《Hero's Gear Online》 Heros Gear Online (1) I dropped out of College when i had turned 18, I had no reason to be there. I had amazing grades and I didn''t need friends. That way i didn''t have to deal with people that had to try too hard, I never understoon why people did that. Anyway, one thing I''ve always enjoyed are videogames. Especially online ones. Something I''ve found when I play online games is that people can''t help compete with eachother. Be that alone or in small groups. Even extremely large ones, though i''ve never liked them like that. Its been two months sinse i dropped out. "Enough reminiscing, I gotta start saving money if I want to buy the game and be able to eat afterwards." Its only been two weeks since HERO''S GEAR ONLINE got announced and I can''t wait for it to come out. I usually won''t get out much however i''m willing to sacrifice my spare time for the worlds most realistic VRMMO. I sit there waiting for the bus imagining what the game will be like, I picture myself as paladin, healing myself and dealing damge with holy spells and with swords or hammers so I can play solo without needing help and not having to share the loot, obviously not that im greedy or anything I''m just a bit anti-social. "Hey kid, you getting on or what?" The driver calls out from the drivers seat. Waking up from my daze I stand up and get on the bus. After 20 minites of driving I arrived at the store that i recently started working at. Its a womans clothing store and a pretty high end one at that. i was very lucky to get a job here, its all thanks to my childhood friend Ray and his sister Rae, who''s family are the owners of the store.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I walked through the door of the store and then greeted the manager "Good morning Mrs.Cliff, Is Ray and Rae in the back?" I never got that naming sense Mrs.Cliff responded as she was hanging up clothes. "ah, David good morning, and yes Raymond and Rae are in the back, go in and change into uniform then come help me hang up these clothes." "Yes ma''am." I enter the backroom and stated the get changed then I felt someone slap my back. "I didn''t think you would actully come after not going outside for like 2 months since you dropped out. I thought you''d stay inside forever but here you are, even if it is for a game. Though even if you stayed inside i''d still come bug you." He has spiky blonde hair and is about 6''2 in height and a handsome face and thanks to the way he looks and his nice personality, many women are after him back when i went to school. Back in highschool he had a phase where he dyed his hair blue and grew it quite long. I sigh after collecting myself from him surprising me. "You wouldn''t be my only friend, I wasn''t always anti-social i just dont talk to them as much as i used to... anyway whatever go help your Mom with hanging the clothes up" He responded with "Dont change the subject, actually your right i got to do my work. you get changed and i will see you in a few Minutes. We''ll talk about this later." "Ok, be right out." After i got changed I went out to get to work. i worked for 6 and a half hours until it was about 4:30, after i said bye to Ray and his family I went home and cooked up my pizza and then went to bed. I go to bed early so I can get some game time in before I go to work. I needed to learn things to improve my spacial awareness and reaction times. If im playing such a realistic game its got to have realistic controls too. Tommorow I have a day off, I''ll look into joing a Martial Arts centre. Im not sure what yet but i''ll come up with something. I always do. Heros Gear Online (2) I wake up fairly early, I pick up my phone and check the time, it''s 8:45, I open up the bank app to check how much i have so far. I¡¯ve saved up about 2,500 credits so far. The game unit costs a hefty 5000 credits. So much that the average family can''t afford to have one straight away though it¡¯d go down later on. I gotta get in there early if I want a head start. I eat some breakfast and get dressed getting ready to head out. There''s a martial arts centre about 15 minutes by bus from where I live right now. Which is fairly run down apartment on the quieter part of town. I have to go through the ¡®red light district¡¯ of the city I live in to get to my job. I go down to the local martial centre, it takes me two stops on the bus to get there. I get of the bus and sit down. I sit in a seat in an isolated corner of the bus, it''s fairly empty due to it being so early that most people won''t be using it but after the rush to work or school. I get off the bus after the ride and approach the entrance to the centre and a group of men in the yard of the centre are practicing sword stances in navy blue uniforms. I don''t really know how to describe the sword techniques but I think it looks quite efficient, they aren¡¯t wasting any movements on excess actions. At least from i can tell anyway. All of them are quite burly. I didn''t want to waste anymore time watching them practice so i decided to enter the centre and sign up for a martial arts course of my choosing, i''m hoping to pick up a sword technique to use with my character. Obviously someone who can use a sword would do better than someone who can¡¯t. I approach the man at the counter the guy standing at the counter was massive. Definitely at least a heads taller than the practitioner''s training out at the front he''s even broader too. He looks about 27 and has a stubble. His facial structure is rugged and his eyebrows are bushy. He has black hair kinda like a mix of Guile and Lt. Surge which almost makes me burst out laughing. ¡°Hi boss, you lookin¡¯ to join our humble dojo? A membership¡¯ll be 35 credits a month and you can join one of the classes the instructors teach and use the gym as you please. Whadda ya say?