《The Last Immortal》 Prologue 0.1: Novae Terrae Online Year 24 SPA (Since Player Arrival) Novae Terrae Online. The game was massive, introduced in 2051 it was the first game of its type, people had been talking about something similar for years a true VR-MMO. There were attempts previously but they were always limited in scope with small worlds that got overrun by players or massive with no detail, NPC''s that only reacted to set commands and other such flaws. Then a small company came along Novae Tech. There was no fanfare nor any announcement, just one day a website appeared selling their new system with a single game installed. Novae Terrae Online. The game was revolutionary, a massive open world filled with realistic details, NPC''s with full AI control that acted and interacted with players. Complete with 24-hour time dilation, one hour of gameplay was a full day in-game world. The first year was hectic starting cities built massive prisons to deal with the player crime. Hell, there were a number of full-blown wars where NPC''s attempted to eliminate the players who were systematically destroying the city. players hunted a number of low-level mobs to extinction. The issue was simple there were no consequences for players. Get killed, respawn with a slight loss of levels but NPC''s had permadeath. Get arrested make a new character and pick up where you left off. By the end of the first real-world year, twenty-four in-game years, the Player base were referred to by NPC''s as The Scourge. Kingdoms had been wiped out and NPC''s had been almost completely wiped out The world had been reduced to rubble with four massive mega guilds battling over the remains. It became a total war the four sides battling for control over of the continent, the forests were burnt down, iron mined, near the end of it, the game looked more like a post-apocalyptic wasteland than the medieval fantasy. Eighteen years after the players arrived the last tree was burnt down on a raid by the Purification of Honour Guild destroying the last forest of the Bluefall Alliance, after that well things when to hell, metal became the only useable resource but with no wood the only way to smelt it was three volcanoes that dominated the centre of the continent and the Dwarven island, with no animals left leather quickly ran out, by the end of the last two years you saw four class, the paladin the plate wearing healer, the knight the tank, the barbarian as the lack of armour made it a cheaper class to equip and the wizard for the only range support left. The assassin, scout and bard saw some use but without any leather armour were hopelessly outmatched by other class and without wood to make bows and arrow the rancher became much too expensive to equip.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Then there was my class the Adventurer while the other class was designed with a purpose in mind, the Adventurer was an everyman, a spell sword. Able to cast basic spells and cast lay on hands to heal and some charisma abilities. Able to wear only light amour the class was designed a light-footed. The other classes were focused on party play and teamwork this was a solo character''s class, the ability to do everything other classes could do but worst. Even before the resource wars, it was unpopular doing everything but worst made it a nightmare to fit into party composition combined with the stigma attached to solo play. The deleveled areas did not make it any easier with unlevelled zones it was not uncommon to run into something much higher level than you and without support to help escape these fights became a death sentence for single players, with low-level mobs having been wiped our around year four only early starters were able to level a character without party support, and those that played long enough to level a character past level thirty ended up joining a guild as soloing dungeons was insanely difficult. With most players switching classes shortly after joining a guild. By the end of the eighth year, I was the only player with an adventurer character past level fifty. How you might ask if as I described solo play was so difficult? Simple NPC¡¯s, you see most players fell back on old habits despite it being a world with full AI controlled NPCs. People still loathed escort quests and companions don''t tend to stick around for long if all you do is ask them to carry all your stuff or give them a share of the loot. Sure, there were a few parties with an NPC or two but there were very few players that had a full NPC party like me. I know it sounds sad, but they were my friends they were my companions and when they died well, I wept for days. I suppose that''s the start of my story, the day it all went to hell. Prologue 0.7: The ending of days

Year 24 SPA (Since Player Arrival)

The sacking of Stonedrift they called it many years later. Hell, even in the real world the incident caused massive outrage. A sacking of a city, the murder, and execution of a hundred thousand. They say it was the start of the war, it wasn''t a war it was a genocide. The consequences were far-reaching. After the sacking, the NPC¡¯S feared the players. Already the players were considered badly, too many players doing what they pleased, stealing, robbing, raping but this was the first time that the kingdoms had seen what a large mass of organized players could do. Fear was rampant. How do you fight an army of immortals, so the kingdoms did they only thing they could, they had to stop the players from organizing, overnight guilds were raided, players were hunted and imprisoned, anyone by themselves was a target. Overnight safe cities became war zones. Friends and allies turned on the players, hunting them down, and imprisoning them. Guards were posted at every temple and each respawning player was quickly arrested. At first, the kingdoms were successful they caught hundreds of thousands of players. Grabbing them one by one. But over time and under the threat of character wipe, the players organized. The four biggest guilds exploded in size. This was when the war truly began, the players sacked cities, the kingdom sent their armies and I heard for every kingdom soldier that died they took twenty players with them but what do you do when fighting immortals, kill an army of a ten thousand players an hour later they respawned in the centre of the city, within the temple and the battle begins again. The war didn''t last long within six months the players had sacked every city and burnt every town, any resistance was crushed, and captive NPCs were put to work. With the sacking of most towns and villages, food stocks grew low, and players prioritized themselves, those that failed to work were killed. Those that got weak or sick were killed. The players that tried to free or help the NPC''s got attacked and spawn camped. Those who tried to end the treatment got told. ¡°There just NPC¡¯s what are you complaining about¡± By the end of the first year. The NPCs had been rounded up and put to work, gulags were constructed. But with so disorganized coordination from the player base, food became scarce. The NPC¡¯s died in droves. By the time anyone realized what was happening there was a true famine, food was scarce and even players were dying of hunger in the streets. The guild blamed each other. It started with bickering, then a few arguments, and before anyone knew it a full-blown war had erupted between the guilds. It took me eight months to dig myself out of the cave, eating mushrooms to survive. The first few months I just sat there mourning the death of my friends, just eating sleeping, eating sleeping until I pulled my self together. I started mining, getting myself out of that cave, and the temple that bound my spawn point. The only tool I had was my sword. I stab battered and hit into the wall with it every day from dawn till dusk after six months of work I connected myself to a tunnel of the necropolis, during that time despite all the abuse I put that sword though, it never once bent or scratched, after months of abuse it still looked as good as the day I had found it. When finally reached the surface almost eight months after the sacking of Stonedrift, I was greeted by rubble, where once a great city stood, now all I could see for miles around was rubble and burnt forest. It took me six weeks before I encountered any sentient life and was informed of what transpired. I spent the next twelve years trying to help where I could, organizing a prison break here, saving an NPCs life there. I had some success I built up a following, saving as many lives as I could. The bounty on my head grew and grew, by the last year, it had reached almost two hundred million gold. But each time I felt I was making progress, each time I freed enough NPC¡¯s to make a difference, to start a community disaster stuck, we would be found, and an army sent to wipe up out. By the time that the twenty years arrived NPC¡¯s had been almost completely wiped out, there was no one left to save. I spent the next four years. Making a nuisance of myself, poisoning water sources, destroying what crops were left. At this point, I no longer cared, everything I loved and cherished had been taken away from me. If this world was dying I would make sure that the players died along with it.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. As for my perks, I gained three more along with the two I had from my battle with thezombie giant, I ended up choosing, omitted chant, saviour, I also gained chain-breaker and shadow to assist me in dealing with breaking NPC¡¯s out of the gulags, as well as last hope and indomitable, to help me keep command and order when dealing with large groups of refugees. As for the elite advance, the only one I was able to select was Wielder of Caliburn, which as far as I could tell had little effect, despite it being an excellent sword that did not chip or damage and being fairly easy to cast spells upon making sword buffs easier, I had little indication that placing my elite perk into it was worthwhile.
Name Arthur, Health 500 500
Title Friend of Dragons Mana 1040 1040
Age 12 (32) Stamina 1780 1780
Race Human
Class Adventure Gold 3212
Level 157 1780
Strength. 135
Dexterity. 221
Constitution 50
Intelligence 124
Wisdom 104
Charisma 84
Perception 97
PERKS: Expert swordsman: +20% growth to sword related skills. Dancer: +20% growth to dexterity-based skills. Blade dancer: grants access to the blade dancer skill set, based around dexterity and grace, to those observing it appears as an intricate dance, but in combat is lethal to that foolish enough to come within range Friend of dragon: (title based) +10 to all relations with those with a draconic bloodline. Haven mage: grant¡¯s access to the Heaven magic Omitted chant: able to cast without chant for the higher mana cost Saviour: grants access to Holy magic Shadow: grants 20% boost to stealth related skills Chain breaker: grants 20% boost to skills related to escaping chains Indomitable: grants 20% boost to commanding allies Last hope: +40 relations to those that know you tale, how you were the last hope of an entire world. ELITE PERKS: Wielder of Caliburn: allows the user in times of true need to wield the power of Caliburn as his own.
Prologue 0.2: That fateful day Year 12 SPA (Since Player Arrival) It was the cold day in the city of Stonedrift. the city was one I had been exploring for several in-game months. The city was an important one for three reasons. It was a free city independent of any of the major kingdoms and was the only port that the Dwarfs trades with and most importantly had what us player referred to as a dungeon underneath it. It was an ancient crypt that had been constructed by some ancient necromancer called Timotheus Cain. My party had been exploring the crypts for months, and had way too many close scrapes, me and my party had come close to death a number of times, well that''s a lie I had died, I died a lot almost twelve times in total, I know that not many compared to the war or most other parties but when your parity is consistent for four NPC¡¯s who will not respawn you are careful, and if you¡¯re not sure if a room is clear or not you sent the immortal in. The party consisted of five of us, me a level 65 adventurer, Waruan a retired captain of the guard, and his elf ranger wife Irdu together they were an excellent knight and ranger able to work in perfect harmony there levels were 153 and 283 respectively, along with them was their son Licu, he followed after his patients and at only fifteen years of age was level 83, a remarkably quick growth, he was a skilled knight have been taught by his father and mother. Finally, there was Tor-ron the old man of the party a skilled Heaven wizard levelled 143. The sword swung at me, well I shouldn''t call it a sword, a better description would be a sharp surfboard, I mean seriously the sword was the size of me almost two meters tall and thirty centimetres wide. I threw myself to the ground. A single hit from that thing would send me to the respawn screen, I would not go back there again,an hour of elevator music, no not again. ¡°L??????i??????g??????h????t?????i?????n??????g?????? ?????B?????o?????l?????t?????¡± BOOM, The spell language always sounded weird to me, some mixed up mess of sounds and syllables that sounded like a hundred voices speaking. As I looked up the Giant Zombie Knight, stumbled forward, as I glanced behind me Tor-ron hands were smoking, a classic sign of his casting. As I pushed myself up onto my feet I called out. ¡°Thanks¡± ¡°You better be thankful, boy I¡¯m damn near out of mana now I have at most one more spell left¡± As I glanced around the room, I saw Irdu standing near Tor-ron her quiver very low on arrows, casting Healing touch on her son Licu who was looked way too pale. One of the skeleton knights had torn a wide gash in his armour before Tor-ron could complete his Cleanse spell, his father in the corner unconscious after a direct hit from the giant catapulted him into the wall. The lightning bolt had granted me a precious few seconds as the giant was stunned. ??????h?????? ??????????????????l???y?????? ????????l????????i????g????h???????t??????,?????? ?????? ???l???¨¥????t?????? ?????t???????h???y???????? ???????j??????????d??????g????m???????¨º???????????????? ??????b????????¨¦??????? ???????k?????????n???o??????w????????n?????? If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.???????g???????r??????a?????¨½???????????? ???????t??????????????i??????s?????? ????b?????????????????????????????? ?????????t???????????e????? ??????p????????o????w??????e??????r????? ??????t??????o????? ??????d????????¨¯??? ??????t??????h???e??????y??? ?????????w??????????????l???????l?????.?????? ??????B??????l??????????????????????s???????? ???????b?????l???????????d??????????e???? ?? As I mutter the spell, I felt the mana drain from me, feeling fifty kilos heavier, I lifted my glowing blade. Looking up at the rising giant, I had one shot at this. If I missed my target my friends were doomed. The giant was thirty meters in front of me, alone, standing at its full height over ten meters tall. I ran, building up speed as I moved towards the monster. I saw as it drew back its blade waiting for me to come into range. As I built up speed running towards the monster, as I came into its weapons range it swung its blade towards me across my body aiming to cut me clean in two. As saw the blade swinging towards me, I activated two of my skills, it was a skill that Irdu had drilled into me over a very long and painful training session. As the sword swung at me time seemed to slow, in reality, my vision sped up one of the upsides of having a high perception skill. As the blade swung towards me, I leapt, jumping as high as I could, you see Irdu had taught me a lesson having a high dodge skill as well as acrobatics was an excellent way to dodge attacks that were normally impossible to dodge. Of course, at the time I hated the lesson as I never got the point of why she used real arrows to train me to dodge, but as she said at the time ¡°You¡¯re such a wuss, your immortal and pain are the best motivator¡± Let me tell you I learned quickly after that and she''s right to pain is an excellent motivator. As the sword swung towards me, I leapt, both feet in the air as the sword passed below me, my foot lowered, making contact with the flat of the swinging sword, I immediately pushed off with all my strength, launching me into the air. As I sailed upward and forward toward the giant''s face, I drew back my sword and lunged. The blade travelled true straight into the giant''s eye. As I smashed into the giant¡¯s face, I crumpled falling towards the ground. As I collided with the ground I rolled, as I came to my feet five meters away, I looked up, standing stupidly was the giant, a sword sticking into his eye, just staring at it. ¡°L??????i??????g??????h????t?????i?????n??????g?????? ?????B?????o?????l?????t?????" BOOM, As I looked other to my friends Tor-ron I saw Tor-ron collapsing into a heap his hand smoking, it seemed he was out of mana. ¡°RAHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± As I looked up at the bellowing scream emanating from the zombie''s mouth, I quickly began my chant ????h??? ????h???e???????v???????n??????s???? ?????a???b?????o?????v????e????,??? ??? ???????????????t???? ?????t????????y????? ????r????a????g?????e??? ????????e????? ?????k????????o???w??????n????,????? ??? ????L???e??????t???? ????t???h???y????? ????s????????o?????r?????m????? ???r????a????????????? ??? ?????L???e????????? ?????t????h????e???? ????t????h?????u???n????d???e????r???? ????c?????????m?????¨¦??? ??? ?????L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? ???? As I felt the last dregs of mana leave my hand and shoot out I saw the lightning bolt shoot out of my hands towards the sword, as my eyes closed I could only hope it made its target. Prologue 0.3: Awaken Year 12 SPA (Since Player Arrival) As I opened my eyes my head was pounding, in front of me were those massive blue text boxes
Name Arthur, Health 34 200
Title Friend of Dragons Mana 1 320
Age 12 (32) Stamina 1 420
Race Human
Class Adventure Gold 1232
Level 65 411
Strength 73
Dexterity 104
Constitution 20
Intelligence 54
Wisdom 32
Charisma 52
Perception 50 Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!
Conditions Exhausted:you used all your stamina,Effect:disables stamina regeneration for 24 hours Mana push: you used all your mana,Effect:disables mana regeneration for 24 hours Over-exerted:you pushed your body beyond your limitsEffect:stamina damage becomes health damage Mana Burn:you pushed your mana beyond your limitsEffect:Mana damage becomes health damage
XP: Your party killed four skeleton knights level 130 Your party killed aGiant Skellington KnightRAID BOSSlevel 400 23032 XP Level up ... Level up ... Level up ... Level up ... Level up You are now level 70 one perk point unlocked For delivering the finishing blow to aRaid Bossand defeating it inyour first attempt you have gained anAdvance PerkChose wisely World first: you are the first to clear the Stonedrift Necropolis Dungeon. You have been given one extra perk point You have 25 undisputed stat points
I added ten points to agility, eight to wisdom, two to strength and five to a constitution. I decided to leave the perk point until later. As it was always best to choose your perk points as when consulting with allies, as the raw number of choices meant that finding the best one was a difficult task, thus far I only had earnt four of them and they all had powerful effects if two of my choices were suboptimaland without the support of my part I would never have found the third. As for the advance perk well, from what I heard only four players in the game have gained one and each of them became the leader of a very powerful guild.
PERKS: Expert swordsman: +20% growth to sword related skills. Dancer: +20% growth to dexterity-based skills. Blade dancer: grants access to the blade dancer skill set, based around dexterity and grace, to those observing it appears as an intricate dance, but in combat, it is lethal to those foolish enough to come within range Friend of dragon: (title based) +10 to all relations with those with a draconic bloodline. Haven mage: grant¡¯s access to the heaven-based spell tree.
I''m sure some of you are wondered about the friend of dragon¡¯s title, it''s simple early on during my first month in the game before I met the party, a player stole a dragon''s egg. Let''s just say the mother was not pleased. The moron that stole the egg, got too big for himself and attempted to force himself on a tavern girl. After stopping him we duelled, duringthe combat I killed him and by right was given access to his corpse, when I discovered the egg in his gear bag, I immediately hid. After a few days for hiding out from the moron and his guild, the Purification of Honour Guild. I was able to enter into the woods after a week-long trip I arrived at the mountain in which the dragon made her nest. After almost being burnt alive I returned the egg and was given the friend of dragon¡¯s title. Although by Year 10 SPA (Since Player Arrival) the dragons had been hunted to extinction, so it did little good. As I looked around finally getting my bearings for the first time since waking, I noticed that we were still in the same crypt but the light that had previously dominated the area had vanished. There were no flickering flames of torches, no mage lights hovering in the air, instead, the only source of light was the green moss faintly glowing on the walls of the room, the moss was everywhere in the crypt. As I scanned around the room looking for any signs of my friends, I saw nothing, just the walls of the room and the giant corpse of the giant zombie knight, as I jumped to my feet, I scanned the floor. The area was coated in a thick layer of dust. My eyes were quickly drawn to a puddle of blood as well as drag marks leading towards the door. Judging from the blood Licu wound was worse than I first thought, it seemed that Irdu awoke Waruan, and together, they dragged their son and Tor-ron and booked a speed retreat out of there, leaving the immortal behind. Judging by the marks it had been a couple of hours, there was little I could do for them now. ¡°Well I am alone might as well loot the place¡± Imuttered to myself if you have never looted within Novae Terrae Online let me tell you it''s not a fun experience, and if dealing with undead well dam it a nightmare. You see equipment in Novae Terrae Online is different than most games, most games equipment gave you stats and stats dominated the fight, in Novae Terrae Online a level one could kill a level nine hundred damage was based on critical locations just like in real life an attack in the heart or eye is normally fatal, hence why I was able to fry the giants zombies brains out. This doesn''t mean stats don''t matter, someone with a thousand strength would be able to bench press a bus or a thousand dexterity to outrun a hover car. The issue with the system is simple there are no stats for weapons, weapons don''t have damage stats or swing speed stats, the only way to know if a weapon is good is to swing it or have an eye for metals. The issue with zombies is simple, zombie''s brains is an excellent alchemical catalyst, and if you have ever hacked into a rotting corpse you know that it stinks. It stinks like high heaven. It took me almost thirty minutes to jar the brain and store it in my bag of holding. The size of the brain alone made the entire expedition well worth it. An alchemist would pay over eight hundred gold for this. After finishing the unpleasant business, I moved on the next step, I quickly examined the Skellington¡¯s knights gear, but it was rusted to hell and was little use even as scrap metal. The next stage was the one I hated, looking for secret doors, pressing every cobblestone in reach pulling every torch. Let me tell you it took me almost four hours before I found my prize, as I pushed into a small cobblestone it sank beneath my hand. I heard the sound of grinding of moving stonework. Light suddenly appeared spreading out from the small crack in the stonework that was steadily widening. As I looked through, I gasped in front of me was a meadow stretching out a far as the eye could see, we were almost five miles underground it simply wasn''t possible.Grassland stretched into the distance as far as I could see, far away from all the way on the edge of the horizon a mountain range stretched up into the distance, as I looked up into the sky massive glowing crystals cast light down on to the ground below. The cave roof was dominated with hundreds if not thousands of them. If they were mana stone hell I could by a city with the wealth within just one hundred meters of the roof.But that wasn''t what drew my eye, what drew my eye was a blade, a hand and half sword a simple affair, black leather surrounded its grip, made of clean metal no embellishments or jewellery a simple sword. It was embedded into the ground around it there was a clearing of no grass or any plant life for ten meters. I moved towards it outstretched my hand and grasped. As I drew the sword I felt, well the only way to describe it is Powerful, I felt stronger faster, instead of the tired drained energy I felt energized. Before I could even blink, I opened my menu.
