《Myth Online》


 Chapter 1

    Knock. Knock knock.


    "Zaran it''s time!"


    Zaran opened his yes as he heard his sister shouting at the door. "Okay i''m coming!", he replied excitedly. He took his crutches and went towards the living room. Two pods were installed there with and on the side golden letters proudly said ''Myth online''. Today the servers of the newest vrmmo would finally open!


    His sister, Sylphie, helped him in the pod. "Let''s meet each other in Virul okay?"


    Zaran nodded. "Sure sis, just don''t choose a lame race okay?"


    "puh!! you little!" Sylphie exclaimed as she stuck out her tongue. "We''ll see whose lame!" Sylphie quickly entered her own pod.


    "Finally" Zaran thought. "I hope this vrmmo delivers... This life has been worthless. Reincarnated for like the 5000th time, almost enough karma to be reborn as an immortal and... I get a crippled body." That''s right, Zaran is a reincarnator. One of the lucky people to have earned enough karmic merrit to be reborn again and keep his memories! Over countless lifetimes he has been gradually earning more merrit and his lives kept getting better, until now. He was even able to confirm that he almost had enough merrit to become an immortal but he never would''ve thought that his next life would be a total disaster.


    "At least games have been somewhat interesting but besides that..." Zaran sighed as he thought back about his life. He was 18 now and this life had only been filled with hardships with very little joyeous moments. With crippled legs there had been very little ways for him to obtain more karmic merrit. Most people would try to help him instead of the other way around. All he felt he could do was waste this lifetime without earning anything out of it. The only real way for him to obtain more karmic merrit in this life would be to become insanely rich and help change the lives of all the poor people but...


    He had never been born in a world so advanced and his previous lifetimes mostly were from a pre-technologic world he could hardly grasp whatever was going on. If this was an usual reincarnation he could apply some of his knowledge from one of his previous lifetimes to get rich to gain merrit but that was not the case this time.


    "Still, if you really can make your own skills in Myth online... i at least could practice my arts." Zaran smiled at this thought and started his connection to the server. He felt his conciousness slipping away for a moment and when he regained it, his surroundings were black and in front of him was the countdown to the servers opening time. There still was half an hour left before the servers would open and character creation was possible.


    A message popped up.


    "The servers are unavailable. Would you like to learn more about myth online in the meantime?"


    Zaran quickly pressed "yes". Besides the names, locations and surroundings of a few beginner villages, the ability to create skills and a sneak-peek at a few of the races not much information was known about Myth online.


    His field of view immediatly changed and Zaran was now in a room with a lot of crystals. Under each crystal there were golden letters with keywords. He looked for the keyword "races" and instinctively touched the crystal.


    The wall and crystals before him dissapeared and a large number of people replaced them. A female voice greeted him. "The races available in Myth Online are classified in four types. These four types are Humanoid, beastmen, elemental and hidden races." As she spoke examples of the races flashed by. "Humanoid races consist of races with human features, like elves, dwarves, giants et cetera. Beastmen consist of all races with features of animals, in example we have the tigermen and wolfmen. The elemental races consist out of elements that have gained sentience, like golems and firelings. Lastly the hidden races are not available to start with but can be obtained through the game, as example we have werewolves and vampires. Obtaining them also depends on your starting race. For example it is impossible to become a vampire as an elemental or beastman."


    "Of which races would you like to know more? Or do you wish to return?" the female voice said.


    Zaran thought for a moment. Most of the hidden races weren''t visible as they flashed by in the introduction so Zaran replied "Humanoid races.". Elementals and beastmen, while interesting, weren''t really his thing so this was the only option left.


    The female voice was heard once again. "You are now free to wander around and inspect the various humanoid races." As the voice said this all the non-humanoid races dissapeared, leaving him with around 20 races left. He skipped the giants, dwarves, elves, valkyrie, sirens, mermaids, harpies and centauri until he arrived at a human-looking species, as he approached closer the race reformed to show his build and face. The face looked a lot sharper than his current face, the forehead was about half as big as that of a human, the nose bridge was a lot broader and it had sharp teeth. The fingers were longer and were growing inwards, making the hands look similar to claws. It also had a slightly lowered stance, with the knees bent a little, making their movement seem more natural. The whole of it gave a feeling of a savage and brutal species. He noticed the name was Zuno. "Zuno, additional information" Zaran said.


    "The Zuno are an ancient species who don''t often traverse the borders of their country and they love to train and fight. Through there scarce use of precious resources, the humans have tried many times to conquer the lands they lived on but were met with total defeat each time. The last war dates a hundred fifty years ago. the humans thought this war would be different since their recent development of matchlock guns, this development made the humans overconfident in their abilities and they were met yet again with total defeat. In previous wars the Zuno had never retaliated but this time they decided to ally themselves with the bestial kingdoms and take a share of the human territory. This land has since become the free kingdom of Liberia, where every race works hand in hand. After the war, the shy Zuno spread across the continent. Their racial strength lie in the ability to posses all types of energy resources. Be it chakra, mana, ki et cetera. As long as they can train in it they can possess it. The racial weakness lies in their inability to understand feelings.". A message popped up with the numbers for racial traits and disadvantages. Training speed 300% usual rate. skillpoints - 50%. Intimacy - 50%.


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    "So basically a strong race but has a harder time building intimicy with NPC''s which reduces their ability to receive quests to some extent?" Zaran asked. "Yes, but ofcourse there are ways to reduce this penalty or completely lose it altogether. How you do this you have to figure out yourself. At the same time if you don''t train you will be weaker as people of the same level."


    Zaran went over the information he just acquired. The Zuno race would be stronger if you''d be good at training your body, but you wouldn''t be able to receive quests easily, at least at the start until you figure out to compensate for the racial penalty. He nodded as he understood this and looked at the other races.


    After looking at the humans and other extremely human-like races he concluded that the zuno race fitted him the best.


    "Return to menu, Skill creation information." Zaran loudly said.


    Zaran''s field of view changed and he was now in a dojo with various martial artist practicing a large variety of martial arts. The female voice resounded in his mind yet again. "Like in the real world skills can be formed over time. As your understanding of your body and your powers grows you might even be able to create divine-tier level skills. However it all begins with understanding, in example if you don''t even know how to swing a sword and only rely on the system, a skill will never be created. Some skills also cannot be create for they already exist, judo and karate skills are already learnable skills, these skills you can simply unlock. Unlocking an already-known skill in the real world or creating a basic one relies on you to perfect the movement of the action. Later on you can add mana or ki to your skill to create additional effects or create a new skill alltogether."


    Most of the martial artist vanished from his field of view and only a knight wielding a sword and shield was left. "This is an example of a creation of a skill with additional effects." The knight used the skill slash first. Then he used slash while using ki to increase the speed of the slash and mana to exert a line of water from the sword. The line of water went forward at high speed and cleanly cut a metal dummy in 2. "While adding ki to his arm for speed and mana to create the water line, the high-level skill ''fast water slash'' is born." said the female voice.


    "What a lame name..." Zaran muttered, but then asked "Can techniques for increasing ki and the likes be learned and how about production techniques?"


    "These can both be learned as long as the system recognizes them."


    A short answer, but he learned what he needed to know through it.


    "Return menu.".


    The crystal chamber returned before him and Zaran looked around to see if there was any more info he really wanted to know before creating his character. He looked up some more basic info and waited for the countdown clock to reach 0.


    As the servers finally opened he heard the female voice again "The servers have opened. Character creation will now automatically begin."


    "First choose your race"


    "Zuno."


    The character the game created for him earlier while viewing the races appeared again. "Do you wish to edit the appearances?"


    "Yes."


    "Imagine the appearance you want your character to have."


    Zaran imagined the appearance of one of his most precious lifetimes. As he did so the character changed and a slightly bigger than average man replaced it, with long black hair tied in a ponytail. The Zuno characteristics were kept but it had a more elegant and refined face and his amber eyes had a golden sheen to them. Through his clothes you could see his well-defined muscles. Even though he had a beautiful face at the same time it gave off an aura of being extremely fierce.


    "Is this the appearance you want?"


    "Yes."


    "Choose your starting city."


    "Virul."


    "Choose your starting gear"


    "longsword and leather set"


    The female voice resounded one last time. "Please choose your name and surname to finalize character creation."


    "Name Zaran, surname Karaz". He didn''t have to think this through. It''s the same name he has been using in every game and the name he had gotten in every reincarnation. And thus Zaran Karaz was born again...

 Chapter 2 - Unwanted company

    Author''s corner:


    Note 1: I tried to get this chapter out yesterday, but due to my idiocy i lost half the chapter sooooo... i had to rewrite.


    Note 2: I''ve tried to pay attention to your tips, although i still find describing things hard, i''ve never been really good at it.


    Note 3: This turned out to be a little longer than i thought. Wanted to squeeze more in this chapter.


    Chapter 2


    The world changed in front of his eyes. The boring loading screen was exchanged for a bustling japanese-styled town. Zaran stretched his body, looked around and saw that he was the only user that was already playing. He took the time to observe his surroundings. He spawned in a market square and noticed four ways leaving the marketway. The way to the north led to the housing district, to the west the craftsmen district, to the east shopping district and to the south the garisson, training field and various magic, mystic art, martial arts academies.


    Virul lied in the middle of the Liberiu kingdom, which in it''s turn was located in the south-west of the Kian contincent. It was a recently formed kingdom, who''s territory used to be part of the Tarra kingdom. The territory was claimed by the Zuno after the war with the Human alliance led by the Tarra kingdom. It was set-up to act as another threat to the Tarra kingdom, if they attacked the Zuno kingdom of Zenora, the Liberiu kingdom would attack the Tarra kingdom. The Tarra kingdom lied to the west of liberiu, while the Beast kingdom Barat lied to the north, the Valkyria kingdom Celun lied to the east and the Zenora kingdom of the Zuno lied to the south. Out of those four surrounding kingdoms all but the Tarra had a very friendly relationship with the liberiu kingdom. As a result the Liberiu kingdom hosted a large variety of different species, but very little humans.


    As a result of it''s position Virul acted as a hub between the 4 major cities of Liberiu. Those being the military city Deneg to the west, the trading city Lemu to the north-east the capital Librus to the east and finally the religious city Karu to the south-east.


    As Zaran stared at the market square, a message box suddenly popped up in the middle of the air.


    <table><tbody><tr>"Congratulations for being the first user to complete character creation! As you are the very first user to start playing you''ll receive the bonus of being able to upgrade 2 skills to the advanced level straight away with no charges!"</tr></tbody></table>


    A list of available skills popped up in front of him.


    "Eh? There was this kind of thing? This will save me a ton of money!" Zaran said stupefied. "But these skills... There''s not much i can use straight away."


    Two skills caught his eye among the list. Advanced smithing and the beast-master skill. Smithing would be useful the moment he could get ore to make flawless equipment and beast-master would allow him to tame pets with ease. Both these would be handy in a moments notice. The others like advanced mining, advanced smelting, advanced herbalist, advanced enchanting, etc. Would not be useful early on because even if the lower level items he could make would be more effective, the advantages looked negligible for him. Even if he got most of the other skills early on they would barely be worth it until he got a sufficient enough level to get higher level resources.


    Zaran confirmed his choice and another message popped up. "Your choice has been confirmed. Please go see the smithing instructor and beast trainer to receive your rewards."


    "I still have to run around to receive my rewards?" Zaran grumbled. "Still it''s going to make my life easier for now..."


    Zaran checked his character information screen.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Character info</td></tr><tr><td>Race</td><td>Zuno</td><td>Profession</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>100</td><td>Mana</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>8</td><td>Flexibility</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>5</td><td>Stamina</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>5</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Perception</td><td>5</td><td>Luck</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Charm</td><td>2</td><td>Willpower</td><td>5</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "I didn''t think the penalty for stats would start at level one, so i''ll have to start training hard from the start huh." Zaran muttered. "Still it''s not like i don''t know what training is."


    Zaran went south and excited the market square heading straight to the training field. The training field was a large area with various different types of dummy''s strewn around and besides the gate, was completely walled of from the outside. He greeted the instructor, went towards an isolated spot and started practicing a sword skill he developed over the course of his lifetimes. "Dance of the butterfly, first stage, flutter." Zaran muttered as he performed a slash downwards to the left followed by a downwards slash to the right and finished with a stab right in the middle where his previous slashes intersected. He performed it so fluently that it looked as if it was just one simple motion. In the corner of his eye he saw a small message box appear.


    "Custom skill detected, synergy 20%".


    As he performed the first stage again and again the synergy rating slowly went up. "I guess if it reaches 100% it will create a custom skill for me?" Zaran thought as he kept on repeating the movement. As he got exhausted but still continued performing the skill he noticed that the synergy rating suddenly dropped a little from 50% to 49%. "Shit!" He exclaimed as he immediately stopped after finishing the motion. "So training while tired doesn''t work... that''s a little troublesome."


    He took a small break, walked outside of the training field and looked around. Users were starting to pop up to his left and his right. It had already been a good hour in-game time and only now were users finishing up their character creation. "Six minutes longer than me huh?" Zaran grinned. If only these fools knew about the rewards, they would''ve finished up even faster! And not only that but he had an advantage of an hour in game! Although he had been spending that time on creating a custom skill, to him it still felt better than nitpicking about your character''s looks.


    After recovering his breath another message popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Due to recovery from exhaustion your stamina has increased by 3</td></tr><tr><td>Due to training your strength has increased by 3</td></tr><tr><td>Due training your flexibility has increased by 3</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran pondered as he saw the message box. "Hmm so it seems like i will only get stats points after i rest from training... So the game tries to make it feel like reality, you don''t gain strength while training but after recovering and letting your muscles rest they grow. And looking at the drop in completion from the custom skill... I''d say losing stats due to excessive training could be possible. Best not to over commit too much."


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    "That said where''s sis. I thought she knew how she wanted to look in game?" Zaran walked around the market place looking for his sister when he noticed three men surrounding two women. An orc that had a face with more craters then the moon and a bulging belly. A ratman and the person chose to have as much features of a rat as possible and as little human features, so he looked like a walking talking disgusting rat. And lastly they had a snakeman, but opposing to his ratman buddy this guy chose to only have the scales of a snake on his body and not the rest of his features looked human, bar the snake tongue. As he got closer he noticed the two girls who were absolute beauties. One was a Valkyrie, with blonde hair, two angelic wings, wearing the white plated paladin''s beginner set and she gave off an elegant vibe. The other was literally a catgirl, she had red hair, whiskers, a cute human face, a cat tail on her behind and only some fur armor covering her chest and upper-legs.


    "What beauties no wonder... wait... that blonde... redhead... don''t they look familiar?" Zaran thought as he moved closer. "... yup." As he got closer he noticed that the blonde Valkyrie was his sister, how could he not recognize that cute face and those green eyes of her that seemed to draw you in as you looked at them. The redhead was undoubtedly Irina, his sister''s best friend. She had hazel eyes and looking at her face and figure she would think she was a popstar. Irina''s slender legs, a nice perky chest and an hourglass figure would drawn attention towards her wherever she went. Still, Sylphie''s figure was not that much worse, although not as slender as Irina, she would still be called a stunning beauty.


    "Oi craterhead. STEP AWAY." Zaran bellowed. The orc, ratman and Snakeman turned around. "Who the hell are you?!?" exclaimed the orc. "These ladies are ours!"


    "That''s my sister." Zaran said as he pointed towards Sylphie.


    The orc laughed. "So what, what can a level 1 Zuno like you do to me, an orc. You are the weakest race at level 1 while the orc''s are amongst the strongest. "


    Zaran smiled. "Let''s duel then and see if the orc race really is as strong at level 1 as you say ~"


    The Orc laughed again "HAHAHAHA, good but if you lose we''ll take your sister from here." The orc nodded towards his companions, this would be easy for him, there was no way that an orc with its 20 strength at level 1 would lose to a Zuno who barely had any stats at level its.


    "Zaran no! You can''t win!" Sylphie shouted. She feared her brother got in over her head. How could a level 1 Zuno win. She too had seen the stats a Zuno started with and the disparity between a Zuno and the Orc races was too big. A 50 stat point difference couldn''t be made up for with skill so easily.


    "It''ll be okay sis." Zaran calmly said.


    <table><tbody><tr>Ed has challenged you to a duel. Do you accept?</tr><tr>Yes / No</tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran pressed yes without a second thought. An invisible ring appeared around Zaran and Ed, and everyone else inside it got teleported outside of it. A countdown appeared.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>5...</td></tr><tr><td>4...</td></tr><tr><td>3...</td></tr><tr><td>2...</td></tr><tr><td>1...</td></tr><tr><td>FIGHT!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran swiftly took out his longsword, while Ed lifted the greataxe from his back and violently slashed the air in front of him.


    Zaran scoffed and slowly walked forwards as if he was taking a walk in the park. This action enraged Ed even more. Why did this little punk Zuno act so smug? Didn''t he know how weak he was? Ed roared, kicked the ground with his feet and ran forward. "SLAM!" he roared as he activated a skill and slashed downwards. Zaran noticed in time and quickly rolled towards the side, completely evading the attack while at the same time arriving to the side of Ed. As he was locked into the action of the skill he had no way of avoiding Zaran''s attack.


    "Flutter" Zaran mumbled as he fiercely slashed down left, raised his sword and slashed down right and then fiercely stabbed the point where the slashed crossed. Even though he wore heavy leather armor the stab knocked the large Orc body back a little. This showed just how much damage that single move did. Ed looked in shock as he saw 50 out of his 100 health disappear without the ability to react. The first 2 slashes didn''t do that much damage only 10 damage each, but the third hit was a critical hit and instantly took 30 health away.


    "No-no way!" the bystanders said as they saw what just happened. "How can a Zuno do that? Aren''t they the weakest level 1 race?" Said one of the bystanders. "Yeah but look at how he dodged that Slam, could you do that? He surely must be a great martial artist in reality!" said another.


    Ed roared again as he charged towards Zaran. "I WILL KILL YOUUUUU!"


    Ed fiercely slashed in front of him, but hit air again. Zaran avoided the slash by simply back-stepping out of the range of the attack. Ed swayed as he had used too much force and couldn''t control his weapon anymore, the greataxe loudly slammed in the ground, creating a small crater. Zaran used this opportunity to move towards the side he just attacked and performed another perfect flutter. The knockback of the third hit was much greater this time and the fat body of the orc smashed against the invisible wall of the ring and collapsed as its life hit 0.


    The bystanders all had a look of horror in their eyes. Just how strong was this level 1 Zuno. Nobody believed it would be ever possible for him to win. The stats of the orc were vastly better but simply by relying on skill he won?


    While the bystanders were trying to recover from shock a message box popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You were victorious in an honorable duel!</td></tr><tr><td>Honour + 5</td></tr><tr><td>Strength + 3</td></tr><tr><td>Agility + 3</td></tr><tr><td>Stamina + 3</td></tr><tr><td>Fame + 50</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "Even this counts towards the 300% training rate?" Zaran said surprised. "Why would it work on duels? The reward seems too big..."


    Another message popped up. <table><tbody><tr><td>A custom skill has been created. Do you wish to name it?</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran was stupified yet again. He didn''t think using the skill 2 times in a single fight would unlock it so easily... Did the system just give him extra synergy because of how strong it was in a fight? Zaran recovered from the surprise and entered "Flutter" as the skill name.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations on creating the S-Rank skill ''Flutter''. Do you wish to disclose your identity?</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran pondered for a moment... Should he disclose his identity? Or should he not...

 Chapter 3 - the first quest

    Author''s corner: being sick sucks, writing gets so slow... The chapter''s are getting longer every time i write one though.


    Edit: spacing get''s lost when i paste the chapter to this place.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    "Hmm why not, the skill originally belongs to me so there''s no need to worry about my name being made known."


    Zaran chose to disclose his name. A worldwide anouncement was made.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations Zaran Karaz for creating the S-Rank custom skill Flutter!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The bystanders, Sylphie, Irina, Ed, the ratman and snakeman all yelled out in surprise.


    "No wonder he was able to beat that guy, he already had a custom skill!" said one user.


    "See i told you he was a great martial artist!" said another.


    Ed whispered to his companions "Fuck that guy, using a custom skill to beat me, that''s basically cheating! Let''s mob up on him now, see if he can still act as high and mighty! Zed use dark sphere, Freddy you backstab him, while i distract him through using slash!" Ed raised his greataxe and ran towards Zaran again, who didn''t notice him.


    "Watch out behind you!!" A bystander shouted. Zaran immediatly turned around and tried to dodge the greataxe but he reacted too late and instantly lost 20HP. Zaran immediatly entered a battle stance and noticed the foul aura that came from Zed, the ratman. A dark, sinister orb gathered on top of his staff.


    "Take this!" Zed pointed the staff towards Zaran and the dark sphere shot out with incredible speed, as Zaran was still under the effect of the attack with the greataxe he was unable to dodge and he lost another 30 health. Before he could react he felt two daggers penetrating his back. He was backstabbed by Freddy, the Snakeman, without being able to react. Zaran''s eyes widened as he saw his hp drop to 10. One more hit and he would be dead. Ed raised his greataxe to deliver the finishing blow. As he brought his greataxe down, vines shot up from beneat Zaran, Ed, Zed and Freddy. This was the druid skill cocoon. It firmly locked the four users in place.


    "HALT! Who dares disturb the peace in Virul!" A seemingly young man dressed in grey shorts and a grey worn down tank-top walked out of the crowd as he bellowed this. He had an unshaven and stern looking face, with two grey eyes that almost seemed soulless. Both his hands were opened and a glimmer of mana could be seen around them. The mana had the same aura as the cocoons''. "Guards take these four into custody!" Even though he seemed like a beggar, going by his clothes, the druid had quite some status as every guard in the market plaza moved the moment he gave the order.


    "Wait!" Said one of the bystanders as the guards started to lead Zaran away. "Sir, that Zuno is innocent! He had a fair and honorable duel with the Orc, but the Orc lost and then tried to take revenge while he wasn''t paying attention. They almost succeeded too if you didn''t make in time sir!"


    "Is this true everyone?" The druid asked. The bystanders all nodded or agreed in unison. "Fine, guards release the Zuno he''s innocent. These others... four days in jail!"


    "NOO! Zaran don''t think this is the end! If i see you again you''ll wish you were dead for real!" Ed roared and spat flew out of his mouth with every word. One of the guards glanced at Ed and smashed the Orc with his mace instantly knocking him out.


    The druid glanced at Zaran before looking at the bystanders and saying in anger "What are you still doing here, what are you looking at? Begone!" The bystanders instantly dispersed after hearing the druid''s words. The druid cast a simple heal on Zaran, restoring him to full health. "So young man, could you tell me why this Orc and his henchmen attacked you?" The druid asked in a polite tone.


    "He was harassing these two young women over there, and as a man i couldn''t just let this happen so i stepped up for them. I then defeated the Orc in a duel, but afterwards they still attacked me." Zaran said as he pointed towards Sylphie and Irina.


    The druid laughed and said "That''s what a real man ought to do! But don''t you think the better option in this scenario would''ve been to call for the guards? Surely they would''ve solved the situation better than how you... handled it just now."


    Zaran blushed, once he saw that it was his sister and her friend being harassed he got too hotheaded and forgot about the guards. If he had just relied on the guards to solve the situation he would not have made an enemy out of Ed, Zed and Freddy. On top of that while it would''ve taken him longer to get the skill but not as many people would have seen his face. Because people knew his face now he surely would be harassed by other users all over this town. Zaran sighed and looked at the druid. "I completely forgot about the guards sir, apologies for causing trouble for you".


    "What''s done is done, at least you have made me laugh and made this day a little eventful. I''m Razak by the way, I run the herbalist guild in this town as well as being a counselor for the major. Since the situation is solved here and because there is business i have to attend to i will take my leave. However if in the future you need anything of the herbalist guild feel free to use this token." Razak said as he walked closer to Zaran and extended his hand wherein lied a small green-colored bead. "This serves as an indication that you are free to enter the herbalist guild. Normally you''d have to take some exams and prove that you''re not someone who would use herblore for evil deeds, but your chivalrous spirit already warants that you will not do such things. Therefore you can have this in advance."


    Zaran deeply bowed as he received the small bead. "Thank you sir. If i may be so inpolite to keep you of your duties a little while longer, there is another question i would like to ask."


    Razak nodded. "I am sure i could spare a few more minutes."


    "Thanks sir, do the other guilds also have exams that have to be completed before you can enter them?"


    "Generally most guilds don''t. However the magic guild and the witchcraft guild both do require you to prove your worth and affinity. For crafting guilds most don''t."


    "Thank you for your answer sir, and i pray we may meet again in better circumstances next time." Zaran politely said as he bade Razak farewell.


    "I shall look forward to that." Razak said as he walked away.


    "Sylphie, Irina, let''s go aswell." Zaran said as they left for the craftsmen district.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    In Elaria, the country of elementals players were in an uproar as they watched the system-wide announcement.


    "Damnit! Of all people why Zaran! I even lost count to how many times i died because of him. FUCK!" A red-coloured golem roared as flames bursted out of him. The red-coloured golem was an Ignar a species of lava elementals. This one was huge and bulky and carried an earthern greatsword.


    "But this is a game, it will be different this time! You''ll see Durak, we''ll bring him to his knees this time." an average-looking earth golem answered.  He had chosen all the default settings for a golem, so you would barely be able to recognize him apart from npc. If he wanted it he would blend right in with them.


    Durak grumbled "Argh, fine, let''s go level like madmen now. When we see that little shit, this it will be him that dies."


    Durak and his party quickly left to go grinding with ignited spirits, the rage of seeing the name Zaran Karaz in this lifetime aswell brought them endless fury. How many times had they met him now, to lose their lives in the process every time they met.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    On the way to the herblore guild Zaran was questioned by Irina and Sylphie about how he created that custom skill. Zaran just waved it off as being good luck and that he just tried a technique he thought could work. At first the girls didn''t believe it but after repeating his story a few times the girls decided to just accept it. If there really was a secret to it, Zaran surely would tell Sylphie about it sooner or later.


    Zaran arrived at the herblore guild together with Irina and Sylphie. The herblore guild was housed in a large pavilion and various medicinal fragrances escaped to the outside from within. As the party tried to enter, they were stopped by a chubby little Panda.


    "Hello, what business do you have at the herbalist guild?" the chubby little panda asked.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "I would like to learn more about the arts of an herbalist." Zaran said as he showed the green bead.


    "I see, please follow me inside young man! However if your friends want to enter they will have to take the test first." The panda said.


    "We''ll wait outside for you Zaran. We''re not really interested in picking herbs and making potions..." Sylphie said. Zaran nodded and the panda led him towards the back of the pavilion where a few players and instructors were already busy brewing potions. Zaran looked around and saw a large variety of herbs, beads and other items needed for herblore stacked away in display cases and cabins. The chubby little panda wobbled over towards one of the still free cauldrons. "Wait here, i''ll send an instructor over in a moment."


    A minute or so later a three meter long oak ent walked over towards him. "So you are the youn''un that needs my guidance?" the ent whispered with a hoarse voice as she sized Zaran up "Very well, listen carefully for i will only instruct you once. For a herbalist the most important thing is to be able to distinguish various ingredients from one another. This is not always easy because some may seem exactly the same but have very very different effects. For example the common Rigo flower and wolfsbane both look very similar but while one has a healing effect the other WILL kill you. Therefore i will now explain you the correct ways to identify the different kinds of herbs, mushrooms and other ingredients that you will need. For starters ..."


    The oak''s lecture continued for some time until Zaran finally got confirmation that a skill was learned.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Herb identification lvl 1</td></tr><tr><td>You are now able to identify most basic herbs.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Herb gathering lvl 1</td></tr><tr><td>You have learned the correct way to gather most basic herbs.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The oak ent, didn''t stop and simply continued her endless speech. "Once you gathered the herbs you can make potions, however you first need the potion recipe. Technically speaking you could create your own potions from the get go... but without the recipes you wouldn''t know the results. And those could be... quite nasty. We''ve once had a guy who''s limbs started falling of from one of his own creations." Zaran couldn''t figure out if she was joking or not. Not like he was planning on experimenting anyway. In the following hour the oak ent slowly thought him various beginner recipes. After suffering for an hour Zaran was rewarded with the confirmation that the skill was learned.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Herblore lvl 1</td></tr><tr><td>You have gained the ability to make basic potions.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran thanked the instructor and quickly escaped to the outside of the herbalist guild. God i hope i never have to listen to that woman again! Listening to that voice almost drove me insane. Once outside Zaran noticed that Irina and Sylphie were still waiting for him. "Sorry girls but this instructor... i think i''ve learned more in this single hour than in all my life together!"


    Sylphie and Irina giggled. "That bad?" Sylphie asked.


    "Please go in and see for yourself if you don''t believe me" Zaran grumbled.


    "I believe you, i believe you!" Sylphie quickly said. "Don''t want to be stuck inside a building learning about plants for an hour straight, i''ll leave that boring stuff up to you!"


    "So what have you ladies been doing in the meantime? Hopefully not just waiting for me this whole time right?"


    "Sylphie went out to get a quest from the church earlier while i stayed her to wait for you. After she got back i got a quest from the assassin''s guild." Irina explained. "So i guess we''ll have to go and get you a quest now?"


    "Yeah, so let''s get going right away. I wasted way too much time already." Zaran sighed.


    Zaran, Sylphie and Irina made their way over to one of the sword schools. Zaran quickly went inside and received a quest.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Recently the population of flygaan has been growing beyond acceptable limits. Our sword school has been contracted but doesn''t have any hands free to complete the contract. Kill flygaan to prove your worth to our sword school.


    Request: Kill 10 flygaan.


    Difficulty: E


    Reward: Accepted as a disciple of the sword school.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran excited again and formed a party with the girls. He also finally remembered to register them as friends. "So what quests do you guys have? I have to kill 10 flygaan. I asked the instructor and their habitat lies to the west of the town."


    Sylphie replied: "Eh, so we all got the same quest? Well that makes it easier to decide where to go though!"


    The group went to the western exit of the town and quickly arrived at the hunting ground where the flygaan resided. Because Zaran had wasted so much time at the herblore guild the hunting ground was already filled with players, yet the players were still vastly outnumbered by the flygaan. The flygaan looked like enormous flies and they too had the habbit to rub their limbs together, which made them look like smug little shits. They were a passive mob as Zaran could see groups of players fight a single one without the others joining in. The flygaan that was the closes to the group was rubbing it''s limbs together, so Zaran ran up to it and slashed at it. The flygaan noticed the incoming attack and swiftly jumped backwards. It opened it wings and sent a burst of air towards Zaran.


    -5 (95/100)


    Zaran circled around the flygaan so it would turn it''s back towards Sylphie and Irina. Through party chat Zaran informed the two of his plan. He would make it face them with its back, then he would attack so the flygaan would jump back and they would then attack it. Zaran ran up to the flygaan, jumping and slashing vertically at it''s face. The flygaan jumped back again but this time not as quickly and the slash beautifully connected. It landed right in front of the girls through the jump, Sylphie quickly bashed it with her shield causing it to be temporarily stunned, then attacked it with her lance while irina backstabbed it and Zaran delivered another slash to it''s face. The flygaan dropped to the ground and it''s body dissapeared leaving a small pouch behind.


    "These things are surprisingly easy." Irina said as she happily walked forwards to pick up the small pouch. She checked it''s contents and threw 2 copper coins each to to Zaran and Sylphie "Che only 6 copper."


    "What did you expect? These are level one monsters, did you expect them to be impossible to kill?"


    Irina pouted. "No! But i just thought they''d be harder to kill..."


    "How about you fight one by yourself then?" Sylphie said.


    Irina''s eyes brightened "Ooh! that''s a great idea Syl!"


    Irina instantly ran towards the nearest flygaan and attacked it. The flygaan easily dodged and started kiting irina. After Irina dropped to half health Sylphie and Zaran joined the fray again using the same strategy as before to easily kill it.


    "Not so easy on your own huh?" Zaran patted Irina on her shoulder as she was kicking the flygaan''s corpse before it started to dissapear.


    "Puh, i would''ve killed it if it didn''t flee the whole time!"


    Zaran smiled. "Let''s just kill eight more now okay?"


    In the next ten minutes the group easily dispatched of the flygaan with the same method as the first one. After they left the hunting ground many other groups with only melee classes started to follow their method as killing one flygaan was taking them tens of minutes.


    While Zaran and the girls walked back to the market square. As they got closer to it the girls got closer to Zaran, afraid to get harassed again. Seeing this, other players glared at Zaran out of pure jealousy. They walked towards the south of the market square, heading straight for their respective guilds. "Let''s meet up at the training field once we are done handing in the quests?" Zaran said as he escaped the girl''s grip.


    "Sure..." the girls said dejectedly in unison.


    Zaran walked over to the sword school. I wonder what i will get as a reward...

 Chapter 4: Regret

    Author''s note: I planned to stuff more in this chapter, but then decided that the last part of the chapter would be able to be skipped if people didn''t want to read it. You''ll see what i''m talking about at the end of this chapter.


    Anyways have fun with chapter 4.1 Regret.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    Chapter 4.1: Regret


    Zaran entered the sword school and reported the result of his quest.


    ¡°While we must thank you for the service you have given our sword school, we cannot take you in a disciple.¡± The NPC said.


    ¡°What? Why not?¡± Zaran asked utterly taken aback.


    ¡°From your display in the market square earlier there is no doubt that you¡¯re already an outstanding swordsman. We do not know your reasons for trying to enlist in our sword school but unfortunately we have to refuse you. Rather instead of us giving you points you might have to be the one to give us pointers. I hope you do not blame us for our refusal, but¡­ we simply cannot take you in.¡±


    Zaran was flabbergasted. His actions in the market square made him unable to join the sword school? Didn¡¯t that mean as much as that he wouldn¡¯t be able to get the basic swordsman skills?!? He would also suffer from a lack of quests. While he could technically apply at the other guilds and he really wanted to display his own swordsmanship but¡­ his purpose was to also use the skills that the game provided. It would be a waste for him not to use them.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure there must be some kind off mistake, you can¡¯t just deny me can you?¡± Zaran asked nervously, afraid to lose out on the skills, quests, exp and other advantages


    ¡°Apologies, but we really can¡¯t allow you to become our disciple.¡±


    ¡°Thanks regardless¡­¡± Zaran¡¯s shoulders dropped as he said this. It was utterly devastating news to him. No new skills for the time being¡­ maybe I will be able to join a sword school at the capital or at the military city of Deneg? Let¡¯s hope I can.


    He turned around and walked away from the sword school. Now what to do... I guess I could go to the archer¡¯s guild or apply to the gallery of spears¡­


    Zaran walked made his way towards the gallery of spears and informed if he could enter as he disciple at the guard. After the guard went to get the master of the gallery of spears he was rejected yet again.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir but our gallery of spears is just beneath you. I am sure such an accomplished swordsman as you have some skill with the spear already? No need to join our lowly gallery of spears. However i could give you a letter of recommendation for the other galleries if you wish?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take that recommendation then, but may i ask you one more question? Will the other guilds deny me entrance too? I was planning to polish my skills some here but if no one will grant me entry it would not be in my best interest to walk around the whole town now would it?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, I am pretty sure that the other martial arts guilds will deny you for the same reason. You are simply too skillful for a small place such as Virul. You really should check out the guilds in the other cities, I¡¯m certain there¡¯s more to learn for you there than there is here. As for the crafting guilds i see no reason for them to deny you.¡± The master respectfully replied. He really believed that Zaran was a very accomplished master swordsman. ¡°Now give me a moment to get the recommendation for you.¡±


    The master left for a while and then came back with a small scroll and a ring. ¡°Here is the recommendation letter and consider this ring a gift from our gallery of spears. It is a storage ring which we usually give out to our initiates. I noticed you didn¡¯t have one so i decided to grant you it.¡±


    Zaran respectfully accepted the storage ring and the recommendation letter. After equipping the storage ring he noticed that it only had a meager 25 slots. I guess I can upgrade it or get a better one later. Zaran thought. He politely cupped his hands as he bade the spear master farewell.


    ¡°Good luck on your adventure esteemed master. Let¡¯s have a cup of tea next time you visit here.¡± The spear master said as he bade Zaran farewell.


    So¡­ off to the crafting district it is. I really regret making that custom skill so early now. Never imagined it would become that much of an issue for me. Will I be stuck making custom skills for the early levels now? Wait¡­ isn¡¯t there still a place i need to go? Zaran checked his character info and face palmed. How could i forget! I have no mana and no ki! They can¡¯t deny me from getting those skills right?!?


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    With renewed vigor Zaran ran off to the mystic arts guilds and the wizard guild. While he still did get denied entry to both guilds, through using the status of a ¡°master swordsman¡± he was able to get the books that explained the basics of ki and mana, along with the basic spell book fireball.


    Phew, luckily they believed my story that I have a disciple that i can¡¯t be with all the time and that a basic book on mana and ki would really help him out while i am gone. If I couldn¡¯t even obtain mana or ki I would be better of starting over. But I don¡¯t know if I could get that custom skill again. Or that it could be used at all on another player. I should confirm that sooner or later.


    Zaran marched towards the training field. If he didn¡¯t remember that he should try and get mana and ki he would¡¯ve forgotten to go to the training field. I hope they¡¯re not waiting for me¡­


    Sylphie and Irina were both waiting in front of the training field for Zaran. When they arrived there they hoped he would be there already but¡­ he wasn¡¯t. A few minutes after they got there they saw Zaran running towards the training field. He ran right up to them and heavily panted as he asked ¡°I¡­ hope you haven¡¯t been waiting for too long?¡±


    Sylphie replied cheekily ¡°Not really but¡­ are you going to make us girls wait for you every time? Don¡¯t you know that girls REALLY don¡¯t like to be kept waiting? If you ever want to get yourself a girlfriend you need to learn to be on time Zaran.¡±


    ¡°Ouch¡­ sis that¡¯s no fair! There¡¯s a very good reason for me to be late. When I went to deliver in the quest, I didn¡¯t get taken in as a disciple because of the fight in the market square. For some reason the guild masters here all believe i¡¯m some all encompassing martial arts master. So I ran to the gallery of spears to see if they could accept me but i got denied entry there too, although they did give me a storage ring and a recommendation letter, then I remembered i don¡¯t have ki or mana yet, so i went to the mystical arts guild and the wizard guild and although I got denied entry there I was able to get some skill books from them!¡±


    Irina¡¯s and Sylphie¡¯s eyes widened ¡°WHAT? You got denied? How is that even possible?¡±


    ¡°I know, but somehow they all believe that i¡¯m some super overpowered martial arts master and that they can¡¯t possibly give me pointers anymore.¡± Zaran grumbled.


    ¡°Well, we got another quest from our guilds, so what are you going to do in the meantime?¡± Sylphie asked.


    ¡°I was thinking of going over to the craftsmen district and get me some other crafts that I deem necessary. There¡¯s also the two advanced skill that I should go obtain soon. If you girls don¡¯t have any business in the craftsmen district maybe it¡¯d be better for us to split up for a while. I don¡¯t wish to keep you two waiting for an hour or so every time¡­¡± Zaran said dejectedly. ¡°There¡¯s also the part where I will not easily obtain new skills for the time being¡­ at least I think. Unless i¡¯m some god in creating custom skills.¡±


    Sylphie¡¯s shoulders dropped ¡°Are you sure brother?¡±


    Zaran nodded. ¡°I think it¡¯d be better that way. I¡¯ll be holding you back a lot early anyway since i want to join so many craftsmen guilds. I can always catch up to you later though, seeing as i don¡¯t have to work and you do.¡±


    ¡°Then Irina and me will be going now Zaran. We¡¯ll carry you later though!¡± Sylphie said as she hugged her brother.


    ¡°Geez get a room you two, you¡¯re almost drooling over each other!¡± Irina remarked as she separated Sylphie and Zaran. ¡°Well Zaran your sister and me will be going now, if we would pick up some skill books or something for swordsmen we¡¯ll keep them for you okay?¡± Irina hugged Zaran too and cheekily kissed his cheek before she took Sylphie¡¯s hand and left.


    ¡°Girls¡­ really¡­ they like to toy around too much¡± Zaran said as he touched his cheek, unable to suppress a smile.


    ¡°Now then, shall we go and run around the craftsmen district for a while?¡± Zaran mumbled to himself.

 Chapter 5 Beast master

    Author''s note: You know nothing author... The leatherworking part was kind-off troublesome since whenever i google it i only get World of Warcraft as references... so, please have mercy on my soul for not making it as detailed.


    Also decided to splits what was supposed to be one chapter up in yet another part, since this chapter alone is 3K words and I''m pretty sure the next 3 crafts (bonecrafting, carpentry and mining) will take about the same amount of words.


    edit: the table struggle is real.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    After a short walk Zaran arrived in front of the beast trainer¡¯s small house. Compared to the large pavilions that other guilds boasted this was a remarkably small building and if Zaran hadn¡¯t asked for directions he never would¡¯ve found it. It was a little shack, almost completely build in redwood besides the four corners of the house that were build out of cobblestone. The shack had two very small windows in front of the house and those were covered by shutters, seeming as if not a single ray of light should ever enter the shack.


    Zaran didn¡¯t spot any users around either, and it was remarkably quiet in the area. He knocked on the door.


    ¡°Who is it?!?¡± An angry stentorian voice resounded from within the house.


    ¡°I would like to learn everything there is to know about beast mastery.¡± Zaran replied. He could hear creaking sounds as someone walked towards the door. After removing a large wooden bar from the door and opening three locks, the door finally opened and an old bulky dwarf appeared in the door stil. The dwarf looked like he was more than hundred years old but still gave off the appearance of being filled to the brim with energy.


    ¡°You really want to learn about beast mastery? Wait¡­ aren¡¯t you¡­ the first adventurer that appeared today?¡± The bulky dwarf asked.


    ¡°Yup that¡¯s me!¡± said as a big smile appeared on his face. I was wondering how i would convince him to do it for free but i see that he just ¡°knows¡± about it! Glad to see it works that way, really saves me the hassle.


    ¡°Allright, since it seems that you really do want to learn everything about beast mastery i will tell you everything i know! Please, please enter my house!¡±


    Zaran stepped in the house and saw that although it looked shabby on the outside, it was impeccable on the inside, not even a single speck of dust could be seen. The dwarf led him towards the back of the house and opened the trapdoor to the cellar. ¡°Come, come, down here is where i keep the beasties!¡± the dwarf said. Zaran felt a little hesitant¡­ Who keeps his pets in the basement?


    ¡°Ah¡­ it seems i need to do some explaining as to why we¡¯re going to the basement.¡± the dwarf said as he saw Zaran hesitate to go to the basement.


    ¡°A few years ago i actually had a very large pavilion like the other guilds, but after an unfortunate accident where a disciple refused to listen to me, that disciple got killed by one of the tigers that we used to train them. Afterwards the major decided to close my guild¡­ After a lot of pleading i was able to keep the guild but¡­ the pavilion and most of the animals got taken away. Instead i got this little shack and the only animals i could keep where the night crawlers, since they didn¡¯t dare take them away. They¡¯re quite vicious and normally i wouldn¡¯t let new disciples near them, which led to this guild being empty since no one wants to learn about beast mastery without actually having hands on practice available. But i can see that you should be able to handle some meager beasties like i got in my basement!¡± the dwarf said as tears dropped drown his cheeks without him noticing. The memory of his pavilion and animals taken away filled him with great pain.


    Zaran felt bad as he saw the emotional dwarf. ¡°I¡¯m sorry master, I didn¡¯t know¡­¡± Zaran said as he cupped his hands.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay it¡¯s okay! And please don¡¯t call me master but call me Henry!¡± The dwarf said as he rubbed his eyes.


    ¡°Ah! That¡¯s right, I never said my name¡­ ¡° Zaran said once he heard his master¡¯s name. ¡°My name is Zaran Karaz.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that seems like a fine name! It sounds strong and powerfull! But come, come! No time to waste!¡± Henry said as he urged Zaran to enter the basement.


    The dwarf and Zaran entered the cellar and closed the trapdoor as Henry lit a few oil lamps around the first room of the basement. The basement had cobblestone walls, a single table with a few chairs and double iron doors sealing this area of the basement from the next.  ¡°This room i was planning to use to teach new disciples once they were eligible to learn about these beasts i¡¯ll be showing you in a minute. But none could stand to stay long enough to learn about them. They hoped they¡¯d get to handle a lot more beasties and thus most of them left for the guilds in the other cities, but you my boy, you¡¯ll be handling them from the get to!¡± Henry said as he happily walked towards the large double iron doors that sat opposite from the stairs. He lifted the iron bar that sealed it and opened the door.


    Immediatly a heavy dark aura befell Zaran and he took a step back. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Zaran exclaimed. HeLoud roaring and barking welcomed Zaran as he stepped inside the next room.


    The dwarf smirked. ¡°No reason to worry, they¡¯re all locked up and won¡¯t hurt you!¡±


    With oil lamp in hand the dwarf led Zaran inside. A large variety of iron cages were in a long hallway, a hallway that extended far longer than the cabin was. ¡°T¡¯was a real pain in the ass to convince the major to keep these ones, but there¡¯s no one beside me that can handle these young¡¯uns in the whole kingdom!¡±


    ¡°Look, this first cage here, this¡¯ll be the one i¡¯ll be teaching you with.¡± the dwarf said as he pointed towards the smallest cage in the hall. As the dwarf shone it¡¯s oil lamp towards it a cute bark was heard. A little hellhound ran towards the front of the cage and growled towards Zaran. ¡°Hey pup, be nice to this one okay?¡± Henry said as he threw a sausage towards it.


    Zaran was taken aback as he saw the dog. It was small, about 50 centimers high, had pitch-black fur, glowing red eyes and something that seemed like bones growing among its fur, revealing it¡¯s skeleton. How did that cute bark  come from that? Zaran thought.


    Henry opened the cage and put a leash around the little hellhound and picked it up. ¡°Come, back to the first room Zaran, no need to check the other ones out for now. You might not sleep at night¡± Henry chuckled as he walked back to the first room. Zaran quickly followed suit.


    Henry put the pup in a small cage that he drew from his storage ring and then closed to the door to the hallway. He then walked back to the table and fed another sausage to the hellhound which cutely barked again after she ate it.


    ¡°Why does it make such a cute sound?¡± Zaran asked.


    ¡°Ah¡­ this one is a little special, isn¡¯t that right Kirin? Agoo good girl!¡± Henry said as he took the hellhound from the cage and started petting it. ¡°Normally hellhounds are pretty vicious at birth and the whole litter devours the mom shortly after she gave birth¡­ however, this time the litter didn¡¯t do that and turned against this small one after it barked once. Luckily i was there and saved her. It¡¯s the first time in all my years training hellhounds that such a thing has happened. Such smooth fur, these bones growing on her and that cute bark¡­ amongst all the beast masters i know, none have ever seen one like this. Normally they have mangled fur and none of these bones growing on top of her. But, while talking about this cute little one is quite entertaining¡­ that¡¯s not what you came here for right?¡± Henry said.


    ¡°Allrighty so¡­ first things first. What do you think being beast master entails Zaran?¡± Henry asked with an inquisitive tone.


    Zaran wracked his brains over that question, trying to remember the answer to that question from one of his previous lifetimes. ¡°Being a beast master doesn¡¯t mean mastering animals as being able to dominate them and basically making them your slaves, but means that you should understand their needs, desires and nature. Instead of making them your slave you should treat them as your companion, as your friend as they will return that friendship to you with ever-lasting faithfulness. Although not every beast can be tamed that way, it¡¯s the only way that really counts as being a beast master.¡± Zaran replied.


    Shock filled Henry¡¯s eyes. That was a perfect answer. Among all of his disciples how many had come remotely close to this answer? None. Absolutely not a single one grasped even a strand of what it meant to be a beast master. Most of them thought all they needed to know was how to dominate a beast. They never thought that they should befriend it or make it a companion. ¡°This answer¡­ Who told it to you?¡± Henry asked as he stared at Zaran in disbelief.


    ¡°It is the answer that comes from my heart. Beasts are not to be treated like slaves.¡± Zaran said as he sighed, thinking about all the so called beast masters he had met in previous lifetimes. Most of them didn¡¯t grasp this simple truth either and viciously mistreated their animals as they thought supremacy over their animals meant to master them.


    ¡°I see¡­ boy, do you wish to walk on a path different from any beast master?¡± Henry asked. A message box popped up in front of Zaran.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Do you wish to change one of your two sub-professions to Hellbeast Master?</td></tr><tr><td>While a normal Beast Master can tame hellbeasts with some degree of difficulty, danger still lurks as the nature of hellbeasts is vicious and vile. Hellbeast Masters however, are able to understand the heart and nature of hellbeasts, making them capable of truly mastering these animals and are able to tame them in the true way.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Master, I truly wish to walk the path that is meant for true beast masters." Zaran said as he accepted the sub-profession change.


    Henry smiled contently and placed Kirin on the table. "Please touch this little one then, she won''t bite." Henry said in a mysterious tone. Zaran placed his hand on top the small hellhound''s head. "Now, try to feel what it feels, see through her every will, desire, need. See past your misconception about her kind. See what she really is." Henry said. Zaran closed his eyes and tried to forget about his misconception about hellhounds. I can'' think about her as a monstrous being. What is this one truly? Zaran thought as he tried to peer through her soul. Minutes passed... an hour passed... two hours passed... until finally Zaran started to feel connected to Kirin. After two more hours Zaran finally opened his eyes. "She is not vile nor vicious. She''s kind towards you for saving her, she distrusts others because of what happened that day, which is the reason why she barked and growled at me. She needs love and care, which she will reward with endless trust and friendship. And right now... she is hungry. " Zaran said with a small smile as he took out a sausage and handfed it to Kirin, who happily ate it and pushed her head against Zaran''s hand, telling him that he should pet her. Zaran gently pet Kirin and a messagebox appeared.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Your subprofession has been succesfully changed to Hellbeast master.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Two skill confirmations popped up in front of Zaran.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned the skill beast mastery.</td></tr><tr><td>Beast mastery lvl 1 (advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>You are able to tame large beasts with some difficulty.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned the skill beast mastery.</td></tr><tr><td>Hellbeast mastery lvl 3 (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>You are able to understand and tame small hellbeasts.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Henry sat there smiling contently. "You have seen her for who she really is. Do you understand now boy? Although hellbeasts generally are vicious and vile, it''s not always because of their nature, just like us every animal is different. Through misconceptions people think they''re all the same. But they''re definitely not."


    Zaran nodded in agreement. "Master, thanks for your lesson and insights thusfar."


    "Hold on boy, we''re not quite done yet. There''s one more thing you might want to learn." Henry said. "Do you know how to identify a beast''s strength?"


    "I''m afraid i don''t Henry." Zaran exclaimed.


    "Ah! Well look here then, to identify an beast''s strength you need to..." Henry said as he explained the identify skill to Zaran.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned the skill Identify.</td></tr><tr><td>Identify lvl 1 (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>You are able to get specified information about npc''s and users within a 5 level range of you.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "Now, it is time for you to go out there and experience the world outside. Remember what I taught you today. And when the time comes that you get your first true animal companion, be sure to drop by to show it to me. If there''s ever any questions, you''re similarly free to drop by whenever, no matter if it''s day or night." Henry said excitedly with his stentorian voice. The old bulky dwarf stood up and led Zaran back upstairs, but as the two were going towards the staircase Kirin jumped off the table and ran up to Zaran, barking cutely at him. Zaran stopped and turned around. Kirin ran up to his leg and rubbed her head against it. Zaran patted her head and Kirin wagged her tail happily.


    "Seems like she took a liking to you! How about you take her along on your journey?" Henry asked.


    Zaran used inspect on Kirin to see her level.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>Kirin, Hellhound</td></tr><tr><td>Level 20</td><td>hp: 500</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Skills:


    Bite lvl 3


    Scratch lvl 3


    Dark flame lvl 1</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran shook his head. "I can''t take her with me for now. I am still too unexperienced in handling animals. Once I get more experienced i''ll come back to take her along" Zaran gently stroked Kirin''s back and stood up. Kirin cocked her head and stopped wagging her tail, not sure as to what was going on. Henry walked up to Kirin and placed his hand on her, then whispered a few words in her head. Kirin seemed as if she was nodding after those few words and quietly sat down.


    "She''ll be expecting your return. Don''t let the little thing down." Henry said as he walked upstairs.


    "I won''t, I''ll surely be back for her." Zaran said. "I''d be more than happy to take her along now but... I really need to get more experienced in handling animals. I''m not all too sure i can handle her just yet."


    "At least you know yer limits." Henry said, grinning a little. Was that a test? Zaran thought.


    "Good, now off with ya! Go play with all them beasties and then return for Kirin." Henry said as he waved Zaran off.


    Zaran bade henry farewell and walked to his next destination. Leather working is up next, if I remember correctly the leather working guild should be at the far east of the town. Sure enough after a few minutes walking the smell of leather started entering his nostrils. Zaran followed his nose and soon stumbled upon the enormous leather working guild''s pavilion. A guard greeted him at the front door and after a few words, Zaran entered the pavilion, the smell of cured and processed leather almost clouded his mind, so strong it was. A short leopard man only clad in shorts and an apron greeted him. "Y-you here to learn?" he asked.


    "Yes I wish to learn the leather worker''s craft." Zaran replied.


    "G-good, f-follow me!" the stuttering leopard man said. The leopard man wandered towards a workbench surrounded by a tanning rack, a giant oaken toolbox with leather working tools and various other pieces of equipment.


    "T-there are three major s-steps in the p-production of l-leather. F-first when you acquire leather y-you h-have to do all the n-necessary p-preparatory stages. T-these vary per kind o-of l-leather. F-for example..." the leopard man said as he started explaining the various preparatory stages.


    "S-Secondly y-you have the tanning. This is a p-process that s-stabilizes the protein o-of the raw h-hide or s-s-skin so it d-doesn''t putrefy, making it s-suitable for a w-wide variety of end a-a-applications. This is i-important b-because..." he continued as he explained the different tanning methods.


    "F-Finally w-we have c-c-crusting, this is a process were we t-thin the leather, r-re-tan it and l-lubricate it. M-m-most of t-the time it also i-includes c-coloring the l-leather. This is done in the f-following m-manner..."


    "A-Afterwards w-we can c-craft t-the l-leather in v-various e-end p-products. L-let m-me s-show you." Stuttered the leopard man as he started explaining the last part. While he was very knowledgeable, Zaran had to focus to his utmost to understand the leopard man. During the middle of the explanation a not so surprising message showed up in front of Zaran.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Through concentrating to your utmost to try and understand someone with a stuttering voice, perception has raised!</td></tr><tr><td>Perception +5</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran didn''t know whether he should laugh or cry at this message. When the leopard man was finished a couple of very much welcome skill confirmations popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Leather working lvl 1 (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>You are able to use the correct preparatory stages for most types of leather aswell as being able to tan and crust them.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Leather working lvl 1 (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>You are able now able to craft basic leather end-products.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran bade the leopard man farewell and quickly left the leather working guild. So glad I''m out of this place. that stuttering voice was driving me insane! Why do all these craftsmen have such an annoying voice! Do they not want people to learn their craft after all?!? Zaran thought as he sighed. Well only the bonecrafter should take a little while for now, mining and carpentry should be easy to learn, and i''ll only go and get fletching and smithing after I get myself some wood and ore.

 Chapter 6: Suffering

    Author''s note: Welp, I added the first named character in this chapter as a funny reference that I just could not pass up on (after writing the second named character) then realised that the second named character is a reference too... I didn''t change the second name even though I kinda wanted too. Doesn''t feel right for some reason.


    Got REAL lazy with woodcutting but there really wasn''t much to tell... at least in my opinion. We''ll come back to the skill later though.


    This chapter i noticed that i tend to overuse his name a lot... I tried to limit it this chapter but it''s not easy. It''s still my first story though, so please bear with me.


    Cliffhanger alert though. The real fun starts the next chapter ~


    Edit: more suffering with tabels...


    ________________________________________________________


    Zaran started to feel peckish a short while after leaving the leather working guild. He checked his inventory but... nothing not even a loaf of bread or a drip of water in it at all. He sighed and went towards the market square. Users that chose the merchant class were already setting up their stalls, clamping on to every user that passed them by with the request to buy their loot. Because Zaran was still clad in his beginner gear, none of the merchants cared to bother him. By now, most people that gained a few levels already had a couple of pieces of new gear.


    Zaran walked towards a stall were various magic-related gear were strewn around. "You buying?" Zaran asked to the huge lion man merchant.


    "Sure thing! What are you selling?" the huge lion man asked in an overly polite tone.


    "I''m selling the skill book for fireball... how much?" Zaran asked.


    "I can give you... 10 silver for it." the merchant replied.


    "Deal." Zaran said as he took the book out and nonchalantly tossed it over to the merchant. The merchant gave Zaran his coin. "If you ever need anything in the future feel free to find me!" the lion man said as Zaran walked away. He walked to the closest grocery store and picked up a 10 big field flasks for 10 copper''s each, which he filled up at the fountain in the middle of the market square. Zaran took his time to stroll down the market to find the cheapest food possible that he could buy in bulk. He stopped at a stall where a two meter tall Zuno with a face straight out of the movie "300" was selling rice balls and small bread buns for a mere 1 copper each. Next to the rice balls and small bread buns was a sign saying, ''Pantheon''s failed products''.


    Zaran didn''t see anything wrong about them so inquired about why the sign was there. The Zuno replied that while they look okay, the taste isn''t that incredible and nobody wanted to buy them after a bite. Even selling them at one copper each barely anyone would buy them. Zaran who was not able to pass up on the opportunity, bought fifty of each and stored all but a handful of bread buns in his ring.


    "So lousy my first meal..." Zaran said as he devoured the buns at the speed of light. "They really taste horrible" Zaran shuddered as he finished the last one. After a few gulps from one of his field flasks, Zaran walked towards Virul''s church to check the time. Exactly 4 pm. Still got time for a few crafts granted they don''t take too long.While I could just use the experience I already have, it''s better to learn to avoid missing out on more quests. I could even learn new techniques too.


    With renewed energy Zaran made his way to the bone shaping pavilion. Compared to the enormous leather working pavilion this was quite small in size even though the area of the pavilion was approximately the same size. The pavilion was, unlike the others, surrounded by a large flower garden. Peculiar about this flower garden was that most of the flowers had a very powerful fragrance, at a first glance he could already see many roses, oriental lily''s, hyacinths and sweet peas. Yet even those powerful fragrances could not compete with the putrid smell that exited the pavilion. The putrid smell made the unaware users turn around and villagers or users that were already used to it ran in a wide arc around the pavilion to avoid the blunt of it.


    Zaran gulped a few times before finally daring to get closer to the pavilion. It''s not a smell he was unfamiliar with but he could never get quite used to it. Like all the other guilds, this one as well had a handful of guards guarding the entrance, each taking turns as to when they would guide new applicants inside. Zaran walked up to the guards and politely waited his turn to enter the pavilion. As one of the guards was leading him towards a small room on the side of the pavilion, Zaran noticed that the middle of the pavilion had large hot water basins filled to the brim with bones. Surrounding those basins there were workbenches to the left, where a few people were cutting away skin from bones and scraping leftover flesh from them. To the right of the basins Zaran noticed a big terrarium with beetles that he had never seen before.


    "What are those beetles used for?" Zaran asked the guard. He was greatly interested in the unknown and it''s only his drive for knowledge and his drive to improve his arts that kept him sane for all these lifetimes. A normal person would''ve gone insane long ago.


    The guard angrily grumbled "Ask the teacher." he then stopped in front of a small room and told him to enter it.


    Zaran knocked before entering and was welcomed by an extremely high-pitched voice that in his mind could only belong to a child. "Enter! It''s open ~!".


    You are kidding me right? Three out of four have an annoying voice? Are the gods playing with me? Or is my luck THIS horrible? he thought while a cold chill ran across his back.


    A petite cat woman greeted him as he entered, she was about a meter fifty tall, very slender, but still had a fair amount of chest, which Zaran noticed due to the fact that she was wearing a white apron that for some reason seemed to stick to her skin.. Her brown hair was tied up in two ponytails, which made her seem all the more childish. "HI! You here to learn?" She asked excitedly.


    Zaran replied upfront "Yes, please teach me. My name is Zaran." Seeing that he was not willing to waste words on pleasantries, the petite cat girl waved her hands towards the small workbench in the middle of the room, urging Zaran to go over there. "Ah ~ my name''s Elise! So uhm... let''s start!"


    "Bone shaping in itself isn''t really hard, if you''ve ever worked wood, you''ll find that it is quite similar. But, before we start to shape bones we obviously have to clean the bones. There are a few steps you will have to do. The first step is cutting off remaining meat from the bones. It''ll takes some work to remove all of it, first we cut away the obvious bits and pieces with a knife, and a second knife is hereafter used to scrape free the sheath of tissue that still encircles the bone. Then the bones are cut towards the usable length, and usable density of bone. After cutting the bones we then put them in hot water along with various kinds of enzymatic detergents. ¡°


    ¡°Alternatively, you could use dermestid beetles to avoid most of the previously mentioned steps. However as you can¡¯t really be carrying them around all the time, hence the previously mentioned steps are what even us teachers still use to this day. Well... at least most of the time.¡±


    She paused for a moment and looked at Zaran''s face. Seeing no confusion on it she continued. ¡°Once we have done the previously mentioned steps we can start shaping the bones. For shaping bones, we require the following items: a hatchet, rasps and files, sandpaper and steel wool.¡± As she was saying this, she took out all the mentioned tools in pairs and presented a set of them in front of Zaran.


    ¡°Bone can be carved into a rough shape of the final product rather quickly. As bone shatters instead of splitting, it¡¯s paramount that you always vigilant when shaping bones.¡±


    ¡°For every product you wish to shape with bone, it¡¯s important to know the length, width and other requirements that it needs to have. If you know these requirements you select an appropriate piece of bone. Then we begin shaving and chipping pieces away like so.¡±


    Elise quickly walked over to the side of the room and grabbed a couple of bones from the pile of bones that lied there, ready to be used. She quickly started shaping the bone in a rough knife and urged Zaran to follow her example. Zaran had little trouble creating the rough shape and a small smile appeared on Elise''s face, happy with Zaran''s ''quick uptake''.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°After shaping the general shape with the hatchet, we use a rough rasp or file to whittle away protrusions."


    Elise started rasping and filing the bone and Zaran did the same, this time, the Zaran''s outcome was even better than Elise''s leaving her in shock. It took her a few seconds to recover from her initial shock, staring at Zaran in disbelief for another moment, but then continued explaining.


    ¡°Then we use sandpaper to further smooth the bone. When the surface of the bone is completely smooth, we use steel wool to further polish the surface, which will bring out the variety of natural colors that the bone naturally has.¡±


    She again showed him and a short while later they were both finished. The game system sure is convenient. This would have taken at least four times as long in reality. Zaran thought, happy with the final result, although it was a shame he could not equip it yet.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>Bone knife (Good)</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>10-15</td></tr><tr><td>Required level</td><td>5</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Bone shaping lvl 1 (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>You can now shape bones in a large variety of end-products. The quality of the product will depend on time spent combined with your proficiency at the art.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran quickly took his leave after the lesson ended and went straight back to the market square. It was even more livelier then before and he had to squirm his way through crowd upon crowd of users. With a bit of fancy footwork he was still able to move about quickly between the stalls. Whilst checking his money he noticed that only had 8 silver and 58 copper were left, but they should be enough to pick up the beginner''s greatsword and beginner''s spear.


    The beginner''s greatsword had a very broad and thick blade and whilst people were using it to cut, Zaran knew from experience that such a greatsword would not cut but rather smash. Very few greatswords with a broad blade had a sharp enough edge to be able to cut. The beginner''s spear had an oak shaft and a sharp bronze spear tip. The shaft wasn''t supple and oak wood wasn''t particularly good to make weapons with so he knew that it was prone to break if used by an expert. Still it would serve it''s purpose for now. Both of these weapons did a mere 5-7 damage each, which was surprising since he expected the greatsword to do more damage but he paid it no mind.


    After walking around on the market for a while and comparing prices he went to a shop that sold the weapons relatively cheap and the weapons were still in a good condition, so he quickly paid 2 silver for the both of them. After acquiring these weapons he squirmed his way through the crowd again and left the city through the western exit. The lush fields on which the flygaan lived, greeted him again. He didn''t notice before, but there was a mountainous area behind the hunting field. The mountains weren''t particularly tall and if you didn''t pay attention to the scenery you wouldn''t even notice they were there. Some user''s were still struggling with killing the flygaan but Zaran paid them no mind and passed straight through the hunting ground.


    While wandering around the market square he had heard that the miner''s guild and woodcutter''s guild were both past the flygaan hunting area. He was thankful for this information because he wouldn''t have found out himself. Surely he could''ve asked some civilians but they might have looked at him strangely so he tried avoiding directions. Sure enough, after nearly crossing the whole hunting field, the woodcutter''s guild view popped up into view.


    Soon after he arrived at the woodcutters guild. Calling it a guild felt a little overboard as it was not much more than a large crudely made wooden storage house and a crudely made shack that was used to store tools. Unlike most other guilds this one did not have any guards and Zaran even had to wander around for a bit to find the instructor. After receiving a basic axe and protective goggles, the instructor just told Zaran how NOT to cut a tree and then told him to fetch for himself.


    Zaran inspected some nearby trees but didn''t find a tree that he really needed so decided to postpone training it.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Woodcutting lvl 1 (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>You can now cut wood, the quality of the logs you receive will increase depending on your level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    He didn''t look back to the woodcutting guild as he continued on to the mountainous area. A quite large fenced-off area soon popped up in the horizon. As he got closer, various other buildings popped up left and right. Quite a few storage areas, living quarters and a gatehouse could be seen. A few hundred users were lined up at the gatehouse, so Zaran went over and checked what the commotion was all about. In front of the gate a large notice was posted.


    "The mines are temporarily closed due to a spider infestation. Unless we get it cleared out we cannot possibly allow anyone to enter."


    Zaran pondered for a second then talked to a nearby guard.


    "Could i possibly help clearing the mines? I''m a beast master with moderate skill so i might be of use." Zaran asked politely.


    "A... a beast master?!?" the guard exclaimed shocked. "Give me a moment!" the guard immediately ran inside and soon returned with an old miner in tow. The old miner wore brown pants, a grey tank top and had a mining helmet on top of his head, with grey hair slightly showing form underneath it. For someone who looked like he was about eighty years old, the miner still had a very powerful physique as his build was very muscular. "You really a beast master boy?" The old miner asked.


    "Yeah, Henry taught me." Zaran said eagerly.


    "Oho... Henry picked up another apprentice? Come in then boy! We could user your help!"


    The guards opened the gate and allowed Zaran to enter, much to the dismay of the other users who were staring at Zaran with gazes full of envy.


    "Where''s the entrance to the mines? I''d like to get started right away." Zaran said excitedly.


    "Follow me." the miner said in a serious tone. The old miner strode towards the entrance of the mine and Zaran even had trouble keeping up with the old man. Two minutes later they arrived at the mine. The entrance was seeled by a giant double iron door and a wooden bar was blocking the way in. An eerie aura welcomed Zaran as he walked up to the door. He remembered feeling the same aura in Henry''s place.


    "Hellbeasts..." Zaran muttered.


    "What? Boy, are you serious?" the miner''s eyes almost popped out of his head as he heard this.


    "The aura feels the same. I can''t say for sure if i don''t enter though." Zaran said as he grabbed the large wooden bar and removed it. He picked up a nearby lit oil lamp and entered the mines. "Close it after me." he whispered. "Don''t want those things to get out."


    Worst things worst i could just respawn while the miners definitely can not.


    The old man obliged and closed the mines after Zaran. Only a dim light coming from the oil lamp lit his way. He went deeper in the mines and for the first few hundred meters, no enemy was seen. As he got further in the mine shaft actually got brighter and eventually it got bright enough so that he didn''t even need his oil lamp anymore. Whilst turning his oil lamp of he saw a huge shadow coming through the mines.


    Zaran immediatly entered a battle stance and waited for the spider to show itself. Moments later a huge 1 meter long spider with 2 meter long legs came around the corner. He inspected the monster and his jaw dropped to the floor as he saw the monster info.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>Dying hellweaver</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>4 (58 - 54)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The next moment, the spider noticed Zaran and rushed towards him...

 Chapter 7: Dying Hellweaver

    Author''s note: I was sick, got better, then the sickness decided that it wouldn''t give up that easily, making me much more sick than i originally was. I finished this chapter while I had a slight fever... So please excuse me if there''s a sudden drop in quality. Don''t know if i can get a chapter out, will depend greatly on how I feel.


    anyway enough complaining about my health... Please enjoy the chapter!


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    FAST Zaran thought as he saw the spider rush towards him. In no time at all it appeared in front of him, lifted its left front leg and struck down at him, trying to impale him. Zaran dodged the dark-red-colored leg by the edge of an hair, jumped up and kicked at it to put some distance between him and the spider.


    Looking closer at the spider he noticed that it had a huge dark-red colored body with black hair scattered around it. Its legs looked more like spears than usual spider legs. Noticing that it missed, the spider shrieked in anger and this time delivered a rapid series of stabs towards Zaran. Shifting his body to the side, he quickly slid his left foot behind him, pushed off and rolled towards the spiders abdomen. Noticing what Zaran''s intent was it quickly jumped back, creating some distance between the two again.


    Why is it so darn fast... Time to change the approach. Zaran stored away the longsword and took out the greatsword instead. He wieled it woth both hands and through lowering his stance a little more he was ready to evade at a moments notice. The spider ran forward once again, attacking him with boundless fury. Zaran dodged again by quickly backstepping, but something felt off this time. As the spider''s spear-like leg struck the ground, sharp rock shrapnel shot off towards his direction. While not all of the shrapnel hit him, quite a few pieces did and his health dropped noticeably.


    - 10 (90/100)


    Cheeky little basterd! He thought while swinging the greatsword towards the leg.


    "PENG"


    A loud sound was emitted as the leg and the greatsword collided and a piece of bronze immediatly broke off from the greatsword. The spider let out a shriek that sounded like a laugh and kicked Zaran away with its leg. While the kick itself barely did any damage, it had enough force to make him crash into the wall of the mines.


    - 20 (70/100)


    The spider did not waste any time and lowered his abdomen towards Zaran, shooting a small white ball out of it. Zaran pulled himself free from the crater that his impact with the wall created and dropped to the ground to avoid it. When the small white ball hit the mine''s wall it split open like a net and enveloped the crater that had formed. Seeing that its enemy had dodged the Hellweaver shrieked again and shot another white ball from its abdomen. Zaran quickly rolled to the side to avoid it and scrambled up, raising his greatsword in front of him. Yet another shriek was heard and a smaller but much faster white ball flew at him. Zaran raised his greatsword slightly, then struck down at the small white ball. The white ball was effectively slashed in two but because of it''s high velocity it still shot towards him, luckily due to the ball being slashed the two pieces were off course and with just a slightly twist of his body he could evade both shots.


    Noticing that the Hellweaver hadn''t recovered from the attack yet Zaran took the time to check its hp bar. His eyes widened as he saw that it was not there. He clearly struck the spider, even a part of his weapon was gone but... the health bar did not appear. This meant that he had not dealt any damage. I struck it with my greatsword and it didn''t lose hp? How tough are those legs?!?


    The Hellweaver continuously shrieked as it tried raising it''s abdomen again. Zaran looked at it in confusion, wondering what it was doing. Noticing green liquid dropping from his abdomen and multiple large puncture wounds, Zaran couldn''t help but feel pain in his heart. "Never there before... appearing with multiple wounds... Another predator has taken up their territory" Zaran muttered. He had seen this before. Whether through a natural disaster or human influence, predators would sometimes switch territories and fight with the existing predators. The ones who lost would be swept out all at once, forced to move somewhere else with countless wounds on their bodies. Only luck would decide if they could recover.


    "The least I can do is give you a quick and honorable death." Zaran said towards the spider. He ran at it, rolled under it''s abdomen and stabbed at one of the puncture wounds. The greatsword became firmly lodged in it and noticing this, he rolled forward causing the greatsword to slash through the upper-layer skin of the whole abdomen, drenching him in green bodily fluid. Finally the hp bar appeared and a huge number appeared on the Hellweaver.


    -50 (100/5000)


    For a moment i forgot it''s originally a level 58 beast... How scary would this thing be at it''s original level?


    The spider let out a heart-wrenching shriek as it turned around and quickly made a small net in between it''s second pair of legs. After finishing the small net, it waited for Zaran as it felt that going on the offensive was not the correct option.


    Seeing this Zaran''s expression turned sour. He couldn''t use the same tactic anymore and had to use another way to damage it. If it keeps protecting it''s back I will lose... wait... it can''t shoot out those small balls of web anymore...


    A smirk appeared on his face as he realized how he could get close to it. It was risky but he was sure that he could pull it off. He quickly changed the greatsword for his longsword and ran towards the spider. The spider raised it''s front leg again and tried to impale Zaran with it, but as he had already predicted that course of action he easily dodged it. He then stuck his sword in the ground and threw some dirt in the spider''s eyes, temporarily blinding it.


    The Hellweaver went berserk the moment it lost it''s sight and started to stamp on the ground with it''s legs, creating craters and making rock shards fly all over the place. Zaran ignored those and focused on dodging the legs. He ran past the first set of legs, then ran to the side of the cave as to dodge the net between the second pair of legs and then finally arrived at the abdomen as a spider leg flew right past him. Zaran quickly used flutter on the spider''s side, deeply lodging the sword in it''s abdomen with the final strike and tightly holding on to it. The Hellweaver shrieked at the unexpected impact and ran forward, but it couldn''t lose it''s attacker. Exhausted from the fight and mainly from the damage it had already taken, the spider quickly stopped running and dropped to the ground, too exhausted to keep fighting.


    -80 (20/5000)


    Zaran took the opportunity and placed his hand on the Hellweaver, quickly trying to discover what had happened.


    The Hellweaver cocked his head a little as it was trying to understand why the human-looking thing didn''t deliver the final blow but instead placed its hand on him. Noticing that the human-looking thing wanted to make a connection with him, he guessed that it wanted to know what had caused these wounds on it. The Hellweaver forcefully connected to Zaran and showed what he wanted to know. Quickly, Zaran''s consciousness started to slip away.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    Slowly opening his eyes, a fiery cavern filled with cobwebs and Hellweavers entered his view. It was a barely bearable heat and in the distance he could see a magma waterfall crashing down on the rocks below. Hundreds upon hundreds of them walked around in all different sizes. They lived a communal life, every single one having a role, every single one serving their king and queen. As there were abundant prey nearby they had lived a life of abundance, causing their numbers to swell to a size that had never been seen before.


    This day was just like one of many for this Hellweaver and he had just returned from hunting some nearby Fire Caterpillars and Flame Moths with the other hunters. Having strapped a Flame Moth on his back with some silk, he, the other hunters and all other Hellweavers made their way to the part of the cavern where the king and the queen''s quarters lied.


    They arrived at a large grotto within the cavern, which had an open area in the middle surrounded by mushroom, dark red grass and various flowers and trees. The Hellweavers all put their spoils in a big pile in the middle of the clearing, then formed a neat line while waiting for their king and queen to arrive. While there was an abundance of food, if the king and queen decided they wouldn''t get to eat today... they would oblige to that order. Their word was law. The community''s rules were as simple as that.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Rumbling was heard as a colossal 4 meter long spider appeared with 8 meter long legs. Their king! The Hellweavers bent their front legs, making them look like they where prostrating themselves. After the king arrived, rumbling was heard as an even bigger spider pushed herself through the foliage. It was a 6 meter long Hellweaver with 12 meter long legs and a hellish red body. Even the king lowered himself upon her arrival. If the queen wanted the could devour him on the spot, he was not the first king she has had and he certainly wouldn''t be the last.


    The queen looked at the pile of animals, shot out a string to the biggest creature, nodded to the others and as soon as she turned around all hell broke loose. Pitch-black flames were shot at the various webs that were spun for safety and instantly disintegrated and soon afterwards a swarm of 50 cm long wasps flew at them. With one shriek of the queen, every Hellweaver started to shoot small web balls at the attackers, but they just blew out the pitch-black flame balls and the balls instantly disintegrated. Soon, the wasps were upon the Hellweavers and started to sting them, creating unsightly puncture wounds on them. But this did not come at a small cost for the wasps, a large amount still got impaled by the Hellweaver legs or bitten to death by a Hellweaver.


    Especially the king and the queen were reaping carnage with their mandibles and legs. Every sweep or stab caused multiple of the wasps to die, but the numbers didn''t seem to decrease and more and more wasps entered the grotto. For every wasp that died at least 10 would replace it.


    Seeing that they couldn''t possibly win the queen shrieked and fled with the nearest Hellweavers, the ones at the front kept fighting, trying to buy some time for their king and queen. They escaped through a narrow path that led to the surface. When they were at an appropriate height, they created a cave in, stopping the wasps from being able to follow them. Yet during the retreat they were constantly attacked and virtually all of the Hellweavers were close to death, even the mighty king.


    Luckily their queen was only heavily wounded so they could still slowly recover over time. Riddled with wounds, they kept going up until they arrived at the mines. Quickly clearing the cave system from all the two-legs and four-legs they created an area for the queen. Once it was sufficiently comfortable, the queen forced herself to lay eggs. However this caused her to grow increasingly weaker and smaller... Eventually so small that she could fit in ones'' hand. With her power weak, the king and the others started guarding the caverns...


    Zaran slowly felt his consciousness fade away again.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    As the flashback ended Zaran looked at the Hellweaver, with mixed feelings. The connection made him feel what the spider felt and having to kill it, just didn''t feel the right thing to do at the moment. Seeing that Zaran was struggling with himself the Hellweaver shrieked and seemed to nod at him, telling him it was okay. Being killed by him would be a good thing for the Hellweaver, it would be an honorable death and the endless suffering would end.


    Zaran nodded at the Hellweaver and quickly swung his sword down, ending it''s life. A yellow light circled around him, starting from the ground and then slowly circling upwards, until finally disappearing above his head. He had finally gotten to level 2. He quickly opened his stat window and grumbled as he saw that only 5 distributable stat points had appeared. He put all of the points into strength. Then tried to wield the greatsword with one hand and much to his surprise it worked. Even though it wasn''t in the item description, he felt that it made sense that you can''t just lift a greatsword with one hand with little strength.


    Zaran then noticed that a small brown sack with coins had fallen on the ground, along with a long dark red spear. Zaran picked the items up and checked the spear''s stats.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Hellweaver lance</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Attack damage</td><td colspan=''2''>200-250</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Required stats</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Level</td><td colspan=''2''>50</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>200</td><td>agility</td><td>150</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Although he couldn''t use it yet, he felt it was a good item. He checked the item info to see if there was anything special about it.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>A powerfull spear made from a Hellweaver''s legs, which makes the lance very durable, flexible and strong.</td></tr><tr><td>Skill: Hellweaver''s aura</td><td colspan=''3''>A dark and vile aura attacks the opponent, capable of causing fear to them.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Flexible... I just found my spear for when I get level 50. Unless there''s some almighty spear I can get instead... The aura skill might be good, depending on how the fear aspect of it works. All in all... thanks buddy. Zaran thought as he smiled towards the place where the Hellweaver''s corpse used to be.


    Suddenly a notification popped up in the corner of his eye. He opened it and saw that his sister sent him a message. "Hey brother i''m going to make our dinner... could you stream? Then i can watch what you''re doing :>"


    "Sure, give me a second." Zaran whispered back as he opened the menu and looked for the stream feature. He fiddled around with some settings and then pressed the stream button. "Should be good to go now sis. Can you confirm if it''s all good?"


    "Yeah, you''re streaming! Wait a few minutes, i''m gonna run to the kitchen, don''t do anything for 10 minutes okay!!!" Sylphie said as she quickly terminated her connection and ran to the kitchen.


    Seeing that he had some time to waste he took out the ki skill book and started reading it earnestly. A few minutes later he closed the book, stood up and started walking deeper in the cavern. What is lighting up this mine though? He thought as he arrived in a small hallway where 2 different routes could be taken. He saw some white ore producing a large amount of light on the ceiling. Even thought it gave off light powerful enough to match the sun, it didn''t burn his eyes at all and he even felt like the light was reinvigorating him a little.


    While Zaran was busy looking at the light 2 small Hellweavers came out from the 2 tunnels. They were about half the size of the previous ones and they were already limping. He ran to the closest one and gave it one blow from his greatsword, pushing it back and making a crack appear on it''s head. Then he swung is completely backwards into the air, striking the other Hellweaver straight in the abdomen while it jumped at him. Slightly turning his hand allowed him to bring the greatsword in front of him again in a wide arc, smashing the two Hellweavers against each other. This caused one of them to instantly die and with one more swing of the sword the other one died aswell. Compared to the first Hellweaver, these were very, very weak and should not even begin to be compared.


    Zaran took the right tunnel and cleared some more of the Hellweavers, even leveling up to level three. At this level Zaran recieved a bonus of 1 stat point to every stat he had. He guessed that the 50% penalty meant he would only get those extra points every other level compared to everyone else who would get them at every level. This time he did not use the stat points but merely kept them, he might need them later on.


    The right tunnel ended in a dead end, forcing him to return to the small hallway and taking the left tunnel. Again, he met a lot of Hellweavers on the way, but with his increased stats and his experience with them, they weren''t much of a big deal. About an hour after arriving at the small hallway and after killing nearly 50 Hellweavers, he reached level 4. Again he did not assign any of his stat points and merely kept them. He continued to go deeper in the mines and finally arrived in an enormous cave where he saw a colossal 4 meter long Hellweaver lie. As soon as Zaran entered the cave he could hear a shrieking voice in his head.


    Intruder... For my queen, you must die!


    As soon as he heard the voice the collosal Hellweaver started to rise...

 Chapter 8: Kings downfall

    Author''s note; Slightly shorter chapter than the ones before it (about 2.2k words instead of 3k?) but i''m still sick and it''s been affecting my vigor to... do anything really. I cut it a little short since I really wanted to bring out a chapter today, but it leaves you at a pretty bad cliffhanger.


    idk if cliffhangers are ever a good thing... probably are, since they keep my readers interested... I hope.


    It was also really fun to see your speculations on the Hellweaver queen :).


    As always have fun with the chapter!


    Edit: forgot to update title name once i posted. Woops.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    A domineering aura shot forth as the colossal Hellweaver king stood up, causing Zaran to immediately take a step back. Zaran tried to inspect the Hellweaver king, but failed. This meant that the Hellweaver king was at the lowest level 10 and possibly even higher.


    Damnit. This is going to be troublesome, he''s at least level 10 and he might have abilities that the other Hellweavers did not have. I guess I could use the theory I confirmed earlier... if I do an attack near one of the puncture wounds, it will start to heavily bleed from it and if I can just wait it out I should be able to kill it... but that depends on this thing''s HP... how high would it be? It''s level 10 at least so that would mean about 1000 HP minimum going from the other Hellweavers.. More because it''s a boss monster?


    These thoughts took just a split-second to take place but in that split-second the colossal already made it''s first move. It shot out one of the web-balls at him. Like the others Zaran just slashed it apart, causing it to split up and miss him.


    Show me something new. If there''s nothing new it is going to be an easy fight and I would have been worrying for nothing.


    The next moment the Hellweaver king raised one of his legs, ready to impale Zaran. Seeing this move Zaran could only snort and he swiftly ran forward, arriving under the king''s abdomen. In the time it took for the King to realise where Zaran had gone, Zaran could quickly stab the abdomen twice. Although the bleed status wasn''t confirmed he could see the king''s HP.


    -16 (1984/10000)


    Zaran''s face turned ugly to behold as he saw the abominable number turn up. He had expected it to have more than a 1000 hp but 2000 HP was just too huge of a number. Even if he could cause a bleed status, would the hp drop fast enough for him to hold out?


    The Hellweaver king lowered it''s abdomen, ready to shoot a web-ball at Zaran, seeing the king lower its abdomen instantly made him return to his senses and think of a nasty plan. He positioned himself in such a way so that he would not get hit by the ball but could still cut it. As the web-ball was shot out from the abdomen slashed diagonally, causing half of the web-ball to hit the king''s abdomen near the left third leg, while the other half beautifully hit the second right leg and the ground.


    Zaran quickly ran towards the king''s lowered abdomen, stabbed his longsword in it deeply and then slashed downwards with all his strength, straight towards the hole where the web-balls came out from. As he slashed it open, a web-ball rolled out but did not explode. Having an idea, Zaran quickly ran from under the king''s abdomen, to the opposite site of where its head was.


    -50 (1934/10000)[Bleeding]


    "Hey, I''m over here!" He shouted towards the Hellweaver King, who was shrieking in pain. As he heard the abominable two-leg''s voice, the Hellweaver king turned its body towards the sound, without noticing that one of his legs couldn''t move. This caused him to rip his own leg out, heavily injuring him.


    -512 (1424/10000)


    The Hellweaver shrieked and his voice resounded once more in Zaran''s head.


    "YOU FILTHY THING. YOU DARE TO INJURE ME LIKE THIS. I WILL RIP YOU APART!"


    A red aura began to ooze out from the boss, slightly enveloping the position of its lost leg. Soon, the leg began recovering at high speed. Seeing this Zaran''s eyes widened as he could not let this happen. He quickly exchanged his longsword for the spear and ran towards the web-ball that had not exploded. Seeing Zaran move towards him again, the king tried to impale him with one of his legs but Zaran jumped over the web-ball, then curled up into a ball and let himself roll from under the abdomen, removing himself from the web-ball. The king''s leg hit this web-ball and it exploded upwards, firmly enveloping his leg, making it unable to be moved.


    "NOOOO." The king roared in Zaran''s mind as he noticed what happened. The king was forced to rip this leg from himself as well.


    -546 (878/10000)


    Quickly the red aura oozed towards the newly lost leg and now both legs were healing at an astoundingly fast rate. Seeing as the king couldn''t possibly move with 2 lost legs, Zaran took the opportunity to stab his abdomen with 5 hits of the spear and causing another bleed effect.


    -50 (828/10000)[Bleed effect]


    -42 (786/10000)


    Zaran quickly ran towards some nearby rocks for cover, seeing that the King''s legs had almost fully healed. Zaran was sure that the king had another move besides the self-healing that he had not used yet. A split-second after Zaran took cover behidn the rocks, the king''s legs finished regrowing. At the same time the Hellweaver king spat out some blood and another huge damage number popped up.


    -393 (393/10000)


    Half his hp for healing? That''s a pretty hefty price to pay. But it''s a gift from the gods though. Same with dismembering his legs, I didn''t think it would turn out that well. Now i can sit and wait for him to bleed out... hopefully.


    Zaran had a smile on his face after seeing the large damage number pop up. The Hellweaver king shrieked loudly one last time and then lifted his abdomen up in the air, spraying spider-silk everywhere, luckily because he was hidden near an outcrop barely any made its way out there. Zaran''s smile instantly dissipated and his face turned ugly to behold. The situation was instantly reversed. He was in a bad position now while the Hellweaver king was in a really, really good position. He quickly ran over the possibilities. Only seeing one real option to victory he remained hidden for a while, hearing the Hellweaver king run around the whole cavern trying to find him.


    -50 (343/10000)[Bleed effect]


    -50 (343/10000)[Bleed effect]


    It took about 30 seconds, and two giant drops of blood to drop from the Hellweaver king''s abdomen to finally arrive near the place Zaran was hiding at. Already having switched his spear for the greatsword he sat there waiting patiently.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Drip... Drip... Drip... Saliva fell on the rock behind him. Zaran immediately trusted his greatsword upwards smashing directly into the Hellweaver king''s jaw, stunning him for a moment. Zaran took this time to jump towards the highest rock, onto one of the Hellweaver''s legs and then stabbed his greatsword into the colossal Hellweaver king''s body, creating a footstep that allowed him to get onto the king''s back. Then he quickly took out the longsword and planting it deep into the king''s back, holding onto it firmly for the king''s violent shaking that was to follow.


    -45 (298/10000)


    Feeling the sharp pain in its back the Hellweaver king started shaking his body violently, trying to get the pest of his back. The king tried everything possible to get Zaran of his back but to no avail. While he spent great effort to be able to hold on, both Zaran and the king were visibly getting closer to exhaustion. It was only a matter of time until one of the two could no longer move. All the while the king kept bleeding. After a full three minutes the Hellweaver king''s stamina neared its limit and its legs were shaking with every step. The bleed effect stopped after the first two minutes of the hellish ride on the Hellweaver king''s back, leaving him with very little hp left. Even though the king was nearly dead, Zaran was still on his guard because the next few minutes would be the trickiest.


    -250 (48/10000)[Bleed effect]


    Calming down the Hellweaver king noticed an area where he could hit the sealing with its back if it jumped... it would take some damage but if the two-legged thing stayed on his back... the impact should crush it to death. Coincidentally it was an area that barely any of the spider silk had gotten too. If he went there and the two-legs could escape he would possibly die. If it didn''t go there it would die for sure. Seeing as it didn''t have another option, it made its way over to the area, once it was in position it summoned all it strength and jumped up high.


    Already noticing what the Hellweaver king was planning to do, Zaran calculated where he should drop to instantly be able to attack. As the Hellweaver king was making its way to the place with the lowered ceiling, Zaran started to pull out his longsword with the utmost care. The king absolutely couldn''t feel it or it would shake him off and death would be almost certain. As the king arrived there Zaran immediately pulled out the rest of his longsword and jumped off the king''s back. Through controlling the landing he made sure that he wouldn''t take any damage.


    The king noticed that the two-legs was trying to get the sword loose and kept walking forward. It formed plans of its own to kill the stupid two-legs when it thought he would jump. As he prepared to jump the two-legs finally got off him and the king shrieked in pleasure, while turning his body towards the thing.


    I was had! Zaran instantly noticed something was wrong once he got off the king''s body. He didn''t jump! Instantly preparing himself for a counter attack, Zaran suddenly noticed something appearing from his side. He can sweep, that guy still had something hidden! Zaran quickly shifted his longsword to the side, and tried to back step before he was hit. However Zaran was too slow this time and got hit by the powerful leg sweep of the king. The sweep was so powerful that he flew 20 meters away and he hit the cavern''s wall, almost completely draining his hp in one hit.


    -96 (24/120)


    Oh ****. This was one hit!


    "Foolish two-leg, you are finished!" the king roared happily in his head seeing that the damage Zaran had taken couldn''t possibly be little. Zaran gave a wry smile to the Hellweaver king. Its sweep was way faster than one of those impales. It went so freaking well that I let my guard down just a tiny bit, causing this mess. Damnit! How do I win now...


    Zaran had an idea that could work but... he wasn''t certain if the king would be stupid enough to take the bait. he took out the spear as well and dropped his longsword in front of him. Holding the spear valiantly in front of him as the Hellweaver king approached, the king started to laugh in his head again. "Ah ha ha ha ha ha you think that silly little stick will be able to kill me! Two-legs i will break your stick!"


    As he saw the king laughing Zaran couldn''t pass up on the opportunity and let the spear loose with his left hand, then pulled his right arm back and threw the spear right towards the Hellweaver king''s head. The Hellweaver king''s eyes visibly widened as it saw the spear approaching. It quickly shut its mouth, causing the spear to weakly crash into his lips breaking apart almost instantly. It''s frontal defense was just too great.


    Zaran smirked as he saw the king react towards the spear. It had taken the bait! He instantly rolled towards his sword, immediately stood up and did an overhead slash into its abdomen followed by two stabs. Zaran noticed another sweep coming and dropped to the floor, then had to roll to the side to avoid getting impaled by one of the Hellweaver king''s legs, then having to roll to the side yet another time to avoid getting hit by another impale. The king was clearly pulling out all stops to kill him.


    -24 (24/10000)


    Just a few more hits... just a few more!


    Zaran quickly jumped up after the king took a small break from trying to impale him. But before he was able to attack another sweeping leg swung towards him. He fully bent backwards, causing him to be in a spider-walk position. The King''s leg barely grazed his chest, making Zaran sigh in relief. He really had dodged that one by a hair! Zaran raised himself again and did an overhead slash but was yet again assaulted by a sweep. This sweep was pretty low so he jumped over it head first and then rolled to the ground beautifully avoiding 2 impales at the same time. Raising himself one more time he did a quick succession of stabs towards the Hellweaver king''s body, ending its life.


    -24 (0/10000)


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations you have beaten the legendary boss Hellweaver king! You are the first to kill one of the Hellweaver kings. Do you wish to publicize your name?</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran quickly removed the notification from his eyes, not wishing to share his name. He didn''t want a "yay, you did it!" for this. It was in a weakened state from the start and he had been very, very lucky throughout his fight. At the same time he knew what had happened to the Hellweaver King and all the other Hellweavers. He would really feel bad if he would publicize his name for this. Zaran sighed and looked towards the corpse, checking if there was any good loot.


    Because the corpse was massive and hadn''t disappeared yet, which he guessed was probably because the miners needed to see some evidence, he had to walk around the entire corpse to be able to locate the loot. He first looked around the area near his greatsword, then proceeded to pull it out and searched the entire corpse. After walking around the whole corpse twice and still not having found anything he started walking away from it, until he noticed a weird shape near the corpse. As he approached he noticed that it was a samurai-style chest armor, Zaran went over and picked it up, believing it would be something amazing from a legendary boss.


    But looking at the item info Zaran''s face revealed a complex expression...


    This is?

 Chapter 9: Meeting her Royal Highness!

    AN: Make-up chapter for yesterday''s horrible cliffhanger. I really wanted to get that chapter out yesterday, keeping the 1 chapter every 2 days pace going. But because of your responses I decided to squeeze a chapter out today as well.


    Have fun (you guys were close!)


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    The armour was a samurai style armour, it was made from scale plating linked with straps of leather. The scale plating covered up the most significant area''s, while flexible dark red leather covered the joints and the inside of the arms. This made it a moderately light armour, but at the same time it still offered a lot of protection. He was happy with that part about it, but not with the condition it was in. The leather was tattered, some of the scales were missing and overall it looked very aged.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Hellweaver king''s armour(Tattered)</td></tr><tr><td>A previously mighty armour made from the Hellweaver king''s leather and protective scales. The leather has become tattered and some of the scales are missing. A skilled craftsman should be able to repair it to its former glory.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran was not sure what to think about it. It said it used to be mighty armour but he couldn''t use until he had the ability to repair it or found someone with the ability to repair it. While that gave him hope, he had no idea how to even start fixing it. Would he even have the resources necessary to fix it?


    Thinking that he could always worry about it later, he threw it in his storage ring. Along with the 2 skill books, one of the weapons, the green bead and the recommendation from the gallery of spears there were also the drops he had gotten from the Hellweavers on his way to the king. He had 2 Hellweaver teeth, 3 Hellweaver legs and 5 patches of Hellweaver leather, all which were of intermediate quality.  Killing the king had instantly let him jump 2 levels, letting him reach level 6, but yet again he did not bother investing attribute points. He could worry about those later and he did not need any immediate boost right away.


    Before continuing Zaran checked the streaming menu. He had been streaming for one and a half hour now, which should be enough to keep his sister occupied while making dinner. His jaw dropped and his eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the viewer count. 12683 viewers? HOW? No more importantly... why?


    Zaran started reading some of the comments that were flooding the stream''s chat channel. Most were cries of astonishment. Most of the reactions were the same.


    -How did he do that?!?


    -Is he even an user?


    -Holy **** did you see that just now the way he moved and evaded that? He''s a god!


    Zaran read through some more while biting his lip... He turned the stream off and then quickly went into the mail settings and friend request settings. He had to turn them off presto! When he tried to open his mailbox the area around him even warped for a second because of the massive amount of mails people had already send him. Upon seeing the astonishing number of 51689 mails he quickly disabled the option that made it so only friends could send him mails. He had quickly checked the first few mail topics and all were about how to make a custom s-rank skill or how to move about like him.


    He snorted at those people''s idiocy. As if it was that easy to do! He had experienced an innumerable amount of battles before he came even close to be able to move about like this. After selecting ''delete all mails'' and pressing the ''ok'' button, he went into the friend request menu. Yet again there were a large amount of friend request, but he selected to ignore all of them and turn them off for everyone but his friends yet again. Finally he disabled it so that only friends could whisper to him, so he couldn''t be bothered by people while he was walking about in town. After quickly checking some more options and not seeing the need to disable or change anything else he quit the menu.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    In a dark room, a lonely girl was staring at a computer screen. On that screen she was watching Zaran''s game play. She was about twenty years old and had beautiful golden hair that reached her behind. Her perfect green eyes had a special sheen to them and she had a luscious body, which she had covered up with a long white dress that had a deep cut and a bare back. Even though she looked like a seductress, the aura she gave off was refined and elegant.


    "Fuuu... seems like he''s rusty... Improve quickly little Zaran, I need you to play well in this little "game" of ours.* The beauty whispered with a seductive voice while she put one of her fingers on her lip, slightly pulling it down.


    "I wonder which route you will take." She whispered as a somewhat wicked smile appeared on her face, one which did not quite match her beauty.


    ________________________________________________________________________________________


    Zaran switched to the longsword again and searched for the cavern''s exit. After searching half the outer edge of the cavern he finally found a barely visible hallway. He entered the hallway and after a few turns, he entered a small cavern. In this cavern, many beautifully woven cobwebs adorned the walls and ceiling, making Zaran feel like they were made to decorate the place. Egg sacs surrounded the lower parts of the walls, where no cobwebs were, and two golden colored eggs along with one dark-pink colored egg were placed in the middle of the room.


    After looking around in amazement at the cobwebs a sweet voice entered his head.


    "Greetings two-legs, I have been waiting for you to arrive."


    "I guess I should call you Royal Highness?" Zaran said loud, making sure his voice could be heard by what he supposed was the Hellweaver queen.


    "Fufufu, it has a way with words. Yes, that is what the others call me, but you may call me Cindarrah. Very few are worthy to call me this name, but for you I shall make an exception. I know you have killed many of my kind but, that''s not everything there is to you now is it?"


    "What do you mean by that?" Zaran asked, not sure what the queen was hinting at.


    "Even though my kind tried to kill you, you didn''t kill them out of rage, or spite... but out of pity. Even though they attacked you... you didn''t feel right about killing them. Instead you wished there was another way to deal with us. Am i right to assume this?" the sweet voice whispered.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "Yes, they did not have to die, but... you cannot stay here. Seeing as to how her Royal Highness is talking to me politely, I should be safe to assume you are here to offer me another solution to this problem?"


    "Mmhmm, originally I told my kind to guide you to this room... but they did not listen. Their pain and rage made them attack everything on sight." the queen said with in a sad tone. "At first I planned to make this our temporary home, until my kind recovered its strength and could move elsewhere. However once I checked my kind''s wounds I noticed that the wasps poison made it so that my kind couldn''t possibly recover anymore. Hence I was forced to use my own vitality to create more of my kind, which made me result into this."


    A small Hellweaver crawled on top of the dark-pink egg, barely bigger than Zaran''s hand.


    "But once I started creating eggs, the different kind of two-legs appeared in this cave. With the state we were in we were lucky to drive them off once. Luckily they sealed the cave off from the outside buying us precious time. At that time i already decided that if there was any other two-legs that entered the cave... I would try to converse with them, making them understand that we don''t mean any harm. We just need our next generation to be born and we will move out. But my kind was already too far gone. Their vitality and sanity had already hit rock bottom. They would no longer heed my commands. Luckily it was you who came here. So please two-legs, hear my plea."


    "I promise to listen. If it''s in my ability to do... I shall consider it." Zaran replied honestly.


    "After my kind''s vitality hit rock bottom, so did mine soon. I no longer have much time on this world, so I wish for you to take my children away with you. Including these special ones." The queen said as she pointed towards the two golden eggs and the dark-pink one. "The main part about my request is that you need to establish two colonies elsewhere. The place should match our needs and plenty of prey should be nearby. At the same time there should be little to none predators in the area. I cannot offer you a great reward for this ordeal, but I can offer you but one, should you so wish to take it. These three eggs in the middle are all Hellweaver queen eggs. Special about these eggs is that they are imprinted with my knowledge. It''s a privilege to us queens. Normally it causes the new queens to exhibit similar behavior to the old one... but... I modified this one. You should take it, it should be of great benefit to you." The queen said in a mysterious tone as she nodded towards the one she sat on.


    "What''s so special about that one?" Zaran asked, intrigued by the queen''s mysterious behavior.


    "Fufufu, it caught your attention did it not? Well this one, young two-legs, is special because, it does not instantly gain the knowledge. Causing this one to be able to create her own identity, contrary to the other ones. I want you to take it as a companion as a reward."


    "But it is a queen''s egg. Will she even bother to listen to me?" Zaran looked at the dark-pink egg as he asked this. He was really interested in getting a companion. Even more so because it was a Hellbeast. Barely anyone would have the requirements to get it. Making it unique. Even counting all the unique moments of every of his reincarnations he could still count the truly unique experiences on one hand. Thus if anything was even remotely close to unique, he always had a craving towards it.


    "Ah... I forgot." Zaran thought he saw the queen''s black cheeks turn a little paler while she said this in her ever so sweet voice.


    "We imprint on the first... living thing we see. To us that becomes our parent. In the past there have already been cases where the parent turned out to be something rather... awkward." The queen said while she giggled. While the queen was talking, the dark-pink egg started to visibly move under her.


    "You have to decide quickly two-legs! Do you wish to heed to my request or will you end us?" she hurriedly said.


    "I accept your request, your Royal Highness." Zaran responded immediately after the queen hurriedly asked.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest: Saving the Hellweavers</td></tr><tr><td>Quest difficulty: Unknown.</td></tr><tr><td>You have accepted the Hellweaver queen''s plea to take her eggs away with you. She asked you to find two new locations with plentiful prey and scarce predators so her kind can start anew.</td></tr><tr><td>Currently established Hellweaver colonies: 0/2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "I am sorry for the burden but nevertheless thank you. I pray you may become the savior my kind needs." The queen said, her sweet voice growing weaker. "Quick, take this one." she said as she jumped off the dark-pink egg and started rolling it towards Zaran.  "She will hatch soon."


    As Zaran picked the dark-pink egg up, the queen drew her last breath. As one life had been given birth to, another drew its last breath. Cracks quickly started appearing on the dark-pink egg and soon after a beautiful dark-red Hellweaver queen climbed out of the broken shells. She was bigger than the previous queen, covering both his palms with her body and legs.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations on getting a companion! How would you like to name it?</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran quickly typed "Cindarrah", after confirming a familiar sweet voice entered his head "Daddy?".


    Zaran''s heart melted as the cute little Cindarrah said this. Zaran nodded and then the queen quickly, climbed to Zaran''s chest, over his face and laid herself down on his head. Zaran grinned as he saw this. Soon after she mounted Zaran''s head Cindarrah entered a deep sleep.


    Time to clean out these eggs then. Zaran said as he started moving the egg-sacs and golden eggs into his storage ring. Besides the golden eggs Zaran picked up 10 egg-sacs. He had taken the time to count the amount of eggs one of the sacs had and it reached nearly a hundred.


    Hmm, I guess I should pay Henry a visit. Surely he knows something about Hellweaver.. Wait. First i need to get the reward for clearing the caves!


    A whisper popped up in front of him as he was preparing to leave.


    "Zaran dinner!"


    "Coming!" Zaran replied as he started logging out.


    "See you soon Cindarrah!" Zaran said as his character vanished from the cave, along with Cindarrah.

 Chapter 10: dinner

    AN: Lots of conversation in this chapter. It''s ... a lot of explaining about game mechanics <del>neatly hidden </del>overly forced in a dinner conversation.


    Have fun with it.


    _______________________________________


    Zaran''s capsule opened, his sister already waiting for him in front of it.


    "Need help?"


    "Give me a second. Need to get used to NOT being able to move now..." Zaran said in a sad tone. It took him a half a minute to get used to the lifeless feeling in his legs. While it was easy to start moving, running and jumping about in the game, he always had trouble when logging out of a VRMMO. It was the same for this one. As he sighed while thinking about it, he grabbed his crutches, which lied neatly next to him in the pod and got out of it.


    Seeing as Zaran didn''t need help, Sylphie already darted towards the kitchen. Although Sylphie was older by 3 years and would be 21 this year, she had a surprisingly childish attitude. She didn''t often show this side of hers to the outside, only a Zaran and a few close friends knew about it.


    Zaran made his way to the kitchen and saw that his sister had made spaghetti. He sat down and filled his plate to the brim with it, added some of the bolognaise sauce and ate hurriedly.


    "Geez slow down! The game is not going to run away!" Sylphie scolded.


    Zaran slowed down his eating pace. Because of his eagerness to play the game he forgot how much these little moments of eating or playing together meant for Sylphie. Even though he was raring to go back, he couldn''t just ignore his sister. She virtually did everything for him, wash, cook, clean, ... On top of that she was the sole earner in the house.


    Even though she was an accountant she had a really good salary and was easily able to afford the house. She had even told Zaran that he doesn''t need to find a job or go to college if he doesn''t want to. He should find something he really enjoys doing and do that instead.


    "Hey Zaran... want to go to the cemetery next week?" Sylphie suddenly asked in a weak tone.


    "Y...yeah" Zaran replied. "It''s been five years huh..." He looked outside of the kitchen window lost in a daze... remembering what happened a few years prior. While his mom was on her way to pick up Zaran from school, and his dad was rushing over to pick up Sylphie from school, both their parents had a fatal car crash. His father got rear ended by a truck, which caused him to get sandwiched between the truck in front of him and the truck that hit him. His mother had to do a sudden evasive manoeuvre after an idiot threw a wriggling brown bag out of the car in the middle of the motorway.


    He had experience with some brutal things in his past lives, but somehow losing his parents still made his heart grew heavy. While there was no lack of blood in any of his previous lives, he had been saved of it this life. Technology made humans grow somewhat peaceful and less savage as they were before. In the end Zaran felt they had grown weak. How many know how to survive alone in the woods? What it is to fight for survival every day with every second being a battle for survival? Barely any.


    So as humans grew weak with technology, so did Zaran. It at least felt like he was growing weak. He was more considerate towards others, had more emotion in this life compared to his other lives, solely due to his reliance on others because of his disability. Long lost emotions were finding their way to him again. This made him feel somewhat conflicted. If it was kept this way for his current life it would be an advantage for him but... what about the next? Would he still be a able to become a cold blooded killer after a life of safety and peace? If he couldn''t kill someone anymore to save even one life, this life would have been an utter waste of time.


    Sadly enough he had barely any control over this. Any action instigated by himself that resulted in losing his life early or without meaning was linked to suicide. Committing suicide carried a heavy price for any who reincarnated with their memories still left intact. It would result in their soul being destroyed. All their hard work to try and obtain an immortal body would be lost instantly.


    Zaran let out a weary sigh and focused on his food again. Sylphie was still watching Zaran''s stream and occasionally let out excited and surprised squeaks, Zaran was surprised to see her act this way. He knew that she hadn''t quite accepted their parent''s death yet.


    After a little while Sylphie asked "Hey... What''s up with your in game looks? Who did you base yourself off?"


    "Someone who appears sometimes in my dreams... I''ve told you about it." Zaran said. He often had nightmares of a traumatic experience long past. Sylphie asked him every time what was wrong, but since he couldn''t possibly tell her what really happened, he started recounting other gruesome stories from one of his previous lives.


    "Oh... yeah... I forgot." Sylphie said and shifted her eyes away from Zaran for a bit, embarrassed that she forgot. " So uhm.. what level did you get before logging off?"


    "Just got 6 after killing the boss of that dungeon." Zaran said as he pointed at the TV screen. "Got an animal companion too afterwards."


    "Eh? For real? What kind? Wait... where''s the trainer?!?" Sylphie asked excitedly. She had wanted to pick up the beast master skill but hadn''t found the trainer yet.


    "One of them." Zaran said as he pointed towards a Hellweaver he was beating up on the TV. "And the trainer... I really think it''s better if you don''t learn it in this city. He doesn''t really have any ''normal'' monsters for you to learn the skill with. You''re honestly better getting it on your own or learning it in another city sis."


    "Eww, a spider..."


    "Hey she''s really cute though!" Zaran rebuked angrily.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Eh... how can a spider be cute?"


    "Come see for yourself?" Zaran said as he rolled his eyes.


    "Ok i will... by the way, have you found a class yet for once you reach level 10?" Sylphie asked before she ate another mouthful of spaghetti. It was public knowledge that you could get your first class at level 10. Many of the guilds offered basic classes, which you could switch for another at any point of the game. Only when you get towards level 50 would the first permanent classes start to appear. This however did not count for sub-professions and they were permanent from the start. If you didn''t like your sub-profession you just had to deal with it. Although there might be a way to get rid of it, this early in the game that knowledge wasn''t available yet. This caused many people to be extremely careful about the sub-professions they picked.


    "No, none of the guilds are taking me in remember? Unless I can get a class by myself or something I don''t think I will be getting one soon... Neither will I get the basic skills for the foreseeable future. Unless I can create some more custom skills, I''ll be extremely lacking in that department. Talking about custom skills..." Zaran stopped speaking for a bit as he tried to find the right words.


    "I had over 50.000 mails in my inbox earlier, due to streaming and creating the custom skill. People were swarming me with all kinds of questions in them. I just made it so that only friends can bother me with messages. You should probably do the same seeing as we share the last name and that we''ll be playing together often. Same counts for friend invites and whispers by the way. Don''t forget or they''ll end up harassing you in taking them to me or something." Remembering the ridiculous amount of friend requests and mails he had gotten in such a short time Zaran couldn''t help but let out a sigh. Before creating a custom skill or streaming he should''ve thought about disabling all those options, yet he forgot which made him end up in this mess.


    "Oh they''re already off for me. I got harassed by a few guys and I just turned everything off. By the way Zaran, what was your viewer count as you stopped streaming?" Sylphie suddenly asked.


    "About 10K... why?"


    "Well, it has increased to over 20.000 viewers, people are going crazy about how you fight! Could you teach me too? please? please?!?" Sylphie said excitedly.


    "What is there to teach? You dodge and you attack. Just fight more. Anyone with battle experience could do that." Zaran said. It was true that at this level of the game, there really wasn''t anything special about being able to move like that. You just had to have a good sense of how your virtual body is able to move and how the opponent would move. Seeing as your virtual body already had an easier time moving than the real one seeing as it was more athletic, basic movement like he did was very easy to accomplish. Even in previous VRMMO''s that was the case. But as levels got higher and enemies got stronger, only relying no your own movement wasn''t as easy anymore.


    "There has to be more to it than that... what are you hiding little brother?" Sylphie said as she came over and tickled Zaran.


    "Hey, stop.. hahahaha stop! no stop!" Zaran begged as his sis was tickling him. As she stopped he started explaining why he couldn''t teach her. "I just told you sis... I don''t really do anything special, I react to what the enemy does and then dodge appropriately. You should be able to do it too if you try hard." Zaran said.