¡± To be honest his speech caught me off guard because it¡¯s exactly as you would expect from a guy who looks like that. I almost burst out laughing again and I think he can tell from my face. ¡°Uh yeah, I wanted a membership and I was wondering if you have any instructors that teach practical swordsmanship martial arts. Nothing like kendo that''s more about stances and sparring.¡± I say as i transfer the credits over to the register that¡¯s in front of him. ¡°No problem boss¡¯¡± he smiles after the payment comes through. ¡°I have the perfect art for you, though i should say now. It¡¯s not what i¡¯d call for the feint of heart, If you have any regrets i¡¯d back out now if i were you kid.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Ah, sorry. No can do friend, I don¡¯t particularly enjoy ¡®defeat¡¯ not that i¡¯ve ever had to suffer it before. So, do your job and bring me to the class. Please.¡± I smile at him. ¡°You got it, kid. My names Ajax Swan¡± He smiles back. Jesus christ he¡¯s a walking stereotype i swear i¡¯ll fucking lose it. He leads me to a room towards the back of the facility that seems more worn down than the rest of the centre. He doesn¡¯t say anything the entire walk. We enter the room and he flicks on a light, the room is somewhat old and not the same sleekness and futuristic feel the rest of the centre has. He throws me a stick and says; ¡°You just have to hit my body using it then you can start learning how to wield the sword.¡± It takes me a moment to process what he¡¯s just said and exclaim ¡°Wait, you''re the teacher of this class?¡± He looks at me with an evil grin and says; ¡°Yeah kid, you got a problem? Didn¡¯cha say about not ever suffering ¡®defeat¡¯ or somethin¡¯ like that?¡± He readies into a stance. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a little unfair¡± He brushes me off with a laugh and says ¡°No worries, I won¡¯t hit ya that hard!¡± Over the next couple hours i get beaten black and blue and never even get a chance of swinging the stick anywhere near him. He either deflects the stick or dodges it. I notice all of the stances he uses are with one hand but i''m grabbing the stick with two. I tired doing what he did but the stick just got knocked out of my hand. He finally says ¡°not too shabby for your first day kid. You gotta come back every day from now on if ya wanna keep up with me though. Go get some rest and somethin¡¯ to eat. You gotta be wiped out eh? ¡°That¡¯s an understatement, couldn¡¯t you have gone a bit easier on me?¡± ¡°Goin¡¯ easy? That''s the same as quittin¡¯! No way, kid.¡± I sigh ¡°well then fine, i''ll be back tomorrow¡± He pats my shoulder and says ¡°that''s the spirit kid, now go get some rest. We¡¯ll be doing this again everyday from now on or until you¡¯ve given up¡± I glare at him and exclaim ¡°I don''t give up¡± I say that as i leave the Martial arts centre I take the bus back home. It started raining. After i get back in it''s only about 4 but it takes me an hour to shower and change. I eat another pizza today though i should start eating better if i¡¯m doing martial arts. I suddenly feel exhausted and decide to go to bed early. Especially if i¡¯m going back tomorrow. I¡¯m not sure if my body will hold up. Heros Gear Online (3) It''s been about 6 and a half months since I joined the martial arts centre and since then 3 people have joined my class and dropped out before actually learning anything. I guess they couldn''t handle Ajax¡¯s beatings. I don''t blame them, it lasted for 3 months before I could even come close to hitting him with the sparring sticks. After I managed to hit him he actually did teach me some sword skills. We pretty much sparred every day. Other than that I worked at the clothing store either after training or days where I wasn¡¯t training. I don¡¯t think I had a day where I wasn¡¯t doing something. There was one day where someone tried to mug me in an alleyway by a thug on my way to work. He only had a knife so it wasn¡¯t hard to defend myself. I still called the police afterwards and Ray and Rae both berated me for an hour after I explained at happened to them. I also started eating better once i started exercising. It¡¯d be bad if my body gave up on me while I was playing the game. Time flew by as I continued this cycle everyday. A couple of days before the console¡¯s release I decide to set up camp so I can be one of the first people to get one. I packed a couple day¡¯s worth of food and water in a large bag. Ray and Rae came too. Seems they¡¯re getting the game as well. To be honest I never even asked if they were. They don¡¯t even save their money from the job that they do. Their parents are buying it for them which makes me a bit salty to be honest. I should also say that my parents are currently abroad working. They went after I had joined college and when I was old enough to live on my own. They still send me a bit every month into a savings account for me to pay rent with ,but they won''t let me make big purchases and I have to handle the rest. ¡°Hey David! Looks like we¡¯re first in line. Good thing we came along to keep you company!