《Lost Shield》 Prologue: A chance to experience what was lost Day 1: A young nurse named Jess was walking down a hall while thinking," Today is the day that I get to meet another one of my new patients." Her thoughts fill the bill for her title as the, "Cheerful Nurse," even through darkness. Lately, there had been quite a few incidents where children were targeted by organ harvesters. It seems that due to the the increased popularity of Shadow Lands, there had been several people who tried to get a console. This hype was mostly due to the monetary prize that would be given to the top rankings every week. The worst prize is enough to live on in a ldk apartment and the biggest reason is the that the top ranking list is for 10000 players. The console is something that any middle class citizens can have for a bit of a high price but Shadow Lands is known as the first Virtual Reality Headgear in the last decade and it could be used to make a living so there are a percentage of those who would kill for it exist. The game also was known for the abnormal amount of classes,quests, and races at such a high amount that even after a few years, it would still be in large qualities. Jess pass by another one of her patients so she stop to greet him. Her patients also include those who had been attacked in the recent incidents. Jess throught,"But even though I myself can see how impressive it is, I can not forgive those who attack children for profit and the one I am meeting today is of one such victim." The child she was referring to wasnamed Jake and his own mother gouged his eyes out for money, but when it was eventually discovered, she went to legal court where she was sentenced for life. Jess smiled happily thinking,"His eyes were already goneprobably in a rich kid''s sockets several years ago, but luckily we were able to salvage the money and brought a copy of Shadow Lands toinstall the console in his room." We were able to do all of this with his request and the hospital''s approval. So I quickly rushed to room 203 with Shadow lands and the console in my hands.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I opened the door and saw him, Jake a boy just under 15. He was lying in bed with blankets over most of his body. The sun shines over his face and you can faintly see shine in where his eyes should be. His eyelids stayed closed but he turned his head to me. His refreshing voice tickled my ears,"Hey you''re the new nurse...Jess right?." My heart trembled whileI look at him,''it is truly sad.'' She was referring to his several scars over his body and glass eyes. His eyes were gouged out several years before but the police did not find out until his middle school year. One day, a substituteteacher came to Jake''s class and was teaching when he felt very disturbed from Jake not taking notes and in anger, he yelled at him,"Are you blindor is your hand crippled?" Then Jake stared at the teacher, or rather where the voice was coming from, with his glass eyes. Shortly thereafter a student punched the teacher and that studentseamed at the teacher,"So what if he is blind." All the students had been surprised because Jake had eyes that did not differ too much from theirs. But it was all due to his mother ordering a custom eye to cover up the truth. The teachers did not mind because they all thought Jake was mentally challenged But Jake did not pursue the teacher on the matter because he felt the teacher does not deserve trouble for it and so teacher went backwithout any trouble. In anger, the teacher does not dare to force him to admit the truth so he had a friend that was a part of the police to check. Then when the truth came out, since then Jake had always came to school covered in blood and scars. At first Jake''s mother tried to clean him, but after a month or so the truth came out and it became more intense. The teacher feeling regret and pain, he changed and was now knownas a kind teacher while the memory of him yelling at jake became a memory that will stay with him for eternity. That was one of many stories but that was by far the least saddening of stories involving Jake''s condition. But finally he will finally be able to see after 3 years. Knowing all of this, I happily replied,"Are you ready to play Shadow lands?" He excitedly nodded to my question. Why would he not? A kid who lost the most important thing in life: time. Even if he wanted to, to get to a working state is basically a impossibility even more now he can''t see. Maybe he can gain back the time he lost but too bad we can''t protect him from the hate of humanity. I just pray the world where he is going to will be much more different from this one. Ileft the room and Jake in hopes that my prayers will come true. -------------------------------------------------------- The new nurse, Jess, is so nice. But I had never thought they would approve of a console like this. Well it has been three years hasn''t. I guess