《Quest Eternal》 Prologue Prologue "This... it''s just too sad." She wouldn''t look at me; no she couldn''t look at me. I didn''t blame her. The sky above was blue, such a pure blue that stretched beyond the limits of my eyes, to graze the mountain tops far in the distance. Grass swayed, small blades that lashed at my hands as I knelt face turned towards the earth, long ragged hair covering my face, faint tears at the corner of my eyes. Only the sound of birds able to break the silence, twittering their nameless songs within the limbs of the willow tree above. "Please" I whispered my voice catching in my throat. "Please don''t leave me!" My voice raising, the birds silenced, the faintest sound of the wind through the leaves filling the void. "I don''t want to be alone..." I looked at her but she wouldn''t return my gaze, she stood there back to me arms folded before her, gaze upon the horizon far away. "Why are you doing this? You don''t owe me anything, I told you, you don''t owe me anything, you tried your best" I reached forward my hand grasping at the empty air as my chest tightened slowly crushing me, my heart, my soul. Why did it have to be this way, why, why was I so pathetic? I demanded answers, from who I do not know, perhaps it was god or perhaps I was just screaming at a world I did not belong in. Then as if to mock me the countdown began. "One hundred seconds" she spoke calmly though a tension was held in her shoulders. "I still don''t understand... How you can look at me, how you can look at me with those eyes." She turned a squalor of wind rising to cast her hair about her, revealing pale skin and eyes the colour of ice, a clear blue, sad and lonely looking upon a world that had left her broken. "Tell me, why... why you couldn''t just let me die back then?" I tried to call out to her; to tell her why. ''Because you did not deserve it¡¯ those words were hollow to her, even if I tried to save her, even if I tried to help her. It was all worthless, it amounted to naught but a gaping hole left in our world. For what reason had fate saddled me with this burden. I felt like the world lay upon my shoulders as tears streamed freely from my eyes. "No!" I screamed, a howl like a beast in the midst of its death throws, hopeless, alone. But that was all I could say. "Brother, I never did forgive you for throwing it all away" Those words echoed in me, like a blade that pierced my heart. My hand grasped at my chest my eyes looking upwards towards a figure that was no longer there. Faded into the darkness an existence I would never see again. Except from in my nightmares. ''Atlas'' I wept, my mind ripping, her words were cruel and cold, made all the harder by there legitimacy. It was my fault, I done this to her, survival had been a punishment for the pair of us, all because I was weak, I was pathetic I tried to protect others when I could barely stand on my own two feet. ''Atlas!'' The sound was growing louder, louder beating at the inside of my skull and shaking the earth. It was then that I noticed. The grass, was not bending in the breeze, for their was no breeze, the clouds in the sky perfectly still, the boughs of the willow petrified, unmoving as if caught in a picture frame.The world was still. And my eyes turned to the countdown, stuck in place a zero painted clear as day upon the screen. Perhaps there was an error, an issue, this world was just an imitation of the dreams of man, and their fantasies brought to life. Yet I knew in that instant I was not just looking at the world I was there, I stood upon the ground, the world beneath my feet and the sky above my head, no monitor no screen, no headset. Perhaps I was dead, if it were true, at least my pitiful excuse for a life could end here and now.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ''Atlas, my Atlas!'' The voice was insubstantial echoing about the world, and as it spoke reality seemed to bend. Dark, the skies became dark as if stained by black ink, the earth white pale and ghostly, everything changed, But I who remained constant wrapped within my madness and fear. ''You are my Atlas?'' The voice had gained a note of femininity, something soft the empty beating vanished and left me awestruck. It had finally happened, I''d gone off the deep end. Then another voice joined the fray, strange and metallic, indifferent without purpose or reason well and truly soulless. ''Anomaly detected, code unknown... error ID player name... error ID NPC, NPC type: error.'' The voice continued to drone, but the original grew in volume the very air shaking as the earth beneath me twisted in to bizarre mockeries of the human form. Grass, earth, stone, all forming into pseudo life forms eyeless with only gaping mouths and indents in their skulls. NPC tags hung over their head. I recognized a few: kings, wizards, sages, warriors and priests, there was no end they seemed to come from about the world and they were screaming. "Please Atlas, Please save us, save us, save us" they howled and screamed clawing at me. And with each touch they grasped on, their bodies seeming to warp about me encasing me. I fell backwards my head striking the tree as a pseudo being grasped at my collar the foul homunculus clawing about my neck a pair of hands emerging from the trunk of the tree itself. ''Thank you my Atlas'' The voice cried at last as my vision turned black and I relented to the torrent of the darkness...
