《Albert&#x27;s Summer》


 Chapter 1: Its Summer!

    Tick

    Tock

    Tick

    Tock

    Tick

    Tock

    Albert anxiously shook his right leg under his desk as he continuously took a glace at the clock behind his science teacher Mrs. Krauz. In a few minutes, Albert will be free of school. In his mind, the thought about having no more classes listening to topics he isn''t interested in and no more home work or school in general was like winning an unlimited supply of ice cream. The best part was that he won''t be forced to wake up in such an early time in the morning just to go to school anymore. At least until summer has ended. But the end of summer is quite a long time from now and its something someone like Albert''s age doesn''t really care to think about at all.

    At the moment, the only thing Albert''s mind is focused on is the bell to sound the alarm so that he can run out of the class room screaming.

    "Come on. . ."

    Tick

    "Come on. . ."

    Tock

    "Come on. . ."

    Albert stared at the hands of the clock as he impatiently nags it to move faster towards the end of the school year. As he eagerly waits, Albert felt like time was slowing down as the red hand moves forward to time of the bell. Then suddenly.

    **RRIIIINGGGG**

    The sound of the bell that signaled the end of class rung. Instantly the faces of every kid in One Crispy Middle School had a smile appear on their face.

    "Alright! It''s summer!" Albert screamed out loud. He instantly stood up and ran out of his classroom as he grabbed this things with his friends Webster and Ramirez.

    While the three ran as fast as they could away from the school, they began talking about each of their plans for summer. Since the three of them have very different lives, each of their summer will be completely different.

    "What are you going to do this summer Webs?"

    Webster fiddled with his thick glasses. "I''m going to spend my entire summer in the deep web. Hopefully i''ll find some interesting stuff."

    "Oh! Like the Aliens and Big foot stuff right?" Albert laughed awkwardly then suddenly Webster turned his head and his face had an annoyed expression.

    "There are other things out there that are far more interesting than some hairy creature and little gray men. Did you know that the military has an underwater base? That''s why over ninety percent of the ocean is unexplored! There''s something down there. . . . I must know what it is!"

    "Oh . . okay . . . "

    While Webster continued to mumble about his fascination with the things that he found online, Albert turned his attention towards Ramirez.

    "So what about you Ramirez?"

    "I''ll be helping my parents out with the family business."

    "What? Why don''t you have something fun to do for the summer?"

    "I think it''s fun. Plus I get to have money!"

    The three friends are very different. Webster is a very intellectual guy who likes to read about the unknown things out there somewhere, while Ramirez is a very thrift person and cares a lot for money. As for Albert all he really want is to lock himself in his room all day for the entirety of summer and play his favorite online game called ''Deaths of the Gods''. Moments later the three friends went their separate way and wont be seeing each other until they return for school.

    **

    Albert arrived home with adrenaline rushing throughout his body and in an instant, he hurriedly took off his shoes and backpack then placed them aside. He then quickly ran to his room so that he could begin his summer by logging into his favorite online game. But when Albert opened the door to his room, he noticed something was different about scene. Albert stood there for a few seconds and tried to figure out what was off about his room. Then suddenly, he realized that his room is clean and his computer was gone. Albert''s eyes widened in shock and immediately he called out for the person responsible for such cleanliness.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMmmm!!!"

    Albert swifty ran downstairs to confront his mother about his room.

    "Yes honey?!"

    "Where''s my computer?!"

    "I was cleaning your room so I placed everything in your closet."

    "What? Why?!"

    "Honey your room was filthy. At least now you have a clean room to play in all summer."

    Albert frowned and began walking upstairs. It irritated him that he couldn''t play right away. Now it''ll take him around ten minutes or more to connect everything and start the computer back up.

    *Sigh*

    Albert sadly sighed but there''s nothing that he could do. He decided to just go into his closet and take out every part of the computer so that he can set it up. Then afterwards he can play all day and through the night since its summer time for him.

    Albert opened his closet door and inside everything looked as if it was neatly put in place. He knelt down on his knees and began looking for the parts of his computer. As minutes passed by the neatly placed items were now in a mound of clutter and the only parts of his computer that he found was the keyboard and the system unit. Then moments later he found the flat screen monitor. Albert nearly has all the parts but he was still missing the wires for everything and the modem for the internet.

    Albert became even more irritated since its taking him more than he expected to find all the parts of his computer. He kept telling himself over and over:

    "I could be playing by now if only mom didn''t clean my room."

    While Albert continued to search through the clutter in the closet, the door behind him closed. Instantly everything went dark due to the lack of light source and being in a very dark tight space was the last straw. Albert stood up inside the small compartment that he''s in and opened the door then began yelling out for his mother.

    "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!"

    When he opened the door, he noticed that he wasn''t in his room anymore. Albert looked around the surroundings and became confused because he was in a completely different room. The room that he''s currently in is much bigger than his room. Albert looked around the wooden paneled floored room, and noticed that there''s only a small window that''s very near to the ceiling.

    "What . . . is going on. . ."

    Albert began mumbling to himself as he tries to back track what had just happened. He walked out of the door then stood in the middle of the room for a moment in disbelief. After a few seconds of thinking, he decided to investigate further and opened the door that''s directly across the room. When he opened the door, he could see steps going up that led to the outside.

    "I''m definitely not home anymore." Albert mumbled to himself as he began walking up the steps.

    As he surfaces from the steps, Albert realized that he had just came out of a basement. On the top of the steps, he found himself in an alley behind what looks like a building.

    "Well this is getting interesting. . .But I think I hear something."

    Albert began to walk on the brick paved alley to follow the noise that he was hearing. He could distinctly hear the chattering of people nearby. Curious about the voices, Albert followed the sounds towards the street and he found people that looked like they were doing some cosplays. Everyone in the street looked exactly like adventurers from his favorite online game.

    "My kind people!" Albert grinned when he saw all the people wearing the clothes that looked very much like clothes one would find in the game ''Deaths of the Gods''.

    Intrigued by the people, Albert decided to mingle into the crowd and walk among them. As he walked around the street, Albert complimented the people''s ''realistic costumes and props''. Albert couldn''t help but be taken in by the place he''s currently in, he wished that he has a camera so he could take some photos. While walking around, he noticed that places all around him had exact buildings and structures from the game ''Deaths of the Gods''. Albert was also quite impressed and surprised that there was an area that looks exactly like center of the city of Prontera in the game ''Deaths of the Gods''. While he walked around in amazement, Albert asked a man wearing an impressive looking armor what the name is the name of the place he''s currently located.

    "Excuse me Sir knight, what''s this place called?"

    "Child, don''t you know where you are? You''re in the dazzling capital city of Midgard! Prontera!"

    Albert had a dumbfounded look in his face when the man in armor gave him the answer.

    "Wait. . . What? You''re not serious are you?"

    The knight release a deep sigh.

    "I know what you''re thinking. . . and I just can''t think of a better word than dazzling!"

    Albert stood there still trying to take in what the man in armor has just told him. As he faded every words that the man in armor continued babbled about, he was in disbelief that he''s actually in the world of his favorite online game ''Deaths of the Gods''.

    When he tried to make sense in what the man in armor had just told him, everything was beginning to connect. That was the reason why everything looked familiar to him. The people, the buildings and structures were all from the game ''Deaths of the Gods. Then suddenly, Albert had the need to run back into the basement where he came out from. When he arrived in the basement room out of breath and in a state of panic, Albert instantly shut the door behind him and pinched his cheeks to see if he was hallucinating.

    "Ouch!"

    When he pinched his cheeks red numbers appeared and disappeared in front of him.

    [-1 HP]

    Albert''s brow furrowed when the negative number in front of him appeared and disappeared. At the moment Albert starting to believe that really he is inside his favorite online game. But to make sure he wasn''t just hallucinating, Albert decided to pinch his cheeks again.

    [-1 HP]

    In a quick flash the negative number appeared and disappeared in front of him again. Albert couldn''t believe it. He was seeing the damage that was done to him visually.

    "It''s my Hit points!"

    Hit points are the amount of health one has. In the game ''Deaths of the Gods'' when a person is injured, the amount of damage taken by a person, will appear in front of the injured person to warn them that they''ve receive the damage.

    "If I can see my hit points that means . . "

    "Status Window!"

    *Bling*

    Instantly a transparent screen with Albert''s character description appeared in front of him. It showed his name, his class, his level and his stats just like a character in the game ''Deaths of the Gods''. The transparent screen in front of him proved the fact that he was inside his favorite online game!

    **

 Chapter 2: Prontera

    **

    Inside a basement located in an alley in the city of Prontera, Albert sat on the wooden paneled floor while staring at the transparent rectangular screen in front of him. The screen in front of him is his character screen, it shows Albert his basic information such his name, his level and his statistics attributes. This screen also shows the six fundamental statistics attributes. The six fundamental attributes are Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. These are called ''Base Stats'' which ultimately fortifies an adventurer''s body. Each attribute fortifies an adventurer in various ways. Strength fortifies an adventurer''s body by increasing his or her overall body''s strength. The higher the strength base stats of an adventurer has, the higher the damage that an adventurer can deal using melee attacks. Dexterity fortifies the an adventurer''s body to be more precise when attempting to deal a damage. This statistic attribute allows magical users to cast their skills at a faster rate and allows Archer class adventurers to deal more damage with their bows and arrows. The higher dexterity attributes means lesser chance to miss one''s foes.

    Vitality fortifies an adventurer''s life and their ability to regenerate their health. The higher Vitality an adventurer has the higher the chances of his or her ability to stay alive. Intelligence fortifies an adventurer''s mind and the amount of mana that one has. This statistic attribute allows magical users to deal more damage with their skills. Agility fortifies an adventurer''s body by increasing his or her entire body''s movement. This statistic attribute allows an adventurer to increase one''s attack speed and evasiveness which can cause any attack to be easily dodged. Luck statistic attributes enhances an adventurer''s chance to strike with a critical damage.

    Adventurers have to be careful when distributing their statistical points because they gain five statistical points per level to distribute into any of the six base stats and each stat become permanent which cannot be change once distributed.

    Albert at the moment is feeling a little panicked and confused about how he should feel right at the moment. He''s doesn''t know whether he should be either feeling terrified or excited at his current circumstances and he wasn''t sure if what''s happening was either a nightmare or a dream that has come true. But it might be too early to determine anything at all since he hasn''t figured out about his exact situation. So far Albert had just discovered that he''s in the world of his favorite online game called ''Deaths of the Gods''. At first he thought that he had some how found him self in a very impressive cosplay convention. But as he further investigated, he discovered the truth and the proof was right in front of him literally.

    Albert looked at the transparent screen in front of him again. Seeing the character status screen in front of him made him feel like he''s in a dream. But he know that he''s fully conscious and for some weird sci-fi explanation, he happens to have slipped into the world of his favorite online game accidentally. Albert wants to figure out if he''s able to go into the world of his favorite online game through his closet, would he be able to get back to his own world through the same way?

    "Let''s try it!"

    Albert hesitantly decided to walk into the door where he walked out from before he arrived into the basement in Prontera. He then closed the door and waited for a moment. While inside, he then waited for a minute or so, Albert opened the door and once it was opened, the terrifying feeling he had subsided and what was left was pure thrill.

    "I''m back!"

    Albert was back in his room again. Relieved that he was able to return to his room and back in to his world, he began jumping gleefully. After the excitement from his body had disappeared from all the jumping, Albert laid back on his bed and began to think and talk to himself.

    "Play ''Deaths of the Gods'' online or play the real live version. But wouldn''t it be more exciting to play it in reality?"

    Albert changed his position in his bed and sat down. He stared at his closet door as the debate in his head continuously went on. One side of him is terrified of what he had just discovered and should tell someone about it, but another side of him is simply ecstatic that he has the chance to actually live in a world of fantasy. A world of swords and magic. But before he decides what to do, he wasn''t sure if he would be able to go back and forth the worlds freely. It could have just been some kind of dumb luck and now he won''t be able to return again.

    Albert decided to test the closet again. If he could go back and forth anytime he wanted, Albert''s entire plan for summer would be completely changed.

    "Alright I''m actually going to do this. . . ."

    Albert rubbed his hand together and hopped inside his closet. He then closed the door and waited inside the compartment for a moment. When he opened the door to see if he was actually transported back to the basement in Prontera, his eyes widened.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    "Oh my god! It works!!"

    Albert screamed out and began jumping up and down.

    "I''m in Prontera!! I''m going to be an adventurer for reals!"

    Moments later after Albert tested out his closet, he returned back to his room. Seeing that he could go back and forth into the world of ''Deaths of the Gods'' anytime, the level of his excitement was off the charts. To him this incident is a great gift from the universe.

    It was something out of a fantasy fiction where some guy has the ability to travel between two worlds. Albert decided to prepare for his journey into Prontera. He grabbed his backpack and emptied its contents. Once it was empty, Albert hurried to the fridge and stuffed any non-perishable snacks into his backpack. The purpose of bringing food to the game DoTG (Deaths of the Gods) is because food in the game heals a character from any injuries, this is why Albert decided to bring as much non perishable snacks as possible.

    "I got the healing stuff. Now I need weapon and armor." Albert grinned.

    After grabbing some snacks from the fridge, Albert went to the garage to look for anything useful. When he arrived at the garage, he saw a rack of aluminum baseball bats and some baseball helmets that he hasn''t used for a while. Albert grabbed a baseball bat and helmet for him to use when he goes off for his adventure. Seeing that it was covered in cobwebs and dust. he began to clean both equipment. Albert couldn''t help but grin as he wiped off the dust on one of the baseball bat and the helmet.

    "I wonder if this will work." He thought to himself.

    Since these items aren''t items from the game, It made him wonder if bringing them will have any effect on the world at all. But he won''t know until he tries. Moments later Albert returned to his room. He put on his hiking boots that he had under his bed, denim pants and the baseball helmet that he found in the garage.

    "I''m ready!"

    With a baseball bat at hand and a backpack full of string cheese and jerky, Albert entered the closet from his room and closed the door. While inside he waited a while then opened the door again. The feeling of excitement brimmed throughout his body when he stepped back into the basement in Prontera.

    **

    Prontera is knows as the capital city of the Kingdom of Midgard. This is the city where all adventurers of ''Deaths of the Gods'' players began. This was also the place where Albert will begin his journey as a real adventurer. Since it was summer for him in his world, Albert doesn''t need to worry about his parents worrying where he would be. Since he made a deal with his parents to not bother him in his room for the entirety of summer in exchange of him having straight A''s in school. But from time to time, he needs to return home so no suspicions will occur.

    While Albert was thinking about any problems that he needed to sort out, he was walking towards the Adventurer''s guild which is located near the center fountain. Since he had just beginning as an adventurer, he needs to acquire an Adventurer''s card.

    An Adventurer card is something every adventurer is required to have. Before becoming a Novice adventurer, a person''s status class is designated as citizen of Midgard. After registering as an adventurer, that class changes to Novice adventurer and after being endowed with the title, the adventurer receives his official adventurer''s card from the guild. The card serves a purpose of identification through out Midgard for all adventurers, without one an adventurer would be considered illegal.

    Albert walked toward the counter where a woman wearing a maid outfit sat behind. Instantly when he made eye contact, he was greeted in a bored monotone voice.

    "Hello. Welcome to the Adventurer''s Guild, How may I help you."

    "Hello, I''m a new adventurer and I seem to have misplaced my adventurer''s card."

    The woman behind the counter expressed a depressingly deep sighed.

    "Typical novice. . . . Whats your name?"

    "Albert Guro"

    The woman quickly turned around and walked away from the counter. Then a moment later she returned with a card at hand.

    "Since this is your first time losing your card, you won''t be charged. But if you lose it again you will be charged one thousand gold. After the third time the fee increases to five thousand gold. After loosing it for the fifth time its ten thousand gold. Losing your adventurer card after the fifth time will force the Adventurer Guild to enforce a punishment. So don''t misplace your card!"