it''s time to try to enjoy gaming again. I never felt a console that was sohelmet-like before. So I excitedly placed it on my head and thought over the words Shadow lands. The game that I had wanted but could not get. My mind felt different from the one that I originally hadand I could see. All I saw was an endless road with no end. Whenever I turned only another road appeared. It seems life is just tha-huh. Then he came, a man who fell from the sky. I tried to catch him but he stabs me. The last thing I heard was,"Noob." But my last thought was He must be looking for his son. Chapter 1: Damien Shortly after blacking out, he woke up to a text box. [Due to dying at level 1, you may now revive with no penalty and immediately after death] Jake dust off his clothes and started walking towards the endless road in thought, ''I wonder what his son done to get his father mad enough to take out a knife?'' If a random person had heard him thinking, the first thought that would be what the hell did this kid experience? But considering that his mother gouged out his eyes at 5 years old due to his compatibility with a rich child. Due to his young age, he never questioned it so why would he question a random eye gouger? But quickly moving back to Jake, the same man seem to have come back. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Unknown person pov) [Starting Film entry #1] Yo, my name is Damien and I am a Bounty hunter who seeks out noob hunters. [Bounty:Noob Hunters Description:There had been an outbreak of Noob hunters sent by the Tyrant of the Kingdom of Sha Restrictions:Class:Bounty Hunter] I specialized in hunting peoples and humanoids because they are usually weak and sometimes I can get another quest. But today there seemed to be a boy who seemed calm after 50 or so deaths. Why is he unfazed? Why is he so interesting? Why does he not pursue revenge? All that will be answered soon in this live stream. The noob hunter quickly walks behind the kid again, I quickly took out a crossbow and tried to kill the noob hunter but then the kid jumped into the way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Jake pov) I saw a man trying to shoot the guy that keep following me but I quickly jumped in the way.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I would not let that man take this guy''s life while he finds his child. Then I felt the bolt in my gut and received a title I then once died again and it seems that I am getting used to this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Damien Pov) What the hell? Was that kid in leagues with him? If not why did he jump in the way? Did he not know me? I am pretty popular on the internet as the Bounty hunter Damien. Even through I was always popular for being a startup player. Is it because I chose to hide my warm up spot? But I quickly reloaded my crossbow and used Flash shot. He becomes crippled in one leg and I throw my knife at him. [Bounty: Tutorial noob hunter Reward: increased respect from tutorial npcs] Hmmm, it was just an NPC Why did that kid not win? I am pretty sure that after 50 or so deaths mean that they should have an increased understanding of a person allowing them to have an advantage. He should be able to at least dodge him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Jake''s pov) That guy keeps falling on me resulting in my death but I should let him and not dodge. Disobeying an adult will only get me hurt. I wonder if I should apologize to that guy with the weapon. "Hey kid," said a nearby voice. "Oh it''s you that guy who had that bow- thing,"I guessed about his weapon. "Oh, this? This is the punisher''s crossbow that increases on those with infamy."He explained. "Crossbow?"I asked. "you don''t know what a crossbow is?"He asked and I nodded. "A crossbow is a weapon known for using a string to enact force on a bolt by using a trigger."He explained. "Bolt?"I asked once again. "It''s an arrow like ammo used in crossbows."He explained. Then I remembered about what happened earlier and said,"I am sorry for what I did earlier." ''He looks mad I should hug him.'' I thought while I hug him. But what resulted was a pain in the back of my neck and a blackout. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Damien pov) He started sprinting and angrily thought,''Goddamn why did that damn Tutorial NPC have give me this quest.'' While thinking about it, he pulled up a box. [Quest: Kidnap the child Failure: Murder on sight Denial: Murder on sight] ''I wanted to help the kid but I am scared that if I deny this quest something worse can happen to him and me. Wait it seems that the tutorial area has opened up a void? This shit has never happened before.'' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Jake''s physical body Pov) "What the hell?" said a familiar female voice. "What Jess?" said another female voice. Yes, it was the Jess, Jake''s nurse. "That guy that Jake has been kidnapped by has millions of live viewers right now." said Jess. "What?" asked her fellow co-worker. Soon tons of employees and patients gathered up. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Jake pov) ''I woke back up to a giant black space. It seems that my eyes no longer work again. A blade pierces me in the heart. Then I came back again. This time with a shield. I keep dying but I feel that it is normal. Finally, my eyes started burning. I blacked out.'' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Damien pov) ''I escaped with the ki-WHERE THE HELL IS THE KID.'' ''God damn it.''I slammed my fist into the ground. ''Sorry, this was all my fault.'' Chapter 2:Bar and a Pug? Inside of a tavern, there was a large crowd surronding a single drunkard. There seems to be a ton of questions thrown at him and if you listen in you could hear everyone asking about a similarthings. "Why is Damien drinking?" "I thought Damien does not drink? "Damien, Why are you drinking?" Damien walked out and seem to have walked towards another tavern. "Hey Crossbow dude,"said a voice. Damien quickly spun ,searching for the voice. Then Damien saw Jake with a pug on his shoulder. Damien quickly ran to him with the full force of his speed stat. He quickly hugs him. "I thought I killed you,"said Damien. Feeling familarity with the man, jake asked,"Mike?" He had never seen Mike with his eyes but he knew that Mike had always been with him. Realizing his surronding, Damien grabbed Jake and tried to pull him. Jake resisted and Damien had no choice but to reply,"Yes but we got to go."Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Jake released his resistance and Damien quickly ran while covering himself with a cloak. Twently minutes later, they reached a forest base hidden by veins and trees. Damien removed his cloak and placed down his crossbow on the kitchen counter. Jake settled down on a chair but Damien insisted that he move to the bed. Not wanting to worry Damien, Jake lied down on the bed while Damien spoke a lot to Jake. "I didn''t think you would already enter the game." Jake tried to intervene but he was cut off,"I was going to-" "i am so sorry I was not able to stop you from dying those fifty times." Once again Jake tried to intervene but Damien changed the topic again,"That did not matter to me." "Where did that pug come from?" Finally Jakefinally got annoyed so hethrew a rag on Mike''s head,"Oh this pug? I woke up with it." "*muffled*" Seeing Mike''s face gone blue and a bit of pink, Jake quickly removed the rag. "I should have told you that elves should not be allowed to touch the rag of a mortal being younger than them,"explained Damien. "Why? We should be similar in age?"Jake questioned. "it seems that time is magnified to about twenty times so I should be much older than you."Damien explained again. Jake pouted and said,"I am still the older cousin." "Mike I have to go,The nurses are calling for me."Jake said in urgency. "Go on."said Mike while looking at the window. "Mike,"said a rough voice. Mike quickly rolled and pulled up his crossbow. But nothing was there except a pug. "I have something to tell youright now and you must swear never to tell Jake."a voice came from the pug. Damien nodded but dare not speak in hopes that he can detect where the voice was actually coming from. "I am in this pug body in order to protect Jake because he knows not of the destiny he chose."the voice once again came from the pug. "I don''t believe you,"said Damien. "You need not to believe but know that I brought him to you for a reason and I believe you will complete it."answered the pug. The pug no longer answered but left a note and disappeared. The note was of a badly drawned text box but it was legible. [New possesser of the Demon four:Canine lord. Possesser:Jake Ability: pain acceptance Weapon:Shield] Mike lost all suspicion and quickly made preparations to protect Jake. Chapter 3: Demon Hunting Damien rushed to the local general store. He emptied his pocket to get all the supplies he brought. The supplies he brought were all survival necessities and some defense equipment. He lied in bed in hopes that he could get the Well-Rested buff. Luckily he woke up to it, but that was not the only text box that appeared. [Well-Rested buff:10% increase to all stats] [Eventemon Hunting: Contribution to the kingdom are numbered as below Minions:1 Mini Boss:5 Boss:10 Leader:50 Superior:100 Demon Four Possessor:10000] Damien quickly searched for Jake in his house and when he did, he grabbed Jake and ran. Luckily Jake could not speak because he has yet to log on and he was in unknown territory. Only stopping at a Small scale castle, Damien slam on the door and yelled,"Password is Blood rise while death falls." The door stayed close but the trap down under them opened. Then an angry voice came,"Don''t yell the password you idiot." Damien, still in high alert, said,"Damn it, James, I brought a demon four possessor." Then Jame''s face softened and asked,"which one?" Damien then said,"the canine lord but as a shield." James then became angry again and said,"What a trash combination.Just let him become cannon fodder." Damien punched James and said,"Hell no, he is my cousin." James stood up and punched back asking,"You never liked any of your relatives." Damien threw to James a bag of dungeon loot and said,"The boy you are talking about is Jake."Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. James then stopped and asked,"Don''t joke about that. Jake has been in the hospital for years because his mother sold his legs." Damien just stared at James and James looked in the bag he was thrown. Then his face became quite surprised and he asked,"What is his ability?" "Pain acceptance,"replied Damien. James then said with joy hidden in his face,"His ability is nice and this can be consider payment so here." [Pain acceptance: Pain is the feeling gain from feeling damage in his body. Pain acceptance allows one to bypass fainting from pain and allows closer relationships with demons. Battle addicts will praise those who have the ability to fight through pain and until the end.] "His luck is bad because if he had the reptile lord then he probably would be a human tank."said James. Damien then said,"Train him to become Fenrir." Then James stared him shock,"this might help him but that would mean that he would have some blood lust." Damien then laughed saying,"If I thought he could gain blood lust I wouldn''t come to you." James then said,"I hope you know that my class doesn''t allow me to change this afterwards." Damien then said,"This is my choice so just do it." James then chant,"I pray to the Demon God that my fellow demon possessor will become the mythic wolf Fenrir. Your priest know of the cost and will sacrifice to you the black dragon tooth that the humans stole. With this tooth, another possessor could arise and give thee hope." Then a black lightning hit Jake and a wolf like aura appeared. Damien looked happy but James stared at the box in front of him. [The Demon God has grant thee pray and made his possessor into a Fenrir-like being. Black Steel-Fur Wolf lord.] James apologized to Damien by saying,"My failure had made Jake into a Lord being." Damien did not get mad and told james,"I know he would not be a true mythic being and most likey apseudo-leader but he became a lord being!" But James could only apologize to Damien again by saying,"he is a Black Steel wolf lord." Then Damien''s face went dark because Black steel wolves are weak to the point that even noobs would rather attack a slime. [Black steel wolf(level 1-5 monsters) Leader(level 5-7) Leader''s abilities:10 players can defeat with a bit of difficulties. Level 7 players can defeat it with luck and terrain advantage. drops:all trash. Meat:poison to all species even their own Fur: its weaker than grass when it is received as a drop. Bones:Its durability is the same as cardboard and the bones can only be used to sadden Black steel wolves.] Damien could yell in anger,"Fuck." James then tried to console Damien by saying,"Maybe he has better abilities now." James then swipe his hand and opened up Jake''s ability list. But he could only stare in shock. [The graveyard of his kin: when you touch the drops of a black steel wolf, you can gain strength. Anger of the weak:whenever your kin has been mistreated in your field of vision, you will attack them, you would get engulfed in intense rage.] James could only smile and swipe his hand a lot. Damien could only stare in confusion and asked,"What are you doing?" James did not reply and just sent Damien a description of The Graveyard of his kin. Damien also smiled and said,"I will go buy steel wolves drops now." Though Steel wolves drops are trash they could be used to make Joke items and the corpses of Black Steel wolves are commonly found everywhere in the spawn zone because people bring local mobs to kill the Black Steel wolves. The local mobs could become much stronger from massacring Black Steel Wolves. If you searched in the market you could find large amounts of drops. This would make Jake a god-like entity but they hit a barrier. Jake woke up, seeing all of the Black Steel wolf drops in front of him, cried seeing all of the drops. Jake touch them but nothing happened. Jake placed them inside of his inventory. The barrier known as Child-like innocence Chapter 3.5 Jakein his unconcious state saw a vision. A battlefield filled with many different terrains from marshes and swamps to plains to mountains to thick blooming forests. The scentof death roams the air as scythes reaps souls. Two armies at war; many clashes and an eventual retreat. Then appeared text as though it was trying to tell a story. [The retreating army isa race of Yellow-haired monkey humanoids known as Gon and they were being pursued by werewolf group named Shiv.] The box continued to help by showing the