《The Realm》 Prologue part 1 The sky was pure blue with no clouds in sight and a pleasant breeze was present with the salty smell of the ocean. A medium sized boat was traversing through the ocean and on that boat where only 2 people, A giant of a man and a boy. ¡°Son we will soon reach our destination, So I better do it now than drag it out¡± A look of determination flashed in his face as he continued. ¡°I will be leaving you off to an old friend of mine, and he will continue taking care of you. ¡°Dad! Why can''t I continue to stay with you? I promise I will try harder in my training and won''t slack off!¡± Placing his giant hands on the boys'' shoulders he looked in the teary-eyed boys'' eyes. ¡°Listen, son, this is in no way your fault, my time has come and I can no longer keep raising you, so I must ensure you keep on living and have a chance to do what I couldn¡¯t do, Now let your father give you some words of wisdom for your future. ¡°Okay, dad.¡± ¡°Remember that humans became the dominant species because of their brains and not because of their physical qualities ¡± ¡°Humans are fragile yet resilient and one could say could even say mysteries, for example, a mother to save her child in danger could¡­. As he kept talking the boy calmed down as he would be under some mysteries influence, but the man just kept giving his wisdom to his son hoping some of it would stick to him and one day might save his life.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The Sun was starting to set as they reached their destination an island with a mighty jungle covering it. Riding his fathers'' shoulders they traversed through the deathly quite jungle until they reached a tree house. ¡°Khafan! Come out.¡± Suddenly a man holding two Katars jumped out of the wooden house ready to attack. But his expression changed mid-air and he stopped his attack. ¡°Didn¡¯t think you would bring a kid when you visit me. Hell, I didn¡¯t think you visit me ever again.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so cold old friend here I even brought you a new student ¡°He is even my own son, So you know he is great.¡± ¡°Tch if by great you mean a freak then sure, but you could have at least said something before you came.¡± The atmosphere suddenly got awkward as the conversation became silent. With a helpless look, he said: ¡°I don¡¯t have much time left.¡± ¡°I understand, I will just take this as that favor I owe you.¡± The man turned to his son and handed him an old looking book. ¡°Son this is my gift to you¡­ you will understand its use when the time is right, keep it close to you¡± ¡°When you wake up I will be already gone.¡± ¡°wha..¡± ¡°You could have had a proper goodbye at least.¡¯ With a helpless look, the man replied: ¡°Too much would need to be explained then.¡± ¡°Take good care of him.¡± ¡°I will raise him as my own¡± The Giant of a man simply disappeared as he was never there, to begin with. Prologue part 2 Two men could barely be seen hiding in a dense foliage of the jungle. A man of Asian descent with traces of age covering his brown skin advised. ¡°Zed as this is your graduation test I won''t intervene no matter what danger you get in.¡± ¡°I understand mentor Khafan.¡± ¡°Call me master or master Khafan¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°tch¡± ¡°Anyway you will have to face the King of the jungle with nothing but your Katars, you should be aware that the region up ahead is his territory.¡± ¡°Now take off your clothes I was serious when I said only your Katars¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be serious you want me to travel through this jungle and hunt him down naked!¡± ¡°Yes it¡¯s an old tradition to do this if one once to become a Tlahuicole Warrior and it¡¯s not like a freak like you couldn¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°Stop calling me a freak!¡± ¡°Why would I, you recover easily two times as fast may it be your Health, Stamina or mind compared to a regular person.¡± ¡°Fine whatever I¡¯m going then.¡± A man over 2 meters in height with the body of a bull was running through a dense foliage of the jungle. His black hair reaching his back as it has been never cut before. ¡®Can¡¯t believe the old man is making me run through the jungle all naked.¡¯ Zed kept running through the dense jungle flowing deep paw print on the dirt. As he got closer he made sure his weapons are strapped on correctly. A beautiful 75-centimeter long blade reinforced for extra strength, totaling weight to 3.4 kilograms, A bit too heavy for a normal blade, But does wonders with the strength he posses. A small stream soon greeted him and the tracks led upstream. Following them, for well over an hour zed came upon a damp cave next to a small lake. ¡®This must be his layer.¡¯ Based on its habits it should be sleeping now. ¡®No tricks or trickery this time just pure hand to hand combat, sigh this is going to be a pain in the ass.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Come out you beautiful bastard!¡± From the darkness of the damp cave, bright yellow slits could be seen. A huge paw stepped out, soon showing a body covered in glossy red fur with black stripes giving it an awe-inspiring presence. Being easily 5 meters in length and well over 400 kilograms in weight. Both of us knew that this will be a fight between 2 predators. It felt like hours passed as we faced each other, but it could not have been more than a couple of seconds. The first move was made by the beast as it started to circle around me looking for an opportunity. This was his territory, this was his jungle how does this furless monkey dare to challenge me. The tiger was enraged as the man seemed to ignore its presence. How dare he! With a mighty pounce that showed his well-defined muscles, he strikes. But sadly only a splash of water and mud was tossed in the air. ¡®I need to get out of this water.¡¯ The chase ensured as the Tiger chased zed. 20 minutes later the tiger was almost all out of energy. Moving that huge body takes a lot of energy and doing such taxing movements in this heat with that fur is basically suicidal. Know that he can¡¯t continue he wisely retreated. ¡°It¡¯s time to switch our roles!¡± Even with a nasty claw wound on his back, he had a grin on his face. Chasing the tiger was really challenging as soon as I got too close it turned around attacking with its mighty paws. But facing those blades they got more ruined with every clash. Now exhausted and limping, it was time to deal the finishing blow. As its speed was a mere shadow of its past it attacks where slow easily avoidable and as the opportunity struck my blade priced its head ending its mighty life. ¡®Hue almost worked up a sweat.¡¯ 2 hours later there was a big fire cooking a tasty looking piece of meat with a faint herb sent. ¡®ah my luck sure is good I manage to find some nice herbs for the meat after I cleaned my wounds.¡¯ Humans where once hunters that chased there pray for days back when our mastery of tool was just developing. ¡°Mentor Khafan come out and help me smoke rest of the meat. ¡°Congratulations on becoming a Tlahuicole Warrior, But it sure took long for a freak like you.¡± ¡°Give me back my clothes then and that tiger itself was a freak as well, old man tigers shouldn¡¯t grow that big.¡± For a brief moment, he went back in the treehouse ¡° Here take them.¡± ¡°Come to think of it aren¡¯t you turning 16 tomorrow.¡± ¡°I guess, you know I never cared much about that stuff.¡± ¡°Remember to have your fathers gift close to you.¡± Looking at the old book it''s still the same nothing but gibberish, hell I can''t even remember how many languages I have checked just to find some clues about it, The closest was that plant book but it¡¯s still untranslated. His fist clenched and a look of hate flashed in his eyes as he thought about the past. ¡®I better get some sleep.¡¯ Chapter 1| The Realm part 1 ¡®Is this a dream? It doesn¡¯t feel like one.¡¯ Looking up was just white, with a look around I still see only white. ¡®Isn¡¯t this my father''s book.¡¯ But suddenly as it was picked up a panel of sorts popped up.
Skill book
Rarity: Unique
Self-sufficiency: Your body has become more self-sufficient, it can keep itself functional without outside help to a much greater degree.
Additionally, Increases any type of recovery by 100% Any status effect is dispelled 25% faster. Do you accept this skill Yes/No
¡®What is this?¡¯ This was the first time Zed encountered anything like this. Reading the information carefully multiple times to make sure it didn¡¯t contain any hidden danger he pressed yes with some reluctance as he interpreted it as his father''s gift. The book disintegrated into particles of light that stuck to Zeds chest right where his hearth is before he could even react. Now there was a tattoo of a perfect circle on his chest. He was the least bit disturbed with the new tattoo as the feeling of absolute fulfillment overwhelmed him, it felt like his whole life before was a broken mess that just now was pulled together making it into something more, something greater. As sudden, as it came it disappeared leaving a hollow feeling behind. ¡®So it wasn¡¯t just a white space after all.¡¯ As he looked behind him for the first time he saw an another floating panel.
World rank 1
Mission successfully cleared
Join the Realm: Completed
Reward 1 Point
Additional bonuses. 1 Point for joining the Realm before adulthood. 1 Point for becoming the top 1% of the world. 1 Point for killing the most powerful Felidae in the world. 1 Point for getting a Rare title. A Title for setting a world record.
Before he could digest what he read the text disappeared and an another one popped up.
Introduction
Stats
Skills
Titles
Next Mission
¡®Since there is an introduction I better check it, before I make any wild assumptions¡¯ he wasn¡¯t sure how is he supposed to chose anything since the text seemed so high above, but before he knew it the introduction opened up. ¡®So does it work with my thought or intention?¡¯
Welcome to the great Realm warrior.
This is a unique opportunity given to people whose power has superseded their world limits in one way or another. You will be sent out on missions to various worlds with a new vague identity. The Realm will reward your achievements either with Points or Titles Points can be used to develop your stats or skills. Additionally, the Realm will grant you an inherited ability. As long as you do your missions you can keep what the Realm has given you, but as the Realm is great it gives you 3 free chances to fail your
¡®So many of my questions were answered, so next would be to see my options for my points¡¯ But strangely as he learned more and more of the Realm the resentment and conflict in his eyes grew deeper, but it was soon covered up by deep calmness In his green eyes.
First-time bonus
Every stat will be shown with its extra details.
Health 90/90 The representation of your life force Current Health regeneration is 0.054 every second
Stamina 90/90 The representation of your body''s energy to do physical tasks Current Stamina regeneration is 0.54 every second
Mana 50/50 The representation of your spiritual force to do tasks Current Mana regeneration is 0.3 every second
Strength 8 The representation of your physical power and muscular force Cost 1 Point
Constitution 7 The representation of your toughness and mass Cost 1 Point
Agility 6 The representation of how well your body can move and bend Cost 1 Point
Sense 6 The representation of how well your body sensory organs work Cost 1 Point
Vitality 9 The representation of your Health and immune system Cost 1 Point
Endurance 9 The representation of your Stamina and the ability to do tasks for longs periods of time Cost 1 Point
Intellect 9 The Representation of your brains capabilities as how fast your body can react or how well information is stored, remembered, used Cost 1 Point
Spirit 5 Represents the mysteries forces and your capability to wield them Cost 1 Point
Charisma 6 Represents how others see you and how they will treat you Cost 1 Point
Luck 7 Represents your chances for lady luck shining your way Cost 1 Point
Attack Power Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. 7,25 Combination of your strength, agility, constitution to represent the force you can do with a standard attack of your body
Defense Power 7,75 Combination of your constitution, vitality, strength to show how well your body can deal with harm
Current Points 5
¡®How can a number represent so many factors? Is it based on humans or everything? Would a Bear with 9 intellect be as smart as me? No that would be just ridiculed.¡¯ He had to take a lot in from this as it showed so much about him, from his strengths to his shortcomings. ¡®In the end how much can I trust this system and what it says?¡± ''This is not the time to question things I don¡¯t know much about'' With that, he moved on to the next section.
Titles
First time introduction info
Titles are given for doing a noteworthy thing, rewarding you with extra abilities and bonuses
Tllahuicole Warrior
Rarity: Rare
You have successfully become a Tllahuicole Warrior grating you the privileges of one. As long as you stand alone versus more than 1 enemy you gain a 10% to all your stats.
¡®hah, so the old man''s traditions had some worth after all.¡¯
King of recovery
Rarity: Legendary
Your bodies ability to recover is simply legendary. The speed is easily doubled compared to a regular person. Additionally, You gain twice as much of a boost from Vitality, Endurance, Spirit to your recovery stats. The Ability to regenerate missing limb
As zed looked at his second title King of recovery his expression change from his cheerful one to one of doubt. ¡®Can you still be called a human when you can regrow your limbs, then again what is a human?¡¯
Skill list
First-time introduction bonus
Skills are divided into ranks and each rank is divided into 3 divisions. You can raise skill levels using points. The realm can only show skills it has seen you use Skill levels can be raised through training
Blade mastery Adept 2:
You know your way around a blade and know how to handle it well
Additionally, any attack made by a bladed weapon has the bonus of being 40% more power and 40% faster. While wielding a bladed weapon your control is increased by 25% and focus by 5%.
Cost 8 points
Cooking Novice 3
You are starting to understand the concept of cooking
Taste is enchanted by 15%
Costs 4 points
Innate skills
Innate skills are skills that you have been born with or made one with the realm.
Innate skills cost highest world rank x missions done.
Second hearth
You where born with 2 hearts and your body has adapted and optimized itself for it.
Any Regeneration is 100% More powerful
Cost 1 points
Ancient Hunt
You hunt like your ancestors and force others to follow the same rules.
In a 5 meter radius of you, heat is increased up to 30 Celsius
While active costs 3% of your stamina and mana every second
Cost 1 point.
Self Sufficiency
Your body has become more self sufficient, it can keep itself functional without outside help to a much greater degree.
Any status effect is dispelled 25% faster
Cost 1 point.
¡°Now then how do I spend my points.¡± Chapter 2 | The Realm part 2 ¡®My options are surprisingly limited.¡¯ Yes, he could spend his points to raise his stats, But compared to the chance to spend it on the innate skills would be moronic. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity literality. With every mission, he would do the cost would grow bigger and bigger till it would be nothing, but a pipedream to upgrade them. ¡®Can I see what would be the upgrade?¡¯ Now he needs to choose the skill to see if its possible. Remembering the wonders feeling of self-sufficiency Zed chose it for the test.
Do you wish to upgrade Self sufficiency Cost 1 Point Yes No
¡®So I can¡¯t see the next rank after all.¡¯ Either way, Zed chose to upgrade it.
Self-sufficiency +
Your body has become oddly self-sufficient, it can keep itself functional without outside help to a much greater degree.
Additionally, Increases any type of recovery by 200% Any status effect is dispelled 50% faster.
A rush of fulfillment assaulted him once again returning that feeling of absolute fulfillment as it lingered in his body once again now for a bit longer, But once again it disappeared. That ecstasy he felt from upgrade prompted him to upgrade the ability once again. But he resisted it as his look at his hands that now lacked to show his efforts in training, now they were much smoother. His skin looked smoother overall. As he looked more, the more changes he saw like his scars reducing in size and visibility. Even the tattoo on his chest now looked different, fine scales covered the once simple circle. ¡®So upgrading an innate skill can bring such changes in me.¡¯ Zed shuddered at the thought of such a mighty force that could change one so much seemingly so easily.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
You don¡¯t meet the requirement for the next upgrade
¡®So I can¡¯t just upgrade them fully.¡¯ If you look at the huge changes that the upgrade brings it indeed would be strange if you could just keep upgrading it. ¡®It doesn¡¯t even show me the requirements.¡¯
Do you wish to upgrade Second Hearth Cost 1 Point Yes No
Second Hearth+
You were born with 2 hearts and your body has adapted and optimized itself for it.
Any Regeneration is 200% More powerful Harmful substances are dispelled 25% faster.
2 streams of heat rushed from his chest traveling through his body as they merged together creating a constant synchronized heartbeat from now on. ¡®I can see why others could become a slave to the feelings of rising your innate skills.¡¯ Zed felt if his willpower was lower he could become overly engrossed in the rush of upgrading your innate skills. Looking at second heart skill again it showed the same text as self-sufficient he didn¡¯t meet the requirements.
Do you wish to upgrade Ancient Hunt Cost 1 Point Yes No
Ancient Hunt+
You hunt like your ancestors and force others to follow the same rules
In a 10 meter radius of you, heat is increased up to 40 cesium. Additionally, stamina is drained twice as fast.
While active costs 3% of your stamina and mana every second
Intense heat was expanded from his body as it felt like he was in a desert and every movement would cost additional effort to make. Not to even mention the constant feeling of physical and mental draining. With a thought, the feeling disappeared. ¡®So it affects me as well as those around me.¡¯ Zed contemplated for quite some time about this ability and its potential. As Zed did some quick math he came to the conclusion that he can keep this ability up for 50 seconds as long as he doesn¡¯t consume his stamina or mana, So in a real fight at best 30 seconds. ¡®As long as I have more stamina I should be able to outlast my opponent, but is it worth it?¡¯. He regenerates 1% of his stamina every second so running out of energy shouldn¡¯t be that big of a problem as his regen is so high, but using this ability will add that heat to his surrounding which will increase his stamina consumption additionally there is the double stamina consumption. Let us say a punch where you give it your all costs 5 stamina normally. Now add a whether of 40 Celsius to it how much more taxing would that be? For the example, let us say it would be 10 stamina now double it and it becomes 20 stamina for just one punch. Now look at the situation you are losing 3% of your stamina and mana every second and each attack cost almost 20% of your stamina at most you could do is 29 damage. But when you don¡¯t use the ability you could do easily 130 damage not factoring the regen. Then again that is looking at a clean cooky cutter fight without any substance to it and the many factors that could influence how a fight goes. So, in the end, its a surprisingly tricky skill. ¡®I must really choose the situation where I use this ability wisely or it could easily end me.¡¯ ¡®Now how do I spend the 2 remaining points?¡¯ Chapter 3 | First step in a new world Zed had 10 options to chose from, but he knew why humans grew powerful enough to dominate this world it wasn''t their strong bodies it was their Intellect and ability to work in large groups. To be honest he was also most curious what changes would raise in his Intellect would bring the most.
Do you wish to rise your Intellect Cost 1 Point Yes No
Bringing his Intellect up to 11 didn''t make it inimitably noticeable, but he did notice his toughs connect and proceed faster than again it could just be him imaging it. Now that Zed finished spending his points he looked at his next mission.
World setting
You will be sent to a growing rank 1 world
Your mission will be to create or destroy a base of 1 thousand or more in a time limit of a month.
The world has just been hit by a meteorite that carried an unknown type of radiation that is starting to change all things on this planet.
Warning: Your Vitality needs to be at least 40 to resist the effects of the radiation that has covered the world.
Do you wish to start the mission Yes No
''Wait does this mean that I am screwed and will die of radiation poisoning? No that couldn''t be true. Most likely the radiation is not the radiation I''m thinking about.'' After coming up with a possible hypothesis Zed relaxed a bit as he selected yes. The whiteness of the realm distorted into darkness as seemingly black particles covered him to create a world of endless darkness that almost instantly distorted back into a blinding light that soon cleared showing his new surroundings. Before he could take in his new surroundings he noticed something a bit off like the air in this new world was different there was something more to it and he wasn''t sure if that might be due to being in a new world or this was the radiation the mission spoke off. As he looked at his room the best way to describe it would be simple it was a one bedroom apartment. it was very simple and small there wasn''t even a tv in the apartment. Looking out the window he saw a modern city that was weirdly empty like everything was abandoned there were parked cars everywhere. There was also this chilling silence in the air as this city would be a ghost town. ''huh, what is that?'' Zed could see something moving in the distance in an alleyway it was quite the distance away so he could just barely make out a human shape, but there was something off-putting about this figure as it moved it seemed unnatural, every movement seemed rigid as it moved further in the alleyway disappearing out of sight. He needed to decide what he will be doing before he moves will he destroy or create.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ''Destruction is obviously the easy way to do the mission, but not everyone could do it, could I do it? Could I destroy lives of 1000 people just to finish a mission?'' Zed wasn''t sure he could he hadn''t even taken a humans life before only seen his mentor do it so effortlessly. He wasn''t completely sure on what he should do as he looks through the window that reflected his appearance. Green eyes, black hair that is long and untidy with a stubble that almost could be called a beard. ''sigh I recently shaved it too why does my hair need to grow this fast?'' Since he was young he always had this problem his hair, nails, body grew faster for a while it scared him that he might die much faster than others too, but he got over it a couple of years ago. ''What is this?'' a panel similar to the one in the Realm popped up as he looked at the knife that was on the table in front of him.
Bread knife
Type Weapon
Rarity Common
Damage 3-15
A simple bread knife there is absolutely nothing special about it.
''Interesting so the Realm gives benefits like these'' with a bread knife like this, you can''t really do a stabbing attack but it can leave some nasty laceration with a slash. this one seemed especially nasty with its ragged edge. Come to think of he hadn''t even checked what he is wearing. A lose gray tracksuit clothed him. Surprisingly it was pure grey with no logos or nothing and in this day and age, it''s really hard to find something like this so Zed was quite pleased, even his shoes fitted him perfectly and were nice and confutable. But strangely the Realm didn''t show anything when he looked at them. ''Is it because the Realm gave me these clothes?'' either way, Zed didn''t care much about it as he had lived all his whole life without this system so he knew how to tell the difference quality stuff that is well made and the cheap stuff and these definitely were made well. Zed give a quick look around the room finding nothing of interest there wasn''t even any food in the fridge. ''Now then let us see what my neighbors are doing!'' *Knock knock "Is anybody home!?" after knocking a couple of times on the door opposite of the apartment he was in, he got no answer. So he did the next rational thing lifted his foot and with a simple kick broke the lock hey that 8 strength is not for noting. ''it has been some time since I had to duck to get in a door.'' with some casual thoughts zed entered the room that looked almost identical to his room just a bit different furniture. ''it seems like whoever lived here left in a rush'' clothes were thrown on the ground and the room looked quite messy. Zed did find some food but as he had no backpack he just left it there it''s not like it would disappear. ''Okay this is the last apartment'' zed checked four other apartments but all he found of noteworthy was a backpack where he put some food in and he pocketed a lighter he found next to some smokes he took as well, not because he smokes, but he knew how addictive things like these were to people and how much they could do for one in tough times. Zed felt something was off about this apartment he wasn''t sure what it was yet, but there definitely was something off about it. He held the knife as he kicked open the door. A person was sitting on the couch he had a blad head and that was all he could see. ''Hey, can you hear me?'' zed called out to the man, but there was no response. Zed slowly walked closer to the man, but there was still no reaction. 2 meters 1 meters Close enough to reach out and touch the man. He caught wind of a movement of the man''s body if you could call it that his skin was moving no, something under his skin was moving in high motion. "Fuck!" Zeds body moved fast as he bolted out of the apartment as soon as he saw that come out of the man''s body shutting the door behind him to buy him a bit more time. ''I should have picked it up after all.'' he thought as he ran upstairs bursting into an apartment going straight to the bathroom. ''There it is.'' Zed picked up a simple looking hairspray can. If one looked closer you could see the flammable warning on it. ''I Hope there is enough in here'' Zed thought as he took out a lighter from his pocket hastily lighting it up. He didn''t have to wait long as the buzzing sound was soon heard and a possi of beetles greeted him. A bit over 1 cm in length with a purplish exoskeleton covered it. They had pincers that were at least 30% of its body length if not much more. A stream of fire burst out from the hair can spray churning the beetles to a crisp as a disgusting smell spread to the room. Now still on fire burned black beetles covered the floor. ''Fuck that was close.'' Zed picked up some toilet paper and some nail polish that was lying around. Throwing it on the dead man''s corpses and set it aflame burning the infested corps. ''Damn that was frightening!'' With his strength, he could do nothing to so many small enemies even if it was 20 or 30 it wouldn''t change anything come to think of it there was no stat that could help him in this situation kinda. Maybe with high enough strength he could runaway or with strong enough vitality it couldn''t harm him but that doesn''t mean you are dealing with them, you would just be running away from the problem. Due to this, he came to appreciate his intellect stat even more as it could make him come up with a solution much faster. Chapter 4 | First sight of others Zed now knew a bit more about the world he is in and what he could potentially face. He picked up 2 deodorant that apartment in the apartments just in case he encounters something like that again. Lucky he found a traditional Japanese culinary knife in that bug infested man''s room as it was a combination of a cleaver and chefs knife and it was really well made. Most likely the man was a chef. It was even of uncommon quality.
Shun classic knife
Type Weapon
Rarity Uncommon
Damage 10-35
A knife made of VG-10 stainless steel has an excellent durability that is hindered by its chisel grind which requires constant maintenance needed to keep the edge
Zed left the aparment complex now in a much better mood looking around he could lot of other apartment complexes that didn''t interest him much as he started to look for more people. It didn''t take him long to run into some trouble. ''what is up with me and big cats?'' A black cat was standing in front of him if you could call it that now. It looked more like a lynx than a cat now with its superior size compared to a regular cat. The street cat only seemed to look at Zed for a brief moment as it disappeared in the shadows of the city. ''So is it just a bit bigger cat?'' Zed pondered as he didn''t notice the intelligent glint in the cat eyes as it left. the city was really empty, but there seemed to be some movement around him just in the corner of his eyes. ''Is that a gunshot?'' Zed picked up the sound of gunshots in the distance he could just barely hear it due to how quiet the city was. He picked up his pace as he followed the sound of the gunshots. A man holding a handgun was shooting a bunch of dog-sized rats as they swarmed them while being protected by 2 other men holding fire axes. they were wearing sports gear that seemed to do its job and protect them quite well. The horde of rats became more and more as time passed and you could see the panic on the gun mans face as he kept shooting the rats most likely his bullets were running out as he had gone through 3 magazines already. all of a sudden a giant of a man bursted out from an alleyway drawing attention to him as he rushed in holding a knife slicing and kicking rats ending their lives as he closed in on the men. At first, they were intimidated by this wild-looking man but as soon as they saw how effective he was they rejoiced and attacked the rats with new spirit.
Rad touched rattus
Health 30
A rodent contaminated by the radiation of the meteoroid
Lethal attack target dies was popping up and fading away as Zed killed the rat horde that surrounded the men. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The horde soon retired as the loses increased. The man with the gun was first to speak "Hey there stranger, Thank you for helping us!" He had a bit of a Russian accent that Zed could barely pick up. "Don''t mind it, we humans need to stick together to survive this crisis." The biggest one of the axeman spoke up. " True that brother, Names Gorge" he reached out his hand to a friendly handshake. "Zed, So what are you doing out here" Zed shook his hand as he did his best to ignore the text message that popped up.
Homo sapien
Health 60
The ingenuity and adaptability of Homo sapiens have led to it becoming the most influential species on this planet. One that enables the best and the worst in living creatures.
The other 2 had only 50 health. "The shelter is already starting to get low on food with so many people so we scavaging out here." The big man seemed quite talkative but even if others would call him big he was still 10+ centimeters shorter then Zed "Ey stop with the chit chat we need to collect these rats before other monsters are drawn to the blood!" The gunmen stopped Gorge from talking more as he ordered to collect the rats. "let me help you guys." With that Zed become part of there little group. It seemed simple, but in fact, there were many little things that influenced him joining this group so easily. ''huh, what is this?''
Ring of the Rat
Type Accessory
Rarity Uncommon
A shabby ring engraved with the rune of digestion that has a small effect of helping you digest substances better.
This Ring was in an ugly brown color and with a reddish brown drawing on it that kinda looked like an inflated reversed C with some tubes coming out from both ends. Zed quickly pocketed the ring as he helped the men put the rats in a giant trash bag. He chatted with the man and learned that the gunman was named Daniel and the quiet axeman was Henry. They had a shelter in a supermarket where there were over 1 thousand people. The leader of the there group seemed to be a retired General of the army and he had sent out some capable men to go scavenge the surroundings and bring back the dead monster corpses. As they kept chatting he learned that the general had a mysterious ability to predict attacks since they had seen him battle and it was simply legendary they said as he didn''t get hit once by anything in mids of gunfire and monsters. ''Could the man be so skilled or is it an effect of the radiation?'' Zed wondered as they travel to the supermarket. What greeted Zed was a building that had boarded window with almost no resemblance to a supermarket. As always Gorge was first to speak up. "We will introduce you to the General and I''m sure he will accept someone so capable in our shelter." Gorge resued Zed as they arrived at there destination. They moved unhindered by others as they took the stairs to reach the highest floor of the supermarket. As they moved Zed observed the supermarket it seems to run on its own generator as electricity wasn''t working in the apartments he went in, but here it was completely fine. The people seemed relaxed as any problem that they had would be resolved soon enough. Daniel with a very politely knocked on the door and soon a man with a very rough and deep voice said. "Come in." A spacious office greeted Zed as he went in with a couple of couches facing a desk where a man sat eating what looked like almost raw meat creating a strange smell in the air. He had a clean bald head with a clean shave, you could see that he had a good build even in that fancy suit he was wearing. Zed could feel the aura of a man that has killed a lot of other humans from him call it natural instincts that every human has against danger.
Rad touched Homo sapien
Health 117
The ingenuity and adaptability of Homo sapiens have led to it becoming the most influential species on this planet. One that enables the best and the worst in living creatures, But how will the Radiation affect it?
Zeds suspicions where confirmed as a small text popped up as he looked at the general. We were all standing in front of the desk as Daniel was first to speak. "General this is Zed he saved our lives when we were swarmed by a horde of those rats." The General picked up a knife and cut a piece of meat that he put in his mouth and slowly ate it as it looked like he is enjoying the taste greatly. "How many rats were you able to kill?" He looked straight in Daniels'' eyes making him fidget a bit. "Sir we got 54 Rats together!" He answered in a much clearer English than before you couldn''t even hear his accent anymore. "mhm, Good job." He cut and ate another piece of meat. "Show him where is room 317 that is the room I''m awarding him for saving your lives." He took another bite of the meat that was on his table. "As for the reward of bringing so many rats back you all can pick 1 item from the storage." He wrote something on a piece of paper and stamped it afterwards handing it over to Daniel. "Thank you General!" With that our little group left the Generals office. "Man this is great we can get some really nice stuff from the storage thanks to you Zed!" Gorge as always started chatting as soon as they left the General office. Chapter 5 | The wonders of accessorys We moved from the top floor all the way down to the basement as we passed through every floor we could see the living conditions of most people it wasn''t that good but wasn''t absolutely terrible and the patrolling guards seemed to keep things in order. At the end of a long corridor was an average sized door guarded by 2 people. Gorge as always was super talkative and introduced me to the storage area. "We mostly store our food here, but also a lot of other stuff that had high value, like guns and jewels." He kept talking all the way to the basement most likely he doesn''t get many people that don''t get annoyed by him talking so much. One of the guards yelled as soon as he saw us. "Hey, what are you doing here? this is a restricted area!" He was big guy around the same size as Gorge only his skin color was much darker he was most likely half black. Daniel yelled back from down the corridor. "We got permission from the general!." we kept moving and soon reached him. "Let me see it." He looked super serious as he inspected the piece of paper that General gave us. "Uhm, everything seems in order, let me show you in." As he proceeded to open the door that led to the storage area. ''So this was a storage area even before the crisis.'' They could see boxes full of all kinds of stuff where everywhere as they moved through the storage until they reached another room. The layout of the supermarket was built in Zeds mind as he had been to every floor of the building. "Alright, each of you can pick one item then you must leave." The guard said as he kept standing next to the door looking at our every movement. Just as Gorge said they had put the valuable stuff here that would be dangerous or would cost a lot of money. ''The setup here seems kinda loose and easy to get in to, but I guess the general doesn''t care with his ability.'' As the other three looked at the guns in the room Zed looked at the other things with his new Realm system helping him greatly there. He recognized the lethality of a gun and how much it changes human lives, but to him, it felt weak. Maybe it was because he spent years training with cold weapons and looks down on how you could just hold a tool with no skill and just end a person''s life or maybe he was just a bit upset how it lacked the finesse of a cold weapon.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Either way, he rather pick up and use a bow then start using guns he was old fashioned like that.
Mass produced Jade neckless
Type Accessory
Rarity Common
Has a very tiny calming effect on you.
Mass produced Fluorite Ring
Type Accessory
Rarity Common
Increases the effect of your meditation by 5%
Mass produced Agate bracelet
Type Accessory
Rarity Common
Increases the effects of the intellect stat by 3%
''Are these effects for everyone or just the realm users?'' Zed though how much his training would have been easier with these effects. ''hm, what is this?'' A much more simple neckless then the others it only had a brown string that was tied to an almost perfectly round amethyst with a hole in the middle looking almost like a flawless circle, But most of all it had a very deep purple color not usually seen on amethysts.
Natural flow Amethyst neckless
Type Accessory
Rarity Rare
An amethyst that naturally formed into a round shape increasing its healing powers. Increases all regeneration by 20%
Zed kept looking for bit more, but finding nothing else of interest he decided to take this one from the storage. "Never saw you as much of a jewelry guy Zed" Gorge commented as he was now holding a handgun his item of choice. "I''m not this one had a nice energy to it." Zed was sure what he should say as others wouldn''t see its effects like him. "Oh, so you''re a spiritual guy!" Gorge always seemed to find things to talk about as we left the storage area. "Okay so this is room 317 that the General assigned you to, we have to go, so see you later Zed!" The three left him at his assigned room. This building had 4 floors and only the first one was a supermarket the rest of it had been an office. People of high value were given one of these offices for living the rest lived on the first and second floor mostly. Zed put down his backpack as he laid down in the office chair that was way too small for him. ''If I set a fire in the storage I could probably burn down the building with all that gasoline there, the generator should help too.'' Zed still wasn''t sure on what he should do as he had no idea how he could create a base of 1 thousand people in an unfamiliar city. ''Tomorrow I will explore the city and see more of it before I make my final decision.'' *crack "Damn that hurt a bit!" Just as Zed leaned a bit more in the chair it broke. In the corner of his eye he could see the. -3 Damage This was the first physical damage he had taken since he got the system. So only just now he came to appreciate how much his body had actually changed from when he joined it. The bit of pain he felt eased much faster then it would normally and in less than a minute he was back to being completely fine. with some idle thoughts of where he could take a shower he fell asleep as the weather wasn''t too hot or too cold he fell asleep peacefully in the office and the lack of a bed didn''t bother him much as this wasn''t the first or the last time he would be sleeping without one. Chapter 6 | The horror of rats ''Wierd why am I not hungry?'' Only now did Zed realized he hadn''t eaten anything since he joined the realm it has almost been a full day since he last ate. He still ate 3 cans of fish with some bread. ''hmm, not even thirsty after eating so much salted fish?'' Zed was starting to worry a bit since this was unnatural and he worried that something might have broken in his body do to the realm. So he still drunk 2 bottles of water as his frown deepened. As Zed pondered about his situation he came upon a couple of conclusions.'' This is due to me joining the Relm or because of the skill Self-sufficiency. Could the part of making my body more Self-sufficient be taken literally as I don''t need to drink, eat, breath as much for my body to function?'' Zed couldn''t quite digest something like that. "Hey, Zed where are you going!?" Gorge called out to Zed as he saw him leave the confines of the shelter. "Hey Gorge, I''m just going to explore the city a bit" Zed didn''t expect someone to ask what he was doing so he told a half-truth. "Alone? You know how dangers the situation is outside!" Gorge was full of surprise as he couldn''t even imagine someone surviving alone in the city without anyone covering your back. "I need to pick up a very important item from my apartment that I forgot." Zed came up with a hasty lie on the spot as he felt a bit bad about lying to someone who seemed to show so much care about him. "Let me come with you then!" Gorge full of sincerity offered his help making Zed feel even worst about lying. "It''s okay I couldn''t drag you into my own problems." Zed was determined to now roll with his full of holes lie as they say fake it till you make it. "That is what friends are for, so let me grab my gear and let us go." Gorge was about to leave, but Zed called out. "Wait, where I''m going is super dangerous I couldn''t let you risk your life for me like that." Zed was starting to panic a bit as he was not going back to the apartment hell he didn''t even know anything about this city. "Even more of a reason for me to go with you, I couldn''t let a friend go all alone in that dangerous city." Gorge felt touched by how much Zed seemed to care about him as he would better go alone in the dangerous territory then let him face danger. It''s not like zed was against Gorge helping him, but he could not back down now even more now." Listen Gorge you are a good friend of mine so it would be against my principals to bring you along with me."This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Before gorge could speak Zed intervened reassuring Gorge." I''m used to working alone, I have been doing fine this far." Gorge looked conflicted, but in the end, he agreed. "Okay, Zed, but do take care of yourself." Zed sighed in his mind hearing Gorges response. "I will, see you later Gorge." Zed left the shelter after that tiring conversation. He was never good at lying since he didn''t need to really lie much in his life. But at least it wasn''t all for nothing.
Novice Deceiver
You have taken the first step in the art of deceiving others.
You can deceive others 5% better.
As Zed strolled through the city he couldn''t make heads and tails of why the city seemed so empty. He felt it would be too strange if he started asking all these common questions in the shelter, so now he had to figure things out himself. ''Could there been an eviction done by the city as they had prior knowledge of the meteorite coming as that would be logical, but why would there still be such a shelter in the supermarket then?'' Zed couldn''t still quite get the big picture as he hadn''t even seen any sights of the military only a retired general. "What is that sound?" The ground was shaking it felt like a giant beast was walking, but the tempo of the sound was too fast for that. He could see the manhole cover trembled around the street like they were about to come off. "Fuck!" Zed went into a mad dash as he understood the situation as soon as he saw rad rats come out of the manhole cover. It was a rat stampede! it seems that the radiation increased the rat birthrates as the danger around them increased. There were thousands upon thousands of rats in sewer system before the radiation hit, now that number should have reached such terrifying numbers that Zed could not help but shudder at the idea. He quickly ran into the alleyway he noticed when he was passing by it. The alleyway had some metallic stairs at the side of it. Using his superior height and strength he jumped up and reached the side of it and quickly climbed up as he continued running up the stairs all the way to the top. Zed used the railing as a stepping tool to reach the roof where he pulled himself up. *Ting* The railing he used hit the ground as it couldn''t withstand the force of Zeds Jump. Looking down he could see a massive wave of rats running down the street in the direction of the shelter. "What is that?"
Radiation gnawer
Health 300
The Radiation gnawer was once a regular rad rat but it stumbled upon a very tiny fragment of a meteorite that changed it completely.
Zed could see a creature that was at least 3 times bigger than the rad rats surrounding it. Its fur was in a tinged green color and you could see flees in the size of cherries on it. Every now and then it took a bite of rad rats surrounding it leaving them to be cannibalized by there kin as it only took a bite to satisfy its spontaneous hunger. As it fangs were more like little saws it left fierce lacerations on the rad rats it bit. Bones were no obstacle for it too. Zed could even see the asphalt beneath its feet be torn up by its claws as it ran down the street. Zed wasn''t even sure he could take it on in a 1vs1 scenario not to mention it had a horde of rad rats with it. ''If I was a bit slower in my response I could have lost my life.'' He looked down from the roof as the rat horde passed him by. He found it interesting that the rats came out of manholes before the stampede from above ground reached them. In a sense there where 2 stampedes one underground and one above ground. As the rad rat stampede was passing him by he recalled the information he knew about rats. Rats are animals which seem to live only to eat and breed. Compared to the amount which they eat rats have rather small stomachs thus they will continue to eat small bits throughout the day. In a day they could eat from quarter to a third of their own body weight. It would normally take the rats around two months to reach adulthood. But in food rich environment they could speed this process up to be shorter than a month. With the ability of a pair of rats being able to produce up to 80 or so offsprings in a year they possessed truly frightening reproductive powers. Zed could not even imagine what changes did the radiation bring in these creatures. Chapter 7 | The might of radation. Only after the rad rat stampede went out of Zeds sight did he realize that they were going in the direction of the shelter. He looked in the direction of the shelter and evaluated his options and reasons for going there. ''That is the only place I know where there would be more than 1000 humans in the city and without great risk, there are no great rewards.'' Zed wasn''t willing to bet on the possibility of there being another shelter with more than one thousand people in it. Zed traveled back to the shelter and climbed up to a building that faced the supermarket. The rats were surrounding the supermarket surprisingly unsuccessfully. The ground was on fire and the sound of gunshots was drowning out any other sound in the area. Zed could see the survivors throwing out Molotow cocktails and others highly flammable objects as they fought back against the rad rat horde. Cladding the street in a constant fire as the Rad rats burned making the whole place reek of burned fur and meat. But the most eye-catching thing here was the general fighting in the middle of the rat horde. The rad rats could not touch him at all as they tried to bite and scratch him and most of all he was taking the Radiation gnawer on by himself he was holding 2 guns and shooting at it as he kept dodging all the attacks from the rad rats and the radiation gnawer. Seeing this situation Zed acted fast as he saw the possibility of reaping a great reward for killing such a creature as radiation gnawer. He quickly climbed down from the building and joined in on the fight going straight for the radiation gnawer. Ignoring the rad rats he charged into the horde or rad rats as he knew if the leader died they would scatter. Using the nearby rad rats as foothold he jumped on top of the radiation gnawer. As he held on he could feel the flees on it craw onto him, but he ignored it for now as he used both of his knifes to butcher the Radiation gnawer that he was on top of. It let out a roar that brought out a neon green could that covered the surraundings expelling the flames it touched. Yet it did little to stop zed from his assault. Under the output of his two knives and the gunfire from general, the radiation gnawer was soon finished off. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. It slummed to the ground with a thud as its body went limp with a thud.
Misson finished
Teleporting back to The Realm in 1 minute
''What?'' Seeing this sudden message Zed was really surprised as he had no idea how he had finished the mission. It only took him a moment to get out of his confusion as he swiftly started checking around the radiation gnawer for loot. He ignored the questioning glances of the people around him as he looked around the Radiation gnawer. ''Is this it?'' He was starting to feel a bit lightheaded from the flees that were still on him as he clutched the round object in his hands. Before he could fully read what it said the familiar darkness covered him once again as he was soon greeted by the light of The Realm. "Was that really it?" Zed felt a bit perplexed as he had only been in that world for barely a day. As he turned around to start reading what the Realm said he understood what happened more.
World rank 1 growing
Mission successfully cleared
Create a base of 1000: Completed
Destroy a base of 100: Completed
Reward 2 Point
Additional bonuses.
1 Point for finishing the mission in 1 day
1 Point for killing The Radiation gnawer
By completing your second mission you have unlocked the ability Realm storage.
29 Days have been added to the free time.
"So by killing the radiation gnawer I saved the shelter and destroyed the rad rat base?" "But didn''t I need to destroy a human settlement?" "Come to think of it it never did specify what kind of base I had to destroy or create." ''is there something wrong with me for assuming it was a human one?'' He felt a bit bewildered by his line of thought but didn''t let it affect him much. He looked at the next screen as it had changed a bit.
Stats
Skills
Titles
Exit Realm Next Mission
Current Points 4 Free Time 29 days
"Its time to check the loot!"
Skill stone
Rarity uncommon
Conversion of corrosion: The corrosive abilities of the radiation gnawer at your on fingertips you can convert your mana into corrosive energy.
Converting 25 mana will deal 50 damage for 1 second Every 10 extra added mana will give another second. 3 times more effective on things with no lifeforce.
Do you accept this skill Yes No
''Wow... This skill seems so powerful.'' With his current mana, he could do at least 150 damage with this skill to living creatures. That would be enough to almost kill 2 of him. Zed liked how this skill sounded but he didn''t know how to control his mana at all. nevertheless, he still accepted this skill as he didn''t see any downside to it. As soon as he pressed yes his vision changed to one of an immense seemingly never-ending green liquid its surface was bubbling as zed could feel himself falling into it. He couldn''t move or do anything just see himself falling into this seemingly endless green liquid. As his body hit the green liquid it created barely any ripples in its vastness. He could feel his body slowly disintegrate in this green liquid. It felt like every cell in his body was being devoured . The pain was unimaginable he felt like his sanity was slipping from him. Just as he felt he was about to lose his sanity a throb came from his hearths as it started to recover his mind and body. The devouring of his body slowed down drastically as the recovery process began from that throb. He believed that insanity or death would be a sweat release to him compared to this constant feeling of being devoured by tiny little bugs that burned him with every touch. This process seemed to go on forever as the constant devouring and recovery happened. He didn''t even realize when he came back to the realm. In reality, this process was only meant to show the power of corrosion to the contestants of The Realm so they can understand it and use it better, but because of his innate regenerative powers, this whole process became much longer and taxing on the host. ''At least I can use this power now.'' A neon green glow covered Zeds hand as he tried to use his new power. For now, Zed was done with The Realm as he chose to exit it. The now familiar darkness greeted him as he exited. Chapter 8 | Voynich Manuscript In a cozy little cafe sat a man of great build he was enjoying the biggest parfait the cafe could make creating quite the unique image. ''He should be here soon.'' he was currently waiting for someone and they were a bit late. "Sorry for being late things dragged on for longer then I thought." The man greeted Zed looking apologetic about it. His hair was combed neatly and he wearing some simple casual clothes. "Do you have what I need?" Zed continued to eat his parfait without being bothered by him. "ah.. yes here it is." He handed Zed a paper envelope. He gave a quick glance at the content of it and nodded. "Here is the payment we agreed upon." Currently, Zed was in America he was in a city called New Haven. The person he paid was a broke student of Yale University. Now he had gained the information he needs on the Voynich Manuscript. He wasn''t 100% sure if his line of thought was correct, but it was worth a shot to try seeing if it''s a skill book as he thought. Voynich Manuscript was found a couple of hundreds of years ago its origins were quite mysterious, but it was known to be own by few Alchemist in the past. The language of it seemed quite similar to what Zed saw in his Self-sufficiency skill book. ''Should I get it myself or hire someone else?'' Zed wasn''t too confident in his skills he has done something similar with his mentor before. He quite fondly remembers his so-called preparation missions for life were his mentor took him along on his jobs. He mostly worked as a hitman and was quite a wanted man by many powerful organizations. Too bad Zed didn''t pick up much of that skill from his mentor. He never was much for sneaking around and things of that nature. Since he had quite a bit of free time left he decided to hire someone else to do this for him. Finding the right person wasn''t hard at all for Zed. He knew plenty of people that could do the job from his associations with his mentor. Zed left the cafe and bought a random laptop in a nearby store. He used it to contact a specialist that would break in and get the Voynich Manuscript for him. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Sending the plans of the building and the Voynich Manuscript location greatly increased the speed he would be getting it, even if it was a bit costly it was well worth the chance of getting a new skill book in Zeds opinion. The location and the time, as well as half of the payment, was already sent so now all he had to do was wait for it to be done. With that being done Zed was in quite a good mood and felt charitable so he decided to do something generous. Since he had no more use for the laptop he purchased as well as he had already cleaned it from the files he installed before. He decided to give it to a child that looked like could use it. "A good deed could go a long way, at least that what dad used to say." The sky was pitch black seemingly with no stars in the city as night began. *knock* "Come in." Zed inviting the late visitor in his hotel room. A short Asian man walked into the room wearing casual clothes, he looked like someone you would forget about as soon as you saw him. "Zed long time no see, hows master Khafan?" His voice sounded gruff like someone who didn''t talk much. With a helpless gesture, Zed answered "Can''t say, haven''t seen him after one day I woke up. I can''t even contact him." He speculated a bit before he asked "hmm did you perhaps hit adulthood?" Zed was a bit surprised by this question "In fact I did, I even finished his training tradition." "No wonder then, most masters leave their disciples after there training is done in our line of work." "That sounds something you people would do." He couldn''t help but recall some of the odd things these people did. "Saying you people, aren''t you one of us?" He couldn''t help but ask feeling a bit offended. "Not really, I was always more inclined to the underground fights then all that lurking you guys do." They had a couple of drinks as they chatted about the past.
Skill book
Rarity: Rare
Voynich Manuscript: Contains the description on the ways of Alchemy. Grands the trade skill Alchemy at Journeyman level.
Do you accept this skill Yes No
Zed was feeling bit proud right now because his hunch was right and he had gotten a new skill with just a bit of money. Because of the harsh reaction from learning a skill last time he decided to do it inside The Realm. As he pressed yes his vision changed to darkness and he found himself in a new body of a little kid all he could do was watch the kids actions from inside the body. At first, he saw the kid go outside and pick up varies plants that he brought back home to an old man were the old man praised the boy. He watched the old man work with the plants. Before he knew the boy had already grown into his teenage years were he was using a mortar and pestle to crush dried and fresh plants into a powder. The old man who looked even older now used the powder the boy made. He put the powder in a cauldron which was filled with liquid that looked like water. The powder floated on top of the water seemingly doing nothing until the old man summoned a flame from his hands that covered the cauldron making the liquid soon boil as the powder dissolved into it. It turned into a purple liquid which the old man carefully put into small flasks. Zed knew that this was a poison that caused extra bleeding when put on arrows or weapons and it was sold for quite a decent price. The old man had passed away, and the boy had become a man he had his own disciple that picked his herbs as he used them to create all kinds of potions and pills. As he woke up from his vision Zed felt like he could do anything the man could do too now.
Alchemy Journeyman
You have grasped the way of the alchemy yet it barely even touches its wast knowledge.
As an Alchemy Journeyman, you have learned 3 sub-skills.
Plant identification
You can recognize the uses of plants based on your knowledge on the subject.
Steady hands
Trought lots of practice your hards have become more agile and precise.
Alchemists flame
You ignite your spirit to create the Flame of alchemy.
Costs 1 mana per 5 seconds of use.
Zed took a while to enjoy the feeling of change in him from learning this skill. The new knowledge he had now and the dexterity he had in his hands made his mood even greater than before. "I wonder if I could combine my alchemy flame with my Conversion of corrosion?| Zed tried to summon his flame and corrosion and the same time in his right hand. He could feel 2 energies flow to his hand creating an uncomfortable feeling. As soon as they met each other in his hand things got a lot worst as they combusted blowing everything above his wrist into a grotesque mess. He grit his teeth as he tolerated through the sudden pain that hit him as his passive regeneration kicked in to make things easier for him. He could see his now deformed hands flesh twitch as it started to slowly expand as it started to cover the bones on his hand. The pain lessened as the itching sensation of tiny little bugs craving around his hands became more prominent. In a couple of minutes, his hand was back to normal leaving only behind the fear of messing with magic. Chapter 9 | Start of the rank up mission Before he spent his 4 points he decided to check out what he has to do in his next mission.
Do to your great performance last mission you are given a rank up mission
World setting
You will be sent to a Rank 1 world.
Your mission is to survive till the end of the war.
The greatest war in the history of the world has begun between the 2 ruling kingdoms to dominate the continent. Each side has thousands of soldiers forced to fight for their kingdom. The war has already progressed beyond the point of stopping as even the commoners where drafting into participating.
You will be given the identity of a Blacksmith that is forced to be part of the war. Do to your superior might you are the leading figure in your village in these harsh times.
You can choose between these starting weapons: Axe, Hammer, Knife, Flail, Pitchfork, Scythe, Shears, Sickle, Shovel.
Zed could only imagine the difficulty of this mission as wars could go on for years and decades. ''This will most likely be a war before the discovery of gunpowder.'' After he finished his last mission he got the skill Realm storage.
Realm Storage
You can store anything that isn''t a living organism in a 1 square meter space.
In this space, such things as time don''t exist.
Space will increase as you do missions
He had already filled it with many useful things that would give him an advantage. Especially in a setting were technology wasn''t that advanced. Yet it will also limit him in there use as he could be criticized of witchcraft and things of that nature by bringing out something beyond there comprehension. So with that done all he had to do was spend his 4 points. He considered what would be the most valuable stat in a setting of a medieval war and came to the conclusion of endurance. Since there are so many people fighting even the strongest of men would get overwhelmed and exhausted just by the sheer number of them. Of course others things could help him a lot too, but compared to the advantage of high endurance they didn''t amount to much if you consider his survivability as the number 1 priority. Only Vitality came quite close to it as well. So Zed decided to upgrade his Endurance up by 3 points as well as his vitality by 1.
Health 100/100
Stamina 120/120
Mana 50/50
Strength 8
Constitution 7
Agility 6
Sense 6
Vitality 10
Endurance 12
Intellect 11
Spirit 5
Charisma 6
Luck 7
With that done he chose his starting weapon to be the scythe as he thought that would give him the best compatibility with his blade mastery.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. As he pressed yes the familiar darkness covered his vision again just to be followed by a blinding light that abstracted his ability to intake his surroundings. His eyes adjusted to the new environment, finding himself to be lying down on the ground The grass he was lying on was a bit wet with the morning dew making the ragged close wet and stick to his body. He was confident in his vitality for this to not cause any problems for him. He could feel the fresh air enter his lungs as if it didn''t contain any impurities in it. As he sat up he could see men dressed what he would call rags with a variety of farm tools next to them most likely intended to be used as weapons. A hand reached out to him with a friendly "Come join us for breakfast Zed." Grasping that hand he answered with a simple "Sure." Zed knew this man''s name was Clark and he was a childhood friend of his. They even both worked at the same forge. He could adapt to all of this quickly as he had prior knowledge of all of this he even knew where he needs to go. Zed gave a quick glance to the scythe that had lied next to him as he picked it up. Finding the only noteworthy thing about it being how well it had been sharpened. Their breakfast was a simple one with some stale bread and veggies. The meal was finished quickly as they set off. As they marched to their destination he went through his newfound memories. His backstory was that of a blacksmith that lived in a medium-sized village. As the village blacksmith, he mostly had to work with farm tools and kitchenware. Being physically the most capable one in his village he was chosen to represent their village as they were drafted into the war. When the soldiers of the kingdom passed by there village they ordered for 50 men to serve their kingdom drafting them into the army. Their destination was right next to the border of their kingdom. Both nations were having skirmishes all over the kingdom''s borders currently and the men of his village were forced into joining it as well. The journey from the village took about 2 days and everyone had to provide there own food and weapons. Lucky this year the village had a good harvest so they had an enough. As they traveled he could observe how the other villagers around him reacted to this as he stuck out like a sore thumb among them. Most were sorrowful and afraid as they left their families behind and were about to face death. They probably knew that most of them will die as war is a cruel place where the weak perish like weeds and only few will be cultivated into true soldiers. In the end, they were just an expendable resources to its kingdom. After many hours of walking, they reached their destination a hastily build camp near the border of their kingdom. He could see other villagers like them here as they had set up a camp near the tents and caravans. As the elected leader, he had to report about his arrival to the leading figure. He appeared to be busy as he looked at the map in front of him. Even in the camp, this middle age man was wearing his chainmail. and gave Zed only the basic instructions, but it was enough for him. They joined others villagers near their setup base as they rested and ate the food that was provided to them here. Time quickly passed as Zed tried to instruct his squad on some basic formations and strategy he knew of. Early in the morning they were woken up and instructed to follow their commander to the front lines. They didn''t travel for long as they were led by a couple of men on horses followed by men that wore leather armor and had proper weapons. We naturally stood in a rough formation as the leader in chainmail gave his speech in the front to rouse up the man. "Men! The Scum of Kron Kingdom are in front of us, Will we let them take our land? Take our wifes and daughters? Or Will you fight and Stop them! The speech seemed to do wonders as the man got all riled up and were ready to battle the enemy kingdom. After all, humans were emotional creatures and got affected by emotions of others around them. As they charged Zed could see a structure in the distance. It was a crude wooden wall that was around 2 meters in height. He could even see the rooftops of the building behind it. Arrows started to be shot from the little towers that were built next to the crude walls. Men fell around zed as arrows pierced them and even if they didn''t die from the arrow their bodies were trampled by the charging men. The stench of battle was starting to rise in the air as the metallic aroma of blood and human excrement mixed together to create that unique smell associated with death. Two men wearing leather armor had a ram in there hands as they rammed there gate as it sent wooden chips in the air. Each knock on the gate sent more wooden chips around as cracks spread. It didn''t take long for the gate to break and the men to rush in. It was time for Zeds first true battle to begin! Chapter 10 | Am I A Psycho? Chaos ensued as weapons of two groups clashed. Men in leather armor took the lead as they fought against the soldiers of The Kron kingdom. The people of the village have been transported long ago, now only soldiers were left to defend this border village. Following others into the villages Zed joined this heated battle as he swung his scythe at the opposing soldier. His swing carried such a great power that it overwhelmed his foe making the blade of the scythe cleave at the exposed neck leaving it a bloody mess that hardly held on to the body. The still hot blood flowed down the shaft of scythe covering Zeds hands in the red liquid. His hands have been covered in blood numerous times before as he taken lives of many animals before this, but never had it been from a human and one that he himself killed. He had seen his mentor take lives of numerous people before and even helped with disposing of the body. His feelings towards death were dulled already, but the concept of himself taking another''s life had disturbed him in the past. Afterall it was in humans nature to find killing another human difficult. If one isn''t a psychopath they would require to feel some anger in them when they kill someone with there own hands, but even that could only go so far. Even trained soldiers subconsciously missed targets they shot at. But for him, it felt like it was just another animal that he had killed. "Am I a Psyco?" As he felt conflicted in middle of battlefield surrounded by death, an enemy struck. Critical hit -64 A sudden pain hit him as a blade pierced through his back with enough power to reach his hearth and come out through his chest. His eyes constricted while they became bloodshot as the instinctive fear of death struck him. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Letting out a roar he grabbed the skull of the man who dared to sneak attack him. The fear and surprise could be easily seen in the man''s eyes through the gaps in Zeds fingers as his face was clutched by them. "How could he survive that?" Was the last thought in his mind as his skull hit a rock on the ground scattering his brain fluids on the ground. With no time to recover from the sudden attack, he pulled out the blade stuck in his back. Just to use it for deflecting an incoming blow from another soldier. Even with one hand, he overpowered his opponent forcing him to stagger. Not giving the man a chance to recover Zed followed up by striking the mans nose with his fist. You could hear a crack come from the man''s nose as it broke. The blade still covered in his own blood swiftly decapitated the man. Zed stood next to the two dead soldiers with a height that was nearly half a meter taller than the average man drawing a lot of attention to him on the battlefield. It didn''t take long for three opposing soldiers to surround him each trying to swing their weapons at him. Death appeared to be destined to happen to the man whose heart was just pierced by a blade Yet that wasn''t what happened. A powerful kick was sent to one of the assaulter''s chest sending the man flying in the air as he chest was cracked making blood spur out of his mouth. This followed smoothly by him blocking a sword with his blade while narrowly dodging another sword attack. In the man''s mind, the possibility of missing that attack didn''t even come across. Missing an attack with a greatsword caused his balance to get disturbed which was quickly taken advantage by zed. In the end, this simple mistake took his life as a blade severed his head. Zed was like a fish in water here. The scythe was abandoned long ago as he had taken a greatsword from a fallen enemy. He was like a Deathgod on the battlefield with each swing of his taking an enemy''s life. Even the leather armor did little to hinder his attacks. On the 10th kill, The Realm notified Zed on a new skill.