Fate has a cruel way of changing things; the word is constantly in flux. Good fortune or bad one will eventually befall you. fearing these changes is like fearing death, standing atop a cliff with no intention to leap into the abyss yet despising the risk it presents all the same. I was fairly confident I was dead... At least to begin with i could say that was true, darkness surounded me, all encoraching wrapping my vision so neither time, space, reality, truth, reason: the anchoring points of our world, were no more than the concillations of the past. I knew well enough that these falsehoods held no place within such a dark domain. Perhaps i should have been afraid, i should have screamed and cried tried to return to my previous world. but this existence, cold and alone, it was a kind reprieve. Atleast for someone such as myself. Perhaps to spend all eternity alone within the darkness would be my punishment, would serve to pay some small debt of the damage I had caused. And floating there for perhaps eons I came to accept this. I cannot say for certain how long it took for me to realise the change but eventually I did. The darkness had iluminated to grey a cold light shinning from below me, if below was even the right word. Perhaps God had come to claim my soul? "Assessing" the eternity was broken by that voice. the world was ripped asunder and fear was struck into my heart. Was my rest over would i have to return to the world The possibility alone, was enough to sicken me. I withdrew from the voie cowering. "source code assessed... anomally encountered: Atlas system. Player ID Discovered, player; four-five-eight-zero-zero-two-six: Droga. subroutine initiate ''spark'' procedure initialising... spark procedure implemented. ''Atlas foot'' function initialising. reviewing data; Droga age reset to zero, race set to human, gender set to male, level reset to zero. NPC IDs detected; ''atlas foot'' protocol will assimilate all statuses, varriables, and classes." For a long time i just sat there wondering if the voice would return watching the cancerous light spread about my domain of darkness. "subroutine, memory will be initiated on rest periods, routine ''Atlas foot'' will confer all changes to character upon intergration into the ''God system'' message relaying... "My Atlas, cast down the heavens." analysis complete activation sequence successfull. transfering data and shutting down." and for an instant i wondered if it really would be nice to return to the world. was there really a harm in trying?
I awoke; a cold sweat clung to my body. The room was dark drowned in midnight, the heavy scents of earth and wood filling everything. My bed creaked beneath me as my hands clasped and unclasped before me."Nightmare?" my brother asked from his bed just a few feet away. "Yeah" I responded on instinct. I lay back down looking up at the ceiling. It wasn''t fair to call it a nightmare; no memory was probably more accurate. Chapter One - The Starting Point Chapter one: The starting point I reached out a smile upon my face, as I looked at the insect, it fluttered backwards and forwards, its wings a radiant gold. In my old world I never could have seen something this beautiful at least not normally. Not that I was that adventurous back then, I spent all my time lazing about before a computer. To be honest I wasn¡¯t that different now except I spent most my time lazing about under a tree. A willow tree just like in my dreams the boughs bending low to rest less than a metre above me blocking the rays of the sun from my eyes. Today would be the day huh, the day I finally got to put my plans into motion. I had come to this world fifteen years ago, to the day, and at first my memories were disjointed, nightmares plagued me every night, those years were a living hell for me until I began to piece together the memories held within my dreams, and I began to realise who I was. Not that it mattered much anymore; who I was and who I am are completely different things. Though I must say I did learn from the mistakes of my predecessor. Which is why I began to formulate my grand plan or so I would have liked to say. In truth I just spent my days lying down idly dreaming and counting clouds as they passed ahead. But not anymore, that isn¡¯t the life I would lead, today was the day! I clenched my fist leaping from the roots of the willow. But the butterfly, it didn¡¯t care, it rested upon my raised fist and began to search for its next target before fluttering off in the direction of some wildflower. I chuckled slightly, it¡¯s not like I needed to rush I had all the time in the world. I parted the foliage of the tree and stepped out into the glaring light, a dark figure many times broader and taller than I approaching. ¡°Droga, we need to get to work!¡± his voice laughed, light and pleasant smooth like honey. ¡°Hey Caulder...¡± I returned scratching the back of my head. ¡°What¡¯s on the docket today?¡± I looked at my brother standing there in all his glory. Short blonde hair gleaming like the sun, skin pale as a new born babe, eyes of the brightest blue twinkling in the dawn light, he wore a simple dark green tunic and brown trousers that could not hide the layers of finely toned muscles that engulfed his form. I stood before a complete contrast; hair black like oil and eyes formed from midnight pools only the faintest vibrancy separating them from obsidian orbs, at five foot eight and with a thin frame, my heavily tanned skin, defined me as different. I really was a worthless older brother. ¡°Mother said something about you taking her merchandise over to the stall, so I did it knowing how long you would take, or more precisely how many brakes you would take.