reward.

    Leo read through the quest. It was not uncommon to gain bonuses for being with other ring owners. Each of the 100 rings are connected to each other. Leo held little hope of meeting the owner of Saint Vialu¡¯s Ring, his best shot would be to wait at Elion¡¯s smithy and hope they turn up. Leo decided to not try too hard. If he finds them he¡¯ll try to cooperate, if not, then so be it. If the quest proceeds like it did in his past life, the next quest after this one should be unique and only completable solo.

    This is the only one that matters. If he fails the personal sub-quest, he¡¯ll have to face strict consequences. The bonus quests will appear from time to time with a number of different ring owners. Leo could only hope to establish as many cooperative relationships as possible. He knew that it was unrealistic to expect every ring owner to cooperate.

    Seeing that there¡¯s nothing left to do, Leo once more tried to exit the dungeon. This time it thankfully worked and he quickly found himself transported to the outside. Leo slowly materialized in a cover of bright light. He saw Alex running up to him with a relieved expression.

    ¡°Finally! What took you so long?¡±

    Leo shared the quests information with Alex. It was the fastest way to explain.

    ¡°Wow, just wow. There¡¯s something like this in the game? I don¡¯t know if you''re blessed by the heavens or cursed by an evil witch.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s a good thing.¡±

    ¡°Sure if you can finish the quest. But what if you fail?¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll restart from scratch and try again.¡±

    ¡°I-I don¡¯t know what to say. Okay. You have full support from me. If there¡¯s anything I can help with, just let me know.¡±

    ¡°If you can have your guild¡¯s information network search for the owner of Vialu¡¯s Ring, that would be great.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing. I¡¯ll send a whisper to Catty, she¡¯ll have the team begin working immediately.¡±

    Lily walked up to them and quickly introduced a new player to the party.

    ¡°It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Snow and I am the current Guild Leader of Rising Embers.¡±

    Snow was an elegant looking woman around 20 years old. Her skin was pale like snow with long black hair stretching all the way to her lower back. Her face was slightly rounded with deep blue eyes like the ocean. She carried a faint noble like aura and spoke with a firm yet gentle voice.

    Leo quickly turned his head towards Alex but was surprised by his lack of interest. Snow was practically his dream type of woman yet he didn¡¯t even make an attempt at a cheesy pickup line. Alex saw Leo¡¯s questioning eyes and said ¡°What? I know my limits¡±. Leo rapidly blinked his eyes in confusion. Today he learned that Alex had a limit.

    Lily looked at both of them from the sideline and showed a clearly disappointed look on her face.

    ¡°Really? No reaction at all? How can you stay calm in front of a beauty like Snow? It seems you don¡¯t understand. Let me educate you! Snow is the one and only heir to Maze Security, the biggest security firm in the world! Their systems are installed in homes from small apartments to luxurious mansions for the uber-wealthy. She¡¯s also a professional gamer, martial artist and model. Surely you have heard of her before, right?¡±

    Leo did not know who Snow was at all. When he thought about it, he could indeed recall a player called Snow from his past life but that one was a middle-aged man working in a restaurant chain. Leo had only interacted with him when he was negotiating the contract for leasing a restaurant in one of Elecur¡¯s cities.

    As for this Snow being the heir to Maze Security, it did not impress him at all. Being an heir is as the name suggests, inherited. He did think highly of her achievements though. He was especially interested in learning more about her martial arts background.

    Leo had some strong thoughts about Maze Security but decided to not voice them. His former mansion had their very best security system installed and he was not particularly pleased with its performance. He doubted they would offer him a refund.

    Leo was about to respond but was cut short by Alex.

    ¡°Of course we know who Snow is. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Guild Leader Snow. My name is Ace and I represent Moonlight as their Vice Guild Leader. I believe Lily has told you about the plan?¡±

    ¡°She has indeed. If what she told me is true, then I would very much like to see it for myself.¡±

    Snow turned towards Leo and sized him up. She couldn¡¯t see what Lily was talking about. How was he an expert? She looked at his gear but couldn¡¯t tell its exact quality. It was clearly a set which was strange considering how few hours the game had been live.

    Lily told her that he had a Hidden Class but she didn¡¯t know it¡¯s specifics. Snow had also gained the Hidden Class Warpriest but still felt that doing Nightmare Mode would be too difficult. Was his class more powerful than hers?

    Alex flung his arm around Leo¡¯s neck and forcefully turned him around, his back now facing away from the others. He brought his face chin-to-chin with Leo and said in a low serious voice.

    ¡°You trust me right? I have never once asked anything of you, right?¡±

    Leo nodded in agreement.

    ¡°Good. I want you to let me handle this. I also want to reveal your ability to create equipment. I¡¯ll make Snow sign a nondisclosure agreement and if she can¡¯t keep her silence, I¡¯ll hunt her down through every court in the world if I have to. You¡¯re the only way I can get her to agree to an alliance with Moonlight. I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re paid fairly for any help you provide and you can refuse any request whenever you want.¡±

    Leo looked at Alex¡¯s serious eyes. He could tell that this was important to him and agreed to allow him to handle the details. This was also a good opportunity for Leo to expand his network. He no longer had the near infinite resources from Elecur to complete his Legendary Questline and any help he could get would be worth fighting for.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being selfish. I¡¯ll make it up to you, I promise.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯re brothers, right? Isn¡¯t this exactly the kind of thing brothers do for each other?¡±

    ¡°Haha, yeah.¡±

    Alex turned around and spoke to Snow.

    ¡°Ms. Snow, I apologize for making you wait. I have a very lucrative proposal that will benefit both of our guilds far more than you could ever imagine.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Do tell.¡±

    ¡°Before that, I need you and your party to sign an NDA. I assure you that the information I¡¯m about to tell you is highly valuable.¡±

    Snow frowned slightly at Alex¡¯s request. She knew that Moonlight had been trying to gain favor with Maze Security in order to create an alliance. She hated that kind of behavior but if what Alex said is true, then she would be a fool to decline.

    ¡°Ok. I accept your condition but don¡¯t hate me if I burn the relationship between Rising Embers and Moonlight to the ground if you disappoint me.¡±

    ¡°O-of course. I would never make you go through all this trouble for nothing.¡±

    Alex and Snow talked to each other in private for a short 5 minutes after signing the NDA. Leo was surprised by the swiftness and feared that Alex had failed to convince Snow. They both walked up to him and explained the situation.

    ¡°So we will help Ms. Snow and her Guild gain the first clear record for the dungeon on Nightmare Mode. Ms. Snow has agreed to pay 20,000$ for the privilege, 200 pieces of Copper Quality equipment and 75 pieces of Bronze Quality equipment.¡±

    Leo nodded agreeingly to Alex¡¯s words. 20,000$ might seem like a lot for a simple announcement, but considering Maze Security is a multi-billion dollar company, this lump of change is hardly anything to them. Leo was more interested in the equipment he would get out of this deal.

    ¡°That¡¯s a fair offer. I have no complaints.¡±

    Snow walked forward and spoke in a soft voice, somehow different from just a few minutes ago.

    ¡°I would like to request weapons for Lily and myself. Ace told me that you can make upgradable weapons. I will of course pay for the materials and labor cost. Just name your price.¡±

    ¡°Did he also tell you that the weapons need to be constantly upgraded with high-quality material to be of any use long term?¡±

    ¡°Y-yes of course. I assure you that I can gather the funds and materials myself. You only need to do the upgrade, when it¡¯s convenient, of course.¡±

    Leo nodded with a slight smile. He found it funny how Snow¡¯s personality made a 180 when she no longer held any power. Leo was probably the only player right now, and maybe ever, to make weapons like that. If she offended him, he could simply walk away and find someone else to do business with.

    ¡°What are you talking about? Let me in on the gossip! I want to know too... ¡°

    ¡°Lily please behave. Do not make trouble for Zero and Ace.¡±

    ¡°As you command Miss Ice Queen.¡±

    ¡°I TOLD you to NOT call me that!¡±

    ¡°Scary!¡±

    Leo turned towards Alex but he only shook his head as if to say ¡®don¡¯t ask about it¡¯. He was left confused about why Lily would call Snow, Ice Queen. Is it an inside joke because of her name?

    ¡°I think we should get going. Don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    ¡°Ah, sure. Lead the way.¡±

    Snow initiated the dungeon on the highest difficulty. After hearing Alex talk about Leo, she no longer feared that they would not be able to get through the dungeon.

    System announcement: Party leader [Snow] has initiated the dungeon [Wasted Mines] on [Nightmare Mode]. The death penalty is set to 5% EXP loss per death.

 Chapter 6

    The party entered the dungeon and proceeded to walk towards the first room with enemy wolves. The room was far smaller than last time which made the patrolling wolves walk close together, significantly increasing the chance for a pull to drag the entirety of the room towards them.

    ¡°What¡¯s this? How is anyone supposed to get through here?! Does the game think tanks have infinite health or something?¡±

    Leo let out a laugh at Lily¡¯s comment. The game certainly did treat tanks as punching bags, but not to this extent. In fact, Leo had already found several groups they could pull without alerting the others but decided to use another technique.

    Leo sent out a basic magic attack from his combined spear. The others were first slightly shocked by the sudden use of magic but then went into a full panic as they prepared to meet more than 40 deadly wolves.

    ¡°Are you crazy?! Do you want us to die?¡±

    Leo ignored Lily and watched as the blue orb of magic landed on the ground with a soft puff sound. Contrary to everyone¡¯s previous belief, the wolves did not come charging towards them. Leo had perfectly hit the outer range of the wolves detection range, making them investigate. He lured 3 wolves for the first pull to determine their strength. With how Lily has been improving, he thought this would be a decent opportunity for her to learn more.

    The three wolves continued to follow the sound of Leo¡¯s magic attack and quickly discovered the party. Lily pulled them in and the first battle on Nightmare Mode officially began.

    Gray Wolf (Common)

    Level 6

    Health: 5 850

    Lily managed to dodge their simple attacks a few times but eventually took a hit to her leg.

    -(22)

    Lily was absolutely stupefied by the number floating above her head. A single attack had taken almost 1/3 of her total health. Snow quickly reacted and healed her right up again.

    +20

    Leo guided Lily from the sideline while attacking the wolves. He was ready to switch places any time but Snow¡¯s outrageous amount of healing made that completely unnecessary. He had already known she possessed a Hidden Class by her use of both a staff and holy book, but never expected it to have this potent healing.

    ¡°Don¡¯t just move when you¡¯re attacked. Watch their legs and feet, they always tell you before attacking.¡±

    Lily diligently listened to Leo¡¯s words and made adjustments as the fight progressed. Leo was delighted at seeing her improve at such a rapid pace. He continued to guide her while still unleashing a devastating amount of damage on the poor wolves. The fight quickly ended and the wolves turned into experience points for the party.

    System: Gray Wolf (Common) defeated! Awarding 70 EXP!

    The party looked at the amount of EXP with a stupefied expression. They knew that Nightmare Mode gave five times the amount of EXP, but it was still baffling to actually see it. They didn¡¯t feel like it took that much longer either, which was mostly due to Lily keeping the threat level better allowing Leo to exert more of his power.

    Snow looked at the scene in disbelief. Was this the Lily she knew? Lily had always been a fast learner when it came to something she felt interested in, but wasn¡¯t this a bit extreme? Snow had just completed the [Hard Mode] and barely got through it alive, even with her unmatched healing prowess. They had wiped countless times due to overpulling yet now she¡¯s cruising through the most difficult mode of them all. She could only admire Leo¡¯s skill both as a player and teacher. It¡¯s such a shame that she can¡¯t rope him into Rising Embers.

    The increased amount of monsters and experience made Snow realize that they could actually level above the recommended level for the dungeon.

    ¡°Um, Zero and Ace. I¡¯m sorry for not noticing sooner but at this rate, we¡¯ll all level above 7 and won¡¯t be able to get the first clear record.¡±

    Leo looked at Snow and said ¡°Obviously. That¡¯s why we¡¯re not going to complete the dungeon right now.¡±

    Snow looked at Leo with a confused expression. Leo realized that he had been too vague and elaborated.

    ¡°I wanted to see how much experience we get before the last boss.¡±

    Snow immediately understood what he meant and turned her questioning face into a bright smile. To think that the system had such a loophole. Alex nodded approvingly to Leo¡¯s remark while Lily stood there like a headless chicken, unsure of what was happening.

    The party continued through the dungeon and quickly reached the first boss. Leo managed to reach level 6 and his spear reached level 5. This significantly increased his damage potential. He allocated his attribute points into 11 STR and 11 DEX and was once more reminded how important every 5 level is.

    Alex got to level 7 with his bow reaching level 6. Snow, Lily, and Hawk all reached level 8. Leo decided to let Lily tank the boss due to her level advantage. She was still in a happy mood after hearing that he would make her a custom shield. Leo could only let out a sigh at the thought of her signing an NDA without even reading it. Snow apologized for Lily¡¯s behavior and made sure to let him know that Lily wouldn¡¯t reveal his class¡¯ specialty.

    Leo quickly went over the attack pattern from the normal mode to ensure everyone was clear on it. He then made sure to warn them that the boss will have one extra skill compared to last time. This would be the only difficult part of the fight.

    Lily began by initiating the fight quickly followed by arrows, magic spells, and Leo¡¯s spear. The boss howled in anger at the sudden onslaught. Leo used his only skill and finished with a normal attack to the wolf¡¯s abdomen.

    -54

    -57

    -53

    -67

    The fight continued uneventfully until the boss hit 80%. The wolf crouched down and charged its tail with light blue flames. Leo continued to attack for as long as he possibly could before jumping back, completely avoiding its tail swipe attack.

    The fight resumed as normal until the boss had 51% of its health left. The entire party quickly ran away from the boss and waited for the room-wide AOE skill. The boss then used it¡¯s fiery tail several times in quick succession in a futile attempt at killing Lily.

    -(30)

    -(25)

    +40

    -(25)

    +80!

    Lily¡¯s health went up and down constantly but never to a critical level. The fight continued on like normal until the wolf hit 5%. Leo used his full concentration on the boss. They had taken it down to 5% which would make it use its previously last skill, but on nightmare difficulty, it should have one more.

    The wolf sent out a fiery spell once more, completely surrounding the room. It then sent out a close-range AOE. The attacks were no different than before and they easily avoided them both. The boss lost its health at a rapid pace.

    4%

    3%

    2%

    1%

    Leo was getting more and more nervous as the boss had yet to reveal its final skill.

    340

    257

    102

    37

    1

    When the boss only had a single HP left, it suddenly let out a loud howl making it completely immune to all attacks. Its health began to rapidly fill up again.

    1%

    10%

    40%

    80%

    100%

    The party started cursing their luck. What happened? Did they miss a mechanic and would have to do the entire fight over again? Leo was the only one not dejected by the situation. He recognized this skill from his previous life. Assuming it''s still the same, it should make the boss unable to use any skills.

    The fight continued on and the boss quickly reached 80%. Unlike before, the boss no longer used any skills and the party easily managed to kill it.

    System: Giant Gray Wolf (Leader) defeated! Awarding 2,800 EXP!

    The experience was enough for Alex to level his bow up to 7 and reach 60% towards level 8. The others also reached more than halfway to level 9 with Snow being the only to actually level up.

    Snow walked up to the wolf and initiated the loot distribution. They still choose to use the standard distribution rules. The first item quickly found its way to the interface.

    [Gray Wolf¡¯s Helmet (Iron Quality)]

    Level requirement: 5

    Class restriction: Priest, Holy Mage, Scholar

    Armor type: Cloth

    Item category: Helmet

    Defense: 12

    Magic defense: 16

    Attributes

    INT +8

    PIT +6

    Mana +7

    The first item was a good Iron Quality helmet for healers. The Quality rating goes from Copper ¡ú Bronze ¡ú Iron ¡ú Steel ¡ú Silver ¡ú Gold ¡ú Dark Gold ¡ú Epic ¡ú Sub-Legendary ¡ú Legendary.

    There is a rumored Celestial after Legendary but Leo had personally not seen it before. Even if it did exist, it¡¯s unlikely that normal players would even be able to use it without dying from its power.

    The helmet went to Snow due to her being the only healer. The class restrictions usually only show the base classes and any of the Hidden Classes or even just Advancement Classes can use them. Given the type of armor or weapon is compatible, of course.

    The next item was somewhat special.

    [Lover¡¯s Potion (Rare)]

    Level requirement: 0

    Class restriction: None

    Item category: Consumable

    Description: Consume to bind two players together for eternity. The two players will share their bank, money pouch, owned land, shops, buildings, etc. It cannot be forced and both players have to give consent. Not reversible.

    This item was rather special. It offers no real advantage but would be convenient for a married couple, for example, to easily share their bank. Leo had no personal use for this item but he could see it fetching a good price on the market, even if it was just used symbolically.

    No one wanted to claim the item for themselves due to embarrassment. They decided to just roll for it and whoever gets it can use it or sell it.

    Zero: 2

    Snow: 99

    Hawk: 3

    Lily: 2

    Ace: 4

    Everyone stared blankly at the result. Is this what they call faith? Lily did not let this chance slip by for even a second before starting to tease Snow.

    ¡°Oh~? Do you have a lo~ver I¡¯m not aware of? Has the Ice Queen¡¯s heart finally softened?¡±

    Snow¡¯s face became completely red in embarrassment. Lily knew perfectly well that she was single. The situation settled down after Lily had her fun and the next item was revealed.

    [Lover¡¯s Poem (Iron Rank)]

    Level requirement: 0

    Class restriction: None

    Item category: Quest

    Description: The half-elf Wilith Daerel was brutally murdered by the Giant Gray Wolf while walking through Tuliun Forest. His last wish is for someone to bring his poem to his lover Ayla Iarrieth in Ferima City.

    Reward: ???

    The Lover¡¯s Potion suddenly made more sense. Leo found it to be weird that a wolf would drop such an item out of nowhere. Since the quest had no specific restriction, they all rolled for it.

    Zero: 70

    Snow: 97

    Lily: 35

    Hawk: 23

    Ace: 73

    Snow once more turned bright red as Lily bombarded her with teasing. It was almost like the system itself wanted to see how embarrassed it could make her. There were a cape and two necklaces remaining which went to Snow, Lily, and Alex respectively.

    The party continued on towards the last boss room. There were a few wolves here and there, but they were quickly disposed of. After walking for ten minutes the party found the boss room. The room was gigantic with elegant cave paintings and a huge light-blue wolf standing in the middle of the room.

    Leo decided to level his shield to 4 and armor to 4 in preparation of the final boss fight. Now that they had gained all the experience they could, there was no longer any reason to worry about going past level 7 before the dungeon is completed. The only thing remaining was to reduce the levels of Snow, Lily, and Hawk back to 7.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    The party exited the dungeon and walked to Leomar Town. Lily walked next to Leo, practically bunnyhopping all the way to the town, describing how she wants her shield to be.

    They quickly entered the town and Snow met up with a few players from her Guild. They had gathered the promised 200 Copper equipment and 75 Bronze equipment for Leo. Snow wanted him to use it for his own upgrade in order to ensure their victory.

    She also prepared 200 Bronze equipment for hers and Lily¡¯s weapons and 5 Copper equipment for Hawk¡¯s bow. Snow had already made an agreement to purchase the weapons for her and Lily but not for Hawk. She found it unwise to invest too many resources into a player like Hawk when she knew that Leo wouldn¡¯t be able to upgrade the weapon. It was far better to take it slow and not overwhelm him with requests for weapons.

    Leo took the resources and looked at Hawk. He felt a bit sad that Snow didn¡¯t think highly enough of him to prepare a suitable amount of materials. He couldn¡¯t blame here though. Every bound creation he makes will need an insane amount of resources throughout its lifespan to stay relevant. Leo had no plans on handing them out half-heartedly. The more bound weapons and armor he creates, the more work he¡¯ll have upgrading them later.

    Leo first deconstructed the Copper equipment into 358x [Scrap Metal] and 244x [Copper Dust]. This would be enough for him to experiment with. He then deconstructed the Bronze equipment into 220x [Bronze Core] and 136x [Bronze Dust].

    This confirmed his suspicion that each quality has different raw materials. Leo proceeded to deconstruct the materials for Snow and Lily¡¯s weapon. He had included the Copper equipment into his own supply simply because of the small amount, but the Bronze ones needed more care. He would use the materials they provide in full. Leo decided to let Snow add the price tag for the work.

    The 200 Bronze equipment consisted of:

    35x Level 0 ¡ú 42x [Bronze Core] & 27x [Bronze Dust]

    42x Level 1 ¡ú 65x [Bronze Core] & 39x [Bronze Dust]

    72x Level 2 ¡ú 114x [Bronze Core] & 88x [Bronze Dust]

    51x Level 3 ¡ú 232x [Bronze Core] & 149x [Bronze Dust]

    The equipment turned into a total of 453x [Bronze Core] & 303x [Bronze Dust]. Leo decided to simply split the materials in two and use about equal amounts of material for each weapon. He entered his creation space and began by creating Lily¡¯s shield.

    He only had the option of creating a standard shield but customized the appearance to be more unique, as described by Lily. Leo wanted to get his hands on more recipes to see how the product would change but had to put it on hold for now.

    Leo designed the shield to be square and slightly shorter than the standard Knight shield. The compact design allowed for a bit more defense on the shield itself but also made it cover less of the body.

    Leo made the color scheme dark-red with some gray. He added some golden symbols along the sides as decoration and distributed the material with a focus on the center of the shield. There really wasn¡¯t that much to do when it came to creating shields so Leo quickly finished the work in about 10 minutes.

    System: Generating shield ¡­ Binding to [Lily] ¡­ Shield completed!

    System: Base: 324P, Quality: 275P. Overall score: 599P

    [Kingdom¡¯s Heart (Bronze Quality)]

    Level 0 (0 / 100)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Lily]

    Item category: Shield

    Attribute requirements: 7 STR, 5 VIT

    Defense: 48

    Magical defense: 29

    Durability: 125 / 125

    Attributes

    VIT +5

    RES +5

    Health +10

    Leo looked at the shield with a satisfied expression. It was a very strong shield compared to its Quality rating. Considering that materials from a hundred Bronze equipment were used in its creation, it would be weird if it wasn¡¯t powerful. Blacksmiths can still create better shields, but theirs are level locked and can¡¯t be upgraded.

    Leo switched over to Snow¡¯s Staff and began the creation process with the remaining materials. He quickly designed the staff to be of a light-brown wooden color and about the same size as her current one. He then added in a few symbols representing Goddess Xela due to Snow¡¯s class. If she¡¯s lucky, the Staff might be blessed at some point increasing its power even more.

    The staff took 15 minutes due to the extra need to balance the magic power throughout the staff. Leo had learned more about how different amounts of material in specific spots on a weapon can increase its power.

    System: Generating staff ¡­ Binding to [Snow] ¡­ Staff completed!

    System: Base: 352P, Quality: 321P, Functionality: 93P. Overall score: 766P

    [Starlight Warstaff (Bronze Quality)]

    Level 0 (0 / 100)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Snow]

    Item category: Main-weapon

    Attribute requirements: 5 INT, 5 PIT

    Spell power: 24

    Durability: 60 / 60

    Attributes

    INT +5

    PIT +5

    Mana +15

    Special trait:

    15% increase to casting speed for spells.

    5% less mana consumption for spells.

    Leo looked at the staff in disbelief. He could actually get passive abilities on the weapons? He thought back to when he created his shield and the functionality score it had. He assumed that the functionality comes from balancing when creating the weapon. His shield had a transformation type functionality while this staff has faster casting speed. It would seem that he still had plenty to learn about his class.

    He finished by upgrading his spear and shield to Bronze Quality then created a simple weapon for Hawk to reduce his level to 7. Leo first created a bow without a binding restriction but quickly found that the bow only needed 15% EXP per level. It was also restricted to level 5 and didn¡¯t use nearly enough EXP to make Hawk return to level 7. He then created a simple bound bow and Hawk quickly went back to level 7.

    ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s great. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any other weapon out there with such high stats for its relatively low-quality rank.¡±

    ¡°I love it! It¡¯s so much better than those towers they dare call shields.¡±

    Leo could see that Snow was thinking hard about the price. It¡¯s not like there¡¯s an established market dealing in upgradable weapons. The cost mostly comes from the materials and Leo had been given them all before beginning the creation.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to pay right now. Try the weapons out for a bit and decide on it¡¯s worth then.¡±

    Snow gave Leo a nod before they continued on. With all of them now at or below 7, the dungeon could be completed and they would still receive the record. The party quickly headed back to the dungeon and began the final fight. Although Lily had a far better shield and had improved a lot, Leo still felt the need to be the main tank for the final boss just in case.

