《The Era Before(Discontinued)》 Chapter 1 - Strange Orc My name is Ryu Fujimoto, right now I''m playing an MMORPG game called The New Era. It''s some fancy game with a weird twist, as the title implies it¡¯s a new Era, right?Well not yet anyway, it''s going to be a new era which is the base of the "gimmick" I suppose. We are the future! We decide the outcome! The craftsmanship, the dungeons, the future children and NPC''s! It''s all a load of bullshit if you ask me though. Some horse wash marketing gimmick that some bigwigs in a company decided to sell you on, just so their fat pockets could get just that much fatter. Surprised a fucking button flying off an old man''s pants hasn¡¯t killed anyone as they eat that shit up. ¡°In the news today, fat man killed CEO Robert Rundal in what reports say, as the fastest button ever recorded, others say the sound was the equivalent of a bullet.¡± I chuckled to myself silently. ¡°A baseball speed measuring device clocked it at 120 miles per hour, can you fucking believe it Steve?¡± ahhh, enough messing around I guess. All I really care about is biding my time, I have no job, friends, and I''m out of school. I''m 26 years old and don''t have a single foothold in society. Impressive, I know. Trust me, there''s no need to compliment me, I¡¯m fully aware of my awesome. The only reason I''m able to play these games and just exist is thanks to my amazing mother. She never once complained about my lack of motivation, how lazy I was, or that I''m basically a leech to her anymore, maybe she stopped caring? It couldn¡¯t be though, my apartment was always paid on time by her, food always delivered. In fact, maybe she cared too much. I¡¯ve just taken her for granted and turned into a sack of shit. She is truly a kind and amazing woman. Holding my hand to my heart as I thanked her from my soul. Maybe I should just man up and get a job sometime. I currently live in a single room apartment, just doing my thing as time flys by. I''m smoking a cigarette and tap the ashes into a stupid ash tray I ordered that¡¯s plastic with sharp teeth all around the edges. It''s supposed to be a dragon''s mouth but looks utterly retarded once I inspected it up close. It''s more like a sharp circle more so than a dragon, but I decided not to care, it holds old nasty ash. It''s not like I would''ve cleaned or cared for it more if it was more dragon like. Much like me, it''s just a wasted space. Its only job deemed to hold the poison that I administer to myself on a daily basis. Now I''m coughing up a fit thinking of pointless things, may as well grind in my game a bit more, not like there''s much else I can do anyway. The sound of frantic typing filled the air as my login information was put in. My computer hummed to life, my monitor lit up. I was there. Smack,A large strong green humanoid shaped creature swung a huge battle axe down that¡¯s chipped in multiple places, clearly seeing many battles in its time, adding on to the chips as it slid against an iron shield crackling away slowly to the clearly stronger made material. Without a moment''s notice the prey of this green thing retaliated at the chance. A warm wet sensation came over it along with dripping sounds, right where a human''s heart would be, now lay a dagger deep enough to penetrate it. The monsters heartbeats thumped sporadically with blood oozing out the new wound along with the rhythm of its heart struggling. Blood gurgled down its throat in a vicious manner, and screams echoed only to be masked by the thick blood, causeing even more bubbles to gurgle in his throat. He attacked the human that invaded his little orc village, what did he do to deserve this death? This clan was different from other orcs, they never attacked the unsuspected, they never pillaged! They hunted animals, lived off the land, just like the humans! Why! The orc screamed that word as his dying breath. I heard a death sound I''ve never heard before by this strange orc, it sounded like "Why", maybe it was my imagination, uncertain and being a little weirded out I took my headphones off and inspected them, somehow thinking I would find god knows what on them. A bug? An alien sucking my intelligence away? I don¡¯t know, luckily it was nothing, maybe it was my imagination. I''ve killed many orcs in this game and it''s always been some stupid gurgle or them screaming vengeance for their clan in the afterlife, but never a simple question of why though. I even started asking myself the same question. Why did I kill that orc? The answer immediately came to my head in response, loot, experience and progression. It''s part of the game after all! If some NPC wants 5 orc ears and gives me some gold, experience and a pat on the back, then I won¡¯t question it. Now''s not the time for moral questions of zeros and ones anyway.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Just simple data on my hard drive and if I feel guilty for that one orc, then I have a lot of backed up guilt considering I''m level 99. I didn¡¯t get this close to max level picking apples in a cute little orchard, handing them out like a sweet old granny either. I picked up the axe the orc had, it caught my attention the moment I saw it hit my shield. When it hit me, I had a chance to see it very close on my monitor in the cinematic battle, the blade was chipped it several places almost like teeth. I started to wonder if that meant it had increased damage, or maybe some weird effect like cutting into something would saw into it as well as cut? I quickly inspected the item using the in game interface.
"Peace Chieftain Dergu''s Aged Might"
"This chieftain''s axe has seen many battles, and is chipped in several places. This unique chipping over decades of battle has turned into a signature of the weapon with the strong metal still clinging to life. This axe has twice the chance to cause severe bleeding compared to other weapons of similar type, due to the brutal and jagged nature of its blade. This bleeding effect is also harder to heal considering the odd shaped wound it leaves"
Wow, was the only word that I could mutter to myself as my cigarette fell from my lips. Yes, it was that amazing. Upon further inspection the stats were completely insane, at least twice as strong as my main sword that I spend 200 gold on! This wasn''t even considering its special effect! Well fuck me, I feel the need of a refund inkling up my skin. I had to stop myself and think for a moment. What was this zone I was in again? I looked to the top right corner of my monitor above where my map was. The zone name "Dergu the Unorthodox''s Clan" sat there in a pretty black rectangle. This zone and clan belonged to the orc I just killed? He was nothing though, extremely weak compared to other orc clan leaders. I sat and pondered to myself why he was so weak but had such a strong weapon. After a while I finally came to one conclusion. Considering the prefix peaceful in this weapon''s name and unorthodox as his title name, he probably wasn''t a warmonger, or at least hasn¡¯t seen too many harsh battles. The fact no one could inspect the weapon was probably because who would kill a peaceful orc village. A small twang of pain overcame my heart, well, I guess I would it seems. After a little more time passed I didn¡¯t really even care now, already started, may as well finish. I just mindlessly went ahead and killed the rest of the orcs using the very same axe their chieftain dropped. Maybe they have some more loot thats been hidden from the world. I doubted it though considering I already killed the boss. At the very least they offer me some more experience for my last two levels to a hundred. The sunlight hit my eyes with a strong flash from my window, I didn¡¯t quite realize how long it took to kill this village, it was actually pretty big. Nothing worthwhile loot wise though, much to my dissapointment. I yawned quite loud, and then reached over for my mouse to log out and shut my computer down. It was time for a nice long all morning sleepathon. My eyes slowly closed shut as the flashes of battle entered my vision. This frequently happens with me, I kinda go over everything I just did. I can¡¯t seem to help it either, maybe I really am hopelessly addicted to this fucking game. I craved to be the very best, I wanted to be level 100. I wanted to feel power. That''s exactly why I game the way I do, for power. I¡¯m powerless in the real world I have, and can¡¯t find the motivation to fix it, but here, in that world right there, power can be gained. Power can be gained, not by luck of the cards, not by being born into a rich family and having your life set for you from the moment a foot comes out the wound, not by working hard only to have your dreams shattered before your eyes. No, power in that word is consistent, I will never lose a level, only forward. I can die safely and come back victorious, I am stronger completely of my own hard work and skill, no external things. That feeling, was am extremely good one. If an obstacle is too challenging, a dungeon too rough, then I just work hard, I die, a lot, but I also level up. I get better weapons, I can change the situation with the power of my own two hands. Well mostly fingers, throw in a few mouse clicks, a couple of feet scratches, some food to keep me going and we got ourselves a party in the making. Rolling around in my bed, I couldn¡¯t help but sense an odd feeling of foreboding. It felt like something was hovering over me, watching me with the predator eyes of a cat. I decided to jolt up from my bed to look around. Being able to see because of the fresh sunlight peeping through the window, the room was completely empty. Flashes of the game entered my mind again as I slowlyentered the polyester''s warmth and feel against my skin. It was absolutely lovely, the warm embrace of the blankets were slowly fighting me for my consciousness. Should I let them win, or relish more in the thoughts of what I did in the game. That fucking axe though, seriously. I¡¯m giving up, oh warm blankets of the night, please kick my ass and take me into a deep slumber so I may fully be recharged for more gaming. This was the closest I was getting for religion, worshiping my blankets. My blankets are my goddess. My blankets shall forever be my goddess. I think they listen to me too, because my eyes feel heavy, the room fading before me, swirling around in a dizzy manner.. Wait.. that is far from normal! Almost falling asleep, I heard a whisper, but couldn¡¯t quite catch it. Is this fucking sleep paralysis? I couldn¡¯t move, there was something behind me, without a doubt. Something was watching me, something is getting closer. My god, no, turn around, you can fucking do it, move you muscles right now, do it, you must you have to please for the love of god. Please blanket goddess! I¡¯m sorry about the occasional stains, but please. Chapter 2 - Hallucinations I stammered as I tried to squint for my alarm clock. My eyes slowly focused, and blurry red numbers eventually greeted them. 8:35 PM. I''d almost give a damn if I had anything important to do. I didn''t really have a sense of time as I was cooped up in my small lonely apartment. Why would I need to wake up at a certain time if I have nothing in the world to do besides play games? Oh fuck, last night! Did the blanket goddess finally take me? Thank you for easing my life and eyes into your warm cuddle. I still needed to inspect the room though, I¡¯m positive something was right behind me. I¡¯ve had sleep paralysis before, but this felt different. Right as I was getting out of bed, something flashed in the corner of my eyes. Green? Green was the only thing I can make out of what my peripheral vision just saw. scanning the room carefully like a trained hawk for the tiniest of mouses. I rubbed my eyes as I checked where I thought I saw the flash. Nothing was there at all. Am I going crazy? Pretty funny considering I already think I am and have been for a while now. The kitchen slowly caught my attention. My god, what if someone took the Ramen?! Quickly rushing to the fridge and flinging it open to check the status of my precious food supply. My babies are safe, thank the blanket! I grabbed some packaged ramen, because fuck knows I can''t cook for myself worth a damn. Right as I was peeling the top off the ramen another flash in the corner of my eyes occurred. Jesus christ, do I need new glasses? An eye examine perhaps? A mental and eye examine? Yes to all but that''s besides the point right now. This isn''t normal, what the fuck man, maybe a doctor''s visit really is way past due, all jokes aside. I rubbed my eyes again and checked where I was certain something green was. "I''m not going crazy.. well even crazier," I softly spoke to myself. After a short moment of staring blankly at my wall I managed to gather myself together like a bundled quiver of arrows, tightly knit together. I am in control of myself, I can manage anything that happens. I decided to go sit on my couch and watch television. Try to ease my mind, but I was still being extremely paranoid and cautious. What a fucking way to enjoy a Saturday, well not like Saturday held any special meaning to someone who never works or does anything. Everyday is my Saturday as far as I''m concerned. Fuck Mondays though, seriously despite not having a sense of time or days, even I can feel the dreariness of Mondays. It¡¯s like a cursed day that haunts humans to the end of earth. It¡¯s a status infliction, I call it ¡°Society¡¯s Beginning of Hell¡±, it''s the beginning of most work days that people dread to their very soul. "I was pregnant," was whispered right behind my ear so close I got shivers tingling up my spine as cold as the top of mount Everest. I jolted up while falling down at the same time, somehow, don¡¯t fucking ask me. I managed to crash face first into my hard wooden floor making a loud thud, leaving a thin sheen of my blood nose splattered across it. I tried to get back up and look around as quickly as I could. I felt warm drops fall down my nose. Really!? A bloody nose? Not just a trickle either. It¡¯s flowing like a.. ya know what, nevermind. I felt my face get hot and I quickly needed to plug my nose with something before I fainted from such a pathetic thing. Actually I should''ve fainted from that fucking creepy voice. I think a warm touch with my goddess is far overdue. What do you mean it¡¯s only been like 10 minutes? You telling me you want to leave the embrace of a hot goddess if given the chance? I thought so, back to the creepy voice though. It was a soft and sweet voice speaking in a matter of fact tone. "I was pregnant." Rang over and over in my head like a telephone ring of a scam company. Who was pregnant? Am I the fucking father!? No Impossible, I¡¯m a virgin.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Was this apartment haunted and they finally showed themselves?! Preying on sweet innocent me as I stuck to my goddess!? More shivers tingled down my spine as though this was actually the case. Maybe it¡¯s a hot ghost though. Ohh what if that shiver is because.. she¡¯s inside me? What if it¡¯s.. heaven forbid.. an old creepy man. Or aliens wanting to prob my sacred hole! I gave up right then and there of making sense of it. I did however rush to grab tin foil and hole myself up in the comfort of a blanket fort, with my goddess¡¯s protection from above, I was surely safe. Of course I also brought salt with me too. Imagine a grown man in his underwear and tin foil hat grumpily sprinkling salt near his bed looking over his back for green flashes. I told you I was awesome didn¡¯t I? Ahh you didn¡¯t think it was to this level though, it¡¯s okay, understandable greenhorn, I¡¯m sure you can manage. Believe it or not I probably could go back to sleep already. It''s what I did before I found video games to bide my time. Nonstop lethargic sleeping was my answer to life during those times, and well still kinda is. I was pretty comfortable with my goddess watching me above, still thinking about those scary quiet words. Pregnant ehh? That actually ruled out old creep man didn¡¯t it, what if it¡¯s - while I lay there thinking, something was coming towards me. From where!? What was it? It was.. It was.. a morbid face twisted and blurry. A face with bloodied tusks and harsh green skin, emerald eyes that held the saddest sorrow, clear as the day almost holding back tears. The female face now changed emotions to that of anger, sadness, and killing intent. Closer and closer this face came, almost shooting at me. I wanted my goddess to fall down and block this sight from me, cover my body, heat my core, this thing is absolutely terrifying. It had no body, no source. It was floating, flying towards me slowly, getting bigger and bigger. "You killed my child!" the face screamed at me, echoing the entire room and bed. The distorted face wasn''t going to stop its assault there either. The green face shook violently as it made another thunderous remark "WHY!?". My fucking window rattled at the sound of her voice echoing in my mostly empty apartment. There wasn''t anything I could do during this, because I''m petrified to the bone right now and managed to fucking soil myself. I''m shaking like a drug addict who hasn''t had their fix in a long time. Right in my face this green shape was screaming at me, like a drill sergeant would to a solider who really, really fucked up. My skull shook at her last word of why, my eardrums almost popped from the pure volume of her deep voice. My vision blurred to black after the last shakes of my body escaped me. Very slowly my body gave in the to fear of what just unfolded in front of me. The face screaming why instantly reminded me of that Orc Chieftain I killed in "The New Era". It also quickly made sense to me that the floating face was an orc. These were my last thoughts of vagueness as I passed out from fear. I had a dream, a small dream throughout the night. It was a dream of redemption, a tall human woman was standing high near a cliff, lovely red hair that flowed down to her waist, swaying in the wind gracefully. She was beautiful, absolutely astonishing. I¡¯m not sure what it was she was redeeming, but that''s the feeling I got from her. In a moments fleeting breath, flashes of her stabbing monsters in the eyes, their throats, their fucking ball sacks for christ sake, ripping their arms off and bitch slapping them as their bones crumbled before the force. The dream carried on for a very long time, much was lost in the red mist of my thoughts. I couldn¡¯t tell what her goal was, her purpose. I had no idea at all what she was doing in this world. It felt like she didn¡¯t belong in this world, like she was an anomaly, something that wasn¡¯t supposed to happen brought her here? Maybe that was her redemption goal. I was sweating tossing and turning in my dream as I experienced all this, there was enough sweat to fill a whores bathhouse after a fun night out. I couldn¡¯t believe I was seeing all this, it was some of the most brutal shit I could ever fathom. She was a total badass though. Chapter 3 - Moral Consequences The sound of birds chirping eventually woke me. What in blanket¡¯s name happened last night? I felt like I had a strange dream, about an orc and a red haired woman. I checked for those familiar blurry red numbers. My eyes darted all over the place in search for them desperately. They were nowhere to be found, in fact I couldn''t see anything at all. I was in a void, an abyss of blackness encased me entirely. There was no way I could make out anything. Franticly my eyes darted, and to my surprise could see my bed, but it was glowing a righteous white. Oh my blanket! Have you finally come to take me as a disciple of the sleeping ways? Trying not to freak out anymore then I already have recently, I collected myself again while getting my breathing under control. Eventually my eyes did settle on something very bizarre. A figure of a tall woman sitting at the bottom end of my bed entered my vision. What did I do last night!? Should I feel lucky? Those thoughts quickly left me when I realized the color of her skin and the broad outline she cast. The memories of the floating twisted face instantly punched me back into realization. Was this the body that face belonged to? She sat there, completely still. I dared not to make a sound or movement, instead I simply just watched her with the concentration of a hawk. After observing for what felt like centuries, my ears picked up something. It was the sad lonely sound of tears streaming down her face with muffled sniffles. Slowly her broad figure started to shake into a full blown sob. I kept thinking what I should do in my head while this presumable orc was crying in my bed. I''m not the nicest person in the world, but I''d like to think I''m not a complete ass. Let¡¯s say I''m going fucking nuts right now anyway, maybe talking to her would somehow help me. Ya know? Maybe she¡¯s a figment of my imagination, and we got a lot of stuff to talk about, maybe we could sort my life out, have a cup of tea, conquer the world together, and then she would disappear once my life was back on the right track.. Thats fucking sad. Ever so slowly I inched down the bed, trying not show the slightest hint of threat. She was right next to me at this point, and I felt like my heart was about to explode like a grenade from my chest in fear. She completely dwarfed me. I could only guess her size was roughly three times my own. My original plan was to put my arm on her shoulder while attempting to talk. This plan quickly went out the window considering that my arm can¡¯t even reach the mountain she would call her shoulder. Silently words mumbled out of me mixed with some fear "What''s wrong?".This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. In the blink of an eye the big face that haunted me to sleep was now looking at me, but something was different. This time it harbored no anger, hate, or animosity, instead it looked sad, lonely, and broken like when I first saw it. Those deep emerald eyes looked at me again, tugging at my very soul. "Kharash entire clan was killed." The strong broad figure eventually managed to utter those words under her escaping breath. I dreaded to hear the answer to the question I had running in my head. "By who?" "Little elf man running around! He too fast and killed chief with one hit.. then.. elf man took chief weapon and" There was a clear pause in her trembling voice. "Elf man worse than brutal Gurtosh clan! killed children and woman while taking everything we had.." Rubbing her belly gently she spoke with complete emptiness "Me was 2 months pregnant with future chief when he take light from my eyes." "I''m sorry.. I''m so sorry.. please.. please-" I¡¯m on the floor prostrating myself speaking these words. I knew full well who that half elf was. I didn''t know how this was happening, and quite frankly I don¡¯t even care. It was easy to see those orcs on the monitor as nothing but experience, but now right in front of me stood a crying orc.The eyes of emptiness stared at him, eyes that stared not at him, not at his room, but at an empty black void that doesn''t end, she had nothing left. Hot tears were streaming down her face. The huge orc started patting my head. "It okay little human, it not your fault," Even after losing everything, she still had the heart to pat my head and try to comfort me? I¡¯m a fucking murderer. I did it.. Tell her.. Scream those words out. Don¡¯t be a pussy. "It is! I.. I kil-" I''m staring at the orc trying to apologize, but before I could finish something grotesque happened. Scars, wounds, cuts, scrapes, blood, missing chunks of flesh, and skin peeling off her started to appear over what was her previously perfect body. The most horrible of all was the deep wound of a jagged axe right where her stomach lay. My fucking blanket god, why have I taken away the warm embrace of a blanket from a baby? Her body started to fade away right before my eyes. I wanted to reach out. I wanted to apologize sincerely. Did I want to do it for her though, or do I just want to know I''m not a murderer. I tried to reach out to her, but I ended up grasping air where she once sat. She vanished, leaving not the smallest hint or trace she ever even existed. Tears were shooting down my face like bullets as I lay my head into the floor. What have I done? I¡¯m pounding my fist onto the wooden floor as I break down. ¡°Hey keep it the fuck down up there!¡± was muffled below me. Stopping my assault on the innocent wooden floor, I just lay there slumped on the ground thinking things over. Chapter 4 - Changes I sat on my bed pondering things over, slowly replaying the events in my head. I''ve come to two possible conclusions. One being I truly have gone completely fucking insane, the other being that I''ve gone just slightly less insane, which was triggered by some sort of moral guilt, and figments of my imagination were trying to repair itself by talking to me in orc form. After sitting in my bed for roughly two hours like a bug eyed maniac, I finally decided to eat something and to see first hand the thing that¡¯s been bothering me. I moved over to my computer chair with another ramen noodle cup in my hand, browsed the web for a bit while slurping up my meal, also googled a few causes for possible hallucinations to no avail. Then googled if you could talk to yourself with external forms, but that shit was too deep for me, if that was the case I decided that I¡¯m fucked. Finally full and satisfied with my would be morning, I opened up ¡°The New Era¡± with high expectations and fears. I put in all my account information with unhuman like gamer agility, unable to contain these emotions. Clicking the little avatar of my rogue halfelf with tremendous anxiety, I waited for the game to load me in. All around me were bodies of orcs, at least in the hundreds. Blood was splattered all over the battlefield, houses burned and destroyed, children corpses lay limpless where I stood. Everything came back to me from that robotic night of grinding experience. Thinking once again to myself, ¡°What have I done?¡±. The New Era boasted pretty amazing scripting and artificial intelligence, each of these NPC¡¯s that I killed had a schedule, a life, a family, and even learned a bit as they lived. Another thing about ¡°The New Era¡± is that the game¡¯s deaths are pretty unique, and the very reason why these orcs are still here. It features ¡°Decaying Life 2.2¡±, the developers call it. Pretty much like normal life, a body doesn''t disappear after death, however it doesn''t really decay either, which makes me question the name of the feature. Instead of decaying, I¡¯d compare it more to turning undead. The bodies slowly ¡°decay¡± and after an unknown threshold is passed, they bring themselves back to life. This can be combated by burning the bodies, completely looting them, or with animals by simply skinning and harvesting the meat. You can also do that with normal humans and other races, even I haven¡¯t stooped to that level though, and there really wasn¡¯t a need either, you could just loot them all and throw away the trash. It¡¯s not like I can talk about what¡¯s right or wrong though, considering where I stand. If you truly leave the bodies for too long, they do in fact become undead and continue as if life almost didn''t change, just stupider, slower, and an uncertain doubt in your mind if that¡¯s really the person you know.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Haunted for eternity until their ¡°souls¡± are released, they act like themselves, think like themselves to a lesser extent, but have an unexplained hatred for any good factions/races/anything really. Of course that unexplained reason would be game mechanics in a nutshell. Obviously the undead wouldn¡¯t be having a friendly cup of tea with a paladin. Eventually I decided to act on my plans I thought up of when I was sitting in my bed. I dragged the bodies of all the orcs from this little clan over to what felt like the center. With them all together I searched through my inventory for an item called a ¡°Fire Spark Rune¡±. As the name implied, it basically could start a fire with a spark. I didn¡¯t spec at all into anything magic related, so I usually came prepared with all sorts of magical items to help me out. Using the torn down village huts as fuel for this fire, I set everything on fire without a second thought. I¡¯ve never actually done this before, I always considered it a waste of time. More time I could¡¯ve been using to level up I thought. Who cares if a little city of mobs becomes undead? Heck some might even say it''s better! Those with bad disposition could still use the city like normal. Even the biggest cities can become repopulated over time with moaning zombies. Truly an amazing feat for the developers. I wondered to myself what this place might become in the future. You could walk down the road, hear a gurgle and suddenly realize a blacksmith zombie is insulting what you are wearing, beckoning you to peruse his shop. Watching the fire blaze to new heights, I suddenly had another thought. What was the point of all this bullshit? I just bide my time, I just exist, so why does this even matter? Especially now that I have these stupid feelings called morals for a fucking hard drive all of a sudden. I logged out, completely tired of this shit. Afterwards I did something that surprised myself. I clicked on a button underneath my half elf, a very big and ominous button called ¡°Delete Character?¡± With newfound determination I clicked it and all of the following prompts in the blink of my eyes. Maybe I should¡¯ve read a few of those *cough*. Regardless, what''s done is done. Besides, I actually felt good about something for once in a long time. Elzare the evil rouge wood elf, won¡¯t kill anymore, even if they are just fucking zeros and ones. Maybe I should hold more value for zeros and ones though. What if they become smart enough to really seriously talk? Learn? Friendships.. and children. A small water droplet streamed down my face as the memories of that orc woman and her now lifeless stomach. I¡¯m starting to think maybe my emotions have been dulled from all these lonely years of gaming. Surely that must be a side effect? That must be why I killed that clan, and when finally met in person by someone I killed, I just fucking burst like a damn. Chapter 5 - Rosie Chapter 5 - Rosie "Ring-a-round the rosie" was echoed silently in a dark cave, far from any civilization. The words echoed loudly against the walls of the enormous caves, coming back several times to intercept the next part of the song. The next words "A pocket full of posies" crept along the crevices of the cave wall circling it. "Ashes.. Ashes.." spoken somberly with a small voice. A small child with grey skin, eyes, and even hair planned on finishing the song. Cracks along his skin, stitches upon stitches, and wounds completely open and ignored were plastered all over him. "We all fall down" The zombie like boy finally muttered under his breath with great anticipation. Numerous flashes of bright red light encased the cave, revealing every little nook and cranny of it in great detail. There was some caveman like drawings all about, none really coherent enough to even make a short story. In the center of the cave where the boy just performed what appears to be some ritual, stood a pile of green bodies with numerous burn marks on them stacked on top of each other. After many minutes silence passed, something finally happened, a twitch, a movement, a disturbance. The green bodies instantly turned as pale the boy. Gurgling was heard in a horde like matter. Fingers twitched, arms moved, feet dangled, the bodies of the now pale figures slowly lifted themselves up off of each other. After managing to get out of the giant pile of filth and stench, they appeared to be lining up in front of the zombie boy. "Excellent! I knew it would work.. but never had I envisioned it would work on all of you with only one cast" spoke the small figure standing in front of an army of bodies. "I suppose I should test it though to see if it really worked.." "You! Stand on one foot and hop in a circle while wiggling your arms around"This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. It was a sorry sight to see, a large lifeless body was hopping around and waving their arms, an odd and slightly humorous sight, yet in this cave, no one moved, no one laughed, no one except the body hopping did anything. "Amazing.. truly amazing! To what extent will you follow my commands? Can you speak?" "urrnnnRGNnnnn" "Hmm I suppose what you lack for intelligence will make up for in brawn, and surely with me at the helm we have more than enough intelligence to go around" The boy muttered in a haughty voice. "And you! Punch the person to the right of you with all your power! NOW!" CRUNCH was the disgusting sound that resulted from the boys order, without a second delay the standing body that was ordered left a hole where the others brain would have been. The child had a huge grin on his face filled with malicious thoughts. This wasn¡¯t the only horde he shall claim his own either, this was simply the start for him. What a treasure trove to find, a village with hundreds of very high level orcs laying in the center, about to be burned. The child put the fire out, dragged them to a cave where he set his ritual up, and then performed very evil dark magic. The pale skinned boy, wasn¡¯t done by any stretch of the imagination, this was his beginning, this was his introduction, this was his first love letter, only to be dwarfed and send many more that are leagues better. "Ring-a-round the rosie"... was aquiet sound echoed through the cave as the boy hopped around the apparent zombie that was still standing on one foot, moving around like a fool. ¡°I think it¡¯s time we gathered more corpses, don¡¯cha think guys!?¡± A loud roar of almost chatting could be heard, ever so slightly off beat with their damaged and zombie vocal chords. They moved through the remains of the village, not out of place in the fires that rose hundreds of feet high. Trampling over any debris on their path, they followed the young boy like a dog on a leash. Hundred of orc¡¯s gathered, the planet shook to its very core as the marching didn¡¯t relent ¡°Next destination! The Human continent¡± The boy pointed forward towards the horizontal, with his loyal subjects continuing to march on. A small malicious voice could be heard echoing quietly in the wind. ¡°The human¡¯s have no chance against these fucking brutes. March! Faster! I want to hear them scream from the planet shaking, before they can even see the shadows you big fuckers cast¡± Chapter 6 - New Beginnings Many boring colors of skin flashed through the avatar I was looking at, stopping occasionally at the nice tan ones and then flicking through them without a break in the monotonous action. My computer screen hummed and buzzed as I made my way creating a new character for "The Era Before", this time I made a conscious decision to be a noble, and great character, one who can protect instead of destroy, give instead of take! If I failed at real life to such a sorry state, I figured that maybe there''s hope in my second virtual "birth" as I¡¯d like to call this. The figure of the green orc woman flashed through my mind again, reminding me exactly what I''ve done. No more, I softly spoke to myself with another cancer stick dangling from my mouth. There was many differences from my old rogue compared to my current avatar that I was rotating around. The most obvious would probably be her large bosom and chest that was bursting through the scantily clad leather starting armor.. Thats right, in my valiant effort to be a good person in my favorite world, I also figured I''d try something else, which of course would be, well.. being a woman. A tall woman that would dwarf most people, with a shitty shield that looked to be made of a fence. Who wouldn¡¯t want a fine beauty coming to their rescue? Plus, if I¡¯m being honest, I get the benefit of seeing her fine ass wiggle on the screen as she''s walking in the gorgeous graphics of the game. This was my new character, my potential noble knight, my solstice of morality. After messing with her hair as long as a young girl might do with some barbie dress up game, I was finally satisfied, gold angelic hair was flowing from her that emitted an odd feeling of comfort. Gold eyes that promised security was staring back at me from my monitor. Oddly enough, even I felt slightly safer looking at her. That feeling was much needed at the moment. I had many more dreams and was met with many visions, not just of the orc woman, but of every single bad deed that my previous character in the game world did. Women were calling me the sickest of names, children grabbing my sleeve asking me that same god forsaken question. "Why?" with tears welled in their eyes. How could I tell them.. how could I tell them I needed virtual experience, how could I look in their eyes and tell them I did it to be stronger in a fake world.. The answer was simple. I couldn''t. It''s been weeks since I''ve deleted that shitty rogue that caused all this, weeks since I¡¯ve ate properly, weeks of being on the border of death. I blamed myself, hated myself to the very core, sleeping, eating, or anything of pleasure came hard to me during these weeks, it was as if I was cursed. My window shook with the fierce force of the November winds around here.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Shaking my skull to look for enjoyment again, I finally settled on creating a new character, but I''d play it in a totally different approach. I''d be as nice as I could, as noble as possible, maybe I could finally sleep again. My process of figuring this out was, if that god forsake game caused these horrible nightmares and hallucinations, maybe it could cure them too. Looking at those angelic eyes, I finally felt for once in many weeks, maybe even years. This was a good idea. Hovering over the empty name box with the gauntlet like cursor, I pondered for a moment. For some reason, it came to me almost naturally, in an instant, without second thought, without many dreadful arguments in my head of stupid names, it was simple, it was lovely, it was easy. Rosie was etched in the blacked out rectangle nameplate. I desperately needed a meal though before I could continue. Even if I puked it up, or couldn¡¯t manage, I needed to try. Catching a glimpse of myself in a mirror I had, as I walked into the kitchen, I noticed something. My eyes.. They were turning black, like unhealthy black. I felt an itch on my now paler than normal skin, I need.. I need to see a doctor. My hand landed on the door, for once in a very long time. I could feel my heart throb through the handle up to my chest. I could feel a hot breath behind me, almost moaning out.
Viewer Discretion Is Advised(Sexual content - very softcore)
¡°You aren¡¯t going anywhere, come back.. Play the game, enjoy it¡± hisses a seductive voice behind me. I couldn¡¯t control myself, I turned around, not thinking about it, and was now sat on my computer again. What¡¯s happening.. Go to the doctor, you saw your sorry state, go now, you look like death himself. ¡°Shhh, don¡¯t do that, just play the game silly¡± thin, lovely arms, with the seductive power of the sun wrapped around my chest from the chair. They got lower and lower, my heart started pulsing with the power of a jack hammer. My member rose to life as if the most powerful elixir ever was just consumed. Her hand slowly moved so low, I felt like my dick was going to rocket launch straight to mars and find the secrets of the universe. ¡°If you play the game for a little, I¡¯ll continue¡± was whispered behind my skull. God damn, I have some coherent thoughts of running, or doing something.. But I couldn''t I was a virgin who desperately craved this feeling, I¡¯d travel and kill my character in the largest volcano if that simple touch continued.