    The woman placed Albert''s card on the counter for him to take.

    "Have a nice day."

    Albert became nervous when he heard the fee charges after losing one''s adventurer''s card. He now has to make sure that he doesn''t lose it or else. Albert opened his backpack and safely inserted his Adventurer''s card inside. For now his only means of storage is his backpack. Later on, hopefully he''ll be able to grab a hold of a dimension storage ring, a magical ring that allows an adventurer to store a certain number of items without the hassle of carrying the weight. But as of now he won''t be able to afford one.

    Now since the problem with Adventurer''s card has been sorted out, Albert started to head towards the east field of Prontera to look for monsters to defeat so that he could level up. Since he''s only a level one Novice, he won''t be able to do much but with the weapon that he brought from home, its like he''s cheating. Usually a normal Novice adventurer would only have a tree branch to defend themselves with., but for Albert, he has a weapon that came from a different world.

    The weapon he''s currently holding is an aluminum bat. According to its description, it gives Albert an additional four hundred twenty attack damage. That much damage is very high compared to any beginner''s weapon. Plus it doesn''t have any requirements for him to equip it.

    When Albert arrived in the east field of Prontera, he began swinging left and right at any monsters that he could see in sight. Albert couldn''t help but laugh manically as he slaughtered the monsters that was unfortunate enough to be in his way. After a few hours he was already level five and his backpack was full of items that was dropped by the monsters that he had slayed. Albert was amazed because he hasn''t even used any of his non-perishable food yet because he would instantly kill any monsters that felt the wrath of his baseball bat.

    Since his backpack couldn''t hold anymore items, Albert decided to go to the item shop to sell off the items that he picked up.

    **

 Chapter 3: Commerce and Class

    **

    Albert stood near the center fountain of Prontera and from where he was standing, he could catch sight of a view of what looks like a bazaar. The lively scene that he''s seeing is the area that is known to be the location of Prontera city''s free market. Littered around the northern half of the fountain, are tens of dozens of Merchant class adventurers who has put up stalls and kiosks to do their business in commerce. Many adventurers from all over Midgard would visit this teeming area looking to buy or sell particular items that they require. Some are also looking for a good trade to bargain with. Looking around in amazement, Albert couldn''t help the feeling of nostalgia as he browsed around each vendor''s stall. In the game ''Deaths of the Gods'', this was Albert''s favorite place to visit. Albert would go to each and every vendor to see what was being sold or just to check and compare prices of various items. Even though he won''t be able to buy anything at all, Albert decided to browse around to see if there was anything he was interested in purchasing later on.

    While he delightedly looked around what each vendor had to offer, Albert had already found several vendors selling their stocks of dimensional storage rings. The cheapest of the magical ring that he found was at the price of one hundred gold coins. Which was still a very high price for a Novice class adventurer like him. In the system of commerce in the game ''Deaths of the Gods'' the lowest form of currency is copper coins. One hundred copper coins is equivalent to one silver coin. One hundred silver coins is equivalent to one gold coin. In this world, the system of commerce isn''t at all different from the game ''Deaths of the Gods''.

    Albert was suddenly a bit depressed because at the moment, he''s pretty much broke. But for the time being, he doesn''t care about all that because when the time comes, he knows various ways of becoming wealthy since this world is pretty much similar to the world of his favorite online game. For the time being, Albert is more focused on leveling up so that he would be able to handle any tasks that comes his way. One of the purpose of why Albert wants to spend his summer in this world is to explore it with his own eyes. In the real world, Albert know that if one wanted to travel the world, one would need the resources to do it. But since he''s still just a middle school kid, traveling the world is not an option since his family is not wealthy at all.

    As he continued to walk through the market place, Albert couldn''t help but stare at all the Merchant class adventurers, It was there when as he was watching the merchants when he realized that he has yet to determined which class of adventurer he would be choosing when he reaches the proper level. Albert already has the knowledge of this world from playing hundreds of hours of his favorite game; ''Deaths of the Gods''. He knows that when a Novice class adventurer reaches level ten, he has the choice of becoming any of the six adventurer class type. The six class of adventurers are Swordsman, Archer, Thief, Merchant, Acolyte and Mage. Each adventurer class has their own advantages in their own way.

    Swordsman are a class of adventurers that are sturdy and can deal damage at the same time. They are great for handling monsters in the front lines. The Swordsman Guild is located in the capital city of Midgard, Prontera.

    The Archer Guild is located in Payon town. Archers have the advantage of swiftly dealing large amount of damage from a distance. But their disadvantage is that when it comes to close ranged combat, their abilities are hindered.

    Thief Class adventurers has the advantage of being naturally evasive and quick. Though they may dodge attacks and deal quick precise damage to monsters, they usually use the hit and run method due to their survivability. Thief class adventurer focus most of their statistical points on agility to allow their movements to be swift. Their guild is said to be located in the town of Morroc.

    The Acolyte class are known to be an unpopular class because of their almost none existent combat skills and the fact that they do not have any sort of organization to assist them as adventurers unlike the other adventurer classes. Acolytes rely on being in a large party of adventurers so that they could survive any confrontations with monsters. Because of this, most adventurers who chooses to become an Acolyte have a hard time leveling up due to the fact that they themselves cannot go on an adventure without help. Since there are so few Acolytes, these adventurers are sought after by many adventurer clans. Most of the skills that Acolytes have are magically healing any injuries and get dispelling life threatening status ailments such as poison and curse. Acolytes also have the ability to temporarily enhance one''s body.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    The Merchant class are known to be the wealthiest adventurers because of the Merchant Guild''s influence throughout Midgard. Their headquarters are located in Alberta, also known as the ''Port of Gold'' since its owned by the Merchant Guild. Merchants can get discount prices on any items all over Midgard and they have the ability to overcharge items that they sell.

    The Mage class adventurers are known for their ability to use the elements against their foes. These adventurers have skills that allows them to deal large damage in an entire area. Some say that mage class adventurers are the strongest of them all, due to their magical skills but for Albert, it really depends on how one uses their skills. Mages are also know to be the wisest because they spend most of their statistical points in Intelligence. This allows them to have a large amount of mana to use for their spells.

    While Albert was considering really hard about which class of adventurer he should become, he suddenly became really frustrated because he was used to having multiple characters in ''Deaths of the Gods''. In the game, he had the option of having several characters and each one of them could be different classes. But since he''s in the world of the ''Deaths of the Gods'', he could only become one of the many different types of adventurer.

    Albert sighed and decided to think about it more later. He stepped inside the Item shop which is located north west of the fountain. In every major town and city there is at least one Item shop. Prontera''s Item shop is a particularly a very popular shop because of its easy access and that its nearby the city''s market place. In an Item shop, adventurers can procure various items that can aid them in their journey. Albert entered the Item shop and he''s greeted with by an attractive woman behind the counter wearing an orange dress and an apron.

    "Hello! Welcome to the Item shop! How may I help you?"

    ''She''s so pretty.'' Albert thought to himself.

    "Ah well. I''m here to sell some items."

    "Okay! Please place all the items that you would like to sell here on the table." The woman smiled.

    Albert grabbed his backpack and began taking out the items that he obtained from slaying the monsters in the field east of Prontera. When he finished placing the items from his backpack on the table, the woman began to examine each item while she wrote down proper prices for them on paper. While the woman was appraising each of the items, Albert looked around the shop and saw many things that he could recognize from the game ''Deaths of the Gods''.

    The Items that are commonly sold in an Item shops are things such as various Gems used as catalysts for magical uses, Butterfly wings which are used to instantly teleport a player to the previous town or city that the player had visited since and potions which are used to either enhance a player''s movement or heal any injuries that the player may have. Fortunately Albert currently have no need to buy anything from the Item shop because he has the non-perishable snacks that he brought from home to use as a way to heal himself. For the time being, he has an adequate amount of healing supply for him to use. The Item stop also sells arrows for Archers that doesn''t have the skills to create their own arrows.

    Moments later, the woman turned her attention towards Albert and showed him a piece of paper.

    "For all of the items that you place on the table, this is what i''m willing to pay."

    The woman showed a paper that had the number of five silver coins and fifty copper coins. Seeing the hefty amount of coins for some random items, Albert agreed and the woman went to the back room of the shop and brought the items that Albert had just sold to store it. Many of the items that are bought by Item shop managers will be used to create potions and other items that adventurers would be able to use on their journey.

    Moments later the woman came out of the back of the shop carrying a small bag.

    "Here you are. Thank you for your business."

    "Thank you as well."

    "Are you a new Adventurer?" The woman behind the counter asked.

    "Ah yes. I just started so I''m at a pretty low level."

    "Well everyone has to start somewhere right?" The woman lightly giggled. "Ahh where are my manners! My name is Amy and I am the manager of this Item shop." Amy lightly smiled when she introduced herself.

    "My name is Albert and I''m currently just a Novice." Albert grinned awkwardly. Socializing in real life with new people wasn''t something that he participated often. Since most of the time he would be in front of the computer playing games. It was was a bit difficult for him to talk to anyone new, specially a very attractive woman such as Amy.

    "Then I guess I''ll be seeing you around a couple more times."

    "Yes. I guess until I reach the proper level to change into a Class."Albert couldn''t help but smile when Amy spoke.

    Albert continued to talk to Amy for a little while longer. Before he left the Item shop, he decided to buy a couple of Butterfly wings then went on his way to go level up. Moments later Albert returned to the field east of Prontera to continue his training. Hopefully when he reaches the proper level, he''ll have an idea of which adventurer class to choose.

    **

 Chapter 4: Lily

    **

    In the lush green field east of Prontera, Albert began walking towards the spot where a large cluster of low leveled monsters spawned. As he walked towards his destination through the thickly scattered coniferous trees, he saw another Novice adventurer just like him. But unlike Albert, this Novice adventurer is a female and currently, she seems to be running away from a slime monster. From a distance, Albert watched silently as the female adventurer wearing an Eggshell helmet ran around in circles in the attempt to avoid the attacks of the slime monster that''s chasing her. Albert noticed that the adventurer seemed like she''s struggling from his point of view. But since he didn''t want to offend her with his assumptions, Albert decided to sit nearby and watched the adventurer from a distance just in case something were to happen. While he sat and watched, he couldn''t help but yell out ''encouragements'' towards the adventurer.

    "Kill it! Stop running you can slay it!"

    "WAAHHHHHHHH! My health is low!!" The female adventurer cried out as she continued to run around in circles.

    "Then use a potion!"

    While running the adventurer grabbed a red potion from her backpack and began drinking it.

    "Okay, now fight!" Albert yelled at the female adventurer. But just as she finishes drinking the potion she runs toward a tree and collides against the trunk of the tree her entire body.

    THUD

    The force of her body slamming into the tree caused dozens of pine cones to drop on her and the sound of the impact echoed around the area. As the adventurer falls on the ground, the slime monster began attacking her.

    "WAAHHH! Help me please!" The adventurer cried out as the slime monster began to attack her.

    Albert stayed seated and continued to watch as the female adventurer as she got up and continued to run away from the slime. Minutes later, Albert began to feel something with his conscience. He suddenly felt like a douche for just letting whats happening in front of him go on. Albert stood up and casually walked up to the female adventurer. Then with his baseball bat, he swung at the slime and in an instant the slime turned into mush.

    "W-wow! You''re so strong! T-t-thank you for saving my life." The female adventurer was surprised and thanked Albert as she leaned forward to catch her breathe.

    "Why didn''t you just kill it?"

    "My tree branch broke before I could defeat it."

    "You could have just used your fist."

    "I-I''m scared to touch it. It''s so slimey . . ."

    ". . . . What kind of adventurer are you?" Albert let out a sigh and gave the female adventurer an irritated stare. The female adventurer stood up after she had finally recovered and introduced her self to her savior.

    "M-my name is Lily. What''s yours?"

    "I''m Albert."

    Lily scanned Albert from top to bottom and noticed that he is wearing some odd looking equipment. But never the less she was impressed by how he instantly defeated the slime monster. In her mind, sticking to someone like Albert might be very beneficial for her and finding a companion while going out on an adventures is pretty difficult because most adventurers would prefer to be with someone high leveled and very experienced. Also the fact that most adventurer would prefer accompanying someone who will make them wealthy. Luckily for Lily, Albert is the most experienced adventurer she''ll ever meet. Even though he''s currently just a Novice adventurer, Albert has had hundreds of hours of experience in ''Deaths of the Gods''. Though the game may not be real, the knowledge between the game and the world is very much similar.

    After just briefly contemplating, Lily decided to make Albert her first companion and she''ll do anything up her sleeves to charm Albert in forming a party with her. As for Albert, the only thing in his mind is about how many more hours will he need for him to level up to the proper level so that he could change into one of the six adventurer class. Both adventurers have different desires but their motives will soon be intertwined.

    Lily stood up and began pouting her lips while she intensely stared at Albert''s eyes. This scheme is something that she learned back where she came from. Back home, many of her older sisters had taught her that if she wanted something from a man, she had to use her womanly charms. But unfortunately for Lily, Albert is more interested in leveling up and nothing will get in the way when he''s determined to do as he has planned. Lily continued to do her poses in attempt to captivate Albert while requesting him to form a party with her.

    "Albert. Please party with me!"

    Albert remained silent when Lily asked her to form a party with her. He didn''t even notice her effort in trying to captivate him. But at the moment he still feels a little guilty for just watching her run around in circles. Albert''s reluctant to help Lily because he has a strange feeling that he''ll regret forming a party with her. So Albert decided to deny her subtly and gave her some items as a consolation gift for refusing to form a party with her.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "I think I would be better by my self. Here take these, you might need it."

    When Lily received three cheese strings from his backpack, she was stunned that her ploy didn''t work on Albert. Because back home that same ruse would usually succeed and whom ever she would use the same scheme on would grant her request. Lily decided to take it up a notch and began to weep. But before she could begin the water works, Albert began to walk away. Surprised at Albert''s action Lily started to feel confused and a bit desperate so she decided followed after Albert and began begging him to form a party with her.

    "Please party with me Albert! Please!"

    Albert continued walking and began to slay any monsters in sight while ignoring Lily''s begging.

    "Please Albert! Party with me!"

    Hours later Albert leveled up twice and Lily continued to follow him around while begging him to party with her. Seeing that he was never going to get rid of her, Albert decided to agree in forming a party with Lily.

    A screen in front of Albert appeared.

    [Lily request to invite you to Roots party]

    Another screen appeared in front of him when he accepted the request and this time it showed Lily''s health bar and her level along with his own. When Albert saw Lily''s level he instantly felt annoyed.

    "You''re still level one?!"

    "Ah he he. I just recently became an adventurer."

    "How long did it take you to become a Novice adventurer?!"

    "About a month."

    Albert suddenly felt like he''s having some sort of bad luck. But now that he''s in party with her, he has two choices; leave and never come back or help Lily until she reaches the proper level to change into one of the six adventurer classes. Albert looked at Lily and was considering what to do to. Since he doesn''t want to be a douche, he decided to help the clumsy girl.

    "Okay. We''re going to level together but you have to listen to me okay?"

    Albert grabbed a branch that was laying on the ground and handed it to Lily. After receiving the branch, Lily nodded in agreement.

    "Okay!"

    "Do as I say and we won''t have any problems!"

    Albert began searching for more monsters while Lily walked besides him. As the two moved at a fairly slow pace, a slime monster spawned in their view and instantly Lily shrieked with fear then jumped behind Albert.

    "What are you doing? Hit it!" Albert yelled at Lily in an annoyed tone.

    "B-but it''s so slimy!"

    "If you don''t face your fear, how are you ever going to be strong?!"

    "But. . ."

    "Why did you even become an adventurer anyways if you''re only going to cower in fear at the sight of a monster? You know there are worst things out there. I''ll just leave this party. I don''t need anyone to hold me back."