    "Really?"


    "Yep, you can''t be with someone else in a party though. I don''t think you would be able to concentrate enough to pull it off. You have to be one hundred percent focused on the battle and not let anything else in." he said as he lectured her. While he wasn''t originally planning on giving advice he hoped that Sylphie would let him off with this.


    "I''ll try that! You''ll see, when we do a dungeon together next time I will move around just like you!" Sylphie happily said.


    "By the way, couldn''t you get one of those really wanted streaming contracts the game company is offering? Seeing as you can attract 20.000 viewers just because of how you fight and the custom skill, you should be eligible right?"


    Zaran thought about it for a second before replying. "We shall see about that. If they would be interested in giving me a contract I wouldn''t say no, although I doubt they will. It all depends on if I can keep drawing viewers towards my channel."


    "Well just keep streaming then? If you stream cool fights like... OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS MASSIVE SPIDER?!?!" Sylphie exclaimed as she saw the Hellweaver king on the tv screen. Once she saw that the fight had started her focus had instantly shifted away from the conversation to the screen. Her eyes glued to Zaran''s every movement. Zaran watched the fight as well and tried to see what he could''ve done better.


    Once the fight was done Sylphie just casually resumed her sentence like nothing had happened. "See, if you stream cool fights like that you''ll easily keep viewers attracted. that was A-MA-ZING. Especially when the king walked over towards you when you were hiding behind that rock. That hit to his face and then stabbing him with the greatsword to get on his back!"


    Zaran laughed and coolly replied. "It wasn''t much. I was really lucky there that the king was so stupid to come over there and actually looked over the rock. If he had tried to impale behind the rock I wouldn''t have been able to win the fight. I would''ve literally been in a sticky situation."


    "... that''s such a lame joke." Sylphie let out a deep sigh. "You''re such an idiot."


    "Sis... mind if I log in again?"


    "Sure, I''ll come too after I do the dishes."


    After Zaran took a quick bathroom break he got in the pod again and connected to the Myth Online servers. Soon, his consciousness was fading away...

 Chapter 11: standstill

    AN: For those who don''t like cliffhangers, skip this chapter, i''ll try to get the next one out tomorrow or latest Wednesday. The last part of the chapter will continue for most of the next chapter hence why i''m cutting it "short". I''ll need about 2K words to conclude the last part of this chapter.


    There''s a liiiiitle bit more of background on the reincarnated this chapter. More will follow soon..ish.


    I''ve had a lot of trouble writing this one actually, so I really do hope you enjoy it.


    ___________


    When Zaran''s consciousness returned his eyes had to get used again to the glowing light of the large white crystal that lit up the cave system. Before moving on, he decided to check his stats and check the progress on his skills that he had gotten while fighting over 50 Hellweavers and the Hellweaver king.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Character info</td></tr><tr><td>Race</td><td>Zuno</td><td>Profession</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Sub-profession 1</td><td>Hellbeast master</td><td>Sub-profession 2</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>6</td><td>Unspent stat points</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>160</td><td>Mana</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>19</td><td>Flexibility</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>8</td><td>Stamina</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>8</td><td>Focus</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>5</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Perception</td><td>10</td><td>Luck</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Charm</td><td>2</td><td>Willpower</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Reputation</td></tr><tr><td>Honour</td><td>5</td><td>Fame</td><td>50</td></tr></tbody></table>


    He had gotten 20 skill points but decided to not use them for now. He noticed that he got some free stat points to vitality. Besides that he really wanted to spend some skill points towards flexibility, agility and stamina but decided that he should put that on hold for now. He was still able to beat monsters even with his reduced stat points, so there was no need to spent them for now. Seeing as a new weapon might require stat points to be able to wield it, it was the better choice of storing them for now.


    He had gotten the spear, sword and greatsword masteries while he was fighting the Hellweavers, Seeing as how much he used the greatsword and sword, and that he was a supreme expert in using them, the mastery levels had already risen a level and were ready to rise again. The beginner level masteries barely raised his damage at all, but eventually all the little things added up to become something great after all. He did feel like the skill information was mocking him, as they stated that his understanding of the ways of the spear, sword and greatsword were ''nearly inexistent''.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Spear mastery</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Exp. left until next level</td><td>5%</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You have set your foot upon the path to master the spear. Although your current understanding of


    the spear is nearly inexistent, it still allows you to wield the spear more efficiently.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Increases damage dealt by spears by 0.5% (+0.5% per mastery level)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Sword mastery</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>2</td><td>Exp. left until next level</td><td>13.5%</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You have set your foot upon the path to master the sword. Although your current understanding of


    the sword is nearly inexistent, it still allows you to wield the sword more efficiently.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Increases damage dealt by swords by 1% (+0.5% per mastery level)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Greatsword mastery</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>2</td><td>Exp. left until next level</td><td>0.5%</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You have set your foot upon the path to master the greatsword. Although your current understanding of


    the greatsword is nearly inexistent, it still allows you to wield the greatsword more efficiently.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Increases damage dealt by greatswords by 1% (+0.5% per mastery level)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    As he had passed the required level necessary for the bone knife he created, he placed it in to the knife sheath in his belt. Having it ready at any second would make him a little more prepared for otherwise dangerous situations. If he ever were to lose his blade in battle, the bone knife would serve as a temporary back-up. Even if knives aren''t the greatest weapon, it would still better to have a knife than to fight empty-handed. Moreover the knife could be used as a throwing weapon to either finish of fleeing enemies or surprise an opponent.


    Seeing as he checked everything about himself it was time to check Cindarrah''s info. It would be important to know her skills, as well as what type of companion she would be in the future. Zaran had a slight guess as to what sort of companion she would be but he would only be completely sure after he saw her information screen. He called out "Cindarrah''s info" and a screen popped up in front of him showing her stats.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Companion info</td></tr><tr><td>Name</td><td>Cindarrah</td><td>Race</td><td>Hellweaver</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>100</td><td>Mana</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>5</td><td>Dexterity</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>5</td><td>Intelligence</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Skills</td></tr><tr><td>Web shot lvl 1</td><td colspan=''3''>Shoots out an ball of web that explodes on contact and envelopes the target.</td></tr><tr><td>Leech lvl 1</td><td colspan=''3''>Drains life from the opponent. When used on a target that is under the influence


    of web-shot it deals double the normal damage.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The first thing he noticed was that she only had four stats, which condensed all of Zaran''s stats. It was probably meant to keep the screen more tidy and giving more options would just create more work for both the game designers as well as the players. If the companions had the same amount of stats as the users and users would have to keep note of every single one while developing their companions, it would be a daunting task. Zaran was thankful that he didn''t have to keep track of too many stats along with his own.


    Going over her skills, he wasn''t surprised to see the web shot pop up again. It had been part of almost every Hellweaver''s repertoire. He was grateful that Cindarrah already had it, since it would certainly be a valuable asset in a lot of situations. He wasn''t quite sure what to make of the leech skill, the description was a little vague and he hadn''t seen any of them use it.


    Zaran started moving out of the cave and went back towards the cavern where he killed the Hellweaver king. Cindarrah just kept sleeping on top of his head, firmly stuck no matter how much he moved his head. Zaran had tried to move his head completely to one side, but she still stayed firmly rooted on his head. Still smiling because of Cindarrah, Zaran arrived in the wide open area where he killed the king. But unlike what he expected it was not quite empty.


    A single humongous muscular bearman stood in the middle of the cavern with his greatsword lodged into the ground, both hands gripping it tightly. He was three meter big, his arms looked like they were as big as a log and a powerful aura emanated from him. Large scars donned every visible part of his body. You just knew that he had gone through countless life and death battles. A particular large scar that ran straight across his chest stood out. It was quite deep and it seemed that if it was just slightly deeper his lift would have been lost.


    Only wearing shorts and some makeshift shoes, he just stood there, waiting. Zaran noticed him first and saw the scar. He recalled this wound as he had been the one who gave birth to it. Before saying anything Zaran quickly accessed the menu and put 10 points in strength and 10 in agility. He was sure this was Nekorath.


    "Hi Nekorath. I guess you''re not here for pleasantries?"


    "Who would come here to chat with a bastard like you. No, instead Akhuath sends his regards." The bearman said as he lifted the greatsword up let it rest on his shoulder.


    Akhuath again. What does he have against me. Zaran thought while thinking about all the times he had fought others that had reincarnated and worked for Akhuath. There were too many times to count. Every person who reincarnated had to choose a god to work for. Those who worked for different gods fought if they met it each other, but meeting others was mostly a stroke of luck. Never would they actually seek out others and kill them. But Akhuath was different for some reason. He had sent multiple of his own against Zaran. He didn''t know why and it bugged him.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Each god gave a blessing to their champions. Zaran had chosen Venuras the god of tranquility initially. His blessing was quite good as it allowed him to force peace between two parties albeit temporarily. Later on he switched to a few different higher ranked gods until he ended up with Isis, the over-goddess of life. She had a powerful blessing that allowed him to raise someone from the death.


    "Why does the god of destruction want me dead in an online game?" Zaran asked as he took the greatsword out of the horizontal sheath on his back.


    No answer came. Instead Nekorath instantly ran over to Zaran and swung his greatsword down. Zaran raised his greatsword sideways, meeting Nekorath''s greatsword and let it slide of his own. Even though he had parried the hit, he could still feel the boundless power behind it.


    Zaran''s face turned ugly to behold. Nekorath had equal if not greater strength than him. This would prove to be troublesome as Nekorath had always been extremely proficient in the greatsword. The last time they met up was quite some reincarnations ago, making Zaran unsure as to how much his skill had improved compared to Nekorath''s. He just had to pray that his improvement had been greater than Nekorath''s.


    Nekorath swung his sword sideways and Zaran quickly ducked, as he couldn''t backroll with Cindarrah on his head, the greatsword just barely passing over Cindarrah. As he ducked he had brought the greatsword to his side and struck upwards as he raised himself again. Nekorath pulled back his greatsword and only barely made it in time. Not prepared to take the blow Nekorath was forced to take a few steps back. Not giving Nekorath time to recover Zaran took two steps forward while simultaneously slashing diagonally down with one hand, bending his right knee to give the slash more velocity and then instantly switching hands with the blade to create another upwards cut. Nekorath defended against the first slash but he couldn''t prepare for the second slash and a large cut appeared on his body.


    -15 (185/200)


    Nekorath staggered backwards and took another hit from Zaran who had brought his greatsword down and slashed vertically, creating yet another large cut on Nekorath''s body. After taking that hit Nekorath jumped backwards, creating some distance between the two. Zaran was glad that he had added some points to agility since he wouldn''t have made that second hit if he hadn''t. He could really feel the difference in stats. The power behind his slashes had increased and his handling speed had heightened.


    -15 (170/200)


    Nekorath looked at his wounds and revealed a wicked smile. He too had lived through countless lives and stood at the peak of power for most of them. Besides his loss against Zaran, not many had been able to give him such a life threatening scar. Nekorath roared and ran forward, activating one of the passive berserker buffs he had access to. It was the buff ''rage'' which gave him increasingly higher strength the lower his hp dropped. it was the lowest level and currently he only received one extra strength but even that could create an advantage in this fight.


    Nekorath swung his greatsword down on Zaran, who met his greatsword with his own, this time using two hands to deflect Nekorath''s strike. As his strike was parried, Nekorath kicked Zaran in his stomach making him fall flat on his butt. Zaran immediately rolled to the side and quickly got up again.


    -5 (155/160)


    Nekorath didn''t give Zaran time to recover however and immediatly swungs his greatsword sideways to his direction, Zaran raised his sword to block but he hadn''t reacted quite in time. Taking the blow in an unfavourable way, his own greatsword hit his side and the impact forced him on the ground yet again. Zaran rolled to his side away from Nekorath as another blow came slashing down. He dodged this blow likewise but was met with another one as he tried to get up again. After a few more sideways rolls and strikes from Nekorath, Zaran finally found an opportunity to get up again.


    Zaran gritted his teeth as he tried to hold back a few unkind words, but he knew he would do the same Nekorath had done, so he really had no right to say anything. Instead he focused on the battle again. He couldn''t let such a mistake happen again. While he hadn''t taken any damage, he should have looked quite pitiful there.


    Another blow came, but this time Zaran was ready. He parried it and struck Nekorath in his chest with a quick stab.


    -10 (160/200)


    Nekorath quickly recoverd and struck Zaran, taking a huge amount of his hp in one strike.


    -15 (140/160)


    Another hit came and the two became deadlocked, pushing their greatswords against each other, neither side being able to budge. Zaran eventually gave in a little, just to kick Nekorath in his stomach as Nekorath tried to gain an advantage by pushing Zaran back. Nekorath had foreseen this through and slammed his greatsword down instantly, chopping deep into Zaran''s leg.


    -20 (120/160)


    Zaran roared out from the pain and brought his greatsword down on Nekorath, cutting deep into his shoulder.


    -10 (150/200)


    With both of them having three quarters of their health left the battle had just begun. Both were already pushing their virtual bodies to the limit with every strike. They cursed at it when they got hit or when they hit since it still did not move as well as their real bodies. While normal users would be thinking it was an incredibly high-leveled fight, to Zaran and Nekorath this felt like a boring, tedious fight.


    Neither of them had a finishing move available and they were both hacking away, trying to force the other person''s virtual body in making a mistake. With how low leveled they were this was an easy thing to do. While their mind was imagining the battle scene, the body just couldn''t keep up. Both Zaran and Nekorath gritted their teeth as they ran forward exchanging blow after blow. After ten strikes both of them were pushed back, neither of them harming each other, but both visually improving their accuracy and handling of their greatsword with every hit.


    "Let''s see how long you can keep up with me!" Nekorath roared as he ran up to Zaran and furiously brought his greatsword down.


    Zaran met Nekorath''s greatsword and slightly pushed him back this time, creating a slight advantage. When he tried to strike Nekorath however, his blade was parried and he had to dodge a hit, Nekorath''s greatsword only barely missing Cindarrah, who was still sleeping on Zaran''s head even with all the commotion taking place. Zaran quickly brought his blade to meet Nekorath''s again and both Zaran and Nekorath used two strikes for each other. Yet again both strikes were equal in power and neither gave away. Pushing back and forth for a while, neither was giving in this time, neither falling for the other traps. They were simply at a standstill...

 Chapter 12: Racial skill... Awakening

    An: As promised. Err... not much else to say besides that i''m dead tired and can''t wait for my vacation to start already.


    ---------------------------------------


    Why does he deal so much more damage than me? Zaran thought as he started calculating his next few moves. He had to be careful to not get hit. While both health bars were at the same percentage, Nekorath had only taken two blows to get Zaran to this point, whereas Zaran had done five to get the same result. He had needed one more strike to begin with as Nekorath had more health than him. Needing another few extra strikes to keep the fight equal was a huge setback for him, if he couldn''t trade at least two hits for every hit of Nekorath''s he was bound to lose.


    Zaran used inspect and saw that Nekorath had already reached level 10 and class changed to Berserker. While berserkers gave up the ability to wear most types of armor besides the really light types, their damage was increased by 50%. Zaran thought the class fitted someone like Nekorath who didn''t care about his body at all and loved to fight to his hearts content. To someone like him armor would definitely only be a burden. At the thought of Nekorath as a berserker Zaran could only be terrified, normal berserkers would only use their huge strength to create advantage but Nekorath would be different. He would have incomparable damage combined with high amount of skill. Thinking about it he felt grateful that he met Nekorath now, not being all too sure he would be able to take blows from him in the future.


    Nekorath was the first to break the deadlock and stepped back, only to instantly use the skill [Heavy blows] as he started savagely bring down his blade upon Zaran time and time again, each of his strikes getting incomparably heavier than the last. Zaran took the first few strikes head on but after the fifth he didn''t dare to take them head on any longer. He shifted himself to the side, allowing him to dodge the fifth strike which connected to the ground and created a huge crater. Rock shrapnel exploded forth hit both of them. Zaran had shifted his sword to the side, dodging most of it, while Nekorath got hit by the brunt of it.


    -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 (115/160)


    -1 -1 -2 -1 -3 -1 -2 (139/200)


    Nekorath let out a furious roar seeing that his attack had missed and slashed towards Zaran''s head. Cindarrah woke up from the loud roar and slowly opened her eyes, wondering where all this noise came from. She looked around only to find a greatsword narrowly missing her head. She couldn''t help but cry out in fear. "Eek!!!"


    -"Ah finally up now aren''t we sleepy head." Zaran jokingly said while jumping backwards to create distance between him and Nekorath. "Cindarrah could you do daddy a favor and quickly hide for a few minutes while i deal with this guy?" Zaran asked her in a serious tone as he pointed towards Nekorath.


    "B-but... can''t I help?" Cindarrah asked with her ever so sweet voice.


    "No daddy needs to deal with this guy alone." Zaran felt awkward while saying daddy, but he assumed it would be the easiest way to make Cindarrah comply to his wishes.


    "Muhhhh okay ~" Cindarrah jumped of Zaran''s head and quickly scurried to some nearby rocks. Even though she wanted to help, she felt that she would be punished if she helped Zaran after already being told that she couldn''t. "Even if he doesn''t want my help, if daddy gets in trouble I''ll save him!"


    Nekorath looked stupefied at Zaran as he heard him saying that he was the spider''s ''daddy''. "You... are you all right in your head? Talking to some stupid spider..." Nekorath said while low growls escaped his throat.


    Zaran grinned. "See for yourself!" He jumped forward and slashed at Nekorath. Now that Cindarrah was gone he no longer had to take her into account when attacking. Nekorath and Zaran exchanged a few blows again but this time Zaran was clearly moving much better as if he was unrestrained. After four hits were exchanged Zaran got the upper hand and temporarily knocked Nekorath''s blade away. A high velocity slash followed and Nekorath growled in pain as he got hit.


    -10 (129/200)


    Giving Nekorath no time to recover he instantly followed up with another high velocity slash. Nekorath tried to attack, but Zaran quickly rolled forwards, stood up and delivered a powerful blow to Nekorath''s back with his elbow, then followed up with a slash across his back before Nekorath had time to react. Not having to worry about Cindarrah anymore allowed him to fight in a completely different style, abusing every little mistake of Nekorath to the utmost.


    -8 -10 (111/200)


    "You bastard, you were holding back!" Nekorath roared. "RACIAL SKILL, BESTIAL AWAKENING!" the next instant Nekorath''s muscles swelled up, the fur on his body grew longer and his face grew more bear like. Nekorath turned and savagely swung his blade down upon Zaran, who met the incoming blade. This time however he couldn''t resist the force at all and instantly got knocked backwards. While he didn''t take damage Zaran let out a soft groan. So powerful. Beast awakening huh... Seems like this battle just got real~ly fun.


    A huge smile appeared on Zaran''s face as he rushed forwards, delivering a blow to Nekorath. While Nekorath''s previous blow had an overbearing force behind it, he was full of openings afterwards. Nekorath growled as he received the blow, he hadn''t been prepared for the amount of force one of his strikes would output and overused his strength, leaving him full of openings. A slash flew out from him, this time more adjusted to the force and most of the openings disappeared. Zaran didn''t dare to be greedy and backed off.


    -10 (101/200)


    Nekorath advanced forward and slashed again, Zaran cursed as he didn''t get time to switch weapons. Now that Nekorath''s strength was far superior than his own, his greatsword would only be a disadvantage. He''d like to switch out to the longsword but he just didn''t get the time. Seeing as he had no other option Zaran dropped his greatsword and jumped backwards. Losing the heavy weight of the greatsword instantly increased his movement another notch. He quickly grabbed the bone knife seeing as it would be more useful than his greatsword.


    Nekorath roared and unleashed a flurry of slashed towards Zaran, who tried to dodge but couldn''t dodge them all. He got hit by two of them and a large chunk of his health instantly disappeared.


    -25 -25 (65/160)


    Another slash greeted Zaran but this time he quickly ducked and stabbed Nekorath in his legs with the dagger, then circling around to his back and delivering two slashes to it. He stuck to Nekorath''s body as Nekorath tried to turn towards him with the greatsword and delivered another series of stabs. Nekorath did a small pirouette while dragging the greatsword close to his body forcing Zaran to leave his proximity.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    -5 -5 -10 -10 -5 -5 -5 (66/200)


    A red hue started to appear around Zaran''s eyes as the battle drew towards the end. But neither Nekorath nor Zaran noticed this change. Zaran closed in on Nekorath again but was met with another slash, Zaran dodged but Nekorath had already foreseen this course of action, this time not delivering a full powered slash, he was able to instantly change the direction of the slash and he delivered a powerful blow to Zaran''s side. The impact was so great that Zaran got knocked to the ground and rolled twenty meters away.


    -25 (40/160)


    When he finally stopped rolling Zaran coughed up some blood. At the same time the red hue brightened and a message box appeared.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Through countless battles the Zuno raise their battle skills to the utmost, giving them an absolute domineering presence in battle. Like your ancestors, you too are walking the path of becoming a supreme expert. Through your battle lust and desire for strength you have awakened to the racial skill ''Battle Might''.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Racial skill</td><td>Battle might</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Effect</td><td>All battle-related stats and passive battle skills are increased by 50% and a domineering aura is released.</td></tr><tr><td>Requirement before usage</td><td>????</td></tr>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''2''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Albeit a shy race, the Zuno boast tremendous battle might. Normally their potential does not get unlocked. It is only in extreme situations that they will show their full potential. Extra levels to this skill improve the effect and effective range of the aura.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Unlike Nekorath''s racial skill, Zaran''s didn''t give a bodily transformation. Instead a red hue appeared around his eyes and a domineering aura surrounded his close proximity. Zaran grinned as he saw the message boxes. With this large of a boost to every of his stats, his victory was all but guaranteed. The question marks next to the requirements for usage box bothered him, since it meant that until he figured out what triggered it he couldn''t possibly use his racial. Another concern was the duration of it. Would it be as long as Nekorath''s had been or would it be a short burst of power instead... Only time would tell.


    He pushed those concerns to the back of his head as the first thing to do was to win the current battle. He brought his legs up and jumped up in one fluid movement. A deep sigh escaped his mouth as he concentrated on the battle again. Quickly milling over all possible situations he decided on the next few moves. Taking into account his new found movement speed Nekorath should not be able to fight back.


    Zaran gathered power in his feet and kicked the ground as he ran forward, the distance between him and Nekorath closing in rapidly. A sideways slash met him as he drew near, which zaran dodged by sliding over the ground with his knees while bending his body back. Sliding this way cost him some skin, but he just gritted his teeth. After dodging the greatsword like that he had arrived behind Nekorath. He quickly got up and slashed twice with the bone knife before Nekorath was able to turn around and deliver a very fast slash. Zaran didn''t expect the speed of this slash and it connected, leaving an ugly wound on his body.


    -15 -15 (36/200)


    -25 (15/160)


    Zaran''s face turned ugly to behold. He couldn''t afford to take any more hits or he would be dead. Zaran jumped back and arrived at the spot where he had lost his greatsword. He quickly sheathed his bone knife with one hand and picked up the greatsword with the other. Although Nekorath would still have greater strength, it would be possible with his increase in stats to turn Nekorath''s strength against him now. Zaran wielded the greatsword with two hands and pounced forward.


    Zaran''s and Nekorath''s blade met and a power struggle erupted again. While Nekorath had greater power,  Zaran had better control and could thus utilize his strength better. Taking advantage of every mistake Nekorath made, Zaran started to push him back, eventually being able to shift Nekorath''s blade to the side leaving him wide open. He kicked Nekorath''s chest and simultaneously landed a heavy blow to his weapon, knocking it out of his hands.


    Nekorath''s eyes widened and he growled in fear as Zaran''s greatsword closed in on him. "NOOOOO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"


    -15 (21/200)


    After the slash Zaran impaled him with his greatsword, binding him to the ground.


    -15 (6/200)


    "Tell Akhuath to fuck off!" Zaran said as he slowly unsheathed his knife. Zaran did the slowest slash he could, making Nekorath feel all the more miserable. As the knife hit the bear man''s chest, the final drop of his hp bar disappeared and he died.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Through killing a champion from a god, various gods have taken interest in you. What this entails only time will tell...</td></tr><tr><td>God''s merit + 1</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>By battling and defeating one with superior skill in the greatsword during a fair and honorable battle, your level has advanced to surpass that of your opponent.</td></tr><tr><td>Greatsword mastery level + 2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran''s eyes widened as he checked his skill information. His greatsword mastery had automatically advanced to level 5 with only 50% left to level 6. This battle had granted him a tremendous amount of experience towards this skill. He was still left with some questions as to why Nekorath had appeared here and why Akhuath wanted him dead in a game.


    Cindarrah scurried over and climbed on top of Zaran''s head again. She had barely been able to suppress herself in taking action. When she saw his health dropping to a very low level she had almost fire a volley of web-shots. However she didn''t and decided to only act at the last moment. Luckily she didn''t have to help and everything was fine.


    Zaran waited a few minutes for his hp to fully regenerate. While hp didn''t regenerate in battle, it would quickly regenerate once one left the battle. This made it so one did not need to have a healer or a high amount of potions available at any time. It was hinted on the website that there were zones where hp would never regenerate unless potions or heals were used, but as Zaran was still low leveled he didn''t have to heed it any mind.


    Once his HP was fully regenerated Zaran got up and started to head back to the entrance of the cavern.

 Chapter 13: Mining

    Author''s note: I had a real trouble with the last part of this chapter... I just couldn''t get to writing it and had absolutely no inspiration as to how to write it, i''m really not happy with this chapter but I had to get it out of the way, as i''m sure the next chapters will go easier.


    ---------------------------------------


    Virul''s graveyard was placed in a large grasfield, surrounded by high stone walls. The tombs were laid out in neat rows and you could see that great care had been taken of this graveyard as not even a single speck of dust covered the tombs. A few gardeners were running around pruning leaves, trimming bushes and hedges, removing death flowers from the flower beds, mowing the lawn, and watering the plants. A large statue of Lisenne, the goddess of the afterlife, adorned the middle of the graveyard. The statue was twenty meters high and made out of flawless marble. Beneath Lisenne''s statue a continuous stream of lights descended as users where constantly respawning. Not even a few seconds passed before another light descended near the statue. A bearman with a dark expression appeared, cursing loudly while low growls escaped his throat.


    "That darned bastard! Just you wait! This is not over yet!" Nekorath cursed. Near him other recently spawned users were likewise cursing at everything under the sun. Nekorath stampeded to the exit as he kept muttering curses and threats. Before he was able to leave the graveyard a dark cloud gathered in front of him. The dark cloud was dyed in different shades of black with black lightning bolts coiling through it. Nekorath''s face immediately showed signs of great fear and didn''t waste a second to drop to the ground and start kowtowing in front the cloud. The cloud shifted and while the cloud masked any details, a human shape could still be seen.


    "A million apologies, oh great god! This one has been negligent and had not been able to kill the one you marked as a target! However if you give me the chance to level up, I am certain i will succeed the next time!" Nekorath pleaded to the cloud.


    "Get up. Your pleas for mercy is not what we are here for. We wish to know if Zaran knows." the human shape in the cloud said with a toneless voice.


    "Of-Of course my lord! I am certain Zaran does not know! He even asked me what my lord wanted with him!" Nekorath hastily replied. He knew that if his answers did not please Akhuath, his life might not be lasting for another breath.


    "Good. Now get out of my sight. If you fail to kill anyone I mark as your target again. Death will be the least of your worries."


    Nekorath ran of with the speed of light once Akhuath finished his sentence, leaving the dark cloud behind.


    "Isis... You won''t be let off lightly for meddling with me this time!" Akhuath said in a angry tone. The cloud shifted again and disappeared with a flash.


    ----------------------------------------------------------


    After walking for a good half hour, Zaran finally arrived at the exit of the caverns and arrived in the mines again. He quickly made his way to the exit. Once arriving there he found that the doors were still solidly locked. After shouting for a full minute, the heavy iron doors were finally opened.


    "Fresh air!" Zaran exclaimed as he took in a few deep breaths.


    Zaran heard someone shouting at him and turned to his side. The old dwarven miner had come running instantly as he had heard that Zaran came up again. "Hey! How is the situation down there? And where''s yer friend?"


    "My friend?" Zaran asked with a surprised expression.


    "Yeah the bearman, didn''t ya see the guy? We sent him after ya. He told us ya two had been split up earlier and that he had been looking for ya. "


    So that''s how he got inside... I better clear things up so they don''t let him in here again.


    "That guy is not my friend, he wanted to kill me and put the blame on the Hellweavers!"


    "Oh crap... well ... My sincerest apologies." the old dwarven miner said in an apologetic tone. "But is it clear down there now?"


    "Yeah, I cleared the place now, you can safely start mining again. They''re all dead, safe the one on my head." Zaran said as he pointed towards the red-black Hellweaver queen on his head.


    "Did ya tame that one?"


    "Yeah." Zaran said. He didn''t really want to explain circumstances and hoped that he wouldn''t ask any more questions.


    "So ya really didn''t lie when ya said ya were Henry''s disciple. Well boy, thanks for clearing the mine for us!" The dwarven miner said while laughing. After quickly shouting some instructions to the nearby miners to start mining again, he turned towards Zaran again. "So, for yer reward... While we cannot give ya a monetary reward we will no longer charge a fee to use the mine. But I guess clearing the mine is not the thing ya came here for is it?"


    "I came here to learn about mining." Zaran replied.


    "Ya came to the right person then, follow me over here!" the old dwarven miner said as he took Zaran to the training area. The training area was a small cave in the side of the mountain with five rocky outcrops clearly mined out from the rest of the cave. These five rocky outcrops were being studied by a few apprentice miners while an older miner was instructing them on the various intricacies they hold.


    "Normally we''d have more people here and it would be too crowded to learn quickly, but with the situation in the mine we couldn''t let any outsiders in. Which makes it the perfect time to learn. Now let''s come to this first outcrop." The old dwarven miner said as he pointed to the smallest outcrop which was brown-black. "This outcrop is a prime example of coal. It''s the largest source of energy so the demand is really high. In this mine the primary deposits ya will find are coal deposits like this and thus it is our largest source of income. Due to the high demand there are simply not enough miners to mine an adequate amount. That is why we allow adventurers such as yerself inside. All we ask is half of what ya bring back to the surface." After letting Zaran take the time to study the outcrop the old dwarven miner moved to the next one.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "But that is enough about coal! Next up is a Cassiterite deposit. Cassiterite can have a large variety of colours but you can recognize it because it forms in prisms or pyramids and is usually opaque although it can be translucent as well. Then we have a chalcopyrite deposit. This one can be recognized by it''s brass yellow colour and sometimes may have an iridescent purplish tarnish. These ores are used to create bronze."


    The old dwarven miner walked over to the fourth outcrop and continued explaining. "Now this outcrop holds yer average iron ore. It varies in colour in other places but in this mine it''s generally dark grey with some being rusty red. As for the last outcrop, it holds black and red iron ore... It only serves to give armour a specific colour which could be gained through other means but the advantage to it is that paint can still be taken off one way or another but the colour of this will stay."


    After studying the rocky outcrops for a little longer, the old dwarven miner gave him a quick summary on how to mine the ores.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Mining lvl 1 (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>The old dwarven miner has given you tips and tricks on how to mine.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Geology lvl 1 (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>You are able to recognize low level ore deposits.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "Boy, for listening to this old man and as my personal reward for clearing the mine, I want ya to have this pickaxe of mine. It''s an old little relic of mine, but I could never be bothered to get rid of it."


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>Worn soul-stone pickaxe (unique)</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>A pickaxe made out of the extremely rare soul-stone. While it is worn out and time has not been kind to it, it still boasts the strength to mine every type of ore.</td></tr><tr><td>Durability</td><td>100/1000</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran gratefully took the pickaxe, bade his farewell to the old dwarven miner and went back to the mines.


    Entering the mine shaft again, Zaran was surprised how much it changed compared to the first time he entered. While it was desolate just a few hours ago, now it was already filled with miners who were excavating ore or starting new mine shafts. A constant stream of mine carts rolled up and down filled with either ore, crystals or stone. The entrance had too many people for Zaran''s liking and he walked back towards the entrance to the cavern. As the cavern hadn''t been inspected yet, the large clearing he fought the hellweaver king in earlier would most likely hold some quality ore.


    While he hadn''t seen any ore when he was there before, he didn''t have the detection skill at the time so things might be different now. On his way to the cavern he found a few small tin, copper and iron ore deposits which he quickly mined. He had also seen a large amount of coal deposits, but they were so plentiful that he didn''t have to worry about picking any coal up straight away. Soon enough he found the tunnel that hid the entrance to the cavern again, and started looking for ore. The first section right before the intersection alone had 50 different deposits, but all of them were on the ceiling or upper part of the walls and he didn''t dare touch those. Zaran sighed and grabbed a few bread buns out of his storage ring and quickly ate them. After drinking a bit from one of the field flask he decided that his next course of action should be to check the tunnel that would lead to a dead end.


    Noticing some small deposits at the sides of the tunnel he quickly mined them and investigated further. Upon reaching the dead end he found a few more small deposits. By this point he had spent an hour inside the mine and had barely gotten enough ore for a bronze and iron dagger. Zaran sighed and went towards the other way that lead to the big cavern. Even the tunnel that lead to the cavern barely had any ore deposits making Zaran wonder if he wasted his time by coming here.


    Zaran inspected the first part of the cavern and almost immediately found a large iron vein. He smiled and started excavating it. After half an hour he had finally dug up the whole vein and a large hole now filled the flour of the cavern. After taking just a few steps to his left he found another large iron vein. "Jackpot!" Zaran exclaimed as he started to mine again, another half hour quickly passing before he dug it all up again.


    "So how much kilograms of ore do I have now?" Zaran muttered as he checked his inventory. "Only 5 kilograms worth of iron ore? But 30 kilograms of stone?" Zaran''s shoulders dropped as he took the stone out of his inventory and dropped it to the side of the holes where no veins were present. Walking forward again he noticed another large vein and on a second note it was humongous. It spanned a full thirty square meters and it was full of black iron ore. Zaran smiled and mined with renewed vigor for two hours before the vein was finally fully depleted. Zaran wiped the sweat from his forehead after he finished. "Wew... this is rough work. But it''s good for my stats though... I got 6 strength and 3 stamina during the last two hours." Zaran muttered to himself.


    A few other users had made it to the cavern in the last two hours and all of them were happily mining away. The cavern seemed to boast a tremendously large amount of veins, making Zaran happy that he found it first. He spent the next in game day mining in the cavern and ended up with 5 more points to strength and 4 more points to stamina. As for his inventory it barely had any cassiterite and chalcopyrite but he had 20 kilograms of normal iron ore, 50 kilograms of black iron ore and 20 kolograms of red iron ore.


    He had taken a few long breaks in between mining as it had been very taxing on his body. His longest break had been a full three hours. At that point his arms were giving away and he had felt like throwing up, his body signaling that it was completely drained of energy.


    Time to go to the city again! Zaran thought as he made his way out of the cavern.

 Chapter 14: Not so simple

    Author''s note: I wrote more today then in the past 4 days combined. Pretty safe to say it went well today.


    Enjoy!


    __________________________________


    Zaran passed by the Flygaan habitat again on his way back to Virul. Once arriving there Cindarrah grew frantic and begged Zaran to let her eat some of them. He had time to spare so he joined up with Cindarrah and decided to quickly hunt a few of them. Cindarrah protested and said she could take them on alone. She quickly shot two web-shots to the nearest flygaan, bounding it''s wings and legs. Then all she did was scurry over, mount the Flygaan and slowly leech it while using web-shot whenever the constricting force ran out.


    Zaran decided to try solo one by himself as well but quickly found out that he was unable to solo them due to their kiting ability. Cindarrah scurried over and bound the Flygaan with a single web-shot, allowing Zaran to quickly kill it afterwards.


    He was absolutely devastated at the restrictive power Cindarrah showed as it let her easily beat an opponent that had proven to be hard to beat if it could utilize it''s mobility. After Cindarrah killed ten more Flygaan she quickly hit level four much to Zaran''s astonishment. He had helped her beat two more Flygaan and noticed that if she fully drained her opponent her exp bar increased by a large amount. However after gaining level four she no longer gained exp from killing Flygaan, forcing them to stop leveling. Cindarrah wanted to scurry on top of Zaran''s head again but was stopped by Zaran.


    "Hey Cindarrah could you make a little sac out of your web that is big enough to hold you?" Zaran asked her.


    "Why?" Cindarrah asked in her pleasantly sweet voice.


    "The people at the city will bug daddy too much if they see the cute little Cindarrah on my head." Zaran said honestly.


    "Muh... don''t wanna!"


    "Cindarrah please... Daddy will not be able to finish his business in the city quickly enough if you don''t do it. People will also be touching you the whole day! And they''ll be asking where I got you and how they can get you and..." after begging for a while Cindarrah finally made a little web sack and crawled in it, allowing Zaran to continue onwards to Virul.


    Arriving in Virul again, Zaran headed straight to the marketplace. While he had gotten a large amount of iron ore, it served him no purpose just yet as he iron equipment could only be worn at higher levels. The requirements to his stats would likewise be higher than what he currently had, making iron absolutely worthless for now. Seeing as he still had quite some training and leveling to do before being able to use iron weapons, he decided to trade all his iron ore for bronze ingots one way or another. If he found a merchant who would trade them he''d be fine with that otherwise he''d sell it off and just buy bronze ingots with the money he gained.


    At the market place one of the first stalls Zaran noticed was Pantheon''s stall. In the good two days that he had been away Pantheon had been quite busy as the diversity in his wares had gone up. He noticed that besides ribs, slices of meat and baguettes there were now cheese wheels. A small sign sat in front of the cheese wheels saying ''Pantheon''s semi-failed cheese wheels''.


    "Dear customer how can I help you today?" Pantheon asked Zaran. He had remembered Zaran as the one who bought some of his failed wares earlier. Upon seeing him he had thus immediately come to help him out.


    "What''s wrong with the cheese wheels?" Zaran inquired.


    "Ah... The flavor is quite right but the inside is not quite... normal to put it safely. Here, I''ll show you." Pantheon said as he took a knife out and cut a slice from the cheese. A thick yellow liquid slowly ran out from the cheese wheel. "The insides are just melted cheese. I''m not sure how this happened and no one in the cooking guild can give me an explanation as how this happened. It is really tasty though, here have a bite!" Pantheon gave Zaran a plate with the slice of cheese along with a spoon. Not being able to refuse Zaran took a spoonful of the yellow liquid along with part of the outer shell of the cheese. Once he tasted it he found it to be incredibly flavorful. While it looked strange the flavor had an incredible depth to it and the aftertaste was just right. It was neither too strong nor too weak. Zaran pondered for a few seconds before deciding to buy the ten cheese wheels in display. The cheese wouldn''t be able to be used in the normal ways, but he could just drench his bread buns in it, giving it a better flavor. Zaran parted with 1 silver for the cheese wheel and bade Pantheon goodbye. Zaran quickly picked up a large glass container from a nearby stall and stored it into his storage ring. If he broke the cheese wheels the liquid would be running out and the glass container would be sufficient to preserve the cheesy liquid.


    Continueuing on Zaran walked around the market square until he found a merchant who was selling ore and asked if he would possibly exchange iron ore for bronze ingots. After the merchant said that he would be willing to trade 1 kilograms of iron ore for 2 kilograms of bronze ore Zaran took out the 20 kilograms of normal iron ore and traded it for bronze ingots. Now having 40 kilograms in bronze ingots he advanced to the blacksmithing guild. After an hour long explanation a message box popped up confirming that he had gained the blacksmithing skill... only it was at the beginner level. Seeing as this couldn''t possibly be right he asked all the trainers but they just scolded him off once Zaran asked about extra training. Zaran left the blacksmithing guild and sat down on a nearby bench.


    Why is blacksmithing not at the advanced level? I clearly selected it among the 2 skills i could get to the advanced level for free. Have I gone to the wrong trainer? I guess I will have to inquire if there is another blacksmithing guild around town. If that fails I could check upon one of the independent blacksmiths.


    Zaran asked some passerby npc''s if they knew about another blacksmithing guild in town. The npc''s looked at him strangely, as he already was in front of a blacksmithing guild, but still politely replied that there was no other blacksmithing guild in town. Zaran muttered a few curses under his breath and went to all of the independent blacksmiths, but like the blacksmithing guild there was not a single one that would give him further instructions.


    Zaran sat down on a nearby bench and stared into the distance dejectedly. Where the hell am i going to find this instructor? Zaran thought. He had gone to literally every blacksmith in town but to no avail. Is there something I missed? He shook his head as he couldn''t have possibly missed anything. He had asked around for every blacksmith in town and there was no other guild. Maybe in some other town? Wait no... that''s not right either... It should be here but...


    Suddenly a coarse voice woke Zaran from his deep thoughts. "Young man, why the long face?" an old wrinkly dwarf asked. His face was buried in wrinkles, to the point that his facial features could only barely be made out. He had long white hair that dropped all the way to his shoulders and long white beard that reached to his chest. A rather small white mustache sat above his lip further covering his features. He looked to be over a hundred years old, but despite that, firm muscles still showed on his arms.


    "Eh? Ah... that is... I''ve been running around town for the whole day asking the various blacksmiths to give me more instructions on the craft but none want to provide additional instructions." Zarain said honestly. "I''d really wish to get a deeper understanding of what it means to be a blacksmith and how to craft various armour and weaponry but... Without an instructor it will be a long arduous road. While I don''t shun some work I would be able to improve my craft far faster than without one. There''s also... a certain weapon I want to craft but with my abominable skill level I will be unable to create it for a while..." Zaran''s shoulders dropped. He really wanted to create a particular weapon but he was fairly certain the game wouldn''t allow him to create it with his current skill level. He had to one way or another find the instructor that would get him to advanced level immediately.


    "Is that so?" The old wrinkly dwarf asked as he sized Zaran up. "Hmm, well in fact I know of one who should want to teach you."


    "Really?" Zaran said excitedly. "I would be eternally grateful if you would be able to tell me who this person is."


    "He''s standing right in front of you." The old wrinkly dwarf proudly said.


    Zaran immediately cupped his hands and bowed in front of the old wrinkly dwarf. "Please take this one as your apprentice!"


    "Now now, no need to be so polite. I will teach you on one condition. You shall show me what weapon you wish to create."


    "... I would need some paper for that. The design is slightly different from conventional weapons and the difference is hard to explain in words, it would be far easier to show you." Zaran said as it was impossible for him to explain the design to the dwarf without the plan.


    "Mmhmm, follow me then" The old wrinkly dwarf walked towards an alley without waiting for Zaran to respond. Zaran quickly walked after him and after passing through a few alleys they arrived at a small back alley where a few run-down houses were testing the sands of time. A single well-kept house stood proudly among the others. A small dark-wooden porch laid in front of it, with a three-steps staircase that led up to the large door that was made out of the same dark wood as the porch. The white walls made out of sandstone conflicted with the dark wood but at the same time Zaran felt like it belonged together. It was quite a different building compared to the other japanese-styled buildings in the city.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Do all these high-level craftsman have weird houses? Zaran thought as he saw the house.


    A small stone smithy was attached to the house, which the old wrinkly dwarf ran up to. Before entering the old wrinkly dwarf suddenly turned around. "Now that I think about it I haven''t caught your name yet."


    "My name is Zaran Karaz. What might yours be?"


    "Mine is Eoric Metalbane." Eoric sighed as he said his last name clearly not happy with it. Zaran could barely supress a laugh at Eoric''s last name. A blacksmith called ''Metalbane'' was simply too ridiculous. "Blame my parents for my last name. My dad went to report me in a drunken stupor resulting in my last name. Now, let''s see that design of yours." Eoric said as he entered the smithy. Upon entering the smithy Zaran noticed that it was far more spacious than he would''ve guessed from the outside.


    There were a few crude dark-wooden workbenches to the left lower corner of the smithy, far out of reach from the coal forge. Each of the workbenches had a small dark-wooden stool in front of it, allowing one to sit down while working on a design.  A large stone table was placed in the middle of the smithy filled with ore, ingots and various tools. In the right upper corner of the blacksmith lied the forge, with a large stone crate filled to the brim with coal to the side of it. The anvil which could be found at the upper right corner of the smithy, looked fairly new, much to Zaran''s surprise.


    Eoric took some paper from the topmost drawer of one of the workbenches and unrolled it upon the whole workbench. He put some small ingots that he used as paper weights on the end as to stop the paper to roll up again. After giving Zaran a sharpened pencil, he left Zaran to work on the design and quietly sat to the side, studying Zaran''s progress. Zaran quickly drew the initial schematic of the blade, which just confirmed how it would look and showed it to Eoric. Eoric cocked his head to the side because the design was quite peculiar and he was fairly certain he had never seen a blade quite like this.


    The blade itself had four components to it. The first part was the broadest and took up about 30% of the total blade''s length. Between the first and second part there was a Z-shaped inclination as the blade grew smaller leaving a shark tooth on the edge of the blade. Eoric found this quite peculiar as it would certainly be a weak point for the blade and thought that it would easily break of in battle. The next part of the blade was another 30% of the total length and had a similar Z-shaped inclination as it connected to the third part. The third part was 25% long and the final part was 15% long and they too had this weird Z-shaped inclination. The blade''s width kept grewing smaller with each inclination and finally ended in a point.


    "This... wouldn''t these shark teeth break off really easily?" Eoric asked. "I don''t really see why you''d make them that way..."


    "You''ll see later." Zaran said as started to work on the design again, this time detailing it further down on his second schematic. This one showed the blade''s thickness and coating methods. After showing the design to Eoric this time the confusion of Eoric just grew. The blade was thicker than a greatsword yet wasn''t as long as a greatsword. It looked like a combination between a greatsword and a longsword, with the lower parts of the blade acting as a greatsword and the upper two parts acting as a longsword.


    Eoric scratched his head and pondered over the design as Zaran started to work on the third schematic, which showed how to create the shark teeth. This design was incredibly complicated and showed a variety of designs the shark teeth could have as well as the methods of how to create them. It even showed a way to create the blade without the shark tooth and just creating a smooth transition instead. Even this smooth transition had a few different possible designs to it.


    Still not finished Zaran made a fourth design which showed the different layers for each part of the blade and exactly how the blade gets it sharpness while still being thick. The fifth schematic showed that the blade could also be infused with crystals, and at which points the crystals should be inserted to give the blade extra properties. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eight design showed various other ways the blade could be slightly altered through the usage of runes, blending some metals together, et cetera. After looking at the complete set of schematics Eoric finally understood what the blade was all about.


    "Boy... how did you come by this design it''s such an intricate design... You ask for me to teach you but this is a master level design. Are you sure you need any guidance?"


    "I stumbled upon this design by accident in the past. I took great interest in it and started to memorize it to heart, in the hopes of every being able to create it." Zaran lied. He couldn''t possibly say that in one of his previous lifetimes he had been a blacksmith''s son and thus stumbled upon this design and later created his own version of it.


    "I see.. well then... Let''s see what you''ve got." Eoric said as he started the forge and worked the bellows. "Let''s start with a simple bronze dagger, you can use one of the bronze ingots from the table."


    Zaran picked up a bronze ingot and put it on the forge, increasing it''s temperature to the point where shaping it with a hammer would become possible. Using tongs to move the bronze ingot to the anvil, Zaran started to hammer away and created a simple shape of a dagger. After it cooled down he heated it up again and hammered away again. A little while later he had created a very simple looking dagger.


    He showed it to Eoric, who shook his head and pointed out all the mistakes Zaran had made. Zaran had seen the mistakes himself and was inwardly cursing at the system for not letting him use his real forging skills. Eoric smelted the bronze dagger into a bronze bar again and instructed Zaran to start anew. After creating a few more daggers and Eoric giving a bucket load of pointers, Zaran showed yet another dagger to Eoric who nodded in approval this time. A message box showed up confirming that he had gained advanced level smithing. Five hours had passed and he had finally gained advanced smithing. While he still needed to get designs to create weapons, the flaws the game forced upon his works would decrease now.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Blacksmithing lvl 1 (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>You are able to create high quality weaponry and armour.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran sighed in relief.


    "It''s not so simple as it seems isn''t it?" Eoric said smilingly.


    "Yeah, it''s far more difficult then it looks." Zaran replied somewhat honestly. Creating a dagger would be utterly simple for him if the game didn''t force him to create flaws or force him to miss the timing to hammer the metal.


    After eating a few onigiris and drinking a bit of water, Zaran took out his bronze bars and started working on a few weapons. He still had to recast them a few times before being able to create a good piece, but he had still been able to create improved bronze weapons for himself. A new bronze greatsword weighing 35 kilograms and a 5 kilograms heavy longsword replaced his current weapons. He''d sell his current ones the next time he visited the market, since recasting them would be a waste of time. The beginner weapons were made of such crude bronze that even a level one blacksmith would be able to create a better piece.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Bronze Longsword (Exquisite)</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>20-25</td><td>Durability</td><td>50/50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Requirements</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>5</td><td>Strength</td><td>15</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Bronze greatsword (Exquisite)</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>30-40</td><td>Durability</td><td>50/50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Requirements</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>5</td><td>Strength</td><td>35</td></tr></tbody></table>


    He needed to figure out how to temporarily store his companion as he couldn''t possibly walk around with Cindarrah the whole time. He''d simply attract too much attention. While she was currently holed up in a little sack on his back, people were stilling staring and bothering him about it. At the very least he had to go ask Henry about a temporary storage place while he did his business in the village. He had to find a secret place to start training too as he couldn''t possibly keep using the training field like this. Cindarrah wouldn''t forgive him if he stowed her away the whole time and he honestly didn''t really wish to part with her either.  She was surprisingly fun company albeit a little childish. Thinking about it, he still had some other questions he had to ask Henry. Zaran quickly packed up and bade Eoric farewell as he went on his way to Henry''s place.

 Chapter 15: Summoning and de-summoning

    A/N: Picking up another companion... HELL YES.... okay that was beyond horrible...


    Enjoy!


    _______________________________


    A few minutes after leaving Eoric''s smithy Zaran arrived in front of Henry''s place. After a couple of knocks on the door Henry opened up with a sleepy expression on his face. He had just taken forty winks until he got rudely awakened by someone banging on his door.


    "Ah! Zaran back already?" Henry asked upon seeing it was Zaran and the sleepy expression instantly changed into an elated one.


    "Yeah, I''ve got a few questions I need answering."


    "Come in then. Let''s hear what you''ve got to say." Henry took a step back and waved with his hand towards his house, urging Zaran to quickly enter. Zaran took seat at the small wooden table and wait for Henry to take a seat as well.


    "Cindarrah come out please." Zaran said once Henry had taken a seat. Cindarrah quickly crawled out of her little web sack and crawled on top of Zaran''s head. Henry''s eyes widened in surprise as he saw the petite Hellweaver queen on Zaran''s head.


    "Zaran boy... I don''t know if I should congratulate you or slap you."


    Zaran revealed a questioning expression and before he could even ask Henry started talking again.


    "That thing on your head... How did you come across it?"


    After quickly summarizing what happened and how the Hellweaver queen on his head was an altered form Henry''s face changed to one of surprise for a split second but then instantly turned dark again.


    "Boy, never fully trust that critter on top of your head. Hellweaver queen''s are extremely crafty creatures and every generation is basically just another version of yourself. That said, for the Hellweaver population to be devastated that quickly it can only be one creature that can do it. Black devil-wasp. I''ll give you the same advice as my master gave me in regard to them. If you see them, you run. They are never alone and if one attacks you, you can be damn sure a few thousand more will quickly follow. There''s rumors that swarms of them have even killed dragons."


    Zaran opened and closed his mouth a few times unable to say something about the devil-wasps. "Uhh... so do you know of any places nearby where the Hellweavers could build their nest anew?"


    "There''s a place nearby but you''ll know about it soon enough" Henry said in a mysterious tone, not quite fitting his stentorian voice. "As for other places there are some but none of them are nearby. However the little queen on your head can point them out if you ever come across any."


    "All right it''s a start at least. There was another thing I was wondering about. Everyone has been staring at me and bothering me for the last few days because of this little one. Do you know of a way to temporarily store her or something? It''s rather cumbersome that people annoy me all the time." Zaran said while gently stroking Cindarrah''s back.


    "You can, but YOU can''t." Henry said. "You need your own place for that. Then there''s a summoning and de-summoning technique along with a binding technique that you need to learn. It''s a fairly simple process but you need to have your own house. You COULD use mine but it''s not the best option obviously and I personally suggest not using my place. It might affect your bond with the pet if it stays around my pets."


    Henry rummaged through some drawers until he finally found a small scroll that he threw towards Zaran. "Here, this scroll contains the techniques you need for summoning and de-summoning your pets along with the binding technique for where they''ll go. I suggest building a cage or preferably a habitat for your beasts and bind them in there."


    Zaran gratefully accepted the scroll, although his face showed a disappointed expression. He couldn''t afford a house yet so he''d have to walk around with Cindarrah for the time being.


    "Don''t worry you''ll get a house soon enough, in the meantime I would suggest training with few people around." Henry suddenly got filled with mystery as he continued "Well there''s another option if you wish to take it."


    "What is the other option?" Zaran asked.


    "Take Kirin with you. She gained the baleful aura skill that hell hounds have so mentally weak people will naturally avoid you. As for others it doesn''t have an effect on them but it should solve your current predicament. On top of that Kirin has been very restless since you left. She really wanted to go with you last time, so how about it?"


    "Haahhh, if she''s raring to go then I guess I will just take her with me regardless. While we''re at the topic of people distracting me... there''s a lot of people who will bug me regardless if i go to the training area so i was wondering if you''d happen to know a secluded training spot nearby?"


    "What is it with you and people bothering you? Are you some sort of celebrity?" Henry asked unaware of Zaran''s display of skill in the market a few days ago. That along with streaming caused a lot of players to harass him and ask him how he did that. While had blocked whispers he couldn''t stop people from speaking to him in person. Whenever he was at the market he thus completely ignored everyone and just continued his business. He received a bit of hate from it but surprisingly there were people that stood up for him and told the others not to bug him. He''d really hope to avoid people when he was training and he thought that Henry should know a place like that nearby. Where else would he train or tame his hellbeasts if not in a secluded spot?


    "There is one spot nearby, but it is owned by a peculiar fellow. He normally doesn''t let people near the spot but if you take Kirin with you to his place, he should recognize your connection with me and let you stay. There is one thing that you ABSOLUTELY can not do in that place though. Under no circumstances hurt an animal. As for where the place it is northwest of the woodcutting guild near the waterfall. Oh, tell the guy he should drop by for a few beers. It has been too long since I''ve seen him."


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "All right let me go get Kirin for you now." Henry said as he walked towards the cellar and entered it. After a couple of minutes he got back with a very excited Kirin in his arms. When she saw Zaran she immediately jumped out of Henry''s arms and ran straight to him, cutely barking in the process. she immediately started rubbing her head against Zaran''s leg as a sign of affection and then put her paw on her head, signaling to Zaran that he should pet her. Zaran started petting her for a while.


    Suddenly a web-shot came from the top of his head and bound Kirin to the ground. Kirin growled angrily and used her dark flame skill to melt the web. Once free she roared at Zaran while releasing an horrifyingly strong baleful aura towards Cindarrah. Zaran felt Cindarrah clamp her legs stronger around Zaran''s head to the point where blood started to trickle down. "Cindarrah you''re hurting me! Kirin stop!" Zaran roared in pain. Immediately the two hellbeasts stopped.


    "But da..." Cindarrah started, but was immediately cut off by Zaran "No buts! Now be nice to Kirin! And Kirin you be nice to Cindarrah!"


    "Yes daddy" Cindarrah said while Kirin let out a low whine with her tail between her legs. Zaran started patting the two of them and then turned his gaze to Henry who was rolling on the floor while laughing at the situation.


    He couldn''t have possibly imagined that two female hellbeasts from a different race where jealous of each other. In his countless years as a hellbeast master he had never ever seen this happen before. Once Henry noticed Zaran frowning at him, he quickly collected himself and stood up again. "Sorry for that, the situation was simply too hilarious. In all my years as a hellbeast master I have never seen something like that."


    "Did you have any more questions?"


    "No, I think I''ll be off now. Thanks for your time Henry!"


    "Anytime son! Take good care of Kirin!"


    "I will!" Zaran said as started to get up.


    While he walked around the market not a single person talked to him. People glanced at him more often but no one dared to bother him just because of the baleful aura that Kirin emitted. While she was small and looked pretty cute despite the bone-like things on her fur, her aura was terrifyingly strong to the point that even the higher leveled players dreaded to go near her. This caused people to wonder who owned such a strong companion was, but none dared to ask. Zaran slowly made his way around the market until arriving at Pantheon''s stall. Pantheon was surprised to see Zaran back again so soon and quickly came running over to help him. "Back so soon? I hope nothing was wrong with my wares?" Pantheon asked with a concerned expression in his eyes.


    "No nothing wrong, I just have an extra addition to my party that requires meat." Zaran said while pointing to Kirin. The baleful aura wasn''t affecting shopkeepers so Pantheon was able to take a good look at Kirin without being forced to turn away.


    "Oh? You were a beast master?" Pantheon asked, knowing that there was only a single profession that could get a pet so early.


    "Yeah. sub-profession actually. I was wondering if you were selling some sausages or other meat?"


    "I certainly am selling some meat and sausages. It''s 5 copper per sausage and just 4 copper for a chunk of meat."


    "Give me 50 of each, that should last me a bit." Zaran said. Pantheon quickly grabbed the sausages and meat and handed them over to Zaran who stowed them away in his storage ring.


    "Could I ask you something sir?" Pantheon suddenly asked as Zaran was about to leave.


    "Sure, go ahead."


    "Would you be willing to sign an exclusive contract with me? You''ll get a discount for all the food you buy, but you can only buy at my store when I am online and I will deliver it if necessary. On top of that if there''s any food items or ingredients you want to have processed I will do it free of charge."


    "That''s... a quite interesting proposal." Zaran said as he thought about it. He would need a massive amount of food if his party of hellbeasts kept increasing and even if he didn''t have them with him they''d need food at his future home. The contract with Pantheon would solve that problem. There was just one thing Zaran needed to know.


    "Why did you propose this contract?"


    "Well you see, there''s not a lot of customers at my stall. Since I made those horrible bread buns and onigiris people shy away from me. I have very few customers that come here again and seeing you for the third time here I just thought it''d be a good idea to put up a contract. That way you get cheaper food and I get a good customer." Pantheon explained with a pained expression.


    "Sure why not then! I don''t know how long I will stay in this town though." Zaran added while quickly signing the contract that Pantheon had quickly given him.


    "No worries, just register me as a friend and wherever and whenever you need food I will come running. I am not a weak cook!" Pantheon said as he got closer to Zaran and whispered. "My profession... Is a secret profession, it allows me to be a cook and a fighter! So I will be leveling a lot myself. As long as the discrepancy between our levels doesn''t get too big I will be able to deliver you food."


    "Seems like I chose the right stall to keep buying from then!" Zaran said as a smile emerged on his face. If Pantheon really could deliver whenever and wherever it would immensely benefit him. Zaran added Pantheon as a friend and bade him farewell. He quickly crossed the market to find a stall that would buy his used longsword and greatsword. After selling the both of them he spent the received money on a simple longbow and 100 bronze arrows. While he didn''t particularly like longbows, he hadn''t been able to find a greatbow yet so he decided that a longbow should suffice for now.


    Zaran quickly checked if he had everything he needed and decided to set off for the secluded training area.

 Chapter 16: Secluded training area

    A/N: nearly 200 total followers! I did not think I''d reach this point so quickly, thanks to all of you for your support. :)


    This is somewhat of a prologue to the training chapters.


    Enjoy!


    __________________________________


    The golden haired beauty was sensually eating a few strawberries when her butler entered the room. At first glance you would say that the butler came straight from out of a magazine, as his looks were good enough to make women fall for him in droves.


    "Milady, Akhuath has come to see you."


    The golden haired beauty turned around and let out a surprised "Oh? I ~wonder~ what he wants. Please bring him in."


    The butler quickly turned around and went back to let Akhuath in. Isis stood up and walked to the throne that was seated in the middle of the room. Her white dress with the low cut clung tightly to her, unable to hide her luscious body. She had only just taken a seat on the throne when a furious masked man with long messy black hair stampeded into the room. "ISIS! YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR!"


    "Akhuath, whatever may you be talking about?" Isis said with an innocent look on her face.


    "You know full well what we are talking about! You said you weren''t going to participate this time!"


    "Oh, that''s it? At first I wasn''t planning to join but when you brought in all your champions how could I not send a few myself?" Isis smiled sweetly at Akhuath, which only caused his fury to grow.


    "YOU..." Akhuath started but was immediately cut off by Isis, who now had a somewhat angry expression on her face.


    "Dear Akhuath. Are you trying to tell me what I can and can not do? As I see it this game is open for all of us?"


    Akhuath''s expression turned even uglier to behold. What Isis had said held truth. He had not expected that Isis would still send her champions after she had already said she wouldn''t. Normally he wouldn''t care if Isis joined or not but the last million years she had picked up too many promising talents, almost stealing all of them away from the other gods.


    "Seeing as you are silent, I guess you understand your foolishness now. Now... BEGONE." Isis said as she used some power to blow Akhuath out of her manor.


    "Milady, is this okay? What if he gathers an army of his champions to kill yours one by one?" The butler said in a worried tone.


    "It matters not. My champions aren''t so weak as to be able to be hunted down. And if they are well... then they have proven to not be worthy of my support. Now then... bring me my cloak. I wish to go visit my dear Zaran."


    "Yes milady." The butler said as he went to get her cloak.


    _________________________________


    Zaran was making his way towards the western gate as he heard his sister call for him


    "ZARAN WAIT UP!" Sylphie came running for him but when she neared she found herself unable to get closer to Zaran. "Eh?" She exclaimed while looking around with a surprised expression. Irina came running shortly after, clearly exhausted.


    "Kirin, let them near." Zaran quickly said.


    Kirin let out a cute bark and removed the effect of her aura from Irina and Sylphie.


    Sylphie''s gaze quickly shifted towards Kirin. "Who''s this?"


    "Her name is Kirin" Zaran said "Go say hi to them Kirin."


    Kirin slowly walked up to Sylphie and Irina and allowed the girls to pet her. She was still on her guard for the both of them, but she felt that Zaran trusted the girls so naturally she couldn''t disobey him.


    "Hey Cindarrah wake up."


    "Muuh... whyyyyy" Cindarrah moaned as she slowly woke up.


    "I would like to introduce you to my sister."


    "Oh... oh! Auntie?" Cindarrah was instantly awake and looked around for Zaran''s sister. "Where? Where?!?"


    "It''s the Valkyrie..."


    Cindarrah jumped forward and landed straight on Kirin''s back and happily smiled at the two girls.


    "Eek!" both of the girls yelled in surprise before composing themselves again.


    "Hi auntie! Hi friend of auntie!" Cindarrah cutely said to the two girls causing the both of them to feel bad from being scared of her.


    "Hi Cindarrah, my name is Sylphie!"


    "Mine''s Irina, pleased to meet you!"


    The girls started chatting with Cindarrah for a little while. In the meantime Kirin quickly ran back to Zaran and quietly stood guard next to him. When they were done chatting Cindarrah crawled on top of Zaran''s head again.


    "See you later auntie and Irina!" Cindarrah said as she instantly doze off again.


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    "Geez... how much can one sleep." Zaran muttered.


    "Sooooo Zaran... Where were you going off to?" Irina asked.


    "Oh, just going to a secluded training area since everyone in the city would just bug me about the s-rank skill or about these two." he said while pointing towards Kirin and Cindarrah.


    Irina frowned. Sylphie and her had run over to ask Zaran to come level with them but they also knew Zaran would need to work far harder on his stats than other races. Thus she quickly decided to refrain from asking him to come level with them. "Ah... how long do you think you''ll be training for?"


    "I''m not sure... I need to gather enough ki and mana to utilize skills. Afterwards I need to study some skills and try to learn them by myself so it might take a week... two weeks... who knows really."


    "Ehhh! You will fall so far behind!?!?"


    "It''s okay. I can play more than both of you, so I should catch up quickly enough."


    "Okay.." Sylphie and Irina both said at the same time.


    "See you later then Zaran." Irina said as she dragged Sylphie off.


    Zaran grinned and continued on towards the western gate. Quickly he arrived there and went towards the woodcutting guild where he took a brief stop to talk to the trainers and eat a bit before continuing on. He didn''t know how long he would need to walk for to reach the secluded training area so it was better to rest up at a familiar location than in the middle of the wilderness.


    Having rested for half an hour Zaran continued north-west wards. Two hours later he noticed a change in the environment as the forest had grown thicker and there were substantially more bushes, shrubberies and animals around. Zaran now knew what Henry meant with that he would notice when he got there. He continued onwards for another half hour before finally arriving at the waterfall.


    There was a rather large clearing in front of the waterfall, with very plant life living in a fifty diameter circle around the waterfall. Immediately outside of the circle the lush forest started, making the clearing feel somewhat menacing.  Zaran noticed that the waterfall descended into a river and that the river curled into a crescent moon shape before running down in to a nearby cave.


    It was late in the evening now and Zaran still hadn''t seen this peculiar fellow, nor any type of house nearby. Thinking that he would run into him sooner or later Zaran took out the ki book that he picked up and started earnestly reading it.


    A good hour later he finished it, which was quite a lot faster than he expected. After the initial few chapters Zaran could skim through the rest of them, as they didn''t hold any secrets about ki that he didn''t already know of. The ki in Myth Online worked similar to most of the worlds he had seen it cultivated in. In short ki was gathered in the dantian and absorbed from the outside world. While the body could also create ki on its own it was a slow and tedious process, so most people decided to absorb it. Although this meant that you had to spent a lot of effort stabilizing it, it was still far faster than creating it on your own.


    Besides this there was also a mention of three levels of ki in the book. The first was the lesser ki, which every practitioner started with. While it was moderately easy to gather this type of ki, it was hard to store and an enormous amount of this type of ki was needed to use one skill. Most practitioners just kept filling their dantian with this type of ki until it was full and then forcefully suppressed it. Zaran knew this was the wrong way of going about it and that it had to be gradually purified. After purifying it for the first time you would get ''balanced ki'', which still held imperfections but was now able to be stored without waste. At this stage using skills had a drastic decrease of the amount ki needed. The effort needed to absorb this ki was many times greater, so for less talented practitioners using lesser ki was still more beneficial than trying to purify it to balanced ki.


    Finally there was superior ki, which was completely purified and which held no imperfections. Only a very small percentage of practitioners could purify ki to this extent and their power would multiply many times over after reaching this level. The damage of skills would drastically increase after this level, while the usage of it drastically decreased as well. The rate at which this type of ki was absorbed was very slow, causing a lot of practitioners to shy away from using skills unless absolutely necessary.


    The book didn''t explain it in depth, but there was mention that after gaining balanced ki your body would automatically refill the used ki to some level. How this worked wasn''t explained, thus Zaran had to figure that out by himself sooner or later, unless he found a book that touched upon it. He could guess as to how it worked but before he was sure he wouldn''t easily make any assumptions.


    A few ways of absorbing ki where quickly touched upon in the books but at the first glance Zaran noticed that they were worthless. He decided that he would try the most profound of techniques he had first and if that didn''t work he would go to the next and so and so forth. Only if none of the techniques that he know worked would he stoop so low as using the worthless techniques mentioned in the book.


    Along with the completion of the book another message box had popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Through finishing a book and understanding the mysteries within, your intelligence and wisdom have grown!</td></tr><tr><td>Wisdom +5, Intelligence +5</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Nightfall was slowly closing in on Zaran, causing him to quickly gather some firewood and create a pit fire in the middle of the clearing. Only after lighting the fire Zaran relaxed and quickly ate a few bread buns coated in a bit of the liquid cheese. Before acquiring the liquid cheese the bread buns tasted absolutely horrible, but now they tasted rather good. He had stored the rest of the liquid cheese in the glass container that he bought as he couldn''t just cut a piece of the cheese wheel without the cheese running over all the other items in his storage ring. This caused him to be left over with the husk of the cheese wheel, which he just melted on the fire and likewise stored in the glass container.


    After eating and drinking his fill, Zaran entered the lotus position and slowly started absorbing the nearby world ki.

 Chapter 17: Battlefield of the Gods

    Author''s note: Officially on my more than well deserved vacation today. So more chapters should come out the next few days. There''s a little more build up in this chapter.


    The ki refining technique will be named in the next chapter before anyone asks... Enjoy the new chapter.


    ___________________


    Golden particles slowly started to appear near Zaran while he was gathering the nearby world ki. After an hour of gathering it, a golden-colored fog slowly started to surround Zaran. However this golden-colored fog did not enter Zaran and just enveloped him tightly, very slowly forming a tiny cloud around him that fully concealed him. Beads of sweat dripped down Zaran''s face and body continuously while he was concentrating on not letting the ki enter his body just yet.


    The cloud grew denser and denser as Zaran forced it to condense. The cloud grew denser and denser, getting ever closer to his body, yet it couldn''t enter it as Zaran was stopping it from doing so. The beads of sweat soon transformed into rivers of sweat as a large amount of effort was required to keep the ki cloud in its current state. Zaran kept compressing the cloud and after another hour black steam started to escape from the cloud. This black steam was the unpurified part of the ki and after it spiraled upwards in the sky small explosions bursted forth from the steam.


    Now comes the hardest part! Zaran thought while a keeping his full concentration to condensing the cloud further. The ki refining technique he had chosen had an immense difficulty level. While explaining it might seem easy, even the tiniest lapse in concentration would waste hours of effort and could tremendously backfire upon one''s body. Half of the time a lapse of concentration with this refining technique would result in death, the other half there was a 50% chance that the dantian would be destroyed, causing one to be unable to refine ki ever again.


    Luckily Kirin kept guard and as there was nothing nearby that could beat her Zaran could utilize this particular technique. On top of that this was a game world so even if he died he could just start anew. Still Zaran felt uneasy because if there was a lapse in his concentration and he would no longer be able to refine ki as a result he would have really wasted hours for nothing.


    The sweat now formed a puddle around Zaran as more and more black steam started emanating from the cloud. He had to keep a very close watch to the purity of the cloud since if it was too pure his body would not be able to withstand the brute strength of the ki, while if it was too unpurified he had to cleanse his body from ki and start anew. After letting the black steam escape for yet another hour the ki cloud finally reached an acceptable level of purity.


    Slowly and very carefully Zaran allowed a part of the most unpurified ki enter his body and slowly course through his ki channels and dantians. These particles were about 40% purified while the best were about 75% purified. After letting it course through his ki channels a few times Zaran expelled them again and gold steam escaped from his nose as all the ki left his body. After the ki left his body Zaran investigated the current situation in his ki channels while still keeping the cloud condensed. As the cloud didn''t need further condensation, naturally the amount of concentration needed drastically reduced as well.


    He was pleasantly surprised as he noticed that his ki channels were rapidly recovering from the ki that he had let run through them. This recovery rate was quite a few times faster than normal and just a few minutes later he could let another part of the most unpurified ki run through his ki channels. He had to slowly let his body grow accustomed to purified ki, as letting pure ki enter a body that had never experienced it would immediately cause the ki to explode, causing one to die.  After letting the ki course through his ki channels and letting himself recover from it nine more times, his body had finally grown accustomed to the most unpurified ki.


    Zaran removed this ki from his body and started working his way up until his body got accustomed to the 75% purified ki. A full day had now passed since he started cultivating and most of the golden cloud had now disappeared, leaving only a barely noticeable cloud behind. A smile appeared on Zaran''s face as he noticed that his body had grown accustomed to the most purified ki. He quickly drew in the last bit of the cloud that remained and stored it in his dantian. From the initially large and dense cloud only a few drops were now in his dantian. He quickly checked the character screen and saw that he now had 5/5 ki. He would have to repeat the condensing of the cloud process a few more time over the next days.


    Zaran remembered that 2 days had passed which equaled to 4.8 hours so he quickly messaged his sister that it was about time to eat. After she replied that she''d log off in a few minutes Zaran quit the game.


    ___________________________________________


    Zaran got out of the pod and headed towards the kitchen. Yet as soon as he set foot in the hallway, he heard the front doorbell ring.


    "Eh? We were not expecting visitors... Who could it be at this time?" Zaran muttered as he slowly turned around and headed to the front door.


    The front door was made of dark oaken wood and had a window next to it that was the same length as the door. A light brown curtain covered the window, blocking the view from the outside. Zaran shifted the Curtain to the side so he could see who was ringing the doorbell. Upon seeing the golden haired beauty with the luscious body in front of his door, Zaran''s expression turned in to one of shock.


    Seeing Zaran look at her with his shocked expression Isis couldn''t help but laugh and gesticulate that he should quickly open the door. Zaran quickly opened the door and welcomed Isis.


    "Milady, forgive this one for being unable to kneel! What brings milady to my ever so humble abode?" Zaran said as he gave an ever so slight bow.


    "Oh Zaran will you stop it already? You know there''s no reason for you to stand on ceremony with me. We''ll be equals sooner or later."


    "Milady..." Zaran wanted to say something but quickly stopped, they have had this same exchange many times over but he could never win it.


    "Hey Zaran who''s there?" Sylphie suddenly said from the living room.


    Zaran wanted to say something but Isis put a finger on his mouth.


    "Shh, let me handle it okay?" Isis quickly whispered. A few seconds later Sylphie came in the hallway and shock filled her eyes as she saw Isis. Isis was wearing her long white dress with the deep cut and a tailored white overcoat that similarly had a deep cut. Her overcoat still couldn''t hide her luscious body and her golden colored hair dropped down to her behind. Isis''s green eyes seemed like they could entrance Sylphie at any moment.


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    "Goddess..." Sylphie mumbled in astonishment. She had never seen a women so beautiful as this and although Sylphie was beautiful herself, she still felt that compared to Isis, her beauty wasn''t even worth mentioning.


    "Fufufu" Isis giggled as she heard the word ''Goddess'' from Sylphie''s mouth.


    If only she knew how spot on she is. Zaran thought. He was wondering how Isis would handle the situation.


    "So, this must be your sister Sylphie right Zaran? I''m Isis, pleased to meet you." Isis said as she extended her hand towards Sylphie, who weakly shook Isis''s hand. She was too stunned to muster any strength at the moment. While shaking her hand Sylphie looked into Isis''s eyes again which suddenly gave of a bright light. Sylphie was quickly shown Isis''s real identity and her power over the mortal realm. Along with this Isis had made it so that Sylphie would never be able to mention her identity or name to other people unless it was Zaran.


    Sylphie''s eyes widened the next instant and she instantly prostrated in front of Isis. "Please forgive this one for casually touching you."


    "No need to prostrate yourself for that my child." Isis said as she casually waved her hand. "Now... could you lead me to the living room? There''s something I wish to discuss with Zaran." Isis said.


    "O-Ofcourse!" Sylphie said as she quickly showed Isis the way to the living room. Isis took a seat in the sofa and waited for Zaran to finish taking a seat too. Sylphie quickly left for the kitchen and closed the door behind her. For some reason she thought that she better not hear this conversation.


    "What a beautiful sister you have Zaran."


    "Thank you milady. Excuse me for being direct, but what brings you here?"


    "Battlefield of the Gods."


    After saying these four words Zaran''s eyes almost popped out of his head. "WHAT?!?" Zaran yelled.


    "Shhh... your sister will hear us." Isis quickly said.


    "... you could set up a barrier so she can''t hear us?"


    "Don''t want to."


    Zaran had to try his hardest to stop himself from laughing. An almighty Goddess couldn''t be bothered to create something as simple as a barrier? Zaran quickly gathered himself again and a very serious expression showed on his face. "When? Where?"


    Isis just pointed at the two pods that sat in the corner of the living room.


    "W...what?"


    "When we noticed how advanced this world had gotten and that they were creating virtual reality games we all decided that instead of just dropping all of you in a world, making a virtual reality game out of it would be far more entertaining. If we dropped you in any other world, you would only have one life, however in a game world you would have many more, making it far more interesting for us Gods. On top of that we wouldn''t need to expend our power on trying to revive a world that you guys demolished during the fighting."


    "We decided to let all of you in on this once you got used to the game world, however Akhuath has already told his champions, thus I decided to do the same." Isis gently smiled as she finished talking for a moment, giving Zaran the time to let it all sink in. He had been in one Battlefield of the Gods in the past and it had been a brutal experience. Geniuses suddenly popped up all over in a world and during training their way to the top they would at some point in time be told to gather up with the other champions that belonged to their God and fight it out with those of an opposing God. Those fights were beyond bloody and most of the world was destroyed in the process.


    The winning party''s God or Goddess would receive an enormous boost in power and the opposing god would receive a large decrease in power. Zaran had won every fight along with other champions of Isis at that time and Isis''s power had instantly reached the top, causing her to be the most powerful being within the overgods. For the realms above the overgods... She would still need a large amount of victories before being able to ascent to those.


    "So... what''s my task?" Zaran asked once he let it all sink in.


    "No task, just enjoy your time in the game, but keep in mind that... I might call upon you sooner or later so please train diligently." Isis said in her sweet voice. " Akhuath might send more champions after you the next time but... I am sure that after today you''ll be more than ready for them."


    "Are there any others of your champions near me?" Zaran suddenly asked.


    "You will see that for yourself soon enough Zaran. Even though Akhuath is not playing by the rules, I do not wish to drop down to his pathetic level."


    "I see... thanks for warning me."


    "Then I shall take my leave now." Isis said as quickly kissed Zaran''s lips before she walked to the front door. "No need to see me out, I can do that myself. You hurry up and go back to the game."


    Zaran hurried to the kitchen and ate. Sylphie asked what he and Isis had been talking about, which Zaran replied to that he had to get stronger in the game ASAP and although he didn''t know why the Goddess wanted that, he couldn''t possibly ignore her request. Sylphie seemed content with that and let Zaran disappear from the kitchen as soon as he was done eating.


    No time to waste! Zaran thought as he entered the game with renewed vigor.

 Chapter 18: Heavenly cloud condensation

    Author''s note: I hope you guys enjoy today''s chapter!


    -----------------------------------------------


    Upon logging in again Zaran quickly ate to sate his hunger and gathered enough firewood to last a week. After starting the pit fire again Zaran cleansed his body from the 75% purified ki. With the info that Isis had just given him he couldn''t take the game with a laid-back attitude. From the start his foundation needed to be right. So he had already decided to keep using the ki refining technique he used earlier until his body could handle pure ki.


    He seated down in a lotus position again and swiftly started condensing the nearby world ki in a golden cloud again. This time he condensed it until every single speck of ki was above 75% pure with some of it even being pure ki. He let the less pure parts course through his veins again and slowly made his way to the pure ki. A full day after he started his body could finally handle pure ki. He stored the remainder of the pure ki in his dantian and slowly opened his eyes. A small smile appeared on his face as he checked the status of his dantian. While there was barely a noticeable amount of ki present currently, it was the purest ki that one would have ever seen. A solemn message box greeted him once his eyes were fully opened. The message box had a slight tinge of red, making it seem like the message box itself was angry.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a forbidden refinement technique. Please name it.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran quickly named it "Heavenly cloud condensation" and another message box popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations on creating the forbidden cultivation technique ''Heavenly cloud condensation''. Do you wish to publicize your name?</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran immediately pressed no as the message box appeared. He did not want anyone to know of this technique. It had been his most well-kept secret in all his lives. If he had been training in Virul, he would''ve never chosen this refining technique. It was too precious of a treasure to him. In his other lifetimes, if any other champion had seen it, even one of the same god, they all had met a quick demise before they could figure out it''s intricacies. There had been a few who had been able to somewhat reproduce the technique but none of them had ever succeeded in it, causing them to give up on it.


    Still the system announced that a forbidden refinement technique had been created, causing Zaran to frown. He had clearly pressed the no button so why did the system even mention that one had been created. He muttered a few curses under his breath but then decided that not much harm had been done. Nobody knew that it was him that had created the technique and even if they had the name, unless they were a cultivating genius they couldn''t figure out the intricacies even if they saw the technique being used.


    Zaran quickly checked the new skill that had been created. Upon checking it he was very pleased with the additional effects it had given him, as they would allow him to drastically increase his training speed.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Heavenly cloud condensation (advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>A ki refinement technique in which one condenses the nearby ki before allowing it to enter one''s body.


    Through careful and continues condensation one can create pure ki that can be immediately absorbed in the body.


    This bypasses the usual way of refining the ki within the body and allows one to absorb pure ki at a far faster rate


    than usual. However an incredible amount of concentration is needed to condense the ki and a temporary lapse in


    concentration can cause death or the destruction of one''s dantian.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Level effects</td></tr><tr><td>Ki condensing speed</td><td>+100%</td><td>Concentration needed</td><td>-25%</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Good. At this rate I will have a good base amount of ki in a few days. Initially I planned on not putting in as much effort but... With this being the battlefield of the gods taking it easy is just not going to cut it. So no time to waste. Let''s quickly eat something and start cultivating more.


    Zaran stuffed some of the onigiris in his face and did a minor workout to relax his muscles. He had been in the lotus position for two full days so unless he took some time to stretch, his muscles would soon begin to feel the effects. After feeding and petting Kirin and talking with Cindarrah and stroking her during their conversation Zaran started cultivating again.


    A few days passed until Zaran finally decided that he had gathered enough ki for the time being. He quickly checked his status screen to confirm the amount of ki he had gotten.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Character info</td></tr><tr><td>Race</td><td>Zuno</td><td>Profession</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Sub-profession 1</td><td>Hellbeast master</td><td>Sub-profession 2</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>6</td><td>Unspent stat points</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>160/160</td><td>Mana</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Ki</td><td>300/300</td><td>Racial ????</td><td>??/??</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>40</td><td>Flexibility</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>18</td><td>Stamina</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>8</td><td>Focus</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>10</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Perception</td><td>10</td><td>Luck</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Charm</td><td>2</td><td>Willpower</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Reputation</td></tr><tr><td>Honour</td><td>5</td><td>Fame</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td>God''s merit</td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


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    He nodded upon seeing the number as it confirmted the situation in his dantian. His focus had grown by a large amount over the past days and it had even surpassed his agility making it his number 2 stat at the moment. He frowned as he saw that a few question marks had taken the slot of a stat point next to his newly gained ki stat. The only word he could make from it was ''Racial'' the other words were all blanked out by question marks. Zaran guessed it had to do something with his racial skill that had awakened recently but he wasn''t sure if that was the case. He decided to heed it no mind and forget about it for now, as there were more urgent matters that required his attention... such as mana cultivation.


    He took out the book on mana cultivation that he had received earlier. It was called "the mysteries of mana" and was about three times as thick as the book on ki. Zaran started earnestly reading it and frowned at some parts while nodding at other parts. He felt that unlike the ki refining book, this one hadn''t been written by an expert as it showed in the explanations. The author would often beat around the bush about a subject instead of explaining it further. This made it so that Zaran read wall upon wall of texts in this book without learning anything new. After reading it for an hour Zaran dropped the book to the side and sighed.


    "I''m not sure I am going to be learning the truth about mana cultivation this way..." Zaran muttered. He stretched a little more before returning to the book. Once he started reading again much to his surprise he found that the next few chapters were much clearer compared to the first few chapters of the book, almost as if these were written by a completely different individual. He quickly went back to the earlier chapters and found that his suspicions had been true. The first few chapters had a different writing style from the current ones and the difference was almost as big as the difference between heaven and earth.


    He quickly read the new chapters and found that the first chapters of the book quickly got obsolete once he read through these chapters. He now understood that like most worlds mana existed all around oneself. While people didn''t necessary start out with something called a ''mana seed'', which allowed the body to store mana, everyone had the ability to command the surrounding mana elements. How much one could command without a mana seed was barely enough to start a campfire but there had been some supreme experts who had never created a mana seed in their body who still had gotten the power to shake even the heavens. Zaran put the book down again to let all the newly gained knowledge sink in.


    He had a fairly good idea of how to use the nearby elements but the amount of nearby elements that one could command was generally in proportion as the size of one''s mana seed. He didn''t know if he could command a large amount of nearby elements without a mana seed so he decided to create one whatever the costs. It wasn''t a new concept to him but he still wanted to know if the book had a technique he hadn''t heard of.


    He started reading again and the book started to explain the creation of a mana seed. The general technique was to fill every cell of one''s body with mana, until a mana seed was naturally created. There were other techniques to create them but they were only lightly touched upon in this book and weren''t even worth mentioning without a deeper explanation. Zaran immediately thought of a few techniques but discarded them as they took too much time.


    I am sure there was one where it could be done in a short amount of time! Zaran thought as he wracked his brain over the technique. He had only needed to use it once and had never used it since then. Therefore the name and the workings of the technique had been pushed to a far away corner of his mind, to be left there until he needed it again. Zaran slowly started searching through his mind for this technique but after an hour he still had not found it. He sighed as he realized that he shouldn''t have pushed the technique to the back of his mind. Even when he had only been reincarnated for a few hundred times he had cursed himself for pushing things to the back of his mind. Now after a few thousand times, how could he so quickly remember a technique he had made himself forget about?


    Zaran quickly read the rest of the book and took some more time to think about the technique. After not remembering it for another hour he decided to give up on it and use another one. Before starting to use another technique he learned about he took a break of half an hour and let himself relax a little, allowing himself to briefly forget about it all. Suddenly when he wasn''t really thinking of anything the name and workings of the technique dawned upon him.


    Nature''s gift of the elements! One condenses the four great elements in a single cell causing a mana seed to be created instantly. Four things are needed for this. A single pellet each of air, fire, water and earth. As to how to create pellets it is to command the nearby elements to condense into them.


    "Let''s start instantly!" Zaran said in an extremely happy and excited tone.

 Chapter 19: Natures gift of the elements

    Author''s note: I initially wanted to bring this out yesterday but... I had computer issues (RIP) so I couldn''t, I got it fixed today so I should be good to go again!


    Enjoy!


    --------------------


    Zaran sat down into a lotus position again and started to breath in and out very slowly. Before he could create a pellet of one element he had to attune to the element first. It was a very basic step but it was still not an easy thing to do. The rate at which one would attune to an element largely depended on their affinity. While a good understanding of elements could increase this process, if one''s affinity was bad it would still take a large amount of time.


    Slowly Zaran''s consciousness started slipping away while attuning to the nearby wind element particles. At first he could only feel his breath escaping his body, soon after he could sense the minute changes in the air that happened as he was breathing in and out. He started to focus on the elemental particles that entered his body as he breathed but upon doing so he noticed that he could no longer notice the minute changes, forcing him to start over again.


    This time he did not make the same mistake and just let his consciousness float away completely. Soon after, his mind entered a hazy state as he started to feel the wind gently brushing through his hiar, against his clothes and against every uncovered part of his body. His body started to feel like it was one with the wind and as if every little breeze could make it float away instantly. Zaran suddenly started to feel very small in the world. Like he was just one speck of dust among a billions upon billions of other specks of dust.


    With every breath his understanding of how the wind affected his surroundings grew larger and larger. He could sense the wind blowing against the grass and blowing against the trees and felt it gently kissing the water surface, making it seem like it was urging the water forward. Even Kirin''s and Cindarrah''s calm breathing could be clearly sensed by Zaran. Finally he was at the last step to attuning to the wind element, where he was feeling every little change that the wind created in his surroundings. After spending half an hour in that state of mind he started sensing the nearby wind element particles. One by one their presence appeared before him. Another hour passed until he could no longer sense additional wind element particles appearing.


    Another hour passed before he finally dared to command the wind element particles to move according to his will. He gently commanded them to swirl around his finger. At first nothing happened but slowly but surely the particles started to twirl around his finger. After one swirl the particles settled down again, not moving to another command Zaran made. Zaran didn''t let it bother him and tried again, this time not being as gentle with his command. Instantly the particles started to swirl around his fingers but with too great a force causing small cut wounds to appear in his finger. Zaran made the particles stop and then commanded them again, this time making his command in between the forceful and gently one. Now the particles moved exactly as he wanted causing him to be very relieved. He commanded the nearby particles to stick close to each other and only after they formed a ball the size of a fist did he start condensing them further.


    The particles didn''t struggle too much and soon a small barely visible translucent pellet was formed. Immediately after it was formed Zaran stored it away, not giving it time to break apart again. The system recognized it as an item and after Zaran took it out again he could still clearly feel the particles but they could no longer move of their own free will. Praising the game system, Zaran stood up and stretched for a while. Before sitting down again he started thinking about ''Nature''s gift of the elements''.


    Through his previous experience in creating the wind element pellet he had started to remember more about the technique. While the basic technique involved the four elements the complete version also had a dark and light element pellet added in it. Another thing he remembered was that every type of element had their own type of command they would listen to. Wind and water particles required a neutral sounding command to be given before the particles would fully obey towards the command, earth and light needed a gentle sounding command and finally fire and darkness needed an aggressive command. For example wind would react to "gather" whereas fire would react to "come!".


    After remembering that dark and light elements could be added in Zaran started to contemplate if he should add them straight away or leave them for later. Thinking about some of the easier to create spells he discarded that idea of adding light and dark in early on as none of the easy dark or light type spells he knew were area of effect damage spells, which was what he needed the most. He guessed the dark and light AOE spells would be far too complicated with his current wisdom.


    He took of his shoes and firmly planted his feet in the soil. Next up would be to attune to the earth element and create an earthen pellet. Zaran let his focus shift to his feet that touched to soil and let every other thought disappear from his mind. Slowly he started to sense every speck of dirt that touched his feet. Soon after he became aware of every little thing that moved in the earth. Still after having that same feeling for an hour not a single earth element particle had entered his awareness. He tried starting over but the same thing happened.


    Zaran frowned and tried to remember more about the gift of the elements and the attuning to the earth part. But he just couldn''t remember more. While the initial knowledge came back fairly soon, everything else was still a grey zone in his memories. He started to mill over the possible things that he could have over looked for a while until he came up with an idea that sounded plausible. While he had felt everything that moved in the earth he hadn''t sensed how the earth affected every living being nearby.


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    He started attuning to the earth element again and tried to shift his awareness to what the earth was affecting. Surely enough this time the elemental particles rapidly started appearing before him. With just one gentle command the particles formed a beautiful light-brown pellet. Again he stored this pellet in his storage ring before the elements had a chance to revert to their previous state.


    Not giving himself time to rest Zaran started working on attuning with fire. He sat down in a lotus position as close to the fire pit as possible and let his awareness shift to the heat and power it produced. His awareness swiftly drifted away and the explosive force of the fire was the first thing he became aware of, while the comfortable warmth came second. Finally the third part showed which was the boundless hunger of fire, a desire to devour everything in its presence. Not much after the fire''s hunger showed itself the fire elemental particles started appearing one by one.


    Zaran commanded them to join which they swiftly did. But after a few seconds the elemental particles reverted to their previous state, viciously burning Zaran all over, instantly taking away half of his health. Zaran waited a bit before commanding them again. This time he kept giving them command after command and soon a blazing hot fire red pellet entered his hand. This pellet was swiftly stored as well.


    Finally it was time for the last element. After already having gained a wind pellet, gaining a water pellet was fairly simple as the process had been remarkably similar. Once he got the cold and light-blue water pellet stored away Zaran gave his mind an hour to recover.


    While creating any of the pellets could''ve caused his dead by itself, creating a mana seed with this method would be a hundred times more dangerous. The four pellets would all enter his body at once and he would control them to fuse with a cell in his body. After fusing with the elements that cell would instantly become a mana seed.


    However due to the enormous amount of energy that even a single pellet held, controlling the fusion was an extremely hard thing to do. Unless one was completely in control of the elements would the fusion be successful. This made it so Zaran would have to give multiple correct commands at once to the different element particles that would be in his body. While it sounded like it would be very simple to do it was an almost impossible task to fulfill. Unless one had an extremely strong mind one would never be able to pull it off. Through reincarnating over and over Zaran''s mind had naturally strengthened many times over. While initially he had thought of himself as a weak minded person he no longer felt that way.


    Quickly taking the four pellets out of his storage ring, Zaran threw them in his mouth and swallowed them without a second thought. Instantly the elemental particles in the pellets started to go wild and Zaran threw command after command at them, slowly but surely guiding them through his body. Still, his control was not perfect and some of the particles sought their way out of his body, heavily injuring him in the process. Zaran clenched his teeth as he kept going, slowly but surely perfecting his commands.


    It was only after every command was correct for multiple times in a row that the elements started their fusion with each other. They swirled around each other and melted in to each other to form a beautiful rainbow colored pellet. After this rainbow colored pellet was formed Zaran guided it towards the area above his dantian and fused it with a cell. Due to already having fused the different elemental particles together they did not refuse his further commands and a rainbow colored mana seed was swiftly formed. It instantly started sucking in more of the nearby elements and produced a translucent blue liquid within itself.


    Zaran watched over the mana seed for an hour and a half. It was only after the mana seed had stopped taking in the nearby elements for a full hour and after it had settled down completely that he dared to stop keeping watch over it. Zaran let out a deep sigh and wiped his face that was covered in beads of sweat. Just a day had passed since he had gathered enough ki for the time being and the amount of mana in his body had caught up just an hour after creating the mana seed! Zaran was praising the Nature''s gift of the elements when a message box that he had been expecting popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a forbidden cultivation technique. Please name it.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations on creating the forbidden cultivation technique ''Nature''s gift of the elements''. Do you wish to publicize your name?</td></tr></tbody></table>


    He had quickly named the technique but did not dare to share his name for this one either. Both this one and the heavenly cloud condensation were very rare and immensely powerful techniques. Normal people wouldn''t even be worthy enough to know their names. Needless to say Zaran was slightly annoyed by the system again as the world was notified of the creation of yet another forbidden technique.


    Zaran let himself fall on his back and watched the sky for a while.


    So mana and ki are now present within this body, what should my next course of action be?" Zaran thought as he wracked his brain over the best possible training methods now available to him.

 Chapter 20: Training

    Author''s note: i did something i should''ve been doing for a long time: inventory and skill management for Zaran... it''s something i kept putting off since it seemed like it''d be a big bore but... it''s done now so all i have to do is keep it updated...


    Edit: Some of the other skills won''t be explained as much, since they won''t need much explaining. I kept the training part short as there''s not too much to be explained there and while some people might have fun reading it, I myself want to continue on. I feel like I''ve been doing a lot of writing without the story progressing much at all, which is why I cut it short.


    As always I hope you enjoy the chapter.


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    Kirin chased after the stick Zaran had thrown happily barking and wagging her tail. While Kirin was chasing the stick Zaran was chatting with Cindarrah. When Kirin came running back again she gave the stick back to Zaran who threw it away again and Kirin happily chased it again. This continued for some time before Zaran decided to stop and have a hearty meal. He had checked his storage ring and he still had enough food to last him another week.


    After eating his fill Zaran looked at Kirin and Cindarrah. He knew both of them didn''t have much fun with him the past few days but he had already explained to them that what he was doing now was incredibly important and once it was done now he wouldn''t have to ignore them for such a large part of the day for the foreseeable future. This settled both of them down and they were okay with him training. He had been keeping care of them and playing with them throughout the days he had already been training, causing his Hellbeast mastery to raise to level 4 in the process.


    "Hey Kirin, Cindarrah, it''s just going to be a few more days okay? After that we can go and hunt some strong monsters together!" Zaran said while stroking the both of them. Kirin gave a small nod to Zaran indicating that she was okay with it while Cindarrah just let out an unsatisfied "meh". Cindarrah just wanted Zaran''s attention as much as possible and after not getting enough of it for a while she was getting grumpy.


    "Cindarrah please... Daddy needs to be strong! Soon more and stronger people like that bearman earlier will be fighting with me! Do you want me to lose against them?" Zaran asked Cindarrah.


    "No but... can''t we just do something else for a few days instead of you training?"


    "Cindarrah it''s just a few more days and then we''ll be travelling together all the time!"


    "Well... okay then. Just a few more days though!"


    Zaran chuckled as he stroked Cindarrah one more time before starting a very intense work out. Running laps, climbing the mountain, push-ups, situps and various other exercises where all done to train his stamina, agility, flexibility and strength. When he was drained he would fill every cell of his body with ki, replenishing his strength in the span of a few minutes instead of waiting hours. At the same time his cells grew much faster this way.


    After carefully considering all the body strengthening techniques, this one would be the most worthwhile for Zaran. Others would require him to train for a long period of time to achieve some good results. While training in those would increase his strength in the long run, he would be far too under leveled by that time. Thus this really basic technique was the best option for him. It would allow him to quickly gain much needed stats, without having to spend days upon days before the first results would start to show.


    Still, half a day into the training regime, the results from this type of training where starting to slow down. Especially in the strength department the rewards were visibly growing smaller. He had nearly reached a hundred strength but he still wanted to squeeze out a little more before finally finishing his training. Zaran equipped the greatsword that he had stowed away and continued the training regime. Due to the increased weight on his back, the exercises got a lot harder for him and his stats started to increase by leaps and bounds again.


    Half a day later even that didn''t help anymore but Zaran had already reached the stats he wanted. By now he had two thirds of the stats the highest level player should have, who had barely reached level 40 after a week. Zaran had logged out now and then between his training over the past few days to eat, to use the bathroom, to take a quick nap and had used the forums and leaderboards in between. This kept him updated on the custom made S-tier skills along with knowing the names of the top 100 leveled players.


    While the initial ten levels were easy to attain, after passing every 10 levels the experience needed to achieve the next level increased by leaps and bounds. While getting level 1-10 would need about 20K experience total, leveling up to 11 would take a staggering amount of 20k experience. From Sylphie he had heard that the difference between a level 10 and level 11 monster was likewise enormous and without upgraded gear and leveling your skills it was nearly impossible to kill them.


    Thus Zaran knew by about how much his stats should increase to solve that problem. Now that his primary stats were somewhat okay for the time being Zaran now had to work on his vitality. With a pitiable 160 health he would not be able to achieve much. Even against level 4 monsters a mere two hits would cost him his life.


    He headed over to the waterfall. The waterfall hit a small rock in the surface and was continuously shaving away at it. Currently it still allowed a person to stand under it but in due time it would be completely submerged. Zaran jumped under it and tried to not let himself be washed away instantly. Initially he could sustain the pressure due to his increased strength but due to the enormous pressure his strength soon faded and as a result his health started to drain rapidly. When he hit 10 health Zaran let himself be washed away by the waterfall.


    After waiting for a few minutes he had recovered his strength with his ki and his health had naturally recovered due to being out of combat for a long time. He received notification that his health had indeed increased from doing this training and Zaran headed to the waterfall again with a smile on his face. While his strength was sadly enough not increasing from under the waterfall, everytime Zaran stood under it he could endure for a longer time and his health would raise more and more. Only after his health had tripled did the rewards finally stop coming.


    Another half day had passed in the meantime and Zaran had just eaten when he checked his stats. He noticed that his vitality climbed far slower than his other stats, not allowing him to get a massive amount of health in a short amount of time. He had tried adding stat points to it before but the game simply would not allow him to do so. Zaran wasn''t all too happy about this since it meant that he had to continuously find new ways to raise his vitality if he wanted to keep on par with the other players. In contrast to other players he only gained 1 vitality every 2 levels while other players gained 1 vitality per level. Along with his decrease in stat points this made it so that he had to train very frequently. He didn''t really mind that part but he was still a little concerned about this fact. If people found better ways to level than him he would rapidly fall behind. Naturally because this was the stage for the battlefield of the gods he couldn''t allow himself to fall behind too far.


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    Zaran kept going over his stats and saw that his intelligence and wisdom had raised a bit by reading the mana and ki book as well as due to making the custom skills. This made him quite pleased as he would undoubtedly need both intelligence and wisdom in the future. He had heard from Sylphie that making skills or gaining skill all relied on wisdom and intelligence. If both stats were low there was no way that one would be able to learn skills quickly. Nor would one be able to improve them quickly unless one was extremely talented.


    A last thing that he noticed from his stats was that his willpower had been raised dramatically. He had seen the +1''s for it continuously but hadn''t really paid mind to it. It had been raised by a whopping 45 points over the past nine days.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Character info</td></tr><tr><td>Race</td><td>Zuno</td><td>Profession</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Sub-profession 1</td><td>Hellbeast master</td><td>Sub-profession 2</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>6</td><td>Unspent stat points</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>500/500</td><td>Mana</td><td>300/300</td></tr><tr><td>Ki</td><td>300/300</td><td>Racial ????</td><td>??/??</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>145</td><td>Flexibility</td><td>87</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>112</td><td>Stamina</td><td>103</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>25</td><td>Focus</td><td>73</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>23</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>Perception</td><td>10</td><td>Luck</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Charm</td><td>2</td><td>Willpower</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Reputation</td></tr><tr><td>Honour</td><td>5</td><td>Fame</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td>God''s merit</td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    Now that that is done, we should start on creating some more skills. Let''s start with the simple ''gravity'' spell first.


    Zaran gathered a bunch of leaves and placed them in a large circle around him, then he started to command the nearby earth and wind elements to pull everything in a close area around him to him. A small shockwave occurred as everything within half a meter was neatly pulled to him. Zaran was happy that his first try succeeded and continued to increase the range time upon time. When he reached a range of 5 meters around him, he could no longer increase the range. While he could no longer increase the range the skill creation bar that had appeared was stuck at 90%. Zaran tried a few more times but to no avail.


    Pondering about the problem for a while Zaran took some middle sized rocks from the nearby area and started casting the skill. As he had expected the rocks did not move at all. This caused the skill to be inefective, which in turn caused the skill to not be recognized by the system. Zaran now gathered the elements of a larger are first and then used the skill again. This time the rocks were pulled straight to him before stopping at his feet. A message box appeared at the same time as the skill worked on the large borders.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations on creating a B-rank skill. Please name it.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran chose to share his name this time. He wanted to create more pressure on his opponents by the next stream of skills that would pour out from him. Or at least hopefully would pour out from him in the next day or so. He had decided that only if he thought the skill should be kept hidden from others would he not share his name.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Gravity (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>10%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Range</td><td>5 meters</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You command the nearby earth and wind elements to rapidly pull surrounding objects to you.


    When the level of this skill increases larger objects can be pulled to you. Current limit: 10 KG</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Seeing the weight limit Zaran kept picking up larger boulders until the skill reached level 10 which had increased his limit to 100 kg. Unless he could lift heavy objects the skill would be useless to him. He wanted to use this skill in combination with other skills while meeting his enemies so being able to rapidly pull enemies closer was a must.


    Next up Zaran started to create a skill that would allow him to stomp his feet on the ground, causing incredibly durable earthen spikes to shoot up from the ground. Again this was a rather simple skill but at the same time it was extremely effective. For this skill only a few minutes were needed before he got the message box and as he suspected the rating the skill got was extremely low.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations on creating a C-rank skill. Please name it.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Earth lance (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>1%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Piercing damage</td><td>15-15</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You create sharp earthen spikes in a small cone near your feet.


    The damage increases with each consecutive level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Having depleted all his mana while creating earth lance Zaran took a small break and played with Kirin and Cindarrah. Both were very elated as they saw Zaran creating skills and Cindarrah continuously shouted "show me again! show me again!" whenever he had casted gravity or earth lance. For a few days old Hellweaver these low ranking skills looked really flashy and pretty. However Zaran didn''t care about skills being flashy or pretty they needed to be effective. He had decided that he would initially create a small set of skills which he would gradually expand as he moved on.


    For now he needed a good base set of skills that would allow him to be ready for any situation. While the initial set he decided on wasn''t the best, most of the magic skills, safe the area of effect one, were rather simple and didn''t require a lot of attention to execute properly. This would allow him to focus on fighting with his greatsword or longsword and still be able to use one of his magic skills if the situation required him to do so.


    Having rested for a while Zaran cracked his knuckles and stretched himself a little. He didn''t have much time to rest as he really needed to keep the stream of skill creation announcements going. Even something as low as a custom D-rank skill got announced by the system. Zaran had somewhat kept track of it and about a hundred skills had been created, with no user having created more than a single one. If he wanted to intimidate his opponents and scare them shitless he would need to create at least 10 skills in the next hours. His initial set of skills he had decided on contained 12 skills so he was sure he would succeed if the system worked along with him.


    "Let''s continue now, shall we?" Zaran muttered as a wicked smile appeared on his face. Imagining the faces of his opponents while they saw the stream of custom skills created by him, an evil laugh escaped his mouth.

 Chapter 21: Creating spells and skills

    Author''s note: Someone actually guessed one of the harder to guess spells. I''ll be damned.


    There''s 6 more skills in this chapter with a few more to come in the next. That chapter SHOULD be out today as well and then we can finally move out of that damned clearing. :)


    Enjoy!


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    Currently a large amount of mist swiveled around in the large clearing at the waterfall, making it so one cannot see within. Zaran stood in the mist and had a pleasant expression on his face. It was the first time he had cast the spell and the effect was far better than what he had expected. While seeing anything was impossible in this mist, though his connection with the elements he could still feel every movement within the mist. With a thought Zaran opened a corridor to the outside and wandered through it to exit the mist, the corridor quickly filling with mist again behind him.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have discovered the D-rank spell ''mist''! Through your understanding of the spell it has immediately advanced to the advanced level!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Mist (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>33%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Range</td><td>25 meter radius around the caster</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You cover a large area around you in a shrouding mist.


    One cannot see anything within from the outside and the visibility within is severely limited.


    The caster is able to create corridors to escape from the mist.


    The range and density of the mist increase with each consecutive level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    A smile emerged on Zaran''s face as he unlocked the spell as immediately getting to advanced level was far better then he had expected. He knew the system took in to account how good your knowledge was of the spell you were creating which showed when he created ''gravity'' and ''earth lance''. While he could be considered as being quite good in the spells he had never bothered to understand them fully. Thus this caused ''gravity'' and ''earth lance'' to be at the beginner level. What Zaran didn''t know what that getting from beginner to intermediate needed a higher understanding of the spell itself. Even if the experience reached 100% at beginner level 10 one would not get to the intermediate level without gaining a greater understanding of the spell.


    Letting the mist dissipate Zaran started to work on the next spell. This one required a larger amount of effort as it was a spell that required fire and wind elemental particles. As fire elemental particles usually weren''t as abundant as earth or wind, it would require a large amount of mana to execute. Zaran had told Kirin to hide far away. This spell would have a large area of effect and if he succeeded it would be a devastatingly strong spell. While Kirin was quite a lot stronger than him currently, he would rather not hurt her.


    Some time later a fiery aura started to emanate from Zaran, slowly pulsing as it grew in size. Once it reached a sufficient size Zaran stretched out his hands and the fire aura caused flames to shoot forth in all directions, using the air as fuel for the flames and burning everything in its way. The fire covered an astonishing large circle of 30 meters diameter with him as the epicenter. Zaran looked around and saw that everything near him was reduced to ashes. This spell used the principles of flash fires, where the air itself gets combusted, causing the fire to instantly cover a large area.


    Sweat poured of Zaran as if he were a waterfall. He was heavily panting after releasing the spell as using it once used up all the mana he had. "Finally... it... worked." Zaran let out. He had tried to use this spell a few times but hadn''t been able to produce the flash fire itself. The spell still took a long time to cast but the area of effect was more than enough to make Zaran happy, as well as the damage it did. His efforts were rewarded with a message box that told him the skill had been succesfully registered as a self-made skill.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a S-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Flash fire (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>10</td><td>Experience</td><td>100%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Range</td><td>15 meter radius around the caster</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>300</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>200-250</td><td>cast time</td><td>5 seconds</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You cause a flash fire to surge forth from you, reducing everything along its path to ashes.


    The range and damage increase with every level while the cast time reduces with each level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran frowned as he checked the skillbox. He thought he would get the skill to advanced immediately. A smile soon formed as he saw the damage and range, yet that smile turned ugly once he saw the cast time. The cast time was far too long to be used in an actual fight. While he knew the cast time wasn''t going to be small this was far larger than he had anticipated.


    I will need to get the cast time down to at least two seconds for it to be relevant in battle! Anyway this was the last spell I was going to create so I could train in this spell while I am working on creating the other skills.


    Suddenly Zaran got private messages from Sylphie and Irina. "Way to go Zaran!" Irina sent, while Sylphie sent "Tell me how!!!!"


    He quickly told Sylphie that he read the mana and ki books and that though understanding both the books he had developed a good idea as to how the skills work. From that point he tried to create a few skills and once he created one, he could rapidly create another one since it always was the same principle. Sylphie seemed please with that answer as she sent a simple "okay..." back.


    He sat down, ate and played with Kirin and Cindarrah before creating the next set of skills.


    Walking over to the nearby forest Zaran chopped down a large tree. After creating 8 large wooden stumps out of them, Zaran stood in front of one and gathered ki in his fist. After he gathered the ki in his fist he dispersed it and gathered it again to make his body feel used to the feeling. When he finally got used to the feeling Zaran gathered it once more and lightly tapped the log with his fist and made the ki explode within the log.


    A thunderous sound was emitted from the log as large chunks of wood exploded forth from the back of the log. Zaran moved on to the next log and used the same move against this one. This time no wood exploded forth from the log but the same thunderous sound was heard from the log. Zaran cut the log open and checked the insides to reveal that the inner part of the log was charred while the outside was perfectly clean. Only now did a message box appear confirming that he had created a skill.


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    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a S-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Thunderous fist (advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>100-125</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>100</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>You cover your first with ki and strike your opponent with it.


    Once the fist makes contact with your target the ki bursts forward and explodes within the target, causing a large amount of internal damage.


    The damage increases with each level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Smiling as yet another S-rank skill was made public with his name, he took out the longbow and equipped the quiver. He took one of the arrows and slowly started to infuse it with ki. He carefully kept the amount of ki the arrow had within in check and slowly kept on raising the amount of ki within it. After 26 ki had been used up the arrow shattered and quickly turned to dust. This time Zaran quickly filled another arrow with 25 ki and forced the ki to slowly swivel around the arrowhead.


    He started to increase the speed at which the ki swiveled around the arrowhead and after a few seconds a small cyclone was forming on the arrowhead due to the speed at which the ki moved. After this happened Zaran dispersed the ki in the arrow and started all over again. After an hour of continuously imbuing the arrowhead with ki, making it swivel around the arrowhead until it formed a cyclone and dispersing it, was he finally able to pull this off within a second. Zaran quickly nocked the arrow, pulled the bowstring all the way back while aiming at the third log of wood and released the arrow.


    The arrow burst forward with incredible speed and pierced straight through the log, causing large chunks of wood to explode from the log. After firing nine more arrows at the same log there was barely anything left to even be able to call it a log. Zaran had inspected the arrows after firing them and with each subsequent shot the damage to the arrowhead itself had decreased. It was only after the fifth arrow that the arrowhead barely took anymore damage. When he fired the last arrow the arrowhead had not even taken damage, as the small cyclone and the ki had done the job of absorbing the impact. It was at this tenth arrow that Zaran received confirmation that a skill was created yet again.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created an A-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Buzzard shot (intermediate)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Arrow damage + 40-60</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>25</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>An arrow is imbued with ki and the ki is forced to swivel around the arrowhead at rapid speeds afterwards, the arrow is fired at a target with a highly penetrative effect.