¡± Caulder stepped back rubbing his head ending with a light laugh. ¡°And?¡± I pushed knowing something bad would follow. ¡°She says now you have to do my job.¡± I felt my stomach drop out below me; this couldn¡¯t possibly get any worse. ¡°Which since it is the coming of age festival; is to erect the banners.¡± I groaned falling backwards onto the grass and lying down, this wasn¡¯t fair why did I have to deal with something like this? That said there really wasn¡¯t any way to fight it, I had a job, I¡¯d been set a task and Droga Kivali never gave up, no matter what. ¡°So, we going?¡± Caulder questioned looking at me. I nodded and together we began to make our way towards the Arfiel settlement. The town of Arfiel was contained within the Brokar dukedom in the kingdom of Ardore; once known as the adventurer¡¯s empire it had stretched across half the world and had an unrivalled influence. That said roughly ten thousand years ago the rise of the black lord (basically a demon king) resulted in the annihilation of the empire forcing it back to its base within the Farn mountain range which formed a horseshoe around the kingdom preventing demonic assault, the adventurers that had guarded it vanished les than a year prior to the slaughter. But the demons did not stop passing beyond the mountains to other lands. But during this war a group of people arose known as the Heroes who were said to come from another world summoned by the gods. At first there were thousands then millions until billions of heroes had arrived. That said the world (which was named Halvidal), is many times larger than earth and could support the drastically increased population, which had already been reduced by the demonic onslaught. Not that the Heroes were always here they could jump backwards and forwards between worlds through the power of the gods. The same gods who displeased with Ardore¡¯s allegiance to adventurers prevented Heroes from entering and preventing a demonic invasion. Of course to anyone who has ever played a mmorpg or jrpg The tropes included in this plot were glaring and obvious, in a way classic, that and the fact that these so called ¡®heroes¡¯ were able to appear and vanish at the drop of a hat led me to a single conclusion. They were players and this was still a game. But this is only one view of many. This was still my world my family lived here after all, and everyone around me I considered them people. But I honestly wished I could teleport out of this world considering my current predicament. As I walked into town I received a series of glares from every individual highborn to low. ¡°It fills my heart with joy to know that everyone in this town, no matter how busy, still has time to glare at little old me.¡± I muttered sarcasm dripping like venom from my tongue. ¡°Tell me it isn¡¯t your fault.¡± Caulder responded with a chuckle that vibrated through the air. I rolled my eyes, continuing in the direction of the town square. The square was located at the northwest entrance of town by the church and the mayors house the most prosperous shops lining the street. Though today they were all closed instead small stands were placed out front they circled the square blocking off most of the town except for the door to the church. The procession of stalls and stands practically exploded after leaving the northern gate to the town. Merchants had come as they did every spring but this year was different it was special roughly three times as many traders as would usually had arrived. ¡°Quit day dreaming.¡± Caulder called slapping my back. I stumbled forward slightly to look at the pile of banners set in front of me. ¡°You got me into this mess so you¡¯re helping!¡± I ordered taking up one of the banners that was roughly ten feet long. Caulder nodded accepting the command before leaning down and picking the rest up under one arm. The man was a freak of nature; strong as ten men! I dragged the poll out of the gate to look at the vast array of carts and tents, stalls and displays, tinkers and traders all alike sharing common ground a large dais built at the back of the large plot of land the centre being empty which allowed for people to move between the main stalls before plunging into the labyrinth of sellers beyond. If my count was right there had to be at least two hundred different stalls twenty percent of that being the locals. Speaking of which our mother¡¯s stall was a just a couple of metres from the dais. She was a seamstress who had a truly prodigious output. Not surprising seeing as she used wind magic to aid her. ¡°You boys get to work!¡± she yelled waving from her stall. She was petite and fairly young black hair and blue eyes. But a true demon when her anger was unleashed. I grunted to Caulder to hurry up before slamming the first of the banners down into the ground my strength barely enough to keep it from toppling. I began to move around area circumventing the ring of sellers planting one banner down after another. They may have been loose in their placement and slightly uneven but the job was done. ¡°Are you sure they¡¯re in deep enough?¡± Caulder questioned poking one of the polls, which shook dangerously in the breeze. ¡°No, but what I do know? So I¡¯ll going to take a nap by the lake!¡± I laughed before I began to jog in the direction of the lake to the east of town. ¡°Wait what if mother finds out, She¡¯ll¡­¡± I cut him off before he could continue, I new what horrible torment lay in store for us in that scenario. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll take the blame, See ya.¡± I laughed as I ran away my sights set upon the lake a good ten minutes walk away.
