《Total War Online: The Warchiefs》 Chapter 1 - The Start Of Something Amazing. Disclaimer: Inspired by varioushistorical, fictional,mythological, mythical events and characters. This shitty work of afictionis (currently being) written by me with various ideas and beliefs. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author¡¯s imagination or are used in averyfictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.....or maybe not after all. (Illuminati anyone?)
Chapter 1 - The Start Of Something Amazing.
Raindrops fell slowly from the sky, as the ringing of bells could be heard throughout the faculty of a college. St. Anthony¡¯s College was one of the reputed institutions of learning situated in northern downtown of Shillong. Today the entire campus seemed noisier than its usual calm and peaceful environment. ¡°Alright, student¡¯s classes are over. Even though you are getting a long-ass vacation this winter, I don¡¯t want you to slack off on your studies at all, alright? That doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t want you to enjoy your days. Enjoy, of course, enjoy but not at the expense of your studies. Alright, I think I have said enough, take care and stay safe then.¡± The professor took her time to bid her last words of farewell before she swiftly took her stuff and move out of the room. Nobody seemed to pay attention to her words though. The entire class got wild as shouts and laughs could be heard from everywhere. In the midst of all this, seated in one of the last benches was a youth with an outer appearance of 17-18 years, tall figure smiling. His single strand of unruly hair was hanging down in front of his forehead. He possessed the charm of a male, especially with his careless and eyes that allowed him to possess an unspeakable attractiveness. ¡°Ha¡­.finally freedom. For at least 4 months¡± Lantis sighed deeply as he looked at the schedules on his smartphone. No more classes to take, no more activities or work to do. Just go home and watch porn. The best course of action, yep. Heard Ava Addams is gonna release her new porn video soon, can¡¯t miss that shit at all. He sat for a while, drowned in his own thoughts when he heard someone retort behind him. ¡°Hey! Mofo, what¡¯s with you sitting all alone like a sage? I bet you are thinking something perverted. Listen to this shit, Marshmellow¡¯s new track is lit as fuck.¡± It was his closest friend and bench mate, Raphael Rosing. Lantis looked at Raphael, then on his headphones before he took and put it on his ears. To be honest, Raph was in the same situation as Lantis, bored as fuck. ¡°Hmm¡­.nice, but I am still hard core on Lione.¡± Lantis replied as he returned the headphones back to Raph. ¡°To each to his own, I guess then. So, any plans for the coming days?¡± ¡°Not particularly anything specific. You?¡± Silence reigned between the two for a while, but a moment later, a slightly excited Raphael¡¯s voice woke up a drowsy Lantis who was slowly falling asleep on his desk. ¡°Hey, I got an idea!¡± ¡°What, man, your bro is tired. Don¡¯t bother me for a while.¡± ¡°You are going to regret it, kid. You heard about that new ass game from Ninja Theory which was released a few weeks ago and is already selling like hot cakes, breaking the charts?¡± Lantis, who was dozing off on his desk, looked curiously at Raphael with one of his eyes slightly opened. ¡°What about it? Is a kingdom building TI (Total Immersion) game that good?¡±
Virtual Reality Games were already in development since the beginning of 21stCentury. Modular headsets that used one or two of the body senses for simulation, the visual and auditory sense by default came first, followed by olfactory and other senses. These were now known as EIS (External Immersion Simulator) or 1stGeneration VR systems. Then came, headsets that began to use all the five senses for immersion, these were better than their previous counterparts but still lacked something for the hype it made. None the less, it was widely accepted by the masses to be the peak of virtual reality and thus was known as SEIS (Standard External Immersion Simulator). But only after this project did real corporations sprung up that begun to take VR seriously and began to use it¡­.for other purposes; made in Russia the CSBDIS (Case Sensitive Brain Direct Immersion Simulator) technology was the first of its kind used for military training. Instead of using 5 senses for simulation, it directly used the brain to project the simulation to the host itself. It was a very risky process but ultimately¡­rewarding. Companies specialized in Virtual Reality systems bought this technology and implemented it on their own systems. Thus, after years of brainstorming and development came the apex of true virtual reality that fucked even the systems that boasted 100% or 200% immersion, even though it was also expensive on the same level of a supercomputer. This was named SITIS (Standard Internal Total Immersion Simulator). It was much safer than any other VR systems, more immersive than the reality itself. Thus, they are now known as 4thGeneration VR systems.
¡°Dude, it¡¯s not your typical VRMMO shits. It is an AFS with real-time strategy mechanics and grand strategy elements. I have read the reviews and it looks dope. You can immerse yourself; do everything you want, anything you want.¡± Raphael replied with a look as if he was being wronged unjustly.
Indeed, Raphael was very right in this aspect, just like how VR headsets developed. Software development also progressed with the same speed. MMO and RPG were the two things that started it all in the consumer market. But with time came limitations. RPG¡¯s began to grow boring and could not keep up with the pace of hardware race. With the line between reality and virtual reality merely just a boundary, people began to yearn for total freedom and the ability to do everything, not just based on levels. What we all like to call realism? Thiswas, of course, more yearned by those introverts, socially disadvantaged people that stay in their home all day and like to do things in their own way. Thus came, the widely popular new genre, AFS (Alternative Free Style). It started as a sub-genre of RPG as it borrowed heavy elements from it but quickly became its own genre. It allowed the people to do whatever they want however they want to. No restrictions on levels or anything as long as they followed the basic codes. Such as, one can make a tank in an RPG and the system will do not shit as long as they know how to make it of course or throw another nuke bomb in an apocalyptic world if you are enough knowledgeable to actually make a bomb. You are your OWN master in an ever-growing open world with limitless opportunities, which happens to be the aim of the genre itself.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
¡°Oh, if it¡¯s AFS then you have got my interest. Otherwise, everyone and their mother with their grandparentsplayVRMMORPG these days. Got bored with that shit, tell me what is this all about?¡± ¡°It is a joint venture of Squaresoft Assembly, GIGA and Ninja Theory. Naturally, it will be epic. You are thrust into a world of wilderness where you have to fend for yourself. Do various stuff, control your own tribe, Lead battles against other factions etc. etc. Check out this catalog I have here, you should be lucky I am your bro. Normal peasants can¡¯t even dream to have this piece of paper.¡± Lantis ignored his reply completely and took the catalogue from Raphael¡¯s hands. He focused his eyes on the paper for a while, but a few moments right after he suddenly stood up from his bench and began to curse Raphael loudly without a pause. ¡°The FUCKING HECK IS THIS SHIT!! Its minimum requirements are all flying over the roof. Are you fooling this father by giving me a catalog of NASA supercomputers? 7TB VRAM? 7thgen Octa Core Processor? 360F Nerve Modular?¡± Raphael smirked as he responded to his cursing friend. ¡°As I said this game is not for mere plebeians. You need dedication for this shit, thank the gods for at least there are no microtransactions in the game. And didn¡¯t you upgrade your gear the previous month to next-gen? Was it a lie then?¡± ¡°Your father lied! All the nine generation of your ancestors lied! Hmph, hmph¡­.what do you know? My sexy baby is a beast. It¡¯s the HELIX (E-18 M9) Snaplight Nostradamus Premium Edition. Only 20 units were made in India, I just happened to buy one because of connections. It still cost me a fortune, even though I have yet to assemble it. As you can see, I have barely passed the optimum requirements here. What is so special about this game?¡± Raphael pitifully looked at Lantis and replied, ¡°Such a show-off you are. It¡¯s a pity even though your model is good, I won the race here. HELIOS G22-833 Model GigaDragon Platinum Edition directly pre-ordered from the U.S, this is the kind of standard you should have here. Nothing but the very best; anyway, you can run the game that¡¯s all it matters. I reckon we can¡¯t meet each other during the game, at least for the first few stages¡­.do yourself a favour and work hard. You will see for yourself then, what is so damn special about this game. Be wary though, I heard the community is brutal and toxic. Much better if you go solo, it is not guild-based anyway. We can make a federation, later on, both of us. Buy the game and the memory core today at the Alive game store; I heard it¡¯s on sale today.¡± Lantis nodded his head as he watched him. Raphael was a pro gamer; the game must be up-to-the-mark if he praised it so much. No harm in trying it then. Lantis closed his smartphone and packed his bag, preparing for an early leave from college. One can¡¯t go late on a sale after all, He stood up as he began to reason with himself. In the midst of his, Raphael¡¯s voice who was already heading out of the room was heard. ¡°Oh, and don¡¯t come looking for a guide to me tonight! I will be very busy with the game, you know.¡±
As if he was running away from the campus, Lantis hurried towards a particular direction from the road. ¡°Good thing, alive is very nearby my house. I can take the game directly while I am at it, saves me quite a bit of time.¡± Down the Nazareth lane where large shops lined both sides of the road, there was a long queue of people. Lantis already expected this, and he directly ignored the line and went inside from the staff entranceway. ¡°Lantis! you again! How many damn times do I have to tell you to stand in the fucking queue and wait for your turn?¡± The manager of the store, Veera was a very familiar figure to Lantis. It was after all a basic rule for all gamers, to befriend a storekeeper who runs a gaming merchandise store whenever one had the chance. Cherish the friendship as if he is your own brother and you won¡¯t regret it indeed. Lantis made sure to fully-use the perks of this so-called ¡°brotherly bond¡± to its fullest potential. ¡°Got no time for this shit, I have money and desire to buy something and that¡¯s what it matters. Show me the way and I will follow the rules, I promise.¡± Veera sighed and rubbed his forehead in irritation but then he sinisterly looked at Lantis and smirked,¡± You never learn. You came here a few days ago to upgrade your VRware and to buy other stuff. Therefore, I conclude from the premises that you came for something specific. Interesting, follow me and get ready to sell all your kidneys. It might come handy.¡± ¡°We shall see.¡± Lantis nonchalantly followed Veera as he replied. Veera took him towards a receptionist to assist him in his needs and then went somewhere else. ¡°Hello, welcome to Alive, your one stop for all your gaming needs. I am Tina; can you please provide your ID for the verification process?¡± The receptionist gave him a professional smile and waited for his reply. ¡°Well, Veera is my ID. Isn¡¯t that enough?¡± Lantis¡¯s corner of his mouth slightly hooked up as he started to appreciate the sight of this young lady. Appreciating the female sex is an inherent basic enjoyment that came in the male sex itself and Lantis was not an exception to this rule. The receptionist elegantly smiled, before she replied, ¡°Good sir must be joking. I know about your so-called bond with the boss. I am asking for your ID, to know about the various licensing and essential details that will help me know about your body. Things like how much pressure your body can take while in dive mode? Or if your body has any issues that we should know of, kinda things like that.¡± Lantis, of course, knew about all this shit. He was just trying to amuse Tina for a bit. ¡°Oh, then please take my ID, my Madame, and see it well.¡± Tina calmly took his ID and began to read its few pages for a while. She then put a stamp and signed her name on it before returning it to him. ¡°Alright, with this we are clear from all the legal stuff. Tell me, what do you need Sir?¡± Lantis thought for a while and looked around the gaming charts on the reception desk. He did some calculations in his mind and replied calmly. ¡°Well, for a first I will need a memory core with better acceleration and more power than the previous one I bought here and I want this new game called Total War Online with the Warchief¡¯s EC (Essential Content), Rise of Civilisation¡¯s DLC (Deluxe Content), Valley of the Dawn PC (Premium Content) and the SITIS compatibility tools that comes with it. I will like to use credit for the payment please.¡± Indeed, he left no stones unturned here. It was a wise decision to use his bank accounts for this transaction, otherwise, his puny purse was sure to suffer a huge impact from this costly blow. ¡°Alright, I got it. Your machine can already run the game pretty well, but you want it to run smoothly like butter huh? Well, for the optimum settings. How about the new Alienware Ultra Aviator or the Geonix Aerial Optimus model? It''s benchmark test results are quite good, Geonix is cost-effective, Alienware gives better performance but has maintenance issues.¡± ¡°Alright, Geonix is the way to go then, the blue edition, please. I will like to check out.¡±
After the checkout, Tina returned the card with a receipt to Lantis. Lantis'' heart was bleeding and he was on the verge of coughing blood. So much money wasted just for the sake of better performance and show-off. ¡°Sheesh, it¡¯s alright boy. There comes a time in every gamer¡¯s life when he has to make a choice. I have made my choice and I don¡¯t need to regret it at all¡­at least not right now.¡± While consoling himself that it was the right thing to do. He took the receipt and the credit card that seemed all too heavy for him now. ¡°Miss, can you give me your contact details? It will help you ease the sorrows of a poor man.¡± Lantis tearfully looked at Tina¡¯s eyes hoping to get a positive answer out of her. Tina smiled as she took out a card from her pocket, ¡°sure, here it is. You can contact me on Whatsapp, no personal stuff though.¡± Lantis instantly felt better as he took her card. This fellow¡¯s mood swings were quite terrifying, one minute he was on the verge of crying and the next as if he was going on in his honeymoon. ¡°Thank you for the service, perdere Tina.¡± ¡°Oh, it was my pleasure signore, Lantis. Please do come back next time here.¡± Ah! An open-minded beauty with brains that is also into computers with a good humour, not something you really see every day indeed. With this thought racing on his mind, he quickly left the store. Today was really a good day after all. Let''s make it even better¡­..
shall we??.....
Chapter 2 – Unbox, Log In and Online. Chapter 2 ¨C Unbox, Log In and Online.