¡± He said as he smiled at me. ¡°Yeah, yeah I¡¯d be lost without you.¡± I sighed rolling my eyes at him. I checked my bank account on my phone and saw that I had 10500 credits saved up. It feels pretty bad that 5000 of those are going to just disappear. They also stated the game is going to have a monthly 50 credit subscription cost, but it¡¯s a worthy sacrifice. Ray glanced towards his sister and stated ¡°I''m going to get some snacks and stuff from that store down the street, save my place¡± before walking off. There were a few minutes of silence as we sat there, I also happened to notice Ray looking at us from the window of the store. I finally tried to dissipate the awkwardness, ¡°So what do you want to pick for your class?¡± I casually asked as I looked up from my phone. She stuttered as she responds, ¡°Ah-well, um, I was thinking of making a, uhm, priest class to heal you. And Ray too!¡± Man she''s always been shy like this. Though, she does fine around customers in the store. Which is weird. I guess she isn''t comfortable around me or something¡­ Ray came back after handing me a drink and chicken sandwich which I quickly ate. The couple of days in the line go by quickly and a line forms which goes round the corner. It was a good thing we came so early. The store is going to open in about an hour and we pack up the supplies and stand at the front of the store waiting for it to open.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Suddenly a large white limo parks in front of the store and a rich dick walks out wearing a white suit with long bleached hair and doesn''t even glance at us and he just stands in front of us in the line. Honestly he¡¯s hard to look at because of all of the whiteness which contrasts with the rest of the world. Then I remember he just cut the line. Pretty much everyone else in the line is booing him and telling him to get to the back of the line. I reach over and place my hand on his shoulder. He looks back and leers at me with a scowl plastered to his face. ¡°Excuse me, you seem to have cut into the line. Friend. You know that''s not allowed, If you know what''s good for you you¡¯d move to the back.¡± He looks at me with disdain and replies ¡°Who are you? Why would I care what you think?¡± I just laugh ¡°Because if you don¡¯t I¡¯ll hurt you. It''s not right when you breach someone''s personal space like that.¡± I say smiling. ¡°Haha with just you? I¡¯ll have you know I¡¯m well versed in boxing techniques whereas you don''t look like you¡¯ve done a day of exercise in your life.¡± he smirks. Oh this is going to be good. It''s winter right now so i¡¯m wearing a lot of layers. He probably thinks I look weak because of my face. Which is pretty handsome if I do say so myself. I smile at him and say; ¡°Well tough guy, do something about it. Make me let it go. The rich asshole laughs and takes a boxing stance. Then he throws a straight at me. I deflect it with my forearm and laugh. ¡°You struck first, You guys saw that, yeah?¡± Ray, Rae and everyone that''s watching shout and agrees. ¡°Good.¡± At this point the rich bitch realises that he might¡¯ve made a mistake by the sturdiness of my arm. I kick the back of his leg and he buckles. I then punch his chest and he collapses. At this point the butler, who seems too old to be driving while at the same time could probably take both me and the rich prick in a fight at the same time, comes out of the car and picks him up, slinging him over his shoulder. Everyone watches as the butler puts him in the car and drives away. I''m not really sure why he didn''t get the butler to fight me seeing as I probably would¡¯ve lost. At about this time the store opens and they start letting people in to buy the consoles. I enter the store and am greeted the cashier who looks a little stunned by the number of people waiting outside. ¡°Hello, how can I help? ¡°Hi. I¡¯d like to buy 99% reality VR headset with a copy of Hero¡¯s Gear Online please. I smile as I greet her. ¡°Of course, that will be 5000 credits along with 50 credits for the initial monthly subscription.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, No problem.¡± I force a smile and transfer the credits. I can almost feel the credits drain out of my account. He hands me a box in a plastic bag which has the headset inside. I wait for Ray and Rae to get their headsets and we all leave the store. After I say farewell to Ray and Rae I head on home to set up the console. The game also launches today to coincide with the release of the headset. The headset plugs into the wall and uses a wireless charging mechanic that keeps it charged anywhere within 25 meters of the platform. The game doesn''t have any restrictions on being logged in. The headset is set up and ready to launch the game. It uses a type of virtual storage rather than discs to prevent damage to the games and also prevent people complaining about that. I place the Headset onto my head and strike a pose and saying with laughter ¡°Secret game activation no jutsu activate!¡±. God I hope nobody saw that. I activate the headset and lay down on my bed. The screen inside the headset flashes and the games logo appears. It''s time to get started. Game, Start! (1) The screen flashes a cyan blue and text appears on the screen in front of my eyes. A timer is in the corner indicating the servers becoming open in one hour, but the game allows character creation to begin.