I awoke to the sound of drumming fingers an icy bolt flying down my spine; I could sense bloodlust. My eyes roved upwards towards mother, she sat besides my head smiling down at me eyes closed, my mouth opened in a silent scream. Of course it wouldn¡¯t stay silent for long. ¡°Droga you ditched your work again.¡± Her words were cold and empty her eyes fixated on me revealing their icy depths. ¡°You know this is how you gained the nickname ¡®Loafer¡¯ she laid a hand on my shoulder as I tried to sit up and crawl away. Her grip was too strong, or more likely I was too weak. ¡°Ten minutes ago a banner fell on my stall, all because of a five year old playing ball accidentally hit it. I wonder how it could have been loosened to such a degree. Would you happen to know why?¡± her questioned probed my fear building up. A desperate whine escaping my mouth similar to a ball that had just been punctured and stepped on. ¡°Do you remember what I said would happen if you did this kind of thing again?¡± she questioned leaning forwards that eerie smile plastered to her face like some form of hellish mask.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Level eight curse: Black blood¡± I whispered nearly throwing out the contents of my stomach. ¡°Oh so you do remember!¡± she laughed ¡°You know your very lucky, because today is a very important day. That is why tomorrow you¡¯ll be receiving a level nine curse. Weak soul drain.¡± I blanched my face, tanned from many days beneath the sun turned a ghostly white. ¡°You can call the extra level interest.¡± she patted my shoulder and walked off. Is sighed it had been nothing but a brief reprieve tomorrow morning I would have to pay the piper. Trying to drown the fear of future punishment out of my mind I turned towards the lake. A pair of fishermen were pulling in at the far shore and appeared to be heading for the festival. Going by the position of the sun steadily sinking in the West it was nearly time. I stretched watching the blazing red light catching against the waves lapping at the banks. Now wasn¡¯t the time to get lost in the beauty of nature. I had plenty of time for that later. Today was the festival and it was likely starting soon. The coming of age festival was an incredibly important event: in every child¡¯s life there are three crucial dates the fifth, tenth and fifteenth birthday. The first means that a child is healthy and will likely live to adulthood so they are given a name to reflect their personality, on their tenth birthday children will receive an apprenticeship to a tradesman, or a fighter in the hopes of gaining a class which they will not know until their fifteenth birthday. My fifteenth birthday had already passed however it was the festival where I would discover three incredibly important facts; my class, my deity and my affinity. These three features would shape my future and my goals. I grit my teeth at the mere memory of those promises. Three tasks, each just as unlikely as the others, most would deem them impossible or at least insane. But that is what would make this new life all the more fun. La vie droll! I began to jog my attention fixed on the town, no longer would I laze around the village, I probably should have started training already but I couldn¡¯t spend my entire life on earnest work I needed to actually live as well. Without both of these things there was no chance I¡¯d be able to accomplish anything. I¡¯d live a life and die a death worth less the air I breathed. I would not let something like that happen again. I approached the festival lanterns hung on long poles dotted at every intersection of booths and above all important stalls. The wavering banners fluttered, made from dark blue cloth lined with silver, the symbol of the Ardore kingdom emblazoned upon it. A silver winged snake, eyeless its mouth open. My memories told me it was a Hadarask, a subspecies of basilisk similar in size to dragons but slightly less dangerous. I yawned as I pushed through the crowd my eyes catching the immense form of my brother standing head and shoulders above the crowd slowly rubbing the side of his head. I tick that usually meant he was worried: a rare enough event, and one to take advantage of. I approached in silence faint memories filling my mind; they guided my footsteps through the crowd until I stood besides my brother. I reached out and lay a palm upon the back of his neck. He flinched turning around and swinging a fist. I didn¡¯t have time to react the blow striking my face and sending me flying backwards, striking a little girl over and rolling across the dirt. Panicked Caulder immediately tried to comfort the girl who had grazed her knee. While I, his brother, was left with a minor concussion and a small cut beneath my eye that would probably swell before the night was out. I groaned standing up, my face aching with a dull pain. I reached up blood on my fingers. I sighed pinching the area around the wound causing it to bleed faster. After wiping away the blood and grime I staunched the bleeding with my sleeve and turned to Caulder. ¡°You really didn¡¯t hold back.¡± I sighed scratching the back of my head. ¡°Where the hell were you, I was worried damn it!¡± he yelled grasping my shoulders. I rolled my eyes. ¡°If you were so worried why did you punch me?¡¯ I questioned equally peeved. ¡°Well¡­¡± before he could continue I cut him off. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, looks like we¡¯ll be starting soon.