Name Arthur Health 84 250
Title Friend of Dragons Mana 1 400
Age 12 (32) Stamina 1 440
Race Human
Class Adventurer Gold 1232
Level 70 440
Strength 75
Dexterity 114
Constitution 25
Intelligence 54
Wisdom 40
Charisma 52
Perception 50
Huh. no change. I Sheathed the weapon placing it on my back before heading to the exit, continuing alone would just lead me to the respawn and I was anxious to see what befell my friends. As I left the meadow a small Leaver was set into the wall, as I pulled it the door closed behind me. Prologue 0.4: The Calm As I exited the room I was shaken, What I had seen in there had thrown everything I ever knew about everything. Irdu handles the paperwork not me, I had never seen so much in my life. The attractive thing about adventuring is that its free from responsibility, no production quotas, no paperwork just you, your weapon and the only thing that mattered at the end of the day was how many monsters you had killed and the monster parts you brought back. Let me just say in Stonedrift that is not true. You have paperwork within paperwork, what monsters did you kill? where did you encounter them? Oh, your party took damage please fill in this injury form. You hand that in and BAM another load of paperwork asking for details about each encounter, you forget a detail and BAM new form about why you forgot the detail it took almost three hours to get out of there and just before I¡¯m leaving BAM taxation, please fill in twenty billion forms. But eventually, I made it out of the adventuring hall. And into the bustling market, the market square was large and jammed packed. Carts moved down the middle of the street. In every corner, a tent had been set up with someone selling something. Vibrant cloth, fish, wool, swords, there was even a man pushing around a cart selling ¡°meat of the day¡± which judging by the colour of it was almost certainly rat just like it was yesterday and every day before that. The most notable aspect of this was the smell, spices mixed with fish, manure, and a thousand other smells. My first destination was a few blocks away after weaving in between stall carts, people as I dodged my way past panhandlers and beggars I made it to my destination, a small little shack set in between two massive timber buildings the front side completely open the walls were lined with glass bottles and thousands of little plants, a small sign hung over the whole affair simply saying MIKE¡¯S ALCHEMY. As I walked up to the building, I saw mike hunched in a corner over a small little pot, stinging constantly. The man was ancient dripping with age, his every movement seem to crack, and he always looked like a strong gust of wind would be the end of him, but despite his appearance, Mike was the best alchemist I knew. ¡°What is it you want youngling,¡± asked Mike ¡°I got something to sell you old man¡± I responded ¡°Pah better not be any more spider eyes, I have enough of those to last me a decade¡± ¡°Not today no¡± I answered as I reached into my bag. ¡°We ended up fighting a Giant Zombie, I managed to gain a reasonably intact brain¡± ¡°Huh let''s see it then,¡± said Mike As I set the jar down onto the table, Mike turned around, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pair of spectaclesThe genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Hmmm .... yes, this is sufficient" So what do you want in return, Gold or potions?¡± asked Mike ¡°It depends on what you have in stock¡± I responded ¡°For this? I''ll give you two health potions, and four hundred gold. I do however have something you might be interested in¡± said Mike As he moved over to a small barrel to the side of the shop I had not previously noticed. ¡°This is a barrel of Alchemical fire, I made it for one of those bloody traveller guilds. They never paid. So, to cut my losses I''ll give it to you for two hundred gold¡± said Mike ¡°So, two health potions, two hundred gold and a barrel of Alchemical fire? Throw in a stamina potion and you''ve got a deal¡± I responded ¡°Deal¡± Mike said as he reached out his hand after I shook his hand he turned way reaching under a small bench and pulling out three potions. He then reached into his coin purse and pulled out two platinum coins handing them over to me. ¡°Good to do business with you, young Arthur¡± As I exited the building, I made my way towards the Temple, Licu was injured that is where they would be. As I made my way towards the Temple of the Three gods, I saw the three statues dominating the entrance, to the left Malus god of order, to the right Astrave god of chaos, and in the centre a small statue half the size of the others a small statue to the god Nevermore god of death. They say Malus made the ground, the plants the flowers and all sentient life, Astrave made the animals, the monsters and the seas. Malus gives us the system to fight the monsters to all his children. As for Nevermore, no one knows what he created, it is said he only destroys. As I entered into the temple, I quickly ducked into the side passage heading towards the infirmary As I enter into the infirmary I quickly spotted my companions, they were standing over a hospital bed, Waruan was hugging his wife, gently rocking Irdu back and forward, Tor-ron was sitting slumped in a chair, looking well I suppose they only way I can describe it as is tired, as if all his many years had caught up with him at once. As I moved forward closer towards the bed, I finally was Licu, he was pale, way to the pale, for a second, I thought that he was dead, but his chest was rising and falling, he was taking slow shallow breaths. As I walked forward I saw his other side and understood what had gone so wrong. His left arm was missing cut off below the elbow. As I walked up Waruan looked up from his crying wife, I looked him in the eyes as slowly he shook his head. As I walked up, I sat down in the chair not saying a word. In the distance, loud bells were ringing. I would later find out they were the town guards alert bells, but at the time I just sat there not saying a word for hours. Prologue 0.5: The Storm I don''t know how long we sat in that room, watching the rise and fall of Licu¡¯s breath, it was so shallow. I think looking back at it we were there for maybe two or three hours, all of us just sitting there in complete silence. This injury was the end for Licu, his hopes his dreams. They were all over, while some potions could heal wounds or close them up there was no way to regrow lost limbs, and in a medieval world like this one learning a trade with only one hand was impossible, that it was his dominant hand was the real kicker. All the muscle memory he had trained up gone, he was useless as a knight now, his only real prospect at work as a farm hand or scribe, but more likely he would be forever more a burden on his family unable to earn a living by himself. I had watched him grow from a toddler into a youth man. He hadn¡¯t told his parents yet but last month he was accepted into the officer¡¯s academy, he had a bright future in the military ahead of him following in his father¡¯s footsteps. That plan, his dream since a youth age now lay in ruins. As I sat there pondering these issues, a loud crash startled me out of my daydreaming. Over the last twenty minutes, the room had got a lot busier. A number of people were huddling in the room with more entering every minute. I quickly stood up and nudged Tor-ron, we stood up and made our way to one of the nurses. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked The nurse quickly looked up at us a said. ¡°A bloody army has appeared at the walls a few hours ago, just walked up to the wall¡¯s and asked to get let in. The city guard closed the gates and began negotiations apparently over the last hour things have gotten heated. The entire guard is on the walls, and the city militia was activated and have garrisoned the walls. We have been told to prepare the infirmary for an influx of wounded¡± I found out later what happened. It seems that the Darkbreaker¡¯s one of the largest player guilds in the game with over thirty thousand members. Had decided to head to the city of Stonedrift in order to take part in the dungeon. It seems that the leaders didn¡¯t think that thirty thousand armed men walking into a city unannounced would be an issue. After they were denied entrance, they ended up talking to the head of the guard after two hours of waiting around the head of the guard decided to speak to them, during these two hours the city guard and militia had head to the wall set in for a defence. It seems whoever was in charge of the guild was a moron, as when they were told no, an army of unknown soldiers could not enter the city, and that by bringing an unknown force such as this one into a state land was a crime and he was hereby banished from the city-state permanently combined with the fact that any aggressive action would be considered a declaration of war. Let¡¯s just say the guild leader was a moron as his reaction was to draw his sword and try to kill the captain of the guard¡­ within bow reach of the city. let¡¯s just say that he and his party were reduced to pin cushions. When the guild saw their leader cut down by a mass of arrows and saw the open gates they charged. Thirty thousand men and women rushing unprepared with no siege equipment that was garrisoned and had prepared the walls. It was a slaughter, almost a third of them were dead before they reached the gate. Which they rushed into, only to around a corner and see a portcullis blocking their path and to make it worse the rush of their allies behind them pushed them forward pushing them into the gate, when the gate was full of people a secondary portcullis dropped, sealing the exit behind them, then it went from bad to worst. Crushed in by their allies jam-packed between two metal portcullises blocking their path the hatches in the ceiling opened and the burning oil began to pour down on them. There were few survivors. Those outside the gate fated little better. With no passage forward and a crush of bodies behind them the stumbled and fell some of the trampled, but far more were killed by the rain of arrows and magic from the guard and militia on the walls. By the time they figured out what was going on and retreated the original thirty thousand had been reduced to a mere four thousand. Only around twenty-three thousand reached the walls, and only four thousand were able to retreat away from them. Had this been a normal army this would have been one of the greatest victories in warfare for thousands of years, but they were fighting players, their effectiveness at massacring the players, in the end, doomed the city. You see they never considered the players respawn, nor did the majority of NPC¡¯s know how spawn zones worked, you see if you enter a remote temple you spawn zone changes when you enter the threshold of the temple, but in a city, it changes when you enter within one hundred meters of the walls. That meant that an hour after the fight began players started to respawn in the middle of the city. An undefended city centre as everyone with a combat class was a member of the militia and was currently manning the walls, and to make it worst the temple was the gathering point for all the healers within the city, when the bells rang all the healers or those without a home to protect them or those close to the walls left their home and took refuge in the temple. One that within an hour would be flooded by almost nineteen thousand angry players. I was standing in the main hall when the first player spawned. I was helping out a nurse carrying a box of health potions into the infirmary despite low casualties on the wall around one hundred injured men that had made their way to the infirmary. I saw him spawn wearing that loincloth and small dagger that you get with each respawn. At first I thought he was an unlucky sod that had caught outside during the battle, but after two seconds he drew his copper dagger and charged at the nearest priest, plunging a knife into him repeatedly, I dropped the crate I was carrying wincing as almost two thousand golds worth of potions broke onto the floor, I drew my sword in a swift motion while running towards, the player he didn¡¯t even notice me until my blade plunged through his heart. I stood there standing bewildered by what I had just witnessed, my calm only lasted a brief moment though as I noticed the tell-tale flash of another respawn. As I span around, I saw another player standing there, he looked towards my blood-soaked sword then at the dead player below me and began reaching for his dagger. There were around two steps between us, I took two quick steps towards him, and lunged aiming at his neck, he was barely able to move just enough so the edge of the blade nicked his collarbone instead of tearing out his throat. He rushed forward trying to get within knife range, but I had already prepared a follow-up and my back-slice tore his throat open. There was another flash followed by another, and two more players spawned. I quickly back peddled realising what was happening, with my left hand I reached into my bandolier drawing two of my throwing knives and tossing them at my opponents, both hit their targets, sending them to the ground killing one but only wounding the other. I scanned the room and noticed the nurses had taken the opportunity to run, I dashed back toward the infirmary door, shouting as I ran ¡°ATTACK ATTACK, HOSTILE PLAYERS SPAWNING IN THE TEMPLE ATTACK¡± As I dashed through the infirmary doors, I slammed them shut behind me, reaching for the large wooden plank used to barricade the door and slamming it shut behind me. The wood of the infirmary was thick and would keep out players for a few minutes at most, I thanked God that mages only spawn with one mana, meaning that it takes a few minutes before they are able to cast spells. As I ran into the room, I saw Irdu and Waruan reaching for their weapons, as I cast my eyes of Irdu quiver I saw she had not restocked with arrows yet and only had four remaining. As I scanned the room, I cursed my luck, we were within the serious injury ward all those that would have been able to help defend the door were on the other side of the temple. It was just me Waruan, Irdu to hold the door, Tor-ron had no mana, I was low on stamina and on mana, Irdu was low on arrows and Waruan still looked unsteady on his feet after the direct hit the giant zombie landed on him earlier that day. ¡°shit, we can¡¯t hold here¡± I cursed ¡°WE NEED TO EVACUATE THE WOUNDED, WHERE THE NEAREST DEFENSIBLE BUILDING¡± I shouted out, I looked out across the gathered faces looking at me in confusion. ¡°THAT ARMY WAS ONE MADE OUT OF PLAYERS, WITHIN THE NEXT TWENTY MINUTES WE ARE GOING TO HAVE THOUSANDS OF ANGRY PLAYERS STREAMING INTO THIS ROOM AFTER RESPAWNING IN THIS TEMPLE WE NEED TO MOVE NOW¡± I shouted out Quickly nurses began to push beds and move around looking panicked, ¡°the nearest definable building is the adventure hall leading to the dungeon it¡¯s across the market square and had some defences, there more designed to keep monsters in than people out but it will do¡± Waruan responded. ¡°Tor-ron pick up my son you''re going to need to carry him across the market¡± Waruan commanded. I drew my last remaining throwing dagger handing it to Irdu, she was always a better thrown than me. Tor-ron lifted the unconscious Licu onto his back and we began to move, we headed for the rear entrance, a number of nurses were pushing the wheeled hospital bed towards the doors. I saw Mike, pushing his way to the front pulling a number of potions out of his pockets before pushing the rear door open. Outside was chaos, merchants were running everywhere, the market had been in full swing, groups of players were running around attacking anyone that came with reach. The adventure¡¯s guild was almost two hundred and thirty meters away, and we were pushing around twenty hospital beds with around thirty nurses and healers, along narrow crowded alleys between merchants¡¯ tents, boxes and merchandise were scatted everywhere, blocking paths it was going to be slow progress. As we exited the door mike beside me stayed to my right watching the main entrance of the temple. Waruan and I pushed forward, pushing boxes out of the way trying to make the route clear for the hospital beds and the injured. We managed to make it almost fifty meters before the players noticed us. A group of seven players spotted our group and began to run toward the group expecting easy pickings, I readied my blade expecting a fight. They barely made it with twenty meters before a potion flew towards them, a potion thrown by Mike, it crashed into them spaying them with a green mist, they stumbled on a few more steps before keeling over and falling to the floor. I went back to my work pushing debris out of the road, hoping beyond hope we would make it. He made it almost another hundred meters before I heard a yell,Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I¡¯m out of potions¡± called Mikes'' voice. Whoosh An arrow shot by me colliding with a player I had not noticed to my right, as I looked up, I saw Irdu looking at me, and drawing another arrow, Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh Three more arrows fired in quick succession, hitting a group of players coming at us from our right. We still had another hundred meters to go and we were out of ranged weapons, I saw a player rushing toward the rear of the group and rushed off to intercept. As I ran towards him, he heard me coming and turned to face me bringing his blade to bare. I readied my sword, striking out at his stomach aiming to gut him with my superior reach, he jumped back dodging the strike, by a hair¡¯s breadth. I saw a flash of steal fly beside me and saw my throwing dagger embed itself in my opponents¡¯ heart. I turned around to see another player, running at me lunging at me. I stepped to the left using my blade to knock my opponents knife off course, I responded with a riposte tearing a large gash in his stomach, dropping him instantly, I took a second to glance around, Waruan was fighting with his sword and shield holding back a group of six players, Irdu had drawn her short sword and was currently engaged with a player pulling her sword out of his stomach. As I glanced over to Mike, I saw the dagger plunge into him, tearing a large gash out of his side, another player behind him stepped forward placing the finishing blow into his back. We were maybe seventy meters from the Guildhall now, the only non-players left in the market, nearly a hundred players were making their way towards us we weren¡¯t going to make it. The next ten session was a mess of bloodshed, as I slew three more players charging me. ¡°CHARGE¡± a bellowing voice yelled out, As I glanced over towards the noise, I saw almost thirty adventurers charge out of the guild hall, into the mass of players, they were buying us time. As the players turned to deal with the new threat we quickly hurried, killing the last few players near us before hurrying to the open door the guild house. As the last the nurses entered the guild house, a call was made. ¡°BACK INTO THE GUILD HOUSE¡± a tall rugged man beside me called out. A quick dash was made with the last of the adventures entering into the guild just and a door slammed shut. Out of the thirty that had left the building only eight had survived, but their sacrifice had brought us time. as I looked around the main hall of the guild maybe four hundred civilians had entered in here but only thirty-two adventurers and guards remained, the rest were at the walls. A good twenty minutes away, and there were too few fighters left there was no way we could hold that long. Just as I was thinking that a loud crash was heard, I jumped looking towards the door of the guild shaking in its hinges. I saw Sgt Hardarse standing there, he was an old Sargent almost seventy years old at this point, but he had trained almost everyone in this room and was somewhat of a living legend around here. ¡°Albert, Scot get your parties and start leading the civils into the dungeon it¡¯s the only chance we have, the rest of you with me¡± the Sgt called out while rushing to the door. I saw eight of the adventures rushing into the dudgeon entrance along with the guard I had given my report to earlier. The rest of us began to move towards the door, hoping that the choke point would by us a precious few minutes for the civilians to escape, I saw Tor-ron running forward with the group still carrying Licu on his back. The civilians quickly exited the main hall, and within a minute we were alone. There was constant crashing on the door, and we could see the door buckling. I noticed the Sgt adjusting his helmet before clearing his voice ¡°ahem, I know you lads don¡¯t like me, hell everyone hates their first instructor. I won''t lie to you we ain''t gonna survive this. But you want ¡®a known what I put you ¡®all through hell and back for. A day like this, a day when it mattered. What we do today is going to save the lives of all those civi''s back there, so I''ll tell you what¡¯s going to happen you¡¯re going to hold that door. Hold it long enough to make a difference or by the gods, it won''t matter which heaven or hell you get sent to. I''ll be sure as shit there to make your after-life¡¯s hell for failing now, I don¡¯t train pussy''s so you better man up and hold that door.