Killers Aura
With each kill, your killing aura grows stronger.
Its effects were immediately noticeable as enemies instinctively seemed to distance themselves from Zed. The battle didn''t continue for long as Kron kingdoms soldiers fell. They seemed to lose all hope as more of them died some chose to try and run away but were finished off by men on horses. With losing even the option of running away they dropped there weapons as they yelled that they surrendered yet it was all pointless in the end. The men still followed higher up orders of having no war prisoners as they mercilessly slaughtered the men that abandoned their weapons looking for a chance to live. The ground was covered in blood and bodies after the battle. "Stack the bodies in the village center!" The man in chainmail yelled out his orders on top of his horse as others followed them. While the Ex-Villagers carried the bodies of dead soldiers to the pile in the center of the city. The men in leather armor were ordered to search the houses for any survivors, but in reality, they just ransacked the houses for any valuables and rations. They didn''t care one bit about what happens to this place afterward as they just broke down the doors. Zed had to strip down the gear of soldiers then carry the dead bodies to the pile like the rest only he didn''t need the help in carrying a body. He could see how some of the common villagers now whore the bloody armor and had proper weapons from the dead soldiers. Zed could only get a new weapon as none of the armor fit him.
Human Heart
Alchemy ingredient
Human Hair
Alchemy ingredient
With his new alchemy knowledge, The Realm informed him that parts of humans could be used in alchemy. The pile of corpses grew in its size as all the dead soldiers were thrown into it. Following the orders to dispose of the bodies wood, straw and anything else that would burn well was thrown into the pile. A spark was set to the pile that soon grew into a mighty blaze that covered the whole pile. Zed could smell the stench of burnt corpses coming from the village as they left. Everything of worth was already put into carts that were pulled by the villagers. The uncontrolled fire engulfed the whole village. Chapter 11 | Alchemy shows its usefulness Traveling back to the camp with the new loot was more challenge then you would think as most men had sustained some form of injury that hindered the trip back. Many of them could even die because of the lack of understanding in treating wounds. Some were even so badly wounded that they needed help to move. This all created the trip back to be quite melancholic as some won''t even be able to work in the fields anymore. When we returned back to the camp we weren''t given even the time to settle down as new commands were given. "Squad leaders follow me into my tent!" five men including Zed followed the General into his tent. "What can we do for you general?" A sly looking man asked wearing bloody leather armor with two daggers hanging at his waist. "Good job out there men. I will be rewarding you with 5 gold each, disturb it to your squad as you fit. He pulled out 5 sacks full of silver coins and gave them to each Squad leader. "Thank you, General your glory shall be known true out the land!" The sly looking man was first to speak without missing the chance to flatter the boss. "In 3 days we will be attacking a merchant that decided to betray our Kingdom and join the scum of Kron." "Also while you are at it send the men that won''t be able to fight back to their villages I will lend you one carriage for it." "You are dismissed" With that, the 5 men left Generals tents. Yet before they could go back to their squads the sly man stopped them. "We should decide how we handle the money together." "What do you mean?" As he spoke you could see his beer belly move. "Well, shouldn''t we each pay the same amount to our men so no misunderstandings happen? His eyes moved in a shady manner as he spoke of his suggestion. "That does make sense, what do you suggest we pay?" His deep suited his physique well as clothes seem to barely hold on to his body due to his muscles. "How about we give each man a silver coin? "You want us to keep the four-plus gold for ourselves?" Zed was first to question the sly man. "No no not keep as founds for our squad after all as the squad leaders we should take care of our men." He was starting to get nervous as Zed instantly spotted his motives. "I will be giving six silver to my men you can do as you chose." With that Zed left he had no interest in bickering about these pointless things with the fellow squad captains. "Hey wait!" The sly man yelled out but it was of no use as Zed left without even looking back. A man whose head was almost completely covered by a helmet asked "So what should we do?" "What else we give our men six silver." With that, the muscley man left followed by the rest leaving the sly man behind. He clenched his fist in fury as he had just lost more than 3 gold in his mind. "I will get you for this Zed." He swore to take his revenge under his breath as he left. "Squad leader we made some jerky broth come join us!" Clark called out to zed. He had lost his right eye in the battle as it now was covered by a torn off cloth. "Everbody gather up." Six silver would last these men at best for 3-5 months.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. 100 Copper was 1 Silver 100 Silver was 1 gold With a couple of coppers, you could buy a meal for yourself and not much more. "Those that can please go and look for these 3 plants." Zed instructed his men as he showed three plants that he had picked up as they had traveled. With his alchemy knowledge, he knew that mixing these three plants together would create a paste that helped in treating wounds. "Why do you need them?" One of the men couldn''t help but ask. "I will show you." He put his hand in a bag and took out a mortar and pestle. Thanks to his Realm storage he could have some basic alchemy tools on hand at all times. Before using them he had to separate some parts of it. From the first plant, he had to remove everything expects the stem of the plant. The second plant required only its leafs. While the third plant was only its flower. Meshing it all together created a paste that had a sandy color to it. Seeing this in action the men couldn''t help but ask if he was an alchemist. "No nothing like that It''s just something I picked up since its useful in treating injuries." He didn''t want to tell he was an alchemist in a time where the unknown was feared more. "It''s going to hurt when you apply it to your wound but that is why it works." "If you bring me more of those plants I can make more." With that done he continued to eat his dinner. At first, most men were not too trusting in this paste they saw him just whip up. Making them miss the chance to use it on themselves. Only 7 of the 44 men went to look for the plant and ask him to make more. After a night of restless sleep, the effects of paste could be clearly seen on the men who used it. Their wounds looked much better and had recovered to a much greater degree compared to those that didn''t use the paste. Seeing this they began to ask for more help in treating their wounds from Zed making him do even some rough stitches on some of their cuts. In the three day rest period Zed had taken care of most of his men injuries raising his reputation greatly among them. Any orders he gave as a squad leader were carried out with much more vigor compared to before and now with that vigor, they embarked into a new battle. It was a simple mission they had to travel into enemy territory and assault a caravan with supplies. They had to travel for two days straight before they reached their destination a mountain pass in a valley. Based on the information that they knew the caravan would be passing through this valley in two days time. So before it did travel this road they had to set up some traps for an ambush. As they had to factor in that the men at their disposal were quite unskilled their traps needed to be equally simple. 2 days later. A convoy of caravans was traversing through the harsh road accompanied by guards walking next to them. "Sengo I still recommend that we don''t take the route through the valley." A man wearing full leather armor with an unusually large sword strapped to his back advised a fat middle-aged man covered in expensive looking jewelry. "I told you already there is no time to go around we need to take it. "Leonard our families have worked together for such a long time I trust in your skills to take care of any problems that may I rise." Leonard still looked reluctant to take this mountain road, but he still began to order his men to be more vigilant to potential danger. Keeping a steady speed they entered the valley. Everything seemed normal as they traveled it, even the scouts that they sent didn''t find anything strange up ahead. But it all changed as they reached the midsection of the road, a giant boulder rolled down from the mountain blocking the road in front of them. Before they could react group of men on top of hill showed up and started to stone them. "Retreat!" A loud yell came from Leonard as he deflected a rock that was about to hit him. Rocks fell down on the men like raindrops as blood started to flow like water from their injuries. Due to the mercenaries coming from a clan that specialized in two-handed weapons they didn''t carry any shields to protect themselves from the falling rocks. The road wasn''t big enough for the carriage to turn around so they either had to abandoned the merchants or try to protect them as they escape. Both options had their benefits and downfalls making Leonard quickly take the route with less chance of them dying without even a fight. Scraping together something to be used as a crude shield didn''t take long for the men and with that additional protection together with their armor, they managed to escape the range of the thrown rocks. If the situations weren''t so chaotic due to all the screaming and yelling they might have noticed that the men didn''t follow them. As the attacks stopped the men''s spirits rose as they thought they had just escaped an ambush. ''why does this uneasy feeling just keeps growing as we move forward?'' "Leonard what about my cargo!" "Calm down, what is more, important to you your cargo or your life." "My cargo is my life!" he was starting to get red due to all the running making him looked enraged. "Don''t worry we will get it back, we just need to escape the current danger." ''Damn so that was there plan." He could see a group of men blocking the road in front of them. "Get in formation C!" With that order, the men dropped there makeshift shields and abanded the merchants they had protected. Looking at the men in front him he couldn''t quite tell which was the leader as the most likely one would be that big, tall guy, but he was wearing nothing but standard commoner clothes compared to the other men. Still, it was his best bet as he didn''t even know if they were attacked by bandits or someone else. ''But what is up with that creepy grin?'' As he was about to clash with that big guy he couldn''t help but notice that seemingly childish smile of excitement plastered on the man''s face. He was holding a two-handed sword in one hand without putting up any defense making Leonard put up his guard even more as he did a sideways swing with his blade. The man raised his sword to parry the blow yet it wasn''t enough to stop the blade heading into his chest it only hindered its attack power. That smile of his widened even more as the blade struck him confusing Leonard for just a moment due to that unexpected response and the ever precedented feeling of danger. Sadly that grin was the last thing he saw as a powder hit his face making his eyes water to near blindness as mucus started to hinder his breathing together with a very dry cough. Leonard tried to retreat, but it was too late as a blade pierced through his hearth. ''Well, that worked better then I thought it would.'' While they set up the traps on top of the mountain he found 2 plants that he thought could mix well and indeed they did.