¡± I began to make my way towards the dais. But was stopped by the thickening crowd. They were parting to make room for Ularus the town¡¯s only enchanter who came with several guards pushing a gigantic red crystal onto the dais. It was a testing crystal of gigantic proportions. Normal testing crystals were about the size of your fist, they were used to publicly confirm and display a person¡¯s identity and ability hence the name. The guards lifted the massive stone onto the dais with great effort their bodies physically straining and as it was placed atop the stage a dark shadow was cast about them His name was Olgar Vocav; he was the mayor of Arfiel and a man that you would not want to deal with. A man who cast a shadow that you could not escape. Of course I¡¯m being literal here the man was fat, fatter than he was tall though he was not that tall. He was dressed in a red shirt and black trousers, they strained to contain the sheer volume of fat that hung off the man. His face was sweaty and twisted, he might have been handsome if he lost a couple hundred pounds but I didn¡¯t see that happening in the near future. He walked with a black cane and as he ascended the dais the boards creaked below as if howling their agony at just having to support this travesty of a human being. I shook my head a forced habit that the man seemed to invoke with his mere presence. ¡°People!¡± he called. ¡°I have spoken with the priest¡± I didn¡¯t really care whom he¡¯d been speaking to, just watching his chins move when he talked was starting to hypnotise me. ¡°The heroes have arrived!¡± his voiced boomed as the double doors to the church were thrown open. A wave of roughly two hundred men and women came pouring out of the church they all wore the same garbs, white togas and brown sandals held by clasps of various different colours and styles. Their only items of real value being twenty-five silver coins - enough to buy clothes and low-grade equipment. Just looking at them made me uneasy. I knew well enough that these people saw this world as a game, that they would do anything to get what they wanted especially this lot. Most players would appear intermittently at random churches in beginner towns. However this lot had appeared in mass they knew there was an event and were going to use that to spring board themselves into the world. A good fifty percent of players just chose to live in this world renouncing the title of hero, but this lot, I was sure at least ninety percent of their number were here only for the glory. ¡°Come now heroes, come. Recently the gods have declared that natives of the continent of Keland may now join heroes on their journeys permanently as ¡®companions¡¯ allowing them to share in you benefits. I assure you now every one of our fine young citizens would be more than happy to aid you in your quest to slay the black lord!¡± As he spoke I huffed, the gods in deed, it was more likely the developers trying to add a new element to the game. This whole event reeked of update. New map, new features new treasures. Soon the entire kingdom would be swarming with people like these. I shook my head; perhaps it wasn¡¯t right to criticise in truth I held more in common with them than NPCs. ¡°now young men and women please ascend to the stage and form a line.¡± the Mayor waved his hands through the air gesturing for everyone to gather. They did, their were twenty six of us, I was stood at the far left, second to last place in line my brother taking the furthest place from me and Madeline, the daughter of Ularus stood to my other side. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you actually showed up loafer.¡± her acerbic comments passed me by. ¡°Caulder, I do not understand how you can be related to this pathetic excuse for a man, your twins right, it seems you must of gotten all of the good genes.¡± My brother and the Madonna, the two were dating and had been for a couple of months, it was plain to see no matter how they tried to hide it. Although her hatred for me was clear. Her father had offered me an apprenticeship; I¡¯d turned it down however, along with everyone else who came to offer. The reason being I¡¯d already selected my profession; I would be an adventurer. The kingdom despised adventurers, desiring to be one was unheard of. To this day they were considered, vile uncouth thugs who only worked for money, they hunted down monsters with skill but were useless in a head to head battles with humans and demons making others consider them weak. This was a lie of course, at least today, however in the past there had been a key difference between heroes and adventurers. Heroes would gain ten stat points every level and adventurers only gained five, and adventurers were capped at level one hundred while Heroes had no level cap some reaching levels upwards of three hundred. ¡°Now whose first, a Armon, step right up lad; let us all see what the Kolbar guards¡¯ bloodline has to offer!¡± he gestured to the gigantic red crystal. The boy first in line approached and extending a hand gingerly touched the surface
Name: Armon Kolbar
Age: 15
Race: Human
Level: Lv1
Class: Lancer
Strength: 21
Speed: 25
Dexterity: 15
Intelligence: 12
Endurance: 19
Affinity: Earth
Deity: Stomar
Alignment: (Neutral) +9
Fame: 0
Murmurs ran through the crowd, the boy had a good set of stats, abnormally high, fifteen being the average limit of a stat. he had three that surpassed that level. This meant he¡¯d be a slightly more important character in the future. Certain features could measure a characters possibility; base starting power, rarity of class and appearance. Generally the more important characters were more appealing to behold, as you would expect of humans, vain as ever. Of course I lacked all of these things or at least I assumed so. Your base stats depended on training, which I had not done, your class was linked to your apprenticeship, which I did had refused and your appearance, which if I¡¯m honest mine was below average. Which here made me ugly seeing how everyone had a digitally altered level of beauty. I sighed as they began to work there way down the line. Those who had already completed the test were sent off to the side where they began to mingle with adventurers who had already made them offers to join them on their journeys, especially any pretty girl they got a hold of, luckily the guards were near by so nothing was going to get out of hand. ¡°Hey Loafer your up!¡± the mayor yelled grabbing my collar and throwing me forwards. The crowd went silent this breach of protocol was probably triggering flags in the mind of each player. I sighed placing my hand against the crystal. At first it was as I expected, low stats, all their lowest possible base values, but then it got weird.
