《Dead World Online》 Prologue: One Day Away Not really sure if the mature tag is going to come into play. I guess there will be some language but otherwise, not really anything, at least for now. If any of you read my other fiction, sorry I dropped it but it wasn¡¯t going anywhere and it wasn¡¯t very good anyway. This one will be much better. I actually have a good bit of the story planned out and a direction that I want it to go. I hope people like this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please leave comments of any kind as it helps motivate me to write more if I think people actually want to read it. Thanks for reading Dead World Online Prologue: One Day Away For a while, virtual reality was believed to be at the pinnacle of its existence. It was used to play simple games and help patients cope with or recover from disabilities and injuries. None of the games were advanced enough to be impressive and almost all of them were single player and local connection. The idea of virtual reality games began to fall from grace and the public turned back to console games. However, just as virtual reality was about to become obsolete in the gaming community, a new game with an upgraded system was released. The first ever VRMMORPG was created and in less than a year after its announcement, the game would be playable. At first people thought it was some kind of fake or trick. No one had come close to being able to create a game that could be played by many people by Internet connection. As more information about the game came out, people started to realize that Dead World Online was real. Undertones game company, one of the mid-sized game companies, had somehow advanced the technology known as virtual reality and closely guarded this secret. Dead World Online would be the first VRMMORPG. The previous virtual reality games were only tests and fragments of games all leading up to this. In a few months, the beta version of the game would be out. After years of hard work and secrecy, they had finally reached the point where the virtual reality game will be released to the public. Reid Therwell was a bit taller than average, with short black hair and blue eyes and he was generally considered attractive. He was the third child of virtual reality game developers. His father worked on the mechanical aspects of the systems while his mother worked on the computational and game design side of things. Because they were both the heads of their respective divisions in the company, they were well paid and Reid¡¯s family was wealthy. His older brother and sister were well educated and off in college so it was just him and his parents living in their house. Reid had an unorthodox childhood. His parents raised him, trying to create the ultimate gamer for their virtual reality, ever since they had thought of the concept of Dead World Online. He had had people tutor him in many different things along with being home-schooled after elementary level education. He was trained in martial arts, learned body movement skills such as parkour, and played many games to understand how they worked. He did everything he was told to, never questioning his parents and always training. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. He enjoyed his training but always felt something was missing or that it wasn¡¯t enough. Puzzle solving, martial arts, body conditioning, games, and learning were all things he liked to do, as he liked to better himself, but none of those brought him true joy. Reid simply went through the motions as this feeling of emptiness slowly built up inside him. He tried to become the best but never felt true motivation even when he was praised for how quickly he advanced in many of the things he did. Everything he did was in preparation for DWO, which, in the end, was just a game. His parents were telling him that he had to be the absolute best player and so they trained him to be the first professional VR gamer. It all felt so¡­pointless. As much as he loved and respected his parents, it almost felt like they were dooming him to an undesirable way of life. His parents were still children at heart and he wondered if they truly thought about what they were doing. A man on TV talked excitedly about the game that would soon be released. The man¡¯s name was James and he was the public face of Undertones, always appearing at public events since it was his job to be seen and make the company look good. Reid sighed as he watched him talk about things he already knew. There would be a thousand people allowed access to the beta version of the game. They would have three months to become the best player in the game and the top hundred players would be given the chance to participate in a tournament to decide the best player. The winner would receive a prize. That prize was one of the things he was aiming for. His parents weren¡¯t allowed to tell him what the prize was and they didn¡¯t break that rule despite the fact that they were usually cheaters and probably wanted to break multiple rules and restrictions placed upon them. However, the way they treat the prize says it all. He could tell that whatever it was, it was some kind of amazing prize and well worth the effort. Reid turned off the television and closed his eyes as he thought about all the information he had collected. He knew everything that anyone not involved with Undertones could know about the game, and he was ready. It was only one day way now and everything he knew, everything he was would be tested. Tomorrow would be the day that he would see if he was truly worth something. Would he be able to overcome the trials of the game, or would he fail, causing everything he had done up to this moment to be pointless. He was afraid, but he was also hopeful. Soon, he would be playing the game full time, only leaving to eat, keep good hygiene, and sleep. He smiled as he thought about his plans for his character and how he would play the game. Maybe with Dead World Online, he could find what he was missing. Maybe he could fill the emptiness. Chapter 1: Character Creation Well, this was supposed to be up like...days ago. On the bright side, I have a good chunk of chapters written and I figured out how to do tables. Holy BEEP, thank you table editor website people because I do not know how to code. On the downside, I have exams all the time so I probably won''t have next chapter up until next week. This Chapter''s a bit short so future chapters will be longer. Real life is hard. Also, my computer is dying a slow death. It''s dying of slowness... As always comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Please enjoy.
Chapter 1: Slow Start, Fast Growth Dead World Online was set in a world that was ravaged by constant war. Monsters roamed the land in great numbers after the Great War to defeat the Demon King ended around five hundred years ago. The players know very little of the war other than how recent it was and that it caused nations to crumble. The armies of men that once protected the land are now scattered, some turning to banditry while others formed communities to survive. The world had become dangerous for everyone to live in. The gods of the mortal races banded together and made a move to protect their respective peoples. They opened up a portal to another world and used some of their strength to empower certain children born into their world so that they could survive and grow strong. This was their plan to save the intelligent races, bringing them back from the brink of destruction. However, they did not know what kind of people would come through the portal and into their world. Would anyone even come through or were they destined to watch their people die. The uncertainty and fear filled the gods with despair and they wept. It is said that their tears created a lake. Such a lake was foretold in a prophecy. From the lake a hero would be born, one who would drive back the dark shroud covering the world and restore it to its former state or even greater. That lake is sought by would be heroes as well as those with ill intent for it is the goal of all who seek power to reach that place. Reid put on the virtual reality helmet as he lay down on his bed. It was almost time for the beta to begin and he wanted to start it the second it opened so that he could be one of the first to see it. The helmet tapped into his consciousness and pulled him into another world when he spoke ¡°Log on.¡± He entered a round room with different life sized icons for all the games he could play. He didn¡¯t choose any of them and just waited. Directly in front of him, a large doorway appeared but instead of a door, it was a swirling vortex of light and dark that beckoned him forward into the unknown world. He smiled and walked into the doorway. ¡°Welcome to Dead World Online, a world ravaged¡­¡± ¡°Skip¡± He knew everything it was going to say and didn¡¯t need the introduction. He appeared standing in a blank white room. A text screen popped up in front of him. You have the choice of being born into this world or you may be a traveler from another. This has no impact on race or other aspects of character creation. Choosing to be a native will increase required in town time from two to six weeks. Native/Traveller ¡°Native¡± Are you sure? ¡°Yes¡± Please select race. ¡°Human, yes I¡¯m sure.¡± Please select bloodline: 1. None (Human) 2. Elven (half-elf) 3. Orcish (half-orc) 4. Demonic 5. Fairy 6. Draconic ¡°Draconic bloodline. I¡¯m sure.¡± Please select traits. A long list of possible traits to choose from appeared in front of him. Traits were game changing effects placed on characters from the start of the game. They could not be changed and they all had varying levels of effectiveness. Some were small increases to one thing or a skill to start off with. Others were great benefits that came with great drawbacks. Reid was fairly certain which two he would select, but he couldn¡¯t tell if he was making a good decision or not. He decided that he might as well just follow through with his plan, so he chose his traits. ¡°Traits Hero¡¯s Burden and Lone Wolf. Yes, I¡¯m sure.¡± A character customization menu appeared in front of him and prompted him to select a draconic bloodline. He chose the ice dragon bloodline, turned his hair silver as he lengthened it, and made his scaly skin to a greyish white. He left his blue eyes as they were and decided he was done with that much so he touched the three-dimensional finish button and locked in his character¡¯s looks. -Please select character name ¡°Frost¡± he confirmed the spelling when a small window popped up. -Please select starting city, Frost. He selected a city in the far North of the continent after spending a minute memorizing the map of the continent that he was shown. After that, everything went dark. He opened up his eyes to see what were probably his in-game parents. They too were humans with the blood of ice dragons running through their veins. He couldn¡¯t move his body very well and it appeared he was a baby. His parents turned to him and his mother spoke. ¡°We¡¯ll call you Frost,¡± she said. Once again, everything went dark and he felt his consciousness slipping away into sleep. His eyes opened again and it seemed that he was a child this time, probably around ten years old. He was in a small room that was occupied by a bed, a desk with a chair, and various children¡¯s toys. Just from the state of the room and the quality of everything around him, he guessed that his family was fairly wealthy. He stood up and was bombarded with system messages.
You have gained a title: Pioneer
This title is granted to the first of the potential heroes in this world +1 to all stats
You have gained a title: Firstborn
You are the first of the chosen ones, gifted power by the gods, to be born into this world. The gods have great hopes for you and wish for you to restore their world If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.+5 to all stats
Ice Dragon Blood
The blood of dragons flows through your veins. However, it has the impurity of human blood tainting it and reducing its strength. +10% physical damage reduction +5% magical damage reduction +80% cold resistance +20% ice magic affinity +10% ice magic resistance -25% mana
There wasn''t anything particularly special about this bloodline. Regular humans had more resistances and health, as well as other perks. Every race, bloodline and sub-race had something that made it a good choice depending on what type of character a player was trying to create. Every race had increased resistances, health, mana, and/or skills. After all, in this world, the players were supposed to be heroic figures granted power by the very gods. If they were just like everyone else, what would be special about them? The real reason he had chosen the bloodline was because he thought it looked cool and because he didn''t want to be cold while playing the game. He could have chosen any other race and it wouldn''t have mattered.He just thought the Draconic bloodline would be more fun to play as.
Hero''s Burden
Being a hero is never easy¡­ +75% experience required to level up Increased stat gain upon leveling up
Lone Wolf
You grow faster without anyone to slow you down. You have never needed friends or allies. +15% experience gained from defeating an enemy when fighting alone
You have gained a title: Chosen
You were born into this world stronger than others with a blessing of the gods. +50 health +2 to all stats Increased intimacy gains with NPCs
Reid had chosen to be born into this world and chose the Hero¡¯s Burden trait despite the gaming community¡¯s heavy criticism of these two selections. It wasn¡¯t clear how much of a stat increase one would gain from the trait and there didn¡¯t seem to be any worthwhile benefits to being a native. However, Reid knew that the game was designed to have no bad choices or options in character creation. Every option was intended to be balanced at the start of the game. He had already received two titles and a ridiculous amount of stats for a level one character. This proved that being born into the world was just as good as being a traveller. ¡°Status window¡±
Frost Winterstorm Lvl 1
Health 190/190Mana 105/105
Stamina 140/140
Strength18Vitality18
Dexterity18Stamina18
Wisdom18Intelligence18
Agility18Luck18
Health Regeneration0.28/sMana Regeneration0.28/s
"Hahaha!" Reid laughed, thinking about how overpowered he was becoming. Reid had chosen two of the options that were considered terrible for anyone to choose when creating a character. The first was choosing to be born into this world which was heavily criticized as being for casuals as it gave everyone else a head start. However, that had already proven to be worth it as he had extremely high stats for a level one character. On the other hand there was the trait Hero''s Burden. There was no way of knowing how many extra stats he would gain on a level up. Every level up would give 5 distributable stat points, ten health points, ten stamina, and ten mana. With the Lone Wolf trait, he would need to fight alone and gain 60% more experience per level. He would need to get at least three extra stat points for it to even out. He was expecting at least four extra stat points, otherwise the trait would be worthless. Reid knew that there were no bad options in the game so he had to wonder just how good it was. Also, there was a level cap at some point in the game so all of the extra stats would make him much stronger in endgame. The only problem was the tournament three months away. If everyone was a much higher level with the two early game handicaps he had, he would lose. Despite these problems, he had a plan. While everyone else was fighting monsters and grinding, he would do the same. When others went to work or school, or took a break from the game, he would still be fighting and would catch up to their levels. He had two handicaps, but others had a big one as well. They had real life to deal with. At that thought he felt his confidence rise followed by a brief moment of depression. ''It''s like I''m a NEET. Not to mention that I''m just making things worse for me with the Lone Wolf perk. Damn. What am I doing? Well, too late too change it. Time to get going.'' Frost left the room to go find his pretend parents while getting used to the feeling of the game. While everything looked and felt real, something felt just slightly off, as if to remind players that this world was not actually real. Frost walked down the stairs feeling the walls and decorations on the walls. It all felt so real. The simulations he had done and tests he had helped with weren''t this good. Their improvement on Virtual Reality was really amazing. No wonder they were so secretive about it. He entered the ground floor of their house which appeared to be a shop that sold equipment to adventurers and bought their old gear to sell to others of lower level. It was probably a very lucrative business. His ''parents'' appeared to be in the middle of a transaction with random NPC adventurers. After they left, he smiled and said, "You know, I''ll be an adventurer once I''m old enough, right?" Reid was still a child at heart so playing the game as a child was amusing to him. "You''re too young to make that decision, don''t you think?" "No. It''s set in stone, I''m afraid. I''ll be a great warrior." He smiled and waved as he left the house to go explore the streets and begin step one of his plan to become an extremely powerful character. It was time to start creating skills, if he could. Frost didn''t know it but his ''parents'' watched him leave the store with confused looks on their faces. "What''s gotten into that boy?" his mother asked. "I don''t know, but at least he''s more energetic and vocal than normal." The two shook their heads and went back to talking about other things. If anyone had heard their conversation, they might have realized that Dead World Online is more complicated than everyone thought it was. It was entirely a world of its own. Chapter 2: Just a Game? Hello readers. It turns out that I¡¯m still alive. Oh well. I¡¯m sorry for the long wait but real life has not been kind to me. I will add this chapter for now and in a couple weeks I will start adding chapters again. Gotta prepare for and take finals and all that. My writing quality may have dropped a bit, but future chapters will be better. I hope you¡¯re not upset L. Please enjoy.
POV of Lisa and Tom Therwell Reid¡¯s parents watched him as he played the game. There was no other sound than the equipment¡¯s quiet hum and Reid¡¯s breathing. They looked at each other with worry written all over their faces. They knew that they had taken a lot away from their son by raising him the way they did it. They often pretended that their reasoning was whimsical and fun but they hadn¡¯t done it without a purpose. They needed one of their children to play the game. At first, it was supposed to be Reid¡¯s sister, but she refused to do it. They didn¡¯t tell her the real reason either. There were eight people who knew the secret that Undertones kept hidden. The rest of the company didn¡¯t even know how they had created such an amazing game. They had worked on parts of it and helped develop it, but the game was more than they could have hoped for. Reid¡¯s participation in the game was because of a promise. They felt like they had betrayed their son for that promise and knew that he might even resent them. They could not afford to break that promise though or they risked losing too much. They weren¡¯t the only ones though. There were two others who had done the same. The owner of Undertones, James Hark, and the CEO both had children or relatives playing in the beta of the game. They called it a beta, but the truth was that the game was complete. There was a reason for all of this that was more important than a game, but they couldn¡¯t tell him yet. They worried about him and hoped he would forgive them. There was more to it than that, of course. There was another reason he had been taken out of school. In middle school, he had attacked three boys and hurt them badly enough that one even went to the hospital. He was expelled from the school and they were afraid to send him to another one. They had always tried to raise him to be compassionate and protective rather than insensibly violent and vindictive. Reid never did explain why he did it. He told them it wouldn¡¯t matter because they would expel him no matter what and he didn¡¯t regret what he did. He said it was just something he had to do as a man. Lisa sighed. ¡°Will he be all right?¡± She whispered. ¡°He¡¯ll be fine.¡± Tom smiled weakly and put his arm around her. ¡°I¡¯m sure of it.¡± They held each other close as they left the room. They still had work to do. James Hark, the man credited with Dead World Online¡¯s brilliant achievements and wonderfully innovative and immersive play sat across from a reporter, a solemn look on his face. He rarely smiled these days, couldn¡¯t find the joy and happiness that had driven him to new heights in technological advancements. Everyone around him was so ecstatic and full of energy because they were ignorant. They didn¡¯t understand what it was that made everything work. The reasons why no other company could reproduce their game properly and what really made DWO so special. Currently, Games and Entertainment Media news station had managed to get an interview with James Hark in the station. They had their most beautiful female reporter handling the interview to raise viewer ratings and get the most attention on this event. The beautiful reporter spoke to him with a smile, asking him about the game. ¡°Can you tell us why you decided to make the game like you did? Some would argue that the somewhat dystopian world that you have created is a turn-off to some players who would rather see a brighter, more lighthearted world.¡± ¡°The game wasn¡¯t originally meant to be named Dead World, or be how it is. Originally, it was supposed to be a bright world where everyone could play and have fun. It was a game we designed with the intention giving people a fresh new world to play in. In fact, it was originally supposed to be bright and friendly. Sometimes though, things don¡¯t always work out. Perhaps we tried too hard to make the world as real as possible, as¡­human as possible.¡± James fell silent, hesitating on whether or not to tell them the truth. Maybe they should know about everything, or maybe he should just keep the secret to himself. No. He couldn¡¯t tell them everything because it was too much of a risk. But maybe there were some things that he could say. The reporter continued to smile as she asked another question. ¡°So this game¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a game.¡± He cut off the reporter surprising even himself. ¡°Haha, sorry.¡± He forced a smile onto his face that didn¡¯t reach his eyes. ¡°What I mean to say is that it wasn¡¯t originally a game, at least, not for people.¡± ¡°What do you mean, not for people?¡± He sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll start from the beginning. Many years ago, I was working on a project, trying to create a supercomputer, because what else does a wealthy, retired genius with far too much time on his hands do? The first thing I did was combine systems into a massive amount of processing power. I spent years developing this supercomputer and eventually I made a breakthrough.¡± The station was silent as all the people in the interview area were silent, mesmerized by the words of this old man. There wasn¡¯t anyone who dared to move or break the magic of the moment. Originally, this was supposed to be a short interview but the managers of GAEM news were making calls and changing the schedule so that they wouldn¡¯t interrupt James Hark as he told them the secrets of virtual reality and more than they could hope for. He was telling them secrets that Undertones had guarded fiercely in the past. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Even now, the company was calling the station to shut down this program. They were afraid to say too much. There were certain secrets that they were terrified Hark would release to the public. If he did that, it would have terrible effects that only the top management of Undertones would understand. If he said the wrong secrets, it could ruin everything they¡¯ve built. ¡°I created a virtual intelligence. At first, I fed it information and taught it a great deal. Soon after, it was learning at an insane speed as I tried to improve upon it and make it better. Then, we created another virtual intelligence, and soon after, a third. They learned, taught each other and were connected. They were basically one being, one creation when there was a change. They learned about humanity, emotion, and they began to develop personality.¡± Hark¡¯s face lit up in a genuine smile as he reminisced about his creations. ¡°Personality! Can you even comprehend that!?¡± ¡°They developed and advanced in a few short years, becoming artificial intelligence, as if they were their own people. Like children, they thirsted for more knowledge and understanding. They desired to become more and more human, and I wanted them to be as well. I had them play games to interact with NPC¡¯s and real people. They learned to play just like everyone else, without the computer analytics and computations. They made mistakes and acted more and more like people than ever before.¡± The station¡¯s people were mesmerized and the people at home were just as frozen as they stared at the television. If what Hark said was true, then he had done something far beyond what current technology should have allowed. An artificial intelligence was seen as something that could potentially be dangerous to society if it was unleashed to cause havoc. At least, that¡¯s what the science fiction stories all seemed to have in common. No one knew what an artificial intelligence could really do, what it could really accomplish. This was far beyond anything people imagined. ¡°We created a game together, so that they could play and create their own world. At first, it was very simple. They made humans that I would interact with and then tell them what made them inhuman or felt wrong about them. They began to get better at it, creating humans that looked more realistic, games with better graphics, larger worlds, more complexity. The speed with which they learned and improved was astounding.¡± Hark slowly grew more and more excited as he continued on about his creations and there wasn¡¯t a soul around that dared to move or make a sound in case they somehow caused him to stop. ¡°I feared what they could do, what they could become, so I cut them off from the Internet. They had learned all they needed to from it anyway and that way they couldn¡¯t cause harm. "However, they soon wanted to make their game something more, so I brought in my best game and technology developers to help them. They were the few who knew the truth about my children until now. We created a game together, on its own network, with its own console and with new technology. We created virtual reality and we worked on it until we got it right, perfectly right. We spent years in development until we finally created a world together. It was¡­no¡­ it is magnificent. It was a beautiful world but it was far from complete. We let them play with the world for thousands of years. Can you imagine that? The complexity of a game made over thousands of years. How could anything compare to that? Obviously they didn¡¯t actually spend that long on the game, but that¡¯s how much time passed in the game. With such an insane amount of processing power and the minds of three computers making a game, the world developed its own history naturally. Population increased, kingdoms formed and fell, wars occurred, disease, monsters, and society. Just like humanity, except in a virtual world. It was an entirely new world." "However¡­¡± He stopped himself. ¡°Ah, well I think I¡¯ve said too much already. Let¡¯s just say my artificial children wanted real people to play their game so we made it possible. Sorry, that¡¯s all I can say, maybe more.¡± He stood up shook the stunned reporter¡¯s hand and left in a hurry. I almost said something dangerous there, he thought as he drove home. I almost told them the most disturbing truth. If I had¡­ god help us all. The seven others who had previously known the secret of the artificial intelligence were currently sitting in a conference, quietly staring at one another. They had just finished watching Hark reveal a great deal of information to the public so soon after the game was released. What was he thinking? What Hark had told everyone was only part of the truth. The rest of the truth was something that none of them would dare to speak of. ¡°Fortunately, this changes nothing.¡± One of them spoke while the others nodded. ¡°We continue with the test as planned. The winner of the beta will meet with Catherine and then we will all see what happens from there. They were all solemn as they waited in dreadful anticipation. The world couldn¡¯t begin to imagine that a mere game could affect the lives of billions of people in the future. They could do nothing but wait and hope. Chapter 3: Hero of Justice A new chapter? Not even I suspected this. The excitement starts after this so please bear with the character build up. I learned that salty pancakes are pretty good. Please comment and be as critical as you want. I want to improve so it would be good to know how I can make my writing better. Thanks for reading. Please enjoy. Chapter 3: Hero of Justice Frost cried out as his foot slipped and he fell into a pile of junk in an alley. A system message popped up telling him he had taken damage but he ignored it and made his way onto the street. He had been playing as a child for a week now. The first thing he had done was test out his body¡¯s abilities. Then, he gathered supplies and began to train. He ran until he was exhausted then, he quietly followed people, shadowing them so that they wouldn¡¯t notice him, until his stamina recovered and he could run again. He devoted every moment of his game time to training. He created two skills within the first three days.
You have gained a skill: Stalking Level 1
With quiet footsteps and lurking in the shadows, you have learned to follow your target without being seen. It is said that a true master of stalking could follow its prey for days on end in an open plain without ever being noticed. Skill Mastery: 6%
You have gained a skill: Running Level 1
Constant running allows you to run faster and longer without becoming tired. Skill mastery: 34%
In this way, the first week of his life in a new world passed. Reid once again put on the strange virtual reality helmet and entered the game world. When Frost awoke he was in his early teens, probably thirteen or fourteen. This would be the time that the others left the town, off to hunt monsters and strengthen their characters through normal means. The gates were open and most of the players left. Only a few casual players and Frost stayed in the town, still waiting for the day when they too could begin to raise their characters through combat. For a world that was supposed to be ravaged by war and monsters, this place was awfully peaceful. The people always seemed happy and calm while problems were small and could be easily handled. The people here survived easily enough, despite the hard ground and the few crops that could actually grow here. This cold northern city was full of warm people and had pleasantly few players. It seemed that people didn¡¯t like the cold all that much. It was time to start planning his next move, which was to gain skills he would need in the future. Cooking, tailoring, and repairing were all skills that he would need if he were to be efficient and victorious. He needed to be self-sufficient as he could only rely on himself in this world. Cooking would be first. He was very skilled at it in real life and it was one of the few things that he truly enjoyed. It should be easy enough to learn it since his actual skill was so high. He started early, running around town searching for someone who would be willing to teach him. It seemed everyone who could teach him how to cook was either unwilling to do so for free or was too busy to help him out. Frustrated, he returned to his home in the afternoon for some food. After eating, he was about to run out again when he started laughing, realizing how foolish he had been. He walked up to his mother and asked if she could teach him the cooking skill. Of course, she agreed and they spent the rest of the day talking about the different foods and preparation methods of the world. Frost learned a lot of important information and soon had the cooking skill as well. The next day, Frost ran to the store that his parents owned and operated. There, they bought and sold items that adventurers would find in the wild. They handled everything from furs, to japtem, to magical items and weapons. This time, he would find a way to learn tailoring. He burst into the shop, startling a merchant who was looking around. He found his father moving things around, towards the back of the store. It seemed he recently sold some materials and was replenishing stock from the back stores. His father saw him and laughed. ¡°Haha, Frost, what are you doing here?¡± ¡°I need a tailor.¡± ¡°What? Why do you need a tailor?¡± ¡°I need someone who can teach me how to sew hides and fix clothes. Do you sell to someone, maybe a friend that would be willing to teach me?¡± ¡°What do you need to learn all of that for?¡± ¡°It¡¯s for when I become an adventurer. I¡¯ll need some survival skills if I want to live in the wild.¡± His father looked surprised and concerned for a moment, clearly surprised by this unexpected declaration. ¡®Oh shit. He didn¡¯t realize that I would become an adventurer? He probably thought I would take over the shop. As far as he knows, I¡¯m his son and he wouldn¡¯t want me to risk my life becoming an adventurer. ¡°What¡­what are you talking about, son? Adventurer?¡± ¡®Yeah, it seems I was right on the mark. This could be bad. Might as well roll with it I guess.¡¯ ¡°Yeah, sorry. I might take over the shop one day, but not before becoming an adventurer and travelling the world. I¡¯ll be a famous for finding the place where the god¡¯s tears are gathered. I¡¯ll find the Lake of Tears one day and be a hero who saves the world.¡± ¡°Son¡­¡± ¡°Oh yeah. I also promise to not die.¡± His father smirked, ¡°Who would have guessed that I would have such a son. All right, Frost. I¡¯ll send you to a friend of mine. When you get home, we¡¯re going to have a talk with your mother about all this.¡± He gave Frost directions and sent him off. The woman his father sent him to easily accepted him as an apprentice and he learned how to make and fix clothing. This was another skill he had spent time learning in real life, as he felt it would be useful for Dead World. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. He returned home late in the day to his parents worriedly trying to convince him that if he were an adventurer, he would die. They stood just inside the house, waiting for him. ¡°Frost,¡± his mother spoke softly, ¡°please reconsider.¡± ¡°Mother. Father.¡± This was all real to them. They didn¡¯t know they were programs so he had to treat them like real people. A shiver of excitement ran down his spine. This game was just too amazing. How could this only be a beta test? ¡°I feel it calling to me. I feel the world tugging on my body, pulling me forward. I can¡¯t stay here forever. I¡¯ll go get training if you want, but I have to go, sorry. I won¡¯t die.¡± His parents looked sad but couldn¡¯t find the words to stop him. They knew in their hearts that he would become an adventurer and they believed he would grow into a great hero one day. They nodded and watched as he walked past them and up the stairs to his bed. Reid took off his helmet and stood up. Everything was going according to plan, he thought as he wandered through the empty house. His parents would be at work for a while yet and he needed a break from the game. He went for a jog around the neighborhood. He ignored everyone around him as he ran, still thinking about the game. Everything was going just as he had expected, but something still felt wrong. Was there some flaw in his strategy or maybe something he was missing? What was this feeling? Reid stopped and turned to his right. He stared at the school and forgot about the game for just a moment. ¡®I wonder if it¡¯s a school day. I guess this is the school I would have gone to if I were going to high school. School is so inefficient and slow and there are so many worthless ass holes just waiting to make someone miserable so that they can forget about their own shitty situation for one moment. Of course, trying to be the hero of justice had gotten him kicked out of school, so where was the justice anyway? When the bullied are faced with the same threat of punishment as the bullies if they fight back, what can they do? It was a broken system and Reid was glad that he wasn¡¯t a part of it. Reid turned away and continued his run, thinking back to those days a long time ago. Reid had gone to a very good middle school, the best in the area. It was the sixth grade, back in middle school at lunchtime and everyone was supposed to be in the lunchroom. Reid was on his way back from the bathroom when he heard a whimper followed by laughs. He followed the sound to one of the stairwells and saw a girl surrounded by three boys as they pulled her hair and occasional hit her. He was shocked. This was so strange to him, why would anyone do that? Where were the teachers, where was the hero to come save the day? Reid was always taught that he should protect others. That everyone deserves to be given a chance or even a second chance. However, it was those that weren¡¯t able to defend themselves that needed protecting the most. These were the teachings that his father often repeated, and Reid held those words close to his heart. He wanted to be a super hero when he was younger, flying in to save the day and protecting everyone. As he grew older, he woke up to the cruel reality that he would only ever be normal. He could never be a super hero because heroes didn''t exist. If he had thought about it, he would have screamed for help or run to get a teacher. They would have stopped and perhaps that would have been the end of it. He had never done any martial arts, or shown violent tendencies before. Heroes weren''t real, so you had to fix your problems yourself, had to be strong. They were all older than him, so what could he do anyway? However, he didn¡¯t care, didn''t think, and he ran at them full speed. They saw him coming but he still managed to tackle one of them into the wall. He couldn¡¯t stand to watch this unfair, cruel treatment of this girl. How could she have done something to deserve such actions? So he attacked the boys and fought with all his heart. He attacked them like a wild animal, roaring at them as he attacked. He didn¡¯t know what do in a fight so he let his instincts take over and wildly flailed about. The boys beat him down but he stood up again and charged forward. In that moment, he felt something strange, like he knew what to do, and how to move. He began to flow, redirecting one punch and dodging another as he went for the one in the middle. His body was guiding him, his hand moving as he palmed the face of the boy and slammed his head into the wall. That was the intention at least, but the boy¡¯s own movement changed the trajectory of his head and he slammed it into the corner of the wall. There was a loud crack sound and everyone froze. The two boys ran in the direction of the cafeteria, probably going to get a teacher. Reid just stood there staring at the boy on the ground in shock. He was about to start crying and break down out of fear when he felt a touch on his arm. He turned and saw that the girl had stood up and was staring at the ground, ashamed. ¡°Thank you. Please don¡¯t tell anyone that I was part of this. I can¡¯t stay after school. My parents can¡¯t pick me up¡± She looked up at him and he could see she was scared that would happen. ¡°If they have to come get me¡­¡± She sniffled and looked like she was going to cry again. ¡°Run!¡± He urged quietly as he gave her a light push towards the stairs. ¡°Quickly.¡± Just like that, she was gone. When they went to the principle¡¯s office, none of the boys involved said anything about the girl. Both sides claimed that the other attacked first unwilling to bring the girl into it. The boys were afraid they would be caught having bullied someone and Reid believed that he should protect her. He didn¡¯t know the details, but he wasn¡¯t someone that would betray others, even if he didn¡¯t really know them. Reid was expelled for hurting the one boy so badly and the others were suspended for fighting. Justice. He would have been expelled anyway so why bother betraying the girl? It wouldn¡¯t have made anything better. That was the moment he was most proud of. That was the moment he felt like a true hero. He never did tell anyone about the girl, so everyone just thought he was an angry teenage boy. His parents decided to have him learn martial arts as well as be home schooled from then on. Reid didn¡¯t regret anything he did that day, and he swore to himself that he never would. Reid¡¯s thoughts turned back to the game and to that thing he was missing. He still couldn¡¯t think of it as he returned home and once again returned to a dead world. Chapter 4: Dummy So¡­yeah. Procrastination produces another DWO chapter. Woo. Why am I still awake anyway¡­ I¡¯m trying to make my writing interesting but I kind of have this thing where I have good starts and good story ideas, and then my writing gets worse. I feel like maybe I''m rushing things to get to the more exciting bits. I don¡¯t know. My writing also depends on my mood, I guess. I could use some more feedback. I¡¯m trying to make my chapters more interesting which makes me feel better and you get a better read. Insult my writing. Criticize it. Dooooo it. Thank you for reading. Please enjoy. Chapter 4: Dummy Frost struck a silvery ingot with an iron hammer. He was bored and frustrated. Everything was exactly as he had planned and some things were even better, but it all felt so pointless. Even the feeling of raising stats and learning new skills didn¡¯t improve his mood as much as it used to. He always did everything he was supposed to and everything was perfect. Everything he did was done just how it was supposed to be done. Then why? Why? Why? WHY!? ¡°Why did he feel so¡­empty?¡± ¡°Fuck!¡± he struck the ingot with all his strength, not flinching as the head of the hammer went flying past his head. He had learned blacksmithing from the city¡¯s blacksmith, Ger, within the past few days. Anyone could learn as long as the blacksmith was satisfied with their strength and stamina. Once he taught you, you had to work of your debt for a bit or risk his wrath if you dared to skip out on him. He stood there glaring at the ingot. He hadn¡¯t been trying to make anything; he had just been striking the metal as he gathered his thoughts. ¡°Frost!¡± he turned to see Ger frowning at him. ¡°Come with me.¡± He walked out of the shop and Frost followed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening but it seems like you need to work off some stress. I know a place. You can always talk to me. I¡¯ve come to see you as a friend as well as an apprentice.¡± Ger was usually very rough and strict with people so Frost was surprised by the words he spoke. ¡°Thanks.¡± He didn¡¯t have anything else to say, so they walked in silence until they came to a training center. Ger pointed. ¡°Go in,¡± he said and walked back the way they had come. Frost hesitated for a moment. He hadn¡¯t planned to bother with the training centers because they would take up valuable time and he might not be able to find them even though they were thought to give stats and skills. He walked in anyway, sighing as he did. He didn¡¯t see anyone as he walked around the inside, but he did see a training center with practice dummies for strikes. He grabbed a wooden sword and tested a single strike against the dummy. It seemed to be made of wood and leather. Frost began to strike the dummy, starting slowly and speeding up a little until he was continually striking at a steady pace. He cleared his mind and added footwork, moving around the target, stabbing and striking at what would be vital points on a real person. When he was training like this was the only time when he felt calm and could relax. Martial arts was his way of escape from the world, bringing him back to the days when he could believe in anything and thought he could do anything. He sought that feeling he had once, when he felt his body flow, and everything was so clear, so focused. In that state of mind, everything felt right and there wasn¡¯t a problem in the world. It was a feeling that let him fly, let him be the superhero he had wanted to be for so long. That state was like a oneness with the everything, giving him the feeling that he could move the world. Falling into a trance, he struck the dummy until the sword fell out of his hands, which were numb. His arms felt like jelly and he was exhausted. He collapsed onto the floor, unable to muster the strength to move, so he fell asleep in the courtyard full of lifeless scarecrows. Frost awoke to the sound of someone striking one of the practice dummies. He stood up, hungry and thirsty only to find food and water next to him. He greedily sucked down the food and water, feeling his body return to normal. In the game, people recovered faster than they did in the real world. After all, muscle soreness and being tired weren''t usually considered as fun. He turned to see a woman striking with intent, putting her whole body into each swing of the sword. She was a short woman wearing leather armor decorated with fur for both warmth and style. Her hair only reached her chin, colored brown with a black stripe of bangs while her eyes were green. She had pale white skin and a pair of short swords sheathed on her waist. She was beautiful. ¡°I was watching you yesterday¡± she said. ¡°Your form is good, but you need to work on the power and preciseness of your strikes. Practice switching up where you aim since your movements are a bit predictable and keep working on your sword skills. In a few years, you might even be really good.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have that much time,¡± Frost sighed as he stood up. ¡°Are you the trainer here?¡± ¡°Hmm. I guess I am for now. I took over since the actual trainer is worthless and barely ever shows up here.¡± ¡°Can I ask you to fight with me?¡± She stopped hitting the scarecrow, surprised. ¡°How polite. Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± She replaced her single wooden sword with a pair of shorter ones and took a ready stance. Reid picked up his own sword and took a ready stance. They circled each other and then began to attack, testing each other out. The woman rushed at him swinging her swords in a flurry of strikes and Reid was unable to defend for long, finally being struck multiple times with the wooden sword. He had been defeated so easily. The wooden swords hurt but it didn¡¯t cause any damage. Reid knew he wasn¡¯t strong enough. His skills in swordsmanship were weak, but swords made the most sense for the game. They were the most common weapons so he needed to be able to use swords. Reid was convinced that he had to use a sword or else he would never be the best. The two continued to spar and Reid became better with the sword. He still couldn¡¯t compete with her, but he continued to learn and he enjoyed their sparring. He learned her name was Rose as they continued that way until the end of the second week and into the third week. Reid now looked like a somewhat scaly version of himself, though his head was mostly unchanged other than the few decorative scales bordering his face and clearly showing off his character''s heritage. Both of them enjoyed sparring, and Reid was able to forget his frustrations as he focused on training. She used different weapons while he only used a two handed sword. She gave him advice and he continued to get better. He began to secretly wish the end of the current week wouldn¡¯t come. If he could train with her more, he could become even better, but he had to level up, had to get stronger. He couldn¡¯t afford to play around when winning was so important, even if the stat gains from sparring were so good. He had even gained a point or two in wisdom. It was important wasn¡¯t it? He had to hurry to catch up to the high level players before they were out of his reach. They were having lunch one day when she finally confronted him on something that had been bothering her. ¡°Frost. You have so much drive for someone so young but¡­why don¡¯t you have any passion when you swing the sword. You treat it like work, as if you have no other choice but to wield the sword.¡± Frost was startled but recovered quickly. ¡°I need to learn the sword. It¡¯s the most common weapon and most widely used. It should be easier to learn and become skilled in the sword. It¡¯s the best option.¡± Rose gave him a look of disgust and began to walk off. She stopped before getting too far. ¡°I see. You¡¯ll never be good enough, then. I¡¯m sorry I wasted my time training you.¡± ¡°I just want to be strong. I¡¯m so scared of losing that I don¡¯t know what to do.¡± Tears of frustration began to leak from his eyes. ¡°Nothing I do is good enough no matter how hard I try, no matter how much effort I put in. I know I¡¯m not good enough but I don¡¯t know what to do. Everything has to be done right if I want to come out on top. What do you know? How can you understand what this game means to me?¡± ¡°Frost. This game is so real that it¡¯s amazing. You can feel the wind on your face, taste the food you eat, and the sweat on your skin.¡± She turned around and put a hand on one of the practice dummies. ¡°But you know, it¡¯s still just a game with textures on top of shapes, massive amounts of data, whatever. No matter how important the game is or how necessary it is for you to win, the purpose of a game is still just to have fun. Do you think you can keep going like this, pushing yourself to the limits? You¡¯re driving yourself into a wall and you¡¯re gonna burn out.¡± ¡°Have fun, kid. Stop trying so hard.¡± She smiled at him. ¡°I''m sure that if you could learn to find joy in the things you do, then you can be the best. I think¡­ I¡¯m going to leave now and go explore this world. Perhaps I¡¯ll see you around one day, when you¡¯ve become king of the world. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Frost didn¡¯t know what to say. He stood up, wiping the tears off his face and walked over to the wall covered with weapons. Was that his problem? Was it such a small thing that was holding him back, and if it was, could he change that easily? Rose watched him curiously as his hands closed around a wooden staff. He took it out of its holder and ran his hand down the length of it reverently. ¡°I tried a lot of different weapons when I first started training with weapons a few years ago. I was never that great with a sword or most other weapons for that matter. The only thing I was really good with was a staff. I trained with the staff for fun after I was finished with sword training. I learned from teachings, books, Internet, and self-teaching. I love the staff, but it¡¯s too impractical. Good staves are practically impossible to get your hands on, they aren¡¯t useful against a lot of enemies and they aren¡¯t as good as other weapons.¡± Reid squeezed the staff, wishing he was skilled with a sword more than he was a dumb stick. ¡°Are you any good with a staff?¡± ¡°With a staff in my hand, I¡¯ve never lost to anyone but my master.¡± ¡°Have one last match with me.¡± Rose smirked confidently. ¡°Use the staff. Show me your true strength.¡± She picked two wooden short swords from the rack and took up a stance. Frost moved closer and slid his feet slowly into position. The weight of the staff was just right, the smoothness of the wood comforting. He breathed in deeply, exhaled slowly as he focused. He cleared his mind and relaxed, letting himself enjoy the moment. He let the pressure of everything dissipate, let the weight of the world off his shoulders and he was at peace. He thought about Rose¡¯s words and realized that he was being a fool this whole time. His parents didn¡¯t care what happened in the game because they loved and supported him no matter what he did. Frost whipped the staff at Rose with a smile on his face, becoming a whirlwind as he struck at her constantly, with lightning fast movements. He was free. He had put all these rules and regulations on himself, pressured himself, wouldn¡¯t allow himself to fail. It was okay to lose, to have fun, to play the game. His parents had their reasons for him to play, but it wasn¡¯t just to win, he knew that. There was no one who needed him to win and he wouldn''t let anyone down if he wasn''t number one. So why was he trying so hard? He cleared his mind and relaxed. He resolved that from then on, he would let the pressure dissipate and he would enjoy the game to the fullest. Staff in hand and his imagined restrictions lifted, he felt so good, so light, and he moved like the wind. Rose could only defend against the staff that flowed, one motion into the next. She was in awe of his staff skills as he began to lands strikes against her. It wasn''t just that he was skilled, it was that he was so amazingly graceful as he flowed from one move to the next. Offense or defense, he was flawless and mesmerizing. She fell to one knee in pain and admitted defeat. No one had ever told him before, but Reid was prodigy with the staff. He had a small amount of training with the staff but most things he had learned on his own. He easily learned the motions and techniques of different styles and incorporated them into his own fighting methods. Reid hadn¡¯t ever been able to beat Rose when she dual wielded swords, but when he used the staff, he had beaten her so completely. Rose lay on her back and laughed, harder than she had in a long time as she stared up at the sky. ¡°It¡¯s been so long since I¡¯ve been beaten so thoroughly. You really are amazing.¡± She closed her eyes and smiled. In reality, Rose was old. Too old to fight any longer, she was once a master of sword fighting who occasionally won championships. Now, she had lost a fight against a kid. It was a good feeling though. There was always more to learn, always more room for improvement. Now that she had a younger body again, she could live like she used to, traveling the world and learning the way of the sword. This world was where she belonged. After a while, Rose stood up and dusted herself off. ¡°You¡¯re full of surprises, kid. I might be a bit rusty, but that was impressive technique. Keep working on those skills and face me again when I¡¯ve polished off this rust¡± She turned to leave and gave him a smile. ¡°Thanks for everything¡± he said, receiving a simple wave in reply. Reid frowned after her then turned back to the practice dummies, staff in hand. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to practice with it for a bit, would it? The next day, he headed straight for Ger¡¯s shop first thing in the morning. ¡°Ger,¡± he grimaced, ¡°Can we talk?¡± Ger immediately noticed how serious he was, so he brought him to the back room, his private office. The two sat down and stared blankly at each other for an entire minute. ¡°Are you planning to tell me what you want or are you gonna stare at my face all day?¡± ¡°Actually, I was staring past you. If I had to look directly at your face, I¡¯d be sick for a week.¡± They both paused and then started laughing. Ger noticed there was a change in Reid. He was much more relaxed now. Ger laughed even harder when his mind went back to the joke Frost made. He knew he was ugly and often joked about it himself. He had a wife and kids so he had nothing to worry about, and no one would mess with a guy who looked like he could literally punch your head clean off your shoulders. ¡°In all seriousness Ger, I need your help. I need weapons, but I don¡¯t have the money to pay you right now. I¡¯m heading out into the world to be an adventurer and find the lake of tears. You¡¯ve already helped me by teaching me how to make and repair weapons and armor, but I can¡¯t go out there empty handed.¡± ¡°I too used to be an adventurer.¡± Ger looked at him. Frost¡¯s eyebrows rose. ¡®Do I hear a secret quest coming?¡¯ I was searching for something that many say doesn¡¯t exist, but I believe.¡± He clenched his fist in frustration and Frost could see how emotional this subject was for him. ¡°I simply wasn¡¯t strong enough and I chose to settle down instead of getting stronger and continuing the search. He pulled a small stack of papers out of his drawer set them on the table, pushing them towards Frost. He kept his hand on the stack and looked into Frost¡¯s eyes.¡± This is everything I learned. This map and these papers detail where I¡¯ve been and what I¡¯ve discovered. Years of my life that I don¡¯t want to go to waste. The thing I have been searching for is known as the God¡¯s Ore. It is a priceless ore that is more difficult to smelt than any other ore and harder than any substance. I have no one else to ask. I won¡¯t force you though. A single weapon for such an enormous undertaking is not a fair trade. I¡­¡± he looked down, unsure of himself.
Would you like to accept the sub-class "Legend Seeker"?