    "Wait! I''m sorry. Please don''t leave me."

    "Are you going to fight?"

    Lily began to take short slow steps toward the slime. With the way that she was shaking, anyone could tell how frightful she is of the monster in front of her. But she knows that what Albert had told her is true. If she doesn''t learn to face her fears, she''ll never become strong and if she doesn''t become strong she''ll never fulfill the reason of why she became an adventurer. Lily forced herself to remember why she wanted to become an adventurer and that one reason alone gave her courage to slowly take the steps towards the slime monster in front of her. After taking another step, Lily stood within reach of the slime monster. She then raised the tree branch in her hands then took a deep breath.

    "HYAHH!" Lily screamed out and swung the tree branch at the slime. She continued to swing at the slime monster until it she had defeated it.

    Seeing that Lily had somehow overcome her fear of monsters, Albert continued to move along and forced her to attack every monster that they encountered. Hours had passed and the sun began to set from the horizon. Somehow they have both have finally reached the requirement level to change in to one of the six adventurer class at the end of the day

    **

    After a grueling day of intense leveling, Lily is exhausted. She was astounded at what she had achieved and she was more amazed that she has actually reached level ten with in the day. Lily continued to follow Albert who is obviously more tired than her due to his slouched posture as he slowly walked towards the eastern gate of Prontera. At the moment Lily is ecstatic due to her having accomplished something in a day which most would have done in two weeks. Now she can take the quest to become one of the six class of adventurers. Lily looked up and saw that Albert''s head was turning to see if she was still following him. In that moment Lily realized that she had met someone who might be able to help her with why she became an adventurer. Lily knows that without Albert she wouldn''t have been able to achieve anything at all.

    Albert''s entire body was cramping up due to all the physical activities that he was doing and the palm of his hands has some callous from swinging his baseball bat all day. After entering the eastern gate of Prontera, Albert decided to walk into the Inn.

    "Lets take a rest. You did a good job Lily."

    Albert sat down at a nearby table and handed Lily a pack of jerky.

    "Thank you."

    Lily looked over at Albert and began to devise a stratagem to make Albert her companion.

    ''This is my chance! His guards are down.'' She thought to herself.

    While Albert was sitting exhausted, A transparent rectangular screen popped up in front of him.

    [Lily requests to be Friends]

    Lily stared at Albert with her large round eyes. Albert just wanted to sit there in peace felt an ominous feeling coming from Lily''s direction. He turned his head and saw Lily intensely staring at him.

    "What?"

    "Can we be friends?" Lily asks as he mouth began to form a pout as she looked at Albert with her large watery eyes.

    *Sigh!*

    Albert stared at the screen in front of him. Since he was tired and didn''t care about it, he decided to press the accept button. When Albert accepted the friend request, a big smile appeared on Lily''s face.

    "Oh! Thank you! Albert! You''re my very first friend!"

    ''Geez I wonder why.'' Albert thought to himself.

    Albert stood up and decided that it would be better to rent a room here in the Inn and rest for the night than to return back home. He doesn''t think that he''ll make it to his room if he walked all the way back to the basement. Then just when Albert was going to leave the clutches of Lily, she asked a question.

    "Where are we going now?"

    Albert began massaging the bridge of his nose as he continues to become more than just irritated towards Lily. He didn''t want her to upset her because he''s much to exhausted to deal with anything at the moment so he explained to her what he was about to do.

    "Well I''m going to rent a room and rest now."

    "Oh. . . Can I have a word with you?"

    "Can it wait till tomorrow?"

    "Okay. Let''s meet here tomorrow and talk when you are fully rested."

    Albert began walking towards the Inn keeper to rent a room. Just as he walked away from the table where Lily was sitting, Lily said something.

    "Albert, Thank you for today."

    **

 Chapter 5: Pact and Decision

    **

    A ray of light blinded Albert as he attempted to open his eyes to wake up from this sleep. When the blinding light irritated his eyes again as he opened his eyes for the second time, Albert grabbed the pillow from behind his head and placed it over his face to block the sunlight that''s aimed directly at his face. As he lay there on the bed, it took him awhile to realize that his body wasn''t suffering from any pain anymore and all he could feel at the moment is the soft cotton sheets of the bed against his skin. Albert stood up and headed to the comfort room, when he arrived there, he remembered that he didn''t have his his toothbrush or any soap to clean his face. It was one of those discomforts living in the world of swords and magic. The fact that he couldn''t clean his face properly or brush his teeth made him feel disgusted.

    "Ugh. I really need to get back home. Next time, I''ll bring soap, my toothbrush and toothpaste." Albert complained as he made a list of what to bring back when he decides to go back home. Then after washing his face with just water, he got dressed and grabbed his belongings. Moments later Albert left the room that he rented for the night to go to the front desk of the Inn to return his room key to the Inn keeper. On his way there from a distance he spotted an adventurer wearing a Eggshell helmet, immediately he knew that it was Lily.

    Albert remembered that Lily wanted to speak to him about something. He stared at Lily from a distance and at first he thought of two options; one was that he could attempt to sneak out of the Inn unnoticed and get rid of Lily for good or two, deal with the annoying girl and see what she wants to talk about. Unfortunately for Albert, his conscience got the best of him and because he''s a believer of karma, he decided to meet with Lily just as he had decided last night.

    After handing over his room key to the Inn keeper, Albert walked towards Lily to see what she wanted to talk about. When he arrived at the table Lily immediately noticed him.

    "Ah you''re here. Thank you for seeing me."

    "Well what did you want to talk about?"

    "I would like to first thank you for helping me level up. I was amazed that I had reached level ten with in a day."

    ''I would have reached level ten faster if I hadn''t stopped to help you.'' Albert thought to himself.

    Lily placed her hands on her helmet and removed it from her head. She then placed it on the table and just as she took off her Eggshell helmet, a pair of pointy ears as well as golden locks of hair sprung out. Albert''s eyes widened from shock when Lily had removed her helmet.

    "You''re an elf?!" Albert exclaimed in disbelief. In the game ''Deaths of the God'', there were no other races other than humans. Since this world was based on the game ''Deaths of the Gods'', Albert didn''t think that there would be any other races in this world other than human.

    "You know about the elves?! Please tell me anything that you would know." Lily began to act frantically when Albert mentioned that she''s of elven heritage.

    "I-I''m sorry. I don''t know anything about the elves, but you''re an elf. You should know more about your people."

    Lily looked down in disappointment when Albert replied.

    "I thought since you mentioned the word elf, you would know something about where I came from. I don''t know anything about my race or of my origin. That is the reason why I decided to become an adventurer, so that I can travel through out Midgard and maybe one day, I may be able to find where I came from."

    "Wait . . . If you don''t know anything about where you''re from and your origin that means. . ."

    "Yes. . . I was an orphan. I was raised here in Prontera, in the Sanctuary Church. All my life I hid my ears from public because people would always ask me about it and when ever they asked me about my ears, it reminds me that I know nothing about who I am. I need to find where I came from. Please Albert, Help me."

    Albert stared at Lily who is looking down at her hands. While she desperately begs at him yet again, Albert began thinking about the pros and cons of helping Lily. If he chooses to aid her in her search, he would have a faithful companion in his adventures but the problem with having a companion is that he has to keep his own origin a secret. Another problem is that Lily is clumsy and it would be hard to be with someone that needs to be looked after all the time. But her clumsiness could be remedied with the proper training.

    "Lily tell me, who brought you to the orphanage?"

    "Does that mean you''ll help?"Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    "I''m just curious at the moment. Maybe if you know who had taken you in, you might have more clues than you have now."

    "We can ask the head of the Sanctuary Church!"

    "Are we able to talk to someone so important?"

    Lily burst in laughter.

    "Important? Father Thompson is the head of Sanctuary Church but all he does is manage over the Acolytes that takes care of the orphanage and the church. All he ever does read and smoke inside his office."

    "Let''s go meet this Father Thompson"

    **

    Inside the office of the head of Sanctuary Church, Albert and Lily sat across from Father Thompson who has agreed to meet them both.

    Father Thompson lit the end of his cigarette using a stick of matches that he retrieved from inside one his drawers. Seconds after lighting the stick of cigarette, the priest inhaled from the stick of tabaco. As old priest slowly exhaled the smoke from his lungs, he turned his attention towards Albert.

    "Tell me Albert, do you know where Magic comes from?"

    Albert began scratching his head. He didn''t know that he would be quizzed about the world of ''Deaths of the Gods''. If fact he never really paid attention to the lore of the game. In the game Albert just simply preferred going out on adventures and killing monsters for their loot.

    "I''m sorry, I don''t" Albert answered the old priest as he scratched his head.

    As the old priest continued to smoke and walk around the room, he looked outside one the windows and began talking about the origin of magic.

    "Long ago around a century or two after Ragnarok, other beings came to Midgard to assist us humans. It was said that they created the world''s magic system."

    Albert who''s been sitting down listening to the old priest babble about the ancients, began shaking his leg due to him becoming impatient.

    "Erm. . Excuse me Father but what does that have to do with Lily''s origin?"

    **Cough**

    The priest coughed uncontrollably and stared at Albert in a particular way.

    "I''m getting there."

    Albert on other hand didn''t want to sit for hours in a smokey room listening to the old priest ramble about things that happened many centuries ago. Since his plans had been more than delayed because of Lily, he needs to return to his room to clean himself properly and also not to mention that his stocks of non-perishable snacks which are his main source of filling up hi satiety, has been completely depleted because of the same person. Albert sat as still as he could and continued to listen to Father Thompson talk about what had happened long ago and the origin of the magic system of this world. As he continued to listen he started to become very impatient. Even though he didn''t want to be rude to the old man, he simply just has something else better to do. So he decided to interrupt the old priest.

    "Can you just tell us any clues about Lily''s origin?"

    Father Thompson let out a big sigh.

    "Hmm! Youth these days are so impatient!"

    The old priest put out the butt of his cigarette in a flower pot and lit up another cigarette.

    "Very well, I shall tell you how I came to find Lily. It happened more than a decade ago. While I was traveling around in my younger years, around the town of Payon, an attacked occurred. Swarms of nine-tailed fox appeared and attacked anyone in sight. During the chaos while I was trying to search for a place for my own safety, I found a basket on the ground. Inside the basket was none other than Lily. I shouted around and asked if anyone had dropped their child but everyone was so preoccupied by what was happening that I was ignored. So I decided to pick up Lily and take the both of us to safety. After the chaos, I also search for anyone who was looking for an elven infant but no one claimed her. That was the year I decided to return to Prontera with Lily and take care of any orphaned children."

    After ending his short version of the story where he found Lily, the old priest exhaled a large amount of smoke.

    "Huh. . . Payon. Well there you go Lily. A clue of your origin. If you go there and ask the people there, you''ll find out about your family."

    Albert stood up from his chair but as he could stand up completely, Lily grabbed his hand.

    "P-please help me."

    Albert turned to look at Lily. Her large round green eyes were starting to water again and Albert knew if he refused her, that she would only begin begging again. The situation that Lily is in is very pitiful and Albert felt sympathetic towards Lily. But since he was only a Novice it would be hard to travel due to the threats of monsters that can cause them their demise. Albert looked at Lily and stared straight in her big green eyes.

    "If were going to do this together, we need to get stronger. At the moment were just mere Novices and not so long ago, you yourself could barely defeat a Slime. What would happen if a high level monster were to attack us during our travel?"

    Lily didn''t speak, she remained quiet because she knows that Albert was stating the fact. Then in an instant, the look on Lily''s eyes changed.

    "Then we''ll get stronger together! And when were strong enough, please help me find my origin."

    The sad look from Lily''s eyes disappeared and what appeared is the look of determination.

    "It might be awhile before we can be strong enough to find where you came from, will that be okay with you?"

    "As long as it''s with you!" Lily nodded then smiled.

    *COUGH!*

    Father Thompson coughed to get the two''s attention.

    "Well it looks like you both have made a pact and a decision. Is there anything else that I can help you with?"

    Albert stood and faced the old priest.

    "Yes. I would like to take the Acolyte quest so that I may become an Acolyte."

    "Ho-oh! I knew from your attitude that you would attempt to become an Acolyte. We are similar. Very well. Albert Guro are you ready to accept the Acolyte Quest?

    "Yes!"

    "Then by the power bestowed upon me by the King of Midgard, I bestow upon you the Acolyte Quest!"

    Instantly Albert began to glow and in front of him a transparent arrow appeared.

    "Just follow the arrow right?"

    "That''s right."

    Albert stood up and began walking towards the door as he followed where the transparent arrow in front of him is pointing. Before he could go through the door, Lily spoke out.

    "I also want to take the Acolyte Quest!"

    **

 Chapter 6: The Preparation

    **

    Albert exited the door of Prontera Sanctuary Church and began walking towards the fountain that''s located in the middle of the city. For the time being, Albert ignored the transparent arrow in front of him because he has a list of things that he wants to do before he would actually continue the quest to become an Acolyte. While Albert continued to make a bee line towards the fountain in the middle of the city, Lily followed behind. As the two walked on the paved brick roads of Prontera, Albert wondered why Lily decided to take the Acolyte quest. Maybe it was because he himself decided to take it and she''s merely just following him like she has always been or maybe she had an idea of becoming an Acolyte before hand but Albert had just happened to beat her to the punch.

    Out of his own curiosity, Albert asked Lily.

    "Lily, Why did you decide to choose becoming an Acolyte?"

    Lily stopped walking and turned red suddenly.

    "Well, I wanted to become an Acolyte ever since I was being raised in the orphanage. Since I''m not very good in fighting, I thought that I would be better taking care of those who will fight in my stead."

    A grin appeared in Albert''s face.

    "You''re wrong, Acolytes can be great warriors. It''s just people haven''t realized their potential as warriors. Instead they are used as healers and they are always behind those who are fighting."

    Albert has a completely bizarre idea for becoming an Acolyte. For his own reason for becoming an Acolyte, Albert thought about it strategically. If he was going to travel Midgard, it would be logical to become an Acolyte due to the skills that they posses. Other than being able to heal ones self at any time, Acolytes have various useful skills to buff anyone and dispel any life threatening ailments. The ability to buff someone would allow a player to have instant increase on their statistical attributes of either vitality which increases one''s health, agility which increases the speed of one''s attack and movement, strength which increases one''s physical damage or dexterity which increases one''s ability to hit the target. Buffing someone is a type of instant body enhancement for any player. Its very useful in battle but its only temporary. With these temporary boost of statistical attributes, Albert will create a warrior that he calls a Battle Acolyte.

    In the game ''Deaths of the Gods'', Albert experimented with various classes and with his hours of experimentation, he discovered the Battle Acolytes. These warriors are fast, destructive and with the right combinations unbeatable in player versus player in the game. But in this reality it should be even more powerful with the proper equipment.

    Albert and Lily arrived at the fountain in the middle of Prontera city. Each time Albert stood in that area and witnessed the large lively crowd of people attempting to conduct commerce in the free market occurring around the northern half of the fountain, he couldn''t help but be in awe. The smell of the air and the feeling of the lingering ambient atmosphere added in his excitement when he''s reminded that he''s in the world of his favorite game.

    The first thing that''s on Albert''s to do list is to sell all the useless items in his backpack. Once he''s done that he headed for the basement door behind the Item shop. The basement of the Item shop is where the door that allowed Albert to travel from his room to the world of ''Deaths of the Gods'' and vice versa. Albert walked through the alley behind the Item shop then entered the basement with Lily following him in. Once in the basement, Albert turned to Lily.

    "Lily, I''m going to have to ask you to wait here please." Albert asked politely so that Lily would maybe just cooperate with him without any hassle. Then without any hesitations, Lily answered and smiled.

    "Okay!"

    Albert couldn''t help but smile as well when she answered. It was very convenient that she just cooperated instead of arguing. Hopefully when he returns to his world whenever he needs to again, Lily will be as cooperative.