Name: Droga Kivali
Age: 15
Race: Human
Level: Lv1
Class: (None)
Strength: 10
Speed: 10
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 10
Endurance: 10
Affinity: Fire
Deity: Gaea
Alignment: (Neutral) 0
Fame: 0
I had no class, that¡­ that was impossible. Chapter Two - Cynical Hero Chapter Two: Cynical Hero Sarah Revox The lights, the sounds, the aromas; this world was intoxicating in a way I could not describe. Lanterns hung about the market, and my sense urged me to plunge deeper into the market and see what treasures I would find. But I had to hold my curiosity at bay for obvious reasons. I wasn¡¯t here for fun, my lively hood was at stake here. In game at least. The full-virtual-reality videogame True Fantasy had been released many years ago based off its predecessor High Fantasy a videogame from the early twenty-first century. The game had become prevalent during the space project a couple years back and had been used to prevent astronauts from suffering mental attrition on journeys taking many hundreds of years. The realism and depth of the game was incredible and was currently supported by the government. An international project linking all earth-wide powers through a single company that with a single word could shatter the world¡­ I was probably exaggerating though. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s time to change out of those clothes?¡± A petite woman called from her stand waving frantically at passers by. A few young women gave her a strange look before passing on. They were probably only here for there own self-gratification and to feel like they were important indulging in the latest trends. I meanwhile had a goal: to become the world¡¯s greatest hero! I approached the stall the young woman perking up. I looked over her merchandise for a second then back up to the woman. The clothes were cheap and of a good quality, but they were made for functionality rather than appearance the colours muted and lacking any finery. Probably why the girls from earlier had ignored the woman. Speaking of which the woman was abnormally beautiful for such a beginner town. You could usually find one exceedingly beautiful or handsome person in every town and they were usually only meant to add to the scenery or some minor quest line. This woman was either one such character or had an important quest line that extended beyond the little village. It would be beneficial to get on her good side. ¡°So what would you recommend?¡± I questioned looking over the different pieces. The woman smiled at me and began to point out a series of warm weather leather jerkins, light tunics, skirts and trousers. I looked over them all. If I bought the jerkin it would double up as light armour and no matter what class I eventually picked possessing light armour right now would be extremely helpful. I selected a small outfit in a brown colour scheme and handed over four silvers to the woman. ¡°Much obliged.¡± she laughed almost sinisterly. Before I could question my purchases a thunderous voice began to shout from the centre of the square. ¡°Come now heroes, come. Recently the gods have declared that natives of the continent of Keland may now join the heroes on their journeys permanently as ¡®companions¡¯ allowing them to share in your benefits. I assure you now every one of our fine young citizens would be more than happy to aid you in your quest to slay the black lord!¡± the voice came from a man of gargantuan proportions (at least horizontally) only a thin black cane keeping him stable and upright ¡°now young men and women please ascend to the stage and form a line¡± This was it I¡¯d been registered in the True Fantasy database for over a week waiting for this event to take place. ¡®Companions¡¯ across the entire mid-race continent of Keland people would start looking and recruiting NPCs to aid them in their quests. It likely wouldn¡¯t be easy. Every NPC was an individual person with their own back-stories and preferences they were incredibly hard to negotiate with unless you had a high amount of fame. I expected a mad scramble for the NPCs here to begin. Then they began to display the stats of every NPC that was currently on the market. It had become abundantly clear to me that these NPCs would become incredibly important. This was a game event; so special items and characters were available at the moment, but only for a limited time. But out off all of them one stood out just going by appearances the one at the very end was the most interesting: Strong, intelligent eyes, a handsome face, yet strong and unmoving in its features, he would be my aim. It seemed to me that those around him were arguing over something: A strange looking man, and a beautiful woman. The woman had beige hair, which