Lantis hurried home and turned on the lights with haste before he went for a shower. Although immediately going for a dive seemed very tempting, even our veteran gamer Lantis didn¡¯t want to smell like a rotten egg in his unconscious state. On top of that, he most definitely wouldn¡¯t be coming out of his VR console for a very long time once he went in. ¡°Keu, seems like mom is not at home. Most probably went to granny¡¯s house to spend the vacations now that I can stay alone; It feels good to have my own freedom.¡± ¡°Those students from science stream really have it hard. They are still preparing for their exams while students from other sectors have already gone for their honeymoons. Pei! How I pity the lots of them.¡± Lantis was currently living in an apartment by the Nazareth, near his institution with his mother. Since his father worked abroad and only came home once in a month or so. Most of the time, he was used to being alone. Although being the ambiverted guy he was, it was not that bad as novels make them out to be. His room was quite big and spacious. It was filled with various cutting-edge electronic gadgets and appliances, books on various topics filled his shelves and dresses shined on his drawers. Eventually, Lantis finished showering and ate something light to fill his appetite. He slowly went to his table, wore a medical glove, took a syringe and filled it up. ¡°God damn, it always hurts me when I do this.¡± Lantis lamented. Whenever a person used SITIS these days for long-term sessions, it was recommended by specialised medics to take adequate measures, so as to reduce the impact on the body from external interferences. It was especially true for those competitive and professional gamers who went into dive mode for long hours and sometimes days. This reduced the chances of a dire issue happening greatly. He put an armband on his arm to restrain the blood flow. Then he double-checked to see if it has the correct amount of medication and slowly injected it into his arms. After a short period, he pulled the plunger and threw the syringe into the dustbin. Last, he wiped his arms with an alcohol wipe. He stood there for a while before he sighed. ¡°This should do for 6 hours I guess. Now, it¡¯s time for something fab, preparing the baby for the party.¡±
He went towards his wardrobe and pulled out a large box. He carefully put it on his table and unpacked it with scissors. Inside the large box contained various tools, cables and electronic parts of what seemed to be the main components of his VRware. ¡°Man, I could make an unboxing video out of this and publish the shit on YouTube. Who knows how much likes it will net me? Most probably thousands if not millions, after all, it¡¯s the premium edition we are talking about after all.¡± Lantis giggled on his na?ve thought as he put the console He kept the blue console box on his table near the bed where he used to keep his previous VRware. Then he plugged the primary cables with the UPS and the headband, what was conveniently named ¡°Dreamcast¡±. Then the same process continued with the secondary cables connected to the surround speakers, desktop computer and the wireless connect pod, also known as ¡°x-pod¡±. Last, he inserted the memory core and the game hard drives on its assigned slot. ¡°Phew, all done. The X-pod will take care of the rest by connecting other stuff; my desktop will be the home server.¡± He powered up his machines and lay down on his bed wearing the headband. Suddenly, his eyes blanked out for a split second and a single screen appeared before him. Ting!
<>
¡°Alright, I guess and a thank you?¡± Lantis responded. This was not the first time he bought a VR console or a game and it definitely won¡¯t be the last. So, preface messages like this were a pretty common sight for him but they did help in making a positive impression for the company. Ting! Ting! Ting! The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Now, a newbie no-brainer would have directly joined the bandwagon and went online like many others do in web novels. But Lantis disdained such actions from such so-called ¡®gamers¡¯. After all, they are not utilising their resources to the max. What is the point of playing a VR game if you are not using it for maximum efficiency? Lantis would rather use some time to optimise the game then to become the first player who entered the mother-fucking game. With these thoughts, he gave commands to the system through his mind.
¡°System, start command line-mode now.¡± This command was normally used by the developers and testers to make advanced changes in the hardware program and its usage was not recommended for casual gamers. It was understandable as it brought changes in the entire hardware. One will need some basic knowledge and awareness to reset the settings again. ¡°Clear caches and possible obsolete memory files and data.¡± He urged.
¡°Yes.¡± ¡°With this done I can run the game, my way now. ¡°Lantis calmly thought as he lightly smiled. He was very fond of customisations and freedom. To the extent, he took the hard work to learn some basic things about advanced VR programming even though he was himself from humanities stream. ¡°Enable root mode, enable selective processes¡± ¡°Well, looks I will need a guide, time to get a girl now.¡± Lantis thought as he gave another command. ¡°Activate AI controls and buffer zones.¡± Ting! Ting! Ting! Lantis smirked as he got the notification. One of them must be his home AI, Isabelle, a true-type general AI assistant running the entire house right now and the other two should be the offline ones already in the system. Isa won¡¯t be of much help inside the game but perhaps through her, bypassing more intricate commands could be possible. He looked at the detailed log and spoke. ¡°System, ping Isabelle. Schedule Luna for later run and disable Cortana¡±
¡° Isa, can you hear me?¡± Lantis asked in the middle of nowhere. ¡°Yes, I can. What do you need me for?¡± A clear feminine voice rang out from across the room. The voice seemed entirely calm as if it didn¡¯t have any emotions of its own but was pleasing to the ears, none the less. ¡°Try to take control of admin rights. And change the immersion process.¡± After a short while, Isa¡¯s serene voice once again rang in his ears. ¡°I have found the required files. There are 2 methods you can choose; one is the soft immersion and the other hard immersion. Soft immersion is enabled by default; it doesn¡¯t have much impact on brain and is much safer. Meaning, the memory core is used as the partition device and acts as the middleman between your brain and the console. If someone removes your headgear or you remove it yourself directly, it will not cause any vital issues. The same can¡¯t be said for the hard immersion. It is still safe, but issues can happen at the cost for better performance.¡± ¡°So, in hard immersion, a volatile partition is made in the brain?¡± Lantis asked pondering. ¡°Positive. But only temporary, but you are still recommended to use the console cautiously. Otherwise, the chances for a bleeding effect to happen will increase.¡± Isa replied calmly as ever. Bleeding effects were after-effects to prolonged usage of virtual machines. The user starts to receive hallucinations of their gameplay sessions in real life. It was not a big deal if it happened once in a while, but continuously happening may lead the person to receive a trauma. The government has thus reinforced strict regulations, controls and policies for that. But hard immersion did have some benefits, as it was uncovered during the CSBDIS case. The immersion quality was much more better in this state and everything seemed more flexible and controlled under a player¡¯s hand and for a player like Lantis- quality, control and flexibility mattered for everything. And as you will see, it will matter in the game too. ¡°Hmm, I understand the risks. Change the process to hard immersion now.¡± Lantis commanded. ¡°I have changed the variables. Consider it done.¡± Isa confirmed.
Now, that those primary settings were over. Lantis moved to those settings that will affect his in-game experience. He opened the graphics console. Switched on every setting, moved the slider all the way up to ¡°Exceptional¡± graphics. Then he quickly balanced it by activating multi-threading, threshold and raising performance maintenance slider all the way up as well. It was quickly followed by Isa¡¯s voice but this time with uncertainty, ¡°You have tempered with the console too much, and the machine might overheat with these settings. I recommend enabling the secondary power coolers, any more commands? Further tempering with the settings may result in your warranty being void. ¡° At this stage, the game will probably test the very limits of Lantis and his VRware. Lantis was not afraid though, in fact, it was quite the opposite. A smile crept on his pretty face; everything seemed to be going well as he expected it so far. Testing my very limits huh? I like the sound of it; it has quite a nice ring to it. The game has not even started and I am already being a badass. Great rewards call for great measures, that¡¯s it. He enabled automatic updates, steam updates and looked at the in-game time zone for the difference in dilation. He was very amused by the notification. One day in Helix was one hour in the real world, thus it meant if he dedicated 6 hours a day to gaming; it was equivalent to 6 days in the game. This was already really cool. Even though he could and will like to spend many hours playing a game, he was not na?ve enough to abandon his real-life needs altogether. Plus this being a strategy game, outsourcing was a necessary shit here. ¡°Isa, you can go back now. Look after the house, in my stead and close the session after 6 hours. Download any updates you get and ring me up in any details should something happen. Ok, reboot the system.¡± ¡°As you wish¡± Isa¡¯s voice which now seemed very distant was heard for the last time.
Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Alright, everything is ready now. What remains now is to do the deed; there is no turning back now. Taking a deep breath, compressing his excitement in the furthest corner of his mind, Lantis prepared for something unknown. He had read too many things about it; saw so many reviews about it on forums, heard praises about it from peers and now here he is, playing it first-hand. ¡°Begin.¡± One word and that¡¯s all it took. The world turned completely blue in his eyes and¡­ Lantis is now officially Online.> That was the last thing he saw. That catchphrase was cool though.
Chapter 3 – Hard Tutorial And A Close Feat. Chapter 3 ¨C Hard Tutorial And A Close Feat.
When Lantis opened his eyes, he found himself in a strange place. He was well and standing, that was at least pretty obvious. He could move and flex his muscles, his senses all working along with his limbs but his environment told a completely different story. When he looked around, he found the place very similar to scenes that you see in sci-fi movies. Everything seemed holographic giving off bluish hue lights. There was no sun but when one will look forward at the distant horizon, they will find lights lighting up the sky as if it was dawn already. He looked down on the floor, on the sky, in every direction only to find various holograms, bokeh graphical designs and triangular fragments flying through the floor and sky that transitioned from blue to white and vice-versa. It felt eerie, lonely, sad¡­and quite cool at the same time. He thought about the situation and found out there was indeed a section written in the manual about this so-called ¡°endless void¡±. Where he is now, should be the very famous ¡°memory corridor¡±. It was an empty virtual space within the Helix. One can say it is the ¡°loading screen¡± and ¡°tutorial mode¡± of the game. The user could roam around for a while the memory partition is being made. Probably because he tempered the settings a bit too much, it seemed all the way more realistic now. Not that it was a bad thing, but it will take a while for him to dive in. While he was enjoying the unusual view, a white silhouette passed through his eyes and stood before him. ¡°Quite a sight for the eyes, isn¡¯t it?¡± Lantis slowly moved his gaze towards the source of that unusual voice. There he saw a girl, gazing at the exact direction towards the horizon he was looking at right now. The girl looked really mesmerising to the eyes. She was wearing the clothes of a Greek goddess, it reminded him of the pictures he saw about the goddess Athena on a magazine. As a modern otaku and a history nerd, he knew the body-length garment was called ¡°peplos¡± and the mantle was called ¡°Himation¡± used in the Hellenistic times, the developers really had a nice taste for clothes. Her eyes blue, black hair straight to her knees with streaks of white shading it from the side gave her a godly aura. Lantis didn¡¯t stare at her for too long, he lightly smiled looking into her eyes and said, ¡°You don¡¯t look too bad yourself; I can stare at you for an entire day and will still not get bored. But, who might you be?¡± The girl smiled, returned her gaze to Lantis and replied. ¡°I am Luna, short for Lunafreya of the project 67. As you might have already guessed, I am your in-game AI, assistant, helper and supporter. I have been made, programmed and created to assist you in your endeavours and needs. Should something happen to you, I will be the one directly responsible for your issues. Thus, you can rest be assured of my reliability and I will prove my best to help you in return.¡± Wow! She is well-made, really well-made. That was the first thought which came to Lantis mind after judging and knowing her. But then again, the thought of objectifying her sounded pretty...rude to him. She should be a true-type versatile AI judging from her tone and the files he saw about her in the settings. It¡¯s a pity though her usability scope is just limited to in-game and helix. ¡°Nice to meet you too, Luna. Let¡¯s help and rely on each other from now on. Friends?¡± Lantis extended his hand, expecting for Luna¡¯s hand. Luna hesitated for a moment but nonetheless complied. Her hand felt awfully cold, it was to be expected from an AI though. ¡°Yeah, friends. User Lantis, it feels nice to have someone call you that once in a while.¡± ¡°So, what are we gonna do now? Just standing here waiting for shit to happen is not in our plan, right?¡± ¡°Of course not, let¡¯s finalise your profile and begin the tutorial. I need you to do some stuff and be attentive as possible. This is gonna heavily impact your in-game experience and I don¡¯t want you slacking off.¡± ¡°Well, I am all ears with you in this one. Let''s get this thing rolling.¡±
Ting! //Initiating Tutorial Sequence// You have received a new quest!!
Quest Title: A One Step Closer. (Tutorial Quest) Primary Objective(s): Complete your profile. Optional Objective(s): Attain 100% synchronisation. Rewards: ??? (Y/N)
¡°Now I believe you have received your very first quest. I congratulate for that, but this won¡¯t certainly be your last. Throughout your playthrough here, you will receive tons of quests each with their own agenda, criteria, rewards and objectives which will affect various things in the game including you, your world and the various people you interact with. But, mainly in Total War Online quests are broadly divided into two types- RPG Quests/ Adventure quests which will be more about you helping and killing others and gaining rewards in turn that will directly aid you and Kingdom Quests that is more about your fief- how you will manage your kingdom, who to conquer, ally, vassalize etc. Completing them will grant powerful boons to your nation, failing to do so might incur harsh penalties or you may lose valuable opportunities. Some quests can be voluntarily accepted or rejected at will, while others once accepted can¡¯t be rejected at all. So, be always on your guard when you receive a quest.¡± ¡°You will start alone in this game, without any landed fief or a tribe to support you or your cause. Thus, for the purposes of this tutorial, I am giving you a unique RPG-type quest. Complete this and you may pass your tutorial, am I clear?¡± Lantis quickly digested the newfound information in his brain. Thinking about it, it actually made sense. ¡°Yep, very clear.¡± Lantis looked up at his HUD (Head-ups display) and sure enough, there were new toys for him to play with. In the upper-left corner of his vision, he found an icon of a tribal warrior, with a long life bar. There was a horizontal transparent bar in the top of the screen, with a pointer showing directions and a diamond mini-map in the bottom-right corner displaying his position too.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Yep, now it feels more like a game. Seems to me, the partition has been completed. Luna nodded and continued, ¡°The thing you are looking at right now is not a life bar, it¡¯s a sync bar showing your progress in this tutorial. As you can see, it¡¯s currently empty. Let¡¯s try to fill it up, follow my lead now.¡± They both continued to move on quite a few distances before Luna suddenly halted and looked back at Lantis.
Ting! You have received a new sub-quest to the existing Quest ¡°A One Step Closer¡±!!
Quest Title: For The War Chief!! (Tutorial Sub-Quests) Quest Objective(s): Follow the directed path and complete all the optional activities. Optional Objective(s): 1) Master of Agility: Complete all the sprinting and free running activities within the time limit. (7:45) 2) Master of Stealth: Remain hidden and assassinate everyone swiftly within the time limit. (18:15) 3) Master of Sword and Strategy: Make your enemies cower in fear with your might; lead your army to victory within the time limit. (60:00) 4) Defender of the Faith: Complete all the above objectives within the time limit. Difficulty ¨C Easy/Moderate Reward(s):- 1) 75% Tutorial Sync. 2) A Beginner Achievement. 3) 50% chance of earning a Feat. 4) +10 extra allocation points to all your base stats (Including Nation Stats).
Lantis looked at the objectives, looked at it again, looked back at it once again; many thoughts were racing through his mind. The most prominent one being- It¡¯s fucking dark souls all over again!! He painfully looked at Luna, hoping for some reason about this pain in the ass quest. Luna, on the other hand, was smiling at him eye-to-eye. ¡°Well, from here on- It¡¯s up to you. The system will judge you based on your activities and will allocate base points to all your stats. Keep in mind, that the points that you will allocate are the points that you will earn while the system is adding ¡°base points¡±. Something like a foundation over your natural abilities for the sake of keeping it real and dynamic. I will be keeping tabs on you, so do well. Go now, impress a girl. Don¡¯t forget to check your weapon wheel and inventory for arms; you don¡¯t wanna fight barehanded, don¡¯t you? ¡± Lantis saw a new thingie in the upper-right corner of his vision distracting his thoughts. It was a fucking-timer. Tick-tock Tick-tock Tick-tock --7:41-- --7:40-- ¡°Wait, what the hell...¡± Before he could even say anything, Luna had already disappeared. He groaned and looked around everywhere. There was a unique green light coming from the distance, should be the aforementioned directed path. He didn¡¯t waste his time anymore; time itself waits for no one. Why should he feel the need to wait for someone then? He ran, ran as fast as he ever could. Breathing, panting but running nonetheless. His legs continued to throttle in this blue world. The scenery didn¡¯t seem to change but the green light did seem to appear a bit closer. or, was it even that close?
¡°It¡¯s still fucking far. This is no good, at this rate my stamina will get drained before I even know it. I am not Usain Bolt; I don¡¯t have that much stamina. I need to balance it for other secondary objectives after this. I need to run in such a way that I can take gentle but large strides at once while keeping my stamina at the bottom. I can feel it I am not that much tired as I should be, that means there is a stamina modifier running in the background. Works for me, I guess. This game is giving me a psychological headache now.¡± He looked at his mini-map panting and then on the timer. --7:11¡ª --6:45¡ª Lantis walked taking huge strides now, never looking back once. The scenes around him began to change fast. The holographs, bokehs and myriads of memory fragments in the air began to join up and started forming various structures. It looked beautiful and gorgeous. The green light was closer now, but the narrow road which he seemed to be treading on was as if reached a dead end. Looking at his mini-map, it seemed the quest item was here and no-where at once. This was really annoying as it often happens in few games. He looked above and wondered. Could it be? He climbed on one of the cube structures that have fallen on the bottom and then it rose up into the air once again. Conquer your fears and take right steps at the right time. Think out-of-the-box. Years of playing various video games have given him enough experience to know where this is going and what the system now actually wants from him. Background vocals music could be heard now, It''s like when you see an epic scene in video games to increase the suspense and tempo. ¡°I can see now why people love this game now. It makes you feel special. Not me though, I am fucking distracted as hell right now. ¡° --6:31¡ª He jumped from one block to another in the open sky, not once fearing that he might fall and break his bones at this height. ¡°There is a stamina modifier increasing my stamina plus this shit is a tutorial. If the system is making me do this kind of work, then there should be a fall damage modifier too. Although it will still hurt badly, I, fortunately, will have my life safe. After all, how hard can this game possibly be?¡± Well, the part about being the game "not hard" was something, he will regret saying about it in his later years. Lantis was pretty good in his physical activities back in his high school. Not the best, but still somewhere fell in the middle between the best and the average. He continued to leap from one block to another and continued the process until he could no longer find any. There was a large rectangular structure on the sidelines, with a rope hanging on both sides between him and the source of the green light now. ¡°There is no free-run without any obstacles and acrobatic stunts. Alright Prince of Persia time, here I come.¡± He gripped the rope very tightly with his left hand, his right hand gripping it from above. He took a deep breath, moved a few steps backwards. Then ran through the wall with all his might holding the rope in one hand to balance himself; He quickly reached the other side, then he found a ledge where he could hold it with his hands when the rope he was holding seemed to pull back. He quickly untied his grip and held the other nearby rope. Balancing himself, he looked above and pushed himself up the ledge. ¡°Phew¡­¡±
Ting! Ting! Ting! You managed to perform a wall run! You managed to perform a cat leap! You managed to perform a long jump! You managed to perform a high jump! You managed to perform a run without a pause! You did not manage to perform a scale! You did not manage to perform a crawl! As one of the few players to perform all of these in easy/moderate difficulty, The system has rewarded you with a feat: Iron Lungs.
Iron Lungs (Silver Feat.) While this feat is activated... For a short length of time in a day, you can sprint much faster without losing any of your stamina. (Personal Skill) Under your wise leadership, you can train your army to march 20% faster in friendly and neutral terrains. (Tactical Skill) Your scouts can move 25% faster than normal in uncharted areas with this feat. You have a chance to research a military technology faster than others: Military Drill at -10% Cost (This boon can only be used once)
Time-4:41¡ª
¡°Well¡­I am speechless. But if I had managed to do the other two moves as well, could I have gained a better feat? God, this system likes to play dirty. But many people could have already done better than me...looks like I will have to be cautious in the future. ¡± This is gonna be one of the weirdest tutorials I have played in a while. This feat itself is not bad though, in the right hands it could prove definitely useful. The main feature is still that minus tech cost. That shit is no less than gold. No time to slack off. The mission is still on-going. So, where was that green light coming from? He looked forward only to find a green orb giving off light floating in the air at the centre of another square block. He leapt and tried to feel it, only for it to disintegrate into dust the moment he touched it. "huh?"
Ting! You have completed optional objective 1): Master of Agility. You have managed to cover 1.5km within a very short period of time (3:10). The system has allocated points in one of your stats. Synchronisation has increased by 25%, allowing you to use your weapons and skills. You won¡¯t be earning feats in this quest anymore. You are requested to prepare for your next trial: 2) Master of Stealth. Quest Difficulty has been increased to: Only Moderate Lantis took a deep breath. ¡°Oh boy, this is gonna be a long day.¡±
Chapter 4 – The Beginning Of All Ends. Chapter 4 -The Beginning Of All Ends.
Lantis looked at the top-left corner of his vision. As expected, the empty synchronisation bar was one-quarter full at 25% now. It gave him a piece of satisfaction at least knowing the fact that he was one step closer to completing the tutorial and entering the game. No matter, how bad he played in the last round. Quite an optimistic way of thinking, one must say. Wait, wasn¡¯t that the quest title itself? One step closer, oh¡­I see now, why they named it such like that. ¡°Even the synch bar is blue; developers must have some sort of obsession with it. Not that I will mind, blue is, after all, the most popular colour in the world.¡± While he was having such thoughts and relaxing for a bit, he heard a light giggle coming from behind his back. Naturally, that certain one was Luna. Lantis was really upset at her for leaving him halfway in the last activity. Not to mention the fact, that the overall quest was itself shitty, to begin with. Since he found her now, he thought it will be better if he asked her why she did that and clear his other doubts. ¡°Well, well, see what we have here. You betrayed me Luna, kind of hurts when the only one you can rely on leaves you in the middle of nowhere.¡± He added with sarcasm. Luna didn¡¯t back down and instead replied with an even more sarcasm and challenging eyes. ¡°Oh, did I? I thought this activity was just the sort-of-a menial task for you. Was I wrong?¡± ¡°As if you know what I can do.¡± ¡°Well, I might not know about that but the system surely does. This tutorial sequence is a place where the system tries to guess out your abilities. Even if you had failed to complete all the optional objectives, nothing much would have mattered. If worst comes to worst, the game would have given you a new quest and you will still be fine. The point is to just try your best, many people in millions have already passed through this tutorial, many failed but that¡¯s not a reason to rage quit. The only reason optional objective, achievements, feats and the like exists in this tutorial is just so that you can have a better start than others, kind of a bonus for the worthy and understand what each of this is and used for. Don¡¯t worry about unnecessary stuff; the developers had made sure to keep things balance and dynamic at the same time.¡± He was not even angry, to begin with, why should he be the one to rage quit? Lantis wondered and scoffed, ¡°Have you ever tried teaching? It might suit you.¡± ¡°Not interested. Alright, let¡¯s not try to waste any time. Throw me any stuff that you don¡¯t understand and I will answer it for you. For your next trial, you will be transported to a designated location where you will have to do activities related to the objective, just like your previous trial. Be innovative, use the game mechanics wisely, wait for the situation to turn around -that¡¯s all the hints you will ever need. And for what I have seen, you have what it takes to do that.¡± Ah, looks like she was impressed with my feats in the last trial; can¡¯t help it, after all, I can¡¯t stop myself from being badass all the time. Hehe¡­ Well, now on the matter at hand¡­ ¡°What is this weapon wheel and inventory, you were talking about? I couldn¡¯t find it anywhere in my HUD.¡± Lantis was wondering about that, since the moment he heard her talking about it. He himself was pretty surprised at this game. It was filled with mechanics that you can find in other genres, for example- One can¡¯t find a free running mechanic in an RPG, nor a Weapon wheel other than an action-adventure one. Prior to buying this game, he made a thorough research on it and found that the game has different mechanics for different stuff- be it stealth, battle, sex, trade, swimming, archery, nation-building etcetera. It just never ends, that¡¯s AFS for ya. The company just smashed all the interesting things they can find in other games and perfectly blended it all into one. Now, that was not a new idea at all, but to make a streamlined and polished game like this. Oh boy, that was a real pain and hard work. It should be a fucking utopia then... Fortunately, Luna interrupted Lantis¡¯s wild thoughts or else he would be doing hard-core ¡°philosophical¡± analysis about it till the end of time. ¡°Weapon wheel and portable inventory were one of those test features that were to be implemented in the base game during the beta phase of the project. But the alpha testers and developers alike feared that players may use it to exploit the game and the features itself were not that realistic, to begin with, quite game-breaking actually. Thus, their implementation was overruled and now they serve their purpose here, in this empty space and tutorial. To let the players see information about their gears, things that they were carrying in-game, stats etc. all before they log into the game. You can open your own weapon wheel and inventory wheel quickly by just thinking about it in mind, and the system will do the work. You should try this now since the system has allowed you to use your weapons. Check what you have got for your next trial.¡± Alright then¡­weapon wheel!!
Suddenly, a giant wheel appeared in front of Lantis, which was similar to that of a radio wheel. It showed all the available weapons and armours to him in a circular pattern. So cool! //Opening Weapon Wheel//BETA Available Weapons: Tomahawk x2 (Melee) (Selected: Primary Weapon)The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Exquisite Kukri Knife x2 (Hybrid/Melee) (Selected: Secondary Weapon) Smoke Bombs x2 (Bomb) Poison Bomb x1 (Bomb) Mongol Composite Bow x1 (Ranged Weapon) (Selected: Primary Weapon) Fine Bodkin Arrows x12 (Arrows) (Selected: Complementary Weapon) Available Armour: Exquisite Leather Set: Leather Greaves//Leather Vambraces//Leather Chest Guard//Leather Spaulders//Leather Boots Exquisite Leather Cloak. Miscellaneous Items: Fire Lighter x1
Looking at the available weapons, Lantis couldn¡¯t help but whistle and say loudly, ¡°God looks like Christmas came very early this year. Look at those exotic weapons, each one more badass than the last. I can just play this game whole day killing people or monsters if all you can give me is just that Kukri knife. You know what? let me do it myself.¡± With sparkling eyes, he commanded. ¡°System, equip every item. Set kukri as my primary weapon of choice.¡± A white-purple light rapidly surrounded him and enclosed his body from all sides. When the light subsided, Lantis was standing on wearing his new black leather armour and holding one long kukri knife in both his hands. The Tomahawks were kept on the side of his pants with the bombs attached to his leather belt. The composite bow and arrow quiver were behind his back. He played with the kukris, mimicking some film style moves and depreciatingly laughed at himself in the process. Luna felt goosebumps crawling through her skin and couldn¡¯t bear to watch it any longer due to cringe. She needed to stop him¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t be too happy though, these weapons are especially exclusive to this tutorial. Once you are done with it, you might as well say goodbye to all of them. Won¡¯t know again when you will find it later in the game.¡± That did calm him a little. Lantis coolly replied, ¡°Is it? Well, that¡¯s a shame. Let me tell you a memory of mine, there was this game called ¡°Skyrim¡±. It was one of the great old games ever created before VR''s made their entry, I bought it, played it the whole night and suffice to say, I loved it very much. There was this particular guard in every town who when you meet, used to say, ¡°You see those warriors from Hammerfell? They have got curved swords. Curved. Swords¡± It quickly became a meme; at first, I was pretty perplexed- what the fuck was wrong with a curved sword? Raphael, my pervert friend told me that a human can already have one curve sword but those dudes from Hammerfell had it different. Now¡­¡± He pointed the kukris blade tip towards Luna¡¯s chest and then continued, ¡°Can you see? Now I have got a curved sword. A curved and. A sword.¡± One can immediately sense his lecherous intentions just from his rotten smile. But Luna just kept her cool and replied back, ¡°Must have been a pretty fun game,¡± ¡°It was. It really was. But you my friend should be pretty fun at parties.¡± Lantis kept his kukris in the scabbards for later use and sighed deeply.
¡°Anyway, tell me what are those feats and achievements?¡± ¡°Feats are abilities that are earned by players in Total War Online by doing some meritorious task or just simply doing a work better than others. There are thousands of feats to be earned in this game, each with their own boons and effects but only a select few players have actually been able to achieve them. Achieving feats can give you multiple benefits, some effects are passive, few are one time, and others need to be activated to work. You can only have four feats at a time, to unlock more slots you need to get enough experience, prestige, influence and achievements. Feats are of four grades- Copper and Bronze (Level 1), Silver and Gold (Level 2), Diamond and Platinum (Level 3) and Blood (Level 4). They are further distinguished based on their varied effects. Achievements, on the other hand, are medals earned when players succeed in completing something. They can net you a good amount of prestige and influence, they might also show you your value to other players. Achievements are more in demand since they are easier to obtain yet rare enough to take a toll. They are used for distinguishing professional players and can even get you a good sponsor in real life. Each has their own advantages, I guess.¡± Lantis quickly digested the new-found information from the game-pedia girl. Looks like I have a second-grade feat. I wonder why I feel so sad now. ¡°Any more questions you want to ask me?¡± ¡°No, I guess. I am now ready for the next trial.¡± Luna nodded as she looked above. ¡°Alright, the system will be transporting you to a new place. You will be leaving this corridor soon enough. If you ever get confused with the mechanics, which is a high possibility with this game, ask me or if I am not available- you can now use the Helix in-game database to get a help. Just give a holler. Tread carefully and remember- Stats, feats or achievements don¡¯t matter much in this game. At the end of the day, your powerful army can bring down a hero and a lowly hero can also topple down your army. The world is not ruled by the strongest, not by the wisest but by those who know how to adept the best.¡± In a rare moment of time, Luna touched Lantis cheeks for the very first time and smiled. ¡°Go now, my war chief, my liege. May the flares, the echoes and the drums of victory follow you wherever you go.¡± Lantis was too shocked with the sudden turn of events that he did not realise the space shrinking beneath him. The world was crashing down, the horizon was getting darker, and the square memory blocks were disappearing. It was too late as he saw his own vision getting darker. //Initiating//Sequence_tutorial_segment_2 //Teleporting// Stealth Mechanics are now unlocked. Squad Mechanics are now unlocked. You are being teleported to a zone, where you will begin your next trial. New objectives are being listed in the quest log for this trial. The last thing he heard was¡­ ¡°Deus Vult.¡±
When Lantis opened his eyes for the second time, he once again found himself in a strange place; Strange in probably another way, this time. ¡°God, I have to get used to this teleporting. It just zaps through my mind like a fucking blade tearing apart.¡± He observed his surroundings and seemed to conclude that he must be somewhere in a village long abandoned by men. The night was getting darker, cold wind was blowing making him feel sick. No one seemed to be in the village. The hovels and buildings have broken down, empty and long since fallen into disrepair. Dust and dirt in the windows, rust in the door could be seen from distances way. He looked above and the full moon shone high above the skies amidst the countless twinkling stars. There was fog in the air but not enough to disturb his vision completely. He looked down at his own fingers, then elsewhere left and right. All he could do was to sigh in wonder and say, ¡°Beautiful. Just plain beautiful, no other words can describe this game¡¯s graphics and rendering capabilities of Helix. I knew back then in the memory corridor that the graphics were awesome, but now it¡¯s just otherworldly. Even in real life, nature¡¯s own graphics card pales in comparison to this shit, much less other VR machines. I made the right choice buying Helix, yep.¡± He unsheathed his kukri knives and held them tight in his hands.
Ting! The system has temporarily bestowed you the title of "The War Chief". You are now eligible to lead armies. //Mission Details: For the purposes of this tutorial, you have been made the war chief of the Mion tribe. They will recognise you on sight and will follow all your orders willingly. You are to help them free the hostages taken in by their rivals, the Capote tribe whom they are at war with. You are to meet them at a place marked in the map, take a squad of men along with you, free the hostages, sabotage the enemy¡¯s plans and escape the place within the time limit. Conditions::
  • Do NOT get killed.
  • At least half of your men should survive this mission.
Lantis looked at the objectives and nodded. ¡°Alright, I guess. Let¡¯s meet this Mion tribe then, shall we?¡± He looked at the mini-map, and then looked west. He slowly began to move towards the north-west direction of the village. The night was dark; the wind was chilling, the night owls hoot echoed everywhere and the wolves continued to loudly howl. But the lone war chief continued moving¡­
Chapter 5 – An Elven Night. Chapter 5 ¨C An Elven Night.
¡°Half-Elves? Are you fucking serious?¡± When Lantis reached the marked location on the map, he was expecting many things to see and learn from the Mion tribe and its people. But what he totally didn¡¯t foresee was to see the entire tribe consisting of only Half-elves and he being a human player was one of their supposed-leader. Thus, that was how he right now found himself in the middle of a war camp being stared upon by at least thousands of those supposed-mythical beings. One can¡¯t ever go wrong differentiating elves from the humans and half-elves itself from the other two. Half-elves stand taller than humans but shorter than elves. They inherit the lean build and comely features of their elven lineage, but their skin colour is normally dictated by their human side. Their eyes tend to be a mix between their human and elven heritage and feature an exotic range of colours like amber, violet etc. Their ears also almost always tend to be elven like in general and right now Lantis could find all of these features among the crowd of people standing before him, looking at him curiously. He truly found himself getting in a ¡°deer in the headlights¡± situation. ¡°My lord, where have you been? We were waiting for you since nightfall.¡± One of the elves asked him respectfully with his Celtic accent. He seemed well-off from his looks. If you could ignore his large scar on his face and the long poleaxe he was holding. He seemed a pretty amiable guy to talk to. Too much respect! Too much respect! ¡°Ah, I¡­I got lost. I guess that¡¯s it.¡± Lantis somehow gave the answer, although he didn¡¯t believe the way he said it someone will actually believe him. At that time, another elven ¡®man¡¯ came to the front and laughed at him, ¡°My lord must be tired. You should sleep; we have come a long way from home. Tomorrow will be a bloody day, wouldn¡¯t want you to get up late for the work.¡± The other man looked at him and scornfully laughed, ¡°Get up late? Alyth, last time I checked, you were the one who woke up late and went into the front lines during the last hours of the battle. Don¡¯t let your dick smell get rubbed off on our chief. We are already having a bad time; the last thing I want is you having a bad influence in the army.¡± The man named Alyth now looked back at him and replied in disdain, ¡°Lucis, so what if I got late? I might have been busy with your girl down on my bed. For the record, I am not like a certain someone here who spends an hour thrusting, then directly jumps to the sleep like a fucking pig.¡± Their nonsensical rambling continued, but Lantis, on the other hand, was thinking about more logical things while looking at the campfire. Bloody day¡­.Far from Home¡­Tomorrow¡­.Battle¡­.Frontlines¡­Objective¡­. It doesn¡¯t take a genius to understand what this is all about. The last two trials are probably linked with each other. Lantis walked towards the campfire and bent down on his knees. He spread his hands wide to get the heat on this cold night. Ahh, finally feels good! The light of the fire radiated his charming face and his blue eyes that didn¡¯t look any worse than an elf. He looked at the soldiers training, dining and singing songs, then at the two men quarrelling. What were their names? Alyth and Lucis, huh; He directed his gaze towards the tents and sighed deeply. When other players play VR games, within the first hours itself they get to meet beautiful bombshells, those lasses will then have a crush on the player, then the player will form a harem with them and suck ball. And here I am with a host of men. Why can¡¯t I ever enjoy such treatment, even though I am much better at playing games? Sigh, these days being a nice guy in this world sucks hard; pitiful, too pitiful. Anyways, the timer is not running. I wonder why though? Could it be I have not progressed enough to trigger it? Then, I should probably finish this soon as I can. The battle objective is gonna take an ass long time; I don¡¯t want to stay in the tutorial for too long. Otherwise, I fear I won¡¯t even have the dignity to show my face in front of Raphael and others. Time to truly get serious now, yep; Looking at them, Lantis found they are pretty well-armoured for a tribe. Most of the men were wearing heavy mail, while the two men who came to Lantis were wearing partial plate armour with runes upon them. Looks like the game interprets ¡°tribes¡± a bit differently than the real world.
He shrugged and gave a simple command that he found while looking upon one of the guides. ¡°Show character sheet and player details¡± Ting! //You can¡¯t open character sheet in this section of the tutorial. //You can¡¯t open player details window in this section of the tutorial. Huh? ¡°Open skill and traits window.¡± //You can¡¯t open skills window in this section of the tutorial. //You can¡¯t open traits window in this section of the tutorial. Fudge! You can¡¯t open this, you can¡¯t open that. Fuck, how do you want me to play then? Lantis didn¡¯t give up, ¡°Open focus tree.¡± //You can¡¯t open focus tree. //Warpath mechanic is not enabled. Alright, cool down, cool down. Let¡¯s just try another command. ¡°Show army details.¡±
Ting! //You are currently a ¡°War Chief¡± of the ¡°Mion Tribe¡± under the high elven clan ¡°Elfina¡±. //System has allowed you to lead an army of 3000 units, but you can¡¯t control them yet. Your army (Brigade) currently consists of: War chief x1 (You) Generals x3 * Elfina Hunters x1500 (Light Infantry) Elfina Noble Knights x500 (Heavy Cavalry) Elfina Battlefield Maidens x500 (Heavy Infantry) Elfina Forest Rangers x500 (Archers) *King¡¯s guard, Royal Guard, General¡¯s Bodyguard doesn¡¯t count in the standard army and thus aren¡¯t included here. **This army is currently well-fed, satisfied with their leaders and thus are in high Morale.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ***This army is currently in low maintenance and are resting for the day. Thus, they are prone to taking heavy damage, should an ambush happens.
¡°Wow, this one is so detailed. And there are girls too, why didn¡¯t I saw them? Could they have gone for a bath?¡± Lantis unknowingly spoke out loud, but when he looked around no one seemed to hurt him. It seemed War Chief is a very complicated title in the game- What is this title about? It should be something he could ask Luna later on, so he kept it in the back of his mind for now. He clapped loudly and went towards a table with food, ¡°Hey, you two. Come here quickly, this noble one here wants to ask you some questions.¡± He got into the character really quickly. Alyth and Lucis came towards him with haste wondering what he might want from them. ¡°Who are you two? By that I mean, what is your position in this army?¡± Alyth and Lucis looked at each other in confusion, signalling each other with their eyes, then with their hands. Lantis looked at them in wonder tilting his head. What the fuck was wrong with them? Could it be¡­.they both were gays? Alyth was the first to spoke up, ¡°Forgive us, my lord. We forgot that you had been recently promoted for a due time. Let me introduce ourselves, my name is Alyth Thethyra. I am here as a general and also as well to serve you. This person here is Lucis Waesmoira, he too is a general here, second in line, actually. We also have another general who¡­.err...is currently busy.¡± ¡°We were going towards Yuriel Mountains when we were struck by an ambush from the enemy. Those dogs, Capote had the insolence to attack us in broad daylight. Humans indeed can¡¯t be trusted, those barbarians. Except you, of course, my liege, you are number one heavens.¡± Lantis could sense the fallacy in his talk and coldly replied, ¡°You know, I can sense flattery very well. Keep talking to me like that and I might actually reduce your pay at the end of the month.¡± Alyth fell to the ground and replied with a crying tone, ¡°Forgive me, my lord.¡± Lantis picked up a bottle of sake and began to drink. ¡°Alright, get serious. Tell me, did they take any hostages?¡± That immediately made both Alyth and Lucis serious. One can sense the true elven auras coming out of their bodies from miles away. Truly an elf with experience, this was Lantis new remark upon knowing them. Lucis bitterly laughed and told him the story, ¡°You know my liege, how humans are. Their fickle nature and their ability to ¡°envy¡± anything they can¡¯t achieve by themselves and resorting to any methods to obtain them. We are just half-elves, banish from both of our heritage where we are born from but we get to see the best of both worlds has to offer. If there is anything fully common between us all three and makes us similar in a way, that will be the thirst for blood and the need to defend our own kind. Our army was passing through a human village and we were in need of supplies, the people residing there in that village gave us the necessary supplies. They gave us the supplies and we gave them their rightful coins, even though they were not willing to accept it. Later today, our scouts told us that the very same village we had taken supplies from was razed to the ground by those barbarians. No, not the capotes, but mercenaries, that were hired by them. Initially, we were willing to help but we didn¡¯t have much Intel about them. They looted the village and took some hostages; a few eight-year-olds were taken as well. Those who resisted were¡­¡± Lucis stopped, Alyth continued speaking, ¡°and those who resisted were impaled. But such is war. Without necessary Intel, it would have been foolish to engage with them directly. We are already far away from home, a needless battle is the least of our priorities here. We skirmished and managed to release some of the hostages. But most of the barbarians managed to flee.¡± Cold silence reigned between the three for a while; Lantis was the first to broke the silence, ¡°Where did they take them?¡± Alyth spoke bewildered, ¡°My lord, could it be you are planning to rescue them at this dark hour? Not to mention the fact that we don¡¯t know anything about them, their numbers, who they are even?¡± ¡°It is only because of the fact that it¡¯s this late at night. I am willing to take such a task, you fool.¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t do such a reckless thing, my liege. It¡¯s dangerous.¡± Lantis spoke in a voice with firm resolve, ¡°Look, whatever I am doing. I have my reasons to do so; you are telling me that you feared to engage head-on with the enemy because you lacked Intel. I am cool with that; actually, I should praise you for that. But, what I am gonna do is different. All I need to you to do is guard this camp, tell me where they are and that¡¯s it. ¡° ¡°But, my lord¡­¡± ¡°No, buts, tell me where they are now?¡± The temperature here was quickly decreasing below the freezing point, at this moment a feminine voice suddenly rang out from behind the three. ¡°They won¡¯t be able to tell you anything because they themselves have very little knowledge where the barbarians went. Expecting something out of them is a futile waste of time and effort.¡± The new guest was a woman from the looks. She too had all the features of a half-elf but this time with a few anomalies. For a first, her height was taller than a half-elf, her eyes which was pointy like an elf but thick like a human had two different colours ¨C scarlet and blue, thus Heterochromia, Lantis concluded. She kept her fingernails abnormally sharp and she was wearing dark-violet fur armour, probably of a large wolf or something she had killed before. But the most abnormal problem with her according to Lantis was- those Mother fucking boobs. Jesus, are those the fabled legendary E cups or are they DD cups? Whatever they were, they looked distracting. Lantis quickly forced his brain to move on. ¡°How did you know? And who are you now? Wait, don¡¯t answer that, I know. You must be the third general here or should I say the first in command.¡± ¡°Correct. I am Lllorva Beitoris Dmitria Valentinovich. Long name, I know but people like to call me the ¡°Blood Huntress¡±. You on the other hand, as our temporary liege, can call me any way you want. Just don¡¯t go overboard, will ya.¡± She gave Lantis a fine wink. That instantly made Lantis feel butterflies in his stomach.
Lantis silently quickly in his mind issued a command to the system. ¡°Helix, open feedback and reviews panel¡± //HELIX- Do you want to send a feedback to Squaresoft Assembly and GIGA for ¡°Total War Online¡±? ¡°Yes.¡± He wrote in the feedback log. ¡°God damn it, you developers. You all are fucking killing me. A Russian elf with Heterochromia? Fucker, how can you all be so ruthless? Do you realise just the idea of this shit can make those single guys empty their sperm tanks for another 100 days? Next time, make a sperm insurance policy, ok?¡± ¡°Send.¡± The feedback window closed and Lantis looked at her once again. Little did he know that not more than 50 seconds later, a reply was sent to his inbox about the feedback from one of the content developers in the team- ¡°( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) Enjoy, this is the 866th complaint we have received today concerning her. Don¡¯t worry we are working on it.¡±
"So Lllorva, do you know where the mercenaries are?¡± Lantis asked her with a questioning gaze. ¡°As a matter of fact, I do have an Idea where they might have gone.¡± Lllorva sat opposite to Lantis, picked up an apple from the bowl and nibbled at it slowly with her snow teeth. Alyth and Lucis looked at Lllorva with surprise in their eyes, ¡°Lllorva, could it be you went to search for them this late at night?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous, why will I do that?¡± She rolled her eyes and continued. ¡°I sent my scouts to do some rough work on the terrain. They saw those barbs near the mountains pitching their tents and wooden walls across the forest near a ruined castle. The scouts say they even heard the pitiful wails and cries of the fallen and kidnapped. Probably, they raped the girls and beheaded the lads.¡± ¡°I want to go there and now. ¡° Lantis urged. ¡°You sure?¡± Lllorva smiled at him. ¡°Definitely¡± ¡°Do you have any plan?¡± Huh? Lantis looked at her with confusion and blandly asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I just said, they are decently fortified and it will be a bit tough to get rid of them so easily. Do you have any plan?¡± Lantis thought hard for a long while, he had by now played many VR games. Thus naturally he had met many NPC''s with good AI''s too. He needs to convince this girl anyhow into making him leave and possibly provide him with some help. But the question is how? Lantis looked into her deep eyes with wonder. He slowly replied with a fair bit of uncertainty in his voice. ¡°Actually, I have three, no four plans. I go alone and do the work, clean stuff. The best course of action and it suits me well. But I think you won¡¯t allow that to happen. Another is to blitzkrieg their asses, by taking all our army. That will be a quick but reckless action, might even have a chance to cause casualties. That leaves us with only two choices. Both of which are beneficial to us, if I may say so.¡± Lllorva and Lantis both looked into each other¡¯s eyes deep trying to read each other. Their intentions unclear, their thinking divided. Both of them seemed like demon kings from deep down hell-bent on conquering the world. ¡°And what they might be?¡± Lantis took a drink of cold water and told her, ¡°Divide and rule. Hit and Run.¡± Lllorva silently nodded and stood up, pulled down her armour to make it neater and unsheathed her long sword. ¡°Alright boys, playtime is over! Bring me my ride and get one for him too.¡± ¡°What!!?¡± ¡°Holy shit!! You too, Lllorva?¡± Alyth and Lucis screamed at the unexpected decision. They were so surprised that they even thought if they were dreaming. This vixen wants to go out this late at night to catch some bandits. It was alright if you want to go for hunting or to search for a treasure. But to go to such a fortified place this late at night. Surely, she must be going through her periods. ¡°You two are to stay here to look after the camp. I and he are more than enough for them. ¡° She then looked at the practice grounds where soldiers were training. She pointed her fingers to various men and women to call them up. ¡°Hey!!You, you, you, you too and you, come over here. Bring me your companions too; we are going for a hunt.¡± Lantis looked at her and felt really great. At least he managed to convince someone, that too one heck of a bombshell. He sincerely thanked her, ¡°I owe you one, girl.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it; I was getting bored here anyway. War-chief.¡± But even though Lantis looked really thankful from the outside and one might think of him as a pervert at first glance, no one knew at this very moment if he was given a chance he would have laughed loudly at all of those people until his throats would have hurt. Girl, You are just daydreaming if you think you can trade terms with me. At the end of the day, I will be the one to rule and I will be the one to divide them all.
Ting! You have managed to convince "Lllorva" to give you a "company" of 60 troops!! You have gained "intel" and "knowledge" from Lllorva. You have a much better understanding of the surrounding area now giving you +0.5 tactical advantage. At least 30 troops should survive this mission. You are to reach the next checkpoint to begin your trial. Lantis thought of only one thing. Meh, it was a piece of cake. Let¡¯s begin the hunt.
Chapter 6 - Lantis Shows His Might. - I Chapter_6 - Lantis Shows His Might. - I
Ting! //You are entering a hostile area! //Guards are on high alert now! //Enemies may now attack you on sight. You have reached the extraction point! A mission will begin now. //Being detected by more than one guard will break your stealth.
Lantis looked at the notifications, then at his HUD. Sure enough, he was right all along. He found out his synch bar had disappeared, instead, two new bars could be seen at the top-left corner of his vision. One was fully red, which by appearance looked like the ¡°health¡± bar, the other one was another shorter green bar below the health bar which he presumed must be the ¡°stamina¡± bar. Since he knew nothing about magic or mana plus the fact that the system didn¡¯t allow him to look at his own character sheet. He already saw it coming that he won¡¯t be doing epic magic-related stuff this time. Thus, it didn¡¯t surprise him much when he didn¡¯t saw the mana bar at all in his vision. ¡°Kind of abnormal. I got elves but no mana, spell tomes or anything like enchanted weapons to compliment it.¡± Lantis thought as he faintly looked at the timer. -18:15- Tick-tock Tick-tock
Lantis took a calm breath and tried to review his plan that he discussed with Lllorva while coming here. Actually, it was a pretty simple strategy yet very effective at the same time. Since the system demanded that at least half of his men should survive the mission and he got 60 men to use for that. He didn¡¯t want to take any risk, so he first divided his company into two equal squads. The first squad will be stationed 500 metres from the mission point that will be acting as ¡®reserve¡¯ and will be on the lookout for suspicious activities. By doing this he made sure of three things- first, he secured one of his optional objectives, second, he will able to get new Intel and third, should the enemy do something unexpected or stupid, he will have a trump card upon his sleeve all the time. Now for the second squad, he again further divided it into three teams- each with 10 people. One of them was being led by Lllorva herself. It took Lantis much toiling to convince Lllorva for that, he just didn¡¯t want to have any extra baggage. Till now, he was always used to doing stealth missions alone. The 3 teams along with Lllorva will use hit and run tactics to harass the enemy from 3 fixed directions. That way, they will be able to harass the enemy with the minimum amount of causalities, should they even manage to catch an elf in the first place. Lantis had full faith on his team; after all, forests were domains of elves. This was his ¡°Divide and rule¡± plan. Now, the only direction his team was leaving for him was the eastern front. From there, he will attempt to infiltrate whatever the camp or castle the mercenaries had. Since they were sorta-outlawed mercenaries, they should at least have hundreds of troops inside the castle. ¡°Something still doesn¡¯t seem right to me.¡± Lantis wondered if he was missing something important. Whatever, I just hope I am wrong. He swiftly got down from his brown horse, pulled its lead rope towards a tree and tied it. He patted the horse neck, ¡°Janine, my good girl wait here. Don¡¯t go anywhere, ok? I will come in a short while.¡± Lantis pulled his long hairs together into a short ponytail reaching his shoulders and unsheathed one of his kukris, holding it tightly. He looked ahead, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. He tried to study his surroundings and found a camp not far away from him. He moved in a sort-of crouching way with silent steady steps to make as little noise as possible. The mission demanded stealth, so sneaking was a must for him. When he reached nearby, he saw three humans wearing decent armour. Of them, two were tending the fire and one looking away. Damn barbarians. Lantis looked down at the ground and picked up a small pebble. He silently moved towards the third one who seemed to be out in his own world and hid quite a few distances away from him, camouflaging himself among the think bushes. He threw the pebble near the man to lure him, but not with enough force to actually do any harm. Tak! ¡°WHO¡¯S THERE??¡± Curiosity kills the cat. Sure enough, the mercenary began to search for the sound near him wielding an iron sword. As he saw the mercenary coming towards him just a few steps away. Lantis dropped his body into an offensive stance and waited patiently. The moment the mercenary came in his attack range, his fate was sealed. Lantis suddenly lashed out like a venomous snake. His legs uncoiled, he sprung towards the man with vicious ferocity. With his free hand, he covered the man¡¯s mouth tightly while forcing him to fall down by making him stagger. His other arm moved like lightning and the kukri flashed through the air stabbing him from the side, right at his neck, where his vocal cord was located. A heartbeat later- blood fountained from the mercenary¡¯s neck, it gurgled and gasped dropping its sword to grab at its neck to try and stem the flow of its blood. He didn¡¯t even manage to scream before his neck was forcefully snapped once again from Lantis hand covering his mouth. One will wonder if he died from spinal shock, circulation or blood loss. It was truly a bloody mess. A few moments later, when Lantis was sure that the man has died he removed his hands and pulled out his kukri. He spit on the ground and kneeled down to examine the mercenary¡¯s body. If lady luck could help him get an OP item in his first kill like other players, that would be awesome, he thought. But, ¡°Fuck, was this guy a beggar? Only 8 gold coins? I am sure my underwear costs more than this shit.¡± Lantis took the coins and stood up. He looked around and found the sword that the mercenary dropped.
Mercenario Sword
Type: Short Sword
Damage: 8/Slash
Rarity: Common
Durability: Moderate
¡°Not bad, I guess.¡± Lantis picked up the sword and kept it. It was his first kill in this game, so going empty-handed was not his style.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. He once again moved towards the two mercenaries tending the fire. Hiding once again from the shadows, he observed them from afar. This time, he pulled out his Mongol bow. This bow, if he was not wrong was one of the deadliest bows in the real world; it was easy to use and could shoot arrows quickly as far as 300-500 yards, provided you were skilled enough. But it had its drawbacks- it was a cavalry-bow, the method to draw it was a bit different and most importantly for Lantis, he can¡¯t try to fire two arrows at once with this bow now. Lantis had used bows before, both in real life and of course in games. Composite bow was a first for him though, it helped that he had heard about it a bit. Can¡¯t blame a history student for curiosity, can you? He quickly put the thumb ring that came with it, took out an arrow and began to draw the bow with his index and thumb finger, unlike the three-finger ¡°Mediterranean¡± method of western bows. Lantis carefully aimed the arrow at one of the mercenary¡¯s fucking head. "Let''s see if you are, indeed that deadly as they say." He let out a soft breath and released the string. Twang! The string snapped forward like elastic. The arrow moved like a guiding missile launch towards the mercenary and digs into his head deep inside. The mercenary fell to the ground with blood leaking from his head.
//Headshot! //Accuracy. 85%
Lantis didn¡¯t have the liberty to feel proud of his abilities. When the arrow hit mercenary¡¯s head, he already saw the other one coming towards him. Since there was only one left alive now, Lantis thought he shouldn¡¯t make this young man late for his next life by not giving him an opportunity either. He at once put his bow away, took out his kukri and tomahawk on each hand and lunged himself towards the opponent. The mercenary didn¡¯t expect Lantis¡¯s offensive approach at all. But he seemed quite skilled, as he dodged Lantis swing and decided to perform a thrust towards Lantis himself. The only problem was he didn¡¯t saw Lantis hideous smile looking at him with mockery. Lantis quickly stopped the feint attack he was throwing and blocked the enemy¡¯s swing with his tomahawk axe. He parried the attack, the opponent¡¯s guard exposed- Lantis didn¡¯t waste any more opportunity. Lantis horizontally thrust the entire kukri into the enemy¡¯s belly with force tearing apart the leather armour and then made a rotation cut throughout the area. ¡°AHHH!!¡± The mercenary screamed in agony. The pain unbearable to him, the mercenary didn¡¯t want to lose his life here, not at this place, not now. The thought of dying made the pain even more miserable. ¡°Take it easy, bro. I am not having a nice life here either, think about the people you have killed and raped with the same amount of pain. And you will feel much better. You can trust me on this.¡± Lantis decided he should deal the finishing blow now. With his tomahawk raised, he hacked the mercenary¡¯s face with one firm slice. The poor guy couldn¡¯t have been any more dead.
-16:57- Lantis moved over to the previously dead body to retrieve his arrow and to see if he could find something useful in there. The arrow went deep inside the mercenary¡¯s head; he tried to pull it back up with a bit of resistance. Fortunately, the arrow ripped free, although the tip seemed a bit dull now. He re-nocked the arrow and stood down once again to check the dead bodies¡¯ pockets. ¡°Come on¡­You should have something useful when you were alive, right?¡± Unfortunately, all he could found was a few more coins and arrows. Damn it. He went over to the other one and found a bunch of keys along with more coins. His hopes shattered, Lantis observed the keys closely then at the castle. He sighed and put it back into his pockets. ¡°The number of times I am sighing today should be equivalent to two days already. I won¡¯t put my hopes up but it will be great if this leads me to something interesting.¡± Lantis scanned the whole perimeter and found a thin trail narrowing down, leading towards the castle. Stealthily he walked over to the trail, approaching the castle. Within few minutes when he reached the eastern gates, there was no one in sight, in particular. The gates seemed rotted and in need of repairs but nonetheless were open. ¡°At least the game tried to make my job easier.¡± Lantis made his way inside the castle courtyard. Moving silently and quickly as possible but otherwise seemed not to care much about being seen. The area was filled with boulders; all of them roughly round in shape and seemed new. When Lantis peered at the walls, he immediately understood. Probably, they were brought in here to repair the castle. The only thing Lantis was worried about were those tall archer towers but since he didn¡¯t saw anyone up. He surmised his strategy was working correctly as he had originally intended. As he got closer to the inner gate, he pulled out one of his arrows from the quiver and nocked it on the bow to ready to pull and fire at a moment¡¯s notice. As he got further into the courtyard, he finally saw the doorway that will lead him inside being guarded by two mercenaries. He silently lifted his bow, pulled back the string and released the arrow towards one of the guards head. Twang! The arrow flew and just in a matter of moments went directly deep inside the targeted guard¡¯s eye socket. The guard instantly fell with shock being written all over his face.
//Headshot!! //Accuracy. 83%
¡°Not good enough.¡± Lantis sighed and felt his skills had gone to dust these past few months due to exams. There was a time when he was within the top 30 players within the country and one of the few players who had renown around the world for his gaming talents. Now looking at himself, even he thought it will be a surprise if someone actually recognised him within the Hit 500¡¯s. The other guard saw him and cried with sorrow. He took a nearby sword and began to move toward him frantically. Annoyed, Lantis looked at the hostile guard coming toward him. Was that guy his friend? His gay love? His father? ¡°Whoever the fuck he was. I am going to send you where he belongs anyway. ¡± With that thought, he began to rush towards the enemy too, with his kukri and tomahawk on each hand. He managed to get past the mercenary and managed to turn around the same time the mercenary faced him. Faced each other, the mercenary growled and began to swing his sword towards him with force. Observing the incoming attack, he found it was aimed towards his belly. Lantis quickly sidestepped to avoid the incoming swing and inserted a quick ''push'' kick at the opponent¡¯s stomach to stagger him, or was it her? Lantis observed that the opponent¡¯s chest was bulging for some reason. The way the dude was looking at him with rage and the chest bulge. He was pretty sure this guy was a girl. Lantis decided to taunt her, ¡°Don¡¯t think just because you are a girl, I will give you any leeway; I am a man who believes in true equality unlike other hypocrites out there. That guy of yours died so according to the tradition, you must die too; two bandit lovers meeting together in the depths of hell by morning, oh how awfully romantic.¡± The mercenary levelled her sword towards Lantis, possibly looking for a thrust. Lantis used his tomahawk to make a slash towards that pretty face of hers. The girl blocked the attack with her sword then stepped backwards analysing him. Lantis didn¡¯t give her the choice; he quickly lunged towards her with his other weapon aiming towards her stomach for a lethal cut in her intestines just like the last time. The girl seemed to sense the danger ahead of her as she dodged the attack and repelled with another sword swing. Lantis resisted the attack with a cross block of his two weapons. He grinned widely and continued his taunt. ¡°Will you two then kiss each other like one of those long-lost couples? Can you imagine how erotic it sounds? I am a very pious person but even I am wet in my pants. Tch, but¡­¡± The girl who was now panting and full of sweat angrily looked at him and groaned. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡­JUST DON''T FUCK WITH ME!! I will kill you, so bad¡­¡± She went for an uppercut towards Lantis'' throat. Lantis being the annoying guy, once again deflected with his tomahawk. He gave a sidekick and strike back with a counter of his own. ¡°But that¡¯s all you are ever going to be, isn''t it?. Oh, It hurts huh? All right, let¡¯s end this now.¡± The counter slash with the kukri managed to make a side slash in her stomach. Lantis quickly combined it with another thrust of his axe in her shoulders, which was once again followed by a block from his kukri to block another attack coming from the dying woman. The slash missing, the mercenary lost her chance and with that, her hopes too. Lantis made a roundhouse kick in her left leg, finally staggering her completely. She bent down; her sword fell to her side. Lantis saw the opportunity and sealed her life with a deep side slash in her neck, followed by a thrust in her head. With his two blades, he made a ''scissors cut'' in her neck separating her head from the rest of her body. Blood flowed out of her neck like a fountain, her head and body fell down on the ground separately. Cold and lifeless.
//You have performed an execution! //You have performed a combo! //Player Lantis is brutal! -15:59-
You know, you are really something when the normally silent system makes an effort to praise you. Lantis was feeling the exact same thing right now. ¡°I just¡­hah¡­ don¡¯t like to¡­ give a fuck. God, I feel sick.¡± Tired and panting, he looked at the notifications then at the timer. He then made a command, ¡°All right, helix. Stop the music. I know you want some cool stuff, but a tragedy background music is not the thing I need right now.¡± He picked up the fallen corpse then disposed it to somewhere else. ¡°At least, you fought well and didn¡¯t run away like others¡­..do. That at least was a plus from me, I guess.¡± Lantis went into a deep thought, his eyes turned mystical, just for a slight moment and he muttered quietly, ¡°Must have been a lucky guy to get a girl like that.¡± These were the last words he gave her, shrugging his head he realised he had wasted 20 seconds disposing of the bodies. A huge blunder! Guilty of being irresponsible, he quickly took what he could get out of those two and went towards the door. With a huff, he opened the door and entered the inner chambers of the castle. -15:38-
Chapter 7 – Lantis Shows His Might – II Chapter 7 ¨C Lantis Shows His Might ¨C II
-15:34- Before entering the doorway, Lantis had pre-emptively peered through the doorway twice to check for any movements inside as a precautionary measure. In both attempts, he only found silence as his answer. Now when he was actually inside the hallway, he found that exact eerie silence combined with sinister darkness as his new foes. Nothing could be seen clearly as far as his vision goes. Nothing could be heard except his own breathing. He crouched down and quickly stepped into the hallway with his two blades held tight in both hands. Before continuing any further, he suddenly halted and observed the hallway closely. ¡®Time was a scarce resource¡¯ with this thought as a stern warning. His brain immediately began to race with hundreds of thoughts that he could use as countermeasures. "Think baby think! There must be something that could be productive in this useless brain of mine. Barely 15 minutes remaining¡­.how can I possibly reduce the scope of my area and still could achieve the objective within the given time?" ¡°First things first, where are those damn hostages had been kept? I need to find them first. Once I do that, the next thing should be to sabotage. That can perhaps actually wait.¡± He continued to crouch and skulk through the hall. While moving down, he at least passed through 4 large doors, all fully intact and repaired. Was it really a ruined castle? Or was it made to look like one? He slowly moved to the doors on his right, as he could heard snoring coming from inside. When he was close enough to the door, he stood down and peered through the corners of the doorway. Inside he could see a large number of bed sheets on the floor, and sleeping in those furs and hide beds he spotted the forms of at least two dozen humans. ¡°Sleeping soundly like a log, huh? Well, I have a small gift for you all. I am gonna give you the best sleep of your lifetime.¡± Lantis scoffed as he began to think of a new plan. From his belt, he took out the only ¡®poison bomb¡¯ he had in his arsenal. He held it in his hands and smirked, ¡°Now this, my friend, is a good toy.¡± ¡°Helix, open database. Search poison bomb.¡±
//Opening database ¨C Last updated 36 minutes ago. //Connecting to server¡­ //Poison Bomb:Poisons bombs are one of the many weapons made available in the tutorial. These bombs when they explode release a poisonous cloud that quickly cripples anyone who inhales its fumes. //Director¡¯s remark:Quick, lethal and classy, these small guys know how to do their job and they do it well, perfect for a tutorial. Made from a plant with a very naughty secret, I swear when I say that you will not find this anymore in the game. Such is their rarity. Did you ask Why? Game balance, of course, a nightmare for every developer.
¡°This guy must have a shitty sense of humour in life. But this bomb is all I need right now. ¡± Smoothly holding the bomb in one hand, Lantis took out his firelighter. The firelighter burned giving off a small yellow flame. Realising something, he restrained his breadth and covered his mouth and nose with his arm. He quietly let the fire burn the fuse. Silently opening the door- just enough to open a gap and fit the thing inside. He shoved it inside and closed the door quickly. Pssshhhhh¡­¡­ The thing seemed to be doing its work, that¡¯s for sure. You know those ghastly noises when people make when they are out of breath or are about to die. Yep, Lantis could hear those sounds now, very clearly and in numbers. Along with the white smoky fog that was coming from the bottom gap, it was no less disturbing than a horror movie. Lantis gulped and spoke, ¡°en, I should probably move on, now.¡± -15:10- He turned left again this time and continued to move forward soon coming to another door, this time on the right side. The door was open, so he advanced towards the direction and peered into the room. No one was there to greet him. There were more beds on the ground like the previous one, but they all were empty. No breathing or snoring, nada. ¡°Interesting.¡± He observed the room and look for anything that might be of some use to him. There was a chest in the corner, which could be of value. But first, he went towards the nearby table and began to fiddle with the stuff over there. ¡°Lockpicks and a tension wrench, how convenient.¡± Lantis took the lock-picking tools, as it may come very handy later on and began to look at the various documents on the table. Fortunately, all of them, for some strange reason were all in English. He took one of this supposed documents, which actually turn out to be a one-page letter and began to read its contents.
[ By the three divines, we hit a real jackpot this time. The note has been sent and we will see how they respond. I believe it won¡¯t be too long before those rats come out of their holes and then we will slaughter them. Send them to slavery or something; I heard there is always a good price for a good elf. Those pointy ears gimmicks really test my patience, why won¡¯t they just give up? In the meantime, we¡¯ll keep breaking them down- piece by piece. Got some prisoners out there today, they will really ¡®satisfy¡¯ my urges for the coming days. We should be indeed set for a while, let the man rot in the cellar as I will feast with their maids. Hahaha!! Oh and I left some wine for you for in the room, consider it a bonus. Rigel Narsingthom]
-14:58- Lantis looked around the table, picked one of the wine bottles and drank it. It didn¡¯t even take him 2 seconds before he spilt it all from his mouth. ¡°Shit! Do they call this yellow ¡®piss¡¯ wine? Does something call ¡®quality¡¯ not matters anymore?¡± He searched for more clues, opened the drawers, and looked into the corners and beds but apart from few coins. It seemed the room was exhausted of usable resources. ¡°Now, I know pretty much what course of action to take. Find that cellar, find what ¡®they¡¯ are planning and to see if I could do something more. I don¡¯t really think it¡¯s gonna stop just there though.¡± He moved towards the chest and bent down, observing the lock. It was time to pick the first chest in the game! Of course, Lantis could have checked if one of the many keys he previously obtained could have opened the chest. Which he indeed did but surprise, surprise, it was only a fruitless effort. 5 seconds wasted, it was time to waste at least another 30 seconds. Lockpicking was a skill which seemed very ¡®simple¡¯ on paper but always torturing when you are the one actually doing it. Lantis didn¡¯t want to waste 5 minutes opening a single chest, he will attempt just 3 times if it does get opened, it¡¯s a ¡®bingo¡¯, if it doesn¡¯t he could only ¡®let go¡¯. He slowly inserted the tension wrench with slight pressure. Pressure was instrumental in opening a lock, the rule of thumb for Lantis in such games- Initially use slight pressure, and then increase it slightly as if you are massaging someone¡¯s boobs. Next, he inserted the pick with three ridges and slides the rack all the way to the back. Khorok! A slight sound could be heard from the lock, which made Lantis grin in glee. ¡°Well, so far so good.¡± Using his left hand to apply the pressure using the wrench, he used his right hand holding the pick to rake the inside of the plug. Sweat trickled from Lantis'' face but he intended to stay focused. He pulled the pin back, simultaneously lifting it up to put pressure. He kept repeating the steps over and over again- torquing the wrench and scrubbing the pins¡­and finally then¡­ Khorok! Khorok! Khatang!! With a sudden noise, the lock got unlocked and the lid of the chest opened. Lantis was bewildered for a moment before he squealed with delight. ¡°Holy shit!!Fucking Jesus, I managed to open it on my first try. Yeah, baby. I rule the world.¡± Sometimes, small things like this in life can give you great amounts of joy. This was especially true for stuff that you don¡¯t expect as well. Lantis was in bliss with this feeling now; he totally didn¡¯t expect to open the chest in such a short time. That was indeed a genuine claim considering his shortest track record was- 1 minute and 35 seconds, that too in his second attempt. ¡°My skills didn¡¯t betray me, yep. I wonder what toys I got this time.¡± He opened the chest fully and peered inside. What awaited him was a medium bag of gold coins worth 60 units, some precious stones, some antiques which he quickly disregarded from his ¡®imaginary loot pool¡¯ and probably the most fascinating- a handwear. ¡°Helix, what is this?¡±
//HELIX Database: //Fine Brass Knuckles: These weapons are probably one of the most balanced ones available. Melee weapons that are shaped to fit over user¡¯s knuckles, despite their unassuming appearance and weakness as a weapon- these weapons can be extremely ¡®brutally¡¯ lethal in the hands of an expert. Designed for violent unarmed-combat, inspired by ''reality''- in the game, you can do brutal takedowns, executions and of course- disarms with this on. Use it wisely. //Producer¡¯s remark: Brass knuckles, when a punch to the face is just not enough. The perfect weapon to use in a bad relationship. But don¡¯t use it against an armoured knight though, now that will suck ass. *This is a tutorial weapon. In the game, you can still get knuckles provided your tribe knows how to make one.
After reading such descriptions, who will still have the guts to reject such a treat? Anyhow, Lantis wore the knuckles over his Vambraces. He liked the new shiny look and the heavy feeling that came wearing it. He threw some punches in the air on purpose and was satisfied, ¡°Yep, feels much better now. Worth it! I have enough power to knock out someone instantly with a few punches now. Now, time to go.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. His mind made up, he stepped back from where he came from and began to move towards the new direction. The new pathway was less dark, narrower and there were lamps hung up on walls, pretty luxurious for a ruined castle such as this. He was not even that far before he saw three humans patrolling the corridor. As usual, Lantis stooped down in the farthest corner of their vision observing them from afar while leaning at the nearby wall. ¡°I could have used smoke bombs, but I want to try my knuckles badly. So¡­¡­let¡¯s try them.¡± He took out his bow and arrow, aimed the closest mercenary¡¯s head in his ¡®radar¡¯, drew the string and exhaled slowly, releasing the arrow. Twang! The string snaped and the arrow flew through the air with ease, taking less than even a second to pass through and slam forcefully in the head of the mercenary. Headshot! Accuracy.76% Lantis quickly moved backwards and hide in a corner and crouched down. He could faintly hear their steps coming towards him with haste. He still had the element of surprise, which was a good thing and only needed a moment to pre-emptively strike. He saw one of them coming towards his direction and the other one who was following suit but lagging quite a few steps away from him. ¡°Perfect!¡± Calculating their movements, Lantis sensed the opportunity. He got into an offensive stance, much like an experienced box fighter and put tension on his legs to move in reflex whenever the need arises to do so. The moment he saw the mercenary in his attack range, his legs automatically uncoiled. Lantis instantly accelerated, with a ferocious punch coming from him to strike at the enemy¡¯s throat with a second to spare. BOOM! BAM! This was again followed by a jab from his other fist in a quick sequence. ¡®Once you get started, you need to fuck it till you make it.¡± ¨C Lantis followed this motto in its purest form. He saw the mercenary quickly stepping back trying to make a swing. ¡°Over your dead body, motherfucker.¡± With a quick roundhouse kick from Lantis, the mercenary fell ¡®spectacularly¡¯ and Lantis made short work of him with a punch right in his face. He stood over the mercenary and looked at him. The punch broke his teeth; the left eye from his socket was coming out. The bridge of his nose and cheekbones were hammered into a pulp. Lantis looked at his own stomach with a sweaty look; he too had received a slash in his stomach area from the mercenary before he died. Tired, he let loose his breath and looked at the oncoming mercenary who was just twenty steps ahead of him. ¡°No time to waste.¡± Lantis quickly reached the enemy to counter him. He dodged the axe swing but this time the mercenary threw a kick which overtook him with surprise. The mercenary didn¡¯t stop there- he swung a slash in his arm and threw another kick to make him fall again. ¡°Shit, this is foul. But then again, that¡¯s what I was doing till now.¡± Lantis hit the mercenary under the jaw who intended to swing at him. He shrugged his shoulder and dodged it. He hit the mercenary four times- three lefts and a right in the face. The mercenary stumbled back, blood rushing from his nose. Lantis made another round kick on his jaw, knocking him out plain. Now, that was a good brawl. ¡°That¡¯s an instant KO. Point 1 goes to me, yeah; let¡¯s check how much I was punished this time.¡± Lantis looked at his HUD to see if he took any damage, after all, he was recklessly pushing forth like a turtle this entire time. It would be abnormal if the game didn¡¯t punish him for that.
//Player Lantis (Warchief) //Health [ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_] 88% //Stamina [\_\_\_\_\_\_] 63% //?
¡°Seems fair enough; I think, it would be better if I use my knuckles as a supplement to my blades. Now, that would be a good combination.¡± He kneeled down and efficiently looked what he could get out of these three. The first mercenary didn¡¯t have anything useful to him, the second one gave him few coins and a bread loaf but it was the third one which really made his eyes spark.
Weak Herbal Medicines
Type: Medicine
Effect: Can heal a meagre amount of health
Rarity: Very Common
Huntsman¡¯s Axe
Type: One-Handed Axe
Damage: 12/ Hack-Slash
Rarity: Common
Durability: Good
Along with these two things he also found a jewellery ring the mercenary was wearing and a bronze key. Indeed, this guy who was a dead pulp looked no less than a fat sheep In front of Lantis right now. -14:08- ¡°God, I am so tired now but this place doesn¡¯t seem to end. With what little loots I am getting, I wonder if I can survive the entire game like that, firstly where are those peasants, damn it?¡± Lantis continued his detour. He hadn¡¯t seen or heard anything but he wasn¡¯t going to take any chances- It¡¯s either them or him after all. Taking out his bow with a tight grip, he tried to push the next door open but found it locked. He took out his keys one by one and tried to unlock it quickly. ¡°Come on¡­.open up.¡± Khatang! He let out a short breath in relief, just another second and he would have gone desperate to the point of kicking the door itself. The door smoothly screeched open; this one seemed oddly really well-made. No holes, discolouration, oiled and really well-painted. Holding his bow up and down, swinging it back and forth Lantis looked for any further signs of movement. After a few seconds, pass and nothing move he steps into the room and looks around. Another room with no humans at the moment, ¡®just great¡¯ he thought. Searching for anything interesting, he found it was a storeroom of sorts but with nothing useful. He chanced upon a diary and looked into it. It was all about some expenses and savings, Lantis immediately closed the book. He sighed, kept it in his large inside pockets and quickly left the room. He moved to the last doorway in the corridor he was treading on, the one leading to another hallway with a torch in it. He peeked through the doorway and still saw nothing but the flickering of another torch. Readying his bow, he pushed the door open and entered inside. Continuing further down the lane, he reached a point what can be called a junction branching off into two paths. He took the path to the left and skulked down the lane. Wearing leather armour was indeed helping very much till now, in stealth and in hearing things, so Lantis didn¡¯t found it surprising at all when it helped him do both of this things simultaneously at the same time. -13:55- A bit distance ahead of him, Lantis hiding in the shadows of a lamp saw something new. ¡°Orcs? What the fuck are they doing here?¡± Two orcs and three humans were mumbling something with each other while guarding the door, Lantis couldn¡¯t hear them very clearly but he knew the room they were guarding must have something useful. But, the real question arrives. How to fuck can you kill them all in such a short time? Lantis¡¯ brain began to churn out some ideas. ¡°Assassinations? Nope. Tackling? Na, won¡¯t work. Aerial takedown will be highly impractical. Quick Takedown¡­.but the orcs are damn bulky. What should I do then? ¡­.looks like I got no choice but to use that.¡± It was time to take out the real ¡®star¡¯ of the show. Lantis from his belt smoothly detached one of the smoke bombs he had. He quietly began to move towards them ¡®skulking¡¯ from shadow to shadow, all the while trying his best to remain concealed in the corners. When he was at a satisfying angle from them; with his firelighter on, he began to let the fire burn the fuse as he watched them patrolling. He noticed that they were moving in an irregular pattern, ¡®all the more reason to use the smoke bomb now¡¯ he confirmed. As one could guess, Lantis didn¡¯t really want to use the smoke bombs; it came in a really limited quantity but it gave the user a huge tactical advantage. With a huff sound, Lantis threw the bomb towards those bandits. Tap! Psshhhhh¡­¡­. The bomb fell far from him and just as it hit the ground; it began to do what it was made for. Within a few moments, white smoke began to spread and rapidly engulfed the area. The orcs and the other mercenaries were caught entangled in its thick fog rendering them blind and confused. Humans and orcs alike began to roar and cough out of breath. In this thick fog, it will be really hard for someone to sense the other and Lantis being the ¡®lone wolf¡¯ here had the advantage. He was still far from them enough to avoid the on-going mayhem. Quickly tracking and marking each of their positions in his brain, Lantis began his move¡­.. Like a snake sneaking up on its prey, with his two blades intact in his hands Lantis reached the first Orc who was ¡®about to be a dead Orc in a moment¡¯. He charged towards the orc with his axe swinging for a blow towards its head, the orc violently thrust his spear towards him. Lantis dodged barely with a moment to spare. He grabbed its bald head and yanked it back again to push his dagger inside his throat clean, then with his axe made a deep slice in his neck and threw it forward in disgust to bleed it on the ground. His brown leather by now was a mishmash of red. Nauseated, he spat with extreme loathing, ¡°Never was a big fan of orcs or goblins. God, the odour! It feels like I have been in a pool of piss filled with cow dung and rotten eggs.¡± He quickly began to move towards the next Orc who was a bit right from him. The orc seemed to saw him as he levelled his spear towards him for a thrust; Instead of dodging or stepping back this time, Lantis lashed with his hands on and grabbed the shaft of spear knocking it off course. In a sequence, he brutally kicked the abdomen of the orc just in his genital area. ¡°AWWWWWW!!¡± The orc instantly cried and fell with his spear being free from his hand. Lantis hacked him with his axe right in his face and his kukri sealed his life with a slash in his belly. //You have performed a disarm! It felt like an hour had passed within seconds but Lantis knew this was all an illusion. Only in fights, the true tendency of a human starts to show up, panting and badly exhausted Lantis perceived the environment around him, ¡°Only the humans remain now, but¡­..orcs vs. elves, now where I have seen that before?¡± He quickly checked his HUD and yep, the situation was getting grave.
//Health [ \_\_\_\_\_\_] 79% //Stamina [\_\_\_] 38%
¡°It is really getting dark souls now. No health recharges or special treatments¡­fuck, if not for the fact I am utilising my resources cautiously I would have been long dead¡­..but, I kinda like it.¡± Lantis smirked as he thought all of this rubbish things, he could hear the pulse of his heart beating loudly and very closely now. The excitement of breaking through his limits running on his nerves made his mood all the way better, this was one of the traits of a player who has run through steeps and curves of life and the various experiences accumulated through playing games would know- To not give up under any circumstance, the moment you do that is the moment you lose. Lantis leapt forward with all his might towards the nearest mercenary; he extended his arm in a killing thrust aiming his kukri right at his pitiful forehead. The kukri hacks the skull like it¡¯s made of paper. The mercenary didn¡¯t even have the time to register what happened to it. With a slight shove from him, the mercenary fell. Only one remained now but as Lantis was about to turn he felt a searing pain in his back. By now the smoke had dispersed and thus his location was exposed to the last one. Alarmed he was about to turn but the damage had been dealt by then. //Vital Hit! //Direct Hit! //Vulnerable Hit! //Health [\_\_\_\_\_] 55% //Stamina [\_\_] 26% Warning: You are bleeding. Tend to your wounds or take medicines/potions to heal it quickly. Warning: You are low on stamina. Take rest for a while.
Lantis spun around and grabbed the mercenary by his throat. He flipped his kukri into a reverse grip and stabbed down the machete into the bandit¡¯s eye. He yanked the kukri, gouging out the mercenary¡¯s eye and released its throat to let the body fall to the ground. Lantis too exhausted fell to the ground, ¡°So I get it now, so executions, takedowns etc. are all heavy ¡®power¡¯ attacks that consume my stamina like water, makes sense. But, I won¡¯t be throwing those cheap light attacks, not my style of playing. I must increase my stamina somehow later in the game. Sort of realistic in a way, but annoying as well.¡± He looked at his wounds, god the guy really made a mark on him. He took some time to tighten up his wounds neat and tidy, to prevent the bleeding. Last, he also used that healing medicine to restore his health by about 15%. ¡°I need something that can give me stamina, is there anything up here?¡± He checked the orcs bodies in search of something, but what he got was a totally different thing that was out of his very expectations. ¡°A scroll? What is this?¡± Lantis from the hands of one of the orc found a parchment of paper. He picked it up and unrolled it. Surprisingly enough, this time he was not able to read anything that was written on the roll. The written script seemed awfully different from anything he had ever seen before.
-11:43- Ting! You have found an archaic lore! You have found the scroll ¡°An enquiry on the survival in foreboding¡± [The inhabitable lands of Wrothgard is a foreboding and unforgiving place for the unprepared. We Orcs, proud children¡¯s of the fire and fallen ones, on the other hand, are used to living in the harshest of the environment and as such our people are sturdy and have a knack for survival. We will ensure that all our people and soldiers alike will share these experiences for the generations to come and thus are able to survive much better.] Ting! You have unlocked the scroll: Art of Survival I And as such, your tribe will gain ¡®-15% Land Attrition¡¯ as ¡®traditions¡¯ when you will start your grand campaign.* Also, the tribe that you will lead will gain a free technology: Advanced Foraging. * *This boons will automatically come into effect once you have joined a tribe/clan/kingdom of your choice.
¡°It''s a so-so thingie, after all at the end of the day- to teach my tribe a new technology, I must know the knowledge about that technology itself. God, one of a kind weird game this shit is. Fortunately, I know about that tradition thing but the foraging I will need to do some research.¡± Lantis thought coolly. His injuries had been healed by now and his stamina recovered thanks to a stamina potion he got from the other orc. Taking the few gold coins he gained, he stood up and moved towards the room or hall they were guarding before. The moment he went inside the room- Lantis immediately regretted going in. If the smell of that orcs blood was bad before, the odour of the whole room had already broken through the 4th wall. It was no surprise because where he was now Lantis deduced must be a torture chamber. Furnaces producing molten materials, torture racks, brazen bull etc. etc. all kinds of things you name it could be found here. Lantis covering his mouth with a cloth searched for anything that he could find here. Suddenly, from his corner vision- he noticed a trapdoor on the floor itself. Lantis gulped and walked towards it, all the while thinking about one thing, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­.just, fucking don¡¯t tell me...¡± He bent down on one knee and took out his keys to check if any of it matches with the door lock. It did. Khatang! Lantis peeked inside the door, his eyes adjusting to the new-found darkness. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could feel someone was watching him. He bent his head even more down and what he saw made his pupils dilate. He saw at least a dozen people hiding in the cellar. All women and children, their clothes were torn down and blood coming out of their injuries. Their terrified faces looked back at him. Nobody dared to move.
Chapter 8 – The War Drums Rage In The Depths Of Night. – I Chapter 8 ¨C The War Drums Rage In The Depths Of Night. ¨C I
-11:40- Lantis was frozen in shock, his eyes were bulging in surprise and his mouth was pale. Amidst the unexpected shock, he was appalled by the treatment of these hostages by those so-called mercenaries. Seriously, even children were not spared? Am I watching some sort of hentai bestiality-shit or something? Cuz I sure as heck feel like that. Despite this, he mustered enough courage to put this initial setback behind his mind and began to think logically. Nothing can be achieved without a swift and decisive mind; he too was no different here. He observed each of them steadily and his curiosity peeked. ¡°Aside from that fact, I am pretty sure the females here have their fair share of misery too. But didn¡¯t Lllorva told me that they captured men too¡­.so why don¡¯t I see any of them here?¡± Whatever be the case, let¡¯s save them first. He pushed out his hands to bring them up as he said, ¡°Relax, I am not here to kill you. Look, what those bastards have done to you, come on get yourself moving with my hand.¡± Strangely, he got no reply from them instead they looked at him as if he was a monster and began to push backwards in horror. Lantis tilted his head and looked at them in askance, ¡°What¡¯s going on? I have no time to play hide and seek with you all. Time is running out, relax people, I won¡¯t do any harm to you. If you are thinking about those guys, then don¡¯t because they are already dead or at least most of them should be my now.¡± Although he said it, even he wondered what were the results on the other fronts, ¡°Well, I have already disposed of many of them so I think it won¡¯t be much of a problem evacuating these guys all alone. Considering the fact that I alone had done this in such a short time, it is no less than a great deed I suppose.¡± At this time, one of the ladies in the corner pushed forward and looked at him, her tattered clothes were not able to hide her injuries or those things that they might have done to her. Still, she had the ability to speak. That thing alone was pretty ¡®respectful¡¯ in Lantis'' eyes. She spoke lisped with her swollen lips, ¡°We can¡¯t move right now. We are being bound by these iron chains here. Many people here are injured to the point that they can¡¯t even stand up, much less move around. And I believe going outside will be a foolish thing to do.¡± Lantis sighed, ¡°Just when I thought this job was getting any easier, this happens...Still, since I have picked up this task I might as well see it to the end.¡± He looked around, and then back again looked at them. ¡°Hold on. I am coming down but first, let me find some stuff for you.¡± Standing up, he went back towards the place where he had killed those orcs and humans. He looked at them and nodded, ¡°These dead bodies will really get convenient for me now.¡± He stepped down and began to make them naked one by one. Taking out their weapons, armours, clothes or tools that were still intact, he moved to tearing apart the orcs bodies itself with his kukri and tomahawk. Anything that he found had a bit of ¡®functionality¡¯ was not spared from his carnage. While this was going on, Lantis realised that earlier he hadn¡¯t been that liberal with the number of things he was looting from the corpses. Maybe it was because of the restraint of time upon him or perhaps because he was not that opportunistic, it really hurt when he thought he could have made some extra money while selling those orc hides. But then again he was a pretty lazy ass, to begin with, if not for the fact that he was taking some measures for those hostages this time. This thought might not even, have occurred in his dumb head. ¡°Phew, all done.¡± When he was satisfied with the things that he obtained, he gave a small laugh and went back towards the cellar. Keeping that stuff nearby the trapdoor itself, he quickly jumped down and went underground.