name of those on the battlefield. The Gons'' leader was a gorilla-looking man named [Soku] whose body is covered in an armor that look flawless from the outside and the blade reflected light. As he thought about the armor, the sound of a voice teaching him reached his ear. "But only the outside is truly good armor ashis equipment ismade of pig-iron and the stability and usability of such equipment is debatable.The weakness of such an armor was covered by a invisble moving energy known to some as ki,chi,chakra,magicka, or something but I refered to it as ''Aura.''" The voice continued for a pretty long time and the summary was that; The Shiv werewolves were using a mixture of poisons, diseases, and excrement. Their most potent poison was a liquid made of a special tree whose sap which can be made into amazing healing potion or pillbut its stability as a healing substance can be debatable as well because the liquid could change extermely when used on its pure state. The Shiv monopolized this liquid and many other exotic substances for their private usage. Bypassing the aura was easy because while aura does protect bodies to some degree they can''t go against the type of leveltechnology growth with a world whose inhabitants could use their physical bodies to make natural disasters if placed on Earth. So there is no reason to debate on the possible items that could be gathered and found in this place as while the world is a completely different world from Earth. Much less reason to question their alien diseases and possible in their excrement if it was even theirs. But the real scary part of Shivs were their ancestry that mixed humans with canine to make a true terrifying mix. The Shivs used to be a group of human exposed to canine rabies and gained the ability to mate with canines. There were many instances of such a group of humans due to the constant outbreak of disease in such a young world. These groups could be considered of people could be called Beast-kin,Demihuman or whatever but they are humanoid beast for the most part.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Jake slowly formed the conclusion that this voice was not from this world. The Gon is being beaten one sidely with little chance of victory which led to many of them crying or calling for help. "How sad. They couldn''t even place hope in god because of the time period they came from so they must put their hopes and dreams in hopes of a stranger. If one can place faith in a thing like god then they would feel that there is a chance of suceed but when relying on people, they can''t believe that they can do something with 100% certain. Because God is said to be perfect and humans make errors and worst of all, people have different idea of god in mind but fit it into something they want but a human could betray you and take all the benefits. For God -in many people''s minds- don''t have a need for small entities like humans but a human would love your worldly possessions." But help never came, the Shivs took out darts and long range weapons to hunt them down like game. The Shivs swiftly got to work and shot down gons. "Some believe that the Shivs were demons borned from hell because of their inteligence. The Reason they could be so smart is because they were taught by the Originals-the humans who were inflected with the ability to reproduce with canines. The first group of inflected used to be part of a city but the amount was slowly cut down by natural selection and there was only left a few useful skills and woodwork, hunting, cooking, and basically the basic jobs were inherited." This led to great advantage for the Shivs and quite the bad situtation for the Gon who were already on a bad leg. The Gon were left to a tenth of the original group and their life was so endangered that it could said that their life and death was balanced on a blade. Even with only a tenth of the Gons left because it could still be counted in hundreds. They used to be a group of ruling on a mountain not far away before it attacked. Then what he saw changed from a battlefield to a mountain of monkeys suffering from a Wolf-like titan. The face of the beast was blurred like it was hidden. ''it'' was a wolf the size of a mountain, with a paw strong enough to kill their leader and elites in a single strike. "The only reason that they are alive is because the hunting group came back in time to lead the weaker Gons to safety." As he spoke, the scenery turned back to the battlefield. [The Gon can''t be treated like lifestock by most beastes since their muscles allow them to jump a few meters in the air and can break a tree in half. ] "However they were only the low level Gons while the normally depicted Gons are usually a small percentage." There was one such Gon and heclutched his chest and aura started surging. A unusual event began to happen as the Gon fall to the ground and aura starts to fight every one of the Shivs back. The