Mature Content Ended
My vision flashed.. What was I doing? Oh right! I¡¯m going to make a new character. With a blank feeling in my head, I mindlessly clicked the create button. Chapter 7 - The Era After? At a moderate pace my computer hummed to life, or rather to enough power to support this fucking game. My God my computer sounded like a vacuum when this game ran. I couldn''t fault it though. The game was gorgeous beyond belief, it was like looking through a window into the real world. The real world with goblins, orcs, and everything in between. The real world with fairies, magic, and giant dragons whose breath could level a continent if you¡¯re unlucky enough to induce their anger. As far as I was concerned for the past few years, this was my real world. This was the single thing I worked on, the thing I constantly improved, the thing I spend most waking hours of my life towards. This was.. home. Days upon days were spent on that evil rogue of mine. I''ve known this world for about 4 years now, much to my surprise though, I didn''t know every single detail if you could believe it or not. In fact, with the new character I¡¯m creating, I was feeling very overwhelmed and not knowledgeable in the slightest. There was a sense of safety in Elzare, he was strong, powerful, and not many variables could mess with him anymore. Now as far as I was aware, the wind blowing could fuck me over at level 1 if I wasn''t careful. This game''s map was massive, I only explored most of the elfs starting area, and the few neighboring "countries" and that''s exactly how they felt anyway, huge.. I spent most my time in the game and I laughingly knew less than half, if that even, despite that I did almost get to max level, though it might''ve been because of my disposition to kill most things, even if I didn¡¯t travel very far to find said things. Now, with newfound resolve and intrigue, I was going into this world again, as a blonde beauty and protector of all. I was playing a human this time, a starting place I''ve never been to before flashed onto my monitor as I loaded in. A bustling little village with children happily playing, green grass all around, trees as beautiful as could be, with leaves gently falling to the ground in a hypnotic sway. it was a wonderful place in my opinion. Only lacking thing was the buildings, very crude and not many at all, I suppose I could understand for a small village though. I walked along the main dirt path, in awe of the world around me, I had a new mentality this time around, I wasn''t looking to be the best now, I was in no rush, no trouble, simply there to enjoy the world, and that''s exactly what I was doing. A young boy skipping along the path stopped in his tracks and stared at me in awe. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I instantly knew why, I had spent the better part of 5 hours creating what I thought to be the most beautiful thing I could imagine, a noble goddess was probably his visual, albeit lacking in equipment department as my fence shield dangled off to my side. I stopped and gave the boy a smile emote which instantly turned him as red as a tomato as he ran off. Effective, I thought to myself. Moving along down the road, I realized that my head was throbbing in pain. I let go of the mouse and closed my eyes thinking it was just my head playing tricks on me from being away from this world so long. Boy was I wrong, pain beyond belief was drilled into my skull as I dropped to the floor from my chair. Blackness slowly embraced me as I felt what could only be described as my life force drain from me. Darkness.. Nothingness. ¡°Shh.. ¡± An oddly seductive but strange voice range over me from behind. I was floating, I was in an abyss. Flashes of a red haired girl rang through my vision, have I seen her before? How many times have I dreamed of her? More brutality met my eyes, and sadness to her very core swept over me. She.. she looks like Rosie. What will I do to Rosie!? Is this the future? I¡¯ve just created her? No it can¡¯t be, I chose blonde hair for her, the girl in front of me had blood red hair, that stood straight up like the horns of a demented devil. This was a psychotic bitch. My precious Rosie will be kind, gentle, noble, protective and caring. She will save those in need, give to those without. I just want to sleep again, I just want to be able to eat a meal without it being forced back out. I want to know I¡¯m not a murderer! I want to.. I just want to.. Die. No more thoughts overcame me, just nothing. A complete and total abyss covered me. Staring at nothing for god know¡¯s how long. I¡¯m scared.. I want my mother, I want to be in my apartment, I want something! Anything to comfort me.. The flash of Elzares face, a bit older and disgruntled came into my view. Feelings of safety swept over me in waves. Slowly I heard my breath regain itself, I could feel my lungs again, I wasn''t nothingness anymore. How long was I out, I thought to myself. It felt like.. years to me, of just.. Floating, nothingness. Enjoying the feeling of my lungs returning to me, I slowly committed to opening my eyes. What met me was the bright look of a young man with a clearly worried look on his face. Chapter 8 - Differences Laying there as my lungs exhaled deep in thought at the sight of the young but sorta familiar looking man in front of me. To my surprise, I already pretty much grasped the generic weird situation. I was already seeing visions of orc woman and child as clear as day before, for some reason this came as no surprise to me. I was inside "The New Era" as the avatar I just created. I was Rosie. I''ve gotta be honest with you, I was happy, extremely happy. Tears were slowly falling down my face, not of sadness or confusion, but of the utter joy of being in a new world, with a new chance. I quietly apologized to my mother in the back of my mind, thank you, from of the bottom of my heart for everything. I hope I can live a fulfilling life here for once. Before my thoughts could continue, the boy spoke up. "You okay? Speak slowly if you can talk" the young man didn¡¯t rush me, or ask a million question, or even explain what happened, in my sorry sight he simply asked that while gently putting a hand on my shoulder, such a kind and well raised young man. "I''m fine, lad" I muttered in a way too manly of voice, it seems I¡¯m not used to talking in this body yet, somehow my vocal chords almost replicated my real voice. The man looked a little shocked or put off by it, maybe I shouldn''t of called him lad, not really a girly way to address him, or even my normal way, I felt the need to almost roleplay I guess, but this was reality now. "I''m okay now, uhh" I spoke in a much more feminine and ladylike manner "What happend to me though?" "You tripped down on the dirt, ma¡¯am. 10 years ago! You were shaking and stuff, but still breathing this entire time, not giving up hope, we decided to get a cleric to help you, you¡¯ve been sleeping here for all those years, but no signs of recovering. I never gave up though! You must be a goddess sent to us after I saw that smile, we had to heal you. I payed ever bronze I had to keep you fed" It finally occurred to me, this man.. Was the boy I felt like I just saw yesterday after a long nap. Gruff on his face, eyes beaming with intelligence and wisdom.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! "Whe--r--e are w.. we?" "After I saw you fell, I rushed to my dad to help you, you are at our home" he spoke out confidently "My father helped too, and I¡¯m not trying to make you feel bad.. Just.. you are a goddess aren¡¯t you? How could we abandon those that fall from the heavens? I want you to know that you have a worshiper, one that will protect you." Before the boy could finish a large man opened the door with a shovel slung over his shoulder "By the gods she''s awake!" the man cheered, then dumbfoundedly looked at his shovel and hid it behind his back in what I could only presume to be embarrassment. ¡°Dad, there¡¯s no need for the shovel now. You see, you stopped breathing finally.. For the entire day¡­ I¡¯m sure you can guess what my father and I planned on doing. I hated the thought.. But miss goddess.. 10 years is a very long time.¡± For once in a very long time, the sight of a grown man hiding the shovel that was for my grave, made me let out a sincere heartfelt laugh for some reason. "Thank you for looking after me, uhh Mr" "Just call me Joseph, more to the point though, what in gods name happened to you?" "I don''t know.." I sorta knew, what happened to me, but not exactly how, nor do i even care. "I''d suppose not if the only cleric around here looked like a baby doing the Fedrix Riddle!" He said with a heartfelt jaunt about him. What the hell is the Fedrix Riddle though? "Thank you for everything, really, I hope I can repay you one day, but I''m sorta broke and just got here" Scratching my head, it finally occurred to me that.. I was talking with an NPC, full blown, questions, answers, learning, very real intelligence. I knew I might''ve been teleported into this world by god knows what, but I never thought all the npcs would become.. real too "Ahh! Did you create a character here? 10 years.. Hmm that was still when new people would appear. My guess is you are a Player, but I don¡¯t ever recall a player passing out for so long." My mouth made a U shape at the reply this Joseph gave me, how much do NPCS know? Was he perhaps a player too? He must be with his intelligence "Are you a player too?" "Ahahha, no not by any stretch, been in this village my entire life, but I figured you would''ve know this is a Player starting area, seen plenty of these so called "Players", but to me you are all simply similar souls visting a different place, I see no difference between you and I.. well except for my lack of a who ha- " The young man hit his father in the leg interrupting his final words. These people truly are amazing and amuse me, it¡¯s been so long since I''ve had genuine conversation, longer than I¡¯ve ever could''ve fathomed. ¡°Thank you.. From the bottom of my heart for looking after me.¡± Chapter 9 - Mother Dearest I walked up to my son''s apartment, barely being able to contain my excitement. After many attempts and lots of boring talks I finally managed to get my son an interview for a job at his favorite game company, "The New Era'' They were looking for beta testers for this big update, and I knew my son can''t stand conventional work, to be frank I don''t fucking blame him! I don''t like working either, and I never had the heart to force my boy into working to his death, I''d gladly take that off his shoulders, but at the same time if he can make some money beta testing a game he loves, and help support himself, then I think that''s a fair plan. I know he''ll accept too, he''s always apologizing to me, and I just feel so bad for him. Maybe I''ve failed him as a parent.. I don''t know. Knocking hard to wake his butt up, knowing his usual late night tendencies, I waited. I waited far too long and was about to bash the damn door open " Ahh, Miss Fujimoto, checking on your son?" The apartment owner spoke down the hallway from me. "Yup, think he might be sleeping though sadly" I replied with a dejected look, fulling knowing he would probably get the key and help me out. He''s been perving all over me ever since I got my son this place, but I dont think hes a bad guy, "Ahh, lemme go get the key real quick then, I''m sure no boy would want to miss a visit from his beautiful mother" he said straight faced, which almost made me laugh, luckily I contained it. After a few short moments and a few more compliments my son''s apartment was opened up. Walking to his bedroom, I felt pure fear shiver down my spine, coldness like the furthest reaches of north crept up me. A large green woman was looking down at my son laying on the floor. "What the fuck!?" I screamedIf you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "What''s wrong Miss-" "Is that your son laying on the floor!" The apartment manager rushed over to Ryu, but I was frozen, the green thing was looking straight at me, burning into my soul, could the manager not see it? I blinked and before I knew it the green thing was right in front of me. Its lips moved slowly, with sweetness mixed with threat it spoke "Redemption" and disappeared before my eyes. "Ryu! RYU!" I screamed while running to my son.. his eyes.. were completely white.. his pulse.. was gone. I guess I did fail as a parent.. I¡¯m eating ice cream as I sat in front of my television set of my own lonely apartment. Trying, trying desperately to not think about my son. The police came, investigated him, took the body to figure out what happened. I still haven¡¯t heard back from them. Seeing the bright flashes of the tv screen flicker to something new caught my attention. ¡°The biggest update to a single video game ever some call it? Surely you jest!¡± A woman spoke to a man behind a news like table. ¡°I do not! Because not only has the content expanded beyond levels you and I could ever probably finish, but there''s a new way to experience it too¡± The man said with a small smile creeping on his face. ¡°Monny has just announced a device that can fully bring you into the world of ¡°The New Era¡± using all the senses available to us. Sight, taste, smell, sound, feel. You can lay in this device, transport into a world completely different to our own, and live in it. You wanna know the best thing Marry!?¡± Both were extremely excited at this point, hopping up and down ¡°What Joe! Tell us! We all want to hear!¡± ¡°Time is 24 times slower than here.. You can gain 24 days out of one with your life. The science behind it is astronomical, but the game develops and CEO of Monny promise health and safety. Imagine just popping in there to maybe, just study for an exam for christ sake! Humans have just developed a way to get more hours in a day, this is truly a marvelous day, one that shall be remembered forever. I gotta tell you Marry, I tried it first hand and it.. Blew my mind. It¡¯s as real as the conversation we are having right now¡± Maybe that¡¯s what I need now.. Maybe I need to escape. I fear for myself if I don¡¯t. Chapter 10 - The Sad Reality Finally accepting and committing to my newfound situation, I waved off to Joseph saying my goodbyes and thanks. The family was hesitant to let me go, but they didn¡¯t want to restrain me. That man and his son really are hospitable, but I couldn''t stay any longer. This is my new life, my new chance, and I can''t start if off already by staying at someone else''s place, I shall have no crutch, I shall pave a way for myself. Easier said than done though at level one, I am a protector now, a provider, a goddess in this world. I pep talked myself up as I walked from Joseph''s house out to a clearing in the forest. My equipment was subpar by all means, but I decided that common sense would mean the starting area of humans is fairly easy, I expected level 1 goblins and such, maybe some beasts or slimes, I''m not even sure to be honest. Walking further into the clearing with my feet crunching leaves below me, I searched carefully for any monsters to claim for experience. I should be more careful though, Common sense would also dictate thing¡¯s don''t stay the same after 10 years. My determination was met with reward when I saw what looked to be a slighter larger than earth deer roaming around, its neck instantly turned to me and charged! So much for earth version of these beasts, I side stepped right out of the way of this monster deer, its horns missing my new breasts that hung tightly in my leather armor I started with. Not stopping the momentum I jabbed my rusty and mostly broken short sword right into the side of the beast. Blood splurted out violently while the animal screamed out in pain. My guard loosed at the sight of the beast dying in one hit, this place must still be low level. I was used to killing things on a monitor, but this.. was so visceral, so real. I could feel its heart beating through the hilt of my sword, I can see its eyes fading as it dies, I can smell the animal, all my senses tingled with realisms, no fuck it, this is real, absolutely. I can see, touch, smell, taste, and hear everything, this is my new world and I need to adapt as fast as I can. I also looked at the up side, experience, and also probably food since I figured I''d need it. Before my thoughts could go further, I heard a scream deeper in the forest. "HElp me, THey --"
Viewer Discretion is Adivsed (Gore, Rape(Detailed)) If you don''t want to read this, skip ahead and there''s a summary on the next long white line.
I was sure I heard the rest muffled, all my new senses I just talked about screamed danger and to run from whoever was needing help. but.. but.. god damnit . I ran to where the sound was coming from, I was a protector now wasn''t I? I made this character to be a defender, a noble person, I can''t run from the first person who screams for help, I''m positive god would smite me or something. Despite wanting to help, I shouldn''t have carelessly ran towards the sound, the site that entered my eyes was heart wrenching.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. A woman who I guessed to be in her 20s was stripped naked and against a tree while some fucking rapist was having his way. I ran, with all my thin legs could muster and slashed my short sword to the man''s neck. That was the plan anyway.. He heard me coming, he heard me running, and he wasn''t alone. "Looky here, is this some NPC bitch trying to save another NPC BITCH!?" screamed the bald man with a mocking tone with stifled laughter "I think it just might be, Bret! I thought you''d have all the fun, but guess my partner was a little late to the tango" a disgusting smile crept over the face I tried to inspect them, but none of the old familiar systems worked, I couldn''t see their name, their level, or anything. I tried.. I tried my best to fight them. I lost. I lost the second my sword was within inches of the first mans throat. I lost, He grabbed it, and made me stab myself, with my own arm, in my own fucking side. My arm broke too, as I felt the skin shift uncomfortably. I felt it, I felt every single pain tingle up my spine to my fucking brain as the sword made my breathing harder and harder. After that they.. I was a virgin as Ryu, in every sense of the word, I was a virgin as Rosie too, never had I imagined when I was a young boy that my first time would be with two men, rapeing me as woman. They ripped my clothes off, left the dagger still in my fucking side, and had their way with me.. for.. hours.. I.. I lost. They cut along my pants, up my leg, blood dripping down as my skin was revealed, needle like sensations of pain tinged up me. My arm throbbed in pain as it lay broken. My head was now being pounded into the bark of tree, with teeth being broken and flung off with each thrust from the heavy man behind me, blood latching to my hair as consciousness was fading from me. The tree trunk lay splattered red in front of me. I think.. I think my neck is about to break. I felt his hard cock, ramming into me as hard as he could, I was bleeding profusely because of my V card being taken away in such a manner. Being ripped to shreds and burnt. The pain was so extremely bad.. Words can not make you fathom. I LOST I LOST I LOST I LOST! GOD FUCKING DAMNIT I LOST.. I can hardly see anymore. I''m losing too much blood from my side, my lung must be collapsed, it hurts to breath, it hurts to move, it hurts.. to live. The man grabbed the fucking dagger in my side like a bicycle handle and used it.. to use my body even further. I''m done.. I quit. I failed at the real life, and was raped in my second one. Laying on the ground of the forest, I was embracing the death that waited for me "Alright, time to hide the evidence" That man was hovering over me about to slam my own fucking sword through my head, and the sad part.. is I wanted him to.
END OF MATURE CONTENT
Summary: I tried to attack 2 bandits assaulting a woman in the forest.. but I was weak, I lost. I.. don''t know what happened, a flash and the man''s head was gone from his body, what was left was the stump of his neck spurting out like a fountain.
NPC, Elzare Level ???
"NPC Elzare". Elzare!? My fucking rogue? before I could look around, despite the fact that alone hurt enough, I was being dragged picked up by the side like cargo, and passed out. Chapter 11 - What Falls Down I was awoken by the sound of chopping, scared and concerned for where I was or who was chopping what, I clenched my eyes shut. I don''t wanna know.. I don''t wanna know. I''m done, please don''t hurt me anymore God. "Eat" was spoken quietly, but firmly Adjusting my eyes, I was looking at a wooden rectangle plate with deer meat cooked on top. I slowly looked up to meet the man who spoke, with breath escaping me at the sight. It was Elzare, no doubt about it, the image of his face ingrained in my years of grinding. But.. different. Elzare had a look about him that made me sad almost, but safe. His hair slightly grey, a full beard also tinted grey, that screamed wisdom sitting upon the canvas of his soul. "I.. I.. I deleted you! " "What? Sit down, your wound will re-open, eat the damn meat too" Spoke in a grizzled voice Upon inspecting myself, he was right. My wounds are bad, very bad. Although, stitched up with some sort of bandages, his work I presume. I was at a complete loss, it was clearly my character, but here in front of me, alive, and almost gentle. Not questioning his command, or the rumble of my belly, I slowly ate as tears mixed into the well cooked meat. "Why didn''t you kill me for experience?.. " "Ahahahah! What in God''s name do you take me for woman!? For starters you were fucking raped and almost dead, you think finishing off a mostly dead naked level 1 would be worth the experience? Did I really leave that kind of impression somehow? There¡¯s no need for any more experience for this old fool anyway.¡± "I''m sorry.. To be honest though, I wanted to die"If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He laughed again which sparked some anger in me, it was my fucking choice. "Some level 14 and 18 bastards have their way with you, I save you and you want to die!? Fine, maybe I could use that experience anyway... " he almost screamed out, but sorta flinching to himself. He was pointing his dagger at me with a death glare of his half elven eyes. I''m not sure if he was serious, if I ever encountered something like this when I was playing as him, would I really do that? That didn¡¯t even matter anymore though, it¡¯s been 10 years, god only knows what he¡¯s experienced. I decided to look up at him and close my eyes, a fitting way to die, by the hands of my sorta evil first avatar. "It''s a straight shot to the village you were at from the cabin''s entrance. Your pathetic equipment is outside on the ground, I replaced your shitty fence and rusty dick for brains sword with actual equipment, there''s red vials too and if you don''t know what those are for then God save your soul, though I suggest you drink one, NPCs can''t force other NPCs to drink them, hence your sorry fucking state. Go become someone worth killing, maybe then you¡¯d feel better and stop your nonsene" I was in shock, suddenly the thought occurred to me that Elzare wasn''t evil, just impatient, and direct. That fit me to the T when I played as him, I never meant to kill an entire innocent orc village, but I didn''t realize they were innocent and thought they were just data anyway, if it was real life, I wouldn''t have done it. It was like I just screamed at myself. How was his intelligence formed? What shaped him? It didn''t matter, I didn''t want to leave, I didn''t wanna go back out there. I sat there, on his bed, looked up and pleaded. "Please don''t make me leave yet.. " He looked away with what seemed to be tears forming in his eyes. Elzare.. was conflicted as far as I could tell. "I sorry for what happened, I¡¯ll give you some time to recover¡± ¡°Be careful out there, I don¡¯t know who you are, or where you came from, but this world.. This world isn¡¯t a pleasant one for a level 1. There should be low level goblins around here, with some Erkins(Deer like Creatures)¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wanna babysit you, but won¡¯t turn a blind eye if you ask for help, don¡¯t be reckless, think your actions through, abuse the fact that if your stats are higher, you win, gain those precious stats, don¡¯t let anyone beat you.¡± Chapter 12 - Must Stand Up I couldn''t help it anymore, tears were streaming down my golden eyes, boogers were mixed into the mess with a nasally sound and I truly looked like a sorry site. I survived, I was crushed, raped and almost killed, but I was alive. It took me awhile to let that sink in fully. Part of me still wanted to die, for being so powerless, for knowing that this was probably the start of all my future failed endeavors. I felt pain in every corner of my body, my neck being held on by what felt like a paper string, my arm just constantly having the feeling of fire being wrapped around it in its broken state. My.. fuck it, I need to say it. My cunt felt an unimaginable pain tingling through it, my legs tired and hurt, my entire being was weeping, wallowing in pain. I could hardly move. Part of me was scared of death, another wanting it. I couldn¡¯t give in to the idea of nothingness though, no Re-Dos, there isn''t some other magical world, that''s all, zilch, I''m dead. The counter argument is how much it hurt to be toyed with, mentally and physically, my body aches, my soul weeps and my mentality is broken. I am in shambles, crying and sniffling on Elzare¡¯s deer fur blanket and bed. Inspecting myself, I realized I was in a new set of clothes, fitting soft clothes perfectly lay over my body, no memories of my starting armor or their abysmal state they lay in, instead clean clothes, stitches for all my wounds, huge stitches going up my leg, bandages all around my body, and something akin to a cast lay around my neck and arm. Elzare.. "Drink this already foolish woman" the red vial he was talking about earlier landed perfectly in front of me on the bed. Of course I knew it was a healing potion, but what he said earlier irked me. A NPC can¡¯t make another use it? I''m a NPC? And so is he? I sorta figured he was, I mean I''m obviously not on my computer desk playing him right now. I took his advice though, my lungs hurt, my body aches. I drank the potion with greed with what was left of my other arm. Before I realized it, my wounds instantly became scars, my lungs filled with sweet air at their full capacity.. My.. Umm.. Unmentionables all felt instant relief. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! It was amazing, I felt a lot better, but still broken mentally, too bad there isn''t a mental healing potion. Or maybe there is? Mind control Magic or something along the lines. After awhile I noticed Elzare was staring at me, clearly with thoughts swirling in his eyes. "You angered me earlier, asking me why I saved you, as if saving a half naked raped women wasn''t okay or something, then you said you wanted death, it just.. It went against everything I''ve trained for, for years, if you get fucked over, then get stronger, get revenge, if you lose, come back again when you can win. I know I took those lives of the rapists, but rapists exist in this world, in troves, are they not your enemy now? Not your challenge to overcome? How many women are being bent over and fucked mercilessly right now? Think how it felt, think how you can help them, this should be your challenge, your next goal, not the end of Rosie, why not the first chapter instead? Would you let it happen to you again, or would you not hang the mans balls to the highest tree and scream victory? " a long pause awaited, he was still looking away while I was lost in the mesmerizing words. Before I could reply with anything, he was gone, in a flash. Weeping in bed for a few more hours and going over his words, I regained some semblance of confidence, maybe he was right, I don''t know, but those words meant something, a purpose, that''s right, I''m supposed to be a protector, a guardian this time around! Wait.. Didn''t he just save me, protect me, and guide me? Just my fucking luck, my personality of an avatar is doing better than me at my new goals. Carefully pulling off my casts, undoing the stitches, and removed the bandaged, the beautiful color or my tan skin was returned. Looking at the forest ground at my equipment, no painful memories of a rusty dagger in my side awaited me, instead a shining sword in perfect condition awaited, a shield that showed my own reflection, and a full fucking set of iron armor was just sitting there, looking almost freshly polished. I equipped everything I could, stored the healing potions in a backpack he left, and thanked him in my heart, from the very bottom, to the absolute top. I shall recover, and I shall flourish. My goal is to head out, kill as many things as I comfortably can, and redeem myself. I shall be a man.. Err. woman worth killing god damnit. I shall not let anyone else have the edge over me, I will gain stats that are in equal measure to Elzares! With a small amount of confidence, I strode forward into the scary word, into the forest to make a name for myself. Chapter 13 - Start of Something Decked out in my new equipment, shining bright like a beacon, I walked forward.I wasn''t filled with admiration or any false idea of owning the world, I was simply scared of everywhere I went, every step felt like a step towards darkness, despite the fact it was morning. The trees swaying scared me, the leaves falling of their branches alarmed me, the sight of my own shadow almost made me jump, I was terrified of this savage world that I now lived in. I never had to see its imperfections on a simple monitor, but being here now, living and breathing it, the ideal that someone just a single level higher than you can take over you boggled my mind. I need to get strong, fast. I need to be able to defend myself before I can worry about others. My sight set on precious experience, I lumbered around the forest looking for more deer. How much experience where they worth? I couldn''t tell, nor could I even check my current status anymore. I tried thinking status, screaming status, and even moving my hand in front of me in a swiping motion. Nothing worked no matter how hard I tried, letting out a dejected sigh I gave up. Maybe once I kill enough to level up something will happen. So that''s exactly what I did, I went around the forest searching for deer and other simple things to kill. Target number one. Another deer like creature stomping about the clearing in front of me. From my first encounter a single jab in the right spot killed em last time, I guess I can only hope for the same. It charged at me, faster than the last one, there was no time to sidestep. Raising my shield in front of me with all my strength I prepared for impact. BAM. The deer''s antlers scraped against my new shield, stopping the body of the beast as it bucked from the impact, without wasting the chance I push my shield forward and slam it into its face. With the staggered deers assault pushed back I swung my sword in a clean circle where the beast now stands, gutting it right in front of me. Uncertain of the future, or my own appetite, I figured I should try to skin the beast and harvest its meat. I was kneeling in front of the beast''s body gently setting my sword along its fur, and peeling away as best I could. Not knowing the exact intricacies of skinning, I winged the hell out of it, and it came out all blotchy in numerous pieces.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Hell, I decided to leave most of it behind. The same with the meat I did actually manage to harvest. Something interesting did manage to pop up though, while cutting away at the beast''s fur a familiar blue screen popped up.
For attempting to skin and harvest the animal before you, you gain +1 Skinning, +1 Animal Harvesting
This was the sign I needed to see. I desperately craved to find this familiar blue screen, a small sweat of relief came over me. I can get stronger.. I can get faster.. I can improve. I had no sign of stopping there, it was still morning. Target number two approached my vision from the corner of my eye. Its stature was small like a childs, its arms thin and dangling, its equipment pathetic and revealing. It was as far as I could tell without the systems help, a goblin scout. I suppose our stats must be of similar quality, because as soon as I noticed him, he too was looking back at me about to draw his bow string. Rushing forward with my shield held high I planned my assault. As soon as I heard the ting sound of his arrow hit my shield, I was already in front of him, SMACK, I slammed my shield with my left hand right across the tiny ugly green beings face, its yellow rotten teeth flew out as it hit the floor fumbling backward. It breath escaping him, as a stench straight from my worst nightmares filled my nostrils. In the next moment I felt a hot burning sensation on my right side, examining myself I could see an arrow sticking straight out, right through my fucking iron armor, so much for its protection. There must be another one somewhere, I don''t have time to see though, kill the one in front of me before he regains balance, turning towards my prey to finish him off, disappointment was the only foe where the goblin once was. He was gone. Scanning the forest around me I circled the clearing not letting down my guard or posture. While walking around in a defensive posture, I snapped part of the arrow out sticking inside me, a burning pain came over me as I dared not to let my eyes close. Another fucked up situation I found myself in, tiny green eyes revealed themselves behind and on top the trees all around, there must be at least 6 goblins that surrounded the area before me. A sad feeling of losing hope welled up inside me. A deep sinking feeling of desperation filled me, I already knew that I couldn¡¯t survive. ¡°Elzare! Please..¡± I screamed out dejected, scared of the goblins that slowly approach me. Only the silence of the wind, as the leaves fell with an S shaped grace to the floor, was the response that replied. Chapter 14 - Trapped Animal I was livid, absolutely fucking livid. The second day in my life in this world I thought was supposed to be amazing and yet I was surrounded by goblins that wanted my head on a fucking pike. Oh it was easy on a monitor, hit 1 2 3 or fuck knows what and magic abilities and spells shot out your wazu, yet here I was feeling cornered and naked, no sense of power or pride. The real air hitting against my exposed face, the real sound of leaves rustling around me, and the real feeling of fear welled up inside me for the second time in this word. Abilities! I screamed in my head, surely there must be abilities, I picked the paladin class as Rosie, I don''t know what they start with, but I was desperate. "Holy night surround me! Give me Blessing!".. nothing. In fact the goblins drew closer and closer. I couldn''t stall any longer, a short green little figure dashed for me first, its ears flopping in the wind, its dagger drew aimed for my neck. I was frozen, petrified, what could I do, time didn''t stop for me, there was no moment of clarity, it all happened in a second, another whizz another arrow in my side, another cut across my arm fending of the one in front of me.. and another arrow jammed right into my fucking back. I was losing, hell I don''t think it was even a battle in the first place, that would''ve meant I fought back. Spitting out blood onto the forest ground, I brought myself up. If it wasn''t a battle, then I damn was at least going to make it that. THWACK I kicked the little fuck face standing in front of me with all my thin lustrous legs could offer, and to my surprise a lot, his body flew into a nearby tree like a football, then impaled it like a spike with a disturbing splatter sound as the bark of the tree got dyed red. Memories of my rape filled me at the sight, fueling my fire into something even fiercer.
Is this what you imagined in terms of abilities young paladin? You see, in this world, in your current state, you don''t activate abilities, you execute them. Like say a normal kick for example.
Astonished at the blue prompt before me, I looked down at my foot that was now glowing a righteous yellow aura around it.
Ability Unlocked : Paladins Boot
Much like a normal kick, except packed with the power to send most things flying, can also be used to interrupt most channel based spells.
I didn''t have time to study the prompts to their fullest extent, I was still surrounded, but now I had an ability, something to work with and cling onto. I hobbled over to the back of what I thought to be a safe tree from the reach of the goblin archers. With blood dripping down my side and back, I leaned against the tree for support, avoiding putting pressure onto any of the arrows that protrude for my mangled body.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. A whizz sound flew near me again, but safely turned into a vibrated thwack as it etched itself into the tree. I need to run, I can''t deal with this many, especially this many that I can''t even see. Bracing myself to run towards what I thought to be the direction of the cabin, I sprinted as fast as I could with the injuries I sustained. My speed was slow, the pain unbearable, I don''t think I''ll make it. Before I could go even deeper in my wallow and strife, an arrow pierced the bottom of my right leg, right through my fucking foot. The arrow was strong, I think it was stuck in my bone. I tumbled to the floor, then heard a crack sound, realizing it was probably my potions in my backpack cracking from the weight of my body on it, further increased by the force of my tumble Just my fucking luck, god damnit why has everything gone so wrong so fast. First those fucking demons hiding in human form, then being outnumbered by these goblins, it''s supposed to be a starting village for christ sake! Why is this world so unfair. Tears were already flowing down my face in defeat. The goblins all drew near me slowly closing in, I finally realized that these goblins aren''t very smart. They were closing in to finish me off instead of shooting an arrow through my skull from a distance, that was their last god damn fucking mistake. I used the damn arrow sticking through my bone as a weapon with my glowing kick, a glowing aura wrapped around my foot easing the pain for a second. Then it swiftly impaled itself into the closest goblin like a homing missile. A sickening sound roared through my ears as the goblins left eye popped out from the impact. I was now twisting myself with the foothold in this goblin''s skull, not stopping to think, not even really thinking anymore. I threw my sword straight at the furthest goblin holding a drawn bow, before I landed from my bizarre kick I just executed, I held the sharp side of my shield aimed down as I fell from my goblin skull foothold, his body still attached by the arrow, moving with my weight as I fell down. The shining sharp shield connected to the neck of another goblin, with his thin dangly neck, and the weight of my fall, his head came clean off with a disgusting pop. Splurting blood all over the forest ground as the projectile force of it, actually moved the goblin''s head a bit like a fucking rocket. Left only with my shield and arms, I crawled to the next goblin, grabbed his fucking leg to trip him over and jammed my fingers into his eye sockets screaming out in pain and terror "NEVER AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN GOD DAMNIT" There was one last goblin some ways away pulling a bowstring back aimed at me, my instincts screamed, grabbing the goblin I had hold of I pulled him from his skull with my fingers still in his eye socket, and used his body as shield as a loud thump vibrated through the tiny torso. I grabbed a nearby dagger that was presumably this poor fucks, and hurled it at the last goblin. To my surprise it actually hit him, albeit in the foot, lucky for me.. it was enough, and the goblin ran way. I was covered in blood, my foot had an arrow in it, that was then attached to a goblin''s head, I was holding another goblin from his skull and eye sockets, arrows pierced through me in numerous areas, digging even further with my weight on them. This wasn''t the life I imagined.. I was slowly losing consciousness. Chapter 15 - Unwelcome Guest I was laying on the warm ground of the forest, questioning why the forest ground would be so warm, I tried to open my eyes and look around. It was night out with trees swaying violently in the cold wind. Again I asked myself as I shook my head, why would it be so warm? The answer soon came to me in the form of another sensation. Wetness on my back seeping into my cloths under my pathetic excuse for iron armor. I was bleeding to death, from the arrows of that battle god knows how long ago. I could barely see a few feet in front of me, darkness swept over the forest like a blanket, the moon faded like a dimming light, the forest maintained quietness with the exception of an occasional breeze. In this area void of most sounds I realized something very important, very quickly. Death was approaching me. No, not some metaphor that I was about to die, literally death was walking towards me as I lay on my back holding the wound on my left side. How the fuck did I know it was death? Well look at this shit.
NPC Death, Level ???
Death''s footsteps made no sounds, Death didn''t breath, and Death didn''t stop walking towards me at his casual stroll like this was some amusement park. "Well well well, lookie here!" Opening his arms like some prick hosting a carnival. "That''s not very nice!" Did he just read my fucking thoughts? "Ayyyyuup, bingo, jackpot, you win the prize!" *coughing up blood* "What might that prize be mr carnival prick?" "Absolutely nothing, I''ve come here to claim your soul if the big tittle wasn''t obvious enough, then again I did have to spell it out for a few people before, would you like me to do that? Little birdies tell me that using your scythe to spell it out on their skin gets the "point" across pretty fast!" Death was tapping on the end of his scythe with his elongated bony finger, if his face wasn''t cloaked I''d be positive he was laughing." "Ahahaha! A comedian and a carnival host? I''m sorry to disappoint you, but I''m not dead yet, and I got a feeling your scrawny ass can''t force the passing moments of someone, or else I wouldn''t be talking right now would I?" "Ahh.. It seems you are a little more intelligent than the usual trash dying in a forest." "Even though I can''t force those last moments, I can however -" He vanished, so quickly it was as if I blinked, Death was hovering in front of my face, his cold breath moving down my spine, his empty eyes looking for my soul. "Watch you die like the dog you are." Death didn''t move a single inch and stood directly in front of me, face to face as he bent his knees in a crouching position.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. "Well go on little doggy! What are you going to do?" He shooed me away in some random direction just like you would some wild dog. Having courage despite the fact I''m fucking dying, I wanted to spite this asshole, gathering up some of the last breaths I could take, I spit right in his fucking face, blood red saliva driping down his cold white skull leaving stains behind. The scariest part of doing that. was he didn''t react, death didn''t move, didn''t say anything, only kept staring into my eyes. Like hell I''m going to die in front of this prick. The floor moved before me as I gathered all my strength to pull myself forward, anywhere but here, it didn''t work though. Death''s gaze never left, he was walking along me as I crawled, staring at me. After crawling for a bit, I realized I felt heavier, not just because the fact death''s door is waiting, but a bit of weight on my right foot. The foot was twisted and broken in several spots, but worst of all an arrow was pierced through it attached to that fucking goblin I killed. This little asshole was going to make it harder to move, shaking my foot loose as pain burst up my leg, I managed a little progress. I decided I''d try to use my ability, that one that kicked, to try to shake the dangling green body from me. My right foot lit up like christmas, the forest finally revealed in the light. Sights of goblin blood, a few limbs, and even a head was littered on the floor. Disgust filled me at the memory of what I did to survive, but I had to.. I don''t want to die damn it. Pondering over such useless thoughts won''t get me anywhere, this kick thing just might. After the glow on my foot faded, I inspected the result of it, which was very good. The arrow broke ever so slight at the base of it implanted in my foot, did I mention the pain was un fucking believable? I had to do it again though, I can''t even crawl like this. Again I used the ability, again I saw the forest floor painted with death. This time though, the arrow broke leaving splinters in what could only be described as my dismantled bloody foot. The trees moved closer as I once again dragged my body across with my dangly arms. During all of this, death didn''t stop looking at me, inspecting me, staring at me, unmoving except when I did, it was an extremely unpleasant and ominous feeling. After roughly 5 full drags of my entire body, my arms gave out. I couldn''t move any further, even if I could, what would be the fucking point? Where could I go like this? Nowhere.. I needed a new option, or maybe I should just give up. In that very moment of thinking that, deaths splattered red and white skull turned into a smile. "Fuck you" I groaned out. The potions! The thought of the potions finally came to me, I knew they were cracked open, but surely enough of whatever that fucking liquid is, seeped into my backpack, I''ll eat the entire thing if I have to. I lifted my arms behind me and ever so slowly managed to get the backpack off of me, I tried to rip a piece off but didn''t manage with my strength. Fuck it.
Point of View Change(Rosie to Death)
I honestly couldn''t believe what my cold undead eyes were seeing, this maggot that was supposed to be dead 3 minutes ago by my guess, was laying in the cold forest ground, eating her backpack, I fucking heard glass crunch while she nibbled on it like some wild starved animal. To my surprise though, whatever she was doing was working, the number above her head was raising, I failed my initial judgment, it seems she''s a stubborn one. Well, I''ll be back soon I''m sure.