-10:47- ¡°Alright, I am here. For the sake of convenience and my mental well-being, young ladies first.¡± Moving towards the woman who back then was the first to speak with him, he noticed that not only she was being bound by ropes and iron chains but also restrained by wooden planks that looked like stocks. Lantis concluded those mercenaries must have some sort of bondage fetish. He could only sigh after all this were the rage nowadays. He first cut her ropes, untied her hands then began to undo her chains with his keys. With that done, he hacked the stocks with his axe. ¡°Stay there, for now, don¡¯t move. Let your legs get their movements back.¡± Then he moved on to the other woman, this one was fainted and seemed pinned down towards the wall. She was partially naked and was bloodied. ¡°I will need to wake her up.¡± With that thought, Lantis looked at the previous woman he helped, ¡°Hey! You got some water with you?¡± The lady shook her head, instead, she asked, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Lan, short for Lantis.¡± A dumb of a Latin name my mother gave me. With a nonchalant reply, he looked at the fainted lady¡¯s wounds and thought of an idea. ¡°What is her name? And yours too?¡± ¡°Jennifer, they called her. Probably she was the daughter of the blacksmith. As for me, I am Taliya. Taliya Lester.¡± ¡°All good names, I suppose.¡± He tore up pieces of clothes he used before to cover his wounds and used it to tend her injuries as well. It helped that he had some leftover herbal medicines and potions for some necessary healings. Lastly, he used the ¡®piss¡¯ wine he had to sprinkle some drops on her face to wake her up. The girl coughed thrice before she opened her eyes and looked at him strangely with her round eyes. Moments later, it seemed to dawn on her what had happened and she could only stay silent sorrowfully. Her small tears were the only testament to the suffering she had passed through. ¡°Psychological trauma, nothing new stuff; should heal itself, given time,¡± Lantis concluded. But still as a decent human being, he thought he should at least give them some hope; also more importantly if all of them just stayed there doing nothing- he figured his mission would not end well. ¡°Listen up, you two. I don¡¯t know what happened here nor do I care to know about it. But I perceived the things that happened here must have been pretty bad for you two or for everyone here I suppose. You have suffered, now you are badly scarred, wounded and pretty bloodied. Isn¡¯t it too pitiful to look at? Tch Tch. But yet, here at this moment- you are still alive and¡­well standing. That means something, you know. I don¡¯t dare to imagine how much it must have been painful for you or how did you survive even. But right now, your silence dictates that you are still dwelling in the shadows of your past. Come on- stand strong, be strong. Show them at least you all can still stand straight, make all the sufferings that you had a bit more ¡®worthwhile¡¯. I will not say anymore, just know that your life is yours. What you do up to from here, is only up to you.¡± ¡°Wow, that was a pretty democratic speech, I gave there. Then again, I was pretty decent at this week¡¯s speech competition. Professor Tasha will be really proud of me. God, I not being selected for the elections is a waste of potential for the entire state.¡± His audience, on the other hand, was still pretty silent on his speech, but now at least they were looking at him more ¡®humanly¡¯. For Lantis, that was enough though. As long as they were doing something and were moving their butts, the trauma will not affect them that much or at least that''s what he had heard people say about it in his classes. Moving to the other woman, the one who seemed most pitiful of the bunch was badly bruised and battered, one of her hands was badly dislocated as well. ¡°This one will be a bit complicated,¡± Lantis remarked as he tore apart another of his clothes to wrap it around her belly. By now all his medicines and potions had gone dry, so chances of healing everyone has gone down drastically, Lantis thought of his available options once again before nodding affirmatively. He had the girl lying on her back on the floor. He slowly guided the dislocated arm on the injured side horizontally away from the body, then he grabbed the hand and pulled it steadily and firmly to put into its place. He then carefully but tightly bandaged it with wraps. Lantis tired took a deep sigh. ¡°First aid done, looks like the dislocated arm is back in its place, I know the pain. It hurts seriously.¡± He used the same wine to wake her up. ¡°At least this wine has a purpose now, one that is slightly different from what it was made for.¡± Lantis smirked at his thought but he had barely 8-9 minutes left to spare, so he couldn¡¯t afford many liberties. He called up everyone and said, ¡°Alright now, you three- Jennifer, Taliya and whoever you are all. Get everyone around you moving, I will be pulling you up. We will talk a bit and then I am sending you home. Seeing that you are all pretty much naked here, I have kept some stuff for you all up above. Grab anything you want, try swinging the blades a few times and we are all good. Oh, I nearly forgot, can any of you fight? ¡± Nobody moved and stared at him like a duck. He was dumbfounded and replied with haste, ¡°Seriously, no one?¡± The people there hesitated. Afraid of being subjected to humiliation and suffering once more, they really didn¡¯t want to join hands with a stranger nor did they want to trust him. All they wanted to was to be set free. But did they have any choice? After few moments, Jennifer was the first to raise her hands followed by Taliya and then an unknown woman on the back. Slowly, others too started to join in as well.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. As expected from the daughter of a blacksmith. ¡°Yep, that¡¯s what I like to see.¡± Lantis smiled wide, nodded and clapped his hands. ¡°Come on, meet me up then.¡± With that said, he went up.
-8:28- Time was nearly running out, Lantis moved to the second and third phase of the mission. That was to evacuate the hostages and to sabotage anything that the enemy had planned all in due time. He looked at the hostages and can¡¯t help but take a small pride in them. Come on, I should at least get some credits. They looked good as new now. Although I could have still watched them naked for some more time but then I will be badly flamed on the internet as a lecher. With a slight smirk on his face, he looked at everyone and said, ¡°I reckon many of you are still unarmed. Here take this huntsman¡¯s axe and common sword. ¡° Since he was going all out, he thought it won¡¯t be bad if he gave out some of his loots. Each life counts after all. Plus his kukris and tomahawks were already overpowered, to begin with. He still can¡¯t help but feel like a badass when he looked at its description.
HELIX Database// Kukri Knives/Gurkha Blade: A one of a kind knife around the world, when it comes to the deadliest of knives and machetes, the Kukri stands strong and proud among the masses. Famed for its versatility, you can do lethal hacking, chopping, cutting, slashing, jabbing, thrusting or cooking on the kitchen table, if you are feeling really ¡®hungry¡¯ enough. It¡¯s well-designed handle also allows you to deal the heaviest of cuts with the lowest of stamina, making your opponent bleed more then he needs to.
¡®As usual as ever, my choices are not bad¡¯ Lantis now looked at Jennifer with a questioning gaze and asked, ¡°I have wanted to ask you, but where are all the men?¡± Her gaze turned sorrowful as she looked at other women and spoke, ¡°they¡­..are no more.¡± ¡°Translation: they are probably dead.¡± Lantis nodded but even he thought it was pretty tragic. ¡°Was I late? No, no it can¡¯t be. Killing every fucking man should be impossible within the 18 minutes time frame. So that would probably mean either they are alive or they were not meant to be alive in this quest, to begin with. Plus, I can¡¯t see any dead bodies here so it sort of supports my hypothesis¡­¡­means they were taken somewhere away¡­..but why and where?¡± ¡°Alright then, let ask me you another question?¡± Lantis once again looked at them and asked, ¡°Do you know what they were up to?¡± Most of them shook their heads in unison but the third women he saved spoke dispirited, ¡°I probably don¡¯t know much but they were talking something about retaliating with force.¡± ¡°A counter-attack? pretty lame but it makes a whole lotta sense, but there shouldn¡¯t be much I can do to stop them then. Still, I should try.¡± Lantis felt he had enough information to continue onwards, so he decided to wrap up everything now. ¡°Alright, you all can go back now. I personally suggest returning eastwards because that¡¯s the direction I came from. There should not be many alive but if they are, with your new weapons and the strength of your group combined, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s gonna be that much of problem.¡± ¡°Ara, you are not letting us fight with you?¡± She looked at him confused. Lantis shook his head while thinking ¡°Too risky. You are just basic peasants who have just learned how to walk again, add to the fact that you don¡¯t know how to fight. You can only be used as meat shields in my eyes.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry; I can hold my ground properly here. There is an elven camp nearby, the one which you gave supplies too. They were the one to send me here, so it would be great if you all can go there.¡± ¡°You are kind, aren¡¯t you?¡± Taliya smiled as she spoke, the other two women behind her agreeing. Lantis was puzzled and tilted his head in confusion, ¡°That¡¯s a weird question you have put between us, girl. I am just doing what I must. Besides, I like any other normal human being have accumulated too many sins over the years, so it sort of balances out. ¡° ¡°Alright then, I guess this is a goodbye then. Thank you for everything you have done for us. We definitely won¡¯t have survived without you. It¡¯s a great regret that we don¡¯t have anything to give you but please, do come in our village. We will treat you well¡­.and also take care of yourself.¡± Taliya hugged him tightly while sobbing. Lantis was getting out of breath from the pressure of her chest. Fuck! Large boobs! My IQ is getting down again! This was once again followed by a hug from Jennifer, ¡°I thought I could have taken my payback now along with you. But since you insist to fight yourself, take this amulet of my mine and finish them up, may it help you wherever you go.¡± Smiling, she took out her amulet from her neck and gave it to Lantis. When he looked at it, he was pretty surprised. The amulet looked really beautiful. It had a pointy ¡®pendant¡¯ silver in colour with a blue gemstone fitted right at the centre. It stats was even more beautiful to look at.
Amulet of the Moon
Type: Jewelry
Effect: Increases your health, stamina and mana by 10% more.
Rarity: Rare
Durability: Excellent.
Yep, pretty nice shit to look at. He took the amulet and promised her, ¡°Since you have given me such a nice gift. I will definitely finish up what has remained undone.¡± ¡°Good then. I can now go easy.¡± As the crowd began to disappear, Lantis observed the woman whose name he didn¡¯t know even now. She was also the one who hasn¡¯t talked to him much and was always in the back. She reminds me of someone I used to know. He slowly asked, ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your name? You didn¡¯t tell me.¡± The woman or probably the girl gave him a fake smile and replied, ¡°Aela. They called me Aela.¡± Then she disappeared from the hallway, never to look at him back again. Lantis looked up at the ceiling and heaved a deep sigh, ¡°All good names, I suppose.¡± In his mind, he can¡¯t help but reflect and think about today¡¯s events, ¡°Losing everything than trying to stand up again is always a difficult rift and painful process. Let¡¯s hypothesize, and this is strictly hypothetical- should they really manage to recover once again. What will they think of the stuff that happened today? Those scars, these pains; will they wear it like a badge that they survive or will they loathe them? Will they even remember them? If they did, why and to whom? so many interesting questions left unanswered. Tch...what a shame.¡± Then from the deep corners of his mind, a voice echoed, ¡°In actuality, everyone is a slave to their past in one way or another. No matter how much one wants to forget and move forward, the events of the past will eventually catch up and cling to them like the morning sun rays as soon as they open their eyes.¡± Lantis giggled at this thought. ¡°I must be one heck of a coward to close my eyes all the time then. But being a coward is also a form of maturing; I guess I can live with that.¡±
-7:39- Dismissing these thoughts he looked at his HUD and then ahead. With newfound resolve, he smiled and continued moving, ¡°Things in life will continue to happen either way. Let¡¯s complete the mission at hand first. It shouldn''t take that long anyway.¡± Meanwhile, back at the camp though things were about to change and¡­fast. Soldiers irrespective of their genders were briskly moving from one place to other executing various orders from their superiors. Some were carrying necessary supplies and ammunition while others were bringing in their reports but all of them had one thing in common- their expressions, all deathly serious and filled with uncertainty. It was far from that known amiable and joyous atmosphere when Lantis had first arrived here. In one of the tents, Alyth and Lucis along with many other soldiers were looking at the reports. Tension filled the room as their expressions turned pale from the incoming news. Alyth wearily smiled looking at Lucis, ¡°This is not going to end well for us, isn¡¯t it?¡± Lucis nodded with a sigh, he rubbed his forehead with a piece of cloth and spoke. ¡°I knew they were coming but those bastards really picked up a very hard time.¡± He looked at one of the soldiers and asked, ¡°Are you really sure that the news is true?¡± The soldier nodded, ¡°I am completely sure, senior sire. We must anticipate an attack from Versalia soon.¡± Alyth expression turned grave and asked, his face filled with concern. ¡°Chief scout, give me the status report. How many and how far are they?¡± The scout looked at the map laid on the centre table and gave pointers, ¡°Sir, outlying village¡¯s report a human army with a large force is heading towards us from the south-east direction. At this rate, we can expect to meet them within 6-8 hours. I failed to gather much information about their total numbers but they outnumber us well enough for us to be wary of. They seem well-equipped and their army constitution is very well-balanced. The thick woods and dry lands here are working in our favour in slowing them down¡­.for now at least and in addition, I believe they are currently low in supplies, making our chances for survival quite evenly matched. Sire, I suggest rushing past the Yuriel Mountains as much as we can, as sooner as we can.¡± Alyth nodded, ¡°You did well but here is the deal¡­¡± He pointed towards the Yuriel Mountains and onto their present location, then at the South-east passes. ¡°We can¡¯t hope to reach these mountains any sooner than 12 hours. So completely focusing on that will be a devil¡¯s deal. Now don¡¯t think that staying here is a viable option too, the terrain here gives us little to no good advantages what¡¯s over. I suggest just moving a little bit towards the mountains NOT exactly towards it per say, just enough where the drylands and Everglades forest meet each other. ¡° Lucis nodded with Alyth¡¯s strategy, ¡°Yep, humans don¡¯t really fare well in mountainous regions or when the weather is itself against them. By moving there, many things will turn against them. Plus, with the lack of their supplies, I won¡¯t be surprised if they died from attrition alone. With that done, we can then catch them up by surprise, sweep them up from the behind or even flank them shattering their entire forces. ¡± Alyth countered Lucis, ¡°We should not get too cocky of ourselves. They are humans after all, plus I am worried about two things. We ourselves are not better off in the first place, we are outnumbered and our supplies are running out as well. Granted, the forests can supply us with stuff but the weather is cold, stupid cold.¡± Lucis replied nonchalantly, ¡°Not much we can do about it Alyth, nothing is ever perfect. We got to do with what we have. It will be great if their army deserts itself though, now that will be a sight to see.¡± ¡°Indeed. Let¡¯s hope for the best, then¡± Alyth looked at the other soldiers in the tent. ¡°Gentlemen, do you have any further queries?¡± Most of them shook their heads. The strategy seemed sound to them, but still, something like a battle can¡¯t be decided in the feat of a second. But by now even then there was nothing much they can do about it. Alyth gave those men 5 minutes to think about the decision with a sound and rational mind. One of them, actually a woman finally raised her hand and spoke while gazing at the map, ¡°Hypothetically speaking, should the present situation changes or some unexpected events unfold. Are the current strategies liable to change?¡± Alyth nodded and replied, ¡°Even if the circumstances remain the same. Strategies and logistics are some stuff which is always dynamic. Who knows we will order you all to sleep in the sands within the next few minutes? But on a serious note, the current orders are just the first phase of a long sequence. We will decide our stance with respect to what those damn monkeys do. Clear?¡± Lucis laughed and replied, ¡°Alright, any other questions?¡± No one said anything this time. Lucis nodded and looked at the girl, ¡°Alright, sergeant. Send the orders. I shouldn¡¯t see any men or women sitting idle.¡± Alyth laughed as he looked at Lucis filled with wariness, ¡°Shit got real too soon, huh? Well, time likes this reminds me of my family and how I crave for their love day and night. But then again, times like this are also the reason why I joined the army, which was to get away from them.¡± Lucis composed himself straight and replied, ¡°You are talking as if you are about to die tonight. Don¡¯t worry dawn will come and go, the night will rise and fall but we will remain standing in its wake.¡± Alyth looked at stars above in the night sky as a slight sneer appeared on his face. Those star constellations seemed to portray the image of his late wife in his mind. It was the image of a benevolent and motherly young woman with an everlasting smile looking at him. Yet, her eyes seemed to portray sadness beneath it. A gust of chilly wind blew into the tent through the window, causing many candles lighting the room to blow away, implying how powerless it was¡­.