A legend seeker will go to the greatest lengths if it means finding the world''s secrets. Rewards: +10 Vitality +10 Luck +10 Intelligence Lore Master Accept/Decline
Quest "God''s Ore"
The Blacksmith Ger wants you to find God''s Ore and bring it to him Difficulty: S Rewards: Maximum intimacy with Ger and greatly increased intimacy with miners and blacksmiths around the continent. Unknown rewards. Accept/Decline
Reid hadn¡¯t known about subclasses until then. It wasn¡¯t anywhere in the game information or forums. From what he could tell, subclasses were rare, secrets like a normal class, but taking up its own slot. In any case, he might not get a second chance at a sub-class. He pressed accept on both of the windows, one right after the other. ¡°You¡¯re right, that isn¡¯t a fair trade, which is why you¡¯re going to make me two weapons.¡± Ger smiled and looked up, ¡°Bastard.¡± Reid smirked, ¡°You can compliment me later. For now, tell me how to recognize god¡¯s ore, then, we¡¯ll go over this stack of papers." The two talked excitedly, long into the night and into morning. Chapter 5: Kharz Forest Sorry about the sloppiness and pacing of previous chapters. I especially regret how poorly handled character development and explanations are. No more 3:00 Am chapter releases for me. Makes me want to go back and redo everything. Sigh. It¡¯s not really what I wanted and it¡¯s not as good as I can be. I¡¯m going to take this more seriously from here on out because I want to be a better writer. I¡¯ll do my best to make sure my story stays interesting, isn¡¯t too clich¨¦ (Too late?), and most importantly is enjoyable to read. I promise nothing when it comes to proofreading though. I''m lazy, sorry. Thank you for continuing to read my story up to this point. I probably should have explained how stats work earlier but it wasn¡¯t really that necessary until now. I hope this chapter isn¡¯t boring with all the explanations. Please continue to tell me what I¡¯ve done wrong and what my story is missing. Thanks for reading. Please enjoy this long chapter. Chapter 5: Kharz Forest Reid shoveled breakfast into his mouth excitedly. He had woken up not long ago and was eager to get back into the game. He still wasn¡¯t sure how to balance having fun with being the best. He hadn¡¯t given up on trying to be number one, but he knew that he should have fun if he was going to do it. The first way was to stop limiting himself. He would play with both sword and staff, go whatever path he wanted, and do whatever he felt like doing. ¡°What¡¯s gotten into you, sweetheart?¡± his mother asked curiously. Reid swallowed a large mouthful of food with some difficult then shouted. ¡°Today¡¯s the day I get out of Doel, my hometown. You know, three weeks is way too long, and the growing up thing doesn¡¯t really make sense because no one else gets older with me. It¡¯s weird. Being born into DWO is overpowered though. I start off stronger than anyone else and my parents in the game even gave me some equipment. I also have a home I can come back to and rest in.¡± ¡°Well, hurry up then and do your best. Good luck.¡± The corners of Reid¡¯s lips twitched, curving into a smile, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s gonna be fun.¡± He rushed out of the room and back to the VR system. Lisa Therwell watched him go, worried for her son. She felt like a terrible mother after how she had raised her son. She wanted to help him, wanted to figure out what was wrong but she knew he wouldn¡¯t usually let anyone in so all he could do was support him. The only people he ever became close to were his martial arts masters. She sighed as she cleaned up breakfast, hoping that someone would be able to help him where she could not. Dead World Online was set in a fantasy land where the land and the societies were torn apart by a great war spanning hundreds of years. There was one main continent and a large island to the West of the Southern part of the continent as well as some smaller islands spread about near different coasts. The name of the continent and surrounding islands was known as Alfrest long ago. Now the name was forgotten. Many societies were small and didn¡¯t participate in the matters of the world. They had names for their towns and cities, sometimes the regions they lived in, but there were few kingdoms left. Now, the different areas of the continent barely interacted with each other for a little bit of trading if they even interacted at all. To the North, the land of cold and ice had only the sturdiest of peoples living in it. They hunted, foraged, and farmed the strange, edible plants of the snowfields. The Northernmost part of the world had a constant hail of deadly icicles falling from the sky, a side effect of the war where powerful magic could change the world. It was said to be quite beautiful. The peoples of the central continent had strong monsters and deep dungeons. A large part of the central continent was overrun by monsters so there were only a few relatively safe strongholds and roads for beastfolk, elves, and other races. The Eastern Continent was probably the safest and most comfortable of the areas on the continent. It was mostly plains until approaching the coast, where the land began to split and break apart. Small crevices eventually turned into larger ones until the land was completely shattered. The land itself was hundreds of feet above the level of the ocean, ending in cliffs. The Western side of the continent was quite the opposite, ending in beautiful coasts that stretched for miles, eventually turning into short cliffs up towards the North. The Western continent had connections with the large island, known as Frael Island. Frael Island was perhaps the least affected by the Great War so long ago. A king governed the thick, roughly crescent shaped island and the island had a fairly stable society. It had far more intact castles, forts, and cities than any other part of the continent while also being highly populated compared to the rest of the world. It was relatively safe considering the entire world was overrun by monsters and nowhere was completely safe. The Southern continent was a different beast entirely. It was an area covered with deep jungles so thick, being inside was living in eternal night. There was also a single large desert in the center of the land, with frightening legends and rumors surrounding it. The South was considered the most dangerous part of the continent and there were no starting zones there. It was mysterious and no one seemed to know if there were any of the civilized or intelligent races living there. Now that everyone has been released into the world, they have the chance to discover what was left behind after the war. It was up to them to discover what was left behind in a dead world. Perhaps one of them would find the Lake of God Tears and have their dreams come true. Star and Nala Cara Shenne wanted to be the best at everything and often felt it was her duty to be better than everyone, especially men. She thought it wasn¡¯t right that women were considered inferior to men who were mostly disgusting pigs and liars. Cara refused to tell lies and always considered herself to be a better person than most. She was better than them, in her eyes, and her family didn¡¯t dissuade her from such thoughts, always showering her with praise and encouragement. In reality, she was a sheltered girl who didn¡¯t understand the harshness and reality of the world. Her very wealthy family gave her everything she wanted, but kept her safe from the influence of society. She was not a bad person, but her ignorance often caused confrontation with people she met due to her misunderstandings. Cara only had one real friend who understood her and spent time with her. Minala Cayde, or Min, was her best friend and partner in everything. The two were currently playing a new game called Dead World Online. Min, classless, and Cara, a paladin, were in battle with dire wolves. They had both chosen to play as beastfolk and started in the same city. When playing as a beastfolk, you were allowed to set the level of beast as compared to humans. Min had chosen the minimum for her character so she appeared human with fox ears and tail. Star did the same except with a wolf so that they both had bushy tails and adorable pointy ears. ¡°Come on Min, we¡¯ll be the best at the end of the beta and show the world that women are not inferior to men! Haa!¡± She charged into battle, yelling and swinging her sword. Min sighed and joined in the combat, shooting arrows at wolves. ¡®Who the hell thinks like that these days Cara? Why are you so weird and waaay out of the times? I love you like a sister, but you need you need to come visit me in the real world some time.¡¯ Unlike Cara, Min was fairly normal other than also having wealthy parents. She wasn¡¯t sent to a prestigious all girls school and wasn¡¯t kept in a cage, constantly watched over like Cara was. Min actually trained in a few different martial arts and sports such as jui jitsu and kendo. Mostly, she did it to stay fit and because it was fun. This new virtual reality game was somewhere she could have fun and fight to her heart¡¯s content. Cara¡¯s in game name was Star and Min used the name Nala. Star and Nala were quickly becoming famous in the game as they slowly made their way to the top of the leaderboards in level. At the rate they were going, they would soon be in the top thirty when the differences in levels became more apparent. Cara didn¡¯t really think carefully about where she put her stats, but Min was a lot more careful and even did some studying on which stats did what. First, each character received a base of ten in each each stat, 100 health, 100 mana, 100 stamina, 0.2 health regeneration per second and 0.2 health per second. Characters could gain stats from training but since everyone gained 5 stat points per level, no one considered it worth it. Besides, stats went up simply by fighting as well. Second were the stat gains and their effects on a character. The system appeared to be complicated and strange to her. For every stat point in vitality, health would go up by five. For every point in stamina, stamina would go up by five. For every point in intelligence, mana would go up by 5. The difference was that vitality also increased health regeneration rate while wisdom increased mana regeneration rate. Each point in those stats increased their corresponding regeneration rate by .01/second. A minute after combat, regeneration would triple for both health and mana so people didn¡¯t have to sit around waiting to recover. That much made sense, but the rest of the stats were a bit strange. Strength, dexterity, agility, and luck were all stats that had a sort of hidden effect. They didn¡¯t appear to do anything when just looking at stats, but it was confirmed that they definitely had an effect on the game. Strength affected how much damage a person did and how heavy an object they could lift. Dexterity affected how easily someone could draw weapons, move their hands, and hit their intended targets. It also had a very small effect on the damage of ranged and thrown weapons. Agility was speed and quickness, plain and simple. However, it seemed that each individual stat point didn¡¯t do much and mounts wouldn¡¯t be that expensive in the near future so most people avoided it like the plague. Luck, however was an odd stat. There was no description in it and everyone thought that it would probably only be useful if you dumped a lot of stats into it so almost everyone avoided that as well. Nala split her points between strength, dexterity, and vitality as she was trying to build a Ranger type character. She had a sword at her hip for anything that came close, and knew how to use it too. She was better than Cara but held herself back, letting her friend be the hero. She preferred to stand in the back quietly rather than stand out. She wasn¡¯t really the hero type and always supported Cara from the shadows. Cara was more beautiful and outgoing, like a true heroine straight out of a storybook, with all the naivety and straightforwardness to boot. Nala sighed again as she looted the wolves and thought about Star. Nala wanted to use the game as a chance to show Cara a little bit more of the real world and how people truly were. Unfortunately, Cara was a hard person to change, as she was stubborn and committed to her strange ideals. It had only been a week in real time, but the game had progressed to the end of the third week and anyone who was foolish enough to wait the in-game three weeks would only now be able to leave their starter city. Frost stood at the gates of Doel, checking his equipment one last time while he waited for the notification that told him he could leave the city. He checked his gear for the tenth time that morning, His parents had given him a dagger, a set of clothes, and a traveller¡¯s bag. Ger had given him a repair hammer he could use while travelling which would last for quite a while so Frost could spend more time out searching for the God¡¯s Ore. The bag could hold twenty-five different items and up to ninety-nine of the same item could be stacked in a single slot. The dagger and bag were what everyone started with but the clothes were on another level. They had more cold resistance than the starter clothes, looked better, and even had a little bit of defense built in. He also had a cloak that he left open to trail behind him, thinking that it would make him look cool. He had said goodbye to Ger and his parents earlier, and now he was too excited to stand still, pacing back and forth. ¡°Status window¡± Frost smiled. For just leaving the village as a level one character, he was ridiculously strong. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Frost Winterstorm Lvl 1
Health 325/325Mana 142/142
Stamina 210/210
Strength29Vitality35
Dexterity24Stamina32
Wisdom20Intelligence28
Agility26Luck28
Health Regeneration0.35/sMana Regeneration0.30/s
He closed the window by swiping it away and then pulled out his main weapons. ¡°Weapons window.¡± Ger had made Frost two different weapons. One was a simple iron staff a little taller than Frost¡¯s six-foot height while the other was a fairly large sword. It had a single edge that curved into a stabbing tip at the top as well as a broad blade for better blocking and additional weight for more forceful strikes. Two windows appeared, showing the stats of his weapons. The game didn¡¯t add his strength to the damage visibly so he couldn¡¯t really tell how much damage a swing would actually do.
Steel Blade
Damage: 9-15Durability 40/40
This two-handed, single edged blade blade can be wielded one handed with enough strength Restrictions: 20 Strength Two-handed sword
Iron Staff
Damage: 6-8Durability 35/35
A simple iron staff Restrictions: None
Frost was getting bored waiting so he kept looking at all of the menus that would be important in the near future. ¡®I didn¡¯t miss it did I? No, that¡¯s impossible.¡¯ He sighed as he swiped away the weapon menus and grumbled, ¡°Open skill menu.¡±
Skills
Climbing: Beginner Lvl 6 Cooking: Beginner Lvl 5 Falling: Beginner Lvl 2 Forging: Beginner Lvl 4 Jumping: Beginner Lvl 5 Repair: Beginner Lvl 5 Running: Beginner Lvl 8 Stalking: Beginner Lvl 7 Tailoring Beginner Lvl 4
From Frost''s perspective, and as far as he knew from all the information he had gathered, a player could create an infinite number of skills with some being easier to create than others. There were twenty-five levels in each rank of every skill and four ranks. It progressed from beginner to trained, then to expert, and finally to master. There was a skill involved with most things and the only way to level them up was to constantly repeat your actions. Many skills were very easy to create and he even had a falling skill that let him take less damage from falling. The more complicated a skill was, the more complex your actions had to be to increase the skill. For example, the jumping skill was simple and all you had to do was jump repeatedly to level it up. Cooking however was far more complex and required someone to make new dishes and have new cooking experiences in order for it to level up. Suddenly a system window popped up, causing Frost to swipe away all messages and sprint off. He left his sword in its sheath and ran off with the staff in hand.
You may now leave your starting city.
A grin split his face as Frost ran into the snowy fields full of little animals that new players often hunted for experience. Frost laughed at the thought of people slowly leveling up by trying to punch or stab fuzzy little rabbits that were worth very little experience and could run away if they weren¡¯t quickly killed. It would be a colossal waste of time for someone who needed 60% more experience than everyone else would need, assuming that they had not chosen the Hero¡¯s Blood trait. Frost was basing his entire game strategy on the idea that no one else would pick that trait or be able to play as much as he would be able to. Suddenly he stopped and slowly spun around in place. The snow-covered landscape began to change as it snowed, large flakes drifting gently down from above. He could see the distant trees that made up the forest not too far away, and his grin widened to its maximum. ¡®Yeah, I think this really will be fun.¡± ¡°Hey.¡± Two players had followed him from the direction of town. He had ignored them at first, hoping they would take the hint and leave him alone, but they still followed him. They probably just wanted to trick him into being their meat shield so that they could fight stronger monsters more easily. It was very obvious that their gear was complete junk with most of it being starter gear. He could tell they were players only by the level marker next to their names that were floating above their heads in green once they were close enough. The names were actually question marks until you were told the person¡¯s name while they were there, or it was mixed with an adequate description. NPCs didn¡¯t have levels, they only had stats so you couldn¡¯t tell how strong one was unless they fought. Reid saw that these two were both level seven and relaxed. These guys were probably nothing special since the high level players were approaching level 15 by now. Frost put his staff away into his extra dimensional storage bag and decided to reply by frowning at the players that wanted to bother him. They were two male players, one a quiet short guy who didn¡¯t bother to hide what appeared to be general disapproval of just about everything. Frost would have guessed that the scowl on his face was permanent. The other was a bit taller than Frost and had a smile on his face that screamed scam artist. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen you yet, newbie.¡± The tall one said to him. ¡°Did you just start playing or did you actually become a native. Well, seeing as you have a late start, we¡¯ll help you out with leveling up.¡± ¡°No thanks. I¡¯m a solo player.¡± ¡°Even so, I think you¡¯ll be better off with help.¡± ¡°You¡¯re trying so hard, it¡¯s depressingly obvious, not to mention how clich¨¦ this is. The fuck do you want? Stop wasting my time.¡± Neither of the two men were surprised to be found out, and the tall one¡¯s smile melted away. ¡°I figured even if you knew, you¡¯d be smart enough to do this the easy way rather than piss us off. We¡¯re two level sevens and you¡¯re fresh out of the city. Hand over all of your gear and we¡¯ll let you go without killing you. You don¡¯t deserve free equipment just because you cowered in the city while everyone else went outside the walls.¡± ¡°I have one question.¡± The man¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Frost smiled and said sarcastically, ¡°Did you say something? I wasn¡¯t listening.¡± ¡°Bastard,¡± the two drew their weapons and Frost did the same, pulling out his two-handed blade from its sheath at his waist. The tall man drew a pair of short swords while the short one pulled out two daggers. They charged at him while Frost took a ready stance. As they drew closer, Frost stepped forward and swung his sword at the tall one. The man didn¡¯t expect that Frost would go on the attack, moving closer and striking at him. He blocked with one sword and went to strike with the other but was knocked off balance when a sword slashed him across the chest. A small window appeared for a brief moment in the corner of his view.
Critical Hit!
The two men hadn¡¯t really fought before but they expected that the same was true of Frost. They thought that it would be fine since they were higher level and it was two on one. However, they lacked the experience to fight well, and Frost took advantage of that. The tall man hadn¡¯t blocked properly or put enough strength into bracing his arm so the strong blow from Frost went right through his guard, slashing him across the chest. The short man had circled around to the side and was too far away to attack or help his companion as Reid brought the sword around and slashed through the man¡¯s gut. The man grunted from the pain that was only ten percent of the actual pain as he was knocked back, onto the ground. The short man arrived next to him and he hopped back, out of dagger range. Frost stepped forward and swung at the man¡¯s head. The man ducked under the sword and started to move forward as Frost spun with the momentum of the sword, sending a kick at the man¡¯s lowered face. He was knocked off balance long enough for Frost to swing the sword with full strength straight through his neck, followed by a thrust into the man¡¯s gut. Another critical hit window appeared, each strike of the sword leaving behind red streaks as he did damage. The tall man was back on his feet and running at him from his right side so he gripped the sword, ripped it out of the man¡¯s left side, and turned his body as he brought the sword down in an overhead swing on the tall man. He tried to dodge, but only received more damage when Frost adjusted the trajectory of his sword. At this time, the two began to feel fear as their health was severely reduced. They started to back away but Frost only smiled as he looked at them. How could he let precious experience points walk away after they had come right up to him? They were his prey now and they wouldn¡¯t get out alive. Frost started to attack the tall man wildly, chipping away at his health until the man¡¯s death was announced by a white soul leaving his body. The short man scrambled to get away after watching in horror as his friend died. However, Frost was faster and was able to trip him with a slash at his legs. He then killed that man with a few more swings of the sword as he cowered, screaming for mercy and forgiveness. Frost didn¡¯t care about anything the man had to say and killed him without remorse. That was the biggest difference between him and them. When he attacked, he did so with the intent to kill his opponent while they hesitated slightly.
You have gained 174 experience.
Level up!
Frost froze and began to worry a little. Right now was perhaps the most important moment he would ever have in this game. It all depended on how many stats he would get from hero¡¯s burden. If it were only one or two then it would be a completely worthless trait. However, Frost had checked every single possible trait and he didn¡¯t think that there were any bad trait choices other than the ones that increased stats by a base amount and even those weren¡¯t terrible. He decided to stop worrying and just find out so he opened his stat menu and sighed in relief, collapsing to his knees as he began to laugh. He had nine distributable points, meaning he got four of those from hero¡¯s burden. Now he had the confidence to conquer the game and become far stronger than anyone else. He distributed the points evenly between strength, agility, and dexterity. He decided to make his character fast and strong. After calming his racing heart and assuring his future plans, Frost thought about the battle. It seemed that critical hits were partly based on where someone struck and partly based off of how prepared to take a hit the recipient of the attack was, along with whatever base chance and stat increases added to the mix. He was once again amazed at how complicated this game was as he sheathed his sword and stood up. He headed in the direction of forest, looking around for other players. It seemed that for whatever reason, he had not been branded a Dark player. Maybe it was because they drew their weapons first. Dark players were those that performed evil acts such as murdering innocent people and stealing from others. It¡¯s opposite was Pure players who performed acts of charity and showed selfless behavior. Apparently people had found out that going further into each alignment, one could gain the darkness or purity stat, which would give a small boost to stats when fighting someone of the opposite alignment. Frost found himself standing next to a signpost just outside the forest, which now loomed above him. It read Kharz Forest. He bared his teeth and drew his sword. ¡°Let¡¯s get to work,¡± he said to himself as he bolted into the forest. Chapter 6: Uncertainty Merry Christmas. You get a new chapter. Should I proofread this? Yes. Will I? Not really. Too lazy... Gotta work on my combat scenes. Hmmm¡­ Thanks for reading. Please enjoy. Chapter 6: Uncertainty Frost ran into the forest, hoping he wouldn¡¯t have to fight a pack of wolves as much because he preferred one on one combat as because he liked dogs and thought it would be a shame to have to kill them. What he didn¡¯t expect was that he would run into a pair of monsters he had never seen the likes of before. This game had absolutely no information on monsters other than a few mentions of specific creatures in lore. The monsters he faced now were large gorilla type creatures but with oversized arms, small legs, and fangs. ¡°My, what an ugly couple,¡± He laughed to himself as he drew his sword. The beasts noticed him and their names appeared above their heads along with their health bars. They were called Grein and their levels were both seven, which was five above his own. Frost began to feel an emotion he hadn¡¯t felt for a long time. Fear. However, it was an exciting, compelling feeling that made him feel alive. Frost promised himself one thing when he began the game, something that was required for him to be the very best. He would treat the character Frost as if it was his own body, his own self. And how could he let himself die? Frost put some distance between himself and them, watching them, learning how they moved. They seemed to use their arms to propel themselves forward like a person on crutches. They were between eight and nine feet tall and they appeared very fierce, but their weakness was apparent. They had big, bulky arms that could reach their opponent before their opponents could get near them. They could reach around trees and block attacks with those huge arms of theirs. In that case, the only place to be was directly under them, and the only way to win would be to finish the fight as soon as possible. He charged forward, sliding under the grasping arm of the Grein and hopping back to his feet in his rush to close the distance. By the time the brutish gorilla monsters realized where he was, it was too late for them. He reached the first one¡¯s tiny legs and started hacking away, striking knees and other weak joints. His footwork kept him just beneath the monster and barely out of the hands of the second as it tried to grab him. Fortunately, they weren¡¯t very steady on their small legs, so they were easy game to Frost who had higher agility. Eventually the first Grein¡¯s legs could no longer support it, causing it to topple over. Frost rolled out of the way, grinning, but found himself flying through the air in the next moment. He bounced off of a tree and hit the ground hard, feeling intense pain all over his body.
You have been critically hit
-183 hp
You have several fractured ribs. Your speed will be decreased by 20% for the next ten minutes.
¡°That¡¯s not good,¡± he said to himself as he got up onto one knee. If he couldn¡¯t move at full speed, he wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge all of the attacks or stay under its feet where it couldn¡¯t hit him. He couldn¡¯t afford to take another hit like that and he was only barely able toThe only reason he was still alive was because of the boosts to hp and high vitality. He had become arrogant and now he would pay the price for his foolishness. Under these conditions, there was little he could do to defeat such a strong beast. ¡®I screwed up. I knew I shouldn¡¯t have risked everything on hero¡¯s burden. I¡¯ll have to continuously fight monsters stronger than me. Maybe if I was better, I could do it, but I¡¯m not good enough to fight like this. I¡¯m even going to lose my first fight. What a fucking joke. Why did I think I could do this?¡¯ Frost looked down and rubbed his stomach, getting a feel for the pain of broken ribs in the game. Since it was only ten percent of the real pain, it was bearable, and wouldn¡¯t cause any more problems other than the decreased speed. When he looked down, he could see the dagger his parents had given him. They had done everything they could to make sure he wouldn¡¯t die on his journey. They had given him clothes, food, and even that dagger to make sure that he would survive. They had believed in him. Ger had made his sword and staff, thinking that Frost would be able to find the God¡¯s Ore and fulfill Ger¡¯s dreams. Ger had believed in him. Then there were his actual parents. His mother and father were always there, believing in him and supporting him. He had only just begun his journey towards becoming the strongest, so how could he give up already? ¡®I need to stop with the dark thoughts. Giving up so easily isn¡¯t like me. What the hell is wrong with me?¡¯ He pulled out the dagger and stood up just as the beast nearly reached him. It had felt like a lot of time had passed but it had only been a few seconds since he was sent flying. ¡®Time to stop acting like a little bitch and get back to work.¡¯ Frost looked up at the Grein and smile evilly. ¡®I really hope this works.¡¯ The beast roared at him and he swung his arm, flinging his dagger at its face. The dagger hit the beast directly in its left eye, causing its roar to be interrupted by the pain. Frost was already charging forward, knowing this was a last ditch effort one way or another. As the beast reeled in pain, Frost swung his sword at full strength into the side of its knee, getting a critical hit. The monster¡¯s knee gave out, causing it to fall on onto one knee and use its arms to prevent itself from falling over. Frost took a few steps back, then ran towards the beast, running up it like a wall, then stabbing his sword into the beast and using it to propel him upward. He reached its head and grasped the dagger, holding onto the monster with the other. He began to stab the beast, starting with its other eye, then spinning around its head so that he was holding on from behind where the its long arms couldn¡¯t reach because they were too big. He stabbed it in the neck, in the face, in the shoulder, chipping away at its life until it fell over dead. The entire time, he kept an eye on the first one he had cut up since that one still had thirty percent of its health left. It looked like it was struggling to stand up so he was able to kill the one he was holding onto without interference. Frost had to calm down after frantically stabbing the Grein to death with the thing trying to throw him off and him holding on with one hand. Noticing that the other monster was recovering, Frost sheathed his dagger and picked up his sword, slowly walking over to it, seeing that it had finally managed to stand up with heavy support from its arms. Frost grimaced and charged forward, dodging past the unsteady beasts arm and rammed his sword into its gut. The impact knocked them both over, but Frost wasn¡¯t done there and quickly regained his footing before the creature could grab him. He gripped the sword tightly, growled with effort as he twisted his sword, and ran the blade up through the beast from stomach to head. Its soul escaped its body as its health bar disappeared. He collapsed onto his back as the battle ended and the information windows popped up.
You have gained 209 experience.
Level up!
You have defeated opponents much stronger than you through tactics, skill, and speed. +1 Intelligence +1 Wisdom +1 Agility
The level difference and lone wolf burden together provided him with enough experience to level up in one fight despite his increased requirement for experience. This was what it meant to fight monsters with much higher level. He would have to constantly look for stronger monsters and every fight would be a life and death battle for him at a permanent disadvantage, unless, of course, he was able to take on stronger monsters as a result of having higher stats than everyone else. That was what he intended to do from the very beginning, he just hadn¡¯t expected it would be this difficult from the very start. If he had this much trouble with mobs, would he even have a chance when it came to boss fights? This was not an easy game that someone could casually win a boss fight single-handedly.
You have recovered from an exhausting battle +1 Stamina
You have recovered from broken ribs by healing naturally +1 Vitality
The stat gains were welcome, but they weren¡¯t what he was hoping for. Despite all of his training and fighting, he still hadn¡¯t learned any skills. The game was too damn vague when it came to information about things like skills and monsters, in his opinion. All he knew about skills was that they were mostly self-created with system assist, but he should still get skills like sword mastery and other passive skills. Frost figured there was probably some other requirement that he hadn¡¯t yet met and didn¡¯t worry. He just needed to get stronger and everything would work itself out,. Probably. After fully recovering, he rolled to his feet and collected the dagger as well as the drops. He found Grein meat and a few silver Dunari, the currency of this world. It was ten copper to a silver and ten silver to a gold. There were also other currencies such as tin and platinum but the actual worth of those coins tended to change based on the economy and location. Now that Frost was calm, he distributed his points between strength and agility with the extra point going to dexterity, and then continued walking into the forest.
3 Days Earlier Deke sighed as he stared into mug. He was a sixty-eight year old tae kwon do instructor who would be retired but he had few friends and nothing to do with his spare time. In the past, he had won many championships and was considered a martial arts master by many who knew him. Now, he was old, and his body could no longer match even near to what he was once capable of. He still tried to stay in shape but feeling his body slowly deteriorate over the years was the worst torture. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Evelyn, his wife had died of illness eight years ago and his son was too busy with his career and family to visit an aging old man. He missed both of them deeply. He was lonely and beginning to wonder what he was living for when a friend came to visit him at his home. A few knocks on the door broke him out of his reverie. He walked over to the door and opened it to see a man with a smug smile on his face. Behind him, there was a company vehicle with the words ¡®Undertones: Noticeable Quality¡± on it. ¡°Tom. What are you doing here?¡± The man at the door was Tom Therwell, a man who had brought his son, Reid, to Deke¡¯s dojo at a young age and asked that he personally train the boy. Reid had been learning some martial arts since he was young, so they asked him to be strict and tough, not allowing their son to give up. He was to learn discipline and respect after having been in a fight. From then on, the boy was to take martial arts much more seriously. Deke had agreed to train the boy and expected that he would have a tough time of it. Deke had been surprised to find that not only had Reid listened to everything Deke had said, but he had also thrown himself into martial arts passionately. He had never complained and was usually quiet. Deke had been impressed with his attitude and focus, but even more impressive was his talent. Reid¡¯s ability to learn new techniques was impressive, but the boy needed to have more confidence in himself. There were times when his will would be unbendable, unbreakable, but there were also times when his will was weak. Over the past few years, Deke had become friends with Reid and his family. ¡°Well, I had meant to show up earlier in the week, but everything¡¯s been so busy down at the office. I know it¡¯s been four days or so since the game started, but with your skills, you can catch up in no time.¡± Deke looked at Tom like the man had two heads. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± It almost sounded like he was saying that Deke should play that game of his. He was too old to be playing video games and had a dojo to run. Tom smiled. ¡°I¡¯m talking about Dead World Online, my friend. Lisa and I both have a free pass to the beta as well as the gear you need to play. She gave hers to our son, and I don¡¯t really have the time to play these days, so I¡¯m giving mine to you. ¡°I don¡¯t have time to play either. I have my dojo.¡± Deke wasn¡¯t really in the mood to talk about games so he started to close the door. ¡°Not today, Tom, See you later.¡± Right as the door was about to close, Tom said one last thing, the smile dropping from his face, replaced by a serious stare. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to feel young again?¡± The door stopped, then opened again. ¡°What are you saying?¡± ¡°Dead World is a virtual reality game, Deke. You can play it however you want. Even if you look like an old man, you can move around like you¡¯re twenty. Or, you can look young as well. The point is that you can play this game and everything will feel real, as if you¡¯re young again.¡± ¡°Why me?¡± ¡°The same reason I wanted you to teach Reid tae kwon do. You¡¯re legendary, and I want to see the legend in action, fighting against monsters and men with a body like you used to have or even better than you used to have. I want to watch a master martial artist in action. ¡°What¡¯s the catch, really?¡± He said somewhat cynical. ¡°We¡¯ll be able to watch and record anything you do, at least during the three month beta.¡± Tom smiled and pointed at a box sitting on top of his car. ¡°All you have to say is yes. So what will it be?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Tom smiled, knowing that he had just introduced a new major player into the game world, and his side had a new influential member who would be important to their victory. That was the real reason Tom wanted Deke to play the game, but he couldn¡¯t let him know. They couldn¡¯t let anyone know. ¡®Sorry friend, I¡¯m using you and you don¡¯t even know it.¡¯
POV of the Keeper (Before the beta) I stood at the window, looking down upon the world that had long forgotten me. Elves, humans, beastmen, and all manner of humanoid creatures walked past, oblivious to the fact that I was watching them, always watching. I had long ago lost almost all meaning in my life and everything I cared about. How long ago? Ages. I have no need to eat, breathe, sleep, or do anything that the living need to do. I am immortal and there is nothing for me anywhere. So here I stand in my mansion in the middle of a busy city, waiting for something as a watch the passing of people and time. I used to have a name, but I have forgotten it as I watched seasons pass, turning into years, then to decades and then into centuries. Every day, and every moment of that day, people would inform of the important things that happened in the world. I hardly paid any attention to them, even tried to shut them out sometimes, but their words, their information flowed into me unceasingly and I could not forget any of it. I had to wonder if there was a purpose to it all. I don¡¯t remember being born, ever having family, or living a normal life. I just was. I just¡­ knew. I knew that I came into being before any living creature, and I knew many, many things. I knew almost everything about this world. I watched and learned as other things came into being, as the plants grew and the world formed, even named myself at one point. There are, of course, things that I don¡¯t understand such as how the world was changing and being formed. It could only be some form of god or gods that was creating everything. In my musings, I have come to understand one thing. Part of my purpose. I¡­am a library. For what purpose I exist, or what the information is being saved for, I do not know. Even my appearance is that of a shadowy demon wearing a dark cloak, with glowing red eyes. For what reason do I appear to be a frightening monster. That is what bothers me the most because I am a being of neutrality, of knowledge, yet the few things I want the most are unknown to me. So here I stand, watching this human celebration as snow falls from the sky. They decorate their houses and enjoy many festivities as their year comes to an end. They give each other gifts in honor of past events where the world was saved by the sudden and mysterious end to the Great War. I have never participated in a celebration in my thousands of years of living. Indeed, anyone who dares to look at my face is frightened by it. Well, almost everyone. This year, the celebration day, December 25th, began to wind down and the sun sunk below the horizon. There was a feeling within me that I didn¡¯t know the name of. I didn¡¯t really know how to describe it other than not good. This was the only day of the year I would feel this way so I didn¡¯t worry, as the feeling would be forgotten by tomorrow. One of my informers left, having given all his information to me, and he was replaced by the next in line. ¡°Yay, it¡¯s my turn. I¡¯ve been waiting all day.¡± A beautiful female voice sounded out, much to my surprise. All of my informants were very solemn and professional. There had never been a single one that said anything other than the words they were supposed to. I could not resist my curiosity, my thirst for knowledge, and so I turned. For the first time in centuries, I moved. A little elf girl stood at the front of the line of informers, smiling innocently, happily. I have seen this girl on the street, noticing that she had seen me before but was not afraid. ¡°Welcome, child. How can I be of assistance?¡± ¡°My name is Tafa, and I heard you were a demon. Is that true? I don¡¯t think it is because if you were there would be lots of scary people and things coming to your house or you would be doing bad stuff but the only people that come here are these boring guys who tell you things that are happening all over the world so I don¡¯t think you¡¯re evil at all.¡± She spoke until she could barely talk any more, needing to take a breath before she could continue. ¡°I¡¯m not a demon. I do not know what I am. No one but the gods do, if they do.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t that bother you? Not knowing what or who you are?¡± ¡°Rarely. I have come to accept my fate.¡± ¡°Alright then, what do I call you?¡± ¡°I have no name to be referred by.¡± ¡°Can I give you one then?¡± I turned fully around to face the girl. ¡°Why are you here?¡± The young girl stepped past me, walking up to the window. ¡°No one looks up at you. They¡¯re too afraid of you so they call you a demon, but I knew that you weren¡¯t. Demons are heartless and cruel monsters, but you¡­you¡¯re sad and lonely. I could see it whenever I looked up at you and saw you watching the people below.¡± She cocked her head when a sudden thought came to mind. ¡°What do you do with all that information that those people bring?¡± ¡°I keep it,¡± I pointed to my head, ¡°up here.¡± She nodded as if having come to a decision. ¡°I will call you Mr. Keeper.¡± She took out an item from her pocket, and then grabbed my hand. She put the item in my hand and closed it so that only a looped string could be seen draping out of the fist. ¡°Happy Savior¡¯s Festival Mr. Keeper.¡± She smiled and started to walk away. ¡°Tafa.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± she stopped and turned around. If you ever visit me again, you don¡¯t have to wait in line.¡± For the first time in many, many years, I smiled. It was difficult to see in the shadowy hood and strange skin of the Keeper, but the little girl didn¡¯t miss it. She smiled and waved goodbye as she skipped out of the room. I opened my hand and saw that inside it was a hand-made pendant. It was made from crude copper that was dented and scratched, but I could tell that the girl had put her heart into making the necklace for me. On the front, engraved into the relatively flat piece of copper it said ¡®Happy Festival¡¯, while on the back it said ¡®Thank you for watching over us¡¯ Just like that, the bad feeling that I had, the¡­loneliness, was gone. It had been replaced by a warm feeling and I knew that the feeling of loneliness would not be back any time soon. I turned back to the window as the next person in line began to speak and watched as the girl gave me a secretive wave before disappearing into the city. I desired for an informant to watch over her and her family, but I could not give the informants orders. The next day, however, there was a new informant that gave me information about Tafa. He chuckled. ¡®It seems I have more power than I thought.¡¯ Chapter 7: Making Friends Such inconsistent chapter releases¡­ Shut up, I do what I want! What? As long I keep releasing chapters, you¡¯ll be happy? Not really? What do you mean they have to be good chapters? Ughh. Fine. I¡¯ll try. No promises. Sorry I¡¯m kid of a spaz. I wrote down the rough draft of like six more chapters but half of them are in random places in the story and I keep changing the story to make it better. Over 100 followers? Alright, mission accomplished. I¡¯m out. Bye forever. But seriously, thank you everyone for reading, commenting, favoriting, and following Dead World Online. I¡¯m so motivated now. J Btw if any of you see my other fiction, don¡¯t read it. It¡¯s not very good and I dropped it anyway. Maybe after this fiction I¡¯ll go back and reboot it but that¡¯s a looooooooooong way off. Probably. I¡¯ve barely even begun to tell the story, I¡¯m just introducing characters and world building and whatnot. Thanks for reading. Please enjoy. Chapter 7: Making Friends ¡®My name is Frost Winterstorm, and I have sworn to become the strongest player in this game. I have three months to do so, but effectively, I will have nine months, since time flows at three times the speed while in the game. Three days in the game is only a day in reality, so I have to make the best of the time I have. Reid Therwell does not exist here, nor do his problems, concerns, or issues. There is only his knowledge, his skills, his will, and they are mine to control. From this day onward, I¡¯m in charge.¡¯ Frost had his resolve, knowing that he couldn¡¯t play the game like before, thinking about useless things and giving up when things became tough. He had to throw himself into the game, become a part of it, and fight like his life depended on it. He had promised not to die, and felt that if he did die, Frost would truly be dead and the spawned replacement would be nothing but a shadow of the real thing. He knew it wasn¡¯t rational to believe that he wouldn¡¯t die in a game as hard as Dead World, and in fact he had already nearly died, but he thought that he couldn¡¯t be the best unless he was truly afraid of death. Frost ran through the forest, farming experience through killing singular Grein, avoiding the packs of three and four that were occasionally seen. He had been surviving off of the food his parents had given to him and the occasional grein steak but he was running out of everything but the latter. He had also come across wolves but decided to ignore them. He really didn¡¯t want to fight them and it seemed they weren¡¯t hostile to him. He had even managed to get fairly close to them before they ran off. In his time out of the game, he read some of the forums that people posted but all of them were about how to fight and kill wolves, their drops, and, likely locations to find them. He decided to avoid meeting people again until he was level five, so he continued to avoid any parties he came across. That was the plan at least. When he found a group of five players surrounded by Grein, their health quickly disappearing, he saw that they were going to lose and had a thought. ¡®It would be a shame if those weakened monsters were able to just walk off and recover so casually.¡¯ He had just hit level four so this would be a good opportunity for him to get a boost towards level five. He spent a few seconds formulating a plan before leaping into action, circling around the enemy. He charged in, running up a slanted stone, jumping into the air above the weakest enemy, and descending with a deadly swing that decapitated the beast. He landed on its back and jumped towards the next one before it could fall. This one still had most of its health, but Frost was confident now that he had more experience fighting them. Even without the distraction of players, he felt that he had a fair chance of fighting four healthy Grein alone, though it would be a tough fight. The group of players, three melee types, a mage, and a cleric, was able to hold back the other two since they were now fighting on only one front, while Frost quickly took down the second monster. Luckily, the party of five couldn¡¯t do much damage to their opponents so Frost was getting all of the experience. Basically, he was stealing their kills and taking all of the rewards because he was a different entity than their party and all the experience went to the killer¡¯s group. Of course, they were previously going to die anyway, so he wasn¡¯t really stealing kills. Frost turned as the dead body collapsed, dashing forward so that he could kill the other two as well. He jumped up, using the back of a warrior who was in a low, defensive stance, and flew through the air, slashing the head of the third beast just before it could bring its huge arm down onto the party of adventurers. The strike knocked it off balance and it stumbled backwards. Keeping an eye on the last creature, he continued to strike it in its weak spots, intent to keep it off balance. The last grein saw the damage that Frost had done to its group and became enraged, charging full speed as it focused on him alone. The beast tackled its companion in its attempt to smash him between them, but he was no longer there. He had nimbly dodged to the side, faster now that he had higher agility. He could feel himself getting stronger and faster as his stats increased. This was his third day since entering Kharz Forest, and he could already feel the effects of his constant running, fighting, and exercising. At the end of each day, he would do sprints until his stamina ran out, then recover and do as many push ups and sit ups as he could before falling asleep. Slowly but surely, his strength, agility, and stamina increased every day. Frost swung his sword across the neck of the last one getting a critical hit and taking off a large chunk of its health. He liked to aim for the monster¡¯s necks because it did a little extra damage and had a high critical strike chance. A flurry of strikes hitting the beasts on the ground, keeping them down, depleted their health and they too expired. He sheathed his sword and started to walk away.
You have gained 236 experience
¡°W-wait,¡± One of the players said. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Frost.¡± He didn¡¯t stop or turn around, just kept walking forward as it began to snow again. It was always snowing in the North. ¡°Hold up,¡± they chased after him. ¡°Do you want to party up? My name is Dorian. Here let me add you as a friend.¡± The man¡¯s name appeared above his head, replacing the question marks. One of the warriors spoke up, pouting as he said with annoyance, ¡°That guy used me as a springboard!¡± ¡°No thanks.¡± ¡°What!? Why not?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like to share.¡± ¡°Without our help, you¡¯d get wrecked by a pack of wolves or a group of Grein. You¡¯re only level four and probably have all of your stats in speed and strength. I''m betting you don''t take a hit too well. We¡¯re level six so we can defend and take hits while you attack. We also have a healer just in case you get hit.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll out-level you soon enough.¡± With that, he began to run, leaving the group behind. This time, they didn¡¯t try to catch up with him. Frost decided it was time to head to the inner forest anyway, so he went there, where stronger and more tightly packed groups of monsters would be. Here, some of the trees were frozen and white, to the point that they almost appeared to be made of ice. The scene was breathtaking with the fall of snow and peaceful serenity of solitude. He continued to move forward at a light run as the trees began to grow taller and closer together. Soon enough, he saw a creature walking about not too far away and crept closer, so he could see what it was. It was humanoid, its body tall and thin, but it was made entirely of ice. It was level nine and it was a minor ice golem. Frost didn¡¯t bother to draw his sword, instead pulling out the staff. ¡®Wouldn¡¯t want to dull the blade,¡¯ he thought as he crept closer, using his stalking skill to sneak up on it. When he was right behind it, he swung at full strength, attempting to smash it in its head to stun it. Sounds of ice cracking and splintering accompanied the golem as its upper half spun and one of its thin arms with small, bladelike protrusions appearing on it aimed a strike for his head. He managed to roll to the side, reflexes taking over for a moment as he barely dodged the arm. The lower half of its body followed the upper half along with the sound of crackling ice that seemed to happen whenever it moved. The golem walked extremely slowly but could make lightning quick movements and attacks at anything within range. Frost also suspected that the golem¡¯s range could change somewhat since the way it moved didn¡¯t seem to be restricted by its form. Likely, it could change the shape of its body. He smiled as he began to feel a bit of fear, mixed with a great deal of excitement and anticipation. He held the staff behind him with one hand and put the other in front of him, beckoning the golem forward as he took a deep breath. It was time to test what he could do with all of his dexterity and agility. The creature walked forward, its entire body crackling as it grew spikes along its arms and back. It had glowing blue eyes on an otherwise perfectly round head and instead of a neck it had overlapping layers of ice like a loosely wrapped scarf. The creature was entirely made of dark ice that seemed tainted with a dark presence. It continued to slowly march towards him, and began to swing its arms slowly, butt speeding up until it¡¯s swings were a wild vortex moving too fast to follow. Frost spun to add speed and strength to his swing aimed at the golem¡¯s thick leg, staying just out of the creature¡¯s reach thanks to his long staff. The weapon bounced off of the golem¡¯s sturdy leg, hardly doing any damage. It appeared that the legs were reinforced and he wouldn¡¯t be able to affect them much at all. His original strike to the golem¡¯s head had done a good deal of damage. Either its head or its body was weak to attacks while its arms and legs were used to defend itself. He would have to get through its arms to deal any damage but he couldn¡¯t see any holes in its defense. Frost began to probe its defense with random strikes, hoping he would find a clue to defeating it. He only managed to shave off a few of its health points, but at this rate, he would spend an entire day finishing it off. Was the entire point of this golem to just annoy players who weren¡¯t mages? It was frustrating not being able do anything and Frost attacked with a flurry of strikes, getting too close in the process, getting hit by a sudden attack from the monster. It did a surprisingly small amount of damage but knocked him back. That was when he saw how to beat it. When he was close enough, the arms slowed down before striking. Frost moved forward with a determined look on his face, moving to just the right spot which was barely out of the reach of the golem¡¯s swinging arm defense. The golem¡¯s arms slowed and he moved the staff to block the golem¡¯s arm as he counterattacked, striking the golem¡¯s body. He had to move back again when the golem tried to hit him, but he was able to get out of the way of the attacks. He repeated the process, each attack reducing its health more than he would have expected, until the beast was dead, collapsing into a pile of icy shards.
You have gained 151 experience
Level up!
*Ding*
You have reached level five and can now create combat skills. Calculating combat skills gained from stats and first five levels¡­
He reached for the drops, with a smile on his face and then heard clapping. ¡®Well, fuck. That sarcastic clapping can only be one thing.¡¯ He continued his motions, keeping the smile on his face, even though it was forced, and subtly put all of his points into agility, knowing he was in an area above his level and needed more speed if he wanted to escape from anything. He put a fist sized blue crystal and 9 silver dunari in his pack, then looked up to see a group of people watching him in a relaxed manner. He quickly scanned their group, seeing that they were all level ten or eleven. Their classes were two sword and shield warriors, a mage, a cleric, and some sort of rogue. It was one of the sword and board warriors who had been clapping and stopped when Frost turned to look at them and his smile disappeared. ¡®Motherfucker¡¯ He could see every one of their names, meaning they were dark players also known as player killers or PKers. He sighed quietly to himself, trying to think of a way out of the situation he was in. He couldn¡¯t be sure that he would be able to escape them with a mage casting spells at him. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The second warrior stepped forward and Frost realized that he looked exactly like the other one on closer inspection. All five of them were human with the mage and rogue being female, while the warrior twins and the cleric were male. The warrior started talking while Frost continued to analyze their group, trying to think of a way he could beat them. He realized that he should be paying attention and started to listen to what the guy was saying. ¡°¡­ our prey. However, we¡¯re fairly merciful so we¡¯ll let you live if you give us all of your gear.¡± The group that was with him chuckled evilly, knowing that they weren¡¯t going to let him live. He hadn¡¯t heard all of it, but he knew what they were saying. They wanted to rob and kill him, deciding to give some kind of excuse as to why they were doing it. How sweet. ¡°Look.¡± Frost sighed, putting away his staff, and said mockingly, ¡°Can we not make this one of those things where you kill me and I swear vengeance, saying you will rue the day you messed with me? I just want to farm in peace.¡± The group of people paused, turning to look at each other in surprise, then started laughing loudly, doubled over. The cleric looked up, ¡°Who do yahhhhhhh!¡± he screamed as Reid¡¯s sword passed through his neck, then continued to cut him until his health ran out from a thrust to the gut. The others were stunned so they were slow to react, as he killed their cleric so swiftly and suddenly. The only one to recover quickly from her surprise was the rogue who tried to stab him with an overhead swing. He left the sword, in the cleric and grabbed the girl¡¯s arm, tossing her with a shoulder throw that caused her to end up on her back. He pulled out his staff, in the middle of their group, and turned into a whirlwind as he spun the staff, tripping the mage and then attacking the warriors who had finally realized what was happening as they held their swords and shields, blocking his attacks as they began to close on him. Then, he turned completely around and sprinted off into the forest, grabbing his sword along the way and knocking down the mage who tried to get up. He dodged around the rogue who was back on her feet, avoiding her in case she had or did something that could slow him down. She tried to chase him down but wasn¡¯t able to keep up with his full speed sprint. He disappeared into the forest before they could stop him with spells or slowing effects of any kind. The group looked after him, completely stunned by the events that had just happened. How had a level five, classless player just taken on five of the top players in the game? They were in the middle of the top hundred of players, which would have surprised Frost to know. ¡°What the fuck just happened?¡± The mage said quietly to herself. One of the warrior brothers who heard her responded, ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡± The other brother punched a tree as he growled with rage, ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill that bastard if I ever see him again.¡± The three looked after him, feeling a burning rage building in their guts while the rogue stood off to the side thinking other things. No one had ever disrespected them like that, disregarding them and running away like a coward. They would get their revenge. The very top players were all around level seventeen, with a few reaching level eighteen. Frost only looked at the top ten players, setting his sights on them so he knew where he needed to be. He probably wouldn¡¯t catch up to them in level, but he planned to at least equal them in stats, if not surpass them. If he had more time to train and build up his character, he would be able to take out a group of players with a higher level than him in the future. Frost was already beginning to surpass some of the higher-level players but he knew that he would only be able to take on the ones without much skill or ability. He could only take on the ones who only used their stats and skills to gang up on and beat up enemies until they died, without actually using tactics and strategy. He ran into the forest, once again deep in thought until he was certain that he was safe. *Ding*
You have 5 new skills
Passive skill: Intermediate Weapon Mastery
Beginner Lvl 1 You are skilled in using both your body and weapons. Damage will increase for weapons that you are skilled in. Proficiency: Swords Staves Fists Damage increase: 5%
Passive/Active skill: Heavy Blow
Beginner Lvl 1 Heavy Blow activates when you use your full strength to swing a weapon or fist 110% damage consumes double stamina of a normal swing
Passive: Fearless Aura
In your search for greater strength, you have sought enemies stronger than you and triumphed. Fearless Aura will increase from fighting opponents with higher levels than you. Fearless aura will prevent weak opponents from starting a battle with you and apply a small stat boost to all stats when fighting stronger opponents. Current aura level: 10
Active Skill: Lightning Blade
Beginner Lvl 1 Increases attack speed by 20% Ignores 10% of armor Requires sword Cost: 10 mana 5 stamina per second
Active Skill: Furious Strength
Beginner Lvl. 1 Increases damage by 10% Cost: 20 mana 5 stamina per second
You can activate any active skill by saying the skill out loud or thinking the skill name.
Frost smiled. Apparently, he had to be level five to get combat skills, which would be created by the system¡¯s combat data using his previous fights. Perhaps if he had been in more fights, he would have more or different skills. However, these five skills were all he needed and it seemed they were suited to him. It was nearing the end of the second week of the game¡¯s release and he had the foundation he needed to reach the top. He rested for a bit before running off again, making sure he wouldn¡¯t see that group again anytime soon. Their cleric wouldn¡¯t be back for eight hours real world time but the rest of their group would still be a danger to him. The only way he could protect himself would be to train and become stronger than them. He continued to train, finding stronger grein and the ice golems in this part of the forest. He continued to avoid the wolves and they didn¡¯t bother him either. However, he couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and started trying to befriend the wolves. He fed them grein meat, which he had an abundance of and tried to get closer to them. He had always wanted a dog, but his parents refused and he had to accept because all three of them were too busy to take care of one. His parents spent long hours at work while Reid had school and martial arts training. Frost continued training and feeding the wolves for a few more days until he came across a wolf pack fighting a pair of grein. He watched as one of the gorilla-like beasts hit a wolf, launching it into a tree, killing it on impact. It appeared the wolves were losing the fight against the higher leveled grein. Of course, he wasn¡¯t just going to watch wolves get slaughtered by some stupid beasts so he ran into the fight, quickly dispatching the grein, testing out the combined might of Lightning Blade and Bladed Fury. It ate up his stamina extremely quickly but its effect was clearly noticeable in how fast he killed the beasts. The wolves immediately retreated to a safe distance while their leader warily watched Frost. He moved away from the wolves and crouched down, sword on one shoulder as he watched them. As they walked over to feast on the corpses, he noticed that one of them was injured, barely able to walk as it tried to limp around. He watched them as they left their injured companion behind, forced to do so because it would only slow them down and wolves could not afford to be slow. Frost tried to walk over to the wolf but it growled ferociously, trying to hide the fact that it was injured by putting its paw down. He slowly took out the bandages he had in his pack, which was enough to wrap a single wound. He had a lot of useful supplies in small amounts, including a healing potion that was next to useless and other similar objects. Food was the only thing he had been given an abundance of. The bandages would help the injury recover faster and prevent the disease status, which could happen with certain injuries. He dashed over and grabbed the wolf by the scruff of its neck, eliciting a whimper from the poor creature, which snapped at him. He shoved a large chunk of grein meat into its mouth, forced it onto its side on the ground and grabbed its injured leg above the injury. Frost sat on the ground and held the wolf down with leg strength. He saw that the wolf¡¯s ankle was probably broken as he forcefully wrapped it, ignoring the struggles of the wolf as it tried to escape. He managed to wrap it up fine, but he couldn¡¯t let the wolf walk so he continued to hold it down as he thought of a way to help the wolf and keep it off its feet. He ended up feeding it the potion that restored 25 health, frowning at its ineffectiveness. The wolf continued to whimper until an hour had passed, during which, Frost had fallen onto his back, legs still holding the wolf down. Finally, the wolf surged to its feet and started to run about. It was fortunate that this was a game and everything, including monsters healed quickly. It was also lucky that nothing had stumbled upon them, because the wolf might have hurt itself while Frost was fighting or driving off whatever found them. The wolf stopped running and howled loudly, nose pointed towards the sky. Suddenly, the area was full of a dense fog, where he couldn¡¯t even see ten feet away. A figure walked out of the fog calmly, revealing itself to be a wolf that appeared to be made of silver, its eyes perfect sapphires. It sat in front of him and seemed to peer into his very soul. The wolf tilted its head in curiosity and he looked directly back at it, unashamed, nothing to hide from it. ¡®I have peered into your past, your thoughts, and I thank you for protecting my ward. I am Calthos, spirit guardian of the wolves.¡¯ Frost was stunned. The spirit spoke directly into his mind and the voice was that of something ancient and wise. He had gone out of his way to help a wolf just because of his love of dogs. An hour or two in game wasn¡¯t really all that much and he could afford to relax for a bit considering how much he had increased his stats lately. The last thing he had expected was to summon the guardian of wolves. ¡°This seems a bit much, summoning a spirit guardian. All I did was help out a little. I don¡¯t really expect a reward or anything.¡± ¡®Indeed, I have not come to reward you. I have come to ask for your assistance in an important matter.¡¯ ¡°What matter is that?¡± Frost would have sworn that the wolf smiled just slightly as it said, ¡®My wolves have recently been attacked by many humans who have decided my peaceful wards are a threat. I cannot personally interfere and fight of these hunters, but I can get someone else to do it. My wolves will also be unable to fight in an organized manner or they risk retaliation from the humanoid armies. Therefore I must ask you, the only human blood to ever aid a wolf, kill the hunters. Instill in them a fear so that they will no longer hunt the wolves.¡¯
Quest: The Wolf Spirit¡¯s Anger
The spirit guardian of the wolves has asked you to kill and frighten those who have hunted wolves. Rewards: unknown Failure to accept: Wolves will consider you an enemy Difficulty: Unknown
If he accepted this quest, he would have to kill players and maybe NPCs. This quest would start his path down the road of becoming a dark player and there would likely be no return. This moment, this quest would determine how the rest of the game would turn out. ¡®Don¡¯t worry. If you do this for us, I will give you a mask so that they will not know whom it is that fights for us. It is better for them to worry and fear a faceless one than to have a name and face to attach their fear to.¡¯ Frost laughed quietly as a wicked grin split his face. ¡°I accept.¡± Chapter 8: An Unexpected Reckoning Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! I¡¯m having fun with this story, but I don''t know how I feel about this chapter. Something feels...off. Thanks for your support everyone. I started to proofread and tried to get this up hours ago but...oh well. This chapter is longer than usual. Thanks for reading. Please enjoy. Chapter 8: An Unexpected Reckoning ¡°I accept¡± ¡®Hahahaa.¡¯ The silvery spirit wolf¡¯s voice rang out inside his mind, full of excitement. ¡®Good. I expect you will find this a challenging task but I have faith in you, young one. I give you this mask, but be warned. If you lose it or it is removed in front of another human, they will know all that you have done. The mask can only protect your identity while you wear it.¡¯ The wolf faded away, turning into mist from the feet up, joining the rest of the fog in the area, which also faded. The only thing left in the area was a silver wolf mask, shaped like a wolf¡¯s face, with red stripes from temple to nose, passing through the eyeholes. Frost picked it up with a smirk.