    The damage increases with each level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    After creating this skill Zaran used flash fire once more and rested for a bit as to allow his ki to replenish itself. Once his ki was back at the maximum value Zaran started working on a bodily skill. While most of his skills thus far had an impact on his enemies, the next one would have one on himself. What he still lacked was a skill that allowed him to increase both his damage and his actual speed.


    Thus Zaran had two choices. He could use a magic spell to increase his speed, or use ki to have the same effect. Zaran had decided to use ki for this beforehand as it was easier to do so. Yet in the future when the ki demands for his skills would become higher he would switch to a spell as he could shave off some of his ki expenditure during fights that way. Strengthening his physical attacks was also possible with both a spell and ki, but yet again using ki would be far easier than using a spell. Likewise in the future he would switch to spells once his ki expenditure grew.


    Even now his ki expenditure wasn''t necessarily low, but he still deemed it a better choice. For one he was not as proficient in magic as he was in using ki, and due to that he could use ki far faster than mana. Secondly the cast time for spells was a problem for him as well as the duration. Ki could easily be gathered in whatever body part was necessary in a split second and the same was not necessarily the same for mana.


    Spells usually covered the whole body as magicians mostly weren''t particularly proficient in close quarters combat and for them covering the whole body was the most efficient way. Covering a small part quickly with a defensive spell was something Zaran had never seen any magician do in any of his lives. Even after extensive research himself he found that it was near impossible to do so. The game might allow him to do this later on, so if he deemed that he had enough time to research it he would most likely spend some time to see if he could benefit from it. Meanwhile if his ki expenditure grew too big he would switch to a body covering defensive spell even though that would rapidly drain his mana.


    After using Flash fire once more Zaran started gathering ki in different parts of his body before dispersing it. Meticulously raising the amount of ki a body part held, he kept prodding it with his fingers. Only until that part of his body felt like steel did he stop. He took notice of the amount of ki that took him and thereafter dispersed the gathered ki. He then started the same process all over his body until he could effortlessly gather it in a split second at the desired location. Finally to end the practice Zaran used ki his whole body. Subsequently another skill created.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created an A-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Tempered body (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>10</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Defense increase</td><td>100%</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>10-100</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>One imbues his cells with ki effectively raising the defensive of their body by a large amount.


    The ki consumption varies depending on the amount of the body that is covered.


    Every level the defensive capabilities of tempered body raise. After a threshold is reached, lower leveled weapons may no longer harm the user.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran smiled as this skill was created. Next he worked on a skill that increased his speed. This was not all too difficult and a low ranking skill was soon created.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created an D-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Swiftness (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Speed increase</td><td>300%</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>10-20 per minute</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>One imbues his feet or arms with ki effectively, dramatically increasing one''s speed.


    Speed increases with every level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran took a quick break after creating this skill as the continuous creation of skills had worn him out both mentally and physically.

 Chapter 22: Uproar

    Author''s note: It''s after midnight so technically you didn''t get the chapter as promised but... here as promised!


    Enjoy!


    Edit: tables...


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    While Zaran was creating new skill upon new skill people continuously shouted in shock every time a system message was announced. Even if it was something as low as a d-rank skill for an user to continuously create skills which someone didn''t ever deem possible.


    In the distant Elaria, Durak was roaring with anger as he saw yet another system message pop up. "GODDAMNITTTT"


    He slashed at the large stone golem in front of him and Durak and his party all leveled up yet again.


    "Finally level 44. I wonder what that ****** of a Zaran''s level is at the moment. If i see him he''s dead!"


    Durak and his party where by far the strongest team in the game, having 4 levels up on the other users. This meant that they had about two thirds more experience than other users. While killing beasts one level up on a level that could be divided by ten was a very hard task, with a good team it would still be a somewhat manageable feat if one''s gear hadn''t been upgraded to the max. Therefore it were teams like Durak''s that leveled the fastest as they had a high degree of cooperation as well as a high degree of battle skill. Even though those monsters were hard to beat, they gave far more experience than the ones just a level lower than them.


    "Calm down Durak. I heard from our guys in Virul that he picked the Zuno class. Unless he trains a ton he can''t really get strong so if we just keep leveling at this pace we''ll be far stronger than him. I also heard he only has animals as companions and that currently no other users are with him as far as we know of. Surely our pace is far too fast for him to keep up, he''s not even in the top million leaderboard." Eran, the fire elemental in the group said.


    Durak calmed down upon hearing what Eran said and rushed towards the next stone golem. As he was rushing towards the stone golem he roared to his party "What are we waiting for then! let''s keep on going!"


    His party just shook their heads and rushed after him.


    Author''s note: level 40 beasts give far less exp than level 41 beasts. The difficulty takes a leap every level after something that can be divided by 10. This has been touched up on in another chapter, just thought I''d remind you guys.


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    In Barat a few female harpies were discussing the recent skill notifications that all came from the same character. A rather good looking male harpie was packing up nearby and said his goodbye''s to the female harpies.


    "Aww you leaving?" One of the female harpies said.


    "Yeah, I''m going to Virul, sure as hell seems like it''ll be lively there soon enough." The male one responded.


    "Nuvahn, why don''t you stay with us?" The most skimpy-clad harpie asked.


    Nuvahn scoffed, didn''t say another word and turned away from the group of females. Initially he had joined them as they were somewhat decent at the game but soon he noticed that their battle skills weren''t even worth mentioning. When he saw the name of his master pop up in the notifications he researched where he was and found that he was in Virul.


    "Master, please stay near Virul!" Nuvahn whispered as he took for the skies and departed for Virul.


    -------------


    Along the world many other users were discussing the current stream of skill notifications. Most of Akhuath''s champions faces turned ashen as they saw those because they knew Zaran made them to cover for all his weaknesses. Most of them had clashed once or twice with Zaran and they knew that on equal footing they would be no match for them. It was only when they had clear advantages that they could somewhat match up to him. Therefore many of Akhuath''s champions immediately stopped leveling and started to create skills from previous lifetimes.


    However the majority of them couldn''t succeed as their understanding was incredibly low. Only a few geniuses could create some and even then their speed was far lower than Zaran''s. They had just learned everything about mana and ki through the system and thus didn''t even have a good understanding of it while Zaran had to research it all by himself. This alone created a large difference in the creation speed of skills because Zaran had a deeper understanding of the mechanics itself.


    Nekorath in particular had a horrible expression on his face as he realized what Zaran was doing. He himself was slowly creating a second skill but so far he had reached a bottleneck and couldn''t break through. Wondering what he was missing he could only curse as he saw one notification after another pop up. While he could only do leveling to progress himself, with every skill Zaran created he was another step behind.


    "Why did I choose Akhuath that day!" Nekorath muttered as he hit a nearby boulder over and over and cursed continuously. When he had to choose a god to be a champion for he had the choice between both Isis and Akhuath. As Nekorath had always been quite combative in nature he had naturally chosen Akhuath. However later on it was a choice that he had very much regretted taking. Akhuath was an extremely domineering and demanding god. If he had the ability to go back Nekorath would have always chosen Isis. Yet he hadn''t and now he was stuck with following Akhuath''s orders like all his other champions.


    Nekorath sighed as he continued on his journey.


    -------------


    In Virul many users were talking about Zaran as it was the person they all saw dueling the orc in the first few hours of the game. While everyone thought he was on the back foot he had actually defeated the orc in two moves with a custom created skill on the spot. That caused the uproar to not be as big in Virul but still many users were discussing it. Many decided that upon seeing Zaran they would definitely ask how to create their own custom skill as it was a wish of many to do so.


    Pantheon smiled as his sales had gone through the roof after he had showed people evidence that he had a contract with Zaran. As a result of making that knowledge public many a user had started to buy his wares. "Haah! It seems like my eyes were right and that brat really was special." Pantheon muttered as he wiped the sweat of his forehead. While before he had trouble selling even one piece of bread, now his store had been sold out twice within an hour of opening it. Pantheon had no desire to know how Zaran made those skills, but he hoped that Zaran kept going as he benefited tremendously from the current situation.


    At the fountain in the middle of the market a Valkyrie and a Cat woman where likewise discussing the current notifications. This Valkyrie and Cat woman were obviously Irina and Sylphie.


    "Hey, has he said how he makes those skills yet?" Irina asked.


    "Not really he keeps saying it''s just really easy and how he does it but to me the way he describes it is just... I couldn''t even make a skill like he tells me to even if I wanted. And I have a feeling he won''t tell me much more either." Sylphie said in a calm tone. She knew Zaran had to play the game as much as possible due to the Isis''s request so she thought he had gained some cheating ability. She didn''t know any other reason for him not to tell her anything about it.


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    "Maybe he has cheats or something? Or he''s just really really good at thinking up skills?" Irina said.


    "Well, he''s really creative, that''s for sure! I''ve seen him roleplay in other games and he makes the most amazing character background stories! So that might actually be it!" Sylphie said in an excited tone. To her this actually sounded like a believable theory. She still had her doubts and still thought it might be due to a cheating ability bestowed by Isis but she couldn''t mention that theory to Irina.


    "Mmhmm, must be it then! I don''t think he even knows how he creates them then." Irina said.


    "Yeah, must be it." Sylphie said as her thoughts wandered off to Isis. She couldn''t understand why a Goddess like her chose Zaran for some important mission that he couldn''t mention. What was so special about Zaran?


    -------------


    While everyone in an uproar Zaran was trying to create the ''Crashing waves'' skill. It was a greatsword technique where one struck down with their ki imbued greatsword. After connecting with the target a rapid stream of increasingly stronger waves of ki would be sent to the contact point between the greatsword and whatever the greatsword hit until the enemy could no longer fend of the greatsword. For weaker enemies with great defense this skill alone was more than enough to kill them as eventually the power of the ki would be so great that it cut everything cleanly in half.


    Zaran had been practicing the technique on some nearby rocks and on parts of the mountainside, creating huge cuts in them. He walked over to another rock which was larger than himself and struck it with his greatsword. At first there was a barely noticeable cut. Very slight tremors were emitted from Zaran''s greatsword as the cut rapidly extended and the whole rock was cleaved in half. It had only taken him a second to split the rock in two halves and a smile appeared on Zaran''s face.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created an S-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Crashing waves(Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>5</td><td>Experience</td><td>15%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Greatsword damage + 10-300</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>10-300</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>After the greatsword connects with something, increasingly stronger waves of ki are sent to the contact point until the enemy is no longer able to endure.


    There are currently ten waves of ki emitted and the cost of the skill increases with each wave.


    With each level the damage increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    His ki had been exhausted yet again, using the Heavenly cloud condensation technique he helped his ki replenish at a faster rate before working on the next technique. For some reason he found it rather easy to gain insights in techniques in this gaming world as his understanding of Heavenly cloud condensation had increased by another level. Now he could absorb pure ki far quicker than before. All he needed to do for this was use a very tiny amount of his own pure ki to help purify the world ki around him. Before he had never even thought of trying this way but in this game world he suddenly had a feeling that it was the correct way to go about it. Thus his ki absorption speed had increased and replenishing it after usage had been far easier on him.


    The next skill he created was rather easy as it was just an upward strike with ki imbued to it. Zaran wanted to use this skill so he had something to knock his enemies up. It would be something they didn''t see coming and could be a follow up for when he had previously used crashing waves or a follow up for any normal downwards strike. Not even ten minutes after he started creating this technique he received confirmation that a skill had been created. Much to Zaran''s surprise this was not a skill known to the system. Zaran had rubbed his eyes twice before he started believing the message box that had appeared. He was rather sure the game would have a rather basic skill like that.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a C-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Mountain strike(Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Effect</td><td>Knock-up</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>Ki is imbued to the greatsword and the enemy is struck with an upwards strike, knocking the enemy in the air.


    With each level the damage and knock up duration increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran played with Kirin and Cindarrah for a bit and then switched his greatsword for his longsword. As final techniques he wanted to create both the second and third part of the ''Dance of the butterfly'' that he had created himself. As the initial creator of the technique and having advanced it to near perfection through countless lives how could he not use it as his signature move in this game?


    Zaran started from ''Flutter'' and then effortlessly moved on to ''Rise and Fall'' This was an upwards slash followed by a 360 slash that started low and then gradually rised until the sword was above the target again, followed up with a heavy downwards strike. After one struck a target with the stab from ''Flutter'' one could then immediately strike upwards to change to this skill. It was even possible to break up flutter to use this instead. What Zaran had found important when creating his ''Dance of the butterfly'' is that any step and any skill had to be interchangeable at any point.


    This was also the reason as to why nobody had ever been able to master the skill no matter how many disciples he took. While learning the individual steps was rather easy, he hadn''t found any that could effortlessly interchange between the different sets. The most skilled disciple that he had ever had was Nuvahn, but even Nuvahn didn''t come close to effortlessly interchange between sets. Moreover what Zaran often did in fights is use just one strike of each of the seven parts only to end at any skill he wished to use at that moment. For example he could start with one slash of ''Flutter'', break it up for ''Rise and Fall'', using only the 360¡ã slash of ''Rise and Fall'' and then complete ''Flutter'' from thereon.


    Practicing ''Rise and Fall'' for a while Zaran surprisingly hit a bottleneck. Instead of forcing a breakthrough Zaran went on to the third skill in the ''Dance of the butterfly'' set. The third skill was where ki was finally starting to play a role in the effectivity of strikes. ''Velocity'' as the third skill was named used high velocity slashes in the form of an & sign. This & sign could be used in a 360¡ã and could likewise be followed up by both flutter or ''Rise and Fall''. Yet again Zaran hit a bottleneck much like the time he tried to create both ''Flutter'' and ''Rise and Fall''.


    "Damnit..." Zaran muttered along with various curses. He kept on practicing both ''Rise and Fall'' and ''Velocity'' interchanging them effortlessly with ''Flutter'' at times in addition to using them by their own.


    During practicing his swordplay Zaran suddenly started to have the feeling that someone was watching him. Not being able to get rid of the feeling Zaran called out. "Whoever you are, I know you are there! Instead of spying upon me, show yourself to me!"

 Chapter 23: Seeker of truth

    Have fun with the new chapter!


    _______________


    "Oho, you''ve noticed me?" a voice rang out from the nearby thicket. Soon after a bald human wearing a loose robe leisurely walked out from the thicket. A pearl bead necklace adorned his neck, a greatsword hung diagonally on his back and a longsword was sheathed at his waist. The man looked to be around sixty years old, yet a very youthful feeling emanated from the man.


    "I would like to wish why you were spying on me." Zaran unpolitely said. He hadn''t much respect for people who spied upon him. Nevertheless he was quite wary of this person. A human in the Liberiu kingdom wasn''t something he expected to see. Therefore, even though he was rather impolite he made sure to not be too impolite, as he was rather sure this person must have tremendous strength. Not to mention being able to spy on Zaran without his knowing, being so deep in enemy territory Zaran was rather sure that there was no way this man was weak.


    Even Kirin and Cindarrah seemed wary of this person as Kirin was growling loudly and Cindarrah seemed ready to pounce at the guy. Zaran quickly told the both of them to calm down as Zaran didn''t want to have unnecessary trouble.


    "mmHmm... a man can''t look at a stranger who is practicing arts near his home and who is invading his territory?" the old man said


    Zaran''s eyes were instantly filled with shock. This was the guy Henry told me about!


    "You must be the person Henry told me about?"


    "Oho... Henry picked up a pupil? Now that is surprising news."


    "Yes, he has bestowed much of his knowledge on me and has told me that I should venture off to the wide world. When I asked him for a secluded training area he pointed me to this area. I hope this one is not intruding."


    "No no, not intruding at all. Now I''m rather curious as to those arts you were practicing as I''ve never seen them before. I''ve traveled far and wide in my young days but I''ve never seen a sword school that had movements close to yours. Care telling me where you picked it up?"


    "Ah... that is my own style actually." Zaran said as he scratched his head.


    "Oho... is that so. Care to give this old man some pointers?" The old man said with a rather surprised look on his face. To him Zaran looked like a young men that was still wet behind the ears yet he claimed that he had already made such a strong looking sword art? What the old man didn''t know was that Zaran was many times over his senior. If he knew that Zaran had reincarnated many times over he would most certainly immediately kowtow before him. Furthermore a hint of the true way of the sword could be felt by the old man each time Zaran had used his skills.


    Zaran pondered about it for a second. He was sure the old man would wipe the floor with him if he used his real strength, but seeing as he was asking for pointers and really interested in Zaran''s swordplay he most likely wouldn''t use his full strength. Moreover Zaran had only been able to unlock ''Flutter'' due to its usage in actual combat. Seeing as how he had currently reached a bottleneck with both ''Rise and Fall'' and ''Velocity'' he might be able to create the skills after an actual fight. "Sure why not." Zaran said as he nodded at the man.


    "I''ll go first then!" the bald man said as he unsheathed his longsword. Zaran immediately followed suit and took up a loose battle stance. This surprised the bald man for a second as loose battle stances were usually the sign of grandmasters, not for young men that were still wet behind their ears. The bald man decided to test the waters with a rather simple slash. Zaran scoffed as he easily parried hit and delivered a blow of his own at the same time. The bald man took a step back to dodge Zaran''s slash towards his head and a smile surfaced on his face. "Let''s not do lethal blows now shall we."


    "As if you couldn''t dodge that!" Zaran replied while letting out a short chuckle. Immediately after his expression turned grave. "We both know your first strike was to test my skill and to be fair you dishonored me with a simple slash such as that!" While he was still rather polite, he really felt like his honour was hurt. Such a low quality strike was a joke even for beginning swordsmen so why should he not feel dishonored if he received one like that, especially if it was to test his quality. In Zaran''s eyes a small glimmer of red began to surface.


    Zaran instantly unleashed an interchanging barrage of ''Flutter'', ''Rise and Fall'' and ''Velocity''. With the strength that the old man was currently was using, all he could do was block, parry or evade Zaran''s various slashes or stabs. The old man started to use double his current strength and started to be able to throw some slashes of his own. While the old man had doubled his power he still found himself unable to keep up with Zaran''s movements.


    This brat is actually able to push me back! The longer we fight the stronger he gets! Let''s see how he keeps up against skills mixed with the true way of the sword!


    The old man used some skills of his own this time and Zaran instantly felt an increase in pressure along with a vague feeling that he seemed to remember from somewhere. Using ''Swiftness'' to further increase his speed he started pushing the old man back again. On top of that a strange feeling started to be emanated from his sword with every slash and the red glimmer in his eyes turned brighter.


    The longer we fight the more he uses the true way of the sword... What is this brat? What''s more... this oppressive feeling that he''s starting to give off. I should be careful.


    The old man doubled his strength again and this time started to give Zaran some real pressure. With every slash sparks flew from their longswords. While the old man was pushing Zaran back step by step at first, soon enough the situation started to reverse as Zaran''s movements continuously kept grewing more fluent.


    My control over this body is improving at such a vast rate! Zaran thought as he met another slash of the old man head on. By slightly shifting his sword he parried the old man''s sword and was able to slash at the old man''s undefended chest. The instant Zaran''s sword was about to reach the man''s chest, the old man brought his black back and instantly disarmed Zaran.


    "What the." Zaran exclaimed as he noticed that his longsword was gone. He hadn''t even noticed what had happened in the instant he lost his sword. Zaran noticed that some notifications had popped up but he quickly dismissed them to the side for the time being.


    "Let''s stop here. Thanks for the pointers." The old man said.


    "What''s your name?" Zaran asked.


    "Derek, and what might yours be?" Derek asked.


    "Zaran Karaz."


    "Good name... Now boy have you heard of the true way of the sword?" Derek asked


    "True way of the sword? Can''t say I have."


    Derek was surprised at that answer. The skill Zaran showed with the blade was far higher than what a normal person at his age would be capable of. If he had been instructed in the true way of the sword it would not be surprising that he was this skilled with the sword. Now that Derek knew he wasn''t instructed a few questions immediately surfaced.


    "So... why do you need a secluded training area?"


    "Everyone in the city would just bother me with questions about my two companions or about my skills. I thought it to be too bothersome which is why I needed a secluded training spot. Moreover do you think I could freely use these skills in the city without paying attention. What''s more... none of the martial arts guilds wish to give me guidance so I don''t really feel like I belong there."


    "Not giving you guidance? Why''s that?"


    "For some reason they think of me as a great martial artist due to one of the skills I showed in our fight just now."


    "Oho.. I see... well would one wish my guidance then?"


    "Hmm... why not?" Zaran said after thinking it over for a few seconds. Seeing as he had asked for the true way of the sword Zaran was rather sure this would lead to a profession.


    "Hahaha, now my guidance can be summed rather easily. But a question first: what''s important in a martial arts skill?"


    "That''s simple, a martial arts skill needs to give the user the ability to defeat his opponent. In the best case without mortally hurting him. Martial arts should be used to defend one''s life prior to being used to take someone''s life." While Zaran would mostly indiscriminately kill his opponents, if he could somehow avoid killing his enemy he would always do so. There was no need for him to kill the weaker or kill people that he thought never would have the ability to kill him. While this had cost him his life a few times, he had lost his life many times more by indiscriminately killing.


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    Derek was perplexed at Zaran''s answer. In all his years he had asked this question many times over but he had never heard the correct answer. Zaran''s answer was spot on. Seeing as how his sword emanated the true way of the sword, Derek now understood why that was the case. While many sword art school focused on being the strongest, dominating over their opponents or having flashy skills many had lost track of the true way. In its simplest form what a martial art needed to do was to defeat an enemy.


    "I see, so that''s why... Boy you just pretty much summed up the true way of martial arts." Derek said with a solemn face. "Now what I am is a ''seeker of truth''. I believe there is more to martial arts than those flashy skills everyone seems to use nowadays. In their essence every martial art is suited to defeat an opponent without killing them. Therefore I strife to perfect my skills in every martial art I meet. Only through abundant experience can we become a profound grandmaster in a martial art."


    "So basically you try to master a martial art beyond what a normal grandmaster achieves?"


    "Indeed, you could summarize it like that. While grandmasters believe they have mastered the full way of the sword it''s usually only one way. Grandmasters from one sword school naturally won''t have mastered another sword school''s style. This alone can make a disparity between two grandmasters. If one of both''s martial arts are stronger by default won''t the stronger martial art win? Does that mean the stronger one alone is a grandmaster? Or does that mean both are grandmasters? In my opinion neither are grandmasters. Focusing on one path is wrong, wrong, wrong!"


    Zaran nodded as Derek said this. His thinking was along the same line. While his ''dance of the butterfly'' technique was made by himself it still incorporated techniques of various sword schools he had seen over his lifetimes. Even after reincarnating as much as he did he still found that he could improve this skill set. In recent lifetimes he had gained the feeling that he was grasping something rather important in the sword style. It seemed as if there was just this last puzzle piece missing.


    "I see you feel the same... then boy... will you step in my footsteps and become another ''Seeker of truth''?"


    "Yes I wish to become one."


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations you have become a ''Seeker of truth''!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran quickly checked the profession information.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Seeker of truth</td></tr><tr><td>Disciples of this profession seek the true way of martial arts. They are able to level their skills to the seventh level, the profound level, and they don''t have any disadvantages when mastering different martial arts unlike other practitioners.


    Advancing a skill to the profound level grans powerful benefits unable to be acquired otherwise.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    So there was another level past grandmaster? Zaran thought as he saw the message box. He knew that the skill leveling currently had six levels. Beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert, master, grandmaster. These were the levels he knew of. Now a seventh level had been added to that. Zaran was quite happy with this profession. The clearing of disadvantages when leveling other martial arts was a huge benefit on his own.


    "... Thank you." Zaran said after thinking for a short while, not really sure whether he should call Derek master or not. For some reason he felt that having a master as a Seeker of truth wasn''t right.


    "You may just call me Derek. I guess you were milling over the fact whether you should call me master or not. Don''t worry, there''s no need to call me master, we are both Seekers of truth now are we not? As a Seeker of truth you should set out for the world now Zaran. Staying here practicing won''t help you master your arts further, mastery is developed over countless fights. Now then if you have no further questions I shall retreat myself to my home."


    "There is one actually. What exactly is a human like you doing here Derek?"


    "Ah... see that cave over there?" Derek said as he pointed to the nearby cave. "There''s a seal there that I have to guard. Whatever you do, unless you are easily able to beat me you are NEVER allowed to come near it! There is something powerful and ancient sealed there and even I couldn''t beat it."


    Zaran decided to not pry further for now. "Well then Derek, see you later!"


    Derek nodded and walked to the cave. Only after Derek was gone Zaran decided to check his notifications. He had seen that he had gained three notifications instead of the expected two.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a S-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Rise and Fall (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Weapon damage + 100-150</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>A powerful combination of an upward slash, a 360¡ã slash and a downward slash is released upon the opponent.


    With each level the damage increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a S-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Velocity (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Weapon damage + 125-150</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>A powerful series of slashes forming an & is released upon the opponent dealing a tremendous amount of damage as well as having the ability of disarming the opponent.


    With each level the damage increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The last message was the one Zaran didn''t expect to get. Although he was shocked at first, once he thought it over, he bursted out in laughter. This message box was JUST what he needed to finish his skill creation.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>The system has noticed that the skills ''Flutter'', ''Rise and Fall'' and ''Velocity'' form a skill set.


    Due to forming a skill set you have the ability to create a sword school.


    Do you wish to create and name your own sword school?</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran pressed yes and named it ''Dance of the butterfly''. When he received the question to make his name public he pressed yes without a second thought. In contrast to other system wide announcements that appeared in text, this one was spoken.


    "Congratulations to Zaran for creating the first user made sword school ''Dance of the butterfly''!"


    His sister, Irina and Pantheon instantly congratulated Zaran on this achievement. While the user base was already in an uproar over the user Zaran due to his continuous skill creation, the uproar that this new announcement brought was many times greater than before. While Zaran knew that it was likely that he was going to regret this action, he still couldn''t supress a rather wicked laugh.


    Quickly collecting himself again Zaran quickly focused his mind on the menu and the menu popped open. Under the ''Skills'' menu item another item had now taken its place called ''Martial art schools''. Zaran skimmed over the contents until he arrived at "additional effects".


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Additional effects</td></tr><tr><td>- The skills can be used to form a combo. For a successful combo the damage of the last finished skill is doubled.


    - You can break up a skill at any point and continue at a corresponding point in any of the other skills without a penalty.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    After glancing over the additional effects, Zaran was rather pleased with them. As he had finished what he needed to do Zaran prepared to head out of the forest.

 Chapter 24: Pack of Silver Line Wolves

    Author''s note: procrastination is my greatest bane...


    --------------------


    It had been two in game weeks since the server opened and Zaran was finally ready to head out of the secluded training area. Among the people who had started playing the game the first day he was currently dead last. Even people who had played one in game day had already passed him in level. However, comparing the amount of battle skills and life skills that the average user had, Zaran had far more. counting his stat points alone he was quite far ahead of the majority of users too. Those who had been earnestly training to get bonus skill points were very few.


    Before heading off into the forest Zaran told Kirin to suppress her aura. To the way here Zaran couldn''t possibly take the higher leveled monsters that roamed this forest, but now Zaran felt quite confident in himself. What''s more it was time to start leveling like mad. Calculating the levels he got from training he should be about equal to a lvl 40''ish user in stat points if they hadn''t gained additional stat points.


    As soon as Zaran headed into the forest he found it far livelier than before. When he was walking to the clearing he hadn''t paid much attention to the atmosphere in the forest as he was rushing there. Even so, he still felt that it was livelier than before, most likely due to Kirin suppressing her aura. The first few hundred meters Zaran didn''t see any monsters, making Zaran quite uncomfortable. He had hoped to at least gain a few levels before nearing Virul again.


    Zaran stopped for a moment to think about the situation. There had to be monsters somewhere in this huge forest as it was a level 10+ area. Zaran decided to take a detour to the center of the forest. Surely if he took a detour that way he''d run into some monsters.


    Halfway to the center of the forest Zaran heard a rustling sound nearby. He advanced carefully to the direction of the sound and as he got closer more rustling sounds were heard all around me.


    They have surrounded me!


    Instantly brandishing his sword, he waited for the enemy to reveal himself, not daring to take one step further into their ambush. Both Kirin and Cindarrah readied themselves for battle and small dark flames appeared near Kirin''s maw.


    The rustling kept getting louder and the amount seemed to increase. A short while later the monsters finally showed themselves. They were thin wolves with a long body. Their fur was black with small silver lines running through it. Zaran tried to inspect them but they were above the range that he could identify. The only thing he learned was that they were Silver Line Wolves. Zaran counted at least ten of them and inwardly cursed.


    So many and they are all at least level 12!


    The leader of the pack urged the smallest Silver Line Wolf to attack Zaran. It let out a loud howl as it attacked and rushed forward. Zaran frowned upon seeing the wolf''s speed as he found it to be quite slow and it''s attack seemed to be quite shallow. Dodging to the left, the wolf which missed his attack, passed him and Zaran delivered a clean cut to it''s side. Before the wolf had time to recover Cindarrah had already fire a web-shot at it, completely constricting it. When the health bar popped up Zaran saw that a third of the wolf''s health had already disappeared with a single hit. After quickly using ''Flutter'' on the wolf, the wolf growled in pain as it lost its life.


    The leader of the pack howled and three of the wolves attacked simultaneously now.


    "Kirin you take one! Cindarrah constrict another one!" Zaran roared as he charged to one of three. Cindarrah and Kirin both did what was asked from them, letting Zaran having an easy time in a one versus one. A single ''Flutter'' was enough to kill one of these wolves so Zaran used it again on this wolf, instantly killing it. Afterwards the one bound by Cindarrah met the same fate. In the meantime Kirin had easily finished her opponent. A pitch-black carcass briefly entered Zaran''s vision before it disappeared.


    Strange... Why didn''t it immediately disappear?


    Not really having the time to find out Zaran focused on the matter at hand again. He had defeated four wolves now and had instantly leveled to level 7. What''s more he was rather close to leveling to level 8. The exp he got from beating just a few level 10+ monsters was enormous.


    Seeing as its kin was easily beaten the pack leader howled incredibly loud and soon the howl was answered by many others deep in the forest.


    NOT GOOD!


    The remaining wolves circled around Zaran, not giving him an opportunity to escape. While he wasn''t afraid of fighting them one versus one, he didn''t dare risk attacking them while they were grouping. Slowly but surely the wolves decreased the distance between them and Zaran. They thought that if it came to instant speeds they were far faster than Zaran.


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    Tempered body was activated and a fiery red pulsating aura started to emanate from Zaran.


    "Kirin, Cindarrah... RUN! Come back in five minutes!" Zaran yelled not a moment to soon. After he yelled Cindarrah jumped on Kirin''s back and ran off with high speed. They both knew what the pulsating aura meant, so they did not dare stay a moment longer after Zaran yelled his command.


    Not a moment later more Silver Line Wolves came running from all over and Zaran now counted more than thirty. They all started circling around Zaran in 3 big circles around him. Still all of them were in his attack range.


    "FLASH FIRE!" Zaran roared. The pulsating aura shot out in all directions engulfing all the wolves in flames. Much to Zaran''s surprise the forest did not catch fire, but the wolves did. The wolves winced in pain as they were set ablaze and they started to wildly run around and roll on the ground. Some where able to put out the fire while the others died due to the continuous burn damage.


    Why did the wolves catch fire but not the forest, why is it different from the clearing? Don''t got time to find it out now though! Here they come!


    Only the bigger wolves were left now as all the others had perished. They circled around Zaran watching him very carefully as they could not be hit with that skill again. After watching him not activating the pulsating aura the leader gave a short growl as he pounced forward himself, with the others following his example. Noticing that they came from all sides Zaran used the 360¡ã slash from "Rise and fall". As he performed it exactly like how it was done in the skill the extra damage still applied. Three wolves were killed in the spot while the leader left the fight unscathed.


    Quickly counting the wolves Zaran noticed that there were only 8 left, the leader included. Killing all these wolves had already brought him to level 10 by now. Zaran charged forward for the first time in the fight. The wolf he charged to was visibly charged as it hadn''t expected its prey to charge at him. Not being able to react in time this wolf was quickly cut down with one single strike.


    The other wolves did react in time and now came pouncing towards Zaran, who quickly turned around and blocked 2 wolves from biting down on him. He quickly pushed them away and used ''Swiftness'' to create some distance between him and the wolves. Seeing Zaran retreat the two wolves howled in rage and charged forward. An evil smile surfaced on Zaran''s face as he stamped on the ground with his right leg.


    "EARTH LANCE!" Zaran roared as huge earthen spikes shot up from the ground, impaling and killing the two wolves who charged at him. Afterwards the ground quickly reverted back to its previous state, making the two wolf bodies collide to the ground with a loud ''Thud'' sound.


    One of the wolves closer to Zaran walked close enough for ''gravity'' to be used. Zaran quickly cast the spell and the wolf came flying over. He turned to face the wolf and used ''Thunderous fist'' to end its life. Three more wolves boldly charged at him from the same direction and Zaran just ended their lives with another ''Earth Lance''. The largest wolf was left over and it warily looked at Zaran, barely staying out of the range of gravity.


    It growled and roared at Zaran but did not dare to attack itself. Its pack had been destroyed in a mere instant and it had no confidence to face Zaran on its own. Still it felt that it couldn''t leave and that it should do something. He could call more of its pack but if it the rest were to meet the same fate... that was not something the wolf leader could let happen.


    Zaran could feel the wolf hesitate and sheathed his longsword. "Leave. There''s no use for us fighting anymore. You know you can''t win." Zaran said to the wolf. It hesitated for a while longer before it lowered it''s head to Zaran, then turned around and bolted of with great speed.


    "Phew!" Zaran let out a deep sigh as the battle was finished. While it had been rather easy, he still had expended a great amount of strength. He quickly sat down and tried to regain some of his strength. A minute later Kirin and Cindarrah returned. Cindarrah looked at Zaran with a worried face but he quickly said he was fine, just a little exhausted from the fight.


    Still that fight had been surprisingly easy. No doubt if I faced them earlier I would''ve met certain doom but now... I''m quite confident in killing stronger monsters than me in a one versus one. Hell I might even be able to beat monsters that are above level 20 without getting better gear.


    Zaran quickly picked up the loot and gained 5 wolf pelts and 2 silver. His storage ring could only hold two more items before he couldn''t carry more so he had to go to Virul soon to drop of some things he no longer needed. He also needed to find a way to gain more storage capacity as he currently did not nearly have enough.


    Letting out a deep sigh, Zaran stood up and made his way to the heart of the forest.

 Chapter 25: Cindarrah runs

    Author''s note: Car problems messed up my release schedule/weekend/end of vacation.


    regardless, enjoy the chapter.


    Edit: I had another idea for a story so I wrote the prologue and posted it, if anyone is interested here''s the link:


    Za Lorgan</a>


    __________________


    Zaran continued on to the middle of the forest, on this way there he had met some deer but upon inspecting them he noticed that they were between level 5 and 10. He had killed a few of the level 10 one''s but the exp he received from them was so little that it wasn''t even worth killing them. The deeper he went in the forest the more treacherous the terrain and the plants became. Holes that were covered by roots of plants or trees riddled the ground.


    Upon stepping on the roots they immediately gave away, instantly creating a gaping hole in the forest floor. If he hadn''t noticed that one of the deer ran on top of such a hole and fell in it, he would''ve never known they were there. He had crept closer to the hole and what he saw inside was pure horror. An enormous amount of ants as large as a human instantly ran towards the deer and ripped it to pieces instantly. Afterwards some of the larger ants took the pieces and carried them away. Noticing that there was nothing left the rest of the ants scurried away.


    Cindarrah got somewhat excited from seeing the ants and actively asked Zaran to jump in the hole. It took quite a bit of convincing from Zaran''s side that Cindarrah really did not want to go in there or she would end up like the deer. After calming down Zaran slowly moved forward into the forest, taking great care with every step. After a good hour of treading carefully he finally could figure out if a patch of land held one of the holes or not.


    Advancing a little further Zaran noticed that the forest started to become overgrown. Going any further without using his sword to cut open a path for him was not possible.


    Well I''ve come this far... would be a waste to not trek any further now.


    Little by little Zaran cut a path open for himself through the forest. His pace had slowed down tremendously due to this but still he crept closer and closer to the middle of the forest.


    Suddenly Cindarrah jumped from Zaran''s head and rushed off into some nearby bushes. It took Zaran a moment to realize what just happened.


    "Cindarrah come back!" Zaran yelled as loud as he could. If he parted with Cindarrah here there was no way he''d ever find her again!


    Zaran rushed forward trying to follow Cindarrah but due to having to pay attention to the holes as well as having to spend a large amount of time cutting a path for himself he was unable to see where she had ran off too.


    "DAMN! She''s gone... why would she run off?"


    _______________________


    Cindarrah sniffed her nose as she smelled an abnormally attractive scent in the air.


    Delicious food! Cindarrah thought. She jumped off Zaran''s head without a second thought and chased the scent. Due to the abnormally attractive scent she even forgot that Zaran existed. Cindarrah scurried forward through the forest on her own and soon arrived on the spot where the scent emanated from. In front of her there were a few large butterflies who were absorbing nectar from the blossoms of a humongous tree. It was precisely this nectar that had the incredibly attractive scent. The tree was the guardian tree of the forest and stood at an astonishing five hundred meters tall. The other trees who''s height topped at one hundred meter paled in comparison compared to this one.


    A large clearing surrounded the guardian tree. Cindarrah quickly checked if she couldn''t see any threats to herself and then quickly scurried towards the tree. She rapidly climbed up the tree and soon arrived near the place where one of the butterflies was absorbing nectar. Cindarrah slowly crept up to the blossom without the butterfly noticing. Once she was close enough she quickly fired a few of her ''web shot'' to bind the butterfly and stick it to the blossom.


    The butterfly struggled but the more it struggled the more stuck it got in Cindarrah''s web shot. Cindarrah let her prey struggle and when the web started to come loose she fired another one to keep it lodged in place. Eventually the butterfly''s strength ran out and Cindarrah advanced forward and used ''leech'' to drain the butterfly. An incredibly pleasant feeling washed over Cindarrah as she absorbed the butterfly''s strength. At the same time she felt that her strength was rapidly improving as she absorbed more of the butterfly''s lifeforce.


    After draining this butterfly Cindarrah walked to the end of the branch and tried to spot another butterfly. In the near vicinity she didn''t spot another butterfly but she did see a few bees as large as herself. Cindarrah decided to try her luck and made her way to where she spotted the smallest amount of bees. She quickly bound one with her ''web shot''. Compared to the butterfly this bee couldn''t even struggle, the web completely ensnared it and it wasn''t even able to move an inch. Cindarrah sucked the bee dry but didn''t have the same feeling as she had when she drained the butterfly. Cindarrah''s face grew a little sullen and she quickly checked if she could spot another butterfly.


    This time her luck was better and she noticed some butterflies higher up the tree. Cindarrah jumped from the branch to branch and quickly neared the butterflies. This time she didn''t creep closer and just instantly use her ''web shot'' to bind two butterflies. After a brief struggle both butterflies lost the strength to resist and Cindarrah proceeded to drain both of them. She drained one of them for a short while, then reapplied the web to keep it stuck and then went over to the other one and did the same there. After going back and forth between the two butterflies five times she finally drained the both of them.


    Cindarrah looked for more butterflies thereafter and quickly found another five that she bound and drained. After she drained the fifth she felt that the pleasurable feeling had completely disappeared. At the same time she remembered Zaran.


    "DADDY?!?" Cindarrah yelled out of the top of her lungs.


    ____________________


    After searching for a while Zaran wasn''t able to spot Cindarrah. Dejected he decided that he should still advance to the center of the forest. If Cindarrah wanted to find him, she would head over there as that was Zaran''s initial plan.


    Not much else happened on his way to the center of the forest, moreover the closer he got to the center of the forest the easier it became to advance. Almost immediately upon arriving Zaran heard an ear-piercing shout.


    "DADDY!?!?"


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Zaran quickly ran further into the clearing and shouted at the top of his lungs. "CINDARRAH... I... AM... HERE!".


    Cindarrah quickly made her way through the branches and scurried to the closest place of the tree where the voice was coming from. Upon seeing Zaran, Cindarrah was beyond elated. She quickly made her way down the tree and ran over to Zaran.


    "Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry!" Cindarrah kept repeating over and over and she jumped in Zaran''s arms.


    "It''s okay, it''s okay, we are reunited now aren''t we?" Zaran said as he gently stroked Cindarrah. "Why did you run off though?"


    "The smell! The tree and the butterflies... they smelled so good! And so yummy!" Cindarrah replied somewhat shyly. Although Zaran had already said it was okay she was not comfortable at all. She had the distinct feeling that Zaran would severely discipline her for running off.


    However her fears were unwarranted as Zaran had already decided to not discipline her. After she said the butterflies smelled really good and that they were extremely tasty he had immediately checked her status window. His eye had widened in shock as he saw her status screen as Cindarrah had instantly advanced to level 12.


    "Cindarrah.. how many butterflies did you eat?" Zaran asked after he recovered from the initial shock.


    "Uhm... as many as my legs!" Cindarrah said.


    She only ate 8 and that caused her to leap this many levels? That''s such an astonishing improvement! However.. now that I think about it she has never once used leech on the wolves or deer... Is it because those are not considered as "prey" to her?


    "Hey Cindarrah, how comes you wanted to eat the butterflies but not the wolves or deer?"


    "The wolves and deer stink! Cindarrah doesn''t want to eat something that stinks!"


    I see, so it is like I thought... She is just selective of her food. Still... the level increase from a few of those butterflies is abnormally huge.


    "Want to eat more of the butterflies?"


    "No, they''re not yummy anymore!"


    "How comes?"


    "Don''t know... every next one just didn''t taste as good as the previous one... and the last barely tasted good at all so I don''t want to eat another one!"


    "Okay, okay then you don''t have to eat another one." Zaran said as he stopped stroking Cindarrah.


    Zaran stood up and took a quick look at the clearing. Unlike what he was expecting it was almost completely void of life, which felt strange. While he could notice a large amount of insects near the tree he didn''t even notice one insect or animal in the clearing. It was as Zaran took a tour around the clearing that he was suddenly surprised by a loud roar.


    Zaran looked up and noticed that a grey-colored griffon was approaching the tree. As it got closer to the guardian tree, two large shadows shot up from the tree and flew straight at the griffon at an astounding speed. The griffon quickly descended to dodge the attacks. The shadows had to stop to turn around and Zaran saw that it were two very large ravens. Both of them were almost completely black, besides a small crown made of blue feathers on top of their heads and a line of blue feathers that ran across their backs.


    The ravens cawed to one another as they shot towards the griffon again. The griffon landed on the ground about two hundred meters away from Zaran and an oppressive aura started to emanate from it. The two ravens entered the aura and were visibly slowed down, yet still approached the griffon at a terrifying speed. This time the griffon didn''t dodge and it lifted its body as it clawed at the two ravens. While one of the ravens was able to dodge the other one got struck by the griffon''s claw and a blood started pouring from the wound. The griffon''s two front claws dropped to the ground again, causing a minor quake in the near area.


    Zaran''s face turned ugly as he saw the current battle develop. It was clear to him that the ravens were defending their territory which the griffon had invaded. Although the ravens boasted high speed, he still felt like the griffon would win the fight in the end. The first attack of the ravens had already missed and their second attack ended with one of them getting badly hurt.


    "Kirin, Cindarrah, prepare to fight with that griffon." Zaran said in a low voice to his two companions.


    "Why?" Cindarrah asked. She saw the two ravens fight it and didn''t see a reason to join the fight.


    "They can''t win and it''s going to be bad if the griffon wins." Zaran calmy replied. He was thoroughly convinced that the balance of the forest would completely shift for the worse if the griffon won the fight. Moreover he wasn''t even sure that if the griffon won against the two ravens that he would be able to flee from it himself. The oppressive aura was an indicator as to how strong the griffon was. Seeing that the ravens'' movement slowed down a considerable amount due to it meant that the ravens were far weaker.


    Zaran buffed himself up with both ''swiftness'' and ''tempered body''. "Hey, ravens! I hope you can hear me but we are going to help!" Zaran shouted as he and Kirin started to run towards the griffon.


    Upon shouting that an angry croaking voice entered his head. "NO! This is our fight! Do not step in!"


    Zaran stopped running forward upon hearing that and could only sigh. Kirin stopped running forward too and cocked her head while looking at Zaran in an inquisitive way.


    "They don''t want our help."


    Kirin cocked her head a little more and then growled at the griffon for a while. "I know Kirin, they can''t win the fight, but they don''t want out help. We can only sit and wait."


    Zaran retreated again and decided to just watch the fight unfold for now.


    I can''t join the fight right now. If I do that it''s only going to harm the ravens and they might possibly attack me. All I can do is wait until one of them falls and then ask again if I can join in. If that doesn''t work I have to hope they hurt the griffon badly enough. At least then I will have an easy time finishing it off.

 Chapter 26: Ravens vs Griffon

    Author''s note: well had my car towed and in turn I have to work a few hours later than usual this week... Which in turn caused this chapter to be shorter.


    Note 2: I don''t know how many of you have already seen it but I had another idea for a story which you can find here: Za Lorgan</a>. If there''s enough interest I will bring out a chapter of that weekly along with the usual updates for this.


    Hope you enjoy it.


    _______________________________________


    The two ravens'' wings started to become shrouded by a dark grey light while they slowly circled around the griffon. The moment their wings were completely engulfed by this dark grey light the ravens speed doubled. The griffon roared in anger upon seeing this as it thought the ravens hadn''t been taking him seriously until now. Instantly the oppressing aura which the griffon emitted became several times more ferocious. Still, this did not effect the ravens anymore and instead of slowing down they increased their speed even more.


    The ravens cawed to one another and turned to attack the griffon. This time however they did not attack at the same time and at the same angle but on a asynchronous timing and at 2 completely different points. The griffon prepared to intercept the first raven with its claws, which turned a poisonous dark green. A mere second before impact the first raven suddenly diverted its course causing the griffon to miss the timing for an attack. The other raven sped up even more, causing the griffon to be unable to react in time to its attack. The griffon roared in pain as blood started to pour from the two claw marks upon its body.


    Both ravens now took turns in attacking and feinting, giving the griffon a great amount of trouble. Whenever it was expecting an attack from one raven and tried to counter it, the raven stopped its attack and the other raven delivered a powerful blow to it. Even more both ravens were continuously attacking from angles that he couldn''t defend at the same time. With each attack another large claw wound appeared on the griffon''s body.


    Yet after countless attacks the griffon didn''t give any signs of an impending defeat. Instead it was the raven that took a hit earlier in the battle that was starting to slow down to a degree that the griffon could easily deal with it. The raven had been slowly bleeding out over the course of the fight and with its blood its strength has dissipated accordingly.


    Zaran who had been watching the fight attentively shook his head upon seeing this. He had already figured out what was going on in the fight. The griffon had a highly regenerative ability and even if the raven''s left a wound the blood would quickly stop pouring from it and close up to some degree. Even if the ravens kept fighting for another day, unless the griffon''s regenerative speed disappeared, he saw no way for the ravens to beat the griffon. Even still he did not bother to join the fight as they had clearly said that it was their fight. Only if one of the ravens fell would he step in.


    Suddenly the wounded raven fell to the ground from mid flight and crashed in front of Zaran''s group. The griffon growled in pleasure as it could now deal with the other raven easily.


    A weak croaking voice entered Zaran''s head. "Please... help my husband... I beg of you!"


    Zaran couldn''t let the opportunity go and immediately took out his longbow and quickly shouted some commands to Cindarrah and Kirin. "We''re fighting! Cindarrah your job is to keep its movement obstructed with ''Web shot'' as much as possible! Kirin attack its eyes with dark flame to obstruct its vision! Both of you remember to stay out of the reach of its claws and not hit the raven!"


    Zaran advanced until he was within a hundred meters of the griffon. It was only at this point that he realized how massive it actually was. It was eight meters tall and its wings spanned sixteen meters. The ravens were huge too as their body was four meters long with a wingspan of six meters.


    He fired an arrow at the griffon to see how effective it was against it. The arrow left his bow with great speed but as soon as it entered the oppressive aura its speed slowed down tremendously and almost all of its penetrative power was lost instantly. Only a low ''thud'' was heard as the arrow hit the griffon, only penetrating the upper layer of its skin. "


    DAMN!" Zaran muttered furiously. On the side both Kirin''s and Cindarrah''s spells passed through the aura at their normal speed, seemingly unaffected by it. Zaran''s face turned ugly to behold as he realized that he had forgotten to create a long range spell or a long range crowd control spell. Now that the situation required him to be using long range spells he didn''t really have anything that could be up for the task.


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    The best he had was flash fire but even then he still needed to be in a relatively short range of his opponent. He wasn''t willing to get within close combat range with the griffon as Zaran was sure it had a few more surprises up its sleeve. For now all he could do was rely on Kirin and Cindarrah to drag out all the griffon''s surprises. Moreover he really wanted to check upon the female raven''s condition.


    ---------------------


    The battle entered a stalemate as Kirin and Cindarrah entered the fight as the griffon couldn''t figure out a way to deal with his pesky new opponents. Zaran figured out now was the perfect moment to check on the female raven''s condition.


    As he examined the raven''s injury he noticed that there was a fierce battle going on inside the wound. Pieces of flesh would slowly heal but at the same time other spots were devoured by the poison. For now the battle was at a stalemate but Zaran knew the raven''s strength was slowly chipped away. Carefully thinking about what he could do to help the raven Zaran switched his longbow for his longsword and took of his shirt. He ripped his shirt in shreds and quickly lit a fire with a few fallen branches. He held his sword over the fire until its color started to change before turning to the raven again.


    "This is going to hurt... A LOT, but if it works you will be able to live... otherwise the poison will kill you, so please endure."


    The raven gave a weak nod to Zaran who knelt next to the wound and slowly used his sword to cut out the infected flesh. The raven already no longer had the strength to scream in pain nor struggle.


    Because of the sword''s heat it easily passed through the raven''s flesh and seared the wound at the same time. After he was done he took out a field flask and poured it empty over the rags of his shirt. He then cleaned the wound and inspected it. The wound was absolutely clean with no poison present any longer. While there was now a quite significant hole in the raven at least her life was prolonged.


    "It''s done..."


    Zaran let the raven rest and went of to slay the griffon.


    --------------


    The griffon roared in anger as it saw the two legged one treat the raven''s wounds. It was beyond furious that his prey would now be able to escape if the current battle situation kept going on. It still had an ace up its sleeve but with the current battle it couldn''t display it as it left itself wide open afterwards.


    After treating the raven Zaran ran over while brandishing his longsword. While the griffon had 4000 hp at the start of the fight it had been slowly dwindled away even with his highly regenerative strength. Zaran had carefully examined how the healing works and noticed that whatever happened 75% of the damage done would automatically regenerate unless it was a hit with Kirin''s dark flames.


    Zaran ordered Kirin and Cindarrah to continue pestering the griffon as he struck a series of ''Flutter'', ''Rise and Fall'' and ''Velocity''. The griffon''s health started to rapidly plummet with the new challenger. With another damage source the battle turned around instantly. While it was previously a fight of stamina now it had shifted enormously into Zaran''s favor.


    The teamwork between the four of them however wasn''t as great. While Kirin and Cindarrah had a well defined job and stayed out of the raven''s way, Zaran and the raven''s miscoordination not only messed up their battle rhythm but the rhythm of Kirin and Cindarrah as well.


    Slowly but surely the mistakes added up and allowed the griffon to use its special skill ''Feather storm!''. The feathers on its body that served as defense all left it''s body and attacked all enemies within a large area. The feathers swirled about close to the griffon and ripped everything near it to shreds, before rapidly expanding its area of effect. Zaran ordered Kirin to run and ran over to the injured raven while picking up Zaran in the progress. Just barely before the skill would hit the three of them Zaran used ''Gravity'' along with ''Earth Lance'' to deflect all the feathers onto the ''Earth lance'' just barely saving the wounded raven''s life.


    The other raven had through it''s speed easily been able to avoid the griffon''s skill. For a special skill the wind up simply had been too long and with swift opponents there was no way they would be harmed. However in a closed environment that skill would''ve been certain death for all enemies nearby. With a loud caw the raven attacked the griffon as its wings turned an ominous black colour.

 Chapter 27: Griffons end

    Author''s note: Short chapter but I hope you will enjoy regardless.


    The question to the poll is at the bottom of the chapter... otherwise there will be a spoiler.


    So for those who wonder why the chapters have been shorter recently... it''s partially due to the car problems which reduced my almost nonexistent free time and partially because I wasn''t 100% sure how I wanted the story to develop in the forest, which made it darn hard to write. For the next few chapters I have a more well defined route that''ll be followed so they''ll be far easier to write and the chapters should get longer again from here on out.


    _______________________


    The griffon unleashed a deafening roar as the aura surrounding it became horrifying beyond belief. What was left over from flora in the vicinity immediately withered away and turned to dust. At the same time the griffon''s hit points had plummeted to a mere 100. As a last resort it had cut its own life short while receiving a horrifying amount of strength in return. Its lost feathers quickly recovered now, restoring the original defense of its body. The aura rapidly expanded, life quickly withering away wherever it spread. Once the aura reached Zaran, his hp bar too started to deplete rapidly. Meanwhile the raven was almost completely covered in the ominous black aura.


    "Not good! Quickly finish it!" Zaran exclaimed. If the aura went a little further it would start affecting the wounded raven, which in its current state would quickly die from the damage. However after covering Zaran the aura stopped expanding.


    The griffon roared once more and the aura quickly retracted, pulling along the dust of the withered life with it. The dust started to swirl around the griffon before entering the griffon''s pores. A moment later its hp started to restore rapidly and only stopped once it had reached 25% of its max health. While it still had lost health in the process, Zaran noticed that the griffon in its current state was far more dangerous than before.


    Finally the black aura had fully covered the raven and the raven rapidly descended to attack the griffon. The griffon growled as it prepared to dodge the raven''s attack and then counterattack it. Right before the raven hit the griffon it dodged but the raven had already expected that and turned to the way that the griffon had dodged to and hit the griffon with one of it''s wings, instantly slicing deep into the griffon''s flesh with it. The raven quickly flew up again and circled around the griffon before attacking in the same way again. The griffon roared and released the vile aura again, quickly depleting the raven''s health in the process. The raven quickly left the aura and stared angrily at the griffon.


    Kirin leisurely walked into the aura on her own before turning around to Zaran with an inquisitive expression on her face. She was completely unaffected by the aura and instead of hurting her it seemed to nourish the little hellhound.


    Instantly realizing why Kirin was looking at him strangely, Zaran nodded to her. Black flames sprouted from Kirin''s body as she rushed towards the griffon. Kirin launched a few dark flame balls at the griffon, instantly pushing it back. The griffon growled in pain but before it could retaliate Kirin had already arrived at it and fiercely bit its ankles. Although it looked funny, the damage dealt was absolutely no joke. With just a few moves the remaining 500 hp had dropped down to 100. Compared to other sources of damage that the griffon would slowly heal from, the griffon showed no sign of healing from Kirin''s damage.


    The griffon swatted at Kirin with one of it''s paws but Kirin nimbly dodged by running under the griffon''s body. Kirin released one more final dark flame ball at the griffon before it collapsed with a loud roar. A golden light descended on Zaran, Kirin, Cindarrah and the two ravens indicating that all of them had leveled up. The light descended another time on Zaran.


    Zaran''s mouth had fallen open from the scene as he hadn''t imagined Kirin being so strong. While her earlier job in the battle had been to obstruct the griffon, now he was thinking that she could''ve dealt with it all by herself. The griffon''s oppressing aura started to dissipate and Zaran ran over to Kirin and started praising her endlessly.


    However when the vile aura was completely gone Kirin suddenly lost her consciousness and fell to the ground.


    "Kirin?" Zaran exclaimed worriedly.


    A croaking voice entered Zaran''s mind. "Don''t worry human. She has borrowed the power of the aura to battle the griffon and now her body must pay the price. She will be fine with a lot of rest." The raven paused for a bit before continueuing. "I wish to thank you for stepping in. If not for you I fear both me and my spouse would have been devoured by the griffon."


    "No need to thank me, I was merely acting according to what I thought was the best decision for the balance of the forest."


    "And that is exactly why we must thank you. If not for your aid in the battle we would have lost and the natural order of this forest would most certainly have gone out of control. Wait here... I''ll give you a token of appreciation for helping us in our time of need."


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The raven quickly flew up in the air and disappeared into the guardian tree. Moments later it reappeared carrying in its beak a large orange colored flower with six petals, each petal as large as a hand and a small brown pendant that looked like a miniature flute. The raven put both of the items in front of Zaran and started explaining their uses.


    "If you blow this flute I, Aruan, will instantly come over to your aid as long as you are within a hundred kilometers of the guardian tree. But beware, at the furthest range it will take me an hour to get to you. So keep that in mind. As for the flower... It''s a very rare treasure. It is a flower from a parasitic plant that grows on the guardian tree and only blooms for a single hour each year. If one does not grab the flower within this hour, you''ll have to wait another year to get one. As for it''s effects, there are two things that are noteworthy."


    "For one the petals of this flower immediately grants one a large increase in power. Both me and my spouse are only a few years old, but our power is far stronger than the majority of the same generation. It is all due to our discovery of this flower. We both eat half of the petals so our power somewhat stays the same. If not for this flower we would''ve been swatted like flies by the griffon."


    "The stem and leaves have a small chance to give one the ability to communicate telepathically! For me it worked at the first time but for my spouse it took five tries!"


    "But beware! Do not eat the seeds of this plants as they have negate all the positive effects the petals give you!"


    A shocked expression appeared on Zaran''s face the more Aruan explained about the flower. Especially the part about communicating telepathically was interesting. At the moment Kirin could understand him but he didn''t always know what Kirin wanted. If Kirin could communicate telepathically it would be quite convenient for him. However Zaran felt that he couldn''t possibly accept such a great offer. It was obvious that the ravens relied heavily on this flower to acquire their current strength.


    "I can''t possibly accept this flower." Zaran politely said after thinking it through for a while.


    "Then... in return for the flower... could you hand over the griffon''s corpse?" Aruan asked.


    "The corpse?" Zaran could get loot from it if he kept it but... would it be as good as the flower? Zaran pondered for a while and eventually nodded saying. "I can agree to that exchange."


    A happy expression surfaced on the raven''s face. "Then let''s do it like that."


    Zaran equipped the pendant and stowed away the flower.


    "Would you like me to give you a ride back to the city?" Aruan asked.


    "If I could bother you with that, then yes please." Zaran respectfully replied.


    "Hop on then!"


    Zaran picked up Kirin and mounted Aruan. Cindarrah had long before taken her favorite spot on Zaran''s head so he didn''t need to pick her up.


    Aruan ascended to the skies and quickly they arrived at the city. A plethora of users cried out in amazement as they saw the raven arrive and drop Zaran off. Even more so when they noticed the user''s name was Zaran. Instantly Zaran was swarmed with user upon user.


    "Kirin, aura! now!" Zaran yelled quickly. As soon as Kirin''s aura befell the nearby users many of them took a few steps back. However a not insignificant amount of users were unaffected by the aura. Currently Kirin was too weak to affect the stronger users so Zaran was still swarmed by the stronger ones. A dark expression surfaced on Zaran''s face.


    One of the nearby guards had noticed the commotion and had called over a large regiment of guards to scatter the users. When the guards approached Zaran a surprised look appeared on his face before his expression turned serious.


    "Come with me. The major has been searching for you the past few weeks."


    Zaran nodded and followed the guards.


    _______________


    Poll question: Let Kirin gain sentience or not? Originally I planned to let it fail but after thinking it through for a while I decided to let you guys have a say in this one!

 Chapter 28: The mayors request

    Author''s note: The votes on the previous chapter already show that people want Kirin to get sentient but currently it''s rather close between when exactly she should get it. The poll stays open for a few days so for those who haven''t voted, do so while you still can.


    Enjoy!


    _____________________


    The guards went through a great amount of trouble to bring Zaran to the mayor''s manor. On their way to the manor users were constantly trying to push their way through the guards to ask Zaran an endless stream of questions. Eventually the guards were forced to brandish their weapons towards the users and only at that point did the stream of users lessen to some extent. Soon enough Zaran was brought to the mayor''s manor.


    The manor covered an astonishing area of two thousand square meters. The manor was surrounded by white coloured walls with a dark brown roofing tiles. Within these walls were grasfields and various flowerbeds. Upon entering the manor a few german shepherds ran over and growled angrily at Zaran, unaffected by Kirin''s aura. The manor itself was made out of white colour wooden walls with the same dark brown colour as the outer wall for the roofing tiles and the accents of the window tiles and doors.


    Zaran was brought into the manor and led through a few hallways until finally arriving in front of the mayor''s office. The walls in this hallway were decorated with a few paintings of noteworthy figures and the mayor himself along with some beautifully woven tapisteries. On either side of the mayor''s office stood a full suit of armour. The guard that had led Zaran through the manor knocked on the mayor''s office''s door.


    A cold voice rang out from the room. "What is it?"


    "Sir, we''ve brought the one you''ve been looking for." The guard dutifully replied.


    A rumbling sound and a cry from pain could be heard from the mayor''s office. Soon after the mayor opened the door to his office. The mayor was a large crocodile man, was about two meters tall and had the figure of a man who never said no if you asked him if he wanted another snack.


    The mayor sized Zaran up while adjusting his glasses. He turned to the guard and angrily yelled. "Why didn''t you say so earlier!"


    Then he turned towards Zaran and urged him to enter his office. "Please sir come in, come in!"


    "Guard, let the maids bring some wine and cheese!" the mayor yelled to the guard before closing the door to his office. The mayor''s office was very orderly. A large wooden desk made out of sturdy black wood sat near the window in the middle of the back of the room, both sides of the desk had wooden chairs made out of the same black wood with suede for the seat and back of the seat.


    The desk was beautifully crafted and the edges were perfectly rounded. On the desk a few stacks on papers sat on the left and right side of the desk. On the side of the mayor''s seat lied an unfinished letter and his pencil lied next to it in an orderly fashion.


    The rest of the office held various bookshelves filled to the brim with books regarding various subjects. In two spots in the room, near the middle of the right and the middle of the left wall, two large plants held the place of a bookshelve instead.


    The mayor offered Zaran a seat before taking place in his own, sticking his tail through the back of the chair that had a convenient opening to fit it through.


    The mayor clasped his hands and leaned forwards, placing his elbows on the desk. "So you are the Zaran everyone has been talking about the last few weeks. I must say... I expected you to look... different. People made it seem like I should have been expecting someone with a very threathening aura but instead your aura seems very calm and relaxed."


    Zaran politely smiled "Mayor, you may get to the point, there''s no need for flattery."


    The mayor was taken aback for a moment but then was going to start explaining when suddenly knocking was heard on the door. The door was then opened by a young catwoman in her early twenties, wearing a rather revealing maid outfit and holding two cups and a large bottle of wine. She was followed by another young catwoman who likewise wore a rather revealing maid outfit, this one holding a cheese platter. The maids placed the cups and cheese platter on the mayor''s desk and poured some wine for the both of them and then one took place next to the mayor and the other next to Zaran.


    Zaran saw the mayor telling the maid next to him which pieces of cheese he wanted. The maid carefully cut the requested pieces from the various cheese and put it on a small plate, which she then gave to the mayor along with a fork. Zaran took note and followed the maid''s example.


    While eating a bit of cheese the mayor continued. "I''ve invited you here because the city has a certain problem that has to be dealt with. Normally I ask Henry for these sorts of things but Henry has told me that I should consult you instead. The first few days I let my guards search for you but you were nowhere to be found. It was at that time that I started getting reports about a martial arts master named Zaran who was accompanied by a spider and a hellhound. I instantly figured it was the same person that Henry had told me about and I started to understand why he wanted me to contact you instead."


    "So your problem must be related to hellbeasts?" Zaran asked realizing that could be the only reason the mayor required his services and didn''t ask any others.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "We believe it to be the case. Allow me to explain. The sewers have been infested by a large population of rats for nearly as long as they exist. After countless attempts at exterminating them have failed we send our new recruits down there to train and curb the population somewhat in the process. This had been going well for years with barely any casualties but in recent months every party we sent down has been exterminated. We sent an elite squad down there but... when we didn''t hear from them within twenty four hours we sent a few volunteers to check out the starting area and... the only thing we found was what the rats didn''t like."


    "Our next course of action was to forbid anyone from entering the sewers and ask Henry to help us out. Henry initially agreed to help us but when he went down there he said we should see you instead."


    "Why would Henry say that? Surely he''d have an easier time then me down there... I am merely a novice."


    The mayor started to feel uncomfortable. Henry had said that if Zaran didn''t accept the job he wouldn''t accept it afterwards either. There was one thing Henry had said that might be able to convince Zaran so the mayor tried using that. "He said the following: remember the area we talked about? It''s down there."


    "Oh? He said that... Now that is interesting..." Zaran said. "Now... is there ANY additional information you can give me about what''s going down there or what I will be up against?"


    "I''m afraid I can''t offer you any additional information."


    "What about the pay?"


    "If you are able to kill whatever has been killing our men we are willing to reward you with 100 gold. If you are able to keep the sewers from being rat infested ever again we will give you the rights to a house or pavilion in the city. This alone is a substantial reward as these rights are very rare for outsiders like yourself. The specifics for these rights will be discussed if you have proven to have solved the rat problem."


    A message box popped up in front of Zaran with the information about the quest.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>Quest: Virul''s sewer problem</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Virul has always camped with an overpopulation of rats in the sewers. The city''s guards previously used it as a training spot until platoons started mysteriously dying. You have been asked to find out whatever is causing the guards to die and kill whatever is doing so. On top of that you have been tasked to find a way to solve the rat problem forever. If you can solve that problem you will receive the rights to a house, manor or pavilion.</td></tr><tr><td>Objectives</td><td>Clear the sewers of whatever is causing the city guards to die.


    Bonus: Solve the rat overpopulation problem.</td></tr><tr><td>Difficulty</td><td>B+</td></tr><tr><td>Reward</td><td>100 gold


    Bonus: Rights to a house, manor or pavilion.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "Then we have a deal. I will need a day or two to prepare myself before I go down there." Zaran said as he accepted the quest.


    The mayor let out a sigh of relief. He had not expected that Zaran would so easily accept the deal laid before him. He had already been willing to spend a 1000 gold just to get Zaran to look at the problem if necessary. While there was no lack of guards within the city, the current situation within the sewers had already cost him thousands of gold. Currently three hundred and thirty five had died within the sewers. As every guard''s armour costs a few gold and that trainees received a surprisingly large sum every month, these series of deaths in the sewers had forced Virul to take quite a financial hit. Thus only having to spend a hundred more gold had come as a huge relief to the mayor.


    As for the rights to a house or pavilion, while normally only people born in Virul could buy a property in the city, he could make an exception if Zaran was able to solve his problem. If Zaran was able to solve the rat problem forever he would more than gladly part with one of them. Even though the sewers had been a good training area in the past, the rumors about the deaths in the sewers had already spread among the guards and even veterans were no longer willing to go there anymore.


    "The maids shall show you out then. The sooner you can start the better. I hope when we see each other again that you''ll have good news for me."


    Zaran nodded and allowed the maids to escort him out.


    Zaran sighed and leisurely walked to the market. He had accepted the quest even though the difficulty level was most likely far above what he could handle. But after he had heard that Henry had said that it was a place they had talked about how could he not check it out himself? Moreover if he could solve the rat problem forever he would be able to buy a house, manor or pavilion in the city. Since he was a beast master and was bound to have a lot of companions in the future he needed a place to keep them if he momentarily had no use for them.


    Zaran soon arrived at the market and visited Pantheon''s stall and stocked up on food for a week. Next Zaran decided to stroll around for some new armour. Since he had already passed level 10 he was in need to upgrade his beginner set of armour to something more adequate to his current needs. Zaran strolled around the market but didn''t really find anything he found comfortable to wear.


    He then took another tour around the marketplace and started to note down the prices on leather and iron ore. He settled down on buying more leather of the Silver Line wolves and bought another 5 kilograms of normal iron ore. Having concluded his business at the market it was time to craft himself some new gear.

 Chapter 29: Nuvahns master

    Author''s note: crafting the leather set was harder to describe than first thought. Any additional tips/reference material for future leather crafting are MORE than welcome!


    I decided to not post the stats of the half finished leather equips as it would just add a large amount of meaningless boxes in the chapter.


    As always, enjoy!


    ------------------------------


    Zaran started making his way to the leather working guild when a voice called for him.


    "Master Karaz! Please wait!"


    Zaran ignored it and increased his walking speed.


    "Master it''s me, Nuvahn, please wait!"


    Zaran instantly stopped when he heard the name ''Nuvahn''.


    A male harpie wearing leather light armour landed in front of him and dropped to his knee. "Nuvahn greets master Karaz!"


    Even though his face looked rather average, a large scar ran from the top of his head, across his right eye and only stopped at the bottom of his chin. His silver hair dropped to his shoulders and his grey-greenish eyes seemed to continuously draw you in. At 1.70m tall, he had a rather slim build as barely any muscle could be made out, this was quite offset by his imposing silver colored wings that stretched from his back. His hands and feet were claws but he still had the ability to wield weapons as only the fingers itself had the features of a claw.


    Kirin growled at Nuvahn and Cindarrah was ready to shoot a web-ball towards Nuvahn.


    Zaran told Kirin and Cindarrah to calm down and Zaran quickly picked Nuvahn up. "Nuvahn, me being your master was of a lifetime long ago, there''s no need to treat me as your master anymore.  I''m still rather glad to see you though, although i do wonder how you managed to start reincarnating. No... the important question is which god did you choose?"


    "Isis! She came up to me personally and said that you were already in her service so I decided to serve her as well. As for how I started reincarnating... after your death a global war started between the two grand alliances. I had a hand in stopping the war and... that''s pretty much it."


    Zaran chuckled at Nuvahn''s answer. "So mysterious about it Nuvahn. Don''t worry if you don''t wish to talk about it I shall not pry any further. Regardless why have you searched for me?"


    "I wish to follow you once more and increase my mastery over the ''dance of the butterfly'' style. I''ve tried to gain the mastery you have over it but still... I am nowhere close to your mastery level. Trying to create a skill of my own bore no fruit and I couldn''t find any skill more profound than yours. Thus I decided that should I ever meet you again I would ask you to take me under your wings once more."


    "Hmm..." Zaran thought about it for a while. "I''m not sure if you''ll be able to keep up with me. I''ll be sleeping the bare minimum and play this game as much as possible. If you can keep up than you may follow if you can''t... I won''t be waiting for you!"


    "That speaks for itself. If I am unable to keep up I am unworthy to follow you. That said where were you going to?"


    "I''m going to the leather working guild to craft myself some armour. After that is done I will be heading to my blacksmith master to create my signature weapon. You should still remember it right?" Zaran said as he started walking towards the leather working guild again.


    "You can craft it?"


    "I drew the design and the game accepted it as a blue print so I am rather sure I can. My blacksmithing is already at the advanced level so creating a somewhat decent one should be possible."


    "Master, could you create one for me as well?"


    "Sure, just bring me 50 kilograms of iron ore and I''ll make one for you."


    "I already have that much on me so that won''t be a problem. Since there seems to be a rather limited supply... I found it a better idea to keep a fair amount with me at all times."


    "Limited supply? How do you mean?" Zaran asked with a shocked expression.


    "Haven''t you heard? Mining spots don''t respawn. If it''s mined, it''s gone forever. Thus there are already a lot of people who are mining frantically as the prices are bound to increase."


    Zaran pondered for a while before a thought suddenly struck him. "What about drops? Couldn''t you get ore that way?"


    "That... I don''t know." Nuvahn said as he shook his head, making his silver hair dance along with every shake.


    "Guess we''ll find that out later then... regardless, what are you going to be doing while I''m crafting?" Zaran said as they had arrived at the leather working guild.


    "Thought I could just tag along and catch up with you a little, I think we could talk for a lifetime right now and still not have caught up with each other." Nuvahn chuckled.


    "Fine by me, let''s see if there''s a free room."


    Zaran soon found an empty crafting room and registered it under his name for the remainder of the day.


    Nuvahn took a seat on the windowsill as Zaran started working on a leather shirt. He''d start by making plain leather armour here and then add a very light plating to it when he went over to Eoric''s place.


    Before Zaran started crafting Nuvahn suddenly asked "Can you still speak the language from back then?"


    "Yes it''s one of the few I actually bother remembering. Why?"


    "Let''s conversate in that language... Gotta make sure no one listens in."


    "Sure enough." Zaran replied with a chuckle.


    Zaran and Nuvahn started to talk about past lifetimes in the language they used ages ago as Zaran started taking out pieces of already cured grey leather, some thread, a needle and some buttons. He had bought cured leather since it was far more convenient than curing it himself and it would save him a tremendous amount of time.


    Cutting one of the largest leather pieces in nine different sized parts Zaran started making a leather vest. The parts existed out of the back, two parts from the front that he would hold together with buttons, two parts for the arms, one part to connect the arms, back, and front parts together, one part to connect the previous named parts together at the bottom of the vest and four sturdy parts that were to be used to hold the light armour plating he would add later.


    He put the back piece on the table first and then started adding the first front piece to it, then adding the second piece. As he was done with that he took the strip of leather that would be used to connect the back, front and arms together and stitched it to the back and front pieces. Afterwards he took the pieces for the arms, cut it in the correct shape for his arm and then stitched it to the already connected pieces. Finally he only needed to add the bottom strip and the buttons to finish the basic design.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    After finishing the basic design he opened the leather vest. Now he took the other four parts of the leather and cut one of the parts in two, both equal in length to cover the front parts. This left him with two parts for the sides and back. Zaran loosely attached the leather pieces to the vest, ensuring that he could still insert the leather plating in to them later on.


    After working on it for two hours it was finally completed. Then he went on to make two leather gloves which required him to cut out nine pieces from a piece of leather for each glove. Five parts were used to cover the beginning of his fingers while the other four pars were used for the palm, the back of his hand and the sides of his hand. As the design he used was rather simple and not all too complicated he was done in less than an hour with both gloves.


    Continuing he started making some leather pants. These required him to use eight parts, four long parts of identical size for the legs and the other four were used for the area around the crotch. He started by stitching the leg parts together with thread. Afterwards he connected the four parts necessary for the crotch and lastly he connected the crotch and the legs area completing the third piece of his leather set.


    As a final piece he took out a thick piece of leather and some leather that still had fur on it. He cut two elliptical shapes out of the thick piece of leather, that would serve as soles for the boots he was about to create. Then he cut two half moon shapes for the tips of the boots and attached them to the soles. He quickly cut another six pieces of leather, one long one for each side of the boots and one smaller one for the back of the boots. Afterwards he cut a piece of leather in a rounded v-shape, which would serve as the top of the boot. After adding all the parts together the boot was coming along nicely but still looked like a shoe. Cutting another two pieces, he shaped them so they would attach to the curved V shape and then curve towards the back, which caused the boot to be fully formed.


    Making sure all the pieces where fitted tightly together Zaran cut another two half moon parts and kept them apart for now. When he went to Eoric''s place he would add some light plating to the tip of the shoes. As for the soles, Zaran took out a piece of hard leather and carefully cut it in two cylindrical shapes and attached them to the bottom of the boots, creating a sturdy sole.


    During all the crafting Zaran and Nuvahn had talked about events in past lifetimes and both had been surprised about the other''s adventures. Nuvahn was especially intrigued about this "Battlefield of the Gods" event that Zaran had been talking about.


    As a result of the crafts Zaran''s expertise had increased several times over and he had reached beginner level 7 in leather crafting. Nuvahn was so kind as to let Zaran temporarily store the leather parts in his storage ring. Zaran''s storage ring was completely full and nothing else would fit in it anymore.


    Seeing as all the crafting that needed to be done in the leather working guild was over Zaran exited the room and explained to a nearby instructor that the room was available from here on out. As he stepped outside the leather working guild Zaran decided to first head to Eoric''s place and start working on the armour plating so he could finish his new armour set. Taking in account that it was only light for a few more hours he thought it would be a good idea to head over to Henry''s place after he had finished the armour plating and ask Henry if he knew a way to increase the amount of items that could fit in his storage ring. He had only barely started crafting and he was already having severe issues with the amount of items his storage ring could hold.


    After leaving the leather working guild, Zaran explained his plans for the following day to Nuvahn, who happily tagged along to Eoric''s place. Mere minutes later they arrived at the smithy, which much to Zaran''s surprise was had smoke rising from its chimney. Eoric had told him before that it had been a rather rare occurrence for him to work in the smithy the past few years, hence his surprise.


    Zaran pushed open the door of the smithy and noticed Eoric casting a silver coloured liquid in a tiny ring shaped mold.


    "Good evening Eoric." Zaran said with a friendly tone.


    "Ah Zaran! Nice timing!" Eoric replied in an excited tone. "I was just making something for ya!"


    "Making something for me?" Zaran said with a confused expression. He hadn''t asked Eoric to make anything for him so why was he doing so?


    "Last time you were here I noticed that your storage ring was of the worst quality possible. And because you can''t get a better one from the guilds I decided to make you one myself. However it took me a while to procure the ingredients and I could only make one just now. I''m quite lucky that you came along as I had heard that you weren''t been seen in the city for a few weeks now." Eoric only now noticed that someone was with Zaran. "Oh, who''s this fella? "


    "That''s Nuvahn Alakhaarni, an old friend of mine."


    "Nuvahn Alakhaarni? What a peculiar name..." Eoric muttered as he extended his hand towards Nuvahn, who likewise extended his and gave Eoric a firm handshake.


    Eoric shifted his gaze towards the ring again and noticed that the liquid had almost completely cooled down. He took the mold and took the ring out of it and immediately put it in the slack-tub speeding up the cooling process dramatically. Moments later a silver colored ring emerged from the slack tub.


    "Almost done!" Eoric said as he carefully put the ring on the table and took out two charms. Eoric pricked himself in the finger with his dagger and let a few blood drops fall on both the charms and on the ring. Instantly a huge amount of magic burst from the charms and quickly entered the ring. Faint runes started to appear on the ring, quickly becoming more visible. After waiting for a few minutes the runes were clearly visible and it was at this point that Eoric picked up the ring.


    "All done... Try it on and check out the difference!" Eoric said as he urged Zaran to put on the ring. Zaran took off his own storage ring and tried on the new one. After checking his inventory slots Zaran was utterly flabbergasted. This new ring could hold a massive two hundred items. Seeing the surprise on Zaran''s face, Eoric started to grin.


    "Can''t let a disciple as good as you run around with a worthless ring now can I?"


    Zaran immediately cupped his hands. "Thank you Eoric, I appreciate this gift from the bottom of my heart! It was just what i needed too as I was already running out of space in my old ring."


    Eoric just smiled. "So what brings you here?"


    "Ah I was looking to craft some light metal plating to go inside a leather vest and create two swords from the designs I have shown you earlier."


    "Oh? That''ll be rather interesting. I look forward to seeing your progress. Make sure to tell me when you start, I''m rather curious to the crafting steps. So both of you will be using this weapon?"


    "Yes. It suits both our tastes and it fits our battle style." Zaran replied.


    "Well then feel free to use my forge. This old man needs a nap but do wake me up when you start creating the blades."


    "I will certainly do so!"


    Eoric left the smithy after confirming once more that Zaran would wake him up. Seeing that Eoric had left and wouldn''t return for now, Zaran started to prepare the forge for his own crafts.

 Chapter 30: Finishing the leather gear

    Author''s note: 30th chapter already, time flies... Anyway I decided to give the weapon crafting a chapter of its own as it might get quite lengthy. I''ll try to draw the weapon and post a picture of it but my drawing skills are abysmal and a five year old might be able to draw it better, so please don''t expect too much in that regard.


    That said enjoy the chapter!


    _____________________


    Zaran rolled up his sleeves, took one of the black apron''s that lied around and put it on. Zaran selected a few standard molds that Eoric had lying around and put them on the stone table. After instructing Nuvahn on how to operate the bellows Zaran took out the chunks of iron ore that he had and started to melt them down.


    Meanwhile, Cindarrah jumped of his head as she couldn''t stand the smell and heat of the forge and ran to the opposite cornor of where the forge was. This in contrast with Kirin who looked for a comfortable spot near the forge where she wouldn''t disturb Zaran during his work. As soon as she found a good spot Kirin laid down and almost instantly fell asleep.


    After removing the impurities Zaran cast a part of the liquid iron in a long rectangular mold that was about the size of his sides with meticulous precision. He didn''t want the plating to be neither too thick nor too thin. After the first mold was filled Zaran started pouring another part of the liquid iron in a rectangular mold which was shaped to fit his back. Meticulously taking note of the thickness, he stopped pouring once the liquid reached a thickness of 5 millimeters. Lastly Zaran took yet another mold, this one shaped in the form of the tip of his shoes. Eoric had a lot of these molds lying around so he had already been able to select the right one. Moreover unlike the other molds this one he could just fill to the top as the end product would automatically have the correct shape. This meant he would not have to hammer away on the iron plating that was meant for the tip of his shoes.


    A while later the liquid in the molds had finished cooling thus Zaran removed the plating from the molds and carefully refilled them, again meticulously taking note of the amount of liquid used.


    Taking one of the long rectangular plates meant for his sides Zaran reheated it and hammered away on it, contorting the shape to fit his sides. With every bang of the hammer the iron plate slowly changed its form. After a process of half an hour Zaran fitted the plate to itself. Not happy with how it turned out he heated it up again and started hammering away again. After repeating this process a few times he was finally happy with how it turned out and started on the chest plate.


    Nuvahn was attentively watching Zaran''s progress. He wanted to catch up some more but seeing his former master so absorbed in his work he didn''t dare to disturb him.


    ''Kling, Klang''


    Every time the hammer rang out the metal contorted, coming closer to the shape of a breastplate. Sweat started to pour from Zaran''s face from both the heat of the furnace and the concentration he was pouring in to the plate. Despite that he could rely on the system to take the majority of the work''s load away from him Zaran had decided to not do so. As he had learned earlier advancing to the advanced stage to the expert stage required a deeper understanding of the skill itself... Thus people who only relied on the game to do everything for them would have a really hard time advancing. It was for exactly this reason that Zaran refused to let the game do everything for him. On top of that this way suited him far more.


    Slowly but surely the breast plate had changed to the form Zaran wanted. After fitting it on himself once with Nuvahn''s help, Zaran was happy with how it turned out.


    The process of reheating the metal plates and hammering was repeated for the remaining two pieces. Taking the pieces one by one, he put them into the leather parts meant to hold them in the leather vest. After finishing he checked up on the stats but the game hadn''t acknowledged the whole as a piece of armour and all of the stats were lost instead.


    Zaran pondered for a moment and removed the leather parts used to hold the plates and cut them into straps. Then he hammered a few holes in the sides of the metal plates so he could connect the parts with the leather straps. Quickly he connected the metal plates with straps and firmly attached the straps to the vest. After finishing that Zaran nodded in approval of himself as he felt this looked more like an armour set than what he had previously created.


    He cracked his knuckles and took the two metal half moons that he had created and placed them on the tip of his shoes. Then he took some leather and cut it in a slightly bigger half moon shape and used that to cover up the metal plates. After double checking that he had firmly attached everything he opened the stat screens of his new set of armour.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Leather plate armour</td></tr><tr><td>Level requirement</td><td>10</td><td>Armour</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Bonus stats</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>+5</td><td>Health</td><td>+100</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Simple leather armour made from leather of the silver line wolf reinforced with iron plate armour. Due to the added metal plating it gives a larger amount of protection compared to regular leather armour.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Fingerless leather gloves</td></tr><tr><td>Level requirement</td><td>10</td><td>Armour</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Bonus stats</td></tr><tr><td>Flexibility</td><td>+5</td><td>Agility</td><td>+5</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Simple leather gloves made from leather of the silver line wolf. They offer simple protection and improve weapon handling.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Leather leggings</td></tr><tr><td>Level requirement</td><td>10</td><td>Armour</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Bonus stats</td></tr><tr><td>Flexibility</td><td>+5</td><td>Agility</td><td>+10</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Simple leather leggings made from leather of the silver line wolf. They offer simple protection and improve speed.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Leather boots</td></tr><tr><td>Level requirement</td><td>10</td><td>Armour</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Bonus stats</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>+5</td><td>Agility</td><td>+5</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Simple leather boots made from leather of the silver line wolf.


    The tip of the boots has been reinforced with iron plating, greatly increasing armour and slightly enhancing strength.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran let out a deep sigh of satisfaction. Luckily all his hard work had not been for nothing and he had a decent set of armour right now.


    "Hey Nuvahn, take out your iron ore, I''m going to wake up the old man." Zaran said as he walked outside the smithy. He knocked on the door to Eoric''s house... but even after a few minutes of knocking no one answered. Zaran let out a sigh and pushed open the door. Zaran''s eyes popped out of their sockets as he saw what a mess the place was. Everything was just strewn around on the floor, pots, books, chunks of ore, weapons, creates, clothes, ... It was so messy that you couldn''t even see the floor.


    "What the... how can someone live in a swine stall like this?" Zaran exclaimed in surprise. "Master, wake up!!!" Zaran yelled. He really didn''t want to walk around in this mess of a place. He didn''t want to see what the rest of the house looked like if the entrance was already this bad.


    "EORIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Zaran roared after he didn''t hear any movement. Another minute passed with no answer and Zaran cursed inwardly as he trudged through the house, trying to avoid breaking anything and trying to not fall by slipping on anything at the same time. The deeper he went in the house the messier it got and there were places where a room was stacked so full with thrash, books, clothes and whatnot that only a tiny corridor to pass through was left over.


    Finally he arrived at the bedroom which was... completely clean. Not even a speck of dust existed in the bedroom. The difference between the rest of the house was so huge that Zaran''s eyes popped out their sockets yet again.


    "WHAT THE?!?" He exclaimed in shock. "Just... how? What... WHY?" he yelled as he looked at the completely clean bedroom.


    "hmm uhh... wh...what?" Eoric mumbled as he slowly opened his eyes. "Who''s yelling?" Eoric mumbled in a completely exhausted tone. A moment later he fully opened his eyes and saw Zaran staring at the room with an utterly confused expression.


    "Never seen a bedroom before?" Eoric asked.


    "Not one this clean with a house so dirty, no."


    "Can''t sleep when my bedroom is dirty so I just clean this place whenever I want to sleep and throw the thrash out of this room... I''m too lazy to clean the rest of my place so it stacked up over the years." Eoric replied with a blank expression, not even blinking once while saying it.


    "Yeah... that said I''m going to work on the weapon. If you want to watch, please come to the smithy." Zaran said as he turned around and made his way through the mess again.


    Zaran entered the smithy again and saw the pile of ore Nuvahn had stacked on the table.


    "How much ore did you take out?" Zaran asked Nuvahn. The amount of ore he had available for the blade had to be carefully taken into account. Even being off a few hundred grams could make it so that the balance of the weapon would be completely skewed. If the balance was even a tiny bit off neither Zaran nor Nuvahn would even bother to use the weapon. Compared to ordinary weapons where being a bit of balance isn''t as disastrous, with this blade it made the difference between swinging around a completely overpowering weapon or a random piece of metal. Even the balance between every section of the blade was important to take care of.


    "Exactly 49.8 kilograms. It was that or 52.5 kilograms."


    Zaran massaged his temples while milling over the best amount of weight. Both numbers weren''t good to make the weapon with as it would skew the balance.


    Suddenly Zaran had a flash of insight. Zaran ran to the left wall and rummaged through the mold''s that were stacked there. After selecting a short sword mold for a dagger Zaran turned to Nuvahn. "Take out the extra 2.7 kilograms. I''ll be making a short sword of exactly 2.5 kilograms and make the blade with the rest!"


    The mold Zaran had selected was for a short sword that had a weight of exactly 2.5 kilograms. He started by melting the 2.7 kg ore chunk down and stacked the ore in four different sized stacks. The stacks were exactly 15 kilograms,  15 kilograms, 12.5 kilograms and 7.3 kilograms.


    Eoric entered the smithy with a sleepy expression on his face. "You working on it yet?"


    "Just need to get rid of some excess ore first so quickly casting a short sword into a mold first."


    Once the excess ore was molten down he cast it in the mold and was left with a tiny amount of liquid iron. He put the mold away as he had no use for the shortsword and it was merely an excess weapon. He figured he could just take it out of the mold once it had cooled down and toss it at Nuvahn so he could sell it and earn some money from it.


    "Time to work on the real thing!" Zaran said as he stared at the pile of ore in front of him.

 Chapter 31: Forging a pair of peculiar blades

    Author''s note: Last batch of crafting for now! We''ll be going into the sewers in the next chapter and kill some things! (boy am i glad crafting is done)


    I tried my best to draw the blade but i''m really really bad at drawing, It''s even worse than my writing! Regardless, click the link below to behold the mighty blade we craft in this chapter! (img and url tags weren''t working correctly for some reason... probably my fault)


    http://imgur.com/PZsUoi5</a>


    __________________


    "So... Eoric, do you have clay?" Zaran asked before starting to work on the blade. If he could make a mold for the blade the time needed for crafting would drastically reduce as well as drastically reducing the difficulty level at the same time. He didn''t mind doing it the hard way but seeing as he currently didn''t have the luxury of time... He needed to take some shortcuts and a mold was the most drastic shortcut to begin with.


    "Heh? You wish to use clay?" Eoric asked, his voice filled with disappointment. He wanted to see how his disciple would make a blade that he himself found very hard to make with conventional methods. While he did have some molds laying around for basic weapons, when it came to intricate crafts he had never once used molds.


    "I need to make two of them and I am very pressed for time. If I had the necessary time i would definitely make it without a mold but as time is not a luxury I have at the moment I would rather shy away from using the conventional method." Zaran said with a face filled of regret. "I''m very well aware of how much you wanted to see the complete process but... I really am pressed for time."


    "Fine then... I do actually have some clay lying around at the back of the smithy. It''s more than enough for your weapon."


    "Thanks Eoric, I appreciate it. When I am not pressed for time in the future and have to make a better one I''ll come drop by and show you the complete process including how to create the shark teeth with conventional methods.


    Zaran walked out towards the back and quickly found the clay, which was stored in the shed at the back of the smithy. The clay was stacked in cubes of 20 square centimeters. Zaran took out 30 of the cubes and stacked them next to each other on the large stone table in the smithy.


    "Phew..." that should be enough Zaran said as he moved the last block of clay on the table.


    "Should be." Nuvahn responded with a huge smile on his face. After Zaran brought back the last ten blocks of clay, Eoric''s expression became one filled with shock. From the amount of clay blocks Zaran had gathered he understood that the blade could start at a massive width of fifty to sixty centimeters.


    Zaran started shaping the mold. starting by carefully creating a hilt thirty centimeters in length, he continued on towards the blade itself. He crated a blade with a width of fifty centimeters and he would create the length to be one meter sixty centimeters. Thirty percent into the blade he created the first indentation, and the blade''s width was reduced to thirty five centimeters. Another thirty percent of the blade''s total width further another indentation was made and the blade''s width was shrunk by an additional fifteen centimeters, leaving the width to only be twenty centimeters. Finally another twenty five percent of the total blade''s length further he made the final indentation before allowing the blade to come together to create the tip of the sword.


    Carefully inspecting his work both Nuvahn and Zaran nodded in approval at the first outline. Zaran then removed 10 centimeters of clay, which was double the amount of the thickest part of the blade. During the forging process the iron would be compressed, causing a rapid decrease in the blade''s overall thickness.


    The more Zaran worked on the shape of the blade the more astonished Eoric became. He had seen and crafted a lot of swords and even the occasional greatsword in his life that had a strange shape or a difficult to handle shape but this blade was defying all common sense.  Both the thickness and the length were more than a human should be able to wield properly. He would understand it if they wanted to try the weapon out but of them were set on wielding this thing into battle and they looked like they knew exactly what the blade looked like despite Zaran initially saying that he had never made it before.


    Just what is going on? That blade is monstrous in size and thickness. It''s not something a zuno nor harpie should wield, rather it looks more like one of these blades demons wield to battle! Eoric thought while attentively watching Zaran''s progress.


    He wanted to step in and stop them from making the blade with his forge but on the other hand he was burning with anxiety to see the finished product.


    Having finished the shape of the mold the next step was to heat the clay. This was done with the kiln at the back of the smithy. The mold just barely fit in the kiln, if it were even one centimeter longer it wouldn''t have fit in. While the mold was in the kiln Zaran already started to melt the iron as it would take a long time for the full fifty kilograms to melt down.


    Having put the iron in the furnace, Zaran had Eoric pay attention to it and dragged more coal inside the smithy. He would need a large amount of coal to heat the weapon during the forging process and he had already calculated in advance that he would need as much as ten kilograms of coal an hour just to keep the heat going. On top of that the furnace itself needed coal so Zaran and Nuvahn worked together to move more coal in and near the smithy.


    A few hours passed and Zaran got the mold out of the kiln and immediately poured the molten iron within.


    After the iron had stopped cooling down Zaran heat up the coal. Only after the coal was sufficiently hot did he put the greatsword inside of it until the iron started to have an yellow-orange-red tint to it. Zaran took it out of the coal, took it to the anvil and started forging the blade. The blade currently was too thick and had no sharpness to it just yet but during the forging process the iron would be compressed and the blade''s characteristics would become more well defined.


    Zaran took the largest hammer Eoric had and powerfully swung it down time and time again on the iron until the colour started to turn grey again, only being able to continue after sufficiently heating it up again. Slowly but surely the blade started to get thinner and the edges started to be more well defined.


    Hour upon hour passed and sweat poured from Zaran like an endless waterfall. Over the hours Zaran had gained fifteen notices of increases of strength but hadn''t paid much mind to it. His mind was solely within the forging process. Again and again the hammer swung downwards until finally Zaran stopped. He quickly took a moment to rest before continuing on. He had finished the first step.


    The next step would be to take a file and even up any uneven spots. While it was originally his whole craft, Eoric stepped in for this process as Zaran had already been working on the blade for eight hours without a pause. Knowing that Zaran''s mind and body should have reached its limit, he had decided to step in and help Zaran so he could finish the blade quicker, as well as give Zaran more time to rest.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Zaran gratefully accepted Eoric''s proposal and took his time to eat and drink as well as play with Kirin and Cindarrah for a while. Especially Cindarrah needed some attention as she didn''t feel comfortable at all in the smithy.


    Having rested for half an hour Zaran entered the smithy again and looked at Eoric''s process. Much to Zaran''s surprise Eoric had already finished filing the blade and had started grinding the blade''s edge. After about half the blade was done Zaran''s inspected Eoric''s work and let out a sigh of relief. Luckily Eoric seemed to know which direction to take the blade in as he hadn''t ground the blade too much.


    Zaran took over from Eoric and ground the rest of the blade. The initial two sections where left very thick and only a very small edge was created on them. The two inner sections were ground much further and had the real cutting power behind them. This was all according to the philosophy behind the blade. The first two sections were used to protect and not to harm, while the outer two sections were used to harm instead of protect. Zaran had frowned at this explanation at first but after wielding the blade countless times he found that this philosophy was correct.


    Even if he wanted to harm someone with the first two sections of the blade, he could do so but when he did so he just had this gnawing feeling that it wasn''t the correct way to use this sword.. nor any sword. Moreover he started to realize why this was so. Not only did his power decrease the closer the enemy was to him but it also limited the options he had in a fight. In all his lives he hadn''t met any sword more interesting than this and the more he used it the more he started to apply the same principles to other swords. The more he did so the more he found that the way he had been wielding swords was incorrect.


    Using the last sixty percent of the blade''s width for defense and the rest for offense. Once he started doing this consequently his prowess in battle multiplied and those who stood before him and could tell the tale could be counted on his two hands.


    After sharpening the blade''s edges, Zaran heated the blade again and cooled it repeatedly. This hardened the blade, making it usable for battle. If he did not do so the blade would be too brittle and would easily break.


    Still after all this Zaran was not done with the blade just yet. He still had to craft the handle, but he asked Eoric to do that in his stead as just any ordinary handle would suffice. In the meantime Zaran took out the red and black iron ore. He took ten kilograms of the red iron ore and forty kilograms of the black iron ore and started to melt them separately. He would create an outer layer of red ore and the rest would be black ore. During the forging process the black and red iron ore would mingle to some regard, creating a black and red blade.


    While it obviously wasn''t necessary to do so, Zaran''s favourite colours had always been black and red and thus as he had the materials available, why not making something that he both liked to wield and at least to his tastes looked cool.


    After both batches of iron had molten Zaran poured about half the red iron ore into the mold, followed by the black and finally more of the red. During this process the red and black had already started to interweave, but because he had casted the red first there was still a layer of red on the bottom. Zaran took the same forging steps as before, but this time not accepting any of Eoric''s help even though it was offered to him even when his sweat started to have a red tinge to it, he forced himself to continue to finish the blade.


    After finishing the blade Zaran sat down with his head on his knees as he had pushed himself far beyond his limits to finish it. He had gotten another 10 points in strength and 17 in stamina and advanced to advanced level 6 in blacksmithing, but he instantly disregarded this boxes and rested for a while. Once he was done resting he checked his character stats.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Character info</td></tr><tr><td>Race</td><td>Zuno</td><td>Profession</td><td>Seeker of truth</td></tr><tr><td>Sub-profession 1</td><td>Hellbeast master</td><td>Sub-profession 2</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>12</td><td>Unspent stat points</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>500/500</td><td>Mana</td><td>300/300</td></tr><tr><td>Ki</td><td>300/300</td><td>Racial ????</td><td>??/??</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>170</td><td>Flexibility</td><td>87</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>112</td><td>Stamina</td><td>120</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>25</td><td>Focus</td><td>73</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>50</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>Perception</td><td>10</td><td>Luck</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Charm</td><td>2</td><td>Willpower</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Reputation</td></tr><tr><td>Honour</td><td>5</td><td>Fame</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td>God''s merit</td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    His character stats were way beyond his level but Zaran still felt like he was lacking. Even with his abnormal stats he was drained after a day of smithing so no doubt he was weaker than most blacksmiths. Zaran let out a sigh at his stats and hoped the sewers would bring in a lot of levels as he really needed to start leveling pronto.


    Zaran''s eyes shifted to the red-black blade that lied next to him and picked it up and thoroughly inspected it. He felt quite happy with this blade and gave it a few swings. The balance felt about right and the blade seemed sufficiently sharp as a full powered swing barely made any sound. Zaran brought up the blade''s stats and was first asked to give the blade a name.


    Hmm, this didn''t pop up last time? Well.. whatever. Let''s see... a name... it can only be that one right? Zaran thought as a smile surfaced on his face. After entering the name the blade''s statscreen automatically popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Gigenkai (masterpiece)</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>75-100</td><td>Durability</td><td>100/100</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Requirements</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>10</td><td>Strength</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>A peculiar blade crafted by Zaran Karaz. Even though it was made with inferior materials,


    the blade boasts tremendous strength and is more powerfull than some weapons made with higher grade materials.


    Because of the blade''s shape and weight it is a very difficult blade to master.


    Due to the sheer size and weight of the blade it applies a knockback effect on weak enemies.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Gigenkai old pal... you join me once again. Zaran muttered as he attached the blade sideways to his back in a simple sheath that he had Eoric make. It really wasn''t much more than a few leather belts, but they had sufficient strength to hold the heavy blade in its place. Zaran bade farewell to Eoric and took off with Nuvahn, Cindarrah and Kirin.


    First they would go to the training center as both Nuvahn and Zaran were eager to test their new weapons against each other. Moreover Zaran still had to impart Nuvahn with the three skills of Dance of the butterfly that he had thus far created.


    And so Zaran, Nuvahn, Kirin and Cindarrah set of for the training field.

 Chapter 32: First disciple

    Author''s note: Finished this chapter during my break at work so... releasing it in advance.


    Enjoy!


    ----------------------


    The party swiftly arrived at the training center. While they had been harassed on the way there, Kirin kept the majority of people away while Zaran''s own cold stare and moving his hand to his sword scared away the ones who remained. Zaran was eager to not only have himself level up but Kirin as well, as Kirin''s aura needed to be effective on everyone again.


    While he did understand why the majority of users were so inquisitive and curious about him, the skills and the blade, he really couldn''t be bothered answering everyone''s question. He had thought about making a forum post to explain things but it would be far too bothersome to do so and it would be quite hard to come up with a valid excuse. This left him with one real option, which was to scare users away from him.


    Having arrived at the training center Zaran and Nuvahn took an empty spot in the training center and with a thought Zaran opened the menu screen for his sword school. He selected ''invite apprentice'' and with a thought entered Nuvahn''s name.


    "Hmm... A class change?" Nuvahn mumbled as he got the invite from Zaran.


    "Class change? What do you mean?"


    "Well the invite I get states that if I accept to be your disciple my class will be changed to ''Dance of the Butterfly swordsman''. If I choose to accept you can impart me with your skills but I get a 50% damage penalty if I use other swordsman skills which will reduce by 10% for each proficiency level I gain... Which means that the current swordsman skills I have will only have full effectiveness if I reach Master level with them."


    "Oh? There''s that kind of penalty?" Zaran asked in an amused tone. "So this means unless you unlock skills on your own or through one of the instructors of your selected class there''s a severe penalty?"


    "Yeah. I selected a good swordsman school in my starting area, so I am a little disappointed with this debuff... Regardless it does mean you can teach me any skill that you add to the swordsman school and I will be able to use it to full effect."


    "Heh, just accept it. You know very well that with the full set of moves from Dance of the Butterfly there''ll be barely any worthy opponents. But I will still have to figure out how this whole swordsman school will work out. What if I make another line of skills that is not part of ''Dance of the Butterfly''? Will it create another swordschool or will both become a subcategory... or will something entirely different happen? I must say I''m quite intrigued."


    Nuvahn grinned and mockingly said "I see that side of you hasn''t changed... Whenever you find something that piques your interest you lose yourself into it. Remember that one time with that ''dungeon'' I told you about? You were searching for it for a month! Only after turning the whole library upside down did you figure out that I was toying around with you!"


    "Remember the beating you got back then?" Zaran said in an icy tone. Hearing Zaran''s tone and words Nuvahn''s face immediatly turned ghastly white. Seeing this Zaran chuckled and mused. "Don''t worry, it was my own mistake to believe you on your words."


    Nuvahn let out a wry smile and changed his class to ''Dance of the butterfly swordsman''. Instantly Zaran got a notice congratulating him on his first disciple.


    "Ugh... message boxes all the time." Zaran muttered as he discarded the message box. He turned to Nuvahn and said with a stern tone. "Show me the first three forms!"


    Nuvahn instantly brandished his greatsword and performed the first three forms... yet he failed miserably. While he had been no stranger to pressure, performing these three particular moves in front of Zaran caused him more pressure than he had ever felt before.


    "Nuvahn! You were once my prime disciple. How can you mess up the first three forms like that? Have you even practiced the forms at all?!?" Zaran shouted in rage. While he initially was happy to have Nuvahn by his side again he hadn''t expected Nuvah to perform so abismally. Every part of his movement had been full of flaws. Even if he hadn''t practiced it in every lifetime if he had used it as his main offensive skill set in one of his lifetimes Nuvahn should have a better mastery than he had now. Zaran grumbled and brandished Gigenkai. Without activating the skills Zaran performed the first three forms to near perfection in the blink of an eye. "AGAIN!" Zaran barked.


    Seeing the rage building on Zaran''s face, Nuvahn gathered himself for a moment before he used the first three forms again. Only when he had calmed down and the majority of the pressure had dissapeared did he swing his sword again. However this time he did not perform the moves but first performed a few more slashes to get a better feel for the sword.


    In the meantime Zaran was impatiently tapping the ground with his foot, waititng for Nuvahn to use the moves again. He had already decided that if Nuvahn failed miserably again he would get a far worse scolding than he ever had received.


    With an entirely calm disposition Nuvahn executed ''Flutter'', ''Rise and Fall'' and ''Velocity''. While he still didn''t execute them perfectly it was far better than his first try.


    "Much better... Why were you so nervous if you''re able to do it to this degree? It''s still far from perfect but good enough." Zaran said in a tone that was in between calm and rage. He called upon the menu and imbued Nuvahn with the three first moves. Giving skills from his swordschool was as simple as just going to the swordschool menu and use the menu that had the name ''imbue skills''. From thereon you just name the person you want to give the skills to and the system hands over the skills, as long as the target is within a short range of you.


    Zaran felt that this was too easy but then he remembered that people wouldn''t be likely to advance to even intermediate level in the skill if they had none who would teach them the inner workings of the skill. Maybe a true genius could figure out skills by himself but even then for a skill that had advanced as much as Zaran''s ''Dance of the butterfly'' it wouldn''t be something that could be done in a few years time. He has had multiple geniuses as his pupils throughout his lives but even so there were few who came close to grasping the full extent of the skill set. The skills themselves look very simple but it''s the very minute movements of the sword coupled with the meaning behind each move that makes it so strong.


    Disregarding pupils, even Zaran felt like he hadn''t truly mastered his own sword style as he still found points for improvement every now and then. Even though it currently only had seven moves he had long been working on an eight and a ninth move, yet he hadn''t been able to finish them just yet.


    After receiving the skills Nuvahn started utilizing them and then switching back to performing the moves by himself without the system''s guidance. Zaran stood to the side and practiced the same set of moves on his own while keeping a close watch on Nuvahn''s progress. At first Nuvahn''s movement was very uncoordinated and half an hour had passed before the first real improvement started to show. From thereon his movements got more fluid until he finally seemed to get a grasp on the essence of the skills again. Seeing that Nuvahn had progressed far enough for now Zaran stepped forward.


    "Let''s spar! But let''s do it without using any of our skills." Zaran said whilst already readying himself for the fight.


    Nuvahn let out a wry smile at Zaran''s suggestion. He had lived a fifth of Zaran''s time and wasn''t as gifted as Zaran to start with. Even if he had been a heralted genius, Zaran was still far more of a monster in every aspect of the sword. Be it his understanding or his gift with it, he far outclassed Nuvahn that much he knew for sure. Moreover... there was something about Zaran that terrified Nuvahn even more.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    He had lived a thousand lives himself but he had grown weary of reincarnating. The endless cycle of growing up, training from the start to regain his former strength only to lose it all on his death, loving people and seeing them die, having to experience and learn about yet another world, ... the list of his frustrations went on and on. Due to all that the endless cycle of repeating it over and over felt more like torture than a gift from the gods.


    Zaran on the other hand had lived five times as long and still seemed like he could effortlessly live double as long before even getting remotely close to being bored. He remembered the time he and Zaran spent earlier and even then when Zaran wasn''t teaching others he was either training, indulging himself in various pleasures, reading books, going on an expedition, learning other martial arts, et cetera.


    In short Zaran was someone who didn''t really sit still at any point in time. In short Zaran was always learning or putting his knowledge to test. This caused Nuvahn to greatly respect and fear Zaran at the same time.


    Still, Nuvahn raised his greatsword and sent a duel invite to Zaran. Even if he was going to be trashed at least he could see how far he had come in comparison to Zaran. In invisible ring instantly appeared around them blocking outsiders from a radius of 10 meters around them to enter.


    A countdown appeared and both sides started to plan their first few moves.


    5...


    4...


    3...


    2...


    1...


    FIGHT!


    Zaran quickly stabbed towards Nuvahn as the duel started who dodged it by shifting his body to the right and following up by slashing to the right. Zaran scoffed and effortlessly brought his blade back to block the strike with the upper part.


    Nuvahn noticed Zaran''s intent and pulled his greatsword closer to him, making the slash miss on its own but since it was not blocked he could immediately follow up with another sideways slash to the left.


    A smile surfaced on Zaran''s face as he noticed how Nuvahn had reacted to the situation. He quickly kicked the ground with his feet, instantly creating some distance between him and Nuvahn.


    Nuvahn closed the gap instantly and slashed upwards but this slash was instantly knocked away by Zaran and was followed up by a stab from Zaran which Nuvahn was unable to dodge. Luckily for Nuvahn the greatsword had a knockback effect and the stab caused him to be knocked back a few steps. Were it not for the knockback effect Zaran would''ve easily been able to deliver a few more slashes to Nuvahn.


    -75 (525/600)


    Zaran grumbled at the knockback effect. Then again if he could use skills this knockback effect would be nothing to worry about as gravity would''ve been able to keep the knockback effect from happening in the first place.


    Nuvahn on the other hand was cursing at himself for making such a stupid mistake. He had understimated Zaran''s strength and hadn''t thought he could knock away his blade to easily.


    The two kicked off again and slashed at each other, forcing the greatswords to collide. Zaran shifted his greatsword to the flat side and slashed forward. Zaran''s greatsword slid down Nuvahn''s greatsword until it hit a protrusian and forced Nuvahn''s greatsword to go towards the ground and deeply cut into Nuvahn''s right shoulder at the same time.


    - 98 (427/600)


    All this happened in a mere instant, making Nuvahn unable to react in time. Only after the sword had buried deeply into his flesh was he able to move. Nuvahn roared in pain and quickly flapped his wings to go backwards.


    "Slow." Zaran said as he looked at Nuvahn with disappointed expression. "Let''s stop."


    Nuvahn nodded in agreement. In the first few exchanges he had already realized that his strength, agility and flexibility were below Zaran''s.


    "What level are you Nuvahn?"


    "25... How about you?"


    "12." Zaran replied in a mocking tone.


    "How the f... are you so strong?"


    "You do realize you can gain stats by training? I trained for the majority of the past two weeks."


    "Damn... your strength and speed just now was no joke. I had no time to react even if I wanted to. Guess I''ll have to do some training too."


    "Your speed is going to be far slower than mine though, because of the Zuno race I train 300% as quickly, which is the main reason why I am so strong at the moment. However I only get 5 stat points each level instead of the 10 you get every level."


    "... I wish I had taken that race too now. Damn."


    "It looks good now but... training doesn''t really keep working, at one point my strength didn''t increase any further even if I did a few thousand push ups no additional strength was gained. You only get more stats if you put a higher burder on yourself."


    "Hmm... so you have to contiunously challenge your limits to get stronger... just like in the real world."


    "Yes besides that you gain strength in here far faster so conventional methods become worthless after some time. Anyway it''s about time we get going to the major''s house. We''ve let him wait for too long now."


    Zaran and Nuvahn quickly left the training center and ran towards the major''s place. Minutes later they arrived in front of the major''s mansion. Upon seeing Zaran the guards quickly notified the major.


    Soon enough a pair of maids came from outside the house along with the major. Both maids were carrying a bundle of gas masks in their hands.


    "Ah we''ve been expectig you!" the major said as he walked up to Zaran and firmly shook his hand. Then he turned towards Nuvahn and asked "Who''s this?"


    "A friend, he''ll be helping me in my venture."


    "I see, I see! Well then follow me!" The major said as he, the maids and a few guards exited the mansion. They walked through the city towards its upper left corner. The exit of the sewers was there and with the current condition of the sewers he didn''t dare let Zaran and Nuvahn enter from another spot. After exiting through the northern gates they walked along the walls until they arrived at about a hundred meters from the entrance. The major urged Zaran and Nuvahn to put on the gas masks.


    "These gas masks are necessary to enter the sewers. Not only because of the natural gas that exists in a sewer but also due to the gas specters that live there. I''ve had a leather worker create gas masks for your pets as well. This key will allow you to unlock the sewer gate, but make sure to close it after you enter! " The major said as he handed two special gas masks and an iron key over to Zaran.


    Zaran put on his gas mask and then put them on Kirin and Cindarrah as well. Both Kirin and Cindarrah didn''t like wearing it but Zaran told them that they needed to otherwise they couldn''t go down the sewer with him. As soon as he said that if they didn''t wear it they couldn''t go with him they both quietly let Zaran put them on.


    Seeing that the party was ready, Zaran turned towards the major and quickly said. "We''re off! You''ll see us as soon as we know what''s going on down there."


    The round entrance to the sewers was made out of the same cobblestone as the city walls and was four meters wide. Yet the cobblestone here had a brown-green tint to it and had seemingly not been cleaned in decades. The opening was covered by a fence and gate that were brown from rust. Just from the first look you could see that none ever came here anymore. Zaran unlocked the gate and pushed the door open. After Nuvahn entered Zaran firmly locked the door again.


    The major looked at the entrance for a while and mumbled. "Now all we can do is pray..."

 Chapter 33: The sewers

    Author''s note: Late I know but its a pretty long chapter compared to the others and I''ll try my best to get one out tomorrow, but I can''t promise anything in that regard so... we''ll see.


    ----------------------------------------


    Upon entering the sewers a powerful stench assaulted the party''s nostrils. While the gas mask did block the majority of the stench and the detrimental effects of gasses, it was far from being sophisticated enough to block out the powerful stench of the sewers.


    "Stinky, stinky, stinky, stinky stiiiiiin~kyyy!!!!!!" Cindarrah shrieked at the top of her lungs.


    "Better get used to it Cindarrah, we''ll be stuck down here for a while!" Zaran said with a large grin plastered on his face due to Cindarrah''s behavior. To him the stench was bearable to some regard. Having experience with things that smelled far worse in previous lifetimes his tolerance level had risen considerably. While how well he could stand it varied from lifetime to lifetime generally he had a higher resistance compared to the majority of the planet''s population. Blood and gore followed the same principle, even though he was no stranger to it, if his body couldn''t stand the smell of blood or the sight then he''d still be bothered by it.


    But his grin soon faded as he checked the condition he''d be fighting in. The sewer grew larger the deeper they went in and now the width of the complete sewer spanned twelve meters and the height was 10 meters.  A six meter wide stone sidewalk that was filled with dirt, dust and glowing mushrooms took half the width of the sewers, while a six meter wide river filled brown murky water took the other half of the full width. Drifting along the murky brown water were feces, piss, waste and even half decomposed bodies of rats, humanoid skeletons and half eaten monsters that were barely recognizable.


    The circular cobblestone walls of the sewers were no longer grey as moss and glowing mushrooms were growing all over them. The ceiling had traces of cobwebs, yet they were all filled with dust, not even a spider or fly could be seen in the webs.


    Zaran was quite intrigued by these glowing mushrooms but at the same time he was also scared. If any form of life was particularly colorful or noticeable it was usually highly dangerous. Yet the major hadn''t said anything about them, thus Zaran concluded that they were not dangerous at all, because if they were the major certainly would''ve warned them.


    Suddenly Kirin growled as she shook some filth from her paws.


    "She''s going to need a ridiculous amount of baths after this is over" Nuvahn remarked.


    "We all are going to have to soak for a day at least." Zaran replied bitterly.


    "Did you really have to accept this quest?"


    "The coin is really good and there''s a bonus reward if we can keep the rat population from ever going out of control again."


    "What''s the bonus?" Nuvahn asked, his tone filled with curiosity.


    "A house, manor or pavilion of my own choosing."


    "Damn... that''s a rather generous bonus. You should definitely choose a pavilion!" Nuvahn said as he stroked his chin. "You would be able to get a lot more disciples that way and if you do it like the other guilds you can send them on missions for some stuff before they get to learn a new skill and give a reward that''s worth less than the items they have to hand in. It''d be a good way to get more gold."


    "That''d be a good idea only I''m not going to sit around in a pavilion and teach people all day. We need to become the strongest players remember?"


    "Couldn''t you just teach some NPC''s the skills so they can tutor others in your stead?"


    "That... could work. But it would be far inferior than learning from me though." Zaran said as he grew more and more interested at the idea of owning his own pavilion.


    "The general users wouldn''t be able to tell the difference anyway plus you could just request like a hundred gold or even more for a private lesson. Or you could ask ingredients you need or whatever really. There would be a massive amount of people who would want to learn from the one and only Zaran Karaz who makes S-class skills like it''s no big deal. Moreover if you ever wish to set up a guild it''d be a good way to scout some strong guild members. Really you should choose a pavilion." Nuvahn said, convinced that getting a pavilion was the way to go.


    "I''ll think about it. Regardless, we should wait here and let Kirin and Cindarrah get used to the smell. It''s most likely only going to get worse from hereon out."


    "More stinky? Nuoooooooooo." Cindarrah wailed. "Let''s go back! Let''s go somewhere else! Pleaaaase!!!!" Cindarrah cried out in a heartbroken voice.


    "Shush... it''s okay Cindarrah. You''ll get used to it." Zaran caressed the wailing Cindarrah and suddenly remembered the raven''s reward. The stem of the Nimbial flower, a parasitic flower that only grew on the guardian tree of the forest. Aruan had told Zaran that it had a slight chance to give an animal the ability to communicate telepathically. He was planning to give this to Kirin once he came back to Virul but had forgotten about it once he met Nuvahn. Only now did he remember about it.


    "Kirin come here." Zaran commanded as he took out the stem of the flower and skewered a sausage with it. "Please eat this."


    Kirin sniffed the sausage carefully and pulled up her nose. She was unfamiliar with the scent of the stem and was hesitant to take a bite. Still she could not resist the temptation of meat and carefully bit a small bit off the sausage. After chewing twice, she stopped chewing as Kirin''s face lit up in delight. The stem and sausage combination turned out to be far more delicious than she had expected. Instantly, she bit off a few more bites of the sausage and happily chewed away. A few seconds later the whole sausage had disappeared from Zaran''s hand and Kirin was wagging her tail happily while looking at him.


    A soft growling "More?" entered Zaran''s mind and a smile surfaced on his face. "It worked! It worked!" Zaran said as he picked up Kirin and jumped around and tossed her up and caught her again over and over. "Play? Play?" Kirin asked telepathically. "Kirin I can hear you now!" Zaran said with a huge smile on his face.


    Kirin cocked her head and looked at Zaran. "Master? Hear?"


    Zaran nodded at Kirin and a split second later "Moar sausage!" entered his mind. Zaran lost it and almost forgot to catch Kirin as she came down again. He put Kirin on the ground again and took out a sausage from his storage ring. "Just promise me you won''t keep saying ''more sausage'' all the time now!" He said to which Kirin nodded in response.


    Kirin ate the sausage and then looked at Nuvahn and asked him telepathically "Hear?" to which Nuvahn nodded. Kirin got excited even more and then asked Cindarrah the same thing who also nodded to confirm that she too could hear her. Kirin turned elated and telepathically told everyone. "Happy! Happy! Happpppyyyyy!!!!!"


    Zaran smiled whilst looking at Kirin, being rather happy that she could somewhat communicate with the group right now, yet on the other hand he still had hoped that she would be able to voice herself in more than a few words. However there was not much he could do about this and he could only hope that her speech pattern improved with time.


    Zaran patted Kirin for a few seconds before saying. "Now Kirin, I need you to calm down and pay attention. We are going to explore this place and we need Kirin to tell us if she sees anything. Could you do that for me?"


    Kirin quickly replied with an "Ok!" and her behavior did a complete turnaround. Her carefree attitude instantly disappeared and made place for a serious attitude. Her aura instantly shot out in all directions, now even if she couldn''t smell an enemy, if it entered her aura she would sense it immediately. Keeping her aura up cost her no effort at all so this was very convenient for Zaran and Nuvahn as they would not need to keep up their guard all the time.


    A few minutes passed before Zaran finally decided to move out. Only now that everyone was used to the stench of the sewers did he dare to advance.


    Being a hell hound, Kirin was completely unaffected by the stench and had already become bored of waiting. Thus as Zaran told her to move forward she darted off at high speed forcing Zaran and Nuvahn to run after her.


    "HEY KIRIN SLOW DOWN!!!!" Zaran yelled as he ran after her. "KIRRRIIIIN NO MORE SAUSAGES FOR YOU IF YOU DONT STOP RIGHT NOW!"


    Kirin immediately stopped as Zaran said that and came back with her tail between her legs and her head held low.


    "Geez... no reason to be so eager Kirin..." Zaran said, slightly reprimanding Kirin.


    "Hey Zaran... we''ve run a few hundred meters now but... we haven''t seen a single rat, spider or fly..." Nuvahn remarked.


    "Now that you mention it I was wondering the strange, moreover check out the walls and sidewalk." Zaran said as he pointed to the walls and sidewalk. Both of them were corroding, clear cracks showing on the cobblestone bricks.


    "Have you ever seen anything like that? The corroding just randomly starts here and it''s not at the other side of the waste river." Zaran asked.


    "I actually have and I really hope it''s not what I think it is." Nuvahn said, dread filling his voice.


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    "Nuvahn? You hope it''s not what?" Zaran asked


    "In that world they called it ''Kavahr''. In short they would be like zombies except a million times more deadly. Zombies seem like a joke compared to these things. Only magic is known to step them and only pure magic at that. So for example a spell that lowers temperature so that everything freezes will harm them while an icycle spell will break down before it hits them! They corrode everything on touch! Weapons, flesh, armour, everything that can decay or age will break upon even coming near them. The older they are the more corrosive their aura becomes and the bigger the range of it becomes. To be fair I don''t think I''ve ever met a more disgusting enemy..."


    Zaran was speechless at Nuvahn''s explanation and prayed it wasn''t as Nuvahn thought it was.


    The group advanced with greater care now, being heavily on guard for whatever may come. Almost a full kilometer into the sewers they finally heard some low groaning and multiple shuffling noises. Shuffling from around the corner were two rotting corpses with filth and body parts of rats, bats and other various beasts fused into them. The most horrifying thing about them was that the parts belonging to other monsters and animals were actually wriggling and squiggling as if they were still alive. A visible brown aura surrounded them and everything within that aura was quickly aging, decaying and rotting away.


    Upon noticing the group the two corpses looked at each other and made more groaning sounds and shuffled towards the group whilst making some loud groaning noise.


    Zaran tried to inspect them but they were out of his level range so all he learned was that their name was ''Rotter''.


    "Nuvahn I can''t see their levels and stats! Can you inspect them?"


    "Yes I will!" Nuvahn said as he quickly inspected them. "Level 30, Rotter... Only 1000 hp weak to magic but decays weapons and armour quickly when near the range of their aura, I can''t see their skill set though. Moreover I can only use one skill to deal with them, how about you?"


    "I have one spells I can use and I can somewhat keep them at bay albeit temporarily with that spell. I have another one but it depletes all my mana if I cast it. Cindarrah has ''web shot'' but I am not entirely sure how effective it will be and Kirin will most likely be able to deal good damage with her ''Dark flame'' spell. No more time to discuss though!" Zaran replied as he saw that the Rotters were only a good fifty meters away.


    "Kirin only use ''Dark flame''! Cindarrah try to restrict them with ''Web shot''!" Zaran yelled as he charged forward. He currently only had ''Earth lance'' at his disposal to combat these enemies and because it was still a beginner level spell it barely did any significant damage. Still the mana cost was low so he could keep casting the same skill over and over. If Kirin and Nuvahn did an adequate amount of damage Zaran foresaw no problems with these enemies.


    When he was about five meters away from the rotters Zaran used ''Earth lance''. Earthen lances sprung up from the cobblestone ground and pierced the Rotters'' legs. Zaran had deliberately cast them low so Kirin and Nuvahn would have an easy time hitting the Rotters'' torso. From his left a green colored sword energy rushed forward and met one of the Rotters while a couple of fist-sized purple-blackish flame balls crashed into the other Rotter. Cindarrah shot two ''Web shots'' one to each of the Rotters but the web decayed before it hit them at all.


    "How much damage?" Zaran asked as he cast ''Earth lance'' once more, guiding the lances towards the Rotters'' heads, knocking them back and giving Nuvahn time to asses the damage dealt.


    "About 200 health from each with just those two earth lances, a ''wind blade'' and a ''dark flame''.


    "Let''s keep going then!" Zaran said as he aimed another ''Earth lance'' towards the Rotters'' legs. As the ''Earth lance'' was rushing towards the Rotters, both let out a low groan and the ''Earth lance'' rapidly crumbled apart, not even able to hit them.


    "Not good!" Zaran roared as he immediately back-stepped and cast another ''Earth lance'' to slow the rotters down. Yet again the Rotters let out a low groan and the ''Earth Lance'' crumbled again, unable to touch them. "Damn!" Zaran yelled.


    A ''Wind blade'' and ''Dark flame'' balls passed Zaran again and heavily hit the Rotters.


    Zaran cast another ''Earth Lance'' at the same time as the ''Wind blade'' and ''Dark flame'' hit the Rotters, who due to taking damage just prior to Zaran''s spell were unable to use their aura to decay his spell.


    "Nuvahn, Kirin you lead with your attacks! They can''t decay mine if I cast it right after yours hit them!" Zaran roared as he created some distance between him and the Rotters.


    Another wind blade and dark flame passed him and as they hit the Rotters, Zaran used his ''Earth lance'' but it decayed instantly again as one of the Rotters had used his aura to decay his spears. Zaran frowned and had to back step again as they were continuously shuffling forward ever coming closer to their group.


    "Back off quickly, at least fifteen meters! You go too Cindarrah!" Zaran yelled as a fiery aura started to pulsate around him. Cindarrah immediately jumped of Zaran''s head and onto Kirin''s back as they and Nuvahn quickly ran backwards.


    Must concentrate the full power in a smaller radius to kill these! Zaran thought as he started to gather the aura in front of him in a conical shape. It took a massive amount of willpower and mental power for Zaran to force the aura in this shape and he still was not sure if it would act the way he wanted it too.


    Meanwhile Kirin, Cindarrah and Nuvahn had already ran back fifteen meters and both readied their spells to safe Zaran if it were necessary.


    Can''t let it be too wide nor too small, not too high nor too low... need all the damage concentrated on these two. Zaran groaned as he was struggling to keep the aura in the conical shape. The Rotters shuffled ever closer to him and were almost upon him. Just a little more just a little closer!


    Just a few seconds had passed since he had started to force the aura to take the shape he wanted and he was nearly completely exhausted both mentally and physically. For Zaran these few seconds seemed like millenia. Finally the Rotters'' aura nearly touched him and he let the skill explode forward. The air was set ablaze in a conical shape in front of Zaran and an immense amount of heat was generated, so much so that Zaran felt as if he stood in front of the fiery pits of hell themselves! In a split second the fire flashed through a fifteen meter long area in a conical shape in front of him. If one had blinked one had missed the fire itself. That was the speed at which this fire was unleashed. On the places where the fire had passed, even the cobblestone walls and floors had been molten and heatwaves were clearly visible with the naked eye.


    The Rotters had tried to let out a groan to use their aura to the utmost to negate the damage but the flash fire burned their vocal cords before they were even able to let out a noise. This flash fire was trice as deadly as the way Zaran had used it before and the heat alone was enough to kill the Rotters'' yet before the heat could even affect them they had already been burned to a crisp by the fire. Instead of the Rotters only two brown pouches where left, indicating that the Rotters had perished and dropped loot.


    Nuvahn quickly ran over and caught Zaran who was about to faint from the amount of power and effort he had just poured into that single move.


    "Nuvah, I hate it when you are right." Zaran mumbled as he let himself be supported by Nuvahn.


    Four waves of light spiraled down upon Zaran indicating that he had leveled four times from beating the Rotters.


    A few minutes later Zaran had recovered and looked at his spells. Both had leveled up tremendously during the fight and had improved by a lot.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Flash fire (intermediate)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>5</td><td>Experience</td><td>23%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Range</td><td>15 meter radius around the caster</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>300</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>400-500</td><td>cast time</td><td>4 seconds</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You cause a flash fire to surge forth from you, reducing everything along its path to ashes.


    If you force the aura into a conical shape, the damage is increased by 50% but the mental drain will force you to faint.


    The range and damage increase with every level while the cast time reduces with each level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Earth lance (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>5</td><td>Experience</td><td>91%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Piercing damage</td><td>75-75</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You create sharp earthen spikes in a small cone near your feet.


    The damage increases with each consecutive level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    A smile surfaced on Zaran''s face as he checked the damage on both skills. Both had tremendously improved, allowing him to do some actual damage to his next opponents. Although he still wasn''t going to be the most useful one in the fight as Nuvahn and Kirin still dealt more damage, he''d at least do some damage if his ''earth spears'' hit.


    "Let me quickly recover the remainder of my mana before we continue." As soon as Zaran said that multiple shuffling sounds were heard...

 Chapter 34: The horde

    Author''s note: well, let''s not do promises about when chapters are going to be out anymore.


    Quite a bit more explaining about the game mechanics in this world.


    --------------------------------------


    Five Rotters covered in the Virul guard armour came shuffling from behind the corridor. Upon seeing the armour Zaran frowned as it meant one of two things. Either there''s something down here that can turn dead bodies into Rotters or upon being killed by a Rotter you become one yourself. Yet the guard armour was in surprisingly good condition, which most likely meant that they had not died due to the Rotters but to something else, meaning that there was most likely more to this matter than meets the eye.


    Zaran''s mana was only a quarter full by this point and could only rely on his ''Earth lance'' to fight the rotters. Yet in the previous fight two Rotters were already starting to deal with it effectively so five surely would be able to deal with the spell effectively.


    Due to his unconscious state Zaran''s mana had not been regenerating and only now had it started to regenerate. Due to only regaining 15 mana every 5 seconds it would take him nearly 2 minutes before he could participate effectively in the fight again. While he could already join the fight with his ''Earth lance'', he knew that the spell''s effectiveness would be close to zero so it was better to let the others buy some time for him to recover mana.


    "Nuvahn and Kirin you guys need to buy time! I need to recover my mana to use ''Flash fire''!" Zaran said as he backed off from the fight.


    Kirin growled and fired tiny purplish-black fireballs in quick succession at the Rotters. The Rotters tried to use their aura to decay the fire but couldn''t, and the tiny fireballs easily passed through the aura unhindered. While the damage of each of the tiny purplish-black fireballs wasn''t too great the Rotters were visibly hindered by them, reducing their already slow speed even further.


    While Kirin was using the tiny purplish-black fireballs to slow them down, Nuvahn was storing more power into each wind blade and increased the area that it spanned. This made him use up far more of his ki but now the wind blade could effectively harm all the Rotters at once. However increasing the area of effect also reduced the damage.


    Even all this couldn''t stop the Rotters, although their speed was reduced, the damage they were taking wasn''t very high and they would soon be upon the duo.


    While the Rotters advanced slowly, with only pure magic attacks always having an effect on them, there were not a high number of enemies that could defeat them. Even most users ended up taking a non-magic class and if they came down here they would almost instantly die to the Rotters. Thus it was no surprise that the party was having a great amount of trouble with them.


    Zaran frowned as he watched the fight between Kirin, Nuvahn and the Rotters. Due to the higher number of Rotters, Nuvahn and Kirin had to constantly switch targets to hold them down, yet still they had to retreat a few steps every so often.


    Let''s try arrows, it just might work. Zaran thought as he quickly stowed away his greatsword and changed it for the longbow and quiver. "Buzzard shot!" Zaran yelled, ki spiraling around the nocked arrow at incredible speed. He pulled the bowstring all the way back and released the arrow, which shot out of the bow like a lightning bolt almost instantly piercing one of the Rotters. Yet the arrow didn''t exit the Rotter and almost immediately turned into dust as it pierced the Rotter itself.


    "That did 60 damage!" Nuvahn yelled, quickly confirming that Zaran''s test had not been fruitless.


    Zaran instantly nocked another arrow and fired another ''Buzzard shot''. With his current ki he could only use it twelve times before his ki would run out. In battle Zaran only had a ki and mana regeneration of 1 per 5 seconds, which increased to 15 per 5 seconds outside of combat.


    This was done so that one would be forced to make the proper strategic choices in battle as mana and ki had to be spend wisely. If the creators had given more mana or ki regeneration then surely low end skills could save your life a lot more but that would not allow one to be more skilled in the game.


    The creators off the game had through the gods'' influence been forced to create a game that largely depended on skill and ability. This could be seen through the skill leveling system as well as the skill ranking system. Some very intricate skills that required a high level of skill to execute but were very useless in battle were rated very poorly while easy skills with a high effectiveness in battle could be rated very highly.


    Moreover people were not restricted in naming their spells, while one person could for example name a skill ''flash fire'' other people could do it too. The only restriction was that it had to be rather similar to the most proficient skill with the same name. Even though a skill could initially be as low as D-rank, if one''s comprehension of the skill rose and he added additional effects on it, like Zaran had done with ''flash fire'' through creating the conical shape, the rating of the skill could increase over time.


    Nevertheless, Zaran wasn''t worried about the amount of ki his every shot spent as he was just wasting time for his mana to recover. Only when his ki  and mana along with Nuvahn''s and Kirin''s ki and mana had run out would he start to worry. Yet seeing the current situation in the battle Zaran seemed to have no need to worry. Both Kirin and Nuvahn''s resource pools were still 75% full after using their abilities a few times.


    Buzzard shot after Buzzard shot left Zaran''s longbow and a minute later all his ki had been depleted. In the meantime all Rotters had been pierced by at least two arrows along with Kirin and Nuvahn''s hits and their health had been dropped down to 30%.


    Nuvahn send another wind slash to the Rotters and one of them had his health drop down to below 200 hit points. At the moment that the Rotter''s health reached below 200 hit points it started to release a gurgling sound and it raised its head to a 45¡ã angle.  A brownish-yellow projectile shot out of it and flew at the group in high speed.


    "Not good! Nuvahn, Kirin back off!" Zaran yelled upon seeing this projectile. He wasn''t sure what it was but as it was a never seen before attack Zaran was sure that this was an attack that the Rotters only unleashed if their health started to drop low. Before he had beaten the Rotters before they had dropped low enough to use it so it couldn''t be anything as an enraged state attack.


    Nuvahn and Kirin swiftly jumped backwards to evade the projectile, however the Rotter had already predicted that they would move backwards and had overshot his projectile. The projectile exploded with a loud bang and the brown gas that surrounded the Rotters started to occupy the surrounding area. Both Kirin and Nuvahn were enveloped by this gas and were quickly losing health.


    Nuvahn quickly shoved Kirin out of the gas and backstepped out of it himself at the same time, his health already dropping critically low just by being enveloped by the gas for a mere two seconds. "That was close." Nuvahn said as he panted heavily while looking at his body.


    His body had visibly aged in a mere two seconds and now he looked like a fifty year old harpie instead of a 20 year old. "We can''t take another one of those. We need to finish them off before they hit critical health. Zaran can you use your flash fire yet to finish them off?"


    Kirin had visibly aged as well and her fur had taken on a grey colour and she looked as every step was taking all the strength she could muster.


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    Zaran nodded, and looked at the gas. It enveloped the majority of the sidewalk but there was still space for him to slip through. He would need to both run forward and start casting Flash fire to be able to use it in time. While their advance was slow, Zaran didn''t want to give the Rotter that had just shot the projectile too much time as he might use it again if given enough time.


    A fiery red aura started to pulsate around Zaran as he ran forward, slipping through the narrow passage between the gas and the sewers'' walls. As soon as he was in front of the Rotters he released his flash fire and the air around Zaran ignited with a loud bang. The Rotters were instantly burned to a crisp and their bodies turned to ashes, only to leave a small brown pouch behind.


    Four yellow waves of light descended unto Zaran and one descended on Nuvahn. Zaran had reached level 20 now while Nuvahn had advanced to level 26. Still Nuvahn had received a lot less experience in the last fight.


    "I''m glad you almost caught up. I only got 20% of the total exp now..." Nuvahn said dejectedly.


    "Do more damage then... the game obviously doesn''t see you as an expert." Zaran jokingly replied.


    Nuvahn glared at Zaran but then released a sigh afterwards. What Zaran had said wasn''t wrong, the experience system in Myth Online was very harsh to those who teamed up with an expert. While he wasn''t bad himself, how could he match up to someone like Zaran who had had a massive amount of time to develop himself and was a training nut on top of that.


    Compared to Zaran, Nuvahn just paled in comparison. The only thing he could do was put in a lot more effort and even so Zaran was a natural genius. Combining that with the training nut he was, even if Nuvahn was able to put in twice as much effort as Zaran he would still be far from Zaran''s equal.


    The experience system in Myth Online was a little different compared to other games. It did not only look at total damage dealt to distribute experience but also at the level of the character. Lower level characters gained more exp by beating a harder character, but if a low leveled character was in a group compromised of higher leveled players and still did equal or more damage compared to them while the group of higher leveled players had fully contributed to the fight at the maximum of their effort, the lower leveled character would be given a tremendous amount of exp in comparison to the higher leveled player.


    So for example a level 10 character that teamed up with a level 20 character was only expected to do less than 1/4th of the total amount of damage and would still receive 50% of the experience if he did all he could. However if the level 10 did more damage than the expected amount of damage his exp gain would start to rise. Thus currently Zaran was still gaining a lot of hp as he was still considered weaker by default. Once he caught up, the system would start to work in his disadvantage as he would be expected to deal far more damage than Nuvahn when taking in account his stats, skills and equipment. With the system being this way a strong player could quickly level and catch up to others, but would still always be pressured to perform to the max of his abilities in a group or otherwise he would start to lose out on a lot of experience.


    However even with all that the system was somewhat generous as there was a sufficient margin for error. So while players were still compelled to play at the best of their abilities, they didn''t need to concentrate at a full 100% all of the time and at 90% concentration they could still net the full rewards. While the general populace wasn''t aware of this system, the advertisements for the game did mention that being highly skilled in battle netted additional rewards.


    Zaran picked up the loot and disappointment filled his face. Each pouch only contained a few silver each without any additional drops. Such a small reward for such a dangerous enemy.


    Nuvahn noticed Zaran''s expression and calmly replied. "It was the same with the last two. The drops don''t match the difficulty. If we didn''t have any magic skills we would not be able to beat them, so a few silver definitely is not a fair reward."


    "Yeah... there''s something wrong with this. Regardless I think we now know what happened to the guards." Zaran said. "Still I don''t like this. How did they all turn into those things? And... what about the other guards? A few platoons are missing... I really hope they didn''t all turn into Rotters."


    "We will see soon enough. Should we rest for a bit to let you recover mana or should we continue straight away?"


    "I think we should continue, the noise of the fight will have attracted more of those things and we can''t afford a fight just yet." Zaran said as he checked upon Nuvahn and Kirin''s condition. Both had recovered some of their youth and health again but they still needed more time to completely recover from the gas''s effect. "Let''s pass the corridor quickly and advance straight on."


    All the Rotters had been coming from this particular corridor so Zaran guessed that the next batch would come from the same area. If they just advanced onwards they might be able to avoid others for a while.


    Zaran picked up Kirin and carried her, while Cindarrah took her spot on his head again. Their speed was slow but they still advanced at a reasonable pace.


    On passing the corridor Zaran looked at it and noticed that a large group of Rotters consisting out of at least 20 individuals was heading their way.


    "Faster!" Zaran said, his voice filled with urgency. "There''s at least 20 coming our way!" Zaran quickly sped up his pace and ran forward, trying to put as much distance between them and that corridor as soon as possible!


    Nuvahn''s eyes widened in surprise as he too looked in the corridor and then picked up his pace as well.


    A minute later they happened upon a three way intersection. Zaran cursed as he checked both the left and right way and looked back. A multitude of Rotters could be found in every corridor. He muttered a few curses under his breath and looked at Nuvahn''s and Kirin''s condition. Both were almost back in prime condition.


    "We''ll have to fight our way past a group!" Zaran said while trying to see which corridor would give the highest chance of survival. But almost every single corridor had the same amount of Rotters and whats more they had no idea what would happen if they got so lucky as to pass them.


    Nuvahn noticed that Zaran was milling over the possible options. "Why don''t we just try to force our way back from where we came? Isn''t that our best option?"


    "Most likely but we don''t know if more came out of that corridor we passed."


    The Rotters crept ever closer to the group and they had to make a decision now or it would be too late!


    Just as Zaran was going to explain their course of action the wall behind them lit up and disappeared, revealing a small dead end corridor covered in a horrifyingly dark aura.


    A man that was literally skin over bone covered in Virul''s mage''s guild robes beckoned to them. "Quick! Enter! There''s no time to explain!"


    Zaran nudged to Nuvahn with his head telling him to enter the corridor. Nuvahn nodded in response and both of them quickly entered the corridor. As soon as both of them entered the wall that had disappeared reappeared and firmly sealed this area from the outside...

 Chapter 35: Group cultivation

    Author''s note: God I hate tables... so much to the point the point that I even quit writing the chapter a few times. However I''m compiling a glossary right now which should help me out in the long run... hopefully.


    Regardless, this is also by far the biggest chapter I''ve written to date and one of the ones i''m the most happy with personally. I hope you like it as well!


    __________________________________


    Zaran bowed slightly towards the skin over bone mage. "Many thanks for helping us in our time of need!"


    "No need! No need to thank me! I''m grateful to even see a human! Ah how long has it been... what day is it today?" the mage asked with a shaky voice.


    The mage was skin over bones and wore a tattered dark blue mage robe with a silver pigeon imprinted on it. A large wizard hat sat upon his bald head and had a very confused expression on his face. The mage looked horribly underfed, indicating that he had been here for a very long time.


    "The sixteenth day of the astral moon in the tenth year of the ninth era." Nuvahn calmly replied.


    "No no no no NO! This simply cannot be! A year? A full year!" the mage exclaimed in surprise running around in circles and talking so fast that Zaran and Nuvahn had trouble understanding him. "So much time, this is simply no good! NO no no no NO! There is no way! What about my position in the academy? So many conferences I missed, so many experiments! And what about my wife and kids? They must think I''m dead! Oh how will I ever explain this!"


    Zaran walked over to the skinny mage and shook him so violently that you could hear his bones rattle. "CALM DOWN!"


    "Oh, yes... yes! I should calm down!" the mage said hurriedly.


    "Good." Zaran said after the mage visibly calmed down and took a seat on a small stool that appeared from thin air. "Now who are you?"


    "Name... name..? Ah yes my name! Diedric? Diecric! Yes... that... that is my name!"


    "Okay, Diedric, why are you down here?"


    "Those... things outside! They are... conjured by... a dark sorcerer who lost everything at the hands of Virul. A few years ago the major heard about a practitioner of black magic in Virul. As black magic is banned in Virul they had to banish the dark sorcerer. When the city guards along with me, an of the mage school, went to his house the sorcerer was working on a spell that involved binding a demon to an item. "


    "His wife pleaded to not disturb him and let him finish this one spell as her husband had told her that the demon might escape if he got disturbed. Yet the guards did not listen. They stormed into the sorcerer''s room!"


    "Noticing that the ritual was nearing completion one of the guardsmen rushed over and knocked the sorcerer out cold. The next moment... all hell broke loose. The demon escaped from the ritual and attacked everything in sight. The sorcerer''s wife was the first one to fall. Half the guardsmen fell soon after before I even had a chance to start subduing the demon."


    "Right when the battle between me and the demon started the sorcerer''s son and daughter entered the room. Upon noticing the two the demon snorted and instantly beheaded them. I poured all my strength into exterminating this demon afterwards but it still managed to escape the house and it entered the sewers!"


    "The sorcerer had awoken at this point and just saw the demon leave. Looking around the room the sorcerer glanced at me and declared that one day the whole of Virul would pay for it! The next instant the sorcerer ran after the demon and so did I."


    "In the sewers I quickly lost the mage but I was able to corner the demon into this corridor. After a long battle with the demon I eventually was forced to use a forbidden spell that uses one''s own vitality to create a powerful sealing spell which no demon can escape! While it allows other non-demonic beings to enter... The user cannot leave either."


    Zaran frowned upon listening to the mage''s story. While it did seem like a legitimate story he still felt that there was something that was not quite right. If the demon couldn''t escape, why was it not present in the room?


    He decided to keep track of the mage''s movements and if he did anything suspicious he would instantly split the mage in half. The mage was in poor shape and not even a single trace of mana could be felt from his body, so Zaran was sure the mage would not be able to withstand even a single blow.


    Zaran checked the condition of the room and noticed that the floor had been completely wiped clean, with not even a single speck of dust present, this in huge contrast to outside of this sealed off room.


    He sat down in a lotus position and examined the dark and heavy aura that befell this room. He noticed that it consisted of an extremely dense concentration of both dark elemental particles and chaos ki, which seemed to almost perfectly intertwine with each other. Zaran frowned upon seeing this and then looked at the mage again with wary eyes. Chaos ki and dark elemental particles... no normal human can survive for a long period of time in this sort of environment as non purified chaos ki or dark elemental particles on their own would already drive someone mad in just a few hours of time.


    "Hey Zaran... what''s going on with Kirin?" Nuvahn suddenly asked.


    Zaran looked at Kirin and his eyes widened in surprise. Kirin had her eyes closed shut and chaos ki and dark elemental particles were almost visibly entering her body, nurturing her and she seemed a bit bigger than she was a few seconds ago.


    "She seems to be.. cultivating?" Zaran muttered in surprise.


    "Cindarrah''s going to cultivate too!" Cindarrah proudly said while taking a seat next to Kirin. A smaller stream of energy gathered around Cindarrah and she too started to be nourished by the energy.


    What surprised Zaran even more than both of his pets cultivating was that due to Kirin and Cindarrah cultivating the dark and heavy aura had become less oppressive and mage''s face lost more of its colour the more energy Cindarrah and Kirin absorbed.


    Seems my suspicions have been proven true and that the mage really is possessed by a demon.. But why is this aura stored within this barrier? And why did he allow us to enter? Better safe than sorry and kill the demon!


    "Get those foul beasts out of here!" The mage yelled while pointing at Kirin and Cindarrah.


    A teriffying killing intent pressed down upon the mage as he told them to make Kirin and Cindarrah leave.


    "Demon... Today... you die." Zaran roared as he leapt towards the mage and slashed his greatsword down.


    "NO!!! NOOOOO!!!!!!" The mage yelled out in absolute fear. Zaran brought the greatsword down and split the mage in two halves. Because the demon''s life had been linked to that of the hosts'', the demon perished along with the host. Black gas started to escape from the lifeless body along with a demonic scream and the dark oppressive aura instantly turned a few times more oppressive.


    Just as Zaran thought the mage had trapped himself and the demon in this hall with an extremely powerful spell as he had said but the amount of power this spell required weakened the mage just enough to allow the demon to posses him.


    What the demon wanted with the party Zaran would never know but he knew that it wouldn''t be anything good.


    "Nuvahn. keep guard, I will be cultivating first and then you may cultivate afterwards, but whatever happens to me, do NOT interfere or wake me!" Zaran said as he took seat in a lotus position.


    "As you wish, master." Nuvahn respectfully replied.


    Zaran rolled his eyes. "I already told you to not call me master anymore."


    "You will only stop being my master if you have nothing more to teach me. Since that day will never come, you will always be my master." Nuvahn said playfully.


    "Darn brat! Just stand guard already!" Zaran closed his eyes and first carefully started to get a feel for the aura. Both chaos ki and dark elemental particles were exceptionally violent. Among the massive amount of cultivation techniques that he had gained knowledge of over his lifetimes, very little high quality ones existed for these.


    He could still use the same cultivation technique for dark elemental particles as he had done for earth, wind, water and fire elemental particles. This technique consisted of condensing the particles in a pellet, absorb the pellets of various elemental types in his body and then create a mana seed in his body.


    The mana seed was both a container and conductor for mana. While far from the only way to store mana in the body in Myth Online it was the most profound technique thus far created by a user. One would create pellets from each elemental type, then ingest them into their body and fuse them into a single pellet.


    Thereafter the resulting pellet would then be fused with a cell and create the mana seed. When the mana seed was fully fused with this cell, it would rapidly create a series of mana channels which layered on top of his veins that were used to both store and conduct mana throughout his body.


    However he already had a mana seed in his body so now he didn''t have to go through that process all over again, now he would just need to condense a few extra pellets and fuse them with the mana seed he already has.


    An utterly terrifying bloodthirsty aura shot forth from Zaran, covering the whole corridor in an instant. A large suction force appeared in the area in front of Zaran and the dark elemental particles formed a vortex as they swirled towards the area in front of Zaran. The suction force was so strong that a black sphere was visibly and extremely rapidly forming in front of Zaran.


    Compared to the creation of the other pellets, for the dark elemental pellet the speed was far quicker and the pellet he would be able to create was going to be much bigger. On the other hand the concentration of dark elemental particles was several times bigger than at the secluded training area so this speed was within Zaran''s expectations.


    In just a mere half hour he had gathered a fist sized sphere of dark elemental particles. Carefully examining the amount of mana the sphere held, he separated a third from the sphere into one hand and started to condense it into a pellet.


    The killing intent in the air rose drastically as soon as Zaran started refining the dark pellet, enough to cause even a weathered martial artist like Nuvahn take a few steps back.


    Under this pressure, in just a mere ten minutes time, the dark elemental sphere rapidly shrunk and condensed into a small spherical pellet. Another twenty minutes passed and two more pellets had been condensed by Zaran. Upon completing the last pellet Zaran did not waste a single second and immediately tossed a pellet into his mouth.


    Not daring to be careless Zaran quickly guided the dark elemental pellet towards the mana seed, which was only a third bigger than the dark elemental pellet.  Although the pellet showed signs of resisting it was still swiftly assimilated within the mana seed, which grew by two thirds of its original size.


    However the most painful part of the assimilation still needed to begin. The next instant Zaran coughed up a large mouthful of blood. The dark ki was flowing along his mana channels and was forcefully widening them. While previously the mana channels were just wide enough to allow the full extent of his mana to run through, which now no longer was sufficient. The dark elemental particles forced the mana channels to grow by two thirds in mere seconds, which caused many internal bleeding everywhere within Zaran''s body.


    His insides felt like they were ripped apart and as if a thousand bullet ants were biting away at them at the same time. Even so Zaran besides coughing up blood Zaran didn''t let out a single groan nor did he allow his expression to change. He had to completely focus on subduing the rampaging dark elemental particles as much as possible as they would create lasting damage within his mana channels if he didn''t do so.


    After a minute of extremely excruciating pain, the dark elemental particles finally stopped rampaging and quietly settled down within the mana seed.  After inspecting the condition of the mana seed for a few minutes he took out another pellet. This time the pain was not as excruciating and the process was swiftly completed. The third pellet was even less painful and thus it was also swiftly absorbed by the body.


    Zaran gave himself a few minutes to get used to the new situation within his body before continuing. While he was done with the dark elemental mana particles as he didn''t want to create too large a difference between the different particles, he was still going to absorb the chaos ki.


    He did dread that which would come next as absorbing chaos ki was not something that was easily done. Now he would absorb chaos ki... guide it through every single millimeter of his ki channels and let it rip the channels apart and then regenerate them over and over. After that is done he needed to subdue the chaos ki and fuse it with the ki that already existed within his body.


    Starting off with sealing every entrance for ki besides one, he guided all his ki towards that entrance and prepared for impact. After letting out a deep sigh he quickly gathered a small amount of chaos ki and let it enter the open ki channel.


    As soon as the chaos ki entered his ki channels it started to rip them apart, creating crack upon crack within his body.


    "Ahk! ahk ahk!" Zaran coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood and his face lost its colour. He clenched his teeth and even though the pain was excruciating he continued to guide the chaos ki through his body.


    Crack upon crack continuously appeared on his ki channels causing Zaran to feel an excruciating amount of pain. As soon as a crack appeared Zaran immediately forced his ki to heal it. With every crack Zaran''s ki channels expanded and became more durable. Red coloured sweat poured down from Zaran like a bloody waterfall, creating pools of blood all around him.


    On the sidelines, worry had filled Nuvahn. Seeing the large pool of blood in front of Zaran along with the various other pools of blood, Zaran''s pale face and pained expression, how could he not worry? While he did want to stop Zaran, Zaran had said that he should under no circumstances interfere. So all Nuvahn could do was wait and hope that everything worked out right. Even if Zaran died, the worst that would happen is that he would respawn but even so the huge amount of pain that Zaran seemed to be in caused him to worry unceasingly.


    Half an hour passed while Zaran was exposed to this hellish pain and experience. Even though he had already been through this pain a few times before, no one can ever get used to this excruciating pain. Even with half an hour passing not even a roar of pain escaped Zaran''s mouth and this alone showed the strength of his spirit. If it were anyone else they would''ve been roaring in pain and had stopped this torture that is called a cultivating technique a long time ago.


    Another half hour passed and colour started to reappear to Zaran''s face. Slowly he had guided the small amount of mana ki throughout his body and had allowed it to attack his ki channels, ripping them apart and strengthening them over and over. By now his ki channels and dantian were twice as wide and several times more durable than before. Zaran surrounded the chaos ki with his own ki and loosely suppressed it, stopping its rampage and allowing himself to recover.


    A few minutes passed by with Zaran suppressing the chaos ki. Having recovered and regained the expended ki, Zaran ground down upon the chaos ki with his own ki. Coming into contact with Zaran''s pure ki, the impurities within the chaos ki were slowly shaven away and the purified chaos ki instantly started fusing with his normal ki.


    The previous golden ki now gained a slight glimmer of platinum and both the amount of his ki and the power had increased by a fair amount. Zaran didn''t stop yet and now allowed more chaos ki to enter his body, this time just slightly less than the amount of ki he already had. The chaos ki ravaged a way towards his dantian and erupted in a fierce battle with Zaran''s ki.


    Due to already having absorbed chaos ki and the resulting increase in power, the chaos ki had no way to win against Zaran''s ki and was swiftly and mercilessly battered down and beaten into submission after which it was carefully purified and fused with the existing ki. The more he fused his ki with the chaos ki the more platinum-colored it became, until finally not even a speck of the golden colour remained.


    Now his ki was several times stronger and he had filled his dantian until it would no longer absorb any additional ki. When he could no longer absorb any additional ki he started to have the feeling that he was stuck in a bottleneck and needed a breakthrough to be able to continue cultivating.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Seeing that no skill confirmation had popped up he checked his heavenly cloud condensing technique''s experience and level and noticed that it had risen to advanced level 7.


    No longer being able to improve any further Zaran opened his eyes and took out the six Nimbial flower petals and ate them. A pleasant feeling overcame him along with six system notifications.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>You have gained 10 stat points!


    You have gained 10 stat points!


    You have gained 10 stat points!


    You have gained 10 stat points!


    You have gained 10 stat points!


    You have gained 10 stat points!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran''s eyes widened upon seeing the effects of the Nimbial petals as he had not expected them to grant him six spendable stat points at all. It was no wonder the ravens had been able to grow so strong... Being able to feed on these petals every year would naturally strengthen them drastically over a long period of time.


    He opened up his stat screen and noticed that he had 130 unspent stat points. He decided to add 50 to vitality, instantly increasing his total health to 1500. Another 27 were spent on focus to round his focus stat to a nice round number of 100. Carefully considering where to spent the last 53 points he added 13 to flexibility and poured the remaining 40 into luck and perception.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Character info</td></tr><tr><td>Race</td><td>Zuno</td><td>Profession</td><td>Seeker of truth</td></tr><tr><td>Sub-profession 1</td><td>Hellbeast master</td><td>Sub-profession 2</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>20</td><td>Unspent stat points</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>1500/1500</td><td>Mana</td><td>900/900</td></tr><tr><td>Ki</td><td>1000/1000</td><td>Racial ????</td><td>??/??</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>170</td><td>Flexibility</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>112</td><td>Stamina</td><td>120</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>75</td><td>Focus</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>50</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>Perception</td><td>30</td><td>Luck</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>Charm</td><td>2</td><td>Willpower</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Reputation</td></tr><tr><td>Honour</td><td>5</td><td>Fame</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td>God''s merit</td><td>1</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    Wondering how to get a breakthrough in his ki cultivation Zaran stared at the stat window for a while. He had no shortage of methods to force a breakthrough but since he had no idea if any of them would even work, he wouldn''t dare to risk it. It would be far safer to first look up how one breaks through the bottleneck in this game.


    Only if there''s touching points between how it happens within the game and one of the techniques he knows, he''d be able to execute them. There was no safe way to forcefully break through to the next layer without knowing exactly how a breakthrough works. It was only natural, after all you are forcing your body in a state it is not yet meant to be in.


    Moving from the character screen Zaran checked the message boxes which had popped up after gaining the platinum colored ki. Most of his ki related skills had either their cost reduced or their damage drastically improved, which Zaran only felt was fitting comparing the power within his dantian before and after the platinum colored ki.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Through refining your ki to a higher level, your ki-related skills have risen in power!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Swiftness (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Speed increase</td><td>450%</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>10 per minute</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>One imbues his feet or arms with ki effectively, dramatically increasing one''s speed.


    Speed increases with every level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Tempered body (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>10</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Defense increase</td><td>200%</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>10-100 per minute</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>One imbues his cells with ki effectively raising the defensive of their body by a large amount.


    The ki consumption varies depending on the amount of the body that is covered.


    Every level the defensive capabilities of tempered body raise. After a threshold is reached, lower leveled weapons may no longer harm the user.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Buzzard shot (intermediate)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Arrow damage + 120-160</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>An arrow is imbued with ki and the ki is forced to swivel around the arrowhead at rapid speeds afterwards, the arrow is fired at a target with a highly penetrative effect.


    The damage increases with each level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Thunderous fist (advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>300-350</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>200</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>You cover your first with ki and strike your opponent with it.


    Once the fist makes contact with your target the ki bursts forward and explodes within the target, causing a large amount of internal damage.


    The damage increases with each level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Crashing waves(Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>5</td><td>Experience</td><td>15%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Greatsword damage + 20-2000</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>10-1000</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>After the greatsword connects with something, increasingly stronger waves of ki are sent to the contact point until the enemy is no longer able to endure.


    There are currently ten waves of ki emitted and the cost of the skill increases with each wave.


    With each level the damage increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Mountain strike(Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Effect</td><td>Knock-up</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>+150-200</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Ki is imbued to the greatsword and the enemy is struck with an upwards strike, knocking the enemy in the air.


    With each level the damage and knock up duration increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran was very pleased with his updated skills. The damage and effectiveness had increased by a large amount but the cost had drastically increased at the same time which only felt fair to him.


    Before speaking to Nuvahn, Zaran first wanted to try something and used his ki to cover himself in a visible platinum coloured aura, slightly releasing his control over the chaos ki in the next instant. Regaining some of its freedom the chaos ki instantly entered a devouring state and wildly branched outwards, devouring everything in its way even the air itself.


    "Nuvahn, throw a piece of bread to me." Zaran calmly asked.


    Nuvahn took a piece of bread from his storage ring and threw it towards Zaran. As soon as the piece of bread touched the ki, the ki reacted and shredded the bread to pieces in a split-second. For Nuvahn and Zaran it looked like the piece of bread had simply disappeared upon contact with the ki.


    "Seems good. Nuvahn throw a wind blade at me." Zaran said calmly.


    "Are you sure about that?"


    "One wind blade is not going to kill me so, yes, I am sure."


    In a mere second Nuvahn unsheathed his sword and unleashed a wind blade upon Zaran. As soon as the green energy wave came into contact with Zaran''s chaos ki, its power started to lessen until it completely dissipated. At the same time Zaran''s aura had grown less dense, but Zaran didn''t care about that. Even something that was as strong as a wind blade had been unable to harm him and had been utterly destroyed upon even touching his chaos ki.


    A wicked smile appeared on Zaran''s face and he started to walk towards Nuvahn with his aura still activated.


    Nuvahn started to feel an unbelievable horrifying amount of pressure as Zaran got closer to him, which only increased in intensity the closer Zaran got to him.


    Reaching Nuvahn, Zaran simply placed his hand on Nuvahn''s shoulder but the next instant Nuvahn cried out in pain.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET IT OFFF!!!!!!!!!" Nuvahn roared in pain.


    Zaran retracted his ki and Nuvahn''s expression cleared up again, but still had fear lingering on his face. "Never... EVER... do that again." Nuvah said, fear coursing throughout his voice.


    Ignoring Nuvahn''s complaint Zaran moved the aura around his sword and with a casual slash, a platinum coloured sword energy left his sword and collided with the barrier at high speed. Popping sounds were continuously heard as the platinum coloured sword energy hit the barrier and started to grind down the barrier''s energy. Still the barrier was far stronger than this sword strike and after a few seconds the sword energy dissapeared.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created an A-rank skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Devouring Chaos (intermediate)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>3</td><td>Experience</td><td>26%</td></tr><tr><td>Defense</td><td>+100-560</td><td>Damage</td><td>100-560</td></tr><tr><td>Damage range</td><td>2 meter radius around caster</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>100-560</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You deplete a large amount of your ki energy and shroud yourself with it. Upon releasing the chaos ki that is within


    it rapidly starts to attack everything within a small radius of you. This skill serves both as defense and offense. Defensively


    the aura is able to completely block energy strikes or magic spells that are weaker than the aura.


    The damage, the range, the max output and the defensive strength increase with each level.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Derivated skills</td></tr><tr><td>Devouring chaos blade</td><td colspan=''3''>The aura gets transmitted to the sword and sent towards the target in the form of sword


    energy.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Seeing the new skill pop up Nuvahn was utterly speechless. A myriade of questions filled his mind. He knew Zaran was far from an ordinary genius, but... he had just created a skill in the game in a mere minute? Just like that? How much had he been holding back when Nuvahn had been his disciple?  Had he just been toying around?


    While Nuvahn was lost in thought Zaran waved his hand in front of his face. "Anybody home?"


    Nuvahn was brought back to reality and shook his head. "Eh, yeah... what''s up?"


    "Your turn to cultivate..."


    "Ah... right, sorry." Nuvahn said as he sat down and quickly started cultivating.


    Zaran sat down and just watched Kirin, Cindarrah and Nuvahn cultivate. Every one in a while Kirin or Cindarrah would have a golden light spiral down upon them indicating that they had leveled up. The speed at which the two of them were leveling up was rather monstrous, causing Zaran to be curious as to how high both of them would be once they had finished cultivating.


    Second after second, minute after minute were passing and with every second Zaran felt that the dark and oppressive aura grew weaker and weaker.


    Two hours passed in the blink of an eye and Zaran noticed that the dark aura was very close to disappearing. In the past two hours he had been quietly checking the forums and see what kind of cultivation techniques there were already out there. It had only been two full days in real life and there was a massive amount of data already out there.


    A myriad of cultivation techniques littered the board with even detailed instructions as to how the channels can be build or can be located in the body and how to cultivate different types of ki. What was the most interesting to him was that there were a multitude of ways that the ki could exist within the body and that it was incredibly accurate, comparing the types that existed in the game to what he had experienced in previous lives.


    He didn''t know what the gods did to allow the creators of Myth Online to get all this information into the game in a mere ten years but he was sure as hell that more than one god had to have cooperated for this task.


    Moreover after checking various other guides and very popular topics and fora he noticed that a lot of monsters, spells and even complete areas just came straight out of one of the worlds he had lived in.


    Sadly enough he didn''t acquire any information about how he could breakthrough to the next ki layer but he did gain more information about the state of the world which was a huge benefit in its own way.


    Zaran looked at the Kirin and Cindarrah and noticed that Kirin had grown by a fifth of her original size while on the other hand Cindarrah had remained the same.


    A few minutes passed and the Dark aura completely disappeared.


    Cindarrah was the first to exit cultivation and looked at Zaran with a smile on her tiny face. "Cindarrah is strong now!" She said while she demonstrated her newfound strength by hopping straight onto Zaran''s head from ten meters away. Zaran quickly checked her stats and was pleasantly surprised.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Companion info</td></tr><tr><td>Name</td><td>Cindarrah</td><td>Race</td><td>Hellweaver</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>32</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>1200</td><td>Mana</td><td>2000</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>30</td><td>Dexterity</td><td>60</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>60</td><td>Intelligence</td><td>175</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Skills</td></tr><tr><td>Web shot lvl 9</td><td colspan=''3''>Shoots out an ball of web that explodes on contact and envelopes the target.</td></tr><tr><td>Leech lvl 8</td><td colspan=''3''>Drains life from the opponent. When used on a target that is under the influence of web-shot


    it deals double the normal damage.</td></tr><tr><td>hallucinogenic poison lvl 3</td><td colspan=''3''>Bites the target and poisons them with a highly hallucinogenic poison, causing the target to be


    unable to distinguish friend from foe.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Kirin opened her eyes soon after and howled fiercely. "Arururuuuu!"


    Purplish-black flames sprouted from her legs and maw as she stood up, making her look extremely fierce. After shaking her head for a moment the flames disappeared and the cute Kirin appeared again. A gentle teenage voice entered Zaran''s mind as Kirin blinked with her eyes and cocked her head to the side. "Sausage?"


    Zaran smiled and tossed a sausage over to Kirin. Afterwards he quickly opened the companion menu and checked Kirin''s stats, which too had risen dramatically.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Companion info</td></tr><tr><td>Name</td><td>Kirin</td><td>Race</td><td>Hellhound</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>45</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>2500</td><td>Ki</td><td>1500</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>195</td><td>Dexterity</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>125</td><td>Intelligence</td><td>45</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Skills</td></tr><tr><td>Dark flame lvl 11</td><td colspan=''3''>Launches purplish-black fireballs at the target which ignore resistances and deal true damage.</td></tr><tr><td>Bite lvl 10</td><td colspan=''3''>Fiercely bites the opponent, dealing a large amount of damage.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark rush lvl 5</td><td colspan=''3''>Covers oneself with the fire of hell and rushes at the opponent, tackling them down.


    Deals a massive amount of damage.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    A few more minutes passed until Nuvahn finally opened his eyes. As Nuvahn opponent his eyes the barrier that was sealing them started to crumble down, revealing the sewer system... and a horde of Rotters that had been waiting for them.


    "Let''s go." Nuvahn calmly said as he stood up and swiftly unsheathed his sword.

 Chapter 36: Rotter knight

    Author''s note: As you guys may have noticed the releases have been slowing down in the last two weeks. The cause is a case of complete exhaustion which has been haunting me for the past two weeks and i''m running on fumes at the moment. I''ve had almost dozed off in the car a few times over the past week so... it''s pretty bad. Once I recuperate I will pick up the pace again.


    ___________________


    A terrifyingly strong light green sword ki started to gather around Nuvahn''s greatsword.


    "Oh, a new skill?" Zaran said surprised when he saw the power Nuvahn''s sword was emitting. Compared to ''wind blade'' the energy was more concentrated, a few times more powerful and the energy felt far more ferocious as well.


    "TEMPEST BLADE!" Nuvahn roared, while slashing towards the Rotters, unleashing the light green energy towards them.


    The light green sword energy slashed through the first Rotter and wind heavily started to spiral around it, pulling other Rotters closer and tearing their skin apart in the process, dealing absolutely monstrous aoe damage. 10 rotters were affected by the skill and all of them lost between 400 to 500 hp.


    "Step back Nuvahn!"


    "FLASH FIRE!" Zaran roared as the air in front of him, heavily damaging the 10 Rotters further.


    "ARURURUUUUU!" Kirin howled as she fired purplish-black fireballs and depleted the rest of those 10 Rotters'' health.


    With a mere three attacks they had utterly obliterated 10 enemies that they couldn''t have handled before. However the group had no time to celebrate as a hundred Rotters were still surrounding them. While they were training the horde of Rotters had waited for them to exit the barrier.


    A cold and ruthless smile formed on Zaran''s face. "Pull back! to the end of the corridor! Only haras them a bit so they keep being grouped up! We''ll deal with all of them at once!"


    Nuvahn and Kirin immediately started running towards the back of the room but still kept sending out wind blades and purplish-black fireballs at the enemy. The Rotters crawled and shuffled into the room, tightly packed together, forming one dense clump of rotten meat.


    Two fiery red aura''s started to pulsate around Zaran''s body. After gaining more mana there was now no problem with casting ''flash fire'' twice at the same time. Because it had was a skill that could be charged he could stockpile charges and unleash them at the same time greatly increasing his possible burst damage.


    Zaran waited until the Rotters were all packed up, the aura constantly pulsating and growing larger. Every single point of mana that he regenerated was poured into the aura. When the Rotters'' aura nearly touched him, the fiery red aura''s exploded forward, heavily damage all the rotters in his way. Zaran immediately took a few steps back after unleashing the skill on the Rotters and a light green sword energy passed him as he was turning back.


    The light green sword energy instantly swept up forty Rotters and deplenished their health and a two golden rays of light spiraled down upon Nuvahn, who had a huge smile on his face.


    "Devouring chaos blade!" Zaran roared as a platinum coloured sword energy shot forward and split a dozen rotters in half. Right afterwards Zaran unleashed two more devouring chaos blades and another Two dozen rotters bit the dust. Three golden lights hit Zaran in quick succession as he instantly hit level 23.


    "Kirin now!" Zaran said as he ran past her. Kirin slighty lowered her head and purplish-black flames sprouted from her maw. After gathering fire for a few seconds she opened her maw and a giant purplish-black fireball shot at remainder the Rotters with tremendous speed, instantly turning Rotters to dust upon touching them. After the attack had swept through the remainder of the Rotters the floor was littered with small brown pouches.


    Zaran quickly brought up the party menu and changed the drops to be distributed evenly with all the participating members. After sweeping up the drops, the money and items were evenly split among Nuvahn and Zaran. While the vast majority of the pouches only held some coin, there had been 10 which held an peculiar item.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Rotter''s Soul</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Upon using the soul on a piece of equipment there is a 1% chance that the piece of equiment will be given a soul. After a piece of equipment receives a soul it gets a unique skill that belonged to the owner of the soul before its death. The equipment is destroyed if the action fails.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "Hey Zaran. You got some of these souls too right?" Nuvahn asked.


    "Yeah, what about it?"


    "How about trying to fuse them later on?"


    Zaran stared at Nuvahn with a blank expression. That was a surprisingly good idea, in many games things could be fused into something more powerful so why not these souls. "That''s a good idea! We should research it later on! It''d be amazing if we could get the aura ability. It''s so retardedly overpowered. Just imagine using this aura in fights against other players. We would not even need to try at all. A lot of mages and most, if not all, melee and ranged classes would be worthless against us."


    "Depending on how strong it is we would be virtually unbeatable. We should grab as many of these souls while we''re down here as we can! Even if we don''t get the aura, as long as we get the ranged ability instead it would still be more than worth it."


    "More coming." Kirin sent mentally to Zaran.


    "Where from Kirin?" Zaran asked.


    "Ahead."


    Zaran took out his longbow and quiver, his mana not having recovered enough to allow the usage of ''flash fire''. With longbow in hand he walked forward towards the direction the Rotters came from. Moments later a group of 4 Rotters showed themselves but Zaran just snorted and used ''Buzzard shot'' a few times to kill them with ease.


    "Let''s go to corridor we first saw the Rotters come from, there''s bound to be more there." Zaran said as he continued on, as none of the party were afraid of running into a large horde of Rotters.


    They swiftly came upon the corridor and entered it. Every Rotter that they met, met a swift demise as they were simply no longer their opponent. In a mere hour Zaran and Nuvahn had leveled to level 30 and level 31 respectively.


    The layout of the sewers was fairly simple and only existed of a large square outer ring, divided into smaller square areas through the corridors. Corridors that ran into a dead end actually ran under the wall and were built in a such a way that they would be easy to extend in the future.


    The party had cleared the outer corridors of rotters along with the first inner square.


    Moving towards the next square area, Zaran suddenly noticed a new type of Rotter. This one still wore the Virul guard armour and after inspecting it, he knew it would be an extremely challenging opponent if fought one on one.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Rotter knight</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>31</td><td>Health</td><td>2000</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Skills</td></tr><tr><td>Rot (passive)</td><td colspan=''3''>The Rotter knight is surrounded by an aura which decays everything the aura touches.</td></tr><tr><td>Shield wall lvl 5</td><td colspan=''3''>The Rotter knight slams his shield in the ground, heavily increasing its defense for a couple of seconds.</td></tr><tr><td>Slash of decay</td><td colspan=''3''>The Rotter knight''s aura is compressed into its blade before being unleased unto the enemy in one swift slash. Deals enormous damage and heavily decays equipment.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>After countless attempts to create an undying warrior, the sorcerer finally made a breakthrough. This Rotter is the first result of that research. He still wears the Virul guard armour, Virul sword and Virul shield. Unlike its other brethren, this one still possesses most of his speed and battle skills. The aura makes it a particularly troublesome foe.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "Leave this one to me." Zaran coldly said while covering himself with ''Devouring Chaos''.

 Chapter 37: The Rotters secret

    Author''s note: Enjoy!


    ___________


    Zaran took a step forward and the ''Devouring chaos'' aura took a loose shape around him. He had used the bare minimum amount of ki to sustain the skill as he didn''t know how much he needed to spend during the fight.


    Cindarrah jumped on Kirin''s back and yelled "GO GET HIM DADDY!".


    The next instant Nuvahn and Kirin backed away from Zaran as they didn''t want to be a disturbance during the fight.


    Upon seeing this scene the Rotter knight cocked his head and give out a low groan, slammed his sword on his large round shield, then put his shield up in front of him while shifting its right foot back and bringing its sword right above his shield.


    Zaran smiled upon seeing this as it was a fairly good battle stance and it showed that he would be fighting a worthy enemy. While slaying the previous hundreds of Rotters he had noticed that he still was far from being fully move his body the way he wanted to. This was a great annoyance to him as it effected his battle strength tremendously. To combat this problem Zaran had decided to solo any enemy he thought would both be beatable and be a challenging opponent if fought on his own.


    While he was going to fight this Rotter knight on his own he had told Nuvahn, Kirin and Cindarrah to jump in the fray if things didn''t go well at all.


    Zaran slowly moved forward until he was 3 meters away from the Rotter knight and then stopped. One meter further the Rotter knight''s aura started. While Zaran was confident that his ''Devouring Chaos'' would be able to deal with it, he was still hesitant to start the fight. Yet once he was nearly in front of the aura the fear disappeared and a great battle lust replaced it instead. In a mere instant after stopping, he lowered his body and shot fort at his opponent.


    The Rotter turned his shield to face Zaran, not allowing Zaran to take a free slash or stab at its body.


    Zaran sneered upon seeing this and used ''Earth lance'' and made it attack the Rotter knight''s sides, while it didn''t deal a great amount of damage, one of the earth lances hit the heavy armoured Rotter knight''s shield, slightly knocking it back, giving Zaran a clear opening on its body. Zaran then used a ''Mountain strike'' to further damage and knock-up the target. Right as the knockup effect of ''Mountain strike'' was going to take effect, the Rotter knight used ''Shield wall'' and slammed his shield into the ground which completely cancelled the knock-up effect and damage ''Mountain strike'' would have dealt.


    -75 (1925/2000)


    Meanwhile Zaran''s aura and the Rotter knight''s aura were fighting a war of attrition. While neither''s aura was damaged terribly, the collision of the two aura''s started to steadily deplete Zaran''s ki.


    The Rotter knight''s shield was still firmly stuck in the ground so Zaran circled around to his shield arm to land a clean blow on its body. Right before Zaran was going to land a blow the Rotter knight pulled his shield free from the ground, sending dirt and stones flying and instantly tried to bash Zaran with its shield.


    Zaran used ''Earth lance'' twice in quick succession to stop the shield bash, but the shield stopped the earth lances with ease while the Rotter''s aura instantly turned the earth lances to dust. "FUCK!" Zaran thought and instantly roared "Crashing waves! Two waves!" as he hit the Rotter knight''s shield with his greatsword, limiting himself to only using two waves of ki from the ''Crashing waves'' skill to stop the shield.


    Swiftly creating some distance between himself and the Rotter knight, Zaran instantly started ''Flash fire'' and a familiar fiery red aura started to pulsate around him.


    The Rotter knight stopped and watched Zaran as suddenly there were two aura''s surrounding its target. As the first one was already clashing with its own aura the Rotter knight was very wary of the second aura.


    Zaran sneered upon seeing this as this gave him the time that he needed to fully charge the skill. "Flash fire." he muttered followed by "Earth Lance". Because it first got hit by ''Flash fire'' the rotter was unable to utilize his aura to stop the ''Earth lance'' from hitting it.


    -75 -400 (1450/2000)


    The Rotter knight quickly recovered and tried to bash Zaran with its shield but Zaran skillfully slid to its shield arm side, however the Rotter knight seemed to have sensed that move and instantly moved his shield to the side, now trying to slam Zaran with the shield.


    Eyes widening upon seeing the incoming shield, Zaran quickly somersaulted out of it''s course. Still this action had left the Rotter knight wide open!


    Quickly using ''Swiftness'' Zaran''s speed instantaneously increased and he quickly used ''Flutter'' on the Rotter knight, critically hitting the Rotter knight with the last hit, dealing a huge amount of damage.


    - 469 (981/2000)


    The Rotter knight groaned ear-deafeningly loud and instantly concentrated a humongous amount of aura on its blade. The Rotter knight casually slashed down and an utterly terrifying sword energy rushed towards Zaran.


    Zaran activated ''Tempered body'' and used ''swiftness'' to its limits and rapidly bent his body backwards. However even with the speed increase from ''swiftness'' he was far from fast enough and was hit by a tenth of the sword energy, instantly taking a huge chunk from his health.


    -638 (862/1500)


    Shock and disbelief filled Zaran''s and Nuvahn''s eyes. They both had seen the damage just part of that energy had done. Still Zaran had no time to fuss over the damage that strike dealt and quickly straightened himself again.


    "I CAN DO THAT TOO!" Zaran roared as he unleashed the minimal amount of ki to strike the Rotter knight with a ''Devouring chaos slash''.


    -100 (881/2000)


    The Rotter knight''s aura had visibly weakened after using it''s [strike of decay] and after being hit with ''Devouring chaos slash'' and now it was no longer able to compete with Zaran''s aura.


    Noticing this Zaran expanded his aura and by doing this used up half of his remaining ki. The aura rapidly weakened further, unable to withstand the onslaught of Zaran''s aura and in no time at all the Rotter knight''s aura fully disappeared. However the fight war far from over. Zaran proceeded to use ''Gravity'' to force the Rotter knight''s shield to be pulled down and instantly followed up with a sideways slash to it''s upper body.


    The Rotter groaned and used all its might to pull the shield upwards, negating the effect of ''Gravity'' but Zaran just sneered and with a flick of his wrist changed the course of his sword towards the Rotter knight''s head and the knock back effect of Gigenkai took effect, sending the Rotter knight flying and crashing into the nearest wall.


    -83 (798/2000)


    The Rotter knight swiftly got up again and let out a fierce groan.


    Zaran sneered and used ''Earth lance'' to impale the Rotter knight to the wall, but the Rotter knight just met the ''Earth lance'' with a ''Shield wall'' and the damage was negated. However Zaran''s objective was reached and the Rotter knight was still stuck with it''s back against the wall.


    Using ''Gravity'' to pull the Rotter knight''s shield towards him and then following up with the first two waves ki of ''Crashing waves'' on the shield the Rotter knight''s shield arm gave away and broke of from its body.


    -339 (459/2000)


    Having lost the shield the Rotter knight''s body started to get affected by ''Gravity'' and was pulled towards Zaran. Not having expected this outcome Zaran quickly took a few stacks back and created distance between him and the Rotter knight.


    That wasn''t the only reason why Zaran had decided to increase the distance between the two though. The Rotter had just dropped to a fourth of its health and it should be entering an enraged state. The Rotters they had met before all entered this state upon reaching a fourth of their total health and got a new projectile attack.


    Thus Zaran decided to draw some distance between the two of them and see what happened to it. While he could easily kill the Rotter knight in two more hits he didn''t want to be caught by surprise. At the same time even if he finished the Rotter knight off right away he wouldn''t learn about the enraged state attacks of the Rotter knight.


    But the Rotter knight just stood there, disillusioned about what had just happened. A few seconds passed and finally the Rotter knight moved again and instantly shot forward at Zaran, its speed without the shield being far faster than it used to be, so fast even that Zaran barely had any time to react to its first strike.


    As the Rotter knight''s sword came slashing down Zaran quickly shifted his blade and parried the hit. With a loud "HUA" Zaran kicked the Rotter knight away.


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    -10 (449/2000)


    Recovering almost instantaneously, the Rotter knight stabbed towards Zaran, who still had trouble to deal with the Rotter knight''s increased speed, and Zaran was barely able to bring his blade in front of him to stop the attack.


    Being bothered by the current situation Zaran decided that it was time to finish the fight and quickly dropped his greatsword.


    Not being able to let this opportunity go the Rotter knight slashed at Zaran... but he missed. Zaran''s speed had doubled after letting go of his greatsword and he had swiftly moved to the sight even before the Rotter knight started his slash.


    "Gravity... AND THUNDEROUS FIST!" Zaran roared as he pulled the Rotter knight towards him and hit it with thunderous fist, automatically critically hitting it because of the combination attack, depleting whatever was left of its health.


    With a flash the Rotter knight''s body disappeared, only leaving behind a small brown pouch, a sword, a small diary and a ring. The sword was absolutely worthless as it had 1 durability left and could not even be repaired. Upon seeing this Zaran rolled his eyes and stashed it far away in his storage ring, never wanting to see it ever again.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>Sir durkhe''s ring</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Quest item</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>This ring is proof that you have found the bodies of the knights that had been sent into the sewers to investigate the situation</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran went back to Nuvahn and Cindarrah and quickly took a look at the small diary. It was a detailed record of the knight''s various missions. Zaran flipped to the last few filled in pages and stopped on one that had the name ''Sewer investigation''. The knight had very detailed observations and made a note about every new piece of information he obtained. However it was still rather hard to read the notes as they were hastily written.


    ____________________________


    Page 253


    Initial observations:


    After entering the sewers we met very little resistance. In the normal environment that would have an abundance of rats or even rat sounds on its own, only an eerie silence remained. Not even the usual animal corpses remained on the scene.


    1 hour after entry:


    We searched the preliminary perimeter around our starting position. What we found is... beyond words. In short we found corpses of Virul guards that were sent down here recently, however the only reason we were able to recognize them was because we found the new Virul crest that has been made three weeks ago, the rest had already decayed beyond belief. If we didn''t find the new crest, we probably would''ve thought that these remains had been here for decades. Still no living creatures have been found thus far, only making me and my men more weary about this place.


    2 hours after entry:


    After finding a few more of the mangled corpses some men tried to leave the sewers and tried to head back to the surface. They met the fate that every deserter gets: death.


    4 hours after entry:


    Initial scan of the outer layers of the sewer system is done. We still have not found anything worth our time besides the mangled corpses here and there. We haven''t found any living specimen either... I wonder where they all went to.


    Page 254:


    8 hours after entry:


    Contact! When we went deeper into the sewers we encountered some hostiles. They are the same mangled corpses we passed by earlier. They move slowly and are mostly nothing more than a nuisance on their own but they are surrounded by a vile aura that decays armour, flesh, weapons on touch! However after we coat our weapons with light or holy magic the aura loses it''s effect and allows us to effectively combat them, so we have been making light work of them!


    8.5 hours after entry:


    Although our initial few fights against these enemies have been easy, every fight depletes our mana and we regain it far too slowly to deal with the continuous stream of enemies. Moreover some new enemies have joined the fray, this being shield and sword wielding knights that still have the same speed and have their former battle skill.


    9 hours after entry:


    First casualties! Just a mere hour after the initial contact I have already lost five of my twenty men. Their mana had run out during the fight with one of the hostile knights and were swiftly killed thereafter. We started backtracking immediately after we lost them.


    9:15 hours after entry:


    Five more men were lost in yet another encounter with one of the knights. Our strength is lowering with each encounter.


    12:30 hours after entry:


    Total annihilation. A few hours ago me and my troops have been surrounded and carried away to the middle of the sewer system. What I am currently seeing before me thwarts reality. A sorcerer is performing horrible rituals on both alive and deceased bodies creating more of those abominable creatures we have been fighting on our way. Rats, dogs, humans, a bear... Every living thing the sorcerer found is being experimented on!


    One by one my men are being picked and changed into one of those things... soon it is my turn... I will carefully hide this diary in my armour and I pray that this diary will fall into good hands and not into that of the sorcerers! If you find this diary hurry to the major''s side and tell him to deploy the full force of the holy knights!


    _______________________


    Zaran carefully closed the diary and went over the information he had acquired. If the information is correct, which it should be, there are still some types of Rotters hidden in the sewers. Moreover there''s the presence of the Sorcerer that is bothering him. While the party had grown considerably stronger after cultivating in the safe area, they too had been having troubles with their mana and ki recovery.


    "Learnt anything new?" Nuvahn asked.


    "Yeah... we''re far from at the end of these things. Moreover they''re continuously produced by a sorcerer. I think we should head back out and find a few party members we can trust." Zaran said, quickly summarizing the information he gathered from the diary and slightly frowning as he wasn''t particularly happy about needing outside help. He was fine with Nuvahn helping him since Zaran knew he could trust Nuvahn.


    "I''ve been thinking so too after your last fight. While we can easily dispatch normal ones right now, if we get those knights along with the normal ones I don''t think we stand much of a chance." Nuvahn calmly said. "Would you happen to know anyone trustworthy?"


    Zaran thought for a while before snapping his fingers and saying. "I do! My sister and her friend! Let''s head back out first though, it''s not safe in here."


    The party quickly backtracked their way to the beginning of the sewers, opened the gate and shut it after them. Zaran quickly opened his friend list and clicked on Sylphie''s name.


    "Hey Sylphie, I need your help!"


    Almost instantaneously an answer appeared. "EEEEH??? Where!? where!?"


    "The sewers... I''m doing a quest but we need people with light or holy damage. You had a full party buff right?" Zaran asked.


    "Ugh... you ask me to play with you but when you do it''s the sewers? Really Zaran?" Sylphie replied angrily.


    "Well...  I could always find someone else if you don''t want too but I just thought I should ask."


    ">.< Well I''ll come but you owe me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


    "Thanks Sylph. You know where the sewer entrance is?"


    "Yeah, I''ll be there in an hour or so."


    Zaran swiftly closed the friend chat and told Zaran that Sylphie would be there in an hour.


    "Allright I''ll be logging out for a few minutes then. Be back in a bit!" Nuvahn said as his character started to disappear. Zaran quickly pm''d Sylphie and told her that he''d be off for a bit but that he would be back before she got to the sewers.

 Chapter 38: Reinforcement

    Enjoy!


    ----------------


    Having taken a quick break Zaran hopped into the pod again, placed his crutches to his side and connected to the game''s server. Compared to the desolate login screen he had seen the first time, the current one was the complete opposite. Now the login screen showed various populated areas in a bird''s eye view, changing to another area every few seconds. However Zaran did not have time to admire the view and quickly logged in. He closed his eyes and his consciousness quickly slipped away.


    A few moments later he opened his eyes and he was still standing right where he logged out. The familiar stench of the sewers hit him soon after. Seeing that No one else was around, Zaran quickly take seat in a lotus position and started to go over the fight with the Rotter knight again. While he was rather happy with how the fight went, he still felt that he could have done better. Moreover what he was not happy about at all was the fact that he had largely relied on his magic skills to beat the knight. The fight would have been drastically harder if he had not used those and he would have been able to settle into this body better if he had not done so. Regardless what''s done is done so he couldn''t keep being dissatisfied by that fact. Moreover it would have been impossible to beat the Rotter knight without the use of magic as he simply would not have had enough ki to beat it, so he really should not be feeling bad about. When Sylphie arrived and buffed him he would no longer have to rely on his own magic anymore as he would then be able to harm Rotters without expending all too much of his own strength.


    Minutes passed by swiftly as he recalled every move he had made within the fight and contemplated on whether or not it had been the right choice at that moment. While the fight had gone well, it could always have gone better.


    A few minutes passed before a flash of light appeared next to Zaran. After it disappeared Nuvahn''s character was revealed. Noticing that Zaran was in a meditative position, Nuvahn quietly stood guard next to him.


    A quarter of an hour passed before Sylphie arrived with Irina by her side.


    Compared to before Sylphie now donned white armour with pink accents that covered her entire body. In her left hand she had equipped a large but thin shield that looked much like a book, in her right hand she wielded a formidable battle lance and at her waist hung a small sword for emergency situations. Irina on the other hand was clad in a very revealing light brown leather set, just merely covering a bit more skin than her private areas. Her knees and elbows were protected by knee and elbow protectors and in her hands was a set of daggers that emitted a red sheen. Compared to Sylphie, Irina really did not look all that well equipped.


    Hearing the approaching footsteps Zaran opened his eyes and stood up.


    "Who''s this? Why does he have the same weapon as you?" Sylphie asked while nudging towards Nuvahn.


    "A friend and disciple of my swordschool." Zaran calmly said.


    "EEEH???? You can have disciples? Why didn''t you tell me so and make me your first disciple!" Sylphie said while running towards Zaran, dequipping her weapons and grabbing Zaran''s collar and violently shaking him.


    Zaran let his sister work out her rage before quickly and skillfully freeing himself from her grasp. "I did not say it because... It resets your class and the skills you learnt in previous classes lose fifty percent of their power. While yes I still should''ve asked you, you would''ve become an ordinary swordsman and I know for a fact that is NOT what you wish to be at all. Therefore I am not completely in the wrong for not telling you... right?"


    "Muh.... yeah, but still..." Sylphie started but was quickly interrupted by Zaran. "Even if you wanted to become my disciple in the game I wouldn''t allow you to do so. Being a swordsman is just not your style, instead a supportive class fits you more. Regardless what''s up with that shield? Why does it look like a book?"


    "Oh, uhm... it is the [Shield of wisdom], when I equip this the wisdom requirement to cast spells is removed so I do not have to spend points into that stat at all as long as my armour and stuff does not require it. It is also an item that you can level up so you never need to replace it..." Sylphie whispered quietly.


    "You bought it with real money didn''t you?" Zaran said as he rolled with his eyes.


    "Yush... sorry."


    "Well, if you can level it along the way and if it really negates the wisdom requirement completely I guess it can be categorized as a really good item. Regardless we are not here for some chit chatting and we need to hurry up and clean those sewers out or else we will most likely be facing harder and harder enemies if I am not mistaken. So both of you quickly accept my party invite and equip your gas maskers so we can start cleansing the sewers!"


    After equipping their gas masks and entering the party Zaran instantly noticed that Sylphie was a mere level 20 while Irina on the other hand was level 28. As Sylphie and Irina had only been playing together this whole time the disparity felt a bit off so Zaran decided to ask about it. "Hey, what''s up with your level Sylph? Why is Irina so much higher leveled than you?"


    Sylphie sighed and said "It is because of the skills I took, no one wants a paladin in their team that has mostly defensive and healing skills and they always complain that I should be dealing more damage. Due to the lack of damage I fell behind of Irina, because she got more exp and then later I just let Irina join parties on her own while I sat in the town training my skills."


    "I see well, let me, Nuvahn, Kirin and Cindarrah help you with that leveling problem then." Zaran said while unlocking the sewer gate. "Oh yeah... you two girls should just watch us fight for a bit... these things decay your gear pretty devastatingly. Actually it would be better for you to buff yourself and Irina from the moment we enter the sewers, me and Nuvahn will be fine, unless we start to meet Rotter knights. When we start seeing those instantly buff us okay sis?"


    "Kaykay!" Sylphie said while equipping her battle lance and shield.


    The party quickly entered the sewers again. Unbeknownst to Zaran and Nuvahn the Rotters had started to respawn after they left the sewers. Thus they had to clear every Rotter they had killed before all over again.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Sylphie and Irina were both shocked when they saw Zaran and Nuvahn fight. Both looked like extremely accomplished swordsman with to their eyes flawless swordplay. The quick succession of skills along with their footwork completely blew them away. If it were one of them, they''d have perished while fighting a couple of Rotters but to Zaran and Nuvahn it looked like child''s play.


    Due to having to clear out all the Rotters again, Sylphie''s level simply skyrocketed and grew ever closer to Irina''s. Still, Sylphie and Irina both were far from able to catch up to Zaran and Nuvahn as both their killing speed just eclipsed the two of them and due to that they got awarded a larger share of exp.


    Two hours of seemingly endless fighting passed until they arrived at the spot where they killed the Rotter knight. Like before a Rotter knight was guarding the area and upon seeing the knight Zaran immediately said "Buff me now Sylphie! Irina, Nuvahn you two stand back for now I want to see how much different the fight goes with Sylphie''s buff!"


    Sylphie used the powerful [Paladin''s blessing] spell on the whole team which shrouded them in a holy aura and gave them a 20% damage boost versus undead and turned all of their damage to holy. The chant for this buff took a full minute to complete but the buff lasted for a full hour so it wasn''t all too bad.


    Having watched Irina''s and Sylphie''s fights against the Rotters earlier he had already concluded that the holy aura he was currently shrouded in fully negated the Rotter''s aura. While he felt that the Rotters became far too easy an opponent when they lost that aura, he still believed the knight would give him a good fight as long as he didn''t use any of his magic spells.


    With a wicked smile on his face Zaran rushed forward and quickly did an upward slash, starting from the Rotter knight''s sword side. The Rotter knight quickly shifted his shield to the right and Zaran revealed a wicked smile upon seeing this. Quickly using his left foot as a pivot, he did a quick pirouette and now his greatsword, which lit up from the activation of Mountain Strike, struck the Rotter knight from his unguarded left side.


    -316 (1684/2000)


    Through the combined knock-up from Mountain Strike and the knock back effect from Zaran''s greatsword Gigenkai, the Rotter knight was slightly knocked up and knocked back, giving it ample time to prepare for Zaran''s next strike. However Zaran had already expected this to happen and used ''Swiftness'' to massively increase his speed. While the Rotter knight was able to somewhat shift his shield while knocked up a full turnaround in midair was completely impossible.


    He circled towards the back of the Rotter knight and used ''Mountain Strike'' again to keep him suspended in air and then used ''Flutter'' followed by ''Rise and Fall''. Only after ''Rise and fall'' had been completed did the Rotter Knight manage to recover. Due to the combination of Sylphie''s buff and the combination of three skills a large chunk of the Rotter knight''s hp was instantly depleted.


    -1153 (531/2000)


    The next instant the Rotter knight used Shield Wall followed by an instant vertical ''Slash of Decay''. Zaran quickly used his right foot as a pivot and fluently dodged the ''Slash of Decay''. By sliding his left foot further around he was able to instantly move towards the Rotter knight''s open side and delivered a powerful slash combined with an instant activation of Velocity, beautifully finishing the Rotter knight off.


    On the sidelines from start to the finish of the battle Irina''s and Sylphie''s jaws had dropped to the floor from shock. The mere fight took ten seconds at most and Zaran had bursted down an enemy of level 35 without even taking any damage at all! Moreover he didn''t even seem to have made a single mistake during that fight and all his movements had been stunningly beautiful.


    "Bro... is that really you?" Sylphie stammered, her eyes still wide open in utter shock.


    "Uhh... obviously? Why would you ask that?" Zaran said while raising an eyebrow, not really sure what his sister was hinting at.


    "How can you fight so well?!? Wasn''t that a level 35 opponent?"


    "Yeah it was, so what of it? The fight was rather easy with your buff, it wouldn''t have gone so smoothly without it."


    "So coooool." Irina suddenly said while looking at Zaran with sparkling eyes. "I see you in a whole new light now Zaran. Could you fight the same with other weapons? Like my daggers or Sylph''s battle lance and shield?"


    "I am rather certain I could. Why, do you two want guidance after seeing my might?" Zaran said while chuckling.


    "AS IF!" Sylphie yelled while stamping with her feet.


    "Yup! We both could use some guidance." Irina said while playfully knocking Sylphie on her head.


    "I guess I could give you two some guidance after we''re done with the sewers."


    "Hey don''t start ignoring me and deciding everything on your own!" Sylphie yelled.


    Irina brought her head closer to Sylphie and whispered. "Hey calm down, if he is really going to give us pointers we could make skills of our own too I bet, plus wouldn''t we not be able to find out how he got so good during all that?"


    "Still... my little brother giving me training... just does not feel right." Sylphie calmly whispered back.


    Irina rolled her eyes and whispered. "Just roll with it already! Or I will tell your brother about... you know..."


    Sylphie''s eyes widened on Irina''s threat and quickly said "Yeah okay okay! I get it!"


    Irina snickered and jokingly said "All right then, please guide us well master Karaz!"


    Zaran just shrugged and calmly replied "Whatever, we''ve wasted enough time, let''s be on our way!"

 Chapter 39: Quinn Arinveld

    Author''s note: Poll time!


    ________________________


    After Zaran''s one on one against the Rotter knight the group advanced at a rapid pace throughout the sewers. Even without the extra damage from Irina and Sylphie, as long as they had Sylphie''s buffs Nuvahn and Zaran would''ve been able to clear the Rotters without even using skills. Moreover after using the buff on both Cindarrah and Kirin, they also started to shine on the battlefield.


    Especially Cindarrah was now a huge help to the team as she was now able to snare the Rotters effectively. The buff had made it so that her web-shot was covered in a holy aura and thus the Rotters were unable to break free from this restraint. Zaran had instructed Cindarrah to help out both Irina and Sylphie, whose clearing speed drastically rose once the Rotters were rendered immobile. From the whole party only Kirin could still increase her clearing speed, but then she''d have to bite down on the Rotters and she was reluctant to do so. However Zaran didn''t blame her for this as he couldn''t even begin to imagine the taste that would flood her mouth, nor did he want to.


    Eventually the group happened upon new types of Rotters, called Rotter Rats and Rotter Hounds, however even those proved to be little more than walking experience orbs as they swiftly cut their way through them. About half an hour after meeting the first Rotter Hound they met a Rotter Bear. While it was supposed to be a mini boss, with Cindarrah restraining it, it ended up being a very easy fight. The bear dropped two rings which respectively improved vitality and strength by a full 20 points. Zaran took the ring which increased strength while Sylphie took the one that increased hp. Due to the Rotter''s aura most of the drops had already decayed to be unusable and this set of rings was just barely useable. However Zaran felt that compared to the other items these rings would be worth restoring to their former glory, although he was not sure of how to do so.


    Continuing on the party took another six hours to clear the remainder of the sewers. During all this time they defeated a ridiculous amount of Rotters and almost half of their kills came from a spacious room they had discovered by a stroke of good fortune. While the party had been resting, Irina leaned back against a sewer wall and activated a mechanism that revealed a hidden door. When they checked out where the door led to, they came upon a spacious room. Once the last of them passed entered the room, the door closed in on them and swarms of Rotter Rats entered the room one after another. Due to Zaran''s flash fire and the ''Purifying aura'' skill that Sylphie had been able to learn upon reaching level 30 they were easily able to dispatch the rats. In the last wave a non-rotter level 49 Rat King entered the room. This came as a huge surprise to the party who hadn''t expected to meet any enemies that were not classified as being a Rotter.


    Upon beating the Rat King rather easily the system warned Zaran that his pets could both reach a maximum of level 49 if they feasted on the corpse but that they would not gain any additional rewards if he allowed them to do so. After consulting with the rest of the party Zaran decided to let Kirin and Cindarrah devour the corpse. Cindarrah hopped from level 32 to level 41 and Kirin reached from level 45 to 46. This was still not enough to catch up to the rest of the group who now had levels ranging from 44 to 46. Sylphie and Irina were the lowest at 44, Nuvahn was at level 45 and Zaran was very close to achieving level 47 with only a few percent still missing. Still, while the group could be counted among the higher leveled players, they were still a ways off as the highest levels had already reached level 51.


    Regardless not everything had been good news as the party didn''t receive much in terms of drops. With the whole group combined they might''ve picked up loot, silver and copper coins worth a mere five gold. This would not even allow one member of the team to upgrade its weapons to the next level. This fact did not bother Zaran though, as he could just create a new set of armour for everyone in the group just by mining for ore and trading the gold for animal pelts. As for his weapons, Zaran was also going to continuously craft his own weapons as this both saved money and allowed him to create a suitable weapon for himself. Only when he looted a weapon that was worth using, he would not create one for himself.


    That said, the six hours of clearing the sewers had allowed the group to advance towards the middle of the sewers. The middle of the sewers was an enormous round room, with a 200 meter diameter. From eight entrances the sewage rivers poured into the middle of the room but the rivers disappeared under a 190 meter diameter platform. On the platform one could see a large amount of cages, tables, boxes and drawers. Each table had either a corpse, living animal, human or various ingredients on top of it. The drawers and boxes were filled to the brim with various herbs and bottles used for alchemy and the cages were home to humans and animals alike.


    At one of the furthest away table a green-robed sorcerer was reading a tome while simultaneously channeling magic into a corpse.


    Zaran decided to wait and watch for a while and quickly conveyed his intentions to the rest of the group.


    A minute passed swiftly and the sorcerer suddenly roared with a voice filled with remorse "NOOOO!!!! Failure... Again! ARGH! How many times more will I fail! How much longer do I need to suffer and wait for my revenge!"


    Zaran frowned upon seeing this scene. Talking about revenge when the demon he had summoned broke free and killed his family? Even if the demon was only able to break free after he was disturbed. Was it not stupid to talk about revenge when the root of his loss had been caused by himself?


    He signaled the others to stay put and sneaked closer to the sorcerer. Due to being so absorbed in his research the sorcerer did not notice Zaran. Zaran used ''Inspect'' to check the sorcerer''s stats. Due to inspecting all the rotters he had already advanced it to level 7 and now he could inspect Enemies upto 12 levels above him.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Quinn Arinveld</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>55</td><td>Class</td><td>Necromancer</td></tr><tr><td>HP</td><td>1.000</td><td>Mana</td><td>50.000</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Skills</td></tr><tr><td>Sublime Mana Shield</td><td colspan=''3''>The caster raises a mana shield around himself which converts all damage that would''ve been taken


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. as an hp loss into a mana loss.</td></tr><tr><td>Raise the Dead</td><td colspan=''3''>A necromancer''s most basic spell. Revives corpses which will fight for the necromancer.</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality Absorption</td><td colspan=''3''>Upon grabbing an enemy the necromancer drains their vitality and transfers it into himself.</td></tr><tr><td>Aura of Decay</td><td colspan=''3''>An low damage aura shoots forward in all directions, decaying anything within touch.</td></tr><tr><td>Ray of Decay</td><td colspan=''3''>A beam is fired in a straight line, which decays everything in its path. Deals medium damage.</td></tr><tr><td>Death Sphere</td><td colspan=''3''>The caster summons three orbs around himself which can be used for both offense and defense.


    Upon touching an enemy or terrain the spheres explode, dealing massive amounts of damage.</td></tr><tr><td>Death''s Breath</td><td colspan=''3''>The caster releases a slow moving cloud from its mouth. Deals enormous amounts of damage.</td></tr><tr><td>Summon Demonic Gate</td><td colspan=''3''>The caster summons a high level demon that will temporarily fight by his side.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran gulped upon seeing the list of skills and quietly snuck back to his team. After openening the party chat and telling them everything he got to know about the boss the others frowned in unison. While a thousand hp might seem to make the boss easy, the sublime mana shield completely negated damage once it was casted. So if only half the sorcerer''s mana was used to shield himself from harm he would have an astonishing 26000 hp. Zaran speculated that unless he had several skills with a very high cost the minimum expected hp should be around 41000 hp, with up to a maximum of about a 45000. This completely blew the team''s mind. The Rat King that they slew before had only a pitiful 15000 hp and the fight had still taken them a full five minutes.


    Feeling that their chances wouldn''t be high unless they came up with a solid plan Zaran decided that they should discuss any possible course the battle could take right away. The more possible scenarios they thought of the less surprises they would run into during the fight and the less shaken up they would be. By looking at both the description of the attacks and comparing them to skills the group had seen in other games they finally settled on a general strategy for the fight.


    The strategy they had come up with was fairly straightforward, Nuvahn would fight in close to medium range, Zaran would attack from long range, Sylphie would focus on healing and keeping her different auras up and Irina would stand by for now. Being an assassin Irina had low hp and because they didn''t know how this boss would fight they could not risk losing Irina early on. Hence they had decided that it would be for the best if she would stand by and observe the fight. That way she might also be able to find out some weaknesses or indicators of when the boss would cast a certain spell.


    Nuvahn rushed forward and used a wind blade to try and catch Quinn Arinveld off guard. However with a simple wave of his hand the sorcerer casted ''Sublime Mana Shield'' to protect himself. The sorcerer turned around and slowly raised his hand in which a translucent dark green aura with strands of black and white started to gather. A moment later the nearby corpses started to inhibit life again. The rats got up on their feet again and the humans slowly raised themselves from the various tables and picked up whatever item was closest by for a weapon. From the ground skeletons started to emerge wielding either a spear, a sword, an axe, a bow or a halberd.


    Seeing this army of undead suddenly raised in front of them, Irina and Sylphie''s complexion paled. Nuvahn and Zaran on the other hand were fine.


    "Sylphie, Irina, quickly deal with the undead, they''re all only level 20-30!" Zaran yelled after quickly checking the levels of a few of the undead. None were particularly high leveled nor did they have a lot of hp. They had been raised to be used as a distraction, allowing the necromancer to cast other spells while they were dealing with the undead. Zaran ground his teeth upon seeing the concentration of undead as he could no longer reach Quinn with his bow.


    Instead of taking a few steps back and changing his bow to his greatsword Zaran decided to take a few steps forward and cast ''Flash Fire'' at the same time. Burning everything within reach, including lab equipment, a large open area was instantly created. Still, more undead were found in every direction and all he could do was casting flash fire again to further reduce the amount of undead.


    In the meantime the sorcerer wasn''t idling and was mumbling a very long and complex chant. Zaran had already noticed this but the swarm of undead made him unable to reach the Sorcerer in time. The rest of the group too was unable to reach him in time.


    Cindarrah had moved onto the ceiling of the sewers and shot a few web-shots at the sorcerer but each web-shot was met by a bone arrow. The bone arrow caused the web-shot to explode and wrap itself around the web-shot, completely rendering it useless. She scurried forward to get closer to the Sorcerer and zig-zagged across the ceiling to protect itself from incoming arrows.


    Noticing Cindarrah''s situation, Kirin activated ''Dark  Rush'' and quickly arrived near a group of skeleton archers. With a few casts of ''Dark Flame'' the skeleton archers soon fell. Cindarrah quickly took advantage of the opportunity Kirin had given her and fired a few web-shots towards Quinn. The web-shot hit the Sublime Mana Shield and quickly constricted it but were unable to break it apart. Likewise the Sublime Mana Shield could not decay the web-shots, which was a great annoyance to the mage as the web-shots that had hit his Sublime Mana Shield obstructed his vision. Still, it didn''t disturb him enough to stop him from finishing his incantation and the final words just left his lips.


    The platform rumbled as a horrifying gate made from blood rose up from the ground, which only stopped once the frame hit the ceiling. Only upon reaching the ceiling did the rumbling stop and a few seconds of absolute silence existed on the platform as no one dared to move.


    Slowly the door of blood creaked open...

 Chapter 40: Ancient Fallen Angel

    Author''s note: Realized that the goddess'' name could offend people, change it or keep it?


    Anyway i slowed the releases because i''ve been exhausted lately... i still got the same issue sadly enough. I hope it clears in the next week with the new pills i got ''cause i''m really growing tired of being exhausted 24/7.


    _____________________


    A foul stench started to permeate the air as the door of blood slowly opened and even the stench of the sewers was far from being able to be contend against it. Just a tiny whiff of it made one feel as if their whole body was covered with death. Luckily the group had Sylphie''s blessing spells which reduced the effect the stench had on them by a large margin. Still, the whole group felt sick, with only Kirin and Cindarrah seemingly unaffected.


    Black mist gushed from the door as a load roar was heard and the group started to hear loud steps followed by tremors which shook the entire platform. The majority of the undead had been cleared at this point, mainly due to Zaran''s rampage with ''Flash Fire'', but the remaining undead all dropped their weapons and started to limp away in all directions. The summoned skeletons on the other hand formed a line and simply stood guard next to it.


    A skeletal hand shot out from the mist and grabbed the frame of the blood-soaked door and crushed a part of the door as it pulled the rest of its body through it. A gigantic five meter long thing that resembled a skeleton was revealed. Contrary to normal skeletons in the middle of this one''s chest a humongous blood red heart was beating, parts of flesh still hung at its bones and from its back sprouted two meter long bone wings. In its left hand was a two meter long bone greatsword that he dragged over the stone floor.


    After the Skeletal demon exited the gate, the blood that formed the gate fell down and a wave of blood gushed over everything within reach.


    Seeing the skeletal demon Irina and Sylphie shivered in fear while Nuvahn and Zaran stood there with an unchanged expression.


    "Who... who hath dared to awaken me from my slumber?" The skeleton asked with voice so full of anger that the air started to feel heavy.


    "It was I, Quinn Arinveld!" Quinn said proudly and then he commanded "Now go forth and kill my enemies!"


    "Thou darest give me orders!?" The skeletal demon said as he turned around to face Quinn. "Hmph! A tiny sorcerer as thou hath no right to command me. "


    "I COMMAND YOU TO FIGHT MY ENEMIES!" Quinn roared with an extremely ugly to behold face. He had expended no small part of his mana to summon this demon and now it dared to refuse his orders?!? How could he not be angry. He had cast this spell many times over and the more mana he poured in the more powerfull the demon that emerged. Now he had poured almost half of his mana into the spell and had summoned a seemingly horrifyingly strong demon yet it was the first demon that had even dared to refuse to listen to his orders. Quinn ground his teeth and hoped that the demon would obey his orders.


    An invisible force started to push down on the skeletal demon, forcing it to obey his summoner''s orders. The skeletal demon roared and bellowed "I, Li''ar, shall not forget this embarrassment!" Turning to Zaran he pointed to him and said "You! If your group is successful at bringing that sorcerer down I shall bestow upon thee a tremendous reward!"


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Li''ar</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>????</td><td>Race</td><td>Ancient Fallen Angel</td></tr><tr><td>HP</td><td>??????/??????</td><td>Ki</td><td>??????/??????</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>An ancient being that had been asleep for eons, awaiting the day his strength would fully recover. However he did not get the chance to fully recover his strength as a foolish sorcerer awoke him from his slumber. Only time will tell if his coming will be a blessing or bring forth a calamity...</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Shock filled his eyes when he saw that he had no way to see Li''ar''s stats, however what was more shocking was Li''ar''s race. It meant that he would by no means be a simple opponent. Zaran quickly recovered from the shock, switched to his greatsword and commanded. "All of you focus on the sorcerer!"


    Turning to Li''ar, Zaran bowed and respectfully said: "Please exchange pointers with this junior!"


    A smile appeared on Li''ar''s face which only served to make his face look all the more grotesque. With a hearty laugh he lifted his greatsword from the ground and casually brought it down upon Zaran. A tremendous amount of pressure befell Zaran as the sword came his way. Yet the pressure did not cause Zaran to get nervous and he met the sword with a likewise casual swing. The two swords collided in the most casual way possible seeming as if neither side believed the opponent could do anything about their strike. As the swords met an incomparably loud explosion rang out.


    -------


    Disbelief filled Sylphie''s face as she noticed the explosion. She was to stand back and cast heals and buffs during the fight with the sorcerer so she had a clear view on what happened. She could not believe that two casual sword blows could produce such a loud explosion. Even more so after the explosion cleared up both sides were completely unharmed and both had a wicked smile on their face. Remembering the Goddess''s appearance Sylphie frowned.


    What secret did Zaran hide? She could not believe that her crippled brother had gained such great martial arts skills through gaming. Even though gaming nowadays bought you a lot of time, there was no way he had spent all his time refining his sword skills. A frown appeared on Sylphie''s beautiful face while she pondered over all the questions that she now had regarding her brother. Blood started trickling down her lip as she had bit through it while in deep thought.


    Unknowingly a dark orb flew towards Sylphie, seeing that she hadn''t noticed it Irina ran towards her and tackled Sylphie to get her out of harms way. "Pay attention dummy!" Irina scolded as she got up and into the fight again. Sylphie slowly nodded and started to focus on her own fight again.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Through Cindarrah, Kirin and Nuvahn''s efforts the group had been able to seal the sorcerer''s vision, which caused him to randomly fire spells around him. It had been through sheer luck that one of his orbs flew towards Sylphie and if not for Irina''s alertness they would be without their healer.


    While the sorcerer hadn''t been that hard to fight after he lost his vision, his spells still dealt a tremendous amount of damage so the group still had to vigilant. Even the weakest two of his spells easily chunked the party down to low health, causing them to be very vigilant.


    Nuvahn circled around the mage, continuously dodging spells, silently delivering sword blow after sword blow on the barrier when possible.


    For the first time in the fight Kirin decided to use ''Dark Rush'' and loudly crashed into the barrier. The barrier visibly weakened for a second, but Kirin was stunned at the same time.


    The sorcerer instantly fired of a ''Ray of Decay'' at Kirin''s position.


    "Noo!! Kirin!" Nuvahn yelled as he rushed over to her. Seeing that he could not possibly make it in time to shove her from harms way, Nuvahn grit his teeth and pushed his body to the max, jumped and simultaneously released his left hand from his greatsword.


    This allowed him to increase his reach and he used the broad side of the greatsword to deliver a blow to Kirin, succesfully sending her flying a few meters back. "Forgive me Kirin!" Nuvahn yelled as he crashed into the ground and screamed his pain as his shoulder got dislocated. Gritting his teeth he pushed it back into place and quickly got up, only barely dodging yet another ''Ray of Decay''.


    The fight continued and no more accidents like that happened. However during the course of the fight Nuvahn''s, Irina''s, Kirin''s, Cindarrah''s and Sylphie''s resources had been steadily depleting.


    "I am almost unable to cast more web-shots!" Cindarrah suddenly yelled while she kept scurrying along the ceiling as spells crashed into it around her.


    "Here take this and drink it!" Irina said as she threw a mana potion towards Cindarrah. Both Irina and Sylphie had a few potions but they had been really expensive to acquire so they were reluctant to use them. However if they did not use them to replenish Cindarrah''s mana they would not be able to keep the sorcerer down for all too much longer.


    --------


    Meanwhile Zaran was exchanging blow after blow with Li''ar and was starting to get pushed back. Zaran knew Li''ar was just playing with him but he did not care about that. With a loud bang the swords collided yet again and Zaran was sent flying into a nearby pillar. Coughing up some blood, he grit his teeth and dashed forward again, not giving Li''ar a chance to fight someone else. In Zaran''s eyes winning or losing this fight depended on his ability to deal with Li''ar. Seeing as he could no longer match blow for blow he decided that it was time to deal with Li''ar with superior footwork.


    Seeing Zaran dash towards him again after having crashed into a pillar Li''ar laughed and said "Good! I like thine attitude! Come at me with everything thou hath haha!"


    Li''ar thrust forward with his sword, intending on flinging Zaran into another pillar again and seeing if he would continue to stand up over and over again.


    Zaran sneered and with the smallest possible movement he evaded the sword. If one hadn''t taken a good look at Zaran''s movement just now they would certainly feel like he hadn''t moved at all and that it was instead Li''ar who had not aimed his blow properly.


    A pleased expression appeared on Li''ar''s face, turning it gruesome to behold again. I wonder how much more of my power this one will be able to take on. With a flick of his wrist Li''ar''s sword changed direction in midair, viciously carving a path towards Zaran.


    Sliding his left foot behind his right foot Zaran which turned him towards Li''ar''s sword, brought him closer to li''ar. Simultaneously he brought his sword up so the demon''s greatsword would crash into the broad side of his sword.


    When the two swords met Zaran lifted both his feet of the ground and allowed the momentum of the strike to carry himself backwards. This brought Zaran behind Li''ar, who had no time to turn around in time and Zaran delivered a powerful blow to Li''ar''s left leg.


    For the first time in their fight Li''ar had been hit! Even something as ancient as himself hadn''t expected Zaran''s move! A violent light flickered in his eye sockets for a moment before disappearing as quickly as it appeared. He quickly switched his sword to his right hand and without turning around slashed behind him right at the spot where Zaran previously was!


    While previously he was slowly increasing the power he outputted to match what Zaran could bring out, now the demon instantly brought out twice as much power as before! Zaran had no way to dodge this strike and was only able to raise up his sword to somewhat block most of the power behind the strike.


    Still Zaran got flung back through the sheer force of the strike and crashed into a pillar again. Blood trickled from his mouth and his face was pale but he still had the same smile on his face. He was going all out in a fight for the first time in many, many years. Reincarnating into this life wasn''t that boring anymore for him! How long had it been since he last went all out? Even he himself had lost track of how long it had been since he last had an entertaining fight.


    He forcibly coughed up blood to clear his lungs and with a faint red sheen in his eyes he rushed towards Li''ar.

 Chapter 41: Goddesss Scion

    Author''s note: Fear not! I have NOT died!


    On a more serious note I''ve caught a virus around christmas and as a result I''ve been terribly sick the past few weeks. At one point I hadn''t even the strength to lift my head... I''m getting better now and my strength is finally returning. With my strength returning, chapters will return as well!


    Anyhows enjoy the chapter!


    ___________________


    Li''ar frowned upon seeing Zaran rush in like a headless chicken. The last exchange should''ve proven that such an approach was not working so why did he come rushing in again? Li''ar shook his head and bellowed "The same tactic will not work again!"


    The demon viciously slashed forward with double the strength he had used in his last strike. While he had been playing around to see how much more strength and battle tactics Zaran could bring forward, he could not stand his enemy being so foolish as to use the same tactic twice! Therefore he now drastically increased the amount of strength he was outputting, only and only if Zaran was able to deal with this blow would he continue to play around with him. Still... Li''ar was barely using two percent of  his total strength at the moment!


    Seeing the incoming blade Zaran instantly activated swiftness, swiftly back-stepped and made sure to land on solely his toes, just barely escaping in time from the full range of the attack. As the attack passed by Zaran instantly shifted his body weight forward and pushed against the ground with his toes which propelled him forward at great speed.


    However the speed increase did not manage to catch Li''ar off guard. Being caught off guard once in a fight was more than enough of a disgrace for the Ancient Fallen Angel. His eye sockets flashed with an interested light for a second before growing dull again. He got surprise after surprise with this puny being in front of him.


    At first the puny being was matching him blow for blow purely through skill, when skill could no longer help him match blows it started using a rather impressive movement skill to deal with  the blows and when that didn''t work it used the movement skill in combination with a speed increasing skill.


    Yet even though his opponent seemed to use more and more of his potential... Li''ar still had the feeling that there was something asleep in Zaran''s blood. Some ancient ... power that was in a deep slumber, just like Li''ar awaiting the day it would be released upon the world again. The more Zaran pushed himself to the limit the more he felt like it was starting to awaken.


    Therefore he''d been increasing his power little by little and see if he could force it to awaken. He was greatly interested in what would happen if Zaran awakened that power.


    His anxiousness to see Zaran''s full potential and power on display caused Li''ar to lose control over his strength for a split-second. Instantly his sword burst forward at lightning speed, directly slamming against Zaran''s greatsword.


    Bang! The air exploded as Zaran was sent flying by the sheer power behind this blow. Li''ar''s expression instantly turned sour, a momentarily lapse in his attention could''ve caused this interesting young one to have perished!


    Boom! Another loud explosion rang through the air as Zaran collided into the sewer''s wall, causing dust and debris to burst forward in every direction, completely blocking his current situation from being seen.


    ____________________________________


    At the other side the party was preparing to clean up the battle. The sorcerer had lost most of his mana and soon his mana shield would break. Without a supply of mana the party would easily be able to deal with them as everyone in the party had made sure to save their strongest skills for last.


    BOOOM!!


    A large explosion sound happened and on everyone''s party list Zaran''s health had plummeted to a barely noticeable amount.


    Irina noticed what happened and before anyone else had time to react she instantly shouted "Sylphie! Go to Zaran! We''ll be fine on this side!".


    "mhm! Thanks!" Sylphie said as she sped towards Zaran.


    _____________________________________


    As the dust cleared an horrifying sight was revealed. Zaran''s chest had caved in from the impact and his whole body was riddled with wounds from the debris that was sent flying upon him crashing into the wall. Blood ceaselessly poured from his wounds, pooling up all around him, dying the sewer''s floor a deep red. If not for this being a game the amount of blood he lost would have ended his life two times over.


    Yet even though his life''s flame was nearly dying out, Zaran was completely unwilling to lose like this. Whilst his body had already become devoid of life, his mind was urging himself to move! To fight! To slay! To kill! ... and to devour his enemy''s strength!!!


    "Not... yet! ... Not ... like ... this!! STAND!!!!" Zaran roared in his mind. "MOVE!"


    With the utmost effort Zaran was able to move his arm and pull himself free from the crater his impact against the wall had created.


    Everyone watched Zaran''s movements with absolute shock. His body was riddled with wounds and there was a lake of blood in front of him. They didn''t think it was possible for him to still have the strength to lift a finger!


    Such boundless tenacity. By now he should no longer have the strength to move but he still managed to summon enough power to pull himself free. Interesting! Still, that which is within him has not yet awoken. He should no longer be able to fight me any longer. Liar thought. Sadly enough, this does mean that I will have to start fighting the rest of his party and abide by the commands of that sorcerer. Alas, if only he could have awoken his strength!


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Pulling himself free had consumed all the strength Zaran could summon and after a few slow steps his body crashed lifelessly to the ground.


    By now Sylphie had arrived at Zaran''s side and she instantly cast her most powerfull healing spell "Angelic tears". Zaran''s health was swiftly replenished but instantly started to drop again, his wounds too severe to be patched up by a low level healing spell. "NO!!! ANGELIC TEARS!" Sylphie shouted as she cast her healing spell another time. Yet the wounds really were too severe and her healing spell only delayed the time of his death. "Angelic tears! Angelic tears! Angelic tears!" Sylphie shouted over and over, hoping that one of her casts would be successful in healing Zaran.


    As soon as her mana ran out she took out a mana potion and gulped it down instantly to continue casting the healing spell over and over. Every failure increased the despair and helplessness in her heart. When all her mana was spent and not a single more potion could be found within her inventory, she fell down on her knees and shouted "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!"


    Moments later a system prompt appeared before her.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Through your endless effort to save a life, the goddess of life has taken an interest in you. If you agree to become her scion she will bestow upon you a small part of her powers. This decision cannot be undone!</td></tr><tr><td>Accept</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "Agree! Agree! Agree!" Sylphie quickly accepted the proposition. A white light befell her and two skills where instantly added to her repertoire.


    Isis''s blessing: Resurection  - A skill exclusive to scions of the goddess of life. Allows the caster to bring someone back from the death once a week.


    Isis''s blessing: Rejuvenation - A skill exclusive to scions of the goddess of life. Once a day you gain the ability to instantly cure the target''s injuries, clear their debuffs and fully recover their health.


    Sylphie quickly cast Isis'' blessing: Rejuvenation on Zaran. A white light fell down on Zaran and his wounds started to heal at an extraordinary rate.


    Seeing the ever so familiar light Li''ar gnashed his teeth and cursed to himself "That wench has become the goddess of life''s scion! I cannot let her live!". Li''ar dashed forward and prepared to strike Sylphie down.


    It was at this moment that Zaran''s consciousness returned! Before even opening his eyes the first thing that he did was firmly clenching his sword. "If I am not dead.... FIGHT!" Zaran roared to his body. With this roar every cell seemed to have awakened and a feeling of absolute power filled every cell of his being! A message box flashed before his vision but he instantly closed it.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Racial skill unlocked: Blood awakening</td></tr><tr><td>Health cost</td><td>90% of max health</td><td>Battle-related stat increase</td><td>200%</td></tr><tr><td>Skill cost reduction</td><td>80%</td><td>Skill duration</td><td>60 Seconds</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You burn your life force for an enormous increase in strength. This skill can only be used when at full hp.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Opening his eyes he noticed that Li''ar was moving towards his sister and was preparing to strike down. "YOU. DARE!" Zaran roared as he vaulted up and sped forward.


    Li''ar no longer cared about Zaran and swiftly brought his blade down. Zaran grew even angrier and pushed his body to the limits as he used a full powered mountain strike. The two blades met and through the sheer force of the impact Li''ar actually staggered backwards!


    Through the increased strength the knock-back effect of mountain strike had increased!


    "Sylphie run! I''ll deal with him!" Zaran said as he struck Li''ar with another mountain blow before the knock-back effect wore off.


    Zaran sped his body up to the max through the use of Swiftness. In an instant he was at Li''ar side and struck him with another mountain strike. Zaran decided to continuously use mountain strike to keep Li''ar from doing anything while the party finished up the sorcerer.


    Half a minute passed and the others had finally been able to dispatch the sorcerer. A black leather book with a skull fixed on it and a reddish book that seemed to be made out of blood dropped to the ground. Nuvahn quickly picked both of them up and ran over towards Zaran.


    "You promised us a reward. For our reward we want you to never directly or indirectly harm Sylphie! We will take no other reward!" Nuvahn quickly said as Zaran stopped juggling Li''ar with mountain strike. Nuvahn saw that Li''ar had attacked Sylphie and he had to make sure that he would not try to kill her later on. While she would be able to respawn, Nuvahn was sure there had to be a reason for Li''ar''s sudden attack as he didn''t try to do so before the fight. Thus, asking Li''ar to make the reward be so that he can''t ever harm Sylphie should be able to keep her safe.


    "Fine, so be it!" Li''ar said while gnashing his teeth. He had been utterly humiliated in the past minute! Li''ar summoned the bloody door again and stepped through it. Before he fully disappeared his voice rang out to the party.  "I was not able to use my full strength today... If our paths cross ever again, pray that I have not fully recovered!"


    Leaving them with those words, the party looked at each other and all of them fell down, utterly exhausted.


    "Let''s take a few minutes to catch our breath" Zaran said, to which all the others nodded.

 Chapter 42: Spoils of war

    Author''s rant corner: Was going to write a rant about current situation but instead of bothering you with the details i''ll just put it bluntly: whenever i''m done with one thing, the next comes looming around the corner...


    Regardless, enjoy! The next chapter will follow as soon as possible.


    _______________________________


    A few minutes passed while everyone was focusing to recover as swiftly as possible. Suddenly Zaran frowned and said "Nuvahn, what drops did you pick up from the necromancer?"


    "Two books, just a second I will toss them to you." Nuvahn said as he took two books out of his storage ring and threw them towards Zaran, who caught them very stylishly.


    Zaran took out the black leather book first. The cover had three words in red letters engraved upon the black leather "Tome of Necromancy" Below that was a real skull of a small animal that Zaran couldn''t quite recognize. Zaran flipped open the cover and before he could read the first page of the book a message greeted him.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Do you wish to change your class to Necromancer?</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Warning: Changing to a forbidden class can not be made undone and has everlasting consequences!</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Upon changing your class to necromancer you can no longer use white magic! As a consequence all your learned white magic spells will be made unavailable. The majority of npc''s will be unwilling to converse with you, reducing the amount of quests you can obtain. Having the ability to summon an army of minions, experience gained is reduced with every additional summon. The experience gained can not ever be lower than 1% of the original value.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran quickly yelled "NO" in his mind and the message disappeared. Another message greeted him.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Without changing your class to Necromancer you can not use the spells in this tome, however you can still read the tome to gain a greater understanding concerning Necromancy. If you at any time change your mind and wish to change your class to Necromancer, close this tome and reopen the first page.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Dispelling the message, Zaran started reading the first page.


    Page 1:


    Using this tome changes your class to the forbidden class ''Necromancer''. A Necromancer specializes in skills to summon, buff and heal the undead and on the side dabbles in black magic spells. This tome contains a vast array of basic, intermediate and even advanced necromancy spells and is useful for any necromancer, be it someone who has recently started necromancy or an already accomplished necromancer.


    Seeing as the rest of the first page was general information on necromancy, Zaran started to flip through the remainder of the pages at a leisurely rate. Even though he didn''t want to become a Necromancer, just flipping through the book and reading the information, requirements and effects of a spell allowed him to understand how most of the spells worked and devise counters for a fair amount of them. While not all of them could be interrupted, some however could be countered or dealt with in a specific way.


    Having finished the book Zaran found that the spell "Branding of the dead" was the most interesting one. Depending on the level of the Necromancer, the necromancer could form a permanent contract with one of his summons. Upon contracting with one of the summons the summon can no longer die and levels along with the necromancer however it still perishes if it''s health is depleted. Once its health is depleted, any additional damage that should have been received by the perishing summon is dealt to the necromancer instead. This means that if a 300 health summon was hit by a 1000 damage attack, the necromancer would be dealt 700 damage. A huge deficiency of this spell is that you cannot contract anything that is stronger than oneself, but Zaran liked to imagine that there were ways to bypass this. Regardless, this spell allowed you to level a set of summons in the way you wanted which would be a very huge benefit regardless of any side effects.


    "None of us can use it, what do you girls think should we sell it?" Zaran said as he finished the book and passed it to the girls, whose eyes widened as they both simultaneously cried out in surprise. "EEHHH!!! A tome of necromancy?!?!? We''ve struck a jackpot!!!!! This sells for tens of thousands on the auction house!"


    "Oh? Is it that rare?" Zaran asked.


    "Yeah! It''s a drop that can only be gotten from named necromancers and there are very, very few of those in the game! Thus far out of a hundred million forum users only two low grade necromancy books have been reported to have dropped! Both were pushed onto the auction house and sold for a few thousand euros each!!


    And those books only contained the basic necromancy spells! Just imagine how much someone would pay for a complete tome like this!"


    "We''ve really struck it good then... Seeing as none of us can use it, why don''t we sell it on the auction house for the next twenty four hours and split the profit between the four of us?"


    "No need to split the profits with me." Nuvahn immediately said. "My parents are rich enough for me not to have to worry about money for the rest of my life..."


    The rest of the group looked at Nuvahn with a wry smile. It is not like they were poor but ten thousand euros was still a big deal to them! Yet this guy treated it as if it was nothing...


    "Well, then let us divide however much we get by the three of us." Zaran said with a wry smile.


    "Fair enough!" Irina said. "What about the other book that dropped?"


    "Let me see!" Zaran said as he took a closer glance at the blood red book.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Demon summoning tome</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>This tome contains forbidden knowledge that allows one to summon a demon and make it fight for them. The skills listed in this tome can only be learned by someone proficient in black magic.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "Same as the other one, not interesting to any of us, unless one of us is going the black magician slash necromancer route." Zaran said as he gave the book to the girls.


    Their eyes widened again. "Another tome! This one sells for a lot too!"


    "How come you girls are so knowledgeable about this stuff?" Zaran asked confused about how they could tell it was worth a lot or not from a single glance.


    "Well... when we were looking for gear for me we were scrolling around the forums to get information from other people and then we learned there were three types of skillbooks. Those being, scrolls, books and tomes. Scrolls hold limited knowledge and only offer beginning skills, introductions to a class or even just a part of a skill. Books offer the full package of beginner information along with some degree of intermediate knowledge. Tomes are generally the epitome of knowledge in a class." Sylphie explained. "Thus if it is a tome that has dropped this early in the game we know it is going to bring in a lot of money on the real money auction house."


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "I see... but doesn''t that mean if we find a tome we can just learn the high leveled skills immediately?" Zaran asked.


    "No... higher leveled skills are hard to learn and someone needs high talent in that art to even learn them. With our measly amount of mana or ki could we even hope to activate a true intermediate class skill?" Irina said, adding onto what Sylphie was saying.


    "I guess that''s true. If you look at my created skills, the majority of them need improving if I want to keep using them. The damage I can deal with them is quickly starting to become insufficient after all." Zaran remarked, thinking about his own situation. He now realized that he really had to work on his skills far more if he wanted them to remain relevant in the future.


    It is a feeling that has grown stronger during his stay in the sewers. Before evolving his ki he already started feeling that the damage his skills were dealing was growing weaker and if it continued for too long he would need to fight for minutes just to deal with normal monsters.


    Getting back to the topic at hand, Zaran turned to Irina and said "I will put these tomes on the auction house and at the end of the auction I will just transfer your share to your account. Is that fine with you?"


    "Yup! Totally fine with me!" Irina said with a pleasant smile plastered to her face.


    "With the profits both you and Sylphie should browse around and look for upgrades for your gear. As for me and Nuvahn we''ll work something out in that department." Zaran said, giving a meaningful nod towards Nuvahn at the same time.


    "Suits me. All I really need is a stronger weapon at the moment." Nuvahn lazily said as he tried to suppress a yawn. He had been awake for a long time now and was due for some much needed rest.


    Noticing this Zaran frowned and whispered to Nuvahn. "How long have you been awake?"


    "A good twenty six hours by now."


    "... Time for you to get some rest then." Zaran said. It was nearing 20:00 for him so it wouldn''t be too unreasonable for him to sleep now. Not that Zaran had any responsibilities, but he still felt that he should somewhat keep a normal sleeping pattern going.


    Zaran closed the whisper box and said to the girls. "Let us head out of the sewers, then I will head to the auction house to sell the tomes. In the meantime you girls can sell all the loot we got to the merchants and head towards your class''s guilds and try to get new skills. After we finish our business in the city we should all get some rest before we head into the sewers again... My job here is not done yet."


    "Okayy.. but Zaran I have work tomorrow so...." Sylphie said whilst biting her lip.


    "Yeah me too..." Irina mumbled dejectedly.


    "Oh well... hmm... Then me and Nuvahn will head into the sewers by ourselves tomorrow. With the necromancer gone both of us should be fine after we acquire some new gear. I will have to figure out a way to keep the both of you near our levels." Zaran said, pensively stroking his chin as he had another trouble to deal with.


    He did want a reliable party and Irina and Sylphie were both people he could blindly trust. As for other people... he did not dare to say he could! How many of the skilled people he would deem worth to party up with would be aligned with other gods? The chance was simply too high for him to take it. Thus he had already decided to add Sylphie and Irina into his party.


    However he did forget that both of them had jobs, unlike himself who could fully devote himself to the game.


    Now he had to both figure out a way to keep the girls at his level while simultaneously improving their skill at a rapid rate. While they had not been moving all too badly in their battles, compared to Nuvahn or himself, the girls weren''t even remotely close to the skill the two of them had showed.


    "Sorry..." the girls both said sorrowfully.


    "It''s okay. I will figure out a way!" Zaran said as he patted Sylphie''s golden coloured hair.


    "Now let us get the hell out of here because that sleepyhead needs to sleep!" Zaran said, pointing at the yawning Nuvahn with a huge smile plastered on his face.


    "Ok~ay!!! Let''s get going sleepyhead!" The girls said playfully as they walked up to Nuvahn, grabbed hold of his arms and dragged him forward.


    "Hey!!!!" Nuvahn said as he swiftly broke free and grumpily said. "I can walk by myself!"


    "Suuuuure!!!!! You were so full of energy that you were about to fall asleep." Irina playfully said.


    "HMph!" Nuvahn let out a low harrumph as he trotted forward towards the sewers exit, followed by the girls who skipped along happily while teasing Nuvahn some more.


    "This should open Nuvahn up to the girls." Revealing a sly smile Zaran turned towards Kirin and Cindarrah and commanded. "Come, Kirin, Cindarrah, let''s not fall behind!"


    "Okay!!" Cindarrah''s lovely voice resounded through his ears as she jumped on his shoulder, whilst Kirin already sped after the group. Not willing to be the last to exit the cave Zaran shot after the party himself.


    Half an hour of running later the party exited the sewers. "Right let''s party ways here. Nuvahn, how long do you think it will be for you to be online again?"


    After thinking about it for a bit Nuvahn slowly said "ehh.. about six hours... Eight at most."


    "Okay. I should be back before that myself so let us meet up as soon as you get on!" Zaran said.


    Nuvahn nodded and instantly logged out. The girls and Zaran first stopped at the nearby river and jumped into it to clean their selves from the filth of the sewers before making their way to the city again.


    As they entered the city, Zaran parted ways with the girls and walked towards the auction house, ready to unleash another uproar among the population!

 Chapter 43: The auction

    Enjoy!


    ______________________


    Upon entering Virul, a group of people who recognized Zaran came swarming towards him, which caused Zaran to quickly command Kirin to use her aura to keep them away. He instantly noticed how powerful this aura was as the swarm of people instantly found themselves unable to advance any further. Anyone within a two meter radius around Zaran quickly ran out of that area soon after. This effect did cause more people to look over and recognize Zaran as a four meter wide circle in Virul''s bustling streets was a rare thing to be seen. Yet no one could move too close to Zaran right now, so he wasn''t that bothered by the additional onlookers.


    "Thanks Kirin." Zaran said as he gently pat her before turning towards the crowd, warmly smiling while saying "I hope all of you can respect my privacy and won''t follow me around everywhere. I would answer your questions but there are simply far too many of you and if I answer one question I will have to answer all of you and I simply do not have the time for that. So please, do not follow me as I will not be answering your questions, nor will I join your guild or party."


    Having said this he started heading towards the auction house whilst ignoring the plethora of questions people were throwing at him regardless of his previous request. To this Zaran could only sigh as he walked along. He felt quite bad about having to utilize Kirin''s aura to move out and about in the city and inconveniencing people because of it. Still not using it was impossible as he would not be able to get anything done and thus he could only hope that in time people would forget about him and that he could become a nobody again.


    Zaran walked along Virul''s wide streets towards the market district and soon happened upon the real money auction house. Unlike the square, ordinary Chinese pavilions which compromised the majority of buildings in the city, the auction house was a large circular building much reminding Zaran of a Colosseum and built with the most exquisite materials available. This caused it to be especially eye catching and many people would stop for a few minutes to admire it''s sight.


    Ten lion men stood guard at the entrance of the auction house, five each to the side of two skillfully carved stone lions who gave of a feeling as if they were alive. Two large metal doors sealed the inside of the auction house from the inside but even despite the enormous size of the doors, loud chattering could still be heard.


    After admiring the scenery for a moment Zaran stepped forward, intent on entering the auction house. Seeing the shabbily clothed Zaran move forward, intent on entering the auction house, one of the lion men stepped forward and rudely asked. "On what purpose do you wish to enter our esteemed auction house?"


    "I am here to sell two tomes. Is there a problem?" Zaran asked, unaware of why the guard was so rude towards him.


    "We don''t..." Shock suddenly filled the lion men''s eyes as he realized that the shabbily clothed Zuno in front of him had said "Two tomes". Luckily he had realized this mid sentence as he was planning to say that they don''t accept business from someone like Zaran. The lion man quickly regained his bearings, changed his attitude to Zaran 180 degrees and politely continued his sentence as if nothing happened at all. "... have any problem with you entering!"


    Seeing the deadpan look on Zaran''s face the lion man smiled wryly and said "Just a routine check! Yes just a routine check! Uhm please follow me sir!"


    Zaran rolled his eyes and followed the lion men who knocked upon the steel doors. A small door viewer opened and another lion man guard grumbled "What''s up?".


    The first lion man quietly and quickly whispered. "Please send mistress Iza over this instant! There''s a very important customer here and I might or might not have upset him!"


    "Geez Murlock! Fine I''ll go get her! You owe me!" Moments later the steel doors opened and a slender black-haired Valkyrie walked out. Her face was barely above average and her body wasn''t anything special either however she still exuded an air of nobility and elegance, causing her to be particularly charming in her own way.


    She looked at Zaran and then shot a venomous glance towards the lion man who had knocked on the door. She walked over to him and angrily whispered. "You want THIS bum to enter?"


    The guard gave an apologetic look, cupped his hands and politely and respectively said. "Mistress Iza, this esteemed gentleman wishes to sell two tomes."


    Mistress Iza sighed and nodded towards the guard and then turned towards Zaran, greeting him with her most entrancing smile. "Most esteemed customer, how may I be of aid to you today?"


    "I have recently acquired two tomes I wish to sell." Zaran swiftly took out the tomes for an instant before immediately retracting them again. A glance would be enough to know it''s a tome.


    "Perfect! Now before I can allow you entrance, could mister please change your attire in something more... refined?" Iza said in a polite and gentle tone.


    "I was not aware that there was such a rule and as a result I did not prepare a suit." Zaran wryly smiled, finally realizing why the guard had not let him enter straight away.


    The hostess smiled and beckoned Zaran to follow her. "Ah! It must be mister''s first time going to the auction house! Please follow me inside, we always have a large collection of suits inside."


    Iza quickly led Zaran inside the auction house and guided him towards a changing room. She stopped in front of the changing room and turned towards Zaran.


    "Please wait here for a moment while I pick out a few suits for the mister to try on."


    Zaran nodded and Iza elegantly walked off into the nearest by corridor. A few minutes later she returned with an assistant by her side, who could barely be seen under the mountain of suits, ties and shoe boxes he was carrying. With his arms packed, the assistant had no other choice but to open the door to the changing room with his feet. Being skillful in doing so, Zaran realized it certainly wasn''t the first time the poor guy had had to carry such a large load.


    After the assistant neatly unloaded the suits into the changing room Iza gave a warm smile "Feel free to try on any of the suits. If the esteemed mister wishes to take a bath first, please take the other door of the changing room and you will happen upon a bathing area. When the mister is done with changing, just come out of the door, I shall be waiting here for you."


    Zaran opened his mouth to say something, but he reconsidered and closed it again, nodding towards Iza before entering the changing room. Inside the changing room he quickly took of his armour and stored them in his storage ring. The grim of the sewers had firmly taken root on it and he would soon dispose it regardless. He opened the door to the public bath. He quickly jumped in the bath and untied his hair which dropped to the middle of his back before vigorously scrubbing his body clean and thoroughly cleaning the filth from his hair.


    A few minutes passed before Zaran tied his hair up again in a ponytail. Entering the changing room again, Zaran carefully checked the suits and although there was a large variety of colours to choose from he ended up choosing a dark grey suit, black shoes, a white shirt and grey-white checkered tie. Zaran looked at himself in the mirror and found himself to be quite handsome, although the attire was rather uncomfortable to move around in.


    Zaran joined misstress Iza again who gave a nod of approval. "My my, you look absolutely dashing! Because sir wishes to sell two tomes we will provide this suit to you free of charge. Now if you could please follow me, we shall now go see a receptionist who will help you set up an account."


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Iza warmly smiled as she led Zaran through the auction house to one of the receptionists. "This gentleman needs to open up an account with us."


    The receptionist looked up from her paperwork, muttered an "Oh" and shoved a form towards Zaran before continuing on her paperwork. Iza sighed and turned towards Zaran. "You only need to fill in your credentials before we swiftly produce a card for you. Once you own a card to the bank of our auction house you can access your funds anywhere on the continent! Unlike the currency you currently have which you can only use in Liberiu, once you cross borders you''ll find yourself unable to pay as the currency is not accepted there. Although there''s not a lot of travel between countries due to the current political situation, you might find yourself in need of funds. As the biggest corporation in the continent the auction house took it upon themselves to issue a currency one can use wherever one goes. However to use it you obviously need a card issued by our auction house."


    Zaran nodded and quickly filled in the form. He had heard before from Sylphie that once you have a card from the auction house you can both add real life currency on it and withdraw it rather easily. It''s also able to easily transfer credits to other cards on the server.


    Ten minutes after Zaran filled out the form the assistant returned and handed Zaran a black coloured card with white corners and a gold scales emblem in the middle of it.


    Iza led Zaran towards the item registration booth. Zaran took out the two tomes and handed them over to the appraiser. The appraiser raised his eyebrows for a moment before regaining his normal calm expression again. "Hand over your auction house''s issued card so I can register the items to your account."


    Zaran handed over the card to the appraiser who quickly registered the items to it and gave the card back to him. "Your items are registered to be auctioned off within 48 hours. We will inform people that the items will be sold by that time after which buyers across the continent can start making bids on your goods. At the end of the auction the sum received from auctioning off your goods will be added to your account. Our auction house will then deduct 1% of the total as a transaction fee."


    Having said all this the appraiser waved Zaran away and moved on to the next customer in line.


    Iza wryly smiled. "With this the registration of your products is done. If you have any items in mind that you wish to see, I would be more than glad to help you out with that."


    "There are some items I am interested in, but before that, I am curious as to how you relay the information about the items across the continent. It must not be easy to do so."


    "Oh it used to be hard but with the !" Iza said with a gently smile. "We use magic recorders to take pictures of the items, copy the picture along with more information regarding the items on scrolls which we then teleport to all the auction houses on the continent. As for bids... we obviously can''t teleport bids back and forth as that would take too much time and it would be too easy to ''snipe'' goods. No, what we do is we let potential buyers note down their max bid, the minimum amount they wish to increase their bid by whenever someone else has a higher bid then theirs. We''ve had people protest against the system but in the long run people have been more than happy with the current system."


    "I see, thanks for satisfying my curiosity. Now could you guide me to a currency converter?" Zaran politely said.


    "Follow me." Iza said as she swiftly lead Zaran to the currency converter''s booth. Zaran exchanged the little gold he had and was able to acquire 5 gold coins stamped with the auction house''s sign. For a level 48 he had very little gold. He could have had more but he gave all the spoils of the sewers to the girls as he wasn''t planing on making armour for them and with his shares of the spoils they would at least have a little more gold to spend on their own armour. He could make armour for the girls as well but to do that he would need their exact sizes and he would rather not get hands on with the girls... Well not with Sylphie for obvious reasons, as for Irina that was another story all together .


    Having exchanged his gold Zaran had miss Iza lead him towards the center of the auction house. The center of the auction house was a huge round area surrounded by ten smaller circles, each of which was filled with a platform, a display crystal and benches, the auction chants of various auctioneers continuously ringing around the area. Unlike the smaller areas the center area did not have a currently running auction, however the display crystal did continuously show high-profile item after high-profile item which would soon be going on stage.


    As Zaran was passing by the auctioneer on the main stage spoke out. "Ladies and gentleman please lend me your ears! Just a few moments ago I got noticed that our auction house has procured items which will most certainly pique your interest! Can we please have the items on display right now?"


    The next second the display crystal flashed and changed to the two tomes Zaran had just brought in. Gasps immediately rang through the auction house! Two tomes at the same time! One tome on its would be more than enough to excite people but two at the same time. People began to excitedly whisper.


    "A tome of necromancy and... demon summoning? Forbidden ranked tomes!" one man gasped loudly.


    "I must acquire at least one of these two!" another man mumbled.


    "The prices are going to skyrocket for either of them!" A woman excitedly whispered.


    "Find the seller, quickly!" Another one of the men, commanding a few of his henchmen to spring into action.


    Iza seductively whispered into Zaran''s ear. "And that''s all it takes for your tomes to get the best price. Now all you have to do is wait for the auction to end and find yourself a whole lot richer."


    "Now good ladies and gentlemen, please be quick with your bids as these items will only be auctioned off in the next 48 hours!"


    People instantly ran over to place their bids and the numbers next to the books flew up at a rapid rate. Zaran was astonished at how the price almost instantly soared to a thousand gold but decided that he should not dwindle for too long as time is the most precious commodity of them all and is not something that can be bought.


    Zaran wandered to the auction stand which handled materials and bought enough materials to create two sets of level 45 gear. With that done Zaran went over to the skill book section. He quickly watched the various scrolls and soon found the type of books he was looking for. "skin changing, transformation, transfiguration, metamorphosis. so many different books for the same effect..." Zaran muttered.


    "If I may offer you a suggestion... If you look for a skill that allows you to disguise yourself. While all of them may seem similar there''s very big differences in their effects. If sir really wishes to be indistinguishable, you should pick up metamorphosis. At a thousand gold averagely, it is currently outside of your price range." Iza said with puckered lips.


    Zaran wryly smiled. "I''ll see about that when I sell the tomes then. I shall take my leave now miss Iza, I shall return in two days time just before the auction ends."


    "Please let me lead you out then. I hope I have been of aid to you." Iza said with a warm smile.


    "You''ve been most helpful, I really appreciate what you''ve done for me." Zaran said as he took Iza''s hand and kissed it.


    A minute later Zaran excited the Auction house and winked to lion guard who had not treated him very well earlier. The lion man grimaced and politely bowed to Zaran as he left.

 Chapter 44: Wealth!

    Author''s corner: A short chapter today.


    _____________


    Upon exiting the auction house Zaran found a secluded spot and logged out. He left the pod and rushed to his room. He set his clock to wake him up in four hours so he would still have some spare to time to get himself a shower and some breakfast. As soon as his head hit the pillow a wave of exhaustion washed over him and he fell asleep almost instantly.


    BEEp BEEP BEEP BEEP!


    ugh! Zaran moaned as he shut down the alarm and got up. After a quick shower and some breakfast he got in the pod again and the bustling streets of Virul greeted him seconds later.


    He made his way to the auction house and Iza soon led Zaran around the auction house again.


    "The auction is nearly coming to an end and you will be pleased to know that the prices have reached nearly thirty thousand for the necromancy tome and ten thousand for the demon summoning tome."


    Zaran''s mind went numb upon hearing the number. With the current exchange rate of 1.3 gold to 1 euro this meant that the three of them would already get 10.000 each! Adding Zaran''s and Sylphie''s amount together would be enough to let them live for about eight months. What sort of madness was this?!? Just one lucky drop could feed a family for months! Then again the exchange rate was going to lower by a large amount over time and it would become far harder to make money of the game. On top of that with about 100 euro average as subscription fee a month for vrmmorpg''s the game was not cheap to play at all. If it were not for money making options the majority of people would not even dare to play it as it simply cost far too much money for them.


    It was precisely for this reason that the converting option to real life currency existed and why grinding was such an important aspect of VRMMORPG''s. The wealthy did not have any issue with spending money on a game if it allowed them to save a few hours of their time that would otherwise be spent grinding, while those who weren''t off as well were content with grinding if it could earn them money. This caused a rather peculiar situation to take place in games. The more wealthy people played a game, the higher the amount people who were not as well off. Thus if the amount of wealthy people started to dwindle the other party would leave as well or if the less well off started to leave the game the prices would start to soar which caused the wealthy to disappear. There were even some extremely wealthy people and companies who had created a company with their only purpose being hiring people to grind items in the game.


    Thus it became of paramount importance to guard the balance in drops vs time spent, resources vs time spent and experience vs time spent! On top of that there had to be ways for the wealthy to buy shortcuts experience wise that the others would not be able to access as there had to be ways for them to keep up with the normal players level wise. These shortcuts also could absolutely not be available to people with a lot of time or time equal to the average user. Thus only the users who spent the lowest amount of time daily could use these shortcuts. On top of all those rules there was still the most important one that had to be guarded and that was that everything still had to feel completely immersive. One can only imagine how hard all of this was and the amount of extra coding that was required for this alone.


    Zaran was one of the people who was neither poor nor wealthy and could spend almost all of his time on the game so it wouldn''t be all too weird for him to start making money from the game and he had already expected that he would eventually make some money. What he never had expected though, was that his first time making money with the game would be such a large amount of money.


    Zaran tried his hardest to not show his utter surprise on his face. "That is very nice to hear, it is even more than I expected."


    "Oh these are just average prices for tomes though, if I am not mistaken the prices should at least double by the end of the auction." Iza whispered to Zaran.  Pertaining the matter as to whom was the seller of these tomes she knew that she had to be very careful as to not let people find out. She had already started off on the wrong foot with Zaran the other day and the last thing she wanted was to create more problems for him.


    "D-Double?!?" Zaran stammered, unable to control his calm expression any longer.


    Iza warmly smiled. "I forgot it was mister''s first time selling or acquiring something in an auction house. While the auction officially started 47 hours ago, the ''real'' part of the auction only starts when there is about half an hour to an hour left. It is only at that time that people will start making their serious bids as to prevent prices from going too high and it is only at this point that they might be able to get a good deal. It has even occured that no bids have been made on a particularly interesting item until there are is only one minute left."


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation."I see, but still doubling the price... is that not a lot of gold for a tome?" Zaran asked, still in disbelief that he got so lucky.


    "Not at all! You see while tomes are only really useful to one person, the one person who gets the full knowledge of the tome can still share the knowledge he has gained with others! While a large amount of knowledge will be lost upon transferring it to other people there is still a lot to be gained even from second hand knowledge. The sword stances from the three major sword schools all stem from knowledge gained from one and the same tome for example! And these sword schools have been around for hundreds of years!" Iza said excitedly as she looked at Zaran, who''s expression turned pensive midway through her explanation.


    Could it be that Zaran had sold the tomes without knowing about all this? Ayee! She might have made a mistake! "Sir, I hope I have not offended you by not telling you about this earlier!"


    Zaran calmly smiled and shook his head. "No need to worry, your story just made me think of something. Whether or not I knew about this before, my decision to sell would have remained."


    Zaran and Iza wen to the middle of the auction house and sat down on one of the sparse free seats. The items on display were solely the two tomes and the auctioneer was rambling the new prices of the items, continuously accepting information from a few attendants who were running back and forth from the transmitting room.


    Half an hour passed while Zaran and Iza chatted, occasionally looking at the new price.


    As the auction came to a close the auctioneer''s voice rang out throughout the room.


    "Five!"


    "Four!"


    "Three!"


    "Two!"


    "One!"


    "Time''s up! I would like to thank you for your bids! We will announce the winning bid in a few minutes after gathering the information from all the other locations!"


    A few minutes more passed and the auctioneer ran up to the platform again and announced the results of the auction. "Necromancy tome! Final bid of 62100 gold coins, made by the buyer with the nickname ''DeathGod''! Congratulations to the winner! Demon summoning tome! Final bid of 15300, made by the buyer ''Fourth Butterfly''s Intent''!"


    Zaran frowned deeply upon this last name.


    "Is something the matter sir?" Iza asked, noticing the change in Zaran''s expression.


    "Hmm, is there a way to contact the buyer of the Demon summoning tome?"


    "There is, but only if they agree to it. Shall I request to set up a meeting?" Iza said with her usual warm smile.


    Zaran nodded. "Please do. In the meantime I will go convert some coin and wander over to the skill tome section to buy me one of the metamorphosis tomes."


    "I will look for you at the item tome section then sir." Iza said before she walked off, quickly trying to arrange a meeting with the buyer.


    Zaran quickly exchanged 75000 gold to euros and kept the rest as spending money. As it was early in the game there was not a lot of gold to be made or to be exchanged to real currency, because of this the demand was far higher than the supply which caused the prices to be so terribly high. It was due to this that Zaran could make such a huge amount of money, so easily. With the passage of time more gold would become available and prices would continue to dwindle.


    After sending Sylphie 38.500 euros and Irina 19250 euros, Zaran went over to the skill tome section and easily acquired a metamorphosis scroll for a thousand gold through sniping an auction that was about to end. Seeing Iza had not come back again Zaran opened the scroll and started reading with great interest.


    Half an hour later Iza wandered over. Seeing Zaran focused on reading the scroll, a mischievous smile appeared on her face. She slowly walked up behind him and brought her face close to Zaran''s ear...

 Chapter 45: Long Lost Lover

    Author''s corner: So...


    The character I introduce today... was long planned out but I did not intend for the character to be female... However... I recently lost someone extremely dear to me and made the character in memory of her. This was one of her last requests to me as she was the biggest fan of my novels.


    I hope you guys enjoy the chapter & character.


    ______________________


    Just as Iza wanted to whisper in Zaran''s ear, Zaran''s spoke up in a cold tone. "Yes miss Iza?"


    Startled Iza stumbled backwards and revealed a shocked expression. She was sure he hadn''t heard her so how did he know. She had been so careful and was still caught.


    "Ah... eh... I just wanted to say that the other party has agreed to meet you. Coincidentally the buyer was from this area itself. We have already set up a meeting room and provided some beverages and some food for the two of you. If you would please follow me." Iza said with a flushed face.


    Zaran chuckled and followed Iza to the meeting room. A short while later Iza stopped in front of a door made out of red wood where another attendant was already waiting. "This is the meeting room. Once you are finished with your business I shall be waiting here for you."


    Nodding, Zaran quickly opened the door and closed it behind him. The meeting room was a small square room with beige walls, a black carpet that covered the entire floor and just enough space to hold a table for beverages and food, another table with four chairs and a small white two person couch.


    On the small white couch sat an adorable petite woman with fox ears and a fox tail. She had a sculpted figure that was twine-thin and a bust that wasn''t more than a b-cup. Her long tight gothic dress showed a waist that was ever so slightly hourglass shaped. She had a rosy and fine face, with cute ears, a delicate straight nose with a tip that face slightly upwards and a small mouth with thin strawberry sweet lips. Her large green eyes sparkled like stars at night and her titian-red hair fell slightly below her shoulder blades with a fringe that reached just above her eyebrows.


    Seeing Zaran enter, a blissful smile appeared on her face making her seem all the more attractive.


    "Greetings, as you are aware I am Zaran Karaz, and who might you be?" Zaran politely said as he extended his hand towards the attractive woman.


    The petite fox girl giggled and grabbed Zaran''s hand, her sharp elongated nails slightly pressing into his skin and blissfully chimed "Florance Delayni, ~ pleased to meet you again Zaran. It has been FAR too long ~."


    Zaran felt like he had been struck by thunder. This demeanour, that blissful tone... It was exactly like the woman he loved countless millennia ago. His heartbeat sped up and feelings long suppressed surfaced again.


    "Flo..." Zaran stammered before he quickly stepped forward, pulled Florance close and wrapped his arms around her, firmly embracing the petite fox who only reached up to his chest. It had been so many lifetimes since the time the two of them had been lovers and still the feelings that he once had for her hadn''t left him.


    "MMhnnnmm" Florance let out a content moan and snuggled herself deeper into Zaran''s embrace. A few minutes passed while Florance rested in his arms, extremely unwilling to let Zaran go again, fearful of losing him once more.


    Five more minutes passed before Zaran gently whispered. "Hey Flo... how did you know it was me selling the tomes?"


    "I saw you enter the auction house and sell those tomes... after everyone started talking about this Zaran Karaz and dance of the butterfly I knew it was really really really really you.... but I wasn''t sure it was you because there was no clear picture of you... so at first I didn''t dare ask... then when I got the courage to do so... I could no longer find you... I remembered the tomes and made sure to win the auction of either one with that nickname. I knew you would want to meet me if I chose such a name..." she murmured, her voice muffled because of her face''s closeness to Zaran''s chest.


    "Silly girl... you should have just called out to me." Zaran said in a hushed voice filled with emotion before reaching down and kissing Florance on the top of her head. Reluctantly Zaran let go of her.


    "Zaran?" Florance uttered in a weak voice.


    "We can''t stay here like this..."


    Florance sent a friend request and party inventory before reluctantly letting him go and replying "ah..uh... yeah..." with a flushed face. "I am glad you still remember me."


    "How could I ever forget the one I loved the most?" Zaran whispered, accepting both the friend request and party invite in the meantime. "Although your face has long since disappeared from my memory... what I felt has never been forgotten."


    "Yeah.. same. Faces are so easily forgotten. It''s only feelings and memories that remain... But even those tend to grow dimmer and dimmer if not remembered often... if not remembered they turn into fragments, fragments turn into shards, shards into specks until you get this gnawing feeling that there''s something you should remember but just... can''t!" Florance whispered with a tone that grew gloomier and gloomier. "How much of what defines me have I forgotten over the years..."


    Zaran remained silent as Florance spoke as he did not have the same problem. Still he frowned ever so slightly as most of the memories he found important had stayed with very little having been forgotten. The sheer amount of information that he had at his whim should be impossible to be contained in a single human brain. So how could he remember so much? This was a question he had asked himself many times before and which greatly intrigued him. Still the thing he found the most intriguing at the moment was not this... but what Florance had just said... why did she speak as if she had forgotten nearly everything? They were both scions under Isis and even though Zaran was far from unintelligent, Florance had been a very clever woman with a mind that far surpassed his. So why did she say she had forgotten a lot? Nevertheless he couldn''t talk much about it because he feared for her reaction once she found out that, safe faces, he had barely forgotten anything of significance at all.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Hey now, at least you have not forgotten about me." Zaran said as he gently lifted her chin up with his right hand and tenderly kissed her lips.


    Florance''s face flushed red at the suddenness of the kiss.


    "Let''s switch places, we should talk elsewhere." Zaran mumbled.


    "uhn. As long as you let me stay with you ~." Florance said in a shy tone.


    The two of them walked out of the meeting room hand in hand, causing Iza and the other attendant to be very surprised. Iza''s expression was so confused that she suddenly looked as if she had lost her mind.


    Seeing Iza''s expression Zaran chuckled and said. "I must thank you for setting up a meeting with Florance. We were lovers once but were separated due to events that were not in our hands."


    "That''s wonderful! Congratulations to you both!" Iza said with a warm smile.


    Zaran nodded and said. "Our business at the auction house is done as well so we must bid you farewell."


    The two attendants guided the couple to the exit and said their goodbyes.


    Zaran and Florance walked through the bustling streets of Virul. Two hours quickly past as they talked about what happened since the last time two met, their current lives and recent in-game events. The usual cold and rather expressionless look that Zaran had softened upon gazing at Florance and was exchanged with one filled with love instead. Even though he was born crippled causing him to be unable to practice martial arts and on top of that was unable to cultivate... just meeting both Nuvahn and especially Florance again made this life a million times more interesting than most of his others combined.


    "Hey Flo, I need to tell you something important." Zaran suddenly whispered, making absolutely sure that she was the only one who could hear him. "This game will be the stage for the Battlefield of the Gods."


    Shock and horror filled FLorance''s face. "You are serious?"


    "Isis told me so herself thus I am certain it is the truth." Zaran said. "Akhuath is already making moves."


    A pensive expression appeared on Florance face. "We need to set up a mercenary guild. Like... right now." Florance said with a firm tone. "You will be the guild leader, with your current status as an expert we will be able to draw other experts in and on top of that we might find more people like us. As for the recruiting... for now leave it to me. Come, let us register one right now!"


    "Eh... sure... lead the way." Zaran mumbled. He had not thought of creating a mercenary guild even though it was a rather obvious move. It would allow them to at all times have a group of people to play with and would allow them to quickly pool resources to grown in power.


    A few moments later they arrived at the mercenary guild registration building. Florance quickly went up to the front desk and said with a cheerful smile "Could we have a guild registration form please?"


    The clerk at the front desk swiftly procured one of the forms and handed it to Florance. Florance filled in all the required information and then turned to Zaran for the most important thing... the guild''s name.


    "What do you think the guild''s name should be?" Florance asked.


    Zaran pondered for a moment before replying. "Reign."


    Florance cocked her head for a moment thinking about the name before nodding. "Short, powerfull, easy to remember... Good name!" She penned down the name on the form and handed it over to the clerk.


    "There is a 1000 gold registration fee." the clerk said as he accepted the form.


    "Ah.. eh.. Zaran could you pay?" Florance said with a wry smile. Buying the tome had depleted nearly all her monetary reserves, causing her to be unable to pay the guild registration fee.


    Zaran chuckled and handed the clerk a thousand gold.


    "Just a moment, I shall now register your mercenary guild!" The clerk politely said before turning around and going into a nearby room.


    A few minutes later the clerk came back and handed Zaran Florance a gold badge inscribed with the word reign in capital letters.


    "This badge serves as recognition that your guild has been recognized by the Mercenary Guild Association. With this the registration is complete. May your guild grow and prosper." The clerk politely said.


    Zaran and Florance left the mercenary guild registration building. "What next?" Zaran asked.


    "Well, first of all we need to design a logo for the guild, create an application form and then I will have to go set up a forum post to let people know that we have made a guild." Florance said. "So I will probably be busy for a while. Do you have anything you need to do? If you do we I can come find you when I am done?"


    "I was planning on reforging my gear. My blacksmith teacher''s forge is in a pretty secluded location and I am the only apprentice I know off so it might be a suitable place for you too?" Zaran said.


    "mmHmm I will follow you then!"


    Zaran nodded and the two made their way to Eoric''s smithy. Zaran briskly entered the smithy and cleared one of the workbenches for Florance''s use. Taking out a pile of paper and a few pencils with different thickness, Florance got to work on the guild''s tag.


    Seeing that Florance had already started working on the guild tag, Zaran quickly changed himself into his old gear so he would not dirty his suit and fired up the forge.

 Side story 1: Council of the Gods part 1

    Author''s note: I think explaining the origins of it all is a little overdue so the first side story (of the four I have line up for now) explains more about how Myth Online came into being and goes deeper in depth in the workings of godhood.


    ________________________


    In a large square marble room completely devoid of furniture sat a maiden so perfect that not even one imperfection in her could be found. She had a slender figure, a heart shaped bottom and a d-cup. A loosely see through white dress clung tightly to her seductive body. Long golden hair formed a braid on the top of her head while the rest drooped over her shoulders and stretched all the way down to her bottom.


    She emitted a serene and calm aura as she sat there with her eyes closed, focusing on collecting the energy of faith and absorbing it in her body, a process which could be clearly seen as thick golden strands of energy rushed towards her and swirled around her body. With every second the strands of faith grew ever so slightly thicker, indicating that her followers were increasing in number.


    A gentle and warm smile appeared on her absolutely stunning face as a surge of power rang through her body and a re-energized feeling washed over her.


    Swooooosh! The space in the room warped and a light-green portal made out of vines, bushes and flowers appeared. A barefooted muscular man stepped out of the portal, his body naked, safe shorts created out of leaves. On top of his head sat a crown made of twigs. Plants started to burst through the cold marble floor as the man''s foot touched it, swiftly spreading out in every direction around him. The handsome man walked forward, each step causing plants to burst from the marble behind him which swayed left as he raised his left foot and right as he raised his right foot. He stopped in front of the Goddess and prostrated himself before her. "Milady... it is nearly time for the Council of the Gods."


    The golden glow the energy of faith emitted slowly started to dim as the man spoke. The goddess opened her mouth and the dissipating energy of faith swiftly condensed into a sphere and flew into her mouth. She closed her mouth and her eyes snapped open, a formidable amount of power rippling through the room as she did so. She let her gaze wander through the room before looking at the man in front of her.


    "How many times?" The Goddess coldly said.


    "How many times what?" The man asked, cold shivers running through his spine at the coldness of her voice.


    "How many times... have I told you..." She coldly said before stopping and coldly looking at the man in front of her. She opened her mouth again and this time her voice rang out, filled to the brim with power "TO NOT RUIN MY FLOOR!"


    A sound wave shot forward and crashed into the man, sending him flying through the room. BOOM!!!!! An explosion rang out as the man collided with a wall, instantly penetrating multiple layers deep into it. With a wave of her hand a golden wave gushed forward and landed on the plants the man had caused to appear. The plants withered in a mere second and turned to dust moments thereafter. The golden wave landed on the floor and the cold cracked marble floor instantly repaired itself.


    The man shot forward from the hole in the wall and with a wave of his hand a see-through green wave of power gushed towards the hole, instantly repairing the broken wall. He was visibly weakened and stood on air, not allowing his feet to touch the ground any more. "My apologies, milady Isis."


    Isis''s cold voice rang out. "Enoar... you better not let it happen again. Or we will lose a god of flora."


    "Yes milady!" Enoar said, completely scared out of his wits. If Isis wished she could obliterate him like it was nothing. What was a minor god versus a major god? Nothing! Even though both of them are gods, compared to Isis he was as much as an ant. Moreover Isis had full control over all the aspects of the life domain and that obviously included control over flora. With a mere thought she could exterminate Enoar''s control over his domain, causing him to instantly lose his status as a god. To minor gods this was a far worse fate than death and the thing they feared the most.


    It was not a major god alone that could cause this. For minor gods the struggle to remain a god was the greatest as huge influence battles existed between different gods of the same subdomain existed. Enoar was far from the only god of flora. This caused a rivalry to exist between every god of the same subdomain as they often had to compete for followers. Once one no longer had followers or scions, the god would lose their status as a god and would be reduced to a main mortal, forever unable to ascend to being a god again.


    On top of when one became a minor god one had every little insight in their domain and could control very little power in their domain thus they had to continuously increase their insight in their respective subdomain as that would let them increase in power and moreover once they had full control of their subdomain they could start gaining insights into a complete new subdomain allowing them to increase their power even more!


    Taking Enoar for example, he was a very clear case of a minor god who was close to gaining full control over the flora domain. Enoar had a large amount of followers and as a result he had a lot of energy of faith, but because he hadn''t gained enough insight into the flora domain yet, he continuously leaked out faith energy that caused plants to grow all around him. If not for his great amount of insights in the flora domain, he wouldn''t be able to control the leakage of power to be so small.


    One of the minor of fire had a huge amount of followers but his insights were very very poor and increased incredibly slowly and as a result of that a huge inferno swirled around him wherever he went.


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    Still, it was not as if Isis could just end Enoar''s life over something so insignificant without any harm coming to herself but luckily for her Enoar was not aware of that. Even though Isis was a major god she still wasn''t one of the strongest beings around and still had superiors to listen to. Except that those superior beings rarely ever meddled into the affairs of the gods. However gods killing each other was still something they would make a move for.


    Isis waved her hands and a myriad of portals made from all types of life were formed. One portal was created from bacteria, one was made from reptiles, one from fish, one from flowers, one from trees etcetera etcetera. Every type of distinction between life forms that could be made had his own portal. Gods in all shapes and sizes, surrounded by life forms from their domain stepped out of the portal, floating in the air, careful to not touch the cold marble floor.


    After each god stepped through their portal, the respective portal collapsed, it''s remaining energy returning to Isis. With all of them having arrived Isis focused and completed a set of complicated hand movements, causing the northern marble wall to crack open and reveal a massive 200 meter wide and 100 meter high portal. Isis commanded all the gods of the different life domains with a single word in her cold indifferent voice. "Go."


    Each of the gods began to move, each almost instantly appearing in front of the portal and stepping in it. Seeing that every god or goddess had stepped through, Isis herself stepped through the portal. Behind her the portal closed and the marble wall restored itself to its previous unblemished state.


    In a realm that mortals could not possibly enter, an enormous majestic castle, made out of the rarest materials from all the planes in existence, lonely stood, braving the ends of time. A few miles away from the castle there existed an enormous portal made from white crystal that at this very moment activated, a silvery liquid appearing between the frames of the portal.


    Zip. Zip. Zip. God after god flashed through the portal and set foot on the rough rocky ground, instantly causing flames to burst forth, mud to appear on the rocks, moss to grow, beasts to burst through the ground, tremors to take place and other endless amounts of effects to take place. Each of the gods moved to the castle, the effects of their domain growing dimmer and dimmer as they neared it until it all but disappeared.


    Mindlessly the gods and goddesses moved to the grand hall of the castle. A large dark wooden table with countless dark wooden chairs, numbering at least a few million, filled the entirety of the grand hall. Besides the table and chairs only extremely exquisite paintings hung on the wall, ones which caused minor gods insight to grow with a mere glance at them. Some of the minor gods instantly lost themselves to the painting, fully focusing on gaining whatever insight possible. When one of the major gods saw this they quickly pulled those gods back to reality. While the paintings had huge benefits for minor gods, the dangers within them were far too huge for them to brave. Even major gods did not dare to try gaining insights from these paintings. The whole hall was lighted by the bright yellow ceiling that was build from condensed sunlight crystals, making the inside as bright as if it were day.


    Isis slowly stepped through the entire hall, her body swaying seductively and drawing the gaze of every god and goddess towards her with each step and took seat at one of the four seats at the head of the table. The other seats were taken by Evona, the goddess of fate, Akhuath the god of destruction and Yatir, god of justice. Next to the four of them, the closes hundred seats were taken by the other major gods, while the rest of seats were for the large majority filled by minor gods, with only 10 percent of the seats currently still available.


    There were still new domains uncovered every so often. For example countless billions of years ago a god of technology existed but was rarely worshipped. It was only in the latest million years that more gods of technology started to appear, as more civilisations started to become very technologically advanced. With more civilisations becoming technologically advanced, more domains of technology got discovered which lead to new gods coming into existence which governed said domain.


    There were also some domains that ceased to be worshipped at times, causing gods to disappears and there were also gods every now and then there were still gods that ceased to exist due to other reasons. Thus, the number of gods was ever fluctuating.


    With every god and goddess accounted for a croaking ancient voice rang through the hall. "The millennial Council of the Gods is opened! Thou art now free to discuss important discoveries along with which plane thou shallt choose for the next Battlefield of the Gods! For this Council of the Gods, Yatir the god of justice shall preside over the meeting. Any objections?"


    All the minor and major gods simultaneously called out. "No objections!"


    While the ancient voice had asked if there were any objections, no god or goddess present would be stupid enough to object to its decision. It was a being far mightier than them, as it had the power to disable the full extent of power of any god present as was currently the case. Only the bare necessity of power was available to each god, just merely enough to qualify each and every one of them as a god or goddess.


    The ancient croaking voice rang out one more time. "You have a week of time to discuss. BEGIN!"

 Side Story 1: Council of the Gods, Part 2

    Part 2 of the first side story. Hope you enjoy!


    _______________


    Yatir stood up and let his heroic voice resound throughout the entire grand hall. "New gods, RISE! Quickly state us your name and domain! We start from my left, closest god to me begins, then the next closest and so forth!"


    Nearly two thousand gods stood up simultaneously. Most domains had few new gods, except for the technology domain where 1500 new ones having attained godhood in the last thousand years. Even among the major gods one of the gods had stood up, causing many of the gods to start mumbling to one another.


    One by one the gods spoke up.


    "Uri, goddess of order!"


    "Alwar, god of law!"


    "Aranda, goddess of comfort!"


    The other gods committed the names to memory, but didn''t pay too much attention to these new gods. Some of them would undoubtedly fall in the next hundred years or so, so their names didn''t mean all too much yet. There was one god everyone was paying a lot of attention too however... the major god that stood up. A major god that suddenly appeared out of nothingness? This meant that a whole new domain had been uncovered by someone! The gods continued to speak up one by one until it was time for the last god to state his name and domain... Coincidentally it was the major god that had stood up!


    His serene voice boomed through the grand hall. "Riveto, major God of virtual reality!"


    Yatir smile and calmly spoke. "Riveto, I am certain I speak for all gods if I say I am rather curious as to what your domain pertains. If you would be so kind to enlighten us."


    "Very well. While it is all an extremely complicated matter, I shall keep my explanation as simple as possible. My domain could be summed up as gaining insights into how to create your own plane of existence with its own set of rules." said, his serene voice entrancing everyone present. "It''s one of the things the humans of the planet called Terra or Earth are dabbling around with, with great success. They use these things called ''pods'' to connect to a thing called a ''server'' which contains the virtual reality. Once connected their consciousness is transported to this virtual realm where they can live a life with a completely different set of rules as their current world has. That''s as simple as it gets. I could be more elaborate but if I wish to explain every aspect in debt we are here for the next few days."


    During Riveto''s explanation excited whispering could be heard throughout the grand hall. No wonder a new major God had come into existence! Exactly how many aspects did one need insight into to create their own plane? The gods present did not dare guess!


    Yatir nodded and his heroic voice resounded throughout the grand hall again. "Let''s get to the matter at hand. We need to decide on a plane for the Battlefield of the Gods! Have any of you a good plane in mind?"


    Various gods started to speak up one by one talking about planes they know that could be used for the Battlefield of the Gods. Throughout the commotion Isis had stood up and had walked over towards Riveto without anyone really paying attention to it. Which god could be bothered to check upon what other gods were doing during the debate for the Battlefield of the Gods? They had to quickly come up with both a plane that was suitable and that would somewhat be able to withstand the devastation that would take place thereupon. The stronger the plane the better as it would cost the gods the least amount of power to repair it.


    Isis sat down next to Riveto and said in an enchanting tone. "Riveto, I have a few questions regarding this virtual reality domain of yours. Would you care to enlighten me further?"


    "Not at all, what would you like to know?" Riveto said with a pleased smile plastered on his face. To personally be sought out by the goddess of life was something that rarely happened. If she wished to see you she would send one of her minor gods to fetch them. Unless she was really interested in someone or something she rarely left her marble room.


    "I would like to know to what extent you can make up rules. Could you make a world that contains every kind of energy we are aware of?" Isis asked with an inquisitive tone.


    "One could as long as one has some understanding towards the different energies." Riveto said politely.


    "And if I remember correctly, Earth is a planet that is no longer capable of producing experts?"


    Riveto swiftly responded. "It is exactly as you say."


    Isis smiled and spoke with her most entrancing tone. "Hmm... Now if I told you I think that such a virtual realm would be absolutely perfect for a Battlefield of the Gods, how would you see it all play out?"


    Riveto smiled as he finally understood why Isis had sought him out. He started explaining all the inner workings and the fine details to Isis, who attentively listened and carefully registered everything Riveto said. Whenever she did not understand something well enough she would say so and Riveto would further explain until she understood. After a full day Isis thought she had a clear understanding and thanked Riveto for his explanations. She walked back to her seat and gestured Yatir that she had something to say.


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    Yatir nodded and condensed a wooden hammer out of thin air. BOOM BOOM BOOM! He slammed it down onto the table with all his strength and bellowed "ORDER! Isis has something she wishes to share!"


    Most of the grand hall instantly quieted down, besides a few gods who kept on whispering to one another.


    Isis spoke up and her entrancing voice filled the entirety of the grand hall, instantly drawing every god and goddess''s attention towards her, even those who had initially chosen to ignore Yatir. "Fellow Gods and Goddesses. As usual the debate becomes heated once we have to discuss which plane to use during the Battlefield of the Gods as it takes a large amount of all our powers to repair it when it ends. What if I tell you that... we have an other alternative? What if we had the certainty that even if the plane was destroyed it would cost us no power as we didn''t even need to repair it afterwards?"


    Many gods frowned upon hearing this. What was Isis getting at? Could it be that they wouldn''t have to repair a plane this time around? That would save an enormous amount of power from all the different gods and goddesses. If Isis did not have the attention of every god prior to this she surely had it now!


    "How could that ever be possible! Don''t try to delude us there is NO such way! If there was wouldn''t we have used it in the past Battlefields of the Gods" Akhuath bellowed, anger lingering through his voice. He and Isis had one of the worst relationships among all the gods present and Akhuath was always trying to find ways to make Isis lose followers and, as a result, strength. With Isis starting her speech like that she surely had a way to make true what she had just said. Akhuath cursed in his mind. If she could pull this off, even Yatir and Evona would owe Isis a favour! He could absolutely not let that happen.


    Isis chuckled and let her entrancing voice wander through the room. "Ah! But that is exactly what I was getting at Akhuath! There was no such way in the past Battlefields of the Gods, but... there is a certain major god that has risen to prominence in the past thousand years who has the capability to deliver what we asked... if all us major gods pitch in. And all he requires from us is time and knowledge."


    The various gods and goddesses all knew who Isis was talking about and all of them glanced towards Riveto.


    Riveto gently addressed the grand hall. "It is indeed possible to do such a thing. If we want to do it this way we would need about ten years to set it all up. I have already explained Isis in full detail to the requirements."


    Yatir nodded and said. "Please explain the details to us as well. You must understand that we cannot decided on something important as this by just trusting the words of the two of you."


    Riveto started explaining and the more time passed the more the enthusiasm of the gods soared. His domain was absolutely perfect for the Battlefield of the Gods!


    Akhuath muttered curses under his breath that could not be heard by anyone else. His only hope was that the ancient did not take to the idea and that he would force the gods to decide on a plane regardless.


    The remainder of the week quickly passed while Riveto fully explained everything as in depth as possible. The second the week passed the croaking ancient voice boomed throughout the halls. "Have you decided on a plane?"


    Yatir quickly responded and explained their plan.


    The Ancient one listened intently and when Yatir finished, complete silence followed. A beam of light fell on Riveto and he instantly grabbed his head and cried out in pain. The Ancient one was forcefully searching through his memories! Moments later the Ancient one finished and the beam of light disappeared as swiftly as it had appeared. Riveto''s legs gave in and he dropped to the ground. The major god nearest to him waves his sleeve and a greyish wave of power flew out and landed on his body.


    The Ancient one''s croaking voice boomed through the hall again. "I shall allow it. As for all the rules concerning the Battlefield of the Gods, I have left a sliver of my consciousness in Riveto''s mind and he will be filled in on all the rules. All the major gods will be required to move to earth and help Riveto set it all up. Your scions shall all reincarnate into suitable bodies in the next few years. The deadline for the start of the game is in 23 years. You are dismissed!"


    The gods were all teleported out of the castle and transported back to the rooms they had teleported from a week prior. The major gods dismissed the minor gods and then all made their way to earth and took over the bodies of a suitable host. The gods of greed, food, life and technology started doing work and made sure the general well being of the population went up and the average wealth of all people went up, so they would be able to secure a very large player base. The god of technology and greed also worked together to create a gaming company that in a mere ten years became the driving force of the gaming world at which point they started developing Myth Online, a name which all major gods had decided upon as the Battlefield of the Gods really was something of a myth among all the planes of existence. The other major gods had long since started sharing their knowledge with the most esteemed human experts in their respective fields and forced them to aid in the development of Myth Online.


    The development of Myth Online by the gaming company the god of greed and god of technology, Gods of Gaming. It wasn''t a very inventive name, but it worked regardless. Ten years passed in the blink of an eye and the servers of Myth Online opened. The minor gods made their way to earth and took over suitable hosts that were not planning on playing the game. For the next 3 years the gods would intently watch the events in the game unfold...

 Chapter 46: Reinforced black iron

    Author''s note: Happy valentines day! Have an additional chapter to celebrate it.


    Trying a new way to display gear, as it''s too troublesome & time consuming to create tables.


    _____________________


    Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang! Hammering sounds continuously rang out from the smithy as Zaran  worked on improving his blacksmithing skill. For this he did allow the system to help him as it drastically sped up the process but reduced the quality of the produced goods to inferior. Like this he was not only able to increase his blacksmithing skill from advanced level 6 to advanced level 7 in the span of half a day but was also getting increasingly familiar with the resource that he would use to create his level 45 gear.


    Something Zaran found rather interesting was that low level resources were both widely available and incredibly cheap, allowing people to easily craft a large amount of gear with very low amounts of gold. However if done with the system everything one created would be of inferior quality, unless either the blacksmithing skill was of a high level or the familiarity with the resource was high.


    The availability of the resources was due to how realistic the world was. For every kind of good there was a supply and demand. As low level resources were plenty available all over the world, there were a lot of npc''s who made their living with gathering those resources. This caused there to be a huge supply and as a result caused the cost to purchase them rather low. Add to that the influx of players who gathered resources for gold or those who got them as drops and sold them off and there was no shortage of any kind of low level resource. There would always be less dedicated crafters than gatherers and monster grinders combined. Still, while the price had fluctuated during the last few days, eventually it had surprisingly settled down at the initial price.


    What players did not know is that there were consortia in the virtual world that assured the prices would stay about the same as they initially were. If anyone was to try to influence the market they would use their wealth to either buy up the good or sell of some of the stock that they had gathered over the years. These consortia existed almost purely for this purpose and the power, wealth and influence they had at their command was far higher than any player would even dare to imagine.


    Kirin and Cindarrah both soundly slept while Zaran was working on his gear. Both of them had barely slept since meeting Zaran so the two of them slept as much as they could when they had the opportunity to do so.


    With half a day passed, Florance walked up to Zaran and lightly tapped his shoulder to get his attention. She wanted to hug him, stand on her toes and then kiss his cheek to get his attention but... she was too small for that. Thus she could only get his attention in this way, much to her own dissatisfaction.


    Zaran wiped the sweat from his forehead with his right arm before turning around. "What''s up darling?"


    "Take a break, you have been at it for half a day already. I have seen you eat and drink in the meantime but is it not about time for you to get a decent meal in? Even though it is a game you need to think about your body a little." Florance said with a sweet tone, slightly reprimanding Zaran without him noticing. "I made some food earlier, so... you are going to eat... riiight~?"


    "Sure, just let me quickly finish this piece!" Zaran said as he turned around again and hammered away on a black metal gauntlet. A few minutes later Zaran quickly freshened up and followed Florance out to the back of the smithy. She had laid down a large red-white chequered picnic blanket on the grass under the large oak tree at the back of the smithy. On it she had arrayed a large amount of dishes which she had prepared in the last three hours. Zaran had been so focused on his blacksmithing that he had not even noticed that she was gone.


    Florance urged Zaran to sit down and took out a round bottle of wine and a few glasses for her inventory and uncorked the bottle of wine. She poured both of them a glass and gave one to Zaran. Then she too sat down and snuggled right up to Zaran. She took one of pasta dishes, took one forkful and fed it to Zaran with a loving expression on her face.


    Zaran blushed slightly and happily ate the various dishes Florance had made for him. Unsurprisingly every single one of them tasted absolutely amazing as Florance always had been a rather good cook. In between of feeding Zaran, she made sure to eat some herself. After the main dishes the two of them talked for a while before they went on to the desert. This time Florance did not feed Zaran and just let him eat on his own.


    Having finished the desert Zaran let out a long content sigh and whispered in Florance''s ear. "That was the best food I''ve eaten in a long time."


    He kissed Florance on his cheek, gently took her chin and turned her face towards him. Looking into her large green eyes for a second, he brought his face closer to hers and gave her a long French kiss, causing a deep red blush to appear on Florance''s cheek.


    With a complete shy expression on her face, Florance bit the lower left part of her strawberry sweet lips and whispered. "I am glad you liked it."


    The two chatted for a few minutes about some unimportant stuff before Florance took out a few different designs for the guild logo she had been working on prior to cooking.


    Taking his time, Zaran looked at every design and compared them with one another. When he grabbed one of the last designs he gave a short nod and said "This one, definitely this one."


    The design Zaran had chosen was a sideways sword with a handle that was shaped like an upside down crown. On the blade were five characters which spelled out REIGN. Among all the different designs Florance had made this one was by far the most simple one, but was the one that Zaran felt would suit the guild the most.


    "Okay, so... what colour do you want the guild patch to be?" Florance asked. One of the requirements of the mercenary guild was that every guild needed a guild logo and that every guild member needed a guild patch that had the logo as this would be an easy way to identify what guild a mercenary belonged to.


    "Hmm, grey with silver and black lining for the sword itself, gold with black lining for the crown, green, red, white and brown-gold for the gems in the crown and blood red with black lining for the word ''REIGN''. How does that sound?"


    "Your wish is my command." Florance said with a slight chuckle.


    Talking for a few minutes more, Zaran stood up and went back to the smithy. Florance picked up the dishes, wine bottle, glasses and picnic blanket and put them in her storage ring. She dusted the dirt of her clothes and left for the market as she needed to buy some thread, a few needles and some cloth to create the patches.


    Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang! Day soon turned into night as the hammering sounds continued to ring out from the smithy, the amount of resources Zaran had available continuing to dwindle.


    This time Zaran did not create mainly leather gear, but used purely the ore he had bought, reinforced black iron, reinforced red iron and normal reinforced iron. He would mix and match it in his gear to make his and  Nuvahn''s new set of armour aesthetically pleasing. He turned off the assisted crafting and started working on his gear for real.


    For gauntlets Zaran created simple studded gauntlets, the surface of the gauntlets created completely out of the reinforced black iron and the studs out of normal reinforced iron. The fingers of the gloves were made out layered iron plates. As for boots, these too were made from the reinforced black iron and consisted of layered iron plates, each layer added on top of the previous one, giving the boots a very aggressive feel, complementing the gauntlets very well.


    The leggings had been created with a rather simplistic design. He had used the most simplistic design he could think off and then added a few plates on top to make them a little less plain. One of the hardest pieces to create was the chest piece. First he had to create chain mail and then add very tin plating on top of the chain mail. He also wanted the chest plate to look as if it were tight so he added a barely noticeable additional curve to the sides and upper part of the chest plate, accentuating both the sides and chest area. The plating did not cover the full armour however and a small part of it was still visible at the sides of his legs.


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    The final piece of the gear and the hardest to create was the helmet. He used a sleek design, where the nose of the helmet was very sharp and pointy. To make sure he would still see almost as much as without the helmet and have his eyes protected, the whole area of the helmet that covered his field of view was created out of a completely black crystal that was infused by magic to function as glasses.


    Having created a double set of the armour Zaran reforged his own greatsword with the new materials and then created a completely new one for Nuvahn. Compared to creating gear through the system, just the two sword and the ten pieces of armour had taken him a full day. Florance had made him food three more times but had not made as much and they had not spent as long talking during and after the food.


    Florance herself had more than enough work as she was intent on making a fair amount of patches before posting the recruitment notice. She wanted to have about a hundred patches ready and with every patch taking her a ten minutes even with the system assisting, she had more than enough work to do.


    Letting out a deep sigh, Zaran washed up and inspected his new gear.


    Reinforced iron gauntlets (Superior)


    Requirement: level 45


    Durability: 200/200


    Defense: 200


    HP: 150


    Strength: 15


    Reinforced iron boots (Superior)


    Requirement: level 45


    Durability: 200/200


    Defense: 200


    HP: 150


    Strength: 15


    Reinforced iron leggings (Superior)


    Requirement: level 45


    Durability: 200/200


    Defense: 350


    HP: 300


    Strength: 30


    Reinforced iron chest plate (Superior)


    Requirement: level 45


    Durability: 200/200


    Defense: 500


    HP: 500


    Strength: 45


    Reinforced iron helmet (Superior)


    Requirement: level 45


    Durability: 200/200


    Defense: 150


    HP: 100


    Strength: 10


    Donning the armour, Zaran felt a surge of power course through him, as well as an increase in his vitality. He stretched a little to see if the armour was a good fit and made some small adjustments where necessary.


    "My my, doesn''t someone look fancy now." Florace said in a teasing tone while handing Zaran a guild emblem patch. "Equip this."


    After equipping the patch, the patch merged with his armour and was proudly displayed on the upper right side of his chest. Now it was time for the last piece of equipment he had created... The greatsword! Zaran took it out and a pleased expression appeared on his face. It still looked the same except for it was heavier and far stronger.


    Gigenkai (Masterpiece)


    Requirement: level 45, can only be equipped by Zaran.


    Durability: 150/150


    Attack: 350-400


    Weight: 70 kilograms


    Additional effect: Causes anything hit to suffer a slight knock back.


    Stepping out of the smithy Zaran intently practiced the three first moves of Dance of the Butterfly until he got familiar enough with the new weight of the sword, which only took a few short minutes.


    Storing his sword into his storage ring again, Zaran walked up to Florance and hugged her from behind. "Hey gorgeous, you almost done?"


    "Hmm, almost." Florance muttered, still working on patch after patch.


    "By the way, I''ve yet to ask but what is your level?" Zaran asked. If Florance was not near their level she would not be able to tag along for the time being.


    "Oh I am level 45, how about you?"


    "48, really close to 49." Zaran responded. "When my disciple Nuvahn gets on we are going into the sewers to finish up a quest for me, do you want to come along?"


    "Do you even need to ask? I''ll need to buy other clothes for it first though, no way in hell I am going into sewers dressed like this." Florance said with a haughty tone, causing Zaran to chuckle, to which Florance pouted and let out a cold harrumph. Seeing this, Zaran chuckled again and gently pressed his lips onto hers.


    "While you continue working on the patches I shall try to master the metamorphosis skill."


    Taking out the metamorphosis scroll, Zaran sat down and soon found himself lost in reading.

 Chapter 47: Continueuing the quest

    Reading the scroll over and over until every letter was ingrained in his mind, another hour swiftly passed. Making sure he had not missed anything, Zaran read the scroll a final time before finally daring to use the skill in the most simplistic way possible. He muttered the incantation under his breath and with a bright flash the colour of his hair changed to be just a slight shade lighter.


    Metamorphosis Beginner lvl 1


    Mana cost: 50


    Time active: 1 hour.


    Happy with the effect, Zaran cast the spell again to return to his previous colour. The next hour Zaran meticulously tested and improved the extent to which he could control the skill. After an hour he could control his complete looks and his height and the skill had increased to beginner level 3.


    To his side Florance was engrossed in the demon summoning tome.  While she initially did not plan to study it and was just going to sell it off again, she glanced at the first few pages and it had captured her interest so she decided to learn it regardless. Still after about an hour of reading her head was spinning as even the beginning spells had been extremely complicated.


    With a sigh she slammed the tome shut and rubbed her temples. She let herself fall on her back and sighed deeply again. "It''s so complicated... but so interesting! Ugh!" She said. After taking a small break she opened the tome again and continued reading, something muttering a small "oh." or "eh?".


    A minute later Nuvahn came online and Zaran instantly walked over to Florance and said: "He''s on, time to go."


    "Eh, already? Just one more page!" Florance pouted.


    "No can do, must move now. You say just one more page now but after that page you will say one more... and then one more and one more and one more until you finish the darn thing."


    "Muuh... Okay!" Florance muttered, a dissatisfied expression on her face. Zaran took her hand and dragged her along, making sure to pick up Kirin and Cindarrah who were soundly sleeping on the way out. They quickly ran to a clothing store to pick up some clothes for Florance and a few minutes later the four of them met up with Nuvahn.


    "Oh, master who is this?" Nuvahn asked upon seeing Florance. As she and Zaran held hands and that he had no lover prior, he was sure she was someone from a previous life.


    "Nuvahn, this is Florance, Florance this is Nuvahn." Zaran said as he scratched his head with his free hand. Now how was he going to explain who the two of them were to him. "Eh... well both of you are like me, reincarnators and uhm.. yeah, Nuvahn was one of my disciples in one of my lifetimes and Florance is the greatest love of my life.


    "Isis?" Nuvahn and Florance asked at the same time to which the both of them instantly chuckled.


    "Let us not dilly-dally for too much longer, here Nuvahn take this set of armour and a new sword." Zaran said as he took out the armour and the blade and handed them to Nuvahn who equipped them right away. With the armour equipped the only difference between the two of them was the fact that Nuvahn''s armour had two holes at the back of his armour that he had put his wings through. Seeing that Nuvahn was fully equipped Zaran threw him a guild invite.


    "Oh? You have set up a mercenary guild?" Nuvahn asked with a surprised tone.


    "Yup! I thought it would be a good way to prepare for the Battlefield of the Gods as it would allow us to both pool our resources together, allow us to create a base of power " Florance said.


    Nuvahn nodded and accepted the guild invite. "That is an extremely good idea and plan."


    "Right, let''s go, let''s go we can talk along the way!" Zaran urged. He really wanted to get the quest concerning the sewers to be completed as soon as possible. The party left for the sewers and a few minutes later they already entered them.


    Compared to before the sewers looked slightly different as the rotting corpses had disappeared and the stench of death had already dissipated to a small extent, causing it to be far more bearable in the sewers.


    The five of them, Nuvahn, Zaran, Florance, Kirin and Cindarrah, soon found themselves in the middle of the sewers even though they met some small resistance in the form of rats. However the rats were just level 10-20 and were no threat to them and whole packs of them had been slaughtered by Florance''s magic in a mere second.


    Suddenly Nuvahn spoke up. "How are you going to explain your relationship with Florance to your sister and her friend?"


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    Zaran stared at Nuvahn wide-eyed, feeling as if he had been struck by a missile. "I completely forgot about that. Damn. Uh... there''s no way we could know each other so well after a few days and she would definitely not believe me if I told her we knew each other prior..."


    "How about we just act as if we have a crush on each other?" Florance said. "That should work right... as for how we met... couldn''t you just tell them that I am the buyer of the demon summoning tome and that I asked to meet with you and that we ''connected'' right then and there? That is not all too much of a lie..."


    "That should work, we only need to act for the in game day or two they''re online each real day as both of them work." Zaran said, keeping quiet about the fact that the money earned from selling the tomes would allow the girls to take an unpaid leave, something which he was initially planning to ask the girls. Now he was not so sure about asking it any more. He was unwilling to keep up the act with Florance 24/7. Acting like that would definitely not be a good thing for their relationship.


    Florance went over to Zaran and snuggled up to him, letting out a discontent moan "Muuuh..."


    Kissing her for a while, Zaran whispered "I know... I do not want to act either. We will see how my sister reacts to our flirting and take it from there okay?"


    "Okay..." Florance said somewhat dejectedly, causing Zaran''s heart to ache.


    Cindarrah, who had taken her favourite spot on Zaran''s head again glared fiercely at Florance. Since the two had met, her daddy had barely taken notice of her! She was unwilling to share him too! Yet she did not dare to act up as she would surely be punished.


    Seeing Cindarrah''s expression, Nuvahn could no longer contain himself and laughed out loud.


    Zaran raised an eyebrow while looking at Nuvahn. "What is so funny?"


    "Well, I think you might have been forgetting about someone." Nuvahn said as he pointed upwards.


    "Oh." Zaran said as he realized what Nuvahn meant. The lack of attention she got herself was most likely causing her to be jealous of Florance. Now as for how to handle this situation... he had no idea. He reached up and gently patted Cindarrah.


    Women... Zaran cursed in his mind. Then again I would act the same if Flo was spending more time with someone else than me... He rolled his eyes and chuckled as he thought. Men...


    "Right... let us see if we can find out where all these rats keep coming from." Zaran said as he started to inspect every nook and cranny of the middle part of the sewers. He was sure there had to be something here as all of the sewage water gathered here. After searching for a few minutes Zaran found a hidden staircase, neatly hidden inside a pillar. If he had not inspected closely he would have missed it as it did not really stand out.


    Going down the staircase a notice appeared in front of the party.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>You have entered the dungeon ''Depth of Virul''s sewers''. The depths of Virul''s sewers have not been touched in a hundred years. The dangers within can not be underestimated. If you feel you are not up to the task turn back while you still can!</td></tr><tr><td>Recommended level</td><td>55</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The party looked at each other and nodded. They had no qualms with taking on something above their level. After a full three minutes of descending the staircase the party finally arrived into a small square cobblestone room. There was no furniture in the room but next to the stone door hung a variety of mouldy signs. Due to their age the signs had grown to be ineligible and most of the words could not even be made out any longer. The party read them nonetheless.


    "--ware t-- -ia- -ats!"


    "B-w-re --- --sec-s!"


    "Wat-- th- ----ings!"


    "--tch the -at--!"


    "Tu-- --ck w--le y-u --e --ill i- o-- p--ce!"


    They could decipher some of the signs but the rest they just had to guess as to what it was trying to say. As there was no other option as to just head in the depths of the sewers and find out for themselves, Zaran pushed the stone door open and the party headed into the depths...

 Chapter 48: Giant rats!

    Author''s note: I am back to trying to put out a chapter every two days and I''m going to try to build up a sizeable backlog of chapters so that if anything happens where I no longer have the time to write, I can at least keep the consistent chapters going.


    _______________________


    CREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!! With a loud creaking sound the heavy stone door opened. Stepping through the door the party was met by a gigantic gaping hole, the sewage water pouring in it unceasingly. Grime and dirt covered the walls and the unbearable stench invaded the nostrils of the party. Pitter-patter sounds could be heard from every nook and corner of the sewers. Large yellow crystals hung on the ceiling of the sewers, illuminating the whole area.


    Around the gaping hole was a ten meter wide walkway, with every few meters another tunnel branching out. From every tunnel the pitter-patter sounds became clearer and clearer and seconds later a variety of dog-sized rats came swarming out of them at the party. There were at least 40 rats swarming towards the party and every single one of them was level 50 and had 10.000 hp. By no means would this be an easy battle!


    "Florance and Cindarrah stay back and cover for us, Kirin, me and Nuvahn will stop them." Zaran barked. "Nuvahn, you take the left side, I will take the right side. Kirin you deal with the stragglers."


    Zaran and Nuvahn stood in the middle of the pathway so they could somewhat assure it wasn''t easy for the rats to pass them. In seconds the swarm of rats was upon them. Swiftly taking a batting stance, with his greatsword to the left of him, Zaran struck out and smashed three rats in the side knocking them towards the gaping hole. With the additional knock back effect from his greatsword, each of the three rats toppled over and fell into the hole. On the other side Nuvahn had used wind slash to get the same effect and he too sent three rats into the gaping hole, cutting their numbers down by three more.


    Noticing the fate of their peers, the rats grew vigilant. Zaran took the batting stance again and swung out at another pair of rats who ran at him. The moment he struck out the rats jumped to try to avoid the blow. "Fools!" Zaran muttered as he used gravity. It heavily affected both rats ability to jump and caused them to not jump high enough to avoid the sword blow. The two rats crashed into each other before being sent over the edge.


    Nuvahn was already engaged in close combat with the rats on his side with Kirin, Cindarrah and Florance already supporting him. Kirin used dark rush to wreak havoc in the pack of rats while Cindarrah used Web Shot to restrict the rats'' movements. Meanwhile Florance skilfully used homing fireballs to damage them and the lightning spell ''lightning shackles'' to constrict the opponents movements.


    On his own side more rats were approaching him, he struck the ground with his foot and two meter long earth lances burst through the ground, striking at the rats. He followed this up with the mist skill. The rats were dazed by the mist but Zaran was not! With a few more well placed earth lances, the rats were split up and Zaran started striking the rats, each of his strike dealing a good amount of damage to them.


    After a minute the mist dissipated and Zaran felt his heart grew heavy. Even with having a full minute alone with the rats he had not been able to kill one. Every single one of the fifteen rats was damaged to a certain extent but not even one had reached below 40% HP.


    Every single one of the rats was absolutely furious and went into a frenzy upon seeing their attacker. A grey sheen appeared around every single rat and each burst forward with great speed, intent on gnawing this enemy in front of them to death!


    Seeing the situation on Zaran''s side, Florance started channelling one of her stronger skills, lightning started to surge around her. "Lightning field!" Florance shouted as flicked her hands, sending the lightning to the area in front of Zaran, which became covered in bolts of lightning, continuously striking out to the surroundings and occasionally stunning the rats, greatly slowing down their speed. Through great control and at the cost of her mental strength being drained continuously, she was able to stop the spell from inflicting damage to Zaran.


    "I can not keep this spell up too long as the mental drain is too great! You have about a minute at most!" Florance shouted.


    Every bolt of lightning dealt a great amount of damage to the rats and 5 to 10 % of their hp disappeared with a single one! With the continuous onslaught of lightning bolts the giant rat''s hp swiftly started to drop!


    Zaran back stepped a few attacks of the rats and unleashed devouring chaos, his sword became shrouded in chaos ki. Letting out a short breath, the completely calm Zaran took a small step forward and and sliced towards the nearest rat. A huge cut appeared on the rat''s body and blood sprayed out in every direction. Another sword strike flew out and another cut appeared on the rat. The giant rats could not just stand by and watch their comrade being hurt and they rushed to Zaran.


    His expression was completely serene and the speed of his greatsword greatly increased. Giant rat after giant rat jumped at him, yet every rat was met with a sword strike! Every strike caused another deep cut to open on a rat and caused an ark of blood to spew out of the cut. The previous black-red blade was completely drenched in blood now and with every strike blood flew from the blade. From the current situation, one would think a demon had descended upon the world!


    Zaran was in a peculiar mindset right now, even though the sword was extremely heavy at 70 kilograms in his hands it currently felt as if it weighed nothing and was merely another appendage!


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    SKREEEE one of the rats squeaked and Zaran felt his mind be lost in a daze. His movements grew more sluggish and the giant rat who had let out the squeak pounced forward and bit Zaran''s side. Zaran slashed violently at the rat and depleted the remainder of his hp with the hit. He looked at his side and a small part of it had been bitten out yet a fourth of his health disappeared just like that!


    His blade found its way to another rat and finished it off as well, bringing him to level 49. Each rat gave an absolutely humongous amount of exp and he was sure he would reach level 50 at the end of the fight. Multiple rats jumped at him simultaneously and Zaran gave a small flick to his wrist, changing to the broad side of the blade. He struck out and the broad side of the blade connected with each of the rats, giving all of them a slight concussion and even outright squashing the head of one of the giant rats.


    A grey flash appeared in the corner of his eye and before he could even turn around, he winced as a giant rat cloaked in grey energy slammed into him. Another fourth of his health disappeared. He slammed the ground with his foot and earth lances shot out, penetrating the rat that had just attacked him. Two strikes of his blade followed and the rat dropped lifelessly to the ground. With a mere flick of his sleeve one of the summoned earth lances flew forward from the ground, homed in on a rat and impaled it, pinning it to the ground. One strike later its head rolled down the gaping hole.


    Another rat tried to jump at him but this time Zaran did not use just his blade and merely used gravity to stop it from jumping. With the effect of both lightning field and gravity the rat could not move at all and its body swiftly slumped to the ground further reducing the numbers. Earth lances shot forward from the ground again and pierced another four rats. Their fate was sealed swiftly thereafter. Now only five rats remained.


    With the majority of their allies gone, the morale of the rats disappeared. Half a minute later the last of the five rats dropped to ground after a mournful cry.


    This fight made Zaran realize how much he needed the later techniques from dance of the butterfly. Especially the fourth technique would already have made the fight an enormous amount easier. The first three techniques were very effective on human or humanoid opponents but was not very effective versus opponents smaller than oneself. It was for this reason that he had not been using the techniques in this battle and simultaneously the reason why the battle had taken so long. As soon as he got the opportunity to do so he would instantly get the fourth technique and potentially the fifth or the sixth. Which one of the latter two he needed more he didn''t know.


    Zaran turned towards Florance and kissed her on the cheek. "thanks."


    "It is nothing, I.. uhh" Florance said with a feeble tone before her body slumped down, the mental burden of controlling the spell having exhausted her. Zaran instantly caught her body, stored his greatsword into his space ring and gently carried her.


    On the other side of the fight the group was finishing up and a minute later the last giant rat fell to the ground. "Nuvahn, could you collect the spoils? I have kind off got my hands full here right now." Zaran asked with a wry smile.


    "Hahahahaha I notice. Leave it to me!" Nuvahn said as he quickly picked up all the dropped items. It was mostly gold, some rat fangs and some rat hide and a ring that added 20 intelligence and 20 wisdom which Nuvahn and Zaran decided to give to Florance. On the side Kirin and Cindarrah were feeding on the rat corpses, both quickly adding to their level.


    Especially Cindarrah soared in level. If not for the original Cindarrah messing with her genetics she would now be a quite sizeable spider.


    Until Florance woke up the group couldn''t move and had to hope that no more enemies appeared out of nowhere. A few minutes passed with no additional giant rats appearing and Florance slowly opened her eyes. "uh... auch... my head..." She muttered as she brought her left hand to her head and wailed in pain. "uwuu uwuu".


    She quickly took out a small pill from her storage ring and put it in her mouth. Her headache instantly cleared. Noticing that she was being carried like a princess by Zaran her face instantly flushed bright red. It was very embarrassing for her to be carried like this. With a shy face she said "Put me down."


    Zaran quickly put her down and Florance stood next to Zaran with a completely flushed face.


    "Hey Florance a 20 intelligence and wisdom ring dropped. Do you want it?" Nuvahn asked.


    "Yeah sure." Florance said, her face still flushed.


    Nuvahn handed her the ring, which she equipped right away. Her stats increased by a fair amount and she could feel a surge of power enter her body.


    WUFF! Kirin finished eating and let out a content bark. Compared to before she had grown slightly taller. Cindarrah on the other hand hadn''t grown but the colours of her body had grown a shade darker. Cindarrah had gotten a new skill added to her skill list while Kirin''s dark flame skill had evolved and gotten another ability.


    Cindarrah''s new skill was "Hellweaver''s land" which created a huge area of effect web on the ground that slowed bigger enemies and completely snared smaller enemies.


    Kirin''s dark flame had evolved and now the skill could also be used to emit a fiery breath that dealt a moderate amount of damage.


    With Florance recovered and Kirin and Cindarrah done feeding the party could finally move on.

 Chapter 49: A risky tactic

    Author''s note: exploration and two new enemies! Also the return of something we picked up a long time ago and that we are now able to use.


    As always, enjoy!


    ______________________________


    "Let us check out the tunnels one by one and see where we end up at." Zaran said. "We''ve got to figure out where all the small rats come from and stop them from swarming the sewers."


    Florance and Nuvahn nodded and followed after Zaran. As for Kirin and Cindarrah they were content with just following Zaran, but they both like eating the giant rats so the longer they could stay the happier they would be about it.


    Taking the first tunnel, the party soon ran into more giant rats, whom they dispatched off and ended up at a dead end. Turning back, the party continued searching through the next few tunnels, which likewise ended in a dead end.


    While the search had been fruitless, the exp and drops had been rather good, as in a short amount of time they had already made 50 gold and although the experience requirement from level 50 to level 51 drastically increased, Zaran was already halfway to level 51. With the experience percentage going from 10% per giant rat to 1% per giant rat, one could see just how massive the difference was.


    The next tunnel the party searched through seemed as if it were going to end in a dead end again, however upon arriving at the dead end the party noticed that there was a cave-in at the place where the dead end would be. The cave-in had blocked the dead end from sight but had also opened up a passage into a cave.


    As the party was inspecting the cave-in a squeak was heard and a giant rat covered in moisture ran out of the cave-in. After a web-shot from Cindarrah to constrict the rat''s movements, the rest of the party burst down the rat.


    The cave entrance was pitch black and the party could barely see a thing.


    "So dark. We should create a torch." Zaran said as he took out some wood and linen to create a very basic torch.


    "No need, just leave it to me!" Florance said as she weaved her hands and cast the floating sphere spell. It created a small round sphere of elemental essence of the user''s choice that floated next to the user. Due to the essence''s nature it illuminated the nearby area. While the area of effect of this illumination wasn''t all too high and thus only a small part was illuminated to a bright degree, the remainder of the cave was still illuminated to a lesser degree which greatly increased the party''s field of view. Of course it wasn''t merely a spell to illuminate an area. For example Florance filled it with fire essence and whenever she cast a spell she could draw from the sphere instead of channeling the mana within herself. This drastically reduced the cast time for spells and this was also the real use for the skill.


    There was a spell with the sole use of illuminating a large area, but it was a light magic spell and that was currently a type of magic Florance could not use, but the floating sphere spell was a sufficient alternative although the drain on Florance''s mana was pretty significant as it took half her mana to cast it.


    With the light from the floating sphere spell, the party could finally see what the cave looked like. The cave had been made by some sort of creature as the cave was almost perfectly carved out and formed large, straight corridors. The walls, floor and ceiling which were glistening because of moisture formed a spherical shape and the width was consistent for as far as they could see. Distant pitter-patter sounds could be heard as well as the terrified squeaks and death screams of rats... and chomping sounds continuously rang throughout the cave.


    Currently the party was standing in a curved area. The tunnel had advanced straight until straight up to the point that it would intersect with the depth of the sewers but had taken a swift turn upon reaching the dead end the party had entered from. From this one could see that whatever had created this cave did not want anything to do with the sewers.


    "Which way should we take? Should we go straight on or turn right?" Florance asked.


    "Let us just follow the path to the right." Zaran calmly replied. "It''s the way whatever this tunnel created took and if we caught up we would be at its tail... If we turn back we might run into it''s head, so I feel the right is the best option."


    Thinking about what Zaran had said for a moment, Nuvahn slowly replied. "I agree, if we go back the chance to face whatever made this tunnel head on should be higher than when we just take the straight path.."


    With the path decided the party slowly advanced and with every step the moisture on the tunnel''s floor would stick to their feet, before finally giving away when they raised their feet high enough. This tremendously slowed down the party and was exhausting to boot. Only Kirin walked trouble free, having coated her paws with dark flames to burn away the moisture wherever she went. The moment she lifted her paws the moisture would instantly fill in the previously cleared spot. After merely half an hour the party was exhausted and they had to temporarily rest to recover their stamina. All this time they had not seen a single enemy, yet the chewing and terrified squeaking sounds became clearer and clearer.


    Sufficiently recovered from their exhaustion, the party resumed their exploration of the cave. Another half hour passed and the party had to rest to recover from their exhaustion yet again while still not having met any resistance or having seen any creature of any kind. Even though they had already walked for an hour in the cave, the distance they had covered was merely two kilometers.


    Another hour passed, with the group taking three more breaks to recover from exhaustion. Due to exhausting their selves over and over again the distance they could walk before they had to rest again turned increasingly smaller. Ten minutes later the party came upon a large round cavern with a giant white worm. The giant worm was 5 meters high, 50 meters long and was surprisingly agile for its size. It was currently fighting a pack of small and giant rats that were protecting a light-grey coloured rat that was twice the size of the giant rats. The worm slid across the moisture on the cavern floor and chomped down on rat upon rat with its large spherical mouth that was filled with dagger-sized teeth. Most of the small rats were instantly killed with a single bite and most of the giant rats would die within three bites.


    Even though the worm had an easy time killing the rats, it was covered in bite wounds from both the small rats and large rats. Wave after wave of rat had poured upon the worm and there had just been too many rats for the worm to deal with. Regardless the worm was far from dying and with every rat devoured, the various injuries on his body bled a little less.


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    At the back of the cavern was another slight smaller tunnel where terrified rats were continuously pouring in from. Zaran inspected the giant worm, the small rats, the giant rats and the enormous rat''s levels, while Florance dimmed her floating sphere as much as possible so it wouldn''t alert the rats or the worm of their presence.


    Rock devourer lvl 70


    HP: 100.000


    Damage: 1000


    Defense: 5000


    Description:


    Millennia ago worms living in mountainous area evolved and gained the ability to carve tunnels through all types of rocks and ores, over the years the worms grew continuously larger until they became the humongous species they are this day.


    Common rat lvl 20


    HP: 300


    Damage: 75


    Defense: 0


    Description:


    A common type of rat which is commonly found all over the planet. This type of rat has the ability to evolve into a giant rat but the requirements for this evolution to take place are unclear.


    Giant rat lvl 50:


    HP: 10.000


    Damage: 500


    Defense: 1000


    Description:


    A species of rat that evolved from the commonly found rat. Stronger, more resilient and more intelligent than their smaller peers these rats are able to cause a calamity to befall upon any city that is unfortunate enough to have them make it their home.


    Rat queen lvl 60:


    HP: 50.000


    Damage: 1500


    Defense: 3200


    Description:


    The queen of giant rats. Every one out of 10.000 female giant rats has a chance to become a rat queen. Rat queens give birth to new giant rats at an extremely rapid pace, far quicker than an average female rat is capable of doing.


    "The huge rat is a level 60 rat queen and the huge worm is a level 70 Rock devourer." Zaran whispered with a wry smile.


    The rest of the party cringed at the naming sense for the worm.


    "So what''s our plan?" Nuvahn asked quietly.


    "We wait for a few minutes and see how the fight develops. While we are stronger than our levels, I am not sure we can just join in on this fight without some losses." Zaran whispered.


    "So what is our plan going to be when we do fight?" Florance whispered quietly. "Even if we wait we should start figuring out our course of action once we go into combat."


    Zaran started. "Right, you and Cindarrah should stand back and cast supportive spells while me and Nuvahn will be the front line while Kirin will both keep guard for the two of you and clear up anything that passes by the two of us. Florance, you can cast your offensive spells when necessary, but do try to overlap supportive spells with Cindarrah, as long as the enemies movement is restricted, me and Nuvahn should be able to deal with any of the enemies rather easily with exception of the worm and rat queen. I hope that before the fight ends, either of those two fall and hopefully it is the rat queen that falls as we will not have to face an onslaught of rats that way. If the worm falls... we will have to fight for a long time to kill every rat. There is another tactic we could try but it''s a far riskier option and I do not know if it will even work out. If the battle develops the wrong way I will tell you the other plan. However we will only carry it out if all of us agree to it!"


    Minutes passed by as the party passively waited for the battle to develop. More rats continuously swarmed out of the small tunnel and swarmed upon the worm and its hp continued to drop little by little. The worm''s hp fell to 50% hp and it cried out angrily as it headed straight towards the rat queen, before the rock devourer could reach the rat queen, she disappeared from the rock devourer''s vision and appeared at the other side of it. The rock devourer let out an cry and it''s body turned red. Its face disappeared and a tail formed where it originally was, at the same time its tail turned into its head! With a swift movement it bit down upon the rat queen and threw her into the cavern wall.


    The rat queen disappeared from vision again and appeared behind the nearest giant rats. Blood continuously dripped from her wounds. It let out a mournful cry and the nearby rats all grew red-eyed as they all swarmed upon the worm even faster than before. Soon the worm was completely covered in rats and its hp dropped faster and faster. The worm used it stoneskin skill to stop the rats from gnawing upon it. Although the small rats couldn''t bite through it, the giant rats could still bite through the stone skin, albeit with a lot of effort. With the amount of rats that were currently on top of the rock devourer, the rate at which its hp dropped didn''t lower all too much. The rock devourer''s hp swiftly dropped to 30% and its stoneskin ability exploded from its body. Every rat that was currently on top of the rock devourer instantly died from the rock shards that flew forth from its body. The rock devourer furiously chomped down on the nearby worms to regain its lost health. Even though it had killed a large amount of rats just now it was not a skill that the rock devourer could use continuously as it considerably drained its already low stamina. With giant and small rats continuously streaming in from the tunnel, it was not hard to imagine how the battle would develop from here on out.


    Seeing the battle develop this way Zaran muttered curses under his breath and whispered "Fuck! All right the second plan I had was as follows: you four distract the rats while I go over to the worm and use my beast taming skills to get it cooperate with us. I am not sure it will work however and worst case scenario we have to both fight the worm and the rats. Best case scenario we get the rock devourer on our side... at least for the time being."


    "That IS a risky plan. How likely do you think it is to work?" Nuvahn whispered with a wry smile.


    "I have no clue. It is worth a shot though. If not we can try our luck fighting the onslaught of rats."


    "Let us just go with it. Worst comes worst we respawn." Florance whispered with her lovely voice.


    "It is decided then. Cindarrah and Florance cast supportive spells, Kirin and Nuvahn bring a calamity upon the rats!" Zaran said as he switched out Gigenkai for the Hellweaver lance. He wanted to see just how powerful this spear was!


    The party sprang into action and Cindarrah used Hellweaver''s land to ensnare the rats while Florance use Lightning field to stun them. Seeing the stunned rats, the rock devourer quickly chomped down on them.


    Nuvahn and Kirin quickly started dealing with the nearby rats, taking out small ones by the dozen! Zaran on the other hand quietly made his way to the rock devourer with the Hellweaver lance in his hand...

 Chapter 50: Alliance with the rock devourer

    Author''s note: 50 chapters have been written already. Time flies!


    _________________


    A bolt from the lightning field shot towards the rock devourer, temporarily stunning it. Zaran instantly placed his left hand on it and tried to establish a mental connection to the rock devourer. Sensing the invader in its mind the rock devourer angrily cried out. "Who!!!!!!"


    "Calm down! I want to propose a deal!" Zaran calmly sent the rock devourer.


    The rock devourer''s replied with a hoarse voice. "What deal?"


    Zaran coldly stated his conditions. "We help you deal with the rats, we both go our separate ways afterwards. If you do not agree me and my allies will step out of the fight between you and the rats and we both know what your fate will be if we do so."


    "Hrumph. FINE." The rock devourer said. "Now leave my mind! As long as you are not rats I will not hurt you nor your allies!"


    A popup appeared before Zaran telling him that his beast mastery had reached advanced level 2 but he quickly closed it. He terminated the connection with the rock devourer and dashed towards the nearest group of rats. With the spear his moves were severely limited as he had no skills for the spear. Still the spear had an additional skill added to it which could prove to be quite handy when there were this many enemies near him. The spear was both flexible and strong, which was exactly what Zaran required of his spears.


    He used a simple trust and a few small rats fell to the ground. With a large sweep around him a myriad of small rats fell down dead and multiple Giant rats where pushed back. All though a large amount of rats had been killed with two moves, double the amount of rats that he had slain immediately swarmed in upon him.


    A small roar rang out as the rock devourer chomped down upon the rats near Zaran. The rock devourer''s tail swept around his other side and more rats were instantly killed or swept away. Zaran''s spear flashed out a few times and a few of the small and giant rats that had climbed their way up to the rock devourer were poked away from the its body.


    Flashing all around him, Zaran''s Hellweaver lance struck down rat after rat. Spear strike after spear strike flashed out from him, his handling of the spear becoming better with every single one he sent out! The flexible spear began to bend during his strikes and with each strike the tip of the spear would seek out a weak point on the rats. Even though the rats tried their best to dodge and evade, the spear seemed as if it was homing in on them and struck them regardless of their efforts of avoiding the hit.


    With aid in dealing with the rats, the rock devourer hp finally stopped decreasing at a rapid hp and stabilized. With the pressure on it reduced just a tiny amount it once again started to bring a calamity upon the rats and advanced upon the rat queen again. Florance and Cindarrah immediately restrained the majority of the nearby rats, allowing the rock devourer to have a clear path to the rat queen.


    The rock devourer''s speed increased as there were few rats to stop it. Every rat that dared to step in its way was quickly devoured and the way to the rat queen was practically open for it. With a loud chomp it bit down on the rat queen... and then it chomped down again and again and again. With each chomp a large amount of the rat queen''s health was disappearing and it continuously squeaked out in pain. The nearby rats wanted to help but Zaran and the others quickly stopped the majority of the rats that wanted to swarm the rock devourer and thus the rat queen''s health swiftly disappeared. With a last mournful squeak the rat queen died and disappeared in the rock devourer''s stomach. A second later the rock devourer regained five percent of its lost health.


    With their queen gone, the rats'' morale completely disappeared. With their leader and morale gone, the rats did no longer have any intention to fight and retreated back from where they came from. Absolutely terrified expressions on their faces as they ran back to the tunnel they came from.


    With its enemies gone, the rock devourer who had been fighting for a tremendously long time felt exhaustion overcome it and so it called out to Zaran. "I hope you honour your promise!" Totally exhausted the rock devourer curled up its body and instantly went to rest. Quickly snoring sounds filled the cavern and the wounds on the rock devourer started to recover slowly but surely. With the rock devourer totally defenceless at this instant, if the party ganged up on it they would swiftly be able to kill it. However Zaran told the others to not bother it. As long as they honoured the agreement the rock devourer would most likely never harm them in future encounters... if there would be any at all.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Let''s check out why the rats were so terrified to go back through the tunnel they came from. I saw them coming here with terrified expressions, which became even more gruesome to behold once they had to retreat to that tunnel. What do the rats fear more than this rock devourer? There should not be anything that powerful in this area." Zaran said to the group. While it was a dungeon the recommended level was only 55. With the rat queen being at level 60 and the other rats at 50 there should be very little opponents that are higher than that level. Thus the rats'' behaviour caused Zaran to be very curious to the source of their fear.


    "I will follow you wherever you go!" Florance said with a lovely smile.


    "Same." Nuvahn said while raising his greatsword and letting it rest on his shoulder.


    "I did not expect anything less!" Zaran said as he headed towards the tunnel. A few meters into the tunnel the moisture disappeared, greatly increasing the


    travel speed of the party. On the way they had fought a few rats, but all of them were far too terrified to put up a good fight. A few minutes later the party arrived at the end of the tunnel and were met with an enormous cavern. The cavern was at least as large as Virul! Insect were busily flying about with rats caught in their mandibles, constantly transporting them back and from a vast amount of pits where rat queens and rat kings sat together and were constantly giving life to new giant rats who were transported out of those pits and transported elsewhere.


    The insects were extremely large, about 3 meters long and 60 centimetres high, light-brown in colour and closely resembled stag beetles. A large nearby pit was surrounded by a myriad of beetles, within the pit ten giant rats were fighting a single beetle that was about one and a half times the size of the others! Yet as much as it fought, the rats''s fangs did not seem to be able to break through the armour of the beetle. Within a minute most of the rats died a gruesome death as they were cut in two by the beetle''s mandibles.


    A nearby beetle noticed the group and came over to fight the intruders but Florance swiftly cast paralyse, a low level lightning spell which had a guaranteed chance to stun the target. With the beetle stunned Zaran instantly placed his hands on it and made a connection with its mind. A few seconds later the party had another member!


    The beetle''s stats and name were as follows:


    Kru''da''r


    Level 53 Cavern beetle


    HP: 25000


    Attack: 2000


    Defense: 5000


    Description:


    Cavern beetles prey upon rats and large communities of cavern beetles usually rear their own rats and giant rats as livestock. As the male cavern beetle''s mandibles are too large, it befalls upon the females of the community to rear the rats. Through their extremely though exoskeleton they are nearly completely invulnerable to the rat''s fangs, which is also the reason why they have the ability to rear them. However although their physical defence is extremely high, they are very vulnerable to magic attacks.


    "I shall call you Kru!" Zaran said as the full name was a little hard for him to pronounce. He kept up the mental connection with the beetle and got the information he was looking for. There was a large nearby cavern that was empty and that the cavern beetles couldn''t live in because one there were magic rocks that heavily decreased the growth speed of their offspring and two there was a small colony of bats further back in that cavern that had a strong magic attack. If the community of beetles moved over there, they would only bring themselves closer to natural predators which wasn''t something they wanted.


    With all the information gathered that he needed, Zaran explained to the group that they needed to go to that nearby cavern, exterminate the colony of bats, hatch one batch of the Hellweaver eggs plus the Hellweaver queen and then help them establish themselves in this area.


    After laying down the plan, the group swiftly moved toward the nearby cavern and extremely quickly exterminated the colony of bats. Even though the bats were level 55, both Lightning field and Hellweaver''s land caused the bats to be unable to fly and with their flying ability gone they absolutely had no way to deal with the party.


    Kru had stayed back the whole time during the fight as he was utterly terrified of the bats and did not want anything to do with them!


    After the fight Zaran placed down five sacks of Hellweaver eggs and the golden Hellweaver queen egg and patiently waited for the eggs to hatch.

 Chapter 51: First colony

    Upon seeing the eggs sacs Cindarrah instantly scurried over and jumped in between them, her instinct telling her how to make the eggs hatch. She connected a string of spider silk with each of the egg sacs and started to supply them with mana. The spider silk turned blue as mana coursed through it, drastically shortening the time needed for the eggs to hatch. After half an hour of supplying the eggs with mana, the golden egg cracked and the Hellweaver queen slowly pushed her body through the egg.


    Slowly looking around and noticing Cindarrah the queen cocked her head and coldly said "Please leave. If the others hatch they will imprint on you in stead of me."


    Cindarrah scurried back to Zaran and lied down on the most comfortable spot, the top of his head. The Hellweaver queen quickly made a cocoon from spider silk that enveloped the other egg sacs and waited for the eggs to hatch. If Cindarrah had remained, when the other Hellweaver eggs hatched the majority would have imprinted on Cindarrah not only because she was slightly bigger than the newly hatched Hellweaver Queen but also because Cindarrah was currently far more powerful than her! Needless to say if that happened the moment Cindarrah left, all the other Hellweavers would follow after her.


    Time swiftly passed and the cocoon started to open up, 500 Hellweavers running out and about followed by their queen. The Hellweavers formed a neat row and bowed in front of the party. The queen went up to Zaran and the others and her voice that was filled with warmth rang out in their minds. "I thank you from the depth of my heart for keeping your promise. If not for you our lineage would have ceased to exist. Even though we cannot ever repay you for the kindness you have already shown I do hope you could be so kind to bestow upon us another favour."


    "Feel free to make your request, as long as it is within my power I will surely help you out." Zaran calmly said. "What should I call you now your highness?"


    "You may call me Iluminiel."


    Zaran nodded. "How may we help you?"


    Iluminiel cast an apologetic look and started. "Well... as you might be able to imagine, while the environment seems pretty good, the strength that you have clearly shows that whatever is in these caves is too strong for us to take on. So I was hoping you would help us gain a solid base of strength before moving on. I will make sure that you get an additional reward for this."


    "Sure I can help with that. At the same time it could help us getting stronger. How do you want me to go about this?"


    "You take half of the colony with you while the other half stays here to protect me. Just hunt any sort of prey and the soldiers will bring it back here to increase our strength. About four loads of food would be enough for us to be strong enough to handle ourselves." Iluminiel mentally sent.


    Zaran nodded. "Nuvahn could you stay behind and guard the queen? Contact us immediately if anything happens."


    "Leave it to me! As long as I am here not even a hair on their bodies will get hurt!" Nuvahn said with a proud smile on his face.


    He took half the colony with them and asked Kru where the security was the lowest. Kru hesitantly answered and the small army set out to the location Kru had told them about it. Arriving at the location they realized that Kru had told the truth and there was very little resistance in this area. There were only ten large beetles who were guarding one of the breeding pits with a rat queen and rat king in it. A smirk appeared on Zaran''s face as an idea entered his mind. If the cavern beetles could rear the rats... Why could the Hellweaver''s do so either?


    With the assistance of the Hellweavers'' web shots, the ten beetles were swiftly and easily dealt with. In the pit were five giant rats and the aforementioned rat queen and rat king. The giant rats quickly met their demise and the rat queen and rat king where covered in so much webbing that they could barely move a limb. Taking back the first load of food, Iluminiel was surprised to see the living rat queen and rat king.


    "Why is some of the prey still alive?" The queen asked very confused. Normally the prey she was brought was already dead.


    "Well the cavern beetles are rearing the rats to serve as a food source so I was thinking you might be able to do the same thing." Zaran said. "They hold the rats in pits and deliver them food on regular bases. As their reproduction capacity is extremely great and they pretty much eat anything so you don''t have to worry too much about what you throw at them."


    Iluminiel''s surprised voice rang out in Zaran''s mind. "That is a great idea! And we actually do have a history of rearing food ourselves. However we have never reared rats, so I am quite interested as to how well they work out as a food source. The only problematic part is the pits. We can''t create those ourselves as we do not have the ability to dig."


    "Leave that part to me and this guy over here. Just point us to the area where you would like for us to dig the pits!" Zaran said as he patted Kru. Iluminiel led Zaran and Kru towards the back of the cavern where most of the floor was solely made of stone. Taking out the soulstone pickaxe and commanding kru to dig a few pits to hold the giant rats in, the two of them swiftly started working on the pits. With the soulstone pickaxe mining was a breeze, the pickaxe digging through the stone as if it was dirt. With every swing, large chunks of stone gave away, which Zaran instantly stored into his storage ring. He did not know if it would ever come in handy but he stored it regardless. In the worst case he could still sell the stone for a measly amount of gold. Seeing Zaran store the stone, Kru brought the stone he had cut loose over and stacked them in a pile next to Zaran.


    "Thank you Kru! You are doing a great job!" Zaran praised kru and stored all the stone that had been brought over in his storage ring.


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Seeing that his master was happy with the stone, Kru started digging with doubled effort! It knew that it had a cowardly nature when it concerned magic-based attacks and feared that his master would be tremendously disappointed if he found out, thus he had to make up for that by showing how useful he could be in other ways.


    While the two of them were digging pits, the others were standing guard at the sole entrance to the cavern. A few cavern beetles had come to investigate the matter concerning the disappeared rat king and rat queen but their numbers were not high enough to be any sort of trouble. All those cavern beetles could do was become nourishment for the Hellweaver. Half of the few prey that they had gotten was given to the Hellweaver queen and ten Hellweavers she had chosen to become her royal guard, causing all of them to pass level 40. The remaining Hellweavers were all between level 10 and 20. The stronger specimens had naturally been able to eat more, causing them to gain levels quicker which in result meant that they would remain stronger than the others. The law of the jungle applied even for a colony of the same species. The strong would grow stronger while the weak remained weak.


    A few hours passed and Zaran and Kru had finally dug enough pits for the Hellweavers. Even though they currently only had one rat king and rat queen, in the future they might have more, so Zaran and Kru had prepared twenty large pits for them to be stored in. Kru had done the majority of the work and had been endlessly praised on his effort and speed by Zaran, making Kru very satisfied with himself. Wiping away the sweat, Zaran started to store the stone Kru had dug up that had been piled up and had become a small hill of stone.


    While Zaran was storing the rocks, Kru noticed a faint glimmer on one of the rocks and walked up to it. Slightly cocking his head, Kru decided to cut open the rock and see what was inside. He made sure to not apply to much pressure to the rock as he did not want to break whatever was inside of it. With a soft cracking sound the rock split open revealing a translucent red gem. Thinking it definitely had to be something special, Kru carefully picked up the gem with it''s mandibles and delivered it to Zaran. Seeing the translucent red gem, Zaran picked it up and inspected it.


    Awakening stone


    Upgrade material


    Description:


    An extremely rare stone that grants a soul to a weapon or piece of armour after fusing with it. A weapon or piece or armour that has a soul will continuously grow stronger as long as the owner feeds it with materials that would increase its strength.


    Zaran''s eyes went wide open and his jaw hit the floor as he read the description. This was an extremely powerful item! If he used it on Gigenkai he would never have to reforge it again! Moreover it would endlessly grow stronger. Still there was one thing he was not certain of... what kind of soul would the piece of equipment get? He swiftly checked the forum but did not find any additional information. Zaran decided it was better to store the awakening stone until he figured out what kind of soul his weapon would get. After praising Kru a little more for finding the gem, Zaran stored the remainder of the stone and went to the entrance of the cave to check up on the others.


    When he arrived at the entrance he was met by 11 large Hellweavers and 490 slightly smaller ones. In the hours that had passed more cavern beetles had continuously come to investigate in greater numbers but all had become nourishment for the Hellweaver queen and her minions. Now the weakest Hellweaver was already level 40 and the strongest was level 52! In the last fight, Florance and the others hadn''t even had to lift a finger and still the Hellweavers had won against the cavern beetles with ease.


    Hearing this, Zaran was very pleased as this meant that the Hellweavers would now be able to sustain themselves in this area.


    Iluminiel walked up to Zaran and With a small gesture from Iluminiel the ten royal guards walked over and dropped a large bag made from spider silk in front of Zaran. She mentally sent. "I know this is not enough to repay you for the kindness you have shown our kind but I hope these items prove useful to you. If you ever need our help in the future we will be more than happy to help you."


    Zaran skimmed over the items. The bag contained materials from the Hellweavers bodies. Hellweaver leather, Hellweaver exoskeleton, Hellweaver fangs, Hellweaver legs, Hellweaver hair, ...


    Most of the materials were not anything special, but with the amount that he was given he could easily advance his crafting skills a few levels. Of the whole bag of materials only two fangs caught his attention. Compared to the other fangs which were dark green coloured at the tip, these ones were light-green at the tip.


    Hellweaver queen''s fang.


    Rare material


    Description:


    The poison fangs from a Hellweaver queen. The tip of the fang contains an extremely potent poison, which has the ability to adapt itself to another type of poison as long as it comes into contact with it. It is an extremely good material to create daggers with.


    Seeing Zaran examine the two fangs, Iluminiel quickly warned him. "Careful! Do not touch the light green area, the poison on that one is very powerful!"


    Zaran chuckled. "I know don''t worry."


    After saying their goodbyes, the party left cavern and headed back to the depths of the sewers. Checking the remaining tunnels they finally found the rat queen and king that were responsible for the infestation of the sewers and killed them. Kru proved especially valuable in the fights as he served as the main tank in the fights and he was barely damaged at all. Killing the reason for the infestation of the sewers, the quest was updated. With everything in the sewers done the party exited the sewers and made their way to the major''s house.

 Glossary + chapter status 04/13/2016

    All right. I should have posted this one a looong time ago but I kept stalling. There''s still a LOT of work that has to be done on this but I will get on that after I''ve completely moved into the new apartment.


    Edit: due to unforeseen consequences I will not have any internet until the eight of march... read major fuckup of isp. I will be able to post chapters at work however but that means no release today or sunday. I will make up with a double release on monday unless i can get internet throuh other means


    ---------------- CHAPTER STATUS -----------------


    Current chapter status: 50%.


    I am incredibly busy in my professional life and it won''t be likely that I''ll get out a chapter today/friday, but i''ll make up for it at the weekend!


    --------------------- GLOSSARY ------------------------


    Zaran''s stats


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Character info</td></tr><tr><td>Race</td><td>Zuno</td><td>Profession</td><td>Seeker of truth</td></tr><tr><td>Sub-profession 1</td><td>Hellbeast master</td><td>Sub-profession 2</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>53</td><td>Unspent stat points</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>1500/1500  (+1200/1200)</td><td>Mana</td><td>900/900</td></tr><tr><td>Ki</td><td>1000/1000</td><td>Racial ????</td><td>??/??</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>310 (+115)</td><td>Flexibility</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>112</td><td>Stamina</td><td>120</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>75</td><td>Focus</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>50</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>Perception</td><td>30</td><td>Luck</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>Charm</td><td>2</td><td>Willpower</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Reputation</td></tr><tr><td>Honour</td><td>5</td><td>Fame</td><td>550</td></tr><tr><td>God''s merit</td><td>51</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    Dance of the butterfly skills


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Flutter (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>5</td><td>Experience</td><td>23%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Weapon damage + 200-250</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>30</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>A powerful combination of an two sideways slashes followed by a stab.


    With each level the damage increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Rise and Fall (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Weapon damage + 100-150</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>A powerful combination of an upward slash, a 360¡ã slash and a downward slash is released upon the opponent.


    With each level the damage increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Velocity (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Weapon damage + 125-150</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>A powerful series of slashes forming an & is released upon the opponent dealing a tremendous amount of damage as well as having the ability of disarming the opponent.


    With each level the damage increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Ki skills


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Swiftness (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Speed increase</td><td>450%</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>10 per minute</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>One imbues his feet or arms with ki effectively, dramatically increasing one''s speed.


    Speed increases with every level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Tempered body (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>10</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Defense increase</td><td>200%</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>10-100 per minute</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>One imbues his cells with ki effectively raising the defensive of their body by a large amount.


    The ki consumption varies depending on the amount of the body that is covered.


    Every level the defensive capabilities of tempered body raise. After a threshold is reached, lower leveled weapons may no longer harm the user.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Buzzard shot (intermediate)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Arrow damage + 120-160</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>An arrow is imbued with ki and the ki is forced to swivel around the arrowhead at rapid speeds afterwards, the arrow is fired at a target with a highly penetrative effect.


    The damage increases with each level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Thunderous fist (advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>300-350</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>200</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>You cover your first with ki and strike your opponent with it.


    Once the fist makes contact with your target the ki bursts forward and explodes within the target, causing a large amount of internal damage.


    The damage increases with each level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Crashing waves(Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>5</td><td>Experience</td><td>15%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Greatsword damage + 20-2000</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>10-1000</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''4''>After the greatsword connects with something, increasingly stronger waves of ki are sent to the contact point until the enemy is no longer able to endure.


    There are currently ten waves of ki emitted and the cost of the skill increases with each wave.


    With each level the damage increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Mountain strike(Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Effect</td><td>Knock-up</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>+150-200</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Ki is imbued to the greatsword and the enemy is struck with an upwards strike, knocking the enemy in the air.


    With each level the damage and knock up duration increases.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Devouring Chaos (intermediate)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>3</td><td>Experience</td><td>26%</td></tr><tr><td>Defense</td><td>+100-560</td><td>Damage</td><td>100-560</td></tr><tr><td>Damage range</td><td>2 meter radius around caster</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>100-560</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You deplete a large amount of your ki energy and shroud yourself with it. Upon releasing the chaos ki that is within


    it rapidly starts to attack everything within a small radius of you. This skill serves both as defense and offense. Defensively


    the aura is able to completely block energy strikes or magic spells that are weaker than the aura.


    The damage, the range, the max output and the defensive strength increase with each level.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Derivated skills</td></tr><tr><td>Devouring chaos blade</td><td colspan=''3''>The aura gets transmitted to the sword and sent towards the target in the form of sword


    energy.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Magic skills


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Gravity (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>10%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Range</td><td>5 meters</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You command the nearby earth and wind elements to rapidly pull surrounding objects to you.


    When the level of this skill increases larger objects can be pulled to you. Current limit: 10 KG</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Earth lance (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>1%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Piercing damage</td><td>15-15</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You create sharp earthen spikes in a small cone near your feet.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.The damage increases with each consecutive level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Mist (Advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>33%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Range</td><td>25 meter radius around the caster</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You cover a large area around you in a shrouding mist.


    One cannot see anything within from the outside and the visibility within is severely limited.


    The caster is able to create corridors to escape from the mist.


    The range and density of the mist increase with each consecutive level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Flash fire (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>10</td><td>Experience</td><td>100%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Range</td><td>15 meter radius around the caster</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>300</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>200-250</td><td>cast time</td><td>5 seconds</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You cause a flash fire to surge forth from you, reducing everything along its path to ashes.


    The range and damage increase with every level while the cast time reduces with each level.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Metamorphosis (beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>3</td><td>Experience</td><td>3%</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Duration</td><td>1 hour</td><td>Mana consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You gain the ability to completely change your appearance, perfectly disguising yourself from others.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Racial skills


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Racial skill unlocked: Blood awakening</td></tr><tr><td>Health cost</td><td>90% of max health</td><td>Battle-related stat increase</td><td>200%</td></tr><tr><td>Skill cost reduction</td><td>80%</td><td>Skill duration</td><td>60 Seconds</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You burn your life force for an enormous increase in strength. This skill can only be used once a day and only when you are at full health and you cannot receive heals for the next five minutes.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Racial skill</td><td>Battle might</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Effect</td><td>All battle-related stats and passive battle skills are increased by 50% and a domineering aura is released.</td></tr><tr><td>Requirement before usage</td><td>Filled battle blood meter</td></tr>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''2''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Albeit a shy race, the Zuno boast tremendous battle might. Normally their potential does not get unlocked. It is only in extreme situations that they will show their full potential. Extra levels to this skill improve the effect and effective range of the aura.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Cultivation related skills


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Heavenly cloud condensation (advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>A ki refinement technique in which one condenses the nearby ki before allowing it to enter one''s body.


    Through careful and continues condensation one can create pure ki that can be immediately absorbed in the body.


    This bypasses the usual way of refining the ki within the body and allows one to absorb pure ki at a far faster rate


    than usual. However an incredible amount of concentration is needed to condense the ki and a temporary lapse in


    concentration can cause death or the destruction of one''s dantian.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Level effects</td></tr><tr><td>Ki condensing speed</td><td>+100%</td><td>Concentration needed</td><td>-25%</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Nature''s gifts of the elements (advanced)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>1</td><td>Experience</td><td>5%</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You command the nearby elements to congeal into a pellet which is then consumed and used to create a mana seed within the body. After the initial source of mana is created, any further pellet that is consumed can be used to grow the mana seed.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Level effects</td></tr><tr><td>Mana seed creation speed</td><td>+100%</td><td>Concentration needed</td><td>-25%</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Bestow Cultivation (Beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>2</td><td>Experience</td><td>25%</td></tr><tr><td>Time required</td><td>00:15:00</td><td>Ki required</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Effect</td><td>Creates a dantian within a weapon</td><td>Maximum material grade</td><td>rare</td></tr><tr><td>Maximum material level</td><td>level 50</td><td colspan=''2''></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You have found a way to create a dantian and ki channels within a weapon which gives it the ability to cultivate and which greatly reduces the ki costs for skills as long as the weapon''s ki has not depleted.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Unique effect</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Weapons you have given a cultivation level cannot hurt you with their ki as it originally belonged to you and instead an attack by such a weapon will cause your ki to regenerate.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Kirin


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Companion info</td></tr><tr><td>Name</td><td>Kirin</td><td>Race</td><td>Hellhound</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>45</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>2500</td><td>Ki</td><td>1500</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>195</td><td>Dexterity</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>125</td><td>Intelligence</td><td>45</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Skills</td></tr><tr><td>Dark flame lvl 11</td><td colspan=''3''>Launches purplish-black fireballs at the target which ignore resistances and deal true damage.


    - Subskill: flamethrower. Unleash a fiery breath in a small cone in front of itself.</td></tr><tr><td>Bite lvl 10</td><td colspan=''3''>Fiercely bites the opponent, dealing a large amount of damage.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark rush lvl 5</td><td colspan=''3''>Covers oneself with the fire of hell and rushes at the opponent, tackling them down.


    Deals a massive amount of damage.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Cindarrah


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Companion info</td></tr><tr><td>Name</td><td>Cindarrah</td><td>Race</td><td>Hellweaver</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>32</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>1200</td><td>Mana</td><td>2000</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>30</td><td>Dexterity</td><td>60</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>60</td><td>Intelligence</td><td>175</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Skills</td></tr><tr><td>Web shot lvl 9</td><td colspan=''3''>Shoots out an ball of web that explodes on contact and envelopes the target.</td></tr><tr><td>Leech lvl 8</td><td colspan=''3''>Drains life from the opponent. When used on a target that is under the influence of web-shot


    it deals double the normal damage.</td></tr><tr><td>hallucinogenic poison lvl 3</td><td colspan=''3''>Bites the target and poisons them with a highly hallucinogenic poison, causing the target to be


    unable to distinguish friend from foe.</td></tr></tbody></table>

 Chapter 52: Quest reward

    Author''s notes: counting down the days until I have internet again. Only now that is gone do I realize how much I actually use it.


    _______________________


    Within the mayor''s office enormous stacks of paper sat on the mayor''s desk. Endless sighing and muttering could be heard from behind the stacks of paper, every now and then a sheet of paper disappearing from one stack and another sheet of paper getting added on another stack.


    Suddenly loud cursing could be heard from behind the stacks of paper. "Argh! Where did all these blessed children come from! Damnit! Do they not realize the amount of extra work I get due to them?!?!? So troublesome ugh!"


    KNOCK! KNOCK! Two loud knocking sounds resounded through the office. The mayor who was hidden from view by the huge stack of papers, lifted his head which was filled with a weary expression and bellowed "Enter!"


    The captain of the mayor''s guard, a Minotaur, entered the room.  "Milord!" The captain of the guard said before kneeling. "The beast master has returned and wishes to meet with you."


    The weary expression was lifted from the mayor''s face and an excited expression replaced it. He waved his sleeve and bellowed. "Why haven''t you let him in yet! Go! ... Go!"


    The guard immediately left and moments later the guard came back with Zaran in tow.


    "Milord! I have brought the beast master!" The captain of the guard respectfully said to the mayor.


    "Good. Good! Leave us!" The mayor said as he flicked his sleeve, signalling the captain of the guard to leave the two of them alone. After the guard closed the door, the mayor beckoned towards a chair and warmly and respectfully said. "Please take a seat master Zaran! I pray you bring good news?"


    Stroking his beard, the mayor sat down on one of the two seats in front of the desk. Zaran followed suit and calmly said. "Well, that depends on what you might view as ''good'' news. I did find the cause of the guards'' disappearance and at the side I was able to fix the rat infestation problem, but the reason behind the guards'' disappearance... well... I will just let this speak for itself."


    Zaran took out Sir Durkhe''s ring and diary and passed them over to the mayor. The mayor took the ring and diary and had a pained expression on his face. He had instantly recognized this ring as sir Durkhe''s ring, one of his most strongest and most loyal guards that he had ever had at his service. Unless he had died there was no way for Zaran to have this ring. This fact caused the mayor to let out a depressed sigh.


    "So he has perished after all. I feared for this." The mayor said before opening the diary. When the mayor got to the last few pages his expression turned extremely ugly to behold. "A necromancer... DARNIT! GUARDS!"


    A moment later two guards stormed through the door, both kneeled and yelled "Yes milord!?".


    "Go to the mages guild and tell the arch mage he is expected to be here within the hour! If he''s not there the next in line! GO!" The mayor angrily yelled. After the guards left the mayor angrily said "My apologies for my sudden rage but I never knew we had a necromancer in town."


    A business smile was pasted on Zaran''s face. "Don''t worry, I understand very well how you feel."


    "These should serve as proof that I solved the rat infestation problem." Zaran calmly said as he took the rat king and queen''s head from his storage ring.


    "Yes, yes i-it suffises, please t-take them back i-into the ring!" The mayor said while shivers were running through his spine. "Now for the matters retaining your payment. I was so free to already draw up the buying permit. As for the monetary reward... Clearing our city from a necromancer is worth more than a measly hundred gold so I will increase the reward from a hundred to five hundred gold."


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The mayor took out a scroll from his storage ring and a sack of gold and handed them over to Zaran.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>QUEST COMPLETE</td></tr><tr><td>Fame + 500


    God''s merit + 50</td></tr>[/tr]<tr><td>You have gained a level.


    You have gained a level</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "You''re too kind mayor!" Zaran said as he accepted the rewards. "Before I take my leave, do you know of any properties for sale with a large garden and a large basement, that are in a somewhat secluded location?"


    The mayor stroked his chin as he thought for a few seconds. "Hmm, there are three I know of from the top of my head that fit your requirements... Two of those are mansions and the other one is a pavilion that would more than suit your needs. If you wish I can set you up with a tour for each of the houses."


    "Please do."


    The mayor called for one of the maids and told her to go to the nearby broker''s office and set up Zaran with a tour of each of the three properties.


    Ten minutes later the maid returned. "Master, as soon as your guest is ready we may head over to the broker''s office to start the tours."


    "Very well, I guess it is time to say our goodbyes then." The mayor said as he stood up.


    "I look forward to our next meeting, if you ever have need of my services again feel free to summon me." Zaran respectfully said.


    Zaran followed the maid out and took a tour of each of the three properties. Although he did take a tour of the pavilion Zaran instantly decided that it was not what he currently wanted. While it would allow him to officially start his sword school, he felt the time was not quite right to do so. Moreover he currently preferred a mansion with at least a few bedrooms as it then could serve as a base for himself and his party. Moreover, the pavilion''s price was not something he could afford at the moment.


    As for the two mansions, while the two of them perfectly fitted his needs, the decision on which one to buy was rather easy as only one of the mansions was in his price range. An hour after returning to the broker''s office, Zaran was the proud owner of a mansion in Virul.


    The mansion was located just outside of the city walls and was positioned on a hill. A ten thousand square meter area on the top of the hill had been flattened in the past to create sufficient space for the mansion. The square area was completely enclosed within five meter tall stone walls. The single gate in the walls led to the small outer courtyard, which had access to the main gate and the guards and servant''s quarters. Upon entering the main gate one would set foot within the large inner courtyard and could enter the various buildings the mansion consisted off. Like most of the other buildings in and around Virul it had a Chinese architecture.


    The only reason Zaran was able to afford this mansion was because no citizen in Virul dared to set even a single foot within the villa. The place had long since been marked as haunted. If not for this, this mansion would have long been bought by someone else as the surrounding vineyards had been a more than profitable business for its first owner. Zaran had chosen not to buy the vineyards just yet but had taken the option to do at a later date, unless someone else took the opportunity to buy them before he had the chance to do so.


    As for the story about the mansion being haunted, Zaran simply did not care. If a ghost wanted to come after him... then let it come! Furthermore, most ghost stories turned out to be nothing more than the howling of the wind.


    The party opened the doors to the mansion and stepped inside. After everyone took a room in the house, they had a meal together and trained for a few hours before going to bed.

 Chapter 53: Howling

    Author''s note: Enjoy!


    ________________________________


    Swish! Swish! Zaran leapt through the forest at high speed, followed by ten men who were completely clad in black, not a single millimetre of their skin to be seen. Among them was one archer who fired arrow upon arrow at Zaran, all of which sped towards him at tremendous speed and automatically homed in on his position. Nonetheless thus far all the arrows had done was slow him down as each and every arrow had been cleanly met by a strike of Zaran''s greatsword.


    "Goddamnit!" Zaran groaned as he increased his speed to the limits. Every single one of his pursuers was highly skilled and even though he would very easily deal with them in a one versus one, when all of them worked together in a fight Zaran was completely pinned down. Still his attackers had not been able to stop him from fleeing, although he had paid no small price to be able to do so. A large cut ran from his left shoulder all the way to the middle of the chest and it had been nearly deep enough to kill him. He had suppressed the bleeding with his ki and the flesh already started to show signs of healing itself.


    Still, with his left side being unusable in battle Zaran had no way to fight back against the ten of them. Now that they were chasing him it would be easier to catch one of guard, but as long as his injury was not healed to some extent he would not be able to utilize his full power, so even if he could kill one of them right now he would not be able to kill the remaining nine.


    Zaran grumbled and continued to flee at high speed, trying to gain the time needed to heal his injury, very slowly increasing the distance between himself and his pursuers.


    "Darnit! He is starting to slip away!" The leader of the pursuers yelled. "Use the pills!"


    All the pursuers tossed a pink pill in their mouths and swallowed. A few seconds passed and suddenly their bodies convulsed as their power and speed drastically increased. The pill they had taken awoke their full potential for a short amount of time, but disable them from ever growing to that potential in the future. Even though all of them knew what would happen to them if they used it, when they took up this mission they already knew that it was very unlikely for the majority to make it back alive, so sacrificing their future potential was the least of their worries. Furthermore... if any of them returned without succeeding their mission a faith far worse than death would befall them and their loved ones.


    Seeing his opponent''s increase in speed, Zaran muttered curses under his breath and stopped fleeing as his pursuers would swiftly be on to him with their increased speed.


    A few seconds later the pursuers encircled him, leaving him with no way out.


    Even though all the pursuers had increased in power, Zaran did not worry, his expression growing colder instead. He knew his pursuers had paid no small price to attain their increased power and speed. He calmly stood there, surrounded by his pursuers, his hair slowly swaying back and forth because of the wind.


    Zaran sighed as his ki exploded forth from his body and soared into the heavens. A split-second later he raised his greatsword above him and the ki that had exploded forth from him rushed towards the greatsword! The black coloured greatsword quickly started to turn silver with faint golden specks spread all over it.


    His pursuers stopped in their tracks the moment Zaran''s domineering ki had exploded forth. Before Zaran''s demeanour nor ki had been particularly frightening but at the moment... all of them felt like they were in the presence of a god! When the ki started to be absorbed by the greatsword, the greatsword slowly started to emanate an even more terrifying aura than Zaran had been mere moments ago!


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    A few seconds and the greatsword finished absorbing Zaran''s ki. Solemnly lowering his weapon, Zaran spoke with a weak and shaky voice. "Dance of the butterfly, fourth stance... intent!"


    _______________________________


    AWWOOOOO AWWWOOOOOO. AWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!


    "Ugfff..." Zaran groaned as his dream was violently disturbed by loud and continuous howling. Huffing and puffing, he sat upright in bed, his whole body soaked in sweat. "Why did I dream of that day?" Zaran though, silently remembering every little detail of that faithful day. A minute later he laid down again, looking at Florance who soundly slept right next to him and who was seemingly unaffected by the howling.


    While sleep was not required in the game, it recovered a character''s health and resources and provided a minor buff to experience gained and slowed the rate at which stamina was used up.


    AWWOOOOO AWWWOOOOOO. AWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!


    To his side Florance moaned as she too woke due to the obnoxious howling.


    "What''s that noise?" Florance asked while she suppressed a yawn, pressing her body closer to Zaran''s, his right arm firmly pressed between her twin peaks.


    "I do not know but I cannot sleep like this... I will go check it out." Zaran sighed as he got up and changed into his armour.


    With a soft moan Florance got up, with the blanket pressed firmly to her chest. "I will go with you then." Florance said as she donned her tight Gothic dress and equipped her staff.


    When the two of them entered the hallway they already found Nuvahn waiting for the two of them. "The sound is coming from the backyard!"


    "Let''s go!" Zaran said as he headed downstairs and went on this way to the backyard, waking up Kirin, Cindarrah and Kru along the way.


    AWWOOOOO AWWWOOOOOO. AWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!


    In the backyard the howling sounds were even louder than inside the mansion, almost to the point where the noise was ear-deafening. Following the noise, the party arrived at the end of the backyard, where there was a small cemetery surrounded by a metal fence. In the cemetery were only ten graves, each of them belonging to a member of the first owner''s family. In front of the biggest grave, which was the first owner''s, a large black mass sat and howled, it''s body flickering and disappearing every now and then.


    "What the? Is that a ghost?" Nuvahn cried out upon seeing the black mass disappear and appear.


    Zaran shook his head. "No... it is a living creature.. and not a living creature. When it stands up you will know what I mean."


    Sensing the party, the black mass stood up and quietly watched them. Now that it stood, the party could see that the black mass was in fact a wolf. Its body was completely made out of something that looked like black mist. On its face was a pained and weak expression and every now and then it winced, which coincided with the flickering of its body.


    "As I guessed... a spectral wolf." Zaran said with a calm expression. "Kirin, go on up and ask what is wrong with it and translate whatever it says back to us."


    Kirin nodded and carefully walked towards the spectral wolf.

 Chapter 54: The missing skulls

    Enjoy


    ____________________________-


    With her heart in her throat and her tail between her legs, Kirin walked to the spectral wolf. With a shy and shaky voice she asked "W-why a-are y-you s-sad? C-can w-we h-help?" After passing level 50, not only did Kirin''s size increase by a fair amount, her intelligence increased, now having the mental capacity of a teenager. After the sudden increase in intelligence she had not dared to speak to Zaran yet as she was not too sure how he would react to her changed voice and manner of speaking.


    "None of your business!" The spectral wolf mentally sent as he growled. It had no intention of spilling its problems to a little mutt like Kirin. How could she help? How could she understand his endless torment? She could not! The spectral wolf was sure that with Kirin''s posture and shaky voice, a simple growl would suffice to make her back of.


    However, unlike what the spectral wolf expected Kirin did not back of, instead she straightened her back and growled back. "It is our business! My master is the new owner of this mansion and wants to help you after seeing how sad you are, yet what do you do? Reject the kindness shown to you! You might think that there is no way I or my master can help you but I assure you he can! He is a hellbeast master, there is no way he is going to just sit back and watch a hellbeast like yourself suffer! Neither are we going to leave just ''cause you are howling! Moreover, do you think not talking about it and instead howling here is going to help you? If you do, well then, think again!"


    The spectral wolf''s voice boomed in her mind. "Sigh... Fine! I shall tell you my story... A long time ago my master build this place and started to grew grapes for the production of wine. His business grew increasingly more successful over the years and he found himself in need of a faithful companion and guard, so he bought me along with a few of my brothers and sisters. A few years passed, giving me, my brothers and sisters ample time to grow ever stronger. The winery kept flourishing all this time, profits rising each year. With every year that passed me and the others continued to get increasingly busy as people were trying to harm our master or his property. With the success of the winery there was no shortage of humans who wanted to take over the business. Assassins, thieves, beggars... more kept on coming each year, eventually forcing our master to garrison a small army worth of guards to protect himself, his family and his business."


    The spectral wolf''s voice grew increasingly solemn as his story progressed.. "With the army of guards a time of peace came once again and tranquillity returned to the mansion. However that did not last too long. In time the thieves, beggars and assassins returned, this time more aggressive than they ever were before, yet me and my brethren killed them all! More time passed and the first of my brethren passed away in a valiant battle against bandits that had come to raid the mansion. With every passing year thereafter more of them perished until finally... I was the last one. A few months after my last sister died, a group of assassins came and made quick work of the guards, of me, my master''s family... and of my master. Although I was heavily injured by the assassins, the wounds were not deep enough to cause me to lose my life. Dragging my weak and bleeding body to my master''s side... I heard my master speak his last wish... for me to protect the estate forever, no matter what happened or who the next owner would be."


    "I did just so until I felt the end of my mortal life nearing. However I was unwilling to let death come between me and my mission! This desire gave birth to an unexpected transformation, causing me to become a spectral being! With that transformation came a whole new realm of power that I had previously been unaware of! With the newfound power I kept protecting the estate throughout the years and nothing happened to the new master or the estate for decades! But one mere moment of negligence caused a disaster to happen! I showed myself once to one of the new owners, who was scared witless upon seeing me. A day later a priest came over to the mansion... I did not think much of it at first... Until he cast a cleansing spell and I momentarily lost the ability to manifest myself! Next they dug up the skulls of both my master and me and made off with them! The large majority of power left along with my skull, causing me to get into my current state... Moreover it made me unable to leave the estate''s perimeter, something I was previously able to do. With no more power to continue my mission, regret and anguish filled my heart. Every night thereafter I started to howl at master''s grave out of pure misery. If you can track down my master''s skull and my skull... I should be able to recover my strength and continue my mission."


    Kirin returned to Zaran and told him what the spectral wolf had told her. While he was initially surprised that Kirin''s voice had suddenly changed along with her intelligence, he decided to heed it no mind. Zaran patted Kirin and gave her a slice of meat as a reward for her bravery. "Could you go over again and say that we agree to help as long as he stops howling at night and asks if he knows more information about the priest, any information at all would be a huge help."


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Kirin firmly said. "Leave it to me!" She walked over to the spectral wolf. "We agree to help you on the sole condition that you stop howling at night."


    "Fine..." The spectral wolf sent, not like it had much choice anyway.


    "We would also like to know if you know anything at all about the priest? It would be a very big help to us!"


    "I do not know much, but I shall tell you what I know. It was a priest from Virul and I heard them call him ''father Abham'', he wore the sigil of Lisenne, the goddess of the afterlife and that is really all I know. If I could move beyond the estate I would help but alas I cannot."


    Kirin ran back to Zaran and told him what she had learned. "Right, let us go back to our beds and then we will pay a visit to this father Abham at the break of dawn."


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''2''>Quest: The missing skulls.</td></tr><tr><td>Difficulty</td><td>D</td></tr>[/tr]<tr><td colspan=''2''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>The spectral wolf and its master''s skulls were stolen by father Abham. You have offered your help in retrieving the skulls.</td></tr><tr><td>Reward</td><td>The spectral wolf will resume its duty and guard the mansion and the surrounding vineyards, reducing the amount of pests that occur.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ------------------------


    The next morning the party moved out at the break of dawn and headed towards Lisenne''s church which was located right next to the cemetery. Zaran went over to one of the priests and asked. "Father, I am looking for Father Abham, could you be so kind to tell me where he is?"


    The priest looked up at Zaran and politely said. "You shall find him inside at the altar."


    "Thank you very much. Lisenne be praised."


    Going inside the party easily found father Abham, who was giving a lecture at the altar for the few worshippers that had arrived this early in the morning for the 6 am Mass. They loitered for a moment, waiting for the Mass to end and went up to father Abham.


    "Father, I was wondering if we could have a moment of your time?" Zaran politely asked with a business smile plastered on his face.


    Father Abham noticed the guild tag and muttered. "What can I do for you mercenaries?"


    Zaran started. "A few years ago you had been asked to perform an exorcism in the winery just outside of Virul. Recently I have acquired this mansion and at night me and my two partners here were rudely awoken by howling. We investigated the cause of said howling and found that it was due to a Spectral wolf. As a beast master I instantly noticed that the spectral wolf was in agony and thus I could not just stand by and watch it suffer. When it told me what had caused it to suffer like this, it told me that its and its master''s skulls were stolen by a priest named Abham a few years ago."


    The father''s face filled with regret upon learning what had happened due to his actions and said with a tone filled with shame. "I have this hobby of collecting bones you see and after performing the exorcism I assumed everything was all well, and thus I... took the chance to the acquire some new objects for my collection. If I had know what would happen I would''ve never taken them. Give me a minute and I will bring them to you!"


    Abham quickly left and returned exactly a minute later with the two skulls in hand. Zaran took them and said his goodbyes to the father.


    A little later the party stood in the cemetery and placed the skulls in their corresponding graves. When Zaran and Nuvahn finished filling the graves again, black mist seeped from the wolf''s grave and formed the spectral wolf''s body. "Thank you! By returning my skull I am no longer bound to the night and have regained the power needed to protect the estate, I shall full fill the pledge to my master once again!


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest complete! The spectral wolf will now once again protect the estate!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    With the quest complete, Zaran had gained a good guard for the mansion.


    After a short conversation with the spectral wolf, Zaran spoke up. "Let us have some breakfast before taking on the rest of the day! I am starving!"


    Nuvahn and Florance chuckled and followed Zaran to the dining room.

 Chapter 55: Forbidden goods

    Enjoy! Next chapters are (hopefully) on Tuesday when I have internet at home again... this was posted during my lunch break.


    ______________


    While the party ate, they talked about various things that happened in past lifetimes and tried to see if either of them had been in a world that one of the others had been in. As there were billions upon billions of worlds that the possibility for this to occur was close to zero if not zero.


    Nuvahn took another bite from his toast and asked. "So what are our plans for today?"


    Zaran glanced at Florance "Did you have anything planned at all?"


    Florance swallowed and took her handkerchief to wipe her mouth before replying. "Well I was just going to go around and see if I can pick up a quest or something but then I met you again and I am not planning to leave you anytime soon so I will just tag along with whatever you do."


    "It is fine if you want to do something without me... You do not have to feel obliged to go along with everything I do. If I do something you do not like or you want to do something else please speak up, that counts for you too Nuvahn. I am very happy and grateful that you both want to stay with me but please do not feel forced. Please be your own human and do not try to become what I want you to be, because that is exactly what I do not want to happen."


    Both Nuvahn and Florance bit their lip as Zaran reprimanded them.


    Florance suddenly grew angry as she hit Zaran''s side and remarked. "Way to ruin the mood!"


    "It had to be said! I am starting to feel like I am forcing you to stay with me."


    "You are not! If you were I would have told you! YOU of all people should know me more than well enough to know that I would tell you the instant I think you are forcing me." Florance said with a commanding tone.


    Zaran chuckled. "True."


    "As for me, I do not really care if you drag me around as long as I get some good fights in." Nuvahn calmly said. "If I feel you are doing boring stuff I will just go my own separate ways for some time. But when there is a fight I will always be right there with you."


    "Right, well my plans for the day are as follows; first I will sell of the loot I acquired from our trip to the sewers, then I will go to Eoric''s smithy to craft a basic shield and shape the Hellweaver queen''s fangs in to two daggers, after which I will pay a visit to Henry and ask him whether he has any beasts that can guard the mansion.  I will go to the city and hire or buy some guards and a couple of maids for the mansion. Afterwards I will bring the maids and guards back to the mansion and have them settle in. When all that is said and done I am going to train as there are a few skills I would like to acquire relatively soon."


    "Buy guards and maids?" Florance said with raised eyebrows. "So you mean... buy slaves right? You know I do not agree with that."


    Zaran quickly shook his head. "It is not like that, how could there even be slaves in the free kingdom that Liberiu is? Well... maybe human slaves but no other slaves could possibly exist here. No, buying guards or maids is simply buying their allegiance to you and you create a blood contract with them. They still have to get paid like normal guards or maid, but they essentially become a part of your family. But of course there are a few catches. First, neither side is allowed to harm each other as long as the blood contract exists, secondly, they have to do whatever I say as long as it is within their capacity to do so and is not dishonourable to them or against their moral compass. Thirdly, if the master mistreats the contracted person, the contractor suffers divine retribution, and the same happens if the contracted is disloyal to their master. Fourthly a real blood-link is established by the contractor and contractee and given a year of time, the contractor will always be able to locate the contractee''s whereabouts and vice versa. If either side dies, the other side will suffer a backlash and is able to momentarily see what happened the last few moments before their death. The final and an advantage that solely exists for the contracted person is that they can be included in a will. I do not know what happens if players who have blood contracts would die though... I guess we will figure that out sooner or later."


    "That sounds... fair enough." Florance said. "So basically you get completely loyal and trustworthy followers as long as you don''t harm them?"


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Pretty much. I have one big favour to ask the two of you though. Florance, while I am running all over Virul, could you go over all the guild applications? Just read them and pick out the ones that seem suitable for the guild and invite them to the mansion where we will submit them to one additional test. How they will get here is their own problem. If any applicants get here before I am back, Nuvahn could you test them? For non ranged classes, all they need to be able to do is to get one clean hit in on you in a fair duel. For ranged classes, they have to be able to block your advance for ten seconds OR be able to pin you down. For classes who are not suitable for fighting, like priests who focus on healing, just see how well they cope with pressure, be it when casting spells or just in general behaviour. When I am back I will take over from the both of you."


    Nuvahn swallowed the meat he was chewing on and calmly spoke. "Sure, no problem. I will train the first three stances of Dance of the Butterfly in the meantime and regardless there were some things I would like to test so waiting here for you suits me very well."


    "Just leave everything to me. I will see to it that we only have the most promising guild members!" Florance said with a bright smile.


    "Thank you. I shall take my leave then. I hope I am able to return before midday." Zaran said as he stood up. "Kirin, Cindarrah and Kru, you can stay here." Zaran said as he cast metamorphosis and changed himself to become a middle-aged man. While he would have to recast hourly, he was confident that he could do so on time as there were clear indications as to when the spell would end.


    _______________________


    Half an hour later Zaran arrived at the Virul''s eastern gates. He felt it had been a little lonely along the way as for the past few in game weeks he had rarely been alone. He had long since grown used to having Kirin and Cindarrah around. Still, Cindarrah and Kirin would draw attention to him and now that he had the metamorphosis skill he could finally walk around without having the worry about being bothered, which was a nice change of pace.


    After a swift search by the guards, which included a search through his storage ring with the use of a spell. The guards raised their brows on some of the things that were placed in Zaran''s storage ring but as the guards did not find any forbidden goods Zaran was free to go. Before continuing on Zaran very politely asked one of the nearby guards. "Excuse me sir, but why is a search necessary all of a sudden? The last time I entered and exited this was not necessary."


    The guard sighed and answered with a weary tone. "With the increase of travellers in the past few weeks there has also been an increase in some of the more forbidden goods. Normally we would only search merchants because most mercenaries do not occupy themselves with smuggling, although that seems to have changed in the past few weeks. While the majority does not seem to know what we consider as forbidden goods, we cannot allow them to just enter the city with them and they are confiscated on sight."


    "I see... Where can I find this list of forbidden goods?" Zaran asked. As long as he knew which goods were forbidden he could drop them of at his mansion before coming to Virul. When he started venturing out he would have to solve that problem in another way but at least he would know and could prevent embarrassing situations from happening.


    The guard took out a scroll from his storage ring and handed it over to Zaran. "Here, this contains a list of all the forbidden items. Now be on your way, I do not have any more time to waste on your questions."


    "Sorry for bothering you but thank you very much for giving me a moment of your precious time." Zaran said, before he strolled towards the market area. Along the way he found a free bench, sat down on it and took out the scroll of forbidden materials. Nearly half of the materials on the list were intoxicating of nature or contained a very dangerous toxin. The majority of the other half were mostly goods solely manufactured by humans.


    Closing the scroll and storing it back into his storage ring, Zaran cast metamorphosis once again to keep the spell up before heading off for the market area.

 Chapter 56: Henrys plight

    Author''s note: Internet is up and running again... changed ISP for a speed times 10 I used to have.


    _______________


    The market square was even busier than usual, as a large amount of users were fully preparing themselves to head out of Virul. While the most had merely level to 45, the highest monsters that the average user knew of were only level 40 and the experience they were receiving from those monsters was no longer enough to satisfy their needs. Thus the users were forced to head out further away from their starting city to find better hunting grounds.


    If the sewers were open to the public again, the users would have another hunting ground that allowed them to reach level 50, much like Zaran and his party did. However the major still had not released the sewers to the public again and thus the users that chose combat classes were forced to leave Virul if they wanted to keep growing stronger.


    Zaran casually strolled around the market. He did not have a set merchant to sell his goods to, so he talked to a few merchants and checked the prices he would receive for his goods. After having compared the prices a few times, he started selling his spoils of war to different merchants. Some merchants would give more for ores while others would give more for equipment and thus he had to sell to quite a few different merchants to get the best price for all his goods.


    Quite a few of the merchants raised their eyebrows after looking at the items that Zaran brought. With the quality of the items he had on him, he certainly was a high-end user but you could not tell that if you looked at him as he was a middle-aged man with very plain clothing. The merchants quickly recovered as it was not all too uncommon in other games to have other people sell your items for you and it was something they had experienced many times before.


    He picked up some reinforced iron ore and then walked to the area were Pantheon''s stall was usually set up. Even though Pantheon was online his stall was not at the usual place. With a mere thought, Zaran opened his friend list and messaged Pantheon. "Were are you at? I was hoping to acquire some more of your food."


    A few seconds later pantheon replied. "I am at a nearby hunting ground."


    "Can you sell to me later? Give me a list of what you are selling now and I will send you the list of what I wish to buy."


    "Sure. Give me a second. I will tell my party to rest for a moment."


    A minute later Zaran received the list of goods that Pantheon was currently selling. After making his selection, Zaran sent the list back to Pantheon.


    "Where do I deliver it?"


    "The winery east of Virul, I recently bought the place."


    "Oh I am hunting relatively close to that place! I will drop them off right after I am done!"


    Zaran closed the private message window and started to walk towards Henry''s place. While he did say that he was going to Eoric''s first, Henry''s place was closer so he changed his plans and decided to first pay a visit to Henry. He soon stopped in his tracks and sent another message to Pantheon. "I created a guild, if you are willing tell the lady at the mansion that I told you you can just be invited to the guild on the spot without needing to go through a test. It would be my honor to have you as our guild''s cook."


    "I will think about it!" Pantheon replied.


    Closing the private message window, Zaran resumed his way to Henry''s place, only a few minutes passing until Zaran was in front of it. He knocked on the door and a few seconds later Henry opened it.


    "Ah my boy! It is good to see you! Come in Come in!" Henry said as he opened the door to his home and beckoned Zaran to enter.


    A smile appeared on Zaran''s face as he stepped forward and entered Henry''s humble abode. Compared to the last time the two met, Henry''s house looked the worse for wear as bottles littered the floor, his sink was filled with dishes that had not been washed in days. Needless to say... the house absolutely stank. It was almost so bad that the stank could be compared to the sewers. He had no idea what happened to Henry but this... was this not a tad bit too sad? How could someone live like an absolute pig?


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "Please take a seat!" Henry said as he quickly used his feet to kick away some bottles to create a small path to walk on, so that Zaran did not need to walk on the rubbish to be able to take a seat.


    With a deep sigh, Zaran quickly moved forward and took a seat. After Henry gave brought over two cups and a bottle of wine, he sat down. He let out another sigh and asked. "What is wrong Henry? Why is your house such a mess?"


    Tears started to well up within Henry''s eyes and with a downcast expression he said. "At first they took my pavilion so I took my Hellbeasts over to my house and hid them in my basement... Now they want to get rid of my beasts in my basement. I have until next week to get rid of them. I have raised them like they were my children for the entity of my life... and now they want me to get rid of them just like this? Beside that one time they have not hurt anyone! My children! Why do they want to take my children Zaran! It is unfair! What is a beast master without his beasts? Nothing! There is so few of us in Liberiu already..."


    "I am very sorry to hear that Henry. However I think I might be able to help you." Zaran said as his expression turned a little sour. He too felt it was unfair for Henry to get rid of his beasts especially since they do not cause harm to befall anyone.


    Henry bent forwards and grabbed Zaran''s hands. "Boy if you can help please.. please, this old man begs you from the depth of his heart! Tell me the way to save my children!"


    Zaran softly said. "I bought the winery at the east side of Virul the other day. The basement is extremely large. With a few modifications it should be able to house all your beasts... However I currently do not really posses the money to undertake such a renovation, so it is only possible if you have the money to do so. Moreover even if you have the money to do so, we would need the renovation to be done within a week. On top of that, if you wish to live there, I will make sure that we have a room for you in the mansion."


    "I got more than enough money. When they took away my pavilion they did buy it of me, since I was the one who bought it in the first place. I should still have more than enough money to pay for it." Henry said as his expression turned into a hopeful one. "If I drum up some of my dwarven friends we should easily be able to finish it in less than a week! As for the room, I shall take you up on that offer! But no need to give me a good room, I will just take a simple servant room. That''s enough for me. Just look at this place. I am not suited for a fancy room."


    Zaran nodded. "As you wish. I have some more business to attend to in the city but as your money will pay for the necessary renovations, you should head to the mansion ahead of me. I will send a message to the person who is currently managing it for me and tell her to let you renovate the basement as you see fit.


    "Her?" Henry asked with an intrigued tone.


    "My lover. It is a long story." Zaran grinned as he winked at Henry. "Regardless... I will tell you are coming." He quickly sent a few messages to Florance and told her what was going to happen. Because he could just open the message box with a simple command of his mind, the npc a player was talking to would not notice it if a player was sending a message. This was especially true because a player did not need to type to sent a private message, it was enough to just think ''my message must be: '' followed by the message and it would automatically enter the message field in the private message window. It was a very convenient system.


    "But surely you have not come to listen to the worries of an old man. Now what brings you here my boy?" Henry asked.


    "Well I was going to ask if you have some Hellbeasts which could serve as guards for my mansion but I guess I no longer need to ask that question." Zaran said with a wry smile.


    "No you do not. I shall let you attend to your business then." Henry said as he laughed, the worry long gone from his heart.


    "I will let myself out. I shall see you at the mansion!" Zaran said as he stood up and left Henry''s home.

 Chapter 57: Illuminiels daggers

    Author''s note: The previous chapter was sunday''s chapter and this one is today''s!


    Enjoy!


    _____________


    Zaran stood in front of Eoric''s smithy and found it locked. Even when he knocked on the front door, nobody answered which made Zaran conclude that Eoric was currently out. With a loud thump Zaran landed on the ground with his bottom. "Sigh... well I can do something for the time being while I wait for Eoric to return... I just hope that he returns shortly." Zaran muttered.


    He took out all of his normal Hellweaver fangs and laid them down in rows in front of him. At the moment the fangs could already serve as daggers, but they were not particularly easy to wield in their current shape. Taking out his bone sculpting equipment, Zaran slowly shaved away a handle shape on the daggers. He made sure to extremely careful as he could not afford to touch the tip of the fangs. While the poison on the normal fangs was not that potent, it would still cause him a great deal of trouble if he was to be poisoned.


    With every movement of his hands, bone chips flew away from the fang Zaran was handling. Sweat poured from his head. He had made a few mistake at the start of the process, causing the bone to slightly crack. If he was not extremely careful he would shatter the fang. A few drops of sweat fell down from his head and landed on the bone, which caused him to mess up and shatter the bone.


    "Fuck!" Zaran cursed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and picked up another fang. "I should have wiped the sweat... such a stupid mistake."


    An hour passed as he slowly chipped away at the remaining fangs and created a handle for each and every one for them. With that done, only the first step of creating the handle was truly done. Next, Zaran took out some leather straps and fitted them around the handle that he had created, creating a handle which was both comfortable and strong, making it both easy to use and dependable.


    With each dagger that he completed his mastery in bone shaping and leather crafting increased by quite a significant amount and he soon reached beginner level 5 and beginner level 9 respectively. The best dagger he could make with his current skill and with the normal Hellweaver fang as crafting material, was quite an amazing piece of equipment as the options on the weapon were simply godlike for any assassin. Still, even though the materials were quite good in quality, he could easily craft a good shape in them with his current skill level, indicating that there would most likely be even stronger weapons of the same level.


    Hellweaver dagger (fine).


    Requirements:


    - Level: 50


    - Flexibility: 200


    Dual wield requirement:


    - None


    Stats:


    Damage: 175-200


    Flexibility: 10


    Agility: 20


    Special:


    50% chance on hit that the target suffers from one of the following toxins:


    - Neurotoxin: Paralyses the target (5% chance of triggering)


    - Anticoagulant: Stops the blood from clotting, which increases the damage a bleed effect causes by 100% (95% chance of triggering)


    10% increased damage against poisoned targets


    5% increased chance to cause a target to bleed (deals 100% of the damage the hit has caused over time)


    Description:


    A dagger created by Zaran Karaz. Through careful shaping of the material a fine weapon was created. The handle has been carefully laid with leather, making the dagger extremely easy to use. The poison of the Hellweaver''s still linger in this dagger, making it a perfect weapon for any assassin. Not only that but due to its shape, it has a high chance to cause the target to continuously bleed from the wounds this dagger gave the target.


    Besides the initial few daggers, which through some minor faults in Zaran''s crafting, turned out to be level 45, the rest were all level 50. All in all, Zaran had created 20 Hellweavers daggers in the past two hours. He had crafted 10 normal daggers, 5 fine, 1 mastercraft and 4 bad ones. He decided to sell the bunch of them at the auction house as he was sure to get a decent amount of money for them. While it would definitely not be anywhere near the amount he received from the tomes, if he could get around a thousand gold for all of them, it still would be quite a good amount of money for him. He would exchange the gold for real money afterwards as the value of gold compared to real money would continue to drop. While 1 gold was worth 1 euro a few days ago, it was no longer the case as every 1.2 gold was now worth one euro. With the passage of time the value would continue to drop so it was in his best interest to sell of any gold he did not particularly need at the moment. If he was in need of money later, he could use the money he earned by selling it now, to buy a greater amount of in game gold in the future. Even if he had to pay taxes to do so, he would always receive a larger amount of gold later than what he would be selling now.


    With the normal Hellweaver daggers done and the increase in his bone shaping and leather working skill it was time to start working on the pair of Hellweaver queen daggers. While normal Hellweaver fangs could be found around the continent, the Hellweaver queen daggers were extremely rare and precious materials. Not only was the quality of the material a lot better than its normal counterpart, the toxin in the fangs was far more potent. Moreover the toxin in the Hellweaver queen''s fangs was known to have the ability to evolve and so Zaran speculated that it would be one of the characteristics of the daggers he would be able to create with it.


    He picked up the Hellweaver queen''s fangs even more carefully than he did with its normal counterpart and meticulously started to shave away at it to create the basic form of a handle.


    Tch...... Tch...... Tch! Bone shard after bone sliver after bone sliver flew from the fang as Zaran Slowly shaved and chipped away at the gone. Compared to the normal Hellweaver fangs, this time Zaran took ten times as long. Every single one of his actions was done extremely carefully and he meticulously checked every single one of his actions to make sure not even a single fault slipped in.


    Halfway through the first Hellweaver queen''s dagger, Eoric arrived. "Hey Zaran what you doing sitting over there?" Eoric said as he walked over and prepared to give Zaran a hearty pat on his back, his arm already in the swinging motion. Just as his hand was about the slap Zaran''s back, Eoric noticed that Zaran was working on a piece of bone. At the last possible moment he pulled back his arm. If he had hit Zaran just now he would''ve caused him to crush the fang. Based from the color of the tip of the fang it was a highly toxic one.


    A gust of wind flew past Zaran''s back, created by Eoric''s palm that was flying his way, yet Zaran did not feel that nor did he hear Eoric''s voice. He was far too absorbed in his work, his full concentration poured into it. If somebody with malicious intentions was fixated on causing damage to Zaran, now would be the perfect time to do so.


    Eoric sat down next to Zaran and carefully watched his process. He had dome some bone shaping in the past as it was a requirement for every master blacksmith to have a basic knowledge and grasp of it. It was not all too unusual for a request for a sword to include a bone handle of a beast of some sort, so he did need the knowledge to be able to shape various kinds of bones. While he was far from an expert himself, he could see that Zaran was rather gifted in this field as well, as he was expertly creating a handle on the fang. Still he was working very, very slowly but once he moved, his hands moved expertly and confidently. For half an hour he watched Zaran''s progress, from shaving away at the fang to finishing the leather handle for the fang. All this time Zaran had not even spoke once, looked at him or had even drank a sip of water. The only thing he had done was shave away at the bone and wipe away his sweat every so often.


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    With the finished product in hand Zaran was very satisfied with the end result. If the previous master crafted dagger was a godlike piece for any assassin, then the dagger he had just created would be far above and beyond that.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Please select a name for your creation</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Zaran whispered: "Illuminiel''s gift."


    Illuminiel''s gift (Mastercraft).


    Requirements:


    - Level: 50


    - Flexibility: 250


    - Agility: 250


    Dual wield requirement:


    - None


    Stats:


    Damage: 250-300


    Flexibility: 40


    Agility: 60


    Special:


    100% chance on hit that the target suffers from one of the following toxins:


    - Necrosis: Reduces the targets stats. 10% of the stats targets are reduced up front with another 10% over a minute. (5% chance of triggering)


    - Hallucination: The target suffers from hallucinations, incapable of telling whether someone is an ally or an enemy. (5% chance of triggering)


    - Neurotoxin: Paralyses the target (10% chance of triggering)


    - Anticoagulant: Stops the blood from clotting, which increases the damage a bleed effect causes by 100% (80% chance of triggering)


    30% increased damage against poisoned targets


    10% increased chance to cause a target to bleed (deals 100% of the damage the hit has caused over time)


    - Making contact with poison or venom causes this weapon to grow stronger. This effect can only occur once per type of poison or venom.


    Description:


    A masterly crafted dagger by the bone shaper Zaran. Through utmost care and effort during the production process of this dagger, a masterwork has emerged upon the world. It was created with one of the Hellweaver queen Illuminiel''s fangs and it bears the same trademark effects as her fangs. The poison is extremely potent and has a high capacity for adaptation. Every new poison that this weapon comes in contact with will cause it to grow stronger, no matter the strength of the poison. Because the poison of the Hellweaver queen is so potent, every hit of this dagger is guaranteed to inflict a poison state upon the target. Additionally this dagger has an increased chance to cause the bleed effect.


    "That is a very nice dagger." Eoric remarked.


    "Eh... Eoric? When did you get here I have not seen you arrive?" Zaran said.


    The old dwarf laughed. "Of course you did not, you were too absorbed in your work that you did not even realize I have been here for the past hour. Now what brings you here?"


    "I was hoping to use your smithy, but you were not home. Luckily I could still work on this dagger outside so I did not have to waste my time waiting here for you."


    "Hah! Let''s solve that problem immediately." Eoric said as he threw a key at Zaran. "That is the key to my smithy. I got a spare so do not worry. Now you do not have to sit here and wait for me the next time I am not home. However... I do need a favor in return. With my skill in sword making I can leave a hint of my soul inside each sword I make, allowing me to know whenever one of my swords gets used for evil deeds. A few years ago I made a soul sword on request for a wandering swordsman. A few days ago the sword was used for a heinous crime... in a matter of minutes, thousands were killed by it. I know you are currently too weak to face this swordsman but if by the time you gain the strength to compete with this man, my sword has not been returned to me... find the man and let the gods be the judge for his deeds. Return the sword to me once you are done with him. When you return the sword I will compensate you for your effort."


    "The one meter long blade of the sword is as white as snow and the hilt is like the black of the night and shaped like a bat."


    A notification for a quest that he could not reject popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>The wandering swordsman</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Quest Difficulty: SSS</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Years ago Eoric crafted a sword with a soul for a lone swordsman. For years, this swordsman has only used this swords for just causes, however recently the swordsman has used the blade to kill thousands in mere minutes. Eoric cannot condone such an evil deed being done with one of his swords and thus he has asked to return his sword once you gain the power to do so. This quest will automatically fail if someone else returns the sword before you do.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "I will definitely return the sword to you if I ever have the power to do so."


    Eoric grinned and tossed the key at Zaran. "I have more business to do. Feel free to use my smithy whenever. Seeing you so actively crafting, makes me want to rethink my retirement! Maybe you will have some fellow apprentices in the near future!"


    Having said that, Eoric quickly went in and out of his house and left the premises.


    Zaran unlocked the door to the smithy and went to work on Illuminiel''s second fang. After two hours Zaran finished working on it and it was the same quality as the first fang and Zaran named it Illuminiel''s Shadow.


    Finally done with crafting all the daggers, Zaran could proceed on what he first intended to be making, a shield!


    Zaran fired up the forge and when it was hot enough melted the ore he had bought just a few hours earlier. After the ore had become liquid metal, Zaran cast it in a round shape to create a normal round shield. After hammering the shield to the exact specific thickness he wanted in each place, Zaran lit the forge again and melted another batch of ore to create a simple metal lance.


    With the two weapons created, Zaran had lunch before heading over to the employment agency.

 Chapter 58: Employment agency

    "Good midday sir. How may I be of service to you today?" A young looking attendant in the recruitment agency said upon seeing Zaran enter.


    Zaran took a moment to look around and inspected the recruitment agency. It was a wide and high pavilion, with two distinct wooden counters. One was named "Blood contract servants" while the other one was named "Hired servants".


    After looking around for a few seconds Zaran calmly replied "I would like to know the price difference between a blood contracted servant and a hired servant."


    "That really depends. Some people have outstanding debts and become blood contracts as long as you pay of their debts for them. Others willingly become blood contracts for the same price as a normal hired servant, be it with ulterior motives, for safety or for an entirely different reason. If I remember correctly, the one with the highest outstanding debt will cost you nearly hundred thousand gold to hire and the cheapest is just a yearly wage."


    "A hundred thousand gold? How can someone live with a debt of a hundred thousand gold? Wouldn''t the loan sharks have killed the guy by now?"


    "Not if we buy off their debt. Needless to say, we only buy people off such a high debt if we deem them worth the price. Every single one of the blood contract servants you can get here that has a high debt are either extremely strong warriors,  have a rare skill, a rare bloodline or are very skilled in certain areas, like a master cook or beast master for example." The attendant said with a serene smile. "Of course the amount you have to pay is slightly higher than the original debt as we obviously are not a charity and do operate to gain a profit at the end of the day, although we do pride ourselves in the quality of our servants. So, if I understood correctly, mister is interested in acquiring a blood contract?"


    "Yes I recently acquired the winery east of Virul and I am dire in need of some guards and servants. About four maids, a cook and ten guards is what I am currently in the market for." Zaran said with his usual business expression on his face.


    The attendant''s face was filled with shock upon hearing that Zaran was the new owner of the winery, with an extremely surprised expression she asked "The winery? That place is haunted, you are very well aware of that right? Why would you want to hire people for a haunted mansion... why would you even buy it?"


    Zaran smiled wryly. "The haunting problem has been solved, which is why I am here in the first place."


    "Oh, really? Well, if I may be so blunt to ask, what is the maximum price you are willing to pay for a single guard or maid?" The attendant asked with a slightly colder tone. She knew the winery was far from an expensive place and thus she concluded that Zaran was not a very wealthy customer. As she was paid based on commission, she really wanted to work with wealthy customers and not someone of Zaran''s wealth. While the majority of customers that came for a servant only had a few gold at their disposal at most, she still hoped that they would at least have a few thousand gold to spend. With a commission of 5% only those amounts could make her truly happy.


    Zaran swiftly opened his inventory to double check the amount of gold he had. Currently he had 1021 gold in his possession and that was after selling off all the daggers he had made a few hours ago. Instead of immediately going for the employment agency, Zaran had first made a quick detour to the auction house and and after an hour he had auctioned off all of his normal Hellweaver daggers. He had done a separate hour long auction for each of the daggers, which made him 870 gold and while he could possibly have made a much larger amount of money if he made the auctions take a longer amount of time, he needed as much money as possible now and not in twenty-four to forty-eight hours later.


    "Well I am looking to spend anywhere near a thousand gold total for the fifteen servants." Zaran said as he stroked his chin.


    "A-a thousand gold? I am very sure we will be able to find more than suitable servants for that amount of gold. Please follow me sir." The assistant said with a warm tone as she led Zaran to the ''Blood contracts'' counter.


    "Hello Bruno, this esteemed customer wishes to acquire some blood contracts." The assistant said to the clerk behind the counter.


    Zaran rolled his eyes as he heard the assistant speak. As if I did not notice how much your attitude changed upon hearing the winery and then again when I told you how much I was willing to spend. So fake.


    "Oh, hello May, what is he looking for then and which price range?" Bruno said with a cold smile, knowing May''s attitude he instantly knew that Zaran was a rather wealthy person and that he should be somewhat cordial, however he was not pleased by May''s attitude towards the average customer, hence his cold attitude towards her.


    May instantly noticed how cold Bruno was to her but she did not care and replied with a warm smile. "He wishes to acquire one cook, four maids and ten guards. And the maximum price for the total of them is a thousand gold."


    "Oh, that is a quite sizable amount. However, sir could you please change into your real appearance?" Bruno said after sizing up Zaran for a few seconds.


    "Very well." Zaran chuckled as he changed back to his real appearance. "How did you figure out?"


    "It is part of the job as we are not allowed to sell to people who we cannot identify. Still I am surprised that you know Metamorphosis. It is quite the rare spell." The clerk calmly said. "Regardless I have a few more questions for you. For cooks, which quality of food do they need to be able to create? I do need to mention that we currently do not have a lot of high quality cooks available and the highest quality cook which can create three star dishes consecutively will cost you at least 500 gold. A two star cook will cost you at least 100 gold and a one star cook will cost you at least 10 gold. The younger the cook the more they will cost you." Bruno calmly said.


    "Hmm, I would like a one star cook with the potential to grow." Zaran calmly said.


    "Certainly we can do that. As for maids, we have a large variety of maids and I think it is best if you read up on the various types we are able to offer to you. So please take this scroll and tell me what types you are looking for." The clerk said as he handed Zaran a rather large scroll.


    Zaran opened it and his eyes instantly went wide when he looked at the possible types. Most of the types concerned sexual preferences, like what looks, cup size, age, hair colour, eye colour, etcetera while very few types actually related to skills. After talking about it with Florance for a bit, Zaran decided on the types of maids he would choose. "I would like two young and talented battle maids, one of which is proficient in healing magic and the other in proficient in hand to hand combat and sword arts, one dependable and experienced maid and finally one young, adorable and cute maid."


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    "Very well, now for guards, this scroll will give you an idea as to which different types of guards we have available." The clerk said as he handed another large scroll to Zaran. This scroll was a little more normal compared to the one concerning maids and only listed battle types and the minimum and maximum price of each battle type, something which was not present on the maid scroll.


    "I would like six guards proficient with the shield and spear, two archers, one mage and one berserker proficient with double blades. All of them should be ranging 18 to 25, minus one of the six shield and spear guards who needs to have the ability to lead." Zaran said after quickly glancing at the battle types listed on the scroll. "If possible I would personally like to test their skill."


    "It is possible. That were all the questions I needed to ask you. Give me a moment." Bruno said as he left the counter and headed to the nearby records room. A few moments later Bruno returned and guided Zaran to a small room with solely a large table and a couple of chairs. Bruno stacked scroll after scroll on the table and then calmly said. "If there is anything you require, please ask May and she will bring it to you. After you have chosen your candidates, I will guide you to the training room and deliver you the candidates whom you wish to test." Having said that Bruno left the room.


    Zaran opened the scrolls concerning the cooks and read them one by one. Every scroll held a detailed description, depicting every single important fact or detail about the cook. He quickly separated the interesting ones from the uninteresting ones and then reread the ones he thought were interesting before finally deciding on Dietrich, a twenty year old cook of the tigermen race who rose to prominence at the age of eighteen due to his very experimental style of cooking.


    After reading through all the maid scrolls twice, Zaran selected a few candidates and after meeting each and everyone briefly, he ended up deciding on Annika, a slender nineteen year old fairy with green hair who had a cute and adorable face and personality and Gerti a forty-five year old bear woman who had previously been the maid of a duke of the kingdom. For battle maids, he ended up deciding on a Sandra, a nineteen year old Valkyrie and Neteri, of the fox race and who was twenty one years old.


    The total cost of the maid and cooks was a mere 55 gold.


    Zaran suddenly ask. "May, I was wondering if it was possible to go through the blood contracts with the cook and the maids before deciding on the guards."


    "That is certainly possible, if you wait here for a few minutes I shall go notify Bruno of your decision."


    ___________


    A few minutes later Zaran stood in front of the cook and maids with five scrolls in his hands.


    "The contract states the various obligations for both sides. After both parties sign their name in respectively the contractor''s or contractee''s area, the contract takes effect and the both of you will be bound by a blood contract according to the rules stipulated in the contract." May said.


    After reading the contracts one by one, Zaran bit his thumb until blood appeared and then signed his name in the contractor box on each of the contracts. Afterwards the cook and maids signed their names in the contractee''s box.


    After the cook signed the contract, the contract lit up with a bloody glow. The glow changed into a chain and connected itself to Zaran and the cook. An intense burning sensation appeared on Zaran and the cook''s heart and both grunted and grabbed their chests. Zaran was able to quickly recover himself to his usual expression, but the cook was not able to do so.


    Blurgh! Bluuuuuurgh! Two mouthfuls of blood were spat up by the cook and only after the contract disintegrated was he able to slowly regain his previous composure.


    May smiled upon seeing the contract disintegrate as this meant that the contract was successfully established.


    Annika''s expression grew faint as she signed the contract and the pain that the burning sensation caused her made her drop to her knees as she wept out of pain. Only after a full five minutes of pure agony and after multiple mouthfuls of blood was the contract with Annika completed. After completion, Zaran stepped forward and helped her up. Annika was only able to mutter "Uhh" before she fainted in his arms. Zaran wryly smiled and said. "You may sign the contract Gerti. There''s no need for me to rest or recover"


    Surprisingly, Gerti''s expression barely changed after she signed the contract and it was completed in mere seconds.


    "Uff.." Sandra said as she signed the contract with a heavy heart. She slightly feared the contract after seeing Annika''s agony. The intense burning sensation caused her to grunt momentarily before recovering her expression. Still a full minute was necessary for the completion of the contract.


    Not a second had passed after the contract with Sandra was completed and Neteri already jotted down her name on the contract. After a brief flash of the chains, the contract disintegrated.


    Zaran, Dietrich and the maids all went wide eyed upon seeing this.


    "Oh, what a firm and determined heart the both of you have." May said with a surprised tone. "It is only with such an heart that the contract gets completed so quickly... If you are not determined or your hear is weak, you will suffer tremendously under the blood contract.. as shown by Dietrich and Annika."


    "Oh... so it was like that?" Zaran said as he stared at Neteri with a gaze filled with interest in her.


    Noticing Zaran''s smile, Neteri face slightly flushed and she winked at him while biting her lower lip.


    May coughed and with a cold tone she said. "With that done, it is about time we move on to the guards.

 Chapter 59: Selecting the guards

    Enjoy!


    ___________________


    After gently laying down the unconscious Annika, Zaran sat down on his chair again. May quickly removed the scrolls concerning the maids and the cooks. Then she started to stack scroll upon scroll upon scroll on the table. After she was finished not even an inch of the surface of the table could be seen.


    Zaran calmly stared at the massive stack of scrolls on the table. "How many?" Zaran asked without even looking at May.


    "Two hundred and sixteen candidates." May quietly responded.


    Zaran let out a cold harrumph and grabbed the first scroll. After a brief glance Zaran threw it aside and opened the next one which was likewise thrown aside after a brief glance. One had never killed a single monster, had very little battle experience and had only been practicing the spear and shield for a very short amount of time. The other one sold out his own master and was only saved through becoming a blood contract. While the person was said to be skilled, Zaran had no intention of letting someone who sold out his own master become one of his own, even though becoming a blood contract would disable him from ever selling Zaran out, he might still sell out any of Zaran''s friends.


    Ten minutes quietly passed and the vast majority of the scrolls had been threw aside for quite a few reasons and only thirty-four scrolls still remained on the table.


    Finishing the last scroll, Zaran put it on the table, let out a sigh and said "I will test these men."


    "Very well. I will notify Bruno of your choice. Please wait here while we prepare the arena and the men you have chosen." May said as she collected the scrolls in two separate storage rings. She swiftly left the room and handed the scrolls over to Bruno.


    Bruno quickly inspected the scrolls and before leaving to gather the potential guards, muttered "Interesting."


    ___________________


    A quarter of an hour passed and thirty-five warriors stood in front of Zaran, each and every one of them equipped with wooden weapons that matched their real weapons. Zaran had taken a simple wooden sword.


    With a warm smile Zaran calmly said: "I will give each of you half a minute of time to fight with me. If you can touch me you are guaranteed a spot among my guards. If I still have open spots at the end of the rounds or if there are multiple people for the same spot, I will personally choose the ones I deem the most talented. Any complaints with the way I will test you?"


    "No sir!" The potential guards all yelled at the same time.


    Zaran nodded and then pointed at the man who looked much like a black leopard and was wielding an odachi. "You first!"


    The man walked forward, politely bowed and said "My name is Roku Amenoki of the black leopard race!"


    Zaran bowed in return and said. "You may have the first move. Give me your very best!"


    "Huah!" Roku roared as he jumped forward and sliced at Zaran with a low sideways slash.


    "You will have to do better than that!" Zaran said as he easily parried the blow and knocked the blade aside. Zaran struck out with his sword but Roku had already disappeared from his view! "Swiftness!" Zaran quickly muttered. A flash of light burst forward from him as his speed instantly tripled! He quickly moved to the side and looked around to locate Roku.... yet the black leopard man''s figure could not be seen on the entire of the arena!


    "Shaaa!" A noise suddenly appeared from Zaran''s back as Roku rose up from Zaran''s shadow! Roku struck out with his hand and harshly struck Zaran''s back.


    Zaran groaned and stumbled forward. Crap I have been had. That was a great move though! He turned around and asked. "What is that move that you just used?"


    "Shadow lurk. It is a skill that every single one of our race is born with. It allows us to merge with the target''s shadow and almost always assures a perfect back stab." Roku said. "If you think that was cheating I am more than willing to fight you without using it."


    "Heheh. There is absolutely no need for that. If you did not use everything at your disposal I would be disappointed instead!" Zaran said with a warm smile. Although at fifty gold, Roku was the most expensive berserker, Zaran felt it was a rather good deal as shadow lurk was an incredibly strong skill that Zaran gave a very high rating as it would enable Roku to take out a single enemy almost immediately. Furthermore it was also a skill that caught the enemy off guard and could be used defensively if necessary. As for Roku''s true battle skill, after reading Roku''s report he had already valued him the most highly among the five berserkers he had chosen to test.


    Roku lightly bowed and walked to the side of the arena.


    A few minutes passed and the four remaining berserkers and ten multiple shield and spear guards had been unable to touch Zaran and thus automatically failed unless the other candidates were also unable to touch Zaran.


    The next candidate was Gilian Trevo, a twenty-nine year old lion man who had devoted his whole life to the shield and spear and who had formerly led a small mercenary guild until he got his guild in a debt of a hundred gold which he was unable to pay off for over a year.


    Gilian stepped forward and took up an offensive stance with his shield rather close to his body and his spear above his shield.


    Zaran briefly nodded, signaling to Gilian that he could start.


    Gilian rushed forward and started off with a simple shield strike towards Zaran like all the other guards before him, which Zaran had always countered with thunderous fist.


    Zaran already prepared to meet the shield with a thunderous fist.


    Gilian grinned and jumped backwards, striking forward with his spear at the same time. His spear passed Zaran''s fist and headed straight for Zaran''s arm.


    "Tch." Zaran said as he slid his left foot back, causing the spear to barely miss his chest. He instantly followed up with strike of his own and tried to shatter the spear. With a swift pull at his spear, Gilian pulled back his spear which made Zaran''s strike miss.


    A small light of excitement could be seen in Zaran''s eyes as he kicked off with his foot and rushed forward along Gilian''s spear. Gilian followed up with a sweep of his spear, turning his body to Zaran in the process.


    Zaran shielded himself from being hit by the sweep by instantaneously switching his sword hand and pushing his sword against the spear.


    Determination filled Gilian''s eyes as he pulled back his sword again and used a skill! Snake spear, which allowed his spear to slither just like a snake. His spear briefly flashed green and afterwards he followed this up with a simple stab.


    Obviously having noticed the flash of green on the spear, Zaran did not hesitate and used ''Flutter'' to counter the spear''s stab. The spear and the sword clashed and Gilian was pushed back ten steps.


    Gilian''s next stab and sweeps were all countered with one of the moves of ''Dance of the Butterfly'' and the remaining seconds swiftly passed.


    At the side lines, Roku gave a nod of approval on seeing Zaran''s real battle strength. At least the master he would end up with was not a good for nothing and was someone with actual strength! Because the battle between the two of them had ended rather swiftly through the use of ''Shadow lurk'' and because the previous few candidates had been far from amazing, Roku had been unable to find out Zaran''s real strength... until now. Gilian had been quite the strong opponent but had been unable to touch Zaran for the full thirty seconds and every single one of his stabs or sweeps had been quickly and easily countered by Zaran.


    Even though the fight looked close to most of the onlookers, Roku felt that Zaran was just making it seem that way and that if he wanted the fight would have ended in the first few seconds. He now regretted using ''Shadow lurk'' as now he was unable to find out Zaran''s real strength in a real battle between the two of them and after he became a guard he might not even get the opportunity to have another fight against him.


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    Wiping away a single drop of sweat, Zaran signaled for the next person to come forward. The next person was Asim Khalid, a young half man half jackal with heterochromia iridum, with his left eye being a clear sky blue and the right eye being hazel brown. By family custom, every first born of their family was to become a blood contract upon coming of age, which was the reason he was listed as a blood contract.


    Asim simply walked forward upon Zaran''s signal to start and lazily swept with his spear towards Zaran''s right side.


    Frowning, Zaran jumped to the right and easily dodged the sweep. He was about to say something when he noticed that Asim''s shield was missing. Zaran''s eyes went wide and looked to his right, seeing the shield homing in on his unprotected right side. ''Swiftness'' instantly activated and Zaran both let himself fall back and pushed off with his heels to avoid the shield.


    Having missed Zaran the shield flew back to Asim, who grumbled upon missing the perfect opportunity to catch Zaran off guard. Now he would no longer have the chance to do so but it was not the only trick in his box. His spear flashed green, just like Gilian''s had when he too had used ''Snake spear'', followed up by a small gust appearing around his feet. This skill was ''Quick feet'', a common skill which increased the user''s movement speed by a fair amount, but was nowhere near as good as Zaran''s swiftness.  Asim moved forward and stabbed at Zaran in quick succession, his slithering spear moving in on Zaran from every direction.


    Zaran used ''Flutter'' followed by ''Velocity'' to deal with the myriad of incoming strikes and kept check on whether or not Asim still wielded his shield. Suddenly the spear flashed a bright yellow, temporarily blinding Zaran for five seconds. Zaran instantly put some distance between himself and Asim and counted down the time until he regained his vision.


    All the while, Asim still had his shield in hand and quietly moved after Zaran. While the distance between the two of them had been increased, Asim had still been able to keep up to some regard. Just as Zaran''s vision was about to return, Asim threw out the shield to the right of Zaran and delivered yet another myriad of stabs towards him.


    With his vision recovered, the first thing Zaran noticed was that his opponent''s shield was missing and the other thing he noticed was the spear stabbing towards him again. Zaran met it with ''Crashing Waves'', causing Asim to take multiple steps backwards. Then Zaran stepped back on his own to dodge the shield that was homing in on him. As soon as the shield pass him, Zaran followed the shield as it returned to Asim again.


    Asim smirked as he saw what Zaran was doing and he threw out his spear, sending it on a collision course with the center of his shield. Zaran frowned and stepped to the side, barely dodging the shield. Asim smirked and his spear slithered, causing it to miss the center of his shield, which caused his shield to collide with Zaran''s elbow.


    The feeling of being hit by a lightning bolt ran through Zaran''s elbow as he grunted and tried to shake off the feeling. With a wry smile he said "Well done Asim. You have earned a spot among my guards."


    Asim smirked and went off to the side and stood along Roku.


    "You would do well to wipe off that smile of your face." Roku coldly said. "If he wanted he could''ve easily dodged your strike. Yet his intention is to have some guards at the end of the day instead of none."


    "What trash are you saying. I clearly was better than him during that whole fight, I had him on the defensive from the beginning!" Asim angrily barked.


    "Hmph. Just look at the next fights and you will realize why I told you to wipe that smile of your face." Roku coldly replied. He had seen the whole fight develop and had noticed that Zaran had intentionally given a few opportunities to Asim, just like he had done to previous candidates. After they failed to take advantage of the initial few openings he gave no further ones and they would be unable to touch him for the remainder of the fight. Thirty seconds... even ten seconds would be enough for him to determine someone''s skill!


    More minutes passed and Asim''s expression drastically changed. What Roku had said was true. The first few seconds any candidate would get a few changes to hit Zaran if his skill level was high enough but afterwards there was not a single chance to do so and he was just playing around with them!


    By now Zaran had tested every single candidate but the three candidates for the mage position. The remainder of the shield and spear guards had also been unable to hit Zaran. None of the archers had been able to hit Zaran, but during the thirty seconds they were given he had been able to choose two who he deemed to be of a higher quality than the others.


    "Now for the remaining candidates." . The first candidate among the mages started to step forward the instant Zaran started to talk. "I want the three of you to fight each other one by one and I will choose the one among you who I deem the most talented. Needless to say but if you kill, even if it is by accident, you are out."


    The candidate who had stepped forward felt his face grow as red as a tomato and quickly stepped back.


    The three mages, of which were two females and one male, fought against each other one by one and although there was a clear winner Zaran was far from interested in him. Instead the person who lost was the one who drew his attention the most. Zaran walked up to her and said. "You are welcome to join my guard."


    "Eh?" The girl cried out in surprise. "Why me? I clearly lost?"


    "..." Zaran shook his head in silence before replying. "I already knew you were by far the weakest before I told the three of you to fight and even though you lost both your battles... you did absolutely wonderful in both of them and your control over your limited amount of magic was a million times better than the other two."


    The other two mages wanted to say something in reply but when they heard Zaran''s praise they knew better than to reply. What Zaran had said was spot on and the both of them had been very annoyed during the fight with her. Moreover, due to her being a harpy she had flying in the air during the entire battle and had dodged some spells by dodging them because the ease she could move around with. Furthermore.. they knew better than to talk back to a potential master. If they had been selected as potential candidates now, they still might be chosen by him in the future and speaking up now might ruin that chance for them.


    "Thank you. I will serve you to the utmost of my capabilities." The girl said.


    "From your file I only gathered that your name is Ariel. Why have you never taken on a last name?" Zaran asked.


    Ariel''s answered with a light expression. "It is a family custom. Girls can only receive their last name from their master. If their master never gives them one, they will never have one."


    Zaran nodded and turned towards the candidates who had been unable to touch them. "I will now announce who will fill the remaining seven spots!"


    "Archers: Sevira Kalint and Duran Devon. Shield and spear: Gilian Trevo, Nico Terion, Kai Fox, Gunther Streep and Siegfried Higon."


    The seven of them walked over and joined Asim, Roku and Ariel while the remaining candidates all had an ugly expression. They had all seen Zaran fight and all of them felt like they had missed a huge opportunity. Although they had never heard of him, just basing themselves of his skill they knew that Zaran would surely rise to great heights in the future. Who knew if they would ever get the opportunity to join him in the future?


    May took out ten blood contract scrolls to Zaran, who quickly signed them and handed one to each of his guards. The guards all signed them on his own and after ten minutes every single guard had become Zaran''s blood contract. By concentrating on the image of the person in his mind, Zaran could faintly feel their presence, something which would only grow stronger in the future.


    After binding all the blood contracts, it was time for him to bring them home.

 Chapter 60: Guild recruits

    All right. Who is eager for some more training chapters after this (I am!)


    ________________


    Zaran, the cook, the maids and the guards arrived at the mansion around the middle of the afternoon, having made a quick detour around the market to pick up decent weapons, food, spices and other necessities. The party stopped in front of the gate and Zaran muttered: "Show yourself."


    Black mist seeped up from all around the party and congealed itself in the form of the spectral wolf in front of the party. The fifteen servants all took a step back as the dangerous-looking wolf suddenly congealed in front of them.


    "These must be the guards and maids that you went out to acquire?" The spectral wolf''s voice boomed out in Zaran''s mind, to which he calmly muttered, so that only the wolf could hear him. "Yes, when I am gone I leave them in your care."


    "Everyone. This is Kreo. He is a spectral wolf and bound to guard this mansion, so there is no need to fear him." Zaran said. "So if there''s ever any intruder this guy will always fight by your sides."


    Gilian had already been made aware of the fact that he would become the leader of the guards, albeit in name only because both Roku and Asim were far stronger than him, and stepped forward and proclaimed "We will try our hardest to take some of the burden of your shoulders."


    Kreo''s voice boomed out in the guards'' mind. "We will see about that. I can sense a blood contract upon you. Do not think that means you can slack off and have it easy. Over the years countless beasts, thieves and bandits have tried to invade this mansion. So you would do best to be prepared. If not you will meet an untimely death. AND if I EVER catch you running from an enemy then I will tear your body and soul in a million pieces."


    Cold sweat ran over the guards'' back because of Kreo''s threat. Sensing what was going on Zaran coughed three times and said. "I will show you to your respective quarters."


    Pushing open the door to the outer courtyard, metal upon metal noises reverberated throughout the air. Zaran paid no heed to them and showed the guards, the cook and the maids their quarters. For the guards, their quarters existed out of long hall filled with countless beds with each bed having a simple drawer in front of it and a night table next to it.


    The maids and the cooks were a little better off as Dietrich had a room for his own and the maids only had to share a room with one other person. For safety purposes Zaran made Neteri share a room with Annika and Sandra share a room with Gerti. Moreover Zaran would teach the two battle maids the first three stances of "Dance of the Butterfly" and he would teach them a better cultivation method than the one they currently were practicing, hoping that this would allow the two of them to become an incredibly strong last line of defense... or that in the event that the guards would ever harbor impure thoughts towards one of the maids, at least they would be able to defend themselves.


    After the maids stored away the few possessions they had, Zaran ordered the four of them and Dietrich to follow him to the inner courtyard.


    The second Zaran opened the door to the inner courtyard, he saw multiple men and woman sitting or lying down on the ground with wounds all over their body, the majority of them having a sullen look on their faces while only a handful of people had a bright expression on their face as they looked in disbelief at the guild emblem on their chest.


    Florance noticed Zaran enter and immediately finished her own battle and walked over to Zaran and let her gaze wander all over the maids'' bodies and nodded in approval towards Zaran. "I will give them a tour of the mansion. You take over from me!"


    Zaran grinned and said. "Sure. How many have joined us so far?"


    "Ehh.. eleven so far. Two assassins, three mages, two healers, one paladin, one berserker, one archer and one knight. There''s been a few who were so so and I thought you might wanted to test them again for yourself so I have kept them here." Florance said as she pointed to the group of people with bruises, burn marks and cuts all over their bodies."The ones that were no good at all have been immediately dispelled from the mansion... Mostly by Kreo as they refused to leave otherwise."


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    "Thanks! I''ll let my sword have some more fun!" Zaran said with a big smile on his face before turning to the servants and addressing them. "You may follow Florance, treat her as if you would treat me."


    The maids and cook politely bowed and said "Yes master." before following Florance inside the mansion.


    In the meantime, Nuvahn was fiercely fighting off multiple attackers at the same time. While he was initially testing every person individually, he found it way too easy to deal with the majority of them so he set up new rules. Every person that could land a hit in a four versus one against him, was allowed to fight him one versus one. If they could hit him in the one versus one, Nuvahn conscripted them into the guild, upon which the guild emblem automatically appeared on their chest.


    Zaran walked to the edge of the dual ring that Nuvahn had set up and yelled "Hey Nuvahn, want me to take over or do you want to continue testing the applicants?"


    "I''ll keep going as long as you want me to!" Nuvahn yelled while fending off multiple attackers. His body twisting and turning to avoid their weapons and his sword slithering around himself to block weapons and to deliver blows of his own.


    "Great, if you feel tired just tell me and I will take over!" Zaran yelled back. "By the way where are the guild emblems?"


    "Give me a moment!" Nuvahn said as he glanced at the nearby hourglass and realized that the time was almost up. As soon as the time passed he yelled "STOP." and the four attackers instantly lowered their weapons. He pointed towards two people and said. "You two get a chance to fight me one versus one, the other two fail."


    The two warriors who had failed to deliver a blow left the mansion with a dejected expression on their faces. Like most others, they had great pride about their own skill, only to have their completely crushed to pieces by Nuvahn... and Nuvahn had already told with great veneration all of them that Zaran was a few times stronger than him, which made the blow to their pride even greater.


    Most of the applicants had all come here in hopes of learning from Zaran. He had made both S class magic and ki skills and it was not just once or twice but multiple times in quick succession. Some of the ones gathered here were experienced with VRMMORPGS and knew very well how hard it was to develop one''s own style and they hoped Zaran would help them create their own style.


    As for the ones who had not passed but were given another choice, after seeing Zaran personally step up the pressure on them increased by tenfold. A fair share of them had been beaten up by one of the skills from ''Dance of the Butterfly'' that Nuvahn had utilized... and now they had to face the real deal.


    Four hours passed while Zaran tested the applicants along with Nuvahn. At the end of the four hours they ended up with a total of thirty-one guild members, including Zaran, Florance and Nuvahn.


    Zaran gathered all the members in the dining hall, which could seat a total of fifty people and ordered Dietrich to make a feast for all of them.


    Dietrich cooked with all his soul and produced dish after dish and the maids walked back and forth between the kitchen in a never ending procession.


    Only nearing the late hours of the evening did the feast finally end and all the new guild members went off to finish up their business within the city as the majority of them would spend the next few days training in the mansion.


    As for Zaran, Nuvahn and Florance, they went to their own quarters and called it a day.

 Chapter 61: Skill scrolls

    Enjoy!


    ____________________


    Almost instantly as Zaran''s head hit the pillow, the dream that had haunted him last time haunted him again, this time continuing past the point where it had stopped the last time.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The moment he lowered his right arm, the air around Zaran howled as an absolutely terrifying amount of sword energy started to fill the air, with the eye of the storm being Zaran''s greatsword. The ten pursuers where all scared witless by the sheer power of this sword energy as it was many, many times higher than what they had ever faced before. They felt as even a tiny step forward would mean the end of their life.


    The moment his sword touched the ground the sword energy exploded all around him! Wave after wave of sword energy flashed out from Zaran''s sword, explosion after explosion ringing out within the vast forest and overlapping each other!


    BOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOO-BOOOOOOOO-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!


    Vast amounts of sword energy rippled forth from his greatsword, the unleashed force so great that this simple movement carved a path of destruction throughout the earth, opening up a large fissure within the forest. Trees were uprooted and sent flying before the second wave of sword energy cut them into splinters and wherever the sword energy went, flora ceased to exist!


    Animals and humans alike were torn apart by the sheer force and their blood soaked the earth, turning the entire forest a deep red.


    Zaran''s pursuers tried to resist the sword energy by using every single strand of ki within their dantian to stop it! Doing so they were able to stop the first wave of sword energy! Yet not even a few split-seconds had passed before the second wave hit them, draining their body from the blood and a cloud of blood appeared around them! A split-second later the third wave of sword energy already gushed over them, instantly ripping the skin of their bones, only the bones and muscles left behind... The fourth wave tore the muscles of their bones and ripped the non-vital organs from their body before turning them to dust! At this point all of the pursuers were still alive, the pain turning them mad!


    If they had not chosen to protect themselves with ki they would have long since passed away without any pain at all. The moment they used their pain is the moment they were doomed to die in pure agony!


    The fifth wave ground their bones to dust, leaving only behind the nerves, brain and heart, their brain still processing the pain! The sixth wave finally redeemed them from their agony and turned whatever remained to dust. From the first to the sixth wave not a single second had passed... Yet the forest had become a plain!


    In the forest a two kilometer long and half a kilometer wide sword scar had appeared! Its whole area dyed a deep and vivid blood red... All life within the affected area had ceased to exist. Not even a single leaf of grass remained.


    As for Zaran himself... he stood in the center of it all! A single island engulfed by a sea of blood. However he too had not escaped unscathed... his body was riddled with wounds, small splinters of wood and metal clearly visible within them and his blood ceaselessly poured deep into the earth. Only bits and pieces of skin remained on his right hand and right arm and the greatsword he just held was no longer to be seen.


    Gathering the last of his remaining strength, Zaran took out a medicinal pill and placed it in his mouth and swallowed it.


    The medicinal power instantly engulfed his body in a warm light, his wounds slowly started to push out the metal and wood splinters that were embedded within them and one by one the splinters fell to the ground, creating a ring of metal and wood around his feet.


    Only when all the splinters had been pushed out of his body, did the wounds start to close up at remarkable speed. Seconds later his whole body looked as if it were now, not a single scar remaining on his body! The blood and life force that he had lost were quickly renewed soon there after.


    With his body as good as new, Zaran had a mournful expression on his face as he looked at his right hand that once wielded the oh-so familiar greatsword that had been with him through thick and thin. The power of the ki had been far too great for the greatsword to hold and it had shattered the second he started the skill.


    "An ascension pill and my greatsword..." Zaran muttered, his voice filled with grief. Both were priceless treasures. An ascension pill allowed one to fully recover from any injury and regain any life force that they had lost in the past hour! Very few such pills existed at all and now he had to use the only one he had.


    As for his greatsword... in all his years and fights not even a single dent had appeared on its blade! It reigned supreme over all weapons it had ever encountered and now too it was lost. Even though he was able to keep his life, the price he had paid had been far too great!


    "There must be another way..." Zaran muttered as he looked at the air. "There must be another way to use intent! A way for me to lower the affected area and a way that does not break my sword!"


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    A flash of realization crossed his mid and he immediately sat down in a lotus stance and entered a deep meditative state.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    The moment he entered the meditative state in his dream, Zaran opened his eyes and a system message appeared before him.


    You have slept for at least eight hours and gained the buff ''Well rested!''


    + 50  % experience


    + 100 % resource regeneration


    + 100 % health regeneration


    Duration: 16 hours


    "Annoying." Zaran muttered. "Reliving old memories in my dreams merely because the move occupies my mind at day."


    It was rather neat how one was able to sleep and dream while in the game. Once one fell asleep in the game, one was also asleep in reality. Thus if one slept on a regular basis within the game, there was no need more need to sleep outside of the game. Needless to say if one always slept within the game it brought many side-effects along with it and thus one could only sleep for a limited time each real life day.


    Zaran stood up and carefully walked out the door, trying to make the least amount of sound possible so he would not wake Florance.


    Once outside the room, Zaran changed into some casual clothes he bought earlier at the market. Done changing, Zaran started walking towards the kitched.


    "Eh... master? Up this early?" A cute sounding voice rang out from behind him.


    Zaran turned around and saw Annika looking up at him with a confused face. She was of the fairy race and that combined with her innate petite stature added further to her adorableness. Four transparent green insect-like wings were spread wide open behind her back and nervously fluttered. Her green shoulder-length hair was styled in a wavy side wept bob.


    "Ah Annika you come just at the right time. Tell Dietrich to prepare me a simple breakfast and then deliver it to me in the study." Zaran calmly said.


    "Leave it to me!" Annika said, instantly storming off towards the kitchen.


    Zaran quickly made his way to the study and sat behind the desk, taking out a few scrolls and placing them on the table. Zaran accessed a few menu''s and opened up the sword school''s menu. One of the options available was create skill scroll and after he selected ''Flutter'' a window popped up in his sight, telling him how to create a skill scroll.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Skill scroll creation</td></tr><tr><td>Materials</td></tr><tr><td>- Any type of scroll


    - A pencil or ink and a feather</td></tr><tr><td>Steps</td></tr><tr><td>- On the top of the scroll, write the name of the skill


    - The second line has to contain the name of the creator and the date of creation


    - The next few lines have to contain a simple description of the skill</td></tr><tr><td>Once all the steps have been completed the system will automatically fill in the rest of the scroll with images describing the various stances or information necessary to complete the skill.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    After Zaran filled in the required information, the scroll lit up and was filled with six images, depicting the way to utilize ''Flutter''. When he inspected the scroll it now gave the option to learn the skill within. He quickly stored it and created a copy of this scroll and then made two more for both ''Rise and Fall'' and ''Velocity''.


    As soon as he was done Zaran stored all of the scrolls in his storage ring and started to meditate.


    After nearly half an hour of meditating, Annika opened the door with a plate of food in her hand "Master breakfast is here!"


    Zaran opened his eyes and said "Put it on the table and then take a seat."


    The maid placed down the tray of food and then looked around for a chair. "There''s no place to sit?"


    Tap tap. Zaran patted the wooden desk a few times and then glanced meaningfully at Annika.


    "Oh..." Annika let out, her face fully flushed. "What if the miss finds out?"


    "We''re not going to do anything." Zaran said. "I just like to have someone to talk to while I eat."


    "Uhn!" Annika said and she flew up a few centimeters, turned around in midair and gently landed on the desk.


    Warmly smiling, Zaran started eating and the two of them chatted and Zaran tried to learn as much about Annika as he could. When he finished his dinner he said "Bring this back to the kitchen and tell Sandra, Neteri and Roku to get to the training courtyard at the backyard as soon as possible."

 Chapter 62: Bestow cultivation

    Before going to the training courtyard, Zaran first made a detour towards the wine cellar, which could be accessed from the door under the main staircase in the large entrance hall. With a surface area of 4000 square meters, it was an absolutely massive cellar.


    A large number of dwarves hummed and ran about either carrying the wine casks out of the cellar, removing the wine racks from the cellar or placing supports so that they could reinforce the cellar''s ceiling.


    Zaran chuckled as he watched the dwarves lift up the wine casks that were at least twice as tall as them and then waddle around with them. Even though the sight was absolutely hilarious, they still managed to get the casks out without hitting anything at all.


    Henry walked passed Zaran with one of the casks in his arms, humming a happy tune while doing so. After a few seconds he stopped in his tracks, put the cask down and turned around. Noticing Zaran''s smile he asked "How long have you been watching?"


    "Just long enough to see you waddle around while humming." Zaran said with a light chuckle.


    Henry grabbed Zaran''s arm and shook it while grumbling "You did not see a thing!"


    "Hmm I really think I did!" Zaran muttered "Maybe you could give me something to convince me to forget."


    "Sigh, what is it you want?" Henry grumbled.


    "Another way to contract beasts. Forcefully. Just in case."


    Henry grumbled and tossed a scroll at Zaran. "Here."


    Storing the scroll in his storage ring, Zaran put up a confused expression and said "Hmm now how did I get in here again? OH Henry! Nice to see you!"


    Henry sighed, shook his head and said "... just leave..."


    Zaran laughed, ran back up the staircase and made his way to the training courtyard. The training courtyard was a small ten meter by five meter area filled with sand and surrounded by curbstone.


    When he arrived there, neither Roku nor the two maids were anywhere to be soon so Zaran decided to check his stats.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Character info</td></tr><tr><td>Race</td><td>Zuno</td><td>Profession</td><td>Seeker of truth</td></tr><tr><td>Sub-profession 1</td><td>Hellbeast master</td><td>Sub-profession 2</td><td>N/A</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>53</td><td>Unspent stat points</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>1500/1500</td><td>Mana</td><td>900/900</td></tr><tr><td>Ki</td><td>1000/1000</td><td>Racial ????</td><td>??/??</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>310 (+115)</td><td>Flexibility</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>112</td><td>Stamina</td><td>120</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>75</td><td>Focus</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>50</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>Perception</td><td>30</td><td>Luck</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>Charm</td><td>2</td><td>Willpower</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Reputation</td></tr><tr><td>Honour</td><td>5</td><td>Fame</td><td>550</td></tr><tr><td>God''s merit</td><td>51</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    He decided to not waste the previous stat points just yet. He never knew what he would need them for and if used correctly they could instantly turn a fight around. But he did need to start cultivating again sooner or later as both his mana and ki were far too low for his level. The difficulty had drastically soared after he gained level fifty and the exp rate was far, far slower than before.


    Alongside the ki and mana problems, he also needed to start worrying about his flexibility, agility, stamina and vitality. As for his other stats... He didn''t need them all too much just yet.


    The maids and Roku had still not arrived and thus Zaran decided to momentarily cultivate ''Heavenly cloud condensation'' while waiting for them to arrive. He closed his eyes and quickly thereafter a small transparent golden cloud of world ki started to congeal around him.


    A few minutes passed and the small golden cloud lost it''s transparency as it grew a few shades brighter in colour and became a real cloud that one could touch. Zaran''s eyes shot open as he started to absorb the ki within his body. Strand by strand of ki entered his channels and made its way to his dantian, every strand visibly increasing the small ki pool that existed within.


    Another minute passed during which the maid and Roku arrived at the training courtyard. Seeing that their master was cultivating, none of the three dared to speak. Only after he was done did the three politely bow and say. "Master has called for us?"


    "I did, I want the three of you to become disciples of my sword school. You might have heard some whisper about it. ''Dance of the Butterfly''" Zaran said, already taking out the scrolls he had created earlier.


    The three looked at each other, trying to see if anyone else had heard of this sword school but neither of them had. "We haven''t heard of it."


    Zaran shrugged. "No matter then. Still my question stands... Will you three be my disciples? If you question my strength, Nuvahn is also one of my disciples. Oh, an obvious rule but if you become my disciple you cannot teach the skills to anyone else without my permission."


    Roku stepped forward and said. "I will be your disciple and I vow to never teach the skills to anyone unless you give your permission!"


    Sandra and Neteri looked at each other before both stepped forward and simultaneously said "I will be your disciple and I vow to never teach the skills to anyone unless you give your permission!"


    The instant the npc''s decided to be Zaran''s disciples the system updated his list of disciples in the sword school menu and Roku, Sandra and Neteri''s names were added to the list.


    "That''s the answer I wanted to hear. These scrolls are for the three of you. I only got three technique scrolls so far but more will follow in the future. I got two sets of each so you guys will have to pass them around." Zaran said as he tossed the scrolls towards the three of them. "When you are done with them return the scrolls to me."


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    Zaran walked over to one end of the training courtyard and said. "You guys start learning and practicing the skills at the other end of the courtyard, as long as my eyes are not open do NOT disturb or allow anyone to disturb me unless it is an incredibly important matter! When they are open feel free to ask any questions you have related to the skills."


    The maids and Roku quickly walked over to the other end and each opened one of the scrolls and starting to read them with great interest.


    Before he started working on a skill, Zaran used Hellbeast summoning and summoned both Kirin and Cindarrah. "Hey you two, I''ll be creating a skill, could you guard me and see that no one disturbs me as long as my eyes are not open?" Zaran asked his two pets.


    "I''ll protect daddy!" Cindarrah nestled herself down on Zaran''s head and cheerfully hummed. Kirin on the other hand simply nodded and lied down next to Zaran.


    As for Kru, the other night Henry had asked if he could temporarily borrow him to help with the renovation of the cellar and thus Zaran had temporarily lent Kru to Henry.


    With his pets on guard, Zaran started to take out a pile of regular swords from his storage ring. What he was about to do had a very little chance to succeed on any sword and like most of the skills he had to hope that the game recognized what he was trying to do. As lifelike as the game was, there was still a tiny chance that it would not recognize what was Zaran was trying to do. If he could not do what he wanted to do now... he would not be able to utilize the real ''Intent''!


    He randomly took one of the swords from the pile, sat down in a lotus position and laid the sword horizontally on the palms of his hands. He guided his ki towards his palms and When the little ki he had, started gathering there, he meticulously controlled a single strand of ki and sent it into the sword where the ki strand instantly went on a rampage within the steel, which caused the sword started to lightly vibrate.


    A frown apeared on Zaran''s face when he noticed the sword vibrate and he swiftly made the rampaging ki strand settle down. Because the ki was originally his and the body and the sword were touching, Zaran could still somewhat control the strand of ki after it entered the sword. Compared to most basic skills where you just blast off the ki in a general direction, what he needed to do now was to control his ki to near perfection which was a nearly impossible task because he did no longer have full control over the ki. If he failed to do so then the weapon would easily shatter. He guided the strand of ki towards the rain-guard, the part of the sword where the hilt and the blade met.


    He took his time and carefully watched the strand of ki. Zaran had to continuously control the strand of ki as it was being very unruly and refused to move as Zaran wished. Only after a few minutes, which seemed like hours to Zaran, did the strand of ki finally settle down. Sweat was already running over Zaran''s face and mentally it had been very hard on him and this had just been the first strand of many!


    My control over my ki might not be good enough. Zaran thought, taking a brief few seconds of rest before controlling another strand of ki along the same path. When the second strand of ki arrived at the rain-guard, the two strands of ki started to go out of control. Zaran split his mental effort between the two strands of ki and tried to make them settle down. However he had acted just slight bit too late and the sword shattered.


    "Fuck." Zaran muttered as he opened his eyes and looked at the pieces of metal that laid in front of him. Neteri came over and asked him a few questions, which Zaran quickly answered before sending her off. He picked up another sword and started all over again and he carefully guided a strand of ki towards the sword''s rain-guard. This time he did not let the strand of ki a single split-second out of his sight and vigorously made sure that it was completely settled down this time. Only after making sure it did not move a single time within minutes, did he finally move over another strand of ki towards the rain-guard. This time the two strands did not go out of control and it easily settled down along the first one.


    Thereafter Zaran redid the same process over and over until a hundred strands of ki were within the rain-guard. He carefully relaxed his mind, but still made sure that none of the strands of ki moved at all.


    When he felt a little more relaxed, he started to manipulate all the strands of ki simultaneously and slowly congealed half of them into a single whole. The strands of ki struggled somewhat but eventually they all combined into a single whole. As for the other half, Zaran split it in another two halves and with one half he started to lay a network of ki channels within the sword. This process caused a lot of strain on the sword and it took him minutes to carve a single channel. After he completed five channels, Zaran started to control the last batch of strands and made them circle around the dantian, creating an artificial whirlpool which started to draw in world ki.


    Zaran carefully watched the sword''s situation for half an hour before he was convinced that he had succeeded. After ten minutes of rest, he repeated the same process for an additional the remainder of his swords, continuously increasing the speed at which he could create the dantian, channels and whirlpool. Around halfway his batch of swords a message popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>You have created an SS class skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Bestow Cultivation (Beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>2</td><td>Experience</td><td>25%</td></tr><tr><td>Time required</td><td>00:15:00</td><td>Ki required</td><td>100</td></tr><tr><td>Effect</td><td>Creates a dantian within a weapon</td><td>Maximum material grade</td><td>rare</td></tr><tr><td>Maximum material level</td><td>level 50</td><td colspan=''2''></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Description</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>You have found a way to create a dantian and ki channels within a weapon which gives it the ability to cultivate and which greatly reduces the ki costs for skills as long as the weapon''s ki has not depleted.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Unique effect</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Weapons you have given a cultivation level cannot hurt you with their ki as it originally belonged to you and instead an attack by such a weapon will cause your ki to regenerate.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Do you wish to publicize your name and skill.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Like he had done with nearly all his skills, Zaran chose to publicize his name.

 Chapter 63: Intent

    Enjoy


    ________________


    Having finished the last sword, Zaran stood up, picked up three of the swords, stored the others and walked over to Neteri, Roku and Sandra. "Here, try using these swords. They should make everything a little easier for you and your ki usage won''t be as high"


    Roku quickly took the sword and utilized ''Velocity'', the first skill he had started practicing but was still having some problem with. To his surprise the ki consumption had drastically changed and it was easier to move the ki along the sword. "What is this weapon? I have never seen anything like it. It is so easy to move the ki with this sword."


    "I won''t be too technical but basically it has a sword that is able to cultivate so it has a dantian and ki channels, which is why you find it so easy to move your ki within it. Once you are able to control the sword as if it were a part of yourself, you could utilize the ki within the sword itself." Zaran said. "However their cultivation level is really low at the moment and the sword itself is rather weak so it will not be able to progress all too much."


    "Master these weapons must be terribly expensive... we cannot possibly use them." Neteri said as she held the sword with the handle to Zaran.


    "Don''t you recognize the swords... they are the ones we purchased earlier." Sandra mused. "As for the dantian... While you two were not watching master, I was. He was doing something with these swords so he must be the one who created the dantian within it."


    "Eh... master did?" Neteri exclaimed.


    "Yep." Zaran said with a smile on his face. "So don''t worry and keep using the swords.. no scrap that. I am ordering you to use these swords until I get you better ones. As for the remaining ones... I will sell them. With that said, I still have to do the same for my own weapon, so do not disturb and just continue with these weapons. They should allow you to grasp the skills far easier."


    With that being said, Zaran walked back to his original spot, sat down and took Gigenkai in his hands. He let out a deep, long sigh and started recovering his mental state. He was quite anxious about what he was going to do next.


    _________________________


    In the meantime the forums and users in the game were in an uproar.


    In the elemental country Elaria a party of ten golems and elementals alike was fighting while they noticed the message that an SS class skill had been created by Zaran.


    "Zaran again!!! And this time with an SS skill?" Durak muttered.


    "Hey, while that guy''s busy creating skills we have been busy leveling." An earth golem that he was in a party with said.


    A wind elemental sent a gigantic air slash towards a eight meter long and two meter tall lizard the group was hunting. "Yeah that''s right. Let''s keep going! We surely must have a huge advantage on him by now seeing as we''re all together from the start and we have a nice mix of classes as well."


    "Yeah we have to thank Akhuath for getting this merry band together." Durak said, while easily blocking a claw strike from the lizard the wind elemental had drawn in. "Still, that bastard gaining attention doesn''t sit me quite right! He definitely planning something!"


    The wind elemental chimed. "No use, all we can do is kill more!"


    On the forums a topic had been created called ''What is the first SS class skill?'' in which people discussed what type of technique "bestow cultivation" was.


    -It might be a skill that allows you to give some of your cultivation to others?


    -How could that be it! Wouldn''t that be detrimental to himself?


    -What if he could increase the cultivation level of the others and then I dunno, increases him own in one way or the other?


    -He is a beast master, right, what about beasts? Could he not give beasts the ability to cultivate? It would increase the strength of his beasts by a lot.


    -That might be it! However would that not be very dangerous to the beast''s health? Like if he messes up and the ki runs rampant, would the beast not blow up and die?


    -^the one above me has read to many Chinese light novels! Even if there would be something as ki running rampant, the beast would certainly not blow up and die! This is still a game remember. At most the animal would be in unbearable pain but it certainly would not blow up and die!


    Even in the real world people were talking all about it and on the game''s streaming service, the chat in Zaran''s channel was buzzing with action. People were wondering how many more days it would be until Zaran streamed again.


    In many gaming TV stations, the producers were doing their utmost to find out Zaran''s in game location and get him to do an interview at all costs! If it were possible, find where he lives and interviewing him there was also an option!


    _________________________


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    After fifteen minutes his mental state had completely recovered and his anxiety had mostly settled down. He let out another sigh and activated the ''Bestow cultivation'' skill on his greatsword, Gigenkai.


    Fifteen minutes later, his greatsword had been successfully given a cultivation level, but it was still an initial cultivation level and he needed it to be much higher if he wanted it to be useful. He had tried using the skill more than once on the same weapon before and it had worked... to some extent. There was a limit to how much ki the cheap weapons he had bought earlier could hold and if he filled it up with more than it could hold the weapon would shatter into pieces. The maximum for one of those normal swords had been using the skill twice. On his third attempt, the sword had shattered as it was unable to contain the additional ki.


    Only after he had used the skill an additional nine times did he feel as if the weapon had currently reached a limit and was unable to grow any further. He opened his inventory, checked the weapon''s new stats and had a content look as he stared at the new stats.


    Gigenkai (Masterpiece)


    Requirement: level 45, can only be equipped by Zaran.


    Durability: 150/150


    Ki: 500/500


    Attack: 350-400


    Weight: 70 kilograms


    Additional effect: Causes anything hit to suffer a slight knock back.


    With this much ki, the sword should be able to withstand the usage of ''Intent''. Zaran thought as he stood up, preparing himself to utilize the skill.


    Grumble Grumble. Just as he started moving his ki, his stomach started to growl. Zaran sighed and muttered to himself. "Time to eat then."


    "Sandra, Neteri, Roku, you may momentarily rest. It is about time to eat. Neteri, go tell Dietrich to prepare a meal." Zaran said.


    Neteri bowed and quickly left to notify Dietrich.


    After Zaran had eaten, he once again walked to the training field. He brandished Gigenkai with one hand and gathered a small part of his ki, guiding it into the greatsword. Instead of growing its cultivation level, this time Zaran provoked part of the ki within the blade itself!


    The ki within grew rampant and instinctively sought to expel this intruder from within itself. The ki billowed throughout the vessels within the blade and sought out the intruder''s. Of course all of this was what Zaran wanted to happen all along. His ki had gathered near the channel at the tip of the blade and the greatsword''s ki swiftly rushed towards it.


    Zaran smirked and his ki exited the channel near the tip of the sword and split themselves in three separate parts, each along the same path but apart by a small margin. The greatsword''s ki soon followed and chased Zaran''s ki. A shock wave resounded through the air in front of Zaran as the greatsword''s ki raged throughout the air. As soon as parts of the two sources of ki met another shock wave resounded through, followed by two more as the remaining parts were quickly devoured by the sword''s ki. After the last remaining part was destroyed, the sword energy left the air as if it had not been there in the first place.


    If the blade had a soul he would not need to provoke the ki and could just convey his intent unto the sword, which would be a far easier way to utilize the skill. Another way would be to mark the sword''s ki, which would allow him to use the ki as if it were his own but that had terrible side effects and it would forever make the sword unable to improve its cultivation and that was the last thing that Zaran wanted. If the greatsword had hit its cultivation limit he wouldn''t mind doing so but he had no intention for this sword to hit its limit in the near future.


    "That''s as good as it''ll get. I won''t be able to make the sword''s ki act completely as I wish just yet but... this is good enough. For now." Zaran muttered, his ki prepared to utilize the same skill another time. Soon more shock waves rang through the air and a content expression appeared on Zaran''s face as a skill confirmation window appeared.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>You have created an S class skill! Please name it!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Intent (Beginner)</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>4</td><td>Experience</td><td>3%</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Weapon damage * 2 per 100 ki used</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>Min 100 of the sword''s ki</td></tr><tr><td>Range</td><td colspan=''3''>??</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>Weapon damage + 100-150</td><td>Ki consumption</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>There is no other explanation for this skill than the following, your sword''s ki follows your intent.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    As for most other skills Zaran chose to publicize his name.


    Right at this moment, Annika walked over, bowed and said. "Master, you have a visitor."


    "A visitor? Who is it?" Zaran asked


    "He told me that his name was Nekorath, sir."


    Has he come to challenge me? Or has he some other purpose to seek me out by himself?  Might as well figure out his purpose. If he really comes to challenge me, he shall have a taste of intent. Zaran nodded to Annika and said. "Please bring him over right away."


    "Yes master!" Annika said as she left to fetch Nekorath.

 Chapter 64: Strange conversation

    Nekorath was soon guided over by Annika. "Master, here is the guest I told you about."


    "Very well, you may leave Annika." Zaran said. Annika bowed and took her leave, as soon as she was out of sight Zaran started to speak with an impatient tone. "Why have you come."


    "I have come to ask you a huge favor." Nekorath said as he dropped to his knees. "I have no one else that I can ask this so I pray that you will do me this favor."


    Rather intrigued by this sudden request for a favor and as it was rather peculiar that Nekorath came to ask a favor of him, Zaran decided that it could be worth it to hear him out. "What is it that you want me to do?"


    "I no longer wish to be one of Akhuath''s scions. I need you, no , I beg you to talk to Isis. I know you have the ability to call on her whenever you need. If she does not take me, ask her if she knows someone else who might. I am desperate Zaran... If I fail Akhuath one more time he will end my karma. You have no reason to help me, so I can only pray that you may." Nekorath said. "If you do not help me, my life will soon cease to be as you and I both know how Akhuath deals with those who fail him. If he gives me another assignment it will be harder than the last and my last one was to finish you. I cannot possibly finish an even harder assignment. So please. Help me. If you help me with this I will become your blood contract!"


    "This really is no small favor you ask of me. Let me think about it for a few minutes." Zaran said. Calling on Isis was something he could easily do, but asking her to steal a scion from another god... was no simple request to make of her, even if it was Zaran that asked Isis to do so. If it were any highly skilled scion, he would not need to think about it but Nekorath was not considered highly skilled per Isis''s standards. Furthermore... summoning Isis was not something he liked to do. From all the women he had ever met, she was the only one he could never deal with.


    On the other hand Nekorath was currently a scion of Akhuath which did make him a valuable asset as it would both weaken the strength of Akhuath''s forces and increase the strength of Isis''s forces. Moreover... he would gain a rather valuable blood contract. While he was not the highest skilled scion, he was just considered just one class lower than those who were.


    On top of all that... if one''s karma was extinguished ones soul would be torn to pieces and the pain that it caused before the soul completely dissipated was told to be many times higher than the worst pain one can imagine. Zaran was not quite ready to condemn someone to such a fate.


    All of these points made it hard for Zaran to make up his mind as to what to do.


    While Zaran was thinking it over, Nekorath was still on his knees. While it was utterly humiliating to do so, he really had no other choice if he wanted to keep his life.


    A few minutes passed as Zaran considered the question over and over. Finally able to decide what he considered the best course of action, Zaran helped Nekorath up and said. "I will contact Isis... As for the final decision, if she says no, then that''s that."


    "All I want for you is to ask." Nekorath said.


    Zaran nodded and sent Nekorath a friend invite. "Accept my friend invite. When I get out for food I will summon her."


    Nekorath accepted the friend invite and got up from his knees. "Thanks for listening. Even if Isis does not help me, at least I tried to escape from Akhuath''s clutches."


    "Hmm, I pray I can deliver you good news." Zaran said. "Stick around Virul as well. In about four to five in game days I should be able to tell you her decision."


    "Then I will leave for now and pray that you bring me good news!" Nekorath said with a content expression. With Zaran agreeing to help him, his spirits had been raised and he felt less anxious for his future as he did before. After thanking Zaran one last time Nekorath turned around and left the mansion.


    With Nekorath gone, Zaran resumed his training. In the next three days all he was going to do was train his skills, train his body and every now and then head to the inner courtyard to test some applicants to the guild. As a Zuno it was a necessity to train your body every now and then and Zaran had to be prepared for whatever came next.


    In these three days, the new guild members would either train within the mansion or solve some simple guild quests in and around Virul, slowly increasing the guild''s rank. As for Florance and Nuvahn, they were mostly training their skills too while occasionally testing applicants as well.


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    __________________________________________________________


    Three days later the guild had grown past a hundred members and through the completion of a fair amount of mercenary guild quests, the guild had advanced from guild rank E to guild rank D.


    While initially Zaran, Nuvahn and Florance had been the only ones testing guild members, one of the new members suggested that they should all share the burden of testing the applicants and that in case of non-officer level guild members, which were all the new guild members besides Zaran and his party, new members could only be let into the guild if they were able to either win against a randomly assigned guild member or force a draw them.


    Even though three days had passed, not many of the new guild members had gained levels as there just were no levelling areas nearby. Unlike what Zaran had assumed no one had raised a single complaint just yet, which was most likely due to the large monster subduing quest that the guild had gotten upon reaching guild rank D. The quest in itself was a rank D quest in the mercenary guild but the quest window stated that every monster was within the level 60-80 range and thus it would definitely not be a walk in the park.


    The guild''s mages had set up a cheap teleportation gateway in Zaran''s backyard and the paladins and priests had been busy setting up a revival shrine, which actually was far cheaper than Zaran initially thought.


    The cellar''s renovation had also gone smoother than expected and the cellar had been fully renovated and as of now was of limits for everyone bar Zaran and Henry. Nearly half the cellar space had already been filled with various races of Hellbeasts and the other half was reserved for Zaran''s beasts should the time come that he needed space to store them. Henry had also been successful in selling his house in Virul to a merchant and had taken one of the servant''s rooms as his own.


    During one of their meals, Zaran had told the guild members what the effects of "Bestow cultivation" were. Greed almost instantly lit up in each of the warriors and archers eyes and a lot of them had begged Zaran to use it on their weapon. However Zaran refused to do so and told them that he was only going to use the skill on the other weapons as a form of reward. Besides Roku, the two battle maids and Nuvahn whom he had already used the skill for, Zaran was not quite willing to utilize the skill all too freely.


    Nevertheless, with three days gone by Sylphie had come home and she messaged Zaran from the message panel on Zaran''s pod. "Time to eat!"


    "Kaykay." Zaran messaged back. He told everyone in the guild chat that he would be gone for about a day in game time at most.


    Zaran slowly ate his dinner with Sylphie while making small talk.


    "Hey Zaran..." Sylphie suddenly said. "I think I am going to take a paid leave from work."


    "EH?" Zaran blurted out. "Why?"


    "Well... my coworkers have been bothering me about you. They guessed it was you and I could not deny it. I have barely been able to get any work done. So that''s what got me thinking about it. It''s only the monetary part... If I don''t get paid for a few months we''ll have to touch mom and dad''s reserves again... There''s still a substantial amount left but if I don''t work for a few moments it will quickly decline."


    Zaran swallowed the food he was chewing and said. "You have yet to check the bank account right?"


    "Yeah. Why?"


    "There''s been a deposit of thirty thousand euro." Zaran calmly said. "From the tome we found."


    This time it was Sylphie''s time to be surprised. "So much????"


    "Yup. So no real need to worry about money and we could always sell more items later on. Over the past few day... hou... in game days, I''ve given streaming some more thought, while I can''t stream at all times, whenever I am fighting I will stream in the future. That should generate some income over time as well, depending on how popular I become."


    "So if you really want to, I would be fine with it. For the first few months it wouldn''t be a problem at all. After that it''ll depend on how much we can convert into real life money. "


    Sylphie nodded. "Then I will talk about it with my boss tomorrow!"


    Zaran nodded. "I''ll be going to my room for a bit before I will enter the pod."


    After making sure his room was locked Zaran slowly whispered four simple words to summon Isis.


    "Isis, hear my plea."

 Chapter 65: Branding karma

    Isis''s main body sat within her marble room, quietly meditating when suddenly she opened her eyes. "Hmm? Zaran is summoning me? Now that is something new.


    Hmm I could the shard of me that is on earth visit him but... it''ll be more fun if I personally visit him."


    She stood up and casually gave a flick with her left hand which caused a golden-coloured portal to open before her, which she immediately stepped through.


    A golden-coloured portal appeared before Zaran and Isis soon stepped through it.


    "Oh my, summoning me in your room? With the door locked? My my... how daring." Isis said as she seductively walked to his bed and laid down on it. She softly patted the bed and invitingly winked at Zaran.


    Zaran facepalmed and shook his head. "Isis, please be serious."


    "Puuh... you''re no fun." Isis muttered in a dissapointed tone.


    "Sigh." Zaran let out a deep sigh and said. "If you''d really want to have some ''fun'' you could just abuse your power for that."


    "That''s cheating. Plus you''d actually hate me if I do that. Still, are you suuuure that you don''t want a bite of me?" Isis said as she let her hand slide all over her body.


    "Very sure. So you can quit the act."


    "Fiiiiine. But I was not acting!" Isis pouted. While she initially had not been interested in Zaran and really had just been teasing him, the more he rejected her, the more Isis wanted him. Still her mood had grown cold. She had almost literally thrown herself at him and he did not even bat an eye while refusing her advances! If Zaran was not so darn important to her she would have long since erased his karma for refusing her. "It better be important!"


    "It is. One of Akhuath''s scions wants to seek refuge under another god. I think that''s important enough to summon you?" Zaran calmly said.


    That one sentence had instantly captured her full attention and her carefree nature had instantly switched to a serious one. "OH? Which one?"


    "Nekorath. He''s just below the high priority targets."


    "Hmm. Why does he want to change his allegiance?" Isis asked as she flicked her hands a few times, golden numbers and letters appearing in the air before her.


    "He has failed his last mission for Akhuath and his last mission was to kill me. As his next mission will be undoubtedly harder or impossible... he came to me in the game to beg me to talk to you." Zaran calmly spoke.


    "Eh. He wants to kill you and now comes to beg you? And you actually summon me... Aren''t you a strange one. Hmm let me see." Isis flicked her hands a few more times and more golden letters appeared. These golden letters and numbers were detailed information about Nekorath''s karma. Akhuath''s and Isis''s karma was gained in a different way. As the goddess of life she solely wanted people with a certain number of positive karma, while Akhuath solely wanted people with negative karma. Thus at the moment Isis was checking Nekorath''s positive karma... While his negative karma was enormous, he still had been able to acquire quite a bit of positive karma.


    This was due to ''cause and effect''. Even if you kill an innocent person which would result in negative karma, one could save another person''s life because of it. For example if one kills an innocent person that had caught a plague, another may not get the plague and not die as a result. Or if someone is currently innocent but his fate had already determined that he would kill, interfering with that fate means another person does not die, thus resulting in a lot of negative and a little positive karma. The gains in such a case would never be equal because while every person has a fate, it is still not something that is set in stone and everyone and everything has the ability to create their own fate.


    As only the gods who align themselves to that type of karma can extinguish it, every scion eventually ends up with both positive and negative karma, but that doesn''t mean they have gained enough karma over their lifetimes to qualify to be a scion for a different god. However in Nekorath''s case, he had accumulated enough to qualify as Isis''s scion.


    Even though his skill was not high enough to be considered a good scion to Isis, it would weak Akhuath just ever so slightly, making it more than worth it.


    "He has barely enough of my karma to be acknowledged as one of my scions. Are you sure you want me to help him? You know I won''t do it for free... rebranding someone''s karma is no easy feat. I will need a favour in return."


    Zaran nodded. "Please help the guy, fundamentally he''s not all too bad... he just made a bad choice when he became a scion. As for the favour, I will do anything that is not against my convictions."


    "Hmm... very well." Isis said. She raised herself from the bed, spiritually contacted Nekorath and explained what she would do. A few minutes later she made a grabbing motion with both her hands in the air, then slowly pulled it back. In her left hand a small white energy globe appeared and in her right hand a large black energy globe appeared, which had Akhuath''s mark on it.


    A golden coloured fire appeared in both her hands and completely covered the two globes. The fire in her left hand seemed gentle and caring, while the one in he right hand was domineering! A huge surge of heavenly aura burst forth from her right hand and Akhuath''s mark visibly grew dimmer and dimmer.


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    _______________________


    Within Akhuath''s own dimension curses could be heard as he noticed what was going on with Nekorath''s karma. He muttered an incantation and made a grabbing motion in the air with his right hand, in which a large black energy globe appeared. Pitch-black flames spurted forth from his hands as he started to crush the black energy globe.


    A growling voice resounded through Akhuath''s dimension. "You want him Isis... YOU CAN HAVE HIS CORPSE!"


    ________________________


    As soon as Akhuath started crushing the globe, Nekorath''s head started to feel as if it were breaking apart. Isis had already warned him as to what could happen so he was prepared for this event.


    "NOT ON MY WATCH!" Nekorath yelled as he calmed his mind and kept remembering all the atrocities he had committed one by one. As long as he kept remembering them vividly, his karma would slowly increase. It was not much but it could allow Isis to finish her branding!


    _______________________


    Isis''s face turned grim as the black globe started diminishing in size. "He has already noticed. I might not make it in time."


    More holy power burst from within Isis and the speed at which the mark diminished increased by tenfold. Still, the black globe kept growing smaller and smaller. Isis increased the output of holy power once more and the mark finally started flickering, showing that it was about to disappear.


    Seconds swiftly passed and the once large black globe was now the size of a tennis ball. The mark on the black globe flickered one last time before it disappeared and a golden coloured brand emerged almost instantly on the white coloured globe.


    "Puuuuh..." Isis let out cute sigh and then looked at Zaran. "That used up a fair bit of my power. He better be worth it."


    "He will be. He''ll be bound by blood to me in the game."


    "Hmm.. so a pawn? Nevertheless, I will find a way for him to repay me. Do tell him what I expect of him on my behalf though." Isis calmly said. "Mmhmm... By the way, do you want me to heal your legs? I will do it without you owing me a favour."


    "No need. I am already used to living without them. Plus how would i go about explaining it? ''I miraculously recovered my legs?''"


    Isis shrugged "Your choice. Call upon me for some fun soon okay?" Isis winked, walked over to Zaran and firmly embraced him before opening a portal and stepping through it.


    ____________________


    "So that''s the situation." Zaran said as he explained Akhuath what was expected of him now that he was one of Isis''s scions. At the same time Zaran pulled out one of the spare blood contracts that he had received from the recruitment agency. Both sides swiftly signed the contract and after a mere second the blood link between the two of them was established. After that Zaran also invited Nekorath to the guild.


    Sylphie and Irina both had already logged on. Zaran invited the two to the guild and gave Sylphie and Irina an officer position. Zaran had instructed the girls to buy the necessities they needed, safe weapons for Irina, and told them to head over to the mansion as soon as possible.


    An hour later the two girls arrived at the mansion and Zaran promptly took out the two Hellweaver queen daggers and handed them over to Irina.


    "Oh my god they are amazing! Thanks Zaran!" Irina said as she jumped forward and hugged him.


    Zaran wryly smiled. "It''s no problem but ehm... could you let me go?"


    "Ah... uh.. sure?" Irina muttered with a disappointed expression.


    At this moment Florance and Nuvahn walked over. Florance took position right next to Zaran and stared at both Sylphie and Irina. She had a rather sullen look on her face as now would be the start of her acting. If she had the choice she would straight up confess that they were lovers but they couldn''t possibly explain how so it was better to act for a bit more.


    "Zaran, all guild members are ready to move out!" Nuvahn said.


    "Good job! But before we leave, Florance, this is my sister Sylphie and her friend Irina. Irina and Sylphie, this is Florance our vice guild master."


    Florance curtsied and said, "Pleased to meet the both of you."


    The two girls on their turn bowed and said "Pleased to meet you!"


    "Say Zaran, how did you end up setting up a guild with Florance?" Irina asked.


    Zaran made a dismissing gesture with his hands and said. "It''s a long story, I''ll tell you on the way to our quest."


    Zaran walked up to the members of the guild who were orderly lined up along to Nuvahn and Florance''s instructions and yelled. "We will now proceed to the quest''s designated area! It is about one day distance from this mansion. Our guild''s merchants are bringing their wagons with them so if anybody needs to do any real life stuff but still wants to go with us, they can log out while in the wagon! With that said... Move out!"

 Chapter 66: First clash with the nayeran

    Author''s note: I''ll be a very nice author and give you Saturday''s chapter two days early. :)


    enjoy and let me know what you think of this chapter''s battle!


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    "Everybody! Listen up!" Zaran roared as they closed in on the monster''s territory. "We are nearly at the nayeran''s territory. They are a hyena like creature that is in the stage between beast and beastmen and we have been requested to kill them because of their pure savagery! Three villages have already been utterly slaughtered by them. Women, men, elderly, children, none were spared. Not even a single living being remained alive in either of the villages. The nayeran have basic intelligence and wield weapons such as bows, spears and axes but they are unable to use magic and they are prone to move in groups of a few hundred. They number more than ten thousand so from here on out it will be an all out war between us and them. I don''t want any of you to show them mercy for they have shown none!"


    War cries rang out from the troops as Zaran finished his speech. He had just started streaming and even though this speech was not quite necessary, it still served to make him look better to his audience.


    A few minutes later the full guild exited the forest they were travelling through and arrived at wide open plains, which was completely covered with colourful flowers. Red, Purple, Yellow, Blue... Every colour was proudly on display, mixed all together to create an incredibly enchanting scenery. At a first glance the plains did not seem a good battlefield as the plains were covered by small hills that were a meter or two high, which hid a large part of the plains from view. If the nayeran did not use a strategy it would work out but if they did then they had far too much terrain to use as cover.


    Moreover they would be easily seen if they moved any further. Even though everyone with him was an elite player, with their measly two hundred and ten people all together, they could not possibly hold out against ten thousand enemies. Especially because every enemy would be at least 10 levels higher than the guild''s average of level 50.


    Past the plains lied, Ergan, a four kilometer high mountain surrounded by a few kilometers of plains on all sides that served as the center of the nayeran''s home, culture and territory. Zaran mumbled as he stared at the mountain and plains. "Fuck... what a disaster of a battlefield. Not even one hill is large enough to hold all of us and because of how close the hills are we can''t place people in between two hills as the enemy would be able to jump right in the middle or on top of us."


    "We can''t sneak up on them as it is not a feasible strategy plus if we move any further we''ll most likely be spotted. With their basic intelligence they should be able to figure out what such a large number of warriors is here for. So what rests us is baiting a group of them over bit by bit. But there''s about a three kilometer distance between us and the mountains."


    Zaran started to command his troops. "Everyone, get into formation! I will draw out a group of them to this location. I want eighty warriors in the front, twenty on each side and ten at our back. Shields take up the first line! Spears and lances the second. Dig your feet into the ground and brace yourselves from impact the moment I come back with a group."


    "YES SIR!" The warriors roared as they started moving along to Zaran''s instructions, quickly entering a rough formation. Each and everyone present listened to every of Zaran''s words. He was both the guild leader and the strongest person present so whatever he said was the law!


    Zaran continued to roar commands one by one.


    "Assassins, you hide nearby and wait for an opportune time to assassinate some of our enemies."


    "Archers! Conserve your ammo by making every shot count."


    "Mages, focus your fire on the most crowded locations but make sure to not block anything from vision unless Florance or I tell you to do so."


    "Priests and paladins, overlay your buffs so that no one has to fight without one."


    "And this is to all of you and the most important command. Do not die!"


    "Kirin, you join the assassin''s, Cindarrah, you join the mages and Kru you''re with me!"


    "YES SIR!" Everyone shouted a final time. Zaran nodded and quickly darted forward.


    Ten minutes later Zaran returned in front of the group with a wave of four hundred nayeran after him, all wielding axes, clubs, spears, wooden shields and bows. Even though they had basic weaponry, one could not underestimate them. In a short skirmish that Zaran had with a lone nayeran, he did not have the easiest time to deal with the sole nayeran as its battle sense was rather well developed and from their stats could be summed up in one word. Strong!


    nayeran


    Level 60


    Hp: 50000


    defense: 1200


    attack: 2500


    A species in between being a beast and a beastman. They posses great battle sense and never leave their home in small groups. Even though their intelligence is not that great, it should not be underestimated as they are capable of basic tactical strategies! However they are unable to utilize ki or magic.


    The first rows of shield-bearing warriors and spear or lance wielding warriors made way for Zaran and Kru and then quickly closed up to stop the onslaught of nayeran behind the two.


    Upon noticing the sturdiness of the formation, the leader of the nayeran stopped the advance of his own men and gave a command to one of the nayeran closest to him, who immediately darted on all fours towards the mountain upon receiving it.


    "Darn... Kirin! Chase and kill the runner!" Zaran roared. He had not expected that "basic tactical strategies" meant calling for help. Even though they had greater numbers they still sent for backup!


    From nearby shrubbery a dark mass shot forward with incredible speed and quickly started to catch up to the runner. Even though the runner was running on all fours, his speed was still not that quick as proven by Zaran who could somewhat keep his distance. Especially uphill the nayeran struggled to run on all fours and every hill that the runner had to run over, the distance between him and Kirin visibly shortened!


    A hundred meters between the two became eighty, then sixty... forty... ten... None! Kirin leaped at the runner''s throat and black flames sprouted from her maw. Even though the opponent''s level was higher than hers, she was the one who did the hunting in this case. And what''s more, her attack was right on the nayeran''s weak spot, their neck! Because of that the initial attack greatly weakened the nayeran, allowing Kirin to pin him down on his belly and continuously burn her prey with dark flames.


    The nayeran leader snarled and growled at nearby pawns of his, forty who each started running towards the mountain. One of his orders was to ignore the hound. It did not matter if a large amount of died, just one of them had to reach the mountain. As they had no idea as to how many more of these hounds there were, they could not possibly stop to deal with it.


    The two sides stared at each other for a few more seconds before Zaran walked over to the mages and asked, "Do any of you have area of effect skills that can be placed behind enemy lines?"


    Only six out of twenty mages said they had one and after discussing the skills for a few seconds, Zaran told each of the mages with long range area of effect spells exactly where they should place their spells, so that they were able to cover the largest area possible. All of the long range area of effect skills the mages could use, were skills that they could learn after they completed a small but difficult quest once the users passed level 50. There was ''Frost pikes'', a skill that created a five meter radius circular area out of which frost pikes shot up from the ground which dealt massive damage for its level and slowed the enemy, ''Fire wall'', which created a ten meter long four meter high wall of fire which dealt damage and applied burn to an enemy and finally ''Tremors'', a skill which shook the earth and dealt a fair amount of damage per second. Apart from all the normal skills there was still Florance who had the only custom long range area of effect skill, ''Lightning field''. Each of these skills required the user to pour in their full concentration in the skill if they wanted the skill to last.


    The six mages, each fired their skills of, the back line of the nayerans lighting up with the four spells. Mournful cries were heard as nayeran were torched, pierced or shocked by lightning.


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    At this moment Kirin finally offed her enemy and through utilizing the distraction the area of effect spells had created, she was able to make her way back to the assassins without being noticed.


    With there being no way back for the nayeran the only way they could go was forward, because if they went to the sides, they would easily be flanked. The leader of the nayeran snarled a barely discernible "FORWARD!" and all the nayeran pressed forward simultaneously.


    Zaran grinned and raised his left hand. "ARCHERS! DRAAAAWWW!!!HOLD!!!" Zaran roared, the forty archers immediately nocking two arrows and fully drawing back their bow. All of the archers were going to use double shot, which allowed them to fire two arrows instead of one. It was a basic archery skill which greatly lowered accuracy but was very deadly in a battlefield as arrows easily found a target. "HOOOOOLD!!!" He reminded them, waiting until a fair amount of nayeran entered the archers range before roaring. "FIIIIIRE!!!!!"


    swish swish swish! Eighty arrows left the archer''s bows and whistled through the air, each and every arrow splendidly hitting a target.


    "Shields! Dig your feet deep into the ground and hold your position as if it were your lover!"


    The male warriors roared out in laughter at Zaran''s command, doing as they were told in the progress. The majority of the female users rolled their eyes or wryly smiled and likewise dug their feet in the ground, preparing to hold their position.


    Mere seconds later the wave of nayeran clashed into the shield warriors and stone on steel and steel on steel sounds reverberated throughout the air. With their heels dug into the earth all of them could somewhat withstand the nayeran''s onslaught and this was with the defense buffs by the various priests and paladins included.


    Zaran roared. "Archers! Fire at will but as I said before, make every shot count! We do not have unlimited arrows and there are ten thousand more were these came from! Mages fire at will at their back line, disturb their archers! Priests, heal and buff our front line continuously!"


    A torrent of arrows started to continuously find their mark and the mages threw various spell at the back line of the nayeran, greatly disturbing their archers. Even though the damage of one spell or arrow was not that great, but over time the damage started to add up rather quickly. On top of that, there were quite a few archers who had armour shredding spells and a lot of the mages used spells which added a damage over time debuff on the target. Nayeran arrows still whistled through the air every now and then, but because of the harassment their own back line received, the accuracy was horrible and most arrows failed to reach the guild''s troops and instead the nayeran''s back line hit their own men.


    Soon the nayeran started to fall one by one. Even though they should have basic tactical knowledge, fear had settled in their commander''s heart because of the spells cast behind them and thus their commander had recklessly commanded them to rush forward.


    Because they were all in the same guild, experience was shared between those who did damage to the monsters and the more damage one dealt to a monster the larger a percentage of the experience one would get based on their class. Priests who had low fighting strength, got additional exp percentage based on their healing done to the damage dealers of the monsters and the amount of damage the ones who had his buffs did, got added as a percentage for the priest and not the attacker. This allowed the priests to level at a very fast speed, sometimes even faster than pure combat classes.


    With every nayeran that fell, large amounts of experience were gained across the guild. Because most of them had slept in the wagon on the way there, the experience of a lot of the troops soared upwards. Level sixty monsters gave incomparable amounts of experience compared to level fifty monsters. Still, even though the amount of experience was great, the rate at which the exp bar filled was not that fast but none of the troops had the time to check their exp bars.


    They were outnumbered two to one and even though that did not sound all too serious, most of the troops were still on standby and only the first two lines of warriors, the archers and the mages were dealing damage and of the shield-bearing warriors who were holding back the troops, not a single one had dealt a single point of damage. All they had been doing thus far was hold back the enemy and taunt them. So the total of players dealing damage was merely 100 out of the 200 that could deal damage! The fifteen that were over consisted of 5 priests, 3 merchants and 2 blacksmiths.


    Seeing that the first line was holding out perfectly, Zaran smiled and yelled another string of commands. "Cindarrah, use Hellweavers land in front of our first line of defense! Third line, fourth line, two wings, back line troops and Kru. Prepare to mingle yourselves in to the battle after the first line uses shield bash followed by shield charge. First line... SHIELD BASH AND SHIELD CHARGE NOW! Then split in the center!"


    The complete first line of defense used shield bash almost simultaneously, pushing the nayeran back and stunning their front line for two seconds. All of them then used shield charge, which sent the stunned nayeran warriors into the lines behind them. The center of their own front line then split apart, upon which the whole third and fourth line pushed through. After the last of the warriors pushed through, the lines closed themselves again.


    "Now... PUSH forward and make them run into our mages spells! Assassins! Catch any runners! Mages and archers, from now on watch where you aim. There is no such thing as not hurting your own with spells or arrows in this game."


    The nayeran were now completely in disarray and were unable to draw out their full strength due to the simple tactics that Zaran had been using and the arrows and various spells had further whittled down at their strength. Now with Hellweaver''s land slowing down their troops, their fighting strength compared to the guild was not even worth mentioning.


    While two hundred normal users would never have been able to offer the three hundred sixty remaining nayeran a challenge, the users that Zaran had with him were far from normal users. Each one of them was an elite.


    After throwing out the final command... Zaran too joined the fray! He immediately rushed to the front lines and started utilizing the first, second and third stance of ''Dance of the butterfly'' and used ''Intent'' occasionally during one of the stances.


    The nayeran''s commander quickly took notice of Zaran and even though the commander had recklessly made his troops rush forward because of the fear in his heart, the fear was still not enough to not know that he should stop Zaran as soon as possible. While his troops was the among the weakest of the nayeran''s armies, the commander still boasted a formidable level 70!


    Seeing their commander move towards Zaran, the normal soldiers quickly started to move create a dueling circle for him and Zaran. The commander was two heads larger than the average nayeran and wielded a large steel greatsword.


    Zaran inspected the commander''s stats and smirked. After gaining intent he had been waiting for a good fight and now it delivered itself on its own!


    Nayeran commander


    Level 70


    Hp: 55210/100000


    defense: 3000


    attack: 4000


    A nayeran commander whose strength is formidable enough to rank among the top ten commanders but his commanding ability is extremely poor which caused him to end up as a commander with the weakest troops. Like normal nayeran, he is still unable to use any ki. However through years of combat he has acquired two combat skills.


    Skills: <ul>


    <li>Whirlwind, passive: The warrior wields his weapon with such a great strength that the wind displacement deals 1% of his attack damage in a small area around his strikes, cannot be avoided.</li>


    <li>Frenzy: Allows the warrior to gain great strength at the cost of their life essence. Costs 10% of max health to be used. Increases attack by 50%.


    </li></ul>


    The commander''s health had been whittled down tremendously since the start of the battle. Still,  Zaran did not dare to underestimate the two battle skills. Even if a strike missed, it would steal deal a minimum of 40 damage before Zaran''s defenses were in calculated and if he used ''Frenzy'' that would increase to 60!


    A few seconds later, the commanders of both sides ran forward and clashed with each other!

 Chapter 67: Disappointing duel

    Enjoy


    ____________


    The chat in his stream was going wild when the fight began. They had been waiting a few days for Zaran to start streaming it but they had would have never expected that he would be coming back with a full out war!


    - This is what i''ve been waiting for every day!


    - Look at the formation, they are like trained soldiers!


    - I wish I was there, I am going to apply for that guild now!


    - Great idea, I am going to apply too!


    - Me too!


    - Me three!


    - Hah those who apply are idiots. Do you think you can fight like those people? Be serious. I am a level 50 archer and even with such a dense mob my arrows would not hit their marks every time!


    - It''s not because YOU suck that we also suck!


    ______________________


    clang! clang! hoaaaa!! Clang! uuuaaaghhh! The ear deafening sounds of war rang out from all around of Zaran and the nayeran commander.


    The commanders of both sides exchanged a few normal blows, mainly due to Zaran testing the waters, before he activated "swiftness" which caused his speed to suddenly soar. During their first few exchanges he had noticed that the knock back effect was just barely affecting the nayeran, but even this took away a huge amount of pressure from Zaran and allowed Zaran to continuously be on the offensive as soon as he landed one hit. The nayeran commander just couldn''t keep up. Every time the two sides clashed, the nayeran commander had to recover from the knock back effect and even though it only slightly affected him, the split seconds extra that he needed with every clash, caused him to keep being on the defensive.


    Nevertheless, Zaran still lost 25 health every time the two clashed. Through the defensive buffs and his own defense he was able to ignore 37.5% of the damage the nayeran commander would deal if he would''ve had no defense at all. While 25 health did not seem like much, every clash still cost Zaran nearly 1% of his max health.


    Zaran used ''Mountain strike'' to cause the nayeran commander to suffer an additional knock back and then did a sideways slash, signaling the start of using ''Flutter''. The moment the last hit of ''Flutter'' hit his enemy, Zaran used ''Intent'' and burnt 200 out of the remaining 400 ki in his sword. Over the course of the battle he had already used up 100 of his sword''s ki and five hundred of his own. If it weren''t for the last 3 days of cultivation, he would only have half his ki left, but now he still had three fourths left!


    The combination of these two skills caused a critical strike to occur and the sheer force had blown the nayeran commander back and had caused him to lose more than 2000 hp in a single exchange. Of course Zaran had no intention to let the commander recover. The commander suddenly felt himself being pulled towards Zaran, who had a wicked smile on his face. Even though the nayeran commander was large, his weight was still low enough to be affected by gravity. After the nayeran commander was within his range, Zaran threw down another gravity field and overlapped the nayeran commander with it. Now the nayeran commander started to juggled between the two fields. After ten seconds and twenty sword strikes later the two gravity fields finally ceased to affect the commander.


    After the barrage of hits, which each did around 400 damage, the nayeran''s commander''s health dropped to 40.000.


    Zaran used another mountain strike, reducing his remaining ki to 1200 and chugged a health potion to regain the health he had lost due to the ''whirlwind'' passive. Unable to spend ki as he likes, he started using ''swiftness'' to his advantage and circled around his opponent, dealing blow after blow to him.


    However, due to being pushed back for the first time since he had gained the commander position, the nayeran''s battle sense started to show signs of improving! With every hit he took, the nayeran felt as if he could grasp Zaran''s movements a bit better. After thirty strikes and paying a price of 12.000 health he finally felt confident enough to strike out! His blade flew to Zaran''s next position and... it connected! The nayeran commander had finally been able to hit Zaran and a huge chunk of Zaran''s health disappeared!


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Zaran chugged a health potion and the priests and paladins who noticed what happened threw their heals at Zaran and seconds later the majority of his health had returned. And this was a hit without frenzy. If the nayeran commander used frenzy, Zaran could not afford to be hit head on by any of his strikes! He clicked his tongue and used ''gravity'' again and kept striking the commander with normal strikes, dropping its health even further.


    The commander''s expression was incredibly ugly to behold. During the whole fight he had not been able to show his skills. His opponent had continuously locked his movements down with his stupid magic and ki skills and he had no way to fight back. This alone sent the commander into a frenzy! His health decreased by 10.000 and his strength increased by half, which allowed him to negate the effects of gravity!


    But Zaran only coldly smiled. Ki and some additional stats was not the only thing he gained in the past few days. After fighting in five versus one battles against new recruits, the racial stat that had always been a question mark had been revealed. Battle blood!


    During fights the battle blood stat would automatically start to rise, depending on the difficulty on the fight and the amount of nearby enemies. The stat on itself could be used the activate the racial skill battle might which increased the strength of battle-related stats and passive skills by 50%.


    While the commander''s skill solely increased his strength by half for a large health, Zaran''s skill increased multiple stats with no cost attached. With his speed and flexibility growing even more, the battle grew quite boring and it was not what Zaran had expected at all. Not even a minute later Zaran cut off the head of the commander. Picking up the steel greatsword that the commander had dropped, Zaran moved on to deal with the remaining nayeran.


    Because there was no magic or ki damage, Kru absolutely shone on this battlefield and as a result he had plunged himself in the midst of the battle. He was like death incarnate! The attacks by the nayeran was mere tickling to him and his mandibles brought havoc upon any nayeran that was foolish enough to cross his path. All around Kru were dismembered bodies and his whole body was soaked with blood. Among all the troops on the battlefield, the death count of this beetle was the highest and even Florance, Nuvahn, Nekorath or Zaran came close to his kill count. So far he had killed 20 nayeran and the battle was far from over.


    At this point the numbers of nayeran finally reached the total of warriors that Zaran had brought over, but the remaining nayeran were all in a bad state, with not a single one left unharmed. Because their commander had just died, their morale had dropped to zero and many had thoughts of running, but if they ran assassins would instantly rip them apart! All the nayeran had the same feeling... despair!


    Minutes later the battlefield was littered with the drops of the nayeran and not a single one had survived. The previous colorful field now had a part of it dyed in a single colour, blood red.


    Because they were in the same guild, every member could pick up the drops of another and so Zaran tasked the blacksmiths and merchants to pick up the various drops.  Zaran tossed the steel greatsword to one of the merchants and then gathered earth mages, water mages, the archers and assassins.


    Even though most magic spells did not have any lasting effects, like Zaran''s earth lance for example, there were still some earth and fire spells that did have lasting effects. Three of the water mages cast ''rain'' continuously, which caused rain to fall in a large area, and quickly the small valleys in the plains started to become filled with water. The earth was swiftly saturated and the plains became a swamp land.


    The earth mages cast the most popular earth spell world wide, an earth spell called ''irrigate'', which was used to aid farmers in the creation of irrigation channels on their fields. Unlike normal, now it was used to further change the plains into a swamp.


    Swiftly, a great crescent around the guild''s troops was converted into a swamp. The Archers and assassin created a minefield of traps  all around the swamp area. While the amount of traps they could make were limited and the damage would not be able to kill even a single nayeran, the traps combined with the swamp would be able to reduce the advancement speed of the nayeran.


    Ten minutes later the guild was finished with the preparation and everyone sat down to regain their stamina, mana and ki.

 Chapter 68: Full mobilization

    Author''s notes: Trying another layout for the skills, tell me what you think. Tables are a huge annoyance to make and when I have to use them in a chapter it often delays my progress just ''cause they are so troublesome, even with an editor.


    I nearly completed friday''s chapter already, and hopefully I can get another chapter completed today, to get my backlog really started... If it gets to 10 i''ll start doing  double releases as I see fit. It''s also a lot easier to write now that I don''t have to worry about having a chapter ready by the end of the day. (which has kept me awake in the past and wasn''t a good thing)


    If there''s anyone around who can draw pretty well, I am currently looking for someone who can draw maps/cover art as the default picture is quite bland. With the backlog (hopefully) growing I am also looking for a proofreader as english is not my main language and I am bound to err here and there. So if anyone wants to help with that, feel free to pm or post below.


    As always enjoy today''s chapter.


    _______________


    Within the largest house on the Enrag mountain, ten large nayeran stood guard for a small nayeran who had a wicked grin on his face and who was seated on his throne. This small nayeran was the king of all the nayeran in this area. Not only was he the strongest and the smartest... but also the most wicked nayeran that had ever existed. Be it valkyrie, beastmen, birdmen, dwarves, zuno, elementals or humans, all who crossed his path had died. And this nayeran made sure that as many crossed his path as possible.


    From the moment he took seat on the throne, a reign of blood descended upon the nayeran. Before he took seat on the throne the nayeran never took more than they needed and they definitely would not kill those of other races without being provoked. Even so, the nayeran valued strength before all else and thus there were very little who dared to question their king.


    Knock.. Knock..


    The ten guards looked in the direction of the king, who simply nodded. One of the guards opened the door and the forty nayeran that had been tasked to report to the king stumbled in front of their king and prostrated themselves before him.


    The king looked at the forty men and said in a growling tone. "Speak."


    "Spotted, army! Commander fighting! Asks reinforcements!"


    While the normal nayeran were only able of very basic speech, the king had a slightly large vocabulary.


    "What! An army dared to cross our lands? How large!" The king snarled.


    "Two hundred!"


    "Two hundred? Audacious!" After a few moments of thought, the king roared. "MOBILIZE ALL TROOPS! We will show them our strength."


    The forty nayeran all dashed outside of the room and went to notify the various commanders.


    __________________


    The top six most powerful commanders were seated at the same table having a casual conversation when they were alerted of a full mobilization due to enemy invaders. The commanders glanced at each other. "Time?" One of them asked.


    "Time." Another one replied.


    The nayeran commander who had asked the question nodded and stood up. "Gather your troops. Slowly. We will go out last."


    _________________


    Half an hour after the battle ended, the ground below the guild''s feet started to shake. Zaran opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the mountain. Ten thousand nayeran were orderly marching towards the guild''s two hundred men and a tenth was mounted on large rhinoceros who served as beasts of war as well as food.


    Zaran called out to his troops. "Guys. We''ll be facing their full might this time and while normally I would say we run. However we won''t run with these troops that they showed us!"


    The guild''s troops all had very surprised and confused faces. It was clearly 200 versus 10.000. Had their guild leader gone mad? It certainly seemed so with this strange decision.


    "I know you''re all thinking of me as if I am crazy but don''t worry. I got a plan! I will be unable to fight and I need full concentration so I cannot possibly get hurt in the fight! Whatever happens protect me! For this I would like two volunteers from our first line warriors!"


    Sylphie and four others raised their hands, after which Zaran chose Sylphie and a Minotaur with a tower shield.


    "Florance, Nekorath, you two also stand by to aid me when things go south. As long as I am not disturbed there''s a good chance we''ll win the fight."


    Even Florance gave Zaran a surprised look as he said this. As far as she knew he did not have a skill that could affect the battlefield on such a large radius... and definitely not when he was sitting down. However Zaran looked like he was extremely sure of what he had been saying so she decided to trust on him.


    As for Nekorath, he couldn''t care and just did as he was told.


    Zaran took seat in lotus position and gave two more orders. "Take the formation you had taken earlier, Nuvahn will lead the battle this time. I will also need to know when their troops are within a single kilometer of us. After they are within one kilometer immediately notify me and after that do not disturb me any longer!"


    Minutes passed as the nayeran slowly marched onward. The king was in the middle of his army and seated on the largest rhinoceros which was 2,5 meters high and 6 meters long. Behind him were the troops of the six strongest commanders. Even though they were the strongest commanders, not a single one of their troops was seated on a rhinoceros as those were only for the king''s honour guard.


    The strongest commanders often made fun of the honour guard as in their eyes it was a position for those who were on their last years of their life or for those who had bought the position. There was only a single reason that the strongest commanders did not want to fight the honour guard head on and it wasn''t because of their troops, but because of their rhinoceros! Calling them beasts of war was an understatement, they were beasts of slaughter. Their hide was strong and impenetrable by anything weaker than a steel weapon.


    An elven assassin suddenly appeared before Zaran and said. "Zaran, their troops are within a kilometer radius of us!"


    Zaran nodded and said. "Good, ensure that everyone listens to Irina''s commands. I''ve told her when to join the battle. If it turns out as expected, we won''t be needing your help."


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.The elven assassin smiled. "Let''s hope it doesn''t come to that then. Even if we don''t work we''ll still get a reward right?"


    "As said before, no matter how much one fights, the reward will still be split fairly. The same holds for me." Zaran said before waving the assassin of and closing his eyes. He utilized a new skill that he had gotten from Henry after the renovation of the cellar had been completed.


    His mana and ki were completely drained and his health dropped by 50%. Various windows popped up in his view, telling him that he was suffering from paralysis, blind, deafness and silence. Just using the skill had turned him in a complete puppet! But what he got in return was an extremely powerful skill! ''Call of the beastmaster!''. Any beast that was not controlled by a more powerful beast master within a one kilometer radius would heed the casters command.


    Call of the beastmaster!


    Beginner level 1


    Experience: 20%


    Requirements:<ul>


    <li>Resources at max value.</li>


    <li>At least 51% hp.


    </li></ul>


    Effects:<ul>


    <li>Completely depletes any resources</li>


    <li>Depletes health by 50 % of max value</li>


    <li>Complete paralysis</li>


    <li>Blind</li>


    <li>Deafness</li>


    <li>Silence</li>


    <li>Gain full control over any beasts not controlled by an equally powerful or more powerful beast master 1 kilometer radius


    </li></ul>


    Duration: As long as the caster keeps concentrated, but it may last no longer than ten minutes.


    When the king''s troops passed the one kilometer mark, the rhinoceroses suddenly started squealing and throwing off their riders. Only the king had been able to momentarily suppress his rhinoceros from going wild, but even he had been thrown off a few seconds later. The thousand rhinoceroses trampled their writers and charged to the six thousand troops before them.


    "WHAT!" The king roared. "How did all of them go out of control!?!?! DAMNIT!"


    The king somersaulted back up, unsheathed his twin swords and roared "Subdue the rhinoceroses!"


    The nayeran started to wildly attack the rhinoceros in the hopes of kill them. But their large horns and the lack of steel weapons made them very powerful foes for the nayeran. Only one in twenty nayeran had a steel weapon and most who did were troops from the six commanders... and those stood idly by as their fellow nayeran were slaughtered by the rhinos.


    The rhinos wildly ran about and used their horns to throw the nayeran over their heads or puncture them. With the lack of steel weapons, nayeran were quickly falling left and right. In comparison very few rhinoceroses were killed. Only the commanders and king were dealing with them very effectively and each of them had been able to kill multiple rhinoceroses in mere minutes.


    The guild''s troops all stared at the scene in disbelief. At first there was an huge amount of troops coming their way in an orderly fashion and then suddenly... their beasts all went out of control at the same time? Moreover... it was when the beasts entered the radius Zaran had previously mentioned. The guild members suddenly thought that it would be better to not provoke their leader if there was a single beast nearby.


    Only after three minutes of the rhinoceroses slaughtering nayeran did the six commanders decide that they should step in with the troops that had steel weapons. As for their remaining troops, all of them waited for a command of their commander.


    Seeing that more nayeran joined the fray, Zaran made all the rhinos leave and run off in the woods, evading all the traps that the guild had placed. Only ten of the rhinos, including the king''s rhino stopped in the woods, turned around and slowly walked to Zaran. With the rhinos before him, Zaran opened his eyes and the spell was cancelled at that instant.


    Zaran took out his greatsword and placed it on the king''s rhino''s throat. The rhino was still under the after-effects of Zaran''s spell and did not budge as he did so. Zaran calmly waited until the after-effects disappeared.


    The rhino felt the cold metal on its throat and looked at Zaran, whose eyes seemed to convey "yield or die.". It snorted and then lied down on its belly. It still felt a faint connection to the man who had his sword on his throat and it instantly knew that this was the man that had made them go out of control. For the choice of yield or die, it felt that the man in front of him could do as  he said and so... it yielded. The nine others following its example.


    Zaran only chose to subdue ten, as he instinctively felt that was as many as he could force to yield. He did not want any of these rhinos as pets as he wanted something with more potential. For a tank he already had Kru, whose armour was already far stronger in comparison to the rhino and its strength was also better, even though the rhinos level was higher. The only reason that he chose to bother with forcing the rhinos to yield at all was that he was in need of mounts.


    A few of the weaker nayeran commanders and a thousand troops had died, another thousand were wounded and the troops were in complete disarray. Seeing the dead and the wounded clansmen, the king''s fury grew to unprecedented highs. He swore that if he lived through this day... he would make sure that every living being he crossed would die an ugly death.


    "Those who are too injured... LEAVE! Those who have lost their commanders, join the troops of the six commanders behind me!" The king said. Each of these six already commanded 600 troops and with the troops that had lost their leader, they gained another 200 each. "And get back in formation!"


    The six commanders made their new recruits sit at the front of the troop and orderly guarded the back. The king allowed them to at their back because he had absolute trust in their strength and losing even a single of their men was the same as losing two other nayeran therefore they were always the last to enter the battle.


    Minutes later, the nayeran''s troops were back in formation, or at least what could be called a formation by their standards.


    One of the six commanders walked over to the one they had appointed as their leader. "Move?" he asked.


    "Not yet. Wait until the majority of the troops are halfway to the enemy." The leader of the six said.


    The other one nodded and went back to his own troops.


    The king raised one of his two twin swords and pointed towards the guild''s formation. "Attack!"

 Chapter 69: Betrayal

    Author''s note: don''t worry there''s no april fool''s joke in here. With that out of the way, i''m still looking for a proofreader so if anyone''s up to the challenge... you can pm me or reply below.


    Enjoy!


    ________________________


    GROOOOOWL. The four thousand nayeran at the front howled as they rushed forward, quickly closing the distance between themselves and the guild''s forces.


    The leader of the six commanders closely watched their progress and the moment they neared the halfway mark, he raised his greataxe and pointed towards the king. The forces of the six other commanders instantly moved. The new soldiers who had suddenly become part of the troops did not know what happened when swords suddenly pierced through their packs. In mere seconds they were slaughtered. The back stab damage combined with the three to one scenario, the strength of these nayeran and the damage the new ones had received from the rhinos meant that they were easy prey.


    As for the six commanders, they slowly walked to their king who was too focused on the battle itself. When the six weapons pierced through his back, the king stared at his subordinates in disbelief.


    "WHY?" the king asked, the rage he felt from this betrayal warping his voice in to something demonic.


    "You need to ask? Look at our enemies. Do you really think they are the only ones they will send? Your madness is what brought this over us!" The leader of the six said.


    The king grunted and pulled himself free from the six commander''s weapons and created some distance between himself and the commanders. He roared "All troops to me!"


    With the six commander''s troops having finished of the nayeran that had joined them, they rushed over and met the honour guards in combat.


    Seeing the approaching nayeran turn around and fight their own kin, each of the guild members just stood there, staring wide-eyed at the scene.


    "What... what''s going on?" One of the mages said with a baffled expression. "Why are they running back?"


    One of the knights on the first line said. "Ladies and gentlemen... I think we are witnessing a civil war."


    Zaran messaged Irina and told her to quickly report the situation. A minute later a report came in.


    "The two sides are fighting, six commanders have rebelled and are currently fighting with the king. The rebelled soldiers look stronger then normal nayeran, but because their commanders are all busy with the king, the king''s remaining commanders are able to somewhat keep the rebelling troops at bay."


    "The fight between the king and the six commanders?" Zaran asked.


    "Even thought the king has various wounds on his body, and six huge holes in his back... He''s able to deal with the commanders and is even pushing them back."


    "Thanks." Zaran replied. So there is a rebellion. Now I understand why the quest said to exterminate the king''s troops. Still... we need to step in if the rebels will have a chance at winning. The moment even one of the rebels commanders falls is the moment this rebellion will most likely fail. "Everyone! Listen up!  Archers and assassins, disable the traps you have laid. We are going to help the rebelling nayeran by attacking the nayeran from their back. "


    "How do we know which ones to hit? They all look the same to me. I really can''t tell them apart." One of the archers asked.


    "Hit the ones who try to kill us. Even if we accidentally kill a rebel, that''s not our problem as long as they attacked us first." Zaran said. "We need to be quick about helping them so after disassembling the traps we will rush forward in formation!"


    "Yes sir!" The archers and assassins yelled in unison.


    Two minutes later all the traps in front of them had been removed and the guild''s troops immediately marched forward, leaving only the archers and assassins with the highest dismantling skill behind to clean up the remaining traps.


    Because the two nayeran armies were so busy fighting each other, the king''s troops had not even noticed the guild''s arrival. That is until magic and arrows started pouring down on them.


    "My king! Enemies at our back!" One of the king''s remaining commanders yelled.


    "Take the wounded and hold them off! Once I deal with these six, I will join you and deliver them an ugly death!" The king said in a crazed voice before turning towards the six commanders. "As for you guys... your relatives will be mutilated, used in every hole and killed in the most savage way I can think of!"


    The king''s twin swords fluttered through the air at incredible speed as they met with the weapons of the six commanders, a dent or crack appearing on the six commanders'' weapons with every clash.


    "Damn those swords! And how can such a small body contain so much power!" One of the six cursed as he got pushed back yet again. Every time the tribe had razed a village in the past, the luxuries and weapons of the town were delivered in front of their king. While usually he only took a fair portion of gold and luxurious clothes... it was the first time the king had taken weapons as his prize. Since he had been king he had seen thousands of weapons and he had only ever taken two swords prior. Just from this one could get a clear idea as to the strength of these weapons.


    "It''s his ki." The leader of the six grunted. "He has been using it to strengthen his body and its the reason he got so strong."


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    "You also strengthened your body with ki, so why is he stronger than you?" Another asked, furiously swinging his mace at the king, whom met the mace with his sword, the blow between the two weapons shoving the commander back.


    "His cultivation is far higher than mine! We cannot even be compared any longer... I had not thought he had already reached such a level." The leader of the six gnashed his teeth and said. "All we can do is fight and pray that we outlast him!"


    Meanwhile on the guild''s end they collided with the weak and injured nayeran.


    "The weak and injured? What do they take us for!" One of the knights roared as he cut down a nayeran that only had a sliver of health left.


    "We get free experience and you complain?" The knight next to him remarked.


    "Well... if you put it like that..." the knight that previously complained said as his eyes started shining with greed and rushed forward, leaving the first line of defence. "COME HERE FREE EXP! BRING A HUNDRED! BRING A THOUSAND! Hahahaha!"


    The knight next to him shook his head and tried to fill in for the knight that had just left his position.


    Zaran noticing what was going on fumed. "OI, free exp guy! Get your ass back in line. You''re getting everyone else down with you!"


    "Oh! Uh! Yes sir!" Free exp guy said as he quickly ran back to his original place.


    "Welcome back free exp guy." The knight next to him said with a big smile on his face.


    "Ugh... I''ll never hear the end of this will I?"


    "Nope."


    The battle between the wounded nayeran and the guild quickly concluded with a land-slide victory for the guild and even with the previous battle included, they had not lost a single person.


    Most members, safe the assassins, had gained nearly five levels through the battle. Zaran had already gotten three levels by this point, elevating his level to 56. This was mostly due to ''call of the beastmaster!'' which gave him a small amount of experience with every nayeran that was killed. While he did not get the full experience for it, with more than a thousand dead, these little bits of experience he did get added up to a substantial amount and he gained two levels from that alone.


    The commander appointed to the injured had ran back to his King halfway the battle and quickly brought out rapport. "Milord! They have killed all the injured!"


    With only two minutes having passed the king cried out. "WHAT? Already? Take 200 more. Go!"


    I need to finish this battle soon! A dangerous glint appeared in the king''s eyes. His attacks grew more relentless and unlike before he allowed himself to be struck if it allowed a blow on one of the six commanders. Soon multiple shallow wounds appeared on the king''s body... But in return each of the six commanders had at least two large cuts on their body.


    Every cut on the commanders was deep enough to see the bone. Two commanders had an arm that was no longer fit for battle and the others had deep cuts all over their bodies.


    Meanwhile on Zaran''s side the guild had already started fighting with the two hundred additional warriors and they too quickly started falling. Their injuries left them unable to put up a decent fight and with the addition of the assassins that were killing unaware nayeran left, right and center, the two hundred were quickly dealt with.


    The remaining loyal troops were starting to be pushed into a corner the moment Zaran and his guild members joined the fight. With an additional two hundred men gone, the balance completely shifted in the favour of the rebels.


    Even if they wanted to do something about Zaran and the others, the loyalists could not. They would immediately lose the battle if they did so. Still, with the fight as it were, Zaran and his men cut down nayeran upon nayeran and soon they carved a path to the center of the battle.


    "Those who are not in battle... Attack the small one with the twin swords!"  Zaran yelled. Arrows and magic instantly flew towards the king nayeran and hit him square in the back. He cried out in pain and stabilized himself become creating some distance between himself, the six commanders and Zaran''s army.


    "Tcheh." Zaran gnashed his teeth as he noticed the king create some distance.


    "Irina, try to attack the small nayeran while in stealth. We absolutely need one of the effects from your daggers on him. Nekorath, Nuvahn, Florance, Sylphie, Kru, Kirin and Cindarrah, we will be fighting the king as soon as Irina''s daggers connect with him! As for everyone else, deal with the loyalists and make sure none come help out the king!"


    "Understood!" Irina said, instantly entering stealth. She slid past friends and enemies alike and carefully watched the king''s movements while in stealth. The moment he stood in the same place for a mere moment, Irina drove her two daggers through the king''s back and both necrosis and anticoagulant triggered almost simultaneously. Because her first dagger already triggered an effect, the second hit did 30% additional damage.


    The instant Irina drover her daggers through the king''s back... Zaran, Nekorath, Nuvahn, Florance and Sylphie entered the fight!

 Chapter 70: Victory

    "Eh? My sons and daughters? What are you doing here?!? Where did the commanders go?" The king shouted out loud. The hallucination effect from Irina''s daggers. Everyone near him had been replaced by a few of his sons and daughters.


    To the king it was as if his sons and daughters suddenly joined him and playfully ran around him with their pillows in hands. His weapons had been replaced by pillows. Suddenly, one of his sons hit him with a pillow in the leg, which was followed by a sudden gush of pain. The king grabbed his left thigh and noticed that it was gravely bleeding. "Wha... this? Heh?"


    Confusion filled his mind and out of pure instinct he started parrying his kids'' pillows with his own pillows.


    Still the confusion as to what was going on did not allow him to fight to his full capabilities and multiple wounds quickly appeared on his body in the next 4 seconds. Because the level of Irina and the king were far apart, the effect didn''t last the full ten seconds it originally would last, but only lasted four seconds. Still, four seconds of being effected by a debuff was a rather large time and the effect of it showed on the kings body, which was riddled with wounds.


    The scene of his kids attacking him with pillows was replaced with the scene of the six commanders and Zaran''s group attacking him, which only served to confuse the king even more. The damage dealt during the hallucination was by no means little and added onto the damage he suffered earlier, the king had already lost 25% of his health bar.


    Zaran had tried to inspect him earlier but besides the name "Lee, king of the nayeran" he hadn''t been able to see any of the other stats, the distance in their level was just far too great and did not enable him to inspect the king''s stats.


    With an additional nine attackers, the king was unable to return every strike and the pressure started to add up quickly. Especially Kru was a troublesome opponent for the king as the beetle''s defence was no joke. While the king''s hits did a fair amount of damage, not even a single one of his hits was able to knock Kru back, no matter how powerful his hit was.  Because the knock backs that the king expected, did not happen, the king''s follow up attack was slower, which gave an opportunity for a free hit.


    "Good job Kru!" Zaran said as he noticed the opportunity that Kru had been able to create for them and he used ''Flutter'' followed by ''Intent'' at the moment Zaran''s blade stabbed out. Even though the combo did a massive amount of damage, it had not been able to do a full percent of damage. The combo Zaran had landed increased the knock back effect and the king was knocked a meter back.


    Even with the additional defence that the king may have had the combination of the two skills still would''ve dealt nearly 3000 hp. "What the hell! This bastard''s health is no joke!" Zaran cried out alarmed. "It''s over 400.000!"


    "No way!" Sylphie yelled in surprise.


    Nekorath just shook his head and said. "Fuck worrying, keep slashing and it''ll die!"


    Zaran wryly smiled at Nekorath''s remark and backed off from the king right after finishing his combo. Without knowing the king''s stats he did not dare take a hit head on. "Florance, use any stun skill that you have! Cindarrah use web shot the moment the king is stunned and pin him to the ground!"


    "On it!" Florance said, using ''paralysis'' to momentarily stun the king. Just like before, the effect only last for a little over a second instead of the usual three, but the time was still enough for Cindarrah''s web shot to hit the king.  In between the status effects, Nuvahn, Kirin, Nekorath and Kru kept hitting the king with everything they had, slowly chipping away at the king''s health.


    The king was annoyed by the beetle that he found himself unable to shake off and unleashed a combo of five successive hits on it. Even with the combo, the king was still unable to shake Kru off, but on the other hand it did do a fair amount of damage and Kru''s health dropped to 60%.


    Kru can only hold out for one more combo. We''ll need to step up the pace... "Sylphie! Heal Kru as much as you can!"


    "Got it!" Sylphie shouted as she started healing Kru with angelic tears. However because of Kru''s high health, Sylphie''s healing skills only restored 4% of his max health and she would need to cast angelic tears 10 times before Kru would regain his full health. Even though she was able to cast it in rapid succession, if the king kept hitting Kru, his health would disappear at a faster rate than she could refill it.


    Both Zaran''s group and the six commanders fought the king at the same time and while the two groups did not work together, they made sure to not hinder each other either. While Zaran and his group were able to combo together status effects and attacks, their damage was very lacking. The six commanders on the other hand had great damage but had been unable to hit the king... that was until Zaran and his group joined. Now that the king was nearly continuously suffering from status effects, the weapons of the six quickly found the way to the kings body. Compared to the measly damage that Zaran and the others were able to do, one hit from the six commanders cut away a full percent of the king''s health.


    Noticing the damage that the six commanders were able to do, Zaran quickly changed the strategy of the fight. "Everyone stop trying to deal damage and focus on keeping the king busy or applying status effects! Let those six nayeran finish off the king, they do way more damage than us!"


    However the group still needed to watch out, as even one hit of the king might kill them. Even with Kru''s high defense and health, a mere 10 hits of the king had reduced his health by 10.000.


    The king turned to face the six commanders. Zaran didn''t miss a beat, roared "Gravity!", instantly utilizing the spell to pull back the king. Because the king had not suffered under the spell earlier and because of the sudden shift in gravity, a huge opening appeared in his defenses, which two of the commanders took use of, delivering a full powered blow with their weapons, forcing the king''s back to be wide-open.


    With his back wide-open, Irina who had been skulking around and patiently waiting for a chance, finally exited stealth and drove her daggers deep into the king''s back, activating anticoagulant and paralysis this time around as well as triggering the bleed effect which had a small chance of triggering with every normal hit for the assassin class. Kicking off against the king''s back, she did a back flip and appeared a few meters further away, entering stealth as soon as her feet touched the ground again. The six commanders immediately took advantage of the 4 seconds that the king was stunned due to powerful effect of the poison that Irina''s dagger applied and viciously hit their king with their weapons.


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    The party continued to apply status effects and that combined with the damage the commanders were able to do, quickly depleted the king''s health. 75% health soon became 50%... then 25% and finally... 10% health.


    The second his health bar dropped to 10% the king''s eyes got a dangerous glint in them and the status effects that he was suffering from lost their effect! At the same time, the little ki that the king had started to run along the edges of his weapons, which caused buzzing sounds to be clearly audible in the air.


    Even though the leader of the six commanders had earlier said the cultivation level between the two of them could not be compared was because... that was how it was in their eyes. Compared to other who could freely cultivate, even their king which they deemed to be a powerful cultivator was merely a beginner in the eyes of any user!


    With its movement no longer restricted, the king set his eyes on the six commanders who had betrayed him. As for the other nine who were attacking them... he paid them no heed. He felt that as long as his movement would not be restricted, dealing with them would be a trifle. Plus, if these six commanders were to die, the other rebelling soldiers would undoubtedly realize their foolishness and come to his aid. At least that''s what the king believed.


    With the king''s movement no longer being restricted and moving against the six commanders instantly thereafter, Zaran could somewhat guess what the king was thinking. Still, Zaran was not just going to sit there and let the king do as he pleased.


    "Barrage the king with the strongest moves you have!" Chasing the king, Zaran was ready to hit him with all his might!


    One green, two blue, multiple purplish-black light and one red light flashed past Zaran as Nuvahn''s wind slash, Florance lightning bolt, Irina''s phantom daggers, Kirin''s dark flame balls and finally Nekorath''s dragon''s wrath passed him and struck the king square in his back one after the other, a loud explosion sound following each and every single hit.


    The unexpected hits caused the king to lose his balance and caused him to stumble forward creating an opening. One of the six commanders instantly stepped forward and stabbed out with his spear, using a skill of his own which dealt increasingly high damage the more damaged his opponent was. So far he had not used this skill as it was quite an obvious move and could easily be avoided. With the king stumbling, now was the best time to use it. The tip of the spear and the king''s abdomen collided and a loud cracking sound reverberated throughout the air.


    At the same moment the cracking sound reverberated throughout the air, Zaran''s greatsword struck the king''s back and a full-powered ''Intent'' hit the king square on. Not letting up, Zaran followed up with ''Rise and Fall'' and ''Velocity'' while the second and third commander slashed at the king with their weapons.


    GROOOWL! The king growled in pain, raised his twin sword and blocked the strikes of the two commanders. As for Zaran''s strikes, he had no way to block them without taking a hit from one of the commanders.


    A dark light flashed in the king''s eyes as he slid his right hand''s sword down along the weapon of the  commander, freeing it and then instantly slashed towards the commander''s throat.


    Before the commander knew what hit him, his throat was sliced open and he was killed right there and right then!


    The leader of the six commanders grumbled and ignited the ki in his body along with some of his blood essence, drastically raising his power for a short duration. Among all of the commanders, only he had a chance to hold him off for a short amount of time. The king and the leader of the six commander''s weapons met and neither moved an inch. However the leader of the six was not the only one the king had to worry about as there were still four other commanders as well as Zaran''s group to worry about.


    While he could no longer be affected by status effects, the king''s movements were now restricted to blocking the leader of the six.


    A minute later the King finally fell, only leaving his twin swords behind as a drop, which Zaran picked up and stowed away.


    The few remaining loyal nayeran swiftly surrendered when their king was defeated. After ordering a hundred nayeran to guard the nayeran who had surrendered, one of the commanders started to count the surviving troops. And a few minutes later he reported to the leader of the six.


    "Report." With a weary expression his face, the leader of the six steeled his heart for the incoming result.


    "850 dead, 1529 wounded, the remaining got off unscathed."


    "So many dead... In the king''s camp?"


    "Only 453 survivors sir."


    The leader''s expression grew grim. He had expected huge losses but... the losses they had been incurred today were far too great. It would take them decades before they would regain the power they had lost today.


    Pointing to Zaran and his troops, the commander said. "Leader... what do we do with them?"


    "Well they have not attacked us in the past few minutes so... let''s go over and talk."

 Chapter 71: Three weeks

    After Zaran picked up the twin swords he returned to his camp and inspected them. The moment his eyes landed on the swords'' description, his expression turned extremely grim. "So that''s why..."


    He called the whole group together and told them what he had learned and what he thought was the real reason they were here. Within the guild many dejected faces and cries of disbelief soon appeared.


    A bit later the nayeran leader walked over ever so carefully. Behind him were the four surviving commanders and a retinue of ten normal soldiers, who looked at Zaran''s group with wary eyes. They had pleaded their leader to bring over more troops but he had chosen not do so. In his eyes, the less men came with him, the more likely it would be that they would be able to talk. With a loud and clear voice he said: "I wish to speak to your leader!"


    "That would be me." Zaran stood up and walked to the front of the group, carrying himself in a manner that made him look somewhat defined.


    "I understand that you are here to kill us due to the three villages we have razed... I was wondering if it would be possible for us to establish a truce instead? In the past we have never been the aggressor against any tribe near us, but our now-dead king ordered us to do so, against our wishes. With the king dead we may now revert to more tranquil times, but we need to be given the chance to do so. I know that there is some bad blood with the nearby tribes due to recent events and that it is not something that will just be forgotten and forgiven, but I honestly feel that we need to be given at least a chance to atone for our sins.


    Having heard the nayeran leader''s intention, the group somewhat relaxed but still kept themselves ready to fight at a moment''s notice.


    "... I will need to return to the city and talk with the mercenary guild''s leader to be able to agree to your proposal. Which is what I plan on doing right now, unless there is another question you need to ask?"


    "Actually... I... have another favor to ask of you. Could you return the king''s swords to us?"


    "I cannot." Shaking his head, Zaran instantly turned down the leader. "If I return them to you and leave, someone else will undoubtedly come for you and unlike me and my fellow companions, they will not be so kind-hearted. The whole reason we are here in the first place is due to these weapons. After seeing these weapons I even wonder if the actual slaughter of the villages has anything to do with us being here at all."


    Confusion spread across the leader''s face. "I... I don''t understand."


    "The swords belonged to the previous leader of the mercenary guild and it is only AFTER you''ve gotten these weapons that the guild put a bounty on you guys. I am pretty sure that as long as you guys are in possession of these two swords that there will always be more people coming after you no matter what happens. Therefore I cannot return them to you. Instead... they might be the thing needed to make the guild give you guys another chance."


    The leader nodded and said. "Take them then."


    "My companions will stay here while I travel to the city and back. If anything happens to them our deal is off." Already turning around without waiting for the leader''s reply, Zaran motioned to one of the mages, who opened up a teleportation portal to the mansion''s gate stone.


    Stepping through the portal, the scenery of the wide open plains was replaced with that of the mansion. Not intending to let a single minute go to waste, Zaran quickly made his way towards the mercenary guild!


    ____________________________


    "What!? You want to cancel the mission halfway and instead make us sign a peace treaty with those vermin? OVER MY DEAD BODY!" A man with the features of a gorilla said.


    "Sir, if I may explain" An uneasy expression filled Zaran''s face. As expected the talks did not go well at all.


    The leader of the mercenary guild immediately cut Zaran of. "YOU MAY NOT!"


    "I need you to listen to me!" Zaran yelled at the top of his lungs.


    The mercenary guild''s slammed his fists down onto the table and raised himself. "No! YOU need to listen to ME! Your guild took the mission to exterminate the nayeran and now you wish to back off? I will not allow to let that happen. Now go out there and only return when you are able to show me proof that you have finished off every single last one of those fucking vermin!"


    Smashing the  twin swords into the table, Zaran''s blood started to boil. Did they really have to exterminate a tribe for their stupid revenge? Where was the mercenary guild with their mission when the first village near the nayeran got decimated? Nowhere! Only when one of their own lost their lives to the nayeran did they decide to step in! Hypocrits! "Here! I already retrieved the previous guild leader''s swords, which is what you were after! NOW WILL YOU LISTEN?"


    Seeing the twin swords lying in front of him, the leader of the mercenary guild was quite shocked. He wanted to tell the youth in front of him his place but... he did accomplish what the guild was after in the first place. The few villages around the nayeran? They didn''t care too much about it as there were no survivors to put up a bounty and there were missions of greater interest all over the country. Generally, the mercenary guild would only really step in once a tribe had slaughtered ten villages... Any below that and one of the survivors needed to put up a bounty themselves.


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    With the current flames of war being kindled ever so slowly and the ever increasing numbers of monsters, the mercenary guild was spread extremely thin and thus they had to decide on what missions were the most important. Obviously there would be missions that they would regard with little interest until they became troublesome enough that they HAD to bother with it.


    With the coming of the player guilds the mercenary guild would slowly start to be relieved from the pressure they were under at the moment but that was not at this moment and would not be for quite a large time to come. The player guilds needed time to establish themselves and within the current world... players were utterly weak existences.


    Thinking about the current state of the world... the mercenary guild leader decided to shelve his anger and listen to the Zuno in front of him instead. By completing what he had deemed impossible by a D ranked guild. This proved that the guild the man in front of him was the leader of was not something he could just disregard. "Very well, so you want us to sign a truce with the nayeran. All I need to know is... why?"


    Recounting what happened, Zaran tried his utmost to convince the mercenary guild leader to cancel the mission and sign a truce with the nayeran.


    "Hmm... I will sign a truce with the nayeran on one condition. Your guild stays in the area for a full three weeks to check their movements. Afterwards you will report back to me and if I am satisfied with the report I will personally go over and sign the truce. As for the mission, I won''t cancel it but I will change the mission directives so that the new mission will be the watch the nayeran''s movements. That much is within my power and it will allow you to gain a reward at the end of it all instead of slaving away for no reward at all. Oh, you''ll also have to leave the weapons here if you want me to sign a truce with them. If i deem your report good enough I will personally see that you will be additionally rewarded for the weapons."


    Shoving the weapons towards the guild leader, Zaran just blurted out "Fine. We will do as you said."


    The commander stared at Zaran for a few seconds and then said in a slightly annoyed tone. "You may go now. I will see you in three weeks."


    ____________________


    "So that is the situation." Concluding his explanation as to what would happen in the next three weeks to both the nayeran and his guild, he looked at their faces and noticed that his guild mostly had disappointed faces while the nayeran were quite happy with the overall result.


    "Good! Good! It''s just three weeks of being what we wanted to return to. I have no doubts that your report in three weeks will force to guild leader to sign a truce with us and cancel the mission."


    "Hmm." Zaran thought of what his guild members could do in the next few weeks. If there was no leveling to be had, the whole guild would fall behind and it would become a major set back to them and one they should avoid by all means necessary. "I have one more request that I need you guys to full fill. During those three weeks... while you guys go hunting you have to take a group of us along with you and allow them to participate in your hunts."


    "I can''t let them hunt with us as we hunt for the resources our tribe needs and if you guys hunt too, the amount of game might reduce too quickly. However the woods are crawling with all sorts of monsters so maybe we can have your troops accompany ours to deal with the monsters? Usually we fight off a couple hundred monsters on each hunt so there''s enough fighting to be had if that''s your purpose."


    "Deal!" Zaran said. All he had to do now was to assure that everyone could continuously accompany one of the hunting parties.


    He quickly divided the guild in eight groups of twenty-five people each and left them to their own devise thereafter. Only the group that was with Zaran had to comply with his wishes, but he had already asked that only those who would not have a problem with that all joined up with them and contrary to his expectation, about forty members raised their hands instantly. Afterwards he picked out a couple of them to fill the remaining nineteen positions of his own group. With all that done, each of the groups prepared themselves to stay within the area for a full three weeks.

 Side story 2: Mage knight part 1

    Author''s note: part 1 of side story #2! enjoy!


    ____________________________


    Hmm... So this way doesn''t work either huh? Looking at the mana that he had tried to fuse with his body fade away instead of fusing with it, a disappointed expression appeared on his face.


    Reborn once more, Zaran had been born into a noble family that solely consisted out of mages. While cultivating ki was possible in this world, he had never been able to progress his cultivation. The day his parents found out that he was cultivating ki, they had punished him severely and when they caught him for the second time, the punishment was even more severe than the last.


    To this day, cold shivers ran through his spine as he remembered the beatings he had gotten. Still he did not give up... and was caught a third time. This time he did not get a beating as it had proven to be worthless. Instead, one of his parents of a servant of his parents continuously guarded him, during the whole day and whenever they saw that he started cultivating ki, they would intervene and disrupt his cultivation, which caused him to be unable to cultivate ki.


    So with ki out of the question, Zaran started to faithfully practice magic and cultivate mana, something he had not done prior to this reincarnation. Seeing their son so immersed in their studies, his parents finally were happy with him. However unbeknownst to his parents he wasn''t studying magic that thoroughly to become a powerful mage, but to become a mage knight, so far something that did not exist within this world. The first thing he had to do was find out a way to enhance his body with magic, which is why he had tried to fuse magic with every single cell of his body to strengthen it. He had tried various techniques that worked to infuse ki within cells but found every single one of them to be useless, causing him to have to start from scratch.


    With his knowledge being solely focused on ki cultivation, he found his road to becoming a mage knight to run into a dead end. Initially he had tried to find ways to do so by himself but after a few days of fruitless effort, found himself unable to do so with his limited knowledge of magic. Thus he threw himself in the study of magic!


    Every free minute of every day he had was spent rigorously training spells, increasing his knowledge over magic and mana and trying new ways to fuse mana with his cells! Of course his parents had figured out what he was trying to do and had talked to him about it, but to their question he just gave a simple answer. "Knights can infuse ki within every single cell of their being, along with having ki in their dantian which lets their power soar to tremendous heights. Mages are able to achieve the same amount of power by solely relying on their mana seed, just think about the power one could gain if mana filled every cell of their being! It is for this reason that I am trying to think of a way to do so!"


    His parents were satisfied with his explanation and left him to his own devises, but still made sure to watch over him, just in case he tried cultivating ki again. What Zaran did not know is that behind his back, his parents too started researching ways to fuse mana with their cells! Alas his parents soon found out that they had progressed too far along the path of cultivation and the power of their mana made them unable to fuse mana with their cells and they ended up destroying the cells instead. Seeing that they were unable to achieve the much longed for result, they gave up and just encouraged their son on his research and taught him as much as they could.


    Zaran jotted a few notes down in a scroll next to him, closed it and stood up. The servant that had been watching over him immediately came running. "Is there anything I can help you with young master?"


    "Prepare me a bath." Zaran said, stretching his body, which was sore from being in the same position for hours upon hours. He had seated down and started cultivating at breakfast, then when the sun was at its highest position in the sky he had switched to fusing mana with his cells and only when the sun was halfway down again did he finally stop practising.


    The servant made a few double-handed incantations and a blue coloured bird flew through the door, signalling another servant to prepare a bath.


    Soon after, the servant escorted him to the bathtub. Zaran ordered the servant to leave, undressed himself and lied down in the bathtub. Even though he had commanded the servant to leave, he knew that he was still being watched and at this point... he did not even care about it anymore. It had been years since they started watching him and they would not ever call the servants off.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.Within seconds of entering the bath, he started muttering to himself. "Ah..  I thought  I could find a way! But it seems hopeless! This world is so cruel!"


    Some time passed and Zaran raised himself so he sat up right in the bath, his two arms lying on the frame of the bath. Water droplets rolled down on his arms and slid down into the water.


    Looking at the water droplets on his skin, realization struck him, soon followed by his own hand striking his cheek. He crazily laughed as an incredibly elated expression appeared on his face. "Wrong! So wrong! I have been going about this the wrong way the entire time! With the way I was doing it it never would have worked. Why did I even start off with thinking that mana and ki are the same? They are not! Of course the same methods would not work. If ki is like a fluid then mana is something solid! My mana and my cells don''t need to fuse... no... they couldn''t even if I tried my whole life! Unless ... unless it becomes a container! What I need to do is make every single one of my cells contain a mana seed!"


    The sudden flash of insight on a mere droplet of water! Still, there was one big problem that he was currently faced with. How in the hell was he going to have his cells contain a mana seed. He had no idea how to even create one as he was born with one and in the academy they had never touched on the subject. "Hmm... I will ask my parents if they know of a way and if they don''t, I''ll ask them to gather any and all research they can find concerning mana seeds!"


    A look of determination appeared in his eyes. He''d get right to it! But first... he needed to get dressed!


    "Attend to me!" Zaran yelled.


    Seconds later two young maidens came running through the door and helped Zaran out of the bath. The youngest of the two''s face flushed as she saw Zaran''s male parts upon which the other one gave her irritated glance and then went on with her work. The two servants wiped him clean of every single droplet of water and dressed him in his black bathrobe. Zaran pulled both maidens close, kissed both of them on their lips and happily ran out of the room. The two maidens looked at each other in confusion as they saw Zaran running of.


    Zaran pushed open the door to the study where both his parents were absorbed in their own studies of magic and he coughed a few times to get their attention.


    His father looked up from the book he was absorbed in and noticing Zaran''s happy expression, asked with expectation. "Were you successful?"


    "No! But it won''t be long! I was thinking about it the wrong way the entire time, mana doesn''t need to be infused within my cells, my cells need to fuse with mana seeds! And to be able to do that I need to know everything you know about creating mana seeds!"


    "Eh... sure?" Still trying to make sense of Zaran''s words, his father stood up and grabbed a few books from one of the nearby bookshelves. He looked around a few other shelves, but did not find the books he was after. "Darling, where are the other books on mana seeds?"


    "Hmm, mana seeds? Why do you need books about that?" Looking up from the tome she was studying, his mother looked at his father, before looking at Zaran and then muttering. "Oh."


    She stood up and walked towards the back of the study, where there sat a few dusty chests in which they kept the books that they didn''t deem important or interesting to read, even for future generations of their family. After rummaging through them for a while, his mother returned with five books, two tomes and three scrolls. "Along with the books your father has, this is all we have on mana seeds."


    "If one of you two is free could you help me gain a basic understanding of them?" Zaran carefully asked. He knew that unless one of the two was guarding over him they would barely have any time for him at all. With both of his parents being teachers at the academy, they had a high need to continuously increase their own knowledge concerning mana and magic.


    His parents looked at each other, both shaking their head a bit. "I am sorry hun, both of us don''t have time at the moment. However, I have time in an hour or two... You can start on this scroll in the meantime." Said his mother with her sweet voice, while handing him one of the scrolls. "Servants!"


    The two young maidens quickly entered the room and both his parents handed the books to the servants. "Carry these to Zaran''s room!"


    "Yes milady!" Both of the maidens said at the exact same moment, before turning around and taking their leave.


    "I will see you in a while then, mother." Smiling, Zaran too turned around and left the room.

 Side story 2: Mage knight, part 2

    Author''s note: To continue the side story right now or leave it for later hmmm... not sure which one you guys prefer.


    Enjoy!


    _______________________


    A year later...


    Bead upon bead of sweat rolled of Zaran''s body, dripped onto the ground and he heavily panted. Recovering from the sheer exhaustion that fusing cells with mana seeds brought with it, a content expression slowly emerged on his face. Done! It had taken him eight months of day and night research without cultivation... followed by four months of blood, sweat and tears!


    He had barely been sleeping for the past few months but to achieve what he had achieved today, he would do it all over again. Every single cell in his body had become a vessel for mana. Just imagining the power he would now be able to wield cause shivers to run through his spine. A year ago he was what was considered a junior apprentice, the lowest rank of mages. Now... what level would he be considered as now... he was curious to find out.


    Activating every single mana seed within his body, vast amounts of mana swirled towards Zaran, the amount nearly vast enough to make the progress visible to the naked eye. A feeling of absolute might washed over him as every cell within his body became filled to the brim with mana. After his body could not contain a single drop more mana, a feeling of ecstasy invaded his body and he couldn''t help but moan from the pleasure he was feeling.


    He performed a few simple double handed-incantations and the water essence near him congealed itself to form a protective armour of ice around him. Much to his surprise, the time it took to cast the spell was vastly shorter than before. Moreover he felt that for a spell like this, he did not need to perform hand incantations at all anymore as he could freely circle mana around his body, which was why the hand incantations were used in the first place.


    Using the spell once more, this time without hand incantations, an protective armour of ice formed around him a mere second after he started the spell. Before, the hand incantations were used to carefully guide his mana along the mana vessels in his body. In his current state however, he just needed to sent a pulse of mana throughout his body without carefully guiding it.


    Thinking about it, this was likely to be the reason why the cast time had reduced by such a vast amount. He no longer needed to guide the mana around his body as his whole body had basically become one giant source of mana and the outer layer of his skin would already contain enough mana to cast this spell, so all he had to do was emit the mana in those cells and the armour would almost instantaneously congeal itself.


    I wonder how long it takes to cast the most advanced spell I know... Let''s try it!


    A long stream of hand incantations flashed forth from his hands as he guided the mana through his body to cast the most advanced spell he knew. While he could forego the hand incantations and try the spell without them from the get go, he believed it would be better to be safe than sorry.


    The temperature in the room drastically dropped with every incantation that Zaran made, the furniture quickly becoming covered by a faint layer of frost. When he made the final incantation the air grew even colder and ice spread forth from Zaran''s body, instantly freezing whatever it touched solid.


    A frightened expression appeared on the face of the maiden who was present in the room. She quickly ran out of the room and slammed the door shut.


    "OH FUCK!" Zaran screamed as he retracted the ice and opened the door, finding a scared to death maiden sitting on the floor, whose knees had given in due to the sheer fear for her life.


    Zaran knelt beside her and lifted her chin so he could see her face. "I am so sorry! I totally forgot you were present. Are you okay?"


    "uh...  uh... I think ... so?" the maiden said, fear still lingering in her voice.


    "Here, I''ll help you up." Extending his hand towards the young maiden, Zaran waited for her to take it.


    The maiden took Zaran''s hand and allowed herself to be pulled up by him. "T-thanks master." She straightened her outfit and shyly looked around. "Have you finished? Can I get you anything?"


    "You could say that... and no, I don''t need anything at the moment. Just keep following me."  With a big smile on his face, Zaran strolled off toward the study where he would undoubtedly find his parents.


    A minute later Zaran entered the study and yelled. "Good evening, father, mother."


    Both his father and mother looked up from their tomes and looked at Zaran with a questioning expression. To so rudely disturb them, Zaran should have something important to announce.


    Zaran was not going to make it long and just said one single word, which shocked the soul out of his parents. "Done."


    His mother quickly performed a few hand incantations. A white ring appeared on the iris''s of her eyes. She carefully examined Zaran from top to bottom, grabbed her husband and cried out in disbelief. "He... he.... he... he''s a disciple!"


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    "D-Disciple?!? impossible! he was just a junior apprentice one year ago!" His father looked at Zaran if he were some kind of monster. This son of his... had both succeeded in his research and passed multiple cultivation levels in a mere year?


    Within one year Zaran had caught up to the multiple years of painstakingly cultivating that his most promising peers had done to reach that point. Going from junior apprentice to disciple in less than a year, only one word could be used to describe the speed. Monstrous! It was no wonder that both his parents were extremely shocked and looked at their son as if he was some monstrous being.


    However what they didn''t know was that this was only when including the mana from every cell in his body and his true cultivation was actually weaker than it had been one year ago. Nearly a quarter of his mana seed had been sacrificed to fuse mana seeds within his cells and only now that he was finished could he slowly start its recovery.


    While his father was initially shocked, he quickly regained himself and was already considering Zaran''s return to the academy. While Zaran had been given a leave of absence until his research was finished, now that it was, he needed to attend the academy once more and he needed to catch up on everything that he missed during the time he was gone. "Now that you are done with your research it is time for you to take up your studies again. You''ve missed a year of classes, so we''ll find you a tutor to fill you in on what you missed."


    "A tutor? Is that really necessary?" Zaran''s mood sank. A tutor was not something he wanted.


    "It''s not something that can be discussed." His father sternly said.


    "Fine." With a weary sigh, Zaran turned around and left the study.


    _______________________


    A few uneventful days passed, and Zaran just arrived home from the academy. Dropping his tome and notebook off at his bedroom, he instantly headed for the backyard. The past few days he had been searching for spells that was suited for his new state. Emission-type spells worked very well for him now that his whole body was a vessel for mana. For now spells that needed a great deal of control to be pulled off weren''t convenient for him to use as he still needed to perform the hand incantations to help him.


    This caused Zaran to be in quite a pickle. Since he had chosen the path of an ice mage, with his magic level at the mere disciple stage, he didn''t have access too all too many emission type ice magic spells. At the moment he only had access to two and he had been able to pick up another two after he had verified his status as a magic disciple. If he was at the adept stage or higher, he''d have access to quite a few more emission-type spells but alas, he was still quite far of that state.


    The spell he was going to start working on today was frostbeam, a spell in which the caster emitted a high speed beam of frost, which would freeze solid whatever it touched. The hand incantations and mana requirements were quite tremendous for a disciple, but its potency was no joke. Its speed only almost always assured the target of a disciple level to be hit.


    An array of cheap mass produced vases, which Zaran had requested, were lined up in a circle in the backyard. Curling up the frostbeam scroll, Zaran closed his eyes and slowly performed the hand incantations that were written down in the scroll.


    Half an hour passed with Zaran practicing the incantations before he finally did them in the right order. After the last incantation a white mist enveloped his whole right arm which was outstretched and aimed at one of the vases. As soon as it appeared a white beam flew towards the vase. Due to some mistakes in his incantations and him being slow in performing them, the line was shaky and his aim had been off by half a meter. Still, the beam hit the vase and the area on the vase that came in contact with the beam frosted over, the frost quickly spreading to the rest of the vase. Three seconds later, the whole vase was frozen solid. Zaran walked over and delivered a powerful punch to the vase, which instantly shattered.


    A sweet voice which praised his efforts rang out from behind him. "That was fairly well done! Your incantations were not perfect and your speed was slow, but it was just good enough to produce a fairly acceptable result."


    Turning around to see who this unfamiliar voice belonged to, Zaran noticed that at the entrance of the yard stood a petite red-haired maiden, clad in the velvet blue academy robe. Next to her stood one of the servants, who seemed quite nervous. Having noticed the servants attitude, Zaran carefully asked a question in a gentle tone. "And who might you be?"


    "My name is Florance Delayni, current champion of our year and from this day onward I will be your magic tutor. Pleased to meet you!" The red-headed maiden haughtily said. "Since you missed a year there will be a lot to catch up on so let''s get started straight away! The maids have already prepared a room."


    Having said all that, Florance turned around and headed inside.


    Zaran shook his head and ran after her, unaware of what his parents had brought upon him.

 Side story 2: Mage knight, part 3

    Author''s note: I try to make these chapters short and wrap it up quickly but... I can''t. In aprox 1-2 chapters this side story will be over. Depends on how long the next chapter is. Anyway, there''s a good thing about this side story: while the main story''s main plot line is set in stone, the minor plot points are things that tend to slightly change as I get to them and the extra time I have now gives me more time to work them out.


    Enjoy


    _________________________________


    "Ugh! No that is NOT what happened you big I-D-I-OT!" Scolding him for the millionth time, Florance let out a weary sigh. While this guy in front of her could remember and learn any spell extremely easy and was great in magic theories, he was beyond hopeless in all the other subjects. "How did you ever pass the first year..."


    "Eh... I aced magic studies, magic control and magic theory and just got as much as I could on the other courses which was more than enough to pass. It''s not like I need to know the history of magic to be a good mage right? "


    While she thought he had a point there, Florance could not let the matter go. "Well... you have a point. But history for example is there to learn from mistakes we humans have made in our past, so it would still be good for you to pay attention to it. If you''d take the time to listen during the other courses, you''d realize that every single one of them does teach you something important. Moreover, with your current results, no matter how good of a mage you might be, you''ll always be an idiot in the eyes of others. Is that what you want?"


    Raising two of his fingers, Zaran coldly replied. "One, I do not care in the least what people think of me. If they think I am an idiot for not paying attention during some classes that actually do NOT teach you anything important at all, it is them who are the idiots. Compared to others I actually spent my time in those classes far better as I am either cultivating or improving my knowledge on magic theories."


    "Two, people will always make the same mistakes as others have made in the past. No matter how much you teach them of history, do you think people will stop murdering for power or money?  The only thing that can make people stop making the same mistakes is to forget about power and money all together. Alas what is the first thing we learn when we get brought into life? Hey cultivate to the top and you will have money and power! Otherwise you''ll amount to nothing and people will abuse you  everywhere you go."


    Florance was drowned in her thoughts after Zaran finished speaking. He had raised quite a few valid points there. While she did not approve of them herself, she did feel that what he said had some credibility. Moreover this idiot in front of her almost literally told her that studying as hard as she was was pointless. She glared at Zaran and scolded him. "Regardless of how you feel about it, as long as I am your tutor you will have to study the subjects!  Let''s start from the beginning."


    A few hours passed with Florance teaching Zaran everything all over again. When she was finally done, she asked Zaran about the main points she had touched upon in the past few hours and found that he was able to perfectly answer them, without missing a single word of what she had said.


    "You... You..." Florance was fuming. He had been making fun of her the whole time? "You asshole! You can remember it so easily? Why do you make me waste my time teaching you if you can remember it from a single glance or lecture!?!?"


    "Like I said I just don''t care about it and chose to forgot immediately after you said it... Now I just chose to not forget."


    She stared at Zaran in disbelief. "Say WHAT!?"


    "I can remember every word you say if I choose to do so, I just chose not to. Oh, as for the making you waste your time, I already said multiple times that I don''t care and that you don''t need to bother teaching me. You''re the one that keeps wanting me to remember against my will."


    Florance glared at Zaran and threw her history book at him.


    Zaran easily caught the book and laid it down on the table. "Oi calm down!"


    Those words of Zaran made Florance even angrier and Florance''s eyes look as if she was ready to kill. "Calm down? Calm down? You want me to just calm down? Do you know how much time I have wasted on you?!?! Have you even thought about it or considered that?"


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    "You''re right." Shrugging, Zaran calmly spoke. "If you calm down I will tell you about the research I''ve been doing in the past year."


    Unable to contain her curiosity, she agreed to Zaran''s proposal. "... Fine." She had been told that Zaran was just a mere junior apprentice a year ago and after his studies he had become a disciple. Such a progress in strength was absolutely monstrous and she had wanted to ask about his research a few times prior. However, asking about someone''s research if they hadn''t shared it was not done and thus she could only silently wait until he began talking about it.


    Zaran smiled and waited for Florance to calm down. He had guessed she was curious about his research, otherwise there was no way she would''ve kept up with his antics in the past few days. He found it quite remarkable that she was able to put everything besides her even though he hadn''t ever promised that he would share his research. Even though Zaran was not going to let her know the details, he still was going to share quite a bit about his experiences in the past few months.


    Unfortunately for Florance without details she had no hopes of accomplishing what Zaran had done. Even if she started researching a way to fuse a mana seed into cells herself, it would take her at least ten times as long as it had taken Zaran. Plus, she needed to have the same insight as him and as it was a mere coincidence that he thought of it, it was very unlikely that she would be able to experience the same thing.


    "Well basically, when I was young I watched a procession of knights. I was so entranced with them that I decided that I would become the strongest knight in history, whatever the cost might be! Of course my parents were far from okay with that. After they caught me a few times cultivating ki in secret I ended up with my shadow that you''re already very familiar with. So with cultivating ki out of the question I threw myself in cultivating mana but... The ki I had cultivated kept me from properly cultivating mana, which is the reason why I was still a junior apprentice last year."


    "Only after I cleansed my body of ki, did my cultivation of mana finally start progressing like normal. However after having cultivated a little bit of ki, I felt that cultivating mana was a little lackluster. Why could I only cultivate a little mana seed in my body? Why couldn''t I do the same as a ki cultivator, using my whole body as a vessel for mana. Ki cultivators have their dantian but they also spread ki throughout the rest of the body, but apparently we magicians can''t? That sat wrong with me and thus in the last year I have tried time and time again to find a way that allowed me to do the same as ki cultivators. Eventually after a miraculous insight, I found a way to do so.. And well the result is me progressing from a junior apprentice to a disciple in a mere four months time."


    Zaran had obviously lied about part of the story, something he had become very familiar with over all his lifetimes. He had become so used to lying and acting like someone else or acting like he was something which he was not. Some times Zaran even wondered if his real self was just another act that he had just forgotten to stop... The only thing he had never forgotten however, was that he was a sword cultivator by heart. Even though he still felt that there were quite a large amount of mysteries concerning the sword that eluded him. He and the sword would never be able to be separated for all too long.


    Florance looked at Zaran with shocked and curious eyes. She wasn''t satisfied yet with that tidbit of information and wanted more... she wanted to know everything, forgetting that she really was in no position to ask any more. "Tell me more! How''d you do it."


    "I can''t tell you that. It''s my research. I shouldn''t even have told you as much as I did. By the way just a friendly reminder but do not start researching this as you''ll very much need the miraculous insight that I had. It''s not something you can just think off straight away."


    "Meh..." Florance pouted and playfully glared at Zaran. "Tease!"


    "Heh." Zaran grinned and leaned back with his two hands supporting the back of his head. "At least you''re calm now."


    "I will make you tell me all about it someday!" Glaring at Zaran, Florance stuck out her tongue and ran out of the room.


    "We''ll see about that!" Yelling after her, an amused smile appeared on Zaran''s face. She''s quite fun to tease.

 Side story 2: Mage knight, part 4

    Ugh... I ... give up on this ending. I had the whole day to think about it but I just couldn''t find anything that worked... While I have enough events/plot points in my mind for this to be a novel on its own, I just wasn''t able to think of a good ending. so ti''s really bad but w.e.


    _____________________


    As usual, Florance arrived at the Karaz''s mansion in the middle of the afternoon.


    A guard at the entrance noticed the young maiden and politely greeted her. "Good afternoon miss Delayni."


    "Good afternoon." Florance replied with a warm smile on her face. "Where is the young master?"


    Without batting an eye, the guard answered. "The young master is in the backyard."


    "207... 208... 209... 210" Zaran was doing inclined pushups, his feet on a bench, his body moving all the way down and back up again on every count. His muscular chest was bare and glistening with sweat. Prior to inclined pushups he had done multiple other exercises, including normal pushups, crunches, various weight-lifting exercises as well as some running. The muscle groups that he had not done exercises for today, he would touch upon tomorrow.


    Even though he was usually slumped up in research, cultivation or magic studies, he still reserved one and a half hour a day purely for working out. He usually did it in the mornings right after he woke up, but he hadn''t had the time for it today. Not only did the work out increase his physical strength, but more muscles meant more cells, which in return meant more place to store mana.Even if it was only a little bit more place to store mana, every little bit helped. Getting fat was another option but how imagining himself as a fat swordsman... He just could not do it. The notion alone was ridiculous to him.


    At this moment Florance entered the backyard and upon noticing Zaran''s bare body, her face flushed a bright red. She had never seen a man naked before and now there was a half naked man in front of her. How could she not turn bright red?


    "G-G-Good afternoon." Florance stammered.


    "235... 236... 237." Zaran hadn''t heard her and tirelessly continued his pushups.


    Sighing, Florance took a seat on one of the other benches and waited for Zaran to finish. While at first she looked away to not have to see his body, her curiosity took the better of her and her gaze wandered over to him.


    "250!" Zaran yelled as he pushed with all his might, the sheer power of the push causing his body to raise all the way up so that he was standing straight on the bench. He cracked his neck and then jumped down the bench.


    Seeing Zaran''s toned body, Florance turned even redder while she simultaneously was taken aback and she was roaring to herself in her own mind. WHY IS THIS GUY SO UNUSUAL! Not only does he work out, but he has worked out to the point of being muscular? What the hell!


    It was very rare for mages to work out. Between their cultivation, practising spells, their research or studying magic, there was very little time for any other stuff in their lives. Those that spent too much time on anything besides magic, were doomed to not become one of the powerhouses of their time. It had never been any different.


    This was exactly why Florance was so taken aback. Zaran was incredibly smart, seeing from how he could remember things from a single glance, but he still exercised? Florance just could not figure out why Zaran would waste his time with this.


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    Still, he does look quite good. Florance thought, something that didn''t help reduce the colour of her bright-red face.


    Only after cracking his neck did Zaran notice Florance. "Oh... hey Florance! I didn''t hear you enter the backyard..." Then he paused as he saw how bright-red Florance was and decided to tease her a little. "Like what you see?"


    "As if!" Florance rebuked. She paused a little, played with her fingers and shyly said. "Well... yes."


    Zaran let out a content grin and walked to the mansion''s back door, "I am going to wash up, I will be back before you know it."


    _________________


    Days flowed like a river and Zaran quickly caught up on the previous school year.


    "I guess today is the last day we see each other every day huh?" Zaran remarked near the end of their tutoring session.


    A sad expression appeared on Florance face and she silently swallowed. "Yeah... I''ve enjoyed these past two months though. As much as you can annoy me at times with your endless teasing... I will really miss this time spent together."


    "I have enjoyed these past two months too. But our little meetings do not have to end if you don''t want them to end." Zaran said with a warm smile.


    Florance face flushed red. She bit her lip and shyly whispered. "Wouldn''t that be the same as dating?"


    Zaran brought his face closer to hers, so close that only a centimeter was separating their lips. "Is that what you want?" After saying that he gently placed a kiss on her lips.


    Stunned, Florance sat there for a few seconds before she realized what had just happened. Her face flushed a bright tomato red and she turned her face away from Zaran. Her heart started to beat rapidly and her emotions were in a mess due to Zaran yet again. Her brain started to think at rapid speed and she was close to torturing herself with her own thoughts. Why does he always make me feel like this. Is he serious or just playing again? I can''t get a grip on him! What should I do... What should I say? If I say that it is all what I want and more... Would I have fallen for one of his ploys again? No wait... he shouldn''t joke about that right? right?


    "I... It''s all I want." Florance finally said. Her hands were clasped around each other and her nails were digging into her skin to the point of drawing blood. A small bite mark had appeared on her lower lip and a small stream of blood trickled down her chin.


    Zaran warmly smiled, pulled her in his embrace and kissed her.


    ________________________


    Time passed and eventually the two of them married and after the two of them traveled all around the world on various adventures, one of which resulted in them saving the world from being torn apart, they started a family of their own.


    The technique Zaran had created was passed on to both Florance and their children and became an heirloom within their family.

 Chapter 72: Cemetery

    Three weeks had passed since the guild had taken up the task of watching the nayeran''s movements and the guild''s strength had grown by leaps and bounds. The average level had increased to an astonishing level 70, Zaran being the highest at 75, which was three levels higher than the next highest leveled person.


    The reason for this was entirely due to his sub-profession of hellbeast master. In the past two weeks he had contracted another nineteen beasts, which caused him and his to be an army of his own. While the experience that he had gained had dropped by 80% due to the sheer amount of beasts he had at his command. With all his beasts being past level 70, it was no wonder that he leveled far faster than others.


    Out of the beasts that he had contracted, twelve were normal beasts and seven were hellbeasts. The normal beasts consisted out of, four blue gale falcons who served as scout and light harassers, two greenline boa''s who had incredibly strong crowd-control skills, two vilewood bears that completely destroyed anything of a similar level, three spearhead lizards and finally one razortail ox.


    The hellbeasts he had contracted were five skull ant workers and one skull ant queen. The ant''s bites delivered a toxin in the victim''s body that activated all the pain sensors in one''s body... at the same time. That combined with the sharpness or their mandibles and the sheer strength that they had, made them extremely powerful foes and the guild had suffered no small amount of losses to be able to get the six of them.


    As for the last beast, it was a tiger-like being, fully constructed from strong, thick vilewood with a demonic orb as its core. Its individual strength wasn''t as high as the ants, but as long as its core remained undamaged, it would continuously rejuvenate during fights. This rejuvenation ability coupled with its strong body made it quite an annoying foe to fight against and those that lacked the intelligence to figure out what was going on, would meet a timely death.


    However, even with the help of his beasts, Zaran was still quite a bit away from being the highest leveled person as there were already multiple people past level 80 at this point in time and he had spent quite a fair amount of time on training his body, something which the skull ants had proved to be quite helpful with. He had allowed them to bite him and as a result his hit point statistic had rapidly increased.


    Currently Zaran was seated down in a lotus position with his greatsword on his lap, a golden cloud completely enveloping him. Sylphie carefully walked over to Zaran and reached out to touch him. Her hand slowly crept closer to him, but before she was able to touch Zaran, he opened his eyes and rapidly sucked in the golden cloud.


    Seeing that Sylphie had been about to disturb him, Zaran''s expression turned dark. "Do you want me dead? I have told you before that you ABSOLUTELY cannot disturb me during cultivation!"


    A downcast expression appeared on Sylphie''s face. "I''m sorry! I thought you forgot about our plans for today..."


    "Ah... I have not, I was about to finish up." Zaran said as he quickly revolved the ki within his body, dealing with the remainder of the golden-coloured cloud. He opened the guild chat and quickly said his goodbye''s to the guild members, telling them to be nice to each other while he was gone before logging off.


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    The familiar vision of the wide plains disappeared from his sight and was replaced by that of the gaming pod. Zaran stretched his upper body and opened up the pod.  As the pod opened, Zaran noticed that Sylphie was waiting for his pod to open up.


    Zaran looked at the wheelchair that stood ready next to the pod and sighed. After having spent so much time running around lately, he had started to dread the moment that he had to quit the game as this meant that he would no longer be able to do so. The more he played the greater he felt like so, and the stupider he found himself for saying no to Isis''s proposition.


    "Let me help you." With her hands already reaching out for him, there wasn''t much Zaran could say. On any other day he would have told her that it was unnecessary to help him but today... he just couldn''t do it. Half a minute later, he sat in his wheelchair and Sylphie quickly ran off to get Zaran a coat. It was quite chilly today, so it would come in quite handy as they would spend quite some time outside.


    Minutes later, Sylphie closed the door behind the two of them and pushed Zaran''s wheelchair, quietly making some small talk with him. After a short stop at a flower shop, they resumed their way and soon found themselves at the cemetery. Sylphie stopped shortly before entering it and bit her lip while she fought back the tears.


    Reaching out with his left hand over his right shoulder, Zaran grabbed Sylphie''s hand and gently squeezed it. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn''t find the right words right away so he closed his mouth again. He thought for a few moments before finally saying. "Sis, you know mom and dad would be really proud of you right? Even though life was really hard after they died, you pushed forward and made something of yourself."


    Sylphie smiled. "And then I dropped all my accomplishments to earn money through a game."


    "Well... yeah, but it''s just a temporary leave right? You''ll still be able to go back."


    "That''s true..." She looked at Zaran and then back to the cemetery''s entrance. Without saying much, he had been able to shift her thoughts away from the matter at hand. She slowly bent over and pecked him on his cheek. "Thanks little brother."


    A little later the two arrived at their parent''s grave and tears quickly started to pour from Sylphie''s face as she put down the flowers on the grave.


    Zaran kept holding Sylphie''s hand and kept staring numbly at the name of the graves. He knew he should feel something but... he couldn''t. Over all his lifetimes he had witnessed more deaths than there were people on the world so any death just passed him by. Still, seeing the graves of his parents made him feel... numb, mostly because of just not being able to feel what he should feel. It was the only part about being reborn that made him feel like he stopped being normal.


    Zaran muttered some words to the grave and waited for Sylphie to calm down. After she finally calmed down the two of them slowly headed back home.

 Chapter 73: Reporters

    Changing a few names in this chapter, but you guys will figure out which games i''m talking about right?


    __________________


    "Ah, might you two be miss Sylphie Karaz and mister Zaran Karaz?" The moment the two exited the cemetery, a balding man around fifty years old called out to them. The man was wearing a cheap suit and had a notebook and pencil in one hand and a cigarette in the other.


    Startled as she didn''t expect to be called out right when they exited the cemetery, Sylphie turned to the man with a confused expression. "Yes... who are you?"


    "I''m Max Coldwell from the Imagine Games magazine and I''d like to ask you and your brother a few questions concerning Myth Online if that is okay with you?" The man said, while throwing his cigarette on the ground, putting it out with his shoe and opening his notebook.


    Bending down, Sylphie quietly whispered into Zaran''s ears. "What do you think?"


    "I doubt this will be the only report that will get wind of us so... let''s go along with it." Zaran quietly whispered, calmly letting his gaze wander over the man.


    Max shuddered, feeling as if every fiber of his being was being exposed by the gaze of this young boy.


    Of course, Zaran could not do such a thing, but it was quite easy to act as if he did. After he finished, Zaran stared into max''s eyes and smirked. "Interesting."


    Thinking about the right way to continue, Max gulped a few times before he talked. "Well errr... when did you start playing games? And what was the first game you played?"


    "The first game I was twelve and what I played was Era of Kingdoms, a real time strategy game. I got late into that game since the online community had already died of at that point so I had yet to experience my first online experience and I did not play that much as a result and didn''t get really hooked into games but I still found the game itself quite interesting.


    About a year later I played Era of Myths, a successor to the sequel of Era of Kingdoms. It was in that game that I received my first online experience and whenever I beat someone in a tough game or lose in a game I should''ve won, I vowed to get better and better, until I was able to get the number one spot in a mere three months. After that I kept playing the game for another month but there was no longer anyone who could give me a challenge.


    I played a few more RTS games in the following months but I ascended to the throne swiftly after. All I needed to do was a simple research in unit strengths and weaknesses and remember the hotkeys for the game and I would soon be number one in them. So with those games no longer being fun for me, I tried my hand on Special Ops, a shooter game that I got into contact with due to a recommendation of a friend I met on Era of Myths.


    Special Ops is a less known shooter game in these parts of the worlds, but it was far more famous in the east. Going from RTS to shooters was not the easiest transition, but still half a year after I started I was the undisputed number one player. My interest in other shooters wasn''t that big as they just didn''t offer any suspense either as they were all pretty much the same, except ... easier. After messing around with other types of games for about a year give or take, I finally started playing Virtual Reality games and only then did I find games that were actually interesting.


    Not only could I momentarily forget that I can''t walk, I could also do most of the things that I never had a chance to try before. I quickly noticed that I was really good at martial arts, but the games weren''t realistic enough at that point, but I still kept playing them just because I could move around and slowly developed my own style of fighting."


    Max furiously scribbled down what Zaran was saying and let out a few humming sounds and surprised noises. Whats more he had not expected to get such a thorough answer. "And what about you miss?"


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    Sylphie was baffled at Zaran''s accurate description of his gaming history. She wouldn''t have remembered the time spent on each game. "Oh me? Pretty much the same as Zaran, I just never was as good as him though as I couldn''t spend as much time in games, due to school, college, weekend jobs and such."


    "Hmm, very good very good. Now, as you have said, you gained the number one spot in nearly every game you played. Is the number one spot something you covet in Myth Online as well?" Max asked.


    "Yes! Even though I am not leveling as fast as the top players, in an mmorpg levels aren''t everything. Even if you are the undisputed number one in levels...  you might not be in actual combat itself, something which I have proven to be true quite a few times in the past."


    Unable to be pleased more by the crystal clear answers Zaran was giving, Max continued to furiously jot down notes. This was one of the best interviews Max had had in his entire life. The interview was basically writing itself and due to the crystal clear answers he could easily flow into the next question. "Previously you talked about developing your own style of fighting. Is this ''Dance of the Butterfly technique and the various other skills you created a result of that?"


    "Partially. The Dance of the Butterfly technique is a direct result from playing other games, while the other skills are those I thought of randomly after confirming how the mana/ki system in the game works on my part. As you may know mana and ki can work differently between two players so the way that I created my skills may not be the same for others. On top of that I do not wish to go further into the matter."


    "Very well. One final and last question, concerning your guild. In Myth Online the maximum amount of people a guild can have is five thousand people. As you are well aware there a lot of people who are willing to join your guild, are you thinking of opening more branches to your guild to accommodate more people?" Max said.


    Zaran frowned,  "Oh, the last question already? Oh well, currently we''re just looking to grow the main branch and for future plans of the guild we haven''t really discussed it all too much. We''re also currently facing a little problem in the game concerning the guild and we need all our focus with that before we''re able to start thinking about growing again."


    "Good that was everything. I have no more questions for the two of you." Max said with a big smile. "I shall let you resume with your plans for the day as you might be very busy today. I won''t be the last journalist you are talking to today."


    "Are you sure you have no other questions for Sylphie?" Zaran asked with a surprised tone. He thought that Max was just done asking him questions and that it now was Sylphie''s turn to answer some more.


    Max sighed, rubbed his temples and said. "No not at the moment, everyone is interested in you Zaran, not in your sister. Even though other journalists are going to ask her some more questions, it''s not what I came here for. Now, here''s my business card and if you ever have some scoop for me, please contact me whenever."


    Accepting the business card, Zaran put it away in his jacket and nodded to Max, who quickly ran off.


    A bit later Zaran and Sylphie arrived back at their house, which was swarmed by journalists. Seeing this Sylphie stopped and muttered to Zaran. "Should we wait until they are gone?"


    "No use, they will most likely stay until they get what they want... their scoop. Let''s just deal with them and hopefully they have as little questions as that Max guy from earlier." Zaran whispered back.


    The two of them walked up to their house and were quickly swarmed by the journalists. After two hours of non-stop answering questions, the two of them were finally able to enter their home and enter the game.

 Chapter 74: Embers of war

    Enjoy!


    ______________


    While Zaran and Sylphie were busy attending to the reporter''s every question, a commotion was happening within the mercenary guild''s office.


    "WHAT!" The leader of the mercenary guild roared as he read the report that the king''s envoy had brought. "The king wants every mercenary group above rank C? We are already spread thin as is! With the top groups leaving... this city will become a kingdom of thieves."


    With a stern expression, the envoy lightly coughed and said "That is your problem to solve. If we do not gather all the mercenary bands above level C how are we even going to stop the humans? It''ll be a week before the other nations are able to assist us. By that time everything in the west will have fallen. Do you know how many lives are at stake? Even our military fortress might fall if we don''t gather every bit of strength we can gather."


    The leader of the mercenary guild sighed and looked at the envoy with weary eyes. "Is it really that bad?"


    "In the past three weeks there have been multiple raids on remote villages near the border and like before not even a single child remained alive. If it weren''t for merchants passing through those areas we wouldn''t even have known as fast as we did. We already gathered out army near the western border. After considering why the Tarra kingdom would do this, we arrived to the conclusion that it''s most likely probing attacks or calculated attacks that allow them to set up invasion routes or future supply lines."


    "You don''t know but even though we invest quite a large sum into the military, we''re far from able to stop the Tarra kingdom from advancing, so it''s even more likely to be a probing attack than anything else. We''ve already sent word out to the other nations but as I said before it''ll be a week before they are able to move out. We need to move our troops and we need to move them now! If we don''t hurry up and solidify our defences... we will be wiped out by the Tarra kingdom in no time."


    With dejection sprawled across his face, the guild leader nodded, wrote down a few words on a paper and called in an assistant.


    "How can I help you sir?" The assistant politely asked.


    "Make sure every rank S, A and B guild receive this notice." The guild leader said as he handed the assistant the paper. "Tell them to hurry up and finish their task within a day or drop it if they are unable to. We''ll recompense their loss."


    "Yes sir!" The assistant turned around and left the room, without even glancing at the note, quickly heading over to the nearest communication room.


    The king''s envoy gave a calm smile. "If any C rank guilds are due for promotion, you may also tell them to join our forces."


    The guild leader grit his teeth and quietly said. "Fine, I will make sure to have those contacted as well. Is that all? I''m afraid with the top guilds gone I don''t have time to amuse you any further."


    With a smirk on his face, the king''s envoy turned around and left without saying another word.


    "FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those bastard Tarra''s! Fuck the king too!" The guild leader roared a few minutes later. "How the fuck am I going to keep order in my designated area if I don''t have the troops to do so! FUCK!"


    KNOCK KNOCK.


    Hearing someone knocking at his door, the guild leader barked. "COME IN!"


    One of his assistants came in with his tail between his leg and quietly muttered. "Sir, I was told you to remind you that today you have to visit the Reign guild and check up on them concerning their mission with the nayeran."


    "The Reign guild? Who are those again... Ah! I remember." The guild leader muttered, quickly signalling the assistant to leave. "Those guys... I will have to pay them a visit later."


    Thinking about the state of the Virul branch of the mercenary guild for a little longer, he came to a decision and yelled. "Assistant!"


    CREAK! The door flung wide open almost instantly as a half dog half man entered the room. "Yes sir?"


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    "Go over the reports of any guilds below the C rank and see if they are due for promotion or almost there. Immediately raise their rank by one. Tell those who are not getting a promotion that they have to join forces to tackle requests outside of their rank until further notice! The reward for the missions those guilds completed shall be doubled momentarily. That is all."


    With that order being given out, the guild leader picked up his coat and left for the nayeran territory.


    ______________________


    Meanwhile in the Tarra kingdom''s war room a man completely clad in black, who wore a black hood to cover his face, stood at the war table and observed the deployment of troops. The various generals were reporting the numbers they had deployed and the exact coordinates, not even being off by a single degree.


    At the black clothed man''s side stood two bodyguards, one long and lanky, the other short and robust. Both gave off a calm but terrifying aura and every single one of the generals present acted with the utmost courtesy around them, being terrified to death of offending either of the two of them.


    Still, the fear they felt for the bodyguards was far less than the fear they felt for the black clothed man. Even though they knew he had no power in his body whatsoever, the speed at which he had  wrestled himself into the top spot of the military was absolutely terrifying. He went from a nobody to becoming the grand marshal in mere weeks!


    "Sir N..." One of the generals started, but his mouth was instantly covered by one of the black clothed man''s two bodyguards.


    "HOLD YOUR TONGUE! You are not worthy to speak his name! Moreover, what if anyone here is a spy!" The bodyguard barked.


    A calm voice rang out from the bodyguard. "Calm down. No one here is a spy. At most they just wish to see me dead. Regardless, please continue general."