    "I''ll be back."

    Albert then instantly turned around then entered the door that led back into his room. When he arrived in his room, he noticed that everything was still the same. There were no signs of anyone entering his room. Albert looked at the clock on his desk and it was eight o''clock in the evening and it was the same day that he left to go to the world of ''Deaths of the Gods''.

    Seeing the clock made Albert realize that there is a time difference between the world but he wasn''t completely sure what the time differences was. But while a day had passed in the world of ''Deaths of the Gods'', only hours had passed in his original world. Albert continued to ponder and estimate the equivalent of days and hours between the two worlds. But that was something he needed to figure out on another time. Since if the time in the world of ''Deaths of the Gods'' ran quicker than in his world, that means that Lily could be waiting in that basement room for hours. Albert quickly ran to the garage and tried to not make any loud noises due to his parents probably sleeping before they go back to work. Once in the garage he grabbed the two remaining aluminum bats and another baseball helmet that was stored in a cubby. Albert then hurriedly carried all of the things that he had grabbed with him towards the kitchen.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    In the kitchen, Albert then began scrounging in the fridge to look for any remaining non-perishable items. He also grabbed a bag of apples and oranges then took it to his room. Any items that can help with refilling their satiety and health will greatly help him in the quest to become an Acolyte. Then later on once he becomes an Acolyte, he won''t need to take anymore food from the fridge. Only maybe for emergency purposes. After packing everything in his backpack with the exception of the baseball bats and baseball helmet which he''ll be giving to Lily, Albert entered his closet and returned back to the world of ''Deaths of the Gods''.

    Albert opened the door and Lily was there quietly waiting for him to return.

    "Are you okay?" Albert asked as he exits out of the door.

    Lily blushed when Albert asked.

    "I-I''m okay!" She replied with a stutter.

    "I have a present for you. Now close your eyes."

    Albert slowly removed the Eggshell helmet on Lily''s head and replaced it with the baseball helmet that he grabbed from home.

    "Now stretch out your hands out towards me."

    Once Lily did what Albert commanded, Albert placed one of the aluminum bats on her hands.

    "Now open."

    Lily''s eyes widened.

    "Its the same weapon that you use." Lily said in her soft voice.

    "It is. Its very strong so you''ll have no problem when dealing with any monsters for the meantime."

    "Thank you Albert!" Lily''s eyes began to water.

    "Don''t cry." Albert wiped the fluid that ran down Lily''s cheeks.

    "I''m just so happy."

    "We have one more place that we need to go to then we''ll be ready to depart."

    Albert and Lily left the basement of the Item shop and headed towards the Blacksmith shop. When the two entered the shop, they are greeted by a cheerful old bearded gentleman.

    "Ho ho ho! Welcome to my shop! How may I help you?"

    To Albert''s surprised, the man is dwarven. But then he could be wrong, so Albert decided to ask.

    "Excuse me sir, but are you of the dwarven race?"

    "Oh yes. I am! I come from Einbronch the capital of the dwarves."

    Albert is stumped because in the world of ''Deaths of the Gods'' there were no other race other than humans which consist of all the players and None Player Characters (NPC). This means that the world is he''s in is similar to the game but at the same time there are various differences. Then he remembered what Father Thomson had said about what had happened centuries after Ragnarok, other races came to Midgard to aid the humans. But if there''s a place for the Dwarven race, then there must be a location for the Elven race.

    "Why do you ask?" The old man began brushing his beard.

    "Oh. Haha I was just curious. Maybe one day i''ll see it. That''s the reason why I became an Adventurer after all." Albert laughed awkwardly as he made the lie on the spot.

    "Ho ho ho. If you do please bring back any treats from Einbronch. I would pay you handsomely. Now what can I help you with?"

    "I''d like to have these weapons engraved."

    "Just so you know engraving a person''s name means it won''t be able to be used by anyone else other than the person who''s name is engraved on the weapon."

    "I do."

    "That will be ten silver each."

    Albert handed Lily''s baseball bat and his own to the blacksmith. When the blacksmith received their weapons, the expression on his face changed.

    "These weapons. I have never seen them before."

    "Ah they were specially made for us. That''s why we want to have them engraved."

    The blacksmith continued to inspect the two aluminum bats. The more the old dwarf observed the aluminum bats the more his expression became even more serious. Then after standing there for a minute the black smith looked at Albert.

    "Would I be able to meet the craftsman who made these weapons?"

    Albert wasn''t shocked that the blacksmith became very curious about the baseball bats. That was the reason why he wanted to engrave their names on the bats. Because if these baseball bats were ever stolen or misplaced, no one would be able to use them in combat other than those who''s names are engraved on it. Albert quickly made up a lie on the spot to prevent anymore curiosity about the origin of the aluminum bats.

    "I apologize but the master craftsman who created these weapons have passed away and he never had any apprentices to carry on his skills."

    "Tsk! Shame these are beyond masterpiece weapons." The blacksmith let out a depressing sigh.

    "Very well please wait."

    Moments later the bearded old man came out from the back of the shop with their baseball bats.

    "Here you are. Thank you for waiting."

    The blacksmith handed them their weapons. Instantly after receiving his baseball bat, Albert look at its description.

    Albert couldn''t help but feel like he''s cheating due to the overpowering weapon that he has. But it didn''t matter because he''ll take what ever advantages that he can think off. Having their weapons engraved was the last item on Albert''s need to do list. Albert turned his head to Lily and smiled.

    "Are you ready to do our very first quest?"

    Lily nodded in agreement. As the two began to slowly walk out of the shop, the blacksmith said something in a frantic tone.

    "Wait! Please wait!"

    Albert turned to face the old dwarf who looked anxious.

    "Is there anything wrong?"

    "Please listen to my request. I am just a humble blacksmith who has been trying to perfect my skills for decades. In all my life I have never seen such weapons and to just let this opportunity to slip out of my hands would be regrettable. Please If possible, in your spare time would it be possible for me to inspect your weapons a little longer? I would of course pay generously for the time that I have your weapon in my possession."

    A grin appeared in Albert''s face when the tone of desperation came from the old blacksmith as he offered to pay for the purpose of studying his weapon. To Albert, this is also a golden opportunity to make a large sum of coins which would help him purchase a dimensional storage ring or two. Albert looked at the old blacksmith in the eyes and smiled.

    "How generous can you be exactly?"

    **

 Chapter 7: Monkey Business

    **

    Sweat broke out on the blacksmith''s forehead as he looked at Albert in the eyes. At the moment the old dwarf knows that Albert knows that he''s desperate to study the weapon that he had just engraved. With that knowledge alone, Albert could demand for a sum so large that it could cause him to become bankrupt. And being bankrupt at the age of one hundred and thirty four is not very good for a dwarf, even though he still has more than half a century left to live.

    Albert''s face changed and began to look more serious. As his face changed, the old blacksmith''s sweat began to trickle down his face. At the moment, Albert was thinking of an exchange. It was obvious that the old blacksmith had in mind that Albert might ask him for every last piece of coin that he has. But Albert has many things in mind other than coins. While Albert continued to stare at the old dwarf with a serious face, suddenly he burst out in laughter.

    "Hahaha. I''m sorry that was just too cruel. How about we do bargain?"

    The old sighed in relief.

    "You scalawag! You had me!" The old blacksmith wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the back of hand. "What kind of bargain do you have in mind?"

    "In exchange for letting you study my weapon I would ask for a dimensional storage ring and for you to become the blacksmith for my soon to be Clan."

    "Soon to be Clan? Bwahahaha!" The old dwarf couldn''t help but laugh. "You''re trying to recruit me to be in a Clanthat you haven''t made yet?"

    Albert grinned at the old blacksmith. "There are other perks as well. If I find any weapons in my travels, I would be sure to bring it to you so that you may be able to study it."

    The old blacksmith stayed silent for a moment. In his mind, studying the weapon that belongs to Albert is much more valuable than dozens of storage rings. Even several of the highest quality storage ring wouldn''t compare to the value of the weapon Albert has in his possession and for the old dwarf to be offered to study other weapons would a bonus. While the old man thought about the offer he decided to retrieve something from the back of the shop.

    "Wait one moment please."

    Moments later the old blacksmith came out from the back carry with him a small box. The old dwarf opened the box and presented it to Albert.

    "I hope this will do."

    Albert was astounded to see the ring that was presented to him by the old blacksmith. It''s a SS grade dimensional storage ring. This magical ring is the highest grade of dimensional ring and it is said that it could possibly carry a house inside it. Magical rings such as dimensional storage rings are a must have items for adventurers. The advantage of having a dimensional storage ring is that one can carry a finite amount of items without the burden of the weight.

    Albert took out the baseball bat that was just engraved and handed it to the old dwarf.

    "This is for you to study."

    When the blacksmith received the aluminum baseball bat, he couldn''t take his eyes off of it. The old dwarfs'' hands started to shake and became sweaty as he touches the metallic surface of the weapon. Even though Albert had lent the weapon to the old blacksmith doesn''t means that he fully trust him yet. This is why he handed the blacksmith the one that he had engraved earlier. Because when an item is engraved with a specific person''s name, it means that only the person who has his or her name engraved to the item, will be able to use the item indefinitely. If the item is used by the person other than the one who''s name is engraved on the item, then the item will be teleported to the location of the owner. This is why people make use of the engrave system, for security assurances. But there is one insufficiency with this system, only when the owner dies will the engravement disappear from the item.

    "I''ll return to you until I have created the Clan. For now use this weapon, study it at your heart''s content."

    "Thank you, Clanleader. Also I would like to introduce myself since I haven''t had the chance yet. My name is Athos of Einbronch"

    "Please to meet you Athos. You already know our names. We''ll be on our way."

    Albert and Lily added Athos in their friend list just before they left the shop. It was convenient that Albert had recruited a blacksmith in his soon to be made clan. Even though the clanhasn''t been made nor the name decided, but at least they now have a very experienced blacksmith who will be very useful to them in the future. After exiting the shop, Albert placed all their belongings inside the dimensional storage ring. Albert also took out the spare baseball bat that he had in his backpack so that he can use it until he could retrieve his original weapon from Athos the blacksmith. The two were done preparing and began to follow the transparent arrow in front of them.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    **

    Its been hours since Albert and Lily had been following the direction of the transparent arrow in front of them. Currently the two are on the quest to become Acolytes and for the first part of their quest, they have to follow the course of the transparent arrow. So far there hasn''t been any problems. Since they both have overpowered weapons at their disposal, Albert felt like they could take on anything. Lily on the other hand is still a little cautious. But her confidence on fighting monsters has improved greatly because of Albert.

    When Albert met Lily, she was petrified of monsters. That is why when Albert first encountered Lily she was running away from a Slime monster.

    Albert stopped walking when he recognized the area that they are currently located. The last time Albert was in this area was in ''Deaths of the Gods'', he was trying to tame a monster called Yoyo. Yoyos are monsters that looks exactly like a spider monkeys. They''re very agile and the reason why Albert wanted one as a pet in the game of ''Deaths of the Gods'' is because Yoyo''s have the ability to steal items from monsters and players.

    Albert thought about how it would be extremely useful and profitable to have one as a pet. But the problem was that currently, he didn''t have the item that is needed to tame a Yoyo. To tame a Yoyo, a player would need to have a Tropical Banana. But the chances of taming one with the required item is completely random.

    The fact they were in this location was also a good sign. If Albert remembered correctly, this area is where the first part of the quest is located to become an Acolyte is to be done. But they both have to be careful because an aggressive monster called Choco is also known to be in the area their currently in. Chocos are similar to the monsters called Yoyos but they are a bit more larger in size and usually double the level as a Yoyo. So the chances of them beating a Choco even with their overpowered weapons would be impossible.

    Albert continued to slowly walk in silence to the direction of the transparent arrow in front of him. When suddenly three Yoyo''s appeared in front of them. Instantly, Albert became alarmed because in the game when there''s a group of Yoyo''s that means that there''s a Choco around. In the game ''Deaths of the Gods'' when a group of Yoyo, usually three to seven would be in a pack with a Choco leading them. Albert has encountered packs of Yoyo''s many time when playing ''Deaths of the Gods'' and almost always, a Choco would be nearby when there is a cluster of Yoyos.( Choco''s are basically the Alpha monsters in a group of Yoyo''s.)

    Albert stopped on his track and steadily stepped back. Since he didn''t want to scare Lily which would result in the chance of her panicking, Albert acted as if they were going to take a detour.

    "I think there''s a cliff up ahead. Let''s go around." Albert grinned and began backing away slowly without making any noise. Then suddenly, one of the Yoyo''s in the group noticed them and started to screech which alarmed the entire pack.

    "Lily I need you to be brave and start running in front of me."

    Lily''s brow furrowed due to being confused. But Albert knew that there was no time to think about anything. The group of Yoyo''s began chasing them and Albert grabbed Lily by her arms then the two started to run.

    "Run Lily!"

    As they ran away from the group of Yoyos, Albert swung at any one of the monsters that leaped towards them with his baseball bat making sure that they didn''t harm Lily. Then, moments later only one out of five Yoyo''s were left that was chasing them. Suddenly, when Albert thought everything was going smoothly, what he feared would happen, happened. When Albert slayed the last remaining Yoyo, a Choco came out of no where.

    Albert pushed Lily away before the Choco could claw her down with its long sharp claws.

    "Run Lily!"

    As Lily ran away, Albert began swinging wildly at the large brown monkey. After hitting the creature for at least nine times, Albert chased after Lily and the Choco followed after him. The chase began and so far Albert has been lucky because his health bar hasn''t passed the half way point. As he ran away from the Choco and tried to catch up to Lily, he grabbed one of the non-perishable snacks and began eating it to partially heal himself.

    Then out of no where the Choco pounced on him, digging its claws on his head. But luckily Albert is wearing the baseball helmet which has a thick layer of carbon fiber to protect his head from the Choco''s claws. Albert used his bat to shove the monster away. Seeing that the creature was pass its health''s halfway point, Albert had a feeling that he could defeat the monster. Albert stood up but instead of running away he stood his ground. The Choco in front of him began snarling at him then when it was about to jump, Albert swung his bat and hit it square in the jaw.

    [Critical Hit!]

    Albert was surprised and saw that the Choco''s health bar was red meaning that if he could hit it at least two more times, he''ll be able to defeat the creature. Albert started to feel a rush of adrenaline all over his body and began screaming at the Choco.

    "Come on! Attack me!"

    As he wait for the monster to leap towards him, Albert became impatient and decided to attack the Choco before it could attack him. Albert lunged towards the monster swinging his bat and hit the monkey on its torso but that wasn''t enough to finish it off. The Choco then grabbed a hold of Albert and began clawing him. Albert screamed as his health bar steadily declined.

    "FFFFFFFFF****######KKK!!!"

    Then out of nowhere the sound of thud caused the Choco to stop clawing right before Albert''s entire health bar depleted. It was Lily and when she struck the Choco, she delivered the final blow to finish off the monster. Albert slowly stood up and looked at Lily

    "Lily you came back."

    "I didn''t want to be afraid anymore. I came back to fight with my friend." Lily smiled while her eyes began to water. Albert went up to Lily and hugged her.

    "Its okay. Its over."

    "Next time don''t tell me to run. Next time we''ll fight together okay?"

    "Okay. I promise."

    Albert let Lily go and looked around the ground. There on the ground were three items, a Uranium which is used for refining and toughening armors, a banana juice and a Tropical Banana. Albert smiled and picked up the three items. He was happy that he obtained the item to tame a Yoyo but before that they need to finish their quest so that they can finally become Acolytes.