(Welcome to Hero¡¯s Gear Online! Retinal scan initiating)
Oh wow nice, I guess characters are designated by retinal scans so then characters and accounts are harder to steal. A light flashes over my eyes.
(Retinal scan complete, Full body scan initiating)
Gah, fuck! A shock runs throughout my body, I guess it''s checking the proportions of my body? Man, you¡¯d think it could just scan me, like, with my eyes rather than shocking me.
(Full body scan complete. Please fill out the following personality test honestly.)
Personality test? That''s pretty weird, the other VR games didn¡¯t have anything like this. Maybe it has something to do with account recovery? The personality test is rather uneventful, the usual kind of questions you would get, Would you usually initiate conversations with others?, Do you struggle with social situations?, When you play, do you prefer solo play or team play? Things along those lines. Maybe the questions have something to do with the starting area and initial quests? Man it''s hard to determine the start of a game that¡¯s had so little released about it.
(Personality test complete, Race and class are being generated based on previous data. Please wait.)
WAIT, WHAT?! This isn''t how this goes! Don¡¯t you choose race and pick from some starter classes!? Why would the developers add something like this? That must be from the personality quiz! Fuck I¡¯m not going to be able to make my solo paladin! WHAT IF I GET A SHIT CLASS! Well the Game should have balancing, so I should have a high aptitude towards to the class I get.
(Character creation completed. Proceeding to customization screen, a basic appearance has already been generated based on the physical research data; however, simple alterations can be made; please select a username)
Well, I already had a name picked out. Something simple but concise: Tome. I said it out loud to assign it as my username to the system. Now for the problem of my character page, well, nothing I can do about it now, it''s not like they gave me a choice in the matter, first things first... What is my character sheet, my class, my race and starting stats?
Username: Tome Class: Runic Spellsword
Race: Lizard Demi-Human Subspecies: Venomous Lizard
Subclass: Enchanter Currency: 0g 0s 10c
Strength: 5 (-2)A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Intelligence 5 (+1)
Dexterity: 5 (+2) Constitution 5 (-1)
Vitality: 5 (+1) Luck: 6
Charisma: 7 Wisdom: 5 (-1)
Skill List: Racial Skills:
Enchant Attack (lvl1. 0%) Minor Enchant Weapon *Unique* (lvl1 0%) Minor poison resistance (lvl1. 0%) Minor regeneration (lvl1. 0%) Retractable Elbow claws - Poisoned (lvl1 0%) Enhanced senses (lvl1. 0%)
Not too bad for a start, a bit of a shame with the starting stats. I''m still annoyed about not being able to choose the class I want to but I¡¯ll admit that this could work too. Although I¡¯ve noticed that it''s going to have really bad survivability and will struggle for soloing. But, I¡¯ll make it work. I always do.
(Additional skills and abilities can be unlocked through actions within the game in accordance to class and race. The character sheet will also automatically correct stats in the future to reduce clutter. The luck and charisma stat are also generated randomly. You now can make simple changes to your appearance)
A familiar looking guy is standing with a blank expression with Rusty brown coloured hair, sharp features and thin eyebrows. Green lizard-like eyes. I also get the character to open his mouth and it has a surprisingly long tongue, I''m not really sure what it¡¯s purpose is ,but if nothing else it could intimidate some people (women). That¡¯s about all I changed from my original appearance. The skin is the same somewhat pale tone as my own but my arms, hands, chin/cheek area and shins are covered in dark green scales, probably corresponding to the fact I''m some kind of poisonous lizard humanoid. I stand at around 6¡¯0¡± in real life but it had scaled down to 5¡¯10¡± in order to give me a smaller hitbox. Gotta get as many advantages as I can.
(Would you like to save this appearance?) (Y/N)
Yes
(Are you satisfied with your Class and Race that have been selected?) (Y/N)
Yes, not like I can change it anyway.