Point of View Change(Death back to Rosie)
The metalic taste of my own blood mixed with the cloth of my backpack was utterly disgusting, let alone the fact I couldn''t pick out the glass from where I bite into, spiting the glass fragments out as I could with as little loss of fabric as possible, I was positive it was working. My energy slowly returned, my world slowly lit up, and the best sign possible happend. Death disappeared, without a word, without a trace. I managed to beat you, you fucking prick. Screaming in joy as I continued to munch on my god forsaken backpack. Not death, but something was embracing me again, a familiar calm feeling.. the feeling.. of slee- Chapter 16 - Results!
Level up x4!
You are now a level 5 Paladin. Your unique actions have granted you a special change in your class, the path of crimson paladin has now become available, unfortunately for you, this class route isn''t an option though. Congratulations Crimson Paladin Rosie! As a Crimson Paladin you don''t abide by normal rules or means of protection. You have no shield, for you are the shield. Skill distribution is limited to 1 per every 5 levels as this class.
New Passive(s) Gained!
Cornered Rat: (Level 1) The lower your health is the more damage you deal .1 extra damage for each health missing
Blood Pact: (Level 1) The more blood that splatters and seeps into your skin or clothing, the higher your defence becomes .1 Defence for each ounce of blood on you. Dried blood does not count towards the total.
Lost Hope: (Can''t Level)Once you lose all hope. You die.
Equalizer: (Can''t Level)If your health is above 50%, all of your stats drop by half
Safety Measure: (Level 1) Once your health reaches 0, you have 5 seconds to regain some health or you die. Can only occur every 10 minutes. Combos well with a potion, or your "Heartless" passive as a last resort.
Wolf in Sheep''s Clothing: (Can''t Level) You can no longer wear any armor beyond material level of cloth/leather or any variants, the system is fairly smart, if you try to put on a huge metal pauldron it will equip but lose all stat bonus and be thin as paper, however a chain necklace probably won''t trigger these restrictions.
Shieldless Defender: (Can''t Level) You can''t equip a shield, picking one up instantly drops it. You are still a paladin though, if the system detects you took damage for the sake of another person. Then the total damage taken is reduced by half.
Heartless: (Can''t level) You gain 1 health point if you fully eat, and consume a freshly ripped out heart. Also heals all status effect impairments. Can only be used once per day. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Red Aura: (Can''t level, Cosmetic) For every ounce of blood on you, a red aura slowly appears around you, as well as changing your eye color, and hair. The more blood on you, the brighter the color.
New Active skill(s) Gained!
Makeshift Weapon: (Level 1) Activate by looking at the body part of your enemy you wish to use, and simply trying to rip it off. Only works on enemies 3 levels lower than you. The body part becomes a weapon for as long as it remains sorta intact. Damage is based on the limb in question, a vampire''s claws on their arm for example would do more than a goblins dangling whip arm.
Makeshift Shield: (Level 1) You can grab and use enemies to block projectiles and other damage sources. Once grabbed for the purpose of defence, enemies take more damage from external sources(5%) and their skin hardens (5%).
Noble Upkeep: (Can''t level) Clear all the blood on you dried or otherwise, seeped in cloth or even if ingrained under your nails.
Foreign Objects: (Can''t level) Lose all the blood currently on you and 10% of your health, but all foreign objects in your body are pushed out. This effect does not include poisons. The basic idea would be arrows, throwing knives, hell a bee sting will work too.
There are many secrets to a crimson paladin, but many more hardships await. This class was given to you as testament of the hardships you already have passed, use it wisely, for you are the only one.
I jolted up from what felt like a sweet dream and inspected my surroundings. I lived motherfucker! That white skulled prick can suck a big one. My backpack was laying in front of me, ripped to shreds and half eaten from my desperate struggle last night. Fragments of glass still remained in my mouth in utter disgust. I spat the last few pieces out and figured I''d inspect the damage I did to myself this fucking time. To my surprise, obviously because of the potion seeped backpack meal, I was mostly alright. The worst thing for wear was my foot, twisted and broken in numerous ways with a piece of the wood from that goblins arrows still lying inside it. There was another arrow in my back near my right shoulder blade, and a final one on the left of my chest. The shocking part was that I wasn''t bleeding, the potion simply healed my skin right to the fucking wood inside me. It seems a doctor''s visit is very much needed for a proper recovery, I''m sure this wasn''t the first time someone dran..err.. ate a potion with arrows still in them. The first question I needed an answer to was if I could stand, kneeling over with one arm on ground I pushed up with all my might as the ground went further away from me. Once all my weight was up and standing, an intense pain twisted up my leg from my foot. I supposed a blood and potion seeped backpack couldn''t heal extreme injuries. I managed to hobble and stand though without falling down, with the sunlight shining through the tree leaves and confidence brimming through me for cheating death, I slowly lumbered back to the village for help so I didn''t have to live my days as a pseudo porcupine. Chapter 17 - Old Wounds I was moving along the large forest at a snail''s pace babying what was left of my foot. Every step, every single inch I moved caused pain to jolt right up through me like an electrical wire. If only that would be the only problem. As I stumbled down through a few more trees, a loud gurgling sound met my ears. I rotated my neck towards the direction of the sound at an incredible speed. Horror is what my eyes lay upon. A single, lonely lady, grey as the moon, was shambling around, clearly an undead. Her eyes were sparkling with some slight indication of intelligence, grey as could be, foggy and obscured like a blind person. Her skin had multiple wounds.. Similar.. to my own. A large gash that led up her leg and stopped right before her cunt. Rattling my brain for the memory of her face, and the conditions for becoming undead. It all snapped into place instantly. I tried to forget you.. I failed you. This zombie.. Was the woman I tried to protect. Her current state is undead, I guess Elzare was too late for her, in all my turmoil and pain, I forgot about her. I forgot about the reason I ran out towards those thugs in the first place. I wanted to keep forgetting, but with her undead face rotated at me I couldn''t. Guess my fucking luck too, I''m a paladin, so she will remember me and what I did, but hate and want to kill me regardless because of that stupid "Decaying Life 2.2" shit. Memories came back to me, like a moment of trying to find something to no avail.. Except I found what I was looking for. I didn¡¯t want to though. I wanted my brain cleaned, cleared of all evil in this fucked up world. I wanted to go crawl into a fucking ditch.. But no. I had to face her. The woman was shambling towards me at an even more pathetic pace than mine. What should I do? What could I do? What level even is she? "thank you.. For.. Trying to help me. " the zombie woman spoke out. What the hell?Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. " um.. You are welcome.. I''m.. I''m sorry that I didn''t actually help though.. Umm.. why aren¡¯t you attacking me?? " " urnnnnggGggnn you.. No Threat to.. mrrrhuuu undead don¡¯t mind .. yuhhh, not.. Norm.. paladin" "what the fuck kind of paladin am I then? A weak one who couldn''t protect anyone! Herselfincluded.. " tears were streaming down my face, memories flooded me again with a large crash like a wave against the ocean. " no.. You are.. Strong. Protect future.. I must go.. Find jjm..maw. my family" The zombies slender back was moving away from me towards the village, confusion was building inside me, and painful memories were trying to invade me. With no other option or choice, no more conversation to say, I followed her back, also shambling like a zombie. My mind was blank, completely blank, not wanting to think of the horrors of this world, not wanting to come to grips with the fact I failed this woman. Not wanting to accept anything that¡¯s happened to me since I¡¯ve came to this word. I¡¯m starting to desperately miss my god of a blanket. We hobbled along truly like mindless zombies towards the village. Who was her family? How do they react to the undead. I need to prepare myself somewhat for a worse case scenario, but how in gods name could I do that in my current state. I need to stop her, they will kill her won¡¯t they? Slowly grabbing her by the shoulder, I told her with as much ease and sincerity as I could offer. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t go back.. They.. they will kill you.¡± ¡°Iar,.. urgg. I.. kn-w.. Roisssie, want.. Danny to.. Do it.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Danny?¡± Knowing full well it was probably her husband.. My heart wrenched, but I sorta understand the desire to die by the one you loved. ¡°Yestsdt..RUn¡± Drool was falling to the forest ground as her unhinged jaw couldn¡¯t quite stay shut, my god.. This is gruesome. I guess I have to see this through, then get help from the villagers with my current state. How would they react though? Would they shoot her on sight? How long would it take for the guard to realize a zombie and injured girl were walking towards them? Questions filled my mind like a large glass of water, looking back at the girl, I realized I had to commit. Those grey sad eyes wept to me, they told me this was her last desire, and god damnit I¡¯m going to fulfill. Thoughts of running or going to Elzare''s cabin were now completely erased from my head. I walked forward confidently next to the zombie that I failed to protect. This is the least I can do, surely. Chapter 18 - Zombies Love We walked oddly both because of my fucked up foot, and well.. Her being a zombie. Soon the outskirts of the familiar village where within sight, nearing closer and closer. "Halt! Don''t move a single fucking muscle. " a slender man holding a crossbow crept behind us screaming out that command in a firm manner. " urnnnnggggfGggghhh" fuck.. Everything was about to go down, and fast too. "Undead! Everyone! There''s two undead near the north parameter!" He spoke into his hand as a magic blue light appeared in it. "we are-" thunk the bolt in the man''s crossbow was aimed at the girl who''s name I didn¡¯t even know.. God dammit I failed her once, I won''t fucking do it again! I jumped in front of the bolt barely in time as it sank into me. For some reason.. It didn''t hurt as bad as I remembered arrows should hurt. Blood splurted out my chest, into my blood stained iron armor, instead of worrying me, or making me panic, each pulse of blood that shot out me.. Calmed me? Made the pain lessen. Thunk! Another bolt landed in my kidney, more blood, more feelings of comfort. Thunk. Thunk Thunk.
Health Below 50% returning stats lost from Equalizer
Thunk Thunk Thunk I was surrounded by a fucking firing squad of crossbow men, shooting and reloading as fast as they could, sweat running down their brows. Every single arrow that went for unnamed zombie girl, was impaled into me. My arms littered with bolts, I truly was a porcupine right now, blood dripping down my arm, blood dripping down my chest, each breath felt like needles in my entire spine.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The bolts started to hurt so little after awhile it felt like a mosquito bite. I coughed up blood, my high was starting to pass through. "Stop! We are human! Ple-" "like hell you are! No villager humans around here who can take these shots." " Rebecca!? Is that you? " the newest member of crossbow squad screamed. " Cease fire! " " urnnnnggggfGggghhh.. Danny.. " Danny ran forward and inspected zombie girl.. Er.. Rebecca.. My vision was turning red, suddenly looking at my arm it was like I was on fire, red flames bursting and building in the air, bubbling upwards in a fierce manner, my hair was standing on its own straight up, dyed red in blood. " Rebecca.. No.. Why.. Why.... God damn it.. I''m sorry." time almost stopped for me, Danny grabbed his sword hesitantly and slashed Rebecca''s head clean off with a loud plop against the ground. " there''s no saving the undead.. Jr didn''t need to see you like this." was solemnly spoke as he turned around looking away Rebecca''s mouth was clamping out on the forest ground moving as it spinned in a circle" I.." Zombie girls mouth moved a little with a long pause between words, clearly trying her best to pronounce it. "Love.. you.. Danny" I don¡¯t know why, this is what she wanted.. But.. he handled it so crude.. My emotions burning like fire. I¡¯m losing myself fast to evil thoughts, before I realized what I was doing, I ripped the closest scouts arm off, and started slapping the shit out of the second closest, breaking his face in with each thundering crack of the now broken wrist of the hand I was holding. Now I basked under the blood of the first man''s limb as it squirted out like a fountain. I heard crossbows load, and used the first man''s one armed body as a shield, picking him up by it with all my force, easily lifting him like a goddamn paper mache. yes.. The blood spilled through to me as the bolts pierced him, I subconsciously licked my lips from the newly splattered blood on me. My fiery hair rose taller and taller. My porcupine body was a deadly weapon, running toward anyone I could find, I simple rushed into them to cause damage, guts hung to me like Christmas tree lights, the bolts embedded in me were the tree. Running into my next prey with full throttle I stuck to her with the bolts protruding out from me. Not letting up I grabbed her throat and bit into it like a wild animal munching on a snack. Ripped her arm off and threw it into another arrow that was bound for me. I don''t remember much else. Everyone was dead. My vision faded. My wounds bleeding profusely.. I was going to die... I overdid it.. Death was smiling in front of me again. " Wooooowwiiie! Didn''t think I see you again so soon." Chapter 19 - Calming Ponderment "I like you kid, you got guts. Lemme tell ya not every Joe and Sue would''ve spit in my face and made me eat my own words as they ate a backpack seeped with fucking potion liquid. You are also.. A sight to see when you are killing. So I''ll give you some advice, eat one of these men''s heart, and you''ll have enough health to run away like a bitch with her tail between her legs. " Fuelled by the energy of the blood around me, I decided to listen to him. Life was fading fast for me, I was bleeding from the start of the battle till the end, blood is oozing out every bolt wound. Not even thinking it was gross, or even wrong, I ripped the heart out of the one armed guy I used as a shield. Suddenly the world turned red. 5.. 4.. 3.. I was about to die. Without thinking, without second guessing I forced the entirety of his heart down my throat and chewed relentlessly. 2.. The world regained color. The bolts inside me oozed out in an unexplainable jelly like way, hitting the forest one after another. I still felt like I was about to die though, barely could hold myself up. The blood on my body started to dry, intestines of the soldiers I just killed slid off me like a belt.. I puked as violently as I could what the fuck was I thinking!? She was a zombie of course they would''ve killed her.. But.. I.. I killed her husband, left their son orphaned. Looking down at the puke pile I saw chunks of a still beating heart, which instantly made me puke again. Just what in God''s name have I done. I need to get out of here, fast. I ran with all my legs could offer to Elzare¡¯s cabin. I was dragging my body through the forest with guts falling off me left and right, blood dripping further down my body, along my torso swirling, down to my legs, and right into the nutrients of the green ground. I tried my best to recollect myself, but I couldn''t, not with all this blood on me, not with the faces of those petrified guards ingrained into my brain like a drill grinding into metal. I''ve never killed a real human before, well not like this, I don''t count Elzare¡¯s past because seeing something on a monitor is completely different from being rained on by their blood, feeling their heartbeats, seeing their eyes. It''s all too real. I murdered 4 men and 1 woman, all because I failed to protect a girl and tried to save an undead husk of her previous self. I started to feel as if history was already repeating itself, maybe I really am an evil person. Heavy tears fell down my face again, how many times have I cried in just these past two days?The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. This isn''t the world I wanted, this isn''t at all what I expected, I wanted to go back. I wanted to be in my apartment eating ramen noodles looking at stupid shit people post on the internet, I wanted a fake world I could vent into, I wanted.. my mother. I wanted to see my mother''s protective eyes again and just cry while she hugged me. I knew it was childish, I knew full well that I couldn''t see her again, and I knew this situation is all on me, my actions, my choices determine what happens from here. The single image of my mother that was floating in my head started slowly fading away. She can''t help me this time. My feet heavy from walking and my body sore from the previous battles wounds, I walked. I walked further and further into the forest looking for the first place I found safety in. The effort I exerted towards shuffling to this place was greeted by reward. The the simple, but elegant log cabin came into my view. That wasn''t the only thing I saw though, sitting on top the roof cabin, dangling his nimble feet, was Elzare, carving away at some piece of wood. "Elzare?" was all I could manage under my breath. The slender halfelf stood up, and right before my eyes vanished in the next instant. Just how fast was a level god only knows what in this world that don''t follow the laws of physics? No natural order holding things back, no simple science to dictate things. Trying to erase such thoughts from my already full mind, I tried to enter the cabin and just get some rest in the bed. Sitting on the front porch was 3 shiny red potions, a new set of armor, albeit a lot more rusty, and what appeared to a note. The note read as follows "You can use this place as you''d like as long as you don''t cause trouble, or wreck the place. I''ve left some more potions in case you needed them, and some old armor. I found pieces of the armor I gave you littered in the forest yesterday, as well as a goblin fucking graveyard. Your handiwork I suppose? Regardless, It doesn''t matter, I''m guessing you won, you survived, you probably leveled up. Keep on going, uhh great progress" I could almost feel the awkwardness of his last sentence. What was Elzare''s deal, why was he helping me, even seeming to care for me? I was desperately trying not to dissect the note too greatly in my current state of wear from the previous battle. I was about to set my hand on the door knob. Suddenly I was turned around and heard a whisper from the direction of what seemed to be everywhere. "At least clean yourself up first for fucks sake!" "There''s a river not far from where you are looking, my lodging, my rules, now hop scotch to it." As the last of his words vanished a bucket and a towel appeared on the ground before me. It finally occurred to me the reality of being covered completely in blood and trying to take a casual nap and cry in his bed. It would probably be best forboth me mentally, and for him out of consideration, to go clean myself up. The river he mentioned entered my vision in no time at all, a peaceful little river hidden just out of sight from most. I started to try to undress myself, but many issues plagued me, the dried blood stuck my armor to me like glue, weighed it down, and make it inconvenient as all hell to even attempt to take off. Feeling dejected, but not lost, I said fuck it and used my sword to rip apart and tear certain problem areas. After a few more minutes of struggling,my armor fell off me with a loud poof to the dusty forest ground, wind eased gently onto my exposed flesh. It was a surreal experience, I almost forgot about the wind, about my own body, or well Rosie''s body.. but.. I am Rosie now. A single moment of perversion and humor to be a girl in an mmo has stuck me with the body of what I thought to be a goddess. Almost getting excited to look at myself, those thoughts quickly died down when I saw my body. Scars were all over my body, thick gashes of discolored skin covered with numerous battle experiences. It looked like have been fighting for years in this body, but I only popped into existence here just yesterday. More tears streaked down my face as I cleaned myself like a robot. Chapter 20 - Guidance I spent hours of cleaning away every drop of blood that was stuck to my skin like a fly on shit. Blood was under my nails, and in my hair clumped up like super glue. I never washed long hair before as Ryu, ya know being a guy an all. Never in my years did I imagine the trouble of washing long golden locks that had blood stuck to their very fiber. It took what seemed to be several hundred splashes of the bucket over my head before I felt even an inkling of being clean. Across my slender arms water flowed over me, down my toned but modest stomach, down my long legs that shined in the sunlight. My hands glided all over me rubbing away the filth of these last few days, if only it worked for clearing your brain out. Actually, it kinda did to be frank. During the hours I used washing and cleaning myself, I had little to do but ponder my life to this point. My brain was like a giant library and some fuck face came along and knocked down every shelf they could see. I was fragile, I am weak right now, maybe not in the physical sense after my last brutal display, but in the mental sense. My stomach churned as I recalled just exactly what I did to Danny and the guards that protected that poor village. They are now defenceless and their families were left with the sight of a massacre right on the front fucking door step. I''m surprised I wasn''t hunted down by someone, an angry family member maybe? A guard I forgot about? I don''t, maybe I even wanted someone to come and kill me. Grasping for air, holding my chest tight, immeasurable pain swamped over me.
You are close to losing hope young paladin, do not tread down this mental battle. Lost Hope will trigger if you do.
Lost hope? What in fucks name was that now? How do I see my abilities!? Damn it. What have I even become anymore? When blood touches my skin I get an overwhelming feeling to kill, power surges through me like some sort of drug, and I don''t know who or what I become. Elzare! The thought suddenly occurred to me that Elzare might know how to check your status screen, or at least maybe he can inspect me and tell me what''s going on. I quickly finished washing myself, dried with a sorta smelly fur towel that Elzare provided, and then donned my new.. well slightly rusty set of armor Elzare also provided for me. Before I knew it my brain auto piloted right to the front door. Looking around to see if Elzare was anywhere to be seen, I let out a sigh as there wasn''t hide nor hare of him. Almost given up I said fuck it.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. "Elzare! If you are around come out please!" in a flash a flimsy elven man stood in front of me. It was pretty funny actually, I set my height as Rosie to be as tall as humans could be, much to my surprise it was 7 foot tall. Elzare was maybe 5 and a half feet tall? I just realized the humorous situation and almost let out a chuckle but caught myself. He was still higher level, and as far as I was concerned, older and wiser, my height meant nothing here, though I highly doubted he would''ve killed me or something for poking fun at his height. "I''m not your butler, what do you want? I''m a busy ma-- err elf ya know? "How do you view your status screen?" "Are you a daft child?" letting out a sigh as if he had enough of my shit, he continued "You simply imagine yourself in the heavens, think, that you are a god almost, inspecting your creation, think of the clouds swaying up high, think of the stars shining in the sky, think of yourself floating there, being inspected by an almost omnipotent force." He stopped thinking to himself "Once you do that, magical blue windows appear as you look at yourself all around you, you can simply look at them to open or expand the information provided" he let out a small laugh "Fuck, now that you mention it, it is pretty bizarre. Now is that all?" "Thank you Elzare, you have helped me more than I thought possible since I''ve come to this world." Looking up after I subconsciously bowed, he was gone! That bastard, ehh, I supposed I was antisocial when I played as him though, I''m shocked he''s helped me to such extent and continues to do as such. Thinking back what that elf man said, I cleared my mind, even sat on the front porch of the cabin in an almost meditative type state, probably looking foolish as fuck. Without a moment''s notice, My vision was flying up high to the sky like a soaring eagle. What I saw floating in the middle of my sight was a blonde beauty, freshly cleaned from the spoils of war, looking at me. Then the most disturbing thing happened, she fucking blinked at me like a flirt! How is my own body.. erh avatar?? Moving around right now? I decided not to question anything anymore. Floating along with her as I inspected her was blue screens.
Crimson Paladin Rosie, Level 5
Crimson.. crimson? Crimson?? What the fuck was a crimson paladin? For the next few hours I studied my stats, abilities, passives, and anything else I could get a hold of.
Name: Rosie Level: 5
Race: Human Title: None
Health: 175/175 Mana: 0/0
Blood: 0 Hope: 40%
Strength: 5 Agility : 5
Intelligence : 5 Wisdom : 5
Charisma: 5 Luck : 5
Vitality : 5 Defence : 0
Chapter 21 - Experimental Differences I''m currently laying on my back thinking things over as best I can with what I found out from my character screen. My head hurt reading all these almost aliments that plagued me called passives. Never in my gaming life have I seen such bizzare things, losing hope kills me? Hope isn''t a stat that can be measured through a monitor, yet here I was staring at my percentage of "Hope" if you can fucking believe it.
-5Hope, total is 35%
My fucking god, what the fuck? Why weren''t these pop ups showing before?
The information that is displayed is based on ones knowledge of the systems in place, you didn''t even know how to show your status screen, why would It bother to show you pop ups of stats you don''t know how to use? You can toggle these settings in your meditive state we call "Inner Status Inspection".Be warned though unique paladin, it isn''t adivsed to turn offHope notifications completely.
Who the fuck are you? I''ve always had a feeling this sytem bullshit could read my mind based on the messages displayed, but that was clearly directed at my exact thoughts, with a clear response! Answer me!
I am you. I am the system, I am the air around you. I dictate all things. I''d advise you not adress me so angrily when I only offered advice.
Or else what!? Huh!? Fuck you big guy, if you are this so called system and all knowing being, then you watched me get raped and didn''t lift a finger! If you are all powerful and have time to chat with me, then surely you could''ve done some shit!
-10 Hope,total is 25%
Barely I was able to let out gasped breaths as an invisable force pushed me onto the ground, cold icy fingers around the back of my neck held me down.
I choose not to intervene, for reasons I care not to explain to a human. My better judgment tells me to try though, this world is real to you, this world is real to me. I want people to experience it without the intervention of a force that can change everything with the snap of a finger. I want you, to become the you that was meant to be. Do not try me again.
"You know, you really shouldn''t suprise me anymore. A clock that is stuck on a number in front of me, what exaclty is even going on with your life?" A cold icy voice spoke hovering about me as I barely managed to creak my neck from the force on my neck. I''d rather choose this guy over a fuck of a "god" that just wants to watch people suffer. I''m not sure why, but I decided to reach out towards the hem of death''s cloak. It''s a wierd feeling, extremely wierd, when a hand made entirely of bone clasps around yours. Not only because the texture and feel of bone, but.. the shocking warm embrace. It felt like my entire body was sinking, in a bath of hot water, just relaxing, my entire lifes worth of suffereing sinking away. This is nice..
Hope criticaa..crit.. ct--
5% hope rem--n--
The world was fading as if someone snuck up behind you and clasped their hands over your eyes. You could still see some light through their fingers, but darkness ensued. "Ahh, It seem''s you''ve finally made your choice." "You shall not have her." Death was flung back with the sounds of bones shattering before he even landed. His jaw hung unhatched from one side as he slid down the trunk of a tree.
I''ve interfered enough for the both of you, forgive my actions. You wouldn''t have embraced death if I wouldn''t have spoke, I just fixed my mistake. As for you "Garry" you shall heal soon and pester other people, her time is not yet.
I came out of my trance barely catching death''s name. "Ahahahah! Fucking Garry!? Seriously?"
+50Hope,total is 51%. Notifications will stop untill below 50 again.
Before I could laugh even harder, his body disapeared, the notifications stopped, and I layed on the ground in front of the cabin still giggling lighty to myself at death''s name. What a fucking interaction, I''ll have to be more careful around little bitch god complex... opps. A snicker appeared over my face.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Hey... nevermind
It was a good feeling knowing you had the edge over someone, it seems whatever he/she it is can''t or doesn''t want to "Interfere" with anything, so I may be tortued and not expect savior, but at the same time he won''t be the one torturing me anytime soon. I shouldn''t try to push my luck too far though, if it has sentience, then it must have emotions. I don''t particulary want to be the one who finally causes some omnipotent being tohave a mental snap. So.. I Apologize. To my suprise no message popped up. I guess the silent approuch is appearing more favorable for it. Now I lay face first in the ground with dirt all over me, contemplating my next course of action. Thinking over my passives and abilites, I decided it was time to experiment. Adjusting myself up to a sitting postion, I grabbed the sword I left leaning against the cabins porch. The sword was pointed directly at my arm as I held it out like a sacrificial lamb. Trying my best to not think about it, I pushed into my arm gently looking away. The darkness of my closed eyes and the resitance I met was kinda scary. Looking back at my should be bleeding arm, was a shattered sword.
The Crimson Paladins nature means that no one with honest intent of never hurting you, can hurt you. Yourself included. You cannont pre-emptive cover yourself in blood for the benefits, nice try though!
"Elzare!!" I need to prove this prick a point. "For fucks sake woman, don''t you know how to leave someone alone?" was uttered behind me. "Cut yourself." "What?? Excuse me?" "Cut yourself and let it drip onto my arm! It''s related to a passive, please?" I used all my new womanly exploits and gave big golden puppy dog eyes. He didn''t reply, or even move, but in the next instant blood was laying on my arm, and Elzare couldn''t be seen in a mile radius. Feelings of saftey swept over me, feelings of being unstoppable crept down my spine, the feeling of wanting more blood across me was cutting into my brain like a lumber mill. Stop! I screamed to myself, actually managing to break the trance as I looked at the blood drip down me. .1 defence per ounce eh? How many ounces did Elzare give to me? Quickly shooting up into the sky for inspection, the stat window of blood read this
Blood : 10 ounces
Defence : 1
That really isn''t a lot of defence though is it? Sweeping back down to earth with a quick motion as the world blured, I looked at my arm again trying to figure out how long blood takes to dry. While I waited I further thought about future tactics and how to approuch survival in this fucked up world. I couldn''t continue like this for long though, my stomach rumbled interupting any thoughts I could have, and letting any I did have escape me. Now I stand walking down what appeared to be freshly disturbed leaves into the forest, looking for those deer like creatures, however, I was much more cautious and crept through the forest, keeping an eye out for goblins or any other menace in this still unfamilar forest. It did pay off rather quickly to my suprise.
Sneak skill aquired! Level 1
Your patience and caution has payed off greatly, this skill can''t be actived in the normal sense of the word, to use the benefits simply "try" to be sneaky. Current benefits are, 96% visibilty while "sneaking" and 5% less sound created from the user.
Moving my hand in front of me to wave at myself it was true. I knew because of my time playing as Elzare of this skill, but in the game you could always see yourself, only a notification on top said you were in sneak mode, yet looking ever so slightly through my hand was a unique experience. Another thought occured to me, was Elzare using this the entire time!? His sneak skill was maxed at 20, I don''t remember the exact stats though, I think they were 20% visibilty and no sound at all. The thought of other people that can becomealmost ghost like creeping up from behindscared the living hell out of me. Also, fucking Elzare, always disappearing, I really want to talk with him, disect his brain, try to explain to him that I made him.. err.. maybe not that last part. I highly doubted Elzare was using sneak though, I really do believe he was that quick with this new transformations of the game. Maybe Agility affected your speed now? If that was the case then very few could run from Elzare. Stuck in thoughts standing in the middle of the forest, great fucking idea. Not! The deer like creature became the hunter instead as its thick antlers penetrated right through my back. Calm down, calm down. Its level is probably low, don''t let the blo..RIP ITS FUCKING THROAT OUT. I couldn''t finish my thoughts, what stood in front of me was the body of a deer smashed into a tree trunk, organs collaped, missing its head. I moved my body with such vigor to twirl around to it face it that its entire body moved with me, slammed against a tree but my force didn''t stop, my anger not quelched, I kept forcing its body against the tree as my chest grimaced in pain at the resistance of the antler inside me. The antler did come out of me though, by cutting right through my side. Not stopping my assualt I grabbed and pulled out the antler that stabbed me, full force as guts oozed out. Using the deers own antler I stabbed into its neck multiple times untill I heard a sickening pop. I finally regained myself after a long pause, letting out troubled breaths.
Critical injury(s) sustained, collapsed lung, broken rib cage in several segments, severe bleeding, minor infection
I popped the cork of a healing potion, slammed it down in one go, and stopped thinking anymore.
Skinning +1, Animal Harvesting +1
It''s dinner time. Chapter 22 - Spooky Scary Devils Real past of Ryu. Hope notifactions are appearing in the dream like state though.
"Hey sweetie, I know the costume I made for you isn''t the best, but please try to have some fun tonight, alright?" my sweet mother said as she looked me up and down like some sorta of failed experiment. We are in California right now about to go out trick or treating, this stuff is bizarre to me, never did anything like this back home. I''m dressed like some sort of devil type thing that my mother tried to replicate with far too much fabric, tape, and much love. We are holed up in a fairly nice hotel room that was paid for by my father. I don''t know my father well, for some reason he always seems so busy, I mean sure I saw him a few times, but he always.. looked at me strange and never made any effort to even say a simple "Hi." Nope, nada. Any interaction with him was when my mother was with me and strung me along to go with him. Something always felt odd about him. I knew it in my 8 year old heart already. He hated me. I don''t know why or how, but I could tell from the ever so slight snicker of a look on his face when he looked at me.
-10 Hope, total is now 41%. Notifications enabled again.
"What was that blue light mommy? I think it''s in english?" "What, honey? Are you okay? The only thing blue are some tiles in the bathroom silly!" She spoke jokingly but held her hand over my head inspecting me. It was warm.. so warm. Mom.. I miss you.
-15 Hope, total is now 26.
Why would I be missing her? She''s right here! I grabbed my mom as tight as I could and clung to her leg. I''m not a baby! but.. for some reason.. water just flew down my face like a broken facuet. "Aww sweetie.. Don''t tell me my design skills are that bad now!" She looked around sheepishly and landed her hand on some tissues that laid out for my makeup, wiping my face with it she spoke. "Devils are supposed to be scary, and Angels strong and loving! Also, don''t you dare ruin my art!" She said teasingly. "I''m sorry Ryu, I thought it would be a neat idea to have a half-devil half-angel costume, you can take it off if you want." a sad poof of air came out my mom''s mouth. "NUuuuu! Lets go mom!" I loved it if it was from her, I grabbed her hand and rushed towards the door. We rushed out the hotel and saw the night filled with orange glows and faces of every monster imaginable walking through the busy streets, bags full of candy. I wasn''t used to America or Halloween, but hot damn did I love free candy. We spent all night getting candy knocking on people''s homes like little solicitors begging for candy. To my surprise though, most people didn''t mind, and happily gave some out, even a few homes had giant candy bars, to me they where the angels as opposed to my right side. Throughout the night I was complimented a lot actually which felt weird to me. "So cool!" Other little kids near me spoke. "Whoaa! Look at his devil side, his eyes are black even! Contacts?" An older trick or treater croaked to others "I don''t know if I should be scared of you, or in love with those cute angelic eyes!" A granny said as she tossed some skittles in my bag. A sense of pride filled me towards my mother from all the compliments. She just let me have them too, never butted in or claimed her handiwork, just stood there was a wide smile.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
+ 5 Hope, total is 31
End of the true past for Ryu
Dark clouds swirled in the air, feelings of hiding crept through my spine like a lone spider of the night on a hunt. Amidst the opening of hell itself in the air burst glowing red hot coals of lava being flung onto the street like giant chunks of hail in a blizzard. Car alarms went off, children screamed, parent ran to pick them up, and doors slammed closed. I was looking for my mother after being lost in the transonic state of the sky. Right in front of me lay her burnt face staring into my soul as an arm was crept towards me. There was no light in her eyes. There was no body left below her waist, only a giant black sphere with lava cracks around it lay on her back where the rest of her body should be.
+ 635 Hope, exceeded capacity, total is 100%
I felt no remorse, no tears crept down my eyes, only one emotion swirled through me. Hatred.
POV change, female trick or treater, age 12. Mixed with some narrative view. It''s hard for me to tell a story in the eyes and vocabulary of a 12 year old.
In the sky, black clouds were moving like in stormy coloring books. I liked to draw swirls to make em look real. It was so pretty! Something I never drew before happened though, orange cracks of almost lightning shot out. Big circles of black and orange fell to the streets, it was raining em. Right before my eyes my father was shattered by it. I didn''t have time to react, or know what to do, why did this happen? People were dying left and right. I just.. buckled my knees and started crying. What looked like a thin tall devil ran by me and swept me from my feet, holding me slouched in one arm. I was screaming, kicking with all my might. "LET ME GO!". The devil looked at me, blackness in his eyes. This was no costume. I could see his breath shoot small mists of lava out as he ran. I started punching and grabbing into his eyes to let me go. It didn''t effect him at all. "Bleu Tiz eh Noa Zall" His slender fingers slowly moved over my face to my lip, I could feel his long black nail scrape into my skin leaving a trail of blood across my cheek. His eyes looked like a galaxy of orange stars floating in blackness. Slowly his hand encased my head. Slowly the world faded. Slowly I spoke. "Daddy.." I closed my eyes, I tried my best to struggle free, but this monster was too strong. I heard loud sounds of splattering, my heart stopped thinking it was from me. Slowly one of my eyes opened. A small kid, half the size of me, was holding the devil''s hand, but. It wasn''t attached to the devil anymore. I fell down onto the street as the devil''s grip was released with his pain. Looking at the kid in shock, he started beating the devil with it''s own hand, blood squirting all over parts of the white costume. Bones were cracking under his strength, blood was oozing from nail induced wounds. A loud screeching sound in a language no one knew was echoed in the chaotic streets. The devil croaked over in death. The boy looked at me, his eyes even scarier than the demon. One black like the night, but didn''t hold orange galaxies in it, no.. It held hatred. The other was white like an angel though, feelings of safety swept over me from it. I was confused. "Than-" He was gone.