while abnormal was nothing compared to the unlucky players given bizarre colours of hair and eyes like purple or burgundy all because the AI randomly generating them was being lazy. The man on the other hand had black eyes and hair, he looked somewhat sickly, his features incredibly average though he appeared to have a cut under his right eye. My assumption was proven right from the first NPC and onwards, each and every one of them exceeded the mark in terms of their base stats, and roughly fifty percent had a rare class or better. I began to lose focus around half way through and began talking to the woman. She seemed fairly unfocused herself constantly drifting off topic, though I couldn¡¯t help but get a sense her eyes were fixed on something else. Then sound broke out from the heroes. The entire crowd began to mutter their voices muffled by one another into an indecipherable mess. I turned my attention from them towards the gigantic red crystal on the platform¡­ No class that was impossible. It was probably some kind of error in the code or maybe a flat in the crystal, The sickly boy was currently walking of stage, it seemed by guess about him was correct. It didn¡¯t really matter anyway the boy¡¯s stats were all garbage set at ten the lowest possible stat for a grown man. Comparable in all regards to a ten year old child¡¯s. I shook my head. ¡°What a shame.¡± I mumbled beneath my breath. Well with all of the over powered characters available it was to be expected that there would be a few that would fall below expectations. ¡°I guess they don¡¯t call him a loafer for nothing.¡± The woman sighed leaning back against the stall. ¡°What did I expect?¡± Of course that error didn¡¯t intrigue me as much as the man currently standing before the crystal. He had an overly serious look on his face, concentrating on the stone before him. His stats appeared to the awe of all.
Name: Caulder Kivali
Age: 15
Race: Human
Level: Lv1
Class: Hero
Strength: 40This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Speed: 40
Dexterity: 40
Intelligence: 40
Endurance: 40
Affinity: Light
Deity: Amark
Alignment: (Charitable) +45
Fame: 0
I couldn¡¯t believe what I was witnessing the limit for most base stats were thirty! This man had imposed a new standard for excellence. Not to mention his affinity and alignment. The God of Justice and peace along with light magic, a powerful healer and self buffer affinity. These factors would usually make someone a paladin or similar class but no this man had gone one step further. Hero; it was the starting class for all players before they gained a class of there own class through a trainer or other method. This man was an NPC with the privileges of a player: increased rate of levelling, discounts on weapons or armour, the ability to revive. Well that last one couldn¡¯t be confirmed yet but it was likely. ¡°That¡¯s my son for you!¡± the woman laughed behind me. My eyes bulged out of my head. ¡°What, He¡¯s your son! How old are you?¡± I stared at the woman if I were to guess her age I¡¯d have said early twenties but that boy was fifteen - and I did not intend for my mind to roam into the gutters on this one. ¡°Oh I¡¯m forty-three.¡± She laughed smiling. I stared at her, face blank ¡°One of the advantages of being a mage.¡± she explained with a smile. ¡°By the way my name¡¯s Danna Kivali!¡± ¡°Oh, uh¡± I struggled to remember the name I¡¯d been randomly assigned. ¡°Felvi Xover.¡± the woman nodded. ¡°Tell you what if you pop by my house tomorrow and do me a little favour I¡¯ll agree to tell you where all the good deals are around here, agreed?¡± she questioned leaning forwards. It didn¡¯t take a genius to pick out the plot thread, if I followed this through there was the chance I would get her son as my companion, quick easy and simple. I could already feel the cogs of my mind turning. ¡°You have yourself a deal!¡±
I sat upon a low wall smiling at my haul. I¡¯d managed to squeeze out a couple of bargains from the vendors. I had even been able to resell a couple of my items for a profit, which meant I could buy even more equipment. I already had all my gear and had even picked up two skill-books (enchanted tomes that could instantly teach you any skill, but unfortunately they were a consumables) they were fairly generic: the wind foot movement and Aura Builder. The first was a magical skill that could boost speed while quieting footsteps, the latter a simple technique where one surrounded themselves in mana to the point they had an aura. This aura allowing for minor physical or magical attack nullification as well as being incredibly useful to train with. I had already learnt both of those skills and with a bit of levelling they¡¯d be incredibly useful in the future.