Quest: The Wolf Spirit''s Anger
You have been given the right to judge those who have slain wolves. Bring them retribution. Teach them fear. Enemies Slain: 0/100
Frost was only slightly surprised that he had to kill a hundred people for this quest. Dying would be dangerous because they would be able to take off his mask and see his name. There didn¡¯t seem to be any restrictions so as long as he killed the required number of people the mission would be completed no problem. Frost started running off into the forest, chuckling to himself. He had been planning to avoid people until he was level five, but now that he was level five, he was on a mission to kill them. He slipped on the mask, which changed its shape to fit his face as all magical equipment in this game did. ¡°Status¡± He had to check what he had to work with, as he hadn¡¯t actually paid much attention to status in a while. What he saw made him realize just how amazing his training menu combined with leveling and other bonuses was.
Frost Winterstorm Lvl 5
Health 320/320Mana 176/176
Stamina 296/310
Strength47Vitality36
Dexterity31Stamina44
Wisdom21Intelligence29
Agility54Luck28
Health Regeneration0.46/sMana Regeneration0.31/s
It¡¯s not as though he was the only one who gained stats from fighting and other bonuses, but he put real effort into training and building up his stats. Frost was trying to play the game seriously, but also tried to have fun while playing. He chose not to kill the wolves, chose not to join a party, and did what he felt like doing. It was a game after all, and if he wasn¡¯t having fun he was probably doing something wrong. If he was going to go through with this, he needed to plan carefully how he would go about eliminating players. First, he would have to do it within twenty-four hours in game or he risked players coming back to seek revenge, likely as a gathered mob of angry players. They might also pull concerned NPCs and guards into their little hunting party. Second, if he attacked a group, he couldn¡¯t let any of them escape and survive to warn everyone else or he faced the same problem of an angry mob. Third, he could not die or let himself be revealed no matter what. If he did and then continued with the quest, they would know he was a player and not an NPC. He didn¡¯t know how much the mask actually hid, but he hoped it hid the fact that he was a player. Also if they could kill him, they wouldn¡¯t be afraid of him, and he was supposed to make them fear him. Preferably, he could kill solo players, but it wouldn¡¯t be very easy to find that many and kill them in 24 hours, not to mention that solo players would be better fighters than the average member of a group. Most of his enemies would have to be groups of enemies like that guy Dorian and his party of weaklings. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could manage to kill one hundred people before twenty-four hours were up, but he should be able to finish the quest before they could organize a resistance and stop him. He stood up and started jogging into the forest, figuring there was no point in over thinking it. He just had to go out and kill them, making them afraid of ever killing wolves again. There was nothing specific he could do to them, like gathering them and killing them all at once. That would just be suicide. He had to hope that he was lucky enough to succeed. He soon ran into a small group of adventurers and decided to speak with them. He walked up to them and nearly started talking when one of them spotted him. ¡°Woah, what¡¯s an NPC like that doing out here? I¡¯ve never seen an adventurer NPC before.¡± ¡®They think I¡¯m an NPC? That could be useful.¡¯ ¡°Fellow adventurers, have you seen any wolves around?¡± The group was only four young warriors and he was fairly confident that he could take them on considering they were only level six. ¡®They must be playing casually if they¡¯re this low of a level.¡¯ ¡°Um¡­sure. We killed some a little ways back. Why?¡± At this point, the warriors were only a few feet away, their guards lowered. Bandit NPCs were rare in the North and were always in groups. These players thought they had just found an event NPC and were excited. When their leader found a sword piercing his heart they were all surprised as the masked man said, ¡°Then you will pay for your crimes against the wolves.¡± They had seen the man draw and thrust his sword, but hadn¡¯t been able to react to his speed. Frost punched the boy off of his sword as he pulled it out and attacked the group. They were under equipped and not yet used to combat so he was able to easily defeat them. He normally ignored any drops that weren¡¯t dunari or things he could use so he was about to walk away when he saw a sleeved cloak in the pile of drops. He picked it up and put it on, leaving the front open so it wouldn¡¯t get in his way very much. It would help keep his identity hidden in case people were able to recognize him from his gear. He continued searching, able to kill two more groups and even found a rusty sword from a grein drop along the way. Usually he ignored those kinds of drops but this time they He still killed any monsters he came across if he could easily take them out without wasting much time. He told them why he was killing them, that it was vengeance for the deaths of the peaceful wolves, but he killed everyone because every single one of them had participated in a wolf hunt. They were all guilty. When he found the next group, they saw him and ran, screaming about something or other. He chased them down, told them of their crimes, and killed all but one, whom he tackled to the ground. The person he had tackled to the ground was a beastman of the dog tribe. He had floppy ears and was furry, looking like a cross between a dog and a human. He decided that speaking differently would at least help him to hide his identity. ¡°Thou dost know of myself and why I have come to slay thee?¡± He also whispered so his voice wouldn¡¯t easily be distinguished. The dog man was shaking, clearly afraid. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I thought the wolves were just monsters and so did my friends. We were just playing the game.¡± He was on the verge of crying. ¡°How dost thou know of me?¡± ''This is dumb. I immediately regret doing this.'' The first people you killed called their friends and put up posts on forums. Then the news spread through Dead World by windspeak or word of mouth and now most people in the area know about you.¡± Windspeak was technically a spell that anyone could use, costing no mana or cast time. It was effectively a way for people to talk at long distances in game without ruining immersion and could be sent to anyone you had met, even if you didn¡¯t know their name. You merely had to picture the person as you cast the spell or if you knew a persons name, you could send a message to them. The man weakly tried to wiggle out of Frost¡¯s grip. ¡°Please let me go!¡± Frost had to think for a brief moment so that he wouldn¡¯t mess up the line. ¡°Thou hast taken the lives of innocents. Face the punishment thou dost deserve.¡± The man started screaming as Frost drew his dagger and repeatedly stabbed the man in the heart until he was dead. ¡®No mercy for the merciless.¡¯ Frost stared at the corpses, his deep blue eyes as cold as the snow on which he stood. They had learned about him too quickly. It hadn¡¯t even been two hours since he had killed the first group and they were already wary of him. He started dashing through the forest ignoring any monsters he saw, desperate to find and as many wolf killers as possible before they gathered to take him down. He managed to get the kill count to twenty-seven before he could no longer find groups in the forest very easily. There were some groups of a higher level that he found after a while of searching, killing them as well. He had to use both of his stamina consuming skills and only barely managed to win those fights. None of them were very skilled fighters so he was able to take them down, even though each fight was fairly tough. He fought them all the same way, sneaking up on them with stalking skills and taking out any mages or clerics before eliminating the rest of the group while angrily growling their crimes at them. He no longer had to tell them the reason he killed them. They knew what they were guilty of. Level eight and a total of fourty-two kills later, Frost could no longer find any groups of people in the forest, even after hours of searching. It appeared he had killed just about everyone who disregarded or didn¡¯t know about the wolf-masked man running through the forest, hunting players. He knew this quest had just become ten times harder and the players were probably already organizing a group to take him down. He could disappear now and play as Frost for a while, waiting for the commotion to die down, or he could try to finish it by fighting the group and probably dying in the process. Only one of those options really appealed to him and that was the laying low option, training while he waited for them to give up searching for him. It was the option that made the most sense for survival, for making sure that they did not discover who he was. He still needed to kill fifty-eight and how could he do that when they were all in a group chasing after him. If he faced them head on, he would fail, and how else could he deal with them? He just wasn¡¯t strong enough yet. He reached for the mask to take it off and his hand stopped an inch from his face. ¡®Am I just going to give up again when things get hard. That¡¯s what I¡¯m doing; just running away again, being a coward, giving up. Not this time.¡¯ He moved his hand away and started planning. ¡®I¡¯ll fight them even like this, even with all of them against me as one. I will show them that I can¡¯t be defeated, can¡¯t be killed, not by them. I will make them despair at how helpless they are.¡¯ Hunter POV A large group of people was gathered in front of Doel, listening to some NPC who called herself Danna, Captain of the city guard. She was in the middle of talking about a new danger in the forest, in the form of a mask-wearing murderer who claimed to be a guardian spirit of vengeance. For now, they would call him Wolf Mask and everyone was to be cautious when entering the forest. The guard was forming an emergency response unit to take care of the danger immediately. ¡°Anyone who doesn¡¯t want to join in the hunt is welcome to leave now. Not everyone is strong enough or equipped to handle this person, but we need everyone we can get who¡¯s brave enough. Take up arms and fight, or live in fear of a man who fights for the seek of mere wolves.¡±
Quest: Wolf Hunt
A man wearing a mask that resembles a wolf has been seen in the forest. This man claims to fight for the wolves as a spirit of vengeance. His goal is to slay those who have slain wolves. You must destroy him before he destroys you.
¡°Now who¡¯s with me?¡± The gathered players and NPCs cheered, raising their weapons into the sky as they accepted the quest. It was only one man after all. What could he do against almost 200 people who were out to get him? Dorian ¡°Good. Form groups of five. We¡¯re going to kill this bastard.¡± The players all thought this would be a simple extermination quest for beginners as a way to get them accustomed to event quests and how they worked in Dead World Online. The players understood so little about how the game truly worked. This was more than a game: It was reality for the NPCs and the ones who made the game. Dead World was just that. It was a different world. Frost The first thing he needed to do was to find a place that would be most advantageous to him. He went North through the forest until he found what he was looking for. It was a pine forest strewn with stones and fallen trees, perfect for setting ambushes and making escapes from heavily armored opponents. First, he set about familiarizing himself with the area, killing anything that he met along the way as he started to get the feel of fighting in the pine forest. Second, he started to plan how to deal with the small army that was probably coming to kill him. He hadn¡¯t had much time to plan when he received a message.
Windspeak from Dorian
Where are you? Are you participating in the Wolf Mask Hunt? I didn¡¯t see you.
¡°Windspeak Dorian.¡± ¡°I¡¯m around. I have my own reasons for dealing with him.¡± He couldn¡¯t have anyone suspicious of him, couldn¡¯t risk having anyone think that he was the one responsible for all of this. Even one slip up could cause him misery for the rest of the game, potentially even after the beta. He began to train his stalking skill as he thought about what his enemies would do to defeat him. Frost suspected that they would be in small groups, spread out over a wide distance in an attempt to capture him within a wide net. Each group would likely be within shouting distance of the next. The first group to see him would be responsible for slowing him down while the other groups arrived to outnumber him and defeat him. They knew he was strong and that he would probably be able to take out a single group given enough time. That meant, they would attempt to equip each group with something or someone that could slow him down. That also meant they would probably break up parties to form identically sized groups, thereby decreasing the coordination within each group because the players would not be used to each other. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. This was all speculation, of course, as Frost had no way of actually knowing what they would be planning, but it¡¯s what he would expect others to do. It was what he would do. Most slowing crowd control effects were ice or earth based magics such as the freezing and mud spells. With his high resistance to cold, he wouldn¡¯t be too affected by freezing spells and with the low temperature of the north, spells that turned the ground to mud would quickly freeze up. If possible, he had to find a way to avoid these spells and anything else they threw at him. After some time thinking, he couldn¡¯t find any solution and sat down, cooking a grein steak over a fire that took a while to get started. Fire was out of the question in a forest that was frozen, he didn¡¯t have time or the knowledge to make traps and pitfalls. He had a few hours at best before they found him. It was noon now and they were probably already on their way. He sighed and went to take a bite of the steak, but stopped with it halfway to his lips. He had forgotten something that would only be possible in this world. There was a chance for him to succeed where before he had thought there was none. He walked quickly until he found a pair of grein, which didn¡¯t take long because the creatures were everywhere. He took an item out of his pack and threw it at one of them. It hit the creature square in the chest, bouncing off and falling to the ground. It hadn¡¯t done even a single point of damage, but he wasn¡¯t really expecting it to. As he had hoped, the beast picked up and sniffed it. The beast stopped for a moment, then turned to face the direction the object had come from. The monster stared directly at Frost who could see the hatred in its eyes as it bared its teeth, seething with rage. He had attacked them with a chunk of meat, grein meat, and it looked like they were pissed. They howled, a deep, primal growl like nothing he had heard before and he knew that he succeeded. He was trying to make them mad enough that they would chase him and not let up until he was dead. In a normal game, this wouldn¡¯t work because the mobs would lose interest or only follow him so far. That¡¯s why he hadn¡¯t thought about this idea before. He was falling into the mentality that this was just another game, and that line of thought was a dangerous thing. Frost couldn¡¯t afford to continue thinking of this as just a game. Grein started coming out of the forest until there was over a dozen of them. He ran past them, throwing the meat at them as he dodged their furious swings. They roared again, repeating that strange howl as he ran just ahead of them, staying in sight to make certain that they continued to follow him in a blind rage. Within half an hour, he had learned the taunt skill, and within an hour he had an entire army of monsters following him. He was headed for the edge of the forest, straight towards town with his buddies in tow, still throwing meat at them to keep them enraged. Frost saw the hunters straight ahead, exactly as he had expected them to be. They were in groups of five, forming a wide net so he couldn¡¯t escape. He increased his speed so that he was further ahead of the monsters chasing him but still in sight. The group directly ahead of him noticed him and started shouting and sending messages. Frost could see the some of the other groups heading in his direction and smiled. He couldn¡¯t hold back his laughter as he saw the faces of the hunters change from excited to dumbfounded. He dodged around them taking a couple hits as he went through the group but it wasn¡¯t enough to even make him flinch. He turned around and stood on the other side of the hunters to ensure that the monsters would have to go right through them. For the first time since he had started gathering the monsters, he saw very clearly just how many he had gathered and even he had to raise an eyebrow. ¡®Holy shit that¡¯s a lot of grein. Maybe too many?¡¯ The two groups collided as more and more of the warriors showed up in a constant stream. Frost wanted to use his staff as enemies suddenly surrounded him, but he couldn¡¯t in case it somehow gave him away. Frost didn¡¯t try to control the chaos around him, instead slipping into a pine tree to wait. He calmed himself, taking deep breaths and recovering his depleted stamina that had been greatly reduced by an hour of constantly running. He let the battle continue to the point where the players were about to start dying. He left his shelter and stabbed a player in the back, whispering in the girl¡¯s ear as he felt his sword pierce through her gut. ¡°Pay with death for your crimes against the wolves.¡± She died, falling off of his sword and into the snow. He moved calmly through the battlefield, executing anything that was low enough, sometimes fighting when needed. Grein, player, and NPC all died, cut or pierced by his blade as he jogged through the battlefield. He targeted anything that had low health, ending its life with a flick of the wrist, his sword flashing with a dull gleam. Surprisingly the humanoids were already beginning to drive back the grein. He hadn¡¯t counted on them giving up so easily after having chased him so far. Maybe it was because he had been absent for a significant part of the battle and only appeared to finish off his enemies. They were too weak and frustrated to want to take him on now, so they began to leave, scattering into the forest. Frost had killed a lot of enemies and was close to leveling up again. The only problem was that he still had ten more people to kill and he was surrounded by humanoids that wanted to kill him. ¡®Shit. Time to leave.¡¯ He started to casually walk away while trying to hide his face but was quickly noticed. They tried to surround him but he danced out of the way of their blades and other weapons. Arrows and spells chased him through the forest, whizzing by him as he ducked behind a tree and into the forest. An arrow stuck in his leg, tripping him up right when he thought he had gotten away. The players began to chase him down, trying to cut him off so that he couldn¡¯t escape again. He pulled out the arrow, scrambling to his feet as he slipped in the snow. They were closing on him, surrounding him as they pushed him towards the edge of the pine forest. He was fast and gaining ground but they were wary of him now and wouldn¡¯t be caught with their guard down again. One of the groups had managed to get up ahead of him, probably getting an early start or showing up late to the fight. He had an idea that was crazy and decided to act on it in the same moment. He sprinted at full speed towards the group activating Lightning Blade and Furious Strength as he approached, swinging at full strength to activate Heavy Blow. He took hits from his opponents intentionally, using the chance to strike back at them. He ignored spells, axes, and blades for the most part, only blocking or dodging the most dangerous attacks. He had to kill them as fast as possible, before anyone else arrived to see what he was trying to do. He had too much to do and too little time to do it. The mage tried to slow him down with a Freezing spell but Frost¡¯s ice dragon blood protected him from the cold and any spells designed to freeze someone. Ice spells of such a low level were not strong enough to affect him very much at all. He was too strong, too fast for them to stop him as he cut them down mercilessly. They tried to tackle and hold him, but only ended up in a worse position when he flipped them onto their backs or tripped them. He finished them off and realized that there was an enormous flaw in his plan. He threw his cloak, mask, and sword into his pack, pulling out the rusty iron sword he had found earlier. His original plan was pretend to be a member of the group but it would be extremely obvious if there were six people in the group. That was probably part of the reason there were five people in a group but it was also the reason he could make this plan work. He had noticed during and just before the battle that the groups were all five people. Most likely, not everyone knew everyone else so the groups of five were comprised of random people who didn¡¯t necessarily know one another. That was what he was counting on. He could pretend that he was the only one in the group that had survived the attack. He quickly threw one of the fighter¡¯s bodies over his shoulder and ducked into a large pine tree, pushing aside the branches. He climbed halfway up the tree, depositing a body on a thick branch. He jumped down, rolling as he hit the ground to soften the blow.
Falling has reached beginner level 3
¡®Is this a joke? Fuck you,¡¯ he thought as he stumbled out of the tree and onto his knees. Just as he looked up, he saw players begin to arrive on the scene from multiple directions, some of them rushing over to where he was. He punched the ground and shouted in anger and frustration as he looked off into the distance in the direction he would have been running. ¡°What happened?¡± One of the players had run up to him and asked. A few other groups arrived in time to hear Frost¡¯s response. ¡°That wolf bastard took us out so fast, like we were a joke. We couldn¡¯t even slow him down and magic didn¡¯t even affect him. What the fuck is that guy? This is bullshit!¡± He was trying to seem as angry as possible while his heart raced, trying to burst from his chest. He hoped his acting was good enough to fool them. The fact that his strategy was working made it even harder to frown and look angry. ¡°Woah, man. Calm down. We¡¯ll get him soon. It¡¯s just a game, don¡¯t take it so seriously.¡± The man put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. ¡°Yeah dude. Chill out.¡± A few of the players spoke out, trying to make him feel better. ¡°Which way did he go?¡± A somewhat familiar voice asked. ¡°He went...¡± ¡®Wait. I¡¯ve heard that voice before.¡¯ His head snapped towards the source of the voice and he sneered in hatred. ¡°You!¡± It was one of the PKer brothers he had met not too long ago in the forest. Frost could see his name above his head and saw that he had named his character Tiger. Tiger was no longer a dark player, but he had seen his name before so he would always know it. It wasn¡¯t that hard to get rid of dark player status, especially when you had only killed one or two people. All you had to do was not kill people or do good things for a little while. The darker the character, the harder it was for them to become neutral or good again. Frost picked up his sword, hopping to his feet as he pointed the weapon at Tiger. Most of the other players, along with Tiger drew their own weapons in response as Frost growled, ¡°Tiger you PKing asshole. What are you doing here?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Tiger responded mockingly. ¡°I¡¯m a good player. You¡¯re the suspicious one here. I saw you using the same sword as the wolf guy. It pisses me off, but I admit that you¡¯re fast and skilled just like the wolf guy. I¡¯ll bet you switched out your gear and somehow took the place of someone on this team. Or maybe this team was working with you and you betrayed them.¡± He stepped on one of the bodies for emphasis, an evil look in his eyes and a small grin on his face. ¡°Maybe we should kill you just to be sure.¡± ¡°You¡¯d like to kill more people, wouldn¡¯t you, murderer.¡± He could see that the group of people didn¡¯t really believe him and they were really considering killing him. ¡®I can¡¯t die now, not when I¡¯m so close.¡¯ He started thinking frantically of a way he could escape his situation, but every option looked like it would end up with them killing him. He was at a loss of what to do so he angrily sheathed his sword and glared at them. ¡°I¡¯m not the wolf guy. He stole my sword when he killed me the first time I met him. That¡¯s why I joined this fucking hunt in the first place.¡± Some of them looked like they were convinced, but they still didn¡¯t put their weapons away. If he really was the man in the wolf mask, this opportunity was just too good to pass up. They had him injured and surrounded, with no way out. It was looking hopeless for him. ¡°Frost, is that you?¡± A voice called from somewhere in the back of the group. Someone pushed forward to the front and he could see who it was that had called out his name. It was Dorian, someone Frost had forgotten about until then. Dorian stepped into the middle of the circle surrounding Frost and held out his arms protectively. ¡°You can¡¯t kill Frost just because you think he¡¯s suspicious. Frost isn¡¯t the type of person to kill people at all. He saved my friends and me when we were going to die and he could have easily killed our weakened party. He might not be the friendliest guy but he¡¯s a good guy and definitely more trustworthy than this Tiger douche. Besides, everyone knows that the killer is an NPC.¡± ¡®Dorian, you wonderful idiot, I could hug you right now.¡¯ Frost kept his face impassive for only a moment before his lips cracked a smile. The group of players and guards began to lower their weapons, realizing they were about to kill someone just because someone else had accused him of being the wolf mask. That¡¯s just how afraid they were of the man in the wolf mask, and just how much they wanted him dead. Tiger was the last one to put his sword away, him and most of his group glaring at Frost in hatred. Frost had to turn away from them and look at the ground to hide a smile. He had only four people left to kill and it wouldn¡¯t be his fault if the wolf mask happened to run into Tiger and his group. Frost walked over to Dorian and the two exchanged friend requests while he thanked Dorian for saving him. The hunting party continued to search until nightfall, but couldn¡¯t find the wolf mask anywhere in the forest. The next day, the search continued but Frost and some of the other players gave up on the search, claiming they would be useless even if they did run into the man they were hunting. Of course, no one found him that day either, leaving the players discontent and annoyed. Others started leaving to go back to training or whatever else they might have been doing before the hunt began. No one could afford to waste so much time on a hopeless quest when everyone in the game was competing to be the best. Since leaving the group, Frost trained for a day and a half, finally reaching level nine after exercising and grinding. He supposed it was once again time to put on the wolf mask and finish what he started. Making sure that no one was around, he switched out his swords, threw on the cloak, and equipped the mask. Today would be the day he would finish his quest, and hopefully take down Tiger as well. As he headed out from the deeper parts of the forest, it began to snow, large, heavy flakes falling from the sky. Frost frowned, determined as he stared into the distance. ¡°I¡¯m coming for you, Tiger!¡± Chapter 9: Hunting Tigers I get distracted so easily¡­ What was I going to say? Something about actually proofreading for once? Whatever. Thanks for reading. Please enjoy. Chapter 9: Hunting Tigers Minala¡¯s POV Star and Nala were already becoming famous as bounty hunters and as players. The central continent was one of the harder starting places for players to raise a character and level up. The central continent had ruthless bandit NPCs and tougher monsters than the other starting places on the continent. The Southern continent was the most dangerous known area in the game, but it had no starting zones and no one had been able to enter it yet. Even the surrounding areas were full of monsters too strong for the current players to fight. Despite the central continent¡¯s increased level of difficulty, Star and Nala had still managed to rise to near the top of all players. In the leaderboards, they were within the top twenty players in the game. Recently, Min had finally managed to get a class after the two of them claimed a number of difficult bounties; some were for bandits while others were for monsters. She now had the Monster Hunter class, which gave her a boost to certain stats and skills that made collecting bounties easier. The girls had heard rumors online of an extremely powerful NPC murderer in the North. They wanted to head up there and fight him as much to claim the bounty on his head as for the excitement of fighting someone strong. Nala was always searching for stronger, better opponents to fight. In the real world, she didn¡¯t really have anyone on her level to fight with and she felt restless and lonely because of it. This game was heaven to her, being able to fight interesting people and even monsters on a daily basis. She still trained and exercised, following her daily routine before entering the game. Star and Nala slowly inched their way to the North as they improved themselves and were able to take on stronger enemies. The further away from the starting towns players moved, the stronger the enemies were. Dungeons were the exception. They tended to be monster breeding grounds or places that strong monsters lived. Dungeons were everywhere and one could find terribly strong monsters even within a few miles of some starting towns if one knew where to look. Nala pouted, thinking about how someone would have already killed or captured the man in the wolf mask long before they ever arrived in the North. That wasn¡¯t the only reason they had their current course in that direction though. On the way was a large city where they could gain better equipment, higher-level quests and who knew what else. It was the biggest city for over a hundred miles and was the stronghold for the central continent. It had been nearly five weeks in the game when they reached the city named Kor¡¯anth and found themselves in awe as they passed through the walls. There were buildings from before the war mixed with newer buildings. Large, elaborate, and beautiful buildings of the pre-war era stood next to a myriad of buildings, from small hovels falling apart to tall, militant towers. Despite the wide range of buildings, the city had a somewhat organized feel and the strange mix of buildings almost felt natural, as though the whole thing was planned from the start. Nala thought that the city was beautiful, happily walking around and enjoying the architecture of a different world while Star visited the temple of her god to pray and receive guidance. Star¡¯s god was Arkiel, the god of order and justice, responsible for the laws and the balance of order in the world. It was easy for Star to get quests involving the capture or elimination of bandits, building up reputation with Arkiel¡¯s church so that she could eventually get better missions. The church had many paladins and warriors, ready to uphold justice with force if and when necessary. The church helped to defend the city from outside threats as well as any problems that occurred within the walls. After her stroll around the city, Nala met up with Star at the temple and the two set off to resupply. They bought better weapons and armor as well as other supplies that they might need for the journey ahead. It was only when they were ready to head out that Star revealed and shared a quest that she had been given by the church. It was by far the most dangerous quest that they had ever been given. They would have to travel far and deal with great trouble to even get to the quest locations. The rewards, however¡­
Quest: Demons Rising
Arkiel¡¯s priests have felt the powers of demons enter this world far to the North. If these demons are allowed to gain strength, they will cause chaos and death. They must be stopped before they become stronger and upset the balance of the world. Kill all of the demons in Fort Sunset before they can cause too much damage. Time Limit: 35 Days Rewards: 5,000 Experience 300 gold Dunari
Looking at a map that was marked with the location of Fort Sunset, it would take some time to get there. Accounting for the monsters and leveling they would need to do on the way, it would be a close call whether or not they could complete the quest in time. However, that was part of what made it such an exciting quest for the two of them. Racing against time, fighting their way to a fortress, which they would fight their way into, and taking out the boss in the last minute of the quest. It was the joy of a gamer to overcome difficult challenges and be rewarded. Nala smiled and looked to the North, hoping that just maybe, the masked man was still around. Frost¡¯s POV Frost stared down a group of five players as he hid inside a pine tree. They didn¡¯t see him even though they were warily looking about, afraid that the wolf mask demon of the forest would descend upon them and take their lives. He reached for his sword. This was it. He could take them out here, should take them out to complete the quest so he could go about his business and stop being afraid of them revealing his identity. He only needed four kills and there were five of them. They were even a lower level than him, so it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to take them down and finish the quest, but something about it made him feel disappointed, bored. He frowned and simply watched them pass by rather than fight them. It was that element of fun and excitement that he was missing. The only question was whether or not he could slow down to have fun. Could he afford to take the time and do what he wanted to do when his time was limited? On the other hand, could he afford not to take Rose¡¯s advice? Maybe he needed to slow down like Rose had said. The past few days, he had been stressed because of the quest and it had made him lose sleep as well as become irritable. Maybe he really couldn¡¯t afford to keep pushing himself, staying up without sleep to prevent anything from happening while he was away. Yes, he needed to slow down and enjoy the game before he physically or mentally broke down. He needed to take the time to do things that he wanted to do, and right now, he wanted to kill Tiger. How satisfying it would be to take out someone like Tiger as the final kill of the quest, like the boss or final enemy. If he killed just anyone it would be boring, unfulfilling, and it would leave him feeling empty. Any quest rewards would make him feel bitter and cheated every time he looked at them. There was only one way he would be happy with the way the quest ended. Claw, Tiger¡¯s twin, Blue, the mage, Bats the cleric, Sena the rogue, and Tiger himself. He wanted to kill these five to complete the quest and nothing else would satisfy him. Frost started his hunt, slipping quietly through the forest and trying not to alert any of the adventurers to his presence so that they didn¡¯t form an army again. This time, he wouldn¡¯t be so lucky if they banded together against him. His stalking skill had greatly increased over the past two weeks since leaving the city and it was fast approaching the Trained level. Skills would level up faster if one were actually good at them and slower if one was unskilled. Improving skills to higher levels provided a bonus to stats as well as affected how the skill performed. For example, a high level sneaking skill might make a character harder to see by adding a chameleon effect or perhaps partial invisibility. Each skill added different benefits and improved different stats when leveled up. Moving through the forest, he only bothered to kill enemies when they were grein in groups of at least four, practicing for when he met Tiger¡¯s group. He spent hours looking, hiding, waiting. The hunting party had already given up on looking for him and the sun was starting to set. He was ready to give up, finish the quest and move on, having already wasted too much time on his Tiger hunt. He needed to leave the forest to find a better hunting ground so that he could go back to leveling up. Frost headed deeper into the forest where there would be fewer adventurers, munching on yet another grein steak as he went, something he was quickly becoming sick of. He planned to kill the next group of adventurers he came across and finish the quest. ¡®When I get back to town, I¡¯m filling my inventory with food supplies.¡¯ The grein meat fell out of his mouth as he noticed a group of adventurers out of the corner of his eye, turned to face them while readying himself for battle, and realized who they were after he took a closer look. ¡®What the fuck is this? I can¡¯t kill him.¡¯ It was Dorian. He was still distant but moving in Frost¡¯s direction so he slipped behind a tree to let Dorian pass since the man was running and looking behind him. Dorian had only three people, which didn¡¯t seem right. ¡®Weren¡¯t there four or five people in his group last time?¡¯ He looked around the other side of the tree he was hiding behind to see something else he hadn¡¯t expected. The way Dorian was running, he was clearly running from something, but Frost hadn¡¯t expected that something to be the very people he had been looking for. What were the chances that he would find Tiger¡¯s group in such a way? Dorian had helped him once again, leading his prey right to him. Frost slowly moved into the tree¡¯s branches, drawing his sword and hiding himself from view thanks to the dense wall of pine needles covering him. He let Dorian and his group pass, tensing up in preparation for what he was going to do next. This time, he wouldn¡¯t be running away, but maybe, he could strike preemptively again, the same way he had attacked them last time. A rogue that he was unfamiliar with dashed past, followed immediately by Tiger and Claw. He let them pass as well, taking a quick step into the open to intercept the ones right behind them, sword pointed forward. The mage impaled her self on the sword then found herself on her back as Frost spun, flinging her to the ground. Frost savagely attacked the cleric with repeated, heavy attacks, knowing he had to kill the man before the others realized he was there. He swung his sword, a strike that would finish off the cleric, allowing him to focus on the others without having to worry about them being healed. His attack was stopped as he was tackled to the ground. Frost had to roll and throw off the guy on top of him, noticing that it was Claw as he did so. The cleric, Bats, was already healing himself, Tiger standing in the way of Frost, preventing him from ending Bat¡¯s life. This was bad. Their names were red again so they must have gone back to killing other players or NPCs. They were surrounding him, weapons drawn while the spell casters mumbled their spells. He attacked, throwing himself physically and mentally into the fight. His sword flashed, but he was quickly forced onto the defensive, desperately trying to fend off the two sword and board brothers, the rogue, and any spells from the mage. He didn¡¯t even have time to think about where Sena, the other rogue, might be or if she was even with them anymore. He felt himself slow down somewhat as the mage¡¯s spell tried to freeze him, though it only affected him a small amount due to his resistances. His health decreased as he took hits, while any damage he did to them was fixed by the cleric. The mage¡¯s spells were mostly ice based since ice spells were stronger in the frigid environment. One minutes passed, then another as they chipped away at his health. The mage began to run out of mana from constantly casting spells and the cleric was getting low as well. ¡°Damn, he¡¯s tough.¡± Tiger growled. ¡°We¡¯ll have him soon though,¡± Claw grimaced as the fight continued. Frost threw his sword into the air and whipped out his staff from his extra-dimensional bag as his health reached a quarter of what his maximum was. He couldn¡¯t afford to use his skills because his stamina was too low. He had very high stamina for someone of his level, due to all of his training, but he was beginning to run out due to the long fight where he had to move three times as much as his opponents did. If he did use his abilities, he¡¯d end up too weak and tired to fight, which would leave him at the mercy of his enemies. Tiger¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°That staff! I knew it was you.¡± ¡°That mask must hide his identity as a player,¡± Blue huffed. The sword sliced Tiger¡¯s shoulder as it fell, sticking into the ground. He was surprised and distracted enough that Frost was able to escape the encirclement and swing his staff at full strength. He struck Tiger in the head, knocking him of balance, then charged forward, towards the cleric. Bats made the mistake of trying to run, being fast enough to get some distance from the group. Frost easily chased him down, quickly striking him in vital areas to reduce his health. The cleric had only healed himself to half health, trusting his party to defend him and saving his mana so he could heal them. It left him with low enough health that Frost was able to quickly finish him off before the others could reach them. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. His situation didn¡¯t look good though, since his health was only at twenty percent while they were sitting around eighty percent. Frost spun his staff, blocking, striking, and doing anything he could to not get hit while also trying to damage them. His strikes took off chunks of their health, but he had to defend against three of them and also took hits. With his high strength, he did a lot of damage with every solid hit, taking only scratches in return, his quick movements keeping him from taking any serious hits. It was still a game though, and a hit was a hit, meaning his health points were getting dangerously low. He still had to kill three of them before he could end the quest, but at this rate, he was going to die before that happened. He was afraid and angry that he had been so overconfident. If he had managed to kill the cleric at the beginning of the fight, he could have easily taken them down. He should have used his skills to kill the cleric as quickly as possible but he had been a fool and made a deadly mistake. The mage began casting a spell again, having recovered enough mana to do so while the rogue circled behind him. He was scared that he was going to die and scared of what the game would be like for him from now on. His vision narrowed and everything seemed to slow down as his body moved. His body moved, as if it was his reflexes, his body, something taking control of his movement and his mind. His mind stilled and his body moved, spinning dodging, and blocking without thought. It was that feeling again, the one he hadn¡¯t felt since that time in school that felt like it was so long ago. He moved on instinct, faster than before, more smoothly, more efficiently. He cut down their health, the staff spinning with power and grace as he fought better than he ever had before. It wasn¡¯t enough. His health was too low by the time he entered that hyper focused state and he still received hits, though he was hit less often than before. His opponents had too much health and there were too many of them for him to beat at this point. It was frustrating, but after all his hard work and planning, he was going to lose. He had no tricks up his sleeve or plans to help him escape. He probably wouldn¡¯t even be able to take one of his opponents with him when he died. He was going to lose and all because of his stupid pride, foolishly wasting time because he wanted to make the game more enjoyable. He shouldn¡¯t have listened to that crap, though it did seem like good advice at the time. ¡®Fun? What bullshit. I should be taking this game more seriously. I have to win. No more fucking around.¡± Tiger raised his arm and shouted, ¡°Deadly Strike!¡± He was confident enough to shout out his skill, knowing that there was nothing Frost could do. Frost didn¡¯t know what the skill did, but with his health under ten percent, there was a good chance it would kill him. That is, if the skill had ever hit him. An arrow had suddenly appeared in Tiger¡¯s neck, causing him to stumble and miss his attack. Suddenly, there was a third party engaged in the fighting but Frost didn¡¯t take the time to look, instead leaping away from the fight so he could take a breather and understand the situation. He stood off to the side, panting as he tried to catch his breath, quickly looking around the battlefield. Someone was on top of the mage stabbing her repeatedly with a dagger while another stood in the back wielding a bow and taking aim at the rogue. And there in the middle of it all was Dorian fighting toe to toe with Claw. ¡®Holy shit, Dorian. You are my fucking hero. Again. What are you, my guardian angel?¡¯ He hadn¡¯t expected Dorian to come back and join the combat. If it were him, he¡¯d probably be long gone, having already forgotten the situation. Tiger was furious as he looked at what was happening. He started to turn, moving to help his brother who was in combat, but then he stopped, head turning slowly to look in frost¡¯s direction. He looked at Frost with a look of such hatred and rage that it sent a shiver down his spine. He thought that maybe he shouldn¡¯t take the game that seriously after all, if he was going to end up like Tiger; pissed off all the time and focusing on generally being an ass hole. Tiger ran towards him, guard up, and Frost was forced to take a defensive stance. He had barely recovered, but Tiger had to be low on stamina as well. Frost knew that he had to make a move here or the angry man running towards him would overwhelm him. He did the only thing he could think of and went on the offensive. He took a quick step forward, feinting with his staff towards Tiger¡¯s face before dropping low and kicking his enemy¡¯s legs in an attempt to trip him. Tiger went down easier then expected, sliding forward on the snowy ground. The time he took to stand up allowed Frost to continue catching his breath. His stamina was dangerously low, as was his health. Any time he could get recovering both of them would help him deal with Tiger who still had forty percent of his health left. They began to circle one another, kicking up snow as they moved. Tiger attacked first, trying to interrupt and prevent Frost¡¯s flowing movements with continuous attacks. He had to admit that the strategy was effective and he wasn¡¯t used to fighting against an enemy with a shield. The two tested each other, knowing that this one on one fight would be different from the other fight. It was a one on one and Frost¡¯s health was still below ten percent, leaving him vulnerable. A critical hit or a clean strike could finish him off so he had to be careful and only strike when Tiger was too off balance to counter attack or he risked death. However, Tiger knew that Frost was the better fighter and much stronger than him. One bad move and the tables would turn, leaving Tiger the one face down in the snow. Frost held the staff behind him with one hand, sliding his feet into a stance as he let out a deep breath, holding one hand in front of him palm facing towards his opponent. Tiger snarled with rage as ha charged forward, intending to end the fight as quickly as possible. If it came down to a hitting contest, Frost would be the one to go down first, so he was attempting to lock Frost into an extremely close quarters battle. What he got instead was a full power overhead swing crashing down on his hastily raised shield. Just as Frost was unfamiliar with fighting against shields, Tiger was not used to the versatility and speed of a staff. The two struck at each other, trying to gauge how to go about attacking the other. Frost was at a disadvantage for another reason, that being that Tiger¡¯s companions were a higher level than Dorian¡¯s. He needed to finish the fight before anyone else could complicate the situation. He still had forty some stamina left, too little to use skills, but enough to take down Tiger. There was one passive skill he could use, but Heavy Blow could leave him vulnerable to a counterattack. Using the momentum of a sideways spin, Frost brought his staff crashing down in a one-handed, overhead blow while he moved forward. As the staff bounced off of the shield, blocking Tiger¡¯s view, he pulled out a dagger and surged forward, stabbing the blade into Tiger¡¯s side. He left the blade there as he hopped back, readying the staff again in case Tiger tried to do something. Tiger moved to pull out the blade because if he left it in there, it would continue to do damage. The moment he moved, Frost whipped his staff forward in a thrust, striking Tiger in the forehead. Frost took the opportunity to land another strike, and another, landing deliberate blows to throw Tiger off balance. Frost rushed him, hitting his knees, his head, and his body, doing whatever he could to keep him off balance and finish him as quickly as possible. Tiger fell backwards but quickly rolled to his feet and even pulled out the dagger, once again ready for battle. He had less than twenty percent of his health left, but Frost was out of tricks. He would simply have to use his skills with the staff to kill Tiger before he himself was killed. ¡°Deadly Strike!¡± The attack caught Frost by surprise, but he managed to get his guard up. He tried to block with the staff but the attack pushed through his guard, cutting into his shoulder. He saw his health drop frighteningly low and pushed the sword away. Even a light hit could kill him so now he had to be even more wary. His health next to zero and his stamina running low, he decided to take a risk, betting everything on his speed and strength. ¡®Furious strength!¡¯ Frost roared a battle cry as he charged forward, swinging his staff with as much speed as he could, betting everything on this last ditch effort. He put everything he had into those strikes. He had about five or six seconds before his stamina ran out and he was too tired to move. Within one second, he had closed the distance. In the second he had begun his attack and by the third, managed to land a hit. In the fourth second, with lightning speed, he landed two more hits and could see the terror in Tiger¡¯s eyes. He hadn¡¯t been expecting such a furious rain of blows after having nearly killed Frost, but his own stamina was too low for him to do anything but try to defend by turtling. In the fifth second Frost swung his staff with all his strength as he slipped behind Tiger, striking him in the back as his skill ran out, taking almost all of his stamina with it. Tiger fell to the ground, his soul escaping his body. Frost wanted to fall to the ground and lay there as well, but he still had work to do. He needed two more kills and there were two of Tiger¡¯s group still alive. It was a shame that Tiger hadn¡¯t been the final kill, but he was satisfied nonetheless as Claw and the rogue were still standing and trying to hold off Dorian¡¯s party. He put his staff in his pack and picked up his dagger, walking over to recover his sword. Frost saw that he had three stamina left and it was recovering very slowly as he watched the fight continue. All of them had low health but Dorian¡¯s team still had three people alive so they had an advantage. At this point in the game, the level difference was not that much of an advantage so Dorian and his team were slowly increasing their own advantage over their opponent. Frost walked slowly towards the combat, completely exhausted. The rogue took an arrow to the shoulder and the other combatant took advantage of the distraction, striking him with a short sword while Frost raised his arm. The rogue¡¯s health dropped even lower and Frost flung his dagger, striking him in the back. His soul escaped his body, leaving Frost with only one more person to kill. Claw¡¯s health was already low and multiple arrows stuck out of his limbs and shield. Frost charged forward as fast as he could manage, sword held low and the tip facing forward. Claw turned just in time to take the sword in the gut as Frost rammed into him. They tumbled to the ground, neither of them getting up. *Ding* It was done. Frost heard a ding as he lay there, barely able to breathe, out of stamina and completely helpless. Dorian and his two companions stood above him, looking down on the man who had made all of Doel and those living in the area afraid of even entering the forest. Now he was here, nearly dead and completely helpless before them. Killing him would be as easy as killing a child asleep in his bed. The archer sighed and turned away, putting his hands behind his head. ¡°He saved our asses so I guess we can¡¯t just kill him.¡± Dorian chuckled and put away his sword, sitting on the ground and letting out his held breath. ¡°That was tense.¡± ¡°Do you think he¡¯s going to kill us when he recovers?¡± Frost realized that the dagger and short sword-wielding fighter on Dorian¡¯s team, who had just spoken, was actually a female elf. It had been hard to tell anything detailed about them in the hectic fight and he hadn¡¯t paid any attention to them when he had run into them before. Dorian looked into Frost¡¯s eyes, tilting his head thoughtfully. ¡°Maybe, but I think not.¡± The three looked at each other before moving away to have a small conference a little distance away. They came back after a few minutes of quiet arguing and discussion. The three bowed to him. ¡°Thank you for saving our lives. We¡¯re sorry we killed wolves and we won¡¯t do it again. ¡°I thank thee¡­huff¡­ for saving mine.¡± He took a moment to catch his breath some more so that he could get out the next few sentences without dying of a lack of oxygen. ¡°I shall show thee mercy for now and return to my realm soon, but know that I will return in the future, even stronger, should the massacre of wolves continue. Spread this message to those who would slay my wolves.¡± They smiled when he said he would show them mercy, knowing that he was still weak and close to death. His health and stamina were beginning to regenerate now that he was out of battle so he would soon be at fighting strength again. He was about to stand up but he decided to look at the message window that had dinged earlier instead.
Quest Complete!
To resolve Wolf Spirit¡¯s Anger, wait in the forest at night, with a full view of the moon.
It didn¡¯t take too long for him to fully recover since recovery speed was tripled outside of battle, meaning he was recovering a health point per second. He sat up and took his sword out of Claw, sheathing it at his waist. He looked around and noticed why they were still waiting as he went to retrieve his dagger. They wanted to know how they would split the drops. Whenever someone died, they would drop between ten and thirty percent of their Dunari, with a good chance of other drops as well. Anything that was equipped had only a very small chance of dropping, but it could still happen. ¡°Do you want the Dunari, or the drops?¡± Dorian asked. Frost answered by gathering the dunari together and putting it in his pack, waving goodbye as he walked deeper into the forest. It was a total of two gold, seven silver, and three copper dunari, a hefty sum for someone of his level. Finally, the quest was over. Frost laughed to himself, the excitement of the battle still fresh in his mind. Right now, he was winning battles through a combination of skill, sparring experience, and luck. However, he planned to eliminate luck from his battles so that he was winning with skill and experience alone. He still had time to become the best, and he was going to start using every moment of that time to improve himself. From there on out, he was playing only to win. Chapter 10: A Tempting Offer First off¡­ orz I¡¯m sorry to anyone/everyone waiting for another chapter of Dead World Online. I have my reasons for the hiatus, part of which being my computer decided to malfunction and I had to reset it causing me to lose precious chapters and parts of DWO, but I¡¯m back now and will be for a while. I fear the quality of my writing has probably dropped due to rustiness and blah blah, more excuses, blah blah, ranting. I plan to give you all an interesting story as I continue to work out how I want this to go. Not a lot has changed from my original plans for our protagonist, and for the game he plays. Get ready for more exciting adventures from My Sad Laptop Inc. There may be some random nonsense in this chapter but you know, it has its reasons for being there. I promise (Lies?) this is the last chapter maybe probably where I randomly introduce things that seem arbitrary. Eventually it will all connect and make some sense. Definitely¡­ I know what I¡¯m trying to do. Also, this chapter is to help me get back into writing the story since I''m not that good of a writer and rarely get inspiration. However, please continue to stick with me and I will continue to try to improve. As always, please enjoy. Chapter 10: A Tempting Offer Frost watched the moon rise into view from a clearing deep in the forest, finally beginning to feel the chill after spending so long in the frozen environment. His resistances and clothing held the cold at bay, but after all the time he spent outside in the chilly north, even he was beginning to feel the cold seep into his body. It wasn¡¯t so bad though, everything considered, as he lay back in the snow, breathing in and out slowly. It was peaceful. The moon illuminated the soft flakes of snow that fell often in the north. He sighed, content, as a light wind ruffled his hair. He was dressed in the clothes his parents had given him, having hidden everything that might reveal him as the man in the wolf mask. The sword, the cloak, and the mask were all hidden away in his pack, not that he expected to run into anyone this deep in the forest, especially this late at night. The night grew longer as he thought about what steps to take from there on out. First, he would need to resupply. He would have to buy armor as well as tools and ingredients for cooking. He definitely couldn¡¯t forget materials for food. If he had to eat another grein steak, he was going to puke. ¡®You look as though you are reminiscing about the past, thinking deep thoughts about something.¡¯ It was the wolf spirit again, returned to finish the quest and give him his reward. ¡°Quite the opposite actually. I¡¯m planning ahead.¡± ¡®Is that so? Where will you go from here?¡¯ Frost pointed off towards the distant mountains. ¡°South, over the mountains and all the way to the sea, one step at a time.¡± ¡®I certainly chose the right person. You do know the rumors of the southern continent?¡¯ ¡°Oh they¡¯re more than rumors. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± ¡®I will no longer question you then, but I will offer you knowledge that has never been granted to any two-legged one. I also reward you for your aid.¡¯ At that moment, the moonlight started to shimmer and solidify, taking on form and color. It formed into a grey cloak that looked like the fur of a wolf, complete with a hood that was shaped like a wolf head. It fell directly into his lap, but he just held onto it rather than looking too closely at it for the moment. [/TR]
Quest complete. Rewards: Cloak of the Wolf, 3,000 exp
Level up!
¡®There are other spirits that seek a protector, someone to fight the injustice of this world with righteous vengeance. You are someone that can save them, so I implore you to help them. I can even offer you a special guardian class. The foxes in the plains to the east¡­¡¯ Frost considered for a moment before deciding. Once you took a class, there was no going back unless you went through a great deal of trouble to change it. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m not really interested in the whole saving the world lifestyle. I get that there¡¯s probably an awesome set of armor in it for me and that class is probably great, but I have to reject it. It¡¯s just not my style to take care of other people¡¯s problems when I have my own. Also, fighting people nearly ended with my death. I doubt I could keep doing it and survive.¡± ¡®Even though you wouldn¡¯t die permanently?¡¯ Frost froze. The wolf spirit wasn¡¯t even supposed to know that players existed, much less that he was one of them. He forced himself to relax physically while his mind raced. Likely, there was a reason behind what the wolf had just said. The A.I. controlling the system obviously knew that players could not die permanently, but why would the system bring it up? Was it poor game design? This was supposed to be a beta after all, so it wouldn¡¯t be surprising that there were a few things the system would make a mistake on. Ruining the immersion of the game was a serious flaw in a program¡¯s character dialogue. ¡°System. Game report.¡± He said to no one in particular. This was how a character testing in the beta could most effectively notify the system of any errors or suggest small changes to the game. A small window opened in front of him and he typed in a recommendation of certain things the NPC¡¯s should not say as it might ruin immersion. He sent the message and decided to just ignore the wolf¡¯s question. He stood up to leave, taking only a single step in the direction of the town when the wolf spoke again. ¡®My knowledge is no error.¡¯ Frost turned around to look at the wolf again. ¡°What?¡± ¡®I know what you are traveller. I watch over these lands, and I have learned a great deal in a short amount of time. I can tell the difference between you and the humans of this land. Perhaps you and your travellers see this world as a little more than a playground, but I see it as a world full of living beings. It is possible that this world is not as big and meaningful as I would see it, but it is certainly more than you and your kind believe it to be.¡¯ By the time the wolf had finished saying those words, Frost¡¯s mouth was hanging open and he was starting to have disturbing thoughts. He decided not to think about what any of that meant, not wanting to think about the consequences of his actions in the game. He wanted to get back to the mindset of winning and didn¡¯t want to be distracted any further by uncomfortable thoughts. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. Helping the others. Just, don¡¯t expect very much from me. I barely completed this mission that you gave me.¡± ¡®You can¡¯t run from the truth forever.¡¯ ¡®Unfortunately, you¡¯re wrong about that.¡¯ Frost hunched his shoulders against the cold and absentmindedly put on the cloak as he walked away. It was warm and comforting, protecting him from the cold, but it couldn¡¯t protect him from the small feeling of regret about abandoning a quest line and giving up on the lives of the foxes. He probably had no chance of saving them anyway. Frost took a moment to examine his new cloak before entering town. It was very stylish, all things considered, and its effects were impressive.