POV Change, Ryu
Gasping for air as I shot into a sitting position from the forest ground. I was now sitting near a campfire I don''t remember making, thinking over what just happened. Before I could even start to think, I felt cold blood on my arm, looking down I could see the flimsy arm of a goblin clasped in mine. It''s knuckles broken. Inspecting the camp further I could see at least 10 more goblins that were beyond repair. Arms missing, legs, their fucking head. Blood filled the forest ground like a pool with the capacity of an Abyss. My hair stood straight up, my arms glowing red, my vision tinted ever so slightly the same fucking color.
Level up!
You are now a level 6 Crimson Paladin. This level unlocks a passive to spec into, choose wisely!
Hopeless Fool: You can never die by normal means, only through Lost Hope, but, you feel 10 times the normal amount of pain compared to before. Depending on the sitaution, even the strongest willed people will lose Hope under extreme pain.
Protective Fool: You lose all feelings of pain, but Hope can only reach 20% max at any time. This does affect you mentally, Paladin.
Simple Fool: You choose no passive, not willing to commit to either drastic choice.
Chapter 23 - Choose Wisely My eyes slowly adjusted to the flickering light of the blue screens that appeared before me. What in god''s name? Trying to look over the campfire for further inspection, I realized this screen wasn''t going away.It followed my head, obscured the entirety of my vision, and was a solid color. Most of these windows, even the ones of "Inner Status Inspection" were slightly transparent.With no other option but to click one of these, I gave in and inspected them carefully.
Hopeless Fool: You can never die by normal means, only through Lost Hope, but, you feel 10 times the normal amount of pain compared to before. Depending on the situation, even the strongest willed people will lose Hope under extreme pain.
Protective Fool: You lose all feelings of pain, but Hope can only reach 20% max at any time. This does affect you mentally, Paladin.
Simple Fool: You choose no passive, not willing to commit to either drastic choice.
"Well fuck me" I blurted out. Almost forgeting I could speak as I got lost in the blue screen. Really thinking it over, reading every line of text multiple times, I was at a loss.The idea of never feeling pain again felt good to me personally, I''ve experienced enough of that already, but at the same time.. I don''t want pretty much chronic depression either! I''m already pretty depressed, and feel I would lose hope far too fast. The sound of never dying was pretty good too, sadly, It still means death. There''s no way I could maintain Hope, I fucking struggle as it.The flashes of my first time that was brutally taken from me entered my mind. Sitting there, trying to imagine those thing times 10, I nearly puked. Well I guess the choice is clear then, a bit boring, but hey, I''d rather live an okay life, than one that''s out to get me, one that haunts me to make me lose hope in the world. With no other choice, and the buzz of the bright blue screen bothering me, I answered in my head. "Simple Fool"
This fool isn''t as simple as you might think. The other two options would have lead to your untimely death shortly down the road. You passed the test young paladin, very few Crimson Paladin successors before you have, they also met the same fate I just described. Most strive for the power overs others in battle, the edge to kill, the difference between stats, is the abilities you have and how you use them. Yet you choose to gain nothing. I applaud you. Not many could openly admit to calling themselves a fool. The fool that admits his downfalls though, is the fool that lives another day.
Simple Fool Acquired
Simple Fool has changed into Wise Being
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Wise Being: You have passed a test strictly for Crimson Paladins. +1 Wisdom(A stat that isn''t as useless as you may think despite your lack of manapool). A wise being knows what they can or can''t do. A wise being makes the choice that seems wrong at first, but with the foresight of being the right choice. Time slows to a halt whenever your next choice could lead to death, the result of death must be within 2 days, otherwise it won''t trigger. I won''t tell you what action causes death, but with the time to think now, I hope you can see it.
Fuck me I¡¯m a guinea pig aren¡¯t I? Thinking it over this could be a mental trap too, if time stops then i¡¯m more likely to make a choice I wouldn¡¯t have before.. Though that also means it could save me. For fucks sake. I started scratching into my hair, and only realizing I was spreading blood deeper into my lovely golden hair. The blue screen slowly faded away from my eyes as I finally picked my passive. Behind the fading screen was a girl covered in blood, roughly to be about 12 years old maybe? Crying and holding a teddy bear tightly. ¡°Tha..tha.. Thank you, Angel.. ¡± thank me? For what? It slowly dawned on me as I looked around the camp I found myself woken up at. The goblins captured her, and I stopped it. The devil¡¯s in my dreams, were the goblins that now lay dead on the ground. I remember saving a girl too, but I didn¡¯t think all that was sleep walking/dreaming! What the fuck man. ¡°I¡¯m no aNgel. I don¡¯t eVeN REemember!..WHAT happened.¡± My voice was fluctuating between a scream and speaking, I could see slight terror in her eyes as I spoke. Thinking It was the blood that was causing it, I used Noble Upkeep for the first time. I could feel the cells in my body being cleaned way, I could feel my hair automatically straighten and unclump from all the blood, I could see the pale shiny skin of my arms as the blood seemed to have seeped directly into my skin, I felt a healthy glow about me. The girl stood in front of me, amidst the blood soaked battlefield, her eyes wide. Her terror replaced with admiration, she hopped into my arms. ¡°You are an angel! I just saw yellow lights around you! Thank you thank you..¡± her little eyes wept down her cute chubby cheeks as she spoke. ¡°The. the goblins.. Took my dad a few days ago, I just.. I wanted to save him.. I wanted..¡± She was stuttering as sobs of pure sorrow were wept from the tiny girls mouth. She was pointing at a half stripped man, lying amidst the chaos. Clearing seeing signs of struggle with cuts and bruises all over him. Goblins aren¡¯t the smartest, why would they have taken him? Looking over the scene carefully the answerer slowly popped in my head. Loot, clothes, fabric, and.. For some of these goblins. It looked like a meal, as chunks of this young girl''s dad were missing. This world truly had no limits to its horror, did it? I don¡¯t remember quest¡¯s like this, no quests had cannibalism, no quests or storylines had rape in them, nothing of the sort.. It was always a simple question, go collect 10 bear asses or some shit. There were some good story quests with every few expansions, but never anything so brutal. I need to accept the fact this is no game anymore. I decided to try to brush the girl¡¯s hair with my hand, seeing if I could use Noble Upkeep on her somehow. To my surprise, it worked flawlessly, the color slowly returning to her face, her clothes slowly becoming straightened and the blood simply vanishing.
For using Noble Upkeep for such a noble purpose, pun intended. You have unlocked Noble Keeper you can ease some minor mental fatigue from another person, remove external blood, and straighten all their clothes. Your Noble Upkeep also gains the advantage of straightening your clothes now as well, and you''ve also gainedYellow Mix, a mix of red and yellow can be intertwined when blood gets on you while this is active. The default clean state of this benefit looks similar to when your Red Aura is active in full throttle, the exception being no bubbling of the aura, and your hair hangs loose. This aura gives no benefits, except for admiration and awe from those around you. The path you are taking is good, young paladin, you are on your way to making your initial goals become true, you shall be a righteous protector indue time.
Chapter 24 - Surrogate Mothers Protection. Chapter 24 - Surrogate Mothers Protection.
In between the sad weeps of the girl clung to my chest were sounds of rustleing. Leaves on the forest ground echoed around us, flickers of the camp light showed little gr.. No, they weren¡¯t green. They were grey. Grey eyes closing in on us. I don¡¯t think she noticed, and I¡¯m not sure I want her to. The eyes being showed were numerous, I couldn¡¯t count that high, they stalked us in the night, 10.. 20.. No.. I counted at least 50 pairs of eyes before I gave up. Moving in the darkness, following my movements ever so slightly. Suddenly, time pretty much stopped. It must be Wise Being kicking in. What''s going to happen? From where? Is it a another god forsaken bolt? I finally landed my eyes on a giant fucking spear that was hurled from the darkness. What do I do? Its aimed right for me, moving slowly hovering in the air. What action would be best? It¡¯s aimed for my chest.. Right.. Where the girl is. I tried to dodge but I guess my Agility is too low to move quick enough, even in slow motion . I felt like I was in stone armor, too heavy to wear, I could hardly make any movments. The option must be to drop the girl. Wait.. I¡¯d die. This choice appeared because I will die. No fuck you, I am not throwing this little girl to stop that spear, you can eat my asshole and go straight to the depths of hell. There must be another option! There fucking must be..
It was never my suggestion to throw the girl to block the spear, you managed that on your own. Crude, but it would work.
I had all the time in the world, it was moving slowly, but still had some pace, finally having a thought, that was risky, but maybe worth it. I couldn¡¯t move out the way fast enough, I couldn¡¯t sacrifice the girl either, but I don¡¯t want to die. If I die this girl will too. ¡°Shhss little one¡± was muttered in slow motion as I worked my plan out. Not having any other option, I gently cut along the girls arm with my sword, If I dropped her out the way, I¡¯d die, but If I had as much blood as I could manage, maybe I wouldn¡¯t. Carefully I cut in slow motion along her right arm. I¡¯m positive I¡¯m going to hell. My aura rose, my yellow aura with bright flickers were now mixed with red from the blood, the atmosphere thickened beyond belief, slowly the spear was inching towards me. With what I thought to be enough blood, I dropped the girl from my arms The moment my hands let go of her, time continued, Swoosh the sound of the world continued the spear shot right through my spine while the air behind it lay distorted, slightly above the girl''s head. it was almost as long as my body, blood splurted out in a pool forward onto the poor child. My bones cracked and creaked as I stood my ground. I projectile coughed blood in front of me, I heard the sound of a girl screaming below me. Not yet, my time is not yet. Looking directly in front of me already stood death, with an odd expression. I started pulling the spear off me. Seconds went by as I screamed, my own blood was covering me, filling me with unspeakable thoughts, more leaves rustled as the grey goblins surrounded us. One was huge, had some actual type of armor on, and more spears dangling from his back, these aren¡¯t the normal goblins I know. Their level must be far above mine based on the pain I¡¯m feeling right now. The world was already going black, surely this isn¡¯t all I have.. As my eyes slowly were fading, and death was walking towards me again through all the chaos, I looked down to see.. A sweet little girl, staring up at me, not with hate, but with concern. Her world may end soon, but I could see a twinkle of light in her eyes that said don¡¯t die. Not.. Yet. I¡¯m pulling the spear out faster now as my spine rattled, slowly but surely it came out, spurting more blood all over the child and my legs. Not thinking about anything anymore, I grabbed the now bloodied spear, hurled it at the direction it came from, landing a hit right into the grey goblins stomach. I was almost excited and hopeful.. Until the spear dinged off him as if it was made of paper. Their level is too high. I¡¯m falling over from throwing the spear, my leg gave out, no longer having feeling.
It seems the end really has already taken you. *sigh* I¡¯m sorry my hopes were so high, I want to help you too, but I made it my choice to not intervene anymore. You Rosie, shall be know as the 9th Crimson Paladin, you efforts valliant, and your choices true. The path of a crimson paladin is not an easy one. I shall not forget you. Thank you for the work. Garry, you can take her now, I won¡¯t stop you.
Death approached me with delicate footsteps from the goblins surrounding me. ¡°Sorry badass bitch, looks like it¡¯s real this time.¡± His hand was slowly covering my face.. My eyes falling down like a tired night of not sleeping. *CRACK* I swept his arm off me, with a thundering sound of my bones breaking in my arm as I connect to the solid iron feel of his.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°I said¡­ NOT YET!¡±
Ohh There may be a chance, you should¡¯ve unlocked a passive with that.
Passive Unlocked! Broken Power
Broken Power: For each bone you break from your own attacks(not the attacks of others towards you) you¡¯re stats multiply by .1, your current total is 1.1 . Large sections of bones do not count, instead of adding on for each segment of your spine for example, your spine is counted as one bone. The bones are as follow. Right hand, arm, leg, foot, the left of each of those. Your spine, neck, and skull.
I didn¡¯t give a shit, the world needs to burn before me, these goblins need to lay on the cold dead floor where they FUCKING BELONG. Limping towards the closest one that held a sword confidently with a little buckler of a shield next to him. With all the force I could offer, I slammed my other arm into his gobsmack ugly face, I felt teeth chip into my arm, I felt fragments of bone shift inside the skin of my arm.
Broken Power total is 1.2
I¡¯m guessing that the vitality boost of broken power heals me, as I suddenly felt like I was on like 5% gas left, instead of only 1%. I needed more, more god damnit. I couldn¡¯t do anymore though.. It feels like my legs are going numb, I don¡¯t think I can walk anymore. What if.. I¡¯m currently shoving my face first into where this goblin''s heart should be, ripping off flesh layer after layer as other goblins slowly encircled me. Eventually reaching and ripping apart his rib cage with some shattered teeth. I ate the meal I needed desperately. My bones healed themselves, my spine reconnected, my body back in working condition but low on health. I had to risk it. They were too close to me now. I¡¯m on 1HP.
Broken Power Disabled
Please let this work.. I know it said I can¡¯t hurt myself, but surely I can break my own bones? Maybe it won¡¯t hurt even, and not do any damage, but still inflict what I assumed to be a status of broke bones. Grabbing my left arm with all my might I dislocated my shoulder.
Broken Power Enabled, total is 1.1
My health rose ever so slightly from the vitality boost, still low but it was enough god damnit Now I¡¯m breaking further segments of my arm lower and lower.
Broken Power,total is 1.2
Not stopping at my arm, I started breaking my left foot as quick as I could, I jumped into the air, let it hang out at an odd angle. And THWAK. It broke in several areas.
Broken Power,total is 1.4
At this point I was covered in blood from both the little girls arm, my own, and the goblin''s chest where his beating heart once lay. My stats rose almost by half, that may not be a lot, but its enough for what I¡¯m about to fucking do. I¡¯m limping towards another grey goblin whos zombie like eyes might¡¯ve actually held a little fear in them, without a moment''s notice of my small stat boost, my hand lay in front him. Gauging his eyes out as his sword stabbed into my chest again. My lung collapsed for the second time in this world. ¡°I SAID NOT FUCKING YET¡± Hearing the familiar sound of a bow string being drawn, I grabbed the goblin and pulled him behind me as the familiar arrows thwaked into his now lifeless body. His blood spilling more onto me. I needed every ounce of blood I could get. Before I knew it I was carving up the goblin that I dropped into the floor as I heard more arrows being loaded, more goblins with swords were charging forward too. Carving every ounce of blood I could get from him I smeared all over my body. The next challenger approached, my defense was getting higher and higher as more freshly gained blood soaked onto me. His sword connected with my broken arm, but to my suprise.. His sword broke. Not letting things go to waste I started gouging this fucks eyes out with my good arm. Pulling one out as it still was connected, I cut open his stomach as it spilled onto me.. STRONGER.. MOOREE. Another spear was hurled at me from far away. I couldnt stop it again, but this time there was no slow motion, it hurled into my spine for the second god damn time. I layed flat onto the ground now. I felt that my spine was almost broke, but still intact, not knowing what else to do, I grabbed the shield of the goblin that lay before me.. Forgetting I can¡¯t use shields it flung further away from me. I¡¯m laying against the spear inside me thats holding me up on the dirt as roughly 20 goblins encircle me. My defence is beyond high right now from all the blood seeped into me, my attacks deadly and swift from the power boost. No. I¡¯m still not done yet. I¡¯ve only begun. Grabbing the legs of the goblins as they tried to attack me, I hurled them onto the floor with all my force, once eye to eye I started biting their fucking face off. My teeth are a weapon too you pathetic existence of a goblin. Swords tried to penetrate my skin in numerous areas but were met with that same iron like resistance of the spear thrower. He was probably the highest level here. My body slowly fell to the ground as the spear was still holding me up. Pulling away from the spear, my entire right side broke open in blood.
Health Critical 12HP! Bleeding effects will kill you soon.
Grabbing more and more legs, clinging to the bodies if I could, Biting their throat out, watching daggers do nothing to me anymore, I was a cripple hopping onto them with my only one good arm, hoping from body to body as they ran about like chickens without a head.. To be fair some of them were lacking a head now. The night went on, my defence too high for the lower scouts to hurt me. All through the night, all you could hear was the scream of high pitched goblins, praying to what I can only presume to their god. I couldn¡¯t do it though, there was just too many that took their spot as soon as they died. I¡¯m down to 3HP and the big spear thrower was now in front of me. Holding his last spear, he aimed it at my broken body that lay on the ground now. He pulled back. I tried, I tried.. I don¡¯t wanna cry anymore.. But that poor girl. Creaking my neck towards where I thought she would be, she stood next to a short elf holding the finest crafted dagger I¡¯ve ever saw. ¡°You did good.¡± was spoken as the world faded from me. Chapter 25 - Reasons. The last fleeting images I had as my eyes slowly opened and closed were Elzear throwing his dagger into the air, kicking it right towards me, impaling the spear goblin right in the head. He flashed closer to me with each blink, I felt my wounds being stitched up at break neck speed. Such extreme dexterity and agility. My health is currently at 2.. 1.. and.. it stopped. My god I bet death is croaking over right now! Ha, fuck you Garry. Out the corner of my eye I could see the bone white middle finger of death glaring at me. "Yeah, fuck you too bitch, see you.. well fuck knows when, hell I bet I''ll be back in less than an hour. Ya know, I don''t actually hate you, I feel it would be boring day when I have to collect. Maybe your zombie could kick some ass too though" He smirked and vanished in thin air. My eyes finally fell with a heavy thud, not to be open again for a little while. After dreams of more devils and goblins intertwined my mind, I woke up again gasping for air, cold sweats running down my brow. Looking around I instantly knew I was in the bed I shared my boogers and tears with on that horrible day, sitting in a chair near to me, with a little table that had candles on it, sat Elzare, reading a book! Since when could you read books in this game? Like yea, a skill book.. but like.. You always activate them, my god do I have to read now!? How many more changes have occurred over these past damned years. Glancing over the title it read "Secret Encounters of Marry Sue" oh my god, is he reading some pathetic romance shit? He finally noticed my eyes, and within a flash the book changed "Medical Guide 101, The Basics". You fucking trixie prick you. "Thank you.. umm was the girl alright? Maybe not even just physically.. you saw what I did out there." "Ahahahah! You trying to gloat? Too bad you didn''t see what I did after, I get the point of death across.. just as effectively, but without the mess of whatever it is you do." "She''s fine though as far as I could tell, took her to her mother back in the village which by the way, is looking for you." "I.. I" "Ahh shut your face, I already know. You got some freaky shit class and powers and lost it on those guards, I tried to clear your name, I hope it had some effect." "Uhh what did you tell them?" "That you had a twin, one that is brutal and merciless, a berserker class that loses control, told em maybe one of the guards pissed her off. It''s simple, but the best lies often are." "Elzare.. could I ask what you are doing here? Do you remember anything about an orc clan called the Unorthodox?" I could see a slight flinch in his eye, I might''ve just struck a nerve. "Rosie, what do you know of player characters after they leave for an extended period of time, or maybe delete their character?"The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Having played the game for so long, I thought I would know something like this. I had an obvious guess though. Elzare took the silence to continue his what seemed to be lecture. "When a Player character deletes their account, or is gone for longer than a year. They become an NPC. The NPC that is created retains most personality that was created when the player, well.. Played as them, some exceptions though." "For example, I don''t know the name of the person who played me. I don''t know the thoughts that they had when they controlled me. While the player plays their avatar, their avatars are aware. I was aware the entire time I was controlled, conscious, alive, but separate." "Whoever controlled me, was hardworking, silent, lonely, and brutal. I remember killing that clan, and I didn''t want to do it entirely, but I can''t stop the player. I also can''t lie that afterward we got an awesome weapon, and a lot of experience. I was forged by my Player, but not shaped completely. I''m not sure if this knowledge was fully available to players or not. A big update came out shortly after and it seems all the rules have changed in this world I call home. My player, deleted me, giving me full control. The update was 10 years of living for me, but happend in a flash for all Players, for 10 years I explored my new control and body" "Me and many other NPCs have been like conscious children, viewing the world through the player''s eyes, and then being born with that knowledge when they leave." "What I''d like to ask.. is how you knew about that incident of the orc clan from so long ago?" "What.. umm. would you say if I told you I was the player who created you?" "I''d call you as crazy as you are brutal, there''s an NPC tag right in front of you when inspected. You were either created by the game, or the leftovers of another player." Hmm. I figured as much, I somehow become a full blown bonafide NPC after whatever happened to me. "I''m sorry, I.. maybe I''m losing it." Another familiar red potion was tossed my way, and of course I drank it hastily. "If you go out in the middle of the forest next time, try to bring those with you, ya dunce." "I. uhh.. slept walk out there during that." "Ahahahahah! My god, I''m fucked aren''t I? I''m harboring a brutal potential maniac that sleep walks. If I wasn''t such a higher level than you I''d have second thoughts about going this far. Luckily, I saw what you did for that girl though, My guess is you are struggling at your own pace." "Thank you, Elzare" I bowed again, and to my surprise he still sat there, looking intently at his book. "You are welcome" was muttered silently behind the book. "Hey wait! The fuck? When you said you saw what I did for that girl, how long were you watching!?" He was gone now, his book fell onto the chair he once was sitting in, I really need to understand our difference. I''ve grinded for years as that character, my god, very very few people could get to 99, it was like a treadmill that was getting longer instead of shorter. A never ending uphill battle. His stats are insane, his armor tailored by the best craftsman I could buy from, then enchanted by the second most renowned enchanter. No one really knew who the best was, his work left no marks or signature, but you could tell when his enchantment was on an item just by the quality. To my surprise, it looked like he got a new dagger. I wonder how much better that even was, to be fair I skimped out on a weapon near the end, maybe he realized that and took note. I wonder if he still had that one chieftains Axe too, that weapon was fucking insane. It looked like even after 10 years, he still wore mostly what I last had. For some reason, after such a long delay a window popped up.
Level Up x4
You are now a level 10 Crimson Paladin! Fair word of advice for the ermm.. slow.. You have 2 skill points unallocated, as well as 20 stat points. I''m surprised you lived this long. Again not trying to to intervene but for fucks sake when you see a retarded cat, don''t you just wanna help it?
Chapter 26 - Soothing of the Soul I was drifting off to sleep again as my eyes fell down without restraint. I didn¡¯t have time to redeem myself as not a ¡°retarded cat¡± in the systems fucked up eyes. I just needed rest, even though I drank a potion, and was stitched up.. My.. hmm. I guess my body didn¡¯t hurt, but my very soul did. Flashbacks of the excruciating pain went through me as the spear impaled me, went through my mind like sputtering water being filtered out. I couldn¡¯t remove all that nasty gunk though, it stuck to a filter. I need to metaphorically clean the filter. The filter being my mind. I lay calmly in bed thinking things over as my eyes got heavier and heavier. I went through all that battle yesterday, and I realized I never noticed the pain during it, it was definitely there though, but like a television screen that''s on in the background. It¡¯s there but you don¡¯t really notice it. Now with nothing but time and safely around me, all I could do was focus on the pain, not any pain I have right now.. No.. the pain of these past days. I wasn¡¯t prepared for all this, I was a lonely and sad soul trying to find safety in anything I could. Escaping the world that I knew I had to face eventually. Never did I imagine my way of facing the world, would be by being thrown in a new one as a woman. I wanted my mother desperately, I wanted to cling to her and tell her I¡¯d get a job, any fucking job. Any god damn job in the world is better than breaking your bones to survive, any job is better than being raped in the light of day in a forest, surely it must be. My thoughts were like the aftermath of a tsunami, broken and all over the place. I needed to sort this shit out now before I could go on anymore. My hope level is currently at 22%, and.. Dropping. I feel like I¡¯ve been going in and out of consciousness as I think and sleep things over. There was no rush anymore. Don¡¯t go back out into that scary fucking world yet, enjoy the comfort of this cabin, the comfort of the fur blankets wrapped tightly around me, enjoy the feeling of swaying like a baby craddle.. Wait.. why am I swaying like a baby cradle? All through my sleep I occasionally heard loud noises and movement. Finally jolting awake a bit properly I realized I was being carried! Bed and all! Up stairs in the cabin that weren¡¯t there when I slept. ¡°Ahh, Finally awake eh? You don¡¯t honestly believe I¡¯d sleep on the floor or something now did ya? I need my room back¡±. He spoke nonchalantly as he threw me and the entire bed into a newly built second floor, into an empty room the bed slid across the shining wooden floor diagonally. I was sitting up now moving my arms in circles to balance myself from falling off. ¡°Night night spoiled crazy woman, you can keep the bed, I don¡¯t think there''s even god tier magic that can remove the nasty snot and tears you managed to let get into it.¡± With his last words spoke, a finely crafted door that had lovely designs in it was shut closed, surprisingly gently. The door had an indent all around it, like a rectangle was popped out, and the rectangle read like a book, except instead of letters, there were drawings, beautifully carved drawings of men on horses, men with spears, men holding shields, battles raging on from the left side to the right. The right side of the door¡¯s people had devil horns, and long flicked tails, the left sides group had angel wings, and a halo around their head. He could read me like a fucking book couldn¡¯t he? Both my past with the costume as a half devil angel, and now the reality here, I am always so torn. Maybe I¡¯m bipolar and my mother dressed me appropriately at a young age. A small chuckle escaped my lips, yea right. Calming myself down again from the commotion, I accepted I was still safe here. My guess is Elzare got fed up with my shit, and made me my own fucking room, that was part of a newly built second floor. My god how long did I sleep? Or how fast does he work? I¡¯m guessing his carving and woodworking is something that was a part of his avatar¡¯s intelligence/personality he learned over the years, I¡¯m willing to bet he¡¯s trained it the moment I deleted him. It was stunning work, I truly don¡¯t know how he did it, the floor was the shiniest I ever saw, a window of the small apartment type room held the carvings of a master wrapped around it, the walls were smooth and perfect, completely empty, open to my own desires. Elzare really is too nice to me, not wanting to but not being able to help it anymore, a single, happy tear fell down onto the apparently disgusting fur blankets Elzare talked about. I want to pay him back, I really do, but how could I? He¡¯s level I don¡¯t even know anymore and could probably part the fucking sea with his strength and agility now, with this new world, this reality where game like mechanics are real. What do you give a man that has everything? I honestly don¡¯t think I¡¯d still be alive if not for Elzare, both literally, and mentally. He stopped my death from that rapist, the goblin spear thrower, and my mind from crumbling with his unique conversationalist skills, his genuine actions, and the look in his face that almost told me he was worried. I don¡¯t love him though, by no means, in fact I¡¯m still very much a guy even with this new body, my mind is that of a man. I don¡¯t see him in that light, instead I got a strange feeling.. An odd feeling. A feeling of a father, which is fucked up right? I¡¯ve know him for how long now? My own father could never invoke this feeling in me, yet here I lay, 26 years old, transformed into a woman, being confused as to why I see the character I created, that¡¯s shorter than me, as a father figure. I think I¡¯ve said this before, but this is truly a bizarre world. I think it¡¯s time I got up. Carefully pulling the thick fur blankets off me, and adjusting myself to a sitting position, I realized just how fucked I was last night. The potion I drank healed my wounds, but the work of Elzare was still there, thick stitching, bandages wrapped all around me from every which way, that were soaked red in my own blood. He couldn¡¯t force feed me a potion because of some weird game rules regarding npcs, and I was out cold last night, so this was his solution. I couldn''t believe he stitched me up that quickly, I had no medical skills/healing when I played as Elzare, another thing unique to his avatar I suppose? ¡°You probably want these if you are finally getting up¡± the door flung open and clothes flew towards my face at an incredible speed, hitting my head as it creaked back ever so slight. JESUS MAN, you could kill me with those insane stats, even with just clothes I fucking bet. Now laying in my lap was some simple clothes, cotton maybe? I can¡¯t recall if there''s cotton in this world or not, as I never had any need for it. The pants baggy and beige, the shirt was short sleeved and tight, maybe dyed green? Or maybe the natural material was green. I looked like I was preparing for something military related. ¡°It¡¯s all I have at the time, don¡¯t have such a strange look on your psycho face. Heres some silver too, like I said in my note, I don¡¯t mind you being here, but don¡¯t kill no more villagers, or fuck up my cabin, and we are alright.¡± He gently set silver coins on the floor next to the open door. ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep for once, try not to get yourself killed.¡± He shrugged off with a slight wave behind him as he walked away. The monetary value here was bronze, silver, and gold coins, I knew that much at least from playing the game itself. Some places take different things though, I personally never encountered one that did, so gold and silver was the way to go. Deciding that it was time to try to enjoy life, I closed the door, ripped my bandages off, and slipped on my new clothes, gently slid the money into my very big, but primitive pockets. I wanted to walk around the village, see what they had to offer, wait.. What time is it? Looking out the window my eyes settled on a bright windy day as the leaves fell from the trees. Ahh, sounds like Elzare to me, sleeping at this hour. I walked at a snail''s pace back to the familiar village I first popped into at. Feelings of regret swamped over me with each step.. Did Elzare¡¯s lie work? Will they think I¡¯m the good twin? ¡°Halt! You match the Identification of a wanted criminal! Give me your id card¡± Damn these guys were sneaky, did they already replace the villages watch? Not knowing what to do, and not wanting to cause trouble I raised my hands.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°I don¡¯t have an ID card, sir¡± Addressing him with as much politeness as I could muster. ¡°Alright, keep your hands right there and wait one second¡± He was now speaking into his hand with that same blue glow I saw before. ¡°We need an ID kit brought out here, there''s a person here matching the description of a wanted criminal, but seems to have lost her ID card¡± After a few moments of awkward silence and the breeze of the forest washing over us, a man clad in extremely shiny iron armor, with a long red flowing cape, a helmet held off to his side, and some sort of odd looking device in his other hand, walked towards us. ¡°Captain! I didn¡¯t realize you would bring it yourself¡± the guard said as he kneeled. ¡°After the last incident, I¡¯m taking every precaution. Hello Ma¡¯am. You are either the crazy bitch who killed my men not too long ago returning to the crime, the same crazy bitch who stumped, in my opinion a great cleric as you laid unconscious, or her sister, if it¡¯s the first case I promise your head on a goddamn pike soon, if it¡¯s the second, you better pray to all your gods that I¡¯m a good enough man to not hold grudges based on a family''s actions.¡± With a prick of my hand, in less than a millisecond he stood in front of me, sweat rolled down my brows. Wait.. if he was that fast what took him so fucking long? Almost letting out a chuckle, but maintaining eye contact, I had to trust Elzare. ¡°My mistake Miss Rosalin, it seems you are the criminals sister based on our description from a trusted informant, if you ever see her though, tell her she¡¯s not welcome here, hide as far as you can like a fucking insect, because the moment I find her, she¡¯s not getting the privilege of a jail cell.¡± He spat on the ground. Did Elzare manage some fucking magic, how did my ID spit out Rosalin? It occurred to me they would¡¯ve made an ID for me as I was recovering in the village. ¡°Welcome to our little village Rosalin, enjoy your stay, and might I suggest you find a class soon, it¡¯s not the brightest idea to be level 10 without a class. Also, the village is small but offers many commodities, we are a close knit group, so I¡¯m sure you can understand our turmoil after what your sister did, apologizes for the bluntness here, you may go now. Leoric! Return to patrol, good job.¡± Slowly escaping the feeling of impending death, I walked towards what seemed to be the village square. That captain of the guards was strong, I could see it. I could feel it the moment he disappeared only to be seen in front of me, but he seemed pretty noble too, I just need to keep myself in check. I wanted to know why someone so strong, had people under him who were level 1 when I slaughtered them? Did I kill the noob watch? Shouldn¡¯t they have had a veteran with them? Also thinking about it, why would it say my class was nothing? Just how secret is a Crimson Paladin? I don¡¯t know, or really carry anymore, I just wanted to maybe buy some things. I was walking down the village path and heard a loud clanging noise as sparks flew into the open dirt road. Quick succession of loud metal tings, then the misty sound of hot lava cooling, more orange mist flew into the path, with sparks appearing like fireworks. Creeping my head around the corner, I saw a man hammering away at the red hot shape of a sword. Ahh, the towns Blacksmith, eh? ¡°Eh, Lassie? Admiring my work? Want to see my tools.. Or well.. My other tool! Ha¡± Of fucking course a dwarf was the one working the blade, why would it be anything less? Than again I knew most peaceful races were actually intertwined to great lengths, elfs could be with humans, humans with dwarfs, so on and so forth, so I guess it wasn¡¯t that uncommon, plus dwarfs start with innate crafting bonuses. ¡°Hey fuc-¡± I was about to finally reply ¡°Ahha! Don¡¯t worry lass, it¡¯s not the size that counts, it¡¯s how you use it! The Dwarf moto when it comes to love ma- ermm.. Blacksmithing! Yeah¡± ¡°Names Bronze Beard, I know, be amazed, let it simmer in just how great of fine dwarfsman crafter name that be, sorry for my jokes, but surely you understand how hot it is in here? Is there something wrong with wanting to share some hotness?¡± He stupidly chucked to himself as he.. Could only be described as humping the air! What a scene, he was actually kind of funny, but I did not like how blatant he was, I won¡¯t be having sex again for a very long time, let alone with some dwarf around the corner because a few jokes. ¡°As I said, Fuc-¡± ¡°Alright, alright lassie, I went too far¡± A fairly nice sword was tossed into the ground next to me. ¡°Free of charge, I¡¯ll try to keep my tools where they belong in the future, just gotta understand, a hot lass like you don¡¯t turn the corner of my shop any ole day. I hope I didn¡¯t scare away a potential customer.¡± Hmm, maybe I could grow to like this fellow, just had the courage to chase after what he wanted, and I sorta understand after spending so long making this character. ¡°I¡¯ll forgive you if you answer two questions with what I want to hear, one, how much does this sword cost? And two, would you ever take an apprentice under you?¡± I could see his cheeks getting red. ¡°I would in a dwarfs heartbeat! I¡¯d imagine it might be faster, blood don¡¯t have to travel very far down me short limbs! I can imagine it now, getting all hot in the forge.. Need the sweat wiped.. Having to--.. I¡¯m sorry¡± ¡°I never said the apprentice would be me, dear Mr Dwarf¡± I used my womanly charm to tease. I know this is fucked up, like I¡¯m a drag queen or something, but my god this was fun. ¡°That there sword cost. Hmm.. Maybe 50 bronze coins?¡± He stuttered in reply catching himself. Chucking a silver coin at him, as he caught it gracefully. Truly a craftsman¡¯s Dexterity. I told him I¡¯d be back tomorrow to learn. I took the sword from the ground as I walked away. I heard him mutter to himself in the distance. ¡°My god, I think I need to cool my sword off in the coldest bucket of water from the highest reaches of Kalthra Mountains! I must prepare.¡± I wonder if they had some sort of bath type thing in this place. Rounding another corner, I bumped into a familiar face. ¡°Joseph! I¡¯m glad to see you are alright¡± ¡°My god, you too! Was worried I¡¯d need to get another shovel after I heard what happened at the north parameter.. Is it true though, what you did?¡± He was a good man too, I need to pay him and his son back, I¡¯m not sure how much money goes around in this place, that sword looked really nice actually for only 50 bronze, pulling at 5 silver coins I handed it to him. I had 4 coins left now. ¡°Whoa whoa now, do you shit out gold in you private times? I can¡¯t possibl-¡± I was already walking away, he¡¯s too nice. ¡°At least don¡¯t make it be known you have that kind of money, this village is nice, but by no means the safest, tread carefully¡± he whispered to me catching up. ¡°And.. thank you¡± Now with 4 coins left, I shopped around the village at my own leisure, I decided to buy a crude sewing kit, some fabric, a second set of clothes, and even lifted up a dresser from a primitive furniture shop, it was surprisingly light.. But I was struggling still. Setting it down, I decided to spend 5 points in strength real quick, sitting in the dirt floor as the world soared above me, quickly spending the points I was up to 10 Strength, with 15 points remaining. I figured strength will be important anyway. Picking the dresser back up felt like childs play now, I lugged it around my shoulder as the shelfs slowly almost fell out. ¡°Ma¡¯am! Are you positive you don¡¯t need help?¡± ¡°Yup, thank you though.¡± I continued my stroll through the village with a large dresser slung over my shoulder, I got many looks and glances. I was heading back towards the cabin, as I got more and more looks. Soon out of the sight of the villagers, I started to understand Elzare¡¯s need to have a remote cabin all the way out this way. I opened the door slowly as I set the dresser on the front porch, trying not to wake Elzare, picking the dresser back up, and squeezing through the door, with little to no sounds, I was halfway there.. Almost in slow motion, I saw a drawer fall out about to make a loud noise. I couldn¡¯t stop it. In the next moment, a cold dagger lay hovering over my throat, as the shape of Elzare disappeared from his bed. ¡°Rosie.. I¡¯m sorry¡± His hand lowered. ¡°No.. uhh.. I¡¯m sorry too, I should¡¯ve been more careful, I didn¡¯t mean to wake you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it¡± He shrugged off heading back to his bed, but before I knew it, the weight on my shoulder lifted, the drawer gone, my upstairs door slung open. Looking back at Elzare he was in his bed. Running upstairs to see his magic, lay the perfect dresser I just bought, all drawers closed neatly, sitting near my East wall, the door opened exactly enough to not block any of the drawers. I set my remaining 2 silver on top it, the sewing kit, my second set of clothes and a few sheets of fabric, I need a bath man. I left the comfort of this cabin, leaving into the scary world again, grabbing a bucket and another fur towel, I went off to the river I first used. Nothing happened though, just the lovely sounds of birds chirping as I cleaned myself in no time at all. I was already on my way back, heading straight up the stairs, straight to my room, straight into the bed. Relaxation came to me, a sort of peace of mind, slowly was starting to form. This world is brutal, I need to take it one step at a time, because it has the potential to be so much more. My eyes closed again, blackness embraced me in the comfort of something I could call my own.