    **

 Chapter 8: Death x Acolyte

    **

    The afternoon dragged on as Albert and Lily continued to follow the transparent arrow in front of them to the direction of the first part of the Acolyte quest. After dealing with the the pack of Yoyos and the alpha monster called Choco, the two had run out of healing items. Fortunately for the two after following the transparent arrow for hours, they came across a man with a brown satchel on his side. Instantly, Albert realized that the transparent arrow pointed towards the man who was just standing there, so he decided to walk up to him and Lily trailed behind him. When Albert met the eyes if the man with the satchel, he instantly greeted them.

    "Ah! You two must be the Acolyte applicants! I sincerely welcome the two of you."

    "Yes we are."

    "Please present your adventurer''s card."

    "My name is Albert"

    "And I''m Lily."

    "Let me check my list. Please wait one moment"

    The man grabbed his bag and took out a green book and began flipping through the pages. As the man flipped through the pages he mumbled words which Albert and Lily couldn''t understand.

    "Ah! Here you two are. Since I have confirmed your names, I will now send a message to the Sanctuary confirming that the two of you visited me and completed your penances."

    A big smile appeared in both Albert and Lily when they heard that the first part of their quest was finished.

    "Now please return to Prontera Sanctuary and speak to Father Thompson. When you return, he should already have received the message. I will pray to the Gods and hope that the two of you will become Acolytes soon."

    Energy filled the two heard what the man has just said. But before they returned to Prontera, Albert wants to try to tame a Yoyo. Albert grabbed Lily by the shoulders to get her attention.

    "Lily before we return to Prontera, can you help me tame a Yoyo?"

    "Tame one? How would I be able help?"

    "Help me pick one and I''ll do the rest" Albert smiled.

    Albert and Lily began to wander around the nearby area in search for some Yoyos. It took them a while but Lily decided that Albert should tame the Yoyo with a heart shape birthmark on her back. Albert took out the Tropical Banana and presented in to the Yoyo that Lily had chosen. Then suddenly a screen in front of Albert appeared.

    [Success!]

    Immediately after the screen appeared in front of Albert, the Yoyo turned into an egg.

    "Yes! We got ourselves a pet Yoyo!"

    Albert was ecstatic when the attempt to tame was successful. When a monster is successfully tamed, the monster becomes an egg form. Once the monster egg is hatched by the player, the creature hatched from the egg will identify that player as its master. But to hatch an egg, one would need an incubator which is quite pricey.

    Albert took out something from his storage and handed it to Lily.

    "This is a Butterfly wing. I want you to use it now and I''ll see you in Prontera okay?"

    Lily did as Albert has instructed and used the Butterfly wing. In an instant, Lily began to glow then she disappeared in front of Albert. Albert also use the a Butterfly wing and was instantly transported to Prontera.

    The two met near the center fountain of Prontera, around the free market where many adventurers would go to buy, sell and trade their items. Immediately after meeting, the two began walking towards Prontera Sanctuary Church. On their way there they noticed that some ceremonies were being held and out of curiosity, Albert inquired what was going on.

    "Excuse me sir what''s going on here?"

    "It''s a funeral."

    Albert''s eyes widened with shock when he heard the words from the man.

    "Funeral? How did he die? Wasn''t there any Priest that could have revive him?"

    The man looked down in despair.

    "He was part of the group of Swordsman class adventurers that entered Prontera Culvert, the dungeon located in the western fields of Prontera. His eagerness caused him to be separated from the group and when the group finally found him it was too late. A swarm of Thief Bugs had already been feasting on his carcass. We had a Priest nearby but he was half eaten by the monsters when we got there, so there was no way he could have been revived."Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    Albert felt cold chill in his spine after hearing the man''s story. With the sudden knowledge of death in this world, Albert must now take extra precautions to prevent dying. After all he''s still only a junior high student and there is still a lot things he wants to do in life. Then he realized that hours ago he too would have died when facing that Choco monster. Having such a close experience with death, Albert felt relieved that Lily was there to save him.

    "Thank you for telling me what happened. Condolences on your friend."

    "Oh I didn''t the guy. It''s a shame though he had just become a Swordsman class adventurer and now they''re here burying him."

    ". . ."

    Albert stayed silent and didn''t know what to say. Lily was besides him listening to the whole conversation. She looked at Albert who looked a little pale and decided to tug on his sleeve.

    "I also had a brother from the orphanage that died because he was reckless. He died because he thought he could take on an orc that was found in the southern field of Prontera."

    Albert turned his head toward Lily.

    "This is why we need to be stronger Lily. I refuse to die in this world."

    "In this world?"

    "Let''s go meet Father Thompson and tell him that we''ve finished our quest"

    Albert continued his way toward the doors of Sanctuary Church. Lily followed him but was still confused at what Albert meant when he said that ''he refused to die in this world.''

    Moments later, Albert and Lily presented them selves to Father Thompson. Albert knelt on the ground in front of the old priest and Lily mimicked what Albert was doing.

    "Father we''ve completed our penances."

    The old priest put out his cigarette and took out a pair of clothes from his desks.

    "I am proud to say that the two of you are now Acolytes. Congratulations. Please stand up."

    Father Thompson handed Albert and Lily their robes. Once the two received the robes, the old priest continued to speak.

    "Remember to be thankful to the Gods. Without their sacrifices, we wouldn''t be here. Always use your gifts to serve the Gods by helping others. In chaos and in times of difficulties, face your hardship with unwavering faith."

    Father Thompson placed his hands over Albert and Lily. The two began to glow and a screen appeared in front of them.

    [You have successfully become an Acolyte]

    **

    Albert and Lily came out of Prontera Sanctuary Church wearing the robes that they''ve received from Father Thomson. Lily can''t help but fascinate at the robe that she''s wearing. As for Albert, he feels a bit weird because it feels like he''s wearing a dress. The two are happy to finally become real adventurers but they both know that they''ve only begun and are still not capable yet to do much. Lily is more thrilled because they''ve taken the first step to finding out about her origin. Now that they each both have a Class, Albert decided that they should rest for the day and start a new day tomorrow.

    As the sun had begun to set, the two started walking to the Inn. While they walked Lily tugged on Albert''s Robe.

    "Yes? What is it Lily?"

    "Is it okay if we can go to Payon Town tomorrow?"

    Albert was surprised because it was the first time Lily had asked to go to a certain place. Its true that the clues of her origin lies in Payon and Albert was thinking of going there to investigate soon, but he feels that they aren''t strong enough yet to venture out to where ever they please. Rushing things without any preparation could cause them their lives and Albert wasn''t going to risk it. Albert acknowledged that death in this game is very much possible because of the funeral that they had witnessed and the story that he had heard on their way to the Sanctuary. He decided to be honest to Lily because he strongly believe that they really need to get stronger and gain some level first.

    "I think were not ready. Maybe when we level up a few more time as Acolytes. Let''s rest up for the night and we''ll decide what to do for tomorrow in the morning okay?"

    "Okay."

    Albert checked Lily and himself into the Inn in separate rooms. When Lily entered her room, Albert waited until she had dozed off. When he confirmed that Lily was sleeping, Albert sneaked off to the basement behinds the Item store so that he can return to his world.

    When Albert returned to his room, it was pass midnight. He was surprised that only five hours has just passed in this world, after he had spent the entire day in the world of ''Deaths of the Gods''. From Albert''s estimation, it would take five earth hours for an entire day in the world of ''Deaths of the Gods''. This information would be very useful for him on day. But since its just still an estimation Albert has to test this theory later on when there is an actual time that he could test it.

    Albert took off his helmet and the robe that he was wearing and placed it on his bed. He then decided to go downstairs to eat something.

    Downstairs, Albert realized that everyone is already went at work and the house is all to himself. At the moment the house was nice and quiet which is one of the reason why Albert prefer to be awake at night than in the day in this world. Fortunately for him his parents worked night shifts and would be asleep in the morning. After eating the food that was left for him on the table, Albert took a long shower then afterwards he decided to test things out. Albert stood in his room with a towel around his waist.

    "Storage!"

    Suddenly a transparent screen appeared in front of Albert. Albert''s eyes widened from surprised when the command actually worked. He then attempted to do something else. Albert attempted to withdraw some coins from his storage into his hand and to his surprise five silver coins appeared in his hand. When Albert realized that there was valuable silver coins in his hand, his jaws dropped from surprise. He couldn''t believe it but it happened right in front of him.

    Seeing that he has the ability to open the his dimensional storage ring in this world, Albert thought of so much possibilities. He could sell the silver coins since they are probably made from real silver and in a large amount, it would be worth a lot of money. But since Albert was still pretty much broke as a beginner adventurer, he still wont be able to do much. He also would need a large amount of coins to actually start making money.

    Albert deeply sighed.

    "It''s still not enough yet." He told himself.

    "I need to level up to get stronger. Then once I''m stronger I can start hunting stronger monsters to earn more coins!"

    Albert looked at the clock and almost thirty minutes had passed. He became panicked because since time moved faster in the world of ''Deaths of the Gods'', he has no time to think about anything else in his room. He has to return to back to Prontera or else his absence would make Lily suspicious about where he went. After drying his whole body, Albert put on some new clothes as well as his Acolyte robe and then as well as the rest of his things. Once he was ready he walked inside his closet to go back to the world of ''Deaths of the Gods''.

    **

 Chapter 9: Holy Light

    **

    In the morning, Albert and Lily met in the basement behind the Item shop to discuss their plans. Albert had decided to make the basement their secret hideout because it seems like its abandoned and no one else seems to have interest in the place. In the basement, Albert sat down on the wooden paneled floor across Lily and the two began to discuss about the things that they need to do.

    "Ahem . . . We''re here today to have a meeting. Today we are two and hopefully in the future there will be more of us. Also hopefully in the future we can get our hands on an Emperium so that we can make our Clan official."

    "Uhm . . Why do we need to have an Emperium to have an Official Clan?"

    "It''s one of the requirements to create an official Clan. With the addition to tengold coins."

    "That''s expensive. . . "

    "It is, But for now the first thing on our list is a Clan name. Do you have any suggestions for our clan''s name?"

    "Hmmmm. . . .Holy Light?"

    "Huh . . that sounds good. Why Holy Light?"

    "Because we''re Acolytes and the only skill that we have that can cause damage is Holy Light."

    "Well that''s partially true. Did you know we can use heal on undead monsters to damage them?"

    "Really? I didn''t know!"

    "I think Holy Light as our Clan name is good."

    "Yay! We''re the Holy Light!" Lily smiled when the Clan''s name was decided.

    "Well that enough of that, lets go to the second thing on the list of things that we need to discuss about. The next topic is our stats. Before we begin, have you distributed any of your statistical attribute points into any of your attributes?"

    "Hmmm. . . No, I still have fifty attribute points remaining."

    "Okay. Another thing, What kind of Acolyte do you want to be?"

    "Hmm . . . What kind of Acolytes are there?"

    "Well to me there are three kinds. Full Support Acolytes, Tank Acolytes and Battle Acolyte."

    "Oh. . . can you tell me about each one of them?"

    "Well Full Support Acolytes focuses more on their ability to heal, buff and dispel any status ailments that the people in their party may have. Full Support Acolytes focuses most of their statistical attributes on intelligence so that the have enough mana to keep casting skills. Their role in a party is to keep everyone healthy and alive."

    "Oh . . that sounds interesting. What about the other two?"

    "A Tank Acolyte focuses more on being able to take damage. Their role in the party is to be in the front line taking on any damage from monsters while their party mates attack from a far. They focus their statistical attribute more on Vitality to be able to stay alive."

    "Uhg . . I don''t like the sound of being a punching bag for monsters."

    Albert grinned as he began to talk about the last type of Acolyte.

    "Okay, Well the last one is the Battle Acolyte. They are considered to be Acolytes who can go into dungeons without a party."

    Lily''s eyes squinted when she heard what Albert had said about the Battle Acolytes.

    "Without a party? Are they that strong?"

    "They''re strong but of course everyone has their limits. They focus their statistical attributes on what ever will help them become better in battle."

    "What type of Acolyte will you be Albert?"

    "Isn''t it obvious?" Albert grinned "I''ll become a Battle Acolyte"

    "Then I want to become a Battle Acolyte also!"

    "Okay! I''ll help you with your statistical attribute allocation. For now you have fifty free points for your statistical attributes right?"

    "Yep!"

    "Okay add twenty on your Strength attribute, ten on your Vitality attribute, ten on your Agility and Dexterity."

    "Done!" Lily exclaimed.

    Albert stared at his character screen and something seemed odd.

    As Albert continued to stare at his character screen, he realized that his statistical attributes were higher than it should be. The longer Albert stared at his character screen, the more perplexed he was of why his statistical attributes is higher than it should be. Then he noticed his Character Trait, Albert''s Character Trait, ''Zenith'', his Trait multiplies his statistical attributes by two. Since he originally had fifty free statistical attribute and he distributed twenty of Strength and Dexterity, ten on Agility and Vitality, all of those statistical attributes that was distributed had doubled due to his Character Trait.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "This is insane!" Albert said out loud.

    "What''s insane Albert?"

    "Ah nothing. Lily I''m curious, what''s your Character Trait?"

    "My Character Trait?"

    "Yes, it should tell you your Character Trait right above your health."

    "Ah here it is. It says my Character Trait is ''Ancient''s Blessing''. The description says that my Vitality is multiplied by one thousand percent."

    Albert didn''t say anything for a moment when he heard Lily say the description of her Character Trait. The thought of having such Trait is also insanely over powered. That is because it means that Lily''s Vitality statistical attributes at the moment is one hundred. Which also mean that when she reaches a higher level, her health will also be enormous. It astounding that the two of them has such Traits because in the game ''Deaths of the Gods'', Traits are received at the birth of a character and to acquire an over powered Trait is like winning the lottery.

    "Is your Vitality''s statistical attribute one hundred at the moment?"

    "It is! This is amazing!" Lily was shocked when she saw that her Vitality statistical attribute is so high.

    If his Trait in this world was in one the characters in the game ''Deaths of the Gods'', Albert would have sold his account right away for a lot of money. Gamers in the game ''Deaths of the Gods'' would even hunt down and buy other players'' accounts just for their characters if they have the Traits that they want and they would offer them thousands of dollars just for a game character with the specific Trait. Albert is ecstatic with his Character Trait because of the possibilities .

    "Well since we''re done with the plans for our stats, lets talk about the third thing on the list which is our equipment."

    "We have really nice weapons and the helmet you gave me has a high defense."

    "Yes we don''t need to worry about our weapons. But for defense, we need to equip better armors. For that we need the coins. So we should go take some quest at the Adventurer''s Guild and make some coins."

    "Okay!"

    "Since we have nothing else to talk about, let us adjourn this meeting and continue it next time when we collect some the coins."

    "Oh by the way how much coins are we planning to gather?"

    "As much as we can" Albert grinned.

    "Oh I forgot before we leave this place, turn off your friend request option."

    "Why should I do that?"

    "Because when leave this place a lot of adventurers would want to add us in their friend list and it will be bothersome having a bunch of friend requests popping up all the time."

    "Oh, okay!"

    After opting their friend request option to off, the two left the basement.

    **

    Albert and Lily walked in the brick paved road of Prontera toward the Adventurer''s Guild. On their way there, they noticed that they were being watched and they could hear various adventurers whispering about them as they walked to their destination.

    "Acolytes! I wonder who''ll try to recruit them first."

    "Look two Acolytes, I bet they''ll be recruited into a Clan really fast."

    "Two Acolytes and they don''t have a Clan patch yet. That''s rare."

    Albert knows very well why all the adventurers are murmuring about them. Acolytes are very sought after by many Clans because of their ability to save the lives of their members. But most clans don''t just recruit any Acolytes. First they seek them out, then once the Acolyte has reached a certain level, Clans will do what they must to recruit them. So for now, Albert and Lily are pretty much just a red dot on their map. But once they get stronger, Clans will flock like crazy to recruit them.

    Albert and Lily arrived at the building of the Adventurer''s Guild and once they both stepped into the building, many of the adventurers inside game them a stare. Then as they walk their way to the quest board, an Archer class adventurer came up to them.