¡± A cheer erupted from the gathered adventures and guards, my own voice included. It has barely died down before a loud crash emerged from the door, as the door shattered revealing a sea of players in loin cloths armed with daggers, Standing outside. The rush began, we piled forward to hold the door and stop the players getting into the guild house. the fight was a bloody violent affair, our knights stand at the door shields ready forming a shield wall to block the player''s entrance into the building. Each player that came with sword reach was cut down but over time we lost people a lucky shot here, a rock that pushed a knight off balance there allowing the players to swarm the out of position knight, but we held, it took almost ten minutes before our line started to collapse, I spent most of the time at the window stabbing those that attempted to climb in. as I saw the SGT fall to a cut from the side. I knew the line was done, I quickly ran towards the gap in the line hoping to plug it, at this point there were only four knights holding the door, as I ran up to take my place saw Waruan ¡°Fall back¡± Waruan called out, ¡°Fall back to the tunnel¡± As the other started falling back I moved up to take his side, I saw Irdu leading the way towards the tunnel ¡°you to Arthur,¡± he said ¡°that¡¯s suicide you can¡¯t hold this alone long enough for us to fall back and escape by yourself,¡± I said as I ducked a knife aimed at my chest. ¡°I know, tell me I love her and tell my son I¡¯m sorry, now go¡± he responded As I glanced at me, I could tell this wasn¡¯t a request, he knew what needs to be done and knew he was the only one left he could trust to do it. ¡°I¡¯ll tell them¡± I responded, stepping back and letting Waruan step forward, holding the Door by himself, as I started running back, I heard a murmur I never caught what he said but I will always believe it to be ¡°thank you, my friend,¡± I ran towards the tunnel, just as I rounded the corner I glanced back, I saw Waruan standing there having dropped his sword, using both hands to use his shield to push back the tide of players. It was the last time I ever saw him. It took me five minutes of running before I caught up with the group there were seven of us now. As Irdu saw me she just looked at me they say the eyes are the window to the soul and in that Minute I truly understood it, I could speak or look her in the eyes, I just shook my head, as I glanced back up at her eyes I saw such sadness such pain her face remained calm, but you could see in her eyes pure sadness one that I will never know. We continued running through the dungeon following the tracks of the civilians for another thirty minutes before we found the rear of the convey, over the run four of the other adventures had stopped in a narrow passage that you could only fit through single-handedly, saying that they would hold the players here as long as they could. I recognised the area the back of the group was in a large chamber, a large bottomless gap spanned the seventy or so meters of the chamber, the only way accords were a thin meter wide stone arch that extended across the bridge. In the next chamber across the bridge was the boss room that we had fought a giant zombie in. it took another five minutes before the ends of the convoy reached the other side. The other guards that had gone before us were waiting for us. ¡°Dead end¡± one of guard¡¯s quip. ¡°Don''t suppose you know which stone opens that hidden door you reported¡± ¡°no sorry¡± I responded. ¡°I suppose this is it then¡± he responded. ¡°looks like it¡± ¡°Dam I always hoped to die surrounded by beautiful women¡± he joked Tor-ron joined us walking with us as moved towards the centre of the bridge. We saw the tide of players running towards the other side of the bridge. We readied our weapons, it was at this point I remembered the barrel of alchemical fire in my inventory, quickly opening my bag of holding I pulled it out. ¡°if we can get this to the other side, we might make it,¡± I said As we looked at the horde of players on the bridge I knew that want happening, ¡°Arrh Fuck it¡± I heard Irdu muttered before I knew it she snatched the small barrel from my hands and had begun running at the changing players. As she reached the first players she leapt, lifting her body above them, placing one foot on the head of a player before pushing off heading deeper in the group. She managed to make it almost two-thirds of the way across before she slipped falling into the mass of players. ¡°HIT IT WITH FIRE¡± I shouted towards them. As the wizard to my right began a chant, I saw Tor-ron to my left look at me before chatting F?????l???????????????y?????????? As he lifted into the air beside me, a number of players looked towards him, he sped forward towards the barrel, as I saw what he was doing I ran forward hoping by some miracle to save him. By the time he got within ten meters of the barrel, seven daggers had collided with him thrown by the players. I just about reach the middle of the bridge, where the fastest plays had reached. I saw Tor-ron drop like a stone, falling towards the bridge before colliding with it with a sickening thud. In that brief second, I thought it was all over, "L??????i??????g??????h????t?????i?????n??????g?????? ?????B?????o?????l?????t?????" BOOM The shock wave shocks the area, as I looked up I saw the ceiling collapse above me, but before rubble collided with me the bridge gave way under my feet. We had done it the civilians were safe. The bridge was gone and so was I as I fell into the abyss below. Prologue 0.6: Darkness Blackness. Pure blackness as I fell. I don''t know for how long a minute may be maybe an hour. Then suddenly
New spawn zone: You have entered into a new temple; your spawn zone has changed. Your new spawn zone is Ancient Temple. XP: You have discovered an undiscovered area +2000 XP
I quickly dismissed the pop-up a saw a large the pyramid rushing towards me I had enough time to blink before Splat
You died: You fell from a great height and took 2000000 points of damage. Respawn timer: 60:00 minutes
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Oh god, the elevator music. ¡°NOOOOOOO¡± As I awoke, I found myself in a darkly lit room, a wide corner was in front of me made of clean-cut stone, I could not make out a single crack or blemish in the stone. Set into the wall every twenty meters were small dishes, a small orb of light hovered above them casting a bluish glow on the sandstone around me. It was roughly five meters wide leading in a long corner to a door some five hundred meters in front of me. As I turned around, look for the statues that typically compiled temples respawn room I found nothing but a small statue, carved out the same sandstone as the walls, a small raven was sitting on a pedestal, there were no statues of Malus or Astrave just this small statue of a raven. I set off down the hall. To the stone door in front of me. As I reached it, I examined it for traps and found none. As I pushed the door open a large cavern was in front of me, set in front of me was a small plinth. On it, a stone tablet lay. I walked up to it and began to read. When Nevermore¡¯s children walk the earth they will set this land ablaze Those untouched by death''s embrace, They will walk this land in undying grace. They will burn this land in their disgrace. When Ragnar?k comes the gods will weep. As I looked up I look towards the cavern, large mushrooms covered the floor, lying on the floor in front of me was a bag, my gear lying were it had been dropped from my fall. as I looked up a large crystal was embedded into the rock casting a reddish glow into the ground lighting the place. As I looked around for an exit I found none, as I looked around desperately scanning for an exit, I noticed none. That''s when it hit me, my friends were dead, I was trapped how far underground, I have no idea if the civilians survived in the meadow, I had no idea if anyone got in if they had been found. I was trapped underground with nothing but a field of mushrooms, and a stone tablet predicting the end times. MY FRIENDS WERE DEAD. I slouched down leaning against the walls of the pyramid and began to cry. Prologue 0.8: Ragnar?k Year 23 SPA (Since Player Arrival) I watched the battle from above, it wasn¡¯t a battle, to be honest, it was a massacre, in front of me, were the last dregs of the Purification of Honour Guild combined with the Bluefall Alliance and the Darkbreaker¡¯s Guild, for the first time in years they were working together. All three of them had made their home in the three central volcanoes at the heart of the continent, they were currently fighting with the Goon¡¯s the fourth largest guild. The Goon¡¯s had made their home on the Dwarven Isle''s, two weeks ago the Goon¡¯s had led an attack into the heart of the continent almost their entire player-base almost half a million players standing in between the three volcanoes surrounded by the three other guilds, they started casting a spell. The other guilds didn¡¯t react if they attacked the Goon¡¯s it would leave their base vulnerable and the other two guilds would sweep in. It took almost a day for the spell to be completed. When it did the earth its self-shook, even I myself, a thousand miles away on the Dwarven Isle''s felt the pressure wave. The force of a supervolcano erupting, Gaia¡¯s tears they called it. The pyroclastic flow wiped out almost all life on the continent, but the real threat came from the burning ash in the air, when it landed in a weeks¡¯ time, everyone outside would burn. I talked to a geology teacher in RL, they predicted that the surface would be uninhabitable for at least four hundred years. So, when the guild respawned with their bases aflame, many spawning trapped over a pit of lava, those that had respawned in a safe location united. The continual guilds made an alliance, they would attack the Dwarven Isle''s eradicated the Goon¡¯s and take the last survivable area for themselves. So, we come to today a mismatched army made of almost eight million players armed with loincloths and copper daggers, the army had been marching for almost a week to reach here, they were tired, hot and half blinded by the ash. Opposing them was a force half million strong, made up of knights, wizards and paladins, wearing full plate armour, the initial charge of the Alliance into the Goon¡¯s ranks was a massacre. Knowing that the wizards would be useless in the melee, an entire battalion of almost one hundred thousand wizards held back standing higher above the hill, behind the Knights and Paladins shield wall. They knew that once the melee began it would become too risky to cast spells into the line, when the disorganised charge of the alliance began the wizards started firing, firing every spell they had, it was a massacre I reckon almost two million players of the alliance died in the initial barrage. Then the lines connected six million alliance members collided with four hundred thousand knights of Goon¡¯s. The fight was long, and it was bloody, for the first four hours the Goon¡¯s were doing well slaying almost another two million members of the alliance, the Goon¡¯s lost almost eighty thousand but with a nearby spawn point, they were able to be back in the fight within an hour of death. It was looking hopeful for the Goon¡¯s but they had made one massive mistake, they hadn¡¯t kept the ice wizards separate they were all out of mana, the ground normally a hard set stone was drowned in blood, the field of battle became slippery for the unarmoured alliance this was not an issue but for the heavily armed Goon¡¯s it became deadly, maybe a hundred ice wizards could have frozen the ground and saved the Goon¡¯s but it was not to be. The heavily armed knight, slipped and fell into the bloody mud where they were set upon by large groups of alliance members, it didn¡¯t take long before the left flank fell allowing the alliance to stream through the gap running one hundred meters up the hill and entering into the spawn zone boundary, changing their respawn zone to the Goon¡¯s base. Darkness descended it was almost midnight, the battle was no longer combat, ragging for almost eight hours at this point, it had descended into a chaotic mess of combat, were once lines had been drawn now a massive melee took place, players fighting all over the base, at some point the alliance had broken down, each guild was fighting each other in a chaotic free for all. It was rare now to see anyone armoured, a few had swords that they had managed to loot in a moment of respite, but those wearing armour had quickly been focused and killed. From my vantage point above in the mountains, I looked up the moon was high it was almost midnight.
Announcement: It has been twenty-four years, for twenty-four years I watched, for twenty-four years I held my hand, but it is enough. this is enough. You have burned the world, slaying all life upon it, you have burned the land, leaving this world nothing but ash. I have had enough I made this system so my people might prosper you have turned it into a blackened thing twisting its meaning.
Announcement: A god Malus had descended
Announcement: A god Astrave had descended
Announcement: Your access to the system had been revoked.
As I saw the final notifications, I immediately tried to pull up my interface, nothing no response, as I look up at the heavens above, two large pillars of light descended, crashing into the ground below, to the east of the valley on the other side, stood a large woman, almost ten meters tall she was as large a giant as looked at her a golden halo surrounding her, she was wearing the purest of white silk dress billowing around her. Standing around her was a host, almost a hundred men and women, wearing golden armour with wings sporting out of their backs, they all had weapons drawn. Below me almost four hundred meters away a similar scene was playing out but instead of a woman a giant man, stood clasped in golden armour, with a host of angles at his feet
Announcement: This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. You have done well my children, by bringing you from your world into this , you have done my will, you have burnt the land and brought about the Truth to the world, all that begins with death shall end with death, I will not allow you to fall this day you have done my work so well, I shall descend myself and shall battle Malus, but know when I walking this land, death shall take its natural course, those of you that die shall not ¡®respawn¡¯ as you say, if you desire victory, slay Astgrave and I shall reward you, I shall reward you with a new world.
Announcement: A god Nevermore had descended
As the Announcement flashed in my vision, a massive crack appeared dark and blackened up from it climbed a giant, he wore armours made of a metal so dark it seemed to absorb the light, as he drew his sword he charged at the god in front of him, batting aside the angels that rose up to meet him, as Malus met his blade a gigantic clap strung up across the valley, I would like to say that I could follow what was happening, that I witnessed this epic clash between gods, but the fighting was happening with such force with such power, that a cloud of ash rose up blocking my view. I started to move skating along the ridge of the mountain trying to move to a better position, taking care to not highlight myself in the skyline. It took almost half an hour to move over the rough and rocky terrain, down into the valley below, as I rounded a large boulder I received my first real look at the combat in that time, Astrave was wading thought players hacking them down with long streaks of her sword, Malus and Nevermore where still battling, throwing up massive clouds of dust, the biggest difference was to the players and the angels were previously there had been forty angels I at the god¡¯s feet now there were none. I saw a number of bodies broken and battered lying around. Earlier almost two and a half million players had been battling now no more than a thousand remained. The majority of the players had formed up in the Keeps gate, standing there with weapons drawn. Malus, armours was broken and battered, at some point, both he and Nevermore¡¯s helmet had been removed, a large gash had been opened is Malus'' chest, and his left arm was hanging limply at this side bleeding a golden ichor. I saw as Astrave moved into the gateway standing in front of the mass of players, she stood there for a momenther hand pointing towards the players, a golden glow filled her hand and launched towards the players. Just as the energy left her hand a BOOM sounded out of the gate. I span to look at the sound to see the gate collapsing the players and Astrave crushed beneath. As I scanned around, I saw Astrave¡¯s prone form, below a pile of rocks, but as I moved closers, I saw a group of seven players, run towards her. I could do nothing but watch from my viewpoint four hundred meters away, one of the players ran towards her, in his hands one of the blades the angels had arrived with. I watched standing there helplessly as the blade plunged towards her spearing her through the heart. I felt the blast of energy, burn into my flesh as the very essence of a god died. ¡°?????????????????????N????????????????????????????O?????????O??????????????O??????????????O????????????????????????????O??????O???????????O?????????????????????????????O???????????????¡± ??????????? I heard a voice scream in voice so beautiful, so old, As I heard the scream as I looked over towards the sound, I saw Malus staring at his sister''s body, and then I saw it the black blade of Nevermore plunging towards his neck making use of his distraction. I felt the second blast then, stronger as for a second time that day I watched the golden essence of a god explode outwards. I stood there crouched behind that rock looking across the battlefield, there were maybe twelve players still left standing scattered around the battlefield, I saw Nevermore lift his head and open his mouth ¡°?w?e?l?l? ?d?o?n?e? ?m?y? ?c?h?i?l?d?r?e?n?,? ?y?o?u? ?h?a?v?e? ?d?o?n?e? ?y?o?u?r? ?r?o?l?e? ?m?o?s?t? ?e?x?c?e?l?l?e?n?t?l?y?,? ?f?o?r? ?y?o?u?r? ?r?e?w?a?r?d? ?I? ?s?h?a?l?l? ?g?r?a?n?t? ?y?o?u? ?a? ?n?e?w? ?w?o?r?l?d?,? ?a? ?n?e?w? ?w?o?r?l?d? ?t?o? ?e?x?p?l?o?r?e? ?t?o? ?d?i?s?c?o?v?e?r?"? he said His voice was dark, like listening to a thousand knives, its very voice filled me with a sense of dread. We had destroyed this world, at first, the players were known as Travellers, now we were known as the Scourge, our ways had destroyed this world and now we were going to another world, another world to burn more innocents to slaughter, NO, NO MORE¡± I muttered under my breath, I would not watch another world die, if this god was going to open another world to the scourge, I was going to stop him. He was standing in front of me almost one hundred meters, standing there with his back towards me. I ran I ran towardshim casting spells as I moved.` ??????B??????l??????????????????????s???????? ???????b?????l???????????d??????????e???? "???????Q????????¨´??????????????c????????k???????? ????????s???????t?????????e????p?????"??????????? "???????F?????l???????????????y?????????? As I ran forward casting as many spells as I could, I felt faster, quicker, the sword felt lighter in my hands, as I ran forward I felt the mana leave my body, my sword began to glow, at first the dull sheen of a blessed blade, but then brighter, glowing green then blue, before turning a darkish purple, as I reached within twenty meters of him I cast fly sending my self-flying up towards his head. He heard me then turning around to look at me but it was too late. My blade plunged into his throat tearing a massive gash across it. As I sailed past I felt the blast of energy hit me, sending me flying, I crashed into the ground falling in a heap, the black and gold essence of the gods was mixing, interconnecting, juddering and heating up, as I looked at it I pushed my self up and ran towards the collapse gate leaping over the broken body of Ashgrove, as I looked back I saw the energy coalesce into a ball, I saw the players behind me the twelve of them running towards me hoping to take shelter within the walls as I had, I readied up magic pushing it into my fingers ¡°L??????i??????g??????h????t?????i?????n??????g?????? ?????B?????o?????l?????t?????¡± ¡°L??????i??????g??????h????t?????i?????n??????g?????? ?????B?????o?????l?????t?????¡± I shot two lightning bolts into them foaling the last of my mana leave me, as I watch the bolts arc and crash into them, spreading from player to player downing eight of them, the last four ran on, running state at me, I reached into my bandolier drawing two of my throwing knives, with my left hand I threw them, one of the struck true, but at the last second the target of the second knife dodged to the right, as the three came closer I readied my blade, sweeping out to the right cutting one of them across the stomach, the other two stepped in stabbing towards me, I dodged back avoiding the first dagger but the second one grazed my flank biting thought my leather amour cutting into my ribs, I leapt back and brought my left hand to bare. "L??????i??????g??????h????t?????i?????n??????g?????? ?????B?????o?????l?????t?????" The mana tore through me, I felt the pain as my health pool drop as I overcast my mana, the bolt slammed into the player in front of me sending him flying back, but I was still out of position the others players knife flew towards me, knowing I couldn¡¯t block or dodge I did the only thing I could I stepped into the blade as it punched a hole into my stomach, as the pain ripped through me, I drew my sword stabbing into the player still holding the knife embedded in my stomach, as his head toppled to the floor so did I, I collapsed to the ground, holding my blade looking towards the pulsing orb of godly power. As my vision greyed out, just before I closed my eyes, I saw it explode expanding outwards to meet me as my eyes shut and I died. Chapter 1.1 Renascentis Terrarum I awoke to pitch blackness, my head was killing me, ¡°huh, this isn¡¯t the respawn screen¡± I muttered to my self ¡°log out¡­. Log out¡­. LOG OUT¡± as I tried to access the logout screen I received no response, I quickly tried to summon the interface, no response, I reached around feeling for my legs they were still there, Unlike in the real world, if I still had legs that meant I was still in game, I continued trying to call the menu to log out but did not receive a response. ¡°shit I had bills to pay today, and that battle lasted way too long,¡± I said ¡°logout¡± Still no response. Huh might as well light the place up, "h????????????????????v????????????????????r????????????