    [Guardian Wolf (Leader)]

    Level 7

    Health 95 000

    The wolf diligently guarded the emerald colored orb to protect the dungeon. Leo took a good look around to see if he could use the terrain to his advantage. Unfortunately, just like the previous boss, there was nothing in the room except for the boss and the orb.

    Leo slowly stepped forward and entered the boss¡¯ range. The wolf howled at him before quickly dashing forwards. It lifted its large paw and aimed at his head. Leo easily moved away from the attack and returned a series of attacks of his own.

    -75

    -79

    -75

    -121

    -125

    Leo dealt a large amount of damage in a short timespan and quickly secured the boss¡¯ threat. The others promptly began releasing attacks of their own, officially starting the final fight.

    Leo continued to dodge as the Guardian Wolf tried to kill him. Its health slowly dipped down to 85% and it activated its first skill. Leo put his full concentration into observing the surrounding, trying to predict what it would do.

    The wolf stopped attacking and Leo instinctively jumped back. The boss shot out water from his mouth towards the spot Leo had just left. The water quickly froze to solid ice and a cold sweat could be seen on Leo¡¯s face. If he had waited any longer he would have been frozen in place and beaten to death.

    The wolf was angry at missing its target and dashed towards him to continue its attack. Leo once more dodged the boss¡¯ attacks as the entire team bombarded the wolf with high damage numbers. The fight continued on and the boss slowly lost its health.

    80%

    75%

    70%

    Leo was getting worried due to the boss not doing anything else yet. He quickly looked around the room once more to see if anything changed. He looked up at the ceiling and saw icicles starting to form across the entire roof.

    The icicles were swinging back and forth, some more than others. Leo quickly found the pattern and directed his party to move according to his command. The icicles began falling down from the roof, piercing the floor.

    The party had elegantly moved out of the way, cold sweat dripping from each one of their faces. Although his team had started to calm down, Leo was concentrating more than ever. He would never believe that an attack like that would appear at random.

    He quickly tried to inspect the icicle.

    [Icicle]

    Level 0

    Health: 50

    Leo confirmed his suspicion. In other games, an attack like this might have looked like a sword appearing out of nowhere or several small bomb-like monster standing still with a fuse slowly burning away.

    He quickly ordered his team to clear all the icicles and switched his focus from attacking to destroying the icicles. They quickly cleared them away and continued to attack the boss. The wolf leaped up into the air, floated for a bit and let out an ear-piercing howl before descending again.

    Leo was certain that this attack would have triggered the icicles to explode, dealing damage based on the number of icicles remaining.

    Snow was once again flabbergasted by Leo¡¯s abilities. The thought of the icicles being part of a chain explosion had not even crossed her mind. She though the attack was the icicles falling down and the obstruction they caused was the only extra effect.

    The fight continued on and the boss slowly lost its health.

    60%

    50%

    40%

    30%

    Leo continuously watched the boss¡¯ movement, as well as his surroundings. It still had not done its sure-kill skill.

    25%

    20%

    15%

    The wolf suddenly stopped attacking and Leo once more instinctively jumped back. He observed the boss while attacking with his magic spell. Ice started surrounding the wolf¡¯s fur and it slowly froze into place.

    Leo had a bad feeling about this sudden turn of events but could not see through the incoming attack at all.

    -0

    -0

    -0

    Their attacks stopped dealing damage and Leo immediately ran towards the team. Although he was not completely sure about it, he felt like this had the signs of a team-wiping skill written all over it.

    ¡°Quickly stand in a line behind me! Snow, focus all your healing on me!¡±

    They did not question him and quickly formed a line. Leo silently observed the wolf while walking backward, his shield held high. The ice surrounding it had begun to shake. A loud explosion erupted from the ice surrounding the boss.

    Icicles shoot out from the wolf¡¯s location in all directions. The icicles were so close together that Leo would be unable to avoid them. Several icicles hit him as the attack continued on. Snow struggled to keep him alive while the constant barrage of icicles continued.

    -(11)

    -(22!)

    +35

    -(12)

    -(13)

    -(11)

    +32

    Leo¡¯s health continued to go up and down as the attacked continued on for what seemed like an eternity. He finally managed to meet up with the party and quickly said ¡°Lily, switch places with me. Keep your shield up. Snow, heal Lily¡±.

    Lily did as she was told and took a defensive stand in front of the others.

    -(7)

    -(18!)

    -(16!)

    +35

    Lily¡¯s defense was significantly higher than Leo due to her class. Leo still needed to get a good passive skill for reducing damage before he could tank attacks like this. Lily continued protecting the party and the onslaught of icicles eventually ended. The boss no longer had any skills to defend itself and quickly fell to their brutal assault.

    System: Guardian Wolf (Leader) defeated! Awarding 4,225 EXP!

    System announcement: Congratulations on completing [Wasted Mines] on [Nightmare Mode]! Awarding 2,500 EXP!

    System announcement: Congratulations on achieving the first clear of [Wasted Mines] on [Nightmare Mode]! Awarding 2,000 EXP, 5 silver per player and 7 reputations in Ferima Province!

    System announcement: Congratulations on achieving the fastest clear of [Wasted Mines] at [Nightmare Mode] with a time of 2 hours, 47 minutes and 44 seconds! Awarding 1,000 EXP, 3 free attribute points and 3 reputations in Ferima Province!

    The experience was more than enough to get Leo to level 7. He put his attribute points into 6 STR and 3 DEX. Leo was surprised that they qualified for the fastest clear record but welcomed the extra attribute points. All dungeons have a set minimum time to beat in order to qualify for the fastest clear. They had wasted quite a lot of time walking to Leomar Town and creating the weapons but still got it.

    The party was absolutely ecstatic at the system announcements and could not believe that they had actually managed to beat the dungeon on the highest difficulty. While most players had yet to even beat hard difficulty, they had gone and done the seemingly impossible.

    A system announcement appeared in front of Snow notifying her about the achievement.

    System announcement: You are eligible for a Kingdom-wide announcement. Please enter the party¡¯s name.

    Snow promptly entered the name Rising Embers and the announcement quickly entered the ears of every player in the kingdom. It did not take long for news sites to get a hold of the information which spread Rising Embers¡¯ fame throughout the entire game. The forums saw a sharp increase in player activity.

    [Unimportant person #1] ¡°How is that even possible? My party can¡¯t even defeat the boss on normal difficulty?!¡±

    [Unimportant person #2] ¡°Congratulations Rising Embers! I love you Ice Queen Snow!¡±

    [Unimportant person #3] ¡°Of course it was the Ice Queen¡¯s Guild taking the first clear. Rising Embers is just too powerful!¡±

    [Dave] ¡°Does anyone know where I can find Blacksmith Sanmut? Please, I¡¯ve walked around for hours.¡±

    Snow approached the boss and began the loot distribution. The first item quickly showed up in the interface.

    [Vengeful Obsidian Scimitar (Gold Quality)]

    Level requirement: 5

    Class restriction: Knight, Raptor

    Item category: Main-weapon

    Attack power: 96

    Attributes

    STR +14

    DEX +10

    Rage +5

    Lily¡¯s jaw hit the floor when she saw the weapon¡¯s stats. She did a cute dance as she clicked the [Need] button. The sword was pitch black with a beautiful scabbard engraved with intricate gold carvings. The blade was thin, but sturdy with a reddish color along its sharp edge. It was incredibly strong for a level 5 weapon, but it would become useless fairly soon. A level 5 Gold Quality weapon is roughly equal to a level 10 Steel quality weapon.

    [Elegant Obsidian Book (Gold Quality)]

    Level requirement: 5

    Class restriction: Holy Mage

    Item category: Secondary-weapon

    Spell power: 57

    Attributes:

    INT +11

    VIT +8

    Mana +12

    This time Snow got a great secondary weapon. It still had the same problem as Lily¡¯s scimitar, but being a secondary weapon made it''s worth slightly higher. Leo began wondering if the drops were player specific due to achieving the first clear.

    [Exiled Redwood Composite Bow (Gold Quality)]

    Level requirement: 5

    Class restriction: Ranger

    Item category: Main-weapon

    Attack power: 167

    Attributes:

    STR +7

    DEX +18

    Spirit +12

    Leo was now sure that the drops were tailored to each specific player in the party. The bow went to Hawk as Alex already had a custom one. Alex got a cape that increased his attack power and dexterity significantly. Leo waited in anticipation for his drop.

    [Diabuth¡¯s Ring of the Forgotten Realm (Gold Quality)]

    Level requirement: 5

    Class restriction: None

    Item category: Ring

    Attack power: 12

    Attributes:

    STR +7

    Mana +10

    Rage +10

    Health +10

    Description: Forged by Master Blacksmith Lothaelynn Icebrow and imbued by the Guardian of the Forgotten Realm. You might want to convince a historian to take a closer look at the ring.

    Leo was happy with the ring. It¡¯s not super powerful but accessories, in general, are difficult to come by and getting one this early on was great. With the dungeon completed, they quickly teleported outside.

    ¡°Thank you for helping us get the first clear and for the weapons. I hope we can work together from now on.¡±

    ¡°Of course. I would be happy to help when I can.¡±

    Leo added Snow to his friend¡¯s list and prepared to head back to town when he suddenly noticed her face change drastically.

    ¡°Snow, is something wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I have to leave. I¡¯ll contact you later to talk more about ways to help each other.¡±

    ¡°Okay, by-e¡±

    Snow quickly disconnected from the game and left Leo feeling that something terrible happened.

 Chapter 7

    Leo stood still gazing at the spot Snow stood just a few seconds ago. He felt that everything happened so suddenly and couldn¡¯t help but feel worried. Alex walked up to him after seeing Leo stare at nothing for far too long.

    ¡°Does your life feel meaningless now that you¡¯re back to being stuck with only me?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? No, it¡¯s just ¡­ Don¡¯t you think Snow left in a hurry? Do you think something happened?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe her pizza delivery came.¡±

    ¡°But why would she order a pizza ¡­¡±

    ¡°Leo! Calm down, I¡¯m joking. It won¡¯t do us any good speculating. Let¡¯s just wait for her to return and if she wants to tell us, she will.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I guess she will. Let¡¯s go back to town, I want to experiment some more with the creation skill.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. I need to talk with the Guild about all this anyway.

    Leo said his farewells to Lily and Hawk before heading to Leomar Town with Alex. They split up at the gate and Leo found a place to sit down. He then opened his menu and accessed the creation space.

    Leo looked at his available materials:

    358x Scrap Metal

    224x Copper Dust

    He thought about what to do with it. He already had all the gear he would need and the quality was simply too low to make a difference in an upgrade. Leo decided to explore the financial side of his skill. He had received all the material through hunting and from others. He still hadn¡¯t bought any from other players.

    Leo exited his creation space and walked to the Auction house. The auction house stood in the middle of the town. It was a massive building made out of a mix of stone and wood. The stone pillars had intricate carvings on them, making the entire building look like a piece of artwork.

    Around the auction house were several hundred carpets with players sitting cross-legged, all kinds of items covering up the tiny carpet in front of them. All he could hear were chattering voices as players haggled with each other to get the best price possible.

    Leo entered the auction house, passing by the two heavily armored guards keeping the auction house safe from dangers. He walked on the red carpet, quickly found an empty seat and opened the auction house¡¯s interface.

    The listings were constantly updated with items being put up for sale or bought every minute. Leo looked through the equipment tabs and memorized every listing he could see. He then closed his eyes and organized the information in his mind.

    He found that the average listing price for a level 0 Copper equipment was 5 Copper, increasing by around 1 Copper per level up to level 4. Leo could not find any listings for equipment at or above level 5 which he found to be reasonable.

    Bronze equipment sold for a minimum of 35 copper and increased unevenly due to the immense demand. Leo did a quick calculation and found that Snow had spent around 80 silver on her staff and shield for Lily. She probably got the equipment from her Guild so it''s not completely right, but the worth is still the same.

    Leo opened the in-game exchange platform and checked the price for gold. He was flabbergasted by the insane markup.

    1 Copper = 0.1$

    1 Silver = 10$

    1 Gold = 1,000$

    The exchange platform was mostly meant as a way for players to earn money while playing in order to reduce the unemployment rate worldwide. With the current market, only corporations and rich workshops can afford to buy gold directly.

    Leo checked the availability and found that the market currently only had 2 silver for sale. The silver disappeared while he watched and the market no longer had any coin for sale. He continued to watch and saw numerous copper enter the system and then disappear almost immediately. Even if he had all the money in the world he¡¯d still be hard press to buy a single copper from the exchange platform.

    He closed the interface and went back to thinking about what to do. His creations were several times better than anything on the market but he was unsure if the players could afford it.

    There was only one way to test his creation¡¯s market potential. Leo entered the menu once more and activated his creation space. He decided on trying to use 50x [Scrap Metal] and 40x [Copper Dust]. Leo estimated the production cost to be around 1 silver¡¯s worth of equipment.

    Leo began by designing a shield. He made it look slightly squared at the edges and colored it in a gray metal color. He then added some ornamentals to make it look more unique before adding the materials.

    The process took a short 5 minutes as Leo had become proficient at creating shields. He could only change the finer details from time to time and create a standard in order to increase the overall score.

    System: Generating shield ¡­ Limiting max-level ¡­ Shield completed!

    System: Base: 116P, Quality: 86P. Overall Score: 202P

    [Simple Metal Shield (Copper Quality)]

    Level 0 (0 / 15)

    Max level: 9

    Class restriction: Knight

    Item category: Secondary-weapon

    Durability: 40 / 40

    Defense: 19

    Magic defense: 12

    Attributes:

    VIT +3

    Leo looked at the shield with mixed feelings. On one hand, it¡¯s power was certainly noteworthy, on the other it''s maxed level was unfortunately only 9. The user would lose out on the important level 10 mark and have to change shield then. He could probably make about twice the amount of coin if it was level 10.

    Leo let out a sigh before listing the shield on the Auction House. He had to pay a small transaction fee but the anonymity made it worth the reduced profit. Leo decided to not add any experience points to the shield. He hoped that a Guild with players still migrating over would see the listing and start a bidding war.

    He put the starting price to be 1 silver and 15 copper with no buyout price. This easily made the shield one of the most expensive items on the auction house. Leo then entered his creation space once more and began to use the rest of the materials.

    He created five other weapons from the remaining materials with an overall score ranging from 159P to 219P. It took him 30 minutes to finish it all and Leo once more accessed the Auction House. He pulled up his listing for the shield and was left speechless at its price.

    Listing for [Simple Metal Shield (Copper Quality)]

    Starting bid: 1 Silver, 15 Copper

    Buyout Price: Not set

    Current highest bid: 9 Silver, 22 Copper

    Time remaining: 2 minutes, 33 seconds

    How was this even possible? Leo struggled to understand why someone would spend more than 9 silver on a shield they won¡¯t need after level 10. He calmed himself down and thought about it logically. 9 silver was an insane amount for a normal player but it¡¯s nothing to a large guild. While thinking about it, the timer reached 0 and the shield officially sold.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    System announcement: Your listing for [Simple Metal Shield (Copper Quality)] has sold for 9 silver and 22 Copper. You will receive 8 silver and 97 copper (3% tax).

    Leo looked at the announcement still in disbelief. He had gained a 2% tax reduction due to his title of Knight in Ferima Province, which included Leomar Town. This reminded him that he also gains a 30% discount in all normal NPC shops in Ferima Province as well.

    Leo quickly put the other weapons up for sale and began walking towards the NPC market. He walked through every armor and weapon shop in the district but could not find anyone selling Bronze equipment for a decent price. Even with his discount the price still exceeded the Auction House.

    Leo suddenly remembered that there might be a cheaper shop in the Slums. He only needed the Quality level to be Bronze so even if the stats are terrible he¡¯d still buy them for the right price.

    He hurriedly made his way to the Slums and began walking around in search of an armor or weapon shop. Leo walked past a seemingly ordinary plot with several shack-like houses when a certain sound hit his ear. The sound was unmistakably that of a hammer hitting a piece of metal.

    He quickly followed the sound and found a smithy hidden within the sea of shabby shacks and rundown houses. The front sign displayed the words ¡°The Titled Anvil¡±. The words were so faded into the wooden sign that he could hardly read them at all.

    He walked through the door and was greeted by mountains of armor and weapons filling up the entire room. It was almost impossible to walk through the room without accidentally knocking down a weapon or two.

    Leo found his way through the heaps of equipment and was greeted by an old looking wooden counter with a young girl sitting on a chair behind. The girl was reading a book, seemingly unaware that she worked at a store.

    He decided to look around before interrupting her reading. It would be a shame to interrupt her if he ended up not buying anything. Leo inspected several of the chestplates hanging on the wall.

    [Basic Chestplate (Bronze Quality)]

    Level requirement: 2

    Armor type: Plate

    Item category: Torso

    Defense: 5

    Magic defense: 3

    Description: A generic bronze chestplate made following the [Apprentice¡¯s Blacksmith Guide] designs.

    Price:

    Original:15 copper

    Your price: 11 copper

    Leo looked at the price in disbelief. The chestplate was certainly something no-one would ever wear due to its terrible defense, but 11 copper was simply too low. Even an ordinary Blacksmith player would buy it in a heartbeat for its materials.

    Leo quickly checked the prices of several other types of equipment and found that they were all cheap. Leo thanked his lucky stars for guiding him to this shop. There¡¯s simply no way he¡¯ll not make money from gear created by this equipment.

    Leo quickly walked up to the counter and coughed to grab the girl¡¯s attention. The girl was startled by his sudden appearance and quickly shot up from the chair.

    ¡°S-s-s-sir Knight, h-h-how may I help you?¡±

    ¡°I want to buy several weapons and armors.¡±

    Leo could clearly see that the girl was nervous about his title. Normally you would never find a Noble wandering around in the Slums, not to mention a Knight, which was one rank higher. He wanted to calm her down but was suddenly interrupted by a door flying open with a loud sound.

    ¡°What¡¯s the ruckus in here? Can you not hear me trying to work?¡±

    An old man with large muscles walked through the door while screaming in a loud voice. He was clearly the Blacksmith responsible for making all the equipment in the shop. The old man looked at him and shouted once more.

    ¡°Either you buy something or get the hell out of my shop.¡±

    Leo was flabbergasted by the man¡¯s words. He had never been talked to in such a manner by an NPC of lower status than himself. The girl suddenly went into a panic before he could respond.

    ¡°F-father you cannot speak to sir Knight like that!¡±

    The girl turned towards Leo and bowed so low that her head almost hit the floor.

    ¡°I am terribly sorry for my father¡¯s attitude. Please do not have him thrown in jail. I swear he is normally a good person.¡±

    Leo was shocked by the sudden development but remained calm on the outside. He had no intention of throwing the Blacksmith in jail. He might be a noble in the game but in real life, he¡¯s just a commoner like them.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, I won¡¯t do anything like that.¡±

    The girl let out a relieved sigh before turning towards her father, scolding him for his previous outburst. Leo could clearly see that the man did not regret his words at all. He stared at the two of them for a solid minute before bursting into laughter.

    Leo calmed himself before saying ¡°I like you. You do not care about titles and formalities. It¡¯s a pleasant change from the usual people in town¡±. He could see that the Blacksmith¡¯s expression softened slightly. It would seem that he does not like nobles very much.

    The shop¡¯s interface popped up in front of him, displaying everything available for sale. Leo had a bit under 15 silver on his person and used all of it to buy equipment. He bought a total of 136 pieces of gear before he could no longer afford more. The shop still had 114 pieces of equipment left for sale and would add 25 more every day from now on.

    Leo deconstructed the material and gained 645x [Bronze Core] and 444x [Bronze Dust]. He used about half of it on his armor and the rest on his spear and shield. Leo then inspected his gear with a bright smile on his face.

    Base: 129P ¡ú 375P

    Quality: 82P ¡ú 341P

    Functionality: 102P

    Total: 313P ¡ú 818P

    [Tricky Magic Shield (Copper Quality ¡ú Bronze Quality)]

    Level 0 (0 / 100) ¡ú 4 (0 / 1,500)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Secondary weapon

    Attribute requirements: 4 STR, 3 DEX ¡ú 7 STR, 5 DEX

    Durability: 40 / 40 ¡ú 50 / 50

    Shield mode:

    Defense 22 ¡ú 39

    Magic defense 24 ¡ú 37

    Attributes:

    VIT +2 ¡ú 6

    RES +3 ¡ú 5

    Health +5 ¡ú 15

    Attachment mode:

    Attack power: 2-5 ¡ú 15-19

    Spell power: 18-24 ¡ú 31-39

    Attributes:

    INT +3 ¡ú 7

    PIT +2 ¡ú 5

    Mana +5 ¡ú 18

    Leo did not want to offer his EXP right now to get the shield to 5. He did not expect to run into any particular trouble until he could gather enough EXP to level it. He still had the option of leveling it up at any time should he feel the need.

    Base: 102P ¡ú 372P

    Quality: 68P ¡ú 339P

    Enchantment: 10P

    Total: 180P ¡ú 721P

    [Faithful Spear (Copper Quality ¡ú Bronze Quality)]

    Level: 1 (0 / 200) ¡ú 6 (0 / 2,900)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Main-weapon

    Attribute requirements: 4 STR, 2 DEX ¡ú 10 STR, 5 DEX

    Attack power: 13-18 + (2-3) ¡ú 59-72 + (2-3)

    Durability: 35 / 35 ¡ú 60 / 60

    Attributes:

    STR +3 ¡ú 9

    DEX +1 ¡ú 6

    Considering Lily¡¯s scimitar had an attack power of 96 at level 5 with Gold Quality rank, he could confidently say that his weapon had a very high attack power. With how much materials and EXP it¡¯s costing him, the weapon better be good even at low quality.

    Base: 67P ¡ú 385P

    Quality: 35P ¡ú 339P

    Functionality: 0P ¡ú 72P

    Total: 102P ¡ú 819P

    [Armor of Destiny (Copper Quality ¡ú Bronze Quality)]

    Level 0 (0 / 100) ¡ú 4 (0 / 1,500)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Armor set

    Attribute requirements: 4 STR, 2 VIT ¡ú 8 STR, 6 VIT

    Defense: 16 ¡ú 87

    Magical defense: 12 ¡ú 62

    Durability: 75 / 75 ¡ú 90 / 90

    Attributes:

    VIT +2 ¡ú 7

    RES +2 ¡ú 5

    Health +5 ¡ú 30

    *New*

    Special trait:

    15% chance to block one attack every 30 seconds.

    Leo was both happy and confused by his armor gaining a special trait. He still hadn¡¯t figured out what exactly makes a piece of equipment worthy of having a functionality. It made sense for his shield/attachment combo to have it, but what did he do differently with his armor?

    With no more material to experiment with, Leo once more exited his creation space and checked if his five listings had sold. Not only had all of them sold, but their price was also even more than double that of the shield. He made a total of 1 gold from roughly 5 silvers¡¯ worth of materials.

    The combined power of thousands of players in a large guild is truly something to be frightened about. Leo decided to not sell any more creations until he reached Ferima City. This would give players more time to gain gold and realize how nice it is to have a weapon that follows you as you level.

    Leo wanted to buy a few skill books before heading out but none of them were good enough. Although it¡¯s possible to remove skills later on, it¡¯s still a pain to do. He would rather wait and find decent skill books. The fewer skills he needs to remove later on, the better.

    Leo quickly made his way back to the Tilted Anvil and bought every last piece of Bronze equipment for a total of slightly more than 13 silver. He then deconstructed it all into 540x [Bronze Core] and 372x [Bronze Dust] for later experimentations and money making.

    He hummed happily to himself while walking towards Tuliun Forest. He decided to fight the golems in Teliun Mountain Range due to their slow movement speed. Teliun Mountain Range was a level 10-zone and the highest level zone near Leomar Town. Once he hits level 10, he¡¯ll go back to town and teleport to Ferima City where the game truly begins.

 Chapter 8

    Snow exited her gaming capsule and quickly ran out of her room. Lily walked out from her room and confronted Snow before she could go downstairs.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why ¡­ You¡¯re hand¡¯s burning blue again. Don¡¯t tell me you have another tournament? You know the last girl you fought ended up in a coma for two weeks! I know it was a fighting tournament but still, your inner force is just too scary. The blue flame looks cold like ice and ¡­ She¡¯s no longer here. I¡¯m just talking to myself ¡­ I wonder if we have more ice cream?¡±

    Snow entered her sky-blue sports car. It was a one of a kind custom made car with more technology than you would ever need in a car. The doors opened when she entered within range and the engine turned on. Anyone could tell that it was an electric car by the lack of sound from the engine, but its top speed could fool anyone into thinking that it¡¯s connected to a rocket.

    The car quickly made its way down the private road leading to the estate¡¯s security gate. Snow quickly entered the road and headed straight for the city. The green forest and mountainous terrain quickly changed to skyscrapers and bustling traffic. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel while waiting for the light to turn green. Her face was almost unrecognizable and anyone would run as far away from her as possible upon sight.

    Her anger slowly increased the longer she had to sit and wait while everything her grandpa built is turning to dust. The light finally switched to green and she slammed the pedal to the floor, rushing through to the next intersection. The car arrived in front of Maze Security HQ and Snow walked out and rushed toward the entrance.

    ¡°Ms. Morgan how may-¡±

    Snow threw her keys at the security guard and continued toward the entrance. She quickly walked to the reception desk and almost shouted at the man sitting behind the desk.

    ¡°Ms. Morgan, what can-¡±

    ¡°What room?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±

    ¡°I said, what room?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but Mr. Morgan is in an important meeting and-¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m here. Now tell me which room.¡±

    The young man began to shake at the sight of Snow¡¯s blue flame covered hand. There was a glass screen between thetwo of them and he knew she couldn¡¯t hurt him here, but that did nothing to settle his fear.

    ¡°C-conference room 4, floor 119.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Snow entered the elevator and made her way up to the 119th floor. She walked out of the elevator with rapid steps and quickly found conference room 4. The door was guarded by a man and woman in a black formal outfit.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Ms. Morgan please do not make this any more difficult than it needs to be.¡±

    ¡°Alice, move aside.¡±

    ¡°I can not do that Ms. Morgan.¡±

    Snow looked at Alice with a cold glint in her eyes. She could probably win in a fight against Alice but she would be taken down by Richard before the fight could end. Snow sat down on a couch nearby and waited for the meeting to end. Her right foot constantly moved up and down as she tapped the floor.

    Snow managed to calm down slightly and her anger began to turn into nervousness. The time quickly ticked by and the doors to the conference room finally opened. She could see the faces of all of Maze Security¡¯s upper management. In the background was an old man. His upper body was hunched over a piece of paper, sadness clearly showing in his weathered eyes.

    The meeting had officially ended and Snow quickly stood up from the couch and entered the room. She sat down in an empty chair next to her grandfather and waited for him to talk.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t have to come.¡±

    ¡°How bad is it?¡±

    The old man let out a long sigh and shook his head. He straightened his back and looked at his granddaughter with compassionate eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry that I have failed you.¡±

    ¡°How could this happen? You have had 60% of the company¡¯s shares since Robert died. How could they take over?¡±

    ¡°Robert was a good man, a close friend, and trustworthy business partner. But he was not without flaws. His lifestyle of constantly seducing women and throwing them away the next day has finally led to the company¡¯s downfall. Although I never expected it to be like this.¡±

    ¡°No. No that can¡¯t be true. Robert had no children. Why would someone wait all this time to come forth?¡±

    Snow¡¯s grandfather looked towards the doorway and locked his gaze on a well-dressed man in his mid 40s. Snow followed his eyes and let out a sneer when she realized who he was looking at. That man was none other than Oliver¡¯s father. Oliver had always hated her and has been trying to take over Rising Embers for years. She couldn¡¯t just kick him out due to his father¡¯s position in the company and was forced to endure it. He¡¯s been the Vice Guild Leader of Rising Embers for years and constantly made her life difficult.

    She wanted to say something but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a woman. The woman was in her mid-30s with short blonde hair. Her face showed signs of countless sleepless nights covered by heavy use of makeup. She wore a gray lifeless outfit like a carbon copy of any generic office worker.

    The woman ignored Snow and sat down on a chair near Snow¡¯s grandfather.

    ¡°Mr. Morgan I hope we can come to an agreement. This doesn¡¯t have to end with you losing everything.¡±

    ¡°Ha. You¡¯re an evil woman, Amanda.¡±

    He looked at Snow with a thoughtful expression on his face.

    ¡°Jane, do you think you could succeed in starting a new guild in Ekalius Online?¡±

    ¡°What? I-I can. No. I will succeed again. But you don¡¯t have to go this far. It will be difficult but we can still succeed with the fund we have now.¡±

    ¡°No that won¡¯t work. I will trust everything to you. Use this as a way to learn from my mistakes. Create your own legacy in both the virtual and real world.¡±

    ¡°If you would sign here, here and here. Initials here and here.¡±

    The old man signed the paper, his hands shaking ever so slightly. Snow could barely stand to watch her grandpa like this. She swore to build a new company more powerful than Maze Security could ever be. Her first step was to ensure that her Guild succeeds in Ekalius Online. She would then begin working towards establishing their very own village and eventually a city.

    ¡°Ms. Morgan. If you would sign here please.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I need you to sign here to receive the payment for Mr. Morgans¡¯ 30% share in Maze Security.¡±

    Snow looked at her grandpa with questioning eyes. Was this what he meant? He actually wanted to give her everything?

    ¡°Do as she says. I¡¯m too old to start over but your life has barely begun. Show the world what you can achieve.¡±

    ¡°I will not disappoint you. I swear.¡±

 Chapter 9

    The road was faintly lit up by lamp posts. These would serve as light sources when the nighttime comes. The game¡¯s night and day cycle is the opposite of Earth¡¯s. This means that daytime in the game is nighttime in the real world. Leo remembered that this was done to help those with jobs still enjoy the game.

    The nighttime doesn¡¯t really affect him at all. Monsters become a bit more powerful and it becomes more difficult to see far ahead, but that¡¯s about it. As long as you pay attention to your surroundings, everything will be fine.

    Leo was confident in his ability to sense danger and doubted he would walk into a monster ambush. In his past life, he had heard about and seen many players overestimate themselves and hunt at night in high-level zones only to end up dead from monsters detecting them while they were fighting.

    He continued walking and finally entered the mountain range. He walked on the rocky path and found an area with a decent amount of monsters. This entire zone only contains golems of different levels and ranks. The area he had found contained around 12 golems and Leo inspected them to see what he was up against.

    Mountain Golem (Common)

    Level 10

    Health: 6,000

    Their health was fairly high but it would still hardly be a problem for someone like Leo. Golems are slow and predictable. He only had a single skill but against such simple monsters that were more than enough.

    Leo quickly dashed forward and hit the first golem with his [Spear Thrust] followed by several hits to its upper body.

    -98

    -97

    -180!

    -124

    His raw attack power was slightly over 200 but the level difference and the golem¡¯s defense reduced it by almost half. Leo launched his spear all over the golem in search of its core. The golem swung its rusty sword towards Leo in a simple arc but only hit empty air. Leo simply moved out of the sword¡¯s way and avoided it with ease.

    -124

    -125

    -187

    Bingo! Leo¡¯s last hit perfectly penetrated the golem¡¯s defense and revealed a small blue gem-like core. Once a golem¡¯s core is revealed there¡¯s only one thing to do, destroy it. This was true for almost all golems. The only exception he could think of was high ranking golems with multiple or even moving cores and the golem he fought while locked in the dungeon.

    The golem raged and moved it¡¯s left hand to protect the core. Leo elegantly danced around the golem, hitting it from multiple angles and revealing the core once more.

    -187

    -185

    -360!

    The golem continued to cry out in pain and sent it¡¯s large foot down on the earth, causing the rocky ground to shake. Leo contracted his body and transferred his energy to his legs. He then jumped towards the golem and planted his left leg at its knee. He quickly jumped once more and bent his entire body in an arc while sending his spear towards the golem¡¯s head.

    -136

    -92

    -94

    -96

    Several rocky spikes emerged from the ground surrounding the golem but Leo was already mid-air and the spikes simply couldn¡¯t touch him. His attacks landed perfectly and Leo quickly descended back to the ground. The spikes had retracted back to the earth as quickly as they appeared. The golem stood no chance and quickly crumbled to a pile of rocks.

    System: Mountain Golem defeated! Awarding 145 EXP!

    Leo looked at the experience gained with a satisfied expression. The golem was hardly any more difficult to kill than the wolves in Wasted Mines but gave more than double the EXP. This is only when he fights them alone though. Normally players would fight the golems in a party 3-5, significantly reducing the experience per golem.

    Leo picked up the loot which only consisted of a few coppers and a health potion and continued fighting the other golems. It took him a few minutes per kill which quickly added up to a ton of experience.

    Minutes turned into hours and Leo finally managed to reach level 10 and invested his attributes into strength and dexterity. He had already lost count of how many golems he¡¯d killed. The loot had been absolutely terrible with nothing but Copper and Bronze quality equipment. He could still use it to make a lot of money but he still needed Iron quality and higher equipment for his upgrades.

    Leo looked around the mountainous terrain and suddenly realized how far he had wandered. It would take him more than an hour just to walk back to town. He expected to only fight on the entrance to the mountain range and didn¡¯t bother paying for a teleportation scroll to Leomar Town. Leo now regretted this decision heavily.

    Leo let out a sigh and began walking back to town. He suddenly heard the sound of rocks falling and quickly turned his head towards the sound¡¯s direction. He could not see anything and decided to head over to the sound¡¯s origin and figure out if its anything important.

    It took him a few minutes to cross the distance due to the terrain. He was met by a gigantic golem completely covered in a reddish type of rock. The golem had two swords in its hands and an evil red colored flame in its eyes. The swords were pitch black like an empty void and gave off a dangerous aura. Leo inspected the golem and was shocked by the result.

    Ancient Golem (Lord)

    Level 13

    Health: 15 000 000

    Leo curled his lips into a smile and prepared to take on the challenge of killing a Lord ranked monster. A Lord is one rank higher than a Champion which Leo had previously lost to during his combat trial. Leo still only had a single skill and still needed to invest in upgrading his gear. It would not be an understatement to say that this fight would be gruesomely long.

    He first had to figure out if the golem had passive health regeneration. Some higher ranked monsters have some form of health regeneration. A monster with this amount of health would be impossible for a single player to defeat if its health regenerated. Normally players would fight a Lord ranked monster in a group of at least 50. What Leo wanted to do was suicidal and he would have to gamble on the golem¡¯s attacks all being avoidable.

    Leo¡¯s heart pumped rapidly in excitement. He could hardly remember the last time he had the chance of fighting such an uneven fight. A single mistake would be the end of him. Leo transformed his spear attachment back to a shield. This would allow him more options when avoiding damage.

    Leo dashed toward the golem, his spear ready to hit its kneecap. His feet pushed at the ground and sent small rocks flying behind him. His spear danced through the air and found its way to the golems kneecap.

    -82

    -83

    -51

    -53

    -55

    He quickly made two normal attacks and finished off with his Spear Thrust skill. The damage was severely reduced by the golem¡¯s defense. Leo observed its health bar and could barely see a change at all. The golem retaliated by swinging its swords towards the ground but Leo simply sidestepped and avoided both swords.

    He once more checked its health bar and could clearly see that it did not regenerate. Leo let out a relieved sigh and turned his smile into an evil grin. His spear continued to hit its kneecap over and over again.

    -83

    -82

    -161!

    The golem¡¯s health decreased ever so slowly but this was not the reason Leo attacked the knee. He continued to attack the same spot until the golem suddenly faltered. Its gigantic body fell down and entered a kneeling position. Leo quickly took the chance to hit its back and search for its core.

    -82

    -84

    -86

    -175

    Leo got lucky and found the core in just a few hits. He continued to assault the core with everything he had until the golem once more stood up. This back and forth continued for what seemed like hours and the golem¡¯s health slowly decreased.

    99%

    98%

    97%

    The killing speed was agonizingly long. Leo prepared to hit its knee once more but was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of spikes shooting out from the ground. He had almost no time to react at all and only managed to minimize the damage by turning his body and having the spikes bounce off his shield. Although he had nearly perfect movement throughout the duration of the skill, he still did not manage to avoid them all.

    -(30)

    -(35)

    -(42)

    The attacks made Leo¡¯s health bar drop to critical levels and he quickly used a health potion to regain about half of his health. The potion had a 30-second cooldown and he would die if that attack happened again. Leo backed off for a moment and thought about what happened. He could not find any signs of when the attack would come and had to resign himself to fate. Leo could only hope that it was on a set timer or when the golem reached a certain percentage of health remaining.

    He decided to continue the attack but his speed was slightly slower as he continuously concentrated on discovering any hints about when the AOE attack would come. The golem continued to lose health at a slow pace.

    96%

    95%

    94.5%

    The earth rumbled and spikes once more shot towards Leo. This time, however, the range decreased slightly as well as the number of spikes. Leo managed to avoid the attack far more easily and only took a single hit.

    -(27)

    The spikes dealt slightly less damage which combined with all the other clues led Leo to believe that its AOE attack is based on damage received per second. Leo shuddered at the thought of what the spikes would look like if the golem received damage from 50 players all at once.

    Leo continued this dance back and forth for hours. His actions were still sharp and precise but his mind began to tire. Any normal player would most likely drop dead from exhaustion. Even top tier experts would find it difficult to endure this long when a single mistake could easily cost your life.

    The golem bellowed in anger at Leo¡¯s constant onslaught but could not retaliate. Even as a Lord, with its far superior intellect to common monsters, it still could not see through Leo¡¯s movements. Golems were in most cases just a collection of rocks with a magic core. They already had an almost nonexistent intellect level and even a Lord rank golem failed to see through anything but the simplest of patterns.

    After falling down on its knees for who knows how many times in a row, the golem finally understood why. Leo tried to hit its kneecap once more but was met with one of its giant swords. He simply backed off and let out a sigh. Leo was honestly surprised it took the golem this long to catch on.

    Leo erupted into a sprint and lowered his entire body in preparation of jumping at the golem. His left foot hit the golem¡¯s knee and the momentum allowed him to jump in the air and land on the golem¡¯s shoulder. Leo quickly transformed his shield into its second form and attached it to his spear. He stabbed the golem¡¯s head repeatedly in quick succession.

    -64

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.-65

    -63

    -102

    -118

    The golem sent its sword towards Leo but contrary to its expectations, Leo was no longer there. The sword hit its shoulder and sent out a loud explosion as the metal connected with the weaker stone that made up its body.

    -750

    A wicked smile appeared on Leo¡¯s face when he saw that his tactic worked. The smile quickly faded and he turned around in a slight panic. Leo surveyed the area but couldn¡¯t find anything out of the ordinary. He had been certain that he heard a gasping sound. Leo decided to just yell towards the empty scenery.

    ¡°Why are you watching me? Are you trying to steal the kill?!¡±

    Silence. Leo had no choice but to ignore it for now and hope that if there¡¯s someone there, he could detect them once they come closer. The fight continued on and the golem reached 50% of its health remaining. It let out a loud growl and began swinging its two swords in every direction. Leo transformed his attachment back to a shield and began rolling around the area. One of the swords came to close to dodge and Leo barely managed to redirect most of its damage potential.

    -(50)

    He gulped down his last health potion and continued to dodge to the best of his abilities. He began regretting his decision to take the golem on solo. Leo prepared to bring up his friend¡¯s list and ask Alex for help but was interrupted by the voices of several players. He quickly looked towards the horizon and could barely make out a large party of around 70 players. Did the person hiding before alert them?

    Leo gazed at the approaching players with regret in his heart. He could have easily contacted Alex and have him bring some of his guild¡¯s top players. It would still be better to share the EXP and loot rather than lose it all to some random players who just happened to find him mid-fight.

    The players approach within 30 meters and a man with full plate armor and large shield approached Leo. He had a rough appearance and a large cut stretching from his temple down to his mouth.

    ¡°Oh? You managed to take it down halfway in such a short amount of time. Truly impressive, but I must ask you to hand the golem over to us.¡±

    ¡°And if I refuse your kind offer?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand the situation. Look around you. There¡¯s 80 of us and only one of you. Even with your godly gear, it¡¯s not enough to win. Save yourself some experience and let us settle this peacefully.¡±

    ¡°Peacefully? Is that what you call this? Do you normally go around claiming other player¡¯s kill for yourself?¡±

    ¡°You misunderstand. We have actually been following this golem for hours.¡±

    The man pointed at one of the players close to him. Leo recognized his gear as leather armor and quickly saw two daggers at his waist. A Thief player could certainly have followed the golem while in stealth, but why would he not say anything when Leo began attacking it?

    ¡°Hoh. And he just happened to not say anything while I fought for my life?¡±

    ¡°Can you blame him? Who would ever believe that a single player could live this long against a Lord ranked monster above their level?¡±

    Leo sidestepped as the golem¡¯s sword came crashing down and hit it with his spear in retaliation before continuing his chat.

    ¡°As you said, I have already brought it down to 50%. Do you think it¡¯s fair to lay claim to a monster you only had your eyes on? Don¡¯t you think your Thief player has failed spectacularly in establishing your ownership of the kill?¡±

    ¡°I admit that he could have been more clear, but the fact still stands. Do you really want to make this difficult? Are you not afraid of angering the [Bloodhound] Guild? Or maybe you don¡¯t realize our power?¡±

    Leo searched through his memory for anything about the Bloodhound Guild. He could vaguely remember a guild by that name but they were so low ranked that he knew next to nothing about them. They might be more powerful in this life but Leo refused to be chased away.

    ¡°Bloodhound, huh? So you want to pull the guild card? Does the names [Rising Embers] and [Moonlight] ring any bells?¡±

    Leo could see the man¡¯s face turn serious. It looked like he was seriously considering whether to continue fighting for the golem or not.

    ¡°Even if you are on friendly terms with Moonlight, they¡¯re not strong enough to cause us problems. I don¡¯t see any of them here to help you. And what about Rising Embers? They split up hours ago. But you didn¡¯t know that, did you? And yet you dare use their name to defend yourself?¡±

    Leo was shocked by his words. Rising Embers split up? Was that the reason why Snow seemed to be in such a hurry? He realized that this situation could only end with a battle and quickly brought up his friend¡¯s list. Leo continued to dodge the golem¡¯s attack while contacting Alex.

    ¡®So Alex, my best friend.¡¯

    ¡®Uh oh, what did you do?¡¯

    ¡®I might have angered the Bloodhound Guild.¡¯

    ¡®Why?!¡¯

    ¡®Long story short. I found a Lord ranked golem and got it down to 50%. They came and laid claim to the kill and now I¡¯m about to fight them.¡¯

    ¡®I-I don¡¯t know what to say. Give me your coordinates and I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡¯

    Leo gave Alex the coordinates but had little hope that he could make it in time. His goal was not to have Alex help him kill the golem but to allow him to resurrect at his corpse. That way he would at least not drop a whole level and instead just 40%.

    ¡°If you want the golem, you¡¯ll have to fight for it.¡±

    ¡°You still choose to fight? Very well. KILL him!¡±

    The 80 Bloodhound members dashed toward Leo with a greedy expression on their faces. Leo quickly unequipped his ring and cloak in order to avoid losing them. This is something he could only do before the first attack from the players could hit him. Once the fight begins, there¡¯s no way for him to unequip or change his gear.

    An arrow came flying towards Leo. He could immediately tell that the Ranger had used the guided mode for projectiles. Leo easily sidestepped the arrow and allowed it to gently bounce off his shield, receiving no damage at all but still making it count as an attack.

    System announcement: You have been attacked by the player [Bloodborne] and their party (total of 80 players). You can freely retaliate for 30 minutes without receiving a penalty.

    Leo¡¯s lips curled into a sinister smile. The 30-minute timer would be reset every time he received an attack from their party from now on. The timer would go to 0 if he formed or joined a party and the attacking team would be given a 30-second window to stop attacking.

    Leo had continued to dodge the golem¡¯s attack throughout the whole encounter with the Bloodhound guild. He quickly dashed toward the attacking party and lead the golem directly to them.

    ¡°Watch out he¡¯s trying to lure the golem here!¡±

    ¡°Kill him! What are you aiming at? He¡¯s right there!!¡±

    Leo danced through the rocky wasteland while avoiding all of the attacks from the Rangers and Mages. He could only thank his lucky stars that they weren¡¯t familiar enough with the game to use manual casting. Although shooting arrows and casting magic is harder on manual mode, it gives the player far more control over their attacks. Even just using AOE attacks on him would make it almost impossible for Leo to get to them before dying.

    Leo weaved his way through their ranks and attacked several players along the way. His spear moved like it had a mind of its own and perfectly hit their least protected areas. A Ranger got a solid hit to his Copper Quality helmet while a Mage was hit in her unprotected legs.

    -107

    -112

    Both the Ranger and Mage died instantly without knowing how. Leo could not help feel their pain. He would also be pissed off if someone killed him like that. In the end, it¡¯s their fault for attacking him while still missing good protective gear. Even a Legendary chestplate won¡¯t help them at all if the attack is directed at their head. Ekalius Online has an absolutely brutal learning curve and anyone seeing him do these types of things would instantly think it¡¯s due to his weapon.

    Leo continued attacking the party with everything he had. He danced around the golem to make their attacks hit it as much as possible. The Bloodhound members began to panic when they saw their comrades die one by one to a seemingly overpowered weapon. It did not occur to any one of them that they could reduce the incoming damage by blocking with their weapons or shields. Why would it? They had never played a game where the gear¡¯s defense is not applied to the entire character. The game had no tutorial at all. They choose their class and entered the game without any direction.

    ¡°Get into defensive formation! Focus on the golem and only attack in unison when he gets close!¡±

    Leo let out a sneer. Why did the party have to include someone with a working brain? Their formation made it far more difficult to attack. He had only managed to take down 30 of them and even getting close would now be a problem.

    With nothing else to do, Leo resigned himself to attacking the golem. The golem¡¯s health fell rapidly and Leo suddenly leaped up to its shoulders with a few jumps using its leg as a stepping stone.

    ¡°Everyone get 10 meters away!¡±

    Leo locked eyes with the Priest shouting out commands. He inspected him but could not remember anyone of importance with that name.

    Name: Teluris

    Guild: Bloodhound

    Level: 13

    Class: Priest

    He let out a laugh when the party retreated to 10 meters. Sure, if only he attacked the golem that would be enough, but Leo had already established that the amount of damage per second is the driving factor for the AOE¡¯s range, damage and number of spikes. They could only blame their useless Thief for not seeing through that when he watched Leo take it down to 50%.

    The golem quickly lost its health and neared death at a rapid pace. Leo tried to increase his damage but it wasn¡¯t enough to ensure that the AOE instantly killed them. This pattern continued for a solid 30 minutes and Leo could see the Bloodhound members begin to return and resurrect at their bodies. They were like an endless swarm of cockroaches, brushing off anything he threw at them as they madly pushed forward for the kill.

    The golem neared 0.1% and Leo turned deadly serious. If he managed to get the last hit, he would gain the full amount of EXP. He had, after all, been the one to initiate the fight and taken down more than half its health. As long as he continues to attack without any major break, his first hit on the golem will still count and earn him the right to take 60% of the experience. The last hit will give him the remaining 40%.

    15,000

    12,378

    9,621

    Its health quickly went from five digits to four then three.

    1,375

    957

    610

    257

    127

    Leo ceased the opportunity and sent out a rapid attack at its now fully exposed core. He had constantly attacked the core to weaken it all for this very moment. His spear weaved its way through the air and hit the core with deadly precision.

    -348!

    His hit connected at the very last second and Leo smiled in excitement.

    System: Ancient Golem (Lord) defeated! Awarding 87 520 EXP!

    Leo let out a mad laugh at the amount of experience. It would normally be split with around 50 players making the total for each player significantly lower, but he had tricked a full 80 man party to help him kill it. In their greed to kill him and snatch the golem for themselves, they failed to recognize that Leo could still get the last hit.

    He quickly snatched up the loot while the members of Bloodhound madly dashed towards the golem¡¯s corpse. Leo had been fighting the golem up close this entire time and none of them dared enter within his range.

    ¡°It¡¯s over. You¡¯re surrounded and outnumbered 80 to 1. Hand over the loot and we might still let you live.¡±

    Leo laughed loudly at the blatant attempt at extortion. They no longer had a way to get the loot and Leo had intentionally taken some of their attacks with his shield to keep the timer going. He was not a fool. Even if they were completely new to the game and lacked his level of experience, there¡¯s just no way for him to fight his way through their formation.

    He had no problem avoiding their ranged attacks when they were in a straight line, but this time was different. Leo prepared himself for death and dashed toward the weakest part of the formation. He would at least take down as many as he could.

    ¡°Use AOE attacks!¡±

    ¡°But that will kill our own party mem-¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care! USE it!¡±

    Leo frowned at Teluri¡¯s command. He had no way to counter dozens of AOE attacks right now. Leo moved through the formation, hitting everyone he could.

    -94

    -98

    -214!

    The party quickly found their members die one after the other. Leo managed to take down 10 of them before the AOE attack came in full.

    -(15)

    -(17)

    -(19)

    -(22)...

    The AOE attacks did low damage individually but their range and number made up for it. He almost made it through when one of the Mages managed to hit him from behind. The spell took his already low health down to zero and he quickly fell to the ground.

    (-45)

    System: You have died! Experience reduced by 40% of current level. You can walk back to your body or incur another 60% reduction in experience by resurrecting at the graveyard.

    ¡°Haha! That¡¯s what you get for stealing our kill!¡±

    ¡°I hope he dropped his OP spear. I bet it¡¯s at least Epic Quality!

    Teluris made his way towards Leo¡¯s corpse with a wide grin on his face. They had lost hours of progress and even the loot from a Lord ranked monster due to his actions. It would all be worth it if they could get his weapon. Teluris lowered his body and initiated the looting process. His face instantly darkened when he saw the system notification.

    System announcement: The target does not contain any items.

    ¡°How? How can he not have dropped anything!?¡±

    Teluris screamed out in anger after finding out that their hard work had meant nothing. How could he possibly have known that Leo¡¯s armor and weapons were bound and could not drop? Had Leo been the one to initiate the attack, he would at least drop a large amount of coin.

    ¡®Leo how¡¯s it going? I have a party of 70 players about 5 minutes away.¡¯

    ¡®I got the kill and loot but died before escaping. If you could chase them away from my corpse that would be great.¡¯

    ¡®I don¡¯t know if I should be impressed that you still managed to pull off the kill or that you can actually die.¡¯

    ¡®Don¡¯t make me sound like a monster. I¡¯m not invincible you know.¡¯

    ¡®Could have fooled me.¡¯

    Leo walked towards his corpse and saw the original 80 players had turned to 70. Their appearances had also changed, confirming that they were not the previous Bloodhound members.

    Leo confirmed that the group was from Moonlight and resurrected on the spot. He thanked them for guarding his body and obtained a teleportation scroll to make his journey back to Leomar Town faster.

    The experience he gained was enough to bring him directly to level 12 with 47% towards 13. 40% was taken away from his death and Leo ended his adventure at level 12 with 7%. He would normally be almost level 14 with that amount of experience from level 10, but his class simply drained too much experience. Leo felt a headache appear when he thought about the fact that with his gear also needing experience he practically needed 5x the amount of EXP per level compared to others. This would only become more of a pain the higher he leveled.

    Leo tore the teleportation scroll and quickly found himself in Leomar Town.

    Behind a rock back at the mountain range stood an unknown woman with fiery red hair. Her face was slightly egg-shaped with a rounded jaw and red lips. Her skin was slightly tanned, presumably from constant exposure to sunlight. She had thin black eyebrows and deep brown eyes.

    Her height was slightly above average with a slender body. Her muscles were not prominent enough to define her appearance but it showed that she had an athletic body. She had a bright smile on her face as if she had just seen something exciting. Her gaze was directed at the fallen golem Leo defeated just moments ago. She quickly tore a teleportation scroll and appeared in Leomar Town. Excitement filling her face to an almost unnatural degree.

 Chapter 10

    A portal opened up on an unknown planet and a woman in a white dress elegantly appeared from the purple portal. If Leo had been here, he would recognize this woman as none other than Liana whom he met while fighting the Guardian golem and securing his Saint¡¯s Ring.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re back already? How did it go?¡± A man in his 40s with broad shoulders in an elegant white armor asked.

    ¡°He passed.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t feel so sad about it. This is a joyous occasion is it not? Haha.¡±

    ¡°I know it was Ekalius¡¯ will, but isn¡¯t this a bit too much? The Saints¡¯ rings aren¡¯t toys, you know? And you, shouldn¡¯t you be outraged at him for gaining in hours what you spent your entire life to obtain?¡±

    The man looked at Liana with a serious expression.

    ¡°Gaining the blessing of Ekalius is not something to be looked down upon. He chose the boy for a reason. Besides, I finally have an apprentice to look after! Haha!¡±

    Liana gazed at the laughing man and let out a sigh. She had no right to question the Ankirs but she could not stay as carefree as Arnys. She believed the man had gone crazy from living too long.

    ¡°I just don¡¯t understand. Why would Ekalius give his life for that boy? He has lived since the beginning of time yet chose to leave now. Why?¡±

    ¡°It is not for us to question the Ankirs.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know.¡±

    The atmosphere turned solemn for a moment before Arnys broke the eerie silence.

    ¡°What of the other rings? How many have found their home?¡±

    ¡°Including the boy, one other found an owner.¡±

    Arnys nodded approvingly. Two rings finding their owner so soon was indeed good news.

    ¡°I want you to lead the second trial as well.¡±

    Liana frowned at Arnys¡¯ command.

    ¡°Why must I go back to the False World? It¡¯s creepy there. The people, the towns, scenery, everything is like here, yet it¡¯s not real. This is the real world, why must I go and entertain the Immortal Wanderers in the False World?¡±

    Liana hated the False World. The Immortal Wanderers walked the lands as if they owned it. They disrespected her fellow Descendants of Enkail by demanding ¡®Quests¡¯ and force them into the battlefields to fight.

    She knows they are not real. She knows that her people are here in the real world, yet the False World was made by Ekalius himself. This world created by Enkail and given to Ekalius is the real world. She knows the False World has a purpose but she still hesitates every time she¡¯s sent there.

    Arnys stood up from his chair and looked at Liana with a stern expression.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.¡°The wheels of fate have been turned. You know as well as I do that Ekalius is no more. The Saint Trials will hopefully commence for the final time. It is our duty to do whatever we can to ensure victory in the battle.¡±

    Liana shivered from Arnys¡¯ words. She held no trust in the Immortal Wanderers but there¡¯s nothing she can do. The laws created by Enkail are final. They can only rely on the Wanderers to protect their world.

    Liana felt sad whenever she thought about how powerless she truly is. Her people suffer yet she can¡¯t do anything about it. She has always been told to never question Enkail¡¯s laws but seeing the Immortal Wanderers break one law after another without consequences has clouded her judgment.

    She could easily kill every single one of them yet she has to rely on them to defeat Ezaeh? How many millions of years has it not been yet Ezaeh still roams the world! The Descendants of Enkail live their life dreading the Saint Trials every time it begins.

    It is the same every time. The Trials begin, Ezaeh defeats the Immortal Wanderers and Ekalius move the world to the next universe. The people grow old and die yet time loops in an infinite circle. Never moving forward, always repeating again and again and again.

    Liana has witnessed the Saint Trials seven times already. She¡¯s one of the youngest Saints yet she has seen enough despair to turn anyone into a mindless fool afraid of ever leaving their home.

    She has witnessed the fall of Kingdoms by the hands of Immortal Wanderers. Ezaeh brings destruction and death but so do the Wanderers. Isn¡¯t this just fighting fire with fire? Liana lost herself in thoughts but quickly came back to reality when a woman entered through the door.

    Arnys looked at the woman and said: ¡°Ferima, you¡¯ve come at last¡±.

    The woman standing in the doorway was none other than Saint Ferima the Bringer of Light. Even though she has lived longer than anyone dares say aloud, she¡¯s still as young and beautiful as she was in her 20s.

    ¡°Hello Arnys, Liana. How fares the Wanderer?¡±

    Ferima had a dignified voice making anyone feel the need to listen to her every word. A single word from her could start wars but it could also bring peace to the nine continents. She¡¯s the closest to ascending into the heavens and becoming the first Descendant of Enkail to stand amongst the Gods and Goddesses of the world.

    ¡°He¡¯s doing alright I would say. He found your ring. Not that it was well hidden, haha!¡± Arnys gave out a burst of hearty laughter while explaining the situation to Ferima.

    ¡°When have the Saints¡¯ rings ever been difficult to find? The difficult part is to keep them¡± Ferima responded in a gentle voice.

    ¡°You¡¯re right in that. Out of the 100 rings only 2 managed to find owners capable of getting past the first trial. If you could even call that a trial¡± Liana said.

    Arnys moved his gaze from Ferima to Liana and said: ¡°If 98 Wanderers failed, could you still say the trial was easy?¡±

    Liana retorted with a sneer: ¡°They failed because of greed and stupidity. Not because the trials were difficult!¡±

    Arnys rubbed his beard and let out a long sigh. He had known Liana since she was just a baby and guided her towards the path of Blacksmiths. He could still remember when she made her first Celestial weapon and transcended from a Grandmaster Blacksmith into a Saint Blacksmith.

    Arnys walked towards the window and gazed at the city below. He could see people walking around, laughing and enjoying life. He could not help but let out a smile at the scenery. His smile quickly faded as he turned towards Liana and said in a serious tone.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care if you like the place or not. It¡¯s your role to guide the Wanderers.¡±

    Liana didn¡¯t dare retort Arnys¡¯ words. She could see that he was completely serious and any resistance would only serve to hurt her. She let out a sigh and said: ¡°Fine I¡¯ll continue the trials. But I don¡¯t like it¡±.

    Liana once more opened the portal to the False World and stepped inside. Arnys let out a sigh and turned his head towards Ferima.

    ¡°What am I to do with that child? All she wants to do is play around in her smithy all day.¡±

    ¡°Let her enjoy her youth. If I remember correctly, weren¡¯t you the exact same when you earned the blessing of Ekalius and became a Creator?¡±

    Ferima let out a soft laugh while teasing Arnys.

    ¡°I guess you¡¯re right in that.¡±

    Arnys looked towards the purple portal and smiled. He would visit Ekalius¡¯ World soon enough himself. If he¡¯s lucky, he might even meet his apprentice. Arnys let out a loud laugh at the thought of finally having an apprentice after all these years.

 Chapter 11

    Leo slowly materialist in Leomar Town a short while after tearing the teleportation scroll. He checked his inventory to see what the golem dropped. His face twisted into that of a child on Christmas eve. Leo first noticed that his 1 gold had increased by 30 silver, a very generous amount indeed.

    He pulled up the first item and inspected it with hopeful eyes.

    [Ancient Necklace (Silver Quality)]

    Level requirement: 10

    Class restriction: None

    Item category: Necklace

    Durability: 50 / 50

    Attack power: 10

    Spell power: 15

    Attributes:

    INT +10

    PIT +10

    STR +5

    Leo looked at the necklace with a content expression. It¡¯s not super amazing but it¡¯s better than not having one at all. He quickly moved on to the next item.

    [Ancient Blacksmithing Recipes Book (Gold Quality)]

    Class restriction: Blacksmith profession

    item category: Recipe

    Description: Use to learn how to make several types of forgotten weapons and armors.

    Leo¡¯s eyes lit up in excitement. A recipe book, as the name suggests, contains multiple recipes. He would only know how many and their power once he actually uses it. This brought up a question Leo had avoided thinking about. Can he learn blacksmithing recipes? His class was technically combat related but he could also make equipment like a normal lifestyle profession player. Leo quickly used the book and found that he could indeed learn the recipes. He let out a relieved sigh at this amazing discovery.

    Loot in the game is not completely random. If a solo player continues to kill enough monsters, they¡¯ll eventually get a skill book, a missing armor piece, accessory, etc. This personal modifier constantly ensures that even the most unlucky player still manages to get what they need. Because Leo began the fight on the Ancient Golem and also got the last hit as a solo player, the loot naturally favored his needs. That is not to say that he¡¯ll always get what he wants. A forging recipe dropped by a rock monster is not exactly out of place.

    [Ancient Mail Tunic (Iron Quality)]

    Level requirement: 13

    Class restriction: Raptor, Gladiator, Ranger, Lancer, Thief, Knight

    Item category: Torso

    Armor type: Mail

    Durability: 125 / 125

    Defense: 148

    Magic defense: 76

    Attributes:

    STR +12

    RES +8

    VIT +8

    The equipment was certainly not bad but Leo still decided to deconstruct it and use the materials for his spear. His spear was practically capped as close to the upper limit of a Bronze Quality weapon as possible. Even adding 1000x [Bronze Core] would hardly improve it at all. He needed to move on to Iron Quality gear and this piece was a good start to a long journey.

    The last item was a pair level 13 Iron Quality boots for cloth users. Leo had no problem throwing them together with the Mail armor and use the materials for his spear. He deconstructed the two equipment into 57x [Iron Core] and 21x [Iron Dust]. Although far more than when he used low-level Copper and Bronze equipment, it would still only scratch the surface of what he needed to reach the upper limit of Iron Quality.

    Leo entered his creation space and happily added the materials to his spear. He then gleefully watched the progress bar rise and the result announced.

    System: Upgrading Spear ¡­ Upgrade failed! 57x [Iron Core] and 21x [Iron Dust] destroyed!

    Leo¡¯s face darkened at the system notification. Failed? It could actually fail? Now that he thought about it, obviously it could fail. He should be over the moon that his entire spear didn¡¯t end up destroyed. Can it be destroyed with a failed upgrade? Leo suddenly faced a dilemma. He couldn¡¯t avoid upgrading his gear, but would he have to face the possibility of the entire gear collapsing in his hands?

    He thought about how the game system operates but couldn¡¯t come to a definite conclusion. It¡¯s in the gray zone of the system''s logic. On one hand, a piece of bound equipment requires a massive amount of equipment from all Quality levels and EXP. On the other hand, the creation is several times better than any other equipment of equal level and quality.

    Leo¡¯s creations aren¡¯t the only types of growth items. Epic, Sub-legendary and Legendary equipment all come in two main varieties. One is bound to a specific level and will become useless as the player levels up, while the other level up with the player. The type that levels up can have a specific max level or be completely unrestricted. They also do not rely on experience points to level up, a massive bonus that his creations simply can¡¯t measure up to.

    Leo has the advantage of being able to forcefully upgrade his creations while gaining a growth type Epic or higher weapon with unrestricted max level is heavily influenced by luck. He trades luck for slow and steady progress. His creations have the potential to become even more powerful than unrestricted max level Legendary gear, but it will require the sacrifice of several Legendary equipments of high level. He might even have to sacrifice one or two unrestricted Legendary equipment. Not to mention what would happen if he failed.

    Leo created two shields with equal amounts of Bronze materials. The first was made with 80x [Bronze Core] and 80x [Bronze Dust] all at once, while the other was upgraded four times with 20 of each resource each time.

    The result was absolutely devastating to his already dejected mood. The one with all materials used in one go was nearly 40% better. Leo would have to risk losing a massive amount of materials while upgrading.

    He tested upgrading the shields once more but this time used 80x of each resource in one go on both shields. The 40% gap closed to 30%, indicating that it would take far more resources to cap a piece of equipment made in one go compared to one made in sessions.

    His skill was becoming more and more complicated. There are so many factors to consider and Leo could only take the slow road and uncover the pattern with time. If there even is a pattern. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising if the game system deliberately added randomness to his creation as a way to limit his success rate.

    Leo decided to move on with his plan of entering Ferima City. His creation skill would reveal itself more and more as time passes. Leo looked at his level and decided to transfer some of it to his gear.

    Leo quickly went from level 13 all the way back to level 10. His spear, shield, and armor all reached level 10. Leo was left with 35.5% towards level 11. He did a full inspection of all his gear and character information before departing to Ferima City.

    [Tricky Magic Shield (Bronze Quality)]

    Level 4 (0 / 1,500) ¡ú 10 (0 / 12,500)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Secondary weapon

    Attribute requirements: 7 STR, 5 DEX ¡ú 18 STR, 15 DEX

    Durability: 50 / 50 ¡ú 125 / 125

    Shield mode:

    Defense 39 ¡ú 135

    Magic defense 37 ¡ú 127

    Attributes:

    VIT +6 ¡ú 15

    RES +5 ¡ú 11

    Health +15 ¡ú 45

    Attachment mode:

    Attack power: 15 - 19 ¡ú 67 - 76

    Spell power: 31 - 39 ¡ú 83 - 95

    Attributes:

    INT +7 ¡ú 15

    PIT +5 ¡ú 9

    Mana +18 ¡ú 52

    [Faithful Spear (Bronze Quality)]

    Level: 6 (0 / 2,900) ¡ú 10 (0 / 12,500)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Main-weapon

    Attribute requirements: 10 STR, 5 DEX ¡ú 21 STR, 14 DEX

    Attack power: 59 - 72 + (2-3) ¡ú 103 - 115 + (2-3)

    Durability: 60 / 60 ¡ú 85 / 85

    Attributes:

    STR +9 ¡ú 14

    DEX +6 ¡ú 10

    [Armor of Destiny (Bronze Quality)]

    Level 4 (0 / 1,500) ¡ú 10 (0 / 12,500)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Armor set

    Attribute requirements: 8 STR, 6 VIT ¡ú 19 STR, 12 VIT

    Defense: 87 ¡ú 239

    Magical defense: 62 ¡ú 162

    Durability: 90 / 90 ¡ú 175 / 175

    Attributes:

    VIT +7 ¡ú 16

    RES +5 ¡ú 11

    Health +30 ¡ú 75

    Special trait:

    15% chance to block one attack ever 30 seconds.

    His gear had come such a long way in a relatively short amount of time. From here on out, it would only become more difficult. The experience per level drastically increases the further he gets. Leo finished by looking at his character.

    Character information

    Name: Zero

    Race: Human

    Class: Creator

    Guild: None

    Title(s): Knight (Ferima Province)

    Note: {number} = When shield is in attachment mode

    General stats:

    Level 0 (0 / 200) ¡ú 10 (8,865 / 25,000)

    Health: 10 ¡ú 250 {159}

    Mana: 12 ¡ú 52 {131}

    Spirit: 9 ¡ú 138

    Rage: 9 ¡ú 175

    Attack power: 9 ¡ú 287 - 300 {354 - 376}

    Spell power: 9 ¡ú 32 {147 - 159}

    Main attributes:

    Strength (STR): 4 ¡ú 78

    Intelligence (INT): 4 ¡ú 14 {29}

    Dexterity (DEX): 4 ¡ú 56

    Piety (PIT): 4 ¡ú 14 {23}

    Vitality (VIT): 4 ¡ú 50 {35}

    Resilience (RES): 4 ¡ú 39 {28}

    Leo exited his creation space and contacted Alex. He had already transported to Ferima City and began preparations together with his Guild. Leo wanted to upgrade Alex¡¯s bow while he was available. He knew that Alex had been using a level 10 Iron Quality bow while waiting for Leo to finish his leveling.

    Leo walked to the teleportation hall and use his one-time free teleport to Ferima City. He would have to pay 10 silver if he wanted to teleport back to Leomar Town. The only thing of worth in the town was the Tilted Anvil and its equipment. This was not enough to make Leo go back. He could get a higher level of Bronze equipment in the city. Even if the price is slightly higher, the number of materials will increase drastically. It''s also more convenient.

    The teleportation hall lit up with a blue light and Leo¡¯s body transported to Ferima City. He walked directly to the resurrection point and set Ferima City as his respawn location. Leo took a horse carriage towards the city¡¯s center and quickly met up with Alex. He upgraded his bow and Alex quickly went back to his guild. Apparently, they¡¯re busy with discussions about an alliance between Moonlight and Snow¡¯s newly created Guild, [Legacy].

    Leo asked Alex about the reason for Rising Embers disbanding but he had no more information than Leo did. So much happened while Leo fought in the mountain range. It¡¯s truly difficult to keep up with everything happening in an MMO.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Leo walked to the Auction House and proceeded to head south. He looked through the various signs hanging outside numerous shops. It took him 20 minutes of aimless walking before he found Flux Crux and could finally complete the first quest in his very long questline.

    The smithy consisted of a two-story building with an outdoor courtyard filled with different forging equipment. The first floor was made out of a solid rock foundation while the second floor was made with a wooden framework. Leo prepared to enter the smithy but was stopped when he heard a voice coming from behind him.

    ¡°Oh? So this is where you went?¡±

    Leo turned around a saw a lightly tanned woman around 18 or 19 years old with fiery red hair. He could not see anyone else around him and could only assume she was talking to him.

    ¡°Do I know you?¡±

    ¡°Nope. I saw you fight the Ancient Golem.¡±

    ¡°Is Bloodhound not giving up?¡±

    ¡°What? No, I¡¯m not part of any Guild. I was in stealth behind a rock when you fought.¡±

    Leo looked at her gear. She had a mix of every type of armor and a staff as her main weapon. What type of Thief would use such a random combination of gear? No, besides Leo, who could use such an outrageous combination of gear? He concluded that she must have a Hidden Class. There¡¯s simply no way any of the default classes can use this type of gear combination.

    ¡°A stealth using ¡­ Priest? Mage?¡±

    ¡°Both! It¡¯s called the Paragon class and its essentially a Holy Mage, but better in every way.¡±

    This confirmed Leo¡¯s suspicion about her having a Hidden Class. It¡¯s not exactly like she could hide it anyway with such an obvious gear setup. There¡¯s not really a reason to hide it either. It¡¯s not like anyone¡¯s going to steal your class. It¡¯s the same for Leo. Once he uses both Lancer skills and magic skills it¡¯ll be obvious that he has a Hidden Class, the important part is to not reveal everything.

    ¡°What do you want with me?¡±

    ¡°I want you to train me to become a Zero Fighter!¡±

    ¡°Zero Fighter?¡±

    ¡°Huh? I was sure that you were a Zero Fighter. How else could you basically solo a Lord rank field boss while fighting 80 players?¡±

    Leo thought about her words. He could see how his name may be misunderstood as having a relation to Zero Fighter, but he could not remember ever hearing such a term. Was it something people in this world called players with a high skill level?

    ¡°I can¡¯t train you to become something I don¡¯t even know.¡±

    ¡°How could you not know? They¡¯re on TV like all the time.¡±

    Leo only gazed at her with a blank expression. He had not thought about anything but the game since he came back to life. Things seemed similar enough that he didn¡¯t feel the need to explore just yet. Leo made a mental note to research the difference between his old world and this one.

    ¡°Ok, let me explain then. A Zero Fighter is someone who has won all 107 matches, including the final championship match in the Unified Martial Arts Championship. The tournament is hosted in six continents and only one male and one female fighter can win. The most amount of Zero Fighters per year is, therefore, 12, but it¡¯s a miracle if even one manages to earn the title.¡±

    Her explanation made it much easier for Leo to understand the situation. He felt honored that someone would think he had achieved such a feat. From her explanation, age, weight, fighting style, etc. did not matter in the tournament. Leo didn¡¯t have a grasp of this world¡¯s combat standard. His only real example was Lily who seemed to be fairly proficient in martial arts. He also knew that Snow practices martial arts professionally, but he had yet to see her fight. She played the Warpriest class in the game and used magic, making it difficult for him to determine her skill level.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know the standard level of a Zero Fighter, but why would you come to me? There should be countless professionals taking in apprentices. You managed to get a Hidden Class so your skill level is at the very least above average. If it¡¯s money problems, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll manage to earn enough playing the game to pay the tuition fee.¡±

    ¡°I have tried to learn from more experts than I can remember. It¡¯s not enough. The only ones capable of helping me are those that don¡¯t take apprentices. The only Zero Fighter I know is my mom but I can¡¯t ask her.¡±

    ¡°Why? Are you on bad terms?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s ¡­ complicated. She¡¯s not capable of fighting right now.¡±

    Leo could see her previous smile turn dark. From her words, he could tell that her mother probably wasn¡¯t dead. That leaves either an illness or injury. By how determined she was to become a Zero Fighter, he could only lean towards injury for now. If her mother was hurt by a Zero Fighter, it would probably have happened during a duel.

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll teach you what I can, but I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s enough for you to succeed.¡±

    Leo watches as her face lit up in excitement.

    ¡°Oh, by the way. I¡¯m Happy!¡±

    ¡°I can see that.¡±

    ¡°No! I mean my username is Happy.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m Zero.¡±

    ¡°That reminds me, why are you at this smithy? Actually, now that I look at it, this is Flux Crux, right? That¡¯s great! I got a teacher and I can turn in my quest!.¡±

    ¡°Quest? Is it by chance a sub-quest of the Legendary questline ¡®Finding the Saint¡¯s Scroll¡¯?¡±

    ¡°It is. Are you the owner of the Ring of Saint Ferima?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Is this fate? Now you can teach me while we complete the quest together!¡±

    Happy moved her feet from side to side with a smile on her face. Leo didn¡¯t want to destroy her happy moment, but it was better to tell her the truth. She would find out after they turn in the quest anyway.

    ¡°We won¡¯t always have the same objective. Sub-quests with a bonus appear from time to time, but the ring owners might not be the same each time. The only important quests are the individual ones. They are the ones with a heavy penalty for failure.¡±

    ¡°But if more than one player can have the same quest, what happens when the first player completed it?¡±

    ¡°If they weren¡¯t together, the quest simply disappears for everyone else and a new individual quest is generated.¡±

    Leo could see that Happy was thinking about his words carefully. She seemed to understand that this questline won¡¯t be a simple pleasant adventure. Cooperation between the 100 ring owners would give everyone the greatest reward, but that¡¯s simply not possible. The rings choose their owners. He had no idea how, but everyone who has ever owned a Saint¡¯s ring has been a powerful player. Most with an equally powerful ego.

    Leo and Happy entered the smithy and proceeded to find Elion Themaer. Leo could see a blacksmith working near an anvil, hammering on what seemed to be a sword. He was about to call out and ask for Elion when Happy suddenly said the last thing a player should say in an elf operated smithy.

    ¡°Woah! They¡¯re all elves! Where are the dwarfs? Aren¡¯t they supposed to be the blacksmithing race?¡±

    ¡°You just had to go and say it, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Hey! You! Annoying little girl. Are you making fun of our profession? We elves have made better equipment than dwarves for millennia.¡±

    Happy looked at Leo with a confused expression. He could only shake his head at her questioning gaze. It¡¯s not like every elf live in the forest and worship nature while every dwarf mine in the mountains and make equipment. Elves were experts in blacksmithing simply due to their long lifespan. They had much more time to practice and hone their craft. Dwarves actually preferred to delve into culture and spent a lot of time with philosophy and poetry.

    ¡°You should probably apologize before we¡¯re kicked out.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes. I¡¯m deeply sorry Mr. Blacksmith. I didn¡¯t mean to offend you.¡±

    ¡°Hmpf, just remember to not judge someone by their race next time. So, what do you want?¡±

    ¡°We were tasked with meeting Elion Themaer. I believe he works here?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s in the back room. Through that door, take a left turn then a right. You can¡¯t miss it.¡±

    Leo and Happy followed the directions and quickly found Elion sitting at a writing desk with what seemed like the blueprint for a shield. They quickly formed a temporary party to qualify for the quest¡¯s bonus. Elion was an elf about 40 years old in appearance. Leo did not even try to estimate how old he really was. The man sat in a wooden chair, his eyes scanning the blueprint like he was looking for something. He looked up from his blueprint when he noticed Leo and Happy entering the room.

    ¡°Ah, good, you¡¯re here. Oh? You¡¯re both here. Very good. Very good indeed.¡±

    ¡°Greetings Master Blacksmith. We were told to come and visit you for guidance.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes. You did well in finding me this soon. As a reward, please accept this potion. I also want to give you a bonus for visiting me together.¡±

    [Underwater Potion (Iron Quality)]

    Item category: consumable

    Description: Use to breath underwater for 30 minutes.

    Leo stared at the potion. It¡¯s about what he expected from a Copper quality quest. It saved him about a silver, but it¡¯s nothing special.

    [Royal Library Token (Steel Quality)]]

    Item category: Token

    Description: Allows the owner to access the second floor of the Royal Library in Ferima City.

    The bonus item was far more valuable. The library allows players to read up on the game¡¯s lore as well as finding clues about quests, hidden items, Legendary gear, the magic language, etc. Leo¡¯s Knight title already allowed him to enter the second floor, so the token had no value to him personally. He could still earn some coin by selling it or lend it out to friends when needed.

    ¡°Now that you have received your rewards, I want to ask you to get me some materials for my shield. Happy, I want you to take this note and deliver it to the Guard¡¯s Barracks. Zero, I want you to enter the Undead Forest and defeat Ubras and bring back his magic orb.¡±

    [Sub-quest-2 Defeat Ubras the Mad Wizard (Bronze Quality)]

    Make your way to the Undead Forest and search for Ubras¡¯ forgotten cave. The cave is located near the entrance of the forest. Follow the markings and enter the cave. Defeat Ubras and bring back his magic orb.

    Restrictions: This is a personal quest. You cannot enter the cave while in a party.

    Leo read through the description and began organizing his thoughts. The Undead Forest is a level 20 zone which contains monsters ranging from 17-23.

    ¡°What¡¯s your quest about? It¡¯s not just a simple delivery, right?¡±

    ¡°Hm, it says I can use this note to recruit a Guard to follow me on my quest.¡±

    ¡°You said your class is mostly like a Holy Mage, right? The Guard is probably to help you get through the combat quests.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit too easy?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate the questline¡¯s difficulty. There¡¯s far more to becoming an expert healer than to press a few buttons every now and then. For example, do you even know that you can cast your spells with words alone?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t. I know that my character says a few words when I press the skill button, but I haven¡¯t paid attention to it.¡±

    Leo was not surprised in the slightest. Who would go out of their way to say the complicated magic words when a button press is enough? This is one of the game¡¯s hidden systems. Players can activate their skills by replicating the required movement or speech. If done correctly, this will reduce the cast time, increase the damage and allow the player to more accurately hit their target. It¡¯s one step more advanced than aiming projectiles without the system¡¯s guidance.

    The problem is the lack of a tutorial. Players have to figure it out themselves and even when they do, many players will simply not be able to make full use of the game¡¯s high skill cap combat system. This advanced combat system is the only reason Leo managed to rank 43rd in the world without a powerful hidden class.

    ¡°Visit the library later and ask the receptionist for a book about common magic spells. You should find most of your skills in there with the magic words explained in an easy to understand way. It will be hard in the beginning but if you stick to it, you¡¯ll become far more powerful later.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I will remember that for later. How do you know all this?¡±

    Leo was unsure of how to respond. It¡¯s not like he could say that he came from a parallel world where the game had already been out for 15 years.

    ¡°I have my sources.¡±

    ¡°Alright, then. Keep your secrets.¡±

    The two of them exited the smithy and walked towards the city center. Leo looked towards the large arena east of the city¡¯s center. He suddenly had an idea to test Happy¡¯s skill level in the arena.

    ¡°Let¡¯s visit the arena. I want to see how good you are at fighting.¡±

    ¡°Huh? I¡¯m a healer you know? What good will a fight in the arena do?

    ¡°Just follow. You¡¯ll see what I mean when we get there.¡±

 Chapter 12

    Leo and Happy entered a large stadium like building. They could see a few players constantly moving around and screens hanging from the floor in the center. The screens showed various ongoing fights from the arena and Leo could hear player talking about it.

    [Unimportant Person #1] ¡°Come on you stupid Lancer! I bet 5 silver on you, so WIN!¡±

    [Unimportant Person #2] ¡°Yeah, way to go Mage! Finish him!¡±

    [Dave] ¡°Aw man. I lost another 10 silver. My wife¡¯s gonna kill me.¡±

    Leo walked up to the reception desk and reserved a private instanced arena. He paid 1 silver and teleported inside together with Happy. Leo then went into the settings and set chose the ¡®Realistic Fight¡¯ option. This would set their attributes to be similar to how it would be in the real world if attributes were a thing. It also disabled all use of weapons, items, and skills. It was as close to a real-world fight as the game could get.

    ¡°Set your pain simulation rate to be 75%.¡±

    Happy did as she was told. The pain simulation rate indicates how much pain the player feels when attacked. It is only simulated but it feels real. The game automatically forces players to logout if their body experiences to much pain in a very short amount of time. The game set¡¯s the level to be 0% by default which makes it difficult to tell when you are attacked. Casual players usually increase this to about 10-15% in order to react to attacks more easily. Experts normally have it set to 25-35%, which is the minimum needed to use all your senses.

    Leo personally plays on a 35% simulation rate which allows him to react appropriately to most situations. A fighter that can¡¯t feel pain will never be able to react properly in a fight. The pain makes the player¡¯s adrenaline flow and helps with breaking through their limits and perform at the top of their game. 75% is the upper limit the game considers to still be safe. It¡¯s the preferred value for fights without the use of weapons.

    Leo began the fight and a timer appeared in front of both of them. It quickly ticked down and they were now free to attack each other. Leo called out to Happy and instructed her on what to do.

    ¡°Attack me with everything you have.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡±

    Happy dashed towards Leo and began by sending a kick with her right leg. The kick flew towards Leo¡¯s abdomen with tremendous speed. She watched as the leg connected with the left side of Leo¡¯s abdomen. Happy expected there to be a sound from the impact but she couldn¡¯t hear any at all. Her leg continued in an arc as if it had purposefully missed Leo.

    Leo still stood where he had been this whole time yet her kick missed. How was that possible?

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°You missed.¡±

    ¡°Well, I can see that. What I mean is, how did I miss?¡±

    Leo pulled up the video from the attack and played it back to Happy in slow motion. This made her able to see that Leo didn¡¯t stand still. He moved his upper body slightly forward and then back again with a slight rotation once Happy decided to commit to the kick. His motion had been so smooth and precise that she couldn¡¯t pick up on it at all. The kick had only missed by a few millimeters.

    Happy¡¯s eyes lit up with stars as she gazed at Leo in awe. They continued to fight for a solid hour yet Leo had not needed to do anything but move a bit. Happy was exhausted after failing to hit him even once. She felt annoyed that despite being amongst the top martial artists of her age and gender group, she still couldn¡¯t even scratch Leo.

    Leo was impressed by her improvement rate. He only had to move his upper body for the first attacks but as the fight progressed, he actually had to move his entire body to avoid it. The speed of her improvement reminded him of Lily. Did everyone improve this quickly? Leo had too few samples to make a conclusion.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how your defense holds up.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    Leo positioned himself in a battle stance and sent out a fast kick towards Happy¡¯s face. He stopped the kick right before hitting her face and discovered that she had not reacted at all. Happy¡¯s left arm shot up between her face and his motionless leg. Her action was quick but it was far too late to have stopped his kick. If Leo had continued, she would take his kick with full force to her unprotected head.

    He did a few more attacks, slowly decreasing his speed until she could keep up. Leo managed to somewhat estimate her fighting potential. He gave her a few pointers before ending the fight. Happy thanked him and continued on her quest. Leo prepared to walk toward the Alchemy Shop when he received a message from Snow.

    System: Incoming chat-request from [Snow].

    ¡°Hello, Snow. How may I help you?¡±

    ¡°Have you done the Frozen Caverns dungeon yet?¡±

    ¡°No, I have been a bit preoccupied as of late. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°I want to get the first clear record for my Guild, Legacy.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. You created a new guild. Did something happen with Rising Embers?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk about it right now. The situation is complicated.¡±

    Leo did not bother prying into the matter more. She obviously had a reason for creating a new guild. He could just ask Alex later anyway or wait for her to tell him.

    ¡°Alright, then. Do you want me to join you for the dungeon?¡±

    ¡°No, I want to do this alone with my guild. We can¡¯t rely on others for something like this. I want to ask your help with creating a strategy for the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a video from Nightmare mode?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll send it to you right now.¡±

    Leo watched through the video with analytical eyes. Snow had been so kind as to add specific timestamps, making the nearly 3-hour long video turn into a 20-minute long video. Leo was silent throughout the entire video. He collected his thoughts and began explaining how they should proceed. The dungeon was fairly simple and most of the boss¡¯ mechanics were easy to counter. He finished by giving some general tips for the final boss. They hadn¡¯t made it that far yet, but Leo figured it would have a similar pattern to the first boss of the dungeon. He also added a few details from the version he knew from his past life, although he had no idea how helpful that would be.

    ¡°Thank you. I think we can get through it with all this information.¡±

    ¡°Good luck.¡±

    Leo continued to walk toward the Alchemy Shop but was once more interrupted, this time by Alex.

    ¡°Let me guess, you want to get the first clear of Frozen Caverns.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes, actually. How did you ¡­ Actually, never mind. I guess Legacy is doing the same thing.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Yup.¡±

    ¡°Are you joining them?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m staying out of it this time.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean I can¡¯t convince you to join us for the first clear?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid so. I can give you the same information I gave Snow. Let the best guild win.¡±

    ¡°You did say you wanted to stay out of guild related stuff. Fine. It¡¯s better than nothing at least.¡±

    Leo ended his call with Alex and proceeded to finally enter the Alchemy Shop. He could see several players buying potions from an old man sitting behind an equally old wooden desk. Leo quickly talked to the old man and a shop interface appeared in front of him.

    Intermediate Health Potion: 1 silver | Your price: 70 Copper

    Intermediate Mana Potion: 1 silver | Your price: 70 Copper

    Intermediate Spirit Potion: 1 silver | Your price: 70 Copper

    He quickly bought a few dozen potions of each type and began advertising inside the shop.

    ¡°Selling all Intermediate Potions, 92 copper!¡±

    The players inside the shop looked at him with mixed expressions. They knew that it was possible to gain a discount on normal shops if they had enough reputation to gain a title, but 92 copper was simply too cheap. No one expected Leo to have a higher title than Citizen at the very most, which would give him a 10% discount. Why would anyone sell potions at a mere 2 copper profit?

    ¡°My friend, is what you say true?¡±

    ¡°Of course. What would I gain by lying?¡±

    ¡°Okay then. I need 8 Health Potions and 5 Mana potions.¡±

    After securing his first customer, Leo¡¯s reselling business quickly escalated. One customer turned into ten, then a hundred. No one wanted to miss out on the chance at getting potions cheaper. This was especially true for Guilds aiming for the first clear record of Frozen Caverns.

    Leo grinned from ear to ear at the amount of money he earned. The players thought he was being generous by selling at a 2 copper profit which only served to increase his sales even more. Leo had no reason to disclose his actual profit margin and never confirmed nor denied their assumptions.

    This business model would only work for a short while. Although it¡¯s unlikely for more Saint¡¯s rings to appear near Ferima City any time soon, there¡¯s still the possibility. Leo assumed that someone was doing the exact same thing as him in another city. It¡¯s not difficult to see the need for potions. When player Alchemist begins to level up enough to make Intermediate Potions, the prices will drop to maybe 20 copper at the most.

    Leo was not going to let this opportunity wander away. He sat in the shop for several hours and saw his coin pouch become heavier by the second. The news about someone selling potions at an 8 copper discount quickly spread throughout the city. Leo continued to serve his customers when a kingdom announcement appeared.

    Kingdom announcement: Congratulations to the Guild [Legacy] for achieving the first clear of [Frozen Caverns] on [Nightmare Mode]!

    Kingdom announcement: Congratulations to the Guild [Legacy] for achieving the fastest clear at 3 hours, 47 minutes and 14 seconds for [Frozen Caverns] on [Nightmare Mode]!

    It would seem that Snow ended up victorious this time. Leo opened his friend¡¯s list and sent out a congratulation to Snow. He also sent out his condolences to Alex. He felt slightly bad for not helping Alex more, but he knew that this was not just a simple first clear. This would determine who leads the alliance between Legacy and Moonlight. He had no right to interfere with this balance. They both had the same amount of information and it could have ended either way.

    System: Incoming chat-request from [Snow].

    ¡°Snow, congratulations once more.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. Your help made the dungeon a lot easier. I want to pay you for the guidance.¡±

    ¡°No need. I simply pointed out a few things. Call it a small favor.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡±

    ¡°Did you get any good loot?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we also confirmed that the first clear makes the drops tailored to each player in the dungeon. We got a Guild Residence Permit which will save us 1,000 gold when someone in the guild manages to get the title of Knight. I think it will take at least a month considering how slow gaining reputation is.¡±

    ¡°I have the title of Knight.¡±

    ¡°What? How?!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s from something called a Saint¡¯s ring. There¡¯s no way to intentionally find it, you¡¯ll have to just play the game and hope a ring chooses you.¡±

    Leo had no problem telling Snow about his ring. The information would eventually be spread anyway and having her aware of the rings could help him track down the other owners later on.

    ¡°I must once more ask for your assistance. How much do you want for establishing our Guild Residence?¡±

    ¡°I want a private room in the residence and to use the guild¡¯s various facilities once they are built.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure. Trust me when I say that it¡¯s a fair trade for both of us.¡±

    Leo arranged to meet up with Snow at the Merchant¡¯s Guild to buy the residence. He waited for about 10 minutes before she appeared from a horse carriage.

    Leo walked together with Snow towards the Merchant¡¯s Guild¡¯s entrance. They quickly made their way towards the Guild Residence Registration Desk at the far left corner inside the massive building. Unsurprisingly, there was not a single person lining up at the desk.

    ¡°Hello, how may I help you today, Sir?¡±

    They were met by a young man in his 20s sitting in a wooden chair behind a glass window.

    ¡°I would like to buy a Guild Residence.¡±

    The man made a small gesture with his hands and a map over the city appeared. The map showed several plots of land ranging from Bronze to Diamond in rating. In an NPC City, all plots are categorized by a rating. The rating begins at the lowest level of Bronze ¡ú Silver ¡ú Gold ¡ú Diamond.

    An NPC City only has a single Diamond rated plot for each category, namely: Guild Residence, Personal House and Shop. Besides the requirements to actually own a plot, the only requirement to gain a Diamond rated plot of land is to be the first to claim it.

    Leo quickly pointed at the only Diamond plot for guild residences. The location was perfectly placed near the center of the city, making traveling to any of the important buildings such as the Auction House and Adventurer¡¯s Guild take a few minutes at most.

    ¡°Ah, an excellent choice.¡±

    Leo handed over the permit Snow gained from the dungeon and the young man quickly proceeded to register the guild residence.

    ¡°This permit is registered to the Guild Legacy. Do you still wish to proceed?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Good, good. I need your signature here and Ms. Snow¡¯s signature here ¡­ Thank you. The construction will take roughly 10 minutes. Here¡¯s the certificate of ownership Ms. Snow. I hope you two have a splendid day.¡±

    Leo walked out of the Merchant¡¯s Guild together with Snow and quickly moved towards Legacy¡¯s new home. It took them less than two minutes to arrive. The previously empty green plot of land was now partially covered by a large white cloth stretching around the construction site for the guild residence.

    Sounds of sawing and hammering could be heard, causing many players to stop in their tracks and look towards the white cloth.

    [Unimportant person #1] ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    [Unimportant person #2] ¡°Looks like a Noble has decided to build a house.¡±

    [Unimportant person #1] ¡°House? The land is vast enough to build a mansion, surely a plot for a house would be smaller.¡±

    [Unimportant person #2] ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be a mansion. There¡¯s no way someone has gained 300 reputation already.¡±

    [Dave] ¡°Seven crows walk the path of redemption.¡±

    [Unimportant person #2] ¡°What?¡±

    [Dave] ¡°Mark my words.¡±

    The crowd slowly increased in size and the construction finished. The white cloth disappeared and a beautiful wooden building appeared. The building was as large as a mansion with delicate carvings on the supporting pillars. It was two stories tall and blended in perfectly with the many mansions in the background.

    City announcement: Congratulations to [Legacy] for becoming the first Guild to own a Guild Residence in Ferima City! All Guild members will receive a 100% increase in all experience gained and a 100% increase in drops from monsters for 48 hours!

    City announcement: Queen Allison Ferimhart is pleased to welcome the first Guild to settle down in her beloved City. All players with Ferima City set as their resurrection point will receive a 50% increase in all experience gained and a 50% increase in drops from monsters for 48 hours!

    The construction of the first Guild Residence caused every player in Ferima City to cheer in joy. Players began to create parties and headed straight out into the open fields. Who would miss such a golden opportunity to level up faster?

    This was also a golden opportunity for Leo and his potion reselling business. It would explode with customers due to the sudden increase in players wanting to level up efficiently. Normally players refrain from using potions as much as possible, but when they can gain 50% more experience, all common sense goes out the window.

    Of course, the system would never be so kind as to give rewards after the fact. Anyone who has not registered Ferima City as their home will not gain the buff after registering now. The same goes for Legacy, any new member will not gain the 100% increase buff. The two buffs also do not stack.

    Leo quickly ran back to the Alchemist Shop and prepared to start his business once more. The NPC selling the potions would not go empty any time soon. Potions are considered an essential item for every player, the shop carries more supply than you would ever need. Unlike his business at the Tilted Anvil, reselling potions was both reliable and profitable.

    Leo could not help but feel sad when he thought about how Alchemist would soon destroy this profitable business model. He would at least earn as much money as he could before the first Alchemist reaches the Basic level and begin to produce the Intermediate Potions. It was unfortunate to miss out on a significant portion of the increased EXP event, but the potential loss in profit outweighed his need to level up right now.

 Chapter 13

    Leo sat in a chair to the right of the old man selling potions. As he suspected, the 50% increase in experience gain significantly increased the need for potions. He had, however, severely underestimated the number of players coming to buy potions.

    Although the trades were completed quickly, the few seconds it took rapidly accumulated and forced players to form a long queue outside the Alchemy Shop. It was so overcrowded that Leo had to contact Alex and have him help out with the selling part. If this had been the only Alchemy Shop in the city, he might have endured it to ensure the extra profit, but there were at least fifteen other shops selling potions.

    He had watched several players complain about the queue time and leave for another potion shop. Although they would have to pay more, they still did not want to give up the extra EXP by waiting in a line.

    The queues settled down after Alex and his Moonlight Guild came to help out. They agreed to take a 5% commission¡¯s fee. Leo agreed due to the circumstances, he did not want to sit here all day and lose out on the EXP event. His wealth continued to climb as the hours flew by.

    Leo continued to sell potions for a total of 6 hours before handing the rest off to Alex¡¯s guild members. He simply bought the potions with their money and would receive 25 copper per potion sold. He would need to discuss more with Moonlight whether to continue this business. Leo doubted they would want to settle for 5% when they do most of the work. It worked out this time due to the huge market, but once the event settles down, so will the number of players buying potions in bulk.

    He had already shown his cards by giving them the opportunity to see that he can¡¯t handle the workload himself. Leo still had more alternatives than to just use Moonlight, but if he could reach an agreement, it would be beneficial to both of them. He¡¯s not the only one capable of doing this type of thing. Leo had no idea what Happy was doing right now, but he doubted she would ignore the potential for profit once she realizes. Luckily Ferima City is a massive city with close to one million players. Adding another reseller of potions would hardly affect his bottom line. He just hoped she wouldn¡¯t utilize a Guild as he had.

    With the business taken care of, Leo walked to the Auction House to spend some of his earned money. He specifically wanted more skill books and Iron Quality equipment if he could find any for a reasonable price. If he could find any gear for his missing slots, that would be a nice bonus as well.

    Leo opened the Auction House¡¯s interface and searched for all types of skill books. The skill books do not have a quality rating but rather a rarity rating. The rating goes from Common ¡ú Uncommon ¡ú Rare ¡ú Epic ¡ú Legendary. Leo began by filtering the search by rarity. He quickly confirmed that no one had put up any Epic or Legendary skill books. Although it¡¯s not impossible that some lucky player has gotten a hold of them, they would be a fool to sell it this early in the game. High rated skill books will only increase in value, unlike gear which depreciates in value.

    There were only three skill books that caught his attention. They were all Rare rated and ranged from 1 gold to 5 gold per. Leo had earned nearly 100 gold from potions and bought the books without a second thought. He currently had a stable source of revenue and still waited for Snow to pay for her weapons. Leo had allowed Snow to try out the weapons for a while to figure out their value. He also wanted to sell a few more equipments to better understand the market before suggesting a price.

    Leo looked at two of the skill books with a satisfied expression. Although they were only good on their own, together, their power increased drastically. He immediately used them and now had a grand total of three skills on his character. If only removing skills wasn¡¯t such a pain in the ass, he would have cleared out the Auction House already.

    [Death Hail (Rare)]

    Restriction: Mage

    Unleash a powerful curse on any foe within a 5-meters radius of your initial target, dealing 300% of spell power as damage. Damage is doubled against stunned enemies.

    Cast time: 3.0 seconds

    Cooldown: 3 minutes

    Cost: 100 MP

    The magic attack had high damage potential on its own, but paired with the next skill made it much more powerful.

    [Concussion Shot (Rare)]

    Restriction: Ranger

    Launch several arrows towards targets within a 5-meter radius of your initial target, stunning them for 2.5 seconds.

    Cast time: 0.2 seconds

    Cooldown: 3 minutes

    Cost: 100 SP

    At first glance it might look like the stun duration is short by a mere half second. This is only when using the skill as is. Leo had no problem learning how to use the magic language for a specific skill and would be able to reduce its cast time. This combination of skills works great against both monsters and players. Due to the magic attack being an AOE, it¡¯s power would become significantly reduced against players.

    The last skill book was a very useful passive.

    [Iron Defense (Rare)]

    Restriction: Knight

    Reduce all received physical damage by 15% and all received magical damage by 12%.

    The passive would mostly be effective against monsters as some players can use special skills that ignore damage reduction passives. It might not be the best for PVP but for Leo¡¯s need right now, it couldn¡¯t have been better.

    Leo browsed through the equipment sections but quickly found that there was hardly any equipment above Bronze Quality for sale. It wasn¡¯t surprising when he thought about Guilds having players stationed here all day and night just to buy equipment. There¡¯s also a lack of good quality gear in general, making players use a higher quality but lower leveled gear for longer.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    He managed to buy a ring, earring, and cloak with stats, but their stats were terrible. He had to spend 10 silver on them, but the return was hardly worth it. Accessories simply have a very low drop rate and most players wouldn¡¯t want to sell them until they get an upgrade. It was at least better to have terrible stats than no accessory at all.

    With nothing else to do, Leo decided to buy out all the Bronze Quality equipment and transform them into gear. He spent a total of 15 gold and expected to make anywhere between 40-60 gold. He had used more materials than needed to increase the level cap of the gear. Although the gear¡¯s stats hardly rose, the extra levels would make them far more useful long term.

    Everything he needed to do in the city was now completed and Leo headed towards the city¡¯s gates. He decided to level in Undead Forest and then complete his quest while he¡¯s in the area. The lower level zone was in the complete opposite direction and he would waste far too long going there just to level up a few levels.

    Leo set out from the north gates and walked for a solid hour before he could see Undead Forest. The forest was devoid of green and he struggled to even call it a forest. The trees were brown with hardly any leaves. The grass had withered and there was no sign of any animals. It truly was a dead forest refusing to give up.

    Leo entered the forest and began searching for monsters to kill. It did not take him long to find a group of skeleton warriors. They wore armor made of poor iron and rusty swords. He inspected the skeletons.

    [Skeleton Warrior (Common)]

    Level 17

    Health: 10 450

    Although the level difference of 7 will reduce his damage, skeletons are known for being fragile with low defense and high attack power. This is the best type of opponent for him right now.

    He sent out a basic magic attack to lure a single skeleton away from the group. The skeleton warrior walked towards the sound without even thinking about it. Its low intelligence made it impossible for the skeleton to comprehend that it was lured away from safety.

    Leo used his [Concussion Shot] followed by [Death Hail]. He had not bothered with going to the library to read up on the magic skill and planned to learn the chant by ear. The [Concussion Shot] hit perfectly and stunned the skeleton for 2.5 seconds. The magic attack came late by half a second and could not utilize the extra damage buff for hitting a stunned target.

    -497

    Considering that his magic attack power is only half of his physical attack power, the attack hit extremely hard. The skeleton cried out in anger and sprinted towards him. Leo decided to switch his attachment into its shield form. The extra damage simply wasn¡¯t worth the risk.

    -124

    -126

    -124

    Leo used his [Spear Thrust] skill and hit the skeleton in its head. The skeleton stumbled backward from the impact which Leo used to send out another attack.

    -157

    The skeleton managed to get back on stable feet and began to swing its rusty sword towards Leo. The attack was fairly fast due to the difference in attributes but its pattern was still basic. The skeleton continued sending out swings from left to right, lower left to upper right in a monotone rhythm.

    Leo sent his spear at the skeleton once more and began reducing its health at a rapid pace. The forest was eerie silent with the exception of Leo¡¯s battle. The lack of animal noises and the cold gust of wind occasionally brushing through his hair made for a sinister atmosphere.

    The skeleton tried to hit Leo but it was all in vain. It fell to the ground, the sound of bone crashing together following it to its grave once more.

    System: Skeleton Warrior (Common) defeated! Awarding 385 + (193) EXP!

    Leo picked up a health potion and seven copper. The monster gave a fairly large amount of experience which was increased even more by the bonus from the event. Leo continued killing Skeleton Warriors for about an hour.

    An hours worth of killing high-level monsters had only gained him a single level and about 50% towards level 12. Leo allocated his points into strength and dexterity. He was unsure of how powerful Ubras the Mad Wizard was. He could also not guarantee that he gets more than one attempt at the quest. Leo decided to level up to 15 before attempting the quest.

    Leo continued to hunt Skeletons for 7 hours before finally hitting level 15. He once more concentrated on his strength and dexterity. Leo learned a lot about his magic skill and could now cast it in 2.3 seconds with a mana cost of 75. The damage also increased by around 15%. Although he believed it was possible to increase the damage more, the cast time and mana cost was most likely at the lowest they could get with manual casting alone.

    Leo gazed at his equipment. He had not spent any experience on them since entering the forest. Due to the massive difference in levels, he actually gained more damage output per character level compared to upgrading his spear. This made him realize that his gear needs an upgrade in quality soon.

    He had killed more than 400 skeletons, but only gained a few dozen pieces of equipment. Of those, only half were of Iron Quality while the rest was Bronze Quality. This is all too common when fighting low ranked monsters.

    Leo prepared to walk back to the entrance and follow the trail towards Ubras¡¯ cave but was hindered by a sudden explosion of loud noises. He quickly ran towards the noise to see what caused it.

    He stood atop a hill and looked down towards an open field. In the middle of the field stood a large mammoth. Its skin was cut in pieces and flesh could be seen all around it. The mammoth looked blue and its bones could be seen on part of its body.

    Undead Mammoth (Lord)

    Level 21

    Health: 124 531 443 / 150 000 000

    The mammoth was the same rank as the Ancient Golem he had defeated before, but its stats were leagues above the golem. Leo assumed its large health pool made its attack power weak compared to its level. The problem with taking down a monster with such a large health pool is not the difficulty or time requirement, but other players.

    Leo gazed towards the mammoth¡¯s feet and saw around 200 players fighting it. It looked like two distinct parties fighting each other for the mammoth. Leo assumed that they represented two guilds but he was too far away to inspect them.

    Leo moved closer to get a better view of the battle. As he got closer to the battle, he began to understand the situation more. There were indeed two guilds, but they were not split evenly. The first guild was [Tempest] which had roughly 50 members. The other guild was none other than [Bloodhound]. Leo¡¯s lips turned into an evil grin. Tempest had a clear disadvantage in numbers, but their players were far better both in gear and skill.

    This would not go on forever though. There will eventually be an opportunity for Bloodhound to take the initiative and crush them. Although Leo had no relationship with Tempest, he would much rather see them get the kill and snag some of the EXP and loot if he can. Leo walked out from his hiding spot and approached the mammoth. He was quickly discovered by both of the guilds. Leo let out a smile as he approached Tempest.

 Chapter 14

    Leo walked calmly towards whom he presumed to be the Guild Leader of Tempest. The sound of metal hitting tough skin and magic exploding was almost drowned by Leo¡¯s appearance. The already hostile atmosphere turned even more unfriendly as the two guilds began to figure out if his arrival was good or bad.

    A man in his mid-30s with a short military hair cut, heavy looking plate armor, and giant shield walked towards Leo. The man had a conflicted expression on his face. He knew that Leo had business with them specifically, but he could not rule out the possibility of him being a spy.

    In Ekalius Online, the PVP system can be abused to some degree. This is simply due to the game¡¯s harsh way of operating. There is no handholding. Leo could join their party and attack Bloodhound, making the entire group count as the attackers and Bloodhound could counter-attack without repercussions.

    In normal games, he would simply be kicked out and forgotten about afterward. In this game, however, such an action could literally ruin someone''s livelihood. Some players live day by day and sell their in-game currency to pay their bills, food, and other expenses. Losing their gear, more importantly, if its good gear, is devastating.

    Leo doubted that Tempest was such a fragile guild but he had to understand his arrival from their perspective. No one wants to work longer hours because some idiot decided to make their life difficult for a day.

    Leo approached within 5-meters of the man and began speaking, ¡°Are you the leader for this party?¡±

    ¡°I am, why have you come here? Surely you don¡¯t believe a single player can take on all of us?¡±

    Leo let out a low laugh. He was almost tempted to give it a try just for the challenge but quickly returned to reality. He would have time to test his skill against Bloodhound later anyway.

    ¡°That¡¯s not why I¡¯m here, this time. I want to help you win the battle.¡±

    The man frowned slightly as he went into deep thought. This time? Was Leo saying he could take them all on? He began weighing his options before deciding.

    ¡°How do I know you aren¡¯t from Bloodhound?¡±

    Leo¡¯s lips curled into a warm smile. The man deserved to at least be considered a Guild Leader for realizing the situation.

    ¡°I¡¯ll prove it to you.¡±

    ¡°And how will you-...¡±

    Leo took a quick step forward and thrust his spear to the left, seemingly at empty space. The spear abruptly halted its momentum and a metal sound could be heard. A figure of a person slowly materialized out of seemingly nowhere. They held a dagger in front of their face, Leo¡¯s spear only centimeters from their face.

    ¡°A Thief? How!?¡±

    The Guild Leader could not fathom how Leo could possibly have known that a Thief was eavesdropping on their conversation. Leo, on the other hand, could hardly understand why the Guild Leader didn¡¯t realize it. The Thief was practically broadcasting their location with heavy steps and constant movement. They could at least have chosen to not stay 2-meters away like an idiot.

    The Thief looked at Leo, disbelief filling his face. Leo recognized the Thief as the same one who allegedly followed the Ancient Golem he defeated. It suddenly made much more sense why he was so inept at covert information gathering.

    System announcement: You have been attacked by the player [AwesomeDude] and their party (total of 147 players). You can freely retaliate for 30 minutes without receiving a penalty.

    Leo looked at the Thief¡¯s name and nodded approvingly. A simple name for a simple person. Leo thrust his spear at the Thief and ended his life with a simple double stab towards his head.

    -275

    -282

    To others, it might look like Leo was some overpowered god capable of ending anyone''s life with a single strike. This was not true at all. He simply hit a weak spot like the head of a player with low-quality headgear. His attack wasn¡¯t even that fast, it¡¯s just that players aren¡¯t used to basic attacks being useful. Leo quickly looked to his right as if he had spotted another player. He let out a smile and switched his attention to the man in front of him.

    ¡°It¡¯s impressive, I do admit, but now you can¡¯t join our party for 30 minutes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s only when I¡¯m the one attacking first.¡±

    The Guild Leader looked at Leo and nearly fainted from shock when he realized Leo was not tagged as a red player. Normally when a player initiates the attack they¡¯re marked with an icon above their head. This icon changes the gradient of red from light to dark depending on how many players they have killed. This also increases their death penalty and items dropped regardless of whether a monster or player kills them. They can also be freely killed without penalty for the duration of the icon.

    ¡°How? I clearly saw you attack first?¡±

    Leo let out a smile and said, ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    The man thought for a minute before answering. Now that he thought about it, the spear seemed to stop before the sound of metal clashing. The man opened his eyes in shock when he realized what actually happened.

    ¡°You ¡­ You made him hit your spear? Is something like that even possible?¡±

    ¡°I just did it, so, it has to be, right?¡±

    Leo could understand his confusion. This type of attack would never work on anyone with proper skill. He had deliberately sent his spear as close to the Thief¡¯s face as possible in order to force him to defend himself on instinct. A skilled player would wait for the spear to connect with their weapon, not attack the spear itself. The moment Leo halted the spear¡¯s motion, it no longer counted as an attack.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.He could, of course, not do this all day. This feint only works a few times in a row, but not because it¡¯s trying to bait a fight, but because of harassment. Leo could only imagine how messed up it would be for players to constantly attack without actually hitting the target in hope of baiting out an attack. This type of feint attack also has several restrictions that make it difficult to pull off.

    ¡°Haha, I have learned much from you today. My name is Riadel, and you are?¡±

    Leo was not wearing his cloak which hid his name, level, and class, but that was not the reason why Riadel had to ask for his name. Players can inspect each other to gain basic information such as name, level, class, and guild, but it¡¯s considered rude to do so. The inspected players receive a notification with the name of the player inspecting them.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zero.¡±

    ¡°Well, Zero, what do you want in return for helping us out of this slightly disadvantageous situation?¡±

    ¡°Slightly disadvantageous?¡±

    ¡°Alright, fair enough. What do you want in return for bailing us out of this situation?¡±

    Leo answered without a moment¡¯s hesitation, ¡°I want the first pick on any loot.¡±

    Riadel thought it over for a minute. He had little hope of defeating Bloodhound and decided to give Leo a shot. He might lose a single item, but at least he won¡¯t lose them all, hopefully.

    ¡°Alright. One item, first pick.¡±

    Leo smiled and nodded in agreement. Riadel invited him to their party and his retaliation timer instantly went to 0. He had no reason to kill any of the Bloodhound members right now. Why would he reduce the number of people killing the mammoth? The faster it goes down, the less chance of more guilds showing up.

    ¡°Who had the first hit?¡±

    ¡°One of our Rangers hit it first.¡±, Riadel said.

    Leo nodded and moved into a fighting position. The first hit guaranteed that Tempest would gain 60% of the EXP, as long as they could stay alive until the end, that is. Leo dashed towards the mammoth and began climbing up one of its legs and onto its back. He proceeded to walk towards the head and sent out several stabs in quick succession followed by his [Spear Thrust] skill.

    -142

    -144

    -143

    -101

    -101

    -103

    Its high defense reduced his attack¡¯s potency by almost 60%. Leo had even attacked its weak spot yet his attacks did this little damage. He could only let out a sigh and continue chipping away the mammoth¡¯s health.

    The mammoth only had two skills. The first was a low-range AOE which dealt about 50% of the players¡¯ health, while the second was a much longer ranged AOE which dealt about 15% of players¡¯ health. Leo had no problem avoiding the skills while standing atop the mammoth, but the same could not be said for the others.

    The mammoth was in constant movement, making it difficult for anyone else to even get up to its back. There were a few who managed the climb but quickly fell down when the mammoth shook its body. It¡¯s like standing on a raging bull. It¡¯s not something completely impossible, but it¡¯s also not something anyone can do without painstakingly long training.

    Leo continued assaulting the mammoth from atop its back while the rest of the players fought from the ground. Its health slowly decreased and the actual fight would soon begin. The hours quickly flew by as the mammoth¡¯s health slowly reached 5%.

    Leo descended from the mammoth¡¯s back and approached Riadel. He could clearly see that Riadel was nervous about the upcoming fight. Not only do they need to kill all the Bloodhound members, but they also need to make sure the mammoth is low enough that they can finish it off before their enemies can respawn.

    Leo let out a laugh and said, ¡°Nervous? Don¡¯t be, it¡¯ll turn out fine.¡±

    Riadel did not share Leo¡¯s carefree attitude towards the battle. The other members of Tempest were all shaking slightly at the thought of having to fight against a 3 to 1 player disadvantage. Riadel had done his best to encourage them but even he was unsure of the outcome.

    ¡°Should be about time. I¡¯ll start the fight, you just jump in whenever.¡±

    ¡°What? Wai-...¡±

    Leo dashed away from Riadel before he could hear his response. Riadel hurriedly prepared for the fight and followed shortly after. The members of Bloodhound saw Leo run towards them and panicked. Most of them had recognized him and remembered how the battle went last time. This time, however, he was not alone but together with about 50 powerful players.

    ¡°Teluris, what should we do?¡±, said a man with a rough appearance and a large cut stretching from his temple down to his mouth. This was none other than the Guild Leader of Bloodhound, [Larkos].

    Teluris made a serious face and said, ¡°Let him come. Do not attack him first.¡±

    Leo continued his dash towards the group and quickly found that they seemed rather relaxed about his imminent arrival. He let out a sigh and locked eyes with Teluris. A competent strategist is the worst kind of enemy.

    Leo reached the first members of Bloodhound and thrust his spear in a wave-like pattern. The spear¡¯s distance became difficult to comprehend and the poor player instinctively raised his sword. Leo elegantly halted his spear and let the sword hit it with full force.

    System announcement: You have been attacked by the player [Sonbet] and their party (total of 147 players). You and your party can freely retaliate for 30 minutes without receiving a penalty.

    ¡°Fucking idiot!¡±

    Leo turned towards the angry voice and discovered Teluris standing there with his face red from anger. Leo let out a laugh which seemed to make Teluris even angrier. He began spitting out cuss words like there was no tomorrow. His calm attitude was nowhere to be seen as Leo cut through the Bloodhound guild¡¯s members.

    ¡°Kill him you imbeciles! AOE his ass back to the fucking graveyard where he belongs!!¡±

    The Mages began chanting while the Rangers prepared to launch a volley of arrows. Leo watched the players and simply turned around and ran away. The Mages and Rangers looked at him in confusion. They still needed a few seconds to launch their attack but Leo was quickly running out of their range.

    Leo could hear several insults being thrown at him from behind. The Mages and Rangers stopped their attack and quickly discovered their mistake. Unlike basic attacks, skills should not be canceled. The energy created from skills have to go somewhere and it just so happens that the somewhere is straight in the caster¡¯s face.

    Several explosions sounded out in the middle of the Bloodhound party and some players died from the impact. They had failed to keep a proper distance from each other and some unlucky players found themselves in-between several AOE attacks. This was the first time any of them had even needed to cancel a skill. Leo could only sigh and shake his head at the spectacle.

    Leo quickly turned around and sent out his [Concussion Shot]. His Creator class was special when it came to the use of skills. [Concussion Shot] is normally a Ranger only skill that requires a bow or crossbow as its primary weapon. Leo¡¯s class does not need a specific weapon for casting skills. In this case, the arrows created from the skill simply shoot out from the tip of his spear. This has the downside of him not being able to reduce the skill¡¯s effectiveness. He also does not have the luxury of using physical arrows to enhance the skill¡¯s damage.

    The damage type is still physical despite the arrow being formed on the spot. It¡¯s not technically a magic arrow, nor is it a fully physical arrow. It¡¯s somewhere in between the two. He still needs the right attributes to make the skills worth it, which is why he made his shield transform into a magic based attachment. It¡¯s not required in order for him to use magic, but it¡¯s an easy way to gain intellect and piety.

    The [Concussion Shot] hit five players and Leo had already begun casting his [Death Hail]. The travel time for [Concussion Shot] was fairly short and he was already close to the enemy. Its maximum range was 25-meters by default, which most projectile based skills are. Due to Leo manually chanting the incantation for his [Death Hail] skill, he could not only move while casting but also initiate the chant before the first skill hit.

    The attack took the Bloodhound players by surprise and they had no time to react. Leo¡¯s magic wasn¡¯t strong enough to kill them, but he managed to send them all into critical health levels. His party quickly caught up to him and the true battle would finally commence.

 Chapter 15

    Leo looked at the battlefield from the backlines. Tempest had perfectly coordinated with his previous stun into AOE magic attack and taken down several Bloodhound players. The enemy¡¯s formation was nowhere to be seen and Leo could see their players panic.

    The day had turned into night at some point during all of this but the light globes from several Mages would fool anyone into thinking otherwise. Leo surveyed the battlefield and locked onto Teluris. He was giving out orders left and right but he had long since gone mad with rage.

    Leo quickly began making his way through the battlefield toward Teluris. Although he¡¯s far from capable right now, if given enough time, he will calm down. A battle is dependent on information. Taking out the leaders is a fast way to ensure the rest of the players panic and begin making mistakes. With the game¡¯s realism, players often forget for a second that they are in a game. Instincts take over and even though they have no reason to flee, they still choose to do so.

    Teluris was heavily guarded by three Knights and two Lancers. It made sense to guard the tactician but he was also a Priest, making his worth in the battle more than anyone else. Leo thrust his spear towards the players blocking his way. His spear always found the enemy¡¯s weak point. He hit those without proper leg armor in the knees, those with low-quality headgear in the head and so on.

    Leo¡¯s actions were common sense both in his past life and this life. The difference was that players had yet to realize how important attacking specific body parts really is. Players take whatever armor they can get and do not even think twice about whether it¡¯s good in PVP situations. It¡¯s like he¡¯s playing a shooting game with a bunch of bots. He can still die if one of the bots gets lucky but more often than not, he¡¯ll crush them with ease.

    Bloodhound players fell one by one as Leo elegantly stabbed them to death. The Mages and Rangers tried to hit him but Leo would always position himself in a way where the projectiles hit their team instead. The guided mode for projectiles have many flaws, target priority being one of them. It¡¯s only ever useful against monsters due to their generally big size but even then manual targeting is basically the only effective way to play.

    Leo¡¯s body spun around while still keeping forward momentum. His spear met every attack from the dumbfounded melee players. They could not understand how someone could use a blocking skill this many times in a row. Leo could only look at them with pity. Although he followed the game¡¯s rules to a T, it still felt unfair for him to fight against new players. Unfortunately, the game does not care about players feelings. It does have certain mechanisms to prevent high-level players from killing low-level players, but even this only works in beginner zones. This is the major reason why most players prefer to join a powerful guild.

    In Leo¡¯s opinion, the strongest players are all individual players. It takes much more skill to survive in the open world as a solo player compared to sheltered guild players. A guild can be targeted and brought down, an individual player can hide and attack with guerilla warfare.

    Leo quickly surveyed the battlefield and saw Tempest members quickly taking the momentum in the fight. Bloodhound began with three times the number of players, but they were now down to about twice the number of Tempest. Leo let out a smirk at the scene. He had always believed in quality over quantity and this fight clearly showed which guild had the highest quality.

    The mammoth¡¯s health slowly declined as it reached closer and closer to zero. They had to kill the Bloodhound members and the mammoth before the Bloodhound players could resurrect. Leo had no doubts that Tempest could kill them a hundred times over, but he did not want to risk them getting a lucky hit on the mammoth and gain the 40% experience for the last hit.

    Leo returned his focus towards Teluris and dashed towards the heavily protected Priest. The three Knights made a wall in front of the two Lancers with Teluris in the far back. Leo doubted they would just let him circle around. He could only prepare himself for a head-on fight. The towering shields stood there like an immovable wall. The Knights had taken up a fully defensive stance, which against monsters would be the right move.

    Leo let out a soft laugh as he sprinted towards the shields. He quickly closed the distance and moved his spear in a charging position. Leo could see the Knights laughing at his idiotic attempt at charging at them with a spear. He paid them no mind and inserted the spear¡¯s tip in the ground in front of the shields. His entire body followed the spear and Leo used it to leap above the shields like a pole vault jumper.

    His body arched as he easily surmounted the shields wall-like defense. The players stood there like headless-chickens as he easily landed on the ground. Normally this move would be suicidal when two Lancers stood ready behind the Knights. Leo had calculated the risk and concluded that the Lancers would not be able to react in time to his stunt. It turned out just like he planned and Leo easily disposed of the Lancers before heading straight for Teluris.

    The Priest panicked as Leo quickly closed the distance. He didn¡¯t have any combat related spells and had no way of countering Leo. The spear flew through the air and quickly hit Teluris¡¯ face with full force.

    -534!

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Leo¡¯s momentum and precision would have ensured the kill, making a critical hit overkill. Teluris fell to the ground with a stupified expression on his face. How many players were around him right now? 5 close by and what, 100 others? How was it possible for him to die to a single person with all those obstacles in the way?

    The news about Teluris¡¯ death quickly made its way to the Bloodhound players. Leo fended off the two Lancers and three Knights while still keeping an eye over the battlefield. Tempest easily overpowered the Bloodhound guild. Without someone giving directions, the players didn¡¯t know what to do and began fighting mindlessly. Their formation quickly fell apart and Tempest easily pushed their way through.

    Riadel had not stopped giving commands throughout the whole encounter. He stood at the backline and had a full view over the entire battlefield, ensuring that any gaps in the enemy¡¯s formation could be exploited. Riadel also fought several Thiefs trying to take out their Priests and Mages.

    The battle ended as quickly as it began. Leo saw bodies quickly fading away one by one, indicating that they had given up on resurrecting here and settled on the graveyard instead. This might have been the only good move they made throughout the fight. Leo had not learned much from the battle, but knowing that Teluris¡¯ commanding abilities degrade when he¡¯s angry made the battle worth it. Unless Teluris manages to control his temper, or Bloodhound gains a new tactician, Leo won¡¯t need to worry about them in the future.

    The Tempest players easily finished off the mammoth and the battle officially ended. Leo could not help feeling disappointed with how easy it had been. His only comfort was the massive amount of EXP and the first pick on the loot. He still had one opponent left to defeat, if they were still here, that is.

    System: Undead Mammoth (Lord) defeated! Awarding 92 350 EXP!

    The experience was more than the Ancient Golem he had defeated earlier. This was even after it had been split with the 50 other players from Tempest.

    Leo walked up to Riadel and said, ¡°Finished organizing the drop?¡±

    Riadel nodded with a pleased smile on his face.

    ¡°As promised, you can choose any one item and we¡¯ll take the rest.¡±

    Leo scanned through the list of items. The mammoth dropped a total of 27 items, where 25 of them were useless to him. The 25 items were mostly Gold Quality equipment which he needed far more than one of to make it worth anything. The two items left were, however, of great interest.

    [Pet Box (Gold Quality)]

    Description: Use to summon a random pet to your side.

    Pets are extremely popular but most of them are completely useless in combat. A pet box has a small chance of giving a combat pet but even then it¡¯s strength could be anywhere from amazing to useless. Most pets end up in the hands of Protected Players. Protected Players is the term used for anyone playing on the second version of the game where there¡¯s no combat. Pets are particularly popular with children, especially if the pets have an exotic appearance.

    Its price depends on what pet it spawns. Even a simple dog could easily go for tens of thousands of dollars right now. Something like a unicorn would sell for millions in a heartbeat. The only downside is that selling it for in-game gold is difficult right now. Leo would have to settle on real-world money. He already had plenty of gold and selling the pet box for money wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea.

    [Luminar Knight Token (Epic Quality)]

    Description: Use to change into the Luminar Knight class.

    Restrictions: Knight, Raptor, Gladiator

    Leo looked at the class change token with mixed feelings. Both of the items were useless to him personally, but they would fetch a really high price when sold. The token would be the safe choice and guarantee him a significant amount of in-game currency along with real-world money. There¡¯s just no one with enough gold right now to pay the full price with in-game currency.

    Leo went into deep thought, weighing the potential profit versus the risk. The pet box would give him the larges profit as long as the pet is cool or cute. The token would never be able to sell for higher than a rare pet, but it¡¯s guaranteed to sell for a high price. The question becomes, is it worth risking it and take the pet box or should he take the safe route and guarantee a large amount of money?

    Riadel watched as Leo struggled with the decision. He knew that they only managed to win the fight due to Leo. If he could, he would give Leo both of them without batting an eye. They still made a large profit from the fight with all the gear dropped by Bloodhound. Unfortunately, he has an obligation to his guild to ensure they progress in the game. Either of the items would help them accomplish this and he can¡¯t give them both up.

    Leo looked at Riadel and said, ¡°You don¡¯t have to look so conflicted. We had a deal and I¡¯m honoring it.¡±

    Riadel nodded with a surprised expression on his face. Were his thoughts really that obvious?

    ¡°You do know you¡¯re talking out loud right?¡±

    ¡°I-I am?¡±

    Leo let out a laugh and shook his head. The others did not react at all, indicating that this is not the first time Riadel has done this.

    Leo finally decided to play it safe and take the class change token. He could easily set up an auction between Moonlight and Legacy for the token. An Epic class is worth far too much to sell on the open market. Leo could only imagine how bad it would be if a future enemy got the token due to his greed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the class change token. But could you open the pet box now? I would like to see if my decision was right.¡±

    Riadel nodded with a smile, ¡°Of course! I¡¯m curious myself.¡±

    The token entered Leo¡¯s inventory and Riadel opened the pet box. A bright light shone as the box jumped up and down. The light slowly faded and a pet stood where the box had previously been.

    [Snow Wolf (Non-combat)]

    Description: A wolf with pure white fur.

    Leo let out a sigh when the wolf appeared. It¡¯s not the rarest of pets, but its appearance makes it popular with both children and adults. Leo estimated that the pet could be sold for at least twice the amount of his token. At least it wasn¡¯t a combat pet.

    ¡°Looks like you won out this time.¡±

    ¡°It could have been either way. I¡¯m just glad the pet ended up being worth something.¡±

    Leo gained 30 pieces of Iron Quality equipment for his help with the PVP battle. He had no idea how much gear dropped or the quality, but he trusted that Riadel wouldn¡¯t try to cheat him. They added each other as friends and Tempest began walking back to the city. Leo still wanted to complete his sub-quest before heading back.

    The area became quiet after everyone left. The wind blew through the open field and hit Leo softly, sending his hair into a dance. Leo looked at seemingly nothing and said, ¡°You¡¯re still here? Good! I could really use a proper fight.¡±

 Chapter 16

    Leo gazed towards the open field while slightly moving his eyes from left to right. It was like he was staring at something yet nothing was there. He continued staring into empty space for several minutes. Seeing that they wouldn¡¯t reveal themselves, Leo shouted, ¡°Are you just gonna stand there all day?¡±

    Despite being seen through, the person in question didn¡¯t reveal themselves. Leo let out a sigh and turned his back towards the area he had previously gazed at. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his surroundings. Seconds turned into minutes as he continued to stand completely still.

    A loud gust of wind past by and Leo finally opened his eyes. He quickly turned around and positioned his spear in a blocking stance. The sound of metal hitting metal resounded throughout the otherwise quiet field. The person attacking him slowly materialized as their stealth was canceled by their attack.

    System announcement: You have been attacked by the player [Rosetta]. You can freely retaliate for 30 minutes without receiving a penalty.

    Leo looked at his attacker and discovered a woman of average height with an athletic build. She had short black hair and mostly black leather armor. She held two blood-red daggers which Leo presumed to be of Gold Quality or higher. Her attack had been directed at the left side of his abdomen. Leo could easily tell that she was a skilled player.

    Normally Thiefs begin their attack with a stun to the head but that¡¯s very easy to predict. An experienced Thief will use that same attack but on a random part of the body. The stun duration is reduced by doing this, but the chance of hitting the target increases drastically.

    Leothrust his spear towards her head but quickly changed direction mid-thrust. The spear arched towards her legs and a pair of daggers met the spear before it could connect.

    -12

    Leo smiled as the spear and the daggers collided. She had not blocked perfectly which allowed him to deal some damage. Just the fact that she could even react in time to block him was admirable. Leo continued sending out attack after attack. He purposefully made them slow in order to avoid ending the fight too soon.

    The woman continued blocking his stabs but she never tried to counter-attack. Leo couldn¡¯t help feeling disappointed by her lack of aggression. He even gave her multiple chances at easy counters yet she continued to be on the defensive. If she played a Knight, the defensive stance would be a good thing, but as a Thief, she¡¯s practically giving up any advantage the class has.

    Leo inspected the woman to see if she was the Rosetta he knew about. Sure enough, she was indeed Rosetta from Shadow.

    Name: Rosetta

    Guild: Shadow

    Level: 18

    Class: Thief

    He continued thrusting his spear towards Rosetta without stopping. His attacks dealt very little damage but the sheer amount of attacks slowly accumulated.

    -11

    -14

    -13

    Leo began feeling bored with the fight. He originally thought Rosetta would be a challenge based on her stealth ability. He had noticed her during the time when he killed that Bloodhound Thief. Her ability to blend with the surroundings was far above the current player''s capabilities. When he learned she was Rosetta, he regained hope that this might actually be an interesting fight. He should have known that it¡¯s still too early for him to find someone capable of challenging him.

    Leo gazed at Rosetta and said, ¡°Do you want to continue? You can ask Sky to jump in. I don¡¯t mind a 2v1.¡±

    Rosetta¡¯s eyes widened in surprise, she looked at Leo and said, ¡°How do you know about Sky?¡±

    Leo let out a laugh at the question. He was relieved to hear that Shadow seemed to still be the same old Guild it has always been. The situation made more sense to him now. Shadow was a guild focusing on covert operations such as information gathering and assassinations in-game. He had no idea if they just happened to find him here while scouting out the fight between Tempest and Bloodhound.

    ¡°Who knows? I¡¯ll tell you if you can beat me.¡±

    Rosetta¡¯s eyes turned serious and she began to finally counter attack. Her daggers moved independently from each other making it difficult for any normal opponent to avoid getting hit. Leo moved his body and positioned his spear to meet the daggers. He could easily have transformed his spear attachment to a shield but it didn¡¯t seem like he would need to.

    The daggers kept on coming from different angles and directions. Leo could see that Rosetta was quickly running out of stamina. Her attacks began to slow down and become sloppy. Leo couldn¡¯t bother watching anymore and quickly ended the fight.

    Leo¡¯s spear moved several times faster than before and with a difficult to read motion. Rosetta was quickly overwhelmed and couldn¡¯t respond properly to this sudden increase in attack speed. The spear hit perfectly several times and Rosetta¡¯s health fell to a critical level.

    -67

    -72

    -66

    Leo stopped his spear right before it could hit Rosetta¡¯s head. He then opened his mouth and said, ¡°Do you wish to try again?¡±

    Rosetta looked at him with dejected eyes. This was the first time she had felt so humiliated and powerless. She gazed at Leo and said, ¡°Why haven¡¯t you killed me? I¡¯m a red player now, don¡¯t you want to get my gear?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really care about your gear but I do want you to tell me why you¡¯re attacking me.¡±

    Rosetta stared at Leo before answering, ¡°I was told to measure your skill level.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    Rosetta looked away, her cheeks turning slightly red in embarrassment. This action left Leo completely clueless. Is this one of those situations where a girl bullies the boy she likes?

    ¡°Sky told me to figure out if you¡¯re worthy of joining our Guild.¡±

    She kept on dropping bomb after bomb. Leo was officially lost. Although it¡¯s possible that the guild changed slightly in this world, he still believed it to be roughly the same. Shadow had always been a girls-only guild. He could accept them wanting to hire him for training purposes, but actually join?Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°Since when does Shadow allow men in the guild?¡±

    ¡°This is an exception.¡±

    Leo thought about the situation logically. He doubted they wanted him to just train them, as a simple paycheck would be enough for him to agree. There were a few possibilities but he decided to go with the most likely scenario.

    ¡°What guild is giving you trouble?¡±

    Rosetta once more went into shock. Leo seemed to have information that should have been secret. It was like he had infiltrated their network and spied on their activities. Leo gazed at Rosetta¡¯s bewildered expression. He would probably be very confused as well if someone knew things they shouldn¡¯t about him. Leo had absolutely no clue about Shadow except for a few articles from his past and their achievements in the game. He could say something completely wrong any moment and destroy the illusion.

    Leo gazed at Rosetta and said, ¡°Sky, can you ask Michelle to stop trying to find my location? It would be unfortunate if Z-3314 was made public, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±

    There was a long silence before a system announcement resounded in his ears.

    System announcement: Incoming chat request from [Sky].

    Leo quickly answered the call.

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°Who knows?¡±

    Leo was bullshiting his way through the conversation. He only knew about Michelle due to a malware she created called Z-3314. Given the timeline, it should still be in its early stages. Leo had not taken the time to research the differences between his old world and this new one. This was something he needed to prioritize sooner rather than later. There was once more silence before Sky finally managed to talk again.

    ¡°Fine, we won¡¯t try to find you. We still want your help dealing with Windblade.¡±

    Leo let out a sigh at the mention of Windblade. Although their name sounded like it was made up by a child, their might both in the real and virtual world cannot be underestimated. He had unknowingly found himself in quite the predicament. His apartment was no longer a safe place to live. Leo cursed his bad fortune while thinking about ways to move without alerting Windblade. He wanted to at least put up some security before they could find out. Unlike Shadow, Windblade also performs assassinations in the real world. He had already been assassinated once and wouldn¡¯t recommend it.

    ¡°What did you do to piss off Windblade and why do you feel the need to drag me into this mess?¡±

    ¡°I refused to marry their Guild Leader.¡±

    Leo let out a sigh in disbelief. Political marriages aren¡¯t exactly something unheard of, but why did he need to be dragged into this mess? He shook his head and said jokingly, ¡°Then what? You have to make Shadow the go-to source for information and in-game assassinations? Maybe you have a one-year time limit to do it and Windblade is trying to hinder you?¡±

    There was once more silence and Leo began thinking he might actually have been right. What did he do to deserve being involved with people that could literally get him killed?

    ¡°Something like that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not joining your guild, but I can still help. You¡¯ve already involved me in this mess and I doubt I can just walk out of it.¡±

    Leo was no fool. He knew perfectly well that even if he declined Sky¡¯s offer, she would find other ways to persuade him. He would prefer to not be attacked randomly while out leveling. At least this way he¡¯ll gain access to a powerful information network. Leo doubted Windblade would actually try to kill him but he was not going to wait and find out. He planned to move locations soon anyway, this incident just happened to speed up the process.

    ¡°We will be in contact when you¡¯re needed.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine but my services don¡¯t come for free, you know?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll make sure that you¡¯re compensated for the work.¡±

    Leo ended his call with Sky and headed back to the city. His schedule had suddenly been pushed forward and he could no longer afford to complete his quest before going back. Leo contacted Alex and Snow in order to set up the auction for the class change token. The process went fairly smoothly and Leo arrived in a private room inside a bar in Ferima City.

    ¡°Ah, Leo you¡¯re finally here!¡±

    Some might wonder why Leo felt the need to move away from his apartment. The game obviously has a security system ages ahead of current technology, yet he was afraid of being tracked down? To those people, Leo presents Alex, the fastest way to track him down in the real world.

    ¡°And you felt the need to call me by my name, because?¡±

    ¡°Huh? We¡¯re all friends here, are we not? Did I miss something?¡±

    Leo shook his head with a smile on his face. He had the goal of standing at the top of the leaderboards and his identity would have been exposed one way or another. It¡¯s not like anyone in the room didn¡¯t know about him.

    Leo had not thought much about why he was killed. He found it to be unnecessary right now as there was nothing to follow. He knew it had something to do with his relationship with Elecur and the Saint Trials, but that¡¯s about it. If he had still been in his original world, he would have tried to find clues immediately. Unfortunately, that¡¯s not the case.

    The sudden encounter with Shadow could be called a blessing. Leo had struggled with how he was going to get on friendly terms with an information-based guild. Assuming he can actually help Sky, then his need for information would mostly be taken care of. Realistically speaking, the worst thing that can happen from all of this is Windblade tracking him down and intimidating him until he cuts ties with Shadow. Although Leo knew this, he still chose to play it safe. His current apartment has next to no security and its location is rather isolated from view. Leo wanted to be at a more public place, preferably one where the security system is not limited to the neighbor¡¯s dog.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to see you again.¡±

    Leo shook hands with Alex¡¯s father. He was a man in his late 40s with a strong build. He wore formal clothing which wasn¡¯t unusual for administrative personnel. His in-game name was simply JackReed, which was very common for this type of player. Jack would normally play on the second version of the game and only visit the main version for occasions such as this. Leo couldn¡¯t personally understand why someone would play like that, but he knew that the majority of players are more like tourists. For them, the game is basically just a realistic recreational experience.

    The auction was held between Legacy, with Snow and Lily being the representatives, and Moonlight with Alex and Jack. Leo found it slightly odd that the Guild Leader of Moonlight wasn¡¯t present, but assumed it was for his sake.

    Leo greeted the rest and began by showing the class token. Similar to any other token, the information displayed was basically non-existent. The only thing anyone could say about the token was that it was tank-related and of Epic Quality. A high-quality rating usually means it¡¯s powerful but difficult to master. Even the greatest of classes would be wasted on someone without talent.

    ¡°The auction will be in real-world currency only. The starting bid is $500,000 with a minimum increase of $50,000 per bid. Sound good?¡±

    Jack and Snow both nodded approvingly. Leo estimated the token to be worth between 3 and 4 million dollars but it¡¯s difficult to say for sure. He had heard about class tokens being found early in the game but never about how much they sold for. He was actually quite interested in seeing how two billionaires would spend their money.

    Snow was the first to bid on the item, ¡°1 million dollars.¡±

    ¡°1.5 million.

    ¡°2 million.

    ¡°2.5.¡±

    ¡°4.¡±

    Leo sat completely silent as the bid continued to soar to twice and beyond his initial expectations. To normal people, this amount of money for a single item would be ludicrous. To these two, however, this was basically like a normal player raising the bid by a few dollars each time. It¡¯s all about the perspective.

    The fierce bidding slowly died down and Snow won with a final bid of $13,650,000. Leo felt the price was rather excessive. The main tank is the most important player in a party and she would probably make the money back in just a few months. Being able to clear dungeons faster or take on higher level field bosses would allow for more drops, which again equates to a higher net profit. This is all assuming the token is actually compatible with whoever gets it.

    ¡°I admit defeat this time, Ms. Morgan. We simply do not have a main-tank worth that amount of money.¡±

    Snow showed a delicate smile and said, ¡°Talented main-tanks are certainly difficult to come by. I am lucky to have Lily by my side.¡±

    Leo nodded slightly at Snow¡¯s response. Lily¡¯s mechanics and ability to learn the combat system was truly remarkable. Her personality leaves something to be desired but Leo had no objections towards giving Lily the token. Not that he had any say in it anyway.

    The auction concluded and Leo walked with Snow and Lily towards Legacy''s guild residence. He wanted to logout and begin moving immediately. The guild residence had special rooms which gave bonus experience when players logout in them. The bonus is only slightly more than logging out in a city, but anything helps.

 Chapter 17

    Leo logged out from the game but still remained in his gaming capsule. The capsule itself works similar to a computer and he could take care of everything he needed without leaving it. The browser inside the capsule was far more secure compared to a normal browser, but Leo was mostly using it for peace of mind. He had no plans of going into hiding and covering his tracks was a waste of time. His only goal was to slightly delay the time it would take someone to find him in order to set up the security system at his new home.

    Leo began by searching the housing market to understand his options. He had a few specific criteria for his new home, for one it had to be in a public place, preferably with 24/7 activity. If someone wanted to get to him, he at least wanted to make it difficult for them to go unnoticed. If Windblade truly wanted him dead, it wouldn¡¯t matter where he moved to; Leo simply wanted to ensure that any trouble they might cause would at the very least become public.

    There were surprisingly few options suiting his needs. He wanted to live in the middle of the city, which significantly raised the price of even the simplest of homes. Leo went through page after page of listings and picked out seven candidates.

    The first six were large apartments in different high-rise buildings, any of them would be fine but Leo fixated on the seventh option; it was a three-story building close to the city center. The description said it used to be an office building but the previous owner went bankrupt. The price was $5,000,000 upfront and $2,000,000 per year afterward with the first year included in the upfront payment.

    Leo began thinking about his options. If he bought the three-story building, he would be able to convert it into both an apartment and an office. Right now, Leo relies too much on Legacy and Moonlight for his in-game activity. If he created his own workshop, he would be able to use it without restrictions. Take his potion reselling business for example. Right now he¡¯s relying on Alex and Moonlight to keep it running while he¡¯s out leveling. The bonus experience made them settle for only 5% but once players use up their extra EXP, Moonlight will demand a higher cut.

    He could probably force them to settle for 5% or choose another partner, but creating his own workshop would solve many of his problems. Had the potion operation been his only plan, then creating a workshop would indeed be pointless. Leo¡¯s goal in the game would be easier to achieve with a dedicated network and players he can truly rely on. He trusts Alex, Snow and the others but acknowledges that certain things should be kept secret.

    Take his involvement with Shadow and Windblade for example. If he told Alex, he would probably force Leo into hiding until the conflict is resolved. That¡¯s just the kind of person Alex is. Although Leo appreciates Alex¡¯s thoughtfulness, he¡¯s no longer the Leo he used to be. 15 years of administrating a top tier guild have helped him understand the world better. Leo still has many things to figure out but resolving this type of conflict is no longer one of them.

    Leo was slightly nervous about the social aspect of starting a workshop but decided to do it anyway. He believed that thinking of it as a business would make the process easier. The first thing he needs to do is to hire someone to take care of the social management part. Leo had come a long way when it came to his social abilities, but he still felt like having someone to rely on would be helpful. This would avoid situations where his employees remain unsatisfied for prolonged amounts of time. His standards are simply too high for any current player and he knows it.

    Leo began by renting the building and quickly headed towards it after signing the contract. The listing had several pictures but he felt that seeing the layout would make it easier when deciding what goes where. The building was one hour away by car.

    He walked out of the car and paid for the ride. In front of him was his new home. The building was fairly ordinary from the outside with a box-like appearance and far too many windows. Leo noted the window problem and decided to have them switched out with bullet-resistant glass with a tint.

    Leo walked through the main entrance and looked around the first floor. The room was fairly large and would allow him to fit around 100 people while still having space left over. His plan, for now, was to hire 25 people and expand when needed. They would mostly be used for information gathering and various small tasks such as selling potions and running dungeons. Leo¡¯s plans required quality over quantity and he would need to invest a lot of time in each player to make them capable of handling difficult tasks.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.He planned to create a clan, which is similar to a guild but on a much smaller scale. A clan usually has anywhere from 2 to 100 players and mostly operate like a dedicated party. They can buy a residence to serve as a base, but its size and functionality is different from a guild. Creating a clan has certain gameplay advantages like special quests, a residence with special rooms and the option to create an internal codex.

    The last part is especially important to Leo. A codex is like a wiki where a player or group of players can add information in an organized way. Every guild and clan have their own codex with varying degrees of access for their members.

    Leo inspected the electrical layout and found it to be adequate for his needs. The building had proper internet access but Leo wanted to add a few extra security measures to it. The security system for the building was inadequate and Leo would need to invest in a full upgrade.

    He proceeded to the second floor and thought about how to use it. Leo decided on splitting it in two and have one part dedicated to the workshop and the other be a gym. The gym part was mostly for himself. Players can benefit from having a trained body due to certain techniques in real life directly applying in the game. This is, however, not a requirement. People who have trained in martial arts have an advantage in-game, but that¡¯s only because they are more familiar with how the combat works. A player does not have to be physically fit or a trained fighter to be high ranked in the game. It¡¯s similar to how using an advanced flight simulator will make it easier to learn how to fly a plane, but it¡¯s not enough to actually complete a full flight.

    The third floor would become his living quarters and Leo did not need to change much regarding the layout. He organized the information in his head and create a mental priority list. The most important thing right now is to have his gaming capsule transferred over, security set up and the workshop built.

    Leo began by contacting several firms dealing with building-related matters and had them complete the minimum required work immediately. He didn¡¯t want to use too much time away from the game and most of the building work can be completed while he¡¯s in the game. He then ordered 25 gaming capsules and had them installed on the first floor. The workshop employees would spend most of their time in the game so having electricians, architects, builders, etc. walk around all day wouldn¡¯t be troublesome. The capsule has its own power source capable of supporting up to a week without additional power.

    Leo contacted a hiring firm and had them put out a job listing. The job listings were mostly similar to each other with a few specialized positions mixed in. Leo set very specific criteria for the management job as he needed someone capable of making up for his shortcomings.

    He spent the next three days creating the framework for the workshop and securing the building. Leo did not sleep or go back to the game and spent all his time focused on his tasks. The game wasn¡¯t a sprint but a marathon. Taking a few days off wouldn¡¯t impact him significantly, in fact, it would actually benefit him. Prices for items and equipment drop when the playerbase levels up, making it cheaper for him to upgrade his own gear.

    With the hiring process completed and the minimum required equipment set up, Leo could finally afford to take some time to think. He needed to create a roadmap for the future and organize himself.

    Leo began by mapping out the obvious details first. He first needed to level up and upgrade his gear. This would mostly be completed by itself and he didn¡¯t need to worry too much about it. The second thing he needed to do was complete his questline. This was again something slightly outside of his control and he would have to adapt to the situations as it happens.

    Leo needed to figure out how his creation skill works. He had only scratched the surface of the skill and wanted to take some time to truly understand it. The market should now be filled with low-quality equipment for him to experiment with.

    He also needed to start hunting achievements and titles. Both achievements and titles give permanent bonuses to a player. Leo wanted to take some time to scout the forums and figure out how many of them had been made public. He also wanted to get his workshop ready to hunt first and fastest clears of dungeons.

    Leo sat down in a chair and began thinking about his past life. He had almost no knowledge about why he was fired or why he was murdered. It was highly unlikely that the two events were unrelated, but he couldn¡¯t automatically ignore the possibility that they were. It¡¯s important to understand that correlation is not the same as causation.

    He could sum up the events into three parts, his death, firing, and the Saint Trials. The probability that they were all unrelated is very low but not impossible. Leo could think of several companies that would want him gone from Elecur but none that would murder him after his dismissal from the company. It could have been really bad timing but it¡¯s unlikely.

    Information about the Saint Trials was also something he didn¡¯t know. As far as he knew, nothing about the trial or its rewards were made public. Leo had nothing to go on. He decided that the best course of action would be to have Shadow investigate Elecur in this world and hopefully find something he can use. His past world and this one seemed to be mostly similar so it stands to reason that he should be able to use that to his advantage.

    Leo had nothing left to do right now and decided to go back to the game. He had already arranged most of the initial details with Mike, the newly hired manager for his workshop, Umbra. Mike was tasked with organizing the other members and Leo would meet them in-game in a few hours.

 Chapter 18

    Leo entered the world of Ekalius Online and found himself laying on a bed in a hotel-like room. He quickly left the room and walked to the Auction House. His meeting with Mike and the others wasn¡¯t until three hours later and Leo decided to use the time to experiment with his creation skill. He had been gone for three real-life days and the market should have plenty of low-level equipment of varying qualities for cheap.

    It only took him a few minutes to walk from Legacy¡¯s guild residence to the Auction House and begin searching through the listings. The average level of players had reached 25 with the highest leveled ones at level 30. The amount of experience needed from level 20 drastically increases and average players find themselves only leveling once or twice per day. This part of the game was known as the ¡®fear stage¡¯ due to dying now actually meaning something. Before, dying only meant a few hours of lost progress but now it means a day of lost progress. This will later turn into a week then weeks.

    Leo had 90 gold on him which had actually only increased in value. The price for 1 gold was previously $1,000 but rose to $1,400 in only three days. The number of buy-orders had significantly increased and the already depleted supply couldn¡¯t even try to catch up. The price would constantly increase until the demand and supply finally stabilizes and supply eventually drives the price down again.

    Leo bought 400 pieces each of Copper and Bronze Quality equipment with levels ranging from 10-15. The prices varied depending on quality and level and he ended up spending a total of 36 gold for 800 items. Leo wanted to experiment with the cheap Copper and Bronze Quality equipment before deciding how much of higher quality equipment he needed to buy.

    He deconstructed all the Copper Quality equipment and gained a total of 4628x [Scrap Metal] and 3509x [Copper Dust]. After deconstructing the items an announcement suddenly popped up and a new icon appeared on his menu.

    System announcement: Congratulations on fulfilling the requirements to acquire [Material Analysis I ]!

    Leo looked at the new icon on his menu with a delighted smile. From the name, he could already tell that it would allow him to gain more information which is exactly what he wants. Leo opened the skill and read its description.

    [Material Analysis I]

    Description: Use to see what material you can gain from specific items when using [Deconstruction].

    Cast time: 0.1 seconds

    Cooldown: 0.1 seconds

    Leo used the skill on a random piece of Bronze Quality equipment in order to see how much information he could gather.

    [Basic Chestplate (Bronze Quality)]

    Equipment level: 10

    Core material: Bronze Core

    Quality material: Bronze Dust

    Special material: None

    Quantity range

    Bronze Core: 5-28

    Bronze Dust: 4-19

    The information matched what he already knew and added something he didn¡¯t know. He already knew that the materials were random within a range, but he didn¡¯t expect the range to be this vast. What he didn¡¯t know was that equipment could give special material. Although it was possible that the quill he needed for enchantments were categorized as a special material, he didn¡¯t know what items have the chance to give it. The obvious choice would be a book but he still needed to test it before making a conclusion.

    Leo tried the analyze skill on several other pieces of equipment and found them all to be consistent with the first example. The range stayed the same for each equipment of equal level and quality but changed drastically with level and hardly at all with just quality. He found that the minimum quantity seemed to increase alongside the maximum quantity with the latter increasing faster per level.

    The next thing Leo wanted to try was how much material was needed to increase a weapon¡¯s stats. He already knew that the amount added was important but he hadn¡¯t reached a maximum yet. Leo also knew that he needed to add the material in large amounts for the best possible stats.

    Leo opened his creation space and chose his spear. The spear had already been upgraded several times which had significantly decreased its full potential. He wanted to first see if there was a cap on the number of materials an item could have. If there is, he would then use that number when creating his new spear.

    Leo added [Scrap Metal] first, starting with a total of 500. This brought the total amount of [Scrap Metal] in the spear to 658. The stats on the spear went up significantly, which surprised Leo. He did expect them to rise, but only slightly. There were no signs that he had reached the maximum and Leo decided to use another 500. This time, however, there was a sign.

    System: Weapon has reached the limit of allowed [Scrap Metal]. 408x [Scrap Metal] has been destroyed.

    This confirmed that there was indeed an upper limit and in this case, it seemed to be 750x pieces of [Scrap Metal]. Leo let out a sigh at the lost materials but continued on anyway. The stats on the spear had actually gone down, which only served to confuse Leo even more. Did reaching above the limit actually decrease the spear¡¯s power?

    Leo decided to test out the limit of [Copper Dust] before doing anything else. He had already added 82x [Copper Dust] before and decided to immediately bring the total up to 750. As he hoped, the system announcement came once more but this time he didn¡¯t use any extra material.

    System: Weapon has reached the limit of allowed [Copper Dust].

    System announcement: Congratulations on unlocking [Manual Mode]!

    Leo was once more surprised by the sudden expansion of his options. He knew that there were hidden parts to his skill but didn¡¯t think he would find two in one day. Leo activated manual mode and his spear turned into thousands of lines with different colors. Each line had a number above it and a percentage value. Leo looked at the lines and began thinking about what to do.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Time ticked by and Leo thought deeply about his situation before beginning his experimentation once more. He put his finger on a line and the number and percentage suddenly changed. He quickly checked his total amount of material and found that [Scrap Metal] had gone up by one. Leo let out a smile and began tinkering with the endless amount of lines.

    Minutes turned into hours and Leo quickly found himself understanding the creation skill more and more. He had spent two hours adding and removing material, then checking its impact on the final product. The most interesting thing he found out was that he didn¡¯t lose attack power because of the added materials, but due to where the material went.

    Each line has a maximum number of material and material type it can hold. The percent increases or decreases based on the lines needs, combined with the surrounding lines and the overall synergy between all lines. Leo managed to find pattern after pattern when going through the testing. The numbers changed so often that Leo almost went mad. Each change was consistent, which allowed him to find an answer but it was far from as simple as adjusting one line at a time. He could make a change on the left side to change the value on the right side.

    Anyone would be able to figure it out eventually but it would take far longer than just two hours. Leo estimated that a normal person would likely take multiple years in order to find the patterns, even longer to understand them all. It¡¯s like the difference between driving a car and knowing how its built. Most people would be more than content with just having a car to drive but a mechanic could make it faster, better and safer to drive.

    When Leo added materials before, they would be distributed at random within a specified area. Adding more material at one time made it more likely that several connections were made, increasing the weapon¡¯s power.

    Leo also found that the base is exclusively increased by core material while the quality is increased by dust. The amount directly represented the overall strength of the creation. It seems like the base score dictates the actual values while the quality dictates the maximum potential value. He assumed things like enchantment and functionality served to increase both elements, but he didn¡¯t know exactly how.

    Leo felt far more confident in creating weapons and equipment now that he could actually affect the process. There was no more need to waste materials and Leo decided to create a whole new set of gear based on the Ancient design he acquired long ago. He found that the design received a special option after he unlocked manual mode. The design had twice the amount of lines when creating gear, but it also had options for linking lines and increasing the overall strength. Leo found the extra work to be worth the effort.

    He ended up postponing the meeting with Mike and his workshop. He gave Mike some simple instructions and had him take care of business for the next ten or so hours. Leo delved into the creation process and meticulously adjusted every line by hand in order to create the best equipment he could. As time passed, Leo found ways to shorten the work by creating special combinations of lines. It took him five hours to create his spear, then three hours for the shield and only two hours for the armor.

    His gear changed slightly in design but the color scheme remained the same. Most people would find it difficult to see the difference between his new equipment and his old. The only obvious difference was the aged look. His spear, for instance, looked like an ancient artifact.

    The EXP stored in his old gear could be transferred back to his character which made Leo relieved. He tried doing it with non-bound gear and quickly found that it was not possible. He had no hope that there would be such a massive loop-hole in the game¡¯s system, but he still felt the need to verify it at least once.

    The equipment needed 1500 [Bronze Core] and [Bronze Dust] to reach the limit and Leo just barely managed to reach it for each part. He used a large portion of the copper equipment for experimentation but his gear still cost more than 30 gold to create. Leo could have bought a full set of level 15 Dark Gold Quality equipment with that kind of money.

    Leo decided to upgrade the gear to Iron Quality and began by buying a few Iron Quality equipments to deconstruct. He first began by adding a small amount and found that his suspicions were correct. Adding [Iron Core] and [Iron Dust] reset the gear¡¯s score and drove the stats down to pathetic levels.

    He already suspected this would happen but still felt dejected when actually seeing it. Both the Copper and Bronze materials he added could only increase the gear¡¯s power when the score goes above their previous maximum. Copper had a maximum Base + Quality score of 804 while Bronze had a combined score of 1895. Leo added 10x of both Iron Quality materials and the overall score was now 2.

    Leo spent another 40 gold buying Iron Quality equipment and adding it to his spear. He found that he needed slightly less than 1200 of each resource to reach Bronze Quality maximum and 3500 to reach Iron Quality maximum. He did not have nearly enough money to begin upgrading his armor and shield to a higher quality.

    Leo inspected his gear with a grin on his face. It had cost him an arm and a leg to create, but the power spoke for itself.

    Base: 2746P

    Quality: 2301P

    Total: 5046P

    [Flawless Spear (Iron Quality)]

    Level 10 (0 / 12,500)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item-category: Main-weapon

    Attribute requirements: 30 STR, 20 DEX

    Durability: 150 / 150

    Attack power: 282 - 337

    Attributes

    STR +29

    DEX +21

    Base: 1004P

    Quality: 891P

    Total: 1895P

    [Flawless Armor (Bronze Quality]

    Level 10 (0 / 12,500)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Armor set

    Attribute requirements: 12 VIT, 9 STR

    Defense: 395

    Magical defense: 275

    Durability: 200 / 200

    Attributes

    VIT +25

    RES +19

    Health +125

    Base: 1004P

    Quality: 891P

    Total: 1895P

    [Flawless Trickster Shield (Bronze Quality)]

    Level 10 (0 / 12,500)

    Restrictions: Bound to [Zero]

    Item category: Secondary weapon

    Attribute requirements: 15 STR, 9 DEX

    Durability: 150 / 150

    Shield mode

    Defense 195

    Magic defense 182

    Attributes

    VIT +28

    RES +18

    Health +65

    Attachment mode

    Attack power: 85 - 97

    Spell power: 102 - 118

    Attributes

    INT +23

    PIT +15

    Mana +70

    Leo looked at his armor and became disappointed that he couldn¡¯t bring over the special trait the old one had. He still had much to learn and creating special traits was one of them. The fact that his shield/attachment combination didn¡¯t have a functionality score surprised him. Leo was under the impression that the functionality score came from the fact that the shield can transform into a magic-based attachment for his spear. It would seem that wasn¡¯t the case after all, which explains why his former armor also had that specific score.

    Leo was glad to finally upgrade his gear even though it cost him far more than he would like. His head began hurting when he thought about having to also go through upgrading Lily, Snow and Alex¡¯s gear as well.

 Chapter 19

    Leo exited his creation space and was immediately met with a chat request from Mike.

    System: Incoming chat request from [Mayke].

    ¡°Have I ever told you that your naming sense is extraordinary?¡±

    ¡°Because Zero is so original?¡±

    ¡°Fair point. What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s happening.¡±

    Leo let out a sigh and scratched his forehead. He was hoping to have more time but that didn¡¯t seem to matter right now.

    ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°Fifteen minutes.¡±

    ¡°Give it to me.¡±

    ¡°Level 26, most likely a hidden class but uses a lance as his primary weapon. Ranked 642nd overall in the DPS category in Ace Edge Online. He has kept a low profile and Alice could only find videos from AEO, nothing since coming to Ekalius Online.¡±

    Leo began regretting his decision to have Shadow keep an eye on Elecur. They could at least give him more time to prepare. Despite his annoyance with the situation, a deal is a deal and he can¡¯t just back out because it¡¯s inconvenient.

    ¡°Have you fought him before?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°What do you make of the videos?¡±

    Mike took a moment to gather his thoughts before answering.

    ¡°I think you would win even with your eyes closed.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your chance of winning?¡±

    ¡°About 98%.¡±

    Leo nodded and let out a relieved sigh. He specifically hired Mike due to his people skills but his fighting ability is also among the best in the world. If he says he would win with almost absolute certainty, then Leo has nothing to fear from the match. Even with a level difference of 11, Leo still didn¡¯t think there would be much of a fight. It doesn¡¯t matter if he could be one-hit if his opponent can¡¯t hit him at all.

    ¡°If the fight is in 15 minutes, how long have you known about it?¡±

    ¡°Remember when you told me to take care of things?¡±

    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is five minutes after that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Leo let out a laugh at Mike¡¯s response. When he uses his creation space he cannot be contacted in-game but Mike could still contact him through the gaming capsule. Leo said how long he thought it would take to make the equipment and he finished within the time limit. At least he now knows that Mike won¡¯t bother him until he absolutely has to.

    System: Incoming chat request from [Sky].

    ¡°How mad is she?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just say I wouldn¡¯t take that call right now.¡±

    ¡°You do know all you needed to do was contact me through the capsule?¡±

    ¡°And you said to not bother you when I don¡¯t have to.¡±

    Leo rejected the call from Sky and proceeded to walk towards the arena. Mike helped him get up to speed with how everything was proceeding. Leo had to admit that Mike works fast. He still needed to attend to certain matters in person but it truly helped to have someone he could rely on.

    The walk to the arena took him ten minutes and the calls from Sky didn¡¯t stop at all. Leo decided to continue ignoring the calls due to his displeasure with the situation. Making Sky angry was not his concern right now. He would arrive at the appointed time and take care of the fight as he was ordered to.

    Leo walked into a private room and was greeted by Mike, Sky and a few other players he didn¡¯t know. He could somewhat guess who his opponent was but he hadn¡¯t even taken enough of an interest to ask for his name.

    ¡°How dare you ignore my calls!?¡±

    Sky¡¯s face was red with anger from Leo¡¯s actions.

    ¡°I¡¯m here at the appointed time, am I not? I¡¯m sure Mayke told you that I would be, right?¡±

    Sky wanted to vent her anger but was interrupted before she could. The one interrupting her was none other than the Guild Leader of Windblade, Tyran. He was a man in his mid-20s with an annoyingly handsome face.

    ¡°There¡¯s no reason to be angry, is there? Your incompetent fighter probably had a difficult time mustering the courage to come here.¡±

    Tyran let out a loud laugh while staring at Sky. Leo almost felt the need to thank him for his remarks. He felt slightly guilty about destroying his opponent but thanks to Tyran, he could put those feelings to rest.

    Leo could see that Tyran became agitated after he ignored his words. Sky saw this change and quickly capitalized on Tyran¡¯s anger.

    ¡°Seeing as you have decided to be here for no reason at all, why don¡¯t we make a wager on the fight?¡±

    ¡°No reason? Can I not come here to comfort my future wife after she fails her first task?¡±

    Leo could see the disgust on Sky¡¯s face. He still had very little knowledge about their feud, but it would seem that Sky had specific tasks she needed to accomplish. Leo knew she needed to make Shadow famous, or maybe more correctly infamous, but he didn¡¯t know the specifics.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Do you accept the wager or not?¡±

    ¡°And what would that wager be?¡±

    ¡°500 gold.¡±

    Leo couldn¡¯t believe what the was hearing. To powerful guilds like Shadow and Windblade, 500 gold would be possible to collect, but to wager on a fight? Whoever loses would severely hinder their guild¡¯s progress.

    ¡°Do you take me for a fool? If you are that confident about winning then your fighter is probably already level 30 or even higher.¡±

    Mike jumped into the conversation before Sky could answer.

    ¡°Actually, Zero is only level 15. You can inspect him yourself if you think I¡¯m lying.¡±

    Tyran¡¯s forehead furrowed in confusion. He inspected Leo and found that he was indeed only level 15.

    ¡°Then his Creator class is overpowered.¡±

    Mike once more interjected before anyone could say anything.

    ¡°For making money, yes. His class can make weapons requiring EXP to level, but that¡¯s about it. I bet you remember those weapons hitting the market once before, right? You saw their stats, do you really think it¡¯s enough to overcome a difference of 11 levels?¡±

    Leo stared at Mike in bewilderment and awe. He had told him about his class but not about selling weapons on the market or his creation¡¯s power. Then again, he did hire him for occasions such as this.

    Tyran did not seem convinced by Mike¡¯s argument. This did not escape Mike¡¯s eyes and he quickly made sure to seal the wager with a simple sentence.

    ¡°You don¡¯t believe me? Fine, then see Zero¡¯s gear for yourself.¡±

    Leo let out a smile and shared the details of his equipment. He would prefer not to, but having Sky owe him a favor was worth far more than people knowing his gear¡¯s stats. Besides, they¡¯re only great for their low-quality level. It¡¯s not enough to make a level 26 player with what looked like a full Silver and up quality gear cower in fear.

    ¡°And this is the equipment you¡¯ll use in the fight?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Tyran began laughing like a mad man. He could not believe that Leo was even trying to win the fight. Mike said a few more words in a low voice and convinced Tyran to accept the wager. Leo could more or less guess what he said but Sky couldn¡¯t at all. Her face turned sour at the thought of Leo betraying her and losing the fight on purpose.

    ¡°You know what, 500 gold is a bit unreasonable for a single fight.¡±

    Sky tried to back down from the wager but Tyran didn¡¯t give her a chance.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, let¡¯s make it 2,000 gold. Or are you too afraid?¡±

    Sky accepted the wager out of anger and immediately regretted her decision. Mike tried to calm her down but failed to assure her that Leo would never lose. Leo didn¡¯t want to waste any more time and asked for the fight to begin. There were no objections and Leo quickly found himself inside the duel arena with his opponent on the opposite side.

    The others were seated in a private room with Leo¡¯s fight on the big screen. Mike and Sky took one room while Tyran and his entourage took another. Mike decided to make a few things clear with Sky to avoid problems in the future.

    ¡°Do you doubt he can win?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what I think, he better win.¡±

    Mike smiled and let out a laugh before continuing.

    ¡°You have no idea who you¡¯re involved with.¡±

    ¡°Is that a threat?¡±

    Sky¡¯s face turned serious at Mikes remark. The room temperature dropped as the two of them continued the conversation.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a bit of friendly advice.¡±

    ¡°I agreed to not track him down but if you give me a reason to ¡­ ¡°

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that anymore. Go ahead, track him down.¡±

    The atmosphere was quickly turning colder and colder.

    ¡°You think we can¡¯t find him?¡±

    ¡°No, I think Michelle will find him easily.¡±

    ¡°If you think we can¡¯t get to him, then you¡¯re sorely mistaken.¡±

    Mike let out a laugh at Sky¡¯s remark. He was well aware of her power, but he also knew far more about Leo than she did.

    ¡°I heard Michelle had to move yesterday. Who would have thought the NSA would suddenly upgrade their network security overnight.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°As I said, you have no idea who you¡¯re involved with.¡±

    Mike could feel Sky¡¯s rage from a thousand miles away.

    ¡°Relax, they won¡¯t find her. Alice has already taken care of it.¡±

    ¡°Alice is with him? Why?¡±

    Mike took a deep breath before talking.

    ¡°She¡¯s with him for the same reason I am. You of all people should know that someone like Alice won¡¯t work for just anyone.¡±

    ¡°Why are you telling me all of this?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just say that my boss doesn¡¯t take kindly to extortion.¡±

    ¡°Point taken. I trust our previous agreement still holds true?¡±

    ¡°Of course, that¡¯s why we''re here after all. I just wanted to make sure you understand that circumstances have changed. We don¡¯t need you, but you sure as hell need us.¡±

    The timer quickly reached zero and Leo¡¯s fight began. Leo¡¯s opponent quickly dashed towards him and began by using a powerful single target skill. Leo shook his head and let out a sigh. He didn¡¯t expect anything from the fight but this was simply too easy.

    Leo sent out his spear and interrupted the attack. He quickly spun around and hit his opponent in the head before he could find his balance from the sudden interruption. Leo continued attacking while his opponent constantly backpedaled without even trying to counter-attack. Leo¡¯s attacks did little damage but his opponent couldn¡¯t avoid them, making his health quickly plummet to zero.

    The entire fight lasted 60 seconds due to the level difference. Leo couldn¡¯t help feeling angry at having to fight such a pathetic player. He hadn¡¯t found anyone even remotely promising since his fight with Happy. This match only served as a way for him to waste time.

    Leo walked towards the arena exit when Mike joined him.

    ¡°That was fast.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately not fast enough.¡±

    Mike laughed at Leo¡¯s comment before explaining what he said to Sky. Leo trusted the task to Mike and wasn¡¯t disappointed with the result. He understood that her actions weren¡¯t personal but neither was his. If he was to get involved with organizations such as Shadow and Windblade, he at least wanted it to be from a position of strength. Leo did not take threats lightly.

    ¡°You have a meeting with Snow and Alex to upgrade their weapons. After that, we need you to buy potions for reselling, then you¡¯re free to do whatever you like.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, do I work for you?¡±

    ¡°Funny.¡±

    Leo walked with Mike to buy potions then proceeded to upgrade Snow, Lily and Alex¡¯s weapons. He didn¡¯t spend any time lingering and quickly made his way back to Undead Forest to finally finish his quest. Leo feared that if he stayed in the city any longer, he might end up derailed yet again.

 Hiatus

    TL;DR Ekalius Online most likely won''t continue.

    This novel will go on hiatus as of today, 14.06.2019 and no new chapters will be released. The reason for this is that I¡¯m unsure whether I want to continue writing.

    I want to first make sure that you all understand that this has nothing to do with you, the readers, nor the story itself. This is me personally figuring out whether I enjoy writing or not. This is also not something happening out of the blue, although it might seem like it.

    I¡¯ve had mixed feelings about publishing this novel since the day I clicked ¡®submit¡¯ and the first chapters were officially released. I¡¯ve never undertaken such a big literary challenge and it has been difficult.

    I have enjoyed the chapters once they were finished and fooled myself into believing that it was enough. They say create what you want to read and that¡¯s what I have done. I enjoy reading the story, I honestly do, but the last chapters have especially been difficult to write. Not because I didn¡¯t know what I wanted out of them, but because I didn¡¯t even want to sit down and actually write.

    I even said not long ago that I wanted to publish more chapters per week and that¡¯s true. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t want to be the one writing them. I know that sounds weird because it is. It¡¯s difficult to explain what I¡¯m feeling. The writing itself is supposed to be the fun part. To see your imagination come to life as words appear. If I can¡¯t even motivate myself to write something I love reading, then maybe I shouldn¡¯t be an author.

    I originally thought the problem was the story itself. I thought that I just didn¡¯t enjoy the story anymore. That¡¯s why I decided to rewrite it in the first place. This only served to delay my realization that what I truly enjoy is reading, not writing. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    I constantly force myself to finish a chapter and it¡¯s gone from being a fun hobby to work. I always think that it¡¯s just me being lazy and once the chapter is written, everything fine. After three months of writing, I can tell that it¡¯s not true. This is not a problem with me being lazy but me not wanting to write in the first place. Each chapter becomes more and more difficult to write and I force myself to get it done.

    When I began writing the story I thought I would finish it no matter what. I thought that even if no one wanted to read it, I could at least finish it for my own pleasure. What I¡¯m telling you now, that I¡¯m thinking about quitting writing as a whole never even crossed my mind three months ago.

    Throughout the novel¡¯s life, I¡¯ve seen the amount of support from you all. I¡¯ve seen how more people than I ever thought possible have read through every chapter I¡¯ve released. I honestly appreciate all of your support and that¡¯s what makes this difficult. I realized that I¡¯ve been delaying this decision because I don¡¯t want to disappoint you all. Yet this only makes the situation worse the longer I wait.

    I honestly believe that I¡¯ll find that once I no longer have a responsibility to release chapters, I don''t want to write them at all. I hope that after a week or two I want to write because I enjoy it, not because I feel like I have to. That is, unfortunately, not likely. I know myself better than anyone and I¡¯m almost a hundred percent sure that I¡¯ve only managed to get this far because I don¡¯t want to disappoint my readers. I don¡¯t want to be yet another author with an unfinished story, but I also don¡¯t want to force myself to do something I don¡¯t enjoy anymore.

    I have tried everything to enjoy writing again, except to not write at all. I honestly hope this is all just burnout and a few weeks away will fix it all, but I can¡¯t say that I truly believe it to be. I have been in a similar situation before and it did not end well.

    Whatever happens, I want you all to know that I do not regret publishing the story. This has made me able to experience being an author and whether it¡¯s something I truly enjoy. It¡¯s been an invaluable life experience and my only regret is that I¡¯ve let you all down.

    I can go on without thinking ¡°what if I became an author?¡±. This has been a way for me to try something new and I will never forget the experience. If you don¡¯t see a new chapter before the month is over, then you¡¯ll know what I decided. I wouldn¡¯t hold my breath if I were you.

    I¡¯m sorry it had to end like this and I want you all to know that I understand how you must feel. For many of you, this situation is far too familiar. For others, this might be the first time you¡¯ve had the displeasure of picking a story that probably won''t end. I don¡¯t want to make any excuses, I just hope you can understand the situation from my perspective.

    I thank you for giving me a chance and I apologize that this is how it ends.