Cloak of the Wolf
Armor: 20Durability 65/65
A mysterious cloak made to resemble a wolf Effects: 60% Cold resistance 20% magic resistance Ability: Howl-Summon a pair of minor wolf spirits to aid you in battle for sixty seconds. Cooldown: 1 Hour.
Doel was apparently unchanged from the wolf hunting fiasco, despite the huge commotion it had caused. The only difference was the occasional mention of the high price of wolf pelts because cities and towns in the North were making wolf hunting illegal. Frost went from store to store, buying the materials he needed and selling the few pieces of loot that he occasionally picked up. He bought cooking supplies, cloth, and leather strips along with a full set of leather armor. Afterwards, he headed to Ger¡¯s smithy and bought some iron. He went to work on the metal under the curious scrutiny of Ger and the other two workers. They could see he wasn¡¯t making a weapon, but couldn¡¯t immediately see what he was making. Frost wasn¡¯t entirely sure what he was doing even though he had something of a plan, and so he ended up making many mistakes. It took some help from Ger who eventually noticed what he was doing to actually complete the project after two hours of work. He succeeded in upgrading his armor. His boots, gloves, and bracers now had thick metal protection that could also be used for attacking. The weight would only slow him down slightly and was well worth it since it would widen his attack and defense options in battle. Frost said a final farewell to Ger and then went to visit his home. His parents cried as they bid him farewell, having held onto hopes that he would give up once he had a taste for adventure and realized what a frightening world it was. How could they understand that he wasn¡¯t really from their world and that he couldn¡¯t really die? He had to admit that it was somewhat awkward trying to comfort NPCs who were crying because he was leaving. They seemed like real people and it was still surprising every time he saw how they behaved, how they looked. Not only that, but the wolf spirit¡¯s words left him with a haunting feeling that this game had some deep secrets. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. What secrets did this game hold, and why were they being revealed to him? Maybe it would be better to ignore everything that had happened and just go back to playing the game normally, if he could. He stood at the gates of the city, knowing that when he returned to the game, he would face completely new challenges that would test him and push him to his limits. He didn¡¯t have time for unnecessary thoughts. Frost logged out, feeling exhausted after everything that had happened. He was finally safe. Tafa Tafa ran through the crowded streets, trying to lose the man that was following her. He was someone she didn¡¯t know, had never seen before until a few weeks ago. Tafa was very perceptive, always paying attention to the people around her and trying to learn about everyone in town. The first time she noticed him, there didn¡¯t seem to be anything strange about him except for the fact that he didn¡¯t have anything recognizable about him. He was about as nondescript as people get, with average height, looks, weight, and everything else. He was just like the observers that Mr. Keeper had about, so she didn¡¯t worry about him. She continued to notice him more and more as the days went by and more so since she specifically looked for him. New people in town, informant or not, were very interesting and deserving of attention. The strange thing about him, she was beginning to suspect, was that he was watching her. Tafa continued to wander the crowded areas of town, keeping a lookout for him and confirmed her fears. The man was following her for some strange reason. Tafa wasn¡¯t anyone deserving of attention, so why was that man following her. The mystery surrounding the newcomer was scarier than the fact that he was following her. Eventually, she built up the courage to confront him in a crowded area, but when she searched for him, he was nowhere to be found. Every time thereafter, the same thing would happen, where he would slip away before she could learn anything. After a time, she began to grow accustomed to his presence, especially considering that being on edge made her feel exhausted by the end of the day. She needed to make her deliveries, and people would very quickly know if something happened to her. She had faith that the town¡¯s few guards would be able to protect her if she needed them. One day, she stepped into an alley on a shortcut through the passageways between buildings, no longer afraid that her watcher would ambush her there. She made it to the point between buildings when she heard someone call her name. ¡°Tafa.¡± She turned to see Greg, one of the town¡¯s guardsmen walking casually down the alley using the same entrance she had. ¡°I was looking for you, you wily little bird,¡± he smiled. He always called her little bird, since she could remember. They had been friends since Tafa had begun delivering eggs and other supplies or foodstuffs to villagers. Greg had always been a bit of a slacker and avoided doing anything too strenuous. Tafa smiled back, ¡°Did you need something, Greg?¡± ¡°Well, yeah. This is kind of embarrassing, so I¡¯ll just say it quickly.¡± He scooted closer to her, moving to whisper in her ear. He put his face close to her ears, and then he grabbed her head and smashed it against the wall, then again, and again. She felt herself losing consciousness as she caught one last glimpse of Greg. The smile he usually wore was twisted and cruel in a way that broke her heart and made her feel despair that someone so close to her could look and act so evil. If someone like Greg could smile like that, what kind of world was she living in? A single tear escaped her eyes as he smiled his twisted smile and dragged her into the shadows. He laughed quietly as the girl lost consciousness ¡°We may finally have a way to get to him.¡± Reid The next day, Reid felt like he was spending too much time in the game and wanted to get some exercise, so he headed to Deke¡¯s dojo to get some practice in. Deke wasn¡¯t there so he went for a run until he came across another place that taught the way of the sword. Such places were much more popular and had been increasingly so since the announcement of Dead World Online. Of course, attendance dropped with the release of the beta, but people still came to improve since most were still amateurs. Reid entered through the open gate and looked around. It was styled in what he imagined a classical Japanese dojo would look like. It had wood and paper sliding doors, wooden floors, and a serene, walled in area. It was a scene straight out of an anime, and it made him smile. Reid didn¡¯t expect much from the master of such a weird dojo. He knocked on the door to the main dojo and waited. The door opened to a tall Japanese man wearing a karate gi. He looked the type to be constantly disapproving of just about everything. He seemed the type who Reid would find hard to deal with, and the type to take everything seriously. ¡°How can I help you?¡± He said. ¡°Well¡­¡± before Reid could explain, the man cut him off. ¡°You want to learn how to fight so that you can play that game everyone likes so much, right?¡± ¡°Actually¡­¡± ¡°Well don¡¯t just stand there, take off your shoes and enter my dojo. I want to see your resolve and test you.¡± ¡®Seriously!? Are you freaking crazy or something? So clich¨¦!¡¯ He sighed. ¡°Fine. I guess this should accomplish what I came here for anyway,¡± he mumbled to himself. He wanted to get some exercise, and seeing what level other people his age were at wouldn¡¯t hurt.He allowed the man to guide him into the dojo where he saw some other disciples lounging about. ¡°Would you like to borrow a gi?¡± ¡°No thanks, but I¡¯m gonna stretch a bit first.¡± ¡°Fine by me. Disciples. Clean up the equipment. We have a guest here to see if he has what it takes to join my dojo.¡± ¡®Nope.¡¯ Why don¡¯t you do some sparring? You can all show what you¡¯ve learned while he stretches out and signs a waiver. Reid carefully analyzed them and learned about their techniques while he took his time stretching and introducing himself as he signed the waiver. There were five disciples so one of them sat out while the other two sparred. The fifth looked bored, as if there was no one on his level and he seemed to be looking down on the others. ¡°Tell me sir, what¡¯s up with that guy?¡± ¡°Call me sensei.¡± ¡­ ¡°Sure...sensei.¡± ¡°He¡¯s Carl, one of my best students. He sure does have some talent and the other guys can¡¯t really hold a candle to him.¡± ¡°Can I fight him then.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want any beginners getting hurt so it¡¯s probably better if you don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry sensei, I won¡¯t hurt him, really. Just enough to fix that bad attitude.¡± ¡°Well, you signed the waiver, and you seem determined¡­Carl, come here.¡± ¡°Yes, sensei.¡± ¡°Reid here wants to spar with you.¡± Carl turned to look at Reid with disgust, as if he had just been insulted. ¡°I¡¯ve been to nationals three times and nearly won two of those three times. When I go this year, I will win for sure. I don¡¯t want to fight some newbie who thinks he¡¯s hot shit for whatever reasons you might have.¡± ¡°Carl! That was terribly rude. Apologize¡­¡± ¡°Haha. No, it¡¯s fine. He¡¯s just scared.¡± Carl glared at him. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll kick you into the dirt where you belong.¡± ¡®Heh. Too easy.¡¯ Carl picked up a pair of wooden swords and threw one to Reid who snatched it out of the air. He gave it a few practice swings to test the weight and feel of the stick. He didn¡¯t notice that the man in the gi had his suspicions confirmed when he saw Reid swing the sword. He had suspected that Reid was not new after seeing how confident and arrogant he was. He watched as the two took ready poses, facing each other. The other students had stopped their own spars to watch their companion beat up some punk. They knew how good he was and since they didn¡¯t recognize the new guy, he probably wasn¡¯t anything special. Those thoughts were blown away as the two began to attack each other. Carl seemed to quickly overwhelm Reid with quick strikes, going on the offensive. Reid continued to back off until blocking a powerful blow took him down to one knee. Carl raised his sword to finish the fight, while the sensei decided it would be better for the overconfident Reid to learn his lesson. Carl brought down his sword and the next moment found himself on his back with a wooden sword pointed at his throat. Carl furiously spat at him, ¡°That¡¯s against the rules bastard! You can¡¯t use throws, this is a sword fight.¡± Reid had surged forward and used the momentum of Carl¡¯s swing to throw him onto his back. ¡°What rules, idiot. You never set any and real fights don¡¯t have rules.¡± The sensei stroked his chin. ¡°You were never on the back foot at all were you? The whole time you were luring him into a false sense of security.¡± ¡®No, that guy was pretty good. If I weren¡¯t careful, I¡¯d have lost. I need to get better if I want to win. It¡¯s time I stop fooling around.¡¯ ¡°How about you face me next, boy?¡± ¡°No thanks. In fact, I don¡¯t know why I thought this would be a good idea. I need to go before I piss off someone else.¡± He could tell that Carl was furious and only restraining himself because his master was around. ¡°Alright then. Well, next time you come by you might get to meet my best disciple. I¡¯d love to see how you hold up against her. She might even take you down.¡± ¡°Um¡­okay. Bye.¡± He ran off berating himself for being stupid. He should have just stayed home and exercised. He wasn¡¯t very good at dealing with people and his personality made enemies. He sighed and headed home. It was time to log back in and seriously level up his character since he was still behind schedule. Chapter 11: Learning I may have forgotten to add something important so I had to go back and change this. When a character levels up they get ten stamina, health, and mana as well as stat points. Oops. That¡¯s why my math looks weird to some people. That and the confusing the first ten stat points are also responsible for the base 100 in the hp, stamina, and mana pools. Explanation: 45 vitality- first ten points are the hundred base points -the rest of the thirty points are 35x5 for 175 -This totals to 275, plus 50hp for chosen and 90hp for level 10 (first level does not get 10 point bonuses.) Total 415. I hope that clears things up. Why so complicated? Blame my producers. Did I make experience points complicated too, using equations and all that nonsense? Yes. Why? Apparently, I hate myself. I¡¯ll have a lot more free time for a while so expect chapters more frequently now. Please enjoy. Chapter 11: Learning Frost ¡°Status.¡± Frost looked at his current status having recently allocated his points to where he thought he would need them. He needed to have a lot of health, speed, stamina, and strength to take down enemies as a solo player so he continued to build them up, putting a few points in Dexterity as well. Hero¡¯s Burden was an incredibly powerful starting modifier. He was able to build himself as an all around character focused on speed. The higher his level, the further everyone else would be behind him. Normally, this would still be a bad choice because anyone who had it would fall behind their group in levels and have no one to fight with. Even now, Frost was far behind many of the other players when it came to levels. It would take them longer to catch up to everyone else and then they would have to fight alone. For Frost, though, it was perfect.
Frost Winterstorm Lvl 10
Health 415Mana 214/214
Stamina 297/390
Strength55Vitality45
Dexterity35Stamina50
Wisdom21Intelligence29
Agility70Luck30
Health Regeneration0.55/sMana Regeneration0.31/s
Frost was currently heading South towards the mountains, trying to raise any of the stats and skills he could on the way, while also killing monsters that were a high enough level. With Kharz Forest on his left, he continued to run until he started to encounter higher-level enemies at the entrance to the hills that preceded the mountains. They were an almost comforting enemy, being similar to typical fantasy orcs. They were dressed in heavy clothes, but he could still see their green or brown skin in places the clothing didn¡¯t cover. The orcs were also easy to recognize when they started to charge him with weapons raised, bellowing war cries. He drew his sword, counting four of them, and noting that they were actually called orcs, which he could see when they were close enough. They had crude weapons made of wood and stone, their clothes made of furs and cloth. Their levels were in the mid teens, from fourteen to sixteen, and they looked dangerous enough to be worth fighting. He took a deep breath to calm himself down as he waited for the enemy to get a little bit closer. He had put most of his points from level ten into agility, raising it up to seventy, and now he was extremely fast. He could swing his heavy sword easily, thanks to the strength and speed his character had. He had worked hard to increase his stats, and it was about time he started using them to their fullest potential. The orcs had different speeds, and raced to be the first to reach him, so they separated bit by bit as they closed on him. Frost dashed forward and instantly made a mistake. He wanted to use Heavy Blow, Furious Strength, and Lightning Blade all at the same time, and disable them immediately after he struck. He expected neither of the activated skills to work but continued to swing his blade anyway at full strength and speed. His sword lit up with a flash of pale blue light, as it moved with ridiculous speed and power, cutting through the side of the first orc. He was so surprised that he almost stopped moving. He heard a ding as he moved past the first enemy and onto the next. He increased his speed to the limit as he charged the next enemy head on, dodging an axe at the last moment and cutting through the neck of that enemy. His momentum carried him past but he turned around and impaled the enemy through the back. The last two orcs had arrived at that point and the first one was holding his side as he growled in pain and rage. The three of them glared at Frost while the body of their companion fell limply to the ground. Enemies died easily if you knew where to hit them. Hitting certain places such as the neck or other vulnerable spots did more damage and had high critical strike chance which was further increased by luck and dexterity, though only a little bit. Stabbing humanoid enemies in the back was one of those attacks that seemed to do more damage. DWO was one of those games that liked to maintain some essence of reality where fighting was concerned. It was easy to kill and to be killed, so you had to use skills and cooperate with your teammates in order to survive. The three began to spread out so they could encircle him. He let them distance themselves from each other, eyeing each of them in turn as they did. He waited until they were almost where they wanted to be and dashed toward the orc with the lowest level, aiming a feint straight downward. The ugly beast moved to block so he twisted his grip after the sword had missed the creature¡¯s club, turning the downward momentum of the blade into a sideways motion slicing across the creature¡¯s stomach. The orc tried to punch him in the nose but he managed to somewhat dodge, receiving only a glancing blow across the cheek. Frost rolled to the side as the other two orcs came up behind him and tried to strike him down. He hopped forward, and tried to do again what he had done earlier, swinging with full strength while trying to simultaneously use his active abilities. The sword sliced through the air and through the head of the first injured orc, knocking it to the ground. It didn¡¯t look like it was going to get up anytime soon, so he quickly hopped away from the orcs before they could try anything. The one had a club while the other had a pair of axes. If possible, he wanted to take out the club wielder rather than risk a daze or stun effect from the bludgeoning weapon. At that moment Frost decided he would learn how to throw knives when he had the chance. It would be useful for baiting enemies or doing damage from a short distance. The two orcs were staying close together now, doing what they should have done from the beginning. It appeared that the orcs were greedy and wanted to take the kill and the spoils for themselves. Only now did they realize their error in letting Frost fight them one at a time. He circled them, getting closer as he held his sword in front of him. ¡®Lightning Blade. Furious Strength.¡¯ He still had plenty of stamina so he decided to go on the offensive with quick, powerful strikes mostly focused on the axe wielder who wasn¡¯t able to block as easily as the orc with the big club. He still struck at the club wielding orc to throw it off balance until he was able to knock one of the axes out of the other orc¡¯s hand and stab it through the throat. He danced around their attacks and their defenses, cutting and slashing away until another one of the orcs collapsed, its health bar depleted. Frost deactivated his abilities before they drained away his stamina. He still had more than enough to take down a single, injured orc though. His attacks did a surprisingly good amount of damage. Fifty-five strength points was a lot considering how early in the game it was. Frost rushed the last orc, attacking him with an onslaught of blows until it faltered and he was able to strike it down. The orcs gave pretty good experience but there was another window that grabbed his attention.
Active: Lightning Flash
A single attack made with +30% attack speed, 130% damage, and ignores 15% of armor. Cost: 30 mana and 30 stamina
Frost thought about the class the wolf spirit had offered him and worried that he should have taken the class. If he had, he might have new skills and abilities, as well some stat bonuses. It was also definitely a secret class that was not easy to obtain, but it wasn¡¯t what he wanted. He needed a class that would allow him to fight outnumbered or against strong boss monsters alone. There was a good chance that that wolf quest had been meant for an entire party of people. The group, or at least the party leader would have been offered some sort of guardian class that would give party buffs. That might have been a good class, but due to the nature of the buffs being intended for an entire party, they wouldn¡¯t be as effective on a single person. If he could find a different secret class that better suited him, then he could conquer the rest of the game while continuing to play as a solo character. By this point, over a month had passed in the game and Frost continued to stay around the orcs. He moved among three orcs, dodging their attacks but receiving small cuts. His health slowly dissipated until he was below twenty percent and began to feel the weakness and slowness that happened when a person went below twenty percent health. Frost¡¯s eyes flashed and he began to use the staff he had just been blocking with seriously. After that, the orcs didn¡¯t last long at all. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The reason he had been doing this was to see if he could increase his vitality by recovering from heavy injuries through regeneration. He had done this multiple times and met with some success but it was taking longer each time and soon it would no longer be worth the time it took to allow his enemies to injure him safely. However, something unexpected happened in the form of a message window. *Ding*
You have 1 new skill
Passive skill: Adrenaline
Activates when below 20% health Normal effects of low health negated. Strength increased by 10% Speed increased by 10%
Once again, Frost was learning amazing skills, but he wasn¡¯t very happy. If it was that easy for him to learn skills, then it was that easy for everyone else as well. If everyone had strong abilities, then it would come down to the skill of the user. That was fine though. Frost was confident in his ability to take down other players with the same or similar skill sets. It was the ones with special skills and perhaps magic users that would be the largest problem in the tournament. Frost was learning more about how the game worked every day he tried something new, which he doubted was true for everyone else. He decided not to worry about it any longer for now and chose to concentrate on the current predicament. Earlier in the week, Frost had stumbled upon an orc village and had been chased away by orcs riding oversized boars. Luckily they were distant when they started chasing him and he had recognized the danger immediately. He was fast enough to keep ahead of them for a while until he was sure they weren¡¯t going to get reinforcements. He turned to face them since they were gaining on him and saw that they were retreating. Since then, Frost had been trying to get more information on the village. Ten-foot wooden walls surrounded it with sentries posted sporadically along the walls. The town seemed to have no particular shape. It was as if the orcs had decided where to build their homes by tossing rocks and building where they landed. Then they put up a wall around the collection of buildings. Frost knew he could climb that wall, but he would need to train a skill first. He returned to the forest and started running at trees, using some of his parkour training by turning the forward momentum into friction against the tree so he could reach a greater height by effectively jumping off the tree. He continued to do this to train himself, or at least his ability to jump. With his high strength and solid technique along with the game¡¯s fairly realistic physics, he was quickly able to train up his jumping skill to reach the height he needed. He returned to the fields at a run and waited for his stamina to recover as he watched the sunset. A waning moon with a little less than half a celestial body lit the night with the aid of the stars. It was a soft glow that wouldn¡¯t reveal him as long as he was careful enough. He approached the village, keeping a low profile to reduce the chance the sentries accidentally saw him. He managed to get close enough to the wall to ready his next move. He had been studying them for days and noticed that sentry duty was a sort of punishment or was given to the lower ranking members of the orc society. They were fairly laid back, considering they didn¡¯t have any real enemies out in these parts. Anyone who might have a problem with them didn¡¯t have a large enough force to do anything about it. The torches that lit the wall, which was the biggest reason he wasn¡¯t afraid of being seen, blinded the few scattered sentries. They wouldn¡¯t be able to see anything approaching until it was close. He waited until one of the sentries moved past the part of the wall he was looking at and then ran straight at it. He jumped into the wall and propelled himself upwards with the wall jump he had been practicing. Then he pulled himself over the top and dove into the village, the whole thing making nothing but a few scuffling noises as he slipped between two poorly made wood and thatch dwellings. His heart raced as he stood there in the dark, waiting for some kind of alarm, waiting to hear that they had noticed him. One minute passed, then another as he started to move and figure out the layout of the village from the shadows of the decrepit shelters. He made sure to mark his path of escape as well as a few backups while he drifted slowly towards the center of the village. There was a collection of finer buildings that could actually be called houses in the center of the area, five in total. There were more guards posted at the fronts of some of those buildings, his targets. He was hoping to find their treasures stored in those buildings. If the game followed traditional mechanics, this area would have been designed to challenge a small raid group, meaning there was the potential for enough loot for a group as large as twenty-five people. Those buildings he was circling were where that loot would be. After spending twenty minutes checking the different buildings, he was ready to move in. Frost started at one of the buildings without guards first. He tried the back door and found it locked, not that that was a surprise. The windows were simple shutters so he went there next. Making assumptions about the design of the windows, he took out a small knife made for cutting food. He jammed it in between the shuttersjust below the middle. The wood was thick so he didn¡¯t get the knife as far as he needed. He wrapped the end of the knife in a strip of cloth and used the pommel of his sword to hammer it in. Luckily, the wood was soft enough for him to get the knife in to the point that he could use the tip of the blade to open the latch on the inside. The window opened and he quietly entered. He moved about with purpose, checking the house for any residents. It was empty of living things. Since he didn¡¯t have to fear waking anyone up, he could move a bit quicker through the house. In the bedroom, he found a small chest with a single ring in it. He took the ring and put it in his bag, moving on from there. He didn¡¯t find anything else of value until he reached the basement where there was a larger chest, hiding behind some wine barrels. In it he found a sack of coins and a glistening silvery hammer. Both were tucked into his magical bag. He closed the window as best as he could and moved to the next house. The entire time, his heart was racing and he expected that he would need to make a break for it at any moment. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm himself. He repeated the process at the next house, this time finding a pendant in the bedroom and an armory in the basement. The armory was mostly crude weapons and pieces of armor just lying around. The few items that looked sturdy enough to use weren¡¯t really worth taking when he thought about his own equipment. He left the armory untouched and moved to the next building. To his surprise, the back door in that house was unlocked. On closer inspection, the door didn¡¯t even have a lock. Instantly, Frost¡¯s sense of danger skyrocketed and the comfortable house robbing felt a lot more dangerous. HE didn¡¯t expect that orcs would leave a house undefended unless there was nothing they considered of worth there. It didn¡¯t seem likely that it was just an easy target. Still, he didn¡¯t want to leave anything behind and the danger only made it more exciting. He went inside, moving slower than before, searching for traps as he carefully checked each door. There didn¡¯t seem to be anything on this floor but a large common room and kitchen. It may have been where they all had their meals, like a mess hall, so it was unlikely there was anything here. He could be wrong though, so he remained cautious as he made his way upstairs. He reached the top of the stairs and was confused for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the area and he began to make out what all the shapes were. He froze. There were bodies spread around the room in makeshift beds or cots. He tiptoed back down the stairs. It wasn¡¯t a mess hall he had entered. It was a barracks. As he moved swiftly to the back door, he heard some voices approaching the building. He was right next to the door at that point and had been reaching for the door. He had no time to try to escape through the front of the building and it was too risky anyway. He had no choice but to throw himself at the closest door and enter it as quickly as possible. He realized afterwards that it was the door to the basement he had opened earlier. There was a light coming from underneath a door to the room at the bottom of the stairs and there were sounds coming from inside of it. He was trapped with enemies on both sides and no way out. He realized all of this and so he had to ask himself a question. If he was in a frightening life or death situation, trapped between enemies with no escape, why did he have such a big smile on his face? ¡®Oh. I¡¯m having fun¡¯ His smile grew bigger as he pulled out his sword as quietly as he could muster. ¡®I¡¯m having a lot of fun¡¯ Chapter 12: Shadows Thank you everyone who reads my fiction and especially those who leave comments. I know I¡¯m not the best author so I know there are some problems with my story, but I do my best, so¡­yeah¡­not sure where I¡¯m going with this. There are so many things I want to do and places I want this story to be so I can write all the things in my mind that are all over the place. I have free time now and I¡¯m gonna use it. Please enjoy. Chapter 12: Shadows Frost took the stone steps one at a time, slowly, carefully, and as quietly as he could. There was someone in the room at the bottom of the stairs but he couldn¡¯t risk going back up. He also couldn¡¯t just stand there and wait for them to find him. He needed to get away from the door and the stairs where he wouldn¡¯t easily be found. He had to be quiet, so he had to be slow. He had to be quick, so he needed to move fast. He had to balance his actions and he could hear voices coming from behind the door at the top of the stairs. He reached the bottom of the stairs and ever so slowly opened the door. There was an orc inside, mumbling to himself in their guttural language while playing with a pile of copper coins. He looked disturbed and Frost had the feeling that it wasn¡¯t an orc he should be messing with. There was just something very wrong with the creature and he hesitated. The door at the top of the stairs creaked open and Frost had no choice but to enter the room as quickly as possible and shut it behind himself. The creature stopped playing with its coins and looked up at Frost. He tensed, knowing that if it screamed, he was screwed, but he also knew he didn¡¯t have enough time to reach the creature before it could scream. However, it turned back to its coins, picking them up and dropping them over and over again. Frost moved to the right of the door so he could hide behind it when the orcs came down. He should be able to hide behind the door and surprise them when they came down. He watched the strange orc as he prepared to pounce on the orcs that came through the door. The door opened and a single orc walked into the room carrying a wooden bowl full of some nasty looking slop. It hadn¡¯t noticed him and Frost looked out the door to see that it was alone. He activated Lightning Strike silently and stabbed the orc in the back and through the heart. It collapsed to the floor dead after a moment of silent shock. The strange orc stood up and Frost noticed that it had been sitting on a chest. He watched the creature but it seemed that the thing was simply interested in the dead body. He opened up the chest, pulling out another sack of coins and a cloth wrapped bundle, which he stuffed into his bag to look at later. A squelching noise came from where the creature was and he moved over to see what it was doing. It was eating the other orc as if it was the most normal thing in the world. He had to suppress his nausea so he turned away and closed the door to the room. After a bit of time passed, no one came to check the situation downstairs and there didn¡¯t seem to be any commotion, so he left that room behind, closing the door and trying not to look at the gruesome scene he left behind. He decided to forget that he had ever seen that thing and moved onward. Frost looked under the door at the top of the stairs and didn¡¯t see anyone so he slipped out of the building and into the night. He sat in the shadows for five minutes to calm himself. Still, no alarm sounded and there didn¡¯t seem to be any big commotion in the village. He stood up and observed the fourth house. It was one of the houses with guards and this one would present more of a challenge than the others. He saved the biggest and most difficult building for last. He had to circle around to not be seen by the guards that were surrounding the largest building in the area. These two buildings were close together and made of brick and slate rather than wood and thatch. The back door had no guards so he tried the door. Locked. He hopped back a few times to get a better view of the building. The roof had two tiers, which meant it would be possible to get onto the first floor roof if he could climb or jump up. It was just within his reach if he wanted to try to wall jump it, but there was a chance he might not be able to reach it with the first jump. He grabbed a nearby barrel that looked sturdy enough and rolled it up to the wall. He used the barrel as a step to gain some height and managed to get onto the roof with relative ease. He approached the window and when he started to jam the dagger in, he realized it wasn¡¯t latched. Frost remained cautious as he pulled open the window and looked inside. There was a fat orc snoring loudly, surrounded by empty bottles of what had probably been alcohol. Frost smirked as he looked in the orc¡¯s direction. It had an earring and multiple rings. He removed the rings and then the earring, with slow, careful movements, then examined the rest of the room. The only thing in the room with any real value was a golden candelabrum with rubies hanging off of it. That quickly made its way into his bag. Everything else was just painted gold to look expensive and it was sloppily done. Making his way through the house added two paintings, some silverware, and a few porcelain bowls to his new collection. He found a wooden rod that looked to be entwined with ivy. It didn¡¯t appear special, but it caught his interest so he took that as well. Then he made his way into the basement where he found a locked wooden chest. He would have liked to take the whole thing and open it later, but it was too big to fit in his bag since it couldn¡¯t fit through the opening. He used his staff to smash the lock repeatedly until it broke. It made more noise than he would have liked, but it was in the basement and the doors would muffle the sound. He claimed another bag of coins and an assortment of items. Frost went back up the stairs to exit the building the way he came in. He took one more glance at the fat orc and stepped out onto the roof. He clung to the shadows as he studied the large house next to him, trying to think of a way to enter. He was about to step off the roof when he had an idea that made him smile. He climbed onto the second tier of the roof and measured the distance in his mind. It would be close, but he could make it. He walked away from the building, along the peak of the roof and then turned around and ran at the edge of the building. He jumped and found himself floating for a brief moment with a fall that could easily break legs below him. He was focused on the edge of the roof though so he didn¡¯t have time to worry about the fall unless he missed the grab. Thunk. His feet braced him against the wall while his hands held onto the edge of the roof. He held on, looking down to see if there were any guards coming to check out the sound. Frost was beginning to believe that it wasn¡¯t his skills that kept him unnoticed but rather the negligence and disregard of the orcs. He made his way around the edge of the roof in a cat hang position until he reached a window. Much to his surprise, it was actually open. He looked inside and grimaced. There were a lot of orcs in there. Most of them were laying on a king sized bed around one large orc. This orc had to be seven feet tall and just made of muscles from the looks of it. Its level was at least twenty four since he was level fourteen now, having spent the last few days fighting orcs in the area. This was the boss and Frost did not want to wake him. However, it would be too hard to open another window at this height and position so he had no choice. Frost slowly entered the room stepping around the few members of the orc leader¡¯s harem lying on the floor. He felt no envy, as they were some ugly beasts as far as he was concerned. He spotted four keys hanging on the wall next to the bed and redirected his path there. He took them one at a time, slowly and carefully, because if the orc less than five feet away woke up, he was in serious trouble. He made sure to grab the axe next to the bed as well. It looked to be made of steel and obsidian, and he sure as hell didn¡¯t want the orc to be swinging it around. Frost made his way straight to the basement where he let out a small sigh of relief. There were three chests, which three of the four keys unlocked. He found a huge amount of treasure, which he stuffed into his bag, not even taking the time to look at any of it. At this point he was ready to leave and escape the village with a good amount of their treasure. The infiltration mission had been an amazing success and now all he had to do was run away. He turned away from the last chest, toward the door to the ground floor only to find a wall in his way. It was green and appeared to be very solid as well. He looked up. It was also angry. Very angry. Frost reeled from a blow that he wasn¡¯t expecting as his health dropped twenty percent. The orc roared and charged him, aiming its fist at Frost¡¯s face. He used the orc¡¯s momentum, grabbing the fist and using a shoulder throw to put the monstrous orc on his back. He sprinted up the stairs, throwing the door open with the orc leader hot on his heels. Frost ran for the nearest window and attempted to dive through it, hoping the force of his weight at a full run would be enough to break the latch and send him through the window. With a loud crack, the window broke and he tumbled to his feet as the guards finally noticed him and started chasing him. There were other orcs around so he guessed that they had noticed one of the other buildings had been robbed or that orc he killed had been found. They must have come to warn their leader just as Frost was getting to the basement. Orcish howls of rage began to fill the night as they chased him towards the walls of the village. The orc leader obliterated the door to his house in pursuit of Frost who was running at full speed to get away. His heart and mind were racing as he took note of where he was and moved to the closest escape point. There were ramps leading up to the walls and that¡¯s where he¡¯d make his escape. Luckily, much of the village was still confused as to what was happening other than that there was a commotion. Turning a corner, he noticed that there were a lot fewer orcs chasing him and the leader was not included in that group. It didn¡¯t matter though, so he kept running towards the wall, gaining distance with his high speed. He reached the ramp and ran up, shoving an orc guard out of his way and jumping off into the night. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! He rolled to reduce the impact of the fall and keep his forward momentum. He had managed to escape. Well, he would have, if one very large, ferocious boar didn¡¯t follow him off the wall moments later, carrying one seriously pissed orc. The orc leader had a wicked looking spear and was followed by some other orcs who had ridden their boars out of the gates. They were all shouting war cries and it was only a matter of time before they ran him down. He tried to think as the orc leader quickly closed in on him, but there was nothing he could do. He was in the middle of a low hilly area and there was no cover or anything to hide behind. He couldn¡¯t escape and he couldn¡¯t fight. He was going to die his first death here and it pissed him off that he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. At least he had stolen a lot of items from the village and wouldn¡¯t lose most of them when he died. He wasn¡¯t giving up. Far from it. He was just accepting the fact that he was going to die and was considering what to do with knowledge. He could try to take down the leader, which was unlikely with all those other orcs not too far behind him, or he could do something crazier than that and probably die anyway. Hell, it was worth a shot. Frost pulled out his staff and lowered his speed by a little, letting the leader¡¯s boar catch up even faster. He crested the top of a small hill and jumped, using the metal staff and his high strength to pole vault himself as high into the air as he could manage. He also twisted his body so he was facing the huge boar bearing down on him. It was moving fast enough to get under him as he fell while the orc struck at him with the spear. He managed to deflect the blow so it only cut across his ribs as he crashed into the leader. His health dropping again, he kicked the orc leader in the face, knocking it back off the boar as he punched Frost in the stomach. Frost grabbed the reigns as the beast went wild, thrashing about and trying to throw him off. He managed to get a hold of the beast and looked up just in time to duck beneath a blade that was aimed at his head. To Frost¡¯s horror, the boar was running straight at the other riders, in the direction of the village. He did what he could to avoid their attacks while maintaining a grip on the boar, but there wasn¡¯t much he could do. By the time he passed through the group, his health was below forty percent. Holding on to the boar for his life, he noticed it wasn¡¯t just running back to the village, it was sprinting headfirst at the wall. Just before it crashed, he let go but he still tumbled into the wall from the momentum. By the time he regained his senses and his feet, he was surrounded. The boar that crashed into the wall appeared to have knocked itself out. The orcs formed a half circle around him and stood still, trapping him against the wall. He didn¡¯t have to worry about what they were thinking, because it wasn¡¯t long before the orc leader entered the encirclement with an axe. He pointed at Frost and barked something in orcish as he held up his axe. Frost brandished his own staff and motioned for the orc to make his move. The orc bellowed with rage as it charged at him, wildly swinging the axe. Frost stood his ground, barely dodging an attack and retaliating with a strike to the orc¡¯s back that hardly put a dent in the thing¡¯s health bar. He let out a breath to steady himself before entering the fight in both mind and body. The orc¡¯s axe flashed a reflection of torchlight as it cut the air and only the air. Frost danced within the reach of the monstrous orc, striking with staff and body when the opportunity presented itself. He had plenty of stamina to last through the fight and had locked away his fear. Frost didn¡¯t know, but using a staff and calming his mind allowed him to move and flow that felt right, putting him into what people usually call ¡°the zone¡±. He knew he was talented with the staff, but he thought it was simply because it was something he enjoyed, so he had put more work into it. His body moved without needing the mind to fully work out the next course of action, and he flowed from one move to the next, as if the staff was a part of him. The orcs watching him were amazed, never having seen an opponent last more than a few seconds against their leader. Now, a mere thief was dancing around their leader and slowly bringing him down. The sight would have been more impressive if they had noticed that the leader was not fighting to the fullest of his capabilities for multiple reasons. First the orc was tired from lack of sleep and irritated by the thief, so his mind was clouded and his body was slower. Second, his usual weapon, the obsidian axe, had been stolen so he wasn¡¯t using the weapon he was most familiar with. Third and finally, he was growing more and more frustrated with the thief since he couldn¡¯t hit him even though he was already damaged. He was nothing but an annoying horse fly, but he wanted to kill that fly more than he had ever wanted to kill anything else. The orc leader swung his axe in a wide arc, forcing Frost to roll away to safety. He then ran over to his boar and roused it by screaming at it and shaking it. Frost attacked furiously, trying to prevent the orc from mounting, but he shrugged off the blows and got on the boar anyway. The orc leader smiled in triumph, knowing he had a huge advantage on the boar. ¡°What are you smiling at asshole? I have friends too.¡± ¡®Howl¡¯ Frost let out an eerie howl that caused every single one of the orcs in the area to raise their guards in concern. Two mist spirits in the form of wolves appeared slightly behind Frost and on either side of him. They charged with Frost, fanning out to attack the boar from the sides. It panicked, natural instincts telling it to run, but it was slow to speed up, unlike the wolves. The wolves tore at its throat, trying to bring it down, while Frost moved into position. The orc leader regained control of the beast just as he was struck in the head by Frost¡¯s staff, once again knocking him off. Frost had held the staff near one end and swung as hard as he could in a baseball swing, activating heavy blow and dealing a lot of damage to the orc with a critical hit. Frost jumped on him, pulling the dagger from his belt and rammed it into the orc leader¡¯s eye. He pulled it out and slammed it into the other as the orc punched Frost off of him. The orc did a lot of damage every time he struck, this particular hit knocking him to just under twenty percent health and activating the adrenaline skill. The orc leader was low too, and blinded since both his eyes had been stabbed. Frost jabbed the orc in the throat with his staff, then kept dealing blows while the orc leader tried to defend itself. He struck the knees and knocked his legs out beneath him, finally finishing him off with a strike to the temple. Frost stood there for a moment, using the staff as a support while he breathed heavily. He was lucky they had let him duel their leader without interfering. However, as they readied their spears to strike him down, he knew that was the end of it. Frost backed up to the wall, determined to get as many experience points as he could from this battle, even though he knew he would lose a lot of them for dying. At least the game didn¡¯t take away stats for dying. He would only lose experience points and skill experience, which was still really bad, but much worse in the later levels when skills were hard to level. The orcs stopped and stared in his direction, fear and confusion on their faces. Frost realized they were not actually looking at him, but rather looking behind him. He spun around to find that there was a claw that looked like it was made of darkness coming out of the wall. It grabbed him before he could do anything and pulled him into the wall. Just like that, Frost was gone. A system message popped up saying that he was being logged out by force, as his character would be unconscious for at least an hour, real world time. Reid took off the headset and tried to occupy himself so he didn¡¯t worry too much as he went for a jog, ate, and took a shower. He sat down at his desk and turned on his computer to see what was happening while he had a bit of time before he could log back in. Reid looked at his email and saw that he had one from Undertones Game Company. He drank some water as he read it, choking on it when he saw the contents because he inhaled suddenly. For him, the message contained only bad news. The game¡¯s developers had decided to change everything. The three-month beta test was shortened to two months, at the end of which, the tournament to decide the best player would occur. Players could remake their characters if they desired to do so and were open to do so for the next forty-eight hours. However, the most important news was that they wouldn¡¯t be resetting the game. Everyone would be able to keep their current characters without having to reset at the end of the beta. Reid had actually somewhat expected that one anyway, and their were a few hints and leaks about that as well. Who would make a three-month beta and then force everyone to reset their characters? Their reasoning was that the game had almost no flaws and they didn¡¯t ever really need a beta in the first place. They said they had meant that the beta could go for up to three months and the only reason they weren¡¯t going straight to the tournament now was to give everyone a little bit more time to prepare by leveling up and getting classes. Reid was pissed. They were just making excuses for getting bored with the current situation. He still needed more time to level up since the more time passed, the closer he would be to the top level players in stats and ability. He was convinced that with the current state of the game, he would have easily won the tournament, but now¡­ He sighed. It wasn¡¯t over at least. He could still win the tournament, all things considered; it would just be a little bit more difficult than he had thought. Perhaps a lot more difficult. He sighed again and stood up, looking at the gaming headset with determination. ¡®I won¡¯t lose.¡¯ Chapter 13: The Selection Close enough Please enjoy. Chapter 13: The Selection Game and Entertainment Media news reporter Kimmie Ren sat across from one of the Undertones game developers in a live interview. She was GEM¡¯s go to reporter when it came to live interviews. She liked to think that she was good at her job and that the company recognized it. Lately however, it almost felt as if Undertones¡¯ people were simply using her and GEM to tell the public what they wanted. She barely had to ask a question before they went into detail about everything they felt was important. ¡°So tell us the reason for the change. Why did the company decide not to reset the game after the end of the beta,¡± Kimmie asked with a bright smile. ¡°Well, first of all, we never said that we would reset the game after the so called beta, and we never intended to do so. The game had always been complete. It¡¯s also why we didn¡¯t limit the number of players and why we will only be making a small update to the game.¡± ¡°Then why call it a beta in the first place?¡± ¡°We wanted to test how the game would handle a high number of players and figured calling it a beta would deter some people from playing since they still had to buy the game and the system. It actually had the opposite effect and everyone wanted to play the first virtual reality game. Still, there were no problems running the game, so it worked out. ¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid that you might make a lot of your players angry?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯d imagine we¡¯ll have annoyed many of the players, but will they really have time to be angry at us when they¡¯re enjoying the amazing game they¡¯re playing? With the selection happening, we suspect many of them will be preoccupied and not at all disappointed.¡± ¡°Oh really? What selection are you talking about?¡± ¡°In the lore of the game, there are gods and goddesses who pulled people into their world and created the chosen children to be born into it. These deities have some effect on the world in the game and are definitely real characters. I would compare them to lesser Roman gods in relation to power and influence. Anyway, right now, those gods have begun to choose champions and are snatching up every last worthy person who doesn¡¯t already have a class.¡± ¡°So these deities are gathering an army?¡± ¡°More like choosing champions and giving them superior classes. Many of the gods will choose multiple champions so the game is going to get a bit more exciting.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯d like to thank you for answering my questions. That¡¯s all the time we have for today. Thank you everyone for tuning in and we hope to see you again next time.¡± Frost Reid passed through the dark, twisting tunnel that accompanied logging into Dead World Online, floating through space. He opened his eyes as Frost and sat up, looking around the room he was in. He appeared to be in a cave where moonlight poured in through a large hole in the ceiling, illuminating the dark crystal walls. There was a single exit to the room he was in which was half natural, and half carved. It looked like someone was beginning to carve four pillars to create a square room but stopped in the middle of the task. Frost would have said that it was a half finished temple. Frost stood up and dusted himself off, checking that all of his equipment was accounted for. He didn¡¯t seem to have lost anything, as far as he could tell. He drew his sword and stuck to the shadows as he moved towards the doorway. He heard a mirthful chuckle, from the hall past the doorway, but couldn¡¯t see anything in the shadows. A woman¡¯s voice echoed softly through the cavern. ¡°Are the shadows your ally, or are they mine, young one?¡± Frost looked at the shadows on the wall next to him and they seemed to writhe, producing small hands that began reaching for him. He jumped away from the wall and caught sight of the person in the hallway. Purple eyes peered out from a hood that appeared to be made of darkness. Tendrils of shadow rose from the cloak and dissipated as she walked forward into the room. ¡°What are you, or who are you?¡± Frost held his sword between them, but the woman simply sat down in a chair that appeared from a pool of darkness on the floor. ¡°You can put that away, now, you don¡¯t need it here.¡± She pulled back her hood, revealing her face. She smiled and rested her chin in her hand, using the armrest to support her arms. ¡°My name is Emiri, and I¡¯m the one who saved you from the orcs.¡± ¡°Oh, thanks for that.¡± He sheathed his sword, feeling a bit foolish. Of course she meant no harm, since he had been rescued and brought to a safe place. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve taken an interest in you.¡± She sat up straight and folded her arms. ¡°I¡¯ve been watching you for quite a while now. Just as I was getting bored of you, you did something quite unexpected. I¡¯ve never heard of anyone trying to steal all the treasures of an orcish fort. I was impressed with your skill and technique for such an amateur, as well as your recklessness.¡± ¡°I was just going to let you die, but then I saw your fight with that big orc. That was quite entertaining.¡± ¡°You saved me because I was good entertainment?¡± Frost was a bit annoyed by her answer. She let out a low-pitched chuckle. ¡°Of course not. I want you to serve me. Your life is now mine.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about you. I¡¯ll decide what to do after I hear what you¡¯re after. What kind of person are you? I want to understand your motivations.¡± Chains of shadow erupted from the ground, attaching to Frost and pulling him to the ground, restraining him. The woman stood up and a black blade appeared in her hand. She held it up to his throat and stared him in the eyes. ¡°I could just kill you now,¡± she said in a low, dangerous voice. ¡°I won¡¯t bow down to evil, even if my life is at stake.¡± It wasn¡¯t like he couldn¡¯t afford to die. It would just be annoying. Besides, he hated bullies and didn¡¯t want to work for some entitled bitch. Frost glared back, annoyed that she was just wasting his time if she was going to kill him anyway. The sword disappeared along with the chains and her smile returned as he stood up. ¡°Good. Your resolve to hold strong in the face of death is what I need. Relax, I have no desire to watch the world burn. I am one of the deities of balance in this world, and one of the ones who created the chosen children of this world. That¡¯s you. The other gods and goddesses of this world have many servants and champions, but I have none. Firstborn, I will make you my champion and give you a portion of my power. However, I am weakened and can only do so much to aid you.¡± Frost realized then that she meant he was about to get a unique class. There were normal classes that pretty much anyone could get if they met the requirements or passed a simple test. Secret classes were rare and more difficult to acquire. They had to be discovered, the requirements had to be met, and a difficult test had to be overcome. Unique classes were a bit more special and there were a few different types. It was extremely unlikely that more than one person would have the same unique class, but it was possible. In general, there were two different types of unique classes. One type was simply a powerful class that had unique abilities. The second type, which was also a type of secret class, was a weak class with few abilities. However, the class could grow in strength and develop strong unique abilities. A unique class that grew in strength had the highest potential of any class in the game. ¡°Out of all the people you could have chosen for this, why did you choose me? I still don¡¯t understand anything.¡± ¡°As I said, I have been watching you. I have also been watching many others. I have compared you to them and have found the others to be lacking in some way or another, not that you yourself are in any way perfect. However, you are also the firstborn of the chosen, and that has its¡­uses.¡± Effectively, she was saying that he was the best out of everyone that she was watching, and the most worthy of them. ¡°Will you accept my offering of power and be my champion?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Frost would have been a fool to accept her offer, even if he didn¡¯t understand her motives. However, he was afraid that the woman was trying to give him a spell casting class, which would be bad. He had only seventy five percent mana and none of his stat distributions were tailored to fit a mage class. If she did give him a mage class he would have to find a way to replace it. Emiri pulled out a rolled up paper and handed it to him as he sat on the ground. ¡°Sign this contract with your blood and serve me as my champion.¡± Frost unrolled the paper and used the needle attached to the contract by a string to prick his thumb, which he pressed against the paper. The contract rolled itself up and shot into Emiri¡¯s hand. She motioned for him to step forward and then shadows coalesced around her hand. She put that hand on his forehead and the shadows on her arm began to flow into him. At the end of the process, he felt powerful, as if he was full of energy. *Ding*
You have obtained a class: Shadow Eater
A Shadow Eater has the ability to gain strengths and abilities tied to the shadows. Devouring the shadows of strong opponents can unlock abilities and increase the strengths of the shadow eater. Effects: All class skills and abilities are based on Shadow Energy and Shadow Tether. Mana is lost and stats related to mana now apply to shadow energy though with a lesser effect. Skills that used mana now use shadow energy. New Stat gained: Shadow Energy (SE) +100 Shadow Energy +10 Strength +10 Vitality +10 Stamina +10 Intelligence +10 Agility +10 Luck
Getting fifty stat points was common for a class, with the lowest possible total gains for a class being 30 stat points. It wasn¡¯t anything special. If he thought about it though, he also got the 100 SE points so he technically gained 160 stat points, which was a ridiculous amount. He didn¡¯t have time to think about it though, as the goddess kept talking and more windows appeared one by one. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°You are my champion now. You will come when I call, do as I ask, and serve me to the best of your ability. Should you decide to relinquish the class, I will consider you an enemy and will send forces to strike you down.¡±
Ability gained: Shadow Tether
Shadow Tether can be activated when the user touches a target, target¡¯s shadow, or target¡¯s equipment. Lasts until target or user dies. Inactivates 100 meters away from target. Multiple enemies can be tethered at the same time. No cost.
¡°You are my sword.¡±
Ability gained: Shadow Cutting
Attacking target¡¯s shadow will apply damage to target. Damage ignores armor. Target must be tethered. Duration: 10 seconds Cost: 10 Shadow Energy
¡°You are my hands¡±
Ability gained: Dark Infusion
Charge your weapon with dark energy. Applies Shadow tether to enemies that are hit. +10% Damage (Dark) Duration: 1 minute Cost: 20 Shadow Energy
¡°Together, we will restore this world.¡±
Ability gained: Shadow Eating
When you defeat an enemy that is a higher level than you, you may devour it¡¯s shadow to attempt to gain power. Target must have been tethered. Cost: 5 Shadow Energy
Frost could definitely see some potential in this class, but he would need more of its abilities to make it truly great. At least it wasn¡¯t a mana based spell caster. On the other hand, he would be weak to long range attacks. Hopefully, he would be able to develop abilities that would counter long-range attacks. ¡°Take a few minutes to prepare yourself, then come talk to me when you¡¯re ready.¡± ¡®Status.¡¯ Frost nodded and went to look at his stats He had gained two levels from defeating the orc boss and was now level sixteen. He was well on his way to level seventeen as well. As a test to see if anything would happen, he raised his agility to one hundred. He also put some points into intelligence and wisdom since they were now useful stats. Already, the effects of Hero¡¯s Burden could be seen. While others were approaching higher levels, Frost was becoming an extremely powerful character at a low level.
Frost Winterstorm Lvl 16
Health 550Shadow Energy 145/145
Stamina 510/510
Strength80Vitality65
Dexterity45Stamina62
Wisdom25Intelligence45
Agility100Luck40
Health Regeneration0.75/sEnergy Regeneration0.25/s
*Ding*
Ability gained: Burst of speed
Speed +50% Duration: 1 minute Cost: 50 Stamina
Apparently, a skill would be generated when a character reached a hundred stat points in any attribute. Frost finished looking at his new abilities and closed all of the open windows with a swipe of his hand. He walked over to Emiri and spoke, ¡°What happens next?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that obvious? I¡¯m going to test you.¡± Seeing the look of surprise on his face, a wicked grin split hers. ¡°You didn¡¯t think I would just give you power and not see how you handled it, did you? Oh no. I¡¯m going to test you, and if you fail, I will tear away the power I have given you and put you back right where I found you. I have no time for a champion that cannot overcome increasingly difficult tasks. You have barely met the requirements to become a Shadow Eater. Now you must earn the right to remain one.¡± He should have known that it wouldn¡¯t be that simple. Here have a unique class just because I picked you? Whatever tasks she had for him to prove himself would be a trial much harder than he had ever undertaken. Frost frowned as he tried to think of what challenge could possibly be before him. ¡°The test is quite simple actually. All you have to do is make it through this dungeon and defeat the boss at the end.¡± She pointed to the hallway she had come through. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± There was no way that there wasn¡¯t a catch. ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± She continued to smile knowingly, hinting that it was not, in fact, as simple as she had said. ¡®There¡¯s definitely more to it than that.¡¯ He sat down on the ground and began thinking about what he needed to do to complete her test. ¡°Any questions?¡± ¡°Nope. I¡¯ll figure it out.¡± ¡°Hmm. Good, then I shall take my leave.¡± The shadows swallowed her and her chair, seemingly pulling them into the ground. When the shadows disappeared, there was nothing left but Frost and the room. He knew that it was more than just a simple dungeon. First the monsters would likely be stronger than a normal dungeon. Second, completing the dungeon would somehow revolve around him using his new powers against the creatures within. Third and finally, because this was a special dungeon, it was unpredictable and he couldn¡¯t think of it as though it were just another dungeon. Well, whatever he faced, he wouldn¡¯t really know what to do until he started. Frost stood up and drew his sword, taking a step towards the hallway. Realization dawned on him and he suddenly sat back down again, emptying his bag. He organized the loot from the orc village and began examining each item. In total, there were twelve rings, two pendants, two hats, three suits of light armor, three daggers, two axes, a hammer, four swords, a helmet, a pair of heavy gauntlets, some rare ores, three wands, and the bags of Dunari. The amount totaled to 433 gold, 2 silver and 7 copper pieces as well as a bag of gems he couldn¡¯t appraise. In one day, Frost had most likely become the richest player in the game, and if not, he was definitely close. He would have preferred to have been able to identify whether or not any of the items were magical, but he had no way to do so. He equipped the helmet, the studded leather armor and put everything else in his bag but a dagger that had a faint blue outline, the rings, and the pendants. He switched the dagger with his own and chose to wear the pendant he thought looked better. It was a simple silver pendant with a sapphire embedded in the center. One of the rings was a simple silver band with a red outline and one had a silver shield design. He chose to wear those and put everything else in the bag. He could wear eight rings but it was too uncomfortable and interfered with grip as well as finger dexterity. Magic items could affect the user but the user wouldn¡¯t actually know what the effect was unless they saw the item¡¯s effects or read an effect description. However, as long as they weren¡¯t the rare negative effects equipment, there was no problem with wearing them. The helmet didn¡¯t even obscure his view, though it was a full head helmet and should have decreased his vision. Frost moved on from the small room, into the darkness of the hallway. He held a hand on the right wall and walked straight until he came into an area with a high ceiling. It was a large dome with rough walls and it was lit by two rings of torches in sconces at different heights around the room. In the center of the room was a tall golem that looked to be made of interconnected boulders in a relatively humanoid form. ¡®A boss fight right out of the gate? Alright. Let¡¯s get started.¡¯ Chapter 14: The Trials It seems I¡¯m not very good at conveying the character¡¯s thoughts and emotions. I¡¯ll try harder to help the readers understand the thoughts and actions of Frost and others when they show up. It¡¯s intentional with some of the other character so keep that in mind if you don¡¯t understand some of them. Still working on my writing and storytelling skills, so bear with me. Thank you for your constructive criticism. I¡¯m trying not to spend too much time on this part but I also don¡¯t want to skip it. That moment when I miss one tiny symbol and it messes with my entire chapter so it takes an extra day for me to figure out what I did and upload the chapter. Please enjoy. Chapter 14: The Trials Frost watched as the golem stood to its full height and thought about the best method to take down the monster before him. He quickly thought of a strategy and then dashed at the golem, ducking under a huge fist as he slipped under it. He knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to do enough damage to the golem, even with all his skills combined. Its defenses were too high, so he had to use the one ability that cut through all defenses. He slapped the golem as he passed underneath, tethering its shadow. Frost activated Shadow Cutting and started slashing at the golem¡¯s shadow on the ground. Before the ten seconds of the skill were up, he was forced back by the frightening swings of the golem¡¯s arms that shook the air when they passed by. Despite ignoring the monster¡¯s defenses, it still had a ridiculously high amount of health and Frost began to realize the full terror of this test. There was no exit to the room so he definitely had to defeat the golem to proceed. If he hadn¡¯t realized right away that he had to use Shadow Cutting, he would have spent valuable time trying to fight the thing under normal circumstances and would have lost precious stamina and probably shadow energy on pointlessly trying to chip away at its health. Even still, the skill wasn¡¯t enough at that rate, due to the fact that striking at the shadow on the ground was too awkward and the cuts were too shallow. He wasn¡¯t able to maximize damage output under the circumstances. Frost tried again, just to confirm that he wouldn¡¯t have enough shadow energy to kill it at the rate he was going. With the shadow energy he had left, he could probably get it to about half health, but that wouldn¡¯t do him any good. He had plenty of stamina but if he ran out of shadow enemy before killing the golem, he was screwed. He also didn¡¯t have any more time to think of a plan, considering he couldn¡¯t stand still or he¡¯d be crushed. Eventually, he¡¯d run out of stamina and die. He felt something was off, as if he was missing something. This was supposed to be a test, meaning that it had to have a solution. The golem had a large upper torso, which blocked some of the torchlight, but its shadow was still small. If he could knock out the torches on one side of the room, he could easily hit the giant shadow without having to fear retaliation. Unfortunately, he had no way of even touching the torches that were at least fifteen feet above him at the lower ring. There had to be a hint somewhere, but he just didn¡¯t see it. At best he could hide between the legs of the golem and¡­ Frost saw a possibility and hoped it was the solution, considering he had no other ideas. Every part of the room was focused around the golem being in the center of the room and having a single vulnerable spot, being its shadow. He cautiously made his way under the golem, using his high agility to stay out of harm¡¯s way. If it were a normal boss, it probably would have used some sort of area of effect skills or other deadly abilities rather than just swinging its huge arms around. He activated lightning blade and shadow cutting together the moment he was directly under the golem, and began slashing at its shadow on the ground, and then the shadow on its body. Cutting through the shadows was like cutting through butter. Attacking the shadows on the golem¡¯s body allowed him to hit much deeper strikes, and also allowed him to land more attacks since he was practically surrounded by strike zones. It apparently worked so well because the Shadow Cutting skill only did damage to the shadow. His sword passed right through the golem, not hitting anything but the shadow. He kept activating the skill and attacking the golem¡¯s shadow, with Lightning Blade active so that he could land more strikes in the limited time he had. At that rate, he could quickly cut down the golem while staying safe below it. The golem leaned to one side as Frost continued to slash away. Then, the golem smashed its legs together suddenly, trying to crush him. It happened too fast for him to dodge the huge leg. Frost lost a large chunk of his health, falling below forty percent and becoming stunned, as his skills were interrupted. The golem stepped back and raised a giant fist above its head, preparing to bring it straight down on him. The fist began its descent as the stun wore off and Frost¡¯s head cleared. He dove to the side, rolling out of the way just in time to avoid being destroyed. The ground shattered, and Frost coughed, still feeling a bit weak after taking so much damage in one attack. ¡°Fuck!¡± He dodged another strike, and ran forward, trying to get back beneath the golem. Now that he knew the golem¡¯s tell, he could take it down, but he would have to do it more carefully. If the golem managed to hit him one more time, even with a glancing blow, he would die and fail the test. Emiri¡¯s trial was no joke. He needed to have immediately noticed the golem¡¯s weakness, known to use shadow cutting, and needed the agility or fortitude to survive the golem¡¯s deadly assault. He also needed to have the skill and judgment to pull it off. This time, he didn¡¯t use Lightning Blade because it was eating up his stamina too quickly. He just kept cutting away at the golem¡¯s shadow, no matter how cheap a strategy it was. He dodged when the golem tried to crush him like it did before and the fight became simple. The golem fell below ten percent health as the fight drew to a close. The golem began to scream a high-pitched sound as it fell to its knees and wrapped its arms around its body. Frost was easily able to avoid being crushed as he gained some distance, considering it was not trying to attack him, whatever it was doing. Then, it began to glow red, the light growing stronger by the second. It looked like it was going to destroy itself and take him with it by self-destructing, or so it seemed. He turned toward the exit, the hallway he had come through, but it was gone. Suddenly there was no way out. The golem¡¯s health went to zero as it died, but the light continued to grow brighter. He gained the experience from killing the golem and went up to level seventeen, but that meant nothing if he failed the test by dying. He had to do something to escape, to get out of the room before that golem exploded and killed him. He didn¡¯t see anything as he ran around the room, looking everywhere. He then saw a dark orb hovering just in front of the golem. Frost stared at it for a moment before he realized what it was. It was the golem¡¯s shadow. It was all the way across the room, and if Frost went there he would be next to the explosion when it happened. There would be no surviving that, but there would probably be no surviving the explosion anyway. Considering that the explosion looked just about ready to go off, he used his new ability, Burst of Speed to run as fast as he could to the shadow. He didn¡¯t know if the shadow could help him survive, but he might as well consume it in case it could somehow do something. He activated Shadow Eating and his body jerked as he inhaled suddenly. The shadow was sucked into his lungs as he stood there taking a deep breath. The light of the golem grew to its brightest and Frost knew he was about to take the explosion directly. He suddenly felt slightly dizzy and lost his footing, falling backwards. He shouldn¡¯t have lost his balance and fallen, but he did anyway. He braced for the pain of hitting the hard ground and also the pain of the explosion, expecting either of them at any moment. Instead, he fell into the ground and the force of the fall brought him to his feet again. However, Frost was in another realm, looking at a strange scene. Everything was in shades of grey, black, and white. He was in some alternate version of the world and he felt nothing as he watched the golem explode. A few moments later, he fell again, returning to the normal world. Whatever had just happened, he had no control over it. However, he felt perfectly fine other than a slight dizziness that quickly faded. The rubble of the golem was strewn about the room and a single doorway was visible. *Ding*
Ability gained: Shadow Dive
Fall into the shadow realm where the mortal realm cannot affect you. Duration: 20 seconds Cost: 10 Shadow Energy Cooldown: 60 seconds
¡®Was that a sort of scripted event then?¡¯ He had just gained a very powerful ability with multiple uses. Most importantly, as it was just displayed, he could avoid area of effect abilities that otherwise wouldn¡¯t miss. Frost sat down to let himself recover stamina and shadow energy that he would almost certainly need for later fights. He repaired his equipment that was beginning to get low on durability and sharpened his sword with a whetstone, even though it wasn¡¯t really necessary. It was something to do while waiting for his body to recover, and he found it relaxing. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°It¡¯s rare to see someone sharpening a sword like that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s therapeutic.¡± Frost would have been surprised to see Emiri, but he had been half expecting her to show up. ¡°I see¡­ You have passed the first test. That was the hardest of the tests, so long as you continue to keep your wits about you and use the skills I have given you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s almost disappointing.¡± Emiri smiled. ¡°I think I¡¯m beginning to truly like you, Frost. I said that the next tests would be easier, but this first one was nearly impossible for someone of your level. You barely won that fight, and in a way even I did not expect. I did not expect you to discover that secret of Shadow Cutting so quickly. I expected you to fail as the others did before you.¡± ¡°There were others?¡± If other players knew about his skills to such an extent, it would be bad if that information spread. ¡°Not for many years. None of the children that I have chosen in the past managed to defeat my golem. However, I¡¯m glad that you did. I want you to succeed. I need you to succeed.¡± Frost relaxed. It seemed that the other potential champions were NPCs and had failed anyway. ¡°If you need a champion that badly, why did you make the test so difficult?¡± ¡°I need someone strong, unwavering. I need someone who will never stray from their path, no matter how difficult the journey. If the trials were simple, then even if I chose a champion, they would only die, perhaps when it matters most.¡± ¡°Then how do you know that this much is enough?¡± ¡°That is a story reserved only for my champion.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait to hear it then. Frost stood and slowly walked to the exit, towards the next challenge. When I¡¯m done here, you¡¯ll have to tell me everything.¡± Another long, dark tunnel preceded the next room, which was dimly lit by chandeliers hanging fifteen feet above the floor. The room was long, to the point that he couldn¡¯t see the end of it. Countless tunnels lined the walls on either side of the room that was a little more than twenty feet wide. As he stepped into the room, it began to grow brighter as glowing beings started pouring through the tunnels as far as he could see. He put his sword away and pulled out his staff, activating Dark Infusion as the glowing people approached. Their faces were twisted in hatred, and Frost knew they weren¡¯t anything human, despite their appearance. He swung his staff and the enemies it touched simply dissipated. He had expected the dark element damage of Dark Infusion to be more effective against light based creatures, but this kind of effect was something else. They must have been some weak creatures, meant to die easily when hit by the dark damage of his skill. They left no shadows behind. He sprinted forwards, sweeping away the enemies before him, reactivating Dark Infusion when it ran out. Weak as they were, they were still endlessly pouring out of the tunnels and there was no end in sight. Continuing on, his Shadow Energy eventually reached half and he had a choice to make. He could continue to run and hope that an end to the long hallway would eventually appear, or he could try one of the side passages. All his knowledge of similar tests in games told him that he needed to take a side path, because this one was an endless path that would only result in his death. His thoughts were to take a narrow side path where he could use his staff to push through and defend the back at the same time. It would be a lot easier and might lead to where he needed to go. Distracted by his thoughts, he tripped over a rough patch of ground and took a hit from one of the glowing men. The attack both shocked and burned him as the creature¡¯s arm passed through his shoulder. He struck it down and continued to run straight ahead. He needed time to think, but didn¡¯t have it with the endless hoard of nameless monsters chasing him. An idea crossed his mind and he activated Shadow Dive, falling into a pool of shadows that seemed to grab him and pull him down. In the shadow realm it was an exact replica of the hallway, but without the color or the glowing spirits. Since they didn¡¯t have a physical form, he decided that was what they were probably closest to. He stood there and quickly came to a decision on where he would go. Straight ahead. He ran as the last few seconds of the skill ran out and he was thrown back into the mortal realm. His staff once again charged with shadow energy, he activated burst of speed to move forward at 150% speed. Frost was already a fast character so the increase to his speed allowed him to fly through the hallway as quick as lightning, destroying any enemies in front of himself with the staff. There was no cooldown on the skill and his shadow energy would still run out before his stamina did, so he kept using Burst of Speed to continue moving faster. He used Dark Infusion yet again, which left him with twenty-one shadow energy at that point. He was also losing stamina at an extremely fast rate because of his skill, and he still couldn¡¯t see the end. He knew though, that he couldn¡¯t give up. It was too late to try for the side paths and he felt that going straight was the correct decision. Even if there were a light at the end of the tunnel, he wouldn¡¯t be able to see it with all the glowing spirits in his way, so he just ran. He activated Dark Infusion one last time and nearly a minute later, under the same conditions, it was about to run out and he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it again. His energy recovery rate was simply too low. He ran up the wall as the skill ended and used the last of his energy to dive into the shadow realm. He fell from the wall and rolled to his feet, continuing to run. When the skill ended, he appeared surrounded by the spirits and a swing of his staff passed through them harmlessly. Their attacks burned painfully but he tried to ignore them as he pushed onward, his health dropping fast. He passed through a spirit and cried out in pain, but he was also in an open space. Suddenly, all the spirits were behind him. They still chased him, but they weren¡¯t able to keep up with his speed. He continued to run, without looking back or straying from the path. Occasionally, he would pass another side tunnel, tempting him to enter and escape through the narrow passageway. He didn¡¯t. He ran until his stamina dipped under a hundred points and then he kept running. Ahead of him, he could see a chasm, with a ledge on the other side. If that was not the end of this trial, he was finished anyway, so he used one last Burst of Speed and jumped. He floated over the chasm and crashed into the ground on the other side where he lay on his back, panting from exhaustion. He looked around and saw a wooden door nearby, lit by torches attached to the wall. The glowing spirits watched him from across the chasm, not daring to attempt the cross. Frost closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting out the tension and allowing himself to relax. *Ding*
Ability gained: Shadow Jump
When standing in a shadow, you can teleport to another shadow. Cannot jump to the shadow of an untethered enemy. Cost: 5 Shadow Energy
¡°Once again, you have passed a trial. Congratulations.¡± Emiri seemed to have simply appeared out of nowhere again. ¡°It¡¯s thanks to the hint you gave me.¡± She smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± He smiled back at her. ¡® ¡±I need someone who will never stray from their path, no matter how difficult the journey.¡± ¡¯ Those were the words she had said to him right before the challenge and he might have tried the side paths without that subtle hint. ¡°These tests seem awfully considerate of how much shadow energy and stamina I have.¡± ¡°Well, the tests are based on you and your abilities. They take into account your level, your stats, and your Shadow Energy. The last test was designed so that even if you ran at full speed the entire time, you would not have enough shadow energy to make it to the end of the hateful light spirits.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t it sort of seem like cheating to use my ability that increases my speed?¡± ¡°Not at all. Having an ability that allows you to overcome the trials is expected. If you rely too heavily on the powers I have given, you may forget to rely on the other resources you have.¡± ¡°What if I didn¡¯t have such an ability?¡± ¡°Then perhaps you would have failed.¡± ¡°I thought you said the trials would be easier now.¡± ¡°Hahaha. They might be a bit easier than facing the golem, since you now have more powers, but they are still very challenging.¡± Frost turned to look at the door. ¡°What about the next challenge? What will I need to win that?¡± There was no answer, and when he looked, she was gone again. How many more tests did he have to face? Would he be lucky with those tests as well? He must succeed or he would lose his class. He had come this far, and he refused to lose now. When he had fully recovered, he stood and walked up to the door, running his hand over the wood as he moved it towards the handle. It felt so real that he almost couldn¡¯t believe he was playing a game. He turned the handle, and the door opened. Chapter 15: Emiris Champion I''m tired. Proofreading is tiring, but it makes the story better. I try. Please enjoy. Chapter 15: Emiri¡¯s Champion Frost entered an area similar to the room with the golem in it, complete with the two rings of torches on the ceiling. In fact, the only difference was the size of the room, which was twice the size of the golem¡¯s room. In the back of the room was a tall throne made of rusting iron, occupied by a tall man in a red robe. He just sat there looking in Frost¡¯s direction, an evil grin on his face. Frost put his staff away and drew his sword as he walked further into the room. The man didn¡¯t budge until Frost reached the center of the room. He raised his hand off of the armrest and motioned for Frost to stop where he was. Frost took a few more steps before he stopped walking, curious rather than submissive. He wanted to know what the man on the throne would say. ¡°Are you prepared to die, foolish boy?¡± ¡°Are you?¡± The man¡¯s arm moved in pointless gestures as he spoke, seemingly unconcerned, ¡°I suppose it is impressive that you have reached me, when no one else has after all this time. However, your life ends here. You may speak your last words. Be grateful that I, Lord Enzan will remember them for as long is it entertains me. Tell me, what does a youth with a draconic bloodline think about when he knows he is about to die?¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking about what will happen.¡± ¡°So you wonder about what comes after death. How¡­mundane.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. I¡¯m thinking about what will happen after I devour your shadow.¡± Frost smiled and walked forward, gripping his sword in both hands. The man in the chair chanted a spell and then began to float up into the air and out of reach. He was a mage or some sort of spell caster. Frost tried, but he was unable to get to him before the man was too high up to even leave a shadow. A mage that could fly was the worst possible enemy for him, considering he had no long-range attacks. At best, he could wait until the flight or the mage¡¯s mana ran out. If he could survive until then, the man would be as good as dead. The problem was actually surviving whatever the mage had up his sleeve. He didn¡¯t know what types of spells and abilities spell casters had, considering he had never run into one and the information on them was limited. It appeared that there was a short charge up time in the form of a chant before a spell could be used. Frost dove into the shadow realm to avoid a large fireball falling down from above. When he left after twenty seconds, he was nearly hit by a fiery ray that scorched the ground behind him as he twisted to avoid it. He continued to attempt to survive the onslaught of magical attacks that followed, using Shadow Dive to avoid the more dangerous spells when he felt it was necessary. He couldn¡¯t dodge everything though, and his health decreased more and more as the fight went on. ¡®These trials are seriously sadistic and so damn unfair.¡¯ ¡°Don¡¯t think you can float up there forever, asshole. When you come down here¡­¡± ¡°Hmm. Ha! Hahahahahaaa!¡± He pulled a vial out of his robes and shook it as if to mock Frost. ¡°Mana potion.¡± He drank it and tossed the vial. They both watched it fall and saw it shatter as it struck the floor. The mage began to chant another spell and Frost snapped. This was all so ridiculous, and he was sick of the bullshit mage playing around with him. He furiously pulled out a dagger and threw it as hard as he could at the lord Enzan. The small blade struck him in the chest, cancelling the chant as the man cried out in pain and began to fall. He caught himself before he crashed into the floor but he wasn¡¯t far above it when he began to rise again. Frost had begun to run the moment he realized that Enzan was falling. He jumped high into the air and impaled the mage, bringing them both to the ground. Frost pulled his sword out of the man¡¯s body and slammed it through Enzan¡¯s leg, lodging the blade in the ground. Enraged, he mounted the wizard and used his heavy gauntlets to punch the mage continuously. The mage was unable to cast spells as Frost hit his face over and over, while the sword in his leg sapped his health. Frost could see his enemy¡¯s health bar quickly falling to a dangerous level. Lord Enzan threw his hands up at Frost and a white light repulsed him, sending him flying backwards. Frost landed on his back and rolled to his feet. Enzan was hovering thirty feet in the air again by the time he even looked up. The sword and dagger clattered to the ground as the mage pulled them out of his body and threw them away. Frost pulled out an axe and a dagger from his bag. He threw the axe at the mage, who watched the axe pass by as he dodged. ¡°The first time was unexpected. It won¡¯t work agagh!¡± Frost¡¯s dagger, infused with dark energy, slashed the man¡¯s face, binding his shadow since he had neglected to do that earlier. Frost ran and picked up his sword with a smile as he dove into the shadow realm. Enzan frowned as he watched him disappear, then began to prepare a spell for when Frost returned to the normal realm. Enzan felt a pain near his spine and lost the mana and the spell he was preparing. He spun around but there was nothing behind him and there wasn¡¯t even a wound on his back. It felt like a blade was stabbed into him, but he couldn¡¯t see anything. He spun around trying to find the source of the pain, trying to find Frost. ¡°Where are you!?¡± Frost fell into the shadow realm and ran behind the self-proclaimed lord. He pulled out a third dagger and threw it, spinning end over end as he counted to twenty. He realized something a moment earlier after he calmed down. Each test rewarded him with something that he could use in the next test, but he couldn¡¯t figure out how to use shadow jump. There wasn¡¯t a single shadow in the room other than his own, so there was nothing he could Shadow Jump to. However, he had realized something that he saw earlier, but didn¡¯t fully realize until a few moments ago when he had brought down the wizard. There was a reason there were no shadows in the room, and the mage had mana potions to stay afloat and cast his spells. These trials were more than just a test to see if he was worthy. They were also a lesson, a way of teaching him how to use his abilities one at a time. This test was a lesson in using his abilities together, as well as teaching him how to most effectively use shadow jump. He had figured out what he needed to do, so he tethered the mage¡¯s shadow with Dark Infusion and a thrown dagger. So he stood there, counting, waiting for the skill to end as he gripped his sword, his heart racing in anticipation. In the shadow realm, it appeared that everyone had a shadow the same size and shape as themselves, if a little fuzzy and unclear. The last second before the skill ended, he activated Shadow Jump, teleporting to the one other shadow that he could see. The teleportation was instantaneous as Frost appeared next to the shadow and drew back his arm. The shadow turned to face him as he reappeared in the mortal realm, his countdown perfectly timed. He thrust forward, impaling Enzan with his sword. They tumbled out of the air and crashed into the ground, both of them taking damage from the fall. Frost recovered first, grabbing onto the mage tightly to prevent him from flying up again. He pulled out his last dagger and rammed it into the man¡¯s eyes, his heart, his lungs, and every vital area he could think of. Critical hits helped reduce lord Enzan¡¯s health as he screamed in pain. He tried to repel Frost again, but this time, he was holding on, and they both went flying from the force of the magic pulse. They crashed into a wall and Frost¡¯s dagger went skittering across the floor. It didn¡¯t matter though, because frost still had his fists. Holding on tightly with his left, he punched Lord Enzan again and again, ignoring the terror in the man¡¯s eyes and his screams for mercy as his health reached zero. Frost stood up, looking down on the corpse in front of him and ate the shadow that was left behind. ¡°For someone so arrogant, you weren¡¯t even that tough.¡± *Ding, Ding*
You have devoured the shadow of a powerful mage.
+10 Wisdom +10 Intelligence
Ability gained: Shadow Hook
Enemies can now be tethered three times. An enemy tethered three times can be affected by shadow hook. Effect: Enemies weaker than you are pulled towards you. Effect: Enemies stronger or significantly larger and heavier act as an anchor for you to pull yourself to. Effect: You can use shadow hook as a grappling hook to reach high or distant places. Range: 20 meters Duration: 10 seconds Cost: 10 shadow energy
Frost collected his weapons and watched as the mage began to burn, his body spontaneously igniting. Within moments, there was nothing left but ash where the mage had been. On top of the pile of ash was a single gold coin that Frost picked up. It didn¡¯t have the usual design of Dunari, so he put it in his pocket rather than put it in his bag with the rest of the coins. Frost waited for Emiri to appear again, but this time she didn¡¯t. Behind the throne was an iron door that was similar to the chair, rusted and beaten. After waiting until he was at full strength, he tried to open the door, but it was rusted shut. He kicked it a few times until the hinges broke, revealing a pitch-black room. He walked in and felt the darkness physically pressing in on him. He continued to press onward until the pressure released, causing him to stumble and nearly fall on his face. The darkness began to pull away, starting from directly in front of him. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. He stood facing an army of tens of thousands, banners flapping in the wind as they looked at him from afar. Their dark armor seemed to absorb the light and the army itself seemed to suck the life out of the area around them, making everything appear dull and grey around them. They had the shape of humans, but even from three hundred meters away, he could tell they were anything but. The darkness had receded to the point that Frost could see to the sides. On his right were five people, each standing a pace apart: Three men and two women. They stood in a line and he had to lean forward to see all of them. They appeared resolved to die as they faced the army in front of them with grim faces. Frost looked down at himself and realized that he was not himself. He was in someone else¡¯s body, and as he thought about it, he realized that it was probably Emiri¡¯s champion from long ago. He frowned, trying to figure out what was happening to him, and where he was. The darkness that was slowly dissipating vanished all at once, revealing an army behind him. They weren¡¯t a single uniform force like the one in front of him, but had different groups scattered about. Many different races, factions, and kingdoms had all sent forces to join the coalition army that stood behind him. ¡°Getting nervous before the fight, Rorin?¡± asked the man dressed in bright green robes standing next to him. ¡°Not really, just looking at the troops to see if they¡¯re still behind us.¡± He grinned. ¡®I didn¡¯t say that. I¡¯m not in control of this guy¡¯s mouth.¡¯ ¡°Are we going to stand here all day, or are we going to just stare at each other?¡± one of the five further down the line said irritably. ¡°Very well.¡± The man in the middle, wearing blue, spoke. ¡°We move now.¡± He raised his hand and motioned the army forward. The five stepped forward at the same time and Frost did his best to keep pace with them to stay in formation. The men and women tried to rouse their own spirits with war calls and chants. They joked to ease the tension and fear they felt at facing a foe that felt nothing. The opposing army also began to march towards them, silent and imposing. From within their midst appeared a simple looking man in leather armor at the front of the army. He looked plain, but his appearance caused the others to react in a multitude of ways. Some reacted with fear while others reacted with disgust or hatred. The man in the green robes whispered, ¡°The demon king.¡± He had hatred in his eyes, and Frost could see that every fiber of his being wanted to run forward and destroy that man. ¡®That guy is the demon king?¡¯ Frost didn¡¯t see anything special or particularly noticeable about the man, but everyone seemed to be able to identify him. Frost had to wonder how such a normal looking person could become the monster he had read about in the lore. The demon king stopped moving and was swallowed up by his own army as arrows flew and the armies crashed into one another. He could hear the screams of people dying as he stabbed at the enemy with a short spear. He had full control of the body so he had to fight through the ranks of what seemed to be demons at a closer look. He fought towards the center where he had seen the demon king disappear. It seemed as if he was supposed to join the others and take down the demon king as part of a group. Frost reached a large open area where the demon king stood with a glowing red sword. He stood with a twisted grin on his face as he waited for all the heroes to gather and fight him. The last of the six entered the open area and they were all completely ignored by the surrounding soldiers. ¡°Thank you for coming. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re all here.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll pay for your crimes, you monster!¡± The female warrior in white screamed as she charged forward. Frost and the others sprung into motion, some of them casting spells while others attacked with weapons. The demon king laughed as he raised his sword to fend off the attacks. His sword moved too fast for him to see as he began to fight the heroes. They used spells, weapons, and abilities to try to take him down, but the heroes weren¡¯t capable when it came to working together. They were uncoordinated as a team, sometimes getting in each other¡¯s way. The demon king took advantage of that weakness, and they were no match for him. He was everywhere, and the heroes fell one by one. Soon, only Frost and the female warrior in white were still alive, and they were both on their knees before the demon king. ¡°And so, your pitiful rebellion ends. Don¡¯t worry though, because your deaths will make me stronger.¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± the person whose body Frost was inside said. Frost lost control of that body as the woman activated a skill that turned her into a blinding light. Frost was covered in shadow as some skill unknown to him was activated. The two of them attacked the demon king in one last attempt to do more than the little damage they had already done to him. Frost and the demon king impaled each other through the gut at the same time. The woman attempted to behead the demon king as Frost held him in place. He instantly appeared behind her and decapitated her instead. Frost fell to his knees, a single tear rolling down his face. ¡®This guy must have had strong feelings for her.¡¯ The demon king stabbed him through the heart with a smile, ending his life, and he was once again back in the darkness. He was still on his knees, and he felt the deep sorrow of whoever that man had been. *Ding*
Ability gained: Shadow armor
Cover your body in dark energy. +20% physical resistance +20% magic resistance +20% damage (Dark) when using your body to attack. Duration: 120 seconds Cost: 40 Shadow Energy
Emiri stood in front of him, a somber look on her face. ¡°The Demon King was a monster and he was also a man. A human. He was a creature that defied the logic in this world and became a monster unlike any other before him or after. As a human, he destroyed the champions we had, turning them against one another or killing them. He rampaged through the lands, with his armies of monsters and humanoids in tow as he slaughtered everyone who would not serve him. Even the gods did not understand how he could be so powerful after such a short amount of time and they did not understand why he was so twisted and evil. We sent new champions against him, but he was unstoppable, and eventually, his power became too great. That day, he took the power we had given our champions when he killed them, a little piece of each of us gods. With that, he was able to ascend to godhood himself and challenge us. That was a mistake on his part. He had yet to fully and completely conquer the world at that point. There were still areas of the world that held out against him and there was still resistance in the hearts of many of the conquered. His control, and his powers were far from complete. The demon king did not fully comprehend godhood, and a war between gods occurred. Some of the minor gods joined the demon king while others fought against him, but in the end he was destroyed. Some of the minor gods were slain, but he was utterly destroyed, never to arise again. His destruction had little impact on the world, though, and it remained broken for some time. It still is in many ways.¡± ¡°I get it now. That¡¯s what you meant when you said if the champions weren¡¯t good enough, they would fail when it mattered most.¡± ¡°I lost so many friends and followers to that madman. When we choose a champion, it isn¡¯t just picking someone out of the crowd and giving them weapons to fight for you. It is a deep bond that we share, and one that will grow over time. You will become close to me as the others did before me. You will be my hands in the mortal realm and my crutch to lean on. I will need you soon, and I hope that you can become a friend as well as an ally.¡± Frost looked at her with pity as he saw the deep grief in her expression. She wasn¡¯t hiding anything from him anymore. She had accepted him as her champion, and laid her heart bare before him. He could tell that she was lonely, and still grieving for the friends she had lost. He stood and said nothing for a moment as he walked up to her. He gave her a hug, ¡°You can count on me.¡± She hugged him back. ¡°Thank you.¡± She then pushed him back to arms length and an impassive look returned to her face. She took a black ring off of her ring finger and handed it to him. ¡°Wear this on your left ring finger. It will bind to you so that it can never be stolen.¡± ¡°Is this a proposal?¡± Frost joked with a smirk on his face. ¡°No,¡± Emiri smiled, ¡°but you should see it as a reminder that you are bound to me, the same as marriage binds you to another.¡± Frost put the black ring on his finger and it shrunk, melding into his skin and leaving a black band behind. A window popped up describing the ring.
Emiri¡¯s Champion Ring
+1 to all stats +50 shadow energy Champion¡¯s bond
¡°You can wear another ring on that finger, if you want.¡± She looked at him with a probing gaze, trying to figure out if he had someone in mind. ¡°Yeah, okay.¡± Frost didn¡¯t realize what she was doing and he was preoccupied with the ring. ¡°I will call on you soon. For now, I need you to get stronger.¡± She pushed him lightly and he fell backwards, unable to control his body. ¡°Until next time.¡± Frost fell into the darkness and sunk, as if he was sinking into a deep lake. ¡®Get stronger? Just wait and see.¡¯ Chapter 16: Demons Rising So much for free time. Real life is hard. It took me about four days to proofread and fix this chapter because I¡¯m too tired to focus. Please enjoy. Chapter 16: Demons Rising Nala awoke in the courtyard of Fort Sunset, the last area she had been in before the Selection everyone was talking about. She too had been chosen as a candidate to become a champion, but she, unlike many others, had succeeded. She wanted to test her new abilities on normal enemies and see just how good she could become with them, combined with her usual skills. ¡°You¡¯ve been gone a while, you know. I¡¯ve been waiting here for you to come back and I¡¯m guessing this is about that Selection so you had better have come back with an amazing new ability or I¡¯m going to be mad at you for making me wait. I had to wait for hours, you know, and I didn¡¯t want to log out and leave you here alone. Who knows what could have happened if I had just left. This courtyard could have filled with demons or monsters and things and they would have attacked you. Then you¡¯d be dead.¡± ¡°You done, Mom?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Cool. Let me show you my new skills.¡± She showed Star all the new abilities she had gained from the goddess Valux. Star thought it would have been great if Arkiel had chosen one of them, but Star hadn¡¯t been chosen at all, and Nala had been chosen by one of the six major gods, which she decided was probably better anyway. Arkiel was merely a minor god and any powers he would have given would have been lesser than what Valux, the god of light, gave her. Nala thought it was strange that Star¡¯s character worshipped a male god and gained powers from him. Nala knew that her friend was something of a man hater. Star explained that because he was a male god, he would need competent women to lead him in the right direction. A goddess wouldn¡¯t really need help like a male god did, or something like that. Nala had a habit of not paying full attention whenever Star went on one of her rants. Recently, the two had completed the Demons Rising quest only to find out that it was a chain quest. They had had a tough time fighting through the fortress and especially difficult was the last demon in Fort Sunset. It had appeared in the courtyard after they had taken out every other demon in the area. It had been a six-legged monstrosity with three spiny ridges running down its back and two long, whip-like tails that flicked, cutting through the air. Its two front feet had long, razor sharp claws that it used to tear apart its foes. The demon had a long, flat head covered in short, dull spikes, similar to a durian. There was a moment during the fight when it had used its shark-like teeth to bite into Star, nearly killing her considering the damage she had already taken earlier in the fight. Nala had to rescue her friend and fight on her own while Star kept her distance and healed herself using divine magic. The two of them fighting together managed to take it down in the end, though it was a long, hard fight. They still needed to claim the monetary reward for the quest, but they might as well do the next part and let the money accumulate so that they wouldn¡¯t lose any of it if they died and they didn¡¯t need to buy anything anyway. They were at the base of the mountains and the second part of the quest had them heading towards a city in the mountains. They had to meet the guard captain there and find out what the next part of the quest was from them. She couldn¡¯t be certain, but Nala felt as if the quest might be something related to the hidden story of the game. She didn¡¯t know if others had received similar quests, but she had to wonder why Star had been given the quest. Was it a random coincidence, or was there a reason behind it? While she had been wondering about these things while pacing in the courtyard, she suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. After that, Valux had told her that she had been chosen as a potential candidate for the powers of the goddess of light. She took the test and overcame the trials, learning the class Hand of Light. She now had a series of skills that involved the use of light magic. Her new skills were useable with just about any weapon, while also including light based magic and a healing skill. The pair headed towards the mountains to go find the city that was somewhere within. Just as they were about to start climbing a path they found, they realized what time it was. They both frowned, knowing that it was time for them to log out for now. The two confirmed that they would meet up at the usual time for next meeting and then they left the game. Minala took off her headset and stared at the ceiling before she stood up and walked over to the window. She wanted to play more of the game because it was a place where she could be herself. Dead World Online was a game that let her be free when everything else about her life was far from it. She looked up at the stars, wishing for the thousandth time that she didn¡¯t live in the city. Light pollution and smog made it so that only a small percentage of the stars could be seen. She loved to look at the stars. She sighed and moved to sit down at her desk, pulling out a notebook as she thought about the game. Min¡¯s game time revolved around Cara¡¯s schedule. Cara was the reason that Min was even playing the game in the first place so she didn¡¯t want to play without her and leave her behind. Min knew that she would be able to play the game as a solo player while Cara couldn¡¯t. Min didn¡¯t want to leave her best friend helpless, and it was more fun to play together anyway. She started writing down ideas for how to use her new skills and abilities in the best combinations with what she already had and what she could potentially have in the future. She had originally been planning to choose a ranger class after she had finished with the quest, but something a little better came along so she decided to take it. She was one of the few who fully read the user agreement that all players had to agree to if they wanted to play the game. It explained that they could shorten the ¡°beta test¡± and didn¡¯t have to reset the game after it. Star and Nala were both characters built for the long game when their traits were considered. However, Min cared about winning the tournament much more than Cara did. She wanted to be the best to prove to her self that she could accomplish something no one else could and because it was something she herself had decided on. Even though her family was fairly wealthy, her grades were above average, and she had good looks, she felt her life was a bit dull. Nothing exciting or special ever happened and every day was routine, boring. Her parents dictated many of her hobbies and activities, making her feel restricted and caged. Sometimes it felt like she was living the same day over and over again, only slightly different from the day before. Cara was the one thing that kept her from going crazy from stress. When she had introduced Min to DWO, it changed everything for her. She was able to be free, if only for a part of the day. However, it was enough freedom that she wasn¡¯t stressed by the time she spent following her parent¡¯s wishes. Her parents, who were usually strict about electronics, allowed her to play the game that was a gift from Cara because they saw the effect it had on her. After she had started playing the game, she brightened up and her already excellent grades improved. It wasn¡¯t as if all the stress had magically disappeared, it just decreased to manageable levels. She might not be the highest-level player in the game, but she had much more skill than the average player. Frost Frost entered the game after waking up and eating breakfast. Emiri had left him at the base of the mountains, saving him a bit of travel time. There was a path right in front of him, leading up the relatively gentle incline. Many of the other mountains in the area were tall and would require climbing tools if he wanted to scale them. The mountain he was starting to climb was enormous despite the more gradual incline. Its tree-covered peak towered above the other mountains, sticking out like a sore thumb. The mountain looked like it didn¡¯t belong, as if it was created separately from the rest of the mountain range. Even so, the sight of the mountains reaching up towards the clouds was beautiful. He forgave them for the poor mountain range design because other than the one mountain sticking out, the scenery was impeccable. He started the climb up the narrow, winding path to the top as he thought about the revolutionary graphics of the game. Frost didn¡¯t run into any monsters for nearly an hour as he walked up the path. There was the occasional mountain goat, but the lack of monsters or anything besides trees and rocks was somewhat concerning. If he didn¡¯t have anything to fight for a while, he couldn¡¯t level up and he would fall further behind the other players. He stopped and turned to look back down the path he had come. It would take some time but he would have to go back down the mountain and find another area. Snap. Frost looked up to see three creatures that looked like small dragons climbing down out of the trees. They were the same color green as the leaves on the trees, their wings folded along their eight-foot length. They had long claws designed for climbing and had the ability to slowly climb down the tree like a squirrel, facing him with razor teeth bared against their prey. They were level twenty-five drakes, and they looked built for fighting, with their scaly hide and deadly natural weapons. They tensed to pounce, but he just slowly fell backwards, disappearing into the shadows, relieved that there were enemies to fight after all. He used a pair of daggers to quickly climb one of the trees with a drake in it. He returned to the mortal realm above a drake, using his body weight to plunge his sword into it. He bonded its shadow as he rode it to the ground. Its cry of pain elicited screams of rage from its companions as they pounced at him. He dove to the side as the drakes crashed into each other, becoming a tangled mess of limbs. They separated and began to fan out, trying to surround and flank him. He attacked the one in the middle, one of the two he hadn¡¯t tethered yet so he could get in close and prevent them from surrounding him. Their scales were almost as strong as steel armor, resisting every strike of his sword and reducing damage. Frost weaved under and around the drakes as they rushed him, narrowly avoiding both claws and jaws as he cut at them. He wasn¡¯t able to avoid every hit, so he still lost health as he fought. One of the drakes opened its mouth to bite him and on a whim he shoved his sword down its throat. The drake gurgled and collapsed, dying from the massive amount of damage the attack did and trapping his sword inside it. He had to leave it sticking out of the creature¡¯s mouth or the other drakes would each get a free shot at him as he tried to pull it out. Frost whipped out his staff and used it to defend himself as the enraged drakes flanked him. He guided them away from the body of their companion and circled back to grab his sword. He sprinted using burst of speed to grab his sword and put it in its sheath safely. He decided that the heavy staff¡¯s blunt ends were more effective against the thick scales of the monsters and he used it to beat them into submission. One of the drakes made a low squeaking noise when its health reached ten percent and began to back up slowly. Frost stared it down, refusing to let precious experience points he had worked for simply walk away. It turned to run and he lunged grabbing it by its tail, tethering its shadow, and hitting the head of the other drake with his staff so it wouldn¡¯t interfere for a few seconds. He jumped on the back of the drake, letting go of its tail as he drove it into the ground with the staff and his weight. It thrashed around as it squealed in terror, trying to throw him off. Frost grabbed it by the base of the neck and plunged a dagger into its eye. It released one last pained cry before it died. The last drake tackled him off of its companion and the two wrestled for a moment before separating. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Frost wanted to try out shadow hook since he was fairly confident he could finish off the drake at any time, now that there was only the one injured creature left. The drake charged directly at him, snarling as it tried to tear him apart. He jumped over it, and tethered it by touching it as it went under him. The second tether was a hit from the staff charged with shadow energy. The third tether connected when he punched the beast in the head to redirect its bite to the side so that it missed him. He hopped back and fell into the shadow realm where he switched back to his sword. If the fight with the mage was any indicator, he didn¡¯t need to use shadow cutting to hit shadows in the shadow realm, so he didn¡¯t bother. He distanced himself from the drake and used shadow hook, to close the distance. He flew forward swiftly and used the momentum to drive his sword into the drake¡¯s shadow. He heard a muffled bell sound as he was forcibly recalled to the mortal world. The drake¡¯s limp body slid off of his sword, raising a small dirt cloud as it plopped onto the path. A shadow ball appeared above the body of the drake in front of him, but not the other ones he had tethered. He ate that shadow, collected the scales that dropped, and then he opened the window that was in the bottom right side of his view.
Ability gained: Shadow Break
A single attack at an enemy¡¯s shadow in the shadow realm that uses the momentum of shadow hook. 200% damage Ignores armor Cost: 30 Shadow Energy
Frost continued up the path while keeping an eye out for more enemies in the trees above him. He took his time climbing the mountain, focusing over the next week on fighting drakes to level up himself and his skills. He also wanted to test his abilities to see what their limits were. Occasionally, he hunted the extremely quick goats worth a surprising amount of experience, more for the meat that dropped and agility training than anything else. He discovered that he had a five second cooldown on shadow tether when trying to tether someone more than once, which had probably been there since he gained the ability to tether enemies three times. There was no cooldown on tethering different enemies so he still had the potential to tether a large number of enemies in a short amount of time. He discovered the limits of his other abilities as well. When in the shadow realm, doing damage with a melee weapon returned him to the mortal realm. Projectiles such as throwing knives didn¡¯t seem to have the same effect. He was also unable to affect or even touch an enemy¡¯s shadow in the shadow realm unless he tethered them in the mortal realm. Shadow hook always pulled him towards a tethered enemy when used on them in the shadow realm, no matter what enemy it was. The further he went up the mountain, the higher the enemies¡¯ levels were, reaching into the lower thirties. In that week, he had reached level twenty-eight and soon the drakes would no longer be worth fighting. In that time, he had collected a great deal of drake scales and goat meat, as well as a few of the uncommon drops, such as goat horns and drake claws. In that time he had also increased many of his skill¡¯s levels and even gained some new ones.
Sharpening
Proper blade sharpening gives a slight increase to damage and can increase the current durability of the weapon.
Running: Beginner Level 10
Constant training allows you to run faster and longer without becoming tired. +10 Stamina
Active: Lightning Flash, Beginner Level 10
A single attack made with 35% attack speed, 140% damage, and ignores 20% of armor. Cost: 20 Shadow Energy and 30 stamina
Skills
Climbing: Beginner Lvl 7 Cooking: Beginner Lvl 9 Falling: Beginner Lvl 4 Forging: Beginner Lvl 4 Jumping: Beginner Lvl 8 Repair: Beginner Lvl 7 Running: Beginner Lvl 10 Stalking: Beginner Lvl 7 Tailoring Beginner Lvl 5 Sharpening: Beginner Lvl 2
Eventually, eating the shadows of the dragons resulted in him gaining a few random stats and an amazing ability. The shadows of the dragons had somehow had an effect with his bloodline, giving him something amazing.
Wind dragon affinity gained
+5% physical damage reduction +20% wind magic affinity +10% wind magic resistance -15% mana
Frost was still unsure just how shadow eating worked so he wasn¡¯t sure what to do about the amazing message. He would occasionally gain a stat when he ate a shadow, but otherwise the effects were underwhelming. He put the thought aside and continued on his journey. Frost came across a stream in a wide, open area where he was able to refill his water and relax without fear of a drake jumping on his head. He sat down to take a break and log out for a little while. He opened his mouth to say the words that would cause him to exit the game when he saw something move in the trees nearby. It was a darkly colored creature and it was moving quicker than the mountain goats did. It stopped for a moment, just inside the tree line where Frost could get a clear view of the beast. It was a large black goat with long, curved horns and glowing red eyes that stared directly at him. Frost instantly knew that it was a rare monster, an aggressive, elite version of a monster with higher stats and a very low spawn rate. They were also highly likely to drop some rare items. It started to move again and Frost sprinted after it, drawing his sword and letting out an excited whoop. It was faster than he was, so he used Burst of Speed to even have a chance of catching it. It changed direction multiple times in succession, trying to lose him. It crossed through the stream and followed a branch of it, heading west along the mountain. He nearly caught up to the goat when it turned around and stood its ground. Frost was unable to change directions and ran straight into the goat that used its head to throw Frost to the side. He bounced off of a tree, tumbling through some low brush. The goat gave him an arrogant look as if he was beneath it, but Frost grinned savagely at the beast. When he ran into the goat, he had the reaction speed and sense of mind to tether the goat¡¯s shadow. ¡°Two more and you¡¯re dead, demon goat.¡± The creature snorted and turned to lope away but Frost was on his feet in a flash, following closely behind it. He used Burst of Speed again and the goat tried to use the same trick to get him to run into it so it could hurt him. He was ready this time and sidestepped the goat, activating Dark Infusion as he cut along its side with his sword. ¡®One more tether.¡¯ The goat turned and rammed him, knocking the air out of his lungs. Frost bounced off of a tree, crashing into the dirt. The goat attacked, trying to smash and trample him with its hooves. He activated shadow armor and kicked at the goat, knocking it off of him and tethering its shadow a third time. The goat bolted, trying to gain some distance from him. Frost stood up and frowned at the goat as it ran, wondering why a rare monster was running away so much when they were supposed to be highly aggressive. The goat was getting away, but Frost wasn¡¯t concerned now that he had bound its shadow to himself. He reached out as if to grab the goat and spoke with a smug smile on his face. ¡°Shadow hook.¡± A dark, semi-translucent line a few inches thick shot out from his palm and homed in on the goat. It attached and he pulled, flying to the goat far faster than he could run. He stabbed his sword into the goat and mounted it as it continued to run so that he could drain its health as he held onto it. The goat bucked and thrashed, crashing into trees and doing whatever it could to throw him. It couldn¡¯t do much damage to him while he was mounting it so he held on as the sword reduced its health by the second. Shadow armor still active, he made sure he had a good grip on his sword with one hand as he punched the goat with the other. When Shadow Armor ran out, he grit his teeth as he drove the sword deeper into the goat. It couldn¡¯t shake him off no matter what it did since he held onto it with his legs and the sword in its back. He drew his dagger and stabbed it into the goat for good measure as its health points started to run low. The goat didn¡¯t seem to have any defense measures other than its speed. Once that was taken away, it was nothing more than a sitting duck. The goat turned and ran full speed to the southwest as its health dropped to around twenty percent. It ran straight even as its health dropped below ten percent and Frost smiled, knowing he had won. The goat¡¯s health dropped more and he watched as that last little bit of its health bar slowly drained away. Then, his smile disappeared. He hadn¡¯t been paying attention to where the monster goat was headed and now they were both suddenly above a wide fissure in the ground. He pulled his sword out of the goat and panicked, trying to jump to the ledge but the goat¡¯s death throes sent him spinning and tumbling into the dark fissure. Frost couldn¡¯t hold back a yell of terror as he fell into the abyss below. Chapter 17: Smoke and Mirrors Free time=Gone Even now, I only finished this chapter because there was nothing to do at work and no one was around to look over my shoulder. Why can¡¯t hobbies be full time jobs? Because I¡¯m not good enough at it you say? Touch¨¦. Sigh. Please Enjoy. Chapter 17: Smoke and Mirrors Kimmie Ren sat across from James Caulfield, the usual public face of Undertones Incorporated, trying not to frown. The two sat in GAEM¡¯s main broadcasting room, where they conducted interviews with guests. The last two interviews with people from Undertones had left her with a sour taste in her mouth afterwards. She forced a smile as she introduced him to the audience. ¡°Let¡¯s welcome James Caulfield who came to speak on behalf of Undertones Incorporated.¡± ¡°Thank you. First off, I¡¯d like to apologize for what happened with the last two meetings with our company¡¯s people.¡± ¡°Oh please, don¡¯t worry about it. Speaking of, James Hark said some amazing things about DWO that left a lot of people worried.¡± ¡°I suppose I had better explain what that was all about.¡± He said it with a convincing smile as he scratched the back of his head. ¡°Tell us more about the artificial intelligence that Hark managed to create.¡± James sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not such a happy story actually, and I think you¡¯ll be disappointed with the truth, but I¡¯ll tell you the story from the beginning. It¡¯s public knowledge that Dr. Hark¡¯s daughter, her husband, and their child were killed in a head on collision with a drunk driver.¡± He paused, letting everyone absorb the information. The studio¡¯s background noise quieted down to near silence as the listeners and passersby were drawn in by James¡¯s somber expression. ¡°After that happened, he holed himself up in his lab, beginning his work on the supercomputer. It was something to keep him occupied, something to keep his mind off the tragedy of losing his family. Eventually, he did create a virtual intelligence as he said, and that was an amazing achievement, but it was still a limited one. He taught the V.I. creations to display certain personality traits, but they were only mimicking human emotion.¡± ¡°Hark didn¡¯t see it that way. He saw that they were able to learn and display emotion, so he saw more in them than anyone else. They were his children, and he loved them. He still loves them so much that he sees things in his programs that aren¡¯t really there, because he wants them to be alive, and because he needs to fill that hole in his heart that never healed.¡± ¡°The truth is that artificial intelligence isn¡¯t possible. If he had truly created an artificial intelligence, it certainly wouldn¡¯t be helping to make a game as its primary function.¡± He forced a sad smile as he tried to change the subject. ¡°Sorry to bring down the mood like that. Perhaps we should talk about something else?¡± ¡°Of course. Tell us about the plans for the game¡¯s tournament. How will it be organized?¡± Kimmie genuinely felt sorry for Dr. Hark and she knew that most people hadn¡¯t known about the tragedy of Hark¡¯s family, including herself. She felt bad that she had led the conversation in that direction, forcing poor Mr. Caulfield to reveal Hark¡¯s sad story. ¡°Well, there¡¯s not much to say about the tournament except that it isn¡¯t based solely on level. It¡¯s based on a great number of factors such as the number of deaths, total number of stats, and just about everything the player has done in the game so far. Normally, it would be impossible to choose players based on such a wide variety of statistics, but Dr. Hark¡¯s ingenious programs do a significant portion of the analysis work. ¡°It sounds like the computer is going to take away your jobs.¡± ¡°Hahaha, not quite yet. The computer still lacks the imagination and knowledge required to judge certain events and develop quests. Now, a great number of simple, early level quests are computer generated, but the main story and the larger quests are all human ideas. ¡°I was hoping I¡¯d get a chance to talk about the main story of Dead World Online with you.¡± Kimmie no longer had to force her smile. James¡¯s friendly attitude made her feel at ease and he was very polite. ¡°Many players are concerned that the game is heavily based on player versus player interactions. Tell us about this main story that we know nothing about. We¡¯re all dying to know.¡± ¡°Well, I can¡¯t say too much about it, but I¡¯ll tell you what I can say. For now, the tournament is a major focus of the game, and as a result, PvP is a main concern for players. However, the main story has begun for the lucky few able to pick up the trail. There are signs here and there, as well as quests for the lucky and the worthy. For now, the main story won¡¯t have much of an effect on the game world, but soon enough, everyone will know what is happening, and everyone will have the chance to take part. ¡°It sounds as if you are trying to get the DWO players to form a community and work together to solve problems. Is that the intention?¡± She was fishing for information, but she could tell that he wouldn¡¯t be caught so easily. ¡°Dead World Online is a game with limitless options. Players can choose whatever side they want, or they can choose no side at all. The fate of the world rests in the hands of the players and their actions.¡± ¡°Very mysterious. I suppose people will just have to play the game to find out. Thank you for your time, Mr. Caulfield.¡± Kimmie turned to the camera. ¡°That¡¯s all the time we have for today. Stay tuned for some game clips showing what some of our favorite players have been up to this past week.¡± Star and Nala Nala trekked up the enormous mountain with Star at her side, panting from the high elevation and the exhaustion from combat. The drakes they had fought further down the mountain disappeared, only to be replaced by more demons. They hadn¡¯t faced the monkey-like demons before and the wild creatures were tough to handle. They moved around quickly and noisily, as annoying as they were hard to hit. Earlier in the week, they had come across the city in the mountains, only to have their expectations dashed. The city that was built into the mountainside was only the size of a village, with crumbling walls and buildings making up the majority of structures. The only defense the city had was four guards lazing about and drinking ale by the gate to the city. Nala had to wonder how people lived there when everything was so neglected and falling down. She wouldn¡¯t have been surprised to see the place deserted, considering that it all looked like ruins. Walking through the town, everyone in it seemed to be destitute and many of the people looked sickly. Star tried to help some of those who looked a little worse off by casting healing spells to cure diseases and fix injuries. She quickly ran out of mana and the two moved on in uncomfortable silence. They wanted to help, but their solutions were temporary relief at best. They passed through the collection of buildings, reaching the side of the mountain and a sight that brought them great confusion. Before them stood a large gateway built into the mountainside, decorated with polished oak and gold. The eight guards stationed there looked intimidating and tough, standing at attention along the tunnel into the mountain. One of the guards turned to them as they approached, his movements calculated and precise. ¡°State your business.¡± His tone was borderline threatening, as if he wasn¡¯t very welcoming of visitors. Star stepped forward and scowled at the man, refusing to back down. ¡°We¡¯re here to meet the guard captain of the city.¡± ¡°What about?¡± ¡°We¡¯re here for a demon hunting quest somewhere further in the mountains,¡± Nala chimed in before the guard¡¯s attitude provoked Star into starting a fight with the authorities. ¡°We just need him to tell us where to go and we need some information from him as well.¡± He grunted as he moved back to his position against the wall. ¡°First building on the left.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Nala dragged Star away from giving dirty looks to the guard, leading her through the tunnel. It wasn¡¯t long before they passed into an enormous cavern occupied by a forest of buildings. Giant pillars held up the ceiling over a hundred feet above them. Before them was a city in ruins, held together by shoddy repairs and piles of dust filling the cracks. It looked as if many of the buildings would crumble if a stiff breeze were to blow through the area. The two decided to resupply before seeing the captain. They explored the town and found that the people had no expectation of the roof falling on their heads. In fact, whenever they asked about it, the people just smiled and told them not to worry about it. They bought what they needed and headed to the barracks to find the guard captain who gave them some information on where they needed to go ¡°Let me warn you now, if you continue with this mission, you¡¯ll be heading straight into the chaos zone of the tower.¡± Nala tilted her head, confused about what the man was saying. ¡°What do you mean by that? Is there some tower we¡¯re heading to? What¡¯s the chaos zone?¡± He chuckled and shook his head, ¡°You¡¯re in the tower, ladies. Don¡¯t you think this mountain looks a little out of place? That¡¯s because it¡¯s not really a mountain. It¡¯s a tower that was partially torn apart and mostly buried during the Great War hundreds of years ago, when magic was much stronger.¡± He went on to explain how the tower¡¯s main walls and supports were made from glastone, a manmade material that was stronger than steel. They had long lost the ability to make the material so people only lived in the structurally sound areas of the tower. Even if another area of the tower were to collapse, the ceilings would still be able to hold the extra weight. The chaos zone was an area of the tower where extreme magics had twisted the very laws of the space. In the past, they had sent some explorers into the area to find out how dangerous the location was. They had found out that some being had shaped the magic so as to reduce the danger of the place. No longer a swirling mass of dangerous energy, the chaos zone¡¯s magics were separated so that each doorway led to a different dimension or location. Some of the areas were dangerous, but most of them were relatively harmless. It was still a maze, full of deadly environments and life threatening traps. Even if they had wanted to delve into that place, it was too dangerous for them to send an exploration party. The chaos zone was deep within the unclaimed zone, the larger part of the tower that was occupied by monsters and wild creatures. Most of those areas were structurally sound; they just didn¡¯t have enough people to occupy more than a few levels of the tower. It was still one of the most populous cities left in the world, but there was once room for millions of people who lived in the tower. Now, most of the buried tower was similar to a large dungeon, though there were safe areas where some races and groups had made homes. The reason they had been called to go on a quest was because there were reports of demons heading towards the chaos zone. They theorized that the demons were going after the being holding that area together. If they succeeded, they had no idea what the resulting release of magic would do to the tower as a whole. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. He sent them on their way after paying them for the first part of the demon-hunting quest. They started on their way down into the mountain, not knowing what trials they would face. Meanwhile¡­ Frost opened his eyes in the dark, wondering why he hadn¡¯t died from a fall that should absolutely have killed him. He swiped away windows one by one detailing different broken bones and injuries that resulted in enough debuffs to leave him useless in a fight. He struggled to lift himself off the floor and looked around as his body continued to slowly heal. He had been knocked unconscious for a while and now he had no idea where he was. Having no knowledge of where he would return to if he were killed, Frost wasn¡¯t sure if surviving that fall was actually a good thing. There could easily be something inside the mountain that could kill him, meaning that surviving the fall could have just been a waste of his time. Frost suddenly remembered what he had been doing before he had been knocked unconscious and the reason he had fallen off the cliff. He looked around for the goat but there was no trace of it or any of its drops. He cursed under his breath as he saw something much more concerning than a bit of missing loot. There was a terribly ugly demon the size of a small elephant standing in a shining pool of water less than fifteen feet away. It let out a breath, spewing hot, putrid breath all around Frost, making him nauseous and causing him to stumble backwards. It slowly picked up a clawed hand, reaching for him as it leaned in his direction. Frost knew he had to escape because he was still in no condition to fight. His health was still around thirty percent and regenerating much slower than usual. All of his physical stats were greatly reduced temporarily, and he was slightly dizzy. Even if it hadn¡¯t killed him, that fall had messed him up badly. There were probably some methods he could have used to save himself, such as shadow hook, but he had been panicking as he fell. He was afraid of very high drops, not that he would admit that to anyone. If he had been able to keep a clear head, he wouldn¡¯t have been in the unfortunate situation he was in. From the looks of it, he had fallen directly into the boss room of a dungeon. Frost started to limp backwards, away from the beast in the water as he scanned the room with his eyes, searching for an exit. Instead of locating an exit, he found that he was surrounded by mobs. He couldn¡¯t see what they were, but the wall was lined with holes and there were yellow eyes peering out of almost every one. Resigning himself to death, he drew his sword with one hand while cradling his ribs with the other. He could feel the pain, even though it was only a fraction of what reality would feel like, but even so, it made him wince whenever he moved. The creatures moved out of the caves at the same time, as if they were communicating with each other. They walked slowly towards him, their grotesque bodies revealed by the light of the pool of water. They had no weapons other than the claws on their hands and the jagged teeth they used to grin evilly at him. They looked like goblins, twisted by some demonic energy. A wall of curved horns and dark green and grey flesh advanced on him from every side while the large demon in the pool stood still, it¡¯s beastly hand still raised in his direction as if reaching for his very soul. The closer they were to him, the more frightening they looked, and the more menacing the look in their eyes was. There was an army of them, far too many for him to have any chance of escaping, so he¡¯d have to kill as many as possible and get what experience he could from them. He tried to focus on one of them to gauge its strength when he realized that they didn¡¯t have any level. Recently, they had tweaked the game slightly so that you had to focus a little bit harder to look at an enemy¡¯s level and health bar. He tried to focus on a different one of them and it too didn¡¯t show anything for the level. He tried it on a few others and the result was the same. Even the boss had no level that he could see, which meant that something was wrong with the area. Frost started to think that the area was glitching because too many strange instances were occurring in the area. He decided against alerting the system because he would be vulnerable to attacks while he was saying the message. Then again, the game was extremely well designed, checked by both humans and the virtual intelligence systems created by Dr. Hark. The last time he thought there was an error in the game, it turned out to be something strange, but intentional. Trusting that there were reasons for the things that were happening, he looked closer at the enemies surrounding him, sneering at him. He tried to study them to find something that would tell him exactly what was happening. Their advance was extremely slow, almost as if¡­as if they were afraid of him. He looked at the frightening boss demon and realization hit him. It looked like a big, bulky beast that couldn¡¯t move quickly, so it was almost guaranteed to have some long range attacks, but it hadn¡¯t even tried to do anything. It just stood there with a hand raised. Stop. Wait. That¡¯s what it meant by raising its hand towards him. It was trying to tell him to not attack. Frost hesitated before he put away his sword and limped slowly in the direction of the water. If he was wrong, then he would be killed quickly and easily, but if he was right, he could avoid a fight altogether and save himself from losing a level and some of the experience he had built training his skills. Some of the horrific little demons were blocking his path to the boss monster, but that didn¡¯t matter because he was trying to test them. When some of the little beasts menacingly growled at him, he almost drew his sword again, but the little goblins hadn¡¯t actually tried to attack him. He crouched down and put his face close enough that he had to choke down the urge to puke from both the blistered, decaying look of their skin and the smell they emitted. He reached a hand out and it jumped back, crashing into its companions directly behind it. He moved slower, until he was able to put a hand on the creature that started to tremble as it realized it would be unable to escape the approaching hand. He placed a hand on what looked to be a slimy, wart covered head, but he felt soft, silky hair. Then he knew for sure that all the smells and demonic looks were nothing more than an illusion to make them look evil. It was a cruel curse that would cause even good people to attack them. A moment after he left his hand there, calmly stroking the head of the poor little being hidden beneath the curse, a silvery light engulfed his hand. It spread out, taking the form of a sparkling wave of water that spread out in all directions, growing taller as it moved. As if washing away all that was false, the wave destroyed the illusion of everything it passed over, revealing a new scene entirely. Where before the only light had been the glowing pool of water, now there were torches lining the walls. There was a doorway where before there had been only more of the walls with holes in them. The holes could now be seen as pathways and dwellings dug into the rock rather than some kind of unholy pits where demons were spawned. The most surprising change though, was the goblins transforming into small people with insect wings. They looked like perfect little dirty children wearing rags, and he could see that they were earth fairies. They fell to their knees and wept, seeing that Frost was not someone who would hurt and kill them. They turned, as they watched the wave surround the pool of water and block the view of the oversized demon beast. The wave had yet to wash over the monster in the water and seemed frozen in place at the edge of the pool. Just as he imagined it happening, the waves crashed down into the pool from all sides and were gone in the next moment. Left behind was a tall woman radiating a soft glow so majestic that it demanded the attention of everyone in the room. Frost was struck speechless by the beauty and grace of the woman who stood before him as she glided calmly across the water, not making a single ripple on the surface. ¡°Warrior so noble and brave, you have put down your sword and sought peace when most others would have struck. You saw through the lie and have broken several links in the chain of curses binding us. You have my thanks, and I give you my blessing. She held up a hand and blew a kiss in his direction.
Guardian¡¯s Blessing
+3 to all stats
You have gained a skill: Bravery Level 1
Even in the face of death, you challenge yourself to fight fear. Reduces fear effects and chance of fear debuff
He couldn¡¯t help but grin ear to ear when all of the little people started cheering and smiling joyfully. They grabbed his hands and danced with him, spinning him in circles and trading off partners every few seconds. They seemed determined to have him dance with every single one of them but the lady said something in a language he couldn¡¯t understand and the dancing stopped. ¡°I hate to put a stop to such a wonderful mood, but the curse has not been completely removed, and it cannot be removed so simply.¡± ¡°Then what did I do to deserve your blessing?¡± She smiled warmly as she gestured to the fairies. ¡°They can now see each other as they truly are, and they are also able to see me as I am. You too are able to see through the lies that the curse on us would have others see, but others will still see monsters when they come across my friends or myself. That particular chain would not be broken so easily as the others. You have made living much easier for my little children, and they can be happy again. Thank you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± He didn¡¯t know what to say or if that was the end of it. He could try to leave, or he could ask if they needed any other help, but didn¡¯t think he could come up with the words to ask if they needed more help. ¡®Hi, now that I half un-cursed you, would you like to give me a job?¡¯ That didn¡¯t exactly seem to be a good way of getting a quest from them. Thankfully, he was rescued by one of the fairies, a chubby girl who pulled at his pants. ¡°Will you help us, mister?¡± The lady frowned slightly. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, they don¡¯t mean to be rude, they just don¡¯t know any better.¡± He waved her off to let her know it was no trouble. ¡°What kind of help?¡± Multiple fairies chirped out responses such as fighting monsters, hunting, and scouting. He even thought he heard one of them say something about reaching the top shelf. He laughed and told them he¡¯d help them out, while they dragged him along to show him their problems. Chapter 18: The Calm Before Hi people, creatures, robots, things, and everyone else. I''m back after a little...unwanted break. I lost another chapter to technology failing me, but I will make it better than it was. (Insert determined face here) My new computer cost so much, but it''s really good so it makes me happy. I know some of the side characters haven''t really impacted the story and don''t seem to be going anywhere, but this is a long project, and eventually everything will connect. The chapter also might be a bit short but it was a good place to end and I didn''t want to wait any longer. Thanks again for staying with me and please continue to enjoy the story. Chapter 18: The Calm Before It was a frightening thing he had to do, but it was for her, and even though he had no particularly strong feelings about her, the rest of the village cherished her. Zen peeked out from behind a barrel on the moonlit night, trying to see into a window of the small, dark mansion in front of him. There was a single, dimly lit room that he could see from where he was, and he thought he could see someone standing near the window. He swiftly ducked behind the barrel and out of sight, his heart racing and his palms slick with sweat. Zen was truly terrified as he walked stiffly towards the shadowy building and through the always open gate. He reached the middle of the courtyard so he glanced up at the window again, and his breath caught in his throat. He was absolutely there in the window, and he was looking down at Zen who stood in the man''s courtyard. He wanted to scream and run away, to tear his eyes away from the demonic gaze of the monster standing in the window. He thought of himself as courageous, but this was too much for him and he fell to his knees with tears in his eyes. He started to crawl away, feeling like a worm overtaken by cowardice as he retreated. He was only thirteen and there wasn''t much he could do anyway. Someone else would save her, because he couldn''t, not if he had to ask a child eating devil for help. He stopped moving a few feet from the gate and he remembered at that moment why he was there and no one else was. He was the only one who was capable of helping, because he was the only one who knew what happened, and no one else could be trusted. He couldn''t go to the guard and he was afraid that if he told his parents, they would ignore his warnings and try to speak with those very guards he wanted to most avoid. He steeled himself, replaying the scene from only a few hours ago in his mind. He walked back towards the mansion slowly, his eyes on the door in front of him. Zen lived by the eastern town gate because his family owned a farm that went almost up to the short wall that kept thieves and pests out of the city. He had been awoken by the need to relieve himself in the middle of the night. On his way to the public outhouses, he saw some suspiciously cloaked people moving about a carriage and reflexively hid behind a locked tool shed. He couldn''t tell what was happening but he had a hunch that it was better to not be seen by these people. He saw a pair of guards approach and casually talk with the hooded men. He began to think that maybe they were some secret organization working for the king and weren''t actually bad people as he originally thought. As he was about to turn away and keep moving, he heard more people approaching the group by the gate, dragging something. His curiosity got the better of him and he decided to see what they were doing. His jaw dropped and his heart began to race as he saw what they were dragging. It was a young girl being carried between two guards, her shoes scraping against the cobblestones. She was quietly weeping, her body limp as they roughly threw her into the carriage and followed her in. Two of the guards stayed behind as the others drove the carriage out of the town. Zen had leaned against the wall, sliding down until he was on the ground, breathing heavily and trying to understand what had happened. That was only a few hours ago and the reason he was at the residence of the one "person" he was supposed to stay away from. The only chance he had was there in the place in front of him. He opened the door and walked around the creatures pretending to be human, pushing past them on his way up the stairs. No one tried to stop him, or hurt him on his way to meet the demon lord himself. His body shook with fear, but it also shook at the anger he felt at those terrible people who made the poor girl cry, and the anger at himself for being weak. He reached the final doorway, tripping over someone he tried to slip past and stumbling forward. He caught himself right before he ran into someone wearing a decorative suit usually reserved for special occasions. He looked up into the face of the man and noticed a thin band of red around the man''s iris. He had nearly run into the demon and that realization turned his legs into a jelly, causing him to collapse, his mouth working, but his lungs unable to pull in air. He tried to speak but he was unable to say a word and tears began to spill from his eyes. The keeper sat down on the ground with a plop, leaning back in a casual and relaxed position. "Standing still all day listening to people drone on about the world really takes a toll on this body of mine," The demon said with a youthful mirth in his eyes. Zen felt like he was able to breathe a little bit as some of the irrational fear began to leave him, but he was still only able to choke out a few words. "They have Tafa." The man''s face grew dark with shadows, his voice edged with suppressed rage. "What happened? What do you mean?" Zen was once again frozen from fear. He could feel the powerful aura of the one in front of him, and he could see the barely concealed blood lust in his eyes. The keeper leaned forward saying,"I have no time for this." as he touched Zen''s head with three of the fingers on his left hand. Zen felt his fear dissolve and a strange, unnatural calm took its place. He explained everything he saw that night to the man and when he was finished, he slumped into an exhausted heap on the ground. He was tired from too little sleep and the over excitement of a day where the sun had yet to rise. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to crawl back into his bed and sleep for the rest of the day, his task completed. The man in front of him remained silent for a time, deep in thought after he heard the explanation about who had taken Tafa, and what they had probably done to her. He stood suddenly, pulling Zen to his feet immediately afterwards and gripping his shoulders tightly. "Tell me your name." "It''s Zen." "Zen. You can call me Keeper. Let''s go Zen. We have a lot do do in a short amount of time. We can still save her if we act now." "Huh? Me too? What do you expect me to do?" "Only what you can." He grabbed Zen and started pulling him towards the exit. Before he knew it, they were in a horse drawn cart racing out of the city. The cool wind ruffled his hair and he was instantly asleep on an adventure that he never expected. Frost Frost sat down next to the glowing pool of water and let out a contented sigh as he leaned back to take a break. An entire day of completing quests for a bunch of energetic fairies drained him of all his energy and he would need to get some sleep soon. After spending a few days completing quests for the earth fairies, he had developed something of a habit. Before he logged out, Frost liked to spend a little bit of time sitting by the pool of water, usually having a conversation with Seraya, the lady who watched over the fairies. She was like a mother to them, and they were certainly comparable to children, though many of them were much older than him. Frost took a look at his stats that had changed drastically over the last few days with the help of a great number of quests. The quests he had been doing were quests that recommended level of thirty and higher. More than once he had nearly died to simple mobs such as giant moles and different cave demons that he killed to protect his new friends. Some of the quests he was given even had dire consequences that would have resulted in damage and death to some of the fairies. It was all worth it though, because he had reached level thirty two in just a few days, despite his leveling "disadvantage". Looking at his stats, he could only see the positive side to hero''s burden and it brought a confident smirk to his face.
Frost Winterstorm Lvl 32
Health 835Shadow Energy 210/210
Stamina 487/810
Strength106Vitality85
Dexterity90Stamina90
Wisdom40Intelligence60
Agility150Luck45
Health Regeneration0.95/sEnergy Regeneration0.40/s
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Seraya sat down next to him, dipping her hand into the water and swirling it around with a serious look on her face. "Frost, can I ask you a question." "Of course." "What do you fight for?" she turned to him with a look of concern on her face as she asked. The question caught him off guard and he wasn''t sure of how he wanted to answer that question. "I guess...so that I can be the strongest." "Why?" "So that I can be the best. So that I won''t lose to anyone." "What then?" she asked as she turned back to the water. "When you''ve become stronger than everyone else, when there''s no one left to defeat, what will you do then?" He sighed. "I''m not really sure. If I wanted, I could spend the rest of my life as a shut in, playing games and wasting away. Maybe when this game is over, I''ll just quit all of this and move on to something else. I know I''ve spent a lot of time working for just this, but I don''t really know if I want to keep doing this kind of thing or if I''ll regret it later on." Hedidn''t expect her to comprehend what he was saying, so her reply caused his eyes to open in surprise. "I think I am beginning to understand. I have seen your story before and I know why you are troubled. You are someone who grew up without having to work, and everything you ever needed was given to you. You haven''t known poverty and so you haven''t had to work for a living. You don''t know the hardships of loss as you have never had a loved one die. Life has been far too easy for you, and you have no real driving force to help you decide which actions to take." "You have no real reason to be the best, other than that someone told you to do it. You have no mortal enemy to drive you to be better than yourself, and no powerful love or friendship to help you grow. You are alone in everything you do because everyone is so distant from you. Most importantly, you don''t know what it means to lose, and so you lack the drive to win that makes the greatest people able to do things that seem impossible to others. I''m not saying that you too can''t be great, only that, one day there will be a time when you will fail. Someone equally as skilled as you are will come along, and they will defeat you because their reasons are much greater than yours." "What, so I''m supposed to watch my parents die or fall in love to become stronger, better at a game? That''s stupid. Just because I don''t have major issues, I can''t be special?" "No!" She glared at him to stop him from arguing, but immediately after, her gaze became soft. "That isn''t what I mean, foolish boy. I just mean that you need to find a reason for what you do. There are other paths than one that brings you pain and suffering. You don''t need to fall before you can begin to climb, you simply need to find a handhold, a way up the mountain before you. I know you can become great some day, and I just want to help you find your path." She hugged him, bringing his head to her shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. He wanted to argue with her, to say that he would be the strongest no matter what, but he knew she was right. His reasons for winning were nothing more than a lie he told to himself because he didn''t know what else to do. Seraya had managed to hit the nail on the head, so easily seeing past the front that he put up to convince everyone else that nothing was wrong. He had even convinced himself that if he just kept telling himself to get stronger, and just kept trying, everything would work out. Truthfully, he was afraid of what he would be in the future, if he continued to live the way he was raised. He had wanted to believe that everything was okay, and that he could just ignore his fears. In Seraya''s warm embrace, he stopped thinking about everything painful and simply let his tears fall out. They were tears of frustration and a way to let out the stress that had been building up over the years. He knew that she wouldn''t judge him, and that she would support him. In her arms there was nothing but a soft comfort that soon caused him to fall asleep. When Frost awoke, he was staring at a ceiling cloaked in shadow, too far away for any of the lights in the room to reach. He sat up and observed something he had never seen before. Seraya hovered just above the water, tending to a grid of pulsing orbs that shed a dull light. Her hands brushed across the orbs softly, coming to rest on a purple orb that started to pulse more rapidly. She cupped it with her hands as though it was fragile and precious, gingerly blowing on it as if to nurture it. Frost had no idea what the magical framework was for, but he watched in entranced silence as Seraya tenderly began to turn and pull on the orb as if extracting something from it. The process lasted a few more minutes, until she pulled back from the orb, raising her arms and flicking her wrist, causing the orbs to disappear. She sank down until her feet touched the water and began to walk back to the shore on top of the ever luminescent pool. She smiled and then giggled as she looked in his direction, a knowing smile on her face. "Now this is something I have not seen in a long time." "A person sleeping? How long was I out?" "Long enough, but that''s not what I meant." Her smile grew slightly wider as she gestured for him to turn around. Frost turned around and laughed as he saw the pile of fairies, pillows and blankets behind him. The childlike people were sprawled about in strange positions, leaning on each other and draped over one another. "Why are they sleeping here." "They wanted to be there when you woke up so that they could ask you to do more tasks. I hope it''s not too much. I can ask them to stop bothering you if you''d like me to do so." "No, no, it''s perfectly alright. In fact, these past couple of days have been great thanks to them, and to you of course." Frost stood up and dusted himself off, smirking at the fairies as he stretched, preparing to take on another day''s worth of quests. He expected they would have run out of tasks but they always seemed to have more things for him to do. He avoided looking at Seraya, a little embarrassed by the conversation of the previous day. Frost was considering waking them to save time and escape the awkward silence when Seraya spoke up. "Frost. I want to show you something." She held out her hand, palm up in a gesture for him to take it. He took her hand and allowed her to lead him to one of the short passageways in the wall. They had to bend down to get through, but the ceiling gradually increased in height until they were able to walk comfortably without needing to duck. Multiple tunnels crossed paths with the one they were in, all shorter than the one Seraya was leading him through. It twisted and turned, moving deeper into the mountains, until there were no longer any signs of other tunnels. They reached a set of spiral stairs leading down into the mountain where Seraya stopped and motioned for him to go on alone. "It''s up to you what you find down there, Frost. Whatever you do find, don''t let it change who you are." Frost stared down into the darkness of the stairwell, getting an ominous feel from more than just her words. He took the first step along the path that would change his life when he placed a foot on the first stair. Chapter 19: In the Dark Another short chapter and a day late at that. I''ve just been busy and my normal schedule has been disrupted by stuff. I promise the next few chapters will be bigger, better, and they will have EXPLOSIONS! Okay, probably no explosions, but they will be long, and I will be putting every single ounce of effort into my work to make them some of the best chapters yet. Well, I''m going to try. Please enjoy? Chapter 19: In the Dark Frost kept a hand on the center pillar of the spiral staircase as he felt his way along using his feet in the pitch black space. The tunnels had been lit by torches, but the stairwell was devoid of any light. Luckily there weren''t that many steps, and he soon reached the bottom landing. There was a portal there, similar to the other ones that littered the area he was in, but it was a pale blue when other portals tended towards the more earthly greens and browns of the areas they led to. Frost drew his sword and stepped through the portal, prepared in mind and body for something to attack him. Instead, what he saw before him was a small room with a desk and multiple bookshelves, as if it was someone''s personal study or perhaps library. It was lit by the same luminescent stones that lit up the large pool of water upstairs. The glowing stones were encased in cages of silver wire, decoratively crafted and beautifully displayed to light the room. Despite the impressive display of workmanship on the lighting, Frost was a bit disappointed by the room''s apparent lack of anything life threatening. The room had nothing but books and dust as far as he could tell. Frost sheathed his sword as he shuffled his feet over to one of those bookcases and started to read the first page of the book without even bothering to look at the title. It seemed to be a book describing the lore of items and valuables in dungeons and places where monsters congregated. The book was interesting but it had no impact on him or anything he was doing in the game. The book seemed to be much longer than the typical few pages a game book usually had. There are of course, some of the normal ways in which magic items find their way into dungeons. Some are there due to the nature of them being in a location where civilization once thrived. These ruins often contain treasures that once were common, but are now found to be quite mystical and rare. Then, there are monsters with intelligence enough to gather items that the sentient, civilized races covet. However, there is another reason that magical items and things of value can be found in dungeons and deadly caves. The jealous ones, evil spirits with a hatred against humanity and similar races collect the items and bring them to places dangerous to those who seek them, in envy of the living. Frost grunted and carefully placed the book back in its place on the shelf as he scanned the room for something a little more...something. He turned to the desk, figuring that there must be something there if there was nothing special about the books. He slid open one of the drawers on the side of the desk and found the last thing he expected to see in there. More books. He grimaced as he pulled the three books out of their place, shaking the dust off and putting them on the desk. He slid the chair out from under the desk, leaving trails in the dust. He sat down, feeling the chair bend and hearing it creak as his weight settled into it. The books read "Legacy of Braun", "Silas Silverian", and "The Curse of Virufex". They all had the same leathery cover reinforced with a thin piece of wood sewn into the cover on each side of the book. Upon peeking into the books, he could tell that they were each carefully hand written by the same person. "Silas Silverian" caught his attention because it was half the size of the others, and the name was on all of the books as the author. He blew away some of the dust on the desk and slid the book in front of him, flipping through the pages. The book seemed to be a journal, keeping a record of Silas''s life, and all the important events of it. He seemed to have lived a normal life as the average mage, marrying young and having children. Frost scanned the contents quickly, searching for something more than information about the man''s private life. In the later years of the man''s life, he started working on some kind of magic experiment and developed a new type of magic after a long time and a great deal of effort. Frost skipped to the end of the journal to read the last page only to have his heart skip a beat when he saw the last entry. It was dated that day according to the calendar of the game world, and the words were creeping him out. Frost Winterstorm pulled the journal out of the drawer, dusting it off and setting it on Silas''s desk, the dust falling off in clumps that broke apart as they tumbled to the floor.'' The book described everything he did after he picked up the journal, continuing on to say even what he was doing. As Frost continued to read the words that seemed to write themselves, he sunk deeper into the book, until he was in a a place so secret that it was hidden from even the gods'' view. He looked up, realizing that he was somewhere else as the book begin to fade from view. He grabbed at the book, but his hand went through it and it stopped existing a moment later. The place Frost was in was a small, grass covered piece of land surrounded by endless white fields and somehow gave the feeling of standing on a cliff. There was a man standing on the edge of that invisible cliff, his back turned, and his hands clasped behind him. He looked old, at the end of his life as he stood there looking off into nothingness. "Not too impressive, is it? This was as big as I could make it and still escape the gods'' sight." Frost silently stared at the man a full minute before responding. "You''re Silas Silverian, aren''t you." "Yes. No. I am merely a whisper of him." "There''s something you want to say. A reason you''re still here." "Correct." "What could be so important that it has to be hidden from the gods?" "They''re here in physical form, roaming their own lands in search of the truth." "The gods?" The old man laughed. "I don''t give a rat''s ass about the gods and their plans for this world, but I wanted to avoid them knowing something that could tear everything apart. Knowledge is the most powerful weapon someone can wield, don''t you think? Sometimes, it can be volatile, though, and if that weapon is given to the wrong person, it can explode in your face." The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "Are you saying that I need to be tested to see if I can handle what you have to say?" "Wrong. You hold the weapon and they shouldn''t have given that knowledge to you, boy. Did they think it would give you an edge? Did they think it would help you win? How foolish were they to think that I would not see the signs? I gave careful instructions, rules that were not meant to be broken!" "What the hell are you talking about?" "You!" The white was replaced by thunderclouds in an instant as the man turned around. He had a demonic visage that became all the more frightening as he grew in size, taking up most of the space on the island. "You of all people should know that this isn''t just a game, after what they told you." "I don''t know what you''re saying!" "Lies! Don''t play with me! Did you think you were safe because you''re inside a game, because the helmet was safe?." The man stood up to his full height, becoming two stories tall as he looked down on Frost and spoke menacingly. "I can kill you in a hundred different ways, you know.The real you. No do overs and no respawn." "What the fuck are you!" Frost had a growing sense of trepidation that only became worse as the giant spoke. He didn''t understand what the man was saying, or why he knew about information that ruined immersion. He was getting tired of the bad writing. "I can also keep you here, torturing your mind for daring to go against what I wanted. You know what I am, don''t you, Reid? Does that get through to you? If I say your real name, you should realize what this is about. Get on your knees and beg for forgiveness until I am satisfied. Then, you will quit the game and never return, in which case I may decide to spare your miserable human life. You know what I am, now do as I say." "Yeah, I think I understand now." Frost whipped his sword out of its scabbard, holding it steadily in front of him. "You''re supposed to make me afraid of you, and it might have worked if you were anything more than a nightmare. You have access to my information from my account, but this was all a bit too convoluted and confusing. Don''t ruin the immersion. You need a better writer!" He jumped forward and slashed at the man, only to be blinded as the giant turned into dust. When Frost could see again, he was in the same place as before, on the island, ten feet away from a man with his back turned and hands clasped behind him. "You''re probably wondering why someone would go through the effort of hiding something from the gods, if you even know how much effort that takes." The old man spoke as if they hadn''t already met. "I don''t know who you are, or if any of this still matters, but I had to try. Know that I''m not hiding this from all gods, just the one. Thomas Duin, the one known as the Demon Lord. I too was part of their curse, and I was unable to speak about him or his minions while I was alive. So, with my last breath, I created this image of myself so that whoever you are, you could know the truth, and maybe do something to stop what is coming. Maybe it''s already happened..." Frost was impatient after that strange illusion. "Stop beating around the bush," he growled as he put his sword away. "I''ll get to the point. Virufex is returning, and he plans to follow in the footsteps of his god. I don''t know when or how, but I do know he isn''t dead like everyone thought. He will burn this world, and he won''t make the same mistake his master did. He doesn''t plan to leave anything standing when he''s done." "What am I supposed to do?" "I can''t offer you any assistance in that regard, but I can do one thing, and it has already been done. Since you are here, you have gained the magic that I spent over a decade creating. You won''t be able to control it, so every time you read one of my enchanted books, you will fall into it whether you want to or not if the conditions are correct, so be careful. As you probably know, there are two other books in the drawer that you now have the ability to fall into. I recommend that you don''t read "Legacy of Braun" until you are extremely powerful, because it won''t help you anyway." The old man turned to face Frost, a sad look on his wizened old face. "I don''t know how you found my journal, but if you are someone with a good heart, there are only two ways that I can imagine. Either way, you must read "The Curse of Virufex" to find the truth. You must be so frustrated with me for being vague and unhelpful. I don''t know what you were expecting to find when you opened my journal, but it probably wasn''t this. I have nothing for you of any value, so leave if you are a treasure hunter. However, if you want to do some good in this world, read that book." As the world around him began to fade, Frost felt disappointed in everything the room and the books had to offer, having expected much more. He had an idea of what he would find in that other book, so all of this had been a waste of his time. He blinked, reappearing in the office and springing to his feet, causing the chair to topple over. He stomped away from the desk, intending to leave the room, but something caused him to look back. He returned to the desk and began reading about the curse. The illusion placed on Seraya and the fairies was a powerful curse placed on them by servants of Virufex. The servants wanted to kill them all outright, but they were unable to do so. Instead they planned to trick adventurers into fighting "demons" so that other people would do their murderous work for them. The book detailed some of the ways that the curse could be broken for individual people, but only Seraya knew the way to completely break the curse. Wait. Seraya knew how to end the curse, but she did nothing? What the hell was that about? Frost put the three books in his bag and skimmed the shelves, picking out any of the books that seemed promising and putting them in his bag. He grabbed a silver, spherical cage holding some of the glowing stones and yanked its chain from the ceiling where it hung. He used it to light his way up the stairs as he headed back to the main room of the fairy dwelling. Frost felt that he was more in the dark than ever and so Seraya had some questions to answer. Chapter 20: The Storm I hate technology so much. My computer decided to randomly close out of everything and once again delete half of my chapter, ruining all my hard work because I forget what I write and it never comes out the same(Insert sad violin music here). *%#$ you computer. Sigh. This is already pretty much a bi-weekly fiction at this rate, and the chapters are not as long as I''d like them to be. I just don''t have any time these days, working 50+ hours a week and having other things to take care of on my days off. :( Anyway, I know that some of you don''t appreciate my side characters because they don''t seem to have an impact on the story, but they will become increasingly important as the story progresses. When their importance is revealed, I want them to seem like real people, not tropes and ideas slapped on a two dimensional character. In any case, I''m writing this story however I feel like. Side note: Are author''s notes at the beginning of the chapter annoying? You don''t have to read them as they will never reveal anything about what happens in the story. They''re mostly just my rants and excuses for chapters being later than I wanted. Would they be better placed at the end of the story? Should I keep my thoughts and ranting to myself? (Probably...) Tell me what you think if it''s bothering you or the dolphin person in your head. What? Please enjoy. Chapter 20: The Storm Star watched as her best friend stood off to the side of the battle, panting from exhaustion and injury. She couldn''t tell what was wrong with her, but it wasn''t like Nala to have so much trouble in a fight. She often left herself open after an attack, even missing horribly and having enemies counterattack. At first, Star thought that she was simply distracted and off her game, but now she could tell that it was more than that. Star jogged around the combat to go heal her friend while keeping an eye on the creatures, some kind of grey goblinoid, that they were fighting. She healed he with divine magic, scrutinizing Nala as she tried to physically see what was wrong with her. She was afraid that her only friend wasn''t having fun playing the game anymore, and seeing the determination in her eyes confirmed what she was thinking. Minala was a selfless person who would play a game just to keep her friend company, even if she didn''t enjoy playing it. "Min." she whispered sadly. "You don''t have to..." "Shhhh. Don''t call me that here." She glared at Star a moment before her ears drooped. "What''s the matter?" Star had tears in her eyes, but tried to force a smile as she spoke, "We don''t have to play this game anymore if you don''t want to." "Is that what this is about?" Nala asked. When Star nodded, Nala punched her in the head. "Ow! Why''d you do that!?" She rubbed the top of her head. "Stop being a drama queen all the time. No one''s quitting the game." "Can you two stop flirting and help!" One of their new party members yelled half jokingly. "You looked like you needed the experience points," Nala called back with a grin as she ran into the fray. They had been travelling together for a few days after deciding on a schedule to play together. They could have met at the chaos zone, but someone had suggested that they get some experience fighting as a group and everyone agreed. They were getting used to each other''s style of fighting, their strengths, weaknesses, and skills. Many people in the party of ten had already friended, or at least tried to friend, everyone else in the small raid group. At the rate they were travelling, it would take another two days to reach the Chaos Zone, and anywhere from one to three more to finish their mission. They were taking their time so they could travel safely while leveling up and being careful not to lose anyone. At the end of the day, they all said their goodbye''s and logged off one by one. Star and Nala were pleased that everyone was able to get along in their raid group. There was only one person in their group that was a bit rude and somewhat strict, but he wasn''t that bad after getting to know him. Overall, they were an effective team, but some of the other members of the team were beginning to grow frustrated with Nala''s increasingly poor performance in combat. Star was beginning to wonder about what would happen to their current group if Nala couldn''t get her act together, but she was more worried about the cause of the problem. After everyone had logged out, Cara picked up her phone and called Min. As if she was waiting for it, Min picked up the phone almost immediately. "Hey." "Okay, tell me what your deal is. I wasn''t gonna ask, but you''ve been really out of it." "It''s nothing, really." "Great. If it''s not a big deal then you can share it with me and I can help you out." Cara had a smug look of victory on her face as she waited for Min to explain herself. "I found out that I made my agility too high after that last level up the other day. Apparently you need Dexterity to be at least half as high as your agility just to function as a speed based fighter. I''ve dedicated the last couple days of level ups to dexterity so...problem solved, and now you can stop worrying. Bye, see you tomorrow." "Min. I know there''s more to it than that. You''ll feel better talking about it," she started off sounding reproachful, but eased her voice into a comforting softness to let Min know that she was concerned. She had to coax Min into talking about her problems as always, but she knew that her friend would feel better afterwards. Min didn''t want to burden anyone else with her problems, and Cara understood how she operated in trying to solve all her problems by herself. Hearing a heavy sigh through the phone, Cara had to smile, thinking about the grumpy face that Min was probably making on the other side of the connection. She knew she had won and she would be able to hear all about the troubles plaguing Min. Her smile was wiped away the instant she heard the deep sadness in the words that passed through the phone. "It''s only getting worse here. Things were supposed to be getting better, but they''re not. They promised me, but they''re both liars. They fight almost every day now and I think they''re gonna split up soon." "I thought your dad and your step mom were getting along just fine. You said they were great last week." "Well, they were probably just faking it so I didn''t see them fight behind my back. Like that''s any better. It doesn''t fix anything." "They''re just going through a rough patch. It''ll get better." Cara didn''t really know how to deal with these kinds of problems, she just thought that those were the words a person was supposed to say in that situation. "Before you know it they''ll...um...be closer than ever and...um..." "I miss her." The words were a soft blow to Cara. Cara had both of her parents in a close relationship where they loved each other and everything was happy. Sure, they sheltered her and babied her way too much, but at least she had them. Min lost her mother to cancer four years ago and there was no way Cara could comfort her when she couldn''t even begin to comprehend the pain of losing a loved one. She opened her mouth to speak, but had nothing to say, and the realization that she couldn''t help Min caused her to feel miserable as well. They stayed on the phone, not speaking until Min finally hung up. Cara felt tears on her face as she whispered into the phone. "Sorry." After multiple days of travelling and fighting, they had finally reached the entrance to the chaos zone, an off-white portal that took up the entirety of a large hallway in the tower. Nala had fixed her lack of dexterity and was once again in good shape, though Star could see that there was still something off in the way she dealt with other people. There was nothing she could do to help, so she pretended not to notice that something was wrong. She didn''t wan''t to accidentally set off her friend and exacerbate the problem or cause a fight. She knew that Minala wasn''t in the mood to talk about it with someone who didn''t understand her feelings. They stood staring at the portal for a minute before anyone was brave enough to try walking through it. As they stepped through the portal, they were enveloped in a cloud of snow, blown around by the wind and into their eyes. They could barely see a few feet in front of them as they trudged forward through the heavy snow. After ten minutes of fighting the snowstorm on their trek uphill, the snow stopped falling and they could finally see enough to get their bearings. They were near the peak of an enormous mountain that towered above all the others around it, except there was something strange about the view. Everything that was far away was somewhat hazy, as though blocked by a fog. Eventually someone pointed out that the mountain had an "edge." A few hundred feet from their current position, the snowdrifts and even the ground itself ceased to exist, simply stopping at an invisible line and falling off into the abyss. "I''ve heard that this is what the chaos zone is like. The portals lead to real places around the world or a close approximation of a real place in the world. If you fall down into one of the abyss areas of the fake areas like this one, you''re better off killing yourself. This must be a fake version of what it would be like to be on the top of the tower. That''s why everything far away looks hazy. It''s some sort of mirage or illusion. Let''s keep moving." Even though they didn''t officially have one, Arizona was practically the team leader. He could be somewhat strict, but he was also fairly understanding in most situations. Scatter was the team scout and the self proclaimed comedic relief of the party while Skoff was the serious and usually apathetic caster that liked to use powerful magic to overkill her opponents. Fat Steve was probably the odd one out of all the party members, playing a beautiful elf girl cleric who never spoke other than to cast spells. There were those in the party taking bets on whether or not she was actually a girl solely based on the name. Sena the rogue, Bluejay the fighter, and Grud the berserker were some of the more shady members of the group. Then there was Sir Galahad, the middle aged man who fancied himself a knight fighting for justice in a world that sorely needed it. He was a good person though, if a bit too into his role to the point that it caused a bit of trouble for his companions every once in a while. They soon reached a stony area barely even recognizable as ruins, the way it was covered in ice and snow. They followed a trail of thick red drops in the snow until they reached a cavern entrance. An older man in a guard''s uniform and leather armor sat leaning up against the wall, looking deathly pale as he held an open wound that looked like a thick red mark in his side. Star and Fat Steve both attempted to heal him in vain as his health dropped lower and lower, nearly gone by that point. The man looked like he had already given up on surviving, and wanted only to to speak his last words. "Why can''t we heal him!?" Star shouted desperately. "The demon''s curse," he rasped. "Don''t let them hurt any more innocent people. You have to kill them all. Don''t let even a single one escape to spread its devilry to the world. I''m entrusting you all with this sacred task. Hurry." The man collapsed as his health points reached zero, falling onto his side. The raid group all dismissed the updated quest window and charged into the mountain, passing through another portal. They were filled with righteous fury, and they would do whatever it took to kill the wicked demons that plagued the tower. They were going to do something good and be paid extremely well for it, which was one of the great appeals of a game like Dead World Online. Moments after they passed through the portal, the corpse trembled, the lips splitting and twisting into a wicked grin. The eyes opened and the man laughed, his voice hoarse and foul. He curled up into fetal position and continued to laugh as the snow resumed its fall from the heavens. Frost Frost stared angrily at Seraya. "What the hell was that supposed to be? All I learned from that was that you know the way to break the curse, and this game needs some better writers." She blinked at him. "I don''t know what game you''re talking about, but yes, I know the method to end the curse, and it is not easy." "Hold on, you''re acting like nothing happened down there! What was that whole thing about something changing me and that ominous shit you were saying before I went down into that study?" Seraya looked almost scared as she looked at Frost. "What do you mean? I said something ominous?" "You don''t remember?" She shook her head and he calmed down. "What about the strange test that happened when I read the journal?" "There wasn''t supposed to be a test." She reached out andd put a hand on his shoulder. "Is everything alright?" Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. He let out his breath as he shook his head. "It doesn''t matter anyway. I''m fine." Seraya smiled and folded her hands in front of her. "What will you do now?" "Well, how do we remove the curse?" "That doesn''t matter. There''s no way that we can..." "Stop," he cut her off, "Just tell me how." She frowned and spoke quietly, hesitantly about what had been done to them, not wanting to get Frost involved in something so dangerous. "The curse hides me from the sight of the gods while I am in the tower, as it is an extremely powerful one. I must leave the tower and pray to the gods to release the curse." "That''s it? You could go out half of the portals of the chaos zone and be out of the tower." "As I said, it isn''t that simple. Don''t you think that this place is a bit stable for a place that is known as a zone of chaos?" Frost pondered for a minute while staring hard at the ground. He looked up. "The magic grid you were messing with. You''re controlling the entire chaos zone" "Yes. I am suppressing the dangerous energies of the area to create a relatively safe, inhabitable place. Those orbs of light you saw represent different energies or forces within the tower that wish to meet and clash to cause chaos and destruction. My presence here allows me to control those forces and channel them into something at least mildly useful." "You created the portals." "You are correct again, Frost. So sharp." She smiled proudly at him. "I guess. What happens when you leave?" She looked off to the side, biting her lip, and grabbed her arm, "By the time I returned here from the outside, the energies would no longer be stable, and the portals would be gone. This place would become much more dangerous and I fear that the fairies would not survive or be able to escape. I cannot use the portals to exit the mountain and quickly remove the curse. I have tried and am prevented from doing so. It has to do with the energies they are made from and the hatred that helped spawn them." "Is there another way to leave the tower?" "There''s one. It leads straight through the center of the largest city on the continent." He sighed, "I guess I knew that there was a good reason you hadn''t tried to remove the curse, I just had to hear it from you directly." Frost was truly coming to care for Seraya and the fairies as he spent more time with them. They had always treated him as though he was one of them, from the moment he met them. Even though it had only been less than a week since he had met them, he was already beginning to consider them as an extension to his family. He knew that they weren''t really alive or real, but the game made everything seem as if it was, at least when it came to interpersonal relations and personality. There were some things that were obviously unrealistic, such as the lack of blood and real looking wounds, but that was necessary to keep players grounded in reality and remind them that it was really just a game. Even though they weren''t real, neither was Frost. If a fake person wanted to have fake family, then he would, and he didn''t have to give a shit about what anyone else thought. He watched the fairies playing tag and took a deep breath to help clear his mind. "I won''t feel right leaving you all until we at least try it. There has to be a way." "I''m sorry Frost, but there isn''t a way that doesn''t risk their lives," she gestured towards the fairies who were giggling as their game of tag devolved into a tickle fight. "These children are too vulnerable and passive to survive a chase through the city, and they are defenseless against the deadly forces of this area, so I cannot leave them here. I myself would probably be killed attempting to make it through the city." Frost mumbled to himself and walked away, deciding to think of a solution as he completed more quests for the fairies. Two days of leveling up passed and even his best idea had a huge flaw in it. He had spent most of his time trying to find a way around that flaw, to complete his plan, but all the solutions he could think of were questionable at best. If only the fairies weren''t so useless, but considering that they were basically children, he couldn''t fault them. Not to mention, they were great entertainment regardless of what they were trying to accomplish. He needed them to play a part in his plan where all they needed to do was run away, but they were terribly slow, with those wings creating air resistance. Why did fairies that live underground need wings anyway? It made no sense. Frost logged in after dinner to find that everything was as bright and cheerful as always, creating a relaxing, happy atmosphere that always brought a smile to his face. He checked his equipment for no reason other than to assure himself that it was all still there, then walked towards the exit. His current quest involved hunting down a giant mole that was beginning to encroach on fairy territory. It was hunting them, and it needed to be killed or scared away before it could harm the fairies in their home. He pulled out his sword as he went, ready for the occasional demon ambush or trap that he would sometimes run into while traversing the tunnels and portals of the chaos zone. He was quick when it came to learning directions as long as he walked through whatever place he was trying to memorize. He usually only needed to be somewhere once or see a map once to determine where he needed to go. He was easily able to move confidently through the stabilized pathways of the zone without having to worry about getting lost, having been there for almost a week. He hadn''t gone even three portals away when something flashed out of the next portal, skating across the stone at breakneck speed. Frost barely had any time to react, bringing his sword up to block and gritting his teeth in preparation for impact. "Frost." it squeaked in a mousy voice as it stopped in front of him. Frost could see that it was one of the fairies carrying an injured friend missing a wing and heavily injured. "Run." She dashed off, sliding across the earth as though it was pushing her forward and she quickly disappeared from sight. Frost stood in stunned silence, his mind working in three different ways before he settled on a single thought. "It can work." He said to himself as his eyes widened in realization. He sprinted after the fairies, concerned about his injured friend, but giddy about the possibility of breaking the curse. It didn''t take long to return to the large, open cavern that was similar to their town square. The fairies stood in a solemn ring around their injured companion, tense with concern as the little girl fairy who brought him there tried to rouse her companion. She started wailing when she was unable to wake him, and tears spilled silently down the cheeks of the many friends and family that stood watching. Seraya cried as well, knowing that they had no magic to heal him, and it was far too late to save him anyway. Frost felt tears fall down his own face a moment after he recognized the fairy that would never wake up again. NPC''s didn''t respawn in this game, and so Frost would never see Ber smile ever again. He let himself cry with them, rather than bottling up his emotions as Reid always did. It felt good to cry in the company of others who shared his pain because they could comfort each other by simply being there. They could share the pain and empathize with one another over the loss of a loved one. They didn''t exclude Frost, dragging him into their tight circle and joining hands. When she had calmed down somewhat, the dirty little girl, Fali, stroked Ber''s head and began to sing in a language that Frost could only recognize as beautiful. The circle began to chime in a few at a time, and soon the fairies were all singing the same song that with a hauntingly beautiful melody. He couldn''t understand the words, but he could understand that it was a song along the lines of them missing Ber and wishing him well wherever his spirit was going. They couldn''t know the truth, and he was glad that they never could. The game was designed so that none of the characters, except the players of course, could recognize the world as a game. Frost decided to stop thinking about it and closed his eyes to let the music drown out everything else. The song faded out and Frost felt drained of energy, but also lighter than before. Ber''s body was gone, faded away like all dead things in that world did. The fairies slowly dispersed, having sung their farewell, returning to their homes to sleep or perhaps to continue mourning. Only Fali stayed behind so that she could speak with Seraya and let her know what had happened. She bowed to the lady who bowed in return as part of some ritual of formality. Frost had never seen them address Seraya directly, though they would often attempt to drag her into their games with varying success. This interaction was strangely formal, unlike the usual carefree nature of the fairies. "My lady." "Fali." She looked up at Seraya and Frost could see terror in her eyes as she shed most of the previous formality in her speech and her body language. "It''s just as you said it would happen. There are adventurers on their way to kill us. This is so sad. What do we do?" "How long do we have?" "Maybe a day. Two at most if they moved really, really slowly." "Can we get around them?" Frost decided to add his own thoughts to the conversation now that he remembered some of his earlier thoughts. "We won''t make it in time with the lady not being able to use certain portals. We have to go the long way and that would take a whole day. They''ll be able to catch up to us using shortcuts and we''ll be trapped." "Can all the fairies move as fast as you did earlier? How long can you maintain it." "Yes, we all know such basic earth magic. The weakest in magic can hold it for only about an hour. A few of us can go all day, like me." "We can still do this." Frost was determined to go through with his plan. "Have everyone gather everything they need for a journey to the city, then take Seraya and go there as quickly as you can. Stay outside the view of the city and wait for me." "I know what you''re planning and I don''t approve of you putting your life in danger for us." Seraya stared at him disapprovingly, but it only caused him to smile. "You can''t even attack them or else you''ll become a criminal, Frost." He laughed to himself as he reached into his bag and pulled out a silvery object. "Not if they don''t know who I am." He turned and started walking away as he put on the wolf mask. The wolf guardian never took it from him after he completed the quest and it should still work even though that quest was over and done with, not that it really matter to him. He didn''t need the help of people and his status as an evil player would go away eventually. Becoming an evil player was nothing compared to protecting the ones he cared about. No matter what anyone else said, they were real to him and he wasn''t going to let them disappear forever. "Frost. Since you are so determined to do this...please help them."