    "Smart."

    "Excuse me?" Albert''s brow furrowed.

    "Ya''ll turned off your friend request option"

    "Well that''s because we knew there would be a lot of friend requests once we became Acolytes."

    While Albert is observing the quest board, the Archer class adventurer continued to talk to them.

    "What Clan are ya''ll in?"

    "None yet."

    "Well if you want you can join my. . "

    Right before the Archer could finish his sentence, Albert instantly declined him.

    "Sorry we''re not interested."

    "Tsk. What are two Acolytes going to do by them selves?"

    Albert didn''t say anything else to the Archer because he knows he can''t back anything up at the moment. But once they get stronger, they wont be bothered anymore by people like the rude Archer class adventurer.

    "Let''s go Lily, I found a quest for us."

    Albert grabbed Lily''s hand and walked over to the quest counter.

    "We would like to take this quest."

    Albert placed two stubs of the quest that was posted on the quest board.

    "To take this quest, please show this to the guard of Prontera Culvert."

    Albert was given two small rectangular tablets that says ''Quest Pass''. The quest that Albert decided to take is a dungeon quest. The description says that the Thief Bug population in the sewers of Prontera Culvert are breeding at an excessively fast rate and the City of Prontera will be paying adventurers one gold coin for every fifty Female Thief Bug monster that is killed. To prove that fiftyhas been slayed, simply collect fifty pair of insect feelers from Female Thief Bug monsters. This quest is also convenient because it can be repeated as much as possible.

    After taking the ''Quest Pass from the counter, Albert and Lily went straight to the Item shop to buy some potions for healing and grape juice for recovering their mana. Even though the two won''t need the healing potions, because they have the ability to heal them selves using their skills, its better to have some just in case. Then right after buying the potions and grape juice with the money that they had left, the two walk towards the western field of Prontera to head to the dungeon called Prontera Culvert.

    **

    Albert and Lily began walking west ward when they exited from west gate of Prontera. Moments later, the two found themselves in front of a Prontera Royal Guard guarding the entrance to the dungeon called Prontera Culvert.

    Prontera Culvert is the underground sewer system under the city of Prontera. Many new adventurers descend to this dungeon to gain some experience due to the excessive amount of monsters that spawn inside. But recently there has been a dangerous infestation of Thief Bug monsters and some of the newly pledged adventurers in the past months have died down there due to the Thief Bug monster infestation.

    Albert and Lily walked up to the Royal Guard and instantly the guard blocked them with his pole ax then began warn them.

    "Halt! No one is allowed to access the dungeon at the moment due to the infestation."

    Albert took out the two rectangular tablets and showed it to the Royal Guard.

    "Ah, you two must be volunteers. This is the entrance of the Prontera Culverts. Do you wish to go inside?"

    "Yes Please."

    The Royal Guard stepped out of the way for the two.

    "Please be careful down there, there has been many fatalities in the past weeks."

    Albert and Lily entered the door way and instantly they both could detect the putrid scent of the sewers. As they began to descend down into the sewers, the scent became stronger and stronger.

    "UHGGG!!! Ewww . . Albert it smells!" Lily pinched he nose as she continued to follow Albert.

    "Oh my god. . . It does smell."

    Albert took out a shirt from his dimensional storage ring and ripped it into two. He wrapped one of them around his face to filter the smell from his nose. The other half of the shirt he gave to Lily so that she could also wrap it around her face to cover her nose from the smell.

    After a moment the smell had subsided thanks to their make shift masks. The two looked around and began to walk around.

    "Okay Lily. Follow me! Kill every monster in sight!"

    **

 Chapter 10: Ally

    **

    After spending the whole day in the dungeon called Prontera Culvert, Albert and Lily decided to leave the foul smelling dungeon so that they can turn in the items that are required for completing the quest. As the two exit from the dungeon, the strong lingering pungent smell of Prontera Culvert''s sewers began to fade away. Once they were out, Albert and Lily removed the rags that they used as masks to filter the stench of the dungeon from their face.

    "Ah! Fresh air!" Lily exclaimed as she remove the ragged mask from her face.

    "But my cloths smell stinky now. Bleh!"

    "We''ll wash our clothes when we get back to the Inn. First lets turn in the items that we''ve collected to the Adventurer''s Guild." Albert grinned as he stored the make shift mask made from rags inside his dimensional storage ring.

    As the sun sets from the horizon, the two continue their way towards the western gate of Prontera. On their way there another adventurer exited from the dungeon.

    When the adventurer arrived at the dungeon''s entrance, she instantly looked around as if she was looking for someone. The adventurer paused, looking depressed because she couldn''t find the two adventurers that she was searching for. Then from behind her, someone said something.

    "What''s wrong miss?"

    "EEEk!!" The adventurer squealed and jumped up when someone from behind her spoke.

    "Ah! Mr. Royal Guard. I''m sorry, I didn''t see you there."

    "I am always here. It''s my duty to guard the entrance of this dungeon to prevent anyone other than volunteers to enter this place."

    "Ah that''s right. Say, Mr. Royal Guard, have you seen two adventurer''s just like me exit the dungeon?"

    "I did see two Acolytes exit the dungeon earlier. I over heard them saying something about going to the Adventurer''s Guild."

    "Thank you Mr. Royal Guard!"

    The adventurer dashed off towards the western gate of Prontera to go to the Adventurer''s Guild so that she could meet the two Acolytes that she''s in search for.

    **

    Albert and Lily arrived at the Adventurer''s Guild to turn in the Insect Feelers that they''ve collected in the dungeon. Inside the Adventurer''s Guild, the two were still being stared upon by numerous adventurers in the lounge. Albert noticed the the glares of the other adventurers felt as though they''ve been intensified. The feeling of being in the lounge was like being in a room full of hungry dogs and they felt as if they were some sort of fresh meat for the taking. Lily on the other hand didn''t care at the moment about that the other adventurers were staring at them. She casually walked towards a padded chair to sit down and decided to stay there while she waits for Albert to claim their rewards for the quest. At moment they are both extremely exhausted from slaying countless monsters in Prontera Culvert all day. But before they could call it a day, they need to retrieve their reward from the quest. Albert walked over to the quest counter and talked to the man standing behind it.

    "I''m here to turn in the items I gathered for the quest; Exterminate the Thief Bugs."

    "Please proceed inside and place the Insect Feelers on the table so it can be inspected."

    "Uh . . . okay."

    Albert entered the door located beside the quest counter as he was told. Inside the room was the chair where the man was sitting and in the middle of the room is a large sturdy looking wooden table. The walls around the room has various different things hanging on them. Besides the door that Albert had entered was a rectangular paper which looked a lot like a calendar and besides the rectangular paper are several bulletin boards that are nailed cross the four sides of the walls. As he observed the room, Albert wondered how they were able to tell time in this world. While he was preoccupied about how they''re able to tell time in this world, the man that told him to place the items on the table was waiting besides the table and he began to look impatient.

    "Ahem . . . Please place the Items on the table so I may begin appraising them."

    "Ah! I''m sorry."

    After apologizing, Albert quickly opened his dimensional storage ring and expelled the Insect Feelers that he had collected from the dungeon on to the table. The Adventurer''s Guild worker was so startled at the amount, that the grown man shrieked at the sight of the amount of Insect Feelers that appeared in front of him.

    " Aieeeee!"

    The Insect Feelers that Albert expelled from his dimensional storage ring made a mound on the sturdy looking table and a lot more were scattered all over the ground.

    "I think the table isn''t big enough." Albert smirked

    "I didn''t know you would have this many! How on Midgard did you manage to get this many?"

    "My party mate and I stayed in the dungeon all day. This is the result of it."

    The Adventurer''s Guild worker gave a depressing sigh.

    "Please wait in the lounge until your items have been inspected and verified."

    "Sure."If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Albert grinned and walked out of the room. He then continued his way into the area where Lily was waiting for him. When Albert arrived at the seat where Lily was sitting, Lily had already dozed off.

    "Heh, I guess she was more tired than I am."

    Albert sat down on a seat next to Lily who was sleeping comfortably. While he sat there next to Lily, he started to feel how hard his palms had become from swinging his bat all day. An hour later and still he was waiting in the lounge for the Adventurer''s Guild worker to finish appraising his items. While he waited, Albert decided to go through his dimensional storage ring to organize which ones he would want to sell to the Item shop and which ones would be of value for trade. As he continued to wait, Albert decided to lean his head against the back of the chair so he could get a quick shut eye until the worker is done with appraising his items. Just as he was about to doze off, an adventurer came up to Albert.

    "Excuse me."

    Albert lifted his head to see the person who was trying to speak to him. He opened his eyes and to his surprise an Acolyte class adventurer was in front him. Seeing another Acolyte adventurer made Albert''s drowsiness disappear in an instant.

    "Yes?" Albert''s brow furrowed.

    "Were you one of the Acolytes that I saw in Prontera Culvert?"

    "Uhm . . . I''m not sure if I was one of them. But I just recently came from Prontera Culvert."

    "Thank the gods!"

    "Er . . If you''re trying to recruit us to your clan, I''m sorry but we have to decline."

    "Eh! . . . Why?"

    "Because we''re making our own clan." Albert lightly smiled.

    "If that''s the case. Then can I join your clan?"

    "Huh? Well we haven''t actually created our clan yet." Albert scratched his head.

    "Why not?"

    "Its cause we haven''t found an Emperium yet."

    "Well I happen to have one with me."

    "Wait. Before that. What''s your name? and why do you want to leave your current clan just to join a clan that hasn''t been created yet?"

    "Ah! I apologize. My name is Rina."

    "Nice to meet you Rina. I''m Albert and the one sleeping besides me is Lily."

    "The pleasure is mine! Tell me, How long have you two been adventurers?"

    "Hmmm . . we both just became adventurers. I believe today is our third day."

    "THIRD DAY?! AS ADVENTURERS?" Rina said out loud. Many of the adventurers around the lounge looked their way when Rina shouted. "How is that possible? What level are you right now?"

    "At moment we''re both level twenty five. Thanks to Prontera Culvert, we were able to level up so fast."

    "What . . . That''s insane."

    "What level are you now Rina?"

    "I''m level 34 but it looks like you''re both about to catch up with me. And I''ve been an adventurer for almost a year now."

    "I think I know the reason why."

    "Why what?" Rina''s brow furrowed.

    "When you go out slaying monsters, how many party members do you have with you always?"

    "We all go on dungeon raids together as a clan."

    "And how many adventurers are there in your clan?"

    "There are sixteen of us in the clan. But what does that have to do with anything?"

    "Final question. Do all of you always go on raids in Prontera Culvert?"

    "Yes. How did you know?"

    "It seems to me that your clan isn''t very ambitious. Prontera Culvert is a dungeon but its considered a low level dungeon. It like this, If a level eighty adventurer only slays low leveled monsters every time for a whole year, he''ll never gain any experience at all because he doesn''t challenge himself. It''s basically the same concept with your clan. In addition to killing the same level monsters over and over again, your clan share the experiences among sixteen people. The higher your level, the more experience you need to get to the next level."

    Rina stayed silent for a few seconds and looked at Albert.

    "I see. . . How do you know all of this?"

    "Isn''t this knowledge the basics from the Adventurer''s Academy?"

    Albert made up a lie on the spot. Even though he knows that all the knowledge that he just shared with Rina is because of playing ''Deaths of the Gods'' for hundreds hours, he had to make a lie to avoid any suspicions. In the game ''Deaths of the Gods'', when entering the game, a player would be transported to the Adventurer''s Academy. There in the Adventurer''s Academy, the player has to answer several questions before they could start their journey in the game as a Novice class adventurer. In this world, a normal citizen has to go through a week course of school in the Adventurer''s Academy and pass the written exams to become a Novice class adventurer. For the purpose of learning the basics of being an adventurer.

    "I''m sorry It''s been a while since the academy, I don''t remember anything from that place. But you do make a point. My clan has been so accustomed to raiding Prontera Culvert that its become a daily chore. We''re suppose to be adventurers and we''re suppose to explore new places. Not like this. Thank you, Albert. I would like retract my request from before. I''ll stay in my clan and persuade the clan leader to be more ''ambitious''."

    "I''m glade to be of help."

    "Please, take this as my thanks for helping me realize the path my clan has been taking."

    Rina opened her dimensional storage ring and took out an Item then presented it to Albert.

    "I can''t take this. I didn''t do anything."

    "Please take it, as a gift so that you can make you''re own clan. And in exchange please allow my clan, The Porings to be your first ally."

    "In that case, I accept this gift."

    Rina placed the Emperium on Albert''s hand.

    "Thank you."

    "No, Thank you." Rina smiled.

    After placing the Emperium on Albert''s hand, Rina walked away and left the Adventurer''s Guild building. Albert stared at the piece of Emperium in his hand then he looked at Lily who was sleeping right next to him.

    "We can finally make our clan Lily." Albert whispered.

    Moments later, the Adventurer''s Guild worker from the quest counter came up to Albert.

    "Excuse me Mr. Albert, we''re finished appraising your items."

    Albert turned his attention towards the person who spoke.

    "Ah okay."

    "Please proceed to the quest counter."

    Albert stood up and made sure that he didn''t wake up Lily, then he walked towards the quest counter. Once he was at the quest counter, the Adventurer''s Guild worker greeted him with a smile.

    "Ah! Mr. Albert. I finally finished inspecting the items. Since the quest distinctly requested to retrieve fifty Insect Feelers from Female Thief Bugs and since the quest is repeatable to anyone, your reward sums up to seventy gold, forty silver and eighty copper coins. This was because you turned in three thousand five hundred twenty four Insect Feelers which are all from Female Thief Bugs."

    The Adventurer''s Guild worker placed a large bag of coins in front of Albert and seconds later two smaller bags of coins.

    "The large bag is for the seventy gold coins and the smaller bag contains the copper coins and silver coins. Please feel free to count them and thank you for your participation on this quest."

    "It''s fine. But I do have another business here. Where do I go to officially create a clan?"

    "To officially create a clan you would need to have an Emperium and ten gold coins. Once you have the requirements, please proceed to the clan counter which is located left from this counter."

    "Thank you."

    Albert grabbed the bags full of coins and placed them inside his dimensional storage ring. Then once he had stored the bags, he quickly walked over to the counter on the left and immediately, an old woman greeting him.

    "Hello, this is the counter for clans. How may I help you?"

    "I''m here to create a clan." Albert grinned.

    **

 Chapter 11: War of Emperium part 1

    **

    In the brick paved roads of Prontera, Albert and Lily are competing with each other to see who could be the first one to arrive at the Blacksmith Shop. At the moment the two are enjoying a free day from adventuring and killing monsters. This is because the they both have just cleaned their gears from the stench of Prontera Culvert sewers and for now their clothes are hanging some where to dry. As the two continue to chase each one another in the streets, they would accidentally bump into other adventurers walking and minding their own business.

    "Hey! Watch it!"

    "I''m sorry ma''am!" Lily apologized as she continue to out run Albert towards the Blacksmith Shop.

    "Lily! Stop running into people!"

    "You''re just mad cause you can''t catch after me."

    "You''re just faster by a bit because I haven''t allocated my free statistical points yet!"

    When they both woke up this morning, during breakfast, Lily consulted Albert on where she should input her free attribute points. After suggesting Lily where she should allocate her free attribute points, Lily stated and described that suddenly, her body felt different after allocating the statistical points. Lily described it as if her body had become lighter and at the same she stated that parts of her body had become more toned because when she added some of the points into her Strength and Agility attribute.

    Albert didn''t mind Lily running ahead of him. He enjoyed the sight of Lily laughing and running carelessly as her golden blonde locks drifted behind her. It was quite a sight for Albert because most of the time Lily hardly looked happy the first time he had met her. Also since the two didn''t look like adventurers at the moment, no one noticed them at all. In the eyes of the public they look just like ordinary kids playing around in the streets of Prontera.