Aura transform into a great warrior having great similarity to the Gon who had summoned it. The biggest difference between the two was that it''s armor was just aura unlike the leader Gon who had Aura surrondering his armor, it materialized it''s armor to a solid form without a medium. ''It'' summoned a great force that enveloped the huge battlefield and noone dare move or more importantly they can''t. Then it all ended, the battle between Gon and Shivs ended with only one winner. The Gon who done it all will betreated like a king, or at least he would have been if he was alive. They burned the corpse as a sign of respect as the Gon had lost it all and the Shivs would want tomutanize the corpse. But the Aura being had better plans for a sign of respect. The Gon''s spiritual remains were brought by the Aura to a place far away in a different plane. The only witnesses were the dead who had died after the Aura had appeared because the Reapers of Death don''t dare move in its presence but they were few and as soon as the Aura left, they were all reaped. That Gon''s spiritual remains were all thrown into a container, while some would call it a cauldron, its purpose is simply a mold. The outcome was a statue of the Gon with a engraved text. "Name: Nameless Gon Achievement: First toutilize ''Aura'' outside of the body. Reason for Achievement: Allow the start of a new age of battle. Reward: Being able to be in the achivement room and the ''Aura'' transformating into him." Then a mechinical voice was heard,"Acceptance into the...Achievement room has been permitted by-" Then his connection to the vision was cut off. Chapter 4 "Jake..."Whispered a soft voice. A liquid sowly drips out of my eyes. I start to envision where the Steel Wolves Lived as solid pipe expaled my leg. Shivers travel down my spine. I see a group of adventurers. Then a similar scene occured again but this time I was burned by mana. More death and I had to go through each of them over and over. Slowly Jake was awakening his instincts as a guardian or an avenger. Blood rushes to his head as he tried his best to hold back on his feelings. His childish personality clashes against his guardianagenda. But even his airheadness had a limit and when it was reached, a separate personality was formed. His eyes shinned silver and his skin turned white as snow. Claws appeared on his fist in a crimson light. As he pounce all of those adventurers in his memory. As he starts saving them, a proportion of the suffering faded. But as he killed more, the more the hope they had but the more his burden increased. As the burden starts to hurt me mentally, I woke up to a rub on my head.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. "Jake, Wakey wakey," Said Mike. Sensing my confusion, he continued," You were unconcious so I brought you to the adventurers'' guild for a lincense and a room." I thanked him and we walked towards the receptionist. "These ''Hero'' missions are pure bullshit," Said a rough voice. The voice slams his fist in the wall and continued,"Shit reward, strong monsters, and not even good loot." Then he pulls out a knife," NOT EVEN A GODDAMN TITLE." "I lost my guild of 500 players in a fight against the goddamn monster but all we got was a reward akin to a B rank quest." Then he took out a lincense and force it into her face, yellinh,"WE ARE A RANKERS." Then the Receptionist replied,"You were A Rankers." "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?"He Yelled even more in reply. A guard appear and restrain his arms, while the receptionist continued," You failed the mission to save the village because you went drinking and sleep with women. But the guild did reward you for avenging the village but we aren''t supposed to give you gold for failing the mission so we lowered the rewards by a bit. Then you come in disrupting the guild, which is enough to suspend you and lower your rank." The man was pulled out of the door and the receptionist look at us with hawk-like eyes. Her physical appearance was covered by some kind of mana. But from her voice, one would guess she was a female. "How may I help you?"Came a sugary sweet voice from the receptionists'' deck. We looked around the desk but only discovering the mean receptionist. "What are you looking for? I''m right here."Said the voice but now I am sure it came from the mean receptionist. So to not let Mike screw things up, I said,"Hello Miss Receptionist, can I have my lincense issued." Then she moved lighting quick, and got all my information which I needed to confirm. I was confused where she got the information and Mike said,"Jake, fast right? I got her your information eariler so its fine." Then I was reinsured, but a bad feeling came to mind and I asked,"What did I put my name as?" The receptionist didn''t speak and just gave me a note. [Name: Super Cutey Kawaii Pug] Then started my days as the "Silver Wolf Guardian" Adventurer, Super Cutey Kawaii Pug.