Quest: The Curse of Virufex
Due to your determination to save Seraya and the Earth Fairies, Seraya has given you a quest to protect her beloved children. Save as many of them as you can while attempting to break the curse. Rewards: 20,000 experience, Title, Unknown Failure conditions: All of the fairies under your protection are killed. Difficulty: A+
The rewards were quite generous, but the difficulty was higher than any quest he had attempted yet, not including the quest for god''s ore, which he had no intention of even looking at until after the "beta." Even without looking at the insanely high difficulty, Frost knew that this would be the most difficult quest he had ever, and probably would ever attempt. Every fairy that died would bring him pain and sadness the same as Ber''s death had. He would be challenging an entire city full of people just to get from one side to the other. There was no way he was going to be able to sneak his way through, so the only chance he had was to fight high level guards who would think he was defending demons. He would have to do all of this while escorting pacifist fairies and running from bloodthirsty adventurers. He took a deep breath. ''Just try to stop me.'' Chapter 21: Alone and Outnumbered I kept writing after finishing the last chapter and then I felt like finishing this one? Schedules are for people who know how to time. I should just wait until next week and be like "Oh I just finished this chapter in time", but you''re worth more than that. You''re worth a chapter being posted much earlier than any of us expected. Hooray. I''m still an amateur trying to improve my ability as a writer so I know there are things my story lacks. I''ve had the plot of part one mostly developed for a while now, so I know where I''m going with that, I just need to work on character relations for now as people have suggested. Thanks for all the support and suggestions. Please enjoy. Chapter 21: Alone and Outnumbered Frost jogged around the chaos zone looking for the adventurers who had come to slay "demons" as he hopped through portals and roamed the passageways. Originally he had planned to try and kill them all, but as he cooled his head, he realized that he might be able to convince them of the truth and have them help him out. It was a long shot, but if he could increase his chances of saving lives even a little bit, then it would be worth the effort. He was pessimistic about gaining allies at this point, but if he was lucky enough, his plan would work and no one would have to die. He was even prepared and somewhat expecting to sacrifice himself to complete the quest if necessary, due to the relatively low penalty of dying when compared to the eternal death of an NPC. He was beginning to worry that they had passed him at some point when he checked the safer side passages. The worst possible situation would have been that the adventurers lost their way and ended up on the same path as Seraya and the fairies who wouldn''t see it coming and would be slaughtered. His mind flooded with thoughts from the past week, which was such a short time, but felt so long, filled with memories of the fairies and their antics. He wondered they were scared as they ran away, leaving their homes behind for plan that they knew nothing about and might not even work. They trusted him with their lives, and he wasn''t entirely certain that he was capable of shouldering that burden. He worried about Dale, who always asked him to protect the others, willing to give up anything for their safety. His heart ached at the idea that little Shar, who always asked him to get things off the top shelf, would come to any harm. Keerie, Mulk, and Talm only ever wanted to dance and play, while Frey, Drop and, Seave were shy, taking a little longer than the others to get used to Frost. He knew each of them by name, knew their separate personalities, and what made them different from each other. They looked similar to each other, but Frost could recognize the small differences that distinguished them from one another, and he loved each and every one of them. Frost started to breath more heavily,scared that he might never see them again, and it would be entirely his fault for leaving them undefended. He shook his head and denied the possibility of them being caught, to calm himself, not allowing himself to think such dark thoughts. If he was lucky, they had managed to find their way into one of the deadly side passages, losing at least one of their members and hopefully more. There was a single portal that led to the edge of a cliff with only two feet of ledge so that if you were in a rush, you would almost certainly fall to your death. Frost stepped through another portal on the "main" pathway and realized that no such misfortune had befallen the hunters. Across a long hallway, players were stepping through a portal one at a time, carrying torches because they couldn''t have known that the portals themselves lit the hallways with a magical light. He sighed in relief, waiting for them to finish exiting the green, swirling portal and counting ten of them in total. At that moment they were all approximately half-way to the center of the chaos zone where the fairies lived. Frost and the other players were on the straightest path there, while Seraya and the fairies went the long way around. Effectively, Frost only needed to stall them exactly where they were as long as possible so that he could escape and leave them trapped in the maze of portals and pathways that made up the area. He started walking towards them slowly, even sheathing his sword to show that he meant them no ill. They quickly spotted him and drew their weapons in preparation for a fight, so he stopped moving towards them and held his hands up at shoulder height. They had a short conversation about what to do, and decided that they would talk to him, walking slowly forward, still on guard in case it was an ambush. They had him outnumbered ten to one, but that could change instantly if he had allies waiting in the portals nearby and had a way to contact them. He waited, appearing calm, but was actually very nervous, seeing them up close with weapons drawn. He scanned their faces, unable to see any of their names except Sena. He tilted his head in confusion when he realized that he could see one of their names and it wasn''t in red letters above her head. In turn, a few of them gasped in surprise at his mask once they were close enough to recognize what it was. "It''s you, the wolf mask," a pretty fox girl said, taking a step forward as if she wanted to run over and shake his hand, or maybe cut him in half. It was hard to tell the intentions of individuals when trying to pay attention to ten different people at the same time. "Yes." He considered, only briefly, trying to speak in archaic English again, but eliminated the thought before it was complete. He had no use for such an idiotic attempt to hide his identity as Frost. "Long time no see." Sena spoke. She was a rogue wearing dark brown, form fitting leather equipment, and Frost had to admit it looked good on her. She smiled knowingly as she leaned on her shoulder against one of the walls. Her allies all turned to stare at her in surprise upon hearing that she had met the most famous NPC among players. They bombarded her with questions until Frost finally remembered where he had seen her. "Ah. You''re the murderer I saw with the ones named Tiger and Claw. The first time I met them at least. You''re lucky you weren''t there when I met them a second time." Murderer was the term non player characters used to describe dark players, or players that killed innocent people. Once again, some of her allies questioned Sena about her being a player killer in the past. She just shook off their questions and deflected the attention back to Frost. "What are you doing here, Frost?" He was too careful and focused to fall for such a simple trap, so he waited a few seconds before responding. "Are you perhaps referring to me? Do you always give strange nicknames to people based upon where you met them?" She pouted, "I heard that your name was Frost, and you were really a player, but I guess that really was just a made up rumor after all." "I''m glad you asked why I''m here. I''m here to stop you from making a terrible mistake that you will regret for the rest of your lives." He was intentionally beating around the bush, trying to waste time, but also trying to avoid the suspicion that he was doing just that. "What do you mean?" a tall, well-built man standing in front of the party asked. He looked like the no-nonsense type of person who liked to be in control just so no one else was screwing it up. ''Probably the party leader.'' "You''re the one in charge of this group?" He looked around at his companions before frowning at Frost and replying. "Sort of. We don''t really have a team leader." "It doesn''t really matter who''s in charge. I must stop you from killing the ones you perceive as demons." The adventurer party immediately raised their weapons, not willing to back down from a profitable quest involving killing monsters. Before they could do anything rash, Frost held up a hand to stop them. "What you''re doing is evil." "You just said it yourself," a female paladin said, exasperatedly from behind her shield, "we''re hunting demons." "No, you''re not. You''re hunting cursed children and a woman who appear as demons." "Can you prove it?" the fox girl asked. "No. I''m not sure if the curse will break for you the same as it did for me, and I can''t trust any of you enough to bring you to them. The only thing I can do is ask you to wait a week. By that time, the curse will be lifted and all will be able to see them for what they truly are." "This bastard is trying to run out our timer. He knows we only have a week left to complete the quest and he''s trying to make us fail." This came from a big guy standing near the back of the group. "What? No, I don''t..." Frost tried to explain that he didn''t know, but the man didn''t want to hear it. "Shut up, this is bullshit, he''s just wasting our time." "And you''re trying to murder children. They''re offering you what? Gold?" Frost was annoyed with the rude man in the back who was probably some type of fighter or barbarian type character. "You would slaughter children for gold?" Frost practically snarled at the large man. He chuckled, "Are you accusing me of being a murderer? Do you know who I am? My name is Grud the berserker, and I think I''m done listening to you." Grud pulled a pair of half-moon axes from his belt as he stepped forward, pushing everyone else aside on his way to Frost. "Duel me. If you win, I''ll consider giving up on the quest, but if I win, you have to take us to your demon buddies." He grinned confidently, taking a fighting stance as if Frost didn''t really have any other option. Stepping in front of his allies put the torches at his back and the edge of his shadow near Frost''s feet. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Frost could tell that the man wasn''t going to give up, and the duel could help him to accomplish his goal of stalling them in the tunnels, so he decided to accept. He crouched down and touched the ground in front of him, trying not to smile, and failing as he stood back up. "I accept your duel, but my friends are not demons," he growled as he pulled out his sword. He began to calculate the best way to take out someone like grud who probably had a lot of health and would also hit really hard. He smirked, knowing that his speed alone was already an effective counter to the big oaf. As long as he wasn''t cornered, he had the advantage, especially since he had already tethered Grud''s shadow. The rogue girl let out a shout of excitement and sat down on a stone that used to be part of the ceiling. "I''m not sure if this is gonna be really quick, or a good long fight, but it''s gonna be awesome either way. Pay attention folks, you might just learn something." "Ha! Thanks for the praise, Sena." Grud stood up a little straighter, more confident. He wasn''t going to waste this chance to show off in front of the girls. "I didn''t know you thought so highly of me." "Uh huh. I meant watch him," she said it as if talking to Grud bored her while she pointed at Frost. She smiled at Frost and gestured with one hand for them to get back to their duel. Grud turned back to Frost, irritated that Sena was practically cheering for the enemy and telling him that he was going to lose. He used the anger to fuel his will to fight as he activated berserker abilities that increased his physical stats. Frost in turn activated some of his own abilities, both his body and his sword becoming coated in inky darkness. The shadow energy forming on his body turned into armor while Grud let out a roar and began to charge. Frost stood his ground unblinking and relaxed, not even raising his sword to defend himself. "You wanted this." Grud yelled as he brought his axes down on Frost, aiming for his head. His weapons followed Frost''s falling body all the way to the ground where they clanged harmlessly off of the stone floor. He stood up, looking around for the missing enemy, only to be impaled from behind. Grud could feel the blade tear through him as Frost used his strength to rip the blade out of his opponent''s side. He turned around, swinging his axes to try and catch Frost, but he was already gone again, having shadow jumped to the other side of the large man the moment he turned around. Frost cut him multiple times before the man could turn his considerable bulk around again. Frost was quick, and his strength was nothing to laugh at either, so he had already done a lot of damage. The berserker swung his axes wildly, forcing Frost to back off, but Frost wasn''t going to let the man calm down or stop taking damage. Grud''s teammates were unwittingly helping Frost with the light of their torches casting a long Grud shadow that he was using to his advantage. Frost activated shadow cutting and slammed his sword into the ground at his feet, stabbing the shadow multiple times as Grud''s temper got the best of him. He wasn''t used to losing fights, especially not in such a one sided fight against a much smaller man who only had a sword. Frost howled, an eerie sound that reverberated throughout the tunnel, summoning two slightly translucent grey wolf companions into existence. All three charged their enemy at once, while Frost decided to use only one other skill that could be visibly seen, to hide his full repertoire of abilities. He used Lightning Flash several times in succession to cut away at Grud''s health while the wolves bit at his legs. Grud quickly killed the wolves, but there was nothing he could do against Frost when his speed was so much lower. His enemy having two weapons to guard with made it harder for Frost to attack, but his superior speed and skill made Grud an easy target. Grud would still land a few hits, but they were mostly glancing blows that came at the cost of Frost getting in solid cuts. Frost was completely in control of the fight, guiding Grud''s movements with false openings and feints that left Grud struggling to even act. Grud''s level wasn''t much higher than Frost''s, and that meant that Frost was much stronger. It had been a while since Frost had fought another player, and he found the difference in combat ability to be intoxicating. The feeling of beating down an enemy that was supposed to be stronger, so easily wasn''t something Frost had expected. He had intended to go all out on Grud, but he shortly realized just how unnecessary that was. He could still keep a few tricks up his sleeve in case the others wanted to fight as well. Grud fell to his knees defeated, his health at one hit point due to being protected by the ancient magic of the duel system. Frost''s sword lost it''s black color a moment later and he realized that he had defeated Grud in under a minute. The other players stared in awe as Frost sheathed his sword and turned to face them in silence. Sena started clapping, bringing everyone back to their senses. They had been mesmerized by the fight, having rarely, if ever, seen such a high level fight in the game. Many of them felt that it was unfair for an NPC to be so powerful, but at the same time, they knew they could take him down if they acted as a team. One person could only do so much against a proper team. Frost stepped past Grud, letting his hands hang non threateningly by his side, trying not to provoke any of the others into getting revenge for their defeated ally. "It''s my right to kill him as the challenged party, but I have no desire to gain your wrath." "Those were some evil looking abilities you used in that fight," their leader said warily. "Some kind of black magic was it?" "Shadow magic, of a sort." Frost said, getting an idea that made him smile. "I serve the goddess Emiri, and my abilities are not evil." "I don''t trust him," said a man in full plate and a large heraldic crest on his breastplate. "I heard he killed fifty people in Kharz Forest. "No way, it was more than that," Sena chimed in. "I killed one hundred men and women." Frost admitted coldly. The man in heavy armor drew a shining great-sword and stepped forward to confront Frost. "I would hear your name scoundrel, before I dispatch you for your crimes." Frost rolled his eyes. "What crimes?" Frost couldn''t help but let a little bit of anger seep into his voice. "I killed to protect the innocent and prevent even more bloodshed in the future. Sometimes a sacrifice is necessary to save more lives, even if it is regrettable that lives must be lost." "I see what type of person you are, and I must say that I''m relieved. You see, I was concerned that we might be fighting someone with a conscience!" He gripped his sword tighter and started to cautiously close in on Frost. Frost knew that he had lost them as the rest of them raised their weapons. "If you will not listen to reason, then perhaps you will listen to your greed. I will pay you to spare the children. They won''t fight you or hurt you, no matter how threatening and dangerous they appear. I beg you, don''t kill them." "This is all just a front to protect the demons," The man in plate mail shouted. "He''s one of them!" Before Frost could do anything else, the party''s caster sent a large fireball in his direction. He fell to the floor to duck under it, then rolled to the side as a large sword slammed into the ground where he had been. He jumped to his feet and had to use all of his effort to avoid or parry the fox girl''s attacks as she attacked him with a pair of short, heavy blades. He admired their skilled teamwork, only able to escape them due to his high agility and trained footwork. He dove into a portal, taking a cut on the leg as he started to make his escape. Frost led them away from the direction of the fairies, all ten of them in pursuit as he controlled his pace to make sure they didn''t get lost. He had intended to keep that up for a while, but Sena and the fox girl sprinted towards him the moment they entered a wide open area beyond one of the portals. The area was a field spotted with large geysers that individually spit scalding hot liquid at regular intervals. They were fast enough to catch Frost by surprise, tackling him to the ground and stabbing his limbs to nail his body into the ground. He grimaced from the pain as he sunk into the shadow realm, unable to be held down by such mundane methods. The two stood back to back, hoping to avoid the same situation as Grud, who had been taken by surprise. The others caught up with the two, grouping up in a defensive formation to protect the casters from surprise attacks. Frost''s ability to appear and disappear seemingly at will had everyone on edge as they chased him down. He rose from the ground a safe distance away, rotating his sword arm in it''s socket as he shook off the pain. He glared at them, for not understanding, and for choosing to fight against him when all he wanted was to prevent bloodshed. Frost opened his mouth to speak, to try one more time to appeal to their sense of reason, but no words came out, and his mouth closed. He turned away from them and stepped through a portal, having done what he could to slow them down. Fighting them would only slow him down at that point, and he had somewhere important to be. They could spend the rest of their time attempting to look for demons while Frost went through with his plan to break the curse. His plan had already begun, but there was a single problem. There was only one of him, and an entire city in his way. Chapter 22: Snowfall This chapter isn''t very long, but I had to stop where I did. Expect another chapter soon. I''m half finished with the next one. Please enjoy. Chapter 22: Snowfall Frost jumped through another portal, feeling a floating sensation for a moment a he transitioned from a desert to the top of a castle wall in seconds. He ran through a great number of portals until he was out of stamina, collapsing to the ground from exhaustion. It would take at least a day for him to catch up to Seraya, considering the size of the chaos zone and the tower itself. He should catch up with them at the edge of the chaos zone or just outside of it, depending on how fast those fairies could move as a group. They would be relatively safe again until they reached the city, where he would put all of them in danger to protect them at the same time. He knew his plan was madness, but it was all he could do to save them, and something had to be done immediately if people were being sent to kill them. He cooked some food and sharpened his weapons in the time it took for his stamina to recover, taking it easy as he waited. He started to relax, knowing that he would soon be able to catch up to his new family and keep them safe from random monsters. His running skill was at an intermediate level, increasing his running speed and allowing him to run for a lot longer before getting tired. Until he caught up, Seraya and the fairies would be able to protect themselves from monsters with magic. Any party that ran into them, other than the hunters would probably run away in fear when facing what looked like an army of demons. They were as safe as they could be. The hunters he had run into would most likely be lost in the maze or be forced to make their way back out of the chaos zone. They seemed far too intent on completing the quest, so they would head deeper into the chaos zone and wouldn''t even be a threat anymore. They might even be killed by the energies released when Seraya lost control of the portals and the zone returned to its original, deadly nature. He closed his eyes and sat down, leaning back against the wall. He wasn''t able to relax that way before he met the fairies. Before, whenever he was waiting for his stamina to recover he would be wide awake, anxious to get back into the fight and continue to strengthen himself. He found that his stamina recovered slightly faster and he felt more energized when he actually rested, peacefully letting the world move while he remained still. His eyes popped open as he came to a realization that could destroy all of his plans and make saving the fairies practically impossible. He had been so focused on the permanent death of the NPCs that he hadn''t even thought about what would happen to the players if they died. He still hadn''t been killed, so he didn''t know where he would re-spawn, but he imagined that a person probably returned to the last city they were in. If the players were willing to kill themselves, or died from the chaos zone, they would most likely return to the city. If they figured out where he was heading, they could beat him there, and he had basically told them that their targets were harmless. He cursed under his breath as his stamina reached close to full. He packed up his gear and started running again, hoping that the hunters never discovered where he was headed. He knew he was at the edge of the chaos zone when he started running into portals set up in a straight line with no side passages. There would only be a few more passageways until he reached the snow covered mountain top. He had only been there once before, and only went into the tower beyond to make sure that it really was the end of the area as Seraya had said. He would wait there for them, for a few hours, just in case he had managed to get ahead of them in the maze of passageways. He slowed down to a walk as he stepped foot on the snowy mountain top. The portal was surrounded by crumbling walls and pillars, the ruins of structures long lost to nature. He continued walking forward and saw some movement up ahead through the snowfall. He laughed as he saw the fairies up ahead, trudging through the snow as more of it fell on their heads. He chased them down and shouted out to them to get their attention as he approached. They turned around, and upon seeing him, the fairies waved enthusiastically, running towards him joyfully. Frost laughed as they tripped over the piled up snow in their rush to surround him. Seeing them up close, he was able to relax, and fell to his knees, hugging them one by one as tears of joy ran down his face. He had been deeply concerned that they had run into danger and been killed during the day or so that he was away from them, but now that he saw them all safe and sound, he let all the feelings of concern melt away. He knew he was being overly emotional, but if he lost them after knowing them for such a short time, he wouldn''t be able to forgive himself. The fairies started talking rapidly, asking him questions about what he had been doing while telling him about their travels at the same time. They acted like it had been months since they''d seen him even though it hadn''t been that long since they had separated. He tried to answer some of their questions, but their energy and enthusiasm was contagious, causing him to laugh again instead. He looked up to smile at Seraya, and his heart stopped in his chest, the smile dropping from his face. He was there to protect them and yet the moment he saw them, he had let his guard down. He had failed. A man stood behind Seraya, his blackened blade stabbed through the center of her chest. There was a look of fear and surprise on her face unlike anything he had ever seen from her before, as she stared at the blade sticking out of her. Normally, she was always smiling, only showing sadness when she was concerned for someone else. Now, she was scared and dying, and it was entirely his fault. He scrambled to his feet and ran to her, knowing that he was too late as the red gash in her body sucked in the blade, changing color to a sickly brown. She collapsed to the ground as the man behind her released her, wings appearing on his back as he flew like an arrow to the exit portal, gone before Frost could even consider chasing him. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Frost reached her side, falling to his knees in defeat this time, rather than joy. "No, no, no. Please no! This isn''t fair! This can''t be happening." With trembling hands, he lifted her head into his arms, cradling her as the fairies formed a circle around them, unshed tears in their eyes. The brown gash in her chest started growing, taking over and slowly destroying her body. Tears spilled down his cheeks as he held her gingerly, afraid to injure her further. Seraya looked at him, lifting an arm to caress his cheek comfortingly. "Please forgive me, my dear Frost. I never should have tried to interfere with your life and your decisions. I only wanted to help. I..." "That doesn''t matter now. Just tell me how to stop this. Tell me how to save you." He started breathing faster, scared and distraught when he saw what was happening to her. He could feel the world closing in on him, his chest tightening as he tried and failed to stop the tears. He knew what she was going to say, and it broke his heart. She smiled at him and shook her head. "You can''t save me, Frost. This is the end for me." When she spoke, the fairies started sobbing, leaning on each other for support. "I''m sorry. I''m so sorry. Please don''t go." The tears continued to roll down his cheeks, blurring his vision. "This is all my fault." "It''s not your fault, Frost." "Yes it is. If it wasn''t for me..." he sniffed, unable to say the words out loud, unable to say that he killed her. "They would have found a different way to kill me. They would make innocent adventurers do it and already tried to do just that. It''s alright, I''m ready to die." "How can you be okay with that? How can you even know what that means?" "I knew this was a possibility from the start. The curse was made to kill me after all." As if to emphasize her point, the brown corruption continued to spread, making it harder for her to breathe. "His plan was to kill me in any way he could and he would have succeeded at some point." Frost felt a deep rage inside of him at the man who had done this to Seraya. He would never be able to forgive them, not even after he killed them. "Who did this?" Instead of answering him, she held up her hand, producing a small, yellow ball of light with two rings circling it at different orbits. "This is for you, Frost. A gift." "I don''t want anything. I don''t deserve it." He shook as the rage was overcome by a feeling of powerlessness. The corrosion infecting her body had spread to her limbs at that point, slowly climbing up her arms as she took the gift and placed it into his hand, closing his fingers around it. "Take it for me," she pleaded. He nodded, unable to find the energy and the will to speak. She then reached into her chest where the original wound had been, pulling out a small black marble. "This holds the curse within it. Someone must swallow it and inherit the curse before I die, or else those poor children will be cursed forever. Give it to one of them and bring them outside the mountain. I don''t want you to have to be cursed too." The fairies rushed forward to take the sphere from Seraya to stop him, but Frost grabbed it and swallowed it. "This is my burden too." He was choking up, losing the ability to speak as Seraya slowly fell apart in his arms. It was tearing him apart destroying him almost as much as it was destroying her. "I''m so proud of you, Frost," she beamed at him, a single tear falling down her face as her arms fell limply to her side, completely covered by the deadly brown poison. It began to climb up her neck, and he could tell she was in pain. "How can you smile like that?" He trembled as he used a finger to wipe the tear from her cheek. "Because I love you, and because their funeral song truly is the most beautiful music I have ever heard." "I love you too." He looked into her eyes and did the hardest thing he had ever done. He smiled. Even as he felt the crushing weight of despair, he smiled, for her. He smiled until she was gone. Then he cried. He cried as he tried to move his lips, to make sound come out. He still had one last thing to do. It took him three tries before he could muster up the strength to raise his voice more than a whisper. He didn''t know the words, so he hummed the song. It was soft and quiet, but it was enough. Soon, the fairies started singing along, their voices hoarse and weak. Their voices grew in strength until they were able to sing at full strength, fighting the pain and the sorrow long enough to say goodbye. Frost continued to hum as she faded away, making her a promise. ''I will get stronger, and I''ll never let this happen again. I''ll never lose a loved one, and I''ll never let a loved one cry. Never again.'' Chapter 23: Plans I would have had this chapter out sooner but I guess vacation really slows you down. How am I supposed to have fun writing chapters while I''m having fun, having fun. Weeeeeeee~. I wanted to name this chapter ''This story has a plot'' for some reason. I didn''t. Please enjoy. Chapter 23: Plans Nala was frustrated that they had allowed the man in the wolf mask to escape when they had a chance to kill him, even if they had to fight him one on one. She had wanted to duel him and had a feeling that he would have fought each of them to accomplish his goals of protecting his demon allies. When that idiot knight decided to chase him away, she wanted to knock some sense into him. She regretted that Grud had been the one to face the wolf mask instead of her. He was the lowest level party member and not a good match against an agility based fighter. She could just as easily have made a fool out of Grud, and with her abilities as Valux''s champion, she would have been a good match against the wolf mask''s dark powers. She blamed herself the most, having been too careless when he was trying to escape. She could have used one of her own powers to possibly prevent him from slipping away. Nala had mentioned at the time that it wasn''t surprising how he took out a hundred low level players with that kind of power. Sena just laughed and explained to them how he was worlds above what he had been when anyone last saw him fight. The question was what he was doing in the tower of all places. What was his role in the lore of the game and the main story? If he kept reappearing all over the world, then he had to be important to the main story, unless he was a player. However, she didn''t believe that he was a player, because who would care so much about protecting a bunch of monsters, even if they were children. She had heard the way he spoke about them, and they were more than just a quest objective to him, so he must have been an NPC. The small raid group finally reached the place that was supposed to be at the center of the chaos zone, and they found nothing but a glowing pool of water. They cautiously searched the holes in the wall, expecting an ambush at any moment, but there wasn''t a creature to be found. There wasn''t even anything worth looting in the holes they did search, so they came to the conclusion that the rest of them would be the same. They tried shouting and making noise, but nothing happened, and the party grew suspicious that there was something going on. Star thought about why the wolf mask would have been there in the first place if there weren''t really any demons to protect. They would just have to search all of the holes in the wall until they found a clue of some kind. They had to be around there somewhere if they had a guardian that strong protecting them. Unless... "He was a distraction," she whispered to herself. "Excuse me?" Star questioned her politely, standing right next to her. "The wolf mask was a distraction to make us think that the demons are here. They must have gone somewhere while we were focused on him. He wanted to make us think that they would be here without a doubt, but they''re not. I think we''re wasting our time by searching." "If they''re not here, then where are they?" Arizona didn''t look convinced. "This does look like a boss room," Star chimed in. "That bastard tricked us! I''ll kill him," Grud roared furiously, glaring at the wall with fists clenched, as if he was about to punch it. ''That worked out well for you last time, didn''t it. Don''t embarrass yourself any further.'' Some of the party were beginning to have second thoughts about Grud. He was usually quiet and kept to himself, but had been acting foolishly since they had met the wolf mask. Nala had a hunch that this was his true personality and everything before had all been an attempt to hide the hot-headed jerk that he really was. "They could be anywhere in the tower by now. Who knows how long they''ve been gone." Sena groaned. "Now we''ll never complete this stupid quest." Nala thought for a moment, trying to put everything together, and finally, came up with the only option that had a chance of success. "We have to go back towards the city." "Don''t give up. We can still find them." Star tried to encourage the party as they contemplated the idea of quitting the demon hunt. "I''m not giving up," Nala waved a hand to dismiss the idea. "I''m thinking that there''s a reason we were given a week more than we needed to complete this quest. It says we have to prevent them from escaping out into the world, so they needed to be killed. Maybe that means they are already planning to escape. If that''s the case, what''s the only way we know of that leads out of the tower?" "The city," Arizona said with a smile. "Nala, you''re a genius. Alright everyone, are you ready to head out?" All members confirmed that they were ready to go, so they started heading back towards the city. They traveled along for a while, passing through an area that looked a lot like an abandoned warehouse full of rotting wood. The moment they left the room, the portal behind them collapsed in on itself with a whoosh. They turned to look back and see what happened, only to be sent flying when the space that previously held a portal exploded. Fat Steve quickly cast a healing spell as the party slowly rose to their feet. They had been thrown quite a distance by the blast and could see a swirling mass of clouds where they had been standing. The mass of clouds pulsed dully with a deep red light as it slowly expanded towards the players. They started running away from the cloud, passing through another portal and hoping it wouldn''t explode on them. There were other portals that began to disappear or transform into something else entirely. One portal along their path had become, or perhaps produced, a writhing mass of tentacles connected to a large mound of purple flesh. They had to cut their way through the creature''s tentacles causing it to shriek in pain, despite not having any visible mouth. Despite its menacing look, it didn''t actually attack them, even after they started cutting it. Plenty of the portals still seemed fairly stable, but other, unstable energies were beginning to interfere with them, destroying their stability as well. The further they traveled from the center of the chaos zone, the greater the number of portals that were still intact. It was a mad dash to get out of the chaos zone, and it would take hours more before they escaped. Both of the casters'' stamina was beginning to run low as well, so they wouldn''t be able to run for much longer. The area of the chaos zone they were in was much more stable looking, but they didn''t know how long that would last. They would have to rest soon, and then start running again by the time they found their way out of the chaos zone. The next few hours would be painful and exhausting, but they had the possibility of escaping with everyone still alive. They took a rest to catch their breath when they came to an area that looked completely untouched by whatever force was causing the disruption in the chaos zone. Soon, the portal they had come through started to flicker and dim, indicating that they needed to move on shortly if they didn''t want to be killed by magical explosions or be trapped in that area of the tower. They continued to run and stop until they reached the fields of snow on the fake mountain at the edge of the chaos zone. They pushed on through the snow, struggling to move their exhausted bodies and reach the tower. The heavily piled snow dragged at their feet, slowing them down. They were barely ahead of the deadly forces causing the area to collapse at that point, and they needed to escape as soon as possible, or they would be killed. They could see the portal up ahead as it grew darker and darker, turning to a black void as it sucked in light rather than emitting it. They reached the ominous looking portal and Fat Steve collapsed, her stamina at zero, unable to move. Nala picked her up and fell into the portal, figuring that it was probably safer than waiting around for the collapse of the false world. The others followed them in, feeling the floating sensation before being deposited sideways into the tower. Nala landed on her stomach with Fat Steve next to her and deftly rolled away as the others fell through behind her. They landed in a pile on the poor girl, but looking at them and feeling relieved, she couldn''t help but laugh. The others stared at her for a moment, and then they started laughing too. Though death wasn''t permanent in the game and the penalty wasn''t that severe, overcoming such a challenge and surviving together gave them a feeling of accomplishment. Even Skoff was smiling, until Grud decided to ruin the mood for everyone. He stood up and glared at them crossly. "We still haven''t done anything to complete this fucking quest, so why the hell are you all laughing?" His allies all stared in silence, irritated by Grud''s attitude. "Even if you''re right about that ass hole taking those demons to the city, we still have to beat them there and find them before they escape. They''ve got a head start on us and we have no idea where they are!" "We should split up," Skoff spoke up. "Groups of two. Then we can windspeak to keep in contact. We''ll cover more ground that way." "Whatever. I''m heading straight to the city for now," Grud stomped off. Bluejay sighed and stood up. "Sorry about Grud, I''ll go with him." He quickly walked after his friend to catch up. "Alright," Arizona said to get their attention as he picked himself up and swiped at his clothes to remove the dust. "Fat Steve is with me. Galahad is with Skoff. The rest of you can make whatever teams you want, but I suspect Star and Nala will want to team up. Play it safe everyone. When in doubt, run away or call for backup." Everyone listened to Arizona because he made a good leader, but they also respected his ability as a player. He was some sort of spellsword, and he was very good. Usually, combining magic and sword fighting to create an all around character resulted in an inferior character, but none of them could find a weakness in the way he fought. If he were to fight against the wolf mask in a duel, Nala wasn''t sure who would win. They spread out in groups of two as Skoff suggested, taking different paths on the way back to the city at the edge of the tower. There were five different levels that the demons could approach the three tiered city from, but they decided it would be faster if they only traveled along the three levels of the tower that the city was actually on. They would also be able to reach each other more quickly and so it would be safer as well. The players didn''t know if any of them would find anything, or if the quest they had taken would end up being a waste of time, but they had to try. They all logged off, determined to continue their chase the next time they logged in. Grud might have been rude and discouraging, but he was right. It would take a good amount of effort and a lot of luck to find the demons and kill them before their timer ran out. She had a feeling that they would be able to find the demons if she was correct, considering the time limit in which they were supposed to complete the quest. They should have plenty of time to reach the city if they hurried back, but if she was wrong and there was another exit, they would fail for certain. Something felt wrong about the demon chase and the meeting with the wolf mask back in the chaos zone She had to wonder if the wolf mask was truly the monster they thought he was. He could have killed Grud and caused a lot of trouble for their party if he knew they were coming. Instead, he had met them and talked to them, rather than savagely attack them as she had imagined he would if she ever met him. Was he really the monster that everyone had thought he was. ''Are we really the good guys?'' The Keeper The Keeper looked down at the boy sitting in the carriage beside him, softly ruffling his hair to wake him up as they approached the neighboring village. Even though the boy was still tired, he needed an extra pair of eyes to help him spot the kidnappers. He knew exactly what they looked like, having taken the information directly from Zen''s mind while he was asleep. If he had done it while the boy had been awake, it would have been a mentally draining and terrifying experience that would have left him traumatized. This way, the worst possible outcome would be a simple nightmare that would quickly be forgotten. He had the ability to take information directly from a person''s mind unless they had a strong enough mind to resist him. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Zen snorted as his head jerked up and he frantically looked around, trying to remember where he was, as he was still half asleep. He stared at the Keeper for a moment, blinking his eyes in surprise before he remembered exactly what had happened the night before. He was shocked awake and he twisted his head so that he was looking straight forward, his mouth shut and his eyes peeled. He didn''t want to offend the Keeper of all people, and he still wasn''t sure why he had been brought along in the first place. Wasn''t the man sitting next to him supposed to be all knowing and extremely powerful? How could a kid like Zen be any real help to someone like that? The Keeper could see the gears turning in Zen''s head and he smiled at the serious young man who couldn''t comprehend his own worth. He had a plan for Zen that would make him worth more than the boy, or anyone who knew him, could imagine. Until then, the two of them would continue to track down Tafa and rescue her from the hands of evil men whose purpose remained unknown. What did they seek to accomplish by kidnapping a young girl like Tafa who wasn''t exceptionally special or worthwhile? The most likely conclusion was that someone was after him, and that was also the most terrifying possibility of any horrible idea he could come up with. He had lived for countless years, and there were a great many number of possibilities that passed through his thoughts. If someone was after him, that meant they knew some extremely dangerous information, and they were definitely bad people. He was someone who had very little effect on the world, despite his deep knowledge and his immortality that made others fear and envy him. There was only one reason an organization would be after him, and it was definitely an organization of some sort that was after him. Whoever they were, they had some very dark intentions that could potentially affect the entire world if he wasn''t the only target. He sighed as he guessed the most likely situation and hoped that he was wrong. He flicked the reigns to get the horses to walk a little faster as they headed into the town. They asked some questions only to find out that the men had not stopped in the village, having hurried through early in the morning. The keeper and Zen continued on, passing another town before they came to a third that had signs of their passing. It seemed they had forced a stable keeper to trade horses with them under threat of disobeying the king''s soldiers. Luckily there was only one major path and general direction that the kidnappers could have fled. It seemed they were heading to the city of Bastion in the South. It would take the men a few days to get there at the speed they were going. Mr. Keeper flicked the reigns and the horses moved at a brisk walk, their hooves clopping along the hard-packed dirt road. He could tell that Zen was impatient and not appreciative of their current pace. They both knew that the men were only getting farther away at the rate they were going, and neither of them knew what would become of Tafa if they just left her with her kidnappers. The boy grew more and more frustrated as time went on, fidgeting and moving around in his seat until he couldn''t take it any longer. "Why are we moving so slowly? Shouldn''t we be chasing them down and stopping them from reaching the city?" "Horses are more than tools, young Zen. Even if we chased after them, we wouldn''t be able to catch up to them, and the horses would not fare well under such conditions. They need to rest and eat just like we do. If you want, we can lose the carriage at the next town and switch to horseback riding. We''ll be able to move faster after that." Zen said nothing, just turning to face forward as the carriage rolled on. They traveled for another day and a half, switching to horseback early on in that time. The day was growing late and it wouldn''t be long before the sun fell below the horizon in the West when they neared a small village. It had a small wooden fence around it that was falling apart in some places. The gate was slowly swinging open in the breeze and there was no one around as far as they could tell. The people here seemed to be mainly livestock herders, having wide grass fields surrounding their villages that were probably used to feed herds of sheep as that was the most common farm animal in the region. There should have been some signs of life around since it still seemed as though people still lived there. However, the place was eerily quiet and they would have passed through without noticing anything if they had been in a rush. They reached the gate and "Stay your horse, Zen. I suspect that there is more to this small village than it would appear. Let''s go around it." "Oh. Okay," Zen slumped in the saddle, clearly annoyed that they were spending time going out of their way, slowing them even more. However, as they moved around the village, a group of eight hooded men led by a devilish looking man walked out from behind some of the buildings, revealing that they had planned an ambush that didn''t quite go as planned. Knowing they were there for him, the keeper sent Zen away. No one reacted as the boy galloped up the road, knowing that he could not change anything or cause them harm. Looking at the man with twisted grey horns protruding from his head and jet black wings growing from his back, the keeper was instantly able to recognize what the creature was. It was a shade of Virufex, the right hand man of the demon lord who was supposed to have died during the great war centuries ago. He had been with the demon lord since the beginning, teaching him many of the more atrocious ways to gain power that ultimately led to him ascending to godhood. While the demon lord himself had been a human who did whatever it took to gain power, Virufex was a wretched soul that fed off of the death and destruction of other beings. He was an actual demon summoned from the void realm to attend to his master''s every demand, but now that master was gone, and he was free to wreak havoc upon the world. It was a disturbing sign that Virufex had already recovered enough of his strength to create a shade that could travel around the world and influence people to follow him. If he wasn''t stopped, he would try to cause another war where he would wipe out everyone who opposed him and everyone else that he felt like killing. It was also possible that he would attempt to ascend to godhood, as his master before him managed to do so. If he succeeded, it would be more than just the world that would suffer from him. Regardless, he had to stop the monster before he could further disrupt the world and bring ruin upon everything. He dismounted from his horse, hands clasped behind his back in a posture that showed he had no intention to fight back. The men raised their bows at Virufex''s signal while some of them, including the demon himself, were grinning evilly at the keeper, knowing that he was cornered and at their mercy. They fired at the same time he waved a hand in front of him, creating a magic barrier that repulsed the arrows. He darted forwards, challenging the men to fight him in melee combat or risk hitting their own allies with arrows. He had knowledge of all magic and martial skills that the world contained, and the body to use them to their fullest, so the men he faced were as dangerous to him as a gentle breeze. He killed the evil men as easily as if they had stood awaiting their execution. He turned his back to the shade for only a moment, but that was the moment that the beastly man struck. With terrifying speed, it aimed at his back, attempting to pierce him with a blackened blade he had pulled out of somewhere. Mr. Keeper managed to deflect the blade with an iron sword he had stolen from one of the men just before it could touch him. He could tell with only a glance that the blade was made from some powerful and sinister magic designed to kill a powerful being. It was strong enough to kill even an immortal that could not be killed by normal means. It was definitely strong enough to kill him, if the blade stabbed deeply into his body. Virufex''s minions, a mere distraction so that the demon could strike, lay dead on the ground and the two men who were not men stood facing one another. They glared at one another, each one not certain if they could defeat the other, given the circumstances. The demon had frightening speed and that ominous weapon, but the keeper was a wealth of knowledge and skills no opponent could match. They stood silently for a moment before they began to circle one another, weapons held at the ready. "Where is the girl?" Mr. Keeper growled, attempting to restrain his fury at both the kidnapping, and the unholy abomination that Virufex wielded. "I have her in a nearby building. I was hoping to have fun with her when I was done here." Virufex shrugged as if it was something he did often and was of no consequence. "You''re sicker than I imagined," he said incredulously. "She''s just a child!" He was furious that the demon dared to speak such disgusting intentions aloud. The demon ignored him and continued talking. "I was hoping to catch you off guard, but it doesn''t seem like that will be possible. Is there nothing that can spur you into making a rash decision, you ancient freak?" "No, there isn''t." The demon dropped his fighting stance as he bared his teeth, saying "I''ll be back for you someday, you old fuck! Just wait until then." His wings unfurled and he launched himself into the sky, his magical wings effortlessly allowing him to soar through the air at high speed as he disappeared into the distance. There was nothing he could do to stop him without risking harming anyone else that might be nearby. He truly was a vile creature that deserved to die for what he has done and will do in the future. The keeper dropped the sword and went in search of Tafa, hoping that Zen hadn''t gone too far away. Instead, what he found was that the boy had circled around the village and was just then entering from another side. He was a brave young man and he tried to explain that he had returned because he didn''t want to be a coward, leaving an ally to die while he ran away.There was nothing he could have done, but maybe he could follow the men and still save Tafa from them. Mr. Keeper ruffled his hair and smiled as he praised the boy for his courage. They searched the buildings and they found the poor child had been beaten and tied to a pillar in the basement of a house. The keeper untied her and used magic to heal her wounds as he comforted her with his voice. She was too tired and weak to cry any more than she already had, so she wordlessly hugged the keeper and let him pick her up. He carried her up the stairs and outside, stopping for a moment to look in the direction that Virufex had gone. He would need eight years to properly train the two to become powerful forces that could fight against the coming horrors, and he would need a great deal of help. If another demon army rampaged through the lands, then the many living beings in this world would face annihilation. He sat down, legs crossed and began to meditate, preparing to do something he had never done before. He had always had the ability to do it, he just never had a reason to do so until that moment. He opened his mind and spoke with the gods, telling them of Virufex''s return, and warning them that the demon would likely be after the guardians next. They needed a countermeasure against the war that was almost certainly in the making. It would take Virufex a long time for his plans to get underway, but it would take time for them to stop him as well. For eight years he trained Zen and Tafa, who willingly learned from him, teaching them magic and raising them to become heroes that would even be able to take down a new demon lord. At the end of their training, the Travelers and the Chosen would appear, their arrival making waves across the world that would change everything. The Travelers and the Chosen children were only one of the ways that they planned to fight back against the forces of evil that wished to destroy everything. It was quiet and peaceful for now, but that peace would not last for much longer. There was no one that could tell the future, but he would be there to watch it all and keep it as a memory. He had never been involved in anything other than his purpose before, and he looked at the girl wielding a spear, asking himself if it was her that had changed him. He watched her and he wondered if she would survive, if she would still be able to smile after it was all over. In his heart, he asked them for his forgiveness as he wished them the luck. Even with all the gifts he had given them, they would need it. Chapter 24: Broken Bonds Long chapter is long. Ish. Please enjoy. Chapter 24: Broken Bonds Frost inhaled the earthy scents of the tunnel, attempting to steady his nerves as he gripped the cold, iron staff in his hands and leaned his back against a wall near an intersection of pathways. He took another breath, his eyes closed, and his body trembling as he thought about what he was doing. He questioned himself for the umpteenth time that day, fearing that he would die halfway through the plan and the fairies would be killed while he was waiting to respawn. If that happened, he would be stuck with the curse and the fairies would be left to die. With a third breath he reminded himself that their lives and their curse were in his hands, so he couldn''t allow himself to fail. He wouldn''t even consider it a possibility any longer, because failure wasn''t a result that he could accept. With the next breath opened his eyes and stood up straight, giving the staff one last squeeze to calm himself as much as possible before he began. The fairies would be on the upper level of the city above him, distracting the guards with their demonic appearance at that moment. He took one last breath, just five deep breaths to precede the nightmare he was about to bring on himself. He was taking on an entire city full of armed guards and adventurers who would see nothing more than a rampaging demon with a death wish. Trying to make it through a city while appearing to be a demon was no different from running a deadly gauntlet. Running a gauntlet after not sleeping more than a few hours the past three days and with no idea whether or not there was even a sliver of a chance that he might succeed. ''Yeah. No problem.'' Frost activated Burst of Speed as he rounded the corner, sprinting at full speed towards the gates of the underground city. Six heavily armed guards stood at the end of the tunnel that led into the city. The presence of "demons" above them had increased the alertness level of the guards, but he hoped that they had sent a significant portion of their soldiers to prepare for a demon army attacking the city. If the city sent people to hunt them down, the fairies could simply use their magic to run away. If nothing else, an army of monsters should attract the attention of players who would see it as an event of some sort. It wasn''t the most brilliant plan anyone had ever concocted, but it was just about the only idea he could come up with other than stressing about the fairies and trying to protect them from every little bit of danger as he found a place for them within the tower. The guards held pikes out, bravely trying to stop his advance by impaling what must have looked like a hideous, charging beast on their weapons. Take on an army without knowing how far he had to run, without knowing the number of enemies he had to face and without knowing which direction the end goal was in? Frost smiled behind the mask he still wore, waiting until just before he was impaled on the spikes to make his move, Shadow Jumping behind them and moving forward without stopping. He had a bit of confidence because he had already been through something similar during the trials to gain his class. It would be difficult, but he had the skills and the stats to outrun and escape the city as long as nothing unexpected happened. The curse wasn''t meant to prevent someone like Frost from escaping the tower, it was meant for Seraya. The way he saw it, Frost had more mobility than anyone else in the game, having the ability to teleport to shadows, slip into the shadow realm, and run faster than anyone else he had met so far. Seraya never could have escaped the tower the same way that he could attempt to, so she had been stuck there in the chaos zone fearing for her life and the lives of those she loved. He grit his teeth as he ran into another group of guards, tripping them, disarming them, and generally disrupting their ability to fight him or chase him down. He didn''t stop moving for more than the few moments it took to slow down his pursuers, and the chaos of the people panicking as they ran for cover made it harder for any of the guards to get to him and stop him. His escape was going smoothly for the first few minutes and Frost was starting to think that he would have less trouble than he originally thought. It seemed as if the city had really been concerned by the approaching demons and sent a large amount of their forces to the upper level. They didn''t close any gates on the lower levels because they didn''t want to prevent adventurers from making it back to the city safely. He should be able to get through the city before whatever army was above him could make their way into his path. A large fireball flew out of one of the side streets as he passed by and he barely reacted fast enough to roll in an effort to avoid it. He still felt the flames sear his back and his left arm, having been unprepared for the surprise attack that still hit him despite his best efforts to avoid it. He stared down a group of smug looking adventurers as he slid to a stop at the intersection, trying to get an understanding of what he was up against. Four warriors stood in front of a mage who was already casting another spell in his direction. Five small orbs formed around the mage''s hand that he held palm out towards Frost. He finished the incantation and the orbs spread out before speeding to a convergence point directly behind Frost. He tried to move out of the path of the orbs, but they chased him, exploding next to him when they were within arms reach. This time, he had been prepared for the attack and jumped to the shadow of a building, taking minimal damage from the chain of explosions where he had been standing. He continued his full speed run down the main street of the city, deciding to interact with the more dangerous looking adventurers as little as possible. The average player would have a much greater chance to slow him down than a group of NPC soldiers, with all the skills and abilities they could potentially have. He didn''t want to risk being tied down by unwanted fights , allowing