Hope, Total is 79
Story Changes 1 - An older world and a blanket goddess. IMPORTANT NOTICE as of 11/1/16 I¡¯ve changed, edited, added on, and removed some things from every chapter up to this point. Every chapter had the goal of having at least 1000 words I planned higher, but was met with many writers blocks and challenges, some failed to meet even 1000 to my disappointment, most did however, and some went even higher. I HIGHLY highly recommend a re-read through to this point from the beginning, but if you can¡¯t be asked, I shall try my best to give a summary. Please, please let me know if something doesnt make sense, or not fit right, I''ve been up all morning working hard on whats there in hope to both, gain my current readers support even further, and hook more people who might click on it, maybe the old versions of the chapters weren''tenough to keep em hooked, but these might. Let me know your thoughts on the changes, if they are better, worse, ect. That being said, I''d suggest reading these summaries if you also re read everything, a fresh reminder of things to come, what is, and isn''t anymore.
Chapter 1 Robert Rundal is CEO of the company that made the game. Ryu isn¡¯t religious, the closest he comes in fact, is to worshiping his blankets.
Chapter 2 Small dream segment about Rosie at the end of Chapter 2, nothing new to be worried about, it was foreshadowing in a sense, so if you read up to this point already, you should be fine.
Chapter 3 No changes worth noting for the story to this point.
Chapter 4. Decaying life 2.2 was changed a bit. If you completely loot someone, they fade away slowly instead of becoming undead. Much like if you burned them, or harvested/skinned their meat. ¡°If you truly leave the bodies for too long, they do in fact become undead and continue as if life almost didn''t change, just stupider, slower, and an uncertain doubt in your mind if that¡¯s really the person you know.¡±
Chapter 5 I¡¯d recommend reading this one again completely, you can safely skip the first half that you are familiar with. This chapter does NOT meet the 1000 word standard I set myself for. I was struggling, I apologize. It¡¯s word count was 768, I don¡¯t even remember what it was at before, needless to say that is an embarrassment and I am sorry.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Chapter 6 Would recommend trying to find the old end and continuing, nothing was changed, only added on. WARNING slight sexual content ahead.
Chapter 7 The timeframe that Ryu was knocked out changed from a few days, to 10 years in ¡°The New Era¡± the timeframe of earth has not changed, was still only a few days. This effects the next chapters heavily and would recommend a re read through. This change affects every chapter up to this point in some way shape or form.
Chapter 8 The young boy, is now a young man. This change wasn''t in effect a bit ago, forgot to copy and paste the rewritten chapter. It is now.
Chapter 9 A hard chapter to work with, at the end a company Monny announced a vr device, the mother is contemplating joining the trend, as she needs to escape from the crushing reality of her dead son. This is another chapter I failed my 1000 words on, just so tough.
Chapter 10 The rape scene was more brutal, I felt it was needed, just to get the point across that this was traumatic, this was the start of her change.
Chapter 11 Elzare is much older, refined, swift, smarter, and.. Fatherly. He is now a half elf who was already pretty old for all intensive purposes, because I wanted him to be able to age faster, this change was reflected in most chapters I think, if I missed any, please please please let me know. Uhh.. I sorta sped along and forgot most things to be honest, I¡¯m feeling pretty lazy. I¡¯ll continue from where I¡¯m at. I really do suggest a full read through again though, I hope I won¡¯t disappoint.
Chapter 14 The combat in this one was added on to a bit, nothing new really besides that.
Chapter 15 I fixed mostly just grammar errors, I feel this chapter held it own in my strive to get better.
Chapter 16 Same as before, the 1000 word goal I set was still met, just fixed grammar.
Chapter 17-18 I barely changed much, sorta just padded them out to be a better story. Some of these chapters were so short and I struggled to fill them. I hope you guys can understand how hard it is to come back at something you wrote, and to expand on it. For me it¡¯s like fleeting thoughts I can¡¯t quite connect to. Think of it like this. Instead of painting a completely new picture, you can repurpose an old one, one that''s kinda ugly, you could either burn it, throw it away, grab a new sheet, or, you can try to fix it. Add some more shading here, erase the ugly ear, redraw it, ect. It feels almost like more work than starting fresh, and is very intimidating. That being said though! I do think I managed something sorta nice, and longer than before. Regardless I¡¯d like to apologize for not reaching the 1000 word count, but very close.
Chapter 19. Is now a part of chapter 20, or rather, chapter 20 is now a part of 19, ya feel me? lol So the total number of chapters has decreased, and I lost some views, but ehh. Some things do actually need to deleted. This chapter, believe it or not, was only 318 words, I couldn¡¯t repair it, it pretty much just added on to 20.
The rest I really enjoyed the later chapters, and felt they needed very minor adjustments, most the changes were to reflect Elzares age.
Chapter 27 - Another Perspective *For those unaware of my drastic changes or skipped the summaries. Rosie''s/Ryu religion/goddess is that of a blanket. Elzare has aged 10 years because the time Rosie was unconscious in Joseph''s house was changed to that long. These are the biggest noteworthy changes to be able to read this, I suggest the summary I managed in the important notice, or re reading up to this point if you have the free time. Thank youfor the continued support, and bearing with me through my crazy mind/changes as I try to make a decent book. * The sound of the bird¡¯s singing a lovely morning tune eventually managed to make me rise from my deep comfy slumber. A small breeze from the summertime forest rattled my window ever so slightly interrupting the beautiful melody the birds had. Rays of the big yellow guy in the sky crept under my eyelids trying to force them opened. It seems that it''s morning out, ahh it¡¯s time to play games. Gently tugging my goddess off me, I noticed something.. She¡¯s.. Not polyester anymore, no, she¡¯s fuzzy fur that gives me slight itches in the night. It gradually hit me like a train wreck you see coming, but can¡¯t stop the breaks in time. I¡¯m Rosie now, not Ryu. This isn¡¯t my apartment filled with the beautiful smell of ramen, an all you can grab party of cancer sticks to ease the pain deep in my soul, fake worlds I can go into to escape and forget the crushing reality of my life. No.. this is Rosie now. This is the beautiful blonde haired girl who¡¯s been confronted by death by far too many time¡¯s, A poor girl who¡¯s been raped in the forest, a poor girl who¡¯s lost in this world with no direction. Trying my best with all my remaining will, I attempted to get the good sides out now. First, would be Elzare, I love my mother with all my heart, but being in a brutal almost medieval style world where the strong win, and the weak lose. I am thankful for somewhat of a father figure that¡¯s a complete badass and could fuck some shit up at the drop of the hat. The memory from yesterday occurred to me, when I dropped a dresser drawer. It wasn¡¯t even a goddamn second before I felt the cold emotionless blade touch my neck, the breath of Elzare about to take my life behind me. In fact, I don¡¯t think it was the drawer hitting the floor that woke him, I think it was the drawer sliding out about to fall. For all intensive purposes, I chose now to think of this half elf as a father figure, I simply couldn¡¯t hold it anymore. He¡¯s saved my life twice, and took me into his cabin home despite his loner nature, fed me, stitched me up, bandaged me, and somehow managed to put me into a fucking cast before. Another pathetic watery drop fell into my new furry goddess. I silently apologized to her, the amount of tears and boogers I¡¯ve probably let cover it was ridiculous. A shiver went up my spine as I thought about how disgusting it was to sleep in that. How do you wash clothes again? I never even properly managed that in my past life, even with machines to do most the fucking work for you.. Maybe I should ask Elzare. I¡¯m currently creeping down the stairs to try to make as little noise as possible, didn¡¯t want a repeat of yesterday now, did I. Even went as far as using my sneak skill that I aquired a bit ago. ¡°Ahahahah! you think you can get the drop on me that easily? I¡¯ve seen goblins sneakier than that!¡± was spoken behind me. Hot damn, I¡¯m really glad this guy was on my side. I¡¯m starting to think of him no longer as Elzare either, this avatar, no, this person, is clearly different. 10 years have managed to influence his life. That is a long fucking time for someone of an adult conscious and brain, surely it changed him. ¡°No! I just didn¡¯t want a cold dagger on my throat again!¡± I meant to sound teasing, or funny, but it came out in a slight scream. ¡°I¡¯m.. I.. I¡¯m uuhh.. Sorry about that.¡± Not wanting to let him think any further or wallow.. I couldn¡¯t help it. My next actions shocked me, I turned around and hugged him, the fact he was a few stairs higher almost evened out our height. ¡°I didn¡¯t er. Want to scream... Thank you.. For all you¡¯ve done for me since I¡¯ve got here.. It was my fault for making so much noise, and you probably aren¡¯t used to someone living all the way out here with you anyway.¡± I tried to sound mocking, or maybe let out a light joke, but instead this half elf I thought to be the strongest in the world, one that I lit a fire under his ass in all my years leveling, was crying. His arms were tightly wrapped around me, not a weak or flimsy hold that showed he was reserved or going to disappear, a hold that told me he was a loner.. But didn¡¯t want to be. I honestly didn¡¯t know what to do, it¡¯s a strange sight to see such a strong person, weep such genuine tears. He must¡¯ve been through some serious shit in those 10 years. Not knowing what to do, I decided to, well, do nothing in fact. Sometimes that might be the best option. It was an extremely warm hug, even though he was crying, it filled my soul with warmth like a crackling bon-fire that showed no signs of stopping. I think we both honestly needed some genuine human interaction, a simple hug to show that we aren¡¯t alone in this world. I gently pat his strong elven back, wait isn¡¯t he supposed to be my father figure in my mind?! Letting such thoughts simmer down, I¡¯m not used to thinking of someone as a father, but surely even father¡¯s cry sometimes. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s enough, sorry about that¡± The elf man a few stairs above me said. I didn¡¯t really want to let my arms go yet, but I decided he still had his pride or something. ¡°Thank¡¯s for that, girl. I think my soul needed that. I¡¯ll be back later, try not to die" He said looking down, almost with regret. ¡°Wait, how important is whatever you have to do?¡± ¡°Huh?? Well seems like someone''s nose has been getting bigger? Finally curious about the person whose house you¡¯ve been sleeping in!?¡± He let out a sorta chuckle. ¡°Believe it or not, I actually watch over this village, it holds a uh.. special place to my heart, there¡¯s been some strange things occurring all over the world lately in terms of the undead. I believe you saw the effects of that not too long ago. Those goblin undead weren¡¯t one¡¯s that simply croaked over and started wondering like wild fucking animals, no, they were commanded to do something, they had a pack mentality, they were grouped far too high in numbers, and worst of all, their level was higher than when they were alive. Those goblins aren¡¯t the only species that have had this behavior either, something''s been going very wrong for the past 10 years, and only getting worse. If they can get a higher level, then what would happen to a monster at max level?¡± The pure thought of a something going beyond max level, horrified me, what even is max level anymore since 10 years has fucking passed? ¡°You asked me the other day how long I was watching your battle protecting that little girl.¡± I could see some discomfort on his face. ¡°I was fighting during that entire time, and actually being pushed back, something in the shadow¡¯s of the forest were throwing projectiles towards you, and the little girl.¡± ¡°Now don¡¯t get me wrong, normally something like that isn¡¯t a problem for someone of my caliber¡± he boasted pridefully. ¡°But there must¡¯ve been thousands.. I couldn¡¯t pinpoint the location they came from either, it was as if the shadows themselves were throwing dark blades that evaporated into my weapon at the touch. I had to spend every ounce of my energy blocking those blades from you and that girl, I honestly couldn¡¯t come in to help anymore than that, otherwise a blade goes through your skull, or the child''s, the moment I lost concentration¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°But something interesting was happening. Each goblin you killed, the frequency of the blades lessened, once it was to a manageable state uhhm.. Maybe it¡¯s warrior''s pride or some fucked up thing ingrained in me, I could¡¯ve helped, but I wanted to see if you could win the battle before you, and the moment I realized you were about to die, I jumped in.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Rosie¡± It was a lot to digest. I mean, I realized those goblins weren¡¯t normal my any means, he¡¯s probably not lying either, I wouldn¡¯t have noticed dark blades that even Elzare had trouble keeping up with, nor would I notice them if they just dissipated on his dagger, probably silently. There was also the fact I was pumped up, hyped on blood, murdering with broken bones. I don¡¯t think your senses are at their highest in that kind of state. I almost understood the warrior''s pride thing, wanting me to take my own battles, and he did prevent me from dying, but there was still a small ounce of anger in me. I¡¯ll have nightmares of that battle for years to come probably. Before I could reply, he continued. ¡°I am Elzare, Keeper of the Village of Andril. The great elders of this continent decided all lower level areas needed a keeper. Someone of the highest level to watch over them and keep them from harm. This was decided 8 years ago, after another starting village was slaughtered to the bone, there was no corpses left, just blood splatters, debris, and the stench of death lingering in the air. I volunteered for this village of my own accord. That is what I do, Rosie.¡± That was pretty deep, and he sounded cool almost. I guess I can find it in my heart to forgive him. Wait.. ¡°If you are this supposive keeper.. Were you watching as I killed those guards?¡± I didn¡¯t want to hear his answer. Even if he could have stopped me, it was still my own actions.. Don¡¯t hold it against him, he¡¯s done so much. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why. I.." ¡°I may be a keeper, but that does not mean I¡¯m perfect. The thought of slitting your throat the moment you ripped Scott¡¯s arm off, occurred to me, but then the memories of finding you half naked on the forest ground with an almost broke neck flashed before my eyes¡± ¡°I may be fast, Rosie, but even I can be slowed by a mental struggle, before I could react, or even properly stop you, everyone was already dead. I was then following you, trying to figure out what to do, I almost settled on killing you, but then that shit with the grey goblins happened, and you did something I could accept. You protected a child. I¡¯m not saying the lives of those guards equated to one child, but I¡¯m saying that my analysis of you was no longer that of bad disposition. I also realized how poorly Danny handled killing Rebeca, however I can not blame the man, a loved one was a zombie before him, that¡¯s a tough fucking break. You currently aren¡¯t on my kill list Rosie, Especially after that genuine hug, you are instead on my very newly added ¡°Probably good, but confused/freaking shit going on with her class, watch carefully¡± list. ¡°Now, why do you ask if what I had to do is important? Believe it or not, I already am scouting the surrounding forest.¡± Right in front of me stood, not one, but two Elzares. Both of them did a curt bow at the same time. ¡°Benefits of the highest level, compliments of my boring life of experience grinding.¡± ¡°I uhh.. Well.. wanted to know how to do laundry.¡± Both Elizares started laughing with perhaps a bit too much vigor. ¡°How old are you Rosie?¡± I didn¡¯t want to answer.. I didn¡¯t.. But I had to be honest. ¡°26¡± I spoke sheepishly. His laugh stifled, the look of some minor concern could be seen in the sparkle of his eye. ¡°Come with me¡± ¡°You by no means are a mage, even I can understand that, but the benefits of having Mana are worth it, and learning a spell that gathers the evaporation in the air around you, luckily doesn¡¯t need a spellcaster specific class.¡± He set his elven palm slightly above my chest. Tempted to smack his hand away, I shut those thoughts down and let him continue with my trust. A sharp pain entered me, and grew from the base of my chest.
External Mana has opened your inactive gates, total mana is now 50/50.
¡°Now read this¡± A book was tossed, hitting me square in the head as I fell backward. Not wanting to whine, because he¡¯s helping me. I prayed to my blanket goddess that I could just like consume the book or something. Trying to imagine the book becoming part of my knowledge as I held it close to my chest actually worked to my surprise. The book sinked into my chest, and thoughts, theories, and understanding of basic mana manipulation entered my mind, afterwards understanding of the basic science of the water cycle was regained in my mind, reinforced to the best of my knowledge. Holding my hand out, moving what felt almost like blood coursing through my veins, a small trickle of water came out the palm of my hand. Elzare stood there with his mouth wide open. ¡°You can use book¡¯s as if they were from before the update!? That book was written after the update, impossible..¡± ¡°What did you do exactly?¡± ¡°I umm.. Imagined it becoming part of my knowledge, a part of my brain or something and held it close.¡± ¡°That no longer works, on any books at all! Even the ones before the update, instead you have to study the books frivolously, engrain concepts into your head, keep at it until the spell works, or the knowledge fully gained. You¡¯ve just done something very very strange, Rosie. I expected to toss that book at you, and come back in a few days, maybe even weeks!¡± ¡°I think I¡¯m done questioning you anymore, or anything for that fact, just.. Yeah, use the water from the air, soak whatever it is your cleaning with a bit of soap for a little, preferably overnight in a bucket or some sort of container, I don¡¯t really give fuck, once you think they have soaked long enough, grab em and slap em on this.¡± Grabbing what I surprisingly knew as a washboard, and bar of some type of soap out nowhere, he set them in front of me. ¡°Use that new water spout on your hand, rub some soap on the clothes or whatever you are washing, and drag the clothes across this for a bit, once all the soap is gone, then you-¡± Pointing near the back of the cabin, with a slight sway of the wind I could see a laundry line. ¡°Put whatever it is on there, let it dry, and bam, you no longer have boogers or smell like a week dead squirrel.¡± ¡°Do I really smell that bad? I just washed in the river before I slept!¡± ¡°There¡¯s only so much just river water can do, especially for someone who apparently bathes in the blood of their enemies. It¡¯s your fault for not asking about soap! Just how daft are you. Now imagine this poor old man, as he had to hug and comfort a smelly squirrel not too long ago.¡± I had no retort, he was right in all accounts. Deciding my goddess needed cleaning, I went inside and grabbed my blankets, tossed them in the biggest bucket Elzare had, and then tried to use my water ability, a slight trickle fell into the bucket. This might take awhile. After what felt like 2 minutes, the trickle stopped, and a small pain came over my head. ¡°Good try, wouldn¡¯t have suggested the first thing you try to clean is a giant fucking Erkinfur blanket, you are probably out of mana, here.¡± Elzare''s hand was held over the bucket, and right before my eyes, a fucking tsunami crept out onto the blankets, blasting it with the force of a firehorse. That alone probably just killed every single booger I could produce for several years. Just how fucking strong are you? ¡°Thank you.. Again Elzare.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, now I¡¯m going to go be a keeper and shit, enjoy the day squirrel.¡± He left, vanished again without a sight. Man I just don¡¯t know about that guy. He apparently almost killed me for my rampage at the north perimeter of the village, I had a feeling something was up, they were all noobs, he was supposed to be looking out for them.. A sad feeling crept in my heart that he might feel responsible for their deaths. Never again, I need to control myself, immerse myself in this lovely feeling of independence. I can do anything that I want, I can wash my goddess now! Leaving my goddess to soak in the giant bucket, I grabbed the second largest bucket, crept around to the back, grabbed some soap, and decided to wash myself. Standing in the bucket I rubbed soap all across my body, gently, and then occasionally used my new water as my mana slowly returned. Gently washing away the soap with my palm. He might¡¯ve been right about the smell, realizing I¡¯m supposed to not smell like dead squirrel, being used to guts, and now smelling soap as it washes over me, felt like pure bliss. I¡¯m going to clean up, let my goddess soak, and prepare for my ¡°Date¡± with a certain dwarf here soon. Chapter 28 - Preparation The feeling of nice clean skin after a productive shower/cleaning type deal was an amazing feeling, no one could argue with that. Now I¡¯d like you to try to imagine that feeling, after having been through some pretty fucked up battles, blood, dirt, god know¡¯s what probably clung to my skin eating away at me. After this cleaning, I felt like a million bronze. Chuckling to myself at my stupidly easy joke, I checked over to make sure my precious goddess was alright, ohh.. She¡¯s very wet. *Cough* Alright alright, I¡¯ll move on. Before I leave to meet Bronzebeard, I¡¯d like to try to spend my remaining stat points, and 2 skill points. The skill points intrigued me more though, sitting next to the giant bucket, I thought about ¡°Inspecting¡± my creation as Elzare put it, soon the familiar whoosh of my vision shooting up occurred. There stood Rosie, completely naked, oh my god I forgot to put on clothes, I¡¯m stupidly sitting on the damn dirt right now aren¡¯t I? More to the point though.. This was kinda.. Naughty. I could see her huge breasts cling tightly to her skin. It took every ounce of willpower to not look further down, and instead looked for those familiar windows about my skills. Finally stumbling upon them, I closely inspected. It looks like I can gain a few new skills, or level up my old ones, like Cornered Rat which, actually didn¡¯t sound like a bad idea. Let''s look at the new ones first.
Passive: Blood Ties Don¡¯t End
For every truly loved person to you, that dies near you, gain 10% of all their stats. You can not have any part in their death, directly or otherwise, and you must truly love them from the bottom of your heart. You instantly lose 50 hope when this ability is triggered, there is no safety measure, you will die if you don¡¯t have enough hope.
Well that¡¯s just fucking dandy, what a way to brighten the day, I¡¯m trying to calm down here, look forward man, I don¡¯t ever want to have this skill.
Passive: Prey¡¯s Armor
Since you can no longer equip anything that is considered ¡°Heavy¡± armor by normal means, this skill allows you to bypass that exception, as long as the material used to create the armor is from something you¡¯ve killed. The material gained must be used within the next 7 days.
Active: Crimson Boot. 20 Ounces of Blood, 10 second cooldown
Paladin¡¯s boot, becomes Crimson Boot. Consume 20 ounces of blood, and let go a fierce glowing red kick, the tip of your toes emit a strong aura that hardens into something similar to the tip of a sword.
Active: Misdirection. Free. 1 minute cooldown
Let out a primal scream, all things that hear this scream, target you now utilizing fierce mind control. You are their worst nightmare that must be killed right now. This ability only affects those you consider to be an enemy. The level of your voice as you scream effects the range, it cannot become a whisper though, it simply won¡¯t activate.
Thinking hard about the choices that sit in front of me, I finally decided to spec into Misdirection and Prey¡¯s Armor. I chose those two because I¡¯m still going to try my damndest to be a noble and protective person, I was already looking up to Elzare, if I can induce that feeling into others from me, then just maybe I can redeem my past life, my past actions, not just killing those orcs, but failing my mother. This was my duty now, and I want to pass with 5 stars. I chose the armor thing because I was actually going to go to Bronzebeard and ask for the sturdiest lightweight armor, not considering mobility, maybe we could¡¯ve created it, plus I¡¯ve always wanted to be a blacksmith if I picked a warrior class. I¡¯m meant to get hit, and I finally need some armor that actually gives me defence instead of nothing because of my Wolf in Sheep¡¯s Clothing. Finally satisfied with what I chose, I went over to my normal stats.
Crimson Paladin Rosie, Level 10
Name: Rosie Level: 10
Race: Human Title: None
Class : Crimson Paladin Mana: 50/50
Health: 250/250 Hope: 72%
Blood: 0 Agility : 5
Strength: 10 Wisdom : 6
Intelligence : 5 Luck : 5
Charisma: 5 Defence : 0
Vitality : 5
Thinking long about what would best benefit me and my current class. I decided it would be vitality. I¡¯d have more blood to be absorbed, and I¡¯d stay alive long enough to get the benefits of my passives in greater quality. For each health I lost, I do .1 more damage, so if I have more health to lose, then I can do more damage. Being quick and strong though, was a no brainer for any battle. I decided to put 5 points in Agility, and the remaining 10 into Vitality.
Crimson Paladin Rosie, Level 10
Name: Rosie Level: 10
Race: Human Title: None
Class : Crimson Paladin Mana: 50/50
Health: 350/350 Hope: 72%
Blood: 0 Agility : 10
Strength: 10 Wisdom : 6
Intelligence : 5 Luck : 5
Charisma: 5 Defence : 0
Vitality : 15
Making my brain go on a roller coaster ride to try to remember my old stats, and look at this back from what I had, my guess is that my health is 100 + (10 * level) + (Vitality * level), so it is now 100 +(100) +(150). It looks like my mana was likely my level * Intelligence. That means Vitality becomes more powerful in later levels, I need to spend a lot of points into that. Finally satisfied, I swooped back down to the planet away from the floating Rosie. Back sitting on the nasty dirt floor, I jumped up, hopped into the other bucket, and did a quick rinse again. My next plan was to go kill some Erkins(Those deer like creatures Elzare kindly gave me a name for). I figured I could use their hide, or maybe their antlers too somehow? Actually! I could use their fucking bones couldn¡¯t I? Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. That has to be considered a ¡°Heavy¡± armor by the system standards, and one that I plan to bypass from this fucking Sheep in Wolf¡¯s Clothing using my shiny bright new passive Prey¡¯s Armor. Drying off a bit in the nice air, grabbing another towel, and tossing it aside, I was now ready to go get myself some materials. I started slipping into those old baggy clothes that are far too green for my liking, thinking about how I could build bone armor. I couldn¡¯t actually get any solid plans in my head, instead I brushed it off hoping that Bronzebeard might¡¯ve already made something like this, or at least something similar. Heading into the forest that I started to dread with almost every fiber of my being, I needed the resources to make something, and the Erkins are my target. I actually managed to sweep some remaining confidence I had onto the light of day. First I leveled up a lot, second I spent the stat points, I felt lighter on my feet, swifter, stronger, and third Vitality should play a huge role in all my battles, and now that I have a lot more to spare, those battles should be easier. Besides, I already killed an Erkin when I first got here, and was level 1, surely they are manageable now. Stalking in the shadows with my sneak skill towards my first target, I heard a low growl. Absolutely terrified of the noise, the few Erkins I had in sight scattered, I myself was startled too at first, until I soon realized, it was my stomach growling. Just my fucking luck. I guess it was a good idea to go hunting first for more than just materials. After about another hour of stalking around in the shadows like a murderer hiding away from society, I finally landed my eyes on a pair of 3 Erkin Adults, and 2 young ones. I wanted to know what kind of battle I was getting myself into, maybe one of them wasn¡¯t just level 1? Maybe they all are level 10 for christ sake. Staring carefully at the group while I¡¯m hidden behind a tree, a familiar blue flash assaulted my eyes.
Erkin Family, Level 7
A small family of Erkin, they are all aware of each other during all times, they only separate when the young Erkins grow and go their separate ways. No more Information available, Observe Skill is too low.
Passive Gained! Observe(Level 1)
By carefully inspecting something before you, you¡¯ve unlocked the ability to see information regarding said something. If it¡¯s a living thing, you can see its level and some general information. Higher levels allow the ability to show you higher level enemies, and weaknesses.
Finally! I¡¯ve missed the ability to see if I¡¯m walking into a death trap or not. I¡¯m still up in odds if this very situation is one. They may be level seven, but they are all aware, and numerous. Thinking back on my past battles though, I decided this was child¡¯s play. Holding up the new sword Bronzebeard gave me the other day, I charged forward violently. The look in their eyes gave me confidence I¡¯m not sure how intelligent these fellows are, but their eyes screamed fear. Running towards the largest adult that I figured would give me the biggest trouble, I was met with resistance, the other two adults instantly got in front of him. Not stopping my charge, I moved towards the right and picked the right one up by the throat, continuing my momentum that was slightly interrupted with the swerve, I choke slammed the Erkin straight down onto the other one that was my first target. Loud bellowing could be heard, along with blood splashing, I slammed the bitch right into the Antlers of this big guy. Killing one of them, and slowing the movement of the other one. The last adult Erkin was running one of her hooves into the dirt, kicking up dust, making a charge motion like a classic bull. The red cape she so desperately wanted to see, was the blood of her family on my face. A loud dash was heard as she sprung to life, I stood my ground, while the other Erkin tumble over each other, soon her Antlers were upon me. With my new Agility and Strength, I managed to swiftly move my fingers into a safe position into her antlers of the clearly slower being. Small tunnels of dirt were kicked up and moved as her charge was slowed to the iron will she just collided with. With a firm hold of the antlers, and my newfound strength, I picked her up as high as I could. Aiming my direction to the tangled up mess of the other two Erkin, I slammed down with all my might. I couldn¡¯t stop. Something was ticking in the back of my brain, don¡¯t stop. I kept slamming over and over again. Soon the sight of a small Erkin was approaching, not of curiosity, not of fear, but of sadness. My assault finally stopped and I looked into the intelligent eyes of the creature before me. What have I done.. Why. why do I lose myself so easily? Not wanting to be there anymore, but needing the materials, I grabbed one of the antlers sticking out of the mess I just caused, and dragged the bundle along. I kept going. Covered in blood, a giant sickly mess of what I¡¯ve done. I never stopped either, I had my destination. After what felt like hours of my mind fighting with itself, I was in the village. ¡°Ma¡¯am.. Can you ple-¡± A guard''s voice stuttered as I looked back at him. ¡°Mommy.. What.. what¡¯s that lady doing?¡± ¡°Get in the house!¡± I carried along the dirt path not stopping, in the background I heard. ¡°Captain, I think Rosie might be back.. ¡± In the next moment, my hand lay pricked, a handsome man clad in the highest quality of armors stood in front of me. The captain. My senses screamed danger. ¡°Rosalin? What in fucks name are you doing? I guess crazy don¡¯t fall too far from the family tree, for fucks sakeyou are scaring the entire village. Explain yourself.¡± All I could mutter was ¡°Material.. Armor¡± ¡°There''s a big difference between skinning the hide of an animal, washing yourself after, and bringing the materials here to be processed, and..¡± Pointing at the mess behind me. ¡°That. Let alone the fact you are covered in blood with no signs of damage to yourself.¡± Not wanting to hear it anymore I kept walking past him towards where I thought Bronzebeard should be. ¡°I¡¯ll find it in my heart to forgive these actions today, but the next damn time you walk away from me, or not explain yourself, then I¡¯ll have another pike with your name on it right next to your rotten bitch of a sister.¡± The sound of spit hitting the ground was heard. Not wanting to think things through anymore, I soon heard the familiar twang of the blacksmith. ¡°By the gods lassie! I¡¯ve heard of some bad times of the month, but sweet Eldril above! Did you take a bath and forget the facet was set to slaughter mode?¡± For some reason his attempt at humor slowly brought me back to the world. I might¡¯ve just ruined Elzare''s good will by talking to the captain like that. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Bronzebeard, It seems I sorta lost myself.. I uhh. I came here to see if you could teach me to make armor out of bone and hide.¡± ¡°Lassie, define lose yourself? Did you get teleported to the blood sea by some elven magic or somethin?¡± ¡°No.. I uhh.. lost myself.. mentally in battle.¡± I could see deep thoughts on the bronze shined face and hair of the dwarf before me. ¡°Nevermind lass, theres a tub inside the house, do you know basic water magic mumbo jumbo? Once you are cleaned up we can talk.. and if ya.. uhh. don¡¯t know water magic, then there¡¯s always this dear kind souled dwarf who will gladly help.¡± He finally replied with a small trickle of water shooting out of his hand. ¡°Ahh sorry, couldn¡¯t hold myself.¡± Ignoring the witty dwarf and going inside, I heard another comment behind me. ¡°Second door on the left lass! I¡¯ll uhh figure out what¡¯a do with this here pile of ¡°Materials¡± as you call it.¡± Slowly opening the door lay a genuine sort of white material tub in a mostly empty room. Albeit a bit too small for a lady of 7 foot. My guess is this was fairly common for people who know water manipulation, sorta a bathroom without the need for plumbing. Fur towels were on the wall hung up. Inspecting the tub I could see a small drain in the center, it looked like it went straight through to the foundation, I guess the water goes back into the ground. There was a small table that held a plug to the tub¡¯s drain, a bar of soap, and a few folded towels. The room was made completely out of wood and very much village like, inspecting the tub further made me realize just how out of place it might¡¯ve been. I guess benefits of working with materials all day. Not lingering on thoughts anymore, I finally took my clothes off, realizing how rude it was to leave blood stained clothes on the floor, but too late to stop myself. I stood standing in the dwarf like tub, washing myself with the bar of soap, the rinsing with my magical hand that could now trickle water. After a few minutes of getting lost I heard a loud banging on the door. ¡°Ehh, Lass.. well.. yeah.. sure. There¡¯s some clothes out in the doorway I went an bought. Didn¡¯t exactly have the clothes for a giantess sitting around in a dwarfs modest adobe, now did I? Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll be back outside near me trusty forge.¡± After hearing his footsteps falter I opened the door slowly and took the clothes he offered. They were very much the same clothes almost, green type material, baggy pants. Not complaining at the generosity he just showed, I slipped em on. Not knowing what to do with the blood stained mess I left.. I simply left the room and would go apologize. ¡°Bronzebeard.. I¡¯m sorry about all this, I even left my blood soak--¡± ¡°Ah lass! Don¡¯t worry a thing, life gets boring making the same weapons and armor everyday, consider my generosity as a thank you for breaking up the boring of me life. As for the clothes I¡¯ll throw em away if you don¡¯t wanna attempt to wash those. You could soak em now though, bucket is in the same room you were just at, hanging up on the wall.¡± Turning around to do just that, I entered the room again, took a bucket off from the wall, set it down, and started filling it slowly with my hand. Grabbing a nearby towel, and getting it wet, I started cleaning up the blood stains too, then tossed the towel into the bucket. The bucket wasn¡¯t very full though, not enough mana and tinges of pained filled my head. I decided to go ask Bronzebeard. ¡°Could you.. Please fill the bucket? I don¡¯t have a lot of mana as it stands.¡± ¡°Ohh lass! I thought you¡¯d never ask! My hand is about to burst like the ¡°Great Rain¡± back in Eldragaurd¡± His hobbled little legs ran off to the very same room, within a few moments I heard almost an explosion sound.. Maybe he wasn¡¯t kidding.. I wonder if mental state affects mana manipulation. He soon came out the door completely drenched. ¡°Ahh, thanks lass, I needed that.¡± ¡°I took it upon meself to skin those Erkin there, and separate the bones. I figured you might not be the best skinner around town, and the mess you left was tough to work with¡± ¡°Thank you.. You¡¯ve been very kind to me Mr Dwarf¡± A small tinge of red could now be seen flourishing his face. ¡°Can you make bone armor, Bronzebeard?¡± ¡°That I can, lass. Might I ask why though? Far as I can tell from the brutality of that mess, you are a fine warrior, why not let me make you some real armor? Bone is brittle and spongy, more likely to break than even iron, not all bone though, these here Erkin might provide more than say a human.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a special class, It seems I can¡¯t wear heavy armor unless it¡¯s made by my own hands from a monster I killed. Will you please teach me?¡± The rest of the day was spent laughing at his crude jokes, and stitching together what looked like a failed experiment. He assured me though, that a 3 layer system should work. The first layer tough hide from the Erkin, the second layer bones, and the third hide again to hold the bones snug. One of the shoulder pads was a skull of the most intact Erkin, the other shoulderpad just simple fur. I¡¯m hoping that even though I had help, this still counts and is usable. After many hours, and the darkness soon embracing us, he held the finished product in front of me.
Erkin¡¯s Brittle Bone Leather Armor
This armor made from the hide and bone of a family of Erkin, has be made to almost perfection. The bones may need to be replaced for durability, but they will save your life in a pinch, the hide itself proved great resistance too. Defence: 20 Attack Power: 2 Durability 50/50
Made By: Godsmith apprentice Rosie, and Godsmith Bronzebeard
Before I could question Godsmith, my belly made another loud gurgle. Chapter 29 - Hopes Last Chance Never again will I feel as powerless as I did those first few days. Bronzebeard heard my belly grumble earlier and is currently inside, he said something along the lines of cooking up the finest meal for the finest lass around. I¡¯m not used to being complimented or praised, never was as Ryu, and he¡¯s the first as Rosie. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s just because he''s a horn dog or not though. Maybe I should break it to him now that I¡¯m technically a lesbian. I also need to ask him what the fuck that godsmith thing was about. Behind me lays the armor that me and him managed to whip up, he sure is a damn fine craftsman. I wasn¡¯t sure at first how this would go because of the fact he probably mostly dealt with metals, yet he perfected it beyond belief, even better than I had envisioned in my mind. I was interrupted as I was thinking things over again. ¡°Hey lassie! Are ya ready for the finest meat a dwarf can offer?¡± A mischievous grin was plastered over his face, but somehow managed to hold a minor amount of respect too. I was being brought to his dinner table that was made simply of wood, but had a nice orangish brown shine to it. Sat upon said table lay probably ceramic plates filled to the brim, all kinds of meat, vegetables I¡¯ve never even seen before. It looked almost like a feast, there were legs of meat waiting to be grasped, heavy tankers filled with hopefully water, and large sections of vegetables, the lovely aroma hit my face like a shield slam worthy of breaking teeth. My mouth started to water with the same ferocity as the earlier encounter of Elzare shooting a tsunami out his fucking hand. Thank the blanket goddess for this lovely little dwarf. He even just pulled the chair out for me. Happily accepting, I sat down on one end of the table, and he went over to the other end. The chair was a little small, I¡¯m starting to really regret choosing my height as the max a fucking human can have. I thought it would be noble looking and shit, I didn¡¯t imagine on the character screen the thought of sitting in a chair from a dwarfs house. I decided not to complain, but to my surprise he got up, and approached me. ¡°Ahh lass, truly a kind soul to not say anything, get up for a sec¡± my curiosity got the best of me, and to my fucking surprise, he grabbed the wooden chair, and somehow started morphing it. His hands touched the wood, and the back of the chair shrank as the actual sitting portion of it widened. Not letting the opportunity go, I decided to mess with him. ¡°You trying to say the size of my reary dear wasn¡¯t adequate for your chair Mr Dwarf?¡± instead of him blushing like normal, he actually confidently replied. ¡°Ahahaha! There isn¡¯t a chair in the world that could provide comfort for the size of that tushie! Now don¡¯t let my good will go bad. Please have a seat, my lassie¡± Taking my seat again much more comfortably, we decided to chow down. I also decided I¡¯d tell him something, before the charade goes on too long. ¡°I¡¯m a lesbian Bronzebeard¡± His reply was that of extreme laughter as he coughed on some food, furiously pounding his chest. ¡°Oh, lass! You¡¯re killing me over here! How hot of forge flames do you think this poor dwarven sword can handle before it breaks!?¡± I think that means he thinks I¡¯m even hotter now. ¡°Thank you for all the compl-¡± ¡°Lass, settle down. Lemme ask you something. Do you think fine jewels cut by the finest craftsman aren¡¯t worth looking at if they lay behind glass? Or heck, do you think the jewels lose value in the most secure dwarven built vaults?¡± ¡°Well no.. but what doe-¡± ¡°You are a jewel, lass. Not just any ole emerald or amethyst, you are a diamond, one that shines brighter than any forge I¡¯ve ever seen. I don¡¯t just want the diamond, or in what you may be thinking between your legs, naye. I just want to see a pretty diamond, even if it¡¯s behind glass. Though I wouldn¡¯t mind seeing some lesbian action behind some glass either! I¡¯ll always accept the invite¡± He managed to wink at me, and believe it may or may not have made my heart skip a beat. Not of love for him, in fact I still would never dream of being with a guy, but instead of the sincerity that he just managed. What a fucking charmer, I bet he gets load of action. ¡°Thanks for that Bronzebeard, I hope we can get along just like this for a very long time.¡± ¡°Aye, me too lass.¡± ¡°I wanted to ask you something as well.. What exactly is a Godsmith?¡± A small tremble of sweat could be seen moving down his brow, ¡°Uhh.. what makes you ask that all of a sudden?¡± ¡°Made by apprentice Godsmith Rosie, and Godsmith Bronzebeard was at the bottom of the inspection window of the armor we made.¡± ¡°For Eldrils Sake! I was told it wouldn¡¯t show on my work!¡± ¡°Maybe because it was our work instead?¡± I could see him admit a defeated look, and slump back into his chair after being worked up. ¡°I, Bronzebeard the fifth, and Godsmith to Eldril, am a loyal servant to Eldril, and forge weapons for him in my spare time, this little village and simple swords I make for the local guards is all a facade. I am sorry for the deceit, but its suppose to be a secret, in fact, I probably shouldn¡¯t of just told you lass! I have a strong feeling about you though, I¡¯m sure Eldril would forgive me if he ever found out.¡± ¡°Bronzebeard, what level are you?¡± I tried inspecting him earlier, but the entire thing was question marks, not even his name. ¡°Believe it or not lass, I¡¯m only level 12! Not much experience in terms of combat is given when you are working in a forge for so many years, my only exception would be my dwarven strength brimming out every pore!¡± He spoke with confidence as he stood one foot on the table and started flexing. ¡°Oh, by the way lass, I also made this as a gift for you while you were cleaning yourself. Figured I¡¯d pay back the extra 50 bronze from the silver you tossed me.¡±
Brittle Fake Smile
Made from an extremely demolished Erkins skull. Reinforced with leather to avoid scratches or discomfort from the bones, fashioned on useing a strap mechanism similar to a belt. The mouth piece almost looks like a forced smile where the teeth of the Erkin once were. As with all head protection, this provides less chance of a critical hit from head damage. Defence + 5 Durability 50/50
Made by: ???
It was pretty much an Erkin skull that was carved out to fit my face, then glued? Or somehow infused with leather where my face would be inserted. It had pretty much a belt buckle to tie to my face, and the Antlers were chipped off. There was cracks all along it, but still held sturdy. ¡°Thank you again. You are a damn fine craftsman, and a person who¡¯s company I deeply enjoy. I should be able to kick some major ass with this getup now!¡± Forgetting about being modest, my true self was starting to show, Ryu that is. I was getting excited about being powerful, it was a great feeling to be honest. ¡°Whoa lass! Don¡¯t go start challenging no gods or anything with some simple bone armor! But I¡¯m glad you enjoy it. Maybe you could pay me back, I hear cuddling with a fine lassie, such as yourself, can go for quite a lot around these parts!¡± ¡°You fuck! With the difference in our size, you cuddling would equate to the perfect position, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°That it would.. That¡­ it would.¡± He was clearly lost in his imagination. ¡°Alright beardo, I¡¯m going to go back home, good night! Thanks again for making everything and showing me so much.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it! You alright walking home? Who am I kidding, I saw what you did to those Erkin, don''t hesitate to ask for an escort back though, all jokes aside, I am a gentleman.. Er.. dwarf.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Maybe another time, if it makes you feel better, I¡¯ll equip my armor first for a test drive.¡± Slowly I¡¯m tying up, and attaching every piece we made all through the day, the final thing being the Erkin skull that was being brought closer to my face in my right hand. My vision was mostly brown from the hide, then slowly filled back up through the holes that were once its eye sockets. I felt like a total fucking bad ass, not going to lie. Underneath the armor I still had my simple green garbs so I wasn¡¯t a scantily clad whore. ¡°Goodnight, beardo! I¡¯ll be off.¡± I found myself completely enamored by the armor that I wore, inspecting my gauntlets that held spiked bones out like a famous grumpy comic book hero. Admiring how fine of string that held the gauntlets together, tapping on the bones while meeting extreme resistance. I was satisfied for now, with this I could comfortably deal with anything roughly around my level. I continued my stroll through the dark village, occasionally getting glances from a guard holding a torch patrolling. Some even stopped to ask for my identity, which was understandable. Most shrieked back in fear at the mention of Rosalin though. Guess they heard about my earlier Erkin present I dragged through the streets, and now saw just exactly what I did with it. Getting closer to the outskirts of the village, I saw one of the most horrifying sites ever. Hundreds.. No.. Thousands of grey goblins were marching forward, some holding torches, and some.. Holding the sad familiar pain of spears. They were marching right towards the fucking village, why haven¡¯t the guards rang a bell or some shit yet!? For christ sake! Turning around to inform the guards, I saw the headless corpse of one of them that I recently walked by, inside his decapitated skull near him was a dark, almost mist like dagger. No.. fuck me. GOD DAMMIT. They could be surrounding me, right now, where? Where the fuck at? Scanning my eyes over every single inch of the village, all I could see was shadows. This is a battle I can¡¯t win, I need to get Elzare, right now, but the goblins are getting closer, my god what do I do? What do I fucking do??
POV Change(Rosie to Village Child)
¡°Mommy, what do you think that loud noise is? I can¡¯t sleep, it sounds like lots of people are stomping¡± ¡°Sweetie, I just started hearing it too, I¡¯m kind of worried as well. What if it¡¯s a planet shake? You stay here my little pot pie, I¡¯ll go ask the captain, see what we should do.¡± Watching my mom leave the house through the window, I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes, she looked down the street and looked scared, by what? Looking further down the window as I moved my face as tight as I could, I saw grey little kids with long ears! Before I could run out into the street, a black sword was stuck in her head. I wanted to hide, I wanted to run.. But my mommy.. Before I could move I was already opening the door, running to my mom, crying asI knew she was dead. I heard the slow sound of the the grey kids walkingbehind me. I¡¯m scared.. Mommy.. I grabbed her still warm hand and prayed. The loudest thing I¡¯ve ever heard before cameinto my ears, it sounds like the biggest tiger that could ever exist, a scary feelingwent up my back bones. Taking what might be my last chance, I turned around to run in the house, but.. The grey things were walking back now? What.. whats going on? I¡¯m not sure why.. But I felt like I shouldfollow them. I knew in my heart, that my mommy was gone. I didn¡¯t see any light in her eyes. I felt the need to see what the things that killed my mommy would do next Stayingawayand hiding behind the cover of each house, I watched the grey things walkalong the street. After what felt like hours and being near the outside of the town, I soon saw too many to count going toone point. In the middle stood a tall woman, easily 3 of me put on top of myself, wearing a skull on her face. There was a open areaaround her as many manytiny little hands held onto their weapons, it looked.. It looked like they were shaking. The tall lady flashed in and out of the torch making light, one second she stood still, the next bright light of a torch, she had her arm stuck inside one of them, moving him around, almost holding him like a shield. The next torch light up, and the things body had more wooden sticks in it than I could count fingers. Torches fell to the floor one after another, giving light to the thing I was seeing, there was pretty lights in the sky too, something I can¡¯t understand, it looked like when mommy tried to start afire, with dark stufffloating through thelight. It was amazing.With so many torches on the ground, I could easily see the lady now. She had blood drawninto her armor, there was a long metal stick deep inside her, and it looked like her left arm was broken. But.. she held still, not moving, the light around her was red for some reason, not from the torches anymore. No.. she was making red light somehow, her hair was starting to stand straight up, the golden colors I thought I saw before, arenow all red. The next second, she pulled the long metal stick out, and threwit into the big bunch of grey monsters, I could hear the sounds of it hitting them, and see them fall down one after another. I heard a loud scream, that felt like something really really evil just spoke to me. ¡°HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU GUYS!? NOT.. FUCKING YET¡± She spitblood onto the ground that had lots oftorches on it. She was almost sitting now.. After a few seconds of coughing up blood, she.. Well.. she put her hand inside one of the long eared grey kids, pulled out a red thing, and just ate it like an apple in one bite.Her arm looked better after she did that, but for some reason, she broke it right after, with her other arm! They were dying a lot, and I could maybe count them now if I tried hard enough and had time. I actually thought shecould win, but my happiness went away. Another long metal stick was flying like a bird, and stoped right in her head.. She fell down, with it still there in her head, she was now laying wierd as the metal stick held her up. ...... ... ..... ..
Active Ability Unlocked: Hope¡¯s Last Chance Must have Higher than 50 hope. Week Cooldown.
For maintaining above 70 hope while you defend someone or something, with no chance of winning, you¡¯ve unlocked a powerful ability young paladin. Drain 2 Hope a second, restore 2% of your total health a second, and with every second active, your stats multiply by 2. Ability is turned off once at or below 10 hope. You will be left in a very vulnerable state with only 10 hope to keep you clinging, as I¡¯ve said before, hope does affect you mentally young paladin, use with extreme caution.
Almost ready to turn away and run for the guards, I saw a movement to the lady, not of dying though. She grabbed the metal stick with both her hands, and slowly pulled herself up, one hand after another, rising back to her feet off the big stick that was clearly inside her head, with a gross sound from each pull of her hands up. The red light she was making that came out of her before was now getting really big, bigger with every second, it was like the brightest light of a mage fireball. The light kept getting bigger and bigger,I could feel light on my face, it actually.. Made me feel safe. The sound of like a wolf or something could be heard, except it was from the tall lady instead. The red light was getting bigger and smaller really really fast now. The grey things heads started jumpinginto the sky, one after another before the last one could fall back down, a grey thingwas on her arm with lots of wooden sticks inside him. The next second gone again, I couldn¡¯t see her. With every second that went on the huge group was getting smaller. The red light she madewas getting smaller too, and she was coughing up blood with many many wooden sticks and cuts in her clothes, the light was super small, and only getting smaller.With many many torches on the ground now, I saw a big pile of the grey thingsdead, all across the forest, some were on trees, other¡¯s just a blood mark now. She was.. Crying now.. Crying walking into the forest. Behind her, there wasn¡¯tanything left moving.
POV Change(Village Child to Rosie)
¡°Hi, Rosie. I can¡¯t say this is the best way to meet again, I always figured I¡¯d get you from good ole normal hp drain, not by that Hope stat. Had to take a few other crimson paladins that way too ya know?¡±
Voices inside Rosies head, not nessasarily flashbacks to the past
I¡¯m shaking violently, edging closer and closer towards the closest clift I can find in the dark forest. KILL YOURSELF.. YOU''RE WORTHLESS. A piece of trash that''s only need is to be wrapped around a mans cock. SHUT UP!? Or what? You¡¯ll hurt me? Good.. good. Just let it end. You were a failure as Ryu, and a failure as Rosie. You¡¯ll never amount to anything!? Why were you born..
The past
Flashes of my father standing above me, hitting me with his belt entered my mind ¡°You worthless bastard! No asian cunt is worth having to help support a child, especially now that I¡¯ve just lost my fucking job. God fucking dammit, that''s right, lay there like the dog you are, I need to get some steam out before your whore of a mother gets back. That¡¯s right, your mother is a fucking whore, caught her running around the other night, you think I¡¯m the bad guy? You wanna know who you can blame for this? Your fucking mother¡± Smack, another loud crack of the belt against my face, relentlessly.
Hope.. Cri.. 3. rem..
Soon the door was opened, my mother stood there shocked staring at me. Before I realized it, she had a lamp in her arms, and held it really high into the air, slamming it down.. Over.. and over.. And over again. Soon the blood stains of my father lay across my face, deep red.. Almost crimson. She never stopped while I watched her, there was no break in the rhythm, soon all that was left was a blood stain where my father''s head once was.
Current
¡°Ya know kid, I don¡¯t really want to take you like this.¡± I felt that warm feeling of taking a bath that never ends, firmly on my shoulder. Me and death stood sitting on a cliff, with his hand held on my shoulder. I don¡¯t know how long it¡¯s been, the sun was starting to come up. ¡°I¡¯ve been raped 72,402 times. When I determine how a soul lives, I have to live through it to see it¡¯s actions. I can feel everything, I can see everything. I¡¯ve been murdered even more. The worst thing of all, is that I don¡¯t even have a soul. I can never die, never be reincarnated into any fucking thing, no.. just me.¡± ¡°I like you, I don¡¯t get to remember many faces because of the fact my first encounter, has always been my last for most. You.. you though. You seem to linger around death. A familiar face I could get used to, one that''s not half bad to look at either!¡± A heartfelt slap on the back was felt in my mindless state. I appreciated his effort, but I just can¡¯t. Free falling from death''s grasp into the air, I couldn¡¯t go on. ¡°That¡¯s such a shame Rosie¡± Blackness embraced me. I¡¯m ready.
Ho.. 1.
¡°Foolish girl!¡± I felt the strong embrace of arms wrapped around me as I was free falling. A strong sense of protection came over me. Blackness still embraced me though, soon.. There was nothing. Chapter 30 - Hopes Cost
(Temporary 1 week) Passive Gained: Hope¡¯s Cost
For using Hope¡¯s Last Chance and going beyond what you should be capable of for your level. You are feeling the extreme side effects for 1 week. All stats are 1, except intelligence and wisdom, but HP and MP are 10/10. There is no removal/cure for this, you have to wait it out. Was the thing you protected worth this penalty?
Blackness held me snug for what felt like months, just an empty Abyss. I didn¡¯t hate it though, there was no flashbacks, or painful memories, just empty. In fact I kinda enjoyed the silence, the lonely feeling. I was used to being lonely as Ryu, my days spent socializing to people in a traditional MMO and that was it. Hell, even then I only talked when I had to or couldn¡¯t do something alone. In this complete state of blackness that almost felt like floating, I could think and pretty calmly too. Who I really am, what I¡¯ve done to this point, where I want to go. I lost myself before this blackness, my last memories are of seeing the goblin horde incoming and jumping onto a roof to get a better look. Down on the streets I saw a woman exit her house, looking down towards the horde, but a dark dagger I couldn¡¯t follow with my eyes was already in her skull. Then her sweet child came out and just held her hand. Something primal broke inside me, something just snapped, these goblin¡¯s are an existence that don¡¯t belong and I¡¯ll be the one to fucking eradicate them. Donned in my new armor, I let out the loudest most atmosphere breaking noise I could possibly imagine, it was my Misdirection except I had no idea I could scream that loud. I almost went deaf and I guess that little girl did too. She couldn¡¯t pinpoint the sound and instead was going to run inside, but then looked at the goblins. Not knowing what she was thinking, I ran from rooftop to rooftop to try to get them as far away as possible. This village is precious to Elzare, let alone the fact I want to be a defender, so I just kept moving hoping that scream was loud enough to get every goblins attention and whatever those dark blade throwers are. I actually managed to see a few daggers come for me with my new agility, some missed me, some actually landed. Before I knew it I found myself in the middle of a huge clearing, thousands of goblins upon me in a seconds breath. Worried about the dagger throwers more than the goblins that laid before me, I looked up only to see almost fireworks, flashes of something hitting metal in the thousands, my eyes couldn¡¯t keep up at all, but I knew in my heart. Elzare. With the dark daggers not the imminent threat, I laid my eyes upon the thousands of undead that are before me, for some reason, I didn¡¯t fear them, I didn¡¯t lose hope, and instead with my new armor, stats and determination in this new world, instead of being scared, I wanted to kill them, every last fucking one of them. For that childs mother, for attacking this village, for pissing me off at just the wrong fucking time of walking home. It was easy at first, I felt faster, stronger, and had more health than before, I even already had enough defence that only the spear throwers did serious damage, but they were numerous, and even enough arrows could still hurt me. Hundreds littered my body, I had to push them out a few times using Foreign Object a few times, at the cost of more health, because there was literally enough arrows sticking to me to impair my movement. I thought I could win, I really did, but I was cut down not of one single cut, not of one arrow, instead I was cut down by the thousands and finished off with the biggest spear yet, thrown by the biggest fuck of the group. I saw critical messages about low health, my vision went black, yet I was still alive somehow. I can¡¯t properly explain this, but imagine feeling a warm steel spear stuck inside your head, while still retaining memories, coherent thoughts, and intelligence. Fucking bizarre. I managed to slump over with my arms dangling, and was about to give up. Then I saw a chance. Literally, a chance, Hope''s Last Chance I thought for a few moments about it and without thinking activated it. Every second from then on out, I felt power, no, not the power of a strong avatar on monitor, I felt real fucking power, every second slowed the world down, every second my wounds healed. I soon found myself pulling away from the spear and standing up like some crazy savage that just lost their head. The goblins speed made me laugh, their spears were almost as slow as when Wise Being was active. Looking into the air, I could finally make out maybe 10 Elzare, moving, disappearing all over the village, blocking daggers with all his speed. Stopping them from landing on villagers a few feet off, and this time, to my surprise, he has been helping me this entire time. I could see one of the Elzare occasionally come down to kill hundreds of Goblins, but there was just so many, and many people were running about to get attacked, he had his hands full. In the back of my mind, I realized he lied earlier for some reason, he could¡¯ve easily killed those goblins in my gruesome battle with the spear thrower before. Only now, was he sincerely being pushed back. I¡¯m also guessing that my Misdirection wasn¡¯t working on whatever was throwing the dark daggers, I could see hundreds headed for me. They were valiantly blocked by Elzare, but I could also see them moving towards the village too. It must really suck to have to defend so many as priority. Looking up at one of them for a small second, his eyes met mine, and he looked confused, almost asking himself how I could see him with such speed, then quickly focused back on defending. I could see sweat running down his face, I could see horror in his eyes, not of me, but I think rather for the state of the village. I also saw blood, slowly spilling from his mouth, dark daggers littered his body. Why would those hurt him though? Was the blood from the daggers, or something else? I don¡¯t think those daggers could do that to him, based on what I felt when some landed on me. I was starting to snap more, starting to even worry about Elzare. I soon found myself being cast in a world of red vision and a red light surrounding me getting bigger and bigger. I could see fear in their eyes, and I planned to show the world why. I cut, stabbed and pulled out the organs of goblins around me, ripped off arms, punched with my fist, impaled with my bone gauntlets, I used goblins as shields for a bit, but then just started punching others with the goblin stuck to my hand. Loud qualches of blood could be heard through the night, as I slammed the goblin into his friends, over and over again. I don¡¯t know how long it was, or how long it took, but each second I felt my hope drain from me, not just in a stat sense. I felt the world was losing color, becoming more grey, I felt less needed as Elzare was cleaning up, I felt like I didn¡¯t belong, I felt like I had to kill myself. Without even thinking, the battle was already over, and I soon found myself looking for a cliff to jump off. To my surprise, Death was already sitting there expectantly. He actually managed to comfort me, I¡¯m not sure why since he¡¯s suppose to be after my soul, but I soon heard his heart wrenching existence. A thing, a person, an existence of living through people¡¯s life till they died. It made me sad, I think he wanted to help me understand, but instead I just felt sorrow for him, sorrow for myself. I was falling through the air now, soaring like a bird, feeling weightless. It¡¯s time.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. These were my last memories, now I stand in this Abyss thinking and slowly walking. Nothing changed, nothing ever changed, blackness as far as the eyes could see. Walking gently holding my side because my entire body hurt, I soon found a difference. A giant red pulsating heart stood in front of me. Something bad was happening to it though, an icy feeling, something black was consuming it, covering it like blotches of cloth, eating away at it. I felt a pain in my chest, falling to the ground. It hurts.. It hurts so.. So bad.. Make it stop.. MAKE IT STOP. Looking down at the blackness of the Abyss. I saw something. A familiar face, it was like a perspective, as if I was laying down, looking up. I could see his hand was holding mine, he looked tired, grumpy, disgruntled, his grey facial hair a mess, some blood sticking to the corner of his mouth, his long elven ears slightly lowered, his eyes were the definition of sadness, he wasn¡¯t looking at me, no, he was looking far beyond me, he had the thousand yard stare. ¡°I know.. I know we haven¡¯t known each other long, but please don¡¯t die girl. I¡¯ve seen enough death for my lifetime, far too much..¡± He looked even further into the distance. ¡°I had a wife, a child, a family I could finally call my own after getting independence from my Player. I loved them.. God did I love them¡± Tears were streaming down his face, he was losing himself fast ¡°I babied them both, always promised to protect them, always wanted to be with them.. I lived in this village with them¡± He was no longer talking to me, in fact I don¡¯t think he ever was, he needed to let this out. ¡°I promised them the fucking world.. And.. I.¡± A long pause as he swallowed with an itch in his throat he may never be able to scratch. A small weep could be heard over and over again as he rocked. ¡°I failed.. I failed.. I.¡± ¡°My wife was beaten and killed, my child so disfigured I¡¯m still not even sure if it was her.. What did I do to deserve this? Why did my Player give me control? Why did he abandon me? What am I supposed to do!? I just spend my days protecting this village in honor of my wife, but even that I failed, 6 people died.. 6¡­ innocent people, and there would¡¯ve been more if not for you¡­ Please.. Please don¡¯t be the 7th Rosie.¡± Looking back up from the water like reflection of Elzare, I could see the black blotches on the giant heart start to shrink a little. I could feel a strong pressure on my hand. The same hand he was holding. There was a small glow all around me, the blackness was starting to turn golden, before I knew it, almost like a blink, the same Elzare from the Abyss was right in front of me. I¡¯m lying in my bed in the second floor of the cabin. His hand tightly wrapped around mine, his eyes looking down. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡± I managed to speak, as my hand fell weakly on his grey haired head. He looked back up, completely shocked looking into my eyes. I can see why that hug the other day made him cry. The poor guy is so lonely, such a sad story. He didn¡¯t say anything, or really move, just let it happen, I didn¡¯t want to ruin his pride either or something like that, so I just kept patting, and he let it all out. After what felt like forever, I finally managed to speak. ¡°How long was I out?¡± Clearing his face, wiping away tears on some extremely expensive armor, he said. ¡°Roughly 2 days¡± He managed to reply, not of tears or sadness, but back to his usual disgruntled self. ¡°I¡¯m glad you are alright girl, and thanks for that. I know you just woke, I¡¯ll go bring you some food, and then I have to go do some things. I¡¯ll let Bronzebeard know you are alright too, might come visit, was asking about you a lot, said something like¡± Elzare attempted a strong dwarven accent, that sounded pretty funny actually. ¡°That fucking lass! I knew she said she felt like a bad ass, but for Eldril¡¯s sake!? Thousands of goblins? I knew I was a fine craftsman! Let me know when she wakes, I want to hear this first hand! Though, I saw.. the er.. mess she left. How much did you have a play in that?¡± ¡°And I honestly told him that I only killed maybe 10% and was mostly blocking those misty fucking daggers. Those are the only thing I still don¡¯t get, it¡¯s like there¡¯s something connected to the undead now, that only goes away when the host dies. Like some type of parasite creature, I still don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be back, you just rest up, I inspected you and saw your sorry ass, for now just relax¡± He soon came back with some Erkin meat, steamed to perfection, the aroma was amazing, I guess maybe I haven¡¯t eaten since I¡¯ve been unconscious. I bet even my least favored meals would look like golden pizza with enough sparkle to blind an angel. I started chowing down very unlady like, and Elzare disappeared. After finishing the meal, a few moments of silence to myself I heard something. Lass! Lass! Lass! Lass! LASS! Like fucking thunder in the wind, my door was bolted open, and I saw a sweaty dwarf who clearly ran way too fast. It honestly warmed my heart that he came over so quick, doesn¡¯t he have important swords to make and shit? ¡°I was so worried lass! I should¡¯ve offered my escort services.. Before I even knew what was going on I heard a loud beasty scream, and found the goblin fuck¡¯n graveyard that waited outside the village. Elzare put me up to speed though. You okay lass?¡± He hobbled along, and was sitting in a chair that Elzare was just using that was close to my bed. He grabbed my hand without even asking, and spoke. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I really should''ve come with you, it¡¯s a strong proud dwarfs duty to protect a lady walking home.¡± ¡°Bronzb-¡± ¡°Nay lass, let me have this at least.¡± He looked focused, and then let go of my hand. He seemed to have piped up a little already from the somber mood that was about to appear. ¡°Have you seen my handiwork in that corner there?¡± He pointed to a corner of the room my eyes neglected to fall upon. There was a wooden mannequin wearing the armor him and I just made before all the shit went down, instead of cut up, with broken bones, it had even more leather layers, what felt like more bones that looked sturdier, and a goblin''s skull on both sides of the shoulders. ¡°You said somethin, bout you having to kill the materials right? So what''s wrong with bringing a mostly dead Erkin here, and holding you hand as a dagger went through em? Plus we had the dwarven treasure of all those goblins bodies laying out there. Figured I¡¯d patch up the armor, and make some improvements for protecting the village.¡± ¡°Bronzbeard.. Man, you are just too smooth sometimes.¡± He let out a heartfelt laugh. ¡°Aye lass, I¡¯ll remember that! You should see how smooth my.. Uh. Forget it¡± I laughed a little. This perverted dwarf really did cheer me up, I¡¯m glad I met him. In fact, I¡¯m glad I¡¯ve met everyone I have so far, Elzare, Bronzebeard, and Joseph. They were all kind souls that I desperately needed. ¡°Beardo, come help me up please, I wanna just walk around for a bit, stretch the legs¡± I tried to get up, but the sound of stitches breaking could be heard, and blood dripping down. I almost forgot.. I almost forgot just how many arrows were inside me during those final moments. I almost forgot the cuts that lay upon my skin in the thousands. ¡°Lass! Hurry, drink a potion!¡± Bronzebeard stumbled in one his many satchels he seemed to always carry around. He managed to grab a slender vial, of the brightest red liquid I¡¯ve ever saw, It actually casted light, I couldn¡¯t question it though, my health was already 5/10 from bleeding, I really was about to die. Gulping the potion greedily, I was instantly cured.. No.. even better, I felt like instead of just facing death, that the angels above were about to embrace me. What kind of fucking potion is that? Who is this dwarf really? A gift from Eldril? How expensive. ¡°How much did that poti-¡± ¡°Ahh lass, shhh don¡¯t worry about it, let''s get you that walk though¡± He was holding me, much to my surprise, with an iron like force, an unmoving mountain, his body gave no way to my gentle touch around him, I managed to stand up firmly. It was a funny sight to see, he must be about 4 feet, and I¡¯m fucking seven, my arms barely managed to dangle to his height. Yet I leaned forward and held on not wanting to insult his pride if he had to reach up. ¡°Let¡¯s go for a walk lass, enjoy the summer this time of year, plus you need to tell me! How was the armor? Was it flexible in battle? How many hits did a bone take? What was th..¡± The sound drowned out as we walked, what a lovely dwarf.
Hope, total is 52
Chapter 31 - Dwarven Itch Me and beardo walked through the forest at a gentle pace, peace was slowly starting to return to me. I need to take the good days I can and fully enjoy them. I focused on the birds singing, I focused on the lovely feel of the sun on my face, I focused on the company of someone I¡¯m actually willing to call my friend. Friend! Shit, I wonder if the friend request system still works. I was looking sheepishly down at Bronzebeard and thought to myself ¡°Send friend request to Bronzebeard.¡±
Friend Request Sent!
Still looking down at my dwarven pal, I could see his eyes light up, by what I presume to be his invisible screen saying I just asked him to be my friend. His hands shook as he quickly swiped in a direction. I knew he probably accepted, but my lonely life to this point was making my heart beat furiously, I waited and waited. After what felt like forever, I started to hear a small sob. Bronzebeard was¡­. he was crying? ¡°Lass.. it¡¯s been 6 years since I¡¯ve seen this screen pop up, yes, by all means I do!¡± He blurted out as if I just proposed to him. Was there weddings in this game and did they use the words ¡°I do¡±? Was this little dwarf messing with me? He didn¡¯t stop sobbing and actually jumped into my arms to hug me.
Bronzebeard has accepted your friend request.
There was no pervy touchy feeling, or even a single perverted thought in his head I think, he was clinging to me like a child almost, despite the awkward image, it was actually the warmest hug ever, maybe even surpassing the one with Elzare. Hmm I never knew NPC¡¯s could send friend requests to each other. Maybe that¡¯s how the guards were talking back in Andril? That blue light. Wrapping my arm around Bronzebeard, I held my hand close, thinking of talking to him. To my surprise, my hand lit up blue. ¡°Hello.. erm .. friend.¡± It felt awkward, god this is wierd. Who even was the last person I could call a friend before? I.. I don¡¯t remember. Maybe there never was one to begin with. Instead of feeling sad, a nice feeling was enveloping my body, this charismatic, perverted, and hilarious dwarf was now my friend. ¡°Lassie, It¡¯s alright, just act normal! Lets keeping going, talk about armor, and anything else on your mind, this dwarf is happy to be called a friend.¡± ¡°What would it take to include ¡°with benefits¡± in that title?¡± was spoken, almost like a cough in the wind. No longer helping myself, I actually let him go and punched him on the shoulder. The force that met me was almost like diamond, my hand nearly broke and crumbled. Holy fucking shit that hurt, just how weak am I right now? Or how strong is he? ¡°Oye! Lass! Didn¡¯t know you were the type to give punishment, hurry, drink another potion.¡± He fumbled around another one of his satchels, and pulled out the exact same type of potion, slender vial, glowing red. ¡°Bronzebeard, those look really expensive, I¡¯m sure my hand wil-¡± He shoved it into my hand and looked away. ¡°It was my dumb joke that made you do that, this dwarf apologizes¡± He then kneeled to the ground after looking at me. This fellow really is humble and righteous, despite his perverted nature. Not wanting to waste his good will, as he put it at his dinner table before, I drank the potion and handed him the vial back. He hid it away in one of his many mysterious satchels, and then looked forward. ¡°Well I don¡¯t think our legs will walk for themselves now! Cmon Lass, let¡¯s stretch those long se.. legs of yours!¡± We sorta settled in one spot after a while of walking and just sat on the forest ground, opening another one of those god forsaken mysterious satchels, he pulled out two decent sized tankards, how in the fuck did they fit in that? Does he have some sort of inventory like a Player? Is there spatial magic? I wanted to question it, but decided not to ruin the mood. His hand trickled water into both tankards, and he soon handed me one. ¡°Don¡¯t suppose you could magic up some ale for these tankards?¡± He had a dejected look on his face, I¡¯m not even sure why I asked, I¡¯ve never had ale, it just seemed to fit right for a dwarf. ¡°Since we are friends now, mind if I tell ya a little story about me past? Ya see, I don¡¯t drink anymore, I know that may seem shocking being a strong hardy dwarf and all, but..¡± ¡°10 years ago, right after the players disappeared, I actually lost someone I considered a friend, even if he was a Player, he treated me nice. Instead of every other players simply buying things, or walking away, or acting like I was as dumb as a pile of logs, he actually talked to me, I couldn¡¯t really reply though, ya see my intelligence was very. Hmm.. restricted before the big ¡°Update¡±. I had some schedule, some form of minor intelligence and was aware, but I have very little say so in the things I was doing. I was feeling sorry for meself. After gaining control, realizing he was gone and being confused in a new world, I started drinking probably 5 times my own dwarven belly in weight.¡± ¡°It was intense now having control and everything lass. You might be able to imagine the one person I wanted to share that with, was the one who always told me about his day, about his life, but naye. He was gone, he never came around the shop anymore. So, I drank. I drank as I was lost and confused in a new world.¡± ¡°Lemme tell ya lass, It didn¡¯t help. In one case I drank so much that I couldn¡¯t even control meself, I came back to reality realizing I was holding a sweet lassie down, luckily our clothes were both still on, but..¡± he was clearing his throat as best he could. ¡°I could see the look in her eye lass, it was of pure terror. Since that day I¡¯ve dedicated my strong dwarven arms not to hold anyone down, but instead to try an bring them up. I quit drinking and will never touch the stuff again.¡± ¡°Elzare told me about what happened in this very forest when he first found you. I won¡¯t blame you if you hate me for pushing a poor lass down, and that friend request can be taken back if you feel.¡± There was no jokes in his jolly voice anymore, he must really feel that I¡¯d leave him. To me, it sounds like he was drunk beyond a human level and with his fucking libido of an extreme horn dog he still caught himself. Even though he pushed someone down, he actually had the self awareness to stop. That doesn''t justify it completely, but I didn¡¯t hate the dwarf in front of me, no, not at all. He was my first friend.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°My opinion of you Bronzebeard, has not changed for better or worse after hearing this.¡± I could see a single tear fall down into his shiny bronze beard. ¡°Thanks lass, sincerely. I¡¯ll go get us some firewood and maybe even some Erkin meat, I¡¯ll be back in dwarven heartbeat.¡± True to his word, in a matter of minutes he was back with a big fuckling bundle of firewood in one shoulder and in his other arm was a fucking Erkin, way larger than himself. He set up the fire, we ate some lovely cooked Erkin meat, and I feel we bonded as true friends. I think I should tell him about my class sometime. I think it would only help him understand me better, maybe make armor with my class in mind even. Soon the crickets of the night were almost upon us, darkness was slowly being swept over us like a heavy broom. The sun sinking away hiding, and the fire crackling away the last of its embers. Bronzebeard and I decided it was time to head back. We walked along the forest heading back, just enjoying each others company, he really is a jolly person who makes the world seem much less scary. I followed his lead, my sense of direction in the night was truly terrible. I¡¯m glad he is my friend, I¡¯ll need to send a request to Elzare sometime too. Being able to pretty much call like a cell service to someone probably level hundred or above is benefit enough, let alone I do consider him someone important to me. Thinking these things over in my head, I heard tree branches rattle. Bronzebeard heard it too and looks alert.
Player, xXxGoldenShower69xXx, Level ???
¡°You and the pathetic dwarf drop everything you got right now.¡± My god was this really happening? Why can¡¯t I see his level? For fucks sake. Feeling frustrated and confused, Bronzebeard gave me an odd look, I don¡¯t know what it was exactly, but it calmed me. ¡°I said, drop everything, right fucking now¡± the next moment I felt the oddly familiar sensation of a cold dagger laying across my throat. I tried pushing him off, I tried moving, but I couldn¡¯t do anything. ¡°Stop struggling level 1 bitch and you, stupid dwarf, why haven¡¯t you been dropping all your shit yet? I don¡¯t know what level you are from all the fucking question marks, but surely a simple dwarf and level 1 bitch walking in the forest means you ain¡¯t jack shit, now I want all the money and gear you guys have or else I¡¯ll kill you, and let me tell ya right now, NPC¡¯s don¡¯t fucking respawn in this world, consider me asking for your shit instead of just taking it, my way of being nice.¡± ¡°Hey boy o, I know this situation is very serious an all, but a great itch from the deep dwarven vault calls, do ya mind?¡± ¡°What are you-¡± Bronzebeard starting rustling around in his pants like a fucking wild animal. I honestly don¡¯t know what I expected. ¡°Surely man to man, you understand that high pressure situations really get my dwarven dingleberries working overtime? Now do you mind if I fix that first?¡± ¡°What in gods fucking name, yes I do fuck-¡± In a flash, Bronzebeard pulled out a legit fucking shotgun from his pants aimed directly at this player''s head. ¡°As I said lad, do ya mind if I scratch this itch that¡¯s been bothering me?¡± ¡°Ahahahaha! You think a gun can hurt me? My guess is you are two stupid level 1 villagers taking a walk, unless you are level 10+ and that¡¯s made to perfection, then you can eat the dirt and die.¡± ¡°If the position of that there dagger has even the slightest sway, you¡¯ll be buried in this forest with your body at around my height because of a lack of head an all.¡± Silence floated through the intense air, was this fucking player going to do it? Could that gun kill him? Multiple moments passed until something finally changed. I felt the cold dagger move a slight inch, no, maybe not even an inch, no blood was drawn from me. Boom. The last sound I heard before my ears started ringing violently, was the loud vibration of the shotgun barrel, greymatter splattering behind me and the click of Bronzebeard already reloading. ¡°Look what you made me do now lad. I really don¡¯t like using my tool like this.¡± ¡°I told him, didn¡¯t you hear me tell him? Such a shame, I know I must¡¯ve told him¡± He then took a big fucking whiff of the smoke that came out the gun, inhaling deeply. ¡°Nothin like fixing a bad itch and then getting a good whiff, am I right lass?¡± ¡°Well, maybe you don¡¯t know about that. Hey did you manage to catch his name, lass? I like to write them down, helps with the conscious I think.¡± One of the biggest satchels he had on was opened, there was about 9 huge rolled up scroll type deals. Pulling one out as in unrolled to the ground like a giant roll of fucking toilet paper, he picked out a quill and hovered over the next blank space. ¡°Uh.. xXxGoldenShower69xXx.. It looked like he was a player.¡± Bronzebeard didn¡¯t start moving the quill, he hovered for about a minute and then started laughing furiously. ¡°I almost feel bad for killing the guy now! What a classy man, but I don¡¯t want that name ruining my hard work though, maybe I don¡¯t need to add him.¡± Bronzebeard rolled the giant fucking scroll of names back up, worst of all he had 8 fucking more of those. Bronzebeard noticed me staring at his shotgun. ¡°Ahh, you like the tool eh? If you thought that was explosive, you should see what it''s stored next to.¡± I¡¯m not sure why, but I wanted to see just how witty this dwarf is, or if he really is vulgar enough to like whip out his little dwarf or something. ¡°What is it stored next to?¡± To my surprise he rummaged around in his pants again, half expecting to see a bald eagle, I shielded my eyes. ¡°This is the most explosive thing I keep on me, always keep it close to my dwarven vault for emergencies.¡± He held a sphere shaped thing in his hand that had a circle pin on it. A fucking grenade? He wasn¡¯t kidding about being more explosive! He carries around a fucking grenade his his undergarments, my god, what a crazy guy. I¡¯m pretty happy though that I didn¡¯t just get exposed to my first live view of another man. ¡°More importantly though, a Player ehh? It¡¯s been 10 years since they¡¯ve all disappeared. This is big fuck¡¯n news lass, I think we should get back to the village quick now, let Elzare know, can you stand alright?¡± I soon realized I was sitting on the floor after the blast of the shotgun rang through my ears, his hand wasn¡¯t very high above me, yet clasping it to get up, felt like the earth itself, a solid hold that would never let me fall. I easily managed back up with his help, why am I so fucking weak all of a sudden, I mean, I know that I¡¯m recovering and all, but this is ridiculous. ¡°Beardo, I¡¯ve felt really weak lately, you mind if I check my status first real quick?¡± ¡°Go ahead lass, I¡¯ll be right here.¡± Swooshing up into the air, I soon saw the passive that affected me. Fucking hell, using that ability causes me to temporarily be level fucking one, with extremely low stats for an entire week? I felt like a cripple, it wasn¡¯t as if my strength was just 1, the difference felt as if I was in the negatives, not even enough to support my own body. Soon moving back to the ground from up above, I opened my eyes and finally said thanks to Bronzebeard. ¡°Thanks for that by the way.. It seems all my stats are going to be 1 for awhile, I wouldn¡¯t have managed without you..¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, lass. I was just scratching a troublesome itch.¡± Stop! Author time - 1 Hello everyone! Thank''s for reading up to this point so far, I really love all the comments, feedback, and support you all give me. I figured I''d post one of these, maybe every month or so? This can pretty much be a giant questions and answers type dealio. Did you notice a plot hole that bothers you to the end of the earth? Tell me about it! Use this as a chance to ask anything at all, about the book or othwerise that maybe didn''t belong in the comment section of a specific chapter. Did you wanna know what I had for launch? A little ceasars deep dish slice of pizza reheated in the amazing thing called a microwave. Do you want to fill my ego even more like a giant ballon and tell me just how awesome Bronzbeard is? Have at it sport. Jokes aside, I figured I could also use these to keep you updated and stuff about the book, where its going, how often it''ll be updated, ect. Right now, there probably won''t be a chapter tommorow, and maybe even the day after. I was thinking about coming on here and apologizing for that, but instead I won''t. I won''t apologize, because theres nothing to be sorry about. One of my viewers (NFSU218) pointed out that a lot of books end up going no where on here and being abandoned, and also suggested I don''t overwork myself. I think it was some good advice too, some that I shall take to heart. You see guys, I was starting to actually have writters block already, pushing out 3000 word long chapters a day was easily pushing me to the limit of what I could think ahead of. So heres my solution. Instead of forcing myself to write potential garbage and fluff that no one would want to read, I''m going to just take it a bit easier, think the story though, maybe re-read up to this point so far, fix any glaring issues and such. This should give me plenty of time to think further and make a coherent chapter/story for all.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. One last thing that I would like to adress and just have a disccusion about, would be donations. I''m getting closer to the required 50,000 minimum word limit to have a donation bar. Do you guys think it would detract from the story if I included that? I started this with the intention of making a book I''ve thought about for awhile now, for free. Free it will still be, always and forever, but I guess human greed has a bit of a hold on me. Having some spare cash would never hurt anyone, and I''d never force anyone to give it to me, withhold chapters, or even have a reward system like some patreons. If I set up donations, there will be no rewards, no goals, and no extra plans. I won''t give people the next chapters, I wont give em rough drafts, or promise longer word limits becuase I feel that leaves the little guys behind, plus if anyone ever wanted to message or talk with me, I''d alway try my best to make it so. I can''t promise higher word count either, because for me, peronsally if I tried that, then you''d be given fluff, extra words, slightly more detailed descriptions, but no new main content or anything of importance. I shall let you guys know now though, any cash donated will likely go towards pizza, steam games, and then savings. In that order. I can''t wait to talk, answer any questions, or anything else. As always guys, thanks a bunch for the continued support of my book! Chapter 32 - A Great Big World We were on our way back with a little bit of spring to our step to get the news about Players back to Elzare as soon as possible. We still had a bit more time to ourselves to talk somemore and joke around. I feel it was much needed after everything, plus the idea that players finally came back scares me. They can be a very real threat to me and everyone else. I¡¯ve already sorta accepted that I¡¯m a NPC and can¡¯t respawn, but now I need to cope with the fact there are Players out there who can hold a grudge past death, who can level up over time and seek revenge when ready. The thought of dying by the hands of a man called xXxGoldenshower69xXx in the future made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Trying to put the thoughts aside, I had the need to ask Bronzebeard some questions. ¡°Did you lie to me about your level?¡± He actually looked genuinely confused. ¡°What in sam¡¯s blazes you talking about lass? A dwarf never lies about his level!¡± He held his hand to his chest, even to stop the brisk pace we were walking. ¡°Then how come you haven¡¯t gotten past level 12? Surely with all those names you¡¯ve written down they would equal well over 12!¡± It looked like he was starting to sweat a bit and his face was getting red. ¡°I lied..¡± "I fucking knew it! You fuck, what level are you then?¡± ¡°Hey lass! I said a dwarf don¡¯t lie about his level, I really am 12, but uhh¡± He was stammering a lot and looking away towards where we were walking. ¡°I lied about the list of names ya see. I thought it would uhh.. make me look ¡°bad ass¡± as a certain lass put it the other day.¡± ¡°Then what are all those scrolls then if not names?¡± He rustled around in the familiar big satchel and tossed me the shortest one. Unrolling it a bit revealed the shocking truth. The following scroll read. ¡°Yeah.. uhh.. UHH.. shove that long hard iron ingot deeper into my blazzing furnace, what¡¯s that? Your sword needs cooling off? Ohh.. I think I know where we can get something to cool it off with.¡± ¡°Bronzebeard! You are writing a fucking erotic novel?¡± ¡°What!? How did you know lass?¡± ¡°I just fucking read a part of it!¡± ¡°No! That¡¯s my smithing book I¡¯ve been working on to help young¡¯ns in the field.¡± ¡°How is sexually shoving an iron ingot in a furnace and talking about cooling off a sword going to help anyone?¡± ¡°Heavens to betsy, sexually? You¡¯ve got a rotten mind there lass. If ya read the next line, it says to keep a bucket of water handy to cool the material of the sword¡± ¡°Who was moaning then!?¡± ¡°What do you mean? Ohhh that, well working on a forge can be quite exhausting and heated ya see, figured I¡¯d give them young¡¯ns a glimpse of that by having the character let out tired breaths on occasion.¡± ¡°Bronzebeard.¡± ¡°Yes lass?¡± ¡°I think you''re full of shit and you know it.¡± I could see a small smile forming on the corner of his lips as we walked. There was silence for a bit until a few more questions popped into my mind. ¡°You said you did have an erotic novel though?¡± ¡°Ohh lass.. Looking to get your jimmies rustled? You could always come to me! Why go to the trickled source of a book I wrote?¡± ¡°Fuck you!¡± He then bent over stopping in his tracks. ¡°Well lass! Go ahead! The party you just promised won¡¯t start till something starts bucking¡± I decided to just keep walking ahead, he soon stopped bending over and caught up extremely fast despite his short legs. ¡°It¡¯s called ¡°The Secret Encounters of Mary Sue¡±, sorry for my poor tasted joke.¡± ¡°You must be kidding me! Fucking Elzare was reading that the other day.¡± His eye went bug eyed, his smile even getting even higher. ¡°Fuck¡¯n grey ears!? Really!? You have no idea how happy hearing that just made me lass¡± I think I might¡¯ve actually knew how happy it made him, just by seeing how much more color his face gained. I wonder if they know each other well. ¡°You and Elzare friends?¡± ¡°Aye lass, that we are. Don¡¯t talk too much, but got nothing but respect for ole grey ears. Saved me life more times than I can count. I usually smith him anything he needs for any newly recruited guards, you¡¯d think the captain would be the one to ask that, but I hear he skimps out pretty bad like, you didn¡¯t hear it from me though.¡± Hmm, I actually thought the captain was a pretty good guy based on our few interactions. Guess looks can be deceiving. ¡°Last question beardo.¡± ¡°Ask away lass, never a bother¡± ¡°Do you have some sort of spatial magic or something? Like a players inventory, you know what I¡¯m talking about?¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°That I do, got me a spatial satchel here¡± He pulled out the familiar tankard, I knew it! There was no way those fucking things fit in that. ¡°This one here is 2x2x2 feet wide, ya sorta just try to grab something from it and all the objects pop in your mind, then when you focus on one and grab, then it''s in ya hand. Truly one of the more convenient magics worth havin, though they aren¡¯t cheap.¡± ¡°My pants actually have spatial magic too if ya can believe it, doesn¡¯t have to just be any ole boring looking container, but I hear it''s harder to give more space the smaller the object. Spatial magic is the reason I can carry that shotgun you saw earlier without any awkwardness. Did ya think I just walked around with it strapped to me leg lass?¡± ¡°Maybe..¡± It would also explain why he doesn¡¯t worry about the grenade he keeps in his ¡°Dwarven Vault¡±. ¡°So, how much space does your pants hold?¡± ¡°Lass! You don¡¯t just ask a man that.. but since I¡¯m kind an all, its 3x3x3 feet.¡± ¡°Can I have your satchel then?¡± I didn¡¯t actually want it, well I did, but I just wanted to see how he would react. I wouldn¡¯t take from a friend, I¡¯m not experienced in friendships, but even I knew it was wrong. To my fucking suprise, he had a sad look on his face, but was starting to unstrap it. ¡°I¡¯m kidding Bronzebeard, stop!¡± ¡°Then why did ya ask lass?¡± ¡°I mean, I do want something with spatial magic, but I just wanted to see how you would react. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°If you want somethin with spatial magic, and I have two, then surely I could give ya this one? Isn¡¯t that what friends do?¡± ¡°Yeah, but.. I think, I think friends also don¡¯t ask for things unless they really need it, or don¡¯t take away from the person they are asking in a big way. I can live without spatial magic for now, and you said that it was expensive. I¡¯m sorry for asking, beardo.¡± He didn¡¯t stop taking it off though, he tossed it to me willy nilly like. ¡°Bronzebeard, I can-¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright lass, after hearing you explain, and willing to not take it even when I offered, I know you will be a good friend, and good friends get a little extra special treatment.¡± ¡°Bronzebeard..¡± ¡°And by special treatment, I was thinking of maybe a massa-¡± I learned my lesson last time, instead of punching him or hearing the rest, I just kept walking. The familiar glow of the windowed cabin that is lit up from the candles inside started to enter our vision. Bronzebeard started running for some reason, I knew players coming back was big news, but he jetted off almost leaving smoke behind. ¡°GREY EARS! COME OUT IMPORTANT NEWS¡° Holy hell, talk about subtle, but it worked. Elzare stood in front of him before he even reached the cabins door. ¡°What¡¯s so important to scream at this hour, you perverted dwarf.¡± ¡°Perverted!? That hurts Elzare that really does.¡± I could see him faking his heart hurting and moving his hand to hold it. ¡°Speaking of perverted.. Hmm.. sooo.. I uhhh heard it from a rather tall birdie that-¡± He had a clear pause in his voice, huffing his chest up to point a finger into Elzare¡¯s chest. ¡°You¡¯ve read my book, does a little miss Mary Sue sound familiar?¡± He nudged his finger into Elzare¡¯s chest multiple times, each time landing you could see the grizzled elf''s face redden a bit. ¡°Ohh I bet cha love what she did in chapter 5, I put a lot of heart an soul into that scene, lemme tell ya, used all the vocabulary even the finest dwarven scholars would be jealous of, I bet your jimmies were rustled, cmon grey ears admit it!¡± He was nudging him now with his shoulder. I have a feeling these two are actually closer friends than Bronzebeard let on. Surprisingly, Elzare never retorted, I guess he has his pride and acting out or denying it, might only hurt it more. Finally breaking the silence, Bronzebeard turned serious. ¡°We had to kill a Player in the forest a bit ago. I¡¯m sure you know the importance of that statement.¡± Elzare looked clearly shaken up. I totally understood why too, he experienced the ability to respawn when I played as him, he surely knows the power behind that. ¡°This is bad fucking timing, the captain seems to have run with his tail between his legs during the goblin invasion, and the Elders from the Great Council just gave me this updated map of the undead¡¯s movement.¡± [There should be a map here, sometimes the image hosting sites go down, mobile users please go to landscape mode? I think thats what its called, sideways. It''s likely to still be squished for most phones in my testing, look it up on a monitor if you really wanna see it well.] Looking at the map he held out carefully, I could finally get a glimpse of the world around me. It looks like orange areas belong to dwarfs, purple to elfs, green to humans, and grey was the undead advancing. Looked like the undead were coming from ships based on the poor illustration. ¡°Fucking dwarfs tip!? Really beardo?¡± ¡°Lass! I didn¡¯t name it! Though.. I do agree with it. Hey! Human¡¯s aren¡¯t much better, you think ¡°Humanities reservoir¡± is talking about water? Naye lass, that there bundle of territories on that landmass is some of the most secure possible, it''s a backup plan for all friendly races.¡± ¡°Alright alright, whatever. Hey, I know this may shock you guys.. but uhh.. where are we at even?¡± They kinda both looked at me funny, but sorta understood pretty quickly once they remembered I was fucking unconscious for 10 years. Elzare finally spoke up. ¡°Let¡¯s go inside first, settle down a bit.¡± We all walked into the main room of the cabin, a long table stretched out for us, me and beardo sat on opposite sides while Elzare took the main seat overseeing the rest. I figured it was only right given it being his house an all, plus him being the highest level. Elzare laid the map onto the table for us. ¡°We are in the decent sized village Andril.¡± He pointed on the map towards the outskirts of Stonequake crater. ¡°Located inside of Stonequake Crater, we live near the outside of the main city people refer to simply as Stonequake. For some reason long before I was born, something caused a giant crater in the land around us, to many people''s surprise though, the land flourished even more, as opposed to being destroyed. The surrounding forests started expanding to the very depths of the newly formed crater at an incredible pace. The crater provided lot of things, instead of taking away, it provided a flat center to work the new highly nutritious land with, jagged rocks protruding from the edges of the crater like artificial mountains providing even more natural defence, that alone plus the mountains that were already here to begin with, made the choice easy for humans to make this their capital. The place eventually got so much traffic, the city started expanding multiple times over and soon became the giant foothold humans have on this world. The walls are giant and well built, sturdier than even the mountains near its border. There probably isn¡¯t a safer place in this world than inside the deep walls of Stonequake, even further backed up behind the military force reaching the millions.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s updated since the last map in terms of the undead then?¡± ¡°The undead have completely taken over the northwestern landmass, it wasn¡¯t like this before, even advancing in blotches across the frozen anomalies towards Stonequake. The only undead space occupied before was the area you see near Khazaltin, but the dwarfs seem to keep them at bay from advancing further.¡± ¡°Aye!¡± Bronzebeard chipped in for his racial pride. ¡°But it looks like the undead have completely wrecked the Elves, all these sighted advancements lead me to believe there is a bigger undead camp close to us that hasn¡¯t been sighted yet and took it upon themselves to enslave, transform, or somehow control the local goblins around us into undead minions and attack the village. That large force, was probably on the spot acquired and we were the small fries.¡± ¡°When was the map last updated?¡± ¡°About a month ago..¡± Elzare''s voice traveled. For them to have taken so much land in a month is astonishing and worrisome. ¡°Rosie, I need to leave. I need to tell help with defence for the Elves and stop them from getting into Stonequake. First I¡¯m going to find whatever remaining undead there are that reside here, talk with the Elders, then go to the front lines, maybe get some backup from the dwarfs too.¡± He paused for a moment. ¡°I hope I¡¯m not wrong about you¡± Silence entered the air as he vanished without a trace.
Title Earned ¡°Keeper of Andril¡±
Chapter 33 - Loneliness
Title Earned ¡°Keeper of Andril¡±
Too long, didn¡¯t read summary
You are now the keeper of Andril, a keeper loses 20% of their stats while away from the place they are to protect, but gains 10% while in it. Keepers have part of their soul stored in a crystal inside Stonequake, an Elder checks them everyday, if a crystal is broken, then either the place has been destroyed or the keeper has died. Should the place have fallen, you permanently lose 20% of your stats. The crystals color is based on the keepers class and personality. A keeper has a large amount of control over how the place is ruled, as long as monthly taxes are still payed to Stonequake, and no extreme abnormalities are seen when the tax collector inspects the area. All NPCs living there are notified of who you are and what your role is.
Long summary, extra lore.
You are now the keeper of Andril, passed on the title from half-elf Elzare. A keeper''s duty is to protect the place they are assigned to. The first keeper and their respective place assigned to came from the Great Elders that are held up in Stonequake Tower. The first assignment of a keeper to any one place was held inside Stonequake Tower, where the elders would imbue part of the keeper''s soul into a magic crystal reducing their overall stats by 20%. This negative effect was in place to allow for powerful positive magical effects. A keeper can see the list of all residents names in a new window, their health, class, profession, and location. A keeper also gains the 20% stats lost when within the designated place to protect, as well as a bonus of 10%. Should the keeper pass the title along, they regain the stats lost, and the keepers crystal soul is replaced with the new keeper. Should a keeper¡¯s latest ¡°bloodline¡± die, the crystal will crack in half and lose all magical power. Should the place you are suppose to protect be destroyed, the crystal will break and you permanently lose those stats. The Elders chose the original keepers with close eyes, they wholeheartedly trusted them and decided that they could pass the title along to ease the already full plate of the Elders, as such any keeper chosen is automatically respected and accepted by the Elders without bias, should the keeper fail their duties or give reason to think the choice was wrong, they can and will replace them. A keeper has large control over the place they protect, how it¡¯s built, who can live in it, who''s protecting or patrolling the area, they can do anything they please so long as the required taxes are paid at the beginning of each month. The person sent to collect taxes will also inspect the area monthy, to make sure you are not cheating the city or governing the area to an unfair degree. The Great Elder of knowledge holds all the keepers crystals in the library wing of Stonequake Tower, should he see one of the crystals broken on his daily routine, he will act on it immediately. The color the crystal glows is different for each keeper, based on numerous things like class and personality for example. The title of keeper was desperately needed back in 2AU(2 years after update). Undead were appearing all over the place, not enough manpower could be managed from simple soldiers whose level rarely passed 30. The city of Elenfall, located to the west of Stonequake was completely destroyed under the cities watch. No bodies remained, not a living soul was left in the mass destruction the undead caused. Why call upon the thousands when warriors from all over the world could take their place instead? The Elders chose and asked upon the highest level friendly beings across the land to ask for peace and to stop the undead''s sneak attacks to low level areas. A keeper''s race, gender, social status, or anything else is is irrelevant to them, you will see a great variety from one place to the next.
Jesus christ, what a fucking mouthful. My head was pounding as I slowly read the gigantic window before me. Bronzebeard and I were still sitting on the table after Elzare disappeared. ¡°Well it''s getting pretty late lass, this dwarf is going to retire for the night soon. Will you be alright with ole grey ears gone? Lonely lassie in a dark cabin forest sounds scary to me. If ya want I can sleep over! ¡° That did actually sound like a good idea, but I wonder if the pervert would try anything. Actually I wanted independence anyway, so I decided against it. ¡°Maybe another time beards, I need to get used to this world one way or another. ¡° ¡°Such a shame! An here I planned ghost stories, maybe we could''ve did our nails up real nice like and then once it was really late.. We could''ve..¡± ¡°Goodnight beardo! Don''t let the door hit your short butt.¡± ¡°Short! Lass, you¡¯re hurting me over here! I like to call it a racial benefit! You¡¯ve any idea the view you get down here with certain lassies!?¡± ¡°You pervert! Go back and hammer your sword or whatever it is you do.¡± ¡°Alright, alright. Good night lass, I¡¯ll be off¡± Bronzebeard pulled himself up from the chair and left the cabin, carefully closing the door behind him. Part of me actually wanted him to stay, the thought of being all alone in a dark cabin forest, lit only by candles in the middle of a fucking forest scared the hell out of me, even more so because of my current passive that plagues me. Oh my fucking god, I''m the new keeper now, and it said it notifies everyone who I am and what my role is, that means people all around here know that Elzare must''ve passed it down, maybe they think he''s dead or gone. Would they loot his cabin now? I don¡¯t know, I doubt the notification told the people of my level though or most would act on it. I steeled my tired butt to blow out the candles down here, go upstairs and try to get some good sleep. I inspected the front door for any type of lock, to my disappointment there was none. I guess someone as high of level as Elzare has little need for such primitive things. I walked up the stairs and did the same to my door, again to my surprise there actually was a bolt style lock! Did Elzare consider my privacy? I forgot to add him as a friend! Thinking hard, I spoke in my mind. ¡°Send Friend Request Elzare¡±.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!
Friend Request Denied
What!? Why would he.. I don¡¯t want to dwell on it. I guess we weren¡¯t really friends anyway, I hardly know much about him, besides what I played, but he''s already lived longer than I have ever played as him. I know about his family, but I think he was letting that out mostly for himself on that day. Pushing any bad or sad thoughts from my mind, I locked the door and embraced my goddess. I just realized that Elzare probably finished drying them from a few days ago and wrapped them around me while I was unconscious. He really is a good man/half elf I don¡¯t even know anymore. With the warm feeling of safety wrapped around me, I closed my eyes feeling extremely tired. The problem is, sleep never came to me. I found myself constantly opening my eyes scanning the room. The wooden figure of my armor in the one corner nearly made me soil myself. The shadows of the trees from the moonlight looked haunting. An eerie sound of the night was constantly barraging me. I was absolutely horrified. I¡¯m alone right now, level 1, with no means to defend myself. I quickly scattered to my feet in a rush almost falling over, pulling off the armor from the wooden figure, quickly equipping it all, without even inspecting any improvements Bronzebeard might¡¯ve made. Flashbacks of the dreadful first day at the forest assaulted my mind, I was powerless, I am powerless. I soon found myself huddled in the corner of my room, fully equipped with even a sword in my hand, inspecting even the slightest movements around me. Maybe my superior equipment could beat someone of a level or two higher than me. I found myself not being able to close my eyes for even a moment, they were darting everywhere in the lonely brown cabin walls. Especially towards the door. I was expecting something to start knocking or hitting hard on it for some reason, it was locked, but in my mind it was locked for a reason now. That scared me even more. I finally heard something I didn''t want to. It sounded like a quick tap on my window, I very nearly did soil myself. Steeling myself again to inspect it, there was a tree branch that finally reached my window from the night winds that were picking up. Running back to my corner, I tried to calm myself. Again the sound of tapping repeatedly. Now I thought I heard the sound of people walking below me. I couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore, I was going absolutely crazy, I found myself crying in the corner for what felt like hours. A strange feeling of warmth entered my ear after a bit, the corner of my eye saw a blue glow. ¡°It¡¯s alright, you didn¡¯t think I¡¯d still call myself a dwarf if I didn¡¯t look out for you lassie? I thought I¡¯d keep an eye out from the nearby trees make sure nothing happened, wasn¡¯t going to show myself or hurt your pride, but seeing you crying there breaks me heart. I¡¯ll be there in a couple minutes so don¡¯t be alarmed.¡± The sound of his sweet jolly voice entering my eyes in the lonely hours of the night as I was huddled in a corner, instantly released me of my trance. Excited to see him, I rushed the door open and ran down the stairs. Dark green eyes from the pitch black first floor below were visible, I instantly turned around and started crawling up the stairs. I fell down back into my second floor bedroom tumbling, scooting backwards as the eyes got closer. I could feel my heart about to jump out. Soon they entered the radius or my dresser candle, I could see it clearly now. It had dark black fur that glowed against the candle, almost majestic, huge whiskers, fangs as long as my arm, and pupils like that of a feline creature. It approached me closer and closer, I found myself shaking an uncontrollable sob, completely losing myself. I closed my eyes, fully prepared to be a meal. A warm, sharp sensation was happening on the right side of my face, it was sorta rough, but almost soft too. Opening my eyes, I saw the creature was licking me, was.. was it getting a taste first? I closed my eyes again not wanting to accept my fate. Soon the soft bristles of its fur were rubbed against me with enough force to move my neck. I¡¯ve only played with a few cats before as Ryu, but this was friendly behavior as far as I could tell. Slowly peeling my eyes open again, I tried to wrap my hand around the beast up to its ears to rub them. As soon as I reached one of its ears, the creature instantly laid down onto me as I was backed up against my bed. I could feel the vibrations of the beast purring throughout my entire body. ¡°Oye! Berry! I thought I told you to keep a close eye on her, but maintain distance!¡± a sweet dwarven voice was spoken from the doorway. He looked stern now ¡°You could¡¯ve scared the lass! Cmere boy.¡± The giant tiger like creature jumped towards Bronzebeard, knocking him to the floor as the creature licked his face. I think I might know why his beard always looked so shiny now.. ¡°Alright, alright! That''s enough Berry.¡± The beast listened and stood to the side of the dwarf that lay on his back as he steadied himself up. ¡°Hey lassie! Fancy meeting you here!¡± I don¡¯t know why, I guess the mental battle of the night, but I rushed to him on my knees and hugged him as tight as I could. ¡°Lass.. It¡¯s alright now¡± I felt a solid pat on my back. ¡°Sorry about Berry there, likes to interpret commands in his own way sometimes. My class is a hunter if ya didn¡¯t know, hence the shotgun in my vault and this here beastie.¡± I wasn¡¯t really listening, I was just tired and shocked from the night. I was actually falling asleep while being on my knees comforted by Bronzebeard''s hug. Darkness crept over me. The big guy in the sky assaulted my eyes again, ripping them open with hulk like strength. Going over the events of last night, I looked around me. I felt an extremely soft and warm thing wrapped around me. Rubbing my hands towards it, It was fur, very clean and lovely fur. Berry. Berry was cuddled up beside me, his giant head right next to mine, smelling of bad breath. He was kinda cute though. The second thing I noticed was a loud snoring from somewhere. Stretching my neck and body, but not enough to bother Berry, I saw a dwarf completely sound asleep, just in the middle of the fucking floor. No pillow, blankets, or anything at all. That¡¯s not right. Slowly creeping out the bed, Berry woke up and looked at me. ¡°Shhh, just wanna put Bronzebeard in the bed, I feel bad he''s in the floor.¡± That calmed the beast down and he layed back down comfortably. Inching over towards the dwarf in the floor, I slowly wrapped my arms under him. I hope I have enough strength for this. The answer was, that I didn¡¯t. I couldn''t lift him a single inch. Trying with all my might with my eyes closed, he started to raise though. Looking around I saw the large beast grab him by the shirt and fucking fling him towards the bed. He landed with a thud. Freaking out by what just happened, looking at Berry and back towards the bed, I soon heard snores. My god talk about a heavy fucking sleeper! Chapter 34 - Temporary Safety ¡°Hey beardo, I just.. I wanted to really thank you for last night, I was losing my mind, I¡¯m not sure what I would¡¯ve done.¡± I was speaking to the groggy dwarf as he was getting into a sitting position on the bed. I was a bit gung ho and didn¡¯t even let him really collect himself, I just wanted to sincerely thank him. ¡°Hrnnmm? Who¡¯s a whats it now? Last night? Oh my, did we.. ya know?¡± ¡°Absolutely not!¡± ¡°Then what an sams blazes are you thanking me for?¡± ¡°For.. for not leaving me alone in this god forsaken cabin forest while I''m only level 1 with no means to protect myself. I know I said I was fine, but I was just being stubborn, I wanted to not rely on anyone anymore.. But that was just dumb of me.¡± ¡°Lass-¡± he paused as he was rubbing his eyes clear ¡°If that¡¯s all you are thanking me for, then don¡¯t mention it. I told you before I couldn¡¯t call meself a dwarf if I simply shrugged your stubborn self off and went home. Wouldn''t have got a wink of sleep anywho. ¡± A low purr resounded the room, as the familiar large beast tackled Bronzebeard back into a laying position, shining up his oh so signature beard with disgusting saliva. This went on for a couple of minutes before Berry finally let up, and Bronzebeard rose again. I needed to ask him a favor. ¡°You know I¡¯m the keeper now right? You got some notification or something the moment Elzare decided this crazy thing.¡± ¡°Aye, that I did lass, as does the rest of the citizens of Andril¡± ¡°Did it have any mention of my location or level.¡± ¡°Hmmm.. not as far as I remember, it just said Rosie has been bestowed the title of Keeper from half-elf Elzare, the worrying thing wasn¡¯t the level or location, but the fact it said Rosie.. Now I already figured you and Rosalin were the same person, because I have the privilege to talk with you a bit, and I¡¯ve got brains to match this here dwarven brawn!... but I¡¯m pretty sure some townsfolk got a bone to pick with you from those guards you done an killed¡± Fuck. He¡¯s absolutely right. Man this really sucks. I didn¡¯t want any of this, now I can¡¯t really leave or abandon this place can I? I guess I could give the title to someone else, but then that betrays Elzare¡¯s trust, the first person to help me in this cruel and godforsaken world. ¡°Do you know if the citizens have to obey me now due to my status?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t have to obey you, though you can kick any NPC out of the place, the magic of the crystal up in the old cooks towers would severely debuff them if they are in the vicinity, should be child''s play to inforce a little law from that point if you go down that route¡­ though I wouldn¡¯t recommend that, lassie. If you make an example of one npc, others will see, and the tax collector may say you aren¡¯t worthy of being a keeper if the entire place is against you. It won''t be pretty lass, when the elders decide to replace a keeper, it''s exactly that. You disappear, a new one takes the spot.¡±¡® ¡°Bronzebeard, can I please ask a favor?¡± ¡°Anything within this dwarfs power lass.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t really wrap my mind around this keeper stuff right away and I doubt I could manage anything with my current stats. I don¡¯t want to feel powerless either, can I please stay with you until this wears off? Teach me some more smithing and anything you know about keepers?¡± ¡°Hmmm.. ya see, I¡¯m a busy dwarf, how could I evvvverr have time for a lass like you to be pesterin me all day with questions?¡± He spoke teasingly, I decided to hug the short dwarf in front of me again. ¡°I guess you won¡¯t be a bother, we can figure out the rest later, I also don¡¯t think you want people seeing your face or knowing who you are, might wanna get a cloak or somethin, in fact, I¡¯ll scurry along back right now, bring some things back in a little. Think you can manage without these strong, sexy dwarven arms!??¡± Beardo was flexing again, one foot on my bed, Berry let out a primal roar behind him, almost agreeing with what his master was saying. ¡°I think I can just about manage for a little, don¡¯t let your ego get too big now Beardo.¡± ¡°Lass! An ego is a dwarfs second biggest thing!¡± Good god, I don¡¯t want to know what the first is. I shoed him along before I would ever ask. ¡°Alright, can you please go now? I wanna wash up and prepare for what I¡¯m sure to be a crazy day.¡± The day proceeded forward, pretty much exactly to plan. I ended up showering again in the back with the bucket, water trickled from my hand as a bar of soap glided over my body. I then used Noble Upkeep to straighten my far too green baggy clothes. Beardo ended up coming back shortly after that, he held a decent sewed hood in his hand and presented it towards me. ¡°This should help a little lass, but I¡¯m worried about your height, it¡¯s not exactly normal if you haven¡¯t noticed. There aren¡¯t enough elfs here to make your height not such a hot question.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Bronzebeard was looking down, pondering what to do. Soon he ended up rummaging around to another one of his mysterious satchels. ¡°This will only work for a few days, got it a while ago. It¡¯s suppose to let you change your looks to whatever you imagine in the moment you consume it. Some say you fly up into the air and create a new you, I never personally used the stuff. How could you want something other than this handsome mug! I was hesitant to use this though, was hoping the hood would do the job, but looking at you tower over me tells me it won¡¯t be enough. You¡¯ll owe me lass, this stuff wasn¡¯t cheap.¡± Feeling kind of bad, but out of choices, I took the purple vial he held in his hand. Slowly taking a sip, my vision faded and blurred, twisted and distorted shooting upward.
Who are you?
Truth Half-Truth Lie
Three figures stood before me, floating aimlessly in the air. I had no control over the looks, it seemed to be predefined. Hovering under the blue bar of truth stood a shocking sight.. It was me. Not Rosie, instead Ryu. Standing at about a modest 5¡¯11, brown hair, eyes, a thin dangly figure who clearly hasn¡¯t seen a day of hard work, staring at me, he was breathing, blinking, and moving around slightly. This was the most bizarre thing I ever experienced. Looking down I could still see I was Rosie. Underneath Half-Truth stood a slightly shorter Rosie, with brown hair instead of blonde, brown eyes, and a common look to her, but still managing to be very gorgeous. Last but not least, underneath Lie stood a strong broad man, roughly 6 feet tall, muscles stacked on top muscles, blonde rugged hair, and deep blue eyes. So this is apparently my lying version of myself ehh? Well that''s a kick to the balls. Thinking hard over what the following few days may hold, and feelin kinda homesick and nostalgic, I decided to pick truth. The world started flowing back to me, I felt incredible pain swooshing through me, the sound of bones cracking, my spine was changing shape, I could barely glimpse Bronzebeard recoiling in shock. ¡°Lass! You okay?¡± Before I could answer, the full features of my body were formed, to my surprise, instead of comfort, I felt awkward now being back in this weak body. ¡°My word! I knew the potion was amazing, but hot damn I didn¡¯t know you can change gender!? You are a man now right? Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have gave that up.. I can imagine some things to do as a gir-- nevermind. More importantly, you okay! That looked like hell.¡± Trying to speak with my now changed vocal chords, a familiar and sad voice came out. ¡°I¡¯m alright beardo, thank you.¡± It was a weak voice that held no authority, no power, no meaning. ¡°Good to hear! Guess I should start calling you lad now, ehh!?¡± I felt a hearty pat on my back. I didn¡¯t expect Bronzebeard to take this so well, part of me always though he was so nice to me because of my uhh.. Womanly features before, but the heartfelt pat I just had on my back, reassured me completely, this man was a good one. ¡°Or maybe you have an alias you came up with, any name you¡¯d prefer?¡± Silently thinking for a moment while I was standing in far too baggy clothes, 2 times over now with the difference of height that just occurred, I finally replied. ¡°Ryu.¡± ¡°Ryu it is lad! My guess is no one should have any clue at all who you are now, let¡¯s get you a change of clothes and head back to my wooden fortress of sleepatude¡± Bronzebeard carried a jolly jog to him as he walked forward brimming with confidence. Just how does he do it? Slowly moving one foot in front of the other, I eventually managed a pace that wasn¡¯t completely awkward or deadly with my footing. Eventually we were back at his cabin, I was wearing the hood just in case, was an awkward trip back here in these gigantic clothes, but manageable. Beardo left again, and soon came back throwing small clothes my way, the same god forsaken boring green colors, I wanted to cry but didn¡¯t want to insult him after he went so far. Scurrying along to the familiar room with the tub in it, I changed into them. Soon comfort wrapped around me, perfectly fitting nice snug clothes, these weren¡¯t baggy in the least. I started to wonder if the baggy side effect was because of the craftsmen working so hard to accommodate such an extreme height, but surely that wasn¡¯t the case right? I soon found myself hammering away at iron, in the shape of a dagger, albeit far from perfect, as Bronzebeard was screaming behind me, telling me every single detail, how to mold the metal, how to shape it, how hard to hit, how often. We spent the next three days working metal, talking about keepers and enjoying each others company, even still now that I was a man. I think Bronzebeard is someone I can honestly call a friend, not just a in game title anymore, but a genuine friend. Eventually I managed to make a dagger, I decided I wanted a dagger to have stored away in case my main weapon were to ever be missing or unavailable, me and beardo also made a large adjustable strap for it to my leg, even adjustable enough to fit back on Rosie when I change back. It was pretty shitty to be honest, but it was something to call my own, with very little assistance besides verbal.
Shoddy Dagger
A shoddy dagger that is far from the perfect shape of a dagger, it''s made rather large and will be hard to use for those without the height and hands to handle it. +7 Damage
Made by Godsmith beginner Rosie
Adjustable Dagger Sheath
A fairly well made dagger sheath that can be strapped on to many different places or many different widths. +1 Defence
Made by Godsmith Bronzebeard, and Godsmith beginner Rosie
Our talks about keepers weren¡¯t very useful though sadly, it seems the first message box I got awhile back ago, really did have a shit ton of into on it. I still don¡¯t really know the game plan from here out, I decided though while working with Bronzebeard, this was my home now. This will be the place I come back to, these people will be those who I swear to protect, this will be my safety, this will be my place to call my own, to improve, to work towards a better life, a safe life. Perhaps introduce proper plumbing with Bronzebeards help, make a belltower to alert everyone, build better houses, get some proper guard schedules, emergency plans and a confident commander. I don¡¯t want to be powerless in this world, ever again. This will be my power, my foothold, my strength. I will improve myself and the place I hold out in. I can¡¯t be be better than everyone in this world, but with the support of Bronzebeard and maybe an entire village willing to improve, then just maybe I can have the advantage over most. Chapter 34 - Temporary Safety ¡°Hey beardo, I just.. I wanted to really thank you for last night, I was losing my mind, I¡¯m not sure what I would¡¯ve done.¡± I was speaking to the groggy dwarf as he was getting into a sitting position on the bed. I was a bit gung ho and didn¡¯t even let him really collect himself, I just wanted to sincerely thank him. ¡°Hrnnmm? Who¡¯s a whats it now? Last night? Oh my, did we.. ya know?¡± ¡°Absolutely not!¡± ¡°Then what an sams blazes are you thanking me for?¡± ¡°For.. for not leaving me alone in this god forsaken cabin forest while I''m only level 1 with no means to protect myself. I know I said I was fine, but I was just being stubborn, I wanted to not rely on anyone anymore.. But that was just dumb of me.¡± ¡°Lass-¡± he paused as he was rubbing his eyes clear ¡°If that¡¯s all you are thanking me for, then don¡¯t mention it. I told you before I couldn¡¯t call meself a dwarf if I simply shrugged your stubborn self off and went home. Wouldn''t have got a wink of sleep anywho. ¡± A low purr resounded the room, as the familiar large beast tackled Bronzebeard back into a laying position, shining up his oh so signature beard with disgusting saliva. This went on for a couple of minutes before Berry finally let up, and Bronzebeard rose again. I needed to ask him a favor. ¡°You know I¡¯m the keeper now right? You got some notification or something the moment Elzare decided this crazy thing.¡± ¡°Aye, that I did lass, as does the rest of the citizens of Andril¡± ¡°Did it have any mention of my location or level.¡± ¡°Hmmm.. not as far as I remember, it just said Rosie has been bestowed the title of Keeper from half-elf Elzare, the worrying thing wasn¡¯t the level or location, but the fact it said Rosie.. Now I already figured you and Rosalin were the same person, because I have the privilege to talk with you a bit, and I¡¯ve got brains to match this here dwarven brawn!... but I¡¯m pretty sure some townsfolk got a bone to pick with you from those guards you done an killed¡± Fuck. He¡¯s absolutely right. Man this really sucks. I didn¡¯t want any of this, now I can¡¯t really leave or abandon this place can I? I guess I could give the title to someone else, but then that betrays Elzare¡¯s trust, the first person to help me in this cruel and godforsaken world. ¡°Do you know if the citizens have to obey me now due to my status?¡± ¡°They don¡¯t have to obey you, though you can kick any NPC out of the place, the magic of the crystal up in the old cooks towers would severely debuff them if they are in the vicinity, should be child''s play to inforce a little law from that point if you go down that route¡­ though I wouldn¡¯t recommend that, lassie. If you make an example of one npc, others will see, and the tax collector may say you aren¡¯t worthy of being a keeper if the entire place is against you. It won''t be pretty lass, when the elders decide to replace a keeper, it''s exactly that. You disappear, a new one takes the spot.¡±¡® ¡°Bronzebeard, can I please ask a favor?¡± ¡°Anything within this dwarfs power lass.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t really wrap my mind around this keeper stuff right away and I doubt I could manage anything with my current stats. I don¡¯t want to feel powerless either, can I please stay with you until this wears off? Teach me some more smithing and anything you know about keepers?¡± ¡°Hmmm.. ya see, I¡¯m a busy dwarf, how could I evvvverr have time for a lass like you to be pesterin me all day with questions?¡± He spoke teasingly, I decided to hug the short dwarf in front of me again. ¡°I guess you won¡¯t be a bother, we can figure out the rest later, I also don¡¯t think you want people seeing your face or knowing who you are, might wanna get a cloak or somethin, in fact, I¡¯ll scurry along back right now, bring some things back in a little. Think you can manage without these strong, sexy dwarven arms!??¡± Beardo was flexing again, one foot on my bed, Berry let out a primal roar behind him, almost agreeing with what his master was saying. ¡°I think I can just about manage for a little, don¡¯t let your ego get too big now Beardo.¡± ¡°Lass! An ego is a dwarfs second biggest thing!¡± Good god, I don¡¯t want to know what the first is. I shoed him along before I would ever ask. ¡°Alright, can you please go now? I wanna wash up and prepare for what I¡¯m sure to be a crazy day.¡± The day proceeded forward, pretty much exactly to plan. I ended up showering again in the back with the bucket, water trickled from my hand as a bar of soap glided over my body. I then used Noble Upkeep to straighten my far too green baggy clothes. Beardo ended up coming back shortly after that, he held a decent sewed hood in his hand and presented it towards me. ¡°This should help a little lass, but I¡¯m worried about your height, it¡¯s not exactly normal if you haven¡¯t noticed. There aren¡¯t enough elfs here to make your height not such a hot question.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Bronzebeard was looking down, pondering what to do. Soon he ended up rummaging around to another one of his mysterious satchels. ¡°This will only work for a few days, got it a while ago. It¡¯s suppose to let you change your looks to whatever you imagine in the moment you consume it. Some say you fly up into the air and create a new you, I never personally used the stuff. How could you want something other than this handsome mug! I was hesitant to use this though, was hoping the hood would do the job, but looking at you tower over me tells me it won¡¯t be enough. You¡¯ll owe me lass, this stuff wasn¡¯t cheap.¡± Feeling kind of bad, but out of choices, I took the purple vial he held in his hand. Slowly taking a sip, my vision faded and blurred, twisted and distorted shooting upward.
Who are you?
Truth Half-Truth Lie
Three figures stood before me, floating aimlessly in the air. I had no control over the looks, it seemed to be predefined. Hovering under the blue bar of truth stood a shocking sight.. It was me. Not Rosie, instead Ryu. Standing at about a modest 5¡¯11, brown hair, eyes, a thin dangly figure who clearly hasn¡¯t seen a day of hard work, staring at me, he was breathing, blinking, and moving around slightly. This was the most bizarre thing I ever experienced. Looking down I could still see I was Rosie. Underneath Half-Truth stood a slightly shorter Rosie, with brown hair instead of blonde, brown eyes, and a common look to her, but still managing to be very gorgeous. Last but not least, underneath Lie stood a strong broad man, roughly 6 feet tall, muscles stacked on top muscles, blonde rugged hair, and deep blue eyes. So this is apparently my lying version of myself ehh? Well that''s a kick to the balls. Thinking hard over what the following few days may hold, and feelin kinda homesick and nostalgic, I decided to pick truth. The world started flowing back to me, I felt incredible pain swooshing through me, the sound of bones cracking, my spine was changing shape, I could barely glimpse Bronzebeard recoiling in shock. ¡°Lass! You okay?¡± Before I could answer, the full features of my body were formed, to my surprise, instead of comfort, I felt awkward now being back in this weak body. ¡°My word! I knew the potion was amazing, but hot damn I didn¡¯t know you can change gender!? You are a man now right? Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have gave that up.. I can imagine some things to do as a gir-- nevermind. More importantly, you okay! That looked like hell.¡± Trying to speak with my now changed vocal chords, a familiar and sad voice came out. ¡°I¡¯m alright beardo, thank you.¡± It was a weak voice that held no authority, no power, no meaning. ¡°Good to hear! Guess I should start calling you lad now, ehh!?¡± I felt a hearty pat on my back. I didn¡¯t expect Bronzebeard to take this so well, part of me always though he was so nice to me because of my uhh.. Womanly features before, but the heartfelt pat I just had on my back, reassured me completely, this man was a good one. ¡°Or maybe you have an alias you came up with, any name you¡¯d prefer?¡± Silently thinking for a moment while I was standing in far too baggy clothes, 2 times over now with the difference of height that just occurred, I finally replied. ¡°Ryu.¡± ¡°Ryu it is lad! My guess is no one should have any clue at all who you are now, let¡¯s get you a change of clothes and head back to my wooden fortress of sleepatude¡± Bronzebeard carried a jolly jog to him as he walked forward brimming with confidence. Just how does he do it? Slowly moving one foot in front of the other, I eventually managed a pace that wasn¡¯t completely awkward or deadly with my footing. Eventually we were back at his cabin, I was wearing the hood just in case, was an awkward trip back here in these gigantic clothes, but manageable. Beardo left again, and soon came back throwing small clothes my way, the same god forsaken boring green colors, I wanted to cry but didn¡¯t want to insult him after he went so far. Scurrying along to the familiar room with the tub in it, I changed into them. Soon comfort wrapped around me, perfectly fitting nice snug clothes, these weren¡¯t baggy in the least. I started to wonder if the baggy side effect was because of the craftsmen working so hard to accommodate such an extreme height, but surely that wasn¡¯t the case right? I soon found myself hammering away at iron, in the shape of a dagger, albeit far from perfect, as Bronzebeard was screaming behind me, telling me every single detail, how to mold the metal, how to shape it, how hard to hit, how often. We spent the next three days working metal, talking about keepers and enjoying each others company, even still now that I was a man. I think Bronzebeard is someone I can honestly call a friend, not just a in game title anymore, but a genuine friend. Eventually I managed to make a dagger, I decided I wanted a dagger to have stored away in case my main weapon were to ever be missing or unavailable, me and beardo also made a large adjustable strap for it to my leg, even adjustable enough to fit back on Rosie when I change back. It was pretty shitty to be honest, but it was something to call my own, with very little assistance besides verbal.
Shoddy Dagger
A shoddy dagger that is far from the perfect shape of a dagger, it''s made rather large and will be hard to use for those without the height and hands to handle it. +7 Damage
Made by Godsmith beginner Rosie
Adjustable Dagger Sheath
A fairly well made dagger sheath that can be strapped on to many different places or many different widths. +1 Defence
Made by Godsmith Bronzebeard, and Godsmith beginner Rosie
Our talks about keepers weren¡¯t very useful though sadly, it seems the first message box I got awhile back ago, really did have a shit ton of into on it. I still don¡¯t really know the game plan from here out, I decided though while working with Bronzebeard, this was my home now. This will be the place I come back to, these people will be those who I swear to protect, this will be my safety, this will be my place to call my own, to improve, to work towards a better life, a safe life. Perhaps introduce proper plumbing with Bronzebeards help, make a belltower to alert everyone, build better houses, get some proper guard schedules, emergency plans and a confident commander. I don¡¯t want to be powerless in this world, ever again. This will be my power, my foothold, my strength. I will improve myself and the place I hold out in. I can¡¯t be be better than everyone in this world, but with the support of Bronzebeard and maybe an entire village willing to improve, then just maybe I can have the advantage over most. Author Update(way too late) Hello everyone! I hope everyone has been well, I just wanted to say, that I''m working on a new chapter as I type this up! I know some people really like the story, and have even written in well being messages to me since I''ve sorta disapeared. I''m going to get a little personal here for a second, if you''ve read up to this point, there are certainly some darker themes to the story, and I''d like to say that this is highly influenced by me. What I mean by that is, my life hasn''t been super peachy and i''ve been struggling. I''m 20 years old, and i''ve just recenlty started going to therapy, taking better care of my asthma, as well as searching for employment. Trying to better myself, has.. well.. taken a lot of me, so much so that I couldn''t stomach writing anymore or coming back after so long. However deciding that i did enjoy it, and most the comments here have always been nice and friendly, I will continue it. However! I''ve also decied that I come first, ALWAYS. Mental health is a serious thing that is like a pendulum to me, always changing. So there will be breaks, there will not be a neat schedule, and I won''t be consistent. This is the second long break i''ve taken, the first being a bit ago for about three months. So if that really ruffles your feathers or doesnt sit well with you, then I''d have to politly ask that you maybe find another story to keep ya preocupied.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. With all that being said, I''m getting back to work on the chapter! Aim is at least 3k words as always, and I''m going to try to add a nice little touch to reflect how long I''ve been gone into the story itself. The chapter might take all day, or a couple, I''m going to take it upon myself to read the story up to this point a few times to make sure the flow is right, if ya know what I mean? Love ya all! Hope I still have some followers and look forward to the comments! P.s. My imgur account seems to have just.. well vanished! Most my artwork is gone cuz im a dummy, and my profile picture as well, I''ll fix em up later, the next chapter comes first! Chapter 35 - A Time Lost
Chapter 35 - A Time Lost
All around me were echoes of the past. Some soldiers I once knew are now looking at me ghastly, flesh torn from their face like a crow buffet. Bones empty, hollow, shattered and broken. Armor clanking loosely to the now ill fitting bodies they are attached to. The skull of one of these soldiers stood only inches from me. I could see into its empty hollow eyes a pure feeling of dread and sadness. ¡°The poor bastards¡± I thought to myself. In the next moment a red aura was emanating from me, slowly creeping towards the skeleton head, like invisible limbs, like vines growing upon a tree at the speed of light. My aura reached into the eye sockets of the poor soul. Similar to a hand with its thumbs in the skulls sockets. *crack* It¡¯s skull now cracked into two pieces and casually thrown aside without mention or a break in my stride. All upon me were the sounds. *crack* *break* *whistle* *BOOM* This was a battlefield. One that wasn¡¯t in our favour. Looking around at the dead icy tundra before us, I could see thous... No.. perhaps millions of undead pouring in at every turn. Like a swarm of cockroaches that just wouldn''t give up. I even thought back on my past life of Ryu, thinking to myself if a nuke would even help. My breath was now a cold red mist huffed before my eyes. You¡¯d be inclined to think it was blood, perhaps it even was, however I sustained no injuries yet. Just a deep crimson red mist was before me with each troubled breath, what have I become? My breath frozen in mid air was turned to tiny brilliant red crystals that drilled the air before them before falling and breaking. Whizzing past one another with a majestic but casual stroll. Losing myself to my breath, I quickly realized I was neglecting my comrades. Fatal wounds all around me from the incoming horde quickly snapped me back, horrid screams of pains as axes landed firmly in my comrades backs. Silence. Just silence.
POV Change, Rosie To Eldamore, Squad Leader, Front Line
The wounds I have are too many, our front line faltered. Did we ever really stand a chance against these numbers? That odd fellow Elzare certainly helped, hell I¡¯d give a thousand men any day to have more of him! Even with his help though, there¡¯s just too.. damn many. Lost in thought I failed to realize I¡¯ve been flanked. The circle of undead have closed before me. Most my squad is likely.. Well.. I can think about that later, perhaps in the afterlife. ¡°not without a GOD DAMN FIGHT FIRST THOUGH!¡± I screamed as loud as my collapsed lungs would allow me, grabbing my battle axe with all my might, my hand clenched tight enough to almost draw blood. ¡°ARHHHGHH¡± ¡°One little, two little, three little skeletons..¡± ¡°Four little, five little, six little spines..¡± ¡°Seven little, eight little, nine little rib cages..¡± ¡°And ten skeletons down!¡± I ended up stomping to the beat like a child enjoying a game. Skulls flying off in every direction, bones being cut clean in half. I truly do thank the blacksmith that made this axe, god could it cut like butter. I should remember the name firmly before I die on this day. I believe it was Bronzebeard who handed me it, he joined our war effort just before this big attack. Didn¡¯t think this thing would be this well made though! Them damn crafty dwarves. Smearing the handle clean with my thumb, looking for some sort of inscription while I had the small clearing before me. In a bright glimmer shone the signature of the craftsman I wanted to thank, It¡¯s a sorta crimson red I think, that''s glittering, damn, didn¡¯t know signatures could be this fancy. With blood dripping down the handle from my tight clench, it slid down onto the name I was looking at, the name.. Glowed violently in cursive. Rosie.. The name came into my head like a silent whisper.. No.. I could¡¯ve sworn someone actually just pronounced it. Inspecting further, looked like she was an apprentice of Bronzebeard. Well Rosie! I humbly thank you for this weapon in my final stand. Almost as if the gods heard me, my fucking axe expanded! A blood red aura moved the handle down, extending it with a pure manifestation of.. Energy? Red Energy? That looked solid to the touch. The bladed part of my axe expanded twice the size, with alterations in the length like a goddamn sawmill. It was glowing red with mist all around, small sparks of red lighting within what I could only guess it''s own air. I didn¡¯t know this fucking thing would be enchanted to this level! What triggered it though? Red.. hmm. Was it my blood?? I¡¯ve heard of blood enchanted weapons before, but not like this.. Expecting it to weigh heavy, I swung it in a wide arch with ease. It was in fact lighter than I anticipated, easily killing 10 undead in a single sweeping motion. It was starting to feel more like a pole-arm than an axe now. My years of experience as a grizzled old fart have trained me enough for this though. Changing my stance with new determination to take as many as these undead ugly fucks as possible with me. I danced. I danced with the blade of death at my side. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°10 little.. 20 little..¡± My breaths becoming more troubled with each motion as what felt like eons passed. I think it''s perhaps time though. As if my intuition knew, a giant golem of just flesh and bones smashed through its own lines charging for me like the angriest of bulls, kinda fitting with my fancy red axe here. Holding it forward to take the charge with numerous broken bones, I held my will. This fucker will give others a lot of trouble, he should be my last kill. Charging like a true dumbass, he ran right into the blade, cleanly sliced in two! Problem is, the separate parts.. Well.. Imagine someone threading a tunic, stitching itself back together. Pretty much that, without stopping its momentum. It slammed into me extremely hard with the weight of.. god.. a giant boulder I could only guess. Blood spewed out of my mouth, my conscious was fading. With dizzy vision, I saw my breath in the air before me and freeze mid air into brilliant, pretty little gems landing on my axe. As each gem landed the axe got fiercer. With red snow all around me, a fierce breeze on my face, calmness enveloped me. This isn¡¯t so ba¡­.
POV Change, Eldamore To Narrator
The battlefield was ghastly and red. Thousands of soldiers that were defending against the undead horde were screaming out, almost in unison. Thinking of their families, daughters, wives, sons, every relation they ever had, old pals or otherwise. Not because it was their dying thoughts of love for them, no, their dying thoughts were of their family being killed by this horde after. This unsightly monstrosity like a sea of insects that just kept clashing into their world like a violent wave. It would kill everything it touched, like poison to the land, hell even the land itself was changing color around the horde. With the masses of voice¡¯s being combined together, if you had a keen ear you might hear a few be screaming a certain name. ¡°Rosie!¡± ¡°Rosie, please I know you are there.. Please¡± Was cut off by a sickening sound of a sword plunging deep¡± ¡°Rosie god damn it! Was all that shit in Andril lies? I know how strong you are! Where are you.. Where.. Where..¡± All those who inspired by Rosie were saying the same thing, where? Over and over again. An answer to a god is usually unmet. One might think it¡¯s a good thing Rosie is only mortal then. With earth shattering noises of thunder all around, and then silence for what felt like eternity, a loud swoosh of noise was being focused on one person. A red air began to swirl and form around Rosie, as if all the blood on the battlefield was being sucked up, massive clouds of red formed above her and started to shape something. For those of religious beliefs, you might think the shape was a red angel after a couple minutes focusing your eyes. A giant, towering angel hundreds of feet tall in the middle of the battle field. The angel soon started to move its hands, spreading them apart with its palms facing downward. Soon tendrils of the cloud like substance was being shot down and funneled onto the battlefield. One with a keen eye would see the substance was going for those injured. As if a thousand clerks healed everyone at once, everyone was being healed back to full. Even Eldamore who thought his last breath was long overdue, was now slowly climbing back to his wits. It was an amazing sight for the soldiers, morale was increasing through the roof, people yelled with humbled breaths.. ¡°Rosie!¡± After the clouds settled down, the angel started shrinking its intimidating stature, a few soldiers tried to get to the source. The sight that awaited them was an unexpected one. A woman, crawling on the ground away from the undead, with her skin wrinkled and pale, her bones visible. Her overall health clearly looking malnourished, hair white as a sheet. Behind her was an undead clad in intimidating armor with a well kept sword aiming it down for her head. The soldiers tried to run, to intercept, to stop the nightmare before them. They were too far though. The sword fell with a heavy force of undead weight behind it to meet Rosies head. ¡°You really are a foolish girl..¡± was whispered in the air before the ghastly body disappeared with the wind. The soldiers unable to hear what was said, or fathom where she went, now faced the clearly elite monster. Rosie had pale white eyes looking up at the familiar face she knew to be Elzare. ¡°They were calling my name.. Some from Andril..¡± was barely muttered from the feeble body. ¡°Shh.. just keep that loud mouth of yours sealed for now.¡± ¡°Elzare.. ¡± her last image before fainting was of death floating behind Elzare as he jumped from undead to undead to get back, at the very least he didn''t have a smile this time. That thought brought Rosie some minor comfort, but also worry. Soon a large beast entered the battlefield, furious as could be, clad in some of the finest armor and weapons you could imagine for just a beast. It was multiple times larger than any feline creature the land knew. Its name? Was Berry. ¡°Oi, ya fucking big ga loot, you go out there and smash them bones! I certainly like the idea of smashing bones! Amiright Berry ol pal?¡± ¡°What thats? gay? BERRY! I thought I raised you better.. Wait.. actually you¡¯re right there pal, that does sound kinda like a fairy tinkle fest.. Hmm¡± ¡°What! Berry.. Heavens to Betsy, such a mouth, your owner must¡¯ve have quite the finer arts of a vocabulary master for the uhh darker arts.¡± ¡°I know I¡¯m your owner you big puss! It was a joke a joke. A nice..¡± ¡°The only puss I get is you! WHAT NOW BERRY¡± ¡°Only a joke you say.. Well.. JUST GO OUT THERE And fight for Inglos sake!¡± Rosie was coming back to conscious, barely a thread left in her blood flow. The amount of blood she generated and replenished was beyond superhuman even for a VRMMO, it¡¯s all thanks to her new abilities and passives. She could hold more dense blood than anyone else, and replenish it faster too. Her class was extremely well rounded and coming together in her level 40s. She still overdid it, she¡¯s never used her healing ability to that extent before, the battlefield gave her ample supply of blood, but for every person healed she needed to imbue a little of her own, cleanse the blood with mana, and control the direction in flow to so many. When you consider just how many people she healed it was an exponential difference than just a few cuts and scrapes of others. Blinking back into existence, she could see she was in bed, and that her color was slowly returning, her skin filling back up, her white hair slowly turning back crimson, its now permanent state. ¡°I¡¯m actually fine, what was I even worried about, those fuckers from Andril owe me.¡± Andril.. Raced through her mind. There were still warriors she brought here with her out there fighting. One¡¯s she trained herself. Clamoring out the bed like a child, a hard swift hand pushed her onto the bed. ¡°Just when I thought to myself, maybe that was the foolish thing she will ever do, your sorry ass tried to get back out there?¡± Elzare scolded down to her. ¡°Move out the way grey ears! Thanks for the save, seriously, but I¡¯m going back out there.¡± Elzare tried to push her back down onto the bed again, but was met with a force he was starting to know all too well. A red aura, clasping his hands pushing him back. ¡°You leave your sorry ass to come out here and play hero and when I finally find you to help you¡¯re trying to stop me? You watching over me and me being in bed is hindering our war potential out there! You saw those undead fucks, they will ruin everything, we need to get back out there. Now, move out of my way.¡± The red aura flung Elzare to the side with a force even he wasn¡¯t ready for, crashing him through the poorly built house that was made just weeks ago. ¡°Now, I don¡¯t know what kind of issues you have with me, but I''m trying to look out for you! Need I remind you of the state I first found you in?¡± Was echoed by multiple Elzares surrounding Rosie. A flash of the past made its way forcefully into her mind, and a twitch in her face could be seen. ¡°I.. I¡¯m sorry¡± Elzare muttered. ¡°After your big stunt out there, the front line will easily hold for a bit more, and the replacements are supposed to be coming later today as well, so at the very least, try to rest for a couple more hours, okay?¡± Was said with a sweet and sincere voice. Why was Rosie so mad at him, even outright attacking him after being saved again and finally meeting him after so long. She shook her head clear and collected herself. ¡°Guess I must be losing it, deal ole grey ears.¡± ¡°Can you not call me that? Just how much has Bronzebeard corrupted you??¡± ¡°Not nearly enough! Am I right??¡± She instinctively tried to go for a high five, but was met with nothing. As Elzare was going back to the front lines he finally replied ¡°Clearly far more than enough.¡± Rosie laid back down, and started to think of all the things leading up to here. How long has it been? Authors Note - Discontinued It''s with a heavy heart, and mixed feeling that I say this. I will no longer be continuing my book. Actually going out into the world, getting jobs, and trying to maintain a healthy and postive life, has left me very little energy as I adjust. It feels more like a pressure and responsibilty more than a hobby and fun. While I know no know has rushed me, in fact, I''m very happy with the fans I''ve managed to aquire who have been nothing be understanding and epic as all hell. Which is why its hard for me to commit to stopping, but I feel the need to. The quality I''d put out half assed wouldn''t be as good either if I continued. What I''m most sorry for however, is coming back and perhaps getting peoples hopes up, only to not follow through. I sincerely apologize, and I wish truly from the bottom of my heart that everyone reading this has an amazing and lovely life/day! I give full permmision for anyone to pick this up/create fanfiction for this story/book. Here is a rough timeline estimation of what i planned on doing at least in my head. Rosie sorta becomes a badass in Andril and raises its fame and society/culture through the roof. She becomes a bad ass blacksmith that can enchant blood magic into items(last chapter) She continues to gain more power, but also strife and hopelessness, this was always intended to be a dark story with constant setbacks and struggleing for power.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Relationships. I was eventually going to ship bronzebeard and rosie together, despite rosie orginally being a man, bronzebeard was just so heartwarming and friendly to him, that he started to hold feelings for the perverted dwarf in his now female body. They also in the future discuss the gender changing potion Roise once took, and perhaps have a grand ole time from both ends of the spectrum of sexuality. Elzare, was going to die to save rosie at some point, with rosie obtaining some of his power through some sort of ability/magic in some means. Rosie was going to die, but have children of her own that continued the book series as "The Era After"(feel free to write this as well any inspiring authors) Rosie was becoming more like bronzebeard overtime, my last chapter hinted at this, just some minor perversion and charm. Bronzebeards mother was kidnapped and he had to make weapons for bad people, rosie and him bond of their loss of mothers at some point. Rosies mom plays the game and they meet at some point, become friends and rosie finds out first and struggles internally about what to do about it. Thats all I really thought of up to this point. I love you all, and the positive comments. I sincerely apologize again, I did enjoy this! Me as an author still has a chance, but not at this point and time. This series likely won''t be finished by me, but that isn''t to say a new once can never spring up in the future!