¨¬???????n???g???????????? ????????l???i????????????????????????????t????????????" as I cast the light spell I felt a trickle of mana leave my hand, a small ball of light appeared above me shining a small radius of light barley two meters across, I could barely see anything, I gathered more mana into my hand pushing it towards the hovering light at my shoulder, the light suddenly increased lighting the room, I felt the mana leave my body, as my body felt slightly heavier. For the first time I cast around, I cast my eyes around I was within a cave, stone walls surrounding me, stalagmites forming to my right, it was at this point I noticed. I was naked, no clothes, no loincloth you typically got when respawning, I cast my eyes around a noticed out of corner of my eye a small flash as something reflected the light of my Hovering light spell into my eye, it was a few steps beside me to my right I step towards it, it was the handle of Caliburn, as I reached over to the blade I noticed that it was covered in a heavy coating of dust, look back at my footsteps I saw that the entire room was covered in a thick coating of dust. As I lifted up my old blade, I cast around for a scabbard but remember I was naked. ¡°Dam it, suppose I¡¯m going to be carrying this then,¡± I said to myself. I cast my eyes around the cave looking for an exit, seeing none I cast my eyes around the cavern I was in, while I could see three walls of the cave the far wall was beyond my hovering lights radius, I set off in that direction searching to the other side of the cavern, as I walked past stalagmites, and coalescing pools of water, I continued walking forward, it took around twenty minutes of walking before I started to see the other side. As I walked forward it became apparent that the wall was not natural,l, you could clearly see stone markings and a large door set into the wall, as I got closer to the wall nearing five meters I Finally saw it, what I had previously mistaken to tool marks or building decay was instead formed in elegant patterns, it was writing. As I put my hand against the stonework, I began to trace the writing, the wall had made it to eroded to read. ¡°for Throlmead Blazinghorn was a just leader, he stated that no grudge would be filled that day, for the honour of the Baldir would not be offended a second time¡± It took me a minute to realise what this writing meant, this was the wall of grudges, the most sacred place in Dwarfen culture was the wall of grudges, it was where all the slights on dwarven honour were recorded collected, it meant I was in the centre of the city of the Dwarfs, I was still in Novae Terrae. I quickly shook my thoughts free and moved towards the giant stone gate, I pushed against it, instead of opening with grace only dwarven engineering could achieve the gate simply fell outward, collapsing, as the gigantic gate collapsed with a colossal crash, I stood to stare at what lay behind it, a colossal pit, it was almost two hundred meters wide, but it was full of bones, more bones than I had ever seen in my entire life. As I stood there staring, I noticed several of the intact Skellington standing as I stood there more and more started to stand, there had to be at least four hundred of them. I pushed the mana into my feet F?????l???????????????y?????????? I took off towards the ceiling, there was no way unequipped as I was I wasfighting my way through an army of skeletons, I started to fly across the pit trying to find the other side, the pit was almost a mile wide, and full of bones, you couldn¡¯t even see the floor there had to be at least ten or twenty million bodies down here. Finally, after twenty minters of flying, I reached a large door, the door was carved out pure steel, looking at it I reckoned it was almost five meters thick, there was no way I was getting through the door,The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. O????h???, ?????? ???w????i????n??????d?????s????? ???o???????f??? ???????t???????h???i??????s??? ????e?????a??????r??????t?????h?????,???? ?????L???e?????t?????? ????m??????e???? ?????r???????u????n?????, ?????l?????e?????t?????? ??????m???????e???? ?????s???????o????a?????r?????? ????L????e?????t????? ????m???e?????? ?????j??????o????i?????n??? ???y?????o?????u????? ???????a????s??? ??????y?????o?????u?????? ?????r?????e?????a??????c???h??? ??????t???h???e???? ????h???i?????g?????h???????e?????s????t??? ???p?????e???a?????k????? ?????L????e????t?????? ???????m???e??? ?????j????o??????i???n???? ??????y????o???????u????? ???a?????s????? ????y?????o??????u??? ???b??????l?????o????w???? ???????o??????n??????? ??????t??????h????e????? ????p????i??????t?????s??????? ?????f?????l???????o???????o?????r????? ????G???a???s?????e??????o???????u????s????? ?????f?????o??????r????m?????? ?????? ????? Gaseous form was an interesting spell, it was created by my old friend Tor-ron and was a fantastic application of heaven magic, it allowed one¡¯s body to temporally transform into air, allowing you to pass through even the smallest gaps, I was the only one he ever taught it to and I put it good use when using it to organise prison escapes. The only downside was it was very draining on mana using almost a hundred every twenty seconds. With the light spell, the fly spell activated and now Gaseous form I could feel the mana leaving my body and fast, I pushed all my mana into a quick burst of speed pushing my self toward the door, as I probed and probed at the door It took almost a minuet to find a gap, as I pushed my form thought the gap barley a centimetre in diameter, I felt my mana drop lower an lower, without access to the system I had no idea how long I had until I became solid again, I had seen what happened when that happened, Tor-ron did it at party¡¯s a few times but we quickly put a stop to it, having fruit explode on you once is entertaining twice is just annoying, as I pushed my self thought the gap I was almost seventy five percent of the way thought, before my mana started to flicker, the spell was running out of mana I started to push with the last few dregs of mana I hade left desperately trying to extend the spell, I had just my hand left to go, when I felt my mana pool elapse, the spell won¡¯t last long enough, I started gathering the mana around my heart pushing it into the spell, as the pain erupted as I slowly burnt my mana veins desperately trying to buy a few more seconds, I started to black out losing consciousness, shaking myself I pushed pushing the last dregs of by body to the other side of the wall, just as I cleared the hole the spell failed, and I collapsed crumpling onto the ground panting in pain. I sat there for a few minutes taking a breath before I sat up and looked around the room around me. I was within a long corridor, along each wall was carved out of solid stone, every so often you could see a brown patch where once maybe a torch had burnt. As I turned around looking at the wall. I looked towards it and saw that it was carved into, it was in a language I did not recognise, but by the images set into the tops of the walls I could tell somethings, pictures of daemons, Skellington¡¯s and other monsters plastered the wall, great images of monsters dominated the door, in the centre was a single humanoid standing before the door, an arrow led to another picture of it opening the door and a third arrow led to a picture of an army of monster streaming out the door, with the humanoid figure held in the hand of a great beast. This was not Dwarven work however made this hadwayto little skill to be Dwarven, judging by the work this was made a long time after the Dwarven work. I also agreed from the massive amount of bones in there and the army of skeletons in the room opening the door was a stupid idea. As I looked down the tunnel I got to my feet and started walking, I don¡¯t know how far I walked along that tunnel but it was at least five miles before I saw a small crack of light, as I got closer it got colder and colder, I felt a breeze of wind, as I came to a large stone door, I noticed that this door wasthinner this time made out of stone rather than metal, a barricade had been placed across the door blocking it from the inside. As I reached the door I lifted the door and pushed it open, a cold blast of air hit me, and I looked out into the bright light, it took a minute for my eyes to adjust, but below me was a massive cliff falling off to the distance, this corridor was set into the side of a mountain almost two miles up, and secondly in front of me was a landscape I had not seen in Novae Terrae Online in years, in front of me as far as the eyes could see was a forest. As I scanned over the horizon I notice two things, in the far distance was a large set of mountains rising up, but in front of me some forty miles away I could see a plume of smoke rising, as I rubbed my eyes and stared at the plume I noticed the second thing that took my breath away, the plume was at the end of a long span where the trees had been cleared,a road a sharp cut through the forest floor pointing off into the distance the straightness gave it an unnatural appearance clearly defining it as man-made, and if there was a road that meant that the plume of smoke was emanating from a village, Chapter 1.2 The darkness within the hearts of men As I stood there looking down at the sight below, as I looked more and more I picked up more and more signs of inhabitation, a patch of missing trees in the distance, a wide field of wheat cut into the forest, as I stood there standing, the plume of smoke grew and grew, something was going on, the town or village was burning. From my position where I stood two miles up perched over a cliff almost forty miles away, there was nothing I could do. Sure, I had some skill in climbing, but scaling down a two-mile-high cliff with no equipment, no protection from the elements was pure suicide. Even If I could climb down I had nowhere to put the sword, no scabbard no bag of holding, I would have to wait until my mana returned. A few years ago, I might have tried to climb down, the sight of a village burning would have put me into a righteous fury desperate to save as many life¡¯s as could. I had been youth then that opened eyed optimism, that one man could make a difference, that foolish belief of mine that good triumphed over evil, that a war could be won with clean hands. How foolish I was back then. As I stood there a cold blast of wind hit me chilling me to the bone, I couldn¡¯t stand here all day exposed to the elements. I pulled on the door pulling it shutting it, blocking the view of the outside world. I sat down then leaning against the old stonework and closed my eyes, there was little I could do today, as I opened my mind to the mana surrounding me I began to pull it towards me, I felt the waves of mana rolling around me, I pulled on the mana falling into that meditative trace as my consciousness drifted off. Alexis I awoke to the smell of my ma¡¯s cooking, as I stood up my back itched, I didn¡¯t have to turn around to know I had been scratched by that old straw mattress. As I looked around our old hut, I winched the corner of my room was leaking again, I was going to have to fix it, if I couldn¡¯t get the thatch soon, we won''t get it until next spring and that meant a winter without a roof. As I pulled on my old tattered jerkin and pulled my old boots on I noticed a small hole in the foot of my boot, another old thing I had to repair, the boots had been passed down to me from my older brother when he was conscripted into the military, and I had them since I was fourteen, ten years of wearing wasn¡¯t that bad, I could only hope that the caravan due next week had a cobbler or two in it or I was stuffed. As I walked out of my room into the kitchen, I saw my mother leaning over a pot, ¡°it just porridge today,¡± my mother¡¯s voice echoed, ¡°Now don¡¯t give me that look I know you don¡¯t like it but it¡¯s all we got if you want something better after you finish your chores grab your father''s old bow and see if you can snag us a rabbit or two,¡± my mother said. Our family was a poor one, we hadn¡¯t always been, my father and brother were both skilled hunters, but after being conscripted ten years ago when I was fourteen, my mother and I fallen into hard times as there were no men to help us. ¡°Now Alexis my dear, you do know today''s chores?¡± my mother asked ¡°Yes mother, buy some bread, see if I can talk to farmer Jacobs and get more thatch, go to work at the tavern and see if I can shoot a few rabbits on my way back¡± I responded. I hated working at the tavern, but I was forced to work there, there weren¡¯t many jobs for young women and with no father, I had no dowry to pay to find a husband, even if I was a good huntswoman the butcher refused to buy from me saying ¡°women shouldn¡¯t hunt.¡± As such I was forced to work in the tavern, dealing with the drunken lumberjacks constantly trying to grope me, to make it worst I was forced to pretend to enjoy it, the pay was crap so unless I made a few tips from flirting with the pigs, we would go hungry. Due to that I managed to gain myself a reputation, for being a flirt , making finding a man to marry was impossible, I was stuck here in this bloody village, mother was too old to travel and couldn¡¯t earn a living, all the other village girls my age had married and had a kid or two by now, while I was stuck in this dead-end job trying to earn enough money to make it through the month, so me and my ma didn¡¯t starve. Finishing my breakfast, I stood up walking over to the door, lifting my father¡¯s old short bow as I stepped outside, I had four hours until my shift started at the tavern. As I left our old wooden shack I looked towards the roof, it needed fixing it wasn¡¯t going to last the winter. Our house was set away from the village a hundred meters from the rest, it was the perfect spot for a hunter directly connecting with the woods. The village was within a clearing, almost five hundred meters wide. Large pine trees dominated the area surrounding every area that was not managed. Trees grew unnaturally here if you planted a tree in the soil It would look like a fifty-year-old pine within a month. They said it was something to do with the mountain in the distance, Hells Gate they called it. According to the church, it was the site was the demon armies were buried after their defeat at the hands of the gods. No one was allowed near it for fear of the church. When I was younger, I watched Alex one of the young boys off the village receive forty whips by the local priest for sneaking off into that direction, he had never recovered and walked off into the forest never to be seen again a month after his wiping. As I walked up to the wooden palisades, I was greeted by the fat slob Vanart manning the gates ¡°Let me in Vanart, I¡¯ve got to head to the mill¡± I called out, I got no response, as bloody normal as I looked up to the watchtower, I spotted Vanart asleep in his chair. I knew from experience that no amount of shouting would wake him, the only way to arose the fat arse was with the smell of booze, moving around the wall towards the main gate I came across, my little climbing spot, putting one foot in the nock, I pushed myself up grabbing the top of the palisade and hauling myself over. As I dropped down onto the other side I was greeted by Margret¡¯s little shop, the shop sold clothes and cloth and honestly, I had no idea how it was still in business in this town. ¡°Vanart asleep again?¡± the old voice of Margaret came out of the store. ¡°Yea, I have no idea why he means the gate, I know it¡¯s the second gate and most people use the other one but why to have a gate manned by that fat slob is beyond me¡± I responded As I stood up brushing the dirt from my trouser knees from my fall I started walking towards the mill, if there was any thatch left from the harvest it would be in the mill. As I walked up, I pass by the general store as I walked over, I walked towards Iver, drawing into my purse drawing a silver form it. ¡°The usual?¡± the gruff voice of Iver sounded out ¡°The usual¡± I responded As I sat the Silver down on the counter Iver turned around lifting a small pouch wrapped in cloth and handing it to me. ¡°Thanks,¡± I said ¡°Just be sure to return the cloth¡± responded Iver As I left the shop I moved toward the mill, as I walked towards the mill. I saw Farmer Orin standing in front of the door ¡°Have you got any thatch left?¡± I asked as I walked up to him. ¡°yeah I got a load left from the last round of harvests this summer¡± he responded. ¡°I¡¯ve got twelve silver for a few bundles; the roof is falling in,¡± I said. ¡°You see Dorasion wants the lot for his cottage and is paying me forty for the lot,¡± said Farmer Orin ¡°Come on, he rethatched his roof only a year ago, the roof is collapsing, please I need this,¡± I pleaded ¡°Well, I suppose there are some ways you could sweeten the deal,¡± said Farmer Orin while staring directly at my chest. Disgusted I turned away and walked off in the other direction. ¡°Dam it¡¯s going to be a cold winter¡± I muttered to myself. I walked around back to the main gate exiting out, I still had a few hours until my shift started, might as well try to bag some rabbits. Three hours later I returned to our cabin having broken two arrows and lost a third, I wasn¡¯t completely unsuccessful have bagged a single rabbit but it just hadn¡¯t been my day, walking into the door I placed my father¡¯s bow back into it slot placed the rabbit and the food package onto the table and walking into my room, my mother wasn¡¯t there, she was still working she cleaned in the church the only work she could get at her age. Walking into my room I started stripping changing into my ¡®uniform¡¯. It wasn¡¯t a uniform, it was the most scandalous clothing this town had seen in a hundred years when the first tavern owner made us where it had been the talk of the town for weeks. The shirt wasn¡¯t even a shirt, I heard one of the merchants call it a corset, apparently, they were undergarments, but the tavern owner made us wear them and nothing else. All I could tell you was that they were tight and exposed a lot of skin and left me breathless. Then there were the skirts instead of respectable skirts or paint designed to hide a lady¡¯s modest they stopped at the knees and were incredibly tight fitting. I hated the ensemble, they made it hard to walk and were highly revealing. As I pulled my outfit on, I exit our home heading towards the tavern ignoring the catcalls I received along the way. As I entered the Traven I looked around, it was just me and the fat oaf of an innkeeper, ¡°Where¡¯s Mary I thought she was working tonight as well?¡± I asked. ¡°The sluts of sick, it seems you¡¯re going to be serving the entire Traven today¡± responded the innkeeper. FUCK, today was going to be a nightmare, it took around an hour for the Lumberjacks to start to stumble their way in. It got very busy fast and I was on my feet the entire time, severing drinks, dodging groping hands, around halfway through the evening I was fast enough to dodge a customer¡¯s grasps he grabbed my hand pulling me in planting a forceful kiss while another customer grabbed at my breasts. A large cheer erupted in the room, as I pushed away from myself away spilling a drink. ¡°You will be paying for that¡± the innkeeper''s voice shouted out. I had hoped my wages weren¡¯t getting docked again. As I stood up looking briefly outside, I saw it was still only around six o¡¯clock I still had another five hours of this hell left. As I glanced outside, I noticed something off. A group of almost forty men was moving towards the tavern, from the look of them they seemed to be soldiers, they were wearing a mismatch of armour and arms some had chain mail, others leather, one or two even had a full suit of plate mail. As I scanned the gruff looking group I scanned for banners or symbols of their allegiance, seeing none I swore. They had let bloody bandits in again. In a village as remote as ours I wasn¡¯t uncommon to see a bandit or two in the area, normally they came to sell the wares setting up camp outside the walls to sell their ill-gotten gains. Normal procedure was to keep them outside the gate and not let them into the village. This was put in place after a large fight broke out between a group of the bandits and the lumberjacks a few years before I was born and led to four houses being burnt to the ground. They must have bribed someone to let them in. As I stood there staring out the window, I didn¡¯t notice the drunken lumberjack sneaking up behind me until he lurched forward grabbing at my behind. Stumbling forward I turn around and got back to serving drinks. A few minutes later the bandits entered, after a brief chat with the innkeeper a few benches were cleared for them moving some of the drunken lumberjacks to other benches. I walked up to a table of them.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°May I have your order please?¡± I asked ¡°Just keep the ale coming my little pretty¡± responded one of the uglier looking bandits. One of his eyes was missing a large scar covering over his eye. His nose looked like it had been broken at least four times. A small brand was burned into his forehead a large T marking him as all to see as a thief. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to ask for money in advance sir¡± I responded ¡°Bloody, bint can¡¯t give a man a bloody drink¡± responded the same bandit I saw him reach into a pocket before withdrawing a small bag, he looked over to the innkeeper before tossing it his way, the innkeeper snapped it out the air. You never saw him moving fast unless money was involved. He looked into the bag before his face lit up in a giant smile, as I looked towards him. He merely looked towards me and nodded. ¡°Bring the man his drinks, keep bringing them for the rest of the evening,¡± the innkeeper said. I spent the next twenty minutes serving drinks to both the bandits and the lumberjacks. As I walked up the bandit''s table, with a tray of drink in my hands, I set the drinks down on the table. I didn¡¯t even hear the man behind me, he moved with unnatural grace stepping behind me and grabbing my hands. ¡°you¡¯ve been teasing us, laddie wearing that oh so revealing dress, I think it¡¯s about time me and the boys found out what¡¯s underneath,¡± a voice said. As soon as he grasped me, I started to squirm desperately trying to escape his crutches, suddenly I froze, I felt a small chill and the blade was pushed against my back. ¡°Remain still laddie, I would have to tear that skin of yours,¡± the voice behind me said. I barely moved a muscle as I felt the blade rise cutting thought the cording keeping my corset together. It had reached almost halfway up my back when I heard the rustling of feet. THWACK A large noise sounded and the pressure on my back lessened, as soon as the pressure dropped, I jumped back putting as much distance between me and the bandits as possible. Standing behind me was Dorasion, he was the closest the Lumberjacks had to a leader in his hands was two broken legs of a chair. Below him was one of the bandits I had previously been serving. ¡°You don¡¯t touch our girls ya¡¯ pigs¡± the rough voice of Dorasion echoed around the room. ¡°And you don¡¯t hurt my men¡± a voice sounded out. As I looked towards the voice, I saw the scarred man that had paid the innkeeper. The next thing I saw was a flash pass by me, slowly as I turned towards Dorasion, I watched as he toppled over a knife sticking out his eye. The entire Tavern froze just standing and sitting there staring at what had happened. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there, it¡¯s time to get killing¡±, the voice of the scared man echoed outward. Pandemonium broke out, the bandits reached for their blades, drawing them and rushing into the lumberjacks, the lumberjacks reached for whatever they had, some drew knives, others picked up axes, but the majority of lumberjacks were unarmed. As the commotion started, I rushed towards the door, running as fast as I could in this bloody outfit. I slammed into the door pushing it forward with my body, I was dazzled slightly from the transition for the dark room into the light of the early evening, I continued running towards the church hoping to find my mother still there. I could hear a shout from behind me as I ran towards the centre of town. As I rounded the corner looking into the town square what I saw shocked me, they hadn¡¯t let just forty bandits into the town there was another group. Around the centre of town a large convoy of wagons was parked, almost ten of them, there were at least another sixty bandits in the square, it seemed that they had heard the fighting in the tavern and seen it as a sign, they had drawn weapons and attacked, I saw the bodies of the towns merchants and guards scattered about. It seemed that they were trying to trade with the bandits when the fight broke out, at least it was a quick death. I saw Vanart, Farmer Jacobs, Iver and Margaret to name a few lying there. I looked across to the other side of the square towards the church. I saw it then, the fat old priest lying gutted on the churches step, but that want what drew my eye. Being dragged outside by their hair was my mother and nun Alice. Alice was young being only sixteen, she had arrived in a convoy last year apparently to train under the priest. My sprint peated to a stop as I stood there staring at what was going on. I watched as one of the bandits grabbing Alice, grabbed at here ceremonial robes pulling at them. ¡°Let go her you beast¡± I heard my mother voice cry out. I stood there watching as she picked up a broom striking out at the man. She hit the man, but the blow barely stumbled him, as I watched time seemed to slow. I watched he lifted his blade and then I watched as the blade thrust forward. I watched as my mother crumpled collapsing bleeding profusely from the cut in her chest. ¡°NOOOOOOO¡± I screamed out, watching as the bandit thrust a second time, striking my mother in the throat. ¡°Alvar grab that one¡± a voice called out. I glanced towards the sound of the voice and noticed not twenty meters away from a bandit standing there with sword drawn. As he began to advance towards me, I turned and ran. Behind me, I heard the noise of the footsteps chasing after me. I moved as fast as I could, but this bloody dress slowed me down, as I rounded the corner in front of me was another group of bandits heading my direction, I saw a small number of the lumberjacks running down a side street. The street, however, was littered with bodies, lumberjacks and a number of other workers lied dead on the floor. A number of women were dead as well, but several of them were being dragged by bandits, clasping them and dragging them towards the tavern. I was closing with the bandits in front of me, who heard the noise of my pursuit and turned my way. I started to run right towards them, I saw several of them tense up expecting me to collide with them and to tackle me down. Just as I reached arm¡¯s length I jumped, twisting my body in mid-air. As I came down two meters to the right of the bandits waiting for me, I pushed off running sideways toward a small alley, leaving the bewildered bandits behind. It did take them long though before they set off running after me. I had however gained several meters head start and had was maybe fifteen meters in front of them. As I ran forward down the alleyway, I looked ahead. In front of me was Margret¡¯s store, and the palisade as I rushed off running towards the palisade, the bandits started to catch up to me, they were faster than me when wearing the bloody dress and I was losing breath due to the tightness of the corset. Hell, if the bandit hadn¡¯t cut into my corset earlier loosening it, I would have been a heaving retch at this point desperately gasping for air. I pushed my self further running as fast as I could towards the palisade, behind me I heard the bandits slow slightly, believing to have me trapped between the palisade and themselves. As I sprinted forward coming within a meter of the barricade, I jumped, reaching up to grab the small rope I had tied around the top of the palisade, I had left it there for whenever I need to exit the down after dark which with my job was often. Pulling myself up I heaved myself over the palisade falling towards the ground on the other side. Pushing my self to my feet I pushed off running towards my home, as I burst through the door, I reached towards my fathers bow lifting it from its mounting point quick ling stringing it I looked towards the quiver. Only eight arrows left. As I picked it up, I ran towards my room, quickly pulling at my clothes, the tore away with easy. Grasping towards my pants and shirt I began to pull them on, I stood there for a second grabbing a breath. pulling my boots off I reached towards my paints quickly pulling them on and fastening them tight with my belt, as I pulled my shirt on, I heard a noise the sound of running feet. Quickly I threw my self to the floor rolling under the bed grasping tight to my father''s bow and the quiver. I heard the door fly open with a loud crash. I heard a boot stomped through my home, I looked out from under the bed and saw two pairs of boots entered into the room. ¡°Look Scav we found the whore house¡± a voice echoed. I saw as a hand reached down grabbing at my discarded corset, lifting it up. ¡°Look her boots are still here we must have only just missed her¡± a second voice responded. ¡°Don¡¯t worry look she ain''t got boots, and we got her clothes, we can just stick the dogs on her¡± the first voice said. I saw as a hand reached down grabbing my boots and my discarded ¡®dress¡¯ I heard as the sound of boots leaving the room and moving off into the distance. I held my breath as long as could before lets out a breath of air. after no intermediate response, I pulled myself from out under the bed. As quietly as I could I stood up and poked my head around the door. There was no one there, scanning around I looked for my boots hoping the bandit had dropped them. No such luck, if they were going to set dogs after me, I had to start moving now, my pace would be much slower with no boots, I ran into the forest, running as fast as I could without boots, I felt pine needles and rocks cut into my feet. ¡°Come on Alexis you can do this¡± I muttered to myself an I ran through the pain. It was dark now, the sun had set several hours ago I don¡¯t know who long ago but still I ran, running towards the Hells Gate mountain range. My feet were a bleeding mess now, cuts and stabs from the rough terrain dug into my feet. Behind me I could hear the baulking, I could see the flashes of torches behind me as the dog handlers kept hold of the dogs, there were four dogs and I estimate around fifteen bandits although I was unsure of the true number. With my feet in this state, I hadn¡¯t long left. In front of me was the cliff edge rising into the distance just a mile away, I shrugged pulling my fathers bow off my back, reaching for an arrow. I slowed running towards a small clearing, it was around forty meters wide and would be the best spot I had passed in miles to make my stand. I ran towards the clearing coming to a stop in the centre. I stood there drawing my bow and knocking my arrow, slowly catching my breath. if I was going to die I would be sure a hell take a few of them with me. As I pulled back of my bowstring tensing the bow, I saw a small flash of movement, releasing my arrow I let it fly state into the chest of a dog, I quickly drew another arrow, knocking it a pulling back on the bowstring, there another flash of movement, I let loose letting the arrow fly, Thwonk, I heard sharp squealing as another dog dropped. Quick reaching back and knocking another arrow I stood there, at the edge of the clearing I saw an explosion of movement, quickly aiming I let my arrow fly right into the chest of one of the dogs, the other dog besides it was charging aimed right at me undisputed by the death of its neighbour, quickly I drew another arrow, I had no time to aim, or knock the arrow as the beast quickly made up the distance, it leapt towards me fangs glaring, I thrust forward with the arrow in my hand. I felt as the dog collided with me knocking me back sending me head over heels, and I tumbled over falling on my back I was stunned lying there for a moment. Looking up I saw the dog, an arrow embedded into its eye. At some point during the tumble, my father''s bow had been knocked out my hands desperately scrambled to my feet reaching for it. Just as I grasp forward grabbing the bow in my hands a foot stamped down on it, stopping me from lifting it, as I looked up a saw a bandit, he was wearing light leathers and had a small dagger aimed at me, it was the bandit that had originally assaulted me starting the fight in the tavern ¡°You killed my dogs, you''re going to pay for that, I was going to make it quick but now, now I¡¯m going to enjoy it take my time,¡± he said. As I looked at him, I felt defeat, my exhaustion caught up to me and I collapsed falling on my hands and knees. The cuts in my feet ached, my heart burnt my breath completely gone, I was defeated. "F???????????????????????????????????????l?????????????????????????????????m???????????????????e??????????????????n?????????????? ?????????????????????????????????P??????????????????????????????????????????????????s??????????????s????????????????????????????????????????????l?????????????????u??????????????????????????????m?????????????????????????" I heard the sound, it was a noise I had never heard before like the sound of a thousand screaming voices speaking in one disjointed choir, it was a language I had never heard before, and the very sound of It sent my ears ringing, as I looked up I saw a streak a streak of pure light coming right at me and then nothing. Chapter 1.3 Making Friends I awoke leaving my trance, I shock my body trying to loosen the stiffness in my back. I had to try to stop sleeping on the stone floors like this it was playing hell on my back. I reckoned it had been six or seven hours. I stretched my body feeling for the tiredness within my muscles that normally accompanied low mana levels. Feeling nothing, I reached into my mana veins manifesting a small spark of mana at my fingertip. Judging by the response time of the mana I had around eighty percent reserves, although not full it would be enough. H????????????v????????????????????r????????????¨¬???????n???g???????????? ????????l???i????????????????????????????t???????????? A small ball of light appeared beside me illuminating the tunnel, I reached over picking up my sword and moved to stand before the door. I stood there waiting for a minute waiting for my light spell to run out of mana. If it was dark outside opening the door with a light beside me would light me up for miles around. I had learnt from experience never to give your position away. After a minute the light started to flicker and shortly after vanished-out of existence. I pushed on the door opening it. I stood there for a minute taking in the view. It was night time the sun had set. I looked towards where I had seen the town in the distance but could see nothing, A thin haze had set over the horizon blocking my view of the town. I looked upwards towards the sky looking for familiar constellations to see if I was indeed in Novae Terrae Online. I stood there for several minutes looking for stars I recognised, it took a while I kept seeing parts of constellations¡¯ I recognised but they were missing a star here or had a few extra ones. After around five minutes I gave up, it was similar to Novae Terrae Online night sky, but it was different there were no holy stars and I couldn¡¯t see any of the planetary bodies that existed within Novae Terrae Online. After a while of standing there, I turned my eyes back down to the forest below. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of light. ????????????? ??????w?????i???????n????????d????????? ????? ????????L?????e????n???????d???????? ????????m????????e?????? ???????????????o??????????????????r??????? ???s????i?????????g?????????h????????t?????????? ????????????L???????????????????t????????? ?????????m??????????e????????? ????????s????e??????????????.???????? ??????? ??????????L?????????????????t???????? ?????????m??????????¨¨????? ?????????s??????????o?????????????????.????? ????F??????????????¨¦??? ???????W??????????????????????????????d????????''??????????s????? ???R???????¨®?????????????????m????????? Free wind roam was a very useful spell it allows the caster to place his eyes in the wind, to fly with his with his mind''s eye able to see wherever the wind reached. I used it often for scouting, as my vision flew down towards the forest floor, I saw the light again. As I focused my vision on the light I saw the origin of the light source. A group of men with dogs were chasing after a young woman. The women was slowing, as I looked towards her I saw that she had no boots, her feet were cut to shred but she was still running. Whoever, this young woman was she sure as hell had grit. Turning my mind''s eye towards the men behind her I look at them. There were ten men in all wearing a mix match of armours, six of them were armed with chain and swords the other two had leathers and bows, one was wearing plate armour holding onto a large war axe, the final man wore leathers holding a knife in his other hands were four leads, the dogs had obviously been attached to them previously. As I withdrew my mind''s eye retreating back towards my body, I saw the girl running towards a small clearing. This had caught my interest. I stepped forward falling down over the side of the cliff. I felt myself fall speeding faster and faster towards the ground some two miles below. The ground was getting closer and closer. Six hundred meters. Three hundred meters. A hundred and fifty meters A hundred meters Fifty meters. Ten meters. Five meters. F????l?????y???? Just as I was about to crash into the ground I let go of my mana, propelling me upward and forwards. I flew through the air pushing myself forward until I came to the clearing, I had seen the girl heading toward. As I hovered above the clearing I saw the girl come to a stop in the centre. Pulling off her bow she knocked an arrow and stared out into the forest. I saw as the arrow realised flying towards one of the dogs in the forest striking it dead. By the time I looked back she had another arrow nocked and ready before letting it loose again. The arrow flew true colliding with another dog, but it wasn¡¯t going to be enough. Two other dogs were coming from her right. I watched as she knocked the third arrow, I saw as she jumped as the pair of dogs exploded forward, she span around aiming towards them loosing an arrow striking one of the dog¡¯s dead. As I hovered there, she reached back drawing an arrow from her quiver not even trying to knock it before the dog was upon her. As the dog leapt towards her, she trusted with her hand trying to keep the dog away. As the dog collided with her, she fell falling head over heels losing her bow in the process. I saw as she lay there stunned. The men that had been chasing ran into the clearing. The girl pushed her self up glancing around for her bow, lunging toward it trying to grab hold of it. But she had been to slow the man''s foot stamped down onto the bow. ¡°Devoravit gladius vester canibus, vos erant ''iens ut reddere, EGO eram iens ut velox et nunc, Nunc Im ''iens sumo mihi illo tempore fruor¡± the man''s voice sounded out. Icouldn''t understand anything he said, but from the sound of ithe sounded pissed. I saw as the girl collapsed down falling to her hands and knees, just looking up at the man with a face of pure defeat. While this was going on the over bandits advanced standing around the fallen girl.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Hum, it¡¯s about time I made my entrance¡± I muttered to myself. I pushed the mana towards my fingertips pulling at the thread of mana and shaping them to my will. As I pulled the last tread together, I released the spell, chanting out the spells name in the sacred spell language. ?????L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? The lighting bolt collided with the target, blasting a hole clean through his chest, I directed the blast sending it towards the large man wearing plate. The lightning bolt was the main reason I had specialised in Heaven magic. With my agility based fighting style, I had little to no answer to those wearing plate mail armour but a lightning bolt against someone encased in metal armour was incredibly devastating. I watched as both men collapsed to the ground. I dropped then pushing a small amount of mana into my flight spell at the last second to cushion my fall. The other eight were standing there staring just looking at me shocked. Well if they weren¡¯t going to react, I was. I looked towards the two archers standing side by side. I pushed more mana into my hand calling out the chant. ?????L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? This time I aimed for there heads, as the bolt collided with the first archer his head vanished, I twisted my hand''s slights, twisting the path of the lighting bolt bringing it around back towards the other archer. It collided but it was slightly low crashing into his chest. Dam, I had hoped to salvage some clothes from him in order to cover up my nudity. With that set ruined I could only hope that the first archer''s clothes fit me. It was finally then that the other six men reacted. They scatted four of them running towards me while the other two-legged it towards the forest. that won¡¯t do. L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? I aimed my left hand towards the two running, quickly firing off two lighting bolts off in their direction striking them down. The other four were closing, running towards me. My god, they were slow. I felt I had time to put the kettle on in the time it took them to reach me. If they were higher than level five, I would be surprised. As the closest one reached me, he stuck out with his sword, lunging forward towards me. Sighing I raised my sword to block, as his blade collided into mine, I felt almost no force. Yes, he was low level he had almost no strength either. I made a quick trusting motion spearing him on the end of my blade before pulling it out and turning towards the next attacker. As he reached me he swung, I simply took a step to the right moving around his blade before stabbing forward, thrusting into his belly gutting him. ¡°it''s no fun if you can¡¯t fight¡± I muttered to myself. I raised my left hand pointing it towards the other two charging towards me. L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? I don¡¯t know when but at some point, during the war I had started to look forward to the fight. The tension never knowing if you would live or die. if you would come out victorious or fall in defeat. living or dying on your skills, your planning your abilities. But this fight was pointless they were such low level. They could never even scratch me. I don¡¯t know when I stopped caring but after that point, I had given up, I had no hope. There was no hero coming to save us and I certainly wasn''t one, my failures stood testament to that. I had learnt the hard way the world was not black and white, that the hero didn¡¯t always win. Since that day I lived for the blood for the thrill always seeking the next battle. I didn¡¯t care anymore if my fight saved lives all I cared about was how much blood I spilt. As I looked around me at the now empty grove, I looked towards the girl remembering her for the first time since the fight broke out. Moving towards her I saw that she was unconscious. Good, that would give me some time to loot, I walked over to the intact archer pulling off his leather armour. Luckily for me, it fit, not a good fit but it was better than being naked. Next, I searched through there bags looking for money of supplies. I found several packages of food and a few waterskins, lifting them up I reached towards one of there bags emptying it. By the end of it, I had found around two weeks¡¯ worth of rations, two full waterskins, a flint and steel, a number of purses with around forty-three copper two hundred and three little silver coins and two golds ones and an axe. Picking up my haul I stuffed it into a bag of one of the bandits had. I walked over to the girl here feet were bleeding quickly as I checked her over, I could find little wrong with her. She must have collapsed from exhaustion if I wanted answers on what happened here today I would need to wait until she woke. It was pointless waiting around here until she woke, I had no idea how many more of the men there were and if they had someone more powerful in their ranks. I walked over to some trees using the axe to cut down several branches. Slinging the bag over my back I lifted the branches into arms before walking over to the girl. Pressing my hand against her I pushed mana into her body and into the branches. W??????????????i????g??????h????t????????l??????????????s?????s??????? Just before I cast fly and took off, I had an idea and looked towards her feet. She still had no shoes looking towards one of the smaller bandits I reached over to him pulling off his boots, hopefully, they would fit her. F????l?????y???? Combined with casting the weightless spell on the girl I was able to take off into the air heading towards the cliff with easy, with both the wood and the girl weightless I was able to carry them with one hand with ease. I Flew towards the doorway in the cliff. Putting the girl and the wood down I turned around grabbing the open door and pulling it shut. H????????????v????????????????????r????????????