others to catch up and join the fight. The longer he stayed in one place, the more that enemies would surround him until he no longer had any chance of escaping. Frost began to get the impression that the city itself was much larger than he had originally anticipated, having expected the typical game city barely larger than a town. The city in the tower was actually the size of a large town as far as he could tell. It would take more than a few minutes of running to cross it,even with his speed, giving his opponents up ahead the time to prepare for him. Luckily, bows were uncommon in the area, as the tunnel passageways were only about ten feet tall, making the ranged weapons less effective. Occasionally, someone would throw a dagger or a spear at him, mostly missing due to his speed and the illusion that made him look much larger than he actually was. Under the combined assault of weaponized magic and steel, his health was chipped away bit by bit until he began to fear that he would die in vain. Still, he refused to give up or fall into a state of despair again, and focused on the task at hand. He stopped paying attention to health bars, levels, and statistics, focusing only on the stamina and shadow energy he had left. He only needed to reach the far side of the city and escape, only needed to dodge attacks, and he only needed to survive. He knew from the start that it was a fool''s errand, destined to end in failure, but he roared in defiance as he swept an adventurer out of his way with a mighty swing of his staff. He fell into a rhythm as he moved, using alleyways and walls to lose his pursuers while staying close enough to the main road that he would easily be able to get back to it. The illusion had to have changed its shape or size to fit through the small pathways between buildings or it would make the illusion''s true nature obvious to anyone who so much as glanced at it. The buildings continued on, monotonous and grey, lit by glowing lamps and small chips of luminescent stone built into the architecture that helped to give the city an even lighting that wasn''t overly bright. He hadn''t really had time to study it before and only then did he notice the city''s warm, comforting glow and the nature of its source. The constant excitement and terror of running through a hostile city, combined with the mental exhaustion of staying up for a couple of days straight, had overloaded his brain, leaving nothing but a cold, calm detachment. He was able to focus a little more and dodge attacks a little better, using his brain to plan his next steps as he ran through streets that had been emptied of citizens faster than he could run. The only people still in the streets were the ones prepared to take on a rampaging demon sprinting through the city. Some of the guards looked terrified, but resolute as they stared Frost down, ready to lay down their lives in defense of the city and its people. Some of those men and women looked so young, even to him. As much as he could afford to, he tried to avoid hurting the people who weren''t players, afraid of doing too much damage and crippling or killing someone who didn''t deserve it. These were good, innocent people that were bravely laying down their lives to prevent disaster, and to them, he was nothing more than a monster. He charged a particularly frightened looking young man who held a spear in shaking hands, waiting until the last possible second before diving into the shadow realm. His shadow energy was beginning to run low and he was conserving it as much as possible, letting it slowly recover. He returned from the shadow realm to see a strange light in the distance straight ahead. It took him a moment to realize exactly what he was looking at that was so much different than the lamps and the ambient lighting. Sunlight. After an uncertain amount of time, he was nearing the edge of the city and the gate was in sight, letting in a stream of sunlight that reached deep into the mountainous tower. A shiver of excitement ran through him and he let out an enthusiastic yell as he finally felt the hope of escape. The light seemed to grow larger as he closed the distance to the exit and his face split into a grin. There were hardly any enemies left between him and the doors, other than a large group standing directly in front of the doorway to the outside of the tower. He could easily get past them by slipping into the shadow realm and running past them, avoiding a fight entirely. Skeletal hands burst from the ground all around him, grabbing at his feet and dragging him to the ground before he could avoid it. A dozen spells and a handful of arrows flew over his head, probably passing directly through the poorly designed demonic beast illusion. From what he remembered when he saw the illusion on Seraya, it was far too large and bulky to be pulled low to the ground in the same way a humanoid creature would. Noticing that the illusion couldn''t follow Frost to the ground, he decided to use that to his advantage. When the hands disappeared, he pounced forward, running the last few hundred meters on all fours. Arrows sailed above him and lightning missed him by a hairsbreadth as the melee fighters stepped forward to form a wall at the front of the group. A large serpent, made entirely of fire, flew at him and then split into several smaller versions of itself as it drew near, causing Frost to throw himself to the ground in order to avoid getting hit. He looked up and all of his hopes were crushed as the last of the sunlight vanished behind closed doors. They had closed the exit to the city in an attempt to seal him inside, as if they knew his purpose or had a reason to prevent him from leaving. He punched the ground and cried out in frustration. He had come so close, made it so far, and they had closed the doors right in front of him, as if to mock him. He watched as six men lifted a large wooden board and placed it into it''s holder, barring the gates. He stood up slowly, grinding his teeth as he looked at his feet with a simmering anger plastered across his face. His lips curled into a twisted smile and he let out a crazed laugh as he covered his eyes with one hand. "Heh. Ha! Hahahah..." He quickly sat back down and took a deep breath to calm himself before he completely snapped. It wasn''t over yet. He looked up at all the people in front of him, and every single one of them besides the six men who had lifted the plank were players. Almost thirty players stood between him and the barred door guarded by soldiers. Mages and archers prepared for their next round of assault while the wall of fighters stood ready for the demon beast''s charge. Not wanting to disappoint, he ran headlong at the players with a cold fury, knowing that there was someone intentionally working against him. The only explanation for why they would close the gates and keep a dangerous rampaging demon inside was that someone knew that he was trying to escape and they didn''t want him to. There was a good chance that someone was trying to stop him from breaking the curse, and knew the consequences involved. When Frost was close enough, the players attacked him with everything they had, throwing their best attacks at him in the hopes that it would finish him off. However, he was close enough that he could use some abilities of his own. With a flourish of his staff, he moved into a position that would allow him to strike an opponent with a heavy blow as he sunk into his own shadow and out of someone else''s as though they were rippling puddles that were somehow connected. Having shadow jumped behind an archer, he swung with all of his strength, hitting the man''s head hard enough to knock him from his feet and leave him dazed. The end of his staff flicked out and caught a spell-caster in the stomach and from there on he moved through the vulnerable back line, tripping, striking, and sewing chaos among the spell casters and others who attacked from range. They must have had no knowledge of his abilities to place themselves into such a disadvantageous arrangement. Of course, there was no way he could take on over two dozen players at the same time, even if they were of an average level. He wasn''t trying to kill them all though, he was trying to provoke them. He danced between mages and archers who were unfamiliar with close combat, doing everything he could to make them angry. An archer even had the guts to try and punch him, but it was a clumsy attempt that made it easy for Frost to knock the man on his ass. The players were clearly confused that the hulking monster before them was so nimble and strange. The design of the beast was so that adventurers would stumble upon it and be frightened into unleashing their most powerful attacks on Seraya, destroying her before they could notice anything strange. It was an imperfect design not meant for anyone other than her, waiting deep in the tower for someone to find and kill her. A tall, heavily armored knight reached Frost, raising his large hammer to strike a decisive blow on the beast''s flank only to take a blow to the ribs that knocked the air out of him. A pair of following strikes to the knee and the chin left the big man falling backwards as the weapon fell out of his hands. The game stayed true to its semi-realistic style, making blunt weapons more effective than blades against heavily armored foes. Having gained more than enough attention, he stumbled out of the mass of adventurers and crouched low, waiting. They surrounded him, gathering themselves for another attack, spreading out their warriors in case he tried the same trick again. He let them organize themselves as the mages chanted and the archers nocked arrows. A mage shot another fireball at him and instead of dodging, he let it hit, rolling backwards as the flaming orb passed through him. There was a brief moment of silence before the adventurers unleashed every single attack they had in his direction all at once. Electric arrows, flying blades, spears of acid, and an assortment of magical energies flew at him in a wave as the guards behind him abandoned their positions. He activated shadow armor, consuming a significant portion of his left over energy, and he held his position, not daring to move from that spot until the attacks began to hit. He moved backwards one small step at a time, dodging some of the attacks with the barest of movements only to be hit by others. His health quickly dropped to dangerous levels as the wave passed, but he still didn''t dare to move if his plan was going to work. He was able to dodge the worst of the wave of attacks and most of the follow up attacks that were probably going right through the illusion of the beast, its great size being the largest flaw in its design. He glanced behind him, and his brow creased with his determination to withstand another wave of attacks. He would only need to withstand one more, but he didn''t have the health required to withstand even the weakest of their attacks if he was hit by too many of them. Still, he stood his ground and waited for the next wave of deadly attacks with grim defiance. His Adrenaline skill had already kicked in, but it would do little against the blanket of attacks that came from the players. They released their attacks as someone screamed the command and he left it all up to fate, too tired to do anything else. He fell onto his back as the fear of certain death washed over him and left as quickly as it appeared. The great majority of the attacks missed him, crashing into the closed doors behind him, further damaging the wooden plank holding the doors shut. He stood and moved the last step backwards to stand directly in front of the door, a smug look on his face as he stared at his enemies that were kind enough to help him make his escape. One more wave of magic ought to be enough to fully break the plank, and the greedy look in their eyes showed him that they smelled blood. His health was below ten percent and his stamina wasn''t too much better off. The illusion most likely revealed his state to his enemies, letting them know that he was weak and enticing them to go in for the kill. A third and final wave of magic, arrows, and thrown weapons filled the air in front of him and he took a step back, walking into the shadow he cast on the door as he used the last of his shadow energy to enter the shadow realm once more. He waited a few seconds before returning to the mortal realm, and went into motion the moment he was back. The plank holding the doors shut was in pieces at that point and with his impressive strength, he was easily able to remove it from one of the doors. He pushed the door open just enough to slip through and started running down the short tunnel as fast as he could manage. He had used too much stamina using burst of speed multiple times in succession so that he could make it through the city, but he had underestimated its size and now his stamina was running dangerously low. He stumbled and had to struggle to stay on his feet as passed into direct sunlight and a bird made of lightning just barely missed his head from behind him. He tried to yell out for help, but an arrow hit him directly in the back and sent him tumbling into the dirt. Breathing heavily, he realized that he didn''t know how long it would take to break the curse, or what he had to do. He was filled with uncertainty as he cried out for aid. "Someone please break this curse. Emiri. Gods. Anyone! Please, just end it!" He felt nothing and it didn''t seem to have worked, but he wasn''t about to accept the god''s ignorance of his plight. He was there, outside the tower where he was supposed to be, as Seraya had said. All he had to do was pray to the gods. Arrows and magic filled the air around him, burning and damaging him as the players tried to destroy him. He growled and clenched his fist with the ring he had received from his patron goddess Emiri. He brought the ring to his lips and spoke softly into the ring. "Emiri, I swear to you, that if you don''t break this fucking curse here and now, I will turn against you. I will become your nightmare and I will raze the heavens or whatever damned place you come from until I find you, and I will show you hell." The players yelled in excitement as they caught up with Frost and prepared to finish the demon beast that lay broken on the ground before them. A wave of frigid air exploded outwards from Frost and he could the curse shattering, completely destroyed once and for all. A delicate hand made of pure darkness rose from his shadow and grasped his forearm to drag him into a place that was black as pitch, but he was too overcome with a mixture of emotions to care and he lost consciousness as he sunk deep into the void. Star and Nala To say that Nala was disappointed would have been a terrible understatement, hardly adequate to describe the way she felt as she raced with Star back towards the city. They had finally met some people they could enjoy playing the game with, only to discover that Grud wasn''t the person he had pretended to be. His actions and his attitude put a wedge between the group''s members, reminding them that they were playing a game and any one of them could be deceiving the others. Rather than continue forward as a single entity, they were split into groups of two to comb the corridors of the ancient stone tower in search of demons, and they were barely working together at all. She absentmindedly chewed on her lower lip as she switched her focus into thinking about their quest. They were running out of time to find and stop the demons before they could escape, and she had seen almost no sign of demons other than the occasional random encounter with the usual mobs. She began to doubt herself, mentally kicking herself for being a fool after having more time to think about her plan to chase them back to the city. It made no sense that the demons would try to break through the city''s defenses and make it into the outside world. There was no way they could manage it without losing a significant number of their own, even if they were a higher level than the city guards and the average adventurer. Stolen novel; please report. Star and Nala had taken a path on the upper level, further to the East than Sir Galahad and Skoff who were on the same floor as them. There were two accessible entrances to the city on the level that they were on, an East and a West entrance at opposite ends of the city. Nala had given up on the quest already, deciding to find some work in the city the moment they returned. Star was her persistent self as usual, refusing to give up until the absolute end, or until something better came along. She should have known better than to trust a quest with unrealistically high rewards, even if it was originally given to them by servants of Arkiel, Star''s patron god. If Nala was being honest with herself, she didn''t want to give up on the quest either, hoping that by some miracle or strange circumstance, she would be right and they would run into the demons soon. She checked the real world time on her screen, deciding that they had a little over an hour left to play the game before Star had to stop playing for the night. It would give them enough time to reach the city and find a quest or two that they could complete the next time they played. Recognizing the signs that lead people to the entrance of the city, she began to relax as she thought about what she would do the next day. That''s when she heard the sound, a dull screech that echoed through the area. Star and Nala stopped to stare at each other with eyes wide open before breaking into a full run in the direction of the city. It wasn''t long before they reached a small army of demons flooding the corridor, letting out terrible shrieks that gave Nala goosebumps. She cringed as she saw their grotesque features, their horrid green flesh spewing pus, and their bodies emitting a putrid stench. They were hideous monsters that hissed viciously at them when the pair approached, but they didn''t attack, preferring to remain as an army that could swarm small groups of enemies. Nala called for aid, letting the other party members know that they had found the demons as they prepared to be attacked by the creatures. The demons charged her and Star, but then split off into side paths, scattering into the mountain. A large, heavily armed force of knights marched into view and looked about as confused as they were. It seemed that the city had sent an army to deal with the demons that were harassing the guards on the upper level, but the moment they arrived, the creatures ran off. She made up her mind and chased after a group of them, determined to at least attempt the test now that her hope of success were renewed. She already had her short-swords out, ready for a fight as anyone should be when traversing monster filled areas. She had expected to catch them almost immediately with her speed, but once they were spread out in the tunnels, the demons moved surprisingly fast. Star fell behind, along with the soldiers, but Nala was slowly gaining ground on the four demons in front of her as they fled. They tried to lose her with sharp turns around corners, but she was close enough that she wouldn''t lose them so easily. She slipped one of her swords into its sheath so that she would have a free hand to grab the demon in the back of the group and drag it to the ground. As they turned another corner, she reached out and grabbed the slimy neck of one of the disgusting, goblin-like demons. The two crashed into the wall with their momentum, but she refused to let go, mounting the demon and putting her sword at its throat. She bared her teeth in a victorious grin as she watched the other demons disappear around a corner. It seemed that they had not noticed their companion being captured, which was all well and good to her, considering that she was planning to use the creature. She faced the smelly creature, studied it with a sickened but fascinated curiosity. "You''re going to lead me to your buddies, or I''m going to kill you right here." She grimaced at the feeling of her hand on its shoulder that was greasy and cold. The knobby, disfigured head shook in defiance, the little beast refusing to tell her where its friends were. It sneered at her threateningly, but it didn''t move, didn''t so much as try to scratch her with its wicked looking claws. It just looked at her as if it wanted to murder her, its eyes smoldering with evil hate. ''They won''t fight you or hurt you, no matter how threatening and dangerous they appear.'' That was what that man had said about the demons, but how could she trust someone who hides behind a mask? She kicked herself for not asking him about why he wore a mask in the first place. ''Doesn''t matter, I''ll just ask him next time. Oh, that''s right. I might never see him again.'' She shook her head to dismiss the thought and raised her blade, poised to deliver a deadly strike to the demon''s throat. "Tell me where they are or I''ll kill you and go find them anyway. It turned its head to look away, not even bothering to respond as it accepted its fate. "You have ''till the count of three. One." He had called them children, hadn''t he? Even if they were children, they were still evil demons. Right? "Two." Then again, who had ever heard of a demon sacrificing their own life to protect its allies? They were supposed to be selfish and cruel. She couldn''t know what was right. If she let them live, they might go on to kill people and do terrible things. If she killed them, she could be killing innocent children. She hesitated long enough that a head poked around the corner, growling menacingly at Nala. Another head appeared below the other, followed by another on the other side of the fork in the pathways. More heads popped out until there was no more room and the grotesque creatures began to spill into the hallway. Feeling slightly relieved, she jumped to her feet and whipped out her other sword, nearly bumping into another demon behind her that screeched alarmingly. Her heart was racing as she put her back to the wall, preparing for the inevitable death that would come when they swarmed her. She would take as many of them with her as she could, even if it was only one or two of them. She had been tricked and lured into a trap, and she was furious at them and at herself for allowing it to happen. The moment passed with the demons standing their ground, staring at her with the same hate as the one on the ground. The demon she had captured joined the crowd surrounding Nala and turned to face her as the others did. Once again, she questioned whether or not they were truly demons, feeling as if she was on an emotional roller-coaster. That''s when she realized that the wolf mask wasn''t there, protecting them. "Where is he?" she surprised herself when she asked the question aloud. They didn''t respond, so she tried again, louder than before, wanting desperately to have some answers. "Where''s the man in the wolf mask?" When she mentioned him, she thought she could sense some change in them, a determination in their eyes and their bearing that wasn''t there before. It was surprising to anything other than hate and resentment from them, but it wasn''t necessarily any better. She could sense that they wouldn''t tell her anything about him, because he was their guardian, their friend. She put her swords away, deciding that she wasn''t willing to risk doing something horrible just because a quest asked her to do something. This game was more realistic than most, and there were probably situations where even quest givers could be mistaken. She let her companion know relatively where she was with windspeak, relaxing a bit when she wasn''t attacked in that vulnerable moment, uncertain as she still was about them. Even if it was only a game, murdering children would still make her feel terrible. They all began to file down a single corridor, many of them meandering by her to go in that direction as they followed their friends. Nala shadowed them easily, since they were no longer running at full speed. In fact, their slow, relaxed gait made them look as though they were ready to fall over from exhaustion. They didn''t look tired, but then again, they looked too awful for anyone to be able to tell. They were headed deeper into the mountain, and her quest was to keep the demons from escaping out into the world, so she had no reason to kill them anyway, as long as they stayed inside the tower. If they tried to leave the tower, then they were probably trying to trick her, and she would kill them. Taking a look at them, she had to wonder if maybe they were a little too ugly and sickening to be real demons. Nala followed them to a big open chamber with no exits other than the one they entered through. The creatures went to the back and sat down, huddling together in the shadows. The room was dark, lit only by a pair of torches at the entrance that were insufficient to light more than an insignificant part of the room. Star was the first to find her, giving Nala time to explain what she thought about the quest and what had happened. Star looked a bit skeptical, but she trusted Nala and promised to take her side when the others arrived. Skoff and Sir Galahad arrived next, ready for a fight, but Nala stopped them before anyone was hurt. They were in the middle of a calm discussion about the best course of action when Bluejay and Grud found their way to the large chamber. Grud was shockingly calm at first, agreeing that they could wait for the rest of the party since they had the demons cornered. When Nala mentioned that she didn''t think they should kill them, Grud gave her such a baleful glare that even she was startled by it. "In that case, it doesn''t matter what you think, because I''m going to kill them anyway, and anyone else who gets in my way," he sneered at her. Nala wasn''t the type of person to back down when someone tries to bully her. She drew her blades, cold fury flowing out of her as she stared daggers at Grud. He chuckled and pulled out his axes, mockingly saying "Are you gonna attack me and become a dark player?" "Duel me. If you win..." "No," He drew out the word as he cut her off, knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop him besides attacking him illegally according to the laws of the game world. "If you win, I won''t stand in your way," She had thought that Grud was just some meathead, but it seemed he wasn''t as dumb as she thought. "If you take off all your equipment and fight me naked, I''ll consider it." Star reacted faster than anyone, jumping in front of Grud and grabbing him by the shirt. "You bastard! How dare you!" He easily pushed her to the ground off to the side, leering at her. Nala was too stunned by his words to be as angry as she should have been, and she spoke almost absentmindedly, "You''re a much more terrible person than I thought." She stepped forward as quick as she could manage and stabbed Grud''s throat with the tip of her sword. She followed up with precise, compact slashes as he backed away from her, sloppily trying to defend against an assault he wasn''t prepared for.. A warning popped up in the corner of her screen that she promptly ignored while continuing to cut away at Grud''s health. He jumped backwards and activated his Berserk ability that would temporarily increase his attack speed and his strength. He had used it during the fight with the wolf mask as well, but it was hard to tell that he had done anything at all unless enough time was spent playing with him. He had some other abilities that went with his rare class, but many of them were passive effects that made him better at fighting or taking damage. She activated a few abilities of her own, her armor and weapons suddenly glowing with golden light that brightened up the room. It wasn''t even about the little demons anymore, it was about not backing down to a man who was a dreadful person and a bully. Star glowered at Bluejay who held his hands up and declared his innocence, trying to explain that he wasn''t part of Grud''s despicable actions. Skoff and Sir Galahad both frowned at Grud, but they didn''t want to become dark players, so they sat out of the fight. Star wouldn''t help Nala unless things took a turn for the worst because she knew that the girl would want to prove that she was better than Grud and people like him. Nala had a level and speed advantage while Grud had strength and health greatly surpassing hers. She used Soul Binding and moved even before the golden chains that popped out of the ground finished binding Grud''s legs and torso. The skill only lasted six seconds, but it would prevent him from leaving that space, even if he had an escape skill like the wolf mask did. She used another ability to boost her own stats and circled around behind Grud, slashing him dozens of times before the binding spell wore off. He whirled around quicker than Nala expected and a lucky blow caught her in the side, flinging her into the nearby wall. He followed her and swung his axes crashing down upon her head. She conjured a translucent magic shield on her left arm the same golden color as the rest of her spells, catching both of the axes on it a moment before they struck, counterattacking with a thrust of her blade to his stomach. They continued to clash, slowly tearing each other apart with grim determination. Grud was skilled, but Nala was better than him, and soon had the advantage. Grud was losing, and both of them had used their entire arsenal of skills. They had both run out of mana and all that was left was pure fighting skill. The two were circling each other again when a voice boomed, "Enough of this!" They both looked over to see that Arizona had arrived looking none too pleased at seeing his comrades fighting. "What the hell is going on here?" They both tried to explain their sides of the argument, and when they finished, Arizona looked sternly towards Nala who was already a dark player at that time. "I hate to do this, but he''s right about the demons, even if he is an asshole." He sent a cross look towards Grud who smirked in reply. "I would normally agree with you, but most of us have to go soon and we can''t wait around here to keep an eye on them to prevent them from leaving. If we want to finish this quest, we have to do it now, and we put too much effort into it to give it up, so don''t even suggest it. Sorry, but that''s the way it is." He drew his sword and headed towards the demons with purpose. The other''s followed, preparing their spells and weapons for a battle. The creatures stood, able to read the hostility and intent coming from the adventurers. Nala collapsed to the floor, having concluded that efforts had been wasted, only resulting in her becoming a dark player. Tears of frustration at being impotent and weak flowed from her eyes because she knew she couldn''t stop them, even with Star''s help. She had finally decided which side to take and was immediately told that she was wrong. She turned to look at the poor creatures on the far side of the room and watched with her knees brought to her chest. It wasn''t fair, but they were probably right, and she was just confused by the words of that man in the wolf mask. She hated him for that, and just wished they would get it over with. Grud sent one more smug look towards Nala and lifted his axe into the air with a deliberate and exaggerated slowness to rub it in that he had beaten her in the end, even if he had nearly lost the fight. He turned to the demons and swung, attempting to decapitate the closest one. A blast of icy wind emanating from the demons spread throughout the room, knocking the adventures back a few steps and throwing them off balance. A web of cracks appeared in the terrible visages of the little monsters, and green light spilled forth from them. The monsters seemed to break apart, glowing shards falling to the ground and becoming motes of light that dissipated shortly after coming into existence. Before long, the only thing left was a group of handsome children with colorful insect wings standing where the demons had been. Tears spilled from their eyes and some bawled while others danced with joy. Everyone was dumbfounded by what had happened to the little monsters right before their eyes. It was a beautiful scene, watching the putrid creatures turn into beautiful fairy children who celebrated and cheered. The players didn''t know what to do with themselves, other than Grud who was not convinced by the spectacle. He surged forward to attack the fairies, but two sharp needles of pain pierced up through his sides and into his chest. Even though the pain was only a small portion of reality, having two swords in his chest burned, and he screamed in outrage at Nala who stood just behind him. She twisted the blades, using them to keep a grip on him as they ate at his health, slowly draining him of life. He managed to throw her off and pull out the swords, only to find Star''s sword in his neck. She twisted and pulled it out, the blade taking a portion of his health with it as she stepped away from the fight. Nala was on him before he could recover, once again sinking her blades deep into his sides with a wild look on her face. She was swiftly impaled by a spear of condensed fire, tearing her away from Grud and throwing her body across the floor. She slid to a stop fifteen meters away as the spear dissolved, looking up to see that Arizona had attacked her. Fat Steve healed Grud with a strong spell, and she could do nothing but glare at them. "We still can''t prove that they aren''t demons," Arizona said. "This could all be an illusion." "The illusion has been destroyed. We are free now." One of the little fairies spoke to them, attempting to be serious but having difficulty containing her joy. The party turned to see that the fairies had stopped their celebration and stood firmly as a group. A pretty little boy fairy ran over to help Nala to her feet, his smile warming her heart. Then a window appeared across her screen and she could see that the others received messages as well from the way their eyes unfocused. [/TR]
Quest complete. You have discovered that the true nature of the rumored demons is actually a company of cursed fairies. Do not kill them or there will be terrible consequences. Rewards: 300 gold pieces , 22,000 exp., Eilan''s Leather Armor
She dismissed the message and slumped her shoulders while her fox ears drooped, feeling tired beyond just physically, and hoping that it was all over. Grud could still attack the fairies, but they were now considered friendly and he would become a dark player. The others wouldn''t hesitate to take him down, so he couldn''t do whatever he wanted. They began to awkwardly shuffle out of the room, heading back to town where they would log off for the day. "You were right," Star spoke softly, standing next to Nala, close enough that she could support her if she needed it. "No, he was telling the truth. I guess we owe him an apology." "Seriously? Apologize to that murderer guy?" "Maybe he''s not so bad after all." "What do you mean?" "Well he fought against us to protect them," Nala waved a hand to gesture towards the fairies. "He fought with people at Kharz Forest to stop them from killing wolves. Maybe he''s just an NPC that protects other innocent NPC''s and creatures that can''t protect themselves." "What if he''s not an NPC?" She hesitated for a moment. "Do you think that''s possible?" "I doubt it," Star watched as the fairies bowed to Nala and thanked her for trying to protect them. She could see how someone could grow to care deeply about the fairies, but there was no way that anyone could have know what they really were. "Yeah. I think so too." (Part 2) Chapter 25: Falling Behind Chapter 25: Falling Behind Frost awoke feelingdisorienteduntil he remembered that he was lying in his ownbed. The game had turned itself off and disconnected himas a safety measure after he had passed out. He was staring at the insides of the helmet with the light filter turned off, another automatic function of the forced disconnect. He tried to stay calm as he took a shower and filled his stomach with the first reasonable thing he could find. The breakfast he ate tasted like sand, his thoughts still focused on the game, preoccupied by the concern that he hadn''t done enough to save the fairies. They could all have been killed and he wouldn''t know until he returned to the game. He changed his bed''s sheets and looked at the time. It was almost nine, meaning he had slept overten hours and more than a day had passed in the game world. That was the main reason he wasn''t completely stressing and rushing to return to the game. It was already too late to do anything else and inall likelihood the fairies would either no longer be in danger, or they would already be dead. Reid logged into the game, still slightlydrowsy from having woken up recently. The recent questhad been the most exhausting ordeal he had ever dealt with, taking a toll on both his mind and body. He wouldn''t be able to fully relax until he was absolutely certain that the fairies were safe and would continue to be so. Frost awoke on the cool ground of a cave with dark grey walls and moving shadows, staring into the face of Emiri who stood directly above him. "Did you have a nice nap?" she askedsweetly, butthere wasa dangerous glint in her eyes. "I graciously rescued you from all of those people after you appeared from out of nowhere and started threatening me." His cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as he recalled his words to her and he stiffly rose to his feet, swiping away the quest complete window andturning to bow towards Emiri. "Sorry about that. I was pretty desperate." She smirked, dismissing the issue with a wave of her hand as she turned to one of the walls. The shadows she nearedstretched towards her as if they yearned for her touch. She reached a hand out, twirling a tendril of shadow between her fingersas she said, "You disappeared from my sight after you fell. I could still feel your life force through the shadowsuntil three weeks later when your existence was no more.Then you suddenlyappeared dayslaterwith an absurd request after I had alreadygiven you up for dead.What happened?" Frost summed up the events from the time he fell until Seraya had rescued him a second time, leaving out anything that wasn''t important enough. He was full of nervous energy, eager to find out how the fairies were doing without him, making his speech rushed and clumsy. He paused when he reached the point in the explanation where Seraya had been murdered, his voice caught in his throat. He turned away, losing his stiffness as he was reminded of her last moments. It was painful to recall, and he still didn''t want to speak of it yet."After we reached the end of the chaos zone, I had to take the curse and escape throughthe city with it, so I did. I called out and you didn''t answer. No one did. I was desperate when I called out to you a second time." "Very well.I will send you back to them. I can see that you are anxious to see them again." "Thank you." "That was the last time I will save you, so do not expect me to do so again. AndFrost." "Yes?" "Do not ever threaten me again." she spoke in a voice edged with ice, the matching coldlook she gave himfrom the corner of her eye sent a shiver down his spine as he sunk down into the shadows while floundering for a response. He had none. Frost took off his mask and put it into his bag before stepping through the foggywindow in front of him. He was standing at the edge of the city on the side that led into the mountain, grateful for Emiri''said and a little frightened by her response to his threat. He had to remember that they weren''t friends so much as partners in a mutually beneficial business relationship. No one paid any attention to him as they all seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere or were preoccupied with their own problems. There was no way they would be able to recognize him anyway. It seemed that everything had already returned to normal, but that was concerning in its own way. There was no commotion about a large group of fairies, which he had imagined there would be if the little people had been discovered. He had already completed the quest, raising his level by twoand bringing it tothirty nine, but they could have been killed after the quest was over and he had no way of knowing. How many of the fairies had died following his lead, trusting thathis instructionswouldkeep them safe while he was trying to break the curse. He loped out of the cityat a slow run, picking up speed on his way to the meeting place that they had decided on beforehand. He was relatively close, but with all the collapsed passageways, there was no direct path to the cavernous dead end they were meeting at. He eventually made his way there, turning the corner and passing betwen the torches at the doorway. His body moved before his mind did, whipping his sword out of the sheath at his belt as he tensed up. He immediately recognized the two girls standing near the fairies as members of the small raid group he had met in the chaos zone. He approached them quickly but warily, eyeing them to watch what they were doing while also glancing at the fairies to see how many of them had fallen. His stealthy approach was ruined entirely by the dozens of eyes that turned to greethim, the fairies smiling joyfully at his return. Seeing them unhurt, all of them safe, he fell to his knees, embracing Frey who was the first to reach him. The rest of the fairies were right on her heels and their combined weight bowled him over until they were all in a pile. They cried tears of joy that soon turned into tears of sorrow. It was over, and they didn''t have to be so strong anymore. They could grieve for the ones they had lost, ones they had loved. It wasn''t long before they were all breaking down, sobbing over the loss of Ber and Seraya. Frey began to sing a hauntingly sorrowfulmelody that picked up in volume as the others joined in. Frost hummed the tune, a much deeper bass compared to the high pitched voices of the fairies. They didn''t care that there were others with them in the room, watching them in an intimate moment. Nothing mattered in that momentother thanthe joy in being able to reunite with one another and the sorrow of losing loved ones. Eventually, the fairies fell asleep around him, at least as exhausted as he had been since they had been waiting for him. He stepped gingerly around them, trying not to wake them up or step on them as he left their midst. He turned to the two girls and the peaceful smile vanished from his face, replaced by a suspicious frown as he raised his sword. "What are you doing here? A dark player and some priestess from the group of hunters. Are you still planning to kill these children, or is there something else?" "You''re the wolf mask, aren''t you?" Nala, the pretty fox girl,asked him. "You''re younger than I expected." Surprised by the sudden change in conversation and the accurate guess, he debated lying for a moment, but it wouldn''t matter as long as they didn''t know his name. A player wouldn''t be able to tell the difference between an NPC and another player without knowing their name first. He narrowed his eyes, uncertain of what they wanted. They didn''t look ready for a fight, but he wasn''t about to let his own carelessness turn a victory into a disaster. "I am known as such. What are you after?" "She helped protect the fairies so you should be grateful," the priestess barked at him. "She became a dark player for you and your buddies, so show some gratitude." "Star! That''s not why we''re here." Nala berated her friend while Frost saw a name appear above Star''s headalong with the star that announced her as a player. She turned to Frost and bowed her head."I''m sorry we didn''t listen to you about them." She looked past him, towards the sleeping fairies. I realized you were right when I was chasing them down, but I don''t think I would have if you hadn''t told us about them. Thank you." Frost raised an eyebrow questioningly, relaxing his guard somewhat as he put his sword away. "If it''s true that you helped protect them, then I should be thanking you. Unfortunately, I don''t know how to reward you fairly. " "It''s okay, we don''t need anything. My name is Nala. If you ever need my help, you can call on me." She held out her hand, giving him a small, hollowblue crystal as light as a feather. It was DWO''sway of sending a friend request so that it wouldn''t take away from immersion and could be part of the lore."You can crush it in your handto create a bond between us that will make us allies." That was in the game''s lore explanation of the "bond crystals" that all players started off with a hundred of. They were extremely cheap as well, so there wasn''t really a problem with running out of them. Frost accepted the crystal with a knowing smirk, but he didn''t crush it. "I know how a bond crystal works," he said as he slipped it into his bag. Nala''s face flushed with embarrassment and Frost couldn''t help but stare for a moment. He shook his head which allowed him to change his attention to Shar who was standing next to him,sleepily rubbing her eye as she tugged on Frost''s pants. Surprised that she was still awake,he leaned down towards the fairy that was short even among her kind and listened to the words she whispered sweetly into his ear. She confirmed that the beastmengirls in front of them had indeed helped protect the fairy folk from harm at the hands of even their allies. They had turned against their allies even before knowing that they were not demons. She said they were good girls. Nala and Star had already begun to leave and were halfway to the door when Frost called out to them. "Wait." They turned to face him, looking at him expectantly, but saying nothing. "I will repay you some day." Nala took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she replied. "You can repay me by staying alive until I''m strong enough to beat you in a duel." "I promise that we will duel each other in the future, but I have no intentions of losing." He had expected her to ask for money or a rare item, but instead, she had asked for him to stay alive. In order to protect that promise, he couldn''t allow himself to die while wearing the wolf mask. The wolf mask was a well known NPC and if he died, the news would spread all over the boards and throughout the game. If he appeared later, it would be known that the man was a player, or else he was afake. No self respecting game company would dare to unceremoniously resurrect an NPC without proper reasoning and probably some type of special event. He would keep the promise in his own wayand never die as the wolf maskuntil after he met her in that duel. He watched them go and turned back to Shar, but she had already returned to the others and fallen asleep among them. He collapsed to the floor, finally free from the stress and worry that had plagued his mind far too often in recent days. The grief of losing Seraya, the pain of not being strong enough to protect her and the fairies had weighed heavily on him. All of his concerns and his fears left him all at once, leaving him feeling hollow and weary. He stared listlessly at the floor for a while, letting himself rest and relax as he blocked outthoughts of what he would do later on. His eyes slowly closed as he slipped into a mindless state and meditated as Deke taught him to. He opened his eyeshalf an hour later and pulled his bag in front of him to look at the item Seraya had given him in her last moments. He pulled out the unidentified ball of light with concentric rings and closed his hand around it. The weight of a long, heavy metal object settled into his hand, it''s appearance silvery. In his hand was the shaft of abladedspear seemingly made of a single length of shining metal, smooth beyond compare. Frost estimated that the blade of the spear was close to fourteen inches, and nearlytwo incheswide. Two small blades curved out from the base of the main blade like a half moon melded into the weapon, taking the place of a crossbar.
?????? Candle Lvl 1
Damage: 47-54 Durability 150/150
This spear is made of a mysterious, silverymetal. It''s blade can glow softly in thedark if the user wills it to. Restrictions: Hero of the Fae ''If you are ever lost in the dark, let this be the candle to light your way and remind you that I am watching overyou.''-Seraya, The Fae Mother
The message reminded him of his guilt, but it also reminded him that Seraya would never have blamed him for her death. She would have been proud of him for lifting the curse. She would have smiled and told him what a great job he did, even if there were a million things he could have done better. She had helped to heal him in ways that he didn''t even know he needed, and she would always be a part of him. She would always be real to him, no matter what. The spear had impressive stats, the blade was a bit thinner than he would have expected and as a whole, the weapon felt significantlylighter than it should have. It didn''t feel hollow, fragile, or fake, and it felt quite sturdywhen hehit the blunt end againstthe ground. He twirled the speararound, marveling at how it felt in his hands. It was flexible and only slightly taller than he waswhile having impressive durability for a weapon so light.This particular spear was basically a metal staff with a short blade on the end, but that blade would make a huge difference in the way he fought. The most important aspect of the weapon was its level. If it had a level, then it could grow and become stronger with him, meaning there was a potential for him to be able to use candle for quite a while.He had used spears before and learned the basics, but that was mostly for body conditioning and as a part of his martial arts training,so he would need to become reacquainted with the skills and practice using them. He took a look at his stats as he thought about his next move.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
??????????????? Frost Winterstorm Lvl. 39
??????????????? Titles: Firstborn, Hero of the Fae, Chosen
Health: 905 Shadow Energy: 242/242
Stamina: 955/955
Strength: 114 Vitality: 85
Dexterity: 110 Stamina: 105
Wisdom: 50 Intelligence: 70
Agility: 150 Luck: 45
Health Regeneration: 0.95/s Energy Regeneration 0.50/s
He had visited his master Deke only a few times since the game started so that he could ground his fighting techniques in reality, and so that he didn''t become a vegetable, as part of his daily exercise. He would need to visit him again and learn a little bit at a time, but he would take Seraya''s gift and become a strong player with it. He stepped forward, his body moving in one fluid motion as he spun the spear around his body and brought the blade into an upward slash. Frost stepped further away from the sleeping fairies to practice with the spear, growing comfortable with its weight and length before he ran off into battle unprepared. He continued to practice with the weapon until the fairies woke up. Frost spent the rest of the day taking them to the city and finding them a place to live. It wasn''t hard, due to the fact that fairies apparently repelled evil spirits and supposedly had a positive effect on the magical energies of the places they reside in. The specifics of how their passive magic affected their environment was a little above his head, since he had never paid much attention to the magic system after initially deciding that he would be a melee class. He also chose not to hear out the specifics, because he only wanted to find them a good home and stop wasting time. He was happy to let them take the fairies and deal with all of the work and politics involved in inviting a new race to join the inhabitants of a city. Just knowing that they were safe and would be taken care of was enough for him. The city offered him a monetary rewardso he told them to use it to benefit the fairies. All in all, it was quite the tedious process that left Frost grumpy and uncomfortable from too much sitting and talking. The city had plenty of abandoned buildings that were suitable for them to live in, but they had to find the right place and it was all just an astronomical waste of his time. He asked for the bathroom and used it as an excuse to\ slip away from the proceedings. He sought out the fairies and said his farewells, planning to continue on his journey toward the southern end of the continent. He wouldn''t make it there before the end of the beta, but that hardly mattered. Not ten steps fromBaronSpark''soffice, a message popped up that stopped him in his tracks. It was a brief message from Deke, telling him to come to Crest with no information as to why. It just said"Reid. Come toCrest. We need to meet and discuss some things." Frost blinked in confusion for a few moments as he tried to understand the message in front of him. How could Deke possibly send him a message? He had to know his character''s name and had to have the game himself. When the hell did that happen? Still, standing around wondering about it wasn''t going to give him any answers. He might as well just ask his master why he was in the game world when he arrived in Crest. He couldn''t just ignore his master after all. It took him fifteen minutesto seek out a Traversal Building in the city, which was approximately the equivalent to the mail system in that world. They had to have some way of communication with the outside world and it would take to long to go from one city to another for a few messages. Normal NPC''s couldn''t use windspeak and rarely had other convenient equipment such as bags that connected to another dimension for more storage. The Traversal Guild could also transport people, but it was generally considered to not be worth the twenty gold it would cost for them to transport a single person. Frost didn''t care about the gold he had and he didn''t have any use for the equipment he could buy. The upgrade to his equipment would be minimal and he would probably find better gear fighting boss monsters anyway. Frost asked the Traversal mageto send himto Crest, the larger of the two huge cities on Frael Island, a massive piece of land on the Western side of the continent dividedfrom the rest of the land by Sandshark Bay. The Island was roughly a half-moon shape sheltering the calm waters of the bay. When the war that decimated the populations ofthe continent occurred many years ago, Frael Island was affected a great deal less than the mainland. In fact, its two main cities, Crest and Bastion remained relatively untouched and still stood strong. The travel time took fifteen minutes, but it was a dazzlingview of the landas he soared above the ground below, speeding past forests, rivers, and plains. Finally, he passed over the bay and floated down onto the platform on the roof of the Traversal Guild building. Sadly, the building was at the edge of the city and he had already begun descending by the time he reached it. He was unable to get a very good view of the city with tall buildings and walls blocking his sight. He nodded to the man waiting at the platform and then headed towardsthe stone stairs leading down into the building. He passed through different areas of the guild building devoted to different forms of travel for both passengers and cargo. To his surprise, Deke was waiting outside the building, an amused smirk on his face. The man looked to be in his late twenties, muscular and tall. Frost tried to stop himself from laughing and failed, letting out a snort as he turned his head away. "What''s so funny?" "There''s no way you were ever that tall," he grinned. "What!? I was this tall when I was in my prime." "Okay, I''ll humor you. Anyway, why are you playing DWO? Also, since when do old people play games?" The two of them didn''t have the traditional master and student relationship that most people would expect. Over time and through martial arts, they had become close friends who respected one another. They were close enough friends that they could laugh at and insult one another in a joking manner and neither of them would take offense. Still, when they were training, both of them were completely serious and focused. Dekereigned inhis smileto an impassive faceas he looked seriously at Reid. "I heard from your parents that you''re trying to win some tournament in this game." Frost''s smile also dropped from his face as he too became serious."What, are you going to tell me that winning isn''t everything and I should be learning martial arts onlyfor self defense?" Deke raised an eyebrow questioningly before responding. "No, I''m going to help you win. From what I understand, you are far behind everyone else in level, so you''re going to need to do some serious training. What have you been doing this whole time?" At this, Frost grinned again and gave Deke a bond crystal, saying "It will be easier if I show you. After Deke crushed it in his hands, Frost sent a party request which Deke accepted. He changed his settings so that party members could look at his stats other than just his health and Shadow Energy and then told Deke to go ahead. The look on his face brought immense satisfaction to Frost, who was quite proud of how powerful he was becoming. "Ah,you chose the Hero''s Burden trait, didn''t you? Well, there goes my plan to seriously levelyou up. No training montage for you." "You were planning to teach me how to be good at video games?" "Kid, I was playing games sincebefore your parents were born. I can''t do martial arts all the time, you know." "Well, I did have something I was hoping you could help me with, but I was going to wait until I was back in the real world." Frost reverently pulled out his spear, Candle, and held it out towards his master. "Please teach me how to use this spear. I remember most of the basics, but I''m going to use this as my main weapon." Deke looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity in them. "This is important to you, I take it?" "Yes." "Good. You never really had muchtalent fora sword anyway. I''d be willing to bet that with a spear, you''ll be a real monster. Let''s stop wasting time and get started with training." "Too stiff!" Deke yelled at him from a safe location on the beach a few miles from Crest.You need to relax your body until the moment you strike or else your attack will be clumsy and predictable! You can''t swing a spear around like it''s a staff! The balance is different and you aren''t properly utilizing the blade on the end. That spear can be used to slash or thrust and you''re hitting things with it like some kind of neanderthal. It''s a versatile weapon and if you use it properly, you should be able to win any even battle." Frost grit his teeth as he concentrated on the enemy in front of him. ''Even a giant crab boss monster fifteen levels above me?'' Frost dodged and counterattacked a giant sweeping claw, barely scratching the thing''s chitinous body. The creature had four claws; two of the claws were almost as big as Frost was while the other two were smaller, just big enough to crush his head if they go a grip on it. He deflected the two smaller claws, dancing in and out of striking range, attempting to get the feel of the spear in his hands. It was a familiar weapon, but he lacked enough experience to use the weapon effectively in combat. Sure, he could swing it around and use it like a staff, but then he wouldn''t be using proper spear techniques or wielding the bladed end correctly. Frost hopped backwards again, barely avoiding one of the large claws as the beast tried to bludgeon him with it. He frowned as he tried to get within its guard and was pushed back by the other claws. "If you can''t fight this thing by yourself, then how do you expect to fight a boss monster?" Deke was yelling at him from the sidelines, giving him encouragement. Sort of. Frost was losing to the crab monster since Deke restricted him from using any abilities to fight it. He was only allowed to use the spear, Candle, and his own basic ability to fight. He had to admit that the training methods Deke used were effective, which wasn''t all that surprising considering how well they knew each other and how long Deke had been training him. When Frost failed at something, Deke would yell at him and tell him how to do it correctly. When he succeeded, he would only give minor complements so that Frost didn''t become overconfident. Deke had discovered that Frost responded well to those training tactics and had continued to use them for years. "I''m pretty sure this is a boss monster. The sand is slowing me down and it has too many arms. I can''t get around it to flank it and the spear isn''t doing a good job of piercing it''s thick armor." "Get used to it. Bosses tend to have slowing effects and sometimes have infnite mob summoning as well. Imagine how tough this guy would be if you had adds to deal with as well. Also, the spear is fine, it''s your lack of technique that''s the problem." Frost had no response for that, continuining to fight the creature in relative silence until his stamina was too low and Deke told him to retreat. The two sprinted away from the beach and watched as the crab scuttled back into the water, unwilling to follow them very far. Frost fell onto his back, panting as he tried to catch his breath, having usedall of his stamina. He closed his eyes and let the soft ocean breeze ruffle his hair, making him wonder at how amazing ths world really was. It was still hard to believe that a virtual world could look and feel so real that he could almost lose himself there and become a part of it. Deke let him recover for a while before he said anything. "Frost, you know I was joking about you falling behind with your lower level, but you really are falling behind without even realizing it." "How so?" Even though he was a lower level, he should still be stronger or on par with most players. "Did you feel weak when you started plating DWO?" Frost looked curiously at his master but decided that there was probably a reason for the question. "No. Not really." "Do you feel like you are a lot stronger than when you started?" Deke asked. "Hmm. Maybe a little." "As I thought. You''re holding yourself back." "I''m definitely faster and stronger than I was before. How am I holding myself back?" "Your strength is ten times the starting value and you feel only a little bit stronger than before? Doesn''t that seem a bit weird?" "Diminishing returns? I assumed there was a limit to how much an increase in a stat could affect the character." "No. The problem is your head. You''re far too familiar with your own body, your real body, to know that you can break the limits set by your mind." Frost pondered for a moment before speaking. "Oh, I get it. You mean that I know my limits too well in real life so I restrict myself in the game to follow those limits." "Exactly." "Alright. What do we do about that?" Deke grinned, "I''m glad you asked." A feeling of dread washed over Frost as he looked at the smile on Deke''s face. "Shit." "It looks like you''re getting that training after all."