Skills:
Wind Foot Movement ¨C Lv1 A skill that allows you to move faster and with reduced sound, invaluable for assassins, scouts and thieves. Current Stats: Speed + 5% Sound reduction +3% Stamina cost -5
Aura Builder ¨C Lv1 A technique which is the basis for all magic users, not limited to casters but any class that is capable of using magic. The effects of this spell depend on concentration and proficiency. Current Stats: Magic defence +2 Mana cost -10
Not a bad job, especially when thrown in together with a pair of steel hunting knives I now wore at my hip, a heavy rain-proof cloak, a pair of oversized boots and some basic health and mana potions. Still that left me with but one silver coin and twenty-three coppers. Pocket change really. Now was the time: to finally check my stats. I¡¯d been able to do it after the official ceremony was over, except while everyone else was looking at his or her stats I took the initiative and began bargain hunting. I couldn¡¯t wait to see my stats, this was thrilling!
Name: Felvi Xover
Age: 16
Race: Human
Level: Lv1
Class: Hero
Strength: 10
Speed: 10
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 10
Endurance: 10
Affinity: Wind
Deity: Golgar
Alignment: (Neutral) 0
Fame: 0
Just like every other player I started off with the basics; I guess it wasn¡¯t right to criticise that guy from earlier. Not that it mattered, He still had no skill and I¡¯d never heard of his God so there was no way I was saddling myself with that guy not to mention he had the fire affinity which had such a high cost on its spells it was never worth training. I yawned, it was getting late so I decided to log out, as the morning would bring with it a fresh set of surprises.
My Goal was simple, within a year reach level thirty, For all heroes there were three main hurdles, at least during the beginning; level thirty, level fifty and level seventy. After this it was smooth sailing you were practically guaranteed success as a higher-ranking player though the secret to braking into level one hundred was not released to the public. Why were these levels so difficult to reach? Simple because to break into them one had to not just gain experience but be involved in worthy battle, something that pushed you to your limits and brought you closer to success. That is why my first goal was to gain Caulder as my companion, he was clearly an axis for future events with the hero class, and so I would be assured a place at the top if I stuck with him. I clenched my fist as I approached the little house. It stood quite the way from the town nestled between the lake and the forest. A small garden sat out front a birch tree standing in the gardens far corner. Beyond that as the little house was a single story with what I assumed were three rooms and a small chimney sticking out of a thatch roof. I was about to enter when I heard what sounded like a falling tree. I walked around the back of the building to view Caulder and classless boy from yesterday sparring. Each carried a wooden training sword and lashed out at the other. It was clear who was winning. Caulder was beating the boy back relentlessly, his strikes to powerful for the young man to evade or block. ¡°Stop holding back, I need to get stronger!¡± The classless boy yelled. Caulder grunted pushing his attack until he landed a crushing blow against the boy¡¯s sword with enough force to swat it from his wrist, for a second I thought the battle was over until the boy struck out towards Caulder¡¯s throat with his bare hands. Still the movement was slow and easily halted in its tracks by a savage punch to the stomach. I decided to take this opportunity to sneak away as Caulder tried to get the boy back on his feet. Turning around I saw Caulder¡¯s mother sitting on a bench in the garden drinking from a mug. ¡°Those two are always like that.¡± she explained. ¡°They¡¯re friends?¡± I questioned looking back at them. She nodded smiling at me. ¡°I guess that¡¯s true, I always end up having to punish them for getting in trouble; a bond forged through mutual suffering you could say.¡± she chuckled at that taking a sip from the mug. ¡°Listen about the favour I need you to do¡­¡± This was it, what I¡¯d been waiting for a quest to start out my adventure, it would be hard with only the two skills I had learnt so far, though with my basic knowledge of the game, careful planning and a small amount of luck I was sure I could pull it off and receive great benefits. ¡°This could likely be dangerous, my sons are idiots and they wouldn¡¯t last five minutes in the wider world so, please protect them on their Journey.¡± This was perfect! I would be able to leave the beginner town early. Thank god because it was already cramped with all the new players who had arrived for the event so resources were low now I could¡­ Wait she said ¡®sons¡¯ as in plural? ¡°Mother.¡± Caulder called the other boy following him. ¡°Who is this?¡± ¡°She¡¯s a hero that will be going with you to Lordig city!¡± Mrs Kivali laughed, I¡¯d been duped! ¡°So you two had best behave and treat her properly.¡± The other boy was glaring at me with a deep-seated loathing. ¡°Droga what is that look for, Are you getting any ideas? If you are I could always cast a curse on the two of you.¡± Both of them blanched at her words ¡°Good then behave and stop glaring!¡± The boy sighed walking inside. ¡°We¡¯ll leave tomorrow morning then.¡± he muttered, ¡°I need to check over everything I¡¯ve packed.¡± He walked inside the house. So they were brothers? I looked from one to the other, this was impossible, it had to be some kind of farce. The two looked nothing alike and there abilities were so far removed you could say they couldn¡¯t be any more different if they had been born different species. Gaining a companion would start getting that much harder.