(Character creation is now over, the game will launch in 15 minutes and 42 seconds)
Well, this is it. My new ¡®life¡¯ in the game. I¡¯ll start in 15 minutes. I should get something quick to eat and sort out anything that will distract me from the game for now. I log out of the console so that I can wait until the timer will end and find out how the others have reacted to the game picking their race and classes for them. I made a rice dish from the ready made ones I have stored up and check online. Its pretty much as I imagined, most people are pretty pissed that they couldn¡¯t make characters they like or pick their racial preferences. After looking around I notice that everyone has been given normal races and classes, I guess the chances of getting a secret or unique class and race are extremely low. There''s still 5 minutes left until the game launches so I decided to call up Ray and Rae to see if they have entered the game yet and warn them about it. ¡°Yeah watch out for that personality quiz if you want to get a class you want then answer the questions to fit that class.¡± I warn ¡°Oh shit, Really? Rae is already in the game and I don¡¯t want to disconnect her cause it might cause problems cause the console is new. Ah well. Thanks for telling me man. At least I got a higher chance of getting a character I want. Oh yeah what''s your ingame name so I can add you when we get in?¡± ¡°It''s Tome, like the magical book.¡± ¡°Hahahahaha nice name, I¡¯m surprised it wasn¡¯t already taken! Alright I¡¯ll remember to add you.¡± ¡°Alright what are you gonna choose for your name?¡± ¡°SocksAreForYourFeetSilly, at least it guarantees its not going to be taken.¡± ¡°That is actually the best name I¡¯ve ever heard and I would steal it if I had known it before. What about Rae, what name did she take?¡± ¡°To be perfectly honest, I have no idea, she didn¡¯t say much, only that she will tell me after she decides what to pick for her character, probably something cute like ¡°kittykat¡± or something.¡± ¡°Alright, I should get ready to enter the game see you when we go in.¡± I hung up the phone and logged back on the console. The timer is on 1 minute and 9 seconds until it starts I watch it count down to 40 seconds, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, ¡­. The screen flashes and the text
(Welcome to Hero¡¯s Gear Online)
appears on the screen. Game, Start! (2) I look upwards at the sun through some willow trees. This must be the game. It does look realistic. Ok lets look at my character page. I call out. ¡°Character Page¡± and a screen floats into my vision:
Username: Tome Class: Runic Spellsword
Race: Lizard Demi-Human Subspecies: Venomous Lizard
Subclass: Enchanter Currency: 0g 0s 10c
Strength: 3 Intelligence 6
Dexterity: 7 Constitution 4
Vitality: 6 Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 7 Luck: 6
LEVEL 1 EXP (0/80)
Skill List: Racial Skills:
Enchant Attack (lvl1. 0%) Minor Enchant Weapon *Unique* (lvl1 0%) Minor poison resistance (lvl1. 0%) Minor regeneration (lvl1. 0%) Retractable Elbow claws - Poisoned (lvl1 0%) Enhanced senses (lvl1. 0%)
Not too bad if i do say so myself. I close the window and look around. A particularly concerned Lizardman is glancing around. I guess that''s where I have to go first? I walk over and greet him. ¡°Hi, you look troubled. Need some help?¡± He looks over at me with a relieved expression and says hurriedly: ¡°Oh thank goodness! Oh humble adventurer, Mudcrabs are attacking our crops. If we don¡¯t stop them now we won''t have enough as tribute to Rattak and feed the villagers. Please help us get rid of them!¡±
Quest: Slay the Mudcrabs!
Mudcrabs are destroying the village crops and won¡¯t have any food if nobody stops them! Slay 20 Mudcrabs and bring back their claws to complete the quest. Rank: Tutorial Quest Complete the quest and collect a rewards from the village chief. Y/N
¡°I accept your quest, don¡¯t worry i¡¯ll have those crabs taken care of soon.¡± I nod in affirmation. The distressed man smiles and thanks me. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for the good news¡± I open my inventory to check what equipment i have before setting out.
Equipment: Stats:
Wooden Training sword 2-3 Attack
Beginner Leather Armor You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. 4 Defence
Beginner Leather Shin-Guards 2 Defence
Beginner Leather Boots 1 Defence
Beginner Leather Arm-Guards 2 Defence
Total stats: ATK: 2-3 Def: 9
I don¡¯t know if that is actually good or not because I can¡¯t compare with any other players but I guess i can take couple hits to test my defence out. I can tell that my attack is on the low side because of my low strength. I look at the village around me. Its basic mud shacks In a murky swamp. I guess this must be the starting area for reptilian demi-human races. I wonder why nobody else is here? Brushing away the thought I decide to head towards the farmland where the mudcrabs are terrorising and I see one of them eating spiked vegetables growing out of the muddy ground. They look like normal crabs but just they are as tall as my knees and are a murky brown/grey colour with large pincers. After about 20 minutes of walking I see the farmland in the distance and hurry forward when suddenly I see a Mudcrab in the distance, I approach the Mudcrab and it turns towards me with an aggressive stance. They don¡¯t seem very friendly. It charges at me and I roll out the way of it and hit it with the wooden sword. A number appears in my field of view above the mudcrabs head; ¡°2¡± It seems it will show my damage after every hit. The crab screeches and slaps at me with it¡¯s pinsir. ¡°8¡± (72/80) my hp decreases by quite a bit. Looks like I have to be careful around these and not aggro more than one at a time. +1 (73/80) It seems i regen about 1 hp every 2 seconds. With my higher dexterity i should try to dodge more than tank hits. After couple more hits on the crab it collapses and some numbers appears in my view ¡°4XP Gained¡± (4/80 exp) It seems that after i kill all the mudcrabs in this quest I should level up. I pick up the Mudcrab¡¯s claw and l continue on to find more mudcrabs to slay. I should try out my skills on the next couple I see. Another mudcrab enters my view and i sneak up behind it ¡°Enchant Attack¡± i call out, the wooden blade glows up with a magical light as I slash at the mudcrab. Critical hit 1.5x. Appears above the mudcrabs head and it dies in two hits ¡°4XP Gained¡± (8/80 exp) ¡°5 + 3 damage¡± so it seems that Enchant Attack adds a magical damage modifier on top of the physical damage. The crit must be from the surprise attack which increases my damage quite a bit. Mana (90/100). So Enchant Attack takes 10 mana per cast, that means that i can only use it ten times until i need to wait until my mana regens I continue to kill mudcrabs until there was only one of them left on the farm After I am closer to it I noticed that this one is bigger than the rest of the other mudcrabs, There''s a name above it, Mudcrab Solder. I sneak up behind it and get a sneak attack on it, Critical hit 1.5x ¡°2 + 3 damage¡± looks like this mob has a higher defence than the basic Mudcrabs. The crab retaliated and hit me with it¡¯s pincer -16 (64/80) ah that did a lot, i can''t take too many of those. I continue to fight against the Mudcrab Solder and i dodge all its attacks ¡°Enchant Attack!¡± I call out and hit it for¡°3+3¡±. The crab suddenly roars and becomes enraged and started to wildly attack with it¡¯s claws and legs. I keep dodging but it hits a few times in between dodging it. I keep using Enchant Attack but it doesn¡¯t take long for me to run out of mana. It shouldn¡¯t have that much HP left so I decide to try out my racial skill ¡°Retractable elbow claws¡± Suddenly two fang like appendages burst from my elbow on my sword arm which are dripping with poison. I try to stab it with the fangs. -10 (19/80) Oh fuck the fangs broke on it¡¯s hard shell and damaged me instead, I realised that this could get dangerous if any other crabs turn up so I slash a few more times until the crab collapses onto the ground. ¡°12XP Gained¡± (88/80 exp) LEVEL UP +1 ¡°Whoo that was kinda difficult, well at least i leveled up¡± All my mana and health returns to full after leveling. A gleam catches my eye around the corpse of the Crab Soldier so i go to check it out, I find 4 coppers and a leg which can be used as a weapon. Though it only does one damage but maybe i¡¯ll be able to do something with it later. I check my stats now that i¡¯ve leveled. It seems all my stats went up by one I also have 5 extra points to apply to stats as I wish so I apply two to dexterity, one to strength, one to intelligence and one to constitution, that should mean that my health and mana have gone up too. (HP 120/120) (Mana 120/120) so that means 1 point in wisdom equals 20 Mana and 1 point in constitution equals 20 HP that''s useful to know.
Username: Tome Class: Runic Spellsword
Race: Lizard Demi-Human Subspecies: Venomous Lizard
Subclass: Enchanter Currency: 0g 0s 14c
Strength: 5 Intelligence 8
Dexterity: 9 Constitution 6
Vitality: 6 Wisdom: 5
Charisma: 7 Luck: 6
LEVEL 2 EXP (8/200)
It should go turn in this quest. Hope the reward is worth the effort. After roughly 20 minutes of trekking through the swamp the village comes back into view and the Lizardman from before is waiting by the gate. ¡°Welcome back, young Hero! I trust you¡¯ve experienced success in exterminating the Mudcrabs?¡± he looks at me with a hopeful look. I smile at him, hoping my charisma would come into play and say ¡°Fear not. I¡¯ve exterminated all of the Mudcrabs and brought back the 20 claws you wanted. I also happened to defeat a Mudcrab soldier and got this leg. Perhaps you can find a use for it?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve slain a mighty Soldier Mudcrab? Amazing news! That should mean we experience less attacks from the Mudcrabs, at least for a while. Please take this sword and for the Mudcrab Soldier you can take this book.¡±
Quest Complete!
You¡¯ve slain the Mudcrabs that were terrorising the crops of the Lizardmen villagers crops and a reward was given for this. X1 Basic Iron Sword. 10 XP awarded *Additional objective completed, Mudcrab soldier slain and leg delivered to Village chief. X1 Identify Skill Tome 20 XP awarded
¡°Thanks a lot. Make sure to find me if you need anything else for me.¡± It seems i got a bonus for the Mudcrab solder leg it seemed like some kind a book. I open up my inventory to check what it is. I call out ¡°Inventory¡± Goblin Mine (1) A new window opens in front of me:
Inventory
  • Starter Wooden Sword x 1*
  • Identify Skill Tome (Consumable) x 1*
2/20
After I equipped the basic iron sword I placed my starter wooden sword in my inventory. I¡¯ll keep it as a momento for now. Never know I could sell it later if I become famous. Hey, you never know right? After that I use the Identify Skill Tome and learn the ability.
Identify has been learned
You are now able to Identify basic items and reveal a hidden options on items on a lower level than your own.
Well this looks like this going to come in handy, it might actually be a rare skill because I fulfilled a hidden part of the quest. I look around town and try to find the village chief or anyone else I can help, I need to get out of this starter village as soon as possible. After about 10 minutes I approached the village Blacksmith and ask him if there is anything that he needs help with. The blacksmith just takes a glance up at me, grunts then continues smashing at the piece of metal under him. I just stand there and look at him dazed, aren¡¯t NPC¡¯s meant to be helpful? Well, i guess I should look at what he has then see if i can find any other quests. I glance around the smiths shop seeing if i can find anything useful. After about a minute of searching my eyes fall upon a set of tools that are on a counter on the far side of the shop. I pick them up and check the shop window that appears, It''s a set of weapon modification tools. The description says that it can make basic modifications of basic weapons as it is a low ranking set of tools but the part that catches my eyes is that it allows me to repair my weapons based on a blacksmithing skill. I would imagine that I can learn blacksmithing fairly easily. After I forge items I would be able to enchant them so that I get a bigger advantage over the rest of the playerbase. The only problem is is that it costs 15 coppers and I only have 14, I say to the old blacksmith man person ¡°Umm I¡¯ve only got 14 coppers could I get a discount?¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. He glares at me with a cold tone ¡° No discounts¡± I ask him ¡°could I do some work to make up for the 1 copper, anything at all?¡± He exhales¡±Yeah i suppose so, the mine near by that I used to buy metals from frequently has been overrun with with goblins and I think there hiding in there because a hobgoblin is in there, so if you want to help me clear it out go ahead, You¡¯ll get more than just one copper if you do.¡±
Quest: Kill the goblins inhabiting the mine
A horde of goblins led by a hobgoblin is terrorising a local mine which is getting in the way of the blacksmiths work. Slay the hobgoblin and bring back its ear to finish the quest. Y/N
¡°Ah, thank you so much, I guarantee you won''t be disappointed!¡± ¡°Well I hope not¡± I then left towards the direction of the the mine following the directions from a map of the local area the blacksmith gave me. A small cave enters my view in the distance. Blood and parts of corpses of lizard people are draped over its entrance to serve as a warning to anyone who comes near. A couple of goblins are standing guard outside. They have basic cloth draped over their bodies, it''s very tattered and way too big for them. They also have gnarled branches with sharp stones tied to the top. Let¡¯s see what identify does for me.
Goblin Lv.2
Goblins, bottom of the food chain. The only reason they survive is due to an overwhelmingly high reproduction rate and are quick to evolve though this rarely happens. Comparable to human children and easy to pick off if they are alone.
So this shouldn¡¯t be a problem right? I mean. It¡¯d be embarrassing if I got killed by a couple of children. Meh, im sure I could take care of a couple Goblins. I mean they ARE goblins. Though they are the same level as me so I shouldn¡¯t act stupid. I try and sneak as close as possible and apply an Enchant Weapon in preparation. I suddenly jump up with a shout to catch the two Goblins off guard and slash towards one of them. I get a pop up saying Fatal-hit and Goblin¡¯s head flies of his shoulders before it even knows what happens quickly disappearing in a blue light. The other one growls at me angrily at the death of its friend. Then I slash at it¡¯s face and I hit his eyes, he staggers back clutching its hands on its face and a status pops up over it¡¯s head. Blinded 2s¡¯ ¡°3¡± I take this opportunity to slash the Goblin a few more times and it collapses at my feet not able to do anything in the two seconds it can¡¯t see. Again, not dropping anything. All of the Goblins attacks missed me by some simple footwork and dodging their simple spear thrusts. I gained 7% of my XP bar from these two monsters which isn¡¯t bad considering we¡¯re at the same level. I should take this opportunity to get as close to leveling up as I can. I glance towards the entrance to the cave and the dark abyss within. Goblin Mine (2)
You have entered a dungeon!
Because you are the first person to discover this dungeon you will gain 2x exp until you leave the dungeon or die, also A bonus will be given if you are the first to slay the boss without leaving the dungeon.
The inside of the cave is dimly lit by small bugs that glow a light shade of green. Perfect for a quick light, the interior of the cave is also decorated with bones and blood from the Goblins victims. Man talk about dreary, but then the 99% realism isn¡¯t for nothing. I continue past the entrance and the cave gets darker and darker. The tracks are broken in some places and the scaffolding looks as though it could give out at any minute. A bend enters my vision and sounds of growling and scraping can be heard. I slowly move over to the corner and look past. There is a group of 3 goblins together. Two are dressed in basic loincloths and have old jagged pickaxes in their hands. The other one has scruffy leather armour that''s slightly too big for it and a makeshift spear in its hands. It could be a problem facing all three at once. I bend down and pick up a rock to throw to try and pull the aggro. I throw the rock and it hits the one closest to me with the pickaxe. It glares over to where I am and roars while charging over. The other two are too busy minding their own business to even realise their friend ran off. The little bugger is pretty stupid to leave his group, but it''s better for me. It swings it pick at me and it scratches my arm over the scales leaving a light wound dealing -3 damage I counter strike it slashing it over its chest making it stagger. I kick it to the ground and I cut its neck watching it dissolve into a pleasing blue light. I gain 4% more xp to my next level. The other two are easy to handle considering i took out the two guards out the front just as easily. Soon after they both dissolve into light and the one with the spear even dropped 3 coppers. My XP bar is at 17% now and I only lost about a quarter of my health but the regen is quickly taking care of that. If the rest of the dungeon is this easy then the boss should be a pushover too. The cave is like a maze but the goblins put up effigies marking important areas. In each ¡®room¡¯ there are usually groups of 2-3 goblins which i take care of easily. This continues for a little while and I notice the cave starts to open out a but. It''s fine though- because goblins are pushovers. I turn the corner confidently and ready my weapon. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. A few feet infront of me is a group- no a horde of goblins. There are 6 goblins right ahead of me and all of them are staring bullets at me, i am covered in a lot of goblin blood. Well. Shit. No point turning back. I want that loot from the boss. I ready my sword and face the first two that come for me. I slash the closest one of them over the eyes and a *blinded* status effect floats over its head. I quickly use this opportunity to wail on the other one and it quickly fades into light. The other one realises what''s happened and shouts in rage quickly attacking me. The other goblins also take this opportunity to join the fray. ¡°Sigh¡± They really don''t want to give me a chance do they? I quickly apply an enchantment to my blade and ready the poison claw on my elbow. I stab the closest goblin to me with my enchanted blade and use my elbow claw to stab the goblin approaching from behind it goes in but the claw snaps off. *-10 Claw Broken* *Poison Applied* The first goblin fades into light and the other one clutches at the claw lodged inside of it. A damage indicator pops over its head *-1* every second. The goblin quickly succumbs to the poison without even attacking me. The rest of the goblins are fairly simple but i¡¯ve taken quite a lot of damage in the meantime. I gain 11 coppers, a jagged stone and my XP is half full now. I¡¯ve lost over half of my hp, i should wait for me to heal. It takes about a minute for me to reach maximum hp again. I''m about to head off when suddenly a box floats past my vision:
Your Basic Regeneration has increased to Lv. 2
You now regen 1.5 hp a second
Oh amazing, that should help me speed up hunting because i don¡¯t have to wait as long to regen my HP after fights. Also this is good for fights as it gives me more HP over the fight. Well, either way I should keep going. I think i¡¯m about to reach the end because the bone decorations are getting more intricate as i go along. As i continue forward i encounter a couple more groups of goblins but the groups aren''t larger than 4. Suddenly a large archway enters my vision. Its old and decrepit but is covered in decorative bones and blood patterns. This must be the end of the dungeon, The boss should be past that archway. Well, no time like the present. I wonder what special item it''s going to drop. I can''t help but grin at the idea of getting rare loot. The inside of the chamber is arranged slightly like an arena. There''s a larger-than- usual Goblin sitting in a throne and has a crown made of bones upon its head, a bone glaive sits in its hand and some heavily worn patches of iron hang off of its body. I use identify to try and figure out what it is, it doesn¡¯t look like a normal goblin thats for sure.
Hobgoblin (Leader) Lv. 3
A more advanced goblin evolution, it is larger and more violent and aggressive than a common goblin but has the same intelligence as a normal goblin and tend to lead packs of goblins to raid small villages and passing wagons.
Well, this should be interesting.