    While the two continued to run towards the Blacksmith Shop, Albert noticed posters all over Prontera that''s titled "War of Emperium". Albert remembered the events of ''War of Emperium.'' very well in the game ''Deaths of the Gods''. He remembered that various clans fought one another to take control of a certain castle. Albert had only taken part of the event ''War of Emperium'' twice. He remembered that the clan that he belonged to in the game, had to help their allies defend a castle from other clans, to prevent the stronghold from being taken control by opposing clans.

    Since Holy Light at the moment only consist of three people, its highly unlikely that they''ll even participate in the event. Because in an event like ''War of Emperium'', numerous clan with more than dozens of members participate and compete with other clans.

    Albert slowed to a walking speed and began to listen in to the adventurers who were discussing about the up coming event through out Midgard.

    "This is going to be exciting." Says a Bard standing next to one of the posters.

    "Are you going to participate in the War of Emperium?"

    "Of course! My guild has been the owner of Kriemhild castle for almost a decade now."

    Then from out of nowhere a Knight class adventurer walked towards the Bard.

    "You really think you''re clan will be able to keep that castle to your selves? I heard many of your members are retiring soon. I think my clan the ''Overlords'' will be its new keepers."

    The Bard class adventurer clenched his teeth when the Knight class adventurer declared that his clan will be taking over.

    Albert decided to walk away when he felt the tension in the air. This was suppose to be his day to rest and he didn''t want to get involved with such trouble. So he decided to head towards the Blacksmith Shop so that he could catch up to Lily. When Albert arrived in front of the Blacksmith shop, Lily was already there waiting at the entrance.

    "Haha I won against you!" Lily''s face had a large smile as she celebrated her victory against Albert.

    "Well let''s go inside. I''m sure Athos will be waiting for us." Albert smiled at Lily.

    Albert and Lily entered the Blacksmith shop so that they could meet with Athos, the third member of their clan. Once the two were inside the shop, they were surprised that there were so many adventurers waiting in line.

    Albert and Lily attempted to go towards the counter but as they got closer to the counter they were stopped by one of the adventurer''s in line.

    "Hey! What you doing? Cutting in line? I''ve been here for an hour and both of you think that you can just skip ahead in front?!"

    The disgruntled adventurer riled up the rest who had waiting as long as him.

    Albert paused and turned to the man.

    "I have some business to attend to with the owner of the shop."

    "Well so do we! and If you want to do your ''business'' you have to wait in line like everyone else!" The adventurer''s determination to prevent Albert from getting to the counter was unwavering and it was causing the rest of the adventurers in the line to be hostile towards him. Then suddenly out no where Athos came out from the back of the shop.

    "Ah clan leader, I apologize but I am quite busy at the moment."

    "It''s fine Athos, I was just here to drop off this. I''ll come back here this evening."

    Albert placed an item on the counter.

    "Is this. . ."

    "It''s our clan''s arm band." Albert grinned at Athos.

    "Let''s go Lily, let''s come back later."

    Albert and Lily walked out of the Blacksmith shop. Once they were in the brick paved streets, Albert noticed that a big crowd that was following a Swordsman class adventurer. Out of curiosity, Albert asked around to figure out what was happening.

    "Excuse me. Sir? Do you know know why a big crowd is following that Swordsman?"

    "Word around the street is, that particular swordsman stuck the final blow to a unique monster in the sewers of Prontera Culvert."

    "What was the monster called?"

    "I have no idea, but rumors has it that it was a Golden colored Thief Bug."

    Albert''s eyes widened in shock when he heard that the man clearly describe a monster called Golden Thief Bug. The Golden Thief Bug in the game ''Deaths of the Gods'' is a boss type monster that is sought after by many players. In this world, he has never heard of adventurers going out to slay boss type monsters. Maybe its because he was still low leveled and he hasn''t associated with any high leveled adventurers yet.

    While Albert stood there watching the swordsman class adventurer being followed by the large crowd, he noticed that the swordsman was about to enter the Item Shop. In Albert''s mind, there are two reasons why an adventurer would go into the Item shop. First was to buy items right before departing for an adventure and second was to sell items that was obtained from a a previous adventure.

    "That means he''s about to sell some things to the Item Shop . . . That idiot!"

    Albert quickly hurried towards the Item shop with Lily following him from behind. When Albert entered the shop, he''s greeted by Amy the manager of the Item Shop.

    "Welcome to the Item Shop. How may I help you. Ah! Albert I didn''t recognize you there for a moment."

    "Heh, yeah it''s been awhile. How are things Amy?"

    Lily gave Albert a stare when he began acting friendly with the attractive looking manager of the Item Shop.

    "Oh, I forgot to introduce my friend Lily."

    "Hello Lily, I''m Amy. I am the manager of this Item Shop." Amy waved at Lily.

    Lily hid behind Albert and started to tug at his shirt.

    "What is it Lily?"

    "Why are we here?"

    "I have to sell some items that we found in Prontera Culvert."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    "Oh . . . okay."

    What Albert had told Lily wasn''t completely true. The reason why he was in a hurry to get into the Item shop was to buy certain items that the swordsman class adventurer was about to sell to Amy. While they were outside in streets, after hearing that the swordsman had the final blow on the monster called ''Golden Thief Bug'', Albert had a gut feeling that the swordsman had an item that is extremely valuable. And that item was going to be sold to the Item Shop for less than a silver coin. Albert looked at the items that the swordsman had placed on the table. Then while scanning the table, he saw that the swordsman placed five monster cards on the table.

    Immediately Albert went up to the swordsman to confront him about the cards.

    "Uh. . . Excuse me, Mr. Swordsman"

    The swordsman turned his head towards Albert.

    "Yes?"

    "I noticed you have some monster cards with you. Would it be possible to buy them off of you?"

    "Hmm well I need coins at the moment. If you can buy it at a higher price than the Item Shop manager then I''ll sell it to you."

    "Okay."

    Albert turned to his attention towards Amy.

    "Ms. Amy, how much would you buy these cards?"

    "Well I would usually pay adventurers twenty copper coins for each card."

    "Then I''ll buy each of these card for one silver each."

    "Really?!" the swordsman was ecstatic when he heard that Albert would buy his card for one silver each. The price that Albert is paying the swordsman is eighty more copper coins than Amy the Item Shop maneger would have paid for.

    Albert grabbed the five cards on the table and gave the swordsman five silver coins.

    "Thanks!"

    "No. Thank you."

    "If I have more monster cards would you like to buy them?"

    "Sure! My name is Albert and this is Lily."

    "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Roan."

    "It was a pleasure doing business with you Roan. Thanks for the monster cards."

    Albert grabbed Lily''s hand and ran out of the item shop. He continued to run until they arrived inside the basement behind the Item Shop.

    "Why were you in a hurry Albert? I thought you wanted to sell something to the Item Shop manager."

    "Wait Lily, let me check something."

    Albert''s hand began to shake as he raised the stack of cards to his face. As he stared at the cards, he gave a deep sigh then started going through the cards one by one.

    "Drainlair"

    "Drainlair"

    "Thief Bug Egg"

    "Thief Bug"

    A smile appeared on Albert''s face when he saw the last card in his hand. While he stared at the card, he began to laugh.

    "Hahaha. . "

    "Whats so funny Albert."

    Albert continued to laugh as he stared at the card in front of him. Then suddenly he began jumping up and down.

    "Albert! Are you okay? You''re scaring me!"

    "We got it Lily!! I can''t believe that we have this card!"

    "What card? Why are you acting like thing over a card?"

    "Lily what do you know about monster cards?"

    "Well all I know is that some people collect them and most adventurers just sell them to the Item Shop for a few coins."

    Albert''s eyes widened in shock when he heard what Lily had said.

    "Lily what i''m about to tell you is a secret between us. The truth about monster cards is that they have magical uses. Every cards have different special effects."

    "Really? Then how do you use them?"

    "Have noticed that some of our equipment have slots in them?

    "I have. I think our baseball bat has four slots on them."

    "That''s right. The slots means we can put four monster cards in our baseball bats."

    "Oh! That''s incredible!"

    "Yes it is. But we have to be very picky on the card that we put on our precious equipment."

    "Why is that?"

    "Because once the card is magically attached to a certain equipment, It can never be retrieved."

    "That''s scary."

    "It is that''s why we have to be careful."

    "Then what about the effects? You said different monster cards have special effects. How do you know what their effects are?"

    Albert became stumped when Lily asked the question about how he has the knowledge of the each monster card''s special effect. The reason why he knows the effects is because of the game ''Deaths of the Gods''. So since he couldn''t say the real reasons how he knows the special effects, so Albert made up a lie.

    "Do remember when I told Athos that the baseball bats are from my master?"

    "Yes."

    "My master made it his life''s work to figure out the effect of each monster cards."

    "Wow! You''re master is really amazing. I wish I could have met him."

    "Yeah . . .He died a long time ago." Albert looked down in grief to make his lie look a little more convincing.

    "I''m sorry."

    "It''s fine. Let''s go get something to eat. I''m starving. Then afterwards, let''s go to the Free market to buy some equipment."

    "Okay!"

    Albert and Lily left the basement to head to one of the restaurants in Prontera. On the way there Albert had a lot of things in his mind. In his mind, he''s thinking that at the moment, If no one knows anything about the special effect of monster cards, then Albert is at a great advantage. Right now he''s more than content about being able to buy the Golden Thief Bug card at such an extremely cheap price.

    This is because the Golden Thief Bug card is very special. It''s special because first it is extremely hard to obtain such card. Also once the card is inserted to a shield, it allows the wearer of the shield to nullify all magic spells. This includes supportive skills such as heal and buff skills. Even though the card''s effect will render any magical user ineffective and useless, the wearer will suffer from consuming double the normal rate of mana when using any skills.

    **

    At the restaurant Albert and Lily decided to eat outdoors. They both sat down at one of the tables that is located near the entrance of the restaurant. While they waited to be served, Albert could over hear people around them talking about the ''War of Emperium''. Albert was curious how the ''War of Emperium worked in this world. Because in the game ''Deaths of the Gods'', the ''War of Emperium'' is a bloody battle between numerous clans on who gets to keep a castle. Many adventurers would die during the siege of a castle and re-spawn back into the town when ever they would die. But since this world has the law of permanent death, Albert wondered how the ''War of Emperium'' would be possible without the loss of any life.

    Moments later a waiter came up to them to ask them what they wanted to order.

    "Hello my name is Rina, I''ll be serving you for today. Are you ready to order?"

    "Rina?"

    "Huh? Albert?"

    "Did you quit being an adventurer?" Albert''s brow furrowed.

    "Haha. No. Silly, this restaurant is owned by the clan I am in. That''s why the restaurant is called ''The Porings''.

    "Oh I didn''t notice. Lily wanted to try to eat here because the place looked pretty."

    "Well thank you Lily. We try our best to maintain the restaurant."

    "Uhm who are you?" Lily tilted her head.

    "I forgot you were asleep when I met you. My name is Rina, we met at the Adventurer''s Guild last night." Rina smiled at Lily.

    "So what do you recommend for us Rina?"

    "Well our roasted Savage Babes is popular here. Also the roasted Peco Peco is very good."

    "We''ll take one of each."

    "Coming right up! Also Albert, before you leave, I would like to discuss something with you later."

    Rina left the table to retrieve Albert and Lily''s order. Moments later, she returned with a large platter of roasted Peco Peco and a large bowl of roasted Savage Babes.

    "These look great! The scent of the meal alone made me really hungry."

    "Let''s eat!" Lily smiled lightly and began taking pieces of meat from the large platter and the bowl. Albert did the same thing seconds after Lily had filled her plate. The two began eating happily then thirty minutes later everything on the table was gone.

    BURP

    "Oh, I feel sleepy now." Lily began to squint her eyes due to being drowsy.

    "Would like some desert Lily?"

    "I''m fine. I think I''d like to take a nap." Lily slowly closed her eyes then moment later Rina came to pick up the dishes.

    "She''s sleeping again." Rina commented as she picked up the plates, platter and bowl.

    "Yeah I think the food got to her."

    After she taking the dishes back to the kitchen, Rina returned to their table to talk to Albert.

    "What did you wan''t to talk about?" Albert''s brow furrowed.

    "Well since you''re an ally of ''The Porings'', I suggested to the leader to invite you guys to the ''War of Emperium'' event.''

    "About that, I''m curious how the whole event works."

    "What do you mean?"

    "I mean does any body die from the event?"

    "Well from what I know back before the ''Butterfly Effect'' was created, many adventurers died during the ''War of Emperium''."

    "What''s the ''Butterfly Effect''?" Albert raised one of his brows.

    "The ''Butterfly Effect'' is an automatic spell that effects each castle through out Midgard during the ''War of Emperium''. What is does is that it automatically transport any adventurer out of the castle who''s health reaches the three percent mark."

    "That''s convenient! That spell should work through out Midgard."

    "It is convenient, but some one explained to me that since the spell uses up so much mana it can only be activated during the ''War of Emperium'' event."

    "That makes sense. But was there ever an accident where the spell didn''t work and adventurers died accidentally?"

    "There was but I heard that it happened more than a century ago. Since then, they made sure that the spell worked properly. Also as a back up, Just in case the spell didn''t work there''s an item called Butterfly ring. The ring automatically teleports the adventurer back into the last town when the adventurer''s health reaches three percent."

    "Wow! That''s such a convenient Item, I''ve never heard of it. If such Item exist every adventurer should have one to prevent themselves from dying."

    "Well the problem with the ring is that it''s only given to adventurers during the ''War of Emperium'' by the Royal Wizards. Also the ring is only a once time use. Once the adventurer who wears it reaches the three percent mark, then automatically transported to the last town that they came from, the ring disappears."

    "Can the Item be bought?"

    "It can actually, but its pretty expensive. Many new adventurer in clans who receive the ring would prefer not to participate in the ''War of Emperium'' because each ring cost roughly about ten thousand gold coins. But to prevent the hoarding of the Butterfly rings, the Royal Wizard modified the rings so that it can only work with in the castles."

    "Huh that sounds interesting. By the way what the purpose of the ''War of Emperium''?"

    "To gain prestige for your clan of course!"

    "Really. . . . How does the prestige system work?"

    "Well from what I know each day that the clan owns the castle, it generates five prestige. Clans through out Midgard are ranked by how much prestige that they have. You can earn prestige for your clan by how much damage you can deal to the opposing clans. I think the prestige you gain is equal to the damage that you deal to the opposing clans. So if you join us you might gain some prestige for your clan and it may boost the ranking of your clan."

    "But other than ranking, what does prestige do for the clan?"

    "Hmmm well every time the ''War of Emperium'' ends a treasure chest appears in the castle vault. The content of the treasure chest depends on the clan''s prestige. Also having a higher ranking clan helps when getting quests from the Adventurer''s Guild. The higher your ranking, the more gold the Adventurer''s Guild will offer your clan."

    "This event sound fun and since it will help my clan to rise up in rank, as well as assist the Poring clan in defending their castle, then we accept."

    "Great! We will be traveling to Payon the day after tomorrow. I suggest that you get ready before then."

    "Wait, why Payon?"

    "That''s the location of our castle."

    "Oh okay.

    "Thank you for inviting us."

    "No problem! Well i''ll be going now it seems there are a lot of customers coming in. So they''ll be needing my help. I''ll meet the two of you at the south gate the day after tomorrow."

    Rina got up and returned to waiting the people that had just sat down on the other tables. Albert looked at Lily who had been sleeping through out the conversation.

    "I guess I''ll have to explain everything to her later."

    Albert gave a big sigh as he began to lightly shake Lily.

    "Lily, time to wake up. We''re going to go shopping for equipment now."

    "Uh? Okay. Five more minutes."

    Lily turned to the side and continued to sleep.

