《Codex of Shadows》 Chapter 1: God鈥檚 Announcement ¡°Hey Max, where did you go last night, I couldn¡¯t find you at all?¡± ¡°I felt bored so I went outside to grab a smoke, why? Did Nadia bore you so you looked for me to bail you out?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, her name was Nadia, I couldn¡¯t remember at all this morning, but come on we are friends aren¡¯t we, you can¡¯t bail on your friends like that, what if I really needed your help there?¡± ¡°I guess you would¡¯ve survived somehow, you usually do, now tell me Ted is there anything relevant you wanted to say to me?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t like that girl from last night did you? What was her name again, Sonya, Sanya, something¡­¡± ¡°Sofia, she was nice, it¡¯s just that I wasn¡¯t really in a mood to socialize, I can¡¯t blame it on her.¡± ¡°Oh, Maia again?¡± ¡°Something like that, but not exactly, I¡¯ve been thinking about what she said to me that night so I was kind of depressed.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be serious bro, why does what she said after dumping you have anything to do with you.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t, but I¡¯m thinking she might be right in a way or two.¡± ¡°So you want to say you are cold, arrogant, self-inflating, self-centered moron?¡± ¡°Jeez man, thanks for saying that out loud¡­¡± ¡°If you really were that kind of a person do you think me and rest of our company would hang out with you? Come on man, get a pair and start living your life the way you want it, stop letting her opinion ruin the rest of your life.¡± ¡°Yeah you might be right, hey how about we skip classes today and go throw some darts?¡± ¡°Hey not everyone is a damn genius like you man, if I skip any more classes ill fail for sure, go find the rest of the crew, they might already be there anyway, well Nick is there already most likely, he is only one with grades similar to yours.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Okay then, see you after classes then, oh and May was looking for you earlier, give her a call later.¡± ¡°Bro do you have a thing for my girlfriend? You know I¡¯m your bro, sharing is caring¡­¡± ¡°Fool, you better take care of her, she is a nice girl, she doesn¡¯t really deserve you cheating around on her.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, skip the talk, see you later bro.¡± ¡°Aight¡­¡± Said Max as he walked out of the dark room they were in, he picked up his jacket that was hanging on a wall next to the doors and went out. ¡°God, I don¡¯t know what I should do anymore, maybe that fool is right, I should start making my own decisions¡­ Okay then, I hope Nick is at Target or I¡¯ll look like a fool there alone.¡± As he was thinking while walking down the street suddenly there was loud thundering noise and sky instantly darkened. ¡°My dearest children, I am sorrowful to say that I am greatly disappointed in you, after everything that happened over the years you are still astray. I made a decision, every single criminal, caught and uncaught will be transferred over to my fellow, and will be properly tested by him, I am unaware what tests he will have, only thing I can surely say is that with every punishment he serves equal rewards for those worthy of it, but he is well known for his ruthless in his on view of justice, so I hope for the best for you my children, even if you have fallen I still have belief you can be saved. Also another thing I have to say is that for those who haven¡¯t wronged, but still wish to test their luck or strength, you can also be transferred, but be warned risk is high, but for great risk comes greater rewards, you all have until dawn to prepare and say your farewells, at 5 am central European time every criminal and every willing being will be transferred to another universe for their test, good luck my children.¡± Chapter 2 ¡°Friends, we are gathered here tonight because of what everyone here already heard earlier, although I am an Atheist and until now didn¡¯t believe in a God, but considering latest events I have no other choice than to believe. Seven of us here will decide upon our further actions after we discuss everything among ourselves, everyone will speak in turn one by one and we won¡¯t interrupt anyone for any reason, if you have anything to say, remember it or write it down and speak when it¡¯s your turn. Now let¡¯s begin, Hex, you start first and we go clockwise.¡± Said Nick before he sat down. ¡°Okay, so from what I understood, we can all choose if we want to go to another universe for a test or not, well I have my own doubts, we don¡¯t even know what the test is, what rewards we are talking about and what punishments there are, what if we just send ourselves into death just because we were greedy for money, power or glory. I want to hear your opinions, so ill finish with this. Tragic go on¡­¡± ¡°Thanks Hex, and I told you not to call me that, my name is Jeff not Tragic, can you guys seriously stop with that already¡­ Now back to the point, I talked earlier with a friend of mine, he is Muslim and he heard almost the same message we did, only difference was his Allah was talking to him instead of our God, therefore I can confirm the truth of what we heard, well at least to some degree, I honestly don¡¯t know if there is a reason for Gods to lie to us, you know why I¡¯m called Tragic, so I am not really a fan of risks, whatever your decision may be I will follow you guys ¡®till the end of earth if I have to, that¡¯s all I have to say, Einstein your turn.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have much to say, I¡¯ll just agree with Tragic, whatever you guys choose I¡¯ll follow, we are all together since forever, and I plan on staying like that.¡± ¡°Touching, Einstein you really touched me, I¡¯m going to start crying now, boohoo¡­.¡± ¡°Ted, knock it off, your turn.¡± ¡°Jeez Max you really have to get a sense of humor someday. You guys know how big of a coward I am, this time I¡¯ll side with Tragic, I¡¯m not fond of risks, but what scares me more than deaths is that you guys will lose sense of humor without me, so I have no other choice but go wherever you guys are, even if we are all to die, you will all die laughing!¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Fuck you, you can go die I have no plans on doing so!¡± ¡°Mark, chill out bro, I was just joking, you are even worse than Max you goddamn warmonger, go pick a fight with someone your own size you big ape.¡± ¡°Want a fight shrimp?¡± ¡°Ted, Mark, that¡¯s enough, it isn¡¯t time to fight, Mark what¡¯s your opinion?¡± ¡°Well that voice, whoever that was, said our luck and strength will be tested, hell yeah I¡¯m going, there¡¯s not a chance in hell I¡¯ll miss out on a fight.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t expect anything different from you anyway, was foolish to even ask, guess it¡¯s my turn then¡­ I, I¡¯m going¡­¡± Mumbled Max. ¡°Wait, what?!¡± Everyone screamed in unison. ¡°You, mister plan for everything, want to go somewhere where you don¡¯t know anything, come here I want to see if you bumped your head or if you have a fever maybe.¡± ¡°I¡¯m serious, you guys might not believe me, but I have some weird feeling about this, it¡¯s like if I don¡¯t go I will miss out on something extremely big.