    The general gulped before he begun to report on his mission as well as the current state of his troops. "The mission was successful and every inhabitant of the city has been slain, as you said sir, the supplies in that village were enough to feed our troops for a month and the coin we were able to plunder could serve for an equal amount of time."


    Sighing could be heard from the black clothed man. "The resources and gold you plundered interest me not. What does interest me however is its strategic position. What worries me is that you nor your colleagues have realized why I have been sending your troops out to those villages in the first place. Every single of your reports have been concerning the resources you plundered, not the state of the land in that area, which should have been of great interest to any half decent general!"


    Hearing the scolding of the black clothed man, all of the generals unconsciously took a step back. Only now did they realize that they had been sent out for more than just a simple slaughter and plundering mission. But it was too late to realize their mistakes now, all they could do was hope that the black clothed man wouldn''t punish them or send them to their deaths.


    The black clothed man sighed once more and focused back on the war table. He took a few pawns that signified a troop count of ten thousand troops and moved them into the area of the villages the generals had just razed.


    "I don''t understand why do you give us a mission to  raze the village and then are now seemingly planning to move in troops afterwards?" One of the generals asked.


    An ice cold voice rang throughout the room. "All of you, take the battalion commander you like the least and make them advance their troops through those areas. We''ll see how the enemy reacts and go from there."


    An uproar started within the war room. "You are planning to sacrifice a hundred thousand troops in total just to figure out how the enemy reacts?" One of the generals yelled out in surprise.


    "You can''t do this, even as the grand marshal you can''t just offer up a hundred thousand of our men!" Another called out.


    "QUIET!" The man clad in black shouted, his voice trembling due to the rage. "If I figure out how their strategist thinks I can reduce our losses by far more than a mere hundred thousand men. So do as you are told! Now leave!"

 Chapter 75: C-ranked guild

    The guild chat lit up with messages the moment Sylphie and Zaran logged on again.


    "Welcome back Zaran, Sylphie!"


    "Hey boss!"


    "Shit the boss is back, everyone act normal! :> " One of the other players jokingly sent.


    "What took you so long? I thought you''d only be gone for half an ingame day?" Another one asked.


    "Well, journalists found out where we live. So we''ve been answering questions for like two hours straight." Sylphie calmly responded.


    The guild chat lit up with even more messages than when the two got online.


    "Which magazine? Which tv channels?"


    "What did they ask you?"


    "Oooh! Mr and Mr''s famous!"


    Zaran started building his response while grinning at all the messages the two of them received as there were quite a few funny ones among them. "We talked about how we got in games, our goals in myth online, custom skills, the guild and stuff like that. It was a huge chore and I hope I won''t have to do it all too often. They were pretty invasive and annoying at times if I didn''t want to answer certain stuff they would just kept prodding and digging. They should really get a clue."


    "Ah boss, you''re famous now but you complain about being famous?! You''re like all the celebrities already!"


    "Yeah I get what you mean, don''t want to let them find out which girls you have a crush on huh? ;)"


    The guild chat started moving at such a rapid pace that Zaran found it hard to keep up with it and messaged that he would close it, to allow him to focus on the game again as there were a few things to do. Before he could move on to the matters at hand, he first needed to talk to Florance. "Hey Florance, you there?" He sent her, while summoning his various beasts one by one.


    Seeing that she had been summoned as one of the last beasts, Cindarrah pouted and shouted. "No fair! Why is everyone here before me!!!!! Daddy!!!"


    "Well if I summoned you as first I wouldn''t have much time to spend on you since I would still need to summon all the others. So I thought it would be better to summon you last, since that way I will be able to spoil you." Zaran said as he petted Cindarrah.


    "mmuuhhh... It makes sense... but..." Cindarrah started before she was cut off by Zaran.


    "No butts!" Spoiling her with some treats and petting, Zaran mentally thought about the game menu and a hud started to appear within his view. By merely thinking about the messages menu, it opened and showed that he had received a new message from Florance.


    "Yeah I am here! :) Where are you at?" Florance sent.


    "Meet me at the village. Has the mercenary guild leader arrived yet?"


    Within a minute an answer arrived. "No, not yet, it has been three weeks though so he should arrive here sooner or later."


    A few minutes later the two of them joined up and starting chatting, while trying to pay attention to Cindarrah''s needs at the same time. Out of all his summons, this was the one Zaran liked and dislike the most a  the same time. While he loved her a lot, she could be quite needy and that was something he couldn''t stand and he hoped that in time her neediness would lessen to a more bearable degree.


    Eventually the two of them finally got a message from one of the members that the mercenary guild leader had arrived and was asking for Zaran.


    With his beast horde in tow, Zaran walked over towards the mercenary guild leader, who had a strange look in his eyes as he saw Zaran''s beast horde. As there was no longer an official beast master guild within Virul, he found it quite strange to find a beast master out and about. Then again he had gotten the report that moved to the old winery and coincidentally that was Zaran''s mansion, so it was likely that Henry had found himself a disciple , still, it couldn''t have been more than a month or two since Zaran had taken up the profession and he was already commanding more than twenty beasts, which showed that he had talent in this area.


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    On top of that he was also reported to be very skilled with the sword, which was why the guild leader had the strange look in his eyes. He felt as if he just couldn''t get a grip on this Zuno. Thinking about the matter at hand, the strange look was briefly exchanged by a glare, which the guild leader quickly corrected by putting on his business smile.


    If only the Tarra didn''t go to war with us... I would''ve ended your guild! Alas... Virul is in need of some good C-ranked guilds... and with their rise to prominence they absolutely fit the requirements. If I allow his guild to grow, it should easily rise to B-rank in a few weeks if they keep getting the same calibre of personnel.


    While apprehensive to do so, the guild leader warmly said: "I''ve had your guild''s and the nayeran''s movements strictly followed in the past few weeks and noticed that the nayeran have done nothing besides taking what they need from the lands. As this in lieu with our agreement, I hereby declare your quest completed. As a reward for completing this mission your guild is hence upgraded to become a C ranked guild and is now eligible to hold up to a thousand men. On top of that you also receive double the monetary reward, which amounts to twenty thousand coins."


    Zaran was both surprised and overjoyed at hearing this as this would mean they would finally be able to recruit more troops. He had not expected a positive result for this quest and instead had expected for them to have failed the mission and to be punished. Seeing as there should be a reason to do so, Zaran spoke up with his most polite tone.  "If there is any mission you wish for us to take we will rush out and do it for you!"


    "Actually there is and since you are already within the area, it''s easier for your guild to take on the request. We have reports that there''s activity within the vilewoods and that animals and people alike are disappearing, only to reappear later with an hazy expression, drained of blood while murmuring ''Hail the vilewood king!'' over and over."


    "While it seems like a huge joke, we had numerous reports over the past week and another mercenary guild that had taken up the mission when it was still a D ranked mission, were all found in the same state. The reward for this quest is 40.000 gold."


    Quest: Find the'' vile king''


    Rank: D


    Reward: 40.000 gold.


    Description: Animals and people have gone missing the past few weeks when venturing in the vilewoods, only to return later with a hazy expression and muttering "Hail the vilewood king" over and over. Find out the cause and prevent it from happening!


    "We will report back to you as soon as the quest is complete!" With a determined look in his eyes, Zaran looked at the guild leader and gave an affirmative nod.


    "Good. I wish to hear from you soon!" The guild leader bellowed as he crushed a teleportation scroll and disappeared before their very eyes.


    The hud appeared before Zaran''s eyes and he organised the guild. He told five people to go back to the mansion and start recruiting people, while the others would all prepare themselves for the quest.

 Chapter 76: Vilewood forest

    This chapter was hard to write... The middle part I could write a hundred times in hundred different ways while the meaning remains the same... I can only pray you get what I mean.


    ____________


    Vilewood forest lied to the north of the nayeran territory and was among the most ancient forests on the continent. The forest was filled with large, three hundred meter high millennium old vilewood trees. Their trunk and branches were of a pale white colour and their leaves had the colour of ash. Due to the height of the trees and the thickness of the leafy canopy, not a lot of sunlight was able to knife through it. The few beams of sunlight that were able to do so, were incredibly thin and didn''t do much to brighten up the forest and merely served to allow one to somewhat see without having to adjust to the darkness all too much.


    Below the trees, the forest was filled with at least three meter tall bushes, most of which carried purplish-black berries the size of apples. Their black trunks and dark grey leaves were in stark contrast with the ancient white trees and added to the mysterious atmosphere.


    The forest floor had absolutely no grass on it, but was covered with a plethora of ashen and dark grey leaves and various types of mushrooms in all shapes and sizes. Small creeks carved a path throughout the forest and were sunlight and creeks intersected, a black flower with red tints could be found.


    Massive cobwebs the size of trees ran throughout the leafy canopy and between trees, even though no spider could be seen. Ant hills the size of a house, rose up from the forest floor and white ants with a black skull on their back could be seen running back and forth. Ominous howling sounds rang throughout the forest as the wind played with the creaking branches and rustling sounds rang out from most of the white and grey leafed bushes and foliage as animals skittered away.


    The guild carefully made their way through the forest, only the ashen and dark grey leaves that continuously crackled beneath their feet alarmed the nearby animals of their movements. Intent on protecting their territory, endless amounts of vilewood cubs, vilewood bears and skull ants swarmed upon the guild, causing them to be forced to cut their way through the forest.


    This caused their advance to be tremendously slow as they had to avoid moving throughout the skull ants territory as much as possible. While a few were not hard to handle, there were never just a few around. The cost of capturing the skull ant queen still fresh in their mind, made them apprehensive to experience the same ordeal all over again.


    Just capturing the single skull ant queen and five skull ants had previously cost them two hundred levels total and another three hundred nayeran lives were lost in the process, something the new nayeran leader was not all too happy about. However the nayeran leader still deemed the skull ant queen to be worth it as she was a formidable foe in and of itself. Combined with the speed at which she could reproduce if allowed to do so, the skull ant queen was an existence on the same level as a hellweaver queen.


    A full day passed and the endless onslaught of vilewood cubs, vilewood bears and skull ants lessened and eventually... stopped. The sound of death cries that had haunted them for a full day replaced with an eerie and ominous silence. The guild grew restless as the suddenness at which the continuous battling changed into that of complete and utter peace was just too odd.


    An hour passed and they had not seen a single living being... death ones however were a very common sight.  The forest floor was littered with blood drained bodies all over the place, further adding to the guild''s restlessness and nervousness.


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    Finally soft buzzing sounds were heard in the distance along with the cries of skull ants. Zaran''s own skull ants and skull ant queen looked at Zaran with a look filled of expectation as they were ready to pounce off and join their brethren, who shook his head and told them to keep close to the guild. From the reaction of his own skull ants, Zaran knew that they were fighting and that large numbers of skull ants were dying, otherwise merely hearing their cries would not provoke such a heavy reaction from his own skull ants.


    "Guild! READY UP and be prepared for everything!" Zaran yelled. "Formation as discussed before! Commanders take lead of your assigned troops."


    With that said, Zaran and Nuvahn took off on their own. In the past three weeks Zaran had come into realization that his heart of the sword was lacking or what in this game was called the true way of the sword as he had come to realize. While he knew that it was not necessary to fight endlessly by oneself to temper one''s heart for the sword, it was absolutely necessary to stabilize or rebuild it. As he had not done so in his current life it was necessary to do so once more.


    This starting point was often called path of the lonely sword and was a path most of the so called sword masters ended upon, not realizing that it was only the starting point of the true way of the sword. It had even taken many lives for Zaran to realize it. Was taking up the sword taking up a life of loneliness? Definitely not! Did anyone take up the sword for that purpose? Not at all either. While some could cultivate their heart of the sword to a terrifying degree, it always ended up in a dead end if they did not cultivate other paths.


    If Zaran had to explain it, he would find himself having to put it in the following words: "One who fights a hundred battles alone, will be an expert in fighting by himself. His path will end at the moment he is forced to fight alongside someone. One who has fought a hundred battles alongside someone, will find death the moment he has to protect... and one who has fought a hundred battles to protect, will find death the moment he no longer has to protect."


    Even so, in Zaran''s mind one who has fought a hundred real battles by himself, to defend and to protect, had finally reached the real starting point of a becoming a sword master as at this point one qualified to truly start becoming one with the sword. While the path remained its difficulty even if one know how to tread upon it, it was far easier to progress if one knew it.


    Nuvahn, his sister, Irina and Florance were obviously told what Zaran''s plan was and although reluctant to have him go off on his own, let him do so. As Zaran''s disciple Nuvahn could not not follow in his footsteps and thus started cultivating his heart of the sword much like Zaran.


    Soon, Zaran, Nuvahn and the guild reached the source of the sound at approximately the same time but each quite the distance from each other.


    Two meter big mosquitoes and skull ants were fighting over a large swat of forest. The mosquitoes circled around the ants and stabbed them with their proboscis, while the ants tried to cut the mosquitoes in two with a single bite from their mandibles. For every ant or mosquito killed, another joined the fray and made sure the battle endlessly continued. The battle seemed quite even as even though the mosquitoes had the advantage in speed, eventually they would be grabbed by one of the skull ants and instantly killed.


    However even though it seemed even, Zaran could see that the ants were slowly starting to get outnumbered. Knowing that he would not have too much additional time before the mosquitoes would wipe the floor with the ants, Zaran ran further along to the side where the mosquitoes came from, intent on finding the source of the mosquitoes and stopping them.

 Chapter 77: Using ones kin against itself

    Zaran carefully sped along the edges of the battlefield, making sure that he wasn''t attracting any unwanted attention.


    Swish!


    Suddenly a mosquito burst forth from the bush in front of him and stabbed at Zaran''s body with great speed! Zaran shifted his bodyweight completely to his left heel and turned his body sideways in the process, just narrowly dodging the mosquito''s thrust. At the same time he used his inspect skill to see the mosquito''s stats.


    Vilewood drainer


    Normal beast


    Level: 68


    HP: 5000


    Def: 0


    attack: 1200


    Beasmaster note:


    Seemingly close to its next stage of evolution, the previously gentle Vilewood drainer''s have turned incredibly vicious, enlarging their territory by ten times in a mere two weeks.


    Even though a single mosquito is not all too dangerous on its own, a swarm of them quickly overwhelms even much stronger foes, mostly due to the sedative that their bites inject in the victim''s bloodstream.


    Zaran had raised his beast master skill by a full level in the past week and was rewarded with a new function for his inspect skill. Whenever he inspected a beast for the first time he would receive additional beast master related information along with the usual information.


    Even though the stats were very low for its level, the mosquito''s speed and agility were no joke. In a mere two seconds the mosquito had completely turned around and had launched another attack at Zaran, who''s eyes flashed with anger, launching a slash at the mosquito as he growled "SCRAM!".


    With a minute movement of its wings, the mosquito skilfully dodged Zaran''s slash and was able to deliver a hit, however due to it having steered off its course, it was unable to hit the weak point in Zaran''s armour and merely scratched the surface of it. Breathing a sigh of relief, Zaran activated ''swiftness'' to keep up with the mosquito''s movements.


    Another thrust came Zaran''s way, who was now able to easily dodge the hit as his speed had increased tremendously. Right after he dodged he followed up with a Velocity and cleanly hit the mosquito''s weak point, its wings and disabled one of it in the process. With one of its wings down the mosquito was no longer able to fly and it helplessly fell down to the ground. Zaran walked over to it and calmly used a series of ''thunderous fists'' to kill it, as well as raising his skill experience.


    Briefly summoning the HUD and checking the skill creation window, Zaran clicked his tongue as he noticed that "True way of the lonely sword"''s proficiency had only raised by a single thousandth of a percent. At the moment he had exactly 1.359% of the required experience to unlock the skill. He quickly checked the proficiency levels for other true ways that he had started creating and found that they hadn''t raised much either.


    Every time he hypothesized correctly for a true way of a certain skill, it would automatically be added to the skill creation window. At the moment he was still far from reaching max proficiency with one of them, but he wondered if he would create a skill or merely unlock one if he reached max proficiency.


    He made the HUD disappear once more and resumed his path through the forest, encountering multiple mosquitoes along the way, nearly all of which were swiftly dispatched after Zaran broke their wings, which was an easy feat accomplish merely due to the weight of his sword. He didn''t even need to aim all that perfectly at the weak spot as merely crashing his sword into their astonishingly fragile wings would cause them to be fractured or broken. Once the mosquitoes lost their movement they were incredibly easy to deal with as they were not build to walk around.


    Nearing the source of the mosquitoes , Zaran threw down a gate stone, an item that could be used to set a teleportation destination and allowed one to teleport from any teleportation circle to the gate stone. It was more of a precaution than anything else but in case Zaran died, he could instantly teleport from his house to the gate stone.


    After cutting down some more mosquitoes and carefully advancing a little further, Zaran came upon a clearing which was surrounded by six dying vilewood trees, which caused Zaran to frown. Up until now, there had not been a single death nor dying vilewood tree... and suddenly there were six of them? He stopped and carefully inspected his surroundings. The six vilewood trees encircled a large hundred meter wide lake, which was filled to the brim with mosquito eggs, larva and pupa.


    Near the lake, two peculiar mosquitoes were buzzing around. One was a slender, nimble humanoid female, with mosquito wings and a normal human body besides the abdomen and behind which was still the same as before. Its forelegs and hind legs were halfway through the process of becoming human hands and legs and it''s mid legs had grown shorter and were on its way to disappear entirely. It''s proboscis was still there, just far shorter than the others.


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    The other mosquito was a fully humanoid male with the only part of himself that was not transformed being the mosquito wings on his back and the proboscis that was exactly like his female counterpart.


    "Tch. This doesn''t look good. There''s two of them, they are evolved and this is their fucking breeding ground... How am I going to go about this?" Zaran muttered. He could try to draw one of them out by himself but he found that unlikely to succeed. He could message Nuvahn and tell him to come over but even then it might become a two versus two and not a one versus one like Zaran wanted.


    Furthermore he was sure it would be a boss fight and merely looking at the area he realized that this was not a good place to fight. Somehow he had to be able to get the two mosquitoes to split up and it couldn''t be for just a short while. On top of that he absolutely had to kill the other one on his first try as he couldn''t afford a failure in this case, unless he wanted to fight two of them at once.


    He had one option he could try... but it would cost him dearly. If he summoned his beasts to his current position, they could surely hold down one of the two mosquitoes for the time being, but multiple of his beasts would surely die. As he had found out the hard way in the past three weeks, a beast''s death was permanent.


    The moment he found it cold sweat had all run over his back as he remembered all the times Kirin and Cindarrah had been in danger. Along with Kru, those were the only three animals that he really didn''t want to end up dying under his watch, with the ant queen, her ants and the demonic core tiger being the next in line that he would hate to lose.


    Zaran cursed and decided that he would pay the price he needed to, but not in the way he though of earlier. With a smirk on his face, Zaran retreated back into the forest and sought out more mosquitoes. He wouldn''t senselessly give up his own beasts... But fighting the king and queen with their own kin, now that was a sight he wanted to see! Evidently he was sure the mosquitoes wouldn''t be able to last as long as his own beasts, so he needed to gather a fair amount of them.


    An hour later, Zaran had gathered over a hundred disposable mosquitoes, varying from level 60 to level 85. He had even briefly run into Nuvahn, who was surrounded by a large pile of death mosquitoes and was thoroughly soaked by the mosquito''s colourless blood.


    With the troop of mosquitoes in tow, Zaran headed back to the clearing, Zaran briefly observed the royal pair again. Would he have the mosquitoes hold back their king... or queen? It was for this reason that he observed the queen and king pair some more as he would need to figure out which of the two was his best bet. The queen was taking great care to inspect every egg that became a larva, every larva that became a pupa and every pupa that became a mosquito.  The more time passed, the more human aspects the mosquitoes started to show. Meanwhile, while the queen was inspecting the eggs, the king only cared about the newborn mosquitoes and quickly tested them in battle.


    For this reason, Zaran found it better to have the mosquitoes deal with their king, while he dealt with the queen as it would be easy to aggro the queen as all he had to do was become a danger to her kin.


    Buzzing sounds rang through the air as hundred mosquitoes flew towards the king and started attacking him, at the moment the king and queen couple was furthest from each other.


    Zaran appeared in front of the queen with his bow and sent a couple of arrows into the water, quickly killing off a few larva and eggs with one hit, before changing back to his custom greatsword, Gigenkai. Over the past few weeks the sword had been able to achieve a breakthrough in its cultivation twice and was now able to store 2000 ki. Along with Zaran''s increased cultivation, the sword and man pair now had 12000 ki to spend on skills.


    The queen was enraged as she saw her babies die and shouted in fury while flying to Zaran at great speed. Zaran had already activated swiftness and met her proboscis with a mountain strike, which slightly knocked her back.


    With a swift flick of his wrist, another skill exploded from Zaran''s sword as he used ''Rise and Fall''. Even before the queen could recover from the previous strikes, Zaran used ''Velocity'' and ''Flutter''.


    Only at this time did the queen recover and activate a skill on her own. Zaran''s blood started to boil and hellish pain coursed through his body. It felt as if his blood was on fire and wanted to escape his veins. With Zaran occupied with the pain that coursed through his body, the queen attack him and nicked his shoulder pad. But she was unable to fully force her way through Zaran''s armour, but still a large chunk of the shoulder pad flew away from Zaran''s shoulder and exposed his skin.

 Chapter 78: Shifting hatred

    Anyone interested in being a proofreader?


    ___________________________


    Seeing the patch of exposed skin, the queen wildly launched another thrust to Zaran''s shoulder.


    Right at this moment, Zaran grit his teeth and was just barely able to make his sword unleash ''intent''. Platinum coloured ki burst forth from the tip of his blade and clashed against the mosquito queen, sending her flying through the air as well as creating a scar across her entire face, out of which colourless blood dripped down.


    Ignoring the damage to herself, the queen attack again out of the rage she felt. Dare to touch my children? Die! Die... die... DIE!!! Her rage was beyond her control and made her attack aggressively, without a care for her own health.


    A cold smile appeared on Zaran''s face. It was for this reason that he had chose to fight the queen first before facing the king. The rage caused by her children''s deaths would surely make her attack without a second thought and would not allow her to think her actions through.


    Killing the few mosquitoes in the pond actually had not been necessary, as he was already soaked in the blood of the myriad of mosquitoes he had killed before. No, Zaran just did it to aggravate the queen even more. As long as she went insane from rage, she would be far easier to deal with than when she was fighting without the rage. He made this assumption based on the care she showed every single one of her children.


    On top of that... which mother would not go insane from rage one of her children was killed in front of her eyes? Even if Zaran had not been soaked in the blood of her children prior to killing them, just killing one in front of her eyes was enough to drive her insane.


    However unlike Zaran suspected, killing one was not what he needed to do... even coming close to one would''ve made the mosquito queen attack him in fury. If it were not for the king... she wouldn''t have her children fight the skull ants at all. She wouldn''t have even expanded their territory by as much as they did. No, this little queen would''ve content if they had continued just like they had all this time.


    Alas, her mate had started transforming into a more humanoid species and she followed soon after. With the transformation came sentience and a lust for power and thus a lust to increase their territory as to gain more resources.


    With her tumbling through the air because of Zaran''s counter strike, the madness with her grew even stronger. Not only did that hateful guy in front of her kill her children, she couldn''t even harm him... His recovery from her special skill was extraordinarily fast too.


    Another brighter and bigger flash of platinum ki left the greatsword and pursued after the mosquito queen, targeting the queen''s fragile wings. With the ki rapidly catching up to her, the queen had very little time to recover from the previous blow and evade the blast. Finally, moments before the ki impacted upon her, she was able to recover!


    Boom! The ki violently exploded and the dust that was kicked up by the explosion concealed the queen from Zaran''s vision. Even though he was not sure if he had hit her or not, Zaran kicked forward and speedily chased after her.


    When the dust cleared, Zaran noticed that the queen was lying on the ground and blood ceaselessly ran out from her back. One of her wings had ripped from her body due the explosion and lied a bit further from her.


    With anger, sadness and regret mixed in her eyes the queen looked at the approaching Zaran. She could get up and fight but what was the use... She couldn''t put up a fight against him any longer. Solely the speed at which he had traveled after her had told her that.


    Seeing the queen lie there with the mixed emotions in her eyes, Zaran frowned and stopped right in front of her. Instead of killing her he just stood there and looked at her, a pensive look on his face. Suddenly he raised his sword and stabbed forward with his sword.


    The queen shivered as her life flashed before her and closed her eyes, waiting for her life to be severed. But... the ending blow did not come. Why did it not come? After waiting for a few more seconds the queen opened her eyes and saw that Zaran''s blade had penetrated the ground next to her face. Zaran was slightly bent over so she could easily see his face.


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    "I am sorry. If it were not for your mate, you and your children would not have to die like this. But you see, your mate has caused no small deal of trouble to beast men and humanoids alike and I have been tasked to stop him. However, it is possible for your children to remain alive. I can also allow you to live, but only if you become my servant, there is no other way to do so. At least like that you will be able to see your children and offer them a small form of protection. If you wish to remain among the living... Nod like this." Zaran asked, while nodding.


    Confused, the queen blankly stared at Zaran. Her anger for Zaran was quickly exchanged for a tremendous hatred for her mate. As she had thought earlier, increasing their territory as they did would not remain unanswered. If not for him and his stupid ideals, it would not have turned out this way! The man before her was not without fault and yet remained the killer of countless her children but if it were not for that hateful man!


    She was hesitant to become the servant of a man who had killed so many of her children without remorse. Even though he had said sorry, she knew it was far from a heartfelt apology and was more likely used to win her over.


    Yet, if she could keep her life... would she be able to give her children some form of protection as this man before her said? She thought about what would happen if she did not accept. Would her whole progeny get killed for no reason by this man? Suddenly she realized why he had said some small form of protection. If she and king the were gone all of the territory that they had conquered would be lost soon after and the species they had driven away were sure to retaliate and not a single of her kin might survive.


    Half a minute passed and the queen finally nodded ever so slightly. If she was able to keep at least part of her kin safe, she would be fine with sacrificing herself for that cause.


    "Good." Zaran said with a slight smirk on his face as a blood contract appeared in his hands. As the queen was already evolving to become more humanoid he could no longer contract her as a beast. He had tried contracting one of the nayeran commanders who had join him with his beast master skill but he had not been able to do so. Normally his beast master skill gave him some sort of a connection with any animal he was close with and in that and this case he did not feel that connection. However with the nayeran commander a blood contract was able to do the job, so he was going to do the same thing this time.


    After cutting his thumb open against his sword, Zaran put his fingerprint down on the contractor''s signature block. "Here, dip your finger in your own blood and press it against this square." Zaran said as he pointed to the servant''s signature block.


    The queen dipped one of her finger in some of her blood and pressed her finger down against the signature block.


    Voom!


    A bloody glow appeared around the contract as it disintegrated and a burning sensation washed over the hearts of both of them. Zaran had become used to it by now, but the queen cried out in pain as she grabbed her chest.


    "Ah sorry I forgot to mention that it hurts like hell. I totally forgot about it..."


    The queen grimaced as she slowly recovered from the pain and looked at Zaran with a hateful expression.


    Zaran sighed and took out a potion and handed it to the queen. "Drink this, it should help you recover."


    With the contract completed he could feel a connection to her and he knew how much pain she really was in. As the wing was ripped out of her body, a lot of blood had been continuously flowing from her back and she was very close to no longer having any blood at all. That was a very humongous  weak spot... It was very useful information for his coming fight against the king.


    As for the servant he had gained, he was sure she would turn around sometime... or maybe not, but at least she would not cause any harm while under his service and her progeny would most likely not die out as long as she showed herself to her species'' enemies every so often. They would have surrender most of the territory they regained but at least they had a shot at remaining alive this way.


    Picking up his sword, Zaran headed back to the clearing...

 Chapter 79: The king versus its kin

    Still looking for a proofreader! Anyway... enjoy! :)


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    Covered in colourless blood, the Mosquito king furiously struck his nails against one of the lower leveled mosquitoes that surrounded him, while keeping his guard up for any that might strike his wings. If it were not for his need to protect his only true weak spot, he would have long since dealt with this troubling bunch of youngsters who seemed to have the desire to overthrow him. The king''s attack thrust through the mosquito''s head and his nails dug directly into its brain, instantly killing it on the spot.


    A quick count showed that over fifty of the mosquitoes were still alive. While he could have long since been done if he was not required to guard his wings, he was still rapidly cutting the number of mosquitoes down as only a mere five minutes had passed since the start of the fight.


    He had no clue as to why his progeny suddenly attacked him en masse, but he did find it strange that his queen had not come to his aid and had instead disappeared. Had she revolted against him or was something else going on that provoked his progeny in attacking him? He had not been able to think about it in great detail due to the fight, but he still felt something was rather off.


    Even though the king was overpowering the mosquitoes and was killing them easily and swiftly, his body had already become riddled with shallow wounds. Only his back had yet to receive a single wound. Yet even though he was riddled with shallow wounds, none of these slowed him down in the slightest and most early received wounds were already on the verge of being completely recovered.


    With each mosquito that the king killed, the fight got easier and easier as the weaker mosquitoes were all attacking the king at this point. The king thought that he had already killed the strongest and that only the weakest remained and was already starting to celebrate his victory.


    While the fight was going on, Zaran was sitting on the sidelines and watching the fight from a safe spot. He had already been watching for two minutes and had stealthily directed the strongest of the


    Five more minutes passed and twenty mosquitoes still remained. The king increasingly felt as if something were off. First all types of strong and weak mosquitoes attacked him... then only the weakest so he thought their strength had been depleted and that he would soon be able to kill them off. But he soon found himself to be very wrong. Instead of the battle getting easier near the end it suddenly started to become incredibly hard!


    The strongest of his progeny suddenly revealed themselves at the end of the fight. Normally they would not be all too hard to beat as they were not able to coordinate their attacks... But currently his enemies were coordinating their attacks. This was very strange! As a precaution he had never thought a single of his progeny to do so, as he had feared that if he did that sooner or later his progeny would revolt, but now they were suddenly able to coordinate their attacks? With their limited brain capacity there was no way for any of his progeny to figure this out. The only reason this could happen was that they had a leader, one that was not a mosquito!


    All though the king and the queen had already started to drift towards a new evolutionary path, his current progeny had not yet embarked on it. Only in a few days would the first few evolved mosquitoes start being born and even then they would not be able to make others coordinate attacks. It was for this reason that the king knew that their leader could not be a mosquito! This also explained why his kin attacked him and why his queen had not saved him. She had been taken by the enemy, or worse... killed!


    With this realization in mind, the king could no longer hold back. He had to kill of all these mosquitoes as quickly as possible. A faint milky white glow wherein coiled thin red lines appeared around him. The air whistled upon its appearance and the mosquitoes suddenly let out blood curdling cries.


    Zaran noticed that something was going to change in their fight fast and that he had no a single moment left to waste. He quickly took out the bow from his storage ring and stabbed a few arrows in the ground. He nocked an arrow and immediately fired a buzzard shot at the king''s wings.


    The arrow whistled through the air and rapidly closed in on the mosquito king, who was too occupied to notice the arrow. A small jab of pain overcame the king as the arrow bore itself a way through the top of his wing and created a finger-long tear on it. The king furiously roared and the glow that was surrounded him became thicker and more red lines that coiled around like snakes appeared within.


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    Blood curdling cries continued to be heard from the mosquitoes as they lifelessly dropped to the ground one by one. Through his connection Zaran felt that they had not been killed but that their blood had been set ablaze and that the pain it caused had made them pass out.


    Zaran had shot another two buzzard shots at the king and two more holes had opened up on the king''s wings. The first two had done nothing to the king''s ability to fly, but with the third hole a large part of one of his wings was now destroyed, hampering his ability to fly.


    The king softly landed on the ground and momentarily looked at the direction the arrows had come from and scoffed. If my opponent does not have the courage to face me he should not send others to do it in his stead. Watch me kill your little helpers!


    Zaran could no longer stand idle. He did not mind if his mosquitoes died, but he still could not watch them being slaughtered helplessly. Hurriedly, he rushed forward with Gigenkai in his hands.


    Seeing Zaran rush forward, the king was taken aback and instantly backed off from the fallen mosquitoes.


    Activating ''Swiftness'' Zaran sped up and closed the distance between himself and the king in the blink of an eye. With a flick of his hand, ''intent'' burst from his sword and flew after the mosquito king. Zaran had aimed it to be headed towards the area above the king and just barely hit his head in the process. That way the king really only had one way to quickly avoid it and that was down.


    The boundless pressure of ''intent'' startled the king and he hurriedly threw himself on the ground to dodge the rampaging ki.


    Right as the rampant ki passed over him, the king got back up his feet and launched himself towards Zaran. His fingers formed into a sword and the king''s unprotected hand struck out.


    Zaran was taken aback from the king''s actions, but did not dare to underestimate his opponent. He had tried inspecting him before and had only gotten a bunch of question marks as a result. His opponent was far stronger than him and he needed his full strength if he were able to get a chance to beat him. "Tempered body" Zaran murmured as he activated the second reinforcing skill that he had.


    He had leveled it quite a bit over the past few weeks and as a result his defense now increased by a staggering 150%. After reaching the intermediate level, the skill also raised his attack. At intermediate level five, which he was at right now, it already raised his strength by 15%. While it may not sound like much, it was no small increase in strength in reality.


    He swung towards the king''s hand and a split second later blade and flesh met!


    BANG! An explosion rang out as blade and flesh made and much to Zaran''s surprise the mosquito king''s hand was unscathed! How... Even if his body was abnormally strong this was a full strength hit from a seventy kilogram greatsword. Even if the sword did not cut, I should''ve at least send him flying from the sheer power behind the blow.


    The king smirked and thrust out with his other hand. With an instantaneous back step, Zaran was able to barely dodge the king''s thrust. Before Zaran was able to even raise his blade, the king had struck out another time. Aghast, Zaran could only swiftly take another step back. However his step back was already too late!


    Splish! A stream of blood flew from Zaran''s shoulder. Zaran hadn''t had the time to fix his broken shoulder pad and the king''s attack was aimed precisely at this unprotected piece of skin.


    As soon as Zaran''s blood started flowing, a swirl of white energy shot from the king''s hand into Zaran''s blood stream. The king took a few steps back and watched as the white energy did it''s work.


    Quietly the white energy toured around in Zaran''s body, until the moment it found its way into Zaran''s head. VOOM! The energy went wild and swiftly spread to every cell within his head. A fuzzy feeling overcame Zaran and the forest vanished before his eyes...

 Chapter 80: Sword scar

    Sorry for the slow release, it''s been an incredibly busy and exhausting week on my end, to the point that I did not even have the time to write during my lunch breaks, something which I normally do.


    Special thanks to Dandarious for proofreading!


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    The forest gave way to an expansive field filled with potatoes and the greatsword that was supposed to be in his right hand had been changed to a rake. Staring at the field and rake in hand, Zaran''s expression started becoming ever so confused as his memories started to disappear.


    Zaran looked at his left hand and felt something was off. Opening and closing it, he formed a tight fist. A strange gaze filled his eyes. Slowly his lips parted and he confusedly murmured. "Something feels off... I feel like I am forgetting? No... what was I thinking?"


    Soon, all Zaran remembered was his name... And that he had to tend the potatoes.


    Hours passed as Zaran worked the field and the rising sun was replaced by the shining moon. Still, Zaran had not stopped working the field and tirelessly continued his work.


    A distant voice rang out across the field. "Zaaaaaraaaaaaaaaaaaan?"


    Huh? Someone called me? Zaran thought as he stared in confusion towards the direction of the sound.


    A few moments later a petite woman with titian hair came running over. Seeing that Zaran was still hard at work in the middle of the night, she cried out in astonishment. "Zaran, it''s the middle of the night! Why are you still working?"


    Zaran stared at the woman. "Who are you? How do you know me?"


    The petite woman mouth fell open at Zaran''s question. "Are you playing with me?!?! You say don''t know ME?"


    "Eh no, should I?"


    A vein popped on the petite woman''s head. "OFCOURSE YOU SHOULD! I AM YOUR WIFE, FLORANCE!"


    Surprised, Zaran stared wide eyed at the petite woman. "I... I... I''m sorry I just cannot remember. All I can remember is my name and that I absolutely have to tend the potatoes at all costs."


    "You... you really don''t remember?" Florance said with a downcast expression. She stared at Zaran in deep thought and after a few awkward minutes she suddenly cried out. "I got it, I''ll ask the vilewood king! The vilewood king is a really virtuous man and he always helps those in need. If anyone is able to restore your memory it is him!"


    ...................


    As said was done and a few days later a beautiful carriage arrived in front of Zaran and Florance''s crude little shack that they called home. The doors of the carriage creaked open and a young man with a crooked back and an extremely long and peculiar nose stepped out of it.


    Seeing the crude shack''s door wasn''t locked, the young man frowned, but still politely knocked on the shack''s door.


    Seconds later Florance stuck her head from the opening of the door and upon seeing who it was she quickly withdrew her head, grabbed Zaran''s hand, opened the door and dragged him out of the house.


    "Milord Vilewood king!" Florance politely said as she did a deep bow, nearly slamming Zaran in the ground due to how quickly and how lowly she bowed.


    "You may rise, there''s no need to bow in front of me." The Vilewood king said, urging Zaran and Florance to raise themselves. He immediately focused his attention on Zaran and took his pulse. "Hmm... interesting" The Vilewood king murmured before taking out a needle and a vial and drawing some of Zaran''s blood. After adding some unknown powder to the vial, a white liquid separated itself from the blood.


    The Vilewood king''s expression turned serious. "You are both coming with me to my castle. This is a far more serious case than I thought! Quick, in my carriage, there is no time to lose!"


    Zaran, Florance and the Vilewood king quickly entered the carriage and set off to the king''s castle.


    ...


    A while later the three of them arrived at the castle and were quickly brought by the king to the alchemy room. The king drew some more of Zaran''s blood, shut himself in the alchemy room and made Florance and Zaran wait outside of the room.


    With nothing to do, Zaran wandered around the castle and looked at the various armour sets and weapons that were on display. With every weapon or armour set that he looked at he got this feint gnawing feeling in his head. Somehow, the weapons felt familiar to him but he could just not recall were he had seen them earlier.


    Frustrated, Zaran did another tour around the castle and examined the weapons more closely this time, hoping to regain some more of his memories. "Hmm? Wasn''t this door closed before?" Zaran thought as he stared at an open door that had not been open the previous time he passed this corridor. With just a single glance he could see that the room housed a large amount of display cases with a lot of peculiar shaped weapons.


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    Zaran looked around him and seeing that there was no one nearby, he slipped into the room and started examining the display cases. Among them was a one meter sixty long, fifty centimer wide greatsword that he could not keep his eyes off. After examining the weapon for what looked like a long time, Zaran finally read the weapon''s name and description.


    Gigenkai


    Former blade of a terrifying warlord. At the age of sixteen, the Vilewood king killed this terrifying warlord and the blade has been on display ever since.


    "Huh, this is the last weapon?" Zaran murmured in surprise. All the other weapons that were in display cases were from when the king was younger. Every time he killed a great warlord, king or bandit leader he had taken their weapon and had put them in a display case.


    ...


    While Zaran was looking at the weapons, the Vilewood king had finally finished concocting a potion to combat Zaran''s memory loss. Walking out of his alchemy room with a small vial that held a black-green coloured liquid, he looked surprised as neither Zaran or Florance were present any longer.


    Surprise quickly changed to anger as the king cursed. "Damnit! I should have had them guarded after all!"


    The king ran forward and started searching his whole castle for Florance and Zaran, telling every guard on his way to aid him in his search.


    ...


    Oblivious of the king''s search for him, Zaran still stared at the greatsword. It gave Zaran a great sense of familiarity. The longer he gazed at it, greater the longing in his gaze became.


    Finally, after what seemed an hour of staring at the sword, Zaran struck out with his fist and grabbed the sword. Memories that he had forgotten came back and with it the realization what had happened after he got struck. "This is all a hallucination!" Shock filled his eyes and he wondered what to do. How do I break this hallucination? I don''t seem to have any mana or ki that I can use... Hmm? Wait!


    Zaran looked at the greatsword in his hands and focused all his being onto it. Very feintly he could still feel the connection to his greatsword. I might be able to use this connection to get out of here!


    To make sure that the sword would hear him, Zaran roared as loud as he could. "GIGENKAI, INTENT!"


    Hearing Zaran''s roar, the Vilewood king smashed the wall next to him and yelled "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"


    The small vial that was in his hand shattered due to the impact and the black green coloured liquid dripped onto the floor, burning large holes in the marble.


    ~~~~~~~~


    Meanwhile in the real world the king was closely examining Zaran''s changing expression and a curious expression appeared on his face. By now his spell should have long reached its maximum effect but nothing had happened just yet. Had something gone wrong? The king shook his head as he rejected that notion. Nothing could have possibly gone wrong! A thousand test subjects and not a single one had been able to resist his hallucination.


    Still... It should be done by now. A faint, alarming feeling rose within from the king. Instead of ignoring it, he followed this instinctual sense and raised himself. I cannot let this man live any longer!


    He stepped forward and straightened all the fingers on his right hand, preparing himself to slash down with all his might. With each passing second the king got closer to Zaran and Zaran showed absolutely no sign of awakening.


    Right as the king arrived in front of Zaran, Zaran''s greatsword started to emit a terrifying aura. Ki rose up into the sky and the air started to tremble at the enormous power the sword was emitting. Even the king was slightly affected due to the vibrations in the air.


    Without a second thought the king stepped back and started to flee at his maximum speed. Should have killed him when I had the chance! The king cursed as he quickly ran from Zaran.


    Voom! With one last tremble in the air, all the power left the sword and a bright flash of ki spread throughout the area.


    A fifteen meter long, three meter wide and half a meter deep sword scar was carved upon the earth right in front of Zaran.


    The Vilewood king''s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he noticed the burning sword scar in the forest ground. The ki had erupted so violently that the earth had been died pitch-black. Warily he looked at the man in front of him, unsure as to what to do. While the man still had eyes closed, that previous eruption of ki had left him terrified.


    Yet what the Vilewood king had never expected was that suddenly Zaran''s body would lifelessly drop to the ground...

 Chapter 81

    Thanks to Dandarious for proofreading.


    Enjoy!


    -----------------


    Shaa... A bright light descended upon the back of Zaran''s mansion . Hitting the ground, the light revealed none other than Zaran. After he used Intent, his body had slumped to the ground and the king had not wasted a second and had delivered a killing blow.


    He sighed and deeply regretted how rash his previous actions were. He had not been able to see the king''s level or any relevant information, and had rashly started an unnecessary fight. If he had given it some thought he would''ve figured out that the mosquito king was most likely going to be a boss level monster and realized that it would have been impossible to fight it on his own.


    Before using the teleportation circle in his backyard to teleport to the gatestone that he had left behind, Zaran went to the outer courtyard to check up on the guild members who had not chosen to join the new mission, but had instead returned to the mansion to test and recruit new members to the guild.


    One of the guild members who had chosen to test new recruits, noticed Zaran and cried out in surprise. "Huh, boss? What are you doing here? I thought you set off with the guild to Vilewood forest for that new quest we got?"


    "Died... got too overconfident about my strength." Zaran quietly said, before looking around the training field. Unlike he expected there weren''t a lot of new recruits wandering around. "How come there are so few new recruits here?"


    "Hold it, don''t try changing the subject. YOU of all people got overconfident? Like REALLY?"


    "... shut up free exp and answer his question." Another one of the recruiters said.


    "My name is NOT free exp! It''s Raul damnit!"


    "To me it will always be free exp. You can blame yourself for that one." The other recruiter beckoned the next applicant to come over and paid no further heed to Raul.


    Raul glared at the other recruiter before answering Zaran''s question. "Well, we thought we''d easily run out of space if we kept everyone within this courtyard, so we first did a few matches among ourselves and the weakest of us are testing new recruits outside the mansion, while the five best further test recruits within. If any are able to get even a single blow on us within a minute, we automatically invite them to the guild.


    Once a recruit is able to enter the mansion we allow them to fight every single one of us multiple times, this way we are able to see if there are any raw gems within the bunch. If there are we also automatically invite them. As we need a lot of space for all the fights, we always ask the new recruits to immediately go do some easy guild quests for the time being. That way, the mansion won''t get overcrowded. Plus, this way we know if people actually really want to be in the guild. If they don''t even want to do a single quest to help out the guild before meeting you and the others, we felt that they do not really belong in the guild. So basically it''s another test."


    Zaran was very pleased with Raul''s answer. Especially sending the new recruits on small guild quests, it was a great idea. It actually served three purposes at the same time. It showed if the new recruits were willing to work for the guild, increased the guild''s reputation and as the guild took 10% of the quest reward, it grew the guild''s treasury. "Hmm, very good! It''s a better system than the one I had previously come up with. Which of you came up with it?"


    "That would be me." Raul proudly said. "While before you only tested our skill you did not really test anyone''s talent very well nor anyone''s willingness to work for the guild. While I still think we can improve on the tests, I also feel that currently we''re able to draw more people into the guild in a fair way, as the previous test ruled out too many people."


    With every answer that Raul gave, Zaran''s impression of him only grew better. Even though he had previously acted hot-headed, Zaran could now see that in normal situations he actually gave matters a lot of thought. "Hmm, now that you say it like that you are actually correct. We only cared about already skilled people and didn''t consider finding raw gems nor did we consider their character. Very good, keep going like this Raul. How many new members do we have currently?"


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "As of right now, we gained about 150''ish new members."


    "That''s pretty good for how long you''ve been recruiting... Keep at it Raul, I am very impressed with your initiative." Praising Raul once more, Zaran turned around and quickly ran to the teleportation circle.


    A few seconds later, Zaran arrived on the spot where he had placed his gatestone. Dust flew from the gatestone as it slowly disintegrated. At 500 gold it was quite expensive for a single user item but it was still somewhat worth it for the effect it gave you.


    He slowly made his way back to the clearing and after a few minutes of searching around at the clearing, he found the mosquito queen, who was not all too surprised to see Zaran once again.


    Even though she had clearly seen her master die in front of her, she had still been able to faintly sense his presence after his corpse disintegrated, and thus she knew he should still be alive. She wondered how he did survive, or how he revived, but as she couldn''t speak his language, she couldn''t ask even a single question she wanted to ask.


    Instead of fighting the king alone once more, Zaran backed off and simply waited for the guild to arrive along with the skull ants. If the skull ants fought along with the guild, he bet that the king would be a pushover but he wasn''t sure if the skull ants would be willing to do so. Even though it would be an easy victory, Zaran knew that there would be no small amount of casualties even among the guild.


    An hour or so later, the guild finally arrived with the skull ants in tow. Zaran walked over with the mosquito queen and closely watched the skull ants'' movements. His own skull ants had already been told to relay to the others that the mosquito queen was under his control and that she no longer posed a threat to them as long as they did not go overboard with killing the mosquitoes in the future. They could reclaim their territory but nothing more. He made absolutely sure to make his skull ant queen stress the last part.


    Zaran''s skull ant queen quickly relayed the message even though rage was still clearly visible in her eyes. Still, she did not dare to disobey Zaran''s orders... Not any more. In the past she had disobeyed his orders a few times and she had quickly found out that disobeying his orders was not in her best interest. While her master greatly cared about every single one of his beasts, those who did not obey his orders would always receive a severe punishment.


    "Ehm... Zaran." Florance pulled Zaran''s arm while he was communicating with the skull ant queen.


    "Yes Florance? What is it?"


    "We uh... lost a few of your beasts. Sorry" With a sad look in her eyes, Florance bit her lip as she was unsure what else to say.


    "Mmhmm." Zaran only nodded and patted her head. He already knew that a few of his beasts had perished as his mental connection to them had been lost. He was not going to blame anyone for their deaths as he had somewhat expected this outcome. Moreover from everyone''s expressions he could already tell that they had not arrived here unscathed. "You''ve done well."


    "Right, listen up everyone. I have already fought the king and died. Here''s what happened..." Recounting his experiences to the guild, everyone''s expression grew serious as they realized this would be an incredibly hard fight. One hit through their armor would mean the same as death.


    When he finished recounting his experiences, Zaran scanned everyone''s expressions. "So for this fight we will need a really good plan. I will have the queen try to have the mosquitoes not bother us while we deal with the king. As for the fight against the king, I suggest we use as much of our crowd control spells as possible to restrain his movement. Those with a shield will need to try to taunt him. I say try, since his level is higher than mine by quite a bit and we do not know how great the effect of our crowd control spells will be. Are there any questions?"


    A few seconds passed and not a single person had raised his hand. "Very well, you get five minutes to rest and then we will head out to the clearing and fight the king."

 Chapter 82: Killing a king

    "Five minutes are up! Let''s go!" The second that the five minutes were over, Zaran grabbed his greatsword and moved out, not waiting for the guild to get ready. If he waited he was sure that there would be at least a few people who would laze around for just a minute longer but Zaran was not going to have any of that.


    With the guild leader moving out so quickly, all the guild members were startled, quickly grabbed their weapons and ran after him.


    Soon, the guild reached the clearing and spotted the king. On Zaran''s command, all the archers and mages fired their skills at the same time. Lightning, fire, ice and arrows filled the air and sped towards the king.


    The king was still busy processing his earlier battle against Zaran... especially Zaran''s disappearance after the fight. As soon as his enemies'' body had hit the ground it started disintegrating. This was something the king had never seen before and he found it quite curious. How did that work? He had killed members of the same species before and the same thing had never happened.


    BOOM! The spells and arrows collided with the king and a small shockwave ran throughout the forest as the effects of the various spells collided with each other.


    The king''s silhouette burst forth from the dust that had been kicked up by the shockwave and he angrily glared at his attackers. Seeing Zaran and his queen with them the king''s eyes went wide.


    Because the king had been so lost in his own thoughts, he had not noticed the arrows and spells until it was nearly too late. In a split second he threw himself on his back so that his wings would not be damaged by the spells. It was only due to this that he had escaped relatively unscathed.


    "YOU!!!!!!!!!!" A low buzzing voice came from the king''s throat. Trembling with anger the king shot forward at incredible speed.


    "Fire your crowd control spells, QUICKLY!" Zaran yelled. With the first blow the king had only lost 5% of his health. He stretched his hands and made a grabbing motion as he used ''Gravity''  on the area the king was in. The king did not weigh all that much and thus the effect of the powerful gravitational pull was tremendous on the king.


    Still the king was no pushover and with a few flaps of his wings he was still easily able to escape the gravitational pull, despite its power over him being so enormous. This didn''t surprise Zaran as the king''s level was far higher than their own. It was only natural that his spell would have a diminished effect, but ''Gravity'' had temporarily slowed the king down and thus served its purpose. Various snaring and movement impairing spells and arrows hit the king right after he escaped ''Gravity'' and due to the large amount of spells that had hit the king he was unable to fully reduce their effects.


    Briefly losing his ability to fly, the king crashed into the ground and was instantly met with the Paladin''s ''Holy chains'' spell. Bright yellow chains of light wrapped itself around the king''s body and further reduced his movement . The knight''s used their similar, but weaker spell ''Chains of the earth'' to likewise ensnare the king.


    "All right, good job everyone! Archers and mages, aim for his wings!" With the king ensnared, Zaran commanded the archers and mages to target the king''s weak spot. Arrows and magic projectiles flew through the air and crashed into the king who, due to his restricted movement, could only try his best to avoid as much of the spells and arrows as possible.


    "Use another round of crowd control spells! Do not let him get a chance to fight! After he''s snared, fire another round of damaging spells. Rinse and repeat like that until he''s dead!"


    For the next ten seconds the king was continuously affected by the various crowd control spells, harassed by arrows and magic projectiles. Even though he tried his best, he was unable to prevent his wings from being damaged and with his body riddled with wounds, it became increasingly harder for him to protect them.


    The king grit his teeth and murmured with his buzzing voice. "If you really want my wings so badly... THEN TAKE THEM!"


    The next moment he reached with his hands behind his back, ripped them out and threw them at his attackers. Doing this severely damaged him and caused his hit points to instantly fall below 50% but he no longer cared. If they wanted him dead he''d go all out from now on and take down as many as he could!


    A white red mass of magic appeared on the place where the king''s wings were just moments ago and the would that was spewing blood, while not closing, stopped bleeding. At the same time the king tried to wrestle himself free from his restraints and due to the terrifying force that he was using to do so, the earthen chains and holy chains that were wrapped around him started to crack one by one by one.


    "Not good." Seeing the king break free from his restraints, this thought popped up in many of the guild members heads.


    "Restrain his movements again, quickly!"


    Bang! With an explosive sound the last restraint on the king was forcibly broken apart. He kicked off with his feet and in what seemed a split second, he appeared before one of the knights.


    Splish! The king had pierced through the knight''s armour, blood spurting out from the knight''s back. With a fluid motion he withdrew his arm and slashed at the closest knight next to him, finishing him off in one blow.


    "Quick! Chain him! Chain hi" Another one of the guild members yelled, right before his head was cut off. The king went on an absolute rampage within the guild''s ranks and the amount of members quickly dwindled. Even though the guild had attacked the king with every crowd control spell they had, they were momentarily unable to reduce his mobility. With every kill it seemed as if he gained a few more seconds of invulnerability to crowd control!


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    SKREE!!!!


    Suddenly the horde of skull ants that had followed the guild over joined the fight and swarmed around the king. Compared to the guild members, the ants were far more troublesome to deal with for the king as he was unable to deal with them in a single hit.


    Still, the king got bitten by the skull ants every so often and a large chunk of his health disappeared with every bite. Unable to hold his ground against the ants for too much longer, the king unleashed a bright red energy from his hands.


    The ants blood started boiling as the red energy appeared and the majority of them rapidly fell down, unable to fight any further. A few of the stronger ones tried to resist the pain but quickly found out that doing so only enhanced the pain to the point of it becoming unbearable and they too fell down.


    Even though the ants had not been fighting the king for a long amount of time, they had dealt no small amount of damage to him and they had bought the guild the time needed to regroup themselves.


    While Zaran could not see any of the stats, he was still the only one among the guild that could see the king''s remaining hit points, merely due to the level of his ''insight'' skill. At the moment the king had a mere 10% of his health left and his hit points were continuously lowering. The bites of the skull ants were no joke and even though the mosquito king recovered from normal injuries almost instantly, even a single bite of a skull ant needed more than a minute to heal.


    The guild members had repositioned themselves and fixed the gaps in their formation. A single beast stood in front of the guild and prepared itself to meet the mosquito king head on. Zaran''s demonic core tiger!


    The demonic core tiger had changed compared to just a few hours ago. It no longer consisted of a demonic core enshrouded by Vilewood branches and had instead lost its Vilewood branches in favour of the thick skull ant chitin. In a normal situation the demonic core tiger would have never been able to gather enough chitin to evolve its body to the current level, but with the war between the mosquitoes and the ants there was even too much chitin.


    This drastic evolution of its body had also drastically raised the tigers level. From its previous level of 75 it had charged straight into level 85, becoming the most powerful being in the guild currently. On top of it gaining strength it had also grown slightly larger as its body would be able to contain more power this way.


    Although the tiger''s strength had grown by leaps and bounds, Zaran still did not feel all that comfortable with having it fight against the mosquito king in a one on one. However the tiger was extremely eager to fight it and Zaran found it hard to restrain the tiger''s urges mainly due to its increased level. His hell beast master skill was still lacking after all and hadn''t been leveled all that much in the past few weeks. He was still only at beginner level 8 and was quite a ways off level 9.


    GROOOOOOOOOOWWWLLL!!!! With a menacing roar the tiger pounced forward and swiped at the mosquito king, who swiftly dodged and stabbed the tiger''s body with its blade like hand. Only a slight crack appeared on the tigers body and in the next instant its body restored itself as if the damage had never been there.


    Spikes appeared on the back of the demonic core tiger''s paws and it swatted its paws straight into the mosquito king''s body.


    The king quickly pushed himself away from the demonic core tiger''s spikes and blood started to trickle from his mouth. The spikes had pierced one of his lungs and with every breath it took, more of his colourless blood escaped from his mouth. Red energy appeared around his hands again as it tried to boil the tiger''s blood.


    Digging its paws into the ground and getting ready to pounce, the demonic core tiger completely ignored the red energy. Boiling its blood was absolutely useless... It had none! However the tiger still did its best to act as if it was in pain to lure the king into a false sense of security.


    Thinking that the tiger was affected by its skill the mosquito king slowly advanced, pushing all its remaining strength into this last blow. The king knew that he would be unable to survive this day as he could no longer run from both the ants and the nearly two hundred remaining men and women. However he did not want to go down alone!


    At least... that was the king''s last thought. The next instant the tiger pounced at the king, dug its claws firmly into the king''s shoulders, bit at the king''s throat and two bites later the king''s head fell next to his body!


    The guild stared wide eyed at the scene. While they had thought that the tiger might just be able to fight the mosquito king, they hadn''t expected that it would be such a one sided fight even though the mosquito king was already largely injured. Then again, the skull ant''s chitin was incredibly tough and the king had only been able to kill an ant after striking twice at one of its weaknesses, so it was somewhat expected as the demonic core tiger did not have a single weakness on its body, at least not one that they currently knew of.


    With a bright flash of light, the mosquito king''s body disappeared, leaving behind two small orbs, one black and the other white.

 Chapter 83: Evolution

    Thanks to Dandarious for proofreading


    ________________


    Zaran walked over to pick up the two orbs, since as leader of the guild it was his job to distribute the loot. He hoped the two orbs would be worth some money, so that everyone could get a share. Plus in that case the guild would also benefit since the guild took 10% of any profit earned. Be it guild quest completion or selling items earned in a group with the guild, 10 % of the profits always went to the guild''s treasury.


    The reason for this was that the guild needed gold, at least in the future, and no small amount of it either. If the guild ever wanted to have a base, town or fortress of their own, they''d easily need to shell out ten thousand gold at the very least and even then they would only have the absolute basics. Moreover, Zaran also wanted the guild to have funds to buy good weapons in the future. In cases were someone within the guild found an incredibly good weapon, but no-one in his group could use it, Zaran hoped to be able to use the guild funds to buy it for someone that could.


    So far the guild members did not have any problem with the guild taking 10% as the reasons for it were pretty valid. On top of that Zaran had also promised to cancel that system the moment the guild had a property or way that would enable them to sustain the guild''s treasury without having to take the 10% share.


    Because of this, Zaran hoped that the two small orbs were items that they could sell off for a high price. Right as Zaran was about to pick up the two orbs, a white shadow flashed past him and picked up the white orb. Picking up the black orb, Zaran first looked at the direction the white shadow had ran off too. He had just briefly been able to see that it was his demonic core tiger that had grabbed the white orb.


    "Oi! Zaran! Your tiger stole our loot!" A few of the guildsmen yelled loudly.


    "I know, I''ll go get it back!" Quickly following after the tiger, Zaran was able to find it just a hundred meters away from the guild, hidden behind a large tree. Sadly enough he  couldn''t see there orb any longer and thus Zaran could only hold his hand out. "Give!"


    The tiger raised itself and his body started convulsing as if it was about to throw up. Even though it was not necessary, Zaran still unconsciously took a few steps back. With a popping sound, the white orb burst through the tiger''s mouth and landed on the forest floor.


    Compared to before, the white orb was no longer fully white and now had specks of grey within it. A little confused about this change, Zaran picked up the orb and used the inspect skill.


    Half-awakened demonic core


    Type: rare Hellbeast master item


    Description:


    A half-awakened demonic core that has been infused by the energy of another demonic core. Once blood of any animal is dripped onto this orb, it will fully awaken and a new demonic core animal corresponding to the blood of the animal will be born. The newborn animal will be able to use most skills of the animal it is born from and is only able to slowly learn new ones over a very large amount of time.


    Wide eyed, Zaran stared at the information screen. He could get another demonic core animal? And it could be any animal of his choosing? This was a really good item! The tiger he now had was undoubtedly one of his strongest beasts and it would only evolve to become even stronger in the future as long as he fed it the correct materials to replace its body with.


    He instantly started to think about the blood of a few beasts that he could infuse this orb with, every one more formidable then the last. "A dragon." Zaran murmured. "If I feed this thing dragon blood... it will be able to use all the skills the dragon has? That would be amazing! Then again, where the hell am I going to find dragon blood?!? But this also explains why the tiger has so few skills, it''s most likely born from a common tiger with nearly no special skills."


    Zaran walked back over to the guild and posted the item description in the guild''s chat. At first the guild was overjoyed about the item, even though they realised that it can only be used by Zaran as far as they knew. The potential of the item was just too great. As long as they found a beast with great skills and gathered some of its blood, they would gain an incredibly powerful ally and possibly even indestructible as long as they were able to procure good materials.


    Posting the black orb''s information, the guild grew even more ecstatic.


    Evolution orb (Arthropod => beast men).


    Ultra rare crystal


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Description:


    Forces an animal species to step unto the path to become a beast men. In the initial stages only the intelligence of the species is increased but in time the target will evolve to become a beast man or beast woman. If the target is already currently intelligent, the orb will complete the evolution instantly.


    "Feed it to Cindarrah!" Quite a few guild members said as they finished reading the item''s description.


    "No, not Cindarrah. At least not yet. I still have a quest line to finish that involves her and I am not sure what will happen if she suddenly evolves. " Instantly rebuking the guild, Zaran turned towards the mosquito queen and pointed at her. "We should let her take it instead. My reason for this is that she is already contracted to me and we''ve all seen how strong that king was, who was just a few steps higher on the evolutionary ladder. If she becomes a full-fledged beast woman she should undoubtedly become a ridiculously strong ally in the future."


    A few of the guilds men nodded as they approved of Zaran''s idea while many others were still considering it. The guild had all come into contact with Cindarrah for a long amount of time and held her dear, while this mosquito queen was just a newbie to them. Still, they had all seen the king''s might so what Zaran said made sense.


    After letting the guild think about it for some minutes, Zaran spoke up. "Right, let''s have the majority decide who it goes to. Who is for the plan to give it to the queen?"


    A large amount of hands were instantly raised, but it was still not the majority. Zaran sighed and decided to wait for just a bit longer, hoping that some people would still decide to support his idea. He really needed to get the queen to evolve, the main reason being that he absolutely did not want Cindarrah in human form and he knew that if he didn''t use the orb straight away most of the guild would pester him into using it on her.


    The other reason for this was that she could actually cooperate easier with the guild like this and wouldn''t need to stay at Zaran''s side all the time, which would in turn allow her to go to wherever she wanted, as long as she was accompanied with a small escort of guild members.


    Seconds passed and slowly more people of the guild raised their hands and with every hand that was raised, those who had not raised it yet started to feel peer pressure and raised theirs too. Not much later every single member of the guild had his or her hands up.


    Before anyone could change their minds, Zaran quickly tossed the black orb to the mosquito queen.


    The queen looked confused at the orb and Zaran for a minute, unsure as to why Zaran had given the black orb to her. Suddenly her gaze was completely drawn into the orb and before she knew it, the orb dissolved and a sticky liquid rapidly started to envelop the queen.


    Moments later a thick green layered liquid orb enveloped the queen and expanded outwards. Quickly, the surrounding five meters of forest were all covered in the same liquid. As swiftly as the liquid expanded to it''s maximum width, it instantly burst open and revealed the queen.


    Compared to mere seconds ago, she looked quite different now. Unlike before she now had a completely humanoid figure. The only thing that set her apart from a normal human, were her razor like teeth and her ''skin'' that consisted out of chitin.


    Seeing the humanoid mosquito queen, many of the as men in the guild had to swallow their saliva upon seeing her as she was completely naked. Before they had paid her no mind as she was a somewhat awkward fusion of a man and a beast, but now that she looked remarkably human, they could not help staring longingly at her body.


    Zaran face palmed upon seeing this, and quickly took a cloak out of his storage ring and put it around the queen. It was the best he could do for now as he had nothing better on hand.


    "Thanks" The queen mumbled shyly. She recognized the longing eyes of the men in the guild and was extremely grateful for the cloak she had been given.


    "Oh you can speak?" Zaran said in surprise. While he had expected the queen to gain the ability to talk, he hadn''t expected her to be able to talk in their language immediately.


    The queen was in thought for a while before she opened her mouth again. "Little. Know not many words... yet."


    "I see... we''ll teach you more words!" Zaran said with a smile before returning his attention to the guild. "What are you all staring at her for! Let''s return to the outskirts of the forest and level there for the time being!"

 Chapter 84: The Nayeran are being slaughtered!

    It''s been a while and... it has a few reasons. In between overburdening my wrists, getting captivated by pok¨¦mon go and not really knowing how to progress this chapter in the direction I wanted it to go, I really just could not finish this chapter. I knew the direction this chapter had to go in, I just couldn''t get to a result I liked myself.


    Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter.


    _________________


    A week quickly passed, during which the guild and Zaran levelled or trained themselves non-stop.


    At the moment Zaran was seated down in a lotus position and was quietly cultivating his ki, with his greatsword in his lap. The more he cultivated the faster the cultivation speed of both himself and his sword grew. Compared to a month ago, the speed had at least quadrupled.


    Rustle... rustle...


    A woman clad in an olive-green cloak appeared before Zaran, her face hidden behind the hood of her cloak, quietly waiting for Zaran to finish cultivating.


    Minutes later, Zaran opened his eyes and looked at the olive-green clad woman with a gentle smile. He had heard her coming earlier and was pleased that she had not disturbed him and had instead quietly waited for his cultivation session to end. The woman in front of him was the mosquito queen that he had a blood contract with. "You may speak Ruina."


    "Master, we are in need of your aid. The nayeran are under attack by approximately a thousand people! For the moment the nayeran are holding on but they are quickly losing their strength. I''ve already gathered everyone in the secondary guild and sent them off to the battlefield, but we are only 250 strong so I was hoping that you could gather the main guild. Even though our 250 members are really strong, the enemy is frighteningly strong." Ruina quickly said.


    In the week that had passed Zaran had instructed Ruina and Raul to set up a secondary guild. Zaran wanted to grow the guild as fast as possible and as the main guild had already reached full capacity, there was a need to set up a secondary guild if they wanted to accommodate more members.


    In this secondary guild Ruina was the leader and Raul, the free exp guy, was the vice leader. The reason for Ruina''s leadership lied solely in her blood contract with Zaran. Like that he could be assured that the secondary guild could not suddenly break away from the main guild. There still could be traitors, but at least the leader would never be able to be one and thus the treasury or any territory that the secondary guild would have in the future could never be lost.


    He had done this not because he did not trust Raul, but he just did not trust other people in general. It was easy to grow greedy once was given power and money. Zaran had considered giving the leadership to Sylphie, Irina, Nuvahn or Florance but had eventually decided that he should not split up the most powerful people within the guild.


    He grit his teeth and quickly typed a message in the guild chat. "Everyone, the nayeran are being killed by a guild. If they keep going they will slowly kill off every single one of the nayeran. Let''s stop them!"


    Hearing their boss calling them to arms to protect the nayeran, the guild went wild. Out of the past four weeks, three of them had been spent guarding the nayeran and many of the guild''s members had grown fond of the nayeran.


    "Yes boss!"


    "Uraah!!!"


    "Coming! I''ll call my friends to get on too!" A player said.


    Seeing the reaction from the guild, Zaran smiled, turned to Ruina and then quickly cried out to one of the nearby rhinoceros that he had gotten from the Nayeran. "Take this rhino and head back. Try your hardest to keep the enemy occupied until we get there. Make sure not to overuse your ability. We know that the backlash can be quite heavy."


    Not even an hour later, most of the guild members had gathered and headed towards Ergan, the mountain that served as the nayeran''s home.


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    Initially the fight had been out in the open plains, but in just a mere hour, the nayeran and the secondary guild has been pushed back to the base of the mountain and they were just barely able to stop the invading army from entering the village. Of the whole nayeran population, a mere five hundred warriors were left alive and the battlefield was littered with their bodies. As for the secondary guild they did not have as much losses.


    Noticing what was going on, Zaran had the main guild split up in three parts and directed the three parts to the left wing, the back and the right wing of the invading army, with he himself commanding the part of the army that was to attack the left wing.


    As there was no time to lose, Zaran decided to gamble a little bit. "Shield bearers, use shield rush early and go ahead of us. We can''t afford the nayeran or secondary guild to lose more people if we are to win this battle!"


    The shield bearing members of the guild that made up the first line all activated their shield rush skill and slammed themselves right into the invading army''s flank. With the enemies being attacked in their back and sides, they quickly lost their advantageous position and started to lose members rapidly.


    With every passing minute, more members of both sides fell, but as the invading army''s troops were being attacked from all sides, they were losing troops at a far faster rate than Zaran and his two guilds were. Quickly, the enemy could no longer continue to fight and surrendered on the spot, after which Zaran quickly told his troops to stand down.


    Due to his insight skill, Zaran had noticed that the group was merely a bunch of NPC''s and grew even more annoyed. He could understand if it were players killing the nayeran, but NPC''s? that could only be due to a command from the mercenary guild! Even after the mercenary guild had their revenge, they still wanted to go through and slaughter the nayeran down to the very last one?


    With fury blazing in his heart, Zaran stepped forward and grabbed the commander. Even though he already knew the answer in his heart, his guilds did not know and they deserved the truth. "Who gave you the order to kill the nayeran!"


    The commander of the enemy didn''t answer and only calmly smiled. Tell his enemy who commanded them... He was not stupid! That would be the same as killing off his entire career! Promotion? He could forget getting one in the future if he told who commanded him to undertake this mission.


    "Not talking?" Zaran said with a wicked smile. "Did you forget I am keeping all your men captive? Let''s see how many have to die before you start talking."


    Glancing over the enemy commander''s men, Zaran walked to a random man, dragged him in front of the commander, pulled his head back and put his knife on the man''s throat. "Talk or he dies."


    Not even a split-second passed before the enemy commander opened his mouth. "Wait! Wait! I will talk! Don''t kill any more of my men!"


    Zaran took his knife away from the soldier''s throat. "What are you waiting for! Talk!"


    "Ah! Yes! Yes! It was all Virul''s guild master''s decision! He had sent over a guild to finish of the nayeran just over a week ago and even though they had been able to kill the nayeran''s leader they had not finished them off entirely and thus my guild had been tasked to come over and kill off the remaining nayeran. The reward for the mission was so generous that I immediately accepted it."


    Hearing the commander''s explanation, the faces of most of the guild members grew increasingly ugly. They hadn''t done their job well? Had they not killed of the nayeran''s leader and delivered them the swords that he had stolen from the previous guild leader?


    Killing intent slowly started to waft from many of the guilds members, scaring the remaining captive soldiers so much that they soiled their pants.


    "I see how it is. Guys, keep all of them captive here. I am going to pay the major of Virul a visit and see if we can not solve this dispute without any more nayeran dying a senseless death!"

 Chapter 85: A way to save the nayeran?

    Right... Been a long time since I posted a chapter and I am sorry for that. Not going to be making too much excuses as I technically could have kept writing but I really didn''t feel like it anymore after I got home. Have spent the last weeks doing the work of three people in the time of one and that on a deadline. NOT fun. Even though I really like writing, writing wasn''t exactly on my mind during the past few weeks.


    Hopefully I don''t get more projects like that, so I can keep posting (shitty) chapters.


    _______________________


    Not even an hour passed and Zaran already stood in front of the mayor''s office, quietly waiting until he could enter. While he was waiting Zaran formed countless plans to convince the mayor to stop the pointless quest to annihilate the nayeran and hoped that one of them would be good enough to win the mayor over.


    As long as the mayor of a city as big as Virul asked the mercenary guild to abandon the quest they would surely comply. After all they could not dare to offend a figure as mighty as the mayor of Virul.


    After all, Virul was the tenth biggest city in Liberiu and thus the mayor of a city so big would not be lacking in connections. Even if the leader of the Virul branch of the mercenary guild was completely lacking a brain, he would definitely not be stupid enough to offend the mayor.


    Still, Zaran had not yet been able to win over the mayor and he fully bet that the value the mayor placed on him was high enough to grant him this one significant favour. If the major granted him this favour Zaran would do everything within his power to repay him.


    A few more minutes slipped away before the door to the mayor''s office finally opened. The mayor wobbled out of his office and seemed very surprised to see Zaran standing there.


    "Mister Zaran, why are you standing? You could''ve at least taken a seat! But it is good to see you! I heard you wished to urgently see me?" The mayor quickly said, grabbing Zaran''s hands, giving him a firm handshake.


    "Yes there''s a matter of great importance to me that I wish to talk about. Actually it is more of a huge favour that I wish to ask of you. It concerns a quest of the mercenary guild." Honestly saying what he wanted to talk about, Zaran firmly shook the mayor''s hand in return.


    Opening the door and gesturing that Zaran should enter, the mayor nodded. "We''ll discuss this inside."


    Zaran quickly took seat and waited for the mayor to sit down. "So it is as follows: the mercenary guild previously had a quest that requested slaughtering the nayeran that habit mount Ergan. The guild under my leadership took up this quest and during the quest we figured out that the new nayeran king had killed the previous mercenary guild leader and taken his prized swords for himself. This turn of events caused the current mercenary guild leader to be outraged and as a result he posted the quest."


    "While we were battling the nayeran after we figured out what happened, a revolt happened and six of the nayeran leaders revolted against their leader. In the ensueing fight, my guild and I were able to take down the leader alongside the revolting nayeran. The reason they revolted was that they were fed up with the senseless killing under command of their king. With the king gone and a new leader in place, my guild decided to set up a truce with the nayeran. After we set up the truce I went back to the leader of the mercenary guild and reported the status of the quest as complete and I recounted what happened."


    "Figuring out that we had not killed the nayeran down to the very last one the guild leader was outraged at first but then decided that he''d give the nayeran a trial of three weeks. During these three weeks we had to take note of the nayeran''s movements. We did so and nothing of note happened during the three weeks. The guild leader came over and considered the quest as complete and gave us a follow up quest. So at this point I thought all was well and that the nayeran could now live in their newfound peace without having to fear that they would be facing a genocide sooner or later."


    "However... I was wrong. Just earlier today my guild and I fought of another guild that took up the quest we already completed. They were now the ones slaughtering the nayeran. Luckily I still had some troops in the area and they were able to hold the enemy guild back until the rest of us came and dealt with them."


    The mayor frowned. "What is it you want me to do?"


    "I wish for you to cancel the quest completely and prevent it from being ever executed in the future!"


    Shaking his head, the mayor said. "I can''t do that. I do not have the authorisation to cancel quests."


    This time it was Zaran''s turn to frown. "But can''t you ask the mercenary guild leader to do so? Surely he won''t refrain from cancelling the quest if you ask him to do so?"


    "Technically I could, but then I would be owing the mercenary guild leader a favour and that would be a problem. Give that guy a hand and he''ll take your whole arm."


    "I see..." Zaran said a little dejectedly. "Is there any other way that we could force the quest to be cancelled? It is senseless slaughter after all..."


    "Hmm... Let me see." The mayor pondered for a moment. A few moments later his eyes widened and he yelled. "Ah! How could I forget! There is also that way!"


    Excited, Zaran yelled. "Quick, quick! What do I need to do?!?"


    "I can force the quest to be cancelled! However I will require you to do two things in return! Because the way I can force the quest to be cancelled is to give you a personally signed mission by me that allows you to colonize the Ergan mountain! I am willing to do so, but you should understand that what I am giving you here is a huge opportunity and I can''t just give it to you for free." The mayor slowed down and drank a few gulps of water before continueuing.


    "Therefore I require the following two things of you. One, you will pay double taxes for the first year and two, you will teach my son how to really use the greatsword. Compared to your skills the teacher he currently has is an absolute beginner! Now, do you agree or not?"


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Stroking his chin while he was deep in thought, Zaran carefully considered whether he should agree to this proposal. While teaching the mayor''s son was not an issue, he would still need to come up with a way to deal with the taxes. He knew that the taxes for cities near the Virul area were neither high nor low, but they would still be quite significant if they were doubled.


    A minute or two passed before Zaran came to the realization that there really was no other way. He sighed "I agree!"


    A pleased smile appeared on the mayor''s face. "Very good! Very good! We both get something we want now, no? My son gets to learn how to use a heavy sword by someone actually focused and skilled in using them, while you get to keep the nayeran safe."


    "So, what is next?" Zaran said, impatient to get this show on the road. Time was truly ticking for the nayeran and he had no time to waste with any more pleasantries.


    The mayor loudly clapped and hollered "I need someone to attend to me!"


    A maid rushed into the office mere seconds later. "Sandy! Tell my son to visit my office PRONTO and that he will be extremely sorry if he''s not here before I am done with my guest!"


    The maid mumbled a quiet "Yes sir!" before running out of the office and off to the mayor''s son''s chambers.


    Pleased with the speed at which the maid left, the mayor opened one of the various drawers on his desk and started rummaging through it. After a good minute he finally muttered an "AHA!" as he drew out a few documents from the drawer.


    "Territory release form, owner rights, resource release form, resource rights, city building rights, guild branch establishing rights, ... that should be all yes? Yes that should be all." The mayor muttered to himself as he flipped through the documents and picked up his quill. Dipping it into the jar of ink, the mayor quickly started to fill in the required parts of the documents.


    Ten minutes later, the mayor was finally done with filling in the documents and handed the quill to Zaran. "Please sign, here, here, here, here, here and here!" He said as he pointed to rectangles on the six different documents.


    Zaran quickly signed the documents with his name and with each signed document a little notification appeared in Zaran''s field of view, notifying him that he had gained territory, rights to resources, rights to establish guild branches and finally rights to establish a city within a five kilometer radius around the Ergan mountain.


    "Good, very good! Now you are the proud owner of the territory in a five kilometer radius around the Ergan mountain! That should be plenty to both establish a tribe for the nayeran as well as allow your future city to have plenty of room for improvement. Now besides the territory release form and the resource release form that are for me, the other four documents now belong to you. Now I still need to draw up two more documents. One document to inform the mercenary guild leader that you now command that territory and that he is requested to open up a branch there ASAP and that any quests concerning the extermination of the nayeran should be cancelled as they are now citizens under the Virul banner. Another document we still need to draft up is the contract between you and me which stipulates that you will pay double taxes for the first year following the establishment of your city." Having said all that, the mayor took back the two documents that were his and started drafting the final two documents.


    Another ten minutes passed and after having signed the two documents, the mayor and Zaran were left waiting for the mayor''s son. A good minute passed before finally the door to the mayor''s office slammed open, revealing an utterly exhausted crocodile man.


    "Sorry for being late dad! I was out training with the knights, when suddenly the maid came over and told me I had to be here! I rushed here as fast as I could! Am I still on time?"


    The mayor sighed. "You are too late but you ask if you are still on time? Ugh... I don''t even... Anyway, Mubar, this man in front of you will be your heavy sword teacher. I expect you to follow him around and learn from him everything you can! I spared no small expense to have him teach you, so if I learn that you have been slacking you will be EXTREMELY sorry!"


    Mubar looked at Zaran and sized him up. Seeing the Zuno in front of him, Mubar said with some disdain. "This guy is going to be my teacher? He doesn''t look like he knows much about heavy swords!"


    Zaran scoffed and looked at Mubar. Using his inspect skill he noticed that Mubar''s level was relatively high as he was already over level 100. Besides that Mubar was also a three meter tall and extremely muscular crocodile man, so Zaran was sure he had the necessary strength to wield a heavy sword. However with Mubar''s response to how he looked, Zaran already knew that behind those muscles was not too good of a brain. "As your new master let me give you one piece of advice. If you size up your enemies by how they look you will meet an untimely demise. You can''t be THAT stupid right? On top of that you do know that we Zuno are absolute specialists in combat, yes?"


    Mubar scratched his head. "Ofcourse I know that! But ..." He wanted to say ''But look at you!'' and then realized that he could not use that line as that would prove that, yes, he was THAT stupid.


    "Haha... Seems like your new master has already outsmarted you!" The mayor loudly laughed, before his face turned ugly and he barked. "BUT SON! HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY DECISION ON YOUR TEACHER! If you know what is good for you, you will apologize immediately to your master!"


    Mubar immediately dropped on his knees after his father''s bout of anger. "I am sorry master! Please teach me the ways of the heavy sword!"


    Zaran smiled, stood up and helped Mubar up. "Please don''t kneel in front of me. If you are interested in the way of the heavy sword I will do all I can to teach you. Just don''t show disdain towards me because I am a Zuno and I will teach you with all my heart."


    "Th-thanks." Mubar said, trying his best to hide his disdain towards the Zuno.


    "Shall I take my leave now, mayor?" Zaran asked, eager to go towards the mercenary guild and get the ridiculous quest stopped.

 Chapter 86: Settling matters

    "Yes you may leave." The mayor quietly said, after which Zaran and Mubar quickly left the office and rushed towards the mercenary guild.


    As the two walked around the market place hushed whispers resounded from the nearby knights and Virul''s soldiers.


    "What''s up with all the whispering soldiers?" Zaran asked.


    "Eh? They are just probably just wondering how long my next master will be able to train me." Mubar said with a grunt. "The previous ones weren''t that great after all and could barely teach me anything that I could not figure out on my own. As my father always payed a good amount to my teachers he wasn''t glad to know that I had barely improved in skill after weeks of tutelage under another trainer. And when my father is not happy with someone... nasty things happen."


    Zaran gulped. "Good to know." He didn''t think that he would fall into the same category as Mubar''s former teachers but he still found it valuable to know that the mayor was one to pay back his grudges with interest.


    The duo quickly arrived at the mercenary guild and due to Mubar''s presence, the two of them instantly got an audience with the leader of the guild.


    "So what brings you here Mubar? And why is that Zuno in here with you?" The leader said, showing sheer disdain for Zaran.


    "This is master Zaran, from today onward he will be my new greatsword teacher. To be fair it''s not me that has business with you but it is my master that has some important matters to discuss with you." Mubar said, addressing Zaran with the necessary respect.


    The guild master scoffed and turned his attention to Zaran. "What do you want this time? Again about those darn Nayeran?"


    "Yes and no. While I am not here for the nayeran this time, the matter I have to discuss does affect them. I visit the mayor prior to my visit here and became Mubar''s master. Now as I do not ever work for free I asked for a small favor in return from the mayor. The small favor I asked was to receive the rights to establish a town in the Ergan area, a favor which the mayor granted me." Zaran said with a casual smile.


    "That damn bastard of a mayor! This is the fifth time he has messed with my business!" The guild leader silently cursed, before forcing a smile on his face. "Oh, is that so? Can I see the deeds to this? You should have them with you, no?"


    Zaran took out the two scrolls the mayor had prepared for the mercenary guild leader alongside the deeds to the Ergan mountain. He handed the three scrolls to the mercenary guild leader.


    Taking a quick glance over the three scrolls, the guild leader knew he had been out maneuvered. He couldn''t do anything else. There was no way to exterminate the nayeran anymore. On top of that the mayor had even requested to open a guild branch in the area as soon as possible and stated in the scroll that the local mercenary guild leader was going to be one of his personal connections.


    The mercenary guild leader angrily sighed and handed the scrolls back to Zaran. He had wanted to rip them up but he knew the mayor had copies and was probably making more just in case.


    "Fine, I''ll recall the troops and cancel the mission." The guild leader said. "But don''t think you have won. This matter is far from over!"Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Zaran smiled. "I never thought it would be over with just this in the first place. We''ll see each other again guild master." Zaran said as he stood up and left the guild master''s office, Mubar quickly following him.


    Mubar quickly caught up with Zaran. "Master, why did that feel too easy?"


    Zaran chuckled. "Because it was. Like he said it''s far from over. He''ll find some way to hurt the nayeran and now it has become my duty that this will not happen. So pretty much we declared war on each other."


    "I see... Should I have my father step in?" Mubar whispered softly.


    "No, men should solve their problems themselves. While I did need help from your father so get this far, the rest will all be dealt with by me. Whoever of us wins though... that''s a question that will be answered in time." Zaran said before continuing, "In the future, don''t think you can just count on me or your father to clean up your messes. Make sure you can clean them up yourself. So in short... don''t cause any trouble that you can''t handle by yourself."


    A few quiet seconds passed before a glimpse of enlightenment appeared in Mubar''s eyes. "Mmhmm. I understand what you are trying to say master. I will make sure to remember it."


    "I hope you understand, it''s most likely the most valuable lesson I can teach you." Zaran said with a chuckle. This one small wisdom is what he always made sure to remember whatever situation he was in. While he sort-off broke the rule in the matter concerning the nayeran, there was still no way for the mercenary guild leader to deal with him forever. He was rather sure the creators of the game and the gods would not allow for something like this to happen. That would make it far too easy for competing gods to mess with another god''s scions and force them out of the game forever.


    "Regardless, let''s make our way to the Ergan mountain. I will quickly set my guild to work on building the city and afterwards I will have you show me your techniques, so I can see how much of a base you have built up so far." Zaran said as he quickened his pace.


    "All good." Mubar said, quickly following after Zaran.


    <hr>


    Meanwhile at the battlefield, the main guild was cleaning up the corpses and looting whatever they could, whileRuina and the sideguild were busy chopping trees, brought them to the mountain and formed a sloppy palisade.


    Florance and Nuvahn were the only two members of the guild who were not working and were instead lazily talking amongst themselves. Suddenly, Florance noticed two silhouettes in the distance and seeing that one of them was Zaran, she sped forward and rushed at him.


    "HEY YOU!!!" She shouted, jumped at Zaran, wrapped her legs around him and kissed him full on the mouth.


    Zaran embraced Florance and lovingly answered the kiss and only broke it off after a full minute of passionately kissing his little Flo. "Aren''t you happy to see me?" Zaran said with a slight chuckle, to which Florance rolled her eyes upwards and cheekily said, "Mmaaaaybe." with a pensive look in her eyes.


    Then all of a sudden her expression turned extremely serious. "Hey, does you asking that question mean that you didn''t miss ME," Florance gasped.


    Zaran laughed. "Flo, drop the act please, you''re killing me. Of course I missed you love. But eh... could you let me go so I can introduce you to my new student?"


    "Oh? A new pupil? You took on an actual new pupil?" Florance cocked her head, looked at mubar, sized him up and said. "Hmm, he looks like he can wield a sword at least."


    "Flo. really. Stop it." Zaran said as he chopped on her head.


    "Aye aye, sir." Flo said with a light smirk as she jumped of Zaran and extended her hand towards Mubar. "Hi, I am Florance, Zaran''s one and only lover!"


    Zaran facepalmed and deeply sighed. "Fine, be like that, I''m going to gather the guild."


    A few minutes later the guild was all gathered before Zaran. "I have been able to convince the mercenary guild master to stop the attacks on the nayeran. However for this we have paid a price. I had to pull favors with the mayor and to price we had to pay is that I have to personally teach his son the way to truly use a heavy sword."


    The guild stared at Zaran in confusion. That clearly wasn''t such a huge price to pay. Why had he even bothered to explain this and why was he so serious about it.


    After a few seconds of waiting, Zaran continued."On top of that we will also have to build a city here. So that means we will have to spend quite some time not leveling and instead will need to pull our resources together and build up a base of operations here. While having a base is not a bad thing it will mean we will be falling behind a bit. I hope you guys don''t mind that."


    The guild let out gasps of surprise.


    "I know, I know, this might be too early for us. But, it is the only way we can keep the nayeran somewhat safe. Who is with me to build up this city and save the nayeran?"


    "WE ARE! WE ARE!" The guild cried in unison.


    Zaran calmed down the guild. "However even if we build a city, I think we will still need to continuously deal with Virul''s mercenary guild master, he won''t be letting go of the matter so easily."


    "Let him come! We will deal with him!" One of the guild members cried out.


    "Yeah who does he think he is!" Another member yelled.


    Soon all the members were shouting and bickering, cursing the mercenary guild master to bits and pieces!


    Seeing this, Zaran nodded. "Let''s get to work! Start collecting wood for houses from the nearby forest but don''t plunder too much! Blacksmiths and carpenters, get to work and tell the others what you need to make some sturdy houses and walls. Use my pets how you see fit. I''ll need to teach Mubar a bit before I can help you guys out."


    The guild quickly gathered around the few carpenters and blacksmiths they had and went to work.

 Chapter 87: Testing Mubar

    "Florance, Nuvahn, Nekorath, Sylphie and Irena, could you guys stay with me? I need you guys to work on your skills too and I hope you guys will bring Sylphie and Irina up to speed as quickly as possible." Zaran said, taking his greatsword Gigenkai from his back and turning to Mubar. "Now show me what you have learned Mubar."


    Mubar''s expression turned very serious as he took out his greatsword from his storage ring. The greatsword was extremely large, even bigger than the three meter tall Mubar by quite a bit and the thickness and width of the sword was no joke either. At its thickest point the sword looked to be about twenty centimeters thick and sixty centimeters wide. From the size, length and thickness, Zaran guessed that the blade had to weigh almost twice as much as his own sword.


    "Can''t let my sword receive a direct strike from Mubar''s." He thought as he readied himself and quietly activated [Swiftness] in advance. As for [Tempered body]... Zaran was rather sure he would not be needing it. The sheer size and weight of the sword would make it almost unable to be moved around quickly and there was a huge chance that the blade wasn''t balanced properly.


    So far he had seen very little greatswords for sale in Virul to the point that Zaran even doubted there were any besides monster drops or user-made ones. It made sense though. Properly balanced and good greatswords were far harder to make than regular swords. It also took far longer to create one and thus would take far longer to master the craft.


    From the standpoint of a martial artist... It was hard to find a good weapon and then there was still the matter of mastering the greatsword, something which was tremendously more difficult than becoming a master swordsman.


    Two of Zaran''s own sayings went ''A master of the greatsword can be considered a great master of the sword but a master of the sword cannot be considered a master of the greatsword.'' and the other one went "If it takes you a year to master the sword, it will take you ten years to master the greatsword."


    Thus there was good reason that there were very, very few blacksmiths in their right mind who would willingly master the art, as there were simply too few people to sell your products at and there was barely anyone around who would do your work honour in the first place. This explained why there were very few greatswords around.


    Mubar slowly brandished his greatsword and took his sweet time to get used to the weight of it once more. Only after a minute did he finally dare to swing his greatsword around, much to Zaran''s annoyance.


    "Are you finally going to attack me?" Zaran impatiently said. "With how long it takes for you to ready yourself to battle the battle will be over before you are ready to participate in it."


    "Sorry master!" Mubar said as he launched a heavy sideways swoop towards Zaran. The swoop was slow, not at the correct height and Mubar was off balance during the swing itself. This alone made Zaran sight as he just back stepped the swing and watched Mubar slightly stumble forward, causing Zaran to frown once more.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Mubar used his stumbling as momentum and swooped in the opposite direction. This caused Zaran to be a bit surprised as this was a pretty decent idea. However it posed no threat to him as he back stepped once more, easily avoiding any damage, causing Mubar to stumble yet again. Mubar prepared to attack once more but Zaran disappointingly shook his head. "Stop, I don''t need to see anything else."


    Quickly storing his greatsword, Mubar heavily panted. "How was it?"


    "Do you need to ask? Your sword is too heavy for you making you unable to truly wield it. Why told you to get such a heavy greatsword?" Zaran said as he shook his head.


    "My previous masters always said that the heavier the sword the better it was. Even if I stumbled I just had to abuse it to my advantage."


    Zaran loudly sighed. "While using stumbling to your advantage is not a stupid idea, using a sword to heavy for yourself to wield however is the most retarded idea I have ever heard of. Not only does it set you back in learning the sword it''s also detrimental for your body. It''s a miracle you can even walk, your back could''ve broken, you could''ve had a hernia or worse, you could have been paralyzed! The first thing we are going to do is get you a low weight greatsword, get you used to that and then slowly work your way up to weight that fits you."


    Taking out the first greatsword he had gotten, Zaran threw it at Mubar and quietly said. "Use this one for your training. It''ll be way too light for you, but I only have my own one left besides this ones. When I have the time I will make you a better one. For the time being however, it will suffice as your training weapon. I want you to swing it at least a thousand times today."


    Mubar picked up the greatsword and easily swung it around a few times. "Swing it a thousand times? That will be easy!"


    "Oh if it will be easy for you, you may do another thousand swings right from the bat. Make sure every swing is honest and correct like this one." Zaran said, holding his greatsword with both hands, raised it above his head and swung it down until it nearly hit the grown before moving it all the way up again.


    Groaning, Mubar quickly shut up and started to swing the sword honestly before he got himself into more trouble, preventing the amount of swings to be increased further.


    Chuckling at the sight, Zaran walked over to Florance and the others who were practicing on the side and gently wrapped his arms around Florance, who was talking to Sylphie and Irina, and gently planted a kiss in her neck, much to Sylphie and Irina''s surprise.


    Before this the two of them had always made sure that neither Sylphie nor Irina had seen the two of them acting lovey dovey with another. Sylphie and Irina both gasped and cried out in surprise. "What! Zaran, y-y-you and Florance?" Sylphie uttered in surprise, her eyes and mouth wide open.


    "Hmm, sorry sis'', Florance and me might or might not have been in love for quite a while by now." Zaran said, I wanted to find a good time to tell you but... I couldn''t find one and honestly I am sick and tired of acting behind your back.


    "But. You''ve only know each other for such a short time!" Sylphie uttered.


    "Things happen, people fall in love, I can''t explain it. We just... connected." Zaran said in a feigned weak voice.


    "I don''t condone of this. She''ll have to prove to me that she''s worth my little brother. HUMPH!" Sylphie angrily said before she turned around and stomped off. Irina on the other hand just stood there, dazed, confused and a glimmer of tears could be seen in her eyes. A few seconds after Sylphie left, she too turned around and ran after Sylphie.


    Florance too stood there dazed for a bit before she quietly muttered. "You''re a fool you know. You''ve just broken one girl''s heart and big time upset your sister by breaking it to her this way."


    "I know." Zaran quietly said before turning Florance around and gently pressing his lips against hers.


    Nekorath stopped swinging his greatsword and walked over to Nuvahn. "Psst. Nuvahn. Why am I feeling like I just watched a sloppy romance novel unfold before me?"


    "I don''t even man." Nuvahn said, continuously swinging his sword as a bright green glow surrounded it. "Just let it pass and don''t pay attention to it. Go back to training too and don''t bother me anymore if you don''t want to be punished by Zaran!"


    "Uh... wha?" Nekorath whispered to Nuvahn, before quickly resuming his training.

 Chapter 88: Gathering support

    Irina quickly caught up to Sylphie and hugged her from behind, quietly letting her tears flow against Sylphie''s back and quietly whispered. "Please let me stay like this for a bit."


    "mmhmm." Sylphie placed her hands on top of Irina''s and stood still, allowing her friend to let it all out. "I am sorry Irina... If I had known before... I would have convinced Zaran to stay clear of her."


    Shaking her head slowly against Irina''s back, she replied. "No it''s my own fault. I should''ve tried harder to show him how I feel."


    A few minutes passed before Irina finally raised her head from Sylphie''s back. "I... I''m going back to the mountain and go for a run to take my mind of things. I''ll be back later... you go back to training okay Sylph?"


    "Meh. Not yet. If I go back now I will just end up fighting with him. I need to cool down too, so I''ll join you on that run."


    "mhm. That''s fine by me." Irina said, as she quickly unequipped her armour and put on some casual clothes, Sylphie quickly following suit. When the two finished changing they exchanged a look and started jogging towards the mountain. The two of them only dared to unequip their armour because they were in friendly territory and there were a lot of nayeran warriors and guild members around and thus they did not need to fear any monsters in the area as they could just call in aid of anyone nearby.


    _________________


    Meanwhile, Zaran had already let Florance go and left for the Ergan mountain. During the whole ordeal he had addressed the guild but he had forgotten to talk to the nayeran leader, which could prove to be quite a problem. Thus Zaran had left Florance rather quickly and headed straight to the nayeran guild leader''s humble abode, which was really just a crudely carved out home in the mountain.


    Zaran had visited the nayeran leader quite a few times before, along with a few of the houses of the other nayeran commanders and one by one they had vastly better homes than the new nayeran leader. Somehow their current leader liked to live the most basic lifestyle.


    While most other nayeran had some plants, basic furniture, some self made toys and games, the new nayeran leader had nothing besides a bed, a few cups and a water gourd. This resulted in a large part of the home to be nearly empty.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The leader was resting on his bed that arrived and quickly let Zaran in and gave him a cup of fresh water and sat down on the cold stone floor motioning Zaran to follow his lead.


    Zaran noticed that the amount of sword scars in the walls and floor of the house had increased once more and noticed faint traces of sword intent seeping out from them. It were just the faintest of traces, but Zaran still noticed them and smiled happily. It looked like the small tips he had given over the past few weeks had proven to be very helpful to the nayeran leader.


    Seeing that the nayeran leader was waiting for him to speak, Zaran started. "I see my tips have proven to be helpful. I can notice that you have improved. But that''s obviously not what I came for today. I came here to discuss a... possible problematic matter."


    "Go ahead." The nayeran leader quietly said. He couldn''t really say much else. He was far too grateful for all that Zaran had done for their kind. Even though many of his brethren had died at his guild''s hands, many more had been able to survive due to him and his guild.


    "I''ve been able to make a deal with the invaders and made it so that it won''t happen again. However to do this I need to build a city here. Which will mean that I will need to let other species besides the nayeran live here and that I will be the owner of this area from now on and that it won''t exactly be your territory anymore. I know this is not what you or your tribe want but I assure you it''s the ONLY way I can guarantee that you and your tribe will be able to survive." Zaran said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. He really did wish there had been another way to save them.


    "WHAT!" The nayeran leader shouted stood up and was about to drew his sword before he fell on his knees and deeply sighed. "I shouldn''t be angry at you. You''ve saved us before more than once and I''ll trust that this only serves to save us again. The one I should be angry at is our previous king."


    "Can you convince your tribe to think the same too though?" Zaran said with some uncertainty in his voice. "I''m not sure they''ll take the news well.


    "Well, with what happened recently... I think I should be able to convince them."


    Zaran slowly nodded. "However... while we should technically be fine, I expect that the one who intends for your people to die won''t rest and will keep harassing my people and your kind in the future. We''ll need to establish a good town with a strong security quickly."


    The nayeran leader stood up. "I''ll talk to my people first and then we''ll talk about what happens after."


    Quickly gathering his tribe, the nayeran leader explained the situation to his fellow tribesmen. While the majority was upset that it would no longer truly be their home from this day onward, quite a few of them hadrealized that today''s attackers would never stop hunting them down. With the nayeran leader spelling it out for the rest of them, most if not all the nayeran realized that Zaran''s guild had given them a chance to survive.


    Even if it wasn''t truly their territory from today onward, as long as there was even a single nayeran remaining, this city would forever remain the city of the nayeran. The leader asked if any of his fellow tribesmen were against this and after a few seconds of looking at each other, the nayeran leader nodded and said. "Very well. Let''s help our friends develop a city here. Everyone who is not busy gathering food. Gather with me. I''ll ask them how we can help."


    Zaran was quietly watching from a distance away and approached the nayeran leader. "I guess you have decided?"


    "Not like we had another choice. Tell us what we can do." The nayeran leader quietly said.


    "Go to the forest, you''ll find my people there. Ask them. I am training an apprentice in the coming days. It''s part of my deal for the territorial rights." Deeply sighing, Zaran looked at the nayeran leader. "If you have time, join me and my apprentice. I''ll teach you all I can so that you can teach your people afterwards."


    The nayeran leader nodded and led his people to the edge of the forest, were Zaran''s people had gathered.

 Chapter 89: Mubars strange feeling

    Days passed by as Mubar kept doing the same basic sword moves over and over and over. Endlessly and tirelessly he swung his greatsword, much to his own annoyance. He didn''t really know what the use of this was anymore. Everything combined, he had already performed the same moves over thirty thousand times.


    Yet... he did not dare complain to Zaran. He had opened his mouth on the second day and the amount of swings he had to do had doubled once more. Swinging his sword in an honest way four thousand times was a lot more than he had ever done and on the morning of the third day his arms had felt as if they were going to fall of any second. He hoped that Zaran would forgive him and lessen his training on the third day, but unlike what he hoped, Zaran had made him swing another four thousand times.


    Thus Mubar could only grit his teeth and slowly keep going, just barely being able to swing his sword four thousand times within the third day. The days thereafter, Zaran had not increased the count any further, which made Mubar sure that as long as he did what was asked his training would no longer increase. Still, he wondered... what was the use of all this swinging?


    The fourth day, Mubar''s body and mind were so exhausted that he was only barely able to think about it any longer. He just swung and swung and swung his sword without rest, without thinking. Just him and the sword. It was a feeling like none other he had ever had.


    The fifth day, Mubar didn''t really think at all anymore and it started to feel as if the sword just moved on its own, moving in the same trajectory over and over. Mubar started to feel strange.


    As for the next days, Mubar kept feeling strange but couldn''t quite put his finger on it. Slowly but surely his feeling started to return and his mind was no longer too exhausted to think. This allowed Mubar to think things over again and the more he thought, the more the strange feeling he had disappeared. Only when it was finally gone for two days did Mubar finally get bothered by the feeling of having it slowly disappear. He figured that Zaran might know the answer and sought him out.


    "Master... I have a question. After the fourth day of training my mind and body were so tired that I could no longer think. A bit after I became like that, I started to have this very strange feeling that I could not quite put my finger on. The more tired I became the stronger the feeling got. However two days later my mind and body started to recover from the fatigue and I started to lose grasp of the feeling. Do you know anything about this?" Mubar respectfully asked.


    Zaran quickly stepped forward and grabbed Mubar by his shoulders. "Do you still have this feeling? Please tell me you do and haven''t let it slip away completely!"Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Surprised about suddenly being grabbed so fiercely, Mubar winced in pain for a moment before saying. "Sorry, I only started to feel bothered about it once the feeling was no longer there. Did I do something wrong?"


    Zaran released Mubar and let out a deep sigh. "Damnit! This could''ve possibly saved you months or even years of your training if you had told me about it! Fuck!"


    "Master, I ... I don''t understand?" Mubar quietly said.


    "Uhh... even if I tried to explain, you would just not understand what I will be trying to tell you. So I won''t bother." Zaran sighed once more. "I know saying this will only make you want to know it more but if I tell you before you at least understand the feeling even a little, it will only set you back. The only thing I can say is to not search for that feeling. It''s a feeling that is acquired over time. Not one you can get by force or by your own design. Every single person has gotten it on many different times and many different ways. For some... it will takes decades and they will still not quite be there. For others it might take a few days."


    "One more thing. While understanding the feeling will help you in your pursuit unto the way of the sword, it is in no way necessary to become a master of the greatsword and grasping the feeling does not mean you will necessarily be faster than anyone else. However... hmm, no I won''t say anything else. Just keep these things in mind, but if you ever feel that feeling again, contact me immediately, no matter how tired your brain is, at least make sure to remember that."


    Mubar started to feel dizzy as he couldn''t even understand what his master was trying to tell him anymore. "Uh, sure, if I get the feeling again I tell you, but I shouldn''t bother looking for it?"


    "That about sums it up." Chuckling, Zaran turned around and walked off. "Make sure to swing another two thousand times today and if you finish, come look for me. We''ll start a different part of your training tomorrow."


    "ugh.. yes master." Mubar said as he grit his teeth and returned to his training.


    After Mubar had sought him out, Zaran decided that he should check out the city''s development. Over the past few days a lot of work had already been done. With the guild and the help of the nayeran, the beginning of a channel had been dug, one which would span nearly the entire area that would belong to the city. As for the dirt that was dug up, it would be poured between two layers of palisades, forming a solid and thick wall, with the last amount of resources possible.


    After the channel and wall were completed, the channel would be connected to one of the nearby rivers, so the whole channel surrounding the city would eventually be filled with water. Zaran had planned it so that the channel would loop back into the river, thus not damaging the fauna and flora in the river all too much. It would still end up being damaged for a while, but in the long run, it would eventually recover.


    The various carpenters and blacksmiths along with a small construction crew, were busy constructing the first few houses. While they weren''t all too big, they were big enough to hold a few of the smaller nayeran household as well as house several guild members.


    Zaran talked with the various carpenters, blacksmiths and captains, asking them how long they thought it would take to finish construction of the basic city and necessary buildings and found out that in approximately two months time they should be able to finish the most necessary buildings, houses along with the walls and channel.


    The reason the guild could work so fast was that they actually got experience by digging andbuilding vastly increased the speed at which they did so and even the nayeran were visibly improving day by day as they too seemed to be stuck in the same system.


    "Two months huh... better find something to do in the meantime." Zaran mumbled as his mind worked overtime thinking about everything that needed to be done.

 Chapter 90: Forced conscription?

    While Zaran and the guild were busy building a city near the Ergan mountain, the four major cities of the Liberiu kingdom were bustling with activity. A high amount of rations, troops, beasts, weapon and armour were transported to the military city Deneg from the capital Librus, the trading city Lemu and the religious city Karu.


    Long processions of caravans filled to the brim with goods or troops were escorted towards Deneg. Many a player was surprised by seeing this and it wasn''t long until everyone knew what was happening. The Tarra kingdom had launched attacks a few weeks prior on the Liberiu controlled cities in the border region and they had slain every inhabitant they could find, which is why it took over a week for the Liberiu kingdom to find out in the first place.


    Still, they had eventually found out and decided that they could not wait to deploy troops. They could not sit idle while their fellow countrymen were slain like animals and thus they started to hastily deploy the vast majority of their military force. Over two hundred thousand troops were shipped off to Deneg, along with nearly one hundred thousand beasts, most under the control of the various beast masters, that although shunned, still existed within the empire. A small minority of these beasts were caged hellbeasts, that were without a master.


    In Virul a regiment of one hundred soldiers searched the city for Henry, one of the last known hellbeast masters. The Liberiu kingdom needed to do everything in their power to increase their chances of winning even a little bit. If it really came to war, unless the Celun, Zenora and Barat kingdoms quickly mobilized their troops and aided them, the chance that they would win was nearly nonexistent. The Tarra kingdom was many times bigger than the Liberiu kingdom after all and had existed for far longer. It was only normal that they had a bigger and military force, one which the various generals of Liberiu, estimated to be a million men strong.


    The regiment of soldiers quickly found out that Henry no longer lived in Virul and had instead moved to the nearby winery, taking up permanent residence there as he cared for the various beasts and hellbeasts both he and the owner of the mansion possessed.


    With this knowledge at hand, the captain of the regiment quickly marched his men to the nearby winery and ordered the guards to bring out Henry. Only a mere minute passed before Henry exited the gate, but the captain of the regiment was already unable to wait any longer and quickly said. "Henry, the king once more needs your abilities as a hellbeast master!"


    "No. I have told him the last time, never again!" Henry angrily yelled. "You can drag me off if you want but I am NOT doing that again! NEVER!"


    "THIS IS A COMMAND OF THE KING! YOU DARE DISOBEY?" The captain yelled angrily, his hand already reaching for his sword.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Henry scoffed. "Kill me for treachery if you want, but you will not have me as a hellbeast master. I can not and will not see so many beasts suffer due to war! Moreover I am far too old to command such a vast army of beasts. My heart and mind will not be able to endure. Your king knows this!"


    "But we need a hellbeast master!" The captain angrily said. "The king commanded me to bring a hellbeast master and you are the only one we know of."


    Deeply sighing, Henry realized who they had really come for. "Ugh. I can''t keep anything hidden from the king can I?" Henry left out another deep sigh and said. "I have a disciple that knows how to handle hellbeasts. However he is extremely new to hellbeasts, he won''t be able to command that many in a war."


    "Then you will need to come along and train him while we prepare for war and make sure that he can command as many as possible. Now where is this disciple of yours?"


    "Not here. He''s not been here for more than a week. I heard he and his guild are building a city in the Ergan area though." Henry honestly said. There wasn''t much he could do, the captain was hellbent on getting a him and Zaran shipped of to the war. Henry could probably find a way out by relying on his relation with the king, but he would not be able to do that if they were here for Zaran. Which they were, so Henry had no other option than go along with the king''s plan.


    "Great, grab your stuff Henry, we are heading out to the Ergan area as soon as you are done packing your essentials!" The captain muttered.


    "I''m pretty much packed. I got everything I need in my storage ring and one of the guards has already learned how to feed the various beasts we have here so we''re good in that aspect as well. Also we kind-off have a teleporter in the backyard so we could easily go to the Ergan mountain from there, that would at least save us a long trip."


    "Thank you for telling us, that does save us a substantial amount of time." The captain said. His troops quickly gathered in the backyard and one by one they teleported to the Ergan area.


    With nearly a hundred soldiers appearing within a specific area in such a short amount of time, it was only logical that the guild and the nayeran noticed. They quickly dropped their tools and grabbed their weapons, preparing themselves to fight off new invaders.


    The captain noticed that the guild and the nayeran were preparing for battle and he yelled Henry to the front. Henry quietly walked out from among the soldiers and seeing the approaching troops, cowered next to the captain.


    Zaran was leading the nayeran and guild and when they finally got close enough to see the attackers clearly, Zaran told them to halt. "Henry, what''s up why have you brought these soldiers here?" He asked.


    Before he could speak up, the captain put his hand before Henry and said. "We are here to look for Henry''s apprentice. I assume it is you we are searching for?"


    "Why are you searching for me?" Zaran asked.


    "The king requires a hellbeast master. Henry is not willing to work for the king, so we came here to get you." The captain said.


    Zaran cocked his head and looked at Henry. "Master, why''re you unwilling to work for the king?"


    "The king wants to make me command a squad of hellbeasts for the war against the Tarra kingdom. However my old body cannot take that strain anymore. I''m sorry Zaran." Henry quietly said, barely loud enough for Zaran to hear.


    "It''s okay. I''ll come along." Zaran said. It wasn''t like he had a choice and he was actually looking for something to do for the coming two months, so joining the war didn''t sound like that bad of a deal.


    "Good choice. I''ll give you an hour to settle your business." The captain replied.


    An hour later, Zaran had settled all his business and he had left Mubar under Nekorath and Nuvahn''s teaching for the time being. The both of them had more than enough experience with greatswords to teach the basics to Mubar after all.


    "I''m ready to go captain." Zaran confidently said.


    The captain nodded and ordered his troops along with Henry and Zaran to march towards the front lines of war.

 Future of Myth Online

    So... everyone realized that Myth Online has been on Hiatus. There''s multiple reasons for this.


    1) I didn''t really have a story worked out when I started, which made it hard to make a decent story in the first place as I should have planned things out before starting to write a story.


    2) The system I tried to implement got way too complicated to keep track of.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    3) Due to #1, I found out that there were a lot of things I ended up writing that I did not like or that served no purpose in the end, slowing down progress.


    4) I felt forced to write something I was just really unhappy with at the end and it has given me writer''s block for months.


    Now I do still like a large part of the story and the world I was starting to set up but if I want to continue i''d have to restart completely or rewrite the older chapters.


    Now my focus is completely with Strategy''s Mistress, so chapters would come out a very, very slow pace.