Anakons bud
Alchemy ingredient
If inhaled causes strong irritation and burning in your lounges
Seed of moko fruit
Alchemy ingredient
Has a potent ability to trigger an allergic reaction this effect is greatly increased if it enters the body.
Zed created a crude powder with these 2 plants that caused the following reaction in Leonard a veteran swords mans with 90 Health.
Silverhounds Greatsword
Type Rare
Damage 53-94
Aditional effect: Due to the amount of silver the sword was made out of it has the cleansing effect to it
A Greatsword crafted with the technique of Silverhound clan. Its made out of almost pure silver.
Cleansing Attacks on beings of impurity take extra damage based on their impurity.
The blade''s length was 160 centimeters by itself not even counting its hilt making it well over 2 meters. It was about the right size for Zed to use with both hands. With this new weapon and their leader being killed the following battle was nothing but a massacre. Chapter 12 | Two step plan Like after every battle there is a rewards to be reaped. This is what Zed manages to scavenge together with his new greatsword.
Tier 1 Lucky Coin
Type: Acsocery/consumable
Holding it increases luck by 3 You can consume it to gain a 1 permanent luck.
It was a beautiful gold coin the sheer size of it would be worth 5 gold by itself. Do to orders of jewelry or other highly valuable items required to be given to the general he could quickly use such convenient item with none the wiser. Zed even got a skill after stripping the equipment from all the dead soldiers, mercenaries and merchants.
Novice Scavenger
The location of items you are trying to scavenge can be sensed.
This is how he even found the Lucky coin that was hidden on a fat merchant he had killed. The trip back was starting to feel familiar already as after scavenging for anything valuable or worthwhile they set it on flames and left the sean. Zed could even hear a young Soldier asking why they do it. "So why do we burn the bodies after we kill them?" "That is all due to the great plague that happened 200 hundred years ago. Back then they just left the bodies without any real care after a battle and scholars determined that to be the reason why the plague happened that killed 30% of the people on the continent. "Is this also the reason why Kron kingdom uses those bugs on corpses?" "You are correct we burn the dead giving them a just death while the scum of Kron kingdom let bugs eat the dead." As the loot from this battle was much more plentiful the reward given to squad leaders was also much greater. "Great job out their men this time I will give 20 gold to each of you." The general had a wide smile do to the great success this time. "Zed I heard that your medical knowledge is very impressive from the men, is this true?" "I wouldn''t call it impressive it''s only good enough to take care of flash wounds." That was the trough he wasn''t even a bit confident to be able to do surgery or fix a fractured bone. "Still that is a very valuable skill in these tough times, I will be giving you extra 10 gold coins and a tent so you can treat the soldiers." "In 3 days we will be attacking the reinforcements that the Kron kingdom is sending to their border city." "Thank you general." "You are dismissed!" "So how are we disturbing the money this time?" "I say we just keep giving 6 silver." "That sounds reasonable." "I will give 30 silver to each of my men." With that Zed left he really couldn''t be bothered with these greedy men. "hmph easy for him to do that with his extra 10 gold." The sly man said out loud. "30 silvers does seem a bit too much." "We will be giving away just a bit more them half of what we got so I have no problem with 30 silver." "That does sound reasonable so let''s do 30 silver then." As 3 of the 5 man decided to go with 30 the remaining 2 had to do the same if they didn''t want to lose the trust of their men. Zed was shown by a man to the tent near the general that had been emptied. "Hey, can you get me some things that I need?" "If it''s not anything too complicated I don''t see why not."The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. With that Zed got a place for the men to lay down as he treats them and place to sit down with a box as a table. "Thanks here takes these 15 silvers for your trouble." "You for real? Thank you so much." After all 15 silver was quite a lot it would be enough to get wasted and get some wrenches in town for couple days. ''Since I was given 10 extra gold might as well pay them for gathering the plants'' With that Zed got his men to spread the word that if you collect certain plants you can get 1 silver for them and it even helps the camps Healer in treating wounds. This was like hitting 2 birds with one stone as word spread about the camps Healer and the materials he needed to help with your treatment. With a camp of around 500 men had gotten so busy that he had to hire Clark his blacksmithing buddy to help with transactions for the plants and cut his training time in half just to manage it all. Zed didn''t realize how many dumb questions he would be getting as the camp healer and all the strange requests. But at least he had gotten something for it.
Novice Healer
Any type of healing done by you is 5% more effective.
This even affected his passive health and mana regeneration, but weirdly it didn''t affect his stamina regeneration. It had been two busy days for zed and he was about to rest as tomorrow will be the day they would be attacking enemy reinforcements. But most times your future plans don''t work out like you wanted them to. "Enemy attack!" A loud yell travel through the camp in the middle of the night. He grabbed his greatswords and dashed out of his tent going straight for his squad to get them in proper defense formation. As he ran to his men camp he could see the Soldiers of Kron kingdom charging at their defenseless camp. Afterall this was only a good strategic location for attacking with no defenses expect the men in it. "Form up and attack them before they reach the camp!" The General took command quickly as he gave his orders as all of his men took a formation followed by the squad leaders greatly dismissing the chaos that was happening in the camp. Before the enemy could rache them Zed instructed for his men to take 4 man formation were 4 men cover each other. Zed took the lead as he was just behind those that had horses. Even his first opponent was on a horse. The advantage of being on a horse was reduced a lot just because of the sheer hight of Zed as he was quite a bit taller than the horse its self. The increased speed of the horse just made their deaths so much quicker as Zed swung his greatsword with enough skill and power to Split the man''s spine in half. He had no interest in the horse itself as he had no experience riding one. The battle was gruesome as they were outnumbered 1:3. But as always Zeds might shined in battle as he seemed immortal to his enemies. Even when their blades struck him it didn''t seem to faze the man one bit. Corpses were starting to pile up near Zed hindering his movement making him get hit more and more as the battle continued and even with his regen things were starting to look grim. Glancing around he could determine that the men of Kron kingdom would be winning this fight with heavy loses if nothing changed. ''If I use it there would be too many questions.'' As the option of running away was still possible for him he decided to still wait and see how things continue as he retreated behind his men to apply healing times to his wounds. Using this extra time he analyzed the battlefield to see if he could come up with anything. ''That could work'' "Retreat to the armory take the bows and the...!" He gave his remaining 32 men the order to retreat as he took the front lines to defend. Bows were only recently becoming a valid option in war as the materials to make arrows were starting to be farmed in greater quantity. So mostly they only used bows in defending cities and not in skirmishes as using a bow required a bit more finesse than just to swing a weapon. But even if you hadn''t shot one before it was still possible to use it. The first part of the plan begun. Plan Horsy no more. Zed started to target the remaining 14 horsemen that could reach his men. Most of them were wounded and it turned out much easier then one would think as 6 of the 14 horsemen ran away. But due to zed and his men retreating the Kron kingdoms soldiers were starting to dominate the battlefield with their superior numbers. With that, the second part of the plan could begin. Fire spirit Drinks As he saw his men come back carrying bows and sealed boxes he rushed to them. "Those of you that have some balls grab the bows if not take the spirit and throw it at the enemies when I give the command." Most of them grabbed the bows but some of them did understand their limits and pried open the boxes to grab the spirit. Zed ordered his man to make a fireplace in front of him. It didn''t even take a minute for wood to be thrown into a pile in front of him. Using the highly alcoholic spirit and his Alchemy fire a great fire rose from the pile of wood. He started instructing his men in their roles and what they would need to do. This caused more than half of them to chose to pick up the spirit instead of the bow. Afterall how could using the bow to defend in case they were attacked compare to killing Kron soldiers upright! "Follow my lead." He picked up a spirit bottle opened it then stuffed a cloth inside of it "Make sure that cloth is properly lit." The cloth quickly caught on fire as Zed used firepit in front of him. With the lit Molotov cocktail he moved closer to the battlefield aiming straight for a patch where the enemies were extra dense. This wasn''t hard at all thanks to the minimum amount of their own soldiers left and the sheer size of the enemy''s army. The spirit bottle split right on the head of one soldier as fire covered him and those in the vicinity of him. That was the beginning of a legend in Kron kingdom of The fire-throwing Demon. It only took them a couple of minutes to force the soldiers of Kron kingdom to retreat as the fire started to rain upon them. "So this was you''re doing Zed?" The General was the on to ask Zed as he road his now injured horse. "Yes General." He got off his horse and bowed to Zed. "General!" Instantly the men next to him tried to stop him jet he just brushed them off. "Thank you, you saved all our lives I will make sure you are properly repaid for this." "I just did what any soldier should have done General." "Nonsense you showed tactical powers that are beyond any regular soldier." "Now I will be relying on you again to treat our men''s wounds." "Don''t mind it General, it''s an honor." Zed normally wouldn''t have been this polite, but he was trying to be the perfect soldier to quickly raise his rank.