¡± ¡°So mister plan it all has a good feeling about this, well you guys already know the drill, let¡¯s go get rich! Hahaha!¡± As Ted said that everyone exploded into laughter. ¡°Hey Ted, what about May?¡± Max suddenly remembered. ¡°Oh right, well she said whatever we guys decide she will respect, and she will stick with me whatever happens. ¡°Are you sure bro, she isn¡¯t orphan like we are, she has parents, maybe it¡¯s not a best idea.¡± Said Nick. ¡°Duhh, that¡¯s what I said to her, but she wouldn¡¯t listen to me at all, she is too stubborn sometimes¡­¡± ¡°If she wasn¡¯t she probably wouldn¡¯t be with you this long.¡± ¡°Okay guys, we have couple of hours left, please do your preparations, we meet here at midnight again, don¡¯t bring anything valuable, bring only food, water and some necessities, that would be all.¡± Said Nick and then he left the room first without saying anything Chapter 3 ¡°Ted texted me just now, he is running late a bit.¡± Said Max. ¡°Okay, is everyone else prepared?¡± Asked Nick. ¡°I packed some dried food and water, should be enough to last me a week or so, depends on the usage.¡± Spoke Einstein. ¡°Same here.¡± Said Mark. ¡°Me too.¡± Spoke Tragic and Hex in unison. ¡°I packed dried food and water, but I also packed some spices, who knows if we are lucky enough we might have some better food there than we expect.¡± Said Max. ¡°Good, then everything is mostly ready, transfer should happen in an hour or so, so we still have some time left, did any one of you pack any weaponry?¡± Asked Nick. ¡°I brought a gun, but I don¡¯t have that much ammo, 2 clips only.¡± Said Mark. ¡°Where the fuck did you manage to get a gun?¡± Asked bewildered Einstein. ¡°I had it for some time, I just never told you guys.¡± Answered Mark. ¡°Max, what about you?¡± Asked Nick. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to say it, but hell since you asked, I brought a compact bow and around 100 arrows.¡± ¡°I just hope your aim is as good as ever.¡± Said Einstein. ¡°No need to worry about that, this lil¡¯ shit has been practicing with all sorts of weapons ever since he was able to hold one.¡± Said Mark as he grabbed Max and rubbed his head. ¡°Let. Me. Go! Jeez, Ted is right you really are human-like gorilla. Have you ever even thought about using your brain instead of those lumps of muscles sometimes?¡± ¡°Woah there lil¡¯ bro, are you calling your brother dumb?¡± ¡°So what if do, we all know you aren¡¯t brightest star in the sky, even so you are still our brother.¡± Answered Max as he rubbed his head. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s true, honestly I know I¡¯m a bit on the stupid side, but that¡¯s why I have you guys, you guys do the thinking I¡¯ll do punching.¡± ¡°A person who admits that he¡¯s stupid isn¡¯t stupid but flawed, a person that doesn¡¯t admit stupidity is truly stupid, so don¡¯t worry Mark, you are right, we are brothers, you will always have us to count on and we will always count on you.¡± Said Nick with a mild smile on his face.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Aye, I¡¯m gone for a little bit and you all go full sentimental immediately¡­¡± Howled Ted as he entered lightly lit room with a blonde haired girl behind him. ¡°And here comes the clown, all bow down to the royal jester.¡± Said sarcastically Einstein. ¡°Bro, I can¡¯t sense any love in your words, do you hate me that much?¡± Asked Ted with puppy eyes. ¡°Hate you? No you are still my brother, but would it kill you to be serious from time to time? We are going God knows where, wait, even God might not know where, and you are still cracking jokes, can anything ruin your mood?¡± ¡°Why so serious? We have our leader Nick for serious stuff and poker face Max, if I didn¡¯t joke around you guys would¡¯ve died of boredom already.¡± ¡°Indeed that might be true¡­¡± Spoke Hex with a laugh. ¡°Hey who are you calling poker face, watch that tongue of your or I might as well cut it short.¡± ¡°Woops, it lives! No! Save me! He¡¯s about to kill me, ape help me please.¡± Screamed Ted as he ran around Mark while Max was chasing him. ¡°Call me an ape one more time and I¡¯ll help him.¡± ¡°Jeez, you heartless bunch, you would really leave a brother to die without even blinking.¡± ¡°Says a guy who always brings trouble with his big mouth, you know if you kept silent for a while no one would think you were a mute.¡± Said Einstein. As they were joking around there was a sudden booming sound heard, they stood in spot and looked at the changing sky through the window. ¡°My dearest children, the time has come, every one of you willing to go and test yourself may choose one type of items to bring with them, groups of people will be transferred together as I don¡¯t wish to separate loved ones. Just hold on to the things you wish to leave with and you will be transferred with it. May the luck be with you my children.¡± ¡°Shit, I didn¡¯t think this would happen, quick pass all the food to Mark, Einstein and Hex. Ted, May, Tragic and I will bring the water, Max you gather all the weapons.¡± Said Nick hurriedly as he unpacked stuff from his bag and passed it on accordingly. ¡°Damn Nick, this is a Desert Eagle, where did you get this?¡± Said Max shocked. ¡°I stole it, drop the useless questions and move quickly, we don¡¯t know how much time we got left.¡± Answered Nick. With another boom, Gods voice was once again heard. ¡°A little more than 2 billion of my children have been selected for the transfer, be brave and best of luck to you my children.¡± ¡°Oh drop with the children part already, my turn!¡± Suddenly another voice was heard. ¡°Hello young ones, all of you who have been forced or have chosen to join this test will now get one last choice before departure. You will be going into a cruel world, life or death will depend only on you, in this test there is no good or evil, there is only strong and weak, a classic dog eat dog world, so think again how many of you wish to go, and I¡¯m only saying this because this sissy is all emotional and begging me to spare you all as much as I can. Now all volunteers raise your head if you still wish to go. Countdown begins now!¡± With that sentence finished group looked at one another, smiles formed on their faces as they nodded their heads and raised their heads looking at the ceiling above them. ¡°Max you really could¡¯ve painted this ceiling.¡± Said Ted jokingly. ¡°Shut up moron!¡± Said Max. Another bang was heard and suddenly they all lost vision, everything turned dark and they lost consciousness. Chapter 4 ¡°Welcome to Star Primo guests, prepare yourself, soon your consciousness will enter virtual dimension where you shall be further explained some stuff about this fun game of ours, good luck and have fun!¡± Spoke a slightly seductive voice from somewhere but everyone could hear it. As the group looked around they realized they were in some kind of cave-like room with only one doors and a big table in the middle of the room with all their bags piled up on it. Before they could even say anything they suddenly felt dizzy and fainted again. ¡°Hello guest, my name is Starfall and I am A.I. System made by great king to help you familiarize yourself with the system and its controls and uses, please state your real name.¡± ¡°Maxim Devra.¡± ¡°Name accepted, please state your ingame name.¡± ¡°Max.¡± Answered Max somewhat confused. ¡°Ingame name accepted, bloodline analysis finished, confirmed 3 bloodlines, do you wish to make a choice of your main bloodline?¡± ¡°3 bloodlines? Can you tell me more about it?¡± ¡°Certainly, analysis confirmed 3 bloodlines in your body and soul, you will be given additional choices to pick for your main bloodline along with your own bloodlines, picking a main bloodline is permanent and will influence some of your future aspects, do you wish to make a choice of your main bloodline?¡± ¡°What choices do I have?¡± ¡°Mortal, Spirit Demon, Divine Demon, Wraith, Elf, Dwarf, Fallen one, Celestial Angel, lesser Devil. Please make your choice.¡± ¡°Can you tell me which of these are my bloodlines?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t answer your question, please make your choice.¡± ¡°Can you at least explain to me differences between this bloodlines?¡± With that sentence blue wall of text appeared in Max¡¯s vision.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Mortal: Simplest of all bloodlines, has biggest evolutional potential of all races, can adapt to almost anything. Spirit Demon: Spiritual demonic being, evolved from main species of Demons, has exceptional spiritual powers but lower physical powers. Divine Demon: Spiritual demonic being, evolved from main species of Demons, one of purest bloodlines of Demons, has great potential in both physical and spiritual aspects. Wraith: Cold spiritual being, evolved from an experiment, has great spiritual powers but almost none physical powers. Elf: Lesser semi-mortal, creation of another God, has exceptional affinity with nature, can focus on either spiritual or physical aspect. Dwarf: Lesser semi-mortal, creation of another God, has exceptional affinity with earth, can focus on either spiritual or physical aspect. Fallen one: Lesser spiritual being, evolutional form of a greater spiritual being Angel, has good potential for both spiritual and physical aspect. Celestial Angel: Greater spiritual being, creation of another God, has exceptional affinity with light, can focus on either spiritual or physical aspect. Lesser Devil: Lesser spiritual being, creation of another God, has good affinity with corruption and fire, can focus on either spiritual or physical aspect.¡± ¡°Please make your choice.¡± Another voice notification was heard. ¡°I don¡¯t really understand much of this, but somehow Divine Demon seems the best of all, I choose Divine Demon.¡± ¡°Main bloodline chosen, as guest had 3 bloodlines to begin with another 2 random side bloodlines will be added, unless known bloodlines will be hidden from the guest.¡± ¡°Do you wish to keep you appearance or alter it?¡± ¡°Keep it.¡± ¡°You can proceed and customize your attributes, due to your main bloodline you have been given 3 bonus attribute points.¡± New blue screen popped up in front of Max again. ¡°Strength: 5 Agility: 5 Intelligence: 5 Attribute points: 6¡± ¡°Can you explain to me this attributes?¡± ¡°Certainly, Strength attribute increases you basic physical strength, amount of weight you can carry, your stamina, endurance and your attack power. Agility attribute increases your movement speed, perception, reaction speed, recovery speed, precision and attack power. Intelligence attribute increases your basic magic strength, mana pool, mana recovery speed and spell casting speed.¡± ¡°Add 2 points to strength, 3 points to agility and 1 point to intelligence.¡± ¡°Attribute customization finished, proceed to guide selection.¡± ¡°Guide predetermined, please check your guide in your status panel, you can invoke your status panel by summoning it with mental command ¡°status¡±.¡± ¡°Character customization finished, returning guests consciousness to its body, thank you for your visit, enjoy your stay.¡± Chapter 5 With another complete blackout Max returned to the room he was before, he looked around and saw his group still standing in their previous spots in a daze, only a couple of seconds later they started reacting as well. ¡°Damn, this feels so cool, hey guys did you all get the same things I did?¡± Spoke excitedly Ted. ¡°Ooh, I picked something like race, it was some bloodline thing or something like that.¡± Said Mark. ¡°Oh, and what did you pick? I chose Halfling Elf, guys I¡¯m an Elf now hahaha!¡± Said Ted as he started laughing. ¡°I picked Animal Spirit.¡± Said Mark. ¡°Me too.¡± Said Nick. ¡°I picked Shadow Spirit.¡± Said Tragic. ¡°I¡¯m a Shaman I guess.¡± Said Hex. ¡°I, I¡¯m a Lesser Water Elemental.¡± Said shyly May. ¡°I¡¯m a Wizard I think¡­¡± Said Einstein. ¡°I¡¯m a Divine Demon¡­¡± Mumbled Max. ¡°I also seem to have 2 other bloodlines, but I don¡¯t know what they are.¡± ¡°Wow, so cool, with you guys my choice seems kind of lame¡­¡± Said Ted. ¡°Did you guys pick your guides?¡± Asked Nick. ¡°I did, I got some lazy fat cat.¡± Answered Ted. ¡°I got a little monkey.¡± Said Mark. ¡°I got some Voodoo puppet.¡± Spoke Hex. ¡°I got a little puppet clown.¡± Said Tragic. ¡°I got a kitten.¡± Said Nick. ¡°I just got a water droplet, that A.I. said it¡¯s some kind of lesser elemental.¡± Said May. ¡°I have small mud golem.¡± Answered Einstein. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I got, it just said to check it in my status screen, now that you mention it I still haven¡¯t checked.¡± Said Max as he summoned up his status panel.
Name: Max Race: Divine Demon, (Hidden), (Hidden) STR: 7 AGI: 8 INT: 6 HP: 100 MP: 100 Skills: Ascension (Locked), Divine Aura (Passive), Starfall strike (lvl 1) Pets: Fairy Lulu (Guide)
¡°It says here I got Fairy Lulu, also I seem to have some skills, do you guys have any?¡± Said Max. ¡°I got a passive skill.¡± Answered Nick. ¡°Same here.¡± Said everyone in unison. ¡°So it seems only I got an active skill, I also have a locked skill.¡± ¡°Damn, this system is so unfair, why does Max get more stuff than we do, and his bloodline sounds really cool, it¡¯s totally unfair.¡± Said Ted while sulking. ¡°His strength is our strength, we are a group so if someone can grow stronger whole group will be stronger, so don¡¯t pout too much it will only benefit us nothing else.¡± Spoke Nick and then he continued; ¡°Let¡¯s all of us summon our guides and check what we should do next.¡± As he finished saying that he summoned a little kitten on his palm, everyone else followed his example and everyone summoned their own guides. Max raised his palm and summoned his fairy, after a second a little pixie like fairy appeared on his palm, put partly translucent purple wings, little purple one-piece dress and waist long purple hair, she raised her head and looked into Max¡¯s eyes and spoke; ¡°Dull face, dead eyes, medium length black hair, yup description fits¡­ Hi, my name is Lulu and I¡¯m forced to be your guide, now before we start anything every guide has to give a certain blessing to its host, so close your eyes this might be bright.¡± She kneeled down and touched Max¡¯s wrist with her hand and immediately previously dark room was filled with colorful lights. Ding!
Blessing of the Void granted, for more information check your status panel.
A system notification in light blue screen popped up in front of Max and shortly after that another notification popped up.
Congratulations on your first step in this game, system has awarded you with random growth weapon, please check your inventory for more information!
¡°Hey Lulu, what is this random growth weapon I got?¡± Asked confused Max. ¡°Growth items are items that don¡¯t have fixed level, they grow with usage and are same level as their host, or in other words its an item that you can always use, you will never have to replace it, you are really lucky to get one from the start, getting a growth item is usually really troublesome and they are mostly parts of legacies, but considering your bloodline it isn¡¯t that much of a wonder anyway, check what weapon did you get.¡± Explained Lulu slowly, after listening to what she said Max commanded his inventory open and a wristband appeared on his left wrist and soon after that another panel showed up in front of him, inside his inventory he could see a drop of red liquid inside a vial and a dagger next to it. Dagger looked quite simple but that drop of liquid gave of quite mysterious vibe. ¡°Lulu I got a dagger, looks kind of normal, but I also have some red liquid in a vial in my inventory.¡± ¡°Dagger¡¯s appearance will change with its level, but that red liquid you said is actually drop of blood, your bloodline isn¡¯t fully awakened and once you reach certain level you can consume that blood and use your ability to ascend to fully awaken your bloodline and get all of its bonuses.¡± ¡°Huh, so bloodlines can give bonuses?¡± ¡°Of course they can, didn¡¯t you already read what advantages have different bloodlines? Later on with your level growing you will unlock more abilities from your bloodline, your Starfall strike is your bloodline skill, it¡¯s a skill created by some of previous Divine Demons.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why I¡¯m only one with a skill then, so I guess my bloodline is really special?¡± ¡°Really special? Well yes you could say so, let me tell you, there are only couple of Divine Demons in all of the universes, they are one of primordial beings, and primordial means very, very old.¡± ¡°That sounds cool, I think Ted would flip out if he found that out, but aren¡¯t Demons evil, will I turn out evil because of my bloodline?¡± ¡°Demons are evil? What dumb idiot told you that? Demons are a race that has most freedom of all races, they are neither evil nor good, they are whatever they choose, there is no evil or good demon, only those demons who chose to become evil are evil, none are born truly evil, so you can relax, you will be only what you choose to be.¡± ¡°Another heartbreak for Ted I guess¡­ Can you explain to me this blessing you gave me?¡± ¡°What blessing did you get, guides cast random blessings on their hosts and it depends on their hosts what blessings do they get.¡± ¡°I got Blessing of the Void, what do I do with it?¡± ¡°Oh Void you say, you really are lucky, then you should¡¯ve gotten another ability from that blessing, also your future class choices might have something to do with the Void.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.¡°I did get ability now that you say so, it¡¯s called ¡°Void Walking¡±, what¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Have you ever played RPG before?¡± ¡°I guess I did a bit.¡± ¡°Then you might be familiar with the term ¡°Stealth¡± it¡¯s basically the same, only difference is that you won¡¯t hide in this dimension, you will enter another dimension to hide, and it¡¯s also usable in combat so it has more advantages than a classic stealth or hide.¡± ¡°So if you add that stealth ability and dagger I got I guess I am destined to be a thief class then?¡± ¡°You could say so, but destiny isn¡¯t working for Demons like you, it¡¯s just coincidence, Demons are so free that they have no destiny, only their own choice.¡± ¡°Is that everything then?¡± ¡°Mostly yes, next you should wait for the rest of your group to finish up with their guides and then you guys can leave this room and clear this dungeon.¡± ¡°Wait, we are in a dungeon?¡± ¡°Yes, there are currently 50 people in this dungeon including you guys, first group or person to clear this dungeon gets to get out into world, while the rest of people have to do another introduction dungeon, also you get a reward if you clear the dungeon first, while later dungeon winners won¡¯t get anything, only first place matters, but there¡¯s no need to rush, it¡¯s a fairly long dungeon so you won¡¯t finish it any time soon.¡± ¡°I see, if we rushed it how long would it take us?¡± ¡°If you really rushed it, you might end up dead before you finished it, don¡¯t take this place lightly, dungeons are places where u test your abilities and take risks for rewards, not a picnic spot. But if you do manage to rush it and survive, I say it would take about 2 days, normally it would take about 4 or 5 days.¡± ¡°Is there any reward if we clear this place fast?¡± ¡°There usually are rewards for fast clears, but only in some dungeons, this is introduction dungeon and you only get first clear reward nothing else.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°Well, all of the other guides are finished with their explanations, I¡¯ll go and sleep some more, don¡¯t wake me up unless it¡¯s something important, you can figure out most of the things yourself, also take care of that wristband you got, spatial items are really hard to find and other people can steal yours.¡± With her last words she vanished into a cloud of purple smoke and left Max standing there with his words stuck in his mouth. ¡°Is everyone ready?¡± Asked Nick when similar situation happened to him. ¡°Yeah, this little bastard was teasing me the whole time but he ultimately explained everything to me.¡± Said Ted. ¡°Okay, then we can start moving, everyone start unpacking and distributing stuff we got in bags, we will transfer everything into our inventory.¡± Ordered Nick. ¡°You can do that?¡± Asked Tragic shocked. ¡°Of course you can, did you listen to anything your guide explained to you? There is limited space in your inventory but as long as you have enough space in your inventory left you can put in there almost anything.¡± ¡°Cool, it¡¯s like that game I played before.¡± Exclaimed Ted. ¡°Exactly, this whole world was made to be a game, and we are inside of it, something like that anime watched earlier, what was its name, sword something.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, it¡¯s exactly the same, God I always wanted to be inside a game and now I finally got a chance!¡± Yelled Ted. ¡°Focus guys, let¡¯s concentrate on adapting to this game and surviving first, later on we can make some plans according to what we know.¡± ¡°Okay guys, lets listen to Nick, he was always our strategist, let¡¯s figure out our formation first, I guess you guys also gained something from your blessings you previously had.¡± Said Einstein. ¡°Yes, I got a pair of gauntlets and a buff to my defense.¡± Said Mark. ¡°I got a ring that gives me bonus to Agility attribute and a buff to my precision.¡± Spoke Ted. ¡°Okay Ted you go grab a gun from Max, I already asked my guide, aside from bows, crossbows and flying weapons there are also guns in this game, but they also get certain restrictions to be proper game items and all our guns we brought were converted into game items already. Mark you are our vanguard and Ted you will be a gunman.¡± Explained Nick. ¡°I got an ability to summon water sprites that can heal wounds, but it costs a lot of mana points so I can only use it twice in an hour.¡± Spoke May. ¡°Okay May you will be in the center of formation, you will heal us only if it is absolutely necessary or after the battle.¡± Ordered Nick. ¡°I got a curse ability and a buff to my spell casting speed, but I have to speak the words of my spell and I don¡¯t even know what language this is so it might be a little harder to memorize.¡± Said Hex. ¡°Okay Hex, you will go in front of May and you will have to curse our enemies while Mark holds them back, I got a long sword and a skill so I will be in vanguard with Mark.¡± Said Nick. ¡°I got a spell too, it¡¯s called Arcane burst, I don¡¯t have to chant its words but I need to focus and gather surrounding mana and condense it before it explodes, it says more mana I gather the more powerful the spell becomes.¡± Explained Einstein. ¡°Okay Einstein you will be in the back of the group and you will focus on enemies that are harder to handle.¡± ¡°I also got an ability, similar to Einstein¡¯s, I channel summoning of ghost that damage hostile targets in surrounding.¡± Explained Tragic. ¡°Perfect, you will go behind the vanguard and target our closest enemies, Max what about you?¡± Asked Nick. ¡°I got stealth ability and a dagger, so I guess I¡¯ll go and scout and finish of the enemies behind them.¡± ¡°Yes that¡¯s the thing I got in mind too, but can you show me your stealth first, we need to check how much of invisibility you actually get.¡± ¡°Okay then, here I go.¡± Said Max before he completely vanished from the spot, not even a trace of him could be seen. After couple of seconds passed Max appeared once again behind Nick with dagger in his hand lightly touching the back of Nick¡¯s neck. ¡°Amazing, I couldn¡¯t see, hear or sense you at all.¡± Exclaimed Nick lightly. ¡°Yeah, when I entered the stealth the whole world changed, I could still see your silhouettes, but everything was kind of blurred out, grayish and foggy.¡± ¡°Interesting, but you could still see us right?¡± ¡°Yes, but as soon as my dagger barely touched you I was forced out of invisibility, so I guess its not an ultimate invisibility.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter any way, you are completely unnoticeable while in stealth, so even if you do touch someone you just have to make sure that you do it with your dagger and with enough force to kill them in one strike, if you know what I mean.¡± ¡°Got it¡­¡± ¡°Okay guys, since we already finished with the formation, let¡¯s head out, and remember guys, safety first!¡± Warned Nick with a serious face. Chapter 6 After leaving their starting room, group realized they were in a narrow tunnel without any forks in sight, they kept moving forward with Max in the lead scouting areas ahead of them. After dozen minutes of walking they finally entered what seemed to be great stone hall, soon Max appeared before them and started talking. ¡°I saw something further inside, there are groups of monsters, I¡¯ve inspected them as you said and all of them are kobolds with their levels ranging from 1 to 3, I didn¡¯t see any higher than that.¡± ¡°Can you see if there is any exit out of here?¡± ¡°I saw some big stone doors at the end of the hall but it was guarded by some armored kobolds, I couldn¡¯t go near them so I couldn¡¯t inspect them.¡± ¡°Okay, so our mission should be passing those doors and reaching the other side of those doors for now, did you see any way to avoid kobolds until we reach the doors?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t avoid them but we could find a path with least resistance, but before we do so I have a suggestion. We don¡¯t know if other participants will enter same hall we are in and when we are going to run into someone, but don¡¯t forget that most of people here are criminals, if we are going to run into them we should have some strength first, so I think we should wipe out as many kobolds as we can before we proceed, first if someone else comes here they will have lesser kobolds to kill and lesser experience, only downside of this is that we would slow down a bit and make it easier for others to reach us.¡± ¡°What you said makes sense, but let¡¯s find smallest group of kobolds first, we don¡¯t know how strong they are or how to fight them.¡± ¡°Okay then, stay here and prepare I¡¯ll go find some small group near us.¡± Max disappeared right after he said that and rushed off to find kobolds. ¡°Okay guys, listen up, from what I know from some games I played, kobolds are mostly underground type of creatures that love gold and shiny jewels, most of them are miners so try looking out for valuable things, we might use them once we finish this dungeon.¡± Explained Nick slowly, rest of them nodded their heads and started preparing for a fight. Soon Max returned with news of nearby kobold group of 4, their group soon approached those kobolds and started whispering. ¡°Okay everyone, you know the formation, let¡¯s do it like what we talked about earlier, Mark you charge first and start smashing, Tragic and I will follow behind you and try and get whatever passes you, Einstein you look out for anything out of ordinary and tell us if there are more kobolds coming, May you just wait and watch, and Ted, please don¡¯t shoot us¡­ As a matter of fact, don¡¯t shoot at all, loud noise might alarm nearby kobolds and we might be screwed then. Oh right Max you¡­¡± Nick suddenly stopped and looked around himself.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Guys, where¡¯s Max?¡± ¡°He was here a minute ago, he just disappeared then, I think he went toward kobolds.¡± Said Einstein quietly. ¡°Quickly, let¡¯s see if he is there, he might need our help.¡± Whole group rushed toward the direction Max told them about, but when they arrived there what they saw shocked them completely. Max was standing there, looting a corpse of a kobold with 3 more corpses not too far away from each other. ¡°Did you kill them all?¡± Said Nick quietly. ¡°Yeah, you were kind of taking your sweet time talking so I just went and killed them, they aren¡¯t that big of a deal, only last one noticed me and when he did he was already on his way to underworld.¡± Max explained calmly without even stopping with his looting. ¡°Come on guys check for goodies, Nick you said it yourself, they might have some precious things on them.¡± ¡°You really are more foolish than I thought.¡± A sudden soft voice was heard, Lulu appeared on Max¡¯s shoulder while lightly tapping his head. ¡°If they had anything valuable there would be something like illusory leather bag floating above them, if you just tap that bag you will open their inventory and loot them properly, the thing you are doing is just messing around.¡± ¡°What, oh come on, you could¡¯ve said so earlier, you had to let me make a fool of myself.¡± Said Max grudgingly. ¡°You didn¡¯t ask¡­¡± Replied Lulu innocently. ¡°Max you can¡¯t do this.¡± Said Nick seriously. ¡°Oh come on, it¡¯s not like I would steal from you guys, what problem is there even if I looted without you guys, I would¡¯ve shared it anyway.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not talking about that, I¡¯m talking about you rushing of alone without us, we are god knows where, surrounded by god knows what or who, and you rushed out alone to fight, what if something happened to you.¡± ¡°Relax, I might have acted a bit rash here but I¡¯m not stupid, there¡¯s no way I would fight a losing fight, but if it makes you feel better I won¡¯t do it again.¡± ¡°Good, until we are familiar with everything don¡¯t do anything rash, now tell me did you get anything from this kobolds?¡± ¡°No items, just exp from killing them.¡± ¡°Oh really, how much?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know I didn¡¯t check, hey Lulu where do I check my level and my experience bar?¡± ¡°Just summon your level panel, there you will see your current exp, required exp for level up and what you get on your next level up.¡± Max listened to what she said and mentally commanded his level panel to appear. ¡°I got about 85 exp per kobold, I need total of 1000 to level up, and I¡¯m third of the way until level up.¡± ¡°So it would take us about 12 kobolds per person to level up, which is total of 96 kobolds for all of us to level up, okay then let¡¯s get started. Tragic how many ghosts can you summon to fight at the same time?¡± ¡°It just says it summons 1 ghost per enemy, doesn¡¯t seem to have a limit.¡± Answered Tragic. ¡°Okay then, we will try a slightly bigger groups then, same plan as before.¡± Chapter 7 ¡°Max, how big is the group in front of us?¡± Asked Nick. ¡°12 of them, but there are two smaller groups nearby so we have to finish it fast or else we will have double job.¡± ¡°Good, I hope we can handle this numbers, otherwise we are all risking this for nothing.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much, if it gets though on you guys I can create a way out for you.¡± ¡°Do you think you can surely do it?¡± ¡°Not surely, but probably.¡± ¡°Is that so¡­ Fine then, I¡¯ll count on you if it gets rough. Guys, let¡¯s move out, stick to the plan and we will be fine.¡± Group stood up and started following Max, soon after Max disappeared from their sights and they knew that was mark for fight, following which Mark charged out with a low shout and ran into the group of kobolds. Right after him Nick and Tragic followed, Tragic kneeled in front of Kobolds while Nick charged into them and started cutting them with his sword. While they were hunting fuzzy shadowy figures started appearing from the ground and pouncing to kobolds, biting and scratching them. ¡°This was done nicely, but Tragic those ghosts of yours are truly useful, each kept kobolds quite occupied.¡± Said Nick as he cleaned his sword with a rag. ¡°Yeah, but isn¡¯t their damage kind of low? I mean they killed one, maybe two kobolds and just bore the rest of them to death.¡± Complained Tragic. ¡°Hey you killed something at least, I just knocked them from the side to side, if someone has low lethality that should be me, do you know how hard I have to punch to actually kill something.¡± Said Mark. ¡°Guys, there¡¯s a little bit of problem, check your level panel.¡± Said Ted.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Oh, I see, this really might be a problem.¡± Mumbled Nick as he watched his own level panel. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Said Max as he appeared in front of the group. ¡°Damn bro, can you give us some heads up if you are going to pop up like that, you scared me half way to death.¡± Cried out Ted. ¡°Oh sorry about that, this ability just feels so natural to me somehow.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you are a demon, all dimensions come naturally to you.¡± Said Lulu as she appeared on Max¡¯s shoulder before she continued. ¡°And you monkeys should form a party if you want to share the exp you get from monsters you kill, like this you will get only what you kill.¡± Said Lulu as she already knew what they were worried about.¡± ¡°Can you seriously summon yourself without me summoning you every time?¡± Asked confused Max. ¡°Of course, unlike rest of the guides I retained all of my memories and my consciousness, even in that dull spiritual world they created for guides, and I¡¯m bored to death in there.¡± ¡°Okay, okay, just tell us how to form a party, I¡¯m close to leveling up already and there are some of them that didn¡¯t get a single exp point.¡± ¡°Just command your social panel, there you can add friends and chat with them over distance, you can even chat with them from your void dimension, and there you can form groups. It will also show you nearby players.¡± ¡°Great, you guys heard her, everyone add each other as friends then let¡¯s form a party.¡± Commanded Nick as he opened his own social panel. A minute or two later everyone finished with their own social panels and finally formed a party. In the edge of their visions appeared their own bars with their party members below them. ¡°Great, it¡¯s just like a game.¡± Exclaimed Ted. ¡°This is a game idiot.¡± Said Lulu while yawning. ¡°Come on Max, it¡¯s fine if you insult me, we are bros, but why does she have to insult me as well?¡± Complained Ted. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, apparently even I can¡¯t control her, so don¡¯t expect me to do something.¡± Said Max as he shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Whose damn brother are you, none of you guys has any blood ties between them and you still call each other brothers.¡± Said Lulu. ¡°We have no blood ties at all, we are all orphans, we became friends when we were kids and we were never separated from then on, we grew up together and we are even closer than some blood brothers, so I don¡¯t find anything strange with us calling ourselves brothers.¡± Explained Max. ¡°I see, interesting indeed.¡± Said Lulu with a chuckle and shortly afterwards she disappeared. ¡°Guys, there is something weird happening, I see two new names on social panel, there is someone near us, prepare for a fight.¡± Said Einstein while he was checking his social panel. Chapter 8 What names?¡± Asked Lulu in a hurry. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any players here other than you.¡± ¡°They are kind of odd named, one is Black the other one is White.¡± Said Einsten. ¡°Oh, I see, there¡¯s nothing to worry about, I know them.¡± Answered Lulu. ¡°And we know you brat.¡± Spoke somewhat loud voice from behind the rock. ¡°Who are you, show yourself.¡± Yelled Max as he vanished. ¡°Oh a demon, and a dimension walker at that, how unique, come show me what you can do.¡± Sounded the same voice again. Soon after that soft muffled grunt was heard and Max came flying over the rock and falling in front of Lulu. ¡°Hey White moron can you go a bit easier on him, he¡¯s just a kid you know.¡± Spoke Lulu. ¡°Who are you calling moron pixie, do you want me to spank you again you wretched mosquito.¡± Said white haired boy as he stepped out beyond the rock, his short white hair was spiked from the front to the back, with a grin on his face he walked slowly towards Lulu. ¡°One more step and I¡¯ll tell black moron to tell on you to the big guy.¡± Exclaimed Lulu slightly panicking. ¡°Before you tell me anything, would you mind skipping the moron part? I don¡¯t mind letting this idiot punish you if you keep doing it.¡± Spoke a soft voice as black colored figure appeared in front of white haired boy, his long black hair was dancing without the wind around him and there was a cold shine in his eyes as he looked at Lulu. ¡°Okay, okay, I won¡¯t say it anymore just keep that dog on a leash.¡± ¡°Who are you calling a dog u damn bug, [White Silence].¡± Spoke the white haired boy as he pointed his finger at Lulu, Lulu seamed like she started screaming at him but no one could hear her speak a single word. ¡°Ah how peaceful now that that bug is quiet. Now get up young one, I don¡¯t believe that flick of mine knocked you out, you are tougher than that.¡± Just as he finished speaking Max once more disappeared from where he was, in a second later white boy swatted his hand like he was keeping flies away and Max appeared flying back exactly where he fell first time. ¡°Done with the games young one? Can we talk now?¡± Spoke white haired boy as he yawned with hand over his mouth. ¡°Talk? How about you remove your silence from Lulu before we talk then?¡± Said Max as he stood up and tapped himself to remove the dust. ¡°Unique proposal, but I have to refuse, can you see that little bug still fuming over there like a damn volcano? I should just let her scream at me? I don¡¯t think so.¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Hey black guy, can you do something about this?¡± Spoke Max as he turned over to the black guy, Black just looked at him and nodded slightly before pointing his finger at White. ¡°[Black Seal].¡± He whispered softly, immediately after that Lulu started screaming and White stood frozen in spot. ¡°You god damn, hot headed, irresponsible warmonger.¡± Yelled Lulu as she violently flapped her wings while Max held her in place. ¡°Unseal him, let¡¯s have a normal talk, Lulu keep quiet or I will let them silence you again.¡± Spoke Max, soon after White started moving again, he glanced at Black and with few grumbling noises he sat down on a small rock nearby. ¡°Now, considering this little pest knows you, you are probably part of the system too, aren¡¯t you?¡± Asked Max calmly. ¡°You could say so.¡± Answered softly Black. ¡°Then why are you here?¡± ¡°White was bored so we went for a walk, we saw you fight so we decided to stick around, your group is kind of amusing to us, that¡¯s all, but now considering you noticed us our fun is over. I also want to reward you for noticing us, do you wish to start your first quest now? Beware, this quest is slightly different than usual starting quests.¡± ¡°You followed White on a walk? Who are you trying to lie to boy, unless ordered you never follow him.¡± Spoke Lulu in contempt. ¡°Watch your mouth fairy, speak any more and I will replace you with someone who knows what they can say and what they can¡¯t. And call me boy one more time I will silence you permanently, don¡¯t forget who is older one here.¡± Spoke Black softly without even glancing at Lulu, Lulu immediately shut up and froze in spot. ¡°As a matter of fact we both are older than you, so why are you afraid of him and not me?¡± Grumbled in discontent White. ¡°Because he is serious, and god knows when was the last time you were serious.¡± Answered Lulu. ¡°Are you calling me a kid again?¡± Stood up ragingly White, but he glanced at Black once and sat down immediately. ¡°Stop acting childishly, Lulu I will warn you final time, think before you speak or there will be punishment.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, I get it, continue.¡± ¡°Now, let¡¯s talk business, do you want our quest or not?¡± Spoke Black. ¡°Single person or group?¡± Asked Max. ¡°Your choice.¡± ¡°Is it hard?¡± ¡°It could be.¡± ¡°Give each of us a single quest and we will accept.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°But you said its my choice.¡± ¡°It is, but that isn¡¯t part of the choice, pick, single one for you, or group quest for all of you.¡± ¡°I choose group quest then.¡± ¡°Fine, next kobold you kill will drop you a quest item for your whole group, the harder it is for you to kill that kobold, the harder the quest will be.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± Mumbled Max. ¡°Hey kiddo, can you not say that word please?¡± Spoke White all of the sudden. ¡°Interesting?¡± ¡°Yes, stop saying that.¡± ¡°Why, it is interesting.¡± Spoke Max in confusion. ¡°Just stop it damn it, I¡¯m having flashbacks every time I hear that word.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like it¡¯s one of those good flashbacks.¡± ¡°If they were I wouldn¡¯t tell you to stop saying that word.¡± ¡°Oh, interesting.¡± Said Max with a slight grin on his face. ¡°There you go again, god I want to slap you so hard right now.¡± White said as he stood up, but before he could even make a step Black raised his finger and pointed it beneath White. ¡°[Black Portal].¡± A black colorless hole appeared beneath White and he fell through it. ¡°I bid you farewell, best of luck young ones.¡± Spoke Black as he jumped into the portal before it closed. ¡°Lulu who are they?¡± Asked Max. ¡°Only thing I can say to you right now is that they are primordial, as for the meaning or more explanation, I can¡¯t do that.¡± Said Lulu. ¡°He could see me, why is that?¡± ¡°You need tens of thousands more levels for you to just touch him, barely once, hundreds of thousands so you can fight him, and if he is in a good mood you might even punch him, but never think of a possibility where you can beat him. That is what a primordial is.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± Said Max with a slight smile. Chapter 9 ¡°So basically, you can¡¯t tell us anything useful about those two?¡± Asked Nick. ¡°Only thing I can say is that they are primordials, you will learn more about them later, there are special world and elite quests that have some connections with primordial, and most primordials are under command of king, creator of this game.¡± Answered Lulu. ¡°Fair enough, Lulu what kobold should we get next, they said next kobold will start our quest, so what should we go for then?¡± Asked Max. ¡°Well in my opinion those two are crazy and you shouldn¡¯t trust them that much, white moron loves playing games so it wouldn¡¯t surprise me if this was just one more of those games, but then again black moron was here too and he is direct and he didn¡¯t say anything about that quests except that you choose its difficulty, and he is somewhat trustworthy, unless he was ordered to lie he will mostly prefer not to, so my advice would be, handle this with care, it might be harder than you might like it.¡± Explained Lulu. ¡°Perfect, lets find us some elite kobolds, Lulu what difference is there between regular and elite monsters, except their strength of course?¡± Asked Max. ¡°Their loot is better and in greater quantity, they give more exp, they are stronger, faster and smarter, and they have fewer fatal spots.¡± ¡°Now I understand most of it, but what are fatal spots?¡± Asked Max. ¡°There are couple these ¡°spots¡± on every monster, critical spots, lethal spots and fatal spots are most common, they either increase chance for critical, lethal and fatal hits or guarantee them, everyone should focus on critical and lethal spots, its assassins and snipers job to hit fatal spots, so that should be your job only here, unless that fatso who never shot a person thinks he can shoot accurately enough.¡± ¡°Mind explaining difference between those spots?¡± Asked Nick. ¡°Critical spots may increase your critical strike chance, those spots are usually head, neck, heart and other stuff like that, critical strike deals from 50% up to double your damage. Now lethal shots are similar but a bit different, lethal shots aren¡¯t based on your damage, but they do increase your damage based on your targets maximum HP, each lethal spot is worth from 5% up to 20% of targets HP as bonus damage.¡± Explained Lulu. ¡°So basically we should aim for lethal spots?¡± Asked Ted.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Oh if you find one that easy yes, but in most cases regular monsters don¡¯t have lethal spots, but they do always have a fatal spot, fatal hit will instantly kill anyone and anything, its an instakill spot. But here¡¯s the deal, although everything has a fatal spot, it is hardest to locate spot on a target and its even greater pain in the ass to hit it.¡± ¡°So what are you trying to tell us? We shouldn¡¯t try and hit those spots?¡± Asked confused Ted. ¡°No fat idiot I¡¯m not saying that. You should hit those spots as much as you can, that is if you can, but my advice is not to force yourself, it is better to land one regular strike than to miss one critical one, later you might find some battle movement skills which will help you out with positioning around target so it will be easier for you to hit those spots, until then just practice fighting normally.¡± ¡°What about me?¡± Asked Max, ¡°You said I should look for fatal spots didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Well yes, you should start practicing that now already, it will be only harder for you later, look most but not all humanoid have almost the same spots, those include all three spots, so generalizing being by their race or appearance won¡¯t do you much harm, but remember spots may be different for different creatures, and most creatures will protect their spots, I mean there aren¡¯t much stupid creatures like this kobolds that will leave their fatal spots open, that is practically inviting to be killed, so protect your spots as well, you can see your spots on your portrait in status menu, you will see green, yellow and red circles on your body if you look closely, green is for critical, yellow is for lethal and red is for fatal, you can also use your body as an example to figure out other creatures spots.¡± ¡°Damn that¡¯s one hell of a explanation, so basically just hit those spots and avoid being hit there?¡± Asked Ted. ¡°Yes that would be an explanation that even fat idiot like you could understand.¡± Answered Lulu. ¡°Come on Max, does she have to insult me constantly?¡± ¡°If you were a bit smarter and less fat I wouldn¡¯t have a reason to insult you.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand, I¡¯m doing my brothers a favor, if I were to lose weight there would be no more girls looking at them, they would all be looking at me, I am that handsome.¡± ¡°Yes that sentence might be half true, your bear like build and bear belly would definitely steal everyone¡¯s focus away.¡± ¡°Maaax, are you my brother or not, control her please.¡± ¡°Pfft, this chibi is couple eons too early to control me, just look at him, he isn¡¯t even listening to us, he is all alone in his own world and god knows what he¡¯s thinking.¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking about fatal spots and ways to reach them easily.¡± Answered Max with deadpan face. ¡°See, he can hear us fine, stop insulting everyone you damn oversized fly.¡± Mocked Ted. ¡°Who are you calling oversized fly you oversized unknown life-form.¡± Lulu angrily rebuked. ¡°Guys, I¡¯ll go find us an elite kobold, after we down it we will finish up this cave then continue on. Get some rest I will be back soon.¡± Spoke Max as he disappeared from their sights instantly, immediately after that Lulu disappeared too. Chapter 10 POV: Max So basically elite isn¡¯t any different than normal if I just hit his fatal spot huh, that sound quite easy. ¡°Of course it is easy, you are an assassin, it should be easier for you than for anyone else, what is so wonderful about that?¡± Asked Lulu who appeared on Max¡¯s shoulder. You don¡¯t get it, I don¡¯t know anything about assassinations, I would prefer if I was a fighter more than an assassin¡­ ¡°Easy boy, and who told you that you won¡¯t get a chance to fight, you think every fight will be solved in one hit K.O.?¡± What do you mean by that? ¡°I mean what I said, unless you kill every single creature with one hit you will have a lot of fighting, assassination is more like first move bonus for you, you chose when and where you fight, that¡¯s the advantage you get as an assassin.¡± Okay, I somewhat get it now, but damn this Void dimension is awesome. ¡°It¡¯s not as awesome as you think, down here in starting tunnels you don¡¯t have any restriction on it, but that¡¯s only here, when you leave this place a lot of restrictions will be put on you.¡± Like what? ¡°Like cooldown time, time spent in this dimension, void creatures and so on¡­¡± Void creatures? What are those? ¡°Those are non-physical creatures that hate every living being, they reside in void and they will sense every living being nearby in void and they will hunt you with all the hatred they have.¡± What level are those void creatures usually? ¡°They don¡¯t have actual levels so they will always appear like they are your level, but difference in power between you guys is too big for you to overcome, you can¡¯t even touch them so don¡¯t even think about fighting them, if you see one run like hell is after you.¡± Will I recognize one if I see it? ¡°Don¡¯t worry you will, in this colorless world only those creatures have a form, they aren¡¯t shadowy silhouettes like everything else, so run from anything that has a form, no matter how harmless it looks.¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Sure, by the way Lulu, is this big shit in front of me an elite kobold? ¡°Why don¡¯t you try inspecting it for once you moron, just think or say inspect and it will show you some basic information about it.¡± Inspect! ¡°Kobold magus (Elite) HP: 600 MP: 1250¡± It really is an elite, and what about those small ones, inspect! ¡°Kobold guard HP: 200¡± So one elite mage and 3 guards, this should be easy enough for us, but wait that black guy said first monster killed will drop quest item so we can¡¯t kill guards first, this might be little troublesome. ¡°Little troublesome? That¡¯s an elite mage, even if it is an kobold it surely has quite a punch behind it¡¯s spells, if you don¡¯t wipe it out first it will wipe you guys out.¡± I haven¡¯t really asked you until now but what happens if we die? ¡°Nothing much, you die and if your souls aren¡¯t destroyed they will be retained until end of the game and then you will be graded and sentenced accordingly.¡± So there is no resurrection or whatever similar to it like in games? ¡°There is, you just don¡¯t have it, that shaman friend of yours might get it, that blonde chick also, depends on what classes they pick later on.¡± Classes? Didn¡¯t we already pick our classes? ¡°No, you damn moron didn¡¯t you listen at all? You picked bloodlines, yeah sure bloodlines can be awesome, but they don¡¯t predetermine anything, they are just something like a minor help along to your class, unless you have a super awesome bloodline, then you might consider what class would you pick because of your bloodline.¡± So when do we get to pick a class? ¡°You can get a class in 3 known ways, with class scroll, most of rare classes are in class scrolls, second is through the quest, you can get from ordinary all the way to some legendary classes in those quests, it totally depends on the quest and your performance on the quest and third way is NPC village, you can get ordinary and rare ones there, and if your luck is super amazing you might even get some legendary class there too. You can have up to two classes, one main class and other supporting class, first class you pick is considered your main class and second one is supporting one, you can overwrite your class choice but then you would have to level up new class all over again, you can also promote a class to an advanced rank if you get a promotion quest or scroll that is fitting for your class.¡± Sound complicated. ¡°It gets easier in practice, you will understand it once you get there, for now you are classless and you shouldn¡¯t think too much about it.¡± Okay then, I should tell the guys that I found an elite here. Chapter 11 ¡°Hey guys, I¡¯ve found an elite, there might be a little trouble there though¡­¡± Said Max as he appeared before his friends. ¡°What trouble?¡± Asked Nick. ¡°Well that elite is a mage, and Lulu says it is strong enough to wipe us out, and it is also surrounded by 3 more regular kobold guards.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t find any other elite?¡± Asked Tragic. ¡°No, I searched for an hour and that¡¯s only elite I ran into, it¡¯s not that far from here and it¡¯s somewhat isolated so it is a nice target for us.¡± ¡°That is true, but we can¡¯t ignore the main problem, first creature we kill drops the quest item so we must kill that mage before the guards.¡± Said Nick. ¡°What if we left Mark and Tragic to confuse guards while we kill that mage.¡± Said Ted. ¡°Well that could work, but who would tank that mage for us then?¡± Asked Einstein. ¡°Maybe we won¡¯t need a tank for it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s true, if we can kill it before finishes casting spell then we won¡¯t need a tank, but the problem is can we kill it before it casts a spell, we don¡¯t even know what kind of spells it has and how long are it¡¯s casting times for those spells.¡± Explained Nick. ¡°Lulu come out for a second I want to ask you something.¡± Said Max. ¡°What is it now, can¡¯t you just let me sleep?¡± Grumbled Lulu when she appeared on Max¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Do I need a spell to stop spell casting of my target?¡± Asked Max. ¡°Oh I see.¡± Mumbled Nick with a slight smile. ¡°Normally you do, but this is a starting dungeon and everything and everyone is low leveled so they need an incantation for a spell, normally you need a counter spell to stop cast time of a spell, but if you can stop it from finishing incantation of a spell you can interrupt it¡¯s spell casting.¡± Explained Lulu. ¡°If that¡¯s all I¡¯m going back to sleep.¡± With a soft yawn Lulu disappeared again. ¡°Okay you heard her, problem solved, only thing we have to do is to gag that kobold before it finishes the spell.¡± Said Nick. ¡°Okay, Max lead the way, we will continue according to plan, Ted you will join us in this fight, you are free to shoot.¡± ¡°Was about damn time, bored the shit out of me already.¡± Complained Ted. ¡°Just try not to shoot us, will you bro?¡± Joked Max. ¡°Don¡¯t stand in front of me and I won¡¯t, hey I went shooting with you couple of times, my aim isn¡¯t that bad at all.¡± ¡°Just focus, don¡¯t rush, this is a live target and we will also be there so be extra careful.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry bro, did I ever disappoint you?¡± Said Ted with a proud smile on his face. ¡°Like a dozen of times this year already¡­¡± Answered Max with everyone bursting out laughing loudly.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Some fine brothers you are, badmouthing me on every corner¡­¡± Complained Ted. ¡°Jokes aside, Ted I know we tease you sometimes but that¡¯s no reason to shoot us ¡°accidently¡± you know.¡± Said Nick. ¡°Oh come on, do you trust me that little?¡± ¡°Oh we trust you, we just don¡¯t trust that aim of yours.¡± Joked Mark. ¡°If you were my target there would be no way in hell I could miss.¡± Answered teasingly Ted. ¡°You calling me gorilla again, want a fight bro?¡± Asked Mark as he pulled his sleeves up. ¡°Monkey calm down, I didn¡¯t say anything, you mentioned gorillas first, I¡¯ll get you a banana later so just calm down.¡± ¡°You damn fatso, stop running I¡¯ll beat you black and blue once I catch you.¡± Growled Mark as he chased Ted around. ¡°Okay guys, enough messing around, we have a quest to get and cave to leave, let¡¯s push the tempo before someone finishes before us.¡± Said Nick. ¡°There they are guys, okay let¡¯s do it the way we talked about it, Mark and Tragic you guys go first, as soon as that mage starts casting I will be hot on it¡¯s back, once it turns around toward me rain over it with everything you have, Ted don¡¯t shoot me please.¡± Said Max as he disappeared from the sight again. ¡°You heard him guys, let¡¯s get this party started then.¡± Said Mark before he started charging toward kobold guards slamming his shoulder right into first guard with Tragic running behind him. Immediately after that Max appeared behind kobold mage stabbing it in its back. Kobold mage angrily turned around and started chanting a spell with mass of fire forming in its left hand but Max quickly countered that with a swift knee kick at its mouth shattering its teeth. ¡°Nice job bro, now let me finish it off!¡± Yelled Ted as he opened fire at kobold mage, but most of his shots missed with couple of them landing on its back and one lucky shot to its head. With that shot kobold mage tumbled down on the ground, with a leather pouch appearing above its corpse. ¡°Nice job Ted, it went faster then I thought, how much damage did you do to it?¡± Said Nick while fighting his new target. ¡°Around 50 per shot with that last shot doing a little bit more than 200, damn this guns are awesome.¡± Answered Ted. ¡°What¡¯s not awesome is your aiming, you almost shot me bro, and you emptied whole clip of that colt!¡± Yelled angrily Max. ¡°That enough, focus on finishing this fight!¡± Yelled in response Nick as he decapitated his kobold guard. Soon afterwards last kobold fell to the ground and the group started cheering. Ding!
You have leveled up! You are now level 2!
You have received new quest ¡°Wooden Crown¡±.
For your achievement you have received a new title!
For being fastest group to level up you have received bonus loot!
Congratulations on finishing Introduction Dungeon first, you have received new title and bonus loot! You will be sent outside dungeon in 2 minutes!
¡°Freaking awesome, do you guys see this, we got bonus loot and titles! We cleared this dungeon first, we even leveled up!¡± Ted yelled with joy as he continued cheering their victory. ¡°Everyone quickly check your new loot quickly, we will be leaving this place in less than 2 minutes, we don¡¯t know where we will be sent out so prepare for fight!¡± Yelled Nick. Inventory! Thought quickly Max and with that thought inventory panel appeared before him. Okay, I got a ring, pair of gloves and that quest item, let¡¯s see what we got.
Ring of Regeneration
+1 HP/5s
Leather gloves
+1 AGI
Wooden Crown (Quest Item)
Okay let¡¯s equip this and check my new status! With a thought ring appeared on Max¡¯s left pinky finger and moment after that pair of black fitting gloves appeared on his hands. Status!
Name: Max Race: Divine Demon, (Hidden), (Hidden)
STR: 7 AGI: 9 INT: 6
+1 Skill Point
HP: 100 MP: 100
Skills: Ascension (Locked), Divine Aura (Passive), Starfall strike (lvl 1), Void Walking (lvl 1)
Pets: Fairy Lulu (Guide)