¨¬???????n???g???????????? ????????l???i????????????????????????????t???????????? As I cast the hovering light spell, I pushed several extra charges into it, it would last until I got a fire going. I quickly set up the wood reaching towards the flint and steel. ¡°Fuck it¡± I muttered to my self-putting back the flint and steel. L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? As the lighting stuck the fire it instantly lit it was a waste of mana but could not be covered. I turned back towards the girl her feet looked bad and without attention, she was sure to get infected, and infected feet in a medieval society was a death sentence. As I place my hand against her foot, I began to channel mana into her body speeding up the body¡¯s regeneration. L???????????a???????????y????????? ????????????n?????????? ????????????????????????n??????d????????s?????? As I stood there watching her feet regenerating themselves¡¯ I noticed that my mana was running low, I was down to twenty per cent reserves. I leaned back lying against the wall opening my mind up to the mana around and for the second time that day drifted off into a meditative trance. Chapter 1.3 Questions and Answers Alexis I slowly came around, wakening slowly. I slowly opened my eyes around me was darkness. Oh god, I felt stiff what had happened? Like a flood, my memory returned. Oh god the attack, bandits had entered the town and butchered the townspeople my mother included. Slowly I opened my eye looking around my surroundings. I was in some sort of stone building. To my left, a long corridor stretched off to the distance, to my right a stone door, threw the crack in the door frame I saw the light. I looked down the corridor although I couldn¡¯t see far due to a lack of light. A small pile of embers was burning between me and the door. Sitting beside the door was a man he remained perfectly still, he was sitting cross-legged leaning against the wall, he was wearing leather armour. As I inspected at his armour, I saw a large splatter of dried blood surrounding the collar, it looked ill-fitting as if he was several sizes larger than the armour he wore. Shoved into an ill-suited scabbard I saw a sword; the scabbard was obviously meant for a different sword as half a hand of steel was still showing. Unlike his armour and scabbard, his sword was immaculate, as I looked at, I couldn¡¯t to see a single imperfection upon it. Turning my eyes away from the blade I looked towards the man''s face. He looked well, odd is the only way to describe it he had a large square jaw bone with well-defined cheek and jawbones. His eyes were a sparkling blue and were almost hypnotic. His face was covered in a thick layer of stubble, while his hair was a mess, it was red in colour, it was long coming to his shoulders but had obviously been shorted, it looked as if someone hacked at his hair with a knife. It was striking never had I seen someone looking like this, I didn¡¯t even know that humans could have red hair. Everything about him screamed at me bandit. His rough unkempt look the cut of his hair the mismatched amour. Slowly I turned my vision away from the man and turned my attention to myself. I was still wearing my clothes thank god. That meant I had been taken advantage of while I was unconscious. I lifted my arms gasping a feeling of a thousand needles shot through my arm. Bloody pins and needle. I was more surprised however to find I was not cuffed or tied in any way. I reached down to inspect my feet, as I felt the bottom of my sole, I found not a single cut or injury after last night I had expected to be unable to move for weeks, but for some reason, my feet were completely healed. Slowly I stood up I was just five meters from the door if I could get there, I might be able to escape again. If I managed to make it to the door undetected, I might get an hour or more head start before this bandit woke up. Slowly I crept forward taking one step after another trying to make as little noise as possible. One step, two steps, three steps, as I put my foot down on the fourth step my foot collided with a small pebble sending it rattling into the distance. I jerked my head towards the man expecting to see him wake but received no response. I took another step forward and another. Just two more steps and I was home free. ¡°Tu non volo ut vado per illuc¡± a voice sounded out beside me. Whatever language he was speaking I couldn''t understand a word, I looked towards the man how was now sitting there with open eyes staring at me. I shot forward breaking out into a run towards the door. As I collided with the door, the door gave way swinging outward. I had but a second to enjoy the sweet sight of the Sun. ¡°ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR¡± I screamed out As I looked down the cliff two miles below as I began my plummet to the floor below. Arthur The girl was awake, I watched as she stood up slowly stepping towards the door rattling a stone of the floor as she moved. She was moving towards the door her arms outstretched. ¡°You do not want to go through there¡± I called out as she stepped towards the door. Opening my eyes, I looked at her, the second she saw me looking at me she bolted towards the door. Running into it while pushing it open. As she exited through the door she began to drop, reaching out I grabbed forward grabbing the back of her shirt as she fell. ¡°ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR¡± her scream rang out. With my left hand holding onto the back of her shirt I grabbed hold of her, she hung there for a minute hanging over a two-mile drop, looking at me with a slack jaw expression. ¡°I said not to go out there,¡± I said to her. All I received was a blank stare. Pulling her back in I put her down on the door letting go of her shirt. Having over one hundred strength did give some major advantages. The second I let go of her she bolted running towards the tunnel. ¡°Oh, for fuck sake¡± I muttered to my self ???i???r??? ???b???¨±?????l???e???t??? Pulling the least amount of mana, I could to my hand I shot out an air bullet, it was a weak spell used to send a compressed shot of air at a target. While It could create massive internal bleeding if enough pressure was used, I had set it on a lower setting. As the bullet collided with her, she was thrown forward sent sprawling through the air. I saw her turn around looking to me in confusion before picking herself up and continuing to run down the darkened corridor.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ???i???r??? ???b???¨±?????l???e???t??? This time I used more mana knocking her sprawling, again she looked around in confusion before running off. ¡°For god¡¯s sake girl I am not going to hurt you stop running,¡± I said to her retreating back. Standing back up I noticed she was running into the dark. I didn¡¯t want her to trip and brake her neck, if that happened, I would not get in the information I wanted. H??????v???e???r???i???n???g??? ???L???i???g???h?????? As I sent the light down the corridor after her, she suddenly stopped turning towards the light. As she saw the small ball of light she froze, looking towards it with a look of pure shock. As the light neared her, she collapsed to her knees. ¡°O Deus Parcant mihi Dominus meae¡± her voiced called out in the hallway Oh god, she did speak continental that explained a lot. I stood up walking towards her, as I walked towards her, she continued staring out towards my hovering light desperately pleading in her language. As I reached up to her, I put my hand on her head pushing mana into her. ???h??? ????????????d??? ??? ???e???t??? ???y???o??????r??? w?o?r?d? ?b?e? ???s???p???¨°??k???e?????? ???l???e???t??? ???y???o???¨´????? ??? w?o?r?d? ?b?e? ?k???n???o??????n??? ???l???????t??? ???m?????? s?p?e?a?k? ?t?h?e? ?l?a?n?g?u?a?g?e? ? ?????? ????t??????i???s??? ???s???¨­?????l??? ??????e???a??r???n??? ???l??????n???g???¨²??a??????e??? Learn language was one of those spells that the holy branch of magic requires you to learn to unlock better spells. It was taxing in mana and this was the first time I had the opportunity to use it, it was, however, a very useful spell allowing one to instantly learn the language of another. As I had placed my hand upon the girl¡¯s head, she had stopped talking as was now staring at me with wide eyes. ¡°Do you understand me now?¡± I asked ¡°Yes, my lord¡± the girl responded. ¡°Lord? I am no lord¡± I said. ¡°But sir you know the magic of kings, only those with a direct relation to the king can use magic¡± the girl responded. As I looked down at here, I blinked in surprise, mana was everywhere it was in all things, any sentient creature could reach out and feel the mana around them. That this girl was telling me only those with the blood of royalty could use mana instantly told me a lot about the kingdom. ¡°Whoever taught you that was lying to you girl¡± I responded. ¡°You are going to answer some questions for me now and you''re going, to tell the truth, or my ball of truth here will deliver great pain upon you,¡± I said. I was lying through my teeth, of course, a hovering light couldn¡¯t hurt anyone but if she thought that only royalty could use magic that meant the true knowledge of magic had been suppressed and so she was unlikely to have any idea of what a spell could or could not do. ¡°You''re going to listen to my questions one by one and then you''re going to respond do you understand?¡± I asked the girl. ¡°Yes, sir¡± she responded. ¡°Firstly, where are we, which kingdom owns this island?¡± I asked ¡°Sir we are not on an island we are in the centre of the continent, the kingdom is ruled by the Pendragon line, the capital of the kingdom is Celliwig¡± she responded ¡°What other nations hold power in the region? I asked ¡°Other nations? There are no other nations what you are going on about?¡± I stood there looking at here shocked for a moment before asking my next question. ¡°Secondly what year is this?¡± I asked ¡°Its years seven thousand eight hundred and forty-five since the great Refounding¡± she responded ¡°Refounding?¡± I asked ¡°Surely you know the tale of the Refounding? It¡¯s all the priest ever go on about¡± she looked at me with questioning eyes. ¡°No, I do not know the tale, explain,¡± I said ¡°During the age of monster¡¯s terrible monsters roamed the earth, daemons that devoured the world hole. A great hero rose up and saved all mankind hiding us from the demons. While we hid the hero joined with the gods in a great battle casting the demons to the abyss. After a long time, the people returned once again walking under the sky, that was year one of the Refounding.¡± She responded ¡°Ok final question, who were those men attacking your town and why were they so low level?¡± I asked. ¡°Those men were bandits they entered into the town to trade but attacked us, and what¡¯s level?¡± she responded. I sat down then, looking down thinking over what she had told me. If I was in Novae Terrae Online then the transformation of the land meant that it had been a very long time, if the old home of the Dwarven isles was now a centre of a continent it had been a very long time at least a few million years for the geological timescale. The chance of that changing happening in such a short time was impossible. That meant only one thing this was a different world. That they had only a single kingdom was the least surprising thing about this to me, if the ruling family kept a tight control over magic, they would easily be able to dominate a kingdom. The next point thought was a major one, they had no system no way of pushing themselves stronger they were limited to the power of a normal human. I had once worked out that the strongest a real human body could get to was around seventeen strength no further, without the system to buff them it would make fighting monsters almost impossible. ¡°How do you might the monsters?¡± I asked ¡°Monsters what monsters?¡± she looked at me getting very confused. ¡°Orcs, Goblins, Trolls that sort of thing¡± I responded. ¡°Why would we fight fairy tales, we have a much treat from them as we do form attack from other mythical creatures, what are you going to ask me about elves or dwarfs next? Who are you? Why don¡¯t you know the information that all toddlers know?¡± She asked. No elves or dwarfs? oh god, that meant that I was on a world full of only humans goddamit! I had enough of petty human squabbles to last a lifetime. I sat down then thinking, if this was a new world, I had no idea about the culture, no idea about the surrounding area, no idea about the local wildlife. It would be to easy for me to trip up at some point, to offend the wrong person and land my self in jail. I had my skills, but they were all geared towards combat, I had little in the way of crafting skills, while I could dance and knew acrobatics travelling around as a one-man circus was not an appealing prospect. The majority of my skills were based around exploring dungeons and navigation hostile terrain, my magic was combat focused, and while I had decent stealth skills I still felt uneasy living as a thief, no if I was going to live in this world, which for the time being it seemed I was stuck in I would need a guide. I stood there thinking of looking at the girl thinking of how much to tell her. ¡°Well are you going to answer me or not,¡± her voice cut through my thought. Sighing I mutinied to a rock nearby before sitting down myself. ¡°Make yourself comfortable one for my tale is a long one, My name is Arthur, To some, I am the greatest hero to walk the earth, To others, I am the Devil made manifest. Some call my race The Immortals, some call my race The Scourge. I walked the earth during Ragnarok. I have burned worlds, destroyed continents, and slew gods. I am the last of my kind.¡± I said, the girl just sat there staring at me as I began my story. Chapter 1.4 Decisions ¡°Make yourself comfortable one for my tale is a long one. My name is Arthur, To some, I am the greatest hero to walk the earth, To others, I am the Devil made manifest. Some call my race The Immortals, some call my race The Scourge. I walked the earth during Ragnar?k. I have burned worlds, destroyed continents, and slew gods. I am the last of my kind.¡± I said, the girl just sat there staring at me as I began my story. ¡°I know this is hard to believe, but I come from another world. In that world, there was a war, the final war, the apocalypse. Gods fell, and nations burned, the world was reduced to ash. The world was a beautiful one, the landscapes the forest¡¯s that would leave you breathless. But the world was a hard one, others inhabited it, monsters, orcs, goblins, demons and a thousand other threats. But the gods gave the people hope, they gave them the system. The system gave the people the ability to fight back to push themselves and gain power, but it came with a cost in order to gain power you had to fight, to fight monsters. Many died but eventually, a new class of people have formed. The Adventure''s a group of men, women, children. Made up of every race man, elves, dwarfs, gnomes. They fought the monsters at great personal risk pushing the tide back, and for a time there was a balance. Then a new god came Nevermore the god of death and with him, he brought my people. My people are immortals able to revive after death. For a time, there was peace. The immortals took over the role of adventures fighting against the monsters using the system to gain power. But they were too effective, they wiped entire species out, eventually, tensions grew and a war began. An entire planet of people against a race of immortals. It was a massacre, the war was a long one, the forest burnt, the plant life died. Some of us tried to save the world¡¯s inhabitance of that world but we failed. On the last day of the war the world was burning, all life bar the immortals were wiped out. The gods descended that day raging against our atrocities. In that final day, my people¡¯s god descended Nevermore the source of our immortality. Mortal for the first time in years, they died like flies. At the end of the battle, the gods were dead, all of them. I was the only survivor the only living soul in an entire world. As I lay there dying, I was content. The people that had destroyed that world died with me, the atrocities we had committed died with me. Then I woke up in this tunnel a world away, under a sky I did not recognise. I saw a young girl chased by men, and well you know the rest.¡± As I finished my story, I looked up towards the girl she just looked at me staring at me before opening her mouth to speak. ¡°So mad, then got it¡± her voice rang out I opened my mouth to speak about to defend my self before her voice cut me off. ¡°you seriously don¡¯t believe that anyone would buy that crap. Do you?¡± she said. I sat there for a minute. Yes, it was unlikely she would believe me without proof. In that case, I would show her. Standing up I turned around looking around me. To my high there was a large stone, it was a piece of rubble obviously from when part of the wall had deteriorated. It had it had to weight almost six hundred kilograms. Walking over towards it I bent over lifting it with a single hand. ¡°This is the benefit of the system, it allowed our bodies to grow to become stronger to surpass the human limit,¡± I said. I put the rock down, stepping back as I did so. As I looked over at the girl, she stood up walking towards the stone, I watched as she grabbed it with both hands attempting to lift it. As she strained the stone didn¡¯t even budge an inch. The girl looked at the rock then back at me. ¡°So you have some weird magic that makes you strong it still doesn¡¯t prove your from another world thought,¡± she said. Sighing I put my head in my hands rubbing my eyes. ¡°If you don¡¯t, believe me, there is little, I can do to prove my story to you,¡± I said. ¡°Anyhow I never asked your name,¡± I said. ¡°Alexis, my name is Alexis¡± the girl responded. ¡°Anyhow Alexis I suppose we should get to more immediate matters, you said your town was attacked by bandits. Care to elaborate?¡± I said As I mentioned the bandit attack, I saw as the girl flinched. Her face grew tired and a small tear formed at the edge of her eye. ¡°You ok?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯m fine¡± Alexis responded. ¡°Our towns a frontier town were on the edge of the settled kingdom. The kingdoms large growing every month. Our town was settled for the logs something about this mountain makes them grow faster.¡± The Alexis said ¡°Or was a frontier town I should say,¡± she said with a slight quiver in her voice. ¡°It was a small town, we were a weeks ride from the nearest town, every month a trader caravan arrives to ship our wood and bring us food. But we were far away from the kingdom¡¯s authority. Every so often bandits came to trade selling their ill-gotten gains, normally we don¡¯t allow them in the walls but yesterday was different. They let the bandits in the walls and the bandits struck, they took the town in a matter of minutes. They were dragging the women away and slaughtering every man. There was nothing I could do so I ran, I left the bodies behind, I left my mother¡¯s body behind¡± Alexis saidReading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. As the last sentence left her mouth the water gates opened, she broke down then collapsing into tears. I just stood there, I had no idea what to do what to say. Where once I would have consoled the weeping girl, now I just stood there, where previously words like ¡°it will be all right¡± ¡°they¡¯re in a better place now¡± had meaning now they sounded hollow and broken to me. I came to a decision then earlier I had wondered what I could do in a new world with new challenges now I had an answer. It there was one thing I was good at it was killing. I also had a need I needed a guide, I needed someone to help me navigate the intricacies of this new world. Sure, it was exploitative, sure it a dam right questionably morally but this girl could be useful, she was decent with a bow and had an understanding of the culture. I could use her. Looking up towards the weeping girl I opened my mouth. ¡°How would you like revenge? I asked The girl looked at me then. ¡°What do you mean revenge?¡± Alexis said between sobs. ¡°Simple, I will help you hunt down the men that sacked your town, and then I will destroy them,¡± I said. She seized her crying then dabbing her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked up at me. ¡°Do you want the men to go free, those that sacked your town killed your mother. Do you want them to roam free for their actions never suffering the consequences?¡± I asked ¡°NO, I don¡¯t want them to go free but what can I do about it there is one of me and more than a hundred of them¡± her voice shouted out. Good, she was getting angry, I could use angry. I had learnt long ago that anger was a weapon, a very potent weapon if focused right. ¡°I¡¯m a mage remember and a powerful one at that a, a hundred men is an easy number for me¡± I responded ¡°And what do you want in return?¡± She responded ¡°I have nothing the bandits took everything all I have is the clothes on my back and even those are in bad shape,¡± Alexis said ¡°You, I want you¡± I answered. As I said that I looked her up and down she stepped back then her face going aghast. ¡°NO! I will no sell you my body, nor will I be your plaything¡± her voice shouted out. ¡°Not like that, no I need a guide, someone, to assist me in this world,¡± I said with a gentle voice not quite a whisper but loud enough to be heard forcing her to listen to me. ¡°I need someone to guide me through this land to teach me its culture, to help me fit in,¡± I said. ¡°My offer to you is simple, I will wipe out those bandits to a man, I will find every last one of them and put them to the sword. And in return you will swear to me, you will give me your oath that you will guide me to your the best of your abilities to show me this world¡± I said ¡°And if I break my oath?¡± she said. ¡°You will not be able to, I will reinforce our oaths with magic binding us hearth body and soul. To even think about breaking the oath will lead to great pain, to break the oath its self will lead to death. Of course, this also applies to me as well. Do we have a deal?¡± I responded. The girl looked up to me, then looking me in the eye. ¡°Deal¡± she simply responded. I began pushing at my mana reaching for it, I pulled at the mana pulling it out of my chest towards Alexis, as the mana struck her chest I began my chant O???????? ????????o????l????y??? ????l????i???g??????????? ???B????i???n????d???? ????????u?????r???? ????????¨®???r?????d???s????? ???L???¨¦????t???? ????o???u????r???? ????o????a???t????h????s????? ????t????h??????????s????? ????d???a?????????? ????F???o????r????????v????????r???? ?????h??????????????d??? ????????u???r???? ???s????o???????l????s??? ?????B????i????n????d????