    **

 Chapter 12: War of Emperium part 2

    **

    In the Free market of Prontera, the prices of weapons and armors have tripled in price. The reason for the extreme spike of price on armors and weapons is because of the event called War of Emperium. Many of the merchant class adventurer through out Midgard have greatly benefited from selling their stocks of equipment days before the actual event. Towns and Cities throughout Midgard that have castles owned by clans have been busy preparing for the highly anticipated event.

    Albert on the other hand tried to prepare for the event himself. But the prices of armors everywhere was too expensive and Albert refused to pay for triple the price. Since he couldn''t do anything about buying any new armors for Lily and himself, Albert decided to go back to his world so that he could get a print out of the list of monster cards and their magical effects on equipment. Albert believed that since he''s much too poor to afford any armors being currently sold, it''s much better to take advantage of something that others couldn''t.

    After going back into Midgard, something terrible happened. At the moment, Albert is in a devastating predicament. Other than being unable to buy any equipment that he needs for the War of Emperium, this horrible occurrence that has happened caused him to feel frightened and he doesn''t know what to do.

    "This can''t be happen! Why won''t it work!"

    Albert whisper screamed as he sat inside the small compartment with the door closed in the basement behind the Item Shop. Ever since he came to this world he has never had a problem going back and forth from this world into his own and now all of a sudden he can''t seem to return back to his room. After coming back from his room to retrieve the papers of the list of monster cards and their effects that he had printed out from his computer, he had forgotten something and wanted to go back and get it. When Albert tried to go back to his world, the door didn''t work. No matter how many times he tried, the door didn''t allow him to return to his world.

    Lily had been sitting on the wooden paneled floor of the basement, waiting for Albert to come out of the door in front of her. It''s been an over an hour and she was becoming worried.

    "I''m stuck!!" Albert screamed loudly from inside the compartment.

    "Albert? Are you ok?"

    "It won''t work!"

    "What won''t work?"

    "The door."

    Lily stood up and walked over the door. She then grabbed the door''s knob and twisted then pulled the door open.

    "Seem to work fine to me."

    When the door opened, Lily saw that Albert is on the ground sitting with his arms around his legs looking panicked.

    "Albert what''s wrong?"

    Albert looked at Lily and began thinking about his situation. At the moment he''s living in the world of swords and magic which is pretty awesome in Albert''s opinion.

    "Living in this world isn''t so bad."

    He then began thinking about the important things that he needs to do. The first thing on his to do list when he arrived to this world was to go out on numerous adventures. Then when he met Lily, she asked him to help her find her origin, which became second in Albert''s to do list. Now, Albert has another important task at hand. He now needs to find a way back home and since the elves are known to have been the creators of the world''s magic system, they might know a way to send him back home. And now Albert''s quest is intertwined with Lily''s request.

    If he could find the elves, they might be able to assist him to return to his own world. But for now, he has to make the best of what he has.

    "Albert? Are you okay?" Lily''s brow furrowed as she stared at Albert who looks flustered while sitting on the ground.

    Albert''s expression slowly changed after thinking about his predicament for a moment. In his mind, he began to asses the situation that he''s in. Albert knows that panicking about a situation that he can''t solve right away, will only make him feel emotionally unstable and distracted. Which would cause him to make poor decisions that may cause him the life of the people around him or more importantly it may cause him to make mistakes which could cause him his own life. Albert decided that it''s best to focus at what''s at hand and at the same time try to fix his situation along the way.

    "Besides who get''s a chance to live in the world of swords and magic?" Albert grinned.

    Albert decided to consider his situation like winning a life time supply of ice cream. He then took a deep breath then exhaled.

    "I''m okay." Albert lightly smiled at Lily and stood up.

    After standing up, he picked up the papers scattered all over the ground.

    "What are those?" Lily tilted her head out of curiosity.

    "The information on these papers will make us the most powerful adventurers through out Midgard." Albert grinned.

    "Really?! How?" Lily''s eyes widened at Albert''s reply.

    "There papers contain the information of my master''s life long work on monster cards. With these papers, we''ll know the magical effects of each monster cards."

    "That''s amazing! But what do we do now? Since we couldn''t buy any equipment for us, are we still going to help with the Poring clan?"

    "Of course! Their our clan''s allies. First let''s go to the Item Shop."

    Albert placed the papers that contains the information about the monster cards inside his dimensional storage ring. Afterwards the two headed for the Item Shop.

    "Hey Amy!"

    "Hello Albert! Hello Lily! How can I help you with today?"

    "I was wondering a lot of people here would come by and sell monster cards right?"

    "That''s true. Why do you ask?"

    "What do you do with those cards?"

    "Well . . I put them in some binders. Sometimes rich citizens would come and buy them as gifts for their loved ones, but it''s been a long time since any of them has been bought."

    "So you''re willing to sell them?"

    "Of course! Wait one moment please."

    Amy went to the back of the shop. Moments later, she back carrying five stacks of binders.

    "Oof! I keep the monster cards in these binders. Feel free to browse and pick which ones you''d like to buy." Amy placed the binders on the counter.

    "Thanks!" Albert moved up to the counter and began looking through the binder''s pages. As he turned the pages, he saw a lot useful monster cards, but at moment he decided to search for particular monster cards that would be difficult to find. Monster cards are dropped by slain monsters. They are very rare and it is said that only one out of one thousand monsters drop a monster card.

    In the game ''Deaths of the Gods'', monster cards are used to enhance any slotted equipment, which gives the wearer of the equipment the effect of the the monster card. Albert realized that no one throughout this world knows about enhancing their equipment with monster cards and with that knowledge, Albert decided to take advantage of this world''s lack of knowledge of the monster cards.

    While Albert began looking through the binders, he turned his attention towards Amy.

    "Amy how much would each cards cost?"

    "Well you can buy them at the same price that you bought Roan''s cards." Amy lightly smiled.

    "What?! But their just cards."

    "Well you bought Roan''s cards for one silver each. I think it would be fair to buy my cards for one silver each."Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    "Che! Fine."

    Even though Amy thinks that she''s getting a good bargain for selling each cards for one silver coin each, she actually being cheated by Albert. If this world knew about the value of monster cards, then most of the cards that Albert is buying for one silver would cost hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

    Albert began taking out cards that are of valuable in his eyes. He couldn''t stop him self from grinning as he looked at the valuable cards. Albert''s eyes gleamed as he stared at the cards that he placed on the side.

    "I can''t believe that there''s three Ghostring cards in here! There''s even two Maya Purple Cards and a Mistress Card!"

    Albert couldn''t hold his excitement. Its as if he was going to start foaming out of the mouth as he continued to take out valuable cards from the binders. After hours of browsing through the binders Albert showed the cards that he had picked out from them to Amy.

    "These are the cards that I would like to buy."

    "Wow that''s a lot cards. Are you going to start a monster card collection hobby or something?"

    "Hehe, something like that." Albert scratch his head.

    "Would like to buy a binder for these card?"

    "Oh! Can I?! How much?"

    "Its only five silver and it has fifty pages just like these binders."

    "I''ll take two please."

    "Okay. Well with the two hundred and ninety cards with the two binders, the price of your purchase will be three gold coins."

    Albert took out three gold coins from his dimensional storage ring and placed it on the counter.

    "Thank you. Here are your items."

    "Thank you!"

    "You know for someone who wants to start a card collecting hobby you bought a lot of cards that are the same."

    "Hehe. I think they look good that''s why I bought them." Albert lied. The only reason why he bought the cards is because of their usefulness and some of the cards that he bought are very rare.

    "Thank you again!"

    "Come back again when you want to buy more cards."

    "I will!"

    Albert and Lily exited from the Item shop.

    "Where we going now Albert?"

    "Well the sun is about to set, lets go back to the Blacksmith shop."

    The two headed towards the Blacksmith shop. When they entered the shop, there was only one customer in line waiting for Athos. Since it would hinder Athos from working on his customer''s request if he bothered him now, Albert decided to sit and wait until Athos is finished with the remaining customer.

    While they waited, Albert decided that this was the perfect time for him to allocate his free statistical attribute points. At the moment Albert is level twenty five. Ever since he leveled up from Prontera Culvert, he hasn''t allocated any of the seventy five statistical attribute points that he gained from leveling up.

    "Status screen."

    Albert''s character screen appeared in front of him and he began by allocating twenty points to his Strength attribute. After he had finished allocating twenty points into his Strength attribute, Albert suddenly felt a change in his body. His skin had suddenly become tighter and his entire body felt as if they''ve become toned. Thick veins in his arms and the back of his hand started to appear.

    After adding some points into his Strength attribute, he then added twenty points each to his Dexterity and Agility attribute.

    Instantly Albert felt the changes through out his body after adding the points into his Dexterity and Agility attribute. Albert felt as if his entire body has become lighter all of a sudden and he felt as if he can move around with ease. With the remaining fifteen points, Albert added them to his Vitality attribute.

    After adding the remaining fifteen points into his Vitality attribute, Albert noticed a change in his skin. His skin began to look healthier and smoother.

    Moments after Albert had fully distributed his free attribute points, Athos had already finished with his last customer for the evening. Athos waved at Albert and Lily.

    "Ah! clan leader! Lily! Sorry about what happened this morning. Customers during the days before the War of Emperium usually are really angst. It''s because the event is very competitive and every adventurer who is a member of a clan participating the event is eager to earn prestige for their clan."

    "It''s understandable. That''s why we left after dropping off the patch. I''m guessing you wont be able to join us for War of Emperium?"

    "Join you? Oh I thought since we''re still a new clan, you would decide to not participate. Plus during the War of Emperium many adventurers rush to my shop just to have their equipment fixed. It''s the best time to make a lot of coins."

    "Oh . . I see. . . That''s fine. I should have notified you sooner, I guess we''ll participate in the next War of Emperium. After all there are only three of us in the clan, I doubt we''ll be able to conquer a castle. By the way, do you happen to have any armors for sale?"

    "For sale?"

    "Yes for sale. I''ve been trying to buy armors all day but everything in the free market is so expensive and I refuse to pay for more than the normal price."

    "What exactly do you need clan leader?"

    "Well Lily and I were invited to defend an ally''s castle. We need armor so that we can fight with protection."

    "But you''re both Acolytes, why would you fight?"

    "We''re Battle Acolytes Athos and we need armors so we can prevent being injured in vital areas."

    "Oh . . . well since I won''t be to help the clan, I can create an armor for the both you. But It won''t be done until tomorrow evening."

    "It''s fine we''ll come back tomorrow evening. Oh. By the way, can I have my weapon back?"

    "Ah! Of course. I''ve studied it as much as possible. It is truly a craftsmanship beyond masterpiece. Please wait one moment."

    Athos quickly ran to the back of the shop and then returned carrying the baseball bat elegantly.

    "Here you are clan leader."

    "Thank you Athos. We''ll be leaving then, since you must be tired."

    "Hohoho don''t underestimate the stamina of a dwarf! But once you leave I will start on the armors that have you request."

    "Thank you again. Well then we''ll be on our way."

    Albert and Lily left the Blacksmith Shop and headed for the Inn. Once the two left, Athos started on the armors that Albert had requested.

    **

    East of Payon forest, a group of suspicious adventurers quickly moved in the cover of the dark. The group continued their way into one of the castles of Payon Town.

    "Is this the place?" said one of the suspicious adventurer.

    "I think it is! The clan leader wants to take this castle also?"

    "Of course! Our leader is a prodigal genius!"

    "Yes. Yes. By the end of the War of Emperium everyone will know who we are!"

    "Yes! Overlord clan will own one castle in each of Midgard''s main cities and town!"

    "I can''t wait on the surprise faces of these fools once we take their castle!"

    "Hahaha! It will be marvelous."

    "Quick lets finish our job. We need to draw a map of the inside so by tomorrow everyone will know where to hide."

    The group of suspicious adventures scattered and headed inside to complete their task of creating a descriptive map of the interior of the castle in front of them.

    **

    The next day in the Inn inside Albert''s room, Albert started to insert various monster cards into his weapon and armors.

    In his Hiking boots he inserted a monster card dropped by a monster called Verit. According to the papers that has the information about the cards and their magical properties, the monster card dropped from Verits adds eight percent of both Health and Mana when it is inserted to the wearer''s footwear. Since there are three slots in Albert''s Hiking boots, he decided to insert three Verit cards in the boots.

    With the three monster cards inserted in his boots, I raises Albert''s maximum Health and Mana up by twenty four percent each. Afterwards Albert grabbed his baseball helmet and inserted a Maya Purple card. The Maya Purple card doesn''t give Albert any additional statistical attributes but it does something that can be considered annoying to certain adventurer class.

    The Maya Purple card when inserted into a headgear, enables the wearer to detect hidden enemies. This effect will give Albert an advantage over hidden enemies. Afterwards, Albert grabbed the weapon that was returned to him by Athos and he inserted four Hydra cards.

    Hydra monster cards adds a unique enhancement on weapons. The enhancement is that it increases damage on Demi-Humans by twenty five percent. Since Albert''s baseball bat has four slots, Albert inserted four Hydra card into his weapon. Giving his baseball bat one hundred percent increase of damage on Demi-humans.

    The reason why Albert added the enhancement of the Hydra cards in his weapons is because Demi-Humans are considered to be any member of human like race. This means that weather the foe is elf, dwarven, beastkin, gnome, orc or any hybrid of the human like family, his weapon will cause one hundred percent more damage than it originally can. The humans in this world are also categorized as demi-humans as well and since Albert is just an ordinary human from earth its safe to say that he won''t be affected by the card''s if ever someone would use the effects of the cards on him.

    "This is probably too over powered." Albert grinned right after he inserted the four Hydra cards in his baseball bat.

    After tending to his weapon and armors, Albert did the same for Lily''s equipment. Then later in the evening, Albert went to the Blacksmith Shop to pick up the armors that Athos would make for them.

    Once he entered the shop Athos joyously greeted him.

    "Ah! Clan leader! The armors are done! I think they are both my best work yet!"

    Athos grabbed something from the ground and presented it to Albert. This one is for you.

    Albert''s eyes widened when he saw the armor that Athos had made for him. Other than it being so unique it was already refined and engraved.

    "This is incredible! No Incredible isn''t a word to describe this armor! Athos thank you!"

    "Hohoho This is also an apology since I cannot join you to help our allies."

    "Black Mithril Armor. Where would do get Black Mithril from?"

    "Ah I had some to spare from when I visited home. Black Mithril is quite expensive it cost about one hundred thousand gold coin for one ingot bar. But one Black Mithril bar was enough to create this armor. Also this one is for Lily."

    "Another Black Mithril Armor! This is insane are telling me both of these cost two hundred thousand gold coins?"

    "Hohoho! The ingot alone cost one hundred thousand gold coins. But after it is created into a crafted armor, its price would be ten fold of the ingot bar."

    "I-I can''t afford this Athos. I''m poor. . ."

    Athos smiled at Albert.

    "Consider it gifts clan leader."

    Albert didn''t know what to say. Here he is being given gifts that cost over one million gold coins and he was speechless.

    "I don''t know what to say Athos, but thank you."

    "Hohoho! You are welcome clan leader! The you must go now. Lily must be waiting for you."

    "Ah yes! I''ll take my leave. Athos I''ll be sure gain lots of prestige points for our clan!"

    Albert exited the the Blacksmith Shop and returned to the Inn so that he could give Lily the armor that Athos had made for her.

    **

    Meanwhile in an unknown location somewhere inMidgard, a man covered in scars sat comfortably on a chair while drinking a bottle of rum which he held in his hand. While the man on the chair stared at the two moons in the sky, a person suddenly appeared from behind him.

    "Clan leader the arrangements are done. We are ready and prepared to introduce ourselves through out Midgard."

    "Good. Be sure that everything goes to plan or else I will be very disappointed."

    "As you command clan leader. Glory to Overlord!"

    The man bowed down then disappeared.

    **