¨ª????n????g????? ????????????t???h???? ¡°By my oath let my oath hold true. I shall to the best of my abilities as sensibilities would reasonably allow, seek to endeavour, to aid this women¡¯s quest, I shall seek to strike down those that wronged her, to slay those that slew her kin. And in return she shall swear to me, she shall guide me, she shall show me this world and to the best of her ability assist me in my endeavours.¡± I said in floorless elfish. ¡°So, I swear¡± I followed up in continental. I looked towards the girl, she looked at me confused. ¡°You have to say, ¡®So I swear¡¯ as well for the spell to finish,¡± I said ¡°So, I swear¡± her voice echoed my own. As she made her oath the mana connecting us lit up sending a sudden shock into our chests, ready for it I took it wincing, but the girl shrieked collapsing to the ground. The binding oath spell is a rarely used one, and when used strictly monitored if I had made the same oath back in Novae Terrae Online, I would be dragged to the streets had the spell broken and had my mana veins burnt out. The oath was an unfair one, my side was that I had to help with her quest, and that quest was to help kill whoever killed her kin. Aka I only had to kill whoever killed her mother. she, however, was essentially bound by my will completely. She had to guide me around the world, the entire world I had placed no limiter on that. Also, she had to assist me in my endeavour¡¯s plural as in multiple meaning that the time scope of the magic was essentially unlimited. She also had to the best of her abilities help me with no limitation, this meant that I could give her orders to assist me and she would be compelled to complete them. I, however, had the reasonable sensibilities cause included which meant that I could argue against most orders. The only reason she had agreed was I had spoken in elfish, so she won¡¯t understand. Sure, it was a scummy thing to do considering her complete lack of understanding of magic, but over the years I had learnt not to take chances I had lost too many friends during to war trusting those I shouldn¡¯t have trusted. Moving over to the girl I stuck out my hand helping her up. ¡°Now we have a deal,¡± I said. ¡°Does it always hurt that much?¡± she asked. ¡°Did you think a spell affecting your very soul would be painless?¡± I asked. ¡°Anyway, if you want to see those bandit¡¯s dead we should be moving,¡± I said as I walked towards the door. ¡°Oh, right I forgot,¡± I said as I reached into my bag drawing out the pair of boots. Handing them to Alexis I waited there standing by the door. ¡°Come on we haven¡¯t got all day,¡± I said. She quickly pulled on the pairs of boots running to stand beside me. I grabbed her then griping her tightly around the waist. As I did so I leaned backwards leaning against the door pushing it open and toppling out. ¡°ARRRRRRRRRRRR¡± she screened as we began our long plummet towards the ground below. Chapter 1.5 Tipping Point Alexis ¡°ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR¡± I screamed as we fell. The ground was getting closer and closer. I took another breath breathing in before opening my mouth to scream again. The ground was coming closer, now we had been falling for almost twenty seconds and we had barely fallen half the distance. The ground was rushing towards. We were barely five hundred meters from the ground now and falling fast. I put my hands out knowing it wouldn¡¯t make a difference, this madman beside me had killed us both. I shut my eyes then not wanting to see the end as it raced towards me. F????l?????y???? I heard that voice again, it was like the sound of a thousand voices screaming out in one disjointed cacophony. I noticed it then, the wind had stopped the howling wind had stopped. Slowly I opened my eyes. In front of my face was the forest floor no further than ten centimetres from my face. I felt the arms of Arthur around my chest suddenly let go. I feel towards the floor then planting my face into the ground. Siting up I spat out a large clump of mud that had made its way into my mouth reaching up wiped my face trying to get rid of much of the mud as possible. ¡°Ha ha ha¡± I looked up to see Arthur chuckling to himself, greatly amused at my displeasure. ¡°NEVER do that again¡± I snapped out. ¡°I thought I was going to die¡± I continued on. ¡°Why? You were safe the entire time. I¡¯m a wizard remember¡± Arthur responded. I watched him then as he slowly hovered away from the patch of mud I was sitting in, moving towards a drier patch of ground. He stepped down, placing his feet on solid ground, before turning around and walking off into the forest. ¡°Come on now we haven¡¯t got all day¡± his voice called out. God, I wanted to stab him after that move. Standing up doing my best to brush the clumps of mud off my clothes. I stood up rushing to catch up. As I caught up I walked alongside him. We walked in ten minutes in complete silence before I asked the question that had been on the back of my mind since our earlier conversation. ¡°earlier you said everyone can use magic, what do you mean by that?¡± I asked. ¡°how to best answer that question,¡± he said. ¡°A bit of terminology is required first. There are three kinds of wizards. Wizard is the overall term for magic users. The first is the mage, these are those that studied magic using science and mathematics to create spell structure to guide their spells. The second type is the sorcerers, these are your natural born wizards, they tend to be very flashy with large spells that are very inefficient. A good mage can use fifty or sixty spells of verity power before running low on mana a sorcerer would be lucky to cast five. Then there are warlocks, these are those have little magical ability that makes pacts with magical creatures. They ware typically untrustworthy, unwilling to put in the effort needed to become a mage instead relining on the magic of a creature. These are a very mixed bag some are very powerful while others are incredibly weak it depends on what creature they formed the pact with.¡± he said ¡°The next part you need to understand is what Mana is. Mana is a physical manifestation of one¡¯s soul. Mana is the excess of one¡¯s soul, the extra component generated from a personal growth and experience¡¯s throughout there life. While only a few are born as sorcerers anyone can become a mage or warlock. Judging by the lack of monsters in this world I would think there are no warlocks in this world. Mages, however, are able to be taught. A skilled mage often takes upon a number of apprentices teaching them how to detect and utilise their mana. Without teaching It is highly unlikely for someone to develop mana natural the odds against it are billions to one. Those taught the mage path often start out with little to none mana and have to build it up over years. A typical apprentice can take up to ten years to complete.¡± He said As he continued his lecture, I got more and more interested. ¡°So, can you teach me magic?¡± I asked expectantly. ¡°We can see. Each person had a different potential, each person has a spell branch that they specialise in, I myself am Perficient in Lighting and Holy magic, we will see what your aptitudes are and if they match mine, if they do I can teach you but if they don¡¯t I can only provide theory and teach you the most basic non elemental spells like magic missile and shield.¡± He respondedThis story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up it takes weeks of teaching to even be able to detect mana, and without an Attitude Orb. it will take at least six months to determine your attitudes. That¡¯s if you have the patients, to begin with anyway¡± he said. ¡°So you will teach me?¡± I asked, I started to feel slightly excited, magic was an unknown to me. Something I never thought I would ever see, never mind learn it. If I learnt it I could make something of myself. Mages were in short supply apparently even those with the smallest slither of mana were recruited to be some courts wizard often immediately granted titles and land. While magic was rare to find outside of the royal line it was not uncommon to find a price had a dalliance or two leading to a number of wizards appearing. If I could learn magic I could make it have a comfortable life not worrying about my next meal. ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited¡± Arthur¡¯s voice cut into my daydream. ¡°There¡¯s a good chance you will have no aptitude for the study of magic, anyhow we will discuss in the evening. We need a quite calm location to study magic¡± he continued. We continued on walking in silence for at least an hour maybe more, my mind was lost in the possibilities, I could by a bath, own a horse, all I had ever dreamt about. The sharp smell of burning cut threw my daydreaming like a knife. I stopped then look up. In front of me behind a few trees was the village, or what had been the village. It was gone everything was a blackened ash, timbers continued to smoulder. The only building still standing was the church its stone walls were recognisable standing there unmoved. We walked forward than moving towards the walls, blackened skeletons littered the streets, I watched as Arthur, nudged one with his boots and it collapsed into an ashen pile. D????¨º???t????e????????t???? ????l?????i???f?????e??? I turned to look at Arthur, after hearing him mutter in whatever magic language he used. ¡°there¡¯s nothing living here, not anymore¡± I heard him say It was surreal, I continued walking towards the town square, walking toward the church. the corpses littered the streets, I walked forward towards the steps of the church where I had last seen my mother. As I walked towards the church there were no bodies in the square, off to the side was a large pile of ash. Walking towards it I looked into the pile, I could see bones, almost I spotted at least seven skulls. Looking down I collapsed falling onto my knees, a single tear falling down my cheek. I stayed there for five minutes not moving, slowly I got to my feet, I turned around Arthur was standing there five steps behind me. As I walked towards him then I noticed I was shaking. I grabbed my hand with my other hand steadying it. ¡°They will not get away with this,¡± I said In a low calm voice. ¡°They came in on waggons into the square, I reckon almost a hundred and twenty of them in total there carts were significantly heavier when they left,¡± He said. I stood then walking towards my old home, ¡°What are you doing they went the other way¡± Arthurs voice called out behind me. ¡°I have a stop to make first¡± I responded. I walked towards my old cabin little was left of it just an ashen heap by the tree line. As I entered the old doorway of where my bedroom used to be I turned to Arthur. ¡°Hand me your axe,¡± I said Looking at me inquisitively he handed me the axe hanging on his belt. Slowly I pushed a large chunk of ash out the way reviving the dirt floor that had once been my bedroom. I hit the axe into the dirt, again and again, slowly pulling dirt out. I continued hacking at the floor for a good five minutes before I spotted the package, I was a long cylindrical package wrapped in cloth. I continued digging at the spot using my hands to dislodge the earth now uncovering the package. Slowly I uncovered it pulling the string holding the cloth in place. In front of me was my families prised procession, it had been in my family for longer than anyone could remember, at least ten generations. Pulling at it I reviled the bow, it was a long recurve bow, two bands of an unknown silvery metal stretching out. The string was still stung made out of an unknown material it had lasted generations, not a cut or frayed thread out of place. My father had buried it here the day he had been conscripted. ¡°May I inspect that?¡± the voice of Arthur came from behind me. ¡°Sure, but you better return it,¡± I said. I handed the bow towards him as he turned the bow back and forth in his hands. ¡°Where did you get this?¡± he asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know, it been in the family for generations why?¡± I said. ¡°Because this shouldn¡¯t be here. It lacks the correct craftsman¡¯s marks but this is definitely an elven bow, made from Moon Glass, with a spiders web string. Your certain that there are no elves in this world? He said ¡°No, there are not any Elf¡¯s in the world only humans¡± I responded. As he handed the bow back, I reached into the cloth, as I pulled the quiver out I noticed that it had not faired as well, my dad had made it and buried them along with the bow. Most of the arrows were broken and the heads had rusted slightly, but all I needed was the heads. The shaft and feathers I could make on the journey. Standing up I readied my self-looking out towards the road leading out of town. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said, Walking out of the hut I had a feeling, I would never be back here by leaving today I was giving up my old life. I faltered just for a step before looking at the road and the tracks the bandits had left behind. I took a step then another following after the tracks they had left behind. Chapter 1.5 Infiltration Arthur I had doubts, from everything I had been told this world was not the same as Novae Terrae Online. but what I had seen made my question it, the remnants of the old Dwarven fortress, and now Alexis bow. It was the lack of monsters and the lack of a system that made me believe this was another world. As the history of Novae stated that the monsters became before the people. The only monsters I had seen had been in that massive room full of But they were only skeleton¡¯s and in a world with mana and that many bodies that something was created are not surprising. The world also had Mana and spells that worked similar to Novae Terrae Online, the probability of being transferred to another world with the same mana system was low. I would need to look into this further at some point, but right now I had a mission. We had been walking along the road for several hours now. Judging by the tracks when we first left the village, they had left half a day before us. However, they were slow, the road was ill maintained with plenty of mud patches. The mud was slowing them down a lot, they had heavily loaded wagons along with them that kept getting stuck in the mud. The tracks were getting fresher, we were only around twenty minutes behind them at this point. I looked over to Alexis. ¡°Have you got any arrows?¡± I asked ¡°No, we need to stop and make some¡± she responded. ¡°How long is this road?¡± I asked ¡°It¡¯s around six days long, apparently there are no real resting areas along it, wagons can¡¯t leave it until the fork at Calsbridge town at the end of the road,¡± she said. So we had time to stop and wait, tracking them would not be too difficult if we stayed relatively close to them, and even if we did lose them they were on a straight path flanked by trees if they wanted to leave the path they would need to abandon their loot-laden wagons. ¡°How long will it take you to make arrows?¡± I asked ¡°Around four days¡± she responded. ¡°Fuck that,¡± I said. I looked up into the sky it was getting late, around an hour or two until the sunset. ¡°How many can you get made in four hours?¡± I asked ¡°With the items pre-prepared. One maybe two.¡± She said. ¡°That¡¯s how long you¡¯ve got¡± I responded. I moved over sitting down on a nearby rock watching as the girl ran off in the forest returning several minutes later with a bird of some sort and several long sticks. I sat there for the next few hours meditating fulling my mana pool. Several hours a later night had set, I awoke from my meditation. I looked up at the girl she had four arrows beside her and was working on a fifth. ¡°Its time to get moving,¡± I said ¡°I can''t attack like this I have no arrows what can I do¡± the girl responded. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.¡°I''ll get you some more arrows, now come on,¡± I said while getting to my feet. It took two hours walking through the night before I heard the sound of the camp in the distance. There were several loud conversations ongoing and a number of calling and shouting before we rounded the corner of the path I ducked into the tree. I walked through the wood for several minutes taking care not to make a sound. The girl behind me was relatively quiet but was painfully loud compared to my soft steps. As we came to the edge of the camp I looked out into the group. They had set up in the centre of a large clearing. Their wagons domineered the centre pulled into a large ring in the middle of which was a large fire was almost seventy men sat. upon the fire was a large roast deer that they had been carving into. Looking around I saw a number of barrels open empty, judging by there look they seemed to be looted beer barrels. It seemed that many of the men had been drinking. Surrounding the ten covered caravans were a field of the tent. Every so often someone would come to a go to a tent. I looked around for sentries. The bloody morons had posted none. I looked at Alexis. ¡°Wait for my signal,¡± I said. ¡°What signal?¡± she asked. ¡°You will know it when you see it¡± I responded. I stood up then walking towards the camp. I had learnt long ago that if you looked the part and acted confident you could walk into even the most secure place with few questions. Dressed in this ill-fitting leather I certainly looked the part, and with such a large group it was certain that not everyone knew each other. I walked right up to a man standing at the edge of the camp, as I walked, I started to sway slightly walking with a drunken swagger. I walked up to the man. ¡°Have you got a knife?¡± I called out to the man. ¡°Yea why? The man asked. I finished walking up to him standing in front of him. I tugged at my belt. ¡°Can¡¯t get the bloody thing off. I dropped my knife back in town haven¡¯t got a new one yet. Mind lending me one I am bursting for the Crappa¡± I said. ¡°Yeah sure,¡± he said handing me the knife. The second I had hold of the knife I looked around, seeing no one looking our way I stepped forward stabbing the man through the neck with his own knife. I grabbed him as he collapsed, ensuring he made no noise as he went down. Looking around I grabbed the body by the back dragging in towards a nearby tent. As I entered the tent, I noticed a man sleeping within. Within a second, I had thrown my dagger embedding it in the man¡¯s throat. Dumping the body, I moved over to the dying man and pulled my dagger out of this throat. Patting him down quickly I found a second knife picking up I found it was downweighed and was of poor quality, but it would do. I stood up quickly moving from tent to tent killing whoever was inside. Most of the tents were empty out of the fifty plus tents in the thirty of the outmost edge of the camp there were only fifteen men within. The majority of the tents were set up for two people with two sleeping mattresses. With the fifteen men, I had killed in the tents behind me I estimated there were still between seventy and ninety men still within the camp. I stood up then, moving towards the centre of the camp. Killing these men one by one was taking to long and with each body, I increased the chance of discovery. As I rounded the wagon I looked around there were maybe sixty men still in the centre a number of them had entered into two of the caravans five in each. The sixty men in the centre were grouped up together almost all of them within thirty meters of the large fire in the centre. ??h? ?h?o?l?y? ?h?e???v???n?s? ? ?????t? ?t???y? ?r?a?t?h? ???e? ?k???o?w?n?,? ? ?L?e?t? ?t?h?y? ?h?e?a?v?e?n?s? ?f?l?o?w? ?l?e?t? ?t?h?e? ?m?o?n?s?t?e?r? ?f?e?a?r? ?t?h?y? ?n?a?m?e? ?C?h?a?i?n? ?L?i?g?h?t?n?i?n?g? I pushed almost seventy-five per cent of my mana into the spell massively overcharging it. A normal chain lighting with one hundred mana could kill ten people if they were grouped up enough and low level, one as overcharged as this, in theory, could kill over a hundred. As I had been chanting several of the bandits a got up looking towards me but did not react, it seemed that they had little understanding of these magics. ¡°What are you babbling about¡± a voice shouted out to me. I looked up then looking up the men in front of me and released the spell. BOOM Chapter 1.6 Destruction. Arthur BOOM The lightning bolt smashed into the centre of the gathering. Arcs of lighting flew everywhere crashing into nearby bandits reducing them to a fine mist. The arc¡¯s split into multiple arcs colliding with a second layer of bandits burning large holes clear through their chest. The lightning split a third a final time arcing off into the most distance of the bandits striking them down. I looked around the camps out of the sixty men that had once been in the centre. There were five people left standing, four of those were right at the edge while one was right in the middle and had survived by pure luck. I readied my knives throwing them towards two of the bandits on the outside of the circle, that had not recovered from the shock. The knifes made contact one of the sticking out of a bandit¡¯s eye while the other connected with a bandit¡¯s stomach dropping him to his knees, taking him out the fight. I reached my sword drawing it in one smooth movement. By this point, the two bandits on the outside of the circle had gathered their wits. The one in the middle stood there dump stuck painted red by the fine mist of blood. ¡°ATTACK, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK¡± one of the bandits shouted. I ran forward then towards the two bandits quickly making ground. They had only just finished drawing their weapons when I had crossed the thirty meters over the camp towards them. The benefit of having a high-speed build. As I reached the first one, I swung with a cross swing cutting into the bandit¡¯s chest. I turn around from the collapsing bandit to see a sword swinging at me, I stepped to the side, striking out at the stomach of the attacking bandit spearing him through the kidneys. Grabbing hold of this body I pushed at it freeing my blade from his stomach.I looked around then, around twenty bandits had exited a number of the wagons. There was a group of six with four of them wearing plate male and another two wearing archers¡¯ leathers. The other group was a group of fourteen wearing a mismatch of armour and gear. A number of them where still strapping on belts and reaffixing their gear, I would have to check that wagon. I stood there for a second looking at the new group of bandits standing there. ¡°What are you waiting for its only one man, get him¡± one of the armoured bandits shouted. So that was their leader then. I pulled at my mana quickly gathering it into my hand. I pulled much more mana than I normally put into a lightning bolt spell almost fifteen per cent of my mana dropping my reserves to ten per cent. I wanted this to be flashy, to inspire fear. ?????L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? The bolt shot out colliding with the leader''s group the lighting collided with the leader then arced off colliding the other six. There was a large hole in the leader¡¯s chest where the lighting had torn through. The other armoured bandits collapsed falling to the floor. One of the men wearing leathers also collapsed the other remained standing on his feet. I looked up towards the group of fourteen men, most of them hadn¡¯t even drawn weapons and had frozen halfway in strapping on pieces of amour. I ran towards them quickly covering the ground. Just before I reached them the first of them snapped out their stupor reaching for a weapon, but it was too late. I was upon them slicing with my blade I gutted the first of them keeping up momentum I dodged to the right cutting down two men as I ran. I stepped into the middle of them, the next few second where a rush of dismemberments, blood and sweat as I gutted the unprepared bandits. I had seven more dead before they had even drawn their blades. Two of the three remaining tried to dogpile me coming from both sides but with my speed I was able to decapitate one before turning around to deflect the strike of the other following through with a riposte, cutting him down. I turned to the last of the group walking slowly towards him. He stood there stock still barely moving an inch. When I took my final step, I felt a sudden presence behind me. Trusting my instincts, I threw myself to the right just as the arrow flew past me by colliding with the bandit in front of me. Turning around I saw the remaining archer standing there reaching for a second arrow. I turned towards him walking slowly towards him. He notched an arrow loosening it towards me. I brought my sword up cutting the arrow down in mid-flight. As I moved towards him, he notched and fired four more arrows each of which I cut down mid-air.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. As I reached him, he threw down his bow turning a running away from me. He didn¡¯t make it far, only five steps before I caught him up and disembowel him. I shelved my sword then looking around the camp. The man that had been standing in the middle coated with his friends¡¯ blood was nowhere to be seen. Looking out the ring of wagons I saw five men running towards the woods. Three bodies littered the clearing arrows sticking out of their backs. It seemed that the Alexis girl was good with a bow. As I stood there another dropped falling on his back an arrow sticking out of this back. It would not do to let them escape. ?????L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? ?????L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? ?????L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? ?????L???i????g?????????t???n????i?????n???g??? ?????b?????¨®??l????t????? In quick succession, I shot four lightning bolts dropping my mana to almost zero, but reducing the last of the bandits to corpses. Strangely as I stood there the bandit covered in blood was not to be seen he was not part of the bodies. Never mind one or two escaping would make no big difference as long as Alexis believed the camp to be completely wiped out. I quickly turned walking towards the wagons. Moving towards the leader''s wagon I pulled on the cloth covering opening it up. Within it was a number of crates and a table on which was a map. To the side, there was a small chest almost full of coins. To the right of it was several necklaces and other oddments of jewels as well as a small open pouch with around twenty Gems inside. As well as several barrels I assume were full of beer and wine. I reached over grabbing a large handful of coins as well as the pouch of gems placing them into my coin purse. Moving around the wagon I visited all but the last. The six of them were full of large amounts of wooden boards and lumber that they had stolen from the village. One of them was full of food and drink, enough to feed this group for months. The next one was empty bar a number of cloth packages lay strewn around. Obviously where they stored all the tents. Then I came to the final wagon the one I had been dreading. At this point, Alexis had made her way to me just entering into the circle of wagons. I stepped into the wagons and it was as I feared. Within the cramped wagon, around twelve young women and girls were sitting the bound. Ten of them were forced up to the end of the wagon, kept in by a small steel cage. All of them were naked and quivering in fear. Two of them lay strewn across the wagon floor outside of the cage. One of them was catatonic not even registering my entrance into the wagon, the other was tucked into a ball quietly weeping. I took a step forward reaching out my hand. ¡°ARRRR¡± screamed the girl, quickly rushing back crawling into the corner. I took a step back them. A man like me wearing ill-fitting armour and covered in blood could do little in this situation. I stepped out then stepping out of the wagon. Alexis was rushing towards me looking towards the wagon, as she passed me, I grabbed her arm. ¡°Steal yourself its grim in there,¡± I said. I let go of her arm and she rushed in. I walked away. Judging from there conditions the girls hadn¡¯t been fed. I walked over to the food wagon pulling a large pot vegetable and some beef, along making my way to the fire. I set up to stuff liberating a knife from one of the dead and set about making a stew. Chapter 1.7 Greed Alexis. I had spent the night without leaving the wagon. Talking to the girls and trying to calm them down, it took two hours before they believed me and another six to coax all of the girls outside. Sarah was the worst she hadn¡¯t responded to anything she was still sitting there staring into nothing. We had to spoon feed her to ensure she didn¡¯t starve. She was a young girl only fourteen the daughter of a lumberjack. By the time we had exited the wagon Arthur had made significant progress. The day was just braking and for the first time, I got a decent view of the campsite. Overnight Arthur had packed the almost one hundred tents away and stowed them away in a wagon. It took me a minute before I realised why I felt something was off. there were no bodies. Last night when I had passed by, I could see darkened lumps on the ground the I had presumed were bodies. Looking around I saw signs of fighting large patches of darkening earth where the blood had been absorbed into the soil. The large campfire was still lite but smaller now. Looking up to it I saw Arthur standing on the other side leaning over a large cauldron. ¡°Breakfast?¡± I asked. He looked up at me registering my presence. ¡°It¡¯s a simple porridge. They had some honey so that will liven it up a bit.¡± He said I stood there for a minute staring at him wasting honey on porridge, what a waste did he not know how expensive honey was. I shook my head clearing up my thoughts. I walked over to him. ¡°There¡¯s bowls by the pot if you want some¡± Arthur said. ¡°No thanks I''ll wait for the girls¡± I responded. ¡°How are they doing?¡± ¡°They''re doing better a tad traumatised most of them are doing better now. But unfortunately, Sarah¡¯s in a bad way. She¡¯s just sitting there not responding to anything. If you touch her, she flinches slightly but remains still its as if she¡¯s not there.¡± I said. We stood there looking into the fire not saying a word for several minutes. I looked around the area before looking towards Arthur. ¡°You¡¯ve been busy last night,¡± I said.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Yeah¡± I heard him mutter. I turned to him then. ¡°Have you checked out the wagons yet?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah, I did it last night. There are around two months of food in one of the wagons. Most of them are full of wood. I disabled the camp and threw it into the back an empty wagon. Then there is the treasure wagon.¡± He said ¡°Treasure wagon?¡± I asked. ¡°Third one on the right go and see if you want.¡± He responded. I walked over to the wagon in question hoping up the back entering into the wagon. It was packed. A large chest of draws had been placed on one side, upon the backboard was a large map. The other side was packed with different crates and barrels. But what drew my eye was the chest. Sitting there open was a small chest packed full of coins. It was more than I had ever seen in my life. Hell, I could live off this for years. To the side of the chest, a was a large jewellery box with large sparkling gem¡¯s. I turn around then hopping out of the wagon heading towards the outskirts of the wagon circle. Walking up to a fallen tree I sat down. It was so much money, I could buy a title with that much. I would be able to live the rest of my life carefree no problems no issues just sit back and relax. No more working in a dingy tavern spending my nights avoiding lecherous bastards. It¡¯s not like I was missing anything I had nothing to go back to. I could take the money and run be in the woods and in a few days reach a town and be off into the wind. Sure, I had made an Oath with Arthur but what did that truly mean. I was a woman a barmaid that had made a bad decision while scared and alone, what did it matter if I lost my honour, I had none, to begin with. Quickly then I made span dissension this world was a dog eat dog world. If I did not look after myself no one would, I would take the money. I stood up then and took a few steps towards the wagon. I had barely made it five meters before a burning sensation hit me. It was like a fire in my heart burning at my chest. It started warm but quickly grew in temperature. I felt a sharp and sudden pain and smelt a smell of burning. Quickly I pulled on my shirt ripping it off to see the flesh underneath. In the centre of my chest protruding over my left breast was a circle. Inside was strength and odd letters arranged in a bazar pattern. The pain was increasing it was barely bearable now. Gasping out in pain I collapsed to my knees. Looking down at the pattern I could see that it was burning into my flesh. I collapsed forward falling on to my face desperately I tried to call out but found the pain had taken my voice away. My vision began to darken as I began to black out in my pain-addled state, I tried to collapse to fall sleep to let the darkness take the pain away but each time I was close I felt a sudden spark unlike anything I ever felt before or since, it woke me up kept me from losing consciousness. I don¡¯t know how long I was like that the pain had shut down my mind. Kept me from thinking. I remember towards the end seeing a shadow standing over me. I remember the voice Arthurs speaking to me. ¡°Silly girl, you do not try to break an oath-bound by magic¡±. Not a Chapter< Player screen and Character log so far
Name Arthur
Title Friend of Dragons
Age 12 (32)
Race Human
Class Adventure
Level 157
Health 500/500
Mana 1040/1040
Gold 3324
Stamina 1780/1780
Strength. 135
Dexterity. 221
Constitution 50
Intelligence 124
Wisdom 104
Charisma 84
Perception 97
PERKS: Expert swordsman: +20% growth to sword related skills. Dancer: +20% growth to dexterity-based skills. Blade dancer: grants access to the blade dancer skill set, based around dexterity and grace, to those observing it appears as an intricate dance, but in combat is lethal to that foolish enough to come within range Friend of dragon: (title based) +10 to all relations with those with a draconic bloodline. Haven mage: grant¡¯s access to the Heaven magic Omitted chant: able to cast without chant for the higher mana cost Saviour: grants access to Holy magic Shadow: grants 20% boost to stealth related skills Chain breaker: grants 20% boost to skills related to escaping chains Indomitable: grants 20% boost to commanding allies Last hope: +40 relations to those that know you tale, how you were the last hope of an entire world. ELITE PERKS: Wielder of Caliburn: allows the user in times of true need to wield the power of Caliburn as his own.
Academic Skills 0/10 knowledge types include art, biology, computer science, music, economics, geology, history, philosophy, psychology, religion, sociology, writing, medicine, law
Acrobatics 8/10 Flips, Vaults, rolls, etc
Acting 2/10 pretending to be someone else convincingly to deceive or entertain
Administration 0/10 bureaucratic techniques to get information and cut through red tape
Animal Training 0/10 per type of animal and/or type of training, horse performer, show dog trainer
Alchemy 0/10 The art of transmuting substances and making magical potions.
Arcane Lore 2/10
Art 0/10 skill types include creating works of art, drawing and painting, sculptures, airbrushing
Balancing Feats 9/10 walk tightropes, juggle, stack plates
blacksmith 0/10 the ability to work with metal
Bribery 2/10 know when and how much to bribe someone
Butchery 0/10 the work of slaughtering animals and preparing them for sale as meat.
Carpentry 0/10 skills related to woodwork
Climbing 4/10 the ability to climb and scale ledges
Command 6/10 the ability to control and command large groups of people
Charisma 4/10 turn on the charm using your looks, confidence, speech pattern, mannerisms, good taste in clothing, politeness, and social know-how
Coercion 4/10 kill types include seduction, manipulation, scamming, intimidation, bluff
Conceal 2/10 hide objects or create a hidden area
Dancing 9/10 ballroom dancing, club dancing, ballet, stage performance
Dead Reckoning 4/10 navigate by the sun, moon, and stars
Diplomacy 1/10 convince others of seeing your point of view
Disguises 2/10This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. conceal your identity with makeup, clothes, and overall appearance
Dodge 9/10 move out of the way and keep from getting hit
Double Jointed 1/10 fit into tight spaces, contort the body
Escape Bonds 7/10 get out of handcuffs, ropes, and being held
Fall Tumbling 8/10 reduce damage when falling
Farming 0/10 the ability to grow crops and raise animals
Filch 6/10 stealing, pickpocketing, planting small objects without being noticed
Finding 5/10 search for and find hidden or lost items
First aid 3/10 techniques of helping the wounded
Fitness 6/10 know how to work out and keep physically active to improve health
Fletcher 0/10 the ability to create bows and make arrows
Forgery 2/10 create duplicates of documents, fake IDs, counterfeiting, requires tools
Games of Chance 1/10 statically improve chances of winning at games
Gather Information 3/10 conversing with others to collect information without notice
Haggle 3/10 bargain with the price of goods, valuables, information, etc.
Handle Animals 1/10 per general animal type, rodents, canines
herbalism 4/10 the ability to know which herbs and objects have useful properties
Insight 4/10 through interaction get a sense of someone''s or some thing''s motivations or purpose, recognize patterns of behaviour, associate clues
Interrogate 1/10 skill types include a place, culture, antiques, legends and lore, history, knots, choose either general or specific in scope, weapons by type
Language - the ability to speak and understand certain languages
Dwarven 3/10
High Elfish 0/10
Continental 10/10
Law 0/10 skill area of current law and practice
leather-working 0/10 the ability to tan, hide and work with leather
Linguist 0/10 understand the basic structure of languages, figure out words and phrases from similarly familiar languages
Memory 3/10 remember events, memorize maps or codes
Merchant 1/10 Skills used for buying and selling, knowing the values of items and there worth
Musician 0/10 Skills related to musical performances
Mimic 0/10 change your voice and speech to sound like someone you have heard
Mining 3/10 the ability to tunnel stone and mine for resources
Navigate 4/10 can use navigation equipment to plot and hold a course
Oratory 2/10 speak with a powerful or memorable voice for stories, lectures, and speaking engagements
Perception 6/10 notice the common things, and pick out the details and the unexpected
Pick Locks 6/10 understand locking mechanisms, unlock doors, safes, combination, key,
Scam 3/10 see people''s weaknesses against them to obtain money, information, goods
Sleight of hand 4/10 trick the eye to see or not see a hand gesture through deception
Stalk 7/10 to follow someone unnoticed, shadowing
Stealth 8/10 hide while moving
Survival 7/10 know how to survive in a harsh environment such as the wilderness, jungle, mountains, plains, or desert
Tactics 5/10 helps in plans of attack bonuses to combat skills, urban, aerial, guerrilla, rural, maritime
Track 3/10 to follow someone that cannot be seen or when they leave a trail or clues of their passage
Traps 4/40 The ability to detect construct and disarm traps
weapon proficiency
Axes 0/10
Clubs 0/10
One-handed swords 8/10
Two-handed swords 2/10
Picks 0/10
Hammers 0/10
Mace 0/10
Staff 0/10
Spear 0/10
Lance 0/10
Polearm 0/10
Javelins 0/10
Throwing blades 4/10
Throwing Axes 0/10
Longbows 0/10
Short bows 2/10
Crossbows 0/10
Sling 0/10
Blowgun 0/10
Unarmed combat 3/10
Magic
Spell forming 6/10
Elemental understanding 4/10
Meditation 7/10
Heaven Magic 7/10
Holy Magic 3/10
Skill explanation 0 = completely unknown 1= just started, just started to pick the basics of the skill up 2-3= novice gained an understanding of how the skill works 4-5= journeyman able to make a reasonable living of the skill 6-8= master an expert in the skill with many a year''s of training, often sort out for teaching 9-10= grandmaster, only a few exist in the world so skilled, they are sort after by all interested in the skill +11= godly, a users skill above the level off ten is skilled enough to make the gods them selfs jealous

Characters

Arthur: our protagonist and storyteller, Arthur was thirty-one when he first joined the game Novae Terrae Online, he is a classical loner preferring to spend much of his time alone, preferring to play alone this is due to an accident when he was young during which he lost both his legs, he was one of the first players to join the game and earned the title Friend of Dragons within a month of joining, over the course of the game he played as an Adventurer, playing a dexterity based swordsman, able to cast spells, he quickly became friend with Tor-ron how taught him heaven based magic, he learnt swordplay from Waruan and was taught dexterity based fighting by Irdu, he watched young Licu grow up from a toddler to a young man, after their deaths and the start of the wars he spent eight years trying to save NPC¡¯s to build up a resistance but ultimately failed. The after a battle were the entire group of refugees he saved were killed, by a player army. He gave up, he became distant and vindictive, if he couldn''t save people he would by hell make sure that the players got dragged down along with everybody else. During the final battle of Ragnarok, Arthur was responsible for slaying the god Nevermore, his weapon is a hand and a half sword named, Caliburn. Old world party Waruan: a retired captain of the guard, human, husband of Irdu and father of Licu, he taught Arthur swordplay, they were friends and companions until his death holding a door against a horde of players, buying time for the party to escape, aged 55 at the time of his death, he was a level, 157 knight,. he was a member of Arthur''s previous party. Irdu: an elven ranger wife of waruan and mother to Licu, she was 167 at time of her death and a level 283 ranger, she taught Arthur to dodge and to be light on his feet, and help merge his swordsmanship skills with his agility. She gave her life running an explosive barrel across a cavern in order to save four hundred civilians. She was a member of Arthur''s previous party. Tor-ron: a human level 143 wizard, he was a skilled heaven mage that taught Arthur heaven based magic, he gave his life blowing up a barrel of alchemical fire, to stop a horde of players massacring hundreds of civilians. he was a member of Arthur''s previous party. Licu: when Arthur first joined the party licu was only three years old, he watched young Licu grow up and become a man, he was 15 years old during the genocide at Stonebridge, he was a level 83 knight, but lost his hand in a battle against level 130 skeleton knights. His ultimate fate is unknown. he was a member of Arthur''s previous party. Old world Misc Mike: an old alchemist that fought in the battle of Stonebridge, he died, being stabbed by players. SGT Hardarse: an old veteran of the guard that rallied the Stonebridge adventuring guild buying time for civilians to escape.

Gods of the old world.

Malus: god of order, created the ground, the plants the flowers and all sentient life, was responsible for the levelling system, was killed by Nevermore during Ragnarok Ashgrave: god of chaos, created animals, the monsters and the seas and the wind died during Ragnarok, after being crushed by a collapsing gatehouse then stabbed by a angles blade. Nevermore: god of death, was responsible for players respawning, and the arrival of players in the world, he aimed to destroy worlds, was slain by Arthur after being weakened by Malus. New world Alexis village Alexis: character info incoming on completion of arc. Mother; mother of Alexis, the advance of age, married with one son and daughter died in the sacking of Alexis village. Margaret; old shopkeeper in the village was a tailor, died in the sacking of Alexis''s village Iver: general store manager in the old village died during its sacking,fate unknown Vanart: fat lazy guardsman of the old village, spent most of his time asleep his post. Farmer Orin: sexist farmer that owned the towns only farm, died during the raid Mary: tavern worker that worked alongside Alexis, fate unknown Innkeeper: boss of Alexis ran the tavern. died during the raid Dorasion: head of lumberjacks guild, started the fight with the bandits, was the first to die Alice: a youngnun 16 years of age, that had arrived in last year to train under the priest: fate unknown. not a chapter sorry about this guys but I have been called to work in over the weekend was have not been able to do any writing. there will be no chapter this Sunday. I will try to have one out by Thursday but I am very busy at work. the normal schedule will be back for next week again very sorryThis story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. now I